water

 Coming over the Pennines some weeks ago on our way back home from holiday, I was shocked at the low levels in the reservoirs high in the hills. The situation will be worse now, as the dry weather continues, and our profligacy with water continues. Water rationing is being mentioned. 

I was reminded of this again on Friday, when traffic queues in York near the hospital were caused by a burst water main. It gushed forth in force; traffic sprayed the pavement as in a heavy downpour.  Water is a finite resource- there will be suffering somewhere as a result of this leakage. 

A finite resource, and precious. Such a contrast to the infinite springs of water promised to the faithful, welling up inside us, the gift of the well-spring of life himself. We often stumble around in parched or drought mode, failing to see the reservoir at hand, failing to turn some spiritual tap to fresh supplies, and wonder at our ineffectiveness. 

St Isaac the Syrian imagined the believer swimming, diving, in an infinite sea of grace, diving deep for God's pearls. No shortage of pearls, no shortage of water, no shortage of grace. Divers wanted.      

Neighbour

 'Who is my neighbour?' asks the lawyer of Jesus in the gospel. Perhaps part of the sub-text here is 'I know the answer to this- and I'm quite satisfied with my relationships with my neighbours, thank you'. Ah yes, the tightly drawn circle with well-defined boundaries. Don't we love them? we know where we stand!

The lawyer has a reluctance to name the one who showed mercy to the stupid man who travelled alone on that bandit-ridden road between Jerusalem and Jericho. 'Who is the neighbour?'  'The one who showed mercy'. he replies to Jesus. Subtext- 'the damned Samaritan'. 

An invitation, almost a command, to widen the tightly drawn circle of those included under the heading 'neighbour'. That's how we may read the parable of the good Samaritan. Where are the lines in the sand drawn this morning, which we are being invited to cross. the circles we must widen?

This is not new, but it's always a question worth asking, always a question worth answering. 

Illusion

 The last time I was with the man standing before me making pennies disappear, was when he sawed me in half. That was at the celebration party for Tockwith church's 150th anniversary.  Tonight (well, Friday actually, as we party our way down the Ouse in York )  we're just as amazed and delighted at his skill, just as wondering 'how does he do that?' as he works his way round the tables with less exalted material than a box and a saw; pennies, cards, a pen. small oranges. 

Illusion and reality- finding our way though life's maze with a degree of wisdom and common sense keeping our feet on the ground whilst our heads are in the clouds. That has something of reality about it;  a  life-long task, distinguishing between life's illusions and life's realities. Like many, I find it hard to understand why large portions of the American church seem to have opted for the illusion that The Orange One is some sort of divinely appointed presence. And why our own C of E deals in so much management-speak, rather than prayer. 

Easy to say, easy to see- less easy to admit to one's own propensity for illusion. The prejudice, the false values, the unrealities, the false gods we deal with. But somehow I'm drawn back to the person of Jesus, what he said, what he espoused, as the touchstone for reality. Reality found in the fulness of a person's life, and not just in ideas. Something anchored to earth, whilst coming from the eternal. As I said, keeping feet on the ground whilst the head is in the clouds.   

  

Heaven

 Nantmawr, Shropshire, midweek

Sitting here on the patio in the afternoon sun, a gentle breeze making the heat bearable, not a cloud in the sky, and the distant sound of birds chirping- it's a vision of a sort of heaven. To complete the picture, a good book, a cup of tea, doors and windows flung open, sheep making their way across the steep hillside opposite. It's a very English vision of heaven, even though everywhere round here is blessed with Welsh place names,,,,,, so thoughts turn from the book I'm reading to wonder what other nationalities, other folk, would include in their heaven. 

Whatever, heaven is unlikely to be as we imagine. 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of  man what God has prepared for those who love him' St Paul tells the Corinthians. Well, not strictly heaven there, but it about covers it. Meanwhile, there is work to do to make what we know of this 'kingdom of heaven' a little more visible on earth- 'the kingdom of God is justice and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; Come Lord, and open in us, the gates of your kingdom'. 

Little time for the reveries of bucolic Shropshire in that. Work to be done. Starting from today -Sunday- now that holiday is over.  .  

Perfect

 There's a verse in Matthew chapter 5 which has always troubled me, 'Be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect'- and it's troubled me on a number of levels. Firstly, how can the imperfect be perfect? Secondly, if I strive for perfection, I am, as an imperfect creature, doomed to failure, and if I take this command to perfection seriously, and am always doomed to failure, this could seriously impact my mental health, my spiritual confidence; is this part of God's desire in my search for the unattainable?

Pity that ihis verse trapped so many into falsehood about what it means, and what it encourages us to be, to do. A better translation is 'be all-including, as your heavenly father is all-including' .Or, 'be indiscriminate in your loving and well-doing'  Well, still difficult, but a bit more accommodating of prejudiced eejuts like me. We love tribe- is he one of us? - and these words of Jesus are a challenge to tribal boundaries, in-crowd mentalities, exclusive zones. 

So, to love the next person whom I meet, even if it's Boris Johnson.......

unfinished

 There are one hundred and thirty three words that would fit into the last space in the weekly cryptic crossword. This, according to my laptop's crossword solver. I've been through them all once, and none seems to make sense in the context of the clue, and although the last two or three clues often benefit from being left for a day or  two, I suspect that this crossword will remain unfinished. 

Unfinished. Incomplete. It's a reality that life will always be this way. We say 'My life is complete', but I suspect it's the thought of a moment, a passing, possibly sentimental, feeling. There is always more to know, more to learn, more to be taken up into in the love of Christ. We don't know what, but we do know there is more. 

The Trinity season offers us the opportunity, now filled with the Spirit, to explore those familiar landscapes we have traversed in the salvation story from Advent to Pentecost. There are likely to be few places marked 'Here be dragons', but although we know the outlines, we all have room to plumb the depths, navigate the heights of of this salvation landscape.  Even though its exploration will be the task of a lifetime, and at the end, still unfinished. 

coronation

Today, as a jobbing priest, I shall perform my first, (and I expect, my last) coronation. The good people of Wistow, where I shall be presiding at Communion at 9 a.m. are bringing their Jubilee king and queen - drawn from the village's primary school, to church to be crowned. They will promise to uphold equity, mercy, justice, fairness, and support the people of Wistow. 

It will have little of the grandeur of the 1953 coronation, but I hope it lives in the village memory for many long years, as an occasion which brought people together, and reminded them of what kingship is about. 

One of the functions of a king is to bestow gifts- I remember the coronation mug, and the propelling pencil I received in 1953- the mug long gone, the pencil somewhere upstairs- I must look it out. Today,'  Pentecost, God will bestow gifts on his people through the giving of his Holy Spirit. These will go beyond equity, mercy, justice and fairness in the transformed lives of Jesus' followers, though those qualities are not bad as places to start. God is not stinting in his bestowal of gifts. We ask, he gives. It's as simple- and complicated- as that. King of kings; out of the riches of your grace, what will you give your people? What would I like?