There’s a story in Jewish folklore about a gentile enquirer who, confused by all the requirements of the Jewish law, asked a Rabbi if he could sum up in one sentence just what was most important, and to do it standing on one foot!Simple, the Rabbi answered “What you hate for yourself do not do to your neighbour, that is the whole law, the rest is commentary, go and learn!”The lawyer who questioned Jesus would have been an expert in the Jewish law and Matthew tells us asked Jesus the same question.‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, “The Lord our God is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this ,you shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.’ Mark 12: 29-31He might have added, the rest is commentary! The whole of the Bible’s teaching is contained in those two commandments, but what exactly does love ask of us? The answer seems to be in the first sentence, ‘The Lord your God is one’. Love asks of us undivided attention.Have you ever found yourself talking to someone whose attention is somewhere else. They keep glancing over your shoulder. Their body is there but not their mind. Or maybe you’ve worked with someone whose heart isn’t really in their work. They do the job, but mechanically. Their eyes are on the clock!Well God isn’t like that, he is undivided and gives us his full attention. If you want to know what that looks like then the portraits of Rembrandt give us and idea. The one I have chosen is a self portrait painted in 1659, a year after he had been declared bankrupt.After many years of success Rembrandt had fallen out of favour with his rich clients. They were now no longer the down to earth Dutchmen and women of his youth, earnest business people in a deeply religious, protestant country but another generation. This generation had grown up with money, they had travelled to Italy and seen the polished portraits by Bellini and they wanted something that showed them in all their finery. The problem was that Rembrandt’s portraits were just too honest, too crude!Here he is, looking at himself with an intense stare, looking at us looking at him. We can see into his soul and almost feel the pain he felt, but the face tells us he is not broken. The eyes are defiant, the set of his jaw is firm and we know that he still believes in himself. The portrait is modelled after a famous Italian portrait by the artist Rafael, one of Italy’s greatest. Rembrandt knew he was up there with the best!Rembrandt drew, etched and painted so many self-portraits in his lifetime that we can gauge his moods by comparing one with another. All of them show him as he is, sometimes rich and dressed in fine furs and jewelled coats, sometimes poor as here, but the focus is never on the outward trappings. The focus is always on the face and the eyes that let us see into his soul and indeed look into ours.Rembrandt’s last painting tells the story of an early uprising of the Dutch people against the Romans. It was painted for Amsterdam’s grand new town hall. The Burghers wanted something romantic and heroic but they got the truth. The one eyed leader of the rebel band is rough and coarse, his fellow conspirators ready with their swords raised but have had too much to drink! Love always speaks truth. For all Rembrandt’s honesty he is never cruel or spiteful. There is compassion and understanding and he gives to each of his sitters a dignity that is their own. Jesus spoke of our hearts and mind and strength and soul. That is where love comes from, and that is how Rembrandt painted, with heart and mind, strength and soul.That is also what he painted and what he gives each sitter. We can see their mind and heart, we can feel their strength and soul.God looks at us like that, and loves us like that. Sometimes that can be uncomfortable, sometimes we will turn away and sometimes we will reject what he shows us. We will always, however, be loved with an undivided love.A prayer for peace in the Holy landO God of all justice and peacewe cry out to you in the midst of the pain and traumaof violence and fear which prevails in the Holy Land.Be with those who need you in these days of suffering;we pray for people of all faiths – Jews, Muslims and Christians and for all people of the land.While we pray to you, O Lord, for an end to violence and the establishment of peace, We also call for you to bring justice and equity to the peoples.Guide us into your kingdomwhere all people are treated with dignity and honour as your children for, to all of us, you are our Heavenly Father.In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Paying taxes has never been popular, if you look back at history you’ll see that nearly every revolution has been the result of a Tax revolt. The English Civil war, the French Revolution and the American revolution. I remember Mrs Thatcher’s attempt to introduce a new tax in the UK: the Poll tax. It was deeply unpopular because it was not a graduated tax but imposed a fixed amount on rich and poor.Paying taxes to Caesar.There had been a