Dear Friends in Christ
E te whanau a te Karaiti

Today I journey to the "place of love", to St Mark's Church Te Aroha, having accepted an invitation to preach and preside there some months ago on behalf of the Cathedral in the absence of a bishop at this time. It is a joy to return to Te Aroha, to the mountain that I once had to be rescued from in 2001, a story I might indeed share one day! This morning we meet several of our faith heroes climbing mountains. Elijah climbs a mountain to meet God in the "sheer silence" after the passing of the earthquake wind and fire. Paul climbs the mountain of theological engagement as he wrestles with those emerging doctrines of justification by faith and atonement. Jesus lands his boat besides the red mountains of Jordan and we are drawn into climbing of a mountain of understanding as He dialogues with demons. Pigs perish and people become afraid for God has drawn very close. In His engagement with "Legion" Jesus seems to treat even demons with an element of mercy? What is going on here? We have to perhaps climb further than we wish to in order to see and to understand. It is one of those rare moments in our reading of scripture where it is difficult to rationalise the 1st century Eastern world of Jesus and explain it away in the context of our ordered and informed 21st century Western world. We need to "climb" this week in order to find some high ground where we can meet God in the silence and understand what God is up. It can be a struggle but the view from the top is quite incredible!

Arohanui

June 18, 2013