One with Christ in the other

Short sermon preached at 8am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull
Sunday 8th February 2009 – Third Sunday before lent
Readings for Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Year B

Readings: Isaiah 40:21-31 1 Corinthians 9: 16-23 Mark 1: 29-39


The Apostle Paul is often seen as the archetypal missionary preacher. Certainly the New Testament, especially in the Acts of the Apostles, shows Paul as extraordinarily effective in proclaiming the gospel. This was his great passion; “Woe betide me if I do not proclaim the gospel” we read from him today. And for me, as a child, an image of this formed in my mind. A huge figure Paul is standing high above a crowd, preaching the gospel in a loud voice and with great emotion and with lots of finger waging. And the people in the crowd are cowering before him in fear for their immortal souls, and are weeping in repentance for their sins.
As time has gone by I have come to realise that this image is not quite right, and in places it reveals some serious misconceptions about what it means to proclaim the gospel. For a start we know that Paul’s physical stature was neither big nor impressive (Acts of Paul and Thecla 3 - late 2nd century). Paul notes of himself that, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible." (2 Cor 10:10) But above all, what is wrong is the impression that Paul, through strength of argument or personality was somehow able to force or coerce people into accepting the gospel. I am quite sure that it was not like this at all. In fact the techniques Paul described in our reading today are the very opposite of force or coercion. They show the love of someone who places great value on the experience and opinions of others.
First of all Paul says, “I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.” Paul sees himself as a slave or a servant of those who he seeks to convert. This does not mean that he allows them to dominate or control him or walk all over him. Rather it means he will look at these people with great charity, trying to see them as God sees them, and trying to recognise and understand God’s creation in them, and above all trying to find within them the new life of Christ. It is this new life in Christ and God’s creation in them that Paul is seeking to serve. He will do whatever he can to nurture it, understand it and help it to grow. And the point about being a servant or a slave is that this is done, not on Paul’s terms, but on the terms of the one who is served. Paul serves Jesus, present in the other people.
But then, even more mysteriously, Paul says, “To the Jews I became a Jew… to those not bound by the law of Moses I became like one not bound by the law of Moses…to the week I became week…I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means win some.” This means that Paul seeks to set aside his own agenda and priorities in order to focus properly on the experience and aspirations of Christ present in the people he meets, be they Jews, or non Jews, the week or the strong. Paul is ready to die to Christ in himself, in order to rise with Christ in the other person. Paul seeks to empathise with Christ in the other person. He seeks to walk in the shoes of the other in order to understand the other and to share in their joys and sorrows, their hopes and fears. And Paul remains convinced that it is this losing of himself for Christ in the other that will eventually win the other over to Christ.
And this is the pattern for our love too. We need to be ready to lose everything in order to seek out and love Christ present in the other person. We seek to empathise with and share in the experience of Christ in that person. And this helps Christ to grow, both in them and in us and so it brings forward the kingdom of God. Amen.

Preaching the message of God

Thought for the Parish Pewslip, 8th Feb 2009

Readings for Epiphany 5, Year B: Isaiah 40: 21-31, 1 Corinthians 9: 16-23, Mark 1: 29-39


Our readings today tell us about the compelling need to preach the message of God. There are also some top-tips on how this should be done!
From Isaiah, the prophet’s message is about the greatness of God. He wants to remind people of the God’s extraordinary power. The prophet wants to assure God’s people that those who wait on the Lord will receive new strength. He seems frustrated that people don’t understand this; “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” he repeats.
In our reading from 1 Corinthians, Paul explains that he is under an obligation to proclaim the gospel. But for Paul this means being empty of self and being ready to lose his own agenda. Paul focuses on empathising with other people and becoming one with them. He is even prepared to make himself weak with the weak. Somehow, through this emptiness of self, the blessings of the gospel are shared.
In our gospel, Jesus too is keen to proclaim his message. For Jesus, loving and serving others (by healing the sick and casting out demons) is an integral part of the proclamation.

Giving from our gifts

Preached at St Michael’s, Solihull, meeting in Sharmans Cross School.

