Reflection for Sunday 20 August

Matthew 15:21-28

This story from Matthew’s Gospel reminds us that at the time of Jesus there were sharp divisions in society based on ethnicity. Matthew’s Gospel was written for a community of Jews who were also Christians and trying to work out how to reconcile the two. This story may show a way to do so.

In response to this Canaanite woman who is one of Israel’s enemies, it seems as though Jesus will ‘go along’ with societal divisions, stating that his ministry is for ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’. This is despite the woman referring to Jesus with the titles of ‘Son of David’ and ‘Lord’. The response of Jesus to the woman ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs’ sounds harsh. 

But like in other gospel stories, Jesus responds to the sincerity and depth of her faith seen through her love. It is no surprise that such persistence is driven by a parent’s love. We each may have stories of the awe-some nature of such love. In this story it is the mother’s love that drives her to ignore society’s divisions so that her daughter can be made whole.

What can we learn from this story? Like the Jewish Christians after the death of Jesus, may we realise that it is faith based in love that helps us to see past human-made divisions, including ones that wear religious clothes, so that we can be whole; looking on the world with love will guide us towards being one people in God.

I had the great good fortune to read Ilia Delio’s book ‘Compassion: Living in the spirit of St Francis’. A reflection question at the end of a chapter encouraged the reader to write their own ‘Canticle of the Sun’. Below is my attempt.

Loving God there is so much in the world

For which to give you thanks.

I am so grateful for life

The wonder of waking each day

And interacting with other people and the world.

This life journey I have been on

Has taught me much – and there is much still to learn.

Not the least of those being my efforts to be my best self, daily. 

I am deeply grateful for the joy and delight of living and loving 

My darling wife and our precious sons.

I am grateful for the gift of travel

That has opened me up

To new ways of being 

as well as natural beauty that has so many different faces.

The grace of my years of ministry

Encouraging young people to be their best.

The privilege of working alongside

So many gifted educators

Across 41 years.

Working to make hearts and minds

More receptive to your presence in their lives.

The privilege of supporting and journeying with 

young and older through vulnerable moments.

I try to keep my mind and heart open to beauty around me.

There is so much of which to speak…

So, in no particular order: 

I delight in humanity

Especially art, music, writing & poetry, 

Drama and spirituality

Which are humanity’s attempts to explore itself and

Point towards what is true and good.

I delight in young children

Who are windows into humanity at its best.

Thank you God whose love suffuses and animates all that is!

I marvel at

The sky with its infinite variations and combinations

Of blue and grey.

Whether bright or sombre

The seemingly infinite variety of clouds

Along with the reds, pastels and golds

Of morning and evening

Portray your majesty and glory.

Such majesty is heightened

By the sea which has its own colours and moods.

Thank you God whose love suffuses and animates all that is!

I wonder at all of the animals

Those that are cute

And others that leave me wondering.

The variety of insects and spiders

And other smaller creatures

That play vital roles in food chains

Whether I know it or not.

There are also all of the unseen creatures

Whether they are underground,

In deep oceans

Or they are microorganisms.

Thank you God whose love suffuses and animates all that is!

Humanity has a headlong desire

To grow and improve.

In our hubris, we thought the Earth was just for us.

We are only just learning about the subtle complexity

Of the water cycle, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle

And the other subtle ways 

That you have helped the Earth sustain itself over millennia.

Those natural cycles care for us too – without our realising.

Thank you God whose love suffuses and animates all that is!

While humans love the sun,

We need the wind and rain and storms.

As do the trees, plants and flowers

In all their shapes, sizes and colours

That daily perform the miracle of making their own food.

In their turn they give us the oxygen we need.

Thank you God whose love suffuses and animates all that is!

I marvel at the tectonic forces

At work across and underneath our world.

Such forces create land and destroy it,

Giving rise to volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis.

Such forces change the Earth as we know it

And have done so for millions of years.

Then there are the fossils that display

The jaw-dropping panoply of life over millennia.

Thank you God whose love suffuses and animates all that is!

When I look out and up

I see the Moon and stars

Other planets in our solar system

There is the Milky Way, other galaxies

Which give rise to unimaginable forces

In a space so vast it makes one’s head spin

As well as sub-atomic particles.

Humans have learned so much.

Has our wisdom grown too?

Amidst every thing, you are present

Thus everything is a sacrament.

For all of this and so much more

Thank you God whose love suffuses and animates all that is!

