SERMON 142 - SUNDAY 1 DECEMBER 2019

Sermon at All Saints’ Church, Whiteparish - Advent Sunday - Sunday 2 December 2019

Isaiah 2:1-5;  Romans 13:11-14;  Matthew 24:36-44

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be always acceptable to you, O Lord.  Amen

At the beginning of our service this morning we lit the first of the five candles which make up our Advent Wreath – the  Patriarch’s Candle or the Prophecy Candle or the Candle of Hope – and it is therefore not surprising that each of our readings today, the Old Testament reading from Isaiah, the Epistle of Paul to the Romans and the extract I read from Matthew’s Gospel reminds us to be ever ready from Jesus’s return as nobody but god himself knows the day and time of that return.

I know I have told this story before but it is true that as a child I waited impatiently for the visit of Santa Claus, or Father Christmas as we preferred to call him back then, and I was repeatedly told that this wonderful mythical character would only visit our house if I went to bed early and was asleep by the time he made his visit.  So worried was I that I might still be awake when he arrived that on one occasion, when I had gone to bed early as requested, but full of Christmas Eve goodies, I was feeling decidedly queasy and was violently sick in my bed rather than reveal my wakefulness and sickness to my parents.  “Be asleep or he will not come” had been drummed into me; but the message which we heard from the Gospel reading this morning, when we look not at the mythical person of Father Christmas, but the true reason for our forthcoming festivities, Jesus Christ, is that we must keep awake whilst we wait for him to arrive – even when sometimes our patience and wakefulness is challenged by the worries and troubles of our busy lives and the events of the world which surround us.

Our passages from Isaiah and Paul’s letter to the Romans remind us that we are in the dark times until he returns.  The reading from Isaiah was written at the time of the Exile, when the Jews were in captivity in Babylon pondering on why their Temple and city at Jerusalem had been destroyed and they were now in exile and captivity in a foreign land.  They had cried out to God for an explanation and concluded that through their sins God had forsaken them.

The Book of Isaiah is believed, by biblical theologians to be the work of possibly three different people over a period of 70 years.  It is certainly one of the longest books in the bible consisting of 66 chapters – the same number as books as contained in the whole bible – and today our reading was from Chapter 2 – towards the beginning of the book. Isaiah is describing that the Temple will be re-established and that it will be God’s mountain – not only a high place of safety and sanctuary but also one to look up to metaphorically as a place where the word of God will pronounce to all nations the right way to behave – and here we have the famous words well known to many of us – that we should beat our swords into ploughshares – our warlike implements into implements of peace; that nations shall not go to war any more nor lift swords against each other.

In our second hymn this morning the words of G K Chesterton, the creator of Father Brown reminds us that we should ask God to save us from what he calls the sword of scorn and the sword of profanation but pick up a single sword in defence of God’s salvation.

Paul in his letter to the Romans is writing at a time beyond Isaiah’s prophesy of the coming of Jesus and is speaking on how Christians should behave now and in the future – prophesies like those in Isaiah 2 have already been brought into fruition. Paul therefore saw his own mission to the Gentiles as the fulfilment of Isaiah’s promise – the nations were already coming in to God’s people to hear the message of salvation that the creator God had entrusted to the Jews already and so Isaiah’s call for universal peace must be read as our own personal call to holiness – it must be our present agenda.

This week the Archbishop of Canterbury was interviewed on Radio 5 Live and listeners were able and encouraged to question him – especially in the context of the current political situation and pending General Election.  A recurrent theme promoted by the radio host was whether religious leaders should engage in political discussion or public opinions.  This of course followed the comments of the Chief Rabbi and the leadership of the Labour Party. Justin Welby sits on the House of Lords and as such is at the centre of the political life of our nation but even if he were not it is my honest opinion that we in the church should indeed voice our opinions about the political life of our nation.

It is not easy to do, but whoever said that being a Christian is an easy life. I am constantly reminded of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who ultimately gave his life for his involvement in trying to advocate the bringing down of an evil regime.  

At present much darkness seems to surround us.  Liz and I recently had a two-week break in sunny warm climes. We expected to return back here refreshed but both of us remarked upon the cold darkness of our own country.  Now, of course, returning from the Caribbean to England in mid-October is always going to seem dark and miserable by comparison but this year it seemed much darker than normal – and the clocks hadn’t yet been put back either!  No, it seemed that there was a darkness of spirit which pervaded our whole nation.  Only in the last week have we heard about the satanic symbols and slaughter of animals just down the road in one of our neighbouring parishes and just on Friday another attack on London Bridge. Paul re-assures us that the night is nearly over but he also reminds us to wake from our slumber, put away any deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light.

