Sermon preached at 11am Coral Mattins at St Mary’s Lapworth on Sunday 13th March 2011. Shorter versions of this sermon were preached at the 8.30am Said Eucharist and at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton’s 3pm Evensong.
First Sunday of Lent – Year A
Readings: Ps 32 Gen 2: 15-17 & 3: 1-7 Matt 4: 1-11
Many thanks to all those who participated in yesterday’s churchyard working party. Hopefully you will notice some of the fruits of the work as you leave church today. Those who have been to one of these the working parties will know that one of the most enjoyable aspects is the food that Vera puts out at lunchtime. Yesterday there were two excellent soups, crusty bread (both brown and white) and butter. There were baked potatoes and several different choices of filling; chilli, or cheese or tuna mayonnaise or spaghetti in sauce. Well it was all very excellent and I had seconds of the soups (spicy parsnip), plenty of bread and a very large baked potato, with two fillings. And after that, really, I was more ready for a nap than for more work in the churchyard. Someone said, “Hay Vera, with all this good food you are making us eat too much.” Vera said, “Well I don’t actually force people to eat it!” Well no, perhaps I am not actually forced to eat too much, but somehow with so much good food readily available the odds are stacked me. It is an example of temptation; a temptation I am not good at resisting.
What is temptation?
It is the danger that we trade in God’s hopes and plans for us, for something less, something outside of his will for our lives. It might be something that our appetites suggest to us (like food) or something suggested to us by doubt, or pride or envy ...
In the Christian tradition we often see the three biggest seducers as money, sex and power. E.g.
- Cheat on tax return or expenses for the sake of money
- Cheat on a spouse for the sake of sex
- Uncharitably highlight the failings of others (perhaps a colleague at work) for the sake of power
There is nothing wrong with money, sex and power in themselves. They are all gifts of God which can and should be used to build up his kingdom. But experience suggests that they have particular power to lead us into temptation. The Christian tradition highlights counteracts this by emphasising the importance of poverty, chastity and obedience, most noticeably in the vows taken by monks in the Benedictine tradition.
So in situation of temptation are situations where we are in danger of getting our priorities wrong. We are in danger of choosing some created thing that we desire (perhaps money, sex or power) over God’s desires for us, over God’s will for our lives, over the goodness that God wants to give us. Very often we are tempted to trade in something spiritual for something more tangible. Very often we are trading in a long term benefit for something more immediate. And if we give in to temptation then we go against God’s will, we sin, we damage our relationship with God and with others, we jar against God’s goodness to us and sooner or later this inevitably causes sufferings to ourselves and to others.
Two scripture readings today are stories of temptation.
Adam and Eve fall – traditional theology sees this as disastrous for the whole human race, the source of our Original Sin; the source of our clouded understanding of the things of God and our tendency towards sin. And this fault is finally made good by Christ in his death and resurrection. As we heard in our NT Reading, Christ passed through temptation without sin. He was always true to God, he always rejected the devil.
Notice the role of the devil in both stories. Bible is full of examples where God deliberately allows the devil to cause problems for people as some kind of test, as a means of proving their worth:
God must have allowed the serpent (the devil) into the Garden of Eden.
In our NT reading the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness specifically to be tempted by the devil.
In the book of Job, God specifically allows the devil to torture Job.
Jesus understands this. He says occasions for stumbling must come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling block comes (Matt 18:7, Luke 17: 1). God, in his goodness and love, allows us to be tested and tempted, but that woe betides the tester or tempter. So often Satan tests us, perhaps with crushing under pain and adversity, perhaps with the wrongful fulfilment of desire, perhaps through our complacency and arrogance, perhaps by misrepresenting to us the things of God, as he misrepresented the scriptures to Jesus in our reading today.
Why does God allow trials or tests of this sort? Why is the devil allowed anywhere near us? (Especially as we are taught to pray “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil (i.e. from the evil one”)
These are deep mysteries – part of God’s love for us – perhaps so that we can share in, and make our own contribution towards the overcoming of evil???
With these tests or trials the dominant biblical image is gold or precious metal refined in the fire (Ps 66: 10, Is 48:10, 1 Peter 1: 6-7)
Tests which God allow both reveal how pure we are and help to build up that purity further.
Or we might fail. If we do we are in trouble, but we are also in good company. Jesus said to Peter “Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat” (Luke 22: 31) and indeed Peter, in his fear and confusion, denied Jesus three times. This must have caused Peter, and the other disciples great distress; to be alienated from Jesus at the time of his death. But after the resurrection Jesus restored Peter by three times saying “Peter – do you love me – feed my sheep” (John 21: 15ff)
When we fail we have to throw ourselves back on the mercy of God. We have to ask for forgiveness and start again in our Christian endeavour. Note that we have to start again in grace, not in our own strength, or we will fail again. We have to build up the presence of Christ within us by being honest about that failure, by accepting the pain it causes ourselves and others (rather than pretending the pain is not there) and by giving thanks to Christ for the pain that he accepted in his death on the cross, which has conquered sin and death, and by which we can be restored.
So let’s live our temptation well, hopefully being purified like silver in the fire, but if we fail let us seek forgiveness, growing in our knowledge of our dependence on God and in our thankfulness to Christ for his redemption. Amen.
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
13 March 2011
24 December 2010
The true light, coming into the world
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.
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.
28 November 2010
Preparing to meet Jesus
Sermon preached at 3pm Evensong at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton on Sunday 28th November 2010. Different versions of this sermon were also preached at St Mary the Virgin, Lapworth at the 8.30am Said Eucharist and at 11am Coral Mattins.
Advent Sunday - Year A
Readings: Is 2: 1-5 Matt 24: 36-44
(Note form only)
Advent is about expecting the coming of Jesus, about preparing to meet him.
