Forthcoming

​EventsTwo of our readings today include Weddings.
In our first reading we talk about a wedding between Israel and God.
As Israel returns from exile in Babylon, God forgives and forgets the past and calls Israel his bride “for the lord takes delight in you and your land will have its wedding. The relationship between God and Israel has been changed.
And in our Gospel reading from John, we talk of the wedding at Cana in Galilee
This is a wedding that both Jesus and his mother have been invited along with Jesus’s disciples.
The main story though, is on Jesus and his Changing of water into wine. Not just a few bottles but six large stone water jars, each holding about 30 gallons, in my reckoning that’s equivalent to about 900 bottles of wine. (What a party! ).
Of course the real reason that this wedding at canna makes it into John’s gospel is not for the wine and the party, but because it was the first miracle performed by Jesus, he performs his first of many more miracles to come, and his disciples had witnessed it. He had revealed his glory, this event would Change how they saw Jesus, and he would now begin his campaign a campaign that would eventually take him to the cross..  And we know now just how much this has changed the world we live in.
Both the Weddings in the readings are about change, they are about new beginnings.
Change is usually for the best, but it is not always easy. Ask any parent when their first child is born whether change is easy, their lives are turned upside down with sleepless nights, feeding, continuous nappies to change, and all the other situations that happen when a new baby enters into their lives. But ask them if they would change what they now have for what they had before and I am sure that most if not all of them would say no.
The marriage of two people is perhaps the most intimate of personal relationships we can have, these two people are changed a change that will mature, as time goes by, ever deepening and more fulfilling.  This change is mentioned in Genesis “Therefore a Man leaves his Father and Mother and clings to his wife and they become one flesh” (G2:24). Two joined together in wedlock becoming one flesh. Two become one (I am sure there is a song dying to come out here) ,Even the relationship between mother and child cannot equal it.
And so if we can see such positivity in change why is their always a temptation to try and resist it?
Some years ago Aldi supermarkets ran an advert campaign (other supermarkets are available) they showed you a leading brand and then an Aldi cheaper equivalent and the caption would be “I like this one but I also like this one, I like change” showing that the cheaper one was just as good as the leading brand was. ( I think the most memorable of the is set of adverts was the old lady holding up a branded box and non-branded box of teabags and saying my Husband likes these and he also likes these but I don’t like tea, I like Gin.)
Now I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to food brands I like my cornflakes with the rooster on the packet, my rice crispies need snap, crackle and pop,and my cans of beens need to be endorsed by a million housewives every day. I was not keen on the Aldi equivalents and the same went for soup, butter, bread etc.etc.
My children a lot younger then, were quick to pick up on this and they would start picking up various brands whilst in the supermarkets, and would find it hilarious to try and mimic me by saying” I like this one but I don’t like this one, I don’t like change” this is still a standing joke in our house to this day.
All a bit of fun, but actually I suppose like many I was to a degree opposed to change, I liked things the way they were.
 And we can see this in society today all the time. And I don’t just mean the old man that must have his breakfast at 7:30 every morning, or the neighbour who gets upset that the local post office is closing at 5:30 instead of 6:00pm. I would imagine you all know people that are set in their ways and resist even these minor changes.
But these are not the sort of changes we should be concerned about.
We resist changes being made in our own interests, like the changes we are asked to make in order to try and slow down the spread of corona virus.
 We watch on as our planet faces one of the biggest environmental crises in its history. But we refuse to see or accept any need for change foolishly believing it will sort itself out.
Even as global warming becomes blatantly obvious we continue to turn a blind eye.  “there’s no need to change, nature has a way of sorting things”
We fail to see the need for change as thousands of animal species face extinction or have their habitats destroyed to provide for our ever demanding consumption.
We are not prepared to share our wealth and way of life in order that others may be brought out of hunger and poverty.
Governments continuously need to change, countries continuously need to change, we continuously need to change and our attitudes to these ongoing topics need to change
It is the rule of life, the cells in our bodies are constantly changing and renewing, the seasons must change
Change is not all bad, change can be good, Change is good. Like a good marriage there will be ups and downs. As we make these changes not everything will always run smoothly,
 Change is by no means easy and we could be in for rough times but eventually it is usually for the best. Maybe our generation will not live to see the benefits, but future generations, our Grandchildren, possibly even our own children will.
