Last minute thought for the day...be holy

Another effort entirely dependent on a little help from my friends at PRCL...without whom I would still be staring at the blankest of blank screens. Too tired to think more tonight, - we'll simply have to hope and pray that the Spirit lends some wings tomorrow morning.


Last week, on Trinity Sunday, we marvelled together
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty”
Today too we are asked to consider holiness
One holy catholic and apostolic church
His holiness the Pope…or even the Dalai Lama…
If I say the word "holy" to you, I wonder what images come to mind. My guess is that your first thought would be of some place or some person, whom you perceive as different in a particular and special way…somewhere or someone wonderful, maybe remote,surely set apart from all that is mundane.
There’s even a rather lovely worship song “Purify my heart…” which has as its chorus “My heart’s one desire is to be holy…I choose to be holy, set apart for you Lord”
And when we hear the opening of our Old Testament reading today, what are
the images that come to mind?
"Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel
and say to them: 'You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.'"
But just how are they to be holy?
By going to services in the temple and getting the worship just right?
By saying their prayers regularly in the most authentic version possible?
Or by fasting? By reading their scriptures? By contemplating God through meditation or

Well, no…when it comes down to it, the holiness we are called to is rather different. Listen.
"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God."
This is uncompromisingly practical, it’s about what you do when you
harvest the fields, when you are taking the fruits of your labour and your property. You are not to exploit your resources as if you are the only one in the world. You are never to assert that charity begins at home.
You are to leave something for the poor and foreigners, who have nothing with which to pay you. They must have some of your harvest for free. That is "holy".

Being holy then is not about retreating from the world into contemplation or higher thoughts, but about everyday life. It is a choice, not a state of mind…You “do” holiness, for it is about loving your neighbour as much as you love yourself.
And this is the theme that Jesus picks up in our gospel reading today, part of the sermon on the mount. What does it mean to love one's neighbour as oneself? And how far do I have to extend that idea of my neighbour?
This is where it gets really scary, because Jesus says that there is no
limit.
"Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn
the other also."
Being neighbourly is usually taken as being friendly. But we are to
treat as neighbours those who are unfriendly, even those who oppose us or speak against us, or offer us violence.
"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
That is being holy, praying not for ourselves but for our enemies, in the
middle of conflict and difficulty. Holiness has less to do with rarefied acts of worship and more to do with Jimmy Mizen’s mother saying that she is praying for those who killed her boy, and for their parents too.

This is holy, because this is how God is..
"He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous."
God is the ultimate good neighbour, for whatever people do he sends blessings.
Perhaps this is what makes God holy?
That amid all the ugliness, the violence, and the brokenness of life, he simply and consistently offers us nothing but love.
That is certainly out of the ordinary…
And of course, that is our challenge.
If we sing, with fervent intensity
“I choose to be holy”…then we have to understand what that entails.
Could we ever respond to all the setbacks of life, the attacks from other people, the tragedies and disasters, only with love, mercy, compassion? That, says Jesus, is where perfection lies, where holiness is to be found.
"Be perfect," he says, "as your heavenly Father is perfect."

News from darkest Africa

for those as wants to know...
Hugger Steward is clearly alive and well, as he has not only sent me a brief (very brief - he's so male) email but has also posted on his website here
I wish there were pictures, but we'll have to wait for those. Meanwhile, I'm just happy to have been waved at from half a world away.

Too Much Information?

I’m kind of meme-resistant at the moment…after all, I barely have time for thoughtful blogging right now, so feel even less comfortable wasting your time with things that are of only the most dubious interest to anyone.
Moreover I discovered on Monday that Senior Clergyman Whom I Really Admire has been known to drop in here, so I feel extra-concerned to focus on quality rather than simply splurging all over the screen in an outpouring of verbal excess (though I guess that's mostly what I do anyway).

However, I was tagged by God_Guurrlll and it would be churlish to refuse, so here I am. (Kate...I've not forgotten your tag either...but it demands some Serious Thought so I've yet to work out an answer)

Rules: The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about himself or herself. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Ten years ago: Mostly a mummy.I was very involved in the life of our village school at Great Rissington, as a Governor, classroom helper, unofficial chaplain and choir mistress, and watching our church after school children’s group grow and grow.realising that running B&B was simply not enough to boost our family finances with 3 children who all enjoy getting involved in life up to the hilt, and pondering work outside the home. Filling in scary forms for the first round of the diocesan selection procedures (that time they said “No”).