1) Preparing to welcome baby Jesus at Christmas
- preparations might include decorations, presents, food
- we think about this more in second half of Advent
2) Preparing for the Second coming of Christ
- we think about this especially on Advent Sunday, and first part of Advent.
- our scripture readings focus on this
- Isaiah talking of the word of the Lord & instruction going forth from Jerusalem. The whole world wants to learn, and walk in the Lords ways, because the Lord is King. Wars end.
- In the gospel Jesus emphasises that the Son of man will come at an unexpected time, like a thief in the night. Christian tradition teaches us to stay awake, be vigilant, expect this coming always.
3) Meeting with Jesus when we die – might also think of this
How do we prepare for the coming of Jesus? – it is a bit awkward because we don’t know when, and we don’t know what it will be like.
It reminds me of the Downton Abbey TV series and a scene involving Carson the Butler.
Its 1914 and a telephone has been installed in the house for the first time.
Carson sits in front the telephone apprehensively preparing for the first moment when it must be used.
He practices answering the telephone.
He finds himself speaking to the operator.
terrible shock – Carson very abrupt – all a bit unsatisfactory.
However Carson spoke good English, clearly and slowly.
It is quite clear that with a little more experience he will cope very well with the telephone.
Waiting for Jesus has some of that same apprehension and uncertainty/awkwardness.
Can be scary.
How can we make prepare well to greet Jesus when he comes/ when we meet him?
How can we make sure that we good at the language of heaven, just has Carson had spoken good English loud and clear.
Well one way is through pray and worship. If we are well accustoming to speaking to Jesus through prayer and worship, then that is a good start to the relationship when he comes to meet us. It is like when pen-pals, or people who met on the internet, actually meet in real life. The experience is different, but there is already a relationship to build on. It is a very good start, but it is not everything.
There is another important aspect to preparing to meet Jesus.
Jesus said “What you do to the least you do to me”
“You can not love God, who you can’t see, unless you love the brothers who you can see”
A big part of our relationship with Jesus concerns the way that we treat Jesus in the people we meet. When we meet Jesus in other people, do we respect him, honour his dignity, treat him well, go out of our way for him, serve him, love him?
The scriptures present to us Jesus in may ways. Sometimes he seems rich with lavish gifts (Wedding in Cana). Sometimes he is poor and famished (as when tempted in the wilderness). Sometimes he is loved by crowds who sing hosanna, sometimes hated by crowd who cry “crucify”. Sometimes he seems a fearsome judge, sometimes a merciful redeemer, sometimes as a great king, sometimes as a refugee, or criminal crucified on the cross.
So in our daily lives we meet many different kinds of people, rich and poor, intelligent and less gifted, foreign and local, rejoicing or suffering, well known or strangers. Jesus is present in them all. How do we respond to Jesus in all these different kinds of people? Do we love him and serve him? Do we deny that he is there, or try to avoid him? Perhaps we kid ourselves thinking, “Yes, but it will be much easier to love Jesus himself than to love all these different people.” Well I am not sure. The historical Jesus was a Jew by culture, more than a Christian. He was from the middle-east. He didn’t speak English. In short he was very, very different from us and could be quite a challenge for us to love. Welcoming people who are very different is always a challenge. Finding the right way to love them, help them, serve them, work for their good is also a challenge. However it is crucial practise for any meeting with Jesus. Jesus will be well aware of how we have treated him in other people.
So to prepare to meet Jesus let’s build our relationship with him. Let’s do this through prayer and through worship, but above all let’s do it by trying to find Jesus in the people we encounter through our daily lives, and trying to help and serve him. If we can do this well then we know that there will be great joy when we finally meet Jesus face to face. Amen.
Advent Sunday - Year A
Readings: Is 2: 1-5 Matt 24: 36-44
(Note form only)
Advent is about expecting the coming of Jesus, about preparing to meet him.
1) Preparing to welcome baby Jesus at Christmas
- preparations might include decorations, presents, food
- we think about this more in second half of Advent
2) Preparing for the Second coming of Christ
- we think about this especially on Advent Sunday, and first part of Advent.
- our scripture readings focus on this
- Isaiah talking of the word of the Lord & instruction going forth from Jerusalem. The whole world wants to learn, and walk in the Lords ways, because the Lord is King. Wars end.
- In the gospel Jesus emphasises that the Son of man will come at an unexpected time, like a thief in the night. Christian tradition teaches us to stay awake, be vigilant, expect this coming always.
3) Meeting with Jesus when we die – might also think of this
How do we prepare for the coming of Jesus? – it is a bit awkward because we don’t know when, and we don’t know what it will be like.
It reminds me of the Downton Abbey TV series and a scene involving Carson the Butler.
Its 1914 and a telephone has been installed in the house for the first time.
Carson sits in front the telephone apprehensively preparing for the first moment when it must be used.
He practices answering the telephone.
He finds himself speaking to the operator.
terrible shock – Carson very abrupt – all a bit unsatisfactory.
However Carson spoke good English, clearly and slowly.
It is quite clear that with a little more experience he will cope very well with the telephone.
Waiting for Jesus has some of that same apprehension and uncertainty/awkwardness.
Can be scary.
How can we make prepare well to greet Jesus when he comes/ when we meet him?
How can we make sure that we good at the language of heaven, just has Carson had spoken good English loud and clear.
Well one way is through pray and worship. If we are well accustoming to speaking to Jesus through prayer and worship, then that is a good start to the relationship when he comes to meet us. It is like when pen-pals, or people who met on the internet, actually meet in real life. The experience is different, but there is already a relationship to build on. It is a very good start, but it is not everything.
There is another important aspect to preparing to meet Jesus.
