The authority of Jesus is Ss

 

 

I have sometimes heard the authority of Jesus in Mark’s gospel described using a series of words beginning with (or maybe sounding like) “S”s.

 

Slightly silly, but I suggest we seek Our Saviour's authority in the Gospels over "s"s:

 

Some of these might be a stretch and perhaps are debatable / lack on obvious proof text but here goes:

 

With a salute to friends who chipped in:

 

Sin;

Sickness;

Scribes;

Spirits;

Satan;

Sinners / Seekers / Sceptics;

Sailors! (fishermen);

Simon;

Sea;

Sandwiches (loaves and fishes!);

Sanhedrin;

Sadducees;

Soldiers; Centurions;

Scripture (as its authorised interpreter and subject);

Sabbath;

Ceremonies;

Sepulchres;

Sanctimoniousness;

Self-righteousness;

Silliness;

Sorrow / sadness;

Suffering;

Snakes / serpents;

Sliced ears;

Smells (the stink of Lazarus)  

Soft fruit (the cursing of the fig tree)

Sanctuary (Temple)

Sausages (The Gadarene swine and the food laws!)

Structures 

(our) Selves?

Something else? Supplement, please?

What is a Deanery?

 

What is a Deanery?

 

A question you are no doubt asking! It could be the house in which a Dean lives. But not in this case.

 

“The Anglican Communion is a family of 42 autonomous and independent-yet-interdependent national, pan-national and regional churches in communion with the see of Canterbury” operating in over 165 countries.

 

These churches are composed of Provinces, in the case of the Church of England, Canterbury and York. There are also, as it happens, 42 diocese in the Church of England, ours being Chichester, which roughly covers Sussex.

 

Chichester Diocese is made up of four Archdeaconries, ours being Hastings. And these are composed of Deaneries, benefices and parishes.

 

Our diocese comprises 478 churches in 361 parishes grouped into 275 benefices with a clergyperson overseeing each. These are grouped into 21 rural deaneries, each served by a rural dean who is also a parish priest. Ours are largely rural but they need not be. Brighton is a rural deanery. Some diocese have switched to having Area rather than Rural Deans.

 

 The word “deanery” comes originally for the Latin for ten: deaneries originally comprised about ten parishes. Nowadays they are geographically-based, and may contain twice that number, or (for very rural areas) fewer. In this Diocese, some of the deaneries have ancient names, after some of the oldest parishes. Our deanery is Dallington, which though it is a tiny village based around The Street is an ancient settlement mentioned in the Domesday Book. The churches here date from the 13th Century. Dallington is roughly central within the Deanery though people living in the deanery might look to various different surrounding towns for their shopping and other amenities. There’s no real shared centre, which is rather different from a deanery such as Hastings or Eastbourne which is very much based around a single town.

 

Our Deanery of Dallington extends from Hailsham in the south to Hurst Green in the north, Waldron in the west and Salehurst in the east. A map of the deanery showing the churches is available on the Church Near You website. Hailsham is the largest town in the Deanery. Other centres include Heathfield and Burwash. The Deanery is largely rural.

 

When fully staffed, the Deanery is served by 12 licenced clergy, plus any training curates and a number of clergy with Permission to Officiate, who may be retired or have some other work, possibly as a chaplain or in secular employment.

 

The Deanery Chapter of clergy meets roughly every couple of months, usually for lunch, prayer and mutual encouragement. Notices are shared and any business is contracted and sometimes we are joined by a guest from the Diocese or elsewhere. Recently Bishop Will, the Bishop of Lewes, visited.

 

The functions of Deanery Synods are formally set out in the Synodical Government Measure of 1969. A cynic once said that a Deanery Synod is thirty people waiting to go home, but in fact they have lots of potential for good. Deanery Synods exist to promote co-operation between parishes and as a unit of mission and organisation between the level of the parishes and the diocese. It can be useful to work together and share best practice. A Deanery Plan might guide pastoral reorganisation and we also have a Deanery Mission Action Plan which sets out some our shared priorities. We have also done some work on listing the main things each parish is working on and any areas where parishes feel they may have resources or expertise to share with one another.