In our cathedral this weekend we celebrate “Darkness into Light” and I believe that is of such importance to us as Christians.  We are told by Jesus himself to be salt and light to the world.  We must uphold those values which God has instilled in all of us.  As we celebrated Christ the the King only last week we need to remember that our principal allegiance is always to Jesus as our Saviour and King and not our earthy rulers. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, indeed, but also give to God what is his too.

Let us let Jesus have the last word. In our gospel reading, Jesus reminds us to be ever ready and recalls that it was only Noah who had listened to God’s word and had been prepared for the Great Flood. So too must we be ever vigilant. This is a call to us today not to be complacent, not to just let things ride because either we feel too tired or simply just cannot be bothered.  You will recall that Jesus in another place tells his disciples of the signs of the end times – I think I preached on this at our service here on Advent 1 some two years ago. The number of Christians in this country is dropping all the time yet people need and are seeking some spiritual understanding to their lives.  Yet, Christianity is actually on the increase in the world – there are great revivals going on as I speak in Africa and Asia.  Thousands and thousands of people are coming to Christ each week. Muslims are even being converted to Christianity after having seen Jesus appearing in their dreams and I also see a great yearning for spiritual understanding, direction and growth here in our own country.  Never before have the teachings of Christ been more important on such a global scale.  We are called to be the instruments of spreading that light and dispelling the darkness.

That means being alive and awake to what is happening around us and being ready, not sleeping. I believe that Jesus was talking directly to each and every generation. The words are current because a generation will be born which will observe the end times. It could be us or a future generation – we do not know the day or the hour – just as the exiles in Babylon did not know the hour of their release from captivity; but we do know that God does honour his promises and in his time.  We must wait and be patient but always with the greatest of hope in our hearts. 

Let this Adventide be a time for us all to reflect upon this and ask ourselves how we will keep awake and keep the light burning in all this darkness which surrounds us.  My own answer is that we must always start and end in prayer and if you can do nothing else you can always pray from wherever you find yourselves.

Let us end with that famous prayer of St. Teresa of Avila:-

Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change. Patience achieves everything. Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone suffices.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ must look out on the world. Yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which He is to bless His people.

Amen

MFB/30112019/142

SERMON 141 - SUNDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2019

Sermon delivered at the Roman Catholic Family Chapel, Whaddon, Evening Prayer Service on Feast of Christ the King Service – Sunday 24^th November 2019

Psalm 72; 1 Samuel 8:4-20; John 18:33-37

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

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 this evening show different understandings of what a kingdom or king is.  In our first reading from the First Book of Samuel we read how the Jewish leaders, having seen how the countries around them were governed, wanted a similar system themselves for Judah. At that time the country was ruled by Judges, leaders of the various tribes who sat in conference very much in a similar manner to the Roman republican idea. The reason for this was that as part of their religious culture it was God, Jahweh, who was the ultimate leader of the country – the president so to speak and the Judges merely administered in the LORD’s name. In fact, at this time two of Samuel’s own sons had been appointed judges. In this way the Hebrew population was expected forever to hold out God as being the one to whom all deference and obedience was owed.  However, the Jews saw other countries being ruled by strong earthly monarchs and felt that their country would greatly benefit by having the same system.

It is with this in mind that Samuel tries earnestly to dissuade them by pointing out that monarchs are fallible human beings and for whom power can often corrupt to the extent that the subjects of their countries can suffer in the way in which he describes in great detail in our reading and that they should think very carefully before being seduced by the idea that having a monarch will bring strength and prosperity.  Samuel is very annoyed and upset as he sees this as the people turning away from God.  Samuel prophesises how it will turn out yet God relents and tells Samuel that if that is what they want that is what they will have and they can experience for themselves what such a governance will bring upon them..

As you will recall, as you read through the First Book of Samuel, the prophet is sent to find a suitable king and eventually Saul is anointed and enthroned.  His reign ends badly with David and afterwards Solomon succeeding him before the kingdom is later divided into two and eventually the Jews are taken into exile.  Thus ends the earthly kingdom of Judah/Judea/Israel up to the 1940s when the Jews returned to their promised land and established the modern state of Israel.

In our second reading we jump forward over 1,000 years to the time of Jesus’s trial before the Roman authorities in the form of Pontius Pilate who was very much aware of the Jewish history and saw the resurgence of a Jewish kingdom as a direct challenge to the Roman Empire and its puppet Herodian regime in Jerusalem. The Jewish people themselves were again looking for a great leader, a king, a Messiah to lead them out of Roman tyranny into a new glorious Davidian era. 

