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Reflection July 19

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A reflection for Sunday 19th of July  - Jacob's ladder

Today I thought I would do something a little bit different and preach not on the gospel, but on the first lesson. The story of Jacob's ladder.Here’s the go.Jacob is on a journey of 500 miles to say Howdy to  his uncle in Haran. This is where he plans to meet his wives. But God says “PHooe! I have a different plan and journey in mind for you Jacob. Let me show you.In a dream Jacob sees a ladder standing upon the earth, and the top of it is touching heaven: The angels of God are going up and down on this ladder; The Lord introduces himself to Jacob and makes him a promise.“I am the Lord God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; the land, where you are snoozing, I will give to you and to your descendants.”  When Jacob wakes up he exclaims that he was unaware of God’s presence in this place. Further, He takes the stone that he had been using as a pillow, pours oil on it, and renames the place Bethel. OK great story about a lumpy pillow, but what in it for us

First, God takes the initiative. Jacob did not build the ladder to reach heaven, God extended it to him. Contrast this with the building of the Tower of Babel. We tend to think of Babel as an act of human pride and folly. But dig deeper friends. They very much wanted something that would ‘reach to heaven’.. It did not end well.. Man cannot make his own way to heaven.So God first came to us. God not only takes the initiative, but He first descends to us. It is He who crosses the gulf between the human and the divine. That’s what Christmass was all about.  The lowered ladder is not a challenge from God, but a wonderful opportunity, an invitation to become one with Him..Secondly God is with us as we make the ascent. God is both the destination and our companion on the way.Notice that there are angels running up and down the sides of the ladder. Some see these angels as carrying our wishes to God and then bringing back his help. It's like this prayer that I am very fond of.“To go daily from men to God to offer him their homage and petitions; to return from God to men to bring them his pardon and his hope”.OK. So God is with us, the angels are our companions, what is expected of us? God does not drag us up the ladder. We are expected to respond to this invitation.How does Jacob respond?;When Jacob woke up, he said: “Indeed the Lord is in this place, and I did not know”. How awesome is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven”.Jacob’s response is one of holy fear or reverence at the presence of God. So the story becomes a metaphor for how we tend to fall asleep to the reality of God’s presence in our life. And what is it that awakens Jacob to God? It is this vision of the ladder. For us, the Cross is our true ladder to heaven—that ought to awaken us to the presence of God.Then We must act. After the vision ends, Jacob does more than wake up and remark how truly awesome it had been. He goes beyond a mere verbal utterance. He sets a stone in place and anoints it. His world is changed.And so Our world is changed. Jacob sets the stone in place as a permanent memorial of what happened. It could also be interpreted as a kind of a primitive temple since he also renames the area Bethel, which means ‘house of God’— The renaming of the area itself tells us a significant change has occurred. Finally, Jacob calls on God to be with him and to ‘keep’ the ‘way by which I walk’ and to nourish and clothe him. Jacob arrived at Bethel as a simple itinerant. He walked away with God.Something to ponderAs I re read the account of poor old Jacob I had to ask myself “How many times have I encountered a person or gone into a place only to discover much later that this was a sacred space, a holy encounter and I did not know it? How many times have I been asleep, when actually what I should have been seeing is angels and  climbing a ladder with them to heaven itself? How many times Lord… how many times?

Fr David’s Musings

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I made a bit of a blunder last week. An oversight that was understandable and yet unfortunate. I mean, I didn’t get up in the morning, sprinkle sugar on my weeties and think…

“How can I be a monster today. What heinous act can I accomplish to wreak mayhem and mischief in peoples lives” No, just a little oopsie that anyone could make. I dutifully apologised, was swiftly forgiven and the whole thing was forgotten. Or was it?

You see the thing that disconcerted me most was not the fact that I made the blunder. When you get grey hair and wrinkles your mind also gets a little squidgy around the edges.

No, what I spent too much energy on was navel gazing whilst repeating the formula “Could have should have”.  This is not a helpful way to expend the valuable and limited resources of human emotion. A more fruitful exercise would be to put some strategies in place to try to make sure that this mistake does not recur. Surely that is a much more positive use of time.

But there is also a much more sinister thing that happens. That we swiftly cast our “Could have / should have” onto someone else and there it sticks. We can only see them through the murk of past errors. And what is sadder, is that by audibly articulating this mantra, others also are sucked into our slurry.

