St BarnabasActs 4.32-37Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means ‘son of encouragement’). He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.Though not named among the twelve apostles or the evangelists, Barnabas emerges in the Acts of the Apostles as one of the most significant of their number. He sold his estate and gave the proceeds to the Church, since all things were to be held in common, and clearly became a leader. He is described as a Levite from Cyprus so, like his friend Paul, was from the Greek world rather than that of Palestine, and he introduced Paul to the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem. He was sent to Antioch apparently to guide the Christians there in their relations with non-Jewish converts, promoting the concept of all being one in Christ. He broke with Paul to go to Cyprus and tradition has it that he was martyred there in the year 61 Exciting HolinessBarnabas showed sacrificial devotionThroughout Acts we see in Barnabas a man who was willing to suffer, leave home, risk his life for the gospel. But where did that all begin? The answer is that it starts right here in Acts 4.36-37, when he sold his field and laid the proceeds at the feet of the Apostles.Some of us or indeed many of us as Christians have a desire to do great things for God some day, but are finding it difficult in our current situation at the moment. In the Bible we see that greatness grows. It has to do with the principle of sowing and reaping. For Barnabas’ first act of devotion he chose to make it financial. He must have felt that his possessions where the barrier to his calling, and Jesus talked about money and possessions a lot for that reason. It can be a powerful distraction. Barnabas sorts this out early in his life and so sets a course for passionate devotion to Jesus.It is especially interesting that Barnabas was a Levite. The Levites were not supposed to have property at all. While the other tribes had a portion of the Land, the Levites were spread out among the Israelites to bring godly influence to all the people.To be truthful, I need to do a lot to declutter my life, and when I have had a good clear-out, I know that I feel spiritually cleansed and emotionally freed from clinging on to things that no longer have any relevance in my life. It gave me the ability to see the wood through the trees, so to speak.Do you need to de clutter your life, do you need to see the wood through the trees to enable you to have that closer walk with God? Maybe that is our challenge while we are in our current situation. As Barnabas sells his property and then give the money to the apostles, maybe that is a sign for us, in enhancing God’s work for the needy, poor, lonely and lost. Amen. Pauline Cummins
Thoughts for TodayFrom the real world, sublime and challengingBuenos Aires 2 – The reconciling power of flowers Hope in the large and small…..Our second day we saw the city of Buenos Aires in the build up before the morning rush hour. The joggers and cyclists were out, and the city commuters were striding purposefully in the gentle breeze of a sunny day. This fitted in with the meaning of Buenos Aires which is ‘fair winds’, (shortened from the City of the Most Holy Trinity and Port of St Mary of the Good Airs’ in 1580!). It is also known as ‘the Paris of the south’ with a population of 15 million (3 million in the city and 12 million in the suburbs).The picture of the ‘Floralis Generica’ is in the Plaza Naciones Unidas and is 23 metres high made out of steel and aluminium. It was unveiled as a gift from the Argentinian architect, Eduardo Catalano, in 2002. The six petals open out at 8am every morning via solar energy and close the 6 tons of flower at sunset. The gift to the city as described by the architect, ‘It is a synthesis of all flowers and, at the same time, a hope reborn every day at opening.’ It is set in 4 acres of a woodland boundary and above a reflecting pool. It was a stunning sight and also moving to learn that the word floralis actually means ‘a person who has the potential to attain spiritual enlightenment’.So on we travelled to the huge Recoleta Cemetery in the city to the eventual resting place of Evita Peron (Duartes). It was twenty years after her death in 1952 (at the age of 33 from cancer) that the Peronists brought her body back from Milan (where she had been during the 1955 revolution) to the city. For security reasons she was buried 5 metres down in the family tomb. A tragic story of the flower of Argentina, dividing many in their opinions of her. In the end reconciled and laid to rest back home.We viewed the famous balcony of Evita fame, part of the ‘Pink House’ of the main square and Presidential Palace. We entered the great Metropolitan Cathedral. This is where Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) was Archbishop and Cardinal from 1997–2013 when he was elected Pope. We met one of his old Cathedral colleagues from that time, Fr Nicolas. Passing on blessings from the Anglican Church he said of Pope Francis ‘…he never smiled until he went to Rome.’ Fr, Nicolas put this down to the growing influence in all our lives of the Holy Spirit. We left him to hear confessions… By coffee time we were in Caminito the artist quarter, meeting an official Diego Maradona ‘lookalike’ (seeing the hand of God) and experiencing the bright South American colours of the houses in the infamous area of Boca. The tango tune Caminito was composed there in this 300 yards of vibrancy. We had the opportunity of tasting the national drink ‘Mate’ in the traditional way – the morning and afternoon drink – a very earthy green tea taste, certainly an acquired taste.In this snapshot we saw the blooming of architecture, political life, vocation and the tango dance out of the most challenging of societies. The lockdown has given the opportunity to see the blooming of many things in adversity. It has given some time to reflect more deeply on the givenness of beauty out of adversity and deep personal losses including the agony of individuals, families, and communities.It never ceases to surprise us when a plant, that hasn’t flowered for years then appears against the odds - ’A hope reborn each day in its opening’. May it be our ongoing experience in the coming Kingdom.So, we travel on to the Falkland Islands after visiting Punta del Este in Uruguay….With blessings,Edward and Jane
