The Leprous Chatterbox.

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

 Instead, he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news.

Usually, healing stories occur in the open in the presence of crowds.  This is an important element when we reflect on the nature of healing. It’s not just about the healer and the healed. There is always a wider circle of people involved and you see this dynamic very clearly in a regional parish like ours. It’s one of the many joys of the connectivity of a community. But, it's reassuring to know that no matter how many people there are around you, Jesus is always present when we call out to him;  In the scriptures “the crowd” often seems to denote those drawn by curiosity about the “miracle worker”; they want to “see” a performance.  They are not drawn to conversion or repentance, but as with all the preaching and teaching of Jesus and his disciples, the invitation is always offered.  The healing story today therefore presents a stark contrast to the norm: Jesus and the leper are alone and it is only as the leper begins his pilgrimage to Jerusalem that others are made aware of the miracle that has happened.

It is easy to understate the power of Jesus’ two simple words to the leper. This is not just some glib, comforting, gooey ‘there there’.  Jesus speaks the action – “Be healed”.  In saying these two words The Master is personal and  He is fully engaged with the leper.  It is an intimate action and an intimate phrase.  It is God fully engaged with the leper and therefore fully engaged with us. In the suffering and isolation of the leper and in the isolation that our suffering inevitably brings. You can only go so far in empathising with someone who has a headache. At the end of the day, they have to do it themselves.

In The Master's instruction to the Leper, we are reminded that Jesus grew up a faithful, practising Jew. Jesus’ command is to go and “show yourself to the priest”. Priests were only found in the Temple at Jerusalem, quite a distance from the area around Capernaum.  Regardless of what Mark knew about the geography of the region, the instruction of Jesus is significant.  For the leper to be fully restored to the community and his isolation quashed, his healing must be verified by a priest and the appropriate sacrifice made.  The leper’s journey on the way to Jerusalem will foreshadow Jesus’ journey later on in the Gospel.  So the journey or ‘the way’ is not just a geographical trip from point A to point B. It is also a journey that happens within. It is ‘the way’ of discipleship, a pattern of life.  On our journey to our Jerusalem, there are bumps and rocks and traffic hazards and detours and road works and there are many stumblings and wrong turns.  But the “way” always leads to Jerusalem, the Temple, the place where we encounter God himself. It is the place of sacrifice just as surely Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, to the temple will accomplish His own sacrifice.

His Mission and our mission is not just to get to a particular geographical place. His mission and our mission is also to tell and to listen along the way. The journey and what happens along the way was and is, just as important as the destination.

Something to think about and a few questions.

In shrinking and shirking from the ‘leprosy’ of others we become leprous. When we recoil from that which we find confronting in another, or simply that which we don’t like, we are infected. We become short-sighted. Our hearts are hardened and our hearing is dulled to those things that we need to hear;  the things that will heal us.

Question 1

Who did the man tell on his way and what was their reaction? By the sounds of it he told pretty much anyone who would listen. “Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news”

And of course you would, for it is not just the physical healing, the end of the disease, but also the end of his social isolation. A whole new world opens up for our leprous chatterbox. And the reaction from the people he earboxed would have been mixed. Some were delighted, some disbelieving, some not sure what to make of this chatterbox.

Question 2

Are you the one who listens to the leper, or are you the leper, the one who tells?

Perhaps we are both. Perhaps there are times when we listen to the afflicted and certainly there are times when we need to be listened to.

Third and last question

What exactly did the leprous chatterbox say?

‘I was touched’.

Or

‘I was healed.’

Or

Something else.

Tolerance + Silence = Agreement + Collusion.

You may be surprised that I did not have an easy time at school. I was unabashed about my faith and this was not a good thing in the popularity stakes. In the end, my parents took pity on me and I moved to a different school where I was much happier.

Decades later I had cause to reflect on this enigma and wondered why some of my colleagues did not speak out against such rough-and-tumble behaviour. As I recall they weren’t bad people, they weren’t the main protagonists, they were just eerily silent when this thorny issue arose.

Perhaps silence was their way of protecting themselves or perhaps they just thought that it was part of the everyday grist of school life. Whatever their reasons, they are lost to me now and even at the time my colleagues may not have been able to spell out what was going on for them. What 13-year-old can be that objective and articulate?

However the equation…Tolerance + Silence = Agreement + Collusion is still accurate. All sorts of times, places and people are treated shabbily. It’s glib, easy and trite to make sweeping generalisations about a certain bunch of apples because a couple of them have been found blotchy and defective. A quick look in the mirror would show that none of us lives up to the ideals we hope for. We’re all bit pimply and warty, chipped and flawed.

When others are disparaged we can remain silent and our silence speaks loudly of our agreement. We collude with the perpetrators. I would hope that adults behave more maturely than schoolyard bullies. But on the off chance that this is not the case…

Tolerance + Silence = Agreement + Collusion.

Imagine

I recently discovered a person called Simon Barrow. He is a practical theologian, (ie. who thinks outside the traditional box and language) a commentator, a journalist, an adult educator and a trainer. So he is no slouch and I’m glad that he’s on the side of the ‘good guys’.

His work was passed onto me through a screen which can and does have some helpful things to offer, but like all technology, it can be abused and used for the degradation and harming of others.

As we complete the first month of this year Simon’s poem ‘Unwounding’ is brim full of hope and possibilities but it doesn’t pretend that all is glossy and gooey. Rather it teaches us that the wounds of the world and the wounds of others are the same as our wounds. The fears of others and our fears are pretty much the same and if we turned aside from the illusion that retribution and revenge will fix things… imagine what might happen. Imagine what could happen.

So the poem has a haunting echo of John Lennon’s song ‘Imagine’. I offer his superb piece of work for your thoughts and if you are that way inclined, your prayers. Whatever wounds and fears find us this year I hope that your/our ‘un-wounding’ may be victorious over the enemies of fear and retaliation.

‘Unwounding’ … by Simon Barrow

Imagine what would become possible
if we could but gaze on the wounds
of the other, and recognise in
them our fellow fractured
lives and likenesses?

Imagine what would become possible
if we could but see our petrified
enemies as lost and longing
kindred souls on a painful
path to siblinghood?

Imagine what would become possible
If we could but turn ourselves aside
from the vast and veiling
illusion that vengeance
ever rights wrong?

Our Missing Hearts

I’ve read a book by Celeste Ng called ‘Our Missing Hearts’.

The book is fiction but the plot is disquietingly familiar. Us versus them, the targeting of a specific group of people because they appear different. The consequences, fall out and fear of such a mindset. Think of George Orwell's ‘Animal Farm’, set in New York and you get the general idea.

The title of the book comes from a poem that one of the main characters has written. Her poem is misinterpreted and used against her. What is a heartfelt, superbly crafted piece of literature, becomes a lash and a weapon.

The title of course has at least one other layer of meaning. Such disappointing events occur on our planet, and on a national level, when our hearts ‘go missing’ ie. When we are heartless. Last year it seemed that there was always some international conflict going on and the innocent, the children, the vulnerable, and the helpless were the victims and hostages who were bloodied and became homeless.

I have to hope that this year might be different. That somehow, in some way, we might learn the crucial craft of turning our army tanks into tractors and our hand grenades into harvesters. Deep down it’s what we all ache for… isn’t it?

The book speaks to every individual and it speaks to all communities. It is so very easy to find excuses not to care.

It’s not my problem, my little bit wouldn’t change anything, it’s all too hard.

But this is the real ‘look long and hard in the mirror’ moment. ‘I’m too busy caring for all these other people. I wouldn’t have energy for anything else.’

When I catch myself thinking this, then I know that my heart too has gone missing in action.

Having More Than One Go.

Those of you with a fine eye for detail will have noticed that our first reading actually begins in the 3rd chapter of Jonah. In today’s apparently happy story, Jonah asks the people to repent, they do and everything is squared away. All is sweet and dandy and they all live happily ever after.

But there is a two-chapter prequel. It didn’t actually start out that way and in the first two chapters, all is not champagne and red roses. Jonah is offered the parish of Nineveh and says a polite No, or a not-so-polite ‘No!’. God again makes a very generous offer and Jonah instead of graciously accepting the parish runs away and joins the navy and you would have thought that would be the end of it. But no! God gets grumpy and while Jonah is on the high seas he sends Cyclone Ismay. The crew draw straws to find out who it is that God is cranky with. Drawing straws is always accurate and it turns out that Jonah is the culprit. Jonah jumps overboard and that’s when we get the familiar story of him being in the belly of a whale for three days. After this Jonah is regurgitated onto the beach. He has learnt his lesson, goes off to the parish and thus begins our Chapter 3 today.

There’s lots going on with this story but the point I want to make is that God had to have a couple of goes to get Jonah into the parish. Jonah gets a second chance to redeem himself, accept the parish graciously and be an outstanding parish priest. Notice too that the Ninevites get a second chance. Starting at the top down with the king.

“When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”.

Sometimes you have to have more than one go.

Now let’s take a look at our gospel.

Jesus has a very successful recruiting drive and nets no less than 4 disciples, apparently within a few minutes of each other on the one beach. If only it were that easy.

But… I’ll lay odds that there is also a backstory with the call of Simon, Andrew, James and John. It seems highly unlikely that they would have left their Dad’s company, complete with Superannuation and Long Service Leave  and followed a complete stranger into a very precarious career opportunity like fishing for people. They have no idea where this will lead or how it will finish. This is clearly not the first time these gentlemen have met.

I suspect that there was an ongoing, well-established relationship with these five and what we read today in a few swift trifling verses, is just the culmination of several fruitful, heartwarming but challenging encounters.

The Master probably had to have a couple of goes before he ‘landed’ these disciples. And they had to become comforted, reassured and trusting of the itinerant rabbi.

I often wonder if Gabrielle had asked other women to be the Mother of God and Mary was just the first one that said ‘Yes’ albeit with a curly question or two.

We are often tempted to think that God speaks and it all happens instantly, exquisitely and perfectly. But the more I think …

What if God has to have a couple of goes before he gets it right, or at the least before we say Yes?

Wouldn’t that have to change our understanding?

Wouldn’t that teach us that our God operates from a place of great vulnerability, where we are free to respond in the negative? It would have to teach us that our God who is both elusive and intimate, is a God who is patient with us. He will try whatever it takes to nudge us along to the place and relationships that He has in mind for us. These places and relationships are not always gooey and nice with whipped cream on top.

If we worship the God who has to have more than one go, then we learn afresh that he is also a persistent God.

And this is very good news. Our God is persistent, our God is patient and He is vulnerable, not quite as all-powerful as we would sometimes like to believe. It is only His persistence, His patient, immeasurable and unconquerable love, that makes Him such an irresistible lover. We are blessed to worship such a God.

Two quick questions to finish.

1. The disciples leave their nets behind. What tangles are you being asked to leave alone in order that you may follow?

2. Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh and encounter the people there. Where and or who is your Nineveh, the place God is calling you to?

The conversation I never had

They were a smart couple. Attractive, young and obviously ‘together.’

They were shown to a cosy table just for two. They ordered and then I thought they would hold hands, look into each other's eyes and mutter luscious things to each other.

Not so. Instead of gazing at each other's comely countenance, they each took out their phone and they stared hypnotically into the screen in front of them. So in my mind, I had a conversation with them. Sometimes I wish I had the fortitude actually to conduct this conversation but maybe it’s better that I didn’t. Anyhow, here’s the conversation I never had.

Me: “Excuse me… sorry to interrupt, but I couldn’t help noticing that you are spending a hefty amount of time and energy looking at your phone when you are obviously together.”

The young lady: Without looking up at me “Yeah.. just checking out…” and her voice petered out as she went on checking out… well … whatever it was she was checking out.

Undaunted and with my level of askance rising, I thought I would pursue a line of inquiry with the gentleman.

Me: “So, can I ask, ‘Have you been together long’?”

The young gentleman: “Yeah, about 6 weeks now” he says this almost matter-of-factly, without lifting his eyes from the screen and making eye contact with me or his girlfriend. “We just don’t want to miss anything from our favourite social media platform”

Now this is an imaginary conversation. I can say whatever I like without fear of consequences, being threatened with ‘inappropriate behaviour,’ or being curtly asked to leave the cafe.

Me: “Don’t you think you should be checking out each other? The thing that you are missing out on, is right in front of you”

Speak Lord…

A bit of background for today's first lesson. At the time of our first reading, the Israelites were in a state of moral decline. The judges who had led them previously had sadly passed away, and the Israelites had turned to their old ways of idol worship. The people were crying out for a king, but God had intended for them to be led by Him alone. So it’s very much a time of flux and the people are crying out consciously and subconsciously for some stable leadership.  Today I still think we yearn for good, solid, stable, leadership at all sorts of levels and in every organisation. Stability, continuity and wisdom seem to be in short supply.

When our story opens Samuel is serving in the temple under the guidance of the high priest Eli. One night, while he is sleeping, God calls out to him three times. Samuel, not yet aware that it is the Lord calling him, goes to Eli, thinking it is him who called him. Eli then realises that it is the Lord calling Samuel, and instructs him how to respond. From this point on, Samuel becomes a prophet of God, and God uses him to deliver important messages to the Israelites.

In ancient Israel, Prophets were called by God to deliver His message to the people. They were used to warn the Israelites of impending judgment and to call them to repentance. They also had the role of foretelling future events, and often God would reveal to them the hidden things. Prophets were very handy people to have around.

In the past, the folk had the great prophets Abraham, Isaac and Moses but these folk aren’t around any more.

