SERMON 126 - WEDNESDAY 5 DECEMBER 2018

Address delivered at St John’s Church, Winterslow -  Mothers’ Union Service during Advent  – Wednesday 5th December  2018

Isaiah 11:1-5, 10; Luke 1:26-28; Matthew 1:18-24

May I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

What joyous words we read in these pieces of scripture which we have heard today. First of all, Isaiah’s prophecy in our Old Testament reading heralding the coming of a saviour to the Jewish people – words of comfort to those Jews in Babylonian captivity. Those first Jews who heard this prophecy must have been delighted for they had had a fairly rough time of it – God’s chosen people exiled from the Promised Land who felt that God’s wrath had placed them where they were with a bleak future ahead of them. Then Isaiah proclaims the coming of a descendant of King David (the shoot that shall come from the stock of Jesse).  This Messiah will put all things right because he shall have the spirit of the living God, Yahweh, upon him.

We have to fast forward another five hundred years to a different scenario for our two New Testament readings – yet the message is the same.  A young girl, Mary, in a small insignificant village on the shores of Lake Galilee A vision – the angel Gabriel sent to the young girl as a messenger from the same Yahweh.  What an incredible experience. Gabriel greets her with the enigmatic words “Greeting favoured one!” What on earth can it mean? The message he brings is that she is pregnant and the father is the Holy Spirit.

No wonder her fiancée, as we read in Matthew, is well upset and confused. Yeah right, pregnant by whom, did you say?, God in the form of the Holy Spirit! Pull the other one. Do you take me for a fool?  It almost seems like a scene from modern day Coronation Street!  Even if Joseph could believe what he was being told  it certainly wouldn’t do his own reputation amongst his peers any good; a cuckold, a patsy, a weak man.  As we read, Joseph concluded that the best way to deal with this problem was to quietly dismiss Mary; break off the engagement, let her deal with her own shame and humiliation away from prying neighbours.

But we read that this wasn’t the way it was to be. Joseph received a message in a dream to stand by Mary, marry her and support her in her amazing role; so all ended happily at that point.

As a man, I still ponder what Joseph must have felt like after that revelation. We know little of Joseph’s life after the fleeing to Egypt although surmise that he continued his carpenter’s career with Jesus as his apprentice. What we do know is that Joseph was descended directly from Boaz and hence through Jesse giving credence to Isaiah’s prophecy that Jesus would come from the shoot of Jesse.

Jesus, born of a woman, becoming God incarnate, who has come to save God’s people.  Today we are celebrating the Annunciation which has been represented in some of the most beautiful art in the world. I can still vividly recall the moment when I arrived at the top of a flight of stairs in the Monastery of San Marco in Florence and saw right in front of me the wonderful fresco of the Annunciation by Fra Angelico.  It was an amazing and unforgettable moment.  Here was one of the most famous paintings here before my own eyes in its original form. 

For those of you who know it I am sure you are also struck by the serenity on the face of the young Mary as she listens intently to what the angel is saying – imparting such life changing news – life changing not just to this young girl but as we know to the whole world. It is a face of engagement and obedience.  I wonder how many of us would have been so composed.

This role of a mother is so important and complex.  Everybody on earth today has or has had a mother.  It is pivotal for the continuance of our human species.  This advent as we wait for the coming of Jesus let us spare a thought for Mary as she went through all those emotions of pregnancy – the highs and lows, the worries and anxieties – no NHS or scans for her.

I can, to some extent reflect on her situation myself. In about six weeks’ time my daughter-in-law is expected to deliver twins – our first grandchildren – and I am getting really excited at this event – although being called a grandparent does shatter my self-delusions of youth!  It will be, for me, one of the most wonderful events since the birth of my own children.  Being a mother means safety, security, comfort, understanding.

 I recall a mother once setting out a job description for herself when a rather unthinking person talked of her putting “unemployed” on a form.  Do you really think I am unemployed? Well let me tell you that I have several jobs – nurse, chef, teacher, counsellor, housekeeper, maid, coach, taxi-driver, story-teller, planner, organiser, best friend, worst friend, photographer, cleaner.  I can’t get sick, don’t take holidays but get paid in hugs and kisses.

We use the word “mother” often to describe a safe place – our mother land, a mother ship and so on. Even on the Cross, Jesus recognised the need for every person to have a mother when he pointed to the young disciple John and then his mother saying “John, here is your mother” .

Think of that young mother’s job description again. Doesn’t it bear many similarities with Jesus’s own job description – “healer of the sick, teacher, counsellor, friend”?

