Sermon Scripts

Sunday 19 February 2012 - God's Upside-Down Transfiguration

2012-02-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

The Gospel text is Mark 9:2-13. This sermon was preached at a contemporary service of Holy Communion for a mixed-aged Midwestern congregation.

The Problem of Pain

Probably one of the biggest theologicalchallenges that a hospital chaplain faces is answering the question “Why do badthings happen to good people?

As you might think, most people don’t getangry at God when they end up in the hospital with conditions that are relatedto behaviors that they’ve been warned about.

The other day, I was talking with a womanwho had just had a very serious operation that was a direct consequence of herneglecting to follow her doctor’s instructions regarding her diabetes. So we talked about her being compliantwith her diabetes regimen and how taking care of her diet and medication was aspiritual as well as a behavioral issue.

In my experience, people will illnessesrelated to their own bad habits don’t usually blame God for putting them in thehospital. The vast majority of the time, such individuals are asking God for achance at forgiveness and at repentance – for a chance to change their ways.

As you might expect, the real theologicalchallenges come with people who have had unexpected accidents or situationslike new parents whose babies have been born with severe medical issues.

I remember last winter, the parents of athirty-something young man who contracted the H1 N1 virus (remember that one?)and died within days of getting the ‘flu. They wanted to know why God had taken their son who was a good man, agood husband and a loving father.

Or the 25-year old new mother with whom Isat crying in the Neo-natal ICU last January. She asked me why God would allow her baby develop in herwomb in such a way that he had no chance to live a productive life. I had totell her that I didn’t have an answer and that I didn’t really know.

I’ve heard the sorts of theological answersthat people have given for why bad things happen.

I couldn’t in good conscience tell her thather baby was born without a chance of life because sin had entered the worldthrough Adam and Eve. I don’tbelieve that.

And I couldn’t say to her “Well, we can’tunderstand everything that God does but we believe that whatever God does isalways for the best.” I don’t believe that it was for the best that her childwas born with no hope for getting to his first birthday.

But the one that I could do was sit therewith her and hold her and let her cry.

She turned to me and said “How am Isupposed to hold on to my faith?”

I said the honest thing that came to mymind: “I don’t know.”

And then I “heard” another answer in mymind and I said it out loud: “Maybe this is one of those situations where youhave to let your faith hold on to you rather than you trying to hold on to yourfaith.” She looked at mestrangely, but then seemed to understand what I was saying and she nodded herhead.

The problem of pain is called “theodicy”and it’s one of our most difficult theological questions. Humanity has been wrestling with thisissue since we became conscious beings and I don’t personally think there is aneat answer.

Here’s what I believe. I believe that sometimes bad thingshappen that are not the consequence of human behavior and which we simply can’texplain with a simple philosophy or theology of cause-and-effect.

And, when such things happen, I believethat God is right there with us, present in the mess with us and weeping withus. From my experience in the hospital, I personally believe that God is therewhen we are unaware of God’s presence and even when we don’t believe that Godis there.

The Problem with The Problem of Pain

But I also think that there is a problemwith the problem of pain. And the problem with the problem of pain is thinkingthat life is supposed to unfold the way we want it to unfold, and that when itdoesn’t, that we have a legitimate grievance against God.

I could blame this viewpoint on modernsociety, but that wouldn’t be accurate. Buried deep in the human psyche is theconviction that if I am a good person, I deserve to get good things.

Most societies down through the ages(including ours, I think) and many religions have a simple answer for theproblem of pain.

That simple answer is that if something badhappens to you or your family, it’s because you deserve it. Either the person afflictedwith the pain did something bad to deserve their tragedy, or someone close tothem did.

In this simple philosophy, the oppositebelief also holds true: If I ampowerful, successful and/or rich, it’s because I am a good person and becausethe gods are rewarding me for being good. We see this all throughouthistory: emperors, kings andaristocrats are regarded as having been appointed by God and serfs and peasantsare regarded as slaves and/or cannon fodder.

In Scripture, we also see people whoexhibit this idea that “God blesses the good people and curses bad people”. Wesee it in Job, and we see it when Jesus has to tell people that the man bornblind was not being punished for his sins, nor were the people who died when atower collapsed.

The Upside Down Transfiguration

By now, I’ll bet you’re trying to figureout what any of this has to do with the Transfiguration.

Well, I think that there are two ways thatwe can interpret this story: wecan interpret it in a Gospel way, or we can interpret it in the worldly way.

Before we get to the Transfigurationitself, I want to quickly point out what was going on in the Gospel of Markbefore Jesus and the three disciples went up the mountain.

In Mark 8:27,28, Jesus asks his disciples“Who do people say the son of man is?” Anyone here sing in the Easter Cantatalast year? (Some say you are Elijah, some say you are a prophet.)

Then, in verse 29, Jesus asks Peter who hethinks Jesus is. (The Messiah)

The scene then switches and in verses 31& 32, Jesus tells the disciples that the Messiah will be rejected by thereligious leaders, be killed and then rise again after three days. Peterrebukes Jesus at the end of verse 32, and Jesus responds in verse 33 with hisrebuke to Peter, telling Peter that his view of The Messiah is the human way ofseeing things rather than the divine way of seeing things.

And then we get to the story about theTransfiguration.

Now, the Transfiguration is undoubtedly anEpiphany. In Christian theology,an “epiphany” is when Jesus is revealed for who he truly is.

Some may say that Jesus is Elijah or aprophet, but here we have Jesus revealed as The Messiah. On the mountain-top,like Moses receiving the ten commandments, Jesus’ very being glows with thepresence of God and he is revealed as clearly separate from and greater thanthe two greatest men in Jewish history.

The Transfiguration is very clearly aforetaste of glory divine. If no-one else is aware of it yet, on thatmountain-top Peter, James and John are let into the secret that The Messiah hasindeed come to Israel and that the Savior is present among them.

The only problem is that Peter (as well asJames and John) has still got his mind set on human things rather than ondivine things. In other words, Peter is still seeing this magnificent eventthrough his own perspective that anyone who is blessed by God will be sparedsuffering and will receive absolute glory.

As Charlie Sheen might put it, Peter stillthinks that being The Messiah is about “Winning, stupid.”

And this Transfiguration is just the kindof “winning” that Peter had imagined. Peter does what all of us would want todo: He sees this perfect scene of (what he believes to be) the great menreigning in triumph and he wants to pitch a tent and stay there forever.

That’s the worldly fantasy, isn’t it? The hero kills the bad guys, puts thegood guys into power, and we all live in this good kingdom happily ever after.

Except that Jesus has been repeatedlytelling his disciples that “it” – his mission – is not about “Winning, stupid”but about dying and rising again.

The Good News of Jesus’ Death

Well, that certainly puts a damper onthings!

I’ve managed to take what looks – at firstglance – like a complete triumph and change it into something kind ofdepressing.

Where is the Good News in theTransfiguration if the shadow of Jesus coming death – his coming murder – islurking in the background?

That, of course, is what is called thescandal of the cross. It’s thescandal that the Messiah didn’t kill all his enemies but instead sacrificed hisown life at the height of his political and physical power. And, who couldpossibly see that as Good News?

Well, I personally think that the parentsof the 30-something young man who died from H1N1 can see it as good news andtake heart from it.

And the mother of the baby who will neverlive to his first birthday can let her church’s faith in the Gospel keep her,because they know that the Trinity understands personally what it means tosuffer and to die in a way that the world deems to be meaningless.

By becoming incarnate in the human form ofJesus, God demonstrates the dignity that has been endowed in us by our Creator.Because the God revealed to us by Jesus is not a God who sits triumphantly inheaven watching our lives with Spock-like detached interest, never gettingdivine hands dirty in all the mess of being human.

In Jesus, God gets down in the mess with us– Jesus accompanies us – in the chaos and confusion of what it means to behuman. This Son of God accompanies us to the point of experiencing our sins andeven undergoing death.

Please don’t think I’m looking at thisstory of the Transfiguration – which is clearly a story of triumph – and sayingthat there is no victory in it. BecauseI think that there is great victory in it.

Not the least because Jesus keeps tellingthe faithful over and over again – and he demonstrates throughout his life -that God is present in events that the world sees as meaningless. And Jesus demonstrates that God’sblessing is upon people who the world sees a useless waste of space.

After all, what good is a God whose onlymessage to us is “Nothing succeeds like success”? To paraphrase Jesus, thesuccessful already have their reward.

The Transfiguration is a sign of God’s sortof victory rather than the human (Charlie Sheen) version of victory.

Walk with Jesus in Confidence

What an appropriate text, then, for theSunday before Lent.

Jesus takes his friends up the mountainwith him and they can see that, even though Jesus must suffer and die, thatnonetheless there is divine triumph and victory on this mountain-top.

What will look like the sort of defeat thatconfirms to human values that Jesus most certainly cannot be the Messiah, willin fact be God’s victory over sin, death and the power of evil (to quote MartinLuther).

Although the problem of pain will always bewith us, our faith witnesses to us that we can trust that God is always with usand that we can allow our faith to hold us in times of darkness.

As we come before the Lord’s table thismorning, I pray that we will first be able to go up the mountain with Peter,James and John and experience a little bit of that assurance that they musthave felt that God knows what God is doing. And then may we take thatconfidence with us, and come back down the mountain secure in the knowledgethat the risen Jesus is always walking with us and sharing table fellowshipwith us.

Amen

Wednesday June 20, 2011 - Great is Thy Faithfulness

2011-07-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

The context for this sermon is an ecumenical Christian service of the word in the chapel of a large, high-acuity teaching hospital.

The Scripture is: Genesis 12:1-9

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Risk-taking faith

Today’s reading from Genesis is the story of the call of Abram and Sarai But, in pulling the story out of the bible as we do when we use passages for worship, we’re missing something important in this story. And that important thing is the context.

And I want to begin today’s reflection by reminding you of the context. Because this story of Abram’s and Sarai’s calling starts very abruptly with the words “God said to Abram, Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your parents’ house to a land that I will show you.” In the narrative as it’s presented in Genesis, there isn’t any preliminary build-up to this story.

Directly before God calls Abram and Sarai, we have the story of the Tower of Babel, Then a list of the descendents of Shem, of whom Abram is one of those descendents.

We have no other background information about Abram other than this genealogy. And, of course, we have no information about Sarai other than that she is Abram’s wife. And we have no previous information about Abram’s relationship with God, either. All we know is that, suddenly, God appears and tells Abram to get up and go from his parents’ house to an unknown land.

And I think that, because we are so used to hearing the story of Abram and his relationship with God and we know the end of the story…and because this verse is written poetically, it all sounds great and good and positive.

“Wow! God is going to make Abram and Sarai the Patriarch and Matriarch of God’s chosen people! Fantastic! Lucky Abram! Lucky Sarai”

But what would happen if we heard the story of today’s reading something like this: (Please excuse a bit of literary license)

"Suddenly, Abram heard a voice that he had never heard before claiming to be the God of all creation. He was afraid and thought he might be going crazy.

And the voice said to him, “You and your wife have got a pretty nice life here among your people, don’t you? You know everyone, your parents are here and life is pretty good, except that you have no children.

But if you and Sarai want to have children, if you want to leave behind your state of barrenness, you both are going to have to leave this land and this comfortable life and go to an unknown place that I’m going to direct you to.

I will give you descendents who will eventually become a great people. But you will also eventually despair of having an heir and you’re going to have to trust me on this one.

I will make your name great and your descendents will be a blessing to the world, but you personally won’t see any of the greatest blessings that I’m going to give them and you’re going to have to trust me on this one.

I will curse those who curse you, but the vindication you desire isn’t going to come in your lifetime and you’re going to have to trust me on this one.”

If we read the text in this way, it takes on a whole different slant. We see Abram and Sarai not as some lucky lottery winners who were unexpectedly and inexplicably given a jackpot. Rather, we see them as risk-takers who trusted in God. And we also see that some might call them fools. Maybe we would call someone a fool who behaves as Abram and Sarai did.

Call and Response

There is an ironic twist to this story because if Abram and Sarai stay in the safety of all that is familiar they will remain barren. In order to bear children and become the parents of God’s Chosen People, they have to step outside their comfort zone and take a risk in their old age.

If you wanted to translate this story into 21st century America, I could see one rendition of it where there is a con-artist somewhere in the background hoping to take advantage of a couple of senior citizens who she hopes might be befuddled.

After all, who ever heard of a couple starting a great dynasty when the woman is 65 and the man 75? And those who are familiar with Scripture know that Sarah (as she will then be known) won’t get pregnant until her 90th year.

Abram and Sarai are being called to abandon their families of origin, to renounce their former way of life and to set out on a journey that will be physically dangerous and to aim for a future that is logically impossible. But unless they take a risk and step out in faith, they will not bear fruit. God initiates the promise that God makes to them, but the choice as to whether or not to act on God’s promise is up to them.

And for me as a Methodist, that’s a great metaphor for what a life of faith is all about: God initiates and human beings respond to God’s plan. The life of faith, although initiated by God, is always a two-way street that requires the participation of both parties. True faith is not a matter of “cheap grace” where we accuse anyone who responds to God’s plan and calling as trying to earn God’s favor by human works.

Rather, faith acknowledges that everything in life is a gift from God, and that these gifts are given to us out of love in order that we might respond to them.

At the end of the day, faith is call-and-response. God calls and we respond.

God is Faithful

So - the story tells us - Abram and Sarai set out for the land of Canaan.

They set out in order that their descendents should become God’s chosen people……so that all nations and races and peoples would be blessed by them, and would be blessed as they were blessed.

But, for me, the most amazing and difficult part of this faith-journey was that neither Abram nor Sarai were going to live to see the fulfilling of the promise that God made to them. They were not going to see their descendents become a great nation. They were not going to see Isaac give birth to Jacob who was to become Israel and the father of God’s Chosen People through whom all peoples of the earth would be blessed.

At the end of the journey, at the end of their lives, Abraham and Sarah were still walking by faith rather than by sight. By rights, each of them could have gone to their grave saying something like: “God gave us something but God didn’t give us what we had been promised.”

But those of us who know the entire story know that God did, in fact, fulfill the promise made to Abram and Sarai. God remained faithful to Abraham and Sarah (as they would become), and through them to the people of Israel and through them, God remained faithful to all of humanity.

Even though Abraham and Sarah didn’t live to perceive the fulfillment of the blessing, it doesn’t diminish the fact that God came through as promised.

By responding to God’s call, Abram and Sarai stepped out of their barrenness and into a new future. And I find that both an inspiration and a challenge. Because it’s not always easy to have that kind of faith. It’s not always easy to trust in God’s faithfulness when events do not unfold as we expect and maybe when it even looks like God didn’t fulfill the promises that were made. It’s easy enough to say the words “God has the situation mapped out” but it’s not always easy to walk into the future when you feel that God has not given you a glimpse of that map.

And so, to encourage one another, we tell stories like this one of God’s faithfulness in the past and we remind each other that God continues to be faithful to us today. As people of faith, we remember that – as the author of Hebrews said – “we desire a better country”. Not just in “heaven” but also in the here and now.

Conclusion

For me, it is Good News that God is faithful and keeps God’s promises, even if I can’t perceive right now that those promises are being kept.

For me, it is Good News that other people of faith struggle with difficulties along their journey with God.

And for me, it is Good News that, as we step out in faith, that we are in a very real sense co-creators with God in the divine unfolding of history.

As we go from this place, I pray that the God of Abram and Sarai will bless each one of us as we take those initial steps out of our barren places into the unfolding of God’s creative endeavor.

I pray that we will be able to encourage other people of faith and to be encouraged by them.

And I pray that, whether or not we see the final result of God’s blessing on our lives that we will nevertheless be able to embrace God’s mysterious peace which surpasses all of our own human understanding. May the peace of God be with us always. Amen

Sunday May 8 2011 - God With Us in the Journey

2011-05-07T07:23:00.000-07:00

The context for this sermon is an ecumenical Christian service of the word in the chapel of a large, high-acuity teaching hospital.

The text is Luke 24:13-31.

I have used some ideas from the following websites in this sermon:
* Working Preacher
* Beatitudes Society

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Introduction

Cleopas and his companion are in shock.

They didn’t go to Jerusalem just because they were curious onlookers who heard about Jesus and the controversy that surrounded him. And they didn’t go there to see the equivalent of a first century soap opera: to see whether Jesus would make a play for power this Passover or to see how the Roman Empire would respond to him.

Cleopas and his companion were disciples of Jesus. Obviously, they were not part of the closest twelve disciples, but they were disciples nonetheless. Jesus was their Rabbi, their teacher and their Messiah. They believed in him.

They went to Jerusalem because they believed him when he said that the Messiah had to die but would rise again in three days. And so they stayed in Jerusalem and they waited for the resurrection. They waited for the resurrection that the women witnessed in the verses just prior to this story, but somehow they missed it.

The passage tells us that on the very same day that the women witnessed the empty tomb, that Cleopas and his companion started their journey back to Emmaus convinced that their hope had been in vain.

And, as they made their way back to Emmaus from Jerusalem, they were in shock and in mourning. They had had so many hopes and dreams and now all of these were shattered. Jesus had not risen from the tomb. Jesus was dead, and all the hopes and dreams that they had invested in him were dead too.

Everything that they had hoped that he would do for them was dead. They had lost Jesus and any living relationship that they had hoped to have with him in the future had also disappeared.

Like everyone who loses a loved one, Cleopas and his companion were in shock. Their world had been turned upside down and they didn’t know what to do.

How ironic, then, that when Jesus appears in their midst, their souls are so clouded with shock and pain and mourning that they don’t recognize him. In fact, they tell him: “You must be the only person in the entire city of Jerusalem who doesn’t know what’s going on!” They think that it’s Jesus who is clueless about reality when, in fact, it is they who are temporarily blind. They believe that God is dead when, in fact, God is walking with them right at that very moment.

Where is God in All of This?

Reading this story in this way made me chuckle a bit to myself because I do this too:

God can be right there with me in my journey and I don’t recognize the divine presence. God can be right there relating to me, trying to communicate, trying to teach me and show me the truth, and I don’t recognize it.

I say that I believe that God is present in every situation, but like a lot of people, I only partly believe it. Now there are times when I recognize God in the middle of my messes. But, like Cleopas and his companion, there are also times when it is only after the event that I realize that God was there all along.

And one of the things that I find comforting about this passage is that Jesus doesn’t get fed up. He’s walking and walking with these two men for a few hours and they are telling them about their lost hopes and dreams. They are telling him about how God was not present in the events of Holy Week and Easter after all.

But Jesus doesn’t walk away. He doesn’t get fed up. He doesn’t throw up his hands and declare: “Well, if they can’t see me standing in front of them, why am I even bothering?” Jesus just keeps walking with them.

Jesus also doesn’t get annoyed with them because they are grieving and in shock and in pain. Jesus doesn’t run away from their pain and their grief. He just stays with them. He accepts them as they are and doesn’t abandon them because it would be a lot easier emotionally to make the journey on his own.

Jesus just sticks with them and keeps on walking.

If this story is anything to go by, God continues to walk with us during our times of challenge and isn’t all that easily put off.

It can happen that during difficult times we ask ourselves the question “Where is God in all of this?”. This story suggests to me that the answer is that God is right here. Just like the story of the footprints in the sand: we think that God has abandoned us when, in fact, God is the only thing that is keeping us going.

We Had Hoped

The other aspect of the story that touched my soul was when Cleopas and his companion outlined to this presumed stranger their failed hope “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”

Because all of us also have failed hopes:
•“We had hoped that that this would be the doctor who could help our loved one recover.”
•“He had hoped that she would call.”
•“They had hoped that their son would come back from Iraq.”
•“We had hoped that this was going to be the company that would hire him.”
•“We had hoped that our child would be born healthy.”

But the stranger interrupts the travelers’ litany of grief and despair and he demonstrates to them that there is a bigger picture. He shows them that this story of Jesus is part of an ancient story of God’s saving action in the world.

God’s story is woven into the story of humanity. Jesus helps them to see that there is another way to look at this story.

The disciples had hoped that Jesus would be the one to redeem Israel but they had hoped for the kind of victory that the world understands. And they were still hoping for that kind of victory, for that kind of resurrection.

On this first day of Easter, it was still way too early for these disciples to understand that God was offering them a completely different sort of redemption than the one that they expected.

God is With Us

I love this story because it is a story of God’s presence with us in all the aspects of a life of faith.

It’s a story of God’s presence with us in the breaking of the bread: God is with us in the ordinary things of life and God is with us when we gather as a Church community at the Lord’s Supper.

But it’s also a story of God with us in our faith journey: God with us when we don’t recognize God’s presence. God’s sticking with us when we are in shock, in grief, when we are confused and even when we presume to lecture God incorrectly about what God is all about!

This story is certainly a story of the assurance of God’s persistence in being present with us.

But there is also a lesson in the story: if we look around and we don’t see God, maybe we need to look again and shift our own preconceptions of where God might be.

My prayer for all of us this morning is that, as we go through this week, we will know the assurance of God’s presence and, carrying that faith with us, that we will look for God even in the most unlikely of places.

Amen

Friday April 22 2011 - My Lord My God is Crucified

2011-04-22T05:46:00.000-07:00

The context of this service is an ecumenical Good Friday service in the Chapel of a large teaching hospital.

The texts are John 18 - 19

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People

It was the people in this story that struck me as I read the text. All the different kinds of people – a whole cast of characters – with a wide range of motivations.

First we have the groups of people:
The disciples, Jesus’ closest twelve.
The Roman soldiers.
The courts of the High Priest and Pilate.
The common people lurking in the High Priest’s courtyard.
The spectators on Good Friday come for a good execution and a bit of entertainment just as people have done from time immemorial.

And then we have the individuals, too many to list now:
Jesus, of course.
Judas, the disciple and the betrayer.
Peter, who is disciple, defender AND betrayer.
And Annas (the High Priest) and Pilate. So-called “leaders” who don’t seem to be doing a lot of leading.

I don’t know about you, but as a child I was taught to read all of these events as things that happened because Jesus needed to die for my sins. So, as I sat in church on Good Friday hearing these stories, there was a kind of inevitability about it all. In the same way that I knew how the story about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs turned out, I knew the story about Jesus praying in Gethsemane, judged by the High Priest and by Pilate and marched off to crucifixion.

It never really occurred to me that, in some very real sense, these events occurred because a number of people – both groups and individuals – made free choices. Free choices which led human beings to execute the Son of God. And as today’s reading reminded us, Jesus didn’t call down legions of angels to fight the legions of Caesar. He left the events of human history to the consequences of human actions.

Jesus died because an angry mob was looking for a scapegoat.
He died because the rulers of the subjugated people were frightened and thought it was better for one man to die than for the nation to suffer.
He died because the official representative of the Empire didn’t have the courage to do what he knew in his heart was right.
Yes, there is a sense in which all of this had to happen. Yes, he died for our sins, but he also died because of our sins.

The choices made by individuals over 2000 years ago killed Jesus. But I don’t think we’re off the hook. Unless any one of us can truly say that we would never be so frightened as to permit our government use individuals as scapegoats. That we would never give up one of our group in order that the group might survive. That we would never sacrifice another person on the altar of expediency. The human choices that were made by those individuals 2000 years ago are choices that we ourselves are very capable of making. And those choices killed Jesus.

Death

The other thing that struck me in reading this text was that it is a story about the death of a human being.

Of course, the Christian tradition affirms that Jesus was the Son of God, true God and true human being. But he was a human being. And I think that, historically, Christians have tended to forget this.

Often we tend to see Jesus as a kind of a Superhero, who shared all the qualities of God but was only masquerading as a human being. But the Passion story is also a story about a very human Jesus: a man who made sure that his mother would be looked after, a man who was thirsty, a man who looked death in the face and gave up his spirit.

And this particular human death reminded me of the deaths of other human beings that sadly happen here in the hospital, despite all the prayers and wishes of the people who love these individuals. Despite all the best efforts, choices and work by the medical staff here. Deaths that sadly sometimes happen despite all our best choices. And just like Jesus had all these different people surrounding him at the time of his death, so too do families often gather at the death of a loved one.

And that reminded me once again that, as a Christian, I believe in an incarnate God: a God who took on human form. Christianity does not tell us that we humans are a lower form of life who have to work very hard to rise up to the level of the divine. Christianity tells us that, by divine grace, God became embodied like us. Christianity tells us that, if we have seen Jesus, we have seen not only the invisible God but we have also seen who we are truly created to be as heirs to the New Creation.

Although the Christian church tends to talk about the Incarnation at Christmas, I think that here in this hospital we need the incarnate God – true God and true human – even more on Good Friday. When we see individuals facing times of pain, illness, trauma and death it’s good remind ourselves that God had a body. As human beings, we all need the Jesus who understood physical human suffering and who did not evade it.

This – embodied, suffering Christ – is The One who we need to be by our side when we are gravely ill and suffering. The embodied Christ is the One we need when we begin to wonder if God is so far off that God has no idea what we’re going through. On Good Friday, we are reminded that God became incarnate not just as a little baby but also as the Suffering Servant.

Conclusion

Today is Good Friday. I regret if you think I’ve spoken too much about death. Because, of course, we know the end of “The Jesus Story” and it’s not ultimately about death. The story of Jesus’ mission is ultimately about resurrection, about New Birth and New Life and a new Reign of God.

And Easter, of course, is the source of the sure and certain hope that we have in Christ.

But I do want to urge all of us not to jump too far ahead. As a devotion, let’s linger a bit at the events of Good Friday.

Let’s remember that human choices – the sort that we are all capable of making – put Jesus on the cross. And let’s remember to that Jesus also freely chose his suffering. A suffering which somehow unites God and humanity in a new and lasting coventental relationship. But a suffering that Jesus chose because of his deep and abiding faith that, ultimately in the final analysis, death does not dwell where God dwells.

This is the ultimate source of the Christian hope. This is the hope of Good Friday that points us toward the hope of Easter Sunday.

As we commemorate the death of Jesus this afternoon, I pray that the hope that we have in the embodied, crucified and resurrected Jesus will be with us all. Amen

Sunday 30 May 2010 - The Servant King

2010-05-30T17:11:00.001-07:00

I was asked to supply-preach this morning on the general subject of "Memorial Day". I chose to use the assigned Epistle reading from the lectionary, Romans 5:1-11 but I departed from the lectionary for the Gospel reading and chose the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet from John: John 13:1-9

Introduction

I’d like you to imagine with me a screenplay for a television movie.

The main character in my imaginary movie is a CIA agent who I’ll call Josh. Josh has spent the last three years working on a case that is very important to the security of the United States. He’s been hot on the trail of a terrorist cell and he’s just managed to uncover a major attack that is about to go down in one of the biggest cities in the US. Josh has just found out the time and the place for this attack and he’s even found out who is responsible for its planning. Furthermore, Josh knows that the terrorist group is on to him and that they are sending operatives to kill him.

And then, the movie switches scenes. Josh is at home. Knowing that a group of thugs has been sent to assassinate him in the next few hours before the CIA can put effective protection into place, Josh has chosen to go home to his family of twelve sons.

And what does he do? Does he pack his bags quickly and tell his sons that their lives are in danger and that they should leave immediately? No.

Instead, he prepares and shares a lavish meal with them. He tells them to remember him and to always do what is right and that, if they do, they will find that he is always with them. All of this takes hours. It’s not even a rushed meal before a quick get-away. It’s a proper, lavish, sit-down meal. Then he tells each son that, before he goes, he’s going to spend some time with each one of them, leaving each son with a with a personal memory of him because they will probably never see him again. As Josh speaks first to one son and then another, he also washes that son’s feet.

And while each one-on-one conversation is going on, Josh’s sons get more and more panic stricken. “The terrorists are after him! It’s been something like six hours now since he found out they were coming for him! Why doesn’t he leave the house? Does he want to get killed?”

In the final scene of my screen-play, the terrorists burst into the house, take Josh away, try him and execute him. Josh dies and the movie ends.

I wonder if anyone here thinks I’d have a chance of selling this screenplay to a network? Don’t worry, I don’t think that I’d have much of a chance, either.

The story is weird.

Normally, we expect our heroes to get the bad-guy. Or, if they don’t get the bad-guy, we expect the failure in the story to point to some kind of deeper meaning. Even if the meaning is something like the futility of trying to do what’s right or the difficulty of human existence, we want some kind of meaning.

But this story seems, frankly, stupid. If I submitted it as a screen-play to a Hollywood producer, I suspect that the reaction would be “Another illiterate wannabe writer who can’t even tell a coherent story.”

So why did I tell you this story this morning? Because I wanted to try to replicate how stupid and incoherent the story of Jesus’ death would have sounded to most people in his time. For them, as for us - when we are not hearing a story that has already been interpreted for us by 2000 years of Christian tradition - saviors are heroes. Saviors are people who win battles, they are not people who lose. Saviors are people who wield power for good, not people who intentionally give up power and who try to win their battles by serving others. And most of all, savior-heroes do not walk willingly to their deaths.

There are numerous examples in the various Gospels of Jesus demonstrating an approach to power that is very different from the “worldly” view of power. When the disciples argued amongst themselves about who would be the greatest, Jesus told them that it was the least of this world who would be first in his Kingdom. When Jesus, Peter, James and John met Moses and Elijah on the mountain at the Transfiguration, Peter wanted to stay in that powerful and exalted place, but Jesus sent the disciples back down the mountain to serve his people. When the Roman soldiers were coming to get him, Jesus chose service over his own life. Not just the service of the Last Supper or the foot washing or his teaching, but the service of crucifixion.

