Sermon
delivered at All Saints Church, Whiteparish – Sunday 12th July 2015
Job 4:1; 5:6-27; Psalm 66; Romans 15:14-29
May
I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and may these words be a
blessing to all who hear them. Amen
Although a “dyed in the
wool” Anglican, I have been much impressed by the writings and sayings and
actions of our current pope, Francis, whose name was well chosen and recently I
acquired this little book of daily reflections entitled “A Year with Pope
Francis”. It is full of very wise
reflections mainly taken from his much larger works.
Today’s reflection, very
much dovetails with the reading we had from Job in its thinking that we, as
humans, can easily lose sight of the fact that God is there always and it is by
his will and guidance that our lives should be structured. Today’s reflection reads as follows:-
“Many
men and women are experiencing more and more today serious lowliness and
neglect as a result of their excessive zeal for autonomy which they inherited
from modernity; but mostly they lost the support of something that transcends
them”.
In simpler terms, Pope
Francis reflects that lowliness (and perhaps a form of loneliness too) and
neglect arises when we try and go it alone – to forget our spirtuality and believe
that we are able to solve problems and undertake great tasks without the
support of the one whom we Christians believe is behind everything – our
Creator. Those who are bereft of his
support, because they do not seek it or believe it exists, are missing
something wonderful and great.
In our reading from Job,
Job’s comforter, Eliphaz, reminds the poor beleaguered hero of that Old
Testament book that if he were in Job’s shoes he would appeal to God and and
lay his cause before him – in other words, just as Pope Francis is pointing out
in his reflection, there is one to whom you can press your suit, one who will
listen and to whom your burden can be shared.
Eliphaz reminds job, also,
that God is capable of immense power and can perform wonders which cannot
either be counted or comprehended. His power is such that the plans or the
craftiest can be thwarted. Indeed
wonderful words from the comforter to the afflicted.
How often have we ourselves
felt in a low or desperate place or situation?
Having Faith does not mean that you shouldn’t feel low or dejected at
times. All of us have or will experience
great times of despair and wonder what life or death is all about – especially
at times of grieving. What we as
Christians can be sure of, though, is that we are never alone at those times.
We have a great comforter in Jesus Christ who endured the lowest of times,
abandoned by his close friends, falsely accused by the church he grew up in,
handed over to a foreign occupying power and horribly put to death after
further torture. As God’s own true Son,
God himself understands our pain and suffering at those low times and he hurts
along with us.
Pope Francis is not saying
that there will be no bad times but he is saying that more and more people are
finding it hard to cope because they do not put their trust and faith in that
“which transcends them”. In other words
they have nothing to put their trust and faith in when their earthly colleagues
and things let them down.
When I was a boy I remember
making a wonky bookcase – largely because I didn’t follow closely the
instructions of my woodwork teacher but used a chisel which took off more wood
than was needed. Nevertheless I felt I
had achieved something. It worked provided I didn’t stand the books
upright! I was therefore quite upset
when my father, a much more skilled woodworker than I ever could be, set about
“de-wonkying” it – if there is such a word.
However, it did teach me a lesson, not to be so arrogant or proud as not
to listen, learn and watch. I haven’t
attempted any more bookcases – other than those which come in flat packs from
IKEA – and they are challenging enough – but I did understand there are times
when you just have to hand over a bad situation to your Father (God in this
analogy) and he will put it right. God
wants us to prosper and not fail – like my father with the bookcase – he will
show us and guide us if we pray about things and ask for his help. He will then bless us and we should bless him
too.
We often say “God Bless” as
a matter of course but do we really ever stop and think what it is we are
actually asking? It is, in effect, a short prayer for the other person. Go ahead now and say it to the person next to
you. “God Bless”. You have just said an
short open prayer for them. Everyone
here tonight has been prayed for individually that God will sned their blessing
on them.
Our Psalm. 66, is all about
praising God and thanking him for his blessings. Such rich and wonderful words
– as with Job’s comforter, this song is reminding us of the extent and depth of
God’s wondrous deeds! The psalmist describes how he came through such dreadful
times yet God helped him triumph. The
bible is just so full of such great illustrations of God’s triumphant ways. Yes, as followers of Christ we are not immune
to trials and tribulations but we can weather the storm when we have Jesus on
board – just as the disciples weathered the storm on the lake with Jesus in the
boat.
In our second reading, from
Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, the theme continues with Paul reminding
his audience that they are already blessed with the knowledge of God’s good
grace and that it extends not just to those of the Jewish faith but to all –
the Gentiles as well, as he puts it. Again he refers to signs and wonders performed
by Jesus to illustrate the mighty and wondrous power of God which Job’s
comforter talks about, and that it is the duty of all followers of Christ to
proclaim the good news of the gospel so that those who have not yet heard of
God’s wonderful power may have an opportunity to do so.
In a world so troubled as
ours there is so much scope to tell people of the wonderful grace which our
Faith teaches us. This is probably why
areas of Africa and China are growing in the Faith to the extent they are in
the face of opposition and oppression. There are also so many people here in
the United Kingdom who have lost the support of that which transcends them.
This week, make a point of saying that short prayer, “God Bless”, to somebody new every day hoping that they will indeed
be blessed with the knowledge of God’s good grace through the Holy Spirit.
Amen
MFB/60
No comments:
Post a Comment