Reflection: St Aidan for 31st August 2020Today we are remembering and celebrating the feast day of St Aidan, the first bishop of Lindisfarne or Holy Island. He was born around 590 in Ireland. Little is known of his early life until we hear of him as a monk on the Isle of Iona at the monastery St Columba founded. Sometime later he was sent to Lindisfarne and was consecrated as bishop in 635. Lindisfarne was a place well positioned for evangelising and from there he made endless missionary journeys on foot around Northumbria and beyond to found monasteries, churches, and a school for the training of ministers. Wherever Aidan went, often far from Lindisfarne, his outreach ministry involved caring for the sick and needy, educating Saxons , and freeing Saxon slaves by bringing them into the fold of the Church. By all accounts he was warmly welcomed wherever he went. He was highly respected for his humility, peacefulness and prayerfulness and praised for his teaching, charity and simplicity of life, so much so that many regarded him as the apostle of Northumbria. Also, wherever he went he was able to politely converse with people, often Anglo Saxon pagans, in their own tongue and to slowly and gently interest people in Christianity following the model of apostolic conversion into the fold of Christ. He died in on August 31st 651 leaning against the church he founded at Bamburgh which was later dedicated to him. But the most enduring monument to him is the monastery he founded at Lindisfarne which became a centre of learning and a storehouse of scholarly knowledge that reflected Aidan’s Celtic roots and spirituality. Later, Lindisfarne came to be known as ‘The English Iona’ which played such an important role in Christianity in the North of England and beyond. I know some in our parish have been to Lindisfarne. I have been several times and also, as a regular visitor, to the island of Iona on retreat where Aidan’s ministry initially started after leaving Ireland. Iona is such a beautiful island and I was invited on one occasion to lead a retreat by the Iona Community and to officiate and preside as a priest on the same patch of ground where Aidan would have lived, prayed, worshipped and celebrated. Both Iona and Lindisfarne are small islands cut off from the mainland by a few hundred yards of sea that gives a very real sense of a welcome distance from the hustle and bustle of the world. They are places full of history where one can roam free and feel a deep sense of peace and spiritual connectedness with the past. These are also islands where one can sit by the edge of the sea, watching the tide go in and out, as Aidan did, and even reflect on one of his own prayers. ‘As the tide draws the waters close upon the shore, make me an island, set apart, alone with you, God, holy to you. Then with the turning of the tide prepare me to carry your presence to the busy world beyond, the world that rushes in on me till the waters come again, and fold me back to you’. St Aidan’s willingness and readiness to leave his comfort zone, austere as it was, in order to reach out, befriend, and support others, in practical and spiritual ways, and gently point them to God, is a saintly pastoral ministry that God calls all to embrace, lay and ordained alike.Fr Graham
The Parable of the Unforgiving ServantMatthew 18:21-35Kim Phuc was severely injured as a girl in 1972 by napalm bombs dropped by U.S. military planes during the Vietnam War. A journalist snapped a famous photo of Phuc during the attack that caused outrage worldwide about how the war affected children. Phuc endured 17 operations during the years after the attack that took the lives of some of her family members, and she still suffers pain today. Yet Phuc says she heard God calling her to forgive those who hurt her. In 1996, during Veterans Day ceremonies at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., Phuc met the pilot who had coordinated the bombing attack. Thanks to God's power working within her, Phuc says, she was able to forgive the pilot. She knew God’s grace deep within her heart and was able to extend that grace to the one who had caused her such pain. (Here is a link to see Kim Phuc telling her story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWH2Vi0PcoI)Our reading today is all about forgiveness: receiving forgiveness for ourselves and us forgiving others. Peter was particularly interested in how often we should be willing to forgive members of our church community who have hurt or wronged us, or whom we are holding a grudge against. Jesus’ answer was 77 times, or in other words, so many times that you can’t keep