Doing the right thing the wrong way
You may remember the song: ‘It ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it, that’s what gets results.’ Catchy tune, catchy title. But wrong. Actually, it’s the other way round – ‘It ain’t the way that you do it, it’s what you do…’

The problem the Pharisees have – but don’t understand or even know that they have it – is that they are so fixated by keeping to the letter of the law, they forget that the purpose of being given the law in the first place was to bring justice, peace and healing among God’s people.

They recite the fourth Commandment recorded in Exodus 20:8-11: Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it.

In striving so hard to follow the rules, they lose sight of their purpose. They believe that the important bit is doing no labour. It isn’t. The important bit is keeping the Sabbath Holy, resting from the necessary activity of living day-to-day, and celebrating the Sabbath as sacred and special. And what could be more Holy than healing others in God’s name? Even when Jesus explains, they refuse to hear Him – indeed, they plot to have Him killed. He’s rocking the boat – their boat – and He can’t be allowed to carry on.

There is one proviso though. You might summarise the above as ‘The end justifies the means’ – a phrase first coined by the Roman poet Ovid (and plagiarised by Machiavelli). But the Russian political theorist Trotsky rightly qualified this by insisting that it is only true if the end itself is justified.

In our case, the end – furthering the Kingdom of God – is achieved by means of obedience to the New Commandment Jesus gives – to love. Sunday, Monday, Holyday and everyday. It is justified in Him.

A meditation for Pentecost

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 

‘And what is Truth?’, said Pilate. Of all the world’s most cynical sayings, Pilate’s is one of the worst. His whole life has known betrayal and lies. He speaks from experience of intrigue and political deception in search of power. We don’t know how many bribes it took to land him the position of Governor – what we do know, from his actions, is that he was weak and eager to please both his Roman superiors and the Jewish religious hierarchy in order to maintain a fragile accommodation of his role and position.

‘And what is truth?’. Pilate’s philosophical position is what we would today call ‘post-modernism’ – the denial that there is any absolute reality. ‘Truth’, for him, is relative and changeable according to prevailing circumstances.

For others, ‘Truth’ may be whatever the majority of people are led (fooled) to believe – a weakness that many unscrupulous aspiring leaders manipulate. Hitler’s rise to power – and that of others since – was dependent on that naivete. So long as the lie is big enough, and repeated often enough, people will believe it.”

Or ‘Truth’ may be personalised – truth is whatever I want to believe. Whatever is most convenient and useful to me personally.

For some, ‘Truth’ may only be found in a particular tradition or culture, denying the value of other experiences and driving sectarianism.

On ethe other hand, Secularists would say that ‘Truth’ can only be defined by what can be scientifically ‘proven’ – but the more science discovers, the more we find out that we don’t actually know much (Actually, Socrates said that first). When confronted by the unpredictability of subatomic particles, Albert Einstein, who wanted absolute certainty, never found it – but he continued to seek it, in his frustration insisting ‘God does not play dice’.

No. He doesn’t.

In our secular, physical, world, we can search for absolute truths and look to prove them on the basis of ‘facts’. Good luck with that…

But in Christ, a much more reliable ‘Truth’ can be found. Truth in the ‘Logos’ – the Word. The Word made flesh. We find truth in Him – and the proof is the existence of that strange God-given thing called love. Undefinable, irrational, self-denying, unexplainable, unconditional love

This year, we are holding an Easter Celebration with our Ukrainian friends As part of our service in St Patrick’s on Sunday May 5th – the Orthodox date. The difference in dates stems from 1582 when the Roman Catholic Church adopted a revised system of calculating the Calendar, but the Orthodox Church did not. Ho-hum. Another great example of Christian Unity…

As well as the date change, some traditions vary too. In the West, we observe increasing secularisation, with the focus tending to be on chocolate and cuddly bunnies; the Orthodox tradition specifies what you should – and what you should not – do.

What you should do :
Say hello correctly. The classic greeting “Christ is risen — truly risen!” is accompanied by triple kisses on the cheek between loved ones and friends.

Collect an “Easter basket”. This is a wicker basket, decorated with an embroidered towel, candles and willow twigs. It is in it that the paska and eggs are laid, as well as the food that will be eaten later during lunch.

Spend Easter lunch. It’s lunch, not dinner. And the main thing is not to emphasise the use of alcohol.

Bake paska or kulich. These are different things. Kulich is a product made of dough, and paska is made of cheese. But their ritual meaning is absolutely the same.

Decorate the eggs. Krashanka is purely monochromatic colouring, for example in onion peel or other dye. Pysanky is a coloured painting of an egg with paints. Krapanka is painting using melted wax with scratches of some pattern on the eggshell.

Sing songs. Not only church thematic psalms, but also folk songs. Such songs are called “grooves”.

What you should not do:
Swear and argue.

Engage in physical labour and housework. All food should be prepared in advance, and the house should be organised.

