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SUMMARY:Family Communion
DTSTART:20250817T090000Z
DTEND:20250817T101500Z
DTSTAMP:20260418T221400Z
UID:12174012025-08-17 09:00:00+00:00achurchnearyou
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DESCRIPTION:Family Communion for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity: celebrant
  the Revd Tola Badejo.\n\nFirst reading: Isaiah 5. 1-7\nGospel: Luke 12. 4
 9-56 \n\nThe readings this week are as challenging as those we heard last 
 Sunday. Isaiah's 'song of the vineyard' likens God to a careful landowner 
 and Israel to his unproductive vineyard\, with which he is both disappoint
 ed and angry. Just as in our previous passage from Isaiah\, the 'last stra
 w' is the Israelite's lack of concern for justice\; God  'expected justice
  but saw bloodshed\; righteousness but heard a cry'. \n\n      There is fa
 r more to this passage\, however\, than a straightforward description of G
 od's wrath against the sinful. The text's presentation as a 'song'\, and i
 ts reference to the Song of Solomon\, show that God's anger is not that of
  a disappointed investor but something much more personal\, a feeling of b
 etrayal by those he loves. Isaiah's immediate audience were obviously the 
 Israelites of his own time\, but his message speaks to and challenges us a
 ll\; he also reminds us that chastisement is a necessary part of loving ca
 re\, and that to turn against God\, ignore him\, or reconstruct him in our
  own image is to invite punishment.\n\n     In the Gospel\, Jesus again pr
 esents himself as a disruptor\; last week he used a disturbing comparison 
 with a burglar\, and now he has 'come to cast fire upon the earth'. Follow
 ing him will be life-changing\, and we cannot expect it to be straightforw
 ard\; our faith may bring us into conflict with our dearest friends and re
 latives. Of course we hope that won't happen\, and we must always do our b
 est to disagree gently and constructively\, but in the end there are belie
 fs upon which we cannot compromise. 'Walking with Jesus' will not necessar
 ily be easy.\n\n      The idea of walking a walk that is simultaneously ch
 allenging and joyful is vividly expressed in van Gogh's 'The Painter on th
 e Road to Tarascon'\, in which he depicts himself burdened with his canvas
 es and painting equipment as he makes his way to paint a landscape that ha
 s inspired him. The original work is believed to have been destroyed in th
 e Second World War\, but by great good fortune a very early (and remarkabl
 y good) colour photograph had already been taken\; subsequently\, the pain
 ting has come to be seen as a symbol of persistence in the face of rejecti
 on and of mental and physical challenges. Few of van Gogh's paintings are 
 explicitly religious\, but many\, like this one\, can be seen as having a 
 religious dimension (the whole image is in the attachment below).
GEO:0.037423;51.469833
LOCATION:Kidbrooke\, St Nicholas
URL:https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/671/service-and-events/events/12
 17401/
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