In our Gospel from Luke, we have a slightly different take on the baptismal story; Jesus is baptised with others and not just by himself. It is after Jesus is baptised that he prays. Then immediately we read, “the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:21)
Profundus is the Latin word for deep and, of course, the root word of our English term ‘profound’. Something that is profound is not only something deep in meaning but also, implicitly, worthy of being found. It has also led to an understanding that sometimes things worthy of being found may be encountered not only in places of deep thought, but also in places of the dark depths, out of sight of the light. It may be the place, for example, where one feels so deep down in the darkness of spirit that one strains one’s eyes even to catch a glimmer of light as a beacon of any hope.
We may desire to trust God, particularly when those close to us cannot help us or have somehow failed us. However, we won’t see the truth, have the evidence, of God’s trustworthiness and faithfulness, unless we are obedient to his word to us in Jesus of Nazareth. (11 February 2024 - The Sixth Sunday after Epiphany)
It was John Wesley, in the dark place where he had found himself, searched for a shaft of light reaching into the profundus. That light shone on Wesley himself so that he saw himself in a different way to that which he had seen before.
Christ’s birth was not just a miracle but a proof of God’s love for his creation by his breaking back into the world in the form of His Son.
But beyond the glitter, what does Christmas actually mean for you? What does it mean for you not just in general terms but what does it mean for you this year in particular?
It was locusts and wild honey that fed him, it was camel’s hair and a belt that were his clothing. John the Baptist’s exhortation to those who followed him, and, as we ponder his leading us, his exhortation to us, is to repentance. Repent, he said. He didn’t exactly win his hearers over with flattery or encouragement. ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance.’
"O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!" This is the Advent cry. The cry of the prophets.
Our apostles this night are better known as the ones who are not rather than the ones who are. This evening, we celebrate the Feast of St Simon and St Jude. Simon is not Simon Peter, Jesus’ best friend, if you like, the one on which Jesus built his church, the flawed one who misunderstood and panicked and on that dreadful day denied Jesus three times, just when Jesus needed him most. The one who Jesus forgave in such a beautiful way by asking three times if he loved him, to wash away those three denials. Our Simon, Simon the Zealot is not this famous Peter, he is just another Simon, who nonetheless, Jesus chose.
My earliest memories include lessons about the intrinsic value of nature. My mother instilled in me, that every animal, plant, tree, insect, lake and stream, mountain, desert, the oceans, star and moon, and the Earth itself has value - not because humans ascribed value to them but because to be in existence is to belong to something much bigger than the self.
