‘Right! What are the opportunities?’

I heard an encouraging tale the other day. Another parish was vacant when the COVID shooting match came to town. A parish without a priest can sometimes become despondent and sad around the edges. But not the one I heard about.

A few of the key players sat down with a refreshing beverage (and possibly some chocolate caramel slice) and began to unpack the new situation.

This is what we are confronted with. There was a big silence until… one of the folk rubbed their hands together and with unrequited enthusiasm exclaimed.

“Right! So what are the opportunities?”

And then the meeting took on a completely  different timbre. Ideas flowed, initiatives were … um … initiated and people came away with excitement in their belly and a list of things to do. There is much to be inspired by with this little tale.

First it was exciting, but not surprising, that the spark came not from a priest but from the pew sitters. This is very much the case here in this parish. Far from leading the wave, I am usually just swept up along with it.

Secondly was the catch cry ‘Right! What are the opportunities?’ In the face of a bleak situation this simple phrase turned everything upside down. A fresh vision for the future winked alluringly.

This phrase is not limited to parishes trying to navigate their way through a quagmire of COVID. It can and should be applied to every conundrum that we find ourselves in. Personally, as a community and as a planet of people.

I offer it for you. Give it a go next time you find yourself boggled by the unexpected. Boil the kettle, inhale slowly, take your time and ask yourself… ‘Right what are the opportunities?’

You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

 “You did not choose me but I chose you”.

As a very young adolescent I failed to grasp the full significance of these words. Perhaps I was incapable at such an early age. There was a crass, naïve part of me that thought that I had cooked the whole vocation thing up myself. That somehow it was all my idea and of course I had rattled God’s cage first and not the other way round. Mind you to rattle God’s cage is something only done by the foolish, the brave and the desperate.

But there I was in the Bishops study one day, dewy eyed and dripping with idealistic piety. Apparently later on the Bishop said to someone that I was like a young puppy dog falling all over itself in a rush to get to the altar. Little did I realise that the altar was the place of brokenness and sacrifice.

Somehow I had thought that this priesthood thingy was all my idea. Didn’t I carefully choose my year 12 subjects with theological college in mind. Hadn’t I, all by myself, come to the inescapable understanding that there was nothing else that I would rather be?

It took countless years to come to a more helpful perspective, a clearer understanding that it was actually God’s initiative a very long time ago.

You did not choose me … no I chose you. Read it more carefully, more diligently. What does the text tell you? What does the text actually say?

But all this vocation is equally as important and right for you as well. God had always wanted you to enjoy him and over the years has provided opportunities for you to respond. They may have been subtle and they may have come in strange wrapping paper, but God has always taken the initiative with you and wanted you to be here with him at the altar today.

Now for the irksome bit.

If God sends us out to encounter and engage with other people, then he must also send other people to rub shoulders and to challenge us and draw us ever closer to Him. And that is a celebratory and challenging vocation. Further we are called to be the fruit that will last and not wither at the first blight of fear or disappointment.

And while I wonder who it is that you might engage with and enjoy this week, I wonder who it is that God will send into your life to help you grow into the person He has called you to be. Sometimes we need to have a few rough edges sanded off us and so God will send us the appropriate person. Sometimes we need to be soothed, sometimes we need to be listened to and sometimes we just simply need to listen.

You and I are in the terrifying business of worshipping a God who takes the initiative and calls liquorice all sorts into His family as our brothers and sisters. A quick think about some of the clergy that you have had should tell you that God has the most outrageous, scandalous and puzzling sense of humour.

And I can’t help but think that sometimes He just plays with us given the curious people He gives us.

We don’t get to choose the people God sends into our lives. He takes the initiative and gives us who will be best for us and sometimes they are not altogether to our liking.

Ultimately it must always be who we need. Not who we want. It must always be what God wants. Sometimes the God of surprise and vocation is exasperating but He is never boring.

You did not choose me… no I chose you And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

Michael Leunig knew this well so I conclude with a prayer he wrote. It explains this vocation or sending concept in charming but confronting words. It would take a very courageous soul to use it. One day I might be trusting enough of God to pray it.

God give us rain when we expect sun.
Give us music when we expect trouble.
Give us tears when we expect breakfast.
Give us dreams when we expect a storm.
Give us a stray dog when we expect congratulations.
God play with us, turn us sideways and around.
Amen.

For this morning's exercise I want you to imagine that there are three tea cups in a line on your kitchen bench. Two of the tea cups are very close to each other, in fact they are touching each other. The other is some 6 inches or more apart from the other two. Got it? OK. Just hold that image in your brain.

