A Lenten Pilgrimage 2022

        I Corinthians 12:12-26 (NIV) The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.   So it is with Christ.   For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.   If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, “ it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.   And if the ear should say,”Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.   If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?   If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?   But in fact God arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.   If they were all one part, where would the body ...

  Mark 8: 11-26   In some passages in the gospels, the humanity of Jesus is never more striking than in the display of emotion that can accompany his words. Jesus’s tears at the grave of Lazarus are a particularly unforgettable example, but other emotions well up within him: anger in the Temple at the sight of money-changers desecrating its sanctity, sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane, and here a more subtle emotion: exasperation. It first comes out when the Pharisees ask him to come up with a better sign from heaven than all the miracles of feeding and healing that they had previously witnessed. Jesus’s response to the request is to “sigh deeply,” to lament: “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign?” and to walk away. The event weighs on his mind and he tells the disciples: “Be careful, watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” An attitude of unbelief can spread like a virus, or in Jesus’s terms, infuse and corrupt a whol...

  I’m writing this on Sunday evening and reflecting on this morning’s worship service and the many wonderful things that happened. First and simplest of all, was the presence of everyone gathered. What a blessing of abundance!   It is just so good to see each other. Then there was the joy-filled baptism of two beautiful children lovingly supported by their immediate and extended families. We heard the ancient words of Scripture that continue to reveal themselves to us through theologically sound and inspirational preaching, we sang and listened to music, and then the whole thing culminated by celebrating the Lord’s Supper together as one body. Our worship tradition is a rich feast and the past two years have shown us that we really cannot take this experience for granted. So many in our church have waited months, and even years, for a chance to come to the altar and receive the sacrament of the Eucharist.     In I Corinthians 11:17-34, Paul is t...

  Today, our son William was baptised! What a joy! And what a privilege to be able to be back in the pews this morning as his Mum (it is Mothers' Day in the UK after all - I hadn't made this connection until Steve mentioned it at church). The whole service and the whole day had me reflecting on so many things. Thank you to The Ven. Dr. Pilar Gateman for a wonderful sermon - we are a new creation!...  Let's act like it! God's love for us changes everything and his invitation to us, his loving invitation, is to receive that truth and to begin to turn towards it and everything it means for us. And we can't do this without God's help of course. And he doesn't ask us to - he sends his Spirit to show us what our next step is; and he sends us one another to help us see and hear his voice and have the courage to act upon it. We are surrounded by his grace as we learn what it means to be this new creation in the world. And, you know, I couldn't help but think abo...

  1 Corinthians 10:14-17, 31 14  Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15  I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16  Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17  Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf... 31  So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God   What has fleeing from idolatry have to do with the Eucharist? Well, this passage reminds us that when we eat the bread and drink the wine at the Holy Table, we become the body of Christ. We are being fed by his body and his blood and this makes us his body together in the world. A pretty amazing thought.  And, in just the same way, when we put other things first in our lives, it is like we are being "fed" by them too, and being made like them. There a...

       Gospel of Mark Chapter 7:1-23       (New International Version )   (This story takes place in Bethsaida after Jesus and the disciples return from the east coast of the Sea of Galilee)   1 Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus  2  and saw some of His disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.  3  The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.  4  When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles. So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with def...

  Image: Holy, righteous Melchizedek, King of Salem. Orthodox icon.  ( https://images.oca.org/icons/lg/may/0522melchezidek0010.jpg )   The appointed psalm for evening prayer on Friday, March 25 th is the victorious and Messianic Psalm 110:   Of David. A Psalm. 1  [Yahweh] says to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ 2  [Yahweh] sends out from Zion, your mighty sceptre. Rule in the midst of your foes. 3  Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead your forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you. 4  [Yahweh] has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ 5  [Yahweh] is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. 6  He will execute judgement among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter heads over th...

  From The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Jago (Zondervan 2007) When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Psalm 8:3-4 (NIV) I have spent my life learning, worshiping, and serving in churches, but the months I have now spent worshiping in an Anglican way with the St. Augustine's family continue to show me how much I do not know. It's a strange thing to feel a bit like an alien on Sunday mornings despite sitting in church as I have always done, but I have enjoyed learning the language and customs as I approach with a new sense of curiosity and wonder. I am thankful to my friends new and old for humoring me as I pepper them with questions like a four-year-old: "But why – why – why??" In many cases, I am not learning a brand new language, but gaining a deeper and richer understanding of ...

      - Jeremiah 8:18-9:6 I drown in grief. I’m heartsick. Oh listen! Please listen! It’s the cry of my dear people reverberating through the country. Is God no longer in Zion? Has the King gone away? Can you tell me why they flaunt their play-thing gods, their silly imported no-gods before me? The crops are in, the summer is over, but for us nothing’s changed. We’re still waiting to be rescued. For my dear broken people, I’m heartbroken. I weep, seized by grief. Are there no healing ointments in Gilead? Isn’t there a doctor in the house? So why can’t something be done to heal and save my dear, dear people? I wish my head were a well of water and my eyes fountains of tears so I could weep day and night for casualties among my dear, dear people. At times I wish I had a wilderness hut, a backwoods cabin, where I could get away from my people and never see them again. They’re a faithless, feckless bunch. A congregation of degenerates...

  Joseph reconciled with his brothers   Gen 45: 4-5   "So Joseph said to his brothers, 'Come near to me, I pray you.' And they came near. And he said, 'I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.  And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.'"   When I was a child my mother read Bible stories to me as my bedtime story.  I much preferred these stories to the fairy tales which were also on offer.  The Bible  talked about real humans doing real human things which I found endlessly fascinating.  People were shown in all their goodness, frailty, wickedness, tenderness, courage, timidity, etc.  What drama!  No fairy tale could come close to competing with the exciting human spectacle recounted in the Bible.   The story of Joseph being thrown in a well and finally sold by his brothers to slave traders and after a series of ups and d...

  - Jeremiah 7:1-15 The verses that stuck with me the most were verse 9- 10. It says ‘Will Ye steal, murder, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom Ye know not; 10. And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?’ These verses struck me the most because they are straight to the point and they show the fair side of God. God gave us a template of things to not partake in and he lays out what we can lose if we do. I love when things are told to me in that pattern because it leaves less up for imagination and I get the meaning instantly. Many times, people believe that they can sin uncontrollably as long as they go to church on Sunday. Sometimes even I believe that because I get stuck on the fact that our God is a forgiving God. He is a forgiving God but he is also just so we must work to be worthy of that forgiveness. If we want to be worthy of stepping into God’s temple an...