Most of us probably know the old saying about some of the great Australian metropolitan cities: in Sydney, it is said, they ask ‘how much money do you have?’; in Melbourne, they ask ‘which school did you go to?’; in Adelaide, they ask ‘which church do you attend?’; and in Perth, they ask ‘so what did you come here to get away from?’ There is some truth in that even today. What then, I wonder, would be the question we would ask in Toowoomba? My hope is we would ask ‘what gifts do you have to enrich our world?’ This question is certainly at the heart of Jesus’ good news and behind today's Gospel passage about the nature of divine table fellowship. It is assuredly a great question for us on our parish thanksgiving weekend…
What gifts do we have to enrich our world? What answers can we give today? Think about it for a moment… I hope that you will feel able to affirm those gifts today, as part of our giving thanks for all that God has given us in one another and our wider world. And I hope that together we can affirm one another’s gifts and encourage each of us to share them to the glory of God and the enrichment of one another and others. For this is the heart of what it means to be an Eucharistic community. When we share the eucharist – the name of our worship service today – we are always sharing, literally, in thanksgiving: as the very word eucharist, in Greek, means thanksgiving. When we come together in the eucharist we are therefore, above all, always giving thanks for all we have been given, and offering those gifts, including all that we are, back to God for God’s glory and service. So, thank you again for being here and being part of this.
The religious leaders Jesus criticises in today’s Gospel reading had missed this. They, often like us, had become too obsessed with themselves and their needs, recognition and achievements. They had lost sight of the reality is that, ultimately, everything we are and have is gift: the gift of God. So all of us are equally worthy of God’s table.
What gifts do we have to enrich our world? This Jesus-like question can so transform our lives, our communities and our world, if we let it. Imagine, for example, if we asked that question up front when we met people or groups we do not know well, such as refugees. Instead of regarding people who are different from us as potential problems, we would start treating them as potential enrichments to our lives, with new gifts to add to our community life and wellbeing. That is why I think it would be a good question to associate with Toowoomba. For we do pretty well in this city at approaching refugees as fresh assets to our communities, as well as our neighbours who need to be loved as God in Jesus loves us. On this Refugee and Migrant Sunday, it is therefore good to give thanks for our growing ethnic, religious and human diversity in Toowoomba and to celebrate the gifts of all our neighbours. Can we extend that thanksgiving to others around us I wonder: especially to others who challenge us with different attitudes, cultures and lifestyles to our own? Will we make sure that everyone has an equal place at the table of life, whoever they are? This is part of the challenge of our Gospel reading today.
So let us for a moment or two reflect upon the gifts which we have received in the last week: the gifts of people and other things which we have received from God…
(pause)
And, now, for a moment or two perhaps we might share two or three of those things with a neighbour, as part of our giving thanks this day…
(pause for brief conversational sharing)
Thankyou…
One of the great Christian speeches ever made in Australia was that by Pope John Paul II to Aboriginal people in Alice Springs in 1986. In this he famously said that ‘the Church herself in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until you have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others.’ That is a deep truth which we are all still working at. Similarly however, it is also true of other Australian people as well as Aboriginal people. We may also say that the Church in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until all the migrant and refugee peoples who have come to this land have made their/our contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others. This is part of our challenge as Church, as Christian community, as a Eucharistic, a thanksgiving, community. This is part of our joy.
May God bless us all in this sharing, receiving, and celebrating of our gifts: in the name of Jesus who sought not the top tables but turned tables upside down so that all could sit as equals, sharing their gifts and giving thanks to God. Amen.
The religious leaders Jesus criticises in today’s Gospel reading had missed this. They, often like us, had become too obsessed with themselves and their needs, recognition and achievements. They had lost sight of the reality is that, ultimately, everything we are and have is gift: the gift of God. So all of us are equally worthy of God’s table.
What gifts do we have to enrich our world? This Jesus-like question can so transform our lives, our communities and our world, if we let it. Imagine, for example, if we asked that question up front when we met people or groups we do not know well, such as refugees. Instead of regarding people who are different from us as potential problems, we would start treating them as potential enrichments to our lives, with new gifts to add to our community life and wellbeing. That is why I think it would be a good question to associate with Toowoomba. For we do pretty well in this city at approaching refugees as fresh assets to our communities, as well as our neighbours who need to be loved as God in Jesus loves us. On this Refugee and Migrant Sunday, it is therefore good to give thanks for our growing ethnic, religious and human diversity in Toowoomba and to celebrate the gifts of all our neighbours. Can we extend that thanksgiving to others around us I wonder: especially to others who challenge us with different attitudes, cultures and lifestyles to our own? Will we make sure that everyone has an equal place at the table of life, whoever they are? This is part of the challenge of our Gospel reading today.
So let us for a moment or two reflect upon the gifts which we have received in the last week: the gifts of people and other things which we have received from God…
(pause)
And, now, for a moment or two perhaps we might share two or three of those things with a neighbour, as part of our giving thanks this day…
(pause for brief conversational sharing)
Thankyou…
One of the great Christian speeches ever made in Australia was that by Pope John Paul II to Aboriginal people in Alice Springs in 1986. In this he famously said that ‘the Church herself in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until you have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others.’ That is a deep truth which we are all still working at. Similarly however, it is also true of other Australian people as well as Aboriginal people. We may also say that the Church in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until all the migrant and refugee peoples who have come to this land have made their/our contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others. This is part of our challenge as Church, as Christian community, as a Eucharistic, a thanksgiving, community. This is part of our joy.
May God bless us all in this sharing, receiving, and celebrating of our gifts: in the name of Jesus who sought not the top tables but turned tables upside down so that all could sit as equals, sharing their gifts and giving thanks to God. Amen.
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