Contemplating the Light

 Some reflections from my sermon for October 8th.

Here I discuss a visit to James Turrells work 'Within Without' at the NGA and my experience of entering across the water lined path into the stupa to stand within the light reflected from the 'eye' in the stupa, beyond description in mere words. As someone who has participated in Quaker meetings it is no surprise that Turrell is a life long Quaker. The Religious Society of Friends uses the metaphor of the Inward Light and 'Within Without' reminds me of a meeting house, a place of stillness and silence.

Today's readings included the ten invitations, the ten words or ten invitations of Exodus given as a gift. At the heart of words about the Holy One and the admonitions to live ethically is placed the command to observe the Sabbath.  The Sabbath a time for rest, renewal, contemplation, remembrance and realignment. When a Sabbath is kept, in whatever form we look to the Light, to the horizons of meaning and purpose. For Christians the Logos or Christ is the Light. Light is of course a metaphor as we know the path only through metaphors and reflections. Our Gospel was the vineyard and the tenants who forget their place. This speaks to me so vividly of the tragedy of  so much of life and our forgetting to live in harmony with each other and the planet.

The vineyard in the parable is planted, a wall and watchtower offer boundary spaces and the press a metaphor of transformation as the wine comes into being.

James Turrell's mission to assist people to find wonder, amazement and appreciation through his work is an inspiration, a sign of hope. May we in our sabbath keeping practice contemplation and participate in the Great Work of healing and hope bringing.

Thomas Traherne and the meditating inward eye

 Some reflections from my sermon on October 1st

'A meditating Inward Eye gazing at Quiet did within me lie. And everything delighted me that was their Heavenly King'

So wrote English poet and mystic Thomas Traherne, born in Hereford, the son of a shoemaker. For ten years he was parish priest at Credenhill (picture above)

 in the beautiful golden valleys near the border with Wales. He lived during the destructive and turbulent era of the Civil War when so much was torn down and destroyed by misplaced religious zeal.

So much of religion is noise, discord, outcry, refusal, complaint, argument and sheer meanness. So much of religion is experienced as the jabbing righteous finger and guilt. Let us no forget that the Church created cancel culture.

Paul sees Jesus as the one who became empty and Wesley that God emptied himself of all but love. Another story sees the Holy withdrawing in love to make space for creation to flourish freely.

Contemplation, the quiet gaze, becoming empty, open is never easy but beyond all becomes a joy and delight where the inner noise fades

SS Michael, Gabriel and Raphael and all Angels

https://neumz.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcc9686caa6e61732352a5989&id=199bbc5abc&e=4a7d97d3dc

Today is the Feast of Michael, Gabriel and Raphael Archangels and here is some wonderful music to take us into the day

The statue is from the Jesuit Church at Sevenhill South Australia

Sermon 24th September 'In cant get no satisfaction' the labourers in the vineyard and the people of God in the wilderness

 

A Sermon for 24^th September Pentecost 17 The labourers in the vineyard

 

Readings: Exodus 16.2-15, Psalm 105, Phil 1:21-30, Matthew 20:1-16

 

‘I can’t get no satisfaction…. and I try, and I try, and I try and I try….’

This quotation is, of course from song written in 1965 by Jagger and Richards and performed by the Rolling Stones. With its iconic guitar riff and subversive and suggestive lyrics its reckoned to be one of the best rock songs of its era.

Question: Do you have memories of when you first heard this song?

In our Gospel reading the workers who had sweated all day in a snake filled stony and sunny vineyard receive the same pay packet as those hired at the end of the day. The Israelites fresh from a rest in palm springs Elim complain to their tour guide Moses, ‘You can’t get a decent quail on manna toast breakfast in a Godforsaken place like this’ They insist, ‘take us back to Norwood-on-Nile’. Even Paul banged up in gaol is caught on his own existential grand junction road. ‘I long to be with Christ yet I long to hang out with you in Phillipi’

‘I can’t get no satisfaction…. and I try, and I try, and I try and I try….’

Question:  Are the workers being unreasonable. Should Moses have packed a picnic?

