Pentecost - the great feast of communication - a sermon by Stephen Brown

Pentecost - the great feast of communication
Stephen Brown, meditation at the Ecumenical Centre, 25 May 2010

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked '… How is it that we hear, each of us in our own native language? In our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power?'

When I heard last week that there was not yet a preacher for today, I jumped - maybe rashly - at the opportunity to offer a meditation this morning. For since I was very young, this has been one of my favourite texts from the Bible. I've never quite worked out why, maybe it is because of the action-packed nature of the story that the writer of Acts describes. Not a moment is lost in setting the scene. "When the day of Pentecost came, they were altogether in one place". Immediately there is the rushing noise of a violent wind, the tongues, 'as of fire' appearing among the disciples. And there is the transformation of the speech of the disciples so that those gathered from every nation under heaven can hear of God's deeds of power in their own language. And then, the wry comment by those that hear the disciples that they are "filled with new wine".

For some one, like me, who is involved in communication, this text speaks of communication in its most profound sense - and communication that involves all the senses. Here we encounter the physicality of the Holy Spirit: the sound and the touch of the wind, the appearance of the tongues of fire that take on physical form, resting on each of the disciples. In his book, The Spirit of Life, Jürgen Moltmann describes how the Pentecost narrative needs to be seen against the background of the Hebrew Scriptures, where God's Spirit Ruach has quite a different meaning from the western tradition of thinking about the Spirit. God's Ruach is not something supernatural or immaterial but is "a tempest, a storm, a force in body and soul, humanity and nature". Ruach, says Moltmann, is the "breath of God's voice". (1) So, Pentecost is about communication of all the senses. It is this breath of God's voice that enables God's deeds of power to be heard by each in their own language. Pentecost is the great feast of communication.

Pentecost is sometimes described as the counterpoint to the account of the building of the Tower of Babel. The story in Genesis describes how at the beginning the whole earth had one language and the same words. Then the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from Babel "scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth". At Babel, so it goes, the nations were scattered, at Pentecost they are gathered together. Yet, look closer at the text. The tongues of flame do not create a single language; it does not mean that those in Jerusalem are speaking in one language. Instead, each person hears in their own speech. God's Spirit breaks down the barriers between nations, the barriers of culture, and the barriers of language. Being drawn together, being one, does not mean being identical. It means transcending the barriers that separate us, holding together our diversity in the power of the "breath of God's voice". This is a pronounced and profound experience of communication. And it is through this great "communicative act" that the disciples are able to communicate "God's deeds of power".

Still, if Pentecost is a profoundly "communicative" experience, it is also a profoundly "ecumenical" experience. At Pentecost in Jerusalem, representatives are gathered from "every nation under heaven", in other words, from the whole inhabited world, or, in Greek, from the oikoumene. It is at Pentecost that God's Spirit descends upon the oikoumene, gathered at this great ecumenical assembly in Jerusalem. So, Pentecost as the foundational event of the church is both communicative and ecumenical. Through God's embracing and inclusive Spirit we can comprehend the oikoumene in all its fullness, one in which that which was scattered is gathered together in a unity that transcends the economic and political divisions of the world.

In our spirit-filled ecumenical existence, communication is at the very heart. It is through communication that we can become one - not despite our diversity, but in our diversity; not as an end in itself, but to speak about God's deeds of power. Communication in the oikoumene - ecumenical communication in its deepest sense - has this two fold character: the holding together of the oikoumene, and recounting God's deeds of power in Jesus Christ.

What does this mean for us as people drawn from many nations under heaven, for those of us gathered in this Ecumenical Centre? What does it mean for our calling as God's sign of communication in the world?

Firstly, communication is not something that is added on to our programmes or activities. It is not (only) about the technical tools we use to communicate. Communication is at the centre of our ecumenical existence. As Philip Potter, once general secretary of the World Council of Churches, puts it, "The kingdom of God, and koinonia, community, a common life, communication, are one reality" (2). We need to find ways in which this becomes a reality in our life in the oikoumene, not as a task only for communication professionals, but in which we mediate the flow of communication within the fellowship of churches (3).