Pilate, in his examination of Jesus can only really act and order his Crucifixion if it can be established that Jesus is a genuine threat to the status quo of Roman rule through the puppet Herod.  If he can be established to be putting himself forward as an alternative leader, monarch, then that will suffice to hang him for treason or sedition. For this reason he asks Jesus a direct question – “Are you the king of the Jews?”  Such an admission would be a confession and condemn him.

Jesus acutely aware realises that as it is really the Jewish leaders themselves who want to put him away asks Pilate – “Is that your own idea or did others talk to you about me?”

Pilate appears confused.  From what he has seen of Jesus and the reports of his actions it does not appear that Jesus is a genuine threat to the status quo so he responds “”Am I a Jew? It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it that you have done?

In other words Pilate is saying that in his mind Jesus has done nothing against Roman law so it seems that it is Jesus’s own people who have some reason to what him out of the way – not the Romans.

Jesus then responds in an interesting manner by way of explanation.  In effectively admitting that he is a king he is at great pains to point out that his kingdom is not an earthly one – not one which the Jews themselves in their appeal to Samuel in our earlier reading expected.  It is a kingdom from another place – the kingdom of heaven not a kingdom of earth. That is what we are celebrating today – Jesus as the king of heaven.

As we know Pilate later went on to ensure that the inscription on Jesus’s cross had the words “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” – not “claimed to be King of the Jews” for he was satisfied that had it been simply a claim he would not have had the authority to put him to death. Jesus did admit to being a king the question was “king of what?”

Today as Christians we are called upon to inhabit the kingdom of heaven.  That does not mean that we simply abide by the rituals and observances of institutionalised religion – Jesus was at great pains to put out to the Pharisees and Sadducees that this was not the way to salvation – but to act out our lives I such a way as to bring down the kingdom of heaven to earth.

This was a message which greatly influenced me and led me to my call to ministry. Many years ago I attended Spring Harvest and listened to a very influential speaker – Steve Chalke – now much maligned by the Evangelical Alliance.  What he said changed my life.  In a nutshell he explained “being a Christian is not about us trying to get up those metaphorical stairs to the kingdom of heaven – it is about bringing the kingdom of heaven down those stairs to earth.  Wow, what a revelation that was.

The kingdom of heaven, in parts, is already down here and I believe it it the duty of every Christian to do all in their power to bring as much of it down as we can. That is the lost message of Jesus – he is the monarch of that kingdom and with the Holy Spirit we have the tools to reach as many people as possible.  Just as our politicians are currently canvassing in this General Election so we too should be canvassing for our Holy King.

It feels at this present time that there is not enough of the holy spirit, of the kingdom of heaven here with us.  Dark forces seem to pervade our world – especially our so called wealthy western world. We seem so poor in what really matters – that genuine love and loving spirit which Jesus came down to show and share.

Let us resolve to honour our king and show to him that obedience and loyalty which we would expect to show towards our earthly monarchs.

Amen                                                                                                    MFB/23112018

SERMON 140 - SUNDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2019

Sermon delivered at St. John’s Parish Church, West Grimstead Remembrance Day Service – Sunday 10^th November 2019 (adapted from Sermon 124)

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 101st 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. 

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. We remember those who “laid down their lives”:

I was recently shown an 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 the words of the Kohima Epitath which we heard earlier this morning , “When you go home, tell them of us, and say, for your tomorrow we gave 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 utterly terrible.

I have just finished reading a very interesting and enlightening book entitled simply “Hiroshima, Nagasaki” which describes in great detail the events leading up to the execution of the first two, and thankfully the last two atomic strikes on a predominantly civilian population, its execution and after effects.  Over 100,000 people (men women and children) were killed instantly – many vaporised within seconds of the destructive atomic fission explosion – later as many more died of radio-active poisoning as the truth emerged of the latent and dreadful damage which nuclear radiation causes. We live in a world which continues to have multi-conflicts across its surface with the ever present threat of nuclear weapons far more destructive than the horrors inflicted on those two Japanese cities.  It is therefore good to remember what the true horrors of war are and the effects on the ordinary population.  We have seen this very recently in Syria where the Kurds have been killed and dispossessed of their homes but military force.  

   

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.  Families were torn apart by much grief and anxiety receiving or waiting to receive the dreaded War Office telegram or in some cases as in Japan never discovering the final awful fate of their loved ones at all.

