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July 2021

This month I am continuing last month’s theme about God’s forgiveness, with thoughts based on the parable of the Prodigal Son in St Luke’s Gospel, Ch 15 v 11-31, which we studied during Lent.
Some religious leaders were grumbling about Jesus, saying, “This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them.” So Jesus told them a parable:

“There was once a man who had two sons. The younger one demanded his inheritance, left home, spent all and returned broke. He was still a long way from home when his father saw him, ran to meet him and kissed him. His father told his servants, “Put a ring n his finger and shoes on his feet…. And let us celebrate with a feast.”

Kissing his son shows that the father welcomed him back totally. Putting shoes on his feet shows him that he had forgiven him totally.

Shoes were a sign of a free person; bare feet the sign of a slave. Putting a ring on his son’s finger shows that he restored him to full family status

The second half of Jesus’ parable concerns the older son. He was angry that his father was celebrating his brother’s return, even though his father begs him to do the same. Jesus ended his parable withot saying what the older son eventually did. .

That older son stands for the religioius leaders who resented the fact that Jesus had chosen to celebrate with those who were ‘lost’ but had now been ‘found’. Jesus constructed his parable in such a way that each religious leader must write his own ending to it. Each must decide whether or not to ‘go inside and join the festivities’ or ‘stay outside and sulk’.

Jesus came for those who humbly recognise the need to change their lives. The Prodigal Son was determined to make a miserable 3-part speech as soon as he got home. He would not let his father love him or forgive him. Furthermore he decided unilaterally what his punishment should be.
The miserable speech ran like this:

1. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.”
2. “I am convinced I am not worthy to be considered your son.”
3. “I am determined that you should never accept me, but you should treat me as your slave.

God’s forgiveness does not belittle sin as though it were a matter of small importance.

How can it do so when it cost God-made-Man such intense suffering and his execution on the Cross?
It is not God’s will that we should leave our Father’s home and become a prodigal. It is not God’s will that we love him in a selfish way and become narrow and hard towards ‘prodigal sons’, keeping them in a far country.

If the younger son on returning home had met his older brother before he met his father, it’s highly likely he would never have reached home again at all. The older brother was cold. He spoke of his brother as “your son”.

He seemed to be one of those self-righteous types who would cheerfully kick someone down even further into the gutter by saying, “He made his bed; let him lie on it!”
He had a mind that jumped to conclusions.
There is no mention of prostitutes until he brought up the subject. One gets the feeling that he accused his brother of things he would have liked to commit himself.

This parable reminds us that we can be brought to life again and found when we have lost our way. As the hymnwriter Fr Faber wrote:

For the love of God is broader
Than the measures of man’s mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.

But we make his love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we magnify his strictness
With a zeal he will not own.

I hope St Mary’s is a church where all of us find a warm welcome to our Father’s house

images (c) freebibleimages.org

June 2021

June is often dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus – a feast that draws us to think about God’s great love for us as shown in the life of Christ.

There is a story of a park keeper whose job was to pick up litter on a spiked pole. He was surrounded by the glorious beauty of flowers and trees, with the sun sparkling through the leaves. Sadly he had eyes only for the litter he had to collect and the damage it did. He could only say, “This litter destroys the nature in this park!”
Unfortunately he was blind to its beauty because he didn’t lift up his head to look around.
The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were so focussed on the wickedness of other people – tax collectors and sinners – that they couldn’t see the fresh Spring leaves of God’s love changing, forgiving and healing.

They could only see litter.

When Jesus was criticised for keeping company with sinners he said that he had not come for those who thought they were righteous but for those who humbly recognised the need to change their lives..
“It Is not those that are well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have come to call not the upright but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5 v 31-31)

We must never let our sins paralyse us. Fr John Powell tells the story of a woman who decided to swim out into the ocean beyond the point of return. Before doing so, she walked along the deserted beach to say her tearful farewells to the world.

Suddenly a voice seemed to say, “Look back!” She did and saw her own footprints. While she watched, a wave erased them. Then a voice seemed to say: “As that wave erased your footprints, so I will erase your past.” That event was the starting point of a new life for her.
The Book of Jonah in the Old Testament is a story that reminds us of God’s love and forgiveness. It reminds us that God’s love is not limited to a particular group of people – in which we usually include ourselves – but is offered to everyone who desires to do what is right; those we may not like and those the other side of the world.

