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Coracle Front Page...
with a short reflection and mp3 sermon


Year B - The Year of Mark

Trinity 2009 to Christ the King 2009

Read comments on the key reading here.

Follow this link to the Daily Anglican Cycle of Prayer
and the Bible readings for Sundays
Index to previous Front Page articles


Sun 8 November Pentecost 23 The heart of religion
Sun 1 November All Saints Raising from death to life
Sun 25 October Pentecost 21 The gift of insight
Sun 18 October Pentecost 20 Servant of all
Sun 11 October Pentecost 19 The cost of following Jesus
Sun 4 October Pentecost 18 God's will for women and children
Sun 27 September Pentecost 17 Temptations to sin
Sun 20 September Pentecost 16 Becoming Servant of all
Sun 13 September Pentecost 15 Finding life through Jesus
Sun 6 September Pentecost 14 God is for everyone
Sun 30 August Pentecost 13 Cleanliness and Godliness
Sun 23 August Pentecost 12 Jesus bread of life 5. Words of Eternal Life
Sun 16 August Pentecost 11 Jesus bread of life 4. True food, true drink
Sun 9 August Pentecost 10 Jesus bread of life 3. Living bread from heaven
Sun 2 August 2 Pentecost 9 Jesus bread of life:2. Food which lasts
Sun 26 July Pentecost 8 Jesus bread of life: 1. Loaves and fish
Sun 19 July Pentecost 7 Making demands of Jesus
Sun 12 July Pentecost 6 Spiritual blessings in Christ
Sun 5 July Pentecost 5 Finding the person of peace
Sun 28 June Pentecost 4 Hope in our hour of need
Sun 21 June Pentecost 3 The calming presence of Christ
Sun 14 June Pentecost 2 Thanksgiving for the Eucharist
Sun 7 June St Columba's Day Following St Columba

8 November 2009 23rd Sunday after Pentecost
The heart of religion

What is at the heart of religion. Is it belief? Is it worship? Is it belonging? Is it social action?

One of the quirks of human nature is that we can so easily see faults in others, but not in ourselves. In today’s gospel we quickly see fault with the Pharisees—their prayer life doesn’t match their actions. On the one hand they follow the religious rules absolutely, yet on the other hand, they exploit widows. It seems that their prayer is just a pretence. Are they more interested in being seen and being admired than actually doing something.

Are we like that in some ways? When we pray for our church to grow, and yet don’t invite others, is that pretend prayer? Is it the same when we pray for someone to be healed but don’t assist in any way? Is it the same when we pray for the poor but continue to plunder the earths resources? These are tough questions for us to ponder… and harder to act upon.

The widow places her whole living, all be it two cents worth, into the treasury, a giving not of 10% but of 100%. She is commended by Jesus. This raises a whole lot of questions—How is it that a widow gets to that level of poverty? What unrealistic expectations do the priests place on the widow? What will she live on now? But Jesus doesn’t address these questions. He addresses the question of faith and commitment. Others give out of their excess, and it has no impact on their lives, reflects little commitment, costs them nothing. Do we give out of our excess?

If the heart of religion is a matter of following the rules, then it is a depleted faith. Religion has at its heart a transformation of the person. We come in contact with the Holy God, not to please God and so win God’s favour, but rather to enter into a depth of life that is not possible otherwise, to experience the mystery of the spiritual life that is just within our reach and with our line of sight. The Pharisees (and we?) don’t see that yet, but the widow does, and gives her all to sustain it.

Trevor Burt
 


1 November 2009 All Saints
Raising from death to life

[Listen to Trevor speak about how we are all saints]

Why are we celebrating All Saints Day? Traditionally, the commemoration of martyrs occurred on the anniversaries of their deaths. However, for all those whose death-dates were unknown, a commemoration for "all the martyrs" was established perhaps as early as 359AD. So this feast day is nearly as old as Christmas, which began in the 4th century.

By the 7th century, this feast had begun to include non-martyrs as well. The use of November 1 for this feast is first recorded in England in the 8th century when it was transferred from May 13 to November 1—after the harvest so that there would be sufficient food in Rome for the pilgrims.

The word ‘saint’ means ‘holy’. A saint is a holy person. Something holy is something special. Holy Communion is a special meal. The Holy Bible is a special book. How does a person become holy?

In the Old Testament something or someone becomes holy when they are consecrated, or they come in contact with another holy thing. In those days only a few people, such as priests, could come in contact with holy things and with God. Jesus changed all that and made it possible for all to come in contact with God.

A key activity that makes us holy, or special, is baptism. Here we come in contact with God, or rather, the other way around—God comes in contact with us. In baptism as we symbolically pour water on the outside, inwardly God’s Spirit is poured into us. We are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Becoming a saint is something God does. It is a gift from God, where God sets us aside, makes us special, and empowers us to be God’s agents of love and healing in the world. Being a saint has nothing to do with our worthiness or ability or achievements. It is a free gift.

