A very warm welcome to all who worship here today. Please stay for a cuppa and a socially-distanced chat after the service. Many thanks to Rev Chris Elliot for leading our worship this morning.
As a condition of gathering in this building, you must remember to sanitise your hands on the way in, and it is recommended that you do this again on the way out. Please also fill in the contact tracing register and/or use the QR code.
New Sunday roster available today, as is the latest ‘Messenger’ and the Annual Reports.
What’s On This Week (subject to Alert Levels):
Tuesday 10am – 2pm South Elder Care. Lyndsey 388 1264.
Tuesday 7.15pm Christian Meditation Group. Contact Dugald 380 5024.
Wednesday 9.30am Walking Group: Hoon Hay. Marilyn 027 3631642.
Thursday 10am – 12 noon Crafty Crafters.Bring along your own craft items or learn a new skill. $3 per session. Jeannette 332 9869.
Thursday 1.30 – 2.30pmSit & Keep Fit. See Anneke for more information.
Wednesday Walkers 9th September: meet 9.30am on the Sparks Rd / Victors Rd corner for a walk around Hoon Hay area. Coffee at ‘Cafe Beasley’ 234B Sparks Rd (up a long driveway, plenty of room to park.) All welcome. Marilyn 338 2453 or 027 3631642.
Men’s Group: Tony Beasley will talk on his experiences working in Africa and with Skellerup. Meet at the church at 6pm on Monday 14th September for pot-luck tea first. Rob Connell 384 4320 or 027 273 1387.
The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of parishioners will be held on Sunday 20th September following morning worship. Any items of general business or apologies to be given to Irene please.
Whareora’s September 16th bus trip will travel to the Tai Tapu area. We will visit St Paul’s Church, Lincoln University, Springston, Southbridge, Burnham and Rolleston. We will stop for lunch along the way. Reid Tours will be providing the transport and interesting commentary.
Be at Whareora by 9.45am, return by 3pm. Cost is $25.00. Booking and payment must be made by 8th September. Marilyn Mitchelmore 338 2453.
FOR YOUR DIARIES: Twilight Fair Friday 9th October 4-6pm. Food, plants & more! If you would like to be involved talk to Jeannette Beaumont, Barbara & Rob Meier or Lyndsey McKay.
Thank you so much for the wonderful donations for Your Sisters Orphanage in Tanzania. We made over $600, with more promised. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. Rob & Barbara Meier.
We join together in our apart-ness, one more time!
In this space we are pausing to acknowledge and grow in the presence of God in our lives.
We are tending to the ‘soil’ of our lives.
We dig it over,
We remove the weeds,
We add the compost,
We let it rest when needed,
We plant and harvest at the right time.
God is active in our lives,
Let us worship God!
A Prayer on our Way
Spirit of God, source of life, refresh our spirits, reshape our desires, and re-create our hearts, that we may show your enduring glory.
God of new creation, we confess that we often forget your bountiful goodness.
By the power of the Holy Spirit you animated the earth and its creatures in abundance.
Yet, we tend to hoard earth’s resources and refuse to share your gifts.
We dishonour your generosity by withholding our charity to those in need.
We betray your kindness by dealing harshly with our enemies.
We disregard your compassion by freely offering judgement towards others.
Forgive us.
By the power of your Spirit renew our hearts and free us from our trappings that we may enjoy the fullness of your blessing upon all creation.
Send your Spirit upon your church in this time, stir up our courage, and rouse us for prophetic witness, that we may join with all those who have gone before us, to proclaim to the world your mighty deeds of power in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our scripture readings for today:
Acts 2:42-47 & Ephesians 3:16-19
A reflection by Dan Spragg:
Sort of as a follow up to last week but mostly as I have reflected during and now coming out of lockdown I want to write this week about ‘the church’. Be warned I mostly have questions! Last week’s idea was quite a big idea, quite a concept for our western world brains to get our heads around perhaps. We like to think too much about the individual over and above the collective. There is something about it however that really grabs my attention.
From the words in the creation narrative at the beginning of the book of Genesis “let us make humankind in our image”, comes an evocative idea that it is not you or I, or even us as our church community that is the image of God in the world, but rather, all humans ever! The ones who are alive now, the ones who have come before us, the ones who have come after us, every single one of us together forms the image of God in the world. The implications are big because potentially this means that every single interaction I have with anyone else is indeed interaction with this sacred presence of God in the world. It speaks of a deep solidarity we have with one another and a responsibility towards one another as I think of Jesus’ words in Matthew 25: …for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
In all, we see the face of God and together we are a beautiful mosaic of God’s representation in the world. When one of us is joyful, let us be joyful and celebrate. When one of us is hurting, let us all feel that hurt and work for healing. Of course we might look around the world and see the standouts among us which unfortunately are usually the ones we would rather not be having to deal with. The dictators, the narcissists, the egotistical maniacs, the greedy, the violent, the racists, the sexists… Including these into our image of God raises questions! Even including ourselves at times into the image of God might raise some questions too! I really do think I’ve made a friend in Gregory of Nyssa from the 4th century. On the question of the presence of evil and the participation in it (sin), Gregory would say that “evil and sin are always accidental conditions of human nature, never intrinsic qualities; all evil is a privation of an original goodness”
All evil is an absence of something that is normally present. When for whatever reason goodness is absent, then evil takes its place. And so this is where the work of Jesus and then the risen Christ takes place.
