communio ~ frrick

On this fifth Sunday we hear the call of three central biblical characters - Isaiah, Paul and Simon-Peter. The first reading (from Isaiah 6) and the Gospel (from Luke 5) offer many insights into the nature of biblical Christianity and the primacy of grace in the life of all who are called to be disciples of Jesus. Isaiah begins with the sense that he was just minding his own business, quietly praying in the temple of Solomon, when SUDDENLY the Lord himself appears in all his glory, his throne surrounded by fiery Seraphim in an ecstasy of praise and worship declaring the holiness of the Lord. The very foundations of the temple begin to shake and everything (other than God) is shrouded in cloud. It is probably no wonder that Isaiah attempts to intervene and remind the Lord that he is a sinner and unworthy of such attention.

When Simon is likewise minding his own business on the shore of Lake Galilee, washing his nets after a long and fruitless night of fishing, no doubt he is somewhat surprised and taken aback when this Rabbi takes a break from preaching to invite him to push out into the deep - in broad daylight - and pay out the nets for a catch. When the nets are soon so full of fish that it takes two boats to begin to haul them in, it is no wonder that Simon reacts the same way as Isaiah - 'leave me Lord, I am sinful.' But the Lord knows this and only wants to heal and forgive so that he can commission Isaiah and Peter. He wants us to make the same response - "Here I am - send me."

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Recorded at St Michael's, 9.30am (10'00")

4th Sunday - Season of the Year C.

When we were baptised we were Christened - that is, we were anointed with Chrism and the priest prayed, "God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has freed you from sin, given you a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and welcomed you into his holy people. He now anoints you with the chrism of salvation. As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, so may you live always as members of his body, sharing everlasting life." We are reminded of our call as prophets in the readings today, when Jeremiah is called to be a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah was only a young man when he was called to be a prophet - in the year 626 (13 years into the reign of the last reforming king of Judah - Josiah, who reigned from 639-609 BCE) A few years later Jeremiah was there when Josiah attempted to reform Israel in 622-621 - but he emphasised only the external worship rather than looking to convert the hearts and minds of the people.

Jeremiah is a fascinating character - and of all the old testament figures, he is perhaps the closest to the person of Jesus. Indeed, while we look at the words of the prophets, in his case it is much more significant to look at the person and life that form the message. Like Jesus, Jeremiah suffered; taught in parables; was scourged, put on trial and put to death; he wept over the people; he prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem.

Like Jeremiah the Lord will continue to call and challenge us to be a prophet to the nations...

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Recorded at Sacred Heart, 9.30am

Third Sunday (Year C). When adults attempt to teach young children how to ride a bike, they sometimes cry out decidedly unhelpful comments like - 'just keep pedaling' or 'ride straight' or 'don't crash into that parked car.' When we think back on our first attempts at riding a bike, we may have very vivid memories of scrapped knees or worse. Chances are the comments that are shouted at us are also not all that helpful in actually mastering the art at hand. What is interesting is that at some point we do actually begin to master the art, and all of the instructions begin to be internalised. At some level, the words that we have heard simply become part of our lives. Perhaps it is something like what we read at the beginning of John's Gospel ('And the word became flesh' - John 1:14)

In the first reading from Nehemiah, something similar is happening. The Israelites who are returning from Exile in Babylon and are attempting to reestablish life in the once great city of Jerusalem. The temple has been rebuilt (515 BCE) and the walls are now finally rebuilt (445 BCE) but Ezra realises that more is needed - and that is a re-commitment to the law of the Lord. So Ezra gathers the whole people and reads the book of the law to them so that they know what it is that they believe. This is the first step to their internalising the word so they can live it out within their renewed understanding of their commitment.

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Recorded at NET training (Iona College campsite, Peregian, QLD)

Second Sunday (Year C) - John 2 captures the prophetic sense of the new life that is missing from the experience of Israel's life. The 6 stone water jars represent the very best of life that humans can accomplish. What is missing is the joy and vitality of life - and that is why Mary comes to Jesus to say that the wedding guests have run out of wine - that extra dimension that the Spirit of God provides to transform ordinary human experience into something extraordinary.

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Recorded at Zero Gravity youth camp (Yandina, Qld) 11'54"

The Baptism of the Lord (Year C): Luke 3; Titus 2:11-14,3:4-7

As we finish the Christmas season and then start a new year, it is natural that we should look ahead. Our second reading today provides a brilliant way of doing this. Paul writes to his co-worker Titus, who is on the island of Crete (where everyone seems to be enjoying a permanent summer with everyone lying on the beach rather than working - not that this teaching would apply to us at all?). Paul reminds the church that what happened at the moment of Jesus' death and resurrection was a sign of God's future breaking into our present. Everything was different because of this. So don't get caught up in inaction and sloth; God's future was now clear and was already breaking into our lives now. Let us live them anew and afresh.