 

The Deanery Synod normally meets three times a year in a different church or church hall. This consists of the House of Clergy and the House of Laity who are elected by their parishes according to the number on the electoral roll of the parish church. The Church Representation Rules and the Standing Orders govern business. The Deanery Standing Committee (a Secretary and Treasurer and others) help the Rural Dean and the joint (lay) chair to plan the meetings. Normally there is a speaker. And we always have one parish share items for praise and prayer. General Synod (rather like the church’s parliament) or Diocesan Synod can refer matters to the Deanery. And a motion could go all the way from a Parochial Church Council to General Synod via the Deanery and Diocese. Importantly, the members of Deanery Synod are also the electors for General Synod.

 

Only members of synod are entitled to speak and vote but anyone is normally welcome to attend.

 

(This article draws on material from the Anglican Communion, Church of England, Diocesan and Deanery websites as well as other sources).

 

Two points and a challenge

 

I want to make two points and then pose a challenge, if I may.

 

(1) We live in an amazingly beautiful part of the world. Okay, there are pot holes and power cuts. And many of us have serious struggles. Ill health or various kinds of disaster can afflict any of us at any time. But many of us have relatively good lives much of the time. We are amongst the most affluent people in the world. Indeed, most of us are probably relatively comfortable by UK standards. There is so much in the world to appreciate and enjoy. A sunset. Music. Food and drink. You could make your own list. Perhaps you have a nice home and are looking forward to a holiday.  

 

(2) May people of different faiths or none will be amazingly kind and generous.

 

So, my challenge is this. And I say this as much to myself and my own family as to you. In our context, if you think of yourself as a committed Christian believer, what difference does it make? How are you distinctive compared to your friends and neighbours? Do you live as salt and light? Could someone ask you for the reason for the hope that you have? Would someone look at your relationships and say, “see how these Christians love one another?” To put it pointedly, what shows that you are not living for this world alone but are seeking a greater heavenly City whose architect and builder is God? Yes, you are no doubt often a lovely respectable member of your community who does your bit, but when did you last give something up for Jesus – something you cared about? Are you willing to do something for Him which is actually a bit hard, or weird, or costly, something that you don’t in a sense want to do? How has Jesus changed you? How is he changing you? What might he be calling you to which perhaps involves an element of risk, a step out with him into the unknown? He gave up all for you. What might you joyfully give up – or take up – for him?

 

I might take some time this Lent to reflect on some of these things. Maybe you might like to make them a matter of prayer too.

New Year's Resolutions and The Epiphany

 

 

Ephesians 3:1-12 (p1174)

Matthew 2:1-12 (p966)

 

INTRODUCTION: New Year’s resolutions?

 

What? How? Why?

 

READINGS

 

Not just me, but Christ

 

Focused on ourselves

 

Take a look at ourselves maybe, but fix your eyes on Christ

Two looks at Christ for every look at self

 

A resolve to seek Christ

 

Whatever the cost

 

The cost for the wise men

 

“The East”

 

Babylon? – Daniel a wise man in Babylon – just a guess!

 

Babylon – near Al-Ḥillah in Iraq, 55 miles south of Baghdad

684 miles to Jerusalem and Bethlem

259 hours of walking – 6 hrs a day – 43 days of walking

And back again, perhaps by the long way!

 

Difficulty, expense, danger

The whole of life on hold for a few months

Risking their lives

 

Not just my failings (or achievements), but Christ’s glory

 

When we look at ourselves, what do we see?

 

Cf. our failings or achievements

 

A positive vision of the glory of Christ

 

Worship him!

 

Give him their gifts!

Lay their all at his feet

Honour him

 

The King of Kings, of whom we should make much

 

Whom we should obey

For whom we should risk all

 

Jesus’ glory

 

Paul: “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8)

 

Richest person in the world

Forbes: Elon Musk - Net worth: $251.3 billion

He was the richest person in the world for much of 2022 as well.

