In one of those serendipitous occurences, I've started reading The Gift by Lewis Hyde at the same time as preparing sermons using Stephen Verney's The Dance of Love (click here for sermon). There have been several overlaps and parallels that I have noticed as a result.
I wrote that "If we don’t give love away to others then we become a blockage in the constant exchange of love of which we are a part and this prevents us from receiving love at the same time that love ceases to be shared with others through us." Hyde suggests "we think of the gift as a constantly flowing river" and allow ourselves "to become a channel for its current." When we try to "dam the river", "thinking what counts is ownership and size," "one of two things will happen: either it will stagnate or it will fill the person up until he bursts."
One of the forms of gift exchange with which Hyde's book is concerned is reciprocal giving:
"The gift moves in a circle, and two people do not make much of a circle. Two points establish a line, but a circle lies in a plane and needs at least three points. This is why ... most of the stories of gift exchange have a minimum of three people ... so long as the gift passes out of sight it cannot be manipulated by one man or one pair of gift partners. When the gift moves in a circle its motion is beyond the control of the personal ego, and so each bearer must be a part of the group and each donation is an act of social faith ... The gift can circulate at every level of the ego. In the ego-of-one we speal of self-gratification, and whether it's forced or chosen, a virtue or a vice, the mark of self-gratification is its isolation. Reciprocal giving, the ego-of-two, is a little more social. We think mostly of lovers. Each of these circles is exhilarating as it expands, and the little gifts that pass between lovers touch us because each is stepping into a larger circuit. But again, if the exchange goes on and on to the exclusion of others, it soon goes stale."
This, it seems to me, has clear parallels with the image I used of the interaction between the male and female partners in a ballroom dance which equates to Hyde's talk of lovers; George Bernard Shaw apparently said of ballroom dancing that it is "the vertical expression of a horizontal intent." Yet the exchanges possible between two people, whether dance partners or lovers, are linear. For exchange to become circular, moving beyond the control of the personal ego, a minimum of three people are required; which is where in my sermon we move to discussion of the eternal exchange found within the Trinity. Three persons are the minimum requirement for a group gift exchange and donation as an act of social faith.
In another sermon on gift (click here) I quoted David Runcorn as saying that “the life of God is non-possessive, non-competitive, humbly attentive to the interests of the other, united in love and vision.” To be God-like, he writes, “is not to be grasping” and so “Jesus pours himself out ‘precisely because’ he is God from God.” The Biblical word for this is kenosis, the self-emptying of God. But Runcorn goes on to point out that this self-emptying or kenosis characterises every member of the Trinity and argues that Jesus’ incarnation “offers us a mysterious and astonishing vision”:
“the Holy Trinity as a dancing community of divine poverty. Each eternally, joyfully, dispossessing themselves; emptying, pouring themselves out to the favour and glory of the other. Nothing claimed, demanded or grasped. They live and know each other in the simple ecstasy of giving.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U2 - One.
Sunday, 19 June 2011
The Dance of Love (2)
The partners in a ballroom dance, it seems to me, need to learn to think and move as one. At times, they will dance the same synchronised steps, perhaps as a mirror image of the other. At other points in the dance they will have different steps to dance, perhaps as one spins away from the other or is lifted from the dance floor by their partner. But at all times they must know where their partner is, where they are in relation to their partner, what their partner will do next, and for both to be in time with the music.
In ballroom dancing, the male and female partners interact “within a rhythm which remains the same but in a continuous variety of movements.” At its best, you have two people totally in tune with one another for the period of that dance.