In Titus 3:5, Paul addresses himself to this people. Something incredible had changed because of his new life in Jesus - being saved by him. Everything that had happened before that point - even though as Paul tells us in Phil 3 he had kept the law faultlessly and as perfectly as was humanly possible - was worthless and no better that garbage. God didn't save us as a result of our ability to fulfill the commandments or as a reward for how good we had lived our lives; no, God saved us because of his compassion for us; because of his own mercy. This verse, like its cousin in Eph 2:8-9 starkly and wonderfully proclaims the Christian difference. When we were baptised into Christ, we were saved not because we did something amazing and so God rewarded us. No, God saved us simply because that is the desire of his mercy. His very nature as compassionate, loving and merciful means that his deepest desire is for us to experience the fullness of life in him. God takes the initiative.

This desire is expressed in the regeneration offered in the sacrament of baptism. But baptism has little effect unless we live it fully which requires our response - to live the sacrament of baptism according to the plan and promise of God; to live it with an understanding that it is a concrete sign of God's future breaking into our present. Like Paul we are invited to look back over our lives and see the moment of our baptism, or more normally that moment in our lives (our conversion) when we began to discover the personal love of Jesus the Saviour for ourselves and so truly began to live out our baptismal calling.

This is the invitation that we are given at the start of the year - to fully live out the grace of our baptism. Will we allow this washing of baptism and the renewal and regeneration offered to us by the Holy Spirit to be at the very centre of our lives?

Paul provides a wider context for this in the first part of the reading (in chapter 2) when he asks well how do we actually live this out and how do we bring this future of God into effect in our daily lives. He offers us several suggestions when he says (2:12) that we should live in this present age 'sober, just and devout lives.' Such words can strike us as very pious and seem to belong more to a Victorian era, but when Paul writes these they are very dynamic, positive and active. These are some of the good works that we need to live in the fullness of life (a beautiful, rational humanity) that is promised us.

Let us live this call in the year ahead - to allow the changing and renewal of our own hearts call us more deeply into the beauty of God. This is the challenge for us. To live lives of truth because of the compassion and mercy of our God that has been revealed in Jesus. This is the story of a God who calls us first; who saves us before we can ever earn it; who lavishes his love upon us; a God who calls us to live out the grace of our baptism; to share in its richness and its power and to proclaim its wonder to the world.

Let us accept the love of God more deeply this year and allow the Lord to continue to call us to conversion. In this way we can begin to live more fully in the kingdom of God and begin to be true examples of the wonder of God's presence among us.

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Recorded at St Michael's 8am (10'45")

Feast of the Epiphany (Matthew 2:1-12)

This great feast evokes and inspires so many different things in so many different people. The sight of these strange strangers at the crib has given rise to so many attempts to fill in the details of who these magoi / magi / wise men / astronomers / astrologers / scientists were. Yet the Gospel of Matthew refuses to divulge any details except those that are essential to the story. But the speculations continue. So we imagine that if they come from the East, then the most likely candidate country would be from the empire of Babylon, since they have the history and expertise in the field of studying stars and constellations.

If that is the case, then the Magi would have been travelling for at least 40 days, since it is about 1300kms from Babylon to Jerusalem, and even in a caravan of camels, you could only travel around 30-35kms a day. Thankfully the journey from Jerusalem to the house that the holy family were now staying in would have only taken a few hours - it is only 10km from Jerusalem south to Bethlehem. So we don't know when they actually arrived in Bethlehem. Had they been travelling for a month before the birth of Jesus, so that they would arrive only a few days later (as in the tradition of the twelfth day which celebrates Epiphany on 6 January) or did they arrive much later? Such questions are cute, but clearly are not theologically central to the story.

These foreigners came to 'pay homage' to this new king. Now that is strange all by itself. Why did they travel to find a new king? Did they do this for other kings? Had they travelled to pay homage to their own king? Were they king groupies?

One thing that is clear, is these magi come to pay homage (to worship) this new king of Israel because they know that there will be something different about the way that he will be king. He wont be like their own king, and certainly will not be like Herod the tyrant or Caesar Augustus, who maintain the peace of their kingdoms through military might, intimidation and fear. These magi travel because in a sense they have to travel. They have to see with their own eyes what birth gives rise to this sign in the heavens. So they come, as foreigners and aliens, following the star.

They seem to know that this new king will not be a ruler only for one single nation. They seem to know that when they come to him, they will worship before their own ruler and their new king. The kingship of Jesus will not be limited to a single nation - but in fact Israel will be called to finally take on-board her full call and identity when God had first made covenant with her. Jesus is not just the king of this one people - but he is the king of all who desire to come and worship; of all who are prepared to lay their gifts and lives before the manger and become the children of God.