Today we celebrate that wonderful gift. We celebrate all who have been called and set aside to bring God’s life in all fullness.

Trevor Burt
 


25 October 2009 Twenty First Sunday after Pentecost
The gift of insight

[Listen to Trevor talk about the gift of spiritual insight]

As often is the case, Mark’s stories have both a physical and a spiritual meaning. This is so with the story of the healing of blind Bartimaeus. The restoration of physical sight is accompanied by spiritual insight. What is the spiritual lesson for us today?

Two weeks ago we had the man who had kept all of the commandments from his youth and who had many possessions — an obvious sign in the first century that he had been blessed by God — but he is not able to part with his possessions. He is not able to follow Jesus. In today’s text, we have a man who is blind and a beggar — obvious signs in the first century that he was a "sinner" and not blessed by God . However, the blind beggar throws off his cloak (v. 50) — perhaps his last and only possession, and is able to follow Jesus.

Last week we had James and John seeking positions of honour at Jesus' side when he enters his glory. In today’s text, we have a man who is sitting by the side of the road, perhaps "sitting in the gutter" asking not for a position of honour, but for wholeness.

Bartimaeus’ immediate following of Jesus along the “way” is in stark contrast to the disciples who still seem to be spiritually blind.

We could see ourselves both as the blind man, in need of the divine miracle so that we can be saved and follow Jesus on the way; and as members of the crowd who need to see the blind man in a new and different way. Rather than seeking to keep the poor and disabled and needy away from Jesus, are we not called to share the news about Jesus with such people who are on the "side of the way" — the outsiders. Do we believe that Jesus calls them to his side? If so, we need to share the news. Do we believe that Jesus has called us to his side? It means leaving everything behind and following Jesus, which from Jericho means an uphill road to the cross in Jerusalem.

Trevor Burt
 


18 October 2009 St Luke, evangelist and teacher
Servant of all

[Listen to John preach about greatness and service]

When a small child asks her parents if she can have a puppy, the parents know she has no idea what she is asking for. The puppy will grow. It will need feeding and walking. It will change their lives.

In the same way, the disciples do not know what they are asking for when they ask Jesus for the place of honour. The leadership Jesus has in mind leads to suffering. It means serving others. Not just members of their group, but everyone.

This can happen in our congregation as well. We say we want to grow, but do we realise what changes that will press upon us? Are we willing to embrace the disruption and disturbance that may cause?

A maintenance congregation, when faced with change, asks how this will affect the members, and will avoid conflict. A mission congregation asks how this will affect non-members, and will take risks.

At this point in the gospel the disciples just don’t get it—they don’t understand Jesus’ servant leadership, they don’t know what they are asking for, they won’t take risks. All that changes after the resurrection.
An individual seeking power in a community or organisation can be destructive. In contrast, Jesus’ form of power, power that serves others, can build community, but it can also be self-destructive. The kind of resilience that is needed to bring about change can cause all kinds of disruption in a settled community.

I commend our Church Council on its mission-based decision, after months of deliberation, to install solar panels on the church building. There is some risk in the step, and the council members had to grapple with that. This step will hopefully be an inspiration to others to live more sustainably. We will have integrity to encourage others along that path. We will be contributing to the call to care for creation, and save money along the way.

This puppy will grow, and we’re prepared to feed it.

Trevor Burt
 


11 October 2009 Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The cost of following Jesus

[Listen to Trevor speak about the barrier of riches to our growth in faith]

We tend to call someone ‘good’ if they don’t do bad things. That is what makes a person morally good. Today’s gospel challenges us to be good Christians, and that is something considerably harder than simply behaving well. It also means being actively good, doing good things.

Jesus often talks about money, and usually in terms of the negative impact it has on our lives. The key question arising from today’s reading is: How do we use what we have?

The rich man who came to Jesus was seeking eternal life. He was morally good, but Jesus soon turns from that and lists the commandments that are associated with action. Is this not an illustration of the seed sown among thorns: “But the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing" (Mk 4:19).

Where financial resources are limited, the only way a person can become rich is if someone else becomes poor. The only way a poor person can become richer is if the rich person forfeits some wealth.

Religion can be seen as our attempt to get God on our side—by using the right words, or praying the right prayers, believing the right doctrines, worshipping the right way, or living the right life. Jesus challenges the rich man and us—keeping the commandments does not give us eternal life, nor is wealth a sign of God favour.

In following Jesus, in following his way of life, we are called to be generous saints. How far can we go long this way before our limited generosity becomes an impediment to our growth and effectiveness as Christians? How hard it is for the wealthy to enter life!

Impossible, in fact, without hard work, personal sacrifice and commitment. Impossible without God’s help.

And perhaps that is the point. Following Jesus is not an extra burden or hobby we take on. It is a radically changed way of life.

Trevor Burt
 


4 October 2009 Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
God’s will for women and children

[Listen to Trevor speak about how God in Christ honours all people, including women and children]

We are so accustomed to women and children having a voice and place in modern society that we can fail to see how big a change Christianity brought to the early church communities in this area.

