'Beyond Fasting' - Weekly Reflection 9th March 2025

Matthew 6:16 When you fast, do not be sombre like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

Fasting for Christians is not a command such as it was and remains for ethnic Israelites. However, here, Jesus’ tone suggests that fasting is a given, that it is something that we will do.

And we see this played out in the early Church. For example, in Acts 13.2 we read, ‘While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

And up until recently the ‘discipline’ of fasting was commonplace.

Today at St Oswald’s we continued with our engagement with ‘Practising the Way’ by John Mark Commer. (The Course — Practicing the Way)

We have been exploring the spiritual disciplines and practices of Jesus, today we explored fasting.  Jesus both feasted and fasted.  Therefore, if we are to follow him as his ‘apprentices’ then fasting ought to be part of our own discipline.

How you fast, why you fast and when you fast are important and guidance is readily available, even if the practise has fallen into abeyance.  Of course, the practise of a Lenten fast is still widely recognised, even outside the Church.

Therefore, we recognise that fasting is a good thing to do, that Jesus ‘expects’ us to fast, it is a given, it was part of the early Church’s practise and continued to be a key role in the life of the Church until recently when it has fallen into abeyance, apart from perhaps a Lenten fast of abstinence, like giving up something for Lent.

However, in Isaiah 58. 5-7 we read these words, ‘Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD? Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke? Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?…

And we may cross reference that with a passage from Matthew, 25:35-36
‘For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, / I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’

Therefore, I want to encourage fasting as a good thing to do to help us draw near to God, to deepen our spiritual life and our relationship with God. All to be encouraged and all very important.

However, it mustn’t be left there, as reflected in the quote from Isaiah 58 above, it must lead us on and out.  Check out this selection of Scriptures covering the same theme...

Luke 4:18-19, James 1:27; Galatians 5:13-14;  Matthew 23:23; Micah 6:8;
Zechariah 7:9-10; Proverbs 21:3; Jeremiah 34:8-17; Matthew 5:6; 1 John 3:17-18;  Acts 10:38;  Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:16; Deuteronomy 15:7-11.

I remember during the time of the movement of the Holy Spirit that became known as the ‘Toronto Blessings’ that spread from Canada into the UK.  One of these features, common to Charismatics, but slightly unnerving for those unused to such practises was ‘resting in the Spirit’ (or, ‘being slain in the Spirit.’) This was where a person being prayed for, or sometimes even not being prayed for, fell onto the floor. There was much debate and comment about this and the other more peculiar manifestations. However, on this manifestation, ‘resting in the Spirit,’ I remember a comment by Colin Urquhart, well known for rediscovering and encouraging the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church, he said, “it isn’t so much about the going down, but as to the getting up.”     

Maybe, just maybe, over this Lent (and onwards) when we fast we use that time not only to engage deeper with God in prayer, contemplation, reading Scripture, but we do something very practical. 

We might volunteer with a Charity, helping in a shop or raising funds. Maybe if you are abstaining from something then donate the money you might have spent to that Charity.  

Having fasted, prayed, read our Scripture, spent in contemplation the question remains; ‘what am I going to do as a result of this encounter with God?’

O Christ in the synagogue at Nazareth,

O Christ in the pulpit of our Churches,

O Risen and Cosmic Christ,

O Voice of the Compassionate

And Righteous God,

Give us no peace until

We become workers for your Gospel.

https://youtu.be/S-Bq1YtpQL8?si=xwbHgUCD25Jtwr-o

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

'Engaging or Escaping' - Weekly Reflection 2nd March 2025

'There must be very few people across the globe who have not heard about the Oval Office debacle last week.

I don’t really want to add anything to the pronouncements of pundits and the politicians about what an utter disgrace it was and the like of which has never, ever been seen before. For one President to talk to another President in such a public way was jaw dropping and almost unbelievable. Although not quite so from a President like Donald Trump. That’s his style and way of getting a deal done!

What I have been trying to process is how we should react as Christians.

