Do people ever ask you want you come here for? They do me, and sometimes follow it with the words ‘well, I suppose at least you get paid for it’, which is true, but there are any number of ways of making more money far easier, very few of which involve opening your front door to perfect strangers who may or may not have something worrying going on in their mind. But as I point out, I do it when I’m on holiday as well, and even often on my days off, so that’s a non-starter. What they really want to know if whether what we do here is worth bothering with, does it make a difference? Does it fill the emptiness in your soul that opens and closes like the Ozone layer, depending how gaseous or windy we become. Is it worth learning the strange rituals, languages, tunes, colours and the rest of it. What is life all about? What’s the meaning of it all?This is the underlying and perennial question for everyone and it is a question raised insistently by the readings for today’s Mass, which seems to suggest that it’s not something we have the answer to at all, unless we do exactly what our questioning friend hopes that we do – we hear the scriptures, study them and, once understood, we live them. We commit to them and therefore to each other, and that is maybe what people really are asking us ‘do you really love each other and do you really believe this?’The rich landowner in today’s Gospel parable is simply concerned to make the most of the exceptional harvest for his own comfort. He is totally self-centred. ‘I’ and ‘me’ form the refrain of his soliloquy. He does not consider anyone else, nor reflect that death, whenever it comes, will deprive him of his wealth and pass it to others. But which of us, if we were farmers having a bumper crop would think in mid-harvest ‘gosh, I might die soon, so rather than putting my harvest in the barn I’d better curry favour with God and give some away. No. Harvests need barns and farmers are well provided with them, so into the barn it goes. We will hope and assume that the farmer, if it were us, would then carefully use the harvest to grind the wheels of life and use it wisely.‘The Preacher’ of Ecclesiastes, in the first reading, regards it as a ‘great injustice’ that the fruits of his own toil and strain should go to someone who has not laboured for it. He certainly believes in God; but his God is incomprehensible in such a way that he dispenses pleasure and pain seemingly at random, and is maybe more akin to the God who people do not know and ask us about than the God we know and trust in. Is not the second question ‘if God is good, why do people have to suffer’, and the newspapers have exposed, quite rightly, the many atrocities which have been committed by the church throughout the world, so maybe we should be happy that people ask us these questions at all, and do not cross the road and seek shelter with other bodies.In common with the people of his time the Preacher is unconvinced about an after-life. So he reckons that the sensible way for him to live is to take what comes his way, hoping for maximum enjoyment and minimum effort for himself. His words are echoed by the rich landowner: ‘take things easy; eat, drink, have a good time.’ And so we should, we are not Methodists and if we are called hypocrites, then we should remember that Christ was called just that a few times before even his friends abandoned Him. What we are not though, are producers and consumers, linked together simply by money, even though the pervasive and evil ‘Gospel of Wealth’ would suggest that we are. There is a widespread hunger for religion, expressed in New Age cults and the brittle certainties of exclusive sects. And these witness to the abiding human need. But too often these faiths depend on vague legends or fashions of spirituality, or on strong personalities whose ‘gospels’ turn out to be fraudulent. In contrast, St Paul (in the second reading) points us to a vision of human reality based on the concrete facts of Christ’s life, death and resurrection, and on our own actions in the here-and-now. God has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son (Col. 1:13). This is the response to our friend’s question. We come because we live in the world, but God has overcome it and this is our message. That is why we put to death in us whatever is not of Christ: impurity, greed, anger, malice, lying. These are simply not consistent with being ‘raised with Christ’. Instead, the true human life should display compassion, humility, patience, forgiveness, love (Col. 3:12-14), all of them virtues that find concrete expression towards other people in the here-and-now. This is where we can find the meaning of life. Our life, the truly human life, ‘does not consist in the abundance of possessions’ although we will possess things, and thee is nothing wrong in that, we are not called to be parsimonious miseries, or Methodist, we are called to rejoice in what God has created while pointing to the truth that He has also created something far greater, which is our Christian hope. Hope, joy and faith are found in those whose ‘life is lived with Christ in God’, and who can consequently share something of his all-embracing love. That’s what they are looking for, and I hope it’s what we have found. Love.