The key Gospel passage from Mark this morning appears to

We tend to think of marriage today as a union between two individuals. In Jesus’ day it was more like a uniting of two families. Divorce in our day is the separation of these two individuals. In Jesus’ day divorce was a separation of families and had much to do with dishonour.

If a woman dishonoured her husband, he could divorce her. But in pursuing divorce, the husband dishonoured his wife’s family. Thus divorce led to all manner of interfamily disputes. The wife was a non-person in this.

The Old Testament allowed a man to divorce his wife on the basis of finding ‘something objectionable’ in her. When asked by the Pharisees if it was legal to divorce, Jesus said that in marriage ‘the two become one flesh’. Marriage is a ‘blood’ relationship, not a legal one, and so cannot be legally dissolved. Jesus’ interpretation entirely changed the status of women in marriage. Marriage was no longer a man taking possession of a woman, but a relationship with mutual responsibility.

This same inversion of status happens in the next story of Jesus with children. Children are non-persons in Jesus’ society, totally dependent upon, subject to, and possessions of, their father. Jesus blesses the children and asserts that their underlying relationship is with God, not their father. Thus Jesus challenges the adults to be dependent on God in the same way children are dependent on their earthly father.

God’s will is that all persons in society, no matter what their earthly status, share in God unending and unconditional grace. To live this out in our lives is costly—the subject for next week’s sermon.

 Trevor Burt
 


27 September 2009 Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
Temptations to sin

[
Listen to Trevor talk about who are outsiders]

The Gospel message today is quite strong, supported by shocking imagery, signifying that it is an important message to grasp: Jesus is not calling us to self-mutilation, but he is saying that our efforts to root out sin in ourselves needs to be as rigorous as it takes, even if it means appearing like a fanatic.

Mark Twain once said, “Many people are bothered by the passages in Scripture they cannot understand; but as for me, I always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are the ones I do understand.”

I don’t know whether he had a particular passage in mind, but this one would have been a good candidate. This passage, especially verses 42 - 48, are among the most difficult and confronting in Mark’s gospel.. There is nothing hard about understanding what it is saying, but working out what to do with it is another matter.

Someone jokingly said that you can always recognise a church where people are genuinely committed to obeying the literal meaning of the Bible because they all have only one hand, one foot and one eye!

There are, I think, a couple of keys to getting our heads around this passage. The issue in the first part is how we are to judge the actions of others. The issue in the second is how we are to judge ourselves. The standard is quite different.

Jesus goes on to give his extremely confronting advice about how to judge ourselves. You can be generous in your assessment of others, and give them the benefit of the doubt, but when dealing with yourself, eliminate all doubt. You can overlook the shortcomings of others if they’re not causing any great harm, but when it comes to yourself, get the knife out.

It is important to get the stumbling blocks out of our own path, but don’t do it by throwing them into someone else’s path.

 Nathan Nettleton (taken form the internet)
 


20 September 2009 Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Becoming Servant of all

We leap in today’s gospel from chapter 8 to 9 and miss some significant events. For some reason the disciples just don’t seem to get who Jesus is:

1. They don’t understand the Transfiguration (9:2-8)

2. They fail to understand Jesus' comment about "rising from the dead," yet these disciples were with Jesus when he raised a twelve-year-old girl from the dead (5:35-43). And they had just come down from the mountain where the dead were alive (9:9-13).

3. The other disciples fail to cast out an evil spirit (9:14-29).

Now they receive a lesson on greatness. How does Jesus define greatness? The one who is great is least of all.

What does it mean "to be least of all?" This is illustrated powerfully by the child. Because our cultural view of children is of innocent cuties we miss the shocking element of Jesus' actions. Perkins (Mark, The New Interpreters Bible) writes: “... the child in antiquity was a non-person (cf. Gal 4:1-2). Children should have been with the women, not hanging around the teacher and his students (cf. 10:13-16). To insist that receiving a child might have some value for male disciples is almost inconceivable.”

Jesus treats children remarkably well. He treats them with the same recognition as adults. Shocking stuff indeed!

Juel (Mark, Augsburg Commentary) says: “In ancient culture, children had no status. They were subject to the authority of their fathers, viewed as little more than property. Membership within the community of the faithful will involve giving status to those who have none. Accepting such an unimportant member of society in Jesus' name is equivalent to accepting Jesus. And accepting Jesus is equivalent to accepting God. Hospitality is to be extended to the most unlikely, thus challenging traditional notions of status. This is the kind of servant Jesus challenges us to be.

 Trevor Burt
 


13 September 2009 Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Finding life through Jesus

[Listen to John Dunnill speak about Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ]

Churches throughout Australia are celebrating Back to Church Sunday today. At St Columba’s we join with the many churches to welcome back to our congregation friends of St Columba’s and others who have been away from the church for a while. It is wonderful to have you with us.

