The Gospel according to Wadjemup: Chapter Two

Back in May I went to Wadjemup as Chaplain for the first time. As you surely know, it was a profound experience; deeply moving, challenging, and super creative. And when I got back, the gospel reading that Sunday was the familiar and comforting words, ‘peace I leave with you…peace I give to you…do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid’. And I preached what I have now named in my head, The Gospel According to Wadjemup – Chapter One.

I asked the question, what does peace look like to an island, a country, built on colonialism, domination and oppression? How do we find peace there, or here?

I’d immersed myself in the stories of that holy island. I heard the cries of history and felt the deep wounds of its past and it was loud… and yet, I was able to spot this tangible sense of peace. Despite itself, or maybe even because of its history, that place is dripping with peace. And I think, that is the essence of Jesus’ promise.

Peace is not the absence of war. It is not just silence or quiet. Peace is profound and counter cultural. It is the port in the storm, the centre of the tornado, the sense of calm when everything falls down around us. It is the sunrise and sunset and lapping waves on the shores of Wadjemup, against the backdrop of its brutal history. That is peace.

This past week I have been back on Wadjemup again, this time with a dozen pilgrims, and the gospel reading is, once again, about peace. Kind of. So, now hear the gospel according to Wadjemup, Chapter Two.

‘Do you think I came to bring peace to the earth?’ Jesus asks.

Well, yes Lord, I do.

Isn’t that what the angels proclaimed at your birth – Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth?

Aren’t those the first words you breathed on your disciples after your death – peace be with you?

Wasn’t it with the command of peace that you calmed the storm and sent the demoniac away healed? – peace, be still.

Is it not the gift you left with your disciples – my peace I leave with you?

‘Do you think I came to bring peace to the earth?’ Jesus asks. ‘No, I tell you, but rather division’.

No? Come on Lord, you can’t renege on that promise. Can you?

What do we do when Jesus seems to change his mind about something we have been relying on, depending on? Because that’s what seems to happen here, am I right?

Do you know, in the gospels, Jesus speaks of peace twenty-four times. And only twice does he say he hasn’t come to bring peace at all; he’s come to bring division or a sword. But that doesn’t help us when we are faced with that time…

The gospel according to Wadjemup, chapter one, was dependent on God’s provision of peace. It was the only thing that made sense of the ugliness of its history and the beauty of its present. And now, Wadjemup chapter two messes things up. Peace is gone, division reigns, households are against one another, families are falling out and we are called hypocrites.

How can both things be true – how can Jesus come in peace and come to cause division – and that reminded me of moments from our pilgrimage.

Uncle Neville – an aboriginal elder from our parish – came with us to the island. We began with a smoking ceremony and sand ceremony at the water’s edge. He told us the noongar people have complex feelings about how we can best move forwards. Decisions are trying to be made about what to do with the Quod and burial ground. He was confident he could do whatever he chooses in that place because it is his…but others might not agree with him.

In the afternoon we took ribbons and tied them to the padlocks at the site where countless people were incarcerated and hanged. We tied ribbons to the bars of the earliest prison cell. We tied ribbons to the branches of trees at the unmarked graves. Those ribbons were inoffensive really; a symbol of prayers said, and blessings given and hope for the future. But I spotted the anxiety of the tour guide who sat at the prison cell – she didn’t seem that happy about these pilgrims and their ribbons. We came in peace but there was also this kind of underlying division.

You see, chapter one taught us that peace is the port in the storm, and the centre of the tornado, but sometimes we are called to step out of that port, right into the storm. Sometimes we can’t stay in the centre of the tornado – we must brave the wild bits. And I think that absolutely brings division.

Remember the iconic man, named Tank Man, who stood in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square at the end of the siege in 1989? I was thinking about what his family thought of his act of defiance when it was broadcast across the world. Did his act, intended for peace, bring division – father against son, mother against daughter? And what about the families of Martin Luther King and Oscar Romero and countless others? When they stood up for what they knew to be right, and paid with their lives, did their families hate it?

And what ripples are you prepared to make? What is more important to you than keeping the peace in your family? Following all of Jesus’ teaching is hard friends. It’s not all plain sailing and not everyone will like us or it. It got Jesus killed, and many of his followers since. And here he is asking the same of us.**

‘Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?’ Jesus says.

Judging what is right, and choosing to do it, is our call as followers of the Christ – even when it brings division, even when it splits family, even when it costs us our whole lives. Seeking peace that way feels a lot like ‘not peace’ and yet it is asked of us here.

The gospel of Wadjemup, chapter two asks us the important question: will we choose to do what is right over what is peaceful, even if it costs us everything?

May God give us grace to do so. Amen.

** at this point I went off script and began ad libbing about how we are not called to be merely ‘peace keepers’, but rather to commit to the radical hard work of peace building. Peace keeping is collusive but peace building is what we are really called to do – regardless of whether people will like it, or not, or whether it will lead to some kind of division…

Your life is being demanded of you…

In the minute and a half it took to read that gospel passage, it is estimated that 2 people died of hunger in the horn of Africa alone; one every 48 seconds.

Fifty million people worldwide are facing emergency levels of hunger. Almost 828 million people go to bed hungry every night. And the number of people experiencing extreme hunger has more than doubled in the last year alone. Parts of Yemen, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Nigeria are already in the grip of famine. And yet, there is enough food on this planet to feed everyone. Or, as I said last week, there is always enough – enough and some to share. So, what is going wrong? The World Food Programme talks of the toxic cocktail of conflict, climate change, disasters, structural poverty and inequality and the addition of a global pandemic as the drivers towards mass hunger but this morning’s gospel passage also has something to say about it too.

