Sermon preached at Midnight Mass, 11.30pm, 24th December 2010 at St Mary’s Lapworth. Shorter versions of this sermon were also preached on 25th December at the 8.30am Said Eucharist at St Mary’s and at the 9.45am Holy Communion (BCP) at St Michael’s, Baddesley Clinton.
Readings (set III): Is 52: 7-10 John 1: 1-14
My uncle, who is not a great church goer, used to complain, “Every time I go to church, we always have the same scripture reading. There is the whole bible to choose from, but they always choose the same bit to read in the service…you know, that bit “In the beginning was the word…”. Well of course, when we worked it out, we realised that the reason he only ever got one scripture reading was that he only ever went to one service, which was Midnight mass, and at Midnight mass we do very often have that famous reading from John.
And although it is a very famous reading and is very well known, it is not an easy reading to understand. It talks about Jesus in many different ways. It talks of Jesus as “Word of God”, as the source of creation and life, and as light. It also talks of Jesus as flesh, and as Son of God. Well you will be relieved to know that I am not going to analyse all those different descriptions of Jesus today. Rather I would like to just reflect with you about Jesus as light.
Now we all know how important light is, and how difficult things can be when there is no light. When she was very young, one of our children used to be afraid of the dark. We would put her to bed at night with her bedroom door ajar, and with the landing light on, and that would be fine. But one night, our first night back after two weeks away on holiday, there was a power cut in the middle of the night. Somehow Imogen managed to notice that it was completely dark and she started screaming because she was afraid of the dark. Elaine and I woke up and tried to sort things out. I found myself completely confused. I was half awake and half asleep. I was confused about whether I was in the holiday house in France, or in our own home. I couldn’t remember where there were any candles or torches. So Elaine went to find a candle, and I went in to comfort Imogen. Anyway I made no progress in comforting Imogen, because it was dark and she was scared of the dark, so she kept on screaming and I remained in my utterly confused state, not even sure about what house I was in. Anyway eventually Elaine arrived with a candle and there was light; not a lot of light but light enough and it made all the difference. Suddenly Imogen stopped screaming, suddenly I was properly awake, and knew what house I was in and everything was fine. What a difference a little light makes!
And Jesus, the light of the world, also makes a huge difference. Without Jesus it is very unclear why we exist on this earth, how we should live, how we should respond to the people around us, how we should pray or what we should think about God, or life or death or good or evil. Jesus, by his teaching and by his example, throws extraordinary light on all these questions. He reveals God to be a father who loves us, and who has created us for an eternal good. He reveals God as present in the people around us, who we need to love and serve if God’s creation in us is to realise its potential; if the full meaning of our lives is to be revealed. And this light that Jesus throws on our lives is very closely related to Jesus as “word of God”, as God’s explanation, God’s teaching, God’s encouraging. It is like God is trying to communicate to us how we should live as human beings. How best to do that? Perhaps by words of explanation, by pictures, by diagram, The best explanation is by example, and this is Jesus the light of the world.
But Jesus is also light in the sense that light sustains life. Plants grow in the light, so without light there would be no plants and so no food for animals and so no animals. Light is fundamental to life and is associated with joy and contentment, whereas darkness is associated with death and frustration and misery. So Jesus, who is God the source of life, is also light in this sense, that life and all good things ultimately come from him.
And in the NT we think of the kingdom of heaven as a kingdom of light, and we contrast it with Satan’s kingdom of darkness. The light overcomes the darkness, and evil always tries to hide from the light, because the light exposes evil for what it is.
So my hope this Christmas is that we will all receive the light of Christ in our hearts; that we will make room for it, nurture it and allow it to grow. I hope that, by the light of Jesus, by his teaching and example, we may understand his love for us, and understand the love by which we need to relate to the people around us. I hope that the light of Christ we reveal to us our true identities, the people God created us to be. I hope that by this light of Christ shining in us, we in turn might provide light for the people around us, and help them to realise their true selves as well. Amen.
24 December 2010
12 December 2010
John the Baptist - the forerunner foreseen
Sermon preached at 11am Coral Mattins at St Mary’s Lapworth on Sunday 12th December 2010. A shorter version of this sermon was also preached at the 8.30am Said Eucharist.
Advent III – Year A
Readings: Is 35: 1-10 Matthew 11: 2-11
On the third Sunday of Advent we traditionally think about John the Baptist in his role as the forerunner of the Messiah, preparing the way of the Lord. Now this role of the forerunner, the person to announce the coming Messiah, and to help people to prepare to greet him was a role that had been mapped out in prophecy long before either John the Baptist or Jesus were born. All four of the gospel writers make this point, but Matthew seems particularly keen to emphasis it and he makes several references to the different Old Testament scriptures that foresee John the Baptist.
