Tom's Sermons

Healing Simon's Mother-in-Law

2012-02-06T03:20:00.000-08:00

Mark 1:29-29

A gospel reading with the words 'Simon's Mother-in-Law' is just too good to resist, isn't it? Many of you know my mother-in-law, Jan...and a sweeter person you couldn't wish to meet. But I just can't help laughing when I hear some of those old mother-in-law jokes. You know the ones...

"I haven't spoken to my mother in law for 18 months. I don't like to interrupt her" (Ken Dodd)

"We all know when my mother in law is coming up the path. The mice start throwing themselves at the traps." (Les Dawson)

"I just got back from a pleasure trip...I took my mother in law to the airport" (Henry Youngman)

and my all time favourite...

"My mother in law threatened me one day...she said 'I'm going to dance on your grave'. I said, 'I hope so...I'm going to be buried at sea' "(Les Dawson)

These ten verses of Mark's Gospel, however, have a very different attitude to mother in laws! Did you notice, during the reading, that after Jesus healed her, Simon's mother-in-law set about serving her guests? Reading that with modern eyes, we might wonder what's going on. It's almost as though Jesus healed the woman so that she would go and get him a cup of tea! But of course, nothing could be further from the truth. In 1st Century Palestine, the privilege of serving an honoured guest was one which was given to the senior woman of the house. It was counted a right, an honour and a privilege. Simon's wife might have served the guests... especially after her mother had been so ill. But clearly, serving guests was what her mother wanted to do, as soon as she was well. It was a matter of honour, not servitude.

Have you noticed how often Jesus' healing miracles are about more than just restoring someone to health? As soon as she is healed, Simon's mother in law is immediately restored to her position of honour in the house. When Jesus heals someone, the healing doesn't just deal with physical symptoms. It also, invariably, has the effect of bringing people from one state of being to another. Jesus seeks to restore not just health, but, as we thought about a couple of weeks ago, life in all its fullness (John 10.10).

In 1st Century Palestine, sick people were often treated as though their illness was their fault. Based on some ideas that were expressed in the Old Testament, people believed that illness was the result of some sin or other - either something done by the sick person, or perhaps by their parents. Sickness was seen as a punishment for sin...and sinners needed to be shunned and excluded from society. Kept on the margins...reduced to begging.

Jesus, however, sought to break down that idea. He understood the causes of sickness to be far more complex. In the story of the paralysed man, let down through the roof to be healed, (Luke 5) Jesus plays with these ideas in public. First he says to the paralysed man "Your sins are forgiven" - demonstrating that he had the divine power to forgive sins. But the man still lies on his stretcher, while Jesus disputes with the religious leaders whether or not it makes any difference to forgive sins, or to give healing. Then, Jesus turns to the man "I tell you...get up, pick up your stretcher, and go home". It was Jesus' words of healing which restored the man to health - not the forgiveness of sins (although that was freely offered too).

Sickness did not, in Jesus clear view, arise out of sin. Sickness is not a punishment for sin...although it can certainly arise out of human sin in general...human greed, human refusal to pursue wisdom, science and medicine. After being healed by Jesus, all people are able to be restored to human society. Simon's mother-in-law is restored to her position as the senior woman of her household, and given the high privilege of serving her important guest. Lepers are restored to their friends and family. The blind are no longer reduced to begging at the side of the road. This, for Jesus, is one of the signs of the Kingdom. It's an echo of the words of his Mother in the Magnificat..."he has filled the hungry with good things...he has exalted the humble and meek".

Interestingly, in these days when we are far more aware of some of the causes of disease, we are in danger of giving in to the same blame-culture to that which Jesus tried to combat. Now that medical science has given us reason to believe that low weight, moderate exercise, and the eating of 'five a day' are the cure for all ailments, we tend to blame people for their illness.

How often do we hear - or even, how often have you and I said, "It must be her fault. She hasn't looked after herself”. “I told her she should have stopped drinking, or smoking, or eating, or going out without a coat on...(or whatever!)." We quickly blame people for their illness - attributing it to a sin on their part. When we do that, we fail to understand, unlike Jesus, that the causes of sickness are far more complex.

Our society is driven by massive marketing, consumerism, and the easy availability of sugar, alcohol and fat. We live highly pressurised, stressed-out lives as we desperately to keep up with everyone around us. How easy it is for us to point to someone else's illness and say "It's their fault...they didn't exercise enough - or they over-did their exercise. They ate too much...or they didn't eat enough." We seem to take a perverse delight in blaming people for their sickness...rather than understanding that people live they way they do because human life is messy, and living that way helps them to cope.

Jesus' response to the messiness of human suffering was profound. First, he turned over the idea that sickness was linked to personal sin. But secondly, he also embraced human suffering itself. By taking all that the society of his day could throw at him, even to the point of death on a Roman instrument of torture, Jesus entered fully into the messiness of human life. This is, I think, part of what it means to say that Jesus took the sins of the world onto himself. He took the messiness of human suffering onto the Cross. He allowed human messiness it to overwhelm him to the point of dying because of it. Human messiness, human weirdness, human suffering, human pride, human greed...all of it was nailed onto the Cross with Jesus.

And then?

And then Jesus transcended it. The story of the Resurrection is the story of how God has the power to transcend and overcome all human messiness. Through the Resurrection, God offers us a powerful symbol of the way life can be. New life - life lived to the full - puts suffering and messiness in the past. Notice how, in the days after the resurrection, Jesus offers forgiveness even to Peter who denied him three times. There is no room for blame and finger pointing in the Resurrection Kingdom. Instead, blame and finger pointing give way to forgiveness and understanding. Peter who denied Jesus (and therefore contributed to his suffering) was offered forgiveness, and a job to do ("Feed my sheep"). Like his own mother-in-law, Peter finds himself restored through healing and forgiveness to his proper role in society.

By the way, "My mother in law fell down a wishing well last week. I was amazed. I never knew they worked" (Les Dawson)

Sorry...couldn't resist that one.

So what might we take from this story, and from Jesus' attitudes towards sickness, and from his attitude towards the messiness of human lives?

Of all people, Christians should understand that sin - human messiness - is endemic.

And of all people...Christians, like Christ, should be willing to offer forgiveness and healing, whenever sin is encountered. We are people who should understand that everyone messes up - because we ourselves mess up, all the time.

My friends, I have to tell you something. I love this church, and I love its people. I love the commitment you have to supporting each other when you are sick, or to fundraising, or to working in the Cafe, or singing in the choir. I love the way that many of you reach out to those who struggle to make sense of their lives in our community. I want us to be the kind of community which accepts, unreservedly, without any surprise whatsoever, that all human beings are messy. Like Jesus, I want us to be those who simply understand that none of us is perfect. Every single one of us is striving to be better, but we will often fall, often stumble, often mess up. When we watch someone else stumble, I want us to be the kind of community which says to itself "before I criticise that person, I need to walk mile in their shoes".

I want us to be the kind of community which continually, constantly, offers forgiveness, healing and understand to each other...and indeed to ourselves. Let's be the kind of community which offers understanding to those whose choices in life - fed by all sorts of unimaginable stresses - lead them to make, what seem to us to be strange decisions. Let's be those who, when we find someone falling over, reach down and pick them up. Let's be those who get on with being the kind of loving, understanding community that Christ calls us to be.

There is no room in Jesus' Kingdom for blame. Jesus didn't blame Simon's mother-in-law for her illness, nor did he blame all the sick and the lame who came to him for help. He reached out, and touched them with love. He offered her healing, and restoration to the role she was called to play in life.

And he calls us to do the same.

Amen

What Price Unity?

2012-01-22T06:09:00.000-08:00

Titus 2.1-11

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is a good week for us to be meeting together. Although we are all Anglicans here - as far as I know - we are Anglicans from various and different traditions. A little later we will participate in Benediction, during which some of us will believe with all our hearts that we are somehow even more in the presence of Christ than we are at other times. Others of us will be slightly bemused, and see the ceremony of Benediction only as a metaphorical guide to prayer. Under this one roof, to my certain knowledge, are gathering tonight people whose Christian faith is best described as Catholic. Others, have evangelical backgrounds, but might now describe themselves as 'central'. Others have an interest in Orthodoxy - myself included. Some like their music positively ancient...I know one choir member at least who considers anything newer than Mozart to be dangerously modern. Others take real joy in singing the latest anthems of living composers, or even the odd upbeat, rock 'n' roll chorus!

This, for me, is the heart of what it means to be Anglican. We belong to a church which systematically and deliberately attempts to be a communion in which people of different opinion, styles and preferences can nevertheless gather under one roof...all declaring a common belief in Jesus Christ. We don't always get that right - and clearly there are huge tensions between us over issues like sexuality and the consecration of women bishops. (Isn't it interesting that the primary issues which divide us are usually about sex?)

For many years, the Churches Together movement has been a beacon of hope to those who lament the divisions in the church around the world. But, unfortunately, after 30 or more years, the flame of the Churches Together movement is beginning to wane. Those who have spent half a lifetime or more desperately praying for the visible Unity of Christ's Church have, in many places, begun to wonder whether God is deaf to their prayers...or perhaps whether God has a different plan altogether in mind. There remains, of course, a hard core of ecumenicalists who work hard to bring churches together in common worship and action - and I take my hat off to them for their diligence and commitment. There are some great examples of projects out there in which churches of all hues combine their resources, time, and people for the common task of building the Kingdom. Perhaps the best local example is the Churches Homeless Action Group, which this year raised nearly £14,000 from the churches of the city at Christmas. The college at which most of our priests are trained by this Diocese - STETS in Salisbury - is a course which brings Anglicans together with Methodists and URC trainees, to learn from each other's experiences.

But, these wonderful pieces of work remain the exception rather than the rule. The church remains divided, across the world, because we seem unable to give each other the benefit of the doubt over a wide range of doctrinal and ecclesiological issues. Should the church be ruled from Rome? Women bishops? Gay Bishops? Gay people? Where does our authority spring from - the Bible, or Tradition, or Reason, or Experience, or a combination of any two or more of those four. Styles of liturgy, the place of Mary, praying to the Saints, whether or not to follow a lectionary, or simply preach on what the Spirit suggests. Hymns or choruses? Organs or guitars? Robes or everyday clothes? The real meaning of the Eucharist...a simple memorial, or a transubstantiated real presence of Jesus, whose flesh we really eat as spiritual food.

And that's just for starters. I could go on for a very long time. And I imagine that for the world outside these doors...those who have not chosen to worship with us tonight, the very real temptation must be to proclaim, with Shakespeare, 'a plague on all your houses!'

Into this maelstrom of confusion comes tonight's reading from Paul's Letter to Titus. It's a very short letter - only three chapters long, covering just a couple of pages...and it often gets overlooked. But on this Sunday during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it has the capacity to speak volumes.

In the letter, Paul writes to Titus, whom he has appointed as the Bishop of the Island of Crete. It is clear from Paul's text that he is very concerned about divisions which have already begun to erupt in the early Cretan church. Paul describes the 'many rebellious people, idle talkers and deceivers' who, Paul says, 'must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families'. (Tit.1.10-11). He goes on to describe them as those who 'profess God, but then deny him by their actions. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for any good work' (Ti.1.16)

What is Paul's remedy for this problem...this problem of rebellious factions? His advice to Titus is essentially two fold:

First, as we heard in our reading, Paul encourages the Cretans to live Godly lives. Men are to be 'temperate, serious, prudent, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance' (Ti. 2.2). Paul then goes on, in the context of his time, to give others lists of good behaviour for women, (young and old), young men and even slaves. Much of those lists might make us wince a little today....although I quite like the idea of young women having to be submissive to their husbands! (Ironic Joke!!). But the underlying point which Paul makes is clear: being a Christian means living in a way which becomes 'an ornament to the doctrine of God our Saviour' (Ti 2.10). Our lives should be those which look like polished jewels - ornaments - on the crown of faith. Put another way, as the Apostle James wrote in his letter, "Faith without works is dead" (Ja.2.26)

A Christian will be judged - by God and other people - not by what they say or profess, but by the kind of lives they lead. Remember Paul's words to Titus...there are those who 'profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions'. (Ti.1.16)

Paul's second point to Titus is the most important of all, in the context of a discussion about Christian Unity. He says this, in chapter 3 of the letter: "Avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless." (Ti.3.9) Paul goes on, even more forcefully..."have nothing more to do with anyone who causes divisions, since you know that such a person is perverted and sinful, being self-condemned". (Ti 3.11)

Wow. Those are strong words. "Have nothing more to do with anyone who causes divisions. They are perverted and sinful."

These then should be our watchwords when dealing with any other Christian. True Christians are judged by the kinds of lives they lead. Paul encourages his readers to be those who are 'obedient, ready for every good work, speaking evil of no-one, avoiding quarrelling, being gentle and showing courtesy to everyone." (Ti.3.2).

That's why we are here tonight. Even though some of us might have personal theological qualms about, for example, the ceremony of Benediction, out of gentleness and courtesy, we will kneel in contemplation before the Host when it is displayed, open to what God may show us through the practices of others.

That is why we are Anglicans: because out of a desire not to speak evil of anyone, and to avoid quarrelling, we will continue to worship side by side with people with whom we might profoundly disagree, for example, over whether or not a Priest or a Bishop can be a woman.

That is, ultimately, according to Paul, what defines us as Christians. We are willing to lay aside quarrel and dissent, finding ways to respect and accommodate each other - so that we can focus on the heart of our calling - to be 'ornaments to the doctrine of God our Saviour' (Ti 2.10).

May we discover what it means to put our love for God, and our love for neighbour, above and before any doctrinal dissent. May we, by our lives, be ornaments for God...those whose attractive, loving, gentle lives of service draw others into a living faith in Jesus Christ our Saviour.

If we could all do that, I believe that the issue of Christian Unity would quite simply take care of itself.

Amen

Water into Wine

2012-01-22T04:54:00.000-08:00

John 2.1-11

So, there's this old priest, who over the years has become a bit of an alcoholic, right? It's an occupational hazard, given all the wine we are supposed to finish up after communion! Well, this old priest had to go on a long journey, and he couldn't face the prospect without a little tipple now and then along the road. So, as he was driving along, he kept taking little nips from a bottle of gin on the passenger seat. Unfortunately, after a few hours, his driving started to deteriorate - and he began swerving from side to side down the road, until he was pulled over by a policeman. The priest wound down his window...

"What's the massher Occifer?"
"Father, I believe you are drunk at the wheel"
"Imposhible" said the priest. Then the policeman pointed to the bottle on the passenger seat.
"What's in that bottle, Father?" he asked.
"Itsh water, Occifer. Just water"
"Let me have a look" said the policeman, and the priest reluctantly passed him the bottle. The policeman sniffed, and exclaimed,
"That's not water, Father, it's alcohol!" at which the Priest crossed himself, looked up to heaven and said,
"Jesush, you've done it again!"

I must ask you to forgive me. Alcoholism is no joke. As the members of Alcoholics Anonymous who meet here every Friday night will tell you, its a viscous disease, which has the capacity to take away everything of real value from ones life. In that context, the story of Jesus turning water into wine - towards the end of a wedding feast - can be a little problematic! After all, by the time that the wine already provided by the Host had run out, it's a fairly good bet that most of the guests would already have been very nicely oiled. What on earth was Jesus doing making even more wine? Was Jesus into drunkenness? Or was Jesus perhaps pre-figuring the advice of St Paul so beloved by churchgoers who enjoy a visit to the pub at Sunday lunchtime..."thirst after righteousness"!?

This is where we have to be careful. Frankly, we are on dangerous ground when we attempt to take many (if not most) biblical stories literally. I have even heard stories of preachers who, convinced that every story must be taken literally, insisting that Jesus must have turned the water into grape-juice...just so that they can continue to hold on to the story as a literal fact.

Instead, as intelligent readers of Scripture, we are invited to go deeper...to seek to understand the meaning behind the story. It particularly helps if we remember who wrote this story. John clearly had a remarkable imagination...just a quick delve into the imagery of Revelation will tell you that. But even more so, we need to remember John's purpose in writing his Gospel. More than any of the other three Gospels, John goes to great length to tell us what Jesus' life and death means...what the core message is really all about. To read the Gospel of John is to enter a world of symbols and rich, deep meaning.

Interestingly, none of the other Gospel writers bothered to record the miracle at Cana. They were much more interested in healings and exorcisms. But something in John's imagination resonated with Cana. He saw, in Cana, a sign that pointed to the very purpose for which Christ had come into the world. The wedding guests saw water turned into the best wine. John saw a man who, in this first sign, revealed the very purposes of God.

It's perhaps worth remembering that only John records Jesus as saying, “I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10.10) This is what the miracle at Cana is all about. Water, the basic necessity of life, is changed into wine--the symbol not just of life, but of abundant, joyous, and extravagant life.

Think about it. Water is good. There is nothing wrong with water. There is nothing which needed fixing in the water. Why then should Jesus need to change it into wine? The message of Cana is that Jesus doesn't only transform the bad into the good (like when he heals the sick or casts out a demon). The message of Cana is that Jesus has the capacity to make the good even better! That is one of most persistent themes of John's gospel. Jesus hasn't only come to give life, but to give life 'abundantly'.

This, then, is the promise for those whose lives are already pretty good. The transformation at Cana is the promise for those who are already heading in the right direction--those who have a basic trust in God, those who look out for their neighbour, who do what they can, when they can, to be good Samaritans. This is the message for those whose life is already like good, fresh water - nourishing, and life-sustaining.

There's a message here: "enjoy the water...but taste the wine!" God doesn't call us to only live lives of duty and charity...as right as they are. Yes, we should live by the commandments - but there’s more to following Jesus than simple obedience. Remember what he said? “I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” Not just life, but abundant life...joyous life...life lived in celebration and exuberance.

This doesn’t mean that God promises us each a Rolls Royce. Neither does it mean that we will never experience pain and suffering. But, it does mean that the good clean water of our lives can be transformed into the best wine through the love of God. Then even the worst circumstances that life can offer can have a richness and depth that they never had before. If we will only drink of the new wine of the Kingdom, Love can transform us, and bring meaning and richness to every human moment.

As we begin to taste the new wine of the Kingdom, we begin to look for God's capacity to transform and elevate even the most apparently awful of circumstances. Sometimes, for example, I sit with sick and elderly people who despair of the fact that they now need others to do things for them. Understandably, they mourn the loss of their independence, and resent the fact that they can do nothing on their own. But then, I ask them,

"Tell me. You have spent your entire life caring for others...your children, your friends in the church, your neighbours. How did that feel?" Invariably, the sick or housebound person will tell me, in so many words, that their service to others made them feel needed, wanted, and that they had a role in life.

"So," I tell them, in so many words, "isn't it time that you gave the gift of your incapacity to others? Isn't it time that you let others feel needed and wanted - by caring for you?"

That's just a tiny example - but I think its a real example of how, if we will let it, Love has a way of pouring new wine even into difficult and tragic situations. Love has a way of helping us find new meaning, richer meaning, better, deeper taste. The trick is to taste the wine.

Sometimes, we get fixed on a particular idea in life, don't we? We make up our minds that we want a certain thing...a certain job perhaps, or a certain possession. And when we don't get that job, or possess that thing, we can become listless, dry, even depressed - believing that our life will only be complete when we have achieved our goal. But a Christian's joy is not found in achieving anything. A Christian's joy is not found in the winning of a job, or the possession of any one thing. A Christian finds their joy by learning that God is at work in every circumstance of life...changing water into wine. Christians find their joy by declaring that 'Our God Reigns' whatever befalls us. Christians find their joy in the exuberant celebration of each moment of life - trusting that God is present now, that Love is at work now.

What do people see when they look at our lives here at St Mark's? Do they see that we have access to living water? I hope so...and I pray that those who are thirsty will be drawn to the water of life by observing us. But there are many who simply don’t feel thirsty. I watch them walk past our doors every day. They are living decent, even happy lives. They are perfectly content. So, what about the extra dimension? Do our lives look like those of the servants of a God who turns water into the best wine? Is the way we practice our faith something that turns water into wine or does it look more like turning wine into water?

I wonder...what would our lives look like...what would our church look like, if we let Jesus turn our water into wine? Amen.

Called to service

2012-01-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

John 1.43-end

A few years ago, someone bought me a copy of Grumpy Old Christmas, which suited me down to the ground. One evening, Clare was sitting alone in one room of our house, when Emily and I heard what we thought was crying coming from Clare's room. We were both rather worried, so we looked around the door, and there was Clare, sitting on her bed, with tears of laughter rolling down her cheeks. She waved my copy of 'Grumpy Old Christmas' in the air, and said "It's you! It's you!"

Let me read you a paragraph from the book, by Stuart Prebble, just to see if you agree with Clare. In fact, I won't even read from the book...here's some of the blurb about the book from the dust-cover:

So...'tis the season to be jolly is it? Well, not in the household of the Grumpy Old Man it isn't. In the case of the Grumpy Old Man, 'tis the season to have to put up with even deeper layers of vexation than usual! Everything about Christmas gets up our snitches. Everything. From the breakfast telly presenters who tell us it's now just 120 shopping days to go, to the annual festive strike by airport baggage handlers. From parents videoing their precocious brats at the atrocious school nativity play where your kid is playing the part of the donkey's rear end, to the woman next door who drops in to show your wife the gigantic diamond ring her idiot of a husband has bought her. From the 150th opportunity to see 'the Wizard of Oz' on the Tele, to the Xmas turkey which tastes like blotting paper soaked in a puddle. And how on earth are we really supposed to look happy when someone buys us a Tie with a picture of flipping Santa on it?! Eh?

Now if I'm honest, I suppose I have to admit it. I know it will surprise all of you, immensely, but yes, I am a bit of a Grumpy. There's something about life which brings out the cynic in me. So I know exactly where Nathaniel was coming from, in today's reading, when he responded to Philip's news about the Messiah having been discovered in the form of Jesus of Nazareth. "Huh", said Nathaniel. "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?". Nazareth was just a humble little back-water...nowhere important, nowhere posh. It was full of hard working people, many of whom - probably like Joseph the Carpenter - were working to build the near-by Roman city of Sephoris. The residents of Nazareth were employed in Sephoris in much the same way as the residents of Portsmouth were historically employed in the dock-yard.

I guess that some of us would have pretty much the same reaction if we were told that the Saviour of the World had been discovered in North End. "North End?!" we might exclaim. "Can anything good come out of North End".

When Jesus met Nathaniel, he recognised a true and upright man...despite his cynicism about Nazareth. Nathaniel was clearly someone who was open to new possibilities, however, cynical he appeared. He was willing to go with Phillip to meet this Jesus of Nazareth...and Jesus saw something in him. As he approached, Jesus said of him "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit". Jesus saw great potential in Nathaniel. Rising into massive poetry, Jesus said that Nathaniel "will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man". Jesus uses an Old Testament image - the image of 'Jacob's Ladder' to say that Nathaniel will be part of God's great plan to touch earth with the power of heaven. The picture of ‘angels ascending and descending’ is meant to help us see that God is active and alive in God’s world.

We are those who, by the grace of God, have glimpsed the possibility that there is more to life than the simple hum-drum. We are those who chose to say 'no' to the encroaching darkness of so much human life. We are those who declare that we believe God has other plans. There are angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. That's why we are here, isn't it? Week by week, day by day, we pray the words that Jesus taught us "thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven", and in doing so we declare our belief that God is reaching out to touch this dying earth with his living love. We are those who have learned to see the world with God's eyes...not just a place of terror, war, famine and plague...but a place full of possibility for life, health, peace and justice. We are those who long for the kingdom to be established on earth as it is in heaven.

We are the people who have an answer to the big question...why am I here? Why are we here? To be the people through whom God brings about the transformation of the world. It has sometimes been said that Jesus rose into heaven for one reason: so that no-one could doubt that he calls us to do God's work on earth. Jesus has no other hands than your hands, no other feet than your feet. If words of comfort to the sick and dying are to be spoken, then they are spoken through you. If words of hope to the lost and the lonely are to be said, than it is through your lips that God wants to say them. That's why we talk about being the 'Body of Christ' - we, you and I, are God's hands, feet and loving hands to a dying world.

Jesus called Nathaniel to a new way of living - a way of living which turned away from cynical disengagement with the world - "Can anything good come out of Nazareth" - to a new way of living with his eyes wide open to the activity of God. Jesus calls you, and me, to that same vision.

You see, in answer to the question ‘can anything good come out of North End, let me tell you…it jolly well does! Everyday I see good happening in North End. Every day I see people like you, deciding to rise above the dull monotony of so much human existence, and refusing to give in to cynicism. I see people like you giving money to help those who are in need. I see people like you deciding not to give in to the urge to lay in bed on Sundays, but choosing instead to come and be part of the community which meets under this roof. I see people like you giving their time to serving in the community cafe, or to visiting the sick, or spending time with the lonely, or singing in the choir (bringing beauty into this otherwise empty space) or cleaning and maintaining this building for the benefit of everyone who uses it.

But perhaps you are already working full-time, and perhaps trying to bring up a family too. That doesn't mean that you don't have a calling from God. Bringing up a family is a calling from God. Working as a productive member of society is a calling from God. Perhaps you are being called to be the one person in your workplace who holds on to the vision that God wants to touch earth with heaven. Perhaps you are the one teacher – or child - in the school, or the one worker in the factory, to whom everyone else turns when times are tough, because you offer them loving understanding. Perhaps all you are able to do is give some of the money you earn so that others have the resources to help the homeless, the beaten, the downtrodden by life.

Last year, our Bishop launched what he calls our 'Ministry for Mission' strategy. It’s summarised in the cards in your pews today. Here are three simple propositions from our Bishop:

"FACT: All baptised Christians have gifts and we all have a calling. All ministry is collaborative, for lay and ordained." That's another way of saying that any church which thinks that its Vicar is the only worker is a church on the way to closing! All of us are called to co-operate with God in bringing heaven to earth.

Second, "THINK: What are your gifts? What does God want you to do with them?

Third: "ACT: Collaborative ministry starts with you and me. How will you take part in God's mission?

This is your invitation - the same invitation which Jesus gave to Nathaniel...an invitation to use God's gifts together to see His kingdom grow! Yes…even in North End! Amen.

Christmas Message

2011-12-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas Message 2011

This has been quite a year, hasn't it?

In the Middle East, the so-called Arab Spring has brought about an earthquake in politics. In New Zealand there were real earthquakes, while in the UK our summer streets exploded into riots. In Europe, the Euro-zone countries are in crisis. Floods in the Philippines, civil war in the Ivory Coast. In Russia, Vladimir Putin is accused of rigging elections. In the Western World, bankers are are getting ludicrously rich while homelessness and poverty is on the rise at least partly because of their greed. America withdraws from Iraq...which quickly plunges into political chaos. Refugees are flooding across borders all over the world...desperately seeking a better life.

And that's just for starters....

But you know all this. You watch the news, like me. I wouldn't be surprised if, by now, you are wondering what the Vicar going on about?! We didn't come to church to hear about politicians and war-mongers, bankers and natural disasters did we?. We've come to church to hear lovely things which make us feel good inside.

But perhaps that's the problem...especially the problem with how we have told ourselves the Christmas story. At the centre of the story is a baby...yes - and some sheep and camels, and a manger full of sweet-smelling hay. How quickly we forget the rest of the story, though!

We forget that Jesus was born in an occupied country, governed by the most powerful and war-like Empire the world had yet known. We forget that the story of a baby born in Bethlehem is the story of a baby born homeless, in an animal's food trough. We forget that within months of his birth, the local warlord, King Herod, had ordered the slaughter of all male babies in Bethlehem - because he was afraid of losing political power. We forget that just after his birth, Jesus and his parents had to flee for their lives - becoming political refugees themselves.

There are other aspects of the story we forget too. We forget that Mary was an unmarried, teenage mother. We forget that Shepherds - the first visitors on the scene - were thought of as 'the scum of the earth' to much of society. And we forget that this story which begins with the birth of a baby, will end up with the cruel death of a God-filled man, nailed to a cross by the political and religious powers of his day.

No, my friends, we dare not take this Christmas story lightly. And we must not assume that our world is any different to the world into which Jesus was born. Because that is precisely the point. In the babe of Bethlehem, God enters our world. The underlying story of the Christ Mass is that God comes to us in the middle of all the chaos. Surprisingly, God is at work in the middle of all the muddle.

How can this be? How can God be at work when there is obviously so much horror out there?

An animal's food-trough is a surprising place to find God...but there are many other places where we find that God has been startlingly at work...in hospices and prisons, for example. In school classrooms, and loving families. In our community cafe here at St Mark's, and in day-care centres and play groups. God has been at work in campaigns for global justice, and in the work of Christian Aid and a thousand other relief organisations. God is at work in lives which are poured out in the service of others, all around the globe - in the lives of men and women who are committed to being peace-keepers of all kinds. God is at work among the Churches Homeless Action Group in Portsmouth, and in the dedication of social workers, nurses, and doctors, serving the needs of drug addicts and prostitutes. God is at work in the Portsmouth Women's Refuge, and the Haslar Centre for Refugees.

Everywhere that there is love...Christ is born today. Every time that a weapon is laid down, and reconciliation is sought, Christ is born today. Every time that the mighty are brought down from their seat, the words of the Angels come true.

And that's why we are here. In the middle of night, in the middle of the darkness, we proclaim that there is light, after all. In the middle of the darkness of the World, in the middle of political and economic chaos, we proclaim that Christ is present...that God remains at work among us.

So, sing choirs of Angels...sing in exultation. Christ is born today!

Amen

St Nicholas

2011-12-03T23:30:00.000-08:00

Sermon for the Feast of St Nicholas

I wonder if everyone here knows who St Nicholas is. What are some of the names that he is called? Here’s a clue – for those who don’t already know…in some countries, he is known as “Santa Niclaus” – Santa being a Spanish form of the word Saint. Sometimes Santa Niclaus gets shortened to “Santa ‘Claus”. Yes, St Nicholas is the person we know as Father Christmas! And this is Father Christmas’ Church!
There are lots and lots of traditions concerning St Nicholas – and I’m sure you’ve heard many of them here over the years. But it’s perhaps worth recapping some of them.

It’s fascinating to see how St Nicholas is celebrated differently, in different parts of the world. In many places St. Nicholas is the main gift giver. His feast day, St. Nicholas Day, is December 6, which falls early in the Advent season. Some places he arrives in the middle of November and moves about the countryside, visiting schools and homes to find out if children have been good. Other places he comes in the night and finds carrots and hay for his horse or donkey along with children's wish lists. Small treats are left in shoes or stockings so the children will know he has come.

Where St. Nicholas is prominent, his day, not Christmas, is the primary gift-giving day. Instead of gathering to give presents on Christmas Day, like we do, parties are held on the eve, December 5th, and shoes or stockings left for St. Nicholas to fill during the night. Children then find treats of small gifts, fruit or nuts, and special Nicholas candies and cookies.

One vital difference between the way we receive gifts, in England, and the way that others do it, is that St. Nicholas gifts are meant to be shared, not hoarded for oneself. Whatever little treats St Nicholas brings – sweets, nuts, fruit, candies – these are to be shared, around the whole family.

We have an icon of St Nicholas in this church, as you know. It was painted by our good friend Carmen Orastean, who is a Romanian. In Romania, St Nicholas’ Day is a very great festival. On the night of December 5th, boots are cleaned and carefully polished to be put by the door or on the windowsill to wait for St. Nicholas' (Sfantul Nicolae) visit. He is generous to adults as well as children, putting a little present in each boot—usually nuts, tangerines, sweets and small items, like new socks. In some areas a walnut branch or thin twigs with gold, silver, or bronze gilded walnuts are left as a warning that behaviour needs to improve. On the sixth of December, gifts are given to friends, children, and those in need. It is one of the most important Romanian holidays.