‘Take care’, Jesus says, ‘be on your guard against all kinds of greed’ and then he told them a parable.

A rich man produced a whole load of grain; so much that he didn’t know what to do with it. So, he sits and considers his crops, but really all he is considering is himself: what should I do?  I have no place to store my crops.  I will pull down my barns and store my grain and my goods and say to my soul you have ample.  And God calls him a fool.  And he is a fool.  He’s alright, but he has only served himself.  And when he dies, all that he has done will die too.  He has set his mind on earthly things only, with no apparent care or concern for anyone else.  And that is foolish.  God is right.  This man really is a fool.

St Augustine, one of the early church fathers, in the first century commented that this rich man was ‘planning to fill his soul with excessive and unnecessary feasting and was proudly disregarding the empty bellies of the poor. He went on to make possibly the greatest comment about this parable when he said ‘[the rich man] did not realize that the bellies of the poor were much safer storerooms than his barns’.

This rich man could have made a huge difference with his huge stores of grain. And instead, he was a self-centred fool.

So what about us? In the world’s terms we are among those who are the rich. And we have the privilege and ability of making change for those who are facing famine, hunger, poverty and death. In reality, we have the means to bring life and light to places of death and darkness. We can do that. We really can and we absolutely must. Because, as the parable says our life is being demanded of us today too.  Our life is demanded of us every day. 

God doesn’t just demand our life of us on the day we die.  God demands our life of us every single day.  And there must always remain something we are prepared to give our life for.  Something we will live for, every day.  Something we want to live on, after our days are done. We can change the world, and we must because otherwise all we have done in our time here is take up space and that is not what we were designed and created to do. We are here for so much more.

Yesterday, the church remembered William Wilberforce who is best known for his crusade against slavery.  Wilberforce managed to get a law passed in Parliament for the complete abolition of slavery before he died in 1833.  And while it is still illegal, today there are more than 40 million slaves in the world, with another human being bought and sold every 15 seconds.  For me, I want to see this changed in my lifetime.  My life is being demanded of me and I want people to stop being bought and sold. 

And I wonder what it is for you. 

What makes your heart beat extra hard?  What makes you mad enough to write to your local politician about, or give money for?  What stirs you into action? What will you give your life for? Our lives are being demanded of us and – as our New Testament reading said – we need to seek the things that are above; we need to invest in those things that will live on. 

The wealthy landowner had huge barns; the best anyone could ever hope for; but he filled them with things for him, so that HIS soul could rest and HIS life could be relaxing and HE could eat, drink and be merry.  He kept his barns for himself instead of taking the opportunity to store his grain in the bellies of those who were poorest and most hungry. He put himself first, and screw everyone else.

As followers of Jesus, we have given up all rights to do that. 

As followers of Jesus, our primary concern can no longer be me. 

As followers of Jesus, we must live lives that give out to others. 

This very day our life is being demanded of us; your life is being demanded of you. May our lives be those of love, joy and peace. May our lives make the lives of others better. May our choices impact positively on others. May our lives even change the world and bring glory to God’s holy name. 

This very day your life is being demanded of you. 

And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? Amen.

Give us today the bread of tomorrow…

A few weeks ago, I read you a quote from a book called Take this Bread; a wonderful book about the atheist photographer turned radical Christian who had her conversion experience whilst eating the body of Christ in the eucharist. Reading that book, back in 2013, took me on a journey to St Gregory’s Church in San Francisco, to take part in the work of feeding the hungry around that same altar where Sara Miles first met Jesus. That place, that church, takes feeding…especially with bread… especially feeding with bread in the mass really seriously. Everyone is welcome. People come from all over the world to share in what they do. They never know how many people will come but they sing a mantra while they work and while they worship.

Their mantra, which we have sometimes sung here at our sunset service says ‘there is enough, there is enough, there is enough, there’s enough and some to share…’

…and time and again it proves to be true.

And, when I read this morning’s gospel passage, I got as far as the third line and then I stopped, because it reminded me of that beautiful work and of the example of lavish hospitality and hope that they provide in their distribution of bread from that altar.

‘When you pray’, Jesus says, ‘say Father, hallowed be your name’.

‘Your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread’.

Give us each day our daily bread.

And as I read those words I remembered that song from St Gregorys – and the places I have sung it since – and I remembered something else I heard years before. I remember hearing that the best translation of that line from the Lord’s Prayer is something more like ‘give us today the bread we need for tomorrow’ or ‘give us today the bread of the morrow’.

And that is what we are really asking for, praying for, each time we say those words, or hold out our hands in prayer.

Father, Mother, God; give us today the bread of tomorrow.

Give us enough for today, enough and some to share.

And that reminds me of a beautifully heart wrenching story, called ‘Sleeping with Bread’. Let me read you the introduction…

During the bombing raids of World War II, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and good care. Many of these children who had lost so much could not sleep at night. They feared waking up to find themselves once again homeless and without food. Nothing seemed to reassure them. Finally, someone hit upon the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime. Holding their bread, these children could finally sleep in peace. All through the night the bread reminded them, ‘today I ate, and I will eat again tomorrow…’

Give us each day our daily bread.

Give us today the bread for tomorrow.

Let us know that there will always be enough – enough and some to share.

