Sunday, June 24, 2012

June 24th 2012


This is the day (June 24th) when we remember the birth of John the Baptist, the last of the great line of prophets. He was sent to prepare the way for the Messiah, Jesus. In the collect for the day, we pray, “Give your people the wisdom to see your purpose and the openness to hear your will.” What is this will? In the prayer after Communion, we thank God that “his compassion has broken upon us like the dawn” and we ask him to “guide now our feet into the way of peace”. If we are to find peace, we have to know what we are looking for. Compassion is the road to peace. It breaks upon us like a new day bringing with it a new energy to reach out and relate to others with the power of love.   We often feel that with the cessation  of  noise  and  the  clamor  of  fighting  comes  peace.  That  is  a negative view, wonderful though it might often be. Peace should not mean “Now I can lay back and relax." True peace means we are filled with compassion; we move forward and reach out with the power of love which comes in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is translated into many acts, great and small which uphold another person or cause and helps us to enter into their lives. It means that while discerning their weaknesses, we love and support them.

John the Baptist, the forerunner preached the repentance of sin. Jesus died for us on the cross so that we might receive forgiveness of those sins. Having accepted his forgiveness, let us move forward with compassion with the power and strength of his love and reach out to obtain the peace that passes understanding.

O Divine master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
Not so much to be understood as to understand;
Not so much to be loved as to love.
For it is giving that we receive,
 it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
It is in dying we are born again to eternal life.

(from the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi)


Sunday, June 17, 2012

June 17th 2012


Some years ago, I was talking to a professor of theology who said he felt that it was very important when lecturing to make frequent reference to a map. He maintained that subconsciously it is easy for many to think of the Bible stories as coming from a never never land of legend. We need to be very conscious that the stories we read in scripture nearly all happened in real places. What better confirmation of this than to find a name on a map.

Last week, I asked you to use your imaginations to picture the real happenings of scripture. This week I am asking you also to use maps. For starters, most Bibles have several at the back. I think it is also good to study from a modern one too. I am fortunate enough to have a large atlas my grandson gave me but you can pick up a very adequate one at the drug store for about $3.00.

Of course, the alternative is to travel to the actual places. In these troubling times, it is possible to take trips to the Holy Land to follow St. Paul through Turkey, Greece and the Mediterranean. I do not think anyone is ever the same after visiting Jerusalem. It is a wondrous, holy and exciting place.

My husband served two years in Malta during the First World War. One day, when he was out sailing, his boat was caught in the current and was out of his control. He thought, could he be caught in the same current St. Paul described in Acts 27. Sure enough, his boat was carried to the same spot St. Paul is said to have landed!

For  those for whom travel is not a choice, there are many interesting accounts of archaeological digs  on  T.V.  these  days.  Viewed  with  intelligent  discernment,  they  can  be  very  helpful  and enjoyable. Anything which leads us to spiritual enlightenment and prayer is enriching so I ask you to:

Read it through,
Think it out,
Pray it in.

Painting by Canon Frances 

Sunday, June 10, 2012

June 10th 2012


When the Father created us, he did not just provide bodies with brains. He gave us many other gifts. One of them is the gift of imagination. So often we think of imagination as delving into an unreal world, but it can lead us to further understand the truth, move forward and discover new wonders and greater realities. This is especially true when we read the scriptures. I think I have touched on this subject once before but I feel led to write about it again.

In the book of Acts, following the day of Pentecost, there are many stories of the happenings in that very early church. As I read them I try to use my imagination based on true fact. In Acts 9, we read that Peter is in the seaside town of Joppa and has healed Aneas and Tabitha (Dorcas). He decides to stay on in Joppa with Simon the tanner who has a house by the sea shore. Meanwhile, about 40 miles to the north in the Town of Caesarea, Cornelius a Roman Centurion and a devout seeker after God had a vision. An angel appears to tell him to send for Peter. Are you picturing all this in your mind or in your imagination and filling in the details? Cornelius calls two of his household slaves and a devout soldier under his command. Picture the scene as he tells them of his vision and sends them off. How do you see them going down the road? Do they march off in a military fashion with a solider escorting them? Do they meander along with other travellers? Is it possible that they sing?

The next day, when they are near the end of their journey, Peter, at Simon’s house goes up to the rooftop to pray. Rooftops were special get away places, usually reached by an outside stair. Think of Peter up there. Did the lay on the parapet and look out at the Mediterranean Sea? Jewish people are not as a rule great sailors but Peter was a fisherman who grew up on the Lake of Galilee. What were his thoughts? What did he pray about? We are told he became aware that he was very hungry and he asked for some food. I try to picture  - Did he call down to the women in the house below? Did he run down the outside stairs? There is no food available, no snack they can give him. However, they are happy to do anything for Peter and tell him they will cook up a meal but it will take a little time. Still hungry he returns to his prayers and falls into a trance. In it he sees a white cloth held at the four corners descending from above. It is filled with all sorts of animals. They must be alive because he hears a voice saying “Kill and eat”. This part is hard to imagine but what it is hard for Peter is that all these creatures are forbidden by law for him to eat,  ( Leviticus 11: 4) and he is so hungry. Nonetheless, he protests that he cannot eat forbidden food. The voice says, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane”

As he ponders this he hears the voices of the three from Cornelius' house. He goes down and invites them in. They tell their story and stay overnight. Imagine them all as they sat and talked before they slept. Was it as this point that Peter understood his vision? Jews had been taught they must not socialize with gentiles or enter their homes. God told him clearly that anyone of any nation who was a righteous person is acceptable to him. Peter knows he is free to go off the next day and enter the house of a gentile – Cornelius, the Roman Centurion. Other believers decide to go with him.

We have to leave them there, travelling back to Caesarea. How did they go with their single Roman escort? Did they walk solemnly or laugh and chat together? Did they sing psalms? Go with them, enter their joy and expectation. Let the story of their arrival come alive. May all your reading of scripture come alive. Enjoy.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

June 3rd 2012


I think it was Augustine of Hippo, who said that “a prayer sung is a prayer prayed twice”. Today as I contemplate Trinity Sunday, I want to sing. I want to sing about God my father who made me and this world in which we live and move and have our being. I want to reach out and take the hand of Jesus my Saviour and sing as I feel God’s love flowing from him. Then that love becomes power, the power and peace of the Holy Spirit and I am uplifted in hymns of praise.

This morning, I am feasting on songs of praise. Silently! The other residents and staff might wonder about me. Perhaps that would be good thing. I have opened my red hymn book, leafed through it, here and there stopped to sing to myself. I would love to include here some of the verses but it would not be practical.

Some seekers after truth tend to doubt when their finite minds cannot grasp the infinite glory of God. We must never give up searching with our minds but above all experiencing with our hearts and showing forth his love in our lives.

One of the great saints of the Christian church was St. Francis of Assisi. He wrote this beautiful hymn which is one of my favorites. It is number 1 in the old red hymn book and number 355 in the Book of Common Praise. The first and last verses are printed here.

All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voices, let us sing: Alleluia, alleluia!
Bright burning sun and golden beams, pale silver moon that gently gleams,
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
Let all things their creator bless, and worship God in humbleness, Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise God the Father, praise the Son, and praise the Spirit, Three-in-One:
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia