Reflections 19 March 2012

I am reminded again today of how the modern pastor must be a
blogger. There is just so much that needs to be communicated. I have spent the
day hearing impassioned people share on how the church needs to be involved in
Health care, at one point a delegate reminded us that schools, clinics and
hospitals were the brainchild of the church and that we “have been doing it.”
Of late we feel taht we have been excluded, but I am reminded that the Land of
Canaan had to be “taken” the nation of Israel did not just walk back into the
land that they had in the time of Jacob, occupied, but that they had to take
“possession of the land.” We need to take possession of the land – the schools,
the clinics the Hospitals. We don’t own them we don’t run them, but they are
all full of Christians and used by Christians and so we must occupy them with
our concern, our caring, and our effort.
As the song says and they’ll know that we Christians by our Love.... so
let us love let us show compassion let us
occupy the land that the Lord our God has given us and show leadership,
let us be vigilant , let us bring the love of Christ into the land and serve in
very way that we can. Let us encourage each other to serve on School Governing
Bodies, Hospital Boards, and Community Policing Forums, let us engage
government at every opportunity, the Integrated Development Programmes. Let’s lead the National Conversation on
Health issues, moral regeneration, and accountability. Each of us has an area
of influence, lets us saturate it with the love of Christ and fill the world
with love.
As the Church of God we are called to make our places of
worship “safe spaces” for children. This means that our church communities must
provide a place for children to wrestle with their confusions, seek meaning to
life, make mistakes and learn from them in a framework of love not
judgementalism. A place where taht can
interact with their world in the safely of the guidance and support of their
elders, a place where their hearts will be protected where their dreams will be
heard and where their journeys will not be made alone. A place where discipline
will be in the form of discipleship not punishment, a place where they will be led by example and
where they will learn respect through being respected as children of God. Our Children need a place where they can learn
how to live.
As Church we are called to make our communities “places of
health care” where hygiene is part of who we are, where nutrition is understood
and food is not a luxury but something that we all have.
Where self respect is the origin of all actions and where
concern for the health of ourselves and others is part of life; where each
individual is treated by themselves and by others as the “Temple of God.”
In our democracy there is a place for the Church to show
leadership as the citizenry of the country holding government accountable to
the people and influencing the decision making processes in all spheres of
Government. In a democracy we do not
abdicate leadership to others but elect people to be custodians of the
environment and the structures of society to serve the interests of all.
Christians serve Christ and are ambassadors to the world; thus we understand
servant leadership and should be examples to government officials of how to be
a servant leader.
Through the
incarnation Christ taught is a number of things:
First that ministry has to be in the world – you can’t do it
from outside, we need to be involved in society to influence it;
Secondly, Christ taught us that we need to understand our
world the way that it understands itself we have to know it and how it works
and correct it from within. And so I believe that we are called to understand
the government policies and procedures and engage with them. In the area of
health let us understand how the government intends to address issues of infant
mortality, maternal deaths, mother to child transmission of HIV/Aid’s, and let
us see how we can use those worldly systems to serve God’s people.
We are called to address the issues of our day, not to
judge, but to journey. To seek out the lost – those who don’t understand- the
lonely those that feel rejected and the sick – those affected by the realities
of life. And we must bring them peace, we must bring them healing, we must
bring them hope.
We do this by helping to people to see that though they are
broken they are ok. Though they have made mistakes there is forgiveness, though
they have strayed, there is a way home. Too often we are so busy trying to
point out peoples faults that we prevent them from seeing the cure. Jesus
himself said “I came not to judge the world but to save it.” We seldom have to point people faults out,
they are already all too aware of them, what we have to do is point them to
reconciliation with God. We need to help them to forgive themselves and make
right with their world.
The issue of holding government accountable has been
discussed at this summit; but something taht struck me was how many speakers
reminded us that the church is found everywhere, where there is no clinic,
there is a church, where there is little else there is a church albeit under a tree. This makes me
think, are we holding the Church accountable, are we looking to the Church in
its diversity of format and makeup and saying – are we who have a presence
through a multi faceted organisation structure of denominations holding each
other accountable to the Gospel values of Incarnational ministry, the Gospel
values of love and the ministry of healing, liberation and declaration of God’s
love as Jesus established as our mandate when he quoted the Prophet Isaiah; is this true in our
hearing today – that the Church of Christ has come to preach the good news to
the poor to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim freedom to the captives –
and are we holding ourselves the Church accountable for this message.
We can do this by:
1)
Praying for the church throughout the world in
all its different forms;
2)
Identifying the presence of God in His Church in
all its different forms;
3)
Engaging with believers and leaders of the
church in all its different forms and journeying together in Spirit and Truth.
4)
Living Gospel values in every area of our
lives.
May the Lord bless you and keep you may his face shine upon
you and give you peace and the blessing of God the Father God the Son and God
the Holy Spirit be upon you always.
Amen.