Now in this morning's gospel Jesus highlights the intimacy and relationship that He has with His Father. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower.” This is not the only time Jesus highlights this closeness with his Father. “The father and I are one”. “Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began”. In fact John 17 pretty much oozes with this companionable, loving unity. It seems that Jesus and his Father are inseparable.

So the two tea cups that are placed very close to each other  on your shiny kitchen bench are the Father and Jesus.

Now…Lets have a look at the rest of the gospel.

“Abide in me as I abide in you.”

“The branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.”

“I am the vine, you are the branches”.

So the third tea cup is… you. And the very good news is that the intimacy, the closeness, the companionability, the unity and the love that the Father and Jesus enjoy…. is the very same delicious companionability and unity and love that Jesus wants to enjoy with us. So shuffle your imaginary 3rd teacup close to the other two that are nestling together. Next in the gospel there is a fairly salutary lesson about producing fruit. It does not happen, it cannot happen, unless our tea cup is placed very close to the other two and stays there or in the imagery of the vine we cannot bear fruit, unless we are grafted into Christ and stay there. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Him. “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”And while our tea cup might slide away a bit, we keep on coming back each Sunday to re-establish that connection which to us might seem flimsy, flawed and fragile but from the Masters point of view we are always close.

This is good news for us and it is good news for the world. The Master wants to have, longs to have, aches to have, craves the same inseparability of relationship  with you, as he effortlessly does with His Father. And its when we allow that to happen, that fruit does ultimately blossom. Sometimes it takes a long time. Sometimes the fruit is not voluminous; always the growing is hidden from us and always it is to his glory. We are outrageously and undeservedly privileged if we glimpse from time to time, the growth of new fruit. Sometimes too, it is the most unlikely vine dressers that produce the most fantastic fruit.

A little story from a long time ago to finish with. Once upon a time I used to take tours around Seppelts Great Western. It was a fabulous job and my first authentic 9 - 5 work a day week experience. It taught me much.

In the blithering cold of a Great Western winter, when the rain was chucking it mercilessly down, I used to catch the odd glimpse of the invisible people who would be out in the vineyards doing the pruning. I still think of them whenever I read this bit of St. John’s gospel. Sometimes it seems as though everything is agin the work of God. That we labour in vain in the most appalling of situations and climates and nothing much seems to happen. Very much like those workers at Seppelts. But come February, March when the harvest happened, there was a buzz and activity and joy and sunshine. It seemed that we had waited a long time for this and the abysmal situation in the middle of June was a distant, dissolving night mare.

Sometimes we simply just have to do the hard yards, the praying in the freezing cold with no apparent result. But what do we say to ourselves and to others when this is the case. When  it all seems too hard and you cannot do it any more, or you simply don’t want to do it any more. Then you might remember the invisible people in the vineyards of Seppelts. Or if it is easier, you might just remember the three cups on your kitchen bench and nudge yours a little closer to the other two where it belongs and revel in the closeness that is yours for the enjoying.

Here is a photo of a dishevelled greying guy at Park run. This photo is not glamorous or sexy.

You can see my countenance is contorted with the strain of trying really hard. I look as though I have all the problems of the Church of God on my shoulders.

It is a curious quirk that every so often I find what some sports people refer to as the ‘sweet spot’. The sense where body, soul and mind all align in a perfect harmony. This ‘space’ is an elusive little critter that you cannot write into your diary for 8:00am on Saturday morning. You do not find this ‘sweet spot’; rather it is almost as if it finds you. It happens sometimes when I am jogging around by myself and I am not motivated by selfish ego in trying to catch the person in front of me.

No, this ‘sweet spot’ catches me by its own stealth and I don’t realise it until I am actually there, in the moment.

A surfer will also speak to you about the sweet spot. They will tell you that sometimes they catch and ride the perfect wave. Try to replicate this of your own volition and you are doomed to never experiencing it again.

Sometimes it works like this with prayer as well. Every so often, you may find Him or rather He finds you.

And because we can’t orchestrate this encounter, the best we can do is make sure that we continue to run round the lake, go across to pray, front up at the altar, make ourselves aware, practice and make ourselves available.

What I do know

On the 25th of April 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. These became known as Anzacs and the pride they took in that name continues to this day.

On the morning of 25 April 1915, the Anzacs set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in order to open the Dardanelles to the allied navies. The objective was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and an ally of Germany.

The Anzacs landed on Gallipoli and met fierce resistance from the Ottoman Turkish defenders. Their plan to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months.

At the end of 1915, the allied forces were evacuated. Both sides suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed. News of the landing on Gallipoli and the events that followed had a profound impact on Australians at home. The 25th of April soon became the day on which Australians remember the sacrifice of those who had died in the war.

