lurchersontheedge

Holy Tuesday
Son of God

It is interesting that the ancient kings of Israel were declared to be the son of God at their coronations. We have a brief snippet of that liturgy in Psalm 2: 7 The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you. The angels sometimes were also called sons of God, and the nation of Israel was referred to as the ‘son’ of God by the Prophet Hosea (11:1).

The early Church, almost immediately, after the resurrection of Jesus declared that he was the Son of God. Jesus himself was comfortable with the idea that he was the Son of God in a unique sense. This is seen in two principle ways. First, in the way that he called God ‘Abba’, which was both personal and revolutionary within 1st century Judaism; and second, his statements which indicated that the Father and the Son (Jesus) acted in unity. This is seen across all four gospels (Matthew 11:27, Luke 10:22, Mark 13:32, John 10:30)

Biblical Text – Mark 12:1-12
And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;[b]
11 this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes’?”
12 And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.

Questions

1. This parable, in a nutshell, contains a broad sweep of ‘salvation history’. How important is an understanding and appreciation of the Old Testament for the Christian faith?
2. What do you think the term ‘Son of God’ means?
3. When you look at a child, you can often see the parent; what does that fact that Jesus is the unique Son tell us about his ‘father’ God?
4. Would you address God ‘as daddy’?

Reflection for Holy Tuesday

The immortal God hath died for me!
The Father’s co-eternal Son bore all my sins upon the tree;
The immortal God for me hath died
My Lord, my love is crucified
(C) Charles Wesley

Divine and mortal
Fragile and Immortal
Constrained and Expansive
The God in the human
showing us what it means to be human;
so that we might understand the divine

It will strike some of us as surprising that the Messiah was not really a full-blown concept at the time of Jesus. In fact the term ‘messiah’, which in Greek is ‘Christ’ and in English ‘Anointed one’ is used as a title only 38 times in the Old Testament.

For those Jews who were expecting a messiah figure, he would usually be a king or warrior-general who would rout the Roman oppressors and restore liberty to the land of Israel. This is why successive roman procurators were only too willing to dispense easily and quickly with would-be messiah figures. It might be for this reason that Jesus seems to have shunned the title ‘messiah’ preferring other titles like ‘teacher’ and ‘one like a son of man’.

The mighty warrior was not the only description for the Messiah, for some Jews, the anointed one would be a priest who would reform and purify the Temple, for others a teacher, and still others, a prophet.

Biblical Text – Mark 8:27-30

27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

Questions

1. What does the term ‘Messiah’ or ‘Christ’ mean to you?
2. What do you think the term ‘Messiah’ means for Jews today?
3. What do you think that God had anointed Jesus to do – and how was that expressed?
4. What are people – what are you – anointed by God to do today?
Reflection for Holy Monday
Jesus in some way acted like the Messiah, yet a Messiah very different from contemporary Jewish hopes. It is difficult to believe that Jesus filled a role of which he was unconscious. He must have known himself to be the Messiah
(C) G E Ladd
The Theology of the New Testament

I am anointed, but it is a secret,
Anointed openly by water and fire
visible to those who were able to see
I am anointed, but no
not a political animal or zealous priest
nor a soothsaying prophet nor a dreamer of dreams
I am anointed, free to be.
I am anointed to hang on that tree

Booklet – Titles- bookfold

We are using the following booklet on Holy Island this week. Do join us.

The following services will take place

Holy Monday

12 Noon Meditation at St Cybi’s Caergybi
7:30 Holy Communion at St David’s Morawelon

Holy Tuesday

12 Noon Meditation at St Cybi’s Caergybi
7:30 Holy Communion at St Ffraid’s Trearddur Bay

Holy Wednesday

12 Noon Meditation at St Cybis, Caergybi
7:30 Holy Communion at St Gwenfaen’s Rhoscolun

Maundy Thursday

7:30 Holy Communion at St Cybi’s Caergybi

Good Friday

12 Noon Ecumenical Service at St Mary’s, Caergybi followed by procession of witness to the Millennium Cross

Holy Saturday

4:oo Whispers of Light at St Cybi’s Caergybi

Easter Day

7:00 Early in the Morning. Easter Worship in the grounds of St Cybis, Caergybi
9:15 Holy Communion at St David’s Morawelon
11:00 Holy Communion at St Cybi’s Caergybi
11:00 Holy Communion at St Ffraid’s Trearddur Bay
11:00 Holy Communion at St Gwenfaen’s Rhoscolyn

Palm Sunday – The Son of David

God, our hope of victory,
whom we constantly betray
grant that us so to recognise your coming
that in our clamour
there may be commitment,
and in our silence
the very stones may cry out aloud in your name. Amen.

