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St Luke Year A 2020 Good Shepherd

I wonder how many of you used to enjoy the Peanuts cartoon strip by the American artist Charles M. Schulz – the cartoons which featured Charlie Brown and Snoopy, the dog who fantasized about being a First World War fighter ace. Schulz was a lifelong church attender and a Sunday School teacher. He comes to mind today, as we celebrate the Feast of the Evangelist St Luke, because today’s Gospel reading was his favourite passage from the New Testament. It’s a reading which encourages us to think about the nature of peace.

When Jesus instructs the disciples about how to conduct themselves on the mission on which he is sending them, he tells them:

“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.”

It’s a strange and profound saying, for it suggests that peace is something tangible, something that the disciples can carry and offer to people; something which may be accepted or rejected but which is not diminished by rejection. It is the person who rejects the peace who misses out, not the person who offers it.

Peace has many meanings. The peace of which Jesus speaks here is not an absence of noise, nor an absence of worries; not even an absence of conflict. The Hebrew word shalom, translated as peace, means much more than that. An American Rabbi, Robert Kahn, defined it thus:

One can dictate a peace; shalom is a mutual agreement.

Peace is a temporary pact; shalom is a permanent agreement.

One can make a peace treaty; shalom is the condition of peace.

Peace can be negative, the absence of commotion.

shalom is positive, the presence of serenity.

Peace can be partial; shalom is whole.

Peace can be piecemeal; shalom is complete.

An ancient and reliable tradition has it that St Luke was a physician. His Gospel has plenty of medical detail in it and many stories of healing, and it is likely that his presence with the imprisoned Paul, mentioned in today’s Epistle, was helpful for that reason, as well as for the spiritual support that he offered. For Luke, healing was far more than the curing of medical conditions. It was a restoration to wholeness, a restoration to community, a process intimately bound up with forgiveness. Healing was, in short, a re-establishing of shalom.

Today’s Gospel makes clear that shalom requires us to be both generous bearers of peace and willing recipients of it. Shalom is a two-way street.

“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.”

To be a willing recipient of peace is not easy, for it involves acknowledging our needs – our need of healing, our need of forgiveness, our need of both the benefits and demands, the joys, the sorrows and the vulnerabilities of being in relationships.

To be a bearer and a giver of peace is no less difficult, for that involves an openness to and a discernment of the needs of others; a willingness to meet those needs. The Jesus of whom we read in Luke’s Gospel has a complete understanding of the people whom he encounters. He offers them shalom in the form of healing and forgiveness.

One of the characters in the Charlie Brown cartoons is a girl called Lucy van Pelt. She is a pretty acidic person whose mission in life is to deflate other people, including her long-suffering friend Charlie. Lucy is not a bearer or giver of shalom. In one of their encounters Lucy says:

“You know what I see when I look at you, Charlie Brown? I see failure written all over your face!”

There’s an approach to Christian evangelism which might be called the Lucy van Pelt approach because it starts by telling people that they are sinners and that they are badly in need of salvation. You may have encountered it on your own doorstep or in the form of one of those sandwich- board carriers whose sign says: “Repent for the end is nigh”. It wasn’t Jesus’ way, as today’s Gospel makes clear, and it shouldn’t be ours. Rather we are called to share the peace of Christ, to share what we encounter and receive in the Eucharist.

Charles M. Schulz understood that well. Lucy’s words to Charlie were cutting and judgmental:

“You know what I see when I look at you, Charlie Brown? I see failure written all over your face!”

Charlie Brown’s response was profoundly wise:

“Just look at my face...don’t write on it!”

Our calling is to do, as best we can, what Jesus did – to discern the needs of others and respond to them. That is the tangible gift of healing peace that we can offer in the hope that it will be accepted. That is a peace which is far more than the security for which all human beings long, more even than the absence of conflict which would be such a blessing in Yemen, Nagorno- Karabakh and other places. It is a costly peace because it involves the risk of reaching out in trust to those who are different, being open to their needs and their fears. And the starting point for that is:

“Just look at my face, don’t write on it!” Amen.

Trinity XVIII – Sunday 11th October 2020

Think about these things……

As a lawyer, I spend much of my working week thinking about words. What do they mean? What do they say? Have I understood them? Am I being clear when I speak or write? Do I have the courage to say that I don’t understand what is being said or what a particular impressive word might mean?

