Conclusion of 10 Commandments series - St Bart's, Stranmillis

This sermon was preached at the 10:30 Service on Sunday 26th October as part of my Pastoral Placement in St.. Bartholomew's Stranmillis Belfast. It Concluded a sermon Series on the 10 commandments.

1 Kings 21; Ephesians 4;

Heavenly Father,

I pray that you would take my lips and speak through them, take our minds and think through them and take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you – In jesus name we pray - Amen

I wonder if I asked anyone in church this morning to recite the 10 commandments – would you be able to do it?

Maybe you learnt them in school, maybe before your confirmation. Could I invite you to turn with me in your prayer books to page 767 and see that they are written in the context of the catechism. The teaching of the church.

Clearly there is some importance we give to these laws – In this sermon I would like to consentrate on three areas

Firstly old testament

Then Paul’s understanding of the laws

And then what does it say to us here in Belfast many thousands of years later.

In our first reading this morning we read of one of the so-called evil kings

If you are ever looking for political intrigue and scandal – Take a study through the book of first kings!

So Let me introduce you to King Ahab:

* Son of the evil King Omri
* Married the infamous Jezebel and bought into her cultic practices worship of Baal and Asherah.
* Let his people through 2 wars assisted by YHWH



When you read the story of Ahab you see that God sent people to try to warn him that he was on the wrong track but he just doesn’t seem to listen. One of the biggest characters was Yahweh’s man Elijah through whom God showed his power – continually giving Ahab the chance to change. And eventually he did repent.

In marriage, he married someone who was a foreigner and who brought their religious practices with them – even though it was forbidden by the Lord. Ahab then introduced the idol Baal and built places for the worship of Asherah. This was the Beginnings of his problems.

Elijah told him that there was to be no other God’s but the Lord and that he needed to repent – He didn’t – Elijah prayed for no rain and no rain came - exile

Then Elijah again confronted Ahab – contest on Mount Carmel – Prophets of Baal v’s Elijah. YHWH triumphed BUT Jezebel ordered Elijah Killed!

Then there was the Battles against Benhadad – A prophet calls Ahab to lead the attack if they are to be successful – he did and they were

The prophet hold Ahab that there would be another battle – there was and again that was successful – The lord had given them the victory – one problem was that he didn’t finish off the job – and for that Ahab would have to suffer. So it is with this background that we meet and can understand some of what is going on when it comes to Naboths vineyard

Ahab has had tremendous success he has, through the power of God, saved his country from being taken over by the Syrian army. He has seen God cause famine, but when he has listened to prophets the Lord acted powerfully.

Now about 20 miles north of his capital – he had his eyes on a vineyard – it must have been a very good vineyard to Ahab to have wanted it. He offered to pay high price for it – but Naboth the owner was having none of it! – it was his inheritance and – the king could not demand that!

What happens next contravenes a number of our covenant laws

Firstly there is out right coveting of literally his neighbours house – he does this by what we would say – going into a great big SULK.

Then we see his wife getting involved and writing a death warrant for poor naboth and sealing it – Bearing false witness and then ultimately murdering.

So on top of all the things which went before – this king, who is meant to be ruler of God’s people has literally contravened the laws he was meant to be upholding!

That said – we see that his actions are not without consequence. He does undergo, a period of penitence, he realizes the stupidity of his actions and repents.

As we flick over to we see Paul writing to a people who are trying to make sense of a culture – not to dissimilar to our own in terms of being a polytheistic society where personal desire and ambition are ruling the minds.

Take a look at Pauls Description of the prevailing culture

v19 Having lost all sensitivity they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more.

When we look at magazines, shops, credit cards, gossip mags is this the prevailing culture. When we look at the news headlines – shootings, affairs, hate crime, under currents of distrust … do the ten commandments have any relevance to us today … surely they do … they must!

They under pin our legal system.

But what are we as Christians to do? … When I was putting the conclusion to this sermon in my study room in Dublin – it was Thursday when there was heavy wind and rain and I imagined a boat on the sea – being tossed about on the waves. Without a compass, without having a fixed point of reference it is extremely easy to loose one way, ones route through life.

Paul in this passage is reminding the Christians that they are different – they are to stand up to the culture – they are to put on the new self – a self which is not ruled by the prevailing culture, not caught up in selfish ambition nor any of the other characteristics of the world – he gives a couple of examples which are relevant to our studies into the 10 commandments

Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour – why? For we are all members of the same body

He who has been stealing must steal no longer

He goes further … Get rid of all bitterness rage and anger, brawling and slander along with every form of malice and then the new self

Be kind and compassionate to one another; forgiving each other as Christ forgive you.

That was Paul writing in the 1st Century

How about 20 Centuries later?

I am a natural rebel – if someone lays down the rules I look for away around them: in Banbridge High – we had a double A4 page of School Rules – To this day I know the first 20 of them because I had to write them out so many times – for forgetting homeworks etc.

Some were really silly – Schoolbags must be carried on the right way from the wall, some were strange and long – respect must be shown to teachers, office staff, principal, caretakers, cleaners, secretaries

A basic list of do’s and don’t

When we look at the 10 commandments it can seem like school rules, a list of dos and don’ts however I do believe that there is something beyond them, something more of a relationship.

Please turn in your prayer books to page 222

On this page we see the 10 commandments which are the basic do’s and don’ts but with the relationship through Christ who is the fulfilment of the law added – As Christians we keep the 10 Commandments not out of Duty but out of love and our personal commitment to Christ who draws us all into that relationship

As we reflect upon Ahab who directly contravened the commandments and Paul who urged the Christians in Ephesus to put on their new selves so we turn to ourselves – what changes do we need to make to be living within the spirit of the law.

As we conclude I have asked Ron to read the commandments and I will read the New Testament commentary. I would invite you to take a few moments to about your own response to them and what you need to change, or do.

Sepatrick Parish Magazine article

A line from Dublin

Well, time is certainly marching on, and there is so much to do here at the Church of Ireland Theological College. Now that I am in final year and writing for the November edition of the magazine means also that the list of curacies for 2009 will soon be arriving on my desk. It is a scary but also exciting time. Literally “God Knows” where I and all the other ordinands will end up – and thankfully he does have a place for us all.

At the moment I am on Friday and Sunday placement in St. Bartholomew’s in Stranmillis, preaching, leading services and visiting individuals.

I would invite you to pray for all of us ordinands during November – January as well as the Rectors and Bishops involved in the process. Praying that all would seek the guidance and discernment of God in all decisions that have to be made.

I look forward to keeping you informed of progress in future editions of the magazine.

As ever .. news and prayer pointers can be found on my blog … www.robertferris.blogspot.com or youth.cmsireland.org

In Christ

Robert Ferris

John 10:10 – Jesus said “A thief comes to kill and destroy – but I have come so that they may have life in all its fullness”

Mission away

Below is the text of a talk given to the Retired Dublin and Glendalough Clergy group on the Topic of my mission experience 14th Oct 2008 - This was prepared but certainly not given word for word!



Before we begin let’s Pray

Heavenly father, I pray that as we look at the needs of your people around the world and take a glimpse into the Anglican Church is Zambia that you would speak and minister through me – In Jesus' Name Amen



Good afternoon and welcome to the College / Institute! – Dr Maurice Elliott approached me at the end of the summer and asked me would I speak today to you – I immediately said yes, since then I have wondered what I have got myself into.

I have entitled this talk – “Thoughts from a random final year ordinand” I did this because anyone of the ordinands from our year group could have spoken to you today. As you are aware at the end of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus commissioned his disciples to go into all of the world and preach the gospel … well this summer … we as a year group took that some what literally.

2 went to Canada

1 to California

1 to Paraguay

1 to Brazil

1 to Sixmilecross

1 to Omagh

2 to Dublin

1 to New Zealand

And myself to Zambia



All on official parish placements.

As I have sat down to try and put my experiences down in a some what systematic manner, to allow me to chat about them I have also become aware that they are, like any part of parish ministry quite random – Random because they do not fit into nice and tidy boxes. One particular encounter with an individual does not fit tidily into a pastoral issue or a simple meeting on a street.

And also random because they are my thoughts which are random anyway!



