2 Corinthians 8: 7-end Mark 5: 21-endYou are sat on a chair in the middle of a hall. Around you, in a ring, are other young people sitting there as quiet as mice. You are blindfolded and an object is placed under the seat of the chair. In the silence the leader points to one youngster and they begin their journey of stealth. The object – to remove the object from under your chair without you pointing to where you think that the nominated youngster happens to be. Your ears are finely tuned to the slightest noise. It can be made harder by either one of the ring of youngsters coughing, or by the nominated one creating a diversion.In Mark’s gospel we read of a similar technique, one of diversion. One of the synagogue leaders, Jairus, fought his way through the crowd and approached Jesus. He was on a mission. His daughter was seriously ill. Could Jesus come and lay his hands on her to make her well? All this happened whilst Jesus was surrounded by a crowd.On the edge of the crowd was a woman who had been ill for many years. Her aim was to just touch the cloak of Jesus for in doing so she would be healed. Here was the perfect opportunity. She had a diversion presented to her on a plate. The crowd were so engaged with the synagogue leaders’ call on Jesus that they would not notice her working through the crowd towards Jesus. She was also quite probably well known for her illness which had made her unclean, and one to be avoided, least you also became unclean. But she failed in her mission to remain undetected. For Jesus was aware that someone, this woman, had touched his cloak. The diversion had provided her with the ideal method to approach Jesus. It had enabled her to come to Jesus but the game was up when she touched him.There are times in life when we seek some form of diversion in order to shoot forward from one condition to a more favouring set of conditions. The diversion may be one of our own construing or it may be the result of series of conditions all meeting together to make a perfect chute for us to slip along.I am reminded of a diversion that had been applied to the roads in the part of Scotland that Gill and I were traveling along. A road accident had closed the road ahead of us. Together with other travellers we started the diversion with heavy hearts for it was 100 extra miles to add to our journey.Life is like that. Opportunities pop up as we travel our path. Due to the misfortunes of one we may find ourselves propelled forward much to our own advantage. It could also be the case that by us causing a diversion of our own making we move forward.Diversions have been contrived and used all through history. From in times of war when one side attempts to mislead the enemy into thinking a tactic to be employed is in fact coming from a different direction, to a serious game of chess where a playing piece is sacrificed in order thar an advantage can be gained in your own strategy enabling you to win the game.Jesus was not fooled by the diversion, accidentally happening as it was, enabling the sick woman to be healed. The sick child was also restored to good health even though Jesus had to fight through a crowd and ‘clear the decks’ before he could reach her. Here we learn that Jesus cannot be fooled. We may try to ‘sneak up’ behind him to try to gain an advantage but Jesus will know that we are there. We may be some distance from Jesus, too far away , we think, for him to act, but act he will. Jesus will not leave us at the side. He will call out to us, reach out to us, hold us.Collect for the Fifth Sunday after TrinityAlmighty and everlasting God,by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified:hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,that in their vocation and ministrythey may serve you in holiness and truthto the glory of your name;through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
First Sunday after Trinity2 Corinthians 4: 5-12 Mark 2: 23 - 3: 6I remember how, many years ago, there was great debate about working on Sundays. It was at this time that supermarkets opened their doors for Sunday shopping. ‘Why was it needed at all’ was the argument. ‘Surely we can go one day without having to go shopping?’ Yet, today, it is almost second nature for many people. Almost anything can be purchased on a Sunday for by going one step further 24-hour shopping is readily possible on the internet.In the gospel reading the disciples of Jesus were plucking heads of grain to nibble. This was not allowed on the sabbath. Many Jewish laws regulated about what could, or could not, be done on the sabbath. It was evident that here the disciples were in the wrong. The Pharisees who witnessed this event challenged Jesus because he did not try to stop this blatant breach of the law. In reply Jesus said that ‘the sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath’ and this was the basis for his defence.But we need to look at ourselves here. We profess to be Christians, to love God and to follow and obey his Son Jesus Christ. As we follow our Christian path we encounter various rules and regulations which govern our Christian living. Sunday, and our observance of Sunday, is important. But there is much more than Sunday observance. If we were to abstain from work, attend church, say our prayers, read our Bible, and not indulge in any pleasures, being a Christian would be very easy.Being a Christian is far more than observing just a few hard rules. Observing them involves setting to one side love, forgiveness, and service. This would bring our faith into a decline. Just mentioning service makes me think of the service industries that we rely upon for health, safety and welfare, let alone the TV.Reflecting upon the laws and the can do’s and the cannot do’s, it is possible that by looking at Christianity and our Christian living, it comprises of far more doing’s than refraining’s. To do things in the cause of mercy and necessity is to do things for God. We must not stop helping others, in whatever way, in the name of religion. For to do so is not religion at all. People, wherever, matter far more than rituals and systems. The best way to worship God is to help humankind.This is where the importance of the sabbath lies. In much of what we do we worship God, through our actions and interplay. To set aside some time, anytime, to remember God, to reflect upon his grace, love, and mercy, to read a passage of the Bible, and speak to him, all of these things mark us out as Christian, as believers in God and followers of his Son. In all of these things we also help our fellow humans. Rules and laws are there to be followed and observed, so too is the love that we hold for our fellow humans.Collect for the First Sunday after TrinityO God,the strength of all those who put their trust in you,mercifully accept our prayersand, because through the weakness of our mortal naturewe can do no good thing without you,grant us the help of your grace,that in the keeping of your commandmentswe may please you both in will and deed;through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