“Ol so and so should have done…A, B, C. They  should not have done Q. # Z, X and that other unmentionable thing. Everyone from our pollies to our sporting heroes are fair game. No-one is exempt.

Each day we need to see ourselves afresh because that is how the Master sees us. The challenge is to see others that way too.

Glenthompson

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Please help us to restore and rebuild our beautiful country Church.

In a targeted act of vandalism against the  tiny country community of  Glenthompson, our  unique mural at St Peter’s Anglican Church has been literally  de-faced.

This piece of art celebrates our community,  not only the church but the people, places and industry of our little country district.

The community are perplexed that someone wanted to  desecrate this special place of solace where  over a century of weddings, baptisms and  funerals have been commemorated and celebrated.

The community has no idea why anyone would do this.

The mural that has been created over many years now must be cleaned carefully, the faces of our loved ones  past and present repainted.

As part of the restoration works and improvements for our church, we also need to build a bathroom facility to ensure the safety of our parishioners.  Part of any funds raised will go towards this.

Any donations will be gratefully received  and if you wish, you can be on this mural too. Anyone is welcome to be part of our story.

This is an inclusive and supportive  little community, thankyou for considering this project. This is an important place for many people.

July 12 Reflection

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Today's homily... "3 cheers for Farmer Bill"Today's homily starts with a great fizzing commotion. We are on the farm and the reason for the buzz is that we are having visitors.  No-one ever comes to visit us at Sheephills… ever… but here we are and the folk are on their way.I go with my Dad who is showing this couple around the farm. Part of the guided tour is a trip to the top paddock. It must have been early in the year, for I can distinctly remember him bending down and showing this couple the soil. He explained that this was good quality soil and it was his best paddock But then he says something quite sobering.Something like “Yes it's a great paddock all right and I always get a good return from it, but sometimes it really does feel as though you are trying to scratch a living out of a bit of dirt”.I think about that phrase often when I read this parable of the farmer. It’s lovely when the soil returns heaps and you make a living out of it, but like my dad, the farmer in the parable knew the gamble and vocation that is farming.

You have to admire the farmer in the parable. He goes out year after year to sow the seed. And I applaud him not just for his diligence, but because he knows full well before he even sets out. that some of the crop will fail. Some gets eaten by the birds, some swallowed by weeds, some falls on rocky ground, but this doesn’t stop him. Undeterred, time after time, year after year, he still goes out and sows. And there must have been times like my Dad, when in the driving rain, or the freezing cold, or the blithering heat, you think.. What on earth am I doing here?Now the parable has something to say about the times when we get it right and that's good and dandy and the harvest comes in followed by the cash. Sometimes heaps and sometimes not quite so much.But I reckon the message for us in these debilitating times is the courage and the diligence and the perseverance of the farmer.

That we are called to simply be faithful. Nothing more… nothing less. And it won’t be easy and we do wonder what’s it all about and we question the future, but the parable is quite clear. That we march on with the good news and then let God take over.

There’s also a subtle message about our attitude to those who seem to have lapsed in their faith. Notice please that the rocky ground is always offered the seed. The seed might wither and perish, but it is always offered. For the lapsed and those who are just inquiring in tiny baby steps the door is always open. There must always be a way back, for that is how God loves us and calls us to welcome others.A couple of other things to ponder.Given the amount of what I call “agricultural parables and stories” I wonder whether Jesus didn’t have a couple of farmers as friends. Is it not likely that farmer Bill came into Joey's carpenter shop to order a yoke for his oxen? Or Shepherd Hezekiah came in and ordered a shepherds staff? Perhaps the Master was thinking of a particular farmer when he told the parable. Perhaps he had watched the same farmer over a number of years just go faithfully about his work in an unassuming, faithful way. Perhaps, and this would be my hope for you, that you know or have known someone who is just like that. Someone who by their very example both inspires and challenges you. Last thing. What I didn’t tell you in the story about our visitors, is that my dad had a couple of other paddocks that weren’t quite as flash and didn’t give nearly as generously.

