Do your duty

Reflection at morning worship with the Community of Brendan the Navigator on Tuesday 11th November 2026

A brief reflection on the reading we’ve just heard, Luke 17:7-10, set for this Tuesday.

Slavery was legal, and slaves were common throughout the Roman world, including Roman Palestine. Jesus’s disciples would have understood very clearly the role slaves played in society, and how they were commonly treated. Thank God, slavery is illegal now everywhere. This is largely due to the efforts of Christians in the C19th who believed it was their duty to end it. It is hard to believe, but true, that even today some 5,000 people in Ireland are estimated to be subject to forced labour, modern slavery, at any one time.

In this passage, Jesus is not approving slavery. Rather he uses the fact of slavery in his society to teach his disciples about their duty to God, to his and our loving Father.

Duty is something that we don’t talk about enough these days, I think. It feels a bit old fashioned to talk of duty, doesn’t it? Nowadays we are more likely to talk about rights. But for every right we claim there is a corresponding duty on us to act to uphold it.

It is right to expect politicians and government ministers to do their duty by working for the common good, not to corruptly enrich themselves. It is right to expect company directors to exercise a fiduciary duty, taking decisions for the good of the entire company, not just themselves. It is right to expect soldiers and police to do their duty by putting themselves in harm’s way for the sake of other people. Yet we know too, that some businessmen and politicians act in their own selfish interest, and some soldiers and police glory in their power to subdue and terrorise the innocent. It is to their shame, and it is right that we should seek to hold them to account.

In the same way, it is right to expect every person to do their duty by their conscience to support all that is right and good and true, whatever faith they profess, or no faith.

Jesus tells his disciples - including you and me - to do our duty to God. God feeds us and gives us everything we have. But we must never sit back and believe that we have done enough to be entitled to God’s lovingkindness. We are entitled to nothing more than any other human being. Rather we must continue to listen to God’s Holy Spirit speaking through our conscience, to see what more God wishes of us. Then we will know what our duty is. Then we must act upon it, or we will suffer the shame of disobeying our God of love.

Let us take Jesus’s words to heart: “When you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, "We are worthless (); we have done only what we ought to have done!' "

Let us be optimistic for the future of our faith

St Paul writing from prison, Gustave Doré (1832–1883)

Reflection given at Morning Worship with the Community of Brendan the Navigator on Tuesday 13th October 2027

Paul writes (Phillipians 1:12-30) to encourage the Christians in the church which he had founded in Philippi, in Greece, on his 2^nd missionary journey with Silas, as reported in the Acts of the Apostles.

It is not certain where he is writing from, but wherever it is, he is a prisoner there. Since he mentions the Imperial Guard, he is quite likely writing from Rome, though that is disputed.

Paul begins by telling the Philippians that his captivity has ‘actually helped to spread the gospel’. ‘Most of the brothers and sisters’, he says, ‘having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear’.

The church where Paul is a captive is divided. ‘Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill’. But, says Paul, ‘What does it matter? … Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true’. And Paul rejoices in it.

There is an important lesson for us today in Paul’s response. Our Church of Ireland, with much of the Anglican Communion, is also sadly divided. Church leaders accuse other church leaders of not being proper Christians. They seek to separate themselves from those they see as unorthodox, to divide the church. But this is not Paul’s way. Like Paul, let us seek to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ alongside those with whom we disagree, while resisting the drive to schism. Because Jesus prays for his followers to the Father, that they all may be one, as he and the Father are one.

Even in his captivity, whatever may become of him, Paul tells the Philippians that he will continue to rejoice, declaring that ‘Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain’. He does not expect martyrdom, but he will accept it if that is in God’s plan for him.

Like Paul, the Philippians are suffering persecution. He implores them to stand firm. He tells them, ‘Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that … I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents.’

We Christians here in Ireland today are not suffering active persecution, much as some like Enoch Burke and his family would like us to believe. But more and more people in our increasingly secular society are turning away from our churches. Many are horrified by all too many church abuse scandals, and many deplore the lack of love some churches show for minorities. As we do too, of course. Many, even among those we love, express bewilderment that we continue to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. There are few children and young people in many of our churches, and we fear for the future of our small congregations..

It hurts, doesn’t it? It hurts... 

But let us listen to Paul, and let us stand firm, as he urges the Philippians, ‘For (God) has graciously granted (us) the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well’. God is working his purpose out. The church has been through fallow periods before, and bounced back, chastened but better. Let us be optimistic for the future of our faith, and continue to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Let us trust that our God will not desert his people.

 

How should Christians respond to existential threats?