So then how should the church approach this difficult  topic? What is the role of the church at times of such conflict and man-made horrors?  I believe it is not just to bury the dead or lead services of remembrance after the events.  I also believe that the church has a role too in preventing such conflicts occurring in the first place.

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 Willie”. Born to a clergyman in Leeds, he became a schoolteacher and later followed his father into the church being trained at Ripon College and serving his curacy in Warwickshire and later becoming the vicar of a parish church in the city of Worcester.  During that time one woman parishioner described him thus:

The first thing that Mr Kennedy did was to visit all the poor people. He was all for the poor; he was also an exceptional spiritual advisor. A steady flow of men and women found a man who thought it a privilege to take upon himself their burdens and their sins.

Kennedy had a great ability to get alongside those who were poor and vulnerable and this made him a great army chaplain when the First World War broke out.  He had the ability to get alongside the squaddies and the humble tommies in the trenches on the Western Front – speak their language and effectively be one of them – sharing their deprivations, anxieties and discomfort and their Woodbine cigarettes.  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 here ‘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 their lives towards others 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 immediate role as reconcilers and instruments of peace.  Those we are remembering 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 Willie put it in his short answer to those brutalised squaddies.

We are God’s soldiers, marching as to War, that Spiritual Warfare which we see all around us today, but we march not with guns or bayonets but with the Cross of Jesus.  As Woodbine Willie put it “we go into battle with the strength of the bayonet but with the spirit of the Cross”. To stand up for what is Right without becoming so brutal that we ourselves become the Wrong.

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/09112019

SERMON 139 - SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER 2019

Sermon 139 – “Charity – It’s in a Freemason’s DNA”;

preached at the Parish Church St. Mary the Virgin, Calne, Wiltshire for the Wiltshire Freemasons’ Annual Church Service

2 Chronicles 6:12-34; 1 Corinthians 13

May I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and may my words be a blessing to all who hear them. Amen

Once more it is a great privilege to stand up here again in the pulpit of this magnificent church of St. Mary the Virgin in Calne and address a few words to you at the Annual Church Service for the Freemasons in Wiltshire; especially, for the first time, as your new Provincial Grand Chaplain. It is so lovely to see so many of you here this afternoon and in such fine voice too. 

Last year I spoke to you about how easy it is to have preconceived ideas about people before really knowing them and how this is certainly true in the context of Freemasonry where people outside of our organisation have become very suspicious of our Order and, thereby, its members and have often judged us through lack of any real knowledge and understanding. I have been delighted therefore  to observe how, over this last year we, in this particular Province, have opened up our doors and displayed ourselves at so many summer events throughout the county and had charity fairs inviting many of the charitable organisations in the county to come and meet with our Provincial Executive and Charity Steward.  Let us hope this continues for many years to come.

You may have noticed that our hymns and readings this afternoon have very much majored on the theme of charity and this is no co-incidence.  They were carefully chosen with this in mind.  One of our recent strap-lines has been “Wiltshire Freemasons – proud supporters of charity; it’s in a freemason’s DNA”.  I guess for many those words conjure up collecting tins, alms pouches and the giving of monies to worthy causes and that is certainly part of it. Over the years we have supported the local hospitals in Swindon and Salisbury with teddy bears for sick and traumatised children; monies to the Air Ambulance; to the homeless through Alabare; therapeutic items to Victims Support and many other fantastic gifts and monetary donations to a wide variety of good causes – not to mention looking after our own widows and less fortunate brethren.  Indeed at each and every one of our meetings sums of money are donated through our alms and raffles to be placed in our benevolent funds for such charitable purposes.  When a new candidate for freemasonry is initiated it is an important part of the ceremony to remind him of the wants of others by divesting him of every item of wealth on his person so that he can experience what it feels like to be without money or wealth and need the support of others - but charity is more than just that - as I would like to discuss with you today.

Today we chose two very well-known pieces of scripture.  Our first Old Testament reading this afternoon, given by our Grand Superintendent, was taken from the very lengthy prayer of dedication of the First Temple at Jerusalem by King Solomon – yes it was only an extract – I did spare you the full prayer which would have greatly exceeded the length of this sermon!  Those of you who are familiar with this reading will know that it comes after a great description of the construction of the Temple upon which a great deal of our ritual is founded.  For example Chapter 2 contains a description of the preparations for its building including entering into an alliance with King Hiram of Tyre for the provision of materials – especially timber; Chapter 3 contains a detailed description of the construction works themselves and Chapter 4 the internal furnishings of the Temple and finally in Chapter 5 the Ark of the Covenant is brought into the newly constructed Holy of Holies. Indeed those first chapters are primarily concerned with the materialistic aspects of the building of God’s House – the fabric and the contents.

