Informal sermon - 28/10/07 – Last Sunday after Trinity – Year C
Readings: Ecclesiasticus 35:12-17 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18 Luke 18:9-14
First of all I would like to thank Club 1 for proclaiming the gospel for us today, via video clip! As you know, Club 1 have been reflecting on the parable the we heard in today’s gospel reading, so I thought it might be good to ask them a question or two!
[What do we know about the Pharisees at the time of Jesus? Tell me about the Pharisees.]
In the world that Jesus grew up in the Pharisees were pretty much the most respectable people around. They were religious leaders, usually well educated and usually from good families. People would like to be associated with the Pharisees; they would like to invite them to their parties and to talk to them in the streets.
[What do we know about Tax Collectors at the time of Jesus? Tell me about Tax Collectors.]
By contrast the tax collectors were about the least respectable people in society. The tax collectors worked for the occupying Roman force. They had the power to decide how much or how little tax you paid, so you could afford to fall out with them. If they wanted to take money off you they had the full power of the Roman army behind them. Also they often took a bit of money on the side for themselves, in addition to the money that they took for the Romans, and there was nothing you could do about it. People hated the tax collectors. It was dangerous to talk to tax collectors, because everything they knew about you or your friends they used to get taxes out of you. So people stayed away from the tax collectors and tried to have nothing to do with them.
[Last question! What is it about the parable that would have been rather
shocking to the people that Jesus was talking to?]
The parable is shocking because, when they pray to God, it is the Tax Collector not the Pharisee who walks away justified, that is who walks away in the right relationship with God. This could be very unsettling. It tells us that the ordinary values of human society can be very different from what matters to God. I was wondering how the parable might look if we switched it into modern times.
Solihull is a very respectable place. Someone from Solihull, a priest even, might go up to the church and pray “I thank you God that I have a nice house and a nice car and a nice family. I thank you that I obey the law of the land and go to church and I keep the Ten Commandments and I give money to the church. I thank you that I am a really respectable person.”
And perhaps somewhere else in the Borough, perhaps in Chelmsley Wood a drug addict might go into church, and he might have all kinds of debts, and problems, and a broken family and he might pray “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” And perhaps it is that person who is in the right relationship with God.
To be in the right relationship with God! To be in a right relationship with God we have to humbly accept our need of God. We have to humbly accept the love that God has shown us in making us, in giving us our families, our friends and all the good things that we have. And above all we have to humbly accept that God has overcome our sins, through the passion and death of Jesus.
It is very easy to think, “I am a very respectable person…I’m not a sinner…well that’s not a sin…well everyone does that nowadays.” But that’s the Pharisee talking! It is much, much harder to be honest about the painful reality of our own sin; we have to cry out with the tax collector “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
And the key thing here is to believe ever more truly and ever more deeply in the mercy of God. The more that we can truly trust in God’s love for us, despite all the worst things about us, the more we can start to love ourselves as God loves us, to forgive ourselves as God forgives us and to move beyond denial, to move beyond self hatred, to move beyond our sin.
And I think it is important to acknowledge that this can be a painful process. Sin can cause pain in our relationship with God and our relationship with other people. Jesus on the cross has accepted that pain and we too need to accept some of the hurt before relationships can be properly restored.
Now I would like to tell you about a prayer that can help us to do this. Perhaps you know it already. It is called the “Jesus Prayer”, and it is rather similar to the prayer that the Tax Collector made in our gospel today. The prayer has many forms, but probably the most common is the simple phrase, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” , “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” In the tradition of the Orthodox Church it is recommended to repete this phase time and time again for several minutes. To start with we say the prayer with our lips, but the idea is that we build up a rhythm of prayer and slowly we start to say the prayer with our whole mind, our whole body and our whole spirit. And this is very helpful, because it reminds us ever more deeply who Jesus is, the Son of God, who we are, sinners, and of the mercy of God in which we are held.
So as we continue our service today, and as we go home, let us continue to reflect on this parable. Let’s be honest about our sin to God, and honest about our need of God. And let’s use the Jesus prayer to remind us that we stand always and only in the mercy of God. Amen.
