Sermon on 18th Sunday
after Trinity - Clarendon Team Service during Coronvirus
Restrictions – Sunday 11th October 2020
Philippians
4:1-9
In our
reading this morning from Paul’s letter to the Christians in Philippi, we hear
some very familiar words – the words probably made even more familiar to any of
those of you who have sung in a sacred choir.
Indeed Henry Purcell’s setting of the words “Rejoice in the Lord always”
is one of my most favourite anthems which I sang on many occasions in my youth
in a church choir in Lincolnshire and indeed in Lincoln Cathedral itself.
But for
many, in these days of pandemic, we can be forgiven for thinking these words
being rather hollow. What, actually, is
there to rejoice about? The world which
we have known and felt secure with for most of our lives seems to be falling
apart.
In fact,
Paul’s situation when he wrote this relatively short letter, was far from one
of safety and comfort. He was actually
“in chains”, in prison yet he sought to write a letter of warning to his fellow
Christians – for that, for the most part, is what this letter is. His letter begins with a prayer of love and
joy for its recipients because he has been well pleased with their spiritual
growth but he is also anxious that they do not fall by the wayside and that
their Christian growth continues. The Philippians are living in a city fiercely
loyal to Rome and their pagan ways and so Paul, who is suffering in prison, is
wanting to give encouragement to the Christian community to carry on with the
good work and longs for them to enjoy progressively richer and deeper spiritual
knowledge which will mould their lives to God’s pattern.
Chapter 4,
in particular, is a cry of encouragement despite the culture and difficulties
of the day. Despite the fact that this
letter was written to a Christian community nearly two thousand years ago it
could have been written to us only yesterday.
It seems
from the first couple of verses read this morning that two Philippian Christian
women, Euodia and Syntyche have quarrelled.
Since Paul is dealing with this in a public letter it would appear that
it was probably more than a private squabble.
It suggests that they were probably two of the church’s leaders
(co-workers) and so their differences could put the whole Christian community
in jeopardy. Paul urges the whole church to help them resolve their differences
for the benefit of the community at large.
We do not know what the disagreement was about but Paul’s next line, the
“rejoice in the Lord always …” suggests that he is imploring his readers to act
with gentleness and compassion so that others outside of the Christian
community can see the special way, the Christian way, humankind should act.
In Verse 4
he reminds them (and us) that the Lord is always near and that we should not
worry about anything. We simply need to
pray about things but in every request we make we should also give thanks for
what we have already received – indeed, God’s gift of his only Son, our
Saviour, Jesus Christ. Prayer, supplication and thanksgiving – they are all
intrinsically interwoven.
In the last
two verses of today’s reading, Paul exhorts his readers to think and
concentrate, at all times, on those things
which are true, honourable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent. We should keep on acting and living our lives
with these things always at the forefront of all we do.
Today we
seem to live in a world of falsehoods – at least with the proliferation of
social media it is becoming increasingly difficult to discern truth from
falsehood. We seem to be becoming increasingly polarised in our views. What is one person’s truth seems to be
another’s fake news. The media bombard us daily with negatives, for bad news
sells better than good. If we go with
the flow of negatives then that is precisely where we will end up – negatively,
having nothing to rejoice about, wrapped up in our own misery and desolation.
The antidote
to all this is quite simple – we need to continually count our blessings – to
pray the prayer of thanksgiving – to remember all those good things which God
has done. I found that helpful recently
on my week’s break in the Lake District.
Forgetting all the bad news in the media, it was so therapeutic just to
look upon those massive Cumbrian Mountains which have been there for millions
of years and to feel part of God’s wonderful creation; to walk upon those fells and commune with
nature. Paul’s words came flooding back
and I found myself inwardly humming the words of Purcell’s Anthem, the words
with which Paul exhorts us to live our lives – “Rejoice in the Lord Always, and
again I say rejoice!” We do indeed have
so much to rejoice about.
Amen
MFB/152/11102020
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