Bread is a constant in scripture.

It is the way God shows faithfulness to the wanderers escaping slavery.

It is multiplied to show the abundance of the Divine in the feeding miracles.

It is how we are invited to remember Jesus’ life and death.

It is the way we are fed, literally and spiritually, to feed others.

And we are taught to ask for it every single day.

Give us each day our daily bread.

Give us today the bread for tomorrow.

So, why might we need to ask for tomorrow’s bread today?

What if we are encouraged to ask for enough bread for tomorrow so we might share it with others?

What if tomorrow’s bread is for those who are hungry, or like those children in that story – for those who are frightened or in need of hope?

What if that request is, like that beautiful hymn says, for strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow?

Having enough bread for today, and for tomorrow will always be a good thing because it gives us enough; enough and some to share.

And when we pray about today’s bread and tomorrow’s bread, we aren’t talking about literal time; it is more figurative than that. The best translation hints at something that is coming – the tomorrow we are really waiting for, when we all feast at God’s eternal banquet. Give us bread today that shows what is coming next. Give us the bread to share so that nobody is hungry, nobody goes without. Give us the bread so that everyone has enough – enough and some to share. The promise of that which is to come.

And that is what is offered here, at this altar, in every mass.

In this moment when we eat the bread of heaven, the body of the Lord Jesus, we taste that which is coming.

We are eating, today, the bread of tomorrow. Today it is bread, but in the eternal tomorrow it is life! Life for all people with enough and some to share.

Give us today the bread of tomorrow, we pray, and Jesus gives us his very self to feed and transform and nourish and sustain us, so that we might go from here and be the change we want to see in the world. We receive it today, so that tomorrow might be different.

Friends, we are fortunate enough to be the ones who sleep with bread. We are the ones with enough and some to share. We know where our next meal is coming from, and we have tasted the living bread. We have all that we need.  So, when we pray ‘give us today the bread for tomorrow’, what will we do with the bread we receive?

Amen.

With thanks to Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn and Matthew Linn, writers of Sleeping with Bread: Holding what gives you life.

Martha, Martha…

I’m one of those people who loves a personality test. You know the type? I can tell you I’m an enneagram four, a Myers Briggs ISFJ and, in one test I once came out as a sunshine yellow fox. I don’t know… I think my interest in these tests stems back to when I was that geeky teenager I told you about before. I would buy the magazines the cool teens were reading and do the tests that would tell me when I was going to fall in love, or whether I was pear or apple shaped, and I would live the cool teen existence vicariously through those pages.

Anyway, in churches across the world today there is another personality test being foisted upon congregation members: are you a Mary, or are you a Martha?

Clergy will have their people self-identify with the sisters in today’s gospel reading and they will encourage the Marthas to slow down a bit and remind the Marys that they can’t sit there all day – there might be times they need to be a bit more Martha. And the more-Martha-types among us will feel a bit bad for constantly being distracted or will become more and more frustrated at the Marys who don’t seem to notice that there’s so much to do. And the Marys will continue to sit at the feet of our Lord, hanging on his every word, (maybe slightly smug about how right they are). But I feel like, in doing so, we might miss the true sentiment of the passage. We might fail to hear the deepest invitation.

See, I am way more Martha than Mary. But none of us are entirely one and not the other. We’re all on this continuum, from Mary to Martha. Here, we have wonderful opportunities to lean into our Mary side – with our contemplation mornings and Heartsong and quiet gardens. And then, because of our community living and extensive grounds and our beautiful outreach in Just Manna and IGWR, we also recognise there is always work to be done and ‘if not us then who’, so we are also often on our feet, Martha-ing. So, no, we’re never entirely Mary nor are we entirely Martha.

And not one verse before this morning’s passage we finished last week’s story of the Good Samaritan and didn’t our Lord end by saying ‘go and do likewise’ – GO and DO. Go and care for the injured and tend their wounds and pay their bill and put yourselves out and allow the pain of others to disrupt your day. Go and do.

And now it is sit and listen. So it seems both have their merits. Of course they do. It’s not that. Jesus isn’t saying don’t do the jobs. He’s not saying don’t be Martha or be Mary. He’s saying something else entirely. And I think it’s probably best summed up by something that I hear in these two words in verse 41; Martha, Martha.

Martha is whizzing around. And she’s cooking and cleaning and welcoming and busying. And she’s annoyed. She’s really grumpy. She’s doing all the work for Jesus and his entourage. I mean, let’s face it, Jesus never travels alone, does He? He’s turned up, with all the other guys and she’s trying to turn the contents of her pantry into a veritable feast whilst sweeping the floor with her spare hand and washing yesterday’s pots with her left foot or whatever. And Mary is just sitting, and Martha spits out, ‘do you not CARE that she’s left me to do everything. Tell her to help me!’

If she had been calmer, she probably could’ve leant over and said, ‘grab this Mary, please can you give me a hand?’, but she’s exasperated, so it comes out ‘do you not care Jesus?!’

And Jesus sees her.

He sees her heart and her flustered cheeks and her overflowing hands and he speaks to it all. Martha. Martha. First to the chaos that fills her mind and then to the person who is right there in her heart. Martha, precious wonderful grumpy anxious Martha. Just stop my darling. You’re alright. I’m here. I see you and I know you and I love you and there’s nothing you need to do or say or bring or sort or clean or hide. Just come. You are invited. You are welcome. You are enough.