I know many of my Christian friends have been posting on social media and sharing items.

But when does sharing ‘information’ and ‘truth’ slip over that line and become vitriolic and even abusive and certainly unhelpful and unhealthy.

And social media apart, I imagine we will be having those conversations with family, friends, work colleagues.

How on earth do we navigate through all the heat, the steam, the muck, mud and mire and hold a Christian perspective.  Added to which as Christians we will be reading things differently. There are those who will be fully supportive of President’s Trump’s stand.  Fully in agreement that it is well time we stopped pandering to ‘wokeism.’  Absolutely behind the idea that ‘charity begins at home’ – we first love and care for our own before we reach out in love and care for others.

I have no answers only more and more questions as the world appears to be getting darker and crazier by the day. 

And for what it is worth, just putting it out there, that I am not convinced about ‘End Times’ and that this is a prelude to Jesus’ return and the ‘Faithful’ being taken into heaven.  Two points on that. The whole corpus of Scripture speaks of a heaven and earth conjunction, of God’s sphere, heaven being conjoined with our sphere, earth.   Thus, no ‘going to heaven and escaping from earth.’  The Christian faith is about engagement not escape!  Secondly, look over your history at some of the times when the world was convulsed and caught up in the most awful events. We are certainly at an epoch-making moment when western liberal democracy appears to be running out of track having pushed its agenda so far as to beggar belief and common sense.  I am talking about things like parents complaining to school because they would not allow their child to identify as an animal. At such times like this, strong autocratic leadership is often welcomed to help offer a guide and steer. We are seeing this happening across the world right now.  

Let me return to the tsunami of comments following the Oval Office debacle.

At St Oswald’s we have been engaging with Practising the Way. (Practicing the Way) Our own home group have been exploring ‘Solitude.’  One of the practises we have been encouraged to do is to spend at least five minutes as soon as we have woken up and focus on God rather than reach for our phone or turn on the radio or the TV.  Putting God first before we open ourselves to the world and its various machinations, most often very negative.

On Saturday last, (1^st March) we had a Men’s Breakfast gathering up in town.  It is my normal practise to listen to Lectio 360 in the morning.  (Lectio 365 - 24-7 Prayer International) But on that morning I let myself get caught up in the social media outpouring. I could have made an excuse that I knew we would be talking about this and needed to be informed. But, truth be told, I let this issue slide into my thoughts and mind before prayer, listening to Scripture and spending at least 10 minutes with God. 

Now, in the grand scheme of things this is such a small matter. But what if I was to allow this tiny slip to settle and to grow.  It has been said that very few people simply stop engaging with God or attending Worship and going to Church. It is a slow slippage, a missed Sunday here and there, a forgetfulness in reading Scripture and offering prayers.   

Like me, you are also probably trying to process all that is currently happening in the world. But even as we seek to be as well informed as we can be let us never neglect to spend time with Father God, to bring the best we have, and yes, that would include the first moments of the day when we wake up and I would also add the last moments of the day as well.

“Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening,” is a quote attributed to " Mahatma Gandhi.

That looks like good advice to me, but 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 offers something even more challenging, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

With that in mind let us step into the week ahead seeking to give God the best, and the first and the last of our love and attention each day. Let us weigh up carefully our engagement with social media. Think twice about reposting and sharing. And yes, absolutely yes, let us be as informed as we can be so that we can have meaningful and thought-out conversations.  ‘Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.’ Colossians 4.6

And you may want to use this as your ‘Watchword for the Week’ no matter what crazy stuff bubbles up around us and across the world.

^‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

 

 

          

 

 

'Regretting living in a pigsty' - Weekly Reflection 23rd February 2025

Regrets I've had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption

Lyrics that I imagine are instantly recognizable, they are of course from the song, ‘My Way.’

("My Way" is Paul Anka's English-language version of the French song "Comme d'habitude," released by Frank Sinatra in 1969.)

As well as a karaoke favourite it is also a popular song at funerals.

