Sermon: Mark 1:21-28

This sermon was preached at 10:30 Holy Communion in St. Bartholomew's Parish Church, Stranmillis on Sunday 01 Feb 2009 on my final day of College placement

Mark 1:21-28 (New International Version)

Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit

21They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil^[a] spirit cried out, 24"What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"

25"Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

27The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

Let us pray,

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

If I was to ask you to think about the word authority, what words or images come to mind, maybe a policeman, maybe a judge, perhaps a world leader, an academic maybe who is an authority in such and such a field. Your mind may be drawn to your own job if you are a supervisor or manager of people. The word authority implies decision making, responsibility and some sort of leadership role.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been watching with much interest what has been happening in Washington D.C after the inauguration of Barack Obama. I am a fan of the west wing TV series as well as 24 both of which portray days in the life of a president in the Oval office, the successes and the failures of the American administration as they try to run the country. As well as the stresses and stains of everyday life in the positions of power.

I don’t know what it is about this American president which as captivated me, maybe it is because he is of ordinary origins – I have been reading his Biography!, maybe because he seems to be a beacon of hope for the nation, maybe its compelling that 1 man has so much power …

The man, Barack, looks and acts like a leader, someone who has authority but also someone who seems to handle this power well, he has got people around him whom he can trust and delegate that power out to. Someone who also exudes charisma and trustworthiness. Something new promised for America – history of course will tell wether or not this is the case.

Our reading this morning from the gospel of Mark speaks about someone who has authority, begs various questions such

• who is Jesus ?
• Where does his authority come from?
• And what is this all about?

Over the course of the last few months, whilst I have been here in St. Bartholomews, I have joined you as we have journeyed as we do annually through what is known as ordinary time, through advent as we seek to prepare for Jesus coming as a Baby in a manger, through epiphany, his Baptism and now we are starting on Jesus’ public ministry.

Who is Jesus and how is he different from the scribes?

This may seem like a very simple and straight forward question to us as Christians today with 2,000 years of scholarship behind us. With simple creedal statements, of searching scriptures, of devotion and in our own lives our encounters with God through our own experience of the risen Lord. However we must remember that astonishment of those people in the synagogue – they knew very little about the person of Jesus, it was through his teaching that his authority was shown.

The question as to Jesus’ identity is one of the fundamental questions which Mark is concerned about throughout his gospel – he opens his book with the outrageous claim – “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” and then the rest of the gospel asks the question again and again – who is this Jesus?

In our passage this morning – Jesus is seen as someone who is a teacher, but more than that he is a teacher who has authority over evil. There is one thing teaching that God has power over evil, but then when evil is presented before him he claims that authority and calmly commands it to go.

It is interesting that the first to recognize Jesus as “the holy one of God” is the evil spirit.

Where does such authority come from?

The short answer is from God – We see on many occasions throughout the gospel narratives Jesus claiming authority over

• Nature – events around the lake: calming of Storm, walking on water, feeding of the 5,000
• Disease – many healings
• Sin – “Your sins are forgiven”
• And in this and other cases – power over evil
• And Ultimately – Power over death.

Many miracles pointing to the coming of the kingdom and the eventual defeat of evil.

This authority comes from the Father – purely and simply. It cannot conceivably come from anywhere else

What does this mean?

This episode provides us with an insight into something which we know very little about, but an area of the created universe which there has been much rumour over the centuries. Many very scary films have picked up the themes of exorcisms, of evil portrayed in horrific detail. We also see Jesus throughout his earthly ministry confronting manifest evil in many scenes and simply telling it to leave.

Do these sort of things happen today? Rationalists over the last couple of centuries have tried to deny the existence of evil, claiming that it was down to psychological illness. However there is more to it that this – the church does recognize that there is evil in the world. We tread a middle way in talking about such matters – Lots of things which have been put down to evil in history of course have been down to what we recognize as mental illness but there are thing which are evil.

Christians who are relying on Jesus, who are living for him we have nothing to fear – why? Because Jesus is the one who has authority over evil and this power is the same as the power over sin, the same as the power he displayed over the diseases which he healed back in 1^st C Palestine and he still does it today.

Take a look at the passage again – what is its emphasis?

Is it on the evil one? – no its not … its on Jesus … its on his power, his teaching and his authority. So what?

What is our focus? Are we concentrating on evil within our midst? – are we looking towards the wrong authority? There are many different foci within the world today:

- World leaders

- Money Markets

- Models

- Films

- Consoles

- Pop Stars

None of these of course are evil in themselves, however they all can become tied up with evil

However the distraction they take from the One who is the real authority is important to note. Evil is real in the world today but God is more powerful, more beautiful than anything that the Evil one may throw at us.