28 October 2007
18 October 2007
Funeral homily at harvest tide
Preached in St Alphege Church, 2.30pm, 18th October 2007.
Reading: 1 Corinthians 15: 35b-38,42-44,50-58
Hymn: Come ye thankful people come.
Our Christian Faith stands us in good stead at the time of our death. Through our baptism we are united to Christ in his death, and we shall also be united to him in his resurrection. (Romans 6:5). In our scripture reading today from 1 Corinthians 15 we heard St Paul talking about the resurrection of the dead. Although our natural bodies, perishable and weak come to die, from them we grow new bodies, spiritual, imperishable and powerful.
And much of this is reflected in the famous harvest hymn that we will sing after our prayers. The first verse of the hymn starts “Come ye thankful people come, raise the song of harvest home” and it is all about giving thanks to God for the harvest and for the food that we eat.
But then the rest of the hymn is about a different kind of harvest. The hymn talks about we ourselves as God’s own field and the harvest that God hopes to receive from us at the end of our days. In the hymn we pray that we might be good at wholesome grain and that at our death, God may gather us to himself to become citizens of heaven. Then in the final verse of the hymn we think of ourselves in heaven as part of the Church in heaven, triumphant, purified from all sin and sorrow and rejoicing with all the angles and saints.
Following ?????’s death on Tuesday last week, the family came to our regular 8 o’clock service here on the Sunday. By chance it was harvest festival and Fr Patrick preached on the words of this hymn. And for the family this hymn spoke about ????? and gave great reassurance. It helped the family to trust in the love of God, who has now called ????? to himself.
And I would like to invite all of us take reassurance from our Christian heritage. Let’s put our trust in a loving God, who has grown us on this earth, for a future in heaven. Let’s seek to be good grain, wholesome and true, full of love for God and for one another. And, in the fullness of time, let’s be ready to yield to God a rich harvest, as we leave our mortal bodies behind, and go to join the Church Triumphant in heaven.
Reading: 1 Corinthians 15: 35b-38,42-44,50-58
Hymn: Come ye thankful people come.
Our Christian Faith stands us in good stead at the time of our death. Through our baptism we are united to Christ in his death, and we shall also be united to him in his resurrection. (Romans 6:5). In our scripture reading today from 1 Corinthians 15 we heard St Paul talking about the resurrection of the dead. Although our natural bodies, perishable and weak come to die, from them we grow new bodies, spiritual, imperishable and powerful.
And much of this is reflected in the famous harvest hymn that we will sing after our prayers. The first verse of the hymn starts “Come ye thankful people come, raise the song of harvest home” and it is all about giving thanks to God for the harvest and for the food that we eat.
But then the rest of the hymn is about a different kind of harvest. The hymn talks about we ourselves as God’s own field and the harvest that God hopes to receive from us at the end of our days. In the hymn we pray that we might be good at wholesome grain and that at our death, God may gather us to himself to become citizens of heaven. Then in the final verse of the hymn we think of ourselves in heaven as part of the Church in heaven, triumphant, purified from all sin and sorrow and rejoicing with all the angles and saints.
Following ?????’s death on Tuesday last week, the family came to our regular 8 o’clock service here on the Sunday. By chance it was harvest festival and Fr Patrick preached on the words of this hymn. And for the family this hymn spoke about ????? and gave great reassurance. It helped the family to trust in the love of God, who has now called ????? to himself.
And I would like to invite all of us take reassurance from our Christian heritage. Let’s put our trust in a loving God, who has grown us on this earth, for a future in heaven. Let’s seek to be good grain, wholesome and true, full of love for God and for one another. And, in the fullness of time, let’s be ready to yield to God a rich harvest, as we leave our mortal bodies behind, and go to join the Church Triumphant in heaven.
07 October 2007
Being an apprentice of Christ
Teaching for a special "Going for Growth" vision service at St Alphege, 9.15am 07/10/07
Reading John 13:12-17
Teaching slot of 20 minutes, including some testamony and reflection.
