Sermon preached at St Alphege, Solihull, 6.30pm, Sunday 18/02/07
Year C – Sunday before Lent
Readings: Deuteronomy 11:18-21&26-28 Romans 1:16-17 & 3:26-28
Over the last week the young people of the UK have been in the news. The main reason has been gun crime; tragically, three teenagers have been killed in separate gun incidents in London. The other big news story featuring young people has been a new UNICEF report, that suggests that the UK has the lowest level of child well being among all of the rich nations of the world. The report suggests that countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic, despite being significantly poorer than the UK, provide much better environments for children and young people to grow up in.
I don’t know about you, but I have been fascinated to watch the political reaction to these two news topics. Tony Blair has discounted the UNICEF report, saying that it is based on out of date data. He has said that the gun crime is not part of a general problem but is a specific difficulty affecting certain young people in parts of London. He proposes tougher laws on young people caught holding illegal firearms. He also wants to see gang membership as a factor to be taken account in sentencing. David Cameron says that he has grown tired of changes to the law, and extra money to finance new initiatives. He emphasises the importance of a change in values so that family life is given higher priority. He wants to see a broader cultural change in which relationships are properly valued.
These two contrasting political positions are very different in their approach to law. Mr Blair believes that the law, or changes to the law, can be used to directly address particular problems in our society. Mr Cameron sees law very differently. He wants the law to concentrate on building a healthier value based culture in our society, so that problems like gun crime do not arise in the first place.
A similar contrast in approach to the law is evident in the two readings that we heard earlier in this service. In the first reading Moses is reminding the Israelites just how important the Law is. In the second reading St Paul is telling us that our salvation comes from faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and not by obedience to the Law. We are therefore invited to reflect on the Jewish Law, on law in general and on law as we experience it today.
The first five books of the bible, which Christians often call the Pentateuch, are known by Jews as the Torah, which means “teaching” or “law”. They contain stories like the call of Abraham and the exodus from Egypt, which define the Israelites as God’s chosen people. The five books also contain lots of rules and regulations which God asks the Israelites to live by. These rules and regulations were known as “the law”. In the part of the book of Deuteronomy that we have just read, God’s deal with the Israelites is set out very clearly. The Israelites were to keep all the commandments of the law and if they did then God would bless them and give them possession of the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey, but if they did not follow the ways of the Lord and keep his commandments then they would be cursed and would loose the promised land.
Much of the Old Testament is precisely the story of that deal. The Israelites alternately seem to drift away from God, who strips them of the promised land. Over a period of time they repent, return to God and eventually are returned to the promised land.
When Jesus comes, his attitude towards the law is very interesting. Jesus strongly emphasised the importance some of the underlying principles set out in the law. For example the commandments “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deut 6:5, cf 11:13) and “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18). Jesus strongly affirmed these principles, saying “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt 22:40). The law also contained the Ten Commandments and held these as central. Jesus upheld the Ten Commandments and even developed them further. For example, he said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, `Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” (Matt 5:21 see also 5:27).
Jesus lives most of his life in simple obedience to the law. As a baby he was presented in the temple, in accordance with the law. With his disciples, he observed the religious festivals set down in the law. However there are times when Jesus appears to go deliberately against the law. He allows his disciples to pick wheat on the Sabbath, and he works healing miracles on the Sabbath (Matt 12:3-14). Jesus is extremely critical of Pharisees who use the detailed regulations of the law to avoid fulfilling the more central obligation to “honour you father and mother”. He also pronounces all food as “clean” contrary to the detailed regulations (Matt 15:1-20). And yet Jesus remains a strong supporter of the law. He tells us that he has not come to abolish the law, but rather to fulfil it. “Not a single jot or pen stroke of the law will disappear until everything has been accomplished,” he tells us (Matt 5:17-20).
Jesus seems to be telling us how to interpret the law. He is always emphasising that the central obligation is to love God and to be obedient to God’s will. The love of neighbour is another central obligation and these central obligations always take precedence over the detailed regulations. Jesus also emphasises that he himself is of greater significance than the law. “The son of man is the Lord of the Sabbath,” he tells us (Matt 12:8) He also tells us that his disciples are correct not to fast when the bridegroom is still with them, although they will fast when he is gone (Mark 2:19-20).
