Freedom Bound!

Creation Sermon - Genesis 1

2009-02-04T16:17:00.001Z

In 586 BC
the Hebrew people had witnessed the destruction
of the Kingdom of Judah
by Nebuzar-adan
the captain of king Nebuchadnezzar’s body guard.

He had razed towns and villages to the ground,
split families,
burned crops,
stolen wealth,
and deported the Judaean nobility and leading citizens
to Babylon.

Perhaps most painfully,
certainly most symbolically,
the temple in Jerusalem,
built by King David himself,
was destroyed.

Gone was the worship,
gone the sacrifices,
gone the priesthood,
it was all over.

They even lost their language –
Hebrew was supplanted by the tongue of their captors – Aramaic
which 500 years later
would be a carpenter from Nazareth’s native tongue.

“How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”

The dream was over.

And they could not forget it.
Babylon was no shy beast,
her glory was on evident display,
as any who see their work
in the British Museum
will know.

Statues of gods looked out proudly over the people.

Sin – the sun god
Harran – the moon god
Anu, Enlil and Ea - gods of the dome of the sky
Apsu– the god of the sea and rivers
Nisroch – god of crops and fruit
Lahar – god of cattle and beasts
and Marduk – the god of life

And these statues reminded the Hebrews
of their predicament.
a people lorded over by new masters,
speaking a new language
and with their homes
and faith destroyed.
With no temple,
no sacrifices,
their God defeated,
what did they have?

“How can I sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”

And so they told the stories from home
the stories about Abraham
and Sarah
and Moses
and Miriam
and Aaron.
And the stories took shapes
that could be remembered
and one day written down.

And they heard the stories of the Babylonians,
the flood and the Utnapishtim’s ark with its animals,
of the fiery angels who flew round the thrones of gods,
and the story of the creation of the world
from the waters of tiamat – of chaos.

And they began to retell these tales.
And like the enslaved after them,
from Roman to African slave,
they subverted their captors’ tales.

Noah not only had an Ark
but he witnessed the destruction of the proud,
the proud like the Babylonians.

The God of the burning bush
now also had seraphim,
literally burning ones,
who flew round God’s throne,
and the fiery ones of the Babylonians
worshipped the Hebrew God!

And then the Enûma Eliš
the Babylonian creation story.
The Hebrews retold this creation story,
but with a subverting current,
they told it against their captors,
and they even used the Babylonian seven day week…..

You have the night and day god?
Our God created night and day!

You have the dome gods?
Our God created your dome!

You have the water god?
Our God created the waters!

You have the crop god?
Our God created the crops!

You have sun and moon gods?
Our God created the sun and moon!

You have the god of the sea?
Our God created the sea!

You have the god of cattle?
Our God created the cattle!

With its repeated refrain,
There was evening and there was morning – the first day.
There was evening and there was morning – the second day….
And it’s repeated lines,
and God said,
and God said….
This song could be learned and chanted by the oppressed.

Like the afro-american spirituals
with their hidden anti-slavery meanings
Genesis chapter one,
the first of two different creation stories in Genesis,
was not a plodding explanation of the world,
but a song of hope and faith!
A song of high revolt!
A song of belief that their God of justice and freedom,
was above the gods of those who oppressed them.

And that freedom and justice did come,
and the gods of the Babylonians were lost in history,
in unexpected ways,
fulfilling the hope of the Hebrew song.
A song once sung by the captors,
but retold by the enslaved,
was remembered and recorded in rebuilt Jerusalem!

And then,
five centuries after the song had been sung
amongst Babylonian statues,
Yeshua ben Yosef,
Jesus son of Joseph,
who knew that song,
walked among the statues of mighty Rome,
of Jupiter and Mars and Caesar,
and went down to the waters,
where the Spirit
which the song spoke of brooding over creation,
hovered over him.
And he descended into the chaos of the world,
into its temptations and horrors,
in order to sing the song again.
A song of hope,
of justice,
of love,
of faith.
A song stronger than the one oppressors sing.
And coming out of the waters,
baptised, drenched, in that commission,
Jesus took up the song,
that leads through captivity
to true freedom from others’
and our own
hatreds, fears and oppression.

And now, 25 centuries after Babylon,
we are invited to allow the spirit to move us,
we who are baptised in the name of the Hebrew God,
to recite Genesis chapter one –
not as some trite, mindless explanation against science,
but as what it always has been,
a song of future hope,
of justice,
of faith,
of freedom,
before which fiery angels
and oppressors
bow down before!

Christmas Sermon

2009-02-04T16:12:00.002Z

God said “let there be light”

The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it.

The Christmas stories are full of light and darkness.

Stars, and shining angels,
in the middles of darkness.

Yet we hear about this light so often
that we may miss it in the story.

Where is the light?

Where is the darkness in the Christmas stories?

Let us remember the story and look for the light and the darkness.

Upstairs in their house in Bethlehem,
Joseph’s family huddle safe behind closed doors.

They are safe from soldiers who march the streets
reminding them daily of the occupation of their country.
Safe from the influx of visitors
who have invaded their quiet town.

With the animals in the lower storey of the house,
the family slept the night in the family space upstairs,
the “kataluma”.

They knew how important family was
– and the importance of family values.
The family must be held in honour
and shame avoided at all costs.

So when their relative from Nazareth turned up
unmarried and with his pregnant girlfriend in toe
there was certainly no room for them in the kataluma,
a word sometimes also translated as Inn –
but here it is the family living space –
and instead they offered a place downstairs with the animals.

This is no kindly inn-keeper offering a stable
but a disgusted and proud family sending a pregnant girl
and her boyfriend
to sleep with the animals..
Because they knew what people thought of Joseph’s type.

So they were kept downstairs.

After all – what would the neighbours think otherwise?

So downstairs in the house in Bethlehem,
Joseph and Mary huddle with the animals.

Rejected by his family,
Joseph stays by the side of his disgraced fiancée,
in spite of the shame it has brought on him,
and the uncertain future it may bring.
Even if his family disapprove of his lifestyle.

Upstairs in the living space with family values and rejection
downstairs with the animals and public shame and love that risks everything.

Where is the darkness?

Where is the light?