Mary has chosen to sit at the feet of her Lord and listen to his word. Sit in the presence of the Living Word. She recognised that invitation and she responded. And maybe Martha didn’t know that she was also invited, just as she was. That there was nothing she could do that would make her more welcome but that she was invited – all of her. Her distracted mind and her anxious heart. Her messy house and unwashed floors. Martha, Martha, come here my darling and just sit. Bring it all. You are enough.

And that is beautiful. Jesus sees her heart and he adores her. When he says her name, it’s not a voice of admonishment. He’s not cross. He’s not shouting at her. Martha, Martha, stop. You are enough.

And once again, as it is with her, so it is with us.

Jesus doesn’t care if we are busy or anxious or sunshine yellow foxes. He doesn’t care if we are grumpy or serene. He doesn’t care if we want to be here or would rather be somewhere else. He doesn’t care if we prefer silence or noise. He doesn’t care if we come with our hands full or our minds blank. He just wants us to come. Come to this place. Come to this table. Come to the beach or the gardens or to see the sunrise or whatever it is. Just come.

That eternal invitation is extended to everyone, every personality type, wherever you are on the Mary-Martha continuum. Whether you feel like you are worthy and enough, or not. And that invitation is extended to you.

Last week, John ended his sermon with the great line, ‘go and do likewise’…and may the Lord be with you, he said. Jesus is still encouraging us to go and do likewise, especially if that is the way your mind and heart are fired. But he also extends this invitation to come and sit at his feet and listen. To go and do, but also come and be.

So, come and be. And may the Lord be with you.

Jesus says hard things…

Last week we had our AGM after church. In it we looked back on where we had been, considered where we are at, and began to think about how we might step into God’s future, together. So many of you stayed for that important work and a lot of it was positive and fun, even some of the hard bits were super useful and, as I have said several times this week, I am really grateful to each of you.

At the end of the meeting, we did an activity. One of the questions was ‘what one thing do we want to be known for in our local community’. You came up with some amazing things and, as I typed them up, so I was nodding and amening along, but one phrase has come back to me over and over as I read today’s gospel passage. One of you wrote that they want us to be known for our Faith: they wrote ‘real, modern, change-your-life, sell-all-you-own faith…’ and I think that is what Jesus is calling those early disciples to in those verses we heard today.

This passage is quite well-known, isn’t it: three different followers make bold promises to follow Jesus and he basically responds by sounding pretty mean. And, if you don’t mind me saying, His recruitment drive could do with a bit of work because he comes out with some less than appealing answers.

As always, when preparing for Sundays, I turned to a variety of commentary writers to read their thoughts, and they each said things like, ‘I don’t think Jesus literally meant you’ll have nowhere to lay your head’. And ‘He doesn’t really mean let the dead bury their own dead’, or ‘someone who looks back isn’t fit for the kingdom of God’. One said, ‘he is speaking in metaphor’ and another said, ‘he must be referring to a turn of phrase that the early disciples would have understood…but we don’t’.

But wow. I don’t think I agree with those guys. I think Jesus is being pretty clear. He makes his point three times. I think he really does mean it, even though it is hard stuff. I mean, Jesus does ask hard things of us, so why wouldn’t he mean this?

So, if it isn’t metaphor, or some first century joke, what is he saying?

Well, I think he asks three things of those would-be followers. And I think he is asking the same things of us too, so let’s take them in turn…

The first ‘someone’ said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go’ and Jesus said to him, ‘foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head’.

Following the Son of Man, following Jesus, means being prepared to give up our sense of security. It means being prepared to go when Jesus asks, and go where Jesus asks, even if it feels risky. Even if we aren’t entirely sure where this road leads to.

Then, the next one:

To another he said, ‘follow me’, but he said ‘Lord first let me go and bury my father’, but Jesus said to him, ‘let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God’. Now that really causes the commentary writers to scratch their collective heads, and I don’t know for sure what the dead burying their own dead looks like, but I think we can know for sure that following Jesus means putting him first, above all others – yes, even before our own families. Following where and when Jesus asks, even if it means going alone. Even if it means leaving others behind. It’s no wonder we might prefer to think this is a metaphor.

And then, third, ‘another said, ‘I will follow you Lord but first let me say farewell to those at my home’ and Jesus said to him, ‘no one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God’. And I wonder if this is hardest of all? Let me just say goodbye Lord? And Jesus says, ‘don’t look back’.

(I remember singing that in Sunday School – it sounded so much more palatable then: ‘no turning back, no turning back’).

But following Jesus, single-mindedly, determinedly, without looking back, well it feels costly, doesn’t it, painful even?

And is it just me or does God, in Jesus, sound really demanding – leave everything, leave your home, leave your family, don’t look back, follow me. I kind of felt like it was a bit needy somehow. But that doesn’t sound like God, at all.

God doesn’t need us, in some celestial crisis of self-confidence. God longs for us because God loves us and because us being together is the very best thing for us, as God’s children. So yes, it is demanding – as the hymn writer says, following Jesus really does demand my soul, my life, my all. But it’s not demanding because God selfishly wants all of us to keep to Gods-self. God asks for all of us – our past, present and future – out of a divine act of great love and as a gift to us. For our good. And because it is best for us.

You know, I once heard this story of a priest who thought she might’ve heard God invite her to leave her home and her family. She thought she heard Jesus ask her to follow Him all the way to the other side of the world, and not look back. And, it felt big and costly and terrifying and like she was giving up everything but, would you look at that, she landed up living in paradise, in a life that was better than she could have imagined!