The gospel reading today features Peter’s confession in the pagan city where he says of Jesus, “You are the Christ”. The story is preceded by a partial healing of a blind person. This mirrors many characters in the gospel who only partially understand who Jesus is and only partially follow.

When Jesus asked the disciples who they thought he was, the disciples simply answered the things they had heard. They could not yet ’see’ who he was.

Peter is also one of them. Although he makes a clear declaration of who Jesus is, he only partially understands what Jesus is to do. It will be some time yet before Peter fully ‘gets it’. Perhaps our insight into who Jesus is only partial as well.

The confession happens in a city dedicated to an emperor who is considered to be divine, Caesarea Philippi. Peter’s confession stands in contrast to this other worldly declaration.

The confession happens outside of a synagogue or church. It is one thing for us to make our confession of faith in church, and it is another thing altogether to make that declaration outside the church.

The greatest threat to Christian faith is not evil, but good. Good people don’t need Jesus. The Scribes and Pharisees don’t need him. They are good enough. But the Christ way is not a matter of being good, it is a matter of making a difference, a path that leads to suffering. Peter wanted Jesus to avoid that suffering. Peter later wanted to avoid it himself. Do we partially follow the Way of Christ, the path of suffering?

 Trevor Burt
 


6 September 2009 Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
God is for everyone

[Listen to Trevor talk about how God is for everyone]

Last week we heard how Mark in his Gospel brings us to a crisis point and moment of change. The change was to remove the Jewish purity laws that were a barrier to the Gentiles joining his emerging church.

This was an enormous hurdle, and each Gospel handles this crisis quite differently. It is here we begin to see how well Mark crafted his gospel.

In chapter 6 Mark relates the first story of the feeding of the 5,000. The place is Jewish territory. The images are very Jewish, including the 12 baskets, symbolising the 12 tribes of Israel. We then have chapter 7 where Mark has Jesus effectively dispense with critical purity laws, “Jesus declared all foods clean” 7.19. Now we come to the outworking of that change which is both confronting and inspiring.

The scene moves to Gentile territory where Mark has Jesus first uphold the traditions of the elders, going so far as to apparently verbally abuse the gentile woman by referring to her as a dog. Then out of compassion Jesus breaks the purity laws and traditions and heals her child.

Next is the healing of the deaf-mute man. Is this suggesting that we are deaf to God’s grace, and mute to share grace with others?

The second big feeding occurs, of the 4,000, this time in Gentile territory. All the Jewish imagery is gone from the story. Seven loaves are blessed and 7 baskets collected, a number echoing the wholeness of creation, and the 70 nations of the whole world.

The bread may well symbolise God’s grace, which is now available to everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, female and male, prostitute and saint.

Who is excluded, then, from God’s grace? Try sitting in a public place and consider who would be welcome at our church. Who could we invite? Who would we invite? Who would we not welcome and why?

‘God is for everyone’ is the message that shouts at us from the pages of Mark’s Gospel. Generosity of our heart is at the centre.

Trevor Burt
 


30 August 2009 Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Cleanliness and Godliness

[Listen to Trevor talk about being clean by the grace of God]

After spending five weeks reflecting on Jesus bread of life, we now return to Mark’s Gospel, to a text where the Scribes criticise Jesus and his disciples for their eating practices.

Why is it that we go about turning guidelines into rules? They start out as good common sense and in time become unbreakable regulations.

We see this process illustrated so well in the Judaism of Jesus day. There were oral traditions about washing of hands, for instance, that were set up to safeguard hygiene. But as people asked about the ‘right’ or best way to wash hands, so the traditions got expanded. The rules became both rigid and difficult. Before meals and between courses, hands had to be washed, and in a certain way—with fingers pointing upwards with water running to the wrist. The minimum amount of water to be used was two egg-shells full. The water was to be kept in special stone jars, that had been used for no other purpose.

There were then all kinds of rules about what make the vessel unclean, and how to restore its cleanliness.

To fail to follow these traditions was not simply to be physically unclean, but to be unclean in the sight of God.

To fail to clean the hands properly was to be vulnerable to demonic attack, and therefore open to poverty and destruction.

Jesus reacted to these multiplying rules, which devout Jews followed so carefully, yet these same Jews failed to love one another. They failed to follow the first commandment.

Sometimes we can get caught up in all the rules and regulations, and find ourselves drifting from the more important things in our lives. Work overtakes family. Family overtakes prayer. They all overtake rest. Life is soon out of balance, and our priorities seem to be in the wrong things.

Jesus calls us back to the core things in our life.

Trevor Burt
 


23 August 2009 Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Jesus bread of life. 5. Words of Eternal Life

[Listen to Trevor speak of the crisis of faith and how to overcome it with a leap of faith.]

In this fifth and last sermon on Jesus bread of life, we come to a crisis. The crowd could neither accept Jesus nor his words. Why?

The ‘Jews’ complain, first because Jesus said he came down from heaven, and then because he said he gave his flesh to eat.