In the synagogue in Bethlehem sit the local religious leaders.
They know who is in who is out.

To belong to the community you should do things properly
attend worship at the right times
after preparing yourself properly
and wearing smart clothes
and acting in the right way.

It’s not about judging people,
just sometimes you have to be tough
and keep the social order.

In the fields outside Bethlehem sit the local shepherds.
They know who is in who is out.

Their work means they can’t get to the synagogue all the time,
and have to work on the Sabbath.
They can’t do all the actions to keep themselves religiously clean,
and so they aren’t allowed to attend worship
or join in the festivals.
Though folk still eat their lamb
and use their wool.

Yet sometimes these shepherds
who live beyond the pale
see angels in unexpected places
and have to courage to seek peace on earth.

In the synagogue in Bethlehem with the socially acceptable.
In the fields outside Bethlehem with the outcast and angels.

Where is the darkness?

Where is the light?

In the power houses of the capital city are those who know the answers,
and can quote the Word of God to the minutest jot and tittle.
They tell folk what God says
and make sure that other people accept their authority.

They know that sometimes drastic action needs to be taken
for God’s word to be kept,
and for those to whom it is entrusted to keep control.

So when rumours of a new religious leader reach their ears
they know it may take violence to keep their power pure
and their version of faith and God’s control in place.
So children are slaughtered by soldiers
in the name of God ordained power
and by those reading God’s Word.

On the roads to the capital are those from distant lands,
foreigners who speak a different language,
who call God by a different name,
read different religious books
and are open minded enough to travel
and meet people who believe differently to them,
and listen to them,
and change their own ideas,
in order to discover a bigger truth than the one they thought they knew.

In the power houses of the capital city
On the roads to the capital

Where is the darkness?

Where is the light?

And tonight,

tonight, here in Bournemouth,

Where is the darkness?

Where is the light?

Where is darkness of judging others, and social seeking and close minded bigotry?

Where is the light of selfless love, outcasts who meet God and those with open minds?

Where are we?

Jesus said “You are the light of the world.”

All hearts are open

2008-11-20T03:13:00.007Z

Well - it's been ages.....

After a really difficult first few months of the year, with horrible revelations and betrayals and with them the ending of my relationship, I had a great summer finding my feet, laughing LOTS, having an amazing Greenbelt, and being surrounded by amazing friends - some I'd known for years (Graeme, Su, Marty, Marcos...... and Mark proving his friendship and love so amazingly - i'll never forget how quickly he was at my side when I most needed him) and some brand new friends who have also turned out to be gold (Kevin, Nate, and Ant - I am so glad to have met you guys!!). Life has been fab - a grain needs to die etc..... and a new crop comes! By the time I got to Greenbelt (that spiritual and prophetic centre of my life) I felt fab!

BUT things then got even better.......

Just when i was centred, happy, sunny....I went and fell in love. Yay! I met the most amazing guy and it has all been awesome. He is funny, intelligent, inspiring, witty, loving, charming, sexy (oh boy!) - ok, ok, you get the impression I like him? LOL

I feel like me again. :-)

So now it's November and I'm heading from All Saints to Advent. This time of year I always read a text from my own tradition. This year I'm reading "The Cloud of Unknowing". Like many of the fab things in my life it is anonymous and mediaeval! LOL!

The book is about realising that knowledge is relational, that the heart beat of our life is love and embracing the mystery at the heart of all things pimarily through love. I love books and knowing stuff - but know that my life finds meaning in love (as the last two months testfy!). To enter into love is to enter the cloud of unknowing....in a real, lived-out, practical way.

What is "God"? - i don't know. Certainly (if that is anyway possible!) not the god of the fundamentalist nor the strawman of the radical atheist. I don't recognise those transparent deities. Yet there is a love at the centre of all things that i have discovered in and through the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth and in his person. It is a way - a word beyond words. We may as well call it "God" I guess. It is expressed by ++Tutu:

Goodness is stronger than evil,love is stronger than hate,light is stronger than darkness,life is stronger than death,victory is ours through him who loved us.

That is the mystery - that love will out. And the Cloud of Unknowing is about daring to approach that radical loving and to risk living it ( this is no vague, squshy love - this is the stuff that makes you feed the starving after all... ).

I hope i can learn to live this - cos i know that love does conquer all. A certain someone has transfomed my world with it....

The book begins with my favourite prayer. I've known it all my life and it is an English prayer - first known in the English Mediaeval Mass, where it looked like this:

Deus, cui omne cor patet,

et omnis voluntas loquitur,

et quem nullum latet secretum,

purifica per infusionem Sancti Spiritum

congetationis cordis nostri,

ut te perfecte diligere

et digne laudere mercamur.

The Cloud of Unknowing translates it:

God, unto whom all hearts be open,

and unto whom all will speaketh,

and unto whom no privy thing is hid.

I beseech thee so for the cleanse

the intent of mine heart

with the unspeakable gift of thy grace,

that I may perfectly love thee,

and worthily praise thee.

The version I grew up with was a modernisation of ++Cranmer's one in the book of common prayer:

Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open,

all desiers known,

and from whom no secrets are hidden.

Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts

by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,

that we may perfectly love you

and worthily magnify your holy name,

through Christ our Lord.

Yum!

I'll let you know how the book goes.

I am

2008-10-02T22:11:00.003+01:00

Loved this today on Asbojesus.....

Asbojesus is one of my fave blogs - always worth a visit or three.

The price of love......

2008-10-02T13:13:00.002+01:00

....committed same sex love at least....

Some odd pics

2008-10-01T18:40:00.003+01:00

The West Window of Salisbury Cathedral,

reflected in the new font.

An outside service with inspiring Iona folk.....

Mmmmmmmmm hot chocolate!

But the company made this so good.....

Greenbelt quotes

2008-10-01T18:07:00.003+01:00

As always, Greenbelt was awesome!

Lots of special times - many in the beer tent - but some challenging stuff too.....so two for you which really jump out of my notebook:

We read the Gospel as if we had no money,
and spend our money as if there were no Gospel. (Christian Aid)

and a reason why we never get of our arses and change the world....

I think I'm waiting to be Jesus. (Aradhna - amazing band!!)

