SERMON 30 - SUNDAY 11 AUGUST 2013

Sermon at St. Mary’s Church, West Dean - Eleventh Sunday after Trinity – Morning Worship – Sunday 11 August 2013

Genesis 15:1-6; Psalm 33; Hebrews 11:1-3; 8-16; Luke 12:32-40

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

“The Lord brought Abraham outside and said ‘Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’  Then he said ‘So shall your descendants be’”.

I thought, as I sat down to write this sermon, how appropriate it was that we should have that reading from Genesis here in West Dean this morning where those wonderful stars, painted on the ceiling behind me, look down at us every time we come here to worship.  I know that each time I arrive I am drawn to look up at them in wonder and amazement at their beauty and craftsmanship and have often remarked about them to you.

It’s probably hardly surprising that I am drawn to them because, as quite a few of you will already know, amongst my many interests and hobbies (my wife says too many!)  the most enduring has been my love and study of astronomy which I began when I was about 10 years old and was given my first very small telescope and looked at the crescent moon through it. In fact, it was given to me on the day that President Kennedy was shot – so vivid is the memory even today.

It opened a whole new world for me – as my parents remarked – often leaving me with my head in the air!   …and if you ever see the Winterslow Parish Magazine you will know that each and every month, for the past twelve years, I have written a centre page article entitled “The Wiltshire Sky at Night” explaining what and where to see some of the wonders of the heavens.

Recently, I was asked by a fellow theology student how I could reconcile my great interest in the science of astronomy with my faith.  “Surely,” I was asked, “Didn’t many of the discoveries of space lessen the belief that God exists – that there are astrophysical explanations for many of the things which we have ascribed to God’s creation because we don’t have an answer for them?”

My response has always been unequivocal – the more I learn of space and the wonders of the cosmos the more I believe that these things were not brought into being by a random series of events - but were the creation of a divine being – God or Yahweh in our Faith.  For example, we now know that the particles of atoms – those protons, neutrons, electrons we learned about at school - are themselves composed of smaller particles and ultimately, we believe, at the moment, “strings” which are infinite and point to the possible existence of other universes outside of our own.

Even on a scale which we can understand, our own solar system and galaxy is immense – the light from our closest star, apart from the sun, taking 4.2 light years to reach us.  The light from our own sun takes 8 minutes to reach us.

All these facts go to suggest that even with all the sophisticated instruments and resources at our fingertips – both for looking outward to the heavens and inward to the atomic particles - the immensity of God’s creation goes far beyond anything we can comprehend and it is interesting that the one thing which keeps eluding the scientists is that “God”-particle – the one thing which started it all off.

When I look through my telescope at the rings of Saturn or the crater-marked face of the Moon or the celestial dance of the satellites around Jupiter, I see the wonder of God’s creation just as I see it in the faces of smiling children or the flowers of the field. It gives me a great sense of insignificance, yet at the same time I know that God loves us all, each and every one of us despite our faults and failings. It therefore, also gives me a great sense of importance because it puts everything into perspective and importance and makes that love all the more outstanding.

That is why having a faith is so important – it brings meaning to everything – when there sometimes appears to be no meaning at all. Last week we heard from the writer of Ecclesiastes – how everything was meaningless.  What he meant was how transient most things are, material things especially - and how everything can pass away so quickly – life itself - and that we should not concentrate our lives on amassing and collecting material things which will not last but on those things which make us righteous in the sight of God. 

When I look at the night sky I am also encouraged by the seeming permanence which seems to exist.  The shape of the constellations will not have changed since Roman times – we look upon the same stars that Jesus and Abraham saw.  Even the planets in their nightly wanderings follow the same paths they did in the pre-historic times.  Yet, despite this seemingly stillness, astronomical objects are moving through space at tremendous speeds too and things are, on an immense scale, changing and developing.

When Abraham was shown the night sky, it would have been familiar to him – and with his naked eye the stars in the desert would have been bright and numerous – there was no light pollution in those days. In fact, in the near-Eastern desert it is estimated today that about 8,000 stars can be seen with the naked eye.  It would therefore have been difficult to count them.

 Yet here he is, an old man, childless with an old wife - what possible hope could there be for him to expect to found a family whose generations would be as numerous as the stars he could see?  It seems an impossibility – as impossible as counting the stars themselves.

We are told, in the scripture, that despite this seeming impossibility, he believed in the Lord, he had faith and as a result he was held up as righteous in the eyes of the Lord – righteous meaning that he was favoured by God, that his belief had been judged by God as an indication that he was leading a life pleasing to God.  It is a concept of great significance in Hebrew theology.

The writer of the Book of Hebrews, takes up this theme in our second reading when he talks about Abraham’s obedience to the call from God to set out for Canaan and to found a dynasty. That by having faith, the descendants of Abraham were indeed as numerous as the stars and as innumerable as the grains of sand on the shore. 

The writer of Hebrews is addressing the young Jewish converts to Christianity who would have been familiar with the language and stories of the Old Testament - the Hebrew bible. The importance of the message to them, and to us today as we read that letter in the New Testament, is that it is the hope of things longed for and a faith in things unseen which includes a belief that Jesus was the son of God and that by his death and resurrection we can be redeemed.