So perhaps we should hope these invitations of Jesus aren’t metaphors. Perhaps we should dare to believe they are offers of life in abundance. And then maybe we might have the courage and grace to respond with a resounding yes and live a life of true faith: real, modern, change-your-life, sell-all-you-own faith…and be known for it. Amen.

Corpus Christi 2022

Today we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi (literally the Body of Christ), a day set aside in the church year to thank God for the gift of the Eucharist. And on this day, when we are once again permitted to receive in both kinds – both bread and wine – if we choose to – it seems more appropriate than ever before.

The feast of Corpus Christi began in the 13th Century when a Roman Catholic nun received a vision of a bright full moon, with one dark blot on it.  God told her the moon represented the brightness of the celebrations in the church year, and the blot remained because there was no celebration for the beginnings of the Eucharist.  She shared this with her friend, who conveniently went on to become Pope, and this celebration was added to the church year in 1264. 

This morning’s gospel reading tells us, repeatedly, that Jesus’ flesh and blood is real food and drink; it nourishes, builds us up, satisfies us, and that is the foundation of our holy meal.

In each mass we are invited to come to this altar hungry. In it we are physically and spiritually fed – given food for the journey.  But here’s the thing, as we consume the Christ, so we discover we become more hungry, not less. We become hungrier, because our encounter with Christ causes us to see there are people in this world who can’t fill their cupboards or family’s bellies today, even in this neighbourhood.  And as we are fed, we become hungrier to help others; because the world is hungry – physically starving, and emotionally, mentally and spiritually hungry too.  So, in this sacrament we are satisfied, AND we are made hungry, hungry for justice, because this food and drink is for us, AND it is also food for our neighbour.  We are fed here so we might go and feed others.

What begins here as fruit of the vine and work of human hands becomes for us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

We don’t know what God chooses to do here on this altar.  But it is enough to know something awesome happens and we get to witness it, hold it, eat it, drink it, and be part of it; together, in communion.  And as this heavenly food, this piece of Jesus, enters our body, so we must choose what we will do with the energy it provides. What will we do when we leave here, with the Christ living inside us? How might it change us? How might we change the world?

In our NT reading, we heard ‘as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death…’.  

We share in Christ’s death; we share His human brokenness and recognise our own brokenness; We acknowledge some things Christ died for still exist, here and now, and that’s not ok; we proclaim death.  But we also proclaim the end of death; we celebrate life.  Life in abundance, for eternity.  This is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet prepared for all people.  ‘Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise them up’, Jesus says. 

Proclaiming death, gaining eternal life; all in this sacrament, in one morsel of food, one sip of the cup.

And we approach this altar, entirely inadequate; Lord I am not worthy to receive you, we pray.  Of course we aren’t, none of us are.  But in this divine mystery, in this sacrament we are transformed.  We don’t simply become ‘me on a good day’ when we leave the rail.  It’s much better than that!  As we eat real food and drink from heaven, get this; we are changed into Corpus Christi.  We each become the actual body of Christ. We take the Christ into our bodies and then we leave here to go into the world, changed.  And that is the most profound truth of this feast.

So, I know it sounds like I’m saying the mass is the solution to world hunger and poverty; that it brings eternal life in the face of death and suffering; that it will transform our lives, as well as those around us.  I know it sounds like I’m saying it’ll change us into saints, despite our unworthiness; that it’s the best thing this side of heaven and we can’t live without it.  I know it sounds like I’m saying that. I am.

Our meal here is our superpower, our power to change the world. And whether we have the tiniest crumb, a mere morsal, or the full banquet, we each have more than we need. More than enough. Enough and some to share.

A few years ago, I read an exceptional book called ‘Take this Bread’.  The author, Sara Miles, writes about her first encounter of the mass.  Sara was a staunch atheist, photographer and journalist.  A new church opened in her neighbourhood and won awards for its architecture, so she went along to take photos.  Before she’d finished, a service began, and she wanted more photos so decided to stay.  In this service, everyone was invited to receive mass and Sara didn’t want to be rude so she held her hands out.  She put the body of Christ into her mouth and had a lifechanging experience.   She says ‘in that moment I knew I was eating Jesus, called the Christ. He was indisputably in my body as if I’d swallowed a radioactive pellet that would outlive my own flesh’.

She goes on to say, “I walked into a church, ate a piece of bread, took a sip of wine…  [and] it changed everything… Eating Jesus, as I did that day, to my great astonishment, led me to a faith I’d scorned, and work I’d never imagine.  The mysterious sacrament turned out to be not a symbolic wafer but actual food – indeed the bread of life.”

That, my friends, is what we have here. It is often our best kept secret.  But it is everything. It is life. And so, today, as we return to the common cup – as we are invited, once again, to both eat AND drink, I invite you, in the name of the Church to come to this altar as if for the first time and become, together Corpus Christi – the Body of Christ, in this place. Amen.

Pentecost! 🔥

Another week, another round of lessons in Australian life. This week it was the birds. They’re so LOUD! Huge magpies, Stunning pink galahs, and the kookaburras. Well, I don’t know that I’ll ever get accustomed to the sound of them – they’re incredible. But, on our dog walk yesterday, along with the bird song, I saw a large bird cage sat on the verge, waiting for its next owner to claim it and it reminded me of a wonderful thing that started – with birds – just before I left the UK.

