Curate Conundrums

I sometimes feel a bit sorry for the Pharisees, I mean we all often get the wrong end of the stick. I’m sure we’ve often been in situations where we’ve heard the wrong thing. When you’ve been in front of a congregation and said ‘Can you hear me?’ and they reply ‘and also with you.’ Most of the time if we’ve got the wrong end of the stick, we will apologise or move on, or say Oh okay! Fair enough. Our reading from Jeremiah is a prophesy, all about the future of Israel after the exile. It was written a long time before Jesus came. It’s a prophesy all about who Jesus is. Jesus is the righteous branch that comes to lead and set his people free. It says just before our reading today;   “ Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the  Lord .  2  Therefore, thus says the  Lord , the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. S

The Thread By Graham Kirk-Spriggs  I am but dust, a spec, a thread, weavéd through the tapesty of all the universe, a floating head.  I am but dust, but never apart, but a part of all, as we float on this ball through time, space, adventure!  I am but dust, formed from it,  seeped, surrounded. I have been where feet have trod,  from clod to clod. I am but dust, made of my Mother's roots, and hers before her, rude and bare, and blustering through all that is vivid and once was.  I am dust in this space.  Gimme that rainbow star shine, moon filled, sweet sherbert.  I am but dust, in this frame now, but more ever and ever, and forever. For I am you, when love calls.  I am but dust, you are me, I am you, for we, have always been. You call me into you. Love more powerful, than dust. 

We come here today standing in our ancestor’s shoes.  We gather like we do every year to remember the sacrifice paid by those who have died to protect us. We don’t just remember today those who died in the first world war and the second world war, but those who have died as a result of all human conflict past and present. We remember that war, in whatever form, however just, is always a tragedy. We remember those who are our enemies, and also those who are innocent, who have died or whose lives have been forever changed by the consequences of war. Christians believe that armed conflict should be the last option, after all other efforts have been made to reconcile with each other. We also believe that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Jesus calls us to be part of his love for us, he calls us friends. Abiding in God’s love is difficult, and it is very hard to travel the path of peace, as Jesus knew. He was constantly in conflict with the author