But, secondly, this communicative existence of the oikoumene is not something that stands in an either/or relationship with the task of professional communication and relating to the public media. The communicative act of understanding at Pentecost was precisely to make known God's deeds of power. In our globalised world, we need to use all means at our disposal, with all their ambiguity, to make known God's deeds of power. We need, as the hymn we are to sing puts it, "to find our tongue [and] tell the world what God has done" - whether using the Internet, or Facebook, or Twitter … news stories, interviews, speeches, or even sermons!

There is, however, also a "third way" - maybe the most profound way - in which communication is at the heart of our spirit-filled ecumenical existence. Later in the passage from Acts we can read how the disciples continued to break bread together. Communication is also to communicate, to share together in the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper, united in the oikoumene in space and in time, transcending the divisions of the world. Here we are called together by the love that unites that which has been divided. At this meal, even the inadequate disciples are accepted. This is the meal of the suffering Lord who is in solidarity with the oppressed, and the meal of the one who has risen, who sends us to renewed action (4). Yet it is also here, that our own divisions in the oikoumene become most apparent and most painful. Our communication together at the Lord's Supper is incomplete, is only a partial sign of the unity to which the breath of God's voice has called us.

At Pentecost, let us therefore listen to God's renewing Spirit who calls us to prayer and to action that this meal may no longer be a sign of our division, but a symbol of the unity that God intends for the whole inhabited world - a sign that that which has been scattered has been brought together in Christ. At this feast of communication, let us revel therefore in the gift of God's Spirit, who goes before us, making whole that which is broken, calling us to be God's Pentecost people, in word, in bread, in wine.

And to God’s name be the praise and the glory.

1. Jürgen Moltmann, The Spirit of Life: A universal affirmation, London: SCM Press Ltd, 1992, pp. 40-40.
2. Quoted in "Communicating with Conviction", Issue Paper VIII, Discussion papers arising out of the life and work of the World Council of Churches in Preparation for its Sixth Assembly, Vancouver, Canada, July 24 to August 10, 1983. Geneva: WCC, 1982.
3. Cf: Konrad Raiser, Report of the General Secretary, in The Ecumenical Review, vol. 52, no. 1, January 2000, p. 99.
4. Cf: Heino Falcke, Christ liberates - therefore the Church for Others, in The Ecumenical Review, vol. 65, no. 2, April 2004, p. 183.

A Psalm of ascent to retirement for Yvette Milosevic

A Psalm of ascent to retirement for Yvette Milosevic
Introducing this at her retirement party Theodore Gill described it as "a cry, a sigh and a doxology". The Ecumenical Centre worship committee will miss Yvette enormously, writing this and saying it together helped us begin our leave taking with laughter as well as tears.

I lift up my eyes to the hills
from whence comes Yvette
My help comes from the Lord,
who sent us Yvette who puts flowers in the chapel.
The Lord will not let your foot be moved;
And will make sure Yvette neither sleeps nor slumbers.
The One who keeps the Ecumenical chapel
will send Yvette to provide oil and ash on Ash Wednesday.
The Lord is your keeper;
Providing photocopies at your right hand and hymnbooks at your left.
The sun shall not rise in time for morning prayer,
nor shall the heating or ventilation ever be switched on.
For the microphones may only work occasionally
And the candles tend to drip wax mightily

Yvette we pray that the Lord will keep you from all evil;
For we know you are good
That he will keep your life.
Yvette may the Lord keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and for evermore.

A few words for Yvette Milosevic' leaving party

Dear Yvette

Thinking about how to say thank you to on behalf of the worship committee a line from a song came into my mind. Not a holy song from Thuma Mina or Agape or any other hymnbook but a rather saucy ditty from Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical Oklahoma which starts “I’m just a girl who can’t say no …”
I suppose I thought of that because for the handful of us still left on the worship committee you have been the person who says yes, often even before the question has been asked. We want to thank you for your faithfulness, your practicality, your extraordinary spirit of service and your enormous thoughtfulness. Thank you for all you have done, thank you for your meditations and prayers, thank you quite simply for being you.

