photo is from a visit to New York's museum of modern art, images of images, images with images

‘Mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?’

A sermon for the 20^th August 2023, Port Elliot, Goolwa and Victor Harbor

This is the question put to the magic mirror in the story of Snow White, first written down in 1812.  The mirror belongs to Snow White’s stepmother who becomes consumed by jealousy, envy, rage and hated when she learns that she is not the fairest of them all. In the story she tries to murder her stepdaughter who, the mirror tells her, has surpassed her in loveliness. The mirror can only tell the truth and therefore exposes Snow White to danger.

Mirror, mirror on my wall, do you tell the truth? Perhaps the truth is this. When I look into a mirror, I see no the miiror image but rather what I am looking for. In any case the mirror reverses the image. I see myself reversed.

Mirror, mirror can I see in the story of the Canaanite woman any fairness at all? The story takes me across the border to Tyre and Sidon. Perhaps that is where the Christian community that created the Gospel of Matthew was situated? A woman’s voice loud and insistent is heard. She requests and then reasons with the holy healer. She compares herself to a dog picking up scraps before Jesus says ‘Great is your faith’ and the daughter is made whole.

 

 

 

On the face of it I see reflected here an ugly scene. A shrieking desperate mother is met by a response that seems rude, racist, and reactive. Jesus offers a superficial religious brush off. It all seems humiliating. Only the right people are entitled to healing, I am told in this story, and you, yes you: Canaanite woman just do not qualify. No religious medical insurance, no healing of the tormented child. Yet Jesus meets someone determined to succeed. The woman is faithful to the daughter she loves. ‘Yes bitches like me when desperate eat the crumbs from the floor’.  We may be unclean and have no rights but we won’t go away’

I want to hold up a mirror to this story and see if it can be read another way with the kind of astonishment that Jesus seems to show in this strange story. ‘Mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all’

Time and time again in the Gospels Jesus offers welcome to the stranger, heals gentiles, supports women and values their friendship.  He seems to be all about fairness, generosity, and inclusion and against religious arguments that enable the pure to pass by on the other side.

When Jesus meets the woman by the well In John’s Gospel, they dialogue together.  Jesus on foreign ground shows respect and treats this woman with dignity. Jesus shares tables with tax collectors and sex workers and breaks sabbath rules to heal those experiencing disease.

 

Jesus is portrayed as the one with the gift of discernment able through long years of contemplation to see to the truth in any situation and kindle in that situation the flame of healing and harmony. This discordant story is on a plain reading totally unthinkable.

In this story I believe that I see a reversal of accepted norms. The un named woman comes to represent Jesus who was humiliated and shamed and crucified as unclean on a hill with the town dogs and vultures ready for a feast. As St Charles Foucauld wrote, ‘Jesus took the last place so no one would take it from him’ As Charles Wesley wrote ‘Christ emptied himself of all but love’ Jesus knelt at the last supper like a servant to wash feet. Jesus is the one who, totally comfortable in his own skin, totally one with the sacred One has nothing to prove except the imperative to love and to extend compassion.

In the preceding passage of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus declares all food clean. He says that it from within that the unclean emerges, jealousy envy, rage and hated which brings death. The passage about being unclean may be taken as a parable of true pureness of heart and true desire.

Some you see turn to the light and embrace the journey into beauty, truth and goodness and others turn away.  Some are drawn to harmony, some to discord.

Snow White cannot help being beautiful, her image is the fruit of the prayer of her mother, but her stepmother needs to be the most beautiful.  She must possess beauty and must be at the centre of the world. Nothing can get in the way even her step daughter the flesh and blood of her spouse. The mirror cannot help tell the truth and eventually the one of evil intent will, in her quest to destroy the innocent Snow White will destroy herself. One character represents the harmony of truth, beauty and goodness, the other desires to possess beauty and truth without goodness.

In the Gospel Jesus mirrors back to the disciples what they may be thinking and the judging condemnatory thoughts in their hearts. He mirrors back to us aspects of ourselves in a form that calls forth our reflection, repentance and renewal in faith.

Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?  Here in this story the woman bears witness to the vision of the prophets that in all people, and in all creation the Divine draws all people towards what we might call the Word, that is the Logos, Christ which is the Light of the universal reason that draws us to our knees and then raises us to sit at the table, no longer enslaved to beliefs that no longer serve us.