I had a friend, Ronnie, who was a prison chaplain, and he was setting up a project for prisoners. He was offering those in treatment for addiction the opportunity to own a budgie, and he was on the lookout for donations of bird cages. And yesterday, with that cage on the roadside, it came back to me again. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought this sounded a bit like Pentecost…

Birds are the freest of all animals. You can’t pin them down. You can’t catch them. They leap off buildings and migrate to other countries and swoop and dive…and even their very design – those wings and feathers – speak of freedom and flight. So, it’s no wonder that a bird is often used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Birds don’t live in cages, not ordinarily.  But for these budgies to fulfil their purpose in this project, they need a cage. They need a cage so that they can go to these prisoners, who are in cages of their own. The cages of addiction as well as the physical cage of their prison cell. And I wonder if that is a useful image for the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit, at Pentecost, and since the dawn of time, and every day since.

Pentecost was a kind of hijacked Jewish festival that then became a significant way-marker on an unstoppable process beginning at the dawn of Creation when God spoke Light into being.  The outpouring of something incredible and unmovable.  The continuation of one long, eternal, act of grace; a gift literally OF God, part of God’s self, given to us, for always.  The freest, flightiest, most free-flowing part of God came down to earth to live within the cages of humanity – to dwell fully in the cage of our hearts, to fulfil God’s ministry of love.

She inspires us to acts of holy mischief; invites us and accompanies us on it. She is subversive and cunning, in all the best ways. She should be taken seriously because She is dangerous as fire, and essential as air. But the Holy Spirit is not simply to be described or pinned down or explained.  She is one to be encountered, experienced, from the inside out, and to know and be known by. 

It is by the Holy Spirit that our gifts of bread and wine become for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ at every mass.

It is the Holy Spirit of Pentecost who descends on you at every blessing and absolution and dismissal. 

She baptises and confirms and ordains and consecrates.

It is by the Holy Spirit that new people wander into our church and stay.

It is the draw of the Holy Spirit that brought you to church this morning, even if you think it’s just what you do on a Sunday morning.

God chose a day and date and time in history to do something significant – the event we heard in our Acts reading. But it wasn’t the first time – She was brooding over the waters even before God said ‘let there be light’ – Pentecost wasn’t her first outing and it is certainly not her last. Pentecost is breaking out here, there, and all over the place and is utterly unstoppable.  You can’t resist Her, and you can’t avoid Her.  You can only choose to spot what she is up to, and decide whether you want to join in. 

And just as my friend Ronnie was asking for more birdcages to house his budgies in prisons, so our Lord is asking for more hearts to house God’s Spirit, to take love and light, holy mischief, and freedom, to the darkest places of this world.

BUT, the significant difference between the prison story and the Pentecost story, is that Ronnie hoped his birds would stay in their cages whereas God hopes our caged hearts might just burst open and let the Spirit out!

Every day, but perhaps more notably on a day like today, God asks for places where God’s spirit might live, and for people through whom God’s work might be done. And today God is asking us.

I am excited by whatever it is God might have in store for our church and community in this next chapter. I believe it when the gospel reading says we will do even greater things than our Lord. And I also know we can’t do it alone, but only through the fire and breath of the Spirit.

So, right now, in a tangible and active way, you are invited to commit, once again, to join with the Spirit in whatever it is she wants to do here next. To say yes to this next holy invitation, and be refilled by that same spirit of creation, incarnation, resurrection and Pentecost. And John and I will symbolise that by anointing you with the oil of God’s spirit, on your foreheads and your hands – if you want to. And we don’t need to know what we are saying yes to, just that we are saying yes. And we are here for it. So john will come and join me and if you would like to be prayed for and anointed, please come and join us at this altar rail too.

Let us pray:

Pour out your spirit upon us Great God, as we say yes, again, to your holy invitation. Amen.

An Invitation to Dadirri

Before I begin I acknowledge with grateful thanks, the research and words of Elder Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, whose voice echoes significantly in this sermon.

As a relatively new stranger in these lands I feel like every day’s very much a school day. Fortunately, I loved school and was that annoying kid who put their hand up to say ‘sir, you forgot to set us our homework’ or ‘miss so-and-so is talking during the test’. Yes, that child. But that love of learning and keenness to know new things is standing me in good stead now. My senses are on high alert! Those storms stop me in my tracks; I lapped up every bit of knowledge I could find about Wadjemup; and this week has been another education in Antipodean life and culture.

On Thursday the church celebrated the Ascension of our Lord – that glorious moment where the Risen Christ’s physical body rose to heaven and the Holy Spirit was charged with taking it from here. And we also marked Sorry Day. So, I got to work learning about this too.

National Sorry Day remembers and acknowledges the mistreatment of First Nations people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities and became ‘The Stolen Generations’. Sorry Day honours the strength of those Survivors and gives us chance to reflect on how we can play a part in the healing process for this country, and all her children. It allows us to repent – stop, turn around, and act differently – and ask those big questions like why aboriginal children are still nearly 11 times more likely to be removed from their families than their non-aboriginal friends.

It give us space to look back, so that we might look forward to what could be. And for us people of faith it focusses our prayers on asking God to continue God’s remarkable work of reconciliation, and see how we might join in with that. And it brings to the fore those things humanity prefers not to look at – trauma, injustice, oppression, evil – and asks us to respond.