His fortune rose by $6 billion during December 2023.

 

You can’t know how rich Christ is!

 

Inexhaustible

 

Why seeking to know Christ better would always be a great resolution!

 

Not just for me, but Christ’s glory for all the nations

 

Jesus is too good to keep to ourselves!

 

Paul a prisoner / a servant for the sake of the nations

 

All people

 

Mystery – secret now revealed

 

The non-Jewish nations like us are invited in

Ephesians 3v6

Co-heirs with Israel

Co-members of the same body

Co-sharers in the same promise in Christ Jesus

 

Will I seek Christ whatever the cost?

 

How could I serve God’s gospel purposes this year with my time, effort, money, prayers, by how I live and speak?

A response to Kate Andrews, In Search of a Second Epiphany

 On the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany, I want to say something, if I may, in response to Kate Andrew’s thoughtful and moving Spectator piece (16 December 2023), ‘In Search of a Second Epiphany’. 

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/in-search-of-a-second-epiphany/

I hope it will not seem patronising to commend Andrews for her honesty and her seeking. She expresses cogently what many feel. Despite the dominance of scientific materialism in parts of the middle class press and the academy, most people are convinced, as Andrews is, that God exists. “Believing in a higher power has never been the hard part”, she says. “It’s everything that follows as a consequence of having faith which I find difficult.”

There’s much truth in that. As G. K. Chesterton once said: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” What would a serious commitment to follow Christ day by day mean? I am glad that many go to church on Christmas Eve. But Christ is not just for Christmas. Too right, this way is difficult. All of us veer off it before breakfast. And so moment by moment we need the mercy and compassion of God who knows us better than we know ourselves.  

Andrew’s specific issue is that she finds belief in God brings no particular strength, comfort or assurance. She speaks of the anger over the death of her mother and of God’s failure to intervene to reduce suffering. She says she takes her anger to church. And I think she’s right to do so. God can cope with it. Our anger at pain and injustice is part of the evidence for God, of our being made in his image. If blind chance were all there is, our anger would be nonsensical. Why rage against fluke upon fluke if all your raging is fluke too? But Jesus shared our anger. He drove the money changers from the temple and he snorted with indignation at the damage done to human lives by disease and evil. If we cry out for a better world and for God to act, these are Christian cries.  

Andrews mentions the book of Job. Job’s comforters get little right, but they do go and weep with Job and sit with him in silence for seven days. I hope Andrews has Christian family or friends ready to do that with her. 

Only after more than thirty chapters does the LORD God speak to Job. The Almighty asks Job where he was while God was making the universe. Does Job have some advice for the omniscient one? I realise that is a stark message. The answer of the book of Job is that we don’t have all the answers. None of us. Andrews at least admits it more readily than some of us Vicars sometimes do. Faith means trusting God that he knows what he’s doing, even when we don’t. Job comes to believe that God can do all things and that none of the LORD’s purposes can be thwarted. Inevitably if we speak of God and his ways, we speak of what we do not really understand, things too wonderful for us which we know not. 

Is there more to say, then, than shut up and trust God?

I think there is. A measure of comfort, strength, assurance, peace and joy are possible. And Andrews already points to their source in the life, death, resurrection and return of Christ. 

C. S. Lewis speaks of the elusive nature of joy. Ask yourself whether you are happy or not and your happiness begins to tarnish. It is a mistake to seek peace, joy and strength directly. What we need is Jesus. He gives meaning and purpose and all these things are to found in him. In Jesus alone are the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of God. He is our peace.  

Andrews is right to look to the church and to the Scriptures for Christ. Our feelings are often fickle and can depend as much on our blood sugar levels or our sleep patterns as on reality. Who knows what an epiphany might be like? For some it is spontaneous and overwhelming flood of happiness. For others it is a rational conviction which leads to a commitment to stake everything on Jesus. As a journalist, Andrews knows the importance of the search for truth. As we seek The Truth, we will find him also to be the Way and the Life. Love, joy and peace are to found in Him. I for one am going to go on praying Andrews’ prayer. 