Deep down in our hearts in that secret place, I am sure that there are patches that are good and rich and generous and we play to our strengths in order to nudge just one person a little closer towards the Kingdom. But there are also places deep within us, that, if we are honest, that are rocky and disappointing. There are times when we can be hard of heart and unresponsive to His generous love.  My Dad didn’t show our visors the paddock that occasionally had scotch thistles pop up and the dam went dry.  We can be good at hiding that which is embarrassing, but that can never stop the good farmer coming to us and offering us a way forward to transform our dearth, into rich truck loads of golden grain to share with the world.

Fr David’s Musings

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In the middle of the night I had thought that “proactive” rules would be a really good idea. You see our rules are usually about the things that we must not do. Like speeding and putting the wrong thing into our body or quaffing excessive refreshing beverages.

“What if…”   I thought at 3:26 and half am, “What if, there were laws that said we must do helpful things. We go part of the way with this concept when we must stop and assist at an accident. But what if we had a law that said we must say sorry when we got it wrong. A law that said we must help those who are less fortunate or those who come looking to us for a fresh start in life. What then? Well our responsibilities would then take precedence over our rights and that would have to be a good thing for everyone. You, me and the misunderstood.

But then at 4:02 am, I realised that an apology or an act of kindness which is enforced is actually bogus. It is contrived and it is not authentic. The good things that we offer to the wronged and underprivileged, must begin from the deepest part within us and not enforced from above. I well remember having to say ‘sorry’ to my brother from time to time and mutter it I did. But everyone knew that I didn’t really mean it and it certainly didn’t change my mean behaviour.

So sure there is much work that needs doing in our community, but the hard slog always starts from within us.

AGM

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Of our AGM

You would be painfully aware that we can only have 20 people inside for Church gatherings. This means that at the moment our Parish AGM will be limited to 20 people. We really hope that this will change in time and everyone can come.(Hoorah)

In order to allow ample time for the possibility of election and for the forms to go back and forth, the AGM has been set for September 27th.

If you would like to nominate a People's Warden please use the yellow form. 

If you would like to nominate a parish councillor please use a blue form.

If you are over 18 and have received communion more than 3 times in the last year you need to fill out a white form affectionately known as schedule A.

Nomination forms and any items for general business need to be in by the end of August. 

Got a question. Please see that local friendly priesty guy Fr. David.

Fr. Davids Musings

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It is an eerie thing to stand in an empty church, look into a phone and with great enthusiasm exclaim…“The Lord be with you!” When actually there is no-one there. I try really hard to act normal, to pretend I can see who ever is on the other side of the screen, but when I look past the phone, all I see are empty pews.

Sometimes on the screen I can tell that someone is looking in, but that has turned out to be an unhelpful distraction. There is enough to think about with bread, wine, words and what comes next.

After it is all over, I pack up, do the washing up, put out the candles, turn out the lights and frequently I catch myself thinking. “What was all that about”? A celebration that is so geared towards the building up community did not feel like a celebration at all. The community was absent.

Now heres another hard question. Is this electronic, ethernet action better than nothing? Perhaps ‘nothing’ would be more honest and speak more loudly.

Then I get home and look at the numbers of folk. I hear the odd comment that is fed back to me and I swing back to thinking… “Yes, this ‘something’, whatever the ‘something’ is, is better than nothing at all. People hear the word, reflect (hopefully) on the homily and can ‘see’ others who are tuned in. People that had not connected with the Church, are now in some way ‘connected’.

This gives me a steer to the future. I should try to continue to make it happen for those who physically just can’t get there on a Sunday and for those who are just curious and want to dance around in the shadows from a ‘safe’ anonymous distance.

Reflection – Sunday July 5

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A reflection for Sunday July 5th

There is a common misconception that clergy aren’t supposed to have favourite bits of the bible.  The argument goes like this.

It's all God's word and therefore you must enjoy every last bit of it. From the slaying of Abel, to Judas hanging himself, to Lots wife becoming salty, to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Perhaps a better way of thinking might be to say that there are some bits that are more helpful than others.

But today's gospel speaks clearly and gently to me.

The first bit is a conversation that Jesus is having with his Father

“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.”

So the Lord of heaven and earth reveals the mysteries not to the clever, the brainy, the articulate, the swift of tongue and nimble of mind. He shows forth his treasures to the little ones, the children, the least likely. The insignificant, the unimportant and everyday who just get on and say their prayers with a twinkle in their eye, joy in their hearts and love for all they encounter. People, just like the ones I am looking at now. And we should rejoice in this, not just because these things are revealed to us, although that would be reason enough, but because that is what the Father wants to do. That is his intention.