More than 800,000 Romanians are called Nicholas, Nicolae or Nicola – or other variations of his name. They all celebrate their name day on St. Nicholas day, December 6th. Over 1000 churches are dedicated to St. Nicholas in Romania, at least 23 are in Bucharest.

It’s worth knowing about some of these traditions – because perhaps they help us to see the our own traditions in a new light. Perhaps they might even make us think a little about the way we have celebrated Christmas, for the last few decades. Everyone I meet agrees that we have become far too obsessed with presents, and that Christmas has become too expensive. And yet, no-one seems to be able to stop. We all feel under pressure to keep up with everyone else’s idea of what Christmas should be. The stories about St Nicholas from other countries encourage us to see Christmas as something a little more simple. A small gift, here and there – a bar of chocolate, a bag of nuts. Nothing too elaborate. Just enough to send a message of love.

Of course we all know what it’s like. You go to Toyz R Us, and you buy the biggest present you can find. On Christmas morning, you watch the eyes of your child go wide at the possibilities of what might be inside. Then, the wrapping is torn off, and the child is encouraged to explore the contents. “Look”, says you, “There’s a complete play-kitchen in here. There’s a cooker, and some saucepans, and some pretend fruit. There’s a little chair and table, and a pretend sink for washing up. Look, there’s a pretend iron and ironing board…so you can do the ironing….just like Daddy!”

But the child has other ideas. “Look”, says the child, “There’s a great big empty box! It could be a house, or a castle, or a motor-boat, or a car, or a bed. It’s fantastic.” So for the rest of the day, Daddy spends his time assembling small pieces of plastic which his child will never play with, while his child is happily sitting in the box, going “Brummm….brummm”.

St Nicholas invites us to use our imaginations. St Nicholas himself became famous because he was known as a generous giver. He understood how much God had given to him – life, health, friends, a community to live in. And out of his gratitude, St Nicholas wanted to give something back.

There are many famous stories about St Nicholas. The most famous tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman's father had to offer prospective husbands something of value— called a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man's daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is known as a gift-giver.

In France the story is told of three small children, wandering in their play until lost, lured, and captured by an evil butcher. In the French story, St. Nicholas appears and appeals to God to return them to life and to their families. And so St. Nicholas is the patron and protector of children.

Several stories tell of Nicholas and the sea. For example, when he was young, Nicholas made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. There as he walked where Jesus walked, he sought to more deeply experience Jesus' life, passion, and resurrection. Returning by sea, a mighty storm threatened to wreck the ship. Nicholas calmly prayed. The terrified sailors were amazed when the wind and waves suddenly calmed, sparing them all. And so St. Nicholas is the patron of sailors and voyagers – so a pretty good Saint to have in a town like Portsmouth – and that’s why one of his symbols is a ship (as shown in our stained glass window).

Something that is consistent about all these stories is that Nicholas was someone who constantly looked for ways to help and encourage other people. Responding to God’s love, Nicholas wanted to share that love wherever he could. He was constantly on the look-out for ways to help other people. And his stories encourage us to think in similar ways.

Look, let me encourage you. Let me encourage you to think like St Nicholas, this Christmas. In a short while, many of us are going to give gifts which will be given to children throughout the City who otherwise wouldn’t get a present this year. For that, I am very very grateful – and I’m sure that St Nicholas is too. But there is one gift that every single one of us can give this year, a gift which can be given and received all through the year. It’s the gift of a question…

Here’s the question…”What can I do for you?”. Mummy, you’ve been cooking all day. What can I do for you? Daddy, you’ve been ironing all morning…what can I do for you? Neighbour…you haven’t spoken to anyone today…what can I do for you? Homeless person, sitting in the shop doorway in North End…what can I do for you? Starving person I’ve seen on the TV, whose crops have failed or been washed away…what can I do for you?

There’s another little thing that St Nicholas can teach us. St Nicholas is never seen. If we try to stay awake, to see him coming down the chimney…he won’t come. St Nicholas always gives his gifts in secret. He gives what we might call ‘random acts of kindness’. He gives in secret, without expecting any reward…though I know he’s always grateful for a glass of brandy and a mince pie for the reindeer! But he gives without looking for thanks – he spreads a little happiness as he goes by.

There are some lovely stories out there about Random Acts of Kindness. There’s the story of a woman in America who was going through a Starbuck’s Drive-In, on her way to work. It was a cold, grey morning, and she really didn’t want to go to work. When she got to the window, a little bit of sunshine broke out when the assistant gave her a cup of coffee, and said “It’s paid for, already”. It turned out that the taxi driver in front of her had paid for her coffee. The assistant explained “He does it every day, for one person”.

There are lots of random acts of kindness done in this parish too. Those of you who have brought presents today…thanks for the act of kindness. Those of you who are buying vouchers for the homeless – for people you will never meet…thank you for the random act of kindness. Those of you who filled up Shoeboxes for the annual shoebox appeal - thankyou. Those who gave to the Harvest appeal for food, or money for the Bungokho centre in Uganda – thank you. Those of you who give regularly, sacrificially, to the work of the church…St Nicholas would be proud of all of you.

And doesn’t it feel good? Doesn’t it feel great to know that today, your life counted for something? Today, you helped another human being a little further along their journey – however tough that journey has been.
Jesus taught us that it is giving that we receive. By giving out, we receive back a thousand fold – especially in that deep sense that today, we know we have made a difference.

St Nicholas stands as an example. According to all the legends, he is the giver who is never seen…and who is yet loved by all. That’s not a bad example for any of us to follow.
Amen.

The Sheep and the Goats

2011-11-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

Matthew 25: 31 - 46 - The Sheep and the Goats

Today is the last day of the church's year: the new liturgical year begins next week, with the first Sunday of Advent. The church's calendar encourages us to begin the year with a time of preparation and contemplation, before the arrival - again - of the Baby in Bethlehem, the celebration of the Christ Mass.

Here, on the last day of the year, we are asked to consider the ultimate destination of that Baby. The baby who arrives in a manger will grow to be at first a wise child, then an inspiring preacher. He will become a crucified messiah, then victor over the death itself. He will ascend into a heavenly state, hidden physically from his followers, but will then be found among them again in the form of the Spirit of God. Then, at what the Bible calls 'the end of the age', he will return as Christ the King - Lord of the Whole Universe.

What are we to make of this final story? This story of the Christ who separates people into two groups - like a Shepherd separates sheep from goats. Well, first of all, let's remember that this is a story. Like all of the stories of Jesus, it is not meant to be taken literally. It contains lots of story-telling references, which people of Jesus' day would have understood instinctively.

Take, for example, the use of repetition. Great stories of the Eastern World used repetition all the time. It was a way of making the story stick in our imaginations. We have some examples in our own culture. Take the story of the three little pigs. How does is it go?

"Little pig, little pig, let me come in"

"No no Mr Wolf, by the hair of my chinny chin chin, I will not let you in!"

"Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in!"

This story of the sheep and the goats uses very similar (but not so comical) repetition:

"I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you visited me"

That litany is repeated four times in this one story...twice for the 'sheep', and twice (in a negative form) for the goats.

There are other, classic, story-telling devices on display here too. Take, for example, the response of the crowds - either the sheep or the goats. It is inconceivable that a whole crowd of people, totalling half of all human beings who have ever lived, would respond in exactly the same way to Jesus' statement. Among the sheep, surely, there would be some who would understand exactly what Jesus meant...those who had read their Bibles, perhaps! They would not respond by saying "When did we do all these things?". They would, rather, say, something like "Yes, Lord...we did our best". Or "thanks for noticing!". But in this story the sheep and the goats all respond in exactly the same way. It’s a story-tellers’ trick - like the way that all the children of Hamlyn respond to the Pied Piper, or the way that every girl in the Kingdom wants to marry the Prince in Cinderella.

There is one other little detail about this story that is worth contemplating - before we get to the heart of what it is saying. When I say the word "sheep" to you - I daresay that you have a vision in your mind of something round and fluffy, with a big thick woolly jumper. On the other hand, the word "goat" brings to mind something bigger, stronger, with a rough wiry coat, and big horns. In fact, that was not the image that Jesus had in mind.

A few years ago, when I was in Uganda, I was shown that primitive breeds of sheep and goats are remarkably similar. Ugandan sheep and goats are very similar to those in the area around Jerusalem. It is actually quite difficult to tell them apart. Woolly, English sheep, and strong wiry goats are the result of selective breeding over many centuries. In fact, a shepherd who might be separating them, one from another in Palestine, has only one visible marker to guide him in a hurry - namely that sheep's tails point downwards, and goat's tails point up.

So, knowing that what we have heard is a story...not a description of exactly how things will be, but a grand, metaphorical parable...how shall we interpret it? What does it mean?

The story comes at the end of a long section of Matthew's gospel, when Jesus has been talking about the End of All Things. It all starts back in Matthew 24, when his disciples say to him "Tell us...what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

So this parable, which is part of Jesus' response to their question, could easily start with the words "At the end of the age"...or, as we might say, "at the end of the day".

At the end of the day, this parable teaches us, there are only two kinds of people. They are pretty similar, these people - it’s hard to tell them apart, in fact. They all lead fairly normal lives, they marry, have children, go to work, watch Eastenders. But there is a difference. And the difference is found in the way that they relate to other people.

All the people of the world, the sheep and the goats, are surrounded by others in need. There are homeless people, and hungry people. There are thirsty people and naked people. There are sick people and prisoners, ripped away from their families by their own fault, or by the oppression of the countries they live in.

At the end of the day, the difference between the lost and the saved is indicated by the way they respond to the hungry, homeless, thirsty, naked, sick and imprisoned. Jesus is saying "if you want to know who will be saved, look at the quality of a person's life...at the decisions they make about others in need".

Is that it? Is that all that I must do to save my soul? Well, yes, essentially. That is the heart of the story of the sheep and the goats. At the "end of the age", at the "end of the day", how I have lived towards other people will show whether or not I have attained the salvation of my soul.
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But of course, it’s not as simple as that. How I have lived towards others is only an indicator...it is the outward sign of something much more profound that is supposed to be going on inside of me. Every human being is capable of being generous, from time to time. Even the most evil human being you can imagine is capable of generosity, occasionally - if only to their own family members.

I wonder how many of us have supported Children in Need this year? Good for you, if you did. Nothing wrong with that, at all. But woe to you, if that is all you have done for others this year! I feel nothing but sorrow for those who can only respond to the plight of others when it is put in front of them in graphic detail on the television. My friends, such people are goats. They are the ones who look like sheep, but whose obedience to radical call of the Gospel is only skin deep.

Becoming a sheep - a true believer, a true Christ-ian, takes a complete transformation of our inner being...or what the Bible calls being 'born again'. Crucially, it takes a daily commitment to the abandonment of 'self'. Earlier in Matthew's gospel, specifically Chapter 16, Jesus says this...listen to him:
"I anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life, will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?"

Salvation, being 'born again, is not achieved at a moment in time...just by saying a prayer. It is the work of a lifetime, to keep on keeping on...carrying our cross. When Jesus died on the cross, he gave up his rights to everything, even the robe that he wore, and the life that he had. But even while he was doing so, he found time to forgive his executioners, make provision for his mother, and give a comforting word to a thief. When Jesus calls us to 'take up our cross', he means that for us to find salvation, we need to embrace that kind of radical giving. We need to be willing to give up everything we have, everything we think, everything we are, in order to truly find the salvation we seek.

Now I realise, of course, that this is a hard Gospel to hear. It's a million miles from the faith that some of us have inherited...the kind of faith which assumes that all I have to do is go to church on Sunday, believe some basic theology about Jesus dying for us, and somehow, our salvation will take care of itself. But that is the Gospel. Jesus has said it. "Whoever finds his life, will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it"

As I've said, this is the work of a lifetime. It takes time to gradually pull down the walls of the ego and the self we have built around us. It takes years to come to the realisation that it truly is in giving of ourselves that we receive, and that in dying to ourselves we are born to eternal life. But it is possible to start that journey, that lifetime of work today! Perhaps we could start with the most basic call of Christian discipleship - the biblical call to give 10% of our earnings to the work of God. That’s a good place to start. Perhaps we could join Jeff Harvey and the pastoral team, giving just one hour a week to the task of visiting the sick of this parish? That’s a good place to start. Perhaps we could offer a little of our time, once a month, once a fortnight, once a week to a charity which serves others, or to the Community Café. You don’t have to cook…you don’t even have to serve coffee. What most of our customers in the café are after is a friendly face, and a listening ear.

But that is only the start. What Jesus called 'the Way' is a way of life. It demands a complete re-imagining of what we consider important in life. It means a complete emptying of self...truly giving up my rights, my desires, my feelings, my wants, my purposes, and the giving out of all my resources to the service of others. To the hungry and the thirsty, to the naked and the homeless, to the sick and imprisoned.

Anything else is just an illusion of true religion. And nothing at all like the real thing.

ALL SOULS 2011

2011-11-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

ALL SOULS Romans 13.8-10 and Luke 14.25-33

This is a strange time of year, isn't it? With the feasts of All Saints, All Souls and Remembrance all coming so close together, it can feel just a little bit sad. Through these feasts, we are encouraged to think about the difficult topic of death.

First, inevitably, we think about the death of those we have loved. Through these services, we re-member them...that is, we re-connect them, in our minds. We put their 'members' - their arms, legs, and faces, - back together in our minds. We re-member them. And that is good. It is an opportunity to thank God for all that our loved ones meant to us, and still mean to us. We might think about what they contributed to our lives. We might thank God for the love that they shared with us...love that is itself a sign, and a mirror, of the love of God itself.

For some of us, of course, some of the memories we have might be more complicated. All human beings are complicated, and human relationships are the most complicated of all. Some people even feel relieved when certain relationships are ended by death...let's be honest, not every relationship is positive and life-giving. But that's ok too. We give those relationships to God, just as we give all our loved ones to God. We trust that in God, and through God, there is healing of past hurts, as well as hope for the future.

Interestingly, however, today's lectionary readings have little to say about the death of those we have known. Instead, the lectionary encourages us to think about our own lives, and ultimately, of course, our own deaths. For as the old saying goes, "nothing is certain in life, except death and taxes".

St Augustine of Hippo enlarged on this idea, when he wrote this:

"It is necessary to die, but nobody wants to; you don't want to, but you are going to, whether you like it or not. It is hard not to want something which cannot be avoided. If it could be managed, we would much rather not die; we would like to become like the angels by some other means than death. We want to reach the Kingdom of God, but we don't want to travel by way of death. And yet, there stands Mr Necessity saying 'This way, please!' "

CS Lewis, writer of the Narnia books, was even more blunt. He said this:

"It is hard to have patience with people who say 'there is no death,' or 'Death doesn't matter'. There is death. And whatever is matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and it and they are irrevocable and irreversible. You might as well say that birth doesn't matter."

But let's get back to the Lectionary. What are these two readings saying to us? First, St Paul, writing to the Romans, seems to speak right into the economic crisis that we who are still alive find ourselves faced with. He reminds us of what philosophers have called 'the Golden Rule' - "Love your neighbour as you love yourself". But he does so in a very interesting context. In the previous few lines, Paul has been talking about faithfulness in financial matters. "Pay your taxes", he says, "because the authorities are God's servants". Then, "Give everyone what you owe him". Then finally, "Let no debt remain outstanding".

If only this was the basis on which our financial system was built! If only we had not built our entire system on debt, then perhaps it would not have come crashing round our ears as it has done in the last few years. Paul says "Let no debt remain outstanding....except....the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow-man has fulfilled the law"

Just imagine what a different world this would be if the law of loving compassion was the basis of our system of finances and banking! Just imagine how different life would be for billions, if 20% of the world's population did not control 80% of the world's resources. Just think how 'loving your neighbour' would truly transform the world!

It is possible to state the so-called Golden Rule in an opposite way. There is a story about a Jewish Rabbi, a contemporary of Jesus, called Rabbi Hillel. He was once challenged to stand on one leg, to recite the law of Moses. The old fellow was clearly up for a challenge, because he immediately stood on one leg and said (and I paraphrase)

"Don't do to others what you would not like them to do to you. That is the entire Law of God...the rest of the Scriptures are just commentary"

Do you see the difference? "Love your neighbour" is a positive action, and potentially a rather passive one. Its relatively simple to go around just loving everybody. But "don't treat your neighbour badly" is a way of inviting us to really challenge our behaviour. "Don't grab selfishly at stuff if you wouldn't like people grabbing at your stuff. Don't wage war if you would not like war waged on you. Don't judge other people's opinions, lifestyles, choices, if you would not like other people judging yours"

So here is Paul saying "wake up, people!" In fact, if we read on a few verses from the small selection of the lectionary, we find Paul saying this:

"The hour has come for you to wake up from your present slumber, because our salvation is nearer than when we first believed."

In other words....death is coming. Our salvation, through death into the Kingdom of God, is coming. Are we content to sleep our way through this 'present slumber' or are we perhaps interested in living Kingdom lives now? Because, let us not forget, the Departed whom we commemorate today, are living in the Kingdom of heaven - or so we pray. Our lives are but dull slumber compared to the true life that awaits all those who are transformed by the love of God.

D.L.Moody, a famous preacher, once said this:

"Some day you will read in the papers that D.L.Moody of Northfield is dead. Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now: I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this clay tenement into a house that is immortal - a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto his glorious body"

And that is of course the thrust of the Gospel reading we just heard. Jesus uses a clearly exaggerated phrase to emphasise how unimportant our present priorities are, compared to the priorities of the Kingdom. He says, effectively,

"There is a cost to being a disciple".

"Any of you who does not give up everything for my sake cannot be my disciple. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters - yes even his own life - he cannot be my disciple"

Jesus, and the Kingdom of loving compassion that he preaches, has a claim on our lives. Eternal life is not something which is only given to the departed. Jesus preached that "the Kingdom of Heaven is 'among you' or 'within you' " depending on the translation (cf Luke 17.21). In other words, eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven is something which is offered to us now. Eternal life is life which doesn't stop, even through death, and which can begin today. It is literally 'life which goes on for ever'.

There is an irony that as we pray for the souls of the departed today, Christian tradition has always taught that of much more importance is the knowledge that those who are in the very presence of God, now, are also praying for us. Our loved ones, who are themselves caught up in the love of God, are praying for us now, as we pray for them. By their prayers and ours, a great unending circle of prayer is initiated...a circle of compassionate love, in which we, like them, can be caught up. A great powerhouse of prayer which can give us the strength, the commitment, the drive, to live as Jesus and Paul his Apostle call us to live.

In most Orthodox churches around the world, over the Altar, there is an image of Christ celebrating the Eucharist with the 'faithful departed' - those who are in his presence now. Within Orthodoxy, there is a lovely idea that as we celebrate the Eucharist on earth, with the Priest standing 'vicariously' (as a Vicar) in the place of Christ, Christ himself celebrates the very same feast, eternally in heaven with all those he has welcomed into his kingdom. It's a lovely image...one which I encourage you to hold in your mind as we pray later 'with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven'.

So today, we pray for our loved ones, who we re-member in this act of worship...but we also pray for the strength to live our own eternal lives by the Golden Rule, and for the strength to make the compassionate priorities of the Kingdom our priorities...for ever and ever.

Amen

Walking on the Water

2011-08-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

Matthew 14.22-36

Have you ever heard of William Walker? Walker was a diver, who was born in the 1800s. He was one of the first divers of the Royal Navy, training in 1887 at Portsmouth Dockyard. As one the nation's earliest divers, he had many exciting adventures. On one occasion, he was called to Wales, to rescue drowning miners from a pit collapse. He was one of the divers who worked on the Blackwall Tunnel, and he held the distinction of being the diving instructor for King George V. However, the achievement for which he is most famous was something rather more local to us.

Between 1906–1911, working in water up to a depth of 20, he shored up Winchester Cathedral, using more than 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks, and 900,000 bricks.

Winchester Cathedral, you see, had been built about 800 years before by the Normans. At the time, the land all around the Cathedral was essentially a peat bog. So, with their typically cunning engineering, the Normans built their cathedral on a giant raft. For 800 years, the Cathedral had essentially floated on top of the peat bog. But by the end of the 19th Century, with the peat bog drained away to create the town of Winchester, the cathedral had been in imminent danger of collapse as it sank slowly into the ground. William Walker was responsible for shoring up the walls by putting concrete underneath them. He worked six hours a day—in complete darkness, because the peat sediment suspended in the water was impenetrable to light.

It's a wonderful story, isn't it?...the story of a church floating on water for so many years. And yet, this is actually a very old image. Matthew's story of Jesus walking on the water, begins with a very similar metaphor. Water, for the Israelites, was a symbol of chaos, and challenge. It was over the waters that the Spirit of God had brooded, in Genesis, before God spoke and brought forth the land. It was through the dangerous waters that God brought the Israelites out of Egypt. Jonah and the Whales. Noah and the Flood...over and over again, the ocean is a symbol of chaos, difficulty and challenge.

So, to a first century reader of Matthew's gospel, the idea of Jesus sending all his disciples off in a boat would have been instantly recognised as another story of challenge on the ocean. The boat, in this story, can very easily be pictured as the church...containing, at that time, all the disciples of Jesus. In fact, Matthew goes still further, to make his point. Where our English translation describes the little boat as being battered by the waves, Matthew's original word, in Greek, was 'tortured'...the little boat was being 'tortured' by the waves, just as the church in Matthew's day was being tortured by the Authorities.

This then is Matthew's picture of the church. Jesus sends out his followers into a leaky tub, into an ocean of challenge, difficulty and chaos. This is not a church which rides above the difficulties of life, but a church which finds itself in the middle of everything life can throw. Buffeted, even tortured, by the world around it, church members look to the shore, desperate for a word of encouragement from Jesus, wondering why he is not in the boat with them.

Because, you see, the little boat on the Sea of Galilee has left Jesus behind on the shore, just as the church left Jesus behind in history. It seems impossible that Jesus could be with us...and yet, as the morning dawns, the disciples in the boat see Jesus...striding towards them, over the chaos of the sea. He calls to them, over the storm..."Take heart! It is I! Do not be afraid".

But like us, Peter still wonders. Can this really be Jesus? He proposes a little test. "If it is you, Lord, command me to come to you on the water". Jesus replies with a single word, "Come". Peter - the first disciple, the archetype for all disciples, steps out of the boat, walking towards Jesus on top of the water! He does what Jesus does. He copies him, and for a while, he succeeds. But as he looks at the storm all around him, he becomes frightened, and starts to sink.

Jesus reaches out his hand, and rescues Peter. He helps him into the boat, commenting sadly, that Peter is of little faith. "How could you doubt?" Jesus asks, sadly.

I wonder how many times you have heard this story. And I wonder how many times, like me, you have been told that this is a story about faith. Certainly all the preachers I heard as a youngster used to tell me that Peter's problem was his lack of faith. "If only Peter had had more faith...he could have overcome his fear, and conquered the act of walking on the water". And therefore, the message to us is often read as "If only we had more faith, we could conquer all our problems in spectacular ways".

But I wonder.

There is a problem, for me, with that interpretation. Can it really be that God wants us to believe that bad things happen to us because we don't have enough faith? Can it be that God wants us to feel guilty when we are sick, or when accidents happen, or when people persecute us...guilty that these things are happening because we don't have enough faith? I'm not sure I can believe that.

Faith is not about being able to walk on the water. Only God can do that. Faith is about believing, in the midst of the storm and the chaos of life, that Jesus is in the boat with us. In spite of all the evidence, faith is the act of believing that God is in the boat with us, sharing our pain, sharing in our weakness. God is made real in the community of faith as it makes its way through the storm, battered - tortured - by the waves.

Are your numbers falling? "It is I: do not be afraid"

Do you struggle to respond to all the challenges of your community, your building, the starving world? "It is I: do not be afraid"

Are you feeling ill or depressed? "It is I: do not be afraid".

Are you doubting the reality of God in your life? "It is I: do not be afraid"

Are you nearing the end of life? "It is I: do not be afraid"

This too is the message of the Cross. On the cross, all the chaos of the world was brought together in one sustained attack on the goodness of God. Christ, the one who mediates between God and Man, is overpowered by the chaos of humanity, and humanity punishes him, tortures him, and kills him. Jesus shares in the suffering of all human beings on the cross...and yet manages to overcome them. He walks on the water, above the chaos. He rises from the dead, above the chaos.

Peter's mistake in the boat was to fail to recognise the transforming power of God. Instead, he tried to do it himself. "Let me walk on the water" was his cry.

I remember my daughter, when she was very small, struggling with a jigsaw puzzle. I got frustrated at her lack of progress, and bent down to help her - and was astonished at her reply. "Do it myself!" she said.
Isn't that what we all do, from time to time, to God? In spite of all that God has taught us about how to live, we still try to 'do it myself'. We try to walk on the water, instead of letting Jesus come and sit beside us in the boat.

Jesus says to us: "Live simply. Do not worry about what tomorrow will bring"
We say "Do it myself!" and hoard possessions and cash in case of the coming storm.

Jesus says to us: "You are members of one body, fruit on the vine of the church"
We say "Do it myself" and decide that we don't need the hassle of coming to church.

Jesus says: "Blessed are the peacemakers - the children of God"
We say "Do it myself" and harbour our hatreds and our lack of forgiveness for decades

Peter's problem was that he didn't understand that Jesus comes to us through the chaos of life. Peter didn't have enough faith in the God who walks beside us on the road, or who comes to sit beside us in the boat. He wanted to get to Jesus, through the chaos - instead of letting Jesus come to him.

We yearn for instant answers, instant solutions. We want to walk on the water too! But Jesus wants to sit beside us in the boat...going through all the things of life....sharing them, and helping us to learn through them. There are two storm stories in the Gospel. In one of them, Jesus says to the waves, "Quiet, be still". In the other, Jesus strides above the storm, through the storm. You see, Jesus doesn't always still the storm...sometimes he uses the storm for greater purposes...

If I am poor, Jesus can show me how rich I truly am. If I am sick, Jesus can show me how well I really am. On the other hand, if I am rich, Jesus can show me my poverty. If I am healthy, Jesus can point me to where my sickness lays. In EVERY circumstance of life, there is something to learn, some new growth for our souls to embrace. Life - the storm, the ocean, - its the proving ground for our souls. It is here that Jesus prepares us for life which goes on for ever. It is here that he sits beside us in the boat.

So, let me ask you. What is Jesus teaching you today? As he sits beside you in the boat, in the middle of your own particular storm, what is he saying to you?
Can you hear him?
If you can't, then seek him out.
How? Well, here are some suggestions:

First, why not speak to another Christian - listen for the voice of Jesus through the voices of other believers. Chat with Christian friends over coffee in the Cafe. Seek out a priest, or a deacon, and share what's on your heart. Listen, together, to what God is saying.

Secondly - and here's a really radical thought...why not Read Jesus' Words! Try actually opening the Bible you keep on your shelf at home! Start with the Gospels, and work through the New Testament...leave the Old Testament until you've got some practice at hearing God's voice.

Thirdly - give yourself some space to think, and to pray. Switch off the TV or the radio from time to time. Spend time in quietness, mulling over the circumstances of your life....asking God to teach you what God wants to teach you...reflecting on all that is happening, and how God is growing your soul today.

Fourth - why not buy a book? We have a book-shop downstairs, full of interesting, challenging, encouraging books which will lead you to think more about what God is saying to you, each day.

And Finally - be diligent about meeting with the rest of us. Don't stop being together in church. We are in this boat together - and together we will hear Jesus calling over the waves: "It is I: do not be afraid".

Amen

Anders Behring Breivik - Massacre in Norway

2011-07-23T05:17:00.000-07:00

Romans 8. 26-39
This morning, I’m going to tell you a story. It’s a fictional story, based on the recent events in Norway, and on today’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans. I don’t claim that every detail in this story is correct. But I offer it as a thought…as a story…in the hope that it will open our imaginations to what might be possible in the love of God. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin…

Once upon a time, not very long ago, a young man called Anders lived in Norway, the land of the Norsemen, the Vikings. Anders was blond, and blue-eyed…a true Viking, descended from Vikings. In his history books he read about the time when the Vikings had ruled vast swathes of Europe, a time when blond and blue eyed people had been in complete control.

But looking around his own country now, he saw that Vikings were no longer in control. Instead, Norway was ruled by faceless bureaucrats in far away Brussels. He saw that his country was being too kind, too welcoming to people from other countries. Foreigners were crowding his streets…people from Africa, people from Asia, people from parts of Europe which certainly weren’t blond. And worse than that “these people are taking jobs from us Norwegians. They are claiming money from our Government, living in our houses, and stealing our jobs.” thought Anders.

Slowly, day by day, anger started to grow within Anders. He couldn’t understand that the world was a shrinking place, in which overpopulation, famine and war were driving desperate people across all sorts of borders, in search of a better life. No-one challenged his thinking. When he complained about black people in his city, friends and family members would just shrug their shoulders, and agree. It was easier to agree…even when they didn’t agree. Anders always looked so angry about the issue. It was easier to just go along with him…not to challenge him.

Slowly, slowly, the hatred grew. Anders began to look around for someone to blame. Someone had to pay for this situation. It was impossible for him, alone, to attack all the foreigners in his country…there were too many of them. But perhaps he could attack those who had let them in? In his unchallenged, warped mind, his anger turned towards the leaders of Norway. It was the fault of the Government. It was the fault of the Prime Minister. It was the fault of the Labour Party of Norway.

A desperate, angry plan began to form. Anders gathered his resources. Guns, bullets, explosives. He built up a stock-pile, until one day, on the 22nd of July 2011, he was ready to show the Government that they were wrong to let so many foreigners into his country.

So, with deliberate care, and seething rage, Anders planted his bomb. The bomb would go off right outside the Prime Minister’s office. Anders planted his bomb, and then waited for it to explode.

Boom! The bomb ripped a hole in the Government’s main building. The Prime Minister’s office was shattered. Anders had started his war. What next?

Anders knew that there was an island where the ruling party of Norway took its young people for training and indoctrination into their stupid beliefs about the equality of all human beings. That is where he would strike next. Gathering his many guns and bullets, Anders set off for the Island. He would strike a blow not just at the present Government, but at the next generation of politicians. He would teach them a lesson they would never forget.

Arriving at the island, Anders set to work at his grim task. He opened fire on hundreds of people, sending them scattering all over the island…they climbed trees, they tried to swim to the mainland, they barricaded themselves into log cabins. Terrified.

At the end of his days work, 84 people – mainly young people – had been slain. Another seven had died in the earlier bomb blast. Anders was content. He had sent a message to the whole world…a message that no-one could ignore. He allowed himself to be taken…to be arrested…so that through his forthcoming trial, his message of “Norway for Norwegians” would have the maximum impact, as the press followed every twist and turn.

Then, one day, many years later, after spending the rest of his life in prison, Anders died. There were many who celebrated that day. Many of the parents of those children, the ones who were gunned down in their prime, believed that prison had been too kind a treatment for Anders. “Now, he’ll get what’s coming to him”, they said to themselves. “Now, he’ll burn in hell”.

Anders himself had thought that would probably happen too. After years of thinking about his actions in jail, he had come to understand that he had taken the wrong course. But what could he do about it? What was done was done. And if there was a God…well, he’d just have to take the punishment, wouldn’t he?
Anders’ day of judgement had arrived. He stood, in the presence of God. An awesome light shone all around him…a light which pulsed with love, and yet also judgement. There was clarity in that light. Anders knew that everything he had done, everything he had thought, every warped impulse was seen, judged, weighed in the balance, by that light. And yet, there was love too…along with judgement.

Anders took his courage in his hands. He looked into the light. And said…”I suppose you’re going to send me to hell now?”

“That’s up to you”, said the Voice of God.

“But I have done awful things,” said Anders.

