The Vic's Blog

Second Sunday after Epiphany - Encounter

2012-01-18T15:46:00.000Z

Readings
Revelation 5:1-10
Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals; and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’ And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’

Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne. When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. They sing a new song:
‘You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God
saints from every tribe and language and people and nation;
you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God,
and they will reign on earth.’

John 1:43-51
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’

Address

I always find the exchanges around the calling of the disciples to be a little hard to deal with. I’m pretty sure in my own mind that these are meant to be more meditations on what actually took place rather than an exact recollection of events. In their simplicity and in the exchanges between Jesus and his future disciples I think that John is trying to convey a deeper meaning for us, and that is the meaning of encounter, and specifically, encountering Jesus.

Just before this passage Andrew and an unnamed other man, both of whom were disciples of John the Baptizer, had taken John’s advice and gone to see Jesus. They were so impressed with who he was that after spending some time with him Andrew went off to find his brother Simon to tell him that they believed they had finally found the person that all Jews were waiting for, God’s anointed saviour, the messiah.

Simon went with Andrew, met Jesus, and was renamed Peter, and that very act of receiving a new name was a sign of a divine encounter. If you remember your Old Testament, then you’ll remember that Jacob was renamed Israel, the one who wrestles with God, after his divine encounter.

So before we even get to today’s passage, in the space of just a few short verses we have had three encounters with Christ, all of which were life-changing. And then we come to today’s passage, and to be honest it’s a little disappointing in the way it starts. Jesus goes up to Philip and says, ‘Follow me’, and Philip does. That’s all that we’re told, and yet it speaks volumes because once again it is based on a simple encounter.

One person meets Jesus and immediately follows him. Just like that. There’s no ifs, buts or maybes. This is important; don’t forget it because we’ll come back to it in a little while.

And then we move on to Nathanael, and it’s a whole different story. You see I think Nathanael is much more like a twenty first century westerner. He’s looking for truth but is full of cynicism. We have no idea of the relationship between Philip and Nathanael, but I think they must have been important to each other.

I’m a fan of an American speaker and writer called Rob Bell. I don’t agree with everything he writes, or everything he says, but he is in tune with people, he understands modern culture, and so when I first heard him my immediate inclination was to say to some friends, ‘You’ve got to hear this man, or read one of his books.’ That’s what we do, and so I think Nathanael was probably pretty close to Philip because he was the first person that Philip goes to after his encounter with Jesus.

But Nathanael starts off pretty cool about Jesus. What he says may well have been a local proverb, and perhaps Nazareth was famous locally for having never produced anyone of any decency. Perhaps they thought of Nazareth in the same way that some people feel about some of the estates; with an invalid assumption that nothing good ever came from there.

Nevertheless, he obviously trusts Philip enough to go with him, and when he meets Jesus; when he encounters him, everything changes. The first thing that Jesus does is recognise Nathanael. The thing is, as far as Nathanael is concerned, they’d never met before. He might be rather chuffed to be called a real Israelite in whom there was no deceit, after all, who wouldn’t be! But as far as he’s concerned, he’s never seen Jesus before, so he asks, ‘How do you know me?’

Jesus’s answer is telling, and this is one of those places where the writer John’s skill shows up, because it appears that Nathanael was under a fig tree when Philip found him, and that’s where Jesus saw him. It’s important that he was under a fig tree because that is probably a literary device by John to show us something about Nathanael. Listen to this from Micah 4:4:
Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid for the Lord Almighty has spoken.

A similar sentiment is expressed in Zechariah 3, and both these prophetic passages concern the coming of the Messiah. Therefore it is quite possible that John was trying to suggest that Nathanael was sitting under the fig tree contemplating the coming of the messiah, and Jesus saw him there.

That was when the penny dropped, and this is what I mean about Nathanael being like us. He was searching for truth, and wishing and hoping for its arrival, but at the same time he had a cynical spirit about him. In this I believe he is very like modern Western culture. So many people that I have met seem to be searching for something, yet are deeply cynical about any group that proclaims they have the truth.

I think that’s why organised religion is having such a troubled time, and why a more do-it-yourself approach to spirituality, and the growth of new spiritualities based on experience rather than doctrine are where people are turning to.

And what we see in this instance is that someone like Nathanael, who is just like us in so many ways, was changed, was transformed, simply through encountering Jesus for himself. It wouldn’t have mattered how much Philip has waxed lyrical about Jesus; if Nathanael didn’t meet him for himself then nothing would have changed.

This, therefore, rather turns the spotlight on to us. What is it, specifically, that is going to bring people to become regular attenders here at Church? Is it the variety of services that we have? That may bring some for a time, but they’ll eventually get bored with that approach? Is it the choral tradition we have? The same thing applies. Some will come because of that, for a while, until something new comes along.

What about the silences, or the noisy services? Yet again these will attract some people for a while, but they may not stay if something bright and shiny and new elsewhere attracts their attention. No, none of these things in themselves are what really counts. What changes people’s lives is when they have an encounter with Jesus himself.

I have seen so many lives changed, not by what people have said, not by amazing worship or mystical quiet spaces, but because in those places they have encountered Jesus for themselves. The reason we do all of these different things is not because they will keep people interested, but because we have a diverse community who react in different ways to different types of worship.

But it is not the vehicle of worship that matters; what ultimately matters is whether, in the type of service that people come to, do they encounter Jesus? Do we? Because if that is not what church is about, then it is a social club for the bored looking for spiritual amusement.

Do we encounter Jesus? If not, what should we do about that? It is he who changes lives, not us, not our services, not our songs or hymns or communions. So our responsibility is to have our own lives changed by encountering him for ourselves so that we can say to others simply this, ‘Come and see. Come and meet him for yourself’. Amen.

The baptism of Christ: water from below, water from above

2012-01-07T14:14:00.001Z

Reading
Acts 19:1-7
While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the inland regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’ They replied, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ Then he said, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ They answered, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.’ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— altogether there were about twelve of them.

Mark 1:4-11
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

Address

So, with another Christmas season passing, we can all open our wallets and see how much lighter they seem than a few weeks ago. We’ve all bought presents for people, and we’ve all probably looked longingly at the sales prices and wished we’d waited. But have you ever thought about the kind of relationship we have with the shopkeeper? All commerce is based on a principle of exchange. If I give the shopkeeper money, he will give me goods which are equal in value to the amount that I’ve spent.

But I don’t think that kind of principle of exchange is limited just to commerce. I think it holds good when we move beyond commerce to other sorts of relationship. For example look at how democracy is supposed to work. A government sets out their manifesto, and if enough of us like it then we vote them in. If we don’t think they’ve done what they promised then we vote them out again. It’s an exchange: give us what we want and we’ll give you the power to govern.

And between governments the same kind of principle goes on in the hammering out of treaties, witness all of the hullabaloo about the latest international climate treaty, as one country offers one thing in exchange for being let off something else that they don’t think they can manage or don’t want to give up.

This principle of exchange seems to work further down the ladder as well. I can well remember having a favourite toy taken away when I was a child for bad behaviour. When I learned to stop doing whatever it was, so the toy was returned. Even with the animals we share our homes there is some form of exchange, although we might question how well understood it is by both parties.

I remember with our dog that my parents were the food providers. In exchange for food she clearly thought of herself as the protector of the family, and we three children were often below her in her view of the family pecking order. We give and we receive. Relationships seem to be based on this.

And if you turn your mind to the old testament covenants, even there you can see how God cemented his relationship with Israel by offering them his protection if they would live according to his commandments. But there we begin to see something new. With God, contrary to most of our human relationships, what we have is an unequal exchange. The Lord offered Israel the most amazing protection, and all they had to do was live according to his ethical commandments.

This generosity of God goes way beyond just the old testament, as we can see in the two readings we have today, because they contrast for us the baptism offered by John and the baptism offered by God. They may well look the same but actually they convey totally different things because they come from two different directions.

John’s baptism was from below, from the things of earth pointing heavenwards, whereas the baptism of God comes from above and points downwards to us, and what is offered is unimaginably more than John’s baptism. In the new covenant with God through Christ, the exchange is more unequal than ever before. Let me see if I can explain that from the readings.

When we look at the Acts reading what we see is St. Paul a long way from home, from Judea, all the way off in Ephesus. And even there he finds some disciples, but it looks like there has been some confusion. From the way in which he refers to them as disciples we assume that they were those following the way of Jesus.

Yet when he presses them a little he discovers that it is only John’s baptism that they have received, and this clearly wasn’t sufficient. Why is that? It’s because John’s baptism is a baptism from below. It is a baptism where people declare to those watching that they are turning their back on their old ways, and instead are going to live better lives. It comes from us and declares to God and to the onlookers our intent.

The baptism proclaims that the believer is exchanging their old life for a new one, but that’s as far as exchange goes. But the baptism that comes from God does something else. It comes from above and it conveys the grace of God and God’s Holy Spirit, and so when St. Paul baptised them into Christ, so the Holy Spirit came upon them, a very unequal exchange. They offered themselves to God and God came and dwelt within them.

They offered sinful lives that meant very little, and they received the very life of God dwelling within them. How’s that for an unequal exchange?!

And this is precisely what John the Baptizer had said was going to happen, that he baptised with water, he baptised from below with the things of below. John’s baptism was a baptism of looking upwards and using water, material from the earth, to gaze heavenwards. But one would come who baptised with the Holy Spirit.

So when Jesus was baptised we see the first ever baptism from the other direction. Whilst water was being used, from below looking upwards, heaven was opened and Jesus was baptised with the Holy Spirit. Now he didn’t need God’s grace, and having himself been conceived by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit was not exactly in short supply, but this goes to show yet one more part of this principle of unequal exchange that we receive from God.

Jesus was God come to us, as one of us, to lead the way back to God. And so he went first where we were to tread later. God didn’t expect us to find our own way, because as people of the earth we were only ever going to be able to gaze heavenwards; we could never attain it, we could never get there on our own.

But this all begs the question, what is this baptism with the Holy Spirit that John tells us to expect from Jesus? This is the ultimate unequal exchange: we give ourselves to God, coming as we are with all of our baggage and all of the rubbish we carry around inside us, and God pours his perfect self into us in a baptism with the Holy Spirit. So what actually should we expect?

This is where it becomes a lot more difficult because whatever we think it is will fall short of the reality. If you remember that at Christmas I spoke about mystery and the need to embrace it, and in the baptism with the Holy Spirit we have a classic example of that. With respect to anything that God does we are foolish to put it in a box, but I think this is even more the case with the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Some of us have had experiences with the some of the charismatic churches, what some people unfortunately caricature as the ‘Happy Clappys’, but it has left many people in the mainstream British churches believing that churches where the baptism in the Holy Spirit has been sought are all full of crazy people with theirs hands in the air lost in some kind of ecstasy.

But is that really what baptism in the Holy Spirit looks like? I don’t think so, and one of my primary reasons for that is it doesn’t sound like that was how Jesus behaved. In fact the first thing that happened after he was baptised with the Holy Spirit was that the Spirit drove him out into the desert to be tempted by the devil. That’s hardly ‘happy-clappy’!

Then think about the disciples and their experiences at Pentecost. What happened after that? We don’t get stories about how they danced around with their arms in the air, although that may or may not have been a part of what happened. But what we do know is this:Peter was emboldened by the Spirit and preached to several thousand people that very same day. What’s more, with the sole exception of John, all of the apostles were martyred, as was St. Paul, who himself proclaimed that he prayed in tongues more than anyone else.
So what is this ultimate unequal exchange? Baptism in the Holy Spirit fills us with the fire of God which is incompatible with the kindling of the world. We receive in a new and deeper way the very fullness of the Holy Spirit of God, and I believe that it is something that we should first ask God for the courage to request, knowing that in receiving it we will be receiving power from on high to live out the mystery of our beliefs in the real world.

Over the last few weeks we have thought a great deal about what it might mean to live as God is asking us, and what it may be that God requires each of us to do. In receiving the baptism of God, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so we receive the power to live out the callings that God places on us.

It is not to convert us into a particular Christian counter-culture where we wave our arms in the air and smile at everything, and have no apparent connection with the real world. In fact it is quite the opposite of that: it is to help us to live as God intended, and to have the strength of God to become the people he is asking us to be, and to do the things he is asking us to do.

So we come, as we are, simply to say to God, ‘Send your Holy Spirit to drench me, that I may live more fully, and more completely, the life which you intend for me to live.’ Amen.

Christmas Day : Walking away from power

2011-12-23T11:51:00.003Z

Readings

Titus 3:4-7
But when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Luke 2:1-14
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’

Address

I want you to think first of some really powerful things that have changed the world by their existence, whether for better or for worse.
(Eg a jet engine).

Did they change the world in a positive or negative way?

Some of us get really drawn to big powerful things. Big old steam locomotives do it for me. I know, I know, it’s a bit of a caricature, being a vicar and all that, but when I stand near a large express steam engine, and there is steam coming out from everywhere, from all these different copper pipes, and this beautifully oiled machine slowly backs on to a whole load of coaches weighing hundreds of tons, and then smoothly and almost effortlessly moves off in a riot of smoke and steam and noise, I find something awe inspiring in that use of power. So we’re drawn to power.

Now have a think about the names of some really powerful leaders who have made a difference, either for good or evil, in the world through the years.
Eg Winston Churchill,
Were they good or evil people? And those who were evil, did they start out with good intentions and just get corrupted?

Each of these people used power to change the world. Personally I find this to be quite the reverse of what I said about being drawn to mechanical power. I think that it’s because, for me, the desire for power is a terrible temptation that I could give in to all too easily. Having power always changes us, and it can corrupt us into wanting more of it, of being able to control or influence the destinies of other people.

I think that some people want power because they want to act for good in the world, and I find myself wondering how many of the evil rulers started out like that, wanting to do good, but becoming corrupted by the power, so that it became a drug they were addicted to, always craving more.

And then we come to Christmas and we find that God’s story is the total opposite of this story. The story of Jesus is the opposite of the story of most great leaders. Let me give you a little background to show you what I mean.

St. Luke is the only Gospel writer to give us a historical background, and actually that background is usually a little lost on us because we don’t understand what he’s trying to say about Emperor Augustus, and that’s because we weren’t there and our history is a little weak. So let me briefly fill you in.

Judea was not an independent country like Israel is today. Instead the Jews were a conquered nation who were now just a minor province in the huge Roman Empire, of which Augustus was emperor. Augustus was actually not his original name, but an honorific that was granted him after he essentially took over the Roman Republic, and through political subterfuge and the use of military power became it’s sole leader and changed the republic into an empire. Augustus, meant “the illustrious one” and it was a title of religious rather than political authority.

But, and this is the key thing that St. Luke is getting at. Augustus was the adopted son of Julius Caesar, and Julius Caesar had posthumously been declared a Roman divinity. And so Augustus, in his slow and sustained journey towards absolute power, claimed for himself the title of , ‘son of god’. Does that sound familiar?

Luke is trying to tell us that in the centre of power was a great man who called himself the son of god. Caesar Augustus was viewed by many as having saved Rome and had ultimate political and religious authority, and all the Roman Empire believed in him, but they were wrong.

Instead, here in the backwater province of Judea, a baby was born, and it was he, not Augustus, who was the saviour, and it was he, not Augustus, who was truly the Son of God. But unlike Augustus, Jesus did everything in reverse. Augustus had started from relative obscurity and went on to take power, bit by bit, until he had absolute authority in both political and religious life.

Jesus, on the other hand, did quite the opposite. He was the Word of God through whom the Father had spoken all things into being. He had absolute power and authority throughout the universes, and he stepped away from it, emptying himself, and being born of Mary. And what’s more, time and time again his Jewish followers tried to give him political power and every time he stepped away from it.

And in doing so he changed everything and pointed us in a new direction, and so he gives us a choice in how we’re going to live our lives. Do we want to live the life of Augustus, of a gradual accumulation of power? No one can deny that Augustus made a radical difference to Roman life, but his was a power amongst the powerful.

Or do we want to be like Jesus who gave up his throne to be born of a peasant woman and her carpenter husband, and whose birth was announced not to kings and rulers but to shepherds, the lowest of the low in social terms, just one step up from convicts. The Roman Empire is gone, but Jesus continues to change the world.

If you feel powerless, unable to change anything or make a difference, remember this: Jesus came in the same way, with no power, and he stands alongside you, and he can make a difference to the world with your hands and lips. And if, on the other hand, you are tempted to try and become more powerful, to have more influence, then remember this: In order to really change things for the better Jesus gave up more power than you can ever imagine having.

The true message of Christmas is this: The humble and meek are the ones who really change the world, and Jesus, the true Son of God, showed us the way. In our ambitions and desires, let us remember that we serve the Servant King, and he shows us the way to live. Amen.

Christmas Midnight: Mystery...

2011-12-23T11:47:00.001Z

Readings
Hebrews 1:1-4
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

John 1:1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

Sermon
CSI, in all of its different guises, has become one of the greatest TV hits that channel five has ever had. Actually it might be the only hit they’ve ever had! Do you ever wonder why it’s so popular? I think it’s because we all like a good mystery. We like to watch it with the cops and the scientists, and try and figure it out with the information we get fed in the hope that we can work it out before they do. And that’s the key thing; we like to figure it out. We like to solve the mystery. We all like to solve mysteries.

Or at least we did, but now I’m not so sure. And I’m not sure because I find myself wondering if we’ve got mysteries all wrong. You see a mystery is different from a problem, but the reality is that we treat them as if they’re the same thing, as if they’re interchangeable. We live in a scientific age, and having been a scientist myself for a good few years before becoming a priest, I know how much enjoyment the human race gets out of solving problems.

We’re tool makers and tool users, far more so than any other animal. We get a real kick out of being presented with a problem, and then figuring out how to solve it. The trouble is, we then lump problems and mysteries together and we assume that they’re the same thing, but they’re really not. However, even the church has failed to distinguish between the two for the last few hundred years.

We’ve looked at ‘mystery’ and we’ve seen ‘problem’, and have tried to solve the problems with answers that we call ‘theology’. But mysteries can’t be solved liked problems, and to do so just cheapens them and pulls all of the wonder out of the universe. When was the last time you looked at something and realised it was completely unexplainable in the deepest terms? When was the last time you were caught up in wonder?

When was the last time you looked into the face of your beloved, and I mean really looked, long and hard? You know that way in which you get caught up in the gaze of each other? It’s as if your heart seems to swell with something that transcends joy. The scientists will try and explain that in terms of hormones, but that’s like treating love and desire as a problem to be solved rather than a mystery to be wondered at.

Or, or how about your children, those of you who have them? Isn’t it an amazing wonder, a true mystery, that the look between two people, that deepens into love and wonder, can lead to the joining of two bodies and the conception of a completely new life, of someone who has never existed before. And yes, once again the scientists can tell us how it happens, but I am caught up sometimes in how the mystery of my own existence came from the love between my two parents.

I wonder, then, given how important mystery is to our humanity and our sense of wonder, why is it that we so quickly reduce mystery to being a problem which we then try and solve? Is it because we don’t like mystery? Is it, perhaps, because mystery is humbling? Is it because if we cannot understand something then it means that there is at least one thing greater than us, and because of our own desire to be in control of our own destinies, we don’t like that?

Yet here we all are again, gathered once more at midnight, as we prepare to celebrate the greatest mystery of them all, that God was born as a human.
When I say it, even the words themselves almost sound preposterous. “God, was born, as a human”. Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that God really does exist. You’re probably here tonight because, at least on some level, you know that there is something greater than us. It’s a mystery that you hold in your deepest places, and you may not want any vicar telling you what to believe about it. You just know there is something. But just how big must this God be?

To put it on some sense of scale, if you wanted to walk around the earth at a constant three miles an hour it would take you almost a year. What if you wanted to go to the moon? Well it would take a little too long to walk there, so let’s say you drove there in your car doing 80mph for eight hours a day. That would also take you a year to get there.

If you wanted to use the same car to drive to the planet Pluto, you’re looking at something in excess of 5,000 years. And that’s without even reaching the limit of our solar system. Do you get the idea of how big this God must be? Let me go on: We’re in orbit around one star in our galaxy, yet there are something like a hundred, thousand, million stars just in our galaxy.

And then if we take into account the observable universe, we can see something like a hundred thousand million galaxies, all containing a similar number of stars. And that’s only the visible universe. Science is now suggesting that this is only one universe out of many.

So the magnitude of what we’re saying tonight is that we are gathered here tonight to celebrate that the one who created all of that emptied himself of all that power and was conceived and born as one of us. When I say it, it probably sounds preposterous to some of us, and that is precisely what makes it a mystery.

Yet I wonder whether there is a greater mystery than that. We can, if we like, treat that as a theological problem: how can the all-powerful God empty himself and be born as one of us? But there is something even deeper than that to engage with.

I think that the greatest mystery is not how he did it, but that he chose to do it, and he chose to do it out of love. And even more, that on some level the fact that we can even begin to comprehend his reasons is a huge mystery to me. All of those love relationships and wonder that I began by speaking about, he knows that these are ideal cases, but that the reality is that over and over again we screw up our relationships, we screw up our lovers and we screw up our children, and somehow, on some level deeper than we can understand, God said, ‘This cannot go on - I must help’. And so he came. Born as one of us.

Do you think that Jesus, as a small boy, had any less wonder in the universe than our children do? It was, according to the reading we heard from John’s Gospel, through his hands that the Father created all that there is. Yet this was the first time he had experienced it as one of us, seeing his own universe from the inside, and wondering at it.

So it is a mystery that we cannot understand that gathers here on this holy night, and I’m not going to try and explain it to you. The joy of the deepest mysteries is in their existence, and the invitation from God to embrace them. That’s why we’re here tonight. As we celebrate the Christ-Mass, we partake of the mystery of Holy Communion, in some way receiving God into the depth of our beings through the bread and wine.

We can’t explain it, nor should we. The love we receive from God is to be received as a gift that it will take all your lifetime to unwrap. And that, I guess, is what church is all about. It’s not being told what to believe, but being invited in. It’s not about trying to be good enough to be acceptable but recognising that whatever baggage we bring, the door to the stable is wide open.

These are places where we don’t seek to explain, but instead we simply learn to walk deeper into the forest of God, being caught up in the wonder that a new life could form the bridge from heaven to earth. If you want to explore this more there are details in your notice sheet of a space we’re creating for spiritual explorers. Call me or email me via the church website if you want to know more.

So may wonder be reborn in our hearts, like the wonder of Mary as she looked down at her new-born son, knowing that something new was coming. And while it may be near midnight now, Mary knew then that a new dawn was breaking on earth. May we embrace the mystery of God’s love made flesh, who saw wonder in his own creation through the eyes he gave to us.

May the joy of this Christ-Mass lead you into wonder, and into a deeper exploration of truth.
Amen

Fourth Sunday of Advent: God messing up lives

2011-12-17T18:46:00.001Z

Readings
Romans 16:25-end
Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever! Amen.

Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.

Address
When I came to faith it all seemed very black and white. There weren’t many greys at all, although I can thank my parents for the way they asked me difficult questions to try and introduce me to a more three-dimensional belief. But in those first few years it was all very clear. If we came to Jesus, God would guide our lives and everything would be ok.

I wish, way back then, that someone would have introduced me to Mary. Of course I knew the Christmas story - in my generation who didn’t? We may not all have believed it, but we knew it. Mary the sweet young girl, all dressed in blue. Jesus the smiling baby boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, and Joseph the understanding and meek husband who takes care of his family but doesn’t get any lines to say.

I wish someone had properly introduced me to Mary’s story back then because just maybe I’d have appreciated something about God that we don’t tell new Christians because partly we don’t want to scare them and also because, well frankly it would be bad PR. You see we like to give the impression that when God comes into our lives he fixes it all, but I don’t think that would have been what Mary said.

Picture it if you can. When Gabriel went to see Mary she was betrothed but not yet married to Joseph. That would suggest, given what we know of the customs of that time and place, that Mary would have been twelve. Betrothal tended to last a year with a girl being married soon after she was thirteen. It was a whole different world to ours.

So Mary was inside, with the Greek making it clear that the angel went in to her, minding her own business, perhaps doing some household chores for her family. At that point in time maybe she would have been daydreaming about her life to come, about becoming married to Joseph, a skilled builder and craftsman, and bearing children with him.

For a peasant girl in the middle east at that point that would have been the general direction of her life, as a good Jew living in the northern reaches of the country. Her life would simply have been ordinary, and if it had continued as expected then she would have been like the thousands of other girls of her time and place, and we would never have known about her.

But that wasn’t what happened. In that one instant, when Gabriel arrived in her room, everything changed forever. But, and this is my key point, I think we would be hard pushed to say that in real terms it changed for the better. But this is what God does when we get serious with him. He changes lives, and sometimes it feels like he messes it all up for us.

Mary was one the cusp of womanhood. Think of the teenage girls you know. We may think that they have grown up a lot quicker than in the past, but trust me, even they are a long way behind Mary’s generation. Most of the people I marry are at least in their late twenties with many more being in their thirties and forties. She was just about physically capable of bearing a child.

And so that is what God asked her to do, to bear his child. But she wasn’t yet married. And this is what I mean about God messing it up for us.
You see for a twelve or thirteen year old to be pregnant in our age still makes the tabloid headlines, but for Mary the threat was more potent because you can’t hide pregnancy, and for an unmarried woman to be pregnant risked her being stoned. At the very least she would be shunned. And think of poor Joseph.

Even if he believed her about Gabriel he would either have to live with the stigma of people thinking he had married an adulterous woman, or letting people believe that he and Mary had had sex before they were married, that he was incapable of self-control. Whatever happened, Joseph Mary’s betrothed, was also going to have to live with the consequences.

Rick Morley (who inspired some of this) asks the question of what must have been going through Gabriel’s mind before he pushed open that door. He must have known what he was going to ask her to do, and what the implications of that were likely to be. This poor young girl whose life had barely started was about to have its course radically redirected by the message from God he was about to convey.

But perhaps the most remarkable thing is that she did agree with what God asked of her. No ifs, buts or excuses. She simply said yes. Her assent to God meant that she faced the ignominy of being pregnant outside of wedlock, a long and harrowing journey to Bethlehem in the south, an even longer journey to Egypt to escape from the horror of Herod’s massacre, a lifetime of rumours about the background to her firstborn’s birth, and the awful witnessing of his cruel torture and death by crucifixion.

That was what God asked of her. But what does it have to say to us? What can we learn from this? I guess the first and most important point is that God is not some distant deity, but is instead active in our lives. If we give ourselves to him as Christians we should be prepared for him to ask things of us, and when he does so, it will be because he thinks we are the right people for what he wants.

A vocation isn’t just for the clergy; it’s something for all of us. It’s not very easy to tell people that though, particularly when you’re trying to explain why the Christian faith is Good News. So we tend not to. But if we’re honest, what we should say is come to God through Christ, but be aware that if you take him seriously, then he will take you seriously, and he may ask you to do something that you could never have imagined doing.

What I can tell you is, despite how it can sometimes be a difficult path to tread, I have never felt so fulfilled and so in the right place as I have being here as a priest, and I wish someone had had the foresight to ask Mary what it felt like to see whether, at the end of the day and with all the difficulties she had been through, did she feel it was worthwhile. I suspect she would have said yes. Despite everything she went through, it was still worth letting God mess up her plans.

You see I think that there is one thing which is far more important than happiness and that is that we should be able to say that our lives counted for something, however hard it may have been, and I think that’s a really important part of the good news. God wants to be involved in our lives, and if we let him then he may ask things of us, small or big, and if we do his will then something is changed in the world. May we learn to echo Mary’s words; let it be with me as you have said.’ Amen

Third Sunday of Advent : Praying all the time?

2011-12-10T10:44:00.000Z

Readings
1 Thess. 5:16-24
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

John 1: 6-8, 19-28
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’
And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ He said,
‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
“Make straight the way of the Lord” ’,
as the prophet Isaiah said.

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’ This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

Sermon
A couple of months back one of the members of Rhythm of God, our monthly drumming service, brought along a friend who was staying with her but who lived some distance away. She joined in and really enjoyed this way of praying, and after the service, as is our usual practice, we adjourned to the Bell. She and I struck up a conversation and after a while she asked me if I used to live in Welwyn Garden City.

I said that yes, that was where I was brought up. ‘And did you go to Crusaders?’ was her next question. (Crusaders was a non-denominational youth group in the days before political correctness changed the name). I replied that I did, and then she asked me if I remembered her, and after a few moments the penny dropped.

She was three or four years younger than me so as teenagers we hadn’t quite moved in the same social circles, but yes, I definitely remembered her, particularly the way in which she spoke which, strangely enough, had changed very little in the intervening twenty seven years since we last saw each other. But for both of us, that was more or less the only thing that hadn’t changed.

She had had an amazing life so far, doing things I would never have had the courage to do, and she was now married with children. As a teenager I don’t think I would have imagined the kind of life she would go on to have, but it was so nice to catch up and so she came back to the vicarage and we dug out my old photos from that era and compared notes.

I guess that all in all we probably spent two hours catching up that evening, and even then we barely scratched the surface. It would all have been so very different if, instead of allowing the vagaries of chance to bring us back in contact, we had stayed in touch throughout. I would know, for instance, the name of her children and her husband. I’d know how the Lord had called her from one place to another.

I’d have been able to rejoice with her in the joyful times and pray for her in the darker times, but none of that had happened simply because we hadn’t kept in touch. Quite simply we weren’t in tune with each other’s lives.

Now on the other hand I have some friends who I’ve had for years and who I still see very regularly. I know them and they know me. When we’re together they barely need to ask how I am, nor I them because our very demeanor gives us away, such is the depth of our knowledge of each other.

I might wish to ask what had happened to buoy up their spirits, or what had taken place to make them downcast, but as to how they actually are, by and large it’s written all over them simply because I know them, much as they know me and can always see how I’m feeling even before a word has been spoken.

And that brings us to our reading from 1 Thessalonians. Now those opening words are ones that I might wish to take issue with St. Paul over. We might wish to make the excuse for him that this was the first ever letter he wrote, which we think it was, and maybe he hadn’t seen enough life as a Christian to have got the wisdom of suffering, but I don’t think that’s true. So when he says, ‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.’ I think we should take him seriously, provided we understand the whole of the message and don’t just think of this as an isolated verse. You see if we were to take it on its own it would be an unjust, unfair and impossible command.

The only part of it I can imagine being remotely something I could comprehend is to pray without ceasing. I’m not for a moment suggesting that I do, although in fits and starts I feel like I’m being drawn in that general direction. But to rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances, well that’s an impossible and unfair thing for any Christian leader to command. Life’s just not like that.