Sermon delivered without notes, so text is approximate.
A similar sermon, in a shorter and more traditional style was preached at the 8am service.
[Image 1 – Going for growth cycle]
As you probably know, in this church we have identified three priorities areas for us to focus on to help us make progress around the “Going for Growth” cycle. The three priorities areas are, “Welcome”, “Relevance” and “Participation”.
[Image – Welcome, Relevance, Participation]
Fr Tim has already lead us in a Teaching Mass about wecome. Today we are thinking about Relevance and on 4th November we shall have a special service about Participation.
So today we are thinking about the theme of Relevance.
[Image saying "Relevance"]
And what do we mean by relevance? We mean the relevance of what we do in church to the rest of our lives. Why does going to church make a difference? How does going to church change my life?
And the thing that makes a difference is following in the way of Christ. It is practicing to become more Christ like. It is allowing Christ to grow within us and share his resurrection life with us. It is like we are apprentices in the art of life we have the opportunity of learning and becoming like Jesus, who is the expert teacher on living. This takes time, but over time we can learn.
Now I don’t know what you think of when you hear the word apprentice? Perhaps you think of Alan Sugar and the TV show?
[Image of Alan Sugar]
Well let me assure you that we are not thinking about Alan Sugar! We are not worrying about being fired; we are learning to accept that we are forgiven. No we are not thinking about Alan Sugar. We are thinking about Jesus.
[Picture of Jesus in worshop]
Now here is a picture of Jesus working in his father’s carpentry shop. There is a sense in which Jesus himself was an apprentice. Jesus’ father Joseph was a carpenter and Jesus would have learned the family trade as he grew up. And this would have taken time. Joseph would have taught Jesus. Jesus would have practiced and over time he would have become a good carpenter.
So in the carpenters shop Jesus was an apprentice and Joseph was his teacher. But in our day to day lives it is we who are apprentices and Jesus who is our teacher. As we heard in our gospel reading today, Jesus is our Teacher and Lord. Jesus sets us an example of how to live life, and blessed are we if we follow that example.
[Image - Icon style picture of Jesus]
So how do we go about following the example of Jesus? How does what we do in church help us with this? Well first, like any apprentice we must watch the expert craftsman at work. In church we do this especially when we read the stories about Jesus in the gospel. We have a gospel procession and we sign the Alleluias in order to emphasise the importance of the gospel reading. From the gospel readings we learn how Jesus lived his life. We learn about his attitudes; the love he shows for God and for the people around him, his particular care for the poor and weak. We hear about his complete obedience to the Father’s will, his desire to help others.
Secondly, just as the apprentice must listen to the teachings of the expert, so we must listen to Jesus the teacher. Again, as we read the gospel in church we constantly hear Jesus teaching, telling us what to do. We saw some of these teachings on the projector screens as we came into church. We need to hear these teachings and to learn how to put them into practice in our everyday lives.
Thirdly, the apprentice learns by talking to the expert. We too can talk to Jesus through prayer. Just as an apprentice might ask the expert when he or she is unsure what to do, so we should ask God in prayer when we don’t know what to do in our lives. This is true for very small things, “Shall I go out tonight?” and in very big things, “Shall I ask my girlfriend to marry me?” And when we ask God something in prayer, let’s remember to leave some moments of silence so that we can listen to anything he might want to tell us from deep within our heart. Coming to the Eucharist is a particularly good way of talking to God in prayer. As the gifts of bread and wine are offered at the altar, so we can offer our questions and prayers up to God. When we receive communion we received Jesus into our bodies, and can we try to still our mind and to listen to the wisdom that we are receiving into our hearts.
But the most important thing that an apprentice does to learn a trade is to practice. To become skilled at living life we have to put into practice the things we have learnt from Jesus. We have to live out in our day to day lives the things which we have heard about in church. Living out the commands of Jesus can feel very awkward and difficult at first. “Forgive as you have been forgiven”, “Do not worry”, “treat others as you would like them to treat you”. These things are not easy. It is like learning to use a new tool of the trade. It takes practice. When we first start it’s difficult and the results of your efforts may not be very good…but with time we become skilful.
