James is on the war path again this week with more practical advice. No jealousy, bad ambition, fighting, pride or being prepared to kill. All these things begin in the hearts of people and kill the soul. James tells us to be peacemakers, working for peace with the wisdom of God. Power kills, and absolute power kills absolutely. Which is the more powerful?    A dictator who kills and destroys people and countries. A celebrity who outshines all others. An athlete whom we all admire, Emma. A brilliant politician. A baby in a pram. I think the last one is the most powerful. Powerless, helpless, dependent.  And yet he/she is the one to steal our hearts. Jesus on the cross, powerless, helpless, dependent, could not even give himself a drink and there he changed world history. 

I would love to have met our patron St James.  He seems to have been a no nonsense man. He also seems to have captured the mind of Christ very succinctly. Just check the last two weeks' readings and today. Pure religion in the sight of God is coming to the help of widows and orphans.How can you be a believer if you make distinctions between people?You say you have faith without good works to show. I will show my faith by my works. Now you show me your faith with no works to show. THIS IS VERY REAL FAITH IN THE FACE OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD TODAY. #  When there are still about 40,000 people dying every day from hunger. #  When a billion people, one fifth of the human race still do not have decent housing. # When there are still 20 million Latin American children sleeping on the street. #  When one out of every four people still do not have access to safe drinking water. #  When we are still burning down the rain forest, depleting the ozone layer that protects us from the sun depositing black crude oil along the delicate shoreline of the world, sending noxious gases into the atmosphere so they return to the earth as acid and pollute lakes and streams, playing games with radioactive materials that will be around to torture our children for centuries. 

 What a beautiful image from Isaiah; the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery. "For waters gush in the desert, streams in the wasteland, the scorched earth becomes a lake, the parched lands springs of water." - The renewal of the face of the earth. My God, do we need deliverance today? Maybe not you personally but 60% of the world.... The terror in the hearts of people of Afghanistan, Taliban takeover, the earthquakes in Haiti, racism, climate change, Covid fallout, trafficking, migrants, immigration, poverty, class discrimination and a whole heap of injustice, the floods in the USA. It's up to us. The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. With Christ we can change. He touched the man's ears and opened them. He wants to touch our ears and our eyes and our hearts and our minds and open them. Open them to new ways of seeing the world: To seeing things with the eyes of Christ. To seeing all people as my brothers and sisters and where there is need, helping them.

As ever, the readings are a great challenge to us. Our mass should be a springboard for us to do the real thing -- "Coming to the help of widows and orphans."  I am sure Paul would open that up and move us on to coming to the help of anybody in need today. And if our mass does not encourage, inspire, empower and move us onto coming to the help of those in need, then there is something radically wrong. Perhaps we need to reflect and search our hearts to find the weakness in our thinking and lack of feeling for others.  Reflection, reflection, reflection has got to be the way forward. Again the question of evil raises its ugly head. Why is there evil in the world?  There is no evil in the world, the only evil that exists, exists in the hearts of people. As Jesus says, "Nothing that goes into a man can make him unclean.  It's the things that come out of a person that make them unclean." Evil thoughts and desires are created in the mind and in the heart.  And when we reflect enough on them they become actions.  Hence evil exists. Imagination is a good thing, but do not live there.  At times it can drive us mad. As Paul says, "Fill your minds with all that is pure, noble and good.  And let the peace of Christ reign in your hearts."

FIRST READING The people of Israel, 4000 years ago:- "We have no intention of deserting the Lord our God, and serving other gods. Did he not bring our ancestors out of Israel and out of slavery, he has done so much for us. He surely has done so much for all of us. SECOND READING "Husbands should love their wives just as much as the Christ loved his bride, the church. He died for the church/us." You lucky women. THE GOSPEL What a mighty statement:- "Lord to whom shall we go?  We know that you have the message of eternal life." we believe you are the holy one of God." Such positivity coming from all three readings.  There is also much negativity as there is in all our lives.  But I want to enjoy life so I prefer to look for the positive.  Look at the positive, think positive, do positive, be positive and enjoy life. Dare I say; "Life is what you make it."