The Anzacs were courageous and although the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives, the Australian and New Zealand actions during the campaign left us all a powerful legacy.

What I kind of know.

The lads from the farms who upped their ages and never returned. People from this district whose names are not recorded but neither are they forgotten. The women who waited back home and those who dressed gaping wounds. Those who lived amongst corpses and mud and freezing cold. Those who had to make the decision to knowingly send others to their death. Those who went ‘over the top’ knowing that this would be the last thing they did.

What I do know.

Sometimes the only prayer is

“Have mercy”

A litany

On those who are prisoners of conscience have mercy

On those who mourn in secret have mercy

On those who suffer mentallyhave mercy

On those whose service went unnoticed  have mercy

On those who stayed behind  have mercy

On those who delivered telegrams have mercy

On those who are still fearful today have mercy

On the souls of those who have died in conflict. have mercy

On those who are prisoners of war have mercy

On those who negotiate for peace have mercy

On those who can no longer march have mercy

For the times I have not perceived the tears of others

have mercy

For the times that I have held onto grudges and anger

have mercy

For the times that I have misunderstood

have mercy

For the times that I have not listened

have mercy

For the times I have chosen prejudice over understanding

have mercy

For the times I did not want to be reconciled

have mercy

For the times that did not choose helpful words

have mercy

For the times I have not been at peace with God

have mercy

For the times I have not been at peace with others

have mercy

Almighty God and Creator, You are the Father of all people on earth. We beseech You to guide all the nations and their leaders in the ways of justice and peace. Protect us from the evils of injustice, prejudice, exploitation, conflict and war. Help us to put away mistrust, bitterness and hatred. Teach us to cease the storing and using of implements of war. Lead us to find peace, respect and freedom. Unite us in the making and sharing of tools of peace against ignorance, poverty, disease and oppression. Grant that we may grow in harmony and friendship as brothers and sisters created in Your image, to Your honour and praise. Amen

I thought that we might have a squint at the first reading from the book of Acts. Acts is the story of the early Church written by Luke as a sequel to his gospel. Those who decide what readings we have on a Sunday, put a chunk of Acts for the first reading in Eastertide to highlight the theme of new life. If you watch closely over the coming weeks you’ll see that the early church gets itself into all sorts of bother and there is a serious amount of argy bargy. The most contentious issue of all was the issue of whether new male converts had to be circumcised. That really got both sides of the debate fired up. From our perspective in time we really can’t see what all the fuss was about; but for them when they are right in the heat of the argument, it was a matter of serious contention.

But this morning, we are right at the beginning of Acts, before we get to a church that we might recognise today, it's all smashingly fabulous. The Parish Council of Jerusalem  is working in harmony and has boatloads of cash. Listen to this. “All the believers were one in heart and mind.

They shared everything they had. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”

Sounds like a dream parish / diocese. Further Luke gives us an example of this generosity of spirit and dollars. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

So how come…?? How come they have this marvellous attitude? Where did it spring from and what is their secret?

Part of the answer lies in the bit that I have mischievously left out.

“No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had”. They understood that their stuff, their cash, their  bits and pieces, are really just given to them for a little while. And their responsibility was to use it wisely for the good of all. And that is true of us today. Any undertaker will tell you that coffins don’t come with pockets. So now, today, is time to share what we have. A poor example of this is when I can share a muffin at Tosca browns on Thursday. It’s not much but it is a symbol of a dynamic that is much greater. The cash from the book fair that goes off to those in need is a better example. So what else is driving this perception of how flimsy our things are.

I think it's this

“With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”

The early church knew that the resurrection of the Lord was not just pie in the sky when you die, with angels and archangels, although that is quite magnificent in itself.  They also understood that the resurrection had important ramifications  for their life on this side of the grave as well.

Once you get that this life is fleeting, swift, precious and that the next life is even more mind blowingly fabulous, then the importance of material bits and pieces that we insist on accumulating .. their importance, value and significance is seen in a whole new light. You begin to understand that what is really important is the life of the world to come. This little life is fleeting and exquisite and therefore any opportunity to help someone else should be grasped immediately.

And this is great news. And it's why the early Church couldn’t keep silent about it, but just had to share it with the world. It is like when you become engaged, or when a child is conceived, or you get the job of your dreams. You simply just can’t keep it to yourself and you have to just share this with anyone who will listen. The resurrection absolutely must affect our lives on this side of the grave just as surely as it will affect our lives on the other side of the grave.

A point to hammer home.