It is a pity that the passage from Hebrews read today, as prescribed by the Common Lectionary, misses out some further examples of faith in impossible situations described by the author – Noah building a massive boat in the middle of the desert; Enoch being taken by God to avoid an otherwise earthly death.  Both of these characters are described as being “righteous”  because of their unfailing faith.

Our gospel reading also picks up on the theme of righteousness in which Jesus tells the disciples that it is by being watchful and acting in a state of readiness to receive God, they too will be blessed by an inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven. As with the message from Ecclesiastes, it is far better to deal with the treasures available from heaven than on Earth.  To have faith that God knows your needs and will provide.  In other words, we must be ready to expect the unexpected, just as Abraham did – and to answer the call however hard or difficult it is to comprehend or seems impossible to carry out.

To use another astronomical analogy, astronomers can never know with any certainly (apart from a very few examples) when a comet will appear in the sky.  It is only by watching and waiting night after night that they can first be observed.  It takes a great deal of patience and faithful observing to find it – but when found it is wonderfully rewarding.

God, like the night sky is immense, often unfathomable, seemingly unchangeable. He may often seem remote.

Jesus is like the Hubble telescope through whom we can see God the Father more clearly and through whom we can have a close relationship.   By studying our bibles, by listening out for his voice, by praying we get so much closer.

I have also been asked why I didn’t become a professional astronomer.  The answer apart from the fact I am no good at maths, is that I enjoy the pleasure that amateur status brings.  I love to observe the heavens and seek out things for myself with my own small instruments. Because I am an amateur, the night sky is equally available to me as well as to the professionals and the casual star-gazer.

God is just like the stars in this respect – He is available to everyone – not just priests and trained holy people. We all have direct access – but without having faith we cannot see clearly.

On the next starlit night, look out at all those stars, remember God’s promise to Abraham.  He is also making promises to each of us too if we listen and observe carefully with hope and faith.  

 

Amen

SERMON 29 - SUNDAY 28 JULY 2013

Sermon at Holy Trinity Church, East Grimstead - Ninth Sunday after Trinity – All Age Morning Worship – Sunday 28 July 2013

Genesis 18:20-32; Colossians 2:6-19; Luke 11:1-13

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

Let me let you into a terrible secret – I often find it really hard to pray! In those times of formal prayer in a church, often in those times of silence, I start off okay but then run out of things to say or worse still my mind starts to wander – thinking about tasks still to do – perhaps how long the roast beef needs to be in the oven, will it be ready in time for when the family arrive? or did I really lock my car before I came into church?  At those times of formal worship everyone else seems so much holier than me – intent of eloquent prayer, having long intimate chats with the Almighty whilst I seem to struggle to string a few words together.

There are times of course, when I can spout out a long shopping list of things to pray for – but it got me to thinking – what is prayer? Why do we pray – God knows everything anyway.  Is there a correct way to pray?

For me, prayer is all about communication – it is not simply reminding God that we exist – he already knows it – but acknowledging him in our life and the importance of keeping that vital relationship going.

At times when I find it hard to find words of prayer, today’s gospel reading is a wonderful reminder that greater people than me have struggled.  Jesus prayed a lot during his ministry – spoke to his Father – it’s logical and understandable that he would do so and it seems clear from this morning’s gospel passage that the disciples yearned to have that same sort of intimacy and didn’t know how to go about praying either. Jesus’s response is to give them a template which they could use over and over again – the Lord’s Prayer – so familiar to us today – so even when we find it difficult to put together our own words of prayer – we can always pray this.  It is formed of four separate sections – Adoration – “Hallowed be Thy Name”; Confession – “Forgive us this day our trespasses”; Thanksgiving – “as you have forgiven those who trespass against us”; and Supplication – “Give us this day our daily bread” – ACTS – A – Adoration; C – Confession; T – Thanksgiving and S – Supplication.  Jesus is telling us that all of our prayers should have these important ingredients.

Our first reading from Genesis is probably the very first clear prayer of supplication in the bible when Abraham pleads (a prayer of supplication) for God not to destroy Sodom.  It was simply a conversation between the man, Abraham, and God.

Nowhere in the gospels does Jesus say we have to go down on bended knee – the closest we get to any instruction how to pray is here in Luke when he gives the disciples some words to use and in Matthew when in the Sermon on the Mount he instructs his followers that they should not stand up in front of everyone and pray out loud but quietly in their own rooms behind locked doors.  Again he gives those followers the prayer we know so well today as a template.

Prayer can take many forms and theologian Dom John Chapman has said “pray the way you can not the way you cannot”.  No one would ask you to sign a cheque with your left hand if you are right-handed – nor is there a right or wrong way to pray – it must be comfortable and natural for you. 

There are hundreds of books on how to pray but the two which have appealed to me the most have rather negative titles - “Too Busy not to Pray” by Bill Hybels and “How not to Pray” by Jeff Lucas.  Bill’s book gives some really good tips on how to build some prayer time into your everyday life and Jeff explodes some commonly held myths about prayer – for example:

·       That the only good prayers are long prayers

·       That when we pray to God he is a long way away

·       That you should only pray for others and not yourself

·       That God doesn’t want to be bothered by your little prayers he has bigger things on his mind

And above all –

·       That I simply can’t pray

Steve Chalke tells of an experience he had.  Steve holds the Guinness Book of Records world record for the individual who has raised the most money for charity through running the London Marathon. 

