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the wisdom of the homeless woman and the animals

9/8/2019

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Years ago in the east end of London, I met a remarkable little old lady.  She was what some call a ‘bag lady’: a homeless woman who carries her possessions with her, perhaps in just a pair of plastic bags.  Her story was typical of many homeless people, although very unique, like that of every homeless person.  In this lady’s case, she would tell a very brief biographical tale on a kind of continuous loop.  This began with the words ‘I was a Barnados girl’, which, when repeated would start her off again on her abbreviated life-story.  Was she then a sad person lost in a tiny, poor and vulnerable world, cut off from the rest of us?  No, not exactly.  For, in some ways, she was more in touch with existence than most, if not all of us.  For this seemingly poor and aged waif had an amazing quality: namely the ability to see the plants and the animals alive around her, even in the middle of such a busy and environmentally threatening city as London then was.  If you walked along with her for just a minute or two, she would point out, and open your eyes and ears to, the animal and plant life you almost always missed: the grass and the sometimes beautiful flowers which pushed through the concrete and the cracks; the birds and the insects and the urban wildlife, which, sometimes incomprehensibly, managed to thrive in the otherwise all-too-human jungle of the city.  Almost everyone else was too busy, or too self-obsessed, to ‘consider’ these  ‘lilies of the field’ and ‘birds of the air’.   It took a similarly overlooked human being to notice and to celebrate these astonishing signs of God’s resistance.  And, as she drew you into such contemplation and celebration, you thereby discovered the presence of mystery and grace.


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river of living water

9/30/2017

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Feel the breath of God move softly
gentle mists across the skin;
Earth is breathing God’s own spirit,
life renewed from deep within.
Sing a song of living waters,
pulsing through the veins of earth.
 
These words, from a hymn by the  eco-theologian Norm Habel  remind us what we all know; that water, especially river water, is sacred; essential to life; the very stuff of which we are made. Our own bodies are largely made up of water as indeed are so many of the creatures on our planet earth. From this vital element and many others, God is continually creating, every day new species, new variants.  As Norm Habel has written elsewhere,
 
“One of the ways that we know God keeps creating you and me and all forms of life is by using the water in rivers. The flowing water in the river we see is indeed the water of life we need to survive. But it is also the very stuff God uses to create in the cycle of creation. The same waters of the Flood and the Ice Age are the very waters God uses to give us life, to create. There is a finite amount of H2O on Earth, whether it is in the form of water, ice or moisture. And the fragments of H20, the little bits of water, are re-cycled endlessly. God keeps creating and sustaining life with the same water age after age and generation after generation. Water is the very essence of the cycle of creation."...

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seeking abundant justice: the cross, change and the communion of becoming

9/2/2017

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This morning we bring together three important aspects of our lives together: the liturgical Season of Creation which we begin this week; the witness to justice and care for Creation which has been explored in our Abundant Justice conference this weekend; and the Gospel call, which we have just heard, to follow Jesus to take up the cross and follow him.  So I want to speak this morning about three connecting things: about three ‘c’s; about the cross, about change and about communion; about how the cross comes when you try to change things; about how true change is grounded in the communion of all being; and about how that communion is founded on the cross of God’s creation…

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step out in the ocean

9/2/2016

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On this Ocean Sunday in the Season of Creation, let me speak about three things: about how the Gospel calls us to ocean-like risks; about how Pacific Islanders are leading us to a deeper understanding of God as ocean; and, on this Fathers Day, about how one son remembers his father best when he is close to the ocean. First however, let me rework an old story.

The story goes that Prophet Mohammed, the Buddha, and Jesus all return together and go sailing on the ocean in a boat.  A storm blows up and breaks the sail, sweeping the oars and other implements away.  Marooned some distance from land, what are they to do?  Well, Prophet Mohammed ponders for a moment and then takes action.  Relying on his physical prowess and trust in God, he leaps into the still tumultuous waves and, at the cost of much exertion and constant vocal prayer, swims his way back to shore.  The Buddha is next.  Remaining typically calm in the face of all the changing circumstances, he sits attentively for some time and then, picking up a piece of driftwood, slides on to it.  Catching the next great wave, with profound skill and attention, he also eventually surfs his way back to shore.  So, what of Jesus?  Well, Jesus seems to spend far less time and effort.  He simply steps out of the boat and walks easily and comfortably back to shore.  Immediately, social media goes mad, making sense of these startling events.  So what is the main meme, or message, that is spread?  It is obvious, really: Jesus, proclaims social media to the world, Jesus can neither swim nor surf – so what kind of a saviour is that?!...


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some kind of a lion

4/23/2016

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What do we know about St Mark? (wrote one of the gospels, symbol is a lion, famous churches - for example in Venice - named after him?). The truth is that we don't know a great deal about St. Mark himself  There are certainly a few legends that attach to his name. One is that the Last Supper was held in his house - the story goes that Mark was a teenager at the time, and that possibly he sneaked out with the other disciples and followed Jesus to the  garden of Gethsemane and was the young man who nearly got arrested, but managed to get away by wriggling out his loin cloth and running away naked. If that story has truth, then Mark learned at an early age that following Jesus can be a very risky matter and that courage is important.  Some scholars identify him with a disciple called John Mark, who appears in the Acts of the Apostles, first as a companion to Paul and Barnabas and later as a scribe for Peter. Certainly the gospel of Mark has many references to Peter and seems to have been written by someone who might have heard Peter tell his version of the story.
 