And our everyday lives give us plenty of opportunities for practice and training in living a more Christ like life. Every person we meet in our day to day lives is someone we can love, trying to see them as Jesus sees them, believing in God’s love for them and wanting their good. And this can be very challenging, especially if the person is someone whom we do not instinctively like. But as we practice we become more Christ like and we get better at loving even the most difficult people.
And ever situation we find ourselves in is an opportunity to try and live better the life of Jesus. Being stuck in a traffic jam is an opportunity to learn patience. The joyful moment is an opportunity to give thanks to God. The anxious situation is an opportunity to learn to trust in God and not worry. The laborious task is a way of loving the person for whom the task is done. Every moment of our day is an opportunity to follow in the path of Jesus and attaining his skill of doing his father’s will. And this then starts to give meaning to all of our lives, even to the laborious bits, even to the moments of suffering.
So now we would like to share with you some examples from our own lives.
[Personal testamony 1, Personal testamony 2, Personal testamonies video from the youth Friday prayer group]
So hopefully these practical examples have got us all thinking about how our church life is relevant to our everyday lives and in particular how we can try to live out the phrases of the gospels in our everyday lives. I would like to invite you so form into groups of two or three and discuss the question, “How can I become a better apprentice of Jesus”.
[New slide - “How can I become a better apprentice of Jesus?”]
We will give you three minutes for this, plus a couple of minutes to note down your insights on the cards that have been distributed. We are not going to collect these cards in, they are for you to make a few notes to help remind yourself of ways of applying what we learn in church to our everyday lives.
[3 minutes]
So that is three minutes so please be finishing off you conversations now and start making a few notes for yourself on the card. Remember the card is for you to take away with you, and to remind you of things from church and from the gospels that you can put into practice day by day.
[2 minutes]
Right – thank you for that, so please could you be finishing off and putting your pens down and put your cards in you’re your pocket or bag where you will remember to take it with you. And let’s summarise where we have got to.
[Screens return to the icon picture of Jesus]
I said at the beginning that Jesus is the expert in living life, and we as apprentices have the opportunity to learn to live like him. But to say that Jesus is the expert on life is rather understating the point. Jesus is in fact the source of life itself. (e.g. John 1:4, 4:13, 5:21, chapter 6, 14:6, 20:31). Jesus came that we might have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10). And this is why it is so desirable to follow Jesus and to copy him in his way of living. If we do this, then over time we become more Christ like. Christ like qualities start to form within us. (2 Cor 3:18, Col 3:10) This is very reassuring because we start to find that our life in Christ has an enduring quality that survives all manner of disasters and disappointments.
But the benefits of becoming more Christ like extend beyond our own lives. We start to have a positive influence on our families and the people around us. Our relationships start to work properly because everything begins to find its right place under God. Problems start to disappear.
So I commend to you living as an apprentice of Jesus as a way of making our church life relevant to our day to day lives.
Reading John 13:12-17
Teaching slot of 20 minutes, including some testamony and reflection.
Sermon delivered without notes, so text is approximate.
A similar sermon, in a shorter and more traditional style was preached at the 8am service.
[Image 1 – Going for growth cycle]
As you probably know, in this church we have identified three priorities areas for us to focus on to help us make progress around the “Going for Growth” cycle. The three priorities areas are, “Welcome”, “Relevance” and “Participation”.
[Image – Welcome, Relevance, Participation]
Fr Tim has already lead us in a Teaching Mass about wecome. Today we are thinking about Relevance and on 4th November we shall have a special service about Participation.
So today we are thinking about the theme of Relevance.
[Image saying "Relevance"]
And what do we mean by relevance? We mean the relevance of what we do in church to the rest of our lives. Why does going to church make a difference? How does going to church change my life?
And the thing that makes a difference is following in the way of Christ. It is practicing to become more Christ like. It is allowing Christ to grow within us and share his resurrection life with us. It is like we are apprentices in the art of life we have the opportunity of learning and becoming like Jesus, who is the expert teacher on living. This takes time, but over time we can learn.