Before embarking on one of his runs he had been asked to pray for a woman who had a severe life-threatening illness.  He promised that during the whole of the 26 miles of the course he would constantly pray for her. He ran the first mile – and prayed and prayed, he ran the second and third mile and prayed, he ran the fourth mile and his prayers started to get a bit intermittent and by the fifth mile he found it difficult to keep up the prayer at all.  In a liberating moment he spoke to God finally and said “I can’t pray to you anymore for this woman as promised but I shall now dedicate this whole run as a prayer in itself for her”.

Similarly that famous athlete, Eric Liddell, the hero of the 1924 Paris Olympics and “Chariots of Fire” famously said “God made me fast and when I run I feel his pleasure”.

For my part, I often chat to God when mowing the lawn or driving or walking on my own.

Prayer, therefore, can take many forms but it should always be in a form with which you are comfortable. For some, it is on bended knee in a church, for others it is focusing on an object or icon, for others it might be holding a pebble or a rock, for others perhaps a finger labyrinth.  In a moment I want to carry out and experiment with you - a form of prayer which might, or might not work for you.  It’s called visual prayer. If it doesn’t work, that’s absolutely fine – it’s probably not something for you, but for others who like images and using their imagination, it might just work and it is something you can try at home in a few moments of quiet time.

I want you to close your eyes and imagine you are seated somewhere familiar and feel comfortable – where you feel safe and secure – it might be in your armchair at home; in your garden, at your favourite holiday location; watching your favourite sport.

Now imagine a person approaching you – it’s Jesus – but he can take any form you choose to give him – not necessarily the iconic pictures we have seen of him or statue figures.

He introduces himself and asks you to ask him any question – to talk to him – anything at all – what is on your mind – what would you like to ask God and in the next couple of minutes, in your imagination ask him any burning question you might have – but more importantly – allow a bit of time for him to respond and for you to listen to that response …….[2 Minutes Silence] …….

Okay it might have worked for some of you or none of you – maybe there was a hazy answer or no answer at all – but if there was something – then I invite you to reflect upon it over the next day or so.  Try it again at home if you like.

There are no right or wrong techniques to prayer but you must be prepared for God to answer prayer in his own way and time – not necessarily how and when you want or expect him to do.

I did this same exercise of visual prayer a few years ago.  I asked Jesus how and where I should better serve him. The answer I received from my chat with Jesus was “Wait and see – just walk with me for the time being”.  The time wasn’t right but the waiting and walking resulted in my later clear calling to this ministry – when circumstances in my life were more convenient. Likewise I know of others who have found visual prayer helpful in making an important decision.

Jesus constantly took himself off somewhere quiet to pray – to commune with his Father.  The importance of prayer was always emphasised to the disciples of those days and is no less important to us, his disciples of today.

We as Christians must always remember that to lead a full Christian life we must pray – be in communication with God through his son, Jesus, who gave his life so that we might have that wonderful privilege of being able to talk to the Father direct.  A privilege which we must forever hold near and dear and exercise daily.

 

Amen

 

 

SERMON 28 - SUNDAY 14 JULY 2013

Sermon at St. Mary’s Church, West Dean and All Saints Church, Farley - Seventh Sunday after Trinity – Morning Worship – Sunday 14 July 2013

Deuteronomy 30:9-14; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-27

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

“Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.^* ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” ²⁶

For me, as a solicitor, it is interesting that Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan, so well-known and loved by all of us, is prompted by a question put by a lawyer. Now, I am sure that the lawyer in Luke’s gospel was not a court lawyer; but almost certainly he was somebody whose role it was to upkeep the sacred Jewish laws of observance, as described in our first reading from Deuteronomy, laws designed alone to please God, and he was probably given the task to try and trap Jesus into giving an answer which would implicate him as either a non-observant Jew or a traitor to the Roman occupiers.   If he had been a court lawyer he would almost certainly have known the golden rule of advocacy - that you never ask a question to which you don’t, with any certainty, know or suspect the answer.

Let me illustrate this with an event which occurred in my own professional life when I was a newly qualified solicitor.

I had been given the task of cross-examining an employee of a company accused of stealing equipment from a factory in Yorkshire – a roll of bin liners, a ball of string and a hammer as I recall – it’s strange how you remember these little things – and in the course of my investigations discovered that there was an enormous sign in red letters just by the exit to the factory site which read something along the lines of:-

“Have you any company property on you?  Any employees taking materials off site without permission will be deemed thieves and thieves will be dismissed and prosecuted”.

A fairly straightforward and explicit message I thought.  I also ascertained that “matey” as we can affectionately call him, had a job of driving the company van out of the factory in the course of his duties up to ten time a day and in cross-examining him he readily admitted that he passed the big red sign every time.

In for the kill, I looked at the judge, paused and then launched in with my coup de grace (as I thought):- 

“Would you please tell his Honour, what the sign says”? I smiled with satisfaction at my own handiwork so far.

“No” was his stern reply

After a further nudge from the Judge to answer the question he repeated …“No”.