Jesus said “What you do to the least you do to me”
“You can not love God, who you can’t see, unless you love the brothers who you can see”
A big part of our relationship with Jesus concerns the way that we treat Jesus in the people we meet. When we meet Jesus in other people, do we respect him, honour his dignity, treat him well, go out of our way for him, serve him, love him?
The scriptures present to us Jesus in may ways. Sometimes he seems rich with lavish gifts (Wedding in Cana). Sometimes he is poor and famished (as when tempted in the wilderness). Sometimes he is loved by crowds who sing hosanna, sometimes hated by crowd who cry “crucify”. Sometimes he seems a fearsome judge, sometimes a merciful redeemer, sometimes as a great king, sometimes as a refugee, or criminal crucified on the cross.
So in our daily lives we meet many different kinds of people, rich and poor, intelligent and less gifted, foreign and local, rejoicing or suffering, well known or strangers. Jesus is present in them all. How do we respond to Jesus in all these different kinds of people? Do we love him and serve him? Do we deny that he is there, or try to avoid him? Perhaps we kid ourselves thinking, “Yes, but it will be much easier to love Jesus himself than to love all these different people.” Well I am not sure. The historical Jesus was a Jew by culture, more than a Christian. He was from the middle-east. He didn’t speak English. In short he was very, very different from us and could be quite a challenge for us to love. Welcoming people who are very different is always a challenge. Finding the right way to love them, help them, serve them, work for their good is also a challenge. However it is crucial practise for any meeting with Jesus. Jesus will be well aware of how we have treated him in other people.
So to prepare to meet Jesus let’s build our relationship with him. Let’s do this through prayer and through worship, but above all let’s do it by trying to find Jesus in the people we encounter through our daily lives, and trying to help and serve him. If we can do this well then we know that there will be great joy when we finally meet Jesus face to face. Amen.
14 November 2010
Remembrance and Commitment
Sermon preached on Sunday 14th November 2010 at the 10.30am Remembrance Day service at St Mary’s, Lapworth and at 3pm Evensong at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton.
Remembrance Sunday
Readings: Isaiah 32: 1-2 & 12-18 John 15: 9-17
Getting ready for Remembrance Sunday has caused me to have a good hard look at the services that we use, and the things which typically happen on Remembrance Sunday. And it seems to me that a Remembrance Sunday service usually hinges around two key Acts; an Act of Remembrance and an Act of Commitment. Certainly in our service today we have these two key Acts, and I would like to spend a moment now, seeking to understand them better; the Act of Remembrance and the Act of Commitment.
First of all, our Act of Remembrance. In our Act of Remembrance we are above all remembering people who have died in war; especially those people who have given their lives for the freedom and security of this nation. The older ones among us might remember specific people who died in the second world war. Many of us however cannot remember specific people, but we can certain allow ourselves to be reminded of the great sacrifices of war. We might think of the trenches of the First World War, of the mud, the barred wire, the shelling, the gas, the rats, the machine guns, the fear and the periodic moments of great slaughter. We might think of the injured and lame, those returning home with shell shock or physiological trauma. But above all we remember the people who died, and as a solemn reminder of the people from Lapworth who died, we read their names out during the Act of Remembrance.
And then what does this remembering do for us. What emotions might it generate in us? Well certainly there is sadness and a sense of loss. Certainly there is a recognition that a great price has been paid by a great many people. Hopefully we can identify with those people a little so that we feel some of their loss as our own loss. And perhaps we have some other more difficult emotion, guilt or anger, which we need to work our way through. But through our remembrance, we are seeking to arrive at a sense of deep and profound gratitude. A solemn sense of thanksgiving for the great price that has been paid for us, and the great benefits won for us; for the freedom and security that we enjoy in this country.
And hopefully this pattern of remembrance and thanksgiving will be familiar to us. It is the basic pattern of our church services, especially the Eucharist, is a remembrance of Jesus, a remembrance of his passion and death and a thanksgiving for all the great benefits that he has won for us.
Then we come to our Act of Commitment. This is about our personal response. As we remember the great sufferings that have been bourn for us and the great benefits that we have received from others how do we respond? The Act of Commitment that we make together today in church encourages us to respond by being generous to others, as we have received. It encourages us to work for the service of God and humanity, to work for the relief of the needy and the building of peace. And as we make that Act of Commitment today, I hope that we will think not only about the international scale where relief of the needy is conducted through Oxfam or Christian Aid and the quest for peace by the United Nations, but also we will think about our families and the people we know locally. How do we work for the relief of needs and for peace amongst the people who we know? Locally the needs are less likely to be about food and housing and more likely to be about companionship, belonging and sense of community. How do we work for peace locally? Well it is about always seeking to build relationships with other people that are ever deeper, stronger, more trusting and modelled on God’s love for us.
And again we have a familiar model in how to do this; Jesus, who commands us to love one another, as he has loved us. And by his life Jesus showed us what it meant to love others, to work for their good. Today we heard Jesus explain that the person with the greatest love is the one who is willing to pay down life for his friend. Jesus was willing to do this, and he did this because he knew that love has a value that endures, even through death.
So as we make our act of Remembrance, let’s solemnly remember those who have died and the great sacrifices made for us. Let’s seek to arrive at a profound attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving for what we have received. Then in our Act of Commitment, let’s renew our resolve to work for better relationships locally, and for the renewal of our nation and ultimately for renewal in the whole world. Amen.
Remembrance Sunday
Readings: Isaiah 32: 1-2 & 12-18 John 15: 9-17
Getting ready for Remembrance Sunday has caused me to have a good hard look at the services that we use, and the things which typically happen on Remembrance Sunday. And it seems to me that a Remembrance Sunday service usually hinges around two key Acts; an Act of Remembrance and an Act of Commitment. Certainly in our service today we have these two key Acts, and I would like to spend a moment now, seeking to understand them better; the Act of Remembrance and the Act of Commitment.
