lurchersontheedge

³¹When the Son of Man comes in his glory with all of his angels, he will sit on his royal throne. ³²The people of all nations will be brought before him, and he will separate them, as shepherds separate their sheep from their goats.  ³³He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. ³⁴Then the king will say to those on his right, “My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created. ³⁵When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, ³⁶and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me.”  ³⁷Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, “When did we give you something to eat or drink? ³⁸When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear ³⁹or visit you while you were sick or in jail?” ⁴⁰The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”  ⁴¹Then the king will say to those on his left, “Get away from me! You are under God’s curse. Go into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels! ⁴²I was hungry, but you did not give me anything to eat, and I was thirsty, but you did not give me anything to drink. ⁴³I was a stranger, but you did not welcome me, and I was naked, but you did not give me any clothes to wear. I was sick and in jail, but you did not take care of me.” ⁴⁴Then the people will ask, “Lord, when did we fail to help you when you were hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in jail?”  ⁴⁵The king will say to them, “Whenever you failed to help any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you failed to do it for me.”  ⁴⁶Then Jesus said, “Those people will be punished forever. But the ones who pleased God will have eternal life.”

There are a number of observations that deserve to be made when responding to this passage.

• The Son of Man seems to have been the self-designation of Jesus’ choice; that is to say, he called himself ‘Son of Man’ more than anything else.
• The Son of Man is envisaged in this passage as a heavenly judge.

• This idea of the Son of Man being a heavenly figure picks up on Old Testament passages like Daniel 7. This is developed in other Jewish literature, for example 1 Enoch. The Son of Man figure in Daniel comes from earth to heaven to be presented before God after suffering.

¹³As I continued to watch the vision that night, I saw what looked like a son of man ^[f] coming with the clouds of heaven, and he was presented to the Eternal God. ^{[g] 14}He was crowned king and given power and glory, so that all people of every nation and race would serve him. He will rule for ever, and his kingdom is eternal, never to be destroyed. (7:13-14)

• For Matthew the Son of Man who is shortly going to be handed over to the might of Imperial rule is one day going to rule as king.

⁸The rulers of this world didn’t know anything about this wisdom. If they had known about it, they would not have nailed the glorious Lord to a cross (1    Corinthians 2: 8)

• It is worth taking a moment to reflect on what sort of kingship is to be exercised here. The first role undertaken by the king in the passage is to separate the sheep from the goats. Shepherds and Kingship are put together quite frequently in the Old Testament, and Jesus uses the term ‘Good Shepherd’ in John 10. In Palestine, sheep and goats were frequently grazed together, with them being separated at night. Goats being kept indoors because they were less hardy, which is surprising to those of us with only western eyes and ears. The king also exercises judgement. Matthew does not envisage a trial with counsels for the prosecution and for the defence; but a simple judgement.
• The sheep and goats are not separated on the basis of faith, but because of action. The reason that the righteous are blessed is because of the ordinary mundane actions that they have undertaken

– hungry are fed

– thirsty are given something to drink

– people are visited

The righteous appear surprised that such things are being rewarded. 

What does such a story have to say to our 21st Century culture?

In a world of glamour, celebrity culture and instant success, it might point out that simple acts of charity ore items of lasting value. To a church, where education, numerical increases, and charismatic acts (whether personality or the miraculous) can bring particular  rewards, acts of charity which cannot so easily be counterfeited are the real hallmarks of the kingdom of God. Acts of genuine charity flow out of a contrite heart, which decides to have the same humility that Jesus himself showed.

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      honoured 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!” (Philippians 2: 5-11)

Nevertheless, we still need to return to the thorny issue of          judgement, and for 21st Century people, the idea of someone     sitting in judgement seems beyond the pale. What are we judged for in Matthew’s passage? Judgement is executed because we have failed to see God in others. For when we do not visit, feed and provide shelter, we fail to recognise that each one of us is made in the image of God. Such a failure is a chilling thought and the only response is silence and sorrow.

Mark 11

¹²When Jesus and his disciples left Bethany the next morning, he was hungry. ¹³From a distance Jesus saw a fig tree covered with leaves, and he went to see if there were any figs on the tree. But there were not any, because it wasn’t the season for figs. ¹⁴So Jesus said to the tree, “Never again will anyone eat fruit from this tree!” The disciples heard him say this.