Celebrating the Feast of the Annunciation therefore is to celebrate something incredibly wonderful – a celebration of the importance of motherhood.  I stand here before so many mothers. I salute you all. To be a good mother is to be Christ-like. To give unconditional love, to love, comfort, nurse, heal, teach without counting the cost. To forgive and embrace those who sometimes may hurt you.

May God bless you and keep you forever in his love.

Amen                                                                                                    MFB/03.12.2018

SERMON 125 - SUNDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2018

Sermon delivered at the Roman Catholic Family Chapel, Whaddon, Evening Prayer Service on Feast of Christ the King Service – Sunday 25^th November 2018

Psalm 72; Daniel 5; John 6:1-15

May I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

“Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice … he will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy: he will crush the oppressor”. [Psalm 72:1-4]

So begins Psalm 72 in the New International Version of the bible.  It is spoken of Solomon, King David’s successor, but is echoed to some extent in the words of our own Queen’s Coronation Oath in 1953 when she made such a promise in answer to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s question :

Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgements?

Today we celebrate the Festival of Christ the King – hence the regal nature of many of our hymns this evening – “King of Glory, King of Peace” for example and so on and we are reminded that God sent us his only son to rule over us in a kingly capacity – his kingdom, though, not being of this world but through him and his disciples bringing something heavenly into this world: bringing the Kingdom of Heaven into this place – then and there - just as we as Christians are required to do each and every day of our earthly existence in the here and now.  Our heavenly king, Jesus Christ, is one of love and justice, a promulgator and defender of the faith in the truest sense of the word.

Our two readings today show two sides of the same kingly coin – justice and love.  In our first reading, which is a very long description of a lavish party at the Babylonian court we see the face of an angry God who has been humiliated by the actions of a very earthly king – Belshazzar – somebody who simply should have known better.

The story of Belshazzar’s Feast is a very long story, biblically, and one which became the sole subject of an entire opera by William Walton. It has to be read in the context of the whole Book of Daniel.  Belshazzar succeeded to the throne of Babylon vacated by his father Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler who finally invaded the southern kingdom of Judah and took Daniel and many leading and learned Hebrews into captivity for about 70 years, leaving only a few behind to till the soil and keep the conquered kingdom from total desolation.  Not only did he take the best and richest people he also took the valuable object from King Solomon’s Temple before it was destroyed.  

Nebuchadnezzar was warned many times by Daniel of the dangers of going against God – by doing all manner of thing including trying to make himself a god.  He was rebuked on many occasions and proved himself to the king as a prophet of God on many occasions by his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams.  Indeed, the king had also witnessed God’s power when three devoted followers survived the fiery furnace. 

So Belshazzar must have been aware from his father’s previous experiences that to disrespect God was likely to end badly for him – as indeed it did as we heard from our reading.

The message for us today is, I think, an underlining of those two great Commandments which Jesus told us underlies everything – “Love God and love your neighbour as God loves you”.  Love God, respect God.  Belshazzar’s kingdom, as we read, was taken away from him as was his life through his failure to do both.  Those material things which we often hold dear to us in this world are only transitory – as indeed is our tenure on this planet.  We are merely passing through and as we do so we must always recall that the true king over us is Jesus – who is also the omnipotent God, our creator and whose kingdom extends far beyond what we can see or understand.

Our second reading is, as I have said, the other side of the coin; the loving God – Jesus who cares for his people. The very beginning of our passage gives an example of God’s wonderful compassion for those who follow him.  Here we have a great crowd of people who have followed Jesus, probably a great distance on foot, to hear what he has to say. Jesus’s first thought is for their comfort – he is aware that they are now probably hungry and asks Philip where bread might be bought to feed them – knowing full well that he will perform a miracle.

It is a small boy who provides the answer with his picnic basket of fish and bread. Such was the miracle performed that there was abundant food for all present and plenty over.  A remarkable show of God’s powerful love.

We would all do well to remember that God has left us the Holy Spirit until the return of his son. The powers and love of God remain in this world today.  Miracles still do occur, God’s powerful love surrounds in the presence of the Holy Spirit.  God still does demand respect and the best way of respecting him is to imitate as far as we are able the ministry of Jesus; to remember that we are mere stewards of his creation and should preserve it for future generations.

There is a popular song written by Bryan Adams and which featured as the soundtrack theme for the Kevin Costner film “Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves”. I think it sums up very clearly and simply the message from each of these reading and the last two lines provide a wonderful mantra which we can all use in our meditative prayer time;

Look into my eyes
You will see
What you mean to me
Search your heart
Search your soul
And when you find me there, you'll search no more

There's no love

Like your love
And no other
Could give more love
There's nowhere
Unless you're there
All the time
All the way, yeah

Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for
You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for
You know it's true
Everything I do
I do it for you

Amen                                                                                                    MFB/22112018

SERMON 124 - SUNDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2018

Sermon delivered at All Saints, Farley, Remembrance Day Service – Sunday 11^th November 2018

John 15:13

May I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you…I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another”

So speaks Jesus to his disciples in that same passage where he describes himself as the vine and them as the branches.