Lord, teach us to pray, as Jesus taught his disciples……Prayer – what is it?Sure, we all do it. We’re doing it today at church and I’ll wager we all do it pretty much every day, in some form or another.But what is it?How do we do it?Why do we do it?I reckon we’d all agree that prayer is communicating with God, interacting with Him.One dictionary definition is that prayer is a solemn request or thanksgiving to God or an object of worship. But it is so much more than that, and I’d challenge the use of the word solemn. Prayer can be joyful, exuberant, exhilarating.We’ll all have our own ways of praying – a way that suits us. We’re all different and there’s really no right or wrong way to pray, to communicate with God. From my point of view, when I’m alone and praying, I can waffle on for ages having a sort of a chat with God. But if I’m in company and have no ‘script’ in front of me, I find it really difficult to pray ‘off the top of my head’ so to speak. I am getting a bit better and I hope that over the course of time I will be able to pray fluently. But at the moment, my brain tends to freeze up and I end up spouting gobbledy-gook, quite frankly.But you know, that doesn’t matter! God doesn’t mind that I’m talking what sounds like gibberish – He’s not judging me. It’s me judging myself. And we are told that God knows our needs before we ask Him, even before we do. He knows exactly what we want, He just likes us to ask Him. And it doesn’t matter if we’re not always kneeling or sitting devoutly. God doesn’t judge our stance – He just longs for us to come to Him, just as we are, without polished prayer but with hearts of raw human weakness. While walking, driving, washing up, heck – even in the shower! We can come to Him in the midst of life as it is happening, whenever, wherever. We don’t have to wait to be in church or even in our favourite arm chair. God is always there, ready to listen, and to speak with us.So, some of us may struggle with prayer, with how to pray. Peter Greig, author of ‘How to Pray’ writes ‘…finally, you turn to God, half wondering whether you’re any more than half serious and say “Lord, teach me to pray”. And He replies “I thought you’d never ask!”’ The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray and Jesus teaches us the Lord’s Prayer, right at the start of today’s gospel.Prayer is so very often us asking something from God, it’s almost as if we’re trying to persuade Him to act in a way we want. Or it’s even as though we’re trying to change His mind. We have a tendency to believe that we know best and that what we ask for is the best for us and that we are looking to sway God to our way of thinking. But it’s not – it’s the other way around. It’s God wanting to change us and prayer helps us to do that, a kind of tuning in to God’s will, with the Holy Spirit that is dwelling within us, which will form us more and more to the person/people God intends us to be.Prayer also involves listening to God – spending time quietly, listening for Him to ‘speak’ with us. But how do we hear God? He may not respond by using the sound of a human voice like He does in many Old Testament stories, but He speaks to us clearly through His Word, our daily bread, our daily sustenance – our spiritual sustenance. I am sure, too, that we hear Him in the sound of the wind, rain, sea, birdsong and see Him in the wonder of nature all around us.In his book ‘How to Pray’ Pete Greig uses the acronym PRAY – P-R-A-Y to help us if we need some form of structure.P – pause. The power of the pause; to still our minds ready to spend time with God.R – rejoice. ‘Hallowed be Thy name’ Very important to appreciate the bigness of God. Rejoice in His blessings and all that He is doing for us.A – ask. ‘Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done’ and ‘give us this day our daily bread.’ We may ask for ourselves (petitionary prayer) or on behalf of others (intercessory prayer). It doesn’t matter – God wants us to ask.Y – yield. Surrender ourselves to God. ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver is from evil.’ God we are in Your hands – Your will be done. Our prayers may, or may not, be answered. It may happen immediately or take ages, but what we need to remember is that God’s timing is perfect.Looking again at the Lord’s Prayer, we begin by saying OUR Father – not my Father. The Lord’s Prayer is for everyone, from us for everyone. It asks that everyone be fed; that everyone be reconciled with God and each other. It is a reminder that we are all important to God and that we are challenged to welcomestrangers, to love one another and to dismantle barriers between us. It also asks us to love our enemies – that’s a tricky one. And it asks us to forgive those who have sinned against us. And that is a very tricky one. But Christianity is about forgiveness among many other things.When we end our prayers, we say Amen – which basically means ‘I agree’. So, we’re effectively signing our name at the end of the prayer – whatever it is that we have prayed we are confirming that we agree to it. But do we actually agree to what we’ve prayed for or are we saying Amen just because it is the way we always end our prayers? We are agreeing that we have responsibilities to our neighbour, whether they be fellow Christians or not. We agree that we are sinners and are in need of God’s grace. We agree that we need to amend our ways. We agree that we need to let go of chasing power and to humbly follow in the way of Jesus instead.So, let’s embrace prayer. Let’s really think about what we are praying for, to pray with feeling and meaning, and to really, consciously agree to what we have prayed for. And know that, as St Augustine wrote, ‘true, whole prayer is nothing but love.’ In prayer we all, ‘with simplicity of heart, allow ourselves to be gathered up into the arms of our Father.’ (Richard Foster, Prayer, 2008).Cathy Davies
