Sermon at St. Mary’s Church, West Dean, Morning Worship - Sunday 16th May 2021
Acts
1:15-17, 21-26; 1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19
Thank you
again for your very warm welcome back here at West Dean again this
morning. It has seemed very strange to
have been away for so long but like so many of you, Liz and I have been anxious
to ensure that we remain well and take no unnecessary risks during this
pandemic. Last week we both received our
second vaccinations and I must admit to feeling much more relaxed now. It has been wonderful to see so many of you
join our online services over the last few months but we hope that we can now
return to some further semblance of normality as we move forward through 2021
and return to sharing worship together in person more regularly. I thank God for so far having come through
this pandemic safe and I continue to pray for you and your families likewise.
For me, the
Book of Acts is one of the greatest in the whole of the Bible. Written by Luke, the author of one of the
Gospels, it continues the story of Jesus and the works of those who followed
afterwards – the Apostles – and their story carries on to be our story today as
modern apostles – followers of Christ.
The way in which those original followers acted is, for me, a great
source of inspiration as to how we are expected to behave today. Each of these three readings this morning –
Acts, the First Epistle or Letter of John and our Gospel Reading from John –
remind us how we should behave in our relationship with God and also with each;
particularly as Jesus may no longer be with us here in physical form but the
Holy Spirit was left to help and guide us to continue his great work.
So what is
going on in our first reading this morning – from Acts. Well the context is
well explained, I think, in the reading itself. Following the betrayal of Jesus
by Judas Iscariot, and his subsequent suicide, the disciples are one down in
number. So what! you may ask? What was the significance of needing to have
twelve? Tom Wright, that well known
biblical scholar, suggests that it was because Jesus had chosen just twelve
disciples as being symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel. The prophets of the Old Testament had foretold
that Israel would be regathered and most of the tribes had simply disappeared
after the division of the Kingdom of Israel and the great Exile of Babylon.
Therefore, having twelve disciples was important on biblical grounds. I am not sure that I agree with Tom Wright on
this – certainly later on apostles were not replaced as several unpleasant
things happened to them, but what is significant is that the manner in which
Matthias was chosen is something we can learn today. The eleven prayed! – “Show us which one of these two you have
chosen to take the place in his ministry and apostleship from which Judas
turned aside…” As we look to appoint a new Team Vicar and new Team
Administrator there can be no better way to make the correct choice than to
pray about it. Here we have the perfect
biblical precedent. So, I ask that you continually prayer for God’s chosen to
be appointed to those important posts.
In our
second reading the apostle John, in his epistle, reminds us that having belief
is not simply about paying lip service – just relying, as he puts it, on human
testimony – it’s about having a real belief in Jesus as the Son of God, a
belief that Christ is the incarnation of God on Earth; an existential belief.
As we saw last week, the most important aspect of being a Christian is this
fundamental belief – not simply to believe in God the Father, the Creator of
all Things etc. etc. but also, as we say in the Creed, in the Son and his death
and resurrection being the creation of eternal life for us all who genuinely
and honestly believe. There can be no compromise on this belief, it’s a
non-negotiable for a Christian. John puts it even stronger “Those who do not believe in God have made
him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his
Son. Whoever has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son of God does
not have life.” Wow, how powerful is that!
Jesus does
not require us to go out on a limb though – going it alone. In our final Gospel
reading he connects with his disciples, realising that as he ascends to heaven
he is leaving his work for them to continue.
His disciples were very much “of the world” – fishermen, tax collectors,
businessmen and so on. Until called they were very much in and of this world
scratching a living from their respective professions and indeed, in the case
of Matthew, not very honestly at that! Jesus, though, acknowledges that at all
times they belonged to his Father – just as each and every one of us does,
whatever our original status or integrity - and that they were given to him by
his Father to assist him in his earthly ministry and beyond. Jesus acknowledges
that they have been transformed – that now they believe and understand why
Christ came and that there continues to be work to be done.
Jesus asks
that his Father protects them as he leaves them on their own to carry on his
ministry. “They are yours, You gave them
to me”, he prays, “now I give them
back to you into your safekeeping as I leave to join you in Heaven”. He
realises that their ministry will not be easy – and as we know many suffered
dreadful fates for their faith – that they will be hated and despised – just as
Christ was. Their situation is that, unlike Jesus, the disciples/apostles
whilst no longer being “of this world” remain “in this world” – a concept we
looked at a few weeks ago. They need
protecting just as Jesus needed his Father’s protection until it was time for
the ultimate sacrifice to be made.
So what does
this mean for us, his modern disciples? Well, we are currently in that strange
period in the Church’s calendar between Ascension and Pentecost. During that
period we have “Thy Kingdom Come” reflection time to think about what all this
means. After they said farewell to Jesus
at the Ascension the disciples were told to go back home and stay inside until
the Holy Spirit came. It must have seemed a strange state of affairs for
them. We recently have experienced
something similar – “go, stay at home until the vaccination appears”! We now
know what it is like to be under a sort of house arrest – hoping and praying
for better times. The disciples were not
sure quite what to expect or how it would end. They needed to rely
substantially on their Faith and the words of prayer spoken by Christ on their
behalf. First of all they had seen their
leader, their rabbi, tortured and executed, then resurrected and now whisked
off to Heaven. They must have felt lost and lonely.
But the
story doesn’t end there – not for them and certainly not for us. In a few weeks
we shall celebrate Pentecost – the day that the Holy Spirit entered the lives
of those self-same disciples. The
promise God made to protect and sanctify them arrived and today that promise
still exists. The Holy Spirit is there available, free of charge and delivery
without the need of Amazon, for all
who want it and truly believe in its power. Many people believe that the Holy
Spirit and miracles belong in the pages of the Bible – historical or fictional
stories. Not so! I have seen the workings of the Holy Spirit
myself and I am sure many of you too have.
Sometimes we may not recognise it at the time but then, just like when
we look at a painting on the wall from a bit of a distance, it becomes clear
and obvious.
Just like
those early apostles whom Jesus describes as being in the world but not of it,
we too should emulate that. We live and work in the world, we interact with
people in the world but because of our faith as Christians, our belief in Jesus
as the Son of God and not just a good man or prophet, we too are not of the
world but ministers of God’s heavenly world here on earth.
Let us end
with the famous quote of St. Teresa of Avila:
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no
feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with
compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.
Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the
hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, yours are his body. Christ has
no body now on earth but yours.”
Amen MFB/160/14052021
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