Today we remember and celebrate, yes celebrate too, the 100^th anniversary of the ending of one of the most fruitless and destructive wars of all time – the armistice of the First World War with countless loss of life and much suffering for what was described as a war to end  wars following the assassination of a member of a far-away foreign Imperial family, in a far-away foreign country, carried about by a foreigner resulting in the declaration of war by two far away foreign powers. 25 years later it was to all kick off again as a European conflict.

Yet, as we know, the First World War rapidly escalated into a global conflict played out largely by six powerful Empires resulting in a huge loss of life.  The Empires themselves never recovered (four of them disappeared altogether) and the remaining two were considerably weakened as a result.  So I do say “celebrate” today as well as remember because 100 years ago to this actual day at 11 am all hostilities ceased (or were supposed to cease) bringing to an end the senseless bloodshed. 

Today is, as always, is  a remembrance too of all those who lost their lives – in that conflict and in later ones too – especially the Second World War which was equally destructive. To remember those who “lay down their lives”:

I was recently shown this image of a young couple hand in hand in a beautiful green pasture overlooking the sea. This wonderful idyllic peaceful scene is being held up by dozens and dozens of First World War Soldiers some dead, dying or wounded. In who, in the words of the Kohima Epitath , “When you go home, tell them of us, and say, for your tomorrow wegave our today.”  For the young couple’s tomorrow they gave their today”.

A couple of years ago I went with my son to Ypres and was totally overwhelmed by the sheer volume of names of those who lost their lives in that one salient alone – names bearing the same surname as my own family and many others I know.  It hit me hard as does each and every Remembrance Sunday; and when I read my history books the waste seems so terrible.

I have just finished reading a novel by William Boyd set in German East Africa – modern day Tanzania where I have recently spent a couple of weeks – and whilst it is just a novel it is set amidst the horror of the First World War as it affected the colonies of the warring European nations on the continent of Africa.. We often concentrate our remembrance of the First World War on the slaughter in the trenches and fields of Flanders but for those in Africa there was the added horror of terrible heat, tropical diseases and wild animals just like those who fought in the jungles of Burma and Malaya in later conflicts.  For several days many of the troops in Africa continued to fight and kill each other totally unaware of the signing of the Armistice on 11^th November 1918. How tragic is that?

One of the names on the Farley plaque of remembrance also lost his life on active service in or near the African Continent – in Palestine in fact close to the Egyptian border– Leonard Francis Parsons.

In the early part of the First World War, Kantara in Egypt was an important point in the defence of the Suez Canal against Turkish attacks and marked the starting point of the new railway east towards Sinai and Palestine, begun in January 1916.

Today the nephew of Leonard Francis Parsons, Gary Holmes, is with us here today and he would like to say a few words about his uncle and particularly about a visit his grandmother made to his grave in Egypt:

INTRODUCE GARY HOLMES

I would wish to introduce Leonard Parsons, when & where born, refer to his joining the Wiltshire Regiment as a 16 year old etc.

My mother Violet Holmes née Parsons ,was his sister.

To speak briefly about St Barnabas Society and its role in leading groups to to Egypt & Palestine. after the First World War

To introduce my grandmother, Vashti Louisa Parsons who joined the Pilgrimage in April 1927 & who wrote a warm detailed journal of her journey from Farley to Egypt, Palestine & the Holy Land.

To read the extract that speaks of finding her son’s grave.


Egypt

The special train awaited us at Alexandria to take us to Cairo. Some of the party remained behind in the town to visit the war graves there. From our train we watched them start off in motors with their wreaths.  Most of these were made on board by St Barnabas Stewards and were all alike two Calafa Palms tied at the base and top, large bunches of Flanders poppies and white African Immortelles. The tourists saw the sites and proceeded to Cairo by train later in the day. We join the train to arrive at Cairo by midday.

Here a large number of pilgrims take the train to Kantara Cemetery which is about half an hour from the terminus and a boiling walk they have across the desert passing only a few native huts on their way.

There are 1500 British dead here in a sandy waste. A high wall protects the cemetery to a certain extent from sand storms and the native keepers sweep the graves clear of sand twice a day - otherwise the headstones would soon be covered up and lost.  There are no flowers and trees to beautify this place and shelter the graves and the relatives can only bring away ‘a handful of sand’ from their beloved graves. A little girl of tender years goes to Kantara with her mother to visit her father’s grave. She is our youngest pilgrim.

