Last Sunday in Epiphany - to judge or not to judge

Last Sunday in Epiphany – To judge or not to judge

Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 

Luke 6: 41

On the last week of Epiphany, before we enter the sacred space and time of Lent, we hear Luke’s Jesus telling varied stories about those who judge others without turning a spotlight on their own behaviour.  It appears that to follow Jesus requires a piercing look at one’s own life and actions BEFORE judging the behaviour of others!

The pause of such self-examination could well take a whole lifetime, which would mean that there would be no occasion for an opportunity to examine and pronounce judgement on another’s behaviour!

It’s possible that Luke could have intended for such a message to be imparted to those listening to his words. Who knows?

But like many others today, I watch and hear with a strong sense of helplessness the breaking news of the invasion of peaceful Ukraine by their much larger Russian neighbour. And I cannot help but decide that judgement and condemnation MUST have a place in following the way of Christ.

Luke’s Jesus was critiquing destructive behaviour between neighbours – of which hypocrisy was the focus for this week’s reading. Hypocrisy is a FORM of violence against another, with the perpetrator ignorant of their own failings.

In our globalised society, we are all neighbours, connected with each other in a complex web of economic and trade relationships. What is happening today could well have been exacerbated or encouraged by the behaviour of wealthy nations in the past in some way. By a hypocritical turn of policy which prevented real consequences being visited upon violent actions which may have prevented a future return of such violence.

We are called to be alert constantly to our own motivations in our own governance – painful business sometimes – but so necessary if we really want to participate in a world where our most vulnerable neighbours are cared for – in God’s kingdom.

My prayers for our Ukrainian sisters and brothers living in fear for those they love.

Ceri

Epiphany 7 - 'Cancel-Culture' and the Sermon on the Plain

Reflection for Epiphany 7

Cancel-Culture and the Sermon on the Plain

‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.’ Luke 6:36-7

‘Cancel-culture’  - the recognition that society (usually on-line) will exact accountability for offensive conduct by on-line shaming and withdrawal of support for an individual (usually a celebrity) – has as many detractors as it has supporters since it became a popular phenomenon in 2019.

Detractors as diverse as Donald Trump and Pope Francis criticize cancel-culture – albeit for different reasons. The politician seeing it as a form of totalitarianism and a political weapon used to shame people forcing submission, while the Pontiff sees it as a form of ‘ideological colonisation’ that squashes debate over important issues and a diversity of identity.

Its supporters see it as a vehicle where people who have been marginalized for generations are able to ‘call-out’ offensive and discriminating conduct by powerful people. Where marginalized people and groups can be finally heard.

Still others see it as behaviour almost as old as time, where those in power have utilised ‘cancel-culture’ to hide histories of injustice by silencing or persecuting protestors.

In Luke, chapter 6, Jesus warns his followers plainly that working for the kingdom will lead to persecution by those who have power – a sure sign that they are doing God’s work.

In the second part of the sermon, Jesus counters against a (natural) desire for vengeance when faced with hostility.

“Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return” (Luke 6:35)

And in a final warning against hypocrisy when judging others; first ‘take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye’.

It is all too easy to ‘cancel’ someone or some group in 2022 with just the push of a button. The much harder job is sitting down with our own ‘log’ of attitudes/assumptions and dealing with our own murky history before learning about what ‘specks’ might be in our enemy’s eye.

Maybe, with Christ’s help, when we learn to forgive the enemy in own lives, we may be reader to forgive the other.

Blessings

Ceri

Epiphany 6 - Bruce Willis, Jesus and the dolphin

Reflection for Epiphany 6

‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven…’   Luke 6:22-23a

Some things in life, it seems, people love to hate. Nominations for what I call the ‘anti-Oscars’ – the Razzie Awards – are out. Now in their 42nd year, these nominations are for the worst films and worst performances of 2021. Now I wouldn’t have thought there would have been much production in a year riddled by a pandemic, but I was surprised to read that Bruce Willis has managed to perform in nine (yes 9) movies last year! And as someone critics love to hate, he has been granted a category all of his own with all nine performances nominated!

So, it would seem safe to assume that Bruce Willis won’t be jumping for joy when the vote comes in!

For Luke’s Jesus, following him is certainly not a popularity contest – and in fact he warns that it could lead to being deeply hurt, excluded, reviled and defamed! It would seem that Jesus is warning his followers that they should be braced for something much worse than a Razzie nomination!