Son of David

David, the ancient king of Israel, had become for many Jews at the time of Jesus a prototype of what kingship should be like. Indeed, for those yearning for freedom, the reign, and the geographical extent of it, may have seen like halcyon days. The majority of Jews who were expecting a messiah would have thought in terms of a Davidic identikit image.

For those who lived by the Dead Sea at Qumran, the Davidic figure was also a healer and teacher. It is therefore not unusual for Jesus to have become associated with David, whether this be on the lips of Bartimaeus, the blind person, calling for help or the children singing hosannas to Jesus in the temple courts; and of during the triumphal entry itself.
Biblical Text – Mark 11

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” 4 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 5 And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 8 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

Questions

1. There are many scholars, myself included, who think that the triumphal entry was a prophetic action, announcing the immediate coming of God’s kingdom. How would those in authority, whether pagan (Roman) or religious (Jewish) have interpreted such a sign?

Reflection for Palm Sunday

Hail to the Lord’s anointed, great David’s greater Son!
Hail in the time appointed, his reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free,
To take away transgression and rule in equity

(c) James Montgomery, 1771-1854
Based on Psalm 72

It is a month since I was inducted as Vicar of Holy Island and Team Leader of the Bro Cybi Ministry Area by the Bishop of Bangor. I am blogging quite regularly about the journey of our new Ministry Area, and this can be found here: http://bangor.churchinwales.org.uk/news/2014/02/bro-cybis-journey-1/

I am therefore leaving those particular reflections to that slot; what I thought was worth exploring, eversobriefly, is the way in which I have come to feel at home here in a relatively short place of time.

Having said that there is much about my previous parish that I miss, not least the people, and the Churches of Holy Island pray regularly that a new incumbent is appointed at St Michael and All Angels, Bartley Green as soon as is practicable.

I feel at home because Holy Island is quite like the place I grew up: Sheffield.

This is not as bizarre as it sounds. Sheffield, in God’s own county of Yorkshire is similar to North Wales not least because of the delight in straight talking, but also because both places are shaped by the landscape. Sheffield shaped as it is by seven hill still retains a semi-village feel, and a closeness to the beauty of the Peaks. Holyhead, Rhoscolyn and Trearddur Bay are shaped by the sea and wind in an altogether different way. In both places (the steel city and the land when the skies meet the sea) there is a need to listen attentively to the place as well as people.

In crossing the Straits, I am therefore learning a lot about being home, in this new place and in the place that I grew up; and both are continuing to shape me.

One of the good parts of being in a new place is being given the gift of space. Fortunately, for me the Church of England and the Church in Wales allow a gap between incumbencies. At the moment, I have a freedom to explore. Holyhead and Holy Island are places of great beauty. Nature often ravishes us with its beauty, and we are all too often blind to its advances. Thus, when we have the time to see, it is a gateway into a whole new world.

Bartley Green in Birmingham was also a place of beauty. There were walks by the reservoir (“the rezza”), through blue bell woods and the country park that could take the breath away. On the annual Rogationtide walk, I was reminded in certain places of the history that had taken place there, involving the English Civil War and the Restoration. Bartley’s beauty was enhanced by its people. People do something to a place. When a place is incarnated (to use a theological expression) something changes. Bartley is on the edge and people on the edge are usually those who have experienced life and not been defined by their circumstances.

Ynys Cybi is also on the edge, and as the gales have hit Trearddur Bay over the last couple of weeks it has sometimes seemed as if it is at the edge of the world. It is a place of beauty and resilience. Then again, holy places usually are.

I am delighted to be in Wales. It is an amazing place. The national anthem sung by rugby fans already makes the hairs of the back of my neck stand on end. The poetry and the passion of the people I am now living amongst give me confidence and hope; and yet I am present saddened to be English (drist i fod yn Saesneg).

