SERMON 51 - SUNDAY 11 JANUARY 2015

Sermon at St. John’s Parish Church, West Grimstead, Salisbury - Morning Worship - Sunday 11 January 2015

Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19:1-7;  Mark 1:4-11

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen

When I started the preparation for this sermon – on the topic of the Baptism of Christ, I did what I suspect a lot of preachers do – I went back through my old sermons to see if I had preached on it before and, if so, whether there was anything I could use again or indeed if I could preach the whole thing again.  Well, I discovered that I had indeed preached on it before, exactly one year ago, and the congregation I had preached it to was none other than yourselves.  Knowing how well attentive you all are here, at St. John’s, to the sermons preached I was confident that I could not get away with giving you the same sermon twice – you would have readily remembered what I had said last time – yes?

Today’s first reading takes us back to page one of the bible – those so well known words of the Creation story.  “In the beginning…God.” I’ll come back to that in a moment.

Did any of you attend any of the “Darkness into Light” services in the Cathedral last month? If you did, like me, you will have witnessed a wonderful spectacle as the cathedral, cloaked in darkness, gradually became filled with light from hundreds of candles – from a single candle at the west end right up to the Trinity Chapel in the east – before the Prisoners of Conscience Window. Candle upon candle was lit, down the nave and side aisles and into the transepts and chapels – filling the nooks and crannies of that wonderful medieval building with a wonderful warm glow. This was figuratively to announce the coming into the world of God incarnate – the Light of the World. In the same way that our Genesis reading this morning starts “In the beginning…” so does John’s gospel start - the same echoing of that first book of the bible.  “In the beginning was the Word” (Jesus) just as in the beginning was God – emphasising that the two are one and the same and then a little later on John announces that John the Baptist was not the “Light” but gave testimony to the “Light” – the light being of course Jesus.

It is therefore no coincidence that John chooses to commence his gospel in this way.  For many theologians, the coming of Christ into the world is seen as a Second Creation. The world which God had created had gone so horribly wrong, following the Fall and the Flood, that it needed God to come down to Earth as a man and put things right - by his three years of ministry and his ultimate atonement for our sins, past, present and future, on the Cross. 

John, like Mark, then moves immediately into the narrative of Jesus’s baptism.  Scholars readily acknowledge that the first gospel to be written was that of Mark’s and as we embark upon Year B in the Church of England’s lectionary, so Mark’s gospel will unfold in all the gospel readings we have throughout the year.  Mark’s gospel advances at an immense pace – it seems that Mark is in such a hurry to get everything recorded and written down yet unlike Matthew and Luke, there is no Christmas story – no birth narrative, no shepherds, no wise men or lowing cattle or even donkeys.  Mark plunges straight in with the reading we’ve just heard. So for both Mark and John this is a significant point in Jesus’s history on Earth – marking as it does the beginning of his ministry – the moment when God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit unite in one place on Earth – the Holy Spirit descending like a dove and God announcing that he is well pleased – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all together on Earth. 

In Genesis, we see the three together again at the First Creation – “The earth was without form and void”; “the Spirit of the God moved over the waters” and “God divided the darkness and the light”.

Let us compare that to the baptism story – The Earth was a fallen place, Man had lost his connections with God by making religious observance rather than genuine worship of greater importance. But here, right at the beginning of this New Creation we see God in the form of a man and how does he begin his ministry – with water and the Holy Spirit – demonstrating a rebirth.  Symbolically, in full immersion baptisms, there is a figurative death of old ways – “repentance” to use the word of John the Baptist as the person goes under the water and a figurative re-birth (being “born again” as the Charismatics say) as he or she is raised up out of the water.

Did Jesus (God incarnate) need to be baptised?  Well yes – to show the way to others and demonstrate the re-birth, the re-creation so necessary for our salvation.

I want to say a little bit more about light and also look at our second reading from Acts. 

In my village, Winterslow, there has been debate going on for many years now about whether or not the main roads should be street-lit.  The general consensus has been that they should not, as the darkness which descends upon the village at night, particularly at this time of year, affords such wonderful views of God’s wider creation – the wonders of the heavens – the night sky – and on good nights we can see wonderful views of the Milky Way, the Great Galaxy in Andromeda, the Great Nebula on Orion and so on.  These are light years away from us - millions of light years away in fact.  Through my telescope, for example, the furthest I have seen is 40 million light years away – a galaxy in the constellation of Leo, the Lion. I am literally looking at something as it appeared 40 million years ago. It might not even be there now!  My telescope is a time machine! As an amateur astronomer I am sometimes asked whether the massive distances and study of the cosmos, black holes, big bangs and so on test my faith as to whether there really is a God.  My answer is emphatic -  these things make me even more sure that there is a God and it also makes me feel quite important that despite the vastness of God’s Creation – the Universe and maybe beyond even that – he sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, down to planet Earth, a seeming small insignificant planet orbiting a small unremarkable star in the out reaches of one of billions of ordinary galaxies becomes he so loved our world and by implication – us!