From God’s perspective, there is something about service that is important to the story of salvation.

God Serves Us

The title of this sermon is “The Servant King” so you might have expected a sermon about how Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, how he served them in the hours before his crucifixion and how we should serve others too. Those are good ideas and I agree with all of them!

And tomorrow is Memorial Day, when we remember those who died in service to their country. So you could also have expected a sermon calling to mind our gratitude for the very real sacrifices made by everyone who has ever given up their life in service to their country. That’s also a good idea, which I agree with wholeheartedly, too!

But it seems to me that if Jesus the Messiah, King of King and Lord of Lords, was willing to be the Servant King, that there must be something in the idea of “service” that is central to who God is. There must be something in the concept of “service” that is central to the Gospel and to his Kingdom.

This morning’s reading from Romans brings home this idea when it says, in effect, that most people would find it difficult at crunch-time to die for someone within their own family or their own circle but that God was willing to die even for those who are outside his circle, for those who don’t know him, in order to give them the possibility of reconciliation with him.

So the first thing I want to do is to remind you that, in Christ the Servant King, God has served us. Hopefully, this isn’t a new piece of information for any of us. But sometimes we need to stop and meditate on the things we already know in order to carry the benefits forward into our daily lives.

In Christ the Servant King, God served us. When you stop to think about that, that’s really an awesome and amazing thing!

Martin Luther said that Jesus ultimate service to us was to gain victory over sin, death and the power of evil. Jesus conquered death not by destroying it with force, but rather by facing death. He conquered death by going through it and coming out the other side. In doing this, Jesus trusted that the character of God the Father was a character of Resurrection and Creation rather than a character of death and destruction and that resurrection would be the ultimate outcome of his death.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews uses the analogy of Jesus as a pioneer of salvation: Jesus forged the way through death to resurrection and, by making a path for us, made resurrection, salvation and reconciliation with God possible for us too.

Jesus served us. God serves us. The One who existed before the beginning of time who created everything out of nothing. the one who knew us in our mother’s womb who intentionally created me, who intentionally created you…He serves us.

For me, what is even more mind-boggling about the fact that Jesus died and rose again for me is that God wanted to do this. And if the Gospel of John is to be believed (John 1), God wanted to do this before the beginning of time.

So my first piece of good news this morning is: “God serves us”.

Service is Costly

But the thing about service is that it is costly.

Those who know me know that, for the last ten years or so, I’ve enjoyed discussing Christian theology on the internet. One of my internet acquaintances is a man who just retired this year after many years serving as a Chaplain in the British army. He told me that currently those people who are serving in the British armed forces are the most decorated soldiers since the Second World War.
And he was quick to emphasize that the British army has not “dumbed down” its service metals: these men and women are the most decorated soldiers since the second world war because they have faced the most harrowing combat situations since that time.

Now obviously, the US experience since WWII is somewhat different than Britain’s but I doubt that the combat conditions for current American soldiers is significantly different than for the British forces. I suspect that many of us may know of at least one person who has been deployed to a combat zone at least two or three times. And while many of us probably have a vague idea of what kind of a sacrifice this sort of experience must be, I suspect that those of us who haven’t had it probably can’t even begin to appreciate the enormity of it.

In the same way, I doubt that we can truly appreciate the enormity of God’s suffering as he reached out to reconcile us to him through Jesus.

And I also doubt that we appreciate how costly the sins of humanity continue to be to God as works through his faithful people to bring his Kingdom to fruition.
I believe that God works continually to bring justice and truth into the world, and that when God focuses on justice, his focus is restorative rather than punitive. God is not interested in bringing about the Kingdom by punishment, but rather in bringing about the Kingdom through restoration of those people and situations that have gone wrong.

But justice through restoration is far more costly than justice through punishment. Restorative justice requires forgiveness on the part of the one who is wronged and it requires the one who is wronged to let go.

The cost of restorative justice is borne by the one who is wronged, which is why many people will object that restorative justice is not justice at all.

And, believe me, I do not say this glibly or lightly. My purpose here is not to lightly tell you to forgive someone who has done a gross injustice to you or to suggest that it is an easy thing to do. My purpose here is rather to underline the pain, the difficulty and the costliness of coming to the point of being able to extend such enormous forgiveness. And when you can extend that forgiveness – IF you can – it is the ultimate service to the one who has wronged you as well as to others around you. It is the ultimate act of grace. And the person who you forgive is free and so are you.

That kind of difficult and costly forgiveness is what God does for us. As individual human beings and as societies, it often seems that we humans are engaged in an all-out effort to mess up God’s efforts to bring about his Kingdom. (That effort we put into messing up the coming of God’s Kingdom is called “sin”)

But, because of the service that Christ rendered on the cross, God forgives us over and over. Over and over, God takes us back into relationship with him.

And all of that is costly. My second point: Service is costly

Service builds Relationships

But it is ultimately the costly service that Christ rendered to humanity that makes a relationship between us and God possible. And it’s Christ’s service that also makes it possible for us to build relationships with each other.

That’s my third point for this morning: service builds relationships and so service is ultimately redemptive and restorative.

In serving us by dying and rising again, Jesus made it possible for all human beings to have a relationship with God. In ways that we don’t fully understand and never will this side of eternity, Jesus’ death reconciled us with God. His death forged the existence of forgiveness, reconciliation and a deep peace (Shalom) into the very fabric of creation.

As Christians, we believe that having a relationship with God in Christ is fundamental to being a Christian. And we also proclaim the Good News that God wants to have a relationship with every person who he ever created. And I think it is also logical to assume that God wants us to be connected in relationship to each other – to other human beings - as well as to him.

And service, I think it might be argued, is the ultimate expression of relationship. Because when we do acts of service, we are not asking the question “What can this relationship do for me?” but rather “What can I do for this relationship?” When we serve, we are looking outside ourselves. We are putting the needs of others before our own wants.

Service is an expression of the kind of self-giving love that Christians have always claimed is at the heart of the Gospel.

Those who have died for the sake of their country rendered a very real service to their country. But, ultimately, the Kingdom of God will not be built through war; rather it will be built through peace – God’s deep peace of Shalom that makes everything whole. The Kingdom of God will be built not through service to one group of human beings as it wages war against another group. Rather the Kingdom will be built through the Gospel understanding that Christians are called to serve all people just as Christ died that all might be saved.

Memorial Day originally began as a commemoration of the lives of those who died in the Civil War. About 617,000 individuals, which is about the same number of dead as all other American wars combined. And the date for the celebration of this holiday was originally set near the date of the reunification of the Union.

Whether or not it was intended to be a Christian gesture, I think that such a date indicates some understanding that God does not take sides in our human games of unforgiveness and non-reconciliation. If we are ever tempted to believe that God does not weep for the death of our enemies, we might ask ourselves the question “Which American lives did God fail to weep for in the Civil War?”

From God’s perspective, true service is not the kind of service that prefers one side over another. The foot-washing was more than just service to Jesus disciples, it was also an act of service to the entire world. Jesus served all of humanity because he trusted in God enough to understand that the way to conquer death was to be crucified and walk through death to resurrection.

Conclusion

As we celebrate Memorial Day this weekend, I pray that we will remember all those who gave up their lives in service to their countries. For those of us who have never had the experience of combat, I hope that we take its dangers and sacrifices seriously enough to be thankful to God for people who put their lives on the line in this way.

Although Memorial Day was originally supposed to be a holiday that commemorated those who have died, I think it is nonetheless also appropriate to also say “thank you” those who are currently serving their country; say thank you to them as well as saying “thank you” to God for them.

But I also pray this morning for peace and for the coming of the Kingdom of God. I pray that, as Christian people, we remember that peace (Shalom) rather than war will be a feature of God’s Kingdom. And service, self-giving and forgiveness are the hallmarks of God’s great Shalom.

And I pray that the peace that passes all understanding will keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of Christ. Amen.

Sunday 9 May 2010 - Touchstone Moments

2010-05-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Text: Revelation 21:10; 21:22-22:5

Context: A Sunday morning Service of the Word at a large suburban church of mixed ages in Northeast Ohio.

Aim: Using the concepts of Resurrection and New Creation, to encourage members of the congregation to reflect on what the Christian hope means for them.

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Old Covenant

Everyone loves a happy ending.

And in today’s Epistle reading we heard the happy ending at the conclusion of the book of Revelation, which in my more mischievous moments I sometimes call the book of Hallucination.

But that’s not really a fair description of Revelation because the images didn’t spring out of nowhere like a bad dream. The symbols come from the prophetic books of Hebrew Scripture and they would have been as familiar to the author’s contemporaries as the image of the cross is to us.

To those who were steeped in the prophetic texts of Hebrew Scripture, Revelation speaks of the fulfilment of God’s covenant with his people. The forces of darkness and the enemies of God’s people are overcome by God’s envoy, the Messiah, and a new covenant and a new world are established.

New Creation

The images in the book of Revelation speak to God’s people of redemption, resurrection and new life just as certainly as do the cross and the empty tomb.

But the story in Revelation is not simply a retelling of the Easter story. It reminds us that God promised his people this ‘happy ending’ – this New Creation –since he made a promise with Moses and Abraham.

This morning’s Good News is not only that God sent his Son to redeem us and make us his own. But we are also reminded that redemption is part of the plan that God devised for all of creation before the foundation of the world; it was not just an afterthought.

Now maybe this piece of Good News seems overly optimistic. We might legitimately ask the question whether this image of living in a world directly ruled by God is even remotely in touch with reality. After all, there is war, terrorism, natural disaster and widespread unemployment all around us.

The only problem with such an objection, though, is that most of us who live in the West today have never faced the sorts of tribulations that challenged the author of Revelation nor have most of us faced the severe persecutions that are described in the book. The vision of New Creation expressed in Revelation does not come from naïve inexperience of life’s realities; rather it is a vision of hope born from the school of hard knocks.

Ultimate Worth

Of course, most adults in any culture have had a hard knock or two. Like me, I’ll bet most of you know people who are currently struggling with major challenges like unemployment, family issues, illness or disability. Or you may be facing such a challenge yourself.

Different people deal with life’s trials in different ways but I never fail to be amazed by those individuals who are able to see the positive side of life despite the sometimes very negative circumstances that they face.

What is it about a tragedy or a serious challenge that often results in a person gaining a sharp perspective on what is truly important? It is often in times of great difficulty that we have such touchstone experiences that transform our perspective for the better. Our minds are stripped of unimportant concerns and we become capable of focussing on what really matters.

In order to gain such focus I sometimes imagine myself close to death saying ‘Thank God for…’ And most of us, no matter how pessimistic we are, understand how we are going to complete this sentence. ‘Thank God for community, friends, spouse, children, grandchildren.’ And, hopefully, ‘Thank God for his presence in my life.’ I suspect very few of us would say something like ‘Thank God for my possessions’.

Perhaps the tragedy of human life is not that each of us must at some point face difficult challenges. Perhaps the true tragedy is that it is easy to lose the sharpness of our touchstone moments when our lives are comfortable.

These touchstone moments are an opportunity for ‘little resurrections’. They are an opportunity to walk in God’s direction and to see small glimpses of our lives from God’s perspective. But first we need to die to those old perspectives where we cling to things, people and events that are not of ultimate meaning. Because, until we die to our old ways of thinking, there can be no resurrection into new life.

Real Hope

On this sixth Sunday of Easter, resurrection remains the Good News. Not just Christ’s resurrection in the first century and not just our future resurrection into God’s New Creation. But also those little resurrections in this life when our minds become sharply focussed on what it is in life that is of ultimate worth.

As we go from this place I pray that, whatever trials we may be facing, our lives will be guided by those touchstone moments that God has given to us. I pray that, in our everyday journey through life, our eyes will be increasingly opened and we will catch ever more frequent glimpses of the hope that God holds out to us. Amen.

Sunday Nov 1 2009 - Radical Hospitality

2009-11-01T12:23:00.000-08:00

This was another "supply preaching sermon" and I was asked to speak on the topic of "Radical Hospitality". This was one in a series of five sermons preached on the five areas covered in UMC Bishop Robert Schnase's book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.

This sermon is not a precis of the chapter in Bishop Schnase's book although it draws from Schnase's work. This is a thematic sermon and I chose the following texts: Deuteronomy 10:17-21 and Matthew 25:31-40.

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Introduction

Good morning everyone and thank you for your hospitality this morning in inviting me to join in your worship and share Scripture with you today.

And I guess it’s appropriate to thank you for your hospitality this morning because “Radical Hospitality” is the subject that I’ve been asked to speak on this morning. As I understand it, today is the second in a series of sermons on the subject of “the five practices of faithful congregations”.

But I expect that some of you may be wondering “What has hospitality got to do with the Good News of Jesus Christ?” It might seem somewhat obvious how being a hospitable congregation could help a congregation to grow and thrive, but you might not see a direct connection between hospitality and the message of the gospel.

God & Hospitality

So the first question I want to think about this morning is “What has hospitality to do with the good news that we proclaim as Christians?”

I don’t know what sort of images the word “hospitality” conjures up for you, but I expect that for most people, it conjures up images of dinner parties or maybe weekends away at a friend’s house.

But stop and think for a minute what hospitality meant to the people of the ancient near East. For a person from a nomadic desert culture, traveling from nomad settlement to nomad settlement, a question of hospitality might very well mean the difference between life and death.

It was usually the custom to allow a passing stranger to spend a night in your town or settlement, but then the expectation was that the person would move on. However, permission to camp overnight was by no means assured.

It was the normal social custom to view strangers with suspicion and as a potential threat to the community. (I wonder if that sounds familiar to us today?)

But remember our passage that we heard from Deuteronomy this morning: The reader is told that God himself loves the stranger and provides the stranger with food and clothing. And then God’s people are commanded to love the stranger because they themselves were strangers in Egypt.

“Loving” the stranger certainly goes beyond what we normally think of as hospitality in our society. The biblical concept of “loving” someone, as you probably know, is not just about doing unto others as you would have them do unto you; it’s about going further than that and actually putting their needs and welfare before your own.

And this is actually what the ancient custom of hospitality was all about. In the ancient near East, “hospitality” was an elaborate custom that included both testing and obligations on the part of the host and guest. Once the tests had been passed, the host and the guest were bound in a formal and permanent relationship that required both to look after each other in the same way that they would look after a member of their own family.

The guest was required to offer hospitality to the host if the need arose in the future and the host was always responsible for the safety of the guest. The host was required to do anything to secure the safety of the guest, even giving up his life in defense of the guest, if necessary.

I wonder if you hear an echo of any kind of familiar themes here?

I think that there is a very real sense in which we can say that God invites us as strangers and sinners into his Kingdom. In order to fully benefit from this Kingdom, we are invited to repent, just as the stranger is tested. And, as the host who is responsible for the welfare of his guest even if it means dying, God died in order to save us from the ravages of sin, death and the power of evil.

So, rather than having nothing to do with the message of the Gospel, I think that hospitality has much to do with it. God gives us undeserved and unimaginable hospitality and we are called as his children to give hospitality to others.

God welcomes the sinner and the stranger and calls us also to welcome the sinner and the stranger in response to his welcome.

In fact, we are called to love the stranger. We are called to extend a welcome that is not only friendly and hospitable but also to give a welcome that is risky, possibly dangerous, and which puts the needs of the visitor before our own needs.

I wonder how many church congregations actually manage to do this?

Radical Hospitality

I said earlier, that the title of this sermon is radical hospitality.

Why radical hospitality? Why not friendly hospitality? Or pleasant hospitality? Or nice hospitality?

I hope you are beginning to see that the nature of true biblical hospitality is radical; extreme, even. God’s hospitality in welcoming us into his Kingdom and offering salvation to us was costly. It wasn’t easy or “nice” and it wasn’t just friendly and pleasant.

And if we are going to communicate the height and depth and breadth of God’s love to other people in our own congregations, we too will have to engage in some costly hospitality.

A story is told of a Lutheran pastor in the former East Germany named Uwe Holmer.

Now, those of you who remember the East German regime know that to be a Christian in Eastern Germany was a risky business, let alone to be a Christian pastor. The regime discriminated against Christians and one of its policies was to make it impossible for the children of Christian parents to attend university or enter any of the professions which required a university degree.

Pastor Holmer and his wife had ten children, all of whom were denied university places and who had to make a living through manual labor. The person who was responsible for East Germany’s educational policy for 26 years was Margot Honecker the wife of East Germany's premier, Erich Honecker.

And then the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the East German regime was toppled. Erich and Margot Honecker were seen by many people in East Germany as their enemies. They were indicted for criminal activities and evicted from their home. The Honeckers suddenly found themselves friendless, without resources, and with no place to go. No one wanted to have anything to do with the Honeckers.

It was at that point that Pastor Holmer’s family invited the Honeckers to live with them.

However, their fellow citizens were not terribly pleased with the Holmers’ hospitality. The pastor’s family received hate mail from the German public and many members of his church threatened to leave in protest.

The hospitality offered by Pastor Holmer was not just nice or even just noble. This was a radical hospitality. A risky hospitality. A dangerous hospitality that put him and his family at risk. This is an example of truly radical hospitality.

Wat on earth could cause a person to give shelter to people whose life’s work and ideals had directly hurt his children's futures? And what on earth could cause someone to continue to give shelter to them in the face of threats and abuse from fellow citizens? Nothing on earth. Only the peace and love of God that passes all human understanding could cause someone to do such a thing.

Radically Hospitable Churches

Are we capable of this kind of radical hospitality?

I’ve got to be honest with you. Part of me hopes that I could behave this way in the same circumstances and part of me hopes that I will never be tested in such a way. But yet, I am inspired by Pastor Holmer. His actions draw from me the highest form of admiration.

And I believe that if we think about this story as a sort of benchmark for “radical hospitality” then some ideas that we regularly throw around about “being a hospitable congregation” begin to pale in comparison.

In his book “Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations”, UMC Bishop Robert Schnase defines radical hospitality like this:

“An active desire to invite, welcome, receive and care for those who are strangers so that they find a spiritual home and discover for themselves the unending richness of life in Christ.”

Hospitality isn’t just about smiling at visitors who walk into the doors of our church. It’s about an active desire to welcome and care for new people.

I wonder how many congregations consider themselves to be friendly churches but whose caring and friendship is based on the fact that the members of the congregation have known each other for many years?

Sometimes being a new person in such a group can be like going out to dinner with a newly-married couple as they sit there staring into each other’s all evening. They may be friendly between themselves and they probably genuinely want to be friendly with other people, but they are too wrapped up in each other to think that their friends might be feeling excluded.

As a cradle Christian who has spent most of my life going to church, my bet is that many if not most congregations are like this. We feel certain that we are prepared to be friendly to new people but, really, we want them to fit in with what we’re already doing and conform to the established group behavior.

In the UK, a poll was taken recently which – among other things – determined that it took the average person about two years after beginning to attend a new congregation to feel that they really belonged. Two years! That means the new people have to make an incredible commitment. They have to attend church for two years feeling like they are strangers before they can begin to feel comfortable.

That’s certainly not radical hospitality. I’ll leave you to decide whether you think its “hospitality” at all. If it takes someone two years to feel that they belong in a congregation then that congregation is not living out any kind of active desire to welcome and care for new people.

Looking Outward

So what does it take to be a radically hospitable church? In his book, Bishop Schnase lists some practical ideas that I will mention briefly this morning since I want this to remain and sermon rather than a lecture on strategic change management.

But there is one thing that the Bishop’s suggestions all have in common and that is that every single suggestion is about looking outside of the congregation to the needs of those who are not members of the congregation.

And when we focus on people outside our group, we are focusing on serving others rather than on being served ourselves. Or, to put it another way, we are focusing on the biblical concept of love. We are focusing on what is good for other people rather than on what is good for ourselves.

So very briefly, what are some practical suggestions?

Bishop Schnase suggests that every group that meets in church, every committee, and every activity should be constantly thinking “How can we reach out to those outside our church? How can we make our activities more welcoming?” Even those individuals concerned with maintaining the building can reach out.

Are there facilities for young families to feel comfortable? Is the building accessible to those with mobility problems? A really simple thing like are all the rooms correctly labeled? Are Vacation Bible School or Sunday School classes run for the benefit of church members or for the benefit of children whose parents don’t come to church? Can the choir put on an activity that makes young families feel welcome? Does the congregation keep in touch with families who visit the church at Christmas and Easter and invite them to other events? At the most basic level, will people from outside the church be able to understand your bulletin if they read it?

The Bishop suggests that every group in church should think about one thing that they can do that focuses on reaching people outside the current members. And this attitude of reaching out should become an on-going habit. He notes that “Institutions produce what they are designed to produce.” And he is challenging us as Christians – because I don’t think that this is just a problem of the UMC – to design our “institutions” to be places where change and outreach are built into the fabric of how we do things.

Before I conclude this morning, I want to briefly tell you a story about a part of my training for the ministry. I was required by the British Methodist Church to attend weekend seminars on a monthly basis. These seminars were designed to teach us by example how to nurture the spiritual lives of our congregations.

Most participants attended for two years but every six months a group of people would leave the group and a new group of people would arrive. The whole system was designed to accommodate this change.

And I promise you that we didn’t really do anything differently than many good prayer groups or Sunday School or bible study groups do. We didn’t really do any strange activities that you might imagine when you hear the word “radical”. All we did was expect the group to change. We expected new people to arrive and we expected to make room for new people in the group and to offer them genuine hospitality. We expected that people we’d come to know and trust would leave and we expected to “let them go”.

We didn’t spend a lot of emotional energy resisting change and we didn’t invoke the silent mantra of many a congregation “Because God doesn’t change, the church must not change either.” All we did was look outward and welcome the new people instead of seeing them as threats or as individuals who upset our existing group dynamics.

Bishop Schnase suggests a relatively “simple” solution that each individual in a church and each group simply think about how they can welcome new-comers and my experience would suggest that it really is as simple as that. When we really begin to live lives that genuinely seek the welfare of others, our lives begin to bubble over with joy and freedom and we become very effective witnesses to the Good News of the Gospel.

Conclusion

The good news of Jesus Christ, Paul tells us, is that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Or, to look at it another way, God offered us hospitality when we were still strangers.

In sending Jesus to die and rise again for our salvation, God was looking outside of himself to our needs. God said “These people need saving and I’m the only one who can rescue them.” He didn’t say “Oy! These people are messing up the beautiful order of my good creation! What is a Creator God to do?”

God doesn’t ask us to become holy before he invites us into his Kingdom. He doesn’t demand that we cease to be strangers and sinners before he offers us hospitality. Rather, he goes out into the highways and byways and invites strangers and sinners into his Kingdom and then he invites us to repent so that we can grow in holiness.

The good news is that God is eternally looking outside of himself to the welfare of others; we learn this when we practice the love of God in exuberant worship. The good news is that God gives us an exciting purpose to our lives: to look outside ourselves to the welfare of others; we learn this as we practice the love of our neighbor.

My prayer is that the reality of God’s hospitality for us will fill our hearts anew this morning. And I also pray that, filled with joy at the salvation we have been given and filled with thanksgiving at God’s hospitality we will go from this place determined to spread Christian hospitality to everyone we meet.

May God bless this congregation as you continue on your journey to be an evermore fruitful congregation. Amen

Sunday Oct 11 2009 - On the Road to the New Jerusalem

2009-10-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

In August 2009, I returned to the United States for family reasons after 20 years of living in the UK. I left the Northeast Ohio / Cleveland area in 1975 when I went to university, and I never expected either to leave the UK or to return to Northeast Ohio. But life brings us unexpected twists and turns along the way.

I am not currently employed as a pastor although I'm currently doing s small amount of supply preaching. Below is the first sermon I preached as a "supply preacher" in the US. I am switching to US dating and spelling conventions. The sermon is longer than many of the previous sermons on this blog due to different custom.

I was asked to preach this sermon in a series of sermons on the broad topic of "return from exile". (Ironic, isn't it?)

This is a thematic sermon and the texts used were Zechariah 8:1-8 and Revelation 21:1-7.

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Introduction

Good morning everyone, and thank you for your hospitality here this morning and for inviting me to share in your worship and your meditation on Holy Scripture this morning.

Today is one of those instances that demonstrates what I believe is God’s sense of humor. As you heard earlier, I’m an ordained minister (“Elder”) in the Methodist Church of Great Britain and I lived in England for just over 20 years from 1989 until August of this year.

But I was born in East Cleveland and raised in Euclid. I left Northeast Ohio in 1975 to go to college and, as the years went on, I began to assume that I would never return to live in this area of the world. But my British husband and I moved to Hudson this past August to be nearer to my parents who are aging and need family near them.

And this morning is not only the first sermon that I have preached in American Methodism; it is also the first sermon that I have ever preached in the United States.

So you can see that today is something of a milestone for me, but I have to tell you that I do think it’s indicative of God’s sense of humor that the broad topic that I was asked to preach on is the topic of the Return from Exile.

Being From Somewhere – What Does it Mean?

Because a big question in my life recently has been: After 34 years away from Northeast Ohio, have I returned home or have I left home?

What, exactly does it mean to “be from” somewhere and how does “being from” a place shape our lives and who we are?

As I was preparing for this sermon, I immediately thought of Mr. Singh. Mr. Singh works at my local gas station just up the road. The first time I went into the gas station, he asked me if I was British and I explained my story to him.

Now it turns out that Mr. Singh was born in the Punjab, in India. I’m not sure, but I think he’s about my age. Mr. Singh came to this area of the world when he was ten years old. So he’s actually lived here longer that I have!

It starts you thinking: What does it mean to be “be from” somewhere? Especially in this day and age when people can move around very freely.

And I imagine that the Judeans who were returning to Jerusalem from Babylon might have understood this question of identity and “being from a place”. Because it took about a generation and a half for the Judeans to be able to leave Babylon and to make the journey back to Jerusalem.

So we can suppose that the vast majority of people who “returned” to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple had never lived in Jerusalem and they had never lived in a free Judea.

And I think that there is a parallel with us, as Christians. We are asked, as part of our Christian discipleship, to be part of God’s plan in building a New Jerusalem, but none of us have ever lived there.

So today, I just want to stop and take our bearings and ask the question: Are we still on course for our trip to the New Jerusalem? Do we, in fact, know where we are going?

Where is the New Jerusalem and what does it look like?

The New Jerusalem, of course, is a metaphor. And, like all good metaphors, it needs unpacking. Also, like all good metaphors, there are probably no Right Answers either. So I’m going to try to unpack it now with the caveat that this is my perspective. If you disagree with me, so much the better because it will get you thinking about what it is you believe.

The New Jerusalem

So, “The New Jerusalem”: Where is it? What is it? What does it look like?

Of course, the City of Jerusalem itself meant something important to those people who had been in Exile in Babylon.

Jerusalem – Zion – was the City of God. The place where the Temple was located and therefore the place where Judah believed their God physically dwelled. The dream of the Judeans (Southern Kingdom) in Exile was that they would return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple, and once more Yahweh would dwell with them and he would be their God and they would be his people.

But, the thing is that, although you can go back to where you came from, you can’t go back to when you came from.

I can come back to Northeast Ohio, but I can’t come back to Northeast Ohio in 1975 and I can’t come back to Northeast Ohio as a 17 year old girl.

During the generation that Judah has been in Exile, Judah has begun to understand its God in a different light.

Judah’s original understanding of its God was that God was on their side; and we see this idea reflected in a lot of the earlier Old Testament literature. Judah thought that God was for Judah and against other people. Their God would defend them from other nations and he would smash their enemies, when necessary.

But then came the Exile. And what was previously unthinkable happened: Jerusalem was defeated and the people of Judah were suddenly confronted with a new reality.

And so, in much of the biblical literature dealing with the story of the Exile, we begin see the development of ideas like God using foreign powers and kings to carry out his will – something that was previously unthinkable. And we also see the development of the idea that God cares about righteousness and justice and – something that was really unthinkable before – that even foreign Kings can be viewed by God as righteous and just.

Slowly, in the post-Exilic and prophetic tradition, the idea developed that God was not just the God of Judah, but God was the God of all the world. Judah came to understand that God’s sovereignty was not limited to Judah but that his sovereignty was universal.

So here comes our first piece of Good News this morning: The City of God, the New Jerusalem, is a place to which everyone is invited.

Unlike Judah’s earlier understanding, God is not a tribal god. God is not against anyone; he is not against any sort of person. God is for everyone.

No matter who you are or where you are from God wants you to be a citizen of his New Jerusalem. No matter what language you speak, no matter what the color of your skin, no matter what your gender, your marital status, whether or not you are a respected member of your community, God wants you to be a citizen of his New Jerusalem.

God is not just the God of Judah or of the UMC or the Presbyterian Church. God is not just the God of men or women or white people or Native Americans or African-Americans. God is the God of all people.

Ad I don’t know about you, but I think this is really good news! This is the stuff that makes me excited. The gates of the City of God are always open. No one needs a visa to get in. As long as we live, God will never, ever stop inviting us into his New Jerusalem.

The New Jerusalem – a Place of Justice

Now I’m thinking that there might be some people in the congregation who are starting to squirm right about now.

I’m betting that some people might be thinking “Hold on a minute, here! If God invites everyone into the City of God, does that mean that God doesn’t care about right and wrong? Does that mean that God doesn’t care about justice?”

I’m thinking you’re thinking “Pam, if you start telling me that everyone is invited into the New Jerusalem, then what does that say about the existence of right and wrong? Are you trying to tell me that, in the New Jerusalem, anything goes?”

And this is our second piece of good news this morning: that God cares about justice and righteousness. God cares about right and wrong.