The lyrics of course, while they may reflect a rugged individualism, sit very much at odds with the Christian message.

Next week Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.  The broad concept of Lent is to consider the story of Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness. And yes, you are supposed to immediately be thinking of the forty years desert wanderings of the Israelites freed from Egyptian slavery.  (The Bible Project is currently exploring the Exodus theme in their latest series of podcasts & videos. The Exodus Way)

And in both the desert wandering by the Israelites and by Jesus's experience in the wilderness there is one outstanding feature. In fact, we are told explicitly in Jesus’ case, Matthew 4.1 ‘Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.’

With the Israelites they also pick up this same theme and a recurring Scriptural theme of facing a test, a temptation. This begins with the story of Adam and Eve. And like Adam and Eve everyone fails, Abraham, Moses, David, Saul, the list goes on and on.

And what about us? 

Those serving time in prison are manifestly those who have failed the test and given into temptation.  However, none of us are exempt from having given into temptation.

What a joy, what a comfort it is to read in Hebrews 4.15 these words, ‘For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.’

And then this from 1 John 1.2.1 ‘My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.’

Let us circle back to the verse of ‘My Way’ and with regards to regrets. I don’t know about you, but I have had more than just a few.  And they sit there, nagging and niggling away. It is not having regrets but what we do with them. Perhaps there is something we can learn from that familiar story we know as the ‘Prodigal Son.’  He was restored back into relationship, welcomed back into the family (even if not by his older brother!)

Did Satan whisper in his ear, you really messed up, you made some awful choices, do you really think you are truly and fully restored back into the family?

At times like this we need to heed the way Jesus countered the Devil, and the temptations put before him, by referencing Scripture, the eternal Word of God.

Here is just a clutch of Scriptures that assure us of God’s love for us, yes, for you, no matter how much you may have messed up, no matter how deep you got into the muck and mire of the pigsty.  

1 John 3:1: "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!"

Romans 8:38-39: "Nothing can separate us from the love of God."

Romans 5:8: "God shows his love for us while we were still sinners."

Psalm 103:8-12: "The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love."

Hebrews 11:1: "Defining faith as the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen."

You are welcomed, restored, redeemed and more loved than you could ever imagine.

Allow that truth to sit deep into your heart and soul, do not be identified by what others may say of you, or by what the Devil may whisper in your ear, but by what God says about you in the Scriptures. Take any regrets you may have and give them over to Jesus.  Revel in your relationship with Jesus, don't remain in your regrets. 

And let us be ready to visit the pigsty’s that people find themselves in.  Let us tell them that no matter how bad they smell and how they came to be there, that there is a welcome awaiting for them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Witness to the Good News' - Transcript of Sermon February 16th St Oswald's Rugby

  

Luke 15.1-7 & 19.1-10

Question – is this a picture of good news?

This picture I would suggest is predicated on a contractual understanding of what the Good News is within a Christian framework. There are those who would argue that this is the Gospel message.

a)   God created and good world and placed humans in it.

b)   Humans rejected God’s command and chose to do things their own way.

c)    Sin and death resulted.

d) God sent Jesus to die for us so that we don’t have to take the punishment for our sins.

e)    If we accept this and seek to follow Jesus we can be assured that we will go to heaven when we die.

f)     If we do not accept salvation in Jesus then we will enter eternal punishment after death. 

In his book, ‘Simply Good News’, Tom Wright, argues that this isn’t good news, but might be considered good advice!

News is the announcement of something that has happened the effect of which changes things, personally, in our family, locally, nationally or globably. 

So, why might these four stories, told by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John about Jesus be news and why call them good news – or in older English, the Gospel.

Let’s remind ourselves of the journey we are on, the journey of seeking to practise the way of Jesus as his apprentices.

 

Following Jesus, becoming like Jesus and doing the things that Jesus did.

Therefore, a question – did Jesus preach Good News?

Mark 1.14-15, ‘After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Note that this ‘good news’ is before Jesus’ crucifixion. Also note the first verse, ‘The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God… Therefore, everything we are going to read in this book is the good news, the Gospel, in Greek, the Euangelion – all of it!