If God were a crass old introvert who didn’t like to share or play, but rather struck down people at a whim and peddled division and retribution… then I think I would be quietly putting my birettas away, typing a quick letter of resignation  and heading off to Port Fairy to rust away in the salt air.

But notice that not only is it God's intention to reveal his love to seemingly inconsequential people, but he also decides to hide these things from the learned and the clever. More than that he is PLEASED hide things from the smarty britches.

Mmm… Now there's something to ask Bishop Garry about.

Does God really have favourites… or is he just expecting more from the learned and clever?

The conversation then changes. Jesus stops speaking to his Father and chats to his listeners.

  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I was pondering the imagery of the yoke the other day. What are our yokes? I could think of a couple.

There is the yoke of our past.

It is a terrifyingly easy thing to persist in carrying around the yoke of the past. The yoke of the past has the notches of regrets, recriminations and guilt etched deeply into it. It is a particularly nasty yoke and even when we successfully manage to put it down, we can find that much later, somehow we have managed to pick it up again.

Then there is the yoke of expectations. We expect that we will be able to do A, B, C and q.3 We expect that we can do the laundry every second Tuesday and have the greatest sense of intimacy in our prayers whenever we simply mutter “Our Father”.

This is an infuriatingly monstrous yoke. We expect wooly mammoth sized things of ourselves and they are unrelenting. Amongst the things we expect are to make minimal, negligible  mistakes. To carry this yoke is folly and detrimental to your well being. It should come with a health warning. No wonder we are weary and burdened.

The yoke that Jesus asks us to carry is not the yoke of the past, nor the yoke of self expectations, it is HIS yoke. Take MY yoke upon you and learn from me. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. This is because his yoke is a simple wooden cross of love. All it requires, is for us to walk with him, beside him, learn from him and engage with Him. We don’t have to prove anything to ourselves, or to others.

So we come today and we accept his invitation as he accepted us long before we took our first breath.

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Even so we come.

Mass Times

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Sunday Mass times for Sunday June 28th

Saturday night Vigil mass at Christ Church Hamilton will be celebrated at 5:00pm on Saturday 27th of June.

Sunday Mornings mass at St. Marks Cavendish will be celebrated at 9:00am on Sunday 21st of June.

Sunday Mornings mass at Christ Church Hamilton will be celebrated at 10:30am on the 28th of June. This service will be live streamed and can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/AnglicanHamilton

Sunday mass at All Saints Penshurst will be celebrated at 4:00pm on Sunday 28st of June.

To comply with social distancing please contact Fr. David beforehand. p. 557 1137 m.0423 671 692 if you would like to attend any of these services.

A reflection for Sunday June 28th 

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A reflection for Sunday June 28th 

Today I offer a simple bible reading technique that I sometimes use.

Pick a small manageable chunk of scripture. It might be from the Bishops bible reading challenge, it might be from the Sunday readings in the pew sheet, it by from the lectionary of the day. It might also be that you are gently working your way through a particular book in the bible. What ever the piece of scripture shouldn’t be that long that you lose the will the live by the end of it.

Read the passage through as you normally would quietly to yourself. Then close the bible. After a little while open the bible back up and read the passage through out-loud at a very slow pace. The slower the better.

Stop when a word, phrase or incident arrests your attention. You may want to write it down or underline it. Ask yourself what is going on here? Am I puzzled, grumpy, excited or confused.

Reread the piece that has intrigued you. Allow it to percolate, savour it, ingest it. Maybe make a few notes. Write down the questions you still have.  What is the back story behind this episode? How might I apply this in my own daily life?

Here’s some cogitations from today's gospel.

“And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward”.

One of my first questions about this passage is.

“Who are the little ones?”

The clue I suspect is in the word little. Little is vulnerable, helpless and unprotected. In Jesus day it was the lepers, the widows and the beggars. In 2020 you could take your pick. We are much more aware of the needs of others right around the world. The refugee, the homeless, the abused. Those who do not have a voice in our noisy world.

In fact anyone who is thirsting for something that they need and are unable to have access to it. That is what makes one little.

So a little one might be one of those who slept rough last night, or it might be someone who has a crippling disease ,or it might be those who have a broken heart or have physical bruises that are hidden from public view.

