Sermon
delivered at All Saints’ Church, Farley
– Sunday 10 March 2019 – Morning Worship in Lent
Genesis 2 & 3; Luke 1:46-55
May
I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen
“In
the Beginning”
Today we begin our sermon series on the subject of prayer which will continue through the
Sunday’s of Lent until we reach Palm Sunday on 14th April and appropriately
enough the title of the first sermons today is “In the Beginning” recognising
that right back to Genesis, God was anxious to communicate with Humans and for
us to hear and feel His presence with us here on Earth. Likewise, Jesus’s life
on Earth was announced at the very beginning in the form of Mary’s Prayer of
Thanksgiving at the Annunciation – the Magnificat which was read out this
morning as our Gospel Reading.
So what is prayer? Is there any particular formula we
should use or should not use in praying to God – and as God is “Three Persons
in One”, to whom should we address our prayers?
These are some of the questions we shall be considering over the next
five weeks which the Staff Team hopes will encourage you to go deeper with your
faith and, if it is not already so, encouraging
you to make prayer a daily activity.
Our readings this morning have been specially chosen to illustrate the
natural and fundamental nature of prayer – conversations and/or connection with
God.
Surveys actually show that we pray more than we are
likely to admit. It seems that we may
very well be more aware of our spiritual nature today than ever – looking for
something above and beyond our daily grind – a realisation that there is indeed
something much more to the busy earthly life we lead. Recently, some evangelical Christians set
themselves up in a vacant shop in a Canadian city and advertised that they were
there to give “Spiritual Readings”. In
no time at all a massive queue had formed outside – in fact their spiritual
readings were a short discussion followed by some prayer ministry. The word “spiritual” had caught the public’s
interest whereas the word “prayer” would not have.
G.K. Chesterton, the creator of that detective sleuthing
priest Father Brown once wrote “At the
back of our brains there is a forgotten blaze or burst of astonishment at our
own existence. The object of our artistic or spiritual life is to dig for this
sunrise of wonder”. In other words
deep down in our subconscious is an overwhelming desire to connect with our
creator whether we attend church or other religious institution or not.
For example we often hear people, non-Christians
especially, using such phrases as “I pray
that our team wins tonight”, or “I
pray that Tommy passes his Eleven Plus” or “I pray Janey arrives safely back from her long trip” and I doubt
there is one serviceman or woman who, on active service under fire, has not
muttered a prayer under their breath.
Indeed, I can recall vividly, before I was what one would call a
practising Christian, a time when I took a small dingy out on the sea close to
the two piers at Brighton. I was an
inexperienced sailor and, to tell the truth, I was rather foolhardy to go out
alone. The dingy capsized tossing me
into the water and I started to get carried out to sea on the current. I have never prayed so hard in my life and
with the help of prayer and sheer physical determination I was eventually able
to right the boat, after several attempts, pull myself on board and sail back
to the beach. It is such a natural and instinctive thing to do – pray.
As we will discover, as we go through our sermon series
there are many varied ways of praying.
Many have the classic view of praying on bended knee with hands together
offering up prays of supplication. That
is one way and perhaps the way we were taught as children – bedtime prayers
after brushing our teeth at night. However, we can also pray silently (as in
saying our words or prayer aloud in our head);
silently as in a form of meditative or contemplative prayer (in this we
seek to connect with God in our innermost soul by being still and quiet); we
can pray aloud with others in forms of open (or extemporary prayer) but the
essence of each form of prayer is to connect with and communicate with God – by
not only talking to God but also listening for his response.
Prayer can also take the form of worship – singing
praises or reciting or writing poetry.
This is what Mary is doing in the words of the Magnificat – she is reflecting on all that has recently happened to
her – a young girl visited by an Angel to be told she is going to bear a child
out of wedlock, told the name she is to give to the child - that he will be
“the Son of God”. How awesome that must
have been – the moment captured so well in the painting by Fra Angelico which
is to be found in St. Marco’s in Florence.
Mary’s instinct after this visit is to sing a song of
praise – to praise God for these wonderful things which are to come to pass and
her especial place in it all – remembering God’s past mercies. To see things in
the light of what has gone on before in the history of her nation – The Fall,
Exodus, United Nation, Exile and Rebuilding. So she recites:
“My
soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour ” –
an instinctive feeling within her that compels her to acknowledge the
importance of God with much inner rejoicing
“He
has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servants. Surely from now on all
generations shall be blessed” – God has blessed a simple humble
girl like Mary with such an importance that will be recognised for all time
“For
the Mighty One has done great things for me and holy is his name” –
Mary has been asked to do something amazing by Yahweh, the God who has chosen
people in the past to do his ministry and now chooses her for this great task
“His
mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation” –
those that believe in Him now and in the future and honour him will receive his
mercy, his forgiveness
“He
has shown strength with his arm and has scattered the proud in the thoughts of
their hearts” – by this act God has demonstrated the need
for Humankind to need and understand and acknowledge his power and not think
they can rely on their own their own thoughts and desires
“He
has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. He
has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich empty away” – a
prophesy for Jesus’s ministry. God has
placed his reliance on a simple lowly girl as an example of how he uses and
will use ordinary people. The people of
Israel were expecting a Messiah who would be a great kingly leader on a horse
but in fact Jesus came as a humble carpenter’s son who was to enter Jerusalem
in triumph on a young colt. Likewise
Jesus told the Pharisees that he had come to help the poor and needy - the rich
would receive their rewards on Earth but the poor believers would receive
theirs in Heaven.
“He
has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy according to the
promises he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever” -
this
is a reference back to Old Testament prophesy, especially Isaiah, that God
would not, in the long run, forsake his chosen people of Israel and is
remembering the covenant made that the descendants of Abraham would be as
numerous as the stars in the sky and grains of sand on the beach. He will not abandon them and by sending his
only Son through Mary he is fulfilling those prophesies.
Mary’s song brings together an acknowledgement of
everything prophesised and promised in the books of the Old Testament – that is
why it remains important to have an understanding of the stories and history
contained in the 37 books of the Old Testament if we are to make complete sense
of the Gospels and other 25 books of the New.
Like the conversation which Adam and Eve had with God at
the first Creation in the Garden of Eden so Mary’s conversation, her prayer of
thanksgiving and praise, heralds in the New Creation.
Jesus taught his disciples the importance of prayer and
even gave them and us a template based on the mnemonic “ACTS” – Adoration,
Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication”. These are the four elements of
prayer – glorifying God, confessing our sins, giving praise and thanksgiving
for the good things he gives us and finally our requests. He taught us to pray with sincerity.
In my short piece in this month’s parish magazines I talk
about the importance of prayer at this time of uncertainty and upheaval in our
nation’s history. We are on the brink, possibly, of a new era outside of the
Union with our European neighbours. This
time coincides with Lent – a time for fasting, reflection and prayer. I invite
you now to join me in a short prayer for our nation remembering that in so
doing we are in a two way communication with God. He does hear us and he always wants to hear
from us
Let
us pray:
God
of hope,
As
you led your people through the wilderness,
Guide
us through the political confusion of these days,
that
together we may live in harmony
and
work for the good of all
for
the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord
Amen
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