As I’ve sat with friends going through divorces, or at the bedside of a dying loved one, how could I possibly tell them to rejoice or to give thanks? It would be unethical to that, although I have been exposed to Christians who have done precisely that and caused untold psychospiritual damage by demanding people try to be happy in the midst of abject misery.

But what if there is something deeper there? What if we were to think of those two apparent commands to rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances to actually be the two ends of a perfectly balanced see saw that pivots on the command to pray without ceasing? Or what if we were to imagine that to pray without ceasing is the engine that pulls the other two along with it?

Praying continually is the one spiritual discipline that has the potential to change absolutely every other aspect of our lives and the reason for that is that is that it keeps us in touch with the One with whom we are communicating, contrary to what I had done by not seeing this old friend for twenty seven years. When we see friends regularly, we sense things about them that we simply don’t sense in people we haven’t seen for a long while.

The same thing is true of prayer. Now when I say we should think about praying without ceasing, what I don’t mean is that we should keep up a continuous internal dialogue with the Holy Spirit. What I mean is that we should practice a sense of awareness of God’s presence, of being mindful that he is alongside us and within us.

The more time we spend learning the discipline of becoming mindfully aware of God and our place within the Spirit and the Spirit within us, the more we are in touch with God and in tune with what’s going on around us and how the Lord feels about it. That, in turn, leads to a steadily deeper knowledge and awareness of God continually at work in the world around us and in the lives of the people with whom we share our time.

I should add that it is important to compare our experiences back with scripture because we’re complicated beings and it is easy for us to be misled by our feelings whereas scripture contains a far more complete revelation of God’s nature than any one of us on our own can know.

A classic opening line from many forms of traditional prayer is, ‘Open our lips’, to which everyone responds with something like, ‘And our mouths shall show forth thy praise’. But I’ve found in recent times that I also want to pray, ‘Open my eyes to see you at work. Open my ears to hear what you’re doing. Open my spirit to perceive you surrounding me and within me.’

And slowly, almost imperceptibly, I sense the Holy Spirit beginning to answer my prayer. I do not for a minute think that I am anywhere near being able to rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances. I wear my heart on my sleeve to those who have got to know me, so there’s no point in me saying anything that might suggest I can rejoice always, because you all know that’s not true.

But in my years as a believer I’ve met and observed others who do seem to spend an awful lot of their time simply aware of God’s presence, and from that I think I can perceive where St. Paul was coming from, that with just the first glimmerings in my own life, and I mean the first, I can imagine that if someone becomes so wholly aware of God’s presence surrounding them the whole time, of not being continually distracted by that tv show or this whatever, then there would be space to rejoice in that sense of closeness.

And this, I believe is what St. Paul was actually driving at. We cannot force people to be rejoicing at all times and in all circumstances; that would be unethical. But, if we follow his command to pray at all times, to be aware of God alongside us in every aspect of life, then I believe it will reframe our experiences and shed new light on the paths we should tread.

Mindful awareness of the presence of God, in combination with holy scripture, helps us continually to discern how the Lord feels with respect to any given situation and this must surely be better at shaping us than the model of prayer where we occasionally talk to God and are continually trying to catch-up, as with an old friend we’ve not seen for a while.

All of which directs us to the Gospel reading and the person of John the Baptist. John, as he is portrayed by the Gospel writers, is a prophet who truly seems to be aware of his mission, his calling. I imagine that through living as an undistracted hermit in the desert, being in God’s presence by day and by night, he found a sureness of vision that we would find difficult to grasp.

If someone asked you about what God was calling you to do, do you think that your likely response would consist of a lot of ums and arrs? Or would you feel able to respond confidently? John, it seems, was so aware of his calling, through the prophetic life of prayer that would have been his, that when asked why he was baptising he was able to quote old testament prophecy with the words:
‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
“Make straight the way of the Lord”’

How many of us might feel we could claim that? Yet John lived his life as a prophet who was in tune with God and so sensed what God was saying to him.

So today we have a call to pray. Not just in the morning or before bed, but to learn the discipline of becoming aware of God being present in every aspect of our lives. Out of that awareness may flow rejoicing because we will perceive the world differently. But for sure we will have a greater sense of what God is doing around us, and what he wishes to do with us, and within us. Amen.

Second Sunday of Advent: Using our imagination to learn

2011-11-30T12:51:00.000Z

Readings
2 Peter 3:8-15
But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.

Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.

Mark 1:1-8
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight” ’,
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

Address

Do you remember the high winds we had on Tuesday? During those I was sitting at a third floor window waiting for someone to arrive for a meeting when I watched a bird fly past. It struck me that as it tried to fly across the wind so the poor thing got flung this way and that by the strong gusts, and then it turned around in the direction of the wind and got such a boost that it probably ended up flying faster than it had ever flown before.

My first thought was that is a great metaphor for how we deal with the Holy Spirit’s guidance. The Spirit blows in the direction of God’s choice and if we try to tread a path in a different direction we are easily blown around and possibly spiritually buffeted for going in the wrong direction.

But if we allow ourselves to be turned to go in the direction that the Spirit leads, then we might suddenly find ourselves filled with passion for something new and achieving that which we might never before have dreamt of. So that was my first thought. But my second thought was more conceptual. I found myself thinking about what I had just done with what I’d observed.

You see when you see something like that you can do one of two things with it. With a purely observational hat on you can say something clear and scientific. If a bird tries to fly across the direction of a high and gusting wind it will be blown off course. If, however, it turns into the direction of the wind then the power of the wind will be added to the power of its own flapping wings and it will fly much faster. That’s the scientific view.

But what I had done, without realising, was perhaps a more artistic, symbolic approach. I had observed the same thing but tried to learn something symbolic from the physical reality. I’d stepped away from the obvious description into a more symbolic meaning. And that then got me wondering as to which approach we normally use when we read scripture.

Do we normally look for the clear and obvious teaching, the ‘Thou shalt not’ approach. Or do we look for something deeper, more symbolic and artistic and see if there may be more that the Spirit can teach us from what is written than the obvious surface meaning. And with that in mind I looked at today’s Gospel reading.

Mark’s Gospel, which is the Gospel we’ll be studying for the next year, is quite different from Luke and Matthew in the way that it begins. For Mark there are no stories of how Jesus was born or anything from his adolescent life. Instead we get this great proclamation, ‘The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ the Son of God’.

It’s meant to take our breath away, and indeed that is exactly Mark’s style. Throughout the opening chapters of his Gospel one sentence after another begins with, ‘And then’, or ‘And immediately.’ It has sometimes been called, ‘The Action Man Gospel’ because of this style of one thing Jesus does crashing in to the next thing that he does.

But the action actually begins with John the Baptizer. The Good News starts with a baptism of repentance and so I want us to think more symbolically about what we read there. I want us to rediscover a sense of wonder, awe and mystery, of layers waiting to be discovered, of God as an artist painting symbols for us to ponder.

So let’s think in those terms about the sacrament of baptism. Firstly what do we think baptism is actually about? Well with the scientific mind set we look for the obvious explanations:-

Baptism in water is symbolising a washing clean, and indeed that is exactly what John’s baptism was primarily meant to be indicating. If someone had repented, then when they were washed in water it was symbolic of a greater washing that God was accomplishing within them. It is also sacramental in that it is symbolising outwardly what God is doing inwardly.

But there is more to baptism than that. A second, deeper symbol, is of death and resurrection. In the Church of England our general practice is not to immerse people fully in water, although for adults that can be arranged if so desired. But in the Baptist and other non-conformist churches the practice is to use a large baptistry rather than a small font, and for the person being baptised to go deep under the water.

There we see another symbol, which is one of death and resurrection, that the person is being baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection, that they die with Christ and are raised with him, and this too is sacramental, as it makes real what it is symbolising. But there is more to baptism if we allow our imaginations to run riot with the artistic imagery.

You see the baptism picture can also be one of freedom from captivity, from slavery. Looking back through Jewish ancient history we come to the story of how the Israelites were set free from captivity and slavery in Egypt. The words came to them from Moses that God wanted to bring them out of Egypt to their own land, the Promised Land.

And so, following the plagues and the death of the firstborn of Egypt, still remembered each year at the festival of the Passover, the Israelites left Egypt. In order to make their escape from slavery they had to pass through the waters of the Red Sea which parted for them, and this too is an image, a symbol, of baptism.

So with our artistic pallet we can see how someone who is baptised is also being set free from slavery. What do we mean by slavery? Again it’s not the obvious scientific description but more the symbolism of slavery to a particular kind of behaviour, or to a way of thinking, or to having to be like modern culture tells us we should be. The list goes on, and once we start to let our artistic side paint pictures we find all sorts of potential in the image of baptism.

I think that another deep symbol in there is one of childbirth. All children are born as through ‘water’. A common expression that childbirth is immanent is when, for the mother to be, her waters break. What might that have to say of baptism? The obvious one is that of being born again, born from above, born of the Holy Spirit, all of which are descriptions of being a believer.

But I think there is more to it than that. Childbirth is very rarely easy, so I’m told. It’s a process and sometimes, perhaps often, it’s a very painful process. I think this too is an effective baptism imagery because it reminds us that the journey into faith is rarely an easy one and usually requires a lot of effort from us, some of which may be painful.

We are squeezed in ways we don’t want to go and our first breaths of the Spirit, the wind of God, may even be accompanied by tears. As an imagery of baptism I think childbirth has a lot to teach us about the pathway into belief and discipleship.

So what I want you to take from this morning is an inquisitive spirit; to leave here with a determination to look for symbols of God in the world around us and ask yourselves what God may wish to teach you, not just about baptism but about anything. Look at the world with new, artistic and imaginative eyes and ask God to reveal himself to you by the Spirit. You may be surprised at what he may wish to teach you. Amen

Advent Sunday: Preparing in quiet or waiting for divine fireworks?

2011-11-27T15:42:00.002Z

Readings
Isaiah 64:1-9
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.
You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed.
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity for ever.
Now consider, we are all your people.

1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Luke 12:35-48
‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’
Peter said, ‘Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?’ And the Lord said, ‘Who then is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says to himself, “My master is delayed in coming”, and if he begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful. That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. But one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.

Address
What do you do when God seems a long way away, or even totally absent? Does it really get to you when you hear preachers talk about knowing the presence of God or hearing God speak? When I was a teenager there was a popular Christian T-Shirt with the slogan, ‘If God seems far away, who moved?’

When I reflect on that now it seems simplistic and judgmental, designed to make you feel guilty if you don’t sense the presence of God, and yet so many dedicated believers talk to me about how it feels to sit in the pew, Sunday by Sunday, talking to what feels like a closed heaven.

Advent is about waiting and preparing. It’s about making ourselves ready once again to remember the visible presence of God incarnate in Christ, and to wait and prepare for his return in glory. But that’s the past and the future. What does it mean to live in this meantime, this in-between time, in a world where he seems so absent? What does it mean when he seems silent?

I want to examine this question and to think about waiting and preparing in the light of the reading from Isaiah, and to get the best out of it we need to know a little of the background to that reading. Isaiah’s an interesting book of prophecy because we can say with some conviction that it was not the work of one prophet. We’re pretty sure these days that there were at least two writers or groups of writers, and quite possible three, because the book appears to refer to three periods of history.

The first writer, known as Isaiah of Jerusalem, or simply, First Isaiah, was writing during a period of turmoil in the nation. Babylon’s empire was expanding in their direction and Isaiah of Jerusalem was convinced that the small kingdom of Judah was soon going to be in trouble. He laid the blame for that firmly at their own door, believing that God was going to judge them because they had not kept God’s laws.

Judgement was coming and the phrase, ‘We’re doomed’, pretty much summarises this section of the book which basically covers the first thirty nine chapters. Then at chapter forty we get a big turn around with the opening words from God, ‘Comfort, comfort my people.’ This next section of the book, penned by Second Isaiah, was written in Babylon while the ruling parties of the nation were in exile there after the nation had indeed been invaded as First Isaiah had predicted.

This second part of the book is a complete turnaround. Instead of a message of doom it is all about hope and a return to the promised land. Isaiah even goes so far as to name their saviour, King Cyrus of Persia, who indeed invades Babylon as Isaiah predicts, takes over, and then sets the captives free and allows them to return home to rebuild their nation. There is great hope of the fullness of God dwelling with the people again as the nation returns to its former glory.

Except it doesn’t quite happen like that. Many scholars now add a third division in the book, beginning at chapter fifty six, believing that there was a Third Isaiah, probably a group of several writers, who spoke into the post-exilic Jewish community, now back in their own land, but it was not turning out as they expected.

Instead of the nation’s former glory being restored and the presence of God dwelling visibly among them, there were questions amidst the ruins and a nation divided between the ruling parties who returned from exile and the ordinary working people who had remained in the land. And so we come to today’s reading which is part of a longer lament about the state they found themselves in.

As we ponder the poetry we uncover a huge yearning for it to be back like it used to be, with a new temple and the visible presence of God back in the Holy of Holies as in the days of old, leading up to that opening statement,
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

This is what they expected God to be like; the mighty power who overturned everything in his way. This is how the stories of their nation had described their former relationship with God. But then it goes a lot further and we begin to see the prophet actually blaming God for their current predicament.
But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed.
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.

Basically the writer is saying, ‘If you, O God, had stayed with us, we would never have sinned. It’s your fault that we’re like this. If you had stayed around we’d have remained righteous.’

Now in one sense this is laudable because it recognises that age old truth that apart from God we can accomplish nothing, and that anything that is of lasting value is accomplished through God. But it doesn’t quite sound like that. There is, instead, a petulant sound to this prophet’s voice. He sounds rather like a teenager saying to his parents, ‘You don’t like me the way I turned out? Well you’re my parents - it’s your fault I’m like this. If you’d been there for me as a child I might have become a better adult’

God seemed to be totally absent from them. There was no thunder and lightening, and so they blamed his absence for causing their bad behaviour. Now whilst I’m not for a minute suggesting that those of us who yearn to feel God’s presence actually blame him for our bad behaviour, I do know for sure that many of us, when we look at the suffering in our world, wonder why God doesn’t do something about it.

The opening words on the lips of the prophet resonate within us.
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down...
And so we feel that absence deep in our hearts, both for ourselves and for the world. ‘God, where are you? Why don’t you answer our prayers? Can’t you see what your absence is doing to us?’ Our voices may not quite have that petulant edge, but rather than taking responsibility as people supposedly changed by God and ready to do his work, we blame God for not coming down and changing things directly.

And that brings us to Advent, because whether we are looking at our own personal experience of the absence of God, or the suffering in the world that we may well blame on his perceived absence, the message of scripture is very clear: Wait and prepare, because you do not know when he is coming.

I’ve stood in this pulpit and told you about some of the times in my own experience when it’s seemed as if the veil between heaven and earth has been drawn apart and God has been very close, but I would also have to be honest and say those occasions are always unexpected and unpredictable. These are the times we think we’re waiting for, just like the explosive presence that the Jews of Isaiah’s time waited for. But it’s not just about waiting for the sound and vision special effects version of God, it’s also about preparing ourselves, about doing some work to help us hear God in a different way.

You see there is another way of knowing God’s presence in a more all-pervading sense, and this is more, I think, to do with learning how to perceive him. It requires our work rather than God surprising us, and depends on spending time learning the disciplines of stillness and waiting. As we do this so we begin to grow in the awareness of God’s continuing presence. There is a simple immanence, a ‘thereness’ of God. I believe that this, far more than the surprising presence, is how we are changed.

In those quiet times God doesn’t necessarily say anything, and sometimes it simply feels like the Holy Spirit brooding. From the Isaiah reading it seems to me that there was little of this sense of preparing themselves to be alongside God amongst that particular community. They just wanted the thunder and the lightening, the special word that comes out of nowhere, the unpredictable timing of God’s speaking to us. But it sounds like they were not willing to do any of the hard work of learning to listen. I wonder if we’re like that too.

It’s interesting what we find in the next chapter because we get God’s answer to their accusations when he replies:
I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am’, to a nation that did not call on my name.
I held out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good,
following their own devices; a people who provoke me to my face continually,

We can blame God for not being there, for not giving us some amazing experience, but what if he’s actually holding his hands out saying, ‘But you’re not searching for me. I am here if only you would put away the noise and listen.’ Advent is about waiting and preparing. Waiting for the future to be born. Waiting for the past to be reborn within us. And all the while preparing ourselves to be able to perceive God’s continuing presence with us.

If we turn to our Gospel reading we get more of the same kind of urging. Jesus calls us to be dressed and ready, to be waiting. And he warns us against letting our behaviour slip, that’s the on-going preparing. We have been given the truth, that God did indeed come to his people. Just as they yearned for him to rend the heavens and come down, that is precisely what he did, but not in the way they expected.

He tore open the heavens and came silently to be born as one of us. And when he returned to the temple in physical form, God coming as a man, although some accepted him most of the nation rejected him again, just like they had done so many times. God had not come in the way that they demanded. They had set the rules but God hadn’t kept to them, and so they were disappointed. They wanted power, and through his birth and death he came in powerlessness.

So what do we want, the fire and the lightening and sound, or the stillness? Power or gentleness? Christ comes to give us his peace. We may be waiting, but are we preparing? Amen

Christ the King: What about other faiths?

2011-11-19T16:55:00.001Z

Readings
Ephesians 1:15-end
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Matthew 25:31-end
‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

Address
Not all of my friends are believers, and I expect you’re the same. Yet by our nature it is unlikely that we will have many, if any, close friends who look out mainly for their own needs, who live selfishly. For true believers, whilst we may have colleagues, acquaintances and neighbours who seem like that, our closest friends tend to be people who are like-minded. It therefore follows that even if we don’t share the same faith, we do at least appear to share the same values.

It will come as no surprise, therefore, that I often have people coming up to talk to me about friends or relatives who don’t believe yet seem to live lives with good moral values. The question that is usually raised is, if they don’t believe in Jesus, is there any eternal future for them? Surely God won’t abandon them will he?

The same kind of concern is raised by those who have dear friends that belong to other faiths. Living in a more global culture has had a profound effect on how we view other religions. It once used to be easy to consider other religions as heathen and without hope because we had never met any of them, but now we will often find ourselves working alongside or knowing people of other faiths, at least in this country.

And what we find is that, far from being heathen, other religions also have believers who are faithful, moral, ethical and spiritual people. They don’t believe what we do, and yet they seem to have lives that are touched by the presence of God. How can this be? Is there hope for them too, even though they don’t call Jesus, ‘Lord’, or believe what we do in our creeds?

An answer to these issues can be found in today’s Gospel reading about the sheep and the goats. Now this parable can be read on many different levels. For example, as you probably know, Middle Eastern sheep and goats look very similar. The difference is that the sheep are much hardier and can be outside on a chilly night in winter whereas goats cannot.

It is necessary for the shepherd, therefore, to divide them up so that he can take the goats back under cover whilst leaving the sheep out to pasture. But the only way you can tell them apart by eye is that sheep’s tails hang down whereas goats tails stick up. So there you have the story behind their division; this is just what a shepherd would do.

Then we have the usual interpretation, that this parable is aimed at people who say that they are believers but whose lives show no impact of their faith. These are the people who call themselves Christian but if they didn’t you’d be hard pushed to see anything about their attitudes to the needs of others that suggests they believe. It rather ties in to the letter of St. James who talks about faith and works, saying that faith without works is dead.

But there is another interpretation of this passage which comes from looking closely at the words Jesus himself uses. You see it seems likely that this passage says very little about judgement of Christian believers. If you read the parables immediately preceding it you find there references to the judgement of those who call themselves believers and who think of themselves as God’s servants.

But if you look at this passage what you find is that the people responding to the judgement seem to have no idea who Jesus is. ‘When did we see you hungry, naked etc...?’ is what we hear from their lips. It seems highly likely, therefore, that previous passages were about the judgement of believers and this may actually be about how those with no faith, or perhaps a different faith will be treated.

The issue revolves around how we interpret Jesus when he says, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” In order to understand the meaning of the passage we have to understand what he means by the members of his family. One interpretation was that he was referring to us, as believers. We are the family of Jesus.

So on this interpretation this passage is actually all about encouragement for those going out on the mission field. That was harrowing and dangerous work. Remember that only one of Jesus’s apostles lived in to old age. The others, excluding Judas Iscariot, were all martyred. They ended up sick, in prison, hungry, naked or thirsty, and Jesus seems to be suggesting that how people who did not believe in their message treated them would determine the listeners eternal destination.

Another way of interpreting Jesus’s reference to his family is simply that he is thinking of all humanity, and so those who do not have specific faith in him may nevertheless demonstrate morality, justice and good ethics by how they treat other people who are in need. But whichever way we interpret this, the thing which most stands out is the way that Jesus refers to the sheep as, ‘The righteous’.

Remember that the sheep are often taken as a metaphor for those who follow Jesus the Good Shepherd, and yet what we have here suggests that there may even be those who are of his flock, and yet do not even realise it, either because they have never heard the Gospel message, or because they have heard it in such a distorted way that they have seen fit to reject it.

This passage, therefore, seems to speak of hope for those who do not share our faith and can underline just how vital interfaith work simply in terms of expanding our own vision to be able to see God’s hand everywhere. But it does raise a question: Why, if people can be counted as righteous even if they do not follow Christ, should we bother with evangelism?

Part of the answer to that is that any one of us can survive on bread and water, but we thrive when we have a balanced diet. Jesus said that no one comes to the Father except through him. That doesn’t discount other ways of knowing God, but the intimacy of being a beloved child of God must surely be justification enough of wanting to share this good news with others. I would like others to have the same shaped relationship that I have with God simply because it is good.

Evangelism is not just for the future, for saving people for heaven, it is also about helping people to live this life well, and surely the best way to live is as people who know and experience God as a loving parent, intimately involved with our lives. The miracle of the Gospel is that Jesus is able to transform the hearts of the selfish so that they become righteous.

But this is also a message of hope for those who seem righteous to us. God does care, and he cares far more than the fundamentalists who seek to put limits on his love and mercy. Even if people don’t yet believe as we do doesn’t mean that they might not be righteous. Amen

Remembrance Sunday - Reasons for Accepting Responsibility

2011-11-11T15:53:00.002Z

Readings
Micah 4:1-5
In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall stream to it, and many nations shall come and say:
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more;
but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

For all the peoples walk, each in the name of its god,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

Matthew 21:28-32
Jesus said, ‘What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” He answered, “I will not”; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, “I go, sir”; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax-collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

Address

I want to talk about responsibility on this Remembrance Sunday. We live in an age and culture which has been defined by many as being dominated by people concerned about their rights, not their responsibilities. In a world where people tell us what we can have, we have come to expect that it is our right to have what we want, and neglect the other side of the coin, the responsibilities that we have.

It hasn’t always been that way in this country. Less than a hundred years ago, in 1914, teenage boys lied about their age in order to go and fight for their country. Many died nameless, and that’s important to know. Then again in 1939, more young people put their lives on the line for generations that were not yet born, and the familiar words of the Kohema Epitaph bring us up short:
When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today,
They received little reward except our gratitude, a gratitude that we meet here to continue to express.

The sacrifices that they made mean that I am able to speak to you today with the freedom to say what I think is right in public, rather than what some totalitarian government would permit. We only have this freedom because they took responsibility for their country, but what a price they had to pay. Nevertheless they did so because they loved this country and they took responsibility for it.

So what I want to do this morning is think about how we deal with responsibility, with reference to what Edward read about being taught the ways of God, and from what Leonard read from Matthew’s Gospel. Let me briefly explain what that parable is about, because it shows how the issues of human nature haven’t changed in two thousand years.

The parable is about two sons and their father. One of the sons is told to go out into the vineyard to work and he says he will, but then he doesn’t. The other son is asked to go out into the vineyard to work and he says he won’t but then he does. With the first son who neglected his responsibilities Jesus was pointing at those who called themselves religious, yet did not take responsibility for living righteous lives. They wouldn’t live up to the responsibilities they claimed were theirs.

On the other hand you had all the outcasts, those at the bottom of the pile, the ones who the religious people thought of as worthless. These were the ones who accepted the message of Jesus and who began to work for the kingdom. These were the ones who accepted God’s responsibilities.

Reading this got me thinking about how we deal with responsibilities. So what I want to do for you is to paint a few word pictures of our different approaches to responsibility. Please understand that these are most definitely not modelled on any one person. If we are honest we will see bits of ourselves in each of them, but in order to learn about the right way to be responsible, we first have to be honest with ourselves about why we take on responsibility.

The first reason we might do so is simply because we don’t know how to say no. Whenever anyone asks us to do something, if we are this kind of person we find that we can rarely do anything other than say yes. We might wonder why that is, and I suggest that it is probably because of a deep need we have to be accepted by other people, and saying no can be quite hard for fear that it might count against us, meaning that we may have to face someone’s displeasure or dislike.

If we are predominantly like this when it comes to responsibility then we are apt to be exploited by other people, and end up taking responsibilities by the dozen until we buckle under the stress with the only consolation prize being everyone telling us how good we were to have worked so hard, even if it made us have a breakdown.

The second type of approach is when we take on responsibilities because of a need to feel a hole inside where we need to have some sense of being needed, that our lives actually count for something, that we are able to give enough to make sense of our reason for existing. When we give like this we can find ourselves ensnared by fear of no longer being able to contribute, and then losing a reason to exist.

This type of person needs to hear the message that the love of God is given freely; it cannot be earned, and that they matter to God solely for who they are, not because of anything that have achieved. They matter to God like a child matters to their parent, simply because they exist.

The third reason we might take on responsibility is because we have a deep seated need to be seen because responsibility is a way to having greater influence. This third way of dealing with responsibility is the most dangerous because it gradually leads us down steadily more selfish paths, always seeking to improve our public standing.

At its extreme you can see this way of behaving take hold of members of parliament when they pounce on each other during debates if a mistake has been made, and it makes me wonder why they are there if all they want is for their own star to rise. Aren’t they supposed to be serving us?

And then I look at all three of these approaches, all of which I find in myself, and I expect if you’re honest you’ll find them in your own selves, and I contrast that with what I see in my Lord, the one who is also known by the name ‘The Servant King’. How did he deal with responsibility?

Throughout the Gospels what we see in the stories of Jesus is that he knew who he was and he was secure in his identity. He knew he had value, not because of anything he had done, but simply because of who he was. He knew that he was loved by God, and because he was secure in himself he had no need whatsoever to try and get the respect of other people.

He is perhaps the only person ever who had no need of other people’s opinions to help him decide what he should do. It is from this place of security that he serves, even though he the Word that spoke the universe into being. That’s why he’s called the Servant King.

Now we are never going to be that perfect. When we serve, when we take on responsibilities, if we are honest with ourselves we are always going to have mixed reasons for doing what we do. That is just human nature.

Some of those reasons will be selfish gain and some will be because we need approval, but if we can only begin to appreciate that, if we can only be honest about our mixed motives, then we can take a step along the path to holiness because we can kneel before God and say,
‘I am sorry. I know that this is the right thing to do, but I’m not sure that my reasons for doing it are all that noble. Help me to serve people like you do.’

And then gradually, in our honesty with ourselves, we can begin to take responsibility out of a desire to give, truly and honestly because we can see that there is a need. We will develop servant hearts. In those hearts we will find the need for recognition or justification giving way to the noblest of desires; wanting to serve others out of gratitude for how God has served us, and what he has given us.

So that’s the right way to take responsibility, but now comes the hard question. If there is nothing in it for us, no public respect and no motivation to be loved by doing it, are we far enough down the path of holiness simply to serve, to take on responsibility because there is a job to be done, and in recognition that we should give out of gratitude for what we have received?

That’s what so many of our war veterans did. That’s what so many of those fallen in combat did. For many of those buried in French cemeteries there is just a grave saying, ‘An unknown soldier’. Yet still they took responsibility and fought so that we could have freedom. What about you? Will you take on responsibility even if there is nothing in it for you?

There are many organisations that need your time, if you would give up perhaps one pastime to spare some energy for them, but there is one today that I especially need to bring to your notice, and that’s our branch of the Royal British Legion. You all have a sheet of paper that says something about what we need, but the situation is this:

Numbers have dwindled so much through the ravages of age, and despite our repeated adverts in the parish magazine no one has come forward to join. None of you have been willing to take responsibility. You don’t have to have served in the forces, you need only wish to support those that do. So here’s the situation:

Unless we have new members our branch will have to close and become a sub-branch of another branch. Do you want that to happen? It’s your branch, and only by taking responsibility for it can it survive. Who knows what it could achieve with new blood and new ideas. So this is basically your last chance to save it by taking responsibility.

Don’t do this, or anything, because you need the limelight or because you can’t say no. Do it because it’s the right thing to do. Do it out of gratitude for what was done for you. Hard times are coming on our nation and the only way through is if we re-learn how to serve each other as Christ served us. Here’s one way you can start. Amen.

3rd Sunday before Advent: Being Prepared

2011-11-05T11:05:00.003Z

Readings
1 Thessalonians 4:13-end
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, [fallen asleep] so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. [fallen asleep] For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. [fallen asleep] For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Matthew 25:1-13

‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Address

Two weeks ago we looked at a passage that many people thought was about the second coming of Christ, and we showed how it was actually more about the ascension and return of Christ into heaven after Easter. I told you then that there were other passages that genuinely speak about the second coming and that we would deal with them when they come up in the lectionary, and today that is exactly what we have before us.

The return of Christ seems to me to be one of those pieces of our theology where Old Testament imagery, prophecies and beliefs have been drawn together into the story of Jesus to help produce a more coherent picture of an event that was both longed for and feared. In the Old Testament it was called ‘The Day of the Lord’, and by the New Testament it was understood that this event was the same thing as their understanding of the return of Jesus. It was the end of the age and the dawn of something new.

However, this passage from Thessalonians has been abused by fundamentalist theologians, often with a self-righteous political agenda, to describe a time when Jesus will come and snatch away all the Christians from the world in an event they call ‘The Rapture’. Their belief is that after this event the world will be left in the power of the devil for a period of seven years, known as the great tribulation.

At the end of that time they believe Jesus will return to judge the world, but that the Christians get off scot free from all the hard times because the angels will have snatched them out of the world. You can see that it’s a very nice middle class vision of people who really don’t want to get their hands dirty. And I also don’t believe it’s what’s in the text.

So what I’m going to do here is try and unpick the Thessalonians reading and then apply that through the Gospel message to our daily lives and how we live now. So let’s begin with the Thessalonians reading.

