Zambia Articles

My Column in The Columban September


I am writing this in seat 22H, just about to cross the equator 6,100 miles from the UK, alongside nine amazing parishioners who are returning from a terrific adventure as described on pages 14 and
15 in this edition of The Columban.

The trip to Zambia was spent building relationships and witnessing the work of the Northern Zambian Anglican Church. As a team, we laughed together, cried together, worked hard and asked some of the toughest questions...in terms of suffering and the Christian response, wealth and poverty, and met some of the world’s most vulnerable and poorest people. We also met some modern day saints, people who are caring for the sick, making an impact on young and old, giving them hope and a future.

It certainly will take a long time to unpick the lessons learnt on this trip and I really believe that the question which has been with our team right from the beginning, namely ‘What can we do?’, is a truly pertinent one.

As a parish, it is a question which I hope we will be able to talk about over the next few months. I know, as a team, we feel a responsibility to do something about all that we have seen. I look forward to discussing this with groups and individuals as we discover together what God is calling us to, in terms of a longer term link between St. Columba’s and Northern Zambia.

RF

The Writeup about Zambia which again appeared in September's Columban


After months of fundraising, training and preparation, the Ipalo Team have visited Zambia
and returned home again, safe and well. In this extended article for The Columban, Team
Leader, Robert, our Curate, reports on some of their daily experiences.

ZAMBIA IPALO TEAM REPORT
Ten members of our parish headed to Zambia for 14 days, invited by the Archbishop of
Central Africa, the Most Revd Albert Chama. An intensive programme was organized
for the ten days to be spent in Northern Zambia, examining many different aspects of
church and community life. There were many highlights and these are simply a few…
We arrived in Lusaka on Saturday, 28th July, and were transported to Kitwe (a 4½ hour
bus journey) after which we were given an extremely warm welcome at the Cathedral
by Mothers’ Union and the Dean of the Cathedral, with singing and cold drinks. During
the team introductions, Helen mentioned that she was a choir member who carried
the Cross in church, so she was invited to carry the Cross in the Cathedral the following
day. The team then moved into accommodation on an ecumenical foundation campus,
where beds and food were sorted out and preparations made.

Sunday, 29th July: The team headed to the Cathedral where we took part in worship,
a creative mix of Anglo Catholic praise and worship, evangelical and traditional, which
is the real strength of Zambian worship, combining the best of all strands. There
were traditional hymns and lots of dancing and actions. As visitors, we were asked
to introduce ourselves and received a warm round of applause. After the service, the
team was treated to a wonderful cake and Zambian hospitality.

Monday, 30th July: We were invited by the Archbishop to meet him and his team.
Archbishop Chama is the most wonderful man – so humble, so visionary and
hospitable. The parishioners spoke so very highly of him. He is responsible for the
Anglican Church in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Malawi, as well as his own
diocese! He then introduced us to two of his team – Mrs. Tembo and Esther Piri, both
of whom are working on life changing projects – Mrs. Tembo with HIV / Malaria, and
Esther with Home Based Care. In the afternoon, we took a tour around Kitwe which
was an eye opener for our team. Extreme poverty and wealth dwelling side by side was
something we had heard about, but it was truly shocking to see at first hand.

Tuesday, 31st July: Today’s theme was educational and we were taken to Chambishi,
a mining township north of Kitwe. We were welcomed by the Headmistress of the
local high school. This was a real eye opener. She explained that there were over 1,000
pupils in the school barely large enough for 500. There were only 19 classrooms and
44 members of staff, many of whom are past pupils. She also told us that roughly one
in ten pupils were “vulnerable”, meaning double orphaned due to AIDS. Despite these
difficulties, the school’s football team were provincial champions and made a good
showing at the regionals. Our team was amazed at how happy they were with so little.
We left gifts of a large globe and sports equipment, and offered them smaller presents
to which the headmistress responded, “no gift is small”.
Before leaving Chambishi, we visited a local Anglican church, St. Anne’s, which is home
to a handful of parishioners…just a thatched, mud bricked building. The afternoon was
spent thinking about theological education at the seminary, where we met members
of staff who encouraged us to reflect on our own role in the world Church.

Wednesday, 1st August: This was a day of strong and mixed emotions. We were invited
to participate with Esther in the Home Based Care programme, delivering essential
supplies to the most vulnerable in the community. We also met AIDS sufferers in their
own homes, who were extremely appreciative of the diocese’s help and support. It was
dreadful to observe at first hand the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, but also awe
inspiring to realize the tremendous effort people of the Church are making to reach
out and care for those who are so desperately ill.

Thursday, 2nd August: Today was meant to have been a very practical work day,
making blocks with a new machine which the diocese had purchased. Unfortunately,
however, due to unforeseen problems the machine had not arrived. The team was
brought to a different site where another church had been using a similar machine,
and it was brilliant! It was a site for housing widows and orphans. The team also took
the opportunity to use the sports equipment purchased by our Doves, Brownies,
Mums & Tots and Sunday School as we played cricket, parachute and football with the
local children.
In the afternoon, we met with the project committee of the new School and Skills
Centre which the diocese is building. It is a breath taking vision and one about which
I will write in the October edition of The Columban. We visited the site and were most
excited about its potential.

Friday, 3rd August: The team travelled to Chingola, a town further north, where we
met with an HIV/AIDS and Malaria Support Group, witnessing at first hand the work
of people who are “living positively” (their term), trying to break the stigma of the label
of the disease. We also met the Diocesan Youth Executive who presented us with their
comprehensive vision of youth ministry in the diocese. The day ended with a visit to
a local parish, who were also building for the future by means of a nursery school on
their small plot of land.

Saturday, 4th August: By now, we realised that our team were adept at ‘flexibility’
and ready for anything! We started by visiting Mothers’ Union and hearing from their
President, Judith, about their work in reaching out and helping those in desperate
circumstances. We were then due to visit a parish to find out about the work of the BB
and GB. However, when we arrived a wedding was in full swing ... to which we were
invited! In the middle of the wedding, after the giving and receiving of the rings, the
local Rector invited the team to stand up and introduce themselves.
Sunday, 5th August: The team divided itself up in order to visit three separate parishes,
where we were all welcomed, introduced ourselves and participated in their Bemba/
English services, each one lasting between 3½ and 4½ hours!

Monday, 6th August: We visited a rural community parish who have a church with no
doors and little furniture, but who are building as they can afford it. There are many
stories to tell about this church.