Pick up your cross

2008-10-01T17:53:00.002+01:00

Oh boy - let this slip again.....!!! Blame Facebook!

Firstly, a sermon from ages back....

Will you come and follow me,
if I but call your name?

Carrying crosses is never easy.
There is no place to put a handle,
no way of folding it neatly away,
no way of hiding it.

The call to carry your cross
is a call to live out your life following Jesus
at the risk of public disgrace.

Jesus calls you to love radically and outrageously
in public.
To give your whole life to loving his way.
You cannot carry a cross
half-heartedly
or secretly.

And simply preaching at people
to tell them you are carrying Jesus’ cross
is not the same as carrying it.

If you choose to care for the hurting,
to love the unloved,
to stand with those others find disgusting,
to speak for those with silenced voices -
your manner of life may draw attention to you.
Those who feel exposed by your radical loving
may choose to attack you in order to remove the spotlight from themselves.
They will find names to belittle you,
even mine the scriptures
for words they can throw
in order seemingly to have God on their side.

Just as happened to Jesus as he went to Jerusalem
and took up his cross.

And he calls us now to do the same.

To risk the hostile stare,
and carry on loving inclusively and completely.

Will you come and follow me,
if I but call your name?

The call to carry your cross
is a call to live out your life following Jesus
at the risk of your loving being unnoticed.

How often had Jesus healed and made whole,
touched and held,
and fed and brought new life
to the folk around him.

And yet on the way to the Cross
the love shown
is forgotten by those determined to hate.

Your love may also be missed by the crowds.

Jesus calls you to love radically and outrageously
even if no-one thanks you
or gives you honour.
To give your whole life to loving his way.
You cannot carry a cross half-heartedly
or without risk.

People may ignore your loving,
and not seek to praise you.

Just as happened to Jesus as he went to Jerusalem
and took up his cross.

And he calls us now to do the same.

To live at risk of being unseen,
and carry on loving inclusively and completely.

Will you come and follow me,
if I but call your name?

Carrying crosses is never dignified.
There is no place to hide on a cross,
no suit to disguise your nakedness,
no way of hiding your very self
as vulnerability and pain reveal the self you’d rather hide.

The call to carry your cross
is a call to live out your life following Jesus
as yourself, loved and vulnerable.

Carrying your cross
will show up all that is in you,
anger and hatred
prejudice and bigotry
are all shown up when we have to struggle.

You could claim a lemon was an orange
but under pressure
you soon know what juice it contains.

Jesus calls us to carry the cross of vulnerability,
to discover what is really in us.
But carrying the cross does more than
simply reveal what is in you
it is the way of healing.
When revealing what is in you
Jesus wants you to know that you are loved
not the you you pretend to be
but the real you that you hide inside.

Knowing that you are loved
is part of carrying your cross –
letting go of the way you may attack others
to reflect attention away from your true self,
or beat up yourself in disgust.
And as more and more
you find yourself loved
so more and more
you find that you can love God and others
as you love your self.
For this is carrying your cross.

Maybe for the first time in your life
you may find your true self on show.

Just as happened to Jesus as he went to Jerusalem
and took up his cross.

And he calls us now to do the same.

To live at risk of true healing vulnerability,
and carry on loving inclusively and completely.

Will you come and follow me,
if I but call your name?

To carry your cross and follow Jesus

is a call to live out your life
at the risk of public disgrace,
is a call to live out your life
at the risk of your loving being unnoticed,
is a call to live out your life
as yourself, loved and vulnerable.

Because it is the call to abundant life,
true life,
life that transforms the world around.

Will you come and follow me,
if I but call your name?

+Gene pronounces blessing.....

2008-08-18T02:26:00.003+01:00

I found this today via his holiness Fr Madpriest...

Great words with which to head to Greenbelt - so this is for all who will go there with me, and for those I leave behind to make my pilgrimage...

I think I shall be learning these words.

cake!

2008-08-15T01:23:00.002+01:00

Why is it that the gym has food programmes on the tv's when I'm trying to think about the X-Trainer? Thank goodness the guy in front had a nice arse to distract me!

Gorau awen gwirionedd

2008-08-10T21:18:00.004+01:00

Well - it's five months since I blogged, and after some nagging from unexpected friends (I really thought it was only the holy ones who read this.....!!) I'm finally back.

The big thing since my last post was breaking up with my partner of four years. Lots of tears and pain..... those who know me well know the details and those who don't can safely leave it all in the past....

Work, in spite of the machinations of several episcopal bigots, is fab and keeps me fed and feeding which can't be bad. Read some good stuff, seen the odd good film (go and bop to Mama Mia if you haven't yet!), had a fab holiday (Gran Canaria with two ace guys), being looked after by awesome old friends and making some great new ones, some fab dates :-), and got my life back in gear.....

Through all of it I kept returning to a Welsh expression - Gorau awen gwirionedd - the best inspiration (lit: muse) is truth......

Anyway - I need an early night due to the Olympics last night (watching NOT participating) so catch you soon.

xxx

suffering in silence...?

2008-03-08T10:47:00.004Z

Tomorrow is Passion Sunday (in the Anglican Church - it's next week in the Roman Catholic Church, but that's a whole other story!).

Passio is the Latin for suffering. Of course the suffering of Jesus on the cross, his passion. But it gives us time to be honest about our own.

My sermon tries to encourage us to do that. I nicked some of the words from John Bell - they were too good not to share. Some of it is mine. Some of it may be helpful.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.

Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive

to the voice of my supplications!

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep.

God does not guarantee a painless life.

The bones of dinosaurs
who walked the earth millions of years before men and women,
show evidence of cancer.

There have always been fault lines in creation.

The issue is not how to escape hurt,
but how to handle it.

We are often surrounded by stories of pain
and unwarranted suffering,
and the apparent disinterested randomness of natural disaster.

And you wonder ... you wonder ...
what kind of world is it ...
and what kind of God is it
who allows one person to live into old age,
and another young person in their prime,
with their life just beginning to bear fruit,
to be cut down.

Phrases like `only the good die young' are no comfort.
There's an injustice in it all.

Why does God let one person live into old age,
and complete their life's work-
yet cut others off in their prime?

