The Reverend Canon Dr. Ray Cleary – Sermon for the Sixth Sunday in Easter

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

Call me kitsch, simple minded or fanciful; I was for many years a follower of the cult television shows Friends. The series began in 1992 and ran until to September 2004, and is an American comedy revolving around a group of friends in Manhattan. I understand the series is being rerun on free to air television. The series revolves around friends in conversation, beginning in a coffee shop and then moving the conversation into their shared apartment or we may say flat.

The friends care for one another, they are a diverse group, and the centre of their conversations is always about relationships, loyalty, aspirations and disappointments. Another way of speaking about the show is to describe it as ‘the lives, loves and laughs of six young friends, living in Manhattan, on their journey through life”.

While talking about friendships, have you noticed in Midsomer Murders, and Agatha Christie, the interconnectedness of the village people in those shows? All the villagers seem to be friends yet the numbers of murders each episode seems a great contradiction.

Friends and friendships are important. Apart from the “Society of Friends” of the Quakers – who have made it an emblem and a practice – friendship is less honoured in the church than it should be. Yes we all, or most of us have a variety of friends and friendships, other than our soul mates or partners or spouses. Some friends come and go, while others even if we only see them once a year remain strong and vibrant and we pick up conversations as though we were speaking the day before.

When Jesus, in today’s Gospel, names discipleship as a reflection of God’s love, to be shared with others, he is not talking about some wishy washy sentimental love, but a love which is to be at the core and centre of our relationship to God and to one another. He then goes on to link love with friendship – and changes the shape of things – he is bringing them in to the circle, the intimate circle, encompassing and surrounding all who follow in his foot steps and wish to be disciples with the everlasting generosity and hospitality of God. He is expanding the idea of friendship to embrace mutuality and equality. Here friendship embraces freedom and delight in our relationships with others. Just as Jesus in last weeks Gospel as the true vine calls us to remain with him, today’s Gospel spells out in more details what this means.

The fourth Gospel of John arose after the most shocking and disorienting event for Israel for over 600 years – the destruction of the temple – the house of Yahweh, by the Romans in 70CE. Following this event, and without the presence of the Temple, Judaism saw a revitalized commitment to the Torah, for the law and the religious establishment was the other place where God might be found. The Johannine community found itself in terrible tension with this new Jewish establishment. The issue was not so much with the ‘man or woman in the street’, as we say, but with the political, economic and religious leaders. The more the new converts proclaimed Jesus, the more they were vilified as heretics and traitors.

It is in this context that John speaks to a variety of different, emerging Christian communities. In a community like John’s, under persecution and challenge of one variety or another, who to trust, who to be friends with and the meaning of friendship, is significant. There is a contract or covenant implied in being a friend of Jesus’. To ‘abide’ in Jesus, to ‘remain’ with him, meant a durable friendship – a friendship not devoid of risk and a willingness to sacrifice for others – to lay down one’s life for others – “to bear the heat” as we say.

We are still in the Easter season, where we affirm and believe that Jesus has risen from the grave – the gift of true and enduring friendship.

Rohan Williams speak of this love, of this commitment to friendship with God, in these words:

The resurrection is in part about the sheer toughness and persistence of God’s love. When we have done our worst, God remains God – and remains committed to being our God. God was God even while God in human flesh was dying in anguish on the cross; God is God now in the new life of Jesus raised from death. But what is interesting about the stories of the resurrection as we read them in the Bible is that they are not a series of general statements as to how the love of God is more powerful than evil or sin. They say that just as people met God’s absolute love in the face and presence, the physical presence, of Jesus of Nazareth, so they still do.”

Friendship in today’s Gospel is no ordinary friendship; it goes beyond the Friends of the television series. It is a friendship Jesus himself has initiated. It should not be assumed that friendship with Jesus signifies some privilege, or a privileged club membership, for it is a call to service and to faithfulness to God’s dream for all of creation. The quality of our relationships is not to be defined by the values of the postmodern world, or secular humanism, but by Jesus himself – ‘that you love one another as I have loved you’. This is not a love chained or shackled to the law or one that seeks revenge, but rather embraces the infinity of God’s love – unlimited grace and hospitality. Sadly this is not a message easily to be found even within our own Anglican communion.

Today’s Gospel calls us to build friendships with one another, to express love to one another, to be intimate and caring – to be as passionate about Jesus as we are to our partner and children.

Today’s Gospel calls us to be resurrection people. Resurrection begins in abandonment, persecution and a humiliating death of a young man. Here all our brokenness is laid bare. The stone is rolled away – the tomb is empty – and the grace of God flows to us to enrich and restore our friendships and all our relationships.