No, I’m not trying to tell you that anything goes in the New Jerusalem. I’m trying to tell you that the New Jerusalem is a place where victims can find justice and where the discriminated-against can find opportunity. The City of God is a place where power is not used for personal gain but for the good of the entire community.

This, by the way, is what much of Old Testament tradition tells us is the function of a righteous King: to pursue the good of the entire community and to make sure that the powerful don’t exploit those with less power.

This idea of a Just King is why the prophet Samuel warned ancient Israel not to replace God as its king with a human king, like the other peoples. Samuel warned that human kings would misuse power, send Israel’s sons to war and grab power and wealth for themselves. Which is precisely what happened.

But in the New Jerusalem, God’s people dream of a reign of perfect justice and righteousness where God is once again King.

And no doubt, this is also what the Judean people dreamed of as they returned to Jerusalem from Exile to rebuild the Temple and the City of God.

So the second piece of good news this morning is that the New Jerusalem is a place where God’s justice is the order of the day.

The Church’s Mission

You may, however, have noticed that God’s justice might not seem quite like our human notions of justice. Human justice often majors on punishing the wrong-doer. Human justice relies on the threat of punishment to keep society in order.

In the New Jerusalem, however, justice and righteousness are the order of the day because people’s hearts have been changed by God.

Because of the life, death and resurrection of Christ, the Spirit of God changes the hearts of human beings so that we can accept God’s love and forgiveness, return that love to God and then pass it on to others. The reason that the New Jerusalem is a place where death will be no more and where mourning and crying and pain will be no more is because the hearts of its inhabitants have been converted to the love and service of God.

Now, you might be thinking “Hold on a minute here. You’re talking about the day when Christ will come again; you’re talking about the next life. And all this is fine and good and hunkey-dorey for the next life, but what about this life?”

ell, the thing is that I *am* talking about the day when Christ will come and I *am* talking about the eternal New Jerusalem. But I’m also talking about life here on earth. Because the New Jerusalem, the New Creation, the City of God is something that was inaugurated after the death and resurrection of Christ.

New Jerusalem may be “not yet”, but it is also now. It is both now and not yet.

The reason that there will be justice and righteousness in the New Jerusalem is because the hearts of its inhabitants have been converted to the love of service of God and humanity. And we – the universal church of Christ, those people of all denominations whose lives have been changed and transformed by the love of Christ – we are inhabitants of the New Jerusalem in the here and now as much as in the there and not yet.

As I think Pastor Jim is going to talk to you about next week, it is the job of the church – it is our mission - to build the Temple in the New Jerusalem. It is our job as the church to make the worship and love of God central to our lives. And, in consequence, it is our job to make love and service to our fellow human beings central to our lives.

We have been chosen to proclaim and witness to God’s love and forgiveness in both word and in deed. We are called to tell people of the love and forgiveness of God. And we are called to live as an example to others: to lives of righteousness, justice and truth.

And, for me, this is the third and final piece of Good News for this morning: That the church has an awesome, worthwhile and exciting mission; and that when we are empowered and used by the Holy Spirit, that God can change the world that we live in; God can change the lives of people around us.

And, I don’t know about you, but *I* find it exciting that the God-given purpose of my life is something so worthwhile. The God-given purpose of my life is to let God use me to transform the world. I think that’s awesome.

Conclusion

As we go from this place today, I’d like to remember what this New Jerusalem that we are traveling to looks like and to remember the Good News that we heard this morning.

So our first piece of good news is that citizenship in the New Jerusalem is open to everyone, no matter who you are, where you come from or what you have done in the past.God does not discriminate. Or, as they said in the old days, God is no respecter of persons.

The second piece of Good News that we heard this morning is that the New Jerusalem is a place where human lives are transformed and where God’s values of righteousness and justice reign. The New Jerusalem is a place where human hearts are converted to God’s standards and converted away from the standards of the world.

And the final piece of Good News that we heard this morning is that, as members of God’s Church universal, our lives not only have purpose, but they have purposes of eternal significance. When God entrusted us with the mission of being citizens of the New Jerusalem, he entrusted us with a mission that is both awesome and exciting.

And he promised us his Holy Spirit to help us in our task. The Church is not God; we are only God’s servants. We are God’s hands on earth. It is God who will finally build the New Jerusalem.

As we go forward into a new week, let’s remember where we are going. Let’s contemplate the awe and beauty of the New Jerusalem, but let’s also think and pray about how God might want to use us to build that City.

I pray that God will give each of us wisdom and insight as we contemplate our calling and I pray for that same insight for this congregation. And may the Spirit of God give you strength and courage to be his hands and heart in the world. Amen

Wednesday 29 July 2009 - Live, love, learn

2009-07-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

This was the last sermon I gave at my post in the Kidderminster and Stourport Circuit; it was given at an ecumenical service of Holy Communion that worshiped together every Wednesday.

The sermon is based on John 12:1-8.

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Introduction

Today the church celebrates the festival of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Our Gospel reading for today contains all three of these characters as well as Jesus, but it also contains another character: Judas.

If you were going to make a film out of this morning’s story, I reckon that you could turn this into quite an uncomfortable scene.

Lazarus has just been raised from the dead in the previous chapter and, although the text doesn’t say it explicitly, we imagine that Jesus is having a celebratory meal with these friends who he loves. Mary then does something that would be as embarrassing as someone in our society hiking her skirt up to her thighs.

In my imaginary film I can just see Judas portrayed as a model of calm and sensibleness, looking at Mary with an attitude of pity and announcing: “The money you spent on all the drink you’ve just poured down yourself could have been given to poor”…

So when Jesus opens his mouth to speak, we expect that he’s going to take Judas’ part and tell Mary to calm down and stop making everyone uncomfortable. But instead Jesus tells Judas to leave her alone. And the narrator tells us that Mary’s heart is right with God and that Judas’ is not.

Resurrection

Although today is the feast of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, it’s the character of Judas who is the foil that helps us learn from the example of these three siblings.

Let’s think about the difference between the Judas and Lazarus to start with. Lazarus has experienced resurrection and Judas has not.

None of us has any idea of what it would feel like to be resurrected, but there are people in our culture who have had near death experiences. It seems to me that one universal outcome of such experiences is that people often have a sense of the true meaning and the true value of life.

I imagine that Lazarus might feel that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. He’d lost his life but now he’s found it again and every moment, every day, every taste of food, every drink, every moment shared with a loved one is a sweet and joyful bonus.

Judas, I imagine, thinks that life is much more serious than this. Life is about freedom from political oppression and Judas will stop at nothing to get it.

But although Judas is serious and apparently lacking in a certain degree of empathy, we are also told that he is not straight. Judas’ serious outlook toward life did not prevent him from stealing from the common purse.

Lazarus, along with Jesus, is on the right side of resurrection.

The readers of this story are invited to be on the right side of resurrection as well: the poor will always be with you until the resurrection of the dead and the kingdom of God has come.

Turn your sights to the day when God’s children will live in true freedom. Be like Lazarus and live the resurrection life today.

Workers for the Kingdom

Then we have Martha.

Poor old Martha; I always think she gets a bit of a raw deal. Martha does all the work of the kingdom behind the scenes and, although she always gets mentioned, the picture I have of her is as some sort of generic worker-bee.

And it’s the Marthas – male and female – who are the backbone of the Church, and often the backbone of society’s army of carers. People who quietly do the work of God asking for no recognition or reward who often influence the lives of many for good.

Here again, though, is a contrast with Judas.

I imagine the Judas thought of himself as working for the coming of the Kingdom of God. But I suspect that he also wanted that kingdom to come in a blaze of earthly glory. And I somehow doubt that he would have been content to fade into the background.

Martha, unlike Judas, understands what the real work of the Kingdom is. We are called to be like Martha. When we work, we work for Jesus and for the Kingdom of God. We do not work for personal glory or gain.

Prophets for the Kingdom

And then we have Mary.

Mary the sister who sits at the feet of Jesus learning from him. But Mary who also embarrassingly proclaims her love for Jesus in today’s text.

Mary is something of a prophet. She is happy to ignore what is normally expected in society in order to learn from Jesus. And she is happy to embarrass herself in order to proclaim the profound truth about Jesus: Against all expectations of what the Messiah will be like, Jesus will have to die in order rise again.

The Messiah does not look like what the world expected. The Messiah will not bring about the Kingdom of God the way that the world expected.

That, of course, is the great contrast between Judas and Mary.

Judas insisted that Jesus must follow his expectations. And when Jesus’ Messiahship didn’t follow the pattern that Judas wanted, he was willing to betray Jesus. Mary learned from Jesus. Judas expected Jesus to learn from him.

Need I say: be like Mary, learning from Jesus. Do not make God in your own image.

Conclusion

Mary, Martha and Lazarus appear to have been amongst Jesus’ closest friends during his earthly life.

But we celebrate their lives not simply because of their intimacy with Jesus, but because they represent three important aspects of being a follower of Jesus. Resurrection life, active discipleship, and the willingness to pray and learn from Christ.

As we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together this morning, I pray that we all may be strengthened for the journey ahead. May we learn from Christ, may we seek to follow him actively and may we always keep our eyes on the resurrection. Amen

Sunday 19 July 2009 - A heart of Reconciliation

2009-07-19T11:51:00.000-07:00

This sermon is based on Ephesians 2:11-22

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Introduction

Ephesians 2:14 For he (Christ) is our peace; in his flesh he as made both groups (Jews and Gentiles) into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.

Christ has broken down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile. I wonder if anyone here this morning would disagree with this idea?

It seems like a no-brainer to us, but it was a hot topic for the early church. A VERY hot topic, in fact. It was as emotional and contentious to the early church as any of our own hot topics are to us.

And the topic of whether or not Gentiles had to be circumcised before being accepting into the church was not the only thing the Early Church was arguing about.

In the New Testament, we hear that the early Church was arguing about whether or not to eat food that had been sacrificed to idols or used in Pagan temples. They were fighting about the proper way to celebrate the Lord’s Supper and this debate got so heated that Paul even ends up pointing out that some of the early church members might be at risk of eating and drinking to their own condemnation.

The early Church fought about the marks of leadership, about what the fruits of a God-appointed leader looked like and even whether or not Paul himself was a leader appointed by God. And they fought about charismatic gifts: Should supernatural gifts be used in public worship or was worship to be a place of strict order and dogma?

Close to Home?

Whilst we ourselves might think silly the debates about Gentile membership or food sacrificed to idols, some of the other issues might start getting a bit too close to home. We are happy to accept uncircumcised Gentiles in the Church these days, but what is the Church’s track record when it comes to opposing anti-Semitism?

And debates about the nature of the Lord’s Supper or what sort of person should lead or whether or not charismatic gifts are to be used in worship are not debates that are entirely unheard of in the Church today.

So, if we’re tempted to write off this morning’s reading from Ephesians as yet another all-too-familiar no-brainer statement about the unity of Jews and Gentiles, let’s not do that.

Let’s appreciate the seriousness of the emotions behind this particular issue and let’s not feel too smug or superior as we listen to author telling us that through the flesh of Christ, the dividing wall between factions has been broken down and that the former hostility has been turned to peace: to Shalom.

Because, at the end of the day, this reading is not really about Jews and Gentiles both being accepted by God as disciples of Christ. What this reading is about at its most fundamental level is Shalom. Peace.

And Shalom is not just the absence of violence; it is a holistic peace where a right attitude toward God and toward our fellow human beings shows us the potential of human life as it was first created to be. Shalom, is, above all, an attitude of the heart.

Living without Forgiving

A story is told of a famous preacher who was asked by a friend of his to preach at his church’s morning service.

As the famous preacher went up to the pulpit, he looked out into the congregation and saw a very angry-looking woman sitting on the pulpit side of the church. The preacher felt that the anger, which was so apparent in her face, might put him off his message of Good News, and so he decided to preach to the other side of the Church.

The only problem was, in his direct line of sight on the other side of the church was another woman, almost the same age, sitting there exuding as much anger as the first women. The preacher decided that he would have to deliver his sermon somewhere in the vague direction of the centre aisle, which he preceded to do!

At lunch with his friend, he was told that the two women were sisters and they’d had a small disagreement about 25 years ago and they weren’t speaking to each other. The visiting preacher said ‘It’s a good job they don’t live together!’ to which his friend replied ‘But they do!’

The friend went on to explain that each sister had told him that she was prepared to forgive the other, but that the other sister had never asked to be forgiven. Each one concluded that she was not prepared to forgive her sister until the other woman asked for forgiveness.

And so they had spent 25 years living together and becoming people whose anger was apparent for all to see.

God the Reconciler

The Good News that we hear in this morning’s Epistle Reading is that God is not like that.

The reconciliation that God offers to people through his Son Jesus is not a reconciliation that depends on us making the first move toward God, because we can’t. It is not our saying sorry that causes God to forgive us, but rather God’s offer of forgiveness that calls our repentance from us.

The Good News in today’s readings is that God makes the first move toward reconciling us to himself.

Elsewhere, scripture tells us that it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us. Of course, we still have to recognize the gift of reconciliation that God gives to us in order to benefit from the gift. And I think that it is really in this recognition that we can begin to achieve the kind of peace – the kind of Shalom – that God wants for every one of us.

The point of my sermon this morning isn’t so much to say to you ‘Be thankful for the reconciliation that God has offered to you by being reconciled with others’, although that is of course true.

My point this morning is rather to point you to the truth that reconciliation is God’s way; It’s God’s way for creation and it’s God’s way for all his children.

Reconciliation is, if you will, one of the central tenets of the Christian faith, it is central to Shalom and it is central to being the kind of people who God wants us to be.

Ironically, it is in reaching out to others by trying to find a point of commonality that our own lives will be enhanced. It is in making the first move toward forgiveness that our own peace will be grow. Just like love isn’t love until you give it away, so too reconciliation isn’t reconciliation until you give it away.

Conclusion

As we come to the Lord’s table this morning, let us give thanks for our brothers and sisters in Christ who came before us and who challenged mindset of denominationalism so that we can freely celebrate communion with each other today.

Let’s also think about those situations where reconciliation is still needed. There are still many of these: I expect in our own personal lives, in our communities, within our own churches and even still between some Christians.

And let’s also give thanks to God for the forgiveness and reconciliation afforded to each and every one of us in Christ.

And may the Spirit enable each one of us to be messengers of peace. Amen

Sunday 12 July 2009 - Sow Love, Reap Hope

2009-07-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

This sermon is based on Ephesians 1:1-14 and Mark 6:14-29. This was also the last sermon that I preached at one of my four churches.

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Introduction

What a contrast we have in the two different readings assigned for today.

The first reading we heard was from the letter to the Ephesians: a letter that is dedicated to explaining the covenant relationship between Christ and his Church universal.

The particular reading that we heard this morning/evening from the beginning of the letter was written in a style that would have been familiar to people in the Greek and Roman world. It’s a eulogy of praise that people might have heard given at a banquet in honour of a wealthy patron. Except that here the words of praise are not directed at a human being but toward God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.

The second reading we heard this morning/evening was from the Gospel of Mark as the assigned readings continue through the 6th chapter of Mark. This reading is quite a contrast from the glorious opening verses of the letter to the Ephesians. Here we have a dark story: a powerful man (Herod) who recognizes the prophetic calling of a man of God, but who nonetheless allows the forces of jealousy, anger and hatred to have their way. And John the Baptist is killed because of the evil intentions that Herodias has been harbouring in her heart toward John the Baptist.

It occurred to me that there is a contrast in these two readings between different attitudes of the heart:

The first reading expresses all sorts of Godly and constructive perspectives: the praise of God, gratefulness, unity with God and with fellow Christians, forgiveness, grace, wisdom, goodness, hope, abundant life, truth, redemption and good news.

But the second reading is a lesson in evil. We see that evil arises from wrong-doing and from anger and vindictiveness.

We also see illustrated in this story the fact that evil is given free reign when good people do nothing to stop it.

So my thought for today is ‘Be careful what you wish for’. Or maybe more accurately, ‘Be careful what you think’

Keep your Eye on the Goal

Many moons ago, my husband and I decided that we were going to take golfing lessons together. I still can’t really play golf because I never learned how to use a driver, but that’s a different story.

As those of you who do play golf know (and pardon me if I’m teaching my grandfathers to suck eggs but) this is a game that is not just physical, but it is also mental.

And one of the things that our golfing instructor taught us was that we should visualize where we wanted the ball to go before we took a shot. If we wanted to get the ball on the green, we should visualize not only the green but also the hole that we were aiming for. He also pointed out that the worst possible thing that we could do would be to think ‘Don’t go into the sand trap, don’t go into the sand trap.’

Guess why? Because our brains would be thinking about the sand-trap and visualizing the sand-trap and that’s exactly where the ball would end up going. The combination of the physics of golf and the leverage involved in the game somehow manage to transmit your thoughts into physical action and to have a real effect on the direction of the ball.

As you think, so shall you reap.

Herodias’ thoughts were apparently on revenge. We are not given any details about what Herodias, Herod’s wife, thought and felt prior to asking her daughter for the head of John the Baptist, but we can well imagine the strength of emotion behind this request. How long had Herodias been rehearsing this day in her head? How long had she been wishing for John to get his comeuppance? She certainly seized the opportunity to initiate his death the minute the opportunity presented itself.

In a foreshadowing of Pilate’s role in Jesus’ crucifixion, we get the impression that Herod would rather let John the Baptist go all things being equal. But events seem to have taken on their own momentum and ordering the death of this holy man is now Herod’s safest option.

Herodias’ evil thoughts led to evil being unleashed in to the world.

A World of Grace and Hope

But look at the contrast with this morning’s Epistle reading.

We move from a world of evil to a world of grace and of hope. We move from a world ruled by the forces of chaotic, incoherent evil to a world ruled by mercy, by grace and by hope. We’ve moved from the Kingdom of Evil to the Kingdom of God on earth.

I suppose that one lesson you could take from what our golf teacher taught Trevor and me is the ‘power of positive thinking’.

But the power of God’s Kingdom isn’t just the power of positive thinking. All the positive thinking in the world isn’t going to do anyone any good if hope isn’t real, if the Kingdom of God isn’t real. The words that the author of the letter to the Ephesians uses are powerful words precisely because they are expressions of the underlying truth of God’s rule.

It is certainly true that there is evil in the world. Today’s Gospel story reminds us of its power. But the Good News that Christians proclaim is that, in Christ, the powers of evil and chaos and confusion have been conquered.

That means that we do have real choices, under God, about the influence we have on the world around us. It is not futile to hope. It is not futile to seek to do what is right. It is not futile to forgive.

The choices made by God’s people can and do help to further the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God.

And it is by being careful to tune our hearts and minds in to the will of God that we can be used, as God’s church, for agents of good in the world.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, the task of a Christian preacher is both very easy and very difficult. The easy bit is the Gospel message.

The Gospel of Christ is that creation has been set free from the powers of evil and that human beings have real power to choose good. The Gospel of Christ is about the fact that God loves each and every individual and wants to draw each person to him.

The difficult bit for the preacher is that we need to find 50 or more different ways to say this every year!

But, I think that, most of us understand intuitively what is important in life and that is love in all its various aspects and relationship in all its various aspects: with God and with other people.

By turning both our thoughts and our deeds in God’s direction, we gain practice in all those things described in the introduction to Ephesians: The praise of God, gratefulness, unity with God and with our fellow human beings, forgiveness, grace, wisdom, goodness, hope, abundant life, truth, redemption and good news.

My prayer this morning is that, as we prepare for our ways to part from one another on this stage of our journey, we may all grow in the grace and knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To him be all the glory for ever and ever. Amen

Sunday 5 July 2009 - Being Prophetic

2009-07-05T06:03:00.001-07:00

Today's sermon is based on Ezekiel 2:1-7 and Mark 6:1-13

There are some similarities with last week's sermon as these two were preached to different congregations.

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Introduction

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus has just come back from doing great deeds of power in Galilee. He is now in his hometown and it would seem from this morning’s reading that the people are not amused.

I wonder if Jesus would have been better received if he had come into town as a healer? After all, he has just exorcised a demon-possessed man, healed a sick woman and raised a dead girl. And all of these people have not only been healed of their aliments, but possibly more importantly, they have been restored into their communities.

The occupation of ‘healer’ would have been a recognized occupation in first century Palestine. And the healing work that Jesus has just done in Galilee would most likely have been of great value to any community. Jesus wasn’t just dealing in home remedies for everyday complaints (and let’s not minimize their value in a pre-scientific culture); he’d just healed some pretty tough cases.

Ironically, the raising of the young girl might be the easiest of Jesus’ recent healings to explain away.But Jesus has also shown power over something which looks to us like schizophrenia and he’s healed a woman who has been hemorrhaging for 12 years. Jesus’ healing power works on the tough cases.

Jesus the Teacher

But Jesus didn’t come into his hometown as a healer. He came into his hometown as a teacher. And in today’s story Mark, unlike Luke, doesn’t even give us a hint what it was that Jesus was teaching in his hometown. But we are told of the effect of the teaching: the hearers recognize it as a powerful message and they reject it angrily.

Carpenters weren’t supposed to teach; who did Jesus think he was? The people of Jesus’ village knew all about him; I’ll bet some of them were pretty convinced that they actually knew Jesus better than he knew himself. These people knew that Jesus wasn’t a teacher and they knew that he wasn’t a healer either. It was almost inevitable that they would reject his message.

And, we are told, that Jesus wasn’t able to perform miracles because the people of Nazareth (I’m assuming) didn’t have faith in him and his teaching.

Faith in Jesus’ Teaching

I wonder what that means - Faith in Jesus and his teaching? From what Mark has to say, it’s not unreasonable to suspect that Jesus’ message might have been one of healing. And Luke’s account of the same story suggests a ‘healing’ message as well: the message that God is not just the God of Israel but of all people.

This is a message that has the power to heal not just individuals, but the world. But, of course, it is also a dangerous message.

Because if we open our worldview to others, if we open our minds to the idea that God might love other people as much as he loves us – that he is on their side as well as ours - then we lose a good deal of human-made security. We will have to give up the idea of building fences to keep other people out of our lives; be those fences literal ones of chain or stone or wood or even – dare I say it – of national borders. And we will have to be open to the possibility that God also works in the lives of people who we view as frightening or as our enemies.

Learning Healing

But if we simply hear this teaching and we don’t apply it in practice because we don’t believe it or because it is too hard, then there isn’t going to be any healing in the world.

If countries continue to operate on the basis of Realpolitik – of deterrent force - then the world will not escape ongoing cycles of warfare. If communities do not seek forgiveness and understanding then strife between people of different ethnic groups will continue in many parts of the world – not least in Northern Ireland. If individuals do not forgive one another and treat one another as precious gifts of God, then families and communities will continue to be torn apart. Children & elders will continue to be abused, and family members will continue to suffer from mental illness, addiction and all manner of stress-related physical symptoms.

Healing is possible, but only if we believe in it enough to ask God for the grace to change.

Embracing Healing

Now that I think about it, maybe the people of Jesus’ hometown wouldn’t have embraced him if he had come to them as a healer. Because healing and repentance have always been linked together. And repentance means to turn around and go in a different direction. Repentance means to walk in God’s direction rather than to walk along the path of prevailing social values.

And going against the grain of the values of wider society is difficult. It requires us to give up a good deal of perceived safety and security. To embrace forgiveness rather than revenge requires us to give up safety and security. To risk relating to those who we find frightening requires us to give up safety and security. And – dare I say it - to risk believing that God loves people outside the church or outside of Christianity as much as he loves us requires us to give up safety and security.

If we think about ‘having faith in God’ in terms of repentance and in terms of seeing life in a way that is different from prevailing social values, it’s easy to see why faith can be difficult. It’s easy to see why living prophetically can be difficult. It’s easy to see why Ezekiel found it difficult to tell the people of Israel that God had allowed the exile to happen because of Israel’s unfaithfulness.

And it’s easy to see why Jesus warned the disciples that their message would be rejected by some people in the community. Nevertheless, Jesus called his disciples to go out into the community and to depend for their well-being on the very group of people who were liable to reject them.

Conclusion

At first glance, it might seem that there isn’t a lot of good news in today’s Gospel reading. But it wouldn’t be correct to take this portion of Mark’s gospel and look at it in isolation from the rest of the Gospel.

It is good news that God is a God of healing. This is not just a God who is a common garden-variety healer; this is also a Creator God whose desire is to heal everything that he has made.

As always, the good news is that Jesus is Lord and that Caesar is not Lord. Peace of body, mind and spirit – the Shalom of wholeness – comes from loving God and loving our neighbour as ourself. God’s peace is not the peace of Rome; it is not the peace that comes from might making right. God’s peace is the peace that comes from seeking to obey the law of God but also by living out that law in a loving way that takes account of circumstances and individual situations.

Because the good news is that God loves all of his creation and there is no one from whom he withholds the offer of his salvation.

Jesus showed us the way; as the incarnation of the second person of the Trinity, Jesus showed us the character of God. But he didn’t just show us God’s character, he died and rose again so that we could enter into relationship with God.

And that, of course, is the very best news of all.

I pray that as we go from this place, that the Spirit will fill us with the courage to dare to get out into the community and tell those who do not know about the love of God. I pray we will be passionate about proclaiming this message even when it means that the message will not be gladly received. And I pray that, as we continue our journey as Christ’s disciples that we may continue to be amazed by hope, love and the peace that passes all understanding. Amen

Sunday 28 June 2009 - Following Jesus

2009-06-28T05:53:00.000-07:00

This sermon is based on the second lectionary Gospel reading: Luke 9:51-62.

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Introduction

The prophet Elijah was not exactly a compromising sort of guy. You may remember the story of Elijah who, according to biblical tradition, did not die but rather was taken up into heaven by God in a chariot of fire. And you may remember the story about Elijah and the prophets of Baal: how God answered Elijah’s prayer for fire from heaven to start the fire of offering to the God of Israel, even though the offering and altar were soaked with water?

But do you remember the story of Elijah and Ahaziah? Ahaziah, king of Israel, became involved with the prophets of the god Ekron and Elijah gave Ahaziah a prophecy of his impending death that Ahaziah didn’t want to hear. When Ahaziah sent his troops to Elijah in response, Elijah called down fire from heaven on the soldiers and destroyed company after company.

And, of course, it was Elijah who the Jewish people believed would return to earth to announce the imminent return of the Messiah.

No Compromise

What’s all of this got to do with today’s Gospel reading? The reading that we just heard is filled with images that a first-century Jewish audience would have understood to be about Elijah.

In fact, some of the original manuscripts add a reference to Elijah in the text. Some manuscripts have the text: ‘Do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, as Elijah did’?

And it’s not exactly an easy text to hear because the text goes on to be just as uncompromising as Elijah was. In fact, more uncompromising: in 1 Kings 19:19 Elijah’s disciple Elisha was allowed to go back and say good-bye to his family before becoming Elijah’s disciple and wandering in the wilderness with him. This evening’s text suggests that those who want to follow Jesus aren’t even allowed to do that.

No compromises. Not only are we not allowed to say good-bye to those at home, we’re not even allowed to fulfill our obligations to our family (not a message I want to hear right now!), nor are we allowed to have a home. Everything must be sacrificed for the Gospel.

Difficult, but not impossible

I hope that you don’t need me to tell you that there is a bit of the famous Near Eastern practice of exaggeration to make a point going on here? I don’t believe that these verses mean to recommend to us a level of discipleship that sounds more appropriate to obsessive-compulsive disorder than it sounds to following God.

Still, these verses are most certainly meant to emphasize the seriousness of being a follower of Jesus. To be a follower of Jesus is to understand that God’s way of life is radically different from the way of life of the world around us.

And its not just about having hope in difficult situations, nor is it about not using bad language nor is it even about following a code of ethics and personal morality that is of a higher standard than the world around us.

To be a follower of Jesus is to live a radically different lifestyle from the prevailing culture.

For those who are called to such work – missionaries, for example – it may mean not having a home or family. And it means not calling down fire and brimstone on our enemies. Because God’s way is the way of dying and forgiving, not the way of killing and vengeance.

Thy Kingdom Come

Today’s reading marks the beginning of the journey to Jerusalem in Luke’s Gospel. In one sense, you could look at Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem as Jesus’ own journey of discipleship. He has been called by the Father to the mission of dying and rising so that the world may be forgiven. His mission is precisely a mission of dying and forgiving.

His crucifixion and resurrection result in the very real redemption of the universe: Jesus’ salvation goes to the very being of creation. At that level, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection usher in the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom that God promised to the Jewish people, which Elijah worked for and which the Jewish people have been waiting for.

But Jesus’ mission is also an example to us and it is to be our mission as well. We cannot bring about the Kingdom of God ourselves, but we are called to live as if the Kingdom is already a reality in our lives and in the lives of others. The whole point of our discipleship, the whole point of living in the radical way that we hear about in this reading is to live as if the Kingdom is already here and to be a pointer to that Kingdom.

Jesus’ life was an example of the Kingdom life and, if we are to be disciples of Christ, then we are called to live such lives too, in order to be signs and pointers to the Kingdom. We are to live lives of ‘dying and forgiving’ rather than lives of killing and vengeance.

We are not to seek peace of mind and soul by seeking revenge or by seeking to hurt others as much as they have hurt us, but we are to seek peace of mind through forgiving them. We are not to seek peace of mind and soul by one-upsmanship or self-seeking but rather through the consideration of others. We are not to seek satisfaction in life by competition or by trying to be the top dog, but by using the gifts that God has given to us for the benefit of other people so that God may be glorified in it. We are not to use any power that we may be given for our own benefit, but rather for the benefit of other people so that God may be glorified in it.