But more,
why should those who never give a tinker's curse
about the establishment of justice and human wholeness be spared,
and those who are committed to these things
be separated in death from all that they could have done
and all they were doing?

One of the very discomforting things
that we have to cope with is that whatever else it is,
the way of Jesus is not an inoculation
against road accidents,
cancers,
persecution
suffering
and death.

Much though we might like it to be so,
much as we hope fervently it might be,
when we say our prayers for our safety
and the safety of our loved ones,
we seem to get even treatment
with those who never utter a prayer
when it comes to accident and illness.

Though truth to tell,
from our Bibles we see that is not a new insight.

The Bible has scarcely begun when Cain kills Abel ...
a man in whom God was well pleased;
Samson, for no evil in him,
gets his eyes gouged out and dies in his prime;
David loses an infant child
and then his son Absalom;
and Stephen,
hardly a year into his discipleship,
is hideously stoned to death.

It would seem that no-one is favoured
when it comes to death and danger.
There is no insurance policy,
no ethereal safety-net
preventing the faithful from falling off a cliff
or falling under the wheels of a car.

So how are we to respond? ... when disaster strikes.

Have we just to grin and bear it,

say it's a hard life?

I want to suggest not the answer,
or even a clue to the answer,
of the mystery of hideous suffering
or untimely death.
But I do believe that there are ways
in which followers of Jesus should respond.

We should respond with honesty,
deep honesty.
If someone we love dies suddenly,
is killed,
is diagnosed as having a fatal illness,
and we feel aggrieved at this,
angry about it,
then the last thing we should do is put on a mask of false piety.
We should be angry!
We should complain to God!
We should ask why!
And we should not be afraid to do that.

For God is not some fragile doll
who will fall off the perch if our voice or our temper rises,
if we dare to tell the truth.
And no one,
no one in the Bible
was ever told off by God
for being justifiably angry, or confused or hurt.

If that were the case,
Jeremiah would have been struck down
a hundred times for arguing with God.

If it were the case that God didn't like complaints,
a third of the Psalms would never have been written.

If Jesus had no time for people complaining,
then when Mary came to see him and said,
`Lord, if you had been there, my brother would not have died!',
Jesus would have told her
to shut up and get on with her life.

But no, what does he do? ...
He listens to Mary's anguish, anger, sorrow,
he sees her tears
and then he cries himself.

God enters into grief
when we share that grief with him.
To refuse to grieve,
to suppress anger,
to avoid shouting at heaven
the things we mumble on earth,
is to keep God out.

We know those we love
not when they pretend to be fine
but when they are honest about their pain.
Only then is relationship real.

When bad things happen to good people,
when the innocent lose their lives,
we express our outrage,
when we suffer,
we show our true feelings ...
to let God in.

As Jesus walks the way of the cross,
from palm-led procession to demanded death-sentence,
we see that suffering is universal,
even for the innocent,
and as we try to share those sufferings,
we are invited to be honest about our own.

Let us pray.

What did they think, Lord,
those who watched you cry in front of women,
in front of men,
for your dead friend?

Did they admire your tenderness having seen your toughness?
Were they disgusted by your tears and loss of self control?
Or were they drawn into your sorrowfor the plight of the worldand the pain of its people?

For, Christ,
you wept
when grief was raw.

Just for Marcos....

2008-02-16T01:17:00.000Z

¡Hola!

Percy points the way

2008-02-11T17:30:00.000Z

I love Percy Dearmer - he is one of my absolute heroes.

Recently, I'm geekish enough to be rereading his "The story of the Prayer Book" and a sentence in a chapter on the first English prayer book really shone out. It's represents the vision of Anglicanism that I wholeheartedly say Amen to! He may be writing about 16th century liturgy and how it reflects the "English Character" (I wish!), but it's true for how the whole Church should be....

[The First Prayer Book] is indeed throughout an exemplar of what we proudly claim as one of the best elements in the English character: alike in ritual, that is, in the wording of services, and in ceremonial, it endeavours to avoid the extremes of bigots and fanatics, seeking to establish what is true and right without regard to prejudices, reactions, and the cruel generalizations so characteristic of religious controversy.

If ever we needed this man back, it's now!

Welcome!

2008-02-07T18:26:00.000Z

Cheers to Mario for sending me this one! (And it's so way past time he blogged!)

And where have you been....?

2008-02-07T09:04:00.000Z

Having disappeared into the ether way before Christmas - finally I return!

Most of the past few months of my life have been taken up turning things like this.....

...into this....

But more of that later.

Last night was Ash Wednesday and Mass was fab. I'm not really a Lent type person, it's all a bit somber for me - give me Advent and Christmas, with all their English traditions, beautiful ancient music and candles burning in the dark any time - but last night I was really hit by a sense of wanting to get back to simply following Jesus, which is what Lent is all about I guess. It's so special putting ash on peoples' foreheads as they come forward in church - the sense of shared humanity not just through the words but through the very act of touching them is holy. Before the Tories (spits) debased the term, it really is about getting back to basics.

Sadly the congregation had to listen to me preach - and don't think you can get away with it, here is what I offered.....

ASH WEDNESDAY SERMON

Here we are

the echoes of police car sirens
and of the trundling of escalators;
the call of door bells
and of the ringing of mobile phones;
the demands of alarm clocks
and of the spring in the toaster;

Here we are

the foot falls that surround us,
the cries of children,
and the Big Issue seller pricking our conscience;
the worrying rattle in the car,
the squeak of a familiar step,
and gurgling of the washing machine.

Here we are

the theme tune to Hollyoaks,
the call of seagulls,
and reminder that the shop is closing;
the crash of waves,
the brakes of the bus,
and the thud of the morning post.

Here we are.

And in this noisy place,
surrounded by the echoes of our daily lives,
the desert may seem a beautiful place to be.
A retreat where the starlight is not drowned out,
where silence brings peace,
and where the starkness denies complexity.

And tonight
it may seem a relief
that the Church calls us to go into the desert,
to leave behind our business and noise,
and to celebrate the starlight,
and the stark silence.

To find a place to which we can escape.

But the Lenten desert
offers us no such easy place.

It is not easy
because we do not go there alone.

