This sermon is based on Mark 1:9-15
Introduction
There is an interesting phenomenon happening on the internet these days. A number of websites have sprung up where people can make confessions anonymously.
As you can imagine, many of these confessions are not suitable for repetition in church and some of them are downright shocking or, if not shocking, then upsetting.
Some are poignant: ‘I've loved her since she first told me that true love didn't exist.’
And a number go straight to the darker side of the human condition.
...‘I drive drunk at least once a week; I’m getting very good at it.’
...‘I know someone who has been around forever, is well liked by everyone and who is not who they say they are.’
...‘I get jealous when attention is paid to other people but I do my best to repress it.’
I only just learned about these websites about a fortnight ago. But if you do an internet search for ‘anonymous confessions’, you will have quite a selection of websites to choose from. There is even a website called ‘Anonymous Australian Confessions’. (It makes me wonder why Australians need a special kind of confessing?)
But what each of these websites claims to provide is a place to safely get things off your chest. Some of these websites even give assurances that they have disabled the usual ways that anonymous internet comments can be identified.
Confessing our sins and our misdeeds seems to be an act that is rooted deep in the human psyche. Most of us seem to need to get our misdeeds off our chest in some form or another and, if we can’t actually confess to the person whom we have wronged, then an anonymous confession on the internet is the next best thing.
Or is it? Perhaps that’s the question.
What I found interesting in reading some of these confessions is that there was often no desire expressed to stop the activity being confessed. And, fairly frequently, a number of people expressed the idea that they wish they could stop but they can’t so there really isn’t any point in trying.
You won’t be surprised, either, that a number of people didn’t seem to be ‘confessing’ as much as they appeared to be ‘boasting’. Perhaps they had a small idea in the back of their mind that what they were up to was a behaviour that should be stopped, but somehow they seemed to be seeking an anonymous kind of approval or admiration on the internet.
Lent is the time for self-examination and repentance and – intentionally or unintentionally – today’s Gospel reading sets out a useful example for what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Today’s Gospel reading contains three ‘movements’, if you will:
1) New Birth in the form of baptism;
2) challenge and learning in the form of the trial in the desert; and 3) Jesus’ call to repentance.
New Birth / Baptism
In the first cameo in today’s Gospel, Jesus is baptised.
Baptism is the sacrament of what John Wesley called the New Birth. The commonly-used phrase ‘born again’ probably arose from John Wesley’s use of the term ‘New Birth’ which is closely related to his concept of ‘New Creation’.
The process of salvation for individuals is expressed in the term ‘New Birth’. And the process of salvation for all of creation is expressed in the term ‘New Creation’
To be born again is to stop seeing reality from the commonly-accepted perspective of our society and culture, but rather to see reality from God’s perspective. From God’s perspective, driving drunk isn’t so much a character flaw or quirk as it is a sin that puts his beloved creatures in danger – both the drunk driver and others who he or she might hurt. From God’s perspective, mismanaging a company or an economy from wreckless greed and putting thousands of people out of work isn’t simply bad luck and ‘the way things are’ – it is also a manifestation of sin.
To be born again is to recognise both our individual sins and our sinful condition and our absolute need for God’s grace. The difference between the person who is born again and some of the anonymous confessors is that the person who is born again recognises that their sinful actions are, indeed, sinful. And it is not just individuals like drunk drivers who need New Birth. It is also systems that wrecklessly create unemployment or systematic Third-World poverty that need the salvation of God’s New Creation.
Learning and Trials
But as anyone who has tried to kick a bad habit is only too aware, understanding that our actions are wrong or sinful doesn’t necessarily make it easy to stop the harmful actions. Just because we are ‘born again’ doesn’t mean that we become automatically holy and that we don’t need to grow and learn.
We all know that it’s not easy for an alcoholic to stop drinking And neither is it easy for us as a society to give up some of our economic addictions – which is why we are now going through recession.
In order to get rid of our bad habits and our sins, we often need to go through a painful process of learning.
To continue with the analogy of alcoholism….Many alcoholics have found that the process of ‘learning’ that Alcoholics Anonymous provides is one that ultimately works.
It is by no means an easy process. It requires members to examine themselves, their motives, their habits and it also requires them to make amends to people whom they have wronged. It urges individuals to call upon a ‘Higher Power’ (God) in times of trial but, importantly, it also provides a human being to rely upon. The member’s sponsor is there for them any time of the day or night and is there for them even when they fall off the wagon.
I sometimes think that this system of learning and support probably works a lot better than the Church where I think that people often feel that church is the last place they can admit their weaknesses to others and find support to learn and grow.
In every Christian life there will be times of trial and testing. Such times can be times of learning for individuals and they can also be occasions for support from Christian friends and from the Church family.
Like the sponsor at Alcoholics Anonymous, the church is at its best when we stand by those who are struggling. We won’t name anyone’s sins as good things, but we won’t abandon each other when we fall off the wagon.
Because each of us knows that, when it comes to sin, we will all fall off the wagon and need the grace of God, especially as it is demonstrated by our brothers and sisters in Christ. And each of us knows that, because of the cross of Christ, God extends this grace to us and gives us strength in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Repentance
The ultimate goal of our learning, of course, is a change in our behaviour. What John Wesley called a growth in holiness.
Repentance is not just being sorry for our sins. Repentance includes change. The kind of change that needs the power of the Holy Spirit; the kind of change that needs the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ. The kind of change that means that rather than turn our backs towards God, we have our faces turned towards God.
‘Repentance’, of course, is what the season of Lent is all about. And repentance is also this morning’s Good News.
The Good News is that every person is given the opportunity to repent and be born again. The Good News is that, in the power of the Holy Spirit and with the support of our brothers and sisters, we can grow in holiness and the likeness of Christ. The Good News is that when we inevitably make mistakes and fall off the wagon that these mistakes can be used as learning experiences. The Good News is that God is our sponsor and is always patient, always forgiving, always ready to give us a second chance.
As we come to the Lord’s Table, I pray that we may all be aware of the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness for us. Amen
Showing posts with label Repentance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Repentance. Show all posts
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Sunday 9 December 2007 - Repent and Say Wow!
This is a sermon for Advent 2 based on Isaiah 11:1-10 and Matthew 3:1-12
=====
Introduction
In this second Sunday of Advent, we hear the voice of John the Baptist crying: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ We also hear the voice of Isaiah giving us his vision of the Kingdom of heaven: It’s a place where the wolf and the lamb live together and where God’s judgement results in equity for the poor and meek.
John the Baptist is not a cuddly character and his message this morning is not a cuddly message. The ordinary people of Jerusalem and Judea come to him to repent and to be baptised, but when the Pharisees and Sadducees come for baptism, he proclaims: ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance!’ For those of us who suspect that we may have some Pharisaicial tendencies ourselves, this can make for uncomfortable reading.
The American Christian author Frederick Buechner has this to say about the process of repentance: “To repent is to come to your senses. It is not so much something you do as something that happens. True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, 'I'm sorry,' than to the future and saying 'Wow!.'"1
This morning, I want to think about this idea of looking at the future and saying ‘Wow!’ Because I don’t think that repentance is so much about focussing on what it is that we shouldn’t be doing as it is a process of looking at what life can be like under the reign of God.
Especially in Advent, when we are looking forward to God himself coming to live with us, repentance is about catching a vision of what the Kingdom of God might look like. And once we’ve caught this vision, we are called to be contagious and infect others with it.
Prevention is not the Answer
I just want to put forward a brief defence of this process.
There are those who might say ‘Well, that’s all fine and good, but the problem with society today is that it has no morals, no ethics. What we really need to do is to stop people from sinning. We need to stop them drinking and gambling their time and money away. We need to stop them neglecting their children. We need to stop them committing adultery. And now that I’m talking about it, I need to concentrate on stopping my own besetting sins. I really need to make an effort to stop being easily angered, to stop being so selfish….or…you can fill in your own besetting sins.
Now here is a demonstration of why I think that thinking about repentance as focussing on stopping our sins won’t work. Are you ready for the demonstration?
OK. Whatever you do, I want you to not think about the colour blue. OK? Do not, under any circumstances think about the colour blue! And whatever you do, don’t think about a blue monkey. And whatever you do, don’t think about a blue monkey riding a camel. Worse and worse, do not think about a blue monkey riding a camel playing a saxophone!
OK, now, be honest. How many people are thinking right this moment about a blue monkey riding a camel playing a saxophone? And how many of you were thinking about that when you came to church this morning? ‘Gee, I hope the preacher doesn’t talk about a blue monkey riding a camel playing a saxophone! I’m trying to give that up for Advent.’
The human mind doesn’t do very well at the task of not concentrating on something specific and that’s why this technique doesn’t work very well. And it’s for this reason that I believe that trying to promote the Kingdom of God by making a list of sins that we ought not to be committing is a completely ineffective approach to spreading the Gospel.
Methodism and The Kingdom of God
Now, there are many people, particularly outside the church, who think that this is exactly what the church does: that we preach against sin all the time.
But, I don’t actually think that Methodism has a tradition of doing this. Preaching against specific sins isn’t something that I’ve particularly encountered in Methodism. I’m sure that there are exceptions – there always are – but that’s not historically been the way we’ve approached the Gospel.
Historically, I think that the Methodist Church has approached the Gospel message by painting a picture of the Kingdom of God. And, at the beginning, at least, I think we not only painted this picture of the Kingdom, but we lived it out.
Methodism did catch a glimpse of a picture of the Kingdom and it was successful in being contagious with it.
Travelling preachers didn’t preach and then call for people to get down on their knees right there in the street and accept Jesus as their saviour. Early Methodist travelling preachers invited their listeners to join Methodist classes and it was within these classes that people gradually came to Christ in the company of Christian brothers and sisters.
These were often people who were considered to be so poor and so unfit to mingle with polite society that they were not fit to go to church. Suddenly, here come the Methodist societies saying: ‘You are welcome in our classes and you are welcome in our chapels. God is the God of everyone and he’s your God too.’
Illiterate people who were simply considered fodder for the mines and the factories were given the opportunity to learn to read and their children were given the same opportunity. People whose lives were viewed by polite society as expendable were told that they were of as much value to God as anyone else. All of this, I believe, was an acting-out of a vision of the Kingdom of God.
True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, 'I'm sorry,' than to the future and saying 'Wow!.'" (Buechner)
The Kingdom of God, 101
So, as I often do, I bring to you this morning a question for which I don’t necessarily have my own answer. That question is ‘How can we look out into the future and say “Wow!”’
Because I don’t really agree with those who say the Church has lost its way because it no longer preaches about sin. I think that the Church has lost its way because it no longer has a clear vision of the Kingdom of God.
Whatever we in the 21st century might think, the authors of Scripture thought that the Kingdom of God was going to be a literal, physical Kingdom. Jesus’ contemporaries thought that Jesus would return in their own lifetime and inaugurate this Kingdom. And ever since that first generation passed away, the Church has had to make sense of the fact that this has not yet happened.
Add to all of the above the baggage of our own generation and all the Second Coming predictions of wacky Christian sects (mostly American, of course) and it’s easy to see why we no longer have a clear vision of the Kingdom. The Kingdom seems rather embarrassing and somewhat superstitious.
But over and over in both the Old and New Testaments, we are told that in the Kingdom there will be two important things: 1) peace (Shalom) – there will be forgiveness and reconciliation, not just between God and humanity but also between people and, indeed peace in all creation; 2) and there will be justice for the poor, the meek and the oppressed. Their lives will be redeemed and seen to be of worth.
This was the vision of the Kingdom that fired John and Charles Wesley. They were worried about their own eternal, spiritual salvation to be sure, but they also had and communicated a clear vision of the Kingdom of God.
What makes you say Wow?
So what is it that makes us say ‘Wow!’? What will help us get a clear vision of The Kingdom? I suggest that this is an important question for every church in this circuit and for the circuit as a whole?
I want to leave you with one concrete example of something that made me say ‘Wow!’ Last week at Foley Park, we had a young woman named G come speak to us from an organisation called ‘Night Stop’.
