Music Sunday 14th June 2020Music Sunday is an opportunity for all to come together to celebrate and to give thanks for the role of music in the life of the Church, and the way in which music is something that can draw church and community together.Over the years in our parish Church music has been one of the vital components of our DNA as a group of pilgrims. We have held hundreds of thousands of musically inspired worship services, requiems, funerals, weddings, baptisms, concerts and civic services that have been the main stay of our witness. We give thanks to god for this witness, and indeed today we give thanks to God for our present set of musicians and choir who have extended their role and gone into the virtual realm. Who would have thought that a year ago?Today we give thanks for our choir who are co - leading the service today and we give thanks to God that we can sing his praises in spite of the difficulties of this present moment, knowing he is our strength and shield, our stronghold and comforter.One woman’s voice : the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-56)Mary’s Song of PraiseAnd Mary said,‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me,and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear himfrom generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm;he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things,and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel,in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors,to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home.A Women’s voice in the New TestamentDid you know in the New Testament, it is even harder to find women’s words than in the Old. Mary is recorded as saying astonishingly little, although she is present during so much of it. In Luke she speaks four times, once in John, and we have none of her words in Matthew and Mark, though she sends Jesus a message that she’s arrived (Mark 3, 31). So the exchange with Elizabeth in Luke 1, is very precious, even though it repeats whole lines out of previous songs, psalms and prayers. Elizabeth’s words are incorporated into the Hail Mary, and the Magnificat is part of Evening Prayer a staple of our rhythm of life.It is by far the longest piece of female speech in the New Testament…. And it is brief…. I will say no more!… parallels before and afterAs a literary document, it is interesting to compare the Magnificat to Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2. Mary’s song is not special because it is so original; rather, it is important that it is part of a tradition of obedience to God, of joyful surrender to his will. It is special because it is the fulfilment of the salvation story and not just an isolated event. Jesus in his sermon on the mount uses the same phraseology in his Beatitudes. Even the order is the same : Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God, blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied (Luke 6:20).Setting the wordsAs well as being all one tense, the Magnificat is all one mood, of exultation. We need to remember what Mary is like at this point. She is very young. She is enthusiastic, exuberant, committed and joyful. She doesn’t know very much about what’s going on yet, but her faith in God is so complete that she is prepared to leave it all to him; think about this, Can you say that?She knows that her situation is unorthodox, to say the least, but that does not concern her, and, thanks to Joseph, it is not allowed to become an issue. She will treasure every piece of information as it comes along, but she has not yet met Simeon and heard about the sword that will pierce her. A woman’s prayer from belowIn the whole text, there is only one word indicating the speaker’s gender : ‘He looks on his servant in her nothingness’ or (different translation) ‘he has regarded his lowly handmaiden, or servant.’ But what is distinctive about this song is that it written from below throughout. This is a person without any power or rank speaking, and celebrating God because he is wonderful and does marvellous deeds; and is doing them, for her, now.Living in the momentThe references to God’s actions are all in the present tense, not the future : this lowly person is totally confident that all this is happening right here, right now. Think about that, and how it affects you also, now as then God is concerned for you and your welfare, please do call out to him and ask him to intervene for you in your current situation.Notice this prayer / statement is in stark contrast to the appeals for help in the psalms, which are usually looking forward for relief;• O Lord, hasten to my help’• O Lord, do not delay• O Lord make haste to help us.The text does not move forwards or back; there is no narrative, there is no sense of time other than the present. Mary describes what is happening at this moment to her. There is one gesture towards the future: ‘Henceforth all ages will call me blessed’, but this is an immediate future which starts now, just as the one reference to the past is ‘the mercy promised to our fathers’, a past which is still continuing into now and for ever.A world turned upside downApart from the absoluteness of the present tense, the other striking thing about the words of the Magnificat is their celebration of the reversal of human order. Mary starts with a statement of fact: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour’ and then starts to celebrate the topsy-turvey world; could anyone ever think this sort of world would appear. Well think what has happened in these past weeks and how things have turned our thinking upside down! Each day we see things we thought would have been impossible only a few weeks ago. These truly are biblical days in which we live and God is on the move!God looks at his servant (Mary) and he is perfectly aware of her status; (as he is ours) but guess what, ‘henceforth all ages will call me blessed’. This is so extreme that it would be embarrassing or foolish if it were not true. Then Mary refers again to God, because her future standing is not because of her, but because of him. We need to be ever mindful of this, it is God at God in us and for us.God is working wonders for her, he is wonderful, and his kindness is for everyone.And it isn’t just Mary for whom he is turning the world upside down.