Short sermon preached at 8.00am Eucharist at St Alphege on Sunday 29th March 2009.
Lent 5, Year B, but with a special reading from the Parish Lent Course. The Parish Lent Course follows the book Life Calling by Robert Warren and Kate Bruce (London, Church House Publishing, 2007).
Readings: 2 Samuel 7: 1-17 John 12: 20-26
First three paragraphs are repeated from sermon for Lent 3, 15/03/09.
In our Lent Courses so far we have been thinking about God’s call in our lives. We have seen how God’s call is very personal to each one of us. We have seen how God calls us from where we are right now. God’s call takes perfect account of the person we are with all our specific talents and attributes and virtues, and also with all our many sins and hurts and difficulties and weaknesses. God calls me “just as I am”.
But although God’s call starts with us “just as we are”, it leads us to somewhere new. It is a calling to draw closer to God. It is a calling to grow in love, because God is love. It’s a calling that draws us forward towards our true identity, towards being the person God created us to be. It is a calling to live in perfect harmony with God and with all the other citizens of God’s kingdom. It is a calling to holiness and to the life of heaven.
So it is that we can think of our lives as a journey, a journey towards heaven, towards complete fulfilment, towards discovering our true identity within the love of God. And how do we make progress on this journey. We make progress by following the call of God, by following God’s will for our lives.
But how do we hear God’s call? How do we understand what God’s will is? Well, in our Old Testament reading today there was an interesting story of David trying to discern God’s will. First of all he has an intuition, that it would be good to build a house for God. Then he tests this intuition by talking to the prophet Nathan. Nathan initially says, “Yes”, but very quickly God corrects this understanding. God then talks to David through Nathan, and basically God says “No”.
Notice that God’s generosity in this story far exceeds David’s. David offers to build God a house, but God says that he will make the House of David great, and he will establish the throne of David for all time. As Christians we see this promise fulfilled in Jesus, the eternal king, who was born into the line of David.
Also it is clear from other parts of the book that God does have his own plans for his own house. It is David’s son Solomon who builds a great temple for God. And because of Solomon’s great wealth the temple he builds is altogether far bigger and grander than David could ever have imagined.
So David gets a “No” from God on his suggestion to build a house for God. If we had read further we would have heard that David tests this “No” by praying over it as some length. But then once he is satisfied that he understood correctly he seeks out other activities. In the next chapter of the book he returns to his military conquests, and in this he is greatly blessed by God. Notice that most kings would instinctively want to conquer their neighbours, but would not think to build a house for God. With David it is the other way round, and he has God’s full support.
So, how do we discern God’s will for our own lives? Well, like David, we should certainly listen for intuitions from God. These are often planted by the Holy Spirit. On important matters we should certainly talk our intuitions through with others for verification. Who do we talk things through with? Who has the role of Nathan in your life? Then prayer certainly has an important role in verifying the will of God. God’s will is often suggested to us by circumstances. It is often something very simple and natural and low key. But following God’s will, moment by moment as our lives progress is the key to walking the journey towards heaven. It is growing in love and in holiness. It is walking towards the full realisation of God’s creation in us. It is our fulfilment as human beings. Amen.
29 March 2009
15 March 2009
The Call of God - Leaving things behind
Sermon preached at 9.15am “Teaching Eucharist” at St Alphege, Solihull on Sunday 15th March 2009.
Lent 3, Year B, but with a special gospel reading from the Parish Lent Course. The Parish Lent Course follows the book Life Calling by Robert Warren and Kate Bruce (London, Church House Publishing, 2007).
Readings: [Psalm 40: 1-8] Luke 19: 1-10
In our Lent Courses so far we have been thinking about God’s call in our lives. We have seen how God’s call is very personal to each one of us. We have seen how God calls us from where we are right now. God’s call takes perfect account of the person we are with all our specific talents and attributes and virtues, and also with all our many sins and hurts and difficulties and weaknesses. God calls me “just as I am”.
But although God’s call starts with us “just as we are”, it leads us to somewhere new. It is a calling to draw closer to God. It is a calling to grow in love, because God is love. It’s a calling that draws us forward towards our true identity, towards being the person God created us to be. It is a calling to live in perfect harmony with God and with all the other citizens of God’s kingdom. It is a calling to holiness and to the life of heaven.
