Ascension Day

Although we no longer have services on Wednesdays regularly, we will have services midweek on special dates. Ascension Day was just such a date. We met in the Cathedral at noon SLT instead of in the chapel. I took the opportunity to share something I had written some years ago. The full document is given for those who are interested in reading more. A trek in the mountains

The readings were Psalm 47, Daniel 7:9-14, Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:44-end.

It is a beautiful spring day and you are equipped with backpack and strong boots ready for a trek in the mountains. The paths winding out of the valley look very easy but you have been warned that things get trickier as you climb. So you have a guide with you as advised. You have also bought the guide book. It is full of tips on how to get the most out of your trek, things to avoid, the flora and fauna and the names of the various places you will get to. There are sections written by others who have made the trek before you, describing what they saw and how they felt. You wonder, as you read it in the valley, whether you will ever reach those high peaks they describe and see those views for yourself.

And so you set off full of energy. The path is wide and passes through flower dotted meadows. You take time to look around and drink it all in. The sky is a beautiful blue, the sun is shining and the birds are singing. The air smells fresh and clean. There is room for your guide to walk beside you on the path and as you walk you talk. So quickly he moves from being a stranger to someone with whom you have an easy relationship. You chat about anything and everything, nothing seems barred from this conversation, even your innermost hopes and fears.

After a while the path begins to climb into the foothills. It narrows and become less even underfoot. Your guide walks behind you, still talking to you. If you strike off on a wrong path he says: ‘This is the way,’ and puts you right. The harder walking makes you a little out of breath but it is a pleasant challenge. There is still time and energy left over to appreciate your surroundings. Your guide points out things of interest to you and you read extracts from the guide book at intervals.

Then comes the time when the path becomes very steep. There are loose stones underfoot and treading on them incorrectly risks a twisted ankle despite you boots. You have no choice but to keep your eyes fixed firmly on the ground so that you can place your feet carefully. Looking around is out of the question. Every now and again you hear your guide telling you to move to the right or the left. You don’t know why, as you have no overview of where you are heading, but you do as he says. Somehow he never seems to get out of breath, whereas the best you can do is reply ‘OK’ as you follow his instructions.

 

God in us

On the night before Jesus died he shared a long conversation with his disciples. Despite all the teaching they had received before, they were still very confused. Jesus did seem to talk in riddles at times. One of the disciples asked Jesus how he would reveal himself to the disciples in the future and not to the world. Jesus’ answer was probably not what was expected but his strategy has led to the spread of Christianity worldwide.

The readings on Sunday 5th May were Acts 16:9-15, Psalm 67, Revelation 21:1-10, 22 – 22:5, John 14:23-29. My reflection follows:

It’s really difficult to work out what’s going on if you arrive in the middle of a conversation. Those who’ve been present all along obviously know the context of what is being said as you arrive but without some understanding of what went before a newcomer can find himself or herself totally confused.

Today’s passage from John is buried in what is called Jesus’ Final Discourse which took place on the night before Jesus died. Jesus washed the disciples’ feet and commended his example to his disciples as one to follow. A long conversation followed this. It’s apparent if you read the whole section that the disciples, despite being there for all the conversation, were thoroughly confused and needed to ask questions.

The confusion began when they wanted to know who was going to betray Jesus. The idea of Jesus being betrayed was completely beyond the disciples’ understanding. John asked who was the betrayer and was told how to recognise him in the one receiving the piece of bread.

Even worse, Jesus then said he was going away. Imagine the dismay of the disciples on hearing that. They had been with Jesus constantly for three years; they had left their livelihoods to follow him and suddenly Jesus was leaving and they couldn’t go with him. Poor Peter wanted to know where Jesus was going but instead found that the answer he received was that he would deny Jesus.

Later it was Thomas’ turn to ask a question. Jesus asserted that his disciples knew where he was going but Thomas was sure they didn’t know the way at all. If that was the case, how were the disciples to find the way? Then Philip was baffled as Jesus told them that they knew the Father. He couldn’t work that out at all.

 

The challenge of the unusual

What happens when someone breaks ranks and does something unusual? Mostly the different way of doing things is resisted by those who were comfortable with the old way and see no need t change. Yet, it’s possible that God is doing a new thing which should be embraced and not resisted.

The readings at the service on Sunday 28 April were Acts 11:1-18, Psalm 148:1-6, Revelation 21:1-6, John 13:31-35. Here is my reflection from the day:

There’s a saying in English that ‘a change is as good as a rest’. I have to admit that not all change is particularly restful! It’s definitely possible to change an aspect of life and find it revitalises us. Even deciding to be in a different room can be helpful if you have something to do that you are finding stressful or tiring. Possibly doing a task in a different order might bring renewed energy. Too much of the same thing, day in day out, week in week out, can be tiring and demotivating.