Tax revolt in Judea within recent memory when the Roman emperor Augustus imposed direct rule over the province and sent a Roman governor to keep the peace.In 6 BC Judea was assessed for tax liability. The taxes were sent directly to Rome in Roman coinage bearing Caesar Augustus' image.The Jewish people had revolted under a leader called Judas. The only tax Judas would admit to paying was to the Temple and to God. This was called the Temple tax and was always paid in local coinage.Some of the Jewish population were loyal to Rome, they were called the Herodians after the puppet King Herod. The Pharisees were fiercely opposed to the new tax and refused to pay it.To pay taxes, then, was to accept the sovereignty of Rome and to handle a coin with idolatrous imagery. The image of Caesar was stamped on to each coin and to use it the Pharisees argued was to accept the Lordship of Caesar.The Lordship of God.This was the issue that the Pharisees and the Herodians were trying to entrap Jesus.“Under whose lordship are we to place ourselves?”“Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Matthew 22: 17The question posed to Jesus almost 2000 years ago continues to raise difficult issues for us today not just in our politics but also in our personal life. As Christians how are we to live in a world that is often hostile to Christian faith? Should our Christian commitment remain a private affair between ourselves and God or does faith have a part to play in public life?Here are a few examples of recent controversies: The role of the Church in education, abortion rights, signs and symbols in public buildings and worn by public figures, discrimination in employment, and by adoption agencies. The right of businesses to refuse custom on the grounds of faith and the marriage of same sex couples.Does Jesus give us any answers to these and other questions? It is interesting that Jesus doesn’t allow himself to be captured by either party in this debate. This should be a warning to us to label any political party as ‘Christian’. Jesus cannot be hijacked by a political party, but he does have a point of view!‘Give back to Caesar’.Jesus recognises the right of Caesar to impose taxes. He uses the words ‘Give back’, implying that the Jewish people have received benefits from the Roman rule for which they owed tax.Christian to are called in the New Testament to recognise they rightly constituted authorities of the State. They are to live peacefully under the laws of the land.So the Church is not to be like the zealots of Jesus day who attempted to violently overthrow the Roman regime. Nor are they to be like the Essenes who withdrew into the desert where they attempted to live without any contact with the pollution of society. Jesus urges us in the opposite direction. We are to be the ‘Salt and light’ of the world.‘Give back to God’Jesus commands us to give back to give back to God what is God’s. To understand this we must go back to the Creation story in which the whole Cosmos is seen as the Gift of God and man is placed as God’s image to care for the world.As Jesus looks at the coin he sees the image of Augustus Caesar and it is to Augustus Caesar that we owe this coin but as he looks at us he sees God’s image and it is to God that we owe our very lives. He has made us for a purpose and it is to that purpose that we give ourselves. We are made in His image to honour His image in us, a responsibility which we owe to the whole of creation not just to our earthly authorities.‘Window’s into men’s hearts’These were the words of Elizabeth I of England when speaking of the freedom of conscience that she allowed her subjects in the matter of their religious loyalties. So long as they obeyed her in the political realm they were free to worship God according to their own loyalties. This has become the foundation stone of the liberties of English speaking countries. This principle gives each person the dignity and the space to live freely rather than to have an authority imposed from above. History has shown us that when that principle is abused by a Government or Royal authority all other liberties will soon be taken away.That is the freedom Jesus brings us, a freedom that destroys the power of tyrants and inspires each of us to be what God created us to be.A prayer for peace in the Holy landO God of all justice and peacewe cry out to you in the midst of the pain and traumaof violence and fear which prevails in the Holy Land.Be with those who need you in these days of suffering;we pray for people of all faiths – Jews, Muslims and Christians and for all people of the land.While we pray to you, O Lord, for an end to violence and the establishment of peace, we also call for you to bring justice and equity to the peoples.Guide us into your kingdom where all people are treated with dignity and honour as your children for, to all of us, you are our Heavenly Father.In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. A statement from the Archbishops“We are grieved and deeply concerned at the violence in Israel and Gaza, and we unequivocally condemn the attacks by Hamas. We pray for those who are mourning, those who are injured, and all those fearing for their safety. We pray for restraint on all sides, and renewed efforts towards a just peace for all. The way forward must be for both sides to build confidence in a secure future through which Israel and its people can live in security within its internationally recognised borders, and Palestinians have their own state and live in their lands in security, and with peace and justice.Rev. Simon BrignallI am contactable from Thursday to Sunday.