Of course the God of the burning bush
goes before us into the desert.
The God who is always surprising us,
who will challenge us to see God
not as we have made God,
but as a dancing flame,
unpredictable,
unexpected,
challenging,
changing our preconceptions.

We will be challenged to listen to the call of our God,
not as we hope it will be,
nor as we make it,
but as challenging and unexpected as it was to Moses.
And if we meet a God who does not surprise us
it is not the God of Moses that we have found.

Of course
we are called to meet with God in the desert.

But it is not only God whom we will meet.

Tonight sisters and brothers,
you are called to journey into the desert
to meet yourself.

You are challenged to meet yourself as you truly are.
With all your temptations and demons.

In the desert there is no noise
to drown out your demons
or silence your lusts.
There is no audience to play to
or other folk at whom to point
in order to detract attention from yourself.

In the desert
you will be stripped of the allure of your prejudices,
your lust for power,
the desire to judge others,
and the longing for personal gain;
because none of these things bring life.

And there is the key to our call to the Lenten desert.

God does not call us into the desert
to point out our sin,
or to humiliate us,
or to threaten us,
or to make us grovel.
No.
God calls us into the desert
that we may see more clearly
the things that deny our God-given potential,
that strangle our ability to love,
that make us less than we can be.
Our prejudices,
our fears,
our power-seeking,
can be stripped away in the desert,
so that we may live abundantly.

Remember the words echoing in Jesus’ ears
as he responded to the desert call:
“this is my son,
the beloved,
with whom I am well pleased.”

We enter the Lenten desert,
not aware of a God who is repulsed by us,
but of a God of absolute love,
who is love.
And who sees our potential to love.

And when, very soon,
we are invited to receive ashes,
and to be reminded of our humanity,
it is knowing that we are made in God’s image,
and that God longs to restore us,
lovingly,
making us whole.

Jesus returned from the desert,
having faced the things
that could have stopped his potential,
and having turned from them,
began his ministry of outrageous love.

We are called to do the same tonight.
Knowing our dust-from-dust,
God-created,
God-loved humanity,
we are called to enter the desert.
The place where we can face
our prejudices,
our longing for power over others,
and our desire to judge;
and turn from them.
So that we may leave the desert more loving,
more ourselves.

And all this is for one thing,
that you may discover more and more how to love.
To love your self,
(the one whom you find in the desert,)
to love your neighbour as yourself,
and to love the God who met you there.

Clap your hands!

2007-12-03T22:50:00.000Z

I preached at High Mass on Advent Sunday. For me it's the second highlight of the church year (the first is the first Mass of Christmas!), but it was special for me in more ways than just the date this year.

Part way through my sermon, as i spoke against the fear-mongers in the anti-gay brigade, my somewhat elderly, English, mainly straight congregation spontanaeously clapped!!!
They even cheered!!! In the middle of a high anglican mass!!!! It was awesome. I LOVE THEM! Just when you think the Kingdom will never come you find it's right here among us......and there's nothing *they* can do about it.

Some have asked to read the sermon - which is sweet, especially as you were gonna get it anyway! ;-) I've marked in bold the point where my congregation cheered and applauded.

Deo Gratias!

As Chicken-licken was going one day to the wood, whack! An acorn fell from a tree on to his head."Gracious goodness me!" said Chicken-licken, "the sky must have fallen; I must go and tell the King."So Chicken-licken turned back, and met Henny-penny."Well, Henny-penny, where are you going?" said he."I'm going to the wood," said she."Oh, Henny-penny, don't go!" said he, "for as I was going the sky fell on to my head, and I'm going to tell the King."So Henny-penny turned back with Chicken-licken, and met Turkey-lurkey. "I'm going to the wood," said he.Then Henny-penny said: "Oh, Turkey-lurkey, don't go, for I was going, and I met Chicken-licken, and Chicken-licken had been at the wood, and the sky had fallen on to his head, and we are going to tell the King."So Turkey-lurkey turned back, and they met Ducky-lucky….

And the story continues,
as we all know,
with Goose-loosey, and Drakey-lakeyand all the gang.

Of course, chicken licken had a point.
After all, he had the evidence.
The sky was falling,
and Goosey Loosey and Henny Penny and friends
joined the panicand ran……

Chicken Licken is a story about scaremongers,
folk who don’t dare to question their assumptions,
and who drum up panic.

“The sky is falling!”

And it’s a story about people who allow these scaremongersto make decisions for them.
People who don’t ask questions about what they’re being told.
No-one even asks Chicken Licken
what evidence he has that it was the sky
they manage to hide the ridiculous nature of his tale
because they accept the call to panic and run…

“The sky is falling!”

The Church has its share of Chicken Lickens,
those doomsday geniuses,
who are sure we face the end of the world,
and who state that what they claim is obviousand expect the rest of us to panic and run.

And often we do.

They notice that global tension is rising,
that disease is spreading,
they even notice tornados.

The sky is falling they tell us,
and fill the falling sky with their own assumptions and fears.

But they never dare to question what they think is obvious.
They never dare to ask if what they say is actually true.

One of these doomsday characters in the United States
is Pat Robertson,
who has the ear of President George Bush Junior.

This man warned the city of Orlando Florida
that if it continued to fill its streets with gay pride flags
it would be struck by a tornado.

This was based on the obvious truth
that God had punished New Orleans for its gay pride march
with horrendous flooding and tornado.

See – the sky is falling down!

But one woman dared to question Robertson’s assumption.
She questioned his obvious evidence.

Janis Walworth investigated the claims
of this Chicken Licken.
She studied the correlation between the occurrence of tornadoes
and the gay population in those places.
She found that higher proportions of gay people lived in areas
with very few tornadoes.

So she went on to ask the question,
where do the tornados occur?

Walworth discovered
that the most tornados actually occurred
in areas with the highest population
of fundamentalist Christians!
Like Pat Robertson and his ilk!

So she cheekily pointed out
that maybe God was angry with them!

But such facts rarely stop the Chicken Lickens
or those who run with them.
They don’t stop to ask questions.

They ignore the words of Jesus that
“you do not know on what day your Lord is coming”.
They sidestep Jesus showing us
that the coming of God’s reign
is not a threat to frighten us into faith,
but an inspiration to liberate us to live faith.

