Repentance - the findamental choices

Sermon preached at 11am Coral Mattins at St Mary’s Lapworth on Sunday 12th September 2010. Other versions of this sermon were preach at the 8.30am Said Eucharist and at 3pm Evensong at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton.

Readings: Ps 51: 1-10 Exodus 32: 7-14 Luke 15: 1-10


When I was in South Africa in 2006 I came across a Christian Pastor who had a particular reputation. He had been a “real lad” with a history of intimidation and violence and with links to prostitution and gambling. Then it seems that he had an extraordinary conversion experience, a moment of total repentance and turning to God. Overnight he gave up his old way of life and started living a new and more Christian lifestyle. He set up a non-denominational church and started preaching and teaching very effectively to people who were far from God. His congregation grew and his church and ministry were respected by the local Anglicans, who I was visiting.
Now probably none of us have had such a dramatic experience of repentance and conversion as that South African pastor. His is rather an extreme case of the big turn around which is required when we turn to Christ. This sort of turn around happens when people start to face up to the really big questions in life. Are we for God or against him? Are we doing our best to face God, work with him and trust him with our lives, or are we seeking to run away from him, to hide from him and ignore him? It is a bit like a tree. Is it turning its leaves towards the sun, absorbing its energy, growing and thriving, or is it hiding itself from the sun, withering and dying? Repentance here is about our fundamental choices. Are we for God or against him? Are we choosing for ourselves eternal life, or eternal death; heaven or hell?
This is the repentance that Jesus talks of in the two parables that we heard in our New Testament reading. And such repentance leads to great rejoicing in heaven because something that has been lost, is found and restored to its proper destiny.
Now I am confident that most, if not all, of us who are in church this morning have made this fundamental choice and are basically seeking to orient ourselves towards God and to fulfil his plan for us. People who are in rebellion against God usually don’t come to church, they try to avoid the things of God. Sadly our present society makes it very easy to do just that; there are very few earthly reasons or social pressures that make us come to church if we don’t want to.
But just because we in church and are basically orientated towards God, does not mean that the business of repentance and conversion is over for us. We are all of us troubled by sin, our own sin and the sin of the people around us. There is a continuous process of renewing our repentance, being forgiven of our sin and entrusting ourselves to the mercy of God. This is a lifetime’s work as Christ grows within us and as the things that Christ does not want for us fall away.
But the stories of restoration that we heard about in our scripture readings were not so much about this on-going process of repentance and renewal. Rather they were about the fundamental first choices. Are we for God or against him? And it is this more fundamental repentance that I would like to focus on today.
Sooner or later everybody has to face up to this fundamental choice. Jesus says, “He who is not with me is against me” (Matt 12: 30) and “whoever is not against you is for you” (Luke 9: 50). The thing that really forces this choice is the presence of God. The presence of God cannot be ignored, you have to go with it or run from it. Now we live is strange times, where God seems surprisingly absent from the day to day experiences of many people. Many people seem to find it easy to ignore or postpone this great fundamental choice. However I am quite sure that this is only a temporary phase in history and sooner or later we all have to face this choice. At very least, when we die we have to decide if we walking towards heaven or hell.
Now what should our attitude be towards people who appear to be in rebellion against God? I am sure that we all know people among our families and friends who appear to be in conflict with God, or working against God. Do we sit back and say, “Well that’s their choice, it’s up to them?” or do we try to bring them round to God? Well I think it is very subtle; in certain ways I think it is a bit of both.
There is a very profound sense in which this really is the choice of other people, not our choice. We have to have a deep respect for the freedom that God has granted to other people. We cannot, in all love, try to manipulate or coerce people towards God; rather we must encourage them and allow them to choose. And this can be painful, truly accepting their freedom, even when they appear to be make choices that are so destructive. It can be truly costly. But that pain is real and has to be acknowledged.
But then also there is a very deep sense in which we cannot just sit back. Moses did not sit back and say to God, “OK, gone on destroy the people of Isreal and start again.” Rather he pleaded for them to God. The shepherd did not sit back and say, “If the lost sheep wants to be found, it will come back to me.” No, he went out and searched high and low until he had found it. Likewise the woman did not think of the lost coin, “Oh, it will turn up!” rather she lit the lamp and swept the house until she found it. In fact what is very striking about all these three stories about the restoration into fellowship with God, is that in all three cases the people restored to God seem to have a very passive role. The activity is all done by others.
So there is no doubt that we are called to actively work for the good of those who appear to be in rebellion against God. I am aware of three ways in particular of doing this.
Firstly, very importantly we must pray for them. The story about Moses shows how important this is. In some ways it feels like the only real contribution we can make.
Secondly we must continue in loving them. This does not mean saying they are right when they are wrong, or good when they are bad. However it does mean keeping the avenues of communication open. It means respecting them fully as children created by God. It means wanting their good, and having an attitude of service to bring that good about.
Thirdly we can living our own lives, in full harmony with God an example to show what is possible and how these things work. If people can look at our lives and see how obedience to God brings good outcomes, fulfilment and happiness, then we give witness to the advantages of God.
So, with regard to people who seem far from God, I would like to commend these three approaches to you; pray for them, love them and live good lives which can be an example to them. In this way we do all our part to bring them back to God. Amen.

