Loving the enemy

 

Haiku for thinking again

Love your enemies.

Christians who play politics

must hate these verses.

When you’re addicted

to power you must put these

teachings on the shelf.

Generosity

and forgiveness, stumbling blocks

for the self-righteous.

Bless those who curse you,

turn the other cheek. Give stuff

away. Yeah, that works!

Deal with others

the way that you would like them

to deal with you.

Loving family

and friends is easy; any

ratbag can do that!

Be children of God

who blesses the wicked, too.

Give; expect nothing.

Be full of mercy.

Don’t judge, or condemn. Forgive,

just as you have been.

So many judge-y

Christians, ‘holier than thou,’

ignoring Jesus.

As you bless others

so you are blest. You decide;

become a blessing.

© Ken Rookes 2022

Sunday's Zoom service excerpts - Tree service

The temple deserving of destruction

"... The woman’s devotion is undoubted. But we have taught her, in part, to increase her poverty in the name of God. “They kill the widow and the stranger...” (Ps 94:6) Families are destroyed by husbands at too many meetings and working bees, or wives working too long in the church office. Except it is not the husband or the wife, it is the church. Young women are destroyed by the structures; it has been happening all my life and I am only finally seeing.

.... In this picture of a more fundamental corruption, those “inadequate people seeking power” (Loader) are often tolerated, and even encouraged,  by other inadequate people seeking an inadequate God. Great is their rage and destructiveness when they see they have idolised God and gotten only a poor minister.

And in the middle of it all those who are true become the “collateral damage” of the church; the ones we deny we have destroyed.

I once saw a man stand firm under fire and give everything he had. What an appalling thing if the widow was doing this, too, with her two coins, and it turned out we had built a temple which turned her love into a lie!

It would deserve its destruction."

Andrew Prior (from https://www.onemansweb.org/theology/a-difficult-day-of-the-lord-mark-13-24-37/the-trickle-down-theory-of-church-mark-12-38-44.html)

suffering and beauty

"For most of my life, God’s response to Job in this book has frustrated me, even angered me. It all seemed so insufficient a response. But now I can’t help but wonder if there is wisdom in responding to suffering with an invitation to see beauty around us, to allow beauty to interrupt despair and grief.

Like suffering, beauty cannot really be explained. Like suffering, beauty can only really be experienced. And like suffering, beauty changes us. For Job, suffering and grief removed the protective barrier of wealth and privilege and opened his eyes to see how deeply suffering, injustice and pain are shot through the human experience. So much so that all he could see was pain and suffering in the world. In a similar way, the more we experience and observe beauty, the more frequently we experience it even in small and unexpected places, in the way a sleeping child tucks her hands under her cheeks at night, the way a spouse tilts his head back in laughter, the pirouettes of a single yellow leaf falling from an empty tree.

But we need both. We need to cultivate both, an awareness of the suffering of humanity and an awareness of the beauty of the creation. We need to experience both the remote absence of God and the divine immanence of a God who is with us in creation."

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davidhenson/2015/10/what-job-and-god-learn-from-each-other-prophetic-grief-meets-prophetic-beauty-a-homily/

Drum Major instinct

One of my favourite sermons of Martin Luther-King Jr is his 'Drum Major instinct sermon. it makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. If you can, look up the whole text of the sermon, and even better listen to the mp3. Here is an excerpt.

"...I want you to see what Jesus was really saying. What was the answer that Jesus gave these men? It's very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have condemned them. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, "You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?"

But that isn't what Jesus did; he did something altogether different. He said in substance, "Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be." But he reordered priorities. And he said, "Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you use it right. (Yes) It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love. (Amen) I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do."

And he transformed the situation by giving a new definition of greatness. And you know how he said it? He said, "Now brethren, I can't give you greatness. And really, I can't make you first." This is what Jesus said to James and John. "You must earn it. True greatness comes not by favoritism, but by fitness. And the right hand and the left are not mine to give, they belong to those who are prepared." (Amen)

And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. (Amen) That's a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't have to have a college degree to serve. (All right) You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen) You only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir, Amen) a soul generated by love. (Yes) And you can be that servant."

For full text: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/drum-major-instinct-sermon-delivered-ebenezer-baptist-church

for a good listen

https://archive.org/details/MlkAFoolishManAndDrumMajorInstinct

Who do people say that i am??

Ephphatha

Ephphatha.

