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.
Showing posts with label John. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John. Show all posts
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Sunday 14 December 2008 - Pointing to Good News
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!
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
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.
====
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
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Sunday 27 July 2008 - Divine Disclosure
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
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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
Monday, April 14, 2008
Sunday 13 April 2008 - The Good Shepherd Leads Us
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
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, March 16, 2008
Sunday 9 March 2008 - Resurrection Life
This is a sermon for Passion Sunday, based on: Ezekiel 37:12-14, Romans 8:1-11 and John 11:1-6, 32-45.
===
Introduction
Today we find ourselves in the fifth Sunday of Lent, commonly called ‘Passion Sunday’. In the old traditions of the church, Passion Sunday was the Sunday when the cross and the altar were draped with black and when Lenten disciplines and repentance became extra zealous.
But then, surprise, surprise: this morning/evening we find that our Gospel reading doesn’t even focus on any aspect of what we commonly call The Passion Story. In fact, today’s Gospel reading is about resurrection. It’s about the only other named person in the New Testament who experienced a form of resurrection: Jesus’ friend Lazarus.
And today’s Old Testament reading, used in our call to worship, paints an extraordinary picture of resurrection: Dry bones being breathed on by the breath of God to be reconstituted into living, breathing human beings.
Two reading about resurrection in Ezekiel and in the Gospel of John and two readings – in Ezekiel and Romans – that give us a hint of how this mystery came about in the first place. Ezekiel: ‘I will put my spirit within you and you shall live’ (Ezekiel 37:14) Paul: ‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.’ (Romans 8:2)
The Spirit of God - the Spirit of Christ - is something powerful and life-giving. And for Paul in our reading from the letter of Romans, the Spirit of God was something that transformed everything: The Spirit transforms us, the Spirit transforms the world and the Spirit transforms the way that we look at the world.
The Flesh and the Spirit
A world without the light of the Spirit of God in it is a world where corruption reigns. When Paul uses the word ‘flesh’ he doesn’t mean to say that there is anything displeasing to God in the physical world. The word is really a technical term – a bit of jargon if you will – to mean human lives and societies that don’t operate by God’s rules. In other words, human lives and societies that don’t have the Spirit of God in them.
When Paul talks about ‘flesh’ he’s talking about a world, a realm, a way of thinking, where corruption reigns. By normal standards, by the standards of the world where corruption reigns, resurrection is not something that human beings experience: it is only something that we know by faith. It is by faith that we can imagine a resurrection world, a world where corruption does not have the last word, but rather abundant life.
Please don’t think that by using the word ‘imagine’ that I’m trying to make faith small. I’m actually trying to make faith big. When we imagine a resurrection world in the power of the Spirit, we are yearning with God for the kind of world that he originally intended for human beings: a world where the Law has been fulfilled. This is the world that Jesus imagined when he began his journey to Jerusalem and to crucifixion.
Except that it was the ‘rules’ of the world of corrupt flesh that were in operation during the course of Jesus’ trial by his own people and by the conquering Empire of Rome. And it was at the hands of this ever-present corruption that Jesus was executed: executed by the occupation army for sure but with the blessing of his people, and with the cooperation and denial of his close friends. In a world ruled by corruption, it is not just the corrupt rulers who participate in evil, but even those who see themselves as victims of evil, even those who are close friends of the victims.
In other words, you and I put Jesus on the cross just as surely as did Pilate or Caiaphas or Judas or even Peter. We all have guilt on our hands.
Jesus died because of our sins and Jesus died for our sins. But Jesus also died imaging – in the power of the Spirit – the resurrection life, a life where the Law of God has been fulfilled.
Jesus commended his Spirit into the hands of the Father because of his faith in this Kingdom of God, this Resurrection Life, which did not yet exist. And by his faith and his actions, he became the fulfilment of the Law and the Kingdom – although not yet fulfilled – was born.
A World where the Dead Rise
The American Methodist Bishop and theologian William Willimon said: ‘Most of the defences in our world assure us that the dead stay dead.’*
It is only in a world where the dead stay dead that power and influence can be used for the purpose of creating terror. You can’t terrorise a person who has no fear of death. And you certainly can’t terrorise a person who is looking forward to the resurrection life.
Such a person is free indeed.
And I think that’s why Paul tells us: ‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.’ The Spirit of God is something powerful and life-giving. When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, we are given the ability to imagine something that does not yet fully exist: the resurrection life, abundant life, the life that God has always wanted for his creation. And, in the power of the Spirit, we are given the means to learn to lose our fear of the corrupt world of the flesh.
And Jesus showed us the way to resurrection life, he showed us the way through the fear of death, and he unlocked the door so that we could enter the Kingdom of heaven.
This is what it’s all about: Jesus’ march toward the cross. It’s about the resurrection life, the Kingdom of God, the fulfilment of the Law. It’s about disarming the world of corrupt flesh by removing the fear of death. It is about hope, about forgiveness and about new life.
Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and, at that time, the story of Jesus’ march to the cross is a rapid one. Received as a king on Palm Sunday, Jesus is crucified five days later.
As the story of Jesus moves inescapably to the cross, we remember – as painful as it is to do so – that it was our sins that put him there. But we also remember in gratitude that in dying on the cross, Jesus opened the door to the resurrection life and to the coming Kingdom of God. And we remember that, in this life, he opened the door to forgiveness and to reconciliation with him.
As Holy Week draws nearer, I pray that the Spirit may draw especially close to each one of us so that we may be enabled to imagine the resurrection life. I pray that the Spirit will open our eyes to the ways that we collude with sin and corruption but also give us the assurance there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. And I pray that we will all be strengthened at the Lord’s Table as we meet him and remember him in the bread and wine. Amen
---
* William Willimon at: Sermon Nuggets: Lent 5A, March 9, 2008, http://home.twcny.rr.com/lyndale/Lent5A%202008.htm [accessed 8 March 2008]
===
Introduction
Today we find ourselves in the fifth Sunday of Lent, commonly called ‘Passion Sunday’. In the old traditions of the church, Passion Sunday was the Sunday when the cross and the altar were draped with black and when Lenten disciplines and repentance became extra zealous.
But then, surprise, surprise: this morning/evening we find that our Gospel reading doesn’t even focus on any aspect of what we commonly call The Passion Story. In fact, today’s Gospel reading is about resurrection. It’s about the only other named person in the New Testament who experienced a form of resurrection: Jesus’ friend Lazarus.
And today’s Old Testament reading, used in our call to worship, paints an extraordinary picture of resurrection: Dry bones being breathed on by the breath of God to be reconstituted into living, breathing human beings.
Two reading about resurrection in Ezekiel and in the Gospel of John and two readings – in Ezekiel and Romans – that give us a hint of how this mystery came about in the first place. Ezekiel: ‘I will put my spirit within you and you shall live’ (Ezekiel 37:14) Paul: ‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.’ (Romans 8:2)
The Spirit of God - the Spirit of Christ - is something powerful and life-giving. And for Paul in our reading from the letter of Romans, the Spirit of God was something that transformed everything: The Spirit transforms us, the Spirit transforms the world and the Spirit transforms the way that we look at the world.
The Flesh and the Spirit
A world without the light of the Spirit of God in it is a world where corruption reigns. When Paul uses the word ‘flesh’ he doesn’t mean to say that there is anything displeasing to God in the physical world. The word is really a technical term – a bit of jargon if you will – to mean human lives and societies that don’t operate by God’s rules. In other words, human lives and societies that don’t have the Spirit of God in them.
When Paul talks about ‘flesh’ he’s talking about a world, a realm, a way of thinking, where corruption reigns. By normal standards, by the standards of the world where corruption reigns, resurrection is not something that human beings experience: it is only something that we know by faith. It is by faith that we can imagine a resurrection world, a world where corruption does not have the last word, but rather abundant life.
Please don’t think that by using the word ‘imagine’ that I’m trying to make faith small. I’m actually trying to make faith big. When we imagine a resurrection world in the power of the Spirit, we are yearning with God for the kind of world that he originally intended for human beings: a world where the Law has been fulfilled. This is the world that Jesus imagined when he began his journey to Jerusalem and to crucifixion.
Except that it was the ‘rules’ of the world of corrupt flesh that were in operation during the course of Jesus’ trial by his own people and by the conquering Empire of Rome. And it was at the hands of this ever-present corruption that Jesus was executed: executed by the occupation army for sure but with the blessing of his people, and with the cooperation and denial of his close friends. In a world ruled by corruption, it is not just the corrupt rulers who participate in evil, but even those who see themselves as victims of evil, even those who are close friends of the victims.
In other words, you and I put Jesus on the cross just as surely as did Pilate or Caiaphas or Judas or even Peter. We all have guilt on our hands.
Jesus died because of our sins and Jesus died for our sins. But Jesus also died imaging – in the power of the Spirit – the resurrection life, a life where the Law of God has been fulfilled.
Jesus commended his Spirit into the hands of the Father because of his faith in this Kingdom of God, this Resurrection Life, which did not yet exist. And by his faith and his actions, he became the fulfilment of the Law and the Kingdom – although not yet fulfilled – was born.
A World where the Dead Rise
The American Methodist Bishop and theologian William Willimon said: ‘Most of the defences in our world assure us that the dead stay dead.’*
It is only in a world where the dead stay dead that power and influence can be used for the purpose of creating terror. You can’t terrorise a person who has no fear of death. And you certainly can’t terrorise a person who is looking forward to the resurrection life.
Such a person is free indeed.