There is a client who invariably uses the phrase “modus operandi” in every conversation we have. I know what it means but it is not a phrase I would use myself.

Since I was last with you over six months ago, I have had time to think about what has been happening globally; in our own communities; in our circle of friends and among colleagues. How have things changed? What is important to me? What are my priorities? What does the future hold? When will I be able to attend a live concert, or travel abroad or go down to London?

I recently went into the local post office to get some five-pound notes for my elderly mother. She does not have internet banking and relies upon cash or writing cheques. In front of me was an old lady with a walking stick, not unlike her. She asked for a stamp, removed it from the sticky backing and put it on her envelope prior to handing it over to be posted. As she turned round to leave, the postmaster said “Do you wish me to put the sticky backing in the bin?”. She replied “Yes. Thank you.  I didn’t see it”. That was not sufficient for him. He persisted by saying “It is normal to put waste paper in the bin; don’t you know?”. She replied further by saying “I’m sorry. I’m just a bit nervous today”. She turned round, bowed her head and left suitably chastened and rebuked. There was no need for such behaviour. He was being disrespectful and objectionable. I had seen it before. What was even more galling was that there was a sign in front of the counter saying “Abusive and threatening behaviour will not be tolerated”. My dilemma, being next in the queue, was whether or not to say anything to him.

The words from Philippians 4:8-9 which we hear today: -

“Finally, beloved,

Whatever is true, whatever is honourable,

Whatever is just, whatever is pure,

Whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable,

If there is any excellence

And if there is anything worthy of praise,

Think about these things.

Keep on doing the things that you have learned

And received and heard and seen in me,

And the God of peace will be with you”.

are some of my favourite. They speak of all that is true, honourable, just, pure, pleasing and commendable. Some of the characteristics of what it means to love, to be human, to be kind, to be vulnerable. Seeking to follow the One who became flesh and dwelt among us and who still longs to be known by us too.

In the delightful book “The Boy, the mole, the fox and the horse” by Charlie Mackesy  he writes in the foreward “I hope that this book encourages you perhaps to live courageously with more kindness for yourself and others. And to ask for help when you need it - which is always a brave thing to do”.

Think about these things…….

Harvest 2020  Year A  Sunday 4th October

For someone, like me, a complete born and raised ‘townie’, ‘Harvest’ is a sort of alien concept. Harvest when I was growing up was something we sang about at Primary School and then ignored throughout the rest of my adolescence and early adult life. It was only on returning to faith that I re-encountered ‘Harvest’ and came across the idea that we really do need to give thanks to God for giving us a harvest.

Even then, when I first re-discovered it,  ‘Harvest’ was sort of only associated with ‘our daily bread’ and not much more. It was all focused on the wheat-sheaf loaf placed on the altar. It really did take me quite a long time to realise that ‘Harvest’ is actually about so much more than giving thanks for the grain crop being cut before the autumn rains can spoilt it. I still, today, have to challenge myself to push the boundaries of what I naturally associate as harvest to include all food production on land and in the sea and all who work to produce that food as well. Let alone the harvest of the city, whatever that might be?

So what is harvest? What does it mean today? And is it still something we need to be conscious of each year, especially as we now live in a global economy and world where harvest occurs at different times and in different ways?

The simple answer to those questions is YES! Even more so today, we need to stop and give thanks for all we have. When you next look at a plate of food try and remember where each ingredient came from. A recent supper for me consisted of:

sea bass from Turkey

broccoli from Norfolk

peas and beans from East Anglia and Kenya

tomatoes from Spain

and almonds from Greece

One plate of food but it had travelled a very international route to find its way before me. All of it was seasonal to whence it came but not necessarily seasonal to Scotland. So much of what we eat is similar. At home I try to cook and use seasonal produce from Scotland but at times in the year there is only so many root vegetables or salmon one can routinely eat day after day without calling in variety from around the globe. Such as that taste of asparagus at Christmas, never as good as springtime asparagus but it is a taste to savour none the less.

