From the Vicarage Dec 06 / Jan 07

The weeks leading up to Christmas have seen our town take on an unwelcome notoriety. No-one who lives in Ipswich can have been left unaffected by the disappearance and tragic deaths of five young women. The ensuing high-profile police investigation and media coverage have left us all with the uncomfortable awareness of evil in our midst. It has been brought home to us all with irresistible force that not only is a serial killer at large, but that tens of women work the streets of our red light district each night and so many of them have arrived there after tragic lives of neglect, abuse and addiction.

In the face of this, local Christian leaders issued a joint statement. They expressed sadness at the tragic loss of life and sympathy for those affected by it or having to investigate it. The churches, it promised, are there as a resource for our troubled community – they are open for prayer and their Christmass services will comprise spells of quiet for people to pray about and reflect on the tragedy. But they went on to make a strong connection between the killings and the message of Christmass; they asked us ‘to remember those who are pushed to the edges of society and are therefore particularly vulnerable,’ and then reminded us that such people ‘were among the first to recognise the Messiah.’ Christmass does indeed tell of God’s love for all. The gospels show how this love was often embraced by those on the fringes of society. One such ‘working girl’ was a witness to the resurrection and one of our greatest saints!

But the relevance of Christmass should not be confined to drawing parallels between Jesus’ first disciples and the ‘vulnerable’ of today. Instead this feast reveals a central doctrine of our faith, the Incarnation. In the birth of Jesus in the stable at Bethlehem God became man. This event is quite simply the greatest act of love and humility ever! And in touching the human with the divine God invested all human life with divine value and divine possibilities. In other words, Christmass means that each person is to be valued as an image of God and one who has been invited to share God’s own life.

This conviction should inform our response to the debates which are already starting. What lessons are there to be learned? Should prostitution be legalised? Christians must resist the moral bankruptcy that would accept an underclass whose only value is to gratify others. And we must not be naïve enough to think that prostitution can be separated from drug-abuse, crime and misery. These thoughts are an affront to the mystery of Christmass and an unworthy memorial to five young lives so tragically snuffed out.


Fr P

26th Sunday - 1 Oct - Jealousy

St Barts is going to have a parade service on 1st October and celebrate Harvest.

Fr P

However for those wishing to look up readings of the normal cycle please see the 26th Sunday reference below>

READINGS:

Numbers 11: 25-29
Psalm 18
James 5: 1-6
Mark 9: 38-48

Jealousy is a word that crops up in the scriptures more than once, but not always in the negative way in which we naturally use it. God is jealous; he loves his people and demands that he should be the only God they worship. Human jealousy is altogether different and it knows no bounds, even showing itself in the arena of faith. The disciples are jealous of a man who works miracles but not with them. The young men in the OT reading are jealous of those who prophesy through the Holy Spirit. Such feelings belong to the world below. And so St James warns us of focusing all our energies on that world and not investing in the one to come. For those who live without a care for the life to come a judgement lies in store.

25th Sunday - 24 Sept - The ungodly oppose the godly

Readings

Wisdom 2 : 12 17-29 "Let us condemn the godly"
Psalm 53(54)
James 3:16-4
Mark 9:30-37

24th Sunday - 17 Sept - The Suffering Servant

READINGS:

Isaiah 50: 5-9
Psalm 114
James 2: 14-18
Mark 8: 27-35

The suffering servant

The songs of the Suffering Servant can be found in the Second Isaiah and come from a period in the history of Israel when the people were in exile. They are songs of dereliction but not of despair. The prophet looks for his redemption in God. It is easy and natural to want to evade the difficulties of following Christ. But he warns Peter in the gospel that recognising him and the Christ the Son of God is only to go so far. We also have to accept God’s will. For Peter this meant seeing his Master walk the way of the cross. For all disciples it means walking that way ourselves. This means different things for all of us; but in every case God guarantees to stand by us as our helper and strength.

Fr P

23rd Sunday 10th Sept - The deaf hear

READINGS:

Isaiah 35: 4-7
Psalm 145
James 2: 1-5
Mark 7: 31-37

The deaf hear!

