SERMON 4 - SUNDAY 11 MARCH 2012

SERMON 4 -  SUNDAY 11 MARCH 2012 - St. Mary's Hall, Whaddon

Exodus 5.1-6.1; Matthew 10:4b-14

What sort of a day have you had today?  I guess a good one as it is Sunday, the Sun is shining, Southampton won their match yesterday and you have so been looking forward all week to coming to church this evening haven’t you?!  Okay you don’t need to answer that one!  So, what sort of a week have you had?  Have all your days been great?  Fulfilling?  Enjoyable?  Or, like me, have you had some pretty frustrating and stress filled ones too!  Days when you can’t get on with things because other less important ones – to you that is – seem to take priority – or you get those annoying phone calls asking you to claim against insurance policies you never had or wanting to sell you double glazing which you already have! I can tell you I am tempted to say quite a few un-Christian words to those people!  Perhaps a day or a period when you haven’t done something you should have done for fear of getting it wrong or making a mess of it, or not speaking for it or against it – sometimes that’s me also!

Well, having a faith, being a Christian is never easy.  As I have begun my training - I’ve found that out!  Sometimes the more you delve into scripture and theological theory and reflection, the harder it all becomes and the more confused you get.  One commentator will say this about a piece of scripture, another says that.  Having just completed a module on interpreting scripture, I can tell you, there is so much more we don’t know than we think we do.

I am reminded of a young enthusiastic trainee preacher who had only recently become a Christian.  He thought he had got it all worked out – “simples” as the Meerkats would say. His first sermon went something like this – three points he wanted to make –

1.    If you are a Christian you don’t have problems but

2.    If you are a Christian and have a problem, pray about it and it will go away but

3.    If you are Christian, you pray about it and it doesn’t go away, then perhaps you’re not really a Christian which is then a bigger problem than you had to start with!

No!  Completely wrong.  Many years later, that young guy is one of the most respected preachers and authors around having written and sold umpteen theological books.  He has had plenty of problems in his personal life, including chronic depression, but speaking to him today he will tell you that he looks back on that first sermon with horror and realises that far from solving problems - being a Christian creates more problems than he might otherwise have had – but his relationship with Jesus and his general faith keeps him going and he feels safe in knowledge that God is there to protect him and guide him through the bad patches.

The bible is littered with people struggling with their faith as they go through the bad times – from Genesis to Revelation.  Job is a classic story.

In our first reading, we are back in Egypt with the Israelite slaves.  They have been set construction tasks by the Pharaoh who has cleverly put Israelite overseers in charge of their own people.  A device which has been used by countless tyrants over the centuries.  The overseers’ privileged position will be in jeopardy if they collaborate with the masses in revolution – and this is precisely what is happening here.  Moses and Aaron plan to get the Jewish people a three day religious holiday so that they can go into the wilderness to spend time with God – Yahweh.  Going into the wilderness was not, what we might think it is now, a bad thing – no, back then the wilderness was where they thought God resided and going out there was to be close to Him.  However, Moses and Aaron have a simple cunning plan – not to come back!  Pharaoh probably had wind of this and for this reason he chose to punish the people by making them undertake the same task – building bricks - but asking them to collect their own raw material – straw.  This has the effect of them taking much longer to complete the task or having to work doubly hard to complete in the time allotted.

I can’t say I’ve ever seen any straw in the walls of my brick built house - but - I did a bit of research and – I was intrigued by this, which also reminded me of the idiom – “you can’t make bricks without straw”

Many clay products require the addition of other materials to add strength and durability. In the case of bricks in OT Egypt -- river clay is usually composed of very fine particles and so would dry slowly. Adding straw would "open up" the clay, allowing it to dry more readily and so be more promptly and successfully fired. Adobe bricks used around the world are generally only sun dried but grasses, straw and other materials are added to the clay for the same basic reasons.

Pharaoh’s decree, probably predictably, had the effect of turning the overseers/foremen against Moses and Aaron who were told, in no uncertain terms:

May the LORD look upon you and judge you!  You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.

Moses, then himself wondering what had been achieved by all this, asks God why all this trouble? to which he receives the answer – Because of the nuisance they are making, God will himself make Pharaoh drive the Israelites out of Egypt.  And as we know, plagues and pestilence were released on the Egyptians.

Later, in our second reading we read that Jesus, sending out the missionary twelve, warns them that he is sending them out like sheep in the midst of wolves.  They will be persecuted and reviled because of their faith and speaking out in faith.  He says “do not worry about speaking or what to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at the right time”.

Moses suffered from a speech impediment and couldn’t quite understand why he had been chosen to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  Clearly his speeches of persuasion to Pharaoh didn’t work on their own and it required the plagues from God to speak louder. 

During Lent, quite a few groups are studying the book “Finding a Voice” by Hilary Brand which uses that highly acclaimed film, The King’s Speech, to explore the ways in which fear holds us back and examines how we, like Bertie, can face and overcome our fears and begin to find our authentic voice.  It’s a great message. 

As we reflect on our own journey of faith, this Lent, let’s ask ourselves what challenges are facing us as Christians now – what fears do we need to overcome, what tasks seem too great for us, what bricks are we being asked to make without straw? 

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.  I would add to that – it is also fear of ourselves and our own inadequacies.  On reflection, perhaps that’s the same thing.

In life we will meet bad days, days when everybody and everything seems to go against us.  The psalmist knew those days well – his songs are littered with them.  But as Christians, we should remember that everything is for a purpose – just as explained to Moses and Aaron.  Often days are bad because we don’t speak up – we allow things to get on top of us because we don’t say “stop – enough” or “no”.  We take the line of least resistance just as the overseers wanted to do. Not upset the status quo – however bad that was for the people.

But the answer is there.  Find our voice, trust in the Lord’s plan for us, overcome our fears.

Simples! 

Amen