We are shown ‘the way’ and Christ’s presence in the world gathers us all to return us to our true nature as good and at home with God. In Christ we are free. In Christ, we are made whole. As Paul says in the Ephesians reading today, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love… to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” As Christ dwells in our hearts, may we be filled with the fullness of God. Which leads me to questions about The Church. It is the work of Christ that reconciles us back home – knowing who we truly are with God. We don’t do that part.
So what is the work of The Church?
If all are the image of God, and Christ’s work is reconciliation and the restoration of goodness in all, then what are we to do as ones who believe that we are called together as Christians – followers of Christ – in the world? (That was a long question, sorry).
What do we do as the church? Who are we as the church? Why do we do what we do? When God is the one responsible for ‘salvation’ (not us)? When there is the absence of goodness in places? When no-one seems to be lining up to join us? When new Christians appear to be few and far between? When we can’t even be together as a church? I do know that some of you have had some questions that have been raised about church and our activities during our period of lockdown. As we have been forced to push pause these questions have arisen.
Do you have any questions about church and our activities that have arisen during the last months? Across the Presbytery some have been able to share their questions in a video interview. You may have watched the interview with Rev Don Fergus in Takaka. There are now 11 videos and they are all worth a watch. Perhaps you might like to take a look sometime.
I don’t know if you’ve ever taken a look at the entire book of Acts as one story before. It’s quite a story! In a nutshell it is the story of the first Christian church scrambling as fast as it could to keep up with where the Spirit of God was leading them. It is a good story to interact with as we ask questions of ‘The Church’. There are some characteristics of the church in the book of Acts that could help us as we sit with our questions as we emerge from lockdown. For the sake of brevity I’ll bullet point them!
• They understand their purpose as to bear witness to the good news that Jesus taught and lived.
• The Spirit led them and enabled them outwards beyond their own groups.
• Any structures or organisation they had, had to respond to God’s leading and adapt as they went.
• Their essence can be seen as three dimensional:
o Up – through worship and prayer they grow in their relationship to and understanding of God.
o In – they grow in their relationships with one-another sharing hospitality and resources.
o Out – they reach out to and share the good news in words and actions to those around them.
In particular their ‘agility’ seems very important. Mostly by necessity as the Spirit seemed to be leading them very quickly and things were growing quickly they had to adapt their practices and structures in response to what they were encountering. They were literally scrambling to keep up.
In our world today things are changing very quickly, all the time. And that was before we had a global pandemic! Microsoft’s board now limits its strategic planning to 12 months ahead – they simply don’t know what the world of Information Technology will hold beyond that – so they plan as best they can and then adapt. ‘Agile’ project management is now a legitimate field of study and work especially in software. It is fast becoming standard practice. It is based on the idea that products will be launched before they are finished and that there will be many small and fast adaptations along the way as customers engage with the product.
In our context it seems that being agile is how we need to engage with the world. Which when combined with the characteristics of the church in Acts leads me to more questions!
Are we as the church agile? Do we change our structures & traditions in response to what we encounter?
Or, do too often our structures & traditions remain fixed and immovable?
Do we listen to God’s Spirit and go where we are led?
If the essence of church is three dimensional – Up / In / Out, do we need things like buildings, finances, clergy, Presbytery, General Assembly, the Book of Order to be the church?
I suspect not… so what are these for? And can these help us or hinder us in being agile?
Finally (because I think I have enough words on the page for one day already)
When we consider our solidarity with all humans in every time and place.
When we consider the activity of Christ to draw all into the fullness of God.
When we consider that church is something that God calls forth.
When we consider what the essence of that church might be.
And, when we consider the context of our time and place in the world.
I have one (maybe two) final question(s)… What is the point of us being church? I know we are not here to serve ourselves. I know that we are here to call attention to the love of God, so that all may come to know the fullness of God in their hearts.
I wonder: How might we follow the Spirit’s lead and be agile in our response? Can we be agile enough to follow where the Spirit is leading, not for our own sake, but for the sake of those who are still to know the fullness of the love of God in their hearts?
Offering & Prayer for the Road
Collectively now at this moment as we turn our hearts and minds outwards let us be grateful for God’s ongoing gifts, the many different ways we experience the generosity of God, and be grateful that many of us can still give to the ongoing life and work of our church community in various ways and dedicate ourselves to being the image of God in our various post-lockdown spaces.
We unite our hearts and minds in prayer for our world at this time.
For the church throughout the world,
Inspire the sons and daughters of your church for prophetic witness to your truth, and upon old and young give clarity of vision to acknowledge your saving power in the world.
For nations of the world and its leaders,
Overcome the babble of misunderstanding among the nations, and let all people hear in their own language and recognize in their own culture your unifying message of love.
For planet Earth, our home,
By your Spirit, renew the earth, make us good stewards of its resources, and teach us to enjoy its abundance rightly.
For those in need of healing,
Among those known to each of us, God, we pray,
Send your healing Spirit upon those who are sick in body or mind, restore them to health, and restore to them the joy of salvation.
For our neighbours and members of our communities,
Teach us to be good neighbours, to live in peace with one another, and in friendship share the joys and burdens of daily life.
For the young ones in our lives,
Bless our children, protect them from danger, and help parents and caregivers nurture them so that they may mature in wisdom and grow in grace.
For those we struggle with,
Bless them, and show us how we may do good to them for the sake of Jesus Christ.
In your mercy, Almighty God, receive our prayers and, according to your wisdom, provide all that we need; through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
A Blessing
May you carry this blessing into whatever you do this week.
