Sermon at Winterslow Baptist Church
and Whiteparish Evensong – Sunday 12 June
2016
Psalms
52/53; Genesis 13; Mark 4:21-41
May I speak in the name
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
Do you ever have one of those days when nothing seems to go
right? Everything you touch seems to go wrong?
From breakfast until bedtime you have one of those horrible days when
you wish you had never got out of bed in the first place. The toaster doesn’t work, there’s not enough
milk for your cereal, the eggs are past their sell-by date, the car won’t start
and when it does, eventually, and you get to work the day gets even worse. Everyone is demanding your attention, the
computer decides to upgrade its software just as you need to get a 4,000 word
document out which you were working on yesterday for three hours, and you then
can’t find it or worse still it’s been deleted by the phantom gremlin which
seems to inhabit your laptop; the client you expected to see early doesn’t turn
up and that “nightmare one” you didn’t expect to see does!
And so on and so on.
Or perhaps you have a day you can look back on when you made a wrong
decision which had lasting consequences on your life and other people, who seem
to you to be far less “worthy”, seem to sail through life without seeming to
ever have any problem.
Well you are not alone.
The great thing about being part of a Christian community is that although
we still have those types of days (and as Christians let me make the point that
we are never immune from them) we can share our ups and downs with the one who
truly loves us, God the Three in One, and often things are either never as bad
as they seem or we can sometimes even find that God had a better plan for us
all along.
Has anyone ever seen the Michael Douglas film “Falling Down”? As I read the two Psalms for today, 52 and
53, this film came immediately into my mind:
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Psalm
52
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1
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Why do you glory in evil, you tyrant, •
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while the goodness of God endures continually?
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2
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You plot destruction, you deceiver; •
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your tongue is like a sharpened razor.
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3
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You love evil rather than good, •
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falsehood rather than the word of truth.
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4
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You love all words that hurt, •
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O you deceitful tongue.
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5
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Therefore God shall utterly bring you down; •
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he shall take you and pluck you out of your tent
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and root you out of the land of the living.
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6
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The righteous shall see this and tremble; •
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they shall laugh you to scorn, and say:
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7
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'This is the one who did not take God for a refuge, •
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but trusted in great riches and relied upon wickedness.'
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8
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But I am like a spreading olive tree in the house of
God; •
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I trust in the goodness of God for ever and ever.
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9
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I will always give thanks to you for what you have done; •
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I will hope in your name,
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for your faithful ones delight in it.
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Psalm
53
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1
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The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' •
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Corrupt are they, and abominable in their wickedness;
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there is no one that does good.
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2
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God has looked down from heaven upon the children of
earth, •
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to see if there is anyone who is wise and seeks after God.
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3
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They are all gone out of the way;
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all alike have become corrupt; •
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there is no one that does good, no not one.
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4
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Have they no knowledge, those evildoers, •
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who eat up my people as if they ate bread,
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and do not call upon God?
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5
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There shall they be in great fear,
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such fear as never was; •
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for God will scatter the bones of the ungodly.
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6
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They will be put to shame, •
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because God has rejected them.
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7
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O that Israel's salvation would come out of Zion! •
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When God restores the fortunes of his people
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then will Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
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[Take time out to read them in the
WBC service]
Michael Douglas’s character, Foster, has a truly horrendous
day which can only be described as going from worse to worse. Having lost his job and his family he is on
his way to work for the final time and then on to celebrate his little
daughter’s birthday at the home of his estranged wife when he gets stuck in a
terrible traffic jam on the freeways of Los Angeles. He totally loses it, getting out of his car
and wandering off into the neighbourhood – his abandoned car contributing
further to the mayhem on the freeway. He
must have felt very much like the Psalmist as his anger started to
explode. In trying to call his daughter on
a public payphone he runs out of change and goes into a small grocery store
where the owner will only give him the change he needs if he purchases a small
item for an exorbitant price. Taking a
baseball bat in the shop he then proceeds to smash up all of the store’s over-priced
stock. Walking into a fast food chain burger store he is refused to be served an
item from the breakfast menu because it’s three minutes past 11 a.m. After a further altercation he is served a
burger from the after-breakfast menu and then throws a “wobbly” when the burger
does not resemble its advertised picture.
In this case the wobbly involves shooting up the staff with a gun
acquired from an army surplus store. The
character’s behaviour just then deteriorates further with him becoming a dangerous
wanted serial murderer.