Night Stop operates within the Wyre Forest District and it finds beds for homeless young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Volunteer hosts offer Night Stop’s clients a bed and meals in their own homes for between one and three nights until Night Stop can find them accommodation elsewhere.
G told us that a great many of these young people are homeless because they have been kicked out of the house by their parents. A good many of them are kicked out because their mother or father gets a new partner who doesn’t want them around and their parent sides with the new partner.
Someone asked about whether it was safe to take such a young person into their home and G told us that the clients are all vetted for suitability before being sent to host families. In fact, she said, many of the young people are suspicious of the hosts simply because they cannot understand the idea that a complete stranger would take them in for a few nights. This sort of kindness is something totally outside their experience.
She read to us a story written by one young woman who was taken in by Night Stop and who now works for them. Night Stop provided that young woman with the opportunity to make a new start and get her feet on the ground and feel like a worthwhile person. In turn, she wanted to help others in the same way.
Night Stop made me say ‘Wow!’ because I think it embodies everything that the Prophets and Jesus had to say about God’s Kingdom. It’s an example of human beings reaching out to other human beings. It provides young people with the possibility of turning their lives around and it is the embodiment of a ‘poor’ person finding some kind of justice and help. I think it is a small glimpse into the Kingdom of God.
Conclusion
As we go from our worship this morning, I want to invite all of us to repent. Or, as Frederick Buechner put it, I want to invite all of us to come to our senses and think about what is really important.
I want to invite us to spend less time being sorry about what has happened in the past and to spend more time thinking about what God is doing in the world that makes us say ‘Wow!’ And I want us to think about what it is that makes us say ‘Wow’! What makes us say ‘Wow’ as a circuit? As individual congregations and even as individual church members?
Is there something someone else in this church is doing that makes you say ‘Wow! I wish I could do that, but I can’t.’? Perhaps you can support that person in their ministry.
My prayer this morning is that each and every one of us will catch a vision of God’s Kingdom. I pray that we will be so enthused by this vision that we will say ‘Wow!’ and communicate our enthusiasm to others.
In the words of John the Baptist, my prayer is that, this Advent, we are all enabled to repent, because I believe that the Kingdom of God has indeed come near. Amen
----
1 Buechner, Frederick, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC; HarperOne, 1993, New York p. 79.
=====
Introduction
In this second Sunday of Advent, we hear the voice of John the Baptist crying: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ We also hear the voice of Isaiah giving us his vision of the Kingdom of heaven: It’s a place where the wolf and the lamb live together and where God’s judgement results in equity for the poor and meek.
John the Baptist is not a cuddly character and his message this morning is not a cuddly message. The ordinary people of Jerusalem and Judea come to him to repent and to be baptised, but when the Pharisees and Sadducees come for baptism, he proclaims: ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance!’ For those of us who suspect that we may have some Pharisaicial tendencies ourselves, this can make for uncomfortable reading.
The American Christian author Frederick Buechner has this to say about the process of repentance: “To repent is to come to your senses. It is not so much something you do as something that happens. True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, 'I'm sorry,' than to the future and saying 'Wow!.'"1
This morning, I want to think about this idea of looking at the future and saying ‘Wow!’ Because I don’t think that repentance is so much about focussing on what it is that we shouldn’t be doing as it is a process of looking at what life can be like under the reign of God.
Especially in Advent, when we are looking forward to God himself coming to live with us, repentance is about catching a vision of what the Kingdom of God might look like. And once we’ve caught this vision, we are called to be contagious and infect others with it.
Prevention is not the Answer
I just want to put forward a brief defence of this process.
There are those who might say ‘Well, that’s all fine and good, but the problem with society today is that it has no morals, no ethics. What we really need to do is to stop people from sinning. We need to stop them drinking and gambling their time and money away. We need to stop them neglecting their children. We need to stop them committing adultery. And now that I’m talking about it, I need to concentrate on stopping my own besetting sins. I really need to make an effort to stop being easily angered, to stop being so selfish….or…you can fill in your own besetting sins.
Now here is a demonstration of why I think that thinking about repentance as focussing on stopping our sins won’t work. Are you ready for the demonstration?
OK. Whatever you do, I want you to not think about the colour blue. OK? Do not, under any circumstances think about the colour blue! And whatever you do, don’t think about a blue monkey. And whatever you do, don’t think about a blue monkey riding a camel. Worse and worse, do not think about a blue monkey riding a camel playing a saxophone!
OK, now, be honest. How many people are thinking right this moment about a blue monkey riding a camel playing a saxophone? And how many of you were thinking about that when you came to church this morning? ‘Gee, I hope the preacher doesn’t talk about a blue monkey riding a camel playing a saxophone! I’m trying to give that up for Advent.’
The human mind doesn’t do very well at the task of not concentrating on something specific and that’s why this technique doesn’t work very well. And it’s for this reason that I believe that trying to promote the Kingdom of God by making a list of sins that we ought not to be committing is a completely ineffective approach to spreading the Gospel.
Methodism and The Kingdom of God
Now, there are many people, particularly outside the church, who think that this is exactly what the church does: that we preach against sin all the time.
But, I don’t actually think that Methodism has a tradition of doing this. Preaching against specific sins isn’t something that I’ve particularly encountered in Methodism. I’m sure that there are exceptions – there always are – but that’s not historically been the way we’ve approached the Gospel.
Historically, I think that the Methodist Church has approached the Gospel message by painting a picture of the Kingdom of God. And, at the beginning, at least, I think we not only painted this picture of the Kingdom, but we lived it out.
Methodism did catch a glimpse of a picture of the Kingdom and it was successful in being contagious with it.
Travelling preachers didn’t preach and then call for people to get down on their knees right there in the street and accept Jesus as their saviour. Early Methodist travelling preachers invited their listeners to join Methodist classes and it was within these classes that people gradually came to Christ in the company of Christian brothers and sisters.
These were often people who were considered to be so poor and so unfit to mingle with polite society that they were not fit to go to church. Suddenly, here come the Methodist societies saying: ‘You are welcome in our classes and you are welcome in our chapels. God is the God of everyone and he’s your God too.’
Illiterate people who were simply considered fodder for the mines and the factories were given the opportunity to learn to read and their children were given the same opportunity. People whose lives were viewed by polite society as expendable were told that they were of as much value to God as anyone else. All of this, I believe, was an acting-out of a vision of the Kingdom of God.
True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, 'I'm sorry,' than to the future and saying 'Wow!.'" (Buechner)
The Kingdom of God, 101
So, as I often do, I bring to you this morning a question for which I don’t necessarily have my own answer. That question is ‘How can we look out into the future and say “Wow!”’
Because I don’t really agree with those who say the Church has lost its way because it no longer preaches about sin. I think that the Church has lost its way because it no longer has a clear vision of the Kingdom of God.
Whatever we in the 21st century might think, the authors of Scripture thought that the Kingdom of God was going to be a literal, physical Kingdom. Jesus’ contemporaries thought that Jesus would return in their own lifetime and inaugurate this Kingdom. And ever since that first generation passed away, the Church has had to make sense of the fact that this has not yet happened.
Add to all of the above the baggage of our own generation and all the Second Coming predictions of wacky Christian sects (mostly American, of course) and it’s easy to see why we no longer have a clear vision of the Kingdom. The Kingdom seems rather embarrassing and somewhat superstitious.
But over and over in both the Old and New Testaments, we are told that in the Kingdom there will be two important things: 1) peace (Shalom) – there will be forgiveness and reconciliation, not just between God and humanity but also between people and, indeed peace in all creation; 2) and there will be justice for the poor, the meek and the oppressed. Their lives will be redeemed and seen to be of worth.
This was the vision of the Kingdom that fired John and Charles Wesley. They were worried about their own eternal, spiritual salvation to be sure, but they also had and communicated a clear vision of the Kingdom of God.
What makes you say Wow?
So what is it that makes us say ‘Wow!’? What will help us get a clear vision of The Kingdom? I suggest that this is an important question for every church in this circuit and for the circuit as a whole?
I want to leave you with one concrete example of something that made me say ‘Wow!’ Last week at Foley Park, we had a young woman named G come speak to us from an organisation called ‘Night Stop’.
Night Stop operates within the Wyre Forest District and it finds beds for homeless young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Volunteer hosts offer Night Stop’s clients a bed and meals in their own homes for between one and three nights until Night Stop can find them accommodation elsewhere.
G told us that a great many of these young people are homeless because they have been kicked out of the house by their parents. A good many of them are kicked out because their mother or father gets a new partner who doesn’t want them around and their parent sides with the new partner.
Someone asked about whether it was safe to take such a young person into their home and G told us that the clients are all vetted for suitability before being sent to host families. In fact, she said, many of the young people are suspicious of the hosts simply because they cannot understand the idea that a complete stranger would take them in for a few nights. This sort of kindness is something totally outside their experience.
She read to us a story written by one young woman who was taken in by Night Stop and who now works for them. Night Stop provided that young woman with the opportunity to make a new start and get her feet on the ground and feel like a worthwhile person. In turn, she wanted to help others in the same way.
Night Stop made me say ‘Wow!’ because I think it embodies everything that the Prophets and Jesus had to say about God’s Kingdom. It’s an example of human beings reaching out to other human beings. It provides young people with the possibility of turning their lives around and it is the embodiment of a ‘poor’ person finding some kind of justice and help. I think it is a small glimpse into the Kingdom of God.
Conclusion
As we go from our worship this morning, I want to invite all of us to repent. Or, as Frederick Buechner put it, I want to invite all of us to come to our senses and think about what is really important.
I want to invite us to spend less time being sorry about what has happened in the past and to spend more time thinking about what God is doing in the world that makes us say ‘Wow!’ And I want us to think about what it is that makes us say ‘Wow’! What makes us say ‘Wow’ as a circuit? As individual congregations and even as individual church members?
Is there something someone else in this church is doing that makes you say ‘Wow! I wish I could do that, but I can’t.’? Perhaps you can support that person in their ministry.
My prayer this morning is that each and every one of us will catch a vision of God’s Kingdom. I pray that we will be so enthused by this vision that we will say ‘Wow!’ and communicate our enthusiasm to others.
In the words of John the Baptist, my prayer is that, this Advent, we are all enabled to repent, because I believe that the Kingdom of God has indeed come near. Amen
----
1 Buechner, Frederick, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC; HarperOne, 1993, New York p. 79.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Sunday 4 November 2007 - Church Anniversary
This is a sermon for a church anniversary, based on a very specific context. The readings are: 2 Chronicles 7:11-16 and Matthew 12:1-8
===
Introduction
This morning, we celebrate our Church Anniversary at XYZ Methodist Church. As we talked about earlier, one of the things that we’re celebrating is the community of people who meet here.
Today we are celebrating everyone who worships here on Sunday, whether they are young or old; and we’re also celebrating the groups that use the church building during the week: some groups for worship and prayer, some for singing and making music as well as some community groups and associations.
God has created each individual uniquely in his own image and everyone has different gifts and talents. And - just like the ingredients in a recipe - we all bring different things into the community.
In today’s Old Testament reading, we heard how Solomon built the First Temple but the bit we didn’t hear about was the fact that King David, Solomon’s father, had prepared the way for Solomon to build the temple. According to stories in both the books of Kings and Chronicles, David planned and provided for the construction of the Temple and Solomon carried it out.
And so, in addition to celebrating all the different groups and people who are part of our community in 2007, we also remember the people who came before us. We remember the people who founded this fellowship 122 years ago and we remember the people who built this building forty four years ago.
The purpose of this remembering is not to dream nostalgically about the past, but to thank God for the life, the work and the witness of those people. We remember how they lived and the love and the concern they showed to us, and we acknowledge all of that before God.
Remembering our mothers and fathers in faith can also help us to have a touchstone, an example of Christian living.
Relationships Can be Difficult
Of course, human relationships are not always sweetness and light, and the difficulties we have are part of being human and part of the risk of being a member of a community.
In addition to telling us the story of Solomon’s building of the Temple, The Old Testament also tells us that God did not allow King David to build the Temple, because David had too much blood on his hands. In fact, as we read the stories of both David and Solomon, we realise that they were very human in the mistakes that they made.
