Ninth Sunday after Trinity 2022 St Andrew’s Milngavie
Dear All
Today we celebrated the ninth Sunday after Trinity with Harry once again providing excellent accompaniment.
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 – Tenth Sunday after Trinity Isaiah 58:9-14 Hebrews 12:18-29 Luke 13:10-17
Today’s Readings Jeremiah .23:23-29
Hebrews .11:29-12:2 Luke 12:49-56
“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” (Lk.12:51)
By any standard today’s gospel makes uncomfortable reading as we hear these alarming words from an irate Jesus. It’s not exactly what we are used to. We are more used to a warm friendly person, the person who reaches out his hands to welcome in the children or to heal the blind, telling parables or performing miracles.
But here at the end of this long 12th chapter in Luke, Jesus starts to sound different – he sounds angry. Perhaps he is feeling anxious and frustrated as he continues his journey to Jerusalem and faces the pain, sorrow, and loneliness that will greet him behind those city walls? Maybe he is tired of people not hearing him or understanding what he is doing? Whatever the reason we hear the rare and uncomfortable words,
“Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.”
In Matthew’s gospel there is a similar piece of scripture “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.” Sword? This is coming from the same person, the Prince of Peace, who tells Peter in the garden, “Put away your sword, those who live by the sword die by the sword.”
This is the same Jesus who says, “blessed is the peacemakers” So what do we make of these words? They are contrary to the many familiar texts from scripture that speak of unity. We may recall our Lord’s prayer for us in John 17 “ Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one” (17:11). Jesus himself prayed that we might be “one”
In Psalm 133 we are reminded “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!”
St Paul also speaks of the need for unity. One of his most powerful pieces of rhetoric in favour of unity was his description of the “new life in Christ” in Colossians 3.
“There is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all in all!” Col 3:11
In the church unity is a serious issue – a lot is talked about it. We are members of a Communion and so it grieves us to reflect on the divisions amongst us. At the recent Lambeth conference, The Archbishop faced a formidable challenge to hold in tension the views of liberal and conservative bishops.
And yet today Christ says that he has “come to bring division”. So clearly there is a place for division.
Sometimes division must be acknowledged for progress to happen. For the sake of peace, we are often very tempted as humans to adopt a policy of appeasement, meaning agreeing to anything simply in order to keep the peace.
In history one of the most famous acts of appeasement was in 1938 the British prime minister Neville Chamberlain came back from his meeting in Munich announcing, “peace in our time” But as we all know it wasn’t peace. Peace doesn’t come that easily. Peace is something which needs careful thought, and often some sacrifice. A situation which, in recent months, has been compared to the war in Ukraine.
In an evolving world we are at church encouraged to consider change in order to embrace a modern culture. But change can bring division among us which is hard for everyone. For the sake of keeping the ship on an even keel, it is always tempting not to “rock the boat” and do nothing.
This has consequences. Change of any sort becomes impossible to implement as fear of upsetting individuals becomes greater than any possible gain to be had. We see this often – amongst politicians, work colleagues, family, ourselves even.
“I come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled” Jesus says Luke 12:49
These words are an echo of the prophet Jeremiah in the reading this morning as he denounces false prophets who merely say what people want to hear. “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:29
However uncomfortable, the gospel message challenges us, our churches and communities to confront issues. Sometimes situations and relationships have to be taken apart before they can be put back together again and mended.
This is what Jesus means by division. The fire which Jesus wishes to light is a purifying fire, the fire of his spirit – a fire which gives healing light and life.