Jonah tried to run away from that kind of God, but God wouldn’t let him get away with it. Jonah was delivered to the very people he sought to avoid – the hated Ninevites in Assyria.
St Augustine wrote:
“To him who is everywhere men come not by travelling but by loving.”
In this month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus we can ask ourselves:

* Am I like Jonah, running away from something God wants me to do?
* What is my attitude toward people who are different from me?
* How can my understanding of them grow?

At St Mary’s there is a warm, non-judgmental attitude to all who are searching for a deeper faith in Jesus Christ.
You are welcome to experience it for yourself.

A Thought for Corpus Christi (6th June)
from a very early Christian Saint, St Justin Martyr (AD 100 – 165)

St Justin describes how the early Church celebrated Mass …..
see how closely our worship today follows this format!

“On Sundays there is an assembly of all who live in towns or in the country and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time allows. Then the reading is brought to an end and the president delivers an address in which he admonishes and encourages us to imitate in our own lives the beautiful lesson we have heard read.

Then we stand up together and pray. When we have finished the prayer, as I have said, bread and wine and water are brought up. The president offers prayers and thanksgiving as best he can and the people say “Amen” as an expression of their agreement.

Then follows the distribution of the food, over which the prayer of thanksgiving has been recited; all present receive some of it and the deacons carry some to those who are absent.”

May 2021

Eastertide extends to the middle of May this year when we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. In the Scriptures we see the most visible impact of Jesus on his followers. They lived as a community of prayer and worship which showed in their love and care for one another:

“They went as a body to the Temple every day but met in their houses for the breaking of bread; they shared their food gladly and generously; they praised God and were looked up to by everyone. Day by day the Lord added to their community….” (Acts 2 v 46-47)

The celebration of the Mass (here called ‘The Breaking of Bread’) was the centre of their worship of God and service of each other.

On a human level we all have a deep need for community and we have missed it during the restrictions brought about by Covid. We need to re-invigorate our support for each other in faith, hope and love. In his book ‘Small Christian Communities’ the author Thomas Kleissler tells the following story of a young woman called Sylvia. She lived on the outskirts of Nairobi and every Sunday travelled by bus to the city centre to a church which had a large congregation. She hardly knew anyone and felt alone and depressed. Soon after she found a smaller church in her own area and everything changed. She did not simply hear about love but actually experienced it. She grew spiritually, made good friends and worked in the neighbourhood.

God does not mean us to do it alone. We don’t know why St Thomas was not present in the upper room when Jesus appeared to the apostles after the resurrection. It may be that he had made a big mistake by cutting himself off from the other apostles and walking alone in his grief… and it was only when he rejoined the community and encountered the risen Jesus that he found faith again. It is with the help of our community that we are able to resolve our doubts and fears and sustain our faith.

Many people today do not believe that Christ is risen and that he can be encountered. They will not change their minds or believe unless they can see Christ alive in his followers. He must be seen to dwell in us and among us. It is only in us and through us that others can see and touch him and be healed of disbelief.

Lord help me remember when others I see
That they’re reading the gospel according to me…
Mathew and Barnabas, Peter and Paul…
The world looks upon them as names. that’s all…

For verses of Scripture, lost men merely grope,
But my life goes under the microscope.
Make me a text, Lord, easy to see
When men read the gospel according to me.

The month of May is traditionally called ‘Mary’s month’. Mary is our example of communal prayer.

We find her in the midst of the early Christian community after the Ascension as they assembled in the upper room and prayed for the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1 v 14):
“All these joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus….” Mary is a perfect model of prayer because she knew what the power of the Holy Sprit could work in the lives of those first followers of Jesus. Her complete union with God as the special temple of the Holy Spirit caused her to radiate God’s loving presence to those near her. When the Holy Spirit gives life, He does not do so first for an individual, but to create a new community.

May this be our hope and prayer for our church in this month of May.

April 2021

A boy said to his father, “Dad, is it really true that when you were a boy, you went to church every Sunday?” His dad replied proudly: “Yes, I went every Sunday!” The boy thought a minute and said: “I’ll bet my going every Sunday won’t do me any good either!”