I notice my own lack of satisfaction with the whingeing workers, angst filled Paul and the hungry pilgrims in a barren land. I can’t get no satisfaction.

Some suggestions to reflect on and discuss with a friend.

·        Taking our own lack of satisfaction or uncertainty to our prayer.  Kneeling in worship alone or with others. Making our complaint a lament, confessing our own disappointment with ourselves and with others. Complaining well can move us to a more truthful and insightful place.

·        Complaining well in our society where so many complain can be a work of grace. Can we in a prayerful Gospel way alone and with others speak truth to power to use that Quaker phrase? Can you offer constructive feedback to the preacher, to the church, to your local council and other elected members.

·        Does Scripture challenge you. Perhaps Jesus also had to wait to be hired in his working life and had to go hungry or not bring anything home to his mother and family. What kind of society do we live in that has casualised its labour, developed a gig economy and forced many young people into debt and uncertainty about the future. What kind of society fails people experiencing vulnerability or financial stress?

·        All is wonder all is grace. In our readings the people receive from unmerited generosity and goodness. Those hired late receive enough for themselves and their families, the cash goes around to support all. The people in the wilderness do not get a crust, they receive what they need in the here and now. In the Eucharist we are fed and nurtured for the journey receiving just what we need to respond to the God who meets us in the here and now

 

The past is past, the future does not exists, Christ meets us in the here and in the now. In the here and now which will arrive if we ask we will receive what we need to get by.

Question: All of us have the tendency to live in the past but usually memories can be distorted. We plan but often life turns our differently. What supports you to live and focus on the flow of moments.

Question:  The Israelites and the workers in the vineyard had no satisfaction because they were looking for the wrong answer to the right question. What about you.

To the complaint ‘I can’t get no satisfaction…. and I try, and I try, and I try and I try….’ Christ the Word responds; ‘Seek first the Kingdom and what you truly need will be yours’

P

 

 

 

 

A sermon for 17th September with questions for personal reflection or to discuss with others

 

Sermon Notes for Sunday 17^th September 2023 Pentecost 16

 

Our readings were Exodus 14:19 – 31, Romans 14:1-14, and Matthew 18:21-35

‘Heads and shoulders, knees, and toes,

 

Introduction

Many of us suffer from knee problems and the aches, pains, difficulty in movement and in carrying our tasks as well as sleeping with a pillow between our painful knees. Like everything else in life, we do not fully appreciate something until we have lost it or it is compromised in some way.

Reflection

Nicholas damaged his knees while praying.  He knelt beside a patient in hospital or be closer to them and as an act of service and in getting up twisted his knees. They still ache.

Think about your knees and the amazing and complex work they do. What thought, memory or response comes into your mind?

Gospel

We heard about a servant or slave with knee problems. With huge debts he falls in humility and entreaty and pleads for mercy and his debts are forgiven by his employer. Yet when another owing a small sum comes to that very same person asking for time to pay the first servant sizes him by the throat.  The second falls seeking mercy but there is no mercy to be found. The first disciple finds himself imprisoned.

Remember Jesus says in effect, ‘The Kingdom of heaven is a bit like this…’  Parables are not morality stories they are often caricatures highlighting human behaviour and how inconsistent we are.

In addition, Jesus acts as a servant in John’s Gospel making himself small on his knees washing the disciples’ feet and unforgiven dies a humiliating death. Yet in his death and resurrection his disciples find a new Exodus, the inner liberation from all the attitudes and behaviours that enslave us.

Paul writes in Romans that ‘every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God’ We kneel in reverence, penitence, adoration and prayer to the one who kneels before us in Jesus Christ

Hebrew Scriptures

We heard about a group of enslaved people who go down into the sea seeking refuge. They take the path of entrusting themselves to God. Their pursuers come seeking revenge and with the goal of returning these enslaved people to their captivity. Instead, the hard-hearted Pharoah and his swift moving chariots become bogged in the sand and drown in the Reed Sea.