So it is that we can think of our lives as a journey, a journey towards heaven, towards complete fulfilment, towards discovering our true identity within the love of God. And how do we make progress on this journey. We make progress by following the call of God, by following God’s will for our lives. Now I think sometimes when people think about following God’s call, following the will of God, they think only about the big decisions in our lives. They think about choosing what subject to study at “A” level, or choosing what job or profession to enter, or choosing who or when to marry…And it is certainly true that these are important decisions that we must take in front of God and in accordance with God’s will for our lives. But responding to God’s call is not only about big decisions. Much more importantly it about our day to day lives and how we seek to grow in love and follow God’s will, God’s call, God’s prompting in each present moment of our lives. Most of the time, this is about little things. It is about being interested in what the children what to tell us about their day at school. It is about doing our daily work well, and out of love for God. It is about trying to see and love Jesus present, even in that person who is frankly rather annoying. It’s about giving ourselves enough rest and looking after our bodies. And if we practice following God’s call moment by moment in all the simple things in life, we build within ourselves the desire and capability to follow God’s call well when the big decisions come.
[This discipline of moment by moment seeking to understand and respond to God’s call in our lives does not mean we go about like some pre-programmed robot “Obey God’s will, obey God’s will”. God’s will perfectly fits the deepest aspirations of our humanity. We have huge freedom to choose what we do and how we do it. God values our creativity and want us to share with him in his work of creation. As St Augustine put it, “Love, and do what you like”. So long as you are seeking to love as God loves then you are within God’s calling, whatever you are doing.
And again although this practice of following God’s call in each present moment of our lives is a discipline, it is not meant to be burdensome or heavy. It is not like obeying the orders of some remote and far away despot who has no understanding of our local situation and no love for us. Rather when we follow God’s will we are following in the way of the person who created us, who loves us and who wants to share his life with us. We are walking in the way of our salvation. It is a discipline, but as Jesus says, “my Yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt 11:30)
Neither does obeying God’s will compromise our freedom. Our true freedom comes from acting as the person we were created to be. We think of the birds of the air as free, but they are not free to behave like fish. We think of the fish in the seas as free, but they are not free to behave like rabbits. Our true freedom comes from acting as God created us to act. Another thing that St Augustine said was that the service of God is perfect freedom, and this is quoted in the Lent Course prayer that will be familiar to those in the Lent Groups.]
Now let’s pause for a moment and think together about the story of Zacchaeus that we heard in our gospel reading today. We have a picture of Zacchaeus and four questions to consider.
Do you think Zacchaeus was following God’s call at the start of the story?
[No – he was a tax collector and rich. There is a suggested that he cheated people and he is publicly referred to as a sinner]
Do you think he was following God’s call by the end of the story?
[Yes, - he literally answered Jesus call and invited Jesus in. He gave generously from his wealth. He made good any past cheating. Jesus confirmed that salvation had come to this house.]
What had changed?
[He had repented of his sin, by putting God above his wealth]
What had enabled this to happen?
[The presence of Jesus. Jesus asks to come to his house, and Zacchaeus welcomes him. The story suggests that Zacchaeus gave away his money without further prompting from Jesus. But in the presence of Jesus, Zacchaeus knew this was the right thing to do, and he had the grace to do it.]
Now Zacchaeus we now made a big step on his journey towards God. He turned from his sin, and responded to Jesus. And this is something that we all have to do too. We all experience barriers and difficulties in responding to God’s call that arises from our sin and the sin of the world around us. What is sin? Sin is going against God’s will, and turning away from God’s love. Whether we like it or not we are all affected by sin. We all have our own tendency to sin, and we are all caused trouble because we grow up with sin in the people around us and because we live in a sinful society.
When we are turned away from God, and we are not putting God in the first place in our lives then we inevitably start to give other things priorities above God. Perhaps we start to prioritise our career, or the house or the car above God. Perhaps we start to prioritise our holidays or our hobbies or our clothes or our children above God. These things then become for us idols, things which take the rightful place of God in our lives.
The psalmist says that those who make idols, or who trust in them will become like them (Ps 115:8 and 135: 18). And it is certainly true that if we prioritise things ahead of God then we start to construct for ourselves a false identity. For example if we prioritise our career above God then we start to build our identity around success and money and worldly recognition. We become addicted to these things because our self understanding, our self esteem and our identity depend of them. But if these things do not come from God then they will sooner or later all pass away. They will be shown to be empty and futile and we will be put to shame (c.f. Is 42: 17 or Ps 97: 7). Similarly if we make celebrities our idol then our identity becomes very tied up with our clothes, and our image and our lifestyle. We become dependent on these things. They become addictions for us. Once again, if these things do not come from God then they soon pass away and the shameful truth of our compromised identity is revealed.
