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Showing posts from October, 2015

Remembering

Today we gather with Christians all around the world that will light candles and remember loved ones who have died over the last year. We do this because November 1 st has for at least 12 centuries been All Saints Day. This is the day Christians have remembered all those who firstly died as martyrs, and then all those great people of faith (saints) who the rest of us look up to and are inspired by. Today we are invited to recall those saints and how they inspire us in our lives today. Who is your favourite saint? From the twelfth or thirteenth centuries All Souls Day was held on November 2 to remember all people of faith. So today we remember all those who have gone before us, who have paved the way for us, and especially those we have loved and who loved us. We honour their memory, and we give thanks for the ways they have blessed us over our lifetimes. As we do this we also take another step in letting them go, trusting that they now rest in God, as they have always. In li

Seeing the Person

Can be listened to here Gate Pa – October 25, 2015 Pentecost 22 - Ordinary Time 30 Readings: Psalm                          Psalm 34:1-8                                                               First Reading :                         Job 42:1-6, 10-17                    Second Reading :                    Hebrews 7:23-28                     Gospel :                                    Mark 10:46-52 What I want to say: How easy it is to read these stories and not see the people involved. But Jesus does see the person, the blind Bartimaeus, and asks him what he wants. How do we not see people? How are we ourselves not seen? What What I want to happen: People to reflect on what prevents them from seeing other people as people, and how they are labelled The Sermon      1.      Introduction: For the last few weeks we have been hearing from central section Marks gospel             starts with story healing of blind man – takes two goes         

What prevents us truly seeing?

Meister Eckhart, fourteenth century mystic said, “Some people want to see God with their eyes like they see a cow, and to love Him as they love their cow. They love their cow for the milk and cheese and profit it makes them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort. They do no rightly love God when they love him for their own advantage. Indeed, I tell you the truth, any object you have on your mind, however good, will be a barrier between you and the inner most truth. God, rid me of God. “ Job and his friends obeyed God for the life promised in reward. The disciples followed Jesus in the hope of being on the winning side when “the messiah” won the day and the life promised in reward. They were like the blind man that Jesus took two goes at healing, who saw giants. It would take a lot, a confrontation with God, a crucifixion and resurrection before they began to see as clearly as Bartimaeus. It takes time to see properly.