SERMON 113 - SUNDAY 1 APRIL 2018 (EASTER DAY)

Sermon delivered at Holy Trinity Church, East Grimstead, Wiltshire on Sunday 1st April 2018 (Easter Sunday)

Acts 10:34-43b; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Mark 16:1-8

Alleluia, Christ is Risen! May my words come from God and may they bless all who hear them on this day of Resurrection!  Amen

“It is finished!”; so ended our reflections on the dark rainy afternoon of Good Friday. Those words heard by the centurion at the foot of the Cross as he waited for Christ to die.

“It is finished!” not “I am finished” but “it is finished!”  Some translation from the Greek read “it is accomplished”  - perhaps a better translation than that which are probably more familiar with; and as we know today Jesus was far from finished; his death and resurrection was just the beginning of a Faith which has lasted for 2,000 years and which continues to grow and embrace more and more people throughout the world.  Christianity is not dying out as many would have us believe, yes in Western Europe it may seem that way with societies more secular, but it is growing dramatically on a global scale. Just think for a moment, Jesus died amongst the Gentiles, the Roman soldiers. His faithful followers, Peter his right hand man amongst them, had fled, even after confronted with the amazing truth that he had risen.  The ending of Mark’s original gospel reminds us of this :

“So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid.”

Yet the centurion, observing the suffering Christ die and seeing how, even in the midst of his pain and suffering thought of others – his mother and the young disciple John for example – realised that Jesus was something special and unique and proclaimed “Surely this man was God’s son!”

Many of us have travelled the road of Christ this week.  We waved branches and shouted “Hosanna” last Sunday, with or without a donkey; some of us attended the Taize services here at East Grimstead on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the Team foot-washing and re-enactment of the Last Supper on Thursday at Farley and the Good Friday Passion and Reflections on Saturday.  We have followed closely the Passion Week of Christ and now we reach that glorious bright day when we celebrate Christ Risen, the Conqueror of Death and Darkness, the new beginning. 

For there to be a new beginning, a new covenant to use biblical language, there has to be an ending – the old is swept away, the curtain of the Temple which separated God from the ordinary people was torn in two – from top to bottom – indicating a divine hand here at work.  It could so easily have been torn from bottom to top by human hands but not from top to bottom. Darkness fell across the whole earth. This was a finishing, an accomplishing, an end so there could be a new beginning, a new covenant – one which allowed the ordinary human to have direct communication with God.  Jesus’s death had cleansed us.  As he breathed his last so he breathed out all our sins. We were free – not just the Jewish people but all people, even the Roman pagan centurion.

This is what we truly celebrate at Easter.  Renewal, a new beginning, freedom from all our sins; however awful they might be – provided that we genuinely repent of our sins, our wrongdoings, that we stick with Christ, believe in Him and continue to follow him.

Like the disciples who fled, it can sometimes be difficult – especially when we go through hard times ourselves – but we must always remember that Jesus himself went through the hardest time of all – a man of peace, a man who put others before himself, a teacher and healer, a good man – who was despised, spit upon, falsely accused and tried, mocked and finally judicially murdered. There is no trial, no suffering, no persecution, no lying or falsehoods against us, no betrayal, no frustrations which Jesus did not himself endure and overcome.  He took upon himself all our burdens. Yet he triumphed, over death, over all the sufferings which he endured.  He rose gloriously although, as we later read, it took some convincing for some of his most ardent followers such as doubting Thomas and the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

We all know the gospel story so well.  The good news. Paul, in our Epistle reading ably reminds us of the true and important meaning of the Resurrection as we ought to view it today as the modern day disciples, followers of Jesus Christ – Paul says:

Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you which you in turn received in which also you stand through which also you are being saved if you hold firmly to… [that] message”

Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve and then to more than 500 others at the same time.

The message of today is that Jesus was raised from the dead, a new beginning, a new resurrected body - that he remains alive today.  There is no grave to be found, Jesus conquered the grave and eventually returned to his father on Ascension Day leaving behind the Holy Spirit for all generations until he returns as promised.