What has this to do with Trinity Sunday? Well, the answer is found in “the Greek word for the relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit [which] means ‘to dance around one another in relationship’, perichoresis – peri meaning around, and choreio to dance.” (Touching the Sacred, Chris Thorpe and Jake Lever, Canterbury Press)
Stephen Verney, a former Bishop of Repton, who explored this idea in several of his books, identified chapter 5 of John’s Gospel as being “the most accurate and penetrating description of that dance” (The Dance of Love, Stephen Verney, Fount):
“The religious authorities have accused Jesus of making himself equal to God, and he replies in words which move beyond the category of equality, and into the language of love. “The Son can do nothing of himself”, he says, “but only what he sees the Father doing” (v.19). That is one side of the equation (of this so-called equality) – the emptiness of the Son. He looks, and what he sees his Father doing, that he does; he listens, and what he hears his Father saying, that he says. The other side of the equation – of the choreography – is the generosity of the Father. “The Father loves the Son, and reveals to him everything which he is doing” (v.20), and furthermore, he gives him authority to do “out of himself” all that the Father does, and can never cease to do because it flows “out of himself”. In that dance of love between them, says Jesus, “I and the Father are one.” The Son cries, “Abba! Father!” and the Father cries “my beloved Son”, and the love which leaps between them is Holy Spirit – the Spirit of God, God himself, for God is Spirit and God is Love.”
So, the kind of at-oneness that we see in great ballroom dancers gives us a picture of the kind of togetherness and understanding that is found in the Godhead and constantly shared between Father, Son and Spirit, as each is found in the other. Stephen Verney writes that “The Greek Fathers called the perichoresis (peri: around, chora: place), the dance of love of the Trinity in which they give place to each other. This is the glory revealed in Jesus, as the Father and the Son give authority to each other in mutual interdependence, and as the creator and the creation interpenetrate each other.”
Now, in the words of Paul Simon’s new album, we could say ‘So beautiful or so what’ to these ideas. It’s all very well picturing a beautiful dance at the heart of the Trinity but what difference does that make to us?
In answer to that question, Verney says that the eternal dance of the Trinity in heaven is reflected in the creation and we are invited to join in. At the heart of the Godhead is a relationship of love where love is constantly being shared and exchanged between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is out of the relationship of love that Jesus comes into our world to open up a way for us to participate in the relationship of love that is constantly being shared between Father, Son and Spirit.
We are familiar with the idea that God’s love for us is shown in Jesus’ sacrifice of himself for us by becoming human and then dying for us on the cross. We are less familiar with the idea that we can be part of the constant exchange of love in God of which we have been speaking and which Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice of himself enables us to experience. If we live in God, we live in love and love lives in us. We become included in the constant exchange of love which exists in the Godhead and are, therefore, constantly loved no matter what else is going on in our lives.
The more we experience of God, the more we come to know that we are 100% loved by Him, surrounded by and filled by His love. This is the experience of the Psalmist in Psalm 139:
“Where could I go to escape from you?
Where could I get away from your presence?
If I went up to heaven, you would be there;
if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there.
If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west,
You would be there to lead me, you would be there to help me.”
Do we know this for ourselves? Do we accept it for ourselves? Do we allow the reality that we are accepted and loved by God to seep into the depths of our being where it can and will resolve all of our insecurities and anxieties? Because our deepest need is to know with absolute confidence that we are loved and this is what is assured for us through the sacrifice of Jesus and the dance of love which is the Trinity.
Second, we see that love involves the continual giving and receiving of affirmation and authority. The dance of love is not a solo with the spotlight firmly fixed on an individual who garners all the glory for his or herself. The picture we have been exploring has been of the at-oneness of the male and female ballroom dancers which has then taken us into the mutual exchange of love between the Father, Son and Spirit.
What we see then is the importance for us of constantly seeking to share love with others. Jesus’ teaching is continually phrased in terms of giving and receiving: ‘I in you and you in me’; ‘give and it shall be given to you’; ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself’; ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’. If we don’t give love away to others then we become a blockage in the constant exchange of love of which we are a part and this prevents us from receiving love at the same time that love ceases to be shared with others through us.
Is that our experience? Are there grudges or grievances that we hold against others? People or situations where we have not been willing to forgive? Over time such things build up to become major factors in our lives, our relationships and our emotions. Over time, they obscure our awareness of God’s constantly flowing love towards us. Confession is the medium through which such blockages are removed – again, as has been mentioned, ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’.
