Christmas Dinner

In Sharing the Darkness, Sheila Cassidy, one time Nun, then Medical Director of St Luke’s Hospice in Plymouth, wrote  movingly of an experience on Christmas Day in the Hospice. David, who suffered from a malignant cancer in his mouth, had tried desperately to maintain his independence, as an out-patient. On Christmas Day he was forced to come in for treatment. A single man, he was accompanied by a community nurse. David handed  Dr Cassidy a bottle of champagne with a scribbled note attached, “I appreciate all you are doing for me.” Shelia wondered about Christmas dinner and asked whether he could manage a little liquid turkey. She was almost reduced to tears when he replied, “Thank you, but a little watery porridge will be fine.”

On Christmas Eve, in our city there will be homeless, sleeping under a bridge, outside a church, or railway station. Anywhere there is shelter. In the morning they will awaken, pack up their meagre possessions and walk the streets, hungry, hoping to be invited to have  a meal, prepared by mission, church, street kitchen, or charity. There will be people on board ships, or on tour, who cannot face being home at Christmas, having Christmas dinner with strangers. There will be service men and women overseas, away from families, sharing Christmas dinner with each other, with loved ones present  in spirit, and in their prayers.

Everywhere, Christmas Dinner will be happening, joining families near and far in the spirit of giving and sharing. Sadly, many will eat and drink too much, and miss the reason for celebration. A long time ago a hassled innkeeper found room in a stable for a refugee family. The wife was pregnant. During the night a child, a son was born. Maybe, the innkeeper did not know of the birth till the morning. But the stable inmates, God’s special creatures, were there. Angels kept watch. The little family was safe.

Later that day, as Sheila cooked and ate Christmas dinner with the various members of her family, she could not put  out of her mind the man whose mouth was full, “not of Christmas food, but of a foul necrotic tumour”.

In the home, in spite of his disfigured face, David was accepted, loved and cherished, as he had never felt before. A little watery porridge, was Christmas dinner for David, as he joined his new family, sharing Christmas in the caring atmosphere of St Luke’s Hospice.

How grateful should we be, as we enjoy the smells, sight and delicious taste of Christmas dinner, around the table with our families! We should be mindful of those who have, not the means, nor the ability, to appreciate the delights and treats of Christmas dinner, as we do. We should especially be thankful for God’s special  gift of the one born in that stable, whose life has made Christmas, a joyous celebration of songs and carols, of giving and receiving, ever since.

The Peace of Christianity.

Isaiah 40: 1 – 11; Mark 1: 1 – 8

John the Baptist is not normally associated with the concept of Peace. He is that alternative desert dweller telling people the Messiah – the Christ was coming soon. He told people to prepare themselves by turning from their self-centred lives. People wanted to know what to do while they waited. John told them to behave generously and honestly with each other. Those who had two tunics of clothes were to give one to those who had none and likewise with food.  Tax collectors and soldiers where to take no more money than what was entitled to them. [Lk 3: 10-14] John prepared people for the advent of Christ. Many came to hear him and follow, and when Jesus came  some of John’s disciples left to follow Jesus.

Christ Jesus came bearing the title of ‘Prince of Peace’. Both John and Jesus were about peace.  They were peacemakers. When we evaluate John and Jesus’ ministry the common factor centres on the Christ figure who brings us into a new relationship with God and this world. In Jesus’ teaching and life it emerged that he was the Christ. The message was one of hope and of peace: reconciliation with God and others. Reconciliation is the foundation of peace. 

This sermon emphasises three things about peace. Firstly, peace is not the absence of conflict.  Secondly, peace is a result of peacemaking. Thirdly, we are called to be peacemakers.

