Seated at the right hand of the Father

The Feast of the Ascension can strike us a quite bizarre affair - especially to one who grew up on a diet of science-fiction and imagined that Jesus somehow managed to add flying and living outside of the atmosphere to his walking-on-water and multiplying food - as well as raising the dead and getting through locked doors (after being resurrected from the dead). So today I want to allow St Paul's powerful prayer in Ephesians to inspire us to look deeper into the truth behind the feast, and particularly to consider what it meant for Jesus to be seated at the right hand of God. We begin with the description of the burnt offering in Leviticus 1.

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Recorded at St Paul's, 5.30pm (12'29")

Resurrected body

One of the lovely things about the Gospel today (Luke 24:35-48) is that it deals with the nature of the resurrected body of Jesus and demonstrates that the disciples did not share the same drug-induced hypnotic experience, or simply remember the warm and fuzzy experiences of Jesus invoked by a vision of his ghost, and then go onto bear witness to his resurrection and commission to be bearers of reconciliation and peace in the world. Jesus has already appeared to the women (Mary Magdalene, Johanna, Mary the mother of James, and the unnamed others), to Simon Peter as well as the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Cleopas and another); when the two return from their encounter when their "hearts burned within us" as Jesus shared the scriptures with them, and after they had recognised him in the breaking of the bread, they returned that night to be with the Apostles and other disciples.
When Jesus turns up in the room, they are still shocked and amazed, and despite the witness of the two disciples, Peter and the women, they really don't know what to make of this Jesus who is able to suddenly appear before them. So they think they must be seeing a ghost. Which provides Jesus with a teaching moment to demonstrate by pointing to his wounds and asking for something to eat that he is not just a Platonic form of his former self, now that his soul or spirit have escaped from his body - which is still the most common and radically wrong understanding of heaven that way too many Christians believe. What does Jesus want us to know about the resurrected body and what it points to for our own future?

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Recorded at St Paul's, 6pm (9'27")
E3B - Easter, Third Sunday B

The hope of the Lord's coming

During the month of November, there is a tradition of remembering the dead and praying for them - particularly during the Eucharist. Our liturgy this Sunday provides an opportunity to reflect upon this practice in the light of the Lord's coming and the judgement. When Paul writes his earliest letter, to the Thessalonians, he still had an expectancy that Jesus would come again soon. He knew that everything was now different because of the resurrection of Jesus, which was the first fruits of the new creation that God would bring about. So he describes the reasons that the church has to live in hope - even as we pray and mourn for those who have already died. We continue to do the same.

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Recorded at St Paul's (9'20")
Sunday 32, Year A: 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18; Matthew 25: 1-13.


This was 'Thanksgiving Sunday' - the culmination of a four week 'Planned Growth Mission' renewal program; the homily was replaced by a video presentation as a lead-in to the pledge renewal, so I didn't actually preach this homily - it is just some thoughts on the readings today.

Heaven and earth together

The feast of the Ascension can be one of those feast days that seems utterly bizarre and irrelevant - it is so mythological and pre-scientific to border of pointless. Or if we can reclaim it somehow in our understanding of its place in the life of Jesus, we can still be left wondering what this means for us. One bridge that we first have to cross is the acknowledgment that much of our thinking is not biblical - we are more formed by the systems of thought that the western world has taken from the ancient Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle than they are by the rich eastern and Hebrew spirituality of the Bible. We tend to think of the world in a dualistic way - divisions between spirit and matter, between good and bad, here and there, now and then. When we think of heaven and earth, we try to fit them into one or several of these dichotomies. But this doesn't help us to approach the Ascension and its meaning - to do this we must dive into the original biblical vision.

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Recorded at Mater Dolorosa, 8.30am (11'15")
Ascension Sunday. Acts 1:1-11; Matthew 28:16-20.

Life, death, hands, feet, bodies and couches

Now that our journey with Jesus to Jerusalem has finally reached its climax in the triumphant entry into the city, the tension only continues to increase. Likewise, as the liturgical year rapidly draws to a close, the church this week offers readings that invite us to reflect on what happens to us - and very specifically what happens to our bodies after we die. So why do our bodies matter? Shouldn't we only worry about our souls? Or is it okay to buy a new couch? Listen in for all this and more!

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Recorded at SJV 6pm

Every nation, tribe, people and tongue

Fourth Sunday in Easter (Year C) - Commemoration of Anzac Day.

In the reading from the book of Revelation, John the Divine has this vision of an immense crowd - impossible to count - of people from every nation, tribe, people and language who have all been through the persecution / tribulation and have had their clothes washed clean by the blood of the Lamb. Although it has some strange imagery, I believe this vision has a lot to offer us as we commemorate Anzac Day today.

When John has this vision - almost an interlude between all of the calamities that surround the breaking of the seals on the scroll - we are catapulted into both the present reality of heaven, and the vision of the final fulfillment of all things when heaven crashes into earth in the great wedding banquet of new creation which is the vision of the final two chapters of the bible (Rev 21-22).

Everyone who has ever suffered, and especially those who have given their lives in martyrdom are united with the 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel in this absolutely inclusive vision of paradise as every nation, tribe, religion, people, and way of life gather in worship before the throne (God) and the Lamb (Jesus). All these people - our brothers and sisters - are united no longer by flags and creeds, but because we have allowed the Lamb to wash away our sins in his blood.

Because of this, then there will be no more hunger or thirst, no more pain or tears - but all will be united in the worship of God around the throne. An amazing vision that can lift our efforts to continue to bring heaven to earth and bring into effect this vision of peace and justice reigning here through our worship.

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Recorded at St Michael's, 9.30am (8'15")

The Acts of King Jesus

Ascension of the Lord (Year B). Acts 1:1-11

Many movies that we watch are sequels - the follow up to an earlier story. One of the things we notice at the moment is there are movies that now take us back to the origins to tell us what happened 'in the beginning' (Star Wars, Star Trek, X-Men). In beginning Acts, Luke is very clear to let us know that this is a sequel, the second part of the story of Jesus the Messiah - the Acts of King Jesus II if you like. And for Luke it is clear that this is more about the acts of Jesus than the acts of the apostles. Sure, at one level, this is the story of the early church. But it is also clear that Jesus is one of the central characters in the story, even if he is not always visible on the centre of the stage. We also quickly realise that we are not mere passive observers of the action that is unfolding - we are invited to be a central part of the action as well. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that Acts has no real ending. Perhaps Luke leaves Acts with no great finale because he knows that the story will continue to unfold as we work through the grace of King Jesus in the power of the holy Spirit to bring and make the kingdom of heaven present in our world right now. Only then are we really living the reality of verse 8 - proclaiming the good news of the reign of the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth.Only then do we discover the power of God's continuing presence - represented by the cloud of God's Shekinah that Jesus disappears into, reminding us that he has not gone off into space, but simply moved into God's space, the place where the reign of God is always present - which we call 'heaven'.

Recorded at Sacred Heart, Bomaderry (12'19"). Thanks to NT Wright!

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