Christian hope

In the service in the Cathedral on Thursday we celebrated the feast of St Thomas the Apostle. He is someone it’s easy to relate to with his need for proof of the wonderful news that Jesus had risen from the dead. Often, like Thomas, we find it hard to hope that good things will happen, even if we really long for them. The Christian faith is characterised by hope which is not wishful thinking but a dependence on God who can be relied upon to keep his promises. Christian hope doesn’t depend on circumstances but on the certainty that we have ‘the hope of glory in our lives’.

The readings were Psalm 27, Isaiah 35, Hebrews 10:35-11:1.

Today in the western hemisphere Evening Prayer can be celebrated as the first Evening Prayer of Thomas the Apostle. For those in the east, it is already St Thomas’ Day. It seemed like a good idea to celebrate his day together at this service.

Thomas is a very human saint, someone most of us can relate to I’m sure. He wasn’t sure about the fact, told to him by his fellow disciples, that incredibly wonderful fact, that Jesus had risen from the dead. After the way his hopes had been dashed by Jesus’ death, it’s easy to understand why. He needed proof in order to be convinced of what had happened. Jesus didn’t disappoint Thomas; he came to him and allowed him to have the proof he needed in order to believe what had seemed unbelievable.

I’m sure all of us have found ourselves in the position of wanting something very, very much and yet not daring to hope it could happen. For seven years now I have been working my way through the long discernment process of the Church of England to see if I can train to be a priest. There have been disappointments along the way and sometimes all doors seemed shut. At one point I got so fed up with the whole thing, as obstacles seemed to always get thrown in my way, that I decided I would abandon the quest. Within 4 days someone who didn’t know me came up to me after I had given a talk and said that as soon as I began to speak she knew I should be ordained. It was such an amazing thing to happen.

As a result, here I am still following the process. Part of the process involved having three interviews in the diocese. It was impossible to know how I had done and I remember not daring to believe that those three people would say yes to my going further. I didn’t dare to hope. I remember sitting in the office of the Diocesan Director of Ordinands waiting for him to tell me the outcome. It was excruciating having to wait but finally he told me that we would go ahead. It was almost unbelievable. I had been trying so hard not to hope for this outcome that it was hard to take in. It’s the same now as I wait to go to the three day selection conference that will finally decide whether I can train or not. I long to hope it will be a ‘yes’ but I daren’t hope. One thing I know, though, is that whatever the outcome it will be God’s will and he will bring good of it.

In the Christian life, faith and hope go together. In fact faith and hope go together for anyone who believes in God. Listen to the Psalmist speaking long before Jesus was born. Faced with enemies and troubles, he declares that God will hide and protect him. Instead of believing the evidence of his eyes, he believes the evidence of his heart, which tells him that he need be afraid of no one because God is the strength of his life. Even were his parents to abandon him, he trusts the Lord implicitly. Instead of bemoaning his misfortune, he makes worship of God his priority. He wants to live the way God wants him to live.

With no evidence to support his hope he states: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and he shall comfort your heart; wait patiently for the Lord.

When Isaiah was called by God to be a prophet in 740 B.C. he began a ministry which lasted 40 years. During that time two of the kings who reigned, Ahaz and Manasseh, led the people away from God and into idolatry and child sacrifice. Hezekiah was a much more God-fearing king. He was famed for his piety and returned the people to the worship of Yahweh, purifying and renovating the Temple. Some of the time Isaiah could be glad about how things were going and sometimes he couldn’t. But his faith in God was constant.

In the midst of the changing circumstances around him he encouraged the people not to fear but to look to God. 770 years before Jesus stood in the synagogue and read his words, Isaiah was looking with faith and hope to a time when the blind would see, the deaf would hear, the dumb would speak and the lame would leap with the agility of the deer. He looked forward to God’s people gathering in Zion, full of joy, with all sorrow defeated. He was never to see it happen but it didn’t stop him believing it and teaching others to do the same.

Hope in the biblical sense is not the same as that in our everyday usage. It’s not wishful thinking, something that may or may not happen. Hope in the Bible looks to God to fulfil his promises, knowing that he can be relied upon to do so. So the Psalmist knows that God will be there for him no matter what. Circumstances say not, but hope says yes. Isaiah knows God will send the Messiah. He lived in a time when having a king who actually worshipped the true God was pretty much a miracle, but he held on to the hope that God would fulfil his promise to redeem mankind. We know that God did just as Isaiah knew he would. There is still more that Isaiah said that has not yet been fulfilled, but we can depend on God to do as he says.

In the letter to the Hebrews we are encouraged to hold on to confidence, which is another way to say ‘Keep on hoping’. If we continue to have faith, continue like the Psalmist to make doing God’s will our priority, God will fulfil his promises. We are told that ‘faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.’

Our God is a God of hope and fills us with joy and peace, despite our circumstances. He sent his Son Jesus to die for us and to conquer death by rising again from the dead. We can know that we will share Jesus’ glory in eternity. This is not some kind of wishful thinking, this is a promise of God which will be kept.

We are called not just to hope for ourselves but to hope for others. We long for others to come to know God, to receive all the wonderful things that God wishes to give to them. We hope that they too will have hope that takes them through the tough times; that they will have the peace that passes all understanding; that they will know joy that is independent of circumstances. The faith and hope we have as Christians is not selfish but full of love for others, or it should be if it is genuine.