Scientists will tell you that darkness is simply the absence of light.  You can demonstrate this quite easily when you see a shadow.  It is cast when the light source is blotted out by an object. The only way in which that shadow can be removed is either to remove the object or to provide another light source.  In the Genesis Creation story we are told that God created the light and separated it from the darkness.  In fact we now know that day and night are caused by the rotation of the Earth on its own axis which means that, at one particular point on the Equator, for 12 hours the land is pointing towards the Sun and for 12 hours the Sun has dipped below the horizon because the land is pointing away from the Sun – but the Sun is always there and if you were to travel in a space craft beyond the orbit of the Earth like the Apollo astronauts, you would see the Sun all the time (as does happen at the poles).

In the same way God created light at the Second Creation.  The Light of God was always there but humankind had placed objects (over reliance on religious observance for example) and evil to blot out that original light.  We were cut off from God and in shadow. Christ became the second light to remove those dark places and the great news is that with the Holy Spirit he is still here amongst us today shining his light into the darkest places if we will only acknowledge and believe in him.

This leads us nicely into our Second Reading from Acts.  Here we read of Paul, that new convert to Christianity, meeting up with some new believers who, following the example of Christ, had allowed themselves to be baptised like John – with water.  Paul reminds them that such baptism was an acknowledgement of repentance – that they had agreed to turn away from their sins and follow the true faith taught by Jesus Christ, John being the testimony to the light as written by John.  However, before his ascension, Jesus had promised his followers that in due course they would receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit which had descended upon him at his baptism of repentance and had also hovered over the fact of the water at the First Creation. In other words, necessary for the completion of the conversion to being true Christians – followers of Christ with full gifts and fruits of the Spirit. When the new believers told Paul they didn’t know what he was talking about when he spoke of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Paul laid his hands upon them and baptised them in the name of Jesus Christ and they received the Holy Spirit.

In our Church, generally when we baptise somebody we no longer immerse them fully. However, symbolically we use water as did John and the priest will make the sign of the Cross and baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At a later date, when the candidate has had an opportunity to fully comprehend and make his own mind up, he may confirm those commitments for himself. He is blessed with the Holy Spirit from the moment he accepts Jesus Christ as his Saviour.

Baptism does not make us perfect.  As Christians we are not perfect and all of us have flaws.  I remember the story being told once by an evangelistic preacher at Spring Harvest that we are all like cracked pots – not I hasten to say “crack pots” – although some might disagree! – cracked pots within which the light of Christ shines – for we should all have Christ’s light within us.  It is often only through our cracks, our humility our vulnerability our fragility that the light can shine out to others. The way we accept adversity.

James, in the first chapter of his book talks about us only becoming “mature and complete” – the Hebrew word he uses means “perfect” – through the perseverance brought about through trials in our lives. And so, to be truly Christ-like, true and perfect followers of Christ we need to repent (turn away from our dark ways); accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour (receiving the Holy Spirit) and show his light with joy through the trials and tribulations of this life. A mirror of Christ’s own life in fact – repentance before John the Baptist, receiving and having the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his final suffering on the Cross leading to his perfect resurrection.

What an incredible story and what an incredible act the follow. Today, let us make a pledge to lead a life where our light can shine out and dispel the gloom and darkness,  which often surrounds us and all those whom we should love – our neighbour. Even through our cracks.

Let us pray a prayer inspired by Psalm 119

Almighty God

We are often beset by trials and difficulties

We often feel surrounded by darkness or gloom

 

We often feel lost and hopeless

We often forget that you are always there with us

We often try and go it alone

We often forget to talk things through with you

We often let the pressures of this hectic life get us down

 

Help us to remember that you sent your Son, Jesus Christ

and the Holy Spirit to be with us in your Second Creation

That your word will continue to be a lamp to our feet

And a light to our path

And that we may glorify you in the light which you have put within us

Amen

 

MFB/Sermon/51

SERMON 50 - SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2014

Sermon at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Chapel, Whaddon, Salisbury Evening Prayer - Sunday - Sunday 23 November 2014

2 Samuel 23:1-7;  Matthew 28: 16-End

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen

Today we celebrate the Festival of Christ the King, a Festival very much for the Church united here on Earth – a reminder that the Kingdom of God and Christ’s reign on Earth is here and now and not at some future time.  It is, therefore, quite fitting for us to be worshipping together this evening in this lovely chapel at an ecumenical service where we as Christians, both Catholics and Anglicans, can put aside any denominational differences and spend an hour in praise and thanksgiving to celebrate the wonderful good news that during his brief period on this Earth, God, as a man incarnate, came down to establish his kingdom here and now.

Many theologians and Christians have really not understood what the the term Christ as King really means.  Many arguments and wars have been fought and blood shed over this. Pilate struggled with this question when he confronted Jesus on that Good Friday morning.  “You say you are a King, but where is your Kingdom” asked Pilate. Jesus’s answer was that his kingdom was not of this Earth and this has led many to believe that we as Christians are still waiting to go to some other place – but in his many parables which are to be found in Matthew’s gospel, he describes in the Kingdom of Heaven very much in earthly terms – often starting his parables with the world “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…..”

