SERMON 153 - SUNDAY 25 OCTOBER 2020

Sermon on Last Sunday after Trinity  (Bible Sunday) -  Clarendon Team Service during Coronvirus Restrictions   –  Sunday 25th October 2020

Colossians 3:12-17

“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience” so begins our passage of scripture this morning on this, Bible Sunday.  What absolutely beautiful words they are, aren’t they?  For me they encapsulate everything that should mark out a Christian life from anything else. 

For many, in this modern and for me, increasingly dystopian world, the bible is something which people simply don’t understand.  For many it is a book of don’ts rather than do’s.  For many, being a Christian means not having fun, having to be miserable, always being prevented from doing what you really want to do by old fashioned rules and regulation and laws.  For those of us who are Christians, we know much better and we know that we are expected to live Christ-like lives.  Jesus himself, we read, enjoyed a good party, he ate and drank with people from all walks of lives and indeed was a good storyteller and, at times, humourist (remember the story of the splinter and the plank in the eye); but above all he was the epitome of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.

Today we are expected to act strong, be brave, not show our feelings or vulnerabilities lest they be exploited.  For some, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience are by-words for weakness not strength; but I challenge anyone who has had to act humbly or seek forgiveness after doing or saying something wrong or even show forgiveness to others, to say that it hasn’t often been extremely difficult and has required an immense amount of strength to do it.

Paul, in these few words from his letter to the Christians in Colossus is reminding them that these attributes are indeed the mark of true Christianity. He goes on to express how they should behave if in dispute in verses 12-13 and the prime word here is “forgive” reminding them that to forgive is to act in the same way as God who forgives us all when we truly repent – that is say sorry and turn back to Him.  But, above all Paul, continuing in verse 14, implores us to clothe ourselves in love because from love, agape, will flow that same compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience he first talks about.

We should, in all we say and do, be ever mindful of the word of Christ which, as Christians, now dwells within us. We should support each other with wisdom and continually bind ourselves together in praise and whatever we do or say or think we should do it in the name of Jesus.  He means everything too – not just on Sunday morning in church, but also in our daily lives whether we are cooking, working, cleaning, gardening, playing golf - we should do it with that same love.

It all sounds so easy doesn’t it?  Well it’s not! I was having coffee with a group of Christian men midweek and we discussed how each of us had become a Christian. One of our number had been influenced by his wife after accompanying her to a Christian conference.  He had come to Christ at the age of 56 after a life pursuing things which could not always be described as “Godly”.  After his epiphany he had found it comforting to know that God had forgiven him for his past misdemeanours and that was a great help towards a complete healing process – however, the one thing which took many years afterwards was to forgive himself, and he is still not quite there yet.

That is what I mean about needing to be strong sometimes to be a Christian. It’s not an easy life, it isn’t all going to go well and there will still be times when the going is very tough. Those are the times when we need to feel God’s overwhelming presence and love – to feel his “charity”.

This is where the bible can be so helpful.  In my early years, when the only translation of the bible was the good old King James Authorised Version, I struggled to really understand its beautiful, flowery yet often incomprehensible out-dated language. My copy sat on my bedroom bookshelf gathering dust. As the years went by and I met other Christians through my University Christian Union and was introduced to more modern versions of the bible, I began to understand more and more of the scriptures until I realised that many of the messages contained still have great relevance today. 

The more I read and the more I see of our changing world the more I see the important messages of scripture. It is probably a combination of age and dare I say increasing wisdom, at least I like to think it’s the latter, that makes me now appreciate its messages. But the messages are, for the most part simple – like today’s message from Paul – be compassionate, kind, humble, meek, and patient.  If you are genuinely these things, people will see them in you and you will be a true evangelist, spreading the word of scripture by what you do, think, and behave.  Praise be to God!     

Amen                                                                                              MFB/153/21102020

SERMON 152 - SUNDAY 11 OCTOBER 2020

 

Sermon on 18^th Sunday after Trinity  -  Clarendon Team Service during Coronvirus Restrictions   –  Sunday 11th October 2020

Philippians 4:1-9

In our reading this morning from Paul’s letter to the Christians in Philippi, we hear some very familiar words – the words probably made even more familiar to any of those of you who have sung in a sacred choir.  Indeed Henry Purcell’s setting of the words “Rejoice in the Lord always” is one of my most favourite anthems which I sang on many occasions in my youth in a church choir in Lincolnshire and indeed in Lincoln Cathedral itself.

But for many, in these days of pandemic, we can be forgiven for thinking these words being rather hollow.  What, actually, is there to rejoice about?  The world which we have known and felt secure with for most of our lives seems to be falling apart. 

In fact, Paul’s situation when he wrote this relatively short letter, was far from one of safety and comfort.  He was actually “in chains”, in prison yet he sought to write a letter of warning to his fellow Christians – for that, for the most part, is what this letter is.  His letter begins with a prayer of love and joy for its recipients because he has been well pleased with their spiritual growth but he is also anxious that they do not fall by the wayside and that their Christian growth continues. The Philippians are living in a city fiercely loyal to Rome and their pagan ways and so Paul, who is suffering in prison, is wanting to give encouragement to the Christian community to carry on with the good work and longs for them to enjoy progressively richer and deeper spiritual knowledge which will mould their lives to God’s pattern. 

Chapter 4, in particular, is a cry of encouragement despite the culture and difficulties of the day.  Despite the fact that this letter was written to a Christian community nearly two thousand years ago it could have been written to us only yesterday.

It seems from the first couple of verses read this morning that two Philippian Christian women, Euodia and Syntyche have quarrelled.  Since Paul is dealing with this in a public letter it would appear that it was probably more than a private squabble.  It suggests that they were probably two of the church’s leaders (co-workers) and so their differences could put the whole Christian community in jeopardy. Paul urges the whole church to help them resolve their differences for the benefit of the community at large.  We do not know what the disagreement was about but Paul’s next line, the “rejoice in the Lord always …” suggests that he is imploring his readers to act with gentleness and compassion so that others outside of the Christian community can see the special way, the Christian way, humankind should act.

In Verse 4 he reminds them (and us) that the Lord is always near and that we should not worry about anything.  We simply need to pray about things but in every request we make we should also give thanks for what we have already received – indeed, God’s gift of his only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Prayer, supplication and thanksgiving – they are all intrinsically interwoven.

In the last two verses of today’s reading, Paul exhorts his readers to think and concentrate,  at all times, on those things which are true, honourable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent.  We should keep on acting and living our lives with these things always at the forefront of all we do.

Today we seem to live in a world of falsehoods – at least with the proliferation of social media it is becoming increasingly difficult to discern truth from falsehood. We seem to be becoming increasingly polarised in our views.  What is one person’s truth seems to be another’s fake news. The media bombard us daily with negatives, for bad news sells better than good.  If we go with the flow of negatives then that is precisely where we will end up – negatively, having nothing to rejoice about, wrapped up in our own misery and desolation.

The antidote to all this is quite simple – we need to continually count our blessings – to pray the prayer of thanksgiving – to remember all those good things which God has done.  I found that helpful recently on my week’s break in the Lake District.  Forgetting all the bad news in the media, it was so therapeutic just to look upon those massive Cumbrian Mountains which have been there for millions of years and to feel part of God’s wonderful creation;  to walk upon those fells and commune with nature.  Paul’s words came flooding back and I found myself inwardly humming the words of Purcell’s Anthem, the words with which Paul exhorts us to live our lives – “Rejoice in the Lord Always, and again I say rejoice!”  We do indeed have so much to rejoice about.

Amen

MFB/152/11102020