Now I know I always talk about contexts, but it is important that we understand something of the background to any reading. What makes this one more interesting is that there are actually two contexts to be considered. The first one concerns why St. Paul wrote these words, and for that it’s interesting to note that this is probably the earliest written document in the New Testament, and was written before the Gospels probably around about AD52, so we’re thinking in terms of within twenty years of the death of Christ.

So in case you were thinking that St. Paul was responding to people who had read what St. Matthew had written about Jesus coming again, you need to recognise that this was written before St. Matthew put ink to parchment. The teaching that Jesus was going to return was well established in the church from early on, presumably because people remembered Jesus saying it and passed it on.

Yet despite this teaching being well established even before St. Matthew wrote his Gospel, something had obviously happened which had sent a shiver of worry through the Thessalonian church, and that was why St. Paul was writing to them. His use of language suggests that he was responding directly to a question he had been asked.

You see essentially it came down to this. They believed that Jesus was coming back, and that his return was imminent, but in the intervening twenty years since his ascension some of the believers had simply died. And so the Thessalonians were confused. Jesus had said he was coming back, but before he had returned a number of followers had died, and so what would happen to them. Were they lost forever?

There is a not-yet-fully-formed theology of the resurrection here. We sometimes forget that the beliefs that we all take for granted now was being worked out in the first few hundred years. In fact the theology that we believe in now continues to be worked on, but that’s another sermon! Anyhow, there was a very genuine concern about those who had died.

And so it’s very interesting to note the word that St. Paul uses when he refers to those who have died. You see the usual greek word for death is thanatos and that is exactly the word St. Paul uses when he refers to the death of Jesus. But when he talks of the believers he uses a different word, koimaō, and what makes that interesting is that it is a euphemism for death which can also mean someone being asleep.

So Jesus’s death before his resurrection was real death, but the death of a believer, well that is still death, but not in the same absolute sense, which is why some translations still refer to it as ‘Falling asleep’. It clearly means death, but euphemistically. So by his language St. Paul was trying to give them hope; theirs was not a final death.

Then he begins to unpack what will happen when Jesus returns, and here is where the second contextual argument is vital. As I said when I began, many people believe that this passage is about an event they call the rapture, when Jesus will come and collect all the believers and take them away to safety in heaven. And a face value reading would agree with that interpretation.

But you should always be cautious about basing theology on face value readings. If you put it in the context of their society you find something else. When a Roman leader, or perhaps the Emperor himself, arrived near a city the people who lived there would go out to meet him, and then escort him into the city.

And so the description that St. Paul is giving of the second coming is akin to their culture of how one went out to meet someone important. There would be a fanfare and the people would go out to meet him and accompany him on his arrival.

So rather than being about a rapture event, this recording of the end of this age seems to be about the believers, dead and alive, being caught up to meet Jesus and then escorting him to the earth. It’s not about running away from this planet, but about Jesus returning here. The word for this is parousia which literally means a revealing.

For the last two thousand years Jesus has been present on earth through his Holy Spirit in the heart of the believers, but at his return he is revealed in his fullness. The description St. Paul uses draws on his cultural imagery to describe the indescribable. The core teaching is that, however we understand or experience it, when Jesus returns we will be caught up in order to return with him, to be fully present to this world at its recreation.

John’s Gospel, which he ties to the start of Genesis, opens with, ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ It was through Jesus that God the Father spoke creation into being. Is it any wonder, therefore, that when we start talking about the second coming of Christ, what we’re talking about is the new creation, and of God once again speaking this new creation into being through Christ?

The joy of what St. Paul is writing about is that whereas at the first creation it was just the Son, the Word of God, through whom the Father was speaking creation into being. But with the second coming Jesus is accompanied by those he has saved and redeemed; us.

And it is this motif of being caught up with him and accompanying him on his arrival which ties this reading to the Gospel reading. You see what we find there is the description of a wedding tradition from the Middle East. Now in this country we have laws that mean you have to have been married by 6.00pm for the wedding to be legal.

But in the Middle East it was, and still is, quite possible for the wedding to take place in the evening, or for the bridegroom to be delayed on his journey to the wedding. But when he arrived the bridesmaids were expected to go out and accompany him on a torch lit journey to the venue of the wedding. That was why they needed the oil, to keep their lamps alight so that when the call came to go out to meet the bridegroom, they were ready for it.

Can you begin to see now how this ties to the Thessalonians reading? Jesus is often referred to as the bridegroom. And when he arrives, at his second coming which is thought of as the wedding feast, Christians are to be caught up to go and meet him, which is the bridesmaids being ready with their lamps still lit. St. Paul and Jesus, as recorded by St. Matthew, are describing the same event.

So what then does this passage have to say to us? Well even after just twenty years the Thessalonians were worried about whether Jesus was coming back. We’ve been waiting another two thousand years. Is it ever going to happen?

Jesus warned the disciples that the Bridegroom might be delayed. By telling us this parable what he was trying to say was that we need to be alert, because we don’t know when it’s going to happen. But there is something even more immediate than that. None of us really have a clue what may happen today, let alone tomorrow. How prepared are we spiritually?

Last week, on Wednesday, we had our annual All Souls Day service when we remembered before the Lord those who have died, and bereavement is always a reminder of the truth that not one of us knows how long we’re going to live. We might hope for years yet, but those of us who have felt death breathing across our collar knows that it can arrive at an unexpected time.

This is not in any way meant to be threatening. This is about grace. I think the Lord gave parables like this out of love not power. He wants the best for us, and the best is for us to be travelling with him, and so he tries to encourage us that we need to live lives the whole time that are dedicated to him, and not to become lax in our spiritual journeys.

It’s so terribly easy to stop working at growing as a Christian. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to give spiritual direction to someone over the course of several years and watch how they grow and change spiritually, and I yearn that we should all take that approach, because it’s the right thing to do.

When we put our feet up and stop trying, like the bridesmaids we risk running out of oil, and not being prepared. We need to be alert, spiritually growing, because not just the second coming, not just death, but pretty much any kind of crisis can come at us without warning. As the Lord said, be ready, therefore, because we do not know the day or the hour.

So at it’s core this passage teaches us two things. The Lord will return at the time of his choosing, and we should be ready. But also any number of events can come upon us at an unexpected time, and if we are to be able to deal with them we need to be spiritually prepared by growing in the Spirit. Amen

The Anglican Covenant

2011-11-03T21:56:00.004Z

In putting this document together I am indebted to Revd. Martin Stephenson who collaborated on this. I say from the outset that neither of us are in favour of the Covenant but we tried to look for what was potentially positive about it as well. These are our thoughts. For any factual errors I take responsibility.

What is the Covenant and why do we have it?
In order to talk about the Anglican covenant we first need to understand the reasons behind why some people think we need it, and that requires a little history.

Western culture has undergone huge changes over the last fifty years, and the sexual revolution in the 1960's, combined with the loss of influence of the church, has meant that we have had to grapple with a massive cultural shift across Europe and the US. In the midst of that we have had to do some pretty serious thinking about our religious approaches to sex.

This has required a close reading of the scriptural texts and some deep theological thought. We still haven’t reached any kind of consensus, and it would be fair to say that the breadth of Christian belief in these matters is probably wider now than it has ever been in history.

On the one hand we have those who believe in a face-value reading of English translations of the limited number of verses about human sexuality in scripture which have led them to a raft of prohibitions.

On the other hand there are those who seem to think that scripture has nothing of value to say on these matters and who seem to have almost reached a point of universal permissiveness. The result has been a polarisation of opinion between those with the loudest voices whilst the rest of us inhabit the ground somewhere in the middle, which is probably where God’s truth can be found.

We have to recognise that there will always be such cultural differences between the various churches within the wider Anglican church in terms of theology since we operate in different cultures and face different challenges. However, in the past we have been able to plaster over them, and allow the distances between us to mean that, in real terms the right hand often doesn’t know what the left is doing, whereas modern communications and media have changed that forever.

Now it is very clear what one wing of the Anglican church is doing compared with another, and the differences of opinion in our theology and practice concerning sex have come into a sharp focus.

Probably the defining moment was the consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church of the U.S.. Robinson was the first openly gay bishop living in a non-celibate relationship.

Around the same time the Canadian church published an official order of service for the blessing of same sex relationships. These two things, more than anything else, precipitated a crisis in the worldwide Anglican communion because they highlighted massive differences in approach to theology, particularly with respect to sexuality, between the global south and north. The Covenant has been designed to address these differences and how we cope with them.

What are these differences?
In a presentation like this it would take rather a long time to discuss these in detail. It seems to me that we are presented with different cultural approaches to scripture, and it is truly vital that we accept that our theology is not worked out in a social and cultural vacuum. A great deal of our theology is strongly influenced by our country of origin and God’s mission in one place is likely to be worked out differently from another place.

This is not the time to have a debate on the rights or wrongs of the church’s different opinions on human sexuality. Our job this is solely to determine whether we think the proposed covenant is a good way of coping with those differences. But we do first have to recognise that there are differences.

My understanding is that Anglicanism is meant to adhere to three principles;
scripture, reason and tradition. We’ve rather followed the Methodists in more recent years by adding a fourth category, experience.

In order to have a balanced faith we need to work out what we believe by keeping a tension between those different elements.

Naturally, different groups within the church will be drawn towards different elements. The evangelicals tend to begin with scripture, the liberals with reason, the anglo-catholics with tradition and the charismatics with experience. But in order for us to be a well-rounded church we need all of them working together, and each different sub-culture within Anglicanism needs to value the input of the others as having a part of the truth.

I believe that at least a part of our current situation is because of the disagreements between different parts of the Anglican church on which of these three or four principles is most important. It would, I think, be fair to say that our brothers and sisters in the Anglican denominations in Africa tend towards a more ‘scripture first’ model whilst those in the US Episcopal church tend more towards reason.

I suspect that there may be a more hierarchical structure present in some of the dioceses of the Southern cone, alongside an openness to the church disciplining those who fall into a defined category of sin in a way that is rather different from much of the Church of England. It is not to say that either approach is more correct than the other; they are simply different because we are called to be God’s ministers in different cultures and so we respond differently in those cultures.

So immediately we can see a tension between the Southern provinces and the European and North American provinces. I should add that this is a bit of a simplification as there are liberals in the South and conservative evangelicals in Europe and the US, but you get the basic idea.

The proposed Anglican Covenant is a way of trying to resolve those differences. So let’s have a look at what’s in the Covenant.

What is the covenant?
The biggest problem with the Anglican Covenant is that it would take us a week’s work to wade through it and digest everything that it says! But let me see if I can briefly outline it and summarise the different parts.

Essentially the idea of the Covenant is to make the bonds between the thirty eight different churches of the Anglican communion more concrete, formal and explicit in such a way as to set limits on what Anglicans can believe and still be called ‘Anglican’, and to establish a procedure for enforcing discipline on churches which sign the Covenant and then don’t keep to the Anglican consensus.

Anglicanism has traditionally been characterised as an informal bond of love between churches, and so the changes proposed under the Covenant will make a massive change in church governance, some say the biggest change since the reformation. Instead of being a group of affiliated churches there would be a centralised body set up to govern in cases of dispute or where progressive or reactionary theological ideas are being examined.

What’s in the covenant?
Essentially there are four sections plus an introduction. The first two sections describe the beliefs and goals of Anglicanism. It doesn’t make easy reading but there is little there of great concern to us. It is in section three that the difficulties begin since it is about each church within the denomination essentially committing itself not to act unilaterally without the approval of the other churches in the covenant in any matter which could cause offence to said other churches.

This is quite a broad brush. Clearly the current matters causing offence are the different approaches to human sexuality, but who is to say what else might be of offence in the past or in the future. New Zealand has had women Diocesan Bishops since 1989 whilst we’re still working our way towards that position. In contrast the Diocese of Sydney will ordain women only as deacons, and not even to the priesthood.

These are matters which could all be taken as causing offence in other areas of the Anglican Communion. Everyone can quote scripture to support their position. I am offended at the unilateral decision by Sydney to bar women from the priesthood, just as I am sure they are offended by their near neighbours who recognise the episcopal ministry of women and have done for more than twenty years. You can see there is a problem.

The following section in the Covenant, section four, is about the mechanism of enforcement. Commentators seem to suggest that this is not terribly clear, but the suggestion is that those who sign the Covenant and then act contrary to it will have to face consequences in terms of their relations to the other signatory churches .

What’s good about the covenant?
When Martin Stephenson and I were looking closely at this we came up with five good things about the Covenant.
1) It commits the worldwide Anglican communion to cultivating virtues of prayer, study and debate.
2) It commits us to debating until we get to an answer. Some parts of the church, notably parts of the Southern Cone, do not appreciate this as a positive, thinking that all we do is talk without ever making a decision.
3) The Covenant expresses the need for mutual recognition and consultation. We are one communion, and all are equally valued.
4) By signing the Covenant, churches are making a freely chosen commitment to share discernment.
5) The church is meant to be universal, and so by committing to the Covenant we would be expressing a commitment to act in ways that are not merely local. We are not congregationalist.

What’s bad about it?
1) It looks like it’s creating a disciplinary body with power in the hands of the Primates.
2) It could be easily used as a tool of exclusion and tyranny rather than love and inclusion.
3) It is too Bishop centred. Bishops should be a focus of unity, not a focus of judgement.
4) It is self-indulgent in that it is seemingly about maintaining our unity rather than about God’s mission
5) It will inhibit new thinking. Progressive theology could be restricted.
6) If it had been in place, would we have been able to move towards women priests and bishops - a controversial issue without broad agreement across the communion.
7) It hands the right of veto to the Lambeth Conference, the Primates meeting, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Standing Committee (an elected body from the ACC and the Primates)
8) Cultural interpretations of scripture could be over-ruled in favour of the Anglican council’s interpretation. In all humility we need to recognise that Scripture is always interpreted culturally. Remember how recently we had slavery in this country, apparently with scriptural backing. As I said at the beginning, each church faces different cultural challenges and must prayerfully respond in ways which may be different.

Three important questions
We should feel at liberty to ask questions of the Covenant. Here are three but I’m sure there are many more.
1) What recognition is there of scripture, reason and tradition (and experience)? These are the foundations of Anglicanism, yet most of these arguments have broken out because some areas of Anglicanism have put too much emphasis on one foundation.

2) What might have happened to the debate about women priests and bishops if the Covenant had already been in place?

3) At a time when our western culture is rejecting anything remotely hierarchical, is this yet one more impediment to God’s mission by making the Anglican church even more hierarchical than it already is?

What happens if we reject it?
Some would argue that the Anglican church will split if the Covenant is not signed, but one can equally make the argument that the Covenant will precipitate the very split that it seeks to avoid. It’s worth noting that many churches look like they are going to reject it or have already done so.

Some of the conservative provinces are already going their own way (such as GAFCON) and many have already said that they won’t sign up to it.

What is the current global position?
The Episcopal church in the US has rejected the Covenant on the grounds that it is not sufficiently welcoming of diversity.
In contrast the Sydney Synod has also rejected the covenant, only this time on the grounds of its theology.

Those who have accepted the Covenant are the Church of Ireland, the West Indies and the Province of South East Asia.

Those who have rejected it in addition to the US and Sydney include the Philippines and the Maori Central North Island Diocese of New Zealand. Two other areas in New Zealand have also rejected the Covenant. It’s interesting to note that the Maori diocese gave as a part of its reason for rejection that the Covenant is un-Anglican.

Making a decision
It seems ironic that a document that was created to bring about and enforce unity has become divisive and a focus of disunity. This observation itself raises questions about whether it is even possible to legislate unity in the face of such a variety of different opinions.

The Church of England has historically been associated with owning and maintaining a variety of opinions, but the Anglican Covenant seems to challenge the presumption that this is a valid position. It seems to me that the question the Covenant asks is us in this country is, is it possible to be traditionally Church of England and Anglican at the same time under the Covenant?

The Covenant also challenges us as to whether each culture can be given the freedom to interpret scripture from their own cultural contextual perspective, in the humility that comes with recognising that they might or might not be correct. One could argue that the Covenant actually precipitates arrogance in terms of one interpretation being correct over another, with the Bishops having the final say.

Anglicanism, and Christianity as a whole, should treat disagreements by coming together in humility to explore under God what the Spirit is saying to us, and agreeing to disagree in love. Where there is genuine love there cannot be an imposition of power, and likewise, imposing power drives out love. If God is love, what do our human power structures have to say when they dominate the church?

Let me finish with a section of Mark’s Gospel:

Mark 9: 33-35
Then they came to Capernaum; and when Jesus was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But the disciples were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and the servant of all.

The Covenant seems to be about imposing power and authority from a centralising body, despite the cultural differences across the world. If we think that is in line with the Gospel, then we should support the Covenant. Otherwise we should reject it.

Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible

2011-10-29T11:47:00.000+01:00

Readings
Romans 15:4-13
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles,
and sing praises to your name’;
and again he says,
‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’;
and again,
‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples praise him’;
and again Isaiah says,
‘The root of Jesse shall come,
the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles shall hope.’
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Address
I take preaching very seriously. In fact I would have to say that I think it’s one of the most important things I can do for you as your parish priest. But in order for my preaching to have any value whatsoever it utterly depends on me reading the text in the Bible and spending time getting to know it and understand it, and almost every sermon I have ever preached begins with the text that has been set for the day.

Even today as we celebrate the King James Bible and its 400th anniversary I am drawn to the words from Romans 15 which says that whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of these scriptures we might have hope. And alongside that I have the command from the Lord himself to teach.

Yet I think that for the most part we have come to take the Bible for granted and we have lost sight of what an incredible gift it is. We have only had an authorised version in English for four hundred years. That’s not actually very long. Lady Burman is 97. So in the year she was born we’d only just had the three hundredth anniversary. We’ve only had the Bible in our own language for four long lifetimes.

You’ve already heard how many people gave up their lives for it. They could see how vitally important it was for the spiritual health of the English speaking world that everyone would be able to read it, and yet within four lifetimes we have lost sight of just how incredibly special this book is.

When was the last time you sat down and really studied or meditated on a passage? If people were willing to lay down their lives for you to be able to have that text in your hand, don’t you think it must warrant your time?

So let’s have a think. What actually is the Bible? As I was writing this I was also engaged in an on-line debate with a friend from the Nick Drake gathering who was talking about how confusing the Bible is, and I think he put his finger on it for us. One of the reasons people don’t read the Bible is because they find it difficult. But is that really a good excuse? There are plenty of things in life that are difficult yet worthwhile.

One of the reasons clergy and the established powers in the church fought against having the Bible in everyday language was because they thought that the ordinary person shouldn’t have access to it because it was too difficult for them to understand. Yet people like Tyndale stood out against them. It is the height of arrogance to say that only intelligent people should have access to it. But it does require of us that we take care when we read it.

The first thing we have to do with the Bible is recognise that it is not a book. Seriously. I know it looks like a book but it isn’t. It is in fact a library, and it’s important to know what genre each book in this library belongs to. That takes a little study, but it’s really not hard. It is however vital.

Imagine going into a library to look for a historical record and going into the science fiction section. It’s possible you might find something that is quite prophetic, but you’re not going to find anything that tells you what really happened. The same thing applies to the Bible. Some books are meant to be histories. Some are meant to be poems. Some are meant to take a story from history and develop it into a morality tale.

It’s important to know what genre the piece you’re reading comes from. But having said that you also need to be aware that the beauty of the Bible is the way it’s written by its many different authors with styles that allow deeper and deeper meanings to be found there under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. For example the Song of Solomon is clearly meant to be an out and out erotic love poem with talk of breasts like gazelles and, well you get the idea...

Yet at the same time, on a deeper level it also says something about the desire and tenderness that Christ has for the church. Or look at some of the Old Testament prophecies and see how they keep coming true in a repeated fashion. The classic example is the Isaiah prophecy of the young woman who will give birth to a saviour called Emmanuel, God is with us. It was written for a people in turmoil needing a political saviour, yet came into an even deeper truth when the Gospel writers applied it to Jesus.

And on an even deeper level some of the writers used their chosen language in such a way as to conceal layer upon layer of truth. Consider this from John’s Gospel. You’ve already had some Greek from Margaret; let me give you a little more from John 1:9. In Greek it says
En to phōs to alēthinon, ho phōtidzei panta anthrōpon, erchomenon eis ton kosmon.

We usually translate that as ‘The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.’ But John was very clever, because he wrote the Greek in such a way that it also means this, ‘He was the true light that enlightens everyone coming into the world.’ He also does it with the classic line from John 16 where Jesus says to Nicodemus, ‘You must be born again.’ But the language he uses also means, ‘You must be born from above.’

I could go on giving you examples, but suffice it to say that our Greek teacher found something new in the text every single year he taught the course. Now if he could find that, after all of his years of scholarship, how much more are we going to find it as beginners? The depths that are there for us to fathom are truly amazing.

Yes it can be difficult to read, and that’s one of the reasons I promised myself years ago that I would not shy away from the difficult subjects in the Bible but try and make them clear to any congregation God called me to. I do that to inspire you that as a book the Bible is interesting and worthy of your study. It is so good that it has the potential to utterly change your life.

So let me finish by saying that there are three equally valid ways of reading scripture, and two of them are easy. The first is to read it for its surface meaning. What is the text literally saying? That’s called text centred reading. With some passages it can be difficult when the text seems confusing, but those confusing passages are no excuse for not reading the vast majority of the texts that are straightforward, particularly in the New Testament.

The second valid way of reading it is to try and understand what the author was trying to convey. This is the hard one, referred to as author centred reading, because it requires more in depth study. This is what I try and do for you in sermons, but you can do it too. It just requires reading what other people say about what they think the author was trying to convey.

The third way is perhaps the most important way, and it is centred on reading the Bible prayerfully. This is called reader centred reading because what you are looking for is what the text is saying to you personally.

This is the way in which the Holy Spirit can use a piece of scripture to speak directly to you. My favourite verse in the Bible is from John chapter 10 where Jesus says, ‘I came that they would have life, and have it in all its fullness.’ To me as the reader what that says is that, as a priest I must always ask myself if what I am doing is bringing life, because that is in keeping with the Gospel of Christ. It’s not necessarily what Jesus intended from the context of the story, but it is how the Holy Spirit has challenged me in my ministry.

The Bible is the most life changing, challenging and wonderful book in creation. People died so that you could have access to it in our own language. People continue to translate it to keep modern translations in step with modern culture. It is worthy of study. It is worthy of prayer. And it is the primary way in which God will speak to you. Please read it, and read it, and read it some more. Because if you do, your life will be changed. Amen.

18th Sunday after Trinity: Not the second coming...

2011-10-22T15:33:00.001+01:00

18th Sunday after Trinity

Readings
Col. 3:12-17
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Matthew 24:30-35
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see “the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven” with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Address
I want to deal, today, with a subject that is very close to the hearts of many Christians around the world, the return of Jesus Christ, also known to many as, ‘The Second Coming’. Whether we believe in it or not is almost inconsequential because some of the most powerful people in the world, particularly on the republican side of the USA, do believe in it, and it is quite possibly behind some of the political decisions being made, particularly with respect to the ongoing US support of Israel.

This is theology with a real world application which is why we need first to understand it and secondly to be able to deal with the theological misunderstandings that it is centred on and which have predominantly grown out of this passage.

Let me begin by first reminding you of what we think we know. There are sections throughout the New Testament, but specifically in Thessalonians and Revelation, which seem to indicate that at some future time Jesus is coming back and that the Father is going to put all of creation in subjection to him.

It is natural that we assume, therefore, that all of this section, indeed this entire chapter in Matthew’s Gospel, is also to do with the return of Christ. It seems to suggest to us that at some point the whole world will see Jesus coming back in great power and glory. The Americans and many evangelical Europeans often call this, ‘The Rapture’, with the idea that as he comes Jesus will send out his angels to collect Christians from everywhere.

Books have been written and films have been made about those who will be left behind in a time of great tribulation and suffering caused by the absence of Jesus’s followers and by God letting the devil have his way on earth, totally unfettered. Those who watch the news will know that a prominent American evangelical predicted all this would take place om Friday last week. Yet here we all are still.

You see the trouble is, I’m not sure how much of this is theology and how much of it is wishful thinking by those who relish being separate from the world, or maybe even pure fiction. In fact this particular passage may actually have nothing to do with the second coming, and if we don’t recognise that then we could end up doing some very bad theology, as has indeed happened.

Now I use that word, ‘...may’, with great caution. This is a very difficult passage to deal with, and I’m not going to use it to say that there is no such thing as the second coming. But if we have been thinking about this passage in the wrong way then that will, of course, affect our theology of the end times. Most of the modern ‘Rapture’ interpretations revolve around a belief that Jesus is about to return anytime.

It strikes me that they are in fact based on a false belief that ours is the most important generation in history. From a social point of view I think one could argue that they stem from people wanting to feel they are the most important people to live because they are living at the end of time. But actually it seems likely to me that this passage is saying that all of the important work necessary to our salvation happened two thousand years ago.

The line which should make us stop and think is this one:
“Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.”
You see if this passage refers to the second coming of Christ, and he said that this generation will not pass away until these things have happened, what are we still doing here nearly two thousand years later, may years after that generation has in fact passed away?

One of the standard ‘wiggle-interpretations’ is that once the things Jesus was prophesying about actually started to happen, then they would happen quickly, within a generation, it’s just that they haven’t started to happen yet.

Hmm...

I am not convinced that’s really a proper way of looking at it, and having read what some biblical scholars have to say on the subject of this passage, I am more or less convinced that Jesus was referring to something much more imminent which actually has far more real life application in our lives today.

In order to get at what Jesus may actually have been saying we have to look at the context of his words. He was speaking in response to a question that the disciples had asked him right back at the beginning of this chapter. The disciples had been marvelling at the amazing temple in Jerusalem, and it truly was astounding, significantly larger than the Muslim Dome on the Rock which stands in its place now.

But Jesus had told them that the temple would fall. Their response was to ask him when this would happen and what would be the signs that he would appear as king and the end of the age would be upon them. So the context is one of the temple falling, and the reason it had to go was because the reconciliation of God with his people was to take place through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

In other words he was the new temple, and the work which was accomplished in part in the temple through the system of sacrifices would be accomplished in full through him by the laying down of his life once and for all: the two were tied together. If we hold that in mind then we can see a series of events that took place two thousand years ago, and about which Jesus had a degree of foreknowledge that they were coming.

Firstly he saw that there would be a time of great turmoil. The events immediately preceding this passage are described in a quote from Isaiah that refers to the heavens being shaken, the stars falling from the sky and the sun and the moon not giving their light. It seems likely that this is apocalyptic language for a time of great turmoil in the world rather than a literal description.

It’s a little like phoning someone to cancel an appointment with the words, ‘I’m sorry, but something’s come up.’ We don’t literally mean that a big pointy thing of unknown definition has just reared up through the ground in front of you. It’s just a manner of speaking.

So what then does it mean when Matthew refers to the coming of the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven. In order to understand that we need to realise that Jesus is quoting from Daniel chapter 7. Let me read you the full quote:
I saw one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him.

That second line is vital. Jesus is not referring to the Son of Man, of he himself, returning to earth on great clouds of glory. He’s actually referring to the Son of Man returning to heaven. This then is all about the ascension of Christ, not the second coming. It’s actually a remarkable vision because in the Old Testament clouds are often associated with the presence of God, so for it to be someone who is in the appearance of a man says something special. This is an allusion to the divinity of Christ and yet also his humanity.

This also puts a context on the fall of the temple as being the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, that Jesus had predicted that it would fall, and its falling was the sign that everything about Jesus being the saviour was true.

What then about Jesus sending out his angels to collect the elect? Once again right wing conservative theology has declared that this is about the miraculous disappearing of Christians from the earth as a part of the rapture, but that is probably not what is being said here. Our word angel comes from the Greek angelos which literally translates as messengers.

This verse about gathering is not necessarily about a supernatural and unmistakable disappearance of Christians. Instead it could well be a prophetic word about the church. After all, as well as the supernatural angels, all Christians are also in that category of being a messenger of Christ. The church is engaged in living out this verse because it is our job, as Christ’s messengers, to be gathering the elect from all over the world.

So this passage, it appears, is not a description of a future event. I am not for a moment saying that Jesus will not return, it’s just that this passage is about something entirely different; his victory over death and sin two thousand years ago, and his ascension into the presence of the Father, and about the coming destruction of the Temple as a sign of what Jesus had accomplished.

If this interpretation is correct, and I wouldn’t be preaching it if I didn’t think it was, then it changes our approach to this life. Many people, many Christians, live their lives as people who are focussed on the next life rather than this one. They make decisions founded on the belief that Jesus is coming back any day now, and this world is for the chop, and so they don’t care much for what takes place here.

But the writer to the Colossians had a different and far more valuable perspective.
...clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

This is about having a focus on this life, this world, this fellowship, these neighbours, this community. Scripture seems to suggest that there will one day be a Day of the Lord, a return of Christ, but this Gospel passage isn’t about it. Instead it should be encouraging us to give thanks for what Jesus has already achieved, and that he already stands, vindicated, in the presence of the Father, and that we are his messengers, called to gather the elect. We have been given rules for living this life. Let us not be too eager to escape it, because it is now that we can help gather in the elect. Amen

17th Sunday after trinity: Whose image?

2011-10-22T15:25:00.001+01:00

Readings
1 Thess. 1:1-
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace.

We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of people we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place where your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.

Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Sermon
In my family I used to have a bit of a reputation with a game called Connect 4. If you’ve not seen it, it’s a game where you drop counters into an array of holes, taking it in turns with your opponent, to try and get a line of four counters of your own colour in any direction; horizontal, vertical or diagonal.

The best way to achieve this is to put your opponent into a no-win position by carefully building your game plan so that at some point you make a move that leaves you with three counters in a row and a space at either end. Whatever counter-move your opponent makes, they can’t beat you because you have out-maneuvered them. You have put them into a lose-lose position

This week’s Gospel reading follows on from last week’s and we are therefore still following Jesus around Jerusalem as the religious authorities try to trap him in exactly the same way. They were aiming to put him in a position where his response would damn them, whatever it was. The reason this question about paying taxes to Rome was a trap was because it was designed to leave him with two options, either denouncing the Romans or denouncing the Jews.

You see the Jews didn’t believe that it was right to pay taxes to Rome because Rome was the occupying country. If a country comes in, takes over your land, and then demands you pay taxes to live there, then you are justifiably going to be a little tetchy about it. There had been riots and uprisings about paying the tax, and of course the Romans had put these down with their usual brand of brutal efficiency.

