Reflection: Solomon’s prayer
King Solomon inherited the throne of Israel from his father David, and wanted to continue David’s legacy of faith in the Lord God. In a dream he prays to God for wisdom — for the ability to discern between good and evil, so that he can govern wisely. Because of his humility in acknowledging what he needs the Lord gifts him with wisdom, as well as material well-being.
Jesus tells parables describing aspects of the kingdom of heaven. Each parable has different facets, and it can be helpful to ponder on these aspects individually as well as each whole story. Sometimes these aspects overlap across the parables. For example: a pearl is not immediately visible, but is hidden within the oyster — similar to the treasure hidden in a field. Both need to be searched for diligently otherwise they will not be found. But if we know what heavenly treasure we’re looking for, and actively seek it out, then we have these stories of reassurance that the Lord will gift them to us. As Paul writes: He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?
Sometimes we don’t know what kingdom treasure it is that we most need to be searching for: Paul encourages us to pray anyway. He gives us the reassurance that God’s Spirit can ‘translate’ the yearnings of our hearts – and
God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit. Paul also assures us that God’s love for us is guaranteed, no matter what – and that his love for us is found in Christ Jesus.
So – knowing that God loves you absolutely – what would you pray for if you had a dream like Solomon’s? What is your ‘pearl of great price’ – the kingdom treasure your heart longs the most for? You are invited to seek and pray for this diligently, and persistently – for this, too, is like the kingdom of heaven.
Your friend & priest, Fr John
Reflection: our heart attitude
Our Scriptures teach the same truths in different ways. In today’s readings St
Paul uses theological reasoning and Jesus uses metaphorical imagery to answer the same question: What determines whether a life is fruitless or fruitful, dead or alive? They make the same claim: that fruitful life depends on
what has taken root within a person, and that this root is the Spirit’s gift, not human effort.
Paul compares the ‘law of sin’ to the ‘law of the Spirit of life.’ He names the tension as being between two competing allegiances: the worldly desires of self, and the spiritual purpose of being connected with others and the divine
Other. The tension is not between ‘flesh OR Spirit’, but which one serves the other. Paul concludes that if the Spirit of God dwells in you, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal body.
Jesus’ parable of the sower pictures the same seed encountering different types of soil – different kinds of ‘heart attitude.’ Both texts indicate that the deciding factor is not in effort but in receptiveness: for Paul, whether the Spirit dwells in you; for Jesus, what kind of soil is receptive to the seed. Paul’s ‘mind set on the flesh’ hostile to God corresponds to Jesus’ thorns of “worldly anxiety and the lure of wealth” – both describe a heart colonized by
something other than God.
Paul reassures us: our self-condemnation is already lifted, so that cultivation of ‘good soil’ is not anxious self-improvement but cooperation with the Spirit already given. All we need to do is actively listen to Jesus, open our hearts to
God’s Spirit already given to us, and then ‘walk according to the Spirit.’ Then we – and others – can expect to enjoy the Spirit’s fruitfulness in our lives.
Your friend & priest, Fr John
Reflection: ‘Prisoners of hope’
Over the last century there has been a significant growth in understanding human mentality, from neurology to psychology, and how physical and social factors impact our mental development and wellbeing. Nevertheless, even though people like the prophet Zechariah, St Paul and Jesus didn’t have the jargon and insights of our times, they still had a good understanding of mental habits, motivations, and world-views.
Zechariah refers to God’s people as ‘prisoners of hope’ – a poetic way of describing people who have a world-view of hopefulness rather than of
despair, and encourages them to ‘return to your stronghold’ – that is, return to the safe and secure place that is your faith relationship with the Lord God.
Paul expresses much frustration over his deeply ingrained habits that motivate him to act in ways that are damaging to himself and his
relationships. He describes these bad habits and poor motives as the ‘law of sin’ to which he sees himself as a slave – in that they have mastery over him.
At the same time he knows the answer to his rhetorical question: ‘Who will rescue me from this body of death?’ He knows that God has provided a way:
‘Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!’
In Matthew 11 Jesus highlights how our worldview and ego can determine whether we are prepared to recognise and engage with God’s blessings or not. Jesus and John the Baptist conveyed the divine message in contrasting ways, and people’s rejection of both messengers suggests that the real issue
was an unwillingness to engage with God in the first place. But Jesus’ invitation remains the final word: ‘Let me help you with your mental and emotional burdens. Follow in my way of compassionate self-giving love, that puts the demands of the ego to one side, and ‘you will find rest for your souls.’