In this evening’s gospel reading we hear those famous words of Jesus’s Great Commission to the disciples – the sending out of them on a mission; a mission to “make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” But the greatest news for all of us is the final sentence of all in Matthew’s Gospel – “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”.

This is the end of the gospel – there is no ascension narrative but a clear unequivocal statement from Jesus that he is with us always – to the end of the age.

Our earlier reading set out David’s last words – David that great though flawed king who had started life off as a shepherd boy.  In those ancient biblical times a nation was judged by the effectiveness and strength of its leadership.  You will recall, earlier in the First Book of Samuel, how the people had clamoured for a king to rule over them.  A king was regarded as a shepherd of the people – someone to protect and provide for the people and so it was not mere co-incidence that Jesus often used stories of shepherds or illustrated his teachings by the use of shepherds to get across his message of the Kingdom of Heaven; neither is it a co-incidence that the first group of people to be told of the birth of god incarnate should be shepherds tending their flocks in the fields around Bethlehem. 

This morning’s readings included that famous passage from earlier in Matthew – the separation of the sheep and the goats and the questioning of when did either group see the Lord hungry, thirsty, homeless or in prison – the answer being that whatever either group did or did not tend to the needs of anyone they did or did not tend to the needs of God.  A powerful message.

When Jesus finally catches up with Peter on the shores of Lake Galilee that morning, when they breakfasted on fish together, he asks Peter not once but three times (signifying the absolution of the three denials on the morning of Jesus’s trial and execution in Jerusalem, if Peter will feed Jesus’s flock. 

A child once asked me recently that if Jesus did not die where is he now?  Of course, the ascension story, which as I have pointed out is absent from Matthew’s gospel, suggests that he is somewhere beyond our Earthly domain but those last few words of Matthew’s gospel which we have tell a totally different story – they tell us that Jesus is with us – his disciples – always – even to the end of the age.  Wow, powerful stuff. 

So where is Christ to be found?  Well I think the answer is clear – he is to be found amongst the poor, the hungry, the oppressed. He sends each and every one of us out to minister to them and in so doing he brings us closer to himself.

As Christians we are expected to have a living relationship with Jesus Christ. We are expected to obey everything he has commanded – just as he asks us to spread his word to those who have not heard, and to feed his sheep. 

Back in the biblical times the relationship between a Master and his Servant was very strong.  Whatever a Servant did by way of acting for and on behalf of Master was imputed to the Master.  If a servant, for example, was sent by the Master as a messenger to another Master, if that servant wasn’t treated with due respect and with utmost hospitality then the poor treatment he thus received would be an indication of a slight against his Master.  Therefore, we as servants of Christ the King should act in ways which impute the love and hospitality which Jesus himself would provide. 

So, if we find Jesus in these places where the oppressed and poor and hungry are what should we do?  Well. In fact we probably all know what we should do but find it so much harder to actually do it.  We often make excuses or simply, with the best of intentions, conclude that we cannot do anything because either we do not have the resources – in terms of energy, finance or personal or in time.  In fact, we only need to offer a small bit of our resources to make a huge difference. 

The story is told of a man walking along a beach one morning where an enormous storm the night before had washed up tens of thousands of starfish onto the shingle.  He started to pick some up, one by one and carefully return them to the water. Another man walking along observed this for a short while and intrigued approached the first man and enquired “Why on earth are you doing this? There are thousands and thousands of them and what you are doing will make no difference at all.  The first man stooped down, picked up one of the starfish and held it in the palm of his hand and showed it to the second man. Then, gently, he placed the starfish into the water.  “It made a difference to him” he replied.

Such a little thing can make a difference.  In my role as chaplain to the homeless at Alabare Place, a little bit of time spent chatting to one of the service users can make a lot of difference.  To make them feel that they are worth talking to and being prepared to listen to their troubles makes a huge difference to them.

We all suffer from lack of time. It is easy to concentrate on answering our emails instead of spending ten minutes chatting to somebody who, at that moment, needs our attention.  There are numerous examples in the bible of where Jesus, either tired or intent on completing another task does stop and spend time with the faithful – the bleeding woman, Zachias, the woman at the well and so on.  What time we might save by not being the body of Christ might cost us dearly when it comes to life in the eternity. 

This morning we were told that the sheep and not the goats, will be the righteous ones.  In this evening’s reading Jesus tells us how we can truly act out his Commission and live the gospel.  Not necessarily in grandiose ways but by simply seeking Jesus out amongst the poor and oppressed, being his arms and feet and eyes protecting and providing as the King is expected to do for his people or the shepherd for his sheep.  Like the Master and Servant relationship of old, what we do in the name of Jesus will be imputed to Him and this brings with it a great responsibility as evangelists of the bible.

Jesus’s words to Peter “feed my sheep” apply to us today.  Let us make time to carry out that Commission and not allow ourselves to be distracted or allow the fear of lack of time or resources make us wobble.

Let us pray in the words of a prayer by St. Theresa of Avila::-

Christ has no body now but ours.

No hands, no feet but ours.

Ours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world.