We went by motor with the Dr. and his wife, the official photographer (and one other lady bound for the cemetery at Tel-el-Kebir), to as Ismailia Cemetery which is 120 miles from Cairo. We go through very wild and desolate country onto the very fringe of the Desert.

About four o’clock we arrived at Tel-el-Kebir, out of the wilderness (Sir Garnet Wolseley fought here many years ago) and after negotiating a ravine with the assistance of some natives, we entered a  sweet little Garden of Rest where are from 20 to 30 graves of Britishers who died in the war. Tall oleander trees in full bloom were the feature of the place with palms and other flowering trees and cypresses. There is the ‘Cross of Sacrifice’ as in all other cemeteries.

The natives were keeping it in perfect order. They knew on which there and we had come and could not do enough for us. Maybe, they have lost their men in the same cause. The woman lent against a tree saying “O sorrow O sorrow!”

The men picked large bunches of pink oleander for us. The lady who was with us had found the grave she sought and we leave her whilst she places her wreath there. After a while the photographer takes a picture of the grave whilst we stand in silence for a time then board our car again. After an hour’s rapid ride through the desolate wilderness and alongside the canal over a very rough sandy track of a road we eventually arrived in Ismailia which is quite a large town with wide roads, flower gardens and a fountain in the chief square.  Most of the roads here have French names. The desert is quite close on the borders of which is a large camp.

At 5.30 on 3 May we found the Cemetery and entered by its fine stone archway which bore the inscription ‘This land is given over for all time for the British Dead by the Egyptian Government.’

We walked up a pathway between cypress trees until we had almost reached the ‘Cross a Sacrifice’ and there on the right I found my boy’s grave.  How can I say what I felt. I wonder whether the dead can see us at times and know our inmost thoughts. Did my son know that I could come all these miles after a weary waiting of nine years and that someone at last of his own who had loved him so, stood by that sacred spot where his body lies.

I did not feel that his real self was there as only his mortal remains were in the grave. He, I believe is in God’s keeping along with all those other precious lives but his memory is ever in my heart.

We placed a wreath at the headstone and an attendant brought me a can of water and in which to place the bunch of oleander given to me at Tel-el-Kebir. He placed it on the grave so reverently and with a bow he left me. For 15 minutes I remained in sweet communion with my boy.  Then a photograph was taken.

That was all.  ‘Goodnight, dearest! sleep on till the day breaks and we meet again.’  So we passed on leaving him lying in his restful tomb.

War is not, as has often been portrayed in films, romantic. Every person who lost his or her life as a result of war had a mother just like Leonard Parsons.  Families were torn apart by much grief and anxiety receiving or waiting to receive the dreaded War Office telegram.

So then how should the church approach this topic? What is the role of the church at times of such conflict?  I believe it is not just to bury the dead or lead services of remembrance after the events.

This was a question posed by and reflected on by the Reverend Geoffrey Studdard Kennedy during the First World War.  The Reverend Kennedy is better known by his nickname “Woodbine Willy”.

From the trenches he was asked on more than one occasion  “What the b ________ h___ is the church doing here?

His short answer was “It is trying to keep the hope of Heaven alive in the midst of a bloody Hell. It is trying to fill the army and keep it filled with the Spirit of the Cross, the spirit of strong love of Right which will triumph at all costs in the battle against Wrong”. Further, he said, the church has to counter “the temptation for men (and I will also add ‘women’) to become brutalised and to live as do brutes – The Spirit of the Bayonet without the Spirit of the Cross”.

Today, we may not be fighting a world war as between 1914-1918 and 1939-19545 but the world continues to be brutalised and we see people living as brutes.  Today is a remembrance of those who have laid down their lives in faith in those battles against Wrong.  The church continues to have that role today – as we remember the fallen we should also remember our role as reconcilers and instruments of peace.  Those we remember today made the ultimate sacrifice – their todays were given up for our tomorrows; as did Jesus Christ himself when he died on the Cross for our sins – in a spirit of strong love of Right against Wrong. Just as Woodbine Willy put it in his short answer.

In the words of Christ himself - “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you…I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another”.