Conclusion

At first glance, there may not appear to be good news in this evening’s reading, but we can’t take it in isolation from the rest of the Gospel. When we consider this text, which is exaggerating to make a point, we can find many points of good news.

The good news is that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to die and to rise again so that we may be forgiven. The good news is that the Kingdom of God is coming and that it is a kingdom of forgiveness rather than vengeance. And the good news for those who love Christ is that we are called into God’s amazing work and that our lives not only have a purpose, but their purpose is glorious. This is a mission that is worth being single-minded about.

As we come to the Lord’s table this evening, I pray that we may be reminded of the good news of God’s kingdom of forgiveness. I pray also that we may each be filled with the kind of unswerving dedication and passion for God’s Kingdom that Jesus himself had. Amen

Sunday 21 June 2009 - Good & Evil

2009-06-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

The gospel reading for this sermon is Mark 4:35-41

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Introduction

I want to pose a question to you this morning – Do you believe?

My question isn’t ‘Do you believe in God?’ And my question isn’t ‘Do you believe in Jesus?’ either.

My question is ‘Do you believe in evil?’ Jesus’ contemporaries believed in evil and that included his twelve closest disciples.

This morning’s Gospel reading is all about evil. Mark’s hearers would have recognized the format of this story in the same way that we know what’s coming when we hear ’One upon a time’ or ’An Irishman, A Scotsman and a Englishmen walked into a bar.’

The format of this story about a deity overcoming the wind and the waves was a format used in Near Eastern Cultures. Baal overcame the demon Yam and Marduk overcome the demon Tiamat; these were stories about Good overcoming Evil. The good god overcomes the forces of chaos and evil in order to restore goodness and harmony in the universe. The good god demonstrates his power and that he is in control.

What Evil is Not

But I wonder if we in the West really believe in evil these days? I sometimes think that what many of us are inclined to call ‘evil’ isn’t really evil. And what some of us are inclined to write off as ‘just the way things are’ is, in fact evil. The problem is that we just don’t know what to do about some of these things, so we prefer to deny that they exist. I just want to think this morning about what Evil actually is. You may or may not agree with me on some of the points.

First of all, I think that there is a difference between difficulties on the one hand and evil on the other hand. It is a difficulty of human life, for example, that we become ill or incapacitated. And for many people in our culture, death is a difficulty or a tragedy. Although in some cultures, death is viewed as a welcome release. But whilst acknowledging that illness, incapacity and death can cause great difficulty and sadness is that emphatically not to be minimized, I don’t personally believe that they are Evil.

Secondly, there is also a difference between not following recommended Christian discipleship practices and Evil. If this seems something of a trivial point to you, I think it’s important to say this because I think that often those outside the Church might rightly be able to accuse us of caring more about denouncing those who don’t do churchy things than we care about denouncing outright Evil.

For example, IMO, it is not evil to choose a Cricket match over Sunday worship, although if you do that on a consistent basis, the choice is likely to be a real effect on your discipleship. Still, it’s not evil. And, you may disagree with me, but I’d hesitate to say that a couple who have had a long-term faithful partnership and children without the benefit of marriage are ‘Evil’. I’d still say that I believe marriage is the better option, but such a relationship isn’t, IMO, Evil. It’s just not good discipleship practice if you are a Christian.

So What is Evil?

So, if Evil is not difficulty and sadness and if Evil is not offending against Christian discipleship, what is Evil? I’m going to take a stab at the following working definition: Evil seeks to diminish human beings both as individuals and as communities. Evil seeks power over others with the objective of instilling fear and chaos and taking away autonomy. So whilst death from natural causes is not Evil, a death that results from intentional abuse is.

Child abuse is evil. Spousal abuse is evil. Torture is evil. Plundering, raping and pillaging is evil. I suspect that we can all agree on those things.

The problem comes when Evil works in a more subtle way, and it becomes difficult to put our finger on it. And I think it’s these subtler versions of Evil that are actually the most powerful.

So, for example, if it’s not downright Evil to live in a faithful relationship without the benefit of marriage…what ‘name’ do we place on cheap sex? When sex and love become completely separated and sex is just another appetite to be filled – one’s partner becomes the equivalent of a Saturday night take-away? When a baby’s arrival in the world is seen not as a precious human life but as a nuisance to be left to his or her own devices. There are teachers in this area who will tell you exactly what I’m talking about. Somewhere along the line, Evil has crept in and taken on a life of its own.

Or, if it’s not evil for me to want to provide for my family, what name do we place on poverty in the developing world? What do we call it when our insatiable demand for cheap goods supports horrendous working conditions in other countries? Somewhere along the line, Evil has crept in and take on a life of its own.

And if religion itself is not inherently evil what do we say when we learn that inhabitants of the city of Karachi have to live without basic amenities because of Taliban insurgents? Or when Protestant and Catholic continue to kill one another in Northern Ireland even years after The Troubles are supposed to have ended? Somewhere along the line, evil has crept in and taken on a life of its own.

Power over Evil

The parable of Jesus calming the storm could so easily be read as something like the following: When difficulties arise and you become anxious or frightened, don’t worry – Jesus is there. And this would not be an untrue reading of this text. It’s just a rather toothless reading of it.

Real evil exists. Sometimes it’s so blatant we can all name it. Most of the time, I think, it’s subtle and we might not all agree about what is evil. That’s when evil can grab hold of the life of a community or of an individual and take away their freedom, their dignity and their autonomy. That’s when perceiving evil as an elemental force of chaos isn’t actually far wrong.

And this parable is telling us that Jesus has real power of this kind of Evil. His power over Evil is so potent that the disciples themselves – who have been following him, listening to him and living with him – end up frightened of Jesus. Because, of course, any kind of power is frightening. Power that can destroy evil also has the potential for being evil itself.

And it is at this point that today’s reading ends: with the disciples terrified.

But there is Good News in today’s Gospel. Because we know from Jesus’ life that God’s Kingdom is a conspiracy of hope and healing. The Good News of the Kingdom is far better than simply that we can rely on Jesus when we are scared or anxious. The Good News of the Kingdom is that Jesus has real power over Evil. And we, as the church who is the body of Christ, also have real power over Evil.

And, although we don’t possess our own supernatural powers, we do share with Jesus the power of Good. The moral compass of self-giving love as outlined in Scripture and Christian teaching can help us to discern good from evil when combined with prayer. The Holy Spirit promises to give us courage when we seek to do what is right and to walk in the footsteps of Jesus to the cross and to self-giving love.

Because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christians believe that light and life have been woven into the fabric of creation from the beginning of all things. Christ has conquered sin, death and the power of evil and Christ’s power is not to be feared, but rather is to be embraced because it is always used for good.

And I think that’s very good news indeed.

As we come to the Lord’s Table this morning/afternoon, I pray that we may all be blessed with the courage and the power of God to do good and to reject evil. Amen

Sunday 14 June 2009 - A Conspiracy of Hope and Healing

2009-06-14T05:22:00.001-07:00

This is a two-part sermon based on today's gospel and Epistle readings. It's almost twice as long as my usual sermons because this is the first Sunday in ages when I've taken two services in different churches that are both preaching services rather than communion services.

Mark 4:26-34

Introduction – Pay It Forward

I wonder how many people have seen the film from the year 2000 entitled Pay it Forward?

This is a film about a 12 year old boy, Trevor, who lives with his alcoholic single mother in a deprived neighbourhood in Las Vegas. One day the school's Social Sciences teacher gives the children an assignment: think of an idea for world change, and put it into action. And Trevor comes up with the idea of 'Paying it Forward'.

It's a simple idea and it's easily done and it does have the potential to change the world. Trevor explains it this way: 'You see, I do something real good for three people. And then when they ask how they can pay it back, I say they have to Pay It Forward. To three more people. Each. So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven.'

And so, in the film, a chain of good deeds is begun as Trevor helps three people who, in turn, help three other people. The movement spreads from city to city, initially unbeknownst to anyone until a total stranger gives a Journalist his brand-new Jaguar car. The stranger tells the journalist only that he is ‘paying it forward’ and the journalist begins to investigate this phenomenon.

As the journalist investigates what has happened, the audience learns of a series of good deeds that have resulted in things like…
…a woman being talked out of committing suicide…
…a woman homeless through alcohol and despair finding the strength to try to stop drinking and repair her life…
…and a girl being saved from possibly dying of an asthma attack.

It seems that Trevor did actually come up with an idea that could change the world.

And the idea of ‘paying it forward’ was so compelling that it has sprouted a Real Life imitator: The Pay It Forward Movement and the Pay It Forward Foundation. The Foundation has as its aim “to educate and inspire students to realize that they can change the world, and provide them with opportunities to do so.”

From Little Seeds

This morning we heard the very familiar parable of the seeds and the plants, as told by the Evangelist Mark. And I think that you can probably see the connection here with the idea of ‘Paying it Forward’.

Our good deeds can have an effect on other people far beyond their own ‘size’. In the film, for instance, 12-year-old Trevor tries to help a homeless alcoholic man by giving him shelter in the garage and by giving him food, but the man – Jerry - goes back to his drink. However, it is actually Jerry whose own kindness in ‘paying it forward’ helps the alcoholic woman stop drinking and to turn her life around. Trevor thought that his kindness to Jerry had failed when, in fact, that kindness rippled forward into the future and helped someone else.

And, I think that this lesson is something that we all know: that our own acts of kindness and generosity can often have ripples far into the future in ways that we don’t even know. But it can take a certain level of maturity and patience to actually believe these things. It’s only human nature that we really like to see the rewarding effects of our own good deeds in as direct a way as possible. In fact, I reckon that our natural tendency to respond to reward stimulus would encourage all of us to do good deeds constantly if there was a direct and immediate reward for doing good.

All about God

But this parable is not just a morality tale. It’s not just trying to teach us a lesson about how to be good disciples – although I reckon it’s doing that too. Today’s parable, as presented to us by the Evangelist Mark, is also trying to tell us something about what the Kingdom of God is like and about what God himself is like.

And I want to pick up on an idea that I found on a blog this week.[1] The person who wrote it is a Lutheran lay preacher in Michigan and she was talking about her version of the Kingdom. Her version of God’s Kingdom is: “a place where people speak and act like people who've been invited into a conspiracy of hope and healing.”

I love that idea of the Kingdom of God as ‘a conspiracy of hope and healing’.

Because I believe that God is all about producing ‘a conspiracy of hope and healing’ And God’s Kingdom is a reality that is organized around people forming a ‘conspiracy of hope and healing’. If the message of Christ is meant to be a message of Good News, I don’t think that you could ask for more good news that that.

Imagine this fantasy world where people are whispering behind people’s backs saying things like: “How are we going to let him know how much we appreciate him? What can we do?” “How can we help her out?” Or even “How can we pay that good deed forward”?

And, how different does it seem from our own world where often people ask questions more like: “How can we plot to get him out of office? And which political faction will I align myself with next?” “How quickly can we foreclose on her mortgage?” Or even “How can I pay him back for the things he did to me? How can I make him suffer the way that I suffered?”

Sometimes the world of conspiracy and tragedy and pain can be so pressing and so real that we lose sight of the fact that there is any other kind of reality. We lose sight of God’s reality and of God’s Kingdom. And we begin to think that God is like our world: mean, petty, destructive, vindictive.

But the good news in this morning’s/evening’s Gospel reading is that God’s Kingdom is not about destruction; rather God’s Kingdom is about growth. And it may not appear to us at first glance that the seeds of God’s good news are going to bear any fruit. But just like Trevor’s apparently failed good deed in trying to help the homeless man, the seeds of God’s goodness will in fact yield a rich harvest in the end.

So I hope that we can not simply sowers of these seeds of hope, But that we will also have the faith to trust that growth will occur and to trust that God’s Kingdom is ‘a conspiracy of hope and healing.’

2 Corinthians 5:6-17

In the reading that you just heard from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, the Church in Corinth is longing for the Kingdom of God. They are longing for a reality that reflects a ‘conspiracy of hope and healing’. And they are wondering why this Kingdom hasn’t yet come.

And Paul’s answer is ‘We walk by faith, not by sight’.

It’s so easy for these words to sound trite, bland or naïve – especially when we are going through difficult times. If you hear the call to faith and hope incorrectly, they can sound like a counsel to constant passivity. But Paul isn’t counseling constant passivity. He says in the last verse of today’s Epistle reading that if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. And we, those of us who believe, are called to be agents of that new creation.

But sometimes things happen that we can’t do anything about: accidents, illness, unexpected redundancy….dare I say: crop failures.

Although there are many events in our lives that we do not have control over, we still have a choice as to how we respond to events. We can choose to believe that the universe is conspiring against us. Or we can choose to believe that it is conspiring on our behalf: that, as scripture says ‘All things work together for good.’

The Way of Fear vs The Kingdom of God

The way of what Paul is calling ‘the world’ and ‘the flesh’ counsel us to defensiveness, to fear and to conspiracy theories. In many respects, fear is the opposite of faith.

Fear tells us that loads of illegal immigrants are storming our boarders, sucking the resources from our benefits system; even when the facts tell us that immigrants make a net contribution to the British economy.

Fear tells us that that there is an organized conspiracy against the Christian faith and that Christians should spread the ‘news’ that Christian teachers will soon be discriminated against in law.

Fear tells the banks that they had better move quickly to foreclose on homeowners the minute they miss a mortgage payment and that, somehow, the entire economy is going to be better off that way than by allowing a person to find another job and take up their mortgage payments again.

Fear encourages us to be suspicious of other people and to act defensively and it encourages us to be frightened of any one or anything that is unknown.

Rather than building a Kingdom that is run on the principle of a ‘conspiracy of hope and healing’, the way of fear is to counsel a Kingdom that is run on the principle of ‘a conspiracy of despair and disintegration’. ‘Look out for number one’ and ‘I’m going to make sure that I get mine.’

God’s Way, not Evil’s Way

Paul calls us to turn our eyes toward the new creation and to walk by faith. Paul calls us to Pay it Forward and to enter into a conspiracy of hope and healing. Paul reminds us that these things are the core of God’s New Creation because they are also at the core of Who God Is.

The secret of The Kingdom of Fear is that if you are really willing to threaten other people with death and destruction, you have a good chance of grabbing anything you want. This is the world’s great wisdom.

The secret of hope and healing is that if you really believe in resurrection and in God’s Kingdom, then you have the freedom from fear to dare to do what is right. The secret of the Kingdom of God is that hope and healing are the ultimate reality and fear and destruction are not.

The Kingdom of God is place of ‘Paying it Forward’. It is a conspiracy of hope and healing and a place of life.

Conclusion

We may not have a choice about all the events in our lives, but we have a choice as to how we react to these events. We can choose the way of fear and act defensively and destructively. Or we can choose to walk by faith and not by sight and choose the path of hope and healing.

And the reason we have a choice in the matter is because God is our Creator, our Saviour and our Sustainer. Before the foundation of the world, he chose to weave salvation, goodness, righteousness, hope and healing into the very fabric of reality. And this is very good news indeed.

My prayer this morning is that we may each be given the faith to trust in God’s promise of salvation and New Creation.

And I pray also that when we see the harvest that has grown from the seeds of hope, that we will be inspired to give thanks to the God who constantly conspires for a Kingdom of hope and healing. Amen

[1] See LutheranChik's "L" Word Diary at: hhttp://lutheranchiklworddiary.blogspot.com/

Holding Place

2009-06-14T05:21:00.001-07:00

This is a holding place for sermons that need to be posted.

Sunday 1 March 2009 - New Birth, Learning, Repentance

2009-03-01T05:54:00.000-08:00

This sermon is based on Mark 1:9-15

Introduction

There is an interesting phenomenon happening on the internet these days. A number of websites have sprung up where people can make confessions anonymously.

As you can imagine, many of these confessions are not suitable for repetition in church and some of them are downright shocking or, if not shocking, then upsetting.

Some are poignant: ‘I've loved her since she first told me that true love didn't exist.’

And a number go straight to the darker side of the human condition.
...‘I drive drunk at least once a week; I’m getting very good at it.’
...‘I know someone who has been around forever, is well liked by everyone and who is not who they say they are.’
...‘I get jealous when attention is paid to other people but I do my best to repress it.’

I only just learned about these websites about a fortnight ago. But if you do an internet search for ‘anonymous confessions’, you will have quite a selection of websites to choose from. There is even a website called ‘Anonymous Australian Confessions’. (It makes me wonder why Australians need a special kind of confessing?)

But what each of these websites claims to provide is a place to safely get things off your chest. Some of these websites even give assurances that they have disabled the usual ways that anonymous internet comments can be identified.

Confessing our sins and our misdeeds seems to be an act that is rooted deep in the human psyche. Most of us seem to need to get our misdeeds off our chest in some form or another and, if we can’t actually confess to the person whom we have wronged, then an anonymous confession on the internet is the next best thing.

Or is it? Perhaps that’s the question.

What I found interesting in reading some of these confessions is that there was often no desire expressed to stop the activity being confessed. And, fairly frequently, a number of people expressed the idea that they wish they could stop but they can’t so there really isn’t any point in trying.

You won’t be surprised, either, that a number of people didn’t seem to be ‘confessing’ as much as they appeared to be ‘boasting’. Perhaps they had a small idea in the back of their mind that what they were up to was a behaviour that should be stopped, but somehow they seemed to be seeking an anonymous kind of approval or admiration on the internet.

Lent is the time for self-examination and repentance and – intentionally or unintentionally – today’s Gospel reading sets out a useful example for what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Today’s Gospel reading contains three ‘movements’, if you will:
1) New Birth in the form of baptism;
2) challenge and learning in the form of the trial in the desert; and 3) Jesus’ call to repentance.

New Birth / Baptism

In the first cameo in today’s Gospel, Jesus is baptised.

Baptism is the sacrament of what John Wesley called the New Birth. The commonly-used phrase ‘born again’ probably arose from John Wesley’s use of the term ‘New Birth’ which is closely related to his concept of ‘New Creation’.

The process of salvation for individuals is expressed in the term ‘New Birth’. And the process of salvation for all of creation is expressed in the term ‘New Creation’

To be born again is to stop seeing reality from the commonly-accepted perspective of our society and culture, but rather to see reality from God’s perspective. From God’s perspective, driving drunk isn’t so much a character flaw or quirk as it is a sin that puts his beloved creatures in danger – both the drunk driver and others who he or she might hurt. From God’s perspective, mismanaging a company or an economy from wreckless greed and putting thousands of people out of work isn’t simply bad luck and ‘the way things are’ – it is also a manifestation of sin.

To be born again is to recognise both our individual sins and our sinful condition and our absolute need for God’s grace. The difference between the person who is born again and some of the anonymous confessors is that the person who is born again recognises that their sinful actions are, indeed, sinful. And it is not just individuals like drunk drivers who need New Birth. It is also systems that wrecklessly create unemployment or systematic Third-World poverty that need the salvation of God’s New Creation.

Learning and Trials

But as anyone who has tried to kick a bad habit is only too aware, understanding that our actions are wrong or sinful doesn’t necessarily make it easy to stop the harmful actions. Just because we are ‘born again’ doesn’t mean that we become automatically holy and that we don’t need to grow and learn.

We all know that it’s not easy for an alcoholic to stop drinking And neither is it easy for us as a society to give up some of our economic addictions – which is why we are now going through recession.

In order to get rid of our bad habits and our sins, we often need to go through a painful process of learning.

To continue with the analogy of alcoholism….Many alcoholics have found that the process of ‘learning’ that Alcoholics Anonymous provides is one that ultimately works.

It is by no means an easy process. It requires members to examine themselves, their motives, their habits and it also requires them to make amends to people whom they have wronged. It urges individuals to call upon a ‘Higher Power’ (God) in times of trial but, importantly, it also provides a human being to rely upon. The member’s sponsor is there for them any time of the day or night and is there for them even when they fall off the wagon.

I sometimes think that this system of learning and support probably works a lot better than the Church where I think that people often feel that church is the last place they can admit their weaknesses to others and find support to learn and grow.

In every Christian life there will be times of trial and testing. Such times can be times of learning for individuals and they can also be occasions for support from Christian friends and from the Church family.

Like the sponsor at Alcoholics Anonymous, the church is at its best when we stand by those who are struggling. We won’t name anyone’s sins as good things, but we won’t abandon each other when we fall off the wagon.

Because each of us knows that, when it comes to sin, we will all fall off the wagon and need the grace of God, especially as it is demonstrated by our brothers and sisters in Christ. And each of us knows that, because of the cross of Christ, God extends this grace to us and gives us strength in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Repentance

The ultimate goal of our learning, of course, is a change in our behaviour. What John Wesley called a growth in holiness.

Repentance is not just being sorry for our sins. Repentance includes change. The kind of change that needs the power of the Holy Spirit; the kind of change that needs the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ. The kind of change that means that rather than turn our backs towards God, we have our faces turned towards God.

‘Repentance’, of course, is what the season of Lent is all about. And repentance is also this morning’s Good News.

The Good News is that every person is given the opportunity to repent and be born again. The Good News is that, in the power of the Holy Spirit and with the support of our brothers and sisters, we can grow in holiness and the likeness of Christ. The Good News is that when we inevitably make mistakes and fall off the wagon that these mistakes can be used as learning experiences. The Good News is that God is our sponsor and is always patient, always forgiving, always ready to give us a second chance.

As we come to the Lord’s Table, I pray that we may all be aware of the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness for us. Amen

Sunday 22 February 2009 - Transfiguration and Transformation

2009-02-15T02:51:00.000-08:00

This sermon is based on the story of the Transfiguration in Mark 9:2-9

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Introduction

When the television show 'Grumpy Old Men' first made an appearance, my husband and I enjoyed watching it immensely. We'd sit there, laughing, and we both agreed that - yes - my husband is a grumpy old man.

But then, one Christmas season, I got my comeuppance, didn't I?

Because there was a new show on television called 'Grumpy Old Women'. And my husband laughed at me and said 'You're a grumpy old woman!' And I had to laugh and agree with him.

The gist of all the comments of the grumpy old men and women, of course, is that things were better 20, 30, 50 or even 100 years ago.

They say that when most people yearn for the 'Good Old Days', that they yearn for a mythical Golden Age that they most likely didn't live through. That era is part of the story of 'When we were a great society'. And it may not be a real era at all.

I'm not sure about exactly when the British golden era was, but I have a fair idea of what it looks like: A farming village in mid-summer that Constable could have painted, with happy obedient children in their Sunday best walking to church with their plump, rosy-cheeked parents.

And we hear the British Christian media harking back to that golden age a lot. Whenever it was, that age was 'When we were a Christian society'.

Transfiguration and Transformation

I think Mark's Gospel gives us some hints that when Peter, James and John went up to the mountain-top with Jesus that they were yearning for a Golden Era of Israel.

Just before his excursion up the mountain, Jesus has told the twelve that the Messiah must suffer and die and Peter has rebuked Jesus for saying such things.

But the experience on the mountain-top, now that's more like it! I reckon this experience is a lot more like what Peter, James and John had in mind. The three of them, alone with Jesus and two great immortal - literally - figures of Israel's Golden Age: Moses and Elijah.

The Transfiguration is a divine manifestation of God on earth.

Peter wants to stay here. In his mind, this is why he became a disciple of Jesus. This is what he's been waiting for. As far as Peter is concerned, this place on the mountain is the Real Deal. The goal has been obtained.

Transformation

But the Transfiguration is also a transformation.

The Transfiguration doesn't bless the past or the idea that God's people need to go back to a Golden Age. As with all supposed Golden Ages, that Golden Age of Israel never actually existed.

And the Transfiguration certainly doesn't call us to stay in the present.

When the disciples look like wanting to bask in the glow of this fantastical other-worldy moment, Jesus moves them all smartly down from the mountaintop back into the everyday world.

The Transfiguration is about moving into the future, but it's not a future that will look like that Golden Age that we are imagining.

It's not the future where the Messiah cannot die, as Peter imagines. And it's not a future where Jesus is going to be a supernatural conquering king, as James and John imagine when they ask him, just a few verses from now, to sit at his right and left when he reigns in glory.

The Transfiguration is a transformation: not only of the world but also a transformation of our way of thinking about God and his Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God, and God himself, are not to be found only on the mountain-top and only in the Spiritual Realms, they are also to be found in the nitty-gritty of everyday life.

In Matthew's Gospel, this story stands right at the transition-point between the first part of the Gospel in which we hear about Jesus' ministry and teaching. And the second part of the Gospel in which we hear that the Messiah must suffer and die.

This glorious manifestation of God doesn't come at some triumphant point in the life of Jesus. It comes at the point when the disciples and the readers are only just beginning to come to terms with the idea that Jesus' glorious divine mission on earth is not to be a supernatural superhero but it is, in fact, to die a very human death.

How appropriate, therefore, that we should read this story today, in the Sunday before Lent.

Conclusion

The story of the Transfiguration is a story of transformation and it is also a
revelation of Jesus' glory.

The glory of Jesus that is revealed in the Transfiguration is the glory of the cross.

Jesus will destroy sin, death and the power of evil not by obliterating them, but by submitting himself to their full fury.

But Jesus has to come down off the mountain in order to accomplish this mission.

And human notions of 'spirituality' and of what it means to encounter God need to come down off the mountain too.

To be a Christian is not to seek to live always on the mountain-top. To be a Christian is not to put God in a box labelled 'spirit' or 'prayer' and to ignore his presence in the physical world. To be a Christian is not to yearn for a Golden Past nor is it even to believe that salvation will only happen in the future.

Our God is a God whose salvation centres in the very fact that he became human, took on our sins, suffered and died.

Christianity properly understood says that God is in the here and now. Where-ever we go, when we encounter joy and sadness or health or pain, God is there. In fact, God was there before we ever got there ourselves.

The Christian God is to be found in the here and now and God's presence is to be found in suffering and death as much as in health and life.

My prayer for us this morning is that the Transfiguration will transform our hearts so that we can become ever more open to the presence of God in our world. As we come to encounter our Lord present in the Eucharist, may the Spirit of Christ grow in our hearts so that we may see the presence of God in the people and the world around us. Amen

Sunday 8 February 2009 - Healer of the World

2009-02-08T02:36:00.000-08:00

This sermon is based on Mark 1:29-39 and Isaiah 40:21-31

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Introduction

This past July, the BBC ran a special documentary programme celebrating the 60th anniversary of the creation of the NHS. Whilst I expect that there might be people in the congregation this morning who can remember the creation of the NHS (but, of course, only as very small children!) I found the programme fascinating. Particularly as a lover of history and as a foreigner.

I was by no means surprised to learn that the British Medical Association initially opposed the formation of the NHS. But I was surprised to find out that the NHS was actually conceived of and implemented within what seemed like a very short space of time. (18 months?)

One of the stories I found interesting was the account of the number of people who flocked to their local doctor's office on the day the NHS began. If I remember the programme correctly, the number of people with untreated medical conditions who presented themselves at doctors' surgeries far exceeded the NHS's pre-opening estimates.

There were far more people than anyone had previously imagined living with chronic medical conditions that they could not afford to have treated. For example, there were people living with enormous hernias. One of the most heart-breaking accounts was the large estimate of the number of children who had previously died with appendicitis whilst their parents treated their bad tummy aches with castor oil because there was no question of being able to afford to take their child to the doctor.

One of the most heart-warming accounts was that of a receptionist in a doctors' surgery who told stories of patients bringing presents to the surgery for the first few years of the NHS - so amazed and delighted were people to finally have access to health treatment.

Everyone was yearning for healing.

Jesus - Healer of the World

In this morning's Gospel reading, we are being put on notice that Jesus is the healer of the world.

This is is the second miracle story in the Gospel of Mark.

We heard the first story last week - the story of the casting out of the demon in the Synagogue. Last week, you might say we had a healing of the mind. This week, we have a healing of the body. And a little bit further on in the Gospel of Mark, we will have a healing of the spirit when Jesus forgives the sins of the paralytic.

But Jesus' ministry is not going to be settling down in Capernaum and setting up shop as a healer and a wise man, even though the presence of the crowds indicates that Jesus could make quite a pleasant living that way.

Jesus takes time out from the demands of the crowd to pray and he comes back convinced that travelling and preaching are also part of his calling and his ministry. His calling is not just the healing of individuals, but also the healing of the world.

And his ministry is going to be an unconventional one.

Ultimately, it will be a scandal, because the healing of the world will come not through the creation of world peace and harmony. Rather the healing of the world will come through a death on a cross.

God the Redeemer

The good news of Jesus Christ that Mark proclaims in his Gospel is the same good news that the Church has proclaimed since the first Easter Sunday. It is the same good news that helped the people of Israel to keep the faith in exile in Babylon: The Good News is that God is our healer and our Redeemer as well as our Creator.

This has been the witness of the people of God down through the ages: that God will save and heal his people and his creation.

Sometimes stories of miraculous healings like that of Simon's mother-in-law can be difficult to hear, particularly for those of us - and I expect we're the majority rather than the minority - who know someone who could do with a miraculous healing right now.

And I don't have any easy answers for us about the problem of pain and suffering or why some people recover from illness and others do not.

What I can do, however, is point us all to this morning's reading from Isaiah and say: 'These people knew what it meant to suffer. They knew what it meant to be homeless, rootless, without inheritance and without hope. They knew what it meant to feel abandoned by God but still they professed their trust in God's faithfulness.'

