SERMON 209 - WEDNESDAY 25 DECEMBER 2024 - CHRISTMAS DAY

Sermon at All Saint’s Church, Farley - Christmas Day Morning Communion – Sunday 25 December 2024

Luke 2:1-20 

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

“Are you all prepared for today’s celebration? Turkey in the oven, potatoes and brussels pealed, presents opened already or under the tree waiting to be unwrapped? Prosecco in the fridge chilling?  Do you know what films you will be watching after the King’s Speech or games you will be playing?”

That is how I started my Christmas Day sermon last year when I led the service here and it is a great privilege to be back with you on this very special day.

Christmas is a time of great joy, expectancy and celebration. Yet, all too often, we lose ourselves in the preparations and miss the sacredness of the season. Why does it matter? Because it’s this holiday on which we honour the birth of our Saviour. It’s this time of year when people are open to the things of God. And it’s precisely this season when Christians most often lose sight of what’s available to them in Christ Jesus.

We are all people created in God’s image. We have access to his presence and his promises. So why all the strain and stress? Dare we ask ourselves what honestly matters most to us this Christmas?

God invites us to push away the clutter, turn down the noise and offer him the sacred space in our lives so that the King of Glory may enter, take up residence and radically change us from the inside out. We can race through our holiday season more stressed than blessed or we can slow down, ponder the reality of Christ within us and respond to his miraculous work. 

So why not step out of the hustle-bustle of the season. Find a quiet place during this busy time to rest and reflect. What comes to the surface for you? How have the disappointments and detours of this past year impacted you? Are you mad? Sad? Expectant and glad? Most of us tend to loosen our grip when we lose heart, yet this is precisely the time to lean in, engage our faith and dare to believe that our Saviour is also a healer.

At that first Christmas, God sent Jesus into the world as a Man, to be God himself incarnate to dwell among us and after His, resurrection and ascension Jesus went on to leave the Holy Spirit in each and everyone of us willing to accept and acknowledge Him. To truly live within us.

In fact, it is good to remember that God sent Jesus into the world for all Human Kind not just the chosen.  I was reminded, only a few days ago by a non-Christian fellow astronomer that whilst she wasn’t “religious”, as she put it, she fully believed that as all Humankind as far as we know will be found in only one place in the Cosmos, on this tiny planet Earth, we should all work together as a Team not divided by greed, envy, conflict, poverty, race, creed, colour or any of the other many things which separate us.

The one great message or result of Christmas, the coming of Christ, is that it is meant to banish one word from our language, “them”. There should no longer be “them and us” anymore.  To illustrate this, I would just like to share the following with you to reflect upon over this next week:

The twentieth-century English mystic Caryll Houselander (1901–1954) describes how an ordinary underground train journey in London transformed into a powerful vision of Christ dwelling in all people: 

“I was in an underground train, a crowded train in which all sorts of people jostled together, sitting and strap-hanging—workers of every description going home at the end of the day. Quite suddenly I saw with my mind, but as vividly as a wonderful picture, Christ in them all. But I saw more than that; not only was Christ in every one of them, living in them, dying in them, rejoicing in them, sorrowing in them—but because He was in them, and because they were here, the whole world was here too … all those people who had lived in the past, and all those yet to come.  

Houselander’s vision of the intimate presence of Christ in each person continued as she walked along the city streets:  

I came out into the street and walked for a long time in the crowds. It was the same here, on every side, in every passer-by, everywhere—Christ…. 

I saw too the reverence that everyone must have for a sinner; instead of condoning [their] sin, which is in reality [their] utmost sorrow, one must comfort Christ who is suffering in [them]. And this reverence must be paid even to those sinners whose souls seem to be dead, because it is Christ, who is the life of the soul, who is dead in them; they are His tombs, and Christ in the tomb is potentially the risen Christ…. 

Christ is everywhere; in Him every kind of life has a meaning and has an influence on every other kind of life…. Realization of our oneness in Christ is the only cure for human loneliness. For me, too, it is the only ultimate meaning of life, the only thing that gives meaning and purpose to every life. 