“And why not?” I continued ready with the hammer blow

“Because I can’t read”!

Completely taken off my guard, I flustered, looked at my clients who shrugged their shoulders as if to say “We didn’t know” and came out with a quick supplementary question:

“You’ve told the court how you drive around the county delivering and collecting products.  If you can’t read how do you find your way around (this was of course before the days of sat. navs)?

His unblinked response to the Judge was simply - “With difficulty!”

I tell this story, not simply because it is one of my favourite after-dinner reminiscences from my previous professional life, but also because I suspect that the lawyer in our bible reading felt very much like I did in that courtroom  – he got back from Jesus far more than he bargained for when he asked that first question about inheriting eternal life, and the supplemental one that followed – “Who, then is my neighbour?”   Jesus, as so often the case, then proceeded to give an answer by posing a question of his own through the illustration of a parable ending with “Which one of these do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?  The lawyer  straight away answers with “the one who showed mercy – the Samaritan”.   Jesus follows this up with a direction to the lawyer

“Then go and do likewise”.

The response probably left the lawyer with more questions left unanswered than he had anticipated.   How easy is it to do likewise? We can read that parable again and again and it will often speak to us in different ways posing questions which we have to ask ourselves – the most important of which is probably “What would I have done in that situation?  Would I have done likewise?”

A contemporary situation might be like that which faced Philip Lawrence who paid for his good neighbourliness with his life after being stabbed by the assailants of a 13-year old youth whose aid he went to. 

Over the past few weeks the readings which we have studied and discussed in church have centred on the call to follow Jesus and the putting into practice of that call.  Jesus repeatedly plays a straight bat – a nice analogy to use at this time with the Ashes Series on.   He sets conditions for those who want to follow him – leave what you are currently doing immediately, do not dilly-dally, leave the comfort of your family and home and come with me on the road; likewise, in sending out the seventy he makes it clear to those he has commissioned that to go out on the mission will be tough and rejection and danger will be with them. In today’s reading, Jesus tells the lawyer the answer to his question – he must obey the commandant to love his neighbour as himself – something the lawyer would have understood, but Jesus illustrates what that actually looks like by indicating that two of the lawyer’s own kind, a priest and a Levite (a member of that priestly clan) - people who would be expected to help, found it too difficult and took the easy route – crossing over to the other side of the road.  People in whom there would be an expectation of grace and mercy but which they found too hard to put into practice.

During my years in a large commercial organisation we were often told to “walk the talk” – in other words to put into practice those things we had learned and which we had promised or were contracted to do.  This is Jesus’s message although he knew that in many instances this simply did not happen and we find him again and again admonishing the Pharisees and Sadducees  - on the face of it holy men who had been trained to walk the talk but so frequently didn’t.

Being a Christian, following Christ’s example and teachings, as we are told to do in this and other passages of the bible, demands sacrifices.  In this morning’s Epistle, Paul reminds the leaders in Colossae that hearing God’s word is not enough but only by constant prayer and actions can Christians bear fruit in every good work they do.  In other words, we have each been given the fruits of the Holy Spirit and these will ripen by their use in actions for God. The sacrifices which we have to make and difficulties which we encounter will become easier to bear.

In the parable, the Samaritan not only did not pass on the other side but stopped, gave what roadside assistance he could and then took the injured man to an inn where he ensured that he would be looked after – providing money for that care until he returned.

Clearly, like the mugged traveller, the Samaritan was on an important journey – no doubt with appointments to keep and tasks to fulfil – just as the priest and the Levite would have had.

Let’s ask ourselves, how many times do we fail to give compassionate care to others because we think we are too busy?  That our own affairs are more important than stopping to give somebody else a bit of our precious time.  Perhaps we simply don’t want the unexpected to interfere with our planned day?

Jesus was himself frequently side-tracked away from his current mission.  We see examples dotted throughout the bible.  A well-known example would be when, on his way to attend to Jarius’s sick daughter, he was touched by the bleeding woman.  He also spent probably a considerable amount of time with the woman at the well when he simply wanted to stop briefly for a drink of water.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus is also giving an example of excellent pastoral care.  Christian pastoral care is not simply for those who are ordained, licensed or commissioned/authorised by the church – it is the role and duty, the ministry of every believer. 

When we are put in the situation of being able to give pastoral care, of helping our neighbour - who can be anyone in the world irrespective of gender, race, creed or colour, - God will always provide us with the time and capacity to exercise it.  There are many biblical examples from the Gospels and Acts and in my own experience, God will never ask or expect us to do something for which we are not ready or capable.

The writer James talks about showing faith through our deeds.  It is a strapline on my emails – put deliberately there to remind me of the importance of this.

When the occasion arises, let’s not pass by on the other side – let’s follow the example of the good Samaritan and “go and do likewise”.

 

Amen

 

 

SERMON 27 - SUNDAY 7 JULY 2013

 

Sermon at St Peter’s Church, Pitton - Sixth Sunday after Trinity – Morning Worship – Sunday 7 July 2013

Galatians 6: (1-6); 10-14; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

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

I am just about old enough to remember seeing on the television those immortal lines spoken by a young newly elected President of the United States – words which have gone down in history as marking the beginning of what was hoped to be a glorious new era in American politics and, which sadly, ended 1,000 days later in such enormous tragedy – “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”?  Words spoken on a cold January day in 1961 by John F. Kennedy.

