Rev’d Peter Balabanski

Advent 3 A:  Mt 11 2-11

Jesus said, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.

What is there not to like? And yet John seemed worried that Jesus might not really be ‘the one who is to come’.

John the Baptist had been put in prison by Herod Antipas – son of Herod the Great who we meet at Christmas. Today’s Herod was a puppet ruler who longed to be king. John was in prison because he’d told off Herod for marrying his brother’s wife. John was never one for political correctness; we saw that in last week’s gospel reading. But then no Hebrew prophet ever was. Even so, what John said to Herod was more risky than average, even for a prophet. You don’t publicly correct a man who thinks he should be a king and expect to get away with it.

So when we meet John in his prison cell, realistically speaking, there are two things you can be sure will be on his mind. Firstly, that his death was likely very soon, and secondly, great concern about what may become of his message after he’s killed.

In a traditional prison, food and drink is provided by friends and family when they visit. That’s how it was in John’s time, and it still is in prisons and hospitals around the majority world today. John’s friends, his family and his disciples, would have brought him what he needed. And when they did, they’d also have brought him news of the mission. Much of that news would have concerned the ministry of Jesus, whom John had proclaimed to be the ‘coming one’ – ie, the Messiah.

John had proclaimed that the promised Messiah would come with a bang. Last week, we heard John’s powerful metaphor: the axe was lying at the root of unfruitful trees ready to cut them down so they could be cast into the fire – such would be the judgement handed down by the coming one.

And if that weren’t enough, when ‘the one who is to come’ arrives,

^{Mt 3.12} His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

This certainly didn’t seem to tally with the news about Jesus that his disciples and friends would have brought to John in prison. Languishing in his cell, John would have been told of the ministry of ‘Jesus the Messiah’ – the one he baptised and declared to be ‘the coming one’. But there was no word of the final judgement.

Naturally, John is worried, so he sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus: ³Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?

⁴ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. ⁶ And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

John had expected a fiery judgement. He believed God had sent him to proclaim that judgement; to call people to repent and to prepare for the coming Kingdom. Yet from the message Jesus sent him, it sounded as if the Kingdom had already arrived – but without the judgement; without the apocalypse. And that left John confused. How can the blessings and rewards be doled out before it’s been established who deserves them? How can the sequence of justice and just rewards suddenly get subverted like that?!

This sort of confusion pinpoints a tension that runs through the Scriptures – particularly the Gospels – between what is happening now, and what will happen in eternity. This often gets called the tension between the already and the not yet. It’s a tension which has implications for our own theologies, and it surfaces at difficult times and places for each of us – at funerals, in hospitals, in places when we witness terrible injustice or undeserved suffering – times and places when our perspective is forcibly changed, and peace won’t come any more.

I sometimes feel that tension at funerals. People are there who feel cheated, afraid, remorseful, bewildered – they want some peace. Maybe peace will come if they can feel sure that the person who died is at peace. But the Scriptures maintain the tension; for every passage that teaches that the person who died is with God now, there’s another to say they’re just resting, and waiting for the general resurrection and the great judgement on the last day? I remember a funeral where the preacher threw his hands in the air at one point and said, “We don’t know where our friend is right now.” He was right to say this.

The scriptures witness to at least these two scenarios. Has the Kingdom arrived yet? Is there to be a final judgement? Living with the tension of those two possibilities is part of the paradox of the life of faith. For many people, this tension is a real agony. That’s what I imagine it was like for John. We never get to hear how he received Jesus’ reply: ⁵ the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. ⁶ And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.”

I don’t think he’d have found it an easy message to receive. He’d put his life on the line particularly in the service of calling people back to ethical lifestyles. Wasn’t he languishing in prison for these principles?! And yet here were people being healed and blessed willy-nilly, with no apparent hint that they’d amended their lives first. There was no assurance for him that these people deserved the blessings Jesus was showering on them. Where was the justice in that? Where was the judgement?

Why was Jesus bringing in the Kingdom of wholeness and healing – the not yet – without first clearing up the already – the burning issues of ethics and social justice. This is a perfectly reasonable question. And today, as we have the opportunity to spend time asking it with John, and through him, asking it together with the hundreds of millions of people in today’s world who can’t even begin to hope, and who won’t be able to until they have seen some justice done.

John’s question is a real, legitimate question of faith. The main lesson I draw from this passage is that although Jesus’ answer challenged John to look beyond his question, he didn’t rebuke him for asking it. Those words, And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me could be seen as a very mild caution, but then Jesus praised John as the greatest person born of women.

We should be reassured by this; that it’s no sin to cry out to God for justice. It may sound strange that I feel moved to say something so obvious. But many people I meet feel that it’s a sin to complain to God about anything. They’ve been duped into thinking it’s a sign of faithlessness on their part to ask God the WHY questions. Often that cruel falsehood has become a prison to them.

John the Baptist can encourage us to send messages to God from such prisons when we find ourselves locked in them. It’s okay to question God. The worst that can happen is a return message telling us of the certainty of God’s compassion:

^3.…“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

⁴ Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. ⁶ And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.”

In the dialogue between John the Baptist and Jesus, judgement and healing are brought into dialogue in a new and illuminating way. In this dialogue, both judgement and healing are revealed to be ways to peace with God both in the now and in the not yet.

I wonder if that addresses any of our questions, or if we haven’t asked them yet. Amen

Rev’d Dr John Beiers

Advent 2:

In the readings for today we have John the Baptiser in the gospel of Matthew saying to a gathered crowd, “Wake up to yourselves, you people. Examine yourselves honestly. The time is coming when you will stand before God and have to account for all the wrong things you have deliberately done. You will not be able to fake it, for God sees into the heart. Get ready, and be honestly sorry for dishonest actions. Be honestly sorry.”

The Letter to the church in Rome tells the Christians there, that the teaching of the Apostles shows the way to go to get right with God, and the first reading from Isaiah speaks of one yet to be born, who will initiate a life and kingdom of peace and safety from danger. So the readings make a complete journey from the recognition of one’s own guilt to the recognition of our gracious God.

If you pray Morning and Evening prayer each day, you might be tempted to think, from the psalms and appointed readings, that all is doom and gloom. That the prophets and Jesus are concerned only about our sinfulness, our unworthiness, and the reality of hell. It is not that way at all. Our Lord wants all the human race to be with Him in heaven, to take the possible separation seriously, and especially the seriousness of sin. Hell and heaven are real, but in the end it is our choice as to where we will spend eternity.

So I am going to speak today about the Four Last Things, Death Judgment, Heaven and Hell, because if we know what Jesus teaches, there is no worry, but just re-assurance. These are the traditional themes of sermons on the Four Sundays in advent.

Death

Death is the separation of the soul from the body. We speak of death as “passing away”, for in death the soul leaves the body like a tenant quitting a house that is no longer needed. After death the body turns to dust in the grave, or ashes in the crematorium, awaiting the resurrection on the last day. When we die, we slough off this perishable body, which is already decaying in many ways. God is gracious, in that He gives us warning that we are not immortal on this earth. Our skin grows thin, our blood pressure usually rises, our hair falls out, our beauty fades. These are the signs indicating that wise persons need to assess their relationship with our heavenly Father. We will have to answer for the way we have lived. Jesus says that whatever kindnesses and love we have done to another human being, we have actually done to Him, the King of heaven.

