Extract from funeral homily, preached 26 04 07
Readings "She is Gone" (see below) and John 14:1-7
A few moments ago we read the poem “She is Gone” which was taken from the order of service for the Queen Mothers funeral. It contains the line “or you can be full of the love you shared”. This reminds us of St Paul’s affirmation in 1 Corinthians 13, that Faith, Hope and Love remain. When we die we lose all our lose all our earthly possessions and our body returns to dust and ashes, but in the Christian Faith we believe our soul returns to God and in some sense its faith and hope and love are retained.
In the paragraph from the gospel of John that we read at the start of this service we heard Jesus speaking to his disciples shortly before his death. He said, “In my Fathers house there are many dwelling places…I go and prepare a place for you.”. This once again affirms the Christian hope that the essential part of us survives death and goes to dwell with Jesus. Thomas struggles to understand this and asks, “Lord, how can we know that way”. And Jesus answers, “I am the way, the truth and the life”. To us with our very material understanding of the universe it is not easy to understand this comment, but it seems that it is Jesus himself, the man who conquered death, who shows us the true way, and who shares his resurrection life with us. So this is our hope for ????. May she follow Jesus, the way the truth and the life. It is also the hope for each one of us. May we too grow in Christian love so that when we die the love may remain, and go to dwell with Jesus in one of the Father’s many rooms.
26 April 2007
22 April 2007
Homily for St George's Day Parade (Scouting)
Preached at Solihull School Chapel, 22nd April 2007
Reading John 6:5-14 (Feeding of the five thousand)
Let’s spend a moment reflecting on the story.
As much as anything the story is about sharing.
Jesus thanks God for the bread and the fish, and he then shares them out.
It appears that there is virtually no food, but miraculously it turns out that there is plenty for everyone, and twelve baskets left over.
It is never very clear where all the extra food came from. Perhaps some people had brought food in secret, perhaps some miraculously appeared, perhaps a bit of both, but the point is that when Jesus gave thanks and shared, everyone had plenty.
Sharing things, especially food is an important part of being a family. If we share things our lives grow closer together. We start to feel that we belong to one another. If something good happens to one of us, then we all benefit, if some bad happens we are all affected.
The Scout Law affirms that a Scout belongs to the worldwide family of Scouts. This is why the Scout law also tells us that we have to be friendly, considerate, trustworthy, loyal and respectful. These are the qualities that are needed if sharing is to occur. These are the qualities that are needed to be part of a family.
Usually the sharing in Scouting occurs at the section or group level. We spend time together, share experiences, share equipment, share buildings and leaders even. In the best sections and groups we start to feel like family. But today we are also sharing as all the Scouts in the County, and if we do that well, we will feel like family. Later this year there will be an international sharing at the World Scout Jamboree. That is when we really remember that we all belong to the worldwide family of scouting.
So lets remember to be god at sharing. Sharing turns into brothers and sisters. It makes us into family, gives us a sense of home, a sense of belonging, in which problems, like the shortage of food disappear.
Reading John 6:5-14 (Feeding of the five thousand)
Let’s spend a moment reflecting on the story.
As much as anything the story is about sharing.
Jesus thanks God for the bread and the fish, and he then shares them out.
It appears that there is virtually no food, but miraculously it turns out that there is plenty for everyone, and twelve baskets left over.
It is never very clear where all the extra food came from. Perhaps some people had brought food in secret, perhaps some miraculously appeared, perhaps a bit of both, but the point is that when Jesus gave thanks and shared, everyone had plenty.
Sharing things, especially food is an important part of being a family. If we share things our lives grow closer together. We start to feel that we belong to one another. If something good happens to one of us, then we all benefit, if some bad happens we are all affected.
The Scout Law affirms that a Scout belongs to the worldwide family of Scouts. This is why the Scout law also tells us that we have to be friendly, considerate, trustworthy, loyal and respectful. These are the qualities that are needed if sharing is to occur. These are the qualities that are needed to be part of a family.
Usually the sharing in Scouting occurs at the section or group level. We spend time together, share experiences, share equipment, share buildings and leaders even. In the best sections and groups we start to feel like family. But today we are also sharing as all the Scouts in the County, and if we do that well, we will feel like family. Later this year there will be an international sharing at the World Scout Jamboree. That is when we really remember that we all belong to the worldwide family of scouting.
