connecTing with a New Year

Last night connecT starting back after a summer break. We explored the theme connecTing (a pun, yes) with a New Year. Most of us make New Year's resolutions of some sort. The top 10 for 2013 are the usual we all make: lose weight, do more exercise, spend more time with family & friends etc. All good in themselves. However, using Colossians 3: 1- 17 as the basis, we gave some thought to how we might shape our resolutions by the insights of St. Paul. In Colossians 3 there is a great list of positive things to put on. Each year I give this text some thought, and each year, garment by garment, I try to put on some of Paul's suggestions. I'm still going! What resolutions are for you in Colossians 3 list? Chris

Casting Stones

Last week @ connecT we reflected on John 8, the woman caught in adultery, and the casting of stones (throwing rocks @ people). This was in the context of a little series looking @ forgiveness. We all do it, sometimes: casting stones, that is. Forgiveness, perhaps, a little less, I would suggest. We are all adept at noticing the sins of others and the justifiable punishment we often feel should accompany them. We are not so good at noticing our own: 'whoever is without sin, cast the first stone'. As we enter into Advent, Tony Kelly has some wise words on this theme: Christ alone is judge. Our responsibility as believers is to pass no final judgment...to us is given the task of proclaiming his Gospel in patience and forgiveness, in giving and receiving, in dialogue among ourselves and with those who do not believe, and in holding the grace we have received as meant for all. (Kelly, T 1996, The Creed by Heart: re-learning the Nicene Creed, HarperCollinsReligious, Blackburn, Victoria, P. 155) Chris

Forgiveness # 1

Last Sunday @ 'connecT' we started to look at the issue of forgiveness: the very heart of the gospel. A significant moment for me was listening to the very wise words of Desmond Tutu: forgiveness of others sets us free (paraphrase). At the same time, we can't command others to forgive. It needs to be done in their own time and in their own way. I know that from my own history. This week we reflect a little on the woman caught in the act of adultery (Jn: 8 1 - 11). Some people find actions in others unforgivable, even if they themselves were not directly involved in the act. Sometimes people, and we are all guilty of this at some time, are quick to pick up stones and throw it at those who do not meet our own moral or ethical standards. Self-righteousness we might call it. So often we want forgiveness for ourselves, but fail to give it to others. We can't see the trees for the forest. Who do we throw stones at, I wonder?

Chris

Hosea - A love story

Last week we wrapped up our look at Hosea. John (not apostle, but connecT member)led us back to the beginning, looking at Hosea - A love story. Sometimes with the prophets, I must admit, I get lost in the oracles. I get caught up with the passionate language. Im not alone in this. So, it was good to be reminded with how it all started: Hosea and Gomer. It reminded me of a text in Revelation: '...you have abandoned the love you had a first. Remember then from what you have fallen and repent...(2: 4-5). So, going forwards by going backwards. This week at connecT we explore a Hosean theme: forgiveness. Chris

Hosea - take words with you.

At connecT we are wrapping our Hosea series. Last week I looked at Hosea  chapter 14.

Words are important things. Without them we would struggle to communicate. Not that we can’t use other means.  We can look, touch, play music, a loving gift, and a picture, we are told, is worth a thousand words, and sometimes, too, words fail us. We can’t say what we really want to say. We are literally stuck for words. Yet, words complete our communication in so many ways.  Lovers long for that magic word to be said – ‘I love you’. Perhaps, this is what Hosea longed for and, perhaps, Gomer needed to hear these words from Hosea. God needed to hear some words from Israel, too. Actions, in this instance, were not quite enough: ‘take words with you and return to the Lord’ (Hosea 14: 2)

 God has words for his troubled people too: ‘I will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them (Hosea 14: 4). God provided then, and now, a home coming and a home: ‘they shall again live beneath my shadow’ (Hosea 14: 7).

Good words, rich words, important words: what words have you got to say to God?

Chris

Sermon – St. Jude’s Day - 2012

Text:  Jude 1-3, 17-25

Mission Statement

‘St. Jude’s is a Christ centred community growing in Faith, Hope and Love’

 Values

Inclusive – Welcoming all

Encouraging – Supporting one another

Inspirational – Diverse worship and learning in our faith

Community focussed – Reaching out and serving our neighbours.

The ‘Growing Congregations Committee’ has put together a mission statement, and this morning, on this St. Jude’s Day, I want to reflect theologically on that statement in light of the reading from Jude.

