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                  

                                                                          MFB/21092019/138