Advent ~ Swords into ploughshares

Advent has come around again. If we are 'bored' of Christmas by the time it arrives then we haven't done Advent at all. It is a great season of hope, light, joy, and peace. These are not just buzzwords we throw around at this time of year. Imagine what it would mean to breathe each of these gifts into our lives. 'Hope refers to a desire and expectations that goals that seem difficult to achieve may somehow be realized' (Harrington). And today's first reading asks us to dream big. It is from Isaiah and it is powerful. "They shall beat their swords into ploughshares..." (Isa 2:4). Imagine a world where we turned every single weapon into something useful... peacefully useful. It is not as daft as it seems. Imagine a world without weapons. Some people have tried it. Take a look at this pic of musical instruments made from weapons....

Or this one:

Or pull up a seat and look closer at this:

If you want to hear more about a community who spend some of their time turning AK47s into gardening tools, then check this out: http://www.redletterchristians.org/beating-ak47s-into-shovels/

The cliché is that 'another world is possible'. This is what Advent tells us and dares us to believe. Pray for peace this Advent season, peace in our hearts, our communities, our families.... oh and 'happy new church year'. SHALOM. MARANATHA.

November 24th ~ Christ the King

What is our image of a King? The picture painted by Luke in today’s gospel is hardly the stuff of kingship! Or is it? This account of Jesus’ death gives us an opportunity to lay aside a lot of cultural baggage about kings, leaders and kingdoms. Jesus’ kingdom is unlike the one that Pilate, or many other earthly leaders know. It is a kingdom built on love, service, justice, reconciliation and peace. Very few of today’s so called kings can measure up to this: responding to violence with forgiveness, giving those with no hope a reason to hope.
Look at the following examples from the past century and ask who are the more living examples of this type of kingship: Mahatma Gandhi, Pope Francis, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, local community leaders who make daily sacrifices in endless service to those around them.

We sometimes ask where is God? Today we are given an answer: God is on the cross, in a broken body asking us to climb up there with him and to look at the world from an entirely different perspective. Today’s Gospel gives a powerful image of Jesus as servant King, like a beacon light for society in today’s world.

“The power of truth, of honesty, of forgiveness – with no frills! How different the world would be if it was governed by this kind of power.” Michel de Verteuil

Fashion Changes; Style Endures Luke 21:5-19

We are reading the final chapters of Luke’s Gospel for Year C. Jesus is in Jerusalem and the passages we hear are talking about end times. The people gathered are obviously excited having seen how magnificent the Temple is, having come ‘up from the country’ and Jesus is trying to calm them down. The time for excitement might not be just yet. Jesus reminds them, and us, that these things are short-lived and we should not be too bothered about ‘fine stonework’ and ‘votive offerings’. These things do not last.
Jesus’ main warning is not to believe many who will come claiming to know when the end times will be.

A series of quotations from Jesus follows in which he gives comfort to the people about various crisis that will happen. Luke is almost giving us a subsequent history of the Christian community. It is not all doom and gloom, but we need to take perspective and look at the bigger picture. Endurance is the message of today’s gospel. The people of Jerusalem will witness the destruction of the Temple, the disciples will face persecution, people of faith will have tough times ahead. Whatever crisis may come, Jesus is affirming us to keep going, to stay focused and not be afraid.


“Lord, when we are young we think that we become great through our achievements. Life has taught us the truth of Jesus’ words: it is by endurance that we win our lives” Michel de Verteuil

Will my body look old in this? Luke 20:27-38

This Sunday's Gospel is difficult. The Sadducees, are trying to trap Jesus with questions about resurrection, even though they did not believe in resurrection. They are specifically concerned with childless women marrying their brother-in-laws to keep the deceased husbands name alive. Their case-study is slightly absurd and exaggerated. A situation where women can be ‘given’ and owned will not exist in the next life, nor will any other instances of slavery or the realities of this world. In a place of peace, justice and freedom, people are not ‘owned’ or ‘given’. We should not be too preoccupied with questions like theirs: ‘Whose wife will she be?’ or ‘Will I look old?’ ‘Will I have a body?’ We can trust in God.

We could interpret ‘taking wives and husbands’ as the many projects, titles, schemes we use to promote our own interests as ‘children of this world’. ‘Children of the resurrection’ don’t do this. They make huge sacrifices for people they work with, whether on the margins, for the liberation of people around them and those who are oppressed in any way. They ‘cannot die’ even though they can be condemned by society. You might recall someone who has passed away, but who is very much alive because of their influence on people, their generosity and kindness and the difference they made to those around them. They are ‘children of the resurrection’.

“You were born a child of light’s wonderful secret— you return to the beauty you have always been.” ― Aberjhani,.

Zacchaeus Restored

It was because of the crowd that Zacchaeus could not see Jesus. Today’s Gospel brings up questions for us about who we are preventing having an experience of Jesus because we deem them unworthy or ‘sinner’. Zacchaeus as a chief Roman tax collector would have been seen as part of the Roman regime and an exploiter. Zacchaeus does not let that stop him, and climbs a tree to make sure he can get a glimpse of the preacher that everyone is talking about. Jesus seeks out the lost and sees Zacchaeus. He reaches out to him immediately and with urgency saying he ‘must’ stay at Zacchaeus’ house. It is God’s plan, it is a necessity.

Zacchaeus offers the strictest requirement in the OT for restitution ‘four times the amount’. But notice that Jesus reaches out before Zacchaeus offers compensation for his crimes. God’s love is unconditional and eternal. The encounter with Jesus has led Zacchaeus to be witness to restoration and solidarity. He wants to restore justice to the situations he has created. Whether it was the crowd, greed, politics or corruption that was preventing Zacchaeus from seeing Jesus, he has been welcomed back to the table with urgency. Jesus is waiting to be invited in ‘today’. The complaints and negativity continue in the background, suggesting he is not good enough… but none of that matters. This man is a ‘son of Abraham’. It was the affection of Christ, not the condemnation of the town that reversed the situation.