CELEBRATORS OF HOPE A 12-year-old who is fighting plastic pollution. Many of you are passionate about finding ways to help to protect the planet. Tilly, 12, from Cheshire is on a mission to help to reduce plastic waste by getting local shops to sign up to free water refills. She spends her spare time persuading businesses in the town of Wilmslow to be part of a special app, which shows how people can top up their bottles without charge. She hopes it will encourage the town to reduce its reliance of single-use plastics. You can find out more about the issue of plastic waste on google. Greta Thunberg started protesting outside the Swedish parliament in 2018, when she was 15.  She held a sign saying "School Strike for Climate", to pressure the government to meet carbon emissions targets. Her small campaign had a global effect, inspiring thousands of young people across the world to organise their own strikes. By December 2018, more than 20,000 students - from the UK to Japan - had joined her by skipping school to protest. A year later, she received the first of three Nobel Peace Prize nominations for climate activism. In 2019, Thunberg sailed across the Atlantic on a yacht to attend a UN climate conference in New York. Delivering what is probably her most famous speech, she angrily told world leaders they were not doing enough. "You all come to us young people for hope. How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words," she said.Mary the mother of God was only fourteen when she proclaimed her great Magnificat.  "He pulled down the mighty and raised up the lowly."  What a vision. Young people are doing great things all over the world.  Check them out on google.  Don't let age or education hold you back. Jesus did not shy away from feeding the five thousand.  He said put them sitting in manageable groups of 50.  Do a little, do it well. You want a difference? Be the difference.

The feeding of the five thousand is a challenge to us. There are thousands and the reaction of Jesus and the disciples is very different. The disciples say send them home.  Not our problem. Jesus says you feed them. He told the disciples what to do.  Tell them sit down in groups of 50.  Then he blessed the meal. Now YOU give out the bread and collect the left overs. NOTHING IS TO BE WASTED. I am sure there must be a lesson here for all of us. I do what I can for a small group. But we just cannot pass wolf by on the other side. I would love to have some feedback on this; it may be a post pandemic way forward. Don’t forget much was achieved during the pandemic, the homeless were housed and the hungry were fed. Time we woke up.    

Chapter six of John's Gospel is the great catholic chapter on the eucharist. Jesus very clearly tells us that He will give us his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. He did not say I will give you a symbol, or I will give you a reminder, no, I will give you the very real thing. For years the churches argued over consubstantiation and transubstantiation.  I never succeeded in making much sense of it, opting instead to read chapter six.  Here I encountered the real Christ and a person who cannot lie. This is my basis of celebrating mass about 25,000 times and making sense of it.  A living encounter with a real person, and like any encounter it is always different.  A person who passionately loves me and tolerates my shortcomings and can cope with me, as I hope I can cope with late comers, people on mobiles, noisy children, adults talking, all which go to make up the rich tapestry of the people of God here at St James’ to celebrate the Eucharist. Long may it live. Here we do in memory so that we never forget. Here I would encourage you to see the eucharist as an alternative lifestyle, rather than be too wrapped up in orthodoxy. An encounter with the Living God. Remember God loves you not because you are good, but because He is good.

It is clear to all of us now that God sees after us body and mind. If we don't see it like this then we need new specs. Try to see things as God sees them. I think our picture says it all. Spend some time with this picture and count your blessings. Basically, "What other people think of you is none of your business." Or put another way, "Change the world today.  Be yourself." Just remember you are not alone.  We are all feeling a bit stressed/low. If you get a chance to get away, good for you, enjoy and come back refreshed. If you cannot get away just take time to relax and appreciate the positives in your life and in nature and in God. And don't forget there are good facilities in Peckham/Dulwich.

Years ago Tony Blair's publicity manager said, "We don't do God." Well I don't do busy. I feel we are in an age where it is important to be busy: "I'm so busy" "I'd love to help but I am so busy" or "Maybe next time." For all our busyness and stress, are we any further ahead?  Years ago I tried to impress people by saying the same thing. "I'm very busy." But years and experience has slowed me down and I'm sorry I did not learn years ago. I did learn the following in school but never practiced it:- Leisure by William Henry Davies.