So, on Thursday, many of us gathered in the chapel amid all of that – the glory and hope of the Ascension and the weight and despair (and indeed the hope) of Sorry Day. And together, we began exploring the Aboriginal concept of quiet stillness, and deep listening, called Dadirri.

Dadirri is a recognition of the deep spring within each of us, which is the very Spirit of God.

Dadirri is a conscious listening to the sound within us; the sound of Deep calling to Deep.  

Dadirri is waiting; reminding us that hurrying achieves nothing, and our best is found in moving in the flow of the spirit. Waiting allows things to be done with care.  

In the morning we sat, together, and walked alone.

In the evening, we sat by candelight and gathered around the sacrament.

And we tried to listen to that deep spirit. We tried to hear deep calling to deep. And we waited. And I’m sure something happened, but I don’t know what. But God’s spirit was definitely with us, of course, because that is the promise of Ascension.

And then Friday marked the start of Reconciliation Week – another lesson for me – and, in this week, all Australians are encouraged to, quote, ‘tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation [or even begin it] so we can make change for the benefit of all’.  And that is an amazing opportunity and a big work, and a significant responsibility and we need to be here for it.

And, as followers of Jesus, we have something specific, something unique to contribute to this work; something the world is waiting for.

As Jesus-people, we have gifts that our community, our country is looking for.

We, like those first disciples in the Acts reading, can call upon that holy name and see people set free, we can see slavery end, statistics changed and chains broken, we can shake the very ground we walk on and speak words of life and salvation.

Those words in Revelation promised us we will see the hungry fed and the thirsty receive water. And our gospel gave us that glorious reassurance that we can do this because 2000 years ago, in that garden, Christ prayed for us – for all that was to come, for all that we would be, for the jobs and roles we would have here today: ‘I ask not only on behalf of these – those disciples who were with Jesus – but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word’ – that is us! We have been prayed for by the Christ, so we don’t act alone and we don’t need to drop our heads in the face of big work.

Friends, we are fierce. If only we knew that and believed that!

We have been promised all we need. It is ours. It always was.

We just need to get into that slipstream of the Spirit, that we might be guided by that flow and taken to where we are most needed, to do God’s work of reconciliation. And that is why we are calling this week our week of Dadirri, our week of contemplation and listening – because we don’t know upon which banks this river will wash us up, but we are choosing to get in and go with God.

So, this week you are invited to immerse yourself in the spirit of Dadirri – you are invited to wait and deeply listen, every day, and be still and silent, every day, because our task in this generation is huge and it can only be done with and through the work of God’s spirit. I urge and encourage you to take that time, each day, knowing your brothers and sisters are doing the same and expecting that God will guide us to the next thing and that it will be good.

Come Lord Jesus, Amen.

The Gospel according to Wadjemup…

This past week I had the total privilege of being the Anglican chaplain for the island of Wadjemup – or Rottnest. I went quite reluctantly, in a way – superficially, the weather forecast was bad and, more significantly, I’d not long ago watched a documentary about the history of the island. That film left me so conflicted about whether the white people should be making a playground of this giant unmarked grave that I didn’t know if I even had any right to step foot off the boat, but, our diocese has a commitment to always having a clergyperson resident there, and the opportunity came to me, so I went.

All my fears were real, and right, and mostly unmet and my heart really did find a new home there. It was a wonderful and blessed time and I know I’ll return often.

In my mental wranglings about whether I should or shouldn’t go I spoke to some of our aboriginal elders and some other people, who are wiser than I am. Uncle Ben said to me, ‘please go; go and stand at the water’s edge and throw sand into the sea and call up the spirits of those who went and never returned to their spiritual country’ and a wonderful companion encouraged me to stand at the edge of the most brutally sacred places and ask permission to enter and then listen for an answer. What wealth of advice!

I took a book with me called An Island Solution: Rottnest reveals our colonial secrets and each morning I read a few chapters, recounting the hideous, oppressive, violent and barbaric history of that beautiful place, and then I walked the island and saw the places I’d read about.

I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I was really aware that it was white British men who led this fight for colonialism, and they are my grandfathers, so I said ‘sorry’ at the edge of the cemetery and at the vast burial site where 1 in 10 of the prisoners had ended up – through execution, murder or malnourishment. I kissed the walls of the reformatory and the chapel and the lighthouse – all built by our aboriginal ancestors for the benefit of the white man and his children. I had no idea what I was doing and I must have looked crazy, but over the 6 days I covered every section of the island, intentionally, and every step I took was meant as one of prayer and peace, of reconciliation and of love.

And last Sunday, I said mass in that tiny Anglican chapel – just me and one other – and the gospel reading was that famous one; love one another, as I have loved you, love one another – and I asked, and genuinely wondered, ‘what does loving one another look like here? What does it look like to love those who were brought here and never got to go home? And what does it look like to love those who did that to them?’ and I wasn’t sure.

And then today we hear those equally famous words; peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid. And I have the same sort of wonderings.

What does peace look like to an island, to a country, built on colonialism, domination and oppression? How do we find peace there, or here? What does peace look like the day after a general election where some people will be worse off for the result and others are rejoicing? What is that peace? Where can we find it?

And, the thing is, I had totally immersed myself in the stories of Wadjemup – of how it became Rottnest, then a prison, then a grave. I truly heard the cries of history and felt the deep wounds of its past and it was loud… and yet, beyond all that, above all that, was this unescapable, very tangible, sense of peace. Those walking trails, those incredible beaches, that chapel, that grave site, all of it is just steeped in peace, dripping with peace. And that, I think, is the very essence of what Jesus promises us here.