Now let’s pause for a moment and read about a C.S. Lewis character called Mrs Fidget. This is from page 70 of the Life Calling books, used by the Lent Groups.
Read Mrs Fidget from Life Calling, page 70.
Now let’s discuss, was Mrs Fidget’s work for her family a call from God, or an addiction.
Who thinks call from God? Why?
Who thinks an addiction? Why?
Well I suspect that it was a bit of both. I suspect that on the one hand God did call her to care for her family, but that means loving the family as they need to be loved, not loving them as I need to love them. I suspect that “living for her family” was also for Mrs Fidget a false identity, behind which she would hide many anxieties and past hurts. If she was more attentive to the call of God, he would have drawn her forward on her journey. There would have been uncomfortable and challenging moments when she would have needed to face up to those anxieties and hurts, but over time God would have healed her and delivered her into a renewed and greater identity.
So as we follow God’s call we will from time to time have to leave things behind. We will have to give up on parts of our old identity which did not come from God. Sometimes this can be a painful. Sometimes it can be very hard. Sometimes we might be tempted to fall into self-hatred or despair or self-pity, but this would be a mistake. We must entrust ourselves to the great mercy of God. God loves us as we are. If we can truly turn to God and accept his love, then we too can learn to love ourselves as we are. We can learn to accept the pain and suffering caused by sin and in this way, somehow, God overcomes our sin.
Let’s summarise. As we follow God’s call, and walk the journey towards heaven there will be times when God calls us to leave behind past behaviours or addictions or self understandings. Certainly we will be called to leave behind our sins, but sometimes there are even good things that we have to leave behind because God no longer wants them for us, their moment has past. This can be hard, but if like Zacchaeus, we place ourselves in the presence of Christ, then we will have the grace we need to move forward.
Lent 3, Year B, but with a special gospel reading from the Parish Lent Course. The Parish Lent Course follows the book Life Calling by Robert Warren and Kate Bruce (London, Church House Publishing, 2007).
Readings: [Psalm 40: 1-8] Luke 19: 1-10
In our Lent Courses so far we have been thinking about God’s call in our lives. We have seen how God’s call is very personal to each one of us. We have seen how God calls us from where we are right now. God’s call takes perfect account of the person we are with all our specific talents and attributes and virtues, and also with all our many sins and hurts and difficulties and weaknesses. God calls me “just as I am”.
But although God’s call starts with us “just as we are”, it leads us to somewhere new. It is a calling to draw closer to God. It is a calling to grow in love, because God is love. It’s a calling that draws us forward towards our true identity, towards being the person God created us to be. It is a calling to live in perfect harmony with God and with all the other citizens of God’s kingdom. It is a calling to holiness and to the life of heaven.
So it is that we can think of our lives as a journey, a journey towards heaven, towards complete fulfilment, towards discovering our true identity within the love of God. And how do we make progress on this journey. We make progress by following the call of God, by following God’s will for our lives. Now I think sometimes when people think about following God’s call, following the will of God, they think only about the big decisions in our lives. They think about choosing what subject to study at “A” level, or choosing what job or profession to enter, or choosing who or when to marry…And it is certainly true that these are important decisions that we must take in front of God and in accordance with God’s will for our lives. But responding to God’s call is not only about big decisions. Much more importantly it about our day to day lives and how we seek to grow in love and follow God’s will, God’s call, God’s prompting in each present moment of our lives. Most of the time, this is about little things. It is about being interested in what the children what to tell us about their day at school. It is about doing our daily work well, and out of love for God. It is about trying to see and love Jesus present, even in that person who is frankly rather annoying. It’s about giving ourselves enough rest and looking after our bodies. And if we practice following God’s call moment by moment in all the simple things in life, we build within ourselves the desire and capability to follow God’s call well when the big decisions come.
[This discipline of moment by moment seeking to understand and respond to God’s call in our lives does not mean we go about like some pre-programmed robot “Obey God’s will, obey God’s will”. God’s will perfectly fits the deepest aspirations of our humanity. We have huge freedom to choose what we do and how we do it. God values our creativity and want us to share with him in his work of creation. As St Augustine put it, “Love, and do what you like”. So long as you are seeking to love as God loves then you are within God’s calling, whatever you are doing.
