tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42582459008237930772024-03-18T09:46:53.942+00:00Derwent Valley ParishesLife & reflections from the Parishes of St. Cuthbert, Benfieldside and St. John, Castleside - in the Diocese of DurhamMartin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.comBlogger581125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-9168278085810931932024-03-17T18:50:00.004+00:002024-03-17T18:50:46.004+00:00Night Prayer for use in Passion-tide<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/-h-j9i1V7Uc?si=ySo_U7afKFWwb13W" width="480"></iframe><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Night Prayer for use in Passion-tide. Use any time up to Easter - but having been prayed first on </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">17 March, there's also something about St. Patrick...</span></span></div>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-8388150817039965002024-02-27T21:55:00.002+00:002024-02-29T11:59:20.600+00:00Night Prayer for Lent<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/TixIhuI620U?si=G-aTgZW_l4LMPP0X" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TixIhuI620U/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It's been some time since we went "live" - but here we are with the service of Compline for Lent, and celebrating the priest & poet George Herbert.</span></div>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-53467309476866340782024-02-27T16:42:00.001+00:002024-02-27T16:42:26.721+00:00Holy Seasons – Holy Time…<p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">Look towards the final pages of <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AnZLaSlprV1AYpZbjnJCPMPkJwoJwU5u/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">the March issue of our Parish Magazine</a> and you’ll see that we are carrying two short articles about Good Friday and Easter. I was interested to read how Sir Isaac Newton had tried to calculate the date of the first Easter – was he right? What we do know is that the date of Easter as we celebrate it now moves around. This year it’s quite early on 31st March – though only for western Christians; most Eastern Orthodox Churches won’t celebrate Easter until 5th May this year, which is almost as late as they can do so! It all depends on the moon and how it corresponds to the calendars which are in use today.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">How many people notice these things? Well, schools are having to this year since it’s making the current teaching term very short! And most people will be looking forward to an extended Bank Holiday Weekend, regardless of their faith. Another season has been mentioned in the News over the last few days – Ramadan – not simply because it’s a season observed with great seriousness by millions of Muslims, but also because it begins on the date of the deadline which the Israeli government has given to Hamas for the release of hostages if there is to be any cessation or pause in the hostilities in Gaza. For a month from the evening of 10th March, faithful Muslims will fast and pray. It’s a time which will coincide with the second half of the Christian observance of Lent.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">How will we all use that time? I’d just like to point out that the whole of the month of March should be special to us as Christian. If you feel you haven’t got started on Lent – here’s your opportunity to use it as we seek to come closer to God in Christ. Every day but one during March is a day of Lent with the final week coinciding exactly with Holy Week; and the final day of the month will be Easter Day – the culmination of our Lenten journey as we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection to new life. So every day of the month can be put to good use – if only we have the will.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;">If anyone would be my disciple let him take up his / her Cross every day and follow me, says Jesus. It’s an invitation to an everyday faith – let’s take it seriously every day in this month of March. Let us find, at its end, the Risen Lord waiting for us.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><b>Martin Jackson</b></span></p><div><br /></div>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-4498897147705863732024-02-26T12:03:00.004+00:002024-02-26T17:48:10.050+00:00Take up your cross and follow him...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu9v-rFEmgOR9kmRM_OF2Lgf0wV96HAfjjwEnnj9sX7AJxj4vrb4n49BKAZ6RlDomL9OIt4WxM6FxqWP0-Cw5_Ad5vvw2siIzK_aT-TYUXUI3GeiekFn7umnuHwsVWFezhJc3Anp07sZZ7YUM_Wc5rHWzYeeuCCFCbbkfGSV6tkyLpcTNVqAJBDdFhFNBx/s2130/Artwork-Lent-logo-colour-feb24-dn.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1872" data-original-width="2130" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu9v-rFEmgOR9kmRM_OF2Lgf0wV96HAfjjwEnnj9sX7AJxj4vrb4n49BKAZ6RlDomL9OIt4WxM6FxqWP0-Cw5_Ad5vvw2siIzK_aT-TYUXUI3GeiekFn7umnuHwsVWFezhJc3Anp07sZZ7YUM_Wc5rHWzYeeuCCFCbbkfGSV6tkyLpcTNVqAJBDdFhFNBx/w200-h176/Artwork-Lent-logo-colour-feb24-dn.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">2nd Sunday of Lent – Eucharist – 25.ii.2024<br /></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">(Genesis 17.1-7, 15-16; Romans 4.13-25; Mark 8.31-38)</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here’s a story from America:</span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: medium;">There is a gravestone back near Kearney, Nebraska which has on it the name, Susan Hale. As a young bride, Susan and her husband were part of the gold rush on the Oregon Trail, but she drank some contaminated water, came down with a high fever, and died before they reached Fort Kearney. Her husband made a coffin for her body using the wood of their wagon. He buried his wife on the highest ground he could find, and marked the grave with wooden stakes so that he would be able to find the place again after he had gone on West and made his fortune. But he changed his mind. Instead of going west, he retraced his steps back eastward to St. Joe, Missouri, which was the closest outpost of European life. There he had a stonecutter cut into granite his wife’s name and the date of her death. Then he tried to get someone to haul it westward, but no one would. They didn't have time or space; their wagons were loaded, and they were impatient to get to the gold fields. So he bought a wheelbarrow, put the stone on it, and pushed it all those miles to Kearney and set it up over her grave.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">That’s the story of the grave. There is no indication as to whether the husband ever made it to Oregon or California or found his fortune. You can only reflect on what might seem like a foolish thing, a costly gesture pushing the barrow all that way. Why did he do it? Perhaps it was because he knew that there are some things that we cannot easily and conveniently walk away from; he knew that there are some values in this life that are too important to neglect. The easy thing to do would have been to dig a shallow grave and leave the body there. But he did the hard thing. He chose a road few would take and made a journey out of love. That is the road, Jesus says, that leads to life – the costly path which is the path of love.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today’s Gospel reading shows us Jesus on the road with the disciples. And as they go he begins to speak of his approaching death, ‘that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected.... and be killed, and after three days rise again.’ The disciple Peter immediately takes him to task. Surely this isn’t the way God works, he says. It is hard to believe. What does this Gospel reading concerning Jesus’ death have in common with today’s other readings. Our Old and New Testament readings are concerned with Abraham, a man given a promise by God that the generations descended from him will know the fullness of God’s blessing. For Abraham the hope is of continuity, of descendants in their millions, one generation after another. Talk of Jesus’ death, on the other hand, speaks of disruption and the denial of all that his followers might hope for – who will they follow if Jesus is taken from them?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Perhaps the problem is that we don’t see the whole picture. The story of Abraham is a long story which we rarely read in its entirety. It involves him in a long journey. He hears the call of God, he leaves behind his homeland to strike out across the desert, believing, but not knowing, that God will be faithful to his promise. He is brought into the land of Canaan, but he never comes to a land that he will possess. At best he can live amongst other peoples as a guest, always on the move grazing his flocks where he can. For the sake of responding to God’s call, he puts himself at risk of famine, in danger from feuding kings... When in his old age his wife finally bears him a son, his faith is tested most sorely as God seems to ask him to be ready to give up that son as a sacrifice. It’s a sacrifice which is not in the end required, but throughout Abraham is a man for whom the easy road is not an option. And in all his travelling, he has no more than a promise to go on – no fulfilment for himself, only the belief that God will work through the people who follow, because of his faithfulness to God’s call.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">And Peter, the disciple who has had the faith to leave his livelihood behind and to follow Jesus, the one who has recognised Jesus as the Christ, God’s chosen one,.... like us he can’t see the whole picture. Can Peter be expected to see how Jesus’ death will play a part in fulfilling his purpose? No one can. Jesus himself says it’s beyond our understanding when he tells Peter, ‘you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things.’ But what else should Peter think about? The human is where we are, and what we are called to be.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Except that the way of Christ is to show us what is truly human by bringing God into our human picture – by entering even into human suffering and death. The invitation Jesus extends to his disciples is not one to be accepted lightly: ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’ We can’t think that anyone who heard Jesus say this when he said it could possibly have understood what he meant. Only after Jesus’ death and resurrection, only after they had begun to live the Christian life for themselves could it possibly make sense. Like the husband of Susan Hale who buried her body, meaning to carry on and make his fortune before returning to her grave – it was only when he’d buried her that he could understand the different road he had to take, the burden he must bear out of love.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">What does it all mean for us as Christians? – to take up the cross and follow Jesus? In his great book, ‘The Cost of Discipleship’, Dietrich Bonhoeffer makes the distinction between ‘cheap grace’ and ‘costly grace.’ Grace is the gift of God, freely given for our sake, without any price. It can’t be earned – because it’s a gift! But do we give it any real value? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>‘Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church,’ writes Bonhoeffer. ‘We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack’s wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices... Grace without price; grace without cost!... Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian “conception” of God.... Cheap grace... amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, ... (it is) grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>(But) costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has.... Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ....’</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">These are words which Bonhoeffer wrote in the years after Hitler had come to power in Germany. They are remembered because Bonhoeffer himself was to live them out so fully. Arrested by the Nazis, he spent the last two years of his life in prison. His last words were recorded by an English officer held in the same jail who attended a service he took on April 8th 1945. Scarcely had the service ended when two men in civilian dress ordered him, ‘get ready to come with us.’ That officer, Payne Best, records: “Those words ‘come with us’ – for all prisoners had come to mean one thing only – the scaffold. We bade him goodbye – he drew me aside – ‘This is the end,’ he said. ‘For me the beginning of life.’.... Next day at Flossenburg he was hanged.”</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Bonhoeffer had recognised that the way of Christ was the way of the Cross – putting faith into practice, he lived out his own conviction, ‘When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.’ Is this the road on which we are called? Perhaps most shocking is the fact that round the world Sunday by Sunday, hundreds of millions of Christians can hear the story of Christ’s passion and death repeated – and that’s it!.... We just hear it. So much more honest is the response of Peter who tells Jesus off, who cannot grasp what Jesus is saying and tells him so.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Each Sunday in Lent the blessing at the end of the service is given: “Christ give you grace to deny yourselves, take up your cross and follow him....” But do we want that sort of grace? Are we ready to follow? Are we ready to put ourselves out just a little from our established routines? What choices do you face today? What roads are before you in your life? Which one will you choose? The well-travelled path? Or the path of least resistance? Will you choose that way which leads you in the footsteps of Christ? We need to remember that God is with us in our choosing. God is with us as we travel. By the way of the Cross, God is calling us to life. </span></p><div><br /></div>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-77721258743602243432024-02-26T11:53:00.001+00:002024-02-26T11:53:45.498+00:00Panto Season - in Lent!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpdkXwnHIpwfA-JnJ1Grh60szToEpwonl6eHSmC4bFICw7wM91viSFf7FTkGGZ5NzqbTldXflC5jv0lRRd3Bf3Re0Hro6MjZNVa54KWuwYoZAQ3V_7btQGAaq6wkHKJ0o2fA0HF-ZODxKwPHMvVeB8kuNhJLtLI4fRz_xNWGfn7ta7LA3aEqCVkZoE9GA/s720/Pantomime%20-%20sjc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="506" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpdkXwnHIpwfA-JnJ1Grh60szToEpwonl6eHSmC4bFICw7wM91viSFf7FTkGGZ5NzqbTldXflC5jv0lRRd3Bf3Re0Hro6MjZNVa54KWuwYoZAQ3V_7btQGAaq6wkHKJ0o2fA0HF-ZODxKwPHMvVeB8kuNhJLtLI4fRz_xNWGfn7ta7LA3aEqCVkZoE9GA/w450-h640/Pantomime%20-%20sjc.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-52804726131067678142024-02-08T17:27:00.000+00:002024-02-08T17:27:10.712+00:00Lent is coming<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL5kQUDrlQ0K9kY10Nrwf1GPiPVgqewmOlmymSMzwg0rz0PKonKLnLQ-yNU_BzKYK57PrEQjKlIudCQP-EIyYLij29HrtQC6kgNdHl6sU_uGH-Rizsd2EkvSx-RsQCVV2Yot4yCOlUAW4JPOW0HdSrkNb0NWNSqMI3YERzLC0-28fPRAgnrR3FA9nis-3m/s3504/Document_2024-02-08_145635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3504" data-original-width="2480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL5kQUDrlQ0K9kY10Nrwf1GPiPVgqewmOlmymSMzwg0rz0PKonKLnLQ-yNU_BzKYK57PrEQjKlIudCQP-EIyYLij29HrtQC6kgNdHl6sU_uGH-Rizsd2EkvSx-RsQCVV2Yot4yCOlUAW4JPOW0HdSrkNb0NWNSqMI3YERzLC0-28fPRAgnrR3FA9nis-3m/w453-h640/Document_2024-02-08_145635.jpg" width="453" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-64411951446237772392023-12-27T12:53:00.002+00:002023-12-27T12:53:55.599+00:00In the darkness - light<p></p><p class="MsoTitle"><span style="font-size: large;">Sermon for Christmas Night – Eucharist – 24.xii.2023</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">(Isaiah 9.2-7; Titus
2.11-14; Luke 2.1-20)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpUG_w639Ksr2wqA3t0RlyRDgVQ_9DmZl6QRcOTa9w8KSpW5VHvfUz8gBra-cpzLHBLwz8XSsC_nc3uAyG0p-GFdHtiUuQ2TEF88mpMPBXex5GZmse78GxpNDy14SnDP6Zz6KJ8wfgKh4Zz9XP5NEPFWDMaJrwYEwhPHVBrB7VFFhxLoZc9pR3vvwe_23z/s4032/20200203_111405892_iOS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpUG_w639Ksr2wqA3t0RlyRDgVQ_9DmZl6QRcOTa9w8KSpW5VHvfUz8gBra-cpzLHBLwz8XSsC_nc3uAyG0p-GFdHtiUuQ2TEF88mpMPBXex5GZmse78GxpNDy14SnDP6Zz6KJ8wfgKh4Zz9XP5NEPFWDMaJrwYEwhPHVBrB7VFFhxLoZc9pR3vvwe_23z/w400-h300/20200203_111405892_iOS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The people who walked
in darkness have seen a great light;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">those who lived in
a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">This is the Christian hope – and the
hope at the heart of Christmas – the hope to which we need to hold. Light
entering into the darkness; light shining in and through the darkness. The words
are those of Isaiah who wrote several centuries before the birth of Jesus. But we
hear them at Christmas because he looks to the coming of a Messiah – a Saviour
for his people. And those words about light resonate perhaps because we think
of the birth of Jesus being at night:</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,<br />
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth;<br />
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,<br />
'Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.<br />
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,<br />
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In the
darkness of the night, the Christ-child comes to bring light. In the darkness
of a stable, <i>his</i> is the light that shines from the manger.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I began
with those words of Isaiah:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The people who walked
in darkness have seen a great light;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">those who lived in
a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">These are the first words of our
first reading in this Eucharist. But in fact I find myself struck still more by
the words which follow on in these words of prophecy:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">You have multiplied
the nation, you have increased its joy;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">they rejoice before
you as with joy at the harvest, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">as people exult
when dividing plunder.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For the yoke of
their burden, and the bar across their shoulders,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">the rod of their
oppressor, you have <i>broken</i> as on the day of Midian.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For all the boots
of the tramping warriors<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">and all the
garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Isaiah is writing about the hope of
his people – that after all their sufferings there will come a time of joy and
release from all that has burdened them. Isaiah had written about the failings
of kings and other rulers. He knew the failures of his own people and the
desire of their neighbours to raid, pillage and conquer. Much of his writing is
a foretelling of his nation’s fate, to be defeated in war, to have their cities
and towns laid waste, for so many of their people to be displaced and deported
to a land which is not theirs. You read Isaiah and you realise that there is
nothing new in the sufferings of our world today. His oracles prophesy
devastation for the nations who bring war upon Israel – and amongst them the
cities of Damascus, southern Lebanon, Babylon and Philistia. Isaiah looks to
the time when the Israelites will put aside their own differences and instead, “they
shall swoop down on the backs of the Philistines in the west” (Isaiah 11.14). There
is violence through and through – and this is a particular vengeance directed
at those very people, the Philistines, who lived roughly in the area of the
modern Gaza Strip. Remember that Philistine is the word from which the modern term
Palestine / Palestinian derives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
switch on the news and what we see is a warfare and enmity known all too well
to Isaiah, writing over two and a half thousand years ago.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">“The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.” We can be only too aware of the continuing darkness
of war, oppression, injustice and fear, hostage-taking, hunger and the longing
for deliverance. But Isaiah <i>does</i> give us some <i>hope</i> in the midst
of his grim survey of a world he knew to be like ours:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For all the boots
of the tramping warriors<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">and all the
garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">It must be our prayer that this
should be so – the yoke of burdens lifted and the rebuilding of homes and
nations to be places of peace.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">In the darkness we pray that God’s
light may shine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">I first visited Bethlehem, the place
of Christ’s birth, in the darkness. I’d lived so near – in Jerusalem – for several
months, but I’d never made that short journey of only six or seven miles. When
finally I went there it was Christmas Eve 1977. Normally you could simply take
the Arab bus from Damascus Gate to get there. But at Christmas there were extra
security precautions in place. Applications to travel had to be made in
advance, passports produced and tickets for special buses purchased. On
Christmas Eve itself those special buses stopped short of Manger Square. We had
to show our passes and passports, go through one security checkpoint and then
another. There were soldiers and border police in abundance. As it happened
people considered the journey worth it, and there were crowds out in the square
with a festival of choirs, a huge tree and lots of decorations, the Post Office
open to stamp letters and cards with Christmas Eve, Manger Square, Bethlehem.
That was light in the darkness – and lots of noise. We made our way to the
Church of the Nativity. You might have expected more crowds there – but the big
congregation on 24 December is in the Roman Catholic Church next door. The
Church of the Nativity itself is shared by the Greek Orthodox and Armenian
Churches which celebrate Christmas on a different date. But they had given
permission to a few western pilgrims – amongst them our group of Anglicans from
Jerusalem – to visit the shrine. I remember standing in the cold and dark
waiting to go in. I remember hearing an explosion and wondering if it was a
firework or something worse. And then the descent to the chapel which marks
Christ’s birth. In the dim interior there was a group of sisters in silent
prayer. And then we made our way to the silver star set in the floor which is
said to mark the place of the manger.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0gw1z2QK-pH8mikN4Sv40f_iHw-1_0pdQqXkhwqnw1p3s4Nw90qajMmSaJ423b5Rh7LXQ09zXUr1Xk5zVAtljSIqzU-63QR7lGcLMHlYJUFiX42SGdWiWV61zwAYVwAeqocQcFpyywJX9-TgkU8qQeg9MZy9jGrZp6VV04e5guusRXaR417nmJPUo43X6/s4320/P1140831.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2432" data-original-width="4320" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0gw1z2QK-pH8mikN4Sv40f_iHw-1_0pdQqXkhwqnw1p3s4Nw90qajMmSaJ423b5Rh7LXQ09zXUr1Xk5zVAtljSIqzU-63QR7lGcLMHlYJUFiX42SGdWiWV61zwAYVwAeqocQcFpyywJX9-TgkU8qQeg9MZy9jGrZp6VV04e5guusRXaR417nmJPUo43X6/w400-h225/P1140831.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The next day I was up early to play
the piano for the 8am service of Holy Communion in our church – Christ Church,
Jerusalem. I remember sitting there, thinking how incredible it was to try to
mark the actual place of Jesus’ birth with a star, as if we could say exactly
here in this subterranean chapel was the exact position of Mary at the time she
brought her son into the world. Round the corner and up the street – aptly named
Milk Grotto Street – there’s a church which is built where milk from Mary’s
breast is said to have spilt and turned the stone floor white. How could that
be true?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">But the truth of the Incarnation, the
mystery of Christmas, is that God’s Son is born into this world in a particular
place at a particular time</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">. Somewhere, at some actual precise point, Mary gives birth to Jesus.
