Virtual Methodist

This is a slight departure from my proposed series in Holden Village, but this morning my friend Father Martin Magill asked me to contribute to the "First Thoughts" series he has developed for the Parish of St. John the Evangelist over on the Falls Road, offering daily reflections on the Gospel reading from the Catholic Daily Lectionary. This morning it just happened to be Matthew 13: 18-23, Jesus' "explanation" of the Parable of the Sower, so it seemed appropriate to include it here. Normally when I do a "Thought for the Day" or even my Sunday sermon I prepare a relatively tight script to avoid me disappearing off on tangents... But this morning, as per my brief from Martin I performed without the benefit of such a safety net... so these are my unexpurgated first thoughts.   Selah

"The Red Vineyards near Arles" Vincent Van Gogh (1988) Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow Returning to stories firmly set in the agrarian setting of 1st century Palestine, the theory was that today at Holden Village I would be looking at the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard later in Matthew's Gospel, under the title of "First Century Socialism?" with the "s-word" always an interesting one in the context of the USA. For a change the dramatic introduction I planned to use would not be a new piece but one I wrote for my friend Micky Youngson's installation as President of the Methodist Church in Great Britain that year (hence MCGB News), and if I can crank my old computer into gear I may post the video we recorded for the event. ps. I'm back to using Van Gogh images to illustrate, having failed to find an appropriate one for yesterday's Parable of the Leaven. This one "The Red Vineyards near Arles", was painted in autumn 1888

Another parable of growth, this time set in a more domestic environment. The lecture I had planned to do  today in Holden Village was entitled "In Praise of Corruption", given that a number of commentators point out that leaven (a fermenting "sourdough starter" rather than the little packets of commercial bakers' yeast that were in such short supply at the beginning of lockdown) was usually a metaphor for corruption in the Old Testament and rabbinic texts. Others point out the scandalous nature of using a "woman's task" as a metaphor for the Kingdom of Heaven in a highly patriarchal society.  However, Amy Jill Levine, the Jewish New Testament scholar casts significant doubt on both those readings of the text, perhaps leaving us with a relatively simple tale of someone getting their quantities completely wrong, leading me to imagine to this short scene: He told them still another parable:  “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and m

"Wheatfield with Crows" by Vincent Van Gogh (Auvers 1890) in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam Carrying on from where I left off on Sunday with the next two parables in Matthew's account, "the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds" and "the Parable of the Mustard Seed" (Matthew 13: 24-32). There is little doubt that Matthew, in compiling his gospel has grouped these two parables together with the previous one because they are all about seeds. However, most commentaries, sermons and indeed modern Bibles with their editorial subtitles, split these two up and group the second short parable or saying with the next one "the Parable of the Yeast/Leaven", Actually in the current RCL readings "the Parable of the Wheat and Weeds" was last Sunday's Gospel reading while the two subsequent parables, which I am preaching from on RTE, are next Sunday's. But all of these parables, with their agricultural and domestic origins are about growth, bu

"Sower with Setting Sun"  by Vincent Van Gogh (Arles 1888) from the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands Had there been no such thing as Covid-19 I should have arrived in Holden Village yesterday to begin a fortnight of lecturing, this year on "Perplexing Parables." My plan had been to offer eight lectures over the course of  2 weeks looking at different parables or groups of parables, encouraging people to see them as they were originally intended, ie. as Eugene Peterson pointed out, something "subversive" , sending our imaginations off in unpredictable spirals that will sometimes be unproductive, but ultimately result in miraculous harvests, rather than the simplistic "earthly story with a heavenly meaning" that sees them as little more than "sermon illustrations". As such the Parable of the Sower and his Seed, in Matthew 13: 1-9 and the subsequent "explanation" in v10-23 is widely regarded as a Parable about Parables

A piece I originally wrote for an event that didn't take place, it was used as part of the Wonderful Wander in this year's 4 Corners Festival and included in the small anthology of poetry we produced under the title of "Building a City of Grace." Today I was taking part in a meeting of the festival directors discussing some of the issues associated with what may be a very different festival next year, but one that is no less needed, we believe.  Anyway, earlier in the week some of us who had poems published in that anthology recorded ourselves reading our contributions for an online church service this weekend, and off the back of that I produced this short video rendition of the poem.  As I have said in previous blogs it owes its form, (and at least one line) to the Ballad of Amergin, reckoned to be the oldest extant poem in western Europe. However my version stands in a long line of Irish Christian writers who have thoroughly "Chritianised" their pagan sou

Jean-François Millet's unfinished  painting of  "Hagar and Ishmael"  from the Mesdag Collection in the Hague This is part of a project I have been planning to start for some time, but there is never enough time. I didn't get round to it on my sabbatical and for all the "extra time for creative projects" that some people were talking about at the beginning of lockdown, I never seemed to find any... at least no more than was available for me to do my job, into which I already pour a fair amount of creative energy (even though some people might not recognise it). I tend to avoid my computer like the plague on holiday and days off because I am not good at resisting the gravitational pull of work, which even more than usual these days, I associate with my computer. But I have got a couple of days where I am still on leave and away from home but Sally is working, so I thought that I would do a couple of things that usually get pushed out by the routine or the urge

It has been a real joy to share their national day with American friends on many occasions and indeed actually to be in America for the 4th of July on a number of occasions, including last year when I had a fairly unusual celebration in Holden Village, Washington, including a discussion panel with some really great guys exploring the nature of nationalism and patriotism... This year I am watching that great nation from afar, tearing itself apart over its vision of itself and the world around it, and into the mix I offer this short reflection. Not independence, But interdependence. Not individuality,  But community.  Not commerce,  But the common good.  Not consumption,  But conservation.  Not selfishness,  But stewardship.  Not the economy (stupid)  But ecology.  Not US and THEM , Just US. Justice For all. God bless America,  And everyone else too. Shalom