First of all, our Act of Remembrance. In our Act of Remembrance we are above all remembering people who have died in war; especially those people who have given their lives for the freedom and security of this nation. The older ones among us might remember specific people who died in the second world war. Many of us however cannot remember specific people, but we can certain allow ourselves to be reminded of the great sacrifices of war. We might think of the trenches of the First World War, of the mud, the barred wire, the shelling, the gas, the rats, the machine guns, the fear and the periodic moments of great slaughter. We might think of the injured and lame, those returning home with shell shock or physiological trauma. But above all we remember the people who died, and as a solemn reminder of the people from Lapworth who died, we read their names out during the Act of Remembrance.
And then what does this remembering do for us. What emotions might it generate in us? Well certainly there is sadness and a sense of loss. Certainly there is a recognition that a great price has been paid by a great many people. Hopefully we can identify with those people a little so that we feel some of their loss as our own loss. And perhaps we have some other more difficult emotion, guilt or anger, which we need to work our way through. But through our remembrance, we are seeking to arrive at a sense of deep and profound gratitude. A solemn sense of thanksgiving for the great price that has been paid for us, and the great benefits won for us; for the freedom and security that we enjoy in this country.
And hopefully this pattern of remembrance and thanksgiving will be familiar to us. It is the basic pattern of our church services, especially the Eucharist, is a remembrance of Jesus, a remembrance of his passion and death and a thanksgiving for all the great benefits that he has won for us.
Then we come to our Act of Commitment. This is about our personal response. As we remember the great sufferings that have been bourn for us and the great benefits that we have received from others how do we respond? The Act of Commitment that we make together today in church encourages us to respond by being generous to others, as we have received. It encourages us to work for the service of God and humanity, to work for the relief of the needy and the building of peace. And as we make that Act of Commitment today, I hope that we will think not only about the international scale where relief of the needy is conducted through Oxfam or Christian Aid and the quest for peace by the United Nations, but also we will think about our families and the people we know locally. How do we work for the relief of needs and for peace amongst the people who we know? Locally the needs are less likely to be about food and housing and more likely to be about companionship, belonging and sense of community. How do we work for peace locally? Well it is about always seeking to build relationships with other people that are ever deeper, stronger, more trusting and modelled on God’s love for us.
And again we have a familiar model in how to do this; Jesus, who commands us to love one another, as he has loved us. And by his life Jesus showed us what it meant to love others, to work for their good. Today we heard Jesus explain that the person with the greatest love is the one who is willing to pay down life for his friend. Jesus was willing to do this, and he did this because he knew that love has a value that endures, even through death.
So as we make our act of Remembrance, let’s solemnly remember those who have died and the great sacrifices made for us. Let’s seek to arrive at a profound attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving for what we have received. Then in our Act of Commitment, let’s renew our resolve to work for better relationships locally, and for the renewal of our nation and ultimately for renewal in the whole world. Amen.
18 July 2010
Jesus our Friend
Sermon preached at St Mary the Virgin, Lapworth at 11am Parish Eucharist
Sunday 18th July 2010 – Trinity 7, Proper 11
Other versions of this sermon were preached at St Mary’s 8.30am Eucharist and at the 9.45am Eucharist at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton.
Readings: Col 1: 15-28 Luke 10: 38-42
In our gospel reading today we hear about Jesus staying with his friends Martha and Mary. Martha and Mary, together with their brother Lazarus get mentioned several times in the gospels. They lived at Bethany, which is just outside Jerusalem. It seems that they were very particular friends to Jesus and Jesus visited them a lot. Especially Jesus was there during the week leading up to his passion. That week Jesus would spend the daytime in the temple preaching to the crowds. Nobody could try to arrest him while there were crowds of people were listening to him. But at night Jesus would retreat to the safety of Bethany, well away from the chief priests and religious authorities.
And when we look at our gospel story, we do get the impression that Martha and Mary were very comfortable around Jesus. We are told that Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. Sitting at the teacher’s feet and listening; this is the typical behaviour of a “disciple” in the first century. It is not how a woman would normally behave, or how a host would normally behave. It seems that Mary was very comfortable around Jesus and felt able to behave very freely. Martha, whose behaviour was much more conventional, also felt comfortable enough around Jesus to raise a rather awkward point with him: “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself.” And Jesus’ response is full of love for both Martha and Mary. He acknowledges that Martha is worried and distracted by many things, when only one thing is needed. But he also commends Mary for choosing the better part and affirms that she should be allowed to keep it.
Let’s think about our friends for a moment. Who are our friends? What is it about those particular people that make them our friends? Well I think different people might have different answers, but I think friends are people who you are really comfortable spending time with. Probably they are people who you already know very well, and you don’t have to take a lot of trouble getting to know them. Probably they are people who you can say things to, without fearing that they might judge you, or misunderstand you, or get upset or angry.
And of course we are all invited to have Jesus as a friend. Jesus, the friend of tax collectors and sinners can be our friend too. Jesus is someone who walks alongside us through thick and thin, someone to show us the way, someone with whom we share the joys and sorrows of this earthly life, someone in whom we can confide our deepest hopes and our fears. Jesus is the ultimate friend, ever present, ever faithful, ever true. Jesus our friend shares with us encouragement, understanding and joy. He is with us always, until the end of the age (Matt 28: 20)
But what do we need to do, to develop our friendship with Jesus? Well, in John 15 Jesus speaks about the new commandment which he gives his followers, to love one another, and then he says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15: 14). So loving one another is certainly important if we want to be a friend of Jesus. Similarly in Matt 25 Jesus says, “What ever you do to the least, you do to me.” So being good to other people is the key to being good to Jesus. But it seems to me that prayer is also terribly important here. Just as we must talk to our friends, if they are really to be friends, so we must prayer to Jesus if we want to know his friendship and rejoice in it. And through these prayers we can stay in the company of Jesus all day. We might pray, “Lord, help me through this situation, which is a bit awkward,” or “Lord, give me grace to deal with this person, who can be so difficult,” or “Lord, help me to do this task well, for you, even though it’s so boring.”