But if Jesus sided with this anti-tax point of view then the Romans could arrest him. However, if he said that Jews should pay the Roman tax, then the Pharisees would succeed in discrediting him in front of all of his followers. How could a Jewish Messiah possibly countenance the idea of paying a tax to the Romans? It seemed that they had designed a perfect lose-lose situation for Jesus. So how did he get out of it?

The first thing that Jesus did was to ask them for a coin. That was a wonderful opening move from him because it accomplished two things. Firstly he would have succeeded in embarrassing them because it showed he was too poor to have a coin of his own, whereas they had plenty. Secondly it showed that he was being a good Jew because he didn’t carry any of the despised Roman currency.

Then comes the masterstroke when he asks them whose image is on the coin and they reply that it is the emperor’s; Caesar’s, and he succeeds in embarrassing them even further because according to Jewish law no Jew should be in possession of anything with an image of a deity on it, and according to Roman belief, Caesar was a god.

Jesus then gives the answer that teaches a deep truth. He declares that if something bears the image of someone, then it should be counted as belonging to that person. So if the image is of Caesar, then the coin must belong to him, so give it back to him. It’s a masterstroke by Jesus, but there is also an unspoken comment that he has implied, and that’s what we’re going to think about now.

Cast your mind back to when you first looked in the mirror this morning. It probably wasn’t the best you have ever looked, but it would have been a fair reflection of what you look like without your hair brushed, your face washed, a shave for the men or perhaps without make-up on for the women.

If you looked for it, you could probably see similarities with your parents, your brothers or sisters; and for some of us, the thing that caught our eyes might have been our wrinkles or our latest grey hair! I know that I look a very different person when I have first woken up from the one you see before you now!

For most of the time a look in the mirror is just a cursory glance or a check that everything is in place before we face the world. But it isn’t always like that. Our reflections are not neutral. Our reflections can make us feel great, or can make us critical of ourselves. When we look in a mirror we often see things that we do not like about ourselves.

Those who are very thin but are convinced they have a weight problem will look at themselves and see a fat figure where there is really one of skin and bone. Those with little self-esteem will see someone that they dislike. People of any age who grew up with demanding parents will probably see the reflection of someone who never tries hard enough. Mirrors can often show us exactly what we do not want to see.

Now let me add into this mix a very short reading from Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

Now let me take you back to what Jesus said. If a coin bearing Caesar’s image belonged to Caesar, whose image do you bear? It must be the image of God. And if the coin bearing Caesar’s image belongs to Caesar, then if you bear God’s image, you belong to him.

You. Belong. To. God. And there is nothing you can do, no sin you can commit, no piece of work you could have done better that can ever change that rock-solid unchangeable fact. You are his, and he is yours to be adored for all eternity.

Every single one of you are created to be like God in some way. I’m not saying that God has two eyes, a nose and mouth, but there is something about your very nature which means you are like God. Different parts of your personalities will reflect different parts of God’s personality.
And if St. John can write that, ‘God is love’, then everyone of you has the capability to use your gifts lovingly, because that’s what God does and you are like him.

Now if God is good, and you are in God’s image, what does that say about the possibilities for the people who share your life? Without doing anything other than being yourself you have the capability to change people’s lives for the better. You can make a difference.

16th Sunday after Trinity: Being Changed

2011-10-06T08:42:00.000+01:00

Readings
Philippians 4:1-9
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Matthew 22:1-14
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.” But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

‘But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’

Sermon
The story that Jesus tells in this parable is a fairly simple one, yet with a message that we really struggle to deal with today. You have heard me preach about my concerns on the doctrine of hell and about what judgement might really be about, and then we get a story like today’s which seems to indicate that there is finally a group that is in and others who are out.

But please don’t think that this is a simplistic tale. There is more to this parable than meets the eyes, and there is a better way of understanding it than we have done historically, so let’s go back and think about it from the position of someone listening to it for the first time.

First of all, remember the context. Jesus isn’t just talking to peasant farmers or fishermen trying to grow their businesses up in the rural Galilean area that most of his ministry has taken place in. By the time we get to this part in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has just entered Jerusalem. In the overall story cycle we’ve reached the last few days of Jesus’s earthly life and he’s now in the midst of Jerusalem.

It seems likely that his audience is going to be a far more mixed bag. There will be plenty of rural people who have travelled to Jerusalem for the Passover, but remember also that Jerusalem was the capital city, and cities like that are where the rich and powerful people gravitate to, and where the wannabee rich and powerful will go in order to better realise their dreams.

It is to this mixed, and more cosmopolitan, audience that Jesus addresses this parable and I think that we should be cautious about how we imagine this taking place and the way in which Jesus told the story. Firstly we need to recognise that a parable is a story meant to get you thinking about a number of things; it’s not the same as an allegory.

If this was an allegory we could clearly say that ‘This character is meant to represent so and so, and this character is someone else’. Instead we are presented with a number of word pictures which in some cases bear on the ludicrous, leaving me with the impression that Jesus might have told this as a tall-story, the kind of thing that might have meant he had a wry smile on his face, that is until he reached the punch-line at the end.

So let’s, first of all, have a quick look through the parable at the way the story unfolds. It begins with a royal wedding and there is a suggestion that the king and his son refers to God the Father and Jesus the Son, but remember it is a parable, not an allegory; it’s not meant to be an exact match. So it’s a royal wedding and the upper social classes have been invited, and this immediately changes our perspective on the story.

We naturally assume that this parable is about Jews having been called to be God’s people but that they turned down the invitation, and so non-Jews like us get invited instead and God creates the church to replace Israel. But no, that’s not the way Jesus is telling it and that’s a much later and rather more dubious interpretation. Instead he is talking about the upper social classes having been invited to a royal wedding and coming up with excuses not to attend.

Remember it’s a parable, not an allegory. It’s not saying that God first of all invites the rich and powerful and only when they wouldn’t come did he invite the downtrodden. But what it is doing is pointing out how the rich and powerful often scorn the humility required to be in God’s presence and the readiness of the outsiders to accept the invitation. It also highlights the way God’s prophets have so often been mistreated or murdered by the rulers to whom they were sent.

It also has this ludicrous edge to it of how events get out of control, and those who took the wedding invites were killed by those who had been invited, leading to this ridiculous escalation in which the king burns their city to the ground, all because of a wedding invite. There is also an ironic edge to it, because in reality the social climbers would never in a million years turn down an invitation to a real royal wedding, but that they had ignored God’s invitation which was actually a far greater honour, but one which did not carry anything like as much public kudos.

As I say, I can imagine Jesus telling this like a tall story with a faint smile on his face as he draws his listeners in, reminding his listeners, many of whom were rich and powerful, that God calls the nobodies too, and they’re often the ones who respond. They’re the ones who recognise the honour in being called by God. I think this is probably an example of Jesus’s humour, with a sense of the ridiculous.

And then finally we get the sucker punch, that one of these guests, one of these nobodies, wasn’t wearing a wedding gown, and because of that he is thrown out into the outer darkness, a picture of hell, and we’re left floundering wondering what on earth that last part meant. I probably ought to mention that the Greek for, ‘...Many are called...’ can also be rendered as, ‘...All are called...’

Well here’s my ideas. Have you ever received a party invite that says, ‘Come as you are’? The idea is that whatever you’re wearing when you open the invite is what you wear when you go to the party. God’s invitations into the kingdom of heaven are rather like that, but he adds another line to them:
‘Come as you are, but then let me dress you.’

The wedding gown would have been a gift from the King to those who attended the banquet and the intention of Jesus was to suggest to people that everyone is invited to come to join God’s Kingdom, but we would have to allow God to change us because we’re not suited for heaven in the people that we are now.

‘Come as you are, but let me dress you’, could just as easily be God saying, ‘Come as you are but let me change you.’ And that’s the part where our hackles begin to rise because we’re not all that sure we want to be changed, or need to be changed. God is saying, ‘There are standards of behaviour, ways of being human, and you need to keep them.’

That is not saying that we can’t be forgiven when we slip up and get it wrong, but the ejection of the guest who refused to wear a wedding garment makes it clear to us that unless we are willing for God to change us, we cannot be a part of the kingdom of heaven. It’s quite a harsh message really, and not at all in keeping with our sensibilities of how God welcomes everyone in.

Yes, he does welcome everyone. His arms are spread far wider than our petty doctrines allow us to perceive, but he also makes it clear that part of the deal is that we allow ourselves to be changed, to become more like Jesus. Or to put it another way, God loves you exactly as you are, but he loves you so much that he doesn’t want to leave you that way.

We have to be prepared to change, to be changed, but I think we make excuses for ourselves so that we don’t have to put in the effort. It’s much easier to point the finger at someone else’s behaviour than to think about our own, because if we can say to ourselves, ‘I’m not as bad as that’, then we can kid ourselves that we’re ok and don’t need to put in the effort to change.

For example, if a child molester came and joined our congregation we would expect them to change or we would throw them out into the outer darkness. But in a sense that’s nice and easy - that’s a sin that everyone can loathe and that we can make ourselves feel better about. But what about a liar? Or a gossip? What about someone who spreads rumours about someone else or someone who cheats on their taxes?

What about someone whose parents need them to be there more often? What about someone who has never taken the trouble to get to know their neighbours so that they can help them when they need it? What about the person who thinks that their way is always the right way and isn’t humble enough to listen to another’s ideas? But about someone who doesn’t give very much of their income away? What about someone who makes excuses not to give their time to help?

It’s nice and easy to hate the big sins and demonise the sinners, but the truth is that every single one of us has no right to be a part of the kingdom of heaven. We shouldn’t be comparing ourselves to the obvious loathsome sinners and saying, ‘Well I’m better than them’. Instead we should be comparing ourselves to the perfection of Jesus and realising, in humility, how far short of God’s standards we actually fall.

And God says, ‘I love you and I forgive you. Come as you are. Come - but let me dress you, let me change you.’

So how can we be changed by God? There are many ways, and simply being an active and giving part of the Christian community is helpful, but we can also make wise decisions about training our minds and attempting to learn some discipline. We know when we’re doing something wrong, and I think we also know when we’re allowing our minds to go to places they shouldn’t.

St. Paul gives us wise counsel in his letter to the Philippians when he says this:
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

I’m not telling you to become fluffy, out-of-touch, culturally unaware Christians, but I am suggesting that we should learn to guide our imaginations wisely. We are influenced by our surroundings, so we need to make an effort to give God space to change us by making wise decisions about what we fill our time and our heads with, whilst learning to give God thanks for his gifts to us. Gratitude is a way into humility.

We have to be very careful here that we don’t end up in a self-condemnatory, ‘I’ll never be good enough’ state of misery. Actually we have to face the truth that, yes, we can’t make ourselves good enough, but we can make space for God to begin to change us, to leave behind some of the actions of our past.

And remember, the Lord says, ‘I love you, just as you are, but I love you too much to let you stay that way. Let me dress you. Let me change you.’
Amen

15th Sunday after Trinity: Nailing up the curtains

2011-10-01T10:56:00.002+01:00

Readings
Philippians 3:4-14
even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 21:33-46
‘Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watch-tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They said to him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.’
Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes”?
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

Sermon
Many years ago, when we first met, Ali and I had a mutual friend, I’ll call her Ruth. Now Ruth was a very intelligent scientist, but ironically she was not the world’s most practical person, and I have never forgotten going to supper with her and her then new husband, who I’ll call John. Now Ruth and John, like most young couples in their first years together, had very little money.

They had just bought their first house and were trying to decorate it on a shoestring budget, which meant they were doing it all themselves. They did all the painting together, they chose the curtains together, and they even chose the curtain rails because the previous owners of their house had taken the rails with them.

Now Ruth was not very hot on DIY, but the next Saturday, when John went to work, she decided she would surprise him by putting up the curtain rails and curtains. However, Ruth didn’t know that in order to put something on a wall you first have drill a hole, put a rawlplug in it and then screw the fixing, in this case the curtain rails, into the plug to make them secure. No, Ruth knew none of that, but she still put the curtain rails and the curtains up.

So when John came home from work he was wonderfully surprised at how enterprising his new wife had been. But his surprise turned to horror when he looked more closely and discovered that Ruth didn’t know about screws, so instead she had simply got a hammer and nails and nailed the curtain rails to the wall.

Why am I telling you this? It is simply this, to an outward view that didn’t look too closely Ruth had done a good enough job, but the reality was that her work was useless because she had simply used the wrong tools for the job, and that’s what I want to talk about, mainly in the context of the letter to the Philippians.

St. Paul was writing about his journey towards heaven and pretty much half this portion of the reading is about all the wrong tools that he had been using. In trying to get into heaven he had been relying on all the wrong things, and he lists them for us: He had been circumcised on the eighth day after his birth; he was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin; he had been a Pharisee and so was an expert in the Jewish law, Torah, and how to keep it.

He had persecuted the church because he was sure they were doing the wrong thing, and as far as keeping the law went, he had never broken it. According to everything that he knew he had been using all the right tools in order to be holy. Until he met Christ on the road to Damascus he had, as far as he was concerned, already arrived.

And then Jesus changed everything and made it clear to him that all of these outward things, all these outward trappings of religion, were worthless. As far as becoming a part of the kingdom of God these were totally the wrong tools for the job. The work he had accomplished may have looked good, just as Ruth’s curtains looked good, but they were actually worthless.

Let’s pause for a moment and think about that. Do St. Paul’s tools of religion look anything like the tools we have tended to use? They were all very outward displays of things he had done. How much do we depend on being in church, saying our prayers, receiving communion regularly and all those outward trappings as being our way into heaven?

If we look at what Jesus said about the Pharisees we can see how little regard he had for the outward and visible displays of religion, and that actually they were worthless as tools for holiness and salvation.

Now I want you to be clear of what I’m saying here, that if we come to church and pray in order to get into heaven, then we’re on a hiding to nowhere. Religion as a tool for getting into heaven is simply the wrong tool. Our responses in church must be precisely that, responses. We are here to worship the Father through the Son in the power of the Spirit as a response to what God is doing in our lives.

But if we’re doing it to get into heaven, that’s using the wrong tool. Worship is a response, church is a response to God’s initiative, and that’s what was wrong for the Pharisees, they thought that all the outward stuff, the keeping of the law, the praying in a particular way, being pure, would earn them a place in the kingdom of God, but St. Paul realised that was the wrong approach.

What we see in his writings is a complete change from his original position of trusting in the law. He regarded all of what had gone before as a total loss, and instead of coming from a position of having already arrived, what we find in his writings are the words of a man who realises that he is on a journey.

Rather than saying, ‘I know’, he says, ‘I want to know’. Instead of the language of arrival through religion what we get is the language of journeying through faith, and that is the element that has been missing. The tools he was formerly using, the useless tools, were the outward practice of religion, but what he now knew was that the right tools for the job were having faith, and it wasn’t faith in what he had accomplished himself through purity but were instead faith in what Jesus had accomplished by his death and resurrection.

And that is the whole point. That’s why he was able to write, ‘Not that I have already obtained this or have reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own.’

We have not arrived in heaven, but we are on a journey there, but the most important thing we can do is recognise that there is nothing that you or I can ever do to earn our place there. Our place in God’s kingdom comes entirely from putting our faith in the work of Christ and that’s what we should put our trust in.

That’s why church worship can be in so many different styles with none of them being the correct or right way of doing it. Worship is meant to be a response to God, not a tool of salvation. We come here to respond and grow in faith in what Christ has accomplished. We should never put our trust in church or being righteous, because those are the wrong tools.

The only tool for the job of salvation has already been wielded, Jesus on the cross. Let us put our faith in that and respond in worship, for that is the only tool for the job. Amen

Harvest Thanksgiving - The wrong perspective on humanity's place in creation

2011-09-24T10:13:00.001+01:00

Readings
Psalm 104:10-24
You make springs flow in the valleys, and rivers run between the hills. They provide water for the wild animals; there the wild donkeys quench their thirst. In the trees near by, the birds make their nests and sing. From the sky you send rain on the hills, and the earth is filled with your blessings. You make grass grow for the cattle and plants for us to use, so that we can grow our crops and produce wine to make us happy, olive oil to make us cheerful, and bread to give us strength. The cedars of Lebanon get plenty of rain - the Lord's own trees, which he planted. There the birds build their nests; the storks nest in the fir trees. The wild goats live in the high mountains, and the rock badgers hide in the cliffs. You created the moon to mark the months; the sun knows the time to set. You made the night, and in the darkness all the wild animals come out. The young lions roar while they hunt, looking for the food that God provides. When the sun rises, they go back and lie down in their dens. Then people go out to do their work and keep working until evening. Lord, you have made so many things! How wisely you made them all! The earth is filled with your creatures.

John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Sermon
Sometimes I get very frustrated with the church. We preach about a life of service and about how special we all are to God, and we act on what we believe by looking out for the needs of other people, and at harvest time we give great thanks to God for the food that we have and for the work of the farmers in harvesting it. But I can’t help thinking we’re not seeing the whole picture.

You see the Christian religion, just like Judaism and Islam, has its primary focus on humanity. Now that in itself is not a problem, because as humans we are of course bound up with our own story. The problem I think that we have is that we have also assumed that everything else on the earth should also be bound up with our story. We have an arrogance that perpetually puts us at the centre of all creation in our own minds.

The church has gone so far with this idea that it made a point of actively persecuting scientists like Copernicus and Galileo who recognised from their observations that actually the earth wasn’t at the centre of the universe with everything else revolving around it. Their observations led them to the conclusion that the sun was at the centre which outraged the church.

We now know that not only is the sun not at the centre of the universe, it’s not even in any prominent place in our galaxy, just slung off in one of the spiral arms. And even our galaxy is nothing special; our nearest neighbour, Andromeda, is a far more spectacular and much larger galaxy.

Yet this arrogant belief that we are somehow far more important than any other species persists. One of our new Eucharistic prayers includes this line:
‘In the fullness of time you made us in your image,
the crown of all creation.’

How do we know we’re ‘The crown of all creation.’ Of course we’re created in God’s image, but we’re not very good at living up to that are we. Who is to say that amongst the billions upon billions of other planets in the universe there aren’t other species also created in God’s image who do a much better job of living up to their nature.

There is a label for this mentality and it’s ‘anthropocentric’, which is the belief that humanity is meant to be at the centre of everything, the most important thing that God has ever created, and it’s that belief that allows us to recklessly savage the planet without thinking of what we’re doing. We often blame big business and greed for the way in which earth’s resources are consumed, but our religion, so long as it keeps this attitude, is culpable because we’re excusing others by agreeing that what we want as a species is what is most important.

Yet in the two readings today we get a clear picture of the whole of creation and its importance to God. Psalm 104 echoes loud and long with its praises to God for all that he has created, and the beginning of John’s Gospel makes it clear that everything was created through Jesus, the Word of God. But there are plenty of other readings we could have had.

Genesis Chapter 1 is not meant to be a literal scientific account of creation, but it’s noteworthy that God decided that what he had created was good, every part of it, not just the human bits. Or we could have had a verse from the end of Mark’s Gospel where Jesus tells the disciples to go into the whole world and take the good news to all creation. That’s quite a pointed use of the word creation.

The word kosmos is the word translated as ‘the whole world’ but Mark uses a different world for all creation, ktisei, which doesn’t come up in scripture all that often, but refers to the created order. When we add plenty of other passages in here I think that we need to be thinking quite carefully about the responsibilities we have in terms of our harvesting.

We should not be taking from the earth that which we cannot replace. But we are, and so long as we have this idea that humanity is the only really important thing God has ever created, and that we are at the centre of everything, then we will go on ignoring the damage that we are doing, when really we should be in the thick of the eco-movement.

For instance, did you know that our rainforests cover just 2% of the earth’s surface, but they are home to over 65% of all the different species on earth. Yet we destroy more than an acre and a half of rainforest every second, every second! By 2025 we will have lost half of them and by 2060, they will all be gone, with all the animals that live in them.

We have to get away from this belief that the universe revolves around us and start to recognise that we are a part of the ecosystem. We give thanks to God for the harvest that he has given us, but we should also be thanking God for the harvest that he gives to other creatures.

There is such a thing as eco-spirituality, but at the moment it is dominated by paganism and eastern new-age style spirituality in this country, and Christians are labelled as being as bad as the rest of the world when it comes to not caring about the planet, and I think they may have a point. There is a branch of theology that believes that, if God is going to create a new heaven and new earth, then who cares if we destroy this one.

But is that anyway to think about one of the most precious gifts God has given us? It’s about time we began to recognise that we have a responsibility, as the current stewards of this planet, to ensure that all creatures get the harvest God desires for them, and that we shouldn’t be the ones who get to have it all. We always think in terms of mission as saving our fellow human beings, but the Church of England recognises that another important mark of mission is to the planet and it’s other inhabitants.

So at this harvest, as we give thanks to God for the food he has given to us, may we also begin to think long and hard about the responsibility we bear for the needs of all of the inhabitants of this planet. Whether or not we are the most important thing in creation is open to debate, but it is absolutely clear from scripture that God gave us this planet into our care and intends for us to be good stewards of it, and that’s one job that we are certainly not living up to.

The earth is the Lord’s and he has entrusted us with it. As Christians we have a responsibility to look after it with deep spiritual care and affection. Amen

Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity - The offensive ways of God

2011-09-23T16:40:00.003+01:00

Readings
Philippians 1:21-30
For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.

Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God’s doing. For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well— since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Matthew 20:1-16
‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place; and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’

Address
God is offensive. Or perhaps I should clarify that. The ways of God are offensive to people. No, that’s not quite far enough either. How about this: The ways of God are offensive to Christians. Now that may sound like an unlikely thing to say, but I want us to think about God’s grace this morning, and some of what I say will be difficult for us to stomach, because although we know statements like, ‘The first shall be last and the last shall be first’, we don’t actually pause and think about the implications.

Let’s have a look at the parable we have before us this morning, because this is a classic example of a parable that should shock us when we think deeply about what it actually says. The first thing to note is the context. Jesus is not talking to large crowds of interested spectators here. This isn’t one of those occasions when large numbers of people come on over to follow Jesus.

Instead it follows on from the story of the rich man who comes to Jesus asking what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus hears him say that he has always kept the commandments but recognises quickly that his wealth is actually his anchor and tells him he must give that away so that he will learn to depend on God. But the man can’t do that and goes away disappointed.

And then Jesus turns to his disciples and begins to explain how hard it is for rich people to enter the kingdom of heaven; that a camel has more chance of getting through the eye of a needle than of a rich person getting to heaven, saying that many who are first will be last and the last will be first.

The story that we have before us today follows on directly from this and so we can conclude that he’s telling the disciples this parable to illustrate what he’s just said to them. In other words this parable is not evangelistic. It’s not aimed outwardly. It is aimed fairly and squarely at believers, at insiders like us, and it is likely to offend people. It is, however, a principle we need to learn and apply in order to grow as a church.

The story is really quite simple. A group of labourers are hired at the beginning of the working day, let’s say 6.00am, and reach an agreement that they will be paid the usual daily rate for a day's work. The vineyard owner hasn’t got enough people to do the work so he goes back out again at 9.00am and wanders around the middle of the town, finding men in the market place doing nothing. So he hires them too.

Another three hours goes by and at noon he hires yet more men who are doing nothing. He goes back to the market place again at both three and five in the afternoon, each time hiring more men who seemingly have nothing to do. Sometime around 8.00pm he goes out into the vineyard himself. The working day is over, which shows clearly that these people didn’t submit to EU working directives because some of them have done a fourteen hour day.

Then he calls them all over and begins with those who he hired at five o clock, and he pays them all the full daily wage, even though they have only done three hours work. Now you can probably imagine what is going on in the minds of those who have been at it for fourteen hours.

They know what their contracts said, the daily wage for a day's work, but now they have seen how generous their employer is! If the three hour people get a day's wage, then they should be getting more than four days pay, by their calculations.

Imagine, then, what it must have felt like as he worked his way through the employees, giving each group, no matter how long they had worked, a day's pay. How would you have felt? Wouldn’t you have felt cheated somehow? Yes you had a deal, but if he can be this generous, surely he could have offered you more.

And that is what it feels like to be an insider on the receiving end of God’s grace, watching him pouring out his love on those who got in at the last minute. We love the story of Jesus telling the thief crucified on the cross next to him that he will get to be in paradise as well, but think of what the implications are. That man stole and robbed his way through life whereas you have all worked hard to be good, upright and moral Christian citizens, and you will both get the same reward.

Isn’t that offensive? It can certainly feel that way. Yet what it means is, regardless of how hard you have worked for all of your life at trying to be a good Christian, God chooses to forgive someone and give them the same rights as you to heaven if they repent on their dying breath. You both get to heaven.

God hasn’t done you out of anything, but his grace and love are so far reaching that he will forgive and restore people to his love the moment they turn to him. That’s what grace looks like, and it can be offensive to insiders because our natural position is to say, ‘Yes, but we have given up everything for you for all of our lives.’

Now don’t get me wrong; in the verses before these the disciples say the same thing, when Peter points out how much they have given up for the kingdom and Jesus reassures them that they will receive so very much in heaven as a reward, ‘But’, he says, ‘Many who are first will be last and the last will be first.’ We will be rewarded for being faithful, but God’s grace also extends to those who have only just repented.

What I think this story highlights for us is a sense of jealous ownership, that as insiders who have always tried hard we ought to be rewarded, and this extends into church life on this side of the veil too.

It is wonderful to welcome new people into church life and encourage them to get involved. But I also wonder how willing we are to let them get really stuck in, or whether there is a sense of, 'We were here first - we should decide who does what.'
This seems to me to be a similar attitude to what we see in the parable, that God makes little distinction between the first and the last to arrive - all are treated with love and grace.

So let us be generous in our love and giving. Let us welcome new people and give them honour in the church and not expect them to have to do the hard graft for five years before they are accepted, but to make them a part of the family from the very beginning, because in doing so we are treating them as God treats all of us, giving grace and love to all, regardless of how long they have been here. Amen

Ref:
Brueggemann et al, Texts for Preaching: Year A, Louisville: WJK Press, 1995, 493f

Greenbelt Meditations

2011-09-23T16:38:00.002+01:00

Thank you to all those who have contacted me asking for when the Greenbelt meditations will be posted up here. I promise I will get to them as soo as I can. I've just had a post-Greenbelt holiday and am now trying to catch up with parish work and a number of other responsibilities, but I promise they will be up before too long. A couple of recent sermons coming up next...

9th Sunday after Trinity - God-given responsibility

2011-08-18T17:32:00.001+01:00

Readings

Romans 12:1-8
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Matthew 16:13-20
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Address
Two thousand years ago there was just one Christian denomination, and we have the beginnings of it described right here in the Gospel. In fact it’s rather interesting that the name Jesus gave to Peter for Church, Ecclesia, was a political word in the first century which was used for an assembly of self-governing citizens. I’ll come back to that shortly.

But in the beginning there was just one denomination. Only it didn’t stay that way. Cracks were soon evident when St. Paul started preaching to people who were not Jews, and the early Christian Jews tried to impose the rules of the Jewish Torah, the Law, on them. Right at the start there was a struggle for power. It didn’t take us long really did it, to let our humanity get in the way.

So we started off with one denomination, but then it split, and split again. Would you believe that, at a rough estimate we think there are now 38,000 different denominations! Now of course some of these are very small with maybe a few hundred in them. But you get the point all the same. With that in mind let’s look at the Gospel reading.

By this time of the year a lot of people have been on their summer holiday. Today’s reading seems to be set in terms of some kind of holiday too, with Jesus taking his disciples away from their ministry in Galilee and further north to a place called Caesarea Philippi, which is a really lush and green place with a wonderful river, the river Jordan, flowing through it.

In effect this is basically where the source of the Jordan is. If you’ve been to the Lake District you can get some idea of the surroundings, only you have to imagine it’s really hot too. It’s truly beautiful - I know because I’ve been there twice, including this year’s trip.

But perhaps for us the most interesting thing about it was that it was also a place where lots of pagan idols were worshipped, so I find that it’s rather amusing the way that Jesus gets them to a place where there are all these statues to these other gods and then says, ‘Okay, in the midst of all these pagan idols, who do you think I am?’

Peter is the one who gets the right answer, that Jesus is actually the Son of God, and when this story comes up in Mark’s Gospel it comes right slap bang in the middle, showing that this is a pivotal point in Jesus’s ministry, when the disciples finally understand who he is, paving the way for him to teach them about his coming sacrifice and lead them to Jerusalem.

But that’s not what I really want to think about today. As I was reading this passage I saw something about which I suppose I had never really thought of the implications. For me what I find so groundbreaking is Jesus’s reply to Peter: ‘I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.’

A couple of months back our school had an auction, and some of the things offered were experiences rather than something you would own. One child got to be head teacher for a day and another was a class teacher for a day. In a sense Jesus seems to be saying something similar only this is for real. Jesus, the Son of God, seems to be saying that when it comes to church, Peter, and by implication those who followed him, were going to be given the responsibility for making the rules, and God would stick to their choices.

Think about that. This is like a parent saying to their child, I am giving you a house next door to mine, and you can set the rules for how we will behave in both houses. What you say is OK, I’ll accept as being OK. If you don’t like it, then I won’t allow it either.

This is God treating us as grown-ups and giving us responsibilities. Some of you may remember occasions when I have said in sermons that sometimes it seems that God doesn’t always tell us what to do when we ask for advice, but expects us to make adult decisions as maturing Christians. It seems to me that this is an example of the same thing. Jesus gave Peter the responsibility for shaping the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

It seems to me that God gives us an awful lot of responsibility for ourselves as a church. Have you ever thought of that? We’re meant to become mature and make responsible decisions, but I wonder how well we’ve done with that so far.

Whilst many people have found faith over the last two thousand years it definitely hasn’t all been good. There have been so many divisions over styles of worship, over interpretation of the scriptures and over styles of leadership, resulting in this huge number of denominations that I began with. And now the Anglican church is in danger of splitting again.

I wonder what it is that causes these splits? We often blame it on people at the top, but I think it starts with people like us. It seems to me that it’s all down to wanting to get our own way, to be the one who makes the decision that everyone else lives by. We’re so sure that we are correct in what we believe, or how we worship and so we want to exclude anyone who sees it differently.

I have many times sat in services where a modern translation of the Lord’s prayer has been used, only to hear someone quite loudly saying it in the traditional words, as if to get across their point that their preferred version is the one that must be used. This is the attitude that begins a split.

But there is another result, one which has been happening insidiously in this country for a while. People who are Christians, or who are thinking about the faith, who see this attitude eventually get fed up with it and simply leave the church, and they don’t go anywhere else. Next weekend I’ll be working at the Greenbelt Christian festival and I know that of the 15,000 people there, many of them will be Christians who have abandoned church because of exactly these kinds of internal power struggles.