We now turn to Chapter 6, part of which was read today, which is a description of the dedication of the Temple to God without which it would still, for all its finery and expensive furnishings simply be a beautiful building.  The dedication is to consecrate and remind the people of Israel that the first and foremost purpose of the Temple is not as a memorial or icon to King Solomon himself and the vastness and splendour of his Kingdom (he had also had built a splendid palace for that purpose) but to honour Jahweh, or Jehovah, the God of Israel.  The prayer is also a sort of “code of conduct” for the people placing God at the centre of their lives and that by observing and obeying his commandments we should live in harmony with each other.  This is even extended in Solomon’s prayer towards foreigners. This then is why the Temple at Jerusalem became such an intrinsic part of the daily devotions of the Jewish people to God and why its destruction and there Exile was such a catastrophe. It was “in their DNA”.

Our second reading, so beautifully read by our Provincial Grand Master is incredibly well known and is probably the most popular reading at a church wedding. It was whilst listening to our former Provincial Grand Master giving an explanation of the Certificate for the Ancient and Accepted Rite in his role as Inspector General of that Order that it came to me that although this reading is so well known I wonder do we actually understand what St. Paul is saying?

I purposefully asked our Provincial Grand Master to give this scripture reading in the words of the old Authorised Version or King James Bible Version – indeed those of you in possession of a Masonic Bible will find that it is written in this old style. The reason I did this was because it uses the word “charity” which St. Paul describes as being the greatest of three Christian attributes – the other two being Faith and Hope.  Those of us who are Christians are asked by Paul to pursue these three – Faith, Hope and Charity – they should all be in our “DNA”.  Paul tells us that without these we remain spiritually immature even if we display the gifts of the Holy Spirit – even if we speak in tongues, even if we can prophesy, we can have much faith and hope but without charity we are nothing.

I rarely use the King James Version today – indeed the Bishop of Salisbury prefers that the New Revised Standard Version is used by the ministers.  My preferred version is in fact the New International Version.  If you open this passage in either of those versions you will not find the word “charity” anywhere on the page however hard you might look. It has been replaced by another word. That word is “love”. “Faith” and “Hope” remain but “Charity”, described in the King James Version as the greatest of the three has gone – replaced by “Love”.

The reason for this is that the original word used was the Greek “agape”. So what is the difference between the translation into charity or into love?  Generally when agape was used to describe the vertical relationship between Human and God it is the word “love” which was used (our love of God and God’s love of us) but in a more horizontal relationship between Humans (manor woman towards their neighbour) agape was translated as “charity”. Unfortunately the English language uses just one word “love” to describe four different Greek words for love having entirely different meanings – for example we can we say “we love ice cream” (storge), we can say “we love our family or our fellow brethren” (phileo); we can say we love our partner (eros) or we can say we love God (agape); but as explained, agape can also mean that same unconditional love that gives us which we should extend to our fellow brothers and sisters.  This is because Christ teaches us to love ourselves as he loves us – in other words that love of agape; and to be charitable or have a love which is selflessly committed to the well-being of others.  For a further explanation of these different loves C.S. Lewis wrote a book entitled simply “The Four Loves”.

This agape is something which I recently saw well illustrated recently in one of our own Masonic Lodge.  A member had been able to attend his lodge for some years due to personal difficult family circumstances but things had improved a little to enable him be present at his lodge’s installation meeting and take a small office. His words, during a toast to the visitors I think said it all – despite his absence his return was greeted by a love and fellowship such as he felt he had never been away and he felt an overwhelming feeling of warmth which such unconditional love brings. That is true agape and that is exactly as God loves us – whatever we have done and wherever we have been – and which he expects us to display. For another example from scripture we can read the story of the prodigal son.  At some time or other we all become prodigals but it is how we treat those who return which shows our true agape.

I want to end, finally, with just a short thought for the future.  When I agreed to take on the role of Provincial Grand Chaplain I informed the Provincial Grand Master that I wanted to ensure that all lodge chaplains understood the importance of their role – after all in rank it comes immediately after the wardens.  That is because United Grand Lodge recognised the importance of maintaining the good spiritual welfare of its members. I therefore want those of you who are chaplains to know just how incredibly important your role is – it is not just about saying the opening and closing prayers or grace at the supper table – it is also to work in conjunction with the almoner and charity steward in ensuring the spiritual well-being of the brethren - just as chaplains in hospitals, in the workplace and other institutions are there to support others within their secular environments.  Brethren may often struggle with their physical and mental health or with their finances and these struggles can put those brethren in a dark place. Here the chaplain can be on hand for a friendly word, a comforter and a true friend assisting the almoner in his more practical help. I therefore intend that there should be a series of sessions for all chaplains to listen to others in that role and obtain the resources necessary to fulfil this important task.

