Dear People of God
Grace and Peace to you all
My deep thanks to you all for the “Retirement Function” last Sunday. I was genuinely blindsided and somewhat embarrassed by it all, but true to form Beresfield-Thornton excelled itself when it came to these sorts of things!
For anyone who is not aware of it, this is my last Sunday in the parish. Actually, my final day will be Wednesday 31 January, when I hand over keys and various files and guides to who does what and why. The Kingdom of God depends on paperwork! I’m also catching up on all the Home Communions and various visits.
I have no idea as to what will happen to the mailout/weekly compilation which I have been doing. It started off as a means of keeping in touch during Covid lockdown but a number of people expressed an appreciation of it, particularly those who, for one reason or another, are unable to be in church. It usually takes the best part of a day to put together, which is a big ask of someone who is principally engaged somewhere else.
Please Welcome Mother Narelle Riley as she comes among you. She has a full-time job in the Education Department and will not be in a position to do all those others things we come to expect from the clergy other than to preside at the weekly Eucharists.
I feel a bit like St Paul signing off on his various epistles, although I hope that I am not going to a similar martyrdom! Nonetheless, thankyou for having me amongst you and the love and toleration you have extended to me (especially when it comes to some of the typos in my mailouts!) Be assured that I will continue to pray for the grace and peace of this parish.
The Lord be with you
Fr George
PROPERS for Epiphany 4
Sentence
Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. (Mt 9:35)
Collect
God of compassion, you have shown us in Christ that your love is unending: enable us both to love you with all our heart and to love one another as Christ loved us. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
Readings
Deuteronomy 18:15-20 A new prophet like Moses
Psalm 111 Assurance of victory
1 Corinthians 8:1-13 Of food offered to idols
Mark 1:21-28 A man with an unclean spirit
Sermon (Fr George)
In the Name of God Amen
We have a very complicated relationship with Scripture. Some traditions regard it as dictated word for word by God through the working of his Spirit, just as in like manner they will also regard God’s activity within creation as his immutable will for them. “God gave us this land” is a claim not only by the Hebrews as they conquered Canaan, but it is also implied in conquest of most so-called “civilised” countries whether that be Australia, New Zealand, India, China, North America (Canada, USA, and Mexico), South America …… It’s at the base of the current war in the Land of the Holy One (don’t call it the Holy Land: there’s nothing particularly holy about that small stretch of territory, but it IS the place where the Holy One took flesh, suffered, died and rose again.
For others, including most of the Anglican world, Scripture is a record of our experience of God. Some of it is not particularly edifying: the invading Hebrew tribes would claim that God told them to rape, pillage and dispossess their way into Canaan, slaughtering both humans and livestock as they went. Much of the New Testament deals with fractious communities as they struggle to work out just what it mans to be a part of the Kingdom which the Incarnate Word proclaimed.
Just what are we “celebrating” on “Australia Day”. Remember that for many people it’s a day of dispossession for them without the benefit of a treaty which set out their continuing rights as the First Peoples of this land. In the same way the various European tribes slashed and burned their way across the continent, claiming territory and dispossessing people: it’s happening even as we speak in so many places.
So we turn to our reading from Deuteronomy. It’s presented as addresses by Moses to the assembled tribes getting ready for the invasion of Canaan. Historical fiction. What it does represent is a series of rules for a settled society as it goes on to address land tenure, rules for food and dress, laws for interpersonal behaviour, property rights and so on. Much of them seem outrageous to us, but we are coming on the scene about 3000 years later. Try not to judge the past by the values of the present, but do try to understand the principles behind them and then to translate those principles to present society.
Paul, writing to the Corinthians, is continuing to address people separating themselves from a licentious society where there were also various cults which made food offering to the gods which were no gods. The Hebrews were no different in some respects: they too had a list of gifts which had to be offered to God at certain times such as harvest, lambing or calving, planting and so forth. The point at issue was that there was some understanding that eating the sacrificial food in some way united them with the “god” they were honouring. He is to pains to point out that they are not bound by this understanding but if some members of the emerging Church were of tender conscience on this matter, it is better for their neighbours to respect their sensitivity and refrain from eating. There are continuing food rules in some belief systems today: the Hebrews and the Muslems have rules about kosher or halal foods, about bleeding out an animal slaughtered for food, various Christian sects (think Seventh Day Adventist vegetarians. I once worked alongside a man who had been an SDA pastor, with theological degrees from highly respected UK universities). We were at lunch were he was happily tucking into a steak and a beer and told me that there was absolutely no Biblical reason for a Christian to be vegetarian. He stood the next round.)
But take that image one step further. What are we doing here today? We take the bread and the wine, symbols of our life and the gifts bestowed upon us by God, bless them, recite the memorial of our redemption, and receive them as the Body and Blood, the very life, of Christ. Pay attention to the words I use as I deliver the sacrament to you: “the Body and the Blood, the very life of Christ”.