Tuesday, 7th August: The team made an emotional farewell to their newly found
friends of the past ten days and presented the Archbishop with gifts from the parish to
the church in Northern Zambia, before setting off for the capital, Lusaka.
Wednesday, 8th August: We travelled to Livingstone, home of the Victoria Falls, and
spent two days working through the many things we had seen and experienced, as
well as enjoying some of Africa’s natural wonders before travelling home. Having set
off into the unknown only a short two weeks ago, the team returned brimming
with determination to do even more to try and support the wonderful people of
this beautiful country.
Robert

This morning 10 of us from St Columba's said their farewells to friends and Family and headed to Heathrow where we are at present. Surrounded by prayers of parishioners and friends we are looking forward to the next 14 days touring around Zambia - meeting new friends and discovering what the local Church in Zambia is doing. I was speaking this morning on the phone to Archbishop Chama who is looking forward to our arrival. We would also like to welcome to our blog Cliff ... one of the youth at St. Paul's which be will be visiting later in our trip ... Mulishani? (How are you). One of the great things about being sent out this morning from our parish I asked our prayer chain to pray for a simple and straightforward travel ... It is amazing when we count our blessings ... We got through the fast lane in Terminal 5 Security :-) God is Good!! Please keep praying ... we hope to update this blog as much as possible ... please do leave comments below we will pick them up from time to time on the trip. Blessings Robert (In T5) no photos yet but some will be coming on future posts

The simplicity of sent ... simply sent

A sermon preached on Sunday 8th July 2012 at Holy Communion Service in St. Columba’s Parish Church, Knock, Belfast. 

Text: Mark 6: 1-13

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be now and always acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen

Bible passages at this time of year remind us that we are called as Jesus disciples to go which is quite interesting due to the number of people who when it comes to the summer holidays are going places. 

Yes, airports, seaports, rail & bus stations are gearing up for the annual get away. Journeys near and far. In houses The packing, re-packing, measuring hand-baggage and the weighing of cases are all taking place. We pack things just in case the weather might be hot, cold, rainy, dry. 

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Whether we are going for a hike, a camp, beach, city, village, or simply planning on a staycation ... preparations are being made. 

For the Zambia team which we commissioned last week we were reminding the team last sunday of the things which they still needed to do. 

... What they need to bring with them 

... What they need to leave at home 

... What they need to prepare 

I have this file full of stuff ... health forms, Risk assessments, Airline Tickets, Mobile phone numbers, draft Itinerary, maps, visas, Packing lists, budgets, insurance documents ... and all the rest. 

Things which are all essential to responsible travel today. Making sure every i is dotted and t is crossed. 

All of this is to enable our team to have a successful experience overseas. 

However - when all of this is stripped away ... the task is the same ... whether we are going to Ballyhackamore or Kitwe Zambia. 

We are called to be sent out ... simply ... with our own God give strengths and weaknesses , with our own experiences of life ... to do what we can ... alongside those we meet. 

A lot of attention has been placed on the Zambia Team in recent weeks and months ... now the challenge I would like to present is one about being sent here in Knock. 

As the team responds to the call to go to Zambia ... what about to our local community here? 

Do we know what the needs are around here?, Do we hear the call to the people we encounter day in, day out?  

What could you or I do simply and without big resources ... no money, no extra clothes, no bag? ... just ourselves ready to serve God in whatever way? Reaching out into those areas in our community which need to hear about and see expression of God’s love in action. 

Are we prepared to use whatever we have in our hand to propel us on, to encourage others as they walk with us. 

Do we believe we are sent ... to our young people in our parish ... could we get involved on a Friday Night? 

Do we believe we are sent  ... to show love and support to those members of our congregation who are living lonely lives in our neighbourhoods?

Do we believe we are sent ... to encourage our friends and colleagues when they are going through difficulties? 

Do we believe we are sent ... to get help our neighbours down our street and share with them the hope that we have in Christ ... in a simple way ... 

Do we believe we are sent ... to those who are struggling with life and doing what we can to alliviate their suffering

I hope we do believe these things ... because as Jesus sent his disciples so to this day he sends us to do these things. 

As the Church, as the people of God in this place ... we have a responsibility and a calling to Go ... a calling to live lives doing what we believe God would have us do. 

At the end of each service we are dismissed with the words ... Go in peace to love and serve the Lord ... in the name of Christ

May we take this as our commission for this week ... and Serve God Simply with what we have. 

Let us pray. 

Amen

Trinity Puzzle??

A sermon for trinity Sunday- Preached in St. Columba's on Sunday 3rd June at Choral Evensong.

May I speak in the name of the Triune God ... + Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Today is Trinity Sunday ... A day when we celebrate God, a day which young preachers dread ... how do we explain the mystery? ... a day when we focus on the nature of God and how he relates to himself.

It is a day unlike other celebrations in the liturgical year - At Christmas we have reading about the incarnation, At Easter we have Good Friday and Easter Day. At Pentecost which we celebrated last week we celebrate Holy Spirit coming. Today is different ...

Nowhere in scripture do we find the word "trinity" but it is a doctrine which we cling tightly to as Christians because without understanding that God is One and also God is three we would have an imbalanced understanding of who God is and what he has done in the past and what he is doing now.

Our Gospel reading this evening however, points to the fact of God the Father (the voice from heaven), Jesus God's Son being baptised, and the Holy Spirit descending as a dove. There are other points in scripture where 1, 2 or 3 persons of the Trinity are present in their respective roles doing things. 

Many images have been used to describe the trinity in the past ... as to visualise How God can be One but also be 3

Famously Patrick used a Shamrock one leaf ... three parts

Others have used Ice water and steam  or 3 ingredients for shortbread ...Sugar, flour and butter.

All of these have their own advantages and shortcomings

but in essence ... the doctrine of the trinity is all about the relationship between the various parts of the Godhead.

God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier

Each part is intimately linked to the others ... It is a relationship of mutual dependance ... it is a relationship where all are equal but all distinct as well.

It is this relationship which shapes our worship sunday by sunday.

Our worship has this trinitarian dynamic to it ... our psalms are suffixed with the Gloria

Our absolution ...

Our creeds are trinitarian in their structure

When we pray ... we pray to the father, though the intercession of the son in the power of the Holy Spirit

When we read Scriptures ... God’s Word  we ask for the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit to help us to apply it to our lives.

When we go out ... we go on the commission of God ... to make disciples, to baptise in the Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit

As we leave church every sunday we leave with the Blessing of God, Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

As Triune God Christians ... we are called to show the Love of God in everything we do. So often we fail, So often we get things wrong, we mess up Oh how I Long that as Christians we would be able to show the world that relationship which Father, Son and Spirit have by the way we treat each other.