In our Baptism service we are asked

Do you to reject the devil and all proud rebellion against God – I reject them

Do you renounce the deceit and corruption of evil - I renounce them

Evil does not have a stronghold on the Christian – Look at the authority Jesus has – he commands the evil spirit to leave the man – and it does – just like that.

Things that rob Christians of hope do not have a stronghold over Christians either – It may seem that it does – but “whom resist steadfast in the faith”

As Christians we have to actively reject and renounce those things which are not of God.

There may be things – not evil at all – but just things which are detracting from promised life that Jesus promised which you know that you need to dump out in a spring clean (if you can do that at the start of February!)

Who is this who has the authority? – It’s Jesus Christ, It’s God’s Son It’s God’s Holy one!

Where does his authority come from? - It’s directly from our father, the creator

What is this story all about? Its about living life to the full … God has a plan for us, evil does try to throw us of the path – but evil is doomed to failure – we have to continually look to Jesus to focus our eyes on him, he is the one with authority.

We do need to be real and honest about this stuff … if there are things detracting us from the life that Jesus promised that we need to dump – DO IT!

The other thing which is quite scary is that Jesus, like the obama administration if I can draw an analogy , he has delegated power – we are ambassadors representing Jesus to the world outside, we are disciples learning what stuff Jesus has given to us to do. So we also need to be getting on with the job of spreading his word, where we are and whatever he has called us to.

In Conclusion,

Let us remind ourselves that evil does exist but our focus should never be on it as the one with the authority is Jesus.

We need to remind ourselves that in Baptism we reject, renounce and we turn to Christ.

Jesus has the authority but has given us a share in that authority as we proclaim the good news in our communities.

Let's pray

The Rollercoaster week ... that was

I foolishly at the start of this week changed my status on facebook to ...
"Who Knows what this week will bring ..." thinking that it was to focus on the curacy round ... how wrong I was to be!

Last weekend was spent up in Belfast with Ron and Janice at Stranmillis which was great

Sunday was the longest bus journey down to dublin it took me 4 and a half hours to get from Belfast to Dublin ... which involved a bus driver taking directions from a drunk passenger who was telling him to turn right on a motorway! ....mmmm....missed last tram and had to take a strange dublin bus... anyway ...

Monday was pretty straight forward I think.

Tues was great getting home and being able to walk down Banbridge street in the middle of a week day ... how amazing that was !!!

Wed was extremely busy ... interviewing people for my dissertation and having a reunion with the scott family over dinner and then back down to dublin in the train ... it was great to have a whole carriage to myself ... good thinking time.

Thurs was crazy ... class in the morning ... rectors appearing in college in the afternoon and then the white envelopes at 3 O Clock ... agggh ...*

Out for a meal in the evening with the class to a very expensive indian! but very nice food.

I write this blog also to highlight that probably most human emotions are caught up somewhere in this week

- Joy at being placed in the curacy round
- concious of much prayer needed those who havent yet been placed
- Grief and shock at the sudden death of Uncle Colin whose funeral I will be participating in tomorrow
- Praying for healing for a friend and fellow Christian who is undergoing major surgery next week
- Celebrating with Claire and Paul at their Engagement Party tonight
- Concentrating on 2 sermons for sunday for St. Barts as it is my last sunday.

So there we go ... a full run down on this and its not over yet!

Knock Knock ... who's there ...?? :-)

Apostolic Spirituality – Spirituality of Mission

Below is an essay from last year which looks at what we mean by Spirituality and which I will be reflecting on tomorrow in Class "Spirituality for today".

Tomorrow I will be looking at Spirituality through the Lens

Background

Ever since I was young child, the word mission kept popping up, mainly thanks to the work of Church Mission Society Ireland (CMSI) with their Lenten Sunday School projects and their “Mission Partners” who sent their prayer requests back from their foreign postings overseas. On my journey of faith I have managed to cross paths with many such people, people who have been called to “go” to leave their known and go to the unknown for the sake of the gospel. When I have met these individuals there has been something remarkably different about them. The difference hasn’t been them floating off on some “out there, spiritual high” but a remarkably grounded sensible reliance upon God and the shalom which could only come from a relationship with the God of mission who sent them there in the first place.

This essay will take the reader on a journey as we discover some of the principles which underlie such “Lives lived towards God[1]” and make the application for here and now. The book which will inform this piece of work is mission-shaped Spirituality by Susan Hope. It takes what I have witnessed in the mission partners lives overseas and applies the principles to Church Leadership in the Anglican Communion at home, which has an impact on the lives we as ordinands live now and as clergy in the future.