• ‘He scatters the proud-hearted, casts the mighty from their thrones and raises the lowly’. Again the claim is outrageous : from their thrones; - so not just pretty important people, but the mighty of the earth, the sort of person Mary would only ever have seen at a distance, or possibly only heard about. Across our world at this moment, people are waking up to a new world, people are indeed calling it a reset. Make now bones about it those with power now will hold onto it with all they have and with all in their means.Pray friends for God to work in their lives to too, to see a different way for humanity to live together.You may say it’s just fanciful dreams and we will get back to normal soon…… Will we?Will it be the same as before?I hope not, this for us is a once in a lifetime opportunity to declare the Kingdom of God is amongst us and that God is here.We have sung today, O Praise ye the Lord! - this day we shout this out, a clarion call to all those seeking for truth and justice and love.We will sing; ‘Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King!’ - Let us do our part to bring in the Kingdom of God and make the world a better place.We finish with “To God be the Glory” we remember we are his servants, the people of his pasture and give him thanks for his grace and mercy in our lives.PRAYER: Dear Lord, I do not know what the future holds. Sometimes, that lack of knowledge terrifies me, and I begin to doubt your goodness. I do not know Your plans for me, but I know they are greater than anything I can imagine. Like Our Mother, help me surrender to Your all-knowing will and say, “Be it done unto me according to Your Word.” Lord, I believe. Only help my unbelief. In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen
St BarnabasActs 4.32-37Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means ‘son of encouragement’). He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.Though not named among the twelve apostles or the evangelists, Barnabas emerges in the Acts of the Apostles as one of the most significant of their number. He sold his estate and gave the proceeds to the Church, since all things were to be held in common, and clearly became a leader. He is described as a Levite from Cyprus so, like his friend Paul, was from the Greek world rather than that of Palestine, and he introduced Paul to the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem. He was sent to Antioch apparently to guide the Christians there in their relations with non-Jewish converts, promoting the concept of all being one in Christ. He broke with Paul to go to Cyprus and tradition has it that he was martyred there in the year 61 Exciting HolinessBarnabas showed sacrificial devotionThroughout Acts we see in Barnabas a man who was willing to suffer, leave home, risk his life for the gospel. But where did that all begin? The answer is that it starts right here in Acts 4.36-37, when he sold his field and laid the proceeds at the feet of the Apostles.Some of us or indeed many of us as Christians have a desire to do great things for God some day, but are finding it difficult in our current situation at the moment. In the Bible we see that greatness grows. It has to do with the principle of sowing and reaping. For Barnabas’ first act of devotion he chose to make it financial. He must have felt that his possessions where the barrier to his calling, and Jesus talked about money and possessions a lot for that reason. It can be a powerful distraction. Barnabas sorts this out early in his life and so sets a course for passionate devotion to Jesus.It is especially interesting that Barnabas was a Levite. The Levites were not supposed to have property at all. While the other tribes had a portion of the Land, the Levites were spread out among the Israelites to bring godly influence to all the people.To be truthful, I need to do a lot to declutter my life, and when I have had a good clear-out, I know that I feel spiritually cleansed and emotionally freed from clinging on to things that no longer have any relevance in my life. It gave me the ability to see the wood through the trees, so to speak.Do you need to de clutter your life, do you need to see the wood through the trees to enable you to have that closer walk with God? Maybe that is our challenge while we are in our current situation. As Barnabas sells his property and then give the money to the apostles, maybe that is a sign for us, in enhancing God’s work for the needy, poor, lonely and lost. Amen. Pauline Cummins
