Hello. Hello especially if you have come here because you saw this in the church notices and are having a look to see what's going on. You will find a couple of week's sermons below, and a couple of notes to the right which give a brief explanation of what this is about.
There won't be much happening here for a few days, because I am going off to spend a week with a Christian community caring for the temporarily destitute. That is, I am going to work in the church tent at the Glastonbury Festival, where all preaching is improvised and people spend most of their time providing other people (who have lost their tents or fallen out with their friends or been washed away by rain) with blankets. You will be pleased to hear that the blankets are Witney blankets. The church tent is run by Somerset Churches Together and there's more about it here.
Back soon. Be good.
Sunday, 22 June 2008
Saturday, 21 June 2008
Patrick O’Brian. Ships, storms, battles, expeditions, people marooned on islands, giant tortoises, guns, shipwrecks, mutiny, revolution, ropes and rigging, tropics and icebergs, and the dead sewn up in their hammocks with a couple of roundshot at their feet. And sealed orders.
Sealed Orders are the orders given the commanding officer of a ship or squadron that are sealed up, which he is not allowed to open until he has proceeded a certain length into the high seas; an arrangement in order to ensure secrecy in a time of war. So that you might send a squadron out to suppress the slave trade off the Ivory Coast, and nobody knows until they reach a particular point of latitude and longitude that the squadron is also ordered to intercept a French invasion of Ireland.
In the gospel, there are no sealed orders.
But we tend to assume there must be. (Gnostics.) We write our own, and open the envelope whenever it suits us. (Christian Family Values.) There aren’t. This is worth noticing. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light. What you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.
These are not sealed orders, then, but they are orders. Marching orders. Jesus is talking to his disciples, sending them out. He does what it’s natural to do in that situation. He tells them who they are and how they will be known. They’re going out, and there will be trouble. People are not going to like this at all. Things will happen that are wholly unpredictable except that they can be relied on to be bad. For more on that, read Jeremiah.
Jesus can’t give them instructions for everything that will happen to them; again, they have no sealed orders; he tells them who they are and how they will be known. He talks about integrity, which is about sticking to who you are and where you belong.
He talks about identity, which is about knowing where you belong and who you are.
Where do they belong? In a company, a household, a family.
Who are they? Recognised. Recognisable.
They haven’t got sealed orders. They have news for people instead. They haven’t got a checklist or targets or a set of ideas. They are a people with a history and a hope.
Sealed Orders are the orders given the commanding officer of a ship or squadron that are sealed up, which he is not allowed to open until he has proceeded a certain length into the high seas; an arrangement in order to ensure secrecy in a time of war. So that you might send a squadron out to suppress the slave trade off the Ivory Coast, and nobody knows until they reach a particular point of latitude and longitude that the squadron is also ordered to intercept a French invasion of Ireland.
In the gospel, there are no sealed orders.
what I say to you in the dark, tell in the light
what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops
But we tend to assume there must be. (Gnostics.) We write our own, and open the envelope whenever it suits us. (Christian Family Values.) There aren’t. This is worth noticing. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light. What you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.
These are not sealed orders, then, but they are orders. Marching orders. Jesus is talking to his disciples, sending them out. He does what it’s natural to do in that situation. He tells them who they are and how they will be known. They’re going out, and there will be trouble. People are not going to like this at all. Things will happen that are wholly unpredictable except that they can be relied on to be bad. For more on that, read Jeremiah.
Jesus can’t give them instructions for everything that will happen to them; again, they have no sealed orders; he tells them who they are and how they will be known. He talks about integrity, which is about sticking to who you are and where you belong.
those who acknowledge me, I will acknowledge
those who deny me, I will deny
He talks about identity, which is about knowing where you belong and who you are.
Where do they belong? In a company, a household, a family.
Who are they? Recognised. Recognisable.
They haven’t got sealed orders. They have news for people instead. They haven’t got a checklist or targets or a set of ideas. They are a people with a history and a hope.
Thursday, 19 June 2008
what I say to you in the dark, tell in the light
what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops
There are not two truths. There are not two versions of the good news, two gospels. There is not a secret knowledge for an inner group.
Integrity. A red thread.
Ariadne's thread in logic. (Ariadne helped Theseus escape from the labyrinth by giving him a ball of red thread to trace his path.) Back up to the last thing that worked and try again.
Slightly different image. A red thread running through material. In legend, the red thread running through the length of the rope. Consistency.
recognition. Recognising the truth, the thread, the danger.
What makes people afraid?
Taize assembly. What red means.
what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops
There are not two truths. There are not two versions of the good news, two gospels. There is not a secret knowledge for an inner group.
Integrity. A red thread.
Ariadne's thread in logic. (Ariadne helped Theseus escape from the labyrinth by giving him a ball of red thread to trace his path.) Back up to the last thing that worked and try again.