So lets remember to be god at sharing. Sharing turns into brothers and sisters. It makes us into family, gives us a sense of home, a sense of belonging, in which problems, like the shortage of food disappear.
Prayers for St George's day Parade (Scouting)
A Prayer of Thanksgiving for St George
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your servant St George.
We thank you for his skill as a solider
We thank you for his great courage in the face of danger
We thank you that he refused to persecute others,
even when this cost him his life.
As we remember St George we pray for all the people and groups that he patrons.
We pray for this country of England.
We pray for the worldwide Scout Movement.
May his example and prayers help us to become ever better Scouts,
to live better our promise and our law,
and to take forward the work of the Scout Movement.
Amen.
A Prayer for our Section Meetings
Heavenly Father, we thank you for our section meetings,
for the fun that we have and for the things that we learn.
We thank you for the equipment, skills and experiences
that we share in our sections.
As we remember the wonderful miracle that Jesus performed
by giving thanks for and sharing the bread and the fish,
so we pray that you will help us to grow ever better at sharing.
Help us to get better at giving and at receiving
so that the shared life of Scouting might be built up among us
and our sections may become what you want them to be.
Amen.
A Prayer for the worldwide Scout Movement as it celebrates its Centenary
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the centenary of Scouting.
We thank you for our founder Baden-Powell
for his vision, his charisma and his commitment to young people.
We thank you for our leaders who share in that vision and charisma.
We thank you for their commitment to us,
and for the many ways in which they help us.
We thank you for the extraordinary success of the Scout Movement,
We thank you for the 500 million people who have made a Scout Promise.
Dear Lord, we have renewed our promise today,
Help us to live by that promise,
to do our duty to God and the Queen
to help other people and to keep the Scout Law.
We pray that, by your grace, we might live well the ideals of Scouting,
so that the Scout Movement might continue to flourish and grow
in accordance with your desires.
Hear our prayer good Lord.
Amen.
A Prayer for the 21st World Scout Jamboree
Heavenly Father, we pray for our 40,000 representatives who will meet together at Hylands Park, Chelmsford for the 21st World Scouting Jamboree.
We pray for this celebration of the worldwide family of Scouts.
We pray that the participants may have respect for themselves and for others
so that people who are very different may work harmoniously together
so that international friendships can be built
so that the dream of a “world village” can be realised
so that the world can be changed for the better.
We ask you Good Lord, to hear this and all our prayers.
Amen.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your servant St George.
We thank you for his skill as a solider
We thank you for his great courage in the face of danger
We thank you that he refused to persecute others,
even when this cost him his life.
As we remember St George we pray for all the people and groups that he patrons.
We pray for this country of England.
We pray for the worldwide Scout Movement.
May his example and prayers help us to become ever better Scouts,
to live better our promise and our law,
and to take forward the work of the Scout Movement.
Amen.
A Prayer for our Section Meetings
Heavenly Father, we thank you for our section meetings,
for the fun that we have and for the things that we learn.
We thank you for the equipment, skills and experiences
that we share in our sections.
As we remember the wonderful miracle that Jesus performed
by giving thanks for and sharing the bread and the fish,
so we pray that you will help us to grow ever better at sharing.
Help us to get better at giving and at receiving
so that the shared life of Scouting might be built up among us
and our sections may become what you want them to be.
Amen.
A Prayer for the worldwide Scout Movement as it celebrates its Centenary
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the centenary of Scouting.
We thank you for our founder Baden-Powell
for his vision, his charisma and his commitment to young people.
We thank you for our leaders who share in that vision and charisma.
We thank you for their commitment to us,
and for the many ways in which they help us.
We thank you for the extraordinary success of the Scout Movement,
We thank you for the 500 million people who have made a Scout Promise.
Dear Lord, we have renewed our promise today,
Help us to live by that promise,
to do our duty to God and the Queen
to help other people and to keep the Scout Law.
We pray that, by your grace, we might live well the ideals of Scouting,
so that the Scout Movement might continue to flourish and grow
in accordance with your desires.
Hear our prayer good Lord.
Amen.
A Prayer for the 21st World Scout Jamboree
Heavenly Father, we pray for our 40,000 representatives who will meet together at Hylands Park, Chelmsford for the 21st World Scouting Jamboree.
We pray for this celebration of the worldwide family of Scouts.