So for example in the gospel reading that the lectionary scheduled for last week (which we did not actually use it because of the Christingle) Matthew quotes Isaiah 40:3ff “A voice cries out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God…say to the cities of Judah, here is your God.”
In the gospel reading we heard today Matthew records Jesus quoting from Malachi 3: 1ff where it says, “see I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple”
And if we had read a little further with our gospel reading today we would have heard Jesus make a subtle reference to Malachi 4: 5 which says, “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes” and Jesus affirms that this means John the Baptist.
Now when you go back and read these prophecies in their original OT context, the thing that is very noticeable is the power and glory that the prophets expect to see associated with the Messiah at his coming. Malachi describes his coming as a “great and terrible day” 4: 5). He asks, “But who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap…” (Mal 3: 2). The Isaiah prophecy says, “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all people shall see it together,” and it talks of people withering away like grass when the Lord blows upon it. (Is 40: 5ff)
And this theme of a glorious and terrible coming is also present in the Isaiah passage that we heard this morning, “Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.” (Is 35: 4). And this seems to be very consistent with the message of John the Baptist in that gospel reading (which we did not have) last week. John asked the Pharisees and Sadducees, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath come?...even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees.” (Matt 3: 7-10)
Now these prophecies of the Lord coming in glory with vengeance and fire seem to contrast rather with the story of the birth of Jesus, which seems to emphasis the meekness of being excluded from the inn, the poverty of the stable, the joy, peace and goodwill of the angels’ message. So how do we make sense of this difference? Why are the prophecies about the coming of Jesus so different from his actually coming?
Well, for a first century Jew, this difference was pretty clear evidence that Jesus was not the Messiah. The Messiah was meant to establish a kingdom of justice and peace with Israel at its centre. Jesus did not do this, so he can’t be the Messiah.
Now a first century Christian would have probably responded, “Well the first coming of Jesus was all about teaching us to how to live in the kingdom of God; what are its values and its cultural norms, its laws. But the tangible and visible implementation of the kingdom, that is a matter for the second coming of Christ. That’s why we must prepare for the second coming of Christ. That’s why Advent is so important.
Well, it has been a bit of a theme for me this Advent to ask how we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ, how we prepare ourselves for life in God’s kingdom, the everlasting kingdom. And I keep coming back to two important forms of preparation. First there is the internal and invisible preparation that we make building relationship with the coming Jesus through our prayer and worship. Through prayer and worship we seek to know Jesus better, understand better his values and priorities and the specific things that he wants from us in our lives.
Then second there is the outward and visible preparation which is about how we live our lives in society, how we deal with the people around us. And here we prepare ourselves for the kingdom of God by seeking to live out its values here on earth. And so we try to see Jesus present in the people that we meet. We try to help them and serve them. We try to live according to the specific commandments of Jesus – “love one another, as I have loved you.” Now we can only do that in partial way because here on earth we are subject to sin, the sin in ourselves and the sin in the society we live in, but we can humbly hold that sin before God and use the freedom that we do have to live out the values of the kingdom of God, to live for the others, to be generous and merciful. And when we manage to live in this way Jesus’ presence within us is strengthened and grows. And through this training we become better able to live in God’s kingdom, to abide by its laws, live according to its norms and values and to express its culture. And through this, as well, sin is pushed back and obedience to God grows. Little by little we make our own small contribution to the building the kingdom of God on earth. Amen.
Advent III – Year A
Readings: Is 35: 1-10 Matthew 11: 2-11
On the third Sunday of Advent we traditionally think about John the Baptist in his role as the forerunner of the Messiah, preparing the way of the Lord. Now this role of the forerunner, the person to announce the coming Messiah, and to help people to prepare to greet him was a role that had been mapped out in prophecy long before either John the Baptist or Jesus were born. All four of the gospel writers make this point, but Matthew seems particularly keen to emphasis it and he makes several references to the different Old Testament scriptures that foresee John the Baptist.
So for example in the gospel reading that the lectionary scheduled for last week (which we did not actually use it because of the Christingle) Matthew quotes Isaiah 40:3ff “A voice cries out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God…say to the cities of Judah, here is your God.”