Changed realities bring new depths of understanding. In Christ we are no longer aliens with God but, by virtue of our Baptism, have become “members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven.” We don’t believe God to be a tribal deity who goes before us to fight our battles, although some of our prayers offered in all honesty without thinking them through might come pretty close to this. Someone observed that in the trench warfare of WW1, one side was praying “Our Father in heaven” while a few yards away, the other side was praying “Vater unser in himmelreich”. We might well ask where God was? In the mud with the wounded and dying of both sides? That’s where we are called to be.
We do believe that God draws very near to us as we open ourselves to him: the Cross of Christ stands forever over human doubt, suffering and grief. The Resurrection of Christ can transform all of that as we draw closer to God.
Ultimately what we believe about food and all the rules invented by humans is of no concern in the mind of the Eternal. What God does ask of us is to put away the worship of ourselves and our vain idols, and to walk with Him wherever he may lead us, respecting His image reflected in the whole of his Creation.
Amen
Intercessions
Let us pray for Australia
Bounteous God, we give thanks for this ancient and beautiful land, a land of despair and hope, a land of wealth and abundant harvest, a and of drought, fire and flood. We pray that your Spirit may continue to move in this land and bring forgiveness, reconciliation, and an end to all injustice, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer
Let us pray for peace and shared prosperity
For a deepening respect for all people regardless of creed, colour or social status; for the will to work across national boundaries for an end to war and other acts of aggression; especially for peace with justice in the land of the Holy One and in Ukraine: for mutually beneficial and just trade arrangements; for respect for those who work in small enterprises
We give thanks for leaders who serve the common good. Give wisdom to those who have responsibility and authority in every land, that we may share with justice the resources of the world, and work together in trust.
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer
Let us pray for the Church and its mission
For the Christian communities separated from us by sinful division, that we may be drawn closer into the unity for which our Lord prayed; for the Christian community in the land of the Holy One; for the Anglican Church throughout the world, and for Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican Church of Burundi, The Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America, the Diocese of Guadalcanal; and for the Diocese of Brisbane; in this Diocese for Peter our Bishop, Sonia and Charlie the Bishops Assisting, for the CEY Ministries ; and for the parishes of Kincumber and Lakes Anglican, their clergy and people
We give thanks for the good news of salvation for all people. Strengthen us for our work in the world, empower your Church to proclaim the gospel in service, word and sacrament. Unite in the truth all who confess your name that we may live together in love to your glory.
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer
Let us pray for ourselves and for our community
In this community of faith for our clergy George and Gail and for Narelle as she prepares to come among us; for the musicians in this parish Adrian and Gabby and the Singers and all who lift their voice in songs of praise. For the Christian communities from whom we are separated by human wilfulness: the Catholic parish of Our Lady of Lourdes, Tarro Uniting Church, Tarro Baptist Church, H2O Baptist, and the various house churches
We give thanks for the fellowship of our community of faith and for the communities in which we live and work. We commend to your keeping ourselves and each other, our families, those with whom we work and learn, our neighbours and our friends. Enable us by your Spirit to live in love for you and for one another.
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer
Let us pray for those in need
For all those deprived of meaningful work; for those whose work is underpaid or is destructive of their humanity; those who do not have sufficient income to live with dignity; for the sick especially those who have sought our prayers … Jenny, Indi, Barbara D, Val Frazer, Lynn, Betty, Les, Jill, Ann, Daphne, Bruce, Debbie M, Samuel, John J, Merv T, Nicole M, Jenny H, Didi, Margaret, Peter McC, Susan, Elizabeth, Dawn A, Heidi, Wendy F, Peter, Vicki L, Jenny M, Val D, Ben, Keith, Sammy Jo and Noah, Stuart McInnes, Sue T, , Derek, Zoe, Paul and Katrina, Levi, Arlo, Grace, Lisa, Sandy, Margaret and Holly, Luke S ,whose needs are immediate or continuing; those who mourn,
We give thanks that you are the God who brings mercy and wholeness. Comfort and heal, we pray, all who are in sorrow, need sickness or any other trouble. Give to those who care for them wisdom, patience and gentleness and, to us and all your people, give peace.
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer
Let us give thanks for the faithful departed
For Mary the Blessed Mother, Paul our Patron; James Cowie, William Atkins, Grace Edwards, Mabel Sansom, Marjorie Menzies, Aubrey Smith, and Richard Pitt, whose year’s mind falls at this time,; and we commend into your loving care those, whom we have loved and see no more.
We give you thanks for your faithful servants in every age. Grant that we, with those whom we have named before you and all your saints may be brought to a joyful resurrection and the fulfillment of your kingdom.
Holy God you have promised to hear our prayers. Grant that what we have asked in faith we may, by your grace, receive, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
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