Based on the story of the disciples ‘heading outwards’ in Luke 10:
Go gently, go lightly
Go gently, go lightly,
go safe in the spirit,
live simply, don’t carry much more than you need:
go trusting God’s goodness, go spreading God’s kindness,
Trinity Sunday: Divine Image & the Human Community
Kia ora koutou!
We join together in our apart-ness,
pausing to acknowledge and grow in the presence of God in our lives.
We are meeting as part of a church community, albeit a scattered one.
We are stilling ourselves, our fears, our anxieties, and all the distracting things around us, to seek and delight in God’s life with us.
Let us worship God!
A Prayer on our Way
Holiness, Word, Power,
you reveal yourself as one God in three persons,
a mighty, creative, life-generating dancer
who invites your creation to join you.
Sing into our ears, O Spirit, the holy word of life.
Tell us who we are and to whom we belong
so that we may live with gratitude for all that
you have done.
And catch us up in your love and lead us into your world
to call others to follow you with singing and rejoicing.
Amen.
Be Still and Know that I am God
Our scripture readings for today:
Genesis 1:1- 2:4a The story of creation
Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13:11–13
Matthew 28:16– 20 Commissioning of the disciples
A reflection by Dan Spragg
As I mentioned in my midweek thoughts this week, occasionally the lectionary does well with the grouping of readings it selects for particular Sundays. This week is one of them.
More on that in a moment. Firstly though, today is Trinity Sunday – the day we pay particular attention to who God is seen as being as witnessed to in the scriptures. It’s fair to say that it has taken up quite its fair share of time as a topic of debate throughout history.
Quite often we have been left more confused about things after we’ve debated than before we started! The metaphysics of the existence of God can make for quite a few mental gymnastics. I must admit at times feeling a little like this quote suggests:
This is Trinity Sunday, but people who have cancer probably do not care. This is Trinity Sunday, but those young couples who cannot get pregnant probably do not care either. “But, this is Trinity Sunday,” proclaims the worship committee. Even so, the family dealing with the wayward teenager, the couple headed for divorce, the person who has lost a job, they do not care. Does it really matter to them that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
Indeed, what does it matter if we see God as Trinity or not?
What does it matter in times of uncertainty?
What does it matter when facing unemployment?
What does it matter when indigenous people and people of colour are constantly subjected to systemic racism and violence?
I must admit to becoming less convinced of a number of proclaimed ‘certainties’ the further into this faith journey I get. I find that I am finding more ‘certainty’ in the knowing of my experiences rather than what I can or can’t get the logical part of my brain to.
Understanding how God can be one- but – three is one of those. Needing to understand the math of it is becoming less important. What is becoming
more important is the sense of meaning which is portrayed by various descriptions, metaphors and images of God.
The late Rev Andrew Norton when reviewing the Alpine Presbytery’s mission planning project in his time as National Moderator suggested that really there was only one question we needed to ask when looking at how to shape our thoughts towards Mission, towards the what we do with our faith. The question he suggested was:
Who is God?
Answer that, he said, and that will tell you what your mission is.
If God is an abstract concept that seems quite far removed from daily life, then so too will our mission be (if there is a sense of one at all?)
If God, however, is understood in quite relatable terms, then well, that starts to make a real difference to what our mission will be.
So what of these readings today? What do these tell us of who God is (keeping the Trinity in mind)?
Genesis 1:1- 2:4a – God is = creative, life-giving, exists in relationship, the author of goodness…
Psalm 8 – God is = majestic, protective, attentive to creation, empowering…
2 Corinthians 13:11–13 – God is = peaceful, grace-giving, loving, relational…
Matthew 28:16– 20 – God is = authoritative, mission orientated, united as one, present…
That is quite a list!
Is this true for your experience(s) of God?
If this is an accurate list of who God is, what do you think it means for how we are to be?
One of the gifts of our recent ‘lockdown’ experience for me was to be introduced to the early church theologian Gregory of Nyssa. Gregory’s big idea in his On the Making of Humanity
was that the creation story of Adam and Eve doesn’t talk so much about the
creation of the first humans but rather it paints a picture giving meaning to the concept of the entire human race, which only in its entirety is able to reflect true divine likeness and divine beauty! In other words, to be made in the image of God could be far less of an individualistic thing than we have often made it out to be.
As if I by myself, or you by yourself could be the image of God!?
For Gregory, the image of God in the world = humanity – the entire species –
all of us – ever!
That paints a different picture of who we are.
The human community… the ever evolving, growing, diverse, colourful, beautiful image of God in the world.
If you were to look out your window right now and see someone walking their dog down the street, they are a part of the image of God in the world… they are a part of the representation of God in the world… they are a part of God’s responsibility in the world… they are a part of God’s activity in the world…
But only a part because you are too, as is all the people you know and love as well as those who you find difficult, as is those who are seriously misguided! (which is a little challenging to swallow).
Now here’s where my brain is colliding the two ideas today – Trinity & Humanity. If God is creative, life-giving, exists in relationship, the author of goodness, majestic, protective, attentive to creation, empowering, peaceful, grace -giving, loving, relational, authoritative, mission orientated, united as one, present…
And add to this list all of what the earlier images say to you of who God is…
And if we, all of us who have existed and all who ever will exist, together, are the representation of God in the world…Then we must be at least capable, if not possessive of the seeds and expressions of these qualities too… (without lifting ourselves to the position of being God ourselves, of course, that’d kind of be the whole point of Genesis 3 perhaps?) So I think we can take a guess at how we are to get about our living – it might have something to do with being: creative, life-giving, relational, sowers of good, majestic, protective, attentive to creation, empowering, peaceful, grace-giving, loving, relational,
authoritative (in the right way), mission orientated, united as one, present…
If we were to do that I think we’d go a long way towards being at one with what seems to be God’s mission in the world that was what Jesus lived and told his disciples to go and do the same: Love and reconciliation, the valuing of all and the bringing of all into completion in the joy of life with God.