 ¹⁵After Jesus and his disciples reached Jerusalem, he went into the temple and began chasing out everyone who was selling and buying. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those who were selling doves. ¹⁶Jesus would not let anyone carry things through the temple. ¹⁷Then he taught the people and said, “The Scriptures say, `My house should be called a place of worship for all nations.’ But you have made it a place where robbers hide!”

   ¹⁸The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses heard what Jesus said, and they started looking for a way to kill him. They were afraid of him, because the crowds were completely amazed at his teaching. ¹⁹That evening, Jesus and the disciples went outside the city.

 ²⁰As the disciples walked past the fig tree the next morning, they noticed that it was completely dried up, roots and all. ²¹Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree. Then Peter said, “Teacher, look! The tree you put a curse on has dried up.”

    ²²Jesus told his disciples:

   Have faith in God! ²³If you have faith in God and don’t doubt, you can tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it will. ²⁴Everything you ask for in prayer will be yours, if you only have faith.

    ^25-26Whenever you stand up to pray, you must forgive what others have done to you. Then your Father in heaven will forgive your sins.

Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree is peculiar when read on its own. It is shocking when read in the context of Jesus’ own time and related to the action that Jesus is reported to have taken in the Temple.

Indeed, we might think of Jesus as being slightly churlish: a fig tree does not produce fruit out of season. However there are indications of Jewish Proverbs, dating from around the time of Jesus, that talk of fig trees bearing fruit in the presence of the Messiah. some biblical scholars have made the connection with Jeremiah 8: 11-13, where

Israel’s God compares the people of Israel to a fig tree as well as to a vineyard.

For Mark’s Gospel, the cursing of the fig tree is connected inextricably with the action in the Temple. What is Jesus doing then in the Temple?

Many preachers have demonstrated that Jesus is railing against the excesses of the Temple

• The Temple exchange rate
• Profaning the Court of the Gentiles with buying and selling

Jesus and his earliest followers were not unique in being critical of the Temple, including certain of the Pharisees and those who wrote the writings found near the Dead Sea.

But what if Jesus was not just offering a critique, but pronouncing judgement on the Temple. Such an idea is not that far-fetched. Jesus turns over the money changer’s tables, therefore no monies can be exchanged into Temple currency, and thus no animals could be bought for sacrifice. Little wonder then the chief priests want to take action against Jesus.

The use of symbols and actions were well understood by both prophets and people alike. The Old Testament is littered with examples of prophets doing things that point to something else: the potter in Jeremiah; Ezekiel laying on his side, and Isaiah’s nakedness of just three.

What is Jesus then symbolising?

• Imminent destruction of the Temple
• That God was in the process of offering judgement and redemption for Israel.
  • Jesus saw himself as the climax of Israel’s story

   

  The fig tree did not blossom in the messianic age, and therefore was judged.

  The people of God who had been called to be a light to all, and chose not to be appear also to be judged.

  Jesus was not though an ordinary revolutionary. His values demanded—and still-demand that the values of the world are stood on its head.

  This is no where clearer seen than in his comments to his disciples when they discover the fig tree has withered.

  ^25-26Whenever you stand up to pray, you must forgive what others have done to you. Then your Father in heaven will forgive your sins.

  ‘The person who broke the mould’ is how one scholar has described Jesus.

  Jesus at one and the same time brings judgement and forgiveness.

  What is it that God needs to judge in this church, in our lives and in the life our nation?

Booklet – Meanings – bookfold

Mothering Sunday or Mother’s Day is a Day of Refreshment during the Lenten fast.

I have to admit that the service at St Michael and All Angels Church this morning was fantastic. You can read more about the Church at http://www.achurchnearyou.com/bartley-green-st-michael-all-angels/ or at www.stmichaelsb32.org.uk.

Microwaves, Rainbows and Brownies, prayer stations, faith badges. It is very easy to do fantastic ‘one-offs’; nurturing discipleship that is authentic and consistent is much harder.

it should have been move away from the PC rather than PCC… but there you go, any priest can dream….

I have to confess that I do get the Church Times. I always read the situations vacants column, even when not looking for another post. I sometimes, but rarely, read other parts, but hardly ever the back page interview.