IT IS A FASCINATING IDEA THAT WE HAVE BEEN IN THE MIND OF GOD BEFORE EVER THE WORLD BEGAN. In Him we also have the Holy Spirit active in our lives guiding, encouraging, fixing, giving strength and helping us to be faithful. Truly we are a blessed people. All this help has been given to us, not for our own benefit only, but so that we may go out and evangelise.  Make humanity new. Our care for the poor, the environment, those we meet especially the suffering, those on the margins. He does not give us much by way of help; a staff and a pair of sandals. But we are consecrated in the truth, we have Christ Himself as our help and guide and in Him all things are possible. Hospitality was a sacred duty in the East.  When a stranger entered a village, it was not his duty to search for hospitality; it was the duty of the village to offer it.  Now if hospitality was refused, if doors and ears were shut then they must shake off the dust of that place before they leave. Jesus is being very tough on the people, if they refuse hospitality there can be no fellowship between them. The mark of the true disciple was utter simplicity, complete trust and the generosity which is always to give and never demand.

“Who said that”? “Fred, the guy from Peckham”. “Oh him! I wouldn't believe one word he said”. How often do we condemn something out of hand just because of the person who said it? “Oh, that's Fr Jack”. We really need to listen to what everyone said and decide on the strength of the argument. Just because I don't like you, should not mean I condemn what you say. Jesus lived with this problem, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Today, He is condemned again because we know his family, a normal ordinary boring family just like our own. And that is a problem; we cannot see even God in the ordinary. As I write this here in Folkestone, I can see the trees and flowers, hear the birds, bees and the traffic, feel the gentle breeze of the sea, enjoy the morning heat of the sun and yes with technology I can do my work. In fact I am surrounded by God in his work and man/woman also in their work; beautiful harmony between God, people and myself. Another name for God: HARMONY. "God speaks through the mouths of babies." Very true, but do we listen? Ezekiel tells us in the first reading, ‘Speak even if they do not listen. At least they will know there was a prophet among them’. And so I speak.

DOCTORS TREAT, JESUS HEALS. Yes, our God is a living God.  Wanting only what is the best for his children. He cures the woman with the haemorage and he raises Jairus' daughter from the dead. Even the first reading tells us that, "Death is not of God's doing, he takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living.” TO BE -for this he created all. So let us get on with being; being who we are. Even at times when we do not like what we see, remember what your true identity is: You are a child of God, a son or daughter of the Father. You have a right to be here. So get up - Dress up - And show up.

Our faith tells us that Jesus is always around. We just need to believe it and trust it. Today in the boat the apostles panicked, they forgot he was on board.  And immediately He calmed the storm. Did He calm the storm, or was it their awareness of his presence that brought them security? Personally, I prefer this option. That's what prayer is, being aware that Jesus is about and all will be ok. There was an urgency. He does not always respond so quickly, but He does always respond. In his time yes and that is what we have got to trust. Paul tells us "The love of Christ overwhelms us when we reflect." When we spend time in reflection, life changes. We see other possibilities. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.

The excitement of Easter, Pentecost, trinity and Body of Christ are over for now. The seeds have been planted and now it is down to the very regular task of watering, nurturing and giving sunshine for the seeds to grow within us. So very appropriately we have the parables of the Kingdom today. The seeds are all within us in embryonic form, like the baby in the womb.  The baby in the womb develops "automatically," over nine months but still needs much nurturing. The Kingdom within us needs more attention. We have got to work at it.  Being decent people, loving everyone regardless of their situation, abilities or background, being willing to help, to share, to not spread bad talk or rumours, supporting and encouraging, rejoicing in their well-being. Breathing deeply and reflecting on the values of our life.  (Plato once said, "An unreflected life is not worth living.") Being willing to promote people and make them feel good about themselves. Some of us have perfected this to a large degree and some of us not so well.   But hopefully all of us are on the road to blossoming into mature loving, serene  adults.  And so the Kingdom has grown within us. Now when you get many people like this in a parish, you can say the Kingdom exists among us.  God's presence is experienced and felt by those people who come into close contact with us.  What a beautiful parish St James is. Many people who join us talk of the happiness and joy in our celebrations and in our hospitality. Long may it live. And like the individual above, we are on the road. How far down the road? God knows.  But post Covid let us move forward with greater determination. So now we as the church are at the service of the Kingdom, trying to make this world a better place for all God's children.