“Yes,” said Jehovah, “you have”.

“So, surely I deserve to rot in hell”

“Probably,” said Jesus. “But then so do many of my children. Your crimes were particularly horrible…but you are not the only one. Many of my children have killed their brothers and sisters. It started with Cain and Abel…and it has never stopped. Many have lived lives of hate. Others have stood by, taking no action at all, while their brothers and sisters have died in famine and war. Many have carried on partying, taking massive bonuses and living on luxury yachts, while others around them were dying. Your hatred is great, Anders…but it’s not all that unusual.”

“So what’s going to happen to me? What are you going to do to me?”

“I’m going to love you,” said the Spirit.

“What?” said Anders, struggling to take it in.

“I’m going to love you,” said God.

“How? How can you do that? After all I’ve done?”

“I can’t do anything else.” said Love. “That’s what I am. Love. That’s what I do. Love. I created you, and the whole Universe out of love. It was love that brought you into being. And it is love which will bring you home.”

Anders was speechless.

“Did you ever read the Bible, during the life I gave you?” asked Love.

“Well…” replied Anders, “bits of it”.

“There’s a passage in there that I am especially proud of”, said God. “It was written by a child of mine called Paul. Now he was a mess…let me tell you. He actually started out by murdering followers of Jesus. But eventually, Love got to him…and he saw the light. He wised up, and got the message of Love. Fortunately, for other Christians, he did it while he was still on Earth. Paul ended up writing this, in a letter to some Roman Christians: ‘I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’. Pretty good eh?” said God.

“Lovely,” said Anders, “but what does it mean?”

God sighed, and said, “It means, Anders, that whatever you have done, whatever warped influences you gave into, whatever your weaknesses, whatever your thoughts, whatever you were driven by madness to do, I will never stop loving you. I will always keep on inviting you to give in to my love.”

Anders didn’t know how to respond to this. It was so far removed from what he had expected. He had spent years of seething anger in his cell, watching the little television that he was allowed. Over the years, countless journalists and commentators on his crimes had convinced him that he was at best , nothing. Or at worse, he was evil personified. Even if he believed in God, Anders had always thought that there could be no other outcome for him than death and destruction. In his heart, he had accepted destruction as inevitable. He had even started to embrace it as welcome. He looked up to God…

“What if I don’t want to be loved?” he asked. “I’m not sure that I want it. I’ve kind of got used to who I am, and what I’ve done. I’m not sure I want to give that up.”

“That,” replied Love, “is why I said that the decision about whether or not you will go to hell is yours”

“What do you mean?” asked Anders

“I will never stop loving you, Anders. But I can’t make you want my love. That’s your choice. I give you free will to accept my love, or reject it. After all, I can’t make you love me. That wouldn’t be love…it would be manipulation.”

“And what happens if I reject your love?”

“You’ll die, forever. Remember what I told you…I created you out of Love. My love brought you into being. My love has sustained you and all people, even through the terrible things you have done. But now, you have a choice. If you refuse my love, you’ll gradually wither up, and die. It’s a bit like food. If you stop eating, eventually you will die. If you stop receiving my love, you’ll fade away. My bible talks about those who reject my love being thrown into the fire, or thrown into the rubbish dump called Gehenna…where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Those are pictures… metaphors that I have used to warn all my children of what happens when they reject my love. Fading away, becoming less and less real, wailing and crying in the pain of selfishness, until eventually, destruction takes place. Paul called it “the second death”. Anders… don’t choose that path. Despite all you’ve done, I still love you”.

“But what about justice?” said Anders. “Surely there has to be some justice for the people I killed?”

“Yes,” said God. “And for all the millions who have died through the selfishness of my other children. And for all those who lived lives of abject poverty because the people of the West would not share the world’s resources. And for all those who died in leaky boats escaping wars over oil and gold. There has to be justice for all of them too.”

“So…how?” said Anders. “If all the world is guilty of sin…can you punish everybody?”

“I could. But what kind of Father sends all his children to hell? All have sinned, Anders. All have fallen short of the glory of God. Love, Anders. Love is the only way. My justice is not like the justice of human beings. My justice is tempered with love. My judgement sees all that is wrong with the way humans chose to live…and then meets it with love.”

“How?” asked Anders.

“Through a cross.” said Jesus. “A cross where love and mercy meet. A cross where God and human beings have the chance to connect, through Love. A cross where the evil that all human beings are capable of doing is confronted with the force of my love.”

“My Lord, and my God!” said Anders. “Teach me more about this kind of Love!”

Amen

Deacons, Priests and Ministers

2011-07-03T22:56:00.000-07:00

A sermon for the Welcoming of Tony Forrest: Assistant Curate
3rd July 2011 - the Feast of St Thomas

John 20. 24-29

Back in 1983, the movie world was stunned when Sean Connery decided to reprise his role as James Bond. He was by that time decidedly middle aged - and had not played Bond since 1971. Movie-legend has it that after he finished filming for 'Diamonds are Forever' he said to his wife "never again". But she was horrified, and replied "no - never say 'never again'!"The title of the 1983 movie was a bit of a joke at Connery's own expense. It was a way of him recognising that he had been a bit rash in his original statement.

And that's something I think we've probably all done at one time or another, isn't it? I know I have.

It was certainly something that Thomas the Apostle said. "I will never believe that Jesus has risen from the dead...not until I put my finger in the holes made by the nails in his hands and in his side". I imagine that he felt rather embarrassed when Jesus turned up in front of him and said, effectively, "Here you are then! Stick your fingers here....and here". Thomas, of course, didn't do what he had said he would do, with such bravado. Instead, he fell to his knees and uttered one of the most complete, yet pithy, statements about Jesus in the whole of the Bible: "My Lord and My God".

Thomas is, of course, known as 'Doubting Thomas'...and yet, I'm not sure that we are being very fair to the poor man. Just a few verses earlier in John's Gospel we read that the rest of the Disciples were just as unsure about what had happened to Jesus. Mary Magdelene's first response to finding the empty tomb is to run back to the Disciples and tell them that someone had taken away Jesus' body. Peter and John doubt what she has told them...and they run to the tomb to see for themselves. Then, even after Mary has met the risen Lord, (having first mistaken him for the gardener) the Disciples don't seem very keen to believe her. That same evening, they are locked away behind closed doors, afraid, unsure...all except Thomas who was evidently not with them at that point. It takes an appearance of Jesus among them for them to finally 'rejoice'. (Jn20.20). As with Thomas, a little later, Jesus shows them his wounds, and then, the text tells us, "the Disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord"

Thomas, then, was not the only doubter. He was just the last one to have the opportunity of having his doubts dealt with by Jesus. The story is, then, not so much about Thomas' doubt, but about Jesus' revelation of himself. It is Jesus who graciously reveals himself to Thomas, and the other disciples. It is Jesus who initiates and substantiates their faith. Faith, as St Paul taught us, is a gift from God...it is something that God himself gives us, not something we manufacture for ourselves.

The Story of Thomas points us to Jesus - who is, in the words of the Writer to the Hebrews "the author and perfecter of our faith". (Heb12.2). It is God, through Jesus who created the world. It is God, through His Spirit who Sustains our very existence. It is God, through Jesus who continually redeems our lives and our world. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega....the A and the Z....the beginning and the end. We are all capable of being doubters...just like the Disciples, who doubted, and denied and even betrayed their Lord. But God is the Source...the Divine Spark...the energy which sustains us in all we do, all we believe. It is God, in Jesus, who calls us to live for him; to give ourselves willingly and with faith to our "Lord and our God" - whatever our doubts.

Today, is a very special day for us, here in North End. Over the last few months, God has been at work among us in some very special ways. He has been going before us, as he went before the Israelites in the desert. He has been loving us, and serving us, even when we have doubted, like Thomas. After many changes in staffing over the last year, God has been putting the pieces in place for a new Ministry Team to arise. This time last year, our Ministry Team had been reduced quite substantially. After Ruth, then Di, and then Bev moved on to new pastures, we were left with only one full-time Priest...yours truly...supported only by the fantastic efforts of Margaret Freeman, dear Fr. Joseph - when he could spare the time from his studies, and our two ordinands, Kim and Damon. For a while, we wondered what God was doing among us. For a while, I found myself trying, ineffectively, to manage all three churches.

So we prayed. We prayed for God to send us new Priests - new workers for the vineyard. And just look how he responded!

First, Linda joined us - tentatively at first, then with increasing confidence that God was calling her to this parish, and to this ministry. Then Jeff Harvey walked through our doors, wondering whether God might be calling him too. He was....and Jeff has since been an absolute rock on which we have begun to build our pastoral ministry. Two weeks ago we welcomed Fr Charles as our new Team Vicar - a new, full-time minister, called by Jesus to be a Shepherd to the people of St Nicholas, and to the whole parish. Along the way, God has called others too. I'm not going to embarrass folks by naming them...but we've seen God leading people to cross the threshold of our churches into all sorts of new and exciting ministries. We've seen others who have returned to our churches after periods of being elsewhere in their lives. We've seen existing church members taking up new ministries and new tasks...while others have continued faithfully in the calling God has already given them. In the last year we've had six confirmations, a new Musical Director at St Mark's, new members of the PCC and DCCs, a new Parish Warden, and new volunteers in the Community Cafe. We've appointed a new verger at St Mark's and we've grown yet another ordinand, in the shape of Barbara O'Sullivan.

God is truly going before us...leading us as individuals, and as a parish, into all sorts of exciting new ventures...despite our doubts, despite our human failings, God is at work.

And I believe God is at work today. For today we welcome a new minister into our midst. Not just a new minister for the team, but a new minister full stop. Tony has been ordained as a Deacon for less than 24 hours - and they don't come much newer than that! In a few moments, I'm going to invite Tony to read us the legal declarations which he must make on taking up his appointment. But before that, I thought is might be helpful to make sure we all understand what a deacon is!

Let's start with what a deacon is not! A deacon is not a sort of 'baby priest' - or a priest in waiting....although there is something of that in Tony's situation, because we fully expect that he will be ordained as a priest in a year's time. But actually, being a deacon, is at the heart of what it means to be a minister in the church today. And its worth remembering that no priest ever stops being a deacon. Even a Bishop is still a deacon...something that Bishop Christopher demonstrated very powerfully yesterday by washing the feet of the all the new deacons.

The word 'deacon' comes from a Greek word, diakonos - which meant 'servant', 'waiting man', 'minister' or 'messenger'. The first deacons were appointed by the Apostles, who found that during the early days of the church, when everyone was eating together, they were spending too much time in waiting at tables, and in general administration...they were neglecting their primary call to be the theologians, leaders and teachers of their community.

So a deacon is a servant....and in serving, the deacon represents the service to which every Christian is called. In many ways, all of us in this parish have diaconal ministries. We all serve one another, and the world around us, in many different ways. Working in the cafe, cleaning and maintaining buildings, sitting on committees, singing, visiting the sick, serving at the Altar, teaching at Sunday School, administering the papers and finances of the parish...all of these are diaconal roles. But Tony, and Linda, and Charles, and Margaret and I, have all been called to represent that diaconal role in particular way. We are called to model it as a way of life to which all Christians are called. So when you see one of us with a hand down a U-bend, or lugging tables, or painting a wall, or making the coffee, or filling out the endless paperwork of the Anglican Church!...we're being deacons - called to a ministry of service, just like everyone here.

But as ordained deacons, we are also 'set aside' by the church for some particular ministries. We have been given rather expensive training for particular specialist tasks...especially the tasks of preaching and teaching and leading worship. Ordained Deacons are 'set apart' from some of the day to day servant-tasks of all the people - because communities need leaders, and teachers, and experts in worship....so that all that is said and done in our worship can be of the highest standard possible. Ordained deacons also have a particular role in the worship of the church. Deacons come from the people. They speak on behalf of the people, and to the people...calling the whole congregation to confession, calling them to share peace, calling them to declare their faith, and encouraging them to go out at the end of the Mass to love and serve the Lord.

I hope that helps a bit - to understand something of what all of us up here in the fancy clothes are attempting to do with our lives as we respond to the call of God. It's something we desperately need your prayers for...so please pray for us, and especially for Tony, as he takes up this vital task. Pray too for Linda and Jennifer, as they get used to seeing Tony in a clerical collar - and as they make the transition from East Meon to Portsmouth!

Tony's collar, by the way, like mine, is a symbol...an important symbol. It resembles the collar of a slave....a ring of steel round the neck. It's a collar which is meant to remind all of us deacons that we are called to be servants of the servants of God. You are the servants of God...that is your calling...but we are called to be your servants! It's pretty mind-blowing, really! We serve you by offering you leadership and teaching...teaching which we pray will be transformational for us all!

In a year, we pray that Tony will be made a priest, as well. You'll be glad to know that I'm not going to explain the difference - or rather the additional calling - which being a priest adds to that of a deacon. We'll cover that next year!

Now, before I ask Tony to read his declaration to the church, which will mark his formal acceptance by us as our new Assistant Curate, I'm going to offer Tony three symbols of the particular ministry he is called to exercise - as we all are. I'm going to invite him to accept these symbols, and then to lay them upon the altar, as a sign of offering these ministries to God.

First a Bible: Teach us, Tony, from these pages. This book contains all that is necessary for us to obtain the salvation of our souls...and we don't know it well enough. Teach us...for we need to know what it contains.

Do you accept the charge you have been given?

Secondly: A Chalice. Tony, you are called to serve this parish through worship. During your ministry, you will administer the Holy Communion of Christ to the people of this parish whom you will hold in your heart through prayer. In worship you will both call and lead the people to repentance, to faith, and to action for Christ.

Do you accept the charge you have been given?

Finally: An apron: Tony, along with every member of the Body of Christ you are called to a ministry of service to other Christians, and to the wider world. You are called to exemplify that ministry, so that we may all be challenged and encouraged by your example - learning from you the power of serving Christ in one another, and loving as he loves us.

Do you accept the charge you have been given?

{Tony then reads his Declaration to the Congregation, and is welcomed into the Ministry Team}

The End of the World? Harold Camping and all that...

2011-05-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

Revelation 21: 1-14

I guess you've all probably heard by now that according to Pastor Harold Camping of California, none of us should be here this evening. Pastor Camping is a retired Civil Engineer...not a trained priest...but he conducted his own research into the Bible's prophecies about the end of the world, and confidently predicted that the world was going to end yesterday.

He was so convinced that he had got his calculations right that he has been running major advertising campaigns across the USA and other part of the world...warning them that May 21st was judgement day. Massive advertising hoardings were erected, in English and Arabic announcing 'the great the terrible day of the Lord'. Scandalously, followers of Mr Camping have been selling their homes, and cashing in their investments to pay for all this nonsense.

Oh dear. I bet he feels a bit of a silly-billy today.

The troubling thing is, Harold Camping is not the first person to have predicted the end of the world. John of Toledo thought it would happen on 23 September 1186. William Bell predicted 5 April 1761. Nothing apocalyptic happened on 28 April 1843, or on 21 September 1945. Jehovah's Witnesses have predicted the end of the world 10 times in the last century!

It's easy to mock. Actually its very easy to mock. Especially when one considers where these predictions tend to come from. They have never been made by any of the mainstream churches. Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism...none of the main churches has ever dared to try to predict the end of the world. Instead, what happens, is that usually part-time bible scholars, especially those with a mathematical brain, attempt to mine the Bible for hints and clues...usually based on numbers (or what we call numerology...the study of mystical numbers).

That was how Mr Camping arrived at his date of yesterday for the end of the world. He mixed up all sorts of number assumptions - including an imagined, or assumed date of the Great Flood, probably based on the calculations of a medieval numerologist. He then took texts like those of St Peter. In his second letter, Peter says that one day to the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. Most Christians would take that to mean that God is not bounded by time in the way that we are. But for Mr Camping, it was a code...a code which meant he could predict that the end of the world would happen precisely 7,000 years after the Great Flood...because God had said to Noah that he had seven days to warn people of the end of the world.

Numerology is a popular pastime for certain people. Even Isaac Newton had a go at it...and predicted the end of the world would happen in 2060. We'll have to wait and see if he was right!

But frankly, numerology its a very silly way to spend your time. The Bible simply does not contain secret codes for the end of the world. I'm surprised that none of our numerologist friends have caught on to that yet!

But that is not to say that the Bible fails to ponder what the end of all things might be like. The writers of the Bible were, almost exclusively, people who lived under oppression. They were occupied or enslaved people - either by the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Assyrians or the Romans...to name just a few! It is no surprise that people who were under such occupation and oppression should begin to tell one another stories....stories about what the world might be like when the oppression was over, when the oppressors were over-thrown and when, from a Jewish perspective, the world would be remade.

This was no different for the early Christians. By the time that John was writing his 'Revelation' on the Island
of Patmos, Christianity, and Judaism, were going through dark days. The Temple in Jerusalem had been razed to the ground by the Romans. Jews were scattered across the known world. Christians were being persecuted by a Roman political system which insisted that everyone must worship the Divine Emperor. They were hiding in the Roman catacombs. Peter had been executed, along with Paul and - tradition tells us - most of the other first followers of Jesus. It was a dark time, an uncertain time. Faith was being tested and challenged.

In the middle of this turmoil, St John had a vision. Some less-than-charitable scholars have suggested that the Island of Patmos was a great place for growing magic mushrooms...but we have no idea whether John was a mushroom picker. What we do have, as the last book of our Second Testament, is an astounding, poetic, troubling, magnificent vision...a vision of what the world might be like, when all the enemies of God have been dealt with.

But its not a prediction. Its a series of complex images...a dreamlike catalogue of angels and demons and great beasts and cities and lakes of fire and multi-headed beasts and anti-christs. Many is the Christian who has tried to read the book of Revelation, and ended up giving the whole project up, just out of sheer confusion. Many of the complex, beautiful and terrible images of Revelation mean very little to us. We don't live in the same world as John...and some of the images he uses have no modern equivalent. For us to truly understand the book of Revelation would be as difficult as it would be for John to understand a story of blind-dating via the internet. Our cultures are worlds apart.

And yet, led by the Spirit we believe that the Church has preserved this book for us. More than that, we believe that this book contains truth, truth which will repay careful study and reflection. Like all the books of the Bible which the church has so carefully preserved, the Book of Revelation seeks to answer some of the most important questions of life. Where did we come from? Where are we going? Is God involved in our past, present and future?

The book of Revelation's answer to these questions is an emphatic yes. The whole thrust of Revelation is an assurance that God is caught up the in messy business of this world...he's battling against anti-christs and multi-headed beasts, he's sending out angels and blowing trumpets, he's calling the people of God to battle the forces of evil. The Word of God rides out on a white horse...and has a huge sword coming out of his mouth (which I imagine would be rather uncomfortable). And crucially, he is promising, in the final chapters, that none of this effort, will be in vain.

John's final great vision is of a holy city...what he calls the New Jerusalem...coming down out of heaven from God. Interestingly he says that the City is prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband...which is another strange metaphor. How exactly does a City dress up as a bride? Maybe some kind of enormous veil? A blue garter wrapped around a tower? But let's not get hung up on the details! A wise Bible teacher once told me that the key to understanding the book of Revelation is this: that what is plain, is main. And what is main, is plain. And the plain message of chapter 21 is this:

"I heard a loud voice from the throne saying 'Behold, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." (Rev 21.3-4)

This is a resurrection message. This is a hopeful, passionate, declaration that God is indeed involved with our world...and with our lives. This is a declaration that God himself will restore the relationship which we human beings have messed up. He will take away mourning, and crying and pain...and will defeat even death itself.

The people who search the Scriptures for an actual date for Judgement Day are looking for something. They are hoping, perhaps a little desperately, that among all the awfulness and chaos of this world (in so many places), someone, somewhere, has got things under control. The point of the book of Revelation is two-fold: it is to assure us that indeed, someone has got the whole of His Story - history - under control. But secondly, John writes to seven churches, on behalf of Jesus. He encourages them, he corrects them, he warns them, and he praises them. He essentially says to them, through the whole of Revelation that yes, God is in control. But he chooses to bring about his purposes for the world through us...through me and you...through the Church which bears his name.

And, as Jesus and Paul both reminded us - whether or not the actual world is going to come to an actual end...we are expected to act, always, as if it is about to finish. Harold Camping may be a numerological crackpot...but he has at least at least reminded us that God calls us to something greater, higher, deeper, broader than the humdrum nature of every-day human existence. The Holy City, the new Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ - these are all explicit metaphors for the Church...the people of God who are called to work with God, and in God, and through God for the building of God's kingdom on earth.

Will there ever be a Universal Judgement Day? I don't know. I suspect not, frankly - not in the sense of a Day when Jesus comes riding on a cloud and winds up human history. Instead, Jesus comes again every time that there is peace and justice in the world. Jesus comes again every time a hungry child is fed. Jesus comes again every time one of us reaches out to our brother or sister with love. Bit by bit, person by person, day by day...Jesus comes again.

Amen

Just Ordinary Spiritual People

2011-04-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Rector’s Annual Address 2011.

(This is more or less what I said during this morning's service!)

One of the joys of having a computer is receiving 'round robin' emails, which people constantly send me. One particular email which arrives routinely, every few weeks or so, is one which lists alleged bloopers from Parish Magazines. Misprints often arise through the use of spell-checkers...those little programmes which look at what you have written, and suggest alternatives. Like last week, when both Christine and I missed the fact that the demon spell-checker has turned Stainer's Crucifixion for next Sunday into Stainer's Cruci-fiction! Any Islamic readers of our pew news will be delighted...because they believe that Jesus was never crucified!

I have to admit, some bloopers from parish magazines are priceless. Here's a small selection of my favourites:

"Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands".

"Today the Vicar will preach his farewell sermon after which the choir will sing 'Break Forth into Joy' "

"Notice in the kitchen of a Church Hall: "Ladies, when you have emptied the teapot, please stand upside down in the sink"."

And here's a special favourite of mine: "During the Easter Sunday service, Mrs Williams of the Mother's Union will lay an egg on the Altar"

Speaking of eggs - it’s nearly Easter, so this seems as good a time as any to think about them. Eggs, of course, remind us of new life...and Jesus rose from the tomb in a similar way that new born chicks emerge from an egg. This year, there has been a campaign to produce a Real Easter Egg - chocolate eggs which actually have the story of the Resurrection printed on the side...to try to help an uneducated public make the connection between chocolate eggs and Jesus.

But there is another way in which we can use the image of the egg to contemplate Easter.

The Franciscan priest Richard Rohr invites us to use the egg to understand something perhaps even more profound than the image of an empty tomb. He suggests that these three elements of the egg - yolk, white and shell, can provide an image for our growth as children of God. The three elements can be thought of as three stories...there is my story, then there is our story, then there is the story. Rohr suggests that true, biblical religion (and especially true, biblical Christianity) honours and integrates these three stories. He calls that process of integration a 'Cosmic Egg of Meaning'.

Let me explain - if I can - and especially in relation to our life together as a parish.

The first level at which we all exist is at the level of the individual. This is my story...the essential being that I am. At this level, I live as a private individual - I make my own choices. I decide what I will believe, about God, or about the world. I am the one who has the free will to live a creative life, or to vegetate my days away in front of the television. This is the level of individualism - which is a concept that has really taken hold in recent years...especially in the Western world. This is the level at which we embrace concepts like celebrity...where we become fascinated with the intricate detail of individual lives. Hello Magazine is the herald of the individual. Consumerism is its life-blood. Strictly Come Dancing and the X-Factor are all about the small life of individuals, raised for a moment of fame above the normal boredom of human, individualism.

But on its own, being an individual is a very small stage indeed. It's the little stage where I do my own dance and where the sort of questions we ask ourselves are "Who is watching me? How do I feel? What do I believe? What makes me unique?".

Each of us is, of course, an individual - a loved, beautifully created, individual child of God. But doing 'life' by ourselves is not the solution to a happy and fulfilled existence. Unless we draw from something greater than our mere selves, we are doomed to an endless self-critical, or self-deluding individualism... and we will wither and die. Jesus calls us to something greater, something bigger than mere individualism. In John 15, verse 5, he warns that 'the branch which is cut off from the Vine is useless'. And in today's Gospel, he reminds us that He is both the Resurrection and the Life. Life, in all its fullness cannot be attained by an individual alone.

And so we move to the second part of the egg...to the 'white' if you like. If the yolk symbolises 'my story', the white symbolises 'our story'. This is where the life of the individual becomes integrated into the life of a community. I becomes 'we'. This is where we find our group...our community, perhaps, or our country,, perhaps our nationality, or our ethnic group. For many people, the concept of 'us' is often caught up with the kind of music they listen to, or what gang they belong to. We feel protected inside the group. We might be members of a Rotary club, or a jam-making club. We might be supporters of a football team - and gain a sense of purpose by waving flags and signs around. Now we no longer have to be great by ourselves...we can ride on the coat-tails of other members of our group...other football fans, or other Cocker Spaniel owners.

All of us belong to many groups. It is necessary for our growth as human beings to move beyond the yolk, into the 'white' - beyond individualism, and into the group. For Christians, of course, one of the groups that we choose to belong to is the 'Christian Club' - or as we call it, the Church. Here, with other Christians, we find group identity, and group purpose. Together we identify what we need to fight for, and fight against.

For us, in this parish, our mission is enshrined in our Five Year Plan - agreed at last year's APCM. In that plan, we committed ourselves together, as a group, to being a praying, learning, serving, visible church that is diverse and all-inclusive. That is, in a nutshell...or an egg-shell!...our group identity

In that endeavour, during the last year, we have been prolific together. We have provided, each week, across the parish, a minimum of 9 services per week. We have ministered to the sick, and to the lonely, to the bereaved, and to the families of baptised children, and to couples preparing for marriage. We have provided a community cafe, soon to be on five days per week, for our neighbours to meet one another, and migrate from being individuals to being members of a life-giving group. We have maintained our church buildings, so that the Kingdom is seen in bricks and mortar...as well as in lives. We have raised funds, and supported mission in other places. We have sung, we have prayed, we have laughed and we have celebrated. We have danced...especially at last week's barn dance! We've together been in pubs, and in schools, at quiz nights and concerts.

But we need to go broader and deeper still. If all we are is a group who like doing things together...then we've missed the point entirely. Groups can be wonderfully nurturing places...essential for our growth away from the smallness of individualism. But groups can also be dangerous places. Just think how many people have thrown away their lives for causes which were all about ‘group identity’…everyone from the Crusaders to the Nazis. If we are not careful, our group can become our God. We can end up worshipping the Vine, instead of the source of the Vine's life. We can end up worshipping our Church, rather than the God who gives his life to the Church, just as Jesus gave life to Lazarus.

How can we escape from that trap? How can we go deeper and broader, beyond the life of our group, our parish, into the very heart of God?

That is the third part of the egg...the shell. If the yolk is 'my Story' and the white is 'our Story'...then the shell, which should bind it all together is 'the Story'....the sacred story of a God who creates all life and all possibilities, and holds them in his hands. The way to avoid our group becoming the reason for our existence is to go deeper...into the Divine Life, into that which transcends our individualism and our particular group - and which opens us up to the incredible potential of life to the full...or 'eternal life' as Jesus called it. "I am the Resurrection and the Life....and everyone who believes in me will never die". Or as we were reminded a couple of weeks ago, Jesus is the Living Water: "anyone who drinks of me will never be thirsty again."

The challenge of Richard Rohr's Cosmic Egg is that we should learn to live with all three of its parts. Not content with individualism, we embrace the group. Not content with the group, we embrace the whole...the transcendent reality which is God, in Jesus Christ. Richard Rohr gives some examples of the kind of people who have managed to become like that…people whose sense of themselves and the groups they belong to are enlarged by their connection to the Divine Life. He lists people like Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa and Julian of Norwich. And of course, St Francis of Assisi after whom this particular building is named.

But how?

How do we do this?

Here's the nub - and here's the heart of what I want to say to the whole parish today, as my Rector's Annual Message:

I think that I should tell you that I get a great deal of ribbing as I drive around our Diocese and Deanery. I get teased mercilessly by my colleagues in clerical collars, because I insist on driving around in a car which has stickers on the door. One of my fellow Vicars keeps threatening to turn my stickers upside down, ever since he discovered that they are magnetic!

Do you remember what the stickers on my door say? Basically, just four simple words...words we agreed last year would be our motto as a parish..."Just Ordinary, Spiritual People".

Because that's what we are...or at least, what we aspire to be. On the one hand, we are ordinary people. We are individuals, who like many individuals have discovered something of the joy and the challenge of living together in community. In our case, we live as part of a group we call the North End Portsmouth Team Ministry. Like other ordinary people, we care about our buildings, and our social programmes. Like other ordinary people, who belong to other ordinary clubs, we sing in choirs and bands, we run table top sales and fayres, we paint, we dig, we polish, we maintain. But that is all, basically, the stuff of ordinary people. Essentially, on that level, there is little difference between what we do and what most community clubs do. Go into the Buckland Community Centre, or the Baroque Choir, or any charity shop and you will find people who are just as committed, just as passionate about what their organisation, their group, is doing for the community around them.

And rightly so. And many of our members are members of these other clubs and groups too.

But we aspire to more. We are ordinary spiritual people. That's what we claim about ourselves. We claim that our inspiration comes from a greater, wider, deeper, broader root than pure group identity. We claim to be people who are spiritual...we are those whose lives are caught up not just with each other, but with the source of all life...the transcendent reality of God. By our simple claim to be 'just ordinary spiritual people' we claim to be in touch with the whole of the Cosmic Egg...yolk, white, and shell. We claim to be people whose lives are rooted in the Lord who is the Resurrection and the Life.

So here is our challenge for the coming year. We have laid some strong foundations together in the last few years. Our buildings are better maintained than they have been for some time. Our congregation numbers are rising, and our income is holding steady, despite the economic hardships of our age. But now, we need to go deeper. Now we need to discover more of what it means to be people who are spiritual beings – those in whom the Holy Spirit makes His dwelling.

We’ve begun to think about what that might mean. Recently, for example, we’ve started holding Healing Services – every two months around the parish - as a chance for us to be touched by God’s healing power for our bodies and our souls. Soon, you will all be receiving information about a Quiet Day which we plan to hold in Romsey, on September the 24th – a chance to draw aside from the world, and to think about what it means to be God’s Pilgrim People, on the journey of faith.

But I am hoping for more yet. With new members about to join the ministry team, and with new connections growing with other churches in our Cluster, I hope that over the next few months we will be able to start new groups – home groups, or study groups – so that we can all have the opportunity to go deeper…the chance to meditate upon our faith, and truly begin to connect at a Spiritual level with the source of all life.

But there’s more yet. What would it mean for us to be truly spiritual people? Could there come a time when anyone who visits any of our churches finds only unconditional love and acceptance. Sometimes I think we’re nearly there. Could there come a time when we truly begin to see ourselves as intimately connected not just with each other and God, but with a whole world outside our doors…a world which is desperately lost in the lies of consumerism and individualism? Could there come a time when we give as much money to alleviate poverty as we currently give to maintain our church buildings?

That’s the kind of vision that I want to hold before you today. It’s just not enough for us to be just three churches who happen to have a presence in this area. God calls us to something greater, wider, deeper, and much more spiritual. God calls us to be salt and light to North End, Hilsea and Copnor. God calls us to become the spiritual heart of this community…the first place that anyone turns, when they begin to glimpse that there is more to life than just individualism alone. We are called to be those who understand the full implications of the Cosmic Egg. We are called to be those who model what it is to be ordinary, yet deeply spiritual people.

Amen.

Mothering Sunday

2011-04-02T03:30:00.001-07:00

Mothering Sunday - 3rd April 2011

Right then. Let's start with some basic dictionary definitions. What is a mother?

According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, a mother is:

"A mucilaginous substance produced in vinegar during fermantation by mould-fungus"

Oh. Hang on. That can't be right. Let's try another:

"A term of address for an elderly woman of the lower class"

Better.