 

Some potentially useful ideas for a better year

 

https://drchatterjee.com/13-powerful-ideas-to-make-2024-your-best-year-yet/

Get some time alone with your thoughts. Be still and present. Allow yourself to be bored. Don’t be always connected / accessible / distracted.

Embrace discomfort. Confront your feelings and fears. Your emotions are in flux and change. Much passes.

You can’t control all that happens to you / circumstances, but you can have some control over your responses. We spend a lot of time trying to avoid a future which hasn’t happened yet. Past hurts lead to fears of the future. Tension and worry can be self-fulfilling – we bring our anxiety with us. Be aware of your patterns and be compassionate towards yourself. It is funny that we go to such effort to avoid a future we are imagining. What upsets us is us. We can take responsibility.

It Is very liberating not to mind what happens, but we might still have a preference! We need not be victims. We can have some control.

We sometimes live in others’ perception of ourselves. We base what we think of ourselves on what we think others think of us.

We want to jump to have but we have to be, do, have, share. Head, heart and hand must be aligned. Mindset (assumptions and attitudes – what I believe is possible for me), motivations and methods matter. Nouns must be turned in to verbs. Our self-talk / beliefs are very powerful. Not so much time management but mind management. The most important thing is to keep the most important things the most important things. We should seek to control the control-ables.

Common sense is not common practice. People often know what they ought to do (e.g. eat more fruit and veg, quit the fags), but they often don’t do it.  

Self-help is sometimes shelf-help.

90% of your thoughts today are the thoughts you had yesterday! What fires together wires together. We get automatic. We become what we habitually think / feel / do.  

We do well to become conscious of our unconscious thoughts. We should seek to become aware of our thoughts, emotions, behaviours. What do we want to change from and to. Practice feeling (imagine, role play – the real thing might not be so different from pretending).

Our expectations often make us happy or unhappy. Be okay with life! Austin Martins are not perfect and tend to disappoint. Calm and peaceful contentment, acceptance is necessary. We can even feel pain without it leading us to despair and endless suffering.

Stress responses last about 90 seconds. After that, we either repeat or move on. I can make myself angry and miserable again or not. I can choose to dwell on my upset.

Victimhood can have a utility, but you are not six years old any more.

Many events are neutral. It depends what story you attach to them. Or how you react to them. Stories can be changed.

Live from the inside out, not dependant on what happens.

Hatred is probably not useful. Pity might be better. Love.

You create what you think / feel / behave.

Ironically, we can criticise ourselves for being overly self-critical.

Turn towards what is, even if it is painful, without being consumed by it.

Be aware and seek perspective. Respond kindly and wisely with compassion. If you were your friend, what would you say to yourself?

Feel connection to others.

The Hi-Five Habit: Look at yourself in the mirror and hi-five yourself – it’s going to be okay! You can do this! Give yourself some positive energy. Be excited to see yourself! Unconditional support and celebration. Partner with yourself. What do you need from yourself today? Trashing yourself does not work. Don’t reject yourself. Don’t depend on validation from others. Show gratitude for yourself. This doesn’t change your circumstances but it changes you.

There is a poverty in uniformity. Resist moving to the middle ground. There can be good stuff at the untidy edges. Express what you care about. Live don’t just perform / conform.

We want results, but the way to get the results is to fix the inputs, to form the habits that get results. How you are now, depends on how you were each day six months or a year ago. We tend to over value the results. We need the systems.

True behaviour change is identity change – part of who we are, of the story we tell ourselves. Writing is natural to writers. Athletes train. Healthy people eat in a healthy way. Every action casts a vote for the kind of person you are becoming / want to become. Who do you want to become? Do one thing now.

Real change is long, slow, hard and requires dedication to a process, little things repeated imperceptibly and incrementally. Deadlines / rules can really help you. Be patient for the long journey of learning, growing.

You overestimate what you can do in the short term (a couple of weeks) and underestimate what you could do in the long term (a few years).

Make a commitment to yourself. Recruit a community to keep you accountable.