And I think that’s why Paul tells us: ‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.’ The Spirit of God is something powerful and life-giving. When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, we are given the ability to imagine something that does not yet fully exist: the resurrection life, abundant life, the life that God has always wanted for his creation. And, in the power of the Spirit, we are given the means to learn to lose our fear of the corrupt world of the flesh.
And Jesus showed us the way to resurrection life, he showed us the way through the fear of death, and he unlocked the door so that we could enter the Kingdom of heaven.
This is what it’s all about: Jesus’ march toward the cross. It’s about the resurrection life, the Kingdom of God, the fulfilment of the Law. It’s about disarming the world of corrupt flesh by removing the fear of death. It is about hope, about forgiveness and about new life.
Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and, at that time, the story of Jesus’ march to the cross is a rapid one. Received as a king on Palm Sunday, Jesus is crucified five days later.
As the story of Jesus moves inescapably to the cross, we remember – as painful as it is to do so – that it was our sins that put him there. But we also remember in gratitude that in dying on the cross, Jesus opened the door to the resurrection life and to the coming Kingdom of God. And we remember that, in this life, he opened the door to forgiveness and to reconciliation with him.
As Holy Week draws nearer, I pray that the Spirit may draw especially close to each one of us so that we may be enabled to imagine the resurrection life. I pray that the Spirit will open our eyes to the ways that we collude with sin and corruption but also give us the assurance there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. And I pray that we will all be strengthened at the Lord’s Table as we meet him and remember him in the bread and wine. Amen
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* William Willimon at: Sermon Nuggets: Lent 5A, March 9, 2008, http://home.twcny.rr.com/lyndale/Lent5A%202008.htm [accessed 8 March 2008]
Sunday 2 March 2008 - The Parenthood of God
This was a Mothering Sunday sermon delivered to a small congregation where three members had lost mothers and wives over the past year. We had a 'children's talk' earlier in the service where we discussed the origins of Mothering Sunday and how it was about 'Mother Church' and a hiatus in the Lenten Fast.
The Scripture Readings for this sermon are: Exodus 2:1-10 and John 19:25-27.
===
Introduction
I confess to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that Mothering Sunday is – shall I put it diplomatically? – not one of my favourite Sundays as a preacher.
Earlier, we talked about the fact that, for the Christian Church, Mothering Sunday isn’t about human mothers. It’s not about coming to church one day a year to celebrate motherhood or mothers. If it were, then by rights we should also do the same thing for fathers. And this contrast between what the Church thinks Mothering Sunday is about and what the world thinks it’s about one reason that Mothering Sunday can be difficult for preachers.
The other reason is that, really, we do all come to Church this morning with thoughts of mothers and Mother’s Day.
And that opens up a whole different set of issues for a worshipping congregation: thoughts we may have – positive or negative - of our own mothers, of other people’s mothers, about our own motherhood or the motherhood of our wives, daughters or daughters-in-law. Some people will be mourning mothers or wives lost recently or even many years ago. Others will be filled with feelings of thankfulness for their mothers. Others may have feelings of bitterness or even anger. Still others may have mixed feelings about their mothers. Then there are those women – and their husbands – who may have wanted to become mothers but weren’t able to. It all gets very complicated and I’m sure that we could probably spend another five minutes thinking of a variety of other issues around the subject of human motherhood.
So I think that it’s probably wrong to turn Mothering Sunday into a day where we worship human mothers, even as we recognise the importance of being a good mother – or a good father for that matter. But I do think that it’s important that we acknowledge that, in any congregation, different people will be having different feelings about the day, and that’s perfectly OK.
We come together – and notice the image here – as Christian brothers and sisters and we can give space to those who need space, we can walk with those who need companionship, and we can celebrate with those who want to celebrate.
The Parenthood of God
But the most important thing that we as Christians can remember and celebrate today is the parenthood of God.
In this morning’s Old Testament reading, we heard the story of Moses in the bulrushes. What a horrible society in which to become a parent. The Egyptian Pharaoh was engaging in a slow form of genocide: The boys of the children of Israel were to be slaughtered, in order to weaken the blood-lines of the Israelites. The girls could be sold into slavery in Egyptian homes and would eventually bear children with Egyptian men and the whole Israelite culture would gradually disappear. (As we hear this story, we might a connection with expectant Palestinian mothers today who are sometimes not allowed to cross restricted zones in order to have access to medical care.)
And in the middle of this hostile atmosphere, a young Israelite mother bears a child, hiding him for 3 months - as long as she can. Then – no doubt with many tears and prayers – she releases him into the wilds of the Egyptian landscape, hoping against hope that he will survive, that he’ll be taken in by an Egyptian family who will raise him as their own. It was all she could do in the circumstances, really. Far from being cruel, it was Moses’ only chance for survival.
His mother did not abandon him but did everything she could in a terrible situation: first sending the baby’s sister to watch over him and then, by a miracle of coincidence (or was it a God-incidence?), she was able to nurse the baby until he was weaned. When Moses mother finally said good-bye to him, she knew that he had survived infancy and that he had been adopted into a good home.
Weaning him and letting him go must have been among the most difficult things she ever had to do in her life. But no doubt it was her love for Moses that gave her the strength to let him go.
Father and Mother Images of God
I don’t think I need to spell out that the picture that I have just painted of Moses’ mother might also serve as a beautiful and poignant picture of God’s love for humankind.
God is most often pictured in Scripture as ‘Father’. This is because, in the cultures in which much of Scripture arose, the role of ‘Father’ tells us many important things about God’s relationship to us.
The picture of God as our Father tells us who we are in him: how we are given an identity in him (a surname), how we are shaped by his authority, but maybe most importantly of all, it tells us about the inheritance that he has promised us as his children.
Because of the death and resurrection of Christ, believers have God’s unbreakable promise that we will inherit his kingdom. And this inheritance is a very important thing for us to understand about God’s Good News. It’s not that we inherit these things because God is a male parent, it is simply that ‘Father’ was the right image for that culture that conveyed this promise of receiving God’s divine inheritance.
But the bible is also full of images that are more stereotypically feminine. In addition to Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem and saying that he longs to gather it under his wings like a mother hen, there is much use in scripture of the concept of loving-kindness and God’s nurturing care for his children. In addition, ‘Wisdom’ is portrayed as a woman and said to be necessary for discipleship.
God is neither male nor female and therefore is neither a human father nor a human mother. I believe that Scripture testifies to what we might call God’s mothering nature as well as to God’s fathering nature. It is as important for us to understand the nurturing side of God as it is for us to understand that God gives us an identity and an inheritance.
Conclusion
Today is the fourth Sunday of Lent and during Lent we tell the story of Jesus’ walk toward Jerusalem and toward crucifixion. I believe that Jesus’ walk to the cross was as deliberate as was the decision of the Son to take on human flesh and to walk with us in our humanity. Indeed, Jesus could not have died on the cross if he had not become human.
In walking with us and in understanding our suffering, God was demonstrating his nurturing nature. In dying on the cross because of our sins, Jesus was demonstrating God’s intention to save us and to bring us into the inheritance that he desires for all people.
In our Gospel reading this morning, we saw the tender nature of Jesus as he gave his mother into the hands of another in the same way that Moses’ mother turned him over to the hands of Pharaoh’s daughter. On this Mothering Sunday, let’s reflect on the fact that God is like a Father and a Mother.
As we come to the Lord’s Table in the few minutes, I pray that we remember that the God who saves us also nurtures us and walks with us. And may we grow in the faith and the knowledge of God’s Kingdom by this sacrament. Amen
The Scripture Readings for this sermon are: Exodus 2:1-10 and John 19:25-27.
===
Introduction
I confess to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that Mothering Sunday is – shall I put it diplomatically? – not one of my favourite Sundays as a preacher.
Earlier, we talked about the fact that, for the Christian Church, Mothering Sunday isn’t about human mothers. It’s not about coming to church one day a year to celebrate motherhood or mothers. If it were, then by rights we should also do the same thing for fathers. And this contrast between what the Church thinks Mothering Sunday is about and what the world thinks it’s about one reason that Mothering Sunday can be difficult for preachers.
The other reason is that, really, we do all come to Church this morning with thoughts of mothers and Mother’s Day.
And that opens up a whole different set of issues for a worshipping congregation: thoughts we may have – positive or negative - of our own mothers, of other people’s mothers, about our own motherhood or the motherhood of our wives, daughters or daughters-in-law. Some people will be mourning mothers or wives lost recently or even many years ago. Others will be filled with feelings of thankfulness for their mothers. Others may have feelings of bitterness or even anger. Still others may have mixed feelings about their mothers. Then there are those women – and their husbands – who may have wanted to become mothers but weren’t able to. It all gets very complicated and I’m sure that we could probably spend another five minutes thinking of a variety of other issues around the subject of human motherhood.
So I think that it’s probably wrong to turn Mothering Sunday into a day where we worship human mothers, even as we recognise the importance of being a good mother – or a good father for that matter. But I do think that it’s important that we acknowledge that, in any congregation, different people will be having different feelings about the day, and that’s perfectly OK.
We come together – and notice the image here – as Christian brothers and sisters and we can give space to those who need space, we can walk with those who need companionship, and we can celebrate with those who want to celebrate.
The Parenthood of God
But the most important thing that we as Christians can remember and celebrate today is the parenthood of God.