In the gospel reading we heard today Matthew records Jesus quoting from Malachi 3: 1ff where it says, “see I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple”
And if we had read a little further with our gospel reading today we would have heard Jesus make a subtle reference to Malachi 4: 5 which says, “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes” and Jesus affirms that this means John the Baptist.
Now when you go back and read these prophecies in their original OT context, the thing that is very noticeable is the power and glory that the prophets expect to see associated with the Messiah at his coming. Malachi describes his coming as a “great and terrible day” 4: 5). He asks, “But who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap…” (Mal 3: 2). The Isaiah prophecy says, “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all people shall see it together,” and it talks of people withering away like grass when the Lord blows upon it. (Is 40: 5ff)
And this theme of a glorious and terrible coming is also present in the Isaiah passage that we heard this morning, “Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.” (Is 35: 4). And this seems to be very consistent with the message of John the Baptist in that gospel reading (which we did not have) last week. John asked the Pharisees and Sadducees, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath come?...even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees.” (Matt 3: 7-10)
Now these prophecies of the Lord coming in glory with vengeance and fire seem to contrast rather with the story of the birth of Jesus, which seems to emphasis the meekness of being excluded from the inn, the poverty of the stable, the joy, peace and goodwill of the angels’ message. So how do we make sense of this difference? Why are the prophecies about the coming of Jesus so different from his actually coming?
Well, for a first century Jew, this difference was pretty clear evidence that Jesus was not the Messiah. The Messiah was meant to establish a kingdom of justice and peace with Israel at its centre. Jesus did not do this, so he can’t be the Messiah.
Now a first century Christian would have probably responded, “Well the first coming of Jesus was all about teaching us to how to live in the kingdom of God; what are its values and its cultural norms, its laws. But the tangible and visible implementation of the kingdom, that is a matter for the second coming of Christ. That’s why we must prepare for the second coming of Christ. That’s why Advent is so important.
Well, it has been a bit of a theme for me this Advent to ask how we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ, how we prepare ourselves for life in God’s kingdom, the everlasting kingdom. And I keep coming back to two important forms of preparation. First there is the internal and invisible preparation that we make building relationship with the coming Jesus through our prayer and worship. Through prayer and worship we seek to know Jesus better, understand better his values and priorities and the specific things that he wants from us in our lives.
Then second there is the outward and visible preparation which is about how we live our lives in society, how we deal with the people around us. And here we prepare ourselves for the kingdom of God by seeking to live out its values here on earth. And so we try to see Jesus present in the people that we meet. We try to help them and serve them. We try to live according to the specific commandments of Jesus – “love one another, as I have loved you.” Now we can only do that in partial way because here on earth we are subject to sin, the sin in ourselves and the sin in the society we live in, but we can humbly hold that sin before God and use the freedom that we do have to live out the values of the kingdom of God, to live for the others, to be generous and merciful. And when we manage to live in this way Jesus’ presence within us is strengthened and grows. And through this training we become better able to live in God’s kingdom, to abide by its laws, live according to its norms and values and to express its culture. And through this, as well, sin is pushed back and obedience to God grows. Little by little we make our own small contribution to the building the kingdom of God on earth. Amen.
05 December 2010
Isaiah and the coming Messiah
Sermon preached at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton at 9.45am Holy Communion (BCP) on Sunday 5th December 2010. A shorter version of this sermon was also preached at the 8.30am Said Eucharist at St Mary’s, Lapworth.
Advent 2 – Year A
Readings: Isaiah 11: 1-10 Matt 3: 1-12
There is a tradition that on the second Sunday of Advent we reflect especially on the prophets, who foresaw the coming of Jesus, many centuries before he was actually born. Now there were many prophets spoke of the coming of a great Messiah. Messiah means anointed one. Now the kings of Israel were not so much crowned as anointed with oil, so Israel certainly expected the Messiah, the anointed to be a great king, like King David or King Solomon from Israel’s glory days, which were about 1000 BC.
As I said, many prophets spoke of the coming of the great Messiah, but it is probably the book of Isaiah that is the richest source of these prophecies, and it is no surprise then that we often read a great deal of Isaiah in Advent, as we look forward expectantly to the coming of the Lord.
Now Isaiah the prophet was writing in the eighth century BC, but the book of Isaiah contains a lot of later material from the sixth century BC presumably included by followers of the Isaiah tradition. The Messiahanic prophecies run through the whole book. The passage that we heard today if probably from the earlier period (although different scholars have different views). It is one of the classic prophecies of about the Messiah and it is very helpful text to reflect on in Advent. Let’s have a look at what the passage tells us to expect in Jesus.