Sharing our day with Jesus can certain help us to become more aware of our friendship with Jesus, but it seems to me that there is one thing, above all others, that really makes friendships grow, and that is sufferings shared. The people with whom we have shared difficult situations, people who have supported us in our troubles, or who we have supported. These tend to be our best friends. Remember the friends you were thinking of earlier. My guess is that, with many of them, there will have been some suffering shared, or a falling out and later reconciliation. Experiences like these give confidence that your relationship can withstand future difficulties. Often, it is the sharing of sufferings that really draws people together.
And the same is true in our experience with Jesus. From Colossians today we heard St Paul say that he rejoices in his sufferings because he sees them as his contribution, added to Christ’s great contribution, for the sake of the church. Sharing sufferings with Jesus really draws us close to Jesus. And of course the passion and death of Jesus brought about reconciliation and renewal and new resurrection life. So too, when we share our sufferings with the sufferings of Jesus they too can start to have these effects, for us and for the people around us.
And we have a particular opportunity to do this today in the Eucharist. Jesus said of the Eucharist, “Do this in remembrance of me” (e.g. 1 Cor 11: 24-25) and that act of remembrance makes present in our consciousness today the passion and death of Jesus which happened 2000 years ago. So as we come to receive communion today, let’s bring to Jesus our sufferings, small all large, caused by us or by others, and let’s share our sufferings with the suffering of Jesus in the passion. This will draw us closer to Jesus and draw our sufferings closer to his love which heals and reconciles and renews.
And so may we always be good friends with Jesus, the ultimate friend. Amen.
Sunday 18th July 2010 – Trinity 7, Proper 11
Other versions of this sermon were preached at St Mary’s 8.30am Eucharist and at the 9.45am Eucharist at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton.
Readings: Col 1: 15-28 Luke 10: 38-42
In our gospel reading today we hear about Jesus staying with his friends Martha and Mary. Martha and Mary, together with their brother Lazarus get mentioned several times in the gospels. They lived at Bethany, which is just outside Jerusalem. It seems that they were very particular friends to Jesus and Jesus visited them a lot. Especially Jesus was there during the week leading up to his passion. That week Jesus would spend the daytime in the temple preaching to the crowds. Nobody could try to arrest him while there were crowds of people were listening to him. But at night Jesus would retreat to the safety of Bethany, well away from the chief priests and religious authorities.
And when we look at our gospel story, we do get the impression that Martha and Mary were very comfortable around Jesus. We are told that Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. Sitting at the teacher’s feet and listening; this is the typical behaviour of a “disciple” in the first century. It is not how a woman would normally behave, or how a host would normally behave. It seems that Mary was very comfortable around Jesus and felt able to behave very freely. Martha, whose behaviour was much more conventional, also felt comfortable enough around Jesus to raise a rather awkward point with him: “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself.” And Jesus’ response is full of love for both Martha and Mary. He acknowledges that Martha is worried and distracted by many things, when only one thing is needed. But he also commends Mary for choosing the better part and affirms that she should be allowed to keep it.
Let’s think about our friends for a moment. Who are our friends? What is it about those particular people that make them our friends? Well I think different people might have different answers, but I think friends are people who you are really comfortable spending time with. Probably they are people who you already know very well, and you don’t have to take a lot of trouble getting to know them. Probably they are people who you can say things to, without fearing that they might judge you, or misunderstand you, or get upset or angry.
And of course we are all invited to have Jesus as a friend. Jesus, the friend of tax collectors and sinners can be our friend too. Jesus is someone who walks alongside us through thick and thin, someone to show us the way, someone with whom we share the joys and sorrows of this earthly life, someone in whom we can confide our deepest hopes and our fears. Jesus is the ultimate friend, ever present, ever faithful, ever true. Jesus our friend shares with us encouragement, understanding and joy. He is with us always, until the end of the age (Matt 28: 20)
But what do we need to do, to develop our friendship with Jesus? Well, in John 15 Jesus speaks about the new commandment which he gives his followers, to love one another, and then he says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15: 14). So loving one another is certainly important if we want to be a friend of Jesus. Similarly in Matt 25 Jesus says, “What ever you do to the least, you do to me.” So being good to other people is the key to being good to Jesus. But it seems to me that prayer is also terribly important here. Just as we must talk to our friends, if they are really to be friends, so we must prayer to Jesus if we want to know his friendship and rejoice in it. And through these prayers we can stay in the company of Jesus all day. We might pray, “Lord, help me through this situation, which is a bit awkward,” or “Lord, give me grace to deal with this person, who can be so difficult,” or “Lord, help me to do this task well, for you, even though it’s so boring.”
Sharing our day with Jesus can certain help us to become more aware of our friendship with Jesus, but it seems to me that there is one thing, above all others, that really makes friendships grow, and that is sufferings shared. The people with whom we have shared difficult situations, people who have supported us in our troubles, or who we have supported. These tend to be our best friends. Remember the friends you were thinking of earlier. My guess is that, with many of them, there will have been some suffering shared, or a falling out and later reconciliation. Experiences like these give confidence that your relationship can withstand future difficulties. Often, it is the sharing of sufferings that really draws people together.