My Background

I am a native of Banbridge Seapatrick Parish – Through Sunday school, confirmation, youth group. In the early days of Sunday School I became extremely interested in Mission – through the Lenten projects – the idea of people away off in far flung parts of the world working for God really did appeal to me. I suppose subconsciously It was making me think – well there must be something in this Christianity thing if people were prepared to leave everything and up sticks to serve God overseas.

It was through our diocese that I was asked to go on my first mission trip – CMSI call them META – Mission Experience Teams Abroad – we headed out to Uganda – to Kiwoko hospital. It was there that I was first exposed to extreme poverty – our first few days were spent in an old church building with what can only be described as a extreme History – the horrors of the Idi Amin era

The slums around kampala – hope in complete hopelessness – We went out with locals to spread the gospel

Then north to Luweero – in the infamous Luweero triangle – the killing fields. Amazing life changing are what I would say about that trip.

It wasn’t doing anything deep and profound – what we were asked to do was to draw alongside the local mission team and help the in their schools ministry – going around secondary and primary schools with the message of the gospel.

We also were able to experience Kiwoko hospital – set up by a doctor from Ireland who went out to saw a need and felt the call to work out there full time.

A couple of years later I came back as a leader on a similar trip – knowing somehow that what I had experienced and seen

Again went out and met more of the locals who were still there 2 years later developing their schools ministry and still doing a lot of the stuff we had done earlier.

One of the crucial things I have felt throughout all of this is the idea of partnership to be extremely important. As you know – this is a profoundly biblical concept – throughout the Pauline corpus we read that he is thankful for the partnership in the gospel.



It was this idea of partners and mission partners which really attracted me to CMSI in the first place – the fact that they have people on the ground in the places which they work, people who are – for want of a better word – Inculturated into the community – working with the locals throughout their time in the field.



Last year I went out again as a leader to Zambia – with a group from all over the church of Ireland – people from cork, down and dromore, connor, Armagh Londonderry to a different part of Africa – to do different things on the back of one of the Sunday school projects and once again I was faced with new people but the same feeling that the idea of partnership was crucial in delivering the gospel message.



In Uganda the mission partners were the Quill Family – Andrew was an architect and Joanne a nurse – using their skills and passions they set up CHE programme – Community Health Empowerment which was basically Healthcare with a special emphasis upon discipleship – Spiritual and Physical lessons coming together.



In Zambia the mission partners were the Scott Family – Keith is an ordained Priest within the Church of Ireland who is lecturing at the Zambia Anglican Seminary. He also has a parish ministry in the mining township of Chambishi in the North of Zambia



By way of Introduction – Partnership is Key to all that follows. Both at a local and international level.



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I am quite aware that I am speaking to people with many, many years of experience in ministry under your belt – I wonder if I could draw on that experience for a moment and ask– What do you think the church should be focusing on ?



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This year I headed out to Keith and Lynn for an extended period of 2 months which were spent at the theological college in Zambia.



Student / Teacher / Parish Placement / Computer Programmer / Encouragement /



As this was over my summer holidays it was great to be able to do a little more study. Keith being a lecturer allowed me to sit in on his classes

* Justice, Peace and the Integrity of creation – Looking a development issues into the context of theological thought
* Ethics – When I landed in on this class it was on the whole area of sexual ethics and again looking at the homosexuality debate which of course was something which, this summer was at the forefront of the minds of the Anglican church
o This in itself was good to have a bit of time to think about such questions whilst outside my normal circumstances
o Sitting in a Global south country and getting information through the internet from many sources
* Homeltics – It was great to get teaching about drawing on cultural issues in the process of crafting sermons in Africa.





As a teacher – Before coming down to CITC I trained as a Computer Scientist and then as a secondary school teacher. In Zambia I was asked to do some training for the first year students as part of their “Study Skills” this involved basic work with Microsoft Word and research techniques on the internet.



At the moment the college in Zambia is about to bring in a Degree Programme which is underwritten by Canterbury University so the computer skills will have to be of a similar standard to those of our own students here in the UK or Ireland. It was a complete challenge to talk to a class who had little or no background what so ever with computer skills.



On the computer side of things – the college had invested heavily in various pieces of hardware and it was good to be able to set up various systems to help in the management of the resources – for example – printer and file sharing systems as well as a library system to help control books within their college library.



Within this side of my work I do feel I gained a lot more knowledge by doing these things than I gave and it was great by the end of the 2 months to see how much the class had actually taken on board and learnt from the whole. Being able to do reasonable complex things – some even were able to Word process their essay from scratch – so that was a feat in itself!



The parish placement side of the trip was truly humbling and generally amazing – actually getting out and meeting people, people who are living in the most basic conditions – people who are living on the less than a dollar a day – 50p / 65 Cent Which is amazing when one considers that the price of fuel in Zambia was verging on the same price as it is in Ireland.



I did come across some of those who are totally at the bottom of society – people who saw absolutely no future – people whose only escape from poverty was drinking – day and night - When one walked around the unofficial compound in Chambishi the number of Bars selling cheap beer and their equaliviant to potchine was completely heart breaking. It was in this place that I came across the first person I had met, who was dying of HIV/Aids who had absolutely no hope of survival – she was in the last throes of life. And yes I have set at bedsides of those who are dying, and yes I know the facts and figures of aids but it is completely heart breaking to know the problems in these communities.



I do get really passionate about this – what is the church doing in these circumstances – what responsibilities does the church in Zambia and the church in Ireland have to support our brothers and sisters in the world wide church. Huge Global issues.



The Parish placement saw me in various parishes all around the town of Kitwe and beyond – doing the things that an ordinand would be doing here in Ireland



Leading services, reading, preaching, visiting houses, praying with people and going to a Bible study.



This was an exhilarating amount of diversity. One of the bible studies I participated in was looking at trauma counselling – It was equipping the locals in how to talk to people who had had the most horrific stories – It was an African based DVD which looked at some of the people who had lived through genocide and other tragedies and how one should deal with it. One of the questions asked participant if they had had any experices of such.



Here I was sitting in Zambia – one of the most peaceful countries in Africa – but in that small group of people they shared some of the deepest memories of their times in various countries, recalling terror and violence. One particular person had lived through the apartheid regime in south Africa.



My immediate thing to this question of experiencing trauma was no but as the stories came out – My thinking changed – I hadn’t lived through the Idi Amin regime or apartheid but I had lived through Northern Ireland – through bombing, shootings, sectarianism at its worse and we are still sorting these things out. There is still such a lot of trauma from all around – on both sides. It was very strange to be having this conversation in Zambia.

On a lighter note, as a staunch evangelical, brought up in the United Diocese of Down and Dromore – the liturgical side of Zambia on my first trip caused me a bit of concern – being on the extreme side of the anglo-catholic tradition. But it was a strange sort of a mix the outward trappings were of white cassock albs, bells and plenty of smells however with an evangelical zeal to the preaching which as passionate and contained the range of views that we have here in ireland.



However I did make sure that there was no photographic evidence to incriminate me as a cassock alb wearing ordinand!



Turning to the challenge of the placement – Each time I have been to Africa I have been struck by the sheer polarisation between rich and poor and how they exist in sight of each other.



A mud house with thatched room on the side of the main road which carries billions of pounds worth of machines overhead runs twenty lines of power cable on mammoth pylons to a neighbouring country.



I was sitting in one of Keith’s churches in his parish – a couple of books – in a classroom which had a blackboard and a couple of hand made posters. During the service I looked outside – a couple of kids were collecting water from a well, on the road beyond a railway line barely used was the main highway – huge caterpillar machines where being driven up for the mining industry.



Which leads me on to the mines – this is the main industry in Zambia – thousands of people are employed in getting the copper out of the ground either in closed or open pit mines – The mine owners are getting richer and richer pumping money into the business of getting copper out quicker and quicker. The problem is that the profits are not going into the economy they are Chinese and Indian so the copper is being exported and then the profits too are being exported overseas. One of the huge questions which worries me is what happens as a consequence of this action – what will be left after all the copper is extracted? When the raw material dries up?



It is a crazy situation when you find literally new mountains of Slag built up over time within the areas of Zambia.