David, as we know, used his power and authority to kill one of his most loyal supporters for his own selfish interests, Yet, because of David’s later and genuine repentance, God forgave him.
Relationships are at the heart of what it means to be human. Some relationships are easy and some are difficult. Some take a lot of effort and some very little effort.
And I think that our relationship with God can be like that too: sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s difficult. Sometimes, our relationship with God seems to go along swimmingly for weeks, months, or years And other times we struggle: either with faith, with closeness, or with perceiving the presence of God.
But to acknowledge the difficulties as well as the goodness in our relationships is a truthful thing, and an authentic thing. And the best relationships are the ones in which we are free to be truthful and authentic. Because, when we acknowledge our differences, our disagreements and even our faults, we can make amends and start to move forward constructively.
We can learn to forgive and we can learn to be forgiven.
Forgiving and Being Forgiven
Forgiving and being forgiven are both difficult activities. For some people and in some circumstances, being forgiven can be just as difficult as forgiving.
That’s because many of us – and I include myself in this category – don’t like making mistakes. We don’t like doing the wrong thing and we don’t like hurting others. And that can make it just as hard to be forgiven as it is to forgive. Because being forgiven means acknowledging that we have done something wrong. Which is what repentance is.
It is this ongoing process of repentance and forgiveness that makes for good relationships between people And it’s that process of repentance and forgiveness that makes for a good relationship between a person and God.
God’s Good News is, because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that being wrong can be forgiven. We never have to worry that one day there will come a time when we’ve messed up one time too many and God will no longer forgive us. God has promised that he will always forgive us.
Conclusion
So what’s all this got to do with Church Anniversary?
Well, there is one group of people we’ve not mentioned yet. We’ve mentioned the people who are part of our community today. And we’ve mentioned the people who have come before us. But we’ve not mentioned the people who will come after us.
Over the next few months, we’re going to be doing a review of our church life and we’re going thinking about who we are as a Christian community and what we have to offer the community outside these walls and to the generations who will come after us.
As we do that review, I’d like to call us to make sure it is done in the light of Christ. What do I mean by that?
I mean that we would do well to remember that a loving relationship between us and God is at the heart of being a Christian community. This relationship is one based on forgiveness, on honesty and on the commitment to the truth. It’s a relationship where being wrong can be forgiven. It’s a relationship where God has committed to always forgive us.
As we think about who we are now and who we want to be in the future, some of us will have different ideas; I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some disagreement, but all of that is OK.
My prayer is that as we go forward into what is for us a new year, that the Spirit of Christ will go with us and give us strength to continue to be a community who are forgiving and forgiven.
May the Spirit open our eyes and our ears to the work of God in our lives and in the world and help us to respond as we are called. I make this prayer in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
===
Introduction
This morning, we celebrate our Church Anniversary at XYZ Methodist Church. As we talked about earlier, one of the things that we’re celebrating is the community of people who meet here.
Today we are celebrating everyone who worships here on Sunday, whether they are young or old; and we’re also celebrating the groups that use the church building during the week: some groups for worship and prayer, some for singing and making music as well as some community groups and associations.
God has created each individual uniquely in his own image and everyone has different gifts and talents. And - just like the ingredients in a recipe - we all bring different things into the community.
In today’s Old Testament reading, we heard how Solomon built the First Temple but the bit we didn’t hear about was the fact that King David, Solomon’s father, had prepared the way for Solomon to build the temple. According to stories in both the books of Kings and Chronicles, David planned and provided for the construction of the Temple and Solomon carried it out.
And so, in addition to celebrating all the different groups and people who are part of our community in 2007, we also remember the people who came before us. We remember the people who founded this fellowship 122 years ago and we remember the people who built this building forty four years ago.
The purpose of this remembering is not to dream nostalgically about the past, but to thank God for the life, the work and the witness of those people. We remember how they lived and the love and the concern they showed to us, and we acknowledge all of that before God.
Remembering our mothers and fathers in faith can also help us to have a touchstone, an example of Christian living.
Relationships Can be Difficult
Of course, human relationships are not always sweetness and light, and the difficulties we have are part of being human and part of the risk of being a member of a community.
In addition to telling us the story of Solomon’s building of the Temple, The Old Testament also tells us that God did not allow King David to build the Temple, because David had too much blood on his hands. In fact, as we read the stories of both David and Solomon, we realise that they were very human in the mistakes that they made.
David, as we know, used his power and authority to kill one of his most loyal supporters for his own selfish interests, Yet, because of David’s later and genuine repentance, God forgave him.
Relationships are at the heart of what it means to be human. Some relationships are easy and some are difficult. Some take a lot of effort and some very little effort.
And I think that our relationship with God can be like that too: sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s difficult. Sometimes, our relationship with God seems to go along swimmingly for weeks, months, or years And other times we struggle: either with faith, with closeness, or with perceiving the presence of God.
But to acknowledge the difficulties as well as the goodness in our relationships is a truthful thing, and an authentic thing. And the best relationships are the ones in which we are free to be truthful and authentic. Because, when we acknowledge our differences, our disagreements and even our faults, we can make amends and start to move forward constructively.
We can learn to forgive and we can learn to be forgiven.
Forgiving and Being Forgiven
Forgiving and being forgiven are both difficult activities. For some people and in some circumstances, being forgiven can be just as difficult as forgiving.
That’s because many of us – and I include myself in this category – don’t like making mistakes. We don’t like doing the wrong thing and we don’t like hurting others. And that can make it just as hard to be forgiven as it is to forgive. Because being forgiven means acknowledging that we have done something wrong. Which is what repentance is.
It is this ongoing process of repentance and forgiveness that makes for good relationships between people And it’s that process of repentance and forgiveness that makes for a good relationship between a person and God.
God’s Good News is, because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that being wrong can be forgiven. We never have to worry that one day there will come a time when we’ve messed up one time too many and God will no longer forgive us. God has promised that he will always forgive us.
Conclusion
So what’s all this got to do with Church Anniversary?
Well, there is one group of people we’ve not mentioned yet. We’ve mentioned the people who are part of our community today. And we’ve mentioned the people who have come before us. But we’ve not mentioned the people who will come after us.
Over the next few months, we’re going to be doing a review of our church life and we’re going thinking about who we are as a Christian community and what we have to offer the community outside these walls and to the generations who will come after us.
As we do that review, I’d like to call us to make sure it is done in the light of Christ. What do I mean by that?
I mean that we would do well to remember that a loving relationship between us and God is at the heart of being a Christian community. This relationship is one based on forgiveness, on honesty and on the commitment to the truth. It’s a relationship where being wrong can be forgiven. It’s a relationship where God has committed to always forgive us.
As we think about who we are now and who we want to be in the future, some of us will have different ideas; I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some disagreement, but all of that is OK.
My prayer is that as we go forward into what is for us a new year, that the Spirit of Christ will go with us and give us strength to continue to be a community who are forgiving and forgiven.
May the Spirit open our eyes and our ears to the work of God in our lives and in the world and help us to respond as we are called. I make this prayer in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Sunday 19 August 2007 - Division and Peace
Today, Foley Park Methodist Church worshipped together with the Kidderminster West Team Ministry at Holy Innocents' Anglican Church. I preached and the Gospel reading was not exactly one that you might wish for at an ecumenical event: Luke 12:49-59.
There are strong Girardian overtones in this sermon. For Girard fans, it's a sermon and not a lecture on Girard; I'm not trying to set out Girard's anthropology, but I believe from the commentaries that it explains this reading well.
====
Introduction
It was just about a year ago that I came to my first Sunday worship service at Holy Innocents. Just like today, it was a service for all the churches in the Kidderminster West team ministry and it was my first Sunday in Kidderminster after moving house. I wasn’t supposed to worship at Foley Park Methodist until the first Sunday in September and so I thought I’d come to worship here with my Anglican brothers and sisters.
In the year that has passed, I have got to know the people who attend the Wednesday morning communion services quite well. And I’ve been very pleased to find that both the members of the Kidderminster West Team Ministry and the members of Foley Park Methodist Church are eager to get to know each other better. I’m very keen on ecumenical cooperation and I hope that, as time grows on, our relationship will build and that we’ll be able to cooperate together in our Christian witness in this part of Kidderminster.
So I think it’s slightly ironic that as we worship together this morning in unity as Christian brothers and sisters that we are given a Gospel reading like the one we have this morning: ‘Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!’
At first glance, this seems like a rather jarring thing for Jesus to say, particularly in the Gospel of Luke where ‘peace’ is one of Luke’s central themes. Early in Luke’s Gospel, Zechariah proclaims that Jesus will guide humanity in the way of peace; the angels sing of the peace that the baby Jesus will bring; and the 72 are sent out in front of Jesus to proclaim peace to all they visit. The word ‘peace’ is used in Luke’s Gospel more times than in any of the other Gospels, yet apparently in today’s reading Jesus is now saying that he comes to bring division even amongst the closest of relations.
The Gospel reading this morning is an urgent call to repentance as Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem to be crucified. Jesus, the Son of God, has come into the world and it is time for all of Luke’s readers – including us – to decide which direction they will take. Will we continue to walk in the direction away from the Kingdom of God or will we repent, turn to Christ and walk in God’s direction?
To choose repentance is to choose to be separated from what ‘the world’ holds to be true. To choose repentance is to choose God’s way and God’s Kingdom.
Peace is a Divisive Issue
What I’d like to suggest this morning is that ‘peace’ – God’s peace in God’s manner and in God’s Kingdom – is a divisive issue. I believe that division amongst people, including close family members is a consequence of Jesus’ call to the Kingdom of God, not the desired end-product.
Peace is a divisive issue because, in our sinful world, it’s not safe. God’s peace is particularly dangerous because he calls us not only to reconciliation with himself but also with other people.
What is safe in a sinful world is power. Specifically, in order to be safe, we need to be the person or the group who wields sufficient power to silence those who threaten us or disagree with us.
We can see very directly how this works at the national and international level. Human history consists of a long litany of wars: of one nation or society looking to conquer another. Historically, human society has not put its faith in peace through reconciliation but in the idea that if we can gain enough power over our enemies, we can keep them in perfect submission and thus ensure our own peace.
This was exactly the philosophy of the Roman Empire. It was prepared to be tolerant up to a point but ultimately, the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, rested on the might of the sword.
Of course, when it comes to relationships between individuals, power plays are a lot more subtle. Gone are the days when personal disputes were settled by battles and duels.
But often in our relationships we still jockey for the position of power. Sometimes we try to achieve the status of being the most successful, the most attractive or the most intelligent person in our peer group. ‘Peace’ is maintained as long as our friends don’t challenge our self-perception.
There are also times when we need to think that we are absolutely in the right and that others are absolutely in the wrong and we are therefore loathe to seek or grant reconciliation. The tenuous stability that results between people in this kind of situation is not what God means by peace. This is a stand-off. It’s a stand-off rooted in the ‘worldly’ belief that we hold so dear: that ultimately I will be proven right and will be vindicated, so I don’t need to seek reconciliation.
But time is short. Whenever we live and whoever we are, if we are human, the time that we have to share in relationship with other people and with God is short. The wisdom of the Kingdom of God cries out to us: what is more important to us, to be right, or to reconcile with those we love before it is too late?
The Way of the Cross
As I said earlier, in Luke’s Gospel, this teaching happens as Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified.
In Jerusalem, Jesus will lay down his life willingly in order to reconcile us to God. For our sake, Jesus – God incarnate – did what we are incapable of doing: he put himself in a position of powerlessness for the sole purpose of achieving reconciliation with us. God became powerless and humble not because he was in the wrong but because there was no other way for humanity to be reconciled with God.
The self-sacrifice, humility and willing powerlessness of Jesus on the cross for our sake is the good news of the Gospel but it is also the scandal of the Gospel. Jesus Christ was vindicated not by gaining coercive power over his enemies but in laying down his life and, importantly, in rising from the dead.
