Eighth Sunday after Trinity 2022 St Andrew’s Milngavie
Dear All
Today we celebrated the eighth Sunday after Trinity with Harry providing excellent accompaniment.
Happily, our gathering was augmented by the Milne clan, always such a joy to see them all with their children.
In Gordon’s absence I am choosing the hymns, please let me know if there are any particular hymns you would like to sing, I can include them as appropriate.
Gordon remains very much in our prayers.
Notices for this week:
Tuesday 10am Prayer Group in the Garden Room
Thursday 10am Said Eucharist followed by coffee in Friendship House
Readings for next Sunday – Ninth Sunday after Trinity Jeremiah 23:23-29 Hebrews 11:29-12:2 Luke 12:49-56
Today’s Readings – Luke 12:32-40 Genesis 15:1-6 Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16
One reality of life is waiting; waiting for someone to turn up, for something to happen, for things to change. Another reality of life is that most of us do not like waiting. We look for the shortest queue at the checkout, we become impatient, annoyed even, waiting for the doctor for a doctor’s appointment, hospital treatment or a waiter who is slow or inattentive.
Sometimes it seems like life is nothing more than waiting. As children we wait for Christmas, our birthday, summer holidays and eventually to grow up. As adults we wait for just the right job, the right relationship, a promotion, holidays, retirement. Often, we simply wait for the answer to our prayers.
Sometimes it seems as if the world has waited from the beginning of creation for peace, the end of war, hunger, and poverty. At some level waiting takes place every day. Each of us could name the things or people for which we wait.
When we look at our waiting it’s often not in the present, we can move into the past or the future. The great danger is that in doing so we lose the present moment. That’s part of what makes waiting so painful and difficult.
Waiting in the future often brings fear and anxiety about what will happen. We are haunted by the unknown and lack of control. Waiting in the past brings sadness, anger, or guilt about things that have happened, or the things done and left undone. As difficult or trying as our present circumstances may be, that’s the only place where we can ever be fully alive. It is the only place we can truly experience God.
Mindfulness is a current trend which focuses on the benefits of concentrating on the present moment in order to improve mental wellbeing but it essentially a very Christian concept. When we move out of the present – either way, into the past or the future – we not only postpone life; we deny life. We deny our resurrection. We undermine the sacrament of the present moment. We have refused the gift of God’s kingdom.
Everyone, everywhere, in every age waits. Jesus does not discourage waiting. If anything, it sounds like just the opposite. He tells the crowd, “Be like those waiting for their master to return.”
Today’s gospel is not, however, simply about passing time. It is about presence and being present. Jesus sees waiting as an act of faithfulness; the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
So, we are mistaken if we think today’s gospel describes an absent God, a God who left some time ago, for whom we wait. We are equally mistaken if we think we are waiting for a God who lives out in the future.
Jesus is teaching us how and where to wait. He’s inviting us to be present to the One who is always already present. He’s inviting us to listen for the knock, to watch, and to be alert. He’s inviting us to be present to the reality of God in each other, in the world, and in ourselves. This is the God who is present in the ordinary circumstances of our lives, even in our waiting.
So he says, “Be dressed for action” implying something is going on and I want you to be a part of it – come participate. For it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. This is for you.
“Have your lamps lit,” Jesus says, encouraging us to move out of the darkness and come into the light. See what is right in front of us, what is all around us, and what is in within us. For the Father wants us to have the kingdom.”
“Be alert,” he commands. But this isn’t a threat of punishment. It’s an invitation to be blessed. “Blessed are those whom he finds alert.” Jesus is not just inviting us to be awake, to be ready, and to be watchful. He is calling us to be fully alive and to remain alive. Blessing and life are synonymous in God’s kingdom. It is as if Jesus is saying to us, “Be alert, be blessed, and I will come and serve you. I will feed you the bread of life. I will serve you the cup of salvation.”
All of this, Jesus says, happens at an unexpected hour. Like a thief in the night the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. So, when is the unexpected hour? When will all this happen? Well, perhaps the most unexpected hour is today, right here, right now.
The most unexpected hour is the hour spent in the hospital waiting room; the hour staring at our phone, the hour praying for a miracle; the hour in which we wait for clarity and a way forward; the hour in which it seems as if nothing is happening, life is not the way we want and we are unsure of the future. That is the unexpected hour!
And in that hour may we remember
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” Luke 12:34