A CRAZY BUSINESS MAN

I have been having a cataract operation with its before and after

A CRAZY BUSINESS MAN

This business man is not going far. He calls in his debts and when someone pleads for more time he cancels the debt altogether. Surely this is no way to run a business. He will be bankrupt in no time. So why does Jesus hold up such an impractical ideal for us to follow? The answer has to have something to do with the new values, the new way of thinking, he was announcing under the general heading of “the kingdom of God.”

Cancelling debts and forgiveness do happen in international politics and economics. Sometimes there is no other choice. But among individuals and smaller entities it is rarer. It is even seen as somehow wrong to let people “get away with it.” The correct way is pursue the debt until it is paid.

Jesus is bringing in another dimension: if the person concerned – the debtor - is sincerely sorry and asks for forgiveness there is a new situation. The disciple of Jesus is then bound to take this into account and forgive the debt. Economic textbooks might say, “Wait a minute, you might be able to do that once, but you cannot run a business that way.” Jesus says, “Well, actually, you can!” But he does not explain. He leaves it up to the hearer – who is one of his disciples, one who believes – to accept that, despite the craziness of the economics, a way will be found.

Perhaps a key element will be the sincerity of the one who asks to be forgiven. That will not always be present. There might be many chancers whom the businessman will find others ways of sorting out. He doesn’t have to ruin his business on account of chancers.

Everything to do with the kingdom demands a step into the unknown. That is why the parables pass us by. We have tamed them and made them safe and manageable. But Jesus intended them to shock and shake! Cancelling money debts is tough at times. It may well eat into my own plans and hopes. But cancelling hurts, insults, grudges, may be equally hard. Just imagine if we could do it – all the time! It would make a difference to our world.

The parables remind us that Jesus is announcing a way of life at variance with what many of us consider safe, sane and sensible. While we revere him we secretly feel he lived in a primitive age and his message does not quite fit our time. Most of us have no experience of sowing and fishing – to say nothing of patching and wineskins. But these are merely the externals that carry the message. The message itself can easily be read in our time and in our place.

17 September 2017                         Sunday 24 A

Sirach 27:30-28:7                              Romans 14:7-9                  Matthew 18:21-35  

CONFLICONFLICTING MIND-SETS

CONFLICONFLICTING MIND-SETS

It is rare to learn of a crystal clear clash of mind-sets in the Church in Africa but the ongoing tussle between Rome and the priests and people of Ahiara diocese in Nigeria, over the appointment of their new bishop, is one. Ahiara is not only a diocese, it is a geographical unit of a particular people – tribe, if you like but resist the overtones of the word – the Mbaise people. They felt marginalised by the dominant Igbo society of eastern Nigeria and recall how they were at ease and affirmed by the former bishop, Victor Chikwe, himself a son of the Mbaise soil.

After his death in 2010 it took three years for Pope Benedict to appoint a successor, an Igbo. “There was no consultation or dialogue with the priests or the people of the diocese as to what kind of bishop was needed to continue the legacy of the much-loved Bishop Chikwe.”  (Stan Chu Ilo, Tablet 29 July 2017). Rome had reasons for the decision made but we can only guess what they were. The Mbaise people are “among the most highly educated in Nigeria” and had developed a strong sense of identity over against the dominant culture that surrounded them. Chu Ilo proposes they picked this up by imbibing the mind-set of their Irish missionaries who came from a country dominated and exploited by the English for 700 years. Rome may have been nervous of encouraging the progress of this self-affirmation which the people enjoyed under Bishop Chikwe. To remind them they belonged to a universal Church Rome may have felt it necessary to appoint an outsider.

In the middle ages Archbishops of Canterbury were sometimes from France and at least one of them, Theodore of Tarsus (St Paul’s birth place), came from what is now Turkey. But we are not in the middle ages, a time when people had not yet developed a sense of identity linked to a particular culture and place. Today people are much more aware of themselves as belonging to a nation or – within a nation – a tribe. They want their leaders to be “one of them.”  Tribalism may be affirmative but it can also be divisive. And this is what makes Rome nervous.

So here we have a clash; a clash between universalism and localism, between imposition from outside and listening to the people inside and between a fixed mind-set of centralised authority over against determined resistance at the local level. It is revealing that the local priests protest; “We are not disobeying the pope. What we are saying is that we should not be suppressed. They (presumably the people round the pope) are subverting the truth.”

To judge by news media sound bites it looks like the pope calling to heel some recalcitrant priests. But the more we go into it the more we see this is an issue that cannot be solved by the weight of authority alone. There will have to be dialogue – in this and other cases that are bound to come.   CTING MIND-SETS

SPREADING ALL OVER

PRAYER PAUSE           (Suspended for some days from tomorrow as I have an op)

Wednesday 6 September 2017

SPREADING ALL OVER

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “The Good News which has reached you is spreading all over the world.” (Colosians 1:1-8)

Reflection. There is enthusiasm and energy in Paul’s celebration of the Good News and it is an echo of the opening of Luke’s account of the ministry of Jesus, “I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God to the other towns too.” (Luke 4;38-44). Despite the news of narrow politics, displacements of people, hurricanes and threats of nuclear war – all of which fill us with sadness and alarm – God is at work in the energy of people everywhere pushing bak against the evil within and without. There seem to be particularly nasty events happening these days. They call us to respond and to pray. God is with us.