We all need encouragement and reassurance. In a way the miracles of Jesus were just that—signs of the coming of God’s reign and a call to trust. In the gospel next week a deaf man is healed. The crowd respond by hailing Jesus as the one who has ‘done all things well’. Isaiah sees such acts as the sign that salvation has dawned and that we should take courage. Sometimes this courage will involve a departure from the prejudices of society or even our own hang-ups.

St Paul identifies snobbery as something quite contrary to the gospel and traces how it leads to the making of false judgements. As Jesus’ generosity and power are manifest in miracles, so our discipleship shows itself in a people free from prejudice and fear.

Fr P

Sunday 27th Aug - Choose the Lord!

READINGS:

Joshua 24: 1-2. 15-18 Psalm 33

Eph 5: 21-32

John 6: 60-69

Choose the Lord! In the OT reading Joshua invites the people to count their blessings and, more importantly the one who blesses them. They have been delivered from their enemies by the Lord. But it is now up to them to decide whom they should worship.

As more and more people reject Jesus in the gospel, the Apostles themselves are faced with a similar predicament. Peter echoes the words of Joshua as he pledges himself to Jesus. But whilst Joshua saw God saving the people from their worldly enemies, Peter recognises Jesus as his saviour, the one who has the ‘words of eternal life’. The implications of Jesus’ Lordship are examined in the NT reading. Christ should be obeyed but he also loved his church in a way similar to the love of Christian marriage.

Fr P

Sunday 20 August - Live for the Lord!

READINGS:

Proverbs 9: 1-6;
Ps 33;
Ephesians 5: 15-20
John 6: 51-58

Live for the Lord!

Christian initiation (Baptism and Conformation) involves making a decision for God. This is to reject the values of the world the as well as well as to embrace God. It is no accident that the gospel reading next week, which is about the Eucharist, begins with a division between people: those who choose to live for Jesus eat the bread of life and receive the pledge of immortality; those who reject Jesus do not.

St Paul writes to us about persevering in that choice. We are to live worthy lives and lives full of praise. In this perseverance we have the Holy Spirit to comfort us and help us avoid all unworthy escapisms. The book of Proverbs likens both wisdom and foolishness to a dining experience. But only the bread of wisdom leads to life.


Fr P

Sunday 13 August – 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

READINGS:
1 Kings 19: 4-8;
Ps 33;
Ephesians 4: 30-5: 2;John 6: 4-51

The call to eternal life. To come to Jesus, we first have to be ‘drawn’ to him by God the Father. Jesus tells us that this is a two-step process; first we have to be taught and learn from him; and then we have eat the bread from heaven. To believe is to have eternal life. And to eat the bread from heaven is to receive a pledge that we will arrive there at the end of our earthly pilgrimage.

In these two ways the Eucharist is food for the journey—we are taught and fed, as Elijah was, so that the journey of life might not be too great for us. Since spiritual sustenance is about this life as well as the next, St Paul points out to the Ephesians that certain fruits are expected from the Eucharistic Community, so as not to grieve the Holy Spirit, especially love and forgiveness.

Fr P

Sunday 6 Aug 2006 - The Transfiguration

READINGS:
Daniel 7: 9-10. 13-14; Ps 96;
2 Peter 1: 16-19;Mark 9: 2-10

Who is Jesus? This question is asked in so many different ways in the gospels. St Peter writes to us of his experience at the Transfiguration; for him this episode was a an apprehension of Jesus' majesty, a fulfilment of the prophets and a hope for the future.

It vindicated his faith, his hope and his preaching. The gospel shows Peter relishing the moment of Jesus' appearance in glory and wanting to make it permanent. And in Isaiah we hear of the angelic Son of Man figure (a title Jesus takes for himself and for his return in glory).

All of this points to the importance of awe, wonder and adoration in the spiritual lives of Christians. We so naturally ask God things, even thank him, but adoring him seems rather less in fashion today!