On the other hand, change can be very stressful and tiring in itself. Moving house, though it may be something a person has chosen to do, is very stressful. There’s a lot of work, it’s difficult to find anything in the boxes you have packed, it’s necessary to work out once again where the shops are, what is the best route to work and so on.

Jesus’ disciples had a breathless three years with him. Their lifestyles changed from being that of fishermen, tax collector, freedom fighter, to being the pupils of an itinerant rabbi. Whereas before they had homes to live in, with Jesus they found themselves tramping around the country with no guarantee of bed or food each day. They had witnessed miracles; they’d stepped into the miraculous themselves as they went on missionary trips; there had been excitement as they went to Jerusalem with Jesus; and then it all came to a miserable halt. That halt was only brief before they were catapulted into the next phase of discipleship. Jesus rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven; the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and the work began of sharing the Good News everywhere.

 

Active listening

It is possible to hear someone and not really be listening fully to them. Active listening is the term in counselling for listening to every part of what someone communicates even if the communication is by way of times of silence. It’s very difficult to listen properly if our minds are filled with our own thoughts. The Jews in Jesus’ time had an idea about what the Messiah would be like. They found Jesus didn’t fit the picture. Although Jesus told them to look at the works that he did, this was not sufficient for them. However, for some it was enough and they followed Jesus. Peter, Jesus’ somewhat blundering disciple, must also have listened carefully to Jesus as, when he was called upon to visit Tabitha who had died, he acted just as Jesus had done. As a result he saw the same miracle happen as when Jesus went to see Jairus’ daughter – the dead person was raised!

The readings in the service on Sunday 21st April were Acts 9:36-43, Psalm 23,  Revelation 7:9-17 and John 10:22-30. My reflection is given below:

I remember in the early days of learning to counsel, I and my fellow trainees were taught some of the basic skills and practised them on one another. One of the skills was called ‘active listening’. That label seems a bit confusing; surely when you are listening you are generally not very active. We sit still, or maybe stand or move around, and hear some words and gain some meaning from the words. That’s what listening normally consists of.

Active listening involves more than just the ears; it uses all our senses. When a person is telling us something they will do more than just utter words. They will use different tones of voice; speak at different speeds; leave periods of silence; perhaps use a different selection of vocabulary – including or excluding swear words – depending on what they are sharing. They will also show facial expressions which will give some indication of their feelings. They will use their hands to help express themselves. They may move their body around in uncharacteristic ways. If we want to really understand what a person is trying to convey to us about their thoughts, feelings or way of behaving, we need to observe everything that we can about that person.

As you can imagine, such listening requires undivided attention. I remember how difficult it was to do this at first. If I listened to the words, I didn’t seem to notice the body language; if I watched body language I might not be noticing tone of voice. Our tutor told us it was rather like learning to drive a car when you have so many different things to think about at the same time. It takes a lot of practice for it to become automatic. Even when someone has had plenty of time to learn active listening, they still need to give undivided attention to the person and that means silencing personal thoughts so that they don’t cause a distraction.

 

Heroes of the faith?

Most of us admire someone, looking upon them as an example of what we would like to be. It’s perhaps too easy to look at the public image and not consider what lies behind it. Then we may see something shocking written in the newspaper that dents the image somewhat. In the New Testament two heroes are Peter and Paul. We are accustomed to thinking of them in that way, at least, but if we look carefully at what we are told about them, they are not really hero material for parts of their lives. This can be an encouragement when we look at our own lives and feel we are not measuring up to the ideal, whatever that might be.

The readings for the service in the cathedral on Sunday 14th April were Psalm 30, Acts 9:1-6 and John 21:1-19. My reflection is given below.

I wonder who your heroes are, the people you admire or look to for inspiration. For young people it’s not unusual for them to look to various pop stars, film stars or perhaps great sportsmen and women, particularly with the heightened interest in sport after the Olympic Games. If you are a person who likes science or works in a scientific job, it could be that a great scientist like Sir Isaac Newton or Marie Curie might inspire you. Perhaps you work with numbers and admire the work of Carl Gauss or Alan Turing. Those who love music might consider someone like Beethoven, Mozart or Paul McCartney to be people whom they would call heroes.

What about those of us who are Christians? Whom might we admire or seek to emulate? Of course, we should all look to Jesus as our model but the Church also points us to those of his followers who over the years have proved to be heroes of the faith in some way. The Church Year is punctuated with days on which to remember people of all sorts who have done great deeds in serving God. We recently remembered St Cuthbert, a great traveller and preacher who spent much of his time reaching out to the ordinary people in the North of England. A few days ago we remembered Bishop George Selwyn, the first bishop of New Zealand, who put himself in great danger in order to support the rights of the Maoris against the colonists. Soon it will be the turn of Pandita Mary Ramabai who was a convert from Hinduism and worked to make sure that women could be educated in India and opposed the oppressive caste system.