In recent years there has been much controversy about where those words came from and accusations about presidential plagiarism – it being suggested that they came from one of his previous headmasters in Connecticut, Mr. George St. John.  They were certainly powerful words with a powerful sentiment.

If they did come from Mr. St. John, then I would equally accuse him of plagiarism for I think the sentiment is expressed well in both of our New Testament readings this morning and I would interpret those passages as saying:

“Ask not what God can do for you, but what you can do for God?”

In last week’s scripture we looked closely at the way in which God calls us to service, to ministry, service for him, doing his ministry.  It was appropriate that we did so, for last weekend saw the ordination of priests and deacons in Salisbury Cathedral by the Bishop including the deaconing of Mark Phillips from this very village and I add my congratulations and prayers to those of others as he and Claire settle in their new parish on Portland.

Last week Jesus was explaining to those who wanted to follow him what the conditions were that they would have to meet – not to delay in their actions to follow him; to leave everything behind – their comforts, family, possessions, jobs; to be prepared to live under the stars; to be prepared to rely solely on the hospitality of others; and as we know, to face persecution and misunderstanding from family, friends and those they were yet to meet.

In today’s passage from Luke we move on.  Jesus has clearly chosen his seventy followers (who are in addition to his 12 close disciples) from amongst those who had felt the call.  These instructions which he gives to them make it abundantly clear that having a call to follow is only just the beginning and that from that call we are expected to carry out God’s word by our actions in the world.  Even with seventy followers it is also clear that Jesus is expecting that the work will be intense.  This may have been because the sending out of the seventy occurred towards the end of his ministry and he realised that there just wasn’t a lot of time left.

How often have we heard those words in our daily lives? - The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few?  In these days of economic austerity it is often the cry of those who struggle in employment when they see the work increasing but the numbers of employees falling through redundancy.

In this passage I think Jesus is saying that there is so much work to be done in spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of Heaven but so little time left to do it.  Jesus would have known that he was only on this Earth for a short period and that he wanted his followers to utilise that time to the best advantage.  There is a really quick pace to this passage – a feeling of utmost urgency. 

I love the bit where he says “I am sending you as lambs into the midst of wolves”. One thing you can say about Jesus is that he never minces his word when talking to his followers”!  In the words of that famous song “[He] never promised [them] a rose garden”.

That well known writer and theologian Jeff Lucas tells a wonderful story about the first time, as a newly qualified preacher, he stood in the pulpit and announced that “If a Christian has a problem they only have to pray about it and God will take the problem away; but if they pray about it and it doesn’t go away then maybe they are not really a Christian which means that they now have a bigger problem than the one they started with!”

Jeff now readily admits that it was the most dreadful piece of theology he has ever uttered.

Jesus is at great pains to tell the seventy that following him along his path will be tricky and tells them to be prepared to be rejected; but he also emphasises that he is with them;  for when they are rejected him, Jesus, is also being rejected and when Jesus is rejected God the Father is also being rejected.  They are in good company. It is a powerful message of authority to be told that if one is being treated in a certain way then it is also being done to God himself. 

Interestingly enough, today’s reading as set out in the Lectionary misses out five difficult verses from this chapter of Luke’s – verses 12-15: -

“Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”^{* 12}I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.

13 ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴But at the judgement it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven?     No, you will be brought down to Hades. ‘

Strong words indeed.  Last week you will recall that Jesus rebuked James and John for suggesting that Jesus should call down fire to destroy the Samaritan village which rejected them any hospitality but here Jesus is himself suggesting that those cities which reject his gospel will receive judgment more terrible than Sodom and Gomorrah – and that judgment is left to God.

What I think Jesus is saying here is that such judgment will be greater against those who have been given the opportunity to hear the message of God’s Kingdom and then reject, than those who have not. 

When Jesus sends out the seventy he is actually sending out his second mission - for earlier he had sent out just the twelve disciples with almost similar instructions.  The difference here appears to be that the seventy additional followers have been set specific tasks and specific places to go and evangelise.

Important amongst his instructions, as before, are that they should travel light and rely upon the hospitality of others.  Again time seems to be of the essence and he is expecting them to cover a large amount of ground very quickly.  Interestingly, he suggests that when visiting a town or place they should stay in the one lodging and not move around.  This suggests that their ministry was very public.  They should also not worry about observing strict food laws but eat whatever is offered to them.  This shows that Jesus’s ministry was being prepared for the time when the word would be spread amongst the non-Jewish world and all men, Jews and Gentiles, were to believe in the gospel.

For many Jews, the strict following of their food rules and regulations was an essential part of the religious observance but here, Jesus is making a clear statement that spreading the good news about the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven was far more important than worrying about observing ritual.

And this, I think, is the heart of the message from this scripture to us today.  Time is short in eschatological terms – we are in the end days – the days following Christ’s resurrection and ascension – and who would not agree that in terms of disciples the harvest is indeed plentiful but the harvesters few in number.  At Pentecost we were given the power, gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit to become his eyes, ears and in particular hands and feet.  Amazing gifts just for agreeing to follow him.