Now I am not suggesting that Foster’s behaviour is typical of
somebody whose day goes wrong but I am sure we can all remember times when
frustration and anger have overtaken our normal level-headed characters. Tiredness, illness, fear, anxiety,
loneliness, a feeling of injustice (as with Foster) can all be causes or
contributing factors to our reaction when things just don’t go our way.
The Psalmist doesn’t rant and rave at God but lets off steam
in the way in which he rebukes those around him who seem to triumph over him or
who seem to have a better life through their evil ways. Very often, like him, we simply cannot
understand why some people seem to delight in doing evil things, lying and
saying things which hurt us and others.
As Christians, we too should question how it is that this can be so; but
neither should we ever lose sight of the fact that God is also hurt by the
things which make us upset. Vicky
Beeching wrote a lovely song “Break our
Heart with the things that break Yours” indicating a need to understand God
better by having empathy with those things which grieve him.
The Psalmist continues to have faith that God will bring down
those who disregard him “trusting”,
as he says, “in the goodness of the God
for ever and ever”.
In my own life there have been many occasions when doors have
been slammed shut in my face. I didn’t
go to the grammar school of my choice; I didn’t go to the university of my
first choice; I wasn’t able to find a firm of solicitors in my local town who
could train me after leaving university; I never got the top job within the
companies in which I did work; finally I was made redundant and my marriage
failed. But, despite all that, when I
look back I have much to be thankful for : the grammar school I did attend
resulted in the making of very valued lifelong friendships; the university I
went to was 130 miles away and not 22 miles away from my home and taught me
independence sooner within a totally different culture and again I made
lifetime friends; the failure to get a training position within my local
community resulted in me applying for a job which opened the doors to a far
better training contract with a top lawyer in London; moving to the south
launched me on a political career; not getting the top job meant that I could
concentrate on the work I really enjoyed as a litigator and advocate and not
burdened by the administrative duties of the senior lawyer allowing me time to
undertake civic duties as a councillor; my redundancy led to me re-training as
a church minister and finally the failure of my marriage, I have since discovered,
has led me to a strengthening of my Faith and greater discernment through
finding a new partner with whom I can truly share my Christian beliefs and
grow. A lovely image which was once
given to me was that of a beautiful embroidery. Stunning and perfect on the
front but on the back a seeming tangle of wool of different colours in
different directions. So is our life.
From day to day we see it from the back – God sees the wonderful picture
emerging in the front.
Time and time again we will reach crossroads in our lives,
many of which lack signposts. Do we carry straight on or do we deviate from our
path and if so do we go left or right?
We often simply do not know; but
God does and often he will, if we listen carefully, point us in the right
direction if only we have the courage and humility to ask him – through prayer
– and the patience to listen. I also
believe that if we do make the wrong choice, he will at some later time put us
back on course because he alone knows, at any time, what plans he has – as it
says in Jeremiah 29:11 (although in
this Jeremiah is talking more about the people of Israel as a nation than
individuals) “I know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you and not to
harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future”. To give you a “hope”.
In our first reading today, Lot and Abram part company. Lot was the nephew of Abram, his brother’s
son, and the family had already travelled extensively around the Middle East
following God’s command to Abram to leave Ur and go to Canaan via Harran. Following a famine the family moved into
Egypt and following an altercation with Pharaoh, they moved on to the Negev (an
area in the south of Israel between Beersheba and the Gulf of Aqaba) where we
picked up the story in the reading. The
extended Abramic family and the herds which accompanied it had grown to such a
size that wherever they now settled together, the land was unable to support
them. The obvious solution was to split
off into two separate groups - especially as we read that quarrelling had now
also broken out between the different family units.
Abram shows immense grace in this passage. In order that there should be no prolonged
quarrelling he tells Lot that he can make the choice whether he goes left or
right, east or west, at this crossroads. Abram is clearly quite content to let
Lot make the decision. Looking around
Lot decides to go east, after having come to the conclusion, following a quick “reccy”,
that the plain of Jordan in that direction looks well-watered and a much better
bet to take his family and herds. He
seems to make this choice without any Godly discernment or prayer but purely on
his own thoughts and desires and a cursory investigation; and dare we say by
more commercial considerations. As
agreed, Abram lets him take his choice and goes off in the opposite direction
leaving Lot and his family to make their way towards Sodom and Gomorrah and the
fate which awaits them there. Who is to say we might not have done the same
thing. So often the route which is the more tempting, often because it appears
to give more instant gratification, is the one which will lead us away from God
and his real plans for us - as was the case here.