How about "the Head of a Religious Community"

"A quality or condition which gives rise to another, as in 'necessity is the mother of invention'"

"Artificial Mother: An apparatus for rearing chickens"

Of course we've all heard the word Mother used in many and various contexts haven't we. The House of Commons is sometimes referred to as 'the Mother of Parliaments'. For our friends in Roman Catholicism, St Peter's in Rome is sometimes referred to as 'the Mother Church'. And Saddam Hussein had an annoying habit of referring to his warlike excursions into neighbouring countries as 'the Mother of all battles'.

But of course, the most usual use of the word is the one we give to our Mums...to those who gave birth to us, and who brought us up in the world.

True motherhood though, is much much more than the biological function of bringing new life into the world. That part of motherhood is hard, no doubt. It takes commitment, devotion, and (apparently!) a lot of pain to fulfill the purely biological process of motherhood. But, as any mother will tell you - it's after the birth that the real work of mothering begins.

Real mothering takes time, devotion, and skill. And many mothers have to learn those skills along the way - often by trial and error. In fact it is very easy to tell new mothers from more experienced ones - especially by the way they relate to their children.

Apparently, when you have your first baby, you spend a great deal of time just gazing at your baby.

When you have your second child, you spend a good deal of every day just making sure that your first child isn't hitting, poking or squeezing the baby

When you have your third child, you spend a little bit of every day hiding from all the children!

There are other signs of an experienced mother too.

· You know you've become a mother when you go out for a romantic meal with your husband, and then reach over to start cutting up his steak.

· You know you've become a real mother when you start thinking about writing a book called "101 things to do with tumble-dryer fluff and dried pasta shells".

· You know you've become a mother when you begin to actually like the smell of mashed carrots and applesauce!

But let's face it, not every mother is successful. In fact, in these days of fractured or highly mobile families, it is not at all unusual for a young mum to find herself bringing up a child, all alone, with no other family members around. In this City I know of many young mums who are isolated beyond belief...stuck at the top of a high rise building, perhaps with the lift broken down, or perhaps with too many children to be able to go out into the world, even to seek help. For many, motherhood becomes an oppressive almost prison-like experience.

The other uncomfortable fact is that some mothers just shouldn't be mothers. Too many children grow up in homes that are unloving, or where one parent or the other suffers from addictions to drugs or alcohol. Some parents routinely use violence to bring up their children, others are too poorly educated to realise that sticking a child infront of a playstation all day does not constitute good parenting!

And that is why Mothering Sunday should inspire us to enlarge our vision of what 'mothering' is. Mothering is something that the whole of society should be involved with. Put it another way...mothering is just too important to be left to mothers alone! Not so long ago...in fact within the memories of most of us here, whole villages or towns were involved in bringing up children. It was perfectly natural for any adult who saw a child mis-behaving to chastise them. Adults from across the community ran scouts and guides and youth clubs and choirs. When I was growing up, the parenting that my mum and dad did was supported by my school teachers, my brass band, my drama group, and my cub pack and my church choir. But now thanks to some mercifully rare, but very high profile cases of appalling child abuse, less and less adults are willing to volunteer...afraid that they will be labelled as paedophiles, just for caring about children. Many activities which are run for children now can only happen if parents stay in the room, or at the side of the pitch.

The danger of this over-protection of youngsters is that children don't get the chance to flap their wings, and find out who they are. Their vision of what life can be is reduced. For children who are taken to school in the safety of Mum's car, then observed in every dance class or drama group, and taught martial arts only 'so they can stand up for themselves', the world becomes a place to be protected from...rather than to be experienced, relished, and enjoyed for all its beauty, challenge, and yes, even danger.

Mothering then, is something which the Church teaches should be done by the whole community.

In fact Jesus used some pretty strange language about mothers. Do you remember the time when someone tugged at his sleeve and said "Your mother and brothers are outside"? Here's the whole short story, from Matthew 12. 46-50

While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

This was pretty tough stuff, wasn't it. Jesus appears to reject his own Mother, in favour of the larger community of disciples who were following him. Uh? What's going on?

For Jesus, the bonds of family were clearly important. They were so important that when he hung on the cross, one of the things most clearly on his mind was the long-term care of his Mother...which is why he asks John to take care of her. But before that, by his actions and by his words, Jesus makes it very clear that the family unit - and even the bonds of love between a mother and a child - must take second place to the wider Christian community.

And that's because the Christian wider community is the whole Body of Christ - and the Body of Christ is called, by Christ, to serve and 'mother' the rest of the world. To those who are sick, or in prison, or hungry, or homeless, Christ says, effectively, "Mother them". Christ uses a mothering metaphor of himself, when weeping over the lost city of Jerusalem, he says "How long have I desired to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings".

So for the Church, Mothering Sunday has never been just 'Mother's Day'. You could even wonder whether Mother's Day is just a secular scam, designed to sell cards and flowers, and rack-up the profits of restaurants, by feeding on our guilt about not having phoned our mothers!

Going further still, someone responded to a few thoughts I put on Facebook this week, on the topic of Mother's Day. They described Mother's Day as 'A patriarchal construct to reinforce women's subjugation and oppression'! That might be a little bit strong...but I know where they are coming from.

To be a mother is much more than to be the one human being whose sole duty is to bring up one or more biological children. Motherhood needs to be understood as a calling that every Christian - man or woman - shares...a calling to 'mother' a world which is need of the kind of wisdom, challenge and upbringing that the very best Mothers are capable of.

And that, ultimately is surely what we are called to do here in North End. Our churches, in the North End Team, are called to act like mothers to those around us. A good mother imparts knowledge, and wisdom. A good mother reaches down and picks up fallen children. A good mother inspires their child to be more - to learn more, to grow more...to become the best human being they can become. A good mother introduces her child to other children, so that all the children learn together what it means to grow up together. A good mother picks up a child who is crying, and comforts them. A good mother sits beside the bed of a child who is suffering, and prays for them. A good mother feeds her children.

St Mark's, St Nicholas, St Francis churches...all of us, are called to be that kind of mother to the people of our parish. By our teaching of the Gospel, by our prayers for the sick and the suffering, by our feeding of the hungry poor (in our café, for example), by the visiting of the lonely, by our care for the oppressed, by the provision of opportunities for people - and children - to grow in talent and humanity...we are called to act as a mother to the wider family of the people of North End.

So here's my prayer for this church, and for this parish: may we discover the fullness of mother-hood revealed to us through the example of Christ. May we discover the joy of giving loving, motherly service to the lost, the lonely and the poor of our parish. May we know that fulfilment which comes from sharing God's motherly love to more than just our own families...but to the whole world to which Christ calls us.

Amen

Quiet Day: Talk 1

2011-04-02T00:45:00.000-07:00

This is the first of three talks I gave on a Sisters of Bethany Quiet Day on 26th March 2011. The other two talks can be accessed from links at the end of this post.

Welcome

Its really good to be with you: and I pray that you are going to find this Day of Quiet to be an enriching experience. I don't know about you, but I find that I don't spend nearly enough time alone and aside from the day to day pressures of life. My prayer for all of us is that by the end of today, we will find that we've made new connections with God - and that we find that we have eaten spiritual food for the Journey that God calls each of us on.

During the day, I'm going to be offering three talks. Two will be quite in depth - here at the beginning, and then later in the day. The second talk will be more of a homily - a few thoughts during the Midday Mass. These talks are, I hope, going to help all of us - myself included - to refocus on a very important question. Its a question which undergirds our life and our faith. Its a philosophical question which, if we can answer it well, should inspire us to see ourselves and God in a new light. What is that question? Here it is...

Who am I?

That's it. There are supplemental questions too. Questions like 'why am I here?'. And 'where did the Universe come from?' But at the root, the most basic question that any of us can ask is 'Who am I?'

As I've said, this is a philosophical question. I imagine that the word 'philosophy' is a slightly nerve-racking word to some of you. It perhaps conjures up names like Aristotle, Heidegger and Kant...and long, technical words like existentialism. But please don't worry. What I'd like to do in the next 20 minutes is share with you something of my personal love of seeking wisdom. The Love of Wisdom is, of course, an intently Biblical idea. According to the first chapter of the Book of Proverbs, "Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: 'How long, O Simple Ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?"

Let me start by breaking down the word 'philosophy' itself. It is an ancient Greek word, made up of two separate words. Philo - which is one of the words that the Greeks used for 'love'. The second part of the word, 'sophy' - comes from the Greek word 'sophia' which simply means 'wisdom'. So 'philosophy' is 'the love of wisdom'. A philosopher is someone who loves wisdom. That's all it means. So please don't let the word frighten you!

Perhaps the best way to approach wisdom-thinking is to ask a few wisdom-seeking questions. These are the kind of questions which people of every age, and every culture, have always been asking. Questions like: how was the world created? Is there any active, living Will behind what happens? Or is life just a series of random events? Is there life after death? Perhaps one of the most important questions that lovers of wisdom have asked is 'How should we live?' Or put more succinctly, the question we have already asked, 'Who am I?'

For me, that question acts as a focus for all the other questions. Am I a random, chance event...just a collection of chemicals that have randomly come together to make me? Or am I the product of a Force, a Will, a Creator who has deliberately desired that I should live now, at this moment, in this time and place?

Studying philosophy can be a bit like a detective story. Some detectives might think that Smith was the murderer, or Jones, or Green. Or perhaps they were all involved. Perhaps they all planned the murder, and were all involved - but only one of them pulled the trigger. How can you tell? Sometimes the police can solve a crime - but sometimes they just can't get to the bottom of it. Perhaps there is not enough evidence. Or perhaps the evidence is in conflict with another piece of evidence. But whether the crime can be solved or not, there was still a crime. It's the same with questions of truth. There may only be one right answer to a question...or there may be many...perhaps different shades of truth. But there is a solution somewhere - if only we can find it.

It's the same with philosophy - the love of wisdom. Some philosophical questions can have only one right answer. Either there is a God, or there isn't. Either there is life after death, or there isn't. The philosopher's task, like a detective, is to sift the available evidence - and arrive at a reasonable conclusion.

One of the greatest Philosophers was called Plato...who based his writing on the thoughts of his teacher and mentor, Socrates. Plato believed that philosophy sprang out of human beings' sense of wonder. Over time, humans had developed the ability to think about themselves. They became, in the words of another philosopher, "the man who knows that he knows". That's what the term 'homo sapiens' means...and is, in fact a contraction of the original phrase...'homo sapiens sapiens'...the man who knows that he knows.

Have you every thought about that before? Have you ever wondered what makes us different from other thinking creatures on this planet. Consider a dog, for example. If you've ever owned a dog, you will know that dogs can certainly think. My dog is very able to think about how to sneak food out of the cat's bowl! Dogs definitely think - and they definitely feel. You should see how depressed my dog gets when she can't get anyone to give her a tidbit from the table. And how happy she gets when a certain favourite visitor comes to call...especially one who throws a ball for her. But the difference between me and my dog, is that I can, sort of, stand outside myself, and realise that I think. I can think about the process of thinking. I am a man who knows that he knows.

Once human beings had developed that ability to know that they knew things - many thought that it was astonishing that they had that ability...and astonishing that they were alive at all. It was so astonishing to be alive that philosophical questions began to arise of their own accord.

According to a modern-day philospher, called Jostein Gaarder, its like watching a magic trick. We cannot understand how the trick is done. So we ask: how can the magician change a silk scarf into a white rabbit? A lot of people experience the world with the same sense of wonder as an audience who watch a magician. In the case of the rabbit, we know the magician has tricked us. What we would like to know is how he did it.

But in the world, it's somewhat different. We know that the world is not all sleight of hand and deception, because here we are, in it; we are part of it. Actually, says Gaarder, we are the white rabbit being pulled out of the hat - the world, and our very existence is so amazing, so improbable, that we are a kind of living magic trick. The only difference between us and the rabbit, is that we know we are taking part in the trick. We feel we are part of something mysterious and we would like to know how it all works.

Philosophers, throughout the millennia, have tried to help us understand how the magic trick works. They have tried to expand our consciousness of the world around us, and of our place in the world. They have forced us to ask the hard questions, the deep questions: why am I here? Who am I? How was the world made?

The trouble is, as philosophers have complained all through time, many people just don't want to do the hard work of thinking about those sorts of things. Many people are happy to go through life just being told what to think - and what to believe. Many homo sapiens simply never get to the point of being sapiens sapiens! Worse still, some people never get beyond working at the level of simple instinct...the instinct to survive, or the instinct to destroy, or to dominate, or control.

Some time ago I walked out of my house to find that a drainpipe from my garage was hanging off the wall. I thought it was odd. Perhaps someone had accidentally knocked it with their car while turning in the street? But then, as I walked on down the road, I discovered that the house next door had also got its drain-pipe hanging off. And the next one. And the next one. It quickly became clear that some individual had systematically gone down the street destroying drainpipes.

Why? What possible reason could anyone have for mindlessly destroying drainpipes? Perhaps at some instinctive level, someone had simply decided that they enjoyed the sound of drainpipes creaking and cracking before falling off. Perhaps someone had lost control over something in their life...perhaps a partner had left them...and this small act of vandalism was a way of showing themselves that they still could control something in their life? Who knows? What was clear though, was that this was not the act of someone who has asked the philosophical questions. Who am I? What am I here for? This was someone who was acting at a purely instinctive level of consciousness....like a dog who chases reflections endlessly around the lawn. Pure instinct. This was someone with no sapiens sapiens.

Sadly, as philosophers have observed across the millennia, this is the standard pattern for many human beings. We see it, all too often, in our own streets, and among our own families and neighbours. People get stuck into the dull routine of getting up, going to work, slumping in front of the box...and then doing it all over again. They so rarely stop to gaze at the magnificence of a sunset, or the intricate beauty of a flower. Rarely do many people stop to ask themselves even the most basic sapiens sapiens question - like 'what makes my relationship with my partner work?'. Even less do most people ask themselves the question 'Why am I here?'.

Jostein Gaarder continues his analogy about the white rabbit by saying that we can see the rabbit as the Universe. A wondrous thing, brought into existence by forces that look like magic to us. And yet, most human beings choose to bury themselves in the fur of the rabbit...where it is warm and cosy...where nothing can frighten or challenge. Lovers of Wisdom are those rare individuals who are prepared to climb up one of the hairs, and to peer out at the Universe. In Gaarder's words: 'Philosophers are always trying to climb up the fine hairs of the fur in order to stare right into the magician's eyes'.

Plato - that ancient Greek lover of wisdom - used another analogy for this same dilemma. He effectively said to his readers: most people live as though they were dwellers in a cave. Such people spend their whole lives standing in one position - staring at the back-wall of the cave. Behind them is a light, and in front of the light, other people are moving wooden cut-outs of worldly objects - making shadows on the wall in front of the cave dwellers. For the cave dwellers, this is all there is to life. To them, a house is just a shadow of the outline of a house. A tree is just a long shape with a fluffy bit on top.

Imagine what would happen if one day, one of the cave dwellers turned around, and saw what was happening behind them. How excited they would be to discover that there was more to life...that, in the first instance, a house was not a shadow, but a firm outline made of wood. Imagine then that our rebellious cave-dweller realises that the light, behind the cut-outs, is coming from further away...in fact from the entrance to the cave. Astonished at this discovery, the cave-dweller walks towards the light - and then, in the full glare of the sun, he discovers what a house is really like, and how wonderful is a tree!

Plato suggests that this is the kind of journey that philosophers - lovers of wisdom - can make. Philosophers are those of us who are no longer content with a world of shadows. Philosophers want to walk towards the light...and find the source of life.

That is, ultimately, the force that drives me to a life of faith. I like to think that I am one of those people who climb up the hairs of the white rabbit's fur...and try to look the Magician in the eye.

The philosopher's road has been a fascinating journey for me so far. I think that I have only just begun to scratch the surface of the big questions - the 'who am I?' sort of questions. I believe, for example, that my life has a purpose - and that I am not a random accident of fate. I believe that there is a Creative Force, out there, something greater than I can ever conceive...and that somehow, I am linked to the rest of the Universe, through that Creative Force.

I choose to make my journey of discovery a Christian one. I believe that Jesus was more connected to that Creative Force than anyone else who has ever lived...and that he was uniquely in tune with the big questions. I follow his teachings because they make sense to me, on a philosophical level. They give me a framework around which I can fine-tune my own, personal understanding of the 'who am I?' question. Who am I? I am a child of God, made in the image of God. What is my purpose? It is to live for God, and to show God to others. It is to stand in the door-way of the Cave, and to call back to the other cave-dwellers 'come and see what it is like in the sunlight!'.

However, as a philosopher - a lover of wisdom - I don't claim that I have got all the answers. Do you remember Socrates...the mentor of Plato? Socrates was executed by people who didn't like the fact that he would spend all his time going around telling people that they don't actually know anything. He had an irritating habit of seeking out people who thought they were wise, and then like a child who keeps asking 'why', he would gradually reduce them to having to admit that they didn't know anything. He famously said, "True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us." Or to put it more pithily: "One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing"

In a rather longer explanation, at his trial which was recorded by Plato, Socrates related how he came to a conclusion about a supposedly wise man whom he had interviewed. He said this,

"Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know."

There is an inbuilt humility in that line of thinking. The person who thinks they have understood everything is a fool. But the man - or woman - who knows that they do not know...in such a person, God can work. The book of proverbs reminds us, again in chapter 1, that 'the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge'.

The Christian philosopher takes that as their starting point. The Christian philosopher knows instinctively - by the gift of knowledge from the Spirit - that the Lord is the magician - who is pulling the Universe out of the hat. Standing at the tip of one of the hairs of the rabbit's fur, the Christian tries to look into the face of God. And there, the Christian philosopher begins to ask those very important questions which I am going to leave you to ponder for yourselves this morning.

But before I set you those questions, let me just conclude with a couple more of my favourite quotes from Socrates...

What a lot of things there are a man can do without.
Ordinary people seem not to realise that those who really apply themselves in the right way to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and death
An unexamined life is not worth living.
No man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the meanest; yet everyone thinks himself sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades, that of government.
And finally, with his tongue firmly in his cheek, Socrates said, "By all means get married. If you get a good wife you will become happy, and if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher".

Now. Some questions. You are of course at liberty to do whatever you like with this Quiet Day. Walk in the garden, sit in silence in the chapel. Leaf through books, or stare at the intricate beauty of a flower. But let me encourage you to take two questions with you as you do these things. Two questions which I encourage you roll around inside your head.

Question 1: Who am I? No doubt, you will have a straight answer to that question. But whatever the answer is...take it further. Develop the thought, make the thought real, examine it in the light of Christ. For example, if the answer to the question is: "I'm a worthless worm"...then ask yourself, whether that is actually true. Challenge yourself to see all the good that your life has accomplished. All the people you've loved along the way. Ask yourself how God sees you...and whether God may have something when he says "You are my precious child".

Question 2: Why am I here? What is the purpose of your life? What are you here to accomplish? Are there any changes you need to make in order to accomplish it.

I will be available all morning if you want to roll those questions - or any others - around with me. When we come back together for the Midday Mass, we're going to think in a slightly more Lenten way about the power of forgiveness.

But for now, go, in the peace of Christ. Ask yourself the questions, in the presence of God, and conscious always of God's unconditional love for you, his precious, precious child.

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To read the next Talk in this series of 3, please click here

To read the third and final talk in this series of 3, please click here

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Further reading:
For those wishing to dip their toe into the world of philosophy, I heartily recommend"Sophie's World" by Jostein Gaarder

Quiet Day: Talk 2: The Prodigal Son

2011-04-02T00:41:00.000-07:00

This is the second talk I gave on a Sisters of Bethany Quiet Day on Saturday 26th March 2011. I suggest you read the first talk first!

When I was a child, I was into go-karts. I mean go-karts made out of bits of wood we found in my father’s shed, knocked together with any old nails we could find, with rusty pram-wheels that we picked up from the local tip.

We lived on a hill. A rather steep hill with junction at the bottom, on to a main road...which was itself, another hill. Overall, we had a run of over a mile from the top of the hill to the bottom...

My friends and I liked nothing better than to hair down our hill, on wooden go-karts, steered with string. To slow ourselves down before the junction, we would use our rubber Wellington boots as brakes...forcing them against the tarmac to slow our descent a little, before weaving into the traffic on the main road. That meant, of course, that Wellington boots had to be replaced with great regularity!

When I think back on those wonderful childhood days, I remember them with joy. I remember coming home at night, with holes in my Wellingtons, scrapes and grazes all over my body, exhausted beyond belief...and yet being wonderfully happy.

But when I look back on those days more objectively, I find myself asking an uncomfortable question...and one that I’m sure has occurred to you already...namely; while I was careering over a mile down a hill on nothing more than a plank of wood, four pram wheels, a piece of string and my trusty Wellingtons at speeds of up to 30 miles an hour….where on earth were my parents?

I asked my mother about this the other day...and learned precisely where she was. She was in our house, keeping out of my way...and terrified out of her wits. At any moment she expected a knock at the door to say that her son had been discovered in a pile of blood and pram wheels at the bottom of the hill.

So why didn’t she stop me?

I think it was because my Mum was part of that generation which understood that young people don’t grow well when they are rooted to the sofa. She knew that for me to become the exceptionally well rounded human being you see before you - (ahem) - it was important that I had the chance, the free will, to explore my environment...to find my own paths...to make my own mistakes. Her actions, or rather her deliberate inaction, was not the action of an uncaring mother, but actually a piece of biblically inspired wisdom.

In fact, when trying to describe what God is like, the picture that the Bible uses with the most force is that of a parent. Both ‘Mother’ and ‘Father’ are terms that are used to describe God’s relationship with us. Perhaps the single most powerful picture of God, in the whole Bible, is that of the Waiting Father, from today’s Gospel reading - traditionally known as the Prodigal Son. Here we have a picture of the perfect parent...who, just as my mother allowed me to do on my go-kart... gives their child the space, the opportunity, and the ability to choose their own path. And again, like my own mother, scared-stiff at home, the Waiting Father of Jesus’ story doesn’t for a moment stop caring about his child...

There’s a beautiful image that comes right in the middle of Jesus’ story. As the younger son arrives back in his father’s country, but is still far off, Jesus says that “his father saw him, and was filled with compassion for him, and ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him”. It’s a great image, isn’t it? How could the Father have seen his son when he was still far off, unless he was constantly scanning the horizon for him? The Father of this story never gives up hoping and praying for his son’s return...

And that, Jesus shows us, is what God is like. Because God wants sons and daughters, not puppets and robots, He must give us free will...the ability to choose whether or not we will follow Him, or follow our own lonely path. But as God gives us that choice, there is never a moment when He is not scanning the horizon, searching for us, hoping that we, like the prodigal son, will stop running, and come back home to the Source of our life.

Through this story, Jesus paints a picture of parental love which is actually quite challenging. Not every parent, by a long shot, would be able to continue loving their child after the total rejection that the prodigal son shows to his father. But Jesus insists that no matter what the son has done, he is still the father’s son. When no-one else would even give the prodigal something to eat, the father runs to him and accepts him back.

We see God’s perfect love in the actions of the Waiting Father. We see an abundant love which longs, with its whole being, for the restoration of the relationship of the Garden of Eden, when men and women walked and talked with God. As a mother longs to clasp her errant child once again to her bosum, so God longs to welcome each of us home with wonderful words…”Welcome home my child”.

Amen

Quiet Day Talk 3: True Forgiveness

2011-04-02T00:39:00.000-07:00

This is the third talk I gave on Saturday 26th March at a Sisters of Bethany Quiet Day. I suggest you read the other two talks first!

So...you've spent a quiet morning, you've had a Midday Mass, and a Midday Meal...so by about now, I guess, you're all ready for a nice afternoon nap!

So...let's start our afternoon session with some high energy worship! Here's a very simple little song I learned in Uganda: "When Jesus say yes, nobody can say no!"

(After song)

It's just about the simplest song I know...and yet the meaning is very profound. I wonder how seriously we take the idea that when Jesus says something, he means it?!

One of the questions I get asked most frequently as a priest is a very simple one...'Why does God allow suffering?' After the last couple of weeks, with conflict in the Middle East, and earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan and New Zealand, its a question that rises up very often in conversations in our community cafe at St Mark's. The answer of course, is much less simple than the question. I don't pretend to know why God has created a planet which can cause such destruction, and wipe out so many lives. Perhaps it is important for us, as a human race, to be reminded from time to time that we are not the masters of our own destinies. Perhaps it is because we need to be reminded that we have failed, time and time again, to live wisely. To pick up the thrust of this morning's talk - we have failed to be lovers of wisdom.

My family and I visited Naples a few years ago - to see Pompeii. While we were there, I was struck at how the whole city of Naples lies in the lea of Vesuvius, an active volcano! Naples is the most densely populated city in Italy. In the whole of the metropolitan area, there are between 3 and 4 million people. And one day...the whole city will be wiped out by an eruption from Vesuvius. That doesn't strike me as very wise. No wiser, in fact, than a Japanese culture which builds cities and villages all along a coast-line which history and geology tell us will one day be hit by a Tsunami. Japan has plenty of hills and mountains...but its people choose to live by the sea.

This is not to blame the people individually. I'm not saying that it is their fault that their country just got destroyed. But collectively, people do some very silly things. We human beings are not very wise. And perhaps we need to be reminded of that, from time to time...reminded that human wisdom is like God's foolishness.

But the other question that is asked is about medical suffering. Why does God permit babies to suffer? Why was my son or my daughter taken from me by cancer? That is a harder question to answer. But let me point you back to the simple profundity of that song from Uganda. When Jesus says yes, nobody can say no. In other words...Jesus knew what he was talking about. He spoke with authority that no-one could deny. And one of the most important things that Jesus said was, when translated in English, just three simple words: "Love one another".

If only the human race had followed that simple teaching for the last two thousand years. If only we would learn that loving one another would produce miracles. If, as a human race, we had spent the last 2000 years loving one another, instead of blowing each other up through endless vendetas and cycles of violence and revenge, then, I suggest to you that we would by now have cured all the common diseases of humanity! Children would no longer be dying, because we would have lovingly co-operated with each other, to discover how to prevent it! Perhaps God allows a certain amount of chaos in the created order precisely for this reason. Perhaps God allows what is, to us, the terrible death of a child from time to time, to wake us up...to make us question whether or not we are living the way he calls us to live. Each cruise missile that has been used in the last week in Libya cost us half a million pounds. Half a million pounds per bang. I wonder how much research into child-hood cancer that could have funded.

You see, the trouble is, we are far too good as assuming we know better than God.

God says "love one another". And we say "No...we'll just go on battering each other"

God says "love me, with all your heart, soul, body, mind and strength". And we say "No...I'd rather love my car, or my house, or my holidays or my hobby, or my garden or my grandchildren first."

God says "you are members of a body - the church". And we say "Oh, I don't need to belong to a church...I can worship God anywhere. I can worship him on a hilltop or by the sea. The question is, do we?"

God says "How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?" (Proverbs 1.22) And we say "I haven't got time to study at the moment"

God says "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—ponder such things" (Phillipians 4:8). And we say, "Let me just catch one more episode of 'X-Factor' or 'Strictly come Maria on ice' and then I'll get down to thinking about God"

When Jesus says yes, nobody can say no. When Jesus speaks with authority, only a fool would ignore him.

So why do we find it so hard to follow what Jesus teaches? I want to suggest to you that it is because we have not yet found answers to those two philosophical questions I posed this morning. 'Who am I?' And 'Why am I here?'

Last Sunday, those of us whose churches used the lectionary - or those of us who were in church, instead of on a mountaintop - would have heard these words of Jesus: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that everyone who believes in him would not perish, but will have everlasting life."

That one line, from John 3.16, sums up the whole purpose of God in sending Jesus. First, God sent Jesus because God loves the world. God loves the world in the way the Father loved the prodigal son. God knows that the world will fail him. God knows that time and time again we will get things wrong and muddled...but God still loves us. He loves us enough to send his Son. Why? "So that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but will have life that goes on for ever" (which is another way of translating the phrase 'everlasting life'.

The point is that the everlasting life God offers us can begin right now. Being a follower of Jesus is not a sort of insurance premium. I don't follow Jesus because I hope that one day I'll be given a place in heaven. I follow Jesus because Jesus makes sense now. I follow Jesus because the way he calls me to live matters now. I follow Jesus because when I succeed in living as he calls me now, I already find myself in heaven.

Who am I? A loved, child of God. Failing, often wrong, often messed up. But a child of God...who God loves so much that he is prepared to die for me.

Why am I here? I'm here to live as God calls me to live. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm here to participate in God's activity in the world - shaping it, transforming it, wherever I can with the powerful tool he has given me...the tool of love. I am here to stand with God against the forces of evil - the forces of violence, ignorance, laziness, selfishness and consumerism.

How can I do this? How can I have the gall to believe that I am participating in God's life in the world? Because I know that whatever I have done, whatever mistakes I have made (and will still make), whatever evil I have perpetrated, whatever evil has been done to me...it is all taken care of. I am forgiven. I am free. I live in the light of the love and forgiveness of God.

But..here's something else that I experience every week in my ministry as a priest. Time and time again I come across people who struggle with the idea of being forgiven. Some people carry such guilt around with them, that it is like a permanent wound. They hear Jesus say "Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden", but they are unable to lay their burden down at his feet. For too long, a world which lacks God's wisdom, a world which delights in punishment and retributive violence, has told them that their kind of sin cannot be forgiven. When Jesus says yes, nobody can say no. Ok. But why is it that when Jesus says "you are forgiven", some people just can't accept it.

So in these last few minutes I have been given, I want to focus on that most Lenten of themes: the forgiveness of God. Of course, the place we focus on for all our theology of forgiveness is the cross. Over the centuries, theologians have wrestled with the question of exactly what was happening on that day. How can the death of a man - even a man who is God - two thousand years ago, possibly speak into our situation today? How can I know that my sins and yours were dealt with then?

Most theology about the cross rests on the idea of atonement: that is 'at one-ment' - the idea that somehow, by his death, Jesus managed to bring fallen, sinful humanity to one-ness with God. Many different images are used in pursuit of this idea. Drawing from Isaiah's visions of the Suffering Servant, theologians have proclaimed that 'it is by his wounds that we are healed'. Suffering then, and specifically God's suffering for our sake, is what it is all about. Some theologies go further, and suggest that God nailed all our sin onto Jesus - and that when he died, our sin died with him. Jesus, then, was punished for our sins - taking the punishment which should have been ours; like a Judge in a court of law who volunteers to go to prison instead of the convicted murderer in the dock. Another popular image is taken from Jewish tradition, when, on the day of atonement, a goat would symbolically have the sins of the people laid on it - and it would then be led out into the desert to die.

Another at-one-ment image is the idea of ransom. According to that theory, our sins make us the property of the devil. Because we sin, we belong to Satan. Jesus, as the only sinless human being who has ever lived, was the only price which could be paid to 'redeem' us back - to pay the ransom demanded by the devil.

But we would do well to remember that all these images are just that...images deployed by theologians like St Paul, and many after him, to attempt to get a handle on precisely what Jesus was doing that day. Because, conspicuously, Jesus himself, never explained precisely what was going on. The nearest we get to an explanation from Jesus himself is the words we use at every Mass: 'this is my body, given for you; do this in remembrance of me'. 'This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me'. Clearly, from Jesus lips, his sacrifice has something to do with forgiveness of sins...but what, precisely? How did it work? What was the mechanism? That's what thinking Christians for two thousand years have asked.