Surely this is one of the reasons that a star is the sign that leads these magi in pursuit of the truth? Because even in our world, a star can never be the possession of a single nation (no, not even yours Obama). A star is always meant for all nations - all people can look to the heavens to see this sign. And the Lord Jesus will be a sign for all people. For all who look to him and worship can become sons and daughters of God, and therefore citizens not of a single nation, but of the family of God's people. And this is the great hope of Epiphany...

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Recorded at Sacred Heart, 9.30am (12'41")

Feast of the Holy Family.

In the lives of the saints we are presented with different models of how to live a live dedicated to the Lord. Perhaps this is because there is in fact no one way to be holy - all that we can do is to look at the lives of people - and in our feast today of families - and take inspiration from them in our own pursuit of holiness.

The first reading reminds us of the story of Hannah, who we are introduced to at the start of 1 Samuel as a devote woman who desires to conceive a child, but remains barren. She and her husband Elkanah go up each year to the sanctuary of Shiloh. On one occasion she is so distraught by her barrenness that she prays and weeps bitterly. But Eli the priest misunderstands her actions and thinks she is drunk (perhaps like many priests across the centuries?) but she (perhaps like many devote women across the centuries?) defends herself and receives his blessing. In due course she conceives and bears a son, whom she names Samuel, which means the 'name of God' or 'offspring of God'. Now, after Samuel is weaned, she takes him back to the sanctuary - in fulfillment of the vow that she had made. The holiness of Hannah and Elkanah, and their devotion to the Lord is clear, and is well expressed in their outward commitment to the Lord which mirrors their internal disposition.

In the Gospel we meet the Holy Family undertaking their annual pilgrimage to the Passover in Jerusalem - again an expression of their regularity in their commitment to the Lord. Of Joseph we know very little - but what we do know (mainly from the Gospel of Matthew) is significant. He is deeply devoted to his wife, and is easily prepared to lay aside his concerns upon the coming of the word of the Lord. Like his namesake from the book of Genesis, Joseph is prepared to listen to his heart and respond to the promptings of his dreams. It is in his dreams that he learns the identity of the father of his child; he learns of the violence and destruction that Herod intends to inflict upon this precious child and so flees with his family to Egypt; and finally responds when an angels tells him it is now safe to return. This openness to the word of the Lord, and his commitment to action when he knows what needs to be done marks him out as a man of holiness.

The obvious commitment of Mary to the way of the Lord needs little commentary. Despite her youth, she is very prepared to respond with all that she is to the way of God with exemplary openness and devotion.

And the second reading provides the ecstatic motivation for any of us to respond to the Lord - the love of God that has been lavished upon us. So let us see in these models of holiness a call from the Lord to enter ever deeper into his infinite and beautiful mystery, as an expression of our own life of holiness.

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Recorded at St Michael's Hall (6pm, 6'24")

Christmas 2009 – a revolutionary Christmas
Christmas often brings out the very best in us; but of course it can also bring out the very worst. If we are honest, we can probably admit that at times all we want to do is gag at the very mention of it. Sometimes we tell the story of Christmas in a way that is absolutely detached: we talk about all the cute little animals, and eggnog, Santa, snow, reindeer, drummer boys and perfect babies that never cry or soil their nappies.
 Luke’s Gospel tells us that “Caesar Augustus issued a decree for a census of the whole world to be taken.” (Luke 2:1)
Julius Caesar was the first person to declare himself emperor or use the title Caesar. He had no son, but when he was assassinated in 43BC, he passed on the rule to his nephew, Octavius. There was a power struggle for a number of years, between Antony and Cleopatra on one side, and Brutus and Octavius on the other. Eventually Octavius won, and became undisputed emperor in 31BC, taking the name Caesar Augustus. He would go on to rule for 45 years. He declared his adopted father to be a ‘god’, so Augustus then declared himself to be the son of God. He saw himself as a divine mediator between God and man, and required people who were part of the Roman Empire to greet one another on the streets with ‘Caesar is Lord.’ One of the popular sayings of the time was ‘there is no other name under heaven by which you can be saved, except for Caesar.’
Essentially the whole known world from England and Europe down through Africa to the Middle East and beyond was part of the Roman Empire. If the Roman Army came to your town you basically had two choices – worship Caesar as Lord, or face either slavery or death – usually by crucifixion. There are stories of people who tried to resist the onslaught of the Empire, and the response of the army was to crucify every person in the town, including one report where 6000 slaves were crucified as a sign to prevent others from rebelling.
Now Caesar couldn’t rule effectively such an immense area without using local overlords and rulers. So he would find people that were loyal to Rome. In Israel, the local ruler – Herod - was half-Jewish and half-Edomite. He is most famous for his incredible building program – including at least 8 massive fortress-like palaces, two new cities (both of which were named after Caesar – Caesarea which featured the largest human-made harbour in the ancient world and Caesarea Philippi) and the completely rebuilt Jerusalem temple. But to accomplish all of this, Herod added to the already heavy burden of taxation imposed by Rome, to the point that taxation rates were between 70-85%. And we think that a tax rate of 15-30% is too high!
This led of course to widespread despair, fatalism and doubt. Traditionally, most Jewish families would work the land and would own small plots of land that had been passed onto to them from generation to generation by their ancestors. (Think of all the parables that Jesus tells about farmers and shepherds.) Now, many had to rent themselves out as day labourers; some were forced off the land and had to sell their land and move into the cities just to meet the taxes. There was also a small elite who did very well under Caesar and Herod – particularly those who lived in Jerusalem and were directly on Herod’s extensive payroll.
The question on the lips of so many was – will Herod continue to oppress? Will this burden of taxation continue? Will Caesar continue to rule? Will those who have get more? Will those who don’t have enough get even less and less? How long will this go on?
DOUBT. If God is so good, why is this traitor and this oppressor Herod on the throne? Remember Herod is one of the richest people who have ever lived in the world – he could easily compare to Bill Gates. Why can Caesar call himself God – and get away with it? People are starving and sick – and nothing is changing. What about cancer?