Time and again we do get things wrong, we forget to show love, we dont have time for other people, we say the wrong things, we do the wrong things we even think the wrong things.

Over the course of this week on radio on various topics ... I have heard various people who have looked at the church and see people who say one thing and their experience is of something completely different. It is painful to hear of that kind of experience ... I would love to have the opportunity to say to them ... give the church a chance ... yes we do get things wrong sometimes but we need you!

Being trinitarian we are invited into a dynamic relationship ... where we are called Children of God, invited into a relationship which changes us ... we are a redeemed people and we are being sanctified, being changed.

It’s been nearly 3 years since I appeared in St. Columba’s and day after day, week after week I have been learning, developing and growing ... perhaps some may use the chiseling term ... the edges have been knocked off ... the work of the Holy Spirit is very much like that and we should be all open to that ... our discipleship should be informed by our relationship with the Holy Trinity ... becoming more like Jesus.

This dynamic relationship, this creative relationship between the 3 persons of the trinity isn’t simply a theological argument for university student ... rather the God we worship is the same yesterday, today and forever ... he is working, somehow in his church today and when we come into a working relationship with him - as Christians we can be transformed by the Holy Spirit into becoming more like Jesus in relationship with the father.

I wonder if you were to ask ... how has the Holy Spirit been transforming your life since this time last year?, How have you become more like Jesus?, How have you been communicating with Father God this past week, month year?

We are all invited into this dynamic relationship.

It is a creative and transformative relationship which should impact all areas of our lives.

Our Trinitarian God wants us to have our L Plates firmly up!

Let’s Pray

He is the Bread of Life

A short address at Ministry of Healing Service in St. Anne's Cathedral on Friday 25th May 2012 based upon verses in John 6

Heavenly father, I pray that you would take my words and speak through them, take our minds and think through them, take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you. In Jesus' name we pray – amen.


The healing service that we have this lunchtime is a reminder to all of us that Jesus is concerned with our whole well being, our whole person … body, mind and spirit and that it is his will that we all are made whole.

In our gospel reading today ... we hear of Jesus reminding those around about him that this is the case as he speaks about bread  .. the crowd who had been fed at the feeding of the 5,000 had ate their fill and were looking for more. As So often this is the case.

Food … which we all need ...day in and day out.

In the israelite history God fed the israelites on their journey in the wilderness with mana which they needed to collect ...enough for one day.

In our world today we have storage cupboards which can house all sorts of food,
preserved in all types of ways … however handy that is for us its not the way the ancients did it...

The mana that God gave to the israelites went bad after a day … therefore they had to take what they needed and depend upon God's provision day in and day out …

We are called in our spiritual lives to do something similar … to pray as it is in the Lord’s Prayer ... Give us today our daily bread ... to live one day at a time... to tackle todays worries today, to give thanks to God for the blessings of today … to not worry about the future … but to live in the present.

Give us this day ...

When we are are going through difficulties … of whatever kind, when friends of ours are going through issues in daily life when we are worried, concerned, burdened … we are called to dependance upon God...

wether it be medical, relational, financial, practical, occupational … whatever the issue may be … we are called to depend upon him for the strength that only he
supplies. But actually its not just in the tough times … it is the times when we think we can rely in our own strength.

The Israelites quickly found out that dependancy upon God was all that they could do.
When Jesus declares himself to be the bread of life he is saying something very important … he is saying … I am the only one who can satisfy our deepest longings … nothing else can satisfy.

To this crowd who were looking to be fed he was the bread of life
Remember he also said that he was the water of life .. to the women at the well

He met people at their point of need ... and he still does it today

Accept and Share

A Sermon preached on Sunday 20th May 2012 - 7pm Holy Communion at St. Columba’s
The First Reading - Isaiah 61:1-1
The Gospel Reading - Luke 4:14-21

May my words and our hearts be now and always acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen

I wonder if you have ever heard anything shocking, been in a situation which you had not planned to be in but that you have to deal with because the circumstances have presented themselves ... what was your reaction? ... are you someone who panics, who flies of the handle, or when faced with a situation of unexpectedness is relaxed and ready to go with the flow and see what happens.

I have shared with a few people over the past couple of days of an incident which happened as we travelled home from the Holy Land. As you know aeroplanes have wings and they fly to great heights ... however when they have problems it is quite unnerving ... however you gotta trust the pilot and co-pilot to get you back down to land safe and sound. 

Flaps and Fuel. (hebrew) ... Ambulances and fire brigade

An unexpected event ... how would the people react?

That is what we have in the Gospel reading tonight ... The sabbath ... the local community gathered together in the synagogue as they did week after week ... to hear scripture read and expounded. To sing psalms and to meet with one another. One of their number, Jesus son of Mary and Joseph, stands up and reads the reading which Alan read this evening ... but he goes further ... much further

Shocking, scary, unexpected ... He goes and sits down with all eyes fixed on him and says “Today this has been fulfilled in your hearing”

Which those people in that synagogue knew had huge implications ... The only person who could say those words was the Messiah ‘the anoninted one’ ... the saviour of the world ... the one who would free them from Roman Occupation ...

Huge implications if it is True, if this was fulfilled ... Then the Kingdom of God in all its fulness was being worked out as they sat there in that synagogue that day in Nazareth.

Let’s look at what Jesus was saying

Jesus declares an end to the waiting.  He says that all is fulfilled in him: he is the bringer of good news to the poor; the freer of captives, the healer of the blind, the liberator of the oppressed, the one whose words bring in the new era of God’s blessing. Jesus does not look back to when it was better before, nor look forward to what might be if all went well. He says: all that is here now. In me.
This has implication for us. What Jesus does here is to say that God’s eternal new day has dawned. What the prophets longed for has been realised, and because this is the new day, the acceptable year, the day of the Lord’s favour, it is now here for ever.
The great news is that when Jesus said those words in that ancient synagogue
 “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” is spoken to us now as well as to the people in the Nazareth synagogue.

It means that everything about God’s new kingdom is here, for us to live in for ever.
It may not be fully revealed, but the reality is now, and part of our task it to bring this to fruition.
The huge challenge in this is for each one of us,

Firstly to accept that God’s New Rule has arrived... everything is new
Good News, Comfort, Joy, Peace, Hope
When you pick up a newspaper ... you dont see these things all that often however as Christians these are the things we proclaim ... we can do none other.
We need to accept and live in these promises.

And then we need to share ---> as people who are his disciples to help in the work of the kingdom of God in our small corners of our world.