Abram, on the other hand, by giving the choice to Lot has
left the decision entirely in God’s hands so that after the parting, God speaks
to Abram and tells him that he will be given all the land around him – north,
south, west and east. By letting Lot
make the decision to go for the apparent better choice, Abram will be rewarded
with far more. What a wonderful promise God makes to him – to prosper him and
his family and to make his offspring numerous.
At this time we are told Abram is around 140 years old. So in this simple story of Lot and Abram we
see that when we leave a decision in God’s hands very often the least appealing
of choices can very often be the correct one – the one God wants us to make
leading to fresh pastures.
Jesus extends this theme in the sermon on the mount when he
says “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth” [Matthew 5:5].
Here meek does not mean timid but
means those who will wait upon God’s word and not jump forward with their own
plans. Those who have hope in God’s
favour. Jesus was not a person who was
timid but spoke plainly and at times not politically correctly!
We see this theme again in the Song of Mary, the Magnificat
(Luke 1:47-53), when it says “He has
scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts … and lifted up the lowly”.
Indeed, in our Gospel reading, Jesus is very clear that
Christians should not be timid but should put their Faith in God. We are told that as well as these three well
known parables – the lamp on the stand, the growing seed, the mustard seed and
calming the storm miracle – he illustrated the concept of the kingdom of Heaven
in many other parables – a simple way to explain not only to the people but
also his own disciples the purpose of his ministry and its goal.
Each of these parables talks of waiting upon God. In the lamp parable he is saying that we
should be open in our Faith – not conceal it but share it so as to illuminate
others; in the case of the growing seed he is reminding us of God’s wonderful
mysteries. That the farmer scatters the
seed and waters it; but it grows through God’s hand until it is ready for
harvesting; likewise, the mustard seed starts from the smallest of seeds yet
grows into a substantial bush. This is
how our Faith should grow. Something as seemingly insignificant as a tiny seed
can, by the hand of God, become an immense and striking thing. So too, can something seemingly insignificant
in our lives, or our seeming insignificant lives themselves grow into something
immense for the glory of God.
I could speak at great length on each and every one of these
parables but for today simply want to illustrate the point that it is often
important just to have the Faith and courage to leave it entirely in God’s
hands.
The story of Jesus calming the storm emphasises this all the
more and also makes it clear that even if we consider ourselves to be
disciples, committed followers of Christ, this is still not easy. The disciples had already spent much time in
the presence of Jesus, they had observed miracles and other signs that Jesus
was a unique and holy person, sent from God, yet when the wind and waves start
to rock the little fishing boat out on the open Sea of Tiberius (Galilee) they
fear for their own lives whilst Jesus seems oblivious to the storm and their
fears.
Last time I came to talk to you I mentioned the dangerous
hardships which the trawlermen of Grimsby faced on each fishing trip – dangers
experienced by all those who put out to sea from the shelter of the Humber Estuary
and well known by all families on shore.
Likewise, it’s almost certain that both the disciple fishermen and their
families would have known of the intense dangers for all those who put out to
fish on this inland sea. It might not be
the North Sea or the Barents Sea but it similarly renowned for the sudden winds
which come down the Jordan valley and can whip up a frenzy on the surface of
the lake. We can, therefore, assume that
on the occasion spoken of in Mark 4
it must have been a truly terrifying experience for it is recorded that they
thought that they were in real and imminent danger of drowning.
Jesus admonishes them for their lack of Faith – “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no
faith?” Jesus must have really
getting frustrated with them as I believe he often does with us today!
Time and again, Jesus tells his disciples to have faith; and
that is the message he continues to give us.
God is with us and God appears to us continually if we have
Faith. We often feel that God has either
abandoned us, isn’t listening to us or doesn’t understand the situation we find
ourselves in. This is clearly what the
fishermen disciples thought. But both
our Old Testament reading and the story of the calming of the Sea of Galilee
illustrate that this is not the case.
Likewise the hope and prayers of the psalmist indicate the correct
attitude we should have as believers in God and followers in Christ.
You each have a piece of paper and on it I would like you first
of all to write down two things – something which has happened in your life in
the past which seemed bad at the time but which later turned out for the good
and something today something which you are struggling with and want prayer
for. You can either share them with
somebody in your church family, keep them and pray yourself or give them to me
at the end of the service for later prayer.
Note the prayer down and in a year’s time see if and how they have been
answered,
In the meantime, let’s pray a prayer of serenity:
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.
Amen.
MFB/81/06.06.2016
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