John Davies - Notes From a Small Vicar

Jesus in the Temple and the baby in McDonalds: finding Heaven in the Ordinary

... Everyone in the queue - businessmen, apprentices, carers, other random travellers, were suddenly united in a beautiful moment. It seemed like this was the first time that that McDonalds assistant had seen her friend's child and she couldn't help share her delight with everyone else there. It might have been the first time that young mother had taken the child out to show her off to people, and - just by being there, just by exchanging a few smiles - all of us, finding ourselves gathered around a baby in the middle of that McDonalds helped her to celebrate her new-born pride and joy.

Guided by the Spirit, the old man Simeon went once again to the temple, where he spent so many of his days; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,'Master, now I, your servant, can go in peace,  because my eyes have seen the salvation you have prepared for us all…’

The parent passing the baby over to the one who had been eagerly awaiting their first sight of this child. A Simeon moment. ...

from my talk today, Jesus in the Temple and the baby in McDonalds: finding Heaven in the Ordinary.

 

The global enterprise with a different set of values

... Note that Jesus doesn’t talk about the church. His concern is not to establish a religious institution which runs welfare organisations. To borrow from J. John, Jesus ‘deal[s] in the area of behavioural alteration’. He wants us to lay down our desire to follow in the pattern of the world and to desire instead to be alongside the poor, the peacemakers, those who exercise ‘soft power’, those who seek God’s justice regardless of the cost. And those who respond to this challenge today - as throughout human history - come from inside and outside the church.

You don’t have to sign up for membership, or pass doctrinal tests or look or act or eat a certain way to be part of Jesus’s movement. You just have to embrace Jesus’ teaching and his life as the means through which you can become more fully human. If you walk the way he describes in the Beatitudes, then, knowingly or not, you walk with him. ...

- from my talk for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, The global enterprise with a different set of values.Which owes a great deal to the writing of Brian D. McLaren; and the J. John clip - ‘How To Explain What You Do, When You're A Pastor’ - is brilliant.

 

Jesus: One for the Community

... Jesus first revealed his glory to the world: not by a wonderful healing, not with a stunning sermon, but by going round the back of the bar at a wedding and generously boosting the stocks of best wine. And in so doing he revealed the real good news in Christianity. The good news that Jesus is One for the Community. What do I mean?

Well, reading behind the text, we can assume why Jesus was at the party. You'd expect a single man of thirty years old to be invited to a wedding, to share the joy and the fun of the occasion with his family and friends, and perhaps as the object of the affections of a young bridesmaid, maybe as a careful listener in those rare intense conversations one sometimes gets into at parties. You'd also expect that God who delighted in creating the world and all its people, would delight to take part in a day of celebration; that God whose whole being is wrapped up in love, would want to share the wonder of a young couple's love by joining in their wedding party. 

Now, back to the story. Put yourself in the position of the wedding’s hosts and the wedding’s organisers. Imagine their situation when they saw that the wine was running low. Jesus’ miracle showed how keenly he understood their problem and felt their needs. Verse 4 shows how at first he didn’t want to do something he hadn’t planned or prepared for. But out of his compassion for the community, he ended up innovating. It was good news for the community. Three lots of people particularly benefited from what Jesus did that day: 

The partygoers benefited, obviously, from an uninterrupted supply of quality refreshment. Some of them might not even have known what had gone on behind the scenes, but whoever they were and whatever they were up to at that party, Jesus chose to bless them with new wine.

The hosts of the party benefited: it saved them so much embarrassment, there were no such things as all-night supermarkets to bail them out in those days; they had no neighbours with barns full of cider ready to serve.

I particularly like to think that Jesus performed this miracle for the sake of the bar staff, the caterers - the servants and the steward of this story. Whether or not it was their fault, they would have got the blame and took the shame when the wine ran out. Think of the effect on their livelihood, on their credibility in the community. Jesus stepped in to save them from being pilloried for their wrongdoing - and so this miracle prefigures Calvary, drops hints about the fundamental meaning of salvation.

I suggest that John put this miracle at the very top of his story about Jesus to show that Jesus is One for the Community. ...

 - from my Wedding at Cana talk, Jesus: One for the Community, today.

The baptism of Jesus and the baptism of John

The people responsible for selecting the bible readings for us each week, today decided to leave out the verses about John’s imprisonment. But I re-inserted them because I feel that it is essential to the powerful truth of Jesus’ baptism, that Herod’s destructive relationship with John features in the story. The baptism of Jesus faces the world head-on. Our faith does not avoid the realities of history but rather affirms God’s invasion of history. For human history is a place where tyrants imprison prophets, where powerful ones silence their opponents. And it is equally a place where God intervenes in love, and the power of the Holy Spirit enables prophets to continue speaking, and ordinary people to keep opposing the powers of greed and destruction, in their lives and by their words.

This reminds us that our baptism is not just for personal piety, but for the transformation of the world. Our study of scripture and its application, our prayer life, and everything else generated by our relationship with God, is part of the kingdom which is gently breaking into this world.

This is deeply understood by those Christians in other countries who are today being persecuted and killed for their faith in Christ. It is keenly followed by those who work for change in our own society, motivated by their faith: in running foodbanks and credit unions, campaigning for a living wage, for debt relief to the poorest people, and so on. 

- from today's talk, Luke 3 - The baptism of Jesus and the baptism of John.

Wise men kneeling

... There is one occasion in our culture when kneeling before someone is still regarded as ‘the right thing to do’. It’s the marriage proposal. You’ve seen it countless times on films and TV. You’ve maybe even done it yourself. Got down on one knee, drawn out the little box containing the engagement ring, and asked your loved one for their hand in marriage.

Now getting down on one knee is an important part of this age-old ritual which we still practice and love. But we might ask, does it mean the same thing as it would if we prostrated ourselves before a king or queen, or bishop? It’s not a gesture to do with submitting to someone of higher rank, power or authority. Rather, it’s a gesture which expresses love and devotion for the other. 

You’re not kneeling down before that person because they’re your social superior, you’re kneeling down before them because they’re the focus of your desire. And you’re usually confident that you’re the focus of their desire too, that the feeling is mutual. So, a little nervously nevertheless you trust: that their desire is the same as your desire and, hallelujah! - they say ‘yes’.... 

- from my Epiphany talk today, Wise men kneeling.