St Catherine’s Church, BurbageSunday 7 June 2020Trinity SundayMatthew 28:16-20Enable us, our Father, to respond to the grace of your word with humility of heart and in the spirit of love; that our lives may be conformed more and more to the image of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so may I speak in the name of the Living God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.Today is Trinity Sunday, a feast in the church’s calendar which almost instantly throws up problems for the poor individual who finds himself on the preaching rota! In fact, the whole idea of celebrating the Holy Trinity on a Sunday is one that emerged slowly. In the days of the early church, a collection of prayers, or an ‘office’ to mark the Holy Trinity, was compiled and said on different days in the year, sometimes even during Advent. Thomas Becket was consecrated in 1162 as archbishop of Canterbury on the Sunday after Pentecost, and it was Thomas who declared that it should remain a day to celebrate the Trinity. This caught on in other parts of Europe.But why does the preacher’s heart sink at those three words: ‘The Holy Trinity’. Shouldn’t the preacher be elated, joyful, and raring to go? Here is a paradox. At one level the Trinity is an easy thing to talk about, the Trinity being composed of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then again, how can you easily speak of three individual persons, if I can put it like that, and as one? Even my language then falls short and the whole matter of ‘three as one’ blows the mind apart. To speak of the Trinity is a really difficult business.And it is an issue that sits quite heavily on my mind. In May 2017 I travelled to Woking to participate in a meeting of the Bishops’ Advisory Panel, or BAP, which consisted of three days of interviews, presentations, discussions and prayer. It is a process which those called to ordained ministry have to experience; the church then decides whether you should go forward to that type of ministry. Fortunately, I was recommended for training and that is why you have had me here for the last three years. Yes, you can blame it all on Woking! I still remember my final interview, which I think happened on my final day. My interviewer was to probe my ‘liveliness of mind’, as the Church of England puts it, and it turned out, in the end, to be a rather pleasant discussion and I quite enjoyed it. (We finished ten minutes early because he had run out of questions!) However, when I sat down, the interviewer’s opening shot was: “so Nick, how would you define the Holy Trinity?” Thank you very much, said I! My heart sunk.Theologians throughout the ages have wrestled with the subject of the Holy Trinity, and, let’s face it, Holy Scripture is not actually all that helpful on the matter. You get hints of a ‘trinity’ in the Old Testament: God dominates the scene, and there are also ‘spirit like’ references to the breath or wind of God passing over the waters in Genesis; even in the Book of Ezekiel you have wind or breath that revives dry bones in a valley. (There are one or two other suspect instances which some theologians have interpreted as allusions to Christ.) When we reach the New Testament, however, we meet the incarnate God as Jesus, who is proclaimed as the ‘beloved son’ at his baptism, and the Spirit of God like a dove descending upon him. Later in Acts, you get the great description of the arrival, and immense power of the Spirit at Pentecost.Father, Son and Spirit, then, are three very different persons in Scripture and are yet all part of the same. It is a huge thought. A film came out many years ago called Nuns on the Run starring Robbie Coltrane and Eric Idle, who are criminals. They disguise themselves as nuns and hide in a convent. Eric Idle finds out that he has to teach the novices about the Trinity. Robbie Coltrane, as the Roman Catholic, tries to explain the Trinity to Eric: three in one, the Son is God, and God is the Father and so forth. Eric Idle is so confused. Robbie Coltrane then says, “it makes no sense to anyone and that is why you have to have faith!”However, there are some who have tried to articulate the reality of the Trinity over the centuries, often using visual aids to assist them, even before the age of the white board and power-point. Most famously, I guess, is St Patrick, a saint we know quite a bit about, who tried to explain the Trinity to the pagans of Ireland by means of a the shamrock: three separate leaves and yet part of a single whole. This explanation itself has problems because it suggests that all the components are exactly the same, which they are, but also are not: Son, Father and Holy Spirit. You could be getting close to heresy, here! I remember John Sentamu who, strangely enough is preaching his last sermon today before retiring tomorrow, speaking on the Trinity. He used one of those barbeque fork things. You know the sort of thing I mean, it has a couple of prongs at the top to act as a fork, the side to do the actions of a knife, and the rest shaped as a spoon. Three in one. Simples! The Trinity is like a piece of cutlery.We can do the mental gymnastics for hours and days to come, and I don’t want to make things more complicated than they already are. I would like to suggest another way of looking at the Holy Trinity; I cannot claim originality here but it is a view I particularly like. And that is that we are aware, we know, about the Trinity because of the relationship between each and every part of it. It is the Trinity because each person of it is ‘related’ and that is the way we can understand it. In other words, we understand God as Father because of His relationship with Jesus, the Son, who comes from the Father; and we understand the Spirit because it flows from the Son. Though