We can certainly identify in our world situations where humans are not valued, situations where we do not act in alignment with who God is, or with who we are, situations where love and reconciliation are not the driving forces.
George Floyd
And systemic racism
Injustice
Violence
Rears its head
And says
Peek-a-boo
I haven’t gone anywhere
And in Aotearoa
Our egalitarian values
Struggle to own
What is true for us
Here too
Isn’t it sad?
Doesn’t it make you mad?
What are we to do?
God as Trinity
And our human community
The divine image
That is what we are to do
Offering & Prayer for the Road
Collectively now at this moment as we turn our hearts and minds outwards let us be grateful for God’s ongoing gifts, the many different ways we experience the generosity of God, and be grateful that many of uscan still give to the ongoing life and work of our church communityin various ways and dedicate ourselves to being the image ofGod in our various post-lockdown spaces.
We pray,
In accord with God’s command that we hold dominion over creation,
let us pray for the church, the world and all for whom we are called to be stewards. We give you thanks, God, for our world, which you made and renewed in the power of Jesus’ resurrection.
Make us wise and careful of your gifts as we live on Earth.
We pray that the love which passes ceaselessly between Creator and Word,
in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit may renew and deepen the life of each Christian and draw us all into your unending life.
For the leaders of the church:
for Protestants, Roman Catholics, and the Orthodox;
for children and young people;
for the elderly whose wise counsel is sorely needed in all ages;
and for all ecumenical endeavours that seek to bring us closer to each other and to you.
For Earth and all creatures and plants; for healthy water and air and soil;
for policies and laws that regard our home in God’s universe as a precious gift.
For our families, our households, and our communities, that your life together as three-in-one may show us the importance of each of us, and so strengthen us in your grace and truth.
For the sick and those who suffer in any way;
for those who struggle to pay rent or a mortgage;
for those who have no home;
for those who are neglected and abused in our communities;
for people who long for family and are instead alone;
for children who do not have a good guide to raise them up;
and for whatever else you see that we need.
For all those needs still unnamed but placed before you now
…(take a moment to offer your own concerns to God)
Into your hands we entrust all that is of concern this day,
sure that you hear our pleas, grateful that your will be done on earth as in heaven.
We pray this in the name of the Saviour, Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
Great and deep the Spirit’s purpose – Marnie Barrell (Tune, Hymn to Joy)
Great and deep the Spirit’s purpose hidden now in mystery
Nature bursts with joyful promise, ripe with what is yet to be
In a world of rich invention, still the work of art unfolds
Barely have we seen, and faintly, what God’s great salvation holds.
Great and deep the Spirit’s purpose making Jesus seen and heard
Every age of God’s creation grasps new meaning from the Word
Show us, Holy Spirit, show us your new work begun today:
Eyes and ears and hearts are open, teach us what to do and say.
Great and deep the Spirit’s purpose all God’s children brought to birth,
Freed from hunger, fear and evil every corner of the earth,
And a million million voices speak with joy the Saviour’s name;
Every face reflects his image never any two the same.
Great and deep the Spirit’s purpose, nothing shall be left to chance
All that lives will be united in the everlasting dance
All fulfilled and all perfected each uniquely loved and known,
Christ in glory unimagined once for all receives his own
A Blessing
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not seek so much to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
— Attributed to Francis of Assisi (c. 1181–1226)
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the
Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you, and with those you love (and perhaps even with those you don’t). Amen.
Kia ora koutou! We join together in our apart-ness,
pausing to acknowledge and grow in the presence of God in our lives. We are
meeting as part of a church community, albeit a scattered one. We are stilling
ourselves, our fears, our anxieties, and all the distracting things around us,
to seek and delight in God’s life with us. Let us worship God!
Lord, Holy Spirit,
You blow like the wind in a thousand paddocks,
Inside and outside the fences,
You blow where you wish to blow.
Lord, Holy Spirit,
You are the sun who shines on the little plant,
You warm him gently, you give him life,
You raise him up to become a tree with many leaves.
Lord, Holy Spirit,
You are the mother eagle with her young,
Holding them in peace under your feathers.
On the highest mountain you have built your nest,
Above the valley, above the storms of the world,
Where no hunter ever comes.
Lord, Holy Spirit,
You are the bright cloud in whom we hide,
In whom we know already that the battle has been won.
You bring us to our Brother Jesus to rest our heads
upon his shoulder.
Lord, Holy Spirit,
You are the kind fire who does not cease to burn,
Consuming us with flames of love and peace,
Driving us out like sparks to set the world on fire.
Lord, Holy Spirit,
In the love of friends you are building a new house,
Heaven is with us when you are with us.
You are singing your songs in the hearts of the poor
Guide us, wound us, heal us.
Bring us to the Father.
–
James K. Baxter, ‘Song to the Holy Spirit’, in Collected Poems (ed. John Edward
Weir; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), 572.
The Day You Began Your Church [written
by Joy Kingsbury-Aitken]
Lord on the day when your people were offering
leavened loaves and lambs in thanksgiving for the harvest they were bringing
in, the grain from which to bake their daily bread, on that day you began your
church.
Lord on the day when your people were recalling the
fire and the thunder of your descent on Mount Sinai when you gave them the law,
commandments by which to live in community, on that day you began your church.