God calls us to his service just as JFK called the citizens of America - to think and reflect about what they could do for their country.   Having called us God will direct us to what he wants of us and we have to listen attentively.  He wants us to spread his word, his gospel, his good news. He will tell us how but we must be ready to listen and obey.

We read that through their obedience to Christ’s word, they returned with joy – with joy – describing how in the power of Jesus’s name even the demons submitted to them.  It reminds me of the hymn “You will go out with Joy” etc. etc. only here they came back with joy. Jesus remains calm and utters no surprise or disbelief. He remarks that the power they have they have been given by his authority and it is a foretaste of those words uttered by Jesus to Pilate when he answers the Roman governor with the words “You haven’t a shred of authority over me which was not given to you from heaven above” (John 19:11).

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, as you sent out first, the twelve and then, the seventy on those great missions to spread the word about the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven, so send us out with the gifts of the Holy Spirit to do likewise.  We pray that you will show us each what it is that you want us to do and where and how you want us to it.  We ask you Lord, not on this occasion what you can do for us but what can we do for you?

 

Amen

 

 

SERMON 26 - SUNDAY 30 JUNE 2013

Sermon at St. Nicholas’s Parish Church, Porton -  Fifth  Sunday after Trinity 

Bourne Valley Team Eucharist  – Sunday 30 June 2013

Galatians 5:1; 13-25; Luke 9:51

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

Today is a very special day in the Salisbury Diocese of the Church of England. Today is the day that a number of men and women will be ordained Deacons by the Bishop of Salisbury in the Cathedral this morning – the first of the Holy Orders set out in the Book of Common Prayer and the first step to priesthood.  Amongst those will be Mark Phillips from our own Deanery parish of Pitton and our thoughts and prayers must be with him, Claire and his family as he sets forth on God’s ordained ministry.  As with most ministries, Mark’s would have started with a call from God – not always clear but always persistent and compelling.

Our gospel reading this morning has, at its heart, the difficulties and sacrifices which such a call from God has, to whatever ministry he is asking us to; but also a hint at the rewards it can also bring.  Paul has much more to say about the rewards in his letter to the Galatians, a portion of which formed our first reading this morning.

I have heard the gospel reading from Luke umpteen times and I have always found it slightly confusing and worrying – and in order to write this sermon I read it again several times to see how it now spoke to me before delving into any concordance to try and fathom it out.  There seem to be two separate and distinct parts to this passage – but to begin to understand them, we need have a bit of an understanding of the historic and biblical background to the scene.

The first part concerns the Samaritan village – and it is interesting that this part of the story only occurs in Luke – you will not find a parallel account in any of the other four gospels.  We read that this event occurred towards the end of Jesus’s life on earth but this journeying to Jerusalem with his disciples should not be confused with his final journey to his death and resurrection.  Like all good Jews, Jesus would have frequently visited the Temple and it is believed that this particular journey was much earlier in his ministry – it may very well have been the trip to the Feast of the Tabernacles which John recounts in Chapter 7 of his gospel.  When we know that Jesus didn’t start his ministry until the age of 30 and was crucified, resurrected and ascended at the age of 33 we can see that in terms of his earthly life it was indeed “when the days drew near to be taken up” as Luke puts it.

In order to go from Galilee to Jerusalem (which was in Judaea) it would have been necessary for Jesus and his disciples to pass through Samaria – a province whose inhabitants despised the Jews intensely – hence the importance of the message in the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Indeed, in order to avoid going through Samaria, many Jewish travellers to Jerusalem would have crossed the Jordan high up and then travelled along the east bank – a much longer but less troublesome route.  It is interesting, therefore, that Jesus chose the more direct and difficult route on this occasion – almost courting problems.

When I heard this story originally I really couldn’t understand why the village did not welcome him “because he was heading for Jerusalem”. In fact when you understand the hatred with which the Samaritans had for the Jews, the fact that Jesus and his followers were on their way to a Jewish festival would have clearly marked them out as people to be despised. 

This clearly incensed John and James (the sons of Zebedee the fisherman) whose response was to want to “nuke” the village or in more biblical parlance call down fire to destroy them.  No doubt they had in mind the calling down of fire by Elijah on the captains and their soldiers sent from the King of Samaria back in 2 Kings (1:9-14). By this act, Elijah was able to demonstrate to the king that he was indeed a man of God.    As followers of Jesus, and having seen many miracles, James and John no doubt thought that this would be a good way to prove to the Samarians that Jesus was also a man of God by reminding them of what had befallen earlier Samaritans. 

No wonder James and John had been called the Sons of Thunder by Jesus when he had first called them.  It was also these same two disciples who had asked to sit at the left and right hand of Jesus when he ruled his kingdom.   As on that occasion, they were, we are told, rebuked by Jesus – not I think because Jesus didn’t approve of what Elijah had done earlier but because they still “just didn’t get it” - that the actions of the Samaritans towards Jesus and his disciples was far less of an issue than the Baal-worshipping subjects of the earlier Samaritan king.  Jesus’s response is simply to move on and find a more accommodating village.  There is something here in this for us today too – when things don’t go our way, when people do not offer us sympathy, hospitality or any of those loving gifts of the spirit which Paul talks about in his letter to the Galatians, when instead we are met with disdain, hatred, strife, enmities then we simply move on.  God will deal with those issues himself in the fullness of time. It is not for us to judge or call down judgment but for God.