These are just two of the practical outcomes for us of reflecting on the Dance of Love which is the Trinity. “The Dance of Love,” Stephen Verney writes, “is the glory in God’s heart, but it is also the pattern which is reflected in everything he has created.” The more we live according to his pattern for life, the more we will know in our lives the love and unity of both the ballroom partners and the Trinity itself.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Simon - So Beautiful Or So What.
In ballroom dancing, the male and female partners interact “within a rhythm which remains the same but in a continuous variety of movements.” At its best, you have two people totally in tune with one another for the period of that dance.
What has this to do with Trinity Sunday? Well, the answer is found in “the Greek word for the relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit [which] means ‘to dance around one another in relationship’, perichoresis – peri meaning around, and choreio to dance.” (Touching the Sacred, Chris Thorpe and Jake Lever, Canterbury Press)
Stephen Verney, a former Bishop of Repton, who explored this idea in several of his books, identified chapter 5 of John’s Gospel as being “the most accurate and penetrating description of that dance” (The Dance of Love, Stephen Verney, Fount):
“The religious authorities have accused Jesus of making himself equal to God, and he replies in words which move beyond the category of equality, and into the language of love. “The Son can do nothing of himself”, he says, “but only what he sees the Father doing” (v.19). That is one side of the equation (of this so-called equality) – the emptiness of the Son. He looks, and what he sees his Father doing, that he does; he listens, and what he hears his Father saying, that he says. The other side of the equation – of the choreography – is the generosity of the Father. “The Father loves the Son, and reveals to him everything which he is doing” (v.20), and furthermore, he gives him authority to do “out of himself” all that the Father does, and can never cease to do because it flows “out of himself”. In that dance of love between them, says Jesus, “I and the Father are one.” The Son cries, “Abba! Father!” and the Father cries “my beloved Son”, and the love which leaps between them is Holy Spirit – the Spirit of God, God himself, for God is Spirit and God is Love.”
So, the kind of at-oneness that we see in great ballroom dancers gives us a picture of the kind of togetherness and understanding that is found in the Godhead and constantly shared between Father, Son and Spirit, as each is found in the other. Stephen Verney writes that “The Greek Fathers called the perichoresis (peri: around, chora: place), the dance of love of the Trinity in which they give place to each other. This is the glory revealed in Jesus, as the Father and the Son give authority to each other in mutual interdependence, and as the creator and the creation interpenetrate each other.”
Now, in the words of Paul Simon’s new album, we could say ‘So beautiful or so what’ to these ideas. It’s all very well picturing a beautiful dance at the heart of the Trinity but what difference does that make to us?
In answer to that question, Verney says that the eternal dance of the Trinity in heaven is reflected in the creation and we are invited to join in. At the heart of the Godhead is a relationship of love where love is constantly being shared and exchanged between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is out of the relationship of love that Jesus comes into our world to open up a way for us to participate in the relationship of love that is constantly being shared between Father, Son and Spirit.
We are familiar with the idea that God’s love for us is shown in Jesus’ sacrifice of himself for us by becoming human and then dying for us on the cross. We are less familiar with the idea that we can be part of the constant exchange of love in God of which we have been speaking and which Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice of himself enables us to experience. If we live in God, we live in love and love lives in us. We become included in the constant exchange of love which exists in the Godhead and are, therefore, constantly loved no matter what else is going on in our lives.
The more we experience of God, the more we come to know that we are 100% loved by Him, surrounded by and filled by His love. This is the experience of the Psalmist in Psalm 139:
“Where could I go to escape from you?
Where could I get away from your presence?
If I went up to heaven, you would be there;
if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there.
If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west,
You would be there to lead me, you would be there to help me.”
Do we know this for ourselves? Do we accept it for ourselves? Do we allow the reality that we are accepted and loved by God to seep into the depths of our being where it can and will resolve all of our insecurities and anxieties? Because our deepest need is to know with absolute confidence that we are loved and this is what is assured for us through the sacrifice of Jesus and the dance of love which is the Trinity.