The first scandal is that Jesus claimed holiness. The Jews say something like “How can he say he came down from heaven—we know who he is, a commoner. We know his parents”. They expected a holy man to come in quite different packaging. Certainly not like this.

The second scandal is that his words were too demanding, too inconvenient: “Work for food that endures to eternal live. Believe that I come from God. Eat my flesh and drink my blood. No one comes to me unless the Father grants it. My words are spirit and life.”

Al Gore, in his attempt to bring to the world the realisation that humanity is contributing to an environmental crisis, used the title “An inconvenient truth”. The same title could equally be applied to the inconvenient truth Jesus brings to the crowds who follow him.

John’s Gospel was written some 65 years after the death of Jesus. It records not the words of Jesus, but the reflections of the community of faith. John has put into dialogue from his understanding of who Jesus is, placing on Jesus’ lips profound statements that are hard to accept. That does not mean they do not contain truth. They do. What truth is found here?

The chapter began with a miraculous feeding of 5,000. It moved to Jesus saying he is the bread that has come down from heaven, and then on to say the bread he gives for the life of the world is his flesh. He then concluded by saying unless you eat this flesh you have no life in you.

Peter alone, and for the first time in the Gospel, expresses faith in Jesus for the right reasons—because Jesus comes from God. Jesus is source of eternal life, his words and person are life.

 Trevor Burt
 


16 August 2009 Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
Jesus bread of life. 4. True food, true drink

[Listen to Trevor speak about why John speaks about eating Jesus' flesh and blood]

We have been exploring the long chapter in John’s Gospel about Jesus, bread of life, and today we come to the section that talks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. What is going on here?

Few things are more offensive to the human mind than eating human flesh and drinking human blood. In the Old Testament eating flesh is a hostile act. Drinking blood was strictly forbidden. Yet in today’s Gospel passage we hear the words, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have life within you.” It is no wonder the thought of feeding on Jesus raised controversy right from the beginning.
This whole passage is about the Eucharist, and it is about life. Just as eating ordinary bread gives us life, eating ‘living bread’ gives us abundant life. Flesh and blood are symbolic of the whole person, and in the same way, bread and wine which have become his body and blood symbolise the whole person of Jesus. Partaking of Jesus in the form of bread and wine is a key way of partaking of abundant life found in Jesus.

Jesus refers to God as Father in this passage. One of the things that sets Christianity apart from other religions is this relational term we use when referring to God. It parallels the relational term Son when referring to Jesus. Our relationship with the Father is found through the Son.

It is through the Eucharist, the sharing of Jesus, that the Father establishes and maintains an abundant life-giving relationship with us.

When we eat bread and drink wine, these elements literally become part of us. They are taken up into the cells of our body. In the same way, when we sacramentally feed on Jesus, he becomes a part of our own being. The abundant life the Father offers in the Son becomes ours.

Earlier passages refer to believing in Jesus the bread of life. This passage balances that with feeding on Jesus the bread of life. Word and sacrament are the two main ways of nurturing abundant life.

Trevor Burt
 


9 August 2009 Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Jesus bread of life. 3. Living bread from heaven

[Listen to Trevor talk about how Jesus is the living bread of life]

John records an amazing saying: “Jesus said, ‘I am the bread of life’”.

What is this bread? We know bread was the basic food in Jesus’ day. It nurtures life. Without it many would starve. It is equivalent to rice for Asians and potatoes for the Irish. When Jesus says he is bread, he is not the topping, the jam, the special thing we add to the bread to make it interesting. He is the everyday sustainer of our bodily existence.

What is life? Life is more than existence. When some says, “I don’t have a life,” they mean that life is boring, restricted, empty. They are simply existing. The life Jesus brings lifts us from mere existence to fullness of life. He is the constant sustainer of our cerebral life.

Jesus does more than sustain existence and enrich life. Whoever comes to Jesus “will never hunger”. People hunger for many things—acceptance, status, wealth, love. Jesus, the bread of life, provides a spiritual satisfaction that cannot be found in hoarding temporal things.

Even more than this, “if anyone eats this bread, they will live forever”. The Gospel is speaking here of eternal life, which means living fully in the present, not just in the age to come. The promised life is an ongoing experience. Jesus is the ongoing sustainer of our spiritual life, our faith.
How do we ‘eat’ this life sustaining, life enriching, life securing bread?

Three answers emerge. First, we feed on Jesus by feeding on his words. The Bible and prayer are the two primary ways we hear Jesus speak to us. Second, we are fed by believing in Jesus. Simply trusting in Jesus is enough to enrich our life, and bring peace, joy and fulfilment. Third, we feed by sharing in the bread and wine, Holy Communion.

Thus we feed and are fed in body (bread, wine), mind (Bible, prayer) and spirit (belief, faith). Feeding on Jesus the bread of life addresses our whole being.

Jesus, bread of life. Much better than miraculous manna.

 Trevor Burt
 


2 August 2009 Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
Jesus bread of life. 2. Food which lasts

[Listen to John Dunnill speak about spiritual nourishment though Jesus, bread of life. Read more in Columba Comments.]