Lord on the day when your people were reciting the
psalms of David, the sweet singer of Israel, who according to folklore was born
on Pentecost, and remembering Ruth, his Moabite ancestor, on that day you began
your church.
Lord on the day when your people were longing for the
fulfilment of ancient prophecies promising an outpouring of your Holy Spirit,
transforming both old and young into visionaries, on that day you began your
church.
Lord on the day when your people were gathered from
throughout the world to worship you, when one hundred and twenty followers of
Jesus were assembled together with one accord, on that day you began your
church.
Lord on the day when you blew into Jerusalem manifesting
your presence in tongues of fire, pilgrims heard the gospel in their own
languages, and three thousand believed and were baptised, on that day you began
your church.
Lord on the day when your people kept Pentecost and
down through the centuries ever since, your Spirit has been inspiring faithful
believers to boldly proclaim your gospel of hope, as was done on that day you
began your church, and that day is with us, and we thank you! Amen.
Delight & Awe
This clip is a beautiful conversation between Bono
(from U2) and Eugene Peterson (author of The Message). Be warned, it is 21
minutes long but it is so compelling that I doubt you will notice! You may want
to give this the time now or come back to it a bit later but it is profound and
certainly worth the listen.
Bible Readings: Acts 2:1-12 & Acts 10: 1-48
A reflection by the departing Mart the Rev – Inside and outside the
fences
I love the inside/outside line from Baxter’s poem: Lord, Holy
Spirit/You blow like the wind in a thousand paddocks/Inside and outside the
fences/You blow where you wish to blow.
On this particular Pentecost Day there seems to be a range of inside
and outside themes running through everything.
The Reach of Pentecost Pentecost was an
existing and important festival within the devotional rhythms of the Jewish people,
as Joy Kingsbury-Aitken’s litany so ably illustrates. It was on the day of this
festival that the Holy Spirit swept in, and pushed against the existing
boundaries; opening the eyes of those gathered to just who was among them –
faithful people from within the faith-tradition from everywhere they have
settled in the known world. It was wind and fire and voice and power like they
had never seen. But this was just the beginning. This wind was to blow inside
and outside the fences.
The rest of the Acts of the Apostles is a testament to the reach of
the Spirit – reaching even, to Saul the persecutor of the early church, and
across two massive divides in the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10:
Gentile and Roman Centurion. All the old boundaries left in tatters! Later,
Paul will write in Galatians 3:28 ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no
longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are
one in Christ Jesus.’ It was a revolution! Even on the Day of Pentecost when
the Spirit came upon the gathered people, they would never have imagined this
reach. The phenomenon of the Spirit that day was still within the boundaries of
the tradition.
But the Spirit had other plans.
Context When New Zealand went into the
Covid-19 lockdown, I began imagining when, and how, we might climb out of it.
It seemed to me that this would take months and months and, possibly, for our
seniors and the vulnerable among us, more than half a year before it would be
safe to mingle in the community. How wrong I was! From Friday, any gatherings
of up to 100 New Zealanders are permitted as long as appropriate social
distancing and contact tracing measures are followed. It is an amazing
achievement, in just two months and four days, to have only one active Covid
case in the whole country. As I understand it, there are only a handful of
countries in the world that are in such control of the virus that they can step
out, as we are, with any confidence. Many others are doing the stepping out,
but not from that place of confidence. It is astounding! Obviously, there are
many economic challenges because of the lockdown – this is the case in every
country in the world – but we are in a better position to attend to them
because of the decisive leadership and the strength of the community commitment
to respect the lockdown measures.
Thus, on the Day of Pentecost, 2020, nearly all the strong fences we
needed to erect around ourselves have been pulled down. We are coming out! Look
out!
Transitions I first encountered Baxter’s
Song to the Holy Spirit poem in 1982. I was staying with a friend in
Wellington, and making plans to join him in a flat in order to start at
university the following year. I remember, later that night, writing the poem
in my journal. 1982 was a big year for me. I candidated for the ministry and
was accepted and I was making plans to leave my home city and embarking on what
would be six years at university.
I remember also that there was doubt in my mind (and in the minds of
others!), of my capacity to achieve and sustain the study, and, I was also
moving away from some of the confined ways I had understood the faith. ‘Inside
and outside the fences’ resonated with me – I was doing my own crossover, and
growing to understand God’s ways being wider than my ideas of them! Can you
identify a similar dramatic transition time in your life?
Over the years I have had a few of these – some have been relatively
smooth; and others have been a bit turbulent! I think I am undergoing a smooth
transition this time – with the edges kind of softened by the fact that I have
had a few months of social isolation and distancing. It has felt like a long
ease out, and somewhat surreal. That my leaving doesn’t also involve a
geographical shift, means that it is not so dramatic – there is only one form
of uprooting going on, I think!
Fences & Clinging I noted, in the
mid-week reflections the other day, that I have been wondering if I have
misspent critical aspects of the thirty-one and a half years of my pastoral
ministry. Aside from the list of regrets (and there are always a few, mostly
around I wish I had spent more time with this person and that person), there’s
a bit of wondering about the prioritisation of the church’s energy, and my part
in that, over those years. The season of my ministry career has coincided with
a period of ongoing decline in the Presbyterian church. The steady decline in
the numbers of people choosing to be part of it, and the ongoing loss of
influence. These are changing times, and I don’t think the church is respected
in the way previous generations once respected it.
