Meditation for the Third Sunday before Lent

Collect

Almighty God,
who alone can bring order
to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity:
Give your people grace
so to love what you command
and to desire what you promise;
that, among the many changes of the world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 12:4 – 11

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

1 Corinthians 15:12 – 20a

Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it – if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors.

Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ – sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection. If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ wasn’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up.

And He is Lord, He is Lord, He is risen from the dead, and He is Lord

Meditation for St Brigid’s Feast Day

Luke 6:32-38

February 1st is the Gaelic celebration of the First Day of Spring – ‘Imbolc’, one of four Gaelic seasonal festivals, the other three being Bealtaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain. It is also traditionally held as the Feast Day of St. Brigid, and since 2023 has been a Bank Holiday in Ireland. It’s about time – alongside the other (somewhat neglected) Irish Saint, Columcille – that her significant role in the history of the development of Christianity in Ireland is recognised. Patrick was first and foremost an evangelist – Columcille was known as the founder of many monasteries and peacekeeper – while the life of Brigid recalls her primarily as a healer with a life of holiness, compassion and service. In particular, in her generosity she ‘opened her heart and hands without fear or favour to the poor and sought the image of God’s Son in every welcomed guest.’

She is also held up as an example of the role of women in ministry and service of Christ. (Strangely, she is often referred to as one of Ireland’s three ‘Patron’ Saints!). But I feel it would be wrong to see her attributes as exclusively ‘womanly’, while Patrick and Columcille exhibit ‘male’ roles. We are all called to be the Body of Christ in His entirety – and we are to take the example of all ‘Saints’ who have gone before, both male and female, as models of our required behaviour.

Brigid is rightly respected, and it is good to remember her and celebrate her life on her Feast Day (she does not appear to have an issue with feasting – see below!) But unlike our Roman Catholic Sisters and Brothers, we don’t pray to her; instead we pray and live alongside her, as we do with all those who follow Christ and have accepted Him as Lord – sanctified (thus becoming ‘Saints’) in truth. This is certainly not to say that we demean or disrespect her in any sense – on the contrary, we regard her life and witness as an exemplar and seek to emulate her ministry. But she certainly wasn’t one of those ‘Frowning Saints’ from whom Theresa of Avila prayed for deliverance. In the legends her humanity comes across as strongly as does her faith, and in that is a lesson for us all. In living as the Body of Christ, holiness and humanity combine.

Brigid ‘legends’

She was the daughter of a pagan Chieftain and a Christian slave

Gave away her father’s money to the poor

As a child, she shared some butter – the only food she had – with a beggar. It doubled in size.

She was taught by St Patrick

When she took her final vows in front of St Patrick, he prayed the prayers for making a Priest rather than those for a Nun

Turned water into beer when unexpected guests arrived – “I should like a great lake of ale, for the King of Kings. I should like the family of Heaven to be drinking it throughout time eternal.”

Saved a wild boar from the hunt, blessed it and domesticated it

Kept a candle flame continuously burning to show the unending and undying Light of Christ

When she asked the King of Leinster for land to build her monastery, he mockingly suggested she could have as much land as her cloak could cover. Miraculously, her cloak expanded to cover a vast tract of land, enough to establish her monastery.

Made a cross from rushes for a dying man to explain about God’s love and Christ’s forgiveness before Baptising him

Traditional food for her feast day might include freshly churned butter and cake as big as a cartwheel baked on the feast day, made of flour, curds, milk and egg. Supper might include mutton, bacon, or a fowl, colcannon, boxty bread, dumplings, rice pudding, and ‘Sowans’ (a fermented oat husk drink/flummery), plus Beer, Mead or Rosemary tea.

How to make a St Brigid Cross

First, collect your rushes on the evening of Candlemas Eve 31 January, and soak them overnight. Then watch the video a couple of times before trying yourself.

The prayer of St. Brigid:
“I arise today / Through a mighty strength:
God’s power to guide me, / God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to teach me, / God’s eyes to watch over me,
God’s ear to hear me, / God’s word to give me speech,
God’s hand to guard me, / God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to shelter me, / God’s host to secure me.”

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Meditation for Epiphany 3

Almighty God,
whose Son revealed in signs and miracles
the wonder of your saving presence:
Renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your mighty power;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Luke 4:16-21 describes Jesus explaining the meaning and significance of His fulfilment of the prophecy. ‘When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ ‘

He demonstrates the humility, service and self-sacrifice which is the measure of true leadership in God’s Kingdom.

I can’t help making a comparison between Jesus’ example and the self-centred leadership described throughout the Old Testament – the Books of Kings, Daniel and others, and many others throughout the ages – up to and including ours today. Daily, we hear of continuing war and violence, societal discord and injustice propagated by those in power seeking their own aggrandisement. Is it any wonder that this aggressive role-model behaviour percolates down to young people? It’s all very well blaming a lack of parental discipline, social media, peer pressure to conform, the desire for instant gratification and other aspects of our current society, but I think those are simply symptoms of an underlying cause – a lack of personal values, identity and an empty future with wordly populist leadership that is the total opposite of the leadership that Jesus shows.