And again although this practice of following God’s call in each present moment of our lives is a discipline, it is not meant to be burdensome or heavy. It is not like obeying the orders of some remote and far away despot who has no understanding of our local situation and no love for us. Rather when we follow God’s will we are following in the way of the person who created us, who loves us and who wants to share his life with us. We are walking in the way of our salvation. It is a discipline, but as Jesus says, “my Yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt 11:30)
Neither does obeying God’s will compromise our freedom. Our true freedom comes from acting as the person we were created to be. We think of the birds of the air as free, but they are not free to behave like fish. We think of the fish in the seas as free, but they are not free to behave like rabbits. Our true freedom comes from acting as God created us to act. Another thing that St Augustine said was that the service of God is perfect freedom, and this is quoted in the Lent Course prayer that will be familiar to those in the Lent Groups.]
Now let’s pause for a moment and think together about the story of Zacchaeus that we heard in our gospel reading today. We have a picture of Zacchaeus and four questions to consider.
Do you think Zacchaeus was following God’s call at the start of the story?
[No – he was a tax collector and rich. There is a suggested that he cheated people and he is publicly referred to as a sinner]
Do you think he was following God’s call by the end of the story?
[Yes, - he literally answered Jesus call and invited Jesus in. He gave generously from his wealth. He made good any past cheating. Jesus confirmed that salvation had come to this house.]
What had changed?
[He had repented of his sin, by putting God above his wealth]
What had enabled this to happen?
[The presence of Jesus. Jesus asks to come to his house, and Zacchaeus welcomes him. The story suggests that Zacchaeus gave away his money without further prompting from Jesus. But in the presence of Jesus, Zacchaeus knew this was the right thing to do, and he had the grace to do it.]
Now Zacchaeus we now made a big step on his journey towards God. He turned from his sin, and responded to Jesus. And this is something that we all have to do too. We all experience barriers and difficulties in responding to God’s call that arises from our sin and the sin of the world around us. What is sin? Sin is going against God’s will, and turning away from God’s love. Whether we like it or not we are all affected by sin. We all have our own tendency to sin, and we are all caused trouble because we grow up with sin in the people around us and because we live in a sinful society.
When we are turned away from God, and we are not putting God in the first place in our lives then we inevitably start to give other things priorities above God. Perhaps we start to prioritise our career, or the house or the car above God. Perhaps we start to prioritise our holidays or our hobbies or our clothes or our children above God. These things then become for us idols, things which take the rightful place of God in our lives.
The psalmist says that those who make idols, or who trust in them will become like them (Ps 115:8 and 135: 18). And it is certainly true that if we prioritise things ahead of God then we start to construct for ourselves a false identity. For example if we prioritise our career above God then we start to build our identity around success and money and worldly recognition. We become addicted to these things because our self understanding, our self esteem and our identity depend of them. But if these things do not come from God then they will sooner or later all pass away. They will be shown to be empty and futile and we will be put to shame (c.f. Is 42: 17 or Ps 97: 7). Similarly if we make celebrities our idol then our identity becomes very tied up with our clothes, and our image and our lifestyle. We become dependent on these things. They become addictions for us. Once again, if these things do not come from God then they soon pass away and the shameful truth of our compromised identity is revealed.
Now let’s pause for a moment and read about a C.S. Lewis character called Mrs Fidget. This is from page 70 of the Life Calling books, used by the Lent Groups.
Read Mrs Fidget from Life Calling, page 70.
Now let’s discuss, was Mrs Fidget’s work for her family a call from God, or an addiction.
Who thinks call from God? Why?
Who thinks an addiction? Why?
Well I suspect that it was a bit of both. I suspect that on the one hand God did call her to care for her family, but that means loving the family as they need to be loved, not loving them as I need to love them. I suspect that “living for her family” was also for Mrs Fidget a false identity, behind which she would hide many anxieties and past hurts. If she was more attentive to the call of God, he would have drawn her forward on her journey. There would have been uncomfortable and challenging moments when she would have needed to face up to those anxieties and hurts, but over time God would have healed her and delivered her into a renewed and greater identity.
So as we follow God’s call we will from time to time have to leave things behind. We will have to give up on parts of our old identity which did not come from God. Sometimes this can be a painful. Sometimes it can be very hard. Sometimes we might be tempted to fall into self-hatred or despair or self-pity, but this would be a mistake. We must entrust ourselves to the great mercy of God. God loves us as we are. If we can truly turn to God and accept his love, then we too can learn to love ourselves as we are. We can learn to accept the pain and suffering caused by sin and in this way, somehow, God overcomes our sin.
Let’s summarise. As we follow God’s call, and walk the journey towards heaven there will be times when God calls us to leave behind past behaviours or addictions or self understandings. Certainly we will be called to leave behind our sins, but sometimes there are even good things that we have to leave behind because God no longer wants them for us, their moment has past. This can be hard, but if like Zacchaeus, we place ourselves in the presence of Christ, then we will have the grace we need to move forward.
