The Rectory Window

Can the guests of the bridegroom fast? (2:19) Last year I met up with an old friend. We had not seen each other for a little while and he was a little nervous that we might have little to say to one another. As it was, it was as if no time had passed. We nattered and laughed away as if we were still two students sharing a short corridor in our first year at university. At some point we discussed when we had last met and it transpired that we had last met at my wedding 25 years before. As we look to move out of the season of Christmas, we may want to remember that we are moving into the season of fasting. No, I don't just mean Lent, which begins on the 17th of February. I mean the long gap between the two arrivals of Jesus, between the first appearance of the bridegroom and the second, between, if you like, the wedding and the return. Of course we have a taste of the joy of the permanent and personal presence of Jesus - he lives in his people by the Holy Spirit. Yet we are in a seas...

The Pharisees are fasting (2:18) What are rules for? The ancient Greeks discovered that laws make you free. A law against theft makes the thief less free of course, but it makes a lot of other people more free - free not to have their stuff nicked. All rules or laws work like this, balancing the freedoms of some against the restriction of others, though the balance is not always set equitably. At their worst, laws benefit only a few, so-called privilege, but, at their best they provide safe boundaries that enable everyone to live well. So why are our current rules not working that way? It could be that the British are natural rebels, but I'm not convinced - we're so good at queueing. No, I think it's a failure to enact laws that make sense to all, that provide the right balance between freedom and restraint, that allow for an element of self-determination while protecting the vulnerable from harm, that do not criminalise the careful while doing little to control the arrogan...

I have come to call sinners (1:17) Often we say that Christ came to save everyone, and with good reason, but when Jesus gets to air his view he tells his hearers that he has come to save only the sick. I think we can reasonably append those who realise they need a doctor. We are all in need of a saviour but only some of us realise it, and then only some of the time. The first step to getting well is to know that you are sick. This is one reason our political leaders disturb me. It is clear to most of us that there is a distinct lack of competence in our current government. The delay in the first lockdown, the eat out to help out debacle, the millions wasted on failed efforts to track and trace, the muddled messages to protect cronies, the Christmas rules fiasco. I could go on. For those with humility a mistake is an opportunity to learn, but if we fail to acknowledge when we get it wrong we are incapable of getting it right next time. An even greater danger than incompetence is arrogan...

Tax collectors and sinners (2:16) Am I alone in finding this an odd combination? It seems such an strange list - one so specific and the other so general. It's like saying that the cabinet minster was eating with lawyers and ne'er do wells. It can't be because tax collectors are not sinners, nor can it be true that tax collectors were the only profession who were seen as beyond the pale.  I suspect that both are representative. If your very profession puts you outside society you are welcome to eat with Jesus. If you are anybody who knows that they are not one of the good people then you are welcome to eat with Jesus. Funny then that the people who feel they have the right to eat at the Lord's table are rather often the opposite. It would be interesting to explore what church would look like for 'tax collectors and sinners' to really feel welcome to come in.

Eating with him (2:15) At the heart of every L'Arche community is the evening meal. Everyone, with or without learning disabilities, gathers together to eat together, breaking bread, or pizza often, to express their loving friendship for one another. Volunteers come expecting to give and leave having received, not least because the regular evening meal reveals true equality - our absolute value in God's eyes.  Today we can still eat with Christ as we eat together without judgement and without separation. This Christmas much divides us from one another so we may have to work extra hard to ensure no one is left out.

Son of Alphaeus (2:14) The most successful British soldier of WWII did not exist. His name was Captain William Martin. He was the key player in Operation Mincemeat, which may have saved somewhere up to 10,000 lives during the Allied invasion of Sicily. His real name was Glyndwr Michael, a lonely vagrant who died from eating rat poison. His body was dressed up and set afloat to deceive the German high command into sending reinforcements to Greece, leaving the Allies to invade Sicily with minimal resistance. Levi is not only given his real name but, by the giving of his father's name, is clearly identifiable to all who might meet him or his family. Such detail suggests the writer knew that some would question the truth of his accounts. Who wouldn't? His claims are truly extraordinary. When you do, he seems to want to say, go talk to Levi, son of Alphaeus. He was there too. Now there's an idea. I wonder what Levi, otherwise known as Matthew, might have to say about Jesus.

Once again (2:13) I have just been reading the story of Leah Whyte's battle with cancer and with GATA2 Deficiency. It is five years this month since she died, succumbing to the last of many complications brought on by this rare genetic disorder. Her mother Victoria Whyte writes about Leah lovingly and with deep honesty in her blog, which I came across as I searched for another story of loss ( https://victoriawhyte.wordpress.com/ ). Once again Victoria, like so many, will be returning this year to those memories both of loss and sorrow as well as to God's presence in her life. Once again, Jesus returns, first to Capernaum and then to Galilee. Maybe it was a regular route of his, travelling and preaching as he went. This time though God was very clearly present, with two lives publicly and dramatically changed. Maybe as we return to familiar things this Christmas time, easy and hard, we may also find our lives changed in unfamiliar ways.