And it is this point about the overriding value of the person of Christ that Paul makes in the reading that we had from the book of Romans. It is faith in Jesus Christ and in the gospel that brings us righteousness and justification. Paul is at pains to point out that this is true both for Jews, who grew up under the law, and for gentiles, who did not. So where does this leave us in the debate about gun crime, and the well being of children. Well it seems to me that Mr Cameron has a very good point. We should seek to use the law to build a healthy society based on good values, rather than hoping that we can solve our problems through detailed regulations. However the key question for Mr Cameron has to be “What are the underlying values on which this healthy renewed culture is to be based?” Are they solid and enduring Christ like values; love for God, obedience to God’s will and love for neighbour? Or are they based on nothing more substantive than Mr Cameron’s own personal opinions.
Who knows if we will ever find out? In the mean time, however, let’s make sure that we base our own lives on the substantive and solid values that we find in the person of Christ.
19 February 2007
Creation by God's will
Thought for Pew Slip - Sunday 11th February 2007 – Second Sunday before Lent
Readings Genesis 2:4b-9&15-25 Revelation 4 Luke 8:22-25
Today our reading from Revelation presents us with a vision of heaven. There the elders continually worship God saying, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
It is all too easy for us to get bogged down thinking about scientific mechanisms and lose sight of the underlying reality that all things come into being because God wills them to be. God’s will is the driving force behind all creation. When Jesus, who is God, commands the winds and the waves, they inevitably obey him.
As human beings we achieve the fullest potential of our creation when we move in harmony with what God wills. We have the capacity to sin, that is to go against the will of God, but this undermines our own being. Rather the way to fullness of life is to follow the path that God wills for us. We do this moment by moment in our daily lives. Let’s use the grace that God gives us in each present moment of our lives to be and do precisely what God wants from us in that moment. This way we make our lives a series of many small steps on the pathway to heaven.
Readings Genesis 2:4b-9&15-25 Revelation 4 Luke 8:22-25
Today our reading from Revelation presents us with a vision of heaven. There the elders continually worship God saying, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
It is all too easy for us to get bogged down thinking about scientific mechanisms and lose sight of the underlying reality that all things come into being because God wills them to be. God’s will is the driving force behind all creation. When Jesus, who is God, commands the winds and the waves, they inevitably obey him.
As human beings we achieve the fullest potential of our creation when we move in harmony with what God wills. We have the capacity to sin, that is to go against the will of God, but this undermines our own being. Rather the way to fullness of life is to follow the path that God wills for us. We do this moment by moment in our daily lives. Let’s use the grace that God gives us in each present moment of our lives to be and do precisely what God wants from us in that moment. This way we make our lives a series of many small steps on the pathway to heaven.
06 February 2007
Prayer for family life
Evensong prayer
Almighty God, your son Jesus Christ grew up in a human family learning to walk and talk, to read and to think, learning a trade and learning what it is to live a human life. Help us to be good members of our families. Help us to love and serve like the Holy Family of Nazareth, so like them we may help many people on their journey to you. We make out prayer through the same Lord Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Almighty God, your son Jesus Christ grew up in a human family learning to walk and talk, to read and to think, learning a trade and learning what it is to live a human life. Help us to be good members of our families. Help us to love and serve like the Holy Family of Nazareth, so like them we may help many people on their journey to you. We make out prayer through the same Lord Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Prayer for help to keep loving when sufferings come
Prayer for evensong
Heavenly Father, your son’s apostle Paul preached to us the wisdom of Christ crucified. Help us to see and to love the face of Christ crucified in all the sufferings that we meet in our lives, day to day, so that we may know the crucified Christ as the power of God and as the wisdom of God (1Cor 1:24), and may dare to hope in the great inheritance that he has won for us. We make our prayer in the name of the same Lord Jesus Christ and in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Heavenly Father, your son’s apostle Paul preached to us the wisdom of Christ crucified. Help us to see and to love the face of Christ crucified in all the sufferings that we meet in our lives, day to day, so that we may know the crucified Christ as the power of God and as the wisdom of God (1Cor 1:24), and may dare to hope in the great inheritance that he has won for us. We make our prayer in the name of the same Lord Jesus Christ and in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen
04 February 2007
The Wisdom of God
Evensong Sermon 04/02/07
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull, 6.30pm, Sunday 04/02/07
Year C – Third Sunday before Lent
Readings: Isaiah 58:1-9a 1Cor 2:1-12
Many years ago I attended a Christian conference for young people. We listened to a big speech and then divided into small groups to do some work arising from the speech. I was responsible for leading one of these small groups. In our group there was a particular girl who said that she disagreed with one of the points made in the big speech. She explained what she thought. I thought that he was overlooking something, so I explained this back to her. I can’t remember what I said, but I do remember that I thought it dealt very well with her objection, and I really hoped that she would come to understand the important point that was being made. In stead, of course, I got a flee in my ear, and I suppose really, I might have expected this.