Children, The average lifespan, I presume due to Aids and other diseases is somewhere ludicrously short – 42/43 I think. So you have masses of young orphans who have to be taken in and looked after – this is causing a huge burden on the people – I met one Vicar General (between an archdeacon and a bishop) who invited me round for dinner – on my birthday – he introduced me to his own many children for whom he was responsible who were living in a 4 bedroom house.



All because their parents had died and he was the adult that was to take care of them.



On my first visit to Africa we heard horrific stories about the problems of AID’s where people thought the way to get rid of the virus was to sleep with a virgin – so girls were being infected by men.



Huge problems – few answers.



The church in Zambia is not immune to problems affecting the world wide church – Ask anyone here in Ireland what the problems affecting the church in Ireland and you will invariably end up with



Growing Consumerism

Attracting Young people

Shift Patterns of work

Attracting Clergy / people power



The church in Zambia has exactly the same problems but does not have the same resources as we have to throw at the problems



There is a need for increased people to come forward for ministry but then there is the problem of resources. There is also a need to go to the very basics. In outlying areas which have problems with water and basic communication how does one even try to come to terms with this



So with all of this is there hope …

… There has to be hope … we are Christians after all …





The church I told you about sitting in and looking out – these are the poorest of the poor. But they are a people with vision, a people who do not want to be in a school building – they want a church building they can call their own. So that group of people at the minute there are 10 or so of them now are tying to literally BUILD THEIR CHURCH from the ground up.



1 ant hill + 10 people and a heap of grass they have started each Wednesday to make block – the blocks are made from an ant Hill – It is the whole idea of empowerment – the natural resources are there – the knowelege is there within the community all it takes is a little bit of leadership in terms of the church and encouragement and they will succeed.



In Keith’s JPIC class a true story was told of an organisation coming in an setting up a community school, they funded the teachers and the building – this was all going great until the organisation looked at it budgets and priorities – the priorities changed and the funding was withdrawn the school lasted about three months – the teachers stayed on as volunteers but the problem was that the children no longer were happy – they stayed at home.



There was a few issues with this idea of development: It was a community school but the community had no ownership of the project. It was a top down approach – you need a school – we will give you a school.



One wonders if an empowerment model might have worked. One where the local people met together and said – we need a school and how do we get one?



They may have put into place something for the parents (many of whom were illiterate)

There needs to be an income generation source – maybe a community garden where vegetables could be grown both for food for the Childrens’ dinner and to sell to buy resources for the school and to pay the salaries of the teachers

The parents could be educated along with the children.



Thinking outside of the box may have allowed that community to lift themselves out of the poverty trap.



The idea of empowerment may have been an important consideration. This case, for me is another way of thinking about what the role of community leadership is all about in Africa – it is not all about asking for handouts but teaching how to do things for themselves. The training of church leaders in these things as community leaders is so appropriate and so essential.





One of the things which I am concentrating on this year as part of my dissertation is mission and how the church of Ireland responds to mission both at home and abroad. Using my experiences overseas as well as mission teams at home and asking fundalmental questions as to our understanding of what we are doing as a church when it comes to engaging with God’s mission in the world.



How what we do on a Sunday morning is helping to fulfil the Missio Dei – the mission of God in the world around.





Looking at concluding – this year I am hoping to do a piece of research enlisting the help up CMSI, Church Army, USPG and various other people including clergy and the synod’s council for mission looking at precisely what I got you all to do – what are our priorities as a church and also asking difficult questions as to the role of the church of Ireland in world mission – looking at my experiences in the light of mission questions.

Are we simply sending young people off overseas for a holiday or is there something more going on – what is partnership anyway? Those are the sort of question I want to be asking. .

Any questions??

Reflections on the first few weeks of College

Well, final year is here with avengence!

Week 1 was a week on marriage and the care of marriage. It really is a strange thing to be thinking about taking care of marriages as a single person and preparing couples for marriage. I look forward in the next couple of months to read up on some of the courses both for marriage prep and marriage enrichment. We also had time during this week to talk about strategies which we could put in place to ensure marriages are sustained in the long term.

Week 2 was all focused on youth ministry. Once again this was a very practical and insightful look at the role of youthwork within the church of ireland. I know I was encouraged by knoweledge that CIYD and the dioceses had resources which we all could tap into.

And then... we started our main timetable on Monday

This year Is going to be a hectic time combing - lectures, essays, ser mons, curacy rounds, Seminars, Chapel, Pastoral visits, Leading Services, preaching, Travelling, blogging, praying, chatting, powerpointing ... . Having said that it is my hope and prayer that through it all God would be glorified and all of us would grow closer to him. Strengthened in the faith and ready to serve in the church.

Ease of Blog & an update Blog - Week 1 of Final Year

Well, well ... there should now not be any excuse for not blogging as I have found a google gadget which allows me to post directly from my google home page.

Term has started back in earnest... I have started in St. Bartholomew's (St. Barts) in Stranmillis under the guidance of Rev. Ron and Rev. Janice Elsdon on my final year placement.

Classes have started back and are as busy as ever
Ethics, NT, OT, History, spirituality, Ecclesiology, Exegesis are on this semester's Timetable.

This week was/is extremely busy
Mon apart from 5 hrs of class was house meeting and Late Praise which I was sorting out

This evening was College Fellowship - It was nice to be back being not responsible for it! - Pete and Simon have a really good programme of speakers this year again.

Tomorrow is comminity meal as well as preping a talk for next week - my first presentation of Zambia .

Thursday is up home and Friday is back down to dublin.

Pre-term wk 1 - Confidence in Christ

Well, we are now back in college ...

Alan Barr, Curate in Bray was up in college today preaching at the Communion service tonight in college. It was very strange to see him back in the building, in collar and even stranger seeing him in the role of lecturer as he was teaching the second years in the pre-term weeks.

A couple of things struck me about his sermon - on manna, on the workers in the vineyard and Paul's Declaration of "to live is Christ and to die is gain". We as Christian's can indeed be fully confident in the message of the gospel which is sufficient for daily life. Nothing can separate us ... so we just need to get out there and do what we have been called by God to do.

This week is extremely tiring and challenging as we try to deal with the topic of marriage and the issues around this extremely important topic. One thing I suppose we are learning is about the need for communication and getting things out in the open. Looking at the difference between events and issues, pinch and crunches.

On a wet and cold september morn ...

Well its quite scary to be back at Braemor Park, sitting up in the common room with nobody else here - the wind beating against the windows, the rain beating down and the grey and dull skies of what looks like a winter's stormy day.

I really couldn't be much further away from the Anglican Seminary in Kitwe, The Victoria falls or the officer's mess in Benson or .... what else did I do this summer???

I do promise that on here will appear shortly some reports etc of the summer - but just to say at the moment I am doing the great clear out of room three in preparation of its final year of occupancy by this ordinand.

Its not over yet!

This summer has so far been an amazing experience and it isn't over yet... at the moment I am planning the way forward.

Next Saturday I head off to England for a week of chaplaincy work near oxford then its back home and some meetings and then off again to france - I hope shortly to have something written properly about Zambia and the stuff I did out there etc.

Thanks for interest in My Blog :-)

Regards

Robert

Oh yes and while you wait for the written report why not check out the photo's...


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

IT Stuff ... just incase anybody might need it

This summer I am spending over in Zambia with a christian mission agency CMS Ireland

At the college there is a network of computer's connected to the internet - a few things have been needed to be done.

Printing set up so that students can be given credits and once they are used up then they have to pay for any other printing - this has been set up using a system -papercut They also have, for developing countries a special educational licence which is well worth it - it takes about 1/2 day to set up but the instructions are pretty clear and straight forward - their technical support is great- very helpful online!

My next task was to sort out the library system - my background is in computer programming and especially websites - so I naturally turned to something which has already been designed - I looked at opensource options of PHPlibrary and MyLibrary however I have opted for openbiblio which has proved to be a great choice.

One needs to install a web server - I am using xampp which has Apache server, PHP Scripting and a MySQL database inbuilt again it is simply download it and do what it says

Then I downloaded openbiblio - very simple to install - follow the instructions and you'll be fine!

There a couple of plugins again these are crucial if you want to save yourself hundreds of hours of work - there is a plugin available for openbiblio for amazon and for the library of congress these take the information and stick it into the library database straight away. sooooo good.

