Blog Archives

Being Immortal Diamond

2/28/2014

Transfiguration Year A, Sunday 2 March 2014 by Jonathan Inkpin

‘In a flash, at a trumpet clash/ I am all at once what Christ is/ since he was what I am, and/ this Jack, joke, potsherd,/ patch, matchwood, immortal diamond,/ is immortal diamond

What an amazing proclamation that was by the poet-priest Gerard Manley Hopkins! (Have a look in the inside cover of the pew sheet for the full poem…) Hopkins puts into one sentence the mystery of the Resurrection and the meaning, for us, of the story of the Transfiguration which we ponder and celebrate today. Yes, today’s Gospel story also declares who Jesus is: God’s Son, the Beloved, in whom God is well pleased. Accompanied by heavenly light, Moses and Elijah, this is powerful, revelatory, stuff. Matthew’s Gospel is leaving the disciples, and all those who come after, with no doubt about Jesus’ significance. Indeed, the story also finds Jesus associating his mission with the mysterious figure of the Son of Man. Yet, as we reflected a few weeks ago, in considering Jesus’ baptism, this is a message not just about Jesus’ true identity and destiny. It is a message about our true identity and destiny too. We are also God’s children, God’s beloved ones, in whom God is well pleased. Perhaps the figure of the Son of Man is related to this. For there is still no consensus among biblical scholars about the exact nature of the person of the Son of Man. Yet most biblical references seem to stress the humanity of this spiritual figure. Sometimes too, the Son of Man is spoken about as an individual person and at other times as a corporate person, as the community who stand in special relationship with God. So again, as in his baptism, what Christ is, we are also. We too will share in the resurrection of the Son of Man. We too, will be transfigured. Just as Moses went up the mountain and was transfigured, so we can accompany Jesus up God’s mountain and be changed from weakness into glory.

How is it possible to express this astonishing reality?

0 Comments

Stand Up

2/22/2014

0 Comments

Epiphany 7 Year A (Matthew 5:38-48), 23 February 2013 by Penny Jones

If I was to summarise today's sermon in two words, they would be 'stand up'! So as that is a very physical instruction, and we tend to remember the things we have actually done, I'd like to invite you to do just that - and if you are unwell or differently abled and standing up is too hard for you, at least imagine yourself standing up, tall and straight. So, 'stand up'. Excellent!

Now while you're standing there, I want you to remember who you truly are - a child of God, made in God's image. Nothing and no one can take that from you, no matter what happens. So stand there in your full dignity as a human being. And while you are standing there look at the others here, and recognise that each of them is also a child of God and made in God's image and is to be treated accordingly. And think about the many others not here, perhaps those you find a bit different or difficult to understand or get along with, and recognise that they too are children of God and that we need to stand up for them, especially if others are abusing them or treating them asl ess than human. Finally turn your gaze inward a little and see if you can recognise some of the parts of yourself that you find difficult to get along with - those parts of yourself that perhaps you think are less than perfect. Let some of those just stand up for themselves a bit, and be recognised, so that perhaps you can smile at them gently and realise that they are part of who you are, so that you are less inclined to project your imperfections out onto other people and start hating them. And let's just stand together as the people of God in this place.

Thank you. You can sit down. At least now I know you are all awake! and hopefully if anyone asks what I said today, you will be able to reply, 'she told us to stand up!'...

0 Comments

What kind of law?

2/14/2014

0 Comments

Epiphany 6 Year A 16 February 2014 by The Revd Dr Jonathan Inkpin

One of my favourite images of reconciliation is that of Uncle Bob Randall, the multi-talented Yankunytjatjara elder from central Australia. ‘Spirituality’, he wrote in his autobiography ‘Songman’:

‘Spirituality is the ultimate answer to reconciliation in Australia and everywhere else in the world. Loving ourselves, our families, our neighbours, our countrymen and every other living thing is the reason we are here on earth. If we follow the ripple in the pond when a stone hits the water, we can easily see that the entire pond is affected by that one little stone. If the stone represents love, and it drops somewhere in our universe, that love will send its ripple through the entire universe. All the peoples, birds, animals, insects, plants, trees and rocks will in some way be affected by it. It is the same with anger and hate. We must choose which ripples we wish to send into the universe.’

- I really love that image. I used it often in my peace and reconciliation work for the National Council of Churches (in Australia): partly for its intrinsic beauty and wisdom; partly as it chimed in with my own approach to peace making and reconciliation; and, not least, because it is a wonderful Australian expression of the spirit of Jesus in what we call ‘the Sermon on the Mount’, another reading from which we hear in our worship this Sunday...

0 Comments

Shedding light by being God's image

2/6/2014

0 Comments

Epiphany 5 Year A 9 February 2014 by The Revd Penny Jones

Every one of us sheds light just by being a human being created in the image of God. As Jesus puts it: 'You are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before others, that they may see, and give glory to God.' (Matthew 5.14,16)

Pastor Steve Garnaas Holmes, a Methodist minister from the States, writes of this text:
Maybe Jesus doesn't mean some special light— your faith, your righteousness, your goodness.
Maybe he just means you. Your self. Who you are, your creatureliness, fashioned by God's delight, coming into being through the Word, granted life, the light of all.
God said, "Light," and it came forth in the little paths of your nerves, the villages of your hands, the beauty in your eyes,
the continents of your mind, the great sea of your soul. (Once, every bit of you burned in stars.)
Let the light of yourself shine, he says, all of who you are, created by light.
Shine in people's darkness, so they can see, and glorify God. '

There is real humility and real wisdom in what Pastor Holmes writes. For too often I think we act as if it is all up to us. But that does not allow space for the grace of God. How can we best let the light shine? Is it by doing some special, amazing thing for God? Well 'no', rather it is by being ourselves and living as best we can. Our light shines in the accumulation of small things done well and faithfully. It shines in the refusal to allow small things to be done in a way that brings darkness rather than light. It shines in the daily, hourly choice of honesty, care, justice and love in our regular dealings.

0 Comments

Being Immortal Diamond

Stand Up

What kind of law?

Shedding light by being God's image

Authors

Archives

Categories