Five things on today's "to do" list:

It being a Friday, these are all unrelated to ministry and yes, this week I intend to spend the whole day in non -vicaring. Promise.
1) Book car for service (oh joy…have just checked paperwork and it isn’t actually due yet after all…hooray...so I can cross that off without any financial outlay after all)
2) Make a sticky tea loaf to take to the boat, where we are heading on Sunday evening for 3 days (eek...need to buy some milk before I can do that...later)
3) Renew my Road Tax online (done - aren't I good little vicar?)
4) learn my way round my new Epson printer (finally lost patience with the hissy fits of its predecessor, which had to be given a large G&T and a month of therapy to persuade it even to consider working whenever a new cartridge was loaded)
5) Go for a dog walk with the Dufflepud, who is currently on study leave for his GCSE exams (but, having had a German exam this morning, seems to be mostly playing computer games at the moment)

Things I'd do if I was a billionaire:

Protect my children from student debt (and ensure they have reliable, eco friendly cars when the time is right)
Pay off the sum needed for building works at a church school I know
Set up a trust fund to ensure the continuation of the project for street children I spent time at in Bangalore
Explore the world, with my children if they’d like to come.
Oh...and buy a Mac.

Three bad habits:

1. procrastination (nothing new under the sun)
2. eating my way through sermon blocks (I have a Co-op down the road with a wonderful range of Fair Trade foods which I can almost persuade myself it's a duty to eat)
3. shredding my cuticles when either stressed, bored or otherwise unthinking (I'm aware that this last is deeply yukky, but I get so irritated when LCM tells me to stop that his intervention is actually counterproductive)
   

Five places I've lived: goodness, I really have only lived in 5 areas at all…so here we are

1. St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex
2. Cambridge
3. Durham
4. London (2 locations south of the river)
5. Gloucestershire (3 different locations in the county…)
   

Five jobs I've had:

1. cashier in an amusement park (take my advice and don’t do it!)
2. bookseller,
   
3. TEFL teacher,
   
4. charity administrator,
   
5. antiques seller
   

I'm taking the easy option when it comes to tagging...Everyone in the world seems to be in the throes of playing this already, so just join in if you want to.

Corpus Christi

I love this feast.
As someone for whom the Eucharist has made sense even at times when nothing else in life or faith hung together, the idea of a whole day dedicated to thanking God for this amazing gift was bound to delight me.
I do, though, tend to struggle with the more florid externals of traditional catholic devotion - the processions with rose-petals, and the priest only permitted to lift high the sacrament during Benediction if he (I think it would probably tend to be "he" in this context) is swathed in the humeral veil.
I know of some churches where this is so intrinsic to devotion to the Sacrament that what should be gift, grace, welcome becomes "Keep out...this is too rarefied, too holy for the likes of you" - or, for the casual visitor, "Whatever is happening here is far too esoteric to connect with my reality".
That makes me sad.
Surely the point of Christ's presence in the sacrament of bread and wine is that he makes himself accessible to us, that he can be touched and held by our ordinary, grubby hands - that he blesses us in our humanity.
That is what I most love about the Eucharist...
That we are invited to come and eat regardless of our condition, that God trusts us with himself, makes us an incalculable gift through his presence in that fragment of wafer, that sip of wine.
Last night, FabBishop presided and preached at a lovely service here
where the emphasis was very much on
"come as you are,- but see what, through God's grace, you will become".

Though we didn't use it in the liturgy, this was the prayer that resounded for me throughout the service, and indeed all day long.
It's just about the best expression of what the Eucharist means to me, and why I will always hope to celebrate Corpus Christi

Most merciful Lord, your love compels us to come in.
Our hands were unclean, our hearts were unprepared;
we were not fit even to eat the crumbs from under your table.
But you, Lord, are the God of our salvation,
and share your bread with sinners.
So cleanse and feed us with the precious body and blood of your Son,
that he may live in us and we in him;
and that we, with the whole company of Christ,
may sit and eat in your kingdom. Amen.

Two churches

means that every other month I have two magazine letters to write, since Village on the Hill shares a parish mag with its sister in the valley, but also produces its own village magazine every second month - and I get to write in that too.
This is the week, and of course I'm going to be late and frantic - but here is my effort for Hill & Vale, the Benefice magazine. We thought about St Helena yesterday - where would I be without the liturgical year?