Our Gospel holds up a mirror which reflects to me all kinds of deeply disturbing truths about myself. I am not as fair as I think I am. Too often my judgement is clouded and I react without responding with compassion.  I sometimes offer superficial religious answers to the question no one is asking. Jesus mirrors back to me my true self and calls out my inner jealous envious stepmother self. Truth calls me out and I too need to ask for mercy and question my presumption of rightness.

At the close of the day as I look in the mirror I want to remember these words.

 ‘Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face, now I know in part; then I shall know fully” 1 Corinthians 13:12

Mirror mirror on the wall, In Christ can I see in my thoughts, words and actions today beauty, truth and goodness. Can I hear the words: My daughter, my son, great is your faith? 

Will I once again seek the guidance from the Light within? Will my soul begin to shine with the joyful radiance of a love that in its singlemindedness is great.

Chaos, Calm and Compassion

 

A sermon preached at Holy Evangelists Goolwa 

and St Jude’s Port Elliot 13 August 2023

 

Chaos, Calm Compassion

When safely on shore it can be energising to experience the storms and squalls of the ocean. Our Horseshoe Bay reminds us of ships sunk and lives lost in storms. In our Gospel experienced fishers and boat handlers are caught in a life- threatening storm. Elijah faces fire and earthquake. This rings true for us as Australians. We may also face the storms of illness, family breakdown or bereavement.

Amid chaos when our lives seem precarious, we may become fearful, swamped by emotions, reactive not responsive. Peter is impulsive, impatient, easily influenced, driven often by fear or misplaced love. Elijah is fleeing in fear.

In the Gospel Jesus remains at prayer. John Macquarie, who was on of the great Anglican theologians of the 20^th century defined prayer as ‘slow thinking’. I imagine Jesus practicing a form of mindfulness, practicing calm as well as using reason and reflection to think and plan for the next step of his ministry. In prayer our feelings dialogue often with our thinking, sometimes moving into contemplation. Jesus considers and chooses with the view from above.  Problems often require we step up a logical level to see the wider view before we respond. Jesus in the Gospel is pictured as always able to find what is significant in every situation.

We too require calm and the practice of prayer as ‘slow thinking’ with others and alone can open the imagination and our creative reasoning to respond with compassion.

Compassion is beyond empathy. Empathy is natural for us and indeed often we are told to be more empathetic. Paul Bloom in his book ‘Against Empathy’ says that we often define empathy as imagining we feel what is it is like to be the other person. This he says has some use but often leads to poor choices with unforeseen consequences. Another way of defining empathy is as social cognition, understanding another person and what makes them tick. However, if you have ever been bullied you will known that in toxic workplaces or relationships power arises from finely tuned social cognition.

Jesus is often portrayed as compassionate and the Holy One is often described in the Hebrew Scriptures as being full of compassion. We notice that in this story Jesus seems to act rationally, calming both the fears of those in peril and then bringing calm to the chaos. In the cave Elijah hears the Word in the still small voice of silence causing him to take another path. Compassion is a reason-based response that considers the consequences.

Life can bring chaos but by practicing ways to be calm and making decisions that bring the best consequences may leads us to live with compassion and care. Reason is God’s gift to humanity and we can learn alone and with others to reason well and make choices with the consequences in mind.

Bishop Kallistos on silence

'Reaching out towards the eternal truth that lies beyond all human words and thoughts the seeker begins to wait on God in quietness and in silence, no longer talking about or to God but simply listening'

The Orthodox Way p 121

I like it slow, a Transfiguration sermon

 

Transfiguration - A sermon preached at St Augustine’s

Victor Harbor 6 August 2023

 

Leonard Cohen sang, ‘I’m slowing down the tune’ adding ‘I want to get there last’ (Album: Popular Problems)

The singer songwriter who died in 2016 was an observant Jew all his life, yet stepped away from the fast lane living a Zen monastery on a mountain in California before returning to tour the world. His songs are threaded with Biblical imagery including references to Jesus and the Gospels.

Today our Gospel takes us into a Biblical landscape and into the heart of an experience of the presence of God in the Transfiguration Gospel.