Good living and earthly outcomes

Sermon preached at 6.30pm Choral Evensong at St Alphege Church.
Sunday 12th July 2009, Trinity 5

Readings: Deuteronomy 30: 9-14 Luke 10: 25-37

In 1993 my wife, Elaine, and I went, with our son Thomas who was then a baby, to visit my brother who was doing Voluntary Service Overseas in Zimbabwe. He was teaching “A” level maths and physics at a school in the village of Sanyati near the town of Kadoma, about 150 miles west of Harare. The school had been founded by Baptist missionaries and was strong on Christian values. By our standards the school was very old fashioned and traditional. Facilities were simple. Resources were limited. Class sizes were large. Discipline could be harsh. The headmaster, Mr Gundu was a big character who was good at promoting the school to anyone who would listen.
Despite the lack of resources, it was clear that the school was extremely successful and extremely important to Sanyati and to the area around it. Through the school children became both literate and numerate. Their ability to take care of themselves and to work constructively with others was immeasurably increased. Because of the school, Sanyati was developing an ability to prosper in a way which was quite unimaginable a generation earlier. The value of this was widely recognised. Parents would go to extreme lengths to afford the school fees. Children would often walk several miles to get to school and back each day.
The thing that struck me about Sanyati was that good behaviour and Christian morality really did seem to help people to get on in life. Children from good families or people who behaved well got good reputations. They were trusted more readily and offered better opportunities by the school and by wider society. They had a better chance of securing a job. Life seemed like to work like a game of snakes and ladders. Virtues really did lead to ladders that helped people to get on in life. Vices really did lead to snake like disasters and setbacks. Raising a child with good Christian values really did seem to help the child and to help the whole of society.
This seemed to contrast very dramatically with my own experience of being brought up in England where, at first sight, Christian values appeared to bring with them very few advantages, and many disadvantages. From this it is almost possible to construct a world view whereby Christianity is a good thing in Africa, but a bad thing in England. Matthew Parris, the Times columnist appears to subscribe to this view. Certainly he has many criticisms of the church, but in the Times on 27th December he wrote this:
Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.
In our Old Testament reading today we heard a strong affirmation from God that being good would lead to good outcomes. It is a long passage and we only read a small part of it today, but God is talking to the Israelites after fourty years of wondering in the wilderness. They are about to cross over the River Jordan and take poscession of the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. God chooses this moment to set before them a very clear choice. He say to them, “If you obey me, and keep all your commandments then you shall greatly prosper. Everything will go well for you. On the other hand, if your hearts turn away from me and you worship other gods then you will perish, and you will not hold pocession of the land.” It all seems very simple and good and like Zimbabwe in 1993; do good and things will go well for you, behave badly and things will go wrong for you.
This contrast between the fortunes of the wicked and the good is a theme of the psalms. Psalm 37 is extemely confident that good will happen to those who do good, and evil to those who do evil. It starts, “Fret not because of evildoers; be not jealous of those who do wrong. For they shall soon wither away like grass and like the green herb fade away.” Later it assures us that the wicked will disappear, “But the lowly shall pocess the land and shall delight in abundance of peace” (v11). This confidence of psalm 37 is typical of the psalms which are often discuss good outcomes for people who walk with God, and talk of the wicked fading away.
But this is not the whole story. Psalm 44 has a different tone. It reflects on the great miltary triumphs of the Isreal of old, and does not hesitate to attribute the victories to God. It them bewails the rccent miltary defeats suffered by Israel, and it attributes these to God. Then in verse 18 there is a mounful reflection on the defeats, “All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you and have not played false to your covenant. Our hearts have not turned back nor our step gone out of your way. Yet you have crushed us in the haunt of jackels, and covered us with the shadow of death.”
It seems that, generally speaking, beaving well before God leads to good earthly outcomes. But is is not aways like this. There are times when good behaviour seems to carry no earthly advantages, and perhaps even disadvantages. We only have to look at the life of Jesus. His exemplary behaviour led him to his passion and death. And this observation could be very depressing; it could make us think there there is no point is seeking to do good because evil is just as well rewarded. But of course such thinking is false because it ignores the power of the resuurection. Jesus’ goodness was tested to the extreme and appeared to die, but ultimately Jesus could not simply die. He is the resurrection and the life. He had to rise again. In fact it was sin and death that were defeated.
Its my belief that the church in the North West Europe is currently living through one of these freightening but extordinarily valuable periods where good behaviours do not seem to lead to good outcomes. It seems that when the church behaves well it does not benefit and the Church suffers the temptation to behave badly to succure better worldly outcomes. Just as the Christ died on the cross, so we might perceive that the Church, the body of Christ is dying in our present western world. Certainly if you were to look at evensong attendance you might think this! But just as Christ could not die, without being raised to new life, so the body of Christ, the Church, cannot die without being raised. Like Christ dying on the cross we need to be faithful to God; we need to continue to love and to forgive. Like Christ we can ask God “Why have you forsaken us?” But like Christ we must continue to trust God and to commend our spirit into his hands. Trusting God is essential. We need to believe in the resurrection. In time, we will see that there will be new life. There will be restoration. Evil will be defeated and Love will triumph. Amen.