track. Jesus then told the parable of the unforgiving servant.One of the king’s slaves owed him ten thousand talents, which represented a working man’s wages for 200,000 years. OK maybe Jesus was using a bit of hyperbole in his storytelling here, but clearly this slave would never be able to repay his debt. However, the King was expecting him to pay by selling everything he had, including his wife and family. The slave fell on his knees and pleaded with him, and the King felt sorry for him and forgave him the debt. Each of us in in need of forgiveness from God. However good we think we are, however hard we try to please God, we still sin and our debt is so much that we could never repay it. God our Father knows our weakness. When we acknowledge before Him our inability to pay and plead with Him for mercy, He is willing to forgive us. God is deeply moved in his pity of our sinful state. His son Jesus died on the cross for each one of us: the debt that we could never pay has been paid in full. This is GRACE:God’sRichesAtChrist’sExpense God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense – an acronym that helps me to appreciate this wonderful gift from God. We do not have to live in guilt, because Jesus has set us free.Now this same slave, who in Jesus’ parable had been released from his impossibly big debt, expects a fellow slave who owes him money to pay up. The amount owed was far smaller – about 100 days’ wages, so with a bit of patience, the slave would have been able to repay his debt. However, his pleadings for mercy fell on deaf ears and he was cast into prison. The other slaves reported the distressing incident to the King, whose pity turned to anger at the unforgiving servant who hadn’t learned to appreciate and replicate the mercy that he had received. Do we appreciate the forgiveness we have received? Those who fail to see how much they have been forgiven will find it harder to extend forgiveness to others. It is not an easy thing to forgive others who have upset us, mistreated us or spoken against us. So, how can we be so full of God’s grace that we are enabled to be gracious to each other? Surely, we don’t want to be like the unforgiving servant, who was punished for his lack of forgiveness.Why are we so slow to forgive?• Maybe we don’t expect our fellow Christians to wrong us• Perhaps we have a poor perspective of how much we have been forgiven. We think ’I am a pretty good person’.• Or maybe we fear being seen as weak or likely to being taken advantage of. We don’t want to become a doormat. Are we willing to take that risk and recognise that forgiving is an active, not a passive thing?Can I ask, who is the hardest to forgive? The person who doesn’t think they have wronged you, or the person who has wronged you is someone close to you? Do we harbour bitterness or unforgiveness toward someone else? Our unwillingness to forgive can rebound on us. Beware the grudges and resentments. We need to resolve issues with fellow Christians and forgive from the heart.I ask again, how can we be so full of God’s grace that we are enabled to be gracious to each other? There is no magic formula, but I do believe that God in His mercy wants us to experience His grace by an ongoing threefold process:1. We confess our sin and need of God’s forgiveness with our lips. We did this together in our Liturgy this morning and it is an important part of our worship. In our times of personal prayer also, we can confess our sin and thank God for His grace to us. 2. We make a mental connection with the words we have said. Our repentance must be sincere and we need to understand what God, in Christ has done for us in cancelling our debt of sin. It is helpful to read our Bibles or Lectionary Readings regularly so that we feed our minds with the Word of God, in order that we can know, and appreciate, how Jesus has enabled us to become Children of God.3. We ask the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts so that we can truly know the grace of God at a deep level of our being. The joy of the Lord will then be our strength. This is not a one-off thing, but a daily everyday faith experience. God gives His Holy Spirit to all who genuinely seek this gift. This morning, ask Him to fill you with the Spirit, so that you can live a grace-filled life.I want to close with a verse from St. Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus.‘And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.’ Ephesians 4:32AmenMary Tynan