One of the benefits of belonging to a church that has a strong sense of the rhythm of the seasons is the way the liturgical calendar introduces you to all sorts of people you might otherwise never come across at all.
So on a Wednesday morning recently I found myself invited to consider the life of Helena (the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine), whom Common Worship describes as “Protector of the Holy Places”. In Helena’s case, the “holy places” were those we are familiar with from Scripture, the sites of Jesus’ birth, his life and ministry, places that have been the focus of pilgrimage for two thousand years. However it struck me that we all of us have our own “holy places”, whether or not we are aware of it, and that we protect them with all our might and main.
Most obviously, the holy places in our communities are our churches, and the beautiful churchyards that surround them.These are places set aside for encounters with God, made special by the prayers of so many people who have gone before us, so it is no wonder that we treasure them and sometimes find it very difficult if any change is suggested. I’m someone that believes passionately in the ideal behind the traditional parish system – that each and every community should have its own identifiable place of worship and its own visible “God person” – someone tasked with carrying the needs and concerns of that place with them in prayer. I feel that it is hugely important that our churches are there, available for anyone who wishes to visit, to pray, or just to sit quietly. They are a constant reminder of God’s presence with his people, as we carry on our ordinary lives, with varied degrees of attention to him.
But there are other “holy places” too, spots where something important has happened in our lives, where God has become particularly real to us. Sometimes a beauty spot speaks very clearly of God’s presence in creation. It’s easy to recognise God when the whole of creation seems to be singing with the joy of his presence- but other places can be holy too, even the most unlikely ones.
For me a railway carriage somewhere between Eastbourne and Pevensey Bay on a June day thirty years ago was the site of an almost overwhelming experience of God’s love, which transformed my journey that day and my life from then on. But, of course that wasn’t the sort of spot I could revisit. For one thing I had no way of establishing precisely which carriage it was, and in any case that didn’t really seem important.
It was the sense of God’s presence that made the ordinary special that day…but afterwards – who knows? – perhaps I travelled in that carriage many times without knowing.
Quite a useful lesson, I think. I have the experience to treasure, - a bright jewel whose beauty I can and do rejoice in, something that gives me new energy and enthusiasm when I am weary or disappointed. The place where it happened was transformed at the time, but – but the real value of that God-moment was the difference it made to me.
So, although I honour Helena and all who protect and cherish our holy places, I’d encourage you to keep your eyes open to encounter God any and everywhere in the world. Love your churches, visit them, pray in them often but don’t allow them to become the only context in which you expect to find God.
God is far bigger than that – and you can expect to encounter him everywhere you go, if your heart is open.

A quick purr

I have a couple of possibly worthwhile posts brewing, but in the meantime I do need to share a delight from today. It's NOT about the numbers but..................
At our 10.00 Eucharist, the congregation numbered SIXTEEN (an increase of about 50% on the habitual attendance during the vacancy) of whom 12 stayed for coffee and chat afterwards.
I love this group...Their love for one another and for God is absolutely evident, so that worshipping with them is pure delight...and somehow, when I find myself confronted with the lections of the day, it is easy to find the theme that we need to explore together, the words that need to be said. Three weeks ago I suggested that this service might benefit from the social dimension. This week I spent all of coffee time hearing the sort of difficult stuff that will simply not make its way through to me on a busy Sunday when I have to bolt from Valley to Hill without so much as a backward glance.
It's good to have services like this, that confirm exactly why parish ministry can still "work" on a good day.,

Another Orthodox Gem

from the S Sophia home page.
What the world is seeking from Christians is consistency. The world is asking us to reveal the beauty of the Christian message by conscientiously living its principles, in the light of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The world is looking for us to reveal, in the course of our daily reality, the beauty, radiance, glory and power in a life that has been made new in Christ. The world is calling upon us to radiate the presence of the Holy Spirit. It yearns for a living Christianity that bears witness to the mystery of the All-Holy Trinity's love."

Archbishop Anastasios of Albania

What can one say but Amen!

Surprises

at Church on the Hill yesterday included

• a new couple in the congregation, who seemed extremely delighted to be there and happy with everything on offer

• the two grandsons of one of the Wardens who sat patiently amusing themselves in the children's area, therby lowering our average age so dramatically that I can't begin to do the sums (I so wish I'd known they were coming though...of all the Sundays to choose, Trinity is not the one I would have picked to encourage them to join us more often - and tbh Church on the Hill is not the natural venue for child-friendly worship in any case...)but there they were, and as their grandmother clearly expected them to be given Communion I was more than happy to oblige. That was emphatically not the moment to question their status, if such a moment could ever exist - and those felt-tip covered fingers added a most welcome variety to the beautifully-manicured and the work-hardened hands on either side of them

• one of the two ladies of the choir launching into the most amazing descant during the final verse of "Thou whose Almighty Word" - which was the more inspiring because it was utterly unexpected. When congratulated afterwards, she said "I just remembered it from school"....given that I'd preached about sharing our gifts, this felt pretty much on message!