Peace is not the absence of conflict. I sense that when we use the noun ‘peace’ we usually mean there is an absence of conflict. One will hear people say, “At least it is peaceful.”  And by that they mean there is no conflict. We can live in a time when there is no conflict or war, yet it is a most un-peaceful time. What could be happening in the absence of conflict is the laying of a foundation of unrest, injustice and division. So often the times of so-called-peace lead to material prosperity that not everyone shares. In fact often times of peace have been times when we have allowed our self-interest to disenfranchise the weak. I understand that the peace established after WWI led to the outbreak of WWII. Peace is something that has to be forged on the anvil of justice.  Our lack of justice forges conflict and war.

In our Holy Communion services we pass the peace. The handshake symbolises Christian love and unity. The passing of the peace is a specific action where we look at our fellow Christian and warmly say; “The peace of Christ be with you.” And the response is; “And also with you.” It is not an opportunity to say hello, how are you? We are passing the peace with Christians whom we know and not know so well. The point is we are offering the peace of Christ to someone because we have turned to Christ ourselves. We offer the peace of Christ in the knowledge that we are sisters and brothers in Christ.  In passing the passing the peace we are reminding ourselves that we have a need for peace and a  need to work for it. This is why passing the peace is a serious matter. 

God’s peace, Christ’s peace is a gift of acceptance, renewal and belonging. To live in peace is to live in a just, welcoming community. Peaceful people live justly, accepting others and full of kindness. Christian peace is a heavy thing: the peace of Christ is a beautiful experience.

We need peacemakers to make peace.  That need is self-evident. The mere fact that we have so many awards for peacemakers, like the Nobel Peace prize, is indicative of our need for peacemakers.  One site on the Internet lists 1493 “Notable Peacemakers throughout History”.  The list begins with – Moses! That makes sense. The list naturally includes Jesus, the Prince of Peace. That also, makes sense to us.  The list includes Maximilianus the first conscientious objector. He was a Christian and the son of a Roman soldier. He refused to go to war.  Some names that struck me on the list were Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, Muhammad, St Francis of Assisi, Joan of Ark, Thomas More, Francis Xavier, Francis Bacon, George Whitfield, John Newton, Florence Nightingale, Elizabeth Fry, Fanny Wright, Julia Ward Howe, Mark Twain, Oscar Romero, Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela to name a few. 

A cursory glance at this long list, which does not include every person such as a Rosie Batty, tells us that peacemaking is not just about being against war but about building relationships, reconciling people and ensuring well-being and the dignity for all.

The unending list of peacemakers tells us that we have a great need for them. It also tells us we don’t seem to learn from our history. How much poorer we would be if there were not people like this who had worked for peace. Their stories tell us that peace only comes through commitment, service and at a great cost.

 We are called to be peacemakers. Jesus said; “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” [Mt 5:9] This is a profound statement found amongst the Beatitudes. There Jesus speaks about blessedness and being righteous, receiving mercy, being filled, inheriting the earth and receiving the Kingdom of God, but in this instance he says the peacemaker will be called a ‘child of God’. Now let us be clear that Jesus doesn’t mean a peace-lover. You know the Peace-Lover is the person who wants peace at any cost. ‘Let’s not talk about that now!’ they say. The peace lover avoids the hard task of peacemaking.  The peace-lover sees Peace as an absence of conflict. Peacemaking is the reconciling of people, the bringing of justice and providing for the well-being of all.  Reconciliation and justice are brought about by hard work and often at a great cost. Peace requires truth telling, but for all our calls for honesty, real honesty is hard work. We don’t like the truth because it uncovers the lie. But when there is reconciliation and justice all are blessed and made well. 

Peacemaking begins with making peace with God.  Paul writes to the Roman church saying; Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. [Rom 5:1] Isaiah tells us the cost of our peace with God:

… he was wounded for our transgressions,

crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

and by his bruises we are healed. [Is 53:5]

The peacemaker must be a peaceful person; someone who is reconciled to God and others; and someone who lives justly and generously in the world.  Listen to what is said in the Bible about peace and peacemaking.  Here is a small sample.