Thoughts for TodayFrom the real world, sublime and challengingBuenos Aires 2 – The reconciling power of flowers Hope in the large and small…..Our second day we saw the city of Buenos Aires in the build up before the morning rush hour. The joggers and cyclists were out, and the city commuters were striding purposefully in the gentle breeze of a sunny day. This fitted in with the meaning of Buenos Aires which is ‘fair winds’, (shortened from the City of the Most Holy Trinity and Port of St Mary of the Good Airs’ in 1580!). It is also known as ‘the Paris of the south’ with a population of 15 million (3 million in the city and 12 million in the suburbs).The picture of the ‘Floralis Generica’ is in the Plaza Naciones Unidas and is 23 metres high made out of steel and aluminium. It was unveiled as a gift from the Argentinian architect, Eduardo Catalano, in 2002. The six petals open out at 8am every morning via solar energy and close the 6 tons of flower at sunset. The gift to the city as described by the architect, ‘It is a synthesis of all flowers and, at the same time, a hope reborn every day at opening.’ It is set in 4 acres of a woodland boundary and above a reflecting pool. It was a stunning sight and also moving to learn that the word floralis actually means ‘a person who has the potential to attain spiritual enlightenment’.So on we travelled to the huge Recoleta Cemetery in the city to the eventual resting place of Evita Peron (Duartes). It was twenty years after her death in 1952 (at the age of 33 from cancer) that the Peronists brought her body back from Milan (where she had been during the 1955 revolution) to the city. For security reasons she was buried 5 metres down in the family tomb. A tragic story of the flower of Argentina, dividing many in their opinions of her. In the end reconciled and laid to rest back home.We viewed the famous balcony of Evita fame, part of the ‘Pink House’ of the main square and Presidential Palace. We entered the great Metropolitan Cathedral. This is where Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) was Archbishop and Cardinal from 1997–2013 when he was elected Pope. We met one of his old Cathedral colleagues from that time, Fr Nicolas. Passing on blessings from the Anglican Church he said of Pope Francis ‘…he never smiled until he went to Rome.’ Fr, Nicolas put this down to the growing influence in all our lives of the Holy Spirit. We left him to hear confessions… By coffee time we were in Caminito the artist quarter, meeting an official Diego Maradona ‘lookalike’ (seeing the hand of God) and experiencing the bright South American colours of the houses in the infamous area of Boca. The tango tune Caminito was composed there in this 300 yards of vibrancy. We had the opportunity of tasting the national drink ‘Mate’ in the traditional way – the morning and afternoon drink – a very earthy green tea taste, certainly an acquired taste.In this snapshot we saw the blooming of architecture, political life, vocation and the tango dance out of the most challenging of societies. The lockdown has given the opportunity to see the blooming of many things in adversity. It has given some time to reflect more deeply on the givenness of beauty out of adversity and deep personal losses including the agony of individuals, families, and communities.It never ceases to surprise us when a plant, that hasn’t flowered for years then appears against the odds - ’A hope reborn each day in its opening’. May it be our ongoing experience in the coming Kingdom.So, we travel on to the Falkland Islands after visiting Punta del Este in Uruguay….With blessings,Edward and Jane
St Catherine’s Church, BurbageSunday 7 June 2020Trinity SundayMatthew 28:16-20Enable us, our Father, to respond to the grace of your word with humility of heart and in the spirit of love; that our lives may be conformed more and more to the image of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so may I speak in the name of the Living God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.Today is Trinity Sunday, a feast in the church’s calendar which almost instantly throws up problems for the poor individual who finds himself on the preaching rota! In fact, the whole idea of celebrating the Holy Trinity on a Sunday is one that emerged slowly. In the days of the early church, a collection of prayers, or an ‘office’ to mark the Holy Trinity, was compiled and said on different days in the year, sometimes even during Advent. Thomas Becket was consecrated in 1162 as archbishop of Canterbury on the Sunday after Pentecost, and it was Thomas who declared that it should remain a day to celebrate the Trinity. This caught on in other parts of Europe.But why does the preacher’s heart sink at those three words: ‘The Holy Trinity’. Shouldn’t the preacher be elated, joyful, and raring to go? Here is a paradox. At one level the Trinity is an easy thing to talk about, the Trinity being composed of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then again, how can you easily speak of three individual persons, if I can put it like that, and as one? Even my language then falls short and the whole matter of ‘three as one’ blows the mind apart. To speak of the Trinity is a really difficult business.And it is an issue that sits quite heavily on my mind. In May 2017 I travelled to Woking to participate in a meeting of the Bishops’ Advisory Panel, or BAP, which consisted of three days of interviews, presentations, discussions and prayer. It is a process which those called to ordained ministry have to experience; the church then decides whether you should go forward to that type of ministry. Fortunately, I was recommended for training and that is why you have had me here for the last three years. Yes, you can blame it all on Woking! I still remember my final interview, which I think happened on my final day. My interviewer was to probe my ‘liveliness of mind’, as the Church of England puts it, and it turned out, in the end, to be a rather pleasant discussion and I quite enjoyed it. (We finished ten minutes early because he had run out of questions!) However, when I sat down, the interviewer’s opening shot was: “so Nick, how would you define the Holy Trinity?” Thank you very much, said I! My heart sunk.Theologians throughout the ages have wrestled with the subject of the Holy Trinity, and, let’s face it, Holy Scripture is not actually all that helpful on the matter. You get hints of a ‘trinity’ in the Old Testament: God dominates the scene, and there are