In this morning’s Old Testament reading, we heard the story of Moses in the bulrushes. What a horrible society in which to become a parent. The Egyptian Pharaoh was engaging in a slow form of genocide: The boys of the children of Israel were to be slaughtered, in order to weaken the blood-lines of the Israelites. The girls could be sold into slavery in Egyptian homes and would eventually bear children with Egyptian men and the whole Israelite culture would gradually disappear. (As we hear this story, we might a connection with expectant Palestinian mothers today who are sometimes not allowed to cross restricted zones in order to have access to medical care.)
And in the middle of this hostile atmosphere, a young Israelite mother bears a child, hiding him for 3 months - as long as she can. Then – no doubt with many tears and prayers – she releases him into the wilds of the Egyptian landscape, hoping against hope that he will survive, that he’ll be taken in by an Egyptian family who will raise him as their own. It was all she could do in the circumstances, really. Far from being cruel, it was Moses’ only chance for survival.
His mother did not abandon him but did everything she could in a terrible situation: first sending the baby’s sister to watch over him and then, by a miracle of coincidence (or was it a God-incidence?), she was able to nurse the baby until he was weaned. When Moses mother finally said good-bye to him, she knew that he had survived infancy and that he had been adopted into a good home.
Weaning him and letting him go must have been among the most difficult things she ever had to do in her life. But no doubt it was her love for Moses that gave her the strength to let him go.
Father and Mother Images of God
I don’t think I need to spell out that the picture that I have just painted of Moses’ mother might also serve as a beautiful and poignant picture of God’s love for humankind.
God is most often pictured in Scripture as ‘Father’. This is because, in the cultures in which much of Scripture arose, the role of ‘Father’ tells us many important things about God’s relationship to us.
The picture of God as our Father tells us who we are in him: how we are given an identity in him (a surname), how we are shaped by his authority, but maybe most importantly of all, it tells us about the inheritance that he has promised us as his children.
Because of the death and resurrection of Christ, believers have God’s unbreakable promise that we will inherit his kingdom. And this inheritance is a very important thing for us to understand about God’s Good News. It’s not that we inherit these things because God is a male parent, it is simply that ‘Father’ was the right image for that culture that conveyed this promise of receiving God’s divine inheritance.
But the bible is also full of images that are more stereotypically feminine. In addition to Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem and saying that he longs to gather it under his wings like a mother hen, there is much use in scripture of the concept of loving-kindness and God’s nurturing care for his children. In addition, ‘Wisdom’ is portrayed as a woman and said to be necessary for discipleship.
God is neither male nor female and therefore is neither a human father nor a human mother. I believe that Scripture testifies to what we might call God’s mothering nature as well as to God’s fathering nature. It is as important for us to understand the nurturing side of God as it is for us to understand that God gives us an identity and an inheritance.
Conclusion
Today is the fourth Sunday of Lent and during Lent we tell the story of Jesus’ walk toward Jerusalem and toward crucifixion. I believe that Jesus’ walk to the cross was as deliberate as was the decision of the Son to take on human flesh and to walk with us in our humanity. Indeed, Jesus could not have died on the cross if he had not become human.
In walking with us and in understanding our suffering, God was demonstrating his nurturing nature. In dying on the cross because of our sins, Jesus was demonstrating God’s intention to save us and to bring us into the inheritance that he desires for all people.
In our Gospel reading this morning, we saw the tender nature of Jesus as he gave his mother into the hands of another in the same way that Moses’ mother turned him over to the hands of Pharaoh’s daughter. On this Mothering Sunday, let’s reflect on the fact that God is like a Father and a Mother.
As we come to the Lord’s Table in the few minutes, I pray that we remember that the God who saves us also nurtures us and walks with us. And may we grow in the faith and the knowledge of God’s Kingdom by this sacrament. Amen
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Sunday 20 May 2007 - Slavery and Freedom
Today's sermon was based mainly on Acts 16:16-34 and a bit of the Gospel reading: John 13:20-26.
===
‘One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination.’ (Acts 16:16-34)
I like a challenging story and I was attracted to the reading from the Acts because I think it presents us with some good challenges.
At the very superficial level, as modern people we have the challenge of the supernatural: a spirit-possessed individual on the one hand and God’s arranging an earthquake to set Paul free on the other hand. But at a deeper level, we are challenged to ponder such questions as slavery and freedom, and despair and hope.
Who is it in this story who is free and who is enslaved? Who are the people who should be despairing and who is it who has hope?
The Slave Girl
First of all in this narrative, we have the story of the slave girl.
It might very well be that she is associated with the temple to the Greek god Apollo; some commentators think this because the spirit which possessed her was a spirit of ‘divination’, a quality associated with the god Apollo. Interestingly, Apollo was associated in Greek mythology with medicine, healing, light and truth but he was also supposed to be the bringer of the plague.
From a Christian perspective, everything in the story of the slave-girl is topsy-turvy.
She’s following Paul and Silas around declaring that they are slaves to the Most High God. But the girl herself is twice-enslaved. She’s enslaved by the spirit who possesses her (we know this because she does not continue to behave in the same way once the spirit is cast out); and she’s a literal slave to human owners who use her as a means of earning money for themselves.
The spirit that possesses her is supposed to be the spirit of truth and light and yet, it does not tell the full truth; it only tells a partial truth – that the disciples are proclaiming a way to salvation.
It seems to me that one of the central questions in this scene is: ‘whose disciples are free and whose disciples are slaves? The disciples of Christ or the disciple of Apollo?’ Which disciple tells the truth and which disciple tells a partial truth? Which disciple genuinely has the power of healing and which disciple needs to be healed?
Now the one thing I find odd about the story is this business about the spirit-possessed girl followed Paul and Silas around for ‘many days’.
It raises a couple of questions for me. First of all, why didn’t Paul use the girl’s testimony to his advantage? Secondly, if the Spirit recognised that Paul and Silas were followers of The Most High God, why didn’t it lay low in order to save itself? Why did it call attention to itself day after day and risk being cast out?
The story doesn’t give us an answer to this question, of course. But if this was the spirit of Apollo, you could say that, in the context of the story, this spirit might have been the spirit of the present age, the spirit of the majority culture. I wonder whether this spirit represents the battle for the hearts and minds of the people of that culture?
It’s as if the spirit of the prevailing culture is following the disciples of Jesus around saying ‘Jesus isn’t the way to health and happiness. Apollo is the way to health and happiness. Order your life to worship the values of our wonderful Greco-Roman culture and you will be healthy and happy.’ Possessed by the spirit of the prevailing culture, the spirit-possessed girl may have felt strangely compelled to insist on the superiority of Graeco-Roman culture over the Church of Christ.
The values of the prevailing culture are powerful. They present themselves as ‘the way things were, are and always will be’. They present themselves as being Reality (with a capital R).
So, filled with the confidence that these Christians were misguided and that the spirit of the age would certainly prevail over the Church of Christ, the Spirit followed Paul and the disciples for many days until the name of Christ vanquished it without much apparent effort.
The Culture Enraged
But challenging the prevailing cultural values can be a dangerous business, as the story attests. Immediately the spirit is cast out, the girl is free and the cultural values are challenged, a kangaroo court is assembled. Paul and Silas are charged with ‘advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe’
In other words, the charge is that they have gone against the cultural norms. The fact that they are Jewish probably just adds to the conviction of the magistrates and the crowd that Paul and Silas are guilty.
Paul freed the spirit-possessed girl from enslavement to the spirit which possessed her and from the enslavement and the exploitation of her owners. The reward for having done this is that Paul and Silas are dragged before an angry mob and fastened with stocks to the innermost jail cell – no escape possible.
The men’s reward for proclaiming The Way of Christ over and above the values of the culture is to be treated violently and unjustly and to be removed from the society at large. Or at least the prevailing culture attempted to remove them from society.
Hope and Despair
As we come to the last part of the story, Paul and Silas are in a rather serious mess. The reality of the situation is such that they have every reason to believe that they will likely die in prison. Yet the text tells us that they were praying and singing hymns to God.
I think it’s easy to trivialise this statement and say ‘Yes this is the way Christians should behave in times of trial’. But when we find ourselves in times of real and genuine danger or difficulty, it can be incredibly difficult to praise God and to have faith that he is present.
So I want to just pause and consider the depth of faith that was required to praise God in a dungeon whilst shackled with chains. I want to pause and consider that such hope is actually at the core of the counter-cultural message that Christianity proclaims. (It’s not the only message, but it’s at the core.)
The prevailing culture tells us that, in the final analysis, those who have power, resources, money and influence will determine the course of history and that they will determine what is right and what is wrong. In contrast, the Christian faith proclaims a place for the ill, the outcast, the poor and the powerless in the Kingdom of God. The Christian faith proclaims that God is in control of history, that the last shall be first in the Kingdom and that it is God in his justice who determines what is right and what is wrong, not the expediency of power or money or the prevailing culture.
When Paul and Silas are busy praising God in their prison cell, they did not know that God would bring hope into a hopeless situation. It would be wrong to say that this story teaches us that if we just pray and praise enough or that if we just have enough faith, God will always make a particular situation turn out the way we want it to. It would be more accurate to say that this story teaches us that God is present in even the most hopeless situations.
Even when we can see no hope, even if we can’t see a positive outcome like the story of the conversion of the jailer and his household, God has promised us that he is present in every situation. God can use even the most apparently dire circumstances to his purposes.
Conclusion
In closing, I just want to remind us all of the prayer that Jesus made in the Gospel reading this morning. He prayed for the strength and the unity of his Church and he bestowed on the Church his glory.