Friendship rejects gossip. Friendship sees the good in another. Friendship embraces the generosity of God. Friendship avoids judgement. Friendship embraces the different. Friendship endures in the face of failure and sin. Friendship seeks restoration. Friendship forgives Friendship is the love of God freely given.

Amen

The Reverend Canon Dr. Ray Cleary – Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Easter

St George’s Fourth Sunday of Easter 2018.

Leadership at all levels in our global community has been under the spotlight in recent times. First there were the revelations of how the Church has failed to exercise leadership in the area of abuse and harassment, then came the allegations against trusted Aid agencies along similar lines, then abuse of entitlements by some political leaders and the abuse of political power in a number of countries, the excessive use of force by police, and now here in Australia we have been shocked by the revelations of the Royal Commission in to the Banks and Financial Institutions. With accounts of known corruption and cover-ups no wonder both government and the Banks themselves opposed so strongly the Royal Commission. When will this failure to act with integrity stop many are asking. Others ask has it ever been any different? There has always been one set of rules for the “top end of town” and the other for those on welfare, who are scrutinized to the “tenth” degree, while our regulators have lacked both the will and teeth to act to ensure proper conduct by commercial institutions. I remember as a young person the bank manager, the doctor, the clergyman and local politicians who were all held in high regard. The question on the mind of many in our community today is what has happened to honesty, integrity, fairness and justice and a commitment to public and community service? I am not wishing to imply or say everyone is misbehaving but recent revelations raise serious questions about our national credibility and ethical agenda and values base.

In article by Meredith Lake in the Conservationist which is an online source of opinions and views not generally found in the main stream media on Thursday, she writes about the decline of biblical literacy in Australia and why it matters. She argues this is an important matter for Australia for a number of reasons.

  • Firstly because the world is still an overwhelming religious place and while Christianity has declined in the West it is booming elsewhere, and in 2018 Christianity remains the most practiced.
  • Biblical Literacy is important because it has a dynamic role in shaping culture. Classic texts she argues rely on biblical stories, images and ideals. She cites also rock stars like Nick Cave and the late Yolngu Gurrumul who have drawn heavily from scripture and writers such as Tim Winton, Patrick white and Helen Garner.
  • Thirdly Biblical literature is a substantial and unresolved part of Australia’s European heritage.

Perhaps it is not surprising therefore in our post modern, secular and increasingly humanist society that the Christian values that have helped shape who we are and how we live in relationship to the creation, and one another are of less importance to many Australians who and then are ignored when it comes to the way we treat each other. Has the saying it is ok as long as you do not get caught, and if you do get caught just say sorry and move on without any remorse or regret the new norm for the day?

Today’s Gospel passage on the well-known theme of the Good Shepherd is I suggest about leadership. Today’s Gospel has as its background the story the healing of the man born blind by Jesus. {John 9:1-34} Jesus has created a head on clash with the Pharisees by healing the blind man. It is a similar theme heard in our first lesson for today from Acts. The rulers, the elders and scribes assembled in Jerusalem have taken it upon themselves to question Peter, and ask by whose authority are the disciples teaching, healing and preaching. Peter answers, by the authority of the one you crucified and rejected, Jesus of Nazareth. This Jesus is the “stone rejected by you the builders: it has become the corner stone.” As Tom Wright says in his commentary on the readings, Jesus appeared to the builders of Judaism {the Chief priests in particular} to be unusable. This builder was useless for their purposes. Jesus was the not stone they needed to maintain and build up their power base.

John’s Jesus then embarks on a number of pastoral metaphors about sheep, gatekeepers, the gate to the sheepfold, identifying himself as both gatekeeper and the Good shepherd. He contrasts himself with the religious leaders of the day, who are expected to care for their sheep but do not, as well as the thieves and bandits who do not enter by the gate, and the strangers who refuse to follow. They fail in this task. These negative images {Those who refuse to see the blind and the thieves] challenge the Pharisees who in their encounter in John 9 with the blind man, reveal themselves to be uncaring about the blind man and ignorant of the truth. The blind man now sees clearly-and he sees Jesus, not the Pharisees as the Good Shepherd. Jesus exercises true leadership where as the religious leaders fail.

Sadly in much what passes as politics here in Australia at the present time, rhetoric or spin seems to be the order of the day rather than substance and action. It is easy to speak words. One hopes and looks beyond the words to substance and action . In denouncing the religious leaders, Jesus is challenging and encouraging each of us to examine our own faith and communities and see the gap between rhetoric and action. We are being challenged to be leaders in the spirit of Jesus attaching ourselves to his model of service and leadership.