also ‘spirit like’ references to the breath or wind of God passing over the waters in Genesis; even in the Book of Ezekiel you have wind or breath that revives dry bones in a valley. (There are one or two other suspect instances which some theologians have interpreted as allusions to Christ.) When we reach the New Testament, however, we meet the incarnate God as Jesus, who is proclaimed as the ‘beloved son’ at his baptism, and the Spirit of God like a dove descending upon him. Later in Acts, you get the great description of the arrival, and immense power of the Spirit at Pentecost.Father, Son and Spirit, then, are three very different persons in Scripture and are yet all part of the same. It is a huge thought. A film came out many years ago called Nuns on the Run starring Robbie Coltrane and Eric Idle, who are criminals. They disguise themselves as nuns and hide in a convent. Eric Idle finds out that he has to teach the novices about the Trinity. Robbie Coltrane, as the Roman Catholic, tries to explain the Trinity to Eric: three in one, the Son is God, and God is the Father and so forth. Eric Idle is so confused. Robbie Coltrane then says, “it makes no sense to anyone and that is why you have to have faith!”However, there are some who have tried to articulate the reality of the Trinity over the centuries, often using visual aids to assist them, even before the age of the white board and power-point. Most famously, I guess, is St Patrick, a saint we know quite a bit about, who tried to explain the Trinity to the pagans of Ireland by means of a the shamrock: three separate leaves and yet part of a single whole. This explanation itself has problems because it suggests that all the components are exactly the same, which they are, but also are not: Son, Father and Holy Spirit. You could be getting close to heresy, here! I remember John Sentamu who, strangely enough is preaching his last sermon today before retiring tomorrow, speaking on the Trinity. He used one of those barbeque fork things. You know the sort of thing I mean, it has a couple of prongs at the top to act as a fork, the side to do the actions of a knife, and the rest shaped as a spoon. Three in one. Simples! The Trinity is like a piece of cutlery.We can do the mental gymnastics for hours and days to come, and I don’t want to make things more complicated than they already are. I would like to suggest another way of looking at the Holy Trinity; I cannot claim originality here but it is a view I particularly like. And that is that we are aware, we know, about the Trinity because of the relationship between each and every part of it. It is the Trinity because each person of it is ‘related’ and that is the way we can understand it. In other words, we understand God as Father because of His relationship with Jesus, the Son, who comes from the Father; and we understand the Spirit because it flows from the Son. Though united, we understand the special nature of each person of the Trinity because of the relationship between each other. And it is a relationship that is not static, it is not preserved in aspic, rather it is moving, energising and powerful. It is dynamic! Early Greek monks spoke of the Trinity in terms of a ‘dance’ between each person of Trinity, almost like three people holding hands in a circle and gliding across a floor.These concepts of relationship and dynamism are, I believe, stressed in today’s gospel reading from Matthew, that of the so-called ‘Great Commission’, which Mary Tynan explored in much more depth a week or so ago. In this final resurrection scene noted by Matthew, Christ explicitly mentions the ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’, something we have not really encountered previously in Scripture. Jesus makes clear his relationship with the Father, and their unity, by stating that the authority is placed in him. It is true that the position of the Spirit is not wholly clear here, but Jesus states it is integral to the work of Father and Son. (“Go baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”) More importantly, he links this very special relationship with a special relationship with the disciples, and that is to go and bring more to faith and to teach just as Jesus did. There is a dynamism here.This ‘commission’ was not simply declared to those people there and then, but it is a commission to all of us too. Each and every one of us is also in relationship with the Holy Trinity, a relationship with the Father, through the Son and inspired and led by the Spirit. Just as the Father sent the Son to bring more to him, in the Spirit, so are we sent out as well to participate in that mission. And yet, just as the three persons of the Trinity are united, we as a church in Burbage and Aston Flamville, are also united; we are all individuals, with our own gifts and talent, but are related to each other in faith; united and in relationship with one another, and to Christians world-wide. It is another way of thinking about the Trinity. We can see the Trinity in our midst, in our every day lives and in our everyday faith. As you are sent out to work in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit, I too am being sent but in another direction, to do whatever it is that I am called to do in Wigston. And so I thank Father Andrew and everyone in Burbage and Aston Flamville for your friendship and support over these past three years, a time I shall look back with great fondness.And to finish . . .I have learned a great deal from my time at St Catherine’s. Fr Terry taught me that you can always end a sermon with a joke. Well, here it is, courtesy of Grove Books:“A lorry load of tortoises crashed into a trainload of terrapins. It was a turtle disaster.”Thank you again for three wonderful years.Amen.Nick Baker