• a compliment, a real live compliment, on the sermon....absolutely the first time anyone in either church has even mentioned my preaching afterwards, and one lovely man actually said it had "helped him a good deal". That, of course, can only be down to God's grace - but his words were a huge encouragement to the vicar!What with the topic, the leak and the wedding, writing the sermon had been distinctly challenging but, in the interests of consistency, here it is...Perhaps I should start planning now for next year?

Trinity Sunday – the day when preachers across the globe decide that it’s time to take a spot of gardening leave…The day when ingenious demonstrations involving shamrock leaves (3 lobes, 1 plant) or the 3 states of water – ice, liquid, steam –come to the fore. The day when, surely, our non Christian friends must wonder whether we’ve all finally and irrevocably lost the plot. As Dorothy L Sayers once said, when commenting on the Athanasian Creed “The Father, incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, the whole darned thing incomprehensible…” Why on earth do we make life so incredibly complicated for ourselves, with claims of one God and three persons. Why? The simple answer is one that is never going to satisfy sceptics. We preach the doctrine of the Trinity because, whatever its complexity, it is fundamentally and deeply true. Not the maths - 1x1x1=1 Not the unhelpful attempts to somehow split the nature of God into 3 job descriptions – "Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer" perhaps – or "Lover, Beloved and Love…"though there are elements of truth here, of course. In reality all those roles belong to all three persons of the Trinity and not specially to one or another…We do often speak in terms of God the Father as the creator – indeed, we will do so when we stand to affirm our faith at the end of these reflections – yet both Genesis and John describe Creation as being an act within which all Three persons are active and intrinsic... Listen
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men -

There from the very outset is community…Father, Son and Spirit are all involved as their creative love is expressed in our world.
Are you confused yet?
Are you thinking sadly “It’s all Greek to me?”
Well, in fact there is a Greek word used to describe the Trinity (perichoresis) – which I find a hugely helpful route into understanding a little more….
Perichoresis means that the three dance together as one…
I love that…it conveys joy, order and a recognition that all are essential to the pattern of the dance.
Dances make connections between the dancers while the dance goes on– and the dance of the Trinity continues beyond space and time in eternity….but, most amazingly, we are invited to participate.
You probably know the icon by Anton Rublev whose official title is “The Hospitality of Abraham” - sometimes referred to as The Trinity too. It depicts 3 figures seated around a table, set for a meal…the fourth side of the table, the side nearest us, is open and the invitation is obvious. That place is reserved for us…we are called to sit down and join in the feast, for the celebration is incomplete without us. You see, I believe that the central truth of the Trinity, -the point of it all, if you like, - is that our God is a God of relationship…that the Love that is at the heart of God exists to be poured out, because that is what real love does…Real love is equal in the giving and the receiving…real love makes room and draws others in. Real love is not happy till that space at the table is occupied. Right at the beginning, as the catechism reminds us, God was (and is) the supreme being, who exists entire of Godself…with no need for anyone or anything else… BUT God longs to give…so, though there was strictly no need for creation, it came about as a choice, an act of gracious generosity that flows naturally from the inner life of the Trinity, the mutual delight and regard that the three persons have for one another, in the one God. .Made in the image of God, whose very nature is eternal loving relationship, in the image of God who is always in relationship and communion with creation, we too are called to live interrelated, mutually loving lives with other people, In the passage from 2 Corinthians Paul stresses the gifts of love, unity and fellowship that God bears for all. The vastness and majesty of God is beyond our comprehension but through relationship we can enter into a little of the mystery, and indeed share in God’s mission to draw the whole of creation into that relationship of love.We can do that, but we cannot do it alone.That’s what today’s Gospel is about... Following the events in Jerusalem the eleven disciples have obeyed Jesus’ directions and returned to Galilee. They gather on a mountain and meet with the Risen Christ. Jesus commissions them, fervent believers and perplexed doubters alike, to make disciples throughout the world. They are to baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to teach people to obey Jesus’ commands, Jesus reassures the disciples that his relationship with them is everlasting, that he will always be with them – to the end of the age.That promise is as firm and as clear as the call to mission. No one is excluded from doing God’s work because they ask questions or are perplexed, nor, come to that, because they doubt their own abilities. The disciples, whatever their state of mind, are promised the power and authority to carry out the task of bringing people to faith. Their authority and their mission is not compromised by their human weakness or uncertainty. Their mission, and ours, is to take the news of that loving relationship out to every corner of the world…nobody is to be excluded, nobody forgotten.When I was growing up, I rather think the church had lost sight of the universal nature of the call…but the truth is that God’s mission is laid on us at our baptism, our ordination into the priesthood of all believers. The vocation to share God’s love has never been restricted to those on whom the Bishop has formally laid his hands at ordination. We who are baptised must be nurtured so that we learn to obey the commandments of Christ, living out in the world the discipleship to which we are called. Nurtured in faith, we are tasked with reaching and nurturing others.The task of making Christ known can happen wherever we find ourselves – at home, at school, work, in the community …and though it may involve words, it is as likely to be based upon a life so full of love that others long to share it. As we follow this call, we will find ourselves standing against the prevailing tide that encourages us to go it alone, as self- made individuals The God we serve is a God in community, and in joining in God’s mission we too will come to realize our need for others. This understanding of the Trinity is one which contrasts with the popular understanding of community. It’s nothing to do with gathering like-minded people, united by a common interest…nor is it about choosing to work only with those whom we can see as equals, people like us…God-centred community is different, for it is based on shared openness, a process of mutual surrender. It is based, too, on the reciprocal universal acceptance of the real "me", - a gift that it takes courage to offer, but which must be offered whole heartedly. There is no option of reserve or of pretence. Nothing must be held back, no gift hidden, no weakness denied ... That sounds so un- English, doesn’t it? All very difficult and uncomfortable... There’s so much about the process of self discovery we’d prefer to gloss over, so much self-knowledge we’d prefer to forget –but to live in God’s image means that we cannot hold anything back. God, after all, holds nothing in reserve but trusts us with the gift of God’s own self – Christ in the world, and Christ in the Sacrament. We too, must make a gift of ourselves. Made in God’s image we are to work together, reflecting the life of the Trinity - diverse yet unified. So on this Trinity Sunday we consider the vocation of the whole people of God… We are called, each one of us, to discover who we really are, so that we can give our true selves to one another, to build community. We are called, too, to rejoice in our essential differences, the way that our gifts and weaknesses complement each other, the way that together we can be a church that is strong enough to be serious about our mission to change the world. And at the centre of all that comes mutual love, as we are drawn into the dance that stretches from creation through today and on far into God’s future.