Second, we see that love involves the continual giving and receiving of affirmation and authority. The dance of love is not a solo with the spotlight firmly fixed on an individual who garners all the glory for his or herself. The picture we have been exploring has been of the at-oneness of the male and female ballroom dancers which has then taken us into the mutual exchange of love between the Father, Son and Spirit.
What we see then is the importance for us of constantly seeking to share love with others. Jesus’ teaching is continually phrased in terms of giving and receiving: ‘I in you and you in me’; ‘give and it shall be given to you’; ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself’; ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’. If we don’t give love away to others then we become a blockage in the constant exchange of love of which we are a part and this prevents us from receiving love at the same time that love ceases to be shared with others through us.
Is that our experience? Are there grudges or grievances that we hold against others? People or situations where we have not been willing to forgive? Over time such things build up to become major factors in our lives, our relationships and our emotions. Over time, they obscure our awareness of God’s constantly flowing love towards us. Confession is the medium through which such blockages are removed – again, as has been mentioned, ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’.
These are just two of the practical outcomes for us of reflecting on the Dance of Love which is the Trinity. “The Dance of Love,” Stephen Verney writes, “is the glory in God’s heart, but it is also the pattern which is reflected in everything he has created.” The more we live according to his pattern for life, the more we will know in our lives the love and unity of both the ballroom partners and the Trinity itself.
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Paul Simon - So Beautiful Or So What.
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Friends of Seven Kings Park public meeting
The Seven Kings and Newbury Park Resident's Association is to hold at public meeting on Monday 20th June at St John's Seven Kings to set up a Friends of Seven Kings Park group.
Park Friends Groups are community groups working in partnership with the Council towards the regeneration of the borough's parks and open spaces. Such groups work in partnership with the Council and parks staff in not only addressing current issues but also in looking to the long term regeneration and development of their local park.
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Richard Harris - Macarthur Park.
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
The Dance of Love
Here's a new poem for Trinity Sunday inspired not so much by Strictly as by Stephen Verney's ballroom dancing:
Sequinned and spangled
magnetized partners
attract, repel and return
oscillate away, re-turning
coming home to each other
to dance around the other
in step, in sequence
in relationship
synchronicity of movement
mirror image
thinking and moving
in the mystery
of two persons
become one
partners interacting
within an age-old rhythm
of interplay and intercourse
the to and fro of relationship
forever the same
in a continuous variety of movements
one with nature, history
and each other
coming alive
in the unique shape
of their own energy
and vigour
held, not held onto
an open and free caress
the inner rhythm reveals itself
the marriage of heaven and earth
Spirit flowing through
our human emptiness
choreography of abundant delight
eternal dance
in that communion
you in me and I in you
and the love which leaps
between us is Spirit
the rhythm, the time, the rhyme
deepening experience
of the dance of love
creating us
in the still centre of being
except for the still point
there would be no dance
and there is only the dance
the Spirit is the dance
the communion of love
I in you and in me
the pattern of potential
universality
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leonard Cohen - Dance Me To The End Of Love.
Sequinned and spangled
magnetized partners
attract, repel and return
oscillate away, re-turning
coming home to each other
to dance around the other
in step, in sequence
in relationship
synchronicity of movement
mirror image
thinking and moving
in the mystery
of two persons
become one
partners interacting
within an age-old rhythm
of interplay and intercourse
the to and fro of relationship
forever the same
in a continuous variety of movements
one with nature, history
and each other
coming alive
in the unique shape
of their own energy
and vigour
held, not held onto
an open and free caress
the inner rhythm reveals itself
the marriage of heaven and earth
Spirit flowing through
our human emptiness
choreography of abundant delight
eternal dance
in that communion
you in me and I in you
and the love which leaps
between us is Spirit
the rhythm, the time, the rhyme
deepening experience
of the dance of love
creating us
in the still centre of being
except for the still point
there would be no dance
and there is only the dance
the Spirit is the dance
the communion of love
I in you and in me
the pattern of potential
universality
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leonard Cohen - Dance Me To The End Of Love.