Deliverance by following the call of God
Thought for Parish Pewslip – 15th March 2009
Lent 3 (But reading following Lent Course)
Readings: Psalm 40: 1-8 Luke 19: 1-10
In our reading from Psalm 40, the psalmist pours out a song of thanksgiving for the good that God has done for him. God has delivered him from a bad place and set him somewhere secure. God has given him a new song of praise to sing and he emphasises the great value of trusting God. The last part of the reading reiterates a theme of many psalms. Obedience to God is worth more than sacrifice; our outward acts of religious worship are worthless unless the inward attitudes of our hearts and minds are orientated towards God.
Our gospel reading today is the story of Zacchaeus, the rich tax collector. Wealthy tax collectors were seen as sinners who collaborated with the occupying forces of the Roman Empire. The Jews treated them rather like our tabloid newspapers treat failed bankers who retire on huge pensions. Zaccheaus repented and made reparations for his sins. Jesus affirmed that salvation had come to Zacchaeus’ house. “The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” When people are vilified by our newspapers we must remember that, however bad their sins, Jesus came to save even them. Jesus’ hope is that their repentance (and ours!) will allow us to share together in the life of heaven, for all eternity.
Lent 3 (But reading following Lent Course)
Readings: Psalm 40: 1-8 Luke 19: 1-10
In our reading from Psalm 40, the psalmist pours out a song of thanksgiving for the good that God has done for him. God has delivered him from a bad place and set him somewhere secure. God has given him a new song of praise to sing and he emphasises the great value of trusting God. The last part of the reading reiterates a theme of many psalms. Obedience to God is worth more than sacrifice; our outward acts of religious worship are worthless unless the inward attitudes of our hearts and minds are orientated towards God.
Our gospel reading today is the story of Zacchaeus, the rich tax collector. Wealthy tax collectors were seen as sinners who collaborated with the occupying forces of the Roman Empire. The Jews treated them rather like our tabloid newspapers treat failed bankers who retire on huge pensions. Zaccheaus repented and made reparations for his sins. Jesus affirmed that salvation had come to Zacchaeus’ house. “The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” When people are vilified by our newspapers we must remember that, however bad their sins, Jesus came to save even them. Jesus’ hope is that their repentance (and ours!) will allow us to share together in the life of heaven, for all eternity.
11 March 2009
Death at the height of life
JeFuneral homily for Lesley Bevan (44), wife and mother of three boys, 14, 11, and 9.
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull, 11th March 2009.
Reading: John 14: 1-7
In the passage of scripture that we have just read, Jesus is talking to his disciples at the last supper on the Thursday night before he died on the Friday. His disciples do have some understanding of what is about to happen, and they are appalled by it. Jesus is about 33 years old. He is at the height of his life, he has shown extraordinary potential to do really great things, and yet it is all going terribly wrong; it is all ending in death.
When someone dies at the prime of their life it is deeply shocking and disorientating. We are forced to stop and re-evaluate the way we think about life. How can it be that a loving God allows someone like Lesley to die?
Well, we could equally ask, “How could God allowed Jesus to die?” We know that God loved Jesus enormously; he called him “the beloved, the one with whom he is well pleased” (Mark 1: 11, 9: 7). Certainly it was not for lack of love that God allowed Jesus to die, and neither is it lack of love that God has allowed Lesley to die.
So how can Love allow such a thing? Well these are great mysteries, but one reason might be that there are better things beyond this life. What we lose in death, might seem very small compared to what we can gain in the next life. Certainly the words of Jesus that we read today, suggest good things in the next life. Jesus says, “I go and prepare a place for you” and “I will take you to be with me, so that where I am, you may be also”. This suggests that in heaven we dwell in the presence of Jesus, the one who loves us and who gave everything for us. Certainly sounds like a good thing. And certainly we can have hope that these things are true for Lesley too.
One of the scandals of Jesus’ death was his unfinished work. He seemed to have a transforming effect of the world around him, but he died before much could come of it. And yet, despite this, from Jesus’ life the church was born, and the church has spread right round the world and has transformed the lives of many, many people. And I believe that the same will be true of Lesley’s great work, her children. She always said, “I just want to see my boys grow up”. She might not have seen the final result, but it seems to me that she has given her boys very firm foundations. They know that they have been loved. They have seen and known a selflessness love, a courage, an honesty, and a devotion to family, that gives them a most powerful basis on which to build their futures. I am confident that they will be well looked after and will grow up a credit to their mothers legacy.