A couple more things still to do on the techie side of the placement

- creation of a grade book for the college admin
- Setting up a windows server and the clients
- Creation of a basic guide for theological students

more info on those when it comes

Early African Reflections

mmm...

Even at this early point in my placement, coupled with previous ventures to this vast Continent this place is full of complete contrasts.

It is such a beautiful place - taking time to soak up the sun in the middle of the day or as it rises or sets - totally magnificent. On the other hand when one progresses through towns around here on the copperbelt you find mammoth piles of debris from the mining industry.

Sitting in Chapel here in college it is a place of faith, of the word of God - The students who have preached on the last couple of evenings have been so good - preaching from the Gospel of Matthew, giving timely warnings to fellow students about the fruit which leaders in the church are to produce and then the call of discipleship which appears throughout the Gospel.

Today has been great as it has given me a chance to sit down and reflect on Africa - a continent which does have its own problems - one just has to look at the BBC website and see the problems - Zimbabwe today comes to mind - I was so mindful of that country when we flew over it on the way here. Please do continue to pray for the people of that nation and also the church there which is facing massive opposition from Government.

In Zambia too the church faces many problems - with many of the people living on under a dollar a day - there are huge problems, but it is progressing - please do remember this place where I am staying - St. Johns Anglican Seminary, the place which trains Anglican priests who will serve the church as Priests and evangelists. We think in CITC, not getting home on a Friday is bad - due to the expansive nature of the country, many of the students only get home at the ends of the terms, they have families hundreds and hundreds of miles away.

I am really looking forward to getting properly stuck in this next week, into classes, Yes, classes! - Looking forward to Ethics and Homiletics as well as taking Practical IT Skills. A few other things are happening over the weekend which I am indeed looking forward to - more about them in my next update.

I am also aware of what is happening at home this weekend, namely Summer Madness - my prayers are with all those attending - especially those from Banbridge - May God speak and may you all listen to Him!

RE DIRECT

I Know I have said this before but now it is true - My CMS Ireland Blog is now taking the weight of my postings for the summer - so you had better go there if you are looking any updates and Prayer pointers. Thank you for your interest :-)

My Zambia trip is from 23rd June --> 21st August

It can be found here - My CMSIRELAND BLOG


Robert

McMURRRAAAAYYYYYY or should that be Rev. McMurray now ??? :-p

Tonight, good friend and fellow blogger Gary McMurray was ordained deacon in Dromore Cathedral. The service, I believe was a really prayerful and worshipful time when we prayed for Gary and his future ministry in the Church. The rector of St. Elizabeth's preached an extremely important message of how we were to pray for ministers based upon Timothy thinking about life and the teaching which those in Christian leadership have to carry.

It was also good to see they guys from college again along with John Deane and those who were ordained last year (James and Clare).

Deep Breath now - The next Deacon ordination I will attend will be some for our year even possibly my own D.V. which is a scary prospect :-)

Photos from the ordination tonight can be found on my flickr page

Sermon Preached in Moira Parish - Sunday 15th June 2008

Sunday Morning 10 am Service (Matthew 9:35- 10:8)
Moira Parish – Morning Praise service
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, as we come to your word this day, we pray that you would speak to us, that you would challenge us and that you would lead us closer in our walk with you.
In your name and for your sake we pray.

Amen


When the rector, asked me to preach at this service – on Friday – my immediate reaction, without thinking yes and then once I had put the phone down I thought oh crumbs – What are the readings – what have I let myself in for?

When I got hold of the lectionary and realised it was the Matthew reading that was good – because it was talking about Discipleship – which is great because it allows me the excuse to put up my ‘L’ plates – so right from the start I want to explain that right from the youngest to the oldest we are all learners – that is what the word discipleship means. That is what we are called to do.

I am going to concentrate on the Gospel reading – It is a familiar reading I am sure to many – The themes it contains are huge in the Christian Faith – It speaks of mission, it speaks of who Jesus is and it speaks of discipleship

Before we get into the text, Let us take a look at where passage is set – it is in Matthew’s Gospel which was written from a unique perspective and to show that Jesus was the messiah that the Jews were indeed expecting, it comes after the teaching narrative of the sermon on the mount and directly after a whole passage on miracles and calling of Matthew.

I would like to take a look at the text – If you have a Bible with you may want to follow



Jesus went out teaching, preaching and healing – The three of these things go hand in hand when the gospel is spread.

I often wonder how amazing it would have been alive to have met Jesus in the flesh in Galilee. His ministry is totally key to our understanding of who he is.

The miracles he performed shows and bears witness to who he is – he is shown to have power over nature,
power over Disease
power over death
and ultimately power over sin.

When we move on to the next section when he saw the crowds he had compassion on them – why? Because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd

It is interesting to note here a strange looking word
splanch – nizo- mai – SPLANK NIZO ME

Which is used throughout the NT in regards to Jesus motivation – right in the depth of his being – in his belly –is where he felt for the people and their problems.

For us :
He is the unchangeable – It has been said so many times that I do feel that we can sometimes in our faith grow immune to it – God has compassion on those who are hurting, who are suffering, who are harassed and helpless.

As we move on in this passage – There is a recognition that there is a part for everyone to play in this mission – Jesus once again draws as he does on so many occasions on agricultural imagery – “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few”
Notice what he does here – He speaks this to his disciples and the asks them to “ask the lord of the harvest, therefore to send out workers into his field”.



It is here I would like to pause for a moment and ask if anyone has been to theme park – any favourite rides? <> I went to Alton towers last year and had a great time – my favourite rollercoaster is AIR – I managed to get a quick video of it for you taken by someone first hand. Its not that great quality by hopefully you will get the idea.


I am sure, if you haven’t been to alton towers and been on air you’ll not really get what I’m saying, you wont have experienced the same feelings I have for it. My point here is the same in the text we can hear others talking about going places, hear others testimony about what God is doing in this place, in other places but if we don’t take that step to actually say God I want to do it then we wont

This is where us as disciples are challenged – we know that there is a harvest, we know that someone has to do it, we maybe pray to God that he would send someone to work in the field. Little do we know that we might be the answer to our own prayer. If we are already working maybe we are being called to pray for others to help us.

<>
This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job.
Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realised that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.

As we move into Chapter 10

We see the disciples being told – JUST DO IT – get out there and do the stuff I have shown you – they were given authority to heal raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, preach the message – Jesus gave them the authority.

He also makes provision in this – you will notice that the disciples are not to go alone, they are paired up. In ministry the idea of individuals I don’t think is biblical – having teamwork, another person who you relate well to is key. Someone you can pray with, someone who is ready to help you and you to help them when difficult times someone is key.

The chapter then goes on to speak of provision – and what to take and not take which in our whole idea of going does not sit easy one coat – no bag … I know I’m heading over to Africa next week and I am finding it difficult to stay under BA’s weight restrictions!!


So having said that what are we to do?

Well, I suppose this message this morning is practical
Firstly I believe God has a heart for those who are harassed and hurting this day – He is intimately concerned with the things you are concerned about, he is desiring above all the rest to heal and to restore those who are broken. He desires for that relationship to be restored.

Secondly, I believe that there are those to whom he wants to say – just do it – He is wanting you to get out there and do whatever he has called you to do – It’s not necessarily to become a Church of Ireland Clergy person but it may be to spread the gospel in your place of work, in your school, in your family circumstances wherever.

Finally, I believe he wants to say – don’t worry – I have made provision for you – especially for those who maybe over the summer are heading off overseas or doing some mission service at home – God will provide for all your needs.

We have been given so much – it is our responsibility to give – to the world around – Let’s JUST DO IT and not leave it to someone else to spread the good news – from the youngest here to the oldest we can all talk about God to our friends our work colleagues

Let’s take a moment of silence as we think about what we need to be doing this week, what resources we need to be asking our father for.


Let’s Pray
Heavenly Father, I pray that you would speak into our situations and ask that your would be provider and sustainer of us

Amen.


---- Prayers of intercession ----


Let us pray,

God of gods and Lord of lords,

We come this morning as ourselves, with our faults and our failings, we come with our concerns, our doubts our worries we come before you and declare you as Lord, Lord of this place, lord of this town, lord of our lives.

