Category Archives: Ramblings

A ramble through the week.

Seeking God.

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As we seek after God, what we know will lead us. Even if we start with God is Love, our experience of love will form our thoughts. If our confidence starts with the assertion that what is revealed in the scriptures is sufficient for us to trust God and the promise of God found there is true, who we are in our reading will dictate our path to seeking the Holy.

Holy means beyond knowing yet close, a place of presence, an encounter with mystery. Both love and holiness are the exercise of goodness. Love wills the good and holiness is presence of good. Again our culture and experience, our character and history will define our experience.

That is why I believe silence and stillness to be part of our quest after the divine. That’s why I believe that faith begins with the appreciation of beauty, goodness and justice. What warms our hearts in the moment, what blazes unexpectedly, the arresting presence is the beginning and end of faith. The faithfulness of God in the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus are my beginning and the stillnes and silence strip away the rest, all other thought is purified by the presence of the mystery of the birth, death and resurrection of God in Christ.

The experience that defines our quest after the knowledge of the Holy begins with encountering the end of experience, declaring, here I am before the person and voice of God speaking into our need to know.

When is now for the church?

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Where are we in history? We are promised that as followers of Christ, we will move from glory into glory. The censuses tell us there are fewer of us declaring ourselves Christian though. What’s gone wrong? The self proclamation of belonging to a church or faith system is diminishing and seemingly the system is diminishing in power and influence.

The picture to me is more complex than the statistics suggest. In history the instituted church has done its work it appears to me, and has served its function. Could it be we are in a new phase that won’t appear in a census and this phase has been quietly fermenting all along.

I see the church as having established a culture, a core understanding of mercy, beauty, selfless giving, forgiveness, restitution as justice, care for the poor, care for the widow, a common commitment to fairness for everyone. Where Christianity has been central to a society, the secular society is different. The incarnation of God in Christ has led to the embodiment of godliness and enabled pluralism and equality. Where the word of Christ has been preached we find the habitual virtues of faithfulness, hope and love as expectations.

By faithfulness we mean, that we rest in the faithfulness of the Divine who is righteous and true to his promises revealed to people close to his heart. There is truth. By hope, we live in the light that all will be well and all manner of things will be well; all is not lost in the troubles of the day. God is with us in trials, in pain, in disappointment, to hold us and sustain us. By love we understand a willing of the good for all in a non coersive, self giving, enemy loving way poured out to all. The rule of God is exercised through communities of people gathered in love.

Society that has this foundation of love born of the words of Jesus, has this root may hedge it around with laws and institutions. Democracy and the rule of law with an independent judiciary and a free press exist where Christianity has been. Christian society’s life blood is the heart of the people moulded by the word of Christ. The estates of nations are instituted by God. Christianity may have moulded these but the institutions are not God’s rule.

Is the new phase where those who draw succour from Christ bring life, without the rod of power? Could it be that in this phase we see the irrepressible growth of the truly catholic church? Is this where the glory increases, where the kingdom of God is revealed to be not of this world, where speaking truth to power is not having power?

A call to practice.

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To find stillness, to rest in who we are, to know ourselves… As we rest and everything falls away, we find the good; we are resting in our being, our wellbeing. In all circumstances, for a moment, we can know good. For a moment we are found.

In our knowing we find ourselves in the presence of a person beyond knowing; a person beyond naming. The moment is not empty, and we know goodness.

To find the stillness we need to stop and open our eyes, stop and listen. The stillness creates longing and draws us to good. We are filled to will the good in every circumstance, called to the fulfilment of all good. As we become aware, all attachments fall away; everything that binds us becomes plain and we find the beginning and end of all things. And so wholeness is opened to us.

In Christ this wholeness is named, the beginning and the end, who teaches us to call the one beyond knowing, Father.

For this he died and in him we die to all our lacks, all our attachments, all our false hopes, as we trust in his goodness, his loving embrace.

We are not ashamed of this good news of grace. In the moment, in all circumstances, though we are of the soil and to the soil we will return, we find wisdom. Our senses are alive and life calls us to be fruitful, to draw from the fount of all being, draw from the living wellspring, draw from Christ, and filled, pour ourselves out.

In this being, all is redeemed, all pain, all suffering, every tear is grounded in joy, earthed in a radical sense of purpose: to love.

Come Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us!

Wholeness

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Catholic means whole; the entirety. To be catholic is to be part of the ever flowing fulness of creation and to embody all in one reality.

My friend Peter being confirmed in the catholic church.

The word catholic attached to the church seeks to express its fulness, its finality, the embodiment of Christ in creation being all that there is. A catholic church is a church that encompasses mind, body and spirit and brings meaning to everything.

In history this wholeness became centred around the bishop, the embodiment of apostolic succession around whom the people gathered. Soon the heavenly hierarchy of angels and archangels achieved its earthly equivalent in the order of bishops, priests, monks and the layity, each afforded its place, each expressing a misunderstood truth, once again obscuring the mystery of the incarnation.