So in conclusion, let us constantly remind ourselves that charity is more than just giving money – it is loving others unconditionally as God loves us.  May “charity” continue to be in our DNA.

Amen                                                                                                    MFB/26102019

SERMON 138 - SUNDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2019

Sermon delivered at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Family Chapel, Whaddon, Wiltshire  – Sunday 22nd September 2019 – Ecumencial Evening Prayer

Ezra 1; John 7:14-36

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and may my words be a blessing to all who hear them. Amen

“Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of Him who sent him is true and there is nothing false in him”      

I have a particular fondness for our first, Old Testament, reading because I think it is one of those wonderful passages from a time before Christ which provides us today with a feeling of great hope for the future.  At a time of great uncertainty and confusion in our nation Ezra’s first words remind us that God never forgets us and can action great and unexpected things to put matters right.  We have only to continue to offer up our prayers of thanksgiving and supplication, obey God’s will and have patience to wait for an answer to our requests.

 Who was this Ezra who wrote this book of the Bible?  Well, he is believed to have been a chronicler of the times of the great Exile of the Jewish people in Babylon when there was a kind of ethnic cleansing in reverse.  He is therefore attributed as being the author of the two preceding books of the Bible – 1 and 2 Chronicles. On the occupation of Judah by the Baylonians, who sacked the Temple at Jerusalem, they took into captivity into Babylon (modern day Iraq) all those Jews who were educated or powerful leaving behind those less fortunate to maintain the land with hard labour. King Solomon’s great Temple was left to fall into ruin as the Jewish Faith was not one which was recognised by King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian Empire. However they actively recruited and integrated the elite classes of the Jews into Babylonian culture and we read much about this in the Book of Daniel.  Ezra was from this elite class who found himself working for the Babylonians in exile in an administrative capacity.  He is described as a Scribe which meant that he would have be a learned religious man.

 The Babylonian Empire became more and more corrupt and decadent and we read about this decadence  in the narrative of King Belteshazzar’s last feast when he used the holy vessels stolen from the Temple by his predecessor King Nebuchadnezzar. You will recall “the writing on the wall”

 Eventually, in its turn, the Babylonian Empire was itself overrun by the great Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great in 538 BC and Ezra, the great chronicler and administrator records in this first chapter of his book how God spoke to Cyrus telling him to let some of the Jews in former Babylonian captivity return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. There may have also been a very practical and political reason for doing this – the Temple was all important to the Jewish Faith and its destruction and their subsequent exile away from it might well promote unrest and lack of co-operation with the new Persian masters. Therefore, by selecting certain families loyal to the regime to return, the Persians could continue to control Judah with content and compliant collaborators. One only has to think of Vichy France during the last World War as a parallel.

This return, and consequential rebuilding of the Temple teaches us much about loyalty and faithfulness within the context of the Jewish faith and as a pattern to imitate. As we read further on, in the Book of Ezra, we see how Ezra later organised the people into groups to do the work; but also how he had to admonish them when they saw the rebuilding of their own homes as having priority over the building of the Temple which fell further and further behind schedule. Eventually by Ezra’s hard work the priority of the Temple’s construction became paramount to the Jew’s lives – after all the Temple had become the centre of their Faith.  I think that the great lesson for us today is that they had, after all, managed to continue with this Faith with the absence of a Temple for over 70 years and it is this faithful diligence, continual trust and paying due obedience to God which sets a great example and is the key to a hopeful existence.

 Prayer is not just about sending messages and requests to God but also being prepared to listen to what he has to say to us – allowing proper time to hear his word – that “still small voice of calm” or as our hymn this evening puts it “be still for the presence of the Lord is moving in this place”.  Cyrus heard God’s voice telling him to allow some of the Babylonian exiles to leave captivity and return to Jerusalem.  He heard and obeyed; and like him we must be prepared to listen and obey too.  I think many of us do hear God’s word – it might come through the words of a another person, it might be heard through the radio or TV or simply a thought which comes into our head whilst walking or driving.  Often we may say to ourselves – “I really should do something about this or that” but then we go on to make a cup of tea or do some other activity and never go back to that message or simply put it out of our minds. When that next happens ask yourself, was that a thought of my own making or was God trying to convey something to me; if so, what am I going to do about it?