This is a vindication – a declaration of Jesus’ Lordship – that the world does not and cannot recognise. In worldly terms, the resurrection is unbelievable and Jesus’ willing sacrifice on the cross is both dangerous and absurd.
‘Peace’ – God’s peace in God’s manner and in God’s Kingdom – is a divisive issue. The Gospel is a divisive issue. Reconciliation is, ironically, a divisive issue. The world believes that peace through reconciliation is a nice idea but one that ultimately does not work. The world believes that peace can only be won through power.
The world believes in the Peace of Rome but not the Peace of Christ.
Conclusion
In a few minutes, we will come together at the Lord’s Table. The celebration table of the Kingdom of God, a celebration that is physically present with us here and now.
My prayer is that, in coming together with our Lord and with each other, we will recognise our essential unity in the body of Christ and look for ways to cooperate and grow ever closer together. And I make my prayer in the name of Jesus, our risen and ascended Lord. Amen
There are strong Girardian overtones in this sermon. For Girard fans, it's a sermon and not a lecture on Girard; I'm not trying to set out Girard's anthropology, but I believe from the commentaries that it explains this reading well.
====
Introduction
It was just about a year ago that I came to my first Sunday worship service at Holy Innocents. Just like today, it was a service for all the churches in the Kidderminster West team ministry and it was my first Sunday in Kidderminster after moving house. I wasn’t supposed to worship at Foley Park Methodist until the first Sunday in September and so I thought I’d come to worship here with my Anglican brothers and sisters.
In the year that has passed, I have got to know the people who attend the Wednesday morning communion services quite well. And I’ve been very pleased to find that both the members of the Kidderminster West Team Ministry and the members of Foley Park Methodist Church are eager to get to know each other better. I’m very keen on ecumenical cooperation and I hope that, as time grows on, our relationship will build and that we’ll be able to cooperate together in our Christian witness in this part of Kidderminster.
So I think it’s slightly ironic that as we worship together this morning in unity as Christian brothers and sisters that we are given a Gospel reading like the one we have this morning: ‘Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!’
At first glance, this seems like a rather jarring thing for Jesus to say, particularly in the Gospel of Luke where ‘peace’ is one of Luke’s central themes. Early in Luke’s Gospel, Zechariah proclaims that Jesus will guide humanity in the way of peace; the angels sing of the peace that the baby Jesus will bring; and the 72 are sent out in front of Jesus to proclaim peace to all they visit. The word ‘peace’ is used in Luke’s Gospel more times than in any of the other Gospels, yet apparently in today’s reading Jesus is now saying that he comes to bring division even amongst the closest of relations.
The Gospel reading this morning is an urgent call to repentance as Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem to be crucified. Jesus, the Son of God, has come into the world and it is time for all of Luke’s readers – including us – to decide which direction they will take. Will we continue to walk in the direction away from the Kingdom of God or will we repent, turn to Christ and walk in God’s direction?
To choose repentance is to choose to be separated from what ‘the world’ holds to be true. To choose repentance is to choose God’s way and God’s Kingdom.
Peace is a Divisive Issue
What I’d like to suggest this morning is that ‘peace’ – God’s peace in God’s manner and in God’s Kingdom – is a divisive issue. I believe that division amongst people, including close family members is a consequence of Jesus’ call to the Kingdom of God, not the desired end-product.
Peace is a divisive issue because, in our sinful world, it’s not safe. God’s peace is particularly dangerous because he calls us not only to reconciliation with himself but also with other people.
What is safe in a sinful world is power. Specifically, in order to be safe, we need to be the person or the group who wields sufficient power to silence those who threaten us or disagree with us.
We can see very directly how this works at the national and international level. Human history consists of a long litany of wars: of one nation or society looking to conquer another. Historically, human society has not put its faith in peace through reconciliation but in the idea that if we can gain enough power over our enemies, we can keep them in perfect submission and thus ensure our own peace.
This was exactly the philosophy of the Roman Empire. It was prepared to be tolerant up to a point but ultimately, the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, rested on the might of the sword.
Of course, when it comes to relationships between individuals, power plays are a lot more subtle. Gone are the days when personal disputes were settled by battles and duels.
But often in our relationships we still jockey for the position of power. Sometimes we try to achieve the status of being the most successful, the most attractive or the most intelligent person in our peer group. ‘Peace’ is maintained as long as our friends don’t challenge our self-perception.
There are also times when we need to think that we are absolutely in the right and that others are absolutely in the wrong and we are therefore loathe to seek or grant reconciliation. The tenuous stability that results between people in this kind of situation is not what God means by peace. This is a stand-off. It’s a stand-off rooted in the ‘worldly’ belief that we hold so dear: that ultimately I will be proven right and will be vindicated, so I don’t need to seek reconciliation.
But time is short. Whenever we live and whoever we are, if we are human, the time that we have to share in relationship with other people and with God is short. The wisdom of the Kingdom of God cries out to us: what is more important to us, to be right, or to reconcile with those we love before it is too late?
The Way of the Cross
As I said earlier, in Luke’s Gospel, this teaching happens as Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified.
In Jerusalem, Jesus will lay down his life willingly in order to reconcile us to God. For our sake, Jesus – God incarnate – did what we are incapable of doing: he put himself in a position of powerlessness for the sole purpose of achieving reconciliation with us. God became powerless and humble not because he was in the wrong but because there was no other way for humanity to be reconciled with God.
The self-sacrifice, humility and willing powerlessness of Jesus on the cross for our sake is the good news of the Gospel but it is also the scandal of the Gospel. Jesus Christ was vindicated not by gaining coercive power over his enemies but in laying down his life and, importantly, in rising from the dead.
This is a vindication – a declaration of Jesus’ Lordship – that the world does not and cannot recognise. In worldly terms, the resurrection is unbelievable and Jesus’ willing sacrifice on the cross is both dangerous and absurd.
‘Peace’ – God’s peace in God’s manner and in God’s Kingdom – is a divisive issue. The Gospel is a divisive issue. Reconciliation is, ironically, a divisive issue. The world believes that peace through reconciliation is a nice idea but one that ultimately does not work. The world believes that peace can only be won through power.
The world believes in the Peace of Rome but not the Peace of Christ.
Conclusion
In a few minutes, we will come together at the Lord’s Table. The celebration table of the Kingdom of God, a celebration that is physically present with us here and now.
My prayer is that, in coming together with our Lord and with each other, we will recognise our essential unity in the body of Christ and look for ways to cooperate and grow ever closer together. And I make my prayer in the name of Jesus, our risen and ascended Lord. Amen
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Sunday 12 August 2007 - The Authority of Jesus
Today's sermon is a narrative sermon based on Matthew 21:23-32
===
If you ask me, the really big trouble started when Jesus entered into Jerusalem in the manner of the Messiah and then proceeded to knock over the tables of the money-changers in the Temple. Both of these activities were a direct slap in the face to the Chief Priests, the servants of that traitor Herod.
Of course, no one is going to ask me, seeing as I’m a woman…
I’m sorry, we haven’t been introduced. My name is Esther; I was – still am – a disciple of Jesus. Oh, not one of The Twelve, you understand, but I spent a great deal of time following Jesus around and listening to his teachings during his lifetime.
I was a young widow, you see. My husband had been killed in an accident just weeks after we were married. No-one wanted me after that. I was bad luck, they said. Cursed. My choice was to rely on charity or, well…I don’t even want to think about the other alternative.
When I was at my lowest, I met Jesus and the crowd of disciples following him. They willingly made me part of their community, took care of me and even encouraged me to contribute to their work.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Jesus and the crowd of his disciples saved me, and I don’t just mean in a literal, physical way, although they did that too. I didn’t become a disciple of Jesus just for the charity, you see. Jesus touched my heart. He was talking of renewal: of the renewal of the people of God and of individuals. A New Creation.
And, as his followers during his lifetime, we were living that renewal, proclaiming the good news of God’s love and regard for people like me: the poor, the captives and the outcast. We were actually changing peoples’ lives as we told them the good news that they matter to God and that God has a plan for them.
Anyway, enough about me. I was talking about that day in the Temple.
Jesus had knocked over the tables of the money-changers, which enraged the Chief Priests and Elders. You see, the High Priest is the ultimate authority in the Temple and no one has the right to challenge the way things are done in the Temple except the Messiah. Jesus even quoted Isaiah, implying that the Temple was his house.
So, it wasn’t surprising that the Chief Priests wanted to know how it was that Jesus thought he had the right to do these things.
Did Jesus think that he was doing these things by God’s authority? That’s the question I think that they really wanted to ask him. Of course, they didn’t think that Jesus had God’s authority; they seemed to think that Jesus was fooling himself, or maybe even that his authority came from Satan.
So Jesus said to them: I was baptised by John. Where do you think that John got his authority?
Well, obviously, the Chief Priests didn’t think that John’s baptism was from God, but they could hardly say that in front of all of us and in front of the crowd in the Temple! On the other hand, if they acknowledged that John’s baptism of Jesus had been blessed by God’s Spirit, then they would have been acknowledging Jesus’ authority as Messiah. So they were caught between a rock and a hard place.
You could tell that Jesus’ answer made them angry. This upstart rabbi from Galilee, standing against the rightfully appointed Priests of the Lord, claiming in deed if not in word to be the Messiah. This country bumpkin had got the upper hand by answering them – the sophisticated Jerusalem experts – in a superb, probing, rabbinic form.
There was tension in the air. You could cut it with a knife. We all wondered at the time whether Jesus wanted to get himself killed.
But Jesus didn’t stop there! In for a penny, in for a pound, he began to tell a parable about two brothers. For everyone who knew Jesus – whether his supporters or his enemies – it was obvious who the two brothers represented. It’s people like me – and worse, tax collectors and prostitutes, Samaritans and thieves – who are like the first brother. The one who actually went out and worked for the father even though he said that he would not.
Why was it obvious, you ask? Well, because Jesus had spent so much of his time associating with those of us who the religious authorities didn’t consider worthy enough to worship God.
It’s not that Jesus didn’t have time for the so-called holy people. He talked with them, debated with them and he accepted their hospitality. If the authorities had repented, Jesus would have willingly taken them into his Kingdom too. It wasn’t a simple role-reversal that Jesus was after. He wasn’t trying to exclude the priests and elders from the Kingdom of God the way that they excluded us.
It’s just that Jesus also did have time for the rest of us – the discarded people of society. Jesus showed us that we matter too. He’s demonstrated to us that God has faith in us and that God values us. Jesus told us that we too are beloved children of God and that God wants us to be part of his Kingdom too!
Jesus showed us that repentance really is possible for everyone. That a person can never fall so low that God won’t forgive him.
Of course, the second son represented the Chief Priests and Elders. The one who gives every appearance of being his father’s faithful servant but who then doesn’t act on his promise. That was another big slap in the face to the religious authorities. You can see why they began to think about getting Jesus out of the way.
Of course, all that was many years ago. And as the years have gone by, Jesus’ parable about the two brothers comes back to me every now and then.
At the time that Jesus told it, I saw myself clearly as the first brother. I was, after all, a widow, a discarded woman, someone branded cursed and unlucky but Jesus’ disciples took me in and made me part of their family.
As I’ve grown in the Lord, though, I’ve sometimes found myself acting or thinking like the second brother – the one who acted righteous but didn’t actually do his father’s will. I suspect that all people of faith have found themselves in the same position at one time or another.
I’ve also come to see that sometimes the church itself acts like this.
It’s not a comfortable thing to see, of course. But I think that this is the way that the Lord helps both the church and his individual disciples to grow.
God wants us to proclaim his good news both as individual believers and as a church. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, all of humankind is offered the kind of second chance that I was offered. When the church lives and functions at its best, it can offer to the world a tiny glimpse of God’s New Creation.
God’s good news is that, in the New Creation, all people are to be invited to his wedding feast; not just invited guests but also those in the highways and the byways. The rich and the powerful, the poor and the vulnerable, all are invited to the table of the Lord.
Sisters and brothers, I see that you will soon come before the table of the Lord. Before you do, I invite you to give thanks to the Lord that you have been included in his celebration feast. I also invite you to think about how you as a church can proclaim the good news to the world in which you live…the good news of the Lordship of Christ and of God’s extravagant generosity toward all of humankind.