With thanks to Ben Harper

Clarity,

purity,

beauty,

joy.

I am

nurtured and sustained

consoled and restored

by music

from human hearts and hands.

This balm,

resonates within

my entire being

in ways I can’t fully explain,

making me feel 

whole.

John 14:15-21

The Holy Spirit, God’s continuing presence in the world, is with us always. Last week Jesus told us, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’. So the Spirit of truth, that Jesus tells us about in today’s Gospel, is sent by the Father and is an extension of Jesus. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts and also reminds us of the gifts that we already have. Our task is to develop such God-given gifts and use them to build community, like many do in our parish.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus encourages us to follow his commandment: love one another as I have loved you. This is part of the way, truth and life we heard in last week’s Gospel. The self-sacrificing love of which Jesus spoke is a way of living that develops over time, that leads each of us on to be true to ourselves and each other and gives life to everyone touched by it. We each have our own examples, which surely include mothers.

Since we believe that God is love, we need no more tangible a symbol of God than those who mother others. Thus those who mother others are, like the Holy Spirit, part of God’s continuing presence in the world. Some we call ‘mother’ are no longer with us but have ‘gone home’. We cherish their memory. Let us celebrate mothers – in name or nature – for all the good that their love engenders. Such love builds each of us up so that we can be all that God intended us to be. What a gift!

When someone dies 

salvation can become 

a topic of reflection.

Instead, I think that 

salvation is now.

For me to be saved 

I need to be saved 

from myself:

My selfishness 

my controlling 

my obsessions 

my lack of compassion 

my lack of love.

When I am saved 

from myself

I can more fully 

enter into relationships 

with others 

and God.

That is the work of a life.

This brings the reign of God 

in this life 

and the next.

It’s so easy 

to sleepwalk

through life.

Barely awake,

barely aware

of the miracles 

around us

every moment

of every day.

Before my mother’s 

decline

she revelled

in so much that

life has to offer:

‘sucking the marrow’.

While I’m sad

at her passing,

right now

I am so grateful

to be alive

in my life,

especially for those

who love and nurture me – 

something that has 

wondrously come

to the fore

in recent days

as we acknowledged

mum’s passing.

More than that – 

a death

should propel us

into life.

I have

this time

now

and I need

to make the most of it.

I need to be awake

and aware

of those everyday 

miracles

and celebrate life

in me

and around me.

How do I live on Earth?

With wonder

or expectation?

Do I see the world as a menu

or resource list?

Do I marvel 

at the bees and insects,

plants and flowers?

Am I astonished 

at food webs?

Am I agog

at photosynthesis?

These supposed ‘lower’ life forms

that create their own food?

Oh and supply the rest,

including us, 

with the oxygen we need to live.

Do I stand 

in open-mouthed wonder at

the intricacies

of the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle,

water cycle, tides, weathering,

volcanoes and earthquakes,

tectonic forces at work

for millions of years?

If I say I’m a Christian

do I really believe that

‘all things came into being through him’ (John 1:3)?

In which case we should celebrate

everything around us  

as a gift from God

to be carefully tended and preserved.

This challenges me:

how do my actions

need to change

to live out this fundamental

yet neglected part 

of our faith?

Will I have 

the wisdom of a child

to embrace the extraordinary ordinary

of each day

as the grace that it is?

Whether I am 

in the arms of my love,

bathing in sunshine,

admiring the flowers

and their close companions

bees and lorrikeets,

rugged up against a foggy morning,

listening to an old friend,

weighed down 

by fears or worries,

I am constantly

immersed in Love.

I need to remember

and live this truth

if I don’t have the feeling.

Fuji demands attention

like an adult in a children’s playground.

Its sheer size

has an immediate emotional

and spiritual impact upon me.

I spend the rest of the day

catching glimpses

as its peak is shrouded in cloud,

reminded that this colossus

is not something to be possessed

nor controlled.

As we leave Shimizu

and the light is fading,

the cloud dissipates

as if Fuji is giving us

a farewell wink.

Places and times

can be special

for different reasons.

Describing why isn’t easy.

It’s about feeling.

Being in Kyoto

during cherry blossom

is one such experience.

Crowds throng

to ‘be there’.

There is so much 

cherry blossom

it’s like being in

a cloud,

a warm hug

of pinky, white petals.

It’s as if you are

floating in cherry blossom.

We walked a lot

but the precious memory

of bathing in the blossom

will remain

and bring

a contented smile.