It doesn’t matter how hard we try to get mission work happening, and bringing the good news to our friends and families; unless we learn to live with each other in love and stop trying to get our own way, people will be turned off religion and will leave. And if you don’t believe me I can tell you that it’s happened here since I’ve been vicar when we lost a young couple who got fed up with being told their baby was too loud.

God gave us responsibilities for setting our own rules in church. We responded by having power struggles and they begin at grassroots levels, here in the pews. Unless we are willing to live with each other’s differences in love, the Church of England is going to have a hard time growing, because people won’t stay. So let us see if here, in this church, we can set an example of living responsibly, in love as one family. Amen.

8th Sunday after Trinity : Question, Question, Question!

2011-08-13T10:59:00.000+01:00

Readings

Romans 11:1-2, 29-32
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

...for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

Matthew 15:21-28
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.

Sermon
I consider myself to be very lucky in that I have parents who are not only willing to discuss what they believe with me, but they are willing to challenge me about something I may have said or preached, and they will also talk with me about things in the world which cause them to wrestle with their faith.

I find these conversations immensely helpful, and to those of you with children I would certainly advise having open hearted conversations about faith with them, according to the level that they are at. What I have to say today springs out from one of those discussions that we had when we were all away together in Cornwall two weeks ago.

You see last week I preached about the stilling of the storm, and about how Jesus walked on the water out to the disciples in the boat. If we probe the story of Jesus we find other such miracles such as the feeding of the five thousand. These appear to be instances where the Lord showed quite dramatic control over the natural world, and we are rightly told that these are occasions where the divinity of Christ was demonstrated.

Yet we have also just raised, through a retiring collection, £450 for famine hit Somalia and the Horn of Africa. In that region there are over 11 million people in immediate need of help, but they make up just a fraction of the 160 million people in the Horn of Africa, of which about 40% live in areas prone to food shortages.

It seems that the major problem they have is the failure of the rains causing a terrible drought. What we have to face up to and wrestle with is that Jesus showed, time and time again, that he is Lord over nature. If he is Lord over nature, and if God is love, why doesn’t he send the rains to the Horn of Africa?

I know that some Christian groups may feel quite happy to stick their heads in the sand and come up with a nice simple easy answer, but I don’t think that’s us. However, there may not be an answer that we can actually get our heads around. As far as we are concerned though, what I want to show you, through our scripture readings, is that wrestling with God to try and get him to give us an answer is an established biblical principle, and we should not be afraid of doing it.

Yes, God is almighty, and yes, his ways are higher than our ways, but nevertheless there are many stories of people in the Bible wrestling with God and we have two of them before us today, so let’s turn first of all to the new testament reading from Romans.

In this passage we can see direct evidence of St. Paul having wrestled with an issue which greatly concerned him, and I suspect worries some of us too. The lectionary readings supply only a very small part of Romans 11 but I would recommend you go away and read all of it to get the full force of the argument.

St. Paul’s quandary is basically this: Jesus came to the Jews and yet most of them rejected him. Indeed the very letter that he is writing is addressed to the church in Rome, many of whom have no Jewish connections at all. So if God chose Israel for all time, how could he now reject them? Indeed has he now rejected them?

The evidence seemed to be that this was indeed what God had done and this is what St. Paul had to wrestle with because it made no sense to him. As you read Romans 11 in its entirety so you can see how he develops his argument that God has not rejected his chosen people. He draws on the example of Elijah pleading with God saying that he thought that he alone was the only believing Israelite left.

But God said to him that this was not the case, and God had preserved for himself a believing remnant of seven thousand, so God’s first answer to St. Paul was not to necessarily believe the evidence of his own eyes; go deeper.

Secondly St. Paul came to the conclusion that it had to happen this way, that Israel’s heart would be hardened so that the gospel would come to the gentiles, such as us here in the West Midlands. We are living proof that this element of St. Paul’s wrestling was absolutely correct.

And thirdly, St. Paul hoped that his preaching to the gentiles would shame some of his own people into becoming believers, that at the end all Israel would be saved. This is something about which we have no answer. But the principle is nevertheless established, that St. Paul wrestled with God over an issue that he couldn’t understand, that so many Jews had not followed Jesus, and he got some but not all of the answers he was looking for. The principle is simply, if in doubt, wrestle.

If we look at the gospel reading we see this principle again. Jesus appears to be taking a break from his ministry to the Jews, perhaps because of yet another wearying encounter with Pharisees and Scribes from Jerusalem, and he is taking a break in the region of Tyre and Sidon. Yet even there he couldn’t get any rest because a Canaanite woman tracked him down to ask him to help her daughter.

His response to her shocks us, as well it should, and perhaps we should be inspired even here simply to wrestle with God about what his Son says. He affirms that he has only been sent to the lost sheep of Israel, but he does so in such disparaging terms, by essentially likening her to a dog. Now she could have walked away at that point, and maybe that is actually part of the message here.

But she didn’t. She clung on and wrestled with God, with Jesus. She basically said that she was happy to accept the epithet if that would get her daughter the help she needed. Now I know that we feel guilty sometimes for wrestling with God over issues that we don’t understand, that to do so betrays a lack of faith, yet what we hear from the lips of Jesus is quite the contrary to that.

He commends her faith for wrestling with him, and she gets exactly what she wanted, the healing of her daughter, even though she was not a Jew and was not part of Jesus’s plan. Incidentally, I have no doubt in my own mind that Jesus intended his message to go to the non-Jews eventually, it’s just that that was reserved until after his resurrection and ascension.

So what we have in the Gospel reading is more of the same kind of thing that I’ve already said; that we are encouraged to wrestle with God; if in doubt wrestle. We may get some of the answers, as St. Paul did, or we may even get all of the answer, as the Canaanite woman did, even though that story left us with the uncomfortable title of ‘Dog’ that Jesus gave the woman, something that I will let you wrestle with yourselves.

And so that brings us back to the famine in the Horn of Africa. Why hasn’t God acted to bring the rains, given that Jesus demonstrated his power over nature? We all know that the planet is a dynamic system, and not necessarily predictable. We know that our weather systems are not as straightforward as we might wish them to be, yet in the face of so many potential deaths, why doesn’t God give us a miracle like Jesus did on several occasions?

So we have to wrestle with the situation, and the first thing we find is that it is nothing like as simple as the rains having failed. Part of the problem is that some farmers in the area have lost the incentive to grow crops because of the dumping of excess food on to local markets at prices that local farmers could not compete with, so there was economic mismanagement.

There has been a steady loss of livestock through the dry period which has left farmers with nothing to sell in order to buy food. Then many farmers have had to eat their own crops in order to survive, but have then had no crops left to sell in order to buy food, and in the midst of this has been a devastating internal conflict in Somalia.

On top of all of this has been a steady deforestation, with almost 20% of Somalian forests being lost over the course of the last 20 years. As the forests go, so the deserts creep in as the ground becomes steadily more dry and arid. In addition to all this, some of the farming land in the Horn of Africa has been sold or leased to foreign countries like China who then grow crops for their own countries, not for the locals.

Kenya and Ethiopia are struggling with the same conditions, but their governments have systems in place to get aid to where it’s needed. Somalia, however, doesn’t, which is why so many people are on the move.

As we begin to wrestle with the crisis we can see that yes, there is a problem with the rains not coming, but aid has been able to reach many of those where there is good government because systems are in place. But once human conflicts and economic mismanagement are allowed to interfere with an already fragile ecosystem, so the famine has been allowed to take hold and reach the crisis it has become.

So why doesn’t God step in and do something about it? This is the issue we have to wrestle with, and I’m afraid I am not going to give you all the answers. You need to do some wrestling yourselves because this is a part of growing towards maturity in faith. But I can give you some pointers in terms of questions to ask.

The first question is not, ‘Why did this happen?’ but, ‘Since this has happened, have I given enough of my own resources to help alleviate the disaster?’ Remember, where much has been given, much will be required.

Secondly there is a principle of judgement established in the Old Testament book of Hosea (8:7) which is that if you sow the wind, you shall reap the whirlwind. In other words God allows us to live with the consequences of our actions. Those of you who are parents will know that often the only way a child can learn is to be allowed to make the mistake.

If they want to play with fire, they have to accept that their fingers will get burned. Yet this sounds callous when we think of a God who calls himself love. But is it? God could step in, but so often he seems to be allowing events to take their natural courses according to the natural laws of the universe. That may be because if we have a constant stream of miracles, where then will there be space for people to choose to have faith. Faith where there is constant proof is not faith

Furthermore, if God is forever proving himself with miracles he will also take away our free choice to turn to him. Remember, after many of his miracles Jesus told the onlookers not to tell what had happened. Miracles are meant to be rumours of glory, not proofs of it.

So if you strip away the forests, and don’t irrigate, and don’t plan for what happens when the rains don’t come, then you have all the ingredients for a perfect storm. As one interviewee put it, ‘Drought may be an act of God, but famine is an act of man.’

In my own mind I feel that, having wrestled with it, I can’t blame God for a situation that could have been averted, but I still wrestle with him over why the rains didn’t come. Was it purely so that they could learn to take responsibility? Isn’t the high number of deaths too high a price to pay? Or is it simply that, having set the laws of nature up, God rarely intervenes in the job he has given them to do.

But this I do know. Whenever I wrestle with God, whatever the issue is, a part of his answer to me is always, ‘How much of it is your fault, and what are you going to do about it?’

St. Paul wrestled with God and got some of his answers. The Canaanite woman wrestled with God and got what she wanted but left us with questions, yet was called a woman of great faith. At the end of the day, the best teaching I can give you is this: question, question, question. You may not get all the answers, but wrestling with God is a sign of faith, not doubt, so don’t ever feel you shouldn’t do it.

Remember, in all humility, that you are only a human and will not be able to understand all the answers, and you may not necessarily get them. But you should still question, and wrestle, because that is a part of growing in maturity. And finally, even if I may not be able to supply you with answers, I am happy to be a sounding board for you as you work through the questions you have. Amen

7th Sunday after Trinity: Caught between terror and glory

2011-07-27T11:43:00.001+01:00

Readings
Isaiah 6:1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’

Matthew 14:22-33
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking towards them on the lake. But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’

Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’ When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’

Address
Tom Daley is one of our brightest hopes for the Olympics next year. Although he’s still only seventeen he is already a world diving champion. According to a story in the Times on 24/7/11, he started diving when he was just seven years old, progressing quickly from diving off the poolside to diving from the one metre board and then the three metre board. The ten metre board, however, was a source of terror.

He was eight before he managed to walk along that long bendy plank, and he was so scared that he felt like he wanted to crawl along it. When he stood at the end, and it took him three or four attempts just to get there, he had a choice. He could have walked back down, or he could jump. He was caught in a point in time between the terror and the glory.

With everyone standing at the poolside encouraging him, finally he jumped and he described it like this, ‘I got this feeling of being free and falling through the air. It was amazing and it seemed to last forever; the weightlessness, the adrenalin rush. I just wanted to do it again and again.’

But what would have happened if he hadn’t jumped? Caught between the terror and the glory he could have chosen submitting to the terror and none of us would ever have heard of him. So much hinges on the choices we make in moments like that.

In our Gospel reading we are confronted with a story of Peter being challenged by what he saw in Jesus. He, too, was caught between the terror and the glory, but was wanting to do quite the opposite of Tom Daley, by coming into contact with water and not breaking through it. Now I think this walking on water story was probably quite a lot to ask a first century person to believe, but now, twenty centuries on, it seems almost impossible.

Yet this story is one of only a handful that not only appears in two of the synoptic gospels, but also appears in John’s Gospel too. The reason that’s significant is that Matthew, Mark and Luke all have Mark’s Gospel as a common point of reference. It seems that Mark wrote his first and then Matthew and Luke used that as a basis for their own gospels. John, however, wrote completely independently.

What that suggests to me is that this was such a pivotal moment in their lives together that the disciples all remembered it clearly and related it to the gospel writers. Now I know that we’re supposed to believe that all of the gospels are word-for-word truth, but it somehow adds a little extra credence when something appears in the synoptic gospels and also in John because it means that either Matthew or Luke didn’t just copy it from Mark.

But there’s something more here as well. Each of the stories have slightly different emphases, and the account we have before us today is the one with the most detail and the only one which includes the account of Peter walking on the water too, so that’s what I want us to focus on, and then we’ll turn to the reading from Isaiah.

Although the story covers only two paragraphs it seems to develop over the course of several hours. Firstly we see Jesus sending both the crowds and his disciples away. He wants some alone time to pray, so the disciples depart in a boat while he goes up a mountain to pray; and so the day passes. The next comment is about the evening, and Jesus us up the mountain praying but the disciples are struggling with their boat because the wind is against them and they’re being battered by the waves.

Lake Galilee may only be seven miles across, but its position, surrounded by hills with a mountain range at one end, means that the weather can make it a very dangerous stretch of water to be caught on in a storm. And then the clock flashes forward to the early morning, and so we can only imagine how exhausted the disciples must have been from fighting with their boat all night.

That’s when they see Jesus walking across the lake. Now I’ve often pictured a serene calm lake and a misty sun rising, but they’ve just been in the midst of a storm, so it strikes me that the water wouldn’t have been all that still. So if Jesus was walking on the water he would have been going up and down quite a lot with the swell.

When the disciples saw him, they were terrified. Well I guess you would be wouldn’t you. From a distance they didn’t know it was Jesus and probably thought they were seeing either a ghost or a demon. And then Jesus calls out to them, and we have a pivotal moment in the life of Peter as he, too, is caught between terror and glory.

Unlike Tom Daley though, it is not his own glory but the glory of God that awaits his next decision. So he cries out to Jesus, ‘If it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ What an interesting way to phrase it, ‘...command me to come to you.’ Peter is not asking to be given supernatural powers to walk on water like Jesus is.

He is recognising that if he can overcome his terror he can dwell in something of God’s glory. He’s caught between the terror and the glory and so he asks Christ to command him to come, because he knows that only then we he be able to. There is no self-sufficiency in this, and nor is there any attempt at self-aggrandisement, just a request in the midst of terror for help to step out of the boat.

What we can learn here from Peter is what we are capable if, caught between terror and glory, we are willing to risk it all on God, and this is one example of what faith looks like, and it bears a remarkable resemblance to courage. It is a willingness to look at the terror of what surrounds us, and then look at God and step towards him, getting out of the boat.

The remarkable thing, I believe, is the honesty we see when, caught between terror and glory, Peter takes his eyes of Jesus, off glory, and terror begins to reassert itself and he starts to sink. He cries out to Jesus and is immediately rescued. Peter is not a sceptic who is overwhelmed by doubts, but a man who, in a place of terror amidst the waves stacked up around him, needs help.

Caught between terror and glory, he chose glory and therefore, even when the terror began to reassert itself, the Lord came to his rescue and didn’t let him sink.

Let’s have a brief look at our Old Testament reading here for a moment because we can see the same kind of thing taking place. Although this passage is in Isaiah 6 it is actually the commissioning of the prophet. The previous five chapters are more of an overture to the symphony that begins in this chapter.

Isaiah is caught up in a terrifying vision of God’s glory. The Lord is filling the temple in Jerusalem with merely the hem of his robe and he is surrounded by angels. As the angels speak their voices are so powerful that the whole building begins to shake so that smoke and rubble begins to fill it. And remember, this is just the voices of the angels; God himself hasn’t spoken a word yet.

What we hear from Isaiah are two responses. Caught between the terror and the glory, it is first the terror on which he focuses. God is so perfect, so awesome, so beyond description that Isaiah realises how terribly far short he falls of what can survive in God’s presence. Even the magnificent angels are covering their faces, and yet he has glimpsed the face of God, and so he cries out in terror at what must come next, surely his complete destruction.

And then in steps one of the angels who collects a live coal from the altar fire which is so hot that even he has to use tongs. With that purifying fire he touches the lips of Isaiah to burn away his uncleanliness. This is important too because, when caught between terror and glory, being cleansed of our terror can be painful in its purification. Purgatory can be as much about this life as the next.

Isaiah then hears the voice of God, calling for someone that he can send to the people of Judah to proclaim what is going to happen to them. Caught between the terror and the glory Isaiah now turns to glory, the glory that is of God, and declares, ‘Here I am. Send me.’

And so to us. How often have you dwelt on this boundary layer, caught between the terror and the glory? Which way did you turn? Throughout our lives God puts us in positions where we may have to make decisions. It is interesting that Peter wasn’t alone in the boat, yet caught between terror and glory, he seems to have been the only one to have seen the possibilities of glory.

And Isaiah, caught up in that vision of God’s glory, did not have to speak out when God asked, ‘Whom shall I send?’ He could have remained silent in terror. He had complete freedom as to how to respond.

So where are you now? Or where have you been? If, sometime ago, when faced with the choice between terror and glory, and you succumbed to the terror, it is not too late to turn back to the glory now. Was it a job change, or thinking about moving, or stepping out to do something you had never considered doing before. As with Peter, the Lord continues to hold his hand out to us when we think we’re going to sink, that the terror will overtake us.

But I really need you to hear this. I’m going to be writing about this in more detail for the parish magazine but the truth is that over the next ten years there will be a net 10% reduction in the number of priests simply because not enough people are coming forward. God may be calling you to think about priesthood, but I’m pretty certain he’s going to be calling you all to look at what you can do to shoulder the mission of the church in this place, because if the Lord still has me here in ten years time, all the signs are that I won’t just be doing this one job.

If the church is going to continue to grow, it can only do so if people like you agree to get involved in its life and ministry and mission. People often say to me, ‘I’m not good enough’, to which I will direct you to the purifying work done to Isaiah. Others will say, ‘I don’t have enough faith’, to which I will direct you to the hand of the Lord stretched out to Peter as he began to sink.

In fact, saying, ‘I’m not good enough and I don’t have enough faith’ are pretty much a prerequisite for serving God in ministry. It’s only when we recognise our shortcomings that we are remotely ready to serve, because it’s only then that we serve in God’s strength rather than our own.

Caught between the terror and the glory we must trust God and step out of the boat using the words of Isaiah to say, ‘Here I am Lord, send me.’ Are you ready to step out?

5th Sunday after Lent: Hell...

2011-07-23T11:18:00.001+01:00

Readings
Romans 8:26-end
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52
Jesus put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’

He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’

Address
At the end of the eight o clock service last Sunday I was approached by a member of the congregation who said that he had appreciated the sermon but noticed that I had completely dodged the issue of hell and judgement. I had to agree, although in my defence my usual eight minute homily would have been rather longer had I tried to mention that as well.

I also promised that I would preach about hell the next time it came up. That was, of course, before I read this Sunday’s readings and realised that hell and judgement came up again, and this time with the added complication that the new testament reading is all about predestination. So, with knees trembling, I’m going to try and answer the question, ‘What is hell and are some people predestined to go there?’

But first a story to set the context. In the Baptist denomination they usually choose their ministers by what they call, ‘Preach-with-a-view’. In other words the elders of the church will interview prospective candidates for the minister’s position, and if they thought they had someone who might be right they would invite them to preach. After they left, the church would meet and decide together whether to call them as the new minister.

And so it was that a certain church had interviewed two candidates and couldn’t decide which one to invite to preach, so they invited them both and gave them the topic of hell to preach on. They both preached amazing sermons that kept people on the edge of their seats, but in the end the choice was quite easy to make. They chose the one who preached with tears in his eyes...

Whatever conclusions we come to about hell, the devastating thoughts that there may be some who will never experience the presence of God, and that there are evil people who never manage to ask for forgiveness should be uppermost in our thoughts. Talk of hell should never be one of our judgementalism and hope that someone in particular should go there. With that in mind let’s think about the subject.

Hell is not a clear-cut biblical concept. Throughout the bible, just as with the devil, hell is an evolving picture. In the earlier parts of the Old Testament there is no mention of either heaven or hell. Instead there was just Sheol, the grave, a grey place of no hope where what was left of a person resided after their life on earth was over. It also seems unjust to us because that was all there was in their beliefs; there was no distinction in what would happen to the good or the evil.

So let’s think about what hell might actually be. It’s a curious thing that in almost every religion there is some kind of doctrine of hell. What that hell looks like depends a great deal on whether the religion is primarily judgemental or whether it is full of forgiveness.

This difference is quite important for us as we consider Christian beliefs because it strikes me that what we say about hell is more likely to say something about ourselves than it is to say something about the truth. We all know, for example, that medieval Christianity went to great lengths to depict all sorts of horrible and permanent tortures that took place in hell and were inflicted by demons.

Yet none of that has any foundation whatsoever in scripture. In fact the one or two references to demons in hell strongly suggest that hell was actually originally created for them, not for humanity at all. In the parable of the sheep and the goats we get this at the end:

Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels.’ Matt.25:41
Demons are most definitely not God’s torturers, so please abandon that concept. This depiction actually tells us that fear was at the root of institutionalised medieval Christianity, not love.

And I think the same is probably true today. If you look at fundamentalist Christianity you will see that it has a very firm teaching that hell is for sinners who will burn forever in eternal torment, and we all know that fundamentalist teachings are very judgmental, and that is true of fundamentalist religions whatever faith they are, simply because they are based on fear, not love.

Now we in the modern western world declare that God is love and that he wants all people to reside with him forever, yet we also have this belief that God, who is love, willingly sends people to hell be perpetually tortured in flames for all eternity, un-ending, simply because they got it wrong over the course of seventy years, for whatever reason, with no excuses permitted.

And in fact it’s even worse than that, because in the reading from Romans we have the concept of predestination built in, and there are plenty of Christians who recognise, quite rightly, that if you go all-out for a doctrine of predestination then you are left concluding that God predestined a vast multitude to hell. So they never had a chance! How can this possibly tally with our declaration that God is love?

Well quite simply it can’t. We also need to be aware that as well as the letter to the Romans which included that passage on predestination, St. Paul also wrote this to Timothy when writing about how to live a quiet and godly life:
This is right and acceptable in the sight of God our saviour, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Tim.2:1-4

So clearly God wants people to be saved, and that desire, it seems to me, stands in opposition to the idea of God predestining anyone to hell or, for that matter, to heaven. Yes, I’m afraid I don’t agree that you can take what St. Paul says in Romans about predestination at face value - but that’s another sermon for another time, and I promise I will deal with that in due course.

What we do have to acknowledge, though, is that this parable of Jesus and many other places in the New Testament indicate that there are some who, through their actions in this life, will be excluded from God’s presence, and that is primarily what hell is. The absence, entirely, of God.

But that throws up a philosophical question. Acts 17:28 quotes a sermon from St. Paul where he refers to God saying:
‘In him we live and move and have our being.’
So if God excludes people from his presence because of choices they have made, can there be any existence apart from him?

This, I think, is where the images of the flames of hell come from. Our word for hell comes from the Greek, Gehenna, which means the Valley of Hinnom. This was a valley just outside Jerusalem where once the practice took place of child sacrifices in fire being made to the god Molech, a practice utterly condemned by God.

By Jesus’s time this accursed place had become the rubbish tip where a fire permanently burned and the rubbish from Jerusalem was tipped in and burnt, and I think that this is actually what Jesus was getting at. I do not believe that hell is a place where God sends people to be burned in eternal torment.

Instead, and this is where hell becomes a great sadness, I believe it is a place where those who, however many chances they are given, both this side and the other side of the grave, refuse to be a part of the kingdom of God. I believe God may give many opportunities, and I believe that those who, through chance, have never been in a place to have encountered God or heard about God in this life will be given that chance after their earthly death.

But the weight of scripture seems to suggest that, whatever lengths God goes to out of the love that he has for us to draw us into his family, there will be some who reject him, firmly and finally. If they will not be in God’s presence, and if we only have our existence because we are in God’s presence, what can there possibly be that is left to them?

St. Paul wrote these words to the church in Philippi
For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction... Philippians 3:18-19

Hell is destruction. The reason it is eternal is not that it goes on forever, but that its effects do. What I’m saying is that God, in his mercy, rather than condemning people to live forever without him, brings their existence to an end. They simply cease to exist. The theological term for this is annihilation.

I don’t think the Bible gives us a clear enough teaching about hell to say conclusively from scripture that it’s this or it’s that, but scripture, reason and experience make it absolutely clear that God’s love goes beyond anything we can imagine. Ultimately though, there may be those who refuse to accept that love.

For them there can only be a complete cessation of being. I think the reason we get this picture of flames is because a valley outside Jerusalem where the rubbish was burnt until it was burned up and ceased to exist was the best picture Jesus could come up with for hell.

I realise that this is not going to satisfy everyone, but for me it is the only picture that seems to make sense of what scripture says about the love of God and about the eternal choice he lays before all of us. We can only exist because we are in God’s presence. If we choose, finally, that we will not be with him, then there can be no where else to go. In his absence nothing can exist, and that, finally, is hell.

So if you have lived all your life fearful that God is looking for how you mess up so that he can justify sending you to hell, then maybe this is a time to breathe easy. It’s quite the reverse. God is love, and love is about togetherness, not destruction. Destruction is sadly the final option when every single other option has been tried.

If we refuse to be with God, there is nowhere else we can be, and God knows that eternity spent in his absence would be far more cruel than anything else that could be imagined. In the end hell, annihilation, is about mercy for those who refuse love. Amen.

Patronal Festival - 4th Sunday after Trinity: a many coloured church

2011-07-16T08:43:00.001+01:00

Readings
Luke 8:1-3
Some Women Accompany Jesus
Soon afterwards Jesus went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
The Parable of Weeds among the Wheat
Jesus put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!’

Address
The parable of the wheat and the tares is another one of those stories which cause us to pause and ask ourselves, ‘Which side of the fence am I on?’ If you remember from last week we had the question of whether we set our minds on the things of the flesh or the things of the Spirit and the challenge to ask ourselves whether we were asking , ‘What do I want?’or, ‘Who am I?’

But here the reading seems to be making it clear that even within Christ’s pilgrim people there are those who are not the real thing, but have been placed in the church by the devil, and we might find ourselves looking around and wondering, ‘Is it him? Is it her?’ or even, ‘Is it me?’

Let me give you a couple of examples to make you think. A colleague moved away from the West Country where he was working in a small village parish. He only stayed there a short time because the local squire basically ran the parish and nobody dared defy him. Consequently it was impossible to move the church on.

Another colleague moved churches after just two or three years. She was in a group of parishes where the same kind of thing had happened. In three out of the five churches for which she was responsible there were a group of powerful men who had taken over, become the churchwardens, and made all of the decisions. They made her life steadily more difficult until, on the edge of a breakdown, her senior clergy moved her to where her talents could be more appreciated.

Is that a case of the wheat and the weeds? Well it might be. The trouble is that once we begin looking what we risk is a ‘witch hunt’. In the Church of England we don’t have formal steps for church discipline, although churchwardens have legal right to expel someone from a service if they are causing disruption, but other non-conformist churches do have disciplining structures and can expel people from their fellowship.

At another church at which I have worked, exactly that had happened in one of the local churches. The first we knew about it was when a middle aged man started attending who asked if he could talk to us. He had been told to leave his previous church because the elders there disagreed with how he lived his life.

Naturally we welcomed him in and became good friends and he became an important part of our church family. This, I believe, is precisely the point that Jesus is trying to make with this parable. Elsewhere Jesus tells us not to judge or we will be liable to judgement and I think the reason he makes that command is because of the ease with which we get it wrong when we do judge.

We simply don’t have the right yardstick. It’s as straightforward as that. If we start looking around the church and saying, ‘That person’s not right here, they should leave’, it’s quite possible that what we’re actually saying, without realising it, is ‘That person’s not like us.’ We rarely judge someone in a pure way because, not only will we not know the entire reason for their actions, but our own preferences and baggage will get in the way.

Let’s go back to the parable for a moment. The weeds or tares are actually a plant called darnel. The whole point of this parable is that darnel looks like wheat when it’s sown and when it’s growing. If you try and pluck it out you’re just as likely to pull up something that’s actually wheat. Or in other words someone who appears different from you in church may be a part of God’s harvest of wheat, and someone who seems outwardly to be like you may be darnel.

It’s only when the field is ripe for harvest that you can see the difference, which refers to the end of the age when the Lord returns in judgement. He knows the difference and his angels will be able to remove the darnel from the wheat, separating out the true believers from those who cause evil amongst us.

Now, on this our patronal festival, you may be wondering why we’ve had this parable. I think that if we look at Mary Magdalene we have a classic example of someone who might have been classified amongst the early disciples as someone who was a weed growing up among them.

Now we don’t know exactly what Luke means when he says that Jesus cast seven demons out of Mary, but there was clearly something deeply amiss with her when they first met. Something had gone very badly wrong in Mary’s life. We could speculate that maybe she had been an abuse victim, or maybe she had made bad choices and been involved with the occult, which is indeed a way for someone to become oppressed by demonic forces.

Whatever it was, on a deeply spiritual level Mary had been very disturbed and it had taken the direct intervention by the Son of God to set her free. But I find myself wondering what she might have been like in those early few months or even years. Perhaps she made a complete and instant recovery, or perhaps, like many who have been victimised, even though they’ve been set free it can take an awful lot of love and acceptance before they find their way back to wholeness. Maybe the disciples had, behind her back, thought of her as ‘Mad Mary’. We simply don’t know.

But I certainly suspect that she wouldn’t easily have fitted in, and I can imagine Jesus doing a great deal to help her feel accepted and that she had a place. I can picture her gradually beginning to grow and blossom as she experienced the freedom that he had brought her. But imagine if she had been treated as darnel and expelled. How wrong that would have been!

Jesus ultimately chose her to be the very first person to see him after his resurrection. She became known as the ‘Apostle to the Apostles’, because she was sent by Jesus to bring the good news of his resurrection to the remaining eleven and the others with them. Had she been judged by human standards they would have got it so very wrong.

So ultimately what this parable does is make us consider all the many different shapes and sizes of God’s people, all of whom have been accepted. This is a warning to us not to judge others simply because their outward appearance may not be in agreement with what we think is appropriate. God’s church, and this local church, is meant to be a many-coloured thing in which we celebrate the colour and the diversity rather than fear it. Amen

3rd Sunday after Trinity: Who are you? What do you want?

2011-07-08T18:14:00.001+01:00

Readings
Romans 8:1-11
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!’

‘Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

Address
I have heard people declare that Romans 8 is not just one of the pinnacles of scripture, but that it is the best chapter that St. Paul ever wrote. Well I’m not sure about that, but I think it’s certainly one of the most difficult ones to understand, which is why I’ve wrestled with it for several days this week while trying to figure out how to unpack it.