Mission has been defined by the Mission Shaped Church:

‘God’s missionary purposes are cosmic in scope, concerned with the restoration of all things, the establish of shalom, the renewal of creation and the coming of the kingdom as well as the redemption of fallen humanity and the building of the church.’[2]

As we take the enormity of this task on board, this mission is too great to even consider, however as believers this is the calling we have been invited and commissioned to participate in. The question we are considering within this essay is what do we need to put in place in our own lives in order that we can even consider living a life which is all about this mission?

When one looks around the church, which is called to share the message of God’s love, of his passion for humanity, it is common to see leaders who are caught up with the daily business of parish, diocesan committees, house call to house call and generally running around like a “headless chicken”.

For many, the fire is almost extinguished and we forget who we are and to what we are called. And through forgetting, we lose confidence, so that the task of mission, when we look at it seems over whelming, impossible, out of range. [3]

To tackle this inertia we need to remember that the apostolic call is practical – it is “to go”, to go to those on the outside and bring them in. This means putting into place structures within the parish situation where people including the leaders are allowed and equipped to go and “do mission”. This is what the church is designed for: to be a missionary community continually reaching beyond its walls.

For this to happen, people need to encounter the God of mission, these encounters are essential for the churches and the individuals who are participating in God’s mission in the world.

Returning to those whom I have had the privilege of meeting and getting to know on other continents, the sense of being “for the other” has been a massive part of their calling. The movement from self to the other is at the heart of mission. The perfect example of this movement was seen in the life of Jesus.

“The journey that Jesus made from the baptism to the cross, was marked by joy, energy, clarity of focus, friendship, conflict, struggle, the adulation of crowds, powerful preaching and encounters with evil, including structural evil, and the great battle of Gethsemane and Calvary.”[4]

The mission to which Jesus was called is the same to which we are and also same source of power he was given and was sustained by, is the same as we have access to. It is essential that we realise this when it comes to living our lives generally.

A crucial part of going, perhaps the essential part, is from a place of knowing from where we are starting (it is the well known saying – “if I was going there I wouldn’t start from here”). Jesus began his ministry from a particular place, a place of knowing who he was, a question of identity – for Jesus, this was at his baptism “This is my beloved son – with him I am well pleased”[5] . The same has to be true for the believer wishing to participate in the universal mission described above, we need to realise that the spirituality has to begin in a place where they know themselves to be loved by God, where their identity is found solely in Him.

It is from this place of belonging with God (abiding) which all mission proceeds … it is the key to joyful, effective and resilient mission.[6]

As Christians we are not called to simply abide with God, but are also called to be his disciples who learn from the place of abiding but also to go. We are relational beings, beings that were created for relationship with God and with each other. Our relationship with God has to be the foundation of our mission – within all relationships there has to be a degree of trust.

This trust can be a problem in our society – there is a considerable lack of trust in business life, of systems of government. However our mission, our spirituality has to come from a place of trust, a place of confidence, not in dogmatic certainties but daring to believe that in the face of many things that might suggest otherwise, God is good, faithful, just, true and knowable[7]. It is the responsibility of those involved in mission to begin the conversations about the God who is real and at work in his world. Of course, stepping out on this journey of joining with God is a very scary place to be – it is steeped with all the ‘what-if’ questions. These are natural, the feeling of inadequacy is there but it is to be continually remembered that this is where the reliance on the sufficiency of God comes into its own.

To quote Jullian of Norwich

He did not say, ‘You shall not be tempest tossed, you shall not be work-weary, you shall not be discomforted’. But he said, ‘You shall not be over come’.[8]

Within the gospels, we find the Apostles sent out with nothing, no bag, no extra tunic, dependant upon God for everything. Throughout my (however limited) experience of the world church, those who had the little also had the most. This paradoxical statement is in line with “Let the poor say I am rich, let the weak say I am strong”. Taking nothing can be a very difficult concept in our mindset, setting everything aside – physically this is material things, but it is also a call within the mission context to:

“travel light in terms of preoccupations about what may be discovered ‘out there’…going in a spirit of listening – listening to those to who, the journey is made but also listening to the Holy Spirit’s answer as we ask ‘what is needed here? What am I being required to do here? Is it a word of encouragement, Is it an offer of a meal?, a cup of water?, or maybe they have something to give us?[9].

This spirituality of mission, this mutual dependence upon the other, this listening to the Holy Spirit has to be key to the partnership of mission.

The church is a community which acts as a (or even “the”) sign which points towards the Kingdom of God. This has the potential of being amazingly successful but also if it goes wrong the whole body suffers to the extent that the mission can be totally lost. The life truly lived towards God will always be lived within a community of believers. This is indeed true because of creation – God is not in his very being single but the Godhead is triune – God is in His very essence a relational being. It is this sharing in activity which earths the church. It comes from the body illustrations in the epistle- no man is meant to live alone but in partnership with others.