You can’t make time for everything that matters. Just make sure you make time for some things that matter.

Everything is a choice – conscious or not. Every choice is a choice not to do something else in that moment. Every YES is also a NO.

Make some time today for something you really care about. Some things are not going to get done and that’s okay.

Priority was a singular word for hundreds of years. It can be risky to have lots of priorities. It’s not all important. A few things really matter. Much is trivial noise. We are not coal miners but diamond miners. We don’t need to simply do more. Find what matters and focus on that.  

Are you led by your scared self (e.g. comparing, fear of missing out) or your sacred self?

Perfectionism is a common form of self-sabotage since it sets an exhausting impossible standard. Comparisons push us out of the moment in to dissatisfaction. Tolerate imperfection. Expose yourself to imperfection. You could have people round in an untidy sitting room and it would be okay. Get perspective. There is lots of mess out there and its okay. We don’t all have it all together. No one is perfect.

Everyone fails. Successful people have to be comfortable with failure – trying and failing often is the only way to have some success. Training is failing. The growth is where the failure is. Failure is inevitable. Failure is a comma, not a full stop.

If identity is a construction, what would be the ideal identity? That of a learner. This is a non-fragile identity since it embraces not knowing and failing. Criticism is an opportunity for growth. If people throw stones at you, think of them as gold nuggets. Or use them as bricks. Is there an element of truth in the criticism that can be put to use?

The psychological immune system is not always helpful: the more deluded someone is, the happier they might be!

What is the friction in your life. Why? Why does that bother you? Is it a revealing opportunity for growth?

Life is change. We think we can control it, but we can’t. We try to avoid difficulty. Busyness can be a kind of avoidance. We need space to process change, to adapt and thrive. Distraction can serve us. Sit with your feelings and see what comes up. Pain can be the agent of change. Squash a feeling and it will come out in some other way.

Breathe – it is free and accessible and you can control it. Be present. Pay attention.

Take a moment to reflect. Slow down for a minute. Don’t be in such a hurry to get to a future where you can relax and enjoy life! Breathe now. Can you be comfortable in your own skin whatever is going on around you? Don’t pin your hopes on a future with the perfect body, bank account etc. Be content here and now. Don’t feel the need to react, control or manipulate.

On Journaling

 

Dr Chatterjee recommends journaling. In fact, he suggests buying his journal!

(https://drchatterjee.com/# Podcast #413 How to make 2024 your best year: 3 questions to ask yourself each day).

But nevertheless:

Journaling need not take long. You could do it each morning over a cuppa. Or more irregularly. You only need a few minutes.

A ritual can help us. Try attaching journaling to another habit. And to have a visual cue. And get rid of any friction. Put your journal and pen near your mug, kettle and morning coffee.

Journaling might not be that different from prayer and reflection. But it is helpful to write something down to crystalise it. Writing on paper may be better than typing. It may help you to have a journal (or pen and paper) which you like and look forward to using.

You could journal in the form of prayer, “Father, thank you… sorry… please….”

Journaling can help you to stand outside your life and examine it. It can help you to break the loop of stress and anxiety. It is a way of having a conversation with yourself.

Start small and easy and repeat.   

Journaling can be a good way to make the day more intentional (less reactive or unconsidered). It can be a great way to help you to do other good stuff.  

Chatterjee suggests we ask ourselves three key questions everyday:

(1) “What’s the most important thing for me to do today?” Pick one and then do it. That day will seem like a win.

We can sometimes feel that we have many important things to do today. Which may be true. But it is helpful to choose one. Likely we can never do everything we feel we ought to do. But we can get on and do something meaningful or necessary.

(2) Journaling can also help to deliver us from the negativity of the news and social media. It is worth asking ourselves what we are deeply grateful for in our lives. What do we really appreciate? It is better to be positive rather than to look at lacks. Be specific. Try to focus more on people than things. Seek to connect with your emotions (to feel what you appreciate, engage the senses).

The more we practice these things, the better we will get at them.  