And the same is true in our experience with Jesus. From Colossians today we heard St Paul say that he rejoices in his sufferings because he sees them as his contribution, added to Christ’s great contribution, for the sake of the church. Sharing sufferings with Jesus really draws us close to Jesus. And of course the passion and death of Jesus brought about reconciliation and renewal and new resurrection life. So too, when we share our sufferings with the sufferings of Jesus they too can start to have these effects, for us and for the people around us.
And we have a particular opportunity to do this today in the Eucharist. Jesus said of the Eucharist, “Do this in remembrance of me” (e.g. 1 Cor 11: 24-25) and that act of remembrance makes present in our consciousness today the passion and death of Jesus which happened 2000 years ago. So as we come to receive communion today, let’s bring to Jesus our sufferings, small all large, caused by us or by others, and let’s share our sufferings with the suffering of Jesus in the passion. This will draw us closer to Jesus and draw our sufferings closer to his love which heals and reconciles and renews.
And so may we always be good friends with Jesus, the ultimate friend. Amen.
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.
20 April 2008
Jesus, the way to the Father
Thought for parish pewslip - Sunday 20th April 2008 - Easter 4 - Year A
Readings: Acts 7:55-60 1 Peter 2:2-10 John 14:1-14
[Our next Fan the Flame event is “Resurrection and Healing” on Thursday (24th April) in St Alphege at 1.30pm, repeated at 8pm. Do come and join with us as we reflect on the new life that comes from Christ, and how it can renew and rejuvenate us as individuals and as a parish.]
Our scripture readings today emphasise that it is through Jesus that we have access to God. In Acts, we hear how Stephen sees the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. As he dies he commends his spirit to Jesus. In 1 Peter we are told to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In our gospel reading Jesus presents himself as the way the truth and the life, whereby we can attain a place in the Father’s house.
Readings: Acts 7:55-60 1 Peter 2:2-10 John 14:1-14
[Our next Fan the Flame event is “Resurrection and Healing” on Thursday (24th April) in St Alphege at 1.30pm, repeated at 8pm. Do come and join with us as we reflect on the new life that comes from Christ, and how it can renew and rejuvenate us as individuals and as a parish.]
Our scripture readings today emphasise that it is through Jesus that we have access to God. In Acts, we hear how Stephen sees the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. As he dies he commends his spirit to Jesus. In 1 Peter we are told to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In our gospel reading Jesus presents himself as the way the truth and the life, whereby we can attain a place in the Father’s house.
01 January 2008
The journey of faith
Magazine article for Solihull Parish News
January 2008 Edition, written for the "Faith Matters" section.
It is often helpful to think of our Christian life as a journey. It is a journey that starts on earth and takes us to heaven. For this reason we might call it a Journey of Faith or a Holy Journey.
Our journey towards heaven, towards God, is a journey that we make step by step in each present moment of our lives. Each present moment of our lives is an opportunity to draw closer to God, by seeking to do well what God asks from us in that moment. Perhaps in this present moment God asks us to drop a child of at school? If so then let’s drive well to school as an act of love for God and for the child. Perhaps in this moment God asks us to pray? If so then let’s find a quiet place and pray well, so that our relationship with God can be strengthened.
Each present moment that we live well is a small step on our journey towards God. As we practice we get better at living each present moment well, and over time the effect of all these small steps really adds up. Did you know that walking 10 miles a day for seven years is equivalent to walking round the full circumference of the earth?
It is helpful to think of our lives in this way because we start to see everything that happens to us, the good things and the bad, the happy and the sad, as part of our journey towards God. And this gives meaning to everything; everything starts to have value. Even our sufferings become an opportunity to grow in love for Christ who suffered and died for us on the cross.
Despite this we all know that it can be very hard to make a good journey of faith. Often hours or even days might go by without us even thinking about God. It is all too easy to lose lots of time pursuing our own agenda and not being properly attentive to what God wants from us.
The bible is a key resource for our journey. The bible tells us about Jesus, who is the “way” for our journey (John 14:6) and the example we should follow (John 13:15, 1 Cor 11.1, 1 Peter 2:21). He also our teacher (Matt 23:10) and our friend for the journey who is always with us (Matt 28:20).
Our worship in church also helps us on our journey. When we receive Holy Communion we receive Jesus, present in the bread and wine, inside us. Through Holy Communion Jesus shares his life with us, nourishing us, strengthening us and renewing our orientation for our journey.
As we travel on our journey of faith we go through many different phases. There are periods of excitement and discovery, periods where we have to work on our discipline and consistency, periods of great grace when God seems very present, and periods of desolation where God seems absent and we have to really search for him.
It is very helpful to talk about our faith journey we others. This is one of the huge advantages of house groups or courses like Just Explore or 3D. Simple discussion about what is easy or hard in our faith can really clarify things for us. Also, as we journey on, we become more aware of how our own journey of faith is related to the journeys of the people around us. Helping others and being helped by others becomes an important part of the journey.
Footnote about St Alphege Bookstall and New City books
I am delighted that the St Alphege bookstall has a new arrangement with New City publishers that allows it to stock a wider range of books. Most of the New City books that have been selected for the St Alphege bookstall are books designed to help people on their journey of faith.
Some of these books are collections of meditations or short reflections on different spiritual topics. These are intended to be used for five or ten minutes for quiet reflection each day, ideally in the morning. We read the meditation slowly perhaps two or three times and then we pause to reflect on it for a few minutes, so that it can start to enter into us, body, mind and spirit.
There are also books about particular saints. These too can be read in short chunks and reflected upon. New City books usually present saints to us in ways that help us to see their relevance for our lives today.