 Since the beginning of time we have been changing and adapting. The Bible repeatedly tells of change,
 just a couple of weeks ago we celebrated an event that changed our very relationship with God; we welcomed God in human form as a fragile baby. The word became flesh.
Today as we celebrate Mass, Bread and wine will be transformed (changed) into the most precious body and blood of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ. And we eagerly and reverently approach his alter of  to consume that precious body and drink that precious blood as we strive to be “changed” to become more like Jesus, to become better Christians.
In a few more weeks we will enter into lent when we will prepare ourselves throughout the Lenten period, yet again preparing  for a life changing event, and we shall live out this event as we enter into holy week. That small helpless babe we welcomed into the world is now going to once again, change our futures, he will go to the cross totally innocent and without sin of his own, but he will take with him all the sins of humankind and he will pay (for us)  the ultimate price.
 But we as Christians know that his death was not the end, conquering death he will arise again victorious changing deaths grip over us forever, death will no longer have any claim on those of us who have believed in Jesus.
My dear Brothers and Sisters,
However hard it may be to embrace the changes we will need to make over the coming years, we must all think of the future generations, and we must remember the changes made for us by God the Father, Son and spirit.
And most of all we must continue to trust God and his mercy and know that his love for us will be the one thing we can rely on that will never change.


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A happy and safe new year to you all.

Forthcoming Events
Thursday 6th Jan Communion at 10.00am.
Sunday 9th Jan Parish Mass at 9.30am.
The coffee mornings will resume after the Christmas break in the Church Mice cafe (in the Narthex) from 10.00am on Tues 11th January and every Tuesday thereafter. 

Sermon: Second Sunday after the Nativity
  "The Word was made flesh and he lived among us”. 
In the year when I left the College of the Resurrection and was ordained deacon – 1995 – there was a song in the charts by Joan Osborne.  It seems like yesterday, but it’s more or less 26 years ago.  The song was called: “What if God was one of us?”  It asks a few hypothetical questions, like how we would address him, what we would ask him and what he would look like.  There’s no harm in pondering these things and maybe some of our answers might shed light on how we see God and how we understand our relationship with God.
  But surely the most comprehensive and majestic answer to that question, “What if God was one of us?” is found in the prologue of St John’s gospel which we have heard just now.  Those two words, “What if?” are answered by the awe-inspiring message that the power and the majesty of God has appeared in our world first of all in the form of a tiny child.  Through him he light of God shines in the darkness of our lives and nothing can overcome that light.  The pure truth that overwrites all the deception that surrounds us is there for us to hear.  Perhaps most amazingly of all, the presence of God in our world in the form of Jesus gives us the grace to become what we are intended to be: God’s sons and daughters; brothers and sisters in Christ.
   As the song goes: “What if God was one of us, just a stranger on the bus?”  Well, for the people who were first expecting the Messiah, it seems that he was treated as a stranger.  The gospel tells us: “He was in the world that had its being through him, and the world did not know him.  He came to his own domain and his people would not accept him.”  Perhaps their idea of what God is like was too conditioned by their own prejudices and standards.  The Messiah would never have grown up in a minor town like Nazareth.  He would not have had ordinary parents.  He would not have called fishermen to be his followers.  Nor would he have lingered in the company of tax collectors, publicans and prostitutes.  God would want to limit himself to respectable people like them and us.
   Is it really much different today?  People expect to be impressed.  They want their opinions and their outlook to be confirmed.  All too often we don’t want to be challenged or to be taken out of our comfort zone.  From childhood upwards, Jesus breaks the mould and whilst some welcomed his message, many turned away or were hostile.  He did not come to impress or to overpower us, but to live alongside us and to show us what God is really like.  Although he performed miracles, these were not done for effect, but to reveal the healing, forgiveness and compassion of the God who is our Creator.