Ours are the feet with which he walks to do good.

Ours are the hands through which he blesses the world.

Lord Jesus, ours are the hands, ours are the feet, ours are the eyes for we are your body.

Amen

SERMON 49 - SUNDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2014

Sermon at St. Lawrence’s Church, Stratford-sub-Castle, Salisbury Evensong - Sunday - Sunday 16 November 2014

Luke 9:1-6

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,  Amen

The passage which I have just read from St. Luke’s Gospel is one which has intrigued me for many years. When I first heard it, many years ago, when I couldn’t really describe myself as a fully-fledged Christian,  it seemed to me an impossible task – did those disciples really step out in such faith taking with them absolutely nothing?

Here in this country, and especially amongst those generations which have never experienced the horrors of war and deprivation on our doorstep, we live in a society where material wealth and comfort abound and where we are bombarded, day after day, with advertisements telling us that we need even more material goods, we need to be healthier, slimmer, more beautiful and must have the latest version of whatever piece of technical equipment ctaches our attention.  Our daily bread is not sufficient – if the commercial pundits are to be believed the Lord’s Prayer should really read, “Not only this day give us our daily bread but also please give us the latest iPhone, plenty of money and eternal good looks even if it trespasses against others.”

It is so easy to lose sight of those things which really matter in our lives – honesty, integrity, respect and genuine love. So often we can substitute those things by surrounding ourselves with the falseness that material wealth can often bring.  We say things like – If only I had that particular car, or that particular house or even that particular wife/husband - life would be so perfect.  But it seldom is.

Jesus, in this passage is sending out the Twelve in utter faith.  They are to take absolutely nothing with them – no staff, no bag, no bread, no money no extra clothing.  They are to expect all their needs to be provided by others on the journey when they call in at villages.  Their  instructions are to drive out demons and cure diseases – in other words a healing ministry. In order to do this, Jesus has given them something far more important and powerful than those items they are discarding. He is giving them the power of the Holy Spirit. This power will not only enable them to carry out that healing ministry but, also, it will accompany them and provide them with all they need to sustain them on their ministerial journey.

The implication of his instructions is that this power will lead them to find homes which will be sympathetic to the Christian cause and they should stay in that household until it is time to move on and if nobody welcomes them then they should shake the dust from their feet – this being a sign of insult that the traveller has not been treated with proper courtesy when arriving at the town.

During the course of being a Christian I have met many people whom I would describe as Church-hoppers. People who have, for one reason or the other, been unable to find a church which has welcomed them or been “their type of church” and they have moved on. 

In this modern day of consumerism, referred to earlier, where choices abound  - sometimes far too many choices – it can be easy to pick up and drop a Christian community because it doesn’t quite fit our pre-conceived ideas of what the ideal church for us should be.  We can be tempted to hop on to another and another until we find what we feel is the right one.  But even then, in our throw-away society, we can be tempted to ditch it when things aren’t quite right to move on to try something else.

Yes, unfortunately, it is true that some churches can be quite unwelcoming – and I can, unfortunately recall a few experiences I have had where my attendance has felt like an incursion into a very select club with no real attempt to welcome me as a new member.  To that type of church or Christian community I would echo Christ’s words and say, “shake the dust from your feet and walk on”.  But this is very different from the church in which you might get bored or feel they are not singing the types of hymn you like or “those prayers were a little too long for my liking” or “I really don’t like sharing the peace”. If those churches are welcoming and they genuinely project the Christian message of faith, hope and love then you should stick with them, build up your faith within that community and bring some of your own ideas of how worship, prayer or teaching can be improved.

Here at St. Lawrence’s I feel a really genuine spirit of love and harmony which is evidenced in the way the congregation here has grown in recent years.  I am, thankfully, preaching to the converted – but I am sure that you, like me, know of people who would so readily move on from the churches they are currently attending or, for that matter, not attend any church at all because of pre-conceived ideas that it would not be for them.  Encourage them to come to this church.  This benefice is blessed with so many different styles of worship – extend the arm of Christian love to them – welcome them so that they will, like the disciples in the reading, stay with you until they move on for other unrelated reasons.

We as Christians should more easily know those things which God wants us to do and treasure above those things which the consumer world says we need to have or do. I was sent, recently, a note on Facebook about the five most common regrets expressed to a palliative nurse by her dying patients and none of these mention a wish that they had had more material wealth. They were:-

1.      A wish that they had had the courage to live a life true to themselves and not a life expected by others

2.      A wish that they hadn’t worked so hard and had spent more time with their family

3.      A wish that they had had more courage to express their true feelings

4.      A wish that they had stayed in touch with friends

5.      A wish that they had let themselves be happier

None of these five things require material wealth - but a loving and honest disposition.

A recent recipe for life expressed by a good friend of mine was “live well, laugh often and love much” and has been adopted by Wiltshire Freemasons.  I am sure that Jesus did just that and would have expressed his wish that his disciples did this too.

Jesus knew what was important.  What would sustain his disciples and also what would distract them from their mission.