Thus the body is left behind, and the soul passes from this life into Paradise. Jesus on the cross said that the penitent thief beside Him would be with Him in Paradise (Lk 23:42,43) The matter of an unquiet soul, not resting in peace, in the subject of another teaching. The souls of all the departed go to Paradise, awaiting judgment.

Judgement

It appears from Scripture that there are two judgments. The First or particular is when we die. In paradise we experience a taste of what lies ahead. If we are destined for heaven, then we taste the closer presence of God, closer than we have ever known on earth. Those not destined for heaven experience something far different and frightening. We have recorded examples from those who have been clinically dead for a minute or two, or even longer. They either see a place so beautiful that they do not wish to come back to earth or they experience such darkness that they are totally afraid and change their ways when they are revived. It seems that no-one sees nothing at all.

The Last Judgment

The second judgment is the Last or General Judgment, which occurs when the earth comes to an end. All the departed come before the judgment seat of God. It is a day of rejoicing for those who love Jesus, and a day of doom for those who have rejected Him. Jesus looks at the lives of those who have rejected Him, to see whether there is any reason why they may be spared the consequences of the bad path they have chosen, so that His mercy may bring them to join Christians already in eternal life. We are told very clearly that if we have chosen Christ in this world then we are not condemned. Condemnation is really Jesus saying, very sorrowfully, “If that is your wish, to remain apart from Me, then I respect it.” Personally, I have had the shivers when speaking to someone who said, “No, I don’t believe that rubbish about hell; I’ll take my chances when I die.” A man like that believes he is so irresistible to God, that God could not possibly deny him admission to heaven.

Be Not Afraid

But, on the positive side, there are ample passages in the New Testament, showing that Jesus came into the world so that ALL people – men, women and children – might understand God’s love, and be able to respond, for it is God’s desire that no-one should perish, unless they deliberately choose to.

Matthew 2:22 “His name is Jesus, and He shall save His people from their sins”

Matthew 6:30 The story of the lilies of the field. We are of more value than lilies, and our Heavenly Father knows our needs and will meet them.

Matthew 7:7 About earthly fathers knowing needs of their children. How much more will our Heavenly Father provide for us.

Romans 8:1 “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.

Luke 6:37 Judge not, and you shall not be judged; Do not condemn and you shall not be condemned; Forgive and you shall be forgiven.

John 3:18 “Whoever believes in me (Jesus) is not condemned; but he that does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he that hears my word and believes in Him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death to life.

Romans 10:12 ff “For there is now no distinction between Jew and Greek (and we might add, between culture and race); the same Lord is Lord of all, and bestows his riches upon all who call upon Him. For everyone who calk on the Name of the Lord will be saved.”

In other words, if you confess yourself a Christian, you are justified before God at the Last Judgment, and do not come under condemnation. And that is that!

Summary:

The accompanying diagram illustrates what we know about death and judgment. Earth is the sphere at the bottom, separated from the spiritual world by the dotted line of death. All souls, both good and bad, go to Paradise for the First Judgment, where they remain in his place of waiting until the end of the world. When the earth disappears, ah souls go before the throne of God for the Last Judgment, where they are either justified and proceed to heaven, or condemned and go to hell.

2 ADVENT

 

 

 What is Hell Like?

Hell is certainly not a lake of burning sulphur, for this is a material thing, and not having material bodies, the damned would not feel anything. Jesus uses these similes to describe the indescribable. The unending pain He speaks of is not physical pain, but spiritual pain. When we go our own ways, we forfeit our true destination, which is to be in the presence of God. Heaven is God’s creation, and He wants all of humanity to come eventually to that place. Hell is the state and condition of those who reject Him and His plan for good for them. We do not know what or where hell is. Some suggest that it is existence without the comfort of God; others say it is the hopelessness of existence without God, and the pain which that brings. I just do not know. Heaven and hell are not places, but conditions of the soul.

What I do know is that it is such a terrible place that the Son of God gave His life so that we might have forgiveness of sins and go to heaven.

Who Will go to Hell?

I quote from “The Catholic Religion”, A Manual of Instruction for Members of the Anglican Communion, written by Father Vernon Staley…“Hell is the place and penal condition ‘prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matthew 25:41). Hell was never intended for man, and he can only arrive there through a wilful, deliberate and continued rejection of God and goodness. St. Bernard has beautifully written, What does God hate or punish but self-will? Let self-will cease, and hell will not exist.” We may hold it for a certainty that no one will be doomed to such a destiny, except those of whom our most merciful Saviour must say “They have both seen and hated both me and my Father”, (John15:24) and in this attitude of soul have died and remain. Hell is the condition of those who are wilfully and finally unrepentant.

Who Will End up in Hell?

Who then, are those who are going to hell? In the words of Faber, “I have no profession of faith to make about the lost, except that God is infinitely merciful every soul, and that no one has ever been, or ever can be, lost by surprise or trapped in his ignorance; and, as to those who may be lost, I confidently believe that our heavenly Father threw His arms around each created soul, and looked it full in the face with bright eyes of love, in the darkness of its mortal life, and that of its own deliberate will that soul would not have Him.

…But all who depart this life in a right relationship with God, that is, loving  both Him and Jesus, however imperfectly, will find heaven opened and the Father’s eyes of love welcoming him. And because YOU here present love Jesus, however imperfectly, you will not be condemned, but welcomed with the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of Your Lord” And heaven? What can I say? Its all you ever hoped for.

 

Rev’d Elizabeth McWhae

Advent 1: Isaiah 2:1-5, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44

INTRODUCTION:

Today we begin another Christian year in the Church. The season of Advent. This is a season of preparation for Christmas, just as Lent is a season of preparation for Easter. Christmas and Easter are probably the 2 most significant festivals of our faith, so it is a good idea to prepare ourselves in case we lose our focus. Because I think it would be fair to say that in this country we have mostly lost the Christian focus of Christmas. The baby has been thrown out and replaced with Santa, the Christmas Pageant and a rampant consumerism and over- indulgence that even the Apostle Paul at his most strident would find hard to comprehend. And instead of preparing and being reflective and contemplative we are rushing here and there to end of year functions, Christmas lunches and dinners. So, let us stop for a few minutes and look at the readings we are presented with today.

POINT 1:

I will briefly look at Isaiah’s vision of God and Paul’s vision of Jesus, but it is Matthew’s vision of Jesus that really has me intrigued.

Of course Isaiah lived many centuries before the time of Jesus, but he was familiar with the idea of a coming Messiah. He had a vision of God, or the Lord,  that centered around Jerusalem. It was a communal vision and it was global or worldwide. All the people would come to Jerusalem to be instructed in the ways of God. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares…..nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more. Isaiah’s vision is of a peacemaking God. Ironically this was not the experience of the people of God who fought endlessly with their neighbours and even amongst themselves. Never the less Isaiah’s vision was their aim. This vision of God was communal, global, and political.