It’s wonderful that you’re retiring at Pentecost time, first of all it’s a great season for gardening, which I know you will enjoy. But it’s the festival which ushers in ordinary time in the western church calendar and the Sundays between now and Advent are referred to by Pentecost and a number. So we hope that as you enter into the ordinary time of retirement it may continue to be a Spirit-filled time for you, a time when you can say “yes” not only to duty but also to delight.

In my heretical way, I suspect that God’s energetic, creative, comforting, gentle, challenging, spirited Ruach is actually also in part “just a girl who can’t say no…”

I am not going to begin to say how much we will miss you because my spirit will probably fail me. Know that we will – know also of course that we count on you to get the retired members organized to come back and lead worship.
Most of all we pray that the Spirit may continue to give you strength to say yes to life in a long and happy retirement as you sing a new song.

Thank you for everything.

(Colleagues on the worship committee Manoj Kurian and Karin Achtelstetter then led us in a prayer to the Holy Spirit written by Manoj and presented her with a painting depicting the fiery spirit, also by Manoj. Meanwhile Terry Macarthur led our singing. Later Yvette received a Ginko tree to plant in her garden from all of her colleagues.)

Order of service for Pentecost Tuesday

Pentecost Tuesday Prayers
Ecumenical Centre
25 May 2010
Praying through the ecumenical prayer cycle for Botswana and Zimbabwe

Musical preparation

Welcome
Call to prayer
In the joy of the promise of God’s Holy Spirit
We gather to pray together for God’s “oikoumene” – the whole inhabited earth;
We ask that God may send his Spirit upon us
that we may celebrate the name of the blessed Trinity, one God, now and forever.
Amen

Sing: Come Holy Spirit

O Lord, open my eyes,
that I may see the need of others,
open my ears that I may hear their cries,
open my heart so that they need not be without succour.
Let me not be afraid to defend the weak
because of the anger of the strong,
nor afraid to defend the poor,
because of the anger of the rich.
Show me where love and hope and faith are needed,
and use me to bring them to these places.
Open my eyes and ears that I may, this coming day,
be able to do some work of peace for you.

Shona prayer

Sing: Come Holy Spirit (from Iona)

Psalm 104: 24, 31-25 (read antiphonally)

All: O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

Women: May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works

Men: who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke.

Women: I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.

Men: Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord!

All: O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

Stand to sing: Thuma Mina 84 (twice)
Rakanaka Vhangeri Rakanaka
Rakanaka Vhangeri Rakanaka

Ndanguri ndaku udze kuti Rakanaka
Ndanguri ndaku udze kuti Rakanaka

Bible reading - Acts 2:1-18 read in French and Amharic
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs - in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘People of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.

Stand to sing: Thuma Mina 84 (twice)
Rakanaka Vhangeri Rakanaka
Rakanaka Vhangeri Rakanaka

Ndanguri ndaku udze kuti Rakanaka
Ndanguri ndaku udze kuti Rakanaka

Meditation – Dr Stephen Brown

Sing: There’s a Spirit in the Air
(see end for music)

There's a spirit in the air,
telling Christians everywhere:
"Praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working in our world."

Lose your shyness, find your tongue;
tell the world what God has done:
God in Christ has come to stay,
we can see his power today.

When believers break the bread
when a hungry child is fed:
praise the love that Christ revealed
living, working in our world.

Still his Spirit leads the fight,
seeing wrong and setting right:
God in Christ has come to stay,
we can see his power today.

When a stranger's not alone,
where the homeless find a home,
praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working in our world.

May the Spirit fill our praise,
guide our thoughts and change our ways:
God in Christ has come to stay,
we can see his power today.