1)     St. Jude’s is a Christ Centred Community...

Let me begin with the first part of the mission statement: St. Jude’s is a Christ Centred Community. Jude begins his epistle with these words: Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James... (Jude 1). At the very beginning of his epistle Jude lets his readers know who he is and who he serves. Our mission statement attempts to do the same. We are St. Jude’s Church and we belong to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is at the very centre of what we do.  I see this working in a number of ways.

Firstly, the central message of the Christian Church is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is our very reason for being: our core business.

Secondly, it reminds us that, whilst there are many things that St. Jude’s Church does, Jesus Christ calls us back to keeping him at the centre of why we do what we do. On any given day I can be Chris centred or family centred, or parish or church centred, or centred on anything but Christ. Normal? Yes, of course, but the mission statement is there to remind you and me that we need to keep coming back to the centre.

Thirdly, St. Jude’s is a parish community made up of variety of people from different backgrounds with different theological and church persuasions. We have Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics, Charismatics and Traditionalists, Conservatives, Liberals, Post-Liberals, and people who are none of these. Christ the centre transcends all differences: theological or otherwise. Centre-Anglicanism has the grace and broadness to hold all these together.  We are an inclusive community that welcomes all!

2)     ... growing in faith, hope and love.

A hallmark of a mature Christian community is growth. It is a community that is comfortable with itself, and comfortable enough to accept others who may differ with it. St. Jude was writing to a Christian community that had been around for a while, yet it needed some encouragement. A church that says it is no need of encouragement is not a growing church, but a proud one.

Jude encourages them to build yourselves up on your most holy faith... (Jude 20). They are to be a growing Church built on the foundations of the faith. The faith once delivered to the Saints, Jude writes (Jude 3). By faith, Jude means the doctrinal core of the Christian message. As an Anglican Church we recite the creed and we are shaped by a liturgy that is profoundly Trinitarian and steeped in the traditions of the Church. We are also a Scriptural church. Our own individual interpretations of Scripture may vary, but scripture forms the foundations of our corporate worship and prayer life. Yet, at the same time, we are to be alive to the Holy Spirit and open to new possibilities. This is brought about by praying in the Holy Spirit (Jude 20). Therefore we are an ‘inspirational church with diverse worship and learning in our faith’.

However, in the Christian Church we also use the word faith in another way. Faith also means to trust: trusting in God who has redeemed us through  the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We trust God with the life of our church, which leads us to hope. Our faith is not a dead faith, but one that looks forward: look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life (Jude 21). It is too easy to dwell on the successes of the past and be fearful of the uncertainty of the future. Jude encourages his readers to look forward. Our Community focus - reaching out and serving our neighbours is born out of the hope that we have something good to offer. We are not the ‘end users of the Gospel’, as Brian McLaren (2004, P. 117) describes it.

Finally, Jude encourages his readers to have mercy on some who are wavering... We are in this Gospel business together! Sometimes, individually, we are strong in faith and other times we need encouragement and support: to build each other up. I need it and you need it. As a growing mature Christian community we are called to encourage each other and to support one another. At the same time, importantly, we need to make space for those who are not yet Christian or who are exploring the faith. We are to be an open Church, too.
As you can see our mission statement and values are bible based and theologically coherent. It is an inspirational document that can, under prayer and by God’s guidance, serve the parish well. It is short and punchy. We want to be able to write it on our minds and in our hearts. As the theologian Tony Kelly writes about the creed: ‘A blessed brevity and vividness had its place in the proclamation of ‘The Good News’ (Kelly 1996, P. 4). However, we want your thoughts and comments, so I commend this mission statement to your consideration.

Kelly, T 1996, The Creed by Heart, HarperCollinsReligious, Blackburn, Victoria.

McLaren, B.D 2004, A Generous Orthodoxy, Zondervan, Grand Rapids

The way God chases us - Hosea

We had our first connecT looks at Hosea. Great discussion in my group. Is this story for real? Would I chase like Hosea? Would I put up with a Gomer? Hosea's story has always troubled me a bit, I must confess. But then I remember that God has, does, and will continue to chase me and people like me. God's love never gives up! I reminded of the post-communion prayer:

Father of all, we give you thanks and praise that when we were still far off you met us in your Son and brought us home...

God chasing the Gomer in you & me.

Chris

Chapter 2 of Hosea @ connecT this Sunday.