In our second reading this evening from John’s gospel we jump forward some 550 years and find Jesus at Sukkot or the Festival of the Booths (or Tabernacles). Jews believe that God wanted the Israelites to observe this festival by living in temporary shelters for seven days as a reminder that when their ancestors were in the wilderness, God provided them booths to dwell in. As in every year, Sukkot remains a time of rejoicing. Why? Because it was at this time in ancient Israel when the harvest season was over that God had provided more than enough food for the people to survive. Now it was time to go up to Jerusalem and give thanks to Him in worship at the Temple; a Temple that had been rebuilt at the time of Ezra.  Therefore the celebration and the location of Jesus’s teaching were extremely significant in the context of the words he speaks.

Jesus is being quite provocative. In the earlier part of this Chapter Jesus had been warned by his disciples that there was a faction which was out to kill him and they had implored him not to go out into the busy city during the Festival.  Indeed, Jesus reassured them that they were to go but that he would stay behind at home.  After they had left to join in with the celebration Jesus himself, contrary to his word, went out and made his way into the thick of it by going to the Temple and there, before a crowd of devout Jews, started preaching.  Jesus did not fear for his life because he already knew that it would be spared until a later time – the appointed time for his Crucifixion. 

The significance of this passage is that it was the occasion when Jesus left it in no doubt as to who he was – the Messiah and reminded the crowd of the miracles he had performed and of his teachings such that many in the crowd, seeing that those in authority were taking no action began to really question whether he was indeed the Son of God.

Nobody laid a finger on him.  There was confusion and doubt but his main message was that “those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of Him who sent him is true and there is nothing false in him”.  In other words be true to your calling, put away your false self or ego and those influences which seek to distract you from finding your true self and concentrate on listening to what God wants of you.

Everybody is unique – as Oscar Wilde once said “I can only be myself as everybody else is already taken”.  Cyrus didn’t act as would have been expected – he didn’t seek to continue the subjugation of the Jewish people but rather he heard God tell him to allow those exiled to return.  He sought the glory of God and not himself and his Empire.

Whilst we are prepared to listen to God, to accept the teachings of Christ that he was sent by God to save us then we can always have genuine hope – however tough the going might get and however confused we might be.   If you can find your true self then you will also find God and by glorifying him do your bit to make this world a better place for all.      

Amen                  

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SERMON 137 - SUNDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 2019

Sermon delivered at St. John’s Parish Church, West Grimstead and All Saints’ Parish Church, Farley, Wilts.  – Sunday 8^th September 2019 – Morning Worship

Deuteronomy 30:15-end; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14: 25-33;

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and may my words be a blessing to all who hear them. Amen

“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple”      

so says Jesus, in our Gospel reading from Luke this morning as he continues the theme of the difficulty of giving up our earthly possessions in order to gain the riches of heaven.

Recently we have been reading of Jesus’s teachings in those chapters of Luke’s gospel which for many of us, in this modern age of consumerism and relative global wealth in the western world are extremely hard for us to follow.  Today, Jesus is telling those large crowds he is addressing of the sacrifices which need to be made in order to fully follow him as a disciple. He is telling the crowd that before fully committing themselves to being a disciple they must count the cost of doing so and be prepared to pay that cost.

When we first hear those words they appear to be so un-Christ like don’t they? – “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”

What on earth is he talking about?  Do I really have to hate my parents, my wife/husband, brother/sister, children in order to be a disciple of Christ, a Christian? How can that be a good faithful Christian attitude to have?

Well, we have to bear in mind that the word “hate” in the original Jewish language does not mean “hate” as we may interpret it today.  The Jewish language uses hyperboles – “love/hate” are not actually the extremes of those emotions.  To say that you “hate” somebody or something means, in Hebrew terms, that you do not like it as much as something else.  If for example I were to be asked if I would like a cheesecake or a bread and butter pudding for my dessert for example I might, in the Jewish way say “I’ll have the bread and butter pudding; I hate cheesecake”.  I don’t actually hate cheesecake at all but I would by saying that I prefer the pudding.  So here, what Jesus is saying is that in order to follow him you need to lead a new life, preferring it to your current life, and that new life will have with it many trials and tribulations.  You must love God above family – not actually hating your family but concentrating on the first of those two great commandments – love God above all things from which all love for others will flow.

So Jesus in this way explains to the crowd that following him, becoming a Christian requires great sacrifices and great understanding and planning.