Therefore, if we are seeking to be Jesus’s apprentices and do as he did, then shouldn’t we be telling others about the same good news that Jesus announced, demonstrated and embodied.

However, to discover, discern and digest what ‘Jesus’ Good News’ might be, would take a lot more time than we have in a sermon slot on a Sunday morning.

The Gospel, the Good News is so much bigger, broader and dare I say it, better than a message of escaping from hell and an assurance of going to heaven when we die.

The good news isn’t so much a lesson to be learned as a life to be lived. A life to be lived as an apprentice of Jesus that itself bears witness of a life transformed, a life becoming more like Jesus.

“The time has come,” Jesus said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

And for the vision of that Good News, we turn to the prophet Isaiah.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”    Isaiah 52.7

At the end of Matthew’s Gospel and in what has become known as the Great Commission we read in chapter 28.19…

‘Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’ 

“Our God reigns!”

Now the Kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus.

In the Biblical narrative we note in the founding creation stories of God creating a Temple space in a garden and placing it in Eden. Then placing humans in that space to act as co-regents, to be image bearers of God.

This theme is then repeated in the tabernacle in the desert. 

The High Priest magnificently robed to represent God as brilliant, shining and pure.  The tabernacle structure itself made to represent God’s throne room in heaven as disclosed to Moses on Mount Sinia.

From the tabernacle to the temple with the same emphasis.

However, sadly somewhere along the way seeming to lose the vocation.

The vocation mandated to the first human couple. To represent God to the world so that the world may come and know God.

The vocation of Israel, to be a light to the Gentiles.

And as we were thinking about at the beginning of the month, Simeon takes the 40-day old Jesus and announces…

“… my eyes have seen Your salvation,

which You have prepared in the sight of all people,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory to Your people Israel.”

Jesus is the new Adam, Jesus is the tabernacle, Jesus is the temple, Jesus is Israel personified, Jesus is the light to all the nations and Jesus is the embodiment of the good news spoken of by Isaiah and by the whole corpus of Scripture.

The Bible Project strapline says it well, ‘The Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus.’

Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth – not Caeser, either then or now.

This Good News is big, bold, broad and beautiful and brings the possibility of salvation right here and right now.

And Jesus, our Master whom we seek to follow, told stories about what it would be like if people followed God’s will and ways, if they lived in the reality of the Kingdom of God or if you prefer the reign of God, and not the reality of the distorted and damaging kingdoms of the world.

We heard two such good news stories from Luke’s Gospel.

In December I was at a Christmass lunch with friends from the Farming Community Network. And I don’t know how, but the Bible and Bible stories bubbled up in the conversation. (I love it when that happens)

A farmer friend sat next to me said that one of his favourite Bible stories is the story of the Lost Sheep, the one we heard today. This story sits within a trilogy of stories about lost things, lost coin, lost sheep and finally a lost son.

I asked him a question that puzzled me. Would a shepherd actually leave ninety-nine sheep and go looking for that one stray. His answer was an unequivocal yes, they would. What about the wellbeing of the ninety-nine I asked.

“Hadn’t you noticed”, he responded, “that he had counted the ninety-nine and by inference knew they were safe and secure.” 

And farmers today will go through extraordinary lengths to rescue sheep and lambs.  Climb down drainage pipes, dig them out of deep snow drifts and climb down cliff edges.

And the good news is this is exactly what God does for each and every person. God offers a way out of the mess and mire of living a life following the way of the kingdoms of this world.

‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.’ John 10.10

And the Farming Community Work, is a Christian based charity that seeks to embody and to be good news to the farming community. In the work, by principle we do not proselytise. We seek to be agents of God’s good news as we walk alongside farmers at times of stress and difficulty.  Certainly, if asked, FCN volunteers would be ready give an answer to the hope that they have, but that conversation must be initiated not by the FCN Volunteer. FCN seeks to let its actions speak about God’s love, care and the Good News.