The Last Judgement, Heironymous Bosch (detail)

In the last few days, we’ve been hearing ‘tech bros’ speculate that AI may choose to eliminate humanity sooner rather than later, unless action is taken urgently to mitigate the existential threat. AI technology promises wonderful things, such as cures for cancer, but could also be used to engineer pandemic viruses. We can all see how current AI models pollute social media with dangerous nonsense. It is easy to see how in future AI can eliminate millions of jobs, creating a crisis of white-collar unemployment, with unpredictable, and probably nasty, social effects. And military-industrial complexes around the world are already developing automated weapon systems to fight deadly wars without human intervention.

Yet I remain sceptical. In the short term, I think I fear the global economic shock of an implosion of the AI bubble, more than I do the creation of an artificial general intelligence determined to destroy us. And this AI panic threatens to distract us from the other existential threats we already know about: climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, nuclear Armageddon.

But it does focus our minds on the question, how we as Christians should respond to existential threats? I have seen nothing wiser than this reflection, given as a comment by someone calling herself ‘hidden sister’, on the Thinking Anglicans web page a few days ago, copied with her permission.

Do read it, and let me have your thoughts!

‘hidden sister’ writes on the threat that AI may soon eliminate humanity, 9 Sep 2026

God does not desire our elimination but our consecration and flourishing. Humanity is perfectly capable of eliminating itself. We basically need saving from ourselves (I do for sure), through God’s grace, mercy, healing and love. I believe that’s God’s desire, and always has been. I only believe in ‘end times’ in the sense of our own ‘end times’ – by which I mean the fleeting brief lives we have and our transience. In which context, as gift, God calls us repeatedly to open each day, in the here and now, to God’s grace and devotion to us, and asks us to devote our lives in return.

Each day, the eternal Love of God is offered to us, to flow through us, to draw us into the divine compassion for other people and the world. It’s not rocket science, but it does come with cost. At heart it’s so clearly God’s will, though we prevaricate over rules, disputes, and anything else, to distract from the gospel heart or put off actually living out the love. But if we pray and devote ourselves each day – sharing sacrificial devotion with and in God – and seek mercy for the pitiful needs within us and around us… then by the way of the Cross we may open to who God is within our hearts, and become conduits for the flow of tender love to others. We are called to be alive today, in the here and now. Apocalypse can wait. Today is the day to be saved I am told, day after day, and I am reminded that God says “I desire mercy”.

All space and time will run on for billions of years when we have long been wiped out from the face of the earth. But here, now, today… God invites us to open our consciousness to God’s vast and eternal consciousness… in the eternal now… in the very love, the very compassion of who God is… the endless flow. And to become sacrifice like God. To be given in love. And what gift and privilege, and what opportunity in each encounter we have today… with people we know and prayer for those we have never met. All vulnerable, all transient, all wounded by hurt and sin, in need of merciful compassion and the grace of God. We can leave judgment – the discernment of a person’s heart – to our merciful and compassionate God.

What we are invited to do – the whole point of the gospel – is to open to the flow, the cost, the compassion of God’s Love.

The flowing stream of God’s Love always seeks mercy, always seeks healing, and always seeks inroads through our resistant hearts, minds, souls… to open our lives – today in the here and now – so grace, mercy and love may reach out into the darkness and the lostness (in the process touching our own darkness, let’s be honest) and, in giving our lives to God this day in practical love, we may find ourselves made more of who we are in Christ, find ourselves drawn into the very mind and consciousness of our compassionate God, and drawn into the sacrifice and devotion of Jesus Christ.

Isn’t that the call? To be living sacrifices?

We don’t live long, but while we are granted another day, we may become conduits not of judgment but of mercy. All by grace and the givenness of God. So…

Come let us worship. Let us open to God. Let us own our own sins. And let us pray for the pitiful needs of the world. For God – the ever-living God – is love. And God’s nature is always to have mercy, always wanting to heal, and make people whole.

 

Celebrating the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 Reflection at morning worship with the Community of Brendan the Navigator on Tuesday 8th September 2026

The Birth of Mary, by the Master of the Life of the Virgin, late C15th 

In our church calendar, today is the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The NT tells us absolutely nothing about Mary’s birth, not even who her parents were. Indeed, it tells us nothing at all about Mary before the angel announces that she will give birth to Jesus, and Mary responds in the words of the Magnificat we have just heard. However, one thing we can be sure of is that Mary was carried in her mother’s womb and born, just as every human baby is.

There was a tradition in the early church that her mother was called Anne and her father Joachim. The apocryphal Gospel of James, written towards the end of 2^nd century AD, seems to be the earliest mention of them. It is a kind of prequel to the canonical Gospels, telling the story of Mary’s family, childhood, education, and eventual betrothal to Joseph. St Jerome accused it of containing absurdities, and popes condemned it as untrustworthy in the 4^th and 5^th centuries AD, so it was excluded from the New Testament canon.