I think of it as a little like one of those suitcases that someone else has packed for you. They had to get everything in, but then they had to really force the lid down in order to lock it, but that leaves you with a problem. When you open it there is a real risk that your clothes are going to be launched, cartoon-style, all over the room.

I cannot hope to do justice to the entire passage in one sermon, but maybe I can at least open the suitcase enough to take a few clothes out for us to wear, without creating too much mess! So with that in mind, let’s have a look at this first section of the chapter.

It’s only a few weeks since we celebrated Pentecost Sunday, the day when the Lord sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within his people. However on the ground at least twenty five years have passed between that event recorded by Luke and the time St. Paul wrote to the church in Rome. That’s enough time for people to begin to think about what this spiritual life means.

The result of that comes in this chapter in the letter, a chapter that mentions pneuma, the word for Spirit, twenty one times, which is more than one finds in 1 Corinthians 14, the chapter that is most normally associated with the things of the Holy Spirit. However it is not as clear cut as that. This is not a chapter about Holy Spirit theology. Instead St. Paul is writing about the effect of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

What he sets out before us is actually quite disturbing. Now you will often hear me talking about how our Christian walk is one of shades of grey. Some commandments we are better at keeping than others, but for most of us there are always at least a couple of aspects to our lives that we struggle with; things that we know are wrong yet seem powerless to deal with.

But here St. Paul seems to offer us a very black and white distinction. We either live our lives according to the Spirit or according to the flesh; there is no middle way. He seems to be saying that we either live spiritual lives or we obey our own desires for what we want.

What are we to make of that? You see I don’t know about you but at first reading that makes me think that I must be walking according to the flesh because I know how often I give in to temptation, and if you’re honest you will know exactly what I mean. If we read it like that then this passage will be quite condemnatory.

So let me first set your minds at rest. This quote comes from the end of the immediately preceding chapter in Romans:
For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me...
Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.

Basically St. Paul is saying that his experience of the Christian life is just like ours. He knows what is right but keeps doing what is wrong. But if that’s what he says he finds in his own life, what then does he mean when he talks about living according to the flesh or living according to the Spirit? It’s clearly deeper than a behavioural matter, but what exactly does he mean?

I think our first clues comes in this verse:
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

The key word in there is ‘mind’. What is our mind set on? What does it feel like to have our minds set on the things of the flesh, or to have it set on the things of the Spirit? The reason I ask this is because I’m fairly sure that some of us will be struggling with guilt and self-condemnation because we’re sure that we’ve got our minds set on the flesh. So let’s think a little about what this means.

Those of us who are married or who have long term partners may be worried that the desire we feel for our other halves means that we have our minds set on the flesh, so let me reassure you first that this is not the case. Physical desire in the context of a covenant relationship such as marriage is a gift from God.

It’s meant to be there because it is all about the couple, and indeed those who have been together for many years may well have discovered the spiritual side to their physical relationship. Strangely, something that we may think of as being of the flesh is actually of the Spirit. But it can be of the flesh too. Those who go looking for sex as a primary means of self-fulfilment have got it the wrong way around, and they have their minds set on the things of the flesh.

In other words, in the context of our physical, sexual relationships, the act is the same but the meaning behind it is different. In the context of relationship it can be of the Spirit, but if it is about getting what ‘I’ want, then it is about the ways of the flesh.

A similar thing applies when we start focussing on ambition: it can be of the flesh or of the Spirit. For example, over the years I have seen two types of ‘climbers’ within the priesthood. There are those who recognise, in all humility, that God has given them gifts which will enable them to take on senior leadership roles. They have, with their servant hearts, allowed themselves to go forward and apply for senior roles. That is the way of the Spirit.

I have also seen those who have needed recognition for their own selves. They have also gone forward for senior roles, but that is to set the mind on the ways of the flesh. Are you beginning to see, therefore, that it is not what we do, but how we approach what we do?

To set the mind on the flesh is to set the mind on personal wants for the greater good of me. To set the mind on the Spirit is to aim for what is for the greater good. That may mean prayerfully, cautiously, permitting oneself to be in a senior position because, in all humility, you know you are the right person for the job. But if, then, you see someone else’s job, and you covet their responsibility and their public visibility that is a sure fire way of knowing that your mind is set on the things of the flesh.

When we are considering our life journey the question we should be asking over every decision is, ‘Is this purely because I want it, I need it, or can I lay it aside?’ Ambition and desire can be the ways of the Spirit in those who are spiritually self-aware. But they can also be our undoing.

I remember watching a sci-fi series many years ago called Babylon 5. It had a deeply spiritual side to it and I’ve never forgotten the episode in which the two characters who were being called to lead a number of species through a crisis were put through an almost desert like experience where they were asked if they could lay down their leadership and die, trusting that there may be someone else who was better qualified to lead the people.

It was only when they reached that point that they became qualified to lead. It was, in effect, a very Christlike thing to do. Jesus’s quality of leadership came by the way he was willing to lay down his life because that was what was asked of him.

That series, I believe, distilled this question of the ways of the flesh and the ways of the Spirit down to two questions: ‘Who are you?’ and ‘What do you want?’ Which one of those questions are you continually asking yourself? ‘Who are you?’ is to set your mind on the way of the Spirit. ‘What do you want?’ is to set your mind on the way of the flesh.

But now let me finish with some good news. St. Paul began the chapter with these words: ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.’

We’re going to sin, all of us. We’re going to get things wrong. You probably already have before you got here. But if we’re on a spiritual path in Christ Jesus, then listen again to that opening phrase, ‘There is no condemnation’. There is no condemnation. There is no condemnation.

I recently read an article by someone who imagined what kind of response a church may get if they hung a banner outside the church with just those two words, ‘No Condemnation’. If you walked past that, wouldn’t you be interested? Trouble is, that’s not the message most people hear from the church. Instead they think we say, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t do the other - yes definitely don’t do the other.’ Why? ‘Because Jesus loves you.’
Hurumph!

But here, this is the good news. There is no condemnation if we have our minds set on the things of the Spirit and are in Christ Jesus. And if you’re not sure what your mind is set on, ask yourself, ‘What is my primary question? Is it, “Who are you?” or is it, “What do you want?”’ Knowing the answer to that will help you decide what your mind is set on, and if you don’t like the answer, you can always change your mind. Amen

2nd Sunday after Trinity : The importance of doubt

2011-07-01T08:09:00.001+01:00

Readings

Ephesians 2:19-end
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling-place for God.

John 20:24-29
But Thomas (who was called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’

Address
Today we celebrate the saint’s day for St. Thomas, or ‘Doubting Thomas’ as we have all known him, and for that reason I want us to think today about doubt.

How does you favourite creed begin? Is it, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty...” Or maybe it’s. “We believe in one God...”. The Nicene Creed was probably the first of the popular creeds, originally written in 325CE and then revised in 381CE. The Apostles Creed, which is the Prayer Book creed has less clear dates, possibly originating earlier but not appearing in written form until 390CE.

The one thing that they all have in common is that they were written to describe what is normative Christian faith; that is they are there to set boundaries on what people who call themselves Christians should believe. They were forged in the fire of philosophical deliberations over what constituted heresy and who should therefore be excluded from the church.

But there’s one other thing that they all have in common. Many Christians, when they say one of the creeds, will feel it necessary to metaphorically cross their fingers when they reach one of the lines because they’re not sure whether actually they do believe that. The reason for that is that we live in an age of reason, and consequently if something does not make sense then we may well struggle to affirm our belief in it.

For example, someone once confessed to me that they went very quiet at the line, ‘He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.’ His reason for that, and I use the word ‘reason’ on purpose, was that he was a scientist and he ‘knew’ that the only way a child is conceived is through sex. Consequently he couldn’t say that line.

But then he came back to me a few years later and said that he had taken a good long look at the universe and reasoned in his own mind that if God had created all of this from nothing, however he had done it, and if he had raised Jesus from the dead, then how hard could it have been for him to have had Jesus conceived through a miracle instigated by the Holy Spirit?

He therefore felt able to affirm this part of the creed too. But can you see what he did? He had a problem with a particular line in the creed because of reason, but then he had used further reason to surmount his original objection to bring him to a point of affirmation, a point of faith, and this is typical of our era in the church.

Faith walks hand in hand with reason, and we therefore feel that if we’re not sure about something, then we are not a very good Christian, if indeed we can call ourselves Christian at all! So the first thing we need to do is positively affirm that doubt is a vital part of faith. Listen to this from the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, from Matthew 28:16-17. Bear in mind that this is after the resurrection.
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted.

These were men who had been in the presence of the risen Christ, yet still they doubted. Now our first inclination is to examine their reasons for doubting, and there we go again, typically 21st century westerners, looking for a reasonable explanation, or reasoned explanation so that we can solve the problem. But we don’t need to solve it; just accept it. Listen to these three quotes:

‘You can only apprehend the Infinite by a faculty that is superior to reason.’ - Plotinus
‘Faith which does not doubt is dead faith.’ —Miguel de Unamuno
‘Doubt isn't the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.’ - Paul Tillich
‘Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.’ – Voltaire

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve begun to wonder about doubt and I think that a large part of the problems we have with it is because on a very deep level we are realising that whatever we say about God cannot be the whole truth.

Let me put this another way. Some of you know that, in common with a lot of clergy, I’m building a model railway. Don’t ask me why; I’m not sure. But imagine if all of the little plastic figures that will populate the platform came alive and started wondering about me, their creator. Anything that they say must be in terms of what they know about. So I would be compared to the malleability of the plastic, the strength of the metal, the vibrant colour of the paint and so on.

Whilst those things would be helpful from the point of their reasoned faculty in working out what I am like in terms of what they know, eventually they will realise that there is actually very little that they can truly say about me because all of their language is based on what they know, and everything that they know is what has been created.

But as for me, their creator, their language would not go far enough, and that I think is the important role that doubt has to play in theology. Think of it like this: Psalm 18:2 says:
‘The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer.’
God is also referred to in the same verse as a shield. But God is not a rock, nor a fortress, nor a shield. Those are just things that God is like.

And that is the key role that doubt plays. It causes us to ask things about God that we think we know, and then, if we are wise, it teaches us the limits of language. It shows us that God goes so far beyond language that sometimes our creeds will seem useless to us, and that is absolutely fine, because there is a deep wisdom here in the humility that we find.

Doubt exists to help us realise how much we don’t know and that should teach us to spend more time in God’s presence, just quietly, with all of our senses wide open for what we can learn. Reason is helpful up to a point, so long as we remember that eventually it will run out of words and descriptions, and God still goes on because our words and descriptions will always be inadequate. Then there is silence, and there we may find God. Amen.

************************
This is all about apophatic and cataphatic theology. Those two phrases are worth searching for on here. Wikipedia has a couple of good articles. I’ve also drawn here on the blog by this remarkable PhD student at Durham http://marikablogs.blogspot.com/2009/03/apophatic-and-cataphatic-theology.html
and for more on what these types of theology are, the wikipedia articles are worth a look:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophatic_theology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataphatic_theology

1st Sunday after Trinity: Resonance and Chaos

2011-06-25T15:50:00.001+01:00

Readings
Romans 6:12-23
Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.

When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 10:40-42
Jesus said, ‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’

Address
“No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.”

I bought my first drum kit when I was sixteen. It had been on loan to a friend of mine who’d let me play it and decided he didn’t want it and was at least third hand. It cost me the princely price of £45. I still don’t know if that was a good deal, but I was happy, even if my headache prone father was perhaps a little less so. Now £45 back in 1982 was a reasonable amount of money, but not huge, and I soon began to realise some of the problems with my purchase.

You see this really was a very cheap drum kit, and the place where it most showed was on the snare drum which was barely controllable. By that I mean that it buzzed a great deal. If I hit any other drum in the kit, the snare drum buzzed, or rather the snare, which is a grid of metal wires on the bottom skin of the drum, would rattle.

And of course, if I played the drums with other musicians, which is after all the whole point, then it seemed that whatever tone was played by whatever instrument, the snare would buzz. Why? Well let me give you a short lesson in physics. The snare buzz was down to something called resonance.

If you have two strings from a guitar, and they’re both, say E strings, if you pluck one of them then the vibrations it sets up in the air will make the other E string vibrate in sympathetic resonance. So long as the string is tuned to the same note, plucking one will make the other vibrate. But if you have a D string next to and E string, and you pluck the D string, the E string will more or less ignore it. It’s the wrong frequency.

But my snare drum wasn’t like that. Whatever frequency instrument you played, that rotten old snare would vibrate sympathetically along with it producing this really annoying buzz that got in the way of the music we were trying to produce. Everything we played was tarnished by that background ‘Bzz Bzz’ rattle. The question is, why?

The answer is quite simple actually. As I said a moment ago, the snare I had was really a very cheap one. It was made of wood and if you took the top skin off you could see that the plies of wood that make up the shell were beginning to separate. In other words, rather than being a fine musical instrument that was tuned to one note, my snare vibrated across most of the musical frequencies.

The result of that was that it resonated with absolutely everything. Play it an E and it could find an E somewhere in its chaotic construction and would vibrate along in sympathy. Play it a D and it would have one of those too, or an F, or a G. It was a cheap instrument and because it vibrated with everything it buzzed the whole time and ruined the music.

Now you may be wondering why I’m telling you this. It’s all to do with the nature of sin. St. Paul tells us not to offer our selves to wickedness and here, in my old drum, is an example of what happens if we do. Sin is very easy. It’s like being an old untuned drum. Whatever temptation comes along we vibrate in sympathy to it. A bit of gossip? Bzzzzt! A pretty girl walks past? Bzzzt! Not making time to pray because you’re in a rush and didn’t get up early enough? Bzzzt!

It’s so easy to do what we want. We just get on with being undisciplined and we’ll resonate in sympathy with any temptation that takes our fancy. So what then is the cure? Well actually it’s two-fold. If I think back to my old drum, it wasn’t just that it was badly made; half the problem was that I didn’t know how to tune it. Around the drum are little tuning screws, and by carefully tensioning them you can bring the drum skin into tune with itself.

Mine was out of tune so different parts of the skin were tuned to different notes, so would resonate with them. Once I’d learned to pull it into tune with itself by making sure the same tension was applied all around the skin, the drum became much more controlled. It resonated much less with other notes because it was only tuned to one note. That equates with spiritual self-discipline. But it’s only a part of the story.

You see it didn’t get around the fact that the drum shell was old, cracked and not fit for purpose. It didn’t matter how often or how carefully I tuned the skin, the drum shell was so bad that it would resonate with loads of different notes. Eventually I got the message and bought a new snare drum, and the one I now have has a much better shell. It is beautifully made and resonates only where I tune it to.

And that is what needs to happen to us. We can work really hard at self-discipline which is the equivalent of spending a lot of time tuning ourselves so that we don’t succumb to every temptation that comes past us, and that is really important to do. But it doesn’t get us past the sense that within us there is an old drum, and old self, that needs to be renewed.

But if we present ourselves to God, so by his indwelling Holy Spirit, so he gradually begins to renew us from within. As with so many things, God works with us in collaboration, so as we offer ourselves to him, so he begins to change us from within so that instead of vibrating in resonance with our own desires, we resonate in resonance to God’s desires.

The result of that is exactly what we see in the Gospel reading. If we welcome Jesus, we resonate with the one who sent him, the Father, and so we begin to resonate with the others that the Father sends. We will recognise prophets because our hearts will be in tune with their hearts. And we will recognise the righteous because our hearts will be in tune with their hearts.

We will resonate with them when they are in our midst, and we will become like them. So ultimately this message is very simple: We need to study and pray to learn more about and become more like Christ himself. And we need to ask to have our old self renewed. Then when his notes are played we will resonate with them because we will have presented ourselves to him as finally tuned instruments. We will be in tune with the song he is playing.

And that has to be worth doing, because the alternative is a cacophony of sound, resonating out of tune with every passing fancy; blown this way and that my our every whim. We have a choice. We can become more Christlike, or more chaotic. In the end there are only two directions in which to move. Amen

Trinity - Perechoresis: The Dance of God

2011-06-18T18:52:00.002+01:00

Readings
Genesis 1:1-2, 26-31
In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water.

Then God said, "And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild, large and small." So God created human beings, making them to be like himself. He created them male and female, blessed them, and said, "Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals. 29 I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for you to eat; 30 but for all the wild animals and for all the birds I have provided grass and leafy plants for food" - and it was done. 31 God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased. Evening passed and morning came - that was the sixth day.

Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus drew near and said to them, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age."

Address
Today is Trinity Sunday and I’ve heard those who are superstitious say that things come in threes. However, when it comes to God we have great difficulty because we know in our heads that God comes as both three and also as one. What I want to do this evening is to give you another way of imagining the Trinity, in terms of relationship, and then we can ask what that means for us.

However I also want to add a note of caution. When it comes to thinking about the nature of God, although we are in his nature, something I’ll talk about shortly, he is also totally other to us. So I can give you logical pictures to help think about the nature of God, but these are pictures, mere illustrations to help us start the process of thinking. The truth will be much deeper.

But because we make such a meal of understanding the Trinity, we are often apt to get it wrong and we have unfortunately done that on a number of occasions, and many of us often give up thinking about it because, well frankly we don’t know what we’re supposed to think. So let me tell you what the Trinity is not like, before we consider what it is like.

The most common mistake that is made is that it is one God who sometimes reveals himself as Father, sometimes reveals himself as the Son and sometimes reveals himself as the Spirit. The idea is that behind the Father, Son and Holy Spirit masks there is just one person. But that’s wrong. There is no one behind the three masks. The Father is the Father and is God. The Son is the Son and is God. The Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit and is God.

Incidentally, that’s a heresy called modalism; one God operating in three different modes. But it’s wrong. The Father is God, but is not the Son or the Spirit. Likewise the Spirit is God, but is not the Father or the Son. And the Son is God, but is not the Spirit or the Father,

Another one is that God is actually three separate gods working together as if they were one. That’s what Jews and Muslims tend to accuse us of believing. But that’s called Tritheism, three gods, but it’s wrong. God is one God. But God has revealed through scripture that within the one God there are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

So if that’s what the Trinity isn’t like, what actually is it like? To explain that I want to introduce you to a theological term that may be new to you, perechoresis. This word is really important because it describes something about the character of God as Trinity. But what does it mean? Well bear with me and I’ll come to that in a minute, and I’ll show you a visual description of perechoresis which tells us something about ourselves.

But first let’s lay the foundations by thinking about the readings and how they are relevant to the Trinity. Both of our readings are tied to this. In the second one we heard Jesus expressly telling the disciples to baptise in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, perhaps one of the first times the Trinity was named, and certainly before a deep theological understanding had been put together, but if we go right back to the beginning I think we find a suggestion that all three persons are present right at the beginning of Genesis too.

In the beginning, when God began creating, the writer of this section tells us that the Spirit of God was moving over the water. But this isn’t the only description of the Creation. John wrote the most amazing preface to his Gospel with these words:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.

Now I can promise you that John intended that we read his Gospel in conjunction with the creation story from Genesis. How do I know that? It’s because there is a mistake in Genesis, but not in the Hebrew. However in the Greek version of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, the translators missed out the definite article.

If you do a word-for-word translation of the first few words of Genesis 1 it actually says, ‘In beginning’, not ‘In the beginning’. It’s an error. But guess what you find at the beginning of John’s Gospel? Exactly the same error! So John is saying, ‘Look, that story that has God the Father as creating with the Holy Spirit brooding over the waters; well the Word of God, the Son, he was there too and his were the hands that the Father used to create with’

But what I find so interesting about the creation stories is that when God is about to create humanity God says to himself, ‘Let us make human beings in our image.’ This isn’t meant to be a Trinitarian statement, but it’s certainly rather interesting that the word ‘us’ creeps in!

So there is something about us which is very like God, which is exactly what God intended, and that brings us back to the big word, Perechoresis. So now let me tell you what it means. The word Perechoresis basically translates as intermingling. It’s important that we see there is a difference between mixing and intermingling.

In mixing, you take two or three things and mix them up and once they’re completely mixed you can’t separate them. That’s a bit like taking an egg yolk and egg white, and when you mix them up you have a mixture of both.

But intermingling is different. What it means is that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are of one essence, ie God, but they intermingle very closely. They are in an intimate relationship. Now that’s not easy to understand which is why I’d like to do a chemistry experiment to show you what I mean.

Now I said this morning that this only deals with two aspects of the Trinity and not with three but actually, tonight I can explain why this is about three parts. But first let me show you the demonstration.

What I have here is some blue water and some clear oil. They are of the same essence in that they are both liquids, but you can’t make them mix. You can, however, make them intermingle.

Watch... EXPERIMENT GOES IN HERE
TO SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE HAVE A LOOK HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A5WyS5V67Y

See how they move in and out of each other. They are in intimate relationship. They are one essence, one type of thing, a liquid, but two characters intermingling in an intimate dance, a beautiful colourful relationship, and that, my friends, is what perechoresis is, and that is what the relationship is like between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Now at this point you may be thinking, ‘But I can only see two things. Where’s the Holy Spirit?’ Well the Holy Spirit is present. We often think in theological terms as the Holy Spirit as being the One through whom the Father and the Son express their love to each other, just like when we are filled with the Holy Spirit we also receive the love of God.

So the Holy Spirit is present right at the boundary between the Father and the Son, or here between the pink and clear liquids. The Holy Spirit is the contact between Father and Son. This is one of the reasons why a nickname given to the Holy Spirit is, ‘The Go-Between God’

So what is God like? God is one essence, and three persons. They are all one God, but they are intermingling in a beautiful dance of intimate love and fellowship.

And that, I believe, is what God intended when he made human beings like us to be in the image of God. God, the Holy Trinity, is a community and we were created to be a holy community too. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all in an intimate dance of love. They intermingle closely.

We can’t be quite like that because each of us are separate individuals in separate bodies, but the image within us that is God’s nature inspires us to live and love in community. We are meant to be engaged in a loving dance with each other in a network of friends and family, and that is what is meant by being created in the image of God.

What’s more it is the Holy Spirit through whom we love each other. It is the Holy Spirit who is the loving bond between us and through whom we communicate. God is a community of three who are one. We are a community of many, but we need to remember that Jesus also prayed that we, too, would be one, just as he was in the Father and the Father in him.

So my message to us tonight is this. We are like God, and we are meant to love each other too, and if we’re not sure how to do that, then we also should pray to be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit, that She may minister the love of God through us to each other, and then out into the wider world. Amen.

Pentecost - a new reality

2011-06-18T18:43:00.002+01:00

Readings

Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

John 20:19-23
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

Sermon
When I was very little, and I mean five or six, I can clearly remember asking my parents where I came from. Maybe it was because they were well practised at fielding this one, having had to deal with two older sisters asking the same question, but I clearly remember Mum telling me, quick as a flash, that they found me under a gooseberry bush!

Now that’s not the kind of biological answer one might expect, but at five or six years old that was all I needed. I had come from somewhere and been given to them so that they would take care of me. Of course when I was a little older I asked the same question again and was this time told in more detail what actually had to happen in order for there to be a ‘me’.

Two different stories but actually conveying the same truth, that I was a gift. In the first instance they found me where I had been left for them; in the second they had a share in God’s work of creation, but either way, I was still a gift. The central truth was I was given into their care, and that was the same regardless of the mechanics or the philosophy of how I came to be.

And when we look at the two accounts of the gift of the Holy Spirit we find once again that there are two stories. The reading from the Gospel of John is, I think, the philosophical one, the gooseberry bush version, that the Holy Spirit was given as a gift, breathed out from the lips of the Son of God, whereas in the Acts reading we are told the mechanics, if you like the biological equivalent of how it happened that the Holy Spirit filled the apostles.

John tells us the philosophy, that the Holy Spirit is a gift from Jesus. Acts tells us how it happened, but the central truth remains the same: the Holy Spirit is a gift from the Father through the Son into the depths of our being. But why? Why do we need the Holy Spirit?

Turn your minds back to John’s Gospel, and this comes from John 16:5-7
Jesus said, ‘But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate [or Helper] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.’

The disciples had begun to realise that Jesus was going to die and return to his heavenly Father. They had grown so much in the three years they had spent with him that the thought of him leaving them was tearing them apart. How on earth would they continue to grow and learn and become better disciples if he wasn’t there to teach them?

And so he explained that it was better this way because if he went then he could send the Holy Spirit who would actually live inside them and direct them from within. In many ways this is a much more adult way of God treating them. When the Son was alongside them they could not avoid his voice, but when the Holy Spirit is dwelling within us, we actually have to learn to listen.

So the reason we need the Holy Spirit within us is because the Spirit is our connection with the Father. When we pray, our prayers are not just going out into the spiritual ether, they are being heard by the Spirit of God dwelling deep within us, and I think that this is the spiritual truth I most want to convey.

You see when we get to Pentecost each year what we find is that people get hung up on the practical story of how the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost. We get worried about the tongues of flame, the sound of a mighty roaring wind and we especially get hung up on the gift of tongues. And we do all this for what reason? Are we scared? Is it the lack of control that our inherent Britishness rails against? Or is it because we don’t believe it?

Or is it because we have seen on TV or maybe experienced services for ourselves where people have indeed seemed drunk on God and we either dismiss it as emotionalism or fear it because we don’t want to be changed like that? Dealing with the first one, yes it is possible for ministers to whip their churches into a frenzy, but don’t dismiss the giving of the Holy Spirit because of that.

Of the people I know who speak in tongues, whilst there may be occasion when using that gift will bring about ecstatic feelings, for the most part it is a prayer tool that they switch on or off at will. They are in complete control of when they speak in tongues, and to be honest they are quite ordinary Christians. They don’t glow like a ready-brek advert.

So don’t get hung up on the mechanics. Hang on instead to the ‘found-under-a-gooseberry-bush’ philosophy that the Holy Spirit was given to you all that you would be able to worship God from the depths of your being and find the presence of God in prayer. You see St. Paul makes it quite clear that no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit who reveals that truth to you. It is then up to you how much more space you want to provide within yourself for the Spirit’s work to grow and develop. God respects your privacy and right of self-determination. If you want no more than for the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus as Lord, then the Father won’t push you. But if you wish to go deeper then let me reassure you that the infinite resources of God are already dwelling within you.

Elsewhere (1 Cor.6:19) St. Paul also makes the point that every one of us is a Temple to the Holy Spirit. By that he is referring back to the Old Testament reality that God descended on to the Temple built for him and resided in its inner court; the Holy of Holies. But later on in the Old Testament the divine presence left the Temple in judgement on it.

But now there is a new reality. That very same divine presence has descended and is now residing within you. You are all small temples housing the Holy Spirit, the divine presence, sitting deep within you creating a new space that is the Holy of Holies. That means that wherever you go in the world, God’s temple is in that place.

However, that brings with it responsibilities. The temple was a place of worship, and sacrifice and of meeting with God. It was also a place of teaching, where the Rabbis would sit in the Temple courts and explain the truths of God to the people. All of that is still true. You are a place of worship, of sacrifice, of meeting with God and learning about God. You are a temple, and you have a responsibility for what takes place within you.

So don’t get hung up on the mechanics of the presence of God within you, simply accept it. You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been brought by the Holy Spirit. Now recognise you are a temple to the living God, and start exploring the temple courts and the Holy of Holies, and be excited by what you find there, because it is nothing less than the presence of the living God. Amen

7th Sunday of Easter: Time for some serious Ascension theology!

2011-06-05T19:55:00.001+01:00

7th Sunday after Easter - Sunday after Ascension Day

Readings
Acts 1:6-14
So when they had come together, they asked Jesus, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

John 17:1-11
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

Sermon
I’d like to begin with a story. It was a windy evening that was hovering on becoming stormy, and Joel was standing on the station at Moor Street. Although well sheltered from the worst of the elements he wrapped his coat tight around him, listening to the rain slamming into the platform roof. His worst fears were concerned when the sky was suddenly lit up by the first of many flashes of lightening.

He counted the seconds off, just as he had done so since being a child. ‘One elephant, two elephant, three ele...’ And then a huge crash of thunder arrived. The storm that had been threatening for hours had now arrived in full force. Panic stricken Joel looked again at his ‘phone with the message from his mother-in-law in bold letters saying, ‘Come home now, Jenny has started labour’.

Again he looked up at the message board hanging over the platform but still it said the same thing, ‘Dorridge 19.22 - Delayed.’ Again he texted his mother in law and his beloved Jenny to say he was stuck and could someone come and get him. Suddenly his phone bleeped and he looked down to see a message saying....

And now you all want to know the ending. Who was the text from? Was someone coming to fetch him from the station? Did Joel get home in time for the arrival of his first child? We all hate it when a story is left on a cliff-hanger and we don’t know the ending because we want things to resolve. We want to know what happens.

Yet having said all that, by and large as a church we ignore the story that wraps up the ending of Jesus’s earthly ministry. We’ve done all Christmas birth, the Lent preparation, the Good Friday horror, the Easter Day glory of the resurrection, yet the end of the story, the conclusion of Jesus’s life on earth barely gets a mention.

Ascension day falls on a Thursday, last Thursday, and so we never really get to grips with the impact that event has on everything. The Ascension of Christ closes the circle and so it’s really important that we think about what happened and what it means. So let’s do some theology together because there are important implications for us as believers, and about how the ascension changes us too.

Let me start by saying something pretty obvious, but also quite radical. Before the birth of the Son of God on earth, he already existed. We know this from that famous passage with which we’re all familiar from our Christmas readings, the beginning of the Gospel of St. John. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ Jesus also speaks about this time before time in the words of the Gospel reading, when in his prayer he prays:
“So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had in your presence before the world existed.”

That word, ‘World’ is the Greek word kosmos, which is a word you may be familiar with. In this context Jesus is probably referring to the whole universe, not just the world as in this planet. So, just as it says in the beginning of John’s Gospel, Jesus is speaking about the time before anything was created, when it was just God the Holy Trinity.

So far, so good. This is the kind of stuff we talk about at Christmas and isn’t really new. So now let’s open it up a little to one of those things which is quite obvious when you think about it, only it’s not something we normally think about. The Word of God, the Son of God, was always divine, that’s what we’ve just said. However, he wasn’t always human.

As I said, that ought to be fairly obvious really. If we’re referring to a time before creation, then we’re thinking about a time before there were any humans. So if Jesus is God, and was existing before there was any creation, then it’s actually pretty logical and obvious that he cannot have been human in that time before time.

The humanity of the one we know as Jesus was not there in the beginning. His humanity was not a part of him until he was born as one of us, as Jesus Son of Mary. That’s what we celebrated back at Christmas.

