From the Minister 2023
@ All rights reserved
@ All rights reserved
Your donation will help to maintain Pilgrim People’s sound worship and preaching
February
February 2
I was reading a prayer used by another presbytery in the south and it quoted this prayer by a Rabbi. I am not sure that I have ever quoted a Rabbi before but now seems a good time to start! Enjoy…
Bob
Let the rain come and wash away the ancient grudges
and bitter hatreds held and nurtured over generations.
Let the rain wash away the memory of the hurt, the neglect.
Then let the sun come out and fill the sky with rainbows,
Let the warmth of the sun heal us wherever we are broken.
Let it burn away the fog so that we can see each other clearly.
So that we can see beyond labels, beyond accents, gender or skin colour.
Let the warmth and brightness of the sun melt our selfishness,
so that we can share the joys and feel the sorrows of our neighbours.
And let the sun be so strong that we will see all people as our neighbours.
Let the earth, nourished by rain, bring forth flowers to surround us with beauty.
And let the mountains teach our hearts to reach upward to heaven.
Rabbi Harold Kushner from 2019 Interreligious Prayer Service for Peace
and justice Celebrating World Interfaith Harmony
I was reading a prayer used by another presbytery in the south and it quoted this prayer by a Rabbi. I am not sure that I have ever quoted a Rabbi before but now seems a good time to start! Enjoy…
Bob
Let the rain come and wash away the ancient grudges
and bitter hatreds held and nurtured over generations.
Let the rain wash away the memory of the hurt, the neglect.
Then let the sun come out and fill the sky with rainbows,
Let the warmth of the sun heal us wherever we are broken.
Let it burn away the fog so that we can see each other clearly.
So that we can see beyond labels, beyond accents, gender or skin colour.
Let the warmth and brightness of the sun melt our selfishness,
so that we can share the joys and feel the sorrows of our neighbours.
And let the sun be so strong that we will see all people as our neighbours.
Let the earth, nourished by rain, bring forth flowers to surround us with beauty.
And let the mountains teach our hearts to reach upward to heaven.
Rabbi Harold Kushner from 2019 Interreligious Prayer Service for Peace
and justice Celebrating World Interfaith Harmony
January
January 26
been torn apart in a few moments of motor madness.
The gospel for this Sunday speaks to us of life-style. For non-Christians the Sermon on the Mount is a frustrating impossible sort of thing contrary to everything that is human in our kind of world. For Christians it is designed to be a style of life, something to be aimed at, to be reached for.
This sermon is meant to be a sort of agenda for daily living, the life-style of the family of God, a life-style we are empowered and expected to grow into as members of God’s family. That kind of life will communicate God’s healing and power to the lives of sick, lonely, oppressed, broken, unhappy people around us.
And in Matthew 5:13-14 Jesus tells us what we will become when we live by the ethics he teaches in the Beatitudes. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.
As the salt of the earth, may our way of being, foster justice and peace in our daily relationships.
As the light of the world, may our way of being, be a model for justice and peace in the world around us and in the world to come.
May we profess the good news of the household of God, in our lives and by our prayers and seek to dispel sadness.
Bob
been torn apart in a few moments of motor madness.
The gospel for this Sunday speaks to us of life-style. For non-Christians the Sermon on the Mount is a frustrating impossible sort of thing contrary to everything that is human in our kind of world. For Christians it is designed to be a style of life, something to be aimed at, to be reached for.
This sermon is meant to be a sort of agenda for daily living, the life-style of the family of God, a life-style we are empowered and expected to grow into as members of God’s family. That kind of life will communicate God’s healing and power to the lives of sick, lonely, oppressed, broken, unhappy people around us.
And in Matthew 5:13-14 Jesus tells us what we will become when we live by the ethics he teaches in the Beatitudes. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.
As the salt of the earth, may our way of being, foster justice and peace in our daily relationships.
As the light of the world, may our way of being, be a model for justice and peace in the world around us and in the world to come.
May we profess the good news of the household of God, in our lives and by our prayers and seek to dispel sadness.
Bob
January 19
What version of the Bible?
For several months I have been using the Living Bible in worship because I think it is more ‘listener friendly’. Is that the case for you? Send me your comments please.