“At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them”

Amen                                                                                                    MFB/06112018

SERMON 123 - SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER 2018

Sermon delivered at All Saints Parish Church, Farley, Evensong 

on Sunday 28th October 2018

Deuteronomy 32: 1-4; John 14: 15-26

May I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

I was faced with quite a dilemma as to what I should preach on bearing in mind that according to the Church’s Calendar today is a triple celebration – the Last Sunday on Trinity, Bible Sunday and the Festival of St. Simon, St. Jude and all the Apostles!  I hope you will forgive me if I tell you that I have chosen to say a little bit about the bible as well as a brief biography on the life of St. Jude.  Perhaps the latter is most appropriate considering that St. Jude is the official Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes!

Jude is believed to be the brother of James the Younger, the fisherman and as such we can make a reasoned guess that he too was in that profession.  He is referred to as one of the Twelve Disciples in the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles (also written by Luke) but does not appear at all by that name in the other gospels although in Matthew and Mark it is believed that the name Jude is replaced by Thaddeus – possibly to stop him being confused with Judas Iscariot. It is firmly believed that he was not the brother of Jesus’s own brother, James although theologians still remained divided on this. He wrote one epistle, the Book of Jude, and it is not clear who were the recipients – possibly the Gnostics as he labours the point about being led astray by false teachers and licentious living.  There is no mention of his calling by Jesus despite being named as one of the twelve.  It is believed that he did challenge Jesus at the Last Supper as to why Jesus made his true status known only to the disciples and not the world at large – Jesus’s response being that he and the Father would visit all those who loved and obeyed him. This is recorded in John’s Gospel and in the piece of scripture read to us earlier.

After Pentecost little is known of him.  It is believed that he spent much time in Armenia, northern Persia (Iran), and is believed to have been martyred alongside the apostle Simon the Zealot at Beirut It is for this reason that their Saint’s Day is the same – 28^th October being the date on which their possible execution, by be-heading, is recorded. The iconic symbol for both being an axe. It is believed that Jude was around 68 years of age when he wrote his epistle, moved to do so by the corruption and deceit he saw around him and the divisions which were appearing amongst the early Christians.  His message in his epistle is a very simple one and one we need to follow today – those who fall away from the true ideals of Christ’s teaching – who give themselves up to pride and lust will suffer God’s judgment. True Christians must build up their faith to resist such temptations and live in the light of Jesus’s second coming by praying and using the power of the Holy Spirit which was made available to all humans at Pentecost. There is then no need to be afraid or despair.  The Holy Spirit will protect us and give us all the power we need in a difficult and challenging world.

This does, therefore, lead me on to a consideration of the word of God through the bible.  On this Bible Sunday and I don’t think I can emphasise enough how the word of God remains so alive and relevant in this modern day despite having been written so many centuries ago. So many of the situations we find ourselves in now and ones which have occurred and been experienced by those early writers.  On this Bible Sunday I would like to pay tribute to a great American theologian who died earlier this week – Eugene Petersen - who was 85 and a very inspirational pastor and writer.  Although he was the prolific writer of over twenty spiritual books he is probably most famous for his paraphrase of the Holy Bible called “The Message” – a copy of which I always keep close by me in my study. Apparently 15 million copies are in the hands of Christians throughout the world. It should be emphasised that The Message is a paraphrase and should not be treated as an accurate translation from the Greek or Hebrew but it does give a really good flavour, in modern day vernacular English, of the sentiments and history which are expressed in more formal terms in the established translations. Petersen’s version of John 14:15-26 in The Message, which we heard read to us in the Second Lesson in the New Revised Standard Version is very clear – Jesus is leaving his earthly ministry but he will be replaced by the Holy Spirit – another form of God which will remain on Earth for all time and the disciples should not feel that they are being left alone

.

We would do well to remember that Jesus did indeed leave us a friend in the form of the Holy Spirit until his return

.

I think I can do no better than to read out to you again the Second Reading as paraphrased in the Message – as an easy explanation of that passage and in memory of a great and respected modern theologian:

 John 14:15-27 The Message (MSG)

The Spirit of Truth

^15-17 “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

^18-20 “I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.

²¹ “The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.”

²² Judas (not Iscariot but Jude the brother of James the Younger) said, “Master, why is it that you are about to make yourself plain to us but not to the world?”

^23-24 “Because a loveless world,” said Jesus, “is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we’ll move right into the neighbourhood!  Not loving me means not keeping my words. The message you are hearing isn’t mine. It’s the message of the Father who sent me.

^25-27 “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.

I pray that with these words of John, we may all leave this church tonight knowing the truth of Jesus’s words being filled with the knowledge of the wholeness, power and love and truth of the Holy Spirit.

Amen                                                                                                    MFB/25102018

SERMON 122 - SUNDAY 21 OCTOBER 2018

Sermon 122 – “God Looks upon the Inner Man”

(Preached at St. Mary the Virgin Parish Church, Calne at the Wiltshire Freemasons' Annual Church Service on Sunday 21 October 2018.)

