Pentecost Sunday

Fire Blessing

May the fire be in your thoughts

making them good and just

may it protect you from all harm

may the fire be in your eyes

may it open your eyes to see what is good in life

may it protect you from speaking against another.

Feast of the Ascension

In Acts of the Apostles, the eleven apostles are reminded of what they had experienced and been present with Jesus: the Cana wedding feast, calming storms, healing Peter’s mother-in-law, the feeding of the crowds with the loaves and fishes. They were commissioned, as we are, to continue the work they had done together. However, they continued to question Jesus. Still not comprehending the reality of the moment and hesitant, they were assured, ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.’ They remained hesitant of what was happening. We are challenged today to overcome our fear of the unknown and to discover the God of life and love beyond the familiar patterns, known boundaries and limited horizons. It is not in yearning for or holding on the known and the familiar but in re-imagining the future and venturing into the unknown chaos we shall find new life.

Sixth Sunday of Easter

It is two weeks to Pentecost Sunday where we celebrate the presence of Jesus’ Spirit in the world. It is a Spirit completely opposed to the world’s prevailing spirit of competition, violence, misogyny, and alienation from creation. The readings recognize human family, cooperation, non-violence, and respect for the Earth as foundational in our lives and where we recognise the Spirit within ourselves and others which is often at odds with the “truth” of the world.  This truth is the presence of the sacred in every human being enables us to recognise Christ in ourselves and all we meet.

Fifth Sunday of Easter

There is a story of a small boy who left his house with Twinkies and juice boxes after telling his mother that he is going to find God. He sits on a bench at a local park next to a homeless woman and offers her a Twinkie and some juice.  After eating, talking and enjoying each other they both leave.  When his mother asks, ‘Did you find God?’ he responds, ‘Yes, and God is a woman!’ When the woman joins her friends, she says, ‘I met God in the park today – and God is a little boy!’ Both, the boy and the woman, manifested God where they were, and the way they related to each other. ‘Where I am you also may be’ and ‘Whoever believes in me will do the work that I do.’

Today’s readings express resurrection hope and invite us to participate with God in co-creating courageous and generous communities. We are called to accept the joyful and messy work of belonging to communities and connect, according to the heart of Jesus, imaginatively and relationally with tenderness, forgiveness, strength and protection rather than with patriarchal such as aggression, domination, control, and condemnation. Psalm 23 offers words of comfort and courage in times of uncertainty, sorrow and loss. The Psalm and Gospel remind us that we never walk alone amid the uncertainties of our future and the changes in our lives and our world. There is a way forward when feeling helpless, concerned, powerless and fearful.