We live in exciting times.  We wait for his return but we do so in the knowledge that he left a legacy of love and compassion through the Cross and Resurrection.

Today I would like you to turn to your neighbour here in church and say these words:

“God loves you because through his Son Jesus Christ he gave you eternal life”

That is the greatest gift we can be given.  It is a far greater gift than the biggest Easter Egg you could imagine.  Just believe and have the faith and conviction to spread this message, the Good News, to all you meet today and going forward. Death and darkness is finished, new life has begun.  Happy Easter!

Amen

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SERMON 112 - SUNDAY 25 MARCH 2018

Sermon delivered at Roman Catholic Chapel, Whaddon, Wiltshire on Sunday 25 March 2018

Isaiah 5:1-20; Mark 12:1-12 – Homily on Vineyards

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

I expect many of us are very familiar with the Parable of The Wicked Tenants in our second reading from Mark’s Gospel but I wonder how many of us recall that Jesus is actually parodying Isaiah’s own example of the vineyard in our first reading.

Now I have to confess that anything to do with vineyards and wine immediately gets my attention!   It is also a great bone of contention in our house – should we drink red wine or white?  Liz only likes Sauvignon Blanc from the best vineyards in New Zealand or, by contrast, Vinho Verde from Portugal whereas I much prefer a red claret – so we usually end up opening two bottles – one of each! 

Wine seems to feature a lot in Jesus’s ministry – the first miracle at the wedding in Cana, the last supper, the supper at Emmaus, this parable and he certainly appears to have loved attending dinner parties where I am sure much wine was consumed. He talks about being the vine and his disciples being the branches – needing pruning. One could almost imagine that in those unknown years between his childhood and ministry he was an enthusiastic viticulturist – try saying that after a few glasses of cabernet sauvignon!

But what is Jesus really trying to say in this parable? 

For many years I thought it was his original work but as we’ve seen this evening, the parable is actually a parody on the earlier writings of Isaiah – which would have been known to his disciples. Time and time again we find Jesus either quoting the Old Testament or using its stories to get his message across about the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Isaiah is talking about the people of Israel in our first reading.  It is headed “The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard” in my bible.  My beloved in this context, the vineyard owner is the God of Israel who planted his chosen people, the Jews, in His promised land which had been well prepared – the vineyard; but instead of the good cultured grapes he had expected, wild grapes were yielded, as the passage puts it. The point was that God had done everything, as a viticulturist, to produce a good and fruitful nation yet it had all gone wrong.

What does the vineyard owner do in such circumstances – he tears down the wall, uproots the vines and starts again.  Indeed, this is precisely what happened in France in the late 19^th Century when the great French Wine Blight struck – the dreaded diseased phylloxera - and all because of a tiny aphid.  In the same way, Isaiah reminds his readers of how the great nations of Israel and Judah have been swept away by the sins of the people.  But they were later rebuilt as we read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. France rebuilt its vineyards by taking cuttings from vines in California which themselves had originally come from plants in France. Jerusalem and the Temple were likewise rebuilt from the ruins of their predecessor.

Jesus takes up this theme in his parable in Mark’s Gospel with reference to himself and his role as God’s Son and as we saw it angered those in control – because they would have known and recalled Isaiah’s prophecy.

In Jesus’s version there are lessees or tenants of God’s vineyard, and here is an important point, we are all mere tenants of God’s world and therefore are obliged to look after it for future tenants, generations, to come.  Again, as in Isaiah’s version, the owner (the beloved in Isaiah’s illustration) has gone to great lengths to produce a vineyard which will bear the very best of wine. However, part of the deal in letting the vineyard was that the owner should receive rent in the form of a portion of the wine produced; a very fair and honourable arrangement.  In the same way we are expected to give back to God something of ourselves, our heart and love, in return for all he gives us – in the words of that famous Harvest Hymn –

“All good gifts around us are sent from Heaven above, so thank the Lord …etc.”

