Anything to declare?

May I speak in the name of the One God, who is Speaker, Word & Breath.

Very much like the last time I was with you, I wasn't expecting to write a Simon this week, so again I’ve just tried to put some thoughts together around the readings – and they are an amazing three readings!!

I didn’t know where to look first – we have the earthquake, wind and fire, followed by the silence where God was to be found. 

We have a reading that I, as someone who is passionate about justice and equity, love - There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

And then, the weird and wonderful gospel story of Jesus healing the demoniac who lived naked among the tombs, sending the demons who call themselves Legion into the herd of pigs and over a cliff.

There’s so much to unpick in the gospel reading, but I get uncomfortable when contemporary writers or preachers try to explain demons or relate them to our modern understanding of various mental health or psychiatric conditions.

I’m sure than if like me you have people in your life, or even yourselves, who've experienced or are experiencing various mental health challenges, you wish that faith or prayer could heal them, but it's more complex than that, and there’s a lot more nuance needed when venturing into this area, so that’s not the road I’m going down.

What strikes me when we put these readings together is the sense of God’s power and how unexpected it is in relation to humankind’s idea of power – and that’s often the case when we look at God through the lens of Jesus.

There was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.

Elijah witnesses the power of nature, of God’s created order – the power of the physical world. But that’s not where Elijah finds God. Elijah finds God in the quiet that comes after that, and maybe some of us can think of times that this was our experience as well.

There’re two very good films about the nature of faith and silence and I’d recommend them both – the first is Into Great Silence, an almost wordless film which follows a year in the life of silent Carthusian monks who live high in the French Alps – it’s a 2 hour and 40 minute meditation on how silence and prayer in extremis shape the lives of these men.

The other is Martin Scorsese’s Silence, one of the most complex and challenging films of this century – both intellectually and spiritually. It tells the story of Portuguese Jesuit priests in feudal Japan. For me the film is about how complex faith and our relationship with the divine is, especially displayed in the character Kichijiro, locked in a cycle perpetual penitence as he continually renounces then reaffirms his belief. It’s in part a film about what we do with our faith when we don’t hear God in the silence, and the power God still has in that.

The reading from Galatians for me demonstrates the power of God to make all people equal because There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

God’s love through Jesus is the great leveller – when Mary sings the Magnificat and declares: He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly, it doesn’t mean raising one above the other but bringing them both to a place where they’re equal – it’s true equity, and that’s the power God has to bring justice into our world.

The labels we put on each don’t really matter as we’re all part of the body of Christ, all uniquely and beautifully different, all contributing our own thing, but all beloved children of the same divine parent.

In the gospel reading there’s so many ways we could interpret God’s power at work, but for me it’s all summed up in the last words we hear from Jesus in the passage: Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.

The everyday power God has in our lives is letting us see that now matter who we are, where we’ve been, what we’ve done or what we’ve experienced, when we welcome the power of God into our life the old narratives of who were, or thought we were, whatever other people may think we are, everything can be turned around, everything can change.

It can sometimes happen in a miraculous and dramatic moment as in our gospel, it can provide that powerful testimony capable of changing the lives of other people, or it can come, probably more often, in the way we evolve and change over time, with God’s powerful love working in us and being reflected to those we connect with.

I’m reminded again of The Magnificat: the Mighty One has done great things for me, and has done great things for us, and when we recognise this, it becomes our turn to go and declare how much good God has done for us.

Our lives and how we choose to live them are each examples of God’s power at work – and that power may be in silence, or in seeking justice and equity, or in our own stories of how our lives have been healed or reconciled, drawing us further into communion with Jesus.

Amen.

1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a

1Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. 4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” [5Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.”] 8He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

9At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”10He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 11He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;12and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 15Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus.”

Galatians 3:23-29

23Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Luke 8:26-39

26Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— 29for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. 32Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 34When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country.35Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.36Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Love is a many splendored thing

Love is a many splendored thing

Love lifts us up where we belong

All you need is love!

I was made for loving you

I will always love you

I can’t help loving you

The keen eared musical fans in the room may recognise some of the lyrics from the Elephant Love Medley from Moulin Rouge, a mash up of some of the best and most cliched love song lyrics, where our young hero, Christian, tries to convince Satine, a girl he’s literally just met, that love is the only thing that matters.

And he might be right, but that all consuming romantic obsessional love is not what Jesus was referring to in today’s gospel, but maybe it should make us as fired up and willing to devote our entire lives to, that’s certainly what happened in the case of the disciples.

“Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” How do you think we’re doing with that? Do we recognise other Christians by their signs of love, or do we recognise someone as a Christian by them declaring themselves to be one?

I don’t think I’m going to solve the centuries old theological debate of faith vs actions on this sunny May morning, but I do tend to side with the author of the letter from James that, yes faith is enough, but that true faith leads us to live our lives in a particular way, to act towards our brothers and sisters in the world in a particular way, that true faith transforms us into people who perform loving actions.

Not that we always get that right, almost every high-profile Christian we could name off the top of our heads also will have some sort of controversy linked to them or examples which only demonstrate that our humanity, even as loving, faithful children of God, makes each and every one of us messy, well intentioned, contradictions.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about Peter, as usual caught up in some new controversy. Now Luke, writer of the Book of Acts, thinks this episode is so important that he tells it twice.

What I love about Peter is how we see him get things wrong, but then learn and grow, and here we find him in the middle of an early church debate about rules, orthodoxy and what really makes you a follower of the way. And this has come about because people are joining their numbers, and have been since before Jesus died, who aren’t Jewish, who don’t have the same background of faith, customs and most importantly Mosaic law.

It's not going to be too long before the number of non-Jewish followers outnumbers Jewish followers, so these sorts of questions must have been really important.

How can they be one body of Christ, sharing in the eucharistic meal, if they can’t even eat in the same house?

There’s an argument that it’s the Jewish people’s differences that have assured their survival for so long, their laws, customs, strict rules around conversion and marriage, so they kept their identify despite the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, and the Romans. They maintained their identity as set-aside, God’s special people.

There must have been a real fear amongst the Jewish followers because everything in their history and experience up until this point has told them they are not like the gentiles that they must remain set-apart, yet the waters were muddied by Jesus himself who began ministering to non-Jewish followers, Romans, Samarians, Greeks, and inviting them to follow him.

So questions were asked – should the gentiles convert to Judaism, should they be circumcised, and should they follow the food laws. Peter tells them of his experience, and the words which have been so important to me personally “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” God has created all things, all people, so there is nothing on the earth that doesn’t have its beginning in scared holiness.

What Peter demonstrates, with God’s stamp on it, is a living out of the commandment to love, which I try and apply to every area of my understanding of God, Jesus and the living out of my faith in the world. Does it come form love?

God is love and love is God. Did it feel like love to abide by the strict rules of their tradition, or did it feel like love to share food with a fellow believer? When we see contradiction in the bible, in theology, in dogma, in practice, we need to ask ourselves what feels like love?

Peter and the early church are coming to realise what we hear in John’s vision in the reading from revelation: “See, I am making all things new.”

What is developing is neither Judaism nor an assimilation of the customs of the various gentile groups, but something completely new. A new commandment, a new way of being, a new faith, whose followers have a personal, intimate relationship with God because God has walked beside them, broken bread with them, died for them, invited them to touch his wounds, and loved them. Through their flaws and imperfections – through our flaws and imperfections – God loves us because God has made us and that makes us Holy.

To return to recognising Christians by our love of other people, Jesuit professor Bruce Morrill, writes:

“What distinguished the followers of Jesus and successive generations of Christians was their outreach to the poor and sick, the practical love they demonstrated in openly forming fellowship groups (local churches) that actively reached out in service to the poor, the hungry, and the sick.”

And we still see that in the world today. Our systems of healthcare have their roots in our loving faith. Our faith is based in caring for others, in building relationships and being in fellowship with one another. To love each other we don’t have to agree on everything, but we do need to put loving people before rules. Also central to our tradition is how it evolves with our understanding.

Jesus and the early church invited those who were different, not accepted under the law, had terrible pasts or who were in other ways social outcasts because God loves them. We have evolved over the past few decades to marry those who’re divorced, ordain women, actively invite LGBTQ people to be in full communion with us because God loves them.

We’re now allowed to bless same-sex unions, even if the move that doesn’t go far enough in my eyes, because God loves them.

As I started with song lyrics I’m going to end with them too. The reading from revelation always puts in my mind a song I play every year at the end of our Good Friday Footsteps to the Feast Service – Trusty & True by Damien Rice.

We can't take back what is done, what is past

So let us start from here

If all that you are is not all you desire, then come

come alone, come with fear, come with love

Come with friends, come with faults

Come with me, and let go

Come so carefully close

Come with sorrows and songs

Come with yourself below

Come however you are

Just come

That’s all we need to do, come however we are to this new amazing thing God has gifted to us, to drink from the spring of the water of life so freely given, but not just to drink but to share it, to invite others to come, to offer them what is given to each and every sacred and holy person who desires it.

