{"id":9715,"date":"2011-12-25T16:37:54","date_gmt":"2011-12-25T05:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=9715"},"modified":"2011-12-25T01:38:54","modified_gmt":"2011-12-24T14:38:54","slug":"my-grandmothers-centenary-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2011\/12\/25\/my-grandmothers-centenary-heritage\/","title":{"rendered":"My Grandmother’s centenary heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Christmas Eve sermon this year began with a story about my grandmother’s heritage. <\/span><\/p>\n

Just two weeks ago something happened that helped me to see my grandmother more clearly<\/span><\/p>\n

I found an old book that I did not recall seeing before. It was this book, Come Ye Apart<\/em>, a daily devotional reading with Bible verse and reflection. I opened the cover and found these words: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c1st<\/sup> PRIZE FOR MEMORIZING THE 6th<\/sup> Chapter of John\u2019s gospel\u201d! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I knew something about my grandmother before finding her book. But in finding her book, I saw my grandmother more clearly, more wonderfully, than ever before! <\/span><\/p>\n

And the date the prize was given? – 24\/12\/11 \u2013 100 years ago today! <\/span><\/p>\n

My heart jumped with joy when I read this and then I cried tears of love and thankfulness for my grandmother and this gift to me. A heritage passed on to me a century after my grandmother had gained it\u00a0by memorizing Chapter 6 of John\u2019s gospel account. Praise the Lord! <\/span><\/p>\n

Something had happened that helped me to see more clearly. <\/span><\/p>\n

WHAT DO WE SEE AT CHRISTMAS?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We see something we could never see ourselves \u2013 we see God<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine this Cathedral in darkness \u2013 Just like at the beginning of this midnight service. And then the lights came on and we saw more clearly. <\/span><\/p>\n

AT BETHLEM SOMETHING HAPPENED. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

What do we see? <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

–\u00a0 WE SEE GOD.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We see God connecting with us \u2013 God living among us<\/span><\/p>\n

At Christmas God came down and lived among us.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Bethlehem, we see God more clearly than before. <\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 WE SEE OURSELVES<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Firstly, as what we are now \u2013 broken people<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Eg, my broken foot! \u2013 It is hard to walk at the moment<\/span><\/p>\n

We as individuals and as a society are broken. We have something wrong with us. We are not as we should be. We are unhealthy. We need help.<\/span><\/p>\n

Secondly, we see more clearly what we might be in Christ<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We see that we are loved. God loves all people, of all ages, religions and races. All people are one. We are all of one blood. Every perrson is of worth to God. We are not a randomn piece of space junk slowly diminishing on an aimless journey through a darkening universe. <\/span><\/p>\n

A healed people: healed from our rebellion against God, forgiven by God; \u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A\u00a0forgiving people – forgiving others as we have been forgiven.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0A compassionate, hospitable, welcoming and generous people; a<\/span>ccepting people who are\u00a0rejected by others.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When I found my grandmother\u2019s book my heart jumped with joy \u2013 this was precious.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Christmas, has your heart jumped with joy at seeing more of God?<\/span><\/p>\n

How have you responded to seeing more of God? <\/span><\/p>\n

PS\u00a0 As I was farewelling worshippers following the midnight service at\u00a0the Cathedral, Millie told me that she has the same devotional book, Come Ye Apart,<\/em> as my grandmother. Also\u00a0its companion book which Millie is using to this day. God is good. God’s people are a terrific mob! <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Christmas Eve sermon this year began with a story about my grandmother’s heritage. Just two weeks ago something happened that helped me to see my grandmother more clearly I found an old book that I did not recall seeing … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9715"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9715"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9729,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9715\/revisions\/9729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}