Pilgrim

What do we mean by SIN?   (invite suggestions) What do we mean by forgiveness? In my childhood, I was raised in the Catholic Church and as such confession was a regular occurrence.   Most of the time I didn’t really know what to say, so offered a measly collection of lying, winding up a sibling etc.   On reflection, I feel a bit sorry for the priest, who must have sat there listening to a litany of material that perhaps didn’t really mean anything.   And those were the days before Ipods, and the like so he really had nowhere to escape to.   When I was preparing to write this message, I started to wonder why I didn’t really know what to confess to.   Was it a lack of imagination?   Unikely, as I never had problems with imagining myself in all sorts of situations and crises, always of course as the hero.   Was it because I didn’t sin?   Definitely NO.   I am the same as anyone else.   No, on reflection, whatever one’s views on ...

When you read the Bible, what do you hear?   Do you hear the words of an angry and jealous God in what we call the Old Testament?   Do you hear a God biding his time until a day of Wrath and Judgement? Does God seem different to you, in our so-called New Testament?   If that’s the case, could it be that we have been led to believe in an interpretation that in fact sells itself short and leaves us confused and possible disenchanted?   There are lots of questions here, because I strongly believe we are in a time when we should be asking ourselves questions, as a church, as a family, as a community, as a country. The Gospel means “Good news”.   In the early days and years of the church, the message was clearly interpreted as Good News by the poor and scary to those in power.   When we preach the Gospel today, is that still the same?   Why doesn’t it seem to have the same power as back then?   Why would most people equate the Gospel with “B...

Based on Matthew 2:1-12, a meditation on the Magi in the form of a poem.   Legend has it that there were 3 Magi, we traditionally think of them as Kings and Cologne Cathedral has a reliquary that purports to contain bones of them.   We even have given them 3 names, Balthazar, Melchior and Gaspar but biblically we know very little.   They are only mentioned in Matthew’s Gospel and all we know is that were Magi, we are not given their names or how many there were.   We see them as Gentile Kings paying Homage to Jesus and gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh have been given meanings that may not have been an initial intent.   We have also forgotten how the visit itself seems to have led directly to a massacre.   We are the misrepresented Our message warped In nativities; We are Kings, celebrities, spacemen, Robots, figures of fun We gave notice of revolution Of an ancient prophecy coming to term Of the birth of new beginnings The birth ...

Readings:   Isaiah 7:10-17; Matthew 1:18-25 It’s one week to go until Christmas.    In the words of Corporal Jones; Don’t Panic!! In the last minute rush when we suddenly get a card or a present from someone we haven’t provided for, or when we might be forced into sudden changes of plans; it is easy to forget that the Christmas that we celebrate these days bears little in relation to the first Christmas.   In other words we say we remember the birth of Jesus, but really we run about buying presents and have we done this, have we done that?? Our readings today from Isaiah and the Gospel of Matthew contain some points that if we take the time to look at them with a fresh set of eyes, may help in leading us to a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the so-called Christmas Story.   I’ll come back to the manner in which we call it a story later, but just for the moment, that phrase, how does it make you feel?   Do you feel uncomfortable wit...