Pious Christians in the early church came to believe that the Son of God could not have been born of a woman tainted by original sin, which was believed to be transmitted through sexual intercourse. So they imagined that Mary must have been conceived of Anne by God’s action without the help of Joachim, in much the same way as Jesus was conceived of Mary.

The Gospel of James has this to say. Anne and Joachim are distressed to be childless, Joachim goes out into the wilderness to pray, leaving Anne by herself to lament not having a child. God hears Anne’s lament, angels announce she will give birth, and 7 months later Mary is born. Anne dedicates Mary to God, and at 3 years old she is sent to be brought up in the Temple. The story is clearly modelled on that of Hannah and Samuel in the 1^st Book of Samuel in the Old Testament.

While excluded from the NT, the apocryphal Gospel of James supported belief in the Immaculate Conception, that Mary was free from original sin from the moment of her conception. Since those times, some but not all Christians have continued to believe in Mary’s immaculate conception. The Eastern Orthodox Churches did not, but the medieval Western Church was divided, with Franciscan ‘Scotists’ in favour, and Dominican ‘Thomists’ against. After the Reformation, Protestant churches denied the Immaculate Conception, teaching that Mary was a sinner saved through grace like all believers, though some Anglo-Catholics hold it as an optional pious belief. As Marian devotion increased in the Roman Catholic Church in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, pressure increased for it to be believed as an article of faith, and in 1854 Pope Pius IX promulgated it as a dogma, something all Catholics must believe.

Now I myself do not believe in the Immaculate Conception. It is not supported by canonical scripture, and church traditions differ. But I think it would be ungracious to our RC brothers and sisters in Christ, who are required to believe it, to reject it as a heresy. Better by far to consider it a pious belief which Christians may choose to believe or not, rather than something that must divide us.

What matters, surely, is that we should all give Mary the honour due to her. She willingly accepted the responsibility of carrying Jesus in her womb. She gave birth to him, nurtured him as an infant and raised him to manhood. She stayed with him through his ministry, and finally she stood nearby at his crucifixion, as her heart was pierced with sorrow to see her beautiful child tortured to death.

It is surely right for us to celebrate her birthday today.

Giving thanks in the Season of Creation

Article in the November issue of Grapevine, the parish newsletter of the Nenagh Union of Parishes

I am writing this on 1^st September, the first day of autumn in the meteorological calendar. We are in the season of ‘mists and mellow fruitfulness’, as John Keats put it in his Ode to Autumn.

It is my favourite season, I think. The garden is adorned with fruit and nuts, more than I can possibly eat, so I shall have a surplus to give away to family and friends. The apples have rosy cheeks, the pears are golden, the wild damsons in the roadside hedge have gone blue, and the filbert nuts are ready for picking. Such a harvest of good things, thanks be to God!

1^st September is also the first day of the Season of Creation, which lasts right through to 4^th October, the feast day of St Francis. It is a special season where we celebrate God as Creator, and acknowledge Creation as the divine continuing act that summons us as collaborators to love and care for the gift of all that is created.

Celebration of the Season has its roots in the Eastern Orthodox church, but has been taken up in recent years by all the major Christian traditions, including Roman Catholics, Methodists and our own Anglican Communion, through the efforts of the World Council of Churches. This year the theme of the liturgy they have developed for us is ‘Living Water’ based on the text Ezekiel 47:9,12.

⁹Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes. ¹²On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing."

Here in the Church of Ireland we have, of course, a long tradition of celebrating Creation and thanking God for feeding us through our Harvest Festivals. We will do so again this year, bringing into our churches the best fruits of the harvest. Wouldn’t it be marvellous if we could also join with Christians of all traditions in an ecumenical celebration of Creation on the banks of the Shannon, our own Living Water?

We have seen both damaging droughts and floods this year, a result of global heating we have caused ourselves by burning fossil fuels and foolish land use. As we give thanks for the blessings we have received, and pray for the good earth and all its creatures, we should also lament and repent of the damage we are doing to its ecosystems, including Lough Derg.

You know neither the day nor the hour

The parable of the wise and foolish virgins, William Blake (c1799-1800)

Reflection given at Morning Worship with the Community of Brendan the Navigator on Friday 28th August 2026 in St Flannan's Cathedral, Killaloe

Jesus tells his disciples stories taken from everyday life to illustrate his teaching. They are memorable, and his disciples ponder over them to extract the meaning. In church talk we call them parables, and we still ponder over them today. The reading we’ve just heard (Matthew 25:1-13) is one such.