Certainly this is true in today’s world, people are crying out for authentic community. An example of this is the growth of on-line communities where people can communicate and become friends with people who have the similar hobbies etc. The church has come under criticism over past decades about being out of touch with the prevailing culture of society. However if we get this strand of our life towards God right, these relationships with real people in real community right then the mission will certainly move forward. It is the old adage – “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”.

This is where Susan Hope stresses the need for adequate structures in place at a leadership level:

A staff team that begins to try to live out the values of community (commitment, trust, reality) will discover that the power of that common life ripples out into the whole church. If there is confidentiality, respect and commitment at the centre, similar values and ways of relating are much more likely to grow in the community as a whole.

In today’s busy world, we need to realise the importance of rhythm within lifestyle. A possible structure of this is: Sowing and watching, reaping with energy, keeping – folding people in and building up the community.

Life in the Western world at the beginning of the 21^st Century militates against the secret of a structure upon ourselves, but people of prayer have discovered that as they start living rhythmically they begin to be connected to something that can be life-renewing to them. This is one of great strengths of the liturgical calendar. [10]

It however, goes further than this – it means knowing when it is OK to say ‘no’, when to spend time with the priorities of the time – whether that be switching off our phones, discovering the things which make peace for us. Hope also comments that other rhythms need balancing. Mission may lead us into dark and painful places but we still must celebrate life: we need parties and picnics as well as prayer[11]. It comes down to a sensible balance in life.

As one realises the limitations of this particular piece of work, made by the necessary word limit we come to the final word.

The missionary task is one of proclamation – not conversion – that is where the responsibility ends, it is of course not about leaving, but it is being relaxed about outcomes

True Spirituality in mission depends on the maintenance of a proper balance between God’s sovereignty and all embracing redemptive purpose and our human responsibility. [12]

In conclusion, we have spoken about the practicalities of this mission shaped spirituality, we have visited the joys and acknowledged that there will be problems. I do believe that if we are to take this invitation to mission seriously we need to be in for the long haul and as such this spirituality has a two pronged approach linked with joy. We are to be both joyfully serious and seriously joyful. When I read the paragraph – which is contained in the foot note[13] it is extremely freeing to notice that it is all about God.

Let is conclude with a very freeing message – We may die for the mission, but we are not to live for it – we are to live only for God[14]. Amen

Bibliography

Hope, Sue. Mission-shaped Spirituality. London: Church House, 2006.

Mission-Shaped Church. Mission and public affairs. London: Church House, 2004.

---

[1] Definition of Spirituality By Susan Hope found in Hope, Mission-shaped spirituality, xii

[2] Mission-Shaped Church, 85

[3] Hope, Mission-shaped spirituality, 7

[4] Ibid., 15

[5] Luke 3: 22

[6] Ibid., 17

[7] Ibid., 18

[8] Members of the Jullian Shrine, Enfolded in Love: Daily readings with Juian of Norwich , 1980, quoted in Ibid., 20

[9] Ibid., 47

[10] Ibid., 99

[11] Ibid., 100

[12] Ibid., 101

[13] “There is a kind of relaxed maturity about the mission, a sense of well being, a lightheartedness about the whole enterprise. We are to be both joyfully serious and seriously joyful about the task. At the heart of this is surely a particular humility: a humility that recognizes that the outcome of the mission is God’s not ours, that there is always much to learn and that the relationship of trust and dependence must constantly be attended to.” Ibid. 107,

[14] Ibid., 107

The beginning of the end in CITI

Well, we are standing on the brink of a new semester, our last one in CITI. This promises to be another busy time for one and all Our big thing this time is our project ... mine is on Mission: Home and away but we also have all the usual stuff 

Ethics, Anglicanism, OT, NT, Spirituality, Exegesis and Cosmology to contend with as well as all of the run of the mill stuff of college. 

We also, as the posts below suggest - have curacy round results to come ... who knows where we all will end up? - thank goodness God does! 

The new timetable kicks off tomorrow which sees us third years in class from Monday 10am - Friday 4pm (Trinity) not a popular decision with the students!!! 

Anyway enough of my rambling! 

Signing off now

RF 

Well, that was the week that was ...

Awwwwh ... peace at last

This week was complete and utter mayhem!

Monday was a normal student day ... Ethics, 2 Hours of New Testament followed by 2 hours of Anglicanism and a relaxing evening and Evening Worship

Then came the mad, and I mean mad days of Tues and Wednesday ... Curacy Interviews ... 19 Rectors from all over Ireland descended into the college. How does one describe what happened

Well ... here goes ...

14 of us ordinands looking for the place to which God has called us. I had 13 interviews in 2 days each supposed to last 45 minutes. Apparently in total 104 interviews were carried out in the two days.