The little ones are in a very real sense the pierced Master himself. You know how it goes ….Whatever you do for the least of these you do for me. So part of the gospel message, but it is also a difficulty and the trick is to see who it is that we are ministering to. It is Joe Blow who we have known for years, or someone who happens to be born from a different land. This is the Master who has come looking for a drink from us.

The cup I also found interesting. A cup of water is not a lot but it does heaps and is infinitely precious.

For your reflection you might like to think about who it was that gave you a ‘symbolic’ cup of water when you were so parched and thirsty. What were the circumstances? What was the water? In many cases the water came from an unlikely source. The most unlikely person and that is why it made such an impact on you and thus you have never forgotten it. Were we gracious in our acceptance? Did we go and do likewise and offer water to someone else?

Digging a little deeper

What is the backstory here. When Jesus spoke the words from this mornings gospel was he perhaps remembering the time when he was in conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well and he had asked her for a drink.

Part of that conversation went like this

 Jesus said to the Samaritan woman “Everyone who drinks this water from the well will be thirsty again, but the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

The water symbolises what we need most. Our deepest yearnings our unspoken cravings, the stuff that we need to survive. It is that which is absolutely essential for us. Without it we perish and we perish quickly.

So the water is… Him. We give Jesus to his little ones. In doing so we minister to Him and we become A Christ for a thirsty world. A parched and aching world. We are to become an oasis for those who have lost their way in the desert of their life, but we must have a source of living water springing up always from deep within us.

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Or in another translation.

Sir give me this water always.

And perhaps that is a good place to stop and that is a good prayer for us

Give me living water always.

Give me living water always.

Give me living water always.

Fr David’s Musings

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I’d like some help please.

I’m typing this shortly before there was a large gathering in Melbourne. There were various reasons why folk would choose to go and various reasons why folk would choose not to go. Bewdy! However someone on TV suggested that part of the reason that it was OK to attend was this line of logic.

“Well, we were always going to have a second wave of COVID infections anyway, so its alright to attend”. That line of logic I understand and that is why I am asking for some help to understand. I reason thus.

First, I wonder how the person can be so sure that a second wave of infection is / was inevitable. Does anyone know this for an absolute certainty? The advocate for the gathering certainly was not the Chief Medical Officer or a representative from the World Health Organisation.

Secondly, this line of logic is like me saying “That as there will be more road accidents this year, it’s OK to get in my car and drive irresponsibly, because there were always going to be injuries and fatalities anyway”. Would it not be better to drive as carefully as I can to minimise the risk of yuk to others and to myself?

Finally, to reason that folk were going to fall ill and possibly die anyway, comes scarily close to saying that life is expendable for a greater cause. In this case the cause of the gathering. I would have hoped that COVID has taught us that life is of inestimable value and we do whatever we can to preserve it, cherish it and rejoice in it.

Let me be first to say that my logic may be flawed and perception skewed. I’d like some help please.

Fr David’s Musing

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School yard memories are an odd beast. They lie crouching in the murky depths of the subconscious ready to leap out when you are least expecting them. Some are warm and friendly creatures, others are not so pally.

One came and said ‘Howdy’ the other day and it got me thinking. What memories will our school age children have of this rather peculiar time? For the very young they may not remember anything at all. But for our VCE brothers and sisters, this whole COVID thingy will colour their studies and memories for the rest of their lives.

But more than that, I am wondering what else we can do to support and encourage these blossoming adults at this pertinent time in their lives. How we as oldies and parents deal with this mind warping season of history, will affect these youngsters into their future. Some will become resilient, while others may buckle and need something more.

I reflect that the raising of children is one of the finest, if not the most noble of vocations we can ever be called to. To be responsible for another living, breathing, thinking human being is both terrifying and exhilarating. How these  burgeoning  adults ‘turn out’, will in some small way, be a reflection on our parenting skills or the lack of them. How we steer them through the calm seas when the motor ticks gently over and how we navigate treacherous rocks and unpredictable swells with them, will teach these shiny new people vital truths. It should also teach us heaps about ourselves. Some of it is good management, some good luck and hopefully it is always done with sacrificial love.

In my pondering I arrive swiftly at the conclusion that Mother Mary and St. Joseph must have been remarkable human beings.