Bruce Mullan included the following in his Daily Mail last Friday.
[Many] readers of the Bible depend on English translations. Professional translators make interpretive choices in their work all the time. There is no easy way around this process, partly because many ancient words have multiple meanings. In addition, all translators have biases — some conscious and others less conscious.
In the recent past, new translations were needed to correct the inaccuracies of older translations. For example, the King James Version (originally published in 1611) was based on an ancient manuscript tradition that did not coincide with the oldest manuscripts available or the best practices from the discipline of textual criticism in order to determine what was likely the closest words to the original The New International Version (NIV) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) are both communal projects. In other words, there’s no single translator for these translations. A project with an ‘international scope’, the NIV includes translators from a wide variety of Protestant denominations, all with a collective theological commitment to ‘God’s Word in written form’. The NRSV is more ecumenical in nature and recognised as such in Protestant, Anglican, RC, and Eastern Orthodox communions. There are two general approaches to translation. One is an attempt to match the original language — Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek — in its form and structure as much as possible. This is called the ‘formal equivalence theory’. The other approach is an attempt to translate the original language in a more dynamic way, with less attention to word-for-word translation and more emphasis on communicating the larger ideas (sometimes called, phrase-for-phrase). This is called the ‘functional (or dynamic) equivalence theory’. While translations lean more heavily in one direction or the other, our best translations balance the two approaches and, furthermore, are communal enterprises (i.e., inclusive of a wide swath of translators).
The NIV states explicitly its intent ‘to go beyond a formal word-for-word rendering of the original texts’. Alternatively, the NRSV has a desire to follow an older translation maxim — ‘as literal as possible, as free as necessary’ — attempting to retain a word-for-word technique as much as possible.
[Emerson Powery posted by Sojourners 09 May copyright 2022. More https://tinyurl.com/4prp2asc]
What version of the Bible?
For several months I have been using the Living Bible in worship because I think it is more ‘listener friendly’. Is that the case for you? Send me your comments please.
Bruce Mullan included the following in his Daily Mail last Friday.
[Many] readers of the Bible depend on English translations. Professional translators make interpretive choices in their work all the time. There is no easy way around this process, partly because many ancient words have multiple meanings. In addition, all translators have biases — some conscious and others less conscious.
In the recent past, new translations were needed to correct the inaccuracies of older translations. For example, the King James Version (originally published in 1611) was based on an ancient manuscript tradition that did not coincide with the oldest manuscripts available or the best practices from the discipline of textual criticism in order to determine what was likely the closest words to the original The New International Version (NIV) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) are both communal projects. In other words, there’s no single translator for these translations. A project with an ‘international scope’, the NIV includes translators from a wide variety of Protestant denominations, all with a collective theological commitment to ‘God’s Word in written form’. The NRSV is more ecumenical in nature and recognised as such in Protestant, Anglican, RC, and Eastern Orthodox communions. There are two general approaches to translation. One is an attempt to match the original language — Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek — in its form and structure as much as possible. This is called the ‘formal equivalence theory’. The other approach is an attempt to translate the original language in a more dynamic way, with less attention to word-for-word translation and more emphasis on communicating the larger ideas (sometimes called, phrase-for-phrase). This is called the ‘functional (or dynamic) equivalence theory’. While translations lean more heavily in one direction or the other, our best translations balance the two approaches and, furthermore, are communal enterprises (i.e., inclusive of a wide swath of translators).
The NIV states explicitly its intent ‘to go beyond a formal word-for-word rendering of the original texts’. Alternatively, the NRSV has a desire to follow an older translation maxim — ‘as literal as possible, as free as necessary’ — attempting to retain a word-for-word technique as much as possible.
[Emerson Powery posted by Sojourners 09 May copyright 2022. More https://tinyurl.com/4prp2asc]
January 12
During the week I came across an article from Michael who was writing about questions that he wrestles with such as, ‘Why do I attend this church?’ ‘Is here where you’re calling me to be, Lord?’ And that leads him to ‘What am I looking for in a church?’
His first hope is to find a community of Christians that are unashamed to be what they are.
He craves to join the Body of Christ which is exactly as Paul describes it in this week’s epistle.