Because love dictates that this is way too good to keep to ourselves, it’s our job to share God’s love with each and every person we meet, whether they return love is up to them. Let our actions be loving so we can be known by our love, not by hate, disapproval or rules.

And we don’t just share that love with those we agree with, who look like us or act like us, that love, that invitation, our faith, is for each and every holy and sacred person in creation. Amen.

First Lesson: Acts 11:1-18

1Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. 2So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, 3saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” 4Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, 5“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance, I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. 6As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ 10This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. 11At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. 12The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; 14he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ 15And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. 16And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” 18When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

Second Lesson: Revelation 21:1-6

1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” 5And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

Gospel: John 13:31-35

31When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.33Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now, I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Listen, hear and follow

May I speak in the name of the One God who is Speaker, Word & Breath. Amen. 

Have you ever considered what name you’d choose if were selected to be Pope? I have, in the unlikely event that it might happen, and just because it’s fun. I’d be Pope Julian after Julian of Norwich, which is a delightful coincidence as it was Mother Julian’s feast day on Thursday when Pope Leo was selected.

Did you enjoy Pope-Watch? I’m not going to lie, I loved it – the drama, the ritual and the history of it all, but the hope was beautiful as well- the hopeful expectations of millions of people. 

Mother Julian’s words were in my head as I thought about what kind of man might be appointed to be the world’s most visible Christian. “All shall be well and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well” I told myself as I waited for the announcement, trusting that the conclave were trusting in the Holy Spirit to guide them.

I was a huge admirer of Pope Francis, and my hope was that the person selected will continue his work. I think, from what I’ve read, that Pope Leo will continue in the spirit of Pope Francis, bringing Jesus’ teaching back to the heart of such a public ministry, focusing on people, on love, on social justice and inclusion. Previously he’s called out power imbalances and misuse or misrepresentation of Jesus’ teaching. It Feels rather Jesus-like I think.

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, our readings are filled with pastoral imagery of God, of Jesus and of ourselves as the flock. As a minister we too believe we have a shepherding role to play, and I’m sure Pope Leo is feeling the weight of this as he leads the Sunday Mass today.

You may have seen the wonderful Series “The Chosen”, which tells the story of Jesus’ life and ministry from leaving the wilderness up until, at the end of the 4th series, entering Jerusalem in triumph. The 5th series is released next month and focuses on Holy Week. I can’t recommend it enough; it brings the gospels to life in a way nothing else I’ve seen or read has.

During the 4th series we see the scene from today’s gospel taking place on the temple steps, and it results in Jesus and the disciples being the victims of an attempted stoning by the Pharisees who are calling Jesus out, appalled at what they call blasphemy. James is quite badly injured and they’re forced to retreat to their lodging house. And they’re scared.

After this, the reality of how dangerous their ministry and mission is hits them, that whilst they all believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and that that is wonderful, not everyone will believe, not everyone will hear and understand, and some may even be threatened to the point where they want to kill those bringing the message.

It’s a moment of hate and violence as a response to a message of love, and I think that’s still the way some people respond when confronted with the true message of Jesus’ teaching, where the poor, the orphaned, the widowed, the sick, the tax collectors, people with questionable pasts and those cast out through illness are all equally loved and held up in God’s eyes, and to do God’s work is to care for the sick, the prisoner, and the marginalised.

We’ll each have our own view of what a “real Christian” or “good Christian” looks like, but for me anyone who supports a gospel of exclusion, of any kind of hate, of supporting measures which harm those in poverty, those with disabilities, or children, or immigrants or any child of God hasn’t heard the shepherd’s voice.

And it can be difficult in this complicated world to discern God’s voice above everything else. I look for what feels loving or based in love, and a church leader using their voice for the lifting up of the most marginalised, the poorest and those most in need in our world feels like love to me.

There will always be those whose hearts are hardened to this, or who feel threatened by a teaching that causes us to examine or change our deepest held convictions. So I pray today for Pope Leo, I pray for his ministry, and I pray for all those who teach a Christianity that excludes or hates anyone, or who doesn’t feel it’s our job to actively care for those who are suffering the most. And I pray for all of us to be able to listen to, hear and follow the voice of our shepherd.

Amen.

John 10:22-30

At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”