Monday, 13 June 2011
West Ham Festival exhibition
I will be exhibiting photographs from my Windows on the world series together with my Broken journey, fragmented story installation at All Saints West Ham from Thursday 16th June to Thursday 21st July, including the period of the West Ham Festival. See the All Saints website for church opening times.
Both pieces raise issues of perception and perspective. Broken journey, fragmented story features two discarded church noticeboards containing images and meditations from a sequence of Stations of the Cross and Resurrection (images by Henry Shelton, meditations by myself) which have been displayed, with omissions, in a random pattern that disrupts the agreed linear sequence of the Passion journey and narrative.
The Gospel story is rarely able to be told fully and in the way in which we might ideally wish to do so. What effect does this have on us, on those who hear the story told, and on the story itself? Is a story told in fragments disconnected and incoherent or do the fragments and omissions enable new insights and connections to be made? The installation therefore raises questions as to how this disruption of the usual sequence and story of the Stations makes viewers feel? What thoughts or reflections it prompts? What, if anything, it illustrates about the fragmented nature of our telling of the Christian story or the Gospel message in our culture and time? This fragmented set of Stations is displayed in a set of discarded church noticeboards; a means of communicating the ongoing life of Christ’s church and yet, in this instance, discarded. What does that say about the story and Stations displayed within this installation?
As each of us view life from our own perspective, each photograph in the Windows on the world series features a foreground object providing a frame for what can be viewed beyond. As there is always something beyond our immediate frame of reference, each photograph in the series features something that can be glimpsed beyond the foreground image. By framing what is beyond, the photograph acts as a window on a part of our world and at the same time signals the presence of the beyond, thereby also acting as a window onto the divine in a way similar to that achieved by icons.
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Moby - The Day.
Windows on the world (158)
Stratford - 2011
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Lifehouse - From Where You Are.
Sunday, 12 June 2011
Transform Your Church
Spirit of the living God, apart from You, we can do nothing.
Transform Your Church into the image of Jesus Christ.
Release Your power to bring healing to the sick,
freedom to the oppressed and comfort to those who mourn.
Pour Your love into our hearts and fill us with compassion
to answer the call of the homeless and the hungry
and to enfold orphans, widows and the elderly in Your care.
Give us wisdom and insight for the complex problems we face today.
Help us to use the resources of the earth for the well-being of all.
Holy Spirit, we need Your comfort and guidance.
Transform our hearts. Amen.
Christians across the UK have taken part in the Global Day of Prayer (GDOP) movement since it started by joining 220 Nations and 100’s of millions of Christians in prayer on Pentecost Sunday. Last year over 50 events took place across all 33 London boroughs and some of the Home Counties. In 2011 GDOP London is encouraging as many groups, churches, organisations and ministries as possible to participate in the Global Day of Prayer today by praying the Lord’s Prayer and Prayers for the World, of which the prayer above is a part.
Why prayer and why Pentecost Sunday? The belief is that, as 2 Chronicles 7: 14 states, “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” That was the experience of the disciples on the first Day of Pentecost as they were filled with he Holy Spirit’s power and began to be witnesses for Jesus throughout the world.
Jesus promised, as we have heard in John 7. 27-39, stream of life-giving water will pour out from within anyone who believes in him. The writer of John’s Gospel says that when Jesus said this he was speaking about the Holy Spirit, which those who believed in him were going to receive. Jesus, himself, is the life-giving water which, through the work of the Holy Spirit, will flow out from within those who believe in Jesus.
Therefore, we pray for this to be our experience too. We pray, Spirit of the living God, transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. Release your power, pour your love into our hearts and fill us with compassion. Give us wisdom and insight, comfort and guidance. Transform our hearts.
But not for ourselves alone. We pray to be transformed so that in turn our world can be transformed and our land healed. That healing will be brought to the sick, freedom to the oppressed, comfort to those who mourn. That the call of the homeless and the hungry will be answered, orphans, widows and the elderly enfolded in God’ care, and the resources of the earth used for the well-being of all. That the Kingdom of God will come on earth, as in heaven.