“A shoot shall spring from the stock of Jesse”. Well Jesse was the Father of King David, so we are told to expect a Messiah who is a descendent of King David. This also fits well with God’s promises to David in 2 Samuel 7 and repeated in the Psalms (e.g. Psalm 89).
“The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him” We are told that the messiah will have the Spirit of God, he will somehow be particularly close to God and walk in relationship with God.
We are told the messiah will have the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel and might. The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. In the Christian tradition these “seven” qualities have become known as the gifts of the Holy Spirit. (There are also the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5) I don’t know if you were counting, but I only listed six gifts of the Holy Spirit. Well apparently the Vulgate Latin bible had two expressions for “fear of the Lord”, one of which was usually translated at piety, so that makes seven.
Then the text gives us several qualities of the messiah, which we might associate more with the second coming of Christ than with his first coming. It tells us he will be a judge, and will judge with integrity. He will judge by righteousness, rather than by outward appearances. His judgement will bring justice for the meek and the poor. It will being death and downfall for the wicked.
And then we hear a description of the kingdom where the Messiah reigns. It will be a kingdom of justice and peace. The wolf will lie down with the lamb, the lion will eat straw like an ox. It is like a return to the perfection of the garden of Eden, before sin entered the world and where where everything seems to have been vegetarian. Humanity it seems lives not only in perfect harmony with God, but also in perfect harmony with nature and the environment. “The infant will play over the hole of the adder, and the baby put his hand in the vipers nest, but hurt or harm will be done on the Holy mountain of the Lord”. It seems that even the snake, who caused all that trouble in the garden of Eden, has somehow be brought safely and peacefully into the Messiahanic Kingdom.
So, Advent is about preparing for the coming of the Lord, both the baby who comes to us at Christmas time, and the great king and judge who comes to us at the end of time. And how do we prepare for his coming?
Well last week I made two suggestions. The first was to prepare by improving and developing our life of prayer and worship. I said that through prayer and worship start a relationship with Jesus, that means we are not at first base when he comes. It is as though we are pen-pals or internet friends who meet in real life for the first time. Well it seems to me that this suggestion is very consistent with what Isaiah says. He emphasises that those qualities of the Messiah to do with wisdom and insight, knowledge and fear of the Lord. Prayer and worship is a critically important way into these gifts of the spirit. They are gifts; we can’t just grow them ourselves, but we can ask for them, and seek them through prayer and worship, and this is pleasing to God and it encourages him to share with us wisdom and knowledge, as we grow to know him better and contemplate his ways.
Also last week I suggested that to greet Jesus well, we need to be accustomed to greeting him in all his different faces in the people who we meet in the different circumstances of our life. And just as we meet many different kinds of people, so more likeable, so less so, so there are many aspects to the character of Jesus, some towards which we feel drawn, some of which feel less attractive. But they are all Jesus, we need to learn to love them all. Well again I think this has great consistency with what Isaiah says. Isaiah talks of the Messiahanic Kingdom of justice and peace. We need to prepare ourselves to be good citizens of that kingdom. It is what we are called to, the destiny towards which we must move. And to live in that kingdom we must live by justice and peace. To be just means to treat people right; to give them their proper due, to afford them the dignity that God affords to them, to recognise the image of God in their creation. Of course this is much easier if they are also being just to us, but just as God always takes the initiative in love, is always the first to love, so we need to learn to be the first to love, being just to others even before they are just to us.
So, as we think about the prophets preparing the way for the Messiah, and as we give thanks to God for the Isaiah tradition in particular, so we can continue our preparations for meeting with Jesus. We can continue to develop our life of prayer and worship so as to grow in the knowledge and love of God, to grow in wisdom and understanding and the fear of the Lord. Similarly we can practice being good citizens of the coming kingdom of God by becoming ever more just in our treatment of other people, by properly honouring and respecting God’s creation in them. Amen.
Advent 2 – Year A
Readings: Isaiah 11: 1-10 Matt 3: 1-12
There is a tradition that on the second Sunday of Advent we reflect especially on the prophets, who foresaw the coming of Jesus, many centuries before he was actually born. Now there were many prophets spoke of the coming of a great Messiah. Messiah means anointed one. Now the kings of Israel were not so much crowned as anointed with oil, so Israel certainly expected the Messiah, the anointed to be a great king, like King David or King Solomon from Israel’s glory days, which were about 1000 BC.