Some of the change is very welcome – for the church tended to assume
it had a place at the head of the table, and it could act in haughty ways. I am
glad to be in this season where no such assumptions can be made, and the church
has to earn its right to have a conversation. This is safer ground for us, even
though it is challenging to be confident or that we will even survive! But I
also think that the church hasn’t paid enough attention to what God is up to
outside the fences, and in this sense the church has no one else to blame.
In survival mode, the church scrambles to ensure that things keep on
going in the way it has become accustomed to. In business, the decline in
bottom lines leads to one of two things, repurposing or closure. I think that
the church has generally opted for a third option that is not healthy. The
church I have been ordained into has tended to cling: clinging to past
methodologies and styles; clinging to what once worked in a cultural setting
long past; clinging to the assumption that if we are open at 10am then people
will come; clinging to the notion that if we look after our own then things
will be fine; and clinging to doctrines, or ways of framing the nature of God
at work among us, as if we had the last word on how God could be.
For example, on that
latter point, the Presbyterian Church has, for the entire time I have been
ordained, persisted with putting an extraordinary amount of its time and energy
into deciding whether to allow homosexual people to participate fully in the
Christian life, or not. What a fence! It is like Trump wanting a wall on the
entire Mexican border. Shut them out! Make everything great again! To use the
over-worn metaphor, the Presbyterian Church has spent the last thirty years
re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, while the ship sinks. ‘If we just
sort out the ‘gays’ then God will bless the church…’ What a load of stinking
codswallop!! This is the worst kind of ‘inside the fences’ behaviour, and not,
I would say, the leading of the Spirit of God! It is a distraction!
In the same period of
time poverty has become a sorry feature of New Zealand life, our rivers have
become unswimmable, the global temperature has risen at a rate far from
natural, our quality of community life has diminished, loneliness and
anxiety-related problems have become commonplace, the family violence numbers
continue to escalate, and the divide between the haves and have-nots has
widened exponentially.
But the fixation of the
church has been to elevate one or two verses from scriptures and take all the
steps it can to rid the church of a handful of homosexual ministers and elders.
What a shameful wasteful form of institutional blindness! (There, I have
finally got that off my chest! – sorry to unload!!!) If I was to offer a bit of
self-critique, I would say that over the course of my years as a minister, I
have played my part in channelling too much of my energy into the ‘inside’
rather than enabling the community to seek and pursue what it means to engage
with the ‘outside’. I’m about to walk into a role that could look like all my
energy will be directed towards propping up the institution – but I will resist
that. I do not wish to be a prop, or an encourager of a clinging mentality. The
church needs to listen to the Spirit! Blowing inside and outside the fences!
It was something we all
should have known, but just couldn’t see for looking. I was attracted to the
notion of it in 1982, and I am reacquainting myself with it again. Now, I am a
little inclined to ask – what fences? Whose idea was that there should be
fences? I’m far more interested in the idea of a church without walls, and the
posture of the church in the world being that of exposing, and breaking down
any walls, that separate people from people, and people from God.
In the days after that
Pentecost Day, in the book of Acts, Peter stands in the home of a Gentile Roman
soldier (having pushed past a fence as high as a fence could be back then!),
and declares, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism
but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”
Peter only got there, because the Spirit was blowing outside the fences, into
the life of Cornelius (despite the church’s understanding of its ministry and
without the church’s permission!), and into Peter’s dreams, demanding that he
must step beyond the boundary of the Law of Moses and eat what is unclean. If
you go on to Acts 11, you see the initial reaction of the church, and it was
not happy! How dare you cross the lines! Fortunately, the bureaucracy did not
win. Back then, the church was still open to the Spirit’s wilful desire to be
unregulated! Amen to that desire, and again I say, Amen!
Now and Next I have been very fortunate to
serve these last 13.5 years in our church communities here at The Village,
where we have at least had a go at looking and exploring outside the fences. I
have loved and thrived in the ‘have a go’ attitude that the leadership have
given to its ministers. Long may it continue!
The aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic now invites
more of the same attitude. It really does! Things are, undoubtedly, going to
get harder, but that is not an invitation to retrench, or batten down the
hatches. This is only a time to do what the church has always been meant to do,
to go to where the wind of the Spirit is blowing – inside and outside what we
already know, and get the best of your energy out to the edges and the
frontiers, which are, you may be surprised to hear, right in our
neighbourhoods, and over our neighbourhood fences. I hope and pray that this
willingness will continue to be a feature of The Village, and I am deeply
grateful for the opportunity I have had to play a part in this unfolding story.
Thank you for your support and encouragement over the years, it has been a
privilege to serve with and alongside you.
Offering & Prayer for the Road
Collectively now at this moment as
we turn our hearts and minds outwards let us be grateful for God’s ongoing
gifts, the many different ways we experience the generosity of God, and be
grateful that many of us can still give to the ongoing life and work of our
church community in various ways and dedicate ourselves to the presence of God
in our various spaces.
Loving God
We bring our gifts and resources before you now
and pray that they can be used to make your love known enriching lives, easing
strain and bringing life.
All these years on, we are still ‘amazed and
perplexed’ by life in and with you!
Delighted and awed by the magnitude of all you
have created in your great love; the world around us, the life in us, the
highs, the lows, the new, and the not so the familiar, and the not so.
It’s big, all of this, sometimes too big.
Awed by the scale of it all we don’t always
want to accept what we don’t know overloaded as we are by what we do know.
Sometimes we feel big, as though we are on top
of it all and then so small, so insignificant to really count at all
Delighted by the wonder around us and then
perplexed by those who squander it, deny it, and belittle it, by acts that
suggest there isn’t enough.