The image we have of the starving artist in his garret is largely based on the lives of the Impressionists and Post Impressionists. Their painting was so revolutionary for its time that many were unable to sell or even exhibit their work. Most were never recognised during their lifetimes and usually died young and impoverished. Looking through the lives of some of the most well known of the Impressionist and Post impressionist generation I was fascinated to discover that most came from wealthy or even aristocratic backgrounds, all abandoned earlier careers to take up art and usually were disowned by their parents. Cezanne refused to join his father’s bank, Toulouse- Lautrec from an aristocratic family was destined to become a Compte but decided to live amongst the low life of Paris. Gaugin was a stockbroker before he became a painter. Manet a Naval cadet, and Seurat a officer cadet. Van Gogh, a lay preacher and Sisley, whose painting of ‘Trees in Spring’ and the only Brit among the Impressionists, was set up to succeed to his father’s silk business in Paris before leaving to be an artist. Of course it was all for the love of art, a love that consumed their lives at great cost to themselves.Our reading today is all about love and its cost. Love does not have a price but always has a cost. For example weddings can be very costly, I’m told that £ 20,000 is about the average for a wedding today, but we can put no price on the love of the couple making their vows. Sadly expectations for some often exceed the finances of the couple and they choose not to marry.The King in our parable today clearly laid out a fortune for his son and his bride. Everything was provided for, even the wedding garments were given as gifts by the hosts, which explains why the guest who refused to dress up was ejected from the wedding banquet. The cost to the guests was not counted in pounds but in time and energy. Those who received the invitation could not be bothered to attend, they had more pressing engagements.At the heart of every wedding the cost is measured not by the money we have to spend but by the commitment and love which we are prepared to give to each other. The cost is everything we have! The cost to the wedding guests is not of the same order, they are asked here to come and celebrate the happy couple who are getting married. Not such a great price to pay. Clearly those who refuse the invitation to the feast are not prepared to make even that small sacrifice of time, but are busy with their own lives.The parable then poses a problem to us all; we can see it either as an invitation or a judgement. “For many are invited but few are chosen”. Matt 22:14.It depends on how I perceive it, as an invitation it comes, like the marriage vows as a free gift costing nothing less than everything we have. As a judgement it exposes the attachments in our lives that we are not prepared to sacrifice, for love nor money!At the centre of this parable, then is the story of God’s costly gift of love, a free gift offered to all, but a gift which exposes us to the truth about what we value most.Love asks of us a commitment to leave behind the things that consume us, sometimes things that damage us like resentment or anger in order to embrace a better future. Just as Paul asks of the two sisters who were engaged in a dispute to let go of the past in order to live in peace with each other. The value of a relationship, whether that of marriage or simple friendship outweighs all that we are asked to give up and enriches us and the whole community.‘Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent, or praiseworthy – think about such things’. Phil 4: 8.Rev. Simon BrignallToday we especially pray for all the innocents caught up in the terrible events of the past week in Israel and Gaza.