If Mark's story sounds a bit too much to modern ears like it is asking us to believe in a God who waves a magic wand and makes all pain and suffering go away, then the story of the exile in Isaiah should reassure us that the core of our faith is not based on magic tricks.

The faith professed in Isaiah is not the faith of a people whose God has magically made everything better. Rather it is the faith of a suffering people who nonetheless believe that the Lord will renew their strength until they are no longer weary.

Ultimately, Mark will reveal that the unconventional thing about Jesus' story is that he will not save Israel by healing everyone. He will not save Israel by putting peace in the hearts of humanity nor will he save Israel by making it immortal.

What is unconventional and unexpected about the story of Jesus is that he is going to save the world by dying himself. This is at the heart of the scandal of the cross: that Jesus heals us from sin, death and the power of evil not by obliterating them but by entering into them himself.

Our hope lies in Jesus not because he makes suffering go away, but because he enters into human suffering.

Conclusion

Everyone yearns for healing.

Some of us here may be praying for a kind of healing for ourselves or our loved ones and the answers to our prayers will not be as we hope.

But I believe that God nonetheless offers a kind of healing that is appropriate for each person. And I believe that God has promised that, ultimately, his kingdom will come and that his whole creation will be healed.

My prayer for each of us this morning is that we may be given the eyes to see the healing that God makes available for each of us and our loved ones. And I pray that, like Israel in exile, we will be given the strength to wait with joy and expectation for the coming of God's Kingdom. Amen

Sunday 1 February 2009 - Power and Authority

2009-02-01T02:24:00.000-08:00

This sermon is based on Mark 1:21-28

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Introduction

One of the big news items this week has been on the subject of bonuses that financial institutions on Wall Street have recently paid to their employees.

Collectively, it seems that bonuses of $18.4 billion (about £13 billion) were paid to the employees of Wall Street firms during 2008 by financial institutions which also asked for government assistance during the year.

The American financial company Merrill Lynch - whose parent company was rescued by the Federal government - paid out $4 billion in staff bonuses in 2008. The recently-sacked boss of Merrill Lynch - John Thain - justified the payment of these bonuses on the basis that the company had to give out these bonuses or it would loose it's best people.

The American Comedian Steve Colbert expressed the outrage of the person on the street on one of his recent shows when he said: 'Newsflash! You haven't got any “best people”. They drove the country into a financial crisis. These are not “best people”!'

Comedy can sometimes speak truths more powerfully than any other mode of communication.

So, on the one hand, we have former Merrill Lynch boss John Thain seeking to use the alleged authority of Wall Street to justify the company's actions. And, on the other hand, we have the comedian Steve Colbert, whose observations are humorous (and authoritative) precisely because they go straight to the truth.

The Authority of Jesus

This morning's Gospel reading is actually about the authority of Jesus.

And it's about the quality of his authority rather than about the quantity of his authority. The story is not trying to ask the question 'How much power does Jesus' authority have?' But rather 'What kind of authority is it that Jesus' wields?'

21st century readers might be distracted by the question of whether or not such a healing exorcism took place at all. But Mark's audience would not have found the miracle in today's reading remarkable in any way. Their question would not have been 'Did Jesus have the gifts of healing and exorcism' but rather, 'Why did Jesus have these gifts? How did he use them? What purpose did they serve?'

One of the over-arching themes of Mark's Gospel is Jesus' miracles. This particular miracle is the first one that Jesus performs and so this story sets the scene for all the other miracles that come after it. The story is also a commentary on Jesus' character.

Mark indicates to us that Jesus has his own authority which he uses for the purposes of healing.

The Use of Power

This is an interesting image: Jesus, Messiah. Possessed of his own divine authority and power, using his power for the sake of healing others.

It's even more interesting when you consider the fact that, just a few verses earlier the Gospel of Mark, Jesus has rejected the temptation by Satan to use his power in a more conventional way. Jesus has just rejected the use of his divine authority and power to set himself up in role that we would normally consider to be one of power.

In fact, I'd venture to say that the phrase of 'a person of great power' would more conventionally conjure up the image of the boss of Merrill Lynch or the Prime Minister or perhaps even the members of The House of Lords.

By all conventional definitions, a person with a powerful position holds the welfare, health or happiness of many people in his or her hands simply by virtue of his or her position.

We have had so many examples in the last few weeks of positions of power being used for both good and for evil that there is no shortage of illustrations. I'll leave you to consider all these recent news events so that I'm not seen to be taking sides in one direction or another.

My point is that power can be used in a number of ways.

It can be used selfishly, without taking others into consideration at all. But as I use my power to maximise my own advantage I may unintentionally end up hurting others.
More negatively, power can also be used to take revenge and to actively try to hurt others. Or, we can follow Jesus' example and use power for the purposes of healing - which can include forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration of good relationships.

And before we decide that none of this applies to us personally because we are not powerful enough, we would do well to remember that each one of us probably does in fact hold power over someone in our life, even if we ourselves often feel powerless. Christians are called to follow the example of Jesus and to use the power that we have over others for the purposes of healing and reconciliation rather than for the purposes of selfish gain.

Conclusion

Power and authority go hand in hand and with them come responsibility.

We know to our cost that authority and power can be used in ways that hurt society and that tear it apart. But God's view of the uses of authority and power is very different from this.

God's view of the use of power and author is diametrically opposite to the way that financial institutions have been behaving in recent years.

God's view of the use of power and authority is often different from the way that governments behave.

And God's view of the use of power and authority is different from the way that individuals behave when we act only in our own self-interest.

The good news for this morning is that Jesus used his power and authority for the purposes of healing, forgiveness and reconciliation. Jesus chose to use his authority for the benefit of humankind and he did not succumb to the temptation to use his power for his own self-promotion.

The good news is that, in Jesus, we know the Father and we know that his intention is for wholeness and restoration. The good news is that God uses his power for the benefit of his creation and for the good of humankind.

My prayer this morning is not only that we may grow in a deeper awareness of God's good purposes for our own lives, but that we may take seriously the challenge that this implies for us as his disciples. As we come to his table I pray that we will find wholeness and spiritual healing for ourselves.

And as we go from this place, I pray that we will employ the power of the Holy Spirit given to us in our baptism in order to touch the lives of others with God's healing and wholeness. Amen

Sunday 18 January 2009 - God the Unexpected

2009-01-18T02:01:00.000-08:00

This sermon is based on 1 Samuel 3:1-10 and John 1:43-51.

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Introduction

Once upon a time there was a teenager. I'll call him Jack and I think that he was probably about 16 or 17 years old. Jack had attended church all his life. He'd gone to Sunday School until he was about 14 and then - believe it or not - after he was confirmed he actually started coming to Sunday services!

That particular church had an active group for young people and one day, they arranged to visit a youth conference in Birmingham. It was one of those big worship events with several hundred young people and lots of good music. The kind of worship that we all need now and then in order to give us a boost and encourage us in our faith.

Who knows why God picks the times and the ways that he speaks to us in a special way, but at that service in Birmingham, Jack was able to hear God in a powerful way. He was touched by the hundreds of young people worshipping God together without worrying about what their friends might think. He was touched by words of the music.
And he was particularly touched by the speaker.

It was at that worship service that Jack felt that he really understood for the first time what the Gospel was all about. He understood in a personal way God's love for him. He understood in his heart that, even if he made mistakes, God would forgive him and give him a second chance. And Jack also felt that he really understood for the first time what it meant that the Holy Spirit would give him strength to be a disciple of Jesus.

Jack was overwhelmed by this experienced and, like many people when they first really 'get it', he felt overjoyed.

But on the coach trip him, Jack began to feel a bit betrayed. Why had no one ever told him this stuff before? Why hadn't his Sunday School teachers told him about the real Gospel? And, for that matter, why wasn't the minister preaching the real Gospel?

Jack, full of the boldness of his new-found understanding, resolved that he was going to have a word with the minister and ask her why she never preached the Gospel.

When he got up on Sunday, he thought 'There's no time like the present. I'll speak to the minister after the service.' And then, as Jack listened to the sermon, he realised that the minister was preaching the Gospel. So he decided to wait and see what happened the following Sunday.

And the following Sunday, miracle of miracles, the minister preached the Gospel again. On the third Sunday, when the minister preached the Gospel yet again, Jack thought to himself, 'Maybe the minister has been preaching the Gospel all along. Maybe it was me who just wasn't hearing it.'

Hearing God in Unexpected Places

When our perspective is changed, we can suddenly 'see' things that we have never seen before.

Like Jack, we can see God in places where we have never seen him before. We can see God in expected places. And this seeing of God in unexpected places is what seems to be going on in both of our readings this morning.

On the one hand, we have Samuel. Still a young boy, he is under the tutelage of Eli the Priest. Samuel doesn't have the ability or the experience to hear the voice of God on his own, but Eli instructs Samuel in how to do it.

Eli gives Samuel this instruction - he does the right thing - even though he knows that his own sons have been cursed by God for being scoundrels. According to the laws of the Hebrew people, it is not Samuel who is supposed to hear the voice of God, yet God has chosen him over and above the sons of Eli.

Through Samuel, God speaks through an unexpected source. Samuel's perspective was changed from then on and he was able to gain experience in hearing God speak.

I think that there is a similar thing happening in the story of Nathaniel. We have some hints from the reading that Nathaniel was a dedicated scholar of Jewish Law.
First of all, his name: a very Jewish name in contrast to the other disciples whose names have been translated into Greek. Secondly, the way that Jesus greets him as 'an Israelite in whom their is no deceit' And, finally, Nathaniel's habit of studying under a fig tree - a symbol for the nation of Israel.

What is unexpected here is not Nathaniel's interest in being a disciple of God but rather his confession of Jesus - of all people - as The Son of God and the King of Israel. In John's Gospel, these title are very intentionally Messianic.
The man who had just questioned 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' is now acknowledging Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah.

Something happens, and we don't really know what it is, that entirely changes Nathaniel's perspective. He moves rapidly from a stance of writing Jesus off completely to recognising him as the Messiah and becoming Jesus' disciple.

Samuel and Nathaniel both had their perspective changed. They were able to hear the voice of God and become disciples even though the voice of God seemed to be coming from an unexpected place.

History Belongs to God

The historian Arnold Toynbee famously said that 'History is just one (darn) thing after another.' (He didn't say 'darn' but I wouldn't want to shock you too much from the pulpit!)

Toynbee believed that human civilizations don't learn from history but that they simply keep making the same mistakes over and over.

The question as to whether anything good can ever come out of Nazareth is perhaps poignant in the context of current events where the government of Israel is locked in battle with Palestinian militants.

Two thousand years later, we can look at that area of the world - both Israel and Gaza - and wonder whether anything good will ever come out of that place. We might be very tempted to take the view of Arnold Toynbee and think that history is doomed to repeat itself over and over in this region.

I'm not imagining that I'm going to come up with a solution to the problems in the Middle East in this sermon, but I think that today's readings suggest to us at least the outline of a Godly response.

First of all, as Christians we do not believe that history is just one darn thing after another. History has a goal and that goal is the coming of the Kingdom of God.
A world in which human dignity is real and the presence of God is manifest. Where God's kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.

Even if we cannot see an inkling of The Kingdom at the moment, the Kingdom is in God's hands just as surely as the future of Israel was in God's hands in Eli's time. The world has seen the hand of God at work in human history. The healing of European tensions during the 20th century is one example. The peace in Northern Ireland is yet another example.

As Christians, it is central to our belief that there is always hope for human history.

Secondly, as disciples of Christ, we must be dedicated to the truth. We must have the eyes to see clearly when evil is being done, no matter who does it, and name it as evil. We must have the eyes to see clearly when good is being done, no matter who does it, and name it as good.

Both Eli and Nathaniel heard the voice of God calling from unexpected places.

If the world assumes that no good can come from Israel or that no good can come from Palestine, then there will never be clear enough vision to sit down at the negotiating table to begin the process of peace.

And finally, as disciples of Christ we are called to be agents of peace by being the agents of truth and righteousness and clear-headed ethics.

Please note that I'm not saying that Christians will be the only agents of peace. In fact, it is my belief anyone whose actions serve peace, truth, righteousness and clear-headed ethics will, in fact, be doing the will of God whether or not they call themselves a Christian.

However, to be a disciple of Christ is necessarily to be committed to the pursuit of these things.

It may be a lot simpler to simply pick a side and refuse to acknowledge when that side engages in injustice; but truth will not be served by such a process. Peace, forgiveness and reconciliation will not be served by such a process. And the Kingdom of God will not be advanced by such a process.

Conclusion

During the course of our lives, God will call to us from unexpected places and in the voices of unexpected people.

The principles outlined above can be applied in our personal lives and in our spiritual lives.

They are as applicable to Christian unity as well as to international relations and, of course, they are applicable to our personal lives as well.

How can we hear God's call when it comes from an unfamiliar voice?

I think that we can hear God's call when it sounds like Jesus. When it sounds like forgiveness rather than retribution; reconciliation rather than division; peace rather than war; inclusion rather than exclusion; service rather than personal glory; the good of the other rather than my own comfort.

My prayer this morning is that, as disciples, we can be clear-headed enough to recognise the voice of God by the message that it brings. May we be given the discernment to hear the voice of God even when it comes from unexpected places and unexpected people. Amen

Sunday 4 January 2009 - Covenant Service

2009-01-07T06:13:00.000-08:00

This is a three part sermon which I interspersed with the readings for Covenant Sunday. The aim of this sermon is to give people a better understanding of the biblical concept of 'covenant'. Understanding the concept of 'covenant' also helps to unpack much of the text in the liturgy of the Covenant Service itself. The sermon is written from an Arminian understanding of 'covenant' that I expect 5-point Calvinists probably wouldn't agree with!

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Introduction

This morning, we are observing a traditional Methodist form of worship called the Covenant Service, where we affirm our faith in God and rededicate our lives to God's service.

I suppose it would be quite accurate to say that what we are about to do - those who choose to do so - is like a reaffirmation of our Baptismal vows. The liturgy itself expresses the purpose of this service as 'accepting again our place within the covenant which God has made with us and with all who are called to be Christ's disciples.'

We are often used to hearing the idea that to become a Christian is to 'make a commitment to Christ' and therefore you might not be far wrong in thinking that this service is a renewal of that commitment.

But I expect you've heard it said in Covenant Services from years past that, actually, God made a commitment to us first - in the words of our baptismal service - 'before we even knew anything of it'. Because although the word 'covenant' implies a contracted promise, it also has a rich biblical meaning.

And it's the story of this biblical meaning that I'd like to review this morning.

In order to make that easier, I'd like to expand on each part of the story as we hear it rather than give 'a sermon'. The first part of the story begins in the desert. It is Moses' farewell address to the people of Israel, just before his death and just before the people are to be delivered from their forty-year exile in the desert.

Deuteronomy 29:10-15

Israel are God's chosen people, but it probably doesn't feel like it any more after forty years wandering in the desert. As the story goes, the people cannot enter the promised land until every one of the generation of people who left Egypt has died.

Imagine trying to keep faith in God's good purposes for your people as you wander aimlessly in the desert for forty years. But the ancient Israelites were no better at it than we are and they didn't keep the faith. Even as Moses went up Mount Sinai in order to get the ten commandments - a sign and seal of the contract between God and Israel - the Israelites had already broken their part of the bargain by worshipping a false god.

Yet, God remained faithful and he reestablished the contract with his people.

Now this covenant that has been made between God and the Israelites is not a contract in the usual sense because a contract must normally be made between two equals. Human beings are not able to reach out and establish a bond with God, but God is able to reach out to us. And that is exactly what the old covenant is about: through Israel, the transcendent God intervenes in history to establish a relationship with humanity in human time and in human space.

Of course, the other thing about a covenant - contract - is that it is normally viewed as being null and void when one party does not keep up their end of the bargain. And it did not take the coming of Jesus for God's people to understand that human beings cannot keep God's law.

Jeremiah understands all too well that God's people have not been able to keep the old covenant. He realises that a new covenant between God and humanity is needed....

Jeremiah 31:31-34

And so we have an age-old human problem: Human beings are not able to refrain from sinning. We are not able to keep the Ten Commandments. We are not able to keep up our end of a bargain with God.

What is the solution to be? That human beings keep sinning and that God keeps renewing the contract nonetheless? Jeremiah proposes a different solution: a new covenant.

This is is not a covenant that is based on human beings being able to keep God's law - we already know that won't work. The new covenant is based on the transformation of human hearts: not God's law written on tablets, but God's Spirit written on the hearts of human beings. If human beings are not able to be faithful on their own, then God himself will have to transform the human heart in order that we can be faithful.

For the Christian, this transformation can come only from Jesus. Jesus said that didn't come to do away with the law, but rather that he came to fulfill the law. Jesus fulfilled the law because he himself was the one human being who was able to be 100% faithful to the requirements of the covenant with God. Jesus was able to keep up our end of the bargain and he did it for us, as our substitute and in our place. Jesus' obedience to the Father is accepted as our obedience to the Father and, in Jesus, the covenant between God and humanity is made permanent for all time.

It is through Christ that God's Spirit is written on our hearts and that we can hope for our own transformation. It is through Christ and his life, death and resurrection that God intervenes once again in history - in the new covenant - to establish a relationship with humanity in human time and in human space.

And just as the Jewish people observe Passover to remember God's covenant with them and with all people, So too do we observe the Lord's Supper as a token of God's new covenant with humanity.

The following reading is taken from Mark who sets The Last Supper in the context of the Passover Meal.

Mark 14:22-25

Jesus says in verse 25: 'Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.'

Just as the Passover looks forward to the fulfillment of God's promise to the Jewish people of deliverance from exile and settlement in the Promised Land, so too does the Lord's Supper look forward to what Christians believe is the fulfillment of the promise of God to all people: the Kingdom of God.

A world in which human dignity is real and the presence of God is manifest.

But the Lord's Supper is operating under the rules of engagement - if you will - of the new covenant:

Of the understanding that human beings cannot keep God's law but that Jesus has kept it for us and that he has fulfilled it on our behalf. The Lord's Supper is the feast of the Kingdom of God: the feast to which all people are invited on account of the forgiveness that has been won for us by the cross of Christ. It is not our 'making a commitment' to God that saves us, rather it is God's 'making a commitment' to us through Christ that saves us.

The Covenant Prayer which we are about to make is an acknowledgement of all that God has done for us in Christ. We acknowledge that it is because of God's action that we belong to God. And we acknowledge that we, like the Virgin Mary, are the servants of God and that we do not do God work but, rather, God works through us.

Please take a minute or so to read over The Covenant Prayer. May God bless us as we prepare to make this solemn prayer together.

Sunday 28 December 2008 - God in the Mess

2008-12-28T09:22:00.000-08:00

I couldn't preach this morning and ignore what has happened in Gaza this weekend with over 250 people dead. The sermon is based on the Gospel reading from the Common Worship Lectionary rather than from the Revised Common Lectionary. Luke 2:15-21

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The Messiah Has Come

In today's Gospel reading, we hear once again the end of Luke's story of Christmas. There have been miraculous appearances by angels, there have been shepherds and there have been hymns of praise, both earthly and celestial. Everything in Luke's narrative points to Jesus as the Messiah so that the reader is left in no doubt as to who Jesus is or what his significance is.

And, finally, when the momentous events have been accomplished and the shepherds and the angels have departed, Mary is left to ponder all of these events in her heart.

Then the next thing that happens in Luke's narrative is the circumcision of Jesus. Luke is affirming yet again the status of Jesus as the Messiah, the one through whom God's promises to the human race are to be fulfilled. Circumcision is a sign of God's covenant promise with his people.

Listen to what a modern Jewish rabbi has to say about the rite of circumcisions as an expression of God's covenant and what that means[1]: 'There will come a time when all human beings will live in full dignity and freedom....The covenant is that bond through which God and the Jewish people dream together and work together toward an alternative reality, a world in which human dignity is real and the presence of God is manifest.'

Other Mothers

Over the last week or so during the season of Christmas, we have been hearing stories of shepherds and lambs and wise men and gifts and mothers and babies. And our young ones have been acting in nativity plays; and the week of Christmas has been a time for celebrations and feasting and maybe a bit too much activity as well.

And I can't help but think that against this backdrop of our celebrations, the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza has fallen apart in the last fortnight and hundreds of people in the region of the Holy Land have been killed this weekend.

I don't want to take sides or appear to take sides. The current violence has a long and complicated history and there is always more than one side to any conflict. But as I was thinking about Mary's ponderings and her hopes for her own child, I came across the stories of two other mothers in the Holy Land.

The first story is Hava's{2]. A Jewish mother of three in a town called Sderot. On the 19th of December she said: 'A rocket landed 10 metres from my house last week. The ceasefire may have officially ended today, but in reality it was over long before that. I don't feel protected here, not at all. I hope that Israel does go into Gaza even if citizens there get hurt. Because here in Sderot we are getting hurt. Life is very difficult. We have my husband's salary from the bed factory here in Sderot, but it's barely enough. I am sure there are simple citizens like me in Gaza, who want nothing but to wake up in the morning, go to work and take care of the children. But if I have to choose between my son or someone else's son, I choose my son.'

...And what mother wouldn't?

The second story is Mirvat's[3], a Palestinian mother who lives in the Gaza. Her family was caught in the crossfire of a gun-battle between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants. Whilst taking cover in their own living room with her five children, her oldest son and daughter, aged 18 and 17 were killed by snipers when they accidentally moved into the snipers' view. Mirvat said: 'We feel like there is no reason to live any more....'We have to talk to the other side, we have to have peace, so that we can all - us and them - live safely.'

And what mother wouldn't want to live in safety with her children?

Christ our Saviour

So here we have the ponderings of three mothers: From Scripture, the pondering of Mary on Jesus' Messiahship and what that might ultimately mean. And from our world, the pondering of two mothers in an imperfect and dangerous world who are afraid for their children and their future.

Jesus came to the world as the Prince of Peace and yet it appears that we have no peace. In such circumstances, talk of a world in which human dignity is real and the presence of God is manifest can sometimes seem hollow and unreal.

The Christmas image of the baby in the manger may be a sweet picture, but ultimately the message of Christmas is not meant to be charming or bucolic. The message of Christmas is that God is in this messy world with us. And that he is here in fact as well as in Spirit.

The baby lying in that crib at Christmas will ultimately share the everyday sorrows of human life as well as all its everyday joys. But Jesus will also experience the worst that human life has to offer: betrayal, humiliation, shame and a painful, violent death. His last words will be words of forgiveness and his last act will unite us with God and with God's forgiveness forever. And his resurrection will be a sign that God is a God who is completely alive and without reference to death.

The message of Christmas is ultimately a message of hope, but is not a saccharine or unreal hope, but a gritty hope born out of the worst that humanity can do.

When human beings suffer at the hands of others and can still forgive, then we recognise the human dignity of those who hurt us and we access a dignity in ourselves that can only come from the Spirit of God. And when we we suffer randomly at the hands of life's circumstances, it is God's Spirit that gives us the strength to continue in hope.

Conclusion

The beauty of the incarnation does not lie in the sweetness of one newborn child. The beauty of the incarnation lies in the fact that God's salvation came through the reality of this world and through the reality of Jesus' humanity. Salvation does not come because human beings are removed from the world but because God has come into the world.

As we come to The Lord's Table in a few minutes, I pray that we, like Mary, will ponder the mystery of the incarnation in our hearts. And I pray that we will not only ponder this mystery but that we will trust in God's promises and that we will and pray and work for a world where all mothers dare to hope for a future of peace on earth for their children. Amen

Footnotes

[1] Rabbi Shai Held at: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/lifecycle/Ceremonies_For_Newborns/Overview_Contemporary_Issues/The_Circumcision_Debate/A_Difficult_Rite.htm Accessed 27 December 2008
[2] BBC Website, 15:13 GMT, Friday 19 December 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7791522.stm Accessed 27 December 2008.
[3} BBC Website 15:54 GMT, Thursday 18 December 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7790255.stm Accessed 27 December 2008.

Sunday 21 December 2008 - Making Room for God

2008-12-28T09:11:00.000-08:00

This sermon is based on 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 and Luke 1:26-38

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Introduction

For at least the last fortnight, every time I've gone to the Supermarket and I'm making polite conversation with the person behind the till, the conversational opener has been 'So are you ready for Christmas'?

Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent and hopefully that means that we are now almost ready for Christmas. Not just in terms of decorations and Christmas cards and arrangements for Christmas dinner but that we've prepared room in lives for the coming of the Messiah.

That's the question that I'd like to think about this morning: How do we make room for God in our lives? It strikes me that both the stories we read from Scripture this morning are about making room for God.

Building a Temple

In the first reading we heard this morning from 2 Samuel, King David wanted to build a permanent Temple for God.
And at first God says 'yes' but then he changes his mind and sends the prophet Nathan to tell David about the change of plans.

Now, building a Temple for the God of Israel might sound like a pious thing to do, but it wasn't entirely without an ulterior motive. In the Ancient world, 'building a temple for the god of our nation' was rather like building a magnificent town hall might be in our culture. It would have brought King David status both with his people and with the nations around him.

David had his own ideas about how to 'make space for God' in his world and in his life. And God had quite another idea.

At the end of the day, King David 'made space for God' by obeying God's commandment, even though it might have seemed to David that he was forsaking the kind of show of power that a King needed in order to rule successfully.

The next thing that happens in the story is that God blesses David and guarantees him that he will be the founder of an enduring dynasty blessed by God. What seemed at first like bad news turned out to be a blessing and God makes a place for David and his descendants in the history of God's saving purposes.

Building a Messiah

And then, of course, there is Mary's story. Mary is asked to make space for God in a most extraordinary way.

In fact, the word 'extraordinary' probably doesn't do her experience justice, just like the term 'greatly troubled' (used in the NIV) doesn't either. The word used in Greek means something more like 'terrified'. Mary is terrified by the angel. And terrified of what is being asked of her.

But the Angel tells Mary not to be afraid. In Scripture, this is always the instruction when an Angel of God appears: 'Do not be afraid of God's messenger. Do not be afraid of God's message'.

Mary is told that she will be given the power of the Holy Spirit in order to fulfill what is being asked of her. And she responds with a most extraordinary and revolutionary hymn. The Magnificat comes from the mouth of a servant-girl but it does not seem to come from the mouth of a scullery-maid but rather from someone more like the Matron of the House.

Mary too made room for God and what seemed at first like bad news turned into a blessing.

This is not a woman overcome against her will by the Spirit of God, but a woman who is empowered from within by the Spirit.

But what if neither King David nor Mary had been willing to make room for God in their lives? What if they had not been willing to listen to the voice of God? What if they had not been willing to obey it?

What if David had seen Nathan's prophecy as a political plot to stand in the way of his glory and political ambitions? What if David thought he knew better than God how to make room for God?

And what if Mary had been unwilling to be the mother of the Messiah because the task was just too difficult? What if Mary had protested that she was unworthy of such a task? Or indeed that she was unprepared for it? What if Mary had simply been unwilling to make room for God?

Making Room in our Lives

The question I asked earlier was: How do we make room for God in our lives? And, in a minute, I'm going to leave you with that question to answer for yourself.

I just want to offer a few observations.

1) Sometimes it's hard to make room for God in our lives because we fail to hear God's authentic voice and we let the voice of our culture's prevailing values drown it out. That would have been a very easy thing for David to do: 'Of course God wants me to build him a Temple. Nathan is a fake.' For example, I think we get seduced by this sort of thinking when we apply our cultural model of 'success' on to church or our cultural model of 'popularity' on to being a Christian disciple.

2) Sometimes it's difficult to make room for God in our lives because a task seems daunting or because we are afraid.
I'm sure many of us can think of examples from our own lives where were failed to follow God's leading because we felt afraid and unprepared. I suspect that churches do it too, when we work to an unspoken agenda that everything we do needs to be 'successful'. (And I'm preaching to myself here...) Perhaps there are times when we need to be less afraid of failure and ready to try things that might not work out.

3) Sometimes it's difficult to make room for God in our lives because we feel unworthy. At times like this, we forget that no one is worthy in and of themselves. But it is through the power of God's Holy Spirit, that he uses flawed human beings to do his will. Friends or family sometimes ask us to do things that we don't feel 'worthy' of doing: be a best man, stay with an expectant mother in labour, give a tribute at a funeral, but we often do these things out of friendship and love, even if we don't feel worthy. If God calls us to a task, he won't force us to do it, but he will equip us for the task if we say 'yes' just as he equipped the young girl Mary for a most daunting task.

Conclusion

So I leave us all with that question this morning: 'How do we make room for God in our lives?'

David and Mary made room for God in ways that they did not expect to do and both were blessed in ways they didn't expect.

I pray that we may be given the grace to make room for God in our own lives and may we be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be agents of God's blessings.

In these last three days of Advent, may our souls magnify the Lord and our spirits rejoice in God our Saviour. Amen

Sunday 14 December 2008 - Pointing to Good News

2008-12-28T08:50:00.000-08:00

This is a bit different. Sometimes rather than having a sermon, we do discussions and I don't post these as they are just notes. In this particular case, I was preaching in a church that's not my own so I didn't have the confidence to go with a full-fledged discussion in case the congregation didn't talk enough!

This church has no children on a Sunday morning, so the Discussion happened in the 'children's slot' early in the service and the sermon came in the usual slot. The texts are: Isaiah 61:1-11 and John 1:6-8, 19-28.

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Discussion

Today is the third Sunday of Advent and it is traditionally the Sunday that focuses on the work and mission of John the Baptist.