We pray that the participants may have respect for themselves and for others
so that people who are very different may work harmoniously together
so that international friendships can be built
so that the dream of a “world village” can be realised
so that the world can be changed for the better.
We ask you Good Lord, to hear this and all our prayers.
Amen.
08 April 2007
Transformation of life
Sermon – Easter Sunday - 08 04 07 – Evensong
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull 6.30pm on Easter Sunday 8th April 2007
Readings: Jeremiah 31:1-6 Acts 10: 34-43
I don’t know if your heard John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, speaking on the Today Programme yesterday morning. He made several very good points about contemporary culture, the desire for self-fulfilment and the problem of what he calls “secular illiberalism”. However the point he made that really caught my attention was this. He said,
The church has not been very good at clearly spelling out what the message of Jesus is about … God in Jesus has come in a human form, has died, rose again and his presence, in terms of the spirit, actually transforms lives.
What caught my attention was the outstanding one sentence summary of Christianity, “God in Jesus has come in a human form, has died, rose again and his presence, in terms of the spirit, actually transforms lives.” I thought this was brilliant.
Our second reading today also includes a very brief summary of Christianity. Peter, as recorded by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, sums up Christianity in seven sentences. At the heart of it Peter says, “and they killed him by hanging him on a tree yet on the third day God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen.” Peter does not talk about the transformation of lives, but he does talk about the forgiveness of sins.
Yet, as I reflect on what John Sentamu said, and as I examine my conscience about the Church’s failure to get its message across, the bit that stands out to me is the bit about the transformation of lives. I think, on the whole, most people know what the church teaches about the death and resurrection of Jesus. Of course there some people just don’t believe it, but I think that the much bigger problem is that an awful lot of people don’t see why the death and resurrection of Jesus is relevant. Perhaps Jesus did die and rise again, but so what? Why does that make such a big difference? Why is it worth my while spending time on that question?
Well many evangelists make the point that the death and resurrection of Jesus are relevant and important because if you do not believe in them and call upon the forgiveness that they reveal, then you will rot for all eternity in the fires of hell. Well that certainly makes Christianity relevant! I have heard evangelists say that if you can persuade someone to believe in hell, then you can persuade them to accept Christ.
Now I don’t want to knock this tradition of fearing hell. It is a profound part of our Christian heritage. St Peter himself in his seven sentence summary reminds us that God has appointed Jesus as judge of us all.
However, it does seem to me much, much more important to proclaim our Christianity because of our hope of heaven, rather than because of our fear of hell. As John Sentamu suggests, it is the transformation of lives that makes all the difference, that creates a positive reason to engage with Christianity.
So what about this transformation of life? It may well be that we feel that we have done our best to be good Christians for many years, and in some ways we feel we succeed, but in other ways really don’t feel very “transformed” at all. In fact we feel very ordinary, mundane even. I think this is a very common situation in our churches today. Certain I, personally, have spent many years feeling like this. So how do we move on from this? How do we come to experience God’s transformation in our lives? What do we need to do to make it work?
Well based on my personal experience I would like to offer a couple of top tips!
First top tip! Seek always to grow in love for God and love for neighbour. As John puts it, “My dear friends, let us love one another because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). To love other people means to want their good, to seek to help them and support them in practical ways. We are called to love everyone, but to make that real and concrete the most important people to love are those who are right beside us, right now; our own family, our work colleagues, the people we meet on the street. And notice that this growth in love needs to be a mutual thing. “Love one another” is something we can’t do on our own. We need to seek out other Christian people who will try to love us, as we try to love them. We also need to love ourselves, forgive ourselves, be generous to ourselves and to be prepared to risk pain and difficulty in order to be true to ourselves.
My second top tip is to learn to believe in and trust ever more fully in God’s love for us. To trust that Jesus took on human flesh out of love for us. To trust that he died on the cross out of love for us. To trust that God raised him from the dead out of love for him but also out of love for all of us. And this is what we celebrate today – on Easter day. That God brings new life, new hope into even the most desperate and hopeless of all situations.