Today, Jesus gives us the greatest gift of all - Himself.  No presents, no money, no wrappings but his very self. How honoured and privileged we truly are.  Fed with this food we have a recipe and strength for life and happiness. To be happy - Follow His example. To be rich - Give. To succeed - Serve. To laugh - Make someone laugh.To prosper - Be honest. To excel - Be faithful. To change someone - Change yourself. To be great - Be disciplined. To be strong - Pray often. To live well - Forgive. To talk well - Bind anger. To sleep well - Work hard. To be loved - Love. To be respected - Be polite. To grow in faith - Meditate on the word of God. Deeply pause - To deeply reflect.

From the beginning God made them male and female. He talked of a man and woman spending the rest of their life together, a tall order by any standard. But it spells out the need for good homes to rear a family, in an environment where children can grow up confident in the knowledge that they are loved and appreciated for who they are. Yes the need for the couple to be one spiritually, mentally, psychologically, emotionally and physically one.  When it works it is wonderful to see and sadly, when it does not work there is a lot of pain for many people. I hope you know the joy of a happy home. Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity, a trinity of "Gods", bound by relationships. The Father and Son loving each other so much that they create a third person called the Holy Spirit; yet so closely united in a bond of love that they are ONE;  A FAMILY. Parents, pray together and pray with your children every day and let them see that God is real for you. Also, I hope that in church on a Sunday morning you can feel the presence of the Spirit among us.  Singing, praying and caring, so much, that we actually make God's Spirit present.

Happy birthday!  Yes today is our/your birthday. The Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles gave them the courage to go out and preach and so the church was born. Until now they were a frightened bunch of sad people locked away.  Still didn't get the message. Yes the Holy Spirit empowers us all to go out and speak the truth without fear or shame. Are you afraid to go out and proclaim? I like to think of the apostles in the room; frightened yes, but praying and discussing and arguing about what Jesus had said and done and more especially the implications of it.  What should they do now?  And like the man who stayed up all night, it suddenly dawned on them. It became clear that they too should go and proclaim the Good News and probably die like their master. And so the church was born. I asked the first communion children to draw a picture of the church.  --Some drew the building.   --Others drew a group of people   --And finally one drew a group of people gathered around the Eucharist.  Wow!!  She was only eight.

For those of us who grow up in a happy home many things in life can come easy. We are loved, we know it and we experience it. This is a great foundation for the future. So Jesus telling us, "to remain in his love," should be second nature to us. GOD IS LOVE.  And whoever remains in love remains in God. Do you believe in God?  Are you a lover or a fighter? Does tension surround you, are you easy to live with, or is there disturbance wherever you go? Maybe for some love is a confused word, overused and little understood.  Why? Because it is self love. The dying prayer of Jesus, "Father may they be one.  Father may they be one in us.  As you are in me and I am in you, may they be so completely one, that the world will know it was you who sent me." Yes that the world will know that the only way is love. Jesus tells us that He has consecrated us in the TRUTH, his truth, that we may be faithful. We await the Holy Spirit to come this week and teach us everything. These next few days are a special time of prayer to be open to the Holy Spirit and let Him lead you. If you have been born into violence and division you have my full sympathy, but there is still a way forward. It is a greater challenge, yes and more difficult, but God loves all his children equally and you deserve all the more credit in your struggle. Find a trusted friend.  If I can be there............?   

If you want a friend; be a friend! If someone said to you, you are my best friend, wouldn't you be really chuffed? We all like to be friends and we all like good friends; the type that won't let you down. We really should be over the moon; Jesus has called us his friend. With a friend in Jesus, we surely are made up. And because we are his friends He has told us everything He has learnt from his Father. Yes! Friends do not keep secrets from each other. As He says, He wants our joy to be complete. Pause for a few moments and think what Joy you experience in your life right now? Imagine the sheer peace of knowing that Jesus wants the best for you. If you want to make that joy even more real, help the Lord:- "To reveal his saving power to the nations." Giving love away is the way to increase it in our own heart. Truly it is in giving we receive. Enjoy being an active missionary.