He wants a congregation where all say ‘We have been enriched in Christ in every way!’
His second hope is a congregation that sees the work of the people each week (the etymological meaning of ‘liturgy’) as ushering in real encounters with God. There is much that we do that can be found in other places. What makes a church special is that it offers encounter with the God who was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
What kind of people do I want to encounter? Those who love to do your will, O my God, for your law is deep in their hearts. I want to do church with people who ‘proclaim righteousness in the great congregation.’
When I encounter scripture, it often seems so alive and pregnant with possibility. The same should be true of our churches. We should see and hear Christ in the Communion table, in the preaching, in the prayers for the nations, in the repentance and confession, in the gathering around the afternoon tea table, in the tears of a parishioner who has just lost a family member.
Why do I go to this particular church, to our church, because it is a place where God meets me in the every day holiness of those called to be the church, those with whom I share afternoon tea.
Thanks be to God.
Bob
During the week I came across an article from Michael who was writing about questions that he wrestles with such as, ‘Why do I attend this church?’ ‘Is here where you’re calling me to be, Lord?’ And that leads him to ‘What am I looking for in a church?’
His first hope is to find a community of Christians that are unashamed to be what they are.
He craves to join the Body of Christ which is exactly as Paul describes it in this week’s epistle.
He wants a congregation where all say ‘We have been enriched in Christ in every way!’
His second hope is a congregation that sees the work of the people each week (the etymological meaning of ‘liturgy’) as ushering in real encounters with God. There is much that we do that can be found in other places. What makes a church special is that it offers encounter with the God who was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
What kind of people do I want to encounter? Those who love to do your will, O my God, for your law is deep in their hearts. I want to do church with people who ‘proclaim righteousness in the great congregation.’
When I encounter scripture, it often seems so alive and pregnant with possibility. The same should be true of our churches. We should see and hear Christ in the Communion table, in the preaching, in the prayers for the nations, in the repentance and confession, in the gathering around the afternoon tea table, in the tears of a parishioner who has just lost a family member.
Why do I go to this particular church, to our church, because it is a place where God meets me in the every day holiness of those called to be the church, those with whom I share afternoon tea.
Thanks be to God.
Bob
January 5
Traditionally used at the first Sunday of a New Year
The Covenant Prayer of John Wesley (1703–1791)
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
We give thanks today – that the Holy Spirit always shows up
and her presence is
as disruptive today as it was when Jesus was baptised by John.
Baptised in the face of oppression and despair.
Baptised in the grimness of life.
For Baptism always proclaims the love and the mystery of God and the presence of the unquenchable Spirit.
Whenever baptism is offered –
at the beginning of life
as a symbol of hope and promise,
as a rite of passage, building on family tradition,
as a response to faith that has grown slowly and surely,
at the bedside of a beautiful 93-year-old saint
embarrassed to admit that she had never been baptised,
or with parents anxious about their new-born's hold on life –
whether sprinkled,
dunked,
immersed,
or with the gentlest whisper of a touch;
always, always, always,
the Holy Spirit makes herself known
as angels gather to sing a Gloria,
declaring the wonder of God
who calls us Beloved.
Bob
Traditionally used at the first Sunday of a New Year
The Covenant Prayer of John Wesley (1703–1791)
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
We give thanks today – that the Holy Spirit always shows up
and her presence is
as disruptive today as it was when Jesus was baptised by John.
Baptised in the face of oppression and despair.
Baptised in the grimness of life.
For Baptism always proclaims the love and the mystery of God and the presence of the unquenchable Spirit.
Whenever baptism is offered –
at the beginning of life
as a symbol of hope and promise,
as a rite of passage, building on family tradition,
as a response to faith that has grown slowly and surely,
at the bedside of a beautiful 93-year-old saint
embarrassed to admit that she had never been baptised,
or with parents anxious about their new-born's hold on life –
whether sprinkled,
dunked,
immersed,
or with the gentlest whisper of a touch;
always, always, always,
the Holy Spirit makes herself known
as angels gather to sing a Gloria,
declaring the wonder of God
who calls us Beloved.
Bob
Your donation will help to maintain Pilgrim People’s sound worship and preaching