The second part of the reading, seems more confusing still in the context of what we have just looked at.  As he continues his journey through Samaria, Jesus appears to be very harsh on those who have felt called to follow him and he appears, at first glance, to have put unfair and unnecessary conditions on those who would follow him.

First we have the man who says he will follow Jesus anywhere.  Jesus makes it clear to him that to follow him he will need to leave his home and become nomadic with no one single place to call home.  Foxes, he says have holes and birds have nests but Jesus has nowhere to lay his head and, by association, neither will any of his disciples. We do not know what the young man’s response was.  In the parallel gospel of Matthew, we are told that the enquirer was a scribe and therefore probably had a regular job and income and probably went home every night and slept in the same bed.  Jesus is being brutally frank with him – following Jesus, being a disciple, will be uncomfortable – he hints at the physical – but as we know it will also be emotionally and spiritually challenging.

Secondly, we have the man who wants to bury his father first.  This is the bit that I’ve always found rather cruel on a first, second and even third reading.  However, an understanding of this lies in Jesus’s reply – “Let the dead bury their own dead”. In this response Jesus is talking about the spiritually dead.  He is saying “If you are called to follow me in your ministry then you are to be a servant of the living” – in other words those who are spiritually dead can bury the physically dead and the spiritually alive should be busy proclaiming the Kingdom of God.

A further explanation could be, and probably is, that the father was not dead.  It was the duty, under Jewish custom, for the eldest son to arrange the funeral of the father; but had the father already have been dead then it is unlikely that the son would have met Jesus as he would already be pre-occupied with the funeral arrangements.  It is more likely that the son was saying that once his father had died (which could be some time in the future) and he had fulfilled his filial duties then he would then follow Jesus.

The final example of a person being called was the man who wanted to say goodbye to his family.  This one I find the most bizarre and difficult of all.  It seems to be such a little thing to ask but again the best way to understand this is to study Jesus’s answer – “No-one who puts his hand to a plough and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God”.

Having lived for most of my life in towns and cities I cannot verify the agricultural accuracy of this statement from my own knowledge but my understanding is that to plough a true and straight furrow you need to look where you are going, not where you have come from.  This I think is what Jesus is saying here – look forward not back.  Your call is to minister in the future and not regret or dwell on the past.  Jesus probably felt that if the man went back home he would allow his call to be diluted and maybe overridden by the views of his family.  Saying goodbye to the family would probably entail a long protracted farewell party too and Jesus wanted him now.

In each of these examples, Jesus is testing the call of the person concerned – to see if they really have been called and know what the commitment is – but once called and once answered, then, as Paul says the freedom of Christ has set us free from the yoke of the slavery of sin.  Salvation looks easy – we seek Jesus, he calls us and we join him.  Our reluctance therefore is down to us and the trappings of our earthly life which bind us up and prevent us from moving.

I started this sermon by talking about the call to ordination of the clergy.  The term “call” applies to any form of ministry – not just ordained ministry.  It might be to spread the gospel by our deeds, as St. Francis is reputed to have said, using only words if you must, in the workplace, in the job we do, home, school, community, football terraces, in the pub, club or street – anywhere. It might be service for or in the church but not necessarily.  God has a role for each and every one of us.  He has and will call us to his service.  We must listen for that call and when it comes be prepared to move outside our comfort zone.  God will never give us a task we cannot fulfil. It is for us to meet that challenge in the knowledge that he loves us and trusts us.  He won’t “nuke” us if we don’t;  but better still let’s welcome him and not let him pass on to another village.

Amen

 

SERMON 25 - SUNDAY 16 JUNE 2013

Sermon at All Saints Parish Church, Winterslow  -  Third  Sunday after Trinity - Parish Eucharist (Healing)  Service – Sunday 16 June 2013

2 Samuel 11.26-12.10; 13-15; Galatians 2.15-21; Luke 7.36-8.3

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

It is really wonderful and a great privilege to be here with you all this morning preaching in my “home church” - and to so many people I know so well.  Having said that, I do have in my head that piece of scripture which, although we haven’t heard it this morning, and I am certainly no prophet! – is nevertheless  in the forefront of my mind as I stand here in front of you – from Mark 6:4 – “Prophets are not without honour except in their hometown, and among their own kin and in their own house”. 

In our Old Testament reading from 2 Samuel we learn of David’s complicity in what amounted to murder – so that he could marry the wife of his loyal general, Uriah the Hittite – the beautiful Bathsheba after whom he had lusted when he saw her bathing from the rooftops of his palace.  From that moment on he had schemed to make her his own - resorting, eventually, to having her husband killed by placing him in the most dangerous place in a battle with the Ammonites.  When a child is subsequently born from that illicit union of David and Bathsheba, God, through Nathan the Prophet, tells David that the child will die in infancy – and sure enough it happens – after a short illness the child dies. The price paid, he is told, for his great sins of murder and adultery.  A great theme for Father’s day!