Heaven touches earth. Is it true?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">That’s what the poet John Betjeman
asked:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And
is it true? And is it true,<br />
This most tremendous tale of all,<br />
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,<br />
A Baby in an ox's stall?<br />
The Maker of the stars and sea<br />
Become a Child on earth for me?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">When we tell the story in stained glass, we
are telling a story which is real – of the muck and blood and sweat of childbirth
– a reality in that place which is Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. We need to
remember not only the pain and toil and tears of that moment but also the <i>joy</i>
which comes with birth, and the <i>love</i> which made it possible – the loving
purpose of God, the love of Mary and Joseph for this new-born child.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">I visited Bethlehem again in January
2020. I actually wanted to visit the monastery of Mar Saba, out in the Judaean
desert, and thought that going to Bethlehem would give me the best chance of
finding my way there (it <i>was</i>, thanks to a Palestinian taxi driver we
found in Bethlehem). But when I asked advice on the journey from an American
nun in Jerusalem, she immediately said, “You can’t go to Bethlehem. It’s on the
West Bank and too dangerous to go there.” Such are the fears we can carry. There
can be truth in our fears: it's actually illegal for Israeli citizens to visit
Bethlehem and other West Bank cities – very much for their own safety. But we
simply got on the Arab bus which took us there without any trouble. Again we
visited the chapel of Christ’s birth – this time alongside a large group of
Armenian pilgrims. You might think how just a few months ago Armenia was in the
news with its ongoing fight with its neighbour Azerbaijan and the expulsion of
most of the Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh. It’s no longer news – for us
at least. But it says something about the troubles of this world – and what we
think deserves our attention.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Wherever we
find people we can find cause for falling out, divisions, fear, hatred and
violence. It’s there in the news. Between Israeli and Palestinian, in Ukraine,
in so many countries of Africa that news coverage is barely possible. It’s in
our fear of boat people and other migrants. It’s on our own streets and even in
our own families.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It's when
it strikes home that we may want to <i>avoid</i> Christmas. But the message of
Christ’s birth is something we need to return to again and again. This year
there are no festive lights, decorations or Christmas trees in Bethlehem. But
there the true light has been born into our world. We need to pray that that
light may be born again in our hearts – and his love shine out through our
lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-79208682672679019312023-12-07T15:22:00.003+00:002023-12-07T15:22:39.840+00:00Christmas at St. Cuthbert's Church, Shotley Bridge<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNEEguDoMXffCLs0FRvJkDWDe8LeCsPIecUc2PvTcPWgilCWQNpa09hRcGDR6pztgmSZau22stcVigqzlu4EsabRpJeeiDTuP6mVgyfK-2gctMitR_htED2qa-TmsJemlsqdhXJIRceRK7dUUVHICCsApcQHJQBNPKG9YAwyvjk_-jF-qPkulQ_-valDbb/s3504/scb%20christmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3504" data-original-width="2480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNEEguDoMXffCLs0FRvJkDWDe8LeCsPIecUc2PvTcPWgilCWQNpa09hRcGDR6pztgmSZau22stcVigqzlu4EsabRpJeeiDTuP6mVgyfK-2gctMitR_htED2qa-TmsJemlsqdhXJIRceRK7dUUVHICCsApcQHJQBNPKG9YAwyvjk_-jF-qPkulQ_-valDbb/w452-h640/scb%20christmas.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-83924685092268183942023-12-07T15:21:00.002+00:002023-12-07T15:21:42.631+00:00Christmas at St. John's Church, Castleside<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyDBV8nogwzhZi5GUkH0wxK7i6HEYpUAnQ3Bm-1ipf0qOJw99oOy6nJFFu171EIcnHFjb3k04qGvi1rcSGMUjGLk4xQaDf5WkncTt5RIg5wXgJxaPSfZgb2d2i-CehRld9tDh6RSq0VeuV3cLWf-ETQFThhLbeEvwWh8dH2OFwShBvw3B46Cdvd-goxWPY/s3504/sjc%20christmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3504" data-original-width="2480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyDBV8nogwzhZi5GUkH0wxK7i6HEYpUAnQ3Bm-1ipf0qOJw99oOy6nJFFu171EIcnHFjb3k04qGvi1rcSGMUjGLk4xQaDf5WkncTt5RIg5wXgJxaPSfZgb2d2i-CehRld9tDh6RSq0VeuV3cLWf-ETQFThhLbeEvwWh8dH2OFwShBvw3B46Cdvd-goxWPY/w452-h640/sjc%20christmas.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-79713498288204742262023-11-10T18:39:00.003+00:002023-11-10T18:39:39.784+00:00Coming up!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPpuAOV85ZxzQuNOqXmz7qncdtK2F6t1ZDw0L1qZM_jZMlUB9E8ThNmd9O4MHU7CVr7z0ZFxgEAAqy4VoekNO1sYoRnwUASiTzww_3bkjconOEaVc0_3f0Sl43CuVwYfBJV0_MNIuLm5q1e4vkGPk2F4mhDy88fsMU3QXoB9gRZ27uL3FK-r4uKflahJUM/s3504/Christmas%20Fair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3504" data-original-width="2544" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPpuAOV85ZxzQuNOqXmz7qncdtK2F6t1ZDw0L1qZM_jZMlUB9E8ThNmd9O4MHU7CVr7z0ZFxgEAAqy4VoekNO1sYoRnwUASiTzww_3bkjconOEaVc0_3f0Sl43CuVwYfBJV0_MNIuLm5q1e4vkGPk2F4mhDy88fsMU3QXoB9gRZ27uL3FK-r4uKflahJUM/w464-h640/Christmas%20Fair.jpg" width="464" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-12936444803925875142023-10-08T13:22:00.000+01:002023-10-08T13:22:01.312+01:00Tenants of the Vineyard<p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Trinity 18 - Proper 22 - Year A – Eucharist – 8.x.23</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">(Isaiah 5.1-7; Philippians 3.4b-14; Matthew 21.33-46)</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0cEhjtrWUiGKwUGMHK5zdQDCJEfy418B5VQZ7aCiZjEtdSI6tw434f0OE04_vjQjZQ4WcixGDYn_x6lVgywAUGHKXmblVc0pe4tL4tQCMj1alPMI-EfV3KZMDDueLFmor_pRrS89Mixnu88cajEF6JE0NQ-2_a3u9orKvqS4rqAPEo1_Eq7qh46Ibr-Wd/s1200/ff-pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0cEhjtrWUiGKwUGMHK5zdQDCJEfy418B5VQZ7aCiZjEtdSI6tw434f0OE04_vjQjZQ4WcixGDYn_x6lVgywAUGHKXmblVc0pe4tL4tQCMj1alPMI-EfV3KZMDDueLFmor_pRrS89Mixnu88cajEF6JE0NQ-2_a3u9orKvqS4rqAPEo1_Eq7qh46Ibr-Wd/w400-h200/ff-pic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><i><span style="font-size: medium;">“Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard.” </span></i></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The words are Isaiah’s - from our first reading. But the whole story of God and of his relationship with his people is actually a love-song concerning his vineyard. God loves us. He wants us to be his people. He wants us to flourish. He wants to find in our lives the fruits which can grow when we are rooted in the love which God has for us.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Jesus takes up the image of the vineyard on a number of occasions. In recent weeks the Gospel readings we have used have given us the story of the labourers in the vineyard – where those who are called to work for the shortest time receive the same reward as those who have worked longest and through the heat of the day. We’ve heard as well the story of the vineyard owner who asks his two sons to go to work there: one says “yes,” but doesn’t go, the other refuses but in the end goes off to work – which of them does the will of his Father? What seem to be obvious interpretations of the parables are actually challenges to the way the world works and the way we think that God works. They’re challenges to us when we think we have everything worked out – but actually need to think again. They’re a challenge to us when we recognise that what we count as fairness might need to give way to justice. They’re a challenge when we recognise the limitations of our human psychology – if only we can dare to open ourselves to the mind of God.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today’s parable is at first sight a re-telling by Jesus of the story we hear in our first reading from the prophecy of Isaiah. The vineyard which the owner has painstakingly dug out, cleared and planted – with a watch tower, a wine press and the expectation that it will in due course produce fruit in the grape harvest. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But then there’s a difference. In Isaiah’s vineyard there grow only wild grapes: there’s failure - and that failure is the wrong fruit: it’s not producing what God wants – an image of the failure of God’s people in Isaiah’s time to act as God wants. All that can be done is to clear it of the vines. Even worse, it will become a wasteland and be overgrown. It’s an image which points to the defeat of the people of Judah by the Babylonian conquerors and their deportation into exile.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In the version of the story told by Jesus, there’s something different. The problem in this vineyard is not the failure of the harvest. It’s the problem of the people who are looking after the vineyard. The harvest comes. We assume that the tenants of the vineyard gather in the fruit. But then they won’t pay the rent. The landowner sends his servants to collect his dues – but the tenants simply beat them up, stone them, even kill them. Finally, the vineyard owner sends his own son – he expects they will respect him and do the right thing. But instead the tenants grab him, throw him out of the vineyard and kill him. We don’t have to think too hard to see the allusion to the Passion of Jesus himself – speaking God’s word, but rejected, taken outside the walls of the city and put to death on a Cross.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Jesus leaves his audience with a question: “when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” The answer he’s given is what we might expect: he’ll wreak vengeance on them – he’ll put them to death for their crime, and the vineyard will be put into the care of other people who will look after it better and pay their dues.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">That’s the answer which Matthew tells us Jesus is given by those who hear his story. I wonder what you would say? Many people have interpreted it as saying it’s about the replacement of the Old Testament and its people with the people of the New Testament. God had previously worked with the Jews – but now his relationship is to be with Christians, with those who hear Jesus, with us. One people replacing another (it’s called supersessionism). But is that actually the judgment that God would make?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">“He will put those wretches to a miserable death…” – and take away the land he’d given them. But that’s what the people say to Jesus. Jesus doesn’t say, you’re right. Jesus simply tells the story. Jesus gives us not an interpretation but a challenge – and that challenge might be to ask how we would act if we were the tenants who don’t want to pay their rent. What might we do to hold onto the things we want? How would we expect the vineyard owner to react? What do we think God makes of us when we are caught out doing the wrong thing?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Jesus’ telling of this parable is a story of rejection. But it’s not about the way he rejects us. It’s about the rejection of God’s way which we ourselves make. It’s about knowing what you should do, but refusing to do it. It’s about knowing how deliberately we get things wrong – and we know and expect that there’s a price to pay.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But the good news is that God’s way is not the way of rejection. It is about judgment: and the Gospel reading ends, “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.” They know that they have been found out. We have those times when we feel the weight of failure – the burden of guilt – pressing upon us like a stone which crushes. But the judgment of God is given with mercy – with a forgiveness which can make things new.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">A few weeks ago I was looking at Caravaggio’s painting of the Conversion of St. Paul. Paul – then known as Saul – is on his way to persecute the Christians of Damascus. He’s zealous for his understanding of the Jewish Law – he’s employed by those chief priests and Pharisees who had confronted Jesus. But now he’s thrown from his horse, lying on the ground, blinded by a light from heaven, hearing the voice of Christ speak directly to him. “Who are you, Lord?” he cries. Reduced to helplessness, this is where his new journey must begin. Everything he’d known seems taken away. All his “gains,” he says in our second reading, he now counts as loss because of Christ. He needs to be made anew. He will find that it’s the people he had persecuted upon whom he will have to depend. There’s judgment for Saul, but also mercy. By the time he writes to the Philippians he is sharing his faith – and it’s summed up in the words we read today: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection…” It’s a resurrection power which is possible only because Jesus has taken the way of the Cross. We can share in Christ’s risen life, only because he has first been rejected by people like Saul – people like us. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This final parable of the vineyard is a ch</span><span style="font-size: large;">allenge – a challenge first to us. Are we happy with merely getting by in our daily lives? Is our aim simply to keep possession of the fruits we think belong to us, even if they’re not what they should and could be? Do we find ourselves in contention with other people, refusing the claims which might rightfully be made on us? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Or can we recognise the place God’s plan and purpose might have for us? “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you…” says Jesus. Who is he saying that to? But the first aim of Jesus is to call people to God’s Kingdom. “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” These are the first words Matthew’s Gospel records Jesus saying as he begins his public ministry.