Throw away what was consecrated in the church. Even the shell from the Easter eggs should not be sent to the rubbish bin. It is better to bury or burn it.

Go to the bathhouse or cut your hair. Get yourself in order in advance.

Visit cemeteries or commemorate the dead. After all, this is a holiday of resurrection, not death.

For me, this service and tradition is a reminder that even though we have different ways of marking the Holy days of the Christian year – not just at Easter, but throughout that Year, we celebrate the same thing – our Saviour Jesus, risen from the dead. All too often, we allow our differences to become important to us – and that isn’t he way it works. Paul to the Galatians v.3:38 – There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

An ancient folk tale recounts the Blessed Mary decorating some eggs to offer to Pontius Pilate in a plea for sparing her son’s life. As she prepared the eggs, her tears fell onto the shells, forming dots of brilliant colours. When Mary came before Pilate, she dropped to her knees, and the story goes that the eggs rolled out across the floor, a symbol of their distribution world wide. To this day, in honour of Our Lady’s tears, dots are often incorporated into the egg designs. At Easter time, these eggs are still distributed to commemorate Christ’s teachings of Peace and Love.

Worldwide.

We pray for peace and the laying down of weapons.
We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow,
that your Spirit of comfort would draw near to them.
We pray for those with power over war or peace, for wisdom, discernment and compassion to guide their decisions.
Above all, we pray for all your precious children, at risk and in fear, that you would hold and protect them.
We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Amen

The rules of grammar define that a conditional statement takes the form ‘If P, then Q’. In other words, if something is true, then something else is also true. No buts, no exceptions.

Today’s Epistle reading from 1 John ends with such a conditional statement.

‘If you love God, then you love your brothers and sisters’. You cannot have one without the other. If you do not love your brother and your sister, you cannot claim that you love God. No exclusions.

It is essential to understand and accept this, in particular that there are absolutely no limits to the definition of ‘brother and sister’. Who is my brother and sister? Paul answers in Galatians 3:28. ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female: for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Which makes it difficult – impossible – to explain why, for two thousand years, some (but certainly not all) who claim to be ‘Christian’ have persecuted people who are different because of race, culture, tradition or anything else. From the Crusades, through slavery, pogrom. sectarianism, the denial of civil rights and ongoing racial hatred to this day when parents see their children die in war and those who seek refuge from injustice and threat are turned away as unwanted immigrants. Closer to home, we see the growing need for food banks; and we are only just becoming aware of the frightening level of domestic violence in our society.

Loving brother and sister is not just saying the right words – it demands both practical and economic help, even to the point of discomfort and changes to personal status quo. We must stand up against any failure to love, in ourselves, our church, our community – and so doing won’t make us popular in an increasingly populist social agenda. We are the bleeding-heart liberal targets so disdained by the gutter press.

Those on the political extremes of society – increasingly at the moment the extreme right – search for justification of their prejudice. They disparage anyone who tries to exercise love in action using the term ‘political correctness’, or the neologism ‘woke’ – the actual definition of which is ‘being alert to injustice and discrimination in society’. Yes, sometimes the pressure for equality and inclusivity goes to ridiculous lengths which are beyond that definition, such as denial of platforms for those with whom they disagree and the Bowdlerism of ancient hymns, songs and poems; but before dismissing them it is always illuminating to place oneself in a situation of personally silently experiencing that discrimination for years. How would you feel if you were marginalised and/or excluded through the use of careless language, even if unintentional?

People say ‘Yes, that’s all very well, but when does ‘loving brother and sister’ go too far?

Ask the man nailed to a cross.

Some facts about sheep.

1. Sheep form deep bonds with their offspring which last for years
2. Sheep are more intelligent than you give them credit for. They support each other, and grieve when they are bereaved. They are as intelligent as dogs.
3. They have wonderful memories – they can remember 50 faces (Both other sheep and human) for years
4. They have amazing peripheral vision – twice as good as humans
5. They are quick learners
6. They are social animals – they flock together
7. They seek a leader to follow, for protection and guidance – they become stressed and disoriented in the absence of a recognised shepherd. Unfortunately, they trust without discernment, and as such are open to being deceived and manipulated.

So its not necessarily an insult when Jesus compares His followers to sheep needing a shepherd (much better than being called a goat – sheep are safety-motivated – goats are appetite-driven and will risk their own safety to eat). In fact, He is demonstrating His care, not just for a majority, but recognising the threat to, and value of, each and every one, and is prepared to risk His life to protect them.

The false shepherd is different – they seek to lead for their own purposes, not for the sake of those who follow. If it suits them, they will abandon their flock.

We only have to watch the TV news to see the various people who would offer themselves as plausible leaders and solicit our support. Some of them are no doubt genuine – some of them are certainly corrupt. It’s sometimes difficult to know. There is only one leader who invites us to follow of whom we can be sure – the one who is prepared to lay down His life.