The edition on 1st April 2011 caught my eye. It was not a foolstide joke. The interviewee comments about how dogs are her spiritual directors. They do not, she says, send you away with a scripture, but they are loyal, attentive listeners and live in the present.

Certainly sometimes walking my dogs around the rezza (reservoir) or through the Country Park just before or after 6am is one of my closest moments with the divine during the day. It is not just that the two hounds cause me to go at a slower pace – what’s the hurry when there is a different smell or if wee-mail needs to be placed on a lamp post or a strategic blade of grass for another dog to reply to. When they are running, they do want God created them for – how can I not worship when I see that?

The interviewee also says that dogs live in the present. That is true – and that is a challenge. I do not often live in the moment. I think Jesus lived in the moment. For a man on a mission, he had time.

Why have I not said who was being interviewed. The paper is by the kettle in the kitchen. If I moved away from the PCC. I would find something else to do, as the demands of time force me out of the moment.

Lurcher

It is with prayer and silence that difficult decisions need to be made. Silence creates space for healthy and holy listening. Perhaps that is what keeping a holy Lent can enable: space, in which attentive listening can begin.

I am inspired to blog because of a church member’s commitment to blog during Lent. His can be found at http://entheosbg.wordpress.com/.

Lent is a time for taking stock. I will be taking stock over why I am so busy.

lurcher

I am going to be local and just try to assess what might have been achieved in the Parish (Anglican) of St Michael and All Angels, Bartley Green in 2010.

January saw our first ever ecumenical engagement during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, with an expressed desire to do more of the same during the year. Needless to say that did not happen. In the first month of the year also, we had an open PCC meeting with around 40 people present as we sought to look at the Bishop of Birmingham’s Transforming Church iniative. Lots of good ideas and postivity. In September, we launched Messy Church as a direct result of this meeting.

March saw Lent Groups – another alleged first – and then during Holy Week, we journeyed to the Cross together, eating, studying and worshipping.

April saw our affiliation agreement with Bartley Green school launched. Church members have been into school to take part in lessons, and I am actively involved in teaching PSHE, governance and assemblies. On the whole, it is positive, although I have to admit my Christmas assembly was awful.

June and July saw our Transition Project, led by a local artist, involving all the primary school children moving to Bartley Green. It was appreciated by the primaries and also, I think, by BGS.

September was the launch of Messy Church (www.messychurch.org.uk), which was well attended and has helped us be in touch regularly with 3 to 5 additional families. St Michael’s also took part in Back to Church Sunday.

October saw our Patronal activities with a concert in church – rock band, school choirs, messy church, organ recital etc.

November saw remembrance – the beginning of advent and then into December for Christmas.

We have – I have – been busy! We have had new people come – some have stayed; others have not. We have looked outwards; although cultivating a culture of welcome is not at all easy at times. Yet, should we have done more…. perhaps should we have done less.

We have of course journeyed with people in sadness and gladness; supported and (sadly) forgotten them. We have tried to be constant.

I cannot help think that we have not achieved all that much…. I have not achieved all that much; then again how do you measure being and doing church on the edge.

I am – allegedly – writing a course on the Revelation to St John the Divine to be delivered in the summer at the Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham. I am not making much progress.

One of the key texts I am reading at present is Eugene Petersen’s Reversed Thunder. He makes the observation that John is to be seen as a prophet, poet and pastor. John the Divine was and is on the edge. He was on the edge of the Roman world, exiled in Patmos, and part of his corpus, Revelation has been described by D H Lawrence no less as the ‘Judas of the New Testament’. I say corpus as I am one of few who still think that the writer of the Fourth Gospel and the Revelation are one and the same.

Eugene Petersen uses the description ‘poet’ as for him poets are makers of meaning. Certainly John the Divine was making meaning. One of the most poignant passages in Revelation 5 describes how Jesus is seen as the powerful Lamb, which brings a smile to this interpreter’s face as I imagine this Lamb being held up as a rival to Caesar, and yet seemingly is still vulnerable.

Priests in the Church of England make meaning as well. I hope that is what I am doing when I baptise or conduct funerals. I hope too that as I wander around and wonder that I make meanings for people.

The edge is a good place to make meanings. The edge is the periphery or the boundary. At boundaries meanings are often made. Heres to making more of them.