A Message

Readings Hosea 1.2–10, Psalm 85, Colossians 2.6–15 [16–19], Luke 11.1–13 Collect Lord of heaven and earth, as Jesus taught the disciples to be persistent in prayer, give us patience and courage never to lose hope, but always to bring our prayers before you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The day before the harvest festival at Lockage, a small child asked me why I was in casuals and not in my cassock. I did answer. Last Sunday, three weeks after she came, she asked me the same question. The conversation continues, she asks the impossible – can you make tomorrow Christmas? She likes decorations and Santa bringing gifts. Why didn’t you come to my birthday? Then she comes and shows a small wound. Then she comes and gives me 20/- from her purse. She has decided to buy a gift for a friend. Cut her finger and comes and shows it. Here was a small child, not satisfied with an answer, wanting something impossible to be done, questioning, and also sharing her pain, as though s...

  We have journeyed through the church’s year with the story of Jesus and connected our own through various themes of growth. The church year or the liturgical year begins with Advent giving us the hope of the coming Messiah and ends with the Feast of Christ the King that proclaims Christ as king over the universe or the reign of Christ over the universe. Now we must remember that Advent is not Christmas. Christ the King leads us back to a new cycle which begins with Advent a season of expectation and preparation for the coming Messiah. For us who live in a world led by secularism and consumerism, today is an opportunity to remind ourselves that we are under the rule of Christ and examine our lives to see how we are living in it. Jesus, God’s anointed – the Christ, is before Pilate, the governor of the Roman province of Judea. Pilate presides over the trial of Jesus.  Through their conversation, Jesus establishes who he is. The OT and NT readings support what Jesus says ...