• To Bring good news
• to bind up broken hearts
• to comfort those who mourn

To assure those who are going through trauma that there is hope, there is life beyond what they currently can see.

Shocking news, unexpected news but it is Good News ... When we heard news about problems with the plane ... There may have been an expectation of panic however as a plane full of strangers there was a sense that we’ll get through this together. That was our response on Friday Morning.

If we read on in the Gospel reading we would see that the crowds reaction was one of anger to the point of wanting to get rid of Jesus ... of  trying to fling him of a cliff
I wonder what our response day by day is to the good news which we hear in these readings tonight.

Are we ready to accept Jesus is who he says he is and then share this news with others?
This is the basis of our faith.

Zambia News

Recently there have been various articles published about the Zambia Tip which is forthcoming in the Summer... You can read about them on

Down and Dromore website 
Our Team's CMSI Blog

In St. Columba's Magazine -The Columban we recently carried an interview with me in relation to the trip.

Much has been written in The Columban in recent editions about the forthcoming trip to
Zambia. In this Edition, the Editor interviews Team Leader Robert Ferris about the Mission
Team and what it is hoping to achieve, what the team will be doing and how preparations
are going.

Ed: Robert, take us back to the beginning and tell us how the idea of a team to Zambia
developed.

RF: The idea of a team was first mooted in the Rector’s Easter Vestry address in 2011 and a sub-group of Vestry formed which met and looked at lots of locations, projects and partner organisations. A report was formed and a vestry decision was made to look further into the prospect of Zambia. We then contacted Church Mission Society Ireland (CMSI)who were extremely supportive of the idea of an all-age team from our parish. I was very keen to renew links with Zambia which is a location which as of late has not hosted teams from Ireland since my last team in 2007.

Ed: So the decision to go ahead was made – what was the process from then to now?

RF: Right from the beginning we contacted the Bishop of Northern Zambia, Archbishop
Albert Chama – who originally gave me an invitation to come back any time – and he was delighted to issue an invition to St. Columba’s parishioners to come along … we have been on a creative journey – in the Autumn we publicised an open meeting to which we invited parishioners, CMSI and myself presented the idea of the team, handed out application forms and arranged interviews. Since then the team which was selected by CMSI has been on trainning regime which includes topics such as – Cultural Awareness, Songs, Dramas, talks, language, health issues, child protection, games, learning about the geography of Zambia, the church in Africa and loads of other things.

Ed: How is the team coming together?

RF: We have an absolutely fabulous teams – with great complimentary skills and gifts … I am looking forward to seeing what this team will accomplish in the two weeks we are out in Zambia but also what they will accomplish when we get home.

Ed: What will the team be doing when you get to Zambia?

RF: This team is very much about developing the foundations of a relationship with
the Diocese of Northen Zambia. Whilst in Zambia we will be very busy – we will be
meeting people in churches, helping out at the Educational Facility which the Archbishop is developing which includes Primary, secondary and adult education. We will be in classrooms, out visiting homes in townships around Kitwe, we will be visiting development projects, hopefully assisting in some manual work as we see how people live in Zambia and how the community are lifting themselves out of poverty. We will be experiencing first hand the issues of living in one of the poorest nations in the world.

Ed: A lot is planned on the trip … what do you hope this trip will achieve?

RF: I have big dreams for this trip – I would hope that this will be a spark for something really exciting – Firstly for the Zambian’s we meet – I hope that our team will bring with them enthusiasm and be able to share what we have (in terms of our gifts, talents, finance… any anything else we have) with our partners in Zambia. I also hope that this enthusiasm will be sustained when we get home and share our story and that this relationship will develop long into the future. I am hoping in the next month to develop a team at home who will be able to help sustain this Zambian partnership for years to come.

I have big dreams for team members as well – I hope that as we experience all that we
will experience in Zambia that the issues we meet will be discussed and that all will get a sense of the global problems and have a positive experience as to how we can make a difference to people on the other side of the world as well as the idea that how we use our resources can impact on individuals lives. I also hope that this experience of the global church will have impact in all of our lives.

Ed: Finally, What else needs to be done before the team get on to the plane?

RF: Ian, there is so much… We have visas to get, forms to fill in, more trainning to complete, tee-shirts and hoodies to design, prayer news to write, songs to practice, games to learn, lessons to plan in the midst of this we are still fundraising – but all of this is very much on target – if anyone would like to help in any way please do not hesitate to contact me at the curatage or any of the team and I am sure we all would be very appreciative of the support.

Blarney Church on the box ...

Hi Ho, Hi ho ... its off to Blarney I go ... in a wee while!

On Palm Sunday it was announced that I'm off to Blarney Co. Cork ... below is a bit about it which will appear in The Columban in May  ... St. Columba's Magazine  ...

As you can imagine I am also excited to have been appointed to Blarney as the Associate Minister which is as far as I can see a unique parish position in the Church of Ireland. Written into the job description is so much of what I am passionate about. 

The job description speaks about a mission post ... which anyone who has spoken to me at length in the past three years will know that this is something which is dear to my heart. Whether it be mission trips overseas, reaching out beyond the doors of the church, meeting people where they are or having life long ‘L’ plates up as disciples of Christ it is all part of call to mission. All of this was caught up in my decision to apply for the post. 

This position offers me the chance to see a completely different experience in Church of Ireland  ministry - I will be taking with me all the stuff I have learnt from St. Columba’s and applying it in new surroundings. It is a village location, it is in the Republic of Ireland, the styles of worship are different, the numbers in the congregations are considerably smaller, the layout of the church is different, the pace of life is different, it is quite far away from the bright lights of Belfast / Banbridge. 

But until the end of October, as I have already said ... it is very much business as usual there is plenty to do. 

The Gospel and Culture

Whilst Studying Paul's missionary journey's in Acts this evening I was asked a very interesting question ... It is a question which I know various colleagues have asked in the past however it is a very pertinent question at this time.

It arose as we looked at what mission is and how we can talk effectively into the culture of our day. Let me unpack this a bit more.

Paul in Acts used the language of the day, Jesus used the pictorial language of the rural farmers when he was teaching. Time and again culture impacts on the presentation of the gospel.

Our culture ... how can we speak into it?

What is our culture today ?

It is many things ... it is how we spend our time, our money, what we think about and what the world is like around about us.

In our study tonight I used the fact that many people go to movies, watch TV, listen to music, spend their time online.

There is much that could be said about the latest films which we could analyse, discuss and debate about. Perhaps that is indeed something which we should be doing.