Father God we come to you on this Fathers’ day and pray for all those who are father’s, we ask you to bless them with patience and love which only you can provide.

Lord God as we look around the world that you have created we see so much beauty, however you have instructed us to pray for those who are in need – we think of those in countries where there is violence, war, disaster and hardship – we pray for those places which hit our headlines on a daily basis – for Zimbabwe, Sudan, Iraq, Afganistan, China, Burma
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
We pray for the church,
In our readings we are challenged, regardless of age or background, problems to serve God in whatever way he has called us. We take a moment to pray that God to send workers into the harvest field. Remembering that as disciples we too are called to play our part in the body that is the church.
Lord in your mercy Hear our prayer

We pray for our community of faith in this place.
Lord Jesus,
You had compassion on those who you saw were in trouble, in grief, in pain – that compassion moved you to action.

We pray for those whom we know who need a touch from the Lord this day. We pray particularly for The Rector and his family at this difficult time and others whom we name in silence.

Loving Lord, Surround those who suffer at this time.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer - Conclude with the Grace

Fast forward again

Over the course of this summer - I hope to blog frequently whilst in Zambia - all of the posts will appear on my CMSI Blog which is available here

http://youth.cmsireland.org/index.cfm?do=blogs&mode=view&id=3

Summer approacheth FAST!!

It really is amazing how within 24 little hours life suddenly changes - This time last night I was sitting, quite worried about exams - OT hadn't got a clue by 10 am this morning things were beginning to sink in and now on the other side of the exams one wonders what I need to do now. College at the moment hasn't actually finished - one more day to go - in another 24 hours we will have said good bye to both the third years who are heading to all arts and parts of ireland, we will also have said goodbye to the rest of our year and the first years and we will have said goodbye to the Principal and his Wife June. This year the Principal is retiring. It really is a strange time in college at the moment.

So with all that going on it is pretty intense and to think that in just 1 year we will be saying goodbye to college and hello to our new parishes - it is very strange.
Anyhow, between now and then there is a lot of stuff to happen - top of my agenda now are two things - Learning to Drive and Packing my bags for Zambia to see the Scotts. It is crazy, I know I have said it a million times but how quickly time flies. Information and prayer points will be hopefully available here as the summer progresses.

He has risen, he has risen ... Jesus is alive

Easter Day ... The Easter hope ... The empty tomb ... The resurrection of the dead

Over the course of the last few months I have been reading Tom Wrights book surprised by Hope and have been chatting to others about it. Its terrific ... if you haven't read it - read it!

It speaks of the hope we have as Christians, the empty tomb being the "first fruits" of the resurrection. John S in his sermon today referred to this hope made possible through the resurrection - the last great fear of humans - that of death has been conquered and we have complete assurance of that.

Furthermore, we do not have to worry about what life after death will be - what resurrection will mean for us. The idea of a transformed body. But what we can expect is a bodily resurrection! - if it were not, how on earth do we account for the transformation in the first disciples?, how do we explain our hope to a world looking for such hope?

Over the past while I have encountered people who are totally disillusioned with what life has given them, what can christianity provide for such people? surely what we can do is provide a glimpse of hope, hope of a plan, of a future ...

"The question of Jesus' resurrection, though it may in some senses burst the boundries of history, also remains within them; that is precisely why it is so important, so disturbing, so life and death. We could cope, the world could cope with a Jesus who ultimately remains a good idea inside the disciples hearts and minds. The world cannot cope with a Jesus who comes out of the tomb, who inaugurates God's new creation right within the middle of the old one "


What we need to do is return to the "sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead" not some vague fuzzy optimism that somehow things may work out in the end.

But then there is also the "eschatological tension" we are to be living now - this new life has started with those who are in Christ - we need to be sharing this hope, the love of God NOW, today with those around, unashamedly - mmmm ..., The gospel has to be what is on offer, through the power of the Spirit....

BEWARE!!! :-)

BEWARE!!!

Zambia ....

I found out there yesterday that I'm heading back over to Zambia this summer. Which I am really looking foward to, realising of course that it is going to be very, very different - no team meetings, no team times, no Jules, no Chrissie.

Hopefully the blog will be used to keep yas up to date with what's going on - There are lots to do before then - Letters to be written, funds to be sought, prayer points to be uploaded, Exams to be studied for, Driving lessons to be had, placements for college to be sought ...

so all in all it is going to be a busy few months but I am really, really looking forward to this journey. Here's what I will be doing in a nut shell!

Summer 2008

This summer, I am hoping to embark on a parish placement with a difference, being the last summer of University Study, I have been granted a place on a CMSI STEP (Short Term Experience Placement) programme heading out to Kitwe, in the Copperbelt region of Northern Zambia. This placement will be based with CMSI Mission Partners Rev. Keith & Lynn Scott at the Anglican Seminary. The experience will be see me working and studying alongside local seminarians also training for Anglican ministry.

I will also have the chance to work with Keith in his parish duties in a local church, to work with the local diocesan Youth co-ordinator, Peter who I have already built up a good relationship with as well as, I’m sure lots of other experiences. In return for this experience, I would aim to assist with resources and computer training for the college and individuals and to get involved in other things as they rise.

This is the first time I have been out to Africa as an individual and am looking forward to the experience. I am also in consultation with a Methodist Minister who is working in a different part of the country, on a community development programme and am hoping to draw alongside him in his work towards the end of my trip.

All in all I am really looking forward to the summer.

Visualising The Bible

Last night Shane Tucker from CIYD was in college speaking on prophecy at college fellowship.

On his desktop I noticed an amazing graphic see below

This project was created by chris harrison - the whole can be found here

http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/bibleviz/

started after receiving an email from Christoph Römhild. He had compiled a list of cross-references found in the Bible and was looking for advice on how to visualize these connections. After several email exchanges and a copy of Christoph's data, I was able to produce the arc diagram below. Due to the extremely high number of cross-references, this lands more on the aesthetic side of the information visualization spectrum. Different colors are used for various arc lengths, creating a rainbow like effect. The bar graph running along the bottom shows every chapter in the Bible and their respective lengths (in verses). Books alternate in color between white and light gray.

Oh I do Like to be beside the seaside

dun laoghaire harbour
Originally uploaded by rferris281

Being down in Dublin at the weekends is great ... one can get work done but also on the doorstep is mountains and sea, city and towns. It was such a great day today. After church I took myself off on a photo safari as well as a book read. The photos are now on flickr

The book was Paul for everyone 1 Corinthians - great book!

RF

Book Review - Mission Shaped Spirituality

It has been quite a while since I have read a book cover to cover in one go. Maybe it is because I am writting an essay on its contents, maybe it is the authors style that appeals to me, maybe its because the contents are great stuff, I suspect though that it is a comnination of all of these things.

This book goes hand in hand with the Church of England report "Mission shaped church" produced in 2004 which has had an immese impact on the church at home, looking theologically and practically at examples of how church could be changed to meet the needs of those on the outside of the doors.

When we think of spirituality - we look at the personal, the relationship with the almighty wether that be expressed in prayer, Bible reading, quietness, art, poetry ... + 101 other ways. However the Bible also speaks about that relationship impacting the world around us as well. Mission comes from the call to "Go", as Christians we are called to engage or in some ways to re-engage with the culture around. The question this book asks us is there a spirituality for mission? a spirituality which will support mission - an apostolic spirtuality?

Well, there clearly has to be! (Not least because there is a book written about it!)

Mission Shaped spirituality is something which has to span traditional church as well as fresh expressions, we are all called to be "one, holy , catholic and apostolic church". Each christian has that call on their lives to be a person who is sent - to go.

We are called and sent. In the busyness of a typical parish, there are many, many concerns, so much so that the fire and passion of mission is in danger of being extinguished. How can one keep this passion.

(p7) No one really argues that themseleves out of inertia. There is onlu one way to deal with it and that is to exert a counter force. To push through it, to pull against it. As soom as we start doing that, the inertia begins to release its grip ... (The authors experience) is that the fire of mission can re-ignite through the act of going" ...

It is this fire of love for God and the world which has to be the foundation of a spirtuality which is mission.

