All Things Seen & Unseen

I was at church today unexpectedly. No priest to consecrate the elements so we used the reserved sacrament. No priest to deliver the sermon so a Warden gave the sermon. The landowner and the labourers. It never ceases to amaze what God can bring out of His word when we least expect it. Whenever I had reflected on this parable on earlier occasions I had always focussed I think on the payment of the workers, or more especially, the 'unfairness' of the workers who had worked all day. But, the most wonderful word that occurs in this passage is 'generous'. God is a generous God and treats all of us generously. Not because of the level of our work or because of our status but because it is his nature to be generous with us..

The Church's year begins with Advent leading to Christmas to Epiphany. Then Lent prepares the Church to mark Easter, which leads on to Pentecost. All the Sundays following Pentecost are Ordinary Sundays. However, ordinary in this context means 'in order' or 'counted'. The Sundays after Easter are counted in order to the end of the Church's year. During this period after Pentecost, the liturgical colour is green, which denotes newness and growth. "The Sundays after Pentecost link the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to the celebration of the final Advent . . . when Christ will come in glory. This leads into a celebration of the first coming of Christ at Christmas and the cycle returns to its beginning. It is in these Sundays after Pentecost that we actually live - that is, in the period between the incarnation of God in Christ and our future life with God in heaven" ( http://www.pau...

The day of Pentecost was 50 days after Resurrection Sunday so how does John manage to speak of the coming of the Spirit in his gospel account (20: 19-23)? Are these two accounts to be harmonised somehow are just recognised as contradictory? I wouldn't accept either of these approaches. Both are concerned to bring everything in the Scriptures under the rubric of historicity when the Scriptures evidence in many instances a lack of concern for historical exactitude. The Scriptures were not primarily given to tell us about history. They are intended to "open the mind to the salvation which comes through believing in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 3:15, Phillips). To understand both St John and St Luke's differing accounts, we would have to examine their different renditions of the coming of the Spirit in the context of their gospel accounts. Despite the differences in timing, both connect the coming of the Spirit with the mission of the church. According to one writer , John's ...

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (Jn 17.3). I have always been attracted to this passage for some unknown reason. One cannot argue that it is even the burden of the passage (vv1-5). Rather, it is explanatory as C. K. Barrett says of the 'eternal life' mentioned in verse 2. It is also a text that is a battleground between Trinitarian and non-Trinitarian views with some arguing that Jesus Christ cannot be God because Jesus says that the Father is the 'only true God'. However, this position avoids the embarrassment found in considering that eternal life is found in knowledge of God the Father and in Jesus Christ. The simple but powerfully evocative bracketting of the two speaks volumes re the status of the Son (quite apart from many other passages of scripture). Knowledge of the Father and the Son is eternal life; in this, St John is stating what every Jew knew about God. To acknowledge...

Why is the Ascension of Christ so important? Significantly, Psalm 110 (particularly verse 1) is the most quoted passage in the NT and typically it is referred to the Ascension. 'The LORD says to my lord: "Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool". St Peter applied this verse to the Ascension of Christ in Acts 2 (vv34-35) noting that the verses could not be definitively applied to David because he did not ascend into the heavens! The full meaning of Psalm 110 is found in the Ascension to (and present Session of Christ at) the Father's right hand. The Ascension concerns authority, Christ's authority; for Jesus Christ ascended after the resurrection to where He is at the right hand of God "with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him" (1 Peter 3. 22). Significantly again, Hebrews 1, which also quotes Psalm 110 (v1), speaks of Christ's ascension by implication (1.3) but adds that Jesus the Son, sat down 'at the right hand ...

I saw this marvellous little piece on a blog today ( http://illuminations.blogs.com/illuminations/) and share it in the light of the church's focus on the Holy Spirit as we lead up to Pentecost: "We live in an age when all of the marketing and focus of the media is about ME and what I want. As a pastor, I too am regularly tempted to try to do all I can to make our church comfortable and pleasing to those who might attend. While I think it is OK to be a little "SEEKER FRIENDLY" , we must fight to truly make our churches more Holy Spirit friendly, and be a place that is welcoming to God and his Presence. We must also contend to do all we can to not feed the selfish tendencies of fallen human nature."

John 14, is overshadowed by Jesus', "where I am going you cannot come" (13: 33) and then with the issue of Peter's predicted denial. The chapter begins with the promise of Jesus' preparation of a new home in heaven for them, of his coming to take them to himself and of his being himself the very Road to the Father's house. He moves to the idea that the Father is in him and he in the Father. The works of the Son are the works of the Father but then the works of the disciples are going to be greater 'because I go to my Father.' Then comes the wonderful promise of the Holy Spirit, the other Counsellor/ Comforter/ Advocate, who is another, 'just like' (so the Greek) Jesus. This Counsellor will strengthen them when they are brought before tribunals to bear witness to the Resurrection and will be not only with but in them. Jesus then said that he and the Father would love the one who has and keeps Jesus' commandments, which is equated with lovin...