I love this word and i love the Jesus story. At times sitting in plain sight in our readings is a particularly powerful word and speaks to my heart. This week it is 'Ephphatha' which means 'be opened'. As with all of the stories of healing which the Gospel writers give us, it is not just about the magic of the healing. It is not about the 'what'. It is about the 'Why'. It is pointing to a deeper layer of meaning within the story. And the gospel writers never accidentally put stories together without there being a connection. Here Mark has put this story about the miracle opening of the deaf man's ears together with a story in which Jesus has just had his ears opened to the plight of the Syrophoenician woman and her child. It is portrayed as a moment of mercy on Jesus part but, i believe, also a moment in which Jesus' heart was shown to be open to all people of need (maybe even a moment of transformation for Jesus himself in which his eyes were opened). 
I live in a country which is currently making a firm division between those who are worthy of mercy and compassion and those who are not. Our Government is choosing to close its ears to the cries for mercy of asylum seekers and instead is sending them away where they hope they cannot be heard or seen.
To our Government and to us i believe Jesus would be saying 'Ephphatha' - Be opened! He would challenge us to see all people of need as being equal in the eyes of the Divine and for us to act with mercy and care, to open our hearts.

("ef'-a-tha, ef-a'-tha (Ephphatha): Aramaic word used by Christ (Mk 7:34), the 'ethpa`al imperative of Aramaic pethach (Hebrew pathach), translated, "Be (thou) opened"; compare Isa 35:5. The Aramaic was the sole popular language of Palestine (Shurer, History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, IIg, 9) and its use shows that we have here the graphic report of an eyewitness, upon whom the dialectic form employed made a deep impression. This and the corresponding act of the touch with the moistened finger is the foundation of a corresponding ceremony in the church’s formula for baptism.")

What defiles a person?????

"...It was into this context (Royal commission into Child abuse) that the bishops and the senior pastors asked, “Why don’t your people live out Biblical family values?”

And he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites. As it is written,

‘This people pays me lip-service,

but their hearts are far from me;

they worship me in vain,

for they teach human commandments as doctrine.’

You abandon the commandment of God, and wield human tradition like a sword.”

Then he said, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! For as the prophets said, ‘You must care for the widow, the orphan, and the refugee: those who have no one to protect them.’” But you spout family values and say “Anyone who has sex before marriage, or a homosexual relationship, cannot be part of the kingdom of heaven.” You force people to lie about their relationships, or to suppress sexual expressions of faithful love, yet take no responsibility for the structures that enable sexual violence against women and children. Instead, you have protected religious officials, and worried about your own status.”

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile you. Nothing that anyone has done to you can defile you. No way that they have touched you can defile you. No act of sexual degradation, no act of violence, no scene of pornography that has been forced upon you, can make you unclean in my eyes. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that another person can do to you that can make you unfit for communion with me. The only thing that can get in the way of communion with me is using other people to satisfy your destructive desires, and failing to live in love. You may feel defiled by what other people have done to you, but in my eyes, you are not defiled. You are not defiled.”
Nathan Nettleton
http://www.laughingbird.net/

Wealth is not a blessing

"Wealth is not blessing.  I feel like I need to repeat that.  Wealth is not blessing.  If it is, then Jesus (just to cite the obvious example) must be regarded as one of the most un-blessed people ever to walk the earth; he lived and died dirt poor.  But if there's one false teaching that haunts the American church most, this is it.  That money is an unambiguous sign of God's approval.  Hence, prosperity theology.  Hence, our willingness to turn a blind eye to sin in our politicians, our economic policy makers, our religious leaders, and our cultural icons when their sins come packaged in enormous wealth.  Too often, money creates a moral vaccuum.  Solomon remained wealthy while he sacrificed babies to Molech.  Wealth is not blessing."
https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/1880-the-beginning-of-wisdom

Sabbath quote

“Sabbath observance invites us to stop. It invites us to rest. It asks us to notice that while we rest, the world continues without our help. It invites us to delight in the world’s beauty and abundance.”

― Wendell Berry

No exceptions allowed

           "There is an internal logic to the Christian good news. Since God "created all things in heaven and on earth" (Colossians 1:16), seeks the worship of all "things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth" (Philippians 2:9–11), intends to "reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven" (Colossians 1:20), will sum up or bring together "all things in heaven and on earth" (Ephesians 1:10), then of course God delights in bestowing his fatherly favor on "the whole human family in heaven and on earth" (Ephesians 3:15). The Psalm for this week makes just this point: "The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made" (Psalm 145:9). In fact, the words "all" and "every" occur eighteen times in this Psalm 145, extending God's bounty beyond every human family to the entire created cosmos (cf. Romans 8:19–22, Acts 3:21).
           In his bestseller Velvet Elvis, pastor Rob Bell of Mars Hill church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, reminds us that the Christian gospel is good news about God's fatherly favor to every human being and to all of creation, "especially for those who don't believe it. . . The church must stop thinking about everybody primarily in categories of in or out, saved or not, believer or nonbeliever. Besides the fact that these terms are offensive to those who are the 'un' and 'non,' they work against Jesus's teaching about how we are to treat others. . . As the book of James says, 'God shows no favoritism.' So we don't either" (James 2:1–13). No exceptions allowed.   "
  https://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20090720JJ.shtml    

An understanding beyond speech.