When I prepare sermons, I practice ‘lectio’ an ancient way of ‘slowing down the tune.’  This is a slow and meditative reading of the text including reading it aloud as Scripture is written to be listened to and prayed through.

The image that came to me was of the three professional fishers climbing the mountain. I imagined their slow climb and saw them in my mind, looking back regretfully at the glittering lake in the distance. From the rocking planks of a fishing boat to sharp stones of the goat track, the arid windswept mountain their muscles aching, sweat dripping into their eyes. This I imagined. was a slow climb and it was made by James and John, known for their anger as the ‘sons of thunder’ and the impulsive Peter who six says earlier had recognised Jesus as the Messiah.

This small ‘church’ is being taken from the familiar to the unfamiliar and what they experience there on the mountain will only begin to add up after the shattering events of Pentecost, the resurrection, and the death of Jesus on the cross. Here there are three figures like the three crosses, the disciples watch and pray as they would do later in the garden of Gethsemane. Yet here there is no sense of the absence of God. At the cross some though Jesus was calling on Elijah, and Jesus himself felt his alienation and estrangement from his Father. Here the silence of absence is replaced by the voice. Peter on that exposed rocky mountain offers to make three shelters. I see this as an invitation to take this experience within the shelter of one’s life.

Later after a dialogue they will return to a scene of chaos and loss which Jesus brings healing and peace. This may only be cast out by fasting and prayer, forms of slowing, listening, the practice of attentiveness and seeking guidance.

In our prayer we are taken from the world of the familiar to the strange and that holds true if we pray alone or with others, we are never spiritually alone.  In worship we slow down to walk with Jesus. We are called to ‘be’ not to ‘do.’ When we slow down, we notice signs of grace and invitations to where we are called in faith to be.

In the letter of James, the brother of Jesus, we are instructed to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger (1:19) The Old Testament makes many references to a God who is slow to anger, compassionate, forgiving abounding in love (Numbers 14:18). Those who are people of the way respond and not react.  Disciples listen quickly and are not seized by a hurried emotional response.

James, John, and Peter were like many of us impatient, impulsive people in a hurry. I see myself in them being busy and always knowing the answer. Jesus in slowing down the tune made it possible for them to learn the rhythms of his Kingdom. I can learn this to in my own life by slowing down the tune. Like Peter, James and John I am called to serve a God slow to anger, full of compassion, forgiveness, love, and mercy, called into the grace of Beatitude not of battle.

Jesus’ commitment to contemplation, the slow unhurried practice of being in the Presence meant that he was able to respond quickly and appropriately when the need arose. Jesus saw deeply into the root of the problem bringing a healing word or action.

‘I’m slowing down the tune, I never liked it fast, you want to get there soon, I want to get there last’ wrote Leonard Cohen.

Let us slow the tune in our life with God, quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to react ready to respond as servants. Let us slowly climb trusting he is close by in the unfamiliar where we must trust and be led by the Holy Spirit.

After all we too want to get there last for, after all, Jesus promised, ‘the first will be last and the last will be first’ (Matthew 20:16)

 

Treasury of Blessings. A sermon given at St Augustines Victor Harbor on 30 August 2023.

 

‘Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life’ 

Silence can become golden and a pathway to experience the Living Christ.

Today many of us live with noise. Noise, high levels of unwanted sound affect the health of many people.  Noise pollution is a hazard and not only for humans. Our ocean marine life is impacted by the sounds of ship engines and drilling for oil.  Some churches blast their congregations with music at a level which over time will result in impaired hearing!

Yet at the same time many live with an unwanted silence. The aching silence of loneliness and loss, the frozen silence from a broken relationship or simply being ignored. The silence of being silenced or the sheer indifference of others.  This unwanted silence often brings a cacophony inside one’s head, the noise of unwanted thoughts and feelings.

When I offered mindfulness at the Hutt Street Centre for those experiencing homelessness I heard about terror, trauma, tragedy, and the tug of addiction. In those sessions we learnt to turn down the noise inside with some brief mindfulness exercises.  These supported us to make better choices, be less reactive, cope with hitherto stressful situations such as an encounter at Centrelink.  We came together as a community of mindful practice sharing our stories and encouraging each other. It was for me a memory I will never forget.