But often they will quote some words from Jesus,
just to give their unquestioned claims
a touch of divine authority,
just in case you were thinking of daring to question them.

Words like:‘There will be …distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world…. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads.’

The Chicken Lickens act as if these words prove their point.
And when combined with their prejudice and assumptions…
and money
and books
and TV programmes
and magazines
and newspaper editorials
they make a frightening cocktail.

“The sky is falling down!”

But when Jesus tells us about the coming reign of God,
he did not drum up panic,
or mindlessly shout “The sky is falling down!”,
Jesus wanted his followers
to greet the world
not with panic and confusion and chaos,
but with confidence that God
was working out God's purposes for peace, joy, and justice.
Jesus is saying,
when it looks like the sky is falling down,
or others claim that it is,
don’t panic,
don’t run around shouting,
don’t get others to join your crusade of fear and hate,
insteadremember God is a God of justice and joy,of wholeness and hope,
and keep on loving and living lives of peace,
because God’s rule is bigger and beyond all this chaos.

The followers of Jesussee the bigger picture.
They look to the skywhen others are shouting that it is falling down,
and they instead focus on
the power and glory and hope of God.

Which way are we looking?

At the chaos in panic?
Or at the glory of our God of justice and hope
and the promise of God’s reign?

Which voices are we listening to?

The ones which say how bad the world is,
which claim to have all the answers,
and know whom to blame,
and shout that the sky is falling down?
Or the voice of Jesus,which calls us to stand up and raise our heads?

Are we listening to
the voices which call us to panic and point fingers,
or the one which calls us to live lives of radical love and peace?

Remember what happens to Chicken Licken
and those who follow him without question…

So Turkey-lurkey turned back and walked with Goosey-loosey, Drakey-lakey, Duckey-lucky, Henny-penny and Chicken-licken. And as they were going along, they met Foxy-loxy. And Foxy-loxy said: "Where are you going?"And they said: "Chicken-licken went to the wood, and the sky fell on to his head, and we are going to tell the King."And Foxy-loxy said: "Come along with me, and I will show you the way."But Foxy-loxy took them into the fox's hole and he and his young ones soon ate up poor Chicken-licken, Henny-penny, Duckey-lucky, Drakey-lakey, Goosey-loosey, and Turkey-lurkey.........................and they never saw the King.

Unexpected peace

2007-11-28T09:16:00.000Z

I've said before that my favourite word is serendipity - and I had some again recently!

The Hebrew word for "Peace" or "Wholeness" is "Shalom" - which in printed Hebrew looks like this: שלום

But when modern Israelis (or anyone!) write Hebrew by hand they don't use the same form of the characters, there's a modern "cursive" version of the alphabet, and when using that the word looks like this:

You can then imagine my joy when I saw this on the hoarding around a building site near Asda's.......

Wholeness and peace among the realities of life - aint that what we all want?

PS: I do wonder who was expected to be able to read this graffitti! Maybe it was for me.....

We all matter

2007-11-11T15:39:00.000Z

Long time no see.

The BF and I are now houseowners and spend most of our non-working life painting, building, ripping down, etc etc etc - we're almost straight!

Anyway - as a break from such macho activities - a bunch of us hit the scene last night. A new mate came along with us. He's only recently come out, and we have the priviledge of being the first mates he's made who are gay and out.

We had a fab time - and it was great to be told by a mutual friend about how relaxed and peaceful and at ease with himself our new mate is these days....since he came out and has met gay guys who do the ironing and drink beer and pay mortgages etc, and can be himself with all his friends.

It reminded me about how important we all are to each other, and how we continue to be so. It reminded me of how when I came out to my mum and dad, my dad's first words were "That sounds like a cue for a hug". How when I told my brother over a beer his first word was "Cool!"!! How Su and I would judge men according to cake flavour as we walked round Tesco's (mmmm - yummy chocolate cake!. How Mark took me by surprise! How mates stand by us and keep us all going (gay or straight). How straight folk in the Church are daring to stand by us gay folk in the Church (Cheers all at OCICBW!).

We all matter to each other.

I remember my dad worrying that he was somehow responsible for me being gay - not cos he thought it was wrong but cos he might have been able to avoid risking me being subject to homophobia. I reminded him that what he did make me was strong and loved enough to be able to cope with homophobia etc.....

We all matter to each other. we're meant to be that way.

So for all you folk a little song:

And for the guys I drank beer with and danced like a madman last night:

Wrestling

2007-10-21T22:18:00.000+01:00

Well - I've been away from blogger-land for way too long. Due to loads of stuff - a fab retreat, nearly dying on the M1 and buying a house among them....

And reading all the Harry Potter books....wow!

I'll give you more details on all that soon (although much of my life is spent doing DIY on the new place at the mo!) - and in the mean time, to keep you entertained [ ;-) ], my sermon from today. It owes a lot to John Bell, but I was chuffed with the stuff about the Bible, which was all me!

The same night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Then the man said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

(Genesis 32. 22-31)

It’s quite a weekend for the sports enthusiast this week,
from rugby pitch to Formula One racing track.

And this week,
in a flight of fancy,
I was wondering
to which sport following Jesus
might be best compared……

Is it a team game, like rugby,
which needs people who are light on their feet up front
and people who are very solid to prop up the rear?

Or is it like cricket
which, from the outside looks absurdly dull,
but which the enthusiasts are keen to assure us is really exciting?

Is it like tennis,
fairly predictable,
but with the word “love” used in public from time to time?

Is it like golf,
something essentially easy – putting a ball into a hole –
until you see the size of the hole, the size of the ball
and how far away they are from one another?

Or is it like snooker,
something which only a few folk can play very well,
but which has a vast army of armchair critics?

And then….
then I remember God’s favourite sport
which isn’t any of these,
which doesn’t require special equipment like tennis,
which doesn’t involve mainly one part of the body like football,
which doesn’t have to be played at a special venue like ice hockey.

It’s a sport that links such unlikely names as
Giant Haystacks
Johnny Storm
and Paul of Tarsus….WRESTLING.

Why is it God’s favourite sport?
Because as distinct from what others might say
or we might think,
to follow Jesus of Nazareth is to be involved in struggling.