This mission spirituality reminds us of our lifes meaning - who and what we are, what we are doing and our life's purpose. When we live by it, when we really know what mission is then when times are tough, when all around us we see trouble, at the end of a hard and difficult day, week, month ... the sense that we are living for a purpose for which we are commissioned (Matt 28) then we can return to the central truth that we a members of a missional communuity.

The book also reminds us that there is both a general and a particular call on our lives - The general is "to go" the particular is "where to go". It could be deepest africa, it could be round the corner. We are all called to go.



.... to be continued !!!!

these are only my rambling thoughts on the book!

Sermon Preached in Exegesis class

A reading from Mark 7 : 14-21

14Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' "^[a]

17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

20He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "

Let us pray,

Heavenly father I pray that as we come to your word this day, you would teach us, mould us and challenge us through Jesus Christ our Lord amen.

From the outset of this sermon I would like to apologise for using a geeky computer term but here it is GIGO – Garbage in Garbage out. Basically it means that if you put rubbish into a computer you will get rubbish out at the other end.

This passage is all about purity, cleanness of the individual which affects their relationship with God and does, I believe has something to teach us as individuals and also as a church in our life and mission.

Let us take a step back from this individual passage and look at it in context.

Marks gospel is a journey towards the full revelation of Christ as Messiah and concludes with the centurion at the foot of the cross saying “truly this man is the son of God.” This passage occurs right at the heart of the gospel. Prior to this we have had immense demonstration of Jesus’ power – Baptism, calling of the disciples, healings, teachings, teaching on the Sabbath, driving out demons, raising the dead girl, sending out the 12, walking on water. With all of these amazing acts Jesus is gaining in popularity – feed 5,000 people and you will gain a name for yourself!

Just before we get into chapter 7 we have a summary of what Jesus is up to

“As soon as they got out of the boat people recognised Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. …It is not a problem to say that “Jesus mania” was sweeping the countryside.

As we come to the passage we are looking at this morning – the scene is set – Jesus is in one of these towns and some of the Jewish authorities are out to catch him out. The place is public, a market place, stalls, fruit, veg, and noisy lots of people buzzing about. They have got him now! – The disciples are eating without washing their hands - this is not a hygiene issue – its another 1800 years before our Louis Pasteur gives the health benefits of washing hands – it is all about ritual tradition. In this tradition it was a widespread custom of washing after the market as they may be defiled by touching a gentile in the crowd and so become ritually unclean.

The shadow of a Gentile falling across a dish or plate made it unclean.

These traditions were found in the “law of the elders” that halakah – the oral law which claimed to interpret and complete the Mosaic Law.

Jesus responds by trying to show them how far these traditions have fallen from the law. By quoting text from the 10 commandments – “honour your father and mother” but then your case you can nullify that by doing certain things. This is only one example.

It is then Jesus calls the crowd and says that nothing outside a person can defile him – this was radical teaching – it went directly against the rabbinic teachings of the day. That statement in itself would have been completely stark to Jews of the day listening in.

Then after leaving that public declaration we see the disciples entering the house and his disciples asking him what he meant.

ARE YOU SO DULL! – The disciples don’t get the significance of what he said

Food doesn’t enter the heart – therefore it can’t defile it –

It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean. He goes on to describe examples of this uncleanness.

So what was Jesus trying to say from this passage?

1. He was not trying to overturn the laws of Moses – in Matthew we read that he came fulfil the law and the prophets.
2. He was not trying to say that you can eat / drink or use substances which would harm you.

Instead what he was speaking against the hypocrisy of ritual cleanliness but the impurity of hearts

It is what comes out of a man that defiles him – it is the heart that is unclean – the thing that needs cleaned not the hands. It’s all about the heart

The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.

I have a story which I think illustrates this

Ray Stedman shares a letter in one of his books from a sharp-minded, Christian business man friend of his. I'd like to share it with you along with Steadman's comments about it.

DON'T TAKE ME TO THE HOSPITAL, PLEASE!

This scene didn't make sense, There he lay in the street, bleeding -- the hit-and-run driver gone. He needed medical help immediately! Yet he kept pleading, "Don't take me to the hospital, please!" Surprised, everyone asked why. Pleadingly, he answered, "Because I'm on the staff at the hospital. It would be embarrassing for them to see me like this. They've never seen me bleeding and dirty. They always see me clean and healthy; now I'm a mess."

"But the hospital is for people like you! Can't we call an ambulance?" "No, please don't. I took a Pedestrian Safety Course, and the instructor would criticize me for getting hit."

"But who cares what the instructor thinks? You need attention." "But there are other reasons, too. The Admissions Clerk would be upset." "Well, why?" "Because she always gets upset if anyone for admittance doesn't have all the details she needs to fill out her records. I didn't see who hit me, and I don't even know the make of the car or the license number. She wouldn't understand. She's a real stickler for records. Worse than that, I haven't got my Medical card with me."

"What real difference would that make?" "Well, if they didn't recognize me in this mess, they wouldn't let me in. They won't admit anyone in my shape without a Medical card. They must be sure it isn't going to cost the institution. They protect the institution. Just pull me over to the curb. I'll make it some way. It's my fault that I got hit."

With this, he tried to crawl to the gutter while everyone left, leaving him alone. Maybe he made it, maybe he didn't. Maybe he's still trying to stop his own bleeding.

A strange story you might think but unfortunately it is quite close to home. If we think of the man on the pavement as someone we know who has been hit not by a car but by some sin or another. Where should he find somewhere to be helped, somewhere to be accepted somewhere where relationships can be sorted, wounds cleaned, restored.

If we believe that each one’s purity comes not from tradition nor from the outward appearance but from a heart which is made clean from repentance and relationship with Jesus then

I suppose there is a challenge here for us

Firstly as individuals – in looking at ourselves in the mirror – what is there inside us that need changed, values, feelings, sins? How is our heart?

Then again in the mirror as a member of the church – when someone comes in – what prejudices do we have?

And as a body of believers how can we present ourselves not as the museum of saints with all the outward signs of purity and having life sorted but a hospital for sinners.

People who are open about what they struggle with, what they need.

In conclusion I do believe that it is not about garbage in garbage out

The garbage produced is systematic of what garbage is in the heart

Garbage out, garbage inside

And the garbage needs dealt with.

Before we pray let us take a moment of quiet as we listen to a song

Walking on water

Walking on water
Originally uploaded by rferris281

If you want to walk on water ... Don't do it in Glendalough

Today a load of us weekenders in college headed down to Glendalough for the day. It was great to get out and have the cobwebs blown away - photos are on the flickr site!

Robert

Sermon on Sunday 13 January 2007, Bray

Matthew 3:13-17

The Baptism of Jesus

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ ¹⁵But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.’ Then he consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved,^* with whom I am well pleased.’

Pray

Heavenly Father,

We pray that as we delve into your word today – you would speak to us individually, that you would increase our faith and teach us more about your word. In your name we pray Amen.

It is great to be back with you at the start of this new year.

Today we are looking at the Baptism of Jesus – It is the natural follow on from events which have occurred over the last while

We had advent – the preparation for Christmas, the expectation of Christ coming

We had Christmas day – the Birth of Christ – Immanuel, God with us

And last week we had the magi from the east bringing gifts

Sure after birth and presents – the natural thing is to baptize a baby isn’t it ???

Let us remember that Jesus was not baptized as a baby – but rather 30 something years pass before he comes to john in the wilderness to be baptized.

This passage is one of the passages we look to when looking at the trinity – all three persons are here – son baptized, spirit as a dove and the voice of the father

What about john? What was he doing there? – preaching a message of repentance.

When jesus came to him he realized that Jesus was THE one who didn’t need to be baptized but that he had to set the example. At that moment we read that God spoke to him.

Today I would like to explore 2 questions

1. What does it mean to repent?
2. How does God speak today?

Each Sunday in church we have confession / absolution – what are we doing? – let me show you with this illustration

When God created the world – it says right back at the beginning of the Bible that it was good. – perfect

But sin entered the world because of mans greed – can anybody think of other sins.

Greed, murder, stealing, hatred, envy, lust, alchololism, drugs ….

That is how we look – when we look around our community we see that multiplied – when we turn on the news any night we see the blackness of it all.