   Even in the manger in Bethlehem, Jesus revealed himself in poverty.  He showed his love by embracing our humanity in all its limitations, its weakness and its woundedness.  He showed us that he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself a servant: the Servant King.  As St John Henry Newman put it:
“He had once meant to come on earth in heavenly glory, but we sinned: and then he could not safely visit us, except with shrouded radiance, and a besmirched majesty, for he was God.  So he came himself in weakness, not in power.”
   So we don’t need to ask, “What if God was one of us?”  He is one with us in Christ Jesus.  If God had come among us in power and might, his glory and light would have overcome us.  We are not yet ready for that.  But the light that was there at the beginning of creation shines in such as way that we can receive it.  That light leads us on through the darkness that is within us and around us.  The truth of God gently leads us away from falsehood and enables us to hear and accept the message of eternal life.  In all our weakness and wrongdoing, the compassion of God comes to meet us and lifts us up to see salvation.
   Let us pray:
Loving Father, your Son Jesus was born to save a fallen world.  Rescue us from the ways that lead us into ignorance and harm and help us to walk the path of life in the company of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.                                                                                 Amen.
 
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Sermon
  Well, this is the last of a four-week sermon series on the theme of following a rule of life.  Previously we have looked at:
how we live as disciples; how we live with generosity; our prayer life and personal priorities; and today, our care for one another and for God’s creation.  This goes to the very heart of our relationship with God, with one another and with the world in which we live.
   Marriage is recognised by the Church as a highly significant relationship. It is always a special moment for me when, after proclaiming a couple “husband and wife”, I get to wrap my white stole around their joined hands and say the words: “Those whom God has joined together, let no one put asunder.”  Those are the words of Jesus himself, as we can see in Mark’s gospel today.  This gospel passage is sometimes unfortunately termed the “divorce gospel”.  I don’t believe that this does any kind of justice to what is really a passage about how we treat one another.
  There are really two parts to the gospel passage today.  The first is a response to a challenge from some Pharisees.  The second is an answer to the objections of Jesus’s own disciples to the children who had approached him. Jesus acknowledges the reality of divorce, but instead of getting caught up in legal arguments, he reminds us of God’s intention.  We are called into relationship and this should be one of mutual respect and love.  Divorce had been made easy for men who wanted to discard their wives, often without proper support.  This is not a teaching that compels people to remain in abusive and loveless relationships.  It is more a challenge to those who treat their own wives as commodities to be picked up and then discarded at will.
  If women were on a lesser footing than men, then children were less important still.   This is perhaps why the disciples were so dismissive of the children who came to Jesus.  By welcoming the children, Jesus makes an important statement.  Even more so, he tells us that unless we welcome the kingdom of God like a little child, we shall never enter it.
   It is not by taking the critical and judgemental attitude of the Pharisees that we enter into God’s kingdom.  Jesus instead shows us that simplicity and openness are key.  Tomorrow is the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, a saint who was noted for simplicity of life.  He was originally a person of substantial means, but he gave all that away.  This was so that he could embrace the fulness of a relationship with God.  We can’t all follow that way of life, but the childlike simplicity with which Francis was able to relate to God, to his fellow people and to creation itself, can be an inspiration to all of us.  We live in a complicated world, full of unequal relationships and divisions.  Jesus shows us a simpler and better way of living and we see this reflected in the lives of the saints, such as Francis.  Something of this way of following Jesus is accessible to us all.
   The passage from Genesis today is not a literal account of how women came into being.  It’s really a passage about how human beings belong together in complementary relationships.  As we were reminded by Associate Archdeacon Julie Upton a couple of weeks ago, we all have particular gifts that we are called to use for the good of all.  Christians belong together through Jesus, as we hear in the letter to the Hebrews.  The Eucharist is the sacrament of that union in Christ and as we receive it, we should be mindful of our relationship to God, with one another and with God’s creation.  Our lives are set in a wider context and our worship is not just for our own good but for the building up of others, especially those who most need our care.
   Next week we give thanks for the Harvest.  This is more than just a quaint old tradition in which churches are decorated with sheaves of corn.  It is a reminder that all that we have comes from God.  The more we are mindful of this, the more we shall want to enrich the lives of others.  Whether we support a Foodbank, a refuge, Christian Aid or any other resource for the support of our brothers and sisters, we play our part in God’s kingdom.