This prayer would be a simple and straightforward prayer if it came on the eve of Jesus’ ascension into heaven. The amazing thing about it, however, is that Jesus prays this prayer not on the eve of his ascension, but on the eve of his crucifixion.
Knowing the end of the story, you could argue that this is the prayer of a conquering hero. But, because it comes just before his crucifixion, it is also a prayer of tremendous faith in the purposes of God.
Today is the last Sunday of the Easter season and it’s also the Sunday after the Ascension of Jesus. In the resurrection we recall that God’s purposes are to draw all creation into genuine life and truth and light. In the ascension, we recall that Christ rules at God’s right hand and that the story of creation is shaped by Christ’s sacrifice for our sins and his triumph over death.
God is life and light and truth. Hope reigns even when we cannot see it. This is the faith of the Church. Amen
===
‘One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination.’ (Acts 16:16-34)
I like a challenging story and I was attracted to the reading from the Acts because I think it presents us with some good challenges.
At the very superficial level, as modern people we have the challenge of the supernatural: a spirit-possessed individual on the one hand and God’s arranging an earthquake to set Paul free on the other hand. But at a deeper level, we are challenged to ponder such questions as slavery and freedom, and despair and hope.
Who is it in this story who is free and who is enslaved? Who are the people who should be despairing and who is it who has hope?
The Slave Girl
First of all in this narrative, we have the story of the slave girl.
It might very well be that she is associated with the temple to the Greek god Apollo; some commentators think this because the spirit which possessed her was a spirit of ‘divination’, a quality associated with the god Apollo. Interestingly, Apollo was associated in Greek mythology with medicine, healing, light and truth but he was also supposed to be the bringer of the plague.
From a Christian perspective, everything in the story of the slave-girl is topsy-turvy.
She’s following Paul and Silas around declaring that they are slaves to the Most High God. But the girl herself is twice-enslaved. She’s enslaved by the spirit who possesses her (we know this because she does not continue to behave in the same way once the spirit is cast out); and she’s a literal slave to human owners who use her as a means of earning money for themselves.
The spirit that possesses her is supposed to be the spirit of truth and light and yet, it does not tell the full truth; it only tells a partial truth – that the disciples are proclaiming a way to salvation.
It seems to me that one of the central questions in this scene is: ‘whose disciples are free and whose disciples are slaves? The disciples of Christ or the disciple of Apollo?’ Which disciple tells the truth and which disciple tells a partial truth? Which disciple genuinely has the power of healing and which disciple needs to be healed?
Now the one thing I find odd about the story is this business about the spirit-possessed girl followed Paul and Silas around for ‘many days’.
It raises a couple of questions for me. First of all, why didn’t Paul use the girl’s testimony to his advantage? Secondly, if the Spirit recognised that Paul and Silas were followers of The Most High God, why didn’t it lay low in order to save itself? Why did it call attention to itself day after day and risk being cast out?
The story doesn’t give us an answer to this question, of course. But if this was the spirit of Apollo, you could say that, in the context of the story, this spirit might have been the spirit of the present age, the spirit of the majority culture. I wonder whether this spirit represents the battle for the hearts and minds of the people of that culture?
It’s as if the spirit of the prevailing culture is following the disciples of Jesus around saying ‘Jesus isn’t the way to health and happiness. Apollo is the way to health and happiness. Order your life to worship the values of our wonderful Greco-Roman culture and you will be healthy and happy.’ Possessed by the spirit of the prevailing culture, the spirit-possessed girl may have felt strangely compelled to insist on the superiority of Graeco-Roman culture over the Church of Christ.
The values of the prevailing culture are powerful. They present themselves as ‘the way things were, are and always will be’. They present themselves as being Reality (with a capital R).
So, filled with the confidence that these Christians were misguided and that the spirit of the age would certainly prevail over the Church of Christ, the Spirit followed Paul and the disciples for many days until the name of Christ vanquished it without much apparent effort.
The Culture Enraged
But challenging the prevailing cultural values can be a dangerous business, as the story attests. Immediately the spirit is cast out, the girl is free and the cultural values are challenged, a kangaroo court is assembled. Paul and Silas are charged with ‘advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe’
In other words, the charge is that they have gone against the cultural norms. The fact that they are Jewish probably just adds to the conviction of the magistrates and the crowd that Paul and Silas are guilty.
Paul freed the spirit-possessed girl from enslavement to the spirit which possessed her and from the enslavement and the exploitation of her owners. The reward for having done this is that Paul and Silas are dragged before an angry mob and fastened with stocks to the innermost jail cell – no escape possible.
The men’s reward for proclaiming The Way of Christ over and above the values of the culture is to be treated violently and unjustly and to be removed from the society at large. Or at least the prevailing culture attempted to remove them from society.
Hope and Despair
As we come to the last part of the story, Paul and Silas are in a rather serious mess. The reality of the situation is such that they have every reason to believe that they will likely die in prison. Yet the text tells us that they were praying and singing hymns to God.
I think it’s easy to trivialise this statement and say ‘Yes this is the way Christians should behave in times of trial’. But when we find ourselves in times of real and genuine danger or difficulty, it can be incredibly difficult to praise God and to have faith that he is present.
So I want to just pause and consider the depth of faith that was required to praise God in a dungeon whilst shackled with chains. I want to pause and consider that such hope is actually at the core of the counter-cultural message that Christianity proclaims. (It’s not the only message, but it’s at the core.)
The prevailing culture tells us that, in the final analysis, those who have power, resources, money and influence will determine the course of history and that they will determine what is right and what is wrong. In contrast, the Christian faith proclaims a place for the ill, the outcast, the poor and the powerless in the Kingdom of God. The Christian faith proclaims that God is in control of history, that the last shall be first in the Kingdom and that it is God in his justice who determines what is right and what is wrong, not the expediency of power or money or the prevailing culture.
When Paul and Silas are busy praising God in their prison cell, they did not know that God would bring hope into a hopeless situation. It would be wrong to say that this story teaches us that if we just pray and praise enough or that if we just have enough faith, God will always make a particular situation turn out the way we want it to. It would be more accurate to say that this story teaches us that God is present in even the most hopeless situations.
Even when we can see no hope, even if we can’t see a positive outcome like the story of the conversion of the jailer and his household, God has promised us that he is present in every situation. God can use even the most apparently dire circumstances to his purposes.
Conclusion
In closing, I just want to remind us all of the prayer that Jesus made in the Gospel reading this morning. He prayed for the strength and the unity of his Church and he bestowed on the Church his glory.
This prayer would be a simple and straightforward prayer if it came on the eve of Jesus’ ascension into heaven. The amazing thing about it, however, is that Jesus prays this prayer not on the eve of his ascension, but on the eve of his crucifixion.
Knowing the end of the story, you could argue that this is the prayer of a conquering hero. But, because it comes just before his crucifixion, it is also a prayer of tremendous faith in the purposes of God.
Today is the last Sunday of the Easter season and it’s also the Sunday after the Ascension of Jesus. In the resurrection we recall that God’s purposes are to draw all creation into genuine life and truth and light. In the ascension, we recall that Christ rules at God’s right hand and that the story of creation is shaped by Christ’s sacrifice for our sins and his triumph over death.
God is life and light and truth. Hope reigns even when we cannot see it. This is the faith of the Church. Amen
Sunday 13 Mary 2007 - Inspired by Oscar Romero
Today we tried having a discussion rather than a whole sermon. It worked very well and we had a very interesting discussion as a congregation about 'what is sin'?
As you can see from the sermon, it was a sermon for the launching of Christian Aid Week. The discussion was inspired by the Gospel reading that Oscar Romero read on the day he was murdered: John 12:20-26.
====
Who knows who Oscar Romero was?
Oscar Romero was born in El Salvador in Central American in 1917. When he left school, he apprenticed to a carpenter but soon started thinking about becoming a Roman Catholic priest - against the wishes of his family. He trained for the priesthood in two cities in El Salvador and then went to study in Rome. He was ordained in Rome in 1942, during the Second World War.
Romero returned to El Salvador and worked as a parish priest and as the head of a theology college before becoming the Archbishop of the capital city of San Salvador in 1977. He was murdered, in his church by the army, on 24 March 1980 because he continually spoke out against the government’s murder of the poor people.
Does anyone remember why the government was killing its own poor?
The right-wing government said that it was trying to defeat communist guerrillas and the government’s murder of its people was funded by the United States.
Does anyone want to have a guess how many of its own people the government of El Salvador was killing every month during the late 1970s and early 1980s? 3000 people per month.
When he first became Archbishop, nobody expected Oscar Romero to speak out against the government and to take up the cause of the poor. He was actually elected to be bishop of the capital city San Salvador because he was seen as being a ‘conservative’ - as someone who wouldn’t rock the boat and give support to the poor (and to the guerrillas)
But all that changed when a priest in Romero’s diocese was killed by the army along with two of his parishioners. The priest was killed because he defended the peasant's rights to organize farm cooperatives. Romero went to see the body of the priest as well as the old man and seven year old child who were killed with him, and he was changed forever.
On the day before his murder by the army, Romero spoke out and said that it was a sin for the government to murder its own people and that, because of what the army was being used for, Christian men should not feel that they had to obey the draft. Romero said that Christians were free to disobey human laws which went against God’s law.