Last week in the beginning of John Chapter 6 we heard the story about how Jesus fed the 5,000 with barley bread. Now the story moves on to a dialogue about bread from heaven. What is this spiritual food?

In the dialogue Jesus addresses some common misunderstandings.

1. People come to have their needs met, but temporal things fail to satisfy. Once their physical needs are met, the people fall away. Instead God seeks relationship, that is where satisfaction lies.

2. People come looking for signs, which in John’s Gospel are the miracles. Signs point to something greater. People get caught up with the signposts, the miracles, rather than following where the sign points.

3. People think they have to work for the spiritual food. Such food is a grace gift, given freely by God.

4. People think they can control Jesus. They demand he give them the living bread. Such food comes by simply trusting in the provider.

John contrasts the bread that fills the crowd’s stomachs with spiritual bread that nourishes life. The allusion to the Eucharist is strong. The bread and wine that is blessed nourishes and strengthens us, but it is not the only spiritual bread we receive.

The signs point to Jesus, the message and the messenger, the bread of life and source of life. Miracles will come and go. Bread lasts only a time in the stomach. But living bread lasts forever: Jesus, as the living bread, is with us always. Spiritual nurture, the bread from heaven, enriches and changes us, making our life fuller.

So the bread from heaven, the spiritual bread, is both Jesus himself, God’s free gift to us, and the life that he brings, again a grace gift.

How do we get this living bread? The clue is found in Jesus’ words: “Whoever comes to me…” Spiritual nurture is found in relationship. It is OK to seek Jesus to have our needs met, and to enjoy miracles. The things that last, though, are relationship, trust, belief.

Trevor Burt
 


26 July 2009 Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Jesus bread of life: 1. Loaves and fish

[Listen to Trevor speak about possibility thinking.
Read Columba Comments]

We begin a five week reflection today on Jesus, bread of life, drawing on the remarkable chapter 6 of John’s Gospel. What is the meaning of this miraculous feeding of the 5,000?

The whole episode can be summarised in two words—grace and glory. Chapter 6 is the second major ministry section of John. The first is in chapter 2, the miracle of water changed to wine. Common to both miracle stories is the incredible abundance of God’s provision. Abundant grace. It is no accident that the two stories deal with bread and wine, the grace elements of communion by which we are fed and strengthened today.

Note that it is a little boy who offers what little he has, barley loaves (food of the poor) and small fish. It turns out to be abundantly more than enough. The crowd are not only fed, but satisfied, full. Fragments are collected afterwards, not just scraps. Abundance!

It causes us to reflect: What gifts do you bring which, if used, if released, will enrich not only the Body of Christ, not only the community we serve, but you as well? When God’s grace is added to your small offering, imagine what is possible!

Curiously, amongst this crowd that John calls “disciples”, meaning learners, some do not believe. Why are they following Jesus? To have their needs met. They want to be fed, but don’t recognise who Jesus is. They want to take him by force and make him king—a person who provides for all their needs: security, peace, food. They fail to recognise the Messiah.

It causes us to reflect: Who is Jesus for us? Is he a person who meets all our needs, or the divine presence calling us to follow and commit? Will we turn away when our needs are no longer met?

Jesus reveals his glory to the 12 when he walks on water. He greets the fearful disciples saying “it is I”. In John’s Gospel this is the divine name, “I am”. The disciples are slow but committed learners!

Trevor Burt
 


19 July 2009 Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Making demands of Jesus

[Listen to Trevor explain why mission is central to who we are as church]

Christianity has a mission to the world, and that mission is the most basic reason for the existence of the church. Our mission is to share God’s love. Is that what we are doing?

One is struck in the passage from Mark how the crowds continually sought out Jesus, to the point where Jesus and his disciples struggled to find rest.

The apostles (literally, the ones who are sent) return from their mission to the villages reporting all they had done and taught. This term apostle is not a title in Mark’s Gospel, but a descriptive term that applies to us. We are sent people. Some religions like Judaism do not have a missionary impulse, but Christianity does, or should have.

Modern day apostles (and that means us) are sent out to share God’s love, often against our will, by the God who has called the church into being.

A church that lives for itself alone is a contradiction. It is a church that may have the right message, but doesn’t share it. It has the calling to bring wholeness but refrains from doing it. It builds walls instead of breaking them down.

The crowds that followed Jesus made demands on him because they wanted their needs met—physical, emotional and spiritual. The risk of needs-based evangelism is it can create a passive, demanding, needy church. People can end up using the church, using each other, using God.
We are all guilty of using people to some extent, but that shouldn’t stop us trying to change. That is why we have to be outward facing, sharing God’s love not only with each other, but with people outside the walls of the church.

We may well make demands of Jesus and his church, but he makes equal and greater demands of us. How shall we respond?

Trevor Burt
 


12 July 2009 Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Spiritual blessings in Christ

[Listen to Trevor speak about our abundant spiritual blessings.]