The imagery of shepherd and sheep play a large part in both the Old Testament and the synoptic Gospels. John uses the phrase I am {the Greek; ego eimi, the good and Kalos, the shepherd on many occasions. Eg

I am

I am the bread of Life

I m the Living Bread

I am the Light of the world,

I am the sheep’s door.

I am the door

I am the Good Shepherd

I am the resurrection and the life

I am the way the truth and the Life

I am the vine

The Greek Ego Eimi refers back to the encounter of Moses with God, when Moses asks what shall I say to the people. God responds “You shall tell the Children of Israel this: I am has sent you. I am who I am.

Today’ the image of the Good shepherd is to be found in the symbolism of the Church’s life The office of Bishop is understood as one, who has amongst other responsibilities, is to be shepherd and pastor of the people of God. In the exhortation to the consecration to the office of Bishop we read:’ Be a pastor after the pattern of Christ the great shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep”.

The picture and image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd can also be found in our liturgy, in our hymns, in architecture and art. Unfortunately we often only hear, see and read these images as comfort ignoring or not seeing these same images as presenting a truly radical way of living and being of exercising leadership as servant not master.

I wonder who are the shepherds, the Good shepherds in our community, here at St Georges and the wider community around us. I wonder what sort of image Jesus would use today to portray the image of the Good Shepherd. Would it be the Prime Minister, or Treasurer, the local Council, or perhaps an important Church or community leader? Would it be a social worker or a community agency like Anglicare? Today the tasks of leadership are many and the responsibilities broad. In the times of Jesus shepherds lived literally among the sheep, sleeping with them, feeding them, guiding them over barren places to good pasture, being always alert to the dangers of other animals and risks. They were not always upright and honest and often on the fringe of society.

Our readings and reflections on Jesus as the Good Shepherd help us to see the essentials of living within community, and the criteria by which we live our lives in relation to others and to God. In the Old Testament shepherd is used as a metaphor for God, and God also appoints leaders to be shepherds for Israel. William Barclay likens the phrase the Good Shepherd to the Good Doctor. When people think of the Good Doctor they think not only of his clinical skills but also as an open and sympathetic person who listens and counsels. Central to the Christian understanding of leadership is servant-hood-being for the other. Sadly this understanding of leadership seems to be of a past era , is not always practiced and often used to impose ideas and thoughts contrary to the needs and hopes of the people.

When Jesus proclaimed the greatest of the commandments –to love God, he immediately added another to love your neighbor. This is not a matter of words or speech, kinds of word speak, that appears to becoming increasingly common, but rather actions that embody truth.

Jesus did not just feel sorry for those who found themselves on the outside he dined with them, he embraced and talked with women, children, the sick, the mentally and physically unclean, publicans and gentiles. He moved out of the temple into the market place, the byways and highways into the homes of the disciples and those who were prepared to listen, the enquirer.

In a world uneasy with itself and a community anxious and unclear about how to address the challenging and complex issues it faces, the person of Jesus, God incarnate in the world, offers a model of leadership of how to live and a way forward. We may not like to be called sheep; we are a sophisticated bunch are we not? But I am told that sheep can be headstrong, and apt to get themselves into some impossible situations.

Today’s readings call us to be people of the spirit, open to the ongoing revelation of God in our lives and in this world, where the other is our focus and our leadership one of servant hood and risk taking. This requires us to think and act critically and to engage in moral discourse on how to express and understand God in today’s world. It often requires us to think outside the box not always welcomed by those in authority or who have a predefined agenda. This brings us to a thorny question. How as Christians do we engage with people of other faiths or no faith? The church offers the world Jesus, the way the truth and the life, and there is the danger that we throw out the centrality of our faith, {the baby with the bath water as we say} in order not to offend or to engage in ongoing dialogue. We see the risks associated with this challenge across the world.

Will Royal Commissions and media exposure of moral bankruptcy solve our problems? I doubt it. Only when there is a faithful turning away from self interest and a greater appreciation of the love and presence of a God who calls us all to love one another and to pursue Justice not only in our words but in our heart and sole can we truly be redeemed

Amen

The Reverend Canon Dr. Ray Cleary – Sermon for the Third Sunday in Easter

3rd Sunday in Easter, St George’s East Ivanhoe Year A

The Gospel readings over the Easter season show us Jesus in a mysterious way and an enriching new light. His resurrection is not a story of a resuscitated corpse but viewed and understood by his disciples and followers of the times, as renewed life and physical presence. They see him in a new light .He cooks fish and they eat, he is present with the disciples and they touch him. In the passage before today’s Gospel he has journeyed with Cleopas and the other disciple, who by the way may have been his wife, as they leave Jerusalem and travel some 12 kilometers to Emmaus. This account of a resurrection appearance, as told by Luke alone, is known to most of us who have attended Sunday school or even church for that matter. For the early followers Jesus is alive in each of these narratives and reflects without doubt, the testimonies of those present at the time. They are included in the Gospel narratives as signs of the future, and the proclamation of Jesus as messiah, fulfilling the prophecies and hopes of Israel. In each of the Gospel accounts of the resurrection appearances, while Jesus is present in a new way, he is at first not recognized nor were they expecting him.