It can be hard to balance public and private life, and sometimes things tip over the balance one way or the other, which can be difficult to calibrate. Quite a long time ago now, people would drop in unannounced for a cup of tea and a chat, now it seems inconceivable that you might do so without making a phone call first, but to people under the age of maybe 25, it seems inconceivable that you might phone someone without first sending a text message to see if they are available or even willing to speak to you. The silence of hospital wards now bears testament to how little we are used to communicating with strangers, and sharing unannounced conversations, and we lose something because of that, both from what we receive and what we give and what we do together. The Old Testament reading today is about that extra something Abraham and Sarah get from being hospitable hosts. There they are, living their own lives and minding their own business, when three men appear out of nowhere, the archetypal uninvited visitors arriving without warning. Abraham welcomes them warmly and Sarah produces a lavish meal. Abraham enjoys their company and learns from them something he would never have dreamt of, that when these strangers return in the spring, he and his wife would have a son. We all hope that we would be able to offer hospitality to strangers, but actually we struggle to do so.These men were angels and in Old Testament stories angels indicate the presence and action of God. In fact so closely are these three men linked with God that the writer changes from speaking of three men to talking of the Lord. Abraham, in welcoming these strangers, unknowingly invited God into his home. You would think he had been reading the letter to the Hebrews, Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Putting it another, way, we encounter God in strangers and in each other.Today’s gospel reading presents a similar situation where Martha welcomes a travelling preacher into her home and she busies herself playing the perfect host. Her sister, Mary, doesn’t seem to be any help at all but sits with the stranger, listening to his teaching. At this point it is likely that the two sisters are unaware that their guest is the Son of God so, like Abraham, they are entertaining angels unawares. Martha is annoyed that Mary is no help and points out that her sister is neglecting the duties of a host. But Jesus reminds her that being hospitable means not only providing refreshment for your guests but also includes conversing with them and listening to them. Otherwise the hospitality is the kind you get in hotels which has nothing worthwhile about it. Remember though that Martha and Mary are sisters, they are not fighting over Jesus; rather they complement each other. In themselves they are partial images of a faith waiting to be realised by the death and resurrection of the Lord; individually they seek to welcome but it is only together that they achieve it.This encounter with Jesus is as much a life-changing event as Abraham’s encounter with the three angels. Both are encounters with God. One leads to the founding of a nation into which God’s Son will be born. The other is part of the founding of a Church by that same God, which will enable its members to have a direct relationship with his Son – we are heirs of Martha and Mary, they sat with the Lord before us, and fell out over how to do so before us!In following Jesus we are asked to complete his work. As St. Paul tells us today: I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. It is our responsibility as members of the Church to continue and complete the work of Christ. When we are hospitable to people, giving them of our time, then that work is nearer to completion and the kingdom that much closer than before.There is nothing left now of the Oaks of Mamre; the place all tarmac and housing. There is not much left of the Byzantine Church there, commemorating the meeting of Abraham with the Lord in the three men. Today, only the hot dust of Hebron’s streets and the smell of cooking falafels could lead our thoughts to the past scene at Abraham’s tent; when, in the ‘heat of the day’ he offered shelter, meat and drink to some strangers travelling through the desert.Yet, there is a deeper connection we can make, beyond imagination. Providing rest and nourishment is still the mark of generosity because it is a response to the most fundamental needs of others. ‘Hospitality’ is such an overused word that its true meaning has been cheapened. In this act of charity we recognise our guests’ dependence on us and in turn our own reliance upon others. We are taught that we need each other.It is only in this spirit of reliance and humility that we can go on to accept that most difficult of truths. No one is independent, except God. And the most basic dependence of humanity rests on him, and on us being together, forming communities, speaking to each other, helping each other at our own Oak of Mamre, our own house.
