Miracle of the Hudson River

It's not very often that the word miracle is used in the media so much as it has been in the past 24 hours. But what many have termed "the miracle on the Hudson River" has meant that the word has been on many people's lips.
A miracle is generally regarded as the astonishment and amazement created by an unusual or inexplicable event. Albert Einstein argued that "There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle."
Miracles don't have to be connected to religion nor, as CS Lewis reminds us, do they need to go against the laws of nature. Many things we see on a day to day basis, the birth of a child for instance, have, from our human standpoint, miraculous qualities. They are truly wonderful.
But, from time to time, a combination of circumstances brings about something as astonishing as the survival of everyone on board that aircraft. And something so special, extraordinary - a remarkable sequence of events such as this - touches an emotion and provokes a response - regardless of how cynical we might be the rest of the time.
Even at the level of - how would I have responded if I'd been in that situation - we are faced with challenging questions about what is important to us and the bigger picture of our lives.
The Jewish and Christian faiths are based on a fair few miracles of various types which have provoked debate over the centuries - not just on the grounds of historicity and theology - but also because of the effect they had, and have, on people of faith and no faith.
Astonishment and amazement is also often, in the books of the Bible, accompanied by fear and insecurity because such events - natural or divinely provoked - have a similar knock-on effect. There is the need to reflect and ponder the consequences of what has taken place.
I have always preferred the word "sign" to "miracle". And "this is a sign to us" is common parlance amongst lots of people for whom such miracles have some deeper but unknown meaning. And I personally believe that miracles have always been reminders that we live in a fragile and surprising world, where events simply do not always turn out as we thought that they would.
Whether or not one adopts faith as part of a rationale for dealing with "miracles" - that's a personal decision.
But all of us, this morning, can only reflect and ponder on the miracle of the Hudson River and the extraordinary stories that are now being told.
copyright 2009 BBC

Recent Radio 4 TFTD - Recession

So it's official. Today is the first full day when we actually know that we are in recession. Not that yesterday's Office of National Statistics data would have come as a surprise to anyone who has lost their job, can't sell their home, if they still have one, or is simply feeling an almighty pinch. But now, at least, it's official.
The question is: how do we respond? Across Europe - in places as far afield as Bulgaria, Latvia, Hungary, Greece and Iceland - people have taken to the streets. Social unrest and rioting are causing concern to European leaders.
But in Britain, which has a tradition of a stiff upper lip and often proving that it is stronger when in the midst of a crisis, we are only just beginning to seriously reflect on how long this recession might be, to what depths it will plunge us and what we are going to do about it.
Any kind of depression or loss, whether individual or shared, inevitably consists of a series of distinct phases or stages. The five classic stages of bereavement, for instance, are denial & isolation, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. And you can see how with this recession we have already, or are currently, in the process of going through some of these.
But the acceptance stage will be the most challenging, and then the resolve to do something about it.
The French Jesuit, Jean Nicholas Grou, suggests that spiritual resistance is as important as physical or mental resolve. He wrote: "the chief pang of most trails is not so much the actual suffering itself as our own spirit of resistance to it."
The communities to which Paul wrote many of his letters in the first century were all obviously buffeted by the constant struggle to get the balance right between earthly riches and possessions and the need to be free to be the kind of people God wanted them to be. There is parable after parable about this in the Gospels too.
A resistance to earthly tribulations is rooted in our constant ability to resurrect our spirits out of depression (or recession) and to look for new opportunities to be positive and creative. This is the challenge of these times for everyone of us: asking what is really important, getting a real perspective on things.
Such confidence and positive creativity isn't going to be easy. It's about faith, in many things, rather than doubt. As Julian of Norwich's famous refrain underlines - what is wrong and sinful in the world is worrying and challenging, "but all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well."
Her reassurance is a challenge to the human spirit in these uncertain times.
copyright 2009 BBC

The French Strikes

The manner in which the UK media patronise the French never ceases to surprise me.

OK, so the people have taken to the streets to protest against the polics of Nicholas Sarkozy.

But the media have latched onto the President's "worrying out loud" and the fondness of the French for the upheaval.

"The French guillotined the king," said NS before adding "a symbollic measure is enough to make the country turn upside down."

Cath up and St Mary Abbots 9th Jan 2009

It has been a very busy time over Advent and Christmas with clients and parish taking up a lot time.

Like most people - I was quite ill with the winter flu virus over the winter but am now back at the gym and feeling better.

Have hosted South African friends Alan and Maria for the past 3 weeks and now fully back at work.

St Mary Abbots
Matins
9th January 2009

Baptism Sunday

Johannine teaching on John the Baptist

Lamb of God - title introduced:

various explanations given by commentators

- first - Isaiah 53 - the suffering servant
-takes away the sins of the woel
baptism with the spirit

-secondly, Passover Lamb
celebrates the notion of exodus and deliverance

Barnabas Lindars writes: " we conclude that the title is based on Isaiah 53 interpreted in the light of the passover sacrifice."