‘The still small voice of calm’ drew me to Buddhism in my teenage years which were full of anxiety, anger, and anguish. I saw a television program about a small group of Buddhist monks who had come to live in a small English village not far from my own. There was a quality of peaceful joy in these people that drew my curiosity. I visited my local library, borrowed books, decided to follow the Buddhist noble eightfold path, and started to meditate. I found it very difficult but persevered. This led however to more and more questions about the meaning of life.

One evening something happened that is beyond explanation but none the less became a turning point for me. I felt a Presence enter the room which I knew was God the Trinity. I had already begun to read the Gospels. My heart became filled with a peace beyond understanding, ‘the silence of eternity, interpreted by love’ and I surrendered to Christ but also heard God calling me to serve in ordained ministry and to make God the centre of my whole life. Seek and you will find yet without the silence of Buddhism the loving and transforming silence of the Living Christ in the cross and resurrection of Jesus may well have been missed.

I felt in that experience beyond all words love flowing through me and although this feeling faded over the next few weeks life had changed. I had discovered the treasure, the gift of a life guiding wisdom. Moreover, I made new friends who were Christians and a new priest arrived at our village church who became a wise mentor and guide. ‘the gracious calling of the Lord, let us like them without a word rise up and follow thee’   

My story is in no sense unique. From a whole series of conversations with people and from my own research I know that spiritual experiences are very common, often at times of crisis or illness when people meet the Presence of Love or see Light shining the path ahead reassuring them they are not alone.

Silence can indeed be golden and as the mystics say, ‘silence is God’s first language and the language of heaven (Revelation 8.1). Silence is not the absence of sound but a sense of balance, peacefulness, equilibrium, even in the storms of life.

I have found silence down the years in using a simple prayer, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God have mercy on me a sinner.’ It the prayer of Bartimaeus, the Jesus Prayer of the Orthodox Church is for me the pearl of great price. One of my teachers, the late Bishop Kallistos writes ‘The Jesus Prayer is not just a hypnotic incantation, but a meaningful phrase, an invocation addressed to another Person. Its object is not relaxation but alertness, not waking slumber but living prayer’ (page 122 The Orthodox Way).

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams who daily like many others meditates with the Jesus Prayer asked a group of clergy: ‘What keeps you human, what are the things that remind you that you are profoundly special, and not special at all in another sense?’  He reminded his hearers that to hear God speaking to us as individuals and as community we need the golden silence which comes from stillness and self-awareness, learning to listen, turning down the noise inside even for a few minutes here and there.

Buddhist meditation, attention to the breath and body made space in my life to experience the true and living God. I have gone on to teach meditation for 20 years (without the Buddhism) seeking to be a scribe of heaven bringing from the treasure things old and new.  The success of meditation I say to students is not feeling good on the cushion but it is in an improved ability to be present to your work, to your partner to your body to your life, in mind full ways. Silence is golden when it trains us in listening more and responding at the right time. For the author of the hymn ‘Dear Lord and Father of Mankind’, John Greenleaf Whittier, sitting in silence with other Quakers led him to a profound conviction that his life was calling him to speak and organise in support of enslaved people placing his life in peril.

Our Murray diocesan consultation at Sevenhill spoke of how much we value a prayerful dependence on God and our parish south coast consultation reminded us of how much we value a sense of God’s presence and think of our churches as sanctuaries where we are able to refocus on our Christian journey.

In silence I remind myself of how ordinary I am and yet how amazing it is to be alive, to be still, able to breathe and feel my heartbeat and place myself in the Presence of the source of all wisdom, the Inward Light of Christ.

However, you pray or meditate may those who surround you draw from your calmness, compassion, and connectedness. So many I believe find consolation and peace when in the company of people who are at peace in their own lives whatever else may be happening for them.

In a world of noise and where silence is often dead or frozen may your stillness and silence be truly golden in blessing, in Christ who is in our midst, the treasury of blessings and giver of life.

Mark Taylor writes about the loss of the unsayable, and unknowable.

'When everything is sayable, knowable, and nameable, life is no longer marked by serendipity, novelty and wonder but becomes the eternal return of the same'

Seeing Silence Mark Taylor Theologian and Philosopher

Contemplation at St Judes Port Elliot on a winters evening