On a more serious note, this warning can throw some light on the religious discrimination bill and an attempt of some to exclude students from education facilities based on their gender identity. For such people attempting to do this, the backlash they experienced could be seen as vindication that they are on the right path in following what they believe Jesus taught. And could result in a hardening of their belief that such discrimination is right and correct and in line with the reign of God.

But in our reading from Luke’s gospel this week, Jesus clearly states that any backlash or hate experienced is the result of working to alleviate poverty, oppression and discrimination in the name of the One who welcomes all. And when such work is done, and the backlash happens, the followers of Christ should leap with joy – God is with them.

Which reminded me of the footage of the rescue of a dolphin from shallow water in Port Philip Bay this week.

As the dolphin, finally free and literally ‘wobbling’ its way out towards the bay (its fin rocked from side to side like it was unbalanced), it looked like it was going to get lost once more as it veered back toward the shore. An anxious rescuer tried to swim close enough to head it off.

Then it happened – a flash of its body, a little splash – and the dolphin disappeared beneath the water.

Rescuers reported the absolute joy (‘everyone was so, so happy’) they felt when they saw the splash and dive – sure signs that the dolphin was free!

Blessings

Ceri

Epiphany 5 - I am what I am.....

Reflection - Epiphany 5

Last of all, as to someone untimely born, Christ appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am…            1 Corinthians 15:8-10

I’m not a natural gardener – the colour of my thumb hovers closer to the dark end of the visible spectrum. However, I was disheartened to see one plant which I had been nurturing back to health missing all its leaves one morning! My dismay turned instantly to blaming some wandering possum as I removed the plant and placed it inside for some desperately needed plant triage.

It wasn’t until a couple of days later and a closer inspection that I discovered the culprits. Five incredibly fat and beautifully camouflaged caterpillars had been gorging themselves. With disgust I pulled them off the plant and threw them outside onto the concrete path – thinking they’d be a juicy morsel for some lucky birds.

Later in the day my husband commented that he’d observed one remaining survivor almost at the garden edge, looking ready for an assault on the herb garden. He removed it back onto the concrete. To his astonishment, he noticed later that it was once more poised at the garden’s edge – this time heading for the budding rocket seedlings.

At that point, I said that it deserved to be left alone, and we wondered out loud what kind of butterfly it might eventually become – a very large and peppery looking one I thought - if it managed to get to the rocket!

And after all, a caterpillar’s got to do what a caterpillar must do!

“I am what I am”, says Paul in our reading from Corinthians this week. But not in a self-congratulatory, ‘that’s what nature intended’ kind of way. As someone who deserved to be condemned as a persecutor of the people following Jesus Christ, Paul likens himself to the lowest of the low – ‘someone untimely born’ (how I initially felt about those caterpillars). And yet, through the grace and love of God, Christ appeared to him and Paul marvels at his transformation by this appearance of grace into an apostle! A proclaimer of the good news of Christ.

God’s baptismal promise and gift to us all is a life that is graced and transformed by Christ’s presence and companionship. Whether that is like the lightning bolt of Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus or the very slow realization of something different about ourselves as we journey along life’s road growing in Christ’s presence.

It may help to be like the very hungry and tenacious caterpillar in my garden – ask and you shall receive!

Blessings

Ceri

Epiphany 4 - The Builder

Epiphany 4 – The Builder

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Psalm 71:1-6

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

From my study window I’m watching a house being built. It’s a rather large house, built for a family.  I watched and heard the previous house being demolished, and then a week or so later the slab and concrete hole for the pool were poured. The frame went up pretty quickly, then all was quiet over Christmas.

Scaffolding came next and within a couple of days the roof was installed – providing cover for the builders. Today the windows are being inserted. It’s taking shape pretty quickly and I wonder if the owners are coming by regularly to watch this house being constructed, getting excited with every new development and looking forward to making a home out of the building.

And I wonder how the various builders feel about what they are constructing. From nothing, a dwelling for people. They probably take it in their stride – but I think it is quite amazing – all the skills that go into this event. And then they finish and go onto the next one. I wonder if at the end of a working life, a builder ever counts up all the homes/buildings they have been involved in producing? And thought about all the people who have lived in/worked in what they have built with their own hands?

In our reading from Jeremiah, the prophet speaks of human beings being known by God even before being conceived in their mother’s womb. And the psalmist talks of God as being the one who brings him out of his mother’s womb. Like the builder of a home, the dwelling place that is each of us, known by God and built by God from before the beginning of life.