Let’s go back to our scripture reading. There is quite a lot in there about the hope of heaven, about Jesus preparing a place for us, and about being together with Jesus when we die, and this is all very reassuring. It gives us great hope.
But the scripture reading is also important because it tells us how this hope comes to be realised. Thomas says the Jesus, “We do not know where you are going, how can we know the way,” and Jesus assures him that he, Jesus, is the way the life and the truth. So our Christian hope is realised in Jesus. It arises from walking in the way of Jesus, following the paths that Jesus shows us. It arises from sharing the life that is Jesus, sharing our own life with Jesus. It arises from the truth, that is from the true relationship with Jesus, the one in whom we can trust.
So as we go from here let us rejoice in the great legacy that Lesley has left us. Let us offer to God the great suffering of her departure. Let’s look to Jesus, the way, the life and the truth, so that our hopes on earth and our hopes of heaven can be realised. Amen.
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull, 11th March 2009.
Reading: John 14: 1-7
In the passage of scripture that we have just read, Jesus is talking to his disciples at the last supper on the Thursday night before he died on the Friday. His disciples do have some understanding of what is about to happen, and they are appalled by it. Jesus is about 33 years old. He is at the height of his life, he has shown extraordinary potential to do really great things, and yet it is all going terribly wrong; it is all ending in death.
When someone dies at the prime of their life it is deeply shocking and disorientating. We are forced to stop and re-evaluate the way we think about life. How can it be that a loving God allows someone like Lesley to die?
Well, we could equally ask, “How could God allowed Jesus to die?” We know that God loved Jesus enormously; he called him “the beloved, the one with whom he is well pleased” (Mark 1: 11, 9: 7). Certainly it was not for lack of love that God allowed Jesus to die, and neither is it lack of love that God has allowed Lesley to die.
So how can Love allow such a thing? Well these are great mysteries, but one reason might be that there are better things beyond this life. What we lose in death, might seem very small compared to what we can gain in the next life. Certainly the words of Jesus that we read today, suggest good things in the next life. Jesus says, “I go and prepare a place for you” and “I will take you to be with me, so that where I am, you may be also”. This suggests that in heaven we dwell in the presence of Jesus, the one who loves us and who gave everything for us. Certainly sounds like a good thing. And certainly we can have hope that these things are true for Lesley too.
One of the scandals of Jesus’ death was his unfinished work. He seemed to have a transforming effect of the world around him, but he died before much could come of it. And yet, despite this, from Jesus’ life the church was born, and the church has spread right round the world and has transformed the lives of many, many people. And I believe that the same will be true of Lesley’s great work, her children. She always said, “I just want to see my boys grow up”. She might not have seen the final result, but it seems to me that she has given her boys very firm foundations. They know that they have been loved. They have seen and known a selflessness love, a courage, an honesty, and a devotion to family, that gives them a most powerful basis on which to build their futures. I am confident that they will be well looked after and will grow up a credit to their mothers legacy.
Let’s go back to our scripture reading. There is quite a lot in there about the hope of heaven, about Jesus preparing a place for us, and about being together with Jesus when we die, and this is all very reassuring. It gives us great hope.
But the scripture reading is also important because it tells us how this hope comes to be realised. Thomas says the Jesus, “We do not know where you are going, how can we know the way,” and Jesus assures him that he, Jesus, is the way the life and the truth. So our Christian hope is realised in Jesus. It arises from walking in the way of Jesus, following the paths that Jesus shows us. It arises from sharing the life that is Jesus, sharing our own life with Jesus. It arises from the truth, that is from the true relationship with Jesus, the one in whom we can trust.
So as we go from here let us rejoice in the great legacy that Lesley has left us. Let us offer to God the great suffering of her departure. Let’s look to Jesus, the way, the life and the truth, so that our hopes on earth and our hopes of heaven can be realised. Amen.
08 March 2009
Following the call of God
Sermon preached at 11am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull on Sunday 8th March 2009
Lent 2, Year B, but with a special reading from the Parish Lent Course. The Parish Lent Course follows the book Life Calling by Robert Warren and Kate Bruce (London, Church House Publishing, 2007).
Readings: Genesis 1: 26-31 Mark 9: 1-2-9
Many of you will be familiar with the Life Calling course used by the Parish Lent Groups this Lent. In week two of the Lent the course encourages us to reflect on the relationship between our creation and God’s calling to us. To do this the course invites us to listen to the part of the creation story from Genesis 1, which we heard as our first reading today. This creation story does not provide many details about the way in which humanity was created, but it does offer some profound reflections on what human beings are, and on how they relate to God. Above all, the story affirms that human beings are created in the image of God. Created in the image of God! What does this mean?