united, we understand the special nature of each person of the Trinity because of the relationship between each other. And it is a relationship that is not static, it is not preserved in aspic, rather it is moving, energising and powerful. It is dynamic! Early Greek monks spoke of the Trinity in terms of a ‘dance’ between each person of Trinity, almost like three people holding hands in a circle and gliding across a floor.These concepts of relationship and dynamism are, I believe, stressed in today’s gospel reading from Matthew, that of the so-called ‘Great Commission’, which Mary Tynan explored in much more depth a week or so ago. In this final resurrection scene noted by Matthew, Christ explicitly mentions the ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’, something we have not really encountered previously in Scripture. Jesus makes clear his relationship with the Father, and their unity, by stating that the authority is placed in him. It is true that the position of the Spirit is not wholly clear here, but Jesus states it is integral to the work of Father and Son. (“Go baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”) More importantly, he links this very special relationship with a special relationship with the disciples, and that is to go and bring more to faith and to teach just as Jesus did. There is a dynamism here.This ‘commission’ was not simply declared to those people there and then, but it is a commission to all of us too. Each and every one of us is also in relationship with the Holy Trinity, a relationship with the Father, through the Son and inspired and led by the Spirit. Just as the Father sent the Son to bring more to him, in the Spirit, so are we sent out as well to participate in that mission. And yet, just as the three persons of the Trinity are united, we as a church in Burbage and Aston Flamville, are also united; we are all individuals, with our own gifts and talent, but are related to each other in faith; united and in relationship with one another, and to Christians world-wide. It is another way of thinking about the Trinity. We can see the Trinity in our midst, in our every day lives and in our everyday faith. As you are sent out to work in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit, I too am being sent but in another direction, to do whatever it is that I am called to do in Wigston. And so I thank Father Andrew and everyone in Burbage and Aston Flamville for your friendship and support over these past three years, a time I shall look back with great fondness.And to finish . . .I have learned a great deal from my time at St Catherine’s. Fr Terry taught me that you can always end a sermon with a joke. Well, here it is, courtesy of Grove Books:“A lorry load of tortoises crashed into a trainload of terrapins. It was a turtle disaster.”Thank you again for three wonderful years.Amen.Nick Baker
Thought for the Day 4th June Thank you Ma’amJune 2nd, was the 67th anniversary of the Coronation. Queen Elizabeth II deep, abiding faith in Christianity isn’t a secret.She grew up Anglican, being part of the most famous Church of England family in the world. Upon inheriting the throne from her father, she also inherited his title as Defender of the Faith, a role every monarch has held since Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church. When she was crowned in Westminster Abbey on a rather wet and soggy day in June 1953, she took an oath to God to become his servant. After making numerous promises during the Coronation ceremony, she said:“The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God.”And my goodness, has she done it?This great lady, to whom this country owes so much, has been an inspiration to me, particularly when the going has been a bit tough. For instance, she once said about what sustains her in difficult times:“To many of us our beliefs are of fundamental importance. For me the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life. I, like so many of you, have drawn great comfort in difficult times from Christ's words and example.”The Queen’s Christmas broadcasts are mainly written by her personally, and in many of them there is an underlying Christian message – here are just a few:“I know just how much I rely on my faith to guide me through the good times and the bad. Each day is a new beginning. I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings, and to put my trust in God…I draw strength from the message of hope in the Christian Gospel.”“For me, the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, whose birth we celebrate today, is an inspiration and an anchor in my life. A role-model of reconciliation and forgiveness, he stretched out his hands in love, acceptance and healing. Christ’s example has taught me to seek to respect and value all people of whatever faith or none.”“Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general (important though they are) – but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.”“Billions of people now follow Christ’s teaching and find in him the guiding light for their lives. I am one of them because Christ’s example helps me see the value of doing small things with great love, whoever does them and whatever they themselves believe.”How can one fail to be inspired by such words, especially during periods in our lives such as we are experiencing at the moment. So I conclude this little tribute to our Sovereign Lady with a prayer said during her Coronation service 67 years ago:O God,who providest for thy people by thy power,and rulest over them in love:Grant unto this thy servant ELIZABETH, our Queen,the Spirit of wisdom and government,that being devoted unto thee with her whole heart,she may so wisely govern,that in her time thy Church may be in safety,and Christian devotion may continue in peace;that so persevering in good works unto the end,she may by thy mercy come to thine everlasting kingdom;through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord,who liveth and reigneth with theein the unity of the Holy Ghost,one God for ever and ever. Amen.Carol Hope.