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">God is not wanting to take things away from us. God is actually calling us to his Kingdom. He’s calling us through Jesus – even as Jesus finds himself rejected. He’s calling us through Jesus by the sacrifice he will make on the Cross out of love for the world. He’s calling us when we feel rejected and worthless. He’s calling us to see those fruits our lives can bear but which we may not value.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">At least some of the people who hear Jesus’ telling of the parable of the vineyard understand it to be told against them. But there’s something far greater when we see the place it has in God’s purpose and our calling. Jesus is calling us to see not that we are rejected but that we are called by Christ, that we can know him, that the power of his Resurrection will bring us to a new life with him.</span></p><p><br /></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-47406841251109826832023-10-04T18:20:00.002+01:002023-10-04T18:20:46.148+01:00Moorside Community Meal<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Starting Tuesday 10 October - FREE weekly Community Meal. </b></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070923196640" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">If anyone is interested in attending, please inbox our Hall Facebook page so we can get a rough estimate of people attending - click here for the link.</span></a></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EWs2RpF7kLP1gLvCUgUX1xSFQHxY76mriIGe3oanWPUiP_6Jx4Br4Cnx79mxCkIjcthDGxyKl8KrVqDpnFJTgbOkNsDnvft0CZ6yjynsp19exliUn3BS88v0-IhCJnPkkrLPijGBE0JHP3qzO8lStqQPN3SkKt34J9_UKbh3v9uWqjQipGpBZv5G03u9/s2000/Moorside%20Community%20Meal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EWs2RpF7kLP1gLvCUgUX1xSFQHxY76mriIGe3oanWPUiP_6Jx4Br4Cnx79mxCkIjcthDGxyKl8KrVqDpnFJTgbOkNsDnvft0CZ6yjynsp19exliUn3BS88v0-IhCJnPkkrLPijGBE0JHP3qzO8lStqQPN3SkKt34J9_UKbh3v9uWqjQipGpBZv5G03u9/w452-h640/Moorside%20Community%20Meal.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-40999842069016108262023-10-04T18:12:00.002+01:002023-10-04T18:12:41.498+01:00St Cuthbert's Hall Coffee Morning & Exhibition<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPvtmVXxbdVSqOv3B8b1syd0-xPvz-1yov5rBqRJ1W259NPoFCmkd24plITxDe1mmLTr-QG11IM_WHV26GcN2ki25J9XtxGUFN_xB5uOkfZxc3-iTY2h_yhqLf-PdnraI33tcLiSWKdmdA-4EsLvc41F-T7i2Gp-VwLVzjENU-k0NzFjurFjmTZElfoMBj/s1243/Hall%20Coffee%20-%20October%202023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1243" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPvtmVXxbdVSqOv3B8b1syd0-xPvz-1yov5rBqRJ1W259NPoFCmkd24plITxDe1mmLTr-QG11IM_WHV26GcN2ki25J9XtxGUFN_xB5uOkfZxc3-iTY2h_yhqLf-PdnraI33tcLiSWKdmdA-4EsLvc41F-T7i2Gp-VwLVzjENU-k0NzFjurFjmTZElfoMBj/w413-h640/Hall%20Coffee%20-%20October%202023.jpg" width="413" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-2372855725507142092023-09-07T16:34:00.003+01:002023-09-07T16:34:29.034+01:00Living our faith - finding an example<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghfrHCmTaGAUS25FXH-ILli0GnMR1_WYdtUnAwKN_RKi_Qjze2O8UUWIfBXF5Wu-PxWE4Docdp_T4jtZifHi0wPK3D6ByKGbd7hy31wOCscYuYrcJ83KxwHFhIRjZQmCHacOxRNi8r2Pa0XWjInAMfyZSOg_h3vOVOs-9plGn7TPjygVZgn12TnY76DRQ5/s4032/20230823_131238876_iOS.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghfrHCmTaGAUS25FXH-ILli0GnMR1_WYdtUnAwKN_RKi_Qjze2O8UUWIfBXF5Wu-PxWE4Docdp_T4jtZifHi0wPK3D6ByKGbd7hy31wOCscYuYrcJ83KxwHFhIRjZQmCHacOxRNi8r2Pa0XWjInAMfyZSOg_h3vOVOs-9plGn7TPjygVZgn12TnY76DRQ5/w400-h225/20230823_131238876_iOS.heic" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">My summer holiday
this year has been nine nights in Assisi followed by a final night in Rome.
This worked well to complement a short retreat I made in London at the end of
July, which I fashioned around a visit to the National Gallery’s exhibition on the
life of St. Francis of Assisi.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Arriving in London
on a Monday afternoon I thought I’d finish the day with a visit to the
exhibition - if there was more to see I could always go back, or so I thought!
But when I got to the Gallery 90 minutes before closing time it was obvious from
the length of the queue that I wasn’t going to get in. Fortunately, I was able
to book a visit online, though there wasn’t a space for another 48 hours.
Public response had been quite amazing. Seeing so many works of art and other
items from the habit Francis wore and an ancient copy of his Order’s Rule,
through Zurbaran’s paintings to Anthony Gormley’s depiction of Francis was not
only an aesthetic experience but spiritually deepening in the light it shone on
his vocation 900 years ago. A discussion I attended later in the day drew out
still more of his relevance for today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">The visit to
Assisi built on that. We’d chosen our apartment because it looked to be near
the railway station. It was - and it also turned out to be right next door to
the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, the great church built over the
Porziuncula Chapel where Francis had first formed his community and where he died.
I’d visited the church over 40 years ago and remembered being rather put off by
its baroque hugeness contrasting with the simplicity of Francis’s life. But
this time I saw the point - and was glad that we could visit it so easily on a
number of occasions. From our first evening when children were out playing
football at 11pm (too hot to sleep) on the piazza in front of the basilica,
through visits to the Porziuncula where pilgrims queued patiently and prayed
silently in the tiny chapel - to an amazing occasion when we heard music coming
from the church at 10pm and entered to find ourselves caught up in a procession
and devotion involving hundreds of people.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Also remarkable
were the conversations we had on several occasions. On our first visit to the
main town of Assisi (it’s a short bus ride up the hill above Santa Maria degli
Angeli) we came out of the Cathedral of San Rufino to be greeted by pilgrims
from Ireland and the priest who had been saying Mass for them. They wanted to
know where we had come from and why we had come - and they were eager to say
what had drawn them there. It was the same when we visited San Damiano, where
Christ is said to have spoken to Francis from the Cross, saying “Go and
re-build my church which, as you see, is falling down.” Francis took Jesus at
his word, bought mortar and stone and got to work - only later did he realise
he had a bigger task than buildings maintenance. It was outside that church
that two young women came up to us and said how pleased they were to hear
someone else speaking English - and they went on to say why they had come to
Assisi: not only drawn by the witness of St. Francis but by the example of a
young man, Blessed Carlo Acutis, who died aged just 15 in 2006, but has now
been beatified (one step short of being declared a saint) on account of his
faith.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I’d heard of
Blessed Carlo - and had thought his story of dying so young mainly as being
simply sad. But here were people who had learned about him and who wanted to
live out their lives as he did - in devotion, open about their faith, wanting
to see the lives of others changed for the better. I was impressed! And not
only by them… In San Damiano people kept the silence requested of them not only
in its buildings but all around. Above Assisi at the Eremo delle Carceri where
Francis and his companions went to pray, that stillness and silence was
apparent in the woods surrounding the ravine in which they had lived. At an
open-air altar we found a large group of young people waiting prayerfully for
their Mass to begin.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">If nothing else it
was wonderfully refreshing to escape the cynicism and harsh secularism that
characterise so much of our own society. And so good to find people from our
more worldly culture there, drawn by something which would renew their faith -
and mine!</span></p>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">What do we want from our
own faith? Often we despair or seek to attribute blame as to the Church’s
shortcomings. But when he found the church falling down, Francis set about
re-building… How should we be living out our faith? </span><div><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b>Martin Jackson</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><i>from the September issue of the Parish Magazine</i></span></div>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-7529407128824816352023-08-08T14:51:00.000+01:002023-08-08T14:51:03.571+01:00The Transfiguration of the Lord<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdReDU6t6-sFArGrqkBP_sMeV3gycJd4qxn97PA6ZZhqqtVnmdiyHIRXStwPgWU0kNMEtMDFV0OUqezX4XnuxoofqJe_xJH-aLVGLpk3kmhD06jwS4-Iqwutak1SF3CljgltNbyf1EPY06PvgBWcYMO3BHZUzSE3YSDOonCLCj3Ugps0NEy1il1qOsUvOF/s4320/P1140353.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2432" data-original-width="4320" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdReDU6t6-sFArGrqkBP_sMeV3gycJd4qxn97PA6ZZhqqtVnmdiyHIRXStwPgWU0kNMEtMDFV0OUqezX4XnuxoofqJe_xJH-aLVGLpk3kmhD06jwS4-Iqwutak1SF3CljgltNbyf1EPY06PvgBWcYMO3BHZUzSE3YSDOonCLCj3Ugps0NEy1il1qOsUvOF/w400-h225/P1140353.JPG" width="400" /></a></div> <p></p><p>Eucharist – 6.viii.23</p><p> (Daniel 7.9-10, 13-14; 2 Peter 1.16-19; Luke 9.28-36)<br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here’s a verse from today’s Gospel reading:</p><p><i>Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. </i> </p><p>The Transfiguration of Jesus into the glory he shares with God the Father is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. But it’s only St. Luke who tells us that Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain for the purpose of prayer. And again, it’s only Luke who tells us that the disciples were really too tired to do the job. </p><p>Jesus is transfigured in the midst of the disciples, the appearance of his face changes and his clothes become dazzling white, and Moses and Elijah appear to bear witness to the glory of God revealed in Christ. </p><p>Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us about Jesus’ Transfiguration in glory. But it’s only St. Luke who dares admit that the disciples were falling asleep at the very time it happened. Our translation tells us: “they were weighed down with sleep.” Bishop Tom Wright translates it as they “were heavy with sleep, but managed to stay awake.” Perhaps you know the feeling… When you’re trying to pay attention to something or someone, but try as you might you keep drifting off. “I’ll just close my eyes for a few seconds,” you say… and then you’re waking up with a start, asking yourself, “what have I missed?” And then you do it all again… Or I do anyway.</p><p>I was away on retreat just over a week ago, and I did quite a good job of staying awake. In part that was because it was a different sort of retreat which involved moving around and looking at things rather than just sitting down (and falling asleep). But something I’ve also learned is that when you’re on retreat there’s no disgrace in going back to your room after breakfast each morning and going back to sleep. </p><p>I’m glad for those times when I’ve been reminded that part of the reason for a Retreat is to rest. So we should be kind to ourselves and not be worried if we find ourselves drifting off when we try to read, pray or even listen to a talk. One of God’s promises to his people is that he will bring them to a place of “rest.” Psalm 95, the Psalm which begins the round of prayer each day for those who say the traditional daily office, contains a warning for God’s people when they go off the rails: “They shall not enter into my rest.” And the writer of the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews spends the best part of two chapters meditating on what it means to enter God’s rest. It means recognising the goodness of God’s purpose in creation… How, after he had made all things, when he had given human beings their place in the created order, God could look at it all, see that it was “very good,” and then on the seventh day himself “rest.” Sometimes we say “God’s in his heaven and all’s well with the world.” It might be that we say those words ironically, because we know that things are far from being right. But that’s exactly right in the case of God’s Creation. God’s purpose is to make all things good. He creates men and women with a purpose - he’s saying what humanity is truly about. And then in his heaven - the place where God is recognised as God, the place where his reign is undisputed - he can rest. </p><p>That’s the origin of the observance of the Sabbath in Judaism. It’s a seventh day to be kept free from work because it recognises how in creating all things good, God was then able to stand back and rest. When we recognise God’s work, his purpose and his glory, then we can enter into that same rest. It’s about communion with him. Our goal in life should be God’s purpose. It’s the opposite of our frenetic efforts to do everything our way, regardless of the cost to ourselves and others. The Sabbath rest is one of peace and harmony, but above all it’s recognising that God is God and we are his people.