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Wondering Pilgrim

~ the ramblings of a perambulent and often distracted sojourner

Wondering Pilgrim

Tag Archives: discipleship

Immediately – right now, if not sooner!

18 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in Personal, Spirituality, theology

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

discipleship, Mark, politics, procrastination

alarm-clock-3872x2592_74121I’m a born procrastinator. I need time to think things through. “Immediately” is not a word that appears often in my working vocabulary.

It occurs twice and insistently in the text from today’s reading in Mark’s gospel. 

Four men instantly drop their work to go around with one who has just taken up the baton of his politically assassinated cousin. Critical moments call for instant decisions, I suppose. And let’s not de-politicise what was at stake here – it was the proclamation of an alternative empire to that of Rome.  ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ· is more correctly translated as “empire of God” than “kingdom of God.”

I would like to think that as one who is absolutely sold on the “empire of God” as proclaimed by Jesus that I would be as immediate in my response to claims by alternative empires, especially the dominant western one that claims my allegiance now and whose political masters brand many like me unloyal and unpatriotic when we measure their claims against his.

There was nothing rash or immediate about Jesus’ proclamation, however. It was 40 days in the making and rejected easy fixes to get to the nub of what mattered. Perhaps that’s why it evoked such an immediate response.

The Giants Are in Town – a Transfiguration Reflection

14 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in Personal

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

discipleship, giants, Jesus, Lent, Transfiguration

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(Today’s pep talk for Transfiguration Sunday)

The Giants are in Perth. Thousands have gone to meet them.

The Little Girl and the Diver have attracted crowds the size of which are often not seen in the CBD. Enthralled, they have watched the Giants sleep, wake up, shower, blink, walk, widdle and read.

Not only have they watched them, but they have also interacted with them. They have touched them, stroked them, followed them, and talked to them. They have laughed with them, cried in response to their wooden expressions, ridden on their arms and partied with them.

Children enjoyed Friday off from school to visit them in Wellington Square, and seemed to interact with them in the natural way one would expect. In the prolific TV interviews, however, it was the adult responses that were most illuminating. Many middle-aged men and women emotionally described their feelings of awe, joy, and (in one case) even sadness that they had become aware of something missing from their lives.

I suspect that, as the Giants slept at Langley Park last night, many bivouacked with them.

And what will happen later today as the Giants bid farewell? Will we see crowd hysteria as the people cry out, “Please don’t go!”

Will they say (like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration), “let us build some booths here,” one for the Little Girl and one for the Diver? Let’s preserve this moment!

What is it about these Giants? These oversized wooden marionettes?

Giants have long fascinated us humans. They have populated our imaginations, fables and mythology for thousands of years.

Even in the Bible, you only have to get as far as Genesis 6 to find an allusion to mysterious giants, different from people but interacting with them and even marrying them. They are variously called the sons of God, heroes of old, the Nephilim.  Unaccountably, we never hear of them again.

Size and stature on a grand scale have always been attractive to human beings.

Is it because, in our struggle for fulfilment, we are forever striving to be larger than ourselves? Aware of the flaws of circumstance, heredity, environment and human nature, we experience ourselves as diminished beings? Consider the giant in a form that we can touch, feel and interact with, however – and we are drawn from an experience of diminishment to a form of enhancement that gives us a glimpse of our larger self?

Now this is Ryle’s theory of Giant mania! What do you think triggers the appeal of the Giants that have come to town?

I test my theory against the wisdom of the internet and find few supporters!

Giants figure large in the mythologies of the world – they are archetypes of chaos, strength, and ancient wisdom – often associated with destruction.

Carl Jung: To summarize, the giants can be characterized as follows: they are chaotic, untamed, natural, instinctual creatures; insatiable and destructive in their carnal greed, if they are not reined in by the gods to be more benevolent.

Nevertheless – the City of Perth seems to be on a Mount of Transfiguration this weekend.

Except there is no voice from heaven declaring, “This is my Son the Beloved, listen to him.”

Now I don’t care whether Ryle’s theory of the appeal of Giants to the human psyche stands or not.

But it does with the Jesus revealed in the gospels.

Particularly in Mark’s gospel, the story of three disciples witnessing the transfiguration of Jesus unveils a summons to the full potential to which Jesus is calling those who follow him.

There is a trigger for this.

It is Peter stating his recognition of who Jesus is.

“Who do you say I am?” Jesus asked them. “You have heard teaching about God’s kingdom; you have participated in healing people from all kinds of sickness, restoring them to their communities; you have witnessed the release of people from all kinds of oppression… Who do you say I am?”

Peter replied “You are the Messiah. The one whom God himself has appointed!”

Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him….If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

This is one of the rare instances where Mark’s Gospel, preferring the title Son of God, allows Jesus’ own self reference as Son of Man (more recent translations “the Human One.”)

What God has made of Jesus, God also intends to fulfil in us. Irenaeus speaks of the Incarnation as “[T]he Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.”

This is what transfiguration is about. The three disciples that are with Jesus on the mountain don’t quite get it. They are overcome, overawed, want to retain and absorb what they are experiencing. What they don’t understand is that they must grow into the identity that has been revealed to them. They must walk a tough road, a road that exists for the sake of others, a way that draws all they encounter – friends, outcasts, enemies alike – into the transforming experience of the love of God. A way that involves pain, risk, suffering and sacrifice. A way that ultimately leads to Golgotha.

This they cannot grasp. If only we, terrified as we are, can stay on the mountain – it is enough.

7Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

 They saw no-one, only Jesus – Jesus, the human one, who was leading them on the way to their own full expression of humanity. To achieve this, however, they would need to go with him all the way – even to Golgotha and beyond.