POINT 2:

By the time we get to Paul, his vision of God is Jesus-centered. It is very focussed upon the individual rather than communal. And his interest is in how Christians behave. He exhorts the community of faith to love. He reminds them to wake from their sleep. He uses imagery of light and darkness and asks them to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He also reminds followers of Jesus that salvation is closer to them than when they first believed. This may be a veiled reference to Paul’s belief that he would see the return of Christ in his lifetime. So he is reminding believers to be prepared to meet Jesus again.

POINT 3:

Now we come to our Gospel reading from Matthew, and what a reading it is. Instead of gentle Jesus meek and mild, here Jesus according to Matthew, has gone apocalyptic. In order to understand these verses we need to understand what apocalyptic writing is. In the New Testament the most obvious example of this is the Book of Revelation, but also this section of Matthew’s gospel. Apocalyptic writing describes imminent disaster and total or universal destruction. It is an unveiling of catastrophic events in history. In Jewish and

Christian writings, it usually speaks to communities that are experiencing persecution and upheaval. In this section of Matthew’s gospel the apocalyptic events referred to are the days of Noah, the 2 people in the field and the 2 woman grinding meal. In all 3 cases, some people where prepared and some where not. Matthew has linked these apocalyptic images, which are not intended to be taken literally, to the second coming of Jesus. His intention is clear. Are you prepared and watchful or are you missing the signs of Jesus return?

So we jump from preparing ourselves for the birth of the baby in the manger at Bethlehem straight through the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus to the second coming of Jesus, the Parousia. What a way to start Advent.

What are we to make of these readings. How do they prepare us for the birth of Jesus? Isaiah reminds us that God wants to teach us his ways so that we may practice justice and put away warmongering. Isaiah also reminds us that faith is worked out in a community that walks in the light or the illumination of the Lord.

Paul, on the other hand is concerned with the individuals relationship with Jesus and how that works out in their behaviour. He encourages Christians to love and to walk in the light.

Lastly, Matthew’s Jesus uses apocalyptic imagery to herald the second coming of Jesus. He urges believers to read the signs and be prepared and watchful for that day, at the same time saying that only the Father knows when this cataclysmic event will occur.

CONCLUSION:

 I wonder what thoughts, words or images these Advent 1 readings evoke for you? How as a community of faith and a diocese are we preparing to meet the Christ child? Where is our manger? How are we as individuals preparing ourselves to put on Christ? And how watchful and prepared are we to meet Christ at the final curtain? That’s not something many of us think about, I suspect, despite being part of the biblical faith tradition? Welcome to the journey of Advent. Prepare yourselves for an adventure of cosmic relevance to a world that is in dire need of spiritual awakening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rev’d Peter Balabanski

Christ the King Sunday Year C: Jer 23.1-6, Lk 1. 68-79, Col 1. 11-20,  Lk 23. 33-43

‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom’

That second criminal’s prayer sounds as if Jesus’ Kingdom is in the future. ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom’. But Jesus tells him it’s today. ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise’. He and Jesus will both be in paradise today. The New Testament speaks of a life after death with Jesus in two different ways; one is immediate, as we read today, and the other is in the future; death will be a time of sleep before the second coming and the general resurrection. ^{eg 1 Cor 15.17-20} The New Testament speaks similarly of God’s Kingdom as coming with the coming of Jesus, ^{eg in the preaching of John the Baptist in Luke 3,} and as here and now. ^{eg Lk 17.20-21} On Christ the King Sunday, the emphasis is God’s Kingdom here and now; Christ is with us, so the Kingdom is too. Today you’ll be with me in paradise.

Over the past year, there were two other times we heard the word today in Luke’s Gospel. Let me remind you of them.

The first was the inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry in Luke 4. He went to synagogue in Nazareth, and the attendant gave him the scroll so he could read out one of the scripture lessons. He was given the Isaiah scroll. He chose a few verses to read out from it, ^{(Isa 61.1, 2 & 58)} then he stood and read them out.

¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

²⁰ [Then] he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down [to preach]. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”     Today!

This release from captivity, recovery of sight, freedom from oppression, and God’s favour is precisely what we just heard Jesus offer the criminal who was crucified with him: Today you’ll be with me in paradise! The crucified criminal only asked to be remembered by Jesus, but Jesus gave him citizenship in the Kingdom of God. If only secular sovereign rule were so gracious!

The only other time this today word comes up in Luke’s Gospel is in a story we heard three weeks ago in Lk 19: Jesus looked up at Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree and said ‘…hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today…’ And when he saw how Zacchaeus’ heart was released for service to the poor, ‘…Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house.”…’

This change of life-direction – turning from a former way of living to a life face to face with Jesus is what we call repentance; a new start in life; rebirth. We saw that happen in the heart of one of the criminals crucified with Jesus in today’s Gospel.

The repentant criminal told the other one; 23.⁴¹ We indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds…’ And then he turned to Jesus to ask him, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.’

What we are privileged to see here is the turning of a human soul from condemned criminal to saint – in an instant. He names what he has been; he renounces it and he turns to Jesus. He calls on Jesus’ name and asks to be remembered when Jesus comes into his Kingdom. There is nothing else he can do; it’s not as though there’s scope for him now to amend his lifestyle. And Jesus receives him immediately – takes him at his word and receives what he offers. Today you will be with me in paradise; restored to freedom, restored to the fulness of life.

This is an astonishing scene. True to character, the people Jesus keeps company with here are crucified criminals. So none of us should ever imagine ourselves beyond the reach of Jesus’ love, and never imagine ourselves beneath his notice.

In pastoral ministry, I come in contact with people who’ve become convinced they’ve been forgotten or locked out of God’s love. Aboriginal Australians and refugees quite understandably feel like this. Others with psychological or emotional issues are similarly plagued by this sort of exile. Often their cyclical bouts of depression and highs make them and their supporters all but lose hope.

I am constantly shocked by the terrible burdens so many people carry in life. So many people on the cross. My job is to point out Jesus to them; Jesus on a friendly, neighbouring Cross.

If you’re on the cross yourself, often your suffering will be made worse by feeling that you’re cut off from everybody. You’re stuck with your pain while everyone around you seems to be free to go about their lives. When I find someone is in that sort of pain – and their pain is made worse by feeling so isolated, the only person who can help is someone who knows the same level of pain. And they need to know that person is right there beside them.

So I may talk with them about this scene in Luke’s gospel. Maybe that criminal who turned to Jesus could only have turned to someone who knew what that pain and despair felt like; could only have turned in that moment – and if he’d not been welcomed there and then, he might have sunk back into the torpor and hopelessness of his torture and died alone.

I think there’s something we need to draw from this scene. It has to do with our discipleship to Christ our King – our imitation of his example – choosing to live as welcoming fellow citizens with that criminal crucified beside Jesus. Are there guidelines Jesus gives us to follow? Yes. First, Jesus didn’t go looking for pain. Someone else inflicted that on him. If we want to follow Jesus, we don’t measure our success by how much pain it costs us. We measure it by the choices we make: by our hospitality, by our commitment to the poor, the captive, the outcasts of our community; by renouncing spiritual blindness – but most of all, by doing it today.