The subsequent words of Jesus are indeed wise ones for he reminds his listeners that whenever setting out on a new project you must plan ahead and uses the examples of building a tower or waging war.  You sit down and count the cost of the building works or the war. Dare I say it that our own country’s politicians would have done well to heed these words in Luke before embarking on projects which have left us in a world of uncertainty and despair.

When Jesus talks about carrying our cross, back in those days he probably meant it in reality, it was not just a metaphor, for we know that many of his disciples were themselves martyred for their Faith.  Today we still speak of taking up ones cross and in this metaphorical use it means going against the grain of society, just as Christ was asking the Jews not to just focus on their own world but upon the Kingdom world – the Kingdom of God – the whole world and beyond.

Paul is doing just this in his letter to Philemon – going against the grain in the last and shortest of his letters in the New Testament.  Unlike his other letters which were meant to be read out aloud in the churches of the recipients, this is very much a personal letter written by Paul from his prison cell to a fellow Christian by the name of Philemon.  It is a personal plea to Philemon the master of a slave, Onesimus, who has become a faithful friend and fellow Christian to Paul.  However there is one problem and that is Onesimus is Philemon’s slave and as such the legal property of Philemon.

The book of Philemon was used greatly during the American Civil War as scriptural authority for both slavery and anti-slavery – both accepting that slavery was an acceptable and acknowledged institution but also that slaves should be set free in proper Christian society.  For the purposes of today’s address I don’t intend to go into this debate but use Paul’s plea as an example of where we as Christians may find ourselves in potential conflict with what society might consider the norm.

Philemon appears to have been a man of some standing in the city of Colossae and one of his slaves, Onesimus had run away to the big city of Rome – capital of the Roman Empire at that time or Ephesus – we cannot be sure which – where he might escape detection. Somehow, whilst in one of those cities he came across Paul and through him became a Christian.

It appears that Paul became very much taken with Onesimus and treated him more like a son than just a friend but Onesimus was still, technically, Philemon’s legal property. It was therefore hard for Paul and even harder for Onesimus for the slave to be returned to Philemon as he would, in the normal course of events be subjected to the most terrible punishment – even death.  Every slave would have borne a tag which would have read “Seize me if I should try and escape and send me back to my master”. By having protected Onesimus, Paul was breaking the Roman law. Therefore Paul, if he wanted to keep Onesimus would have to make amends and return him to Philemon however counter-intuitive that seemed.  The Book of Philemon, therefore, is the “covering note” returning Onesimus to his master with a plea to free him and treat him as a free man – appealing to Philemon’s Christian principles. Paul sent Tychicus with Onesimus for moral support as he himself, Paul, was in prison and Onesimus must have felt extremely apprehensive at returning to his master after having escaped from him.

How does this have a bearing on our gospel passage?  Well, I think that this letter does provide clear evidence of how Paul would deal with slavery in the context of a Christian community – and thus an example of what the world, in a Christian way, should be like in this respect – going against the grain of what had become acceptable but what was clearly wrong.  Being prepared to stand up and take risks for Christ; to pick up and take his cross.

Paul does not openly criticise the institution of slavery but, as Tom Wright has put it – he has laid a depth charge beneath it. In effect he is saying to Philemon that Onesimus has much to give the Christian community – he Paul has treated him like a brother, he has instilled a new life in him but God has not yet finished with him yet and to complete the change he should be treated not as a chattel but as a free decent human being.  The new Christian communities which Paul is setting up and to whom he is writing should stand out and be different – both spiritually and socially.

Paul in giving Philemon his IOU in verses 18-19 is cleverly recalling Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan – “…if he owes you anything charge that to my account”.

Finally, it interesting to read that all these basic principles of loving God by the manner in which we show love to others, by doing all we can to bring into this commercial and selfish world those principles and teaching of Christ were spoken of long ago by Moses in the portion of the Book of Deuteronomy which was read out to us this morning:

“…I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways and observing his commandments, decrees and ordinances…” and here I am inserting the words “by treating others with dignity, respect and Christian love” “…you shall live and become numerous and the LORD your God will bless you…”

We would all do well to remember to live by this principle; truth, honesty and respect for our fellow humans especially at this time of great division in our Nation and as followers of Christ to be a church of reconciliation and hope.

Let us pray

Dear Lord,
we pray for your church of which we are a part:
that at this time of great national division

we might be a place of honest reflection;
respectful dialogue;
open friendship;
humility and reconciliation.

Amen                                                                                                    MFB/07092019