As we watch TV do we know what that is doing to our beliefs, our understanding of the world?

As we listen to music ... what is the messages we are listening to ... are they healthy? are they counter gospel values?

As we spend time online ... what are we viewing? why do we spend so much time online now?, with Facebook is it authentic community?

Loads of questions have arisen from this study this evening ... I do think a bit more thinking has to be done in the Curatage about these issues as they are completely relevant to what it means to be a Christian today.

Newspaper and Bible in the pulpit comes to mind.

This certainly is an interesting road to go down and something which the Blog can certainly help with... Let's go on the adventure!

E100 Now Finished

Over the past 20 weeks or so our Bible study in church have been studying God's word

Each week day for the past 100 days I have been sending out emails to around 40 people with a reading, thoughts and prayers ... this has been a great experience, discipline and tool to engage with scripture in a new and innovative way.

Mothering Sunday

A sermon preached in St. Columba's Parish on Sunday 18th March 2012

Today is Mothering Sunday ... and I wonder if the mums in the congregation have been having a good morning ... was it different to any other sunday morning ... how was it different?

This week I came across some things famous mums might have said
Humpty Dumpty's Mother: "Humpty, If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred

times not to sit on that wall. But would you listen to me? Noooo!"

Michelangelo's Mother: "Mike, can't you paint on walls like other children? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get that stuff off the ceiling?"

Barney's Mother: "I realize plums are your favorite, Barney, but you're starting to look a little purple."

Little Miss Muffet's Mother: "Well, all I've got to say is if you don't get off your tuffet and start cleaning your room, there'll be a lot more spiders around here!"

This morning I need a wee bit of help ... I have some images of some things which mums do for us ... take a wee look ... what do they tell us about mums?

I only have six of these but hopefully they are representative of the many many things

1. Teach us

2. Guide us

3. Tend to us – Look after us when we are sick

4. Hold us / comfort us / love us

5. Tell us off / discipline us

6. Protect us

Mothers are special people... as we look at these qualities
As we look at them ... we are quite mindful that our mums do quite a bit for us.

In the Bible reading this morning we hear a bit about Jesus' Mum ... She had brought Jesus to the temple and an old man who was there and he said some amazing things as to what her son would accomplish in his life

He said God, you can now release your servant; release me in peace as you promised.

With my own eyes I've seen your salvation; it's now out in the open for everyone to see:

A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,

and of glory for your people Israel

It is great that we have Jesus who knows what it is like to be in a family ... with all its ups and downs ... all its stresses and strains.

Also as we see in todays reading ... Mary, Jesus' mum was someone who was ordinary in terms of she didn't have a trouble free life ... she had joys and also we see right from the beginning of the story she was going to have to undergo much suffering and emotional turmoil.

Whoever we are we have got to respect mothers and what they do for us... The things which we have said about Mums also hold true of the church and of God himself...

In Church we call today Mothering Sunday ... its when we remember the qualities which mums display day in and day out ... and it is a day when we remember that in many ways the church displays these qualities as well because God wants us to be a family.

Mothering Sunday ... is a reminder to us of what the church should be.

‘Mothering Sunday’ was for many centuries, called ‘Refreshment Sunday’, when people returned to their ‘Mother’ Church, the one where they had been baptized.

It was a day on which to renew and refresh baptismal vows to live the Christian life of obedience to God. The Church knew her people. Coinciding with the warming of the earth and the upsurge of new life in field and barn and hedgerow, it was a good day in the midst of Lenten fasting and discipline, to celebrate the promise of a plentiful supply and variety of fresh food after the limited diet of the harsh winter months.

Then, in the nineteenth century, the custom in uk, changed again. In rural areas, especially, youngsters working as servants in the houses of the wealthy were allowed leave to visit their families and on the way, would gather wild flowers to present to their Mothers.

So Mothering Sunday is linked to Church and is about giving time to say a big ‘thank you’ to God, to the Church and to all Mothers - and others - who ‘mother’ us. It is about community with God at its centre.

And thats exactly what we are doing on mothering sunday

We are thanking God for Mums, we are thanking God for how much the church means to us and most importantly how God is able to provide those things for us.

Mission - What do we proclaim?

A Sermon Preached in St. George & St. Thomas', Dublin on Sunday 20th Feb 2012 at a Service of the word - with our Parish Zambia Team visiting the parish during a weekend of training.

It is a great Privilege to have been asked by your rector to preach this morning.

I am here this morning with a fantastic team of people ... parishioners in the parish which I serve in Belfast. Over the past 36 hours we have been living together in the Chruch of Ireland Theological Institute ... working very hard ... doing lots of preparations for our forthcoming trip in the Summer to the Diocese of Northern Zambia.

This team which I have the privellege of leading is made up of extra-ordinary people ... everyday people who were prepared back in November to dip their toe into the water and see if this adventure with God was for them!

Thanks! Guys!

Turning to the task for this morning ... I’m going to pick up on some of the things which are in the 2 Corinthians Reading

For we do not proclaim ourselves;

This was a real issue for the Corithians as it is for us today - We live in a society ( and I spent 3 years down in Dublin, and it is the same in the North).

It is a question we need to ask ... as we live our lives ... what are we proclaiming?

When we are at work - what are we proclaiming

When we are at school - what are we proclaiming

When we are in the pub - what are we proclaiming

When we are ... wherever we are - what are we proclaiming

Our team knows I get very excited about the trip we are going out on ... I’m excited because of the possibilities of the working relationship we will develop with locals in Zambia.

But above that I am excited about mission - I don’t know if you realise this ... the old view of mission is that people who go and preach to the natives, to convert them, make church our way.

However, today our thinking has increased and the church does need to get to grips with mission which Jesus implemented in his ministry

I’m excited about mission as a concept because it is not just something “Missionaries” do away from home ... It is something to which each of us has been called to do both where we are and where we will be in the future.

I’m excited because in the anglican church of which we are a part we have embraced the wholeness of mission. When we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord we proclaim the Gospel in its fullest sense ... and there is something here for everyone.

One of the many reasons I love being an anglican is that we have put this theory in practice - we proclaim that:

We as the Church are called to

• Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom - that could be in a million ways!
• To Teach, Baptise and Nurture New Believers
• To Respond to human need by loving service
• To seek to transform unjust structures of society
• To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation

This is exciting as it emcompasses the wholeness of the word of God and our responsibilities as his disciples ... it also gives us a big dream, a vision of what life could be about ...