Without produce from around the globe and the skills and labour of people from different countries and cultures our diets would be ‘same-y’ and boring and although harvests occur at different times in different places it is VITALLY IMPORTANT that at least once a year we stop, reflect and give thanks to God for all that the many harvests of the world give to us.

In that stopping and giving thanks we also need to remember to give thanks for those who grew and produced the harvest for us in the first place and to work out if we have exploited them in any way. Did I pay a far price for what I ate? Did the farmer get well paid for her efforts?

I have personally, been appalled by some large food sellers pulling out of the Fair Trade organisation and ‘partnering’ with them, whatever that means? I suspect it means not paying a fair price for the goods and hoodwinking us to believe they still do pay a fair price. It is all down to profit margins over people.

It might seem trivial to us in the developed north of the world but we do take too much for granted at the expense of those who are basically subsistence farmers providing goods for us that they could not afford even to taste. And what will happen in this post-Brexit Great Britain to our own farmers and seafarers has yet to be fully discovered. So we really do need to pray.

To pray with thanksgiving for the good gifts that God gives us. To pray for the future food production and producers in this country and around the globe. And to pray for an equal sharing of the world’s resources so that no one goes hungry or watches their children starve before them, especially when they are the people ensuring that we don't starve.

It is always worth remembering that the world is precariously balanced and that we might not always be as ‘all right’ as we think we are.

I believe that our cry today should simply be:

‘Thank you, God!’

Thank you for all the good gifts around us and for all the things you give us to make our lives happy and healthy.

Never take Harvest for granted and hold in prayer all those for whom harvest is a hope rather than a reality. All those who are facing a bleak future with a failed harvest or a poor one and ask God how we can support those in need as they so often produce the things we need and rely upon.

Good Shepherd Trinity 16 Proper 21 27 September 2020

In this time of pandemic, we are hearing a lot of expert advice from scientists, and you may be feeling, as I am, a bit frustrated that they all sound very confident in their views, but they aren’t all advising the same course of action. Pondering their confidence reminded me of a true story concerning a very distinguished professor of Physics at an American university who agreed to be an expert witness in a trial. During cross-examination, counsel for the defence asked him “What qualifies you to be an expert witness in this matter?” The Professor, who had the reputation of being a modest and retiring sort of person, replied “I am the greatest living authority on this particular branch of science.”

Later a friend of the Professor’s expressed surprise at this answer, which seemed to him uncharacteristically boastful. The professor answered, "What did you expect me to say? I was under oath."

It’s a story about humility, and it reminds us that true humility isn’t about doing yourself down or understating your abilities. To have said “Well I know quite a bit about it” or “I’ve written a book on the subject” would have been the kind of self-deprecating understatement that most of us sometimes indulge in because we want to seem humble. The wish to be thought of as a humble person is, of course, a form of self-centeredness. And self-centeredness and humility are opposites. As C.S. Lewis put it:

“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”

That’s a clue to the idea that St Paul was expressing in today’s beautiful passage from Philippians when he wrote of Jesus that:

These verses from Philippians are a reminder that we believe in Incarnation, in a down-to-earth, Incarnate God, a God one of whose qualities is humility. And humility is derived from the Latin word for earth or soil, so humility is all about being down-to-earth.

“...being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.”

Today’s Epistle gives us a glimpse into the beliefs of the very first Christians, those who knew Jesus during his earthly life, those who encountered the Risen Christ and those who heard the Apostles’ preaching. Philippians was written, at the very latest, only thirty years after the Crucifixion, but in verses 5-11 of today’s reading Paul is quoting from an even earlier Christian source – either a hymn or a poem used for teaching purposes. And we discover that the first Christians had quickly developed a rich and deep appreciation of who Jesus was, and of what he accomplished. They believed that, in Jesus, the love of God was revealed and that he

“...emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.”

In other words, they already had a clear belief in the Incarnation.

That’s interesting and important but it isn’t Paul’s main message to the church at Philippi. The self-emptying, the self-giving love of the down- to-earth God is offered by Paul as a pattern for Christian living.

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”

Paul sometimes wrote rather lumpy Greek and, in writing those words, he didn’t bother to include a verb, a fact which has challenged translators ever since. The version we use reads like a call to imitate Christ’s self-giving love. Other scholars have argued that what Paul meant was:

“Show among yourselves the attitude that stems from the fact that you are in Christ as members of the Christian community.”