Today, we should begin, if we have not already done so, to ask God to reveal to us his plans for us, what mission he has and not let ourselves get distracted by the trappings of our consumer world and leave us with regrets when we finally move on.

Let us pray:-

Almighty God,

We ask you to reveal to us your plans for our life,

And in so doing help us avoid being distracted by the trappings of this Earthly life and its consumerism

But help us concentrate on those spiritual things which will sustain us and aid us in doing Your mission

In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord  

Amen

SERMON 48 - SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER 2014

Sermon at Holy Trinity Church, East Grimstead - Remembrance Sunday - Sunday 9 November 2014[i]

Amos 5:18-24;  1 Thessalonians 4:13-end

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,  Amen

Whenever I stand in silence for those two minutes on each Remembrance Sunday I not only remember those who have died in  those two World Wars and other conflicts since then, but I also reflect on the fact that I belong to a very privileged generation for whom those great and devastating wars are no more than pages in history books. Having been born only 8 years after the plutonium bomb was detonated over Nagasaki, I have lived in a period of relative peace and prosperity for which I regularly, through worship, give thanks to God.

When I was a child a regular event in our household was to watch the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance from the Royal Albert Hall on our small 9-inch black and white TV.  Back then in the 1960s a large number of veterans from World War I, together with veterans of my own parents’ age (or slightly older) from World War II, would march into the Arena.  They would include Chelsea Pensioners who had been at Gallipoli, Jutland, Ypres and so on – servicemen and women who had real and vivid memories of the horrors of those two global conflicts – who had seen, for themselves, comrades killed and companions maimed and many who had seen the legacy of evil and inhumane regimes in Europe and Asia.

As a child, the war held a great fascination for me and many of my schoolboy friends and invoked a great interest in modern history – especially as many of my friends’ parents and my own family members could remember vividly the Blitz and Battle of Britain – when the Second World War came to our shores. Today, whole generations have grown up having little or no understanding of those horrors although, of course, here in Wiltshire there are many families involved in the armed forces which, today, have personal experiences of the effects of warfare in far off lands; where our servicemen and women continue to fight for justice and peace. 

However, for many of our younger generation, there is no real concept of why those, whose names are engraved on our war memorials, gave up their lives.  Indeed, recently, during a discussion with a school friend of my 13-year old daughter, it became clear that she had no idea who Winston Churchill was, let alone the role he had played for this country in those dark days of the 1940s. 

Remembrance Sunday, then, is such an important occasion – not just for those veterans to recall what they went through or to remember companions who never survived the conflicts, but also so that those generations from my own onwards may clearly understand why so many lives were given, and are able to continue to give praise and thanks that so many stemmed the tide of evil which could have so easily engulfed the world.

Today, those conflicts in which our troops are engaged are largely in far flung parts of the world and the issues which have provoked them are complex.  Again many young people have no real understanding or concept as to why or where these conflicts are taking place – indeed many adults, including some politicians it could be argued, don’t, either.  Although these modern conflicts may be remote, the battles now often fought with technology, and the victims largely unknown to us, the horrors are still the same.

The true reality of those horrors perpetrated by the Nazis in World War 2 was brought home to me and to my 17-year old son, Thom, quite recently.  He and I spent a short break in Poland a couple of  summers ago and during our trip we arranged a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau – the infamous extermination camp about 50 miles from Krakow in the south of the country.  In this terrible place, 2.3 million people were sent to the gas chambers – many from Western European occupied countries including the Channel Islands  - and to where an estimated 700,000 British Jews and other “undesirables” would have been sent had the Germans ever successfully invaded and occupied the United Kingdom. 

Thom had read about the Holocaust in history books but I don’t think had any concept of the scale of the atrocities committed in that one single camp.

As we approached Birkenau in our minibus, the first thing to be seen was the infamous Hell’s Gate – the railway gatehouse into the camp. His face dropped and his complexion was ashen.  He turned to me and simply said “Dad it’s in colour, it’s real!”  Up to that point he had only seen it in black and white photographs in history books. In that split second, his perception of the horrors of that evil regime turned from the recorded pages of history to the reality of the suffering and horrors beyond that real gate.

And so, the importance of today cannot and should not ever be trivialised.  We owe it to forthcoming generations to keep alive the memory of those brave fallen and the causes for which they fell – to remember the evil which could have engulfed us.  In the words of the Kohima they gave their today so that we, all of us and the generations to follow, could have our tomorrows.

In his later letter to the Thessalonians, Paul reminds us that the return of our Saviour Jesus Christ will only come after the “lawless one” is revealed through rebellion.  In other words, as Christians we are expected to uphold the ethics which we have been taught by Jesus and should stand up against and expose all  who would deceive the truth as revealed by him.  Throughout history leaders have waged war and oppressed people either in the name of Christianity or by pretending to be Christians themselves.  In Nazi Germany, Hitler and his regime tried to appeal to Catholics and Lutherans alike that there was a score to settle against the Jews because the Jewish leadership had been responsible for Jesus’s crucifixion.