Imagine a world where the good news is proclaimed in relevant and creative ways

Imagine a church where all are taught and nurtured to maturity in the faith in ways that are appropriate to them

Imagine the community were needs are met, where resources are available - to serve those who have needs of any description

Imagine a nation where the church is voicing its opinion on the topics of the day and where they are giving a clear and consistant critique of injustice wherever it exists

Imagine a world where the church leads the way in green issues ... simply to fulfil our responsibility as stewards of Creation!

I love the idea that you and I can indeed make a difference in this world. We can make a difference to one life or to a whole nation. What is your idea?, what is your passion, your dream when it comes to proclaiming God’s love?

The one thing that lasts in this world is the work for God’s Kingdom ... it lasts beyond the grave ... the nation needs to know about it ... when economic systems fail ... when poverty is on the rise ... when there is despair all around ... it is the church which should be showing love.

We do not proclaim ourselves ... as a brand or as a shop does ... trying to make people come to us but rather we proclaim Christ Crucified.

Let us Pray

Sermon - John 1:1-14

A sermon preached in St. Dorothea's Gilnahirk on Sunday 12th Feb 2012.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be now and always acceptable in thy sight O Lord our Strength and our redeemer. Amen

This morning’s gospel reading is a very familiar passage ... a passage which we regularly hear at Christmas - It is usually prefaced by the words ... ‘St. John unfolds the great mystery of the incarnation’ ... It is good to have it here at this point in the church’s year as it contains the overview of all that is happening in the gospel. Between the nativity and the beginning of Lent

All of the gospel writers - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John Begin their gospels in different ways, Matthew concentrates on the genealogy of Jesus, Mark looks at the ministry of John the Baptist, Luke focuses in on Mary and Joseph and John, well he is a poet and focuses in on a summary of what the rest of his book is about.

With John he mentions lots of themes ... and gives us a taster of what is about to come along. One of my curate colleagues whilst preaching in college described this text as being like tapas small dishes to taste what the main dish is like.

We could pick up many of the themes in this text but what I would like to focus upon is the final sentence And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,^* full of grace and truth.

Within this sentence we have so much of what the Gospel is about.

One author has described it as God has come into “our real world where we live all year long - a world where there is political unrest and injustice, poverty hatred jealousy and both the fear and the longing that things could be different”

It is great to know that God knows what it is like to be human ... he knows our limitations, he knows our faults and failures of our flesh. Within John’s gospel we see this being worked out ... in terms of the fact that we see Jesus weeping, we see him in all sorts of circumstances

As we read this we get a glimpse of what the incarnation was all about - and the fact that it is great news ... news that the one who created the world has become human so that we might have eternal life.

This has immense implications for us ... for those of us who are struggling to find meaning in life ... Jesus is able to say “I have come so that you may have life and have it to the full”

For those of us who are grieving over loved ones who have died ... Jesus is able to say “ I am the way, the truth and the life” and Peace I leave with you ... do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid

For those of us who are looking for direction ... Jesus is able to say ...”I am the Good shepherd”

For those of us who are in despair ... Jesus is able to say “I am the light of the world”

The fact that we have God who knows our weaknesses and is able to stand with us in them is so very important to all our lives.

John wrote his gospel mindful of the community of which he was a part - he wrote, we are told to recall all of the things which Jesus said and also that his community might believe and trust in his words. just under 2,000 years later his words echo across the world and Christians still find comfort and guidance in the words recorded.

As we come this morning to the communion table where we are fed by Christ’s body where we join as community, sharing in the miracle of the incarnation the Word made flesh.

We gather not because we are perfect, nor because our faith is unshakable nor because we have everything sorted out in our lives, but rather we gather as a community dependant upon God and one another - we come in the flesh we have been created in, the same flesh which Jesus came in... we come together as community in our weakness looking for strength to carry on ... and also to support one another as we grow in God’s love and share it with one another.

A ponderous question ... What can we do?

It has been a great few days out and about, meeting up with friends, taking a break from parish life for 7 days.

Halfway through the past week ... a question which came a a bolt out of the blue was this question

"What can we do? "

It could be a negative question ... a statement of resignation...with the presumption that there is nothing that can be done

however it also can be a very positive question ... a statement of intention to do something.

It is a question which is running around in my mind about lots of issues at the minute ... from world wide things to smaller everyday encounters

Standing in front of St. Paul's in London on Tuesday ... surrounded by the protesters and the City of London and reading about all the issues of the world economy ... we could ask legitimately ... "What can we do?"

Walking along the London streets and seeing beggars and some of the worlds most expensive shops ..."What can we do?"

There are huge issues in our world ... and in our lives ... somehow we are called to rearrange those words to ... "do what we can" with our resources...

This is definitely something over the next while I will come back to on the blog ...

A Quiet time on the Blog

Over the past few months things have been very quiet on the Blog due to the amount of other things that have been happening both online and off-line.

We are currently bringing together a team who are hoping to head of to Zambia next summer ... more details of this later

We have begun our recordings of services and distributing these over RSS Feed for those who are housebound in the parish

The Church of Ireland Gazette has a new website which makes it much easier to manage

We have set up a Bible Study bringing together On-line and Off-line communication - Bible study via email to a variety of parishioners - E100.

Hopefully we will bring the Blog back to life soon. In the interim I was watching last night
"Susan Boyle - An unlikely Superstar" one of the things she said which was really insightful

"You never know what effect you have on people until they tell you" which is really really true.

May we be people who spur each other on, encouraging one another and pointing out the great things we see in each other. There is so much negativity in our world, as Christians we are called to encourage and uplift one another in love.

Until the next Blog

RF

Back to church Sunday

A sermon preached at the 10:30 am St. Columba's Service on Back To Church Sunday

Please be seated.

I’m going to play a song which some of you may well know. Do listen to the words.

song ends

Let us pray

Heavenly Father, I pray that you would by the power of the Holy Spirit take my words and speak through them, take our minds and think through them, and take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The success of the hit TV Series Cheers in the past has been because people could relate to the characters, there was a feel good factor. The theme tune also relates to easy going nature, the universal realatity of the human need for acceptance.

Today is Back To Church Sunday, a day when friends and neighbours and family members are encouraged to come Back to Church. Churches across the country are doing the same thing as we are. Welcoming people back to church.

But what are we welcoming you back to?, why are we coming back to church?

By meeting here sunday by sunday we are saying we belong, by meeting here we are saying we need each other, by meeting here sunday by sunday we are saying we want to know a bit more about God.

Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.