Can you imagine this … The United Nations has gathered as whole to hear about the problems of the world, war, famine, religious difference; the leaders of North and South Korea, the USA, Israel and Palestine all are in the one room, and as they gather and the interpreters begin their work of translating the vast numbers of different languages, a mist fills the building and when it lifts, it is slowly realised that all the delegates can understand each other. They have an understanding and respect that is beyond mere speech. Not only do they appear to be speaking the same tongue, but they can really understand each other’s perspectives and dreams. Into the crowded chamber comes a feeling of real wonder and awe and a profound sense of hope.

We are in the Christian season of Pentecost and in this Season, Christians are reminded that the Spirit of God seeks to draw us closer to each other and to God. At the first Pentecost, there was a strange sort of event, where people from all corners of the then known world found themselves speaking in the same language. Though they were different, they understood each other.

This is the sort of community that God wants and this is the activity of the Spirit of God; to draw us closer to each other; to make the stranger a friend and to love the neighbour, who may well be different to us. But this sort of Spirit love does not always come easy or cheap. When those around you are telling you to hate it takes a divine power to move towards love. 

The work of Pentecost is one of profound miracle and hopefulness. It is a dream of a Spirit that can draw us closer, can assist us to truly know each other’s pain and dreams, and can draw us closer to a vision of a compassionate world, and to believe this despite what we may see in the news and hear around us. Let us pray for the gift of such a Spirit and know her presence in our midst.

El Greco - Pentcost

I love this painting by el Greco. It feels unusual and enlightened with women disciples at the center and the feeling of quite, gentle wonder.

The good shepherd

This is probably more the good shepherd image that Jesus had in mind rather than our romanticised version.

They thought him a fool

"Did you notice Easter Day this year was April Fools Day’. Apart from a few jokes I almost missed it. But it was rich for imagining. Traditionally on April Fools day in medieval life the King took off his crown and stepped down from his throne. And the Fool, a wise but questioning figure, put the crown on and sat on the throne for a day. I wonder what decisions such a wise fool might have come up with.

Today we might see Jesus as a ‘fool figure’, who goes onto his throne - on the cross. And, with that, tips everything upside down.

Isn’t Mary Magdalene , with Peter , calling us to join this crowd of fools who see the world upset?

So that’s the way it is. We are called to take the risk of being members of the foolish community willing to act in foolish ways, in the name of our crucified Lord, who wants our allegiance, - ready to resist the powers that want us for heartless, uncaring, unjust, brutal ways. He comes to us in the crowd of strangers, war victims, refugees, abused and starving children, sufferers of mental illness and homeless.

He wants us to recognise him there as he fosters gentle life- giving lives and hearts.

As children of God, we are called to give up securities and fixed orders and doing things as we have ‘always done them’ – into an experiment of hope that looks, waits and acts for the radically renewing life of our risen Lord."

Rev Dr Wes Campbell

For full sermon see sermons 2 page

The things that make for peace

""He shall judge between the nations and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." That is our Palm Sunday hope, and it is our only hope. That is what the palms and the shouting are all about. That is what all our singing and worshiping and preaching and praying are all about if they are about anything that matters. The hope that finally by the grace of God the impossible will happen. The hope that Pilate will take him by one hand and Caiaphas by the other, and the Roman soldiers will throw down their spears and the Sanhedrin will bow their heads. The hope that by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the love of Christ, who is Lord of the impossible, the leaders of the enemy nations will draw back, while there is still time for drawing back, from a vision too terrible to name. The hope that you and I also, each in our own puny but crucial way, will work and witness and pray for the things that make for peace, true peace, both in our own lives and in the life of this land."
excerpt from a sermon by Frederick Buechner, 'The things that make for peace'.

The greatest irony ....

"Hailing Jesus as Messiah was dangerous and open to misunderstanding. The passion is about one who was executed as ‘king of the Jews’, made to wear a crown of thorns, mocked as a king, set between other revolutionaries and made subject of barter with Barabbas. Irony is at work. John is fond of having people state the truth without knowing it. Here they hail Jesus as Messiah, probably for all the wrong reasons, just as the crowds did whom Jesus fed in the desert in 6:14-15. The ears of faith know however that in a different sense what they say is true.