Whatever the truth of all that, when we read the gospel of Mark some aspects stand out, that I would summarise as pouncing, proclaiming and praying...


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seeking tears of joy - on marriage equality

4/21/2016

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address by The Revd Dr Jon Inkpin and the Revd Penny Jones to Toowoomba Marriage Equality meeting, 17 April 2016

It is sometimes said that ‘you are either part of the problem or part of the solution’.  In our case we are very much connected to part of that which indeed is often the problem, but we also hope we can be part of the solution.  For we have been married to each other for 30 years, presided at marriage ceremonies for about 60 years between us, and shared both amazing joys, and, sadly, many tears with many LGBTI friends and family members for so much unnecessary pain, abuse, and rejection.  So, above all, want to affirm three things which we feel are at the heart of this issue, and at the heart of Christian faith - namely: love, valuing everyone as part of God’s image, and being and growing family.  We feel we need to say something briefly about two things which some misuse to hold us back: Christian tradition and the Bible.  And we want to suggest three key areas of resistance.  In doing so, we hope and pray for a speedy end to so much unnecessary suffering and  look forward to many more tears of joy as marriage is extended and grown.

We would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, the Jarowair and Giabal peoples, their elders past and present.  And we do so, because this helps us nurture respect, deepen relationship, and find renewal for us all – which, of course, is what marriage equality is also about at its best.  For from a Christian point of view, marriage is about sharing in the ultimate mystery of love.  We only have to go to the opening words of scripture from our Anglican marriage service to see that: ‘God is love’, we say, ‘and those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them’ (1 John 4.16).  For Christians, that is the heart of the matter: where is love in all of this?  In the end, what would Jesus do?...


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no one will snatch them out of my hand

4/17/2016

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"No one will snatch them out of my hand"
 
- what a wonderful promise - and how appropriate as we come to baptise Eliza today. No one is ever going to be able to snatch this little one out of the hand of God.  This is true for all of us, yet I wonder how often we pause to think about it and to register just how safe and held we  truly are...

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meeting God on a mountain

10/1/2015

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What mountains do you know?  Mountains are among the most treasured and admired locations on earth - as well as some of the most perilous. I wonder what are some of the mountains that you have heard about or even visited yourself?  What are some of the things you love about those mountains?

We've heard about a few mountains here in Australia, some of them local to Toowoomba and to Queensland, and about some mountains far away. Through our links with Nepal we have particular connections to the Himalayas and of course to the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest. Has anyone climbed a mountain that really required the proper gear, ropes and grappling irons and all those things?

Climbing a mountain requires a lot of effort, and preparation and discipline and persistence - which is why climbing a mountain is such a good picture for the spiritual life and often used as such. It is also why some traditional Christian communities are located near the top and on the very edges of mountainsides. Climbing requires patience and faith and provides a sense of perspective. When we physically get up higher we can see more; in the same way the more we advance in our relationship with God the better perspective we have on what really matters in life...


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where will we go to, my lovelies?

9/14/2014

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by Jon Inkpin, for Land Sunday, 14 September 2014

I wonder if you know Peter Sartsedt’s song ‘Where Do You Go To My Lovely?’  Written and released in 1969, it is about a fictional girl called Marie-Claire who becomes a member of the ‘jet set’, the fashionable celebrities of the late 1960s.  Her life is full of show and excitement.  Underneath however there is another reality.  For her story is told from the point of view of a childhood friend who, after recounting all the amazing places Marie-Claire goes to, asks: ‘but where do you go to my lovely, when you’re asleep in your bed? Tell me the thoughts that surround you.’  Then, in the last verse of the song, the secret is revealed.  Marie-Claire comes from poverty, ‘from the backstreets of Naples’ and her current life is both a welcome release and a desperate escape from that reality, full of continued scars and regret.  For what we are, as people, is shaped by the realities of the places in which we are formed and raised.  Only when we come to terms with those realities, their promise and their pain, are we truly set free.  This is at the heart of today’s readings as we reflect upon God in the Land.  For where do you go to, where do I go to, where do we go to, when we are asleep in our beds?  What has our experience of land, of particular places, done for, and to, us?  How does land and place shape our lives today?...


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what is it about trees?

9/6/2014

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by Jon Inkpin, for Forest Sunday in the 'Season of Creation' 7 September 2014

What comes to your mind and heart when you hear the word forest or tree?  What forest or trees do you recall?  With which forest or tree do you most identify?  Probably all us have a particular forest or tree which comes to mind: a special forest or tree which has, or has had, importance to us, perhaps going back to our childhood.  Perhaps it is a single tree, in, or on, or beneath which we have played, or met a lover, or found refreshment. Perhaps it is a rainforest, or a stand of eucalypts in which we have spent some time.  Perhaps it is a forest or a tree we have encountered in another place or time, on a holiday or a journey. Whatever it is, it will have shaped our life and awareness in some way...


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    sermons and reflections from Penny Jones & Josephine Inkpin, an Anglican married clergy couple in Brisbane

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