It was into this blackness that Jesus came – showing us another way – showing us his example. The need for repentance

The word repentance means turning around. For example if when I was coming here this morning from dundrum and instead of going on the M50 southbound – the way I was meant to go I decided that I just wanted to go home and went Northbound, if at some point I didn’t catch myself on I would end up going completely wrong. I at somepoint need to turn around and come back.

When we come to confess our sins we do say sorry for them but not just a casual sorry but a repentance that means a turning around. That is the symbolism in baptism – dying to sin and rising to life.

Of course we may say that that is too difficult but this needs to affect our lives each and every day- in our offices, at home, at school, when we are with our familes.

On our own this is totally impossible – but not for God. The same God who spoke to his son at his baptism is still speaking to us today.

When we confess our sins god is faithful and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

As Christians, if we really believe this – we are called to action – we are called to share that love with our communities.

That is what repentance is

“The journey that Jesus made from the baptism to the cross, was marked by joy, energy, clarity of focus, friendship, conflict, struggle.

The power that Jesus used to get through the many trials and struggles is available to us. By remembering and learning that we are “Loved by God” and learning to “abide” in God, it is from this place that all daily life has to proceed

To answer the second question as to how does God speak today –

- Through scripture

On your service sheets I have included a letter I found when I was researching this sermon – a scripture filled letter which I think is absolutely amazing and speaks to us today.

More from Kenya

Again from the cmsi website

Kenyan Talks Break Down

Diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving Kenya's ongoing political instability have broken down. The talks, headed by Ghanaian President John Kufuor, had set out to negotiate a deal between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga following December's disputed elections.

It is now hoped that both parties will begin fresh discussions under a panel which may be headed by ex-UN chief Kofi Annan - although Mr Odinga has intimated that the protests, which have caused so much unrest, will now resume.

To date it is estimated that approximately 250,000 people have been displaced and 600 people killed in the violence which followed the poll.

Ronnie Briggs, CMS Ireland's Regional Mission Partner for East and Southern Africa, writes,

"It is now two weeks exactly since the election held in Kenya on the 27th December and it is amazing to see the vast destruction that has taken place in that short time. The serious numbers of people killed and the hundreds of thousands made homeless as a result of the breakdown in political leadership.

The facts and figures will eventually all come in and we will be horrified all over again but what this hides is the real suffering and agony of so many people. Those who suffer most in these circumstances are the poorest and this is indeed the case for many people in Kajiado. There are food shortages in Nairobi and so there is very little food getting to Kajiado. Very little grows in the Kajiado area and so people depend on supplies coming out from Nairobi. There are signs of some food now getting out of Nairobi but this will take time before it reaches people living in more remote parts of the Diocese.

Even more concerning is the fact that the political talks between President Kibaki and Raila Odinga broke down today with no lasting agreed way forward. This will frighten people into thinking that the fighting will start all over again so there is a high degree of nervousness around. The longer the political stalemate goes on the more difficult it will be to find common ground for an agreed way forward.

The drought situation in Kajiado is now becoming even more difficult and the Church is struggling to find a positive way to respond. These are testing times for the Bishop and all the Clergy and for them to know that we here in Ireland are praying for them is of great comfort and really makes them feel part of the world-wide Church. Please take this issue on seriously and bring the situation in Kenya to the Lord in prayer.

The Urban Development Programme of Nairobi Cathedral has also been in touch and the three communities they work with are well - although again the tension is high and the poorest are the ones to suffer most. Nairobi has gone back to more or less 'normality' - shops and offices are open and public transport is back on the road. The ban on live transmissions for TV and radio is being lifted so there is more of a normal 'feel' to life in Kenya. However, we now know how fragile this can be so I would urge you to pray along the following lines:

- For a break through in the political discussions for a lasting peace
- The violence is being perpetrated by a small number of people - pray that they will be able to see more clearly what they are actually doing to Kenya and stop this activity.
- Pray for the Church leaders in Nairobi and also in Kajiado that the message they send out will be one of encouragement and support for people to live peacefully together.
- Pray for the UDP staff - Louise, Kathleen and Lucy - that they may be strong and able to respond to the needs of the people in their communities.
- Pray for Bishop Taama and all his Clergy. That they may show strong leadership and be a good example for others.
- Pray for the Bishop's family and especially Nathan that he may make a full recovery.
- Pray for the CMS Office in Nairobi - Sila, Anne, Enos and Witcliff - for their safety in their work and to encourage them to continue their service to both Kajiado and the UDP as normally as possible."

Making life easy for essay!

I love it when software actually works

One of the problems I have had over the years with essays was the referencing of books - it took up too much time ... way too much time ... that was untill last night!

its name is Zotero and it claims to be the next generation research tool - you can find it

http://www.zotero.org/

What does it do?
Well simply it keeps a library of books you have used / you have in your library. You search for them on the internet - eg on the trinity library site or other book sites. When you find a book a wee book icon apears in the address bar click it and all the information automatically downloads onto your computer - dates, location and publisher author. It stores it in a wee database on your hard drive.

Then the cleaver bit comes when you come to ms word or open office - a new wee tool bar icon appears when you click the button after you have used a quote it will automatically stick in a footnote - then click another button at it will automatically create a Bibliography for you.


What it does is plugin to firefox web browser - so you need that first
Then download the plugin for firefox
Then download the word plugin

Then add your booklist!

I am raving about this to the extent that lastnight I stayed up late and stuck in most of the books on my shelves at college.

Happy New Year

Robert

Normal Christianity

OK, I do not know where this post is going to end up as I write... but in Bible study tonight we got talk around the whole Idea of what is normal ...

Go to parts of africa, asia ... and you will find people of faith, people who are living their lives sold out totally for the kingdom of God. you will find people who have very little but people who have it all. So what are we to expect a normal Christian life to look like?

What do we mean by normal?

It would depend on who you ask: depending upon their custom, their tradition, their culture.

Surely for us as chistians the normal has to be exemplified as Christ - what he did as a example has to be our norm. If that is the case then logically to be normal we have to do what he did, to follow what he commanded. If that is the case then a huge question has to be asked of the church at large - how far are we living up to that norm? how far are our cultural norms removed from that? which normal life are we living - are we taking our norm from our own experience or from the gospel way of life?

Are we doing what he did? are we trying to live to his standards? are we content in living a lesser standard? ... mmm ...

Baden in chapel tonight spoke of a set of stairs - if society could see what lay at the bottom of those stairs we certainly wouldn't go down them we'd choose to leave them well alone. BUT
we don't, we are more on a spiral staircase where we see just a few steps ahead and feel its OK to keep going. That has to be where penitence, repentance comes in we need to instead of going down take hold of our selves and return to the God.

Normality - to be a normal christian surely has to mean being what God has called us to be, and doing what he has called to do. With that in mind i refer to a book which I have just read cover to cover - Mission shaped Spirituality

"All of us are called by the missionary God to share with him in his missionary work". That means we are called to go. All of us are called to go and share that gospel. When we share that gospel as commanded we are being obedient to the call.

In Matthew 10:8 there is a definitive call to "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy and drive out demons" ... but that's not normal! ... is it?

... it certainly isn't in my church ! ... talk about that in most churches and you most certainly would get strange looks

... feed the hungry (support a mission charity, sponsor a child ...)

there are huge questions around what the holy spirit is doing - the ministry of healing in our churches today - in the BCP there is a service of healing and wholeness, the laying on of hands for healing, prophecy, tounges, prayer, visions ... certainly it could be seen as one particular "box" in the church.

"Missionary engagment needs to draw on a particularly robust spirituality, which can take on the powers, whether social or supernatural. We need, as Christians to be assertive and engaged. The roots of taht assertiveness are not found in ourselves but in the authority that has been given to us: 'heal... raise... cleanse .. drive out'.

Churches as it suggests in the MSS must come to terms with this authority and also the responsibilty which comes with it. It is only through this growing up and responsibility taking this to the secular polis can the church grow further.

One sees hope, when you look around the globe where healings and lots of other miracles are taking place. where the gospel is being proclaimed.

What are we passionate about? what are we doing if we are not seeing lives changed for Jesus?

the gospel needs to be shared ... lives need to be changed with it ... what are we doing about it?

when miracles happen ... is that the norm? or should we be surprised? are we praying for it?

surely we do every time we pray the Lord's Prayer -

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Mission is about life ... life is about mission

mmm... lots to ponder on

are we normal? am I normal ?

what is normal? do I want to be normal?

is society normal or abnormal?