If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  [Rom 12:18]

Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. [Rom 14:19]

Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.  [Heb 12:14]

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.  [James 3:17,18]

Douglas Noll has some helpful insights in his ‘Ten Principles of Peacemaking”.  I will mention five of his ten.

‘Peacemaking seeks long term sustainable solutions rather than polite agreements or uneasy and fragile truces.

In peacemaking, truth telling and truth seeking are honoured.

Peacemaking offers an opportunity to explore and discover the unimaginable.

Peacemaking involves risks, not the least of which is failure.

Peacemaking requires tremendous courage by those faced with difficult conflict.’

Jesus is the Prince of Peace for he came to us with the deep love to reconcile us to God and each other, and the utter commitment to pay the price of such reconciliation, because peacemaking is costly.

The question for us is whether we want to remain takers or do we want to become makers?

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Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC:  10/12/2017

pcwhitaker@icloud.com

 / www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au

Taize: Monday 4th December @7:45 pm

No TAIZE in January

MESSY CHURCH: No Messy Church in December & January.

FELLOWSHIP CAFE (Fridays from 10:00 am ) breaks on 15th December and returns on 12th January 2018.

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CHRISTMAS SERVICES

Family & Children Interactive Christmas Service followed by BBQ – Saturday 9th of December @4.00pm.

Christmas Carol Service – Sunday 24th December @ 8.00 pm

Christmas Day Service – Monday 25th December @9:30 am

Sunday, 8 October 2107

Today the lectionary subject would be about the parable of the vineyard owner looking forward to receiving a harvest however; I have chosen to share with you some treasures gleaned from just one book drawn out of a treasure store of books which Brenda monitors for fundraising purposes.

Dr Gordon Livingston did service as a surgeon in the Vietnam War but later became a Psychiatrist.[2a] He listened to people talk about their lives, what works, what doesn’t, and the limitless ways to be unhappy. He has had tragedy in his own family, losing his eldest son to suicide and his youngest to leukaemia. 

He nominates thirty bedrock truths in his book: “Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart”. Today I will share maybe half a dozen with you, to underscore the adage that we are what we do and that we have the faith, and the capacity to face loss, misfortune, and regret -to move beyond them. It is not too late. My hope is that somewhere, somehow, you will find in this session, solace, guidance and hope. Later, I will invite you to have a short chat with your friend/s sitting alongside, to discuss “What are you looking forward to?”

Being a psychiatrist, Gordon’s clients are in the main, people who are trying to choose or keep a mate. He says that the fact that upward of half of all marriages end in divorce indicates we are collectively not very good at this task. We fail to understand that the qualities which we value- kindness, tolerance and perseverance and, like common sense are not all that common. He puts kindness, a willingness to give of oneself to another as the most desirable of all virtues. Maybe hard to define but when we are in its presence, we feel it.

His next chapter states “we are what we do”. Not what we think, or what we say, or how we feel. We are what we do. So in others, we need pay attention to not what they promise but how they behave. Past behaviour is the most reliable predictor of future behaviour.  He says that the three components of happiness are something to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to. Of course true love requires of us the courage to become totally vulnerable to another. Risk and trust are involved.

In times of trouble or stress, it is usually up to ourselves to work out what needs to be done. Dr L. says his technique is to listen to people’s problems then guide them to come up with their own solutions. He states that we are responsible for most of what happens to us. We of course have endured events and losses about which we had no choice. The first of three quotes from the “Friendship book 2017”,[ Jan and I read each day at Breakfast time]{Aug 23]He tries to instil hope for a better future which of course requires the client to let go of the past. {Let go and let God said Rev Gordon Powell].

People wait till they can feel better. For some it is a long wait. A capacity to laugh is necessary. Some of us come along each Friday to the morning drop in, for our dose of laughs and exchange mutual ignorance’s about such characters as “Murphy” and “Pam”.