For me...it comes down to this. Whatever all those different atonement images point to...the one, unquestionable fact is this: Jesus took it. Jesus took all the hate, all the malice, all the worldly power, all the fear, all the sin that the world could throw at him. He took it, and absorbed it. He took it, to the point of utter powerlessness. He took it to the point where he could no longer raise his hands in blessing, because they were nailed to a beam. He took it to the point when blood ran down his face. He took it to the point where he was so overpowered by the hatred and sin of human beings that his own connection with God was lost. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

But the story of the cross doesn't end at Golgotha. The story of the cross ends three days later, when, having taken all the hate and sin, Jesus rises from the dead. Death and sin are defeated - but not in some mechanistic kind of way. Sin is not defeated because somehow our sins were individually nailed onto Jesus. It's not as if the sin I committed yesterday is somehow floating around the spiritual ether...to be picked up and nailed onto Jesus. Sin doesn't exist in the sense of being a real, spiritual thing. Rather, sin is a description of a way of living that is contrary to the ways of God.

Jesus rises from the tomb because Jesus could take it. Jesus is bigger - universally, galactically bigger, than our petty human sins. And therefore Jesus could overcome them. They simply don't matter to him anymore. One image, often used in the Bible, is that God covers our sins. Another is that he forgets them. The Jews celebrate 'Yom Kippur' - the Day of Atonement. 'Kippur' comes from a root word which means 'to cover, or to hide'. Another word is 'obliterate'. Our sins are not an actual thing. They are actions and thoughts which God, mercifully, is big enough to be able to simple cover over.

By his death, and crucially by his resurrection, Jesus pronounces that our sins are as nothing to him. He can shrug them off as easily as he shrugs off death itself. Like an earthly parent who shrugs off the mis-doings of their beloved child, Jesus pronounces, by his actions, the forgiveness of sins. The new Covenant written on the Cross is a Covenant of unconditional forgiveness.

By his death, Jesus declares that our sins are washed away, in his eyes. Anyone who turns to him can find forgiveness. Not a grudging forgiveness. Not the sort of forgiveness which the world offers. We human beings will only offer a sort of grudging forgiveness won't we? Anyone who has ever had to fill in a criminal records bureau check is only too well aware of how conditional is the forgiveness that human beings can offer one another. "I can forgive....but I can never forget"...is one of the most oft repeated phrases we use. "I will forgive you for what you have done, as long as you never do it again". We hold each other in a sort of provisional forgiveness.

But this is nothing like the forgiveness of God. Jesus takes every bit of hurt and sin and anger and power-crazy nonsense that the world can throw at him...and what does he say? Does he rail at his accusers? Does he say, "Stop doing this to me, and perhaps I'll let you off"? No, he says "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing".

Compared to the goodness and mercy and holiness of God, human sin is as nothing. God wipes away sin, like it was a fly on his nose. The Father of the prodigal son doesn't demand that his son should even repent of his actions and beg forgiveness...he just runs to greet him, and welcomes him home. The son's sin is not even mentioned. Its dealt with. Its done. It just doesn't matter anymore.

Let me put this another way: there is nothing you and I could do, no penance, no act of contrition, no wailing and knashing of teeth, no amount of sack-cloth and ashes which could make God forgive us any easier than he already does.

Not only does Jesus death and resurrection declare that he can take everything we throw at him. It shouts out that these sins are as nothing, compared to the mercy of God. "Forgive them, Father...they are like children in the playground. They don't know what they are doing."

There's one more thing we need to remember. God isn't especially interested in our past. The past is gone. There is nothing we can do to change it. God's only interest is in our future. The past is dead...but God offers us life which goes on for ever. Our choice is simple...we either live in the past, which God has flicked away from his memory like a fly from his heavenly nose...or we embrace the future he offers us.

"Come unto me, all that travail and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, for I am meek and lowly in heart...and you will find rest for your souls."

Who am I? A loved, child of God. Failing, often wrong, often messed up. But a child of God...who God loves so much that he is prepared to die and then rise for me...to show me how little my sins matter to him, now that I've turned to walk on his Way.

I live in the light of the love and forgiveness of God.

Let me invite you to take that thought away with you now, for a last hour of reflection. Let those words roll around inside your mind. Let them shape your being. What does it mean for you, and me, to be people who live in the light and forgiveness of God.

I live in the light of the love and forgiveness of God.

It's against the Law!

2011-02-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

Matthew 5.21-37

How do you feel when someone says to you "It's against the Law"? Its one of those phrases which tends to stop most of us in our tracks. It happens around me all the time. Its usually one of the parish wardens who are desperately trying to prevent me from carrying out my latest cunning plan to improve one of the churches. I'll say something like "Lets paint the roof pink - that'll make people notice the church!" And Peter will say..."You can't...its against the law". I'll say "let's open a pub in the basement" - and Phil or Cliff will say "You can't...its against the Law! Those few words are enough to strike fear into the heart of any adventurous vicar. And they stop many of us from doing the mad things which sometimes cross our minds. But there's something a bit strange about Law...

As most of you know, for the last couple of years we had the pleasure of hosting a canon lawyer in our house - Joseph, from Ghana. Joseph taught me a very important lesson about law. He taught me that in order to have effect, laws must have the consent of the people. In other words, its no good trying to make a law which the majority of people won't support....it simply cannot be enforced for long, because people will either ignore it, or resist it.

We saw a very good example of that during the last week in Egypt. In his desperate attempt to cling on to his power, the President of Egypt tried to tell his protesting population that the Constitution of the country meant that he had to stay in power until a new Government could be elected. He claimed that the 'State of Emergency' which had been in place for the last 30 years gave him the right to stay on. The people refused to agree...and carried on protesting in vast numbers, until Mr Mubarak eventually had to give into the pressure, and resign. We've seen it in our own life-times, when the Poll-Tax Riots of the 1980s forced the Government of the UK to get rid of an unpopular law.

But we need laws, don't we? Laws help us to govern ourselves...and to control the excesses of those who would naturally want to walk all over other people. This has always been the case...right back to the beginning of recorded history. Then, as Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt, the Bible tells us that God saw the need for laws...laws to govern the people's behaviour towards God, and towards each other. Through Moses the Lawgiver, God established a system of codes and rules which would help the people to live together in relative peace and harmony.

We know those laws as the ten commandments - but there were many more subsidiary laws too. Well over 600 of them - dealing with all aspects of life for people who lived in a rather more simple time than us. There were laws about food, laws about what to do with murderers, laws about religious duties and ceremonies. Some of those laws seem, to us, to be somewhat draconian...or just plain weird. For example, did you know that according to Leviticus 19.19, you should not wear any clothing which is woven of two kinds of material? So, anyone here who is wearing a cotton/wool blend, should take it off! What about anyone wearing poly-cotton underwear? Oh dear?

Here's another one which makes me smile: Leviticus 19:32 says that we should all rise in the presence of the aged. So next time an older person than you walks into a room, I expect to see you all standing up! That's going to make for an interesting time! I foresee a lot of bobbing up and down as we all try to work out who is the oldest person here!

By the time Jesus was walking on the earth, the 600 or so laws of Moses had been expanded into thousands of little rules and laws. That's what lawyers like to do...keep on making more laws for every conceivable situation. As a result, lawyers tend not to be the most popular people in some societies...and there's quite a few cruel jokes around. Like...why did God invent snakes before Lawyers? To practice. And...what do you call 5000 lawyers dead at the bottom of the ocean? A good start.

In response to this overwhelming body of tiny laws...many of which were just impossible for the ordinary person to keep...Jesus tried to do something radical. He attempted to point to the human condition, underneath the law. He tried to help people understand the underlying principles of the law...and not to worry so much about the details.

He did that in a number of ways. First, in response to a question about which were the most important laws, he pointed to the two most positive, life-affirming commandments of the entire Bible: Love God, and love your neighbour as yourself. "On these two commandments", he said, "hang all the Law and the Prophets". In other words, if you can simply hold on to these two principles...love God and love your neighbour as you would yourself...and truly live your life by them...then no other laws would strictly be necessary. All the rest is just explanation.

Secondly, Jesus attempted to go to the heart of what certain specific laws were all about. So, addressing the topic of murder, he says "if you are even angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement. If you insult another person, you will be liable to the hell of fire". In other words, Jesus points us to the causes of murder...like unrestrained anger, or malicious insult...and says "that is where to focus. By the time a human relationship has deteriorated to the level of murder...its too late". So he tells his followers, effectively, "If you are offering a gift at the altar, and you know that there is someone who has something against you...stop. Don't make an offering to God, until you have sorted out the relationship with your neighbour. Love for God, and love for neighbour go hand in hand. Sort out the underlying human problem...and then you will be able to joyfully obey the law."

Jesus applies that same basic technique to all types of law. He does the same basic thing with the idea of divorce - saying that where marriages break up simply as a result of lust (and for no other reason) it is obviously wrong. Effectively he says, "It would be better for you to pluck your eye out than let it wander lustfully". He rails at those who bind up the idea of Sabbath with hundreds of regulations, saying effectively, "Come on people...the idea is to have a day off!". He teaches that making complicated legal vows makes no point unless you are basically an honest and trustworthy person...someone whose 'yes' means 'yes', and whose 'no' means 'no'.

But there is one further, vitally important thing that Jesus does to the notion of law. He underlines the whole idea of regulations with an even more important Godly principle...the principle of forgiveness. To a thief on the cross, he promises paradise. To greedy Zaccheus, he pronounces salvation. To the woman caught in adultery, he refuses to condemn, and points out the hypocrisy of those who would stone her.

Jesus understands, you see, that the keeping of an abstract code, like a law, relies on human relationships being right. If there is hatred between people, its no good telling them not to murder one another...you've got to bring healing and forgiveness into the relationship. If a man is a liar, its no good making him swear by God, or by heaven, or by earth, or by the Holy City...you've got to strike at the heart of the problem...his basic untruthfulness, and the circumstances which have made him like that. It's no good just condemning people whose marriages are struggling...human life is messy, human beings are subject to all sorts of pressures. Into each situation where God's law has been broken, Jesus offers forgiveness and healing...not condemnation. As our Collect for today reflects, "O God, you know us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by the reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright..." Jesus knows that life is tough and messy for us...which is why he offers us the chance to lay our burdens down at his feet. "Come to me, all that travail and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest".

And that, surely, is the pattern we must follow too. It would be easy for any of us to think we have the right to stand in judgement over other people. Some evil-doing clearly requires swift judgement, and appropriate punishment. Of course. If I were to murder someone, I would expect nothing less. But as for the great majority of human wrong-doing, it arises so often out of our human frailty...and out of our stubborn refusal, as a race, to love God and our neighbour as much as we should. So let us, with Jesus, be cautious about condemnation. Like us, like him, point to the heart of the human condition, and not the surface symptom of law-breaking.

As the old Native American saying goes, "Never condemn another man until you have walked a mile in his mocassins."

Who on earth WAS this Jesus?!

2010-12-04T06:45:00.000-08:00

Matthew 3: 1-12: John the Baptist and the Kingdom of God

“In those days, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”.

John the Baptist is one of the more strange characters of the New Testament. He wore clothing of camel hair – which I imagine was rather itchy – and seems to have lived exclusively on locusts and wild honey. I imagine that getting wild honey out of a wild honey-bee hive is rather a tricky thing to do. So poor old John was probably covered in bee-stings as well.

John is traditionally viewed as the last of the Old Testament prophets. He follows the tradition of living apart from civilisation, and of calling people to repent of their evil ways. So, let’s picture the scene – picture a rather dirty fellow, who has probably never visited a barber, dressed in camel-hair, covered in bee-stings and with honey stuck to his shirt, munching on a locust...and declaring at the top of his voice “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven has come near”.

I wonder what our reaction would be if we met someone like that in the streets of North End – or even here inside the church. I think we’d probably try to get him arrested as a Vargrant! We certainly wouldn't take him very seriously.

But there was something about John that attracted people to him. There was something about his message that, according to Matthew’s Gospel, had people coming out to him in the wilderness from “Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all of the region along the River Jordan” (Mt 3:5) And let’s remember, these weren’t Sunday drivers out for an laugh at the strange fellow in the desert. These were people who would have travelled many hours, and in some cases many days, in hot, dusty air – to hear for themselves the amazing – even scandalous - things that this man of the desert was saying.

John was not a man to mince his words either. He taunted the religious leaders of the day with phrases like “You viper’s brood” (Mt 3:7) He warned them against the complacency of their religion. “Just because you are Abraham’s children,” he would say, “don’t go thinking that gives you an automatic right to heaven” (Mt 7:8 - paraphrased)

But, despite his acid tongue, John still managed to draw people to him. One of those who were attracted to John was Andrew – the brother of Simon Peter. According to John’s Gospel, Andrew was a disciple of John’s – until, that is, John pointed out who Jesus was... at which point Andrew switched allegiances, and joined up with Jesus.

I find that an interesting little detail. It’s interesting that although John recognised who Jesus was, he did not himself, become one of Jesus’ followers. Rather, one of his own disciples (Andrew) left his side and went to be with Jesus (which would have been a very unusual thing for any disciple to do in those days).

There are, in fact, a number of strange inconsistencies about John. First there is the fact that he didn’t join up with Jesus. Why didn’t he set aside his baptising, and become a follower of the Lord? And then there’s the fact that when he was in prison he sent word to Jesus to ask him if he really was the Messiah...despite having recognised him as such by the Jordon.

There may be a number of explanations for these strange aspects of John’s behaviour. One suggestion is that he had a different vision in his head of what the Messiah would do – he seemed to expect a Messiah who would be full of swift judgment against the evil people of the day. See what he says in Matthew’s gospel:

“...he will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire”. (Mt 3: 12) John’s mental picture of the Messiah was based in the language and concepts of the Old Testament. He expected the ‘great and terrible Day of the Lord’. And when it didn’t happen quite as he expected, he perhaps proved more reticent to join up with Jesus. Maybe that’s why he sent word from his prison – saying to Jesus, “are you really the Messiah?”.

There are some historians who think that John remained ultimately unconvinced about Jesus – and that he actually went on preaching the coming of a another Messiah (having found Jesus to be, in his judgment, just a little bit wet). John continued to have disciples after he had met Jesus, and continued to baptise people in his own way. There are many references to the ‘baptism of John’ throughout the early years of the New Testament – suggesting that in some ways John was almost a rival to Jesus.

That may be... but it is clear from the Gospel accounts, that for at least the one glorious moment of Jesus baptism, John saw the light... he saw clearly who Jesus was, and heard the confirmation of that from heaven itself. But perhaps, just perhaps, John was never quite able to give up his own idea of what the Messiah would be like...should be like. From today’s reading we can see that John expected an imminent judgment to be enacted – he uses the metaphor of an axe which is being put to the root of the trees – a sense in which ‘any minute now’ the tree of human failure is about to be chopped down. John expects action – he expects the Lord to arrive with a winnowing fork – scattering the grain into the air and separating out the wheat from the chaff – and he expects it to happen soon.

But Jesus has a subtly different agenda. He also speaks of judgement, and of separating sheep from goats – later in Matthew’s gospel in fact. But Jesus places that event at some distance in the future. First, he has work to do – to call as many people as possible to turn towards God ( to repent), and to give the greatest possible opportunity for people to choose God’s way of living over their own. He is so committed to that path – and so reluctant to embark on the eventual task of judgement - that he is prepared to give up his own life so that we might find our way back to God. Jesus' first public words, according to Matthew, are 'Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near'. He echoes John's own words: the kingdom of heaven is indeed near. But for Jesus the kingdom of heaven was something tangible, something already present. The Kingdom of Heaven is something that can be experienced now...whenever there is love, whenever there is mercy, whenever there is kindness. In fact, whenever people do exactly what you are about to do when you bring your presents up to the front in a moment...that is when the Kingdom is brought nearest. For a moment, when love and mercy and generosity touch, Heaven touches earth.

And I wonder whether we ourselves can sometimes be a bit like John. Certainly, as a human race, we have often been guilty of making God in our image – instead of understanding that God makes us in God's image. How many wars have been fought in the belief that God is on our side? How many acts of cruelty have been perpetrated in name of God? Are there ways in which we conduct our lives which are inconsistent with the reality of Jesus – and the way in which he calls us to live?

Have you seen those bracelets with the letters “WWJD”? They stand for “what would Jesus do” – as I'm sure you know. Its an old question, but it’s still a good question. What would Jesus do in the face of the rampant poverty of the developing world? What would Jesus do in the face of corruption among leaders of so many nations? What would Jesus do when faced with the commercial pressure to ‘spend, spend, spend’ at this time of the year? What would Jesus do in the face of globalisation and climate change?

My daughter has a t-shirt with the question “Who would Jesus bomb?”... but that’s a subject for another discussion altogether!

During this time of advent, the story of John invites us to prepare for the coming of Jesus – the true Messiah. We are invited to prepare for the Lord who says “love one another”, and who seeks to draw us to himself so that we might discover God’s love.

May you know the peace of Christ as you prepare to celebrate his coming once again this year. May you know the reality of Jesus – and through soaking up the stories about him in the Bible, begin to gain an ever-more-fuller understanding of who he was and what he stood for. And may that knowledge transform you, day by day, so that you may truly know who you are...a loved child of God...and what you stand for.

Amen.

No-one knows the hour...but is the End of the World upon us?

2010-11-27T05:56:00.000-08:00

Matthew 24: 36-44 & Romans 13.11-14 & Isaiah 2:1-5
Note: This sermon is peppered with quotations from the above Scriptures, but not cited individually everytime they are used. I strongly recommend reading the passages listed above before reading the sermon itself.

A sermon for the first Sunday of Advent, 2010.

I don't know about you - but I'm pretty useless at waiting for things. I hate using buses - because that would mean waiting for a bus to arrive. I'm useless at waiting for the latest blockbuster movie to arrive on a nice cheap DVD - so I end up going to the cinema...or worse still, get tempted to download it, illegally, from the internet. If I see a book that I fancy, I buy it...rather than dropping hints to my family that it would make a nice Christmas or birthday present. So by the time my birthday arrives, there's nothing my family can buy for me...because I've already bought it! Basically, I confess, I'm just not very patient.

Waiting can be a frustrating thing, can't it? Frankly it can also be a terrifying thing too. If you've ever had to wait for the results of an important medical test, you'll know what I mean. The husbands and wives of service-personnel know all about the agony of waiting too...waiting for news, day by day...news that may bring relief for another day, or terrible, life-shattering news. Waiting can instil within us a sometimes toxic mixture of hope and despair. For those who are waiting to die...or waiting with someone who is dying, the daily grind of slight improvement followed by sinking deeper can be exhausting.

For the followers of Jesus, to whom Matthew was writing, waiting had become a terrible agony too. By the time Matthew wrote his gospel, the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Roman army. Christians were under immense persecution, along with their Jewish cousins. Some were hiding in underground caves - like the catacombs in Rome. Some prominent leaders - Peter, Paul, Stephen - had already been executed for their faith in Jesus Christ...and there was an impending sense of doom that the soldiers would be coming for others very soon.

But there were stories about Jesus, circulating among these scared early Christians...stories of things Jesus had said. And one of the things he had very clearly said was that he would return. He had promised his disciples that he would not leave them, and that he would be seen again.

But what did he mean by that? Did he mean that he would physically return, like some avenging warlord, leading the hosts of heaven into a final cataclysmic battle against the forces of evil? Many people hoped that he would...not least because their present situation was so desperate. Many people drew on the Hebrew Bible - what we call the Old Testament - for evidence that this is precisely how Jesus would return. They poured over the ancient texts, seeking clues for when Jesus would return. They turned to ancient prophecies, like the words of Isaiah, which promised that the Lord could judge the nations - leading them to turn their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation would no longer lift up sword against nation, neither would they learn war anymore. (cf Isaiah 2:1-5)

There are many people who still cling on to that kind of hope today, despite the passage of 2000 years. The Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, have based their entire theology and world-view around the idea that the end of the world is coming - and that Jesus will soon appear to 'smite the ungodly', and take the godly to heaven. Others spend years of their time pouring over the more obscure books of the bible - using 'numerology' to try and calculate when the world will end...trying to unlock the secrets of books like Daniel and Revelation.

For all such people - in Jesus' day, as well as now...the waiting can be agonising. Each day they wake up and pray..."Lord, let it be today". They live in a constant, heightened sense of expectation that any minute now, Jesus will physically appear, and all the problems of the world will be solved by his mighty and powerful intervention. In the most extreme cases, this agony of waiting can turn into a sense of utter fatalism. There are towns in certain parts of the world where the expectation of Jesus' imminent arrival is so real, that people have stopped repairing their houses, mending the roads, or educating their children. They ask themselves whether there is any point in trying to make society better, if the world's about to end anyway. Why bother? Why not just sit around chatting to the neighbours, and wait for Jesus to come and sort everything out?

For others, the agony of waiting inspires them to try to hasten the end of the world...believing that they are doing God's will. The book of Revelation speaks in poetic terms about great battles in the Middle East, not least on the plains of Meggido (or Armageddon as we know it)...so they work to foment unrest in the middle east. They actually want war, because, they believe, war will bring about the end of the world. Others, who have read that the Jerusalem Temple will be re-established, are doing all they can to have the Muslim's Dome of the Rock demolished - because it is built on the site of the Temple. They have already provided all the priestly robes and sacred objects that will be used in the new Temple. They have raised all the funds necessary for the building itself. They constantly lobby the Israeli Government for the right to rebuild the Temple. An alliance has been built up between orthodox Jews and certain right-wing Christian groups - two groups which would normally have nothing in common. But they are both united in their desire to see the Temple rebuilt...because they believe that will cause the end of the world, and the coming, or the return, of the Messiah. One of the most popular series of books ever published is the 'left behind' series - soon to be turned into a major movie...a series of books all about the coming end of the world.

Yes...for all these people...the Jehovah's Witnesses, the numerologists, the Orthodox Jews, and the mainly American right-wing Christians...waiting is agony. They don't want to wait. They want Jesus to come back now...and to sort out all the worlds problems.

But.

But.

For me, as a student of the Bible and a student of Jesus, this is all very frustrating. I'm frustrated by people who don't understand that Jesus almost never spoke literally...about anything. Jesus always talked in parables and riddles. He used picture-language, not literal language, in almost every part of his teaching. He used complex imagery to get over to his listeners what was essentially a very basic teaching: that the world has two paths: a path of goodness and Godliness, and a path of evil...and that God gives us a choice as to which way we chose to walk. He talked of a wise man who built his house on rock, and the foolish man who built on sand. He talked of rich people being in hell, while poor people ended up 'in the bosom of Abraham'. He talked about seed which fell on stony ground or fertile ground. And he talked about the 'Son of Man' coming at an unexpected hour.

The 'Son of Man' was a title which Jesus gave himself...drawing on ancient Hebrew Scriptures. Like all of Jesus' parables and images, it is a title which is meant to make us ponder and imagine. What did Jesus mean? Son of Man? Surely he should have called himself 'Son of God'?

When we try to get our heads around this, we need to remember that to be the 'Son' of something was not necessarily to be an actual, physical child. When Jesus called the Pharisees 'sons of vipers' (or 'a viper's brood') he didn't mean to suggest that the Pharisees were literally small baby snakes. He was using imagery. To be a Son of Righteousness, for example, was to be someone who lived in a righteous way. To be the 'Son of Satan', was to be someone who lived in evil ways. And to be the Son of Man, surely meant that Jesus saw himself as embodying what it meant to be truly Man...truly human.

For Jesus, to be truly human - truly a Son of Man - was to be someone who lived up to all that God meant a Man, a human, to be. God created human beings with infinite capacities for love and for creativity. God created human beings to live together in community - saying of Adam (the archetypal first Man) that it is not good for Man to live alone. Therefore it surely follows that to be a full Son of Man is to be someone who embraces love, creativity and community. A Son of Man is someone who loves, who gives of that love to others, in a never ending creative communion. A Son of Man is what Rowan Williams calls 'the Human One' - someone who has learned to embrace what it means to be truly human.

We need to understand these two basic facts about Jesus: first that he always taught in imagery, never in literal language. Secondly that he holds himself up as an example of what it means to be truly Human...the Human One...the Son of Man. Once we've grasped those two basic facts about Jesus, all of his teaching about the end of the world takes on a very different light...a very different light indeed.

For Jesus, the Human World was a place of ugliness...a place of violence, a place of selfishness...where the rich got richer, while the poor got poorer. He contrasted this human world, with all its ugliness, with his vision of the 'Kingdom of God'...a Kingdom which he taught was already among us. So for Jesus there are two ideas, being held together - two Kingdoms...the Kingdom of the Human World as it is now, and the Kingdom of Heaven...a vision of a world as it could be, and indeed as it was already becoming through him.

So when Jesus talks about the end of the world, he means that there will, one day, be an end to this world's way of being. He means that one day, the Kingdom of the World would be replaced entirely by the Kingdom of Heaven...which is why he taught us to pray 'Thy Kingdom come'. And this, according to Jesus, would finally take place when the 'Son of Man' comes. In other words, the Kingdom of Heaven will come when true humanity comes. The Kingdom of Heaven will be established when people learn, at last, what it means to be truly human...to live in loving, creative, community with each other...rather than selfish, warlike, community-destroying hatred.

And so, finally, Jesus teaches us that we don't have to wait for him to come like some avenging warlord. That after all, is the exact opposite of the way Jesus always did things. When he could have destroyed those who would nail him to a cross, he didn't. He kept on being true to who he was, as the Human One, as the Son of Man...dedicated to living in loving, creative, community. To suggest that Jesus is going to return with some great show of force is an absolute contradiction of who Jesus is.

No, we are not called to wait around for some heavenly firework display. Instead, in Paul's words, we are called to 'put on the Lord Jesus Christ' - we are to put on what it means to be like Christ, to be people who live in loving creative community. Paul goes further. Using two more metaphors, he says that we are to put aside the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. We are to live honourably, not revelling in debauchery, quarrelling and jealousy. These are not the ways of the Human Ones. These are not the ways of the Sons and Daughters of True Man.

For the Kingdom to come, we are called to do anything but wait around. We called to be up and active! We are called to alert...like a man who knows a thief is coming to break into his house. We are called to be pressing on towards the prize (another image from St Paul), doing all that we can to be the true Sons and Daughters of Man that Jesus exemplifies for us. This has nothing to do with waiting around for God to intervene...and has everything to do with us taking part in God's intervention that has already begun.

May you learn what it means to be a Son or a Daughter of Man...following the path the Jesus has already laid out for us to follow. May you know what it means to live in loving, creative community with everyone around you. May you be part of the solution to the evil which stalks the streets of our world. May you be Christ to everyone you meet, and ready to embrace Christ's coming wherever, and whenever, it is experienced.

Amen.

The State we are in

2010-11-21T08:42:00.000-08:00

Sermon for the Patronal Festival of St Saviours Church, Stamshaw - on the Feast of Christ the King. (21st November 2010)
(2 Samuel 5: 1-3, Colossians 1:12-20, Luke 23:35-43).

I’m sure you’ve heard the quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: "Something is wrong in the state of Denmark". Shakespeare invites us, as he so often does, to hold up a mirror to our own society...to ask ourselves whether there is anything rotten in the state that we live in too. Is there something wrong with the State of our World? Is there something wrong, for example, with a world which, in the last century, slaughtered 150 million people in wars...150 million…that’s more than have died in all the preceding centuries put together. Is there something wrong with a world in which 1 billion people survive on less than a dollar a day...scratching round in rubbish tips for something to eat.

Have you ever wondered how many people is a billion people? Let me give you some idea of the scale....Imagine, if you can, a line of 1billion people, standing 1 yard apart. If I were to get in my car, and drive along the line of people at 60 miles per hour for one hour, I would pass 105,600 people. Do you know how long I would have to drive at 60 miles per hour, all day, all night, without stopping, to pass by 1 billion people? 1 YEAR and 29 days.

Note to my internet readers...here's the calculation:
1,760 yards = 1 mile
At 60 miles per hour, after one hour I would pass 105,600 people standing one yard apart (1,760 times 60).Therefore 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) people, divided by 105,600 tells me how many hours it would take to drive past 1 billion people. The answer is 9,469 hours - which divided by 24 hours in the day, is 394 days (or 1 year and 29 days).

That's how many people live on this planet in abject poverty. That's how many live in refugee camps, reliant entirely on aid agencies or other hand-outs just to survive from one day to the next.

Yes, Beloved, there is something wrong with the State we are in.

In a little while, as bread and wine are consecrated, we will remind ourselves that Christ claims dominion over all creation. We will remind ourselves what His Kingdom is like: a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace. How very different that Kingdom is from the one which was in place in the time of Jesus…

The Romans believed that they had a duty to conquer and then rule the known world. Not through ideas, not through love and generosity; but through violence. They brought many good innovations with them...as the 'Judaean Popular People's Front' had to acknowledge in the 'Life of Brian'. "What have the Romans done for us...apart from the roads and the schools and the hospitals and the sewerage systems?" But Roman rule was ultimately based on the idea of 'redemptive violence' - the idea that society, and life in general, can only be improved through conquest and coercion.

That had terrifying consequences for the people of Jesus' day – and there were two ways, primarily, that local people used to resist the Romans’ violent oppression. The first was the reaction of the Zealots. They were a small group of revolutionaries, who believed in defeating Rome by Rome's own methods of violence. They ran small scale attacks on Roman installations, and Roman people...trying to drive out the Romans through a campaign of fear. Today, we would call the Zealots 'terrorists'. People who use the fear of attack to change the mind or policy of a ruling power.

The other reaction to the Romans was the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism. The Pharisees, in particular, established a system of fundamental religious law...and a belief that if only every Jewish person would follow all the Laws of God for just one day, then the Messiah (the St. Saviour!) would come to liberate them from their oppressors. There were other fundamentalist religious reactions too…like that of the Essenes, who escaped to the desert, in an attempt to flee the violence of Rome.

Terrorism and Religious Fundamentalism. They sound very familiar. Don't they? The ancient world was so much like our world. In fact, apart from the fact that we have electricity and fast transport systems, there is actually very little that has changed. The world is still ruled by powerful men. Poor people still starve every day. And ordinary people still lose their lives in pointless wars and conflicts. Power, imposed from above, is so endemic that we all know what is meant by that old joke: “What’s the difference between God and the President of the United States? Answer: God doesn’t think he’s the President of the United States.”

That one little joke opens up a whole wealth of meaning: because it assumes that we know exactly what Presidents are like…power-mad. But it’s a worrisome joke too, because it assumes that we all think of God like some kind of brutal power-monger as well. Our view of God is shaped by the society in which we live…we tend to think of God as a sort of bigger, stronger Prime Minister, or a sort of super-Headmaster….ready to punish or reward us at the end of term. We treat God like some distant Emperor who will be cross with us if we don’t behave, and who stands ready to punish us if we don’t believe the right things, or do the right actions.

St Luke was very conscious of the kind of political and religious world into which Jesus came. He frames his entire narrative in terms of Kingship, as we shall hear again through Advent and Christmas. Chapter 1: "In the days of King Herod of Judaea...' Chapter 2: "...at this time Caesar Augustus issued a decree". Chapter 3: "In the fifteenth year of Tiberias Caesar's reign". Luke framed his story by reference to three rulers...but then, at the end, as we just heard in our Gospel reading, he places Jesus on his cross with the massively ironic legend "King of the Jews" over his head.

But Luke also contrasts the three great rulers with three simple people. In his first three chapters, the references to Herod, Augustus and Tiberius are contrasted with Mary, Zechariah and Simeon: all of whom proclaim a different kind of Kingdom. These are people who, as Rowan Williams says, are 'lifted up by a God who snubs and turns away the powerful'. In Jesus, God has 'turned upside down the assumptions of the world' (see Williams, 2000, 'Christ on Trial' p.51). Jesus presents us with a God who is nothing like the God of our power-corrupted imaginations.