The background to this one is the marriage customs of that time, quite different to our own. Today the bridegroom might go out on a stag night with his friends, and the bride might gather her friends together for a hen party, before the marriage ceremony is held in church or registry office, before a reception. Then the bridegroom went to the bride’s house to bring her to his own house. Her friends, the bridesmaids, would go out to meet him and accompany them both to his house. The bridegroom often contrived to be late, to catch the bride and her bridesmaids napping to surprise them. Then, after the marriage ceremony, came the celebration, the wedding banquet, which might go on for days.

Jesus’s story is full of humour, isn't it? Half of the 10 bridesmaids were wise, but the other half were foolish. The wise ones came prepared. They brought extra oil for their lamps in case the bridegroom arrived late at night, but the foolish ones did not. The wise ones would not share their oil with the foolish ones, in case they would not have enough for themselves. The wise sent the foolish ones away to buy their own. But the bridegroom came and carried the bride away to his house in the company of the wise ones before the foolish ones returned. When the foolish ones finally arrived at the bridegroom’s house, he turned them away, saying ‘I do not know you’. So they missed the wedding and the banquet.

Jesus tells his disciples, ‘The Kingdom of heaven will be like this… Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour’. He tells them they must be prepared. I’m reminded of the Girl Guides’ motto. 

This story is traditionally interpreted as about the last days, the second coming of Christ. Christ Jesus is the bridegroom, the Church his bride, the bridesmaids ordinary folk like you and me, and the wedding banquet the eternal life in heaven we are promised as faithful Christians. Because we do not know the day or the hour, we must be like wise bridesmaids who are at all times prepared for the second coming. If we are foolish, if we are unprepared, we will hear the bridegroom say, ‘I do not know you’, and we will be shut out of eternal life. 

Now, I do not believe in the Rapture, the belief that at any moment those that are predestined to be saved will be drawn up into heaven, while the damned are left behind. I see it as heresy. 

When Jesus talks about the end times, I believe he is talking about a time which will come to us all; our own death. Then our God, who is not constrained by the four dimensions of space and time, will see us as we truly are, from our very beginning through to our final end. He will judge us by the love we have shown throughout our lives to him, to our fellow human beings, and to all his good creation. Then, firmly held in his loving embrace, we will enjoy eternal life. But we will also suffer the shame of remembering those times when our love has been insufficient, when we have failed to repent, when we have not sought his forgiveness. Even in the security of his eternal love for us, we will be pierced by his words, ‘Truly I tell you, I did not know you then’.

We know neither the day nor the hour, so we must at all times be prepared. We must not put off examining our conscience, repenting, and seeking God’s forgiveness. We must be wise, not foolish.

Humble children and the good shepherd

Christ showing a little child as the emblem of heaven, Benjamin West, 1790

Reflection on Matthew 18: 1-5, 10, 12-14 at morning worship with the Community of Brendan the Navigator 0n 11th August 2026

‘(Which of us) is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?’, the disciples ask Jesus.

He does not reply directly. Instead, he calls a child to him, and tells them, ‘Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’.

The world in Jesus’s time was just as competitive as our own. People were just as ambitious. They jostled for position and recognition, just as we do. And Jesus’s disciples were no different. Each one of them wished to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They still did not understand the nature of the kingdom.

We often make the mistake of thinking that our children are guileless, completely innocent. But those of us who have had the privilege of raising children know this is not true. Children are often wilful, spiteful and jealous, they find it hard to share, and they tell lies. Even so we love them. And as they grow to adulthood, they learn from our own behaviour to become good, generous, and loving adults. We owe so much to our loving parents, don’t we?

So, what is it that makes this particular child a candidate for greatness in the kingdom of heaven, a model for the disciples to follow? Surely not because s(he) is a model of goodness. Rather, this child is humble, meaning I think, (s)he is shy. (S)he does not push herself forward, unlike the disciples pressing Jesus to tell them who is the greatest. In the kingdom of heaven, the first shall be last, and the last first.

As Christian disciples, we are on the wrong track if we push ourselves forward as better than our fellows. Those who do deceive themselves. We must be humble. We must acknowledge our failings. And we must never despise those who are not pushy, but shy and modest in professing their faith. Because Jesus tells us, ‘In heaven their angels continually see the face of (their) Father in heaven’. It was a common belief in Jesus’s time that each person had a guardian angel who spoke for them before God, and guided them in the right way. We may use different words today, but I believe the Holy Spirit works within each one of us through our God given conscience to do just that.

Jesus goes on to tell the parable of the lost sheep. Sheep are valuable, but in some ways they are childlike, skittish, liable to stray. If one goes missing, a good shepherd will go in search of it, to bring it back to the safety of the fold. And he will rejoice when he does so. In just the same way our Father in heaven will seek us out, his little ones – he will even hunt us down – when we stray from him.

I finish with this comforting thought, in Jesus’s own words. ‘It is not the will of our Father in heaven that (even) one of these little ones should be lost.’