1 Samuel 16; Luke 5:27-32

May I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

It is a great privilege to stand here again in the pulpit of this wonderful church of St. Mary the Virgin in Calne and preach to you at the Annual Church Service for the Freemasons in Wiltshire, and it is especially lovely to see so many of you here this afternoon and in such fine voice.

In preparing this service and sermon I was reminded of how easily it is for us, just through human nature, to have preconceived ideas about people before really knowing them and this is certainly true in the context of Freemasonry where people outside of the organisation have become very suspicious of the Order and, thereby, its members and have often judged them through lack of any real knowledge and understanding. The previous more secretive nature has had a lot to do with this too, no doubt.  It is perhaps understandable, therefore, that the ordinary human being is often very wary of the unknown and unusual and of people who do not fit into their own group or experiences.  It is sad to think of this when Freemasonry strives to become as inclusive as it can be and work with people and organisations outside of the Order which have similar moral codes and conduct.

Our first reading this afternoon will be very familiar indeed to senior members of the Royal Arch being one of the many scriptural passages which are read out during one of our ceremonies. It is used specifically to remind the candidate that the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God looks not at the outward appearance of a person but what is truly on their heart; a message which isn’t reserved just for those seeking power and authority, whether it be ruler of Israel or ruler of a Royal Arch Chapter, but is something which we should all take on board – reflecting on our own motives and actions which should always mirror the will of God’s (the True and Living God Most High) for us and for others.

Those two great Old Testament prophets, Samuel, and Elijah before him, sought out to anoint a king for Israel and on both occasions were surprised by the choice God had made. Likewise, I have often heard of Freemasons being upset, not so much in this Province I hastened to add, when somebody else has received a promotion or appointment over themselves. It upsets me especially where our order promotes or appoints, hopefully, on merit. We should accept such decisions and accept that there will be very good reasons for that appointment or promotion.  As we know, in the Old Testament Joseph’s brothers and David’s brothers found it hard to understand why their younger sibling had been chosen over them – but God had a purpose and chose them because they could bring that purpose to fruition although it might have seemed an odd choice at the time.

Therefore it is importance to be prepared to embrace the unusual – to understand that nothing at all limits God’s power to be everywhere - omnipresent, all powerful  – omnipotent and all knowing – omniscient at the same time.  We can too often be tempted to put God in a box, in the same way as we often do with people, or try to hide away from Him. As the psalmist put it (Psalm 139) –

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away. 

You search out my path and my lying down,
 and are acquainted with all my ways. 

Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely. 
You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me. 

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it. 

Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence? 

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

 Recently I heard a story which I had been told before many years ago. It might be apocryphal but it is still a good one. A church was waiting for a new pastor or rector; somebody to lead it following the departure of the previous incumbent. Only a few people (the selection committee) had met the successful candidate before.

Just before the service began a dirty dishevelled tramp arrived at the church and sat himself at the back of the building all on his own.  Not one person welcomed him or would sit near him. He was, in fact, totally shunned by the congregation such that he felt unable to come up and receive Holy Communion.

At the end of the service the acting officiant stood up and announced to the congregation that the following week the new rector would be attending the church for the first time and he hoped for a full church to warmly welcome him and to show the depth of their love and support for him.  At the end of this short notice the tramp at the back stood up and walked slowly and purposefully up to the front of the church to stand next to the officiant and calmly announce to the congregation that he was indeed the new rector who had come a week early to quietly observe his new congregation and from what he had just witnessed there was much work needed to be done if it was to be the welcoming and loving church the acting officiant had suggested it was. 

Our second reading this afternoon gives us a great scriptural example of this unexpected welcoming.

Once again the Disciples of Christ, together with many others, witnessed the unexpected and pre-conceptions were blown away.  Jesus sought out the lowest of the low in Jewish life – a tax collector.  Under Roman jurisdiction, the Romans recruited people of their conquered lands to collaborate with them – especially over the collection of taxes for Roman use.  The incentive was that the local tax collectors could cream off some of the money collected for themselves. Thus they were considered thieves, collaborators and much worse. They were hated, detested by the ordinary Jewish people. In common parlance they were sinners. 

The Message, a modern paraphrase of the Bible by Eugene H. Petersen puts the story in really graphic easy language.  It describes Jesus eating supper with “disreputable characters” and the Pharisees saying to the disciples “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cosy with crooks and riffraff!”

Jesus’s answer is one of the classic pieces of scripture which we would all do well to remember – “Who needs a doctor, the healthy or the sick”?