There's a Spirit in the air,
calling people everywhere:
praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working in our world.

Copyright Brian Wren, 1969

Prayers of the People
L: Great God of all
we pray to you for the people of Botswana and Zimbabwe
Assure them of your Spirit’s comfort and support
at all times and in all places.
Hallowed be your name

Sung response: Mayezinwe

L: We pray for all people everywhere working for justice and peace in the world, send your Spirit to renew and refresh their commitment.
When war and violence threaten lives and destroy communities
May your Spirit of peace teach us:
Blessed are the peacemakers

Sung Response: Mayezinwe (Your will be done on earth)

L: We pray for all seeking to bring practical
and humanitarian aid to people in need throughout the world
May your Spirit of love fuel practical solidarity between human beings
Your kingdom come

Sung Response: Mayezinwe (Your will be done on earth)

L: We pray for all facing illness in body mind or spirit,
for all who struggle on a daily basis to find enough water or food.
We unite our voice with theirs saying:
Give us this day our daily bread

Sung Response: Mayezinwe (Your will be done on earth)

L: We pray for ourselves, our friends, colleagues and families.
In our lives and in our work grant us your Spirit’s steadfast support
Lift us up when we are discouraged
Comfort us when we are downhearted
Celebrate with us when we rejoice.
At all times
Your will be done

Sung Response: Mayezinwe (Your will be done on earth)

The Lord’s Prayer (we rise to say each in our own language)

Blessing
Now go out into the world to sow seeds of peace with justice,
And may:
The God of overflowing creative energy
The Jesus of vast compassion
The Holy Spirit who turns chaos to life enhancing wholesomeness
Be with you as you go.
Amen.

Sing: Wa, Wa Wa Emimimo Thuma Mina 12
Wa Wa Wa Emimimo. Emimoloye
Wa Wa Wa Alagbara. Alagbarameta
Wao Wao Wao.Emimimo.

Morning prayer - that all may be one

At the Ecumenical Centre we often try to follow the daily readings followed by the community at Grandchamps. Their gospel readings for Thursday and Friday 20 and 21 May are from John17 - "that all may be one".
Inspired by this Theodore Gill put together the following order for morning prayer on Friday. This order will also be used for the opening devotions of the WCC staff executive group which meets all day.

Morning Prayer, Ecumenical Centre
Friday 21 May 2010

For Christian worship
Holy God: you call us to worship,
and by your Spirit you prompt us to prayers and praise.
Keep us from responding in prayer and song with ritual disinterest.
Fill us with wonder at the mystery of your unfailing love for all;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the king of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation!
Let all who hear now to his temple draw near,
joining in glad adoration.

Loué soit notre Dieu, dont la splendeur se révèle
quand nous buvons le vin pour une terre nouvelle.
En Jésus-Christ le monde passe aujourd’hui
vers une gloire éternelle.

Lobe den Herren, was in mir ist, lobe den Namen.
Lob ihn mit allen, die seine Verheissung bekamen.
Er ist dein Licht, Seele, vergiss es ja nicht.
Lob ihn in Ewigkeit. Amen.

Gospel lesson – John 17:11d-26

[When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted his eyes to heaven and said:] “Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given me, that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me I have kept; and none of them is lost, except the son of perdition so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word; that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you; that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one: I in them, and you in me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you have loved me.

“Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me; for you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known you, but I have known you; and these have known that you sent me. And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Silent meditation
And silent prayer, especially for the people and churches of Malawi and Zambia

Litany for the Unity of Christ’s Church
[adapted from The Worshipbook (Philadelphia, USA: Westminster Press, 1970)]

O God: you welcome us by baptism into one holy church, and join us by faith to Christians in every time and place. May your church on earth be a sign of the loving communion you promise.
Make us one with Christ, and joyful in your kingdom.

