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Sunday 22nd July, 2012 Eighth Sunday after Pentecost Mary Magdalene Sentence As He went ashore, Jesus saw a great crowd and He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. Mark 5: 34 Collect O God, You alone can order our unruly wills and affections; teach us to love what You command and to desire what You promise, that among the changes and chances of this world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Old Testament Lesson 2 Samuel 7: 1 – 14a When the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, "See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent." Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you." But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. Psalm 89: 21 – 34 I have found My servant David: and anointed him with holy oil My hand shall uphold him: and My arm shall strengthen him No enemy shall deceive him: nor shall the wicked hurt him I will crush his adversaries before him: and strike down those that hate him My faithfulness and loving-kindness shall be with him: and through My name his head shall be lifted high I will set the hand of his dominion upon the Western Sea: and his right hand shall stretch into the streams of Mesopotamia He will call Me ‘You are my Father; my God and the rock of my salvation’ I will make him My first-born son: and highest among the kings of the earth I will ever maintain My loving-kindness toward him: and My covenant with him shall stand firm I will establish his line for ever: and his throne like the days of heaven If his children forsake My law: and will not walk in My judgements If they profane My statutes; and do not keep My commandments Then I will punish their rebellion with the rod: and their iniquity with blows But I will not cause My loving-kindness to cease from him: nor will I betray My faithfulness. Epistle Ephesians 2: 11 – 22 So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called "the uncircumcision" by those who are called "the circumcision" ---a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands---remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God. GOSPEL Mark 6: 30 – 34 and 53 – 56 The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. ****************************************************** When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed. © New Revised Standard Version of the Bible Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved NOTES ON THE READINGS Old Testament Lesson I wonder if you see this passage the same way that I do? For many years now I have had the strong conviction that as long as Israel pilgrimmed in the desert, they had a chance of learning more of God and of life. It was an existence on the move constantly, and people’s awareness had to be rather more open. But the moment they settled down into a life more sedentary, that personal exploration diminished. In this passage, seems to me, God was trying to get the message across that houses of cedar, permanent residences for God, would tend to mean reduction to routine in worship and thought. My suspicion is that this problem remains for modern pilgrims, too. If you don’t believe me, try getting people to move forward in their faith and to explore life and God. They are rather more likely to dig in their heels and refuse to move. Psalm I must be an old cynic, for here too, it seems to me that propaganda has outshone the reality. Certainly, for Israel David was king par excellence, and the boundaries of the country exceeded anything before or since. On the other hand, the psalm indicates what Solomon could have expected, and got --- for all his disobedience. Epistle The more I read and study Scripture, the more I am amazed at the apparent incapacity of Israel to see that the faith they had received had, from Abraham on, included all human beings. How Israel could ever consider themselves as a cut above the others, as the only people whom God thought about, escapes me entirely. But then one is left in the dark when Christians still have the capacity of ignoring the clear evidence of Scripture to come out with the most incredible ‘articles of faith’ that have absolutely no basis in reality. Whatever is wrong with us humans? So here, anyhow, is the clear evidence that St. Paul saw that the Divine move in the Gospel was for all humans, Jew, Gentile or whatever else. Remember it took the Infant Church all that struggle referred to in Acts 15 to reach that point of conviction. And thank God that they did! GOSPEL What a tragic picture Mark offers us, of Jesus and the Twelve being run off their feet and having no time to refresh, and crowds pushing in on them to get what they sought also. (You will note that the text in between these two sections for today includes one of the Feeding Signs, which really should have been included. Mind you, that series begins next Sunday, from John’s Gospel.) However, this passage as it stands at present indicates both the pressure under which Jesus operated, and the profound compassion He had for people and His awareness of their sense of need and longing. As I have mentioned elsewhere and often, I look for and yet rarely find these days, that same compassion and self-commitment among clergy and people in this day and age. NOTES FOR A SERMON I really have no idea how today’s readings come across to you, or if there is anything in them to widen your scope of the Faith; I can only tell you of my thoughts. When I first had the call to ministry at the fairly tender age of 17 or thereabouts, one of the main considerations that blew up in my head was the expectation of sheer and utter boredom, being cooped up in Church for much of my lifetime. It was not a pleasant prospect, and left me wondering if I should avoid the challenge. I am glad that I did not. Boredom has never been a factor in my priesthood; there has never been enough time to be bored, and here is the reason why. One of the fascinating challenges of being a clergyman has been the constancy of questions from people who either did not understand where the Faith was taking them, or who had been led up myriads of garden paths – none of which led to other than dead ends. In other words, it has been a great necessity to be a few steps ahead of people, or choose the lesser path of suggesting that people stop questioning and simply ‘believe.’ That path is really quite dishonest. Even in College, where I met some of the OT prophets for the first time it became clear to me that they were in a very similar boat. They had people clamouring for answers, so those prophets found themselves with a lot of thinking to do. As you may have noticed, Isaiah has long become a favourite prophet, largely because it became quite clear that he was very much the questioning, probing, dissatisfied follower of JHWH, but aware that the Almighty knew what He was on about, right from the beginning. Perhaps the real thing that struck me as my studies and questionings continued, is to realize that, although those ancient greats searched for and found answers to their questions, freely offering their insights to the populace, very few of that populace either took notice or grew in their own understanding. Hence, for many, the Faith (and here we are talking Judaism,) marked time, going nowhere. Brothers, we are treading where we’ve always trod. Sadly, tragically, and may I even suggest blasphemously, Christians over the centuries have followed the same pattern. Christian history is littered with the evidence of complete lack of thought sometimes for centuries, and – what is worse – refusal to listen to anyone who dared to challenge the dogmas of the time, regardless of how short-sighted such refusal proved to be. It is only in quite recent times that the Papacy has resiled against its utter refusal to respond to Galileo! What fools we mortals be!) So that OT passage about David and his plans for the Temple speak loudly to me of a God Who was saying, right back then, forget being sedentary, remain on pilgrimage, and keep growing. So we don’t. Ironically, I have yet to find a question raised by anyone, believer or not, that does not have a solid and significant answer either in Scripture itself, or in a rather wider, truer perception of the Faith. Most of the puzzles and enigmas that people have are not beyond a mere priest to answer; in fact, some people over the years have discovered to their surprise, that the Faith they professed to despise, had nothing to do with the views they thought we Christians held. So if there is any comment that I would make to end this off, should you have a nagging or bothering query about the Christian Faith, talk to someone who should have the answers. But bear in mind also, that rather too many of us Christians tend not to have looked past our noses to find answers for ourselves.