Running from room to room with a very short break between them. To say it was mad was a complete and utter understatement. I am sure it was the same for the rectors involved. We were all in our best behaviour. It is a strange process. It is not job interviews! We are not competing against each other as God has created us uniquely, however we could have easily slipped into that mode if we were not careful.

It is also strange as all of us lot who are looking for curacies care about each other, we have ate together, lived, prayed, worshipped together for the last 2 1/2 years and now find ourselves going through this process together.

So what is the next stage?

Well now that the interviews are over, we are putting down in order of preference our number 1,2 and 3 parishes. The rectors also in turn will put down their 1,2 and 3 candidates by next thurs

mmm ... please do continue to pray for us all as we discern our way forward.

But as I said at the start of this blog. Today, Thurs was just back to normal Old Testament and away from college.

So .... its back up to belfast on Saturday and back down to Dub on Sunday for the start of a new Semester!

Robert.

The week to come

It is quite funny how many weeks go by without thinking ... then you get one which is important and you think ... o crumbs how did we get to this week now ... I thought it was a long way off ... but its here.

OK, maybe I am just rambling now, but this week is an important week for all of us final years in college - it is the week of the interviews. On Tues and Wednesday this week a bus full of rectors from all over Ireland will descend on college and interview us lot.

What will they be asking? - You never know!

It is quite bizarre feeling really - I know that God has called me, that he will equip me with all I need, and am totally reliant on him. There will be big decisions to be made in the next week but at the moment I can honestly say I have a tremendous peace about it. God is in control and that is absolutely fantastic. There is no place I'd rather be.

Please do pray for all of us final years in college (or the Institute!) at the moment and the rectors from the curacies.

My major prayer points at the beginning of this week are:

• That God would open doors wide and shut others tightly
• That all of us would keep the bond of friendship and fellowship that we have had throughout the years in college
• That rectors and students would have open and honest discussions during the interviews.
• That all involved in the process would be guided by the Holy Spirit.

Robert

Romans 12:1-8

Sermon preached in St. Bartholomew’s Parish – Stranmillis
Sunday 4th January 2009 – Evening Prayer Service

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

On this, the first Sunday of 2009, I wonder have you made any new years resolutions? – Maybe giving up something or taking up something

One particular website I was reading this week gives a top 10 of new year Resolutions:

1. Spend More Time with Family & Friends
2. Fit in Fitness
3. Loose weight
4. Quit Smoking
5. Enjoy Life More
6. Quit Drinking
7. Get Out of Debt
8. Learn Something New
9. Help Others
10. Get Organized
All of these are of course great in themselves – getting more out of life. However statistics show
That 52% of were confident of success with their goals only 12% actually achieved their goals.

New Year is a great time to stop and look and listen, to reflect and to take stock of where we are.

As Christians it is important to do the same –we are called to bring our actions, our words, our thoughts into line with Jesus’ teaching, into line with what scripture tells us.

Let us then look into the text of tonight Epistle reading Romans Chapter 12 which can be found on page 1139

One of the drawbacks of the Lectionary which our church uses is the fact we dip in and out of books which is exactly what we are doing tonight.

The first word in our reading is “therefore”. In our studies when we see this word in a passage we simply have to ask “What is it there for?”.

Chapter 12 comes in after 11 chapters in Pauls letter to the Romans explaining the good news of Jesus systematically, answering many of the objections and questions which the Roman Christians had, he has if you like, tackled the major difficulties they had with believing that Jesus is the messiah and lots of the issues people have had with the Christian message.

Now he gets onto the practical outworking of this message – Therefore, he says to his readers, present your bodies as a living sacrifice

To offer their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.

Let us take a few moments to stop and think about this – what does it mean?

In our day, sacrifice seems such an alien concept when one is looking to get the most out of life and society tells us to get wealthy, look after number 1!

Let us remember the context which this was written, a time when there was many temples to many gods, and the idea of sacrifice was everywhere.
The reasons behind the sacrifices were also diverse – to placate the gods, sacrifice too was in the Jewish mindset – we know that throughout the Old Testament there was many rules around the sacrificial system. When it comes to Christian teaching – what do we mean by a living sacrifice?

We also understand that there are various types of sacrifice – Atoning sacrifice – That is – to remove sin. As Christians we know that Jesus was the all sufficient Sacrifice, however what we are talking about here is the thanksgiving sacrifice.

Well, when we think about sacrifice, it would be an animal who has no idea what they are doing, what is happening to them,

As rational human beings if we are to be a living sacrifice, the altar is not the best place to be, its not a natural place to find ourselves, it is not a comfortable place to be.