Now I don’t know what you think of when you hear the word apprentice? Perhaps you think of Alan Sugar and the TV show?
[Image of Alan Sugar]
Well let me assure you that we are not thinking about Alan Sugar! We are not worrying about being fired; we are learning to accept that we are forgiven. No we are not thinking about Alan Sugar. We are thinking about Jesus.
[Picture of Jesus in worshop]
Now here is a picture of Jesus working in his father’s carpentry shop. There is a sense in which Jesus himself was an apprentice. Jesus’ father Joseph was a carpenter and Jesus would have learned the family trade as he grew up. And this would have taken time. Joseph would have taught Jesus. Jesus would have practiced and over time he would have become a good carpenter.
So in the carpenters shop Jesus was an apprentice and Joseph was his teacher. But in our day to day lives it is we who are apprentices and Jesus who is our teacher. As we heard in our gospel reading today, Jesus is our Teacher and Lord. Jesus sets us an example of how to live life, and blessed are we if we follow that example.
[Image - Icon style picture of Jesus]
So how do we go about following the example of Jesus? How does what we do in church help us with this? Well first, like any apprentice we must watch the expert craftsman at work. In church we do this especially when we read the stories about Jesus in the gospel. We have a gospel procession and we sign the Alleluias in order to emphasise the importance of the gospel reading. From the gospel readings we learn how Jesus lived his life. We learn about his attitudes; the love he shows for God and for the people around him, his particular care for the poor and weak. We hear about his complete obedience to the Father’s will, his desire to help others.
Secondly, just as the apprentice must listen to the teachings of the expert, so we must listen to Jesus the teacher. Again, as we read the gospel in church we constantly hear Jesus teaching, telling us what to do. We saw some of these teachings on the projector screens as we came into church. We need to hear these teachings and to learn how to put them into practice in our everyday lives.
Thirdly, the apprentice learns by talking to the expert. We too can talk to Jesus through prayer. Just as an apprentice might ask the expert when he or she is unsure what to do, so we should ask God in prayer when we don’t know what to do in our lives. This is true for very small things, “Shall I go out tonight?” and in very big things, “Shall I ask my girlfriend to marry me?” And when we ask God something in prayer, let’s remember to leave some moments of silence so that we can listen to anything he might want to tell us from deep within our heart. Coming to the Eucharist is a particularly good way of talking to God in prayer. As the gifts of bread and wine are offered at the altar, so we can offer our questions and prayers up to God. When we receive communion we received Jesus into our bodies, and can we try to still our mind and to listen to the wisdom that we are receiving into our hearts.
But the most important thing that an apprentice does to learn a trade is to practice. To become skilled at living life we have to put into practice the things we have learnt from Jesus. We have to live out in our day to day lives the things which we have heard about in church. Living out the commands of Jesus can feel very awkward and difficult at first. “Forgive as you have been forgiven”, “Do not worry”, “treat others as you would like them to treat you”. These things are not easy. It is like learning to use a new tool of the trade. It takes practice. When we first start it’s difficult and the results of your efforts may not be very good…but with time we become skilful.
And our everyday lives give us plenty of opportunities for practice and training in living a more Christ like life. Every person we meet in our day to day lives is someone we can love, trying to see them as Jesus sees them, believing in God’s love for them and wanting their good. And this can be very challenging, especially if the person is someone whom we do not instinctively like. But as we practice we become more Christ like and we get better at loving even the most difficult people.
And ever situation we find ourselves in is an opportunity to try and live better the life of Jesus. Being stuck in a traffic jam is an opportunity to learn patience. The joyful moment is an opportunity to give thanks to God. The anxious situation is an opportunity to learn to trust in God and not worry. The laborious task is a way of loving the person for whom the task is done. Every moment of our day is an opportunity to follow in the path of Jesus and attaining his skill of doing his father’s will. And this then starts to give meaning to all of our lives, even to the laborious bits, even to the moments of suffering.