I’ve been reading a wonderful book ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ Indigenous wisdom, Scientific knowledge and the teaching of plants’ It’s author, Robin Wall Kimmerer is a botanist and a member of the Potawatomi people of the Great Lakes of North America. Braiding Sweetgrass describes a ritual ceremony at harvest time as the stalks of wild rice are braided into long plats used for basket weaving. But it is also metaphorically used to illustrate the bonds that bind people and place them together in a landscape. These bonds she describes as ‘Gratitude’, Reciprocity’ and ‘The Honourable harvest’. Gratitude for the gifts of creation that sustain us. Reciprocity so that we give back to the earth what we have taken out ensuring an abundance for future generations and the ‘Honourable harvest’ which takes no more than is necessary from the earth. This is what Robin Wall Kimmerer calls Indigenous wisdom but it is increasingly the wisdom of today’s sustainable agriculture. As a botanist she sets out to contrast the scientific explanations of the world over against the ‘mythical’ explanations given by religions. Both scientific and ‘mythical’ explanations have authority but see the world in different ways. The scientific worldview sees things as objects to be studied, anatomised and explained. These explanations, scientists would claim, carry more authority because they are evidence based whereas ‘mythical’ explanations are based in speculation and cannot be proved. Robin Wall Kimmerer would wish us to see indigenous wisdom as a way of relating to the world not as ‘Object’ but as ‘Subject’. In the Potawatomi language everything is addressed as a person, a living being, to whom one owes respect and gratitude for what they give us. So for instance the Potawatomi talk about, the Bear people, the Beaver people, the Tree people and so on, all are equally sharing in the abundance of the land and dependent on each other for survival. 'One bowl, and one spoon' as she describes it. The question of ‘by what authority’ is very much at the centre of this debate. The scientific worldview is guided by objective knowledge derived from human observation and the ‘Mythical’ worldview is guided by an understanding of the world as ‘Enchanted’ and derived from an understanding of the world as a living ‘Being’. They are two valid worldviews and if used together can help us care for the earth. Olive Groves. Vincent van Gogh 1889 The artist who best expressed the idea of the earth as a living thing is Vincent van Gogh. ‘In all of nature, in trees for instance, I see expression of soul, as it were.’ ‘When I am in the country, it’s not so difficult for me to be alone, because in the country one feels the bonds that unite us all the more easily’ Vincent van Gogh in the last years of his life painted nature with an intensity that turned cypress trees in living flames, skies into firework displays, and olive groves into little old men. He loved this olive grove so much he painted it three times, once for his mother, once for his brother and once for himself! In the scene that we enter today we find Jesus in the Temple surrounded by the crowds. He has just driven out the money changers and is approached by an angry contingent of Priests who ask him by what authority he is acting. They had controlled what went on in the Temple courts up until that moment, and they are now outraged by this upstart.Only the Messiah himself would have the authority to do such a thing, and so they ask him: “By what authority are you doing these things?” Matt 20: 23. Of course they would like him to answer directly and so allow them to charge him with blasphemy, but his answer turns the question on them. ‘John’s baptism – where did it come from? Was it from heaven or from men?’Matt 20: 24. Now they must face the truth, John the Baptist was recognised as a true prophet and he had pointed to Jesus as God’s Messiah. The Chief Priests had already lost their authority as the common people turned to the God they saw and recognised in the preaching of John and Jesus. The parable of the ‘Two Sons’ illustrates this dramatic turn of events. The son who says ‘yes’ but does nothing represents the hypocrisy of the authorities who pay lip service to God, whereas the son who says ‘no’ represents the common people who had turned to God in repentance and faith. The modern debate between science and religion, as presented, is indeed a struggle over what authority should determine the lives of men and women. The distinction we must make concerns the boundaries around which science and religion operate. When science becomes a religion that proposes to give meaning and purpose to life mysteries we end up with a world in which the authority of mankind determines all. Science can indeed give an explanation of how we came to be here, but the question of ‘why’ cannot be answered by science. When the scientist begins to claim the same authority as God we cannot be far away from the horrors of ‘Social Darwinism’ - Eugenics and Euthanasia. The common people recognised in Jesus someone they could trust with such authority, the Messiah who alone gives meaning and purpose to life. Prayer for UkraineGod of peace and justice we pray for the people of Ukraine today,and the laying down of weapons.we pray for all those who fear for tomorrow,that your spirit of comfort would draw near to them.We pray for those with power over war and peace,for wisdom, discernment, and compassion to guide their decisionsAbove all, we pray for all your precious children at risk and in fear,That you would hold and protect them. Rev. Simon BrignallI am contactable from Thursday to Sunday.