As I said earlier, Romero was shot down in church the following day, whilst leading worship. The Gospel reading that morning was the one we heard earlier: ‘…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’
I’d like us to listen to some quotations from Oscar Romero and I’d like to have a chat about whether or not we can see any connection between his thoughts and the Gospel of Christ. Before we start, I also want to say that you may disagree with some of the quotations and that’s perfectly OK. I’m not saying that Romero got everything right or that we can’t question him. I am not elevating what he said to the status of God’s word. I simply think that, in light of the witness of his deeds, that some of his thoughts might be worth us thinking about this morning.
1) ‘The Church, like Jesus, has to go on denouncing sin in our own day. It has to denounce the selfishness that is hidden in everyone's heart, the sin that dehumanizes persons, destroys families, and turns money, possessions, profit, and power into the ultimate ends for which persons strive. And the church has also to denounce what has rightly been called 'structural sin:' those social, economic, cultural, and political structures that drive people onto the margins of society. When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to the misery from which the cry arises.’ — Oscar Romero, 6 August 1977.
2) ‘To try to preach without referring to the history one preaches in is not to preach the gospel. Many would like a preaching so spiritualistic that it leaves sinners unbothered and does not term idolaters those who kneel before money and power. A preaching that says nothing of the sinful environment in which the gospel is reflected upon is not the gospel.’ Oscar Romero, 18 February 1979.
3) ‘The church is obliged to demand structural changes that favour the reign of God and a more just and comradely way of life. Unjust social structures are the roots of all violence and disturbances. How hard and conflicting are the results of duty! Those who benefit from obsolete structures react selfishly to any kind of change.’ Oscar Romero, November 1979.
[Reading of the Gospel again]
‘Those who surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ, will live like the grain of wheat that dies. It only apparently dies. If it were not to die, it would remain a solitary grain. The harvest comes because of the grain that dies… We know that every effort to improve society, above all when society is so full of injustice and sin, is an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands of us’. Oscar Romero, 24 March 1980
We are still in the Easter season and I think that the grain of wheat which dies is a fantastic picture of resurrection. The picture that Romero paints is also a very challenging picture of what the church is about. There is a very real sense in which Christ lives on in the world through the church. That’s why we’re called the body of Christ.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that Jesus’ resurrection or our future resurrection is only about planting seeds. I don’t think that the resurrection is a mythical morality tale. It’s not that we plant the seeds of God’s love or do what is right because these are the only ways for resurrection to happen. It’s that we plant the seeds of God’s love and we do what is right in the eyes of God because Jesus rose from the dead.
Conclusion
In Jesus, God became human. He lived with us, he experienced our joys and our sorrows and he taught us God’s ways. He taught us to love one another as he loves us, because our love is the way that other people experience God’s love on earth. Our love is also the way that others can hear, see and experience the good news of Jesus.
Today is Christian Aid Sunday, the beginning of Christian Aid Week. It is part of our discipleship to support the work of Christians who are called to work full time to bring relief to those in need – whether at home or in other parts of the world.
So, as we come to communion together in a few minutes, we remember that we are Christian brothers and sisters together with Christians in Latin America and in all parts of the world; and we thank God for groups such as Christian Aid. We remember that, at his table, we are united together with Christ who was crucified for our sins, rose triumphant from the grave and reigns with the Father through all eternity.
We ask that God will strengthen all people who suffer and that he will bring all creation into his Kingdom. And we pray this in the name of Jesus, our risen Lord and Saviour. Amen
As you can see from the sermon, it was a sermon for the launching of Christian Aid Week. The discussion was inspired by the Gospel reading that Oscar Romero read on the day he was murdered: John 12:20-26.
====
Who knows who Oscar Romero was?
Oscar Romero was born in El Salvador in Central American in 1917. When he left school, he apprenticed to a carpenter but soon started thinking about becoming a Roman Catholic priest - against the wishes of his family. He trained for the priesthood in two cities in El Salvador and then went to study in Rome. He was ordained in Rome in 1942, during the Second World War.
Romero returned to El Salvador and worked as a parish priest and as the head of a theology college before becoming the Archbishop of the capital city of San Salvador in 1977. He was murdered, in his church by the army, on 24 March 1980 because he continually spoke out against the government’s murder of the poor people.
Does anyone remember why the government was killing its own poor?
The right-wing government said that it was trying to defeat communist guerrillas and the government’s murder of its people was funded by the United States.
Does anyone want to have a guess how many of its own people the government of El Salvador was killing every month during the late 1970s and early 1980s? 3000 people per month.
When he first became Archbishop, nobody expected Oscar Romero to speak out against the government and to take up the cause of the poor. He was actually elected to be bishop of the capital city San Salvador because he was seen as being a ‘conservative’ - as someone who wouldn’t rock the boat and give support to the poor (and to the guerrillas)
But all that changed when a priest in Romero’s diocese was killed by the army along with two of his parishioners. The priest was killed because he defended the peasant's rights to organize farm cooperatives. Romero went to see the body of the priest as well as the old man and seven year old child who were killed with him, and he was changed forever.
On the day before his murder by the army, Romero spoke out and said that it was a sin for the government to murder its own people and that, because of what the army was being used for, Christian men should not feel that they had to obey the draft. Romero said that Christians were free to disobey human laws which went against God’s law.
As I said earlier, Romero was shot down in church the following day, whilst leading worship. The Gospel reading that morning was the one we heard earlier: ‘…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’
I’d like us to listen to some quotations from Oscar Romero and I’d like to have a chat about whether or not we can see any connection between his thoughts and the Gospel of Christ. Before we start, I also want to say that you may disagree with some of the quotations and that’s perfectly OK. I’m not saying that Romero got everything right or that we can’t question him. I am not elevating what he said to the status of God’s word. I simply think that, in light of the witness of his deeds, that some of his thoughts might be worth us thinking about this morning.
1) ‘The Church, like Jesus, has to go on denouncing sin in our own day. It has to denounce the selfishness that is hidden in everyone's heart, the sin that dehumanizes persons, destroys families, and turns money, possessions, profit, and power into the ultimate ends for which persons strive. And the church has also to denounce what has rightly been called 'structural sin:' those social, economic, cultural, and political structures that drive people onto the margins of society. When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to the misery from which the cry arises.’ — Oscar Romero, 6 August 1977.
2) ‘To try to preach without referring to the history one preaches in is not to preach the gospel. Many would like a preaching so spiritualistic that it leaves sinners unbothered and does not term idolaters those who kneel before money and power. A preaching that says nothing of the sinful environment in which the gospel is reflected upon is not the gospel.’ Oscar Romero, 18 February 1979.
3) ‘The church is obliged to demand structural changes that favour the reign of God and a more just and comradely way of life. Unjust social structures are the roots of all violence and disturbances. How hard and conflicting are the results of duty! Those who benefit from obsolete structures react selfishly to any kind of change.’ Oscar Romero, November 1979.
[Reading of the Gospel again]
‘Those who surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ, will live like the grain of wheat that dies. It only apparently dies. If it were not to die, it would remain a solitary grain. The harvest comes because of the grain that dies… We know that every effort to improve society, above all when society is so full of injustice and sin, is an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands of us’. Oscar Romero, 24 March 1980
We are still in the Easter season and I think that the grain of wheat which dies is a fantastic picture of resurrection. The picture that Romero paints is also a very challenging picture of what the church is about. There is a very real sense in which Christ lives on in the world through the church. That’s why we’re called the body of Christ.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that Jesus’ resurrection or our future resurrection is only about planting seeds. I don’t think that the resurrection is a mythical morality tale. It’s not that we plant the seeds of God’s love or do what is right because these are the only ways for resurrection to happen. It’s that we plant the seeds of God’s love and we do what is right in the eyes of God because Jesus rose from the dead.
Conclusion
In Jesus, God became human. He lived with us, he experienced our joys and our sorrows and he taught us God’s ways. He taught us to love one another as he loves us, because our love is the way that other people experience God’s love on earth. Our love is also the way that others can hear, see and experience the good news of Jesus.
Today is Christian Aid Sunday, the beginning of Christian Aid Week. It is part of our discipleship to support the work of Christians who are called to work full time to bring relief to those in need – whether at home or in other parts of the world.
So, as we come to communion together in a few minutes, we remember that we are Christian brothers and sisters together with Christians in Latin America and in all parts of the world; and we thank God for groups such as Christian Aid. We remember that, at his table, we are united together with Christ who was crucified for our sins, rose triumphant from the grave and reigns with the Father through all eternity.
We ask that God will strengthen all people who suffer and that he will bring all creation into his Kingdom. And we pray this in the name of Jesus, our risen Lord and Saviour. Amen
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Sunday 22 April 2007 - Called by God
This sermon is based on Acts 9:1-6 and John 21:1-19
Introduction
‘It is the Lord!’ ‘Who are you Lord?’ The first statement is made by the disciple who Jesus loves. The second statement is made by Paul on the road to Damascus.
Each of these moments is a moment of revelation, a moment when Jesus breaks unexpectedly into the lives of human beings and changes them forever.
In the case of the disciples out fishing, this is only the third appearance of the risen Lord in John’s Gospel. The disciples have gone back to their everyday lives and the last person they expect to see is the risen Jesus. But because of this encounter with Jesus, their lives will not be as they once were. In this encounter, in this moment of revelation, there is a call: ‘feed my sheep’
And I think that it is the same thing with Paul. § Although this story is often entitled ‘the conversion of Paul’, I think that it can also be properly viewed as Paul’s calling to mission. This moment of very dramatic revelation is a life-changing experience for Paul
Called by God
I think that today’s readings are stories about ‘callings’, but in this third Sunday in the Easter season, I think that it’s good to remember that they are stories of callings set in the context of resurrection.