And this morning we have two scripture verses. One from John about John the Baptist himself and one from Isaiah. The emergence of John the Baptist into the life and times of the Jewish people signalled the end of prophetic silence. In John, God began to speak to the Jewish people again through prophets.

This morning, I wanted to begin with a discussion about prophecy. What does prophecy mean to you? Who is a prophet? What does a prophetic message sound like? Are there prophets in the church today?

OT prophets were rooted in the history of Israel. Came from different traditions and had some different understandings of that history. All of the prophets believed in the election of the people of Israel by God as his people. Covenant - spelled out mutual obligations. Their concerns were all about the breeches in the covenant.

One of the big prophetic disagreements was whether God would remain faithful to his covenant if the people of Israel broke their covenant (Isaiah & Ezekiel - yes; Jeremiah - possibility that God would dessert)

Christians believe that God's final word through the prophets was one of hope and promise. No matter what the people did, God would remain faithful. For Christians, John the Baptist is part of the beginning of this new era of God's faithfulness.

Sermon

Introduction

Today's Gospel reading points us to John the Baptist and it is something of a remarkable reading. The reading is remarkable in that it is really the only passage in Scripture that tries to deal theologically with John's mission and identity. But the passage seems to be a lot more concerned with telling us who John is not rather than telling us who John is. It's not so much concerned with exalting John as an important prophet but with saying emphatically that John is not the Messiah.

I think that this possibly because the function of a prophet is to point away from himself or herself and to point to toward God. And John's function, as the first prophet the Jewish people had in a number of centuries, was to point to Jesus as the fulfillment of God's promise to all of humankind - a promise that he was going to keep through the Jewish people.

Pointing Toward God

All of this reminded me of another sign pointing to God, although I'm fairly certain that's not what its sponsors intended.

The sign - or rather signs - that I'm thinking of were the ones that the British Humanist Association put on the side of London busses in October. You probably read about them because they received the endorsement of Richard Dawkins, the scientist and high-profile atheist. The signs read: 'There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.'

I wonder if you'll think I'm off my trolley for saying that these signs point to God? Perhaps you think that they point away from God, and not to God.

But I think that they do point to God - or rather to 'A' god. And I'd venture to say that this god is the god that many people who don't have a faith believe in (if that makes any sense!) But even worse, it's the god that they think we believe in.

'There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.'

Implicit in this statement is the idea that if there is a God, then my friend, you'd better be worried and you better not be enjoying yourself! This is the picture of God as the Great Referee in the sky. An all-powerful being whose job isn't to teach us, to nurture us or even to sympathise with us. God is the Great Referee whose job is simply to watch us playing out our lives and to blow the whistle and impose a penalty whenever we set a foot wrong. If we receive too many penalties then eventually we will be out of the game: plenty of things to worry about, then.

Waiting for God

So, here we are in Advent, and the Church is waiting for God to come down to earth, to come and mingle with us, to walk with us, talk with us, and participate in our life. But if the British Humanist Society's view of God is right then we'd all better duck and cover.

I'm sure we all know - or know of - at least one individual in our lives who is always critical. Someone with an uncanny knack to see the flaws and mistakes of others and who is not willing to overlook them, but who is more than happy to point out those shortcomings to anyone and everyone who will listen. If God is like that, then who would want to have anything to do with God?

If our message is 'There probably is a God. So be very worried and stop enjoying yourself!' then who in their right mind would want this God to arrive? Who in their right mind would want to have Advent - a season of four weeks eagerly anticipating the arrival of this disapproving kill-joy?

Insiders or Outsiders?

But my question is: what are we doing as the Christian church that puts forward a different image of God? Not what are we preaching, but what are we doing? How are we behaving as Christians? How do we treat others?

Do we wholeheartedly communicate the message that God loves people who are not like us? Or do we communicate the message that God will love you if - and only if - you become like us?

One of the most frequent criticisms people outside the church tell me is that church people are hypocrites. When I ask people what they mean, they often can't answer or they respond with a story about how they have been disappointed by the church in some way. But I wonder if they mean something like: 'You tell me that God loves me just as I am, but you act like he'll only love me if I'm like you'.

Do we really treat people outside the church or of other religions as individuals who are created in the image of God? Do we treat them as individuals who God knows and loves just as he knows and loves us? Or do we assume that we have all the answers about God or about 'religion' because we are Christians and they are not?

Here are just two examples of the sort of thing that I mean:

First Example. When we complain that the world is going to hell in a handbasket because this is no longer a Christian country, what do we mean by that? That we are moral and that others are not? At a recent bible study, someone noticed that the author of a book we were using actually made the claim that since morality comes from God, only Christians can be moral people.

Second Example. The President of Conference recently told a story of a Methodist congregation in what is now a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood. The congregation had sold its church hall about 30 years ago and the hall has been resold twice and was now home to a Muslim school where children are taught the Koran. The Methodists have no idea how to engage with their Muslim neighbours because they believe that their reason for relating to this Muslim school would be to convert them to Christianity. So their message is 'You're not worth getting to know unless you become like us.' Now I'm quite sure that this isn't the message that this congregation wants to communicate, but that's what's happening.

I think it's things like this that communicate to others the message that 'God will only love you if you're like us'. Or to use the Referee metaphor: 'God will only love you if you're part of the team.'

However, in today's reading from Isaiah it is not those with the power and status of the established Babylonian order who receive God's loving care but rather those who are outside.

With Human Dignity

I guess I'm asking the question, 'Do we treat other people - people of different faiths and people of no faith - as dignified human beings who are as loved by God as we are?'

When the Christian church is being all that she can be, it is one of the few places in our society where an individual can go and be himself or herself without a mask and without playing a role. Church is one of the few places where we can be just ourselves without being a client, a patient, an advertising target, an employee, a charity case or an expert.

If you want to know my answer to the question: What is our purpose if it is not to increase our numbers, if it is not to promote revival, if it is not to get other people to join us? My answer is: Our purpose is to love other people unconditionally, to really believe and to treat each person as if he or she was a precious child of God for whom God earnestly desires healing, freedom and wholeness. In this way, the church can be truly prophetic and the church can truly point to God.

Conclusion

My prayer is that each of us will truly take on board the extent of God's amazing unconditional desire for healing and wholeness as expressed in the reading from Isaiah. I pray that each of us may be able to own it for ourselves and that, in our joy and gratitude, we will be able pass on that love to others.

God probably does exist. So rejoice and celebrate his amazing love. Amen

Sunday 7 December 2008 - Zechariah's Meditation

2008-12-28T08:32:00.000-08:00

This is a partly-narrative sermon based on Luke 1:5-20 for Advent 1. There is a great deal of influence here from Trevor Dennis' book The Christmas Stories.

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God Will Come Out of Hiding

'We are on the brink of a new era and God will come out of hiding.' I'll never forget those words. A brother priest said them to me just before I was one of the five chosen to enter the Temple sanctuary.

We were talking about the Empire - the Roman Empire - and about our hopes for the future of the Jewish people. Hopes that seemed rather far-fetched given the rule of Herod-the-Great and his son over the last 35 years or so.

Oh the two Herods were Jews alright. But they were in bed with the occupying Roman Empire, doing the will of Rome rather than of God. It was hard to see how God would have anything to do with the Jewish people when our leaders were colluding with the enemy. After all, as priests we knew that the prophets taught that we needed to be pure as a people before the Messiah would come to us.

Anyway, we were talking about these things, my brothers and I. Our section had been called to Temple duty. But you have to understand that there were so many priests that each section served the Temple for one week at a time twice a year. And most of us had a lot of waiting around to do. The chances of actually serving in the sanctuary were pretty low. There were so many of us in the section and we were chosen by lot so that God could make the decision himself.

I myself had never been chosen before. That was somewhat unusual, but not completely. There were others who had never been chosen. Some had been chosen two, or even three times.

Anyway, we were sitting there talking about the fate of the Jewish people and my brother priest had just uttered those words: 'We are on the brink of a new era and God will come out of hiding.' I confess that part of me thought 'As if!' and the other part of me thought 'Please, God!' And then we drew lots.

To my utter astonishment, amazement and complete disbelief, God chose me to serve in the sanctuary that day.

It all seems rather understated now, that statement: 'God will come out of hiding'. Neither one of us knew that God was going to come out of hiding that very day. And my wildest dreams could not have imagined what waited for me in the Sanctuary.

You know all about the events that happened next. You just heard the story.

Is it any wonder that I was struck dumb after seeing Gabriel and hearing everything that he said? I mean, I went into the Sanctuary expecting to offer incense to God. I didn't expect a messenger of God to come out from behind the curtain of the Holy of Holies and talk to me!

And I certainly didn't expect to be told that my wife and I would have a son in our old age who would be a prophet - 'great in the spirit of God'. Like Sarah in the Torah, I laughed in my heart and I doubted a great deal. I mean, wouldn't you? I'd not exactly had any time to get used to such a preposterous idea.

My great regret was that, when I left the sanctuary and came out into the Court of Israel, I was not able to bless the people with the other priests. This was a duty that I could not perform and a privilege that I had looked forward to all my life. As far as I knew, this would be my only opportunity to exercise my priestly office, and the opportunity was denied me.

A Son is Born

To tell you the truth, at the beginning of the whole thing, I expected to get my voice back in a couple of days. I thought it was just shock. Then, as the days and weeks drew on, I became more and more resigned to the fact that I might never speak again. I prayed that I might one day regain my speech, but I wondered if my dumbness was the payment exacted by God for lifting his curse of barrenness upon Elizabeth.

Despite the sadness of losing my voice, Elizabeth's pregnancy was a time of great rejoicing. We both come from the priestly clan and all through our lives we had been blameless in keeping all of God's commandments. For many years, we suffered from the belief that God was displeased with Elizabeth; why else would he not bless her with sons and daughters? And, of course, there had to be a son to carry on the priestly tradition of our family.

Sometimes it seemed to us that our condition mirrored that of the Jewish people: God was silent and his blessing was withheld. But now, Elizabeth was able to hold her head high: her righteousness was vindicated. God had blessed her and was working his purposes through her. And the proof was there for all to see.

Family and neighbours all rejoiced with us. Elizabeth and I were chosen by God to be the parents of the first prophet that Israel has seen for generations. Some say that he is the reincarnation of Elijah.

We named him John, just like the angel Gabriel told us to do. That went against tradition, of course. But it seemed to us that God is about to do a new thing. We are on the brink of a new era and it seems that God has finally come out of hiding.

Faithfulness

Zechariah and Elizabeth were unique people. Not only were they the parents of John the Baptist, but their story of childlessness and subsequent fruitfulness is one of a handful in the bible. In Scripture, every time a child (a son!) is born of a barren woman, the child is a child of very special significance in the purposes of God.

The birth of John the Baptist ends a period of many centuries when God did not speak to his people. John the Baptist will be the prophet of a new era, the prophet a new testament. Although he began a new prophetic age, there was nonetheless continuity with the former prophetic age.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were undoubtedly unique but they embodied many human concerns about God: Where is God in all of this? Where is God in my life? Where is God in history?
God did not act in their lives as they expected him to act, and possibly not as they thought he 'ought' to have acted. However, they remained faithful and the were used by God in a most unexpected way.

God has promised to his faithful people that he will remain faithful to us. And the security of that promise rests in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the one we await during Advent. We are living in a new era, and God has come out of hiding.

I pray that we may we be given the grace and fortitude to persist in our faith even when we cannot see God working as we might want him to do. May we be given a change of perspective so that we can see God's activity in the world where we least expected it. And may we have the wisdom and courage to follow in the direction of God's leading, even if it means changing our expectations. Amen

Sunday 23 November 2008 - Sharing our Gospel

2008-11-30T06:04:00.000-08:00

This is a thematic sermon based loosely around the texts of Ephesians 1:15-23 and Matthew 25:31-46.

The Gospel text deals with the 'separation of the sheep and the goats'. A number of commentaries suggested that this parable is not about the judgement of Christian believers or about the judgement of Jewish people, but about the judgement of 'the people' - those outside both the Jewish and Christian faith (or, as some suggest, those who have never heard the Gospel message). In any event, this parable should give us some pause about thinking that we can ourselves judge who will be separated out of God's Kingdom.

This is a rather gentle sermon. Some will think it's not hard-hitting enough given the Gospel reading. This particular congregation has been through a lot of loss recently, hence the approach that I've taken here. Ultimately, the Kingship of Christ and the reign of the fullness of the Kingdom of God will be Good News.

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Seize the Day

Carpe Diem. The English translation of this Latin phrase is 'Seize the Day'. And my bet is that most people who know the meaning of this phrase probably know it not because they learnt Latin in school but rather because they are familiar with the film Dead Poets' Society starring Robin Williams.

For those of you who are not familiar with the film, Williams plays one of the central characters: a maverick English teacher named Mr. Keating, teaching in an elite US boys' boarding school in the 1950s. One of Mr. Keating's great personal passions is poetry. But I think that it would be fair to also say that his absolute central personal passion is this phrase 'Carpe Diem' - 'seize the day'.

The film portrays Mr. Keating as a man whose central mission is to help each one of the boys to think for himself and to discover his own unique talents and abilities. And so the scene is set in the film for the inevitable tragedy that is to follow when these boys start thinking for themselves rather than following the paths that their parents have laid out for them and which they expect the boys to follow unquestioningly.

Because once you learn what your passion is, you can never unlearn it.

Paul's Gospel / My Gospel

The Apostle Paul certainly knew what his passion was: the grace and love of God as disclosed in the life and death of Jesus Christ. Once a Jewish Pharisee passionate about God's unswerving love for the Jewish people, Paul's dramatic conversion to Jesus Christ transformed him in a person who became passionate in his conviction that God's unswerving love is for all people regardless of race, gender, or social status.

We might find it difficult to understand Paul's obsession with the Gospel, but imagine growing up being taught that you have the most fantastic treasure on earth because of the circumstances of your birth only to be told later by God himself that, actually, every single person on earth has access to the same great treasure.

Perhaps if we think of the Gospel message - God's Good News - as a treasure we can get some sense of Paul's enthusiasm and why he felt that he literally had to go to the ends of the known earth to tell everyone.

Because once you learn the Good News, you can never unlearn it.

Now, not everyone is as privileged as Paul was to have such a dramatic personal insight into the Gospel.

But I'd like to float the idea this morning that many of us will have our own ideas about what God's good news is - about what the Gospel message is. Or probably more accurately, we will all have our own different insights into the One Gospel.

For Paul, his insight seems to have been something like 'No matter who you are, where you come from, or what your lot in life, God loves you.' For Jesus, I think it was something like 'God is our Loving Father'.

For me, my version of God's Good News is something like 'Where love is, there God is'. For a friend of mine, his version of God's Good News is 'God believes in you'.

Other versions of the Good News that I've heard people talk and preach about are: 'God loves each of us as unique individuals'; 'There is no sin that is too big to forgive'; 'Never stop hoping'; and what I call the 'Footprints in the Sand' gospel: the idea that God is with us in the trials and difficulties of life.

These are all just a few examples of what I'm calling 'personal gospels'.

Each of us has our own unique Good News about God, our 'personal gospels' because we are all different. Taken together, all these billions of unique insights into God's Good News can't even begin to express the totality of who God is. But nonetheless, we try to express the entirety of God's being and his goodness. I think we try because we are human and it's human to want to communicate and share with other human beings.

Christ the King

Today is the celebration of the festival of Christ the King.

It is also the last Sunday in the church year and the Sunday when the Church tries to express in some way or another the inexpressible perfection of God and the hope that he offers to us in Christ.

And so the Church uses the ancient images of the arrival of a perfect Kingdom and a perfect ruler. And we use the images of fair-play and justice for all: images of the poor being fed, the ill being healed, and those who have been unfairly imprisoned being at last treated fairly. And we dream that those who exploit the vulnerable and take advantage of weak will be banished from God's new reality and that justice and peace will reign. We anticipate a future where everyone will be able to 'Seize the Day' - especially those who don't have that opportunity at present because of their life circumstances.

'Christ the King' is a symbol, an image, a human attempt to express something that is essentially inexpressible: God's love, justice and goodness. As human beings, we will never fully understand these things in this life, but we can share our personal good news - our personal insights into God - with each other.

So this is my challenge to us this morning: that we share our personal gospels with each other. Not as an exercise in converting the other person to my way of thinking, but rather as an exercise in me hearing the other person's Good News. Because together, all our personal gospels form a more complete picture of who God is and they help us each to learn and grow. These are examples of treasures that we can share with each other and grow as a Christian community in the process.

Because once you learn more about the Good News, you can never unlearn it.

Conclusion

My prayer this morning for all of us comes from Ephesians: I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation as we come to know him, so that, with the eyes of our heart enlightened, we may know what is the hope to which he has called us, 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. Amen

Sunday 16 November 2008 - No Buried Treasure

2008-11-30T05:49:00.000-08:00

This sermon is based on 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 and Matthew 25:14-30

Introduction

For the last two Sundays, the subjects of our Epistle and Gospel readings have been the Second Coming of Christ (and the reign of the Kingdom of God) and our place as believers in that Kingdom (the resurrection life) Today is no exception as the assigned Scripture readings continue to look at these subjects from yet another angle.

As I said last week, Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians is an answer to the concerns of the church at Thessalonica - 'When Christ returns to earth in our lifetime and the Kingdom of God comes, what is going to happen to our brothers and sisters in Christ who have already died?' And Paul's answer to them (he's still expecting Christ to return in his generation) is 'Don't worry, they will not be second class citizens in God's Kingdom but they will also participate fully in the Kingdom life'.

The Gospel as Light of the World

Today's reading from Thessalonians is part of Paul's closing of the letter. And Paul takes the opportunity to remind them that the coming of God's Kingdom has already begun and that they are a part of it. And he uses the images of darkness and light to make his point. In 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 (NIV) he writes: 'But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.'

I suppose that many of the Thessalonians and many people in society today might want to respond incredulously 'How on earth can anyone claim that the Kingdom of God has already begun? Are you blind to all the evil that is going on in the world? Blind to the Roman occupation? Blind to the suffering in the Congo? Blind to people in Gaza who are starving? Blind to the current economic crisis?'

And I think that, theologically, the church's answer is 'No we are not blind to evil and injustice, but we also have hope for the future that God's certain intention is that evil and injustice will end and that they will be replaced by his Kingdom.' We believe that God has promised that as surely as the sunrise follows the nighttime, that evil and injustice will most certainly end. Paul makes this point a number of times in his first letter to the Thessalonians and, now at the end of his letter, he reminds us once again of the Church's glorious hope: The Gospel of Christ is the light of the world and we have been entrusted with that light.

The Gospel as a Great Treasure

In today's reading from Matthew, we have yet another image of the the Gospel message: the image of a great treasure.

How great a treasure is the Gospel? Well, it's like fifteen years' wages for a labourer (one talent). And that's just for starters because, although one of the servants in the story was given 15 years' wages, another servant was given 30 years' wages and still another 75 years'. The message of the Gospel is a huge treasure! As a child might say, the Gospel is as wonderful as a hundred million gazaillon years' wages.

And what does God want us to do with that treasure? God wants this treasure to be invested, he wants the talents to be spread around and wants the light to make the whole world glow But instead of spreading God's light all over the world, the church is often times guilty of hoarding it for ourselves, like a treasure buried for safekeeping.

Don't Bury Your Treasure

So if we are share our treasure better, what might this mean for church-going Christians at a practical level?

First of all, you might be glad to hear that I'm not trying to say that I think we should be out knocking on doors asking people if they've accepted Jesus into their hearts. Personally speaking, I actually think that this form of witnessing comes under the category of the third servant: it's an activity that meets our needs rather than the needs of others. As someone put it, it comes under the category of 'Because I need to tell you this, therefore you need to hear it.' Which is exactly the sort thing that this parable is warning against, I think.

But hold on to your pews because this parable is certainly not meant to make us comfortable or complacent. Rather this parable is a call to believing that the Kingdom of God will come on earth as it is in heaven not by things staying the same but rather by things changing. If the church doing things the way we've always done them were the key to the Kingdom of God, then the Kingdom would have come along time ago.

Now, I have to confess that I don't have any easy answers at a practical level about how to magically turn 10 portions of the Gospel into a great harvest. But I do have a few observations from the text.

First of all, the third servant was following the traditions and customs of his time: valuable treasures were to be buried. It was actually the first and second servants who we acting in a way that the prevailing culture would have called irresponsible.

The third servant was behaving as if God was that 'better safe than sorry' God who I talk about sometimes: He thought that God's main demands on his disciples is that we shouldn't break rules. When, in fact, God's main concern is that we spread his treasures about with abandon.

Church Idols?

But worse than that, the third servant seems to think that the religious customs of his time are not human-made customs, but that they actually are the will of God. I think that perhaps this is a lesson to the church: 'Which of our human customs do we confuse with God's calling? Which of our human customs do we idolise?

I honestly don't think that God cares if we have pews or chairs (although the Methodist Property office certainly does!) I don't think that God cares if we sing traditional hymns or Matt Redman worship songs. I don't think that God even cares if we stop worshipping on Sunday mornings and have a meal and a worship mid-week instead.

Thinking about some of these changes might make us nervous but I think this parable is asking us to stop and consider what it is that we might be doing simply as human custom that hinders the working of the Holy Spirit in us to spread the treasure of the Gospel.

Before I end, I want to say that I don't have a hidden agenda and I'm not to drop a bombshell on you. I'm simply trying to reflect on this passage.

This year, our circuit did a circuit review and, along with other churches in the circuit, we've seen the positive benefits of that exercise. I think it's important that we don't think of review and change as a one-off but rather as something that we must do on an on-going basis as part of our discipleship.

But in the middle of all this remains God's Good News: the coming of the Kingdom has begun and the Kingdom will reign on earth as it does in heaven. If the early church could profess this Good News whilst living in the middle of an occupation army, then we too can profess it in our own circumstances. Our God is a God of freedom and not of fear. His Spirit is there to guide us through the challenge of change. Spirit-led change is an adventure and not a threat.

My prayer this morning is that we will always continue on a journey of trying to discern how we can share the Gospel in a way that serves the needs of others rather than in a way that serves the needs of the Church. And I also pray that we can live joyfully in the freedom of the Holy Spirit so that we are not afraid of change. Amen

Sunday 9 November 2008 - Christ will Come Again

2008-11-11T05:25:00.000-08:00

This sermon is based on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 with a reference to the day's gospel reading Matthew 25:1-13. It was delivered at a service for Remembrance Sunday.

Introduction

Pity the poor preacher this morning, please.

Our texts for today deal with the subjects of the Second Coming of Christ and the future resurrection of believers who have died in Christ. If you want the very short version of what these texts are about, that's basically it. You can go home now, if you like.

Now, these two doctrines are not quite the hottest of hot topics in the Christian world, but if I'm not mistaken, I think that there are two broad schools of thought about them.

The first school of thought is the literal one: the body that Jesus had in his life was resuscitated and came back to life. And at the second coming our bodies will be resuscitated and come back to life. At the opposite end of this spectrum is the school of thought which seems to see both the Second Coming of Christ and his and our Resurrection as some great metaphor of meaning. These things are not something that thoughtful modern people actually believe in (says the second school of thought), but rather we see them as powerful tools or symbols in the Great Human Search for Meaning.

So what does a thoughtful, modern preacher make of these doctrines? (Well, I strive to be thoughtful, anyway!)

The Thessalonians

First I want to begin by pointing out that the purpose of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians isn't to give them a description of the Second Coming of Christ but rather to encourage them that those who have died prior to Christ's Second Coming aren't going to miss out on any of God's blessings in the coming Kingdom of God.

In this, his earliest letter, it seems that Paul expects to be alive when Christ returns. And I think it's also probable that Matthew also thought that the Second Coming would be something that their generation would see in their own lifetime. So, although other allegorical interpretations of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins might inspire us and are also perfectly legitimate, I believe that it means what it seems to imply: be on your guard so that you will be ready when Christ returns to earth again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The only problem is that, with the benefit of over 2000 years of hindsight, we know that Christ did not return to earth during the generation of his peers. And we, like every generation since then, have had to grapple with the fact that Scripture seems to believe that Jesus would return in the lifetime of his own generation. So how can we make some sense of these things: of the Second Coming and the future Resurrection of believers?

Describing Colour to a Blind Person

Tom Wright, currently the Bishop of Durham and an internationally-respected bible scholar, provides a helpful framework, I think.

He asks a very interesting question: How would you describe different colours to a person who was born blind with no residual sight?

You might say that Red is a hot, hard colour. You might say that Green is a cool, soft colour. And you might say that Yellow is a dissonant, prickly colour. In describing these colours to your blind friend, both of you would be absolutely aware that these descriptions are extremely inadequate. But we might agree that, as inadequate as the are, the descriptions provide some way of trying to describe the indescribable.

So, just as it would be incorrect for a blind person to insist that yellow does not exist because they can't see it, so too it would be equally incorrect to insist that yellow is 'literally' prickly or dissonant. Yellow exists but cannot be described to a person without sight, nor can that person grasp the fullness of the colour yellow.

Resurrection and the Second Coming

I think that this way of thinking is a helpful tool to use when trying to imagine the resurrection and the Second Coming of Christ.

Because the assurance of resurrection into the Kingdom of God of all who have trusted in Christ is a key doctrine for our faith, so I want to try to grapple with it. It is a key narrative of the Christian faith that when the Kingdom of God finally comes, then God will put all wrongs to rights and grief will turn to joy. But I can't tell you exactly what either of these things mean any more than a blind person can explain the fullness of the colour yellow.

Nevertheless, I have a belief, trust and hope in God that we will some how be transformed into the fullness of what we were meant to be from before the beginning of time. (Resurrection) And with that same belief and trust and faith, I believe that God will bring all creation into the fullness of what it was meant to be (The Second Coming of Christ, The Kingdom of God)

To use the classic symbols, our future resurrection life will be lived in the Kingdom of God.

How God will work his purposes out, I don't know. And I don't think that the apostle Paul knew either - that's why we are disciples of the Christian Faith and not disciples of the Christian Explanation.

Conclusion

Today's scripture readings weren't actually meant specifically for Remembrance Day because they are the internationally-agreed readings for this Sunday.

Yet, I think that there is a connection between these readings and Remembrance Sunday. Whatever we believe about the necessity of war in this world, I believe that the bible tells us that there will be no war in the coming Kingdom.

The bible also most certainly tells us that war and death are not part of who God is.

There are people and regimes in the history of humankind that are willing to use war and murder as tools to gain an advantage over other human beings. They think that it is their willingness to kill and to murder that sets them apart and gives them real power. But, through Christ, God has said that there is actually no power in death because all things will be raised to new life in his Kingdom.

For Christians who watch and wait, this is our joyful hope.

For the forces of evil and those who rely on the power of death to define who they are, the coming Kingdom of God is their ultimate demise.

My prayer this morning is that, as Christians, we are encouraged by the hope that God is a God of life. May we pray for peace, work for peace, and look forward to the coming Kingdom of God. Amen

Sunday 26 October 2008 - Love & the Great Commandment

2008-10-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

The text for this sermon is Matthew 22:34-46

Introduction

In 2005, Channel 4 decided that it was going to conduct a nationwide poll among the British people to come up with a new set of Ten Commandments. The thinking was that the original ten commandments are somewhat out of date and that a new set might be more relevant for the 21st century. If Christianity (and Judaism) is no longer considered relevant by enlightened, modern people, what sort of moral code doe the British public feel speaks to our lives in post-Christian Britain?

Interestingly, the British public came up with 20 new commandments. And if you're ever tempted to accuse preachers of being long-winded, do try to remember the fact that it was the general public who felt that ten commandments weren't enough.)

Here are the 'new' commandments which speak to the British public over and above the outmoded moral requirements of Christianity:
1) Treat others as you would have them treat you.
2) Be honest
3) Don't kill
4) Look after the vulnerable
5) Respect your mother and father
6) Enjoy life
7) Nothing in excess
8) Be true to your own God
9) Be true to yourself
10) Protect your family
11) Look after your health
12) Try your best at all times
13) Don't commit adultery
14) Live within your means
15) Appreciate what you have
16) Never be violent
17) Protect the environment
18) Protect and nurture children
19) Take responsibility for your own actions
20) Don't steal

Love is the Commandment

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus answers the Pharisees' question 'What is the Greatest Commandment' with the formula from Deuteronomy: Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and love your neighbour as yourself. These two commandments - often called The Great Commandment - are at the very core of the Christian faith and they are at the core of our value system.

I also find it interesting that these two commandments seem to appear in our new, secular commandments - the ones that the public claims actually have relevance to our daily life here and now.

And I find it extremely interesting that 'treat others as you would have them treat you' was thought to be the number one 'new commandment' by the British public.
In some form or another, most of the world's major religions mention this principle - The Golden Rule - as being central to their beliefs. Many forms of paganism, for example, believe that the good you do to others will return to you in like measure but that if you do evil to another human being, seven times the evil you have done to them will come back to you.

A Christian friend of mine once remarked that she liked this pagan principle because it underlines the seriousness of treating other people as you would have them treat you.

I understand what she meant, but I can't help but notice that the Great Commandment doesn't call us to treat our neighbour well because if we don't God will zap us with seven times our own bad behaviour (God forbid!)

Rather the Great Commandments calls us to treat our neighbour well because of Love.

And it suggests to us that there is some kind of important connection between our love for God and his love for us on the one hand and our love for other people on the other hand.

God is Love

Christians believe that love is a force that looks outwards, outside of oneself to the good of the other.

The first of the Great Commandments is to love God with everything that you are: with the centre of your willing and your choosing. This is an invitation to look outside our selves and to focus on the God who loves us and to align ourselves with that love.