It is perhaps during his trial that we get the clearest sense of what Jesus believed about power. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, for example, Jesus steadfastly resists any attempt to be named as either God's Son, or the Messiah - let alone the King of Kings. He silences the demoniacs, the healed leper, and even Simon Peter when they identify him. But, there does come a point, a crucial point, where he permits himself to be revealed. During his trial, the High Priest invites the prisoner to incriminate himself: "Are you the Christ", he asks, "the Son of the Blessed One?". Jesus answers with the plainest of plain words: "I am".

Why then? Why at that point?

Here I turn again to Rowan Williams for help. In his book 'Christ on Trial' Williams comments that "Jesus before the High Priest has no leverage in the world; he is denuded of whatever power he might have had. Stripped and bound before the court, he has no stake in how the world organises itself. He is definitively outside the system of the world's power and the language of power. He is going to die, because that is what the world has decided. It is at this moment and this moment only that he speaks plainly about who he is. He names himself with the name of the God of Israel, 'I am'…"
(Williams, 2000, Christ on Trial, p.7).

Christ the King is nothing like the Kings we have known. He is much more after the pattern of the gentle Shepherd which David was challenged to pre-figure, in our first reading. According to St Paul's letter to the Colossians, Jesus is the firstborn of all creation, through which everything was made...including even “thrones, dominations, sovereignties and powers”...but his task is to reconcile all that he has made (not dominate it) bringing it together in him, through him and for him by making peace by his death on the cross.

Jesus death on the cross has many layers of meaning, of course. But one of them that we must not miss is that by his death, Jesus unmasks the Kingdoms of this world. He demonstrates that the notion of redemptive violence, practised by the Romans and the Priests, is nothing but a mask for unadulterated evil. By his death, Jesus shows Emperors and High Priests in their true light...bully-boys, whose ultimate achievement through violence is the death of a simple, loving man, and the nailing of God himself onto a cross. It's as though Jesus says, "this is what happens when you live with the lie of redemptive violence...you end up squeezing God out, onto the margins, onto a hill outside the City."

But Jesus redeems even such marginalisation. There, outside the City wall, pushed away by the State, he is still at work. He still works to redeem creation. To the thief beside him he turns and promises "Today you will be with me in Paradise". It's as though having failed to persuade the State to embrace a different way, Jesus switches tactics. If the State will not bow to the love and just mercy of God, then Jesus will start from a different point...he will carry out his redemption one thief at a time, one person at a time.

And that finally is where we come in to this story. There is not much that you and I can hope to achieve in changing the State we are in. We can't hope to halt the armies of the world, as they pound each other to dust. We can't hope to shift the priorities of a world economic system which can find £100 billion dollars to bail out the banks, but which can't help those billion people in a line outside our door. But like Jesus, with the thief on the Cross, it turns out that we can do something, after all. One person at a time. One life at a time. We can love our neighbour. We can sponsor a child - just talk to World Vision. We can give the gift of life to a family in the two-thirds world - just 'Send a Cow'. We can choose to live in love and reconciliation with our neighbours, whether they be local or global, next-door neighbours, or religious neighbours.

We can continue to live with the false myth that the State we are in can be improved through violence and coercion - what we might call the 'myth of redemptive violence', or we can wake up to the call of Christ the King, and embrace a different kind of kingship altogether.

Amen

Protection and Persistence

2010-10-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Mark 4 and Luke 18

Now here's a question to conjure with...why are we about to baptise Ashton Philip Michael Davis?

The baptism of children is something that most parts of the Christian Church have done since the earliest days after Jesus walked the earth. But there are some parts of the church - particularly those known as 'Baptists' who would say that what we are about to do makes no sense. They would argue that baptism should only be given to adults who have professed a faith in Jesus. For them, baptism is a sign of conversion...a sign that the person being baptised has chosen to follow Jesus.

But that's not what the Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican churches have taught. For us, baptism is much less about our faith, but about what God wants to do in us. Baptism doesn't depend on us...it depends on God. Through Baptism, we declare that God loves Ashton...and that God welcomes Ashton into life on earth, and into the church.

There's a measure of protection offered here as well. For centuries, parents have called priests to the bed of sick children, and asked for them to be baptised. That was my experience in fact. When I was born, I suffered from a condition which twisted my stomach around 360 degrees. It meant that no food would go down into my tummy. Well, as you see, I've overcome that particular difficulty now! But I still bear the very large scar of an operation which was needed to untwist my tummy. But before the operation was carried out, my parents asked for a priest to baptise me. They were seeking a sign of God's protection on their son, and assurance that if anything went wrong...if I had died on the operating table...then God would have continued to protect me. In fact, my poor Mum was so distraught that she prayed "Oh God. If you will only save my son, I will give him to you." I will leave you to imagine her joy when about 30 or so years later, I told her that I was to become a priest!

Just now we watched a video of the time when Jesus stilled a storm. He did so as a way of offering protection to his disciples. He demonstrated that he had power to protect them, power even over the weather itself. But there was a much deeper point that he was making. This was not an invitation for the followers of Jesus to become 'weather wizards'. Rather, Jesus was living out a powerful story - a story in which whatever life throws at us, God offers his protection to us. Whether we live or die, God's protection of God's children never fails.

Because we are human, and we live an earthly experience, we tend to see things only from an earthly point of view. We tend to forget that God sees things from an eternal perspective. For God, even death is only a door-way...a door-way to an eternal existence of never-ending love. Baptism is a sign that God wants only the best for us...God wants us to live life that goes on for ever. God wants us to be God's children - and, through baptism, to offer our children to God as well.

Now here's another question. Have you ever heard the phrase 'born again Christian'. Through baptism, the church has always taught, we are all born again. We are born once when we enter this world...born into the physical reality of our body. But then, through baptism, we are born again of the Spirit of God. Our spirit is awakened. It is enlivened to the presence of God. Baptism is a bit like lighting the touch-paper of our soul.

So that's something of what baptism means - and what Ashton's baptism will mean in a few minutes. Its a sign of God's love. Its a sign of God's protection, through this world, and on into eternity. Its a sign of the awakening of our Spirit. And its an invitation to each one of us who has been baptised that we can live a renewed, energised, transformed life, by the power of God.

So why is it that so many baptised people don't belong to churches? Why is it that people seem to reject God's offer of living a renewed, energised, transformed life? Well, its because ultimately, God only offers his love. God never forces himself on us. God's offer is free, and without charge to us. God's love is free and unconditional - for all of us - and any price was paid by God himself, through Jesus. Fat, thin, black, white, gay or straight, male or female, young or old - God's love is unconditional and free to you and me. But free, unconditional love needs to be accepted. If God were to force his way of living on us, he would be little better than some kind of puppet master...pulling the strings of our life. God says to us, each one of us who has been baptised "I give you a choice. Its up to you whether you choose to live my way, the best way - or whether you try to live life on your own, without my wisdom, without my protection, without the friendship, support, challenge and encouragement of my church."

Whether Ashton one day decides to accept that invitation will be up to him. No-one but Ashton can make that choice. And no-one but you can make that choice for yourself either. But let me offer you this little encouragement and challenge....

There's been a lot of talk in the press recently about football clubs. Pompey's administration, and now Liverpool's take-over. It all reminds me of what a wise friend once asked me. He said this:

"What does it take to be a footballer? You need to practice don't you...if you want to be really good? You need to take that football out into the yard, and then you need to practice keepy-uppy, and smashing the ball into goal against a brick wall, and dribbling the ball around some old traffic cones. If you practice really really hard, you might be able to play keepy-uppy for hours on end. You might be able to score accurately every time. But let me tell you this. You are not a footballer yet. You will never be a footballer until you've been out on a playing field, with a team."

Being a Christian is a bit like that. Oh, its possible to be a sort of Christian on your own. God never stops loving you. God never stops caring about you, even if you rarely pray, and never open your bible. Its possible to believe that God exists, and even that Jesus lived and died for you - without necessarily thinking about things any more than that. But, let me tell you - you will never be fully alive, fully awakened, fully engaged with the things of God until you have joined spiritual forces with the people of God.

Being a fully awake, fully alive, fully 'born again' Christian takes commitment; and it takes persistence. Remember Jesus' story of the widow who kept demanding justice from a judge. Some people confuse this story with the idea that you have to keep on asking in order to get God to listen. Some people think that Jesus is saying that we have to keep battering on the doors of heaven, until God listens. But that is to read the story at much too simplistic a level. After telling the story, Jesus explains what he means. He says "Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them?" Jesus says that God is nothing like a reluctant judge, who gives in to the widow, just to shut her up. Instead, God is willing to act straight away. God longs to bring justice to all those who cry out to him...all the poor of the world, all the oppressed, all the suffering.

But there is a sting in the tale. Jesus concludes: "And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?". It's a rhetorical question. Jesus is asking, "Does anyone care? Will there be anyone living a faithful life, through whom God's justice can be brought about? God is willing, very willing. But are we? Will God find faith, or rather 'faithfulness' on earth...faithfulness to his teaching, faithfulness to the promises of baptism, faithfulness to living the Way of God?" Jesus is asking "who are the people who will stand up for God, and for God's children?". But perhaps we don't care enough. Perhaps we would rather not get involved. Perhaps we are rather too interested in our own lives to care very much about what happens to the rest of God's children.

So that's the question I want to leave with us all this morning. As we come to baptism Ashton, we come to offer him a choice. Its a choice that he is too young to make now...but the rest of us, most of us, are old enough to be able to make that choice for ourselves. Are we content to live half-lives, with our spirits only just awake? Or are we prepared to place ourselves entirely under God's protection, and to be persistent in the pursuit of his Kingdom, his way of life - following his teachings, and living his life which goes on for ever? Are we prepared to stop kicking the ball around on our own, and to get really stuck in to the team? Are we prepared to see what North End could really be like if God's way of life could be released here through us?

The choice is yours. The choice is mine. Let's offer the same choice to Ashton now...

Please and Thank you

2010-10-02T02:43:00.000-07:00

Luke 17: 1-10

In the 1980s, I used to run a hostel for refugees, in South London. It was a vast, sprawling, YMCA for about 300 asylum seekers, mainly from East Africa. At the time, there were wars going on between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and civil war had broken out in Somalia. Uganda was under the grip of Idi Amin, and many young Africans had sought peace and shelter in England.

In those days, I was young - believe it or not! Picture a fresh-faced youth, just out of music and drama school, who had decided - idealistically - to lay aside the pleasure of performance in favour of a life a Christian service. I was, I confess, a little naive! And I still had a lot to learn about different cultures, and the ways that different people do things.

There was one particular resident in our hostel who used to really bug me. Every time that I was working on the Reception desk, he would come in and ask for his key, or his post. But he wouldn't do it 'properly'! He used to just put his hand on the counter and say "Room 232". Then, when I gave him his key, he would simply walk off. To me, this behaviour seemed just plain rude! Over a number of days of being treated like this, my temper had started to rise. Then, one day, I saw him walking through the doors of Reception, approaching the counter again. "I'll show him!", I thought to myself. "It's time for a little lesson in politeness".

So when my African guest walked up to the counter and said "Room 232", I just stood there, staring at him. After a brief pause, I said "Room 232 what?" A look of blank incomprehension came over his face. He repeated himself. "Room 232". And I said, "Room 232 please! You have to say please".

Again, there was a moment of stunned incomprehension. Then a little light dawned. "Room 232, please", he said. Satisfied, I took the poor man's key from the hook behind me, and then dangled it in front him. "Now, when I give it to you, you have to say 'thank you'. Ok?". "OK." he said, "Tank you".

I was jubilant. From my perspective, I had taught this rude man some proper English manners! I smiled a nice superior smile as he went off to his room. Then, as he went out of Reception, an elderly, motherly receptionist who had worked at the hostel for 30 years, sidled up to me and said, "You do realise, don't you dear, that in his language there is no word for 'please' or 'thank you'?"

I was crushed. What had I done! I had humiliated that poor man. I had used my power over him to make him feel no longer welcome, but criticised and small. I suddenly saw that I had a lot to learn about him, and about his country. And I swore to try never to judge another human being again, without learning a great deal more about them.

But as well as that little bit of growing up, I had learned another important lesson. I had learned that in some cultures, the concept of 'please', or 'thank you' is an alien idea. In such cultures, people do things for each other for many reasons...but never for thanks. They do them because they can. They do them because the act of giving to someone else is a pleasure in itself. They do them out of a deep sense of duty.

We also have that idea in our culture - especially in the way that good parents look after their children. No-one expects a baby to be able to say please or thank you, but that doesn't stop us from giving good things to them. There is pleasure in such giving - and duty as well.

Today, we are confronted with a parable from Jesus which falls a little strangely on our ears. We don't have slaves - thank God. But here is a story about a slave, and about their master. Jesus says to his followers - "Suppose you had a slave, working for you. When that slave comes in from the fields, do you invite him to come and sit at your table and eat with you? No. You tell him to put on his pinny, and to go and make your tea". In Jesus' day, and in Jesus' culture, there would have been nothing unusual about that. No slave would have expected to be thanked for the tasks he performed. Those tasks were his duties. He didn't expect the word 'please', and he would never have got the word 'thanks'.

Then, having reminded his students of what it was like to be a master, Jesus turns the story around, and invites his followers to see themselves as slaves...slaves of God.

Why does he do this? Are we not Children of God?

This story comes as the climax of a long discussion between Jesus and his disciples about what it means to live faithfully as one of God's children. First, Jesus warns his followers that they should never be a stumbling block to another person's faith. I could start a whole new sermon on that! But essentially, Jesus is essentially warning his followers that we should never act in such a way that others are put off from having faith in God. If the children of God do not represent God as God should be seen, what's the point of being a child of God? Many people might wonder whether the way that certain Christians behave in other countries - dominating them, taking away their natural resources, using armies to enforce obedience...all of these are ways in which the supposed Children of God sometimes let God down.

Then, Jesus goes still further in describing the way that a faithful child of God should behave. He talks about forgiveness...and saying that his followers have the right to rebuke people who do wrong, but they must also be prepared to forgive, over and over again.

But this is too much for the disciples. This kind of faithfulness is hard. So they cry out to Jesus - "Lord, increase our faith". They recognise that the kind of life that Jesus calls us to live has very high standards. Never be a stumbling block. Rebuke the offender, but never stop forgiving them. This is not normal human behaviour! Normal human behaviour is to do what we want, when we want; and to hold a grudge for as long as we want to hold it. The disciples recognise how hard it is to live up to Jesus' standard. So, they look to him for the grace, for the power, to live as he calls them to live. "Increase our faith", they pray.

And that's the key - to this whole passage. The disciples, perhaps at an instinctive level, are recognising that without God's power, we can do nothing for God. They are recognising what St Paul later recognised when writing to the Ephesians; that it is by God's grace alone that life and salvation are found (Eph 2.8). We are incapable of doing anything to earn God's favour...instead God gives us his favour, his forgiveness, his New Life, as a free gift. The very faith by which we live is itself a gift from God!

And just at the moment when the disciples seem to have grasped that essential fact, Jesus goes still deeper. He tells them the story of the 'worthless slave' - the slave who simply gets on with his allotted task, without expecting any reward or praise.

You see, our human instinct, perhaps drummed into us by our earthly parents and teachers, is that we expect to receive some kind of reward, a pat on the back, a word of thanks, when we do what we are supposed to do. Teachers will tell you that reward is a far more potent weapon than punishment when dealing with children. We like a little reward now and then. I like a little dish of chocolate, after a long day at work! Its my little thank you. My little pat on the back after another 18 hour day.

But Jesus' story of the worthless slave challenges this little kink in our character. God owes us nothing for doing good. In God's kingdom, doing good, doing right, doing what God expects, is the norm. We should not expect God to say 'thank you', any more than I should have expected that YMCA resident to say thank you to me for simple doing the job I was paid to do. We do good because it is right. We live faithfully because it is our duty. We forgive others their trespasses, because we are commanded to do so - and because, by the mysterious process of God's grace, we find healing when we do so.

And if we are honest, this is sometimes a difficult thing for us to do. So many of you are involved in serving God in this parish. You pray for others, you serve them through administration, or cleaning, or maintenance, or face-to-face service in the community cafe, or singing in the choir, or teaching our children, or welcoming strangers at the door. Through this parable of the worthless slave, Jesus asks us all to examine ourselves.

Why do we do the things we do?

If we do them because the Rector occasionally remembers to say 'thank you' - then we will quickly be disappointed...because, let me tell you, the Rector will often forget to say 'thank you'. That's Vicars for you.

If we do these things because we hope that others will notice how dedicated we are, and praise us for being fine Christians...then we will be crushed. Sooner or later, we'll do some little thing wrong, step on someone's toes, move someone's precious object...and all the credit we thought we had built up in other people's minds will be wiped out. That's people for you.

If we do these things because we hope that by doing so, God will notice us, and reward us, then we have mis-understood the nature of God's love. God loves us. God loves us, regardless of what we do for him. Do we think that God needs us to tend the flowers, or serve coffee after the service, or preach the sermon?
Perhaps we might consider the question that Eliphaz asked of Job, in the oldest book of the Bible:

"Can a mortal be of use to God?
Can even the wisest be of service to him?
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous,
or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?" (Job 22:2-3)

God created the world without our help. God brought us to life, without our help. God sustains this Universe without our help. God saved us from ourselves, through Jesus, without our help. There is nothing we can do to earn God's grace and love. God loves us - regardless of what we try to do for God. God's favour and blessing are matters of grace...they cannot be earned.

Instead, God calls us to live as Children of God. We are called to love others, because it is what God our Heavenly Parent does. We are called to forgive others, because its what Jesus does. We are called to serve others because we are God's willing servants - the ones who at the end this service will pray that God will send us out as living sacrifices.

This is the life of faith. Faith that could uproot a mulberry tree and see it planted in the sea is the kind of faith which just trusts God...trusts that God knows what God is doing when we are called to render service to one another.

There are two kinds of faith. There is the kind of faith which reads the parable of the mustard seed and mulberry tree as an invitation to ask God for miracles. That's a very embryonic kind of faith...its just the first step on a much longer road of true faith. The kind of faith which Jesus calls us to is 'faithfulness' - faithfulness to his teachings, faithfulness to prayer and worship, faithfulness to never causing anyone else to stumble, faithfulness to forgiveness, faithfulness to a life of loving and serving others.

O God, I pray, that you would increase our faith!

Amen

The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin

2010-09-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

There's a long tradition in Judaism. It's a tradition of complaining. Of course, the Jewish people don't have a monopoly on the art of moaning...we are all capable of it from time to time! But its something which emerges time and time again in Jewish literature.

Sometimes there are things to moan about - undoubtedly. I was moaning last night about an appalling system of finding a way to pay online for Elizabeth Bain-Doodu's ticket to the UK! But there was a particular kind of moaning which really got under Jesus' skin...it was the kind of moaning done by religious people who are sure that God loves them, but that he would be far from happy about some other people!

At the beginning of today's Gospel story, we hear that all sorts of "tax collectors and sinners" were coming near to Jesus to listen to him. The text goes on: "Now the Pharisees and the Scribes were grumbling and saying "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them!" Jesus response is to tell them the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin.

On the surface, these parables are well known to us. At a simple, basic level they teach us that God and the Angels in heaven rejoice over every lost soul which turns to God. But there's something more going on in this story...something, like most Gospel readings, which has the power to challenge us.

As human beings, we have a tendency to judge others - don't we? We are awfully quick to jump to conclusions about the motives of other people. I hear a lot of it, as a priest. People will complain to me about another person, convinced that such a such a person has behaved in a particular way because of some negative characteristic. Such and such a person is said to be 'nasty' or 'cruel' or 'lazy'. Such and such a person 'should have remembered what I told them a few weeks ago...but they forgot. They don't care'. And so it goes on. Time and time again, we are all capable of ascribing attributes to other people - even though we have no idea what made them appear to act the way they did. Perhaps they were stressed. Perhaps they were tired. Perhaps they were distracted. Perhaps they were simply mis-understood. But we feel, don't we, that we have the right to judge them...to complain about them, to moan.

At the same time, we recognise that we are failing human beings ourselves. All of us know, don't we, that we are capable of being all the things that we accuse others of being. We are all capable of being stressed, tired, distracted, mis-understood, uncaring. And we confess that to God...we pray for God's mercy on us. We seek his forgiveness and healing, because we know that we need it. But, as failing human beings, whilst we seek mercy and understanding for our failings, we too often seek justice and retribution for the failings of others.

There's an old Native American saying which is worth us remembering: "Never judge another man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins".

And the challenge of these parables, which Jesus told to those grumbling Pharisees and Scribes, is this: Jesus calls us to celebrate with God, because God has been merciful not only to us, but to others as well - even to those we would not otherwise have accepted into our fellowship.

There's an old Jewish story which tells of the good fortune of a hard-working farmer. The Lord appeared to him one day, and granted him three wishes, but with the condition that whatever the Lord did for the farmer would be given double to his neighbour. The farmer, scarcely believing his good fortune, wished for 100 hundred cattle. Immediately he received a hundred cattle, and he was overjoyed...until he saw that his neighbour had received two hundred. So he wished for a hundred acres of land, and again he was filled with joy until he saw that his neighbour had two hundred acres! Rather than celebrating God's goodness, the farmer could not escape feeling jealous and slighted because his neighbour had received more than he. Finally, he stated his third wish: that God would strike him blind in one eye. And God wept.

The parables of the lost sheep, told to those grumbling religious-types, expose the grudging spirit that prevents us from receiving God's mercy. Only those who (like the Angels in heaven) can celebrate God's grace to others, can truly experience that grace for themselves.

So what does this mean for us? What is the challenge that we might take away with us today? First, it is surely the challenge to stop judging other people. We know ourselves from the inside - we know every thought and emotion that flickers through our brain. We know ourselves, subjectively. But we can only ever know our brother or sister objectively - that is from the outside skin that they portray to the world. We cannot know what their upbringing has done to the person they are. We cannot know the stresses they are coping with today. We cannot know what has happened to them, and what has affected them, even in the last five minutes...let alone the last day, week, month or year. What right does any one of us have to judge another person?

Secondly, we are challenged to be like the Angels in heaven who celebrate God's grace for others. God's grace is extended to everyone of his sheep - and even most especially to the very lost of sheep. So the next time you encounter someone who doesn't think like you do, perhaps even about the most important of theological issues - don't refrain from celebrating the fact that they too are experiencing God's grace. Whoever that person is, whatever their beliefs and background, if they are communicating to you that they have found God, rejoice with the Angels in heaven. Perhaps they are a Muslim, who believes that God loves them. Rejoice. Don't judge. Perhaps they are a Buddhist, or a Hindu, or Pagan. If their life reflects the grace of God - if there is kindness and love in their being...rejoice with the Angels. They may not have understood God correctly yet...but are you so sure that you've got God taped down? I'm sure I haven't!

Those of us who regularly spend time in the Community Cafe, downstairs, know that from time to time we encounter some very damaged individuals. All of human life passes through the door of our cafe...and I frankly wish that more of you were there to see it and encounter it. There are young mums with restless babies. There are elderly people seeking a friendly word and an encounter with someone - just someone - someone to help drive back the lonliness of living alone. There are people with mental health issues. There are people coping with alcohol or drug dependency. There are people whose personal hygiene perhaps leaves something to be desired! There are workers, and there are lay-abouts. There are creative geniuses, and there are committed volunteers. Time and time again, what we see in the cafe, are small signs of grace. Someone will lay a hand on a shoulder - and a smile will light up a face. Rejoice with the Angels. Someone will offer a lift home to a neighbour, or someone will set up a craft-session in the corner. Rejoice with the Angels. Someone will dig deep, and give money for the work of the cafe - generosity flowing outwards - rejoice. Someone will spend an hour, patiently listening to the old lady with no teeth who can hardly get her words out...just loving her, listening to her. Rejoice with the Angels.

God's grace is at work in everyone. God never stops looking for the lost sheep, or the lost coin. He never stops igniting little fires of wonder in the hearts of his children - even the most apparently unlikely ones.

I tell you, there is more joy in heaven over one lost soul who turns - even an inch -towards God than over ninety-nine Churchgoers who are already secure in their salvation. Let's join in the celebration of God, by walking alongside those who are beginning to turn to God - even as we learn how to get better at turning - at repenting. Let's never judge them...judgement is the job of God, not something he delegates to us. Instead, let's love them, and celebrate every spark of God that shines through.

Amen

Hate your Parents for Jesus?

2010-09-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

Luke 14: 25-33

Have you ever joined something on a whim? Because it seemed like a good idea at the time? Perhaps you, like me, have been tempted by offers of joining a 'Wine Club', or perhaps signing up for the Reader's Digest. I did that a few years ago, thinking that I might enjoy a monthly digest. But I quickly regretted that decision, I can tell you. Day after day, the Digest would send me offers...tickets for their 'Grand Draw', offers to buy the latest collection of books, holiday packages, money advice. By email and by post, I was deluged! I felt like I was wading through a sea of marketing material. Help me! Save me from all this junk! You see, I really hadn't understood what being a Reader's Digest customer would entail. I had failed to count the cost of membership.

At the beginning of today's Gospel reading we read that 'large crowds were travelling with Jesus'. Who were these crowds? Well, undoubtedly they were - like us - a mixture of people with a whole mixture of motives for trekking round the Galilean countryside with this new prophet. Some of them would have been waiting for Jesus to declare war on the Romans. Some of them would have been simply curious to see what all the fuss was about. Some of them would have recognised something holy, and have been drawn to it. Some of them would have been desperately searching for a miracle - perhaps a healing from a long-term illness, or a miracle that would transform their poverty. Some would have been simply thrill-seekers...waiting for Jesus to turn some more water into wine, or to see him walk on water...just so that they could be amazed and amused.

To all these people, according to the text in front of us, Jesus turns and says: "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple". You can just imagine the reaction, can't you? People would have looked at one another, puzzled. "What did he say? Did he really say I have to hate my family to follow him? Has he gone mad?!"

Well actually, they probably wouldn't have said that! Scholars tell me that the word we translate as hate in English bibles should probably be translated as something nearer to 'love less'. In other words, Jesus was saying that we should love our families, and even our own lives, less than we love him. Which is still a pretty stark thing for a preacher to say. I wonder how you would feel if I started demanding that you should love your families, and even your own life, less than me! I think I'd be lucky to get out of here alive!

But Jesus is claiming something really important here. He is claiming that our love for him, and therefore our love for God must come first in all our priorities. He is pointing to the fact that sometimes we are forced to make a choice between what our families want us to do for them, and the behaviour that God requires of us. Because let's face it, our families sometimes have a very strong hold over us. Sometimes our families do things that we know are wrong - perhaps illegal, perhaps even immoral. But somehow, because they are our family we feel that we can't interfere.

Instead, Jesus says that his agenda, his good news, must take priority even over the family.

Just now, at the beginning of our service, we recited the 'Beattitudes'. You know...'blessed are the poor', 'blessed are those who mourn', blessed are the peacemakers' and so on. The Beattitudes are Jesus' manifesto for a broken world. The Beattitudes encourage us to imagine what the world would be like if the poor were blessed by the wealthy. He imagines a world in which the mourning parents of Pakistan and Niger could be comforted by the wealthy pockets of the west. He imagines a world in which his followers become peacemakers who share the Earth's resources, rather than war-mongers who conquer each other's oil-fields.

But if such a vision is ever to come to pass, Jesus says, the change has to start with us. With you and me. You can only change the world one person at a time. And the first person has to be me. Or as the old prayer goes: Lord, let your kingdom come...and let it begin with me.

This Gospel challenges us. It challenges us to begin to put Jesus' priorities first. We are challenged to love our families less than God. If our families try to force us to choose greed instead of generosity - then we are encouraged to follow Jesus, and be generous. If our families tend to lead lives that are inward-looking, then Jesus says "Look outwards".

Here's a thing...how many times have you heard the expression "Charity begins at home"? Many people assume that it is a quote from the Bible. Umm...sorry....it isn't. It was Charles Dickens - and a few other writers before him. Charity - the outward giving of love to others - springs from the heart, and often from the home, but it should touch the lives of everyone around us. The family is a vital, and important unit in our community...but it is the community of God as a whole to whom we owe our allegiance, and our charity.

And there's another challenge in today's reading - which links back to my earlier questions - the ones about the Reader's Digest, or the energy deal we might have signed up for. Jesus says "Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it". And just before that he warns "Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple". The end of the reading is even sharper, and perhaps even more of a challenge: "None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions."

These are challenging thoughts. Jesus is laying down a direct challenge to those in the crowd. To those who have come seeking a spiritual experience, or perhaps a miracle, Jesus is saying: "My good news, my gospel, is SO much more than a nice cosy feeling...a beautiful song...or even a beautifully sung Eucharist(!). My Gospel is a completely radical, life-changing, potentially earth-shattering way of life. My gospel has the potential to raise the dead, feed the hungry, heal the sick. It can bring down the mighty from their seats, and lift up the humble and meek. But if it is ever to succeed, I need my followers to Get Serious! I need my followers to understand that my Way is the way of self-sacrifice. My way is the way of putting God's priorities first. My Way demands your life, your soul, your all. If the world is to change...the change needs to start with you."

And then Jesus says, through the story of the man who builds the tower, "Are you sure that you really want to follow me? Are you really up to the challenge that I am setting? Are you going to be the kind of Christian who is serious about the world-transforming Gospel of Jesus?"

Because, let's face it...there are two kinds of Christians. There are the kind who get their sleeves rolled up, who visit the sick, and care for the lonely, and commit to community life, give generously without counting the cost, and so succeed in changing lives. And those who are content to sing the hymns, meet some friends, put a few pennies in the collection plate, and then go home and forget everything that was said. Yes, there are two kinds of Christians: there are those who spend every possible hour, and every possible resource....every possible pound...on the work of the Gospel. And then there are those for whom Church is something kind-of- interesting to do on Sundays, if they can be bothered to get up, and whose wallets stay firmly closed.

Jesus challenge, through the Gospel reading of today is...what kind of Christian are you? What kind of Christian am I? Are you, am I, up to the radical challenge of Jesus? Is this a disturbing message? Is this disturbing you? Well...that's good. For too long, the church of God in too many places has tried to attract Christians with a nice easy message. Come to church, sing some hymns, mumble some prayers, eat some bread and that's all there is to it. Your soul is safe. The church has, sometimes, domesticated the Gospel - reducing its radical community-transforming message into nice easy personal gospel of salvation.

Let me tell you...that is not the church of Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ is a community of people who are SO caught up by God's agenda that nothing else matters. The Church of Jesus Christ reaches out to the poor, as Jesus did. The Church of Jesus Christ heals the sick, and condemns injustice, as Jesus did. The Church of Jesus Christ loves everyone whom it encounters, and seeks to serve their need...whoever they are...black, white, male or female, gay or straight, able-bodied or differently-abled. The Church of Jesus Christ does not spend its evenings slumped in front of the telly. The Church of Jesus Christ spends its free time in the service of others. The church of Jesus Christ does not spend its money on booze and betting...the Church of Jesus Christ spends its money on lifting the community in which it is placed out of the mire. The Church of Jesus Christ prays "Thy Kingdom come...and let it begin with me!"

That's the challenge of Jesus today...to you and to me. It couldn't be clearer. Either we put God first here at St Mark's, or we put our own lives, our families and our own possessions before God. There could be no clearer choice. Only one question remains...are we up to the challenge?

Amen

Jesus the Anarchist

2010-08-21T03:01:00.000-07:00

Luke 13: 10-17

"He's an Anarchist! This Jesus is an Anarchist!" You can almost hear the teachers of the Law, the Pharisees, muttering to themselves. Another outrage from the Galilean teacher! "He's telling people to ignore the law of the Sabbath...he's leading people to their death!"