</p><p>Perhaps it’s when we find ourselves drifting off that we can find ourselves most open to new perceptions. That’s how it was for the disciples Peter, James and John on the Mount of the Transfiguration. St. Luke tells us that it was a real effort for them to stay awake. He doesn’t need to tell us. He could miss it out - like the Gospels of Matthew and Mark which just go straight to the vision itself. For Matthew and Mark it’s simple - Jesus takes the disciples up the mountain and they receive the vision of his glory. </p><p>For Luke though, there’s that added layer. For a start Luke tells us that there was a purpose in climbing the hill. It’s to pray. Matthew and Mark tell us it’s a “place apart.” Only Luke adds that the purpose in going there is “to pray.” And from Luke there’s the additional information that it’s while Jesus was praying that he is transfigured in glory. It’s the prayer that makes the difference. Jesus has taken the disciples up the mountain to pray and the best they can do is struggle to stay awake. But Jesus prays, and everything changes into glory. Only because the disciples manage to stay awake - and it’s obviously an effort - are they able to see something of that glory which Christ the Son shares with his heavenly Father.</p><p>If only we could see Christ in his Glory, then we could understand God’s purpose. It’s tempting to think that. Or we might still just miss the point:</p><p>Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ Peter did not know what he said.</p><p>Peter knows something special is going on, but he can’t put it into words. And when the disciples go back down the mountain just the next day we find them unable to heal a sick child. They’ve had the vision, but they still have to deal with the failures of everyday life in an all-too-real world. They’ve managed to stay awake for a vision of the Transfigured Christ. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the time of Jesus’ greatest need, they fall asleep. “Couldn’t you stay awake for just one hour?” Jesus asks them then. Elsewhere we find Gospel passages punctuated with reminders of the urgency of the task: “Stay awake!” But again and again we fail to perceive God’s purpose, drift from prayer into sleep, fall from recognition of the glory of God into the mundane where all we are conscious of is the cares of the world and our own too-pressing needs. </p><p>But notice that in the story of the Transfiguration, Jesus doesn’t tell the disciples off for being so dozy. There is that theme that our call from God is to “enter into his rest.” What the disciples see on the Mount of the Transfiguration is not the outcome of their prayer, not the result of any effort on their part. It’s simply a gift. They see what they see because God wills it, because Jesus prays - and prays in us. All that the disciples had to do was put themselves in the right place. So they go up the mountain with Jesus. The intention is that they should pray. The reality is that they fall asleep, but Jesus prays - and they wake to recognise his true glory.</p><p>As well as on this Feast Day of the Transfiguration, we read this account every year on the Sunday before Lent. In Lent we seek to make time for growth in understanding of God’s will and purpose, the chance to glimpse something of his glory. There are extra opportunities for prayer and worship, for reading alone and study together, for increased sharing in the sacraments - here in the Eucharist or by penitence or through receiving the ministry of healing. You could make yourself a very busy Christian going from one service to another, sometimes with Lent lunches and with study groups. But the point is not to wear ourselves out by our efforts. The point is simply to put ourselves in the right place. </p><p>Whatever the time of year we need to ask where is God calling me to be? What are the opportunities he offers, like that opportunity given to the disciples to climb that hill with Jesus? God’s glory is revealed to us as a gift. God calls us to receive his gift. The calling is to enter his rest, to glimpse his glory… whatever our frailty and failings to be able to say “it is good for us to be here.”</p><div><br /></div>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-91359401515534273922023-07-02T15:04:00.000+01:002023-07-02T15:04:14.428+01:00Religious Certainty - and the Test of Humanity<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> 4<sup>th</sup> Sunday after Trinity – Eucharist – 2.vii.2023 </span><span style="font-size: large;">(Proper 8)</span></p><p class="MsoTitle"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoTitle"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Genesis
22.1-14; </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Romans
6.12-23; </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Matthew
10.40-42</span></p><p class="MsoTitle"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The Revd. Martin Jackson in Christ Church, Consett</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwfMY96hbu3Qe5kOABJ2VkRFYcE4fH4A5nXLAsONStsZ3Wi9VtNHldvDwX9U6rJ5oeNrq4STKfEZktP3pgTyqyTtwvt0jsbTslWII2E5wXSXKzJVDf5YiLrOeav7G76bRaQCZRiTHcPup8Qdi9RIn3IXmTJ3B34zyCdMOjsM1EWutkvuKyEFTuK34ABAat/s500/355678175_640364604791695_364877107646093447_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwfMY96hbu3Qe5kOABJ2VkRFYcE4fH4A5nXLAsONStsZ3Wi9VtNHldvDwX9U6rJ5oeNrq4STKfEZktP3pgTyqyTtwvt0jsbTslWII2E5wXSXKzJVDf5YiLrOeav7G76bRaQCZRiTHcPup8Qdi9RIn3IXmTJ3B34zyCdMOjsM1EWutkvuKyEFTuK34ABAat/w400-h300/355678175_640364604791695_364877107646093447_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“God tested Abraham.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That’s the way our first reading
begins today. It’s a test about whether Abraham will give up that thing / that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">person</i> who is most precious to him. How
far will he travel? How far will he go? What is he prepared to do in response
to a message he takes to be from God?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The traditional understanding of the
story is to treat it as a test of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">obedience</i>.
God has given Abraham a son in his old age. He’d given up hope of children, but
then he is blessed with the birth of Isaac. It’s a sign of God’s favour - and a
promise that God will do great things with Abraham’s descendants. But then
there is this test:</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">God said, ‘Take
your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and
offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I shall show
you.’</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“So Abraham rose early in the
morning…” We’re not told anything about Abraham questioning God. Nothing about
the conflict you might expect to find in his heart or soul. No protest from
Isaac’s mother, Sarah - I wonder if Abraham actually tells her what he is going
to do; he certainly doesn’t tell Isaac. It’s all summed up in that one short
word, “So...” God speaks. Abraham listens - and his response is immediate: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">So</i> Abraham rose early in the morning…”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It was a three-day journey. Abraham
and his family had settled in Beersheba. The place where he is to offer his
sacrifice is in Moriah - identified traditionally with the rock on which the
Temple in Jerusalem would later be built. Abraham and Isaac travel with a
donkey and their servants. They take with them the wood for the sacrifice.
Abraham knows what he is going to do and he isn’t going to be foiled by finding
there’s nothing to burn when he gets there. Then the servants are dismissed and
Abraham goes on with only Isaac and the donkey. There’ll be no one to stop him.
Isaac knows they are going to offer a sacrifice. They’d probably done it
together before. He doesn’t know that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he</i>
is to be the sacrifice.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Isaac said, ‘The
fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><sub>8</sub> Abraham said, ‘God himself will
provide the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son.’ So the two of them walked on together.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Then they arrive. They build the
altar and Abraham binds Isaac and lays him on the wood of the altar. That word
“binds” perhaps distracts us from the horror of what is going on. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Binds</i> is too soft a word. Abraham <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ties him up</i> and is going to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kill</i> him. That’s the point. And he’s
going to do it because he thinks God has told him to. Do we buy that
traditional understanding that this shows the extent of Abraham’s obedience to
God? That nothing can be greater than what God tells you - even killing your
own son?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We live in a world where people do
just that. Jihadist suicide bombers ready to blow themselves up to kill as many
people as they can. Sometimes children used for the same purpose. Religious
extremists who will take a van or a truck and use it to mow people down in the
street before they get out with knives to kill still more. And they do it in
the name of their religion. Extreme violence and killing by people who are
convinced they have a divine mandate is not a new phenomenon. There’s the story
in the Bible of Jephthah, one of the Judges of ancient Israel, who makes a vow
to God:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then
whoever comes out of the doors of my house when I return victorious… shall be
the Lord’s, to be offered up by me as a burnt-offering.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Just two verses earlier we’re told
that the “spirit of the Lord” had come upon Jephthah. But now here he is
promising to make a human sacrifice. And Jephthah wins. He comes back from the
battle - and out of the door of his house comes his daughter, dancing with joy
to meet him. “I cannot take back my vow,” he says. And two months later he
takes her life as a sacrifice.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And that is what Abraham also is
ready to do. Abraham himself carries the fire and the knife as he walks with
his son to the place where he plans to kill him. “Where is the lamb for the
offering?” asks Isaac. And Abraham knows but doesn’t say. There’s a
stained-glass window in St. John’s Church, Castleside which depicts the
sacrifice of Isaac. The beauty of stained glass should not distract us from the
horrific nature of the story. Another picture I know shows the fire on the
altar already burning and Abraham holding a knife to Isaac’s throat - it is
graphic and truly horrible.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But then an angel speaks - and
Abraham hears. “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him…” Abraham
has passed the test of obedience. Or perhaps it’s a case that sanity finally
prevails. Against the blindness of religious certainty, humanity finally gains
the upper hand.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We need to hear the message of that
angel. When you’ve convinced yourself that what you’re doing is right even
though the consequences are dire and the damage you’re causing is dire, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">stop</i>! Step back. Think again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It’s something the politicians need
to do when they’ve set their course and declare their determination to see
things through regardless of the cost. It’s something that the leaders of
nations need to take to heart when national interest becomes confused with
self-interest and the end result is war, loss of life and the displacement of
peoples. But it’s something we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i>
need to act upon when we have become so convinced about our own rightness that
we cause havoc all around us, break up relationships and even destroy
ourselves.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Do not lay your hand upon the boy…”
says the angel to Abraham. But there is a terrible re-telling of the story by
the poet Wilfred Owen as he wrote amid the horrors of the First World War:</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Neither do anything to him. Behold,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But the old man would not so, but slew his son,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And half the seed of Europe, one by one.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Offer the Ram of Pride instead…” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What is it that truly keeps us from
hearing God’s Word and understanding his purpose? What gets in the way of our
humanity? Can we not recognise the call instead simply to love - and discover
truly what that means?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The window in St. John’s Church which
depicts Abraham on the point of sacrificing his son is one of a pair. The other
window shows Christ the Good Shepherd. It’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the
Ram of Pride</i> which Abraham finally needs to offer up. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It’s the care of the flock to which Jesus calls us</i>. And the words
of today’s Gospel speak to us: “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever
welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” Whatever else Jesus may be saying in
the words of today’s Gospel, he is certainly emphasising the importance of a
ministry of hospitality. Make people welcome, and you’re making Christ welcome,
and so you’re recognising something of what God is saying to the world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Where will you find Christ? Jesus
tells us:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was
naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in
prison and you visited me…</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I tell you, just as you did it to the least of these...
