Pearls of Great Price - weekly reflection 29th April 2024

 Reflection

A 10-year-old girl has discovered a "once-in-a-lifetime" ancient megalodon tooth on a UK beach.

 

The giant fossilised tooth was found by Elana on a visit to Bawdsey Beach in Suffolk with her family. After checking in with some scientists, Elana found out that the 10cm-long tooth was around 2 to 6 million-years-old and belonged to a gigantic prehistoric species of shark called megalodon. Megalodons were enormous fearsome predators who lived in warm oceans millions of years ago and could grow to be around 19 metres-long - that's three times bigger than a great white shark.

I don’t know if you saw this news article about this outstanding find by Elana. At St Oswald’s we have begun a new sermon series looking at Matthew Gospel and on Sunday last we had an introduction of the broad outline of Matthew's Gospel and then looked at two of Jesus’s short parables.

Matthew 13:44-46

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.  “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

In the first parable the man found a hidden treasure and the intimation is that this man wasn’t looking for it.  However, he recognised the value of what he had stumbled upon and with joy gave everything he had so that he could buy the field.  This reminds us of those who almost stumble upon the Good News and the Christian Faith. They are not seeking it or looking for it, but something presents itself and they have what we might call a light bulb moment. Indeed, they have seen the light.

 

In the second parable we have the same outcome but in this case the merchant is searching, and, in this instance, Jesus likens it to a merchant looking for fine pearls.  (Have you ever considered the actual reference and the knowledge of merchants looking for fine pearls)

 

In both cases everything is given so that the Kingdom of God can be embraced which seems to be the point Jesus is seeking to get across. In embracing the Kingdom there is a joy that is worth giving everything for.

 

St Paul knew something of giving up everything. The King James Version puts this graphically in Philippians 3.8.

 ‘… and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.’

And you?

Just like riding a bike! Weekly Reflection April 22nd 2024

 

Reflection

We have had our grandchildren over for the weekend, James and William, twin boys aged five and full of fun. This weekend it was time to learn to cycle. Both boys had bikes for Christmass but because of the weather they had hardly been out on them.  Both grandads and dad built the bikes on Christmass Eve, which was rather hilarious! However, we couldn’t get the brakes right and so I took them into a cycle repair shop and the man did a fantastic job of checking them all over so that they were good to go.

William was well up for it but his brother James, like all stages of development, was happy to let his brother get the hang of it first and wasn’t overly keen.

William developed this way of moving by pressing down on the left pedal, but instead of then allowing it to cycle round and then push with his right foot, he kept bringing his left foot up and pressing down on that one pedal. We tried several ways to get him to follow through with the right foot, but to no avail.   It was a tad frustrating, but I recognised you must balance things out.  He was enjoying himself, he was moving, sort of, and if I started coming on all heavy about how he should do it he might lose the sheer fun he was having. I am sure in time it will simply click, or at least I hope it does!

I am reminded by this about those new to the Christian faith and new to discovering the joy of reading the Bible.  We need to get the balance right between allowing people to discover that joy and encouraging them to keep going and to discover yet more joys and delights as well as challenges. 

With William’s rather odd pedalling, going up an incline required a bit of a push from grandad.  Let us take note of this, and if someone new to Faith and Scripture shares some ‘discovery’ that is just so obvious to us who have learned a bit about the Scriptures and how they work, let’s rejoice and share their joy. And let us encourage them that there is always more to learn. In the cycle shop there are lots of very lovely bikes and the thought passed through my mind of the boys in about ten years’ time. Will they be going into a bike shop and getting a nice bike having discovered the joys of cycling. The places it can take you and the fun and the exercise and just so many benefits.  I really hope so.

Let me end with one other image from bike riding that helps us understand something about living as a Christian.  I remember a comedian having great fun about bike riding. (I think it was Billy Connolly) He said, your parents present you with this bike thing on two wheels that won’t even stand up on its own. Then they say to you, get on and ride it down the road, and if you are really good you might even reach speeds of up to 30 miles an hour. On this thing that won’t stand up unless it being held up, and I am supposed to get on this thing and ride it at speed!  Put that way, it does seem so illogical and counterintuitive.