   Our relationship with creation is also something to be nurtured and developed.  Again, the Harvest reminds us of this.  Last week I should have been on retreat at St Beuno’s Jesuit retreat centre in north Wales.  I have a favourite chapel there, called Capel y Coed (in English: Chapel in the Wood).  The Blessed Sacrament is reserved there against a backdrop of creation imagery and of the trees outside.  It reminds us of our relationship with the world and our stewardship of creation.  In a world threatened by the effects of global heating, this is something we should never forget.
   When we develop a rule of life, we grow as disciples of Christ.  We deepen our relationship with God through prayer.  We learn how to live generously, giving thanks to God for what we have freely received.  We also practise putting our faith into action through practical love towards our brothers and sisters and care for our world.  This generosity of spirit is something that is not only good for others, but we reap the rewards for ourselves too.  Prayer is good for our own wellbeing and so too is generosity towards others.  We are not made to live for ourselves but we flourish in relationship with one another.
  I hope and pray that we may all give serious thought to developing a rule of life.  We may be doing some of these things already, but as we become more aware of how we live as Christians, we come to find our true selves in Christ and in our relationships with our brothers and sisters.  So what God has joined together, let no one put asunder.

FORTHCOMING SERVICES
Thursday 30th Sept Feria 10.00am
Sunday 3rd Oct Parish Mass 9.30am
COFFEE MORNING
Our newly revamped Church Mice Cafe is open every Tuesday from 10.00am to 11.45am for a coffee and a natter.
REFLECTIONS 
How easy is it to get away with using someone else’s work?  Plagiarism, the passing off of someone else’s ideas or work as one’s own, has a bad name.  I saw recently how one comedian accused another of using one of his jokes as though it were his own.  The joke was about an internet-connected fridge that sent out so many messages it was like a nagging partner.  This was why he didn’t plan to get married.  I can see that you are not exactly helpless with laughter, but if this were your joke, you might not want someone else using it.
   Both in the book of Numbers and in St Mark’s gospel today we see people who are copying someone else’s work and there are people who are up in arms about it.  The spirit that had come down upon Moses and on those who were with him at the time, was inspiring two men, who continued to prophesy.  Some people complained to Moses to tell these people to stop, but Moses told them not to be jealous on his account. 
   In a similar way, there was a man casting out evil in the name of Jesus and his disciples were scandalised.  They went to tell Jesus that he was doing these things in his name.  Jesus responded by saying that if this man was doing good works in his name, then he must not be stopped from doing so.  He may not have been numbered among the disciples, but there was no doubt that he was on the same side as Jesus.
   God is generous in the outpouring of his Holy Spirit.  When we receive that gift in baptism and when it is confirmed within us, this is something very special, but it is never exclusive.  Faith is deeply personal but it is never a purely private matter.  Last week we heard in the letter of St James about how faith is not about indulging our own desires.  Neither is faith limited to our personal salvation, but it expresses itself through good works that are for the benefit of others
   One of the five marks of mission is to respond to human need through loving service.  Christians are called to live out their faith in generosity of spirit.  This is why we support the Women’s Refuge.  The recipients of that generosity and practical care may not themselves be committed Christians.  They may be people with messy lives, who have made mistakes along the way.  Our part is not to judge whether people are deserving or not, as our society often encourages us to do, but instead to see people who are loved by God and who need our care.
   As Christians and as disciples who learn from Jesus, we are all called to take part in God’s Mission (Missio Dei).  The mission of the Church is God’s mission and not ours.  So we are chosen by God to join in with the work that we see Jesus doing.  This is the work that the Holy Spirit empowers people to do in every age.  As the people of God we have been given freedom.  Of course we can use that freedom to exalt ourselves and to dominate other people and to choose our own path.  This would not be a path that leads to life, but would lead us and other people astray, with serious consequences for us and for them.  Jesus speaks of this in the gospel.  A better use of our freedom is to build others up, to encourage them and to enable them to find their place in the Mission of God.
