Tuesday, 11th August 2020

Collect

God of awesome wonder: bless us with bold belief even in the darkness of the night and the assault of life’s storm’s, that we may be messengers of your peace and justice ; in the name of the One whom winds and waves obey, and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever . Amen.

Eucharist Readings:

Ezekiel 2:8-3:4                  Psalm 119:65-72                 Matthew 18:1-5,10-14

All that we know of Ezekiel comes from his book of prophesies. Ezekiel was a priest, as well as a prophet. His priestly background shows itself in his concern for ceremonial cleanness (Chapter 4:14) and the emphasis on the temple in (Chapters 40-48). The book of Ezekiel consists of initial warnings of calamity followed by promises of restoration. Just as the calamities that were forecast came to pass, so would the promises of restoration be fulfilled. The people of God, having endured so much in the past, would ultimately be saved from misery. The book of Ezekiel starts as it means to continue. After the briefest of narrative introductions, we are presented with the first in the series of oracles that constitute the book. Although not clearly stated, this oracle represents Ezekiel’s commissioning as a prophet. The vision was so intense it left Ezekiel stunned for days. (We can read this description of the vision in Chapter 1) The general sense of the symbolism is to convey the all-encompassing majesty of God. The fearsome cherubim displayed faces representing the highest forms of life, yet these magnificent creatures were throne attendants, they stood beneath the throne of God and it displays the awesomeness of God.

Which linked to the fact that Ezekiel was told by a voice that he will be sent to the Israelites, a stubborn people in constant rebellion against God. He is to prophesy to them whether they listen or not, and he is also given a scroll containing words of lament and mourning. He is commanded to eat the scroll and to relay God’s message to the Israelites. When told to eat the scroll he discovered that it was sweet and it just shows us that whenever called by God, when send by God, commissioned by God, He does not send us unprepared, unequipped, we may not at that specific time feel / or taste the sweetness but in the process , during our journey we will experience the sweetness. Also, it does not matter how intimidating (like the four living creatures, cherubim), how rebellious the receivers of the message might be, God will guide us, give us the word, protects us , (verse 6 do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions).But, also it does not matter how rebellious the Israelites were towards God , how far away we stray from God, He will always find a way to get us back, to restore us because He is a God of salvation. Maybe there is a danger in applying currently, too precisely what happened two and a half millennia ago, but the general outline of society’s problems is so similar today that the principles can be easily applied. Society and God do not change.

In our Gospel reading this morning the question of the disciples was: ‘Who will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?’ and the very fact that they asked that question showed that they had no idea at all what the Kingdom of Heaven was. ‘And he said: Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus was warning his disciples that they were going completely in the wrong direction, away from the Kingdom of Heaven and not towards it. In life it is about what a person is aiming at, whether it is personal ambition, personal power, precisely the opposite of the Kingdom of Heaven.

What does it mean when Jesus says that we should become like little children, does it mean we need to go back in time, in age, become 5/6-year-old? Once again like with the Israelites and through Ezekiel God is worrying about us, guiding and advising us trough Jesus to take on the characteristic of a child. God wants us to be part of the Kingdom of Heaven. There are many lovely characteristics of a child , the power of wonder, the power of forgiveness and to forget, not to hold a grudge although he/she had the biggest spanking ever, or they just experience the most embarrassing  moment caused by their parents Infront of their friends, the innocence of a child , how to explore things , just do it , just greet somebody by waving to someone in a shop not knowing the person, smiling at someone out of the window  when driving by, sharing a sweet with a another child not even knowing who they are, but also the humility of a child, not pushing themselves forward, not pushing their own agenda , not promoting themselves but just to be glad to be in the back ground  doing what makes them happy. A child’s dependence and not be ashamed to be dependent. Sometimes we just want to do things on our own, we do not need anybody, we think we can face life on our own and sometimes we do not need God. The trust of a child , instinctively they trust their parents , when they open their eyes , as parents you are the people that they see first , to them it does not matter whether they do not have a choice , they just trust you instinctively, they immediately journey with you , no questions ask. As children we do not worry how we get to the next stop, we do not think about how the food gets on the table(maybe later yes) but we trusted that our parents will keep us safe, fed , warm and clothed and not for one moment we doubted that.

Why are we doubting our Father in Heaven? Why do we not trust God instinctively, to let Him guide us, feed us, clothed us. Is it not time for us, to be like children to forget about the past, to forgive those who harmed us, to let go? Yes, through life we experienced different journeys, we experienced sufferings, pain, and maybe to ask this, to forgive and forget is a tall order. But is it not maybe just that hold (break the chains) we need to lose so that we can experience the glory of God? Like the innocence of a child to just explore, enjoy what the day is offering us, for us, to get up in the morning, have a cup of coffee and smell the aroma and simply enjoy without a care in the world, because we are dependent on God and trust Him instinctively, forget about all the negativity.

In the words of Cardinal George Basil Hume ‘This world is not our permanent dwelling place. We are on pilgrimage. Each day of our lives is another step taken on our journey to the presence of God, where we shall see him face to face. The vision of God is the fulfilment of every human life, union with him the satisfying of every human desire. The Holy Spirit will accompany us on that pilgrimage. He acts in our minds through the light of faith and in our hearts through the warmth of charity. To have said this is to have entered already into a world of values different from those that we usually encounter in our everyday lives.’

Let us pray:

Thank you, Lord, for the privilege to know you, to trust you instinctively and to be dependent on you. Thank you for your forgiveness and that you can so easily forget our wrong doing ,thank you for always looking out for us and that we can call you our Father in heaven ,and us to be called your children. Thank you for inviting us to be part of your Kingdom. Amen