Thoughts for Today From the real world sublime and challenging Colombia’s Gateway – Cartagena, Getsemani… Defending what you have…it’s just an Ash Wednesday fort… This was to be a very colourful Ash Wednesday in Cartagena (pronounced Cartaheena), the largest port of Columbia and where the Caribbean and Pacific Oceans meet. The sight of the school children filing out of the local church of the district of Getsemani freshly clay ashed was very moving as they gave us a smiling penitent thumbs-up. This was the revolutionary district of Cartagena, a poor area which has now become the ‘hippest art village’ with many ‘spray can’ street art masterpieces. Umbrella alley is a splendid sight and shields the domino players from the hot sun. We are a long way from the peoples’ revolt against the Spanish royal rulers which began in Getsemani in 1809 led by a blacksmith named Pedro Romero. Independence was attained in Cartagena on 7 August 1819 and later the whole of Colombia (named after Columbus). Romero cast church bells and cannons, and he was brave enough to petition the King of Spain to request (unsuccessfully) that his son be given permission to study law in Bogata. At that time non-whites were banned from studying at colonial universities.The sunrise this day was stunning and silhouetted the huge cranes of the port. We spotted the huge fort built after the insurgency of gold pirate Sir Francis Drake in April 1586. He had 23 ships, 3,000 men and destroyed over 200 houses in Cartegena inflicting fire damage on the Cathedral of St Catherine of Alexandria. Drake was bought off within the month with a ransom of one million pesos (£34,000 today) and sent packing. Such was the piracy of those times. The work on the walled city began in 1596 and on completion was 11 kilometres in length. The fort became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984 and as can be seen from the photograph is enormous. To this day it has never been overcome. It is called the San Felipe de Barajas Fortress after its commissioner King Philip IV of Spain. The defences were important from the time of pirates and again from the British in the siege of Cartagena in 1741. The Spanish troops of 2,800 saw off the British fleet and armies of 23,600 which were part of the wider conflict of ‘Jenkins Ear’. This lasted 9 years through the Caribbean. The Spanish commander was Don Blas de Lezo who from his previous battle injuries had one eye, one leg and one hand. Our young guide this day was called ‘Ender’ who proudly told the stories of the place via his portable amplifier, and enthused about the national sports of Boxing, Football and above all Baseball. We saw establishments of ‘Fish and Chips’ next to Taco Bars. There was an entrepreneurial place called ‘Beer and Laundry’ next to the man selling melons from his street cart. A whirlwind tour of the Emerald Museum ended up with us in the Cathedral, still bearing some of the scars of Drake’s incursion. It has marbled floors and a large gilded high altar contrasting the simplicity of style of high arches and cupola. This third cathedral was completed in the early 1700’s. At the beginning of the 20th century Colombia was generally peaceful and the economy developed. Exports of coffee increased, but in 1948 another civil war La Violencia broke out. Colombia had always been dangerously divided into liberals and conservatives, but the assassination of liberal politician Jorge Eliecer Gaitan on 9 April 1948 was the spark that lit the fire. The army was on the side of the conservatives and in 1953 General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla became dictator.However, in 1957 Pinilla stepped down and the two parties, Liberal and Conservative agreed to share power. Between 1957 and 1974 the presidency alternated between them. In the 1960s left wing guerrillas began operating in Colombia. The 1970s saw the production of cocaine increase and it continued to increase in the 1980s leading to a great deal of violence. Meanwhile, in the early 1980s Colombia was hit by a severe recession.Yet in the early 21st century the situation in Colombia improved, and violence declined. Furthermore, the Colombian economy grew rapidly. Colombia, like the rest of the world suffered in the recession of 2009, but the economy soon recovered. It also suffered severe floods in 2010. However today, tourism in the country is growing, and is developing steadily. In 2020 the population is 50 million.We will remember the colourful city of Cartagena, with its large wooden balconies on the well worn colonial buildings and the vibrancy of the costumed street sellers. Also, because it was the one and only port we visited with its own Eco-Park called Port Oasis. You could handle a sloth for $10 and see the hosts of parrots, toucan and pink flamingoes.