At the heart of our faith
is the express intention of God
that our religion should not be
an opiate
a drug,
an escape,
a fundamentalist chant,
but an encounter in which we wrestle and fight and pray.

I want to briefly look at three areas,
arenas,
rings,
in which we are called to wrestle.

Firstly we are called to wrestle with ourselves.

Inside each of us
there is a debating chamber
where we wrestle with our ideas and conscience,
the cause of sleepless nights,
the cause of struggling over decisions,
the place where we can question our own actions,
our desires,
our prejudices.

And this wrestling only works
if we keep it informed.

we need to seek out truth,
to face the reality of our lives and the world,
to allow the teachings of Jesus into our internal wrestling.

The wonderful thing about the teaching of Jesus
is that it informs our conscience
about duty to God …yes
about prayer …yes
about personal morality …yes

but also about what our money is for,
whom our compassion is for,
how rulers should govern,
and the intrinsic value of the natural world.

We need to keep our consciences informed
of all the purposes of God
and the state of our world
in order that we might truly wrestle with them.

Then there is a second ring
in which we are expected to wrestle,
and it is Paul of Tarsus who summons us to combat.

He says:
We are wrestling not against human foes,
but against cosmic powers,
against the authorities and potentates of this dark age,
against the superhuman forces of evil
in the heavenly realm.

What strange words to our ears.
But while we may no longer see the skies
as full of evil spirits desiring to create havoc on the earth,
I don’t think we could deny that there is evidence around us
of the forces of darkness.

Notice what Paul says,
We are wrestling not against human foes
but against cosmic powers.

Too easily we demonise other people.
Our news is full of personalities,
of celebrities,
whom we are dared to ridicule,
or even to hate,
instead of wrestling with real issues,
with cosmic powers.

Often in my work
I meet students who are caught up in the spiral of drug addiction.
I may see the issue as simply
how to help them off their particular drug.

But if I am following Jesus,
if I am hearing Paul’s words,
my struggle has to go further.
It has to do with the cosmic power of evil:
it has to do with iniquity in high places.

It has to address the fact that whenever
in western society,
people are put out of work,
a propensity for alcoholism or drug addiction can quickly follow.
And that is a structural evil.

It has to deal with the global trafficking in drugs,
with cartels and triads.

It has to do with the poorest farmers
harvesting drug crops
with the encouragement of their government,
because national debt is so extortionate
that this is the only crop that can feed their families.

My fight is with the realities of the forces of evil.

This is the difficult and uncomfortable wrestling
we are summoned to,
if we are answering Paul’s call to wrestle.

So we wrestle in ourselves,
and we wrestle with the evil in our world,
but there is a third ring
in which we are summoned to wrestle.
And here we wrestle with the one for whom
wrestling is a favourite sport.
God.

Our story of Jacob this morning,
began with the information that Jacob had two wives,
and ended with an injunction to butchers
not to sell certain meat.

But the centre of the story is about a man,
who, when alone,
is made to wrestle by a total stranger.

And the initiative is the stranger's not Jacob's.

This is not Job wrestling with his doubts
This is not Jeremiah wrestling with his anger
This is not Jesus wrestling in Gethsemane with his vocation.

This is God.
This is God who is the wrestler.
This is God who decides to intervene and upset.

It is not what we pray for!
It is not what we expect of God!

Yet God sometimes irrespective of our wishes
chooses to engage us in a struggle which we would rather avoid.
Perhaps ... perhaps in order that we might know God better.

The people whom I have come to love most dearly
are not necessarily the people who agree with me
or say yes to me every time.
Such people have only shown me
what in them is like me.

The people I have come to love most dearly,
are those with whom I have argued,
and disagreed,
who have said the things I did not want to hear
yet said them in love.
And through the dispute,
through the struggling
I have learned more about them
and have revealed more of myself.

So God, in order that we may know God better,
has always the option to upset us,
to come not just as our friend,
but also as a wrestler,
and, as with Jacob,
to bless us and make us vulnerable.

We are called to wrestle with God in prayer.
We are called to wrestle with God in worship.
And we are called to wrestle with God in the Bible.

Too often we forget how Jesus saw the Bible,
how generations of his followers have seen the Bible,
and we cease to wrestle,
we stop radically engaging with its words.

Instead we turn it into a Christian version of the Qur’an,
and see it as dropped from heaven,
complete, as if given, word by word, to a prophet in a cave.
For the text to be “inspired by God”,
does not mean that it was dictated semi-colon by semi-colon,
because that is not how the God
who wrestled with Jacob,
and argued with Abraham,
and cajoled Moses,
engages with human beings.

There is a reason we do not say “these are the words of the Lord”
after our Bible readings.
Because it is “the Word of the Lord”,
when we wrestle with it.

God inspired the Bible through human lives and cultures,
because God delights in human beings
and doesn’t see us as puppets to be instructed from afar.
God inspired the Bible,
with its conflicting accounts of the same events,
its factual inconsistencies,
and simple contradictions,
– from creation myth to erotic poetry,
from political polemic to the rage of monarchs,
from history to folktale -
and God calls us to wrestle with the words
and there to discover the word of God.

That is how Jesus treated the Bible.
And he roundly condemned folk
who hurled verses at other people to condemn and control them,
and who treated the Bible like a God dictated book of proof texts
to support their arguments.

Jesus shows us how to wrestle with the Bible.

Listen to him…..

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
Jesus quotes Exodus 20. 14
‘I say to you to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery.’
Jesus develops the text…..engages with it……wrestles with it.

Listen to him…..
You have heard that it was said,
‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
Jesus quotes Leviticus 19. 18
But I say to you, Love your enemies.
I’m sorry Jesus, what was that?
But I say to you, Love your enemies.
Are you disagreeing with Leviticus, Jesus?
But I say to you, Love your enemies.
Jesus you’re disagreeing with the Bible!
But I say to you, Love your enemies.

Sometimes Jesus argues with the Bible!
He wrestles with it,
and there discovers the word of God.

How sad that some of his followers instead just quote verses,
like some in Leviticus,
without questioning it,
or really wrestling with it,
even though Jesus shows us that is how we truly hear God.

When together we hear the Bible’s words,
and together wrestle with them,
then we proclaim
“This is the Word of the Lord”.