Our second reading is from Paul’s letter to the Galatians – a letter primarily written to a confused church in Galatia who were uncertain whether it was necessary to still follow the Jewish laws to become a true Christian (remembering that Jesus had said he had come to fulfil the law not to destroy it) or whether Gentiles, who did not follow Judaic law, could also be converted to Christianity. Paul’s explanation is that we are justified as Christians, not by simply obeying the law (very much an important part of Jewish faith), but by our simple faith that Jesus Christ died for our salvation and a belief in that alone is sufficient.  This is a theme later taken up by Augustine of Hippo and a main plank of Lutherism and Reformation theology. 

Finally, we had our reading from St. Luke’s gospel in which Jesus admonishes his host for not having greeted him properly and for not having given him water to wash his feet and failing to anoint his head with oil – traditions when a guest came to dinner in those days.  By contrast, he praises the “woman in the city” who has lavished much attention on him – a woman whom we are told is a sinner.  Probably a “lady of the night”. Her simple acts result in her sins being forgiven by Jesus – something which it would be difficult for the host, a Pharisee, to understand because according to Jewish law and custom, only the High Priest on the Day of Atonement could forgive sins. 

Each of these three readings is linked with the ideas of sin and forgiveness after a moving away from God – for each reading talks about a moving away from the law or customs of the day.   Although David is taught a terrible lesson for his adultery and murder, the loss of the first born child, he subsequently went on to have another son with Bathsheba – Solomon – who was to become renowned for his wisdom and for bringing peace and stability to the United Kingdom of Israel – an act showing God’s forgiveness and restoration towards David; Paul teaches that sins can be forgiven through the justification of faith and not just a strict adherence to law and ritual; and finally Jesus forgives the sinful woman through her actions of love towards him at the Pharisees’ dinner table.  Each act of forgiveness is a form of healing.

Today is a special day here in Winterslow.  It is Fathers’ Day and our service is one containing healing ministry.  If nothing else, I think our three readings each teach us the importance of the second commandment which Jesus emphasised to his disciples – to love one another – to treat each other properly with that same love Jesus showed during his earthly ministry – to respect each other and, as Paul says, to let Christ live in us so that we shine that love to others. Above all, such actions result in knowing that we have a Father who forgives us our sins – whatever they are.

During my current course on pastoral care, it has been emphasised time and time again the importance of getting alongside people and listening with three ears – one on the speaker to listen to what is being said;  one interpreting what and why we think it is being said and finally a third on what God is saying to us as we listen.  We should apply this to all our interactions with people and especially our children. We should be good role models for our children and others around us, like the woman in the gospel story, being prepared to spend that extra bit of time lavishing love and care.  Those of us who are fathers know only too well that our time can so easily be taken up with earning a living, or finding it hard or impossible to earn a living ; with dealing with all the stresses that life and work or lack of work brings and not giving enough time for our family and children. The Pharisee in our gospel reading probably was so busy with arranging things for his guest that he forgot the simple common courtesies of the water and the oil.  It is often the little trivial things of life which get in the way of the greater needs of giving love and affection to those around us.  The story is told of the little boy who saw his father spending a great deal of time on his laptop, mobile phone and going to meetings – getting up early in the morning and coming home late - all of which kept him away from having quality time with his son.  Intrigued by what his father was actually doing he asked him “Dad, how much do you get paid for doing all this work?”  The father, rather indignantly responded – “Well it’s not really any of your business but since you ask I get paid £60 per hour”.  That night as the father passed the little boy’s bedroom he heard him on his knees praying his night prayers by his bed. Interested to hear what he was saying he put his ear to the door and he heard his son say “Dear Lord Jesus, please help me save up £60 so I can spend an hour with Dad”.

As children of God we are incredibly lucky.  We don’t have to say such prayers – God is spending time with us 24/7.  He is with us, as Psalm 139 says, “when we sit up, when we lie down, there is nowhere we can go where He is not there”.  Sometimes, though, I think He needs to ask us where we are?  Just like the son in the story, just like Jesus at Simon the Pharisee’s house, just like Paul in his address to the Galatians and also the prophet Nathan to David – the question posed by God is is where are you?  Why have you moved away from me?  Why do you do things of which I do not approve?

We need only to acknowledge our faith – just as we will shortly be doing in the Creed.   God is always ready to forgive us if we have genuine faith – he wants us to make him the centre of our life – to take a leaf out of his book – to be Christ-centric.  Unlike David, we have Jesus and the Holy Spirit through whom we can seek and receive forgiveness and healing.  As we each come up to take part in the Lord’s supper later, let’s each of us ask God to help us prioritise and remove those blocks and burdens which prevent us from engaging more fully with Him and our Faith. To take away those things which get in the way of a full relationship with God on an hour by hour, minute by minute basis.  To help us overcome those distractions which move us away from God, on those things which we focus on too much instead of God.

I am one of the worst procastinators you can find and get easily distracted.  That applies also, I have to confess, very often to my prayer and faith life.  I can so readily identify with those biblical characters who did lose the plot, lost the focus on God – Peter, David, Jonah, Eli and so on.  But the great thing is that we can re-focus and we can so easily put things right.  Let’s begin that process today.  Let’s ask God through the Holy Spirit to help us get the balance of our spiritual life right and get our spirituality back into focus.

 

Amen