Where does justice end and charity begin? Are we required to give to the poor in justice or in charity? The Fathers of the Church, such as St John Chrysostom (344-407), argued that any excess wealth we possess is really the property of the poor. God intends the goods of creation to be used for the well-being of all people, and therefore anything we possess beyond our own needs should in justice be given to the poor.In today’s Gospel we hear one of the most powerful of Jesus’s parables, the story of the Good Samaritan. As the man lies half dead on the road a priest and a Levite pass by on the other side. Perhaps they are afraid of touching a half-dead man and infringing laws of purity, or maybe they think that stopping might put their own lives in danger. Whatever their reasons, we are right to feel scandalised by their actions. Here are the very men who represent the Law and the justice of God, yet when it comes to putting that Law into action they are found wanting.In today’s first reading Moses tells the people that the Law of God is not beyond their power ‘the Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for your observance’. What is required of the priest and the Levite is not some super-human feat, but what should come naturally to us as human beings; justice moved in compassion.It is the Samaritan who shows the truly human reaction to this stricken man, caring for his wounds and transporting him to a place of safety and rest. The contrast is calculated to shock. Those who represent the Law are given a lesson in how to keep the Law by one who is deemed to be outside it. Their lack of compassion shows how shallow the Law is in their hearts, and the half-dead man on the road reveals the deeper disfigurement of the humanity in their own hearts.The Fathers of the Church saw in the story of the Good Samaritan the pattern of our lives and if we look carefully, it is not difficult to see why. The stricken man is an image of our own fallen nature; bowed down and bleeding, unable to raise ourselves from the dust. The priest and the Levite are our disfigured hearts; our inability to reach out in compassion to heal and carry others.What does this teach us about following Jesus Christ? Firstly, we must continually work for justice. Each of us is baptised into the Kingship of Christ and therefore we each represent the justice of God’s Kingdom. The love of Jesus Christ carries us beyond the requirements of justice, bringing peace and healing where hope was lost.Jesus evidently had quite a complicated relationship with the Samaritans. In the Fourth Gospel he is actually accused of being a Samaritan and demon-possessed: he denies having a demon but says nothing about not being a Samaritan. Famously, of course, in one of the greatest episodes in the Fourth Gospel, Jesus asks a Samaritan woman for water from Jacob’s well, which leads to her beginning to identify who he might be. He was never afraid of communicating with people with whom he did not agree.Obviously, with the parable, the test that Jesus sets his fellow Jewish interlocutor is to realise that the one who loves as a neighbour is the heretical Samaritan, showing compassion in practical ways, apparently with no religious commitments or scruples one way or the other — in contrast spectacularly to the professional holy men from the Temple — once again, as so often, the teaching of Jesus is that there is no loving God independently of showing mercy to the victims left abandoned by the side of the road. Furthermore, in rejecting the mutual hostility between his own people and the Samaritans, Jesus transcends all boundary expectations. It is not social definitions such as religion, or ethnicity, or as we might add today class and gender, that determines who is our neighbour.For some, there may be a temptation to focus on the negative elements of the story: the brigands, the priest, the Levite. Jesus emphasizes the goodness and the great capabilities of human nature. Jesus gives us the true meaning of Deuteronomy and the Law. While we continue to support our favourite charities, there are situations and circumstances where we are personally challenged to become involved.This is the precise point of the Good Samaritan story. The potential to do great things is deep within each person and yearns to be expressed in real life situations. When will we die to our fears, so that we can see Jesus in those marginalized or despised? When will we take the risk of spontaneous action?‘Master what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Go and do the same yourself…’