TRINITY SUNDAYRomans 8: 12-17 John 3: 1-17Trinity Sunday. Always popular for using the orange, or even a traffic light, as a symbol of the Godhead. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all at once and all at the same time. Out come the oranges and the construction of the segments, the rind and the seeds. They are used to explain how three different parts of an orange can also be a whole orange. The same goes for the traffic light with its coloured lights, the light head and the pole on which it is mounted. Three parts, all individual, yet all one.How do we relate to this complex figure of God as three in one? God is our Father. Once upon a time we were in control of our nature. We wallowed in our sinful ways. But God has called us to himself. Our old ways are left behind as we move over to the control of God. We begin a new life with him,leaving behind our old life. The past is cancelled, our debts wiped out. God, in his mercy, has brought us into his possession. We begin a new life with God. We become heirs of all his riches. It is like adoption. We move from one family, in this case the family of sinfulness, into a new family. We exchange the rules and head of the old family with the new rules of the Christian family and new Head in the person of God. So here we have God the Father.We walk through life in our new family. We are heirs in that family. In fact we become joint heirs with Jesus Christ, God’s own Son. That which Christ inherits we too inherit. It also follows that the suffering that Christ suffered we inherit. However, Christ was raised to life in glory. We too shall share in that life and glory. A family bonds together. A family shares. A family has a father as head of the family, so too we have God as our Father. We are heirs of God as is his Son. Thereby, as joint heirs, we share with Christ in his suffering and we share in his glory.As we approach our heavenly Father in prayer we can cry out ‘Abba, Father’. In crying out its is our whole being that is being raised to God. Our whole being is lifted up in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit within us is bearing witness that we are children of God. In lifting us up we are being raised from slavery, from the hands of debtors, from the ways of the flesh, to the life of a child of God. Our spirit within us joins hands, as it were, with the Holy Spirit. We become one in the family of God. As we travel through life the Holy Spirit is at our side. We travel in the company of all of the children of God, united by the Holy Spirit, one with God’s Son, Jesus Christ, all crying out to God our Father.Through baptism we take into our life the power of the Holy Trinity. We have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, fully active within us. We are empowered by the Trinity in all that we do. Acknowledging the presence of the Godhead we share in the glory that Christ inherited.Collect for Trinity SundayAlmighty and everlasting God,you have given us your servants grace,by the confession of a true faith,to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinityand in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:keep us steadfast in this faith,that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
PENTECOSTActs 2: 1-21 John 15: 26-27.16: 4b-15We are approaching another Bank Holiday weekend as the end of May nears. People dashing off in different directions to have a few days of sunshine, they hope, as spring fades away into the background and summer takes its place. It is also one of the major festivals in the Church year. Pentecost, or Whitsunday, is marked as a day of special significance and until 1972 used to be the Bank Holiday weekend.The disciples were gathered together when, all of a sudden, we read of sound like a rush of a violent wind filling the house where they were. Tongues of flame appeared around them and rested on each one of them. The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit.It is as if the Holy Spirit came into existence at that time. That is not so. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Always was, always is, and always will be. It is the moment of Pentecost that sees the Holy Spirit becoming dominant in the Church.The Holy Spirit plays an active role in giving to the disciples courage to face the trials that they will face. It gave them power to go ahead. For us today we receive the same Holy Spirit in our lives. We are give courage to meet dangerous situations. We have the power to cope with the trials of life. In addition eloquence when needed and the joy of Christian life are all to be seen as the work of the Holy Spirit.Elsewhere in the Acts of the Apostles (5:32) we learn how the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey him. The measure of the Holy Spirit which we may possess depends upon the type of person that we are. If we are trying to do the will of God, hearing his word and fashioning our life around what we hear and learn, then we will experience more and more of the wonder of the Holy Spirit. We will see it at work all around us. We will be able to share some of the feeling, the experience, that the disciples felt in the days of the early Church. To the disciples the early Church was a Church filled with the Holy Spirit and that was the source of its power.Going back to the early Church try to imagine the scene. The disciples were meeting, partly in fear of the Romans, and possibly discussing amongst themselves what their future would be. All of a sudden there was a sound and flames appeared. It must have been both a terrifying experience and a mystifying one.To visit a foreign country it helps to be able to understand a little of the language of that land. Simple words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ are essential as is also ‘may I have a cup of tea’. To be in a room surrounded by people speaking in different languages can be quite confusing. But to the disciples they were given the power to understand what was being said. It was a gift of the Holy Spirit which was greatly treasured and which was to serve them well in their ministry. If a message, in this case the Good News, is to passed on to people it is far better to be passed on in a language that is understood by the listeners. A person walking into the room filled with the disciples speaking in different languages may well think that the room was filled with drunkards. But, probably for the first time the disciples were hearing the word of God which went straight into their hearts in ways that they could fully understand. Such is the power of the Holy Spirit.Today we recognise that power and give thanks in our worship. That same Holy Spirit is working within us. Leading our lives following the teaching of God and following the way of his Son we will find our life empowered as the Holy Spirit works within us.Collect for PentecostGod, who as at this timetaught the hearts of your faithful peopleby sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit:grant us by the same Spiritto have a right judgement in all thingsand evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