As we try to grow in love we encounter all kinds of difficulties and sorrows. We encounter people who we do not instinctively like. We encounter ambitions, or greeds or hurts or insecurities within ourselves or within others that can cause us to lash out at one another. We encounter people in situations that are sad or lonely or debilitating, and we find that we can’t solve these problems. These are our Good Friday moments. We need to learn to accept these sufferings, as Jesus accepted his sufferings on the cross. We need to learn to carry on loving through these sufferings, as Jesus carried on loving whilst on the cross. We need to continue to trust in God, even when we do not understand, just as Jesus commended his soul to God, even as he cried out “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
And if we live our Good Friday moments well, then God will act. Unexpectedly we shall have our Easter moments. Moments of new life, new hope and new possibilities. Just as Christ conquered death, never to die again so will find that our own new life in Christ has an eternal quality, a quality that will survive death. This is what we celebrate today; Easter Day. This is what it means to be baptised into the death and resurrection of Christ. This is the pattern that we re-enact and mould ourselves into through our liturgies of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. This is how God transforms lives. So let’s seek this transformation of life. By loving others, let’s help other too to be transformed. If we do this then the Church will properly get its message across, as John Sentamu has suggested. But more than that we will also make our contribution to the renewal of society and contemporary culture that is so badly needed.
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull 6.30pm on Easter Sunday 8th April 2007
Readings: Jeremiah 31:1-6 Acts 10: 34-43
I don’t know if your heard John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, speaking on the Today Programme yesterday morning. He made several very good points about contemporary culture, the desire for self-fulfilment and the problem of what he calls “secular illiberalism”. However the point he made that really caught my attention was this. He said,
The church has not been very good at clearly spelling out what the message of Jesus is about … God in Jesus has come in a human form, has died, rose again and his presence, in terms of the spirit, actually transforms lives.
What caught my attention was the outstanding one sentence summary of Christianity, “God in Jesus has come in a human form, has died, rose again and his presence, in terms of the spirit, actually transforms lives.” I thought this was brilliant.
Our second reading today also includes a very brief summary of Christianity. Peter, as recorded by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, sums up Christianity in seven sentences. At the heart of it Peter says, “and they killed him by hanging him on a tree yet on the third day God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen.” Peter does not talk about the transformation of lives, but he does talk about the forgiveness of sins.
Yet, as I reflect on what John Sentamu said, and as I examine my conscience about the Church’s failure to get its message across, the bit that stands out to me is the bit about the transformation of lives. I think, on the whole, most people know what the church teaches about the death and resurrection of Jesus. Of course there some people just don’t believe it, but I think that the much bigger problem is that an awful lot of people don’t see why the death and resurrection of Jesus is relevant. Perhaps Jesus did die and rise again, but so what? Why does that make such a big difference? Why is it worth my while spending time on that question?
Well many evangelists make the point that the death and resurrection of Jesus are relevant and important because if you do not believe in them and call upon the forgiveness that they reveal, then you will rot for all eternity in the fires of hell. Well that certainly makes Christianity relevant! I have heard evangelists say that if you can persuade someone to believe in hell, then you can persuade them to accept Christ.
Now I don’t want to knock this tradition of fearing hell. It is a profound part of our Christian heritage. St Peter himself in his seven sentence summary reminds us that God has appointed Jesus as judge of us all.
However, it does seem to me much, much more important to proclaim our Christianity because of our hope of heaven, rather than because of our fear of hell. As John Sentamu suggests, it is the transformation of lives that makes all the difference, that creates a positive reason to engage with Christianity.
So what about this transformation of life? It may well be that we feel that we have done our best to be good Christians for many years, and in some ways we feel we succeed, but in other ways really don’t feel very “transformed” at all. In fact we feel very ordinary, mundane even. I think this is a very common situation in our churches today. Certain I, personally, have spent many years feeling like this. So how do we move on from this? How do we come to experience God’s transformation in our lives? What do we need to do to make it work?
Well based on my personal experience I would like to offer a couple of top tips!
First top tip! Seek always to grow in love for God and love for neighbour. As John puts it, “My dear friends, let us love one another because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). To love other people means to want their good, to seek to help them and support them in practical ways. We are called to love everyone, but to make that real and concrete the most important people to love are those who are right beside us, right now; our own family, our work colleagues, the people we meet on the street. And notice that this growth in love needs to be a mutual thing. “Love one another” is something we can’t do on our own. We need to seek out other Christian people who will try to love us, as we try to love them. We also need to love ourselves, forgive ourselves, be generous to ourselves and to be prepared to risk pain and difficulty in order to be true to ourselves.