The problem with a living sacrifice is that it jumps off, again and again and again.

As Christians we are not tied down on the altar like animal sacrifices – the living sacrifice has the option not to be, we have to decide to be.

What does this look like in every day life. Quite simply it means us surrendering our will to God, it is asking “What would Jesus do” in this or that circumstance. This is not a natural thing to do.


Think for the moment of the offertory prayer which we pray

For thine O Lord is the Greatness, the power, the glory, the victory and the majesty
All things come from thee and of thine own have we given thee

When we look at sacrifice in these terms, if we think that God has given us life then our prayer becomes – we want to know you, we want to give it all back to you God as a thank offering.

It is then amazing what happens when we do – he uses us to be a blessing to others

Although we offer ourselves as sacrifice, we come to realise that it is the only way to live the only way to make sense of the world – things slot into place.

Jesus in John’s Gospel says – in 10:10 I have come that they may have life and have it to the full

In our world today it is not easy being a Christian – In Northern Ireland on the surface we are a peaceful country, no persecution of Christians however there is growing apathy towards the gospel, growing secularisation of society, consumerism replacing the gospel values. However, positively, we do have the opportunity to reach out to those who are seeking answers to the deepest questions.

We as Christians need to realise that we have a radical alternative way of life, answers to the fundalmental questions of existence and to eternal issues.

We can be an iguana – blending into whatever colour of background we find ourselves but surely we should me more like an elephant – standing tall ready against whatever we find.

It is a shame to think that there are so many Christians who are conforming to the worlds beliefs and prevailing cultures – and not standing up for what the Bible teaches.

We are challenged in this passage to be transformed so that we will be able to discern what God’s will is.

So far we have seen that Paul is urging his readers
- to think about their lives lived as sacrifices to God
- to look at the prevailing culture and to critique it and not to necessarily conform to it

Finally I believe that there is challenge to the church corporately in this passage – to realise that each person is unique, different people, different gifts, talents, skills and passions. Your gifting is not my gifting, the circle of your friends are not my circle of friends. Each of us has a different task to do, a different job to do.

Whatever you do – it can be done in a way which brings glory to God.

The word Christian literally means “Little Christ’s”. The church here - St. Bartholomew’s has lots of little Christ’s - people who are living out the gospel in the midst of the community, people who are using the gifts, their talents, their time – both in the church, its societies and through worship. If you are doing that, be encouraged, If you would like to become involved then have a chat with the rector, the wardens.


Paul is urging his readers to:
- Think about their lives lived as sacrifices to God
- To critique the prevailing culture
- To realise that each individual is unique in their gifting and needs the support of one another in the Christian community
Therefore, in light of all of this and to conclude I wonder what our Christian Resolutions could be this year?

How do we know how to live our lives as Christians?
Could we commit to reading the Bible Daily – if we find it difficult some good reading notes are available.

Could we maybe seek to do a bible study in the parish? – maybe speak to the rector or curate.

How do we critique the prevailing culture?
Do we know what is happening in our land? What the issues concerning our neighbours and friends are? What should the church be doing about them?

Could we pray for the church? Either at home or at the parish prayer meeting

If we believe that the church is the body – do we know where we fit in?
Do we know where our gifts are?, what do we enjoy doing? Could we make tea on a Sunday morning? Could we welcome people at the door? Could we do the occasional prayers? Do we know what needs done?

What could we do this year to build the church here in Stranmillis as well as our faith in Christ.

Let us pray

Heavenly Father

We pray that you would challenge us to change those things in our own lives which are conforming to the worlds standards and not to yours and at the start of this new year we pray that you would speak into our lives and help us to identify those areas in which we need to work on. In Jesus name we pray amen.

From the wee burrow that is CITI

Well folks, 2009 is here with avengence 

This year started with me in an african - irish service .... what a strange way to begin the year. I went to the dublin and Glendalough watchnight service in Tallaght. It was fantastic - the church was full, the worship was good, the prayers were ...well ... what can I say but "spirit filled". Plenty of Halleluia's and Amens at the top of the voices. A great way to bring in the new year. The bit that got me was that the whole service was focusing on one particular verse ... Jeremiah 29:11-12 which of course means an awful lot to me and it was great to be able to focus on that for this year in particular.

So a couple of thoughts as I go into this new year 

Hope - There is much talk around about despair and depression at the moment with the economic downturn. What should our response as Christians be? ... if people have had the carpet pulled from under them, jobs lost, incomes down ... or whatever else may be going on there is always hope, there is always a future. 

Future - this year, will see changes in all of us here in college, we are embarking on an amazing adventure and only God know at this point where it will end. Whatever happens over the next months, it will promises to be an exciting journey. Of course it will not be a simple straight course, it will undoubtably have its ups and downs, its unexpected corners. One thing that I do know and hold fast to is that he has the plans. 