Slightly different image. A red thread running through material. In legend, the red thread running through the length of the rope. Consistency.
recognition. Recognising the truth, the thread, the danger.
those who acknowledge me, I will acknowledge
those who deny me, I will deny
do not be afraid
not peace but a sword
What makes people afraid?
Taize assembly. What red means.
Jesus is still talking to his disciples. They're being sent out.
Col. Tim Collins' speech to his men before they were sent out, March 2003.
Col. Tim Collins' speech to his men before they were sent out, March 2003.
Sunday, 15 June 2008
Swords
Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.Death's sword (sword or scythe?) in Discworld. Blue light.
Excalibur. The sword in the stone. The sword in the lake. Throwing it back in.
(> Lord of the Rings.)
The sword that was broken.
Captured officers in the Aubrey/Maturin novels. Giving up and handing back their swords.
Swords with names. Durendal (Roland). Excalibur. Joyeuse (Charlemagne).
Lightsabres.
Sting. The Wee Free Men's swords that glow blue in the presence of lawyers.
Making swords. Japanese craftsmen. Tempering steel.
Trinity 5 2008: readings
22 June 2008
HC (BCP) St Mary's, HC St Mary's
Jeremiah 20:7-13
HC (BCP) St Mary's, HC St Mary's
Jeremiah 20:7-13
O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughing-stock all day long; everyone mocks me. For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, ‘Violence and destruction!’ For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name’, then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. For I hear many whispering: ‘Terror is all around! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!’ All my close friends are watching for me to stumble. ‘Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him, and take our revenge on him.’Matthew 10:24-39
But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonour will never be forgotten. O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous, you see the heart and the mind; let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.
Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.
‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.'
Saturday, 14 June 2008
The people of God camped in the wilderness, in front of the mountain.
Worthy Farm. The fields, the fence, the green hills turning blue as the tents spread over them.
People on a journey together. People coming together from different directions to one place. And the disciples, people setting out on a journey, in different directions, not with tents, not even with a bag or a spare shirt. Labourers to the harvest. People setting out into the fields.
Journeying and staying.
William Langland.
- he gets dressed for the road and he sets out to see wonders.
He lies down to sleep by a stream and he dreams
In the east, high up, near the sun, a triple tower on a hill, the home of Truth. Below, a dungeon in a deep dark valley.
Middle Earth.
The people of God in the wilderness are looking for the Land. The disciples are setting out to bring people news of a kingdom. The people at the Festival are looking for all sorts of things; for something different, away from the ordinary. A man covered in mud from head to foot, wearing nothing but a loincloth; coming back to the tent to say thanks, and not being recognised; quite likely, a few days later, back to work in a suit and tie. Temporary, muddy, but a kind of transformation. Whereas the people in Langland's field - and maybe they are most like us - aren't looking for anything in particular, they're just getting on with things. Most of them aren't expecting much.
The Land is elusive. They're on the brink, about to cross the river. Or they're in exile wondering what went wrong. Or they're back, but it's still wrong, under foreign occupation. So in Jesus' time; and Jesus, living in the Land, talks about the kingdom of God. A kingdom of fields, fish, trees, seeds, the persecuted, the poor in spirit, yeast in bread, buried treasure, children, feasts, vineyards. Some people will hear the news of this kingdom, and some will reject it, and when people reject it, he says, shake the dust of that place off your feet: but all the same tell them the kingdom has come near.
Do we live in the kingdom, or in the field full of folk? Or both?
Both.
Are we setting out, or making camp, or hoping that finally we can settle down?
On the way.
Emmaus.
Worthy Farm. The fields, the fence, the green hills turning blue as the tents spread over them.
People on a journey together. People coming together from different directions to one place. And the disciples, people setting out on a journey, in different directions, not with tents, not even with a bag or a spare shirt. Labourers to the harvest. People setting out into the fields.
Journeying and staying.
William Langland.
In a somer seson, whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes as I a sheep were,
- he gets dressed for the road and he sets out to see wonders.
Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte.
He lies down to sleep by a stream and he dreams
That I was in a wildernesse, wiste I nevere where.
In the east, high up, near the sun, a triple tower on a hill, the home of Truth. Below, a dungeon in a deep dark valley.
A fair feeld ful of folk fond I ther bitwene --
Of alle manere of men, the meene and the riche,
Werchynge and wandrynge as the world asketh.
Middle Earth.
The people of God in the wilderness are looking for the Land. The disciples are setting out to bring people news of a kingdom. The people at the Festival are looking for all sorts of things; for something different, away from the ordinary. A man covered in mud from head to foot, wearing nothing but a loincloth; coming back to the tent to say thanks, and not being recognised; quite likely, a few days later, back to work in a suit and tie. Temporary, muddy, but a kind of transformation. Whereas the people in Langland's field - and maybe they are most like us - aren't looking for anything in particular, they're just getting on with things. Most of them aren't expecting much.