Last year I read a wonderful book of sermons, lectures and speeches by former Archbishop Desmond Tutu with the interesting title of “God is not a Christian”.  In it he reminds us that there is only one omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent God – creator of all thing and all people, everybody, black white, and yellow.  He appeals to Christians and God-fearing people everywhere, just as Paul does, to stand up against tyranny and oppression.  He puts it simply – If the Church is not going to stand up for the poor, the hungry, the oppressed, the discriminated, then who is?

This brings me back to the two-minute silence.  During those two minutes I try to recall all the battles of the two world wars, all the sites of oppression, all those areas of suffering, the blitz, the death camps, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Hamburg and so on and especially members of the church like Bonhoeffer and Maximilian Kolbe.   Two minutes is simply not long enough.

I praise and thank all those who have so courageously given their lives to oppose tyranny and evil.  Let us never forget them.

 

Amen

---

[i] This is a re=writing of Sermon 32 given on 10 November 2013 at St. John’s, West Grimstead

SERMON 47 - SUNDAY 12 OCTOBER 2014

Sermon at St. John’s Parish Church, West Grimstead, Wiltshire, – Sunday 12^th October 2014

Exodus 32:1-14; Phillipians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14

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

“DISTRACTION” AND “DISCERNMENT”

 

Like last Sunday, each of today’s readings blends in nicely with the others and a clear message, I think, comes from a study of these scriptures and one word springs to mind – the danger of being distracted from God’s call.  Let’s just remind ourselves what is being said in each.

In our first reading we hear of Moses’s delay in returning to the people of the exodus with the covenants and design for the tabernacle which God had given to him at the summit of Mount Sinai.  With impatience they turn to Moses’s brother, Aaron, and demand that the one true and living god, Yahweh or Jehovah should be replaced by a god of their own making using gold from the the same golden earrings with which they were expected to cover the ark of the covenant. This god was to be a golden calf (symbolic of the use of real calves which were sliced in two to seal ancient covenants in the past) and which they themselves would have some control. We see that act, in hindsight, as a blatant blasphemy – the breach of the second commandment which we looked at last week – the two timing of God, the worshipping of another false god or idol. In terms of black and white, as Tom Wright puts it, it is clearly wrong. But if we look at it in shades of grey, maybe we can better understand what is going on here. A dispute has, in fact, arisen as to whether the tribes of the exodus are God’s chosen people or those of Moses.  The people have been led out of slavery in Egypt, yes, but there they did have plenty to eat and drink and life was pretty predictable.  Since Moses has led them they have been wandering around not entirely sure where they are going or why.  They have come to the conclusion that Moses himself may be acting as a god and if he, as their leader, goes off to commune with the real living god there is a vacuum which must be filled.  They need a god to trust in to give them some reasoning as to why they are there in the first place. 

It actually seems as though God, Yahweh, himself is acknowledging this to be the case because in verse 7 he says to Moses ”Go down at once!  YOUR people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have acted perversely. In other words, they are not my people but yours and you need to bring them back on to the straight and narrow in order that they can once again be God’s chosen people. In fact, at first, God,  wants to destroy them – “my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them but will make Moses’s a great nation” – just as he had promised Abraham. Following this exchange, and Moses imploring Yahweh to accompany the people rather than simply sending angels, the relationship between Yahweh, Moses and the People is never quite the same and whilst the people return to being chosen of God yet they are tainted with the darkness – the unfaithfulness – shown by their blasphemy.

In our Gospel reading, we are again confronted by distractions.  Here the King has prepared a sumptuous wedding feast for his son but for some reason the guests are reluctant to attend.  They have other distractions to attend to – the distractions of everyday life it seems – those quite familiar to all of us here – farming, business meetings, etc.  Again, as in our first reading, people chosen to take part in the feast and like those chosen people in the Exodus, they rebelled and refused to come.

The King, a representation of God in the parable, is even more insulted when his slaves, an allegory on the prophets, are ignored and in fact killed by those same invitees.  They not only reject the offer of attendance but act violently towards the King’s messengers. Clearly he was an unpopular man in this parable.

The King destroys them, just as God would have destroyed those of the Exodus if Moses had not intervened and invited anyone they could find in the streets, both good and bad we are told.  Theologians have debated on this point and some think that the good and the bad gathered together represent Jews and Gentiles and that the destruction of the homes of those invitees who refused to attend represent the destruction of the Temple and the birth of the Christian church.  I think that is a nice idea but I believe that the message is far more reaching than that and is to remind us all that, like those people who made the golden calf, we disobey the call of God at our peril. Neither distractions nor a deliberate ignoring of the call will be expected by God.

The parable of the wedding feast gets even more complicated. The king notices that one of those who was gathered up from the streets, whom, presumably had never been expected to attend the wedding feast in the first place, is inappropriately dressed, and is not wearing a wedding robe.  This would have been the height of discourtesy – a little bit like turning up at a black tie do in jeans and a teeshirt. The man had been called to attend the wedding feast, after those previously invited had refused to come, and therefore it would have been expected that those fortuitous enough to be chosen a second time would have taken the time and extended the courtesy of robing themselves properly. The king orders the perpetrator to be bound and thrown out of the party and Jesus ends his parable with the words – “Many are called but few are chosen”.