I wonder if any of us have ever been envious of people like Peter or Paul? In Peter’s case, he had the privilege of quite literally walking in the footsteps of Jesus for three years. Surely, for someone like Peter, faith in Jesus must have been easy? And although Paul was not a disciple of Jesus during his lifetime, he claims to have met the risen Jesus. And the Church has always supported this claim and called him an Apostle. Surely such a powerful encounter with the risen Lord must have made it easy for Paul to have faith in Jesus and to answer Jesus’ call?
In this season of Easter and of celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, I want to remind us that, as committed Christians, we have each received a call from God. Each of us will have experienced moments of revelation - resurrection moments, however fleeting - when we caught a brief glimpse of the love and the life of God in all its glory. Brief moments of really understanding in our gut that God is fully alive and without reference to death. Fleeting nanoseconds when we live fully in the resurrection. ‘Ah hah!’ moments, as some people call them.
Some people have dramatic and dazzling encounters with God, like St. Paul did. Sometimes Christians make the mistake of suggesting that such dramatic encounters are the norm - particularly with respect to conversion. I suspect that such experiences are not the norm at all, although I have spoken to people who have had some truly dramatic experiences of God in their lives.
For the vast majority of our Christian lives and for the vast majority of Christians, our encounters with God and our glimpses of the divine are a lot more like that of the fishing disciples. We are going through the daily business of our lives when somewhere, somehow we catch a glimpse of the risen Lord. This encounter with God may be unexpected and it may startle or confuse us.
Touchstone Moments
What are these experiences for? Why do we have them?
Well, you won’t be surprised to hear that I think that it is in such moments when we can hear calls to serve the risen Lord. But I also think that such moments are there to encourage us and to sustain us as well as to assure us of God’s love and forgiveness. They are touchstone moments when we catch a glimpse of God that we can use as a benchmark in times of doubt and darkness.
Peter is certainly being called into the service of God in today’s Gospel reading. At the end of today’s reading, we’re reminded that Peter will suffer martyrdom in his old age. Peter’s call to feed Jesus’ sheep is not going to prove to be an easy vocation. But it is going to be a vocation in which he is fed and sustained by the Spirit of Christ.
Jesus Feeds His Sheep
Because here at the close of John’s Gospel we have yet another story of Jesus feeding human beings with bread and fish. Imagine how incredibly special this encounter was - the disciples were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ death, yet here they are on a quiet shore early in the morning shortly after his death, eating an intimate breakfast with their friend.
I daresay that this is a touchstone event for the disciples - especially for Peter. Were Peter ever to doubt his call, he had only to look back to this morning when his risen friend commissioned him three times: ‘Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.’
But Jesus does not just call Peter. He doesn’t tell Peter, ‘I’m leaving you in charge of my flock and I expect you to prove that you’re up to the job.’ Jesus knows that, in his own strength, Peter isn’t up to the job - none of us are. Instead, Jesus partners with Peter and the other disciples. They obey his strange order to cast their net into the sea at dawn - not the best time to catch fish - and their net comes up full to overflowing, but miraculously doesn’t break. The disciples work with Jesus and their endeavour is a success.
Jesus also forgives and heals Peter even as he calls him into service. Echoing Peter’s three-fold denial of Jesus in the courtyard over a coal fire, Jesus and Peter linger together over a coal fire as Peter has the opportunity to affirm his love of Jesus three times. I can imagine three open wounds with Jesus gently touching each one in turn and healing each wound with his forgiveness. Healed and forgiven, Peter is thus equipped and empowered to take the message of Jesus’ healing and forgiveness out into the world.
A Resurrection Call
I said earlier that this calling and commission is set in the context of the resurrection and I believe that it’s important that this scene takes place with the risen Jesus. Without the resurrection, the call to Peter, the disciples and to us would not be the call to live a New Life in a New Creation.
Following the resurrected Jesus means that the Old Order has been turned upside down. In the old order, death rips our loved ones from us, sin has the power to permanently sever our relationship with others, and evil has the power to destroy communities and entire nations. But here in the New Creation is the risen Christ, standing in loving relationship with us despite our imperfections, calling us to reconciliation with him, and entrusting to us his message of reconciliation.
Here in the New Creation, Christ is alive, hope is alive and God’s outrageous, generous love is alive. In light of this fantastic good news – news which many people still find unbelievable – we are commissioned along with the disciples to proclaim and to live the good news of God’s love to all the world.
Conclusion
As we come together in Holy Communion in a few minutes, I pray that each person here is fed and strengthened at the Lord’s table in the same way that the disciples were fed on that morning on the beach.
I pray that we each remember our touchstone moments when God broke into our lives and called us into his service.
I pray that we may be empowered to bring the love of the risen Christ into the world by our words and our deeds and our lives. Amen.
Introduction
‘It is the Lord!’ ‘Who are you Lord?’ The first statement is made by the disciple who Jesus loves. The second statement is made by Paul on the road to Damascus.
Each of these moments is a moment of revelation, a moment when Jesus breaks unexpectedly into the lives of human beings and changes them forever.
In the case of the disciples out fishing, this is only the third appearance of the risen Lord in John’s Gospel. The disciples have gone back to their everyday lives and the last person they expect to see is the risen Jesus. But because of this encounter with Jesus, their lives will not be as they once were. In this encounter, in this moment of revelation, there is a call: ‘feed my sheep’
And I think that it is the same thing with Paul. § Although this story is often entitled ‘the conversion of Paul’, I think that it can also be properly viewed as Paul’s calling to mission. This moment of very dramatic revelation is a life-changing experience for Paul
Called by God
I think that today’s readings are stories about ‘callings’, but in this third Sunday in the Easter season, I think that it’s good to remember that they are stories of callings set in the context of resurrection.
I wonder if any of us have ever been envious of people like Peter or Paul? In Peter’s case, he had the privilege of quite literally walking in the footsteps of Jesus for three years. Surely, for someone like Peter, faith in Jesus must have been easy? And although Paul was not a disciple of Jesus during his lifetime, he claims to have met the risen Jesus. And the Church has always supported this claim and called him an Apostle. Surely such a powerful encounter with the risen Lord must have made it easy for Paul to have faith in Jesus and to answer Jesus’ call?
In this season of Easter and of celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, I want to remind us that, as committed Christians, we have each received a call from God. Each of us will have experienced moments of revelation - resurrection moments, however fleeting - when we caught a brief glimpse of the love and the life of God in all its glory. Brief moments of really understanding in our gut that God is fully alive and without reference to death. Fleeting nanoseconds when we live fully in the resurrection. ‘Ah hah!’ moments, as some people call them.
Some people have dramatic and dazzling encounters with God, like St. Paul did. Sometimes Christians make the mistake of suggesting that such dramatic encounters are the norm - particularly with respect to conversion. I suspect that such experiences are not the norm at all, although I have spoken to people who have had some truly dramatic experiences of God in their lives.
For the vast majority of our Christian lives and for the vast majority of Christians, our encounters with God and our glimpses of the divine are a lot more like that of the fishing disciples. We are going through the daily business of our lives when somewhere, somehow we catch a glimpse of the risen Lord. This encounter with God may be unexpected and it may startle or confuse us.
Touchstone Moments
What are these experiences for? Why do we have them?
Well, you won’t be surprised to hear that I think that it is in such moments when we can hear calls to serve the risen Lord. But I also think that such moments are there to encourage us and to sustain us as well as to assure us of God’s love and forgiveness. They are touchstone moments when we catch a glimpse of God that we can use as a benchmark in times of doubt and darkness.
Peter is certainly being called into the service of God in today’s Gospel reading. At the end of today’s reading, we’re reminded that Peter will suffer martyrdom in his old age. Peter’s call to feed Jesus’ sheep is not going to prove to be an easy vocation. But it is going to be a vocation in which he is fed and sustained by the Spirit of Christ.
Jesus Feeds His Sheep
Because here at the close of John’s Gospel we have yet another story of Jesus feeding human beings with bread and fish. Imagine how incredibly special this encounter was - the disciples were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ death, yet here they are on a quiet shore early in the morning shortly after his death, eating an intimate breakfast with their friend.
I daresay that this is a touchstone event for the disciples - especially for Peter. Were Peter ever to doubt his call, he had only to look back to this morning when his risen friend commissioned him three times: ‘Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.’
But Jesus does not just call Peter. He doesn’t tell Peter, ‘I’m leaving you in charge of my flock and I expect you to prove that you’re up to the job.’ Jesus knows that, in his own strength, Peter isn’t up to the job - none of us are. Instead, Jesus partners with Peter and the other disciples. They obey his strange order to cast their net into the sea at dawn - not the best time to catch fish - and their net comes up full to overflowing, but miraculously doesn’t break. The disciples work with Jesus and their endeavour is a success.
Jesus also forgives and heals Peter even as he calls him into service. Echoing Peter’s three-fold denial of Jesus in the courtyard over a coal fire, Jesus and Peter linger together over a coal fire as Peter has the opportunity to affirm his love of Jesus three times. I can imagine three open wounds with Jesus gently touching each one in turn and healing each wound with his forgiveness. Healed and forgiven, Peter is thus equipped and empowered to take the message of Jesus’ healing and forgiveness out into the world.
A Resurrection Call
I said earlier that this calling and commission is set in the context of the resurrection and I believe that it’s important that this scene takes place with the risen Jesus. Without the resurrection, the call to Peter, the disciples and to us would not be the call to live a New Life in a New Creation.