Your friend & priest, Fr John
Reflection: our Baptismal Vocation
On Vocation Sunday we are invited to consider more deeply what our Christian vocation is. Of course there are the vocational orders of deacon, priest and bishop within the Anglican Church. But there is also the baptismal vocation of every baptised Christian – the particular ways in which each of us are called to serve God and community in response to his love for us.
Vocation begins when we dare to ask, “Lord, what would you have me do with the life you have given me?” Jeremiah stands before Hananiah and the assembled people and insists that authentic ministry is tested over time, not by its popularity but by its faithfulness and truth. Any sense of call we discern must stand under that same scrutiny: does it bear the costly honesty of Christ, or merely offer us a comfortable story?
Psalm 89 sings of the steadfast love and faithfulness of God, and of a covenant that outlasts all the upheavals of history. Vocation, then, is not first about our gifts or our enthusiasm, but about God’s prior promise and God’s ongoing faithfulness to the Body into which we are baptised. Those who
“walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance” find that their true calling is
discovered not in isolation but in worship, praise, and shared dependence on
God’s strength.
Paul reminds the Romans that they have been set free from sin’s dominion in order to become servants of righteousness. The language is stark: we will serve something; the only question is whom. Vocation is simply this freedom worked out: presenting our bodies, our time, our resources to God, so that
holiness and life – not self-absorption and death – shape our daily habits.
In the Gospel, Jesus entrusts fragile disciples with his own mission and promises that even a cup of cold water given in his name will not be forgotten. Here vocation is both being sent and being received: daring to offer Christ’s presence, and humbly accepting the care of others. No act of service is too small; no person is too insignificant. It is good to ask ourselves: where is Christ inviting me to risk a little more, to receive a little more, so that
my life, becomes a sign of his generous welcome?
As you imagine your week ahead, in which particular place – home, parish, workplace, neighbourhood – do you sense Christ most strongly nudging you to explore your baptismal vocation more deeply?
Your friend & priest, Fr John
Reflection: rivers of living water
Today we celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the Church: the day when the first disciples and apostles were baptised and anointed with the Holy Spirit.
This was the same Spirit who anointed Jesus at his baptism, beginning his ministry. From there, Jesus travelled through the region, gathering people, touching and transforming lives, and showing what it means to live in a
personal faith relationship with God the Father.
When Jesus had completed his mission, he told his followers to wait and pray, promising that they would likewise be anointed with the Holy Spirit.
They were constantly in prayer together, waiting before God, and became deeply aligned with God’s desire, will, and purpose. They were opened so completely to God that his Spirit flowed through them with such power that the energy became visible.
Through channeling God’s Spirit, they were transformed from ordinary people, fishermen, tax collectors, zealots, and sceptics, into those who could embrace what God was calling them to be. Their personalities were not erased, but they became more fully who God created them to be: centred, focused, and effective channels of God’s transforming power.
Earlier, Jesus had reaffirmed the Scripture, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” This living water is the life of a personal faith relationships rightly aligned with God’s Spirit. It blesses the believer, and it
flows outward to bless others, just as God’s Spirit flowed through Jesus.
Pentecost is not only a past event. It continues in the Church today whenever
followers of Christ align their hearts, minds, and lives with God’s Spirit, allowing God to use them as channels of blessing for the world. So our prayer is that we, too, may constantly and patiently pray, opening to allow
God’s Spirit to flow through us, and channel God’s blessing to the world.
Your friend and priest, Fr John
Reflection:Knowing God – living life“Eternal life,”
Jesus says, is “to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17.3) – not just life without end, but life in its deepest fullness, beginning now.
Before his ascension (described at the beginning of the Book of Acts) Jesus directs the disciples away from anxious speculation about “times and seasons” and calls them instead to wait for the Spirit and to bear witness. Their fullness of life will not lie in having every answer, but in living turned toward the Father, in obedient trust. And so, in obedient trust, they wait in prayer together in the upper room for the Spirit to empower them.
Psalm 68 describes life in all its fullness, singing of the God who ‘gives the desolate a home’ and provides for the needy; it is a picture of life enlarged, defended, gathered in – a foretaste of that rich, spacious life that flows from knowing God.
Peter writes to a suffering church and dares to speak of ‘eternal glory’ while urging humility, mindfulness, and steadfast faith. Life in all its fullness does not mean the absence of trial, but the presence of the God who ‘cares for you,’ who restores, supports and strengthens.