The story is also told of a new vicar who placed a large poster at the front of his new church in an affluent part of a large city announcing that “All Sinners Welcome”. The Parochial Church Council appealed to his bishop that the poster should be removed because it was likely to attract “crooks and riffraff”. It is sad to report that not only was the poster duly removed but so was the new clergyman.  I wonder how many members of that congregation had ever understood the reading of Luke 5:27-32.

We should all remember that God loves us always just the way we are but also loves us so much that he also wants us to grow too and not always stay that way. He wants us to be ready to change our ideas and thinking. 

Many of you will know that I am an amateur astronomer. There is so much we have learned about our universe in recent years as technology has advanced but as we have learned more so we have discovered more and more and conversely how much we don’t know. That is the same with God.  When I look up in the night sky I am continually amazed at the awesomeness of God’s creation and stare in wonder at the infinity of space and time.

Pre-conceived ideas and a lack of willingness to allow ourselves to be subject to change can stunt our growth – just like a pot-bound plant.  We can nurture it, feed it, water it but unless we are prepared to alter its environment, to seek out a new larger pot for it it will not reach its full potential.

There is a lovely film called “Being There”.  In this film a simple-minded fellow called Chance (played by Peter Sellers), is a gardener who has resided in the Washington, D.C., townhouse of his wealthy employer for his entire life and been educated only by watching television and his experience of gardening. He is forced to vacate his home when his boss dies.

While wandering the streets, dressed smartly in his former employer’s morning suit and bowler hat, looking a lot like a Freemason off to a lodge meeting, he encounters a business mogul Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas), who assumes Chance to be a fellow upper-class gentleman. Soon Chance is ushered into high society, as Mr. “Chauncey Gardiner” (really Chance the Gardener) and his unaffected gardening wisdom makes him the talk of the town including a post as adviser to the President of the United States when Chance's remarks about how the garden changes with the seasons are interpreted by the President as economic and political advice, relating to the President’s concerns about the mid-term unpopularity that many administrations face. “When the Autumn comes it is time to sweep away the dead leaves” is interpreted as advice to the President to sack some of his oldest advisers. If you haven’t seen the film then a similar plot occurs when in an episode of Father Ted, the character of Father Jack, the drunken old priest, is taught to repeat the phrase “that would be an ecumenical matter” whenever a bishop asks him a difficult theological question with devastating results for the bishop who has a crisis of faith

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The illustration here is that it is so easy to be taken in by our own pre-conceptions about people and their positions in society – by how they dress or what organisations they belong to, what job they do or where they live.  Jesus had no such illusions. He came for everybody – rich, poor, sick, healthy, religious, non-religious and so on. Once we dispense with those pre-conceptions we are really ready to grow.

Being like Christ, being faithful to God and our calling is indeed giving time for others, as Jesus did when he had supper with Matthew and the other “sinners” ; but we must also allow ourselves some value time to be ourselves too and put aside our own egos; being there for God, being there for others, being there for ourselves and being our true selves – the person God always wanted us to be. Open to change and challenge.

So in summary, we should start every action always with prayer, serve others, be prepared for change and challenge and the unexpected and then we shall truly grow both as individuals and as the wonderful organisation which we are and which others will see and experience – a truly loving and egalitarian one based on brotherly love, relief and truth.

Amen                                                                                                    MFB/03102018

SERMON 121 - SUNDAY 9 SEPTEMBER 2018

Sermon delivered at All Saints’ Parish Church, Winterslow, Wiltshire on Sunday 9 September 2018

James 2:1-10; 14-17; Mark 7:24-end

May I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

I love the Book of James in the New Testament.  It appeals to me as a pragmatic learner – someone who likes to be taught in a way which has clear practical value; something which I can understand in the context of the world in which I live and something which I can use, teach or share with others.  We cannot be certain of whom the author is but general consensus amongst theologians is that it was written by James, the brother of Jesus. 

James’s Epistle is full of clear practical advice written in a no-nonsense way.  Although regarded as one of the seven “general” letters – so called because they are addressed to several groups of Christians in the Greco-Roman world – it is more in the form of an address than a letter and I think should be read as such.  It is a short book and one I strongly recommend you read in full.

In the passage read out to us this morning, James is at great pains to point out the need to respect the poor and less well off. James recognises that there is a natural human tendency to defer to social superiors and despise those who are below us on the social scale.  Whether we like it or not, this really does exist and you will recall the story I told in my last sermon of the new rector who arrived a week early at his new church dressed as a tramp and the natural tendency to shun him.  There is nothing Christian about this – the right thing is to treat everyone with equal respect – to love our neighbour as ourselves as God’s Commandment teaches us.    

