WEBVTT 00:00:05.929 --> 00:00:09.050 Kia ora and welcome to the St Francis Church 00:00:09.050 --> 00:00:11.570 sermon podcast. We're so glad that you've joined 00:00:11.570 --> 00:00:14.970 us. Our prayer is that as you listen, you would 00:00:14.970 --> 00:00:17.910 encounter God's presence. Be refreshed in your 00:00:17.910 --> 00:00:20.769 faith and equipped for everyday life with Jesus. 00:00:21.629 --> 00:00:24.289 As a church, we are learning to faithfully follow 00:00:24.289 --> 00:00:27.879 Jesus by practicing His way at His pace. For 00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:30.899 more info about who we are and what God is doing 00:00:30.899 --> 00:00:36.799 among us, head to stfrancis .co .nz. Grace and 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:47.140 peace. Good morning everybody. In today's Gospel 00:00:47.140 --> 00:00:50.060 reading that Jenny has just read out, we could 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:53.460 have the slide thanks, Jesus stays at the Sea 00:00:53.460 --> 00:00:57.649 of Galilee speaking to the gathered crowd. And 00:00:57.649 --> 00:01:00.350 because most of his listeners were rural farming 00:01:00.350 --> 00:01:03.990 people, Jesus used images which they could relate 00:01:03.990 --> 00:01:08.430 to. So today we hear Jesus talking about the 00:01:08.430 --> 00:01:12.530 parable of wheat and weeds or tares of the field. 00:01:13.909 --> 00:01:16.769 The staple diet of Jesus' community was wheat 00:01:16.769 --> 00:01:22.109 or grain. But another plant looked almost identical 00:01:22.109 --> 00:01:25.930 to wheat in the early stages of its growth. And 00:01:25.930 --> 00:01:29.810 this is called in the Greek text, zezania, danal, 00:01:29.890 --> 00:01:33.730 or weeds, or tears. And in Jesus' parable, the 00:01:33.730 --> 00:01:37.310 following conversation takes place. When the 00:01:37.310 --> 00:01:40.269 wheat plants came up and bore grain, then the 00:01:40.269 --> 00:01:44.890 weeds, zezania, appeared as well. And the slaves 00:01:44.890 --> 00:01:47.870 of the householder came and said to him, Master, 00:01:48.430 --> 00:01:51.870 did you not sow good seed in your field? Where 00:01:51.870 --> 00:01:55.219 then did these weeds come from? He answered, 00:01:55.819 --> 00:01:59.799 an enemy has done this. And I would like to place 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:02.420 the story within the context of the lives that 00:02:02.420 --> 00:02:07.900 we lead. I think of the sustaining, life -giving 00:02:07.900 --> 00:02:11.280 aspects of my life, the good seed, the wheat. 00:02:12.659 --> 00:02:15.759 And these have come from my family, my friends, 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:20.020 my spiritual life, my work, and this lovely community 00:02:20.020 --> 00:02:24.479 where I formed so many friendships. I also think 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:27.319 of the noxious elements in my life that have 00:02:27.319 --> 00:02:31.120 sprung up through various enemies, the enemies 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:34.099 particularly of my own failings and shortcomings, 00:02:34.919 --> 00:02:38.560 the enemies of some life experiences and setbacks. 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:42.960 So what is Jesus' message of how we deal with 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:46.900 what we see as the negative parts of our life? 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:52.069 We find this in the ensuing conversation. The 00:02:52.069 --> 00:02:55.310 slave said to the householder, then do you want 00:02:55.310 --> 00:02:58.729 us to go and gather the weeds, pull them up, 00:02:59.090 --> 00:03:03.689 get rid of them. But he replied no, for in the 00:03:03.689 --> 00:03:06.729 gathering the weeds, you would uproot the wheat 00:03:06.729 --> 00:03:11.430 along with them. And then the key words, let 00:03:11.430 --> 00:03:17.550 both of them grow together until the harvest. 00:03:19.449 --> 00:03:23.680 Now Carl Jung, was a German Swiss psychiatrist 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:26.300 who lived in the late 19th century through to 00:03:26.300 --> 00:03:29.719 the 20th century. And he presented the notion 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:35.099 that every person has a shadow self, a Schattenselbst. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:39.199 Alongside the persona that we admire and want 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:42.259 to present to the world, the wheat, there is 00:03:42.259 --> 00:03:45.159 a hidden and darker aspect of a personality, 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:49.259 the weeds. And Jung recognized that like the 00:03:49.259 --> 00:03:52.680 slaves in our story, The human instinct is to 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:57.500 try to deny or repress or rid ourselves, pull 00:03:57.500 --> 00:04:02.699 up that less desirable shadow self. And Jung's 00:04:02.699 --> 00:04:06.219 advice, like that of the householder, was to 00:04:06.219 --> 00:04:09.340 acknowledge these less desirable parts of our 00:04:09.340 --> 00:04:14.020 personality as natural components of human nature. 00:04:15.419 --> 00:04:18.579 And the Jungian approach presents some archetypes 00:04:18.759 --> 00:04:22.180 with the shadows, the weeds that need to be recognized 00:04:22.180 --> 00:04:26.279 and addressed. So we have the caregiver, what's 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:29.160 more wonderful than being a caregiver. But there 00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:33.500 could be a shadow side, falling victim to extreme 00:04:33.500 --> 00:04:38.339 self -sacrifice and burnout. The creative person 00:04:38.339 --> 00:04:43.560 could have a shadow of self -indulgence, perfectionism, 00:04:44.060 --> 00:04:49.060 becoming obsessive. The explorer might have a 00:04:49.060 --> 00:04:52.959 shadow of chronic restlessness, lack of direction, 00:04:53.420 --> 00:05:00.120 perpetual dissatisfaction. The idealist might 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:05.139 be in denial, ignoring reality, remaining naive 00:05:05.139 --> 00:05:09.779 to the point of danger. The joker, the jester, 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:14.079 might be using humor to hide pain, avoid true 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:18.860 meaning. The leader could be a shadow of becoming 00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:25.759 bossy and controlling. Now Jung's approach to 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:28.600 how we should address the shadows in our life 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:32.819 is very much in line with Jesus' message in our 00:05:32.819 --> 00:05:37.639 parable today. That we should address our shadows 00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:44.899 with realistic self awareness and with kindness 00:05:44.899 --> 00:05:50.560 to ourselves. And Jung said the following, until 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:54.000 you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:58.180 your life. Your visions will become clear only 00:05:58.180 --> 00:06:01.079 when you can look into your own heart, have that 00:06:01.079 --> 00:06:06.620 self -awareness. Who looks outside dreams, who 00:06:06.620 --> 00:06:15.639 looks inside, awakes to the self. the acceptance, 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:19.220 the kind acceptance of oneself. The acceptance 00:06:19.220 --> 00:06:22.720 of oneself is the epitome of a whole outlook 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:27.060 on life. That I forgive an insult, that I love 00:06:27.060 --> 00:06:29.959 my neighbour in the enemy in the name of Christ, 00:06:30.339 --> 00:06:34.800 these are undoubtedly great virtues. But what 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:39.259 if I should discover that the most impudent of 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:43.560 all the offenders, the very enemy himself, that 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:49.399 these are within me and that I myself stand in 00:06:49.399 --> 00:06:54.740 need of the arms of my own kindness. That I myself 00:06:54.740 --> 00:07:01.800 am the enemy who must be loved. And I think of 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:04.720 my time when I was a deacon at another parish. 00:07:06.100 --> 00:07:09.180 One day I received an anonymous email from a 00:07:09.180 --> 00:07:13.180 parishioner. He confided that he was a male. 00:07:14.060 --> 00:07:16.980 but he found himself being attracted to other 00:07:16.980 --> 00:07:21.920 men. And he wanted more than anything in the 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:27.019 world not to be like that. So I thought long 00:07:27.019 --> 00:07:29.939 and hard about what reply I should send to him. 00:07:31.620 --> 00:07:35.259 So my reply was to recognize the turmoil that 00:07:35.259 --> 00:07:40.319 he was undergoing, his self -awareness. But I 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:43.709 also asked him to remember that he was a child 00:07:43.709 --> 00:07:49.769 of God. I asked him to try to be kind to himself, 00:07:50.790 --> 00:07:53.750 not be ashamed of who he was and the feelings 00:07:53.750 --> 00:07:59.110 that he had. I suggested that he might find peace 00:07:59.110 --> 00:08:03.589 in entrusting his troubles to God, who loved 00:08:03.589 --> 00:08:07.009 him just as he was.