After a few days the “vision” faded. People looked the same again, there was no longer the same shock of insight for me each time I was face to face with another human being. Christ was hidden again; indeed, through the years to come I would have to seek for Him, and usually I would find Him in others—and still more in myself—only through a deliberate and blind act of faith.”

 

This Christmas and New Year we see the world in chaos and the potential escalation of many local conflicts in the Middle East and Eastern Europe into a major war. We daily read in our newspapers, hear on our radios and see on our screens, the inhumanity of Humanity. We hear and view the dreadful news coming from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Ukraine and many other parts of the world and the triumph of brutal and tyrannical leaders.

The king of the universe is not a tyrannical leader. He’s the saviour of the world. Although we hear the Christmas story every year, again and again, it isn’t old news. It’s good news. It’s now news! Salvation isn’t just an addendum to the end of our life and Christmas isn’t just a quaint little story with shepherds and wise men coming to a stable in Bethlehem. When Jesus was born, God’s kingdom came to earth! so we ought to celebrate with joy. Give meaningful gifts to those you love. Enjoy a good party. But refuse to let the commercialism of Christmas quench the true spirit of this earth-shaking holiday season. Jesus came, and he's coming again.  Let us worship the king of glory, for he has done great things.   Let us also worship him by the way we speak and act towards others over this Christmas period.

Giving gifts to the already rich is, well, fine. But offering gifts to those who cannot repay you is sacred. In the period between Christmas and New Year why not give generously and thoughtfully to someone who doesn’t expect a gift from you. Perhaps somebody who hasn’t been kind to you during the year? Surprise them with the goodness of God. Scripture reminds us that he’s good to everyone and by doing this you are really showing God’s grace in action.

When we set out to be a serious follower of Christ, we’ll often find a thousand excuses to tend to temporary things as though they’re the most important things in the world. But eternal rewards come from eternal priorities. We need to think higher, see deeper. Repeatedly, Jesus urged people to open their eyes and see the coming kingdom. See the story God is writing on the earth through us because of Jesus. Our current season is packed with eternal possibilities to do so.

We can and should change our focus, determine our pace, adjust our priorities and this could be our most life-giving Christmas yet. Whether we already walk intimately with Jesus or see him more like a distant relative, we can be assured, as illustrated in Caryll Houselander’s vision that he’s very near and that he came to redeem every aspect of who we are. That was the greatest gift ever given at Christmas – the birth of Jesus Christ, God Incarnated, in that humble stable in the Holy Land.  Let there be no more “them and us” but just “us”.

Now that is really something to celebrate and reflect upon over these coming days.

Have a great day, enjoy being with family and friends over this holiday period, and yes do eat, drink and be merry in celebration but do use this time also to tell somebody about the true meaning of Christmas and the wonderful good news which is there for everyone and is the real reason for our celebrations.

A very Happy Christmas to you all.

 

 

Susie Larson (who inspired this sermon through a daily devotional piece written by her) is a bestselling author, speaker and host of Susie Larson Live. She is the author of more than 20 books and devotionals, and her Daily Blessings reach over half a million people each week on social media. She and her husband, Kevin, have three children, a growing bunch of grandchildren and a pit bull named Memphis.

 

Amen                                                                                                 MFB/209/22122024

SERMON 208 - SUNDAY 15 DECEMBER 2024 - ADVENT 3

Sermon at St. Mary’s Church, Alderbury  – Advent 3  – Sunday 15 December 2024

Luke 3:7-18

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and may these words be yours Lord, and may you bless all who hear them. Amen.

A Dutch theologian, Johannes Halkendijk, tells this story that took place World War:-

“During the Nazi occupation of Holland, the Nazis planned to deport Jewish children to concentration camps. A Dutch resistant group had been formed and one arm of this resistance decided to do what they could to save these children. A group of 300 people, children and resistance leaders, were gathered together and were hiding. What they did not know was that someone in their own group had betrayed them to the Nazis. They were found and taken to a detention centre. There they heard that they would be taken, not to a concentration camp, but to a crematorium where they would be killed. When the day to be taken away came, both Christian resistance leaders and Jewish children boarded the same cattle cars together, to share the same fate. The trip lasted a few days. One morning, just after sunrise, the train stopped and word was given that they were to get out of the train. They got out, expecting to find themselves surrounded by guards. Instead, they were standing in the middle of a pasture. They were not in Germany or Poland, but in Switzerland. The train, while it was taking them to their death, had been taken over and liberated during the night. As a result, these 300 people, were not recipients of the death they expected, but of a new life.”

"Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand". This is the message that John the Baptist proclaimed by the Jordan some 2,000 years ago. It is a message that we still see on signs today. "You better change, or else."  I feel the same when I view signs often seen on posts outside some evangelical free churches or as carried by street preachers which say "The wages of sin are death". Nothing is wrong with these words, they are God’s word and are true. But by themselves, without a word of explanation, they may offer as little hope as the train ride did for the resistance leaders and children back on that train. At least that is how many people feel about the message of repentance.

And yet as verses 18 tells us, John exhorted the people and preached good news to them. For the message of repentance, when understood properly is not a ride to a death camp but a ride to a pasture of new life.

The key words in this passage of scripture we heard today are contained in the question posed to John the Baptist by the crowd when, after being called a brood of vipers who hadn’t seemed to have changed their ways in years, ask the question which I think we would all ask in such circumstances “So what are we to do then?”  Indeed, it is a good an honest question. We can talk about repentance, we can even study the Greek name for it “metanoia” which the Blue Letter Bible translates as “a change in one’s way of life resulting from penitence or spiritual conversion” or, simply put, “a change of heart”.  I have also heard it defined as being a turning around suggesting going back to a way in which we may have behaved before.

What are we to do, then to repent and become saved?

John gives the answer in great detail – in summary he says: share what you have with those who have not, both food and clothing; don’t exhort money asking for more than is due – John emphasises that even the tax-collectors who were despised by the Jewish people of the day can be baptised and repent. Indeed, many of the examples given were echoed by Jesus in his later ministry and often this passage is confused with being spoken by Jesus himself.

John tells the crowd that the time is coming when Jesus will baptise with the Holy Spirit not just with water – a true infilling of the Holy Spirit leading to a direct connection and communication with God.

Indeed, later, when asked by the elders what was the most important of the Commandments given to Moses, Jesus responded that there were two – the second of which was to love and treat one another as God loves u and as we would have others treat us.

Throughout my years of ministry, it is this second Commandment upon which I have preached the most and will continue to do so until the day my ministry ends.

Unlike the crowd being addressed by John in this passage of scripture, through the life and ministry of Jesus and his great sacrifice upon the Cross, we already have the Holy spirit within us and, as Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 2:16) we now have the mind of Jesus which means it should be automatic and natural to do all those things which John says we need to do to repent. Therefore, by spreading the good news, as John did, we hope to make others understand and want to act in this way.

We are told that this is precisely what John did - he exhorted the people and preached the good news to them in the very last verse, and we as good Christians are called upon to do that in our daily lives by the way we speak, act and direct. So this Advent and Christmas tide, what are you going to do and how well are we prepared to do it?

May the Lord bless you with peace and joy this Christ time.

Amen                                                                                                 MFB/208/13122024

SERMON 207 - SUNDAY 8 DECEMBER 2024 - ADVENT 2

Sermon at St. John’s Church, West Grimstead and Farley All Saints’ Church – Advent 2  – Sunday 8 December 2024

Luke 3:1-6

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and may these words be yours Lord, and may you bless all who hear them. Amen.

A few years ago, I was asked to give a talk and lead a stargazing session at West Dean Social Club’s Midsummer Evening’s Party.  Not a great date to go stargazing as it doesn’t get dark until 11 p.m. and then not entirely dark enough for astronomers to do much work.  However, people did stay on after an excellent Middle-Eastern supper (the theme was the Arabian Nights). 