We would all do well to constantly remember that. In our prayers before our supplications we should give our grateful thanks to Him.

Jesus describes how the owner sends first his slave (meaning his prophet) to collect the rent but the tenants decide rather than give it to him they will keep it for themselves and so beat up the slave.  Then the owner sends a second slave (or prophet) and likewise beat him up more severely and so on and so on killing them.  Finally, the owner decides to send his beloved – his only son – and see how that word “beloved” is the same as is used in Isaiah’s story for the owner himself.  The owner believes that the son will be respected unlike the slaves.  He will have more gravitas, more authority; but instead the tenants realising that the son is the heir to the vineyard, in killing him there will be no family inheritance and they can seize the vineyard for themselves.

Jesus explains to the scribes and elders of the Temple that this outcome will not happen because, as with the beloved owner in Isaiah’s story, the owner in his will destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.

Applying this parable, what Jesus is prophesying is that the Temple will be destroyed, not only the building itself but the whole institution which the elders have tried to protect for so long without regard for the true commandments of God. He is the son who has been sent by God to his vineyard world and like the beloved son in the story he will also be killed but from his death and the destruction of the Temple will rise a new and greater understanding of God’s love and covenants.  A new covenant which will be for all – Jews and Gentiles alike.

We live with that wonderful legacy – God’s only son being sent to us for us to understand and respect God’s love for us. 

Today is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week leading up to Good Friday and the Resurrection on Easter Day.  This is the week when we remember that God, the vintner, sacrificed his son for us – the tenants of this world. 

It has a wonderful ending but an horrific beginning.  Isaiah prophesised it, Jesus foretold it in a similar parable, we live with it and remember it this week.

As this next week unfolds let us think and reflect on how we can show and tell the story in our daily lives – how we can explain to others how our Faith is based on the truth revealed in the Easter story; above all how we can make the message meaningful to those around us.  Perhaps over a glass of wine?

Amen

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SERMON 111 - SUNDAY 11 MARCH 2018

Sermon delivered at All Saint’s Parish Church, Whiteparish, Wiltshire at their BCP Evensong on Sunday 11 March 2018

Romans 5:1–11 – You Won’t Be Disappointed!

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

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

When he was only 7 years old, his family was forced out of their home. He actually had to go to work to help support his family. At age 9, his mother died. At age 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. He wanted to go to law school but his education wasn’t good enough. At age 23, he went into debt to become a partner in a small store. Three years later, his business partner died, leaving him with a debt that took years to repay. At age 28, he asked his girlfriend of four years to marry him. She said no. He eventually did get married. At age 41, his four year old son died. Only one of their four children lived to adulthood. At age 45, he ran for the senate and lost. At age 47, he ran for vice-president and lost. At age 51, he became the 16th President of the United States of America. His name was Abraham Lincoln.

Many consider him to be one of the greatest presidents the United States, indeed the world, has ever known. Life has its ups and downs, its challenges and opportunities. At times it can be exciting and it can also be disappointing. Jobs and promotions that never come through. House sales and purchases that fall through. Big matches lost by our favourite football teams. Holidays ruined by bad weather or illness. Even when things are going well, we often hesitate to get our hopes up feeling that even the other shoe is eventually going to fall off. Are there any sure things in life? Anything that won’t disappoint?

In our text for this evening, Paul tells us there is, not only for this life, but also for the life to come. He says when it comes to the many promises God makes to you in His Word, You Won’t Be Disappointed!  His suffering gives us life and our suffering gives us hope. We know that our sins can make us deserve suffering Ungodly, powerless, sinners, enemies of God. These are just some of the words Paul uses in our text to describe our sinful condition by nature. “Lost and condemned creatures” are the words Martin Luther uses in his explanation to the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed. At the beginning of our Liturgy this evening we declared that we are “miserable offenders” and that “there is no health in us”. We might try to convince ourselves otherwise, that we’re really not that bad,  maybe not in our own eyes or indeed in the eyes of others, but spiritually speaking, we certainly are in the eyes of God.