My second top tip is to learn to believe in and trust ever more fully in God’s love for us. To trust that Jesus took on human flesh out of love for us. To trust that he died on the cross out of love for us. To trust that God raised him from the dead out of love for him but also out of love for all of us. And this is what we celebrate today – on Easter day. That God brings new life, new hope into even the most desperate and hopeless of all situations.
As we try to grow in love we encounter all kinds of difficulties and sorrows. We encounter people who we do not instinctively like. We encounter ambitions, or greeds or hurts or insecurities within ourselves or within others that can cause us to lash out at one another. We encounter people in situations that are sad or lonely or debilitating, and we find that we can’t solve these problems. These are our Good Friday moments. We need to learn to accept these sufferings, as Jesus accepted his sufferings on the cross. We need to learn to carry on loving through these sufferings, as Jesus carried on loving whilst on the cross. We need to continue to trust in God, even when we do not understand, just as Jesus commended his soul to God, even as he cried out “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
And if we live our Good Friday moments well, then God will act. Unexpectedly we shall have our Easter moments. Moments of new life, new hope and new possibilities. Just as Christ conquered death, never to die again so will find that our own new life in Christ has an eternal quality, a quality that will survive death. This is what we celebrate today; Easter Day. This is what it means to be baptised into the death and resurrection of Christ. This is the pattern that we re-enact and mould ourselves into through our liturgies of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. This is how God transforms lives. So let’s seek this transformation of life. By loving others, let’s help other too to be transformed. If we do this then the Church will properly get its message across, as John Sentamu has suggested. But more than that we will also make our contribution to the renewal of society and contemporary culture that is so badly needed.
02 April 2007
Funeral Homily - The New Jerusalem
Extract from a funeral homily 02 04 07
Reading: Reverlation 21:1-7
It was ????’s specific request that we should all sing William Blake’s hymn “Jerusalem” at his funeral, and we shall be doing that after the prayers. It is not very clear what the hymn is all about, but it seems that Blake is pondering a medieval legend that suggests that Christ visited Glastonbury as a youth with Joseph of Arimathea. Blake does not tell us whether he believes the legend is true or not, but rather he moves straight on to his compelling desire to build the new Jerusalem here in England’s green and pleasant land. Blake sees this process of building as “mental strife”. It may be that he sees his gold and his desires as weapons with which the battle can be fought.
The reading that we listened to a few moments ago picks out that theme of the new Jerusalem. It talks of the end of time, immediately after the last judgement, when God makes a new heaven and a new earth. In the new earth God dwells continually with his people. He is their light and mourning and crying and pain and death are no more, because the old things have passed away and God has made all things new.
And this is our Christian hope. Death is not the end, but rather is the entrance to everlasting life. Our soul returns to God our creator, and at the end of time we will regain our bodies and dwell with God in the new Jerusalem. So this is our hope for ???, and our hope for each one of us. And like William Blake, let us commit ourselves to the building of the New Jerusalem. Let us prepare ourselves to dwell always with God. Let us learn to live and work in harmony with all that God desires, and let’s develop our own personal relationships with God through prayer.
Reading: Reverlation 21:1-7
It was ????’s specific request that we should all sing William Blake’s hymn “Jerusalem” at his funeral, and we shall be doing that after the prayers. It is not very clear what the hymn is all about, but it seems that Blake is pondering a medieval legend that suggests that Christ visited Glastonbury as a youth with Joseph of Arimathea. Blake does not tell us whether he believes the legend is true or not, but rather he moves straight on to his compelling desire to build the new Jerusalem here in England’s green and pleasant land. Blake sees this process of building as “mental strife”. It may be that he sees his gold and his desires as weapons with which the battle can be fought.
The reading that we listened to a few moments ago picks out that theme of the new Jerusalem. It talks of the end of time, immediately after the last judgement, when God makes a new heaven and a new earth. In the new earth God dwells continually with his people. He is their light and mourning and crying and pain and death are no more, because the old things have passed away and God has made all things new.
And this is our Christian hope. Death is not the end, but rather is the entrance to everlasting life. Our soul returns to God our creator, and at the end of time we will regain our bodies and dwell with God in the new Jerusalem. So this is our hope for ???, and our hope for each one of us. And like William Blake, let us commit ourselves to the building of the New Jerusalem. Let us prepare ourselves to dwell always with God. Let us learn to live and work in harmony with all that God desires, and let’s develop our own personal relationships with God through prayer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