A plaque on the entrance to the old Epworth building in Pirie Street says this; ‘I expect to pass through this world but once, any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now, let me not defer it, nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”     TODAY!              Amen

Rev’d Peter Balabanski

Pentecost 23 C:  Isa 65.17-25; Isa 12.1-6; 2 Thess 3.7-12; Lk 21.5-19

Children’s time: straight after this Stir-up Sunday collect.

Lord God of all the ages, the One who is, who was, and who is to come: stir up within us a longing for your kingdom, keep our hearts steady in times of trial, and grant us patient endurance until the Sun of justice dawns.

We’re just about to hear words from the prophet, Isaiah. He’s speaking to people who’ve had a terrible time – so terrible that you could hear weeping all over their city. (Weeping is the sort of crying that means you can’t do anything but cry. And when it stops, you’re so exhausted, you can’t do anything except sleep).

But Isaiah’s telling the people about a dream God’s given him – a dream that everything will be new and good again; so good there won’t be weeping any more.

God gave them a dream. What happens when you dream? Do you wake up and find that your dream has really happened? What do you think happens with God’s dreams? Maybe they won’t happen straight away, but I think you can be sure that when it’s God’s time, they will happen.

Isaiah wanted people to dream God’s dream – to dream what God was dreaming. People who know how it feels to weep and weep have always understood what Isaiah means, and they’ve made songs so that people can dream God’s dreams, and give each other some hope. Here’s one of those songs

Peace / love / joy is flowing like a river, flowing out through you and me; spreading out into the desert; setting all the captives free.

Eg of the tune – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB_7KtgxhOs

We might not see God’s dream happen straight away, but maybe some people who weep will hear us singing God’s dream for them. And that might just help them. But now it’s time for us to hear the readings.

Sermon

… we didn’t eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labour we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. ^{2nd Thess 3.8}

Where I was a child, you didn’t have to go to the shops to buy bread; the baker came to our street in a small van. And every time he opened the back door of his van, it smelt beautiful – the smell of freshly baked bread. He’d load a basket and walk from door to door with the basket over his arm. And he didn’t knock or ring any doorbells. He’d just get to the door and call out ‘Bake!’

Our baker didn’t just bring bread; he also brought news from around the neighbourhood. One day, before he came to our house, he must have stopped at a house where some missionaries were guests – perhaps they were back on furlough. I imagine he found out about them when extra bread was unexpectedly needed.

Our baker shared news and he also shared his opinions. So when he told us about the visiting missionaries, I remember him adding, ‘Those missionaries come back home and tell us they live on faith; what they really mean is living on other people!’

It looks as if the Thessalonian Christians may have had a few unsympathetic social commentators like our old baker watching them. In the first letter to the Thessalonians, ^(5.10-12) we read that some of their recognised hallmarks as a community were the care they showed – not just to each other, but to Christians throughout their region – and that they themselves were dependent on no-one.

So had something changed since that first letter was written, that today we heard them being warned to be tough on people we Australians call bludgers?

We don’t have much access to the specific circumstances this letter addressed, but it’s not too far-fetched to think that as the Christian community’s reputation for charity and care spread, some greedy people might have come out of the woodwork who were only too pleased to live off their kindness. Having charlatans and leeches twisting Christian charity into a personal cash-cow and pretending to help the poor is a very bad witness. It’s the sort of thing that has many people these days saying that the church is full of hypocrites.

So are we in a no-win situation? Does being kind and welcoming – even risking being taken for a ride – mean that our care is seen as stupidity? Or on the other hand, does being tough and discerning mean we’ll be seen as uncaring? Which way do we turn?

The answer in this passage and the others we’ve read today is that ‘discipleship is not about waiting passively for God to act, but rather anticipating God’s action through our own actions of compassion and mercy.’ Even in the gospel, with its descriptions of the end-times, the heart of its teaching is about perseverance in doing what Jesus does; ‘By your endurance you will gain your souls.’ ^{(Lk 21.19)}

The main reason for the two letters to the Thessalonians was to teach about readiness for the end-times. The part we read today asks the question, ‘Are the people of this church going to spend the last days witnessing to the transforming power of Jesus’ love, or are we going to be gullible, indulgent laughing stocks?’

The message is clear: no matter what the local baker may say about us, no matter what portents and calamities may threaten us, our ministry of care for each other and for the world is the priority – living out of the Holy Spirit’s dwelling within and amongst us.

We are not to be distracted from this – we are not to be discouraged. Isaiah challenges us to live constantly in a way that proclaims the end of weeping; to live guided by the most important thing; the promised joy and blessing of the prophecy. This is something which can transform a community. People may suggest that we’re living in a fools’ paradise when we live that way. They may see works of kindness among us and run us down as dreamers, naïve do-gooders, or hypocrites putting on a front. But what sort of world are they choosing for themselves then?

What does God want from us ­ really? Quite simply, trust God; love one another; turn the world upside down.

This is the theological context for the pastoral care that I see flourishing in this parish. It is something that involves all of us. It is something that simply happens, and for no tangible reward, because the reward has been given to each of us already; God’s grace. While we were still a long way from God, Jesus came and suffered the consequence of that alienation in order to destroy its power to imprison us and anyone else. We didn’t ask for it; it was given before we were even born.

We love because—not so that. We believe that God already loves us. We don’t have to set about earning God’s love. So our love – our care – is a response; an act of gratitude. It’s not a work seeking a reward; we love because. We also believe that God already loves our neighbour. So there’s no sense in waiting for our neighbour to earn our care before we offer it. Who are we to withhold what God has already given? We’re often God’s means of showing that care. Someone’s kindness may well have been how we first experienced God’s care ourselves.

This is what it means to live God’s dream for us, and by living it, to discover that it is real. God is creator, and anything God dreams or imagines is instantly real. If we don’t recognise that, it’s us who are living the illusion. Living God’s vision for us is to discover reality. Living God’s vision is to reveal that reality to our neighbour, and so to enable that neighbour to live in the new creation as well.

Next week, Christ the King Sunday, the focus is the Kingdom. Back in Luke 17.^20-21 we read one of Jesus’ teachings about the Kingdom Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among / within you.”

Our task as Christ’s body is to reveal that Kingdom in our physical bodies by living as citizens of that Kingdom. That task is the thank-offering we call our lives. Amen.

Rev’d Peter Balabanski

Pentecost + 22 C:  Remembrance Sunday – Haggai 2, Luke 20

Haggai 2.4b take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, 5 according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.

Kids: An introduction to Puddleglum. My can’t-do attitude.

***

Today we remember that war is a terrible thing. Today’s passages from Haggai and Luke help us realise that God is with us in challenging times – and always has been. Both books were written by people faced with a most daunting challenge to rebuild their culture and themselves. Each passage was shaped by war; two disastrous wars more than five centuries apart. Each war saw the Temple of Jerusalem destroyed.

Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the Babylonians who carried Jerusalem’s elite into exile. Now Haggai encourages their descendants – the returned exiles to get on with the job of re-building that temple. After it was finally rebuilt by Herod the Great, it became the power base of a wealthy group of religious leaders called the Sadducees. In today’s Gospel, Luke remembers the Sadducees taunting Jesus about the resurrection of the dead; something they didn’t believe in.

By the time Luke’s gospel was being written down, the Second Temple had been destroyed by the Romans. Knowing this gives the Sadducees’ opposition to Jesus’ teaching about resurrection a bitter poignancy. As Luke wrote this Gospel, it was the Sadducees themselves who were in the most desperate need of resurrection. Their power base and their identity disappeared when the Temple was destroyed.

But let’s turn back to a time a little bit earlier than Haggai. Ezra 3 tells us the story of the laying of the foundations of the new temple. Some who were present for that ceremony were old enough to have known Solomon’s temple, and they were adamant that no re-build could be as good as the old one. (Proto-Anglicans?)

It seems that their can’t-do attitude prevailed, and work stopped for some time. Today’s reading from Haggai parachutes us into the story seventeen years after Ezra. Now God calls Haggai to stir the people up to resume rebuilding. We just heard him trying to convince them not to worry about the gold and silver and all the ornaments that people remembered. They should just get building with what they have and God will provide the rest. As Haggai put it, 4…take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts.

“Take courage” A lot depends on the way people choose to see things, doesn’t it. When the Israelites found themselves facing Goliath, most of them thought, ‘He’s too big to kill!’ But David thought, ‘He’s too big to miss!’ David’s positive attitude – coming from his faith in God – made all the difference. Haggai’s way of encouraging people to trust God was to get them to remember how God had been faithful to them in the past: 4btake courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, 5according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.

What promise did God make to Moses? In Exodus 3:12, God said, simply, I will be with you. Apart from that promise, Moses had no hope. He had no army to force the issue; no money to buy the people’s freedom. He only had one thing; God’s promise to be with them. That promise was all he needed. God makes this same promise, through Haggai – My spirit abides among you; do not fear. God called discouraged people to build what they never believed they could. Work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts. And they did. And the rebuilt Second Temple would end up to be the equal any of the great buildings of antiquity.

Through the Gospels, Jesus calls discouraged people to build too. But not to build with stone and mortar. Jesus calls us to build new community, and our materials are people, faith, hope and love – and, like Haggai got the people of his time to do – to base our confidence on God’s track record of faithfully being present with us.

Over the centuries, where people of faith have been tempted to despair, when we’ve opened ourselves to God, the Holy Spirit has always come and brought renewal. This has never ceased. In parts of the world where people have nothing but faith, hope and love as building materials for their Church, it’s thriving; growing at an astonishing pace. The greater the obstacles, it seems, the faster the growth. Sadly, we’re a bit challenged for this kind of faith because of our comfort and prosperity.

So where does that impetus come from? Can even a pessimistic, or complacent people find the enthusiasm to build for a future which seems beyond them right now? I wonder this because Bp Denise last week, and the Archbishop a few weeks earlier challenged us to develop a Mission Action Plan – to prayerfully look at the world around us and listen to the Spirit. What is God up to that we might join in on? – and again prayerfully together, to work out how we might do it.

We may not be pessimistic. We might be complacent though – we might be pretty satisfied with what our parish is doing in the world. We just had St John’s Youth Services AGM and listened with delight to the stories of what this child of our parish is achieving out there in the world. But what’s next for us? What are the issues of our time and place, and how does God call us to respond?

Has our creation care focus over September inspired us to action? Do our close ties with the refugee community suggest anything to us? Does the systemic racism that oppresses Aboriginal Australia cry out to us? We might think we lack expertise; that these issues are too complicated for us. But that’s what people told Ezra and Haggai. Yet they went on to build a wonder of the ancient world. God was with them, and we pray every week that God be with us. Is one of us busy with a mission that requires a team to work with them? A common rejection of the call to a new Mission Action Plan is, I’ve done my bit; I’m old and tired, so let someone else have a go. Do we look God in the eye and say that, or do we remember God is with us, remember the miracles, and ask the question, What’s next Lord? Amen

The Rt Revd Denise Ferguson

Hab 1:1-4, 2:1-4, Ps 119:137-144, 2 Thess 1:1-4,11-12, Luke 19:1-10

Holy God open our minds to know your wisdom, our hearts to embrace your love and our mouths to speak your word. Amen.

Good morning everyone, it is a delight to be with you as we worship God together. Thank you for your warm hospitality.

I am Denise Ferguson and since 21^st July I have been an Assistant Bishop for the Diocese of Adelaide.

As this is my first visit I thought I would give you a brief overview of who I am, and a taste of some of the ministry I have been involved with.

Until four months ago, and for the previous five and a half years, I was a parish priest and archdeacon in the Diocese of Brisbane.

My parish was diverse and busy with six centres and nine churches – all active and with diverse worship styles. Everything from 1662 BCP to a Family Friendly prayer and praise service called SHINE.

The parish itself covered an urban, geographic area of 481sq km – most of it in South Moreton Bay. North Stradbroke Island was one of the centres. When I mention North Stradbroke Island most people have a better idea of the area I am talking about.

By now you will probably have guessed that it is only recently that my husband Mark and I moved to Australia.

Yes, we are Kiwi’s. I was born, raised and ordained in Aotearoa New Zealand. I am the first born, trained and ordained NZ woman to be made a bishop.

Prior to full time ministry I was a Finance and Administration manager for the New Zealand Defence Force (Army), which is where I met Mark. We have been married for 38 years, have one daughter, Cara and one granddaughter Bella, who is 15months old. If you attended my consecration you would have heard Bella interject from time to time.

I was ordained Deacon in 1999 and priest in 2000 so I celebrate my 20^th anniversary this month.

In New Zealand I served a curacy in a semi-rural multi centred parish, was Vicar in two suburban parishes, Canon of three cathedrals, Archdeacon in two Dioceses, Bishops Ministry Chaplain for Ministry Discernment and a Diocesan Registrar and Manager.

Yes, my ministry experience has been very busy and diverse, but I share this with you not so much to provide a resume of that ministry, but to show you that I know how challenging ministry, and in particular Parish Ministry is in today’s environment. I pray that I never lose that understanding and sense of connectedness.

Enough about me for the moment. I am very happy to continue the conversation with you after the service.

 Today we have one of the many delightful & transformative stories of Luke’s Gospel.

Today’s passage follows immediately after the healing of a blind man, and as Jesus is passing through the city of Jericho, to the northeast of Jerusalem, where he will come to the end of his journey.

Even while Jesus face is ‘set toward Jerusalem’ todays Gospel reminds us that he is not so preoccupied with his own fate that he cannot take the time to notice others.

The central figure in the passage is Zacchaeus, who, Luke tells us, was a chief tax collector, and as a consequence would have been very wealthy. This is the only reference to a ‘Chief Tax collector’ in the Bible.

Tax Collectors were not popular in Jesus day.