Holy, holy, holy!

Blogging about Saturday's wedding sent me, of course, to the home page of the Cathedral of Saint Sophia - where I found this. What a glorious expression of a central truth, which I'm prone to lose sight of as I focus on the people of God who are physically gathered around the table at the Eucharist. John Chrysostom has a clearer long-distance vision, which chimes in with that image that FabBishop loves, of earthly worship "grasping the heel of heaven".

I'm not sure that it would have helped the actual content of my sermon yesterday had I read it earlier, but it would undoubtedly have added a thread of pure gold to my worship. Could there be better reading for Trinity Sunday?

"On high, the hosts of angels sing praise; here below, humankind forms choirs in the churches and imitates them by singing the same doxology. On high, the seraphim cry out in the Thrice-Holy Hymn, here below the human throngs sends up the same cry. The inhabitants of heaven and earth are brought together in a single festal assembly. There is one shared thanksgiving, one shout of delight, one joyful chorus." S John Chrysostom

Wow!

By the time you've reached forty something, it's a rare thing to attend the first-time wedding of one of your contemporaries - but to do so is a huge delight.
Earlier this year I wrote about the rather special Baptism of D, an old friend who was preparing for his wedding. Saturday saw The Wedding itself - and it would be hard to imagine a more love and joy-filled celebration. D's bride is Greek, so the service was in the Orthodox Cathedral of S. Sophia in London, and the rite itself was full of majesty, mystery and delight. It was surprisingly easy to feel engaged, despite having virtually no idea what was being said and done most of the time - the liturgy is replete with a sense of awe-struck wonder which rubs off onto the congregation, though I can't imagine how my faith journey would have looked had I been raised in a church where so much remains veiled and distant, the soul and the senses engaged but the mind left to make its own connections.

I loved the moment when we were invited to shower bride and groom with rose petals, symbolising the blessings we were praying down upon them, as they walked together around the Holy Table...I found it both moving and helpful to have a physical outlet for all those emotions that cluster around a wedding service - and to see the petals lying there afterwards, visible prayers for a bright future. D has had some tough times along the way, and I've worried, poured gin and generally tried to make things better ever since we left university, so it was wonderful to see him lit up with happiness.

The reception was held at the Pump House Museum, an amazing place stuffed with the ephemera of the past 100 years...it was like finding yourself inside the very best sort of vintage shop, with leisure to browse and explanations available for everything. Mind you, it was a teeny bit disconcerting to find that the iron that I remember my mother using till I was at least 10 counted as a museum piece...but amid the excitements of the evening this reminder of the passage of time felt pretty unimportant really! So we ate, we talked, we danced and we rejoiced...

D and V, be very happy my friends