lurchersontheedge

I am the vicar,
I am.

I am the pastor, the carer, the listener

the one with the time to drop everything and

I also understand global politics and immigration
and

I am the one who knows about Afghanistan

and cares about ‘our boys’

and I care about speed-humps

graffiti

litter

and the positioning of zebra crossings near schools.

I am passionate
about school assemblies

council meetings

mums and toddlers and also

I am good at one-to-one and small groups and

I listen and empathise and at the same time

I am the one who plans and strategizes and

I am the one who understands budgets and decides if we can buy
any staples

or replace the heating system.

I am the vicar, I am.

I am the quiet reflective
prayer and

I am the speaker, the enthuser, the motivator, the learned teacher
and

I can engage a room of 10, 50, 300 people with no problem
because

I am the one who relates particularly well to children

older people

the middle-aged

the jobless

the employed

the doctors

teenagers and

I am the one who is always one step ahead and

I am the one who is endearingly disorganised.

I am the vicar, I am.

I care passionately
about church politics

I care passionately about domestic abuse

I care passionately about the plight of Anglo Catholics

women priests

gay clergy

evangelicals and

I listen to the pope

the archbishop and

Rob Bell.

I am up-to-date with
theological developments.

I understand the history of the reformation

the armed forces

the war

the government

the deanery

the Jewish background of Jesus and

I care about the excluded and

I manage my admin and

I know how to access children’s services.

I am the vicar, I am.

I am the one in whom
trust is placed

I am the one in whom grumbles are placed

I am the one who is always talking to everyone else

I am the one who models worship

marriage

family

gardening

conversation

baking

prayer

listening

talking

planning.

I often get it wrong.

I am the one who has to keep my doubts under wraps and

I am also the one who is vulnerable and

dependable

stable

trustworthy.

I am the one who chairs
meetings

I am the one who manages group discussions

I am the manager of an organisation that employs only me

I am the volunteer co-ordinator

the opinion co-ordinator

the trespasser on the territory of people who have
been around a lot longer than me

and will be there after me.

I understand the heating system

the financial system

the rota system.

I love committees.

I drink tea with
older people

And coffee with younger people

I listen to stories of bus routes and hospital visits
and

I believe in transforming our community through the power of
Jesus.

I am the one
who is very tired.

I am the one who hates wearing dresses but
still smiles

and would love to be muddy all the time.

I am the one who only
works one day a week.

I am the one
who loves this job.

I am the one who is making it up as I go along.

I am the one who would not swap this for anything.

I am the vicar, I am.

With thanks to Janet Chapman of Birmingham Cathedral for this delightful and perceptive piece. It is from http://theblogofkevin.wordpress.com

I am not the best person to ask about music. Indeed until earlier today, I had no idea what an intermezzo is. I like a number of different types of music: U2, Queen, the Good, the bad and the Queen, Bruce Cockburn, Show of Hands. I am not particularly into Christian music; but some friends of mine have a band called Freakshow. I do not know whether they sing my kind of music; but they are a group who are passionate about what they do and delight in singing about their love of their Lord Jesus. Their music is therefore more than a little infectious.

Here is a link to one of their pieces. Their lead singer tells me its a little rough, whatever that means.

http://www.definitionbreaks.co.uk/Freakshow/Freakshow_-_13.mp3

Revelation 3

As promised folks

St Michael’s is holding a Flower Festival on 25th and 26 June with the help of Bartley Green School (www.bgtc.bham.sch.uk), St Michael’s School, Woodgate School, Hillcrest School, King Edward VI Fiveways, Newman University College Chaplaincy (www.newman.ac.uk), Bartley Green Library and many others.

10-5 25th June 12-5 26th June

Come and see

Revelation 2

As promised…

I have endeavoured to blog during Lent alongside Mark Elcocks, a member of my congregation. Mark’s blog can be found via www.stmichaelsb32.org.uk.

I am glad Easter is here. It only makes sense if we use it as a springboard to change the world: Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Meanings in and around the Cross

The Three Hours are for me for of the most sacred times of the Christian Calendar.

¹It was before Passover, and Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and to return to the Father. He had always loved his followers in this world, and he loved them to the very end.  ²Even before the evening meal started, the devil had made Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, decide to betray Jesus. ³Jesus knew that he had come from God and would go back to God. He also knew that the Father had given him complete power. ⁴So during the meal Jesus got up, removed his outer garment, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵He put some water into a large bowl. Then he began washing his disciples’ feet and drying them with the towel he was wearing.

The Emperor Constantine shaped much of Christian history when he issued an edict of toleration for the Christian faith and then allowed Christianity to be embraced as a state religion. A significant part of the story occurred just prior to the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312.

According to these sources, Constantine looked up to the sun before the battle and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words “Ἐν Τούτῳ Νίκα” (“by this, win!”)  Constantine commanded his troops to adorn their shields with a Christian symbol (the Chi-Rho), and thereafter they were victorious. 

How different would history have been if instead of the Chi-Rho, the Emperor had seen a bowl and a towel. It is difficult to imagine the Crusaders marching on to war with shields emblazoned with a bowl and a towel.

Jesus washing of his disciples feet needs to be understood for what it is. It is a prophetic act.

Prophetic acts point always to something more than the actual action. True the act would have been treasured for

what it was by those present at the Passover meal.

The washing of the feet was also an act of humility. In Palestinian circles, the host at the meal, which Jesus was, was not the one who washed feet. It was meant to be done by a servant or a slave. Monarchs, archbishops and priests have all echoed this act of humility by washing feet.