But the invitation to love God also comes with the invitation to love other people, to look outside our own interests and even outside the interests of our immediate family and to also take an interest in the needs and well-being of other human beings: People in our community, in other parts of the country and even in other lands.

Created to Love

The Christian author and psychologist M Scott Peck tells a story about one of his clients who felt isolated and cut off from the rest of society.

One day he took her with him to a hospital and asked her to visit with a number of people. (He gave her the excuse that he had to confer with a colleague but, in fact, he had arranged for her to do the visits.) His client visited with these people, who had all been in hospital long-term with serious physical illnesses, and they were very glad of the company. When the visiting finished, he asked his client how she felt and she replied: 'You know, I feel better than I've felt in ages. I don't feel so isolated and I realise that there are other people with problems that are much worse than mine.'

Now, please don't take this as a simplistic 'cure' for depression on my part. My point is simply that I expect that many of us will recognise the truth in that story: that there is a great deal of human satisfaction in looking outside ourselves to the needs of others.

As a Christian, I would say - along with M Scott Peck - that the reason is because God created us this way. We were created to look outside ourselves, to love God and to love our neighbour.

Conclusion

But the wonderful thing about the Great Commandments is that God is at the centre of it all and God is love.

We don't have to worry that every time we miss the mark and fail to do what is right that God or the Universe will return evil to us seven times over. Because at the centre of life, the universe and everything is love. An intentional force that is trying to work all things together for good: God.

My prayer for us this morning is that we may each be strengthened by the love of God and that we may receive more and more of God's love in order to give more and more love to others.

Because at the end of the day and at the end of our lives, what matters most is that we are loved by God and that we love others in return. Amen

Sunday 10 October 2008 - Persecuted Church

2008-10-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

The text for this sermon is Luke 12:1-12

Introduction

This week's edition of The Church Times carries an article about the persecution of Christians in Orissa State in India. The Church Times is one of the weekly papers published for the benefit of members of The Church of England: it's their Methodist Recorder, if you will.

The persecution began this past August when Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was murdered along with four of his associates. Swami Laxmanananda was a leader in the VHP, a Hindu organisation that believes that the Christian and Muslim world are both dedicated to the persecution of Hindus.

The thing is that the Swami wasn't murdered by Christians. A Maoist group has twice taken credit for the Swami's murder and defended it's actions They stated that the reason for the murder was that 'Laxmanananda was not fighting for Hindus. He was heading the VHP and implementing an agenda targeted against the minorities. No one speaks for minorities. They are exploited.'[1]

The article in The Church Times tells of horrific violence against Christians in Orissa, describing the situation as 'The sort of horror that dulls the senses or excites overstimulation'. Witness in refugee camps had horrible stories to tell. At least 50,000 Christians have been forced out of their homes and a number have suffered torturous deaths.

What has happened in this area, according to those familiar with the situation, has been a long propaganda campaign against Christians and Muslims that seemed to me to be quite similar to Hitler's propaganda against the Jews. The VHP's message that Christians (and Muslims) are dedicated to the eradication of the Hindu people has been taken on board by many individuals in the area.

The Importance of Truth

This morning's Gospel reading is actually all about the persecution of the early Christian Church although it might not sound like it at first hearing.

Remember that Luke was writing after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple by the Romans and the knowledge of these events must have inevitably have had an effect on the way he told the story of Jesus' life. In this section of Luke's Gospel, Jesus is warning his disciples about the coming persecution of his followers - something about which Luke had firsthand knowledge.

The reading is an exhortation to Christian disciples to be bold in proclaiming the truth of Christ when persecution comes and to draw on the strength and the witness of the Holy Spirit for their boldness.

Truth is something that is important for good functioning of human society and it's absolutely vital in the life of the Church.

Luke 12:3 says 'Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops'

Or in simple language, 'The Truth will Out'. If you plot evil in secret, eventually there will be an evil outcome. If you do good in secret, blessings will result even if no one knows who was the source of the initial good deeds.

As Christians, of course, it's easy for us to sympathise with our Christian brothers and sisters in Orissa.

It's easy for us to see in the VHP an example of how an organisation with good intentions turned to evil. Because the VHP arose out of a Hindu movement in the 1950s and 1960s to ban cow slaughter in India and speak up for the Hindu people and for Hindu culture. For a number of decades, it engaged in it's work through peaceful demonstration, petitions and challenging laws it felt to be unjust.
And it opened schools and hospitals for poor Hindus.

But over the years, it became more and more radical and it developed the conviction that international Islam and international Christianity were out to destroy Indian Hindus. And it spread this message of conspiracy until it was unsurprising that violence would erupt in the countryside.

The truth is important and so with the story of Christians in Orissa. Because the mainstream Hindu organisations have been joining with the Christian Church in India to condemn the violence against Christians. But many ordinary Hindus have gone further than mere condemnation: risking their own lives in order to protect Christian neighbours.

We can see that the truth is a complicated business but that's why it's important to tell the truth.

It's even more important in situations where we are tempted to turn some group or another into a scapegoat. When the truth of a situation is not told, then it becomes easier to scap-goat individuals according to some category: all Hindus are evil, all Muslims are evil, all teenagers are thugs, all men are bastards. Whenever we hear these kinds of simplistic statements, the alarm bells should ring and we should suspect that the whole truth of the situation is not being told.

Be True To Your Faith

This morning's Gospel reading tells us that, in the face of persecution, disciples of Christ are not to be hypocrites. In this case, 'hypocrites' doesn't mean people pretending to be better than they are: it means people who don't stand up for what they say they believe.

In the context of the Gospel reading, it means not admitting to being Christians because of fear of persecution. In our own context, it might mean being afraid to admit that we are Christians, but it can also include failing to seek a more complicated truth than one of 'baddies' and 'goodies'.

For us hypocrisy might mean not speaking up to challenge the current mood of anti-Muslim sentiment. Speaking up against anti-Islamic sentiment doesn't mean that we affirm and profess the tenets of the Muslim religion. It simply means speaking the truth that the situation is much more complicated that than a simple story of 'we are good and they are bad'. It is not Muslims who are terrorists, but terrorists who who are hiding behind the name of God to further their own ends.

Of course, acting in truth or speaking up for the truth can be dangerous. Jesus knew that. That's why he promised the Holy Spirit to us as his disciples: to help us to do what is right, even in the face of danger or persecution.

That includes, of course, speaking up for the truth of the Gospel and of the Christian faith. But I believe it certainly also includes speaking the truth in all situations and unmasking any lies told in secret.

Conclusion

It's possible that this sermon was not as 'spiritual' as you would have liked.
I wonder if some of you might even have thought it was too 'political'.

However, today's Gospel reading does talk about standing up for truth in the face of persecution. It reminds us that when we do have the courage to defend the truth, that the Holy Spirit will be with us.

When we hear Jesus say that he is the way, the truth and the life, I believe this statement means that Jesus is the Truth. But I also believe it means that God cares deeply that the truth is told.

Sometimes our faith is not just about what we call 'spiritual' things, but it must also be about what we do: About having the courage to speak the truth on the one hand but also about putting in the work to seek the truth in complicated situations. We should not settle for answers that are easy but rather seek for answers that reflect the truth of the situation.

My prayer this morning is that we will all witness to the truth of Christ as our Saviour and also speak the truth in all situations, even when it is dangerous and unpopular.

And may we each be given the guidance and the power of the Holy Spirit as we seek to be beacons of the light of truth. Amen

[1]http://in.ibtimes.com/articles/20081007/orissa-persecutiono-attack-maoist-vhp-leader-laxmananda-saraswati-india-christian-manmohan-singh.htm, Accessed 11 October 2008.

Apologies

2008-10-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted any sermons for awhile as it became too onerous. Rather than try to catch up from the summer, I'm just going to resume from this point on.

Sunday 27 July 2008 - Divine Disclosure

2008-07-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

This sermon is based on the gospel reading for today's second service: John 6:1-21

===

Divine Disclosure

One of the resources that I used for studying this week’s Gospel text suggested teaching children the story of the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus’ walking on water by teaching them the difference between magic and miracles. They even came up with this rap rhyme – which is probably too lame for many children, but since I’m middle-aged, I’m quite happy to recite it![1]

Strings of coloured scarves
people sawn in halves
mirrors, wands and cards…
…magic!

Vanishing balloons,
bendy forks and spoons,
rides on witches brooms…
…magic!

Disappearing cots,
Rabbits out of hats,
Anything like that’s…
…magic!

Candles, corn and flowers,
stories by the hour,
miracles of power…
…Jesus!

Hands that heal and care,
God’s love and truth to share
with people everywhere…
…Jesus!

Hungry people fed,
fish and loaves of bread,
risen from the dead…Jesus!

Especially in their younger years, it makes sense to teach children about the difference between ‘magic’ and ‘miracles’.

But today, I want to offer an adult version of this ‘magic versus miracles’ lesson. I hope it won’t frighten you too much, but I want to use a theological word: theophany. Theophany means an appearance of God to humanity, it means a divine disclosure.

John’s account of these two well-known bible stories – the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus walking on water – are accounts of divine disclosures. Both of these stories are theophanies. Yes, both of these events are miracles, but if with think that the main point is simply to say ‘Jesus performed two extraordinary miracles, therefore he must be the Son of God’, we miss out on many layers of richness in the stories. What’s important isn’t so much that Jesus performs miracles as what these miracles say about who he is.

You could make the argument that all of John’s Gospel is devoted to theophany – to divine disclosure. John is the evangelist who makes the direct connection for us that the person who has seen Jesus has seen the Father. John is the evangelist who reports Jesus as saying that he and the Father are one. John’s Gospel is devoted primarily to the revelation of Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. So, I think it’s fair to say that this Gospel is devoted to divine disclosure – to theophany.

So what do these stories say about who Jesus is? How do they disclose to us the nature of Jesus beyond his ability to perform miracles?

Many Clues

There are actually a number of images in these two stories. First of all there are two typical Johannine images: Jesus as the bread of life and Jesus as the light of the world.

In John’s version of the feeding of the 5000, it is Jesus himself who distributes the bread and the fishes. Unlike the other Gospels, John’s story is not so much about Jesus asking his disciples to feed the world as it is about demonstrating that Jesus is the one who is the source of nourishment for humanity. Jesus is the bread of life.

And then there is the story of Jesus’ walking on water. Did you notice that, in John’s story, Jesus does not invite Peter to walk on the water with him? Perhaps the most significant details of this particular story are the darkness and the disciples’ fear.

Jesus – the light of the world – comes into the darkness and sheds the light of his presence. It’s almost a fairy-tale ending, with everything turning out alright in the end, but not before the disciples experience a lot of fear and doubt. Where has Jesus gone? When will he come back to us? Can we be sure that he will return to us? Is this really him? Important questions for the disciples in the boat, important questions for the early church and important questions for us today. And Jesus answer to them and to us is: ‘Do not be afraid’.

Jesus as the Mosaic Prophet

And there is yet another divine revelation in this story. Jesus is the latter-day prophet who stands in the tradition of Moses. With his reference to the feeding of the 5000 as happening at the time of the Passover, John makes explicit what is implicit in the other accounts of this story: That this feeding is connected with Yahweh’s provision of manna to the people of Israel in the desert. And the crowd acknowledges this when they say: ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’

And then just in case we fail to be hit in the head with all the obvious symbolism of Jesus’ Messiahship, John – like Matthew and Mark – gives the story of Jesus’ walking on water. A kind of upside-down version of the crossing of the Red Sea. Including Jesus identification of himself as ‘I am’ – translated here as ‘It is I’.

The problem, of course, is with the people’s conception of what it meant to be the Messiah and Jesus’ understanding of Messiahship. The people wanted to turn Jesus into an earthly King and a conquering hero, so Jesus was forced to withdraw to an isolated spot. Jesus knew that his kingdom would have no followers and that it would wield no earthly power. Jesus’ triumph was going to be achieved by dying rather than by killing. A kingship, as Paul said, that would foolishness to both Jew and Gentile alike. Jesus’ upside-down Messiahship is another divine disclosure: about who God is and what his values are.

Conclusion

I think these two stories provide for us a number of pictures of God’s disclosure of himself.

God is a God who holds a banquet and who wants to provide generously for all people, whether that provision seems easy and God-given or whether it needs to be made through the obedience of his disciples.

God is a God who comes to us in the ordinary things of life – bread and fish and bread and wine. And not just these things, of course, but as the Jewish prayers of blessing remind us, God is present in all things.

The God who originally declared his covenant with the people of Israel has declared in Jesus his covenant with all people and for all time.

And finally, God is a God who knows that human beings are sometimes afraid. He knows that we sometimes feel bereft of him as if we were alone in a storm in a small boat in the dark. And he says to us ‘Do not be afraid’. Sometimes his voice can seem feint, but it is a firm promise as well as an invitation.

This is the same God who we meet in the bread and the wine at the Lord’s table. May he be with us now in the ordinary things of his creation. Amen

[1] From Roots Children and Young People, Sunday 27 July 2003, p. 18

Sunday 22 June 2008 - Superior Gifts?

2008-06-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

This is a short, non-lectionary sermon based on 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 A minister from The Methodist Church in Ghana (his Christian name is 'Moses') came to our worship service to tell us about the work of The Methodist Church in Ghana. This was a short reflection in that service.

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Introduction

1 Corinthians 12:13 reads: ‘For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and we were all made to drink of one Spirit’.

Paul wrote this letter to the Christian Church in Corinth about 53 or 54 AD and it wasn’t exactly a letter of congratulations. The problem was that the Corinthians really didn’t live out any kind of understanding that they were all members of one body because of their baptism in Christ. From what Paul writes, it seems that there were a number of divisions amongst Corinthian believers and there seems to have been a good deal of competition as well. We understand from the letter that the Corinthians seemed to be arguing amongst each other about which teacher was the greatest, which followers were the most preferred by God, and which of these factions had received a greater portion of the Holy Spirit.

The Corinthians had been baptised into one body – the body of Christ. And they had been baptised into one Spirit, but they weren’t acting like it at all. They weren’t living in the fullness of Christian love but were still living as if they were of the world: competing with each other of spiritual honours, looking down on each other and even celebrating Holy Communion in a way that created factions in the church rather than unity.

Challenged by Different Gifts

This evening, we have heard the Moses tell us about the Methodist Church in Ghana. I’m as certain as I can be that each one of us here tonight wholeheartedly affirms that we have all been baptised into one body in Christ: Ghanaian Methodists and British Methodists. I’m also certain that each one of us here tonight would agree with Paul’s analogy of the body having many parts, all of which are necessary to the good working of the body, none of which are superior.

As Westerners, I think we have to acknowledge that it is the world outside of Europe and America that is now most receptive to the Gospel of Christ and to the movement of the Spirit. Where we once saw ourselves as missionaries to the rest of the world, it’s we who can now benefit as African and Asian Christian brothers and sisters bring the joy and vitality of the Gospel back into our society. But Christians all over the world have their own function and their own part to play in building the Kingdom of God.

I think that there is a challenge to us in this reading from the Corinthians, though. And the challenge will be different for every individual and for every congregation – it is something for you to discern prayerfully with God. Here is the challenge: Although we might not be like the Corinthians in thinking our own brand of Christianity superior to that of others because of ethnic or cultural differences – at least I hope not! – do we nonetheless have feelings of superiority over other Christians?

Do we secretly think that our own congregation is somehow more favoured by God than a congregation down the road? Than another congregation in the circuit? Or do we think that we have superior spiritual gifts or understanding than other sorts of Christians? Do we secretly think that our form of worship is better than that of others? Do we even idolise – just a little bit – our buildings or ‘the way we always do things’?

I’m going to leave these questions for you to ponder for yourself as only you can answer for yourself. I will say that I think that no-one is exempt from this phenomenon – we all have our prejudices, including me. And I also want to sound a note of caution you if you think this is a trivial question. My challenge would be – ‘Wouldn’t be a shame to allow trivial differences to come between us?’ I’m sure there are big places where we need to draw a line in the sand and say with Martin Luther ‘Here I stand, I can do no other’, but very often in the life of the Christian church it is actually the trivial differences that become barriers to working together.

The Good News

So where is the Good News in this evening’s reading? If there ever was a motley crew of Christians, it was the Corinthians. If ever there was an assembly that was really struggling with failure to be charitable to their Christian brothers and sisters, it was the Corinthians.

But the Good News is that Paul does not tell the Church in Corinth that God has cast them out of the Body of Christ. Paul tells them, in the opening of this letter, that they are sanctified in Christ Jesus and that they are called to be Saints! Granted, this letter is a strong challenge to the Corinthians to be better disciples, but the sanctification that Paul recognises for the Corinthians is something that is completed in the past; it’s done and dusted. Their salvation is not dependant on their good discipleship but rather on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and their baptism into that life.

The Good News is that God’s love is sure. God is faithful to his promises and our salvation rests on his promise to us in Christ. The Good News is that, whatever our gifts and whether we perceive them to be small or great, God uses them for his purposes. The Good News is that we were all baptized into one body and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

My prayer this evening is that, as a Christian community, we nurture each other in our growth in the Spirit and that we recognise all spiritual gifts and different ways of being Christians as necessary to the health of the church. But most of all, I pray that we may recognise and celebrate the greatest gift of all: the saving grace of God brought into creation by the death and resurrection of Jesus, our brother and our Saviour. Amen

Sunday 15 June 2008 - A Dangerous Gospel

2008-06-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

This sermon is a thematic sermon loosely based around the day's Gospel reading: Matthew 9:35-10:23

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Introduction

I suspect that you are probably familiar with the 1930s American comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are a couple of friends who go through life together lurching from one disaster to another. These are usually disasters that are often caused by their failure to grasp the consequence of a particular situation. Except that Oliver Hardy always has someone to blame for his own incompetence: his friend Stan Laurel. One of Ollie’s (as he is known) oft-repeated phrases is ‘Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into.’

In this morning’s reading, Jesus tells the twelve – and by extension us – that being his disciple is going to get us into one fine mess after another if we decide to follow him. In Matthew 10, verse 16, Jesus tells his disciples: ‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves’.

Now like all good Jewish rabbis, Jesus sometimes exaggerates to make a point, but I’m not sure that he’s exaggerating here. At this point in the story of Jesus’ ministry, he is beginning to encounter opposition and I suspect that he is beginning to get an understanding of the very real dangers of proclaiming his counter-cultural message. And I believe that Jesus is very plainly telling the disciples that they will be in the same danger if they follow him: That when they proclaim the message of the Kingdom of God that they too will be like sheep in the midst of wolves.

A dangerous Gospel?

The question I’d like to ask this morning is ‘What is it about the Gospel, what is it about the proclamation of the Kingdom of God that makes the message dangerous?’ ‘What is it that makes the proclamation of the Kingdom of God that makes the message foolish?’ As Christians in the 21st century, should our message be a dangerous message or was the danger only for Jesus in his time?

This morning, I’d like to point two of the primary ways that I think that the Christian Gospel is both foolish and dangerous. You are, of course, free to make up your own mind and perhaps to think of your own dangers of the Gospel.

Forgiveness

The first ‘way of the Kingdom of God’ that I believe is foolishness is that the Kingdom is based on forgiveness. This is a topic that could be the subject of several sermons and I’m not going to pretend that the practice of forgiveness is easy.

Nonetheless, this is a patently foolish message in all sorts of ways if you start thinking about the practical applications of forgiveness.

Think of all the people in our lives who it would be difficult or impractical to forgive. Certainly God does not mean for us to forgive the person who bullied us in school and whose bullying handicapped us in so many ways as we grew into adult life? Certainly God does not mean for us to forgive the drunk driver who killed or maimed a member of our family? Certainly God does not mean for us to forgive the individuals who bombed a public square on mothering Sunday or the London tube system during morning rush hour?

It may seem obvious to us that Jesus wanted his followers in his day to forgive their Christian bothers and sisters seventy times seven, but it is equally obvious to us that God understands that some people have hurt us so badly that it is simply not possible for us to forgive them.

As I said earlier, forgiveness is something that can often seem impossible, or at least extremely difficult. I do believe that God understands that it can seem impossible to forgive and I do believe that he will have compassion on those who struggle to forgive and find it difficult.

However, God’s compassion for those who have been hurt does not mean that he lifts the standard. He does not say ‘OK, I understand that it is difficult for you to forgive, so in the Kingdom of God, forgiveness will just be an optional extra’. And I suspect that the disciples were just as challenged as we are at the commandment to forgive seventy times seven and that they felt is was just as impossible as we do.

To proclaim forgiveness in the 21st century is as foolish as it was in the 1st century. Those who proclaim these values wholeheartedly will be like sheep amongst wolves.

Peace & the Rule of God

Another foolish characteristic of God’s rule in the Kingdom is that it is characterised by peace.

Once again, the direct application of Jesus’ teachings on peace seem highly dangerous in our own context today. To make Christ and the Kingdom of God the centre of our political values as well as the centre of our own personal morality would be dangerous as well as stupid.

We can easily accept that Jesus really meant that Rome was an illegitimate government in the eyes of God. We can understand that Jesus thought that the accommodation of the Temple to the prevailing Roman values of the time made the Temple illegitimate. And we can easily agree with Jesus’ opposition to the Zealots’ plan to raise an army of resistance against Rome.

But when we try to apply Jesus’ teaching directly to our own situation, we can see the dangers and complexities very clearly.

We look at our world and feel threatened by terrorism; and we see our precious sons and daughters being killed in foreign lands. We look at our own complicated world, our threatened and threatening world and we think ‘God can’t possibly be asking us to behave as if peace were already upon us; its too difficult.’

The way of peace is not only foolish, it’s downright dangerous. Couple the message of peace with the commandment to forgive others and with the message that the last shall be first and you might end up getting yourself killed just like Jesus. The ways of peace and forgiveness are not practical. They are naïve and idealistic and ‘everyone knows’ that the world does not work this way.

The Good News

But Jesus never said that being his disciple was going to be easy. Jesus tells us that we are going to be sent out on mission without any of the usual resources that the world thinks necessary to do a good job. And he tells us that we are going to be like sheep: targets for all the wolves who think that the way of Jesus is foolish and impractical.

But he also tells us that the world is in need of our mission. We, his followers, may be like sheep amongst the wolves, but at least we have a shepherd: the world does not have a shepherd and it is crying out for guidance. Jesus’ mission of spiritual and physical healing is our mission too. It’s the mission of the Church in the same way that it was the mission of the disciples. God’s determination to bring about the Kingdom of God begins with the twelve tribes of Israel, and it reaches fulfilment in the death and resurrection of Christ.

This is the Good News and it’s the Good News that we as a Church are sent out to proclaim. Just like the twelve disciples who Christ commissions here, Jesus’ mission is carried forward by us – the Church of Christ in every age. In this reading, we understand that our mission will not be easy but we are promised that it will be worthwhile; the healing of body, mind and spirit are always worthwhile.

Faith in Jesus will make our mission possible, but it won’t make it easy and it certainly will not earn us the world’s stamp of approval. Nonetheless, just like each one of the disciples, each of us has been called personally into our discipleship.

My prayer this morning/evening is that we may each be given the grace to follow where God leads us. I pray that we may be faithful messengers of his Good News and that our lives reflect God’s love, forgiveness and peace. Amen

Sunday 28 May 2008 - God's Good Gifts

2008-05-25T11:58:00.001-07:00

Today's Sermon is based on Matthew 6:24-34

Introduction

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the American children’s novel from 1910 named ‘Pollyanna’.

The central character, Pollyanna, is orphaned at a young age and is sent off to live with her dour spinster aunt who doesn’t seem to have a kind or cheerful bone in her body. Pollyanna’s philosophy of life centres around what she calls ‘The Glad Game’. The Glad Game was taught to Pollyanna by her father and it consists of trying to find something to be glad about in every situation.

So, when her aunt gives her a stuffy attic room to live in without any carpets or pictures, Pollyanna is glad for the beautiful view over the town from the room’s window. When her aunt punishes her by forcing her to have only bread and milk for dinner in the kitchen with the servant Nancy, Pollyanna is glad because she likes bread and milk and she likes Nancy.

Slowly, Pollyanna’s cheery personality has a positive effect on her aunt’s New England town and even her dour aunt begins to lighten up a bit. But then tragedy strikes and Pollyanna is hit by a car and loses the use of her legs. For a long time, she can’t find anything to be glad about. But then all the people of the town come to visit and to tell her what a positive effect she had has on their lives.

And being a children’s story, of course there must be a happy ending. Improbably, the doctors discover a new miracle cure for Pollyanna’s legs and everyone lives happily ever after.

Despite many people questioning its literary merit, the novel was so popular that there were 13 sequels written by different authors, but there were also a number of children’s games produced, some of which were still being sold in the 1960s.

And the novel also had an effect on the English language, bringing us the terms ‘Pollyanna’, ‘pollyannaish’ and ‘pollyannaism’. These terms are now most often used pejoratively to refer to someone who is unrealistically and cheerfully optimistic – about a situation or a person – despite all evidence to the contrary. More positively, a ‘pollyannaish’ person is simply someone who is optimistic and generous in spirit.

Irresponsibility or Aestheticism?

This morning’s Gospel reading tells us about how the birds of the air and the lilies of the field do not toil for what they need. And, if we were going to take this reading as a straight-forward moral instruction from God, it would be easy enough to make a Pollyanaish interpretation in the negative sense of the word.

We could use this reading as a license for irresponsibility: ‘I’m not going to worry about anything. There is no need for me to make any provision for the future or to take responsibility for my own day-to-day needs. Let the other poor drones work hard, I’m going to take it easy and let other people provide for me.’ And that might have actually happened in the early Church. It might have been the reason that Paul was compelled to write to the church in Thessalonica saying that brothers and sisters in Christ were not allowed to free-load off other believers and that ‘Anyone unwilling to work should not eat’ (2 Thess 3:10)

Still another way to interpret this Gospel reading would be to understand it as an instruction to self-denial of all worldly possessions. Some early Christians – like the Desert Fathers and Mothers – took this second understanding and adopted lifestyles which rejected family, permanent housing, and all but the most basic food and clothing. Working with a different understanding of what we would now call ‘science’, they believed that when a person truly became united with God in this life, that he or she would no longer need to eat.

Trusting in the Goodness of God

However, I’m not convinced that this reading is recommending a totally aesthetic lifestyle on the one hand or that it is condoning irresponsibility and free-loading on the other. I think that this morning’s Gospel reading is recommending to us a different way – the ‘positive’ way of being Pollyannaish, if you like.

This text paints a beautiful picture of God’s good creation and, in so doing, I believe that it points us in a poetic manner to the goodness of God and to his good provision for us. However, this text is not simply calling us to a naïve and irresponsible lifestyle. Connected with trust in God is also our responsibility to use the resources that we have been blessed with in a Godly way.

This morning’s Gospel reading begins with the text: ‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve god and wealth’.

So our enjoyment of God’s good creation is to be accepted in light of the knowledge that everything that we have comes from him. Our primary focus is not to be the accumulation of God’s blessings, it’s not to be the accumulation of wealth, but rather our primary focus is to be God and his will.

The Good News in this morning’s reading is that whether a person is poor in body or in spirit or rich in body and spirit, Jesus tells us that God cares about us and that all he has created is for our nourishment, our benefit and our enjoyment. For those who are poor in body, mind or spirit, trusting in God’s good provision requires faith – sometimes a great deal of faith. It requires a ‘Pollyannaish’ approach to life in the good sense of the word. It requires a person to focus on the eternal, enduring promise of the Gospel that ‘God is Good’ and to count their blessings in the midst of trouble. This is not an easy thing to do; but it is when we are poor in body, mind or spirit that we understand very clearly how trust in God brings us hope where trusting in worldly wealth and resources cannot.

Of course, disciples of Christ who are rich in body, mind or spirit are also invited to trust in God’s good provision and to celebrate all our blessings. But our discipleship and our commitment to God’s Kingdom also call us to share our blessings with others. Those of us who are rich need to guard against the prevailing values of society. Because these values are centered in the accumulation and the protection of individual wealth: the complete opposite of God’s values. We cannot serve both God and wealth.

But when we do share our riches - our money, our time and our other resources - we will receive the additional blessing that comes from sharing our good gifts with others. Because a celebration is only a celebration when it can be shared.

Conclusion

Jesus enjoyed God’s good gifts and he enjoyed sharing them with others. In a few minutes, we will celebrate at Lord’s Table. Some use the word ‘Eucharist’ which means ‘grateful’. And some use the word ‘mass’ which smeans ‘sending out’.

Whatever term you use for this celebration, I pray that this morning we will joyfully celebrate our communion with each other and with Christ. And my prayer is that we will be sent out from this place to be grateful witnesses to the blessings that God has bestowed upon us. Amen

Sunday 18 May 2008 - Trinity and Community

2008-05-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

This is a sermon for Trinity Sunday as well as for a church anniversary. It is based on the Trinity Sunday reading Matthew 28:16-20.

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Introduction

There is an African saying that goes ‘I am because we are’. Today we’re celebrating both our church anniversary as well as Trinity Sunday and I thought that this saying was relevant to both of these celebrations.

Today’s Gospel reading comes from the very last verses of the very last chapter of Matthew. Matthew ends his Gospel with Jesus’ command to the disciples: ‘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.’ So here we have the Trinitarian formula – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the only time this formula appears in the New Testament.

The formula makes this verse an obvious choice for Trinity Sunday but I think that Jesus’ commissioning of the eleven to make disciples of all nations also has a lot to say to us about the Kingdom of God and the important of fellowship and community in God’s Kingdom.