In John 17, Jesus prays not that we be taken out of the world, but that we be kept in the truth and consecrated for our mission. To know the Father and the Son is a living, growing relationship, a sharing in God’s own life, which the Spirit will deepen in us day by day. As we abide in that relationship, we begin – even now – to taste eternal life as life that is made whole: grounded in love, sustained in suffering, and poured out for the sake of the world.
Your friend and priest, Fr John
Reflection: Obedience and promise
‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments,’ Jesus says, ‘and I will ask
the Father, and he will give you another Advocate.’ Love, obedience, and the
promised Spirit all belong together in this Easter season. Jesus is not setting an exam we must pass to earn his love; rather, his love comes first, and obedience grows from that love as fruit from a living vine.
Sometimes we balk at the concept of obedience, perhaps with good reason.
But God’s law of loving others should be seen as an opportunity to participate in blessing, and therefore a law we want to obey.
When Jesus promises ‘another Advocate,’ he assures the disciples that they will not be abandoned. The Spirit of truth is God’s own presence alongside and within us, encouraging, consoling, challenging and guiding. In a world that neither sees nor knows this Spirit, the Church is called to live in such a way that Christ’s life is made visible: ‘because I live, you also will live.’
Elsewhere the New Testament shows what this looks like. Paul in Athens speaks of the God in whom ‘we live and move and have our being,’ the One who is not far from each one of us. Peter urges believers to be ready to give
a reason for the hope that is in them, yet with gentleness and reverence, even amid misunderstanding and suffering. Psalm 66 testifies that the God who rules the nations is the same God who hears our prayer and brings us through testing into praise.
So Jesus’ words in John 14 invite us today into a confident, Spirit-filled obedience: keeping his command to love, trusting that Father, Son and Spirit make their home with us, and letting that indwelling hope quietly speak through our words and lives.
Your friend and priest, Fr John
Reflection:the flourishing Church
Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles (2.42-27) comes directly after ‘about 3000 people were baptised’ on the day of Pentecost, and describes how the early Church functioned. Having fulfilled his foundational part of God’s plan of salvation, Jesus had trained up his successors (disciples/apostles) to continue his mission. After Jesus’ ascension they had met
continuously to pray for guidance as to their next steps, culminating in the Pentecost event when they were in such communal alignment with God that they experienced God’s Spirit being channeled through them. Such was the
divine energy being released that thousands of people were drawn to it, and drawn in to participate in it for themselves.
These few verses provide a succinct description of their priorities as the new
Ecclesia – the gathered community of believers who have been called out
from the way of the world into the Way of Christ:
- they attend to the apostles’ teaching – learning from Scripture and the
ministry of Jesus how to practise loving God and neighbour; - they worship and pray together – giving thanks for God’s blessings and
keeping themselves aligned with God’s will, putting into practise the
command to love God; - they served each other’s needs through mutual sharing – putting into
practise the command to love their neighbours; and - they did this together, contributing to and benefiting from this mutual
fellowship – just as the first disciples had done together with Jesus.
Over the centuries the Church has evolved different traditions of learning,
worship, service and fellowship – but at a fundamental level these remain
core. When a church community falters in any of these aspects, then it
becomes understandably less attractive to existing and new members. When
they are done well, the Church flourishes.
Your friend and priest, Fr John
Reflection: religion & politics
Today’s gospel account provides an example of the interplay between state and religious politics on one hand and personal faith experience on the other. Jesus operated in a world that had local political groups (e.g. Sadducees and Herodians) that colluded, tolerated or opposed the Roman empire’s
machinery of state. These political groups used particular religious narratives of the Jewish faith. Roman and other governors would weaponise religious expression to manage disruption to the status quo. Jewish leaders would in turn do the same for political reasons – such as their use of Roman soldiers to crucify Jesus.
Jesus didn’t play their political games, but he did speak into those situations, making reference to the Roman Emperor and Herod (political ruler of Galilee). The gospel reading describes how the religious leaders tried to
manipulate the story of the resurrection by bribing the Roman guards. One can draw interesting parallels to the collusion between politics and religion today, looking particularly at the state machinery behind each of the mainplayers in the current conflict involving USA, Israel and Iran, in which the religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam are actively invoked.
How does God come into these situations? Through personal faith experiences and expression. Individuals like the two Marys encounter the risen Christ directly, and then share that with the other disciples – who in turn share this with others (see the reading from Acts.) Members of that crowd make personal acts of commitment in response to the good news that wrongdoing can be forgiven, and that God wants to bless us with his Spirit.
How are we to respond to weaponised religion and religiosity in politics? By
prioritising our own faith relationship with God, through Jesus, and then seeking his love, light and life in all situations – and responding to those.
Your friend and priest, Fr John