The boys have stabiliser or trainer wheels on their bikes to help them learn the art of balance and how this thing can move and stay upright, and that it needs to move to do that.

It can also sound a tad illogical and counterintuitive to build you life around a Jewish rabbi who lived in Palestine over 2,000 years ago.   But once we have learned to trust, and building on that trust take off the trainer wheels, we can learn that we can live such a life as we read in John 10.10, a life that is abundantly full.  We can learn that this Jewish Rabbi, Jesus, has deep wisdom and offers a life like no other.  And, just like grandad walking alongside William and making sure he was safe and offering help when needed, so there is a ‘Helper’ who draws alongside us to share our joy and pleasures as we journey through life and helps us when needed.  

Now, where’s my bike pump!

 

 

Getting Connected - Weekly Reflection 13th April 2024

 Reflection

On Sunday 7^th April I was leading a time of Prayerful Reflection in the evening at St Oswald’s. I had prepared a set of slides that I hoped would enhance our experience. I was informed that it would easy enough to link in my computer with the large monitor in the Church Lounge. But alas, when it came it, we didn’t have the right adapters or connectors and therefore we had to do without the slides I had prepared. 

The following night, Monday 8^th April, I was back in the Church Lounge and preparing to lead the Rugby Prison Fellowship Group through a monthly Prayer Gathering. I had made two trips to PC World to ensure that I had the right adapter.  (I am ‘okay’ with tech but by no means an expert). I went to plug in the lead into the jack in the socket and the socket came loose and disappeared. Ah, I thought, I’ve got this one covered.   I had taken a DVP player with me that I have used before with my computer, not as good, but it would work. Well, it would have worked if I had taken my old computer. But no, I had taken my upgraded computer, and yes, you’ve guessed it, I couldn’t establish a connection, I didn’t have the right lead.   

Having this happen just prior to a prayer gathering is not very conducive to engaging in prayer in the right frame of mind.

Since Resurrection Sunday we have been considering the stories of Jesus’ ‘appearances’ – note, not visions or hallucinations. Read the plain text of these reports and you see a recognition of a ‘bodily’ resurrection and yet strangely different. For example, in Luke’s account following the appearance to Cleopas and companion on the road to Emmaus we read in Luke 24.36 – 37 ‘While talking about this, (Cleopas’ report of their Jesus encounter) Jesus himself stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you,’ They were startled and terrified, and thought they had seen a ghost.’  But Jesus invites them to touch him and feel his bones and also eats some broiled fish.

I am reminded of Jesus’ teaching on new wine for new wineskins. (See Luke 5.37-38)

The first followers of Jesus needed to ‘adapt’ so they could accommodate this new reality. Their old paradigm of reality needed to shift and be renewed. The resurrected Jesus simply couldn’t not be accommodated in the old paradigm.

Now, joy of joy, for we read in Scripture that Jesus is the first fruits.  ‘But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.’ I Cor. 15.20.

And we are likewise are being adapted so that we can ‘fit’ and ‘connect’ in the new paradigm of a heaven and earth reality that began at the resurrection and will be culminated upon Christ return. (Technical term, 'inaugurated eschatology')

‘And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’  2 Corinthians 3.18

Ponder this question. How much at ease are you in this world and in the way it currently organises its affairs, locally, nationally, and internationally?  Do you feel a certain disconnect?  How much time and effort are you willing to put in to try and find ways that better connect heaven and earth?  How much time and effort are you willing to put in so that a clearer picture of our true human destiny is displayed?

For that to happen you will need the right connection, and there is only one connection that will work - Jesus.

'O My God!' Reflection 1st Sunday of Easter 2024

 

Reflection

Like many Churches that follow the RCL (Revised Common Lectionary) at St Oswald’s we engaged with the story from John 20 about Thomas, ‘doubting’ Thomas.

When reading this account, the first important thing to do is to put it into its context.

Chapter 20 reads like a conclusion and chapter 21 as a kind of postscript. Chapter 21 is a lovely story but sits oddly next to chapter 20. Its purpose appears to be broadly two-fold. One, to stop a rumour about the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’ that he would not die until Jesus had returned, verse 23, and secondly to give affirmation of Peter’s restoration and therefore he could be accepted a leader in the infant Jesus community.  (And note 20.30-31, and 21. 25.)