Deliver us from evil, Lord: From religious pride that belittles the faith of others, or claims true wisdom, yet will not love…
Good Lord, deliver us.
From mistaken zeal that will not compromise; from honouring tidy doctrines, rather than you…
Good Lord, deliver us.
From a worldly mind that drums up partisan spirits; from division and divisiveness; from preserving systems that have served their purpose and seen their day…
Good Lord, deliver us.

As you sent disciples from every land, O God, gather us now, from the ends of the earth, into one fellowship that responds to your calling and praises your name.
Gather us in one faith, one hope, one love.

Make us one, Lord, in our eagerness to speak good news and set all captives free.
Give us your Holy Spirit.
Make us one, Lord, in concern for the poor, the hurt and the downtrodden, to show your love.
Give us your Holy Spirit.
Make us one, Lord, in worship; help us find the way to break bread together in unity and to sing your praise in a harmony of voices.
Give us your Holy Spirit.
Make us one, Lord, in faithfulness to Jesus Christ, who never fails us, and who will come again in triumph.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

God our Father: Give us your Holy Spirit so that we may have among ourselves the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, and proclaim him to the world. May every knee bow down to him, and every tongue confess him Lord, to the glory of your Triune name.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer
in the language of one’s choice

Blessing

Let us embrace this new day, confident of God’s mercy, grace and saving power.
Thanks be to God: Alleluia! Amen.

Halle-, halle-, halle- luja
Halle-, halle-, halle- luja
Halle-, halle-, halle- luja
Halleluja, Halleluja!

English translation of the sermon preached at the opening service of the 2nd Ecumenical Kirchentag in Munich

Sermon for the opening service of the Ecumenical Kirchentag

Bishop Dr. Johannes Friedrich / Archbishop Dr. Reinhard Marx

(Check against delivery - please note this was a dialogue sermon preached in two voices it worked well)


Bishop Friedrich
This is the time and the place to call out to you in the words of 1 Peter, "That you may have hope".

Archbishop Marx
With the Kirchentag's theme we warmly welcome all of you.


(Both): "Grüss Gott" and welcome to Munich!

We've waited a long time and worked hard to get at last to this day, the day when we begin the 2nd Ecumenical Kirchentag.

We had the hope that today we would be able to hold this service with many, many people.

With all of you from near and far
With women, men and children
With members of the many different confessions
With all those watching at home on the television.

A huge congregation has turned up to begin this second Ecumenical Kirchentag marked by God's word.

It's wonderful that you're all here!

Today we hope in a fairly concrete way
(that the wonderful weather will hold for the whole evening)
(that the clouds will quickly go by)
( that the rain may stop as soon as possible)
(depending on the weather one of these sentences will be said!)

That's a hope all of us here on the Theresienwiese in Munich have!

Beyond that though we are bound together also by many other hopes:

The hope for a good life
The hope for a sure livelihood
The hope for justice
The hope for security
The hope for health
The hope for peace

There are many hopes that we share together

Yet I have a hope which I am not certain that all of us share.

And what is it?

The hope that life in this world is not everything; the hope that there is a life after death.

That is a hope which sustains me in quite a personal way.
For me it is a hope that goes beyond all other hopes. A hope that I cannot generate myself, a hope that is given to me.
This hope is shared by many of us, but I know that there are some who find the idea of a life after death difficult.
I can understand that. It was no different for people in Jesus' time. Life after death contradicted, contradicts, all human experience.

Yet I am certain that this hope is quite realistic. In Jesus Christ God took away death's sting. Death can no longer harm us, it cannot tear us out of God's hand. Life triumphs over death, that is what this hope shows us.
It gives us strength and courage, when we despair at the problems and difficulties of this world.

If I just think of the misery of the world's children who daily die of hunger.
Of the many dead and injured in the wars in so many parts of the world-
Or of the oil slick off the coast of America and the animals and plants of the region that are being killed.
Of the hardship of people who have no work or who suffer from severe illnesses, who can see no perspective for the future.
Of the people of Greece who are completely struck down.