When we first start to read about the saints or look at books of meditations it can feel like we are entering a different world. The attitudes and assumptions of the writers and the way that they use language can feel very foreign to us. It is like we are rich Western tourists with cameras looking round a market town in rural India; lots of things seem to be happening, but it seems very confused and it is certainly a very different world from our own. And yet the attitude of the saints is the attitude of heaven. It may feel a very different world, but it is a world we most definitely aspire to become part of. Spending time reading about these things and pondering them can help us on our journey into that most holy and wonderful place.
I commend the books to you – Fr Gerard.
January 2008 Edition, written for the "Faith Matters" section.
It is often helpful to think of our Christian life as a journey. It is a journey that starts on earth and takes us to heaven. For this reason we might call it a Journey of Faith or a Holy Journey.
Our journey towards heaven, towards God, is a journey that we make step by step in each present moment of our lives. Each present moment of our lives is an opportunity to draw closer to God, by seeking to do well what God asks from us in that moment. Perhaps in this present moment God asks us to drop a child of at school? If so then let’s drive well to school as an act of love for God and for the child. Perhaps in this moment God asks us to pray? If so then let’s find a quiet place and pray well, so that our relationship with God can be strengthened.
Each present moment that we live well is a small step on our journey towards God. As we practice we get better at living each present moment well, and over time the effect of all these small steps really adds up. Did you know that walking 10 miles a day for seven years is equivalent to walking round the full circumference of the earth?
It is helpful to think of our lives in this way because we start to see everything that happens to us, the good things and the bad, the happy and the sad, as part of our journey towards God. And this gives meaning to everything; everything starts to have value. Even our sufferings become an opportunity to grow in love for Christ who suffered and died for us on the cross.
Despite this we all know that it can be very hard to make a good journey of faith. Often hours or even days might go by without us even thinking about God. It is all too easy to lose lots of time pursuing our own agenda and not being properly attentive to what God wants from us.
The bible is a key resource for our journey. The bible tells us about Jesus, who is the “way” for our journey (John 14:6) and the example we should follow (John 13:15, 1 Cor 11.1, 1 Peter 2:21). He also our teacher (Matt 23:10) and our friend for the journey who is always with us (Matt 28:20).
Our worship in church also helps us on our journey. When we receive Holy Communion we receive Jesus, present in the bread and wine, inside us. Through Holy Communion Jesus shares his life with us, nourishing us, strengthening us and renewing our orientation for our journey.
As we travel on our journey of faith we go through many different phases. There are periods of excitement and discovery, periods where we have to work on our discipline and consistency, periods of great grace when God seems very present, and periods of desolation where God seems absent and we have to really search for him.
It is very helpful to talk about our faith journey we others. This is one of the huge advantages of house groups or courses like Just Explore or 3D. Simple discussion about what is easy or hard in our faith can really clarify things for us. Also, as we journey on, we become more aware of how our own journey of faith is related to the journeys of the people around us. Helping others and being helped by others becomes an important part of the journey.
Footnote about St Alphege Bookstall and New City books
I am delighted that the St Alphege bookstall has a new arrangement with New City publishers that allows it to stock a wider range of books. Most of the New City books that have been selected for the St Alphege bookstall are books designed to help people on their journey of faith.
Some of these books are collections of meditations or short reflections on different spiritual topics. These are intended to be used for five or ten minutes for quiet reflection each day, ideally in the morning. We read the meditation slowly perhaps two or three times and then we pause to reflect on it for a few minutes, so that it can start to enter into us, body, mind and spirit.
There are also books about particular saints. These too can be read in short chunks and reflected upon. New City books usually present saints to us in ways that help us to see their relevance for our lives today.
When we first start to read about the saints or look at books of meditations it can feel like we are entering a different world. The attitudes and assumptions of the writers and the way that they use language can feel very foreign to us. It is like we are rich Western tourists with cameras looking round a market town in rural India; lots of things seem to be happening, but it seems very confused and it is certainly a very different world from our own. And yet the attitude of the saints is the attitude of heaven. It may feel a very different world, but it is a world we most definitely aspire to become part of. Spending time reading about these things and pondering them can help us on our journey into that most holy and wonderful place.
I commend the books to you – Fr Gerard.
25 December 2007
Being like Mary, so that Jesus can grow
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull at 9.15am Eucharist on Christmas Day 2007
25/12/07 - Year A
Informal sermon at all-age worship, with drawing activity for children.
Readings: Titus 3:4-7 Luke 2:8-20
I would like to invite all the children to come to the front.
Now, I wonder if anyone has a Christmas present that they would like to show everybody? [We look at presents]
Tell me, what is the most exciting thing when you receive a present?
[Unwrapping it]
Well there is a big box here that needs unwrapping! Now I don’t want you to get two excited, this is not really a Christmas present. What does it say on the label?
[Activity for Christmas morning]
So its not really a present, it is an activity for this morning. So who is going to take the lid of? What can you see?
[Drawing materials]
So this is our activity for the younger ones this morning. It might be more interesting than listening to the sermon! I would like to invite each of you to draw a picture of Jesus as a child. And draw him at the age that you are now. So if you are four years old now, draw a picture of Jesus aged four, and if you’re six years old now draw Jesus, when he was six. And if you’re a baby, get your parent to help you to draw a picture of Jesus as a baby.
So does everybody know what they are doing? Right well while you are carrying on with that drawing the rest of us can carry on thinking about Christmas.
Christmas is such a wonderful event, because God came into the world as a human being. God shared our human life with us, and he transformed our human lives, bringing light and hope and peace for the whole world.
So let’s pause for a moment and think about how this wonderful event came about. What made it happen? Well it was God who made it happen. People didn’t really have to do anything. The shepherds were jus sat on the hill as usual, and suddenly they were told that God had already done this great thing. People didn’t do it; God did it.
