God bless you St Mary!

I came across a quote recently which I think originated with G. K. Chesterton:
‘Meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain, but from being weary of pleasure.’

Each month local ministers in this area meet for a time of personal sharing and prayer. While not as regular in attendance as I perhaps could be, I am always struck by the wonderful heart of these men and women. As in all of life we may well disagree on some aspects of faith, doctrine or theology; but we are inevitably one in our desire for people to come to a faith in God through Christ and grow as a disciple of Jesus.

The other thing that strikes me in this region where virtually all of the leaders are involved in pioneer ministry is the enormous strain and physical tiredness of spiritual leaders. You don’t plant a church and then watch it grow. You plant it and then replant it and then …. Well you get the picture.

What makes ministry so darned hard in our context I think is this matter of pleasure. We are satiated with the desire for pleasure. It is a sickness that has become so prevalent that we have come to see it as normal. There has been a gradual evolution whereby we have adjusted almost without knowing it and now – while I joke about it – we are truly convinced that it is all about us. It is not something written on a T shirt but a very disturbing reality. It is a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual sickness that is as lethal as any cancer!

Let me be a Jeremiah (he’s in the Bible!) and give a doomsday prophecy. This worshipping of pleasure is still in its early days; but one day the fruit that seems so pleasing to the eye and tasty to the tongue will be found to be rotten and of no lasting value. Yet, it is a legacy that we are passing on to our children that is nothing more than a poisoned chalice; but we are deluded into seeing it as good. Is it any wonder that the first two of the Ten Commandments warn us about worshipping only the Lord your God and not making for ourselves any false idols?

Ronnie and I were watching the Canonization of St Mary of the Cross on Sunday evening. The fact that the service was in Latin did not for us detract from the awesomeness of what was going on at this moment in time. The presenter on one of the commercial channels had clearly decided that because we couldn’t understand what was being said, she had to fill up – what she saw as empty space - with endless chatter and questions of the resident experts.

We switched to the ABC which was a good deal better. You see the space wasn’t empty. The language didn’t matter. People of God, from all over the world, were gathered for worship!! With all of the colour, regalia, tradition and history (good and bad) of the church on display, millions there in person or around the planet spent time in the presence of the living God. The people honoured with Sainthood on Sunday were ordinary people who were empowered by the Spirit of Christ to do extraordinary things. God bless you Mary McKillop!

From the Vatican to the North West of Sydney, and people are saying that this moment could speak into the spiritual apathy of Australia and be a catalyst for revival. Bring it on I say. Anything has to be an improvement on the spineless, anaemic, wishy washy faith of the here and now that is seduced and deluded by the gods of our times. There are no non believers in this country - we are all worshippers. It is simply a matter of recognizing which altar we bend our knee to.

Please pray for the spiritual leaders of this district. Pray for those in your congregation who are seeking to make a difference but might be finding the journey tough right now. If you have dropped away from worship for whatever reason – build a bridge - get over it and get back to the Body. If it has been a while since you’ve attended a local faith community; give them another go. We are all pilgrims on a journey. Be encouraged – none of us has it right!