How often do we hear the Pharisees condemn Jesus for mixing or eating with ‘tax collectors & sinners’? They were considered to be the lowest of the low, actively avoided and despised by their fellow-Jews.

Tax Collectors made contracts with the Roman authorities to collect taxes and made sure they acquired what we might call generous “commissions” in the process.

Apart from forcing people to part with their hard-earned money, they were considered to be traitors to their own people by taking their money and giving it to the pagan Roman colonialists occupying their country. We can see how Jesus would cause great offence by sitting down and eating with such people.

Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was in town and he was very curious to see what this itinerant preacher and healer was like.

Remember, this passage follows directly on from the healing of the blind man, and already we have an echo of that story, because Zacchaeus too wants to see.

However, at this stage, it seems to be only a sense of curiosity. He wanted to get a glimpse of this person of whom others were talking about. He may even had heard that this Jesus mixed with people like him – social outcasts.

Zacchaeus, the Gospel tells us, was a short man. He could not see over the large crowd of people surrounding Jesus. So he ran on ahead and climbed into the branches of a Sycamore tree to get a better look.

It could have been any tree that Zacchaeus chose to climb, as long as it enabled him to see what was going on. But he chose a Sycamore, a tree that in Israel symbolized regeneration, and in particular spiritual regeneration or rebirth.

Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, but he did not expect that Jesus would see him. He must have practically fallen out of the tree with surprise when he realised Jesus was looking in his direction.

I wonder what he was thinking when Jesus spoke those life changing words “Zacchaeus, hurry down. I want to stay in your house today.”

This is the only time the New Testament recalls Jesus inviting himself into someone’s home.

Zacchaeus could hardly believe his ears. He rushed down from the tree and delightedly welcomed Jesus into his house.

Immediately those around began to grumble. “He has gone to a sinner’s house as a guest.” Of all the people in Jericho, Jesus invites himself to the home of the one person in the town who was regarded as a social and religious outcast.

But, as usual, Jesus sees beyond the public image to the real person. Zacchaeus has experienced the spiritual rebirth – symbolized by climbing the Sycamore tree, he is offering half of his property to the poor and, if he has cheated anyone, he promises to pay them back four times what they lost.

This in itself is significant.
Fourfold restitution was demanded by Jewish law, but only in respect to the theft of a sheep (Exodus 21:37). Whereas Roman law demanded four-fold restitution from all convicted thieves.

While we assume that Zacchaeus’ spiritual transformation happened when he encountered Jesus, the original Greek translation is ambiguous and may indicate that Zacchaeus had already begun the process of restitution.

Therefore, is Jesus seeing beyond the social stereotype of the outcast Tax Collector? If so, he was not going to the house of a sinner but to the home of a good man.

Whatever the interpretation, we can see that, though Zacchaeus may have belonged to a discredited profession, his heart was in the right place, in a place of compassion and justice.

And so Jesus tells Zacchaeus that “salvation”, wholeness and integrity has come to his house. In spite of his despised profession he is “a descendant of Abraham” because his behaviour is totally in harmony with the requirements of the Law, and in fact goes well beyond it.

Jesus reminds us that social status is not a precursor to salvation.

Rather, to be a “descendent of Abraham”, is to be a loving, caring person full of compassion, with a sense of justice, and not just a keeper of ritualistic observances.

Remember I talked about there being echo’s of the healing of the blind man in the story of Zacchaeus? Zacchaeus had originally only wanted to have an external glimpse of Jesus. He has now come to see Jesus in a much deeper sense. A seeing that changed his whole life as it did that of the blindman in the preceding story.

Jesus confirms this when he states “The Son of Man has come to search out and save what was lost.”

 As we read this story, there are a number of things we could reflect on.

• We too want to see Jesus in the deepest possible sense. Only then can we truly become his disciples.
• Jesus is saying “I must visit your house today.” Are we opening the door and welcoming him?
• Jesus is reminding us to be careful in judging people from their appearance or their social position or their occupation. In fact, reaching out to the least, the last and the lost is at the heart of our calling as Christians.

 We live in a world of change and challenge. A world where Christianity was once at the heart of community but now, too often sits at the fringe.

Despite the challenges, this parish has been offering Gospel hospitality to the wider community for 180 years; seeking out and caring for the least, the last and the lost. Listening and learning from the words of Jesus.

I want to thank you for your faithfulness, and encourage you to continue to live out the heart of Jesus’ Gospel message: to Love God and Love your neighbours:

May you continue to be a loving, caring compassionate community of faith, with a heart for justice for all. Amen.

Rev’d Christy Capper

Year C 20th after Pentecost

I struggled with the readings this week. As I read through the passage from Joel and the passage from our psalm for today, I noticed the number of times that God’s provision of rain is celebrated, and that rain is promised.  This seemed to contrast so much with what I hear on the news at the moment. Theologian, Karl Barth, said that as Christians we should read with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. While it rained for us a little this week, it seems that every few days we hear about another town that is about to or has already run out of drinking water. It seems strange that a thing like this could happen in a country like Australia, people being thirsty, people having nothing to drink. First, it was the crops and the livestock who were thirsty, now it is the farmers themselves. We know that we live in a dry country, a land of drought and flooding rains, but at the moment we could certainly make do with some more rains.

So as I read that “God tends with earth and waters it” in the psalm, and as I read “O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before.” I wondered what it must be like for our brothers and sisters in the country to be hearing those words this morning.

In the first three of our readings today how people are doing in their physical life and abundance seems to be closely linked to God’s will and blessing. We find this often in the Old Testament but in 2 Timothy we also see Paul giving thanks to God for his life. If you remember, Paul has been through quite a bit, he has been stoned, he has been left for dead, he’s been bitten by a deadly snake, and that’s just to name a few. However, in spite of all of this, Paul is still around, at least for a little while longer, and he attributes this to God’s desire for him to continue in the mission of sharing the good news of Jesus with the Gentiles.

But what is the good news of Jesus for those who have no rain, what is Jesus’ viewpoint in our readings today between material, or watery blessing and the faithfulness of a person?

In our Gospel reading today we are met with two stories, both of which are probably pretty familiar to those of us who have been in church for a while. The first is the account of the people bringing their babies to Jesus, the second is that of the rich ruler.

I’d like to start with the question of the ruler. This man who came to Jesus to ask what he must to inherit eternal life – to be part of God’s Kingdom. Jesus first quotes part of the law back to him to which he replies that he has kept all of these. So Jesus continues, telling him one more thing – that he should sell all that he owns and distribute the money to the poor. Then he will have this treasure in heaven and should come and follow Jesus. It is care for others, charity, that Jesus requires of this man. That the rich should be generous, that the rich should share with the poor, that the rich should accept downward mobility.

But this ruler is sad and the reason that we are given for this is that he is wealthy, he is wealthy and attached to his wealth. Jesus points out that it is hard for the wealthy to enter God’s kingdom, hard, but not impossible as we are reminded later in the Gospel. The disciples are surprised. See, just like our other readings tend to, they associated richness with God’s blessing, surely a rich person would be able to enter God’s Kingdom. But no, says Jesus, for the rich it is hard. Jesus does not connect God’s physical blessing in wealth to God’s care for people. In fact, biblical scholar, Christopher Hay explains that the passages of Luke that we have been reading for the past few weeks are passages that are endorsing downward mobility.