What exactly is he trying to say here?  Some theologians think the lack of the wedding robe is a separate parable but I like to think that here Jesus is simply saying whatever situation we find ourselves in we must be prepared for God’s call and if we are not prepared then we will not be chosen.  I do feel sorry for the person in this story – he might have been homeless or could ill afford a robe but if he really wishes to attend the feast he should make the effort to acknowledge the invitation from the king.

This part of the parable reminds me of a story from my early days as a solicitor.  I was asked to attend the County Court in Bury, Lancashire and it was not until I arrived at court that morning, all the way from London, did I find that the hearing was to be in open court and that I should be suitably robed when I went before the judge.  I watched feeling rather helpless as another advocate, like myself, had been caught out by finding the this morning’s hearing were not in private chambers, as usual, but in open court.  He decided to risk it and began addressing the judge in just his business suit. “Mr. Smith” the judge glowered rather ponderously at our man over his half moon spectacles, “I am really sorry but I simply cannot hear you”.  “Oh”, shouted the young advocate, “Is that any better your Lordship” . “I am sorry I cannot hear you” repeated the judge.  For a third time the young advocate addressed the judge, rather frustratingly “CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW” the advocate screamed at the top of his voice. “Mr. Smith”, then explained the judge “I cannot hear you because you are improperly dressed before me in an open court” (no robe or tabs). With this I hastily ran out the court, to the robing room, borrowed some tabs and the ushers gown and hoped the judge didn’t notice that I was not wearing my proper solicitors’ robes – which incidentally later got borrowed and never returned by my secretary for a vicars and Tarts Party!  The moral of that parable of my own was – when going to court, when you are called on make sure you have the correct dress.

Paul in our second reading writes something which I have always held very dear to my heart – he says, towards the end of our piece of scripture – “Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things”. 

In each of these readings we see the effects of true discernment on the one hand – knowing when we are called and the value of that call to God - and of distraction on the other – allowing other things to move us away from what God is trying to do for us and the preparations we must make.

Paul, in writing to the Church in Philippi, was well aware of the distraction of that city – but clearly was pleased in which the way the church had, so far, kept itself faithful to the message of the gospel and this letter shows Paul’s great desire to go back there and extols the virtue of the church encouraging it to remain faithful to the gospel and not rely too heavily on the observance of the law.

The message is simple, I think.  We should at all times concentrate our lives on serving God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit – listening and being ready to for the call when it comes to minister to his people.  Not to be distracted, as we so often do by the everyday things of our Earthly life.  It’s a tall order I know.  We frequently make excuses not to do things – especially in relation to our personal faith – putting them off or telling ourselves we are too busy.  We sometimes find replacement gods like the golden calf – because we can’t wait for God, Yahweh, to call us or guide us.

Let’s not be like those people with Aaron, lets not be like those people of Philippi who were distracted and lets not be like those who either turned down the opportunity to to go the feast or when we were called weren’t ready.  By following the two commandments left to us by Jesus, and by following the rule set out by Paul – “Whatever is true, honourable, commendable etc. – think on these things”.

If we follow those rules we will be walking alongside Jesus and the true Christian way.

 Amen

 

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SERMON 46 - SUNDAY 5 OCTOBER 2014

Sermon at St. Mary’s Parish Church, Alderbury, Wiltshire Wiltshire – Sunday 5^th October 2014

Exodus 20:1-4; 7-9; 12-20; Phillipians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-46

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

There is an immense richness about each and every one of our readings this morning which I think can all be linked together with the one word “faith” – or in the words of Paul “justification by faith” – the belief that salvation and forgiveness can be obtained by a true belief in Jesus Christ as our Saviour and not simply a strict adherence to the law.

In the first of our readings we are reminded of the Torah, the book of law handed down to the Hebrews by Moses and upon which the Jewish faith is so heavily founded – laws or a code of conduct given by God directly to his people for the proper governance and guidance of his chosen people – laws which were frequently broken but which, by a strict adherence the Jews thought would ensure that Yahweh or Jehovah, the unspeakable God looked down favourably upon them.

 Let us just recall those Ten Commandments and here is a very easy way to remember them in the order they appear in the Exodus:

1.         The is only one God – no others

2.         Don’t two time God by falsely worshipping other idols

3.         There are three names for God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – don’t use them wrongly.

4.         Remember the Sabbath – the letter “4” looks a bit like a deckchair to rest in

5.         Honour your father and mother – How often do children take their parents for granted and think of them as simply a cash machine – No. 5 “lend us a fiver Dad”,

6.         Do not murder – the letter “6” resembles a hangman’s noose

7.         Do not commit adultery – think of the “seven year itch” we are sometime told about

8.         Do not steal – the letter eight looks like a pair of handcuffs if turned on its side

9.         Do not bear false witness – No 9 is not 10 – it is not the last of the commandments

10.       Do not covet etc. Think of thin “1” and fat “0”. Have and have not.

 

That was just a bit of fun but I bet you will remember the order of the Commandments after this.  