Reflection

Read these passages slowly in the light of the picture of Jesus taking the form of a servant washing the feet of his friends. Visualise Jesus washing your feet and notice your feelings.  Have there been times of deep need when you have fallen on your knees seeking forgiveness or another chance? What comes to mind as you bring that into prayer?

Kneeling

We kneel if we are able to:

·         Be closer to young children

·         Be closer to those who are unwell

·         For gardening

·         For prayer

·         As a form of witness – remember the political significance of ‘taking the knee’ in the Black Lives Matter.  It was seen as a powerful and subversive sign.

·         In worship.  Anglicans are among those who value kneeling during corporate worship. Google John Keble who designed pews to encourage kneeling not lounging in worship.

Invitation

An invitation to kneel more often. If you cant kneel then have kneeling as an inner attitude. Kneeling invites us to a true and liberating humility in a human culture that is arrogantly and thoughtlessly despoiling the earth. Kneel as a sign of solidarity with those who like the second servant in the Gospel are forced to their knees in humiliation and punishment. Fall to your knees much more in prayer. In kneeling prayer.

·         Offer wonder, adoration and amazement.

·         Offer thanks

·         Bring others into a compassionate awareness.

·         Pray for our own change of heart and the grace of personal insight.

·         Pray that we may be truthful.

Keep in mind the subversive and disturbing image of Jesus on his knees taking the form of a servant.  He became small to raise us and restore us and to liberate us from our enslavement to the inner attitudes, habits and behaviours that distort our true selves.

Reflection

How will you ‘kneel’ today, tomorrow and the day after.

 If you are able bend your knee as well as your heart. Record in your journal your ongoing reflections and discuss with a close friend your thoughts.

‘Heads and shoulders, knees, and toes,

Photo

A sermon that focuses on the plague in Egypt and also the COVID pandemic and my experiences working as a front line health worker

 Pentecost 15 10^th September 

In Camus’ novel the Plague the people of the city are too busy and engaged to notice any who were ill until the evidence of the plague could not be ignored.

I feel that in our society we have once again become too busy to remember the COVID-19 Pandemic and anything it might have taught us. As I have wrestled with our reading from Exodus I have noticed the feelings of anger and grief which have powerfully coursed through me.

The people of God on the verge of escaping slavery eat a hurried meal in the shadow of the plague that is about to engulf the nation. The Pharoah was supposedly a wise ruler beloved by the Gods and a god in human form.  His role was to protect the ancient land. Because of his folly the Pharaoh has brought about ecological devastation in Kemet. Kemet, the name of the land is taken from the rich black alluvial soil of the Nile which snakes through the land irrigating crops. The river Nile is life just as the much neglected and mismanaged Murray Darling basin which from above is a giant serpent nurtures our land. The Pharoah in his arrogance has neglected the cunning of the serpent and disaster is about to strike. The age long harmony had been disrupted by his intransigence and now every family in Egypt will be touched by death.

In the sharing of the Passover eaten hurriedly on the run with bitter herbs the people are to remember and recall with gratitude the ancient Covenant and their liberation and eventual return to the land. The blood smeared on the doorway an indicator of life amid the putrid stench of death. 

COVID-19 brought out the best and the worst in humanity.  It showed just how selfish some people could be and how amazing and altruistic others could be. Working as a chaplain at the Royal Adelaide Hospital especially in Intensive Care alongside other health professionals during the pandemic was for me a life changing experience.  It was like being at war with a hidden and deadly enemy. New rituals brought us together, the careful donning and doffing of PPE, hand hygiene, bagging our clothes at the doorway at home and jumping in the shower with the fear of spreading a deadly disease to our families. Our faces were lined by the tightly fitted masks and goggles. The hospital became like a monastery with limited admission and it was very noticeable how the public stepped away from anyone in scrubs. 

Yet in March 2020 as google searches for prayer soared and when the Ruby Princess passengers were released, I noticed how significant food came for us at work. We would sit outside in the sunshine and people deprived of touch, would stroke the grass as we ate our lunches in the open air. The public sent in chocolates and cakes and cards. Food, touch togetherness, the sunshine it all mattered. Little rituals of a common humanity and care.