This is where I want to take us back to the children coming to Jesus. See, Jesus says that to enter God’s Kingdom we must come like these little children. If you’re anything like me you might read this as being innocent, or naïve but when we read this in the context of God’s care for the poor and God’s desire for generosity, we read it differently. A baby has nothing to give in exchange for something. I’m at a stage of life at the moment where there seem to be babies everywhere, and as you know, they don’t earn money – they cost money; they don’t thank you for caring for them – they expect it, they don’t even let you sleep through the night! A baby has nothing to give, a baby isn’t looking for a fair exchange, a baby can only repay kindness by giggles and smiles and love. If a baby is anything like my 17-month-old niece they might repay you playing with them through a literal kick in the teeth and then giggle – but that’s not my point. Babies have no capacity to earn or pay for what they need. So, when we are to come like a baby, we are to come as one who recognises that we cannot earn God’s kingdom, that we cannot repay God for this gift, we can only give out love and affection. This can be hard for the rich to accept.

The disciples had to abandon their idea that the rich were more blessed than the poor and this ruler had to abandon his values of comfort, to abandon his safety net of riches, to engage in radical generosity. What might we need to abandon on our journey to follow Jesus? What might we need to change in ourselves in order to follow Jesus in his call to radical generosity? As we see just a chapter later, when Jesus meets Zacchaeus and dines with him the response of Zacchaeus is to engage in radical generosity – repaying those he defrauded four-fold and giving half his money to the poor. The point of the story of the ruler is not that wealth is bad, but that it cannot save us that that following Jesus should lead to radical generosity. It is then, when we have given it away, that we realise that our wealth cannot save us and we can enter God’s kingdom like a baby.

So, what do we learn? I think we can learn that this drought is not some kind of punishment upon people by God, but I am challenged by the call to radical generosity and charity that we receive from Jesus in our Gospel reading.

In a world where water is scarce and people are paying thousands of dollars simply to ship in water to drink, what does generosity look like for those whose taps run? For those whose income is not dependent upon the rainfall. Is it possible that it is we who are this rich ruler in this situation? In a world where there is famine and drought and severe weather, what might downward mobility look like so that we can engage in generosity with others?

As we adventure in following Jesus, may God help us to see how we can engage in radical generosity.

Rev’d Peter Balabanski

Pentecost + 19:  Lk 18 1-8; Jer 31 27-34, Ps 119 97-104

I usually focus on the scriptures when I preach. I hope that today’s sermon will make it a bit clearer why I think it’s so important to do so.

Luke tells us that Jesus told his parable of a downtrodden yet very persistent widow so we’d know to keep praying and not to lose heart. There was a lot in this widow’s life to make her lose heart. She’d lost her husband, she’d been abused in some way, and to add insult to injury, her access to justice was blocked by a judge who didn’t fear God, and who couldn’t care less about his public image. The widow would’ve had no money to bribe him with and no male advocate to plead her cause for her, so it didn’t look as though that shameful judge would ever listen to her.

Yet she persisted. Repeatedly she confronted the judge’s shamelessness. She knew that the shame of her predicament was a powerful bargaining chip. She knew she was entitled to justice, and so she’d go on complaining until that judge went blue in the face, not her.

Where could she have got her inner conviction of justice from? As a Jewish woman, she participated in the corporate prayer life of her community. She’d have learnt of God’s commitment to justice in the Scriptures ^{(Micah 6.8)}; learnt of God’s particular care for her as a widow. ^{(Exod 22.22-24, Deut 10.17-18)} She acted on her trust in God whom she’d heard speak directly to her in readings from scripture. She acted on her certainty in the God she came to know in those readings. It’s as if, when she had the unjust judge in front of her, she talked to God over the judge’s shoulder so she could keep on demanding her justice. It was time this judge learnt God’s ways.

Jeremiah described where her conviction lay in today’s passage from chapter 31.^{33 …} this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴ No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord.

So in his parable, Jesus gave us a widow who had God’s law written on her heart; that was the source of her conviction. She was a citizen of the Kingdom of God. It was irrelevant that she was the least in the social pecking order of antiquity. With the law written on her heart, she was on the same level as anyone else. So she had the conviction, and she found the strength to persist in her demands for justice. This morning’s parable reminds us that it’s also written on our hearts that we belong to God. So can we also have the courage to persist in prayer? And more amazingly, Can we discover God at work in that prayer – God persisting in claiming us?

Prayer is a marvellous, liberating gift from God. It’s a place in our lives where God meets us, embraces us, talks with us, and takes us seriously no matter what our circumstances. God is astonishingly broad-minded, and that’s the lovely thing we discover in the conversation of prayer. … When I say that prayer is a gift, I mean by that a spiritual gift which comes to us because of the Holy Spirit living in us. At baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. In the conversation of prayer, we find that we have become permanently invited eavesdroppers; eavesdroppers listening in on a conversation between our Mother, the Spirit, and our lovely Heavenly Father.

That intimate conversation is one which goes on whether or not we’re conscious of it. But from our baptism on, we grow in our understanding that this conversation includes us; that this conversation connects us with the true source of our being. St Paul describes that conversation in a part of his letter to the church in Rome.

“the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we don’t know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.   ^{Romans 8:26-27}

So the Holy Spirit speaks to God from deep within us. God searches our hearts, and there, finds the Spirit praying aloud the words written on our hearts. Through the Scriptures, through the Church, through friends, through creation, God speaks to us. Can we hear the Holy Spirit replying; crying out from deep within us?

It’s a life-skill, learning to hear God’s voice. But by giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit at our baptism, God ensures that we are equipped to learn to hear that voice. Like any little child, we’re born with the faculty to learn our parents’ language.

God the Holy Spirit dwells within us. She’s the mother and teacher of our hearts. Because of her dwelling within us, our hearts gradually learn the life-giving nature of divine conversation. There’s something within us, written on our hearts, says Jeremiah – something within us that feels empty and alone until we’re engaged in this conversation. We don’t feel fully ourselves until we can express what is the very deepest part of who we are – until we can participate deeply in the most wonderful and profound relationship there is; discover God’s love. St Augustine prayed it this way; Everlasting God, in whom we live and move and have our being: you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.

Jesus walks before us alive in the gospel, and beckons us by his love for us, and by his own example, to join in that conversation – more easily as he’s one of us too. Choosing to join in this conversation just once can change us utterly. Once invited, God persists. When I’m talking about persistence in prayer today, there’s the real persistence; God. God never gives up on us.

What comes of eavesdropping on our divine parents? This morning’s gospel sheds an interesting light on this aspect of prayer. It shapes the way we live, and it shapes the way you see ourselves. Remember that widow? Most onlookers would probably have viewed her as deluded, stubborn and hopeless; and we might be tempted to see her that way too.