Sadly this system became sanctified and an unholy order was established. The gifts given for the upbuilding of the church became a structure upholding the state and the status quo, so that slaves remained slaves and tribes were separated, patriarchy established. Culture took over and the message of catholicity was lost, a shadow of its original meaning becoming simply another word for universal; permission for men to engage in power struggles; an excuse for men to engage in conquest and colonisation.

Catholic goes beyond the universal and expresses the all that is in all, the fulness of God present in space and time, the body of Christ.

We are so wedded to the visible church, its hierarchy and forms, we miss the coming of Jesus. He is to come and he is here.

Would that we would open our eyes and see Christ not in the picture and the frame but in the reality, the truth and the life, the way we are being invited to live. God is love and in the catholic church heaven is found on earth.

Abundance

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For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. http://esv.to/Rom5.17

Each one of has come into this world through the anxiety of separation, formed by less than perfect contexts. Though each of us is conceived from the beginning as good by a good God and eternally loved by him, we are parented in suffering by fallible parents. In God there is abundant grace and in Jesus God the deliverer is revealed. By his life, death and resurrection we know the perfect revelation of God, Father, Son and Spirit. By turning to him in life we receive healing and forgiveness. The light within us leads us to the light of life, to abundant life in Jesus our anointed savior.

Of cursing and millstones

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21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. http://esv.to/1Cor16.21-24

I don’t know if like me verse 22 leapt out for you. I wonder, given how high minded and judgemental the gathering at Corinth was, if this was Paul’s terse summing up of the message of love: if it doesn’t look like love then it isn’t God.

Jesus often referred to those gathered to him as little children and said to those chosen to lead that it would be better to tie a millstone round their necks and be drowned than cause one of these to fall. It can be easy to ignore the messages of cursing and drowning as mere hyperbole; bigged up, but not serious. But look around you.

It seems to be the wile of those in authority to wield it for the sake of position and power. How many are scattered and divided from the flock for the sake of an idea or being right?

I myself lament the showing of the yellow card, the last chance, to others. I can only pray: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner, and seek to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.

The lost sheep was part of the flock and the prodigal son a member of the family. We have a job to do.

Deep calls to deep

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By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. http://esv.to/Ps42.8

It’s hard not to feel detached, separated from the community we love. The ever-flowing divine community, God, Father, Son and Spirit proclaims his love for us and sings over us. In these times, to love and to praise are our prayer causing us know God in the normal, yes, looking forward to a time of festival and being together, but living the life God has given us today in it’s fullness.

Consent

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Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve…
So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd. http://esv.to/Luke22.3-6

What’s the back story; certainly behind the story is a real person with a past and a hoped for future. We know he killed himself after the event. To pity or to scorn?

He chose: something consumed him. Was it a false hope? Whether we believe he was on an inevitable path or was destined to betray Jesus, Judas consented and Jesus gave himself up to be killed. By welcoming Judas as his friend, discipling him and sharing his bread with him, Jesus prepared the way.

Judas was there when Jesus spoke of his death. He heard the voice of God. He consented to Jesus being given up as a sacrifice but this time no angels stepped in to prevent the sacrifice. No lamb was provided; Jesus died. He was slaughtered for our sakes and bore the sin of the world and the wrath of God at that sin.

Judas died. He betrayed his saviour. I find myself emotionally conflicted over this pitiful man.

God it’s a mess. God, how wonderful to be human and have this care at our hearts pointing to a love beyond understanding! Help me today not to betray you Jesus; lead us not into temptation. Save us from our selves.

Walk

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This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. http://esv.to/1John1.5

Grace is the free gift of God. The free gift is that Jesus takes upon himself our sin. Christ is our sin bearer. In him bearing our sin, we are made righteous, not of our own doing but through faith in the work of Jesus on the cross.

Jesus is our only hope and it is by grace we are saved from the slavery of sin. We are redeemed through his death. We are saved from pursuing a life of futility and pride. We are subject to futility and pursue violence listening to the lies of the Satan. This is the wide way we all travel that leads us away from goodness.

The narrow way is to be found in Christ, strengthened by hope in him. We all wander, we all miss the mark, but God in his divine mercy seeks each of us out and offers us the way of life. As we turn to the ways of life we are purified. We choose life and know forgiveness.

In Christ sin and death are no more. Jesus in his humanity has defeated the power of death on the mess of the cross. The innocent victim has paid the price of pride and violence and bears all of our sin.

From the beginning God creates this space for love to be poured out. In the beginning he poured himself out to create this space where love might dwell. In Jesus he pours himself out for us so that we are forgiven.

All creation is in God and he is in everything, shining his light in everyone. He is the light that shines in everyone. Each is loved; all life is sacred. All life is blessed; choose life. The cross opens the way for us to return to God.

In creation God opens the way through prayer. Prayer is the way through which God acts. Each person through prayer is called to partake in the divinity of God. This is our purpose. Jesus, fully human and fully God prays. Jesus’ authority is exercised through prayer and he calls us to follow him. He has shown us the way. He is meek and humble. In him we know God is our Father and we can walk with him.