Chapter 20.31 is the key verse that ends John’s Gospel.

‘But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’

 What the author wants us to do as we come to the end of the Gospel is to ask ourselves the question that Thomas faced. Can we, dare we, trust the evidence given by others about Jesus’ resurrection. Can we, dare we, then declare as Thomas did, (verse 28) ‘My Lord and my God.’   Sadly today, many people say ‘O my God’ with little thought or care of what they are saying (or whom they are offending!).  Even our grandson William has picked this up from school friends and we are trying hard to get him to stop.  (And it is worth pondering here that Thomas was as monotheistic Jew and therefore what had shifted for him to declare Jesus as God. Much in the same as Jesus is ‘worshipped’ – see Matthew 28.17)

The big question then, as it is now, is what it means to believe in the resurrection and what does it mean to declare Jesus as my Lord and God.

Well worth pondering on that. And if I might point you hopefully in a useful direction, consider the role of a rally co-driver.   Go and check that out. You will find that for the most part the driver is utterly reliant on the co-driver for instructions about what’s ahead and how to deal with it.  Putting Jesus in the driving seat takes you on a taxi ride! But go on a rally with you driving and Jesus as your co-driver who has been there and knows the route – that’s bring a whole different dynamic to the picture.  I could add more, but I will let you play with that image.  Personally I find it so helpful and exciting, even if a little scary at times not knowing what’s coming around the corner.

And should you like to explore more about Thomas this article is brilliant.

https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/1745-for-those-who-yearn

Reconcilation - Reflection on Easter Sunday 2024

For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross. Colossians 1.19-20

An article popped up on my Facebook feed telling the story of the world’s longest bus route from London to Calcutta that began in 1957 and continued into the 60’s becoming  known as the ‘Hippy Bus.’ 

 In 1981 I was living and working for Church Army in Victoria, London. In November I walked around the corner and caught a coach to Morocco! This was organised by Oak Hall Expeditions. www.oakhall.co.uk/  That adventure was very important going forward, but that’s a story for another time.

I wonder what journey you are on and what do you think is your destination and the destination of all your fellow travellers, i.e. other humans.

It may be something like the first picture attached with the cross being the bridge to heaven. As an evangelist I have used a model of this type but in a simpler form seeking to show that there is nothing we can do to bridge the gap between us and God, only Jesus and the cross can do that. This model has some merit but does presupposes someone is already trying to get to God!

On Resurrection Sunday our Vicar, Alan, reminded us that that the first Easter day inaugurated a conjoined trajectory which will ultimately bring heaven and earth together in a new creation.  (Revelation 21).  I began to play with the cross image in my mind and came up with another image. Jesus and the Cross intersects history at a very particular point and in a very particular way resetting the trajectory lost in the rebellion of the first human couple as told in the Genesis story.

 As you look at the first picture of earth, this is in the context of the creation narrative, with its heaven and earth reality. The second image as the new heaven and earth. Jesus reconciles and bring them back onto a trajectory which will see them once more combined as a common heaven and earth reality, God and creation living together in harmony.  Humans fulfilling their sacred mandate to be royal priest working in harmony with God in the new creation.

Evangelism and the Gospel story then becomes about an invitation to be part of this enterprise. The journey of discipleship is to learn how to live in this now and not yet moment, technically known as inaugurated eschatology.  During Lent, at St Oswald’s we were encouraged to read John Mark Comer’s book, ‘Practising the Way.’ He picks up the idea of a disciple following a Rabbi (he prefers apprentice as a better term for today). His strap line is simply, to follow Jesus, to become like Jesus and to do the things Jesus did.

Personally, I find this model far more engaging and dynamic.  Its sits well with the Lord’s Prayer when we ask that God’s will is done on earth as in heaven. I often refer to our seeking a ‘realized Lord’s Prayer.’ 

What do you think is our destination?  There are number of choices. Heaven, hell, earth/heaven (new creation), reincarnation or simply oblivion to name but some. 

What story do you think the Bible is telling us in its overarching narrative? These are important questions to sit with as they will affect our daily lives and what we perceive as the Gospel and what Jesus’ resurrection effected.