But frankly, I see her example as inspiring. She subverted everyone else’s illusion of her powerlessness through her belief in her own dignity and worth in the sight of God. That belief was a free gift which God blessed her with; a faith nourished by her regular encounters with God through scripture and prayer. If you ever wonder why I focus my preaching so much on scripture, this persistent widow is someone I’d recommend you consider.                           Amen

Archbishop Geoff Smith

180th Dedication of St John’s, Halifax Street

• Today we are celebrating the 180^th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of the original St Johns church on October 19, 1839.
• It seems incredible that when that foundation stone was laid this church site was in the middle of paddocks. But it was.
• That original church was condemned in 1886 and this church was completed in 1887.
• So, given this is not the original church, today is not so much about a building but about ministry.
• Anglicans have been gathering on this site since the original church was opened in 1841. This site has been a place of worship and fellowship. A place where happy and sad times have been celebrated.
• Anglicans have gathered here through significant times in history which have tested the strength of the people. Two world wars, a crippling depression, the Korean and Vietnam wars plus much more.
• The city of Adelaide has changed very dramatically all around this place. But here we are 180 years later gathered for worship. It’s not about buildings it’s about people.
• The Old Testament reading and psalm for today are in some ways about a building- the temple in Jerusalem. They do focus on that building as the location of the presence of God. But actually, these readings too are about people. About faithfulness. About relationship with God. About seeking mercy and forgiveness. About prayers to God being heard by God. The temple building is significant, but that relationship with the living God is even more so.
• The second two readings, while they use building imagery-for instance cornerstones, and house foundations, are also clearly concerning relationship with God.
• It’s very easy to focus on church buildings because they are tangible. We can see them, we can invest in them. We can give things to build, furnish and renovate them. And they are important. Church buildings can be icons of the presence of God in a community. That there are church buildings visible in a community says something about that community.
• Church buildings are very useful for keeping the sun and rain off when we gather.
• And over time they are made holy I think by the prayers and the memories and the joys and sadnesses that are celebrated in them.
• But a church without a lively living worshipping community using it really is either a public hall for hire, or a museum. Neither of those are bad, in fact they are important for the community, but are not what it’s all about.
• What this is all about is a lively community of Christians worshipping and serving God.
• Our diocesan Vision statement is that our vision and our yearning is to be a diocese of flourishing Anglican communities, united and connected, confident and competent to be disciples of Jesus in the power of the holy spirit. But the question is how do we flourish? The question is how do we be flourishing lively Anglican communities?
• Last week I was in Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. I am the Australian bishop representative on the Council of the Church of East Asia, and there was a full assembly of the Council in Sabah. So, bishops, clergy and lay representatives gathered in KK, as the locals call it.
• The CCEA is an Anglican organisation in East Asia and includes the Anglican church in Korea, The Philippines, Taiwan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, Indonesia and Australia.
• Part of the program was a time of reporting from each of the provinces-Japan, Korea, Myanmar, the Philippines, South East Asia and Australia. Some of the reports included stories of religious persecution of Christians for instasnce in Malaysia, others living in a very fragile and unstable political environment, in Myanmar for instance where the civil war has raged for seventy years with impact especially on the Anglican church in whose dioceses some of the worst fighting has occurred.
• Some reports were about battling government corruption and injustice, with priests being imprisoned for their activism, for instance in the Philippines.
• But among the stories of difficulty there were also many stories of growth. The Anglican church in many of these places is numerically growing despite the very tough situations they are in.
• There were a couple of key themes which came out in the reports and they echo the second and third readings for today. The first is commitment to Jesus. And the second is planning and focus for growth.
• The gospel reading today, the little story about building on firm foundations, is actually about hearing the teaching of Jesus and putting it into practice.
• Today’s reading comes at the end of the collection of teaching on discipleship known as the sermon on the mount. Three chapters in Matthews gospel of densely packed teaching about what it means in practical terms to follow Jesus-to be a disciple.
• Our diocesan vision is about being disciples of Jesus.
• We are all called to be disciples through our baptism, it doesn’t matter whether our baptism happened when we were young or old, whether it used a lot of water or a little, or which denomination it happened in. We are called, all of us, to follow Jesus. To learn from him, to take on his attitudes and priorities and to continue his ministry today.
• If it’s been a while since you have read through the sermon on the mount can I encourage you this week to do that. We tend to be aware of the Beatitudes at the start of Matthew 5 and that’s it, but the sermon on the mount starts at Matthew chapter 5 verse 1 and continues to the end of todays reading chapter 7 verse 27. This is among the most important teaching in the Bible because it sets out much of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. And todays passage is all about that taking that teaching seriously and trying to put it into practice.
• Jesus says-anyone who hears these words of mine-that is the teaching of the sermon on the mount, and acts on them will be like a wise man and so on. Everyone who hears these words of mine-the sermon on the mount, and does not act on them will be like a foolish man and so on.
• So, the first thing is to actually take the teaching of Jesus seriously. Not just to believe in God, but to put Jesus teaching into practice. The more a congregation has that commitment the more the congregation will flourish.
• The second theme comes from the reading from 1 Peter and I want to highlight a couple of verses towards the end of the reading. These verses are addressed to the Christians. They say this: ‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood , a holy nation, God own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light’.
• You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God own people, why? Not for our own enjoyment or satisfaction, but so that we may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light.
• One of the key features in the reports from the Asian churches that are growing is a commitment to spreading the good news about Jesus.
• The reality is that we have blessed by God. We have been forgiven through Christ. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. We are part of Gods great work of a new heaven and a new earth. We have hope for the future. That’s all good news. We have been blessed so as to share that good news. To tell others what we have experienced of God. Not to bottle it up and keep it to ourselves, but to share this good news with others.
• We are like starving people who have discovered an endless supply of free food-we want to share that news with other people who need to know it.
• There is a huge stigma in our church against evangelism-about declaring the mighty acts of God. But in the end, all it is, is us sharing with others what we have discovered about God. How we have been blessed by God. How we have found God to be trustworthy and inviting others to check God out.
• There is also a pressure in our society not to admit we are Christians. I know that. I feel it myself. Even though half the population say they are Christians at census time, there is pressure to keep quiet. So that means we need the courage of our convictions. We need to be brave. Just as those Christians in Malaysia and Myanmar need to be brave. We have discovered something good and trustworthy and we need to be brave enough to share it and to push back against the pressure to be silent.
• There has so far been around 180 years of faithful ministry on this site in Halifax Street. No doubt the parish has waxed and waned through all those years. But we are here.
• And we not here to be museum keepers or public hall curators, but to be a flourishing Anglican community. A community of disciples, all learning of Jesus and committed to putting his teaching into practice. A community of disciples competent and confident to share what we have experienced of God-the mighty acts of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light.
• That’s the point. That’s the purpose for St Johns Halifax Street. In order for that to be reality commitment will be needed. Intention and planned action will be needed. It’s not going to be automatic or happen all by itself-and that’s up to us-all of us.
• As we celebrate this anniversary of ministry and presence may the Lord grant us the strength we need to be his people, to follow our Lord and to let the wider community know the good news that is Jesus. Amen.