Paul writes, “the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” How often doesn’t the hostility of our sinful nature show itself in our daily lives? Jesus once said, “you are my friends if you do what I command… if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.”

One might say, “Halt! Who goes there? Friend or foe?” Friends speak well of others and take their words and actions in the kindest possible way. Foes gossip about others and put the worst construction on the words and actions of others. Friends seek to be kind and compassionate, forgiving others as they have been forgiven. Foes seek to take advantage of others in order to serve themselves. Towards the end of Lent, on Maundy Thursday, we remember that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. After this Jesus said, “now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you”

Friends seek to love and serve their Lord by the way they love and serve their neighbour. So once again we need to ask, “Halt! Who goes there? Friend or Foe?” For the many times we’ve played the part of the foe, we can rejoice that Jesus calls us friends. Not because of anything in us, but rather because of everything in Him! Paul tells us, “very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.”

In the movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” it describes how eight soldiers went behind enemy lines to save a man known as Private Ryan. Why so much time and effort for one man? Because three of his brothers had already died in combat. To spare his mother the grief of possibly losing her final son, eight men were sent on a rescue mission. Would his rescued life be worth the sacrifice? Would ours? God thought so! So much so that he sent his one and only Son on a rescue mission to save us! Would we be willing to lay down our life for someone else? I suppose it might depend on who that someone is. Would you lay down your life for your spouse? Would you lay down your life for your child? Would you lay down your life for a friend? Would you lay down your life for an enemy? Probably not, but that’s exactly what God did for us! Paul says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus willingly endured the pain and suffering, the punishment for sin and the agony of hell so that we would never have to. Jesus, the innocent one was declared guilty to declare the guilty innocent. That’s what it means to be justified! In the eyes of God, it’s “just as if I’d never sinned,” and, “since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”

Paul uses the word reconciled a couple of times in our text. The Greek word is “katallage” which has the idea of replacing enmity with friendship. By nature, we were God’s enemies. By grace, we are God’s friends. God did everything when it came to bringing about this reconciliation, this peace, this faith in which we now stand. This faith came through hearing the message and “the message is heard through the Word of Christ; [the Good News].”  Faith that realizes that if God did this when we were his enemies, imagine what he’s going to do now that we’re his friends! That’s the point Paul makes when he writes, “if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

That’s the reason why we can rejoice even in our sufferings because we know the purpose they serve for this life and the next. Paul knew suffering.” On one occasion, we’re told that Paul was given a thorn in the flesh. We’re not told exactly what it was. Three times Paul pleaded for God to take it away. God didn’t take it away, rather he told him, “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Are there any thorns in the flesh that you’re dealing with right now? Physical, mental, emotional? God might not take it away, but he gives you the same promise he gave Paul. His grace is sufficient for you. It’s all that you need for this life and the next. God’s grace enabled Paul to, “delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

We don’t find our ultimate strength in ourselves. We find our ultimate strength in Christ! No matter what life might throw at us, no matter what suffering we might endure, no matter what hardships we might endure, no matter what storms we might endure, no matter what might threaten to shake our body and soul. Jesus died and rose again to give us the gift of heaven! In our text Paul tells us the purpose of suffering when he writes, “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope doesn’t disappoint us.”  

When it comes to the many promises God makes to us in His Word, we will not be disappointed! His suffering gives us life. Our suffering gives you hope.

Abraham Lincoln was a great president but far greater is the King we have in Jesus.

Amen.

SERMON 110 - SUNDAY 4 MARCH 2018

Sermon delivered at All Saints’ Parish Church, Whiteparish, Wiltshire – Sunday 4^th March 2018 (A reworking of Sermons 46 and 55)

Exodus 20:1-17; 1  Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22

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 “love” – just as Jesus left us the two greatest Commandments of all – Love God with all your heart and strength and love others as you would have them love you.  We’ll unpick that further in a moment.