This is what Pentecost means. This is what the coming of the Holy Spirit can achieve. On the day of Pentecost, the Jews gave thanks for the first fruits of the wheat harvest. For Christians, the experience of the energy of the Spirit is a "first fruit" of the new era that has dawned for the believers; a “first fruit” of the coming Kingdom of God.
I would also like us to pray today at St John's Seven Kings for the coming of the Holy Spirit among us in a very particular way and for a very specific task that we are engaged in at this time. I said at our Annual Parochial Church Meeting that, as we seek to affirm and encourage the calling of the whole people of God by identifying and releasing all the gifts God has given us, we will be establishing a Ministry Leadership Team here at St John’s.
A Ministry Leadership Team is essentially those who lead, encourage and build up the work of the whole Body of Christ on behalf of the PCC. To help us to do this, we have divided up our mission and ministry here at St John’s into five areas – Children and Youth, Mission, Pastoral, Peace and Justice, and Worship.
Over the next couple of months we are looking to identify people who can take a lead at St John’s in these five areas and we need each of you to be involved in identifying who those people should be. First, we need you to pray. To pray for the Holy Spirit to equip those in our congregation who are being called to these roles and to pray for the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us as we identify those who are being called. Second, we will need you to suggest people for these different roles by filling in this sheet and returning it to us. Shortly I will be able to introduce you to Diocesan Advisers who will help us with this process.
As you pray and think about those that the Holy Spirit may be calling into these roles, bear in mind that the people we are seeking as members of the Ministry Leadership Team at St Johns are those who have a developing spiritual life of their own and who seek to nurture and disciple others. Those chosen to form the Ministry Leadership Team will work together with those involved in the activities listed on the sheet to take forward their Area of Responsibility, will meet regularly with the Staff Team to plan and pray together, and will report to the PCC.
It is the Holy Spirit, as we have seen, that gives gifts to God’s people to prepare all of us for God’s service in order to build up the body of Christ – “The Spirit’s presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.” As we identify and release all the gifts God has given us we become more effectively his church, we have growing confidence and a greater sense of moving forward, and we come back to patterns of church life that more resemble the missionary church of the first century.
As we ask God that that might happen, let pray together the prayer for the Global Day of Prayer with which we began:
Spirit of the living God, apart from You, we can do nothing.
Transform Your Church into the image of Jesus Christ.
Release Your power to bring healing to the sick,
freedom to the oppressed and comfort to those who mourn.
Pour Your love into our hearts and fill us with compassion
to answer the call of the homeless and the hungry
and to enfold orphans, widows and the elderly in Your care.
Give us wisdom and insight for the complex problems we face today.
Help us to use the resources of the earth for the well-being of all.
Holy Spirit, we need Your comfort and guidance.
Transform our hearts. Amen.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
St. Paul's Cathedral Choir - Come Holy Ghost Our Souls Inspire.
Transform Your Church into the image of Jesus Christ.
Release Your power to bring healing to the sick,
freedom to the oppressed and comfort to those who mourn.
Pour Your love into our hearts and fill us with compassion
to answer the call of the homeless and the hungry
and to enfold orphans, widows and the elderly in Your care.
Give us wisdom and insight for the complex problems we face today.
Help us to use the resources of the earth for the well-being of all.
Holy Spirit, we need Your comfort and guidance.
Transform our hearts. Amen.
Christians across the UK have taken part in the Global Day of Prayer (GDOP) movement since it started by joining 220 Nations and 100’s of millions of Christians in prayer on Pentecost Sunday. Last year over 50 events took place across all 33 London boroughs and some of the Home Counties. In 2011 GDOP London is encouraging as many groups, churches, organisations and ministries as possible to participate in the Global Day of Prayer today by praying the Lord’s Prayer and Prayers for the World, of which the prayer above is a part.