In Jesus we see an intermingling of our humanity and God’s divinity. Jesus was unique because he was completely and totally human and yet he was also completely and totally divine. The only reason we didn’t see his humanity overwhelmed by his divinity is because he emptied himself of it when he was conceived, yet even so there were echoes in his life, such as the transfiguration, when his glory began to shine through him, and Peter, James and John received an inkling of what he was really like.

So grasp that fact because it’s vital to what we’re learning this morning. Before he was born, the Son of God had no humanity in him, his divinity was all. Now that’s very important in comprehending the significance of the Ascension. Only after he had been born as Jesus, the son of Mary, did he take on our humanity.

The next significant event was his death and resurrection, the events we celebrated just a few weeks back at Easter. Jesus suffered pain as one of us. He suffered the separation from his heavenly Father on the cross, and then he died as one of us.

It was only when he was raised that we see things had changed a little. We know that he was raised as one of us, but he was quite clearly raised with a superior humanity to the one we have. His body didn’t seem bound by the same laws that bind ours, since he was able to do such things as arriving in a room without walking through the door. Yet he demonstrated that he ate food, so clearly wasn’t just a ghost.

In that sense Jesus was the first-fruit of a new humanity, showing us what we will be like after our own resurrection. This new humanity is still human, only more so. Nevertheless, he was raised as a human. But what makes all of this so significant is that it was this Jesus, the one who was both fully human and fully God, who ascended into heaven.

What makes this so remarkable is that I believe this ascension changed something within heaven, indeed within the Godhead itself.

Let’s recap. Before he was born as one of us, the Son of God was divine, but now the Son of God is both divine and human, and when Jesus returned to the presence of the Father, he didn’t leave his human part behind, he returned to the Father as both divine and human. In other words, he took our humanity, which he had made perfect, into the very heart of God, incorporating our humanity into the Godhead.

That has some startling implications for us. You see if we are baptised believers, then the Ascension of Jesus means that in some way, we are already in the heavenly presence of God the Father. Let me say that again. If we are baptised believers, then we are already in the heavenly presence of God the Father.

No ifs, no buts, no reason left to fear. It’s a simple truth which is delivered to us because of the ascension of Christ.

How is this so? Well, if we are baptised, then we are baptised into Christ. In other words we are ‘in’ him, we dwell within his nature. So if Christ is in the presence of the Father, and we are in him, then we must also dwell in the presence of the Father. Let me say that again. Jesus, both divine and human, is in the presence of the Father, and if he is in us, then we, too, are joined to that presence with the Father.

Now I hope that’s clear, but before I go on, let me recap. Before being born on earth, the Son of God had no humanity within him, but by being born as the Son of Mary, he took our humanity and intermingled it with his divinity.

When he died and was raised, he was raised with his humanity perfected in the resurrection, the first fruit of the resurrection that will be given to each of us. When he ascended into heaven he took our humanity with him, right into the heart of the Godhead, and so if we are baptised into Christ, then we are in him, just as he is in the Father. And so we, too, are in the presence of God the Father through him.

Now, that’s the theology, what are the implications for us? Well first of all this is good news for us, the kind of good news that we really should be inspired to share. We don’t deserve this treatment, yet we are fully known and accepted by the Father as we dwell in his presence through his Son. And consider this, what do you see when you look into your own heart?

I don’t know about you but I’m not particularly keen on what I see in myself. I have no right to be loved by the Father; quite the opposite to be honest. Yet if I am in Christ because he took our humanity into the Godhead at his ascension, what does the Father see when he looks at me? He sees Jesus.

All of the things that we do wrong, all our inherent weaknesses, the Father is able to see past those right into our hearts because he sees us through the lens of his perfect Son. And not only that, Jesus stands in the presence of the Father, constantly interceding for us, knowing our needs because we are in him. This is the firm hope that we have as Christians.

Jesus, stands in the presence of the Father, drawing us with him, and as he stands there he talks to the Father on our behalf. If you have ever doubted that God could love you, please realise the implications of this. You and I are loved more than we can imagine, with God both within us, as the Holy Spirit, and in the presence of the Father, as Jesus the Son, on our behalf.

We’re not worthy of this, but that doesn’t matter. Those of you who are parents will know that you don’t judge whether to love your children dependent on how worthy of it they are.

But there’s one more thing to be considered. There is also a movement implied here. Jesus is leaving the disciples physically, moving back to heaven, but he tells them that soon they will receive the Holy Spirit, and will then be his witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem but then travelling throughout the world. This ending of his first earthly ministry is also the beginning of his new earthly ministry.

As I have said, just as we are in him, and so in the presence of the Father, so he is in us, through the Holy Spirit, something which will be celebrated next week at Pentecost. And if he is in us, then Jesus Christ is loose in the world. We’re present to the Father in him, but he is present to the world through us. Two thousand years ago he had only one pair of hands. Now look around. Even in this one church there are many pairs of his hands, all waiting to be used.

It is only a week to go now to Pentecost, but we don’t need to wait until then to recognise how intimately the two are tied to together, and what the implications are for us. Our Lord Jesus is making us present to God the Father, but we also have a duty, a missionary duty, which should be in the hearts of every one of us here. We are called to make Christ, who is within us, present to the world.

And so the obvious question which we must take from this is; what are we doing to make Christ present in the corner of the world in which each of us has been placed? That, finally, is a mark of the reciprocal nature of the ascension. Jesus Christ is loose in the world, through us, but can anyone see him?

What are the gifts God has given you? Those are the ways in which he is to be made obvious to others. People should know who God is because of the way he works through the gifts he has given us, which obviously means we should be thinking about what we do with what we have and who we are.

So, when the dismissal is given at the end of this service, take to heart the word, Amen, so be it, which we will say. That is our agreement to make the risen ascended Christ present to those with whom we share our lives, as we give thanks for the way he makes us present to the Father. We are in the Father’s presence through him, and he is loose in the world through us. Amen.

6th Sunday of Easter: The unknown, known, unknown God

2011-05-28T13:38:00.002+01:00

Readings
Acts 17:22-31
Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said,
“For we too are his offspring.”
Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’

John 14:15-21
Jesus said, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’

Sermon
Sometimes when I’m writing a sermon I give it a title and so it is with this one which, in my own mind, I’ve called the ‘Unknown, known, unknown God’. Confused? You wait... No, but seriously I want us to think primarily about what Saint Paul said to the residents of the Greek city of Athens about the altar they had to an unknown God.

The Areopagus was basically the high court in Athens and St. Paul had been taken there to explain himself because of what he’d been preaching in the city. The address that he delivered is based on his desire to end their ignorance. You see the Athenians had numerous pagan deities with altars and idols. It was rather as if they wanted to be absolutely sure that they worshipped every god there was so that none could feel left out and ‘smite’ them! So to make sure no one was forgotten they had an altar to this unknown god’.

Now St. Paul could have simply stood up there and told them they were ignorant and wrong, but that would have accomplished very little. We all know that if someone just tells us we are wrong about something, all that is likely to do is entrench our own views. So instead he looks for a way in to their culture, something that they say about themselves, something which will give him a way of explaining the good news of Jesus Christ.

And essentially they give it to him on a plate by having this altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown God’. In their eagerness not to miss out any gods they provided St. Paul with a hook line for his sermon so that he could preach about this God and about how it was possible to know him.

Reading what he says resonates even two thousand years later because St. Paul’s words remind us that in the hearts of most people there is a recognition that there is something going on behind the world, there is a Great Unknown that transcends everything else. Research has just been published, after a long study, that declares that being religious is something common to all humanity. We are spiritual beings by nature.

Our job as Christians is to essentially do what St. Paul was doing, to make this God known to our friends, colleagues and families by how we live and, if possible, by explaining.

However, and you just knew there would be a however, it is not as simple as making the unknown God known to people, because there is nothing more annoying than the arrogance of a know-all telling you that they can explain all about what God is like to you. In fact I would go so far as to say that if you are positive that you know what God is like, maybe you need to do some more thinking before you speak out, and that’s why I’ve called this sermon the unknown-known-unknown God.

Let’s see if I can explain what I mean. If you're reading this, imagine I'm holding a leaf. Let’s start with the easy questions. What colour is it? Do you know what kind of tree it’s from? And what kind of seed did it grow from? Those are all fairly straightforward questions. But how about a more difficult question: do you know where the tree is from which I took this leaf?

And if you can guess that, do you know where its parent was growing? Do you have any idea how old the tree is? So you know something about this leaf, but not everything.

Or how about the people we think we know well? Later this week Alison and I will celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary. I’ve been married for almost half my life now and for all that time we have shared on an emotional, social, spiritual and physical level

I know Alison better than anyone else in the whole world. But if you were to ask me what she was thinking about at 5.00pm yesterday afternoon I wouldn’t have a clue. I know her, yet there are vast depths to her about which I know nothing.

It even works on the level of the most fundamental physics. Some of you might have heard of something called ‘Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle’. This makes the point that in quantum physics it is impossible to know with certainty both the position of a particle as well as it’s mass and velocity at the same instant. The more precisely you measure one, the more uncertain the other variables become.

It seems that God has written the unknown into nature at the very deepest level. How then can any of us be arrogant, as St. Paul seems to be, in saying, ‘I know God’? If we can’t know even the simplest things about our universe, or even our husbands and wives, how can we say we know God?

And yet, and yet, Jesus said these words to the disciples: ‘If you have seen me, then you have seen the Father’. And more than that, in the Gospel reading for today Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit who will come and dwell within us. In other words, if we invite God in, then God will take up spiritual residence deep within us.

That then is the beginning of the knowing of God, not because we can seek God out but because God has sought us out, offered himself to us, and then come and lived within us if we invite him in. I can’t know Alison completely because she’s in another body, but if God is taking up residence within my body that opens up a whole new wealth of possibilities.

I think that this is what St. Paul is getting at. Jesus, the Son, has made the Father known to us. ‘If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.’ Then the Holy Spirit of God, at our invitation, takes up residence within us so that this revealing of the nature of God, this grand unveiling if you like, can take place deep within our very selves.

This is how St. Paul can say that he can make known this unknown God. But remember, I said that this is about the unknown, known, unknown God. There is more yet, because I would have to say that even though I am aware of the Spirit of God dwelling within me, and on some fundamental level I know God, yet I also remain hugely ignorant.

When I was going through the process of examining a call into the priesthood, one of the things that St. Alban’s Diocese insisted upon was that I had a spiritual director who would guide me on a journey into myself. One of the roles I have in this diocese is in interviewing potential priests. Both my story and their stories of journeying towards ordination includes journeying into self-knowledge.

Whenever I am interviewing candidates for ministry, and when I myself was going through the process, it was essential that we had a degree of self-knowledge. What are our motivations for wanting to do the things we do? I was surprised at some of the things I uncovered within myself, and it sometimes happens with candidates for all sorts of ministries that they uncover hidden motivations which undermine their sense of vocation.

What I’m trying to say is that we are not even fully in the know about our own selves. If we spend time in counselling, therapy or in the simple spiritual self-examination that we should all do, then we uncover things about ourselves that we don’t know, and we live in our own heads! So just because God dwells within us is not enough to say, ‘I know God’.

Certainly I know something of God, and I’m amazed at the depths of love he has for me, and you, and all of us, regardless of who we are or what we’ve done, but the deeper I go, the more I find that I’m like a swimmer whose only just discovered that the ocean is deeper than the bit I’m swimming on the surface of.

And so comes the challenge to us all. How deep do you want to go? Do you understand God? I don’t. I’ve seen the tragedies in my own family and in the lives of many others around me. I watch the news and meet people from other countries who face difficulties I cannot begin to comprehend. Yet God created this universe.

So I want to know him more deeply. I want to spend more time in his presence. Last week Rachel talked about silence. We need to switch off the telly. We need to walk away from the computer. We need to find some alone space, preferably every day. Within each of us is a vast deep ocean of the presence of God. Isn’t it time we stopped swimming on the surface and started deep-sea diving?

That need is one of the reasons why we started putting on services like The Well on the first Sunday night of the month, to give us contemplative space to explore the depths of God. So I invite you all to put on your spiritual aqualungs and go deeper, for it is only in acknowledging in all humility our ignorance that we can get to know God better. Amen.

5th Sunday of Easter: Inclusivity and Exclusivity

2011-05-28T13:36:00.000+01:00

Readings
Acts 7:55-end
But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.

John 14:1-14
Jesus said, ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’
Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Sermon
Our Gospel reading today carries two of the most iconic and controversial passages which I think are linked together. The phrase, ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions’, is deeply ingrained in our culture to the extent that it is often the first choice for people when they are thinking about funeral readings. But we cannot have that phrase without the next one, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.’

We live in what is one of the most liberal and multicultural societies in the world. In my lifetime I have watched a sea-change in our understanding of the other ethnic groups who live in this country. As a child I remember the popularity of shows like ‘Love thy neighbour’, a comedy of its time, the 1970's, all about how a white family come to terms with a black family moving in next door.

The two stars of the show were inevitably the racist white husband and the long suffering black husband next door, and if I remember correctly, their two wives had no problem whatsoever in getting on! And then allied to that was the racist humour of numerous stand-up comedians such as Jim Davidson. And Britain laughed so much at such things. But no more.

Now, a generation on, we have become much better at recognising and valuing the many different cultures which have intermingled in Britain. Of course we’re not perfect, and I continue to be shocked by some of the comments I sometimes hear from people. But in general we’re getting used to the idea, and hopefully valuing the richness that such diversity can bring to this country.

But allied to that is a knowledge that the religions represented in this diversity differ greatly in their understanding of God. There are the three main ‘Religions of the Book’; Judaism, Christianity and Islam. All three are monotheistic, yet each recognise something different about God. The Jews have many names for God, and a sense of racial intimacy. For the Muslims their relationship with God seems often to be defined by the name of their religion, Islam, which means ‘To submit’.

And once we begin to look further afield we find other diverging views of God. Hinduism, for example, seems pantheistic, believing in many gods, although a good friend of mine in the company I used to work for, who was herself a Hindu, explained that at its heart Hinduism is ultimately also monotheistic with these many gods being different faces of the one God, although she acknowledged that in general practice that wasn’t how many treated their belief.

Once we begin looking to the modern rebirthing of the old nature religions such as druidism, neo-paganism and so on, we find an even wider plethora of views. Some druidic beliefs do seem to have a revealed trinitarianism to them and amongst the many strands of neo-paganism there can sometimes be found a faith in both mother earth as the goddess but also of a male deity too.

Back in the old days of the unenlightened 1970's we could have dismissed all of these religious cultures as being simply wrong. We would have said that, since they didn’t worship God through Jesus, then according to that verse, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me’, they were lost and simply ignorant of what God was really like.

But now we’re having to change our opinion somewhat, because our experiences are beginning to show us that the contrary is true. In fact many of the followers of these other religions that we get to know are in fact quite devout worshippers who are most definitely holy. In fact there are many people who have converted to these religions away from Christianity because they have found something special there that they have found lacking in the people who follow our faith.

Now whilst that must be a sad indictment on Christianity, and the way we often don’t take our beliefs seriously enough to be challenged to grow in holiness through prayer, the fact that we are finding holy religious people of other faiths must surely come as a challenge to this apparently exclusivist statement by Jesus. Or does it? Remember that I did say at the beginning that the two halves of this statement must be linked, and I think in interfaith work is where we find that link.

All of the different religions have something unique about them, but what marks Christianity out is this statement about not coming to the Father except through the Son. Now Jews of Jesus’s era were just beginning, in some places, to talk about the Fatherhood of God, but not in the terms that Jesus used. When he prayed, and as he taught his disciples to pray, we should use the words, ‘Abba Father’.

Abba is similar to our word for Daddy, although with more respect than we usually include. Abba is a term of deep intimacy between a child and his Father, and that is the relationship we are encouraged into; one in which we are in a genuinely paternal relationship with God. The only way that can happen is if we are in Christ, as members of his body, because he is the true Son and we are invited into the kind of relationship that he has with God the Father.

That’s what makes baptism so very special, because we are baptised into that relationship with God of a child with its parent through Jesus. That’s why he was able to say, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me’. But what, then, of these other religions? To some, calling God Father seems blasphemous because they think we’re putting ourselves on a par with God, rather than understanding that what we’re doing is accepting an invitation we don’t deserve.

But, and this is the key point, not calling God Father does not preclude them having a relationship with God on some other level. I happen to think that the relationship that Jesus bought for us through his death and resurrection is the deepest most wonderful thing we could yearn for, but I also believe that other monotheistic faiths worship the same God as we do.

And so it is possible to learn from people of other faiths. We find holiness there because these are also people who worship God. Their understanding may well differ sharply from ours, but that doesn’t devalue their faiths, even if we can yearn and pray for them to experience God as an intimate Father. And this, I believe, is perhaps a part of what Jesus meant about his Father’s house having many rooms.

Through Jesus we have been invited into the inner sanctum, a place where have no right to be except through him, but let us also learn to listen to what other faiths have learned about God. We might be surprised to discover much colour worth appreciating in the rooms that God has prepared for them too. Amen

Second Sunday of Easter: King David and Thomas - Positive and Negative - which are we?

2011-04-27T11:50:00.002+01:00

Readings

Acts 2: 14, 22-32
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them:
‘You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him,
“I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
moreover, my flesh will live in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One experience corruption.
You have made known to me the ways of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.”
‘Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,
“He was not abandoned to Hades,
nor did his flesh experience corruption.”
This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.

John 20:19-end
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’
But Thomas (who was called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’
A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Sermon
Have you ever noticed how there are some people for whom everything always goes right? And likewise there are others for whom it always seems to go wrong? Even as I say that there are probably some of you sitting there knowing which one you think you are.

Well there have been some interesting experiments done about luck over the last few years by Professor Richard Wiseman. Now personally I don’t believe in luck. I just think life happens to us and we have to try and do the best we can with what comes to us. Not everyone agrees though and there are plenty of people who genuinely feel as if nothing ever goes right for them, and likewise there seem to be those who feel they must be very lucky because they always seem to get what they’re hoping for. These were precisely the kinds of people Wiseman worked with.

What he found is that apparently it’s actually nothing to do with luck, either good or bad. Good or bad luck doesn’t seem to exist. He found that it was all down to the attitude that his subjects brought to their lives. Some people saw opportunities and others didn’t. Or for a more extreme example, someone who had been shot during a bank raid might think they were lucky because the bullet didn’t kill them and now they have a story to sell! It seems that it all boils down to how we see life.

People who are expecting good things to happen to them see the positive side to what happens to them. The result of that is that their outlook is reinforced and they become quite happy. Their positive natures seem to make the best out of pretty much whatever happens to them. It may look like they have very good luck but the reality is they have the same chances as everyone else. The difference is in their focus. They see good things in their lives, are perhaps grateful for them, and focus their attention on them.

And you can spot them a mile off. We have plenty of them in the parish. Their lives light up other people’s lives because they are content with what they have since it seems good to them. But by contrast there are those who seem to always have bad luck, but once again the experiment suggested that it is not that they have bad luck, just that they don’t see the opportunities; their view of life is different from those who claim to have good luck.

Apparently, so the research went, their outlook on life reinforces their attitude that nothing ever goes right for them and so gradually they slip into a life of being discontented. That in its turn can affect how other people relate to them which may have the tendency to drive people away, thus perpetuating the cycle. But the truth is that there is neither good nor bad luck, there is just life and how we perceive it.

Now you may be wondering what all this has to do with Easter and the resurrection. It is simply this; I think that we have in our two readings a couple of examples of people from each end of this spectrum.

Let’s think first about King David. St. Peter quotes him when he tells of how David wrote, ‘I saw the Lord always before me.’ I saw the Lord always before me, and yet he didn’t actually ‘see’ the Lord; he can’t have, because, as is pretty well attested elsewhere in scripture, you can’t look on God. So think about it for a moment; let me repeat what David said,
“I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
moreover, my flesh will live in hope.”

David looked for God and he saw him; he saw God everywhere and was therefore convinced that God was always with him. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not for a moment suggesting that David’s view of God could all be explained in a laboratory because David viewed himself as a lucky person. But I do think that David was someone whose spirituality and general state of mind meant that he was more able to see the presence of God in life because he was looking for it!

Consequently, because his faith helped him to grasp this, it made him deeply contented and full of hope. He had never seen God, and yet by faith wherever he looked he saw God.

Now let’s contrast that with poor old Thomas. He seems to be at the opposite end of the spectrum. Do you remember the episode when Jesus tells the disciples that they are going to go to Lazarus after he’s died? Thomas’s comment was, ‘Let us go that we might die with him.’ Does that sound like someone who looks for what is positive? Not at all. I get the distinct impression that Thomas would have been a bundle of laughs to have around. Not.

So after the resurrection, all of the other disciples have quite clearly seen Jesus. Thomas is the only one who hasn’t. Have you ever wondered why? When I was talking about women being ordained to the episcopate, to be made bishops, I pointed out that Jesus made his first risen appearance to Mary Magdalene.

What was so important about that was the timing of it. Peter and John had been there moments before, yet Jesus waited until they had gone before he appeared to Mary. In other words there was something quite deliberate and planned about that appearance; it was no accident that Jesus waited for the men to go - he wanted first to appear to Mary, a woman.

Jesus was fully in control of his appearances, and so it seems unlikely to me that he would have appeared to ten disciples accidentally at a moment when Thomas had nipped out to buy some teabags. There would have been a clear reason for it and I suspect that it may have had something to do with Thomas’s attitude and the Lord’s gracious desire to try and open his spiritual eyes to be able to see the presence of God like King David could.

Not only did Thomas not accept the words of his travelling companions for the last three years, but he declared he wouldn’t believe until he saw it for himself. Everyone else had seen Jesus but Thomas would not accept it himself. David said he could see the Lord always before him but Thomas couldn’t make that leap.

So I think Jesus was trying to get Thomas to look at the evidence differently; to see life through different, more open spiritual eyes. By his grace he allowed Thomas literally to see him. Thomas got his own way but only so that Jesus could teach them all, and also us, that there is an even greater blessing to be had from believing even though we haven’t seen Jesus.

So why do we believe? I expect it’s because in some way we have seen something that’s convinced us. Maybe it’s been in the lives of others around us. Maybe it’s been something else, but we’re here because we’ve seen something. But I wonder how much it has made us believe?

You see it’s still all about how we look at the world around us. I know of plenty of scientists with no religious belief who look at the universe around them, and whilst they may feel a sense of awe at its size and complexity, they are not moved to any kind of sense of worship.

But I find, as I’m sure that many of you do, that when I look up at the night sky and begin to contemplate the vast distances I’m looking across, then I’m moved to worship. It’s all down to how we see the world. I actually wrote this sitting by the french windows with my computer on my lap on Easter Sunday evening.

Ali noted that I had a blanket wrapped around my legs because it was getting chilly and asked if I wanted to the doors closed but I didn’t simply because the birdsong was helping me write. They lifted my spirits because their sounds made me feel closer to God.

This, I think, may have been what Jesus was trying to get at. Life is going to throw us a lot of difficulties. That is true for everyone. Sadly there are even other people, particularly those who want to pull others into their misery, who will try and pull us down. But by God’s grace we can still rise above even that. David committed adultery, lost a new born baby son and suffered tragedy through betrayal, even by his older son Absalom. Yet he was able to write, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.”

Yet Thomas couldn’t see the truth of the resurrection even though all his friends testified to it. He couldn’t see properly. So Jesus came to him to open his eyes. He revealed himself fully to Thomas but used that episode to teach us about how we ‘see’.

And this episode was life changing for Thomas. You see once he could really see the truth it changed his life. The grace of Jesus active in his life altered his perspective and the route he was then to take. Now we don’t have scriptural testimony about Thomas after Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, but there are a number of written traditions that agree that Thomas was called to an evangelistic ministry in India.

Many people were converted through him, and because of that he became a threat to the rulers and was consequently martyred sometime around 72AD.

I think Thomas is important because his life revealed a miraculous change from someone who could only see the worst in life to someone who could see God active in his life around him and could therefore learn to live a life that made a real difference.

So what about us. Are we like King David? Are we apt to see God everywhere? Or are we like Thomas used to be? If we are the kind of person who struggles to see God we can take heart. By God’s grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit we can be changed, just as Thomas was changed, so that we can begin to see how God is at work all around us.

Now I don’t know about you but I find that very appealing. As someone who has traditionally fallen towards being a glass half-empty kind of person it comes as a great relief to know that I don’t have to remain like that, and that, by God’s grace, I can begin to see him in all sorts of unexpected places. I need only ask. I, for one, would much rather look at the world through King David’s eyes. Amen.

Reference
http://www.richardwiseman.com/resources/The_Luck_Factor.pdf

Easter Sunday: The cup of humanity

2011-04-24T09:01:00.003+01:00

Readings

Acts 10:34-43
Gentiles Hear the Good News
Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’

Matthew 28:1-10
The Resurrection of Jesus
After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is my message for you.’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’

Sermon
What kind of things are you afraid of?

How do we conquer those fears?

When I arrived in Tanworth I had a phobia about spiders. Having never lived in the country before I had no idea just how many of God’s little eight legged creatures I would see, nor how many would take up residence in our vicarage.

Now they say that the best way to overcome your fears is to be exposed to them and see that they actually amount to nothing, and that in reality there is nothing to be afraid of. And so slowly, slowly, I have begun to lose my fear of spiders. I still don’t like them, but it’s nothing like it was five years ago. And losing our fear is actually a big part of the message of Easter.

Peter said these words, ‘All the prophets testify about Jesus that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’ Now we know that Jesus rose from the dead. This wasn’t just a story, it was a fact that was testified to by many eyewitnesses. Over the course of forty days, more than 500 people are numbered as having seen him. How many eyewitnesses does it take to get a jury verdict? This. Really. Happened.

Of the eleven remaining disciples, John was the only one to die of old age. All of the others laid down their lives as martyrs for what they believed in. So I might be a little bit afraid of spiders, and many people are scared of dying, but the one thing that these disciples did not fear was death, because they knew it had been conquered. Death is no longer final!

In fact the early Christians had a bit of a reputation amongst the Romans as followers of a religion that believed so fervently that their leader had been raised from the dead that they welcomed death and were unafraid of it. Now you don’t welcome death unless you’re no longer scared of it, and the reason these early Christians weren’t afraid of death was because Jesus had appeared to them after he rose from the dead.

So it’s a fact, testified to by hundreds of eyewitnesses whose lives were changed by it, that Jesus rose from the dead. And what’s more we know that in some way Jesus’s death meant that we could also be forgiven for the things we do wrong and so we can look forward to eternal life too.

Jesus’s resurrection was only the first; believers are all promised the same future. But the question that is often on our lips at this time of year is, how did Jesus’s death accomplish this? What was so special about his death that it meant we no longer need to be afraid of death?

Think of it like this. Think about how good and how perfect God is. This is the one who created everything that we can see and everything that we can’t see. From the fundamental particles being uncovered by the large hadron collider to the galactic sprawl that is our Milky Way, to those things beyond even the Hubble Telescope’s horizon. All of it was created by him.

For 13.7 billion years his hands have ceaselessly held stars together, thrown planets into place, kept hearts beating, joined the bodies of lovers and underpinned the tireless dance of quantum reality. Into this maelstrom of love came humanity, created and evolved to be in the image of God.

At least we were meant to be. But to be like God entails having the freedom to choose and that means that we can choose to love God or do our own thing, and we choose, over and over again, to do our own thing.

And that causes a problem. Instead of being lit with the glory of God, as was God’s intention, we’ve become fragile broken things, with little in common with what we could have become. But more importantly our brokenness means that we cannot stand to be in the presence of God. All those things that we do wrong have made us weak. We’ve become paper-thin.

And therein lies the problem. Being so fragile means we can’t cope with being in the presence of God anymore than you could stand on the surface of the sun. Let me tell you briefly of an experience I had as a teenager in church. Please don’t think having an experience like this makes me special. I think it was for me to share with people at the right time.

So there I was, kneeling down, preparing to go and receive communion when it became as if God himself was stood where the altar was. All that perfection and awesome power, it seemed, was standing only about ten feet in front of me.

And what that meant to me was a sense of real fear. I felt that if I dared to look up, then I would be destroyed because it was simply impossible for me to remain in the presence of such awesome perfection because I had fallen way short of the mark. I think that for just a few brief moments, nearly thirty years ago, God was showing me why his Son had come to us.

You see if God wants us to be in his presence, and we can’t be because of those things we’ve done wrong, then God himself is the only one who can deal with it. There’s nothing we can do to change the situation. And that’s why Jesus came, to take away the things we do. Now there are many ways of trying to understand the cross, but one possibility is to think of it as an exchange.

Imagine a simple plastic wine glass. Let’s say this is our humanity. And into it we can pour all of the things we do wrong that make it impossible to stand in God’s presence. The kind of things it might contain could be:
Our desire for power over others:
Our desire for the trappings of wealth:
Our desire to have it our way, regardless of the needs of others:
Our use of others for our own ends:
Our ability to simply not notice what others need
The wars we wage:
The famines we cause:
The people we hate:

These are the kinds of things that we do which drive a wedge between us and God. And it is as if Jesus said, ‘This is your cup. This is the cup of humanity. If you drink of this cup then you cannot be in God’s presence. So let me drink it for you.’

And so he did. On the cross Jesus drank the cup of humanity and he allowed his own blood to be spilled.

His death was our death. He died like we do, but that’s not the end of it. I said that Jesus’s death was an exchange. You see he drank our cup, the cup of humanity. But in its place he gave us his cup, the cup of salvation, and it’s from that cup that we drink every time we come to communion. As Jesus put it, ‘The cup of the new covenant between God and humanity; the cup in my blood’.

When we drink from this cup and eat of the communion bread it is as if the body and blood of the Son of God become ours. Jesus can stand in the presence of God because he is perfect, and as his followers we have exchanged our imperfection for his perfection. He drank the cup of humanity and gave us the cup of God.

That’s why it’s so special that today we have four of our young people joining us to receive this communion. They know that it doesn’t mean that they’re special or better than their friends. But like the rest of us, they are coming to the knowledge that we need to be included in that exchange. We desire to be in the presence of God, involved in a daily relationship that will go on becoming deeper and more intimate.

Jesus drank our cup and allowed himself to be killed, the end that we all deserve, so that we can drink his cup and live with him in the presence of the Father for all eternity. And this table is open to all. So if you would like to think more about this, or come to be confirmed, then do please speak to me or your own minister. Amen.

