Author: Bishop Richard Randerson (page 8 of 9)

READING : Exodus 3. 1-12

The wilderness can be a scary place, but it is a place shot through with significance for followers of the living God. Here in today’s reading Moses, tending Jethro’s sheep, comes to Horeb (Sinai), the mountain of the living God. He turns aside to see the great sight of a bush which is ablaze with fire, yet is not burned up. He finds himself standing on holy ground, encountering the God who lives, who calls him to deliver his people from the bondage of Pharaoh.

Years later those people in pilgrimage through the wilderness come to Sinai again. Moses goes up the mountain and again encounters the living God, who this time calls the people into a covenant relationship based on the ten commandments of the Law.

Jesus’  pattern also was to withdraw himself regularly from the crowds in order to meet with God in a lonely place, to find holy ground where he might listen to his Father’s voice.

Some years ago an American Franciscan sister, Joan Puls, wrote a book with the insightful title Every Bush is Burning. Taking the concept of the burning bush she challenged us to see every person, every relationship, every event, and every space as a place where the living God is present. Holy ground is found not only in desert wilderness. God encounters us in all of life, and every place is made holy by the presence of God.

As we embark upon our Lenten pilgrimage in 2005, may we look for God in the bustle of life as well as in the quiet spaces. Let us allow God to burn in us, and may we burn as witnesses for the One who lives.

A question for reflection :  Where in my life do I encounter the living God? And how may I encounter God in my relationships with others?

A prayer (adapted from A New Zealand Prayer Book) :  O God, you are the God of sunrise and sunset; of mountains and valleys, grass and scree; of kauri and pine, dolphins and kahawai; of kiwi and sparrow and tui and hawk; of Maori and Pakeha, women and men. May we encounter you afresh in every person and place, and know that the whole world belongs to you, and that we are both the sheep of your hand and your disciples in the journey to which you call us. Amen.

Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, EPIPHANY 9.1.22

Epiphany cards tend to get mixed up with Christmas cards. The Epiphany cards are the ones about the three kings, or the three wise men. I always love the one from a feminist perspective: Three wise men? You must be joking!

Epiphany or 12^th night was last Thursday. The word means manifestation, and in the church calendar is the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, the gentiles being all those races beyond Israel, you, me all races in every age.

Jesus’ mission was primarily to Israel, but always with the wider universal mission to all people, which followed from Pentecost.

Today’s Gospel says the people were waiting expectantly, standing on tip-toes, as one preacher said. It was a time of disillusionment, dissatisfaction with the existing order which did not satisfy.

And so in Peter Cornelius’ moving carol, three kings come from Persian lands afar, following a star, and bearing gifts of gold, incense and myrrh for the new-born king…

What was the start? Astronomers speculate about Halleys comet (11BC) or the Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn (7BC), but both dates seem a little early. Whatever, a bright light led the travellers on to Bethlehem.

The kings, or magi, were from the gentiles, on a spiritual pilgrimage to find new life in Christ.

In 1927 T S Eliot wrote his very evocative poem. The Journey of the Magi. In that year he also became a British citizen and an Anglican, and church-warden in his local London parish. Let’s read a few lines.

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.

There were times when we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet….

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water mill.

And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon.
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory….

All this was a long time ago,
were we led all that way for
Birth or Death?

There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt.
I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this
Birth was Hard and bitter agony for us,
like Death, our death…
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.

This is a powerful poem for a people disillusioned, dissatisfied, looking for something new. It is true of every generation, of you and of me. Maybe we have lost our purpose in living, or feel the deadness of grief or a broken relationship.

Maybe we find that materialism no longer satisfies, or that hedonism and silken – silken girls bringing sherbet has lost its fun.

But the magi found spiritual rebirth in Christ. They found Jesus as the midwife of a new birth. Any birth can be painful as we let go of the old dispensation with all the idols we cling to.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has asked : “What difference would it make if I believed I am held in a wholly loving gaze which saw all my surface accidents and arrangements, all my inner habits and inheritances, all my anxieties and arrogances, all my history, and yet loved me wholly with an utterly free, utterly selfless love

And what difference would it make if I let myself believe that each person around me is loved and held in the same overwhelming, loving gaze, and that this love made no distinctions of race, religion, age, innocence, strength or beauty?”

That is the message of Epiphany, that God loves us utterly, warts and all, and that that same love holds everyone else with the same intensity so that we are driven out to love everyone with the same love with which God loves us.

The carol of three Kings concludes: gold, incense, myrrh thou can’st not bring: offer thy heart to the infant king; offer thy heart.

A Collect for Epiphany: Jesus, light of the world, let your star shine over the place where the poor have to live; lead our sages to wisdom and our rulers to reverence. Hear our prayer for your love’s sake. Amen

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Spiritual & Ethical Insight

Whatever else 2012 will be, we know already it is the year of the American presidential election. As two republican candidates slugged it out in the recent South Carolina primary, headlines proclaimed one to be experienced in serial and open marriage, and the other to be good at minimizing his tax obligations. Voters seemed to feel the latter was more serious than the former, but will there be a reversal in Florida?