Rectors Desk for 4 March 2012

During this time of meditation and reflection on our lives, it is amazing how we realise that we spend so much time on the business of life that we do not spend enough time guarding our hearts. I found a very true quote from C.S.Lewis in a book I am reading by one of my favourite authors , John Eldredge (entitled “The Heart). It read” ...the Christian message is thought to be essential concerned with only how to deal with sin: with wrongdoing or wrong being and its effects. Life, our actual existence, is not included in what is now presented as the hearty of the Christian message (the Divine Conspiracy). As our Archbishop recently reflected “The aim of bringing sin into the light is not to put ourselves or others under condemnation, but rather, to open up ourselves, our church, society and world, to the glorious opportunities for God’s salvation and redemption in every area of human life and activity. And let’s be honest: we certainly need God’s rescue and recovery in so much of society! Yet if we do not acknowledge sin, how can we receive God’s more than wonderful solution to sin?”
And yet so often we focus on our faith as one of denial and “giving things up” instead of one of accepting life in all its fullness. Jesus said—I have come that they may have life and life in abundance.”
As we reflect on this life over lent may we seek the life in abundance, may we make space for eth good or as St Ignatius put it—”it is not about choosing between good and bad but between good and better. “

This lent - let us seek the better, let us make room in our lives for the goodness of God.
May God bless you abundantly.

Next Sunday is Vestry—please make every effort to attend and be part of planning for the year ahead. The reports will be available to read and won’t be presented in full (to save time) and elections of the new council will be simple as nominations have been completed.
Join us and celebrate our lives together.

Fr.

Reflection for 26 Feb 2012

Dearly beloved;
This lent we will be following the “people of the way” Lenten
journey to guide you and I encourage you to participate in the cell groups and set aside time for the Holy Week journey which will be at St Joseph’s.

Lent is a time for reflection on our journey in Christ—and I encourage you to spend extra time in the reading of scripture and prayer (I recommend that we all read the Gospel of Mark this lent) .
We will also be increasing our prayer for each other and prayer cards have been provided to ensure that each family prayers for another this lent.

I remind you of our Lenten appeal –the money from this will go to the building of a new church in our Archdeaconry. Please indicate on your DG envelope what your Lenten giving is. I remind you too that the Easter Offering is a thank offering for the ministry of your priest.
Please pray about your giving to the work of God, our parish is struggling financially, and this is a time to consider our financial and physical support of the ministry of the church, as well as our care for others. Should you wish to contribute to any of our Social Responsibility projects,
financially or with your time this lent—please speak to me.
God bless you on your journey to the cross.

This week we focus on encouraging “small acts of mercy’” reaching out in love to others in small acts of kindness and compassion - added up these make a big difference.
I also encourage you to look upon life from the vantage point of Jesus’ vision of the way: - “to bring good news, proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind:” - May your life be filled, with these
imperatives as you reach out to others in the love of Christ.

Fr.