It is all part of the greatest irony of all: the true king, the true Messiah, the great human being and Son of God, is a collapsed figure on a cross. Compassion and lowliness confront human images of power and success. The ‘failure’ of Jesus is his success. His truth is faithfulness to love and compassion without bowing to compromise which would betray himself and others. Even though asses were not necessarily bottom of the range in public transport, the image of Jesus on the foal of an ass does depict lowliness."
William Loader
http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/

On remembering and Forgetting

Please visit the Sermons 2 page to see Rev Dr Wes Campbell's latest sermon "On remembering and forgetting."
"....THE CHALLENGE OF DEMENTIA - PASTORAL IMPLICATIONS FOR LOSS OF MEMORY

 With this talk of remembering we are brought into the experience of forgetting, forgetfulness, dementia. The recalling of the texts as we have heard today will be less possible for those who are now forgetting. Some will continue to connect with hymns and other music or reading favourit stories. action.

Notice that there are two experiences here:

one for the person whose memory is being lost and lose a sense of self.,

the other for those who live with and see the effect of forgetfulness in their partner or other loved one.

Thinking about this from the side of Jesus there are two experiences here too.

First, Jesus went into the darkness alone . He died. He  did not ‘experience his own death. The dead Son was in the darkness with others threatened by death.The Son  died.

Second,  His Father experienced his death. And the Spirit carried the death of the Son to the Father, who grieves his Son.

Does that speak to the forgetting of dementia? Will it give resources for us to live through this experience? Will we together share memories as we remind each other.?

Those whose memories are now fragile or lost may nevertheless take confidence that they are known and remembered by the Spirit of life, and their loved ones..

When memories disappear for the carer, let the community of Christ gather, surround all those affected by love, and embrace them with care that springs from the eternal life of God. Let the reading aloud of Scripture draw us into the Story of God’s care for us.

We will be able to share life with others, in spite of dementia.

When the confusion has passed for the forgetter, there is still the confusion and questioning in the one who remembers. Those who are partners and carers will not forget; they will experience the distance that grows between them and their partner.

.May they (may you) likewise receive the consolation and comfort of the community of Christ and his meal.

The word of comfort here is offered in the figure of Jesus, our brother, who went into the darkness of being removed from us, into darkness and death, and is with us in the darkness. There his promise of eternal life offers his deep and unending care for all, won for us in cross and resurrection.  

Simply put, in all this, we are in the company of him who came, not to condemn but to give his life for the world. 

May we remember his gift of life to us, so that we may find in him that which generates new life here and now, and entrust ourselves to him who is both beginning and end for the world."

Rev Dr Wes Campbell

religious and spiritual

"Jesus’ cleansing of the temple – we might call it “occupying the temple” – is spiritual theatre.  In turning over the tables, Jesus is calling his religious tradition to be both “religious and spiritual,” that is, to become liberated from consumerism, power, polarization, and class to embrace the spiritual needs of an oppressed and hopeless people.  While God loves humus, the floors of the temple are not intended to be dung-covered.  Sheep and goats are part of God’s glorious handiwork, but their place is in verdant pastures, not temple floors.  We need to look at our faith and practice and discern those places where we have co-opted by consumerism, self-indulgence, materialism, and power plays.  The beauty of the universe and the wonder of our bodies call us to amazement and gratitude, but also to confession and repentance.

Today’s scriptures invite us to integrate a sense of beauty and emotions of gratitude with personal, congregational, and social self examination.  Do our practices reflect and contribute positively to the beauty of the universe and the ability of small children to join innocence with maturity in growing to be persons of appreciation,faithfulness, integrity, and beauty?  Ifnot, we need to embrace the wonder of Psalm 19 and soak our hearts and minds in the presence of a beautiful God."

Bruce Epperly

Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/livingaholyadventure/2012/02/the-adventurous-lectionary-lent-3/#8hKOlPZbQftlL7xb.99

cleansing of the temple

I read the cleansing of the temple as a stark warning against any and every false sense of security. Misplaced allegiances, religious presumption, pathetic excuses, smug self-satisfaction, spiritual complacency, nationalist zeal, political idolatry, and economic greed in the name of God are only some of the tables that Jesus would overturn in his own day and in ours. 
-Dan Clendenin
Subtle as a Sledge Hammer: Jesus “Cleanses” the TempleMarch 19, 2006
http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20060313JJ.shtml