In terms of American foreign policy, a recent commentator distinguished between presidents who engage in wars which have no justification other than serving the national interest, and  squander thousands of human lives and huge financial resources, with presidents whose foreign policy has broader global objectives of building a world where international teamwork, justice and freedom are the outcomes. 

Another feature of the American political scene is that it seems driven more by ideologies than by a flexibility that focuses on what works best for those in need. Debates about health, housing or education degenerate too quickly into ideological warfare about the role of government vis-à-vis individual freedoms, or the levels of taxation and public provision. The poor are forgotten.

By contrast we see people of huge wealth such as Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates who give away vast tracts of their income to assist those in need. These are not just philanthropists: they are also strong advocates for policy changes that will improve the lot of the poor both at home and abroad.

All these same dynamics play out, of course, in New Zealand: what we see writ large on the American scene should give us clues as to what look for here.

All of which has a direct connection with today’s Gospel (Luke 2.22-40) when Mary and Joseph bring the infant Jesus to be presented in the temple. Three times it is mentioned that this is in accordance with the Law, so that Jesus is seen to stand fair and square in the Jewish tradition. Jesus’ presentation as the first-born male is linked to the purification (today we call it thanksgiving) of the mother after childbirth. The Law required an offering of a lamb and a turtle-dove or pigeon. In the case of the poor, however, a pair of the pigeons or doves could substitute for the lamb. Jesus and his family thus stand very much with God’s poor. It is thus clear that Jesus’ mission stands clearly in the Jewish tradition: “to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with one’s God (Micah 6.8).

And now we come to Simeon, that old man, righteous and pious, to whom it had been revealed by the spirit that he would not see death before seeing the Lord’s messiah. Three times it is said that the Holy Spirit guided him to recognize the messiah in the infant Jesus. We sing Simeon’s song at choral evensong as the Nunc Dimittis: Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation for all people”.

So Luke sets it out unequivocally that Jesus stands in the Jewish tradition and in fact fulfils that tradition as the long expected messiah, God’s chosen one for the salvation of the world. The fact that he is to be both a light to the gentiles as well as the glory of God’s people Israel foreshadows the universal nature of Jesus’ mission, and ours.

Then to underline it all we hear the endorsement of Anna, the prophetess who had “grown very elderly, never left the temple grounds and worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer”. She arrived at the same time as Simeon, praised God and “kept speaking about Jesus to all those waiting for the liberation of Israel”.

But what is the salvation which Jesus brings? There was a time 1000 years earlier when under Kings David and Solomon Israel had been like a modern-day Singapore – a small nation at the crossroads of international trading routes, and thus having huge wealth and political influence. But those days were long gone. Successive attacks by large nations such as Babylon and Persia had reduced Israel to vassal status. In Jesus’ time the once-proud nation had been reduced to a small and peripheral colony of the Roman Empire.

For some the Lord’s salvation meant throwing off colonial oppression and restoring the nation’s status of 1000 years before. To those who thought thus Simeon’s words to Mary would have been unwelcome, that “this child will cause the fall and the rise of many within Israel” and “a sword shall cut through your soul”. Simeon is saying that far from the messiah bringing on the good times once more, Jesus will be a source of division, and grief. The path he is destined to tread will lead to the Cross, but from his suffering and death will come salvation for all.

Jesus’ reign is not to be measured in terms of national wealth, power and status, but rather in terms of Mary’s words in the Magnificat: “God has pulled down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent away empty” (Luke 1. 52,53).

The key feature in today’s Gospel is the perception by all the key players as to God’s ultimate purpose. Mary and Joseph saw it; so did Simeon and Anna. They were all steeped in the tradition of their faith. Simeon and Anna spent the days of their old age in prayer and fasting and study of the scriptures. They saw clearly the nature of salvation, and the cost that often accompanied it. They could recognize by the spirit that Jesus was God’s messiah, by whom everything else in life had to be measured.

Which brings us back to where we started with the American presidential election: that in every age it is the vocation of the Christian to be so clear in our vision of God’s purposes that we can see, speak and act prophetically in critique of the world around us. In every nation there are those who see it, whose spiritual and ethical vision is 20/20, and others who don’t. And to be honest, there are bits of each in each of us.

Through our life of prayer and study of the scriptures, you and I need to have that 20/20 vision of Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, and be the prophets of our own times.   

Lord, Change the World, Beginning with Me

S0me years ago we awaited the dawn of a new millennium. There was much debate :

• which year was it : 2000 or 2001?
• who would see the sun up first? (like this year, too damp to see)
• all eyes on NZ for effect of Y2K bug
• calls for a new order of global peace.