Well it means that there is something about us which is like God, or at least has the potential to be like God. I once read a fascinating commentary on this passage which noted that in verse 26 of the story, God resolves to make humanity in his own image and likeness. But when God actually creates human beings in verse 27 we are told that they are created in the image of God, but nothing is said about the likeness of God. The commentator’s explanation of this point was that although humanity was created in the image of God, we still need to be nurtured and to grow and to develop in order to attain the likeness of God. It is a bit like a baby, who is born the image of its parents, but who still needs to grow up in order to become the likeness of his parents. Or perhaps it is like an apple pip, which already contains the blueprint or DNA of an apple tree, but still has to be planted and watered and to grow, before it attains the likeness of an apple tree.
I think this understanding of our creation has much to commend it because it suggests that there is a profound link between what we are now, as we have been created, and what we are destined to become. It recognised that God is always calling us, drawing forward, seeking to move us forward towards our destiny in the likeness of God. This call of God is uniquely personal to each one of us. Importantly, it reflects both the person we already are, and the person we shall be.
For example, let’s think about God’s call to Abram or Abraham, as he later becomes, in Genesis chapter 12. God calls Abraham to leave his country and his father’s house and to go to a new land that God will show him. God promises to make Abraham the father of a great nation and to bless him richly, such that through him all the families on earth will be blessed.
Now this call of God to Abraham reflects many aspects of who Abraham already is. It reflects the fact that Abraham’s father Terah had already moved his family away from their origins in Ur and to Haran, which is half way round the fertile crescent, towards the land of Canaan, the land that God promises to give to Abraham. God’s call to Abraham also reflects that fact that Abraham is already master of a household, so he has the freedom to make the kind of choice that God is requiring.
On the other hand this call of God is also about what Abraham is destined to become. Abraham is called to be the father of a great nation. Now at the moment when God makes this call to Abraham it has to be said that being the father of a great nation looks very unlikely. Abraham has no children. He is seventy five years old. His wife Sarai is not much younger and she is barren. Abraham’s anxiety about his lack of children becomes an on-going theme of the story, but we know, that in the end that Abraham does in deed become the father of several great nations. God’s call brings new dimensions to Abraham’s life, dimensions which would have been quite impossible to predict at the time of his call.
Notice however that while God’s call draws Abraham forward towards a wonderful destiny, it also requires Abraham to leave certain things behind. He has to leave behind his father’s house and all the securities of Haran. Later in the story he has to leave behind his nephew Lot, and later still his slave wife Hagar and his son by her Ishmael. These are costly losses to Abraham, but it is characteristic of God’s call that we have to leave things behind in order to take on the new things that God wants for us.
Now it is unlikely that any of us have a calling as important as Abraham’s, but we can all be certain that God does call us. The call is directed to us, exactly as we are right now, with all our sins and weaknesses and failings as well as our few good qualities and our particular talents. The call draws us towards the fullness of life in heaven, where we will be more in the likeness of God, more like Jesus (1 John 3: 2).
So how, in practice, do we follow God’s call? Well I believe that the best way to do this is to always practice following God’s promptings in each present moment of our lives. God prompts us through his commandments, especially his commandment to love other people. Growing in love is, after all, growing in the likeness of God. Sometimes God prompts us through the things people ask us to do. Sometimes, if we listen, we can hear God prompting us deep in our hearts. In most present moments of our lives the things that God want from us are very simple; to concentrate properly when driving, to listen properly to those who speak to us, to help with household jobs, to set aside time for prayer, to take care of our bodies and rest properly. However by doing these things well, for love of God and for love of the people around us, we build a discipline of listening to the prompting of God and following his call, moment by moment through are lives. And if we do this in all the small things of life we can be confident that we have the training and discipline to do it when the bigger decisions come.
Our gospel reading today was the story of the transfiguration. Jesus’ disciples saw Jesus in his heavenly glory. This is the glory which we are called to share (Romans 8: 17, 2 Thessalonians 2: 14). Let us try to follow the promptings of God in each present moment of our lives. In this way, moment by moment, we follow God’s calling and will realise the great destiny he has promised us.
Lent 2, Year B, but with a special reading from the Parish Lent Course. The Parish Lent Course follows the book Life Calling by Robert Warren and Kate Bruce (London, Church House Publishing, 2007).