Pentecost and the Global Day of Prayer

Sermon preached at 9.15 and 11am Eucharists at St Alphege, Solihull on the feast of Pentecost, 31/05/09.
Pentecost – Year B.

Readings: Act 2: 1-21 Roman 8: 22-27 John 15: 26-27a & 16: 4b-15


In April 2006 I visited South Africa. I was present for Freedom Day, when South Africa marks the anniversary of the first multi-racial elections held after the apartheid era. These were the elections of 27th April 1994, which led to the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the country’s first black president. It was a watershed moment, almost like the birth of a new nation.
When I visited twelve years had gone by. Great progress had been made, but the scars of Apartheid were still clearly visible in society. I was interested to see that, generally speaking, the churches carried on serving the same communities that they served before the ending of apartheid. This meant that most churches continued to be either overwhelmingly white or overwhelmingly black. I was staying in the town of Walmer in Port Elizabeth, where there are two Anglican churches. The one in the posh suburbs was almost entirely white. The other was in the township and that was almost entirely black. Some efforts had been made to diversify the two congregations. In particular two black priests had been appointed to serve in the white church. This was a very important symbol of the churches desire to move beyond apartheid, but the truth was that it was very difficult to do so. The black and white community were separated by differences in language, education, wealth, history, tradition and location. For very natural and practical reasons it was very difficult to worship with the other community, and very few people did.
The differences I have just described were all within the Anglican Diocese, but the other thing that was noticeable about the Church in South Africa was that it has so many different church denominations. Within the white community it seemed that every different country of origin, be it British, Dutch, German or whatever, has its own church, related to its own denomination and with its own followers from that particular background. Within the black community it seemed that disputes and power struggles would frequently lead to the formation of new Church denominations. There were loads of them, many of them very small. As someone who is very interested in Church unity I found all these different denominations and different community affiliations very challenging.
But then I was amazed by a meeting I attended, organised by a group called Transforming Africa. This group called together Christians from all backgrounds to pray for Africa, and to pray for the world. At this particular meeting they were planning their local participation in a “Global Day of Prayer” at Pentecost. This Global Day of Prayer had grown rapidly from a vision received in Cape Town in the year 2000. It included a message of repentance and prayer, in preparation for a new and transforming presence of God in society. And what amazed me was that people from all the different Church denominations, and all the different communities came along and prayed together. Sometimes the prayer was in English, translated to Xhosa. Sometimes the prayer was in Xhosa translated to English. Sometimes the singing was African harmonies, sometimes it was western style hymns. Despite this all joined in, as best they could, and all were hospitable to the others. But the really striking thing about the meeting was the presence of the Holy Spirit. The vicar I was with said, “I always know the Holy Spirit is there because I can’t stop weeping.” Certainly, he was weeping. I wasn’t weeping, but I was completely chocked up. I could hardly speak. It was an overwhelming experience of fullness and richness and unity. I found myself transformed, and wanting to live this richer, fuller life.