Yet I have the certainty that I do not need to despair because of these things. However great the affliction - I may, we may have hope, because a new everlasting hope has come into the world through Jesus Christ, who gives us hope which overcomes all human distress.
What counts is showing this hope to other people, letting it be clearly seen in concrete ways so that it can be visible in us, Christians of all confessions.

This hope unites us!

It is not dependent
on our abilities
our money
or our power.

And it is not some dream of people
who want to have nothing to do with the world.
No, Christians are in in the midst of life.

Jesus' commisison is:
Go and tell of the hope
that is in you

Because God in Jesus Christ has given us this hope,
which overcomes death and makes life possible in the first place,
that's why we advocate
- for the equal dignity of all human beings;
- for all people whose life is threatened due to violence or poverty
- for justice so that nobody is forgotten
- for peace, even in those places where no-one believes in it any longer
- for creation, that further destruction may be halted

It's a demanding mission
And one we do not always deserve.
That also is clear.

But by making efforts together
as Christians of all confessions
We can be strong and respond to Christ mission
If we pray and act together

That's why we want to champion the unity of Christians.
Together we want to overcome what separates us from one another.
Here too, our own strength alone will not suffice
May God add to everything that we ourselves are not able to contribute.

If we join together we can already achieve a great deal.
But if we trust in the God and Father of Jesus Christ
Then we are truly in hope.

A sign of hope should go out from the 2nd Ecumenical Kirchentag in Munich, of this hope that sustains us and drives us forwards. So that all may have hope.

So let us set up signs of hope!

How can this hope be seen in our lives?

The hope of Jesus offers a clear anchor. An anchor in a world that is full of so many uncertainties. This hope is lasting. It's not a short-term promise or a hope that is volatile. Nor is this hope arbitrary. This hope remains, for it is given to us by God. It gives us foundation.

The hope of Jesus makes us open. It opens our understanding, our hands and our heart: for ourselves, for our neighbours and for God.

The hope of Jesus is personal. His hope creates community and meets every single one of us. You and me. Not by giving us VIP status but through hope we all become personalities. We can be self-confident, for we belong to this community of people who know that they are sustained by this hope, each of them in a personal way.

The hope of Jesus demands our involvement. The world will not become a better place if we all withdraw behind our own doors, but rather by us getting involved where we are asked to. There is no excuse for not doing this.


So, Christian hope
Is open and lasting
It is personal and ready to take action

If we bring together the first letters of those words (in German - Hoffnunfg, Offen, Persönlich and Einsatzbereit) then we get the word HOPE
.
hope, esperanza, espoir, speranza, tikwa, spes ….

Different words in all langauges-
For the one hope that unites!

This is the hope that we want to shine forth from Munich into the whole country, to Europe and the whole world.
To that end may God grant us his Spirit and blessing.
Amen.



Provisional English translation

Sharing food - a sermon by Rogate Mshana

Sharing food- a sermon preached by Rogate Mshana on 3 May 2010 in the Ecumenical Centre, Geneva

Mathew 14:13-14

“Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves,” said the disciples. But Jesus replied, “That is not necessary- you feed them.” In Mark, Jesus said “they need not go away; you give them something to eat.” In Mark the disciples ask Jesus, “are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give them to eat?” The debate is about compassion ( women call it the economics of care or compassion economicss and the market as methods to feed hungry people. Jesus refuses to send the crowd away to the market but chooses to embrace them with love and compassion.

In the text in Mark’s gospel about feeding the four/five thousand people that came to listen to him, we hear Jesus say: “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way-and some of them have come from a great distance” (Mark 8:2-3). This fainting due to hunger reminds me during a draught period in 1961 when my mother held us together, went down on her knees and prayed that we should not perish because of hunger. She cried out, “ Lord let my children live.”

