Sunday's coming!

Revelation 21: 1-6a John 11: 32-44 On first hearing, today’s readings for All Saints Day might seem to be about the rewards which are waiting for God’s saints. The story of Lazarus, raised from the tomb by Jesus after 4 days, is an extraordinary one. Lazarus is a friend of Jesus, who is moved to hear of Lazarus’s death. His subsequent rising is a source of great joy to his sisters, and perhaps a sign of how much Jesus loved him. You could say that the story illustrates the resurrection which awaits all the friends of Jesus…they will not be allowed to lie forgotten and decaying in the grave. I am reminded of the story of St Cuthbert – one of the Celtic saints of Iona. He had been dead and buried for nearly 200 years, and was greatly revered both in life and in death as a great man and a saint, when there was a danger of Viking attack on the Island of Lindisfarne. In order to prevent his body from falling into the hands of the Vikings, the monks of Lindisfarne exhumed Cuthbert’s body, on...

Might want to look at these again tomorrow sometime - but this is basically what I feel I have to say. Mark 10: 46-52 Perhaps we hear this story as yet another healing story: miraculous and wonderful for the man who regains his sight, but just another example of Jesus helping and healing someone who needed it. But the story contains a most intriguing question: ‘What do you want me to do for you?’. Jesus asks this question of blind Bartimaeus – a man who cannot work because he cannot see, and so who has to beg for a living. A man so low-down the social pecking order that when he first calls out to Jesus people around tell him to shut up, they don’t want him bothering Jesus, the great teacher & healer. What does blind Bartimaeus want? He wants to see, he wants his life back, he wants the gracious power of Jesus to change him. He wants to be healed.. and he is. And at one level that’s all we need from this story – a story of Good News for Bartimaeus. But this story can tell us so much...

.. still half-baked. I'm frustrated because as minister of 4 churches I preach at 2 of each on alternate weeks - so I can't draw a parallel I'd like to draw between last week's gospel & James & John 'Master we want you to do whatever we ask of you!' and Bartimaeus 'Have mercy' - to which Jesus responds 'What do you want me to do'. And I'm struggling to work out what I want Jesus to do for me - is that because I'm too rich.. or too blind?

Readings for the day are: Jeremiah 31:7-9 Hebrews 7:23-28 Mark 10:46-52 It is often the case that the Gospel reading strikes me first - and within this I am struck by Jesus saying to a blind beggar 'What do you want me to do for you?'. As teenagers of my association might say 'Like, Duh!' - he's blind, so can't work, so has to beg: it's hard to imagine that anything other than 'sight' would be what he wants. But as I think about myself, and others who need to hear the Good News, isn't it worth stopping to wonder 'what do we want Jesus to do for us?". And I wonder whether those things we might think of are things we need Jesus to do, or whether we can do them for ourselves. Not sure where I'm going with all this at the moment - and whether I want to stray into what the church needs to be doing to serve people around us - do we need to ask 'what do you want?'..

Whoops - a busy week, so here is what I preached this morning: Mark 10: 35-40 ‘The baptism Jesus is baptized with’ I am very lucky in having two big brothers. I love them both very much, but neither of them would dream of coming anywhere near a church. One, Frank, refers to my faith in God as a ‘teddy bear’ to make me feel better about life, and the other, Paul asked me once ‘if Jesus is meant to be God why is he so cryptic in what he says?’. I thought of both my brothers as I read today’s gospel reading. James & John are brothers, and they don’t get it either. Jesus is a homeless teacher and healer but they believe he is the son of God and they see a chance of grabbing a bit of the limelight which is surely to come. ‘Allow us to sit with you in your glory, one at your right hand and one at your left’ – they want the prime places of honour with Jesus. And then Jesus seems to get cryptic ‘Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?’. But ...

Ouch! The Word of God. Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10:17-31 “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.” Years ago, before I had Eleanor, when I was moving into a flat, a friend of mine gave me this knife (It's a very sharp, broad-bladed kitchen knife) . She had 2 young children and she was terrified that one of them would get their hands on it, so she wanted to get it out of the house and gave it to me. Perhaps I’m not such a caring mum, or maybe it’s the difference between having one and having two to look after, but all through having Eleanor as a baby and then a toddler and now as a very sensible teen-ager, I have kept this knife. Yes, it’s sharp, yes it’s a bit scary, but it’s a really useful knife – especially for cutting meat – and I’ve never yet hurt myself with it, because I’m always really careful how I use it and it always goes back in this cardboard sleeve before it goes back in the drawer. The letter to the Hebrews warns us that the Word of God ...