Looking at the readings today, I was struck by the fact that they concern two great heroes from 2000 years ago, Peter and Paul. I call them heroes and the Church remembers them as such, people who followed Jesus to a martyr’s death. They gave everything they had, including their lives, in their dedication to their Lord. Heroes indeed and well worth looking up to. The trouble with heroes sometimes is that we can feel overwhelmed by just how special they seem to be. The stories about these great people tend often to focus on the great deeds they did, their wonderful writings or insights, their selfless lifestyle and compassionate character. When we turn to look at ourselves with all our imperfections it’s possible to feel an element of despair. How can we ordinary people ever be like them?

 

Conversation & Cake #11

We had an excellent turn out to Conversation and Cake #11. Some could only stay for a short while but it was very encouraging to note the interest in our life as a community. Below is the report I gave, with comments and additions in italic.

As usual I will report on various aspects of our ministry. Do feel free to add comments, ask questions and make suggestions as we go along.

Beginning with finances, by the end of February we had raised 62% of our annual goal, so about 8% of our annual goal in the month which is very good for a month. However as other months had fallen below target that still left a lot to raise. At the end of March we had collected 75% of our annual goal of L$1068375. This has left us with L$263556 to collect in two months ready to pay our tier. Cady has divided that in two, for the two remaining months, giving us a target for April of L$131778, 4% of which had been raised by earlier today. Time is short but we can still achieve what we need to do.

Ana pointed out that we had 6% of our month’s target as we were meeting. Czari was sure we could hit the annual target. She also asked a question I was unable to answer: Does it give the Cathedral more with donating in world or PayPal? Ana thought that those in Europe get Value Added Tax added to the calculation. The PayPal account can be found by looking on the blog under Finances. 

Last time we had suggestions about fundraising in order to achieve what we need. We need volunteers to arrange such events. Vaino has offered another social time at the pub with donations going to Anglicans of SL. A concert and contests have been suggested also. We have had the offer of an art exhibition and auction also. I have no details yet but will be following this up as I think that could be very good. The advantage that has is that we have no only the idea but the offer of running it. For the other items we still need a social team I think.

Czari has offered to teach some classes and have donations go to Epiphany. She is considering using the Community Center for this which would bring new people to Epiphany.

Yhishara wondered how the art auction would work. As far as I know various people will donate their work which can be purchased. It’s likely it would be displayed in the Cathedral courtyard. Yhishara is interested in contributing. It could be that other members of our community would also like to do so.

 

That we may have life in his name

One of the frustrations I find in the Gospel of John is that he refers to all the stories he could have written about Jesus but didn’t. I really want to read all those stories; I wish so much that John had written more. However, John seems content what he has chosen to record is enough to allow his readers to come to belief in Jesus as the Son of God and so have life in his name. One of those stories, a very famous one, is that of the apostle Thomas and the doubts he had about Jesus’ resurrection. Some of us will be like Thomas, needing our own evidence before we can believe who Jesus is and what he has done.

The readings on Sunday were Psalm 150, Acts 5:27-32 and John 20:19-31. My reflection follows:

One of my favourite books is ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by Tolkein. It is in fact not one book but six and may be found published with all six gathered into one volume or in three separate volumes, each containing two books. It is a fantasy adventure story which tells the story of the fight of good against evil in a world populated with orcs, wizards, hobbits, goblins, people, elves, dwarves, trolls and probably my favourite – ents, treeherds which look like walking, talking trees. It’s a very complex story but, as you might imagine, it culminates in a great battle and heroic deeds by the hobbits who are the focus of the story.

It’s some time since I last read the book. Most of my reading has been of theology in the past few years. However, when I do read it, it becomes a really important part of my life. Somehow I enter into the story in a personal way, though I can’t say that I see myself as any particular character. Imagine if I was reading the Lord of the Rings and found that the last part of the story had disappeared or someone had ripped it out of my copy! I want the whole book, right to the last word; every detail of how things unfold; who says what to whom; what some mysterious saying earlier in the story really meant, and so on. I know I would be very frustrated if I couldn’t read some part of it.

I feel much the same when I read the words of John in his Gospel: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.” John even says it later at the very end of his Gospel: “But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” I read these words and I wonder why John didn’t at least give the task a try. How can he tantalise us like this, saying that there’s a whole lot more to the story and then keeping it to himself? I want to read the missing bits, I want to know all the extra things that Jesus did, I want a blow by blow account of every miracle, every piece of teaching, every confrontation, every journey of Jesus. But I am denied that. However, John says that what he has written is there to allow us, his readers, to believe that Jesus is the Messiah and to have life in his name as a result.