you did it to me.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Look beyond what you think is right because
it’s good for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i>. Look beyond the
ways of thinking in which you might have become <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">trapped</i>. When you think you hear the voice of God, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">think again</i>. But <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">listen</i> - because it is God who tells us that all the commandments
he gives are summed up in just two: to love God; and to love our neighbour as
ourselves.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibPR3AUH_yDq9pd9jJaPEM1grHslpsE8AHoTXS308JEonSnkYGoU7Mql36gt7Sq2orUmtquHZqX4VQE7CGyhZ9pHJLPbCfjNEzHlbRWTglVKHNtVdTAYNAu3IEDqWn0FEq2QrntHAlxnPWPorP4TiQxwmdZ9NjbKy_Rpj9r2Ae13TeW6ntqt8SojaECXX3/s1024/357008629_640364424791713_3493090398949958298_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="743" data-original-width="1024" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibPR3AUH_yDq9pd9jJaPEM1grHslpsE8AHoTXS308JEonSnkYGoU7Mql36gt7Sq2orUmtquHZqX4VQE7CGyhZ9pHJLPbCfjNEzHlbRWTglVKHNtVdTAYNAu3IEDqWn0FEq2QrntHAlxnPWPorP4TiQxwmdZ9NjbKy_Rpj9r2Ae13TeW6ntqt8SojaECXX3/w400-h290/357008629_640364424791713_3493090398949958298_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-61590569378096059332023-06-24T21:09:00.001+01:002023-06-24T21:09:49.751+01:00The Wreckage and the Cross<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2lsPA4eb55UJ9uetn9IoS5IAAwOic3EmTZ4WVgem2JMVhEqYNwgSX5wOiq3chZk8T-37sNndsahJwHxheaHWw0r74XG4TcCAhoPGHC4jIR5FRXFnI8_OkZwqkLjm1LQifjtM7RaZKkK2_OMcLkDFI3R9OHh75fUZJ9hzuxbMWu8mGquBtFdHfxJ1XMdza/s1280/The-Lampedusa-cross-Francesco-Tuccio-978x1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="978" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2lsPA4eb55UJ9uetn9IoS5IAAwOic3EmTZ4WVgem2JMVhEqYNwgSX5wOiq3chZk8T-37sNndsahJwHxheaHWw0r74XG4TcCAhoPGHC4jIR5FRXFnI8_OkZwqkLjm1LQifjtM7RaZKkK2_OMcLkDFI3R9OHh75fUZJ9hzuxbMWu8mGquBtFdHfxJ1XMdza/w490-h640/The-Lampedusa-cross-Francesco-Tuccio-978x1280.jpg" width="490" /></a></div><b> </b><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Trinity 3 Year A – Eucharist – 25.vi.23
(Proper 7)<br /></span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="text-align: center;">(Genesis 21.8-21; </span><span style="text-align: center;">Romans
6.1b-11; Matthew 10.24-39</span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-align: center;">)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The word ‘Gospel’ means ‘Good News’, but
how often does it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mean that for us?</i>
Today’s Gospel reading ends with an apparent warning from Jesus: ‘... whoever
does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.’ And there are
more words in today’s Gospel which may seem even more off-putting: ‘Whoever
loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son
or daughter more than me is not worthy of me...’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">What is Jesus’ invitation to discipleship
about? It’s not something to take lightly: ‘If anyone would be a follower of
me, let him take up his cross every day and come, follow me.’ How do we
understand the invitation to take up our Cross and follow Jesus, as at the same
time we struggle to take in what is going on in so many parts of the world?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The word “Gospel” means “Good News.” But
there isn’t much of that about at the moment. As I’m trying to work out what to
say this Sunday morning, I keep getting news updates about the armed mutiny
within the mercenary forces of the Russian Wagner Group - a vicious warlord is
turning against a vicious tyrant and oppressor, it seems. Is this a good thing?
Or does it mean there’ll simply be more bloodshed, fear and terror? Meanwhile
it’s easy to miss the ongoing daily violence inflicted on the Ukrainian people within
their own borders. In our own country it’s the ever-spiraling cost of living
which may be uppermost in people’s minds. How will you manage to pay your
mortgage? How will you ever be able to buy a house if you’re not already on the
housing ladder? How will so many people be able even to put food on the table?
Government borrowing is now higher than our nation’s Gross Domestic Product -
which may not mean much to people until you realise that it now costs more each
year to pay the interest on our national debts than our country spends on education.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">And the news was different again at the beginning
of the week. Former President Trump charged with various crimes, the first time
an American president has faced federal prosecution - and his response is to
turn it to his own political advantage. A former Prime Minister here in the UK
perhaps finally acknowledging that the game is up as he resigns as an MP rather
than face the House of Commons debate on the Parliamentary report as to whether
he had lied to his fellow MPs.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">And then so much attention given to the
loss of the submersible which had descended in the ocean to the depth of 3200 metres
where the wreck of the Titanic lies. This is an undeniable tragedy with a
massive search, hopes raised as the capsule was detected, but then dashed with
the probability that an implosion had caused the deaths of its five passengers
before the search ever began. It says something that so much attention was
given to the search. It says something more that the previous week only 79
survivors were taken from the wreck of a boat carrying around 700 migrants off
the coast of Greece; another 100 known to have died; probably at least another
500 lives were lost, people trapped in the hull of the vessel. But after only a
day or so the press attention shifted - and there has been practically no
further coverage of any attempts to save them.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">I’ve found myself once more reading about
an earlier tragedy when 359 migrants drowned with the loss of a boat off the
coast of Lampedusa, a small island 200 miles </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">from Sicily and 120 miles from North Africa. In his book, <i>The City is
my Monastery</i>, Richard Carter writes:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Many of the 155 survivors were Christians from
Ethiopia and Eritrea. How could anyone respond to a tragedy of such terrible
consequences? Mr Tuccio, a member of the local church and a carpenter,
collected some of the timbers from the wrecked shell of the boat and in his
workshop made simple crosses, which he gave to the survivors. Later, when Pope
Francis visited, he made the Pope a cross from the same timber. This Lampedusa
Cross became a symbol for our times. Made from the wood of the wreckage, it
told the story of the movement of migrant people to Europe in search of a home
— the story of their displacement, exodus and search for a country that would
accept them and of the many who have drowned crossing the Mediterranean in
search of that hope. One of these Lampedusa Crosses became part of the British
Museum collection.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I’ve seen another of those crosses on the
altar of the Anglican Centre in Rome. I was given a picture of the Lampedusa
Cross which now hangs in my study. Richard Carter writes about it that,</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It had a presence that you felt in your very
soul — it silenced words yet spoke to me of why I am ultimately a Christian.
'Nothing, nothing in all creation can ever separate you from the love of God
which is yours in Christ Jesus.' This cross with the blues and reds and yellows
of the boat seemed to say 'Come and see.'</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It’s when our faith is tested that we
realise what Jesus means when he calls us to take up the Cross and follow him. These
are words spoken as Jesus is sending his disciples out with the task of sharing
his message of God’s kingdom. He warns them that they may experience
persecution, but he tells them also that the Holy Spirit will be with them to
strengthen them in what they may say. He says they must embrace poverty and
hardship, but he assures them also that they will have provision which is
adequate for their needs.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Can we believe that</span></i><span lang="EN-US">? Where is God in all the distress of the world? That’s a question
we face in today’s first reading. Hagar, taken by Abraham as a concubine so
that he can father a son, is now thrown out following the birth of Isaac to
Abraham and Sarah. Hagar and her son are driven into the desert. The water runs
out and all she can do is put Ishmael under a bush and sit herself down at a
distance: “Do not let me look on the death of the child,” she prays. It could
be the prayer of the families who lost loved ones in that submersible on the
floor of the Atlantic. It could be the words in the hearts of families in
Bangladesh whose loved ones died in their hundreds off the coast of Greece. It
could be the lament of dispossessed peoples, those who suffer famine and
disease or the affliction of war. It could be our own prayer as we grieve the
loss of a loved one.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I find it more and more difficult to
think of what I can say when I stand up to preach on Sundays. The Gospel <i>is</i>
Good News, <i>but it’s not explanation</i>. God meets us in our need, Jesus has
been there before us, we can believe that the Holy Spirit is here to guide us.