What, then, you might ask, is the answer? What can we do about it? St Paul makes it clear. In 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 – we are to live in the Spirit, use our individual gifts as the body of Christ, to be faithful, hopeful and loving. In Galatians 5, he describes that Christian life – avoiding those things that deprive us of our inheritance in the Kingdom of God, and instead demonstrating love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness and self-control. In the face of a sinful society, it is up to us to offer servant leadership through the example of living, not just talking, not just going to Church once a week, but being the Body of Christ. Every Day, every hour, every minute. (Yes I know we won’t be able to – but that doesn’t stop us trying.) Most importantly, in the face of what appears to be a society built upon prejudice and hatred, we are sustained and strengthened by the knowledge that in the end, love will triumph, leaving the wordly values of the tyrant to be forgotten. Let’s leave Percy Shelley to have the last word.

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
No thing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

— Percy Shelley, “Ozymandias”, 1819

You call us,
Wanderer of seashores and sidewalks,
inviting us to sail out of our smug harbours
into the uncharted waters of faith
to wander off from our predictable paths to follow You
into the unpredictable footsteps of the kingdom;
to leave the comfort of our homes and accompany
You into the uncomfortable neighbourhoods we usually avoid.

As we wait,
in our simple, sometimes crazy,
constantly uncertain lives,
speak to us, Spirit of Grace:
of that hope which is our anchor;
of that peace which is our rock;
of that grace which is our refuge.

Rev. Bob Gibson, United Church of Canada.

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Meditation for Epiphany 2

Almighty God,
in Christ you make all things new:
Transform the poverty of our nature
by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives
make known your heavenly glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ag an bpósadh a bhí i gCána bhí Rí na nGrást ann i bpearsain,
É fhéin is Muire a Mháthair, is nárbh álainn í an bhainis,
Bhí cuideachta os cionn cláir ann agus fíon orthu in easnamh,
Is an t-uisce a bhí sna hárthaibh, nárbh álainn é a bhlaiseadh.
A Dhia ghil, a Íosa is a Rí ghil na cruinne,
’D’iompair an choróin spíne agus íobairt na croise,
Dhá stolladh is dhá straoilleadh i measc daoine gan chumann,
Na glasa do scaoilis in éadan ár gcoinnibh.
Is róbhreá an stór atá ag Rí na Glóire dúinn i dtaisce,
A chuid fola is feola mar lón dos na peacaigh,
Ná cuiríg’ bhur ndóchas in ór bhuí ná i rachmas
Mar is bréagán mar cheo é seachas glóire na bhflaitheas.

English

At the wedding which was in Cana, the God of Graces was there in person,
Himself and Mary His Mother, and wasn’t the marriage beautiful?
Companies were laid out there, and in want of wine;
But the water in the vessels, wasn’t it beautiful to taste?
O bright God, O Jesus, O bright King of the earth,
Who bore the crown of thorns and the sacrifice of the cross,
Torn and flogged among those without friends,
You broke the locks which were against us.
Too fine is the treasure the Lord of Glory has in store for us,
His own blood and body as food for the sinners.
Don’t place your hope in gold or in wealth,
Because it is a falsehood like mist, compared to the glory of heaven.

Paolo Veronese The wedding at Cana 1562 – 1563

Meditations for Epiphany

Almighty God,
in the birth of your Son
you have poured on us the new light of your incarnate Word,
and shown us the fullness of your love:
Help us to walk in this light and dwell in his love
that we may know the fullness of his joy;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The hymn ‘Brightest and best’ is traditionally sung on the 12th day of Christmas, in celebration of the Epiphany. The word itself defines a moment when you feel that you understand, or suddenly become conscious of, something that is personally very important or meaningful to you. For Christians, it is the moment when the baby Jesus – the Messiah – is revealed, not through the religious structures that were expected, but to all the world; both Jew and Gentile as represented in the persons of the Magi.

The words are quite beautiful and evocative – it’s not hard to imagine the scene when the Magi first recognised that the light of the world has come – described in the book of Job (Job 38:3) as the day of creation ‘when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy’ in anticipation of the birth of Christ the firstborn son, the infant Redeemer. The gifts they bring are symbolic – gold for a tribute  to a King, Frankincense to worship God, and Myrrh for anointing. But none of these are as important as a simple act of love and devotion.

Read the words and imagine the scene the Magi saw

Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
dawn on our darkness and lend us your aid.
Star of the east, the horizon adorning,
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

Cold on his cradle the dewdrops are shining;
low lies his head with the beasts of the stall.
Angels adore him in slumber reclining,
maker and monarch and Savior of all.

Shall we yield him in costly devotion
rarest of fragrances, tribute divine,
gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,
myrrh from the forest and gold from the mine?

Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
vainly with gifts would his favour secure.
Richer by far is the heart’s adoration,
dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.

Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
dawn on our darkness and lend us your aid.
Star of the east, the horizon adorning,
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.