Perplexed when relationships hurt us, confused
when others disregard us, or believe in their idea of us without first seeking
to know us God, on reflection, we know that most of our concerns come from
trying to do life on our own terms, trying to see with our eyes; judging from
our perspectives. Help us to let go of this way and see our world, and those in
it, through your eyes, building up, not breaking down, encouraging, loving.
And to be this way in all the corners of our
lives, our work, our play, our daily routines, with everyone we meet, those we
laugh and grow with and even those who diminish us and who we might struggle
with.
Our prayer then this morning, Lord, is that
like the people in Acts we find a new fire within, that burns with love for you
and for your creation. That we would play a part in your love sweeping across
the planet, with courage and belief, renewing, and reconciling refreshing and
re-energising so that we can all live better and healthier lives, in you, for
you, with you.
We pray these things in Jesus name, Amen
Go into your week confident of God’s strong
arms around you, resting in the sweetness of God’s love every moment of the day
and night, Amen.
We are pausing
to acknowledge and grow in the presence of God in our lives. We are meeting as
part of a church community, albeit a scattered one. We are stilling ourselves,
our fears, our anxieties, and all the distracting things around us, to seek and
delight in God’s life with us. Let us worship God!
We are called
into worship today with words from Psalm 68
Let God rise up,
let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him.
As smoke is
driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked
perish before God. But let the righteous be joyful; let them exult before God;
let them be jubilant with joy. Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a
song to him who rides upon the clouds— his name is the LORD— be exultant before
him.
Prayer on the
Way(This prayer is ‘borrowed’ from the website [leadingworship] of a
Mennonite pastor from Canada, Rev Carol Penner.)
I seek you, God,
in the spaces of my life.
The spaces
between what I’ve done and what I’ve left undone.
The spaces
between my convictions and my actions,
the spaces
between all that I hoped to do, and what I’ve actually done.
I come with
humility, knowing that I can’t always see the way I’ve disappointed you,
nor can I always
see the long-term effects of the good I’ve done.
This is a prayer
for the road ahead, which is an empty space stretching before me.
Fill me with a
burning compassion for my brothers and sisters, a love that will not let me go.
Give me courage
to give boldly, love simply, hope deeply, risk greatly.
My light is
small, my time is short, but let it shine for you, always, ever, all for you.
Amen.
Bible Readings: Acts 1:6-14 & John 17:1-11
Reflection: by Martin Stewart
At Eastertime I
was thinking about the view from the cross. Not the landscape – the Lord was
not sight-seeing! The people-scape. Before him, the collective of people at the
foot of the cross – some with their backs to him, others looking for one last
miracle, others with broken faces as they wept their tears. Plus, another whole
dimension of seeing: could he also see past and future from that vantage point?
I like to think that he saw me, and you, from that vantage point. That the
crisis of the cross would one day have an impact, not only on my life, or your
life – but that all human suffering would be caught up in his suffering. And,
we would know that we are met by a God who suffers for us, holds us, serves us,
loves us, and blesses us. That was the Friday of Easter, then came Resurrection
Day and hello, this and much much more just might be so!
This Thursday
just past was Ascension Day. The 40th day of Easter. Let me tell you from the
outset that I struggle, hugely, with the idea of Jesus rising into the clouds.
I can’t imagine how that even begins to work out, as I don’t think of heaven as
up, for when I point up, a person on the other side of the globe, who is
pointing up, has a finger waving in the opposite direction! As I said in the
Wednesday notes, I confess that I have not had a great interest in saying much
about the ascension over the years. In thinking about why I haven’t said much
is because I have a struggle finding my way past the depictions of ascension as
they were represented in all the circles, I grew up in. To put it bluntly, there
were far too many unhelpful pictures of a Scandinavian Jesus drifting up into
the clouds for my liking! However, now that I am a grown up, I’m learning to
look at this differently, rather than literally. And, obviously, I wasn’t
there, thus I don’t know what the disciples saw other than what they have told
of what they saw – and how are you really meant to find the language for
something that is impossible to conceive? But I do accept that the Risen Jesus
had to have done something to disappear from the physical experience people had
had of him…he had to drift away from them. I also accept what the theologians
of the church have come to a general consensus on – that Jesus came from, and
returned, to the Godhead somehow, and, that his presence continues with us in
the Spirit, somehow.
In that ‘in the
Godhead sense’, Jesus is with us still, but not appearing through locked doors
in upper rooms in Jerusalem, or on the road to Emmaus, or on the banks of the
lake at breakfast time… he had to disappear. However, the ins and outs of how
ascension actually works… well, I really don’t know. We can’t know. And so we
don’t talk about it much. Ditto with a lot of things, by the way. We don’t know
how a lot of things work. But the hand of Jesus still at work in the life of
people tells us that there is more going on than we can explain. And don’t we
have faith enough, to believe enough, that the life of God is among us enough,
and that that seems to be enough, if you know what I mean? And I am interested
in the view. The view as he ascends. I wonder, what, as Son of God, he gets to
see behind. Can he see all the way back to the Word that was in the beginning,
hovering over the deep and crying out and bringing the universe into being? In
his ascending, I imagine him being able to see all that way back. Isn’t that
quite possible when you are no longer constrained by the limitations of flesh
and blood and time and space? I picture him ascending and seeing 40 days back
to a tomb, and then before that to an agonising last cry on the cross, and then
across Jerusalem and Judah and Galilee and Egypt and Babylon, and prophets and
kings, and the sea parting, and a burning bush, and Canaan, and a wandering
Aramean hearing a voice speak in the desert, and a flood, and a garden, and the
lands and seas taking form, as what we would call Gondwanaland began to
separate.