How long will this go on? Where are you God? Why is life so unfair?
Doubt. Despair. Fatalism. How long O Lord?
Maybe you have your own question for God right now. Maybe you have been struggling with something for so long you have forgotten when it even began? Maybe someone in your family betrayed you? Maybe someone you loved desperately died recently? Maybe you lost your job? Maybe your spouse had an affair? Maybe your parents are divorced? Or your children? Maybe they have stopped going to Church? Maybe you have cancer?
How long O Lord? Where are you?

What about...
Taxation. Death. Warfare. Terrorism. Hatred.
Feuds. Betrayal. Violence. Divorce. Adultery.
Refugees. Indigenous. Homosexuality. Church.
Environment. Failure. Destruction. Politicians.
AIDS. Cancer. Strokes. Heart attack. Sickness.

Despair. Doubt. Anxiety. Fear. Failure.
Confusion. Loss. Fatalism. Hopelessness.

How long O Lord? Where are you?

(Musical interlude – Sons of Korah, ‘Shelter’)

Then, out of nowhere, this angel appears to a young Jewish girl – probably only 14 or 15 years old. Do not be afraid Mary. I got news for you – you are going to have a baby! (Luke 1:30-38)
Mary’s done her class in biology. She knows how things work … No, the Spirit of the Lord will do this – and that clears everything up just perfectly!
Mary: Here I am - the servant of the Lord – let’s get on with it!
Mary – Caesar is going down; Herod is nearly at the end. In fact he dies a few months later. Mary knows that God is not some kind of detached, esoteric saviour – floating away over there. God will come into this scene and take care of Herod and Caesar. He will come into the very midst of their trouble and be there with them when they suffer.
God is going to deal with everything that is unjust. Mary: I have seen the most powerful kingdom in human history – the Caesars – and it is nothing compared with what God can do.
Because, in my womb, I’ve got me a baby!
Herod is now just a pile of rocks. We don’t even have a reliable image of him. Caesar is much the same. But we are here tonight celebrating the birth of the baby that she carried.
God knows what we have been through. God has not forgotten us. He still remembers us.
God sent his only son into the world. In the womb of Mary.
Musical conclusion: Lady Mary (Sandra Sears)

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Recorded in St Michael's Hall (9.30am) - apologies for the static buzz - the new sound system obviously needs some work! (16'00")

4th Sunday of Advent - Year C. (Luke 1: 39-44; Micah 5:1-4)

In a survey published in the Sydney Morning Herald this weekend it seems that around 68% of Australians still believe in God, but only 27% believe that the Bible is literally true. Which may not be a bad thing, if by literally true we think that reading the bible is like reading a history text book or a science journal. The original authors of scripture never intended us to read it this way. They want us to read it like we read any other story - which is more like reading poetry or listening to music. For when we listen to a song, we are usually aware of the emotional content and of echoes of other songs and other times that we heard this song and what was happening in our life back then. Powerful stuff. To gain access to this story of the visitation of Elizabeth by Mary, and to work out the significance of Bethlehem Ephrathah, and how they both connect with the anointing of a shepherd boy, the Ark of the Covenant and the call to worship - to leap with joy.

Recorded at Sacred Heart (12'23")

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Last night I downloaded the new The Vatican Museums Interactive guide for iPhone and iPod touch. It is a great little app with wonderful audio commentary and fantastic detail on many of the wonders of the Museum. A really well-executed application and great value for only $5.99 in the Australian iTunes shop. Go on - you know you want to!

http://www.italyguides.it/us/roma/