Life is difficult sometimes ... sometimes it is great

Life sometimes throws up challenges ... sometimes we are shaken

Sometimes we are joyous and sometimes we are confused, lonely, perplexed perhaps, grieving

Church is a place where we can come and be together

Church is a place where we should be able to find acceptance and love, we should be able to talk about things which bother us, things troubling us. We should be able to be real and we should be able to meet with people who can support us through the difficult times.

No church is not perfect ... and you’ll never find the perfect church but in this church we do in this church try to do our best to preach, teach and and to put theory and practice together.

One church leader recently said that he believes that the Local Church is the hope for the world. I too believe that. That each church church is at its very best when people work together locally, when we use our gifts and talents to serve one another.

We believe that when young and old, tall and short, people of all sorts work together for a common purpose great things can and will happen.

In St. Columba’s we are trying, we are striving to provide help and support to as many people as we possibly can.

Take a look through our parish Magazine

We are studying the Bible,

We continue to visit all those we know of in hospitals, nursing homes and sheltered accomodation,

we visit all homes in the parish as and when we can, we are putting into place ways in which people can serve God according to their gifts and abilities, we continue to try and develop our youth work, we are reaching out to our housebound parishioners via recordings of services, we continue to have the full range of activities and groups for all sorts of ages and interests throughout the week.

All of this is to help people belong to the family of God in this place.

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. There is a saying ... “It takes two to tango.”

I have heard it about churches where people can walk in and out and nobody speaks to them. If this is a criticism you have please do say hi to someone. And also if someone says Hi to you do say hi back and introduce yourself.

This is a place to which anyone can come and belong. One of the reason I am here is because of the friendliness of the church when I came incognito in a shirt and tie and sat down at the back of the church one sunday morning. Someone said hi to me!

You wanna go where people know, people are all the same,

Critics of the church universally would tell us that we are boring, untrue and irrelevant to the culture of today. Perhaps we have been - or perhaps our critics do have some challenges to help us improve.

However, the church at its best is here to serve the outsider, to walk beside and support the tempted whatever their temptation may be, we are called to bring the lonely into fellowship and friendship, the struggling student, the single mum, the housebound, the man struggling with answering the question about what life is all about.

When we look at the Gospel reading today we see Jesus asking the Lame man “Sir Do you want to be made well”?

The man had to respond

The church cannot do things without people responding.

We can sit and do nothing for a long time or we can respond.

Many of the problems we face can be responded to positively. The are resources which the church has access to which can help people.

Issues such as debt ... a phonecall to Christians Against Poverty can see the burden of debt lifted from households

Issues such as depression and other issues can be talked through with Christian Counsellors

Issues such as loneliness can be addressed by getting involved in many of the organisations in the parish.

Each one of us ... whoever we are, whatever we are going through can find hope, love reassurance, help, meaning within church if only we ask.

If you are here for the first time in a while, or if you are here each week do know that we are a church ready to help, ready to chat, ready to support, ready to talk through worries & fears.

You will see the new welcome cards in the pews - these create an easy communication link with the clergy and vestry - if there are things you would like, if you want us to visit please do fill them in, if there are other comments. Do fill your name in as well on them.

We are called to respond

Should Churches have facebook pages??

Over the course of the last few months I have been asked this question from a number of people.

The quick answer is ... aye why not? Millions of people are communicating in Facebook so why not have a local church presence.

The longer answer is ... yes but be careful.

A few questions about this

What info are you putting on? Who are you going to allow to access it ... Fully Public ... friends only? ... who is going to administrate it? Are you going to update it regularly?

The other thing is youth (i.e. Under 18's) on facebook ... This is a whole area of problems as there needs to be safeguards and parish policies as to electronic communication. It needs well researched and have completely transparent procedures in regard to emails and facebook messages.

As far as I am concerned I will never add an under 18 as a friend to my personal facebook friend group. All emails that I send out to our youth group are all sent out on the parish email account which the Child Protection Panel(CPP) in the parish have access to. Our parish facebook account similarly has been set up so that the CPP have access to the username and password allowing them access to all communication methods.

Having said all of this ... if people are using facebook why not use it to communicate with the church. Just ensure that everything that you do has safeguards in place

Forgiveness ...

A sermon preached in St. Columba's Parish Church at 10:30 Holy Communion



May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be now and always acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen

A story is told about a man who loved dogs. 
He went in front of his house and began creating a path from his front door to the street. 

As he was nearly finished a dog trounced right though the middle of the wet cement. 

Since he was a dog lover he overlooked the dog's inability to recognize wet cement so he calmly re-smoothed the path. 

Knowing it could happen again he placed rope along each side of the walkway. 

But a few minutes later the dog pounced over the rope and again splashed through the cement.  His patience dwindled but he didn't retaliate; he just chased off the dog with some harsh words. 

Again, he smoothed out the concrete and incredibly enough, the dog sneaked behind him and leaped flat-belly into the middle of the walkway.  The man picked up a stone and hit the dog - it limped away! 

His neighbour witnessed everything that happened and rushed over to his friend and said: "I thought you loved dogs."  The man responded, "I do love dogs. 

But that's in the abstract.  I hate dogs in the concrete."

Sorry ... I read this and thought it is quite applicable today

The abstract and the reality ... the theory and the practice sometimes can be quite different poles apart maybe on lots of issues.

---
As we continue through this season in the church calendar which speaks about us growing as disciples. The readings raise lots of different issues for us as Christians. Today our Gospel reading speaks strongly about Forgiveness.

Forgiveness in our readings today is one of the areas of our life where we all struggle, where many struggle to bring theory and practice into line with each other.

In our service this morning
We have sought God’s forgiveness in the words of the confession
We have been assured of God’s forgiveness in the absolution

Before we come to the prayer of consecration we will share the peace... This is a crucial part of the service when we say to each other “Peace be with you”. The challenge of this is about relationship - can you say peace be with you to those who you have not forgiven?

In our service this morning we will pray in the Lord’s prayer forgive us today our sins as we forgive others who sin against us.

But do we? is our theory the same as our practice?

This is difficult. By speaking about this we are dealing with heart problems - problems deep inside the seat of our emotions, It deals with our relationship towards others.
It can be situations which have happened recently or way back.

When we speak of forgiveness we are talking about a relationship which has broken down by words or by actions between us and someone else. Wether the action is caused by us or them.

Forgiveness according to the OED is defined as 'to grant free pardon and to give up all claim on account of an offense or debt'.

Now - that is extremely challenging for any size of offense or debt

Perhaps some may say it is easy enough if at school someone steals our favorite pen.