Over the course of the last couple of weeks I have been doing a lot of thinking about one particular area of theology which popped its head up in the last of my sermons which I would like to do a wee bit more thinking on ... the area of the "eschatological tension" - between the coming of the kingdom and the fulfilment of the Kingdom at the eschaton. Might do a separate blog on that in the near future! 

On the road again

After a three day break ... Robert on tour continues

Me and my wee suitcase has been all over the country, many miles have been clocked up, many, many cups of coffees with rectors both those on and not on the curacy list.

For the remainder of the holidays ... all of 1 week left I am heading to belfast tomorrow to St. Barts for placement - pastoral visits and a wedding rehersal which will be a new experience.

Then its off to the metropolis of Monaghan

And down to dublin for a couple of days to get my head showered and a couple of sermons sorted out. boyz a boyz where does the time go ... before coming back up north for next weekend!

Engaged

With a title like that I was just thinking this would be a sure way to pluck up a little bit of internet traffic from friends!

Well yes it is true, but it is the "who?" question which I know you are asking!!!!

Well the answer is: I'm actually talking about my wee sis Claire and her fiance Paul Carson ... after going out now for years and years. He popped the question last night ... and clearly she said yes.

Congratulations to both of them. awwwwh.... so that's a wee bit of news from the Ferris household this christmas time. :-)

Isaiah 61- Celebrations midst despair

A sermon preached on Sunday 14th December at St. Bartholomews' Parish Church, Stranmillis Morning Prayer service as part of my Final Year Placement.

Let us pray
Heavenly father may your written word be the source of my spoken word
and through the inspiration of your Holy spirit
point to your son the living word
in whose name we pray amen


Before I launch into this sermon, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the huge cast, technical people, musicians and director of the “Percy” performance last week – it was amazing!


Please do turn in your Pew Bibles to Isaiah 61


I wonder what you make of this morning’s OT reading – From Isaiah – It is great to hear good news after a week of extremely bad news – Pork, collapse of more businesses, unemployment, cholera in Zimbabwe

Each day when I read the news papers or as I have been working on essays this week I have been connected to the BBC website finding out what has been happening in the world lots of bad news stories.

When we put Isaiah into his historical context it was spoken to a people who were experiencing the most heart wrenching tragedy:

Exile, which meant that a foreign army came in and took the inhabitants from one land as prisoners to another land, broken families,
economic ruin,
the unknown future – extremely bad news of the worst kind –
and what’s more they were not simply watching it on Television they were living it.

If we were looking on, if we had video footage of this time period, it would be natural for us to say
• Lord, where are you?,
• why are you letting this happen to them?
• Are they not your people?
• Do you not care?

I am sure that from time to time we can relate to these questions as we look on in so many of the circumstances we see in out world today. Not only with international situations, but also with problems we encounter on a day to day basis.

Maybe even in our own families or in our groups of friends we can also identify with of this sort of thought – where are you Lord?, It was into this situation which this reading speaks into.


As I have read and prayed through this passage over the last week or so one word kept coming back to me, in regard to this passage celebration and I’ll explain why as we go through the passage – however, I thought – seeing that it is coming up to Christmas – I’d get the parishioners in St. barts a present … please do pass the sweets around! Although do try and not rattle the papers too much!!!


Where is the celebration?

Isaiah proclaims, A time is coming when sorrow will be put to bed, a time when the broken hearted will be built up, a time when the captives will be set free.

The Bible tells us The world is a messy place, it is not how it should be – there is no denying that!

But equally, and especially in this season of Advent we are looking forward to both remembering the first coming of Jesus at Christmas and looking ahead to his second coming.

This prophecy, this message for God’s people, yes had its first airing at time of complete and utter desperation that was the exile however we see in the gospels how it applied to another time 800 years or so later when Jesus declared himself as the fulfilment (See Luke’s Gospel) – the exile was over however the Israelites had another ruler – the Romans.

Many, if not all of us here in church this morning know the stories of Jesus’ Miracles, of his teaching and of the impact that he had on the early church; but how many of us stop and think about what it means to say that Jesus is the fulfilment of this prophecy –
He said it himself in the Synagogue in Nazareth – he is the one to whom Isaiah is ultimately pointing. The Messiah, the anointed one – “today this has been fulfilled amongst you”.

The other amazing thing about God is that he is timeless and this prophecy is still to find fullness of meaning in our time – and will only find complete fullness in the Kingdom of God which Jesus came to inaugurate

This is amazingly good news – both to the Israelite thousands of years ago and also to us today - when we look around at society and where we are going as a people.