               

In this country, the divide between the “haves” and the “have nots” seems to be widening and through Alabare I am seeing more and more people on the streets. James’s words are as relevant today as they ever were when he wrote them. James talks of the law that gives freedom in Verse 12 (which was not read out) reminding us that God’s law or judgment is merciful.  Mercy will always triumph over judgment. To be judgmental without mercy is not to be like Christ.

Our reading moves on to the second of James’ pragmatic messages – and a particularly favourite of mine – faith and deeds.  Over the centuries this piece of scripture has been used by the Church as a means of justifying faith by deeds or works alone which is not what James’ is saying.  In the middle ages the church taught that by giving to the church, by observing certain rules and regulations, by building magnificent holy shines and buildings we could be saved. The scripture of James was often used upon which to base this doctrine.

Paul clearly tells us that we are saved through Faith alone – not deeds alone – and that is theologically correct.  What James is actually saying though is that if we are saved, if we have true faith then we should demonstrate that faith by acting in accordance with the laws of God and teachings of Christ.  That is a practical and demonstrable way of showing our faith.  Faith which simply stops at words is not faith at all. It is not sufficient just to say “I believe in God” as we do in reciting the Creed – although that is important; it is more than a belief in God – even the Devil and demons believe in God. Therefore, in simple terms, what James is saying is that if what you believe does not affect the way you live, in what you do, in how you treat others it is a dead faith.

Jesus, in our Gospel reading meets a woman from another culture.  Jesus is in Gentile territory – away from the culture in which he has been brought up. It seems from our reading that Jesus has gone out of his way to come into this area and entering the house of this Greek woman, born in Syro-Phoenica, that is in the area of Syria and Lebanon today which to the north of present day Israel, he wants to keep this a secret. The woman’s daughter is possessed of demons we read yet she had heard of Jesus’s power of healing and driving out demons and comes to him professing faith.  Jesus tests her faith – he says that first the children should be fed before any spare bread is tossed to the dogs. He is alluding here to that human tendency of a hierarchy – determining who should be fed first.  The woman sees this as a response to the need to feed those who profess belief – the Jews, above herself and her kind for she says “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs”. In other words everyone should receive something of the bread available.

At this Jesus sees in this woman a person who has shown her faith by a true belief that Jesus has come for everybody – to share the living bread – himself – with everybody irrespective of race, creed, colour provided they show faith in Him.

This is a very important piece of the gospel for it clearly shows that Jesus came for all.  That all who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Likewise, in the same passage, Jesus returns to his home territory of Galilee where he heals a deaf and mute man. There is a distinct contrast between the way in which he heals this man’s afflictions and those of the Greek woman’s daughter. In the latter we read that Jesus didn’t even see the daughter.  It wasn’t until her mother returned home that she discovered that the demons had left her little girl. In the case of the deaf and mute man, Jesus actually touches the man on those parts of his body requiring healing – fingers in the ears and, disgusting as it sounds, spitting on the man’s tongue. Jesus needed to demonstrate an actual act in order to perform healing – but not so with the Greek woman’s daughter.

I think this tells us that if our faith is strong enough and we pray enough, nothing is impossible and that the word of God can reach all through the power of the Spirit.

The Greek woman said that even the crumbs of bread under the table are available for the dogs – meaning the lowest in our society.  In a world where there are “haves” and “have-nots” we seated here in church this morning cannot deny that in a global context we are the “haves”.  We pray every day for God to give us our daily bread – and we do indeed receive it.  I invite us today, to think about with whom we will share not the crumbs but a slice of our daily loaf.  As you came in this morning you were given a small picture of a sliced loaf. 

Between the end of this talk and the end of the Intercessions I would like you to think about how and with whom you will share your loaf this week.  It can take many forms – perhaps buy a coffee for a friend at work or perhaps a random stranger in the coffee shop, visit a friend you’ve been meaning to see for some time, ring or email a relative you’ve been meaning to do, invite somebody to church next week, perhaps to pray for somebody who hasn’t been very nice to you. Anything at all to remind yourself that being a Christian is more than just saying the right things, it is doing and acting in the Spirit of God.

At the end of the Intercessions please come up if you wish and place your bread in the bread basket. At the end of the service you can retrieve them and take them home to remind you of your pledge.

Let us pray

PAUSE FOR SILENCE

Lord God,

You sent your only Son into the world not to condemn it but that we may have everlasting life

Help us to always do the right thing so that by our actions we may show the world that we are your children and may bring others to salvation by showing our faith through our good works.

Amen                                                                                                    MFB/06092018