Readings: Genesis 1: 26-31 Mark 9: 1-2-9
Many of you will be familiar with the Life Calling course used by the Parish Lent Groups this Lent. In week two of the Lent the course encourages us to reflect on the relationship between our creation and God’s calling to us. To do this the course invites us to listen to the part of the creation story from Genesis 1, which we heard as our first reading today. This creation story does not provide many details about the way in which humanity was created, but it does offer some profound reflections on what human beings are, and on how they relate to God. Above all, the story affirms that human beings are created in the image of God. Created in the image of God! What does this mean?
Well it means that there is something about us which is like God, or at least has the potential to be like God. I once read a fascinating commentary on this passage which noted that in verse 26 of the story, God resolves to make humanity in his own image and likeness. But when God actually creates human beings in verse 27 we are told that they are created in the image of God, but nothing is said about the likeness of God. The commentator’s explanation of this point was that although humanity was created in the image of God, we still need to be nurtured and to grow and to develop in order to attain the likeness of God. It is a bit like a baby, who is born the image of its parents, but who still needs to grow up in order to become the likeness of his parents. Or perhaps it is like an apple pip, which already contains the blueprint or DNA of an apple tree, but still has to be planted and watered and to grow, before it attains the likeness of an apple tree.
I think this understanding of our creation has much to commend it because it suggests that there is a profound link between what we are now, as we have been created, and what we are destined to become. It recognised that God is always calling us, drawing forward, seeking to move us forward towards our destiny in the likeness of God. This call of God is uniquely personal to each one of us. Importantly, it reflects both the person we already are, and the person we shall be.
For example, let’s think about God’s call to Abram or Abraham, as he later becomes, in Genesis chapter 12. God calls Abraham to leave his country and his father’s house and to go to a new land that God will show him. God promises to make Abraham the father of a great nation and to bless him richly, such that through him all the families on earth will be blessed.
Now this call of God to Abraham reflects many aspects of who Abraham already is. It reflects the fact that Abraham’s father Terah had already moved his family away from their origins in Ur and to Haran, which is half way round the fertile crescent, towards the land of Canaan, the land that God promises to give to Abraham. God’s call to Abraham also reflects that fact that Abraham is already master of a household, so he has the freedom to make the kind of choice that God is requiring.
On the other hand this call of God is also about what Abraham is destined to become. Abraham is called to be the father of a great nation. Now at the moment when God makes this call to Abraham it has to be said that being the father of a great nation looks very unlikely. Abraham has no children. He is seventy five years old. His wife Sarai is not much younger and she is barren. Abraham’s anxiety about his lack of children becomes an on-going theme of the story, but we know, that in the end that Abraham does in deed become the father of several great nations. God’s call brings new dimensions to Abraham’s life, dimensions which would have been quite impossible to predict at the time of his call.
Notice however that while God’s call draws Abraham forward towards a wonderful destiny, it also requires Abraham to leave certain things behind. He has to leave behind his father’s house and all the securities of Haran. Later in the story he has to leave behind his nephew Lot, and later still his slave wife Hagar and his son by her Ishmael. These are costly losses to Abraham, but it is characteristic of God’s call that we have to leave things behind in order to take on the new things that God wants for us.
Now it is unlikely that any of us have a calling as important as Abraham’s, but we can all be certain that God does call us. The call is directed to us, exactly as we are right now, with all our sins and weaknesses and failings as well as our few good qualities and our particular talents. The call draws us towards the fullness of life in heaven, where we will be more in the likeness of God, more like Jesus (1 John 3: 2).
So how, in practice, do we follow God’s call? Well I believe that the best way to do this is to always practice following God’s promptings in each present moment of our lives. God prompts us through his commandments, especially his commandment to love other people. Growing in love is, after all, growing in the likeness of God. Sometimes God prompts us through the things people ask us to do. Sometimes, if we listen, we can hear God prompting us deep in our hearts. In most present moments of our lives the things that God want from us are very simple; to concentrate properly when driving, to listen properly to those who speak to us, to help with household jobs, to set aside time for prayer, to take care of our bodies and rest properly. However by doing these things well, for love of God and for love of the people around us, we build a discipline of listening to the prompting of God and following his call, moment by moment through are lives. And if we do this in all the small things of life we can be confident that we have the training and discipline to do it when the bigger decisions come.
Our gospel reading today was the story of the transfiguration. Jesus’ disciples saw Jesus in his heavenly glory. This is the glory which we are called to share (Romans 8: 17, 2 Thessalonians 2: 14). Let us try to follow the promptings of God in each present moment of our lives. In this way, moment by moment, we follow God’s calling and will realise the great destiny he has promised us.
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