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I Got This

24/5/2019

A Reflection on the Gospel for May 26th, 2019:
Sixth Sunday of Easter

John 14.23-29

Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

“You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.”

When I ask my children to “keep my word”, or “do as I say”, I am asking them to trust in me, because I love them. We know from 1Cor 13:7 that love “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres”. This is a great mantra for a mother when teaching her child. And it is the way God would have us perceive His Love. As my children often fail to heed my word, I often fail to follow God’s instructions to trust and love. I suppose this is partly because I have lived of the world for many years, and the world doesn’t operate under these principles. I also sometimes have this bonehead idea that I know what I’m doing and don’t need any advice. My track record would clearly show that this notion is a farce. My children often feel the same way. “I got this, Mom” he said as he drove his bike straight into the ditch.

Sitting quietly in prayer to hear my Father’s words is a persistent uphill battle for me. This is the main arena where I wrestle with God—with trust and obedience. I recently heard someone who is new to the faith explain how grateful he was that in Christianity it’s OK to talk about our struggles with prayer as we stagger toward holiness. I couldn’t agree more, and I am grateful for my sometimes stumbling humanness because it participates in both my failures and my successes. For as the Son is in the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit is in the Son and the Father, and the Father is in the Spirit and the Son, I, in my humanity, though prone to fall, am also capable of great good because of He who lives in me.

"When we are in Him as He is in us, we are at home and at peace—fully attuned through obedience and trust."

When we are in Him as He is in us, we are at home and at peace—fully attuned through obedience and trust. Jesus, fully in tune with his Father‘s word, fully in a state of perpetual grace, fully obedient to his Father, our Father, hears his Father’s words steadily as they come. As They weave in and through one another, so are we woven in Their likeness, sent forth by the Spirit to weave ours and other’s lives into Their holy tapestry. Jesus is, in these words of scripture, gently explaining this very nature of the Holy Trinity, and the essential manner in which we can participate in the fullness of the Three in One.

Let us Pray:
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: lead me to rest quietly in Your presence, Lord, so that I may steadily hear Your voice as You speak.

Lori MacDonald

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Light accessible

23/5/2019

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A Reflection on the Second Reading for May 26th, 2019:
Sixth Sunday of Easter

Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23

And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal.

It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites; on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

As Jerusalem descends I feel a wash of clear air cut through the murkiness of my moments these days.

Reading reports and arguing silliness — hurt feelings and hurt knees.
Voices in my head second guessing myself at each turn. Mistakes. Messes.
And then a mountain. A great high mountain

All the mess means something because of the mountain.

Still clear bright air.
But the mountain isn’t it. Isn’t the point. It’s just the vantage point to see what’s coming.

This existence where nothing is needed to contain God’s Presence.
Not the Temple, not the Bread, not the Bride.
Nothing is needed to contain Him because He is simply there.
Entirely exposed in His glory. The I Am is.

And we are invited in. Into this new way of life, that was the first way before the goodness was lost.
And we lost our way. We lost our Way. We lost Him.
And here He is — Light Inaccessible, accessible. No longer hid from our eyes.

"The Book of Revelation...was meant as a lifeline of hope through difficult and dark days. All of them then, all of them now and all of them to come. A connector through to this time of Light."

The Book of Revelation is a tough one to hold in our hands and tie up into a neat little package, but it wasn’t meant to be a blueprint of the steps that bring us to this moment. It wasn’t meant to be a scare tactic. It was meant as a lifeline of hope through difficult and dark days. All of them then, all of them now, and all of them to come. A connector through to this time of Light. It’s an invitation, an invitation to come close. Near the beginning of the book he says,

‘Listen, I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.’ Rev 3:20

Near the end of the book we have this image of an intimacy beyond imaging. Finding our Way. Living in our Light. Without a barrier. That’s the point.

Jesus, I am sorry for missing the point. I am sorry for my part in the murkiness. For letting what’s in front of me in my moments block my sight of you. I am sorry for letting the clamour I live in drown out the sound of your knocking. You are my lifeline, my hope, my joy, my light, my Way, my Truth, my Life. I am swinging wide the door Jesus, please come on in. I love sharing a meal with you now. It’s everything to me. It’s my way through to the moment on the mountain, as Light descends. I love you. You are everything, You are I Am.