Change is needed, to try new things, but in taking a risk we may fail.[Aug. 11] Some-one who is  an alcoholic has a choice like joining Alcoholics Anonymous. It may not help but it very well could too. A determination to overcome fear and discouragement constitutes an effective antidote to a sense of powerlessness over unwanted feelings. Behaviour has to be altered to yield greater control over our life. Confession may be good for the soul but it is only altered behaviour, in other words action taken to change something for the better.

As we age, less and less notice is taken of us by the ‘young’, have you noticed? The aged care industry is enormous and growing as is the cosmetic industry which fuels our desire to remain young looking. God appears to have said, “I will give you dominion over all other forms of life. But you will be the only species able to contemplate your death”.  We cop a lot of reminders of our mortality along life’s path which can make us angry. We, the olds have to wear the diminished sexual attractiveness and enthusiasm, declining health, the loss of long-time friends and the decline of mental acuity.  We appear to also have to put up with the disdain that society reserves for those of us with grey hair and wrinkles, without much power or any gainful employment.

 We senior citizens appear to exist in order to annoy everyone else with our slowness and physical complaints. Many of us olds are preoccupied with self-centred complaints. When depressed, people tend to be self-absorbed, irritable, and unpleasant to be around. Adequate treatment is sometimes denied the elderly with the attitude:” I’d be depressed too, if I were that old.” We have to take care that, when asked, how are we, that a litany of aches, pains and bowel difficulties does not get a mention. Grace and determination is needed to avoid inflicting their discomforts on those who love them. “Getting old is not for sissies” is an accurate predicament faced by the old in a youth obsessed society. Possibly the greatest gifts we parents can pass on to our children and grandchildren are a sense of optimism and a conviction that we can achieve happiness. The values we want to bravely pass on include honesty, commitment, empathy, respect; hard-work as well as hope is taught by example. If we can retain our good humour and interest in others we will fulfil our final obligation to our children and will have expressed our gratitude for the gift of life that we, undeserving, have been given and that we have enjoyed for so long.

Let me digress and relate one story from Les Twentyman who recently wrote: ”The Mouth that Roared”

Our Psychiatrist frequently asks his clients: “What are you looking forward to?” 

Congregation DISCUSSION

Clients overwhelmed by anxiety or depression often have no answer

The truly hopeless, of course, think about ending their lives, and we are noting a fair bit about assisted death lately in the media, emanating from our state government. Dr L believes it reasonable to confront would be suicides with the selfishness and anger implied in any act of self-destruction.{Sep 10]

Pause: 

Everything I need to learn from life, I learned from Noah’s Ark.

Geoff Serpell

 

We are used to signposts for connection to journeys and places. Also signposts which warn us of dangers. Sometimes in wartime signposts were altered to confuse the enemy.  Only those who live there know the way.

On a recent Saturday, in the Melbourne Age, there was a thoughtful cartoon. Michael Leunig often makes us think. There were the usual characters , symbols. colours and backdrop. A faint moon in the sky above, the wonderful ever present duck, and of course the  indefatigable Mr Curly . In the middle was a signpost of direction, On the left a sign which pointed to THE MAD WORLD, and on the right. the sign pointed to CURLY FLAT. And a determined Mr Curly was setting out to his own special place, Curly Flat , away from THE MAD WORLD.

 

Sometimes you and I often wish we could just get away from THE MAD WORLD . So much noise, so much traffic. Terrible news on the TV. The newspapers full of headlines indicating violence across the world. We long to hear the calm and authoritative voice of the master, in and above the discordance of THE MAD WORLD, saying PEACE BE STILL. We, the Church, must be at the WHICH WAY SIGN-POST. pointing to the one who is the WAY. And we can be assured he will go with us all the way.

Reflection: Turn to and read the great hymn of mission. TIS 589. Maybe suggest it to the worship leader for next Sunday’s Praise?

 

by Bill Pugh.

