Tonnau Duw ('God's waves') Fr Tim Ardouin

‘See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. ’ (Mtt 6.28,29)
‘See’, ‘look’, ‘consider’, ‘notice’: Jesus has all of these in mind. See the flower. Look deeper. Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hahn (Thay), says, ‘When we look into the heart of a flower, we see clouds, sunshine, minerals, time, the earth, and everything else in the cosmos…’ Without rain or sun, for instance, there would be no flower. Without clouds there would be no rain; no stars, no sun; without time, there can be no growth. There is no essence that, alone, can be said to be ‘flower’. A flower has no independent existence. According to Thay, the flower ‘inter-is with everything else in the universe’.
‘…do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’ (Mtt 6. 34)
Notice what is. All you truly have in this world is this moment. This – exact – moment. Right now. The past is interpretation. The future is fantasy. Right now is.
Consider the flowers of the field. Feel the presence of presence. Here. Now. In the space between my mind and yours, the ‘inter-being’ of words and page, language and truth, all barriers dissolve. All distance is near. This is the beginning. It is where love and peace, understanding, respect and hope are born.

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The Lord is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds. 

Awesome works of wonder. Frightening even. Thousands fed from 5 barley loaves and a couple of fish. A mob who would make a king of him by force, but he slips away. A wild, dark sea, a boat at nature’s mercy, and him, there on the lake, walking on the water –  ‘It is I; do not be afraid’’ – and then the boat is safe, already ashore – immediately all her ragged, God-student crew are safe ~ ‘It is I; do not be afraid’’.

Perhaps the Lord had some food already stashed away, ready for the big feed. Perhaps the people had enough between them and simply needed to be taught how to share. Maybe everyone was happy with a few crumbs to eat because the prophet’s teaching or the Messiah’s sheer presence was so all-enthralling. Perhaps the significance is purely sacramental, the bread, the body, the presence of God. Perhaps the Lord just broke the bread and the fish and they multiplied until all were filled and satisfied and twelve baskets were needed to gather what was left. Take your pick. It really doesn’t matter which you prefer.

What matters is this. The sun has risen this morning, with more light than you can ever notice or comprehend or need. God’s creation sings and dances more wonderfully than any song or movement you will ever hear or see. This Holy Eucharist we celebrate is more beautiful than you can ever take in, more profound than you can ever hope to understand. What we share together here and now is closer than any brotherhood or sisterhood or neighbourhood. The Holy Spirit flowing through us, surrounding us, above and below and around, inside and outside our bodies, our hearts, our minds, binding us to each other and to the Father and to the Son – it is poured out in abundance, drenching our souls, spilling into the ground and out through the walls and the roof-  into the sky, into the fields and the trees and the animals and birds, into the sea, into Llanrhidian and Gower and Wales and the world, more than we could ever cope with. And God’s Love pours over us. And we are filled and there are no amount of baskets or buckets or anything at all that can contain what is left. As the psalmist sings –The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

So be afraid of nothing. Simply call on the Lord in truth and in faith. Whatever storms you find yourself in, whatever mountain on which you may contemplate what really is, The Lord Jesus is there with you, guiding you, speaking into your heart, cleansing you, calming you, holding you, breathing redemption deep into your soul – be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit…that Christ may dwell in your heart… through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love… ‘It is I (says the God of All); do not be afraid’’

Readings: 2 Kings 4. 42-44

Psalm 145. 10-18

Ephesians 3. 14 -21

John 6. 1-21

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Mary Magdalene let go and what she found in the garden into which she fell was God. Faith is about letting go – letting go of our image of God, letting go of our image of ourselves. These are limitations. The gift is in the letting go. We can’t do that with our own thoughts or our own actions but simply through God’s grace. We’re not brought deep into God in our heads by sermons or doctrines – we’re brought deep into God by our lives, our circumstances…if we  let those circumstances speak. Be open and be opened. Live honestly. Live true. It is in the space of letting go of what we think we know that we find God – closer to us, always, than our own breath.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (St Paul – 2 Corinthians 5.17)

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He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals…

We are not called to argue people into the kingdom of heaven, nor to bible-bash them into submission. We need no special equipment, no cumbersome strategy, no attractive gimmick or aggressive sales-pitch. We do not need to wedge our foot in anyone’s door – in our sandals we’d only cut our feet! No. All we need is God in our hearts and to simply walk free. Some will come, others will recoil or spit but, when they do, know that the Lord was treated the same. Simply bless them, kick off the sand and move on.

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you died in a bed of roses

we stuck the thorns right through your brain

but even then, while your children watched you bleeding,

you threw down the flower to mankind

‘hey, hey you, you were one of his disciples’

‘no, not me, I’ve never seen that man before’

‘yeh. we saw you dance with him in the garden’

‘no, no,  it’s not me, it’s not me you’re looking for…

(who is this jesus, anyway?)

ain’t it funny how the words just fall out easy

when we ask you in our beds to set us free

but when the time comes to stand up for our saviour

we run, so fast, to hide inside our sleep

now as my mask of a thousand Sunday mornings

gives me the right to be beside you when I die

I know it doesn’t matter that I’ve killed a hundred brothers

Well I did it for you and for ‘freedom’ anyway

‘Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. Father, forgive them, they know not what they do’

you died in a bed of roses

we stuck the thorns right through your brain

but even then, while your children watched you bleeding,

you threw down the flower to mankind

©tim ardouin 2012

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then out into the garden

‘sit down here while I pray

my heart is weighing heavy

keep watch; you hear what I say?’

when they came to take Him, peter pulled his sword

revolution here and now, if He’d only say the word

but He said,

‘take this , broken for you

eat this, my body,

and when you drink my blood,

remember me’

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“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Temple is your Church. Temple is your Christ Resurrected. Temple is your body, your mind, your heart.

Make them a place where God may gladly dwell.

Tear down all that makes God’s temple a market place.

Make you a whip of chords and drive out all evil.

Pour out the coins of the money changers.

Overturn the tables.

Be consumed with zeal for the House of the Lord!

Temple is empty.
Temple is silence.
Temple is presence.

Come from the past. Come from the future.

Be Here.

Be Now.

God Is.

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And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.

You can’t fake TRUTH! But it is revealed, all around, within, above and below, right here, closer than your own breath. It is inherent, indelible and beautiful beyond imagining.  God reveals Himself for you and for me ALL THE TIME. Open your eyes and you will see. Open your ears – This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!

Similarly, you can’t fake Easter. It is not possible to celebrate, to really feel, Easter, without entering first into Lent and then continuing deeper into Holy Week. Come to the services, worship together.  Come into church in the quiet times and pray, or gaze at the salt marsh and the sea. Look into God’s face, receive of his breath, offer Him your troubles and your joys, your fears and your dreams. Talk with Him. Walk with Him. He will show you an awful Cross, and you will cry, but put your hand in His hand, as He holds it open for you. Keep walking and you will see Transfiguration…of…everything… dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach!

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