Noreen Smith

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Leave it to Him

22/5/2019

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A Reflection on the Psalm for May 26th, 2019:
Sixth Sunday of Easter

Psalm 67

R. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations.

R. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.

R. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.

The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, has blessed us. May God continue to bless us; let all the ends of the earth revere him.

R. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.

This psalm follows the Babylonian exile when the people of Israel rejoiced and praised God and asked for His continued blessings and prosperity on them; not only for themselves, but so that the whole world would know of Him and praise Him. Like everything and everyone in the Old Testament, this psalm is applicable for the people of the New Testament and for each of us today, we who follow Christ.

We may not judge all people with equity, far from it mostly, but God does! Praise Him for this and trust that He will do it always and forever. We can leave it to Him. “The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God has blessed us”.

"We may not judge all people with equity, far from it mostly, but God does! Praise Him for this and trust that He will do it always and forever. We can leave it to Him."

From the deepest part of Yahweh comes His Son. He has blessed us with Mary, who said yes to carrying the Ark of the New Covenant, the first blessing of new life, life in Christ. Then the blessings of the words and actions of Jesus, the disciples, the endless promises made and kept by the Father, the Holy Spirit, and on and on and on. Do I stop and actually count these blessings, or do I only see the personal blessings; my children, my grandchildren, my church, my car, my health, my friends…

“May God continue to bless us;” with His presence, deeper faith, stronger love, boldness to declare to the world that Jesus is THE ANSWER, so that “all the ends of the earth revere him”.

Judy Savoy

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The Role for Rules

21/5/2019

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A Reflection on the First Reading for May 26th, 2019:
Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 15.1-2, 22-29

Certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the Apostles and the elders.

Then the Apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole Church, decided to choose men from among their members and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers, with the following letter:

“The brothers, both the Apostles and the elders, to the believers of Gentile origin in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds, we have decided unanimously to choose representatives and send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.

“For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood and from what is strangled, and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

As a child I was definitely a ‘rules’ person. I liked the order and expectation that come from rules. I liked the structure. I liked the clear pathway to success and accomplishment. It's very natural for children to thrive with rules. If I'm being honest, I still sometimes like to be a ‘rules’ person. Now there certainly is an important role for good, healthy rules — when they help to maintain order, keep us on track, or keep us headed in the right direction. But sometimes I like rules just for the sake of rules. I think it has something to do with pride — pride in my own ability to accomplish the task at hand.

As people we tend to overcomplicate things, or at least I do. And our faith in Jesus is no different. Here in this account of the history of the early church, we read about some individuals who decided to take it upon themselves to overcomplicate what faith in Jesus needed to entail. They did this with blatant disregard for the church leaders, ignoring correction from Paul and Barnabas. They added requirements and protocols, rules and regulations.

I've done this too when it comes to faith. I've given myself rules to follow, tasks to accomplish, and boxes to check. I've ignored the body of believers, the Church, who speak in agreement with the Holy Spirit when they've given me a pretty clear message about what faith in Christ looks like. I think this really comes from my desire for control. I want to decide what I will and won't do for God. I want to earn my way to His love. I want to control my own life — all aspects of it — including what my faith looks like. But that's not how it works. I don't have to add extra requirements to prove myself. I just have to accept the love God offers and the things that He asks.

"I don't have to add extra requirements to prove myself. I just have to accept the love God offers and the things that He asks."

I'm so grateful for the people He has put in my path who have pointed me back to Him when I've become confused. I'm grateful for the godly people in my life who, like the apostles in this account, loved me enough to correct me, pointed to the essentials of the faith, and said if you do this "you will do well. Farewell." (Acts 15:29)

Because the truth is, there is incredible freedom in following Christ. When I let my pride get in the way and I draft my own rules I am missing out. When I overcomplicate it by adding extra stuff to who He is I am robbing myself the opportunity of truly experiencing this freedom He offers.

Morgan MacKenzie