Against this rather sombre moral and political background enters the prophet Samuel although once again God (in his wicked sense of humour and to teach us some humility) calls a little lad.

The call of Samuel has many salutary lessons for us.

First, we all need an Eli in our lives. Someone who we can go to when God interrupts us with his love. When we have been prodded and nudged just a little off-kilter we are disturbed and disquieted. The really good news is that they don’t necessarily have to have a clerical collar around their neck. Some of the finest ‘Eli’s’ I know are faithful lay people. Also remember that it took Eli no less than three goes to figure out what exactly was going on. Notice also that Eli simply points Samuel in the right direction. He doesn’t need to be privy to the conversation between Samuel and God. Eli just gives Samuel some direction in order for the future to be fruitful.

Secondly, Samuel's call is our call. We too carve out some time just to be with God. To read our Bibles, to come to the altar and be attentive to what God is saying to us. Our time is precious and spending time with God will mean not spending time doing something else. It’s that unpopular word ‘sacrifice’.

And when you have made the sacrifice and you are listening, then what is it that God is saying to you and then, if you are really brave… ask yourself ‘How am I responding?’

Thirdly, you are also an Eli. Your vocation should you choose to accept it is to help others cultivate their relationship with God and as lay people you are often far better placed to do this than us 'priesty' people. People expect clergy to say these sorts of things, but when it comes from the lips of lay people, it is often far more potent because of its unexpectedness. And you can do it. I have seen you do it and I have rejoiced. You can and you do help others to hear and recognise God’s voice.

Now in our story, Samuel went back to bed on the third occasion and simply waited. Often we think we are waiting on God. Waiting for him to forgive, waiting for him to act, waiting for him to fill our shopping order, waiting for him to do something... anything. Waiting for Him to explain Himself. And all that is normal and healthy and true and understandable.   But what if the opposite is also true? What if God is waiting for us? Waiting for us to be still and listen. Waiting for us to stop playing with our frivolous distractions. Waiting for us to listen. Waiting for us to stop procrastinating and turn again to Him. Still, he waits.

Finally my brothers and sisters

Look out! God is trying to get your attention. Are you ready? And if you are, then maybe your prayer should simply be … ‘Speak Lord your servant is listening’. If you’re anything like me you will find this is a hard prayer to pray for 2 reasons

1. We are too preoccupied and too rushed. We don’t have the presence of mind to listen.
2. We don’t actually want to hear what He has to say. What he has to say to us makes us squirm.

Even if we don’t want to listen, when we simply just can’t be fagged; we can still want to have the desire to listen.

If you dare…

Speak Lord... your servant is listening.

Our Defining Discussions.

I once made the point that the Archangel Gabrielle knows before he visits the Virgin Mary that this will be a defining discussion. He is well aware that once he steps over the threshold, Mary’s life will be changed forever. There can be no going back to her uncomplicated, quiet life.

The angel’s next step will slice her story in two, dividing all the days before, from all the ones to come.

It occurs to me that this is not the only defining discussion that has ever occurred in the history of the world. These sorts of discussions are happening all the time. Some of them are appalling. Like when you are made redundant or given a grim medical prognosis. That really slices your life in two. ‘Dividing all the days before from all the ones to come.’

Some are actually questions like ‘Will you marry me?’ Whatever the answer, the two people can never be the same again and a series of unstoppable events is ushered in.

It’s worth reflecting on these defining discussions and wondering what might have happened if we had answered differently. It’s even more important to reflect on the timbre of the conversation. The way things were said, particularly if you initiated the discussion. Then you had the advantage of knowing that the discussion was about to happen and therefore some power. With this comes responsibility and a duty of care for the respondent.

Finally, there is adjusting to the new circumstances. How are the people travelling in these new days? Even couples that have ‘reunited’ find themselves in a ‘different landscape’ with new rules and new ways of operating.

All of us have ‘defining discussions’. It’s not a matter of if they occur. It’s when they occur and how they occur.

Baptism of Our Lord. January 7th.

OK… so what happens next?

The couple who have been together for several years are walking along a stunning mountain track when they come across an open plateau. The vista and scenery are spectacular.

The handsome young man goes to set up his camera equipment a little way off explaining that this is going to be great. His girlfriend is perplexed and not quite sure what is going on.

The camera looks towards them and frames them against a breathtaking backdrop.

With a noticeable spring in his step, the young man walks back to his girlfriend, looks her in the eye and says … Nothing.

Intrigued and curious the young lady asks

‘OK, so what happens next?’

In her poem, Jan Richardson points out that the Archangel Gabrielle is aware that once he steps over the threshold, Mary’s life will be changed forever. For Mary, there will be no going back to her uncomplicated, quiet life.

