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Jan 2004 Parish Prayer 2 - A transformed people
Lord
you are the changeless one
who comes to change us into the likeness
of Jesus Christ your Son:
grant that we,
changed and transformed by your spirit,
may be the instrument of changing lives
in the world you so love.
Amen.
Bishop Peter Price
I would like to tell you a story that I heard a few weeks ago that spoke to me and I hope will speak to you.
Many, many, many years ago a village was facing extinction from pestilence, the elders got together with the rabbi to seek to know what to do. After a while it was decided that the rabbi would go up into the forest and seek help.
So the next morning the rabbi took his son and they journeyed two days to the sacred place up in the forest. The rabbi said to his son stand here while I conduct the ritual and say the words, watch and learn. So the rabbi performed the ritual, said the words then embraced his son with tears in his eyes. They ate super settled down for the night and rested, in the morning they set off for the village. On their arrival at their village they were met with joy the pestilence was subsiding, the village was saved.
The years past the old rabbi died and was laid to rest and his son took his place as the rabbi. The years continued to pass and all was well in the community, then war broke out in the country and the village was once again under threat. The elders called the rabbi to dicuss what to do. Again it was decided that the rabbi should seek help.
So once again he sets out to find the sacred place, this time he takes his own son on the journey. Eventually he finds the place but then says to his son “I can not remember the words my father used, but I can remember the ritual and the embrace I hope this will be enough”. So remembering his fathers actions he performs the ritual and then reaches down to his son and embraces him. As before they eat supper, and settle down for the night to rest. In the morning they begin their journey home to the village. On their arrival they find the war has passed them by and the village was safe.
Again the years passed the rabbi grew old and eventually he to was laid to rest and his son took his place as the rabbi. The village prospered and grew until once again it came under threat. Once more the elders called the rabbi to go and seek help. Now with his own son the rabbi sets off for the sacred place in the forest, hopping that he can find it and remember what to do. After many days they find the place and the rabbi tells his son to watch. Minutes pass and the rabbi says “I did not hear the words and I can’t remember the ritual there is only one thing I remember” at this point he reaches down to his son takes him in his arms and embraces him and says “ I hope this will be enough”. They then eat, settle down for the night and begin their journey home in the morning. As they get closer to the village the rabbi can not help but wonder what they would find had he failed the village. When they get home they find that the danger has passed and all is well, the embrace had been enough, it had been all that was needed.
For some, story is a powerful medium for others it passes them by, so do not worry if you were lost in the middle of that but for me it spoke. It spoke about what was most important.
Today the word ritual seems almost a dirty word, a thing of the past that we want nothing to do with and yet ritual is part of life. Everyday people watch the ritual at the sports arena, in parliament and as the guard is changed at Buckingham palace, yet some how ritual remains distant from us, set apart.
We live in a world full of words, mobile phones carry both the spoken and written word, T.V. and radio produce countless words every day. There are mountains of books and news papers full of millions of words but how much do they speak to us. Considering the amount we hear or read, in truth, they have little effect. Unless that is, unless they touch us in some way. Perhaps stir a memory or remind us of an experience, then their power is evoked, then they have the ability to heal, comfort or to hurt.
Last week I spoke about the changelessness of God and I ended with the thought that there needs to be change, not in God but in us. If we are honest we all find that a bit scary, change can be uncomfortable but who would chose to remain a caterpillar when you could be a butterfly. Would the pot in our first reading chose to remain misshapen if in the hands of the potter it can be a thing of beauty?
Yet those are the sort of choices we seem to make all to often, we make them to hold on to what we have rather than be open to change for the better. I know, because I am the most cautious of people, as Phyll will tell you I have the T-shirt for playing it safe.
Yet that story really spoke to me because words and ritual can be empty but an embrace is always real. We all need to know we have been embraced by God, this is a constant thought of Paul, he longs for all to know God’s love in all it’s immensity, not only to know it but to experience it as well. Thomas Goodwin one of the Puritans 300 years ago illustrated this in this way.
He pictured a boy walking along a road hand in hand with his father, and that his father loves him. But suddenly the father stops, picks up the boy, lifts him in his arms, embraces him, kisses him and hugs him. Then he puts him down again, and they continue walking. It is a wonderful thing to be walking along holding your father’s hand; but it is an incomparably greater thing to have his arms enfolded around you.
I have another picture and that is of Christ standing before me on the beach at Galilee, His arms are open wide with an invitation to run to him. - What do I do, what would you do? Do we run to him, do we allow him to sweep us off our feet in a wonderful embrace - to feel his strong arms around us as he turns in circles and the wind blows through our hair, do we hear his laughter in our ears, do we experience His love.
Or do we shake him by the hand and say “Pleased to meet you.”
If we rely on just ritual and the words we are in danger of doing just that- nice to meet you Jesus isn’t it a lovely day, what game shall we play today? - Yet if we run to Him in total trust He will sweep us off our feet with His love and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
If I am honest with you I know that through my life there have been times when I have done both. I can’t explain why the times of reticence for I know with out any shadow of doubt that to experience the embrace is the greatest thrill of all.
It is in the embrace that we are transformed, it is when we are that close to God that there is change. The kind of change that God longs to take place in us His children.
It can only happen when we give God time and our complete trust.
The story is told of Will Rogers who came to his friend Eddie Cantor for advice. Will wanted to make some important changes in his act--but was worried about the danger of such changes. He wasn't sure whether they would work. Eddie Cantor's response was, "Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is!"
If we are to experience the fullness of the love of God for us then we will have to go out on a limb. We can play it safe, do the ritual, listen to the words, but to experience all that God has for us we have to take a step of faith into the unknown and give God an opportunity to prove His love for us. Exactly how that will happen for you is not for me to say, it is between you and God.
For me it was being called to the ministry, to serve in a public role, in simple human terms this seemed beyond me. Yet in many different ways God led us to trust Him and as we followed His call He provided for us. There are still times when we feel out on a limb, not having anywhere to live in retirement is one, but we have known God’s embrace through all sorts of things so I am sure He has this in hand as well.
The challenge of the prayer is simply this, are we willing to go out on a limb and allow God to change us. It will not always be comfortable but to know His embrace will be worth the heat.
We can look at it this way, imagine your life is like precious Gold ore in the hands of Jesus the refiner. Our life is placed in the crucible and the fire of the Spirit begins to melt the ore of our life. As the ore melts so the rubbish rises to the surface and Jesus the refiner takes the ladle and scoops the rubbish from the surface and discards it. Looking into the crucible the Refiner begins to see a cloudy reflection of himself. This process continues, the temperature rises more rubbish rises and the Refiner scoops the rubbish from the surface and again the Refiner looks and sees a slightly clearer reflection of himself. This process continues through our life until one day the Refiner sees a clear reflection of Himself in us.
Then we will be a transformed people and the world will see Christ in us.
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Thursday 20th of November 2008