Amen
===
If you ask me, the really big trouble started when Jesus entered into Jerusalem in the manner of the Messiah and then proceeded to knock over the tables of the money-changers in the Temple. Both of these activities were a direct slap in the face to the Chief Priests, the servants of that traitor Herod.
Of course, no one is going to ask me, seeing as I’m a woman…
I’m sorry, we haven’t been introduced. My name is Esther; I was – still am – a disciple of Jesus. Oh, not one of The Twelve, you understand, but I spent a great deal of time following Jesus around and listening to his teachings during his lifetime.
I was a young widow, you see. My husband had been killed in an accident just weeks after we were married. No-one wanted me after that. I was bad luck, they said. Cursed. My choice was to rely on charity or, well…I don’t even want to think about the other alternative.
When I was at my lowest, I met Jesus and the crowd of disciples following him. They willingly made me part of their community, took care of me and even encouraged me to contribute to their work.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Jesus and the crowd of his disciples saved me, and I don’t just mean in a literal, physical way, although they did that too. I didn’t become a disciple of Jesus just for the charity, you see. Jesus touched my heart. He was talking of renewal: of the renewal of the people of God and of individuals. A New Creation.
And, as his followers during his lifetime, we were living that renewal, proclaiming the good news of God’s love and regard for people like me: the poor, the captives and the outcast. We were actually changing peoples’ lives as we told them the good news that they matter to God and that God has a plan for them.
Anyway, enough about me. I was talking about that day in the Temple.
Jesus had knocked over the tables of the money-changers, which enraged the Chief Priests and Elders. You see, the High Priest is the ultimate authority in the Temple and no one has the right to challenge the way things are done in the Temple except the Messiah. Jesus even quoted Isaiah, implying that the Temple was his house.
So, it wasn’t surprising that the Chief Priests wanted to know how it was that Jesus thought he had the right to do these things.
Did Jesus think that he was doing these things by God’s authority? That’s the question I think that they really wanted to ask him. Of course, they didn’t think that Jesus had God’s authority; they seemed to think that Jesus was fooling himself, or maybe even that his authority came from Satan.
So Jesus said to them: I was baptised by John. Where do you think that John got his authority?
Well, obviously, the Chief Priests didn’t think that John’s baptism was from God, but they could hardly say that in front of all of us and in front of the crowd in the Temple! On the other hand, if they acknowledged that John’s baptism of Jesus had been blessed by God’s Spirit, then they would have been acknowledging Jesus’ authority as Messiah. So they were caught between a rock and a hard place.
You could tell that Jesus’ answer made them angry. This upstart rabbi from Galilee, standing against the rightfully appointed Priests of the Lord, claiming in deed if not in word to be the Messiah. This country bumpkin had got the upper hand by answering them – the sophisticated Jerusalem experts – in a superb, probing, rabbinic form.
There was tension in the air. You could cut it with a knife. We all wondered at the time whether Jesus wanted to get himself killed.
But Jesus didn’t stop there! In for a penny, in for a pound, he began to tell a parable about two brothers. For everyone who knew Jesus – whether his supporters or his enemies – it was obvious who the two brothers represented. It’s people like me – and worse, tax collectors and prostitutes, Samaritans and thieves – who are like the first brother. The one who actually went out and worked for the father even though he said that he would not.
Why was it obvious, you ask? Well, because Jesus had spent so much of his time associating with those of us who the religious authorities didn’t consider worthy enough to worship God.
It’s not that Jesus didn’t have time for the so-called holy people. He talked with them, debated with them and he accepted their hospitality. If the authorities had repented, Jesus would have willingly taken them into his Kingdom too. It wasn’t a simple role-reversal that Jesus was after. He wasn’t trying to exclude the priests and elders from the Kingdom of God the way that they excluded us.
It’s just that Jesus also did have time for the rest of us – the discarded people of society. Jesus showed us that we matter too. He’s demonstrated to us that God has faith in us and that God values us. Jesus told us that we too are beloved children of God and that God wants us to be part of his Kingdom too!
Jesus showed us that repentance really is possible for everyone. That a person can never fall so low that God won’t forgive him.
Of course, the second son represented the Chief Priests and Elders. The one who gives every appearance of being his father’s faithful servant but who then doesn’t act on his promise. That was another big slap in the face to the religious authorities. You can see why they began to think about getting Jesus out of the way.
Of course, all that was many years ago. And as the years have gone by, Jesus’ parable about the two brothers comes back to me every now and then.
At the time that Jesus told it, I saw myself clearly as the first brother. I was, after all, a widow, a discarded woman, someone branded cursed and unlucky but Jesus’ disciples took me in and made me part of their family.
As I’ve grown in the Lord, though, I’ve sometimes found myself acting or thinking like the second brother – the one who acted righteous but didn’t actually do his father’s will. I suspect that all people of faith have found themselves in the same position at one time or another.
I’ve also come to see that sometimes the church itself acts like this.
It’s not a comfortable thing to see, of course. But I think that this is the way that the Lord helps both the church and his individual disciples to grow.
God wants us to proclaim his good news both as individual believers and as a church. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, all of humankind is offered the kind of second chance that I was offered. When the church lives and functions at its best, it can offer to the world a tiny glimpse of God’s New Creation.
God’s good news is that, in the New Creation, all people are to be invited to his wedding feast; not just invited guests but also those in the highways and the byways. The rich and the powerful, the poor and the vulnerable, all are invited to the table of the Lord.
Sisters and brothers, I see that you will soon come before the table of the Lord. Before you do, I invite you to give thanks to the Lord that you have been included in his celebration feast. I also invite you to think about how you as a church can proclaim the good news to the world in which you live…the good news of the Lordship of Christ and of God’s extravagant generosity toward all of humankind.
Amen
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Sunday 5 August 2007 - Greed
This sermon is based on Luke 12:13-21
Introduction
(Luke 12: 15) Take care! Be on your guard again all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.
This morning’s Gospel reading is often called ‘the Parable of the Rich fool.’ But don’t be fooled by the title; because the parable is not so much a parable against wealth as it is a parable against greed. And, I think, hand-in-hand with greed, we are also being taught some lessons about the sin of self-centredness, the sin of making our own lives and our own welfare the be-all and end-all of our focus.
This reading from Luke 12 speaks right to the heart of our society and our personal lives. Because greed and self-centeredness are not just modern problems. Sinful human nature has ordered ‘worldly’ values around greed since ancient times. The underlying problem is that the world does not always recognise greed as being a bad thing. In fact, worldly society often orders itself around the assumption that greed is either good or amoral.
The Heir
Before we even begin to look at Jesus’ parable, let’s consider the interaction between Jesus and the man who came asking him to settle an inheritance dispute. This problem is hardly unique to the ancient world.
I’ll bet that if I opened up the floor right now, each of us could tell a story about wills and inheritance. Maybe a story like today’s story: where one child or beneficiary is worried that he or she isn’t getting their fair share of the inheritance and they take other beneficiaries to court. Or maybe you’ve heard a story of bitter parents, convinced (rightly or wrongly) that their children were only looking after them because they were worried about getting the inheritance.
This is a story with which we are intimately familiar in our everyday lives. Furthermore, in Jesus’ time as in our own time, there were clear procedures for deciding fairly who gets what. These laws were interpreted and applied by rabbis and that was the capacity in which Jesus was being asked to act. He was being asked to interpret the law – presumably in the man’s favour – so that the man’s interests would be looked after.
But Jesus refuses to do so. He doesn’t want to play the part of the rabbi-judge in this instance. Some of us may wonder why?
Doesn’t God care about fairness and justice? Doesn’t God care about the law? The law that the man wants Jesus to uphold is the law written in the Torah; why would God be indifferent to his own laws? How can God be a God of truth and justice if Jesus is refusing to rule in this man’s favour?
I think that the answer to these questions lies in Jesus’ statement ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’
I suspect that if this man had come to Jesus saying that he’d got more inheritance than his brother and he wanted Jesus to command his brother to take his fair share as the law required, that Jesus would have willingly played the part of a Rabbi-judge.
I think that Jesus declined to play judge in this situation because he knew that the man was motivated by greed and self-interest. Although the man appeared to be invoking justice, the man was not actually motivated by fairness, he was motivated by self-interest.
The Parable
But in this particular story Jesus doesn’t confront the man with a direct judgement of his sin. Instead of admonishing him directly, Jesus provides both him (and us) with the opportunity to change our ways.
The parable that Jesus tells is also quite applicable to the 21st century.
Here is a farmer who has been suddenly blessed with an excellent crop. God has sent a harvest that is far more than he himself can use.
So what does the farmer say to himself? Does he say ‘God has sent me a harvest that far exceeds my needs. Let me see who is hungry and who can use my excess.’? No, he doesn’t.
Rather, he congratulates himself on his talents and ability as a farmer. The harvest is no longer a wonderful blessing with which to bless others. It’s become a storage problem – which, of course, it is if the farmer intends to keep it all to himself.
But, as the saying goes, you can’t take it with you. The man’s life is required of him unexpectedly. Not only was the farmer not able to benefit from God’s blessing, he also missed the opportunity to shower blessings on others.
One can only hope that his heirs did not act like the man who asked Jesus to judge between him and his brother!
Challenges: for Christians and Society
I think that there are challenges for individual Christians in this parable as well as challenges for society in general.
At the individual level, it could be too easy for a preacher to sound like he or she is saying that everyone here needs to give more money, time or talents to church. I’m not saying that and I hope it won’t be understood that way.
But here are some pointers to where individual challenges or invitations may lie:
God might be inviting some of us to become increasingly concerned about the rights, interests or welfare of other people around us.
God might be challenging someone else to deepen their awareness that everything – absolutely everything – we have is from God, including our very lives.
God might be inviting some people to be more free with their time or money and to give it away more cheerfully.
God will challenge each of us differently, and I don’t know where he is challenging you.
But I think that greed and self-interest are not just individual issues; they are social issues as well. Of course, these are a lot harder to change!
Here are some thoughts about how this parable applies to our society; you may or may not agree with me.
First, as a society do we question the idea that corporate profits must grow every year? If the population stays roughly the same, where do extra profits come from? Often they profits must come from exploiting the poor, the vulnerable, the gullible or encouraging us to consume things we don’t need.
This parable suggests that perhaps a Godly society would share its profits with those in need.
A second observation. Our whole system of national and international government is still based on the idea that each country looks after its own economic and political interests. This may strike many of us as the safest and most realistic way to govern in a hostile world, but it’s hardly in line with the Great Commandment. This is not the way the Kingdom of God is to be governed.
If we are hoping and praying for the Kingdom of God to come on earth as it is in heaven, then we need to understand that obeying God is not just a matter of individual morality. We need to understand that God wants us to do more than say ‘I’m only responsible for what I do, I can’t have an influence on the rest of society.’
Equally, we are not free to say that sin is mainly a social problem that has nothing to do with individuals changing their hearts and behaviour patterns. God calls the world and its people to repentance and conversion at both an individual level and a social level.
The Good News
So where is the good news in this stew of human greed and self-interest which has not improved at all since Jesus told his parable?
(1) Well, for a start, the good news is that God is not a human being! The good news is that God is not greedy or self-interested in the human sense of the concept. All of God’s actions toward his creation are generous and life-giving and are concerned with the well-being of his creation. When we use our free will to sin against God, against other people or against God’s creation, God works to restore and repair what our sin has destroyed.
(2) The good news is that God blesses us every day with many blessings. We know as a fact that God blesses us daily and we also grow in our ability to become conscious of these blessings on a daily basis as we come to know the Lord better.
(3) The good news is that God has created each one of us to be agents and messengers of his blessings in this world we inhabit. The Greek word for ‘angels’ means ‘messengers’; so, in a very real sense, we are called to be angels to other people. The more expansive and generous our spirits become and the more we give God’s gifts away, the more we become the people that God created us to be and the more we grow in holiness.