Why prayer and why Pentecost Sunday? The belief is that, as 2 Chronicles 7: 14 states, “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” That was the experience of the disciples on the first Day of Pentecost as they were filled with he Holy Spirit’s power and began to be witnesses for Jesus throughout the world.
Jesus promised, as we have heard in John 7. 27-39, stream of life-giving water will pour out from within anyone who believes in him. The writer of John’s Gospel says that when Jesus said this he was speaking about the Holy Spirit, which those who believed in him were going to receive. Jesus, himself, is the life-giving water which, through the work of the Holy Spirit, will flow out from within those who believe in Jesus.
Therefore, we pray for this to be our experience too. We pray, Spirit of the living God, transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. Release your power, pour your love into our hearts and fill us with compassion. Give us wisdom and insight, comfort and guidance. Transform our hearts.
But not for ourselves alone. We pray to be transformed so that in turn our world can be transformed and our land healed. That healing will be brought to the sick, freedom to the oppressed, comfort to those who mourn. That the call of the homeless and the hungry will be answered, orphans, widows and the elderly enfolded in God’ care, and the resources of the earth used for the well-being of all. That the Kingdom of God will come on earth, as in heaven.
This is what Pentecost means. This is what the coming of the Holy Spirit can achieve. On the day of Pentecost, the Jews gave thanks for the first fruits of the wheat harvest. For Christians, the experience of the energy of the Spirit is a "first fruit" of the new era that has dawned for the believers; a “first fruit” of the coming Kingdom of God.
I would also like us to pray today at St John's Seven Kings for the coming of the Holy Spirit among us in a very particular way and for a very specific task that we are engaged in at this time. I said at our Annual Parochial Church Meeting that, as we seek to affirm and encourage the calling of the whole people of God by identifying and releasing all the gifts God has given us, we will be establishing a Ministry Leadership Team here at St John’s.
A Ministry Leadership Team is essentially those who lead, encourage and build up the work of the whole Body of Christ on behalf of the PCC. To help us to do this, we have divided up our mission and ministry here at St John’s into five areas – Children and Youth, Mission, Pastoral, Peace and Justice, and Worship.
Over the next couple of months we are looking to identify people who can take a lead at St John’s in these five areas and we need each of you to be involved in identifying who those people should be. First, we need you to pray. To pray for the Holy Spirit to equip those in our congregation who are being called to these roles and to pray for the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us as we identify those who are being called. Second, we will need you to suggest people for these different roles by filling in this sheet and returning it to us. Shortly I will be able to introduce you to Diocesan Advisers who will help us with this process.
As you pray and think about those that the Holy Spirit may be calling into these roles, bear in mind that the people we are seeking as members of the Ministry Leadership Team at St Johns are those who have a developing spiritual life of their own and who seek to nurture and disciple others. Those chosen to form the Ministry Leadership Team will work together with those involved in the activities listed on the sheet to take forward their Area of Responsibility, will meet regularly with the Staff Team to plan and pray together, and will report to the PCC.
It is the Holy Spirit, as we have seen, that gives gifts to God’s people to prepare all of us for God’s service in order to build up the body of Christ – “The Spirit’s presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.” As we identify and release all the gifts God has given us we become more effectively his church, we have growing confidence and a greater sense of moving forward, and we come back to patterns of church life that more resemble the missionary church of the first century.
As we ask God that that might happen, let pray together the prayer for the Global Day of Prayer with which we began:
Spirit of the living God, apart from You, we can do nothing.
Transform Your Church into the image of Jesus Christ.
Release Your power to bring healing to the sick,
freedom to the oppressed and comfort to those who mourn.
Pour Your love into our hearts and fill us with compassion
to answer the call of the homeless and the hungry
and to enfold orphans, widows and the elderly in Your care.
Give us wisdom and insight for the complex problems we face today.
Help us to use the resources of the earth for the well-being of all.
Holy Spirit, we need Your comfort and guidance.
Transform our hearts. Amen.
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St. Paul's Cathedral Choir - Come Holy Ghost Our Souls Inspire.
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