So now we would like to share with you some examples from our own lives.
[Personal testamony 1, Personal testamony 2, Personal testamonies video from the youth Friday prayer group]
So hopefully these practical examples have got us all thinking about how our church life is relevant to our everyday lives and in particular how we can try to live out the phrases of the gospels in our everyday lives. I would like to invite you so form into groups of two or three and discuss the question, “How can I become a better apprentice of Jesus”.
[New slide - “How can I become a better apprentice of Jesus?”]
We will give you three minutes for this, plus a couple of minutes to note down your insights on the cards that have been distributed. We are not going to collect these cards in, they are for you to make a few notes to help remind yourself of ways of applying what we learn in church to our everyday lives.
[3 minutes]
So that is three minutes so please be finishing off you conversations now and start making a few notes for yourself on the card. Remember the card is for you to take away with you, and to remind you of things from church and from the gospels that you can put into practice day by day.
[2 minutes]
Right – thank you for that, so please could you be finishing off and putting your pens down and put your cards in you’re your pocket or bag where you will remember to take it with you. And let’s summarise where we have got to.
[Screens return to the icon picture of Jesus]
I said at the beginning that Jesus is the expert in living life, and we as apprentices have the opportunity to learn to live like him. But to say that Jesus is the expert on life is rather understating the point. Jesus is in fact the source of life itself. (e.g. John 1:4, 4:13, 5:21, chapter 6, 14:6, 20:31). Jesus came that we might have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10). And this is why it is so desirable to follow Jesus and to copy him in his way of living. If we do this, then over time we become more Christ like. Christ like qualities start to form within us. (2 Cor 3:18, Col 3:10) This is very reassuring because we start to find that our life in Christ has an enduring quality that survives all manner of disasters and disappointments.
But the benefits of becoming more Christ like extend beyond our own lives. We start to have a positive influence on our families and the people around us. Our relationships start to work properly because everything begins to find its right place under God. Problems start to disappear.
So I commend to you living as an apprentice of Jesus as a way of making our church life relevant to our day to day lives.
The dwelling place of God
Thought for parish pew slip 07/10/07 - Dedication Sunday
Readings: 1 Chronicles 29:6-19 Ephesians 2: 19-22 John 2: 13-22
Today we have the readings for Dedication Sunday, when we give thanks to God for the buildings that we have set aside for the worship of God.
In our reading from 1Chronicles we hear about King David, who had brought the Israelites out of their years as a wandering tribe, and established them in the city of Jerusalem. King David longed to replace the nomadic tent of the tabernacle with a permanent dwelling place for God in Jerusalem. The work of constructing the temple would be done by David’s son Solomon, but David made all the preparations. He drew up the plans and donated his personal treasury for the construction. In this passage we hear how the people responded with their own free will offering on a grand scale.
In Ephesians, St Paul points out similarities between the physical building up of the temple and the spiritual building up of the worldwide church. In Christ we are all being joined together into a spiritual building which is the dwelling place of God.
In the gospel reading Jesus reflects, with irony, that his own body is more truly the dwelling place of God than the temple in Jerusalem.
Readings: 1 Chronicles 29:6-19 Ephesians 2: 19-22 John 2: 13-22
Today we have the readings for Dedication Sunday, when we give thanks to God for the buildings that we have set aside for the worship of God.
In our reading from 1Chronicles we hear about King David, who had brought the Israelites out of their years as a wandering tribe, and established them in the city of Jerusalem. King David longed to replace the nomadic tent of the tabernacle with a permanent dwelling place for God in Jerusalem. The work of constructing the temple would be done by David’s son Solomon, but David made all the preparations. He drew up the plans and donated his personal treasury for the construction. In this passage we hear how the people responded with their own free will offering on a grand scale.
In Ephesians, St Paul points out similarities between the physical building up of the temple and the spiritual building up of the worldwide church. In Christ we are all being joined together into a spiritual building which is the dwelling place of God.
In the gospel reading Jesus reflects, with irony, that his own body is more truly the dwelling place of God than the temple in Jerusalem.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