In our prayer book we have a service entitled “A Celebration of Wholeness and healing” which sums this passage up and indeed what the Birth of Jesus accomplished for the world.









When it comes to Christmas – we are going to have a celebration

Listen to some of the Good news this passage announces:
• Good news,
• proclaim freedom to the captives,
• comfort to those who mourn,
• crown of beauty,
• oil of gladness,
• display of splendour,
• rebuilding, renew, justice, everlasting covenant, rejoice, growth



At the moment we are living in the in-between times of the kingdom – between the beginning and the fulfilment of the kingdom. There is a tension there

Sometimes in a party we can be there in body but wishing to be elsewhere,
we don’t really want to be there,
we feel maybe that we are not welcome – this passage says to us that there is good news - we are welcome, we are included in the celebration.
Remember the parables of the banquet Jesus told – the guy who was giving the banquet went out and gathered anyone he could into the party.

I wonder if we are a people of celebration? – have we actually realised the joys of the kingdom, the reality that as John has written in his Gospel – that Jesus came so that we may have life and have it to the full...

I don’t mean walking around the streets with a fake smile, saying everything’s fine when it clearly is anything but.

But a depth of relationship in him whom we can rely totally and utterly upon,
• through the struggles,
• through both the good and the bad times,
• through the seasons of mourning,
• through the seasons of captivity,
• through the darkness, through the seasons of despair,
• when we have been wronged, when we are ill.

Wholeness and healing

Around us all, we do not have to look far, to see that there is darkness, there is despair. But the Christian hope, the Christian faith, the Christmas season is all about the light, the word being spoken which will shatter the darkness. We no longer have to be slaves to the darkness, the captives are freed.

Sunday by Sunday in every service we have a confession and absolution – through jesus we have been cleansed from sin and assured of peace. We are a people of this prophecy.

As advent is a period of preparation – how are we preparing for Christ’s coming celebrating his birth?
Are we a people of celebration?, do we know that peace, that joy, that wholeness within our own lives?

There are many things which try to steal it – alcohol, drugs, debt are some of the common ones in our society today – are they something we need to deal with?

What preparations do you know you need to make for Christmas in your own life to make this years celebration a celebration of healing and wholeness which Christmas needs to be?



The sting in the tail of this passage (if I can call it that) is that if we take this passage seriously, if we believe that we are called to the celebration, if we believe that the broken hearted should be built up, if we believe that those who mourn should be comforted, if we believe that the captives should be released, if we believe God should be doing these things, if we believe that the kingdom should be built up then yes we need to be doing something about it.

God can do it but needs us to work in partnership with him.

Who do we know that needs this good news – The first verse says it all – “the spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon __ who? Because he has anointed me to preach good news.

Lets celebrate Christmas … as Christians it is our most amazing time of the year, but also lets remember the challenge that we, all of us need to proclaim that news to the world – the world around us, the people we meet on a daily basis – all of us have great news – the best news to share.





Let’s pray …

Heavenly father,
We pray for as we prepare ourselves to celebrate Christmas this year speak to us about those things which distract us from you, help us not to be simply hearers of your word, but also doers of the same.
In Jesus’ name we pray – AMEN

Suitcase living ... and steping

At the moment in college it is difficult to find the time to stop and catch up with what is actually happening. In the midst of essays, reading and all the rest. This evening in chapel was one time when I actually stopped and looked around at what was going on.

"Be Still for the presence of the Lord, the holy one is here"

One more step along the world I go,
one more step along the world I go;
from the old things to the new
keep me traveling along with you:

Refrain:
And it's from the old I travel to the new;
keep me traveling along with you.

2.
Round the corner of the world I turn,
more and more about the world I learn;
all the new things that I see
you'll be looking at along with me:

3.
As I travel through the bad and good,
keep me traveling the way I should;
where I see no way to go
you'll be telling me the way, I know:

4.
Give me courage when the world is rough,
keep me loving though the world is tough;
leap and sing in all I do,
keep me traveling along with you:

5.
You are older than the world can be,
you are younger than the life in me;
ever old and ever new,
keep me traveling along with you:

How much at the moment do we as ordinands need to pray this song into our hearts ... keep me travelling along with you.

Last night in Chapel Johnny was taking Late Evening office and what he said was sooo timely - when Jesus sent out the 12 he told them to go and "preach teach and heal ... to take nothing with them ... just get on with the job" At the moment in my life I know that it is so tempting to look at parish profiles and see if I would be "comfortable there" but that is not what it is about at all. It is about hearing from God, about being where I can be of use to him, of being a part of his body in the right place for the next few years.

I really do pray that from the old things to the new that he would keep me travelling along him

It is sooo good this weekend not to have to be packing up my trunk and heading up the road. ahhh the luxury!