The Old Testament is full of examples of where those commandments were broken – time and time again and we only have to look at David as a really good (or should I say bad) example of somebody who broke nearly every one of them – especially murder, coveting, adultery and theft.  We read how, during the course of the history connected with the Jewish people an attempt to keep to the law still brought about trials and tribulations and eventually, God sent down his only son, Jesus, to redeem his people – and us today.

Our gospel reading is a clear allegory for this.  The vineyard in the story represented Israel and the vines its people.  The tenants those who had been put in charge of its spiritual welfare – the holy ones – the priests, levites, Pharisees and sadducees. The fence with the watch tower around the vineyard represents the law we have just discussed from the times of the Exodus.  The Torah which was meant to keep the vineyard secure.  The allegorical picture painted by Jesus in this parable would have been clear and certainly it would have, and did, upset the chief priests and Pharisees who wanted to arrest Jesus.  The owner of the vineyard is God and, the previous slaves represent the prophets such as Elijah and Elisha.  Finally sending his son, Jesus, who is killed by those same tenants – representations of those in authority. In this parable Jesus is not only pouring scorn on the way in which the tenants are behaving towards the vineyard and its owner, but also predicting his own crucifixion.  He is also predicting the demise of those who reject it and pointing out that the same stone which is dug up and cast aside will be the cornerstone of a new Christian church.

I love the reading from Paul.  It has spoken to me personally on many occasions and it reminds me of an early occurrence in my professional career as a lawyer.

Shortly after completing my degree course in law at Liverpool I joined a large commercial food manufacturing company in my home town of Grimsby in its legal department. I was full of myself and probably was quite obnoxious – a bit of a know it all straight from law school! I was, nevertheless, a humble legal clerk still to take my final professional examinations to qualify as a solicitor and was given the task of collecting small debts for my employer.  One case which I had was for a debt of about £5.95 from memory.  I spent half a day reading the file, reviewing the law of contract and its ingredients  – offer, acceptance, invitation to treat, consideration etc. etc. and in law decided my client company had a cast iron case.  I then set about issuing proceedings, drafting the summons and a lengthy particulars of claim – complete with law of contract legal authorities – cases learned in law school – and finally went to see my boss to request a cheque for the issue fee – say £4.50. It was then that he pointed out to me the commercial nonsense of what I had just done and by the time we worked out the number of hours I had spent on the case, the issue fee and finally – something I hadn’t even thought about – the likelihood of getting the defaulter to pay anything back at all from his history, I realised that I had, in fact wasted an enormous amount of my employer’s time and money.  I protested that the case was legally watertight and that the law was clear.  My boss agreed with me and then quietly advised me to bin the case.  The answer was simply that the company would no longer supply this defaulter with food products – fresh fish if I recall correctly.

The moral of this parable of my own – let’s call it the parable of the chip shop owner – was that whilst the law is there to be observed and followed there are times when that alone will not provide the answer and can, in fact, work against those who would seek to uphold it if we don’t consider God’s separate hand in everything.  We often try and take matters into our own hand or think that the law or more earthly solutions will give us the answer.  Paul in our second reading makes it clear that having followed the law religiously for many years he sees that as “rubbish” – “rubbish” when compared to following the example and teachings of Christ. The law will not, of its own bring us that which we need.

Recently I have been studying and reflecting on the whole concept of forgiveness and grace.  My spiritual adviser, a very wise individual indeed reminded me that there are three distinct types of forgiveness – personal forgiveness which is us, as individuals, forgiving those who have wronged us – whether they have asked for forgiveness or not – something which Archbishop Desmond Tutu calls “a gift which we give to ourselves” not to the perpetrator of those who have wronged us; secondly legal forgiveness – the righting of the wrong by legal means – the issue of proceedings against those who have wronged us but not to our own detriment and finally the greatest of all of these – “divine forgiveness” – which is totally out of our hands.

Both retribution and forgiveness of a divine nature we must always leave to God but personal forgiveness is for us and us alone.

Paul was himself, as we know, someone who zealously persecuted Christians in his early youthful “law clerk” days.  Like me, as the young lawyer, he saw the law as being the most important thing in obtaining righteousness.  It’s the right thing to do.  But how often do we ask ourselves – is it the thing which God thinks it is right for us to do?  The tenants in the vineyard wanted to protect their tenure and secure it by foul means – even resorting to murder. But in the end, as the parable points out they ended doing what God had planned and bringing about their own destruction.

How often do we – you and me – seek to put things “right” without bringing God, through Jesus, into the equation?  Howe often do we stand on the solemnity and sometimes inflexibility of the law without looking at things from a deeper and wider perspective? How often do we, like the tenants, build a fortress which, whilst seeking to protect what we have, also shuts out the Holy Spirit which should be allowed to freely enter us – especially in times of trial – when we need him most.

In a moment we shall sing the hymn – “all I once held dear” which echoes what Paul was writing about in his letter to the church in Phillippi.  As we sing it let us each and every one think how we can be more open to receiving the Holy Spirit and setting aside some of our earthly bound habits, values and prejudices.

Amen

 

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