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 they would ensure that Yahweh or Jehovah, the unspeakable God would look 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 our reading from the book of 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. We’ll see later! 

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.

Today we still live in a world of great hardship and poverty.  A world which more than ever needs to remember those Commandments and especially the two great ones left to us by Jesus. We read in our daily newspapers of such terrible examples of greed and selfishness – and I guess we have all, at some time or other, been victims of those two vices.  We read statistics about the fact that such a small handful of extremely wealthy people own more than the entire gross national product of the world’s 80 poorest countries.  My son said to me only the other day that he wishes he had been born thirty or so years earlier when it was possible to buy a property fairly easily, or walk into a job from university or have a decent pension scheme.  Now all these things are not easy because money is not being re-circulated into society – there are only so many cars or boats that a Premier League footballer on £140,000 per week wants or needs.  The world’s answer is print more money – quantitative easing as it’s called.  The fact of the matter is that the money printed is not backed by gold reserves but on debt which has been created in the first place by lending to people who couldn’t afford the repayments! To me it seems mere folly, in fact immoral.

As the Chaplain here in Salisbury to some of the homeless and Veterans, I get really angry when I read of many injustices which have created the homeless person’s problems in the first place. Many are not entirely of their own making - but victims of dubious war or crime. The unfairness of the Sanction system for example, food poverty - one child in every nine in “prosperous” Britain going to bed hungry at night.  It’s wrong, it shouldn’t be and it certainly shouldn’t happen if we followed Jesus’s two great commandments – Love God and Love each other as you yourself would wish to be loved. You only have to watch the film “I Daniel Blake” to have a better understanding of the unfairness and inequalities of life – especially for the poor, disabled and ill-educated. 

Many people think that religion and politics shouldn’t mix; that church ministers should stay away from politicians – but it is my belief that we, as practising Christians, should become involved.  More and more the Government is relying upon charities and particularly Christian organisations to work towards alleviating poverty both in this country and abroad,  That’s fine but I believe that we should also tackle the root cause of many of the those problems. Pope Francis recently said

 “If I say I am Catholic and go to mass, but then don’t speak with my parents, help my grandparents or the poor, go and see those who are sick, this does not prove my faith, there’s no point,”

In our gospel reading we have the finest example we could possibly have of a Christian getting angry at injustice – Jesus himself.  But we have to be angry in a righteous, not self-righteous way.  We need and should get angry when we see the world turning its back on our Christian principles.

As a bit of background to Jesus’s “tantrum” in the Temple it is necessary to understand something of the Temple system.  The Temple was made up of a series of boxes – courtyards – with the Holy of Holys at its centre and spreading out in a number of courtyards restricted to people of different class or hierarchy.  On the outer part was the courtyard where small animals could be bought for sacrifice.  However, to purchase your sacrificial dove or chicken or whatever you needed to use Temple money which you exchanged for your Roman coinage.  These were the money lenders or money changers who would take a massive commission both for converting the Roman money into Temple shekels and then converting back before the individual returned to the outside Roman world.   They probably also loaned money at exorbitant rates to those who didn’t quite have enough – in league with the livestock vendors, no doubt.  Does it remind you of anything today?  Cash Converters, Wonga and the like?  How many times do we read of extortionate rates being used against the poor – those with poor credit ratings - indeed, it is quite clear that the ones in this country who are being exploited the most are those who can least afford it!

I am a great admirer of Bishop Desmond Tutu.  Here is a man who has successfully embraced politics from his religious seat. A man who once was labelled by White politicians as a “communist” until he pointed out that the principles he preached were not from some tome by Karl Marx but from within the 66 books which make up the Holy Bible – the same book on which those same white politicians swore their oaths of allegiance when taking their seats in the South African Parliament.