I was with a local head teacher yesterday (nothing changes). That head teacher must have in their late 40s. They recounted a story of their father being caned in school for daring to speak welsh. I have experienced much silence over the last 24 hours, wondering how one culture can dare to lord it over another.

Wales is an amazing place, and the welcome has been quite wonderful. I trust in time, I will be able to be proud to be English in this amazing place, but for now I can only commit myself to honouring the resilient and proud cultures of those around me; saddened that those who came before me did not always act well.

I admit it. I love the coast. It is probably a good job having moved to Trearddur Bay, near the ancient fort of St Cybi; Holyhead (Caergybi).

I have “enjoyed” seeing the sea batter the rocks and walls over the last few days. There is something delightful for the spray of the sea to caress your face; although not necessarily with its icy fingers. I realise, of course, that the sea is not to be treated lightly, and am grateful for the volunteers that provide the lifeboat service.

Seeing, the sheer power of the sea, calls to mind the nature miracles of Jesus: the stilling of the storm and walking on water.

Both events occur on the Lake of Galilee, and result in those who witness them being shaken to the core; asking after the elements are calmed, ‘who is this that even the winds and waves obey?’

Those who witnessed the events, as well as those who heard their accounts through the words of the gospel writers would have called to mind the ancient stories found in the creation accounts in Genesis and Isaiah.

Certainly, when I have seen the sea crashing into the promenade and felt its breath, I have pondered again my own fragility and mortality.

So moved from an English urban metropolis to the North Wales coast.

So far, so good.

On Tuesday, we had no landline, broadband, cooker or TV… and the first train out of Holyhead said Birmingham New Street. The boy was not the only one who wanted to be on it. On Saturday, the cooker and the TV are fixed. Landline and Broadband are coming by late February.

I leave Birmingham with so many happy memories and a sense of many things well done, even if some of them are unfulfilled.

I am now here in Holy Island.

It is beautiful and bleak.

The boy had a fabulous time at school yesterday, which was a relief. How could anything be better than Bartley Green School?

What has impressed me most is the overwhelming hospitality and welcome.

Use the phone

Have a meal

Open doors

Even an offer to teach me the National Anthem.

The adventure is beginning.

Much more later, I imagine.

It is a beautiful and bleak area:

I care deeply about what happens in the life of our schools. I am saddened, beyond belief, when children leave unable to read, write or add up. This is true even when resources, human and emotional have been poured into these young lives. I see parents of children unable to do some of these things that I take for granted. Sometimes, families have been let down for generations. I am aware that sometimes, in rare occasions, there are those who have not helped themselves – but it really is scaremongering of outrageous proportions to argue that this is true in the vast majority of cases.

It is not Michael Gove’s fault that this happens – it would be simplistic to suggest that, nor was it the fault of Ed Balls, Estelle Morris (she was a good Education Secretary, she realised that the task was too big) or David Blunkett.

As a society, we have chosen (in a liberal democracy we do choose at the ballot box – even not voting is a choice) not to value education, to allow the morale of teachers, teaching assistants and heads to fall. We have chosen to judge staff solely on results attained. What Michael Gove is responsible for is this: he is allowing morale and standards to drop further. He has allowed OfSTED to become something to be feared, rather than creating something that would challenge schools, but also celebrate their successes. How can it be right for staff to live in fear of the call? How can it be fair for the inspection to rule out so many important things, such as nurture and pastoral care when assessing the life and vitality of a school?

Why am I so opinionated about this. For 12 years now, I have worked in brilliant schools as a governor (I know interfering busy body, Mr Gove – who you hold accountable should a school fail), vicar, parent, assembly taker, story teller and seen that oases of calm are created in which children flourish, where teachers go the extra mile and beyond. True there are some duff teachers. The best heads get rid of them, hopefully nicely. But there are dud vicars, some of us with freehold, and even dud Education Secretaries.

I have received a letter a year or so ago from someone called Jake. He was from a family where nothing much happened. He soared because of the active involvement of a member of staff, going the extra mile, working sometimes late into the evenign with the family.

Dear Rev. Kev

Regards, Jake

Schools do a brilliant job. We should be cheering them on.

I just want for one day to celebrate the brilliance of 95%+ of what goes on in schools; and I hope you do too.