On Monday last I was in Onley prison. As well as volunteering with FCN I also volunteer with Prison Fellowship. On Monday, some of the Rugby Prison Fellowship Group met in the prison for a time of prayer and to have lunch together. Over lunch we chatted about the Sycamore Tree Course that Prison Fellowship runs in prisons across the country. You may have guessed that the name comes from the second story we heard today. It is a six-week course based around restorative justice.

Through a series of exercises and homework in their own handbooks, participants are invited to be honest about the crime they have committed, the effect of that crime on others, and the ripple effects of that crime beyond the immediate victim. On the final week there is an act of seeking restoration. Presented almost like an act of worship one by one the participants are invited to show a picture they have drawn, read a statement, or a poem they like or may have written. Jane and I were in Onley for Week Six in November last year and we both found it to be a deeply moving experience.

They also put pebbles in a bowl of water to recognise the ripple effects of their crime and light candles signifying a hope that they may find a better way forward.

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

That’s restorative justice.

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

That’s Good News – that’s restoration – that’s salvation.

When we know that there are lonely people, and we invite them along to Connexions – that’s good news.

When we know people are struggling with English not being their first language and we offer English Speaking Classes – that’s good news.

When we know that parents of tinies would welcome a space to be with others to share life and concerns and we invite them to Coffee Break or Make Time – that’s good news.

When we know that some people really struggle to make ends meet, to cook decent meals and to be able to buy the food in the first place and we invite them along to Make Lunch – that’s good news.

That’s the Kingdom of God come upon earth, that is a realised Lord’s Prayer, that is good news, the good news we are called to bear witness to and to embody.  Being good news and speaking good news – that King Jesus reigns.

And that through those who align themselves with him as his apprentices, empowered by his Spirit the whole of the created order is being restored and redeemed until finally heaven and earth are conjoined.

Will we get it wrong at times – most certainly.

Will our seeking to live the good news mean that a times some might take advantage of us, certainly.

I imagine the buzz going around about Zacchaeus announcement about giving out large swathes of cash, that some would have sought to present themselves as wronged by him or as deserving poor.

A shepherd searching for one of his lost sheep.

A tax collector repenting and entering the Kingdom of God.

Lonely people finding company and community.

Young mums meeting with others and finding mutual support.

People struggling and finding help at its most basic level, around food.

Strangers finding friendship and help in learning English.

Prisoners being treated with respect and helped to take a long hard look at themselves and their life choices.

Farmers being helped to build resilience and having someone to walk alongside them when they need that knowledgeable company because they are at a loss or in a difficult place.

We are storied people and as Jesus’ apprentices our life story is infused with God’s story. It is allowing that combined story to bubble up naturally. Much in the same when we were sitting in a pub enjoying a Christmass meal stories about favourite Bible passages came up naturally into the conversation. Good conversations are also God conversations.

However, do not try to shoehorn Jesus into every conversation. Remember the story of the Children’s Leader asking the children what was white, had big ears and hopped. To which one child answered, it sounds like a rabbit, but its probably Jesus!

Then be aware that people might be listening into your conversation. I would like to think that when the Sunday Lunch Club is having a meal there is very natural conversation around the Sermon or Scripture or some such thing.  And then as a follow up, how we are and how we act becomes another very important witness.  

Alan has spoken many times about how we might rehearse our story, how we might have a simple framework, so that we can give an answer for our hope and our faith, even if not answer all the questions that might be put to us.

Let me offer you another simple way of how you might frame your story.  A way that recognizes some have been brought up in the Faith, what we might call cradle Christians. Yet others, like me, came to Faith later in life, what I refer to as conversion Christians.

BEN & ANN.

BEN = Before Encounter Now. What might be termed ‘conversion Christians’, coming to faith with no or very little lived experience. What was my life like before I encountered God. What was that encounter. What is my life like now.