   We see in Jesus the scope of God’s generosity.  Jesus did not share his disciples’ jealousy when they came across someone who was bringing hope and healing to other people in his name.  Instead he recognised that work as being his own.  Unlike a comedian or a musician, protective of the thing he has created, Jesus rejoices when other people take up his work and join in.  They are on his side and this can only be to the good.  Church members do not have a monopoly on charitable work or in showing goodness to other people.  There are many good things that go on in the community and the world around us.  God is at work beyond the walls of the church and this is something we can welcome and join in with.  Whether it is a foodbank, a refuge, a community garden – in all these ways we can see the marks of God’s Mission.
   The generous grace of God is poured out among us and as followers of Christ we have been called “salt and light”.  In a world with so much darkness, our small light and those of others can make a difference.  Never tell yourself that the difference is too small.  Too much salt in our food may not be great for our health, but a small amount brings flavour.  God transforms our lives by his generous grace and when we join in with the work of Jesus we can help to transform the world around us, so that the forgiveness and the compassion of God shines through.  We encounter God’s generous grace through the sacraments of the church and are encouraged in turn to be generous in allowing that grace to flow outwards into the world through the way we live.
   Can we make it a part of our rule of life to think of how we can make a difference to people’s lives in our community and beyond?  I’m sure some of those things are already happening, in which case we can encourage others to be part of it.  Let’s discern what God is doing here among us, so that we may move from maintenance to mission.

REFLECTIONS 
   St Mark’s gospel today shows us a scene where the Pharisees are observing the disciples of Jesus and criticising them for eating with unclean hands.  We might think that they had a point.  After all, if we are paying attention lately, we shall still be very aware of the risk that germs carry.  We are still quite rightly being asked to sanitise our hands for our own safety and for that of other people. 
   To put this gospel passage into context it has more to do with ritual purity.  The practice of washing the arms as far as the elbow and of people sprinkling themselves when returning from the market perhaps had its origins in a healthy desire for hygiene.  Still, we get the sense here that the Pharisees are more bothered about traditions.  They seemed very aware of their own propriety and saw people less observant than themselves as people to be shunned.  In their desire to stick to rules, those rules became an end in themselves.  The love that was at the heart of God’s law was being squeezed out in favour of human traditions.
   Jesus has no qualms about shining a spotlight on this hypocrisy.  We see in the gospel that Jesus was willing to mix with sinners and to eat with them.  The Pharisees and others were scandalised.  Did Jesus not know what these people were like?  Well, he did, but he still saw them as human beings and had compassion on them.  Jesus was not taken in by outward appearances, because he knew what was on people’s hearts.  He knew that people who were labelled sinners could be capable of kindness and compassion.  He also knew that the righteous and the ritually clean could be capable of envy, pride and hardness of heart.
   Above all, Jesus taught that it was not outward things that would contaminate our spiritual lives.  What makes the difference in the end is what comes from our hearts.  It is easy to blame other people for what goes wrong or to look past our own faults, so as to highlight the faults of others.  Jesus names the dishonesty that is at work here.  He compels us to look at our own hearts first.
  We don’t have to look too hard at the world to see the effects of human sinfulness.  The terrible scenes from Afghanistan in recent days show the human capacity for evil very clearly.  No doubt the perpetrators of these dreadful events believe themselves to be in the right.  In comparison with this our own faults may seem very small.  But Jesus shows us that sin should never be taken lightly.  Every human being has a capacity for goodness but also for doing harm.  The closer we get to the goodness of God, the more we shall become aware of our own need for repentance and forgiveness.  If we are honest, then we shall stop blaming outside causes, especially other people, and instead see our own need for God.
   When Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites it may sound as though he himself is being judgmental.  Really it is more of a wake-up call.  Hiding behind rules and traditions will not make us holy.  It is only when we take the word of God into our hearts that our lives begin to change.  No matter how divided our hearts may be and whatever darkness may lurk there, God is calling us back to himself.  God alone can cleanse our hearts.  We see in Jesus the compassion of the God who does not wish to condemn us or other people.  Instead we discover healing and new life.
   When we are honest with ourselves and when we accept God’s forgiveness, then we experience a love that is all embracing.  Through this we cannot help but look at other people and desire for them the same gift.  So let us pray today that our hearts may be cleansed by God’s life-giving grace and our lives transformed so that we may be channels of that same healing love.