And we leave this wrestling,
like Jacob,
changed,
understanding that God is bigger than we imagined.

Oh yes, our God loves to wrestle,
though our God is a God of Peace.
And those who experience God’s peace
are those who
for God
and with God,
wrestle and fight and pray.

Invisible guests

2007-09-23T12:14:00.000+01:00

This weekend has a mixture of flavours for me.

It's the pagan festival of Mabon. This feast on or around the autumn equinox is a time to celebrate the goodness of the earth, to reflect on our lives and to impore the divine for a good year.

Yesterday was Yom Kippur - the Jewish day of atonement. A time to put things right in our lives.

We are still deep in the days of Ramadan - a time for reflection and acts of charity. (The reading of the Qu'ran still going fine!).

And this morning we had Harvest festival at church. We use the resources produced by Christian Aid and thought about our responsibilities and celebrations - why not go and read their stories from Zimbabwe? The kids did loads of stuff and were totally brilliant. And some of the adults weren't too bad either! The central theme of the service was these words from Jesus, which brought all the weekend flavours together:

Jesus said: "When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:

I was hungry and you fed me,

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

I was homeless and you gave me a room,

I was shivering and you gave me clothes,

I was sick and you stopped to visit,

I was in prison and you came to me.'
"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'
"Then he will turn to the 'goats,' the ones on his left, and say, 'Get out, worthless goats! You're good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—

I was hungry and you gave me no meal,

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

I was homeless and you gave me no bed,

I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,

Sick and in prison, and you never visited.'

"Then those 'goats' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?'
"He will answer them, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.'" (Matthew 25:31-45 )

And that's one thing I love about following Jesus. Harvest is not just about being thankful and celebrating God's goodness. It's not just about hoping things go well for me in the future. Jesus simply calls us to show the values in Harvest, Mabon, Ramadan and Yom Kippur.

We respond to this goodness with lives of justice - for this is what brings the harvest. we remember the invisible guests at Mabon, at Yom Kippur, at the Iftar feasts in Ramadan, at Harvest festival. Those who are hungry, thirsty, imprisoned, naked..... because Jesus reminds us that all are invited, all must be honoured as if him, and that we are responsible for making this so - otherswise all of us, Pagan, Jew, Muslim, Christian are the worst of hypocrits....

We celebrate, confess and change.....

So Blessed be this Mabon! G'mar chatimah tovah! Ramadan Mubarek! Happy Harvest Home!

Something Fishy

2007-09-16T15:54:00.000+01:00

Serendipity is one of my favourite words - and last night had a real moment of serendipity. We went into Poole to find some food and stumbled across Peixos - a performance by the Spanish company Sarruga.

It was magical.......

It was organised by Inside-out Dorset, who described it:

Find yourself immersed in an exotic underwater world where colourful aquatic creatures swim among the crowd. Marvel at schools of darting tropical fish and watch the luminescent jellyfish dancing above your head as you follow this watery procession accompanied by music and light.....Barcelona-based artists Sarruga have perfected making their giant creatures from ingenious bicycle-powered mechanisms which are pedalled along to create an amazing processional spectacle.

And this is what itlooked like - you'll have to imagine the flares, and lively music, and movement and shouting......it was fab!

Ramadan Mubarek!

2007-09-15T18:07:00.000+01:00

From Rosh Hashanah, those of us who work in a muti-faith context fall this year straight into Ramadan - the holy Muslim month of fasting.

Last year I read a superb book on the 99 names of Allah. as Ramadan is the time when Muslims believe that Allah revealed the Qu'ran to the Prophet, I thought this year I'd read the Qu'ran again.

It's a while since I've read it, and it's always good to explore what other folk hold holy.

I don't plan on blogging much about it - but the opening Sura (chapter) is so famous and is worth reading on its own account.

It's called Al-Fatiha - which means "the opening", and it goes:

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الحمد لله رب العالمين
الرحمن الرحيم
ملك يوم الدين
اياك نعبد واياك نستعين
اهدنا الصرط المستقيم
صراط الذين انعمت عليهم غير المغضوب عليهم ولا الضالين

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
Praise be to God, the Lord of the Universe.
The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Master of the Day of Judgment.
You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help
Guide us to the straight way;
The way of those whom you have blessed, not of those who have deserved anger, nor of those who stray.

You can hear it read verse by verse in Arabic here.

It centres on God and on a quality of God that I love - حيم rahim.....

The opening is literally "In the name of God, the most merciful, the ever merciful". Rahim is God's mercy. It is the same root as the word in the Bible - רחם rahem - which we often translate as mercy or compassion. I've discussed this word before, (it's one of my faves!) and I especially love it because it literally means "womb". God's mercy is like the love of a mother.

That is what I'd like to dwell upon this coming month - as the Muslim world observes Ramadan, and the Jewish world heads towards Yom Kippur. I'd like to show more and more the compassion, the mercy, the motherly-love, the womb of God.......

Al Fatiha

Simply because it's fabulous.....

2007-09-13T21:41:00.001+01:00

Happy New Year!

2007-09-13T20:04:00.000+01:00

Today is the Jewish feast of Rosh Hashanah - the main New Year in the Hebrew Calendar (there are three others just to be confusing!). So לשנה טובה ! For a good year!

Rosh Hashanah literally means "head of the year" and calling it "New Year" can be a bit misleading. It is far away from the singing of Auld Lang Syne and drinking too much. In the Synagogue the Shofar is sounded - the call to the world to be judged.

God is Sovereign and will judge the world - not like a parent catching us being naughty, but like a light shining onto our lives to show us where we do not live lives of justice and peace.

Ten days after Rosh Hashanah comes Yom Kippur - the day of Atonement - when Jewish folk say sorry and put things right. If we think God's judgement is about being caught out when we're secretly having fun that doesn't make sense - surely we should be told off. Instead God's judgement at Rosh Hashanah is about God showing us where our lives can be more full of justice, more giving of peace. Then we can change and put things right.

Or, (as a Jewish friend said last week when I asked why Yom Kippur came after the judgement of Rosh Hashanah), "cos God loves us to have second chances...." Amen!

May we all hear the call of the shofar to live more just lives.