It was a difficult moment. There was no time to continue the conversation because we needed to get on with our tasks. I remember making a little prayer, offering to God the suffering of this gap in understanding and praying for the grace to carry on loving through that suffering. I explained to the girl that we needed to get on with the tasks and we did this as best we could.
A couple of days later the conference came to an end. People were invited to go on stage and share their impressions. To my horror the first person up on stage was this same girl, and she started talking about the incident she had had with me. It turned out that it had been an important moment for her, not at all because of what I said, but rather because she could see that I had faith and she realised that she could have faith too.
I was deeply struck by this. It turned out that I had helped the girl, but in a completely different way from the way which I had intended. The point that she had come to understand concerned faith, and had nothing to do with the words I had used, even though I had thought my words had been quite good. Probably had far more to do with the little prayer and with the intention of continuing to love, despite the suffering of misunderstanding.
In the second reading that we hear today Paul seems to be making a similar point. He says, “I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” In the first three chapters of I Corinthians, Paul’s whole theme is to point out the difference between human wisdom and God’s wisdom. The wisdom of God is the crucified Christ (1 Cor 1:23-24) and is taught to us, not by human wisdom, but by the Spirit (1Cor 2:13). It is not through great arguments that people come to understand the Christian message. Rather it is when Christ is loved in them, and especially when Christ crucified is loved in them.
If only I had known this when I was a student! We used to stay up all night arguing about the existence of God. I used to put all my energy into finding the best arguments. Instead I would have done much better to concentrate on loving the others as Christ loves them, and especially loving them in the suffering of their atheism. This would have communicated much, much more.
And this is very reassuring and liberating. Many of us find it very difficult to articulate our Christian faith. Sometimes it can be very difficult to say anything at all about our Christian life. It seems that even Paul had this problem. In 2Corithians 10:10 we hear that people say “Paul’s letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing”. When we struggle in this way let us remember that it is much more important to love Christ present in the other person, and especially to love Christ crucified, than it is to find the rights words to express our faith. Obviously there is a time for words, but it is love that prepares the ground.
I have referred a few times to loving Christ crucified in the other people. I want to explain what I mean by that. I mean be ready to accept, out of love, the sufferings that arise when we love other people. Perhaps we try to love someone and they snap back at us. Perhaps we try to love someone, but we find them a bit boring, and it really costs us to spend time with them. Perhaps to love someone we have to listen to then properly, and have to hold off talking about ourselves or our agenda. Perhaps loving someone requires us to stand with them and share their grief, when it would be much easier to make an excuse and walk away. The supreme example of this costly love is Jesus, who accepts the hostility and rejection of others, to the point of dying on a cross. Another key example is Mary, who continues to stand by Jesus on the cross, even though she can do nothing to help.
Costly love is also a theme of our first reading from Isaiah. Isaiah is talking about people who seek to draw near to God through fasting. God tells them that the fast required by God is to stop oppressing other people. It is to share your bread with the hungry. It is to share your home with the homeless, to cloth the naked and to spend time with the family. If you do this, then you will experience God’s light and God’s healing and God’s righteousness and his Glory; you will call and he will answer. So says Isaiah (Is 58:6-9a).
These are costly acts of love. Am I ready to share my house with the homeless? I’m not sure that I am. Fortunately God often does not ask this from us. Although it happens, it is relatively rare in Solihull to meet someone who is homeless, or naked or hungry. However it is very common to meet people with prickly personalities, lonely people who need to talk, people who annoy us for one reason or another, and these are the people with whom we can practice loving.
And this leads to real progress on our spiritual journeys. Learning to love even difficult people builds in us the mindsets and values of heaven. We start to build ourselves up in the secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification (1 Cor 2:7). This is the Christian paradox. It is precisely in the cross of Christ, that is so frightening, and unappealing that our true hope lies. So let is cling fast to this hope, which is sure. In our daily lives let us grow in love, by continuing to love through sufferings. In this way we are assured that “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived, what god has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Cor 2:9).