You see, peace is not simply the absence of war. It is not just silence or quiet. Peace is profound. It is counter cultural. It is the port in the storm, the centre of the tornado, the sense of calm when everything is falling down around us. It is the strength in the face of a diagnosis and the courage to get up in the morning when our dearest loved one has died. It is the sunrise and the sunset and the lapping waves on the island shores of Wadjemup. And I am certain that this is what Jesus was promising when he said ‘I do not give to you as the world gives’ because this sort of peace cannot be found in the world or by the world. It can only be received as gift, as grace, as entirely other.

We can try to chase peace or hunt it out. We can try to manufacture it or create it. And yet, we can’t manage it; not truly, not deeply. Oh, I think we can contribute to it or distract from it, but the deep seat of this peace is ours, in Christ, and is always coming to us, is always on its way.

It is left to us and is given to us and will lift us and carry us.

It is not the peace of the world – that peace will disappoint us, because it won’t last.

And it is ours to receive, if we want it. So, hold out your hands and lift up your heads. And do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid. Amen.

Deeds, not words…

Things are really hotting up here election-wise aren’t they? A day rarely passes without a leaflet in the mailbox, a billboard scooting past on a trucks, or a knock at the door. There was a national prayer vigil on Wednesday, and have you received your very useful fridge magnet from a certain counsellor?

Growing up in a household with a trade unionist grandad and a militant mum, I was taught the importance of voting in every election from a very young age and I heard about the works of the Suffragette movement way before I could pronounce it.

In the UK, women peacefully campaigned for an equal right to vote for more than 5 decades, with no success, but in 1903 a group of feisty activists adopted a slogan that became their motto – deeds not words. They tried every which way of communicating through words – to no avail – so they began direct action. Some of the reports of what they did sound bad – arson, window smashing, criminal damage – and others sound hilarious – the arrest warrant for a woman found in the house of commons ‘in male attire, with a riding whip in her coat pocket’ was among my favourites. What they learned was that deeds were what changed things, not words. And it worked and, after many heroic deeds and some bloodshed, even death, women got the vote

This was super controversial at the turn of the last century but I’m not sure why because Jesus was already onto it 2000 years earlier…

‘How long will you keep us in suspense?’ the Jews asked Jesus…  ‘If you are the messiah, tell us plainly’.  They want to know the truth, and they want Jesus to tell them.  They want a simple yes or no answer. Are you the messiah Jesus; yes, or no?  and Jesus replies by saying, ‘I’ve told you and you don’t believe’.  He says the works he does is all the proof they need – the works I do in my father’s name testify to me. 

It’s like he’s saying, I can tell you if you want, but its way better to see. This isn’t about being told the answers and accepting it blindly. This is about way more than that. It’s about deeds not words … it’s like he’s saying, ‘I’ve told you and I can tell you again if you want, but it makes no difference if you don’t see my actions, believe and follow me. I can tell you, but you must connect the dots and let it impact you. Let it change you’.

Jesus’ deeds show beyond all reasonable doubt who he is. These people had seen him heal the sick, raise the dead, give sight to the blind, cast out demons, feed the hungry…they’ve seen all these things, and still, they’re not quite sure.  Are you the one we are waiting for, or should we wait longer?  Should we expect another? Tell us!

They’d been told, over and over!

But the gap between the brain and the heart is the biggest of all.

At some point we need that eureka moment where we go ‘ohhhh’. At some point we have to almost give in and say, ‘I’ve seen enough to think it might be proof’ and, as much as my brain is able to grasp it, I choose to believe.

And I think, as it was with those first disciples and those Jewish leaders, so it ever will be. The world is always waiting, always questioning, always wondering. What is true? What is real? And I wonder what the world, what our community, sees and hears from us, about us, in this place that offers any kind of answer to that question.

This week our Just Manna committee met together, and we heard about a woman who had lost custody of her child because they had become homeless. Within 36 hours we had managed to find her somewhere to stay and she was reunited with her baby and her immediate response was a text that said, ‘thanks so much for your help and prayers…I can’t explain how complete I feel’. We could have just prayed for her, but it was our deeds, that made the difference.

At the same meeting we agreed practical help for our dear friends released from detention and we asked ourselves ‘how can we support these guys more?’  and we thought maybe it’s housing or financial support or a bike to get around. Like, yeah, we can say we are here for you, and we love you, but what does that look like in deeds not words?

And I feel like this is what Jesus is talking about in this morning’s gospel passage; deeds, not words. The importance of doing transformational things that lead to relationship and belonging. We can say ‘I love you’ and that’s really nice but it means nothing unless we show that love in deeds not words.

For the mummy and her baby, this week, she saw the provision of a home and knew she was no longer alone, but this group of strangers have reached out and helped her, made her feel complete (to use her phrase), not only because that is the right thing to do when someone is in need but because we follow the one who is Love and told us to love likewise.

The Jewish leaders said ‘tell us plainly’ but Jesus’ response was – and still is – don’t just hear what I say but see what I do – deeds not words. And I feel like the world, even now, is asking that same question and is watching and waiting; watching to see if our deeds match our words.

I feel like our community is also asking ‘tell us plainly, is this real?’ Is God real? You speak a good game but show me what it means, show me what difference it makes.

So, we need to ask ourselves, what have we seen and known of Christ?

And what will we do so that others might know Him too? Amen.