Baptim - reveals the truth of the incarnation

initiates the notion of Jesus as Messiah

is the first sign that sin will be dealt with.

Revelation 1.4-18

Back end of the year.

getting ready for the end of one Christian year and the start of the next.

Book of Revelation:

End Time

Promise of Better Things to come

Revelation:

Focus on the Future

Things of the end.

What is God saying?

Advent of Jesus
Incarnation of Jesus
2nd Coming of Jesus

Letter to the 7 churches

God
who is/who was/who is to come

Kingdom - perfected

Suffering - transformed

Glory - fulfilled

"Look! He is coming with the clouds;
every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and so on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
So it is to be, Amen.

Radio 4 on 15th November

TFTD
Saturday 15th November
Rob Marshall


Good Morning
There is plenty of analysis and expectation of this weekend’s G20 summit. The latest economic malaise facing world leaders is a rapidly rising level of unemployment: half a million jobs were lost in the US last week; and in the UK, comparatively, the news is not much better. The steel industry, here in Sheffield, has been badly affected and Virgin Media, with a base in this city, has also announced job losses in the past seven days.

On Monday, a close friend of mine employed in the IT sector working for a financial institution, told me he had faced a stark choice: take voluntary redundancy now or have no choice but to go before Christmas.

The G20 summit will inevitably recognise the need to modernise international financial institutions, to find a way out of an economic hole in which all of us, to some extent or another, now find ourselves.

Economic health & wealth, and the lack of it, are common themes throughout the books of the Bible. Lending money at interest is condemned more than once, but it must have been very common. Jesus, for instance, has a great deal to say about our attitude to money and riches, suggesting that it is a symptom of our attitude to many other things and can betray our weaknesses.

Perhaps influenced by the collapse of the Roman Empire where there seems to have been a tremendous misuse of wealth and where the middle classes were effectively destroyed and left with virtually nothing, the Early Church Fathers recognised that it wasn’t wealth itself which was the problem: as Boniface Ramsey says : "The consensus of the Fathers is that wealth of itself is not a bad thing as long as it is properly used".

It is incumbent upon our elected leaders to work diligently and effectively to restore confidence and a more financially secure future for our children. Sean O'Grady, writing in the Independent this week, suggests that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and I quote, “seems to believe our economy will soon enjoy the greatest comeback since Lazarus. He adds: He obviously believes in miracles: the world hasn't changed that much.”

Miracles, including economic ones, surely, like any other miracle, require not only faith, but an element of putting right or restoring something that was previously wrong.

John Donne puts it brilliantly: “There is in every miracle a silent chiding of the world, and a tacit reprehension of them who require or who need miracles.”

Surely that is what this weekend’s summit is really all about: recognising errors in the past; accepting responsibility for our challenging situation and world order: and then working towards a kind of restoration which not only needs traditional faith but a certain kind of restored belief.

Politics 091108

Every so often a politician makes a speech which merits further and deeper reflection. This week, the Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears, speaking to the Hansard Society, observed: “There is a trend towards politics being seen as a career move rather than a call to public service.” She called for more MP’s from different backgrounds representing wider experiences than just politics. It is certainly true that politicians, previously a pick and mix of industrialists, philanthropists, bankers, and lawyers, emerge more and more from only one career strand: politics. The Minister fears that a lack of breadth and depth, of real life experience for future politicians could be an intrinsic factor in the culture of cynicism and pessimism which is often associated with contemporary British political life. Their decisions as members of Parliament, she said, should reflect the realities people face. I speak here with some experience myself, though in another area of public service – that of ordained ministry. If I had my time over again, perhaps I might not have taken a fast track to be an ordained priest of the Church of England at the youngest possible age of 24. Since then I have witnessed the enormous wisdom of some of my fellow priests who came much later into full time ministry after careers in other disciplines including the police force, banking, education and yes, paradoxically, even politics. That’s not, of course, to doubt what I discerned as a clear vocation: it is more a question of timing and experience to ensure the mix is right. The link between vocation and public service needs to be re-examined as a consequence of contemporary subtle changes affecting career structures and an increasing number of highly specialised jobs with a clearly non vocational label. This involves a partnership with our universities and colleges which are increasingly offering very focused, some might say, narrow, career focused degree course which don’t always provide basic skills and understanding about everyday life. Drawing our attention to the truly vocational nature of some careers will hopefully attract a wider diversity of people to posts which are clearly aimed at helping the whole of society – politics is just one; what about nursing, teaching, and of course, and I would include, the priesthood also. The Communities Secretary deserves praise for raising an important issue about politics as a vocation – rather than a way purely to success and career progression.
Leo Tolstoy is clear where the emphasis lies in the simple difference between a job or a career and a vocation because the latter is about the whole human experience and our encounter with our neighbor: “The vocation of every man and every woman is to serve other people.”