In the weeks gone by we have been hearing how Jesus healed all manner of conditions. Now we hear of a servant of God, John the Baptist, suffering execution because he spoke out. Following Jesus does not always bring health and happiness. What, then, are the blessings of following Christ?

St Paul begins his letter to the Ephesian church with a wonderful statement of praise to God, and begins that statement with this wonderful line: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” (1.3) . St Paul then goes on to list some of the spiritual blessings:

1. Chosen to be holy and blameless—to be Christ-like
2. Destined to be adopted as children of God—close to God
3. Rescued and forgiven—free from slavery to sin
4. Revealed God’s mystery and will—we know God
5. Inheritors—all things spiritual are ours
6. Sealed with the Holy Spirit—the pledge that we belong.

Two children are being baptised today—something more than a splash of water and uttering of words. It is the beginning of a journey into holiness. It is belonging to a worldwide family which embraces all manner of spiritual blessings. It is being rescued and released from the traps in life that oppress and diminish us, like unforgiveness and selfishness, lying and greed. It is entering into a mystery that is both unfathomable and glorious. It is being given the gift of the Holy Spirit that assures that it is all real.

So in a very real way, these two infants today begin to share the abundant spiritual blessings God so freely offers to us all. Praise the Lord!
It is these spiritual blessings that drive us on beyond being observers or admirers of Jesus, to being followers and sharers in his suffering.

Praise be to God for the riches of God’s grace.

 Trevor Burt
 


5 July 2009 Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Finding the person of peace

[Listen to Trevor speak about how to find the person of peace.]

Jesus was rejected in his hometown, despite his works of power. Why? Jesus is described as a tekton (Gk.), a carpenter, or more likely, a builder, a worker with his hands. In Greek-Roman culture such a worker was towards the lower end of the lower classes, lower than a peasant worker. Here Jesus, by his teaching and works of power, is overstepping his social status, perhaps bringing dishonour to his family, and offending people.

Increasingly Jesus is rejected by people closer to him—first the Pharisees (Mk 3.6), then his hometown, and later his disciples. Familiarity with Jesus can be a stumbling block to seeing who Jesus actually is, and more importantly, hearing and responding to his message.

If people see no value in Jesus, they will neither listen to his message nor seek his help. It is this openness that is important, not faith.

In the 20 or so miracles in Mark, only two affirm the faith of the healed person, the vast majority do not mention faith, and some describe the lack of faith of the recipients of the miracle. Faith and prayer do not make miracles happen. God heals; our task is to be open and respond.

Jesus sent out the 12 who moments before he had chided for lacking faith. It seems the best qualification for being sent is not ‘strong faith’, but willingness. The 12 take nothing with them, thus living what they preach—not self-sufficiency, but dependence on God; not religious strength, but faith. Religion is about power—conquering and converting. Faith is about love—serving, suffering, self-giving, forgiving.

Who do the messengers stay with? Those who reject the messenger, miss the message. They stay with those who are open and respond. Why waste time with those who reject you!

In Matthew’s version the 12 greet these receptive people with peace (5.12) and so we can describe these welcomers as ‘people of peace’

So our task is to find people of peace, and share to Good News with them.

Trevor Burt
 


28 June 2009 Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Hope in our hour of need

[Listen to Trevor speak about how Christ beings hope into people's lives]

Last week we looked at the story or Jesus calming the storm. In the two miracles we hear in today’s Gospel the theme of fear and faith emerges again. If fear is the opposite of faith, how do we overcome fear?

Jewish ears would have heard in these two miracle stories an overwhelming theme: uncleanness. In Numbers 5:2-4 three things were considered bad enough to exclude a person from society—leprosy, bodily discharge, and contact with a corpse. Two of these ‘big three’ causes of ritual uncleanness are represented here with the woman with an issue of blood, and the dead girl.

Both Jairus’, the child’s father, and the woman express fear—Jairus not wanting to trouble Jesus, and the woman not wanting her unclean condition to be exposed. Both overcome their fear and exercise faith, which in this case means belief in action. They act on what they believe.
Both the woman and the girl are made unclean by their disease and death. That means anyone who comes in contact with them becomes unclean, and that includes Jesus. Jesus is touched by the woman and takes the child by the hand. Contact doesn’t make Jesus impure. Rather, he turns the convention on its head and his contact restores the unclean (and therefore unholy) to wholeness.

A consequence of being declared unclean is that relationships are fractured—with God and with one another. Unclean people are isolated from synagogue worship and from society. Yet both the woman and child are referred to as ‘daughter’. This signals restored relationship.

Faith can mean setting aside our fear of bothering people, of uncleanness in others and in us. Faith can mean not letting obstacles get in our way like bodily discharge, and death and whatever else causes an ‘ugh!’ response in us. Jewish laws (and society) isolate people, Jesus (and his church) restores people. That’s how we bring hope.