But that doesn’t necessarily make life any easier. This last week for me began as
we marked the worst of life’s tragedies in the funeral of a young woman loved
by so many and ended as I shared in the heights of joy with a wonderful
wedding. God was with us in each in different ways, I believe. I realise that
what I find hardest perhaps is dealing with the mundane, the everyday issues
which never seem to go away, and can so easily drag us down. But in them, as
well, God is to be found - if only we can make time to turn to him and
recognise that he is travelling with us all along.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The assurance God gives us of provision
for our needs is true, because <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the one
who gives it </i>speaks from the experience of our human condition. It’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus</i> who will experience suffering and
death upon the Cross who says to his followers, ‘Do not fear those who kill the
body but cannot kill the soul.’ It’s Jesus, who is confronted by sickness and
hunger in those he meets, who can say that ‘even the hairs of our heads are all
counted.’ God knows when a sparrow falls to the ground and ‘we are of more
value than many sparrows.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Richard Carter went to Lampedusa to visit
Mr. Tuccio in his carpenter’s workshop:</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Timber from the wreckage of the boat is still
piled in his workshop alongside the photo of him kissing the hand of Pope
Francis. … Taking a small piece of wood from the wreckage he skilfully cuts me
a small Lampedusa Cross - which I am wearing today. He hangs it round my neck. And
says, 'Portala con te come segno della resurrezione che nasce dal dolore.' 'Take
it with you as a sign of the resurrection that is born in pain and struggle.'</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">To know God’s care for us is to be made
able to carry the Cross. To tell his good news is to show his love in our care
for others. And that in itself is to show God’s care for <i>us</i>. </span><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-50498630483565820502023-06-15T14:54:00.001+01:002023-06-15T14:54:06.325+01:00Summer Fair Time!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidBGpzSyYLFXNXLBNZ4uvirFLvs7VN4BQ9QQDut4BeRWutTTKq-b7oINqOugWBxxQxCvrEZGQg4yhUTvD9Wiuv-d09Br1ip-x2eEw1zXamtQMMK4f_zkNejuIsfIAdEVgbTsXjGPprc_ZWeDr8lIG7RnHvSYIgpEGpYEcOS3Ah-yHm3o5aUAuGme-ong/s3504/BusinessCard_2023-05-25_115930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3504" data-original-width="2544" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidBGpzSyYLFXNXLBNZ4uvirFLvs7VN4BQ9QQDut4BeRWutTTKq-b7oINqOugWBxxQxCvrEZGQg4yhUTvD9Wiuv-d09Br1ip-x2eEw1zXamtQMMK4f_zkNejuIsfIAdEVgbTsXjGPprc_ZWeDr8lIG7RnHvSYIgpEGpYEcOS3Ah-yHm3o5aUAuGme-ong/w464-h640/BusinessCard_2023-05-25_115930.jpg" width="464" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-75241792283583125562023-06-01T17:26:00.002+01:002023-06-01T17:26:51.247+01:00Thoughts on Life (and Death) in a Victorian Vicarage…<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7YdKPxU_eSg-xdyeQoK4ONVMXtwKOtCdUdtxN3Nnfov67zeJCl5k_9KP7bBroaUR_TZLROg6BkYSyLfThiGuJOC_UaKAH-wUHVq_5y_rkVfo_6rsN2r_Xi_Og9u7lFbwoPfBLdLn6XwV2_eleZnjU_qdqDt_Sl0inhGXQRoybrlNYczhI00KU09yRA/s220/Osmia_rufa_couple_(aka).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="155" data-original-width="220" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7YdKPxU_eSg-xdyeQoK4ONVMXtwKOtCdUdtxN3Nnfov67zeJCl5k_9KP7bBroaUR_TZLROg6BkYSyLfThiGuJOC_UaKAH-wUHVq_5y_rkVfo_6rsN2r_Xi_Og9u7lFbwoPfBLdLn6XwV2_eleZnjU_qdqDt_Sl0inhGXQRoybrlNYczhI00KU09yRA/w400-h282/Osmia_rufa_couple_(aka).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>I love St. Cuthbert’s Vicarage - and a lot of the time I love living in it. The drawback is largely the size and coldness of the building. As energy costs have soared I have been acutely aware of the need to cut back on heating, so it’s been a chilly winter and spring. I’m still using the winter duvet - and still taking a hot water bottle to bed! But it’s a wonderful building in a marvellous setting. The garden may appear a little (?) on the wild side - but it’s great to share it with deer, foxes, squirrels, pheasants and a range of quieter birdlife, though not always the visiting cats.<p></p><p>Currently, though, I’m experiencing visits from another form of wildlife. I’ve got used to the woodlice - these strange, seemingly armoured little creatures which look as though they could survive a nuclear explosion but actually tend to expire as they trundle just halfway across the room. But the new visitor I’ve identified as the mason bee (or masonry bee). They’ve been coming in large numbers, gather inside the windows of just two rooms and then expire. I’ve probably hoovered up a hundred or so in the last week. They’re thankfully not bothered about attacking humans and have a very small sting anyway. I think that they’re probably males which leave the nest first, mate and then go off to die. It’s sad to see, and I’m hoping that this cycle in their life and death is just about over.</p><p>With lives so short, I’ve pondered whether their existence is a sort of futility? It is, of course, simply part of nature’s ways - the way the world goes on. Which makes it all the more impressive that human life can be so long - and that it incorporates periods when we need the care of others, when care can make a difference, and that we can value what life brings, even if we might complain about it at times. It’s a privilege for me to spend time with people in sickness - or with their carers - and sometimes at the time of death. These are sad times, but also times when I have been overawed by resilience, courage, love and care - all the most human and necessary qualities. These are qualities which point me to the divine. They’re times when we might question God’s purpose but it’s also in these times that we might be most conscious of God’s presence. </p><p style="text-align: right;">Martin Jackson</p><div><br /></div>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-8662040355975024842023-05-18T11:40:00.004+01:002023-05-18T11:40:33.303+01:00Ascension Day Eucharist<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/7c7Zlu-Bv-I" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ascension Day Eucharist with the midweek congregation of St. Cuthbert, Benfieldside. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There's also a Deanery celebration of the Ascension of the Lord at 7pm in Christ Church, Consett - preacher: the Archdeacon of Durham.</span></span></div>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-30129961437665026242023-05-14T15:23:00.000+01:002023-05-14T15:23:53.592+01:00Keeping the commandments - the way of love<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><b>6th Sunday of Easter – Eucharist – 14.v.2023</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">(Acts 17.22-31; 1 Peter 3.13-22; John 14.15-21)</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Easter Day may seem a long time ago, but in the Church’s Calendar we’re still celebrating Easter-tide. The season of Easter lasts seven weeks in total. Ascension Day is celebrated this coming Thursday - but it’s a part of the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection, and the Easter season itself still has two more weeks to run until we get to Pentecost, the time when we look to the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">So Easter is a long season. Everything really depends on it. There is an argument that for Christians there are really only two seasons in the year: Easter, and “Easter’s coming.” The Resurrection is the event which changes everything for us - new life from the grave, and the risen Christ breaking in to change the lives of ordinary people so that they will do extraordinary things.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Without Easter, there’s no basis for Christian faith. But there’s very little in the way of written record when it comes to the events around Jesus’ Resurrection. St. Mark seems originally to have ended the Gospel which bears his name simply with the tomb discovered to be empty and the women who had visited it running away, because “they were afraid.” The other Gospels record various appearances of the risen Jesus to the disciples, but not many… And when Jesus does appear, he does not say very much.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">I think that’s important. Jesus does not argue people into belief. He simply comes to them in their need. He brings healing to the sick, he feeds the hungry, he tells fishermen where to look for a catch of fish, he calls people by name. Jesus feels for people and touches their hearts. When Mary Magdalene fails to recognise him in the garden by his tomb, he speaks her name - that’s when she knows who he is. After two disciples fail to recognise him in a long walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus, it’s when he takes bread and breaks it that his presence is made known. He comes to other disciples behind locked doors, not to make a speech but to show the wounds his risen body still bears and to breathe the Holy Spirit upon them. And in a final appearance by the Sea of Galilee he’s a stranger recognised by the disciples when he prepares breakfast for them. The risen Jesus goes on doing in a few short weeks after his Resurrection what he had been doing throughout his years of ministry - he feeds people, he heals them, he knows them as the people they are, and he enables them to be the people God is calling. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">In his final meeting with the disciple Peter, who had denied knowing him three times at the hour of his greatest need, there is no recrimination or condemnation, but instead the probing and questioning Peter needs: “Do you love me?” - asked three times. And a commission, “Feed my sheep, tend my flock.” Jesus asks that question of us. We too can share in the care of his people.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">What Jesus is doing in that handful of appearances after his Resurrection, he is still doing with us. That’s how Jesus relates to his people. To know us, call us by name, feed us and heal us. And it’s all possible by his love - a love we can share.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">That’s what today’s Gospel reading is about. It’s not a story from the accounts of what followed the Resurrection. It comes from St. John’s narrative of the Last Supper. But it is a telling of what will follow on from the Resurrection - that Jesus will send the “Advocate,” his Holy Spirit, to be with his people for ever. “I will not leave you orphaned,” Jesus says… “You will see me; because I live, you also will live.” </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">And the way we live is the way of love. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments… those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">When he is asked how we should live, Jesus sums up everything which has come down from the Jewish Law in just two commandments. Sometimes we use them at the beginning of our services:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">The first commandment is this: </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">with all your soul, and with all your mind, </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">and with all your strength.’ </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">There is no other commandment greater than these. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.</span></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Love is the big deal. The marriage service begins with words from one of the Letters of St. John: “God is love. Those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” Love is what makes the difference. Love is what makes lives properly lived possible.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">That’s something to remember this coming week - Christian Aid Week. It’s a week when we can show concern for poorer people around the world by giving money which may relieve them in their need and aid them in their development. But it’s also Christian Aid, so what we give should come out of our everyday concern and our desire to put love into practice. Love requires that we look beyond ourselves. Love brings us into a bigger picture of understanding. And it may ask, what do we hope for?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Three years ago - in the middle of May - we were in the midst of the first pandemic Lockdown. Nevertheless, like now, it was Easter-tide - and hope was not to be denied. Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, had found himself writing a weekly reflection for the people of his local church. The 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe had just passed, and he found hope in that from that terrible conflict people emerged with determination to change their nation’s life for the better. They didn’t simply celebrate relief at an end to conflict. They went on to create new opportunities for all in education, health and social provision. Within a short time they would create the Welfare State. Things did change dramatically: “This country had become a safer place for the sick, the poor and the elderly.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">From this looking into our history, Rowan Williams asked the question, what do we hope for now? After six years of conflict in war our nation went on to build new hopes. After the hardships and conflict of the Pandemic what could we hope for? He wrote three years ago:</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Will the end of the lockdown see us finding the strength to face and name some of the things that have stood in the way of fairness, truth and security? That would mean noticing who has been paying the heaviest price - the ethnic communities and social groups that have been disproportionately affected, the people with mental health challenges who have had to live through nightmares in isolation; under-protected and poorly rewarded workers in the NHS and elsewhere who have had little choice but to go on exposing themselves to risk so that the rest of us can have some basic amenities; young people whose employment prospects have disappeared overnight. If these have paid most heavily, we have to ask what needs doing to guarantee a better deal for them.</span></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">Three years on, I’m afraid we seem not to have made much - if any - progress in addressing these issues. The plight of the poorest has worsened as the various costs of living have spiralled. Hospital waiting lists have lengthened to life-threatening degrees. New arrangements coming into effect this week will make higher education for the less well-off still more costly than it is now. And to blame this so much on refugees arriving in small boats and the war in Ukraine is to fail to take responsibility for the positive action we can take to make life better.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">The Government needs a political programme which is honest, just and compassionate. Regardless of our own political beliefs we can all seek to put those same qualities into practice. They stem from Jesus’ basic requirement that we live out his commandment to love. Through God’s love he has touched his people, given his life for our sake and risen to bring new hope. Love is the way God holds us. Love is the way for our world. Love God - and love your neighbour as yourself.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-19896004126602133982023-05-04T16:57:00.001+01:002023-05-04T16:57:47.201+01:00Not to be served, but to serve…<p><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPXYPuFji6AkHa6fm4Aum2PN4QdvPVnlSybN8myjDpb4rV_ylPtqeXufxphb1JzKIFAeenSe2N9dv0smUJ_Xljd_8CIWHJ_G49Netrydd6GKS6FxNLw05iQpCyugMTBlkaYk0CUlcfnGN3tOf1REwcdblOR46hLy7yUMwz0EPtc7GYoLN4FKQ5v1xS1Q/s920/coronation%20logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="920" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPXYPuFji6AkHa6fm4Aum2PN4QdvPVnlSybN8myjDpb4rV_ylPtqeXufxphb1JzKIFAeenSe2N9dv0smUJ_Xljd_8CIWHJ_G49Netrydd6GKS6FxNLw05iQpCyugMTBlkaYk0CUlcfnGN3tOf1REwcdblOR46hLy7yUMwz0EPtc7GYoLN4FKQ5v1xS1Q/w145-h145/coronation%20logo.jpg" width="145" /></a></div>I’m writing in the