God is a Community

The first thing I want to think about this morning is the idea of God as community. I want to think about how the phrase ‘I am because we are’ might apply to God.

The bible tells us – in the 1st letter of John – that ‘God is love’. This was the belief and testimony of one of Jesus’ closest disciples as he came to reflect on the nature of Jesus and on his divinity: that God is love. We also know that Jesus showed God’s love to be something that was entirely selfless and dedicated to service of God’s good creation.

God’s love is not directed toward admiring himself and God’s holiness is not a self-obsessed focus on his own goodness and purity. God’s love goes outward. God’s love results in God’s good creation: universes and planets, nature and all living things. And God’s love results in our salvation: God’s love is a force for hope, a force for forgiveness and a force for reconciliation. God’s love points humanity toward his Kingdom, when heaven and earth will meet. God’s holiness is a force for goodness and justice, it is a force that brings good news to the poor and that sets the captives free.

In other words – God’s love and godly love – are focussed on the needs of the other. Godly love – in a Christian context – is not a sentiment. Godly love is an act and it is an act that can only be directed at another person.

So the argument goes that God could not be love, he could not be the essence of love, unless that love were directed outward. So, in this way of explaining the Trinity the Father is seen as loving the Son and the Spirit, the Son as loving the Father and the Spirit and Spirit as loving the Father and the Son. Therefore, even within God himself, God’s perfection means that his love is always directed outward. God’s love is never self-focussed or self-obsessed.

A well-known 20th century theologian has said that doctrine is the human attempt to explain a mystery and so we do need to keep in mind that this idea of God as a community is a metaphor and that it is just a feeble human attempt to explain something unexplainable.

But as metaphors go, I personally find this metaphor incredibly useful and inspiring. It tells me that God is a relationship and t hat the phrase ‘I am because we are’ is not something that applies just to human beings or to human society, but to God himself. It tells me that if, Christian discipleship is about ‘striving for holiness’ that there is something about the state of perfection that has to do with communities. With forgiving, healing, reconciling communities.

Holiness or Christian perfection is not something individualistic or lonely. Rather, it is about community. It is about ‘I am because we are’. And it is about ‘You are because we are’.

Human Beings and Community

So ‘God as a community’ is a useful metaphor for the Trinity. I just want to take an imaginative step for a moment and think what would happen if every single human being were three persons in one being.

Now I don’t know about you, but I’m imagining one person saying: ‘I want to go out with my colleagues for a drink after work’ And another saying: ‘No, I need to stay late to get this report done.’ And a third saying: ‘No! I need to get home to make dinner for my husband and children!’ And then that would be when the trouble starts: ‘You’re no fun! You can’t ever relax, can you?’ ‘Why are you so irresponsible? Don’t know how hard it is to get a job at the moment?’ ‘Hold on! The job might be important, but isn’t it obvious that the children should come first?’

Let’s not even go to places where we’re imagining one person being jealous of the other or being competitive with the other.

It’s hard to imagine three people in one human being, but I imagine that the potential could be there for a three-in-one personality to work out something like that: jealously, competition, envy, competing priorities. Because these emotions are something that we have observed all throughout human history between people and nations. And this is exactly what God is calling us to stop.

God’s way, as we know, is based on forgiveness, reconciliation and self-giving love. At the core of the Gospel message is God’s forgiveness to us and his reconciliation with us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. God calls us love others in the same way that he has loved us. Just as his concern is directed outward and toward others, so too should our concerns be directed outward and toward others. We will know that God’s Kingdom has come on earth as it is in heaven when human beings are able to live peacefully and contentedly in communities where self-giving love, and forgiveness and reconciliation are of first importance.

And in this morning’s Gospel reading, we are being commanded along with the eleven disciples, to baptise ‘all nations’ into this kind of community. Earthly kingdoms often call upon their armies to conquer people who are different so that there might be peace through fear of a strong imperial power. But the Great Commission is actually commanding us to make all nations part of God’s community.

The Good News of the Kingdom of God is that peace does not come through the wielding of power, but through making common cause. Peace comes through forgiveness and reconciliation and by working for the welfare of the other. This is the Kingdom that Jesus is commanding us to proclaim and this is the Kingdom into which we are commanded baptise all nations.

This is ‘I am because we are’ writ large: not just at the level of an individual person or local community but also at a global level.

We love because God first loved us. The Kingdom of God is a forgiving, reconciling, outward-looking community because God himself is a forgiving, reconciling, outward-looking community. It’s God’s intention for all people to be baptised into this community.

Conclusion

In a few minutes, we will come to the table of the Lord. This is God’s celebration meal, to which all people are invited: those in the streets as well as the posh invited guests. As we come to the table, we’ll celebrate with our Lord that he is the God of reconciliation, forgiveness and community. I pray that, in this holy meal, we will also find the grace and strength to continue to be a congregation where God’s love and forgiveness are proclaimed. And I pray that we can be a community where the Gospel is preached in both word and deed. Amen

Sunday 11 May 2008 - Pentecost Mission

2008-05-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

This is a sermon for Pentecost Sunday as well as a celebration of 'Christian Aid Sunday'. It is based on the Pentecost reading from Acts 2:1-21.

Introduction

Pentecost is a celebration of a turning point in history. Fifty days after Jesus' resurrection, his followers are together in a house but Jesus is no longer with them – not even in his resurrection body. We can imagine that this group of individuals must have felt confused and possibly disheartened; where should they go from here?

Their confusion would have been made all the more poignant by the crowds and celebrations going on in the streets of Jerusalem. Fifty days after Jesus' resurrection was also about fifty days after Passover. It was the Jewish feast of Pentecost – the feast of Shavuot, a harvest festival when the Jewish people celebrated the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.

I think that we can draw a connection between the Jewish festival of Pentecost and our own festival of Pentecost. Jewish Pentecost celebrates the giving of the law and God's covenant with Israel. You could say that this is the beginning of Israel's vocation as the people of God. Equally, Christian Pentecost celebrates the beginning of the Christian Church – the beginning of our vocation as the people of God.

A modern Jewish Rabbi commented that Pentecost is 'Asking God how we should be with our freedom'. And that's the idea that I would like to explore this morning – that Pentecost is in some way about asking God how we should be – as God's people - with our freedom.

God works through us

So, looking at today's reading from the book of Acts, I think one of the things we should be ready to be is: 'surprised by what God is able to do through us'. I note that although Paul refers in some of his Epistles about speaking in unintelligible tongues in prayer, the tongues that are given to the church in today's reading are real foreign languages. On the day that Jesus' rag-tag band of confused followers are born into his Church on earth, they are given the ability to communicate the Gospel to people of various nationalities.

This gift of the Spirit is not given to the Church for its own edification. It's not given so that we can have lively worship, it's not given so that we can feel ourselves to be filled with the power of God and I don't even think it's given to us for the purpose of assurance of our own salvation. It's a gift that is given to the Church for the benefit of others. As the saying goes, the Church is the one institution that exists for the benefit of those outside itself.

And the gift that God wants to bestow upon the whole world through us is – I believe – life in all its fullness: both physical and spiritual.

So one of the ways that I think we are called to be in our freedom with God is people who are ready to proclaim the Gospel in both word and deed. At the very least we want to be practiced in saying a few words about what it means to us to be a follower of Jesus. We don't have to impose on people and we don't have to try to convert them, but I think it's good to know the words we might use to speak about our own faith if the opportunity comes up.

And we also want to be people who proclaim the Gospel through our deeds – in our interactions with others and by supporting other Christians in their own particular gifts and callings. As Christian Aid says, an important part of the Gospel message is the proclamation of life before death.

Overcoming Barriers

Another thing that happened when Jesus' followers began to speak the language of other people is that barriers were broken down.

'Speaking someone's language' is a powerful metaphor. Anyone who has ever learned a foreign language knows that not only do you have to learn the French/German word for 'car' or 'house', but you have to learn a different way of expressing yourself and sometimes you have to learn a different word-order.

In short, you have to learn to think differently. To some extent, you have to learn a different world view.

Learning to speak another person's language says something about a person's willingness to step outside of his or her own culture and comfort zone. We were helped this morning/afternoon to 'step out' a bit by hearing the story of Rekha Biswas.
Through Christian Aid, we learned something of the challenges that she and her community face and we learned something of her life.

I think, though, that Christians need to keep challenging ourselves about stepping out and breaking down barriers.
As Christians we are called to be counter-cultural, but our counter-cultural calling is to set out a prophetic vision of the Kingdom of God. Our counter-cultural calling isn't to rant and rave and to keep repeating to ourselves that 'things aren't what they used to be'.

Because we are human, we always have to be on our guard that we don't raise barriers against others. 'They are not church people; they don't know how to dress and act properly in Sunday worship.' 'We have values and they don't.' Or...'They don't need as much as we do to live'.

Any barrier that we raise between us and another person is one step in the direction of distancing ourselves from his or her full God-given humanity. Although a small barrier may not mean that we are drawing categories of 'them and us', it can be a first step in that direction. Once we have raised large barriers, it is easy for us to justify to ourselves that we don't have to be concerned with the welfare of others.

And human history has proven that, in the worse-case scenario, we can raise barriers so high that we begin to justify hurting others. As Christians we are called to speak out peacefully against any kind of scapegoating. We need to exercise our vote and work against extremist political parties, we can boycott newspapers and other media that scapegoat minorities and we need to make sure that we ourselves don't fall into the trap of scapegoating Muslims.

'Pentecost is asking God how we should be with our freedom.'

I believe that the coming of the Holy Spirit reveals that we should use our freedom to break down the barriers and the walls that divide human beings from God as well as from each other.

Empowering

As Christians, we are not in the business of hurting people and we are not in the business of ignoring people in their need. As Christians, we are called to love God and love our neighbour as ourselves.

On the first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit took a bunch of confused individuals and turned them into people with a passion and people with a mission and the Church was born. The Holy Spirit empowers the Church of Christ; not to have power over others but so that we may empower others.

Jesus said to the disciples of John the Baptist: “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”

This is what the power of the Holy Spirit is all about. This is the mission of the Church. Our mission to be God's hands on earth for justice, restoration and inspiration. It is not so much about us having power as it is about us empowering others.

Conclusion

'Pentecost is asking God how we should be in our freedom.'

As Christians, we are told how we should be: we are called to be like Jesus. But we also know that without the constant help of God, without the power of the Spirit in our lives, that we cannot change ourselves or others.

The good news is that we don't have to. The good news is that Christ has conquered sin, death and the power of evil and that his Spirit remains with us to strengthen us and help us as we seek to love God and our neighbour.

My prayer this morning is that we will all be filled again with a renewed sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And I pray that we will each be strengthened in our proclamation of the Kingdom of God as we seek to love God and love one another. Amen

Sunday 27th April 2008 - Not a Private Kingdom

2008-05-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

This sermon is based on Acts 17:22-31 and John 14:15-21

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Introduction

I don't know about you, but I'm very glad to see spring once again.

Where I come from in the US, – near the Canadian border - Spring is one of those 'blink and you'll miss it' seasons that happens for a few brief days in May. But here in the UK, Spring is definitely my favourite season, not the least because it is long languorous and it really gives you time to notice it and appreciate it. Sometimes if we're lucky we get snowdrops in early January and then, for what seems like weeks and weeks and weeks, we get one new sign of life after another as different flora and fauna begin to sprout and bloom. Even someone like me, who often fails to notice things, can't help but notice Spring.

The Wheel of Life

There really is a lot of beauty in nature and it's not surprising that many societies down through the ages have worshipped the creation rather than the creator. And within the understanding of many nature-based religious systems, there is the concept of 'The Wheel of Life.' It's easy to see where this concept comes from, especially if you consider that many of our distant ancestors were much closer to the land and to nature than we are today.

Spring, a time of renewed light and life when the earth bursts forth with new creation. Summer, life at its pinnacle when life reproduces. The climax of the year and of nature's beauty. Autumn, a season of fruitfulness, insight and wholeness. Winter, a season of death, but also a season where the land lies fallow, preparing itself for new work and new life in he coming season.

And so, the wheel of life was said to turn from generation to generation. Always changing, but always staying the same: it rotates not so much like a wagon wheel but more like a cog in clock. The sameness is being just as important as the change.

And herein lies the difference between popular ways of understanding the meaning of life and the Christian way. If the human way of seeing 'The Wheel of Life' is as a stationary cog, always changing and always staying the same, The Judeo-Christian way of seeing 'The Wheel of Life' is as a wagon-wheel, travelling on a path or a journey to a very specific destination. For Christians, history has an end-goal, a purpose: the Kingdom of God.

Spiritual but Not Religious

Consider for a moment the reading from Acts where Paul presents the Gospel message to the Athenians. Don't think for a minute that Paul was addressing a group of people with a strong belief in the ancient Greek gods and myths. Whether they were students or teachers, this was a group of people who undertook the study of sophisticated philosophies. It is very likely that they were as sceptical of their own ancient religion as they were of Paul's message. That's why Paul uses a number of concepts, phrases and buzz-words from the Greek philosophers to get his message across: 'In him we live and move and have our being' and 'For we too are his offspring'.

The people to whom Paul spoke on Mount Athos, like many people today, were spiritual seekers. They were not against religion, they were – as many people today claim to be - 'spiritual but not religious'. But their pursuits were private pursuits, dedicated to their own private spiritual understanding and to making their own private meaning. Their relationship with God was not so much 'personal' as it was 'private'.

The Kingdom is not Private

And one thing that the message of the gospel is not is 'private'. Our Gospel reading this morning begins and ends with Jesus' declaration that being his follower – loving him – is all about 'keeping his commandments' – which are, of course, the commandments to love God and love one's neighbour. In John's Gospel, this reading is part of the farewell discourses, a long section where Jesus teaches he disciples prior to his arrest and crucifixion.

If the disciples' relationship with Jesus had been a private thing, then the disciples would have mourned, they would have talked about their memories of Jesus and they would have had nostalgia for the good old days; but if Jesus' death had no more meaning than his private relationship with the disciples, it would hardly have changed the world. Equally, if his death had operated under the rules of nature-religion, it would simply have been one death in an on-going but unchanging cycle of death and new life. His memory would have lived on in his disciples but, again, it would hardly have had the power to change the world.

Behind today's Gospel reading is the implied understanding that the death and resurrection of Jesus have some kind of profound and real effect on creation that alters the very fabric of both creation and human history. Rather than The Wheel of Life rotating endlessly in one place, human history is on a journey to a destiny defined by God: the Kingdom of God, where our reality and our values are defined by hope rather than by despair and by resurrection rather than by death.

The Kingdom is not just a spiritual heaven. Although it will ultimately be brought about by God himself, it is a kingdom that began with the resurrection and for which we are called to work by keeping God's commandments. But we are not called to this task ourselves. God himself is responsible for bringing about the Kingdom, and as his followers we are invited to join in with God's tasks as well as with his celebrations. Just as Jesus joined in with the work of the Father, so we will join in with the work of Jesus and the Spirit will enable us and join in our tasks. This is a community effort, whose power comes from God and not from ourselves.

The Good News is that self-giving love is not a private thing. The Good News is that God has a plan to bring about his Kingdom and that The Wheel of Life has a wonderful destination determined by God. The Good News is that we are invited to join in with God's plan to bring about his Kingdom.

Conclusion

As we come to the Lord's Table this morning, we will join together as a community, with each other and with our Lord. I pray that we will each be inspired with a vision of the Kingdom and empowered by the Spirit of God to fulfil our calling as his disciples. Amen

Sunday 20th April 2008 - Cornerstone of the Temple

2008-05-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

The readings for this sermon are based on 1 Peter 2:1-10

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Introduction

1 Peter 2:6 reads ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’

The first letter of Peter is a letter whose primary intent is to offer to its readers instruction in the Christian life and a vision of what it means to be part of the Church universal. So the image of Jesus as the cornerstone certainly sets out to say something about Jesus, but it also sets out to say something about Jesus in the context of the Church.

Jesus as the Cornerstone

The image of a cornerstone is something that would have been familiar to anyone who had been to Jerusalem in Jesus’ time. The cornerstones that were used by King Herod to rebuild the Jerusalem temple were up to 39 feet long and weighed about 400 tons. So when the disciples exclaim in Mark 13:1, ‘Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!’ the description of these stones as ‘magnificent’ wasn’t an exaggeration. I don’t know about you, but I have trouble imagining what a stone that is 39 feet long could possibly look like. If you think how many stones had gone in to the building of the Temple itself, you begin to get an idea of the magnificence of Herod’s Temple.

And I suspect that the image of buildings and stones and cornerstones into today’s Epistle reading is meant to make its readers think about the Temple in Jerusalem. Because as most of the Gospels tell the story of Jesus, Jesus makes the claim to being the replacement of Temple. The Jerusalem Temple was, for pious Jews, the centre of all creation because God himself was present in the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was the place where earth and heaven met. And it was the place where the high priest made atonement for the sins of the people of Israel on the Day of Atonement.

The Temple was holy, the Temple Mount was holy and the city of Jerusalem was holy. And Jesus, according to the Early Christians, was a ‘replacement’ for the Temple. Not only the one true and final sacrifice, but our great high priest and, indeed the person in whom heaven and earth met.

So, I’d like to suggest to you that although the metaphor of Jesus as the cornerstone might seem a bit – dare I say it? – wooden – at first glace, I think that if you chip just a little bit deeper, you will find some wonderful and glorious truths laying just below the façade. Truths that are fit for the celebration of the Easter season and which are not just about the basic idea that the person of Jesus is foundational to the Christian faith.

The New Creation

But as I said earlier, the first letter of Peter is a letter whose primary intent is to give instruction in the Christian life and a vision of what it means to be part of the Church universal. So, this vision of Jesus as the cornerstone of the house of God is not just a vision about who Jesus is, but it’s also a vision of who we are and what we are called to be as his disciples.

As the author puts it: as the church, we are ‘a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God’ If Jesus is God’s chosen son, the church is his chosen people. If Jesus is the great and final high priest, the church is a royal priesthood. If Jerusalem is the holy city, the church is a holy nation.

All of the above are images of how the people of Israel saw themselves and now the author of the letter of Peter is extending these attributes to the Church.

Here I need to give the usual warnings against anti-Semitism. We should not see the church as a ‘new dispensation’ where Christians replace the people of Israel as God’s new chosen but exclusive people. Rather it is the revelation that God’s covenant with Noah and Moses and Abraham was never meant to be an exclusive covenant. The covenant was never meant to create categories of people whom God excluded because of who they were. God’s covenant was meant to be for all people of all tribes and nations and backgrounds.

Once we were not a people, but now we are a people. Once we had not received mercy but now we have received mercy.

God’s Good News turned out to be better than anyone could have imagined! His covenant is meant for everyone. His Kingdom, his Temple, his salvation is meant for everyone.

This is Good News for us – the church – and it’s good news for everyone. It’s a glorious picture of who Jesus is and why he came. Jesus is the cornerstone of the New Temple and the New Creation. And the good news is that everyone is invited to be a part of it. God’s purposes are for everyone. The New Creation that God is building is intended for all creation and for all of humankind.

So where does the Church come into all of this? The author of this letter tells us that we are to declare the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness into his wonderful light.

It is the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News of God’s New Creation. It is the mission of the Church to proclaim that the old order has passed away and that the resurrection is the evidence that God is doing a new thing. We are to enlighten the world that God’s salvation is not offered just to a chosen few, but that it is offered to all of humankind – to all people. We are called to enlighten the world that death and destruction do not have the final word but that God is a God of life and creation. We are called to live in such a way that our lives reflect the love of Christ and serve to illuminate The Way in which we are to walk.

Conclusion

It’s my prayer that, as we come as a community to the Lord’s Table this morning [evening], that we may be filled with the love of Christ, our cornerstone and our great high priest. May we each be given a vision of the New Creation and be filled with the hope of the resurrection. Most of all I pray that, along with the rest of the Christian Church, that we will each look to the light of Christ and reflect that light back into the world. Amen

Sunday 13 April 2008 - The Good Shepherd Leads Us

2008-04-14T03:37:00.000-07:00

This sermon uses the lectionary readings for Easter 4 in conjunction with the observance of 'Vocations Sunday'. I was a visiting preacher, but the sermon was also preached in the context of an on-going circuit review. Readings are: Psalm 23 and John 10:1-10.

Introduction

Today’s scripture readings offer to us the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when the image of Jesus as a good shepherd is mentioned, what springs into my mind is a picture that looks something like this

Isn’t this classic? An idyllic country scene, with a beautiful sunset in the background and a flock of sheep obediently following Jesus. And Jesus is lovingly cuddling a little lamb in his arm.

This idyllic picture of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is a beautiful image. It’s a picture that we use with our children, both literally and figuratively. I couldn’t find the picture, but there is also picture that has been used in Sunday Schools of Jesus the Good Shepherd protecting human children as well as sheep and lambs.

A Foundation of Trust and Love

This is an entirely appropriate picture to use for our children. It is important to communicate to them that both God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ love them as fiercely as do their own parents. We want our children to learn that, no matter what happens in life, that the Good Shepherd is right there among his sheep and that his guidance and protection are to be absolutely trusted.

And this very same picture of the Good Shepherd is very often invoked at a funeral service. When we mourn, we especially need to be reminded of the fact that we are commending those who we love into the hands of a loving God who is, above all things, to be trusted. He is the good shepherd who protects his children from evil when they walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

And it is not just at the beginning and at the end of life that we need to be reminded of the goodness of God. Within the history of Christianity, all traditions of spiritual discipline ask their students to ground their spiritual growth and their discipleship on the firm foundation of God’s love and of his providential care for us.

Knowing oneself to be both lovable and loved are the basic requirements for human beings to grow into the people that God intends us to be.

This is the Good News in today’s Scripture readings from John and from the Psalms: Jesus is the Good Shepherd. God loves you and me and he knows us by name. God cherishes each one of us individually and he walks with us in our journey through life.

We are not Sheep Safely Grazing

Are you waiting for me to say ‘but’? OK, here comes the ‘but’.

The image of the shepherd and the sheep has its limits. And the image of Christian disciples as sheep is especially limited and limiting. I don’t think we really want to characterise the Christian life as being the life of an obedient sheep. Good sheep meekly follow wherever they are led. They always comply. They stay safe. They are not animals known for exploring or exposing themselves to risk.

The problem is that, as human beings, we need to be able to take risks from time to time in order to grow.

As I mentioned earlier, today is ‘Vocations Sunday’ and I believe that fundamental to the concept of ‘vocation’ is that it involves a journey of change and transformation. Who are we and who are we being called to be? Both as individuals and also as a Christian community? There is an image in verse 3 of today’s reading of Christian disciples as being called out: ‘He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.’

Being a Christian is not just about finding and remaining in a safe place. If we see God’s love as a safe place that we don’t grow beyond, then Christianity becomes something that is just for children but has very little to offer to adults. Several weeks ago, a young woman in her early twenties said this to me in so many words: ‘I went to Sunday School and to the youth club when I was a child, but church is for children, it’s something that you grow out of.’

If all that Christianity has to offer is a safe place with no transformation and no growth, then it doesn’t offer humanity very much. To be human is to be on a journey of transformation and change. We need to go on this journey in our work lives, in our emotional lives, in our family lives and in our spiritual lives.

So, while it’s very important and appropriate that Church should be the place where we touch base on a regular basis to remind ourselves of the love of God and of his presence here among us… It’s also important that our church and our faith help us grow and others to growth and that our faith doesn’t hinder us or cause us to stagnate.

Expect Transformation

So, how do we embark on a journey of transformation and change?

I think that we have to expect change and transformation and, dare I say it, we even have to pray for it and ask God to guide us in the process of change. Change is always somewhat difficult and sometimes it’s even downright painful.

Since church communities are often called upon to be pastoral to those in pain, I think that we sometimes assume that if a change is painful that it must not be of God. And I think that there is also a wider assumption in society that since God does not change that the church should not change either.

I’m not suggesting that our core doctrines should be altered, but beyond these, individuals and congregations might be called upon at different times to make changes that might feel painful.

Not just the obvious changes that people tend to grumble about like pews versus chairs or old hymns versus new worship songs, but God may call us to take up activities that we don’t feel entirely comfortable with. And he may ask us to give up prized activities that we are comfortable with which are no longer serving his purposes.

I’m a visiting preacher this morning. I have no idea what sort of transformation God is calling you to, either on an individual level or a congregational level. That is something that only you can discern through prayer, by looking at where your gifts and talents lie and by discerning the needs of those around you.

What I do know is that growth and transformation require change. And I do not believe that God has called the church to be unchanging (although you are always free to disagree with me).

Conclusion and Good News

The Good News in all of this is that the Good Shepherd is trustworthy and he wants to lead us.

Human beings were made for growth and for transformation and, just as certainly as the Good Shepherd is with us at the beginning and at the end of our lives, so too is he with us in the journey, even when that journey is difficult or confusing or downright painful.

So my prayer this morning is that we may each hear the voice of the Good Shepherd more clearly as he calls us and leads us in the journey of transformation. Amen

Sunday 6 April 2008 - Baptism

2008-04-14T03:22:00.000-07:00

This was a sermon for a baptism. Readings were 1 John 4:6-16 and Matthew 19:13-15

Introduction

We have come here this morning as we do every Sunday morning to worship God as a Christian community, to praise God, to pray together and to sustain and support each other in our Christian life.

And this morning we are especially blessed to welcome the family of L who has just been baptised and, through his baptism, welcomed into the world-wide Church of Christ.

This morning’s reading from the first letter of John gives us a very good summary of the core beliefs of the Christian faith: That God loves each and every one of us because he made us. That God showed his love for us through Jesus. And that God lives in us and that he calls us to be agents of his love in the world.

So, I want to think about each of these things very briefly this morning in light of L’s baptism.

God loves us because he made us

First of all: God loves us because he made each and every one of us.

The baptism service that we witnesses this morning is a wonderful sign of God’s love for each and every one of us. In the service, we heard that everything that God has done for L – and for us, of course – was done before he (or we) could even know anything about it.

The offer of God’s love never depends on anything that we do, it is simply there, like the love of a good parent. God’s love doesn’t depend on our good behaviour; it doesn’t depend us loving God back; it doesn’t depend on anything. God simply loves us because he created us. And God loves everything that he created.

Just like a good parent wouldn’t say: ‘I’m not going to love you until you clean up your room’, God doesn’t make his love dependent on our good behaviour. God simply loves us because he created us.

We heard in this morning’s short reading from Matthew that God wants to give his love to little children, but he also wants to give his love to adults, even those who might think that they are no longer loveable.

God Showed his Love for Us Through Jesus

Secondly: God showed his love for us through Jesus.

On the one hand, this is a simple statement, on the other hand, there is an awful lot in it. There is enough material here for many sermons and we only have a few minutes.

In Jesus, God was born into the world as a small baby, and, like L here today, he was dependent on human beings in order to grow into an adult. Not only did Jesus come to teach us, but in some sense he also learned from us and was dependant on us.

But Jesus did also come here to teach us. He was a healer and someone who forgave sins.

Imagine what the world would be like if every single person imitated Jesus and devoted their life to healing rather than harming and to forgiving rather than holding grudges.

But human beings didn’t embrace Jesus’ message of healing and forgiveness. Instead, we rebelled against who he was and we killed him.

And there is something about that death of Jesus that brought hope into the world. We killed God, we thought that we killed healing and forgiveness and hope, but God had the final word at Easter. The resurrection is God’s demonstration that healing and hope and forgiveness will always be his final word to humankind.

And so today we have baptised L into God’s world of healing and hope and forgiveness.

We are Called to Live As Christ Lived

And finally, we are called to live as Christ lived.

When an adult is baptised, he or she receives confirmation directly after the baptism according to the ancient pattern. This confirmation is the adult person’s declaration that they intend, with God’s help, to try to live the sort of life that Jesus lived.

L, of course, can’t make that decision for himself and so today is he has been baptised into the sign and symbol of God’s love. As a baby, L’s ‘job’ right now is to be loved and cherished and to grow up surrounded by the love of God and of family.

And so baptism is a fitting sacrament in light of L’s age and L’s ‘job’.

But it is the hope and prayer of the church that, as he grows up, he will learn about the love of God and that he will want to be confirmed and to make a public commitment as a follower of Christ.

Because Christianity isn’t just for babies and children. As we grow older, we wrestle with life issues that are complex and don’t always have easy answers. Things like uncertainty, fear, disappointment, and health issues. As Christians, we believe that we have guidelines by which to negotiate difficult life situations.

Life doesn’t always provide easy answers in these situations, but not only do we have our brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we can share our burdens and struggles, but we also believe that we have the help and power of the Holy Spirit through prayer and fellowship.

Conclusion

So this morning we have participated in L’s baptism as a Christian community and we have welcomed him into the house of God via the sacrament of Baptism.

This sacrament expresses the love of God, freely given to all of us before we even knew anything of it.

In a few minutes we will celebrate another sacrament: the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is also a place where human beings are freely invited into the love and forgiveness of God. This God’s celebration banquet where all are welcome. With God, there is no such thing as an invited guest or an uninvited guest, but all are welcomed provided that it is their intention to meet with Christ and accept the hospitality of his table.

So it is my prayer this morning that, just as L has met with God in the sacrament of Baptism, that the rest of us may also meet with Christ in this service of worship and at the Lord’s Table. As God’s family, we come to his meal, we celebrate his presence and his love among us, and we welcome our brother L and his family into the presence of the living God.