It is right and proper that we should get angry as Christians.  We are first of all human beings and experience human emotions and secondly the Holy Spirit has put into our hearts compassion and feelings of sympathy and empathy for the plight of those less fortunate than ourselves together with an understanding of what Jesus felt as he preached to sinners and those who found life difficult.  However it is also important that our anger should be directed for the right reasons and with a positive aim in mind.  Jesus was angry because the money changers were cheating the ordinary folk and making money out of their reliance on an antiquated system of worship.  By dying on the cross he ended all that by giving us direct access to the Trinitarian God.  Likewise, we should become angry at those things which make God angry.  Vicky Beeching, the now controversial theologian and songwriter wrote (addressing God) “Break my heart with the things that break yours”.

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 or systems without looking at things from a deeper and wider perspective? How often do we 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 – to actually do something to stop the injustices we see around us and which we frequently bemoan.

Now before we end, let’s see how many of you can remember the order of the ten commandments ...

I would like to end with a prayer using the words of Vicky Beeching’s song

Father God,

Break our hearts
With the things that break Yours
Wake us up to see through Your eyes

Break our hearts
With the things that break Yours
And send us out to shine in the darkness

It's time to move outside our comfort zone
To see beyond our churches and our homes
To change the way we think and how we spend
Until we look like Jesus again

Amen                                                                                                    MFB/110/02032018

SERMON NO. 109 - WEDNESDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2018

Homily at All Saints’ Parish Church, Whiteparish  and All Saint’s Parish Church, Winterslow -  Ash Wednesday  – Sunday 14 February 2018 

Matthew 6:16-21

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be always acceptable to you, O God.  Amen

Do you ever have those moments, during bible reading, when the words spring off the pages as though they were written, not nearly 2,000 or more years ago, but perhaps only that day?  And specifically for you!  Well for me, when I read the Gospel Reading again yesterday in preparation for this homily, the words of Matthew did just that – and I do hope that such an experience something you’ve all had at some time or another as it is the proof that the bible is as much or perhaps even more relevant  today as it always has been – words written centuries earlier but also for today and indeed tomorrow.  It’s the living word of God.

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of that period in the church’s calendar called Lent. You won’t find the word Lent anywhere in the bible and the word, so the Internet tells me, comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Lecten meaning “Spring” – that period leading to new birth. So, in the Christian tradition we prepare ourselves, during 40 days or so, for the Passion and the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Day. We use this period, traditionally and historically for fasting and reflection.

Fasting was nothing new for the Hebrews.  Indeed, in our Gospel reading Jesus is, in fact, echoing the words of Old Testament Isaiah (Isaiah 58:3) – “Why do we fast but you do not see?  Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?  Look you serve your own interest on your fast-day and oppress all your workers.  Look you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.  Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.”

And at verse 6 - “Is not this the fast that I choose; to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house … the n your light shall break forth like the dawn and your healing shall spring up quickly”. Jesus is reminding his listeners, in this, his great Sermon on the Mount, that fasting is about personal reflection and meditation – that in fasting the Hebrews should be dedicating themselves to deepening that greatest of relationships – with God himself – and not just using it to show to others how holy they were in their self-denial.  “Hypocrites” he called them – “players” in modern day terms.  We are told in 1 Samuel 16:7:

“For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”

We would do well to remember this.  Jesus frequently chastised the elders of the Jewish religion, Pharisees and Sadducees who would appear, to all outward appearances, as very righteous holy people, fasting and observing the law but Jesus also knew them to be sinful, else why would he have said of the woman found in adultery – “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”.  For all their outward holiness, they were flawed just as we humans will always be flawed but we are able to repent through following Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.

Jesus tells his listeners that when they fast they should put oil on their heads and wash their face – in other word not make a big show of the sacrifices they are making but appear to all outwards appearance as they would normally – not to look dismal emphasising their sacrifice.