What a contrast much formal religion of just going to church has been to what should happen to us at Easter. We are told in the Gospels that Jesus appeared to his disciples and the power of Easter began to work miracles in their lives.

They ceased to be despairing men and became daring missionaries and preached the Good News. Jesus’ resurrection invited them to open their hearts to new life. That same power of Easter continues to work miracles in people’s lives wherever it is preached and whenever people open their hearts to it.

The Good News of Easter is that Jesus wants to work miracles in you and me. The boy questioning his father had not seen any change in his father’s life. There was no evidence of new life in Jesus Christ. A question for us all is:

What keeps me from displaying the Risen Life of Christ more vividly in my life?

Maybe our reticence to live the Easter Life is that we give in to doubt. When the disciples came to the tomb, expecting to find Jesus dead, they did not find him at all and shortly it dawned on them that He had risen. The empty tomb also offered another lesson. They would have to go on in His absence but empowered with His Spirit.

We are called to witness to the Risen Lord by passing on our faith rather like a baton is passed from one runner to another in a relay race. The baton of God’s kingdom is passed by Jesus to His disciples. They are to complete the work He began while living among us. John Henry Newman said:

“God has created me to do some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another.”

The early Christians knew Jesus in the Breaking of Bread – the Mass –

and unlike the boy talking to his father, the world saw they were changed by their worship. If we respond to Jesus, Easter will be evident in us, rather like the way described by the following little poem:

“I am my neighbour’s Bible: he reads me when we meet.
Today he reads me in my house, tomorrow in the street.
He may a relative or friend, or slight acquaintance be;
He may not even know my name, yet he is reading me.”

May we be more aware of our part in Christ’s mission and realise others judge him by what they see in you and me.
Come Holy Spirit and fill us with your Love!

Come Holy Spirit and fill us with your Love!

March 2021

During Lent we are studying St Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 15 – the parable of the Prodigal Son. The Pharisees avoided all contacts with sinners, but Jesus shows them a very different kind of God.

This parable, together with that of the lost sheep and the lost coin, which feature in the same chapter, all stress God’s concern for those who are lost and his joy when each person who is lost is found.
I am sure we can all identify with the younger, ‘prodigal’ son, for every time we lose faith in God we all tend to give way either to anger, revenge, lust or greed etc. We see in that prodigal son a man who went deep into a foreign land and lost everything he took with him.

He lost his money, health, honour and self-respect, but the important point was that he was able to return to his father…. “Father, I have sinned!....."

One of the greatest challenges to our spiritual life is to receive God’s forgiveness, because it requires a total willingness to allow God to do all the healing, restoring and renewing.

The elder brother in the story is lost in resentment, characterised by judgment of his younger brother, coupled with anger and resentment – all damaging to the human heart. In his jealousy and bitterness the elder son can only see his irresponsible brother is receiving more attention than he is.

The big question for us is: “How am I to let myself be loved by God?” and not “how am I going to love God?”

God is looking for me like the shepherd who looks for his sheep and the woman who lights the lamp to look for the lost coin.

The father in the parable represents God. So many Christians sadly stress the fear of God’s revenge and punishment, but as long as the Father invokes that kind of fear, he remains an outsider and cannot fully live within us. There are times we are all like the younger son and we are all like the elder son, but are we like the Father? Jesus said, “Be compassionate as your Father in Heaven is compassionate.” (Luke 6 v 36) We must be like the Father and show compassion to others as He shows it to us. He is a God of compassion who joyfully welcomes sinners into his home.

On Good Friday, Jesus shows us exactly how God is full of compassion, able to say of his executioners when they were nailing him to the cross, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they are doing.” It is only through constant forgiveness we become like God our Father - and forgiveness from the heart is unconditional and does not demand anything for itself.

The ‘Prodigal Son’ parable is the portrayal of God whose love, goodness, forgiveness, care, joy and compassion have no limits and we must all open to God’s Spirit to show this in our lives.
God sends his rain on the just and the unjust and is equally kind to the person who grieves his heart. It is a love we must copy if we, too, want to seek nothing except our enemy’s highest good.

To read more, and also about 'Buy a Bishop for an hour' click here

February 2021

Most people have heard of Lent, which begins on 17th Feb, because of the tradition of ‘giving things up for Lent’ but what is it really about?