(4) And finally, the good news is that God’s table is always laid for us. His door is always open for us; the door is never shut and it’s never locked. Repentance is always possible, conversion is always possible, forgiveness is always possible. We are always invited to the table of the Lord and God wants us to invite as many guests as we can.
As we come to the Lord’s Table in a few minutes, may our hearts expand to embrace all the love that God wants to give us and may we find freedom and joy as we learn to give that love away to others. Amen
Introduction
(Luke 12: 15) Take care! Be on your guard again all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.
This morning’s Gospel reading is often called ‘the Parable of the Rich fool.’ But don’t be fooled by the title; because the parable is not so much a parable against wealth as it is a parable against greed. And, I think, hand-in-hand with greed, we are also being taught some lessons about the sin of self-centredness, the sin of making our own lives and our own welfare the be-all and end-all of our focus.
This reading from Luke 12 speaks right to the heart of our society and our personal lives. Because greed and self-centeredness are not just modern problems. Sinful human nature has ordered ‘worldly’ values around greed since ancient times. The underlying problem is that the world does not always recognise greed as being a bad thing. In fact, worldly society often orders itself around the assumption that greed is either good or amoral.
The Heir
Before we even begin to look at Jesus’ parable, let’s consider the interaction between Jesus and the man who came asking him to settle an inheritance dispute. This problem is hardly unique to the ancient world.
I’ll bet that if I opened up the floor right now, each of us could tell a story about wills and inheritance. Maybe a story like today’s story: where one child or beneficiary is worried that he or she isn’t getting their fair share of the inheritance and they take other beneficiaries to court. Or maybe you’ve heard a story of bitter parents, convinced (rightly or wrongly) that their children were only looking after them because they were worried about getting the inheritance.
This is a story with which we are intimately familiar in our everyday lives. Furthermore, in Jesus’ time as in our own time, there were clear procedures for deciding fairly who gets what. These laws were interpreted and applied by rabbis and that was the capacity in which Jesus was being asked to act. He was being asked to interpret the law – presumably in the man’s favour – so that the man’s interests would be looked after.
But Jesus refuses to do so. He doesn’t want to play the part of the rabbi-judge in this instance. Some of us may wonder why?
Doesn’t God care about fairness and justice? Doesn’t God care about the law? The law that the man wants Jesus to uphold is the law written in the Torah; why would God be indifferent to his own laws? How can God be a God of truth and justice if Jesus is refusing to rule in this man’s favour?
I think that the answer to these questions lies in Jesus’ statement ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’
I suspect that if this man had come to Jesus saying that he’d got more inheritance than his brother and he wanted Jesus to command his brother to take his fair share as the law required, that Jesus would have willingly played the part of a Rabbi-judge.
I think that Jesus declined to play judge in this situation because he knew that the man was motivated by greed and self-interest. Although the man appeared to be invoking justice, the man was not actually motivated by fairness, he was motivated by self-interest.
The Parable
But in this particular story Jesus doesn’t confront the man with a direct judgement of his sin. Instead of admonishing him directly, Jesus provides both him (and us) with the opportunity to change our ways.
The parable that Jesus tells is also quite applicable to the 21st century.
Here is a farmer who has been suddenly blessed with an excellent crop. God has sent a harvest that is far more than he himself can use.
So what does the farmer say to himself? Does he say ‘God has sent me a harvest that far exceeds my needs. Let me see who is hungry and who can use my excess.’? No, he doesn’t.
Rather, he congratulates himself on his talents and ability as a farmer. The harvest is no longer a wonderful blessing with which to bless others. It’s become a storage problem – which, of course, it is if the farmer intends to keep it all to himself.
But, as the saying goes, you can’t take it with you. The man’s life is required of him unexpectedly. Not only was the farmer not able to benefit from God’s blessing, he also missed the opportunity to shower blessings on others.
One can only hope that his heirs did not act like the man who asked Jesus to judge between him and his brother!
Challenges: for Christians and Society
I think that there are challenges for individual Christians in this parable as well as challenges for society in general.
At the individual level, it could be too easy for a preacher to sound like he or she is saying that everyone here needs to give more money, time or talents to church. I’m not saying that and I hope it won’t be understood that way.
But here are some pointers to where individual challenges or invitations may lie:
God might be inviting some of us to become increasingly concerned about the rights, interests or welfare of other people around us.
God might be challenging someone else to deepen their awareness that everything – absolutely everything – we have is from God, including our very lives.
God might be inviting some people to be more free with their time or money and to give it away more cheerfully.
God will challenge each of us differently, and I don’t know where he is challenging you.
But I think that greed and self-interest are not just individual issues; they are social issues as well. Of course, these are a lot harder to change!
Here are some thoughts about how this parable applies to our society; you may or may not agree with me.
First, as a society do we question the idea that corporate profits must grow every year? If the population stays roughly the same, where do extra profits come from? Often they profits must come from exploiting the poor, the vulnerable, the gullible or encouraging us to consume things we don’t need.
This parable suggests that perhaps a Godly society would share its profits with those in need.
A second observation. Our whole system of national and international government is still based on the idea that each country looks after its own economic and political interests. This may strike many of us as the safest and most realistic way to govern in a hostile world, but it’s hardly in line with the Great Commandment. This is not the way the Kingdom of God is to be governed.
If we are hoping and praying for the Kingdom of God to come on earth as it is in heaven, then we need to understand that obeying God is not just a matter of individual morality. We need to understand that God wants us to do more than say ‘I’m only responsible for what I do, I can’t have an influence on the rest of society.’
Equally, we are not free to say that sin is mainly a social problem that has nothing to do with individuals changing their hearts and behaviour patterns. God calls the world and its people to repentance and conversion at both an individual level and a social level.
The Good News
So where is the good news in this stew of human greed and self-interest which has not improved at all since Jesus told his parable?
(1) Well, for a start, the good news is that God is not a human being! The good news is that God is not greedy or self-interested in the human sense of the concept. All of God’s actions toward his creation are generous and life-giving and are concerned with the well-being of his creation. When we use our free will to sin against God, against other people or against God’s creation, God works to restore and repair what our sin has destroyed.
(2) The good news is that God blesses us every day with many blessings. We know as a fact that God blesses us daily and we also grow in our ability to become conscious of these blessings on a daily basis as we come to know the Lord better.
(3) The good news is that God has created each one of us to be agents and messengers of his blessings in this world we inhabit. The Greek word for ‘angels’ means ‘messengers’; so, in a very real sense, we are called to be angels to other people. The more expansive and generous our spirits become and the more we give God’s gifts away, the more we become the people that God created us to be and the more we grow in holiness.
(4) And finally, the good news is that God’s table is always laid for us. His door is always open for us; the door is never shut and it’s never locked. Repentance is always possible, conversion is always possible, forgiveness is always possible. We are always invited to the table of the Lord and God wants us to invite as many guests as we can.
As we come to the Lord’s Table in a few minutes, may our hearts expand to embrace all the love that God wants to give us and may we find freedom and joy as we learn to give that love away to others. Amen
Friday, March 16, 2007
Sunday 11 March 2007 - Repentance and Forgiveness
This sermon was prepared for a pulpit swap with a local Anglican church. The texts are: Isaiah 55:1-13 and Luke 13:1-9
Introduction
Luke 13:5 reads "...unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did." I think that you can imagine that this is not exactly the sort of Gospel reading that preacher wishes for when asked to be a guest preacher at a neighbouring church for the first time!
Our Old Testament reading for this morning is more like the kind of lesson that I wished for: "Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me; listen, so that you may live." (Isaiah 55:2b-3a)
So, had you been me, which text would you have chosen to preach on? What do you think that being a Christian disciple is all about? Is it about repentance? Is it about God's determination to bring each one of us into his kingdom? Or is it about both of these things?
Well, I guess you won't be surprised to hear that I think that Christian discipleship is about both of these things. Most importantly, to be a Christian is to accept and rejoice in God's determination to bring each of us into his Kingdom. But Christian discipleship is also about repentance. Repentance is an important tool in our partnership with God that helps us to grow in our Christian faith.
Unless you Repent
I'd like to address the Gospel reading first, because there are no two ways about it - this reading is calling for repentance and it's not a particularly comfortable reading.
First of all, I think that it's helpful to understand where this lesson is placed within the Gospel of Luke. Just before this particular passage, all sorts of people have been asking the question "When will the day of judgement come?" And Jesus has been saying "No one knows the day or the hour, so be prepared at all times." I think that in today's lesson the reader is also being warned that it is not just the end of time that we need to worry about but also about the end of our own time here on earth.
In this morning's passage, people seem to be asking Jesus whether tragic deaths are to be seen as the hand of God's judgement. There are places in the New Testament where Jesus clearly says that illness and tragedy are not signs of having been cursed by God. In this reading, however, Jesus doesn't answer the question directly but rather, he turns the question on its head.
Jesus says that the Galilean pilgrims didn't die because they were cursed by God. They died because of the wilful and evil act of Pilate. (This was a grotesque and ruthless act of mixing their own blood with that of their sacrifices in order to ensure that, under Jewish law, they would be seen as damned.) And Jesus says that the people killed by the fall of the tower of Siloam died in an unfortunate accident.
The big question that we are to focus on is not "Did these people die because they were sinners and had earned God's judgment?" The big question is rather "Did these people live their lives in an on-going attitude of repentance before they died?"
Come to the Waters
The Old Testament Reading is an altogether more encouraging passage. Prior to coming to Kidderminster, I served in a church in North London where 2/3rds of the congregation were African immigrants and 1/3rd were African-Caribbean immigrants. The choir of this church sang a Gospel song that I'd never heard before. The entire lyrics were comprised of 2 sentences and the song went like this: "All will be included in the feast of life! Good News!"
I'm not 100% sure, but I think that the lyrics for this song might have come from Isaiah 55, from this morning's Old Testament reading. If they didn't, they are nonetheless a good summary of the meaning of this passage.
This passage is an invitation to the feast of God's amazing banquet. And this is an invitation to everyone. It doesn't matter who you are. The covenant that God made with David has been extended to absolutely anyone regardless of nationality, status or any other characteristics that human beings use to define other people as being not quite acceptable to God. The good news is that all shall be included in the feast of life.
Isaiah is telling us that God's intention is that people be fed - and I think that means physically, emotionally and spiritually - and that joy and hope flourish. Here we see a God who is generous, joyful and open-handed. A God who wants every living being to enjoy life and live in peace and harmony with his creation.
Conflicting Ideas?
But how do we reconcile these two passages? In the Luke passage, there is an urgent call for individuals to repent before they perish. In the Isaiah passage, there is an open-handed invitation for anyone who desires to come and dine at God's feast. Aren't these two ideas contradictory?
Notice, though, that each of our readings contains echoes of the other.
Although the Luke passage makes an urgent call for repentance before it's too late, yet we are also given hope in the form of the parable of the fig tree which is offered one last chance to bear fruit. Although the Isaiah passage is an exuberant expression of God's open-handed offer of his Kingdom to all people, the passage also contains the instruction to "seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near."
Forgiveness and Repentance
I said earlier that to be a Christian is to accept and rejoice in God's determination to bring each of us into his Kingdom and to recognise that repentance is an important tool that helps us to grow in our partnership with God.
And I think that the order of these two statements is actually important: God's love and his forgiveness in reaching out to us come first. And our repentance comes second. Our repentance is a response to God's love and forgiveness, not vice versa.
"God forgives you. Therefore you are free to repent." God's forgiveness comes first and our repentance is a response to that.
Illustration
Alan and Ray are father and son. Ray is grown up and is married with two teenage children of his own. Alan loves Ray and although they don't live very far apart, when it comes to keeping in contact with each other, Alan makes all the effort.
Then, one day, Ray asks his father to borrow a substantial sum of money. Ray's having a hard time meeting all his financial obligations. Teenage children, you know what it's like. They have to have the latest clothes and the latest computer gizmos. Not to mention the fact that Ray's oldest seems to have a hollow leg and can eat for England.