But there was at least one person who had to do something, and that was Mary. What did Mary have to do?
Well she had to agree to co-operate with God’s will. When the angel Gabriel told her that she was to have a baby, she said, “Be it unto me according to thy word”.
She also had to trust God. It was a risky business betting pregnant without being married. She had to trust in God’s plan for her; trust that God would take care of her.
She accepted Jesus inside her; loved him and helped him to grow. Then after he was born she fed him and nurtured him continued to help him to grow. And because of this wonderful things happened. Jesus grew up among us and lived his life for us, and died for us and reconciled us to God.
So how are the drawings doing? We have got about another minute, so you need to be finishing off now.
Now I want to suggest is that we too, are called to be a bit like Mary. We are called to accept Jesus inside us and help him to grow. Not so much physically, but spiritually, so that we can grow to become like Christ. St Paul prays that we might all grow up into him who is the head, into Christ, into the full stature of Christ. (c.f. Eph 4:13-15).
Now it is God who makes Christ grow in us. It is not something that we can do ourselves. But if we behave like Mary then we allow God to do this work, without getting in the way.
So like Mary we are called to follow God’s will for us; to say with Mary “Be it unto me according to thy word.”
Like Mary we have to trust God. Sometimes God’s ways seem very strange, frightening even but it is important for us to trust God to bring about his work in us.
Like Mary we need to welcome Jesus, feed him and help him to grow. We can welcome Jesus by loving him in the people around us; we know Jesus is present in each person. We can nurture Jesus within us by listening to his word and by receiving his sacraments. This is how we make Jesus grow spiritually in us.
Now let’s have a look at these pictures of Jesus. Can we line them up so that we have the youngest Jesus at this end and the oldest one at that end. So then as we look along the line we see Jesus growing. So here at this end Jesus is just a baby. Let’s hold the pictures up high. How old is Jesus here? So slowly we can see Jesus growing to maturity. And at this end he is really very mature and the pictures are getting very good! So here before us is the pattern for our lives; Jesus growing. Let’s live our lives like Mary so that God will make Jesus grow within us. Amen.
25/12/07 - Year A
Informal sermon at all-age worship, with drawing activity for children.
Readings: Titus 3:4-7 Luke 2:8-20
I would like to invite all the children to come to the front.
Now, I wonder if anyone has a Christmas present that they would like to show everybody? [We look at presents]
Tell me, what is the most exciting thing when you receive a present?
[Unwrapping it]
Well there is a big box here that needs unwrapping! Now I don’t want you to get two excited, this is not really a Christmas present. What does it say on the label?
[Activity for Christmas morning]
So its not really a present, it is an activity for this morning. So who is going to take the lid of? What can you see?
[Drawing materials]
So this is our activity for the younger ones this morning. It might be more interesting than listening to the sermon! I would like to invite each of you to draw a picture of Jesus as a child. And draw him at the age that you are now. So if you are four years old now, draw a picture of Jesus aged four, and if you’re six years old now draw Jesus, when he was six. And if you’re a baby, get your parent to help you to draw a picture of Jesus as a baby.
So does everybody know what they are doing? Right well while you are carrying on with that drawing the rest of us can carry on thinking about Christmas.
Christmas is such a wonderful event, because God came into the world as a human being. God shared our human life with us, and he transformed our human lives, bringing light and hope and peace for the whole world.
So let’s pause for a moment and think about how this wonderful event came about. What made it happen? Well it was God who made it happen. People didn’t really have to do anything. The shepherds were jus sat on the hill as usual, and suddenly they were told that God had already done this great thing. People didn’t do it; God did it.
But there was at least one person who had to do something, and that was Mary. What did Mary have to do?
Well she had to agree to co-operate with God’s will. When the angel Gabriel told her that she was to have a baby, she said, “Be it unto me according to thy word”.
She also had to trust God. It was a risky business betting pregnant without being married. She had to trust in God’s plan for her; trust that God would take care of her.
She accepted Jesus inside her; loved him and helped him to grow. Then after he was born she fed him and nurtured him continued to help him to grow. And because of this wonderful things happened. Jesus grew up among us and lived his life for us, and died for us and reconciled us to God.
So how are the drawings doing? We have got about another minute, so you need to be finishing off now.
Now I want to suggest is that we too, are called to be a bit like Mary. We are called to accept Jesus inside us and help him to grow. Not so much physically, but spiritually, so that we can grow to become like Christ. St Paul prays that we might all grow up into him who is the head, into Christ, into the full stature of Christ. (c.f. Eph 4:13-15).
Now it is God who makes Christ grow in us. It is not something that we can do ourselves. But if we behave like Mary then we allow God to do this work, without getting in the way.
So like Mary we are called to follow God’s will for us; to say with Mary “Be it unto me according to thy word.”
Like Mary we have to trust God. Sometimes God’s ways seem very strange, frightening even but it is important for us to trust God to bring about his work in us.
Like Mary we need to welcome Jesus, feed him and help him to grow. We can welcome Jesus by loving him in the people around us; we know Jesus is present in each person. We can nurture Jesus within us by listening to his word and by receiving his sacraments. This is how we make Jesus grow spiritually in us.
Now let’s have a look at these pictures of Jesus. Can we line them up so that we have the youngest Jesus at this end and the oldest one at that end. So then as we look along the line we see Jesus growing. So here at this end Jesus is just a baby. Let’s hold the pictures up high. How old is Jesus here? So slowly we can see Jesus growing to maturity. And at this end he is really very mature and the pictures are getting very good! So here before us is the pattern for our lives; Jesus growing. Let’s live our lives like Mary so that God will make Jesus grow within us. Amen.
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