ANN = Always known God Needed an ‘owned faith’ Now. What might be termed ‘cradle Christians,’ nurtured and brought up in the faith. Brought up in the faith, maybe a Christian family, going to church regularly. But coming to recognise I needed to own the faith for myself. And what is it like now being a Christian. 

Both may have a date, but that's not important, and both may have baptism or confirmation or some other such 'event.'

Or you could be an admixture. Importantly both stories are valid and in my experience God’s leads us into conversations with those for whom our story is best suited. It is also good to have the stories of others to hand as well. Stories of lives transformed and redeemed and lives given meaning and purpose.  

One of the very earliest creeds simply stated, that ‘Jesus is Lord.’ That is the Good News, that is the Gospel, God reigns. Through Jesus’ obedience, death, resurrection and ascension Jesus has now received all authority in heaven and on earth. Whenever we act in accordance with God’s will, way and purposes, that is a witness to God’s Kingdom come upon earth and his will being done as in heaven.

The Gospel message is to invite people to repent and believe in this Good News, that is, to turn and orientate their lives with Jesus as Lord of all and Lord of their lives. Inviting people to embrace God’s story and find their unique place within that story and to live out the Gospel in the company of God’s people, in the power of the Spirit, sharing faith in words and actions.

In our world that at the moment seems to have gone a tad crazy, let us invite people to come on in and taste the new wine, ​the wine of the kingdom, ​the wine of the kingdom of God.

https://youtu.be/Hc3TJXTpJYs?si=bfXoxMfwTXde3eNB

 

 And here is the link to the Morning Service -

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvbWXpgeM4A

'Tomorrow Never Comes' - Weekly Reflection 9th February 2025

 “Send me flowers while I can sniff, not when I am stiff.”

For some wee while now the last slide on the screen at St Oswald’s at the conclusion of our Sunday worship is, ‘Who can you encourage today.’

Today we were continuing in our exploration of ‘Practising the Way’ (https://www.practicingtheway.org/course) and this morning we reflected on ‘Community.’

As a runner I think of a passage from Hebrews, ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.’  Hebrews 12. 1-2.

When running a half-marathon there are moments when there are no people watching and cheering you on. Then you must dig deep and keep on keeping on. And then as you draw near to that final mile, and it begins to drop down and you see the finish line up ahead, and the crowd is cheering and shouting their encouragement enthusiastically, it lifts those tired legs, gives fresh breath into exhausted lungs and spurs you on to complete the race.

And today (Sunday 9^th February) we have just had Plymouth Argyle beat Liverpool with their fans shouting their encouragement to urge Plymouth over the line to an historic win.

 ^‘And let us consider how to spur one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.’   Hebrews 10:24-25

In the past week I attended two funerals, one on-line and the other in person.

A funeral eulogy by a family member is now commonplace, something that gained traction following the funeral of Princess Diana and the ‘tribute’ given by her brother. That was picked up in the ‘Soaps’ and is now almost an essential part of the funeral service.

As I listened to the eulogies I began to reflect on what might be said at my funeral.  I then began to consider, what it might be like if I heard some of those comments before I died.

Not so much the details of what I did and where I went, but on the kind of person I was. In my early ministry when working in just one parish I regularly took funerals.  Occasionally I wouldn’t know very much about the person, particularly if you were on Crem Duty.  Basically, if you were on Crem Duty you might be invited to conduct a funeral service with little or no contact with the family.

I remember taking one such funeral with someone who had one of those names that could be both male or female, something like Charlie. I was desperately searching for clues to try and make sure I had the correct sex of the person.  Very difficult to say your first hello to the family and then say, by the way, was Charlie you Aunt or Uncle!

On such occasions instead of any kind of comment on the deceased I would hold a moments space and invite personal reflections. I also encouraged people to be honest and not to make the person out to be a paragon of all human virtues.  We are all an admixture of everything that makes us human, flaws and failings, fantastic and fabulous.

And if there is one place where we should be able to be honest with each other, where we can encourage each other, and say the things we might want to say at a person’s funeral, then surely that is within the Church Faith Community as we meet together.