... mmm ... mmm ...

Flickr'd

Home
Originally uploaded by rferris281

I have now joined the photo community that is flickr

- Photos will appear on the Right and my page on that website is

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertferris

photos from the latest snowfall are there

Kenya problems

From the CMSI Website

Kenyan Leaders look for support in the face of violence

Church leaders in Kenya are asking for prayer support in the wake of the violence that has followed last week's disputed elections.

Supporters of Mwai Kabaki, who was re-elected president in the 27th December vote, and those of opposition leader Raila Odinga have clashed across Kenya with both sides accusing each other of 'ethnic cleansing' and 'genocide'.

Around 300 people have been killed - more than 30 of those burned to death while sheltering in a church in Eldoret, in the west of the country - and the Kenyan Red Cross estimates that approximately 70,000 people in the rift valley have been displaced by the continued unrest.

The violence follows accusations that the December elections were rigged and while falling short of condemning the process, EU observers have stated that the poll "fell short of international standards".

Diplomatic efforts to diffuse growing tensions are now underway as Kenya looks to avoid the type of ethnic and political crisis that has dogged the wider region in recent years.

Ronnie Briggs, CMS Ireland's Regional Mission Partner for East and Southern Africa, says, "As many of you will know Kenya held it's general elections on the 27th December to vote for a new President, MP's and local Councilors. While the actual voting day was reasonably quiet the delay in announcing the Presidential winner caused the beginning of some serious reaction all across the country.

The sitting President - Mwai Kibaki - was eventually re-elected and after the announcement on Saturday last the country was thrown into chaos with riots in all Cities and Towns and also in smaller towns like Kajiado. This is likely to run for days to come as more demonstrations are organised and tension mounts as a result.

Bishop Taama of Kajiado has been involved with other local community leaders to try and resolve the situation but it is not easy. There is a lack of leadership in the whole country at the moment and while that vacuum exists there will be tension and fear. Much of Kajiado is also facing a serious drought situation and again the Bishop is trying to work out ways of supporting his people through this. When these things are put together the people who suffer most are those at the bottom of the economic chain".

Following conversations with church leaders in Kajiado Ronnie asks that CMS Ireland members and supporters would pray:

- For peace in the whole country and an end to the unrest.
- For all political leaders that they may be wise in their use of power.
- For wisdom and understanding as decisions are made over the next number of days that the needs of all Kenyans be taken into account.
- For Bishop Taama as he provides leadership in Kajiado - for wisdom and clear guidance as he gives direction.
- For all those suffering from both the political situation and the drought in Kajiado.

Please pass this information on to your Parishes, prayer groups and as many family and friends as possible and let's all make a difference through the power of prayer.

Photo Credit: BBC

Christmas spirit

Just sitting in Trinity Library and got an email through - thought it was interesting statistics


As it's nearly Christmas, we've found some amazing Christmas stats to put you in the Christmas spirit!

The UK sends nearly 1 billion Christmas cards each year**
4 million Brussel Sprouts are usually purchased the week before Christmas.**
This year 1.3 million fresh Christmas Trees will be sold, 9% less then last year.*
Each person will spend on average £435 on Christmas gifts, 12% more then last year.*
Sales of Mince Pies are expected to reach £33 million this year, while an estimated £21 million of Christmas puddings will be sold!**
An estimated £42 million worth of Turkeys will be sold this Christmas, 7% more than last year. Organic Turkeys have the highest estimated sales growth at 46%.*
Each household will spend approximately £169 on Christmas food and drink, up 4% on 2006, pushing the actual cost of Christmas lunch to almost £16 per head, up from £14 in 2006.*
Each person takes on average 15 hours to complete his/her Christmas shopping.**
Each person spends on average £33 on last minute panic purchases.**
41% more alcohol is drunk during the holidays than the monthly UK average.**
Christmas 2005 the most popular Christmas cards featured Brussel Sprouts and Cows wearing antlers.


Stats from BRC research, the BRC - KPMG Retails sales monitor for the UK and Nielsen's Point of sales market track data.** Reported in the Independent 12th December 2006

Advent Sermon Bray

Sermon Preached on Sunday 2nd December 2007 in Christchurch Bray

Preparations

Before I begin, could I take this opportunity to thank Baden & Avril, Alan and Liz and their families as well those who I have got to know on a weekly basis here in Bray – especially David and Joe at the back and Derek in the choir– you guys are great craic. It has been good to find my feet in my first parish placement outside Banbridge, so thank you. I am here to the end of January.



At the moment in college there are lots of essays being done - lots of work being completed before the end of the term - as I was sitting in my room on Wednesday evening one of my friends came into my room and said - as he was fire warden, he had received a message from one of the staff members that there was going to be a fire drill on thurs morning at 7.45 - he was just warning people so that they wouldn't get caught in the shower when it happened - I thanked him immensely.

So... the alarm clock beside my bed got moved back so that I would be up and ready to go when the fire alarm went off ... I was up, showered and ready by 7.30 - I got my scarf, coat and bag ready - so much so I went up to the kitchen, boiled the kettle and made myself a cup of tea! All ready to go. The alarm went off and it was clear to see who had been told and who hadn't - those who were ready and those who weren't.



Today we are talking about preparation



Today is one of those days that the church begins a preparation period – Advent {{- it is also the new year of the church – so happy new year}}

Looking around the church – the liturgical colours have changed from the pastoral colour of green to the Penitence colour of Purple. It begins a time when we focus on the incarnation of Christ. The coming of Jesus into the world.

It is a time when we remind ourselves of the huge – mega event the incarnation was – how it changed the course of human history. It is a time when we focus on what does it mean to believe in Jesus and prepare for the baby in a manger 2,000 or so years ago.

In 23 days time Christmas will be here and Christmas presents will have been opened and the turkey will be soon coming out of the oven, the preparations will have been made, cards sent, Presents given, office parties celebrated, carol services attended.



{{of all the passages in the Bible to preach for a first sermon in a parish as a student this certainly wouldn’t be top of my list! – judgement and end of the world but ...}}



Our Gospel today exorts us to make preparations, to be ready for the coming of Jesus, but hold on ...

... he came at Christmas 2,000 years ago as a baby

... he lived, he taught, he died, he rose full stop

Well, that’s not quite what the Bible says – its more of a comma than a full stop. Our gospel this morning

... is from the mouth of Jesus about the coming of the son of man.

The reading this morning is the last of the 5 main sections in Matthew’s Gospel – it is known as the eschatological – the end times.

The second coming of Jesus.

[ Looking through the passage it is hard to see good news – gospel.

... especially when it speaks of Noah and the flood

It is speaking of the end of the world as we know it – It is speaking of two people in a field – one taken, one left

This to us is not nice, it’s not neat – it cuts us to the core –this is one of the passages in the bible which many would prefer not to visit.

“some will be taken, some will be left” – that is painful –its doesn’t sound like good news but lets look at it again - He is not willing for anyone to perish [2 Pet. 3:19]. from the relationship with Jesus is what will get us through.

I read this passage as a signpost – just as a sign on a power station may say “danger keep out – risk of death” This rather says – Danger outside come on in – Certainty of eternal life











This passage speaks of preparation

... it urges preparation

It does not tell us when he is coming back.

Many cults and false prophets have tried to predict when the world will end – that is foolishness.

But what we can do is prepare for his coming.

How?

Get in a right relationship with him – he invites us to simply come . Once we are there we can deepen that relationship with him – through prayer, through Bible study – getting to know him better.

We can share him with others – talking about him- Labouring for him. We are all called to do something for the kingdom. Do you know what your god given gifts are?

As we make our lists and check them twice – what priority are we going to make God – Immanuel “God with us” this advent time.

Are we, am I going to be happy to leave Jesus as the cute little baby in a manger this Christmas?

Or are we going to heed the signs? Are we going to come and ask Immanuel – god with us to be with you?

How are you going to prepare for the coming of Christ this advent time ?



Let us pray



Lord Jesus, Immanuel God with us, help us to prepare our hearts and minds and lives for you this season of advent