There was a time, following the Ash Wednesday service when I had had the sign of the Cross smeared in ash and oil on my very prominent forehead, when I would go around trying to preserve it all day.  Why? Well I told myself it was as a witness to others but in reality I soon realised that it was, in all probability, something more to do with my own vanity and “self-righteousness” showing others that I was “holy” in observing the beginning of Lent.  This is precisely what Jesus is saying – “wash your face so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you”.

he second part of Jesus’s message in today’s gospel seemed even more relevant to my situation today!  As many of you will know, Liz and I have sold our respective houses in Whiteparish and Old Sarum and effectively moved from a total of eight- bedroomed accommodation to a four-bedroomed house in Downton.  During the course of the move it struck us both, in the process of trying to “downsize”, just how many possessions we have between us – many of which we had either forgotten we had or which we had been clinging onto as part of not letting go our history. Jesus tells us “not to store up treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume or where thieves break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19-21). I am also reminded of the parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12 who builds bigger barns to store more crops in the hope of an easier life in the future – his life is suddenly taken away and the futility of such actions becomes very apparent.

Jesus gives us a template for how we should behave not just during Lent but also during the whole of our lives. We should be ourselves, we should be the people God created us to be and we should remember always to dedicate our lives to God.  God gives life and God takes it away. We bring nothing into this world and we can take nothing out. We should concentrate on the present and our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  The past often gives us regrets, the future brings us worries but the present is for living.

Lent is not just about self-denial – no wine, no chocolate, no fun.  It is a time for reflection but it is also a time to pray, to provide charity and share the good News of the Cross with others not only by what we do for ourselves but how we act towards others.

I love the film “Chocolat” starring Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench and hear t throb Johnny Depp. If you haven’t ever seen the film, I highly recommend you try and watch it during Lent and, if you feel so inclined, have some chocolate too.  For me the message is clear, as Isaiah so clearly put it :

Is [not a period of fasting] not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house? … then your light shall break forth like the dawn and your healing shall spring up quickly”.

Amen

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SERMON 108 - SUNDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2018

Sermon at All Saints’ Parish Church, Whiteparish   -  Morning Worship  – Sunday 4 February 2018 

Proverbs 8:1, 22-31;  Colossians 1:15-20; John 1:1-14

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be always acceptable to you, O God.  Amen

It may come as something of a surprise to us that the Church’s Lectionary has these well-known words at the beginning of John’s Gospel as today’s reading so soon after Christmas when we heard them read out as the last reading for the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols. We may also hear these scriptural passages read out again at the end of the Ash Wednesday service.  It is so familiar to us, echoing as it does, the opening words of Genesis, the very first words of our Holy Bible, yet when written it was quite revolutionary – new words for a new era – a revolution and a revelation of the true theology long practised by the Hebrews but not understood by them.  It not only reminds us that Jesus Christ was God incarnate but that as such he had always been there – he was God who was there at the beginning of Creation and will be with us always and that this new era marks the beginning of a New Creation.

This is where our religious belief differs so markedly from those of the other two Judeo religions.  Judaism tells us the there is only one God, Yahweh, and that there have only been prophets; The Messiah, is yet to come.  Islam tells us that Mohammed was a great prophet but that he is separate and distinct from Allah, their word for the same God.  Our own Faith, which is sometimes very difficult to understand by those who are not Christians, confuses people into thinking that we actually worship three Gods, Yahweh, the same remote God as worshipped by the Hebrews (which is true) but also two further Gods – Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, whilst others think of Jesus Christ as a good man and prophet but not divine.  So it is sometimes extremely difficult for us to explain that we actually are a mono-theological faith – believing in one God but in three forms – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Now this is not Trinity Sunday so I don’t want to go into great lengths about the Trinity but I do think it very important, as we come to just less than two weeks before the beginning of Lent, to reflect upon the importance of John’s theology at the beginning of his Gospel and to see this in the context of what went before and Paul’s own theology in today’s readings.  It’s really big stuff and I don’t want to turn this sermon into a heavy theological lecture but allow us some time to think about the implications for our world today.