But bigger offences, that certainly take more and more strength of our will power

Let us look at this from another perspective ... the alternative is unforgiveness
If we are to remain in a place where there is unforgiveness - then there will be undoubtably be
Anger
Hatred
Deep - seated resentment
Questions like what-if I had done something differently
A serious temptation not to display the fruits which God can develop in our lives.

It is a process but we need to choose for ourselves that whatever the crime is - what ever words and what ever hurts were done that we are not going to let them have control over us.

We forgive because he first forgave us.

When we think of the hurt we have caused God by thought, word and deed and then realise that this has been forgiven then from this place we can find the strength to forgive others.

One of the people who you find if you search of “Forgiveness Northern Ireland” is Gordon Wilson ... His daughter was killed in the Enniskillen Bombing

Gordon Wilson held his daughter's hand as they lay trapped beneath a mountain of rubble. It was 1987, and he and Marie had been standing watching a peaceful Remembrance Day service in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, when a terrorist bomb went off. The rescuers dug them out of the rubble and rushed them to hospital. But, by the end of the day, Marie and nine other people were dead.
A few hours after the bombing, when interviewed by the BBC, Gordon Wilson forgave the terrorists who had killed his daughter. He said that he would pray for them. He also begged that no-one took revenge for Marie's death. "That", he said, "will not bring her back."
The loss of Marie shattered Gordon Wilson and his wife Joan, but, they were anxious that bitterness and hatred should not rip apart the small town of Enniskillen. Before the bomb, Protestants and Catholics in Enniskillen had lived side by side, and the Wilsons wanted it to stay that way.
As Christians, the Wilsons wanted to help repair this damage between people.
After his television interview, Gordon Wilson received many letters from people across Britain and the rest of the world. Many supported him, but many others criticised him.
Forgiveness is at all sorts of levels - It is not about forgetting what has happened - not at all. But it is about allow us to move on from the consequences of an event. It is not simply a fllipant I forgive you and holding on to the consequences and mulling them over.

There is a Brilliant Book on the Subject Written by RT Kendall - Total forgiveness. He Explains that after a very painful episode in his life He made a decision for inner peace, found he had to carry out that decision by a daily commitment to forgive those who had hurt him and to forgive them totally.

He says “I therefore let them utterly of the hook and resigned myself to the knoweldge that:
They wouldn’t get caught or found out
Nobody would ever know hat they did
They would prosper and be blessed as thoughthey had done no wrong

he continues What is more I actually willed this! I prayed for this, I asked God to forgive them. But I have had to do it every day in order to keep the peace within my heart. Having been on both sides I can tell you: the peace is better. The bitterness isn’t worth it.

Who do we need to forgive today - is there someone who comes to mind who has wronged us and we need to utter those words father forgive them and father God I forgive them.

Why not begin the process of forgiveness today.

may our abstract and concrete beliefs be the same

Who do you need to ask for forgiveness? and who do you need to offer forgiveness to.?

It is challenging ... but it is the Gospel.

Let us pray.

In the prayer I will use the Post communion Prayer which we will pray later.

God of compassion, 
in this eucharist we know again your forgiveness 
and the healing power of your love. 
Grant that we who are made whole in Christ 
may bring that forgiveness and healing to this broken world, 
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Surprise

A Sermon preached at St. Columba's on Sunday 4th September 2011 based on Mark 7: 24-37 at Choral Evensong


May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be now and always acceptable in thy sight O lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen


Surprises

Surprises are events which we don’t expect, that go beyond what we normally experience. They can be good and they can be not so good.

The random act of kindness from someone ... perhaps a box of chocolates, or a boquet of flowers or a party.

Years ago some of you may remember the TV Programme surprise surprise when our Cilla - Cilla Black opted to reunite loved ones, fulfilled peoples life long dreams and ambitions.

Surprise Surprise

The first bit of Our Gospel reading this evening is one of surprise. For us reading it today it is surprising -

we may be surprised at how Jesus deals with the Syrophonician woman in the opening of this reading

we may be surprised at her response

And then we may be surprised at how Jesus at the end commends her

A Little background

Jesus is in Tyre, a gentile area and he is there with his disciples. He knew he was sent to “the lost sheep of Israel” God’s chosen people. It was them who Jesus communicated with, they were the ones he was concerned about.

It is surprising how Jesus speaks to this woman ... he mentions dogs - in the greek it is little dogs. but even so it still is surprising perhaps even shocking.

But then we see the woman coming back to him and saying well even the dogs get scraps from the table.

We then see Jesus opening up his ministry to those who are outside of the “in-crowd” those beyond the pale of the Jewish heritage.

It is surprising ... even shocking about the radical inclusiveness which Jesus highlighted that day.. a woman, a gentile woman asking for healing from a Jew ... the cultural norms of the day prohibited joint meals, and encouraged exclusive worship ... just think about the temple ... the court of the gentiles beyond which those who weren’t jewish couldn’t go.





There seem to be a couple of themes in this passage to pick up upon this evening

The first is the radical inclusiveness which Jesus set up for us. Who are the outsiders? who are those who we see as unclean, as beyond love, beyond help? Time and again in the gospel Jesus went to them, invited them in. In Belfast today who are the people who stand waiting to be invited in, to be shown the love and the fellowship.

We do pray in our parish prayer - That God would make the door of this church wide enough to welcome all who need human love, fellowship and care.

Each one of us have to answer ourselves as to who we see as outsiders, who we see as those whom we struggle to love. And then we are reminded that we are to reach out in love to them.

The second theme I see as important is that of peristance ... I wonder if we were to encounter Jesus as that woman did that day - would we have been brave enough to ask, would we have left it when he responded as he did that day, would we have pressed in and kept going not letting up... being persistant in our prayers.

This evening we have prayed, we have asked, we have sung our praises. I wonder what is on your heart and my heart. What are we longing for, what would we love to see God doing in our lives, for our family members, for our friends. Are there things we want changed in our world.

Pressing in and praying earnestly is something we as a parish need to do - on the service sheet you will see the priorities of prayer for this season - the things we need as a family to ask our father for this new academic year

Our organisations and leaders
Those who for what ever reason are not at church
Those who have young families
The planning of next summer’s mission trip
Those on our prayer list


Are we prepared to bring these things to the throne of God, are we prepared to be persistent? There is so much that we could say about prayer and how prayer works but it does begin by doing what that woman did that day and simply bringing the need before Jesus.

May we continually be surprised as to how God answers prayer, may we be surprised as to who comes along to our church, may we live up to the prayer that we pray for our parish. May we never turn anyone away from God because of our attitudes and pedjudices, and most of all may we be persistant in our prayers

In Jesus Name we pray

Amen