 

Margaret Court is wrong to claim marriage is “a union between a man and a woman as stated in the Bible”, as she did in her open letter to Qantas, or that a “biblical view” of marriage is between one man and one woman, as she did on Channel Ten’s The Project last week. She is even more wrong to suggest she is being persecuted for her views. Here is why.

Reading the Bible to determine the shape of contemporary marriage is not an easy task. It is an ancient collection of 66 books, written in three different languages (Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic), and spanning over 1,000 years of human history. Much of the Bible was written 2,500 years ago, when family life was very different.

In the Hebrew scriptures, Abraham fathered children with his concubine as well as his wife, and Moses likely had two wives (one of whom is presented as problematic because she was a foreigner). Famous biblical kings, like David and Solomon, had entire palaces full of often dubiously acquired wives and concubines that served as symbols of their power and status.

The reality is families in the Bible reflect the patriarchal structures of their period. Women were considered commodities to be married off for political alliances, economic reasons, or to keep families connected. They had no autonomy to choose their partners.

Polygamy was common, as was the use of slaves as sexual concubines. I don’t hear anyone advocating a “biblical view” of marriage suggesting we return to those particular scenarios.

In the New Testament, Jesus said nothing about homosexual relationships or marriage, except that people should not divorce. This teaching is widely ignored by many Christian denominations today. Most likely, Jesus’ concern in speaking against divorce was for the vulnerable place in which it left women, given they could not usually earn their own money or inherit.

Marriage was allowed in the New Testament, but the most prolific writer, Paul, thinks celibacy is preferable for a Christian. When Paul writes “there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28), he presents an ideology profoundly disruptive of patriarchal family structures, gender roles and hierarchy.

This kind of Christian teaching led, if anything, to a breakdown of traditional marriage structures (in ancient terms). For example, the option to remain celibate and live in community (such as a nunnery or monastery) was a radical, attractive and liberating alternative to arranged marriage for women in earliest Christianity. Jesus’ own mother, who is an example of faith in the church’s tradition, appears to have left her husband and other children at home to follow her itinerant son.

Not all opinions are of equal weight. While Margaret Court remains one of the most phenomenal sportswomen in Australian history, this does not qualify her as a spokesperson for Christianity on marriage equality. Nor does being a self-appointed leader of a church she created.

Indeed, if Court applied the literalism with which she reads Genesis to the whole of the Bible, she’d find herself in hot water, since 1 Timothy 2:12 explicitly forbids women teaching or having any authority over men. This kind of culturally bound ideology is precisely why biblical scholars and mainstream Christian churches do not adhere to a literal interpretation of this ancient and diverse text.

To criticise and expect a higher level of discourse from a public figure is not bullying nor persecution. Court willingly put herself into the public space by writing an open letter to Qantas. She could have lodged her complaint privately with the company if she wished to remain free of public comment.

There is nothing inherently Christian about the so-called traditional arrangement of the nuclear family. You can find that model in the Bible if you look for it, but it is not the dominant view. Nor does the Bible condemn what we understand to be loving, mutual LGBTQI relationships today.

There is nothing like the contemporary concept of sexual orientation in the biblical text. Where the Bible does appear to condemn homosexual acts it condemns same-sex acts that are rape, adulterous or represent imbalanced power dynamics, such as an elite male with a youth. Interestingly, these same power dynamics are not critiqued when an elite male takes a young woman as a sexual concubine; a sobering reminder of the patriarchal worldview that lies behind the text and ancient fears about penetration and masculinity.

Concepts of family and marriage have evolved and changed throughout human history, including within the church. Modern Christian families can be made up of gay couples, straight couples, single people in community, childless adults, foster parents, step-parents, grandparents and biological parents. It is their faith that makes them Christian, not their family structure nor sexuality.

Many Christians are not represented by the views we’ve recently heard from Margaret Court, nor those espoused by the so-called Australian Christian Lobby. In fact, quite the opposite. Christian values of love, justice and inclusion found throughout the Bible are why so many Christians support marriage equality.

Rev Robyn Whitaker