Palm Sunday: It's all about conflict

2011-04-16T10:32:00.002+01:00

Readings

Phil. 2:5-11
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Matt. 21:1-11
When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, “The Lord needs them.” And he will send them immediately. This took place to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
‘Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
‘Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!’
When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.’

Sermon
One of the greatest shocks for those of us who went to Israel was the sense of division. The city is in four quarters, Christian, Armenian, Muslim and Jewish, but if that wasn’t bad enough even the Christians are divided amongst themselves. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, said to contain both the sites of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, should surely be one of the holiest places in existence.

Yet the reality is very different. A number of denominations hold different responsibilities and different shrines within the huge building. What can only be described as a struggle for power has erupted into public brawls on several occasions. It is perhaps significant, as well as shameful, that the keys to the church are held by Muslim families to avoid arguments.

Jerusalem is a symbol of everything possible that can go wrong with worship when it becomes a struggle for power rather than weakness, leading to an endless cycle of conflict, and this comes into focus for us when we look at the events surrounding what we call Palm Sunday because to my mind Palm Sunday is not about peace it’s about conflict.

The question on the lips of the people of Jerusalem was, “Who is this?” but perhaps the deeper question is, “How is his true identity going to affect your life?” Unless we can answer that question ourselves there is little hope that we can follow in his footsteps. So to answer that question we need to look at the clues that Jesus gives us and that Matthew highlights, because that’s where the conflicts start.

Firstly there is the donkey and its colt. If Jesus had been a triumphant leader, a king in the human sense of the word, then he would have entered Jerusalem on a stallion. But to do that would have been tantamount to a declaration of war against Rome in middle eastern symbolism. At the opposite extreme was the belief that if a king came riding on a donkey, well that was a sign that he came in peace.

Jesus doubly underlined that he was coming in peace because not only was he coming on a donkey, but also on a donkey’s foal. Yet that symbolism of peace seems to be in conflict with the behaviour of the Jews greeting him. The palm branches echo the triumphant entry of Simon Maccabeus into Jerusalem during the Maccabean revolt against the Syrian Seleucid empire almost two hundred years earlier.

And the cries of the crowd follow the same theme. Son of David is a title for a king and the word Hosanna literally means ‘Save us now’. Jesus was declaring that he was coming in peace but the crowd were not reading his sign and were instead calling for a king to set them free from the Romans, much as the Maccabees had set them free from the Seleucids.

So right throughout this story there is conflict between the imagery and desire, and indeed passion of the Son of God, and the wishes of the people. But for us what is so challenging is that although Jesus was well aware that he was being misunderstood it seems highly unlikely that the people themselves would have realised how far wide of the mark they were, and that gets me wondering about us and the conflict between where we think we are spiritually and where we actually are.

What are we to make of this challenge, of this conflict? Thirty nine days ago some of you came to receive ashes on your foreheads. Rachel and I administered these with the words, ‘Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return’. But where did those ashes come from? They were the burned remains of Palm Sunday crosses. Once they had been waved in the air. ‘Save us now, Son of David’. Then they had been burned. Ashes in our hands, on our lips and on our heads.

Those ashes remind us that all those words of praise that flow from our lips have to mean something in how we live our lives. If they don’t, we’re just like the people waving the palm branches on the Sunday and crying out praises to the Son of God at the beginning of the week, and yet who are shouting ‘Crucify him!’ by Friday.

So what significance is there for us in this burning of the palm crosses? I believe it to be highly symbolic of our value system. We ascribe value to something, we bless it, yet we still end up burning it; that is the life cycle of our palm crosses. The question that begs of us is, to what do you ascribe value, and is that real value or is it just transient? And more importantly, can you tell the difference?

The crowds ascribed high value to their Messiah for all of six days. A transient Messiah. He didn’t do what they wanted so he had to go. But not all of them felt that way, and following Pentecost many of them returned and became believers when they realised what they had done.

And that is the nub of the matter. I would imagine that following Jesus’s death there would have been a great deal of internal conflict going on in those who had been there on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Have I done the right thing? What if he was what he said he was? What if I got it wrong?

Amidst all of the types conflict, this is the kind of conflict that we actually need. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul and Timothy challenge us about what Christians should be like, that we should be of the same mind as Christ who emptied himself, humbled himself and became obedient to the Father. Palm Sunday should put us into an internal state of conflict: Are we doing that or are we like the worshippers on the road, only assigning transient value to something for as long as it suits us or appears to do what we want?

What’s it going to be, the way of Christ which is the way of humility and putting off ourselves, or getting the transient things we think we want even though they will turn to ashes in our hands?

You see in the final analysis Palm Sunday is all about conflict, but for believers it shouldn’t be the conflict between God and humanity about what kind of Messiah Jesus is. By now we really ought to have figured out that he doesn’t bring power and glory in this life, and if that’s what we want we should go elsewhere and let the rest of us get on with learning how to serve.

No, instead the conflict should be within us, every single day of our lives, about what kind of followers we’re going to be, and whether we’re going to try again today, and tomorrow and the day after that, to lay ourselves down, put our desires to one side and try again to have the mind of Christ. May that conflict rage within you every single day of your life until you are either perfect or in the everlasting hands of God. Amen

5th Sunday of Lent: Desire and all that holy stuff

2011-04-09T11:03:00.002+01:00

Readings
Romans 8:6-11

To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Verses from John 11
1Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 3So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ 4But when Jesus heard it, he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ 5Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
7 Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’ 14Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead. 15For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ 23Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ 24Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ 25Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ 27She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’

32When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ 35Jesus began to weep.
38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ 40Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ 43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Sermon
“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
I consider myself to have been truly blessed by God with the gift of my wife. We’ll have been married for twenty two years this year and it amazes me how she continues to look more beautiful to me with each passing year. But beauty has an effect on men doesn’t it, and so it is with me.

When I look at her, and when I am with her, and maybe even more when I am away from her, I desire her, and therein begins the paradox, because at face value St. Paul seems to be indicating that the physical desire I have for my wife is a little bit suspect.

“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” This has been a major problem for the church pretty much throughout our history. We are terribly prudish and seem somehow to have become disapproving of so much of the physicality of humanity.

And in fact writings like this have been used as grounds for strict ascetic practices throughout Christian history. Even now there are still plenty of body-denying practices throughout Christendom and at least two denominations that do not permit men both to marry and serve as priests. What’s more there continues to be strong teaching in some parts that sex with contraception is sinful because sex is meant to be about having children more than having pleasure.

I suspect that for many of us we still harbour guilt from the ways our minds wander, regardless of our age. I have certainly known much older men who have told me that very little changes in their capabilities for desire from when they were young men. And I have spent plenty of time talking to younger people about the guilt they struggle with because of the desire they feel.

But the truth is that I think we are misinterpreting St. Paul here. I think that the distinction we so often make between flesh and spirit is nothing like what he intended, and I’ll come to what I think he did intend in a moment. The truth is, and I genuinely believe this, that the desire I have my wife is at its best a reflection of the desire Christ has for the church, and the same is true of any Christian marriage. The fleshly side of our relationship is actually deeply spiritual.

So when St. Paul says, “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace”, how are we to interpret it? I think that the answer to that depends on understanding the concepts of gift and commitment. A moment ago I said that I consider Alison to be a gift from God, but that doesn’t then mean that I have no need to do anything further about that.

Our relationship only grows if we nurture it, and that’s why we’re married rather than simply living together. By being married we have given desire a spiritual home because we are expressing the wish that our relationship should reflect the commitment shown by Christ to his church, which is one of self-giving and self-sacrifice.

Living together just sort of drifts in to commitment, or not, but marriage makes a firm decision that, whatever happens we will be there for each other. Sure we don’t always get that one right! But we are trying to follow that model, and we are accepting day after day that each other is a gift from God to be cared for and loved. We did nothing to earn each other but must do everything to nurture each other. That is what I mean by understanding gift and commitment.

I believe that where those two concepts are held together, then whatever we have will belong in the realm of the spiritual. What then does it mean for something to be of the flesh? Well quite simply it is the reverse of that. Instead of gift and commitment there is grasping and self-interest.

Ask yourself what you want out of life now, and then ask to what lengths you will go to get it. Be honest with yourself because that is the only way to determine whether your desires are spiritual or of the flesh. An extreme example of the way of the flesh being called the way of the spirit might be Mary Tudor who, when Queen of England, was determined to turn England back from reformation. To do so she was willing to execute 283 public religious figures, mostly by burning.

To desire a spiritual outcome might have been thought laudable, but to achieve it by execution shows her desire to have been of the flesh. It was what she wanted, but it was dressed up in spiritual clothes. I wonder how often we do the same thing. If I am honest with you, I constantly have to ask myself of my reasons for any changes that I try and bring to ministry. Is it of the spirit or of the flesh?

I said a moment back that I would talk about how we are to deal with our fleshly side, the desires that make us feel guilty, and I honestly think that we also find the answer to that in the Romans reading. Listen again to the last verse of the reading:
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

This isn’t talking about life after death. St. Paul specifically says that if the Holy Spirit dwells within us then that same Spirit will give life to our mortal bodies. This is about the here and now not ‘pie in the sky when we die’. Our physicality is holy. Those bodies that you haul around aren’t chattels for a soul waiting to escape when you die: You are a living soul, made holy by God.

The Holy Spirit sanctifies your mortal bodies and everything that we feel, and all those desires that cause us difficulties can be made holy when we give them over to God, and they can deeply and positively affect our spiritual journeys. If we can bring discernment about what needs to be changed to God, then God can bring the Holy Spirit to the party who can transform us.

And if you still have doubts about what I’m saying, that God hallows and values our mortal fleshly bodies, then remember this, not only did Jesus come as a human being, but when he raised Lazarus from the dead, he raised him as a mortal. He restored him to this life. Lazarus didn’t receive a get-out-of-jail-free card that meant he immediately passed into immortality. Like us he still had to grow old and die.

You, just as you are, with all your desires and infirmities, have been made holy to God. You are sanctified and indeed you are a temple because the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you. So when this Lenten season of fasting is over, have a party! Enjoy yourself. Dance, drink, laugh, run, walk and enjoy being human. You are created in the image of God, and if that isn’t worth celebrating, I don’t know what is! Amen

Mothering Sunday - Hovering, Brooding...

2011-03-31T15:10:00.001+01:00

Readings
Genesis 1:1-3, 26-31
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.

Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Luke 2:33-35
And Jesus’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’

Sermon
I think I was about thirty when I felt that God was calling me into ordained ministry. It came as a bit of a bolt from the blue as I was rather enjoying my career in science and could see all sorts of possibilities opening up. The music was going well too and our band was generating some interest and had been signed with an independent label.

But then, one New Year’s Day, came that clear indication from God that he had other plans and that I needed to walk a different path, and so here I am, quite a few years later.

In terms of Mothering Sunday the interesting thing is the way that other people dealt with me having this sudden sense of needing to train to be a vicar. Almost everyone close to me made the comment that they had seen it coming, even if I hadn’t. Even most of my work colleagues, few of whom were believers themselves, seemed unsurprised.

However the most important comment came from my mother. When we were alone one day she told me quietly that she had seen this coming for years, since I was a teenager, but she had not said anything, although she was beginning to worry that I would miss it. She knew me, she knew what motivated me and she could see all the possibilities, but she kept her own counsel.

The word that comes to mind is ‘brooding’. My mother had been brooding over a call she had seen in me that she feared I might miss if I continued to become caught up in my career. She had been hovering, if you like, and it’s that example that I want to draw on in the readings today.

When we talk about God we almost invariably use the masculine pronoun. In fact, just to emphasize it, we used to put a capital letter on He and Him. And the same has tended to be true throughout the last two thousand years, with whichever part of the Trinity being referred to as male. Yet that distinction has not always been so clear cut.

One of the names for God used in the Old Testament was Elohim. So much has been written about this one word that I could not hope to do justice to it. However, what I find interesting is that the root of the word Elohim is actually the feminine singular word for a god which is Eloah. To get Elohim a masculine plural ending is given to the feminine singular word. So Elohim is a singular feminine noun with a masculine plural ending which is always used with singular verbs when referring to the One True God in the Hebrew scriptures.

We shouldn’t speculate too far about what this means except to say that in one of the earliest words for God there is a feminine word at the root. But this becomes a lot more specific when we look at the word for Spirit. In Latin the word is masculine, in Greek, the language of the new Testament, it is neuter, but in Hebrew the word for Spirit, Ruach, is feminine. It’s also the word for wind.

We are only two verses into the Bible when we get this difficult to translate verse which could say, ‘...a mighty Wind from God swept over the face of the waters’, but it could easily be translated as ‘...the Spirit of God hovered, or brooded over the waters.’ In this poetic imagery, the waters are the formless nature of the creation, waiting to take shape.

So for me this takes me right back to the image of my mother. I can imagine her with her hand over the bump in her belly as I took form within her, brooding over what I might become. I can picture her watching me through my teenage years as I became a believer in my own right, hovering, brooding over what I might become.

And I can think of her watching me in my early career in science, still brooding over the possibilities of what I might become. And the same is so true of Mary, the mother of Jesus. In that reading from Luke’s Gospel I can imagine this young teenager, coping with the first exhausting days of motherhood, only to hear the words of Simeon about what her son would accomplish, and her holding him close to her breast, brooding over his future.

Later on in the same chapter we have the story of how Jesus was accidentally left in the Temple when he was a twelve year old, and how Mary and Joseph found him talking wisely with the Rabbis. At the end of that section we have the same kind of comment, that Mary treasured all these things in her heart. This image of my own mother, and this image of Mary convey something very special about motherhood which is confirmed in the last part of the Genesis reading which says this:

"Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."

We are created in the image of God. Now God is spirit so it would be silly to try and put a gender on the different persons of the Trinity, yet we are clearly created, male and female, in the image of God, and the language of the Old Testament and this brooding nature of the Holy Spirit, this feminine mighty Wind from God, suggests that this brooding nature of motherhood is uniquely in the image of God.

What my mother did for me, and what your mothers did for you, brooding over your futures, is an attribute of God the Holy Spirit. What’s more I don’t think it’s uniquely bound to mothers. When I look at the church of Tanworth, I brood over it, and over the people. I wonder what will become of them. I wonder how I can nurture them. I’m not even a father, let alone a mother, but I still have some sense of that feminine brooding.

Being a woman, being a mother, and having mothering instincts regardless of your innate gender, are hallmarks of having been created in the image of God. For too long we have insisted on the masculinity of God, not recognising that feminine imagery is written all over scripture too. And if we, male and female, are together in the image of God, then scripture itself instructs us that the feminine we see within our race is just as much in the image of God as the masculine.

So maybe it’s time for us to enlarge our imagination of the nature of God. Amen.

3rd Sunday of Lent: For the people who wonder.

2011-03-25T19:34:00.004Z

Hi All
Sorry for there having been no entries for a couple of weeks or so. Just back from a trip to Israel which was really great. Exhausting but fab., and welcome to any new readers from that trip who've found me here after my incessant plugging. Here goes for this week.

Readings
Romans 5:1-11
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

John 4:5-30, 39-42
So Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ They left the city and were on their way to him.

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’

Sermon
In our nice, neat clean-cut religious world we have a tendency to split people into two groups; Christians and non-Christians. To be honest I loathe the phrase ‘non-Christians’ purely because it’s judgmental, but we seem to be stuck with it. I’ve recently been confronted with this kind of language on several occasions, and I still find it jars because, if I am honest, I don’t think the lines are as clearly defined as we would like them to be, although I’m positive many would disagree with me.

Our beliefs are messy. I could define for you what I think a Christian should believe, but I suspect some of my ideas would be odd to another person who would also call themselves a Christian. The problem with this desire for nice, neat, well defined demarcations is we always end up using them to judge who is in and who is out, and that’s why today’s Gospel story is so important.

In Jesus’s time there were similar demarcations by the Jews. Of course there were disagreements between groups, with the Sadducees denying any form of resurrection from the dead and the Pharisees affirming it, but basically their world was also split up into Jews and Gentiles; those who were God’s people, and those who weren’t; those who were in and those who were out. Except... well today’s story is one of someone stuck in the middle, a woman from Samaria, and for me she represents a vast swathe of our own population.

You see she was neither one thing nor another. Even though the Jews loathed and rejected them, the Samaritans felt that they also had a claim to be descendants of Jacob. They thought they were God’s people too. And Gentiles would probably assume that the Samaritans were part of the same race because they claimed to worship the same God, even though they did so in a different place to the Jews and their beliefs may not have been in complete agreement.

For me, therefore, this woman represents the majority of people who say that they believe in God in this country, yet probably would not sign up as fully fledged Christians, nor necessarily be a part of a church. The way in which Jesus speaks with her should therefore teach us an awful lot about how we should be engaging with people who express an interest in our faith.

Let’s have a look at some of the elements of the story and see how they fit into our own world and what questions they ask us. And the first thing we note is the location. Jesus is at the well. Now wherever you lived in the 1st century, the prime importance was access to water. This was something we picked up in Israel. Jerusalem came to be populated because it has a water source.

So water was vital, and if your water source was a well, that was where the people met. So Jesus was where the people would go. Is that your experience of Christianity, or are we more likely to try and escape those ‘evil’ places? Do we expect people to come to us and behave like we do or are we going to be more accessible by being where they are?

The next thing you pick out is that it’s the middle of the day. Now, apart from the early months of the year, the middle of the day in Palestine can be brutally hot. No one in their right mind goes to draw water then! Can you imagine carrying your water skins in forty degree temperatures? The only reason someone might choose to go then is because she’s trying to avoid everyone, and given the public morality of the time, this is no surprise.

As we discover later, this is a woman who has been with a lot of men. We don’t know the back story and it’s possible she’s been badly abused, but whatever that is, she seems to be going out of her way to avoid the other women of the town. So not only does Jesus try to be where the people are, he seems to be going out of his way to meet someone that everyone else has rejected.

Does this sound like Christians to you? Or are we more likely to be found trying to get close to the popular people or even the powerful people? You see Jesus takes it even further. According to the traditions of his day, he shouldn’t even be talking to her. Firstly she was a woman, and men didn’t talk with women they didn’t know - especially ones who would sully their reputation. Anyone who saw them would have assumed Jesus was making a move on her.

Secondly he was a Jew and she a Samaritan. These were two cultures who did not think a great deal of each other, and the Jews would avoid Samaritans and even walk the long way around from Galilee to Jerusalem to avoid their land. But Jesus ignores religious traditions, because he’s more interested in people than in what people think of him.

Does that sound like today’s Christianity to you? Or do we care a great deal about what people think of us? On more than one occasion in my life I’ve been accused of behaving in an un-vicar like fashion because of who I’m talking to. How tied have we become to what we think other people expect us to look like and behave like as Christians? Jesus came eating and drinking and the religious people complained because he liked to party.

One of the things I loved about our Israel trip was the way some of our group opened the doors to people they didn’t know and made them welcome with drinks and nibbles before supper. They were fun! How often do Christians get accused of having too much fun? We’re more likely to be accused of being boring complainers who think everything is off-limits or sinful, and you know what, sometimes our detractors are right!! It’s no wonder the secularists are winning the battle for hearts and minds!

Back to the text, and we see an interesting conversation between Jesus and the woman about living water but I’m not going to go into what all that means at this time. It’s what happens next which is so very interesting. Jesus tells the woman to go, call her husband and come back, and then it all comes out that she has a bit of history with a number of men.

Now this may well be true, but there is far more going on here than it first seems to us. I’ve said it many times, but let me underline it again: John’s gospel is written on many layers and you have to read it like that to get the full significance. In this instance it’s trying to convey something very deep to us. The woman is a representative of Samaria. Back in earlier Israelite history the kingdom had split into two, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

In 721 BC the northern kingdom was invaded and exiled by the Assyrians. They replaced the exiles with people of other pagan religions from, it is said, five different regions, and there’s that number five that should get us thinking, because John intends us to read husband as God. Think of how the church is often called the Bride of Christ. That means that Jesus, the Son of God, is our husband.

So what Jesus is saying could actually be read like this: He says to her, ‘Go and call your God/husband and come back’, When she says she has no husband/God, he refers to their Samaritan history and says, ‘Exactly; you have had five gods and the one you worship now, ie the God of Israel, isn’t really your own God.’

What he’s saying to her is, ‘The only way you can really engage with this God whom you name is to come to him through me.’ But he’s not making a point in order to be right; he’s telling her the truth in order that he can invite her in to have a real relationship in spirit and truth with the one true God who can be worshipped anywhere.

So what does this have to say in our modern times for Christians? Well I think our message should be one of invitation to people to come with all their baggage, spiritual and worldly , and come as you are.

The Lord knew all about this woman’s spiritual baggage, and he knew all about her emotional baggage, and he knew all about her sexual baggage, and still he called her to come, exactly as she was, but he made it clear he knew all about her, yet didn’t stand in judgement on her.

Now we don’t know all about the people we meet, yet surely the same challenge should be there to us. Do we invite people to come as they are, or do we unwittingly, perhaps by our behaviour or what we say, imply that they need to be a bit religious first, a bit like us? It is not our job to judge people, in fact that’s expressly forbidden, but we should be praying for them that the Lord will reveal himself to them and that he would encounter them where they are.

If you have friends outside church you will know that many people have religious beliefs that do not agree with ours. Is that any reason not to try and be friends and get to know them? There is a great deal of neo-pagan/new age and DIY religious beliefs out there, and yet still they are to be invited in. The Lord will meet them where they are, and we should open that door for them. Let people come and taste and see for themselves.

I do not for a minute expect everyone who comes to church to believe exactly what I believe. I hope that there are plenty here who are questioning hard in their own minds whether there is genuine truth here, and I thank God for the people who bring their friends and loved ones, because that is all any of us can do. It is then up to the Lord to encounter people where they are at, not where we think they should be.

You see the final outcome to this story is that the woman goes back to her own people, not with answers but with questions. Jesus has intrigued has and made her think. Maybe, just maybe this is the one they’ve all been waiting for. She asks this question of everyone else and eventually they all come and see for themselves. The outcome is that Jesus is invited to stay for several more days and people from the town choose to follow him.

So I think that what this story teaches is not to expect the world to be clear-cut and easily divided into believers and unbelievers. There are those in the middle who express a belief in a Deity but are not yet really sure what that means. Our role as Christians is to be out there living amongst them in such a way as to be able to introduce them to Jesus. It’s not down to us to judge who is in and who is out. Our role is to welcome all. We shouldn’t say, ‘Come to church and get all the answers’, we should say, ‘Come and join us on our journey into faith.’

You see the truth is exactly as Jesus made clear: If we want to have a relationship with God which has the warmth and intimacy of a parent child relationship, then we will only be able to do that through Jesus himself. But we must be very cautious that we do not determine for others what their relationship with Christ should look like; that’s up to them and Jesus. Far too much Christianity seems to be based on keeping to a strict set of rules.

But Jesus was all about relationships, not rules, and as we live in relationship with him, so we will grow in wisdom and come to understand what is truly right or wrong. So can I encourage us all to pray more, and come and see me if you want some help in how to do that. As we get to know the Lord better, so we will become more like him and so people will see him revealed through us as we live lives that are based on love, not rules, and so we will be better equipped to meet people where they are, not where we think they should be. Amen.

Reference
J. Marsh, Saint John, Penguin. (Sorry, the book doesn't give a publication date, but this is one of the best books on John I've come across!)

Second Sunday Before Lent: worry...

2011-02-25T09:14:00.000Z

Readings
Romans 8:18-25
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Matthew 6:25-34
‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Address
At last spring seems to be on its way. I think everyone would acknowledge that we’ve had a difficult winter. It’s been colder than many of us can remember, and it’s taken its toll on the community. All of the clergy and local funeral directors have sadly had to cope with more deaths than we’ve had in this season for a long time, and I find that to provide me with some sobering thoughts.

One of the tasks that I have therefore had to do rather a lot more of over these last few months has been giving tributes at funerals. I believe that the main task of a funeral address is to begin the part of the grieving process that depends on our memories of the person.

The addresses that I give usually therefore carry a number of stories which requires listening carefully to both what’s being said, and what is meant. There is a need to capture something of the best parts of a person, but we don’t always get this right. There is a story of a vicar who went to visit a grieving family and, since he’d never met the person who had died, began by asking them about him.

“Well”, they said, “he was a miserable old so-and-so really”. They went on to paint a not terribly complimentary picture of the deceased. This particular vicar rather took them at their word and he began his funeral address by saying, “Well, as you all know, he was a miserable old so-and-so.” Perhaps it wasn’t all that surprising that it really rather backfired on him because, whatever we think about someone when they’re alive, once they’ve gone what we really want is to remember their best parts.

But what if... What if all of our eulogies had to be absolutely honest? What if that vicar’s model of beginning by saying how miserable the deceased was because it was the truth became the norm? What would actually be said about us? So that got me to thinking about this and what mine would say, and I’m willing to bet that there is one line that pretty much everyone of us would also have.

Mine might say something like:
“He ran around a lot, always looking busy and trying to look like he at least had some inkling of what he was doing, but he might have achieved more if he wasn’t so worried about what people thought of him or whether he was going to get everything done. He would certainly have been a much happier person and far easier to live with if he could only have seen each day for its merits rather than being so worried about what was going to happen six months down the line. He never really learnt to enjoy each day.”

Have you ever wondered what your eulogies might say? I bet that for most of us there would be a line there similar to mine, ‘If only he or she had stopped worrying, they would have enjoyed life so much more.’

I believe that one of the biggest problems facing us as Christians is worrying. It saps our energy, keeps us up all night, and has the potential to make us very ill. Anxiety can lead to long term treatment for depression and the potential for drug or alcohol abuse when it gets out of hand,
but even just what we might think of as ordinary low-level worrying reduces our ability to enjoy life.

So why then do we actually worry? I suspect that there is a very good reason why worry evolved in the first place. It seems to me that, if worry remains as controlled concern, it is a way of turning possible events over in our minds until we find a solution to what looks to be a potential problem. It may well originally have been a form of problem solving.

Some of you may have had that experience of going to bed with a problem, sleeping on it (not worrying about it) and waking up with the solution. Our unconscious mind has this remarkable ability to work away at a problem when we’re not aware of it, and then feed us the answer when it’s figured it out. This is a perfectly natural human gift and a way of making decisions. But worrying is not helpful and I think there are three reasons why.

Firstly, worrying paralyses us. When we can see a problem coming, if we worry about it, absolutely nothing is achieved. Worry is a symptom of our psychological systems not working like they’re supposed to. It’s meant to be that a problem presents itself, you prayerfully look at it from all the available perspectives, you find the best solution available, possibly by sleeping on it, and then you act on it. Either the problem is solved or it isn’t.

But worrying persistently impedes that process. Instead of finding a solution we go into this spiralling loop that drives us ever deeper into despair because instead of looking at just the original problem, we start imagining all sorts of new scenarios that need yet more possible solutions which conjure up new problems that set us off on a new train of worry. It’s like a negative feedback loop that stops us in our tracks.

A few months ago it became apparent that someone, probably the American secret services, planted a computer virus in the Iranian nuclear facilities. In order to enrich uranium for potential weapons use they have to centrifuge it at ultra-high speed. The computer virus told the centrifuges to accelerate, to just keep speeding up, faster and faster, until they destroyed themselves by spinning at rates way above their design spec.

That’s a good metaphor for what worry does to us. We psychologically spin faster and faster, completely paralysed, until we collapse. Worry makes us exceed our design specifications. So that’s the first reason why worry is bad for us, because it paralyses us, and ultimately it breaks us.

The second reason is a little darker. Worrying is a symptom of us wanting to be in control. Why is it that we get into these mental causal loops that paralyse us? It’s because we’re imagining every possible scenario in order to maximise the possibility of bringing about our own desired outcome. We’re probably being selfish.

In other words we desire that our own will is what is done, so we examine all the alternatives so that we can figure out what actions we need to do to maximise the potential for getting our own way. Need I remind you that one of the prayers Jesus taught us includes the words addressed to God, ‘Your will be done...’ So as well as paralysing us, worry is symptomatic of us wanting to wrest control away from God, which leads to the third problem with worry.

Worrying is a sign that we are not trusting God. Now I know and firmly believe that we live in a freewill universe. I know that things can go wrong because God does not treat us like robots and the universe is not a wind-up toy, it’s a place into which chance and causation are intimately interwoven.

That means that there is space for joy and sorrow because you need real freedom for there to be real love that chooses to respond to God rather than love that has no choice because it’s programmed in. We can’t alter what happens by worrying about it, and the very act of persistent worrying suggests that we don’t trust God to bring about the best outcome possible given a series of events in our lives.

So worry paralyses us, it’s symptomatic of us wanting to take control from God and it indicates that our prayer lives are not deep enough to allow us to believe that God is with us and that we can trust him.

I think that’s why worrying is such a target for Jesus. Have you ever wondered about how happy he himself might have been? He’s often referred to as a man of sorrows, but is that altogether fair? He plainly knew that he was going to die for his people at some point, yet it didn’t exactly seem to paralyse him and stop him from eating and drinking and having a good time, something that the religious authorities criticised him for.

So we can only assume that the reason worrying became such a target is because he didn’t worry, but he could see how life-denying worry is. Don’t forget that in John’s Gospel Jesus said, ‘I came that they should have life, and have it in all its fullness.’ Jesus is wanting to set us free from worrying because when we stop worrying we begin to live again.

And this is also true for us as a church, as we consider our work over the last twelve months and look to what will happen in 2011. I am not for a moment saying that we shouldn’t plan. Nor am I saying that we shouldn’t be financially concerned by the way we still have to rely on random donations and legacies in order to make ends meet because we’re not giving sacrificially enough to actually run the church.

But there’s no point in worrying about it. Instead we find the antidote in the epistle where St. Paul writes, “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

So I can tell you that everyone needs to consider whether they can increase their giving, but you either will or you won’t. If you don’t we’ll have to do less, but I hope you will increase your giving. Likewise, and more importantly, I can go on telling you that we all need to be more committed in prayer to our mission as a church, so that we grow in discipleship and can do a better job of meeting the needs of the people in our community.

You will either listen to me and engage more deeply with God and we will grow as God honours our prayers, or you won’t and we’ll shrivel. So I won’t worry, but I will pray, and I will hope that you will all spend more and more time in prayer as well. Growing in our relationships with God will open the way for us to grow as Christians and grow as a church.

And there’s no point in us worrying about the future of our church. We will either sustain our mission by working and praying, trusting God and growing, or we won’t. But I will hope that this church becomes a steadily brighter beacon shining in this place. Worry paralyses us but hope motivates us. Hope is the answer. So how do we let go of worry?

Well let me finish with some words from Mary Crowley, “Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway.”
Amen