The Gospel reminds us of our obligation as churches and the ecumenical movement to overcome hunger in the world. Sadly our economic systems and trade rules are designed to send hungry people away to be fed by the market. Many of them have fainted and died on the way. In 2009 more than 1 billion hungry people were undernourished world wide. In 2006 they were 854m. (www.wfp.org/stores/world-hungry-tops-billion . The MDGs were designed to bring this number to half by 2015. This is a great challenge. In other words one in every 6 people is undernourished. Hunger has increased not as a result of poor harvests but because of high domestic food prices, lower incomes and increasing unemployment due to, among other unjust trade policies and the global financial crisis - itself caused by structural greed. In his compassionate feeding of the people, Jesus was showing another way of feeding people over and against the market. “They will faint on the way” Jesus said. The market is designed only for those people with purchasing power. If no policies and structures are in place to ensure food sovereignty for the hungry, they will faint and die. “You give them something to eat”, means do not send them to the market.

We are reminded by Jesus about his holistic ministry of word and deed or diakonia as we call it. This is faith that is alive. The brief gospel of St. James defines what this diakonal ministry requires of us: If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace ; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? And James concludes that faith by itself, if it has no works is dead (James 2:14).

Sharing of food

In the story of the feeding of the multitudes, we learn the need for sharing food with others. Today, we know that food is wasted at the same time as others die of hunger. Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to health world wide, greater than AIDs, malaria and tuberculosis combined (www.wfp.org/hunger ). It is our mission to address this problem. Over 9million people die world wide each year because of hunger and malnutrition. 5m. are children. This is despite the fact that World agriculture produces 17% more calories per person today than it did years ago, despite a 70% population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories(Kcal) per person per day ( FAO 2002p.9) www.worldhunger.org/articles) But rich countries waste around half of the food supplies annually. America throws away 40% of the food while UK throws away from 40 to 50%. 38 billion US dollars worth of food is thrown away every year while the direct medical cost of hunger and malnutrition is estimated at 30 billion.

To share food in our world will mean protecting small farmers, advocating for policies that promote food sovereignty because today’s hunger is mainly caused by injustice. As the book of Proverbs says:“The field of the poor may yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.” (Proverbs 13:23)

Today, the survival of the fittest is the guiding principle in what can be called market fundamentalism. The life and teachings of Jesus provides a paradigm for the content of our mission which is to continuously take the side of those who are reduced to objects and victims by the prevailing unjust structures of Empire. We have to reach the point where we can say like the prophet Isaiah “Never again will foreign warriors come to take away your grain and wine – you raised it and will keep it.” (Isaiah 62:8b)


In March,2010 when the WCC delegation visited Norway we experienced a very moving service to remember the death of a bold church leader who advocated for the poor in Elsalvador but assassinated in march 24, 1980.This great leader of the church, Archbishop Oscar Romero said, “If I feed people they call me a saint but if I ask, why people have no food, they call me a communist.” Feeding the hungry is now an issue of prophetic diakonia and transformative justice. It is about fighting against injustice in trade and agriculture and promoting life-giving agriculture. It is about stopping dumping food into poor countries and so destroying their production systems. It is about purchasing food with a sense of people in hunger. It is about refraining from wasting food while others starve. It is about having a meaningful fating during lent. It is about advocating for the human right to adequate food as a basic human right for every woman, man and child.

It is about sharing corn with compassion so that no one shall faint and die on the way.
So I end with more words from Oscar Romero

The church would betray its own love for God and its fidelity to the gospel if it stopped being . . . a defender of the rights of the poor . . . a humanizer of every legitimate struggle to achieve a more just society . . . that prepares the way for the true reign of God in history (he spoke on 8/6/79). Where food is concerned are we ready to follow Christ's compassion or would we rather continue send the hungry people back to forces of the market?

Copyright (c) Dr Rogate Mshana / WCC

An order of service on

Morning Prayer, Monday, 3 May 2010, in the Ecumenical Centre
This service was put together by Sabine Udodesku and Rogate Mshana

There is enough food for all to share.
Hunger in a world of plenty is not caused by lack of food.
There is enough food to make most people in the world fat!
It is caused by lack of compassion and justice.