“In the beginning” – so starts both Genesis and John.  “In the beginning God” (Genesis) “In the beginning was the Word” (John).  Immediately John is using the first words of the Torah, the important first five books of the Hebrew bible, to emphasise this most important point – both God and the Word (Jesus) were together – one and the same. As Jesus told his disciple Philip in John 14 - “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

In other words, we need the wisdom and discernment which Jesus can give us in his teachings and actions to understand this and which, in our first reading in Proverbs, reminds us of the importance of such wisdom  - “Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?” (Proverbs 8.1) – and then, harking back to Genesis “The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts long ago” (Proverbs 8:22)

The Hebrew word for “beginning” also means “sum total”, “first fruits”, and the word “in” can also mean “through” or “for” – so the words “In the beginning” can also mean “through the sum total of God and Christ” – in other words “Christ is the one in, through and for whom creation and redemption are accomplished”.  

As Paul tells us in his letter to the Colossians “Christ is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation for in him all things in Heaven and on Earth were created – things visible and invisible” (Colossians 1:15-16).  And later “Christ is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning.” (Colossians 1:18).  In other words we are reminded that Jesus is the head of our church, and it is in, through and for him only that all things are accomplished.

John makes it very much plainer still in his opening Gospel.  He reminds us that nothing came into being in the world which did not involve God’s Creation and as Jesus Christ is also God Incarnate, then nothing came into being which Jesus Christ did not create. The strength of his ministry and his Word, and ultimate death are made all the more stronger by the revelation of him as divine as well as human. He has the ultimate authority in our lives and world; the rest of us just have a tenancy, a stewardship of his creation.

As Christians this is the Good News which we are expected to reveal to all we meet.  The challenge for us is how do we do this in a world of secular values? 

Earlier I said that this message can be extremely difficult for Non-Christians to understand and that is the reason that often the Gospel of John is given out to non-believers or those who have recently attended an Evangelical Church to get over this message of the oneness of Christ and God.

When I get involved in conversations with non-believers who are curious as to my Faith the conversation often begins with the words “Why do you believe in God an invisible person we cannot see?”  God the remote being somewhere out there beyond our world in space.  Just think for a moment, how do you envision God?  It may be a white-bearded Old Man looking down on us and keeping a record of all our misdeeds, that certainly was my image as a child, or is he or she somebody loving – a good mate or a loving parent?  We may have many different ideas as to the entity which we pray to or it may be just a great mystery and we really don’t feel we know.  This coming Lent let us all try and understand and apply the wisdom we have been given to get closer to Jesus.

Jesus told Philip “If you have seen me you have seen the Father” and that is why it is so important for us to follow closely the teaching of Jesus from the Bible.  God came down to Earth in human form so as to be amongst us and as John says “we have seen his glory … full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).   

Christianity is about relationships – it is about loving God, not being frightened of him. He loves us unconditionally,  he created us and as such only wants what is good for us – just as those of us who are parents want only the best for our children.  Jesus has something to say about this too - “Who when his child asks for bread to eat would give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:9)

God wants a relationship with us – he gave us himself in human form for 33 years on Earth and then left us with his Holy Spirit – that same spirit which is described as sweeping over the face of the waters in Genesis 1:2.  As the church, as the body of Christ it is important to maintain that relationship.  Christianity is based on that relationship and not on the observance of the rules and regulations of Faith as with the Hebrews of the time.  Jesus made that very clear when talking with the Pharisees and Sadducees and with many of his seeming provocative actions; but at the same time reminding them that he had come to fulfil the law not break it.

If we are to be true followers of Christ we must get the message of God’s incarnation across and the importance of having a true relationship with Him. 

In this period of Lent leading up to Holy Week and beyond let us reflect on the awesomeness of John’s statement at the beginning of his Gospel “that [whilst] no one has seen God the Father; it is God the only Son … who has made him known” (John 1:18).  Let us also use these forthcoming weeks to build up that relationship through prayerful meditation, giving thanks that God became incarnate for our salvation.

Let us pray: (after Michael Forster)

Thank you, God, for incarnation:

For taking the risk of being human,

Of making friends

Of offering love

Of living in hope

Thank you for being here, for calling us to do that too

Thank you, God, for incarnation.

Amen.

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