It's only a few months later when Alan learns the truth from his daughter-in-law, Ray's wife: Ray has a gambling problem, he's borrowed everything he possibly can on his credit cards, the couple can't make the payments and there is no way that Alan is going to get his money back.
Alan decides to confront Ray. Alan says: "I know about your gambling problem and your debt. I know you can't pay me back. I want you to know that I forgive you and I'm still your father and I want to help you kick your gambling habit." Ray might respond in one of two ways.
Ray can say: "Thank you. I don't deserve your forgiveness. It's such a relief to have everything out in the open. I could really use your support as I try to stop gambling." Or Ray could say: "Forgiveness! What do you mean, you forgive me! How dare you! I don't need your forgiveness and I don't need you or your pity!"
"God forgives you. Therefore you are free to repent." God's forgiveness comes first and our repentance is a response to that.
Come to the Banquet
In the book of Isaiah, the prophet calls to us: "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Or, in the words of the Gospel song that my friends in North London sing: "All will be included in the feast of life! Good news!"
As far as God is concerned, we are all invited to his feast of life. Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, slave or free, male or female. No matter who we are or what we have done, God is constantly inviting us to share in the banquet of his forgiveness. But in order to feast on God's forgiveness, we have turn in God's direction and walk toward that feast. In other words, repentance is necessary.
In a few minutes, we will share together in Holy Communion. We will come together as brothers and sisters united in the community of Christ. But we will also come to the table which Christ has prepared for us and to which he has invited us. We come in response to his invitation. It is my prayer that we will come with repentance and in the faith, hope and joy that God's forgiveness inspires.
Introduction
Luke 13:5 reads "...unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did." I think that you can imagine that this is not exactly the sort of Gospel reading that preacher wishes for when asked to be a guest preacher at a neighbouring church for the first time!
Our Old Testament reading for this morning is more like the kind of lesson that I wished for: "Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me; listen, so that you may live." (Isaiah 55:2b-3a)
So, had you been me, which text would you have chosen to preach on? What do you think that being a Christian disciple is all about? Is it about repentance? Is it about God's determination to bring each one of us into his kingdom? Or is it about both of these things?
Well, I guess you won't be surprised to hear that I think that Christian discipleship is about both of these things. Most importantly, to be a Christian is to accept and rejoice in God's determination to bring each of us into his Kingdom. But Christian discipleship is also about repentance. Repentance is an important tool in our partnership with God that helps us to grow in our Christian faith.
Unless you Repent
I'd like to address the Gospel reading first, because there are no two ways about it - this reading is calling for repentance and it's not a particularly comfortable reading.
First of all, I think that it's helpful to understand where this lesson is placed within the Gospel of Luke. Just before this particular passage, all sorts of people have been asking the question "When will the day of judgement come?" And Jesus has been saying "No one knows the day or the hour, so be prepared at all times." I think that in today's lesson the reader is also being warned that it is not just the end of time that we need to worry about but also about the end of our own time here on earth.
In this morning's passage, people seem to be asking Jesus whether tragic deaths are to be seen as the hand of God's judgement. There are places in the New Testament where Jesus clearly says that illness and tragedy are not signs of having been cursed by God. In this reading, however, Jesus doesn't answer the question directly but rather, he turns the question on its head.
Jesus says that the Galilean pilgrims didn't die because they were cursed by God. They died because of the wilful and evil act of Pilate. (This was a grotesque and ruthless act of mixing their own blood with that of their sacrifices in order to ensure that, under Jewish law, they would be seen as damned.) And Jesus says that the people killed by the fall of the tower of Siloam died in an unfortunate accident.
The big question that we are to focus on is not "Did these people die because they were sinners and had earned God's judgment?" The big question is rather "Did these people live their lives in an on-going attitude of repentance before they died?"
Come to the Waters
The Old Testament Reading is an altogether more encouraging passage. Prior to coming to Kidderminster, I served in a church in North London where 2/3rds of the congregation were African immigrants and 1/3rd were African-Caribbean immigrants. The choir of this church sang a Gospel song that I'd never heard before. The entire lyrics were comprised of 2 sentences and the song went like this: "All will be included in the feast of life! Good News!"
I'm not 100% sure, but I think that the lyrics for this song might have come from Isaiah 55, from this morning's Old Testament reading. If they didn't, they are nonetheless a good summary of the meaning of this passage.
This passage is an invitation to the feast of God's amazing banquet. And this is an invitation to everyone. It doesn't matter who you are. The covenant that God made with David has been extended to absolutely anyone regardless of nationality, status or any other characteristics that human beings use to define other people as being not quite acceptable to God. The good news is that all shall be included in the feast of life.
Isaiah is telling us that God's intention is that people be fed - and I think that means physically, emotionally and spiritually - and that joy and hope flourish. Here we see a God who is generous, joyful and open-handed. A God who wants every living being to enjoy life and live in peace and harmony with his creation.
Conflicting Ideas?
But how do we reconcile these two passages? In the Luke passage, there is an urgent call for individuals to repent before they perish. In the Isaiah passage, there is an open-handed invitation for anyone who desires to come and dine at God's feast. Aren't these two ideas contradictory?
Notice, though, that each of our readings contains echoes of the other.
Although the Luke passage makes an urgent call for repentance before it's too late, yet we are also given hope in the form of the parable of the fig tree which is offered one last chance to bear fruit. Although the Isaiah passage is an exuberant expression of God's open-handed offer of his Kingdom to all people, the passage also contains the instruction to "seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near."
Forgiveness and Repentance
I said earlier that to be a Christian is to accept and rejoice in God's determination to bring each of us into his Kingdom and to recognise that repentance is an important tool that helps us to grow in our partnership with God.
And I think that the order of these two statements is actually important: God's love and his forgiveness in reaching out to us come first. And our repentance comes second. Our repentance is a response to God's love and forgiveness, not vice versa.
"God forgives you. Therefore you are free to repent." God's forgiveness comes first and our repentance is a response to that.
Illustration
Alan and Ray are father and son. Ray is grown up and is married with two teenage children of his own. Alan loves Ray and although they don't live very far apart, when it comes to keeping in contact with each other, Alan makes all the effort.
Then, one day, Ray asks his father to borrow a substantial sum of money. Ray's having a hard time meeting all his financial obligations. Teenage children, you know what it's like. They have to have the latest clothes and the latest computer gizmos. Not to mention the fact that Ray's oldest seems to have a hollow leg and can eat for England.
It's only a few months later when Alan learns the truth from his daughter-in-law, Ray's wife: Ray has a gambling problem, he's borrowed everything he possibly can on his credit cards, the couple can't make the payments and there is no way that Alan is going to get his money back.
Alan decides to confront Ray. Alan says: "I know about your gambling problem and your debt. I know you can't pay me back. I want you to know that I forgive you and I'm still your father and I want to help you kick your gambling habit." Ray might respond in one of two ways.
Ray can say: "Thank you. I don't deserve your forgiveness. It's such a relief to have everything out in the open. I could really use your support as I try to stop gambling." Or Ray could say: "Forgiveness! What do you mean, you forgive me! How dare you! I don't need your forgiveness and I don't need you or your pity!"
"God forgives you. Therefore you are free to repent." God's forgiveness comes first and our repentance is a response to that.
Come to the Banquet
In the book of Isaiah, the prophet calls to us: "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Or, in the words of the Gospel song that my friends in North London sing: "All will be included in the feast of life! Good news!"
As far as God is concerned, we are all invited to his feast of life. Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, slave or free, male or female. No matter who we are or what we have done, God is constantly inviting us to share in the banquet of his forgiveness. But in order to feast on God's forgiveness, we have turn in God's direction and walk toward that feast. In other words, repentance is necessary.
In a few minutes, we will share together in Holy Communion. We will come together as brothers and sisters united in the community of Christ. But we will also come to the table which Christ has prepared for us and to which he has invited us. We come in response to his invitation. It is my prayer that we will come with repentance and in the faith, hope and joy that God's forgiveness inspires.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
10 December 2006 - The Good News of Repentance
This is the sermon for Sunday 10th December 2006. The scripture readings are: Malachi 3:1-4 and Luke 3:1-6
=======
Introduction
Today we celebrate the Second Sunday of Advent and the main character in today’s scripture readings is not Jesus but rather John the Baptist. In today’s Gospel reading, we read about the ministry of John the Baptist. The Old Testament Reading, from Malachi, was - of course - not originally written about John the Baptist but has been traditionally linked by the Christian church with the life and work of John.
The season of Advent begins on the first Sunday of December and it is a time of preparation and penitence. Like Lent, Advent is a time when we consider who we are before God and when we prepare our hearts.
Although Advent is generally a more ‘positive’ season of preparation than Lent, it is nevertheless a time to take stock of the state of our soul and our being before God as we prepare for his coming. Because it is not only Jesus’ first coming for which we are preparing, but also his second coming.
In Advent, we are not just waiting for Christmas Day so that we can mark the memorial of Jesus’ birth. We are also waiting - and hopefully working - for the “second coming” of Jesus, when Christ will reign at the right hand of God in God’s Kingdom. We are waiting for the baby Jesus and for our triumphant and risen Lord.
Today’s readings focus our attention rather dramatically on the penitential aspect of Advent. Both the readings are somewhat difficult and challenging; neither message is comfy and cosy.
In the Gospel reading, John the Baptist demands that we repent and be forgiven of our sins. He calls us to get to work preparing the path to the Kingdom of God so that the roads are straight and smooth. In the Old Testament reading, we understand that although John’s message has been long-awaited (because it heralds the coming of the Messiah), that his message will refine and purify us and that the day of this purification will be difficult to endure.
It all makes you long for the gentle baby Jesus, meek and mild, doesn’t it?
Repentance
The first thing that I’d like to do this morning is to consider the idea of “repentance”.
I think that sometimes the word “repentance” can conjure up images of our mothers or fathers standing over us angrily with their hands on their hips shouting: “You say sorry now, young lady! (or young man)” And if this morning’s readings do anything, they might very well reinforce this picture of God as an angry parent.
But the concept of “repentance” is actually a call to turn around. “Repentance” is primarily something that we do in physical space. Of course, you can’t change your direction unless you first decide to do it, but making the decision isn’t all there is to it. A change of attitude is necessary but not sufficient. We actually have to start moving in another direction. We actually have to start doing things differently.
If you think about repentance in physical terms, it’s as if we are walking a path and have our backs turned on God. If our intention is to arrive at the Kingdom of God, we are going in the wrong direction and have to turn around.
What John the Baptist is doing is saying “Hey! You’re going the wrong way! Change your direction and walk that way!”
Repentance isn’t so much about God being angry with us an threatening us, it’s more about actually changing what we are doing. Scripture is filled with many prophetic books, all of which are calling human beings and human society to repentance. If God’s primary interest was to punish us then, first of all he would not have sent a Saviour into the world, but secondly, he would not have sent prophets into the world to call us to repentance.
God’s main interest is not to punish us, but to get us to turn around and walk in the other direction. Repentance may not be easy. Repentance might be difficult, but it shouldn’t make us afraid of God.
Walking toward the Kingdom
What does “walking in the other direction” mean, though? Well, I think we are being called to be citizens of the Kingdom of God, so we are called to “walk in the direction” of the Kingdom.
Because of Jesus’ first coming, and because of his life, death and resurrection, the fabric of reality has been changed such that sin no long has control over human beings. This is why we celebrate Christmas and the coming of the second person of the Trinity in human form.
Because of Jesus’ first coming at Christmas, the second coming becomes possible and we are promised that the Kingdom of God will be established. And as followers of Christ, we are called to recognise and understand what the Eternal Kingdom will look like, so that we can live as if the Kingdom were already here.
So, in practical terms, what does the Kingdom of God look like? What are its traits? How can we recognise it when we see it?
Well, if I recall correctly, one of the first sermons I preached to you was on “Racial Justice Sunday” when we talked about the fact that that God does not judge individuals the way that our worldly society does. God does not think that one person is better than another by virtue of race, gender, ability, social status, education, or what-have-you. Each person has been individually created by God, God knows each of us through and through and he sees each of us as unbelievably precious.