WHO ARE YOU?When people have masks on it is not so easy to work out who everybody is.“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”, or “Who do people say that I am?”, two questions that are in the Gospels of Matthew (Ch.16 v13) and Mark (Ch.8 v27). Matthew used the conversation that Jesus has with the disciples to begin his disclosure about his messiahship and the suffering that he must undertake for us, and the sacrifices we must suffer if we really want to be his followers. Matthew uses the passage in the same way as Mark but uses the description that Jesus often uses of himself – “Son of Man”. This is a description of himself, which has been interpreted in many ways by Biblical scholars, I choose to explain as “Jesus the human” or even “This bloke Jesus”.There was for many years a programme on TV called “Who do you think you are”, which could be quite entertaining as a sort of history programme, but could be quite excruciating when a celebrity would break down in tears when they found out that their great-great-grandmother, who had died a hundred years before they were born, had been confined in the workhouse. People don't like to dwell on how hard life for ordinary people was in generations past and still is for so many people in this country and even more so in vast areas of the world. Something for us all to think and pray about.But who do say you are? Do you know who you are? We can all do our family tree and look back a couple of hundred years quite easily and genetics can have some influence on our appearance and perhaps even some health issues, but not much else. But being born into a reasonably wealthy family can still improve your life chances considerably – but that's another sermon.Who do you think you are? Can be used as an insult, implying that you are getting above yourself and need putting down a peg or two.Before I went to Theological College I did a 2 year part-time course, which was known as the Aston Training Scheme. It was quite vigorous both academically and psychologically, as the powers that be tried to assess whether the students truly had a vocation, or were just interested in the high pay and conditions of employment in the Church of England (I jest). Just prior to one's final interview with the Course Director a self-assessment had to be written and handed in. Now that was perhaps the most difficult part of the whole course, because it stretches one's truth capacity to the utmost.Whilst not quite the same, you know those questionnaires that ask you to tick boxes, perhaps a question might be, how honest are you? With box 1 being an absolute rogue and 5 being a saint, what do you answer? You don't want to admit to exaggerating your work expenses, putting you in box 1 and you don't want to exaggerate the amount you give to charity every week, so you tick number 4 (reasonably honest) and hope nobody enquires further.The thing about the self-assessment for the Aston Scheme was that after much praying about it, I came to the conclusion that the Course Director could probably be fooled, but if I tried to fool God I was only fooling myself. A warts and all self-assessment was thus handed in and it was obviously thought to be satisfactory as I am here 36 years later, still trying to work out who I am and if it coincides with God's picture of me.So! Could you write a letter to God to tell him all about your life, honestly telling him about all your sinfulness, confessing how you fall short of his expectations of you and honestly asking him to help you be a better person. It is not an easy exercise but one that might be worth a try, and when you have done it offer it to God in prayer, and then put it through a shredder or burn it in your garden. Writing things down is often a good way to get rid of all those frustrations we have in our lives some of which are noble and some of which are just selfish desires. I was taught this many years ago by a wise counsellor and have found it very helpful. That reminds me of that famous prayer:-Dear Heavenly Father, So far, today, I've done all right. I haven't gossiped or lost my temper. I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, or self centred. I'm really happy about that so far. But in a few minutes I'm going to be getting out of bed and then I'm going to need a lot of help. Thank you! Amen. I like that because it just about sums up life.When Jesus asked the disciples “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”, most of them got it wrong but Peter had worked out that Jesus was the Christ, the messiah. It was a revelation from God and also a charge from his Son that Peter would be the rock on which he would build the church. This was the Peter who a few verses on in the Gospel Jesus would say, “get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things”. This would then be the Peter who would deny Jesus three times.We have so much in common with Peter. God reveals things to us, but we very often get confused and misunderstand what we should be doing. We also deny Jesus in that we so often fail to live up to his commandment that we love one another, which is the central commandment of our faith. How often do we put human things before divine things?So we start with a question from Jesus and I would suggest that all of us question ourselves about our lives. Do we come anywhere near what God would like us to be? Write it down, offer it to God in prayer and then shred it or burn it. God knows it anyway, but it is good that we assess ourselves to try to see if Christianity is apparent in us. Can others see that we are different – we are followers of Jesus the Christ.Which reminds me of a little story.A little boy walked down the beach, and as he did, he spied a woman sitting under a beach umbrella on the sand.He walked up to her and asked, "Are you a Christian?" She said, "Yes." "Do you read your Bible every day?" She nodded her head, "Yes." Do you pray often?" the boy asked next, and again she answered, "Yes." With that he asked his final question,"Will you hold my watch and purse while I go swimming?"Amen.