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull, 6.30pm, Sunday 04/02/07
Year C – Third Sunday before Lent
Readings: Isaiah 58:1-9a 1Cor 2:1-12
Many years ago I attended a Christian conference for young people. We listened to a big speech and then divided into small groups to do some work arising from the speech. I was responsible for leading one of these small groups. In our group there was a particular girl who said that she disagreed with one of the points made in the big speech. She explained what she thought. I thought that he was overlooking something, so I explained this back to her. I can’t remember what I said, but I do remember that I thought it dealt very well with her objection, and I really hoped that she would come to understand the important point that was being made. In stead, of course, I got a flee in my ear, and I suppose really, I might have expected this.
It was a difficult moment. There was no time to continue the conversation because we needed to get on with our tasks. I remember making a little prayer, offering to God the suffering of this gap in understanding and praying for the grace to carry on loving through that suffering. I explained to the girl that we needed to get on with the tasks and we did this as best we could.
A couple of days later the conference came to an end. People were invited to go on stage and share their impressions. To my horror the first person up on stage was this same girl, and she started talking about the incident she had had with me. It turned out that it had been an important moment for her, not at all because of what I said, but rather because she could see that I had faith and she realised that she could have faith too.
I was deeply struck by this. It turned out that I had helped the girl, but in a completely different way from the way which I had intended. The point that she had come to understand concerned faith, and had nothing to do with the words I had used, even though I had thought my words had been quite good. Probably had far more to do with the little prayer and with the intention of continuing to love, despite the suffering of misunderstanding.
In the second reading that we hear today Paul seems to be making a similar point. He says, “I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” In the first three chapters of I Corinthians, Paul’s whole theme is to point out the difference between human wisdom and God’s wisdom. The wisdom of God is the crucified Christ (1 Cor 1:23-24) and is taught to us, not by human wisdom, but by the Spirit (1Cor 2:13). It is not through great arguments that people come to understand the Christian message. Rather it is when Christ is loved in them, and especially when Christ crucified is loved in them.
If only I had known this when I was a student! We used to stay up all night arguing about the existence of God. I used to put all my energy into finding the best arguments. Instead I would have done much better to concentrate on loving the others as Christ loves them, and especially loving them in the suffering of their atheism. This would have communicated much, much more.
And this is very reassuring and liberating. Many of us find it very difficult to articulate our Christian faith. Sometimes it can be very difficult to say anything at all about our Christian life. It seems that even Paul had this problem. In 2Corithians 10:10 we hear that people say “Paul’s letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing”. When we struggle in this way let us remember that it is much more important to love Christ present in the other person, and especially to love Christ crucified, than it is to find the rights words to express our faith. Obviously there is a time for words, but it is love that prepares the ground.
I have referred a few times to loving Christ crucified in the other people. I want to explain what I mean by that. I mean be ready to accept, out of love, the sufferings that arise when we love other people. Perhaps we try to love someone and they snap back at us. Perhaps we try to love someone, but we find them a bit boring, and it really costs us to spend time with them. Perhaps to love someone we have to listen to then properly, and have to hold off talking about ourselves or our agenda. Perhaps loving someone requires us to stand with them and share their grief, when it would be much easier to make an excuse and walk away. The supreme example of this costly love is Jesus, who accepts the hostility and rejection of others, to the point of dying on a cross. Another key example is Mary, who continues to stand by Jesus on the cross, even though she can do nothing to help.
Costly love is also a theme of our first reading from Isaiah. Isaiah is talking about people who seek to draw near to God through fasting. God tells them that the fast required by God is to stop oppressing other people. It is to share your bread with the hungry. It is to share your home with the homeless, to cloth the naked and to spend time with the family. If you do this, then you will experience God’s light and God’s healing and God’s righteousness and his Glory; you will call and he will answer. So says Isaiah (Is 58:6-9a).
These are costly acts of love. Am I ready to share my house with the homeless? I’m not sure that I am. Fortunately God often does not ask this from us. Although it happens, it is relatively rare in Solihull to meet someone who is homeless, or naked or hungry. However it is very common to meet people with prickly personalities, lonely people who need to talk, people who annoy us for one reason or another, and these are the people with whom we can practice loving.
And this leads to real progress on our spiritual journeys. Learning to love even difficult people builds in us the mindsets and values of heaven. We start to build ourselves up in the secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification (1 Cor 2:7). This is the Christian paradox. It is precisely in the cross of Christ, that is so frightening, and unappealing that our true hope lies. So let is cling fast to this hope, which is sure. In our daily lives let us grow in love, by continuing to love through sufferings. In this way we are assured that “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived, what god has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Cor 2:9).
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