Following the resurrected Jesus means that the Old Order has been turned upside down. In the old order, death rips our loved ones from us, sin has the power to permanently sever our relationship with others, and evil has the power to destroy communities and entire nations. But here in the New Creation is the risen Christ, standing in loving relationship with us despite our imperfections, calling us to reconciliation with him, and entrusting to us his message of reconciliation.
Here in the New Creation, Christ is alive, hope is alive and God’s outrageous, generous love is alive. In light of this fantastic good news – news which many people still find unbelievable – we are commissioned along with the disciples to proclaim and to live the good news of God’s love to all the world.
Conclusion
As we come together in Holy Communion in a few minutes, I pray that each person here is fed and strengthened at the Lord’s table in the same way that the disciples were fed on that morning on the beach.
I pray that we each remember our touchstone moments when God broke into our lives and called us into his service.
I pray that we may be empowered to bring the love of the risen Christ into the world by our words and our deeds and our lives. Amen.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Sunday 8 April 2007 - Easter Sunday
This sermon is based on John 20:1-18
===
Introduction: In the Garden
Nobody ever expected a resurrection.
On that morning when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, she knew what her errand was about.
Of course, we understand that she would have been in mourning. She was present at the foot of the cross when Jesus died, but events had moved swiftly and death would have seemed incomprehensibly sudden. Mary knew very well that Jesus was dead, but she was probably feeling a bit surreal, like she was present but somewhere else, not knowing what to think or what to feel.
We can imagine that this morning’s task of anointing Jesus for burial might have been a welcome one. She had one last duty to perform for her friend and it was a very practical one; there was actually one more thing that she could do for him – and this might have been a comfort to her.
Despite being in mourning and probably feeling surreal, we have no reason to believe that Mary was – as psychiatrists say – not oriented in time and space. She knew exactly what had happened, exactly where she was, and exactly what she had to do.
The world as she had known it had not changed, although it had become a sadder place for her.
What Mary found in the tomb began to change her expectations. She’d expected to anoint Jesus’ body with herbs and oils but the body had disappeared and the burial linens lay abandoned in the tomb.
She knew that she could not anoint a body that wasn’t there. What she didn’t know was that the world had changed.
Mary must have been quite shocked to see an empty tomb. Perhaps she thought that her grief had got in the way of her seeing Jesus’ body in the shade of the tomb. But when Peter and the disciple who Jesus loved came to inspect the tomb, they confirmed that the body wasn’t there.
The logical explanation must be that someone had taken the body away. Perhaps a friend, perhaps an enemy. After all, a body does not just disappear of its own accord.
But in her encounter with Jesus in the Garden, Mary began to understand that her world had changed. No-one expected a resurrection, but Mary began to suspect resurrection.
The man who Mary met in the garden that morning called her by her familiar name: Miriam. Not Maria. Not the formal name that the Gentiles used, but Miriam. Her Jewish name. The name that her family and friends used. Her real name.
It was in this intimacy, in this familiarity and love, that Mary was able to recognise her friend Jesus. It was from this point forward that Mary understood that everything had changed.
The New Creation
Everything had changed.
The Good News on that first Easter morning is the same news that we proclaim this morning: that the incarnate God is alive. God is completely alive and without reference to death. Eternal, abundant life has broken into the cosmos. And reality as we know it will never be the same again.
Everything has changed.
Jesus is risen, Christ is alive but the meaning of his resurrection is not – in my view – simply a miracle on the order of other New Testament miracles. Jesus Christ did not simply rise from the dead in order to give us some kind of supernatural sign that he was really divine.
The resurrection was somehow – and I can express it no better than “somehow” – an integral part of God’s plan for creation – for God’s New Creation.
To borrow images from John’s Gospel, the Christ event – the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - was the event which brought light into the darkness. Yes, the resurrection proved that God is completely alive and without reference to death, but more than “proving” God’s driving force toward life, the Christ Event actually brought that life into Creation.
“What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”
Illustration: “Lazarus Laughed”
The American playwright Eugene O’Neill wrote a play about the raising of Lazarus entitled Lazarus Laughed.
You will remember that, in the story as told in the bible, Mary and Martha summon Jesus so that he can heal their brother, Lazarus, who is on his deathbed. But Jesus delays his journey to their village and, when Jesus gets there, Lazarus has already died. And so, rather than healing Lazarus, Jesus calls him forth from the tomb.
In Eugene O’Neill’s play, once Lazarus has been raised and has settled back into mortal life, all his friends and neighbours gather ‘round him and ask him what it is like being dead.
And Lazarus’ response is to laugh and to say that death is not an abyss. The story he tells them is one of God, of life, of joy.
As Lazarus tells this story to his friends and neighbours, they all start laughing too.
They are amazed at this wonderful good news and they tell their friends and neighbours.
Soon the entire village is one great big laughter factory.
But the Roman authorities hear about what has happened and they become alarmed. The Romans understand that the key to controlling people is to intimidate them with the threat of death. The Romans understand that if everyone in Judea loses their fear of death that they, the Romans, will loose their control over their conquered land.
Without fear of death, the conquered people are, in fact, free people.
The Application of Resurrection
The resurrection makes us free people.
Because of the resurrection, Christians understand that God is completely alive and without reference to death.
On Easter day, we proclaim our faith in God’s complete aliveness.
The question, I think, is whether we live as people who really believe in resurrection. To the extent that we live in fear of death, we are people who live under subjugation. The more we come to grasp the reality of resurrection, the freer we are to hope, to give thanks, to be joyful and to laugh.
What would the world be like if, because they were not afraid, those who understand God’s life-force were totally free to do what is right and what is Godly?
What would the world be like if every Christian lived as a person who was “brilliantly alive and completely without reference to death”?
What would we do if we believed in the resurrection?
===
Introduction: In the Garden
Nobody ever expected a resurrection.
On that morning when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, she knew what her errand was about.
Of course, we understand that she would have been in mourning. She was present at the foot of the cross when Jesus died, but events had moved swiftly and death would have seemed incomprehensibly sudden. Mary knew very well that Jesus was dead, but she was probably feeling a bit surreal, like she was present but somewhere else, not knowing what to think or what to feel.
We can imagine that this morning’s task of anointing Jesus for burial might have been a welcome one. She had one last duty to perform for her friend and it was a very practical one; there was actually one more thing that she could do for him – and this might have been a comfort to her.
Despite being in mourning and probably feeling surreal, we have no reason to believe that Mary was – as psychiatrists say – not oriented in time and space. She knew exactly what had happened, exactly where she was, and exactly what she had to do.
The world as she had known it had not changed, although it had become a sadder place for her.
What Mary found in the tomb began to change her expectations. She’d expected to anoint Jesus’ body with herbs and oils but the body had disappeared and the burial linens lay abandoned in the tomb.
She knew that she could not anoint a body that wasn’t there. What she didn’t know was that the world had changed.
Mary must have been quite shocked to see an empty tomb. Perhaps she thought that her grief had got in the way of her seeing Jesus’ body in the shade of the tomb. But when Peter and the disciple who Jesus loved came to inspect the tomb, they confirmed that the body wasn’t there.
The logical explanation must be that someone had taken the body away. Perhaps a friend, perhaps an enemy. After all, a body does not just disappear of its own accord.
But in her encounter with Jesus in the Garden, Mary began to understand that her world had changed. No-one expected a resurrection, but Mary began to suspect resurrection.
The man who Mary met in the garden that morning called her by her familiar name: Miriam. Not Maria. Not the formal name that the Gentiles used, but Miriam. Her Jewish name. The name that her family and friends used. Her real name.
It was in this intimacy, in this familiarity and love, that Mary was able to recognise her friend Jesus. It was from this point forward that Mary understood that everything had changed.
The New Creation
Everything had changed.
The Good News on that first Easter morning is the same news that we proclaim this morning: that the incarnate God is alive. God is completely alive and without reference to death. Eternal, abundant life has broken into the cosmos. And reality as we know it will never be the same again.
Everything has changed.
Jesus is risen, Christ is alive but the meaning of his resurrection is not – in my view – simply a miracle on the order of other New Testament miracles. Jesus Christ did not simply rise from the dead in order to give us some kind of supernatural sign that he was really divine.
The resurrection was somehow – and I can express it no better than “somehow” – an integral part of God’s plan for creation – for God’s New Creation.
To borrow images from John’s Gospel, the Christ event – the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - was the event which brought light into the darkness. Yes, the resurrection proved that God is completely alive and without reference to death, but more than “proving” God’s driving force toward life, the Christ Event actually brought that life into Creation.
“What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”
Illustration: “Lazarus Laughed”
The American playwright Eugene O’Neill wrote a play about the raising of Lazarus entitled Lazarus Laughed.
You will remember that, in the story as told in the bible, Mary and Martha summon Jesus so that he can heal their brother, Lazarus, who is on his deathbed. But Jesus delays his journey to their village and, when Jesus gets there, Lazarus has already died. And so, rather than healing Lazarus, Jesus calls him forth from the tomb.
In Eugene O’Neill’s play, once Lazarus has been raised and has settled back into mortal life, all his friends and neighbours gather ‘round him and ask him what it is like being dead.
And Lazarus’ response is to laugh and to say that death is not an abyss. The story he tells them is one of God, of life, of joy.
As Lazarus tells this story to his friends and neighbours, they all start laughing too.
They are amazed at this wonderful good news and they tell their friends and neighbours.
Soon the entire village is one great big laughter factory.
