Friday thought with Fr Chris Ferguson

Yet one programme I had a love-hate relationship with was Sesame Street. I loved the puppets, but it wasn’t quite up there with The Muppet Show. Plus, it had a better theme tune, which I used to have as my ring-tone. I had to change the ring tone because it was embarrassing answering my phone in the midst of the hospital. By coincidence, I had to change my ring tone this week from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. A decision had to be made, would I download either We Are the Champions, or You’ll Never Walk Alone. Whatever merits concerning theme tunes, I can still remember some of the characters from Sesame Street.

These included the mathematical genius of The Count who was accompanied by sinister laughter and thunder, which explains why I was always terrified of maths. There was Big Bird who always seemed to be sad and complaining, similar to most Man United supporters. At the start of every episode of Sesame Street your attention was drawn to the letters of the week and particular numbers of the week. My numbers of the week or even this year would be six and nineteen, and my letters would be L and C, for Liverpool and Champions. The theme would revolve around six Champions Leagues and nineteen domestic championships and not to forget forty-eight major trophies, certainly I would need The Count’s help to add those totals up. Many people think my real religion is football, and I spend more time preaching about sporting exploits than the Gospel. This is challenge and a temptation we can all face, are we open to a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ? Or do we fit Jesus around our routines, our interests, until we shape God into someone who won’t demand too much from us. Can we search our hearts and honestly recognise the most important priorities in our lives? Who do we spend most time with, what do we spend most time on, what demands shape our days, weeks, months and years? In the Gospel Jesus’ uses stark and troublesome language, to shake his listeners out of their complacency. Jesus’ argues, God’s demands everything, following his example, as Jesus surrenders everything out of love of the Father and all of humanity. Yet, if truth be told, our response is often no more than lukewarm. If we really allowed ourselves to enter into a relationship with the God revealed through Jesus Christ, we would enter a new normal. The goal of our faith, is to be changed and transformed as disciples of Jesus, into living stones of the body of Christ.

Too frequently, because of our own interests, projects and closed-mindedness, we never truly encounter the Risen Lord. Instead we construct an idol in our own image and likeness, whom we worship to provide justification of our prejudices and anger. If our relationship with God is characterised mostly by anger, then we’re not in relationship with the God of Jesus Christ, who came to save and not condemn the world.