Prelude

Welcome
L: Christ is risen!
All: He is risen indeed!

Song: Mfurahini, Halleluya (Thuma Mina 280, sung in Swahili)

Prayer

L: Eternal God,
your Word declares
that the love which is laid down in faith
will be raised and produce a great harvest.
This we celebrate as we proclaim:

All: Christ has died,
Christ is risen,
Christ will come again.

L: In silence,
we surrender ourselves
and all that we count important
to your will and purpose.

All: For we cannot know
the glory of Christ’s resurrection
if we do not have the fellowship of his sufferings.
And we cannot expect to gather the kingdom’s harvest
if we do not sow the kingdom’s seed.

Psalm 104:24-31 (in Swahili and English)

L: Ee Bwana, jinsi yalivyo mengi matendo yako; kwa hekima umevifanya vyote pia. Dunia imejaa mali zako.
All: God, how many are the works you have created, arranging everything in wisdom!
Earth is filled with creatures you have made:

L: Bahari iko kule, kubwa na upana, ndimo vilimo viendavyo visivyohesabika, viumbe hai, vidogo kwa vikubwa. ndimo vipitamo merikebu,
All: See the vast ocean
teeming with countless creatures, great and small,

L: ndimo alimo Lawiathani uliyemuumba acheze humo.
All: where ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan that you made to play for you.

L: Hao wote wanakungoja. Wewe uwape chakula chao kwa wakati wake.
All: All creatures depend on you
to give them food in due season.

L: Wewe huwapa, wao wanakiokota; wewe waukunjua mkono wako,
wao wanashiba mema,
All: You give them food they eat;
with generous hand, you fill them with good things.

L: wewe wauficha uso wako, wao wanafadhaika, waiondoa pumzi yao, wanakufa, nakuyarudia mavumbi yao,
All: If you turn your face away – they suffer;
if you stop their breath – they die and return to dust.

L: waipeleka Roho yako, wanaumbwa , nawe waufanya upya uso wa nchi.
All: When you give your spirit, they are created.
You keep renewing the world.

L: Utukufu wa Bwana na udumu milele; Bwana na ayafurahie matendo yake.
All: Glory forever to you, God!
May you find joy in your creation.

Song: Murassalat (verses 1 and 2)

Bible Reading - Matthew 14:14-16

When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." Read in Arabic

Song: Murassalat (verse 3)

Reflection (Rogate Mshana)

Song: Cuando el pobre (verses 1 & 2 in Spanish, verses 3 & 4 in English)

Prayer of Intercession

L: This week in the Ecumenical prayer Cycle, we pray especially for the churches and people in Sudan and Uganda…

Almighty God,
we pray for peace on earth.
For peace that is life-giving;
for peace that is love-baring;
for peace that is true freedom;
for peace that is purposeful;
for peace that is prevailing.

We pray for children in time of war; they are defenseless.
We pray for the old; they are unable to escape danger quickly.
We pray for those with physical disabilities; they are at the mercy of others.
We pray for women; they are vulnerable to abuse.
We pray for the innocent; they suffer from the unjust desires of others.

We pray for those whose lives have been changed by war:
the blinded; the burned; those who have lost limbs;
those who have lost their reason;
those who have lost their peace of mind;
those who have lost their health and strength forever.

O God, above all we pray for those in anguish,
those whose lives will never be the same again;
those who have lost their loved ones; those who have lost their lives.

Deepen in us our desire for peace,
restore our resolve for peace, increase our intent to work for peace.
Will for us your peace, perfect and prevailing
for your Son, our Saviour Christ’s sake.
Amen

Song: Bendice, Señor, nuestro pan (sung in Spanish and in English)

The Lord’s Prayer (each in his or her own language)

Benediction

L: Living God,
we thank you for this time of worshipping together
and for the thoughts and awareness that have been awakened within us.

All: May the peace of your presence,
the fire of your Spirit,
and the energy of the wind of heaven fill us
and rekindle the living flame of love in our lives.
Amen.