New Testament scholars disagree as much as the scientists who offer the government advice about how to respond to the pandemic, and they can be just as confident in their assertions. Happily, in the case of this disagreement we don’t have to choose. Paul’s instructions to the Philippian Christians are both an encouragement to imitate Jesus and a blueprint for community life “in Christ”.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you not look to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

Christian humility is inspired and enabled by the self-emptying action of our down-to-earth Incarnate God and we are called to be humble in the sense of being earthed; not to live as free-floating, assertive individuals but to be rooted in community, aware of our dependence on one another and of our calling to love one another. Which is good advice for all times and seasons, including a time of pandemic.

“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”

Amen.

Sunday 20th September 2020 Year A Proper 20      Trinity XV

Poor old Jonah!

When you read that passage from the Old Testament book of his name you really get to see the human side of a prophet in glorious technicolor. In fact if you read the whole of the Book of Jonah despite its brevity you see humanity expressed through out - both the good and bad sides of our nature.

The Book opens with God asking Jonah to go to Nineveh and to warn the residents of God’s displeasure. Jonah, like many of us is reluctant to do God’s bidding and he attempts to hide from God by nipping down to Joppa and boarding a ship to Tarshish. Jonah was a reluctant prophet, in fact, as one reads the opening verses you get the idea that he would do anything rather than give warning to the population of Nineveh:

“ … so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.”      1:3b

As well as being reluctant Jonah does come across as a rather daft prophet as well. Did he not realise that he could not escape the sight of the all seeing God? Was hot-footing it to Tarshish really going to give him the hiding space he wanted? He quickly learns that it won’t, when God sends a storm that threatens to destroy the ship. The sailors being pretty canny draw lots to discover the jinx - Jonah. They ask him what he thinks he is doing running away from his God.

Jonah asks them to toss him over board but the sailors are actually good guys and they initially refuse to do so and try rowing hard to get to safety. It is only when all seems lost that they chuck him in the sea, praying to Jonah’s god that he won’t punish them because of it. In fact in the act of throwing Jonah into the waves seems to lead to their conversion and they not only pray to God but make sacrifice and vows to him as well. Jonah maybe a reluctant prophet but he is a missioner; because ironically in this instance his feckless actions bring the sailors to faith. The sailors ‘feared’ the Lord  because they saw his power and they turned to him. They must have been even more amazed when the fish swallowed Jonah! Is there no end to God’s powers and surprises?

The shock of being swallowed by the fish, shakes Jonah out of his self-pity and he thanks God for saving him from a watery grave and pledges himself to God’s service. This time when God asks him to preach to the people of Nineveh, he does so. No longer a reluctant prophet but a prophet so convincing that his words and the fact that the fish spewed him on to dry land, causes the people to repent of their ways and they went about in sackcloth and ashes as a sign of their conversion.

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.”                       3:10

And, this is the point where today’s first reading comes into play. Jonah is in a sulk. He is displeased and angry with God for saving the people of Nineveh. After all his ups and downs God shows mercy to a debauched people who repent. Jonah says to God, did I not tell you that you wouldn’t do away with Nineveh because of your forgiving nature? Why then did I have to go thorough all I did for you to be merciful? Could I not have stayed at home?

After all his adventures Jonah still really doesn’t get it. He is still self-pitying and moaning that it isn’t fair. He sounds like a petulant teenager. Still a reluctant prophet.

So he sits and sulks in the heat of the sun until God causes a plant to grow up and shade him.  The next day the plant dies and Jonah bakes and once again wishes he was dead. God rebukes him and asks why the plant was important to him. God then goes on to say just as the plant was appreciated by Jonah so he loves his people of Nineveh and would have been devastated had they died. Slowly Jonah begins to realise the extent of God’s love and mercy and there the Book ends. A somewhat abrupt and inconclusive end but and ending in which we are left hoping that Jonah grows up and appreciates the fact that love changes everything.

God chose to be merciful and generous just like the owner of the vineyard who chose to treat all the workers equally, regardless of when they began work. Who when asked why simply says because he can and chooses to do so. So it is with God, he chooses to be loving and merciful to Nineveh and her people, as he does with Jonah and as he always does with us too.