10.30am Eucharist on Sunday 1^st January 2009

Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Candlemass)

Readings: Malachi 3: 1-5 Hebrews 2: 14-18 Luke 2: 22-40

Last week I was talking to a lady, and she was experiencing panic in her household because 31^st January was the last date for submission of an on-line self assessment tax return. Well today is 1^st February, so I hope that they got the job done and can now relax. This got me thinking about tax. I don’t know about you, but I always used to think that it was very strange that people who worked for the government had to pay tax. I used to think it would make much more sense to pay government employees smaller salaries, but to pay them tax free. Would this not save all kinds of administrative costs involved in paying out money and then taxing it back in again? But as I have got older I have come to understand the wisdom of everyone paying tax. There are many administrative advantages, but it seems to me that the biggest single advantage is that government employees share in the experience of being a taxpayer. If taxes go up, because of some government policy, then they share the pain with everyone else. If taxes go down they share the benefit. If some mess up in government wastes a lot of tax payers money, then government employees are likely to be just as annoyed and frustrated by it as any other tax payer. So the additional circulation of money caused by paying government employees and then charging them tax ensures government employees and the rest of us have a shared experience of being tax payers. This common experience of paying tax helps us to understand one another. It helps the nation to build a common mind on the way that government money should be spent. In its own small way it helps us to build unity in the nation.

And we have a similar situation in our financial giving to the church. There are people, like me, who work for the church and are paid by the church, but we also give money to the church. Just like everyone else in the congregation we have to sit up and take notice when the church asks us to review our giving and perhaps to give more. So church employees face the same challenges on giving as other members of the congregation. And this additional circulation of gifts in the life of the church gives us a shared experience of giving. This helps us to understand each other and to build unity in the church.

This pattern of giving from the gifts that we have received is also evident in the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, which we heard about in our gospel reading today. God had given to Mary the huge gift of the baby Jesus, and yet Mary still went to the temple to present her baby back to God, because the law said that, “every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord.”

Mary and Joseph knew that Jesus was the Son of God. So they knew that the whole temple, and all its officials which exist for the worship and glory of God, also exist in a certain way for the worship and glory of Jesus. And yet this did not prevent them from making the sacrifice required by the law, “a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.” In fact we are told that Mary and Joseph did everything that was required by the law of the Lord before they returned to Galilee.

So even though the Holy Family received very special gifts from God, given to them for very particular purposes, they still felt the need to give gifts back to God. And so we see a circulation of gifts a bit like the circulation caused by government employees paying taxes, or church employees giving money to the church.

And this pattern of receiving gifts and then giving back goes very deep. It is central to the life of God himself. God the Father gives everything to Jesus. In Ephesians (1: 21) we read that the God has set Jesus far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and … has put all things under his feet and has made him head over all things. And yet Jesus too gives everything to the Father. In Gethsemane Jesus is reluctant to drink the cup of poison, but he realises, deep within him, the need to do God’s will, not his own. It costs him everything; his human body dies. God the Father receives this gift of everything from his son, but then he has more gifts for Jesus, beginning with the gift of the resurrection from the dead, and our salvation. And the result of this total self giving is the perfect unity that we see in the Holy Trinity. As Jesus says, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14: 10-11).

As Christians we are called to share in the glory and holiness of this life of God, this divine life of heaven (e.g. 2 Th 2:14, Heb 3: 1,14). To prepare for this sharing we need to practice giving and receiving. Let’s be generous givers! We know that we brought nothing into the world. All that we have is God’s gift to us, either directly or indirectly. We also know that we will take nothing out of the world when we die, so ultimately everything that we have must be given away or lost.

Let’s give then, not just money, but of time, attention, talents and prayers. And let’s not be ashamed to receive gifts or love or attention from others, because these enrich us and allow us in turn to give more. All this giving helps goods, and money and news and experiences to circulate within the life of the church, and within the life of the wider community. This helps to build up a common life, a shared understanding. It leads to a sense of belonging and cohesiveness in the community, and it leads to unity in the church. Unity! This is perhaps God’s greatest gift to us, but we can only receive it when we are giving ourselves completely to one another.