What is in Kelvin's Head?

Pictures to think about #2

08/09/2014

There I was last week standing in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, staring up (as you do) at the stunning mosaics high up on the walls. The pictures are astonishing and I may get round to posting some of them online later.

My attention was distracted though by a small boy rushing backwards and forwards in front of the altar. Whilst everyone’s eyes were up towards the ceiling, he was staring intently down at the floor.

Backwards and forwards he went – to and fro. It took me a few moments to realise that there was a pattern to his movements. He alone in the place had realised that there was an old labyrinth laid into the floor right in front of the altar. He was following in the pathway right into the middle, at which point he ran off to find some other entertainment.

It is a fairly small labyrinth – about 12 feet wide and made more for small feet than my own feet. (Labyrinths – Young Church, hmmm…)

All the same, I started to walk it and soon found myself thinking about those whom I had brought with me on my travels in my mind. As a priest it is a kindness to your congregation to forget about most of them when you go away on holiday. Everyone needs time off and you can serve better when you get home if you have a rest for a while. All the same, some people linger in your mind and I found some of them with me as I travelled the circles in front of the altar. And those whom I think about from my own life too – the people I carry in my heart wherever I go, some of whom do the same for me and some of whom would be astonished to know they were being prayed for in a sixth century basilica in modern day Italy.

5 responses to “Sermon – 16 February 2014”

Jimmy

16/02/2014

“The pack mentality of Episcopal collegiality”
Practice this line a little-did you?

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1. Kelvin
  
  17/02/2014
  
  Trots off the tongue.
  
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Fr. Ron Smith

17/02/2014

Thank you, Father. I enjoy your prompts to the Church at large – to come out of its chrysalis and bring the Good News of Christ to a needy world. I’ve taken the liberty of putting this article on my own web-site – kiwianglo – I hope you don’t mind. My response to the Sunday Gospel was much like your own. Agape, Fr.Ron

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Lawrence Rosenfeld

19/02/2014

I convene the Committee of Lay Persons who support our parish’s Seminarians. We are, in part, tasked with giving feedback when s/he preaches.

We “did” Matt 5:21-37 at Bible Study Wednesday evening under the leadership of our bright, energetic, capable and well-prepared exchange seminarian from Ripon College, Cuddesdon, and then she preached on Sunday. So by the time Fr. Kelvin’s sermon reached my in-tray, I had had the better part of a week to wrestle with this difficult passage – and the advantage of much discussion about it.

My personal feeling is that I want to come away from Mass or Bible study with a renewed and possibly enhanced sense of how my faith informs my everyday life and my relationships with others. Turns out that over the past month our little neighborhood has been the scene of a certain amount of conflict. The irony is that the prime source of the conflict has to do with some of our neighbors trying to “build community,” in ways that have actually driven a wedge between them and others.

Thinking about the Gospel reading (and the lectionary bit from I Corinthians) in the context of my life away from Church has been incredibly profound. Thank you so much for your sermon which added dimension to my ruminations and allowed me to keep the inner dialogue ongoing and fresh.

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Fr Steve

21/02/2014

As a preacher I was pleased to “hear your voice”
The content was of course ‘spot on’
Very much appreciate your public ministry (mine is drawing to a close) and wish you well with the Rectorial Election.

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