You've got to have a bit of sympathy for the religious leaders of Jesus day. After all, they believed that the Torah...the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, were the actual words of God, written down. They were like many Muslims today, who still believe (despite all scholarly evidence) that the Koran was dictated directly by God. The Pharisees and religious teachers were certain that failure to obey even one of the laws of God would be disastrous. Disobedience to the law, in their minds, should be punished with death. The Law itself said so. In the book of Exodus, chapter 31, the death penalty is prescribed for the crime of desecrating the Sabbath. On the other hand, they also believed that if the whole of the nation of Israel would keep all the laws, for just one day, then God would send the promised Messiah to free them from occupation, and establish the new Kingdom of Israel.

So, when they heard a teacher in their midst telling people that the myriad of these rules didn't have to be followed...we can only imagine their outrage. Here was someone who seemed to be trying to over-turn everything they believed...everything they followed. "He must be an anarchist!". Another word they may well have used to described Jesus was 'anti-nomian'. An antinomian is someone who, literally, is anti (against) laws (nomi). It's a theological word that has been used for 2000 years to hurl insults at people - especially those who have argued that our salvation comes through 'faith alone' (sola fide).

It was a worrying, perplexing time for the Pharisees. "If only people would keep the Law, then the Messiah would come, and we could kick out these Roman overlords. But here's this Jesus, letting people that laws don't matter!" You can understand why they decided that 'this Jesus' had to be got rid of, can't you?

The trouble is, human beings like laws. We use laws to regulate our society - to describe what is, or is not, acceptable behaviour. Laws help us to determine 'right' from 'wrong' - at least for the time being. Of course, laws change - and rightly so. The law which permitted slavery by the British was famously changed by William Wilberforce. The law of Apartheid was rightly over-turned in South Africa. But religious laws are rather more difficult to get a handle on...especially when significant groups of people believe that those laws are dictated directly by God. If you believe that God has ordained a law from on-high, then you are likely to believe that it cannot be changed...at least until God says so.

That's a large part of the trouble we are having in the Middle East, at the moment. Some Jewish people believe that God has ordained, by Law, that they should possess the whole land of Israel. Significant numbers of Muslims believe that adultery should be punished by death, that women should keep themselves covered up at all times, and that Mohammed was God's last great Prophet, whose writings are the actual words of God. Such attitudes are very difficult to change...because they are grounded in a belief that certain holy Scriptures are God-given, and can never be changed. It is no surprise, therefore, that when pressed to change their laws, people with such primitive beliefs about Scripture feel themselves backed into a corner. To them, giving up their laws would be like spitting on God. They cannot conceive of any other way of thinking. And that's essentially why the Middle East in particular, is such a powder-keg. The clash of ideas, the clash of deeply-held, primitive ideas about God, leads to the clash of armies.

But what, actually, was Jesus' saying about laws? What does this story of a simple healing on the Sabbath have to tell us. Was Jesus saying that the Sabbath law should be overturned...that it didn't matter anymore? What Jesus really an anti-nomian, or even an anarchist?

Let's look at his response to the synagogue leader who complained about a healing on the Sabbath. This man was similar to a Vicar in today's society. He was the leader of his congregation - the one charged with holding the faith while, sometimes, his congregation and the local population lived lives that were less than faithful. He would have been keen to point out error wherever he saw it. And to him, to this local Vicar, however wonderful and miraculous a healing might be, it was a bit of work...it was an activity which should more properly be done on one of the other six days. He would have been terrified that God's Law, laid down in the Torah, was being flagrantly disobeyed, right in front of his eyes...right there, in his own synagogue. Because of his background and training, watching Jesus heal someone in his synagogue provoked the sort of reaction you would get from me if someone came in here this morning and started offering odds on the next race at Newmarket!

But listen to Jesus' reaction to his outburst. "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?"

Jesus is not saying that the Sabbath doesn't matter. Instead, he is saying that we need to change our view about what the Sabbath is for. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). The Sabbath isn't a day for not doing anything. It's a day for healing! The Sabbath isn't a day for restricting activity, it's a day, of all days, for doing something new. Jesus uses the newness of healing, the miracle of Divine love, to show that God doesn't rest on the Sabbath (as the writers of Genesis believed). Instead, God was alive, awake and active in the midst of his people!

What should this mean for us? It means that the Sabbath is the day when we draw aside from the normality of daily life, and embrace the 'numinous' - that is the power and the presence of God. If Jesus healed on the Sabbath, then we too can expect to come for healing, in body, mind and spirit.

Many of our neighbours in this parish have lost the habit of coming to seek God on a Sunday...which is precisely why, as a parish, we are embracing the idea of 'Back to Church Sunday' - on the 26th of September. Back to Church Sunday is a chance for us all to invite friends and neighbours to come with us, to find healing and wholeness through each other's company, and with God. On that Sunday, here in St Nicholas, Margaret Freeman will lead our celebration of Harvest, and baptise a new child into the Church.

I'm hoping that all of you will give some serious thought and prayer, over the next couple of weeks, as to which of your neighbours and friends you might invite to come 'back to church'. Think about those you know who perhaps used to come to church, but over the years have fallen out of the habit. Some people, when they have done that, become nervous of coming back to church...even when they feel that they want to. They worry that people will look at them and say "Hmph! About time you came to church!". Or that they will be pestered with questions..."Where have you been? Have you been to another church? Have you been ill?". Instead, on Back to Church Sunday, we want anyone who sets foot over the threshold of church...perhaps for the first time in many years...to feel completely welcome, loved, and at home. We want to offer them, by our actions and by God's grace, the opportunity to connect again with the numinous...to experience God's healing power...just like the woman that Jesus healed in the Synagogue all those years ago.

Amen

Eulogy for Jodie Deeming

2010-08-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

Here's the text of the Eulogy I gave yesterday for Jodie Deeming. It attempts to deal with at least some of the reasons why God allows children like poor Jodie to suffer, and to die - as well as paying tribute to a remarkable young woman.

Eulogy for Jodie Deeming

Delivered at St Mark's Church

19th August 2010

It is my task to attempt to sum Jodie up in a few short words. Its not an easy task...because although her life has been short, there is a lot of life to convey. I met Jodie for the first time just a couple of weeks ago...when she was slipping away. Sadly, we didn’t get the chance to talk, because she was already heavily sedated. I’m sad about that, because from all that I’ve heard about Jodie since then, I am sure that she is someone I would have really enjoyed getting to know. There is no doubt that Jodie was a remarkable young woman - as all of you are obviously aware. It’s a testament to the kind of person she was that you have all come to celebrate her life today.

Jodie was born in Birmingham, on the 17th of June 1996. As soon as she become aware of her surroundings, her impish sense of humour started to show through. Initially, Jodie was a little camera-shy. She would dart behind the curtains, or behind the sofa, as soon as anyone pointed a camera at her - though I understand that she overcame that particular trait later in life!

Once, when Jodie was still a toddler, her sister Kerry was babysitting for her. Kerry suddenly became aware that Jodie had disappeared. “Oh no!” Kerry panicked, and started looking everywhere for the missing toddler. By the time Jodie’s mum, Annette, got home, poor Kerry was out of her mind with worry. “Where could Jodie be?” But Annette was wiser...she knew the tricks that Jodie liked to play, even at that age. Annette pointed to the coat cupboard...and there, Kerry found Jodie, curled up and fast asleep - no doubt bored of waiting to be found.

When she was around 3 years old, Jodie’s family moved to Bognor, where Jodie started at nursery school. Here, certain aspects of her character started to assert themselves. With her new friends, Jodie would spend hours doing cartwheels, and then having competitions to see who could stand on their head for the longest. It was at this early stage that Jodie’s artistic streak started to show through as well. Painting and drawing were her favourite activities at nursery, by a long way.

By the time Jodie moved up to Michael Ayres School, as an infant, a certain shyness had started to show itself. Jodie loved dressing up, and taking part in school plays...but she was not one for taking the leading roles. She was happy just to be a shepherd or an angel when it came to Nativity plays.

Her slight shyness was, perhaps , an indication of Jodie’s imaginative streak. She developed a deep love for the whole idea of fairies - after watching the story of two little girls who photographed fairies at the bottom of their garden in the time of Arthur Conan Doyle. The Cottingley Fairies, as they were known, quickly captured Jodie’s imagination...and she began to draw fairies, and look for fairies everywhere. When out for meals at Brewster’s Restaurants, Jodie would delight in having fairy transfer-tattoos stuck to her arm...and would leave them there as long as possible.

Dolphins were another creature which captured Jodie’s imagination. She would dream of swimming with dolphins...drawing them often, and imagining herself in the dolphins’ watery-world. Both dolphins and fairies became really important to Jodie in the later years of her life….they provided her with an escape from the more unpleasant treatments that she had to endure.

A few years later, Jodie and her family moved to Scotland, spending many happy days with Annette’s cousin Jean and her family. Jodie was full of life and fun in those days - she loved swimming, golf at the park with her brothers, badminton and rounders. She loved the park and the fair - especially Strathclyde park with its boats. Of course, few of these activities were cheap...and when I met with them last week, Jodie’s cousin Bernie told me, with a wry smile, “she loved spending my money too!”

As I’ve listened to stories about Jodie, the word which has come up most often has been the word ’laughter’. Jodie had an infectious laugh - and would quickly smile at the slightest funny event. Her laughter has helped to imprint lots of little incidents in her family’s mind - such as:

the time when both Keiran, and later Anthony, had their sandwiches stolen by seagulls!
or the time when Annette’s cousin Jean had a bit of a struggle with a British Rail toilet door, which had Jodie on the floor with laughter!
or the time when the family were visiting the Isle of Wight - which Jodie loved - and missed the last hovercraft home. (That meant a night on the beach...and some difficult walks up and down the steep streets of Ryde, with Jodie, by then in her wheelchair, and the whole family pushing from behind!

Jodie was rather a prankster, it seems. Her early adventures in hiding from Kerry in the coat cupboard turned into a life-long love of little games and pranks. She would often hide things for people to discover in strange places around the house. She would give her friends joke sweets...innocent looking sweets which tasted awful! On one memorable birthday which was held in hospital, she started squirting the nurses with a hypodermic needle. That was no doubt a form of subtle revenge for Jodie, because she hated needles! She would do anything to put off the moment when a needle had to be used...claiming she was hungry, or needed to go to the loo, or just asking ‘But what’s it for?’. Another bit of good-natured pay-back would happen when bath-time came around. If she got half a chance, Jodie would grab the shower-head, and soak the poor nurses!

Throughout the last few, difficult years - Jodie has always been looking for ways to bring joy to those around her. She planted a garden at the family’s home...a garden of fairies and night-lights. She planted shrubs which her family will be able to remember her by. She made a beautiful mosaic pot, which I know Annette will always treasure. Throughout her illness, Jodie has been always full of jokes, smiles and generosity. She has been collecting and giving little gifts for family and friends...little gifts which I know will be treasured for ever.

There is something that Annette’s cousin Jean said to me last week that I think I will always remember. She said “Annette was blessed...because she gave birth to an Angel”. That seems, to me, to sum Jodie up very well. Jodie had a light spirit, a spirit of laughter, a spirit of dreams, a spirit of generosity, and, ultimately a spirit that refused to be held down to the Earth. The illness that she has suffered may have ultimately taken Jodie’s body, but it could not touch her spirit.

Annette told me that on the night Jodie passed away, just a few hours after we had prayed together with her, Jodie had a smile on her face. That smile said a great deal. Perhaps it was a smile of good memories - as Jodie remembered the laughter she has shared with her family. Perhaps it was a smile of cheeky anticipation as she thought about the little things she has undoubtedly hidden around the house for her family to discover in the coming days. Perhaps it was a smile of recognition as she saw relatives who have already passed on, coming to meet her - like her much loved grand-mother. I am sure it was all of these things - but also, I’m sure, she was smiling at the face of the God who loves her, and who wants her to live with him for eternity.

Some of us may be wondering where God has been in the last three years, while Jodie has been battling with her illness. That’s a real question - and a right question to ask. It’s one that I have to confront often as a priest. Let me share with you something of the conclusion I have reached. God has given the human race enormous gifts...gifts of intelligence and creativity. We have the ability to create amazing things, and advance every day in our knowledge. But, sadly, much of the human race seems to ignore the simple rule that God has laid down for his children...the rule that we should love God, and love one another. Instead, ever since Jesus taught us how to live, we have been busy fighting each other. We battle over land, we battle over ideas, we battle because of greed for money and power - and we don’t spend our resources on battling disease.

Last year, the Medical Research Council spent around a billion pounds on finding cures for diseases like Jodie’s. That sounds a lot, until you realise that in the same year, we spent nearly 44 billion pounds on defence, and countless billions propping up our corrupt banking system. Now, I know we need defence, and indeed banks...but that seems a very imbalanced picture to me.

So where was God, during Jodie’s suffering? God was, as God has always been, calling out to a greedy, war-torn, consumer-driven society and saying - “for the sake of Christ, stop fighting and start loving! Spend your resources on things that are holy and healthy, instead of bombs and bullets, banks and bling”

I have no doubt that God weeps over the death of children like Jodie. But God can’t intervene miraculously all the time. If he did, the human race would never learn...never grow...never turn away from greed and war, and turn towards love. Instead, for the greater good of the whole human race, God has to sometimes let children like Jodie slip away...because we are so often blind to the deaths of millions of adults, but the death of a child forces us to confront who we are. It forces us to think about whether the way we live, and the actions we take as a society have, albeit indirectly, contributed to such a child's death. Our insatiable appetite for oil - and for other 'stuff' - leads to wars. Our greedy lust for money, and for living in debt, leads to the collapse of banks. All these ways of living draw vital resources away from medical research, and into the pockets of weapons-dealers and billionaire bankers. Every penny spent on mopping up our western life-style, every penny spent on dealing with alcohol and drug abuse for example every Friday and Saturday night in the centre of Portsmouth, is a penny which could have been spent on medical research.

But there is no doubt in my mind that, for Jodie, this moment is anything but the end. Dying is something we must all do - none of us is immune. But people of Faith believe that death is only a doorway, a doorway to an eternity of life with the Creator of all life.

I have a vision in my mind: it is a vision of Jodie, happy and grateful for the love that she has shared during her short time on Earth...and now, while she waits for the short years before she will be reunited with those she loves, I see Jodie, swimming with dolphins, dancing with fairies, and flying with angels. I see her caught up in the love of God, sharing God’s love and shining God’s love to all who would receive it.

He has put down the mighty from their seats...?

2010-08-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

Luke 1: 46-55 "The Magnificat". (See also this imaginative re-telling of the story)

We've been living through really difficult times lately, haven't we? There have been wars going on all around the planet - Sri Lanka, the Congo, Iraq, and of course Afghanistan. In a thousand cities, we've seen small acts of violence too: even on our own streets in Portsmouth, we've seen a number of examples of citizens getting their heads kicked in by roaming bands of feral teenagers.

We've also been living through the collapse of our banking system - with something like half of the UK's banks being brought into public ownership. And we've heard about the massive, obscene, bonuses paid to senior bank officials who presided over these collapses. And just this week, while public services are being cut to millions of needy people, school budgets slashed, healthcare and social services slashed - the banks have announced that they are in profit again! And their Directors are once again receiving massive salaries and bonuses.

So its all around us, isn't it? Violence, war, greed, fraud and theft. It would be very tempting to think that the end of the world must be nigh. Perhaps I'll make myself up one of those sandwich boards, and walk up and down North End high street, with "The End is Nigh" on my back!

It might be even more challenging to ask ourselves what kind of world we are bringing the next generation of human beings into. A world of violence, war, greed, fraud and theft - to say nothing of global warming. Are we doing the right thing by bringing children into this kind of world? Is the human world, as we know it, about to end - burnt up in the fire of its own greed and corruption and violence?

Or...is there another story? As we heard just now, in the Bible reading, when Mary received the news that she was to bring God's saviour into the world, her immediate response was to sing a song. In her song, she goes on to sing about the wonderful things that the Lord has done, and will do, to the proud, and the arrogant, and the mighty.

She says, "He has stretched out his mighty arm, and scattered the proud with all their plans. He has brought down mighty kings from their thrones, and lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands."

Mary's song gives us an entirely different perspective on the world - God's perspective. She sings of a God who deals with the proud and the greedy and the powerful. What really fascinates me is that Mary sings in the past tense - she is singing about what God has already done, as well as looking to the future. And well she might...

The Hebrew Scriptures - what we call the Old Testament - are a story about exactly how God deals with the proud and the mighty. The story starts with Adam and Eve, who were too proud to listen to a very simple command... 'don't touch' - and decided that they knew better than God. The result - they are thrown out of the Garden of Eden. Next comes the story of the Flood, in which God decides to wipe from the face of the earth all those whose hearts had become devoted to wickedness. Moving on, there comes the Tower of Babel - built by a people who wanted to reach the stars, to become like God... who are then cast down, and confused by God. These are ancient legends - ancient stories designed to make us reflect on our own lives, our own attitudes.

Over and over again, the Bible teaches us that God will not tolerate the proud and the mighty. Time and time again he 'puts down the mighty from their seats, and exalts the humble and meek'. We see the same pattern in more recent history. Napoleon - conqueror of Europe, self proclaimed Emperor...lived out his days in exile on a small island. Hitler, murderer of Jews, conqueror of Europe, shot himself in a bunker in Berlin. Saddam Hussein, mass murderer of Kurds, despotic dictator with palaces all over Iraq, hanged by a rope. "He has put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted the humble and meek". (Luke 1:52)

Are we seeing something similar going on today? Mighty banks have collapsed. The corruption of some MPs has been laid bare. The mighty have certainly been humbled. This seems to be a cyclical element of history... the mighty rise, come to power, become corrupt, and fall. There's an old saying that "evil sows the seeds of its own destruction" - and perhaps that is what is going on. Another saying comes from Jesus: 'a house built on sand, will collapse'. Those who build their lives on the sand of money, wealth and power will find that their lives have no foundation.

But there is another way. There is an alternative... an alternative that God has called humanity to throughout its history... an alternative that humankind has steadfastly ignored. In the words of the ancient prophet Micah: "[God] has showed you O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

Jesus picked up on this theme. Jesus taught that acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God were the very essence of God's plan for the world. Imagining a judgment day, when evil-doers would be separated from the people of God, Jesus commends those who fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, gave clothes to the naked, visited the sick and imprisoned. (see Matthew 25:31-46).

Sometimes the old ones are the best...so let me remind you of the story of four people, whose names were Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. It goes like this:

Once upon a time there was an important job to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got upset because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realised that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Isn't that so often the way? All of us can be great at recognising the importance of a task. But sometimes, we are all just a little bit guilty of leaving that task to other people. We all imagine that our lives are the busiest ones...and the surely everyone else has got more time than we have. And so we don't quite put our hand up to help, when help is needed. We assume that someone else will do it. Or we don't quite get our wallets out when our money is called for...because 'someone else will do it'.

Today...this day...this very day...people are dying in Pakistan. 14 million people have been displaced by a river that has swollen to over 18 miles wide in places. 1,600 people have already lost their lives - and many more will die as cholera, malnutrition and famine breaks out. What are we going to do about it? Are we going to let someone else worry about it...or are we going to do something ourselves?

Are we, in other words, going to grasp hold of Mary's message - and God's vision - that the humble and poor will be lifted up...in this case out of the flood waters? Are we willing to do our part as Jesus’ family to ‘fill the hungry with good things?’ Or, are we going to be content to let the wealthy, money-grabbing, mighty-in-their seats have their way once again. Because, let's not be in any doubt. Most people are not dying in Pakistan because of the flood. Most people are dying because they lived in houses made of mud, they didn't have the transport to get out of the way of the rising water, their relatives were too sick from lack of medical care to be able to move, and the Government was too weak, corrupt and under-funded to be able to respond. People are not dying because of water...they are dying because of their poverty.

So...at the end of the service today, there will be an opportunity to take some action. Get out those wallets and cheque-books - and lets see if we can't send a message from the Christians of North End...a message which says to the humble and poor of Pakistan that God does care about them...he cares enough to have sent and Angel to the Mother of our Lord, with a message for all mankind to hear.

Amen

The Annunciation

2010-08-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

An imaginative re-telling of the Annunciation. (Luke 1: 26-38, 46-55)

Mary plonked herself down onto her bed. "Crikey, I'm whacked!" she said. It had been a long day of household chores - chasing spiders out of corners, catching up with the laundry, sweeping, dusting, cooking. But now, Mary had one more important job do. She reached down, under her bed, and pulled out an old basket. Inside was her nearly-finished wedding robe...the one she had been working on for the past several weeks.

Mary was engaged to Joseph, the old carpenter in the village. No-one knew why Joseph had not been married before...perhaps he had been waiting for the right girl to come along. Mary's mind started to wander as she stitched along the hem. I wonder what its going to be like - being married. Come to that - what's it going to be like to kiss him? He's got that great big bushy beard...I wonder whether it will tickle!

At that moment, unbeknown to Mary, something began to happen in the corner of her room - just over her shoulder. A twinkle in the air. Now a soft glow. Then, suddenly, a tall figure with wings on his back appeared in the corner.

"Greetings!" said the figure.

Mary jumped out of her skin! "Where did you come from?", she demanded. "You shouldn't creep up on people like that!" No-one in Mary's village ever locked the door...they had nothing worth stealing anyway. People were always popping in and out of each other's houses...but they usually knocked first.

The tall figure with the wings, looked a little surprised at her reaction. People usually quaked in fear when he appeared. He wasn't used to being told off. "Sorry", he mumbled. "Didn't mean to startle you. Can I go on now?"

"Alright" said Mary, thinking that this tall fellow looked a little bit like one of Mrs Cohen's sons, from down the road. "What's this all about....and why have you got those wings clipped onto your coat? Are you going to a fancy dress party?"

"They're not clipped onto my coat." said the tall man. "They're sticking out of my coat...they're my wings."

"Oh," said Mary who was beginning to realise that this wasn't Mrs Cohen's boy after all. "Who are you?"

"I'm an Angel", said the Angel.

"Get away!" said Mary. "You're pulling my leg. What's this...some kind of prank?"

"No, really", said the Angel. "I'm an actual, real, Angel. Sent by God. I've got a very important message for you. You are really very favoured you know. Not everyone gets a real Angel sent with a message from God."

Mary was distinctly puzzled by now. An Angel? Sent to her? Here in little Nazareth? What ever can it mean? Confronted by the reality of the situation, Mary started to shake. "I'm sorry, Angel," she said, "I didn't mean any dis-respect. I thought you looked like Nathaniel from down the road...dressed up. Oh blimey! What have I done?"

The Angel looked kindly at Mary. "Don't worry about it, Mary. Don't be afraid. It was an easy mistake to make. Visits from Angels are pretty rare, after all. Now listen..."

"Ok," said Mary. "I'm all ears!"

"Mary," the Angel started again, patiently, "I've got really good news for you. You are to be given the greatest gift that any woman has ever been given."

"Oh, my!" said Mary, agog.

"Yes," the Angel went on, "You are going to have a baby, sent from God. You are to name him Yeshua"

"What, like Yeshua who led the People into the Promised Land?" Mary enquired...trying to take in what the Angel was saying.

"Yes," said the Angel, "Just like that...although years from now people will change the way they pronounce it, and will call him Jesus." The Angel drew himself up to his full height, and started to proclaim, slightly pompously, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever." (The Angel was really working himself up to a climax now...the big finish.) "His kingdom will never end...and..."

"Erm...", said Mary, holding up a finger.

"What now?!" said the Angel - a little bit annoyed that he had been stopped in mid-flow like that.

"Tiny problem." said Mary. "Just a tincy wincy little problem"

"What?!" said the Angel

"Well, you see, I don't think I can have a baby. I'm not married yet. Haven't even kissed Joseph yet. Do you know whether beards tickle, by the way?" The Angel took a deep breath.

"Mary, Mary, don't be contrary".

"Oh - that was clever. A little rhyme!" The Angel raised his eyebrows, and went on regardless. A little pomposity crept into his voice again.

"Nothing is impossible for God. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy baby that will be born will be the Son of God." Suddenly, he had an idea. "Haven't you heard about Elizabeth?"

"What, my cousin Elizabeth?" Mary said. "What about her?"

"She's pregnant....has been for six months"

"Never!" said Mary. "But she's really old!"

"Nothing is impossible for God", repeated the Angel.

"Well," said Mary. "It all sounds very unlikely, I must say. I mean, why on earth would God choose a peasant like me to bear his son. The son of God will be born in the palace, surely? Are you sure those wings are real?"

"Actually Mary" said the Angel, "I'm completely sure. You see, God doesn't like the kind of people who lord it over others in palaces. He's much more interested in the poor and the humble"

"Get away!" said Mary. "Well, they don't come much poorer than me. Even got to make my own wedding robe" she said, holding up her sewing for the Angel to see.

"It's always been God's way. Right back to the dawn of time. Don't you know your history? Don't you remember how God rescued your ancestors when they were slaves? Don't you remember how he gave you a land to inhabit, even though you were just wandering nomads? God has always loved the poor. People whose lives are not cluttered up with stuff are so much closer to him. Abraham was just a poor wanderer - and look how he turned out. God says that Moses only become interesting when he had stopped being a prince. God had been talking to him for years...but Moses only heard him when he had become a poor goat-herder up a mountain."

"Hmm," said Mary, still not quite convinced. "Let me get this straight. I'm going to have a baby, right?"

"Yep" said the Angel

"Even though I've not even kissed Joseph yet?"

"Even then"

"And my baby is going to be the Son of God...even though he will be born in this little hut?"

"Well," said the Angel cautiously, "He won't actually be born here..."

"Why not?" asked Mary, suspiciously

"It'll be a bit more rustic than this"

"A bit more rustic? How much more rustic do you want it?" said Mary, pointing at her surroundings.

"Umm" said the Angel, with a worried look in his eye, "Think donkeys. And cows"

"What!" exclaimed Mary. "My baby is going to be born in a field?!"

"Oh no!", said the Angel. "Nothing as bad as that. More like a stable"

"A stable!" said Mary.

"Mary..." said the Angel, a little sternly. "You've got to trust me. You've got to trust God. God knows what he is doing. Yeshua has to be born somewhere that no-one would expect a king to be born. He's got to be born in utter poverty...so that God's priority for the poor and the humble can be made clear. In years to come, people will help one another in his name, precisely because of his humble origins. He will be one of the people, born like the poorest of the people...so that the people will take him to their hearts and trust him."

"How will they help one another?" asked Mary, intrigued by these strange ideas.

"Well," said the Angel thoughtfully, "Let me see. I know...here's an example. About 2000 years from now, there will be a great flood in a distant land."

"How distant?" said Mary...always one for detail.

"It doesn't matter" said the Angel. "Just trust me...a long way away. The land will be called Pakistan. It will be overwhelmed by water. A river will burst its banks, and will swell to over 18 miles wide."

"Wow!" said Mary, in awe. "18 miles!"

"Yes," said the Angel, " and fourteen million people will be made homeless by this great flood."

"Fourteen million!" exclaimed Mary

"Yes, and many of them will die. They will be so poor, these people. They will be poor because the rulers of the world in that time will be greedy people...people who are content to live in palaces, while millions outside are starving and dying from the kind of diseases which floods will bring."

"That's awful!" said Mary. "Why won't God do something to save them?"

"He will." replied the Angel. "He will send his son, through you, to tell people how God wants them to live. Yeshua will teach the people that the way to gain life is to give it away. He will teach people not to store up wealth for themselves, but to share their wealth with everyone who has need. He will demonstrate the power of that idea by giving up his own life for others!"

"No!" said Mary. "First you say I'm going to have a son, and then you tell me he's going to die!"

"Everyone dies, Mary" the Angel said kindly. "The only question is whether their death, and their life, has any meaning"

"So what meaning will my son's death have?"

"By dying, Yeshua will show people how far God is willing to go to save them - how much God loves them. Inspired by that love, people who follow Yeshua, 2000 years from now, will open their hearts and their wallets - and will give all that they can to help the people who are starving and dying in the great flood in that distant land. Through the example of your son, Mary, many people will be saved. Through your son, Mary, the humble and meek will be lifted up, out of the flood; and the hungry will be fed."

Mary slid forward off her bed, until she was kneeling on the floor in front of the Angel.

"I am the Lord's servant", she said. "May it be to me as you have said"

The Angel smiled. Mary had accepted what he had told her. She had tasted something of her future, and the future that would be shaped by her Son. Satisfied that his task was complete, the Angel slowly faded from Mary's view.

Mary's heart was full to bursting...and she sang...

"My soul is bursting with God's news!
I'm dancing the song of my Saviour-God!
God took one look at me, and look what happened -
I am the most fortunate woman on Earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
on those who are in awe of him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He has knocked tyrants off their high horses
and pulled their victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
the callous rich were left out in the cold..."

In the corner of Mary's room, the smile of an Angel hung in the air for a few seconds. And was gone.

(N.B. Mary's song is slightly adapted from The Message - a 'transliteration' of the Bible, by bible scholar Eugene Peterson. It is intended to convey the meaning of the ancient texts to modern ears, though not word for word. Pedants, please note that according to Luke's account, Mary went to see her cousin Elizabeth before singing her song. I've left that out for dramatic reasons!)

Not to be served, but to serve

2010-08-10T02:49:00.000-07:00

Matthew 20. 20-28

It was a lovely sunny afternoon, that day. The disciples and the crowds had been following Jesus all around the countryside, through Galilee and Judea, listening to his teaching, hanging on his every word. Now, Jesus had set his face towards Jerusalem. Something had happened to Jesus. He seemed, to the disciples, to be more sombre, more thoughtful. It was as if a small cloud had settled over him. He walked along in silence, staring thoughtfully into the distance, or watching his feet as they plodded along the road to Jerusalem. Occasionally, he would look up from his deep thought, and would watch a bird as it flashed across the fields to the side of the road; or a bee as it buzzed from flower to flower. Jesus was lost in thought. Something was obviously preying on his mind.

Towards sunset, as the crowd started to cast about for places to camp for the night, Jesus motioned to his disciples. Instantly, they stopped laying out their sleeping blankets, and clustered around him. What did the Master want? What did he need from them.

With a cock of his head, Jesus motioned his closest friends, his disciples, to follow him. They moved off up a slope, a few hundred yards from the rest of the crowd, where Jesus pointed to a patch of shade under an olive tree. The disciples sat down, teasing Peter as he lowered his slightly arthritic hip onto the dirt. Matthew and Nathaniel leaned against the trunk of the tree. And then all 12 pairs of eyes focused on the Master. What was he going to say to them? This was going to be interesting.