And it is Paul who, in his famous, ‘hymn of love’, assures Christ followers, that the love of God, perfected in Christ, will never end. We are loved eternally, when, Paul promises, we finally see clearly that love, which has known us from the start.

Praise to God, the builder of us all.

Blessings

Ceri

Epiphany 3 - Mary and Jesus - Faith and Risk

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ John 2:1-5

Probably like many of you, this week I watched the news reports of Australian children lining up to get their first Covid vaccine jab. As the parents caressed their children’s heads gently as they waited in line it occurred to me that I was watching a great gesture of faith in action. That of the parents - faith that the advances in medical science and public health would help protect their loved children as they went about their normal life in the future. Faith that was worth the risk of vaccination.  And trust and faith in the parents on behalf of the children that getting a needle, not something that they would look forward to, was going to help them in the long run. The children I saw looked remarkably upbeat about the whole process!

When ‘the mother of Jesus’ instructs Jesus to do something about the lack of wine at a wedding feast in Cana, the response of Jesus in some ways sounds like a child saying ‘no, I don’t want to!!’. Yet she persists and tells the stewards to ‘do what he says.’

Mary has faith in her son, she knows that he is able to perform the sign that will show that God is with him. And in the end, despite his initial objection, Jesus must have had faith in his mother, as he performs the sign. The sign that points to the God of wonderful, overwhelming generosity as the large barrels of water turn into the finest of wine for the gathered guests.

But rather than leading to the healthy future of her beloved son, Mary must have known that the performing of the sign, while it would draw followers and believers in the message of Jesus, would also draw unwelcome attention and condemnation. Both Mary and Jesus would have known what they were starting with the miracle at Cana. Yet, they both step out into the spotlight, with faith in their God, knowing the risks.

We have much to be grateful for in this mother’s action. Her ministry by her son’s side may have been sidelined and obscured by many centuries of ‘history’, but her action highlights that a journey of faith in God requires courage to face what may come. Not only for ourselves but those we love. And I acknowledge the faith in the loving parents and their children that I saw on my TV screen this week.

Blessings

Ceri

Epiphany 2 - An ill wind is blowing?

Reflection for Second Sunday of Epiphany – the baptism of the Lord

“His winnowing fork is in his hand the clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” Luke 3:17

I’m watching the remnant of Cyclone Seth buffet tree branches early in the week with a new appreciation after learning how ancient Eastern harvesting practices used a judicious amount of good wind to separate wheat seeds from stalks.

First of all, the gathered grain from a variety of fields was placed on a large and open space – the threshing floor - usually located on or near a hill. Cattle were then yoked together and led over the grain, their hooves crushing the stalks which released the seeds.

The mixture was then winnowed – using a large hand-held fork. The mixture was tossed up into the air where the wind did its work. The lighter chaff was usually blown away, followed by the straw. The heavier seeds, the wheat grain, fell back down again to the floor.

This process was repeated again and again until the wind blew little of the air-borne mixture away. This final mixture on the threshing floor contained three levels – the bottom rich in seeds, the second straw and the top layer chaff. Final separation of the three levels was done by hand sieving.

The straw could be used further. The remaining chaff was of no use and was disposed of by burning.

On the surface, it would appear that John’s description of the work of the Messiah to the gathered Israelites in Luke’s gospel sounds more like a warning than good news of the kingdom of God being close at hand.

“He will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire.” Luke 3:16c

But he was foretelling of the Holy Spirit, the wind that would be blowing through God’s gathered people coming for baptism, cleansing and purifying with a final fire. And the end result was a closeness to God – the gathering of the wheat into his barn.

Treasured precious seed.

As the weeks and the Omicron strain progress we may feel like we are being buffeted by an ill wind that continually changes. In this truly unsettling time we hold onto the promise of God who is faithful and who has promised that in our baptism in Christ Jesus we are the most treasured seed, called to grow and spread the good news that no matter what happens God is truly with us all.

So we hold on to this promise, sisters and brothers in Christ. And pray for all people who call Australia home as we negotiate the new reality we face.

Blessings

Ceri

Epiphany - What Shall We Bring?

Epiphany – What Shall We Bring?

In our church calendar, the Christmas Season lasts for 12 days – from December 25th until the evening of January 5th. You may remember the song – ‘On the Twelve Days of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me…..’