(3) We might ask ourselves: “What quality do I want to show the world today?” For example, if we seek to show patience, we might begin to notice what makes us impatient and how we can be patient. Imagine yourself being patient. Practice! Choose who you want to be.

In the evening, one might reflect on the day. One study found this could lead to a 25% increase in performance.

Possible evening questions are:

(1) What went well today? Again, this cultivates positivity and gratitude.

(2) What can I do differently tomorrow?

(3) What did I do for someone else today? One study found practicing kindness may have more effect on mental well-being than diet or exercise.

If we try something like this over seven days, we are likely to experience positive effects.  

On Christian journaling see: https://www.churchsociety.org/resource/s08e05-christian-journalling/

 

Five Happiness Tips

 

Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley - Happiness Special – with Dr Rangan Chatterjee

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001ts5r

Health has four main pillars: eat, sleep, relax, move

We sometimes settle for the junk happiness provided by ice cream and video games. Alignment of inner self and self in the world, contentment and control lead to more core happiness.

Five tips for happiness:

(1) Say hello to strangers. Or at least smile or nod. Speak to the taxi driver or the barrister. Any / minimal positive social interaction is good for us.

(2) Use social friction as free therapy. Reframe this stuff to be calmer and less stressed. Lead with compassion. Ask yourself why. Put yourself in the shoes of others. If someone is grumpy with you, what might be going on in their life? Try not to get stressed by the actions of others as you can’t control them. If you depend on how others treat you for your happiness, you set yourself up for failure. Think of the dancer in the concentration camp who performed the same day her parents died. In her mind she was able to be free and in an opera house. The greatest prisons are the ones we create in our own minds. You don’t have to be the victim who resorts to sugar or caffeine or booze. You can take a measure of control and make choices.

(3) Think about your death bed and what you would want or regret. Write them down: I want to be surrounded by family and friends whom I love and who know that I love them. I want to leave the world a better place. What weekly habits would lead to a better death bed? E.g. eat with your family five times a week, make space for your passions (e.g. run and play the guitar), fit work around these things. Be more intentional. Prioritise the important. Be willing to say no. See further: Five Regrets of the Dying https://bronnieware.com/blog/regrets-of-the-dying/

(4) Eliminate choices so that you have to make fewer decisions. Know what clothes you will wear, what work out you will do, what breakfast you will have. Decide the important stuff which matters to you.  Choose when it matters no you, not when it doesn’t so as to reduce stress.

(5) Think of your phone as a real person and change your relationship with it. E.g. if you and your spouse are in bed together both on your phones, are you having eye-affairs with two others? We have our meals together and we don’t use our phones at our table. Phones are addictive. Get a grip of phone free times and spaces. Do you want those notifications on? You are in control of your phone. Don’t be a slave to it.

The Trendy Bespoke Examen

 The Examen is a practice of prayer and self-examination recommended by Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. 

A quick Google will show that this has been adapted e.g. for ecology or well-being. 

At one level this is all well and good. These things are likely to be beneficial. And they may prove to be gateway drugs to the real hard stuff: sin, repentance, forgiveness, transformation by the power of the Spirit. 

But there is a danger we never get there. 

We want to proclaim the gospel afresh in every generation. We may, probably should, perhaps must adapt the language we use. 

For example, people today may not say they share Luther's guilty conscience. Perhaps better to speak of inauthenticity. If we do not feel ourselves, necessarily, to be transgressors of the moral law, we may admit that we have a spectacular ability to muck things up for ourselves or others. 

But in the end you have to call sin, sin, even if not in so many words. 

You need not confine yourself to the language of the Bible. You may even sometimes use Bible words in a way the Bible does not, though this risks a muddle. But the Christian must always re-connect with the language and meaning of the Bible, which alone has final authority. 

By all means, reflect on your happiness and your impact on the environment, but Ignatius would like you to trace these things back to their source and to know yourself to be a loved sinner in the presence of a holy God, and to know what to do about it, which is to cling to Christ in repentance and faith. 

Go for the traditional Examen and you will get the other stuff thrown in. Go for the new trendy light version, and you might miss the real thing.