..regeneration..a buzz word for a government desperate to be seen to be offering something to those left behind.. ..socially economically disadvantaged, the unemployed who live on brown field sites which long since had heart torn out of them..misused exploited & now derelict..buildings & people.. & 1st rdg God offers his spiritually deprived..those once disciples but no longer..now disillusioned feeling abandoned..some going through motions, coming to Church weekly rather like a benefits office..signing in, taking home something or nothing.. ..subsistence religion ..does any of it sound familiar, too close to home? “..& the people of Nineveh [ of Ampleforth ] believed in God”
“..proclaimed a fast & put on sackcloth..” ; Lord have mercy “..from the greatest to the least..” ; Christ have mercy “..God saw their efforts to renounce their evil behaviour..” ; Lord have mercy May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins & bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
“..the time has come..” multi national companies in the engine room of their business, where crucial decisions are made across world, have a wall full of clocks each reading GMT in world capitals..it is all chronos time, chronological by the clock, precise reliable definitive..”the time has come” & in a different time zone for us, not chronos time but kairos time, daily life & opportunities emerging in Gods time, to his schedule..a clock on his wall which he watches in his time, everlasting time, with pride & delight, as he sees you grow..in his loving grace filled investment in you..watching you 24x7, engaging & enjoyable for him, as you are ever part of him & him of you..together worldchangers.. “repent & believe” recalibrate your daily life, readjust daily events to enable kairos moments to re energise life, regenerate the brownfield moments of each day, when you are tempted to think its one step forward two steps back..where at one time relationships or activities were fresh dynamic passionate, & now sadly a sense of dereliction, a temptation towards indifference & neglect, a life seemingly infested with weed pollution.. perhaps too close to home 20/21 Jan 2018?..however “the time has come” kairos not chronos..this is moment when the divine potential comes to reality, a partnership of divine presence [ grace ] with human real presence [ reality ] brings/ activates the impossible, the miraculous, into life..a dynamite moment for first disciples & here & now for you & I..dynamite explosive power..dynamo, dynamic from Gk “dunamis” potential the ability to do..your dynamism your ability to do through Gods ability grace in you..& as first two disciples cast their net in lake Jesus cast his net towards them ..”at once” they left & followed him..a kairos moment, the now moment, blue sky thinking & dynamite.. however, next two he called were mending nets, perhaps not quite ready for kairos, they were still engaged in chronos unfinished business..mending nets, mending relationships that had torn families apart, resulting in some of the family [shoal] escaping out through holes breakdowns rows, with urgent need to mend breech to secure family..yet even here he called them”at once”; he didn’t go soft on them..an immediacy urgency priority in his concern for them to step out now from chronos into kairos..the sacrament of the present moment..Christ is found & discovered as a constant loving companion 24x7 in each & every moment..you, ever part of him, he ever part of you..no wonder it’s good news..& will you?..will you reset your heart, your compass for life, into kairos time?..engage your heart with the divine heart, a potentially life changing moment, worldchangers at work.. the very good news is that he doesn’t wait until we are totally prepared to put to sea to cast the net..he needs us out there now..kairos now..& if your nets are still in need of more mending restitching, throw caution to the wind, set out from the safety of this safe calm harbour of a Church into the deep, knowing you have divine navigator alongside you, & with a passion a dynamism which empowers the crew, the family to which you belong, to be mended & re threaded en route..anticipating the next moment when the skipper himself will lovingly invite you to cast the net, to bring in the new certainly, & also vitally, to bring back those who have strayed out & away from shoal for one reason or no reason, floundering directionless, hoping & praying, faithfully & trustfully, that in time their kairos moment will emerge..”they went after him” indeed & the really good news is that he & you together “go after them”..to seek out to re engage to net & to bring them home..”..”everything begins as any other morning, but that morning becomes its own tomorrow; the tomorrow of a common story which, in an instant, will completely vanish; but for the moment it is still yesterday, & all work at their usual tasks..the fishers in their fishing boats & the powerful at their momentous business..this is a workday not a holiday, no one has time for any heaven anywhere. The order of things is useful by definition, to doubt is to lose one’s place in it, therefore nothing must ever happen except what is needed for business as usual; but it is always on such a kairos morning that Jesus, whether by chance or design, decides to up & go”..& will you?..up & go with him?..or do you want more chronos..more “business as usual “ time to think about it?.. [3rdSunYrBMk1;14-20]