The Kingdom of God, is a place where every individual is infinitely loved and respected by God. And citizens of the Kingdom of God treat each other in the way that God treats them. In the Kingdom, we will have no need to try to prove that we are better than others. In the Kingdom, we will have no need to try to put other people down.
Secondly, because the Kingdom is a place where individuals are not judged by the standards of the world, I believe that the Kingdom is also a place that is inclusive. We need to be slightly careful in this concept, because there are people who hear the word “inclusive” and think that such an idea means we have to abandon all attempts to tell right from wrong.
When I say “inclusive”, I don’t mean keeping quiet in the face of wrong-doing. When I say “inclusive”, I mean that God wants to offer his Kingdom – his salvation – to everyone. Picking up on the image of repentance being a commitment to walk in the direction of the Kingdom, what I’m saying is that through the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus, God has issued a general invitation to all people of all time to walk in his direction.
It is the work of Christ that has made it possible for us to make the decision to walk in the direction of the Kingdom. Having issued the invitation to all people of all time, there are no fences around the Kingdom.
God does not stop some people at the gate and turn them back. God issues a general invitation and all who respond to that invitation, all who repent and walk in the direction of the Kingdom will be welcomed.
Thirdly, the Prophets tell us repeatedly that the Kingdom is a place where justice and righteousness are the order of the day. But it’s important to understand how the Prophets define justice and righteousness. Although righteousness certainly starts with each one of us, it’s not a concept that is confined to the realm of personal morality.
In the prophetic tradition, “righteousness” is a social and communal issue. Righteousness is about establishing a society where the poor and the oppressed have rights, where they are not exploited by the rich and powerful. The prophets constantly rail against Israel and Judah for establishing societies where the rich get richer and where the poor get poorer. The prophets tell such societies that God hates their worship and their religious festivals when there religious obligations are conducted in the context of a society where the poor cannot eat.
So the Kingdom of God is also a place where justice and righteousness are the order of the day.
Repentance is Good News
Far from being bad news, I want to argue that God’s call to repentance is actually good news.
Repentance is possible in the first place because of God’s love and forgiveness as expressed in the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. So the fact that we are able to repent – the fact that we are able to walk in God’s direction – is the result of God’s love for us.
But in saying that repentance is good news, am I burying my head in the sand and ignoring the hard images in today’s readings? Am I ignoring the images of the refiner’s fire, the images of purification, the images of straightening that which is crooked and of smoothing that which is rough? I don’t think so. Good news does not always have to be the news that life will be easy.
Any individual who has asked God for the grace to give up a besetting sin will tell you that such a journey is not an easy one.
And, if we look at the unrighteousness in our society, we can also see that the solutions are not easy ones and that they will require difficult measures. Being good stewards of the earth and of the climate requires people in the developed world to reduce the energy we consume. Making sure that people in developing countries can earn a living wage requires the West to rethink the way it orders its economy, meaning that we cannot continue to grow our economy and suck in global wealth the way that we have done in the past.
But all of these actions, however painful and refining they may be, are Good News because they are reflections of Kingdom of God.
Conclusion
In Advent, we remember the coming of the baby Jesus into our world 2000 years ago. But Advent is not just a season of looking backwards to the first coming of Christ.
It is also a season of looking forward to the second coming of Christ and to the coming of the Kingdom of God. It is a season that calls us to prepare our hearts for that Kingdom and to live as if the Kingdom were already upon us. Advent invites us to hope in a world where hoping sometimes seems impossible to do.
In this second Sunday of Advent, the prophetic voice of John the Baptist calls us all to repentance. John’s exhortation reminds us that God has made repentance possible. His exhortation reminds us that God invites all of us to change our direction, to straighten and smooth our path and walk toward the Kingdom. We are reminded that change is possible, that hope is possible, that righteousness and justice are possible.
As we go from this place, my prayer for each of us this morning is that we continue to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ by lives of on-going repentance. I pray that each of us can clearly hear the voice of God calling us with his message of love, forgiveness and reconciliation. I pray that we each be given the grace of God to bring his forgiveness, love, justice and righteousness more fully into the world around us. Amen
=======
Introduction
Today we celebrate the Second Sunday of Advent and the main character in today’s scripture readings is not Jesus but rather John the Baptist. In today’s Gospel reading, we read about the ministry of John the Baptist. The Old Testament Reading, from Malachi, was - of course - not originally written about John the Baptist but has been traditionally linked by the Christian church with the life and work of John.
The season of Advent begins on the first Sunday of December and it is a time of preparation and penitence. Like Lent, Advent is a time when we consider who we are before God and when we prepare our hearts.
Although Advent is generally a more ‘positive’ season of preparation than Lent, it is nevertheless a time to take stock of the state of our soul and our being before God as we prepare for his coming. Because it is not only Jesus’ first coming for which we are preparing, but also his second coming.
In Advent, we are not just waiting for Christmas Day so that we can mark the memorial of Jesus’ birth. We are also waiting - and hopefully working - for the “second coming” of Jesus, when Christ will reign at the right hand of God in God’s Kingdom. We are waiting for the baby Jesus and for our triumphant and risen Lord.
Today’s readings focus our attention rather dramatically on the penitential aspect of Advent. Both the readings are somewhat difficult and challenging; neither message is comfy and cosy.
In the Gospel reading, John the Baptist demands that we repent and be forgiven of our sins. He calls us to get to work preparing the path to the Kingdom of God so that the roads are straight and smooth. In the Old Testament reading, we understand that although John’s message has been long-awaited (because it heralds the coming of the Messiah), that his message will refine and purify us and that the day of this purification will be difficult to endure.
It all makes you long for the gentle baby Jesus, meek and mild, doesn’t it?
Repentance
The first thing that I’d like to do this morning is to consider the idea of “repentance”.
I think that sometimes the word “repentance” can conjure up images of our mothers or fathers standing over us angrily with their hands on their hips shouting: “You say sorry now, young lady! (or young man)” And if this morning’s readings do anything, they might very well reinforce this picture of God as an angry parent.
But the concept of “repentance” is actually a call to turn around. “Repentance” is primarily something that we do in physical space. Of course, you can’t change your direction unless you first decide to do it, but making the decision isn’t all there is to it. A change of attitude is necessary but not sufficient. We actually have to start moving in another direction. We actually have to start doing things differently.
If you think about repentance in physical terms, it’s as if we are walking a path and have our backs turned on God. If our intention is to arrive at the Kingdom of God, we are going in the wrong direction and have to turn around.
What John the Baptist is doing is saying “Hey! You’re going the wrong way! Change your direction and walk that way!”
Repentance isn’t so much about God being angry with us an threatening us, it’s more about actually changing what we are doing. Scripture is filled with many prophetic books, all of which are calling human beings and human society to repentance. If God’s primary interest was to punish us then, first of all he would not have sent a Saviour into the world, but secondly, he would not have sent prophets into the world to call us to repentance.
God’s main interest is not to punish us, but to get us to turn around and walk in the other direction. Repentance may not be easy. Repentance might be difficult, but it shouldn’t make us afraid of God.
Walking toward the Kingdom
What does “walking in the other direction” mean, though? Well, I think we are being called to be citizens of the Kingdom of God, so we are called to “walk in the direction” of the Kingdom.
Because of Jesus’ first coming, and because of his life, death and resurrection, the fabric of reality has been changed such that sin no long has control over human beings. This is why we celebrate Christmas and the coming of the second person of the Trinity in human form.
Because of Jesus’ first coming at Christmas, the second coming becomes possible and we are promised that the Kingdom of God will be established. And as followers of Christ, we are called to recognise and understand what the Eternal Kingdom will look like, so that we can live as if the Kingdom were already here.
So, in practical terms, what does the Kingdom of God look like? What are its traits? How can we recognise it when we see it?
Well, if I recall correctly, one of the first sermons I preached to you was on “Racial Justice Sunday” when we talked about the fact that that God does not judge individuals the way that our worldly society does. God does not think that one person is better than another by virtue of race, gender, ability, social status, education, or what-have-you. Each person has been individually created by God, God knows each of us through and through and he sees each of us as unbelievably precious.
The Kingdom of God, is a place where every individual is infinitely loved and respected by God. And citizens of the Kingdom of God treat each other in the way that God treats them. In the Kingdom, we will have no need to try to prove that we are better than others. In the Kingdom, we will have no need to try to put other people down.
Secondly, because the Kingdom is a place where individuals are not judged by the standards of the world, I believe that the Kingdom is also a place that is inclusive. We need to be slightly careful in this concept, because there are people who hear the word “inclusive” and think that such an idea means we have to abandon all attempts to tell right from wrong.
When I say “inclusive”, I don’t mean keeping quiet in the face of wrong-doing. When I say “inclusive”, I mean that God wants to offer his Kingdom – his salvation – to everyone. Picking up on the image of repentance being a commitment to walk in the direction of the Kingdom, what I’m saying is that through the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus, God has issued a general invitation to all people of all time to walk in his direction.
It is the work of Christ that has made it possible for us to make the decision to walk in the direction of the Kingdom. Having issued the invitation to all people of all time, there are no fences around the Kingdom.
God does not stop some people at the gate and turn them back. God issues a general invitation and all who respond to that invitation, all who repent and walk in the direction of the Kingdom will be welcomed.
Thirdly, the Prophets tell us repeatedly that the Kingdom is a place where justice and righteousness are the order of the day. But it’s important to understand how the Prophets define justice and righteousness. Although righteousness certainly starts with each one of us, it’s not a concept that is confined to the realm of personal morality.
In the prophetic tradition, “righteousness” is a social and communal issue. Righteousness is about establishing a society where the poor and the oppressed have rights, where they are not exploited by the rich and powerful. The prophets constantly rail against Israel and Judah for establishing societies where the rich get richer and where the poor get poorer. The prophets tell such societies that God hates their worship and their religious festivals when there religious obligations are conducted in the context of a society where the poor cannot eat.
So the Kingdom of God is also a place where justice and righteousness are the order of the day.
Repentance is Good News
Far from being bad news, I want to argue that God’s call to repentance is actually good news.
Repentance is possible in the first place because of God’s love and forgiveness as expressed in the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. So the fact that we are able to repent – the fact that we are able to walk in God’s direction – is the result of God’s love for us.
But in saying that repentance is good news, am I burying my head in the sand and ignoring the hard images in today’s readings? Am I ignoring the images of the refiner’s fire, the images of purification, the images of straightening that which is crooked and of smoothing that which is rough? I don’t think so. Good news does not always have to be the news that life will be easy.
Any individual who has asked God for the grace to give up a besetting sin will tell you that such a journey is not an easy one.
And, if we look at the unrighteousness in our society, we can also see that the solutions are not easy ones and that they will require difficult measures. Being good stewards of the earth and of the climate requires people in the developed world to reduce the energy we consume. Making sure that people in developing countries can earn a living wage requires the West to rethink the way it orders its economy, meaning that we cannot continue to grow our economy and suck in global wealth the way that we have done in the past.
But all of these actions, however painful and refining they may be, are Good News because they are reflections of Kingdom of God.
Conclusion
In Advent, we remember the coming of the baby Jesus into our world 2000 years ago. But Advent is not just a season of looking backwards to the first coming of Christ.
It is also a season of looking forward to the second coming of Christ and to the coming of the Kingdom of God. It is a season that calls us to prepare our hearts for that Kingdom and to live as if the Kingdom were already upon us. Advent invites us to hope in a world where hoping sometimes seems impossible to do.
In this second Sunday of Advent, the prophetic voice of John the Baptist calls us all to repentance. John’s exhortation reminds us that God has made repentance possible. His exhortation reminds us that God invites all of us to change our direction, to straighten and smooth our path and walk toward the Kingdom. We are reminded that change is possible, that hope is possible, that righteousness and justice are possible.
As we go from this place, my prayer for each of us this morning is that we continue to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ by lives of on-going repentance. I pray that each of us can clearly hear the voice of God calling us with his message of love, forgiveness and reconciliation. I pray that we each be given the grace of God to bring his forgiveness, love, justice and righteousness more fully into the world around us. Amen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