Trevor Burt
 


21 June 2009 Third Sunday after Pentecost
The calming presence of Christ

[Listen to Trevor speak about how to handle the storms of life]

The story of Jesus’ calming of the storm is like a parable. It says more about the disciples’ lack of faith than Jesus’ power over creation.

Just prior to this story Mark has a series of parables about growth—the sower, the hidden lamp, the growing seed, the mustard seed. But in this story, the disciples lack faith and are afraid.

Mark’s church lacked faith when he was writing. Perhaps this story was an attempt to counter this unbelief. The trip to “the other side” for Mark could represent the mission to the Gentiles, the people who lived ‘on the other side’ of the lake, the people who were different.

The storm may represent the storms in the early church as they sought to “make disciples of all nations”.

These days we don't have to go anywhere to get “to the other side”. The “Gentiles” are our neighbours. But what a storm it can create when a congregation makes an intentional effort to reach out to the unchurched, to the people who are different.

Jesus was the non-anxious presence in the middle of the storm. Perhaps we as Christian individuals and as the church are called to be like Jesus, a non-anxious presence in the middle of the storms of life—financial crisis, climate change and more.

It seems like God doesn’t care, asleep in the stern. We, like the disciples, cry to God for help, and no help arrives. God could act miraculously and take away the struggle. Or God could do nothing and allow us to learn how to embrace struggle, as Jesus himself learnt how to embrace pointless pain, fruitless toil and endless struggle.

By learning how to struggle, we are more prepared to take risks and make an attempt to go to the other side, to reach out in love to those who are different. The boat (=church?) is not a luxury liner but a leaky vessel. God uses even people who lack faith to make a difference.

Trevor Burt
 


14 June 2009 Pentecost 2
Thanksgiving for the Institution of the Eucharist

[Listen to John speak about the Eucharist]

Today we celebrate a little known feast in the Anglican Church in Australia called ’Thanksgiving for the Institution of the Eucharist’.

In the Church of England it is known as "The Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion (Corpus Christi)”. The Latin words mean Body of Christ. It is a Western Christian feast, and its purpose is to honour the Eucharist. It is usually held on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday to associate it with Jesus' institution of the Eucharist during the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday.

In the Roman Catholic Church the feast is known as the ‘Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ’. It first came into the liturgical calendar through the persuasion of the thirteenth-century Augustinian nun Juliana of Liège. Juliana, from her early youth, had a great love for the Eucharist, and always longed for a special feast in its honour. This desire is said to have been increased by a vision of the Church under the appearance of the full moon having one dark spot, which signified the absence of such a feast.

The Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion and the Lord’s Supper, is central to Anglican worship, where, except on rare occasions, it is celebrated as the principal service every Sunday.

The consecration of bread and wine within the rite recalls the moment at the Last Supper when Jesus gave his disciples bread, saying, "This is my body", and wine, saying, "This is my blood.” While theologians through the ages have argued over the effect of these words which are recalled by the priest over the bread and wine, what is clear is that those who take part in the mystery of Holy Communion are fed spiritually.

Eucharist means ‘thanksgiving’. The service itself is a thanksgiving, which includes confession, the ministry of word (reading of scripture, sermon) and prayer (intercessions). These, along with the sacrament, strengthen us for ministry and mission in the world.

Trevor Burt
 


7 June 2009 St Columba’s Day
Following St Columba

[Listen to Bishop Brian talk about St Columba]

We have a mission plan. It is nowhere near as courageous as St Columba’s plan, but it is a start.

St Columba was somehow motivated to leave everything behind in Ireland, make a treacherous crossing of the ocean with a few companions, and set foot in the hostile land of Scotland.

He settled on the Isle of Iona, where he re-established a monastery. From there he and his companions made peaceful journeys into the tribal lands of the Picts (painted people), the fierce warrior tribes, and brought the Good News of Jesus first to the leaders, and then to the people.

Who would dare follow in St Columba’s footsteps?

Yet that is what we are doing, although the risk to life and limb is of a quite different order of magnitude.

Our mission at St Columba’s, which is printed at the bottom of the page, dares us to live the Christ-life in the tribal lands of our local community. And it is not easy. It may be easy to welcome people who are like us, and are loveable, but what about welcoming those who are different, or unloveable? It may be easy to follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when it suits us, but what about when it calls for self-sacrifice and unconditional forgiveness? It takes effort and commitment to worship God, to learn about Jesus, to live the Good News and share God’s love.

The risk is to our settled, comfortable lives, and the battle is in our hearts and heads.

Our mission plan is helping us to follow St Columba. He is a model and an inspiration. Like us, he wasn’t Christ-like in all he did and said. God uses flawed people to further the Good News. Well, praise God for that, otherwise who could serve God in this wonderful mission?

Today is a day of celebration and anticipation. May our God, who is able to do far more than we can imagine, inspire us for mission.

Trevor Burt
 


 
St Columba's Anglican Church
150 Northstead Street, Scarborough, WA 6019

08 9341 3861  scarborough (at) perth.anglican.org