Out of these early experiences and encounters, a new community is formed, not with out its struggles and disputes as we read in Acts. It is in these encounters that the Church as we know it has its grounding and beginnings. At first as I said a fledging community of disputes and differences I suspect, still to be found within traditions and the expressions of Christian faith till our present time. A Church built on the ministry, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. There is probably little doubt as I have already alluded to that those first encounters were not only surprising, but even dumb founding, challenging perplexing even terrifying to those who were the first to his presence.

The presence of the one who is touchable and who nourishes among them provides not only for them but all humanity, a new way of being, of living, of relating, and of sharing the bounty of creation. A way of living not based on law but on love.

Have you ever noticed that many letters in the English language that express disappointment or grief start with D. –doubt, dread, disillusionment, defeat, discouragement, despondency, depression, despair, and death to name many.

These words sum up how Cleopas and his companion were feeling as they fled and travelled from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They were leaving town because they thought they would be caught up in the violence of the angry mob-taking place in Jerusalem. They were bewildered and perplexed. The master and teacher they had followed had been put to death in an excruciating and horrible death and were they his followers to be next. As they walked their dreams and hopes had been dashed.

I know I have similar thoughts and feelings at times when I reflect on my own hopes for the church and broader faith community, the struggles and disappointments about passing on the faith to our children and grandchildren and wondering where they will hear the story of the Prodigal Son or the parable of the Good Samaritan. I struggle with those who claim to be Christian yet live without any real understanding of what it means to be a disciple and to participate in a shared life in Christ. What lies behind this shared life are our relationships with one another and the whole of creation. The words of Jesus emphasize this when he says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you-love one another”.{John 5:12-17}

Even the report of the women that Christ’s tomb was empty failed to raise the spirits of Cleopas and his companion and instead probably confused them more. These two despondent disciples summed up their aspirations and feelings in these words, “we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free.”

I am sure like me we have all travelled the Emmaus road at times. At some time, in one way or another, our hopes may have been dashed, compromised or challenged by family, friend’s community, or we may have even felt abandoned by God. Sometime this may be in a big way and at other times on a small scale.

As we gather as Church, as the community of faith in this place, at this time, we are on a journey as we search and call a new priest As we all know, as we struggle to get on with the task and stay committed to our ministry at St Georges, there can be moments of doubt, despair, frustration and disappointment. As I have said to others on previous occasions facing similar challenges it is easy to opt out, while staying in can also be risky. Sometimes we will stumble, other times we walk briskly and with confidence, still other times we wait with patience confident, that in the spirit of the resurrection, the presence of the living God we will meet in a few minutes in the breaking of the bread is the same Jesus that Cleopas and his companion recognized at the crucial moment. It is at these times that we need to stick together to make our weekly Eucharist a time of worship, teaching and fellowship.

As they sat at table, the stranger among them blesses and breaks bread and in a second the “Penny drops” their eyes are opened and the light and hope promised is recognized as among them. We also are reminded of this each time two or three gather for Eucharist the breaking of bread in the midst of our community life here at St Georges. It is in hospitality to the stranger that the unconditional and generous love of God is present among us.

Three questions arise from today’s Gospel.

  • Are you stuck somewhere on your journey of faith?
  • Has your faith grown since your younger days and how do you speak about it to others?
  • Are we prepared to ask questions and seek answers when we are experiencing doubt or disappointment?

I for one do not believe that Christian faith is a lost cause. If I did I do not think I would be here today. Nor I suspect do you either. The sad and disappointing thing is that the Church seems increasingly unable to connect or rise to the occasion, to connect and engage in the faith conversation, and the challenge for us all is to rise to the occasion and like the two disciples on their journey, “are our hearts and minds burning within us while he talked on the road and opened the scriptures to us.

There is much to be valued here at St George’s, past and present and we should be confident that whatever the time frame God is with us as we journey into the future and new horizons. Doubt can be enriching as it encourages us to dig deeper. Often my contemporaries ask me why I stay in the Church and remain a Christian. The answer is because my faith is grounded in the narrative of redemption told in the Christ Story which is far greater than the institution .

Amen