‘… not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another,’

Therefore, what might you do in the week to encourage someone? 

Bear in mind that the first funeral I attended (on-line) was of a Church of England Vicar I knew when I was in Stafford. He had died suddenly at the age of 62.

Putting it very bluntly, today I can sniff, tomorrow I might be stiff!

'Lighting candles in the dark' - Weekly Reflection 1st February 2025

On the 2^nd February, the last vestiges of the Christmass season in our home will be removed when I take the illuminated Crib scene out of our front window. Several Churches will also remove their Crib Scene’s as the 2^nd February marks the end of the Christmass/Epiphany Season with ‘The Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.’

The festival is sometimes called ‘Candlemass’ as the Song of Simeon references ‘Christ the Light of the World.’ Candles to be used during the year ahead are laid before the altar and blessed, hence, Candlemass.

Some have found a Christingle Service is good way to mark out the end of the Christmass/Epiphany season with its emphasis on Christ the Light of the World. 

This story is in Luke’s birth narrative, chapter 2.  (It is worth remembering that Luke’s birth narrative focuses on Mary and Luke tells the story from her perspective.)

From this story we have the much loved ‘Song of Simeon’ – sometimes known by its Latin name, the Nunc Dimittus, from the opening words in Latin, ‘Lord, now let your servant depart.’

This Nunc Dimittus forms part of the Evening Prayer in Churches of various traditions and is often used at funeral services. 

The text doesn’t say, but it is most often taken that Simeon is an old man, certainly in art that is how he is most often portrayed.

Having fulfilled his vocation, bearing witness to the Christ Child, he can now ‘depart in peace’, that is, he can now die peacefully.

That is worth pondering on. What does a good death look like? On Thursday last I joined the Diocesan Spiritual Formation Group as we explored this question. We were guided by a remarkable woman, Rev. Ellie Clack who is Chaplain at Myton Hospice. With great warmth, humour, pathos, poetry and stories she led us through what her role to the very sick and the dying looked like.  Angry, sad, scared, irreligious and the deeply devout of all faith traditions and none, she sought to help people navigate their own journey. 

(Links to the poems are below)

In all of this I am reminded of another famous poem rich in allegorical mystery, The ‘Journey of the Magi’ by T.S. Elliot, and particularly the last verse.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

'Candlemass' marks a hinge, a turning point from the celebration of the birth of Jesus, through to his adoration by the Gentiles (Epiphany and the Magi) to Jesus being brought into the Temple and declared to be the Light to the Gentiles. Or, we might prefer to say, a light to the nations.

This was Israel’s sacred vocation. They were called into covenant so that they might be as a ‘city on a hill’ shining and illuminating the nations around them and leading them to the worship of the one true God, Yahweh, the God of Israel, the creator and founder and sustainer of the world. 

Simeon pronounces that this is now the vocation of this 40-day old baby brought to the Temple by Mary and Jospeh for the ritual of redemption as the first born male. (Exodus 13.2)

This year, with a late Easter, (20^th April) we have a month before we turn and begin walking with Jesus to Jerusalem and to his crucifixion, to his death.  A journey that begins on Ash Wednesday, 5^th March.

However, from the Child in the Crib to the Christ on the Cross, it is only a matter of time.

That is for me, why this Feast bears important significance.  The ‘baby’ Jesus is unable to bring peace, healing or redemption, for that he must grow up, become a man and walk to Calvary and the Cross.

‘Prompted by the Spirit, he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for Him the custom required by the Law,…’ Luke 2.27

How good are we at discerning and responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirt?

Are we aware of our true God given vocation and are we living it out?

When it comes to our own death might it be said of us, ‘Lord now you let your servant depart in peace for they have borne faithful witness to your light in both word and in deed.’

 

 

 Don’t Die Before You’re Dead ©Dawn Minott – Poems & More

I No Longer Pray - Science and Nonduality (SAND)

Poem: “The Facts of Life,” by Pádraig Ó Tuama | Compassionate San Antonio