So to the gospel.... The young man recognizes that Jesus is the Good Teacher who can answer the most vital question: ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Firstly Jesus puts the young man’s focus back onto God… only God is good. Maybe he could have stopped the conversation right there – “you ask ‘what must I do?’ Remember how good God is, and stop trying to earn God’s love”. But Jesus wants to help this young man…so he points out ‘You know the commandments’ – better than that, this young man has actually kept the commandments. Then comes the bad news ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ We might well understand why the young man, who is rich, goes away grieving. We might wonder, though, why Jesus is so harsh on this young man who, after all, has broken no commandments. Mark is keen that we realize why Jesus speaks like this : his gospel tells us: “Jesus, looking at him, loved him and...

Ouch! The Word of God. Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10:17-31 “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.” Years ago, before I had Eleanor, when I was moving into a flat, a friend of mine gave me this knife. She had 2 young children and she was terrified that one of them would get their hands on it, so she wanted to get it out of the house and gave it to me. Perhaps I’m not such a caring mum, or maybe it’s the difference between having one and having two to look after, but all through having Eleanor as a baby and then a toddler and now as a very sensible teen-ager, I have kept this knife. Yes, it’s sharp, yes it’s a bit scary, but it’s a really useful knife – especially for cutting meat – and I’ve never yet hurt myself with it, because I’m always really careful how I use it and it always goes back in this cardboard sleeve before it goes back in the drawer. The letter to the Hebrews warns us that the Word of God is like this scarily sharp blade. What's important...

This week's readings: Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10:17-31 My initial thoughts are - The bit about the Word being like a sword. What's important is how you handle it. If you use God's word as a weapon the chances are you'll get caught yourself and find you are the victim of its sharp edge. At the same time if we are forgetful of the Word (stick it in a drawer and try to forget about it) it can damage us as we try to go about our lives and suddenly come upon it. What we need to do (there had to be third point, yes?) is handle it with respect and care and use it where a little 'trimming' is needed in our lives. So to the gospel. How is the sharpness of the Word challenging us? What do we need to trim away? perhaps not just 'stuff' but attitudes to stuff, or to law, or to others? I think I'll be taking my sharpest kitchen knife to church on Sunday. to illustrate the point!

8am 4-10-09 This is one of the hardest parts of Mark’s gospel – but if we find it hard. how much harder was it for Jesus.? To test him he is asked the question ‘ Is it lawful to divorce or not?’ Jesus’ response is “What does Moses say?”. Moses lays down the law – and the law is clear that there is a means of getting a divorce – and yet this is a ‘live’ issue for Jesus’ time (as it is for ours) – because there were some husbands who were effectively abandoning their wives using the legal system. Jesus can’t support the law which allows a wife to be abandoned simply on her husbands say-so, and yet in Jesus time as in ours there are marriages which have failed and which need to end. So Jesus does not answer the question directly, but stresses the seriousness of the marriage bond. Jesus warns that divorce cannot be treated as a state of eradicating the marriage, ‘as if it never happened’ – and so he teaches that it is like adultery to enter into a 2nd marriage – these may be Rabbinic shock...

Reflective service using Psalm 8 & Hebrews 1: 1-4, 2: 5-12 It’s not often that I base a sermon or reflection on just one word. but I am so struck by the word in the psalm, which is quoted here in the letter to the Hebrews – the word ‘mindful’. The psalmist asks God ‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them?’. There are people who find it hard to believe in a God at all – and some who will try to say that you have either to believe in a creator or in an evolving universe. But most people, looking up at the stars, getting a glimpse into the marvels of the universe, find that it is hard not to believe that there is a creating force at work. But the psalmist does not stop at the idea that there is a God who created the stars, our earth, and everything in it. He says that this God is mindful of human beings – there is a relationship between this great creator God and the people he has made. And to help these people to be mindful of the God who loves them, the writer of the let...