There is a story of an elderly East Anglian man who had lived in his village all his life and had never been to London. He felt he would like to go before he died, so set off on the train. On his return he was asked how he had got on. “Wonderful place,” he said, “it’s all under glass.”
It transpired he had not got any further than Liverpool Street Station!

We can be like that man in our journey of life, being content with a stage on the journey, staying at ‘Liverpool Street’ and missing the ‘sights of the city’. It is so easy to think we have arrived when the journey goes on.
To experience God’s great love we need to fulfil in our lives Michel Quoist’s quote about love: “He loves most fully who gives himself most completely.”

To experience God’s love we have to commit to him and to each other. When I was a single curate I used to receive several Valentine cards and one of them had these words: “Valentine, I would climb the highest mountain for you; I would swim the widest ocean for you…. But inside it said, “I’ll see you tonight if it doesn’t rain!”
How often we treat God like that by saying things that we don’t carry out. It is so easy to let the trivia of life make God an item on the agenda when it suits us, rather than for him to be the agenda for our life.

We should never neglect our commitment to God. Some years ago I got lost in the Norfolk countryside. There were no signposts and I had no map in the car, so I asked someone who looked ‘local’ the way. He said, “Just you follow that white line!” – and by doing that I arrived home safely.

The ‘white line’ that we should follow in our Christian life is made up of daily prayer, daily Bible reading (each day’s Mass readings are printed on our weekly bulletin) and being fed with the Bread of Life – the Body and Blood of Jesus in Holy Communion. These are the means by which God is able to live in us, so we stay close to Him and live and share His love others.

It is a journey which goes on through life and Lent is a good time for a ‘spring clean’ to renew that journey afresh.

January 2021

The Christmass season in the Church concludes on 10th January with what is called ‘Epiphany’ – the ‘showing’, ‘revealing’ or ‘manifestation’ of Christ – first to the Wise Men. The ‘stable’ of the crib is transformed to look like a house.

The visit of the wise men was some time after the birth of Jesus; certainly more than 40 days, because when Christ was presented in the Temple 40 days after his birth, Mary and Joseph gave the offering of poor people, which would not have been the case if they had received the gift of gold from the wise men.

We need also to recall that Herod had all boys killed up to the age of 2 – another indication that Christ’s birth could have been as long ago as two years.
Because the Bible specifically states the wise men went to the house (not a stable), it has become a custom to bless chalk at this time and mark our own homes to help us remember to be God-bearers like Mary, to those around us. The custom is to mark with blessed chalk near the main doorway of your home with the date of the year and the traditional initials of the wise men, whose names were given in the 6th Century:

C for Caspar, who brought the gift of incense, a symbol of prayer and priesthood;
M for Melchior who brought gold, a symbol of kingship and
B for Balthazar who offered myrrh, a symbol of death. Those letters – CMB are also the first letters of a Latin blessing –

'CHRISTUS MANSIONEM BENEDICAT'
-
"May Christ bless this house"

Christmass and Epiphany are reminders to us that we are to show Christ to those around us.
Fr Michael Hollings writes in one of his books:

“When I worked in Southall a few years ago, there was an old lady living some distance from the church at the end of a long straight road. She was quite undistinguished except to her relatives and friends, but she was absolutely regular, winter and summer – even at the age of 80 – on Sunday morning for the 8.00 am Mass.

Soon after her death I was visiting another person along her road. As I walked along I heard a loud tapping on the window. I saw an old man beckoning me. I went to the door and asked what he wanted. He said: “That old lady down there – I’ve not seen her! Where is she?” I told him she had died. “Oh dear!” he said, “She was my religion.”
I could not understand, so he explained. Each Sunday he watched her walk past, knowing she was going to Mass, and watched her walk back afterwards. They had never spoken, but as he said a second time, “She was my religion”.

Fr Hollings said he related that story because, although she did not know it, that elderly woman was a Sacrament – i.e. an outward sign of God’s love to that old man and a sign to him o the presence of God.

Christmass means the Mass of Christ; We are all called to be signs of the presence of God. People see us come to Mass and leave again. Do they see God’s love radiate from us? The blessing of our homes is one way we show we belong to Christ; I find several people ask me what the letters mean on my house and it gives an opportunity to explain - and hopefully show his love.