Perhaps we weren’t too surprised little changed :

• not long till 9/11 set off a whole new conflagration in Afghanistan and Iraq, with terrorist attacks in many countries, some uncomfortably close to us eg Indonesia
• Bob Geldof and the Make Poverty History campaign, and the campaign to cancel debt, remind us of the grinding poverty of many, a poverty which could be fixed with a fraction of the money spent on armaments
• Climate Change the new global agenda
• inter-religious debates, some with violent overtones (eg Danish cartoons)
• modernist attacks on Christianity, claims that now the Church was trying to muscle in on Christmas, Richard Dawkins and The God Delusion.

In the words of the Christmas carol : Yet with the woes of sin and strife, the world has suffered long; beneath the angel-strain have rolled two thousand years of wrong. lChristmas reminds us that into this world where. maybe it all seems too hard and hopeless, and we are wearied and disillusioned with the effort, the boundless energy and love of God in Christ springs always fresh into our lives and our world. Our readings this morning speak of the images of youth :

• 1 Samuel 2, 18-20, 26 :here is the young boy Samuel whom his mother Hannah had dedicated to the service of the Lord, and living at the Temple with the ageing priest Eli : his mother brought him a little tunic each year. Samuel grew in stature and in favour with God and people
• Luke 2. 41-52 : this story linked to that of the boy Jesus, aged 12, making the journey to Jerusalem with his parents, sitting among the learned ones of Judaism, listening, asking questions, offering insights so that they were amazed at his replies.

It is the spirit of youth that counts, God’s spirit of compassion that brings a lasting justice and peace that encompasses every living creature on Earth, and the Earth itself. That spirit can be alive in older members of the community, and unformed in the young : age is no determinant.

Christmas reminds us that the power of God is found in weakness and humility, not in displays of military, financial or political power.  This became clear in Vietnam, and again in Iraq and Afghanistan : overwhelming military muscle can be defeated by small-scale insurgent groups that vanish into the bush or the urban network. In democracies politicians lose power as public opinion turns against them. As it is said, where the people lead, the politicians will follow.

It comes back to us, to follow in Jesus’ way of a love that warms rather than compels. We have challenges to face in this country : the poverty of many, the violence in our homes and community, the challenge of a changing climate.

But I am heartened by :

• the recent service of awards of the Order of St John – ambulance drivers, rescue workers, first aid instructors – people giving their time and skill, in risky situations
• Oxfam gifts : for $100 the metal from a Kalashnikov is turned into hoes and sickles, for $2500 a tank; Goats for peace, $50.
• social workers, teachers, police, church agencies, all on the front line in the efforts to bring enhanced life to people on the edge.

The Church has no need to be defensive of its truth or witness : it is evident to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear.

We also need to deal with our own internal poverty. Mother Teresa reminds us that “sometimes the rich are much poorer; they can be lonely inside, and always wanting something more. The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread”.

And Mary, as she listened to her son, Jesus, “stored these things in her heart”. As we come to 2007 we know that we too can store the truth of Jesus in our hearts, and let that truth change our lives, and God’s world.       

The things that move us deeply are embodied perfectly in the Christ child whose birth we celebrate this night.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting old and soft in the head, but I find myself with tears in my eyes more than I used to. I feel deeply moved when I watch the sufferings of millions from war, poverty and natural calamities. How long can hope and courage last? The tears speak of the intense love which as human beings we have one for another, a divine love seen in a baby in a manger.

And I think of a little girl who was assaulted and how people from all over New Zealand had swamped her with Christmas gifts- so many that her parents were now sharing them with other sick children in the hospital. The generosity of Jesus moves us to reach out to others.

Like those young people today who dream of a better world where people care for the earth and for each other, and go out with Greenpeace, or move to the poorest parts of Africa where they act as doctors, or teachers, or agricultural mentors, often putting their own lives at risk in the process. And let’s not forget older people who likewise follow such visions and dreams in their compassion and work for justice.

I am moved also when I watch and listen to young mums and dads, and grandparents too, talking to their kids, as they take them around town. Here one generation is passing on Jesus’ love and wisdom to the next.

And I can be moved by the generosity and goodness of others, or by the richness and beauty of life and nature which surround us.

Now if you connect the dots you can see easily why deep feelings are a very Christmas theme. Because the things that move us most are embodied perfectly in the Christ child whose birth we celebrate this night. His nature was one of love and compassion; he stood with the poor and the outcast; he responded generously and unstintingly, and challenged the untruths of institutions and the fickleness of the powers that be, eventually dying on a cross. All this was possible because he walked closely with God at the heart of life.

Love, faith, prophetic courage, sacrifice, justice, peace – such are the things that make up our spiritual DNA; they are timeless in nature, a timelessness captured by the words of tonight’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. These things have always been. In Jesus the divine building blocks of human life are there for all to see.

His was a light that illumines our darkness: ‘The light shines in the darkness’, says John, ‘and the darkness has never overcome it’.

After that it becomes a question of discernment. Can we see the light in our midst? Can we make it part of our life so that we live the divine truth revealed to us? Many of the people of Jesus’ time could not see it, or would not. John again: ‘he was in the world, yet the world did not know him’.

‘But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born not of flesh, nor of human will, but of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of God’s only son, full of grace and truth’.

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