The Land is elusive. They're on the brink, about to cross the river. Or they're in exile wondering what went wrong. Or they're back, but it's still wrong, under foreign occupation. So in Jesus' time; and Jesus, living in the Land, talks about the kingdom of God. A kingdom of fields, fish, trees, seeds, the persecuted, the poor in spirit, yeast in bread, buried treasure, children, feasts, vineyards. Some people will hear the news of this kingdom, and some will reject it, and when people reject it, he says, shake the dust of that place off your feet: but all the same tell them the kingdom has come near.
Do we live in the kingdom, or in the field full of folk? Or both?
Both.
Are we setting out, or making camp, or hoping that finally we can settle down?
On the way.
Emmaus.
A fair field full of folk
In a somer seson, whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes as I a sheep were,
In habite as an heremite unholy of werkes,
Wente wide in this world wondres to here.
Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte.
I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste
Under a brood bank by a bourne syde;
And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres,
I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.
Thanne gan I meten a merveillous swevene --
That I was in a wildernesse, wiste I nevere where.
A[c] as I biheeld into the eest an heigh to the sonne,
I seigh a tour on a toft trieliche ymaked,
A deep dale bynethe, a dongeon therinne,
With depe diches and derke and dredfulle of sighte.
A fair feeld ful of folk fond I ther bitwene --
Of alle manere of men, the meene and the riche,
Werchynge and wandrynge as the world asketh.
Piers Plowman, the opening of the Prologue
I shoop me into shroudes as I a sheep were,
In habite as an heremite unholy of werkes,
Wente wide in this world wondres to here.
Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte.
I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste
Under a brood bank by a bourne syde;
And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres,
I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.
Thanne gan I meten a merveillous swevene --
That I was in a wildernesse, wiste I nevere where.
A[c] as I biheeld into the eest an heigh to the sonne,
I seigh a tour on a toft trieliche ymaked,
A deep dale bynethe, a dongeon therinne,
With depe diches and derke and dredfulle of sighte.
A fair feeld ful of folk fond I ther bitwene --
Of alle manere of men, the meene and the riche,
Werchynge and wandrynge as the world asketh.
Piers Plowman, the opening of the Prologue
What Jesus says about fields
- lilies grow in them, without anxiety
- wheat grows there, and people can pick ears of wheat and eat them as they walk past
- good seed can be sown, and weeds grow alongside
- someone planted a tiny mustard seed in a field
- someone sold everything to buy the field where treasure was hidden
- a field is a kind of commitment: like houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children
- someone in the field must not turn back to get a coat
- two people might be in a field: one will be taken, and the other left
- the prodigal son worked in the fields with the pigs, and his brother was working in the fields when he returned home
- the fields are ripe for harvesting
- wheat grows there, and people can pick ears of wheat and eat them as they walk past
- good seed can be sown, and weeds grow alongside
- someone planted a tiny mustard seed in a field
- someone sold everything to buy the field where treasure was hidden
- a field is a kind of commitment: like houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children
- someone in the field must not turn back to get a coat
- two people might be in a field: one will be taken, and the other left
- the prodigal son worked in the fields with the pigs, and his brother was working in the fields when he returned home
- the fields are ripe for harvesting
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Journeys.
The people of God travelling around in the wilderness
The journey out of Egypt
journeying towards God, encountering God
but it's only a camp, Moses can't see God's face, it's always provisional
the Land
going about all the cities and villages (but only in Israel)
kingdom
Land
harvest - field
Jesus quite often talks about a field
The people of God travelling around in the wilderness
The journey out of Egypt
and brought you to myselfMoses on the mountain
journeying towards God, encountering God
but it's only a camp, Moses can't see God's face, it's always provisional
a priestly kingdom and a holy nationbut a territorial kingdom and nation?
the Land
going about all the cities and villages (but only in Israel)
proclaiming the good news of the kingdom
kingdom
Land
harvest - field
Jesus quite often talks about a field
Monday, 9 June 2008
Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.and the words of the Lord to the people. The prophet in between, going to and fro.
whereas Jesus sees that the people are
harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd
Covenant and holiness. Making choices.
indeed the whole earth is mineBut
Jesus went about all the cities and villages
enter no town of the Samaritans
a priestly kingdom
the kingdom of heaven has come near
Trinity 4 2008: readings
15 June 2008
HC Hailey, HC St Mary's
Matthew 9:35-10:8
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’
HC Hailey, HC St Mary's
Exodus 19:2-8a
They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.’
So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. The people all answered as one: ‘Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.’ Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
Matthew 9:35-10:8
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’
Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.'
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