As you read the book of Acts over the coming weeks and watch the early church wrestle in so many ways about so many things, you will discover that they are just like us. But we have the benefit of time. We should know that what is absolutely crucial, die in the ditch issues for us today will be laughable in a thousand years time. Do not give in to Satan's subtle tricks of despair and a hankering for the good ol days or fear of the future. God has put you in this place, in this time, because He wants you here and now and you are exactly where you should be.

Remember the ripping yarn about Adam and Eve and how they realised to their horror that they were naked? They came to this shocking understanding when they had done something they were expressly told not to do.

So they hastily sew some fig leaves to cover the personal parts of their anatomy. Then they hide away, ashamed and remorseful, hoping that God will not see them and if they are found, then at least they have some sort of covering so it really won’t be that bad .. will it?

You would have thought that grumpy ol God would come breathing threats of rage and retribution. Not so.. God comes walking in the cool of the evening and calls to the couple because he can’t see them in their usual place ie. On the verandah in their favourite rocking chairs quaffing a refreshing beverage made from juniper berries or oats.

The story progresses, tension mounts and it is clear that God knows exactly what has happened.. and yet, and yet… still He comes. God knows full well that Adam and Eve are embarrassed and fallible and oozing with guilt. Still… he comes. He comes not because he wants to tick them off but because he simply wants to be with them. He comes knowing full well how fallible we are and what we have done. He even knows the trim of our designer fig leaves. These are just foolish bits of dressing which really serve no earthly purpose at all except to try to cover our perceived shame when in fact none of them are necessary.

It is a good news story. The Master comes to be with us not because of what we have done, but simply because He wants to share that refreshing beverage and gentle conversation.

Jesus said to Mary, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ 16 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’  said to Mary Magdalene, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’

As far as I can make out these are the last recorded words of Jesus to Mary Magdalene.

I bet they were ringing in her ears as she rushed away from the empty tomb to the disciples.

The natural thing for Mary would be to stay and to hold onto her beloved Lord but he discourages that.

‘Do not hold onto me…

And then he gives her a very important job to do.

“Go to my brothers and say to them

‘I am ascending to my Father and your father, my God and your God’.”

I hope that there have been one or two times in your worshipping life when you have encountered the Risen Christ. Sensed His very presence even if he was hidden to you under the sacrament or in the face of someone most unlikely. Just for a minuscule  moment, the veil is taken aside and like Mary Magdalene you see who it is that truly stands before you.

It is the most sublime experience and the thing we want most of all is for that moment, that sense of intimacy to last forever. To hang onto it.

And when this exquisite unexpected bubble pops as it must, we are left be-puzzled, wondering if it really did happen and how do we conjure up the experience again. Wouldn’t it be great if we could make it last indefinitely!

Like Mary Magdalene that's not what we are supposed to do. Even after this marvellous act of worship here today there is important work to get on with.

In a little while I will send you out “Go in peace to Love and serve the Lord…”. Go and tell my brethren that He is risen. Jesus' last words to Mary are the words He continuously speaks to us. Yes, this sense of closeness is lovely but… off you go… you’ve got this. Go and tell them that the grave is conquered. He is Risen Alleluia.

Something to ponder on this Easter Day.

In verse one of chapter 20 Mary comes to the tomb and sees the stone rolled away. She runs off, knocks on Peter and John’s door and gets them out of bed. Remember it was still dark when she went to the tomb.

Peter and John run the world's first 4 minute mile to the tomb. We presume that Mary stays at Peter and John’s place while they run off. There is no mention of her joining in with this foot race.

But hey presto, come verse 11, there she is back at the tomb. Why has she come back? The most likely explanation is that she has returned to give vent to her grief which is exactly what she is doing when Jesus appears.

However God has another reason for her to come back to the tomb and that is to give her a very important task. To go and spread the news that Christ is risen.

I wonder how often in our lives we have gone to a particular place, for a particular purpose, absolutely sure of what we were going to do and why we were going to do it. But then something unexpected happens. God intervenes in his quiet, lovely, but dramatic way and we find out that we are exactly where we are supposed to be, at exactly the right time, but the reason for being there is transformed into something quite different, boggling and incomprehensible.

It is not until, much later that we can have the hindsight to look back and think… so that was what it was all about. The Risen Christ was hidden. He appeared to us as someone quite different and yet he gently spoke our name, told us in the nicest possible way to move on and then get on. Go and spread the good news of the empty tomb.

If that has happened to you.. then how blessed you are. Go and tell the brothers and sisters that He IS risen. He is already here with us and He is awaiting us when it comes our turn to be laid in our tomb.