And let’s dare to
go further, as we see stars and galaxies taking form as the whole universe
snaps into life in a crescendo of light. Quite a view! And I wonder if his
whispered ‘Amen’ spoken over those tumultuous millions of years, does something
in that act of rising, to tie the past together to make them one in love as he
is one in God’s three-in-one – an eternal dance of love. I wonder also what he
could see ahead. If he could see the beginning what would he see as an ending?
And, was his ‘Amen’ an announcement of love over whatever ‘next’ looked like,
all the way to the completion of all things? I believe it to be so. I believe
we are to understand ourselves caught up in this eternal love
And thereby
picture ourselves seen from the heights of cross and ascension – our
‘particular-ness’ and our ‘part-of-everything-ness’ seen, and valued. All
caught up in Eternal Love: God’s big YES from the beginning to the end, and over
everything in between; even the ugly and the horrible are swept into love in a
way that we cannot possible imagine because we are immersed in the thickness of
things, and we have such a limited view of the whole. We need a vantage point,
and where we stand is a way too low, we can’t see the wood for the trees. Most
people can’t see beyond their own troubles, let alone their neighbours, let
alone the good of the whole. We need a vantage point, and so we look to where
Jesus is – ascended – and we find our footing in faith, and hope, and love. By
the way, I think that that footing is sufficient. We learn to craft our lives
in the space where faith and hope and love can work their magic. ‘But God, who
is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us…raised us up
with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…’
Ephesians 2:4,6 ‘What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us,
who is against us? …It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is
at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us
from the love of Christ? …I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate
us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ [from Romans 8:31-39] God’s
YES.
The view from the
clouds – the beginning, the ending, and all in between is held in love. Now, I
have spent quite a lot of time painting a kind of cosmic picture, but to be
honest, I am only really interested in exploring this way of seeing for its
earthly usefulness. I think I come from the school of thought that recognises
that some people have their heads in the clouds and aren’t of much earthly use!
It even might surprise you to hear a minister of the church say that what is
beyond me isn’t really my concern, if it appears to be an escape from reality.
But that is how I see things. I don’t invest in cosmic things in order to avoid
reality, or excuse myself from my responsibilities. I just happen to think that
the big picture view ‘from up high’ informs how we can better be present here.
It provides a framework. I get to know ‘how’ and ‘what’ to get about doing
because of the ‘why’.
Thus, if I was an
African slave in America seeking to make my way through the day without giving
into despair, I would fasten onto the big hope of the gospel (that the
slave-owners had passed on but entirely missed!): ‘Hold on,’ I would sing,
‘keep your hand on that plough and hold on!’ And, if I was a child with abusive
parents, I would want to know that there is a future coming, and it will grab
me and lift me up. And if I was in my dying days I would want to know that what
I fear is not the full story. And every day when I wake up, I would want to
know that this is the day that love has come to town and is calling me to join
in its song. I think that is what the ascension means to me – that what comes
from God meets us here, and is lifted back into God, and its ripples keep being
played out in our daily lives in such a way that we can overcome, and be turned
around, and the ugly can be made beautiful, and the light will shine in the
darkness, and the life goes on, and what we think are dead ends are
opportunities, and God meets us on the road – always.
Offering &
Prayer for the Road
Collectively
now at this moment as we turn our hearts and minds outwards let us be grateful
for God’s ongoing gifts, the many different ways we experience the generosity
of God, and be grateful that many of us can still give to the ongoing life and
work of our church community in various ways and dedicate ourselves to the
presence of God in our various lockdown spaces.
Our Prayer for
the RoadAdapted from a prayer from the Iona Community Worship
Book, 2017.
With the
disruption of Covid-19 and the ensuing simmering below the surface of many
things – some of which are now beginning to come to light – some pleasant and
some nastier! This prayer seems appropriate. We are not alone, God is with us
but we are not to be passive in our living into the ways of God. God, where are
you and what is your call to us?
Creator of this
world and all its people,
We are glad that
all things are held in your hands.
You have not left
us alone.
And we celebrate
the work of your Spirit
Encouraging
people the world over
To stand up for
justice and peace,
To speak for the
voiceless
And always
anticipate
That the best is
yet to come!
If, however,
We have driven a
wedge between piety and peacemaking,
Erected a wall
between prayer and politics,
Associated the
purposes of heaven
With only the
gentler things of earth – God of justice, Show yourself!
If we have
offered to pretenders
The devotion you
alone deserve;
If we have
dismissed the Gospel
As irrelevant to
the world – God of justice, Show yourself!
If we have dumbed
down your Word
And domesticated
your Spirit
Because we wanted
an easier faith
And a tamer dove
– God of justice, Show yourself!
Wherever in our
nations
The poor are
endangered,
The sick are
neglected,
Prisoners are
refused redemption,
And strangers
among us are treated with suspicion – God of justice, Show yourself!
Wherever in our
world,
The lust for
profit
Undermines the
value of human life;
Or the greed for
power Overrides the need for fairness – God of justice, Show yourself!
In the social
worker
And the mediator,
In vigils for
peace
And protests to
protect the earth;
To all who fear
for the future of children,
To those who long
for a different day – God of justice, Show yourself!
We pray in Jesus’
name and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Go into your week
confident of God’s strong arms around you, resting in the sweetness of God’s
love every moment of the day and night, Amen.