Jesus seemed hesitant. What he was going to tell them was going to upsetting for them to hear. It was going to shatter some of them...they would not understand it. They would protest. Some might even decide that they didn't want to follow him anymore. Jesus took a deep breath, and began.
   "We are going up to Jerusalem," he said. Judas and Andrew exchanged glances. Yes, their eyes communicated. We know. We're not stupid. Jesus went on,
   "And when we get there, the Son of Man is going to be betrayed to the Chief Priests and the Teachers of the Law."
   Simon began to protest. "What?!" he said. "How can that happen? You've got all these crowds...." Jesus held up his hand, and Simon fell silent.
   "And..." Jesus went on, "They will condemn him to death"
   It was Andrew's turn now. "No, Lord!" he protested. "That's impossible. Look how everyone loves you! Everyone is following you". Jesus shook his head. That sad look the Disciples had been noticing all day clouded his eyes again.
   "The Chief Priests and the Teachers of the Law will condemn him to death," Jesus repeated. "And then they will turn him over to the Gentiles - to the Romans - to be mocked and flogged and crucified." The Disciples erupted. Each one tried to out-do the other with protestations. "No, Lord! We won't let that happen! It's impossible! No-one could do that to you".
   Jesus stood back and watched. He let them rail their incomprehension at him for a while. And then, he started smiling. A smile crept into his eyes, and then made its way down to his mouth, until it took possession of his whole face. The Disciples' protests dropped to a low murmur, and then to silence. "Why is he smiling? Has he been winding us up?" Jesus fixed the Disciples with his eyes, and finished his speech,
   "But on the third day, he will be raised to life!"
   There was silence. Thomas turned towards Thadeus and mouthed, "He's cracked!. Must be the sun. Go and get him some water". Thadeus, shook his head. This wasn't the first time that Jesus had said this kind of stuff. Though this time, it looked like Jesus really meant it. Besides, Thadeus wasn't Judas' slave. If Judas wanted to get Jesus some water he could do it himself. Thadeus wanted to stay and see what happened next.
   But nothing happened. Having said what he wanted to say, Jesus turned away from the Disciples, and made his way down the slope to the rest of the crowd. The Disciples watched him leave...wondering what it all meant.
   Simon was the first to speak. "Well, I believe him," he stated boldly. "Everything else he has ever told us has been completely trustworthy, hasn't it. He turned to James and John, the so called 'Sons of Thunder'. "James, John, don't you remember how Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on that mountain the other day? When only the three of us with were him? If he can do that, I can certainly believe that he could rise from the dead."
   "Yes," replied James. "But what happens then? Once he's raised from the dead. What is he going to do after that?"
   Matthew, the former civil servant, piped up. "Well, I reckon he'll start a new Government. I reckon he'll sort out the Romans, and then set up a new, holy Kingdom...you know, that 'Kingdom of God' that he's always been talking about. I wonder who he'll ask to be Chancellor?" Matthew suddenly had a far-way look in his eye.
   "And who will he make Prime Minister?" said Andrew. "Simon...that's going to be you!" Simon shook his head modestly - but he smiled as well. Everyone knew that Simon was Jesus' right hand man.
   The Disciples continued to banter among themselves. Who would be minister in charge of the drains?, they laughed. Who would command the army? But James and John, the Sons of Thunder, went silent. They didn't like the way that their friends were talking. They were not at all happy about having posts in the new Kingdom of God being carved up like this. James listened for a while, but then decided he'd had enough.
   "See you later, guys." he said. "I'm off to bed. Come on John." John got up off the ground, and followed James down the slope towards the crowd. When they got back to their pitch, their Mother was waiting. Like many of the women-folk of the Disciples, she had tagged along on this expedition. It was the most exciting thing to have happened in this part of the world for decades...and she wasn't going to miss any of it. As her boys approached their little patch of ground, she pulled them into her tent.
   "Well?" she demanded. "What did he want?"
   James looked at John, and raised an eyebrow. Should they tell her? Did Jesus want everyone to know what was going to happen? Or had it been confidential?
   John made up his mind. "Listen Mother," he began. "I don't know if we should be telling you this - so keep it under your hat for now."
   "Ok Son," said his Mother. "Just tell me what he said"
   "Well," said John. "It was a bit weird. He said that when we get to Jerusalem, he expects to be arrested, tried and crucified."
   "What?!" said his Mother. "That can't be right. You must have mis-heard him. I'm always saying you should pay attention when people are speaking to you! James, you tell me. What did Jesus really say?"
   "John is right, Mother" said James. "That is exactly what he said. But then he said something even more weird."
   "What?"
   "He said that after three days of being dead, he would rise to life"
   James and John's Mother didn't say anything. She wasn't especially surprised. She had seen things on this trip which had already blown her mind. Nothing Jesus said or promised would surprise her any more. She pondered for a minute, and then said,
   "And what then?"
   "I beg your pardon?" said John
   "What then?" said his Mother. "What happens after he rises from the dead?"
   "Funnily enough," said James, "That's what we were all talking about just now, after Jesus had left. Matthew thinks Jesus is going to start a new Kingdom, with himself on a heavenly throne. Matthew was wondering whether Jesus might make him Chancellor of the Exchequer...he used to be a tax-man you know!"
   John piped up. "And Andrew thought that Jesus would probably make Simon into his Prime Minister"
   John's Mother looked aghast. "What!" she exclaimed. "That bumbling fool! I'll Prime Minister him when I get my hands on him!"
   James put out his hand and patted his Mother on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it Mum. We were only mucking around. Just trying to use a bit of humour to lighten the mood. I'm sure Jesus knows what he's doing...even if we don't. Let's get some sleep. Another long day tomorrow."
   At that, the three of them hunkered down for the night, and tried to catch some sleep. Except for Sarah - John and James' Mother. She lay awake, looking up at the roof of the tent. I wonder, she thought. I wonder. If Jesus is going to set up a new Kingdom, what's going to be in it for my boys? They've been with him right from the beginning. I'll bet Jesus has got a plumb job in mind for them. But what if he hasn't? What if he's going to give all the best jobs to the others. I couldn't stand it! I'd be a mockery back in Galilee. Everyone would say "there goes old Sarah who followed the King around for months with her two boys, and didn't get anything". I'd be so embarrassed. Maybe if I just have a little word with Jesus. Maybe if I just plant an idea in his head...

   The next day, Sarah woke up early. Her mind was made up. She would talk to Jesus. She quickly rustled up a couple of unleavened loaves for her sons' breakfast...and then poked them. "Come on," she said. "Time to get up".
   James opened one eye and moaned. "It's too early!" he protested. "Jesus said we would be heading off a bit later this morning". Sarah plonked a bread roll on James' blanket, and went out of the tent.
   John rolled over and sat up. "What's all the fuss?" he asked.
   "It's Mother" replied James. "She's hatching something. I just know it."
   "Oh no." said John, tearing off a hunk of the bread and chewing thoughtfully. "This is not going to be good"

   Five minutes later, Sarah came back into the tent, and pulled the blankets off both her sons. "Come on!" she announced. "We're going to see Jesus". No son would dare argue with his Mother when she has got that look of determination in her eyes. So James and John, reluctantly dragged themselves out of the tent, and followed their Mother as she marched determinedly up the slope to a large rock on which Jesus was sitting, looking out over the camp.
   "What's she up to?" said James
   "I've no idea." replied John. "But its not going to be good."
   When Sarah arrived in front of Jesus, she knelt down on the ground in front him. Jesus looked down at her, wondering, smiling. "Hello Sarah", he said. "Lovely day"
   "Rabbi", said Sarah, "I've come to ask a favour of you".
   "Oh yes?" said Jesus "What is it that you want?"
   "I've heard all about what you said last night" Sarah began. "I've come to ask you to grant me a great honour."
   "Really" said Jesus. "What would that be then?"
   "Rabbi - I'd like to you grant that when you set up the new Kingdom, you'll let one of my sons sit at the right hand of your throne, and the other on the left". There was a moment of silence, a pause while Jesus gathered his thoughts. James and John stood stock still - like a couple of statues. They couldn't believe their ears. What was Mother playing at? Smiling, Jesus looked down into Sarah's expectant face.
   "Sarah", he said. And then, not unkindly, "You don't know what you are asking". Looking up at James and John, Jesus said, "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?"
   James looked quickly at John. There was a chance here. Perhaps they might just make it, and become Jesus' right hand men. John nodded at James, and together they looked at Jesus with resolution and replied, "We can".
   Jesus looked disappointed. He had hoped for better from these two. He had hoped that perhaps they had begun to understand that his Kingdom was not like that at all. He shook his head, and said, "You will indeed drink from my cup. But to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father." James and John were a bit puzzled, but they they were wise enough to know when to back down. What did Jesus mean? We will drink from his cup, but the places of honour are decided by God? That was typical of Jesus. He always talked in riddles.
   Sarah was still kneeling in front of Jesus, listening intently to all that was going on over her head. James reached down and gently lifted her to her feet. "Come on Mother," he said. "Let's go".
   Sarah got up, looking quite a bit more pleased with herself than James and John were feeling. She had heard Jesus promise her boys that they would drink from his cup. She had no idea what that meant. But it sounded good. It sounded promising. "Thank you, Rabbi", she said, nodding her head ingratiatingly. "Thank you, thank you". And then bowing to Jesus, repeatedly, she backed away from him, and allowed herself to be led away by James.
   As they threaded their way back through the camp, Sarah turned to John and said, "Did you hear that? He said you would drink from his cup! And he said that God would decided who would sit with him on his throne. He didn't say it wouldn't be you though! And he did say that you would drink from his cup! There's still hope, there's still hope".
   By now the camp was starting to stir. "Sshhh, Mother", said James. "You mustn't go on like that. People will start to think that you are asking for special favours".
   "So what if I am?" said Sarah. "Can't a woman ask for favours for her own sons?"
   And sure enough, people in the camp did indeed think that Sarah was asking for favours - and even worse, that James and John had gone along with her. As people began to come to, some of them heard this exchange going on between the Sons of Thunder and their Mother, and they began to gossip. Neighbour began to wake neighbour with the news that James and John had been up to see Jesus and asked for preferential treatment. "That's not right!" "Who do they think they are?" Within a few minutes, the buzz was round the whole camp. Within half an hour, the news had reached the ears of the other ten Disciples - Simon, Andrew, Thaddeus, Judas, and the others. They were livid! After a quick discussion together, they decided that this would just no do, and they all strutted over to where James, John and Sarah were striking camp.
   Simon, ever the spokesperson, spoke first. "What's this we hear? Have you been up to Jesus to ask for a place on his right and left hands?"
   James looked at the ground, and shuffled his feet nervously. "Wasn't us", he mumbled. "It was Mother".
   "That's not good enough" replied Simon. "Can't you control your Mother? Call yourself men! And you let you Mother go and do your dirty work for you!"
   Jesus, in the meantime, had been sitting on his rock, looking over the camp. He wasn't surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. He had watched the little trio going back to their tent very sadly. He had watched as neighbour gossiped to neighbour around the camp - and he had smiled to himself as he saw Simon stride across the camp over to James and John with the other nine disciples in his wake. Jesus made a decision. It's time for me to intervene here, he thought. It's time that the lesson they've been teaching themselves this morning was explained to them.
   Wearily, Jesus climbed down from his rock, and wandered down the slope to where the ten disciples were gathered around the other two. As he approached, one of the Disciples, Philip, looked up from the argument, and saw Jesus approaching. He nudged Bartholomew in the ribs and pointed at the approaching Rabbi. Bartholomew nudged Matthew, Matthew nudged Andrew and in a few seconds, the little group of angry men had ceased shouting, and waited for Jesus to approach.
   Jesus walked up to them and stopped. He looked around at them with love, but also a little disappointment in his eyes. Into the anger in the air around him, Jesus spoke gently.
   "You know how the Gentiles do things, don't you? You know how their rulers lord it over the rest of the people, and how their high officials dominate everyone else?" A few of the Disciples grunted. They knew what Jesus meant - they had seen how the Romans bossed everyone else around. "Well", Jesus went on, "That is not how it shall be with you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant - not your Prime Minister," he said, looking knowingly at Peter, "and not your Chancellor", he said, smiling at Matthew. "And whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to everyone else. This should not surprise you. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. The Son of Man came to give his life up, like a sort of ransom paid to a kidnapper, not to go lording it up over anyone."
   And then, the Disciples noticed that Jesus' eyes seemed to become distant. He seemed to be staring off into the distance, over vast miles, and even through time itself. And then, Jesus' voice was heard in a tiny little church in the heart of Portsmouth, in a little church named out of affection for another follower of Jesus, a man called Mark. There was a congregation gathered that morning. A congregation of ordinary people - people just like the Disciples and the other followers of Jesus. These were ordinary people - but people who had heard the call of Jesus, across the millennia - the call to live in ways that were life-giving; the call to live in love with God, and with each other. These were people who longed to hear Jesus speak to them, and longed to hear from him how life could be richer, deeper, more meaningful. And across time, and through the walls of the church that morning, the people of St Mark heard Jesus speaking to them.
   "In my service, there is perfect freedom. By serving me, in your homes, in your jobs, in your schools, in your church, in your community - you will find me. By serving me with your time, and with your talents and with your money, you will know me. When you serve others, you serve me. When you reach out to others, you reach out to me."
   And all the people, in that little church in North End, said, "Amen".

Church...Is this what God had in mind?

2010-07-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

Matthew 23 v 1-7

Have you ever wondered why we go to church? I mean, what is this church thing we do all about? And we do we have all these strange rules about when to stand up or sit down...or about what funny robes we should wear up the front...or what prayers we should say and when. We have rules for what readings should be read at what times of the year.

Sometimes, readings can be a little tricky...like the time when a bride asked her sister to do a reading at her wedding. She asked her to read from the first letter of John, chapter 4, verse 18 - which says "There is no fear in love - because perfect love cast out all fear". Unfortunately, the bride's sister didn't know her bible very well. Instead of reading from the first letter of John, she read from the Gospel of John...where chapter 4, verse 18 says "For you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband"!

But let's get back to the rules! We have rules about who can celebrate the Eucharist, and who is allowed to receive it. We have whole books of laws and regulations about all sorts of aspects of church life - everything from how a church council should be elected through to whether or not a priest can divulge what they are told in confession.

I wonder. Is this what Jesus had in mind when he founded a church?

Jesus actually gave pretty short shrift to the kind of people who set the rules for worship in his day. As we heard in the reading just now, Jesus said about them:

They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogue; they love to be greeted in the market place and to have men call them 'Rabbi'...

...and Jesus goes on like this for some time. Read Chapter 23 of Matthew's Gospel yourselves. Seriously - you should read it! Jesus calls religious leaders hypocrites, blind guides, snakes and broods of vipers...and sons of hell. The whole chapter is a rant par excellence! And it all boils down to this...the religion of Jesus' day does nothing more than pile on rule after religious rule on the people...rules and religious actions that are often ignored by the very people who make them.

So what about us? Are we guilty, sometimes of doing religious things, or believing certain religious ideas because we think that we should?

Just imagine for a moment that I decided to buy my wife a bunch of flowers. Imagine her happy smiling face as I present them to her. "How lovely!" she says. "And what an unusual gift....from you!" (I'm ashamed to admit that I'm not very good at buying flowers!). Now just imagine how she would feel if I replied..."Oh, its no big deal. They were really cheap. Only cost me 50p at the Summer Fayre". How do you think she would feel? If she thought I was only buying flowers out of sense of duty?

Is that how God feels...when we only go through the motions.

Do you remember last week's reading...about the Good Samaritan? It started with a lawyer asking Jesus what he had to do to gain eternal life. He ended up giving the answer himself, by quoting from what Jews call the Shema..."Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength"

What's the point of coming to church if we don't really mean it...if we don't love God? There isn't any point. Is there?

You see, God doesn't want empty rituals and rules. God wants our hearts.

This is what God said to the Jewish people in the time of Isaiah - pointing to their ritual of fasting:

"Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after: a day to show off your humility? To put on a pious face and parade solemnly around in black? Do you call that fasting? A fast day that I, God, would like?... What I'm interested in seeing you do is this: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering poorly-clad, being available to your own families. Do this, and the lights will turn on....and your lives will turn around at once!" (Is.58. 5-8 abridged from 'The Message' translation)

God can't stand it when people put on a religious show, but then ignore the marginalised and the poor and the oppressed. God says "I am weary of people like that!"

Do you give money away? Why? Because you think God needs it?

Here's what God says about that, in Psalm 50:

I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it! (Ps 50. 9-12)

God doesn't want your money. God wants your heart. God wants your heart to beat in time with his.

Do I give a percentage of my pay check so that I can get God off my back? Or maybe because I figure that once I've given God my 10% I can do whatever I like with the rest?

Which reminds me of the story of the church which needed repairs done to their ceiling. Week by week, the vicar would urge people to open up their wallets. Finally, when the ceiling was really beginning to sag, a wealthy member of the congregation stood up and said "I'll give three hundred pounds". Just at that moment, a small piece of the ceiling broke off, and struck the rich man on the head, at which point the Vicar was heard to mutter, "Hit him again, Lord! Hit him again!"

When God has my heart, I realise that everything I have I've been given! God doesn't need our money - but he loves it when we give because we want our hearts to beat in time with his. Remember the words of St Paul, in the 2nd letter to the Corinthians?

Everyone should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly nor under compulsion.... for God loves a cheerful giver! But remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously will reap generously! (2 Cor 9. 7,6)

If I'm giving out of compulsion, because I think I'm supposed to, or because I think God needs it...I should keep it. God...God doesn't want it.

God doesn't want our flowers. God wants our hearts. Because when he has our hearts, we'll start to care about the things God cares about. We'll start to care about the people God cares about.

You know - when you realise that you can do something about the state of the world...when you realise there is work to be done - and you can do it....then your heart is starting to beat like God's.

So what is church? Is church a building? No. Church is people. People whose hearts are beating more and more like God's.

Maybe you are sometimes turned off by meaningless ritual, narrow minds and weird rules. So am I. And so is God.

Let's be honest. A lot of people confuse religion with God - and then walk away from them both. The point is not Christianity. The point is being a Christian. The point is following Jesus.

Of course, ritual has its place. Our rituals are there to remind us that what we do together is worthwhile. We step aside from the normal run of the mill. We disengage, for a while, from the frankly tedious lives that some of us are forced to live. We dress up, we sing. We parade, we use rich language. We cross ourselves as a reminder of who we follow, and of what he has done for us, and of how he wants us to live.

Because that's the point of our worship. If our worship doesn't help us to connect with the God we worship, we should ditch it. If the rhythm of our ceremonies don't beat to the rhythm of God's heart...then they must go. Do we honestly put on our best clothes for an hour once a week, to stand and sit at the right times and sing all the appropriate songs for God's sake? Or because we rather enjoy doing things the way we like doing them. But God doesn't want meaningless ritual. God wants our hearts.

The point of church is that we come together...to be connected to God and one another...and to be connected to all that is good and true and right. We come together to be encouraged to go on living to the beat of God's heart. We come to remind ourselves what God's priorities are. If we get that right, it won't matter what we sing - modern (like this morning) or medieval (like this afternoon at Evensong). It won't matter what we wear - posh clothes or jeans. All kinds of worship, all kinds of clothing, all kinds of giving will be acceptable to God if we do it to the beat of his heart.

Anything else? God doesn't want it.

Amen?

NB: The sermon was inspired by, and partly transcribed from, a NOOMA video, called "Sunday" by Rob Bell.

Ascension - Where is Heaven Anyway?

2010-05-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

You can HEAR this sermon by clicking here

Acts 1: Verses 1-11: Ascension Day

Have you heard the story of the family of country bumpkins, who decided one day to go for a trip to London? It was their first trip ever away from their farm, and there were all sorts of exciting things to see and do. They decided that they would stay in one of 'them there fancy 'otels', and so they drove their tractor to the Ritz, in Piccadilly.

The father of the family took his son, and told his wife to stay in the tractor while he got them booked in. The farmer and his boy entered the lobby of the hotel, and looked around them in amazement. There were so many things they had never seen before - marble floors, chandeliers, water fountains. But the most amazing thing was the lift at the end of the lobby.

“What’s that thing there?”, asked the son - as they stared at the shiny doors. “I don’t know” said the father - “let’s watch”. So they watched, as a little old lady of 93 pressed the button to call the lift. When the lift arrived, she got in and was seen to press another button, before the doors closed, and she disappeared. A few seconds later, however, the doors opened again - and a stunning young blonde came out of the doors.

“Son,” said the old farmer, “that’s fantastic! They have a machine which makes old women young again! Go and get yer mother!”

The sense of wonder that the old Farmer experienced must have been a bit like the wonder of the Disciples as they saw Jesus taken from their sight, up into heaven - hidden by a cloud. They must have wondered what on earth was happening. According to Luke’s account (in the book of Acts) “they were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men in white stood beside them”. These two men, whom we assume to be angels, then reassured the disciples that Jesus would come back in the same way that they had seen him go up into heaven.

Some people have wondered whether this is, in fact, a completely accurate account of what happened that day. The biggest problem for the modern reader is that we don't tend to think of heaven as 'up there', any more. This is been a suspicion of modern people for many years.

Perhaps the most famous example was when the first man in space came home. Russian Cosmonaut, Yuri Gregarin, was the first man to pierce the sky and look into the depth of space...and according to his Premier, Kruschev, 'Gragarin didn't see God up there'.

That's a very different picture than the people of Jesus' day would have had. For them, and many primitive religions, heaven was above them, and hell below. Today we call that a 'triple decker universe'. But over time, we've started to change that view.

One way of thinking about heaven is to suggest that it is with us all the time. After all, Jesus proclaimed that “the Kingdom of Heaven is among you”. We may even have the capacity to enter, or at least touch heaven, albeit briefly. We might also say that heaven is present whenever there is peace, or justice. Or whenever we pray, or feel the touch of God upon our lives. Tom Wright, the Bishop Durham, describes heaven and earth as not separated by a vast expanse of sky - but rather by a sort of spiritual curtain, which even we can sometimes step through and touch.

But perhaps Jesus chose not to worry about that particular theological point. Perhaps he realised that if he simply stepped through the curtain into heaven, the Disciples might not really understand that his time on earth had come to an end. After all, during the days leading up to this event, he had popped in and out of their lives, and rooms, very frequently. He appeared out of nowhere in a locked room where they were all hiding one day. After breaking bread with other disciples at Emmaus, he simply disappeared again. It seemed that Jesus' resurrection body had the ability to step through the invisible curtain which separates our world from heaven. What was needed was a grand gesture - something which made very clear that a new stage of the Christian journey was beginning.

One thing that Christians have always believed is that Jesus, and the Father, and the Holy Spirit are all aspects of the same One God. But it was clear from what Jesus taught his disciples before he left them, that he needed to remove his physical body from them, in order for the Spirit to be sent. One way of thinking about this might be to imagine Jesus going up into heaven, and then, like a firework, exploding and expanding....so that his Spirit could reach out over the whole earth. Jesus, if you like, can be thought of as a kind of Big Bang!

We believe that Jesus is now everywhere, by his Spirit. Any of us, at any time, can speak with him and pray to him. That couldn't happen if he was limited to his physical body. We'd have to make an appointment if we wanted to talk with him!

Do you remember the movie Bruce Almighty? Bruce, played by Jim Carrey, wanted the power of God - and he was given it for a while. Great fun - for a bit - while he lassooed the moon for his girlfriend, and had the power to do anything he wanted. But then Bruce learned that with great power comes great responsibility...and he was given the responsibility of answering prayers.

Aargh! Prayers started flooding in. What should he do? Make them all into post-it notes perhaps? No - his whole house was quickly covered in the things. Put them all in a filing cabinet? No...too many cabinets. Maybe turning them into emails would work? But then, Bruce found that he didn't have the time to answer them all individually - so he just pressed "Answer All" and then "Yes!". The result, as you might remember, was catastrophic! Everyone's prayers were answered...including everyone who had asked to win the Lottery....which meant that there were millions of winners! Riots broke out. The city was in chaos!

You see, although Bruce had been given the power of God, he was not given God's ability to be everywhere at the same time, and to know all things at once. Bruce, like Jesus before his Ascension, was confined to a physical body...confined by time and space.

But when Jesus 'ascended into heaven', or 'passed through the invisible curtain', the Bible tells us he sent his Spirit back into the World...and that by that Spirit, we can be inspired, forgiven, loved, cherished, encouraged, and prompted to live in ways that are God-like. By that Spirit, we can talk to Jesus, and know that he hears and feels our every need. By that Spirit, we can reach out and touch God...and be led by God.

So because of his Ascension, we can have confidence that God is with us. It's one of those weird ironies of Christianity, that you've heard me talk about before. We serve a king who was born in a stable. We worship a God who taught us to give up everything in order to possess everything. In order for us to live, Jesus had to die. In order to be fully with us, Jesus had to go into heaven.

That's the kind of topsy-turvey faith that we are about to baptise Lucie Jayne into. By her baptism, in a few minutes, we are going to offer her the gift of life that never ends. We are going to welcome her into the family of God's people - ordinary, yet spiritual people, who have discovered that a life lived with God is a better life.

We are people who are discovering that living a simple life is the best way to a rich life. We are people who are learning that forgiveness towards each other is so much better than anger. Love is stronger than hate. Peace is more powerful than war. Generosity is more life-giving than selfishness. Singing is better than crying. Praying is better than coping on our own. We are people who are learning that although Jesus is no longer physically with us, he is much more with us - deeply with us by his Spirit - than we could ever imagine.

So now let's welcome Lucie into this faith....

Peace be with you!

2010-05-10T23:07:00.000-07:00

John 14:23-29

Please Note: You can hear this sermon, as it was preached, by clicking here

There is a moment which arrives in the middle of every service that, I know, gives some people a real sense of dread. It's a relatively new innovation. Those of us who are over 40 remember only too well when the idea of Sharing the Peace was first introduced into our services. Before that, the priest would say "May the peace of the Lord be always with you". Everyone would reply "and also with you" - and the priest would announce the offertory hymn. Simple as that.

But back in the 1970s and 1980s, someone - I don't know who - decided that it would be a good idea to 'share the peace' in a more tangible way. For many of the older generation - this was truly an awful thing to do. For many, it completely disrupted the solemnity of the service.

As a response to this new innovation, those masters of the comedy song, Richard Stilgoe and Peter Skellern, wrote the following words, about a fictional character, called Mrs Beamish...

Mrs Beamish stands in church,
expression calm and holy
And when the organ plays she
mumbles hymns extremely slowly
A pillar of St Botolphs
For forty years or more
She does the flowers at Easter
and the brass-work on the door
But recently St Botolphs
has gained a brand new Vicar,
His name is Ken, he's single,
and he wants the hymns sung quicker,
He's introduced a custom
which Mrs Beamish hates,
So she rounds upon the person next to her
and clearly states;

"Don't you dare shake hands with me,
or offer signs of peace,
You lay a finger on me
and I'll send for the police,
Don't whisper 'peace be with you'
- this is the C of E,
So bend the knee, say 'thou and thee'
- and keep your hands off me!"

Ken tells us love your neighbour,
And Mrs Beamish sneers,
"I only love my neighbour
if I've known them 30 years"
Even when it isn't Christmas
He let's youngsters in the church
He's altered all the music
after audience research
They shout out 'Halleluiah'!
They don't act like me and you
The young women don't wear hats
And the young men quite often do
They seem to like their hands
enthusiastically rung
'Till they turn to Mrs Beamish
And they feel her acid tongue...

"Don't you dare shake hands with me,
I don't know where you've been!
You lay a finger on me and you'll feel this tambourine!
Don't whisper peace be with you
This is the C of E!
So bend the knee, saw 'thou' and 'thee'
And keep your hands off me!

In the beginning was the Word
Read out loud by Thora Hird
Harry Secombe then would scream
"Morning has broken" by a stream
Now the organ's gone for scrap
And everyone has got to clap!

"Don't you dare shake hands with me
or turn to me and smile
You'll wake up spitting teeth out
Face downwards in the aisle
Don't whisper 'peace be with you'
This is the C of E!
You go just one inch too far
You'll end up wearing that guitar
One false step in my direction
You'll need to believe in the resurrection!
So bend the knee, say 'thou' and 'thee'
And keep your hands off me!"

The whole song underlines that sense of uneasiness which some people have at sharing 'the Peace'. In my last parish, there were people who would routinely ask me whether I was going to make them share the peace at the next Sunday's service. If I said that I planned to, they would simply not come.

Now I do understand something of the nervousness. I confess to not finding it the easiest experience myself...especially when I'm not leading from the front. You know what it's like - you turn around and look for someone's hand to shake...but there's no-one there...'cause they are all shaking hands with other people! So you stand there like Billy No-mates, waking for a hand to become available. And then, when you do find an available victim, what should you do...a polite handshake, a 'holy kiss' on the cheek, or a charismatic bear-hug?! And if I shake one person's hand, and exchange a kiss with another - what does that communicate to the person who only got a handshake...do they feel less loved or valuable?

So, let me be frank. I have some grave reservations about the Peace...but...but...I do think that it has an important place within church life.

Does anyone know what a liturgical action is? Sharing of the peace is a 'liturgical' action...its an action which has deeper meaning. There's a real danger sometimes - especially in Anglican churches, that so much of the service is conducted from the front of the church - by the priest - that congregations can become more like audiences. I think it is vitally important that people have the opportunity to engage in liturgical action - and that's for a couple of reasons. The first is that it is a visible sign that worship is something we do together. Those of us in the congregation are not passive recipients of worship - having worship done to us! We are also participants. By singing, standing together, reading and praying together, sharing the peace together - we live out the practical reality that we are the body of Christ - called to be the people of Jesus in this place.

The second reason that sharing the peace is a good thing - is because things that we act out tend to be much more memorable than things we merely observe. You might watch 100 episodes of Top Gear - but until you've sat behind the wheel of a car, you can never be a driver. By touching and doing things together, we help them to become rooted with us. Things we do together are important. They are what help to define us - and they help to give us shared memories...memories which become the heart of our community.

One of the complaints that I've often heard about sharing the Peace is the one that goes: "It's not very peaceful is it?!" And people who say that are right, of course. The Peace is anything but peaceful. In fact, around here its quite often total chaos - and I have to shout to make myself heard when it is time to announce the next hymn.

But in fact, we shouldn't be surprised about this. Jesus quite clearly told his disciples that the kind of peace he was offering was 'a peace which the world cannot give' (cf John 14:27). When we share peace, we are not sharing silence, but peace. This is peace in terms of a lack of conflict...not the peace of a period of silence. As the standard words of introduction have it..."let us therefore make for peace, and for all that builds up our common life". This peace we share is a liturgical demonstration of our one-ness, of our peace with our neighbours, through Christ. It is the "peace of God which passes all understanding" - an expression of the peace of our souls granted to us through Jesus, which we share with one another.

This peace that we share is the kind of peace that exists between people who 'love Jesus, and keep Jesus' word' - to paraphrase another section of today's gospel reading. Jesus is quite unequivocal in what he says in verse 23. "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them". This statement was actually made in response to a question...from a disciple called Judas. He had asked Jesus, "Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world". By his reply, Jesus teaches that he will be revealed in the lives of his followers - in those who love him, and who keep his word.

Jesus' word - or, as he calls his word a few verses earlier, his commandments - are pretty simple. Love God, and love your neighbour. "On these two commandments hand all the law and the prophets." (Mt 22:40). In other words, it is only people who are living lives of love - for God and for those around them - who can ever really know what God's peace is like. We could sit in silence for a whole hour - but never know peace...if inside our minds we are filled with resentment, or hatred, or if we are lacking forgiveness towards one another. God's peace is not silence - in fact God's peace cries out from the Cross with a loud shout "It is finished". God's peace is a kind of peace that passes all human understanding - because it is peace between God and humans, and peace between people whose normal instinct is to make war with one another.

One more thought about sharing the peace - which I wonder whether you've ever considered. As we grasp each other's hands, we say the words "peace be with you". What we are doing, in fact, is praying for one another. As I take hold of your hand, I pray that you will know the real peace of God. You pray for me too - that I also may know God's peace. We are praying for each other in a real, tangible way. At the moment of sharing peace, prayer is rising above the whole congregation. Arguments and even hurt feelings over some previous slight or other is put aside while we pray for each other's peace.

It is for that reason that I want to encourage you to learn to see the sharing of the Peace in a new light. Sharing the Peace is a time of prayer. Its a holy moment of real significance....as we make this liturgical action together. By our action, we demonstrate with our bodies what we pray for with our souls - that each one of us may know God's peace. We do it together, as the body of Christ, finding healing and reconciliation between us.

So, to Mrs Beamish, and all who share her opinion, I would urge a re-evaluation of this important gesture. There, just before we gather together around the Lord's Table, we have an opportunity to pray for one another. We have the chance to make peace with our sister or brother - and come, as one body, united in peace, to share the Supper of our Lord.

Amen