As I said, many prophets spoke of the coming of the great Messiah, but it is probably the book of Isaiah that is the richest source of these prophecies, and it is no surprise then that we often read a great deal of Isaiah in Advent, as we look forward expectantly to the coming of the Lord.
Now Isaiah the prophet was writing in the eighth century BC, but the book of Isaiah contains a lot of later material from the sixth century BC presumably included by followers of the Isaiah tradition. The Messiahanic prophecies run through the whole book. The passage that we heard today if probably from the earlier period (although different scholars have different views). It is one of the classic prophecies of about the Messiah and it is very helpful text to reflect on in Advent. Let’s have a look at what the passage tells us to expect in Jesus.
“A shoot shall spring from the stock of Jesse”. Well Jesse was the Father of King David, so we are told to expect a Messiah who is a descendent of King David. This also fits well with God’s promises to David in 2 Samuel 7 and repeated in the Psalms (e.g. Psalm 89).
“The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him” We are told that the messiah will have the Spirit of God, he will somehow be particularly close to God and walk in relationship with God.
We are told the messiah will have the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel and might. The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. In the Christian tradition these “seven” qualities have become known as the gifts of the Holy Spirit. (There are also the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5) I don’t know if you were counting, but I only listed six gifts of the Holy Spirit. Well apparently the Vulgate Latin bible had two expressions for “fear of the Lord”, one of which was usually translated at piety, so that makes seven.
Then the text gives us several qualities of the messiah, which we might associate more with the second coming of Christ than with his first coming. It tells us he will be a judge, and will judge with integrity. He will judge by righteousness, rather than by outward appearances. His judgement will bring justice for the meek and the poor. It will being death and downfall for the wicked.
And then we hear a description of the kingdom where the Messiah reigns. It will be a kingdom of justice and peace. The wolf will lie down with the lamb, the lion will eat straw like an ox. It is like a return to the perfection of the garden of Eden, before sin entered the world and where where everything seems to have been vegetarian. Humanity it seems lives not only in perfect harmony with God, but also in perfect harmony with nature and the environment. “The infant will play over the hole of the adder, and the baby put his hand in the vipers nest, but hurt or harm will be done on the Holy mountain of the Lord”. It seems that even the snake, who caused all that trouble in the garden of Eden, has somehow be brought safely and peacefully into the Messiahanic Kingdom.
So, Advent is about preparing for the coming of the Lord, both the baby who comes to us at Christmas time, and the great king and judge who comes to us at the end of time. And how do we prepare for his coming?
Well last week I made two suggestions. The first was to prepare by improving and developing our life of prayer and worship. I said that through prayer and worship start a relationship with Jesus, that means we are not at first base when he comes. It is as though we are pen-pals or internet friends who meet in real life for the first time. Well it seems to me that this suggestion is very consistent with what Isaiah says. He emphasises that those qualities of the Messiah to do with wisdom and insight, knowledge and fear of the Lord. Prayer and worship is a critically important way into these gifts of the spirit. They are gifts; we can’t just grow them ourselves, but we can ask for them, and seek them through prayer and worship, and this is pleasing to God and it encourages him to share with us wisdom and knowledge, as we grow to know him better and contemplate his ways.
Also last week I suggested that to greet Jesus well, we need to be accustomed to greeting him in all his different faces in the people who we meet in the different circumstances of our life. And just as we meet many different kinds of people, so more likeable, so less so, so there are many aspects to the character of Jesus, some towards which we feel drawn, some of which feel less attractive. But they are all Jesus, we need to learn to love them all. Well again I think this has great consistency with what Isaiah says. Isaiah talks of the Messiahanic Kingdom of justice and peace. We need to prepare ourselves to be good citizens of that kingdom. It is what we are called to, the destiny towards which we must move. And to live in that kingdom we must live by justice and peace. To be just means to treat people right; to give them their proper due, to afford them the dignity that God affords to them, to recognise the image of God in their creation. Of course this is much easier if they are also being just to us, but just as God always takes the initiative in love, is always the first to love, so we need to learn to be the first to love, being just to others even before they are just to us.
So, as we think about the prophets preparing the way for the Messiah, and as we give thanks to God for the Isaiah tradition in particular, so we can continue our preparations for meeting with Jesus. We can continue to develop our life of prayer and worship so as to grow in the knowledge and love of God, to grow in wisdom and understanding and the fear of the Lord. Similarly we can practice being good citizens of the coming kingdom of God by becoming ever more just in our treatment of other people, by properly honouring and respecting God’s creation in them. Amen.
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