Sermon
at All Saints Church, Whiteparish, Salisbury – Evening Book of Common Prayer -
Sunday 8 February 2015
Psalm 65; Genesis 2:4b-end;
Luke 8:22-35
May
I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen
Psalm 65, which we said
tonight says it all I think. A wonderful
hymn of praise which reminds us all that God is in complete control; his
strength sets fast the mountains and stills the raging of the seas. The earth and all that is in it was made by
him. Creation was his and he continues to
bless it by providing all that is necessary for our survival. It is, in fact Mankind, the steward of this
Creation, and not God who is likely to bring about its downfall and
destruction.
I was brought up in Grimsby in
the 1950s and 1960s when it was described in all the gazetteers as “the largest
fishing port in the world” and as far as I was concerned it was the centre of
the Universe. The town exuded a richness
of culture and neighbourliness so typical of fishing communities and its size
meant that this neighbourliness extended to a population of nearly 100,000 – in
fact in excess of 100,000 – nearer 130,000 - when including the town resort of
Cleethorpes. Yet despite the wealth and
prosperity generated by this commercial fishing and accompanying food
processing industries (it was the home of the fish finger) it never lost its
sense of community and helpfulness towards others. Nobody was expected to go (nor did go) hungry
– fish was in plentiful supply from the Icelandic and Barents deep seas – mainly
haddock – and was used, very often, as a kind of currency when odd jobs and
favours where done. I recall boarding a
trolleybus at Riby Square and seeing the lumpers going home wearing their clogs
and carrying hessian bags dripping fish juice on the floor and changing the
smell of the bus from a smoky cigarette one to a smoked fish smell.
The town would go into deep
mourning and a sense of empathy and sympathy would fall over the community
whenever a trawler was lost at sea – a not infrequent occurrence. Communities would draw together in prayer and
practical help. Deep sea fishing is
without doubt up there with coal mining as one of the most dangerous of
occupations. I come from a long line of
trawler skippers and my own grandfather lost his ship in a hazardous blizzard
off the north coast of Iceland just a few days before Hitler came to power in
January 1933. Treacherous waters and
sudden gales and blizzards would spring up – just as in our second reading this
evening.
The role of the Chaplain to the
Deep Sea Mission was a well-respected though feared one because whenever the
chaplain called at a house it was usually to impart grave news of the loss of a
ship or a particular crew member – usually falling overboard or fatally injured
on the icy deck. Large funerals attended
by fellow fishermen, trawler owners and skippers and family and friends were a
regular occurrence and a drawing together of the community a wonderful though
sad sight.
Recently my home town has
featured in a series of programmes entitle “Skint” which was a “fly on the
wall” documentary looking into the lives of the less fortunate members of
society in Grimsby – those who are unemployed, homeless, drug addicts, youths
with little prospects or purpose in life – whom society has shunned. It was remarkable to me, that many of these
were receiving little help today from the community – largely I think because
following the decline of the deep sea fishing industry after the Cod War, there
was such an enormous increase in unemployment (fishermen never had the same
employment protection enjoyed by their landside colleagues) and consequent
poverty. Terraced streets were pulled
down to make way for high rise flats which have brought with them further problems.
However, springing up from quite
close by these flats is a youth centre called “Shalom” run by an aging cleric
who has made it his late life’s ambition to give whatever welcome and hope he
can to these less fortunate members of society who will find it hard to make a
way in the world. The centre is somewhat similar to the youth centres run
locally here in Salisbury by Alabare. A
safe haven where young people can meet in safety and fun – such has been its
success that many of those self-same youths who have used the Centre have now
themselves become volunteer workers there. It is, I think, a wonderful witness
to our true Christian beliefs that it is the church and this aging cleric who
have given life hope to these otherwise hopeless people.
Our first reading this evening
is also known as the second account of Creation and varies from the first (in
Genesis 1) in a fundamental detail and was written later. Many people (myself included until I started
my ministry training) didn’t realise that there were two accounts of Creation
in the bible. I will dwell on just one
major difference this evening. In
Genesis 1, God is stated to create Man and woman at the same time and in effect
gives them equal status yet in Genesis 2, read out this evening, Woman is
created out of Man and was probably inserted later by the early church founders
to emphasize woman’s subservient place to man as understood by the customs and
culture around at that time – some 1500 BC. It is therefore important, in my
view and that of some theologians more eminent than me, that we read the bible
carefully remembering the context in which the scripture was written and
applying it to today’s views and needs; but the remarkable thing is that it
does still speak to us today and we can apply what David was saying in Psalm 65
to today’s modern world where we often try to control our planet and each other
and our combined destiny’s against the will of God. In Psalm 33 the psalmist says “God brings the
counsel of nations to nought, He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no
effect. The counsel of God stands firm for ever. The thoughts of his heart to all
generations.”
In other words by putting our
trust and faith in God alone we are putting our trust and faith in an
unchanging counsel. The more we seek to
change things away from the principle Christian messages/commandments “Love God
with all your Heart” and “Love your neighbour as yourself” the more we are
moving away from Gods good counsel and what he is wanting us to do. Therefore again I find it very allegorical to
observe that despite the wide destruction of the community and community spirit
in my hometown of Grimsby there is a little oasis of Christian love and
fellowship which is making a huge difference to the lives of those who would otherwise suffer more. A Christian organisation, demonstrating
Christian values and virtues.
Jesus himself lived close to an
important fishing community by the Sea of Galilee. Although an inland fresh water lake as
opposed to the deep salt water ocean around Iceland, it nevertheless had some
characteristics of it colder more northern cousin. Because of winds that can funnel along the
gorges of the River Jordan, violent storms can quickly occur which can sink the
quite flimsy fishing boats on the lake.
We don’t know, from the
passage, why Jesus suddenly decided to cross over the lake in the boat but he
was quite content to sleep down below leaving his fellow fishermen disciples to
navigate the boat across. It must have
been a humdinger of a storm because the fishermen must have been used to the
sudden unpredictability of the weather but, on this occasion, they were in fear
of their lives and the safety of their boat.
Jesus’s response to their fears is to say all they need to do is have
faith in God and all will be well – back to the theme of Psalm 65 – God takes
control. And this is precisely what
happened.
Some facts before I close. Six million children under five die every
year of starvation? One out of seven
people goes to bed hungry every night? The
three richest people on the planet have more collective wealth than the
combined gross national product of the world's forty-eight poorest countries?
General Booth, who founded the Salvation Army, said, 'How can you convince a
man of the love of God if his feet are perishing with the cold?'
Today’s modern world is one
where we are becoming less and less community orientated – other than within
those newly created electronically ones – YouTwitFace or whatever , and have lost sight of the
three messages which tonight’s two readings and psalm clearly communicate : the
praise the one and only True God, to acknowledge him as creator and owner of
the world and all creation and to be in community with your fellow human beings
- loving them as he has, does and will always love us. This is the faith of our church, this is our
faith.
Let us pray:-
Our
God,
In
this world which seems so busy and with so many things to do
We
ask that you make us stop each day to think about others.
To
drop a tear of sympathy for those less fortunate than ourselves,
To
pray for them, talk to them and be a willing ear to their sorrows,
To
consider what we can do for them from our resources and to put these into
action,
Remembering
that those same resources truly belong to you- we being mere custodians for a
period
To
continue to praise, honour and adore you and treat others as you have treated
and blessed us. Through Jesus Christ your Son and our Saviour.
Amen
MFB/Sermon/54