Prayer. Lord, help us to hope, to struggle and to pray in the darkness that seems to envelop us. Amen.

WITH AUTHORITY

PRAYER PAUSE          

Tuesday 5 September 2017

WITH AUTHORITY

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “And his teaching made a deep impression on them because he spoke with authority.” (Luke 4:31-37)

Reflection. “With authority.” The phrase comes twice in our reading from Luke today. It is a slightly tainted word – “authoritarian, the authorities” – but its basic meaning is a way that resonates with truth. Someone “with authority” touches something deep within us and releases our energy to understand and to act. True authority helps us to grow. The Latin, augere, means to grow and I have heard it said our word authority has its roots there.  Those in authoritry have the task to help us grow – at home, in school and in the state.  

Prayer. Lord, help us to follow you and so relate to others that they feel good about themselves and free to develop all their gifts. Amen.

FULFILLED TODAY EVEN AS YOU LISTEN

PRAYER PAUSE          

Monday 4 September 2017

FULFILLED TODAY EVEN AS YOU LISTEN

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.” (Luke 4:16-30)

Reflection. Our reading of Luke begins with Jesus’ announcement in his home town of the good news: the Lord’s favour for all the people. And “he won their approval.” At least at first. They could not hold on to the vision. They baulked at the price of their own freedom – as people have done ever since. “My yoke is easy and my burden light” but it is still too much to take on and they turn away. Their enthusiasm wanes and they reject him. We face the same “today” every day: the choice to receive the good news or turn away from it. What makes us so hesitant?.  

Prayer. Lord, help us to welcome your promise with joy and unite our minds, hearts and strength to yours. Amen.

WE CAN HANDLE ANYTHING

WE CAN HANDLE ANYTHING

Do we take heed of warnings? It is a mercy that we are often given notice of a tough call coming. From time immemorial people have searched the skies for indications of the weather. Today satellites dance round the globe telling us what is about to happen. They knew a hurricane was coming to Texas. They prepared and prided themselves on the efficacy of their response. “Texas can handle anything,” said President Trump.

What they do not seem to do is ask why the rainfall was the “worst ever recorded” causing damage that will take $400 billion to repair. This is not the first catastrophe to hit the United States and it is unlikely to be the last. These are warnings of far greater catastrophes to come. The United States can take measures to prevent such events but, officially, they ignore them because taking steps to combat climate change is “bad for jobs.”

Other countries also suffer but cannot call on $400 billion. They do not have the capacity to “handle anything.” They just suffer.  

Churchill entitled the last volume of his History of the Second World War, Triumph and Tragedy, How the Great Democracies Triumphed, And So Were Able to Resume The Follies Which Had So Nearly Cost Them Their Life. This ironic verdict fits neatly on the shoulders of those who say they can “handle anything.” We can’t handle everything. If we are to survive we have to change our way of thinking.

The hurricane hit a city in Texas called Corpus Christi. This name stops us in our tracks. It is a Latin name given by early Spanish missionaries who may have arrived there on this Catholic feast of the Eucharist, The Body of Christ. To see that body lacerated again, this time by storms, evokes a powerful picture of the One who is with us in all our adversities. The Body of Christ has always been associated with the Eucharist but the Church has widened its meaning to the whole body of the people of God.

Jesus faced the hurricane of Calvary but Matthew tells us Peter advised him to avoid it. He wanted a Jesus who smoothed over the painful choice. The response he got was the hardest, sharpest and among the most authentic of Jesus’ words. “Get behind me Satan!” If we want to save our planet for our children we have to make hard decisions. It was not easy for Jesus to “set his face towards Jerusalem” when he knew what would happen there. Jeremiah (20:9) had an inkling of this when he spoke of a “fire burning in his bones.”

This Sunday we celebrate Care for Creation Day. We can be part of this celebration of creation by caring for our planet and doing all we can – even if it is only thinking about where we dispose of our plastic. We can handle anything but not through hubris and avoiding hard decisions.

3 September 2017                           Sunday 22 A

Jeremiah 20:7-9                                                Romans 12:1-2                                  Matthew 16: 21-27

WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT

PRAYER PAUSE          

Saturday 2 September 2017

WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small hings, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.” (Matthew 25:14-30)

Reflection. There is an urgency about the parable of the talents – or, as it is sometimes called,  the parable of the money given in trust - that we can miss if we think it is just about using our gifts. The parables do not just confirm us in doing what is obvious and reasonable. They shock us. They call us to “go for bust!” They call us to make an all out effort to make the reign of God visible and felt in our time and place. It is not enough to set our sights on a good moral life – admirable as that is. Jesus calls us to “be perfect”, that is, to stretch ourselves like a athlete who goes for the greater.

Prayer. Lord, help us to reach beyond our grasp and be restless until we rest in you. Amen.