January 6th is the start of a new church season – the season of Epiphany – and is marked by the scriptural appearance of the Magi, or wise men:

“In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’                     Matthew 2:1-2

Strangers, non-Jews (gentiles in biblical speak), responding to the rising of a star, travelling from a long distance, arriving at last in the city of Jerusalem. Their eagerness to see the child whose star had led them on the journey so evident in their approach to one who they believed would know the exact location of this miraculous child.

King Herod.

With hindsight we may not think that the men were particularly wise in the ways of power – Herod is truly frightened by their request and, I imagine, worried of a challenger to his own power base.

But indeed, the men were right. Herod did know – once he consulted his own leaders and the prophets of old – Bethlehem was the answer. And we read further of the wise men’s overwhelming joy at the arrival at the house where Mary and Jesus are living, followed by kneeling and paying homage with the offering of gifts from their treasure-chests – gold, frankincense and myrrh.

In some cultures, the Epiphany is called the ‘Little Christmas’. And the gift giving – to children – does not happen until the 6th of January in remembrance of the story of the wise men. The 25th of December is the day that families get together to share a meal and attend a church service.

I’m sure that in our own culture, there could be much salivating over the thought of being able to introduce another ‘Christmas’ into the consumer calendar – (remember how seamlessly American’s Black Friday sales appeared in Australia a few years ago).  Or maybe the opposite – try telling people (especially little ones) that they have to wait another 12 days for presents!

Hmmmmm…..we might shudder at either possibility!

However, for Christ followers, the scriptural appearance of the wise men makes us glad in our hearts that strangers welcomed Jesus into the world where rejection and cruelty would lurk in the wings.

And reminds us that, as well as our prayers for healing and wholeness for ourselves and others, we are also to bring our own gifts to God through Christ.

What are we to bring? Praise and giving thanks, we are told, are a great start!

Blessings

Ceri

Advent 4 - Elizabeth's Words

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!...As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.”

Luke 1:42,44

On the fourth Sunday in Advent we read from Luke’s gospel these beautiful words from one expectant mother to another - cousins: From Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist to Mary, mother of Jesus of Nazareth.

Elizabeth’s words were incorporated into prayer early in Christian practice – the Angelus Prayer – which was accompanied by the ringing of a church bell in a set pattern. This was done for many centuries three times a day – morning, noon, and evening. For many workers, the evening Angelus marked the end of the day’s work. And maybe sparked a moment of thanks for work and a restful evening. Such a prayerful attitude beautifully immortalised in the painting by Jean-François Millet (1857-1859).

We also, at Milton Anglican, ring the Angelus at the start of our Sunday worship. If you live in the immediate vicinity, you may hear it sometimes. And while it may not make us leap with joy, it is a call for us as Christ followers to give thanks and a reminder of who we are – people of God and blessed through figures such as Elizabeth and Mary.

Lord Jesus, light of the world,

blessed is Gabriel, who brought good news;

blessed is Mary, your mother and ours.

Bless your Church preparing for Christmas;

and bless us your children, who long for your coming. Amen

Advent 3 - What should we do then?

“John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance…”What should we do then?’ the crowd asked.” Luke 3:7, 8a, 10

On the 3rd Sunday in Advent we typically light a candle symbolizing joy.

Which can appear to be rather a hollow gesture when we read this week of the pontiff visiting the Mavrovouni camp on the island of Lesbos, where over 2000 asylum-seekers live. Upon listening to the stories of those who live in these camps, Pope Francis discarded his prepared speech to rebuke the European countries who are contemplating building large walls to stop refugees entering their countries.

In an echo of John the Baptist scathing comment to the crowds that gather around him, the pontiff described the neglect of refugees as ‘the shipwreck of civilisation’ and that Europe is entering ‘the era of walls and barbed wire.’

And of course we have walls and barbed wire aplenty in Australia too, and many impediments to people seeking asylum in our country.

So, like the crowd in Luke’s gospel, confronted by John the Baptist, we may well ask:

What should we do then? On a day when we dare to speak of joy?

The joy we dare to speak of is not a joy that ignores the plight of all that are vulnerable, of the misery that engulfs so many who are victims of political powermongering.

It is a joy in the return of Christ, the light of the world, who calls us and empowers us “to overcome the paralysis of fear, the indifference that kills, the cynical disregard that nonchalantly condemns to death those on the fringes,’ in the words of Pope Francis.

So we light the candle of joy this Sunday, reminded of our call in particular to welcome those who come to this beautiful land seeking refuge.

For those who would like to help locally, visit Romero Mercy Community and Baroona Farm Milton.

Blessings

Ceri