The angel’s visit will slice Mary’s story in two, dividing all the days before, from all the ones to come.

We also have such moments.

A winning tattslotto ticket would be such a moment. A grim medical diagnosis, confirmation of a pregnancy, the birth of a child, the arrival of a new pet into the family home, a wedding.

The sacrament of reconciliation is also a life-changing moment. The penitent has the slate wiped clean using the counsel and authority of the confessor. You know how it goes… “Whosoever sins you forgive they are forgiven..”

Jesus’ Baptism is also one of these life-defining moments. Once Our Lord emerges from the water His public ministry has begun. He can’t go back under the mucky waters of the Jordan and somehow be unbaptised. He’s out there now, for all to see, for everyone to hear, for anyone to love and for all to reject him.

These moments, these life-changing events are special and unique in and of themselves. But… they are only the starting point. What follows is also very important.

In the example of the person with the grim medical prognosis we frequently see how they use the rest of their life for a very fruitful and inspiring ministry. We are left humbled, moved, enthralled and encouraged. Resolved once more to get our own stuff together and to try in different ways to be the person that the Master has called us to be. You can all probably think of someone, who under the most crushing of circumstances, shone brilliantly and brightly in magnificent ways and in so doing changed you.

It is what happens next after these life-changing moments that matters. The consequences of these special moments must take flesh in the grist of our every today. The penitent comes away with a fresh resolve to live life differently. The marriage is just as important as the wedding. The raising of the child or the pet is just as important as the birth or the bringing home of the boundy new creature.

The baptism of Jesus starts out lovely. Right towards the end of the gospel, the voice of the Father is almost like a hug. It all seems gooey and luscious and right. ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you, I am well pleased.’

Hey! What could possibly go wrong?

But ….Whatever else Jesus knew of his role and his many titles conveyed by the prophets of old, this was the one he knew first and best in his humanity.

This was the one he knew so well that even when his very life depended on his claim, he could not deny that he was the Son, the blessed. It was the title that would be flung at him in mockery as he was dying

“If you are the Son of God come down from the cross”

“You are my Son, the beloved; my favour rests on you. Some favour. Yes, this was heard by Jesus at his baptism and when we were baptised we were joined into his family and we also became a child of God. Nothing more, nothing less. Certainly, he did us a favour, but when God’s favour rests on us.. look out. He means business and we can never be the same again.

The couple who have been together for a number of years are walking along a stunning mountain track when they come across an open plateau. The vista and scenery are spectacular.

The handsome young man goes to set up his camera equipment a little way off explaining that this is going to be great. His girlfriend is perplexed and not really quite sure what is going on.

The camera looks towards them and frames them against a breathtaking backdrop.

With a noticeable spring in his step, the young man walks back to his girlfriend, looks her in the eye and says … Nothing.

Intrigued and curious the young lady asks

‘OK, so what happens next?’

‘This is what happens next’ and with that, he descends to one knee, produces a ring and then, right then, in that very second, in this very serious but thrilling business, their lives are spliced in two, dividing all those days before from the ones to come.

OK, so what happens next…?? Well, they are just beginning to find out, just as we are finding out, until that life-changing moment when we find out what really happens next and we see ourselves as He has always seen us.

Making the world a place of possibilities

It's a great phrase. It sounds as if anything could be possible. I wanted to clasp it firmly in my right hand like a baton and run with it and surely this is the vocation of us all. To make the world a place of possibilities.

As I thought about it a little more I became painfully aware of my limitations of time, place and resources.

I thought of the disadvantaged and I wondered if their possibilities had changed. Was there any effectual, ongoing change from the little possibility that I had tried to create?

I thought of those who are displaced and had their homes destroyed by flood, fire, bombs or earthquake. What possibilities for them?

Three little ways forward.

First, we must not give up trying to make our world a place of possibilities for others. The task is enormous and seems insurmountable, but a quick letter of resignation is not the answer.

Secondly, I find that my prayers have become more outrageous these days. I ask for the impossible and incredible. When all seems futile and forgotten I return yet again to that insatiable God who can never get enough prayer.

Thirdly, At this time of year, we look back to a beleaguered couple at the back of the pub in a cave that would not pass any O.H & S. Standards. They probably had no idea that more than 2000 years later their struggles, tears and grubby surrounds would continue to inspire us and change lives. So too with us. Our tiny, seemingly ineffectual and insignificant actions will have ramifications generations down the track. The world can be a place of possibilities if, just for today, we do the little things.

The first Christmass didn’t seem like much but… it made the world a place of possibilities