week which leads to the <b>Coronation of King Charles III</b>. The order of service
which will be used was published only a few days ago. There’s been some debate
about one particular aspect where, in place of the previous “Homage of the
Peers,” there’s a general invitation to those in the Abbey and even in front of
their television sets to swear allegiance to the King:<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Archbishop of
Canterbury:<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I call upon all
persons of goodwill of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, and of the other Realms and the Territories to make their homage, in
heart and voice, to their undoubted King, defender of all.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">All who so desire,
in the Abbey, and elsewhere, say together:</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I swear that I
will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and to your heirs
and successors according to law. So help me God.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Swearing
allegiance to the Crown is nothing new to the clergy. I’ve done it at my
Ordination and then with each new post I’ve taken on throughout my ministry. But
I think it will be strange to do this from a sofa in your living room - even if
you get off it and stand up!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">So I’m glad to
point out a more positive reciprocity. At the beginning of the service the King
is to be welcomed by a young person “in the name of the King of Kings.” And King
Charles is to respond: “In his name, and after his example, I come not to be
served but to serve.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">There will be much
ceremony and presentation of strange regalia. But the first thing to be given
to the King is a Bible - with these words:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">“Sir: to keep you
ever mindful of the law and the Gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and
government of Christian Princes, receive this Book, the most valuable thing
that this world affords. Here is Wisdom; This is the royal Law; These are the
lively Oracles of God.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Let’s all remember
that - and learn from it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Martin Jackson</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" /></span>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-48341049323789878512023-04-09T18:31:00.002+01:002023-04-09T18:32:28.473+01:00Roll back the stone<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5PHaPTb4Erx07pUIrCnxqsk7ie_sEe7retgQCTrRN33NWChJHtcxk94AyJ0Zo89ovi9iBFCu0UYr_MHDFRJTSHniNIPhJjS1Ze8xaxSAzE-v3DcnDWog8KreS54hGS-Bfo6ME_fb5fN1Aw-cPIYz6du135LZjYJrN764nDQpbQJL4FnHYk0IMywNHhA/s1280/1280px-Mantegna,_Andrea_-_La_R%C3%A9surrection_-_1457-1459.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="912" data-original-width="1280" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5PHaPTb4Erx07pUIrCnxqsk7ie_sEe7retgQCTrRN33NWChJHtcxk94AyJ0Zo89ovi9iBFCu0UYr_MHDFRJTSHniNIPhJjS1Ze8xaxSAzE-v3DcnDWog8KreS54hGS-Bfo6ME_fb5fN1Aw-cPIYz6du135LZjYJrN764nDQpbQJL4FnHYk0IMywNHhA/w640-h456/1280px-Mantegna,_Andrea_-_La_R%C3%A9surrection_-_1457-1459.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Easter Day – Eucharist - 9th April 2023<p></p><p>(Acts 10.34-43; Matthew 28.1-10)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The ‘angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled the stone away, and sat on it.’ It’s St. Matthew in the Gospel reading we use today, who tells most directly that the message of Easter is the triumph of Christ’s Resurrection. To say that Christ is risen is to affirm that death is defeated, and how can we picture it better than with that image painted by Matthew? – the angel who rolls the stone away from the grave and sits upon it!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">It’s only Matthew who puts it quite so wonderfully, but all the Gospels recognise that stone which blocks the mouth of the grave to be a real problem. All the Gospels end the account of Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday by referring to the witnesses who see him taken down from the Cross and laid in the tomb. This man, they say, hailed as a Saviour of his people, is truly dead. Matthew and Mark tell how a great stone is rolled before his tomb – no way can he escape death’s bonds, they are saying. And Mark puts the question on the lips of the women who come to his grave that first Easter morning: ‘Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the tomb?’ Luke’s and John’s Gospels don’t tell us how the stone was put in place – but their silence is all the more testimony to the fact of its reality: they take it for granted, because their account of the first Easter begins with their telling how the stone was found to be rolled away. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">But it’s Matthew who paints the most graphic picture of Christ’s victory over the powers of death. For the other Gospel writers there is silence as to the events between Good Friday and Easter Day. Matthew is the only Gospel writer to tell us what happened after Christ’s burial… Matthew tells us that on the day following Jesus’ burial, the command was given that a guard should be placed upon the tomb to ensure that no one and nothing can get in or out. Death is not to be cheated of its victim, and the Jewish and Roman authorities work together to make sure of that.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Perhaps some readers of St. Matthew’s account will object that he might have made this part of the story up. Matthew seems to show real dislike of the Jewish authorities, and he comes dangerously close to anti-Semitism at times. As for the Romans, we find Luke and John especially keen to let them off the hook as far as their responsibility for Jesus’ death is concerned. But we shouldn’t be seeking to attribute blame for something that happened 2,000 years ago: what we cannot avoid in the here and now is that we live today in a world where so many forces continue to conspire to give victory to death and destruction. It’s not surprising that the authorities of ancient Jerusalem should have wanted Jesus dead – it’s not surprising that they should want his grave sealed and guarded from his followers. Because we live in a world that isn’t much different, and might be even worse. It’s all over our television screens, on the radio bulletins and on the front pages of our newspapers, where we see violence and murder perpetrated on a massive scale by vicious people desperate to keep control of others. The tools they use are the weapons of war, terror, death and destruction. In many cases they’ve reached the point where they can no longer be bothered to cover up their deeds, in others they guard themselves by burying their victims in unmarked graves. As we have seen in so many atrocities through the twentieth century and into this one, the greatest category of the victims of this world’s violence might be called simply the ‘disappeared.’ What more could Jesus’ enemies wish than that he should disappear?</p><p style="text-align: justify;">But it was not to be. The power of God is so great that death could not hold him. The ‘angel of the Lord rolled the stone away, and sat upon it.’ And here there is hope for this mortal world of so much death, despair and destruction.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Hope first for those women who came to mourn at Jesus’ grave that first Easter morning. These are the women who stood by his cross when the other disciples fled, who helped to lay him in the tomb. These are the women who persevered when all seemed lost, and at last they find their reward. How shall they roll away the stone? They find the question does not need an answer, for God’s purpose is already being worked out. I read of those women who persevered, and I think of other women in Ukraine, in the Middle East and in so many other lands, who have seen their menfolk taken away and perhaps murdered, but who persevere as they seek to bring their families to a safe refuge. I read of those women who stood by the Cross, and with the anniversary of the Good Friday agreement I think of those women in Northern Ireland who dared to speak out against the atrocities perpetrated by men, who persisted in their call for peace and reconciliation in their land. I read of those women going to Jesus’ tomb, and I think of the women who have maintained vigils in countries where tyranny has held sway as they sought an answer to the fate of loved ones taken from them by unlawful dictators. It’s no chance thing that the first witnesses to the Resurrection are women who prove themselves by their dedication – and if there is to be hope in our world now, it must be in answer to the efforts of those who follow their example today. And we realise how desperately we need such witnesses still in Russia, China, Burma, Syria, Israel & Palestine, the Horn of Africa… the list seems to keep on growing.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">How can we build upon the Resurrection hope? ‘The angel rolled away the stone and sat upon it.’ Later in the Bible Jesus will himself be described as the stone rejected by the builders which has now become the chief cornerstone. Stones can be dead things, or they can be put to constructive use. There’s a photograph I recall from some years ago which shows a little girl in the bomb-blasted devastation of Beirut, carrying a shiny new brick out of the ruins of a street, in order to start building again. Life is stronger than death. We refuse to allow death to destroy us. We are going to live. And that is why Jesus came in the first place – to give us life, life in all its fullness.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is what the first Christians so quickly realised. A practice of many in the time of Jesus had been to bury their dead in tombs which faced west, towards the setting sun, because for them death meant the close of life’s day and a passing into eternal night. But when they received the message of Christ they began to face their graves towards the east and the rising sun, because Easter Day speaks of radiant promise and a rising to new life and light. The change is especially noticeable in the catacombs of Rome. In one chamber going back before the time of Christ, there are tombs which speak of pagan gloom and hopelessness with inscriptions that are cynical of the gods or bitter in their complaints. But, nearby, another chamber contains the remains of Christians who had suffered the extremes of persecution, torture and death for the sake of what they believed: and there the tombs have inscriptions of joy, with carved lilies – the Easter flower and symbol of immortality. Decked out as if for a wedding, this chamber declares the living presence of Christ which cannot be held by the bonds of death.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is what is declared in those few words which describe the rolling away of the stone from the tomb of Jesus. It is not easy to comprehend. The women who witness it cannot take it in except to grasp a message to share with the other disciples that Jesus has been raised from the dead. And they leave the tomb in a hurry, in fear, though at the same time in joy. Only then – in the midst of their confusion and with so many mixed feelings – do they find the risen Christ meeting them on their way.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">And so we come here today. The joy of those women at the tomb is not something we can just imitate. They go there in the midst of grief and sorrow. And we cannot come here without bearing also the world’s sorrow, our hurts and our personal needs. But the promise is that God is at work even before we arrive, he brings new life and hope, he bids us look beyond the cruelties and limitations of this life. The ‘angel of the Lord rolled away the stone and sat upon it.’ As Janet Morley’s prayer so well puts it:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>When we are all despairing;</p><p>when the world is full of grief;</p><p>when we see no way ahead,</p><p> and hope has gone away:</p><p><b>Roll back the stone.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Although we fear change;</p><p>although we are not ready;</p><p>although we’d rather weep</p><p> and run away:</p><p><b>Roll back the stone.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Because we’re coming with the women;</p><p>because we hope where hope is vain;</p><p>because you call us from the grave</p><p> and show the way:</p><p><b>Roll back the stone.</b></p></blockquote><div><br /></div>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-82318179977322728052023-04-02T18:58:00.003+01:002023-04-02T18:58:49.446+01:00Reading, reflection and prayer for Palm Sunday and Holy Week<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/jI0ddUow5g8" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jI0ddUow5g8/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: Roboto, Noto, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Revd Martin Jackson leads a short time for prayer and reflection with a reading for Palm Sunday that should cause us to think...</span></span><br /><div><br /></div></div>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4258245900823793077.post-81472385777233853872023-03-30T20:47:00.002+01:002023-03-30T20:47:22.231+01:00Holy Week at St. Cuthbert's Church<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkXQ8IGetQTClYNy320nntUpei9YVJ7MyYnthd9RRSQOGsDoiOgLXV4LoOW2Xd6CQIhz5c84F_v6VJsomGCOherZvQ57BuvbnqeBXXijvVEwSldeyoOh-VwBg8oOinUlVN2ylthWENlWPeoHdeQtTfTsA13XvzhU7Q5Ef0J-EqMXgnLrLx7obFd-lwMw/s3504/Document_2023-03-30_194749.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3504" data-original-width="2544" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkXQ8IGetQTClYNy320nntUpei9YVJ7MyYnthd9RRSQOGsDoiOgLXV4LoOW2Xd6CQIhz5c84F_v6VJsomGCOherZvQ57BuvbnqeBXXijvVEwSldeyoOh-VwBg8oOinUlVN2ylthWENlWPeoHdeQtTfTsA13XvzhU7Q5Ef0J-EqMXgnLrLx7obFd-lwMw/w464-h640/Document_2023-03-30_194749.jpg" width="464" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Martin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16223507516763351560noreply@blogger.com0