So let us return to Exodus, the on the run meal under the shadow of the plague, the blood on the door frame and the command to remember. It is the Passover, and with the other feasts and fasts of Judaism this has sustained the people of the Covenant over the centuries as the stories have been told and guests welcomed to the on the run meal. Over the centuries despite everything Judaism has endured in part because of the fasts and feasts celebrated in the home as well as the daily prayers and other rich and sustaining rituals. Remember and carry on the story of faith the constant refrain.

The energy of anger has been with me as I have remembered the hospital and reflected on the pandemic.  Our society has set aside no day to remember those who died around the world and here in Australia from COVID-19. My mother died in the UK in 2021 and there were only a few at her funeral held many weeks later because the funeral directors were so busy. We watched via U tube. At end-of-life prayers at the Royal Adelaide staff would hold up smartphones and tablets because none could attend the prayer I offered.

We have kept no day and have no memorials to the many women who nursed selflessly the returned soldiers from the First World War and then died of the Spanish Flu brought on the plague ships, ‘we will not remember them.’ The dead from COVID-19 among them health workers and other front-line staff; ‘We will not remember them’. No ribbon, no poppy, no day of remembrance for those who mourn who died in our poorly managed and funded nursing homes. No day of thanks for scientists and researchers who developed the life-giving vaccine and anti virals.  No day of remembrance to think about what we learned in that time. It seems that like the people in Camus’ novel we have become too busy to notice. Time to move on, time to forget. Not everyone has forgotten. Some writers and commentators have commented on the lack of meaningful rituals in our individual lives to mourn our losses and celebrate life.

Some church communities have also fared poorly as people have not returned to worship following COVID19. During the past few years I also have also not been a regular attender at worship. Working with so many infectious patients made me fearful of infecting others. Part of being angry I suspect is readjusting to life in the everyday world where we have been keen to move on. None the less throughout the pandemic I would pray alone and with others in the hospital chapel and celebrate our own Passover, the Eucharist with patients. For me meditation alone and with others of all faiths and backgrounds and walking in nature sustained me.

One of our challenges as a church community is finding ways to restore in ways that are appropriate daily habits of spiritual practices that sustain us at home and at work.  Praying and sharing scripture with close friends is a form of church for me. Keeping Friday and finding ways to fast keeps me close to the cross. Daily prayer from our Anglican Prayer book, saying grace before meals, making the sign of the cross, bowing to

an icon, listening to music an act of spiritual communion. These are all ways in which the flame of faith is kept alive. They serve as the smear of lamb’s blood on the doorpost to keep faith alive. We may not for all kinds of reasons be able to attend a service in a church building but we can still alone and with others, even via technology be church.

Noticing these simple spiritual practices and remembering them has released me from the energy of anger as I have agonised and re-written this sermon and now, I notice simple gratefulness arising. God sees, God notices, everything and everyone is loved, the Holy One is not content with the 99%. The One who calls is full of compassion and mercy and holds and heals all. Sooner or later the plague in one form or another will find me and it will find us all. An accident, a cancer, old age will take us all as death is common to all things in this dimension of existence. 

Yet I do have some choice. Let me not conspire with Pharoh in his greed and resentment sleep walking towards ecological destruction and the breakdown of society. I can play my part in being as Paul writes, a person of reconciliation who makes a generous ‘yes’ with this one wild and precious life. I can remember to live with integrity and truth. I too can affirm the dignity and worth of all and learn to listen with humility and grace even when the truth is painful

You and I can stand with our spiritual ancestors, in their

‘on the run’ simple meal and in our own ‘on the run’

Eucharist meal. You and I can remember and affirm the grace and glory that is ours in the gift of our liberator Christ. Like the people of old we can gaze and find healing as we behold the serpent of death and life lifted on the cross in the wilderness and winter of our discontent. 

I can breathe more easily, as that good energy of anger flows now into wonder love and praise. I remember who I am and the call on my life as a servant of Christ. 

The photo is of the Royal Adelaide Hospital where I worked in Spiritual Care from December 2018 - February 2023

The

Touching the sea, walking the littoral being still in this ceaseless caress