If the Giants call us to engage with our larger selves, Jesus calls us to lay aside even our striving for our larger self in order to allow God’s transformation of the world through our journey to Golgotha and beyond.

But such self-annihilation is paradox – for it is also self-fulfilment.

The epitome of epiphany!

Teaching disciples to suck eggs

23 Sunday Jan 2011

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in christ, Ministry, mission, Personal, Wembley Downs

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

discipleship, postaday2011, Religion and Spirituality

Some may find it strange to be talking to veteran congregations about discipleship, as today’s texts lead me. Most have been making the journey a lot longer than I have, and I’m getting a bit long in the tooth. Yet, once again I will address what I have come to call the magnetic summons of Jesus and I anticipate this annual revisitation will revive impulses in veteran and novice alike to stretch a little further along the road of learning to live in the spirit and character of Jesus. Of course, most of the inspiration will come from the congregation itself. Many individuals, though they be unaware, have demonstrated insights into matters of discipleship of which I would not otherwise have been aware. Grace in difficult family issues, courage and generosity while grappling with debilitating illness, serenity in failed enterprise, forgiveness when grievously wronged – these all reflect the spirit of Jesus and are evidence of attentive awareness of his transforming work. So perhaps the morning harangue will be a celebration instead!

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The Summons

22 Saturday Jan 2011

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in Personal

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discipleship, Matthew 4:12-23, postaday2011, vocation

This Sunday’s text (Matthew 4:12-23) considers the magnetic call of Jesus of Nazareth to those around him – a summons that has extended down the centuries with ever-increasing pulling power.
This is one of our favourite songs at Wembley Downs. I love the lyrics! It’s by John Bell of the Iona Community in Scotland and is published by Wild Goose Publications. (We sing it at a quicker tempo than this!)

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Disaster & Discipleship

14 Friday Jan 2011

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in Ministry, Spirituality, Wembley Downs

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discipleship, lectionary, natural disaster, postaday2011, Queensland floods

As one prepares for sermons this Sunday, one wonders how the lectionary will speak into the preoccupations of a community. Not only the Queensland floods (15 lives lost), but the many more lives lost in flooding this week in Brazil, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and South Africa will be not far from our minds. The service will unfold with appropriate lament, communion and intercessions followed by the expectation that the Spirit will speak through Scripture to enlighten and equip us for the week ahead.

The text repeats last week’s account of Jesus’ baptism, but from the perspective of the Fourth Gospel, John 1:29-42. Here the baptismal event climaxes the entry into human experience of the Word that was in the beginning and that is now flesh and walks amongst us, presenting us a picture of a Creator who is not remote and removed from human life and tragedy but intimately involved in a way that is tangible. The structure of the Fourth gospel is many layered, linked and holistic. It is no accident that the call of the first three of Jesus’ disciples is linked to the revelation of the Word made flesh and focused on the magnetic qualities of Jesus’ summons. The Word from the beginning is about to break into the lives of individuals, awaken and transform them.

It involves

  • progression – two of the disciples have already been involved in John’s ministry of preparation.
  • recognition – the development of sufficient insight to respond to John’s identification of “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
  • initiative – the two disciples’ approach Jesus and request his time and attention, asking “Where are you staying?” Jesus response is “Come and see.”
  • invitation – One of the two, Andrew, is sufficiently impressed to collect his brother Simon and bring him to Jesus.
  • the beginning of transformation to true self – Jesus, recognising Simon’s true self, names him Cephas (Peter) which means “rock.”
The stories that have been emerging from this week’s disaster zones carry hints of the stuff that inspires this kind of discipleship. The humility that the power of nature evokes in us mitigates the hubris of human superiority and control. We look elsewhere for the centre of what it really means to be human, and some of us discover for the first time that the often downplayed but transcendent qualities of love and compassion and self-sacrifice are beyond ourselves. There are stories of inspired initiative, selfless hospitality, powerful invitation to community bonding, and the discovery of true selves that eclipse what we thought we were.
As our lectionary takes us on through the early chapters of Matthew over the next few weeks, the so-called “Sermon on the Mount”, we will discover these are the very things that Jesus seeks to awaken within our discipleship.
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This morning it worked…

07 Sunday Feb 2010

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in Wembley Downs

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Tags

church, discipleship, Eugene Peterson, faith, mentoring, story

My flock and I have been experimenting a little lately with “mutual mentoring” – something that Paul’s theology of the church says we ought to be good at. Reprising Eugene Peterson’s “Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work” as a framework, we use the Revised Common Lectionary, our source for Sunday’s readings, as a guide to reflect on how together we make stories, build community, share pain, direct prayer and nay-say. On the first Sunday of the month, we use “sermon-time” to share our stories and reflections and receive our fresh printed guide for the coming month. This morning was our third attempt, and by George, we got it! Reflecting on January’s Epiphany stories, we had been looking to be aware of how the presence of God was manifested in the ordinary, and particularly in the stories of Jesus’ growing awareness and announcement of his mission mandate to bring humanity to wholeness.

Some of what we heard from within our small 60 strong multi-generational congregation

  • our Peruvian contact deploying the resources of their tourism business to bring relief and aid to hundreds of remote villagers whose livelihood and houses have been destroyed by mudslides
  • a young lad who volunteers at a farm school “knowing himself to be close to God when he’s with the animals.”
  • folk who, in seeking accommodation and relocating living quarters, discovered fresh connections to their vocations
  • a couple sharing fifty years of marriage in celebration
  • the trials, tribulations and joys of building community in a retirement village setting

As Epiphany comes to its climax and we prepare to begin the Lenten journey to Good Friday and Resurrection, this morning demonstrated to us all what strength there is in sharing our journeys of faith in the supportive setting of Sunday morning worship. The buzz over coffee and wedding anniversary cake afterwards suggests that stories continue to be shared and made.

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