Let’s pray Paul’s prayer for ourselves and for those who do not yet have the wonderful hope that can be theirs:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
Amen

 

Family challenges

You can choose your friends but not your family, so the old adage goes. Whether we choose our family or not, it shapes who we become. Even something as apparently simple as birth order can make a huge difference. If we learn to know ourselves better we can work to modify some of our seemingly built-in responses to situations and people. This may allow us to get on better with others, even with members of our family!

Jesus used the example of a family to help the Pharisees to understand how God views those who turn to him in faith, the great joy and welcome that awaits such a person. In the sermon that follows I concentrated more on the response of the elder son in the family. The readings were Psalm 74 and Luke 15:11-end.

 

Building well

At the 2pm service yesterday the Gospel passage contained Jesus’ advice to build our lives on his words, actually doing as he says. In this way we build a solid base for our lives, like building a house on rock. When storms come, as they inevitably will, we will survive the experience rather than being destroyed by it. In my sermon I shared how this had worked out in practice for me at a difficult time in my life.

The readings were Genesis 16:1-12, 15, 16, Psalm 106:1-5, Matthew 7:21-end.

 

The Golden Rule

Many families have their rules which are taught to children very early in life. Remember Thumper in the film ‘Bambi’: ‘If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.’ These early lessons are internalised and determine our behaviour as adults.

Hillel and the book of Tobit advise people not to do to others what they wouldn’t want to have done to them. Typically, Jesus turns this around to create the Golden Rule: Do to others what you would like them to do to you. This is a much more challenging proposition.

The readings were Genesis 13:2, 5-end, Psalm 15, Matthew 7:12-14. The sermon follows.

 

Virtual Theology

As I noted in my recent post about the leadership transition at the Cathedral, we continue to have the interest and support of those bishops of the Anglican Communion who have been working with us on formalizing our standing within the wider church.  There will be a follow up meeting to discuss these matters  held in the UK in July.

Part of this work will involve taking a look at the theological issues surrounding the expression of Christianity in virtual worlds.  We have gotten off to a great start with Rev. Mark’s blog post on the conversation about virtual sacraments.  Below are some of the other questions that have arisen so far.

We would really like feedback from the community on these questions, and want to know what questions you have that we haven’t thought of yet!  I encourage you to share you comments here!!

• What do you think are the most important questions facing Christians in Second Life?
• What harms us spiritually in SL?
• What can help heal us, help us and help us understand the gospel in SL?
• To what extent does online life and culture allow us to behave in ways that would not be acceptable in RL?
• What do you think are the most important theological questions facing the Anglican Cathedral in SL?
• What does it mean for the cathedral to be Anglican?
• What can you do in a RL church that you cannot do in a SL church?
• Are we really “gathered” when we meet online?
• What is the function of a virtual place of worship?
• What is the relationship between worship in a RL faith community and worship within SL?
• What is the role, if any, of evangelism in SL?

 

Virtual Holy Communion?

One of the key challenges with online worship is how to incorporate the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is a physical experience from witnessing the act to receiving bread and wine.  But it is also a spiritual experience in that the key action is invisible, caused by God who acts within the liturgy.   So would it be possible to have a virtual communion, a virtual sacrament?

The Revd Professor Paul S. Fiddes, who is Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Oxford and Director of Research, Regent’s Park College, has just written a very interesting short paper called Sacraments in a Virtual World?

Rev. Mark has posted this paper on his blog here.  Your thoughts are welcome!

 

An unexpected opportunity

Instead of attending the noon service at the Cathedral today, I had been asked by Daniel Arbizu of Internetchurch to preach there. Problems in SL meant that no one could get to Epiphany Island and the Cathedral. A quick conversation between Gareth Janus who was due to lead at the Cathedral, Daniel and myself, led to everyone being encouraged to gather an Internetchurch. It was a wonderful chance to share in worship together.

The reading was from Mark 4:35-41. The sermon I preached follows.

 

The Lord’s Prayer unpacked

The Lord’s Prayer is well known to so many people, even some who have not been to church for many years. It is the pattern for prayer that Jesus gave us and can teach us how to pray. It can also be used as a prayer to recite, though the danger is that we say it without thinking about the words if we are too familiar with it. In our services in the Anglican Cathedral of SL, we have shared this prayer together using several languages, as we did in the 2pm SLT service yesterday. It’s a reminder of the worldwide family for whom this is the family prayer, the prayer we address to our Daddy God.

The readings were Psalm 111, 2 Corinthians 11:1-11, Matthew 6:7-15. Thank you to Cephus for reading for us.

 

Welcome LouiB!

The cake and punch are gone, and Rev. Mark has retired from his position as AoSL group leader.  BUT this does not mean an end to the Saturday evening (8 p.m. SLT) service!  This service, designed to meet the needs of the Pacific Rim community, will now be led by Australian community member LouiB Serendipity (Liz Way in RL).

Liz is a fairly new member of the SL community, but an old friend of Rev. Mark, whom she met while studying Theology at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia.  She currently makes her home on the east coast in Goulburn Western NSW Australia with her husband Terry.  For more information on Liz, check out her blog at http://spiritchat.wordpress.com/.

 

Perfection – mission impossible?

Jesus spent much of his time teaching people, trying to help them to understand God’s will as revealed in Scripture. He looked at the issue of murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation and finally the treatment of enemies in Chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel. The Law of mercy and justice had become distorted in interpretation to one of vegeance. Jesus brings it back to a matter of love. The chapter finishes with a challenge: Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The readings were Psalm 146, 2 Corninthians 8:1-9, Matthew 5:38-42.