But the Roman authorities hear about what has happened and they become alarmed. The Romans understand that the key to controlling people is to intimidate them with the threat of death. The Romans understand that if everyone in Judea loses their fear of death that they, the Romans, will loose their control over their conquered land.
Without fear of death, the conquered people are, in fact, free people.
The Application of Resurrection
The resurrection makes us free people.
Because of the resurrection, Christians understand that God is completely alive and without reference to death.
On Easter day, we proclaim our faith in God’s complete aliveness.
The question, I think, is whether we live as people who really believe in resurrection. To the extent that we live in fear of death, we are people who live under subjugation. The more we come to grasp the reality of resurrection, the freer we are to hope, to give thanks, to be joyful and to laugh.
What would the world be like if, because they were not afraid, those who understand God’s life-force were totally free to do what is right and what is Godly?
What would the world be like if every Christian lived as a person who was “brilliantly alive and completely without reference to death”?
What would we do if we believed in the resurrection?
Friday, April 06, 2007
Thursday 5th April 2007 - Maundy Thursday
This sermon is based on John 13:1-7, 31b-35.
===
The Suffering Servant
It was the night before the crucifixion. The Nth hour. The last meal that Jesus would have with his closest disciples. And the disciples still didn’t get it.
For some time now, Jesus had been telling the twelve that the Messiah was going to have to die. Jesus was not going to be the conquering hero Messiah that so many people had expected. Jesus was going to be the Suffering Servant Messiah. But the disciples still didn’t get it.
On this evening, Judas would leave the company of his closest companions in order to hand Jesus over to the authorities. We don’t really know why Judas betrayed Jesus. His motives are not directly recorded in any Gospel. But I wonder if Judas had hoped to force Jesus’ hand. I wonder if Judas reckoned that, confronted with a situation where they had to fight or die, Jesus would be forced to defend himself and, in the process, become a military Messiah.
I don’t think for one moment that Judas counted on Jesus actively choosing to die.
And then there is Peter. “Never at any time will you wash my feet!” Peter said to Jesus. Peter didn’t seem to want a suffering servant for a Messiah either Or maybe this simply wasn’t even a model of Messiahship that he was able to grasp. After all, Jesus said that Peter wouldn’t actually understand the foot-washing until “later”. Until after Jesus’ resurrection.
Judas and Peter still didn’t get it.
The thing is, if you are going to have a relationship with Jesus, you have to be prepared for him to do things his way.
Servanthood, not Heroics
There are a number of ways to look at this story if you are a preacher.
The first way is to look at this story as being about how Christian leaders should be servants in their communities and then to elaborate on servant leadership. This way of reading the story comes with a time-honoured Maundy Thursday liturgy where the priest or bishop washes the feet of the congregation.
The second way to look at this story is to concentrate on the new commandment at the end of the reading. We could elaborate on how Jesus commanded us to love others as he has loved us.
But these are not new teachings and they are not unique to this last day in Jesus’ life.
Over and over in the Gospels we have heard that the last will be first and the first will be last. Over and over in the Gospels we have heard that we are to love others as God has loved us. It’s partly because I feel like I’ve bored for England over the last seven months on these two topics that I’ve chosen not to elaborate on them tonight!
For me, I think that it’s interesting that John uses the story of the foot-washing in place of the story of the Last Supper. I don’t think it’s because John does not value the story or the practise of the Lord’s Supper. After all, this is the evangelist who takes pains to tell us that Jesus is the Bread of Life and the True Vine.
My suspicion is that John tells us this story in order emphasise that Jesus’ ministry is one of servanthood and that it’s not about being a conquering hero. I think it’s because John wants to emphasise to us that following in the way of Jesus means following a path where all our worldly values are turned upside down.
If you are going to have a relationship with Jesus, you have to be prepared for him to do things his way.
Jesus' Death is Central
There is “something” about Jesus’ servanthood and his dying that is vitally important to the Good News of the Gospel. As human beings, the faithful people of the Church Universal have struggled for centuries to express this “something”: Jesus’ death paid a debt that our sin got us into, Jesus’ death was a victory over sin, Jesus’ death set a moral example, Jesus’ death was the complete and final temple sacrifice.
All these are ways of trying to express something inexpressible: that there is “something” about Jesus’ death that brought salvation into the world. There is something about his death that changed the fabric of existence for all eternity.
Jesus’ eleven closest disciples on earth would not understand – could not understand – the centrality of Jesus’ death until after his resurrection.
But however familiar we are with the concept that “Jesus died for our sins”, it is vitally important to grasp what a scandal his death was. It is vitally important to grasp what a scandal his servanthood was. It is vitally important to understand that The Way of Jesus turns reality-as-the-world-knows-it upside down.
But, if you are going to have a relationship with Jesus, you have to be prepared for him to do things his way.
There is a part of us that – like Simon Peter – does not want a servant saviour. We want a strong saviour. If not a saviour who kills his enemies, then at the very least a saviour who tells them off and punishes them. We want a God who applauds when we cut off the ear of his enemies, not a God who heals those whom our sword has wounded. We want a God who punishes his enemies and who lets us off the hook, a God who brings justice to his enemies and grace and mercy to us.
What we don’t want is a God who kneels at the feet of the both the guilty and the innocent and washes them.
But if we are going to have a relationship with Jesus, we have to be prepared for him to do things his way.
===
The Suffering Servant
It was the night before the crucifixion. The Nth hour. The last meal that Jesus would have with his closest disciples. And the disciples still didn’t get it.
For some time now, Jesus had been telling the twelve that the Messiah was going to have to die. Jesus was not going to be the conquering hero Messiah that so many people had expected. Jesus was going to be the Suffering Servant Messiah. But the disciples still didn’t get it.
On this evening, Judas would leave the company of his closest companions in order to hand Jesus over to the authorities. We don’t really know why Judas betrayed Jesus. His motives are not directly recorded in any Gospel. But I wonder if Judas had hoped to force Jesus’ hand. I wonder if Judas reckoned that, confronted with a situation where they had to fight or die, Jesus would be forced to defend himself and, in the process, become a military Messiah.
I don’t think for one moment that Judas counted on Jesus actively choosing to die.
And then there is Peter. “Never at any time will you wash my feet!” Peter said to Jesus. Peter didn’t seem to want a suffering servant for a Messiah either Or maybe this simply wasn’t even a model of Messiahship that he was able to grasp. After all, Jesus said that Peter wouldn’t actually understand the foot-washing until “later”. Until after Jesus’ resurrection.
Judas and Peter still didn’t get it.
The thing is, if you are going to have a relationship with Jesus, you have to be prepared for him to do things his way.
Servanthood, not Heroics
There are a number of ways to look at this story if you are a preacher.
The first way is to look at this story as being about how Christian leaders should be servants in their communities and then to elaborate on servant leadership. This way of reading the story comes with a time-honoured Maundy Thursday liturgy where the priest or bishop washes the feet of the congregation.
The second way to look at this story is to concentrate on the new commandment at the end of the reading. We could elaborate on how Jesus commanded us to love others as he has loved us.
But these are not new teachings and they are not unique to this last day in Jesus’ life.
Over and over in the Gospels we have heard that the last will be first and the first will be last. Over and over in the Gospels we have heard that we are to love others as God has loved us. It’s partly because I feel like I’ve bored for England over the last seven months on these two topics that I’ve chosen not to elaborate on them tonight!
For me, I think that it’s interesting that John uses the story of the foot-washing in place of the story of the Last Supper. I don’t think it’s because John does not value the story or the practise of the Lord’s Supper. After all, this is the evangelist who takes pains to tell us that Jesus is the Bread of Life and the True Vine.
My suspicion is that John tells us this story in order emphasise that Jesus’ ministry is one of servanthood and that it’s not about being a conquering hero. I think it’s because John wants to emphasise to us that following in the way of Jesus means following a path where all our worldly values are turned upside down.
If you are going to have a relationship with Jesus, you have to be prepared for him to do things his way.
Jesus' Death is Central
There is “something” about Jesus’ servanthood and his dying that is vitally important to the Good News of the Gospel. As human beings, the faithful people of the Church Universal have struggled for centuries to express this “something”: Jesus’ death paid a debt that our sin got us into, Jesus’ death was a victory over sin, Jesus’ death set a moral example, Jesus’ death was the complete and final temple sacrifice.
All these are ways of trying to express something inexpressible: that there is “something” about Jesus’ death that brought salvation into the world. There is something about his death that changed the fabric of existence for all eternity.
Jesus’ eleven closest disciples on earth would not understand – could not understand – the centrality of Jesus’ death until after his resurrection.
But however familiar we are with the concept that “Jesus died for our sins”, it is vitally important to grasp what a scandal his death was. It is vitally important to grasp what a scandal his servanthood was. It is vitally important to understand that The Way of Jesus turns reality-as-the-world-knows-it upside down.
But, if you are going to have a relationship with Jesus, you have to be prepared for him to do things his way.
There is a part of us that – like Simon Peter – does not want a servant saviour. We want a strong saviour. If not a saviour who kills his enemies, then at the very least a saviour who tells them off and punishes them. We want a God who applauds when we cut off the ear of his enemies, not a God who heals those whom our sword has wounded. We want a God who punishes his enemies and who lets us off the hook, a God who brings justice to his enemies and grace and mercy to us.
What we don’t want is a God who kneels at the feet of the both the guilty and the innocent and washes them.
But if we are going to have a relationship with Jesus, we have to be prepared for him to do things his way.
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