As daylight began to fade and twilight approached somebody asked me what the bright star in the west was.  It was the planet Venus and I knew this because it was expected to appear shortly after sunset in the west; but try as I might I could not see it for myself. I later on discovered that I had the beginning of cataracts which is no good ailment for an astronomer and as time went on, I discovered more and more that my fellow stargazers could see things with their naked eye, and even through optical instruments, which evaded my sight.

Earlier this week, on Tuesday morning in fact, I had the cataract in my left eye removed with a replacement lens and 36 hours later I was amazed at how my sight had improved. Things were sharp, objects which before had appeared a light grey were revealed to be brilliant blue, I no longer required spectacles except for reading and on Thursday night I was able to try out my new eye on the wonders of the celestial heavens and to my amazement I could See zillions of stars more in my left eye than my right. I now can’t wait to get the right eye fixed too.

I started to reflect upon how my eyesight had slowly gone downhill.  Like the brakes on a car, as they wear down so we adjust by putting that extra pressure with our foot on the pedal to compensate. Likewise with our eyes, we turn up the brilliance on our devices and the lights in our houses. I also took to wearing stronger reading glasses. We make adjustments in our selves rather than tackle the problem at its root cause and we allow ourselves to be convinced that we can manage and adjust to the changing circumstances.

In our Gospel Reading this morning, we heard the now very familiar story of the ministry of Jesus’s cousin, John the Baptist who, we learn, went into all the region around the Jordan to proclaim a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins and to proclaim the coming of Christ, the Messiah as foretold by the prophet Isaiah some hundreds of years previously.

Back then, the world seemed to reject God as we read in the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi.  I do recommend you read it as, in many ways, it seems to foretell how our world is today – lacking any enthusiasm for God our Creator and treating Faith as an irrelevance when we can take control of our own destiny.  Today’s world seems to be about image and control, and money and wealth of course; and so it was back then.

I celebrated my seventieth birthday last year. I have lived more than my three score years and ten and during that period I have seen enormous changes in the world and in this country in particular; probably none more so than attitudes towards the Church.

In recent weeks our own Anglican Communion has been beset by scandals and issues which have rocked its very being. We seem to be on the verge of another schism.  I have even been approached by members of a different denomination enquiring why and how I can stay within the Church of England when it seems to be so unbiblical?

My response is that my strength continues to lie in my Faith which is founded on the Gospel of the Good News of Jesus coming into the world, to lighten and brighten it.  To save the sinners, to comfort the poor and to bring God’s Kingdom to Earth.

As I have discovered over the last few days, by placing my trust into the hands of medical experts and an eye surgeon, in effect having faith in him, I have been brought into the light of the world, literally, which had become darkened for so long because I “coped” with the malady on my own.

John the Baptist, appeared during the period of waiting for the Light of World to appear and he encouraged people to repent and be saved through baptism. Likewise, as we wait for Christmas, during this period of Advent reflections, let us think about how we might have contributed towards or ignored any darkening in our own lives by not reaching out for the lantern which is Jesus Christ.  In the words of Psalm 119:105: –

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path; it shows me the way wherein I should go, both night and day”.

We light candles on the Advent Wreath as a reminder of that light. In some churches we would also have had individual candles to remind us that as Christians it is our duty to carry that light of salvation – the way we should go – to all we meet in our daily lives.

Whenever we stray¸ when the world seems dark and cruel, when we feel we can no longer see God, remember he is all around us and by accepting Him and following Him we are in communication with God our Creator who made all things – from the tiniest of living creatures on Earth to the vastness of the Universe itself.  As John the Baptist told us, we need only repent of our sins to be cleansed. If we all followed that mantra then I am certain the world would be a better place.

Just as that cataract of dimness was removed from my eye, so through the adherence of our Faith, so the dimness in our lives can be removed and replaced by the glorious light of Christ’s Kingdom on Earth.

And, just before I end, you might be interested to learn that this Christmas there will be two “Stars of Bethlehem”. On Christmas Eve, it will be possible to see the planet Venus in the West at Sunset at the same time of being able to see the bright planet Jupiter in the East.

Wishing you all a Happy Advent and Festive Season ahead.

 

Amen                                                                                                 MFB/207/06122024