But the act was not just an act of humility alone, no matter how impressive it was. Rather Jesus was giving the disciples a template for living.

Jesus actions seem to paint a wonderful picture in action of what Paul does with words in his letter to the Church at Philippi

⁵and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought: ^{[a] 6}Christ was truly God. But he did not try to remain ^[b] equal with God.  ⁷Instead he gave up everything ^[c] and became a slave, when he became like one of us. ⁸Christ was humble. He obeyed God and even died on a cross. ⁹Then God gave Christ the highest place and honored his name above all others. ¹⁰So at the name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. ¹¹And to the glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, “Jesus Christ is Lord!”

Jesus by taking the form of a slave acts in the opposite way to most of us.  Most of us—myself included– am only too willing to  assert my own individual rights. Jesus, the perfect human, who deserved to be served, serves others. In this he offers not just an example of humility, but a template for human living and human growth. Jesus challenges what Rowan Williams has called our illusions of omnipotence, or to put it another way, The story of God becoming human in Jesus shows us how shallow our understanding of God is at times.

Christ Jesus, putting the towel and around his waist, and washing feet shows us how God really acts—and challenges us to do the same.

Why should we treat others as Christ does? Perhaps an answer is found in Jewish traditions at time of the birth of the early church of angels giving reverence to human beings. This reverence was offered because in each human they could see the face or image of God.

What would life be like if we saw in each human the image of God? How different would our actions be both within and outside the Church?

Our lives would be closer, I would suggest, to the pattern offered by Jesus.

Washing feet

Washing feet, touching the divine

Touching the divine, healing wounds

Healing wounds, with self-emptying love

Self-emptying love, a pattern both human and divine

Human and divine patterns offering a shape

A shape for us to love and grow

To love and grow as we wash feet

To see in each the presence of the divine

³⁵Jesus asked his disciples, “When I sent you out without a moneybag or a travelling bag or sandals, did you need anything?” “No!” they answered.    ³⁶Jesus told them, “But now, if you have a moneybag, take it with you. Also take a travelling bag, and if you don’t have a sword, sell some of your clothes and buy one. ³⁷Do this because the Scriptures say, `He was considered a

criminal.’ This was written about me, and it will soon come true.” ³⁸The        disciples said, “Lord, here are two swords!” “Enough of that!” Jesus replied.

This passage in Luke comes at the end of the Jesus’ teaching at the Last Supper. Jesus is reminding his disciples that times are changing. He reminds them of the halcyon days of their mission in Galilee.

It was a time when the popularity of Jesus from Nazareth was on the rise, and people welcomed the disciples with their message of peace and good news about the kingdom. This is something that the disciples report back to Jesus upon their return.

¹⁷When the seventy-two ^[g] followers returned, they were excited and said, “Lord, even the demons obeyed when we spoke in your name!” ¹⁸Jesus told them:

   I saw Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. ¹⁹I have given you the power to trample on snakes and scorpions and to defeat the power of your enemy Satan. Nothing can harm you. ²⁰But don’t be happy because evil spirits obey you. Be happy that your names are written in heaven! (Luke 10)

Now time has changed. Jesus knows that his arrest is imminent. Whilst, I am very comfortable with Jesus knowing because of who he was (the divine son of God); he had by his actions placed himself on a collision course with both the Jewish authorities and the might of Imperial Rome.

Jesus is warning the disciples about what is to come. Jesus is about to be arrested and convicted as a criminal. Indeed Luke is specific that the charges that would be laid before Pilate are political rather than religious.

¹Everyone in the council got up and led Jesus off to Pilate. ²They started accusing him and said, “We caught this man trying to get our people to riot and to stop paying taxes to the Emperor. He also claims that he is the Messiah, our king.” (Luke 23)

There is little doubt that the disciples would have been in the sights of the authorities. They would now have to fend for themselves rather than rely on the popularity of Jesus.

But is Jesus really telling them to purchase swords, or is he, like the master teacher he is, indulging in metaphor? From what we learn of the events of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest, it is unlikely that Jesus wants the disciples to follow the practice of the zealots (the political revolutionaries or freedom fighters of the day)

⁴⁹When Jesus’ disciples saw what was about to happen, they asked, “Lord, should we attack them with a sword?” ⁵⁰One of the disciples even struck at the high priest’s servant with his sword and cut off the servant’s right ear.

    ⁵¹“Enough of that!” Jesus said. Then he touched the servant’s ear and healed it. (Luke 22)

Jesus also brings the conversation with the disciples to an abrupt end. This is in all likelihood yet another example of those who followed Jesus misunderstanding what he is saying.

The Messiah who is about to be crucified is reminding those who are on his side will be identified with him—and their Jesus was about to be identified as a criminal.

I wonder at times whether Jesus might have at times have been disappointed with the disciples?

I also wonder whether at times—at this stage of their messianic adventure, without the benefit of knowing how the story would unfold whether they were disappointed with Jesus?

Jesus also seems to be telling them that they are caught up in the battle between good and evil that is being played out on a cosmic, spiritual stage.

How are we to make sense of this passage today?

• That it is possible to misunderstand Jesus
• That it is on occasion acceptable to be disappointed with  Jesus. What we do with such disappointment is the key point.
• Those who choose to follow Jesus are not choosing a smooth or easy path
• Jesus chose a path of vulnerability and calls his disciples to do the same

The Methodist Covenant Prayer contains the following words. We might want to use them as we move forward to Maundy Thursday and beyond

‘I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.’