In our first reading today we heard about the extraordinary day of Pentecost, which we often think of as the birthday of the church. For me, that meeting I attended in Africa was a little bit similar to the Day of Pentecost. It was similar, first of all, because of the great pouring out of the Holy Spirit, which all present must have felt and all must have been moved by. It was similar because it was a calling together of people from all different backgrounds. In Jerusalem that was Parthians, Medes and Elamites. In South Africa it was blacks and whites, Protestants and Catholics, institutional church and independent church. Another similarity was a breaking down of barriers and the building of unity. In Jerusalem all could understand the apostles, whatever their language and background. We are told later in the chapter that all the believers were together and held all things in common. In South Africa everything was translated, and there was a hospitable love, such that all felt included. Another similarity was the great impetus to repentance and rapid growth. In Jerusalem we know that 3,000 were added to the Church on the day of Pentecost. In South Africa, and worldwide, the Global Day of Prayer has continued to grow in an extraordinary way. Last year it arrived even in Solihull! And this year too, at our Churches Together Pentecost event, 4pm in Malvern Park, we shall pray the prayers of the Global Day of Prayer in union with millions of people, coming from almost every country of the world.
And I can’t help but be struck by the extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit who fuels this movement of repentance and prayer and spreads it throughout the world. And I can’t help wondering what God is preparing us for. It seems to me that in these times we need to be very attentive to the work of the Holy Spirit, and to co-operate fully with all that the Spirit seems to be doing. So this Pentecost, let’s listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit within us. If we can get to Malvern Park at 4pm for the Global Day of Prayer then let’s do that. Let’s work with the Spirit in loving one another, so that barriers are broken down and unity is built. And, as Paul advises in our second reading today, let’s allow the Spirit within us to intercede for us with sighs too deep for words. Then perhaps we shall have the courage to hope with patience for the things unseen and for the great redemption which is promised. Amen.

Harvest Festival - God's great gifts to us

Informal sermon preached at the 9.15am All-age Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull
Sunday 12th October 2008, Harvest festival, Year A

Readings: [Deuteronomy 28: 1-14] 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15 Luke 17: 11-19

Illustrated with pictures from: www.bathurst.co.za/Pineapples.htm


Today we celebrate Harvest Festival, and at Harvest Festival we give thanks to God for all the good gifts that he gives us in creation. And especially at Harvest Festival we give thanks to God for our food, which grows in the ground all summer and then is harvested at this time of year.
But why should we give thanks to God for our food? We might think, “Our food grows in the ground because of nature. We pay people money to grow it at bring it to us. What has that got to do with God?” But the point is that God has provided all these things for us; the food that we eat, the people who grow it, the ground in which it grows, all these are part of God’s gift to us. And saying thank you to God is very important, because it helps us to realise this and to understand it properly. It helps us to see how deep and wide the love of God for us is.
Look, for example, at all these wonderful harvest gifts. Look at this gift of tinned pineapple.
[Pick up tin of pineapple]
It probably only cost 80 p or something a supermarket, so we might not think that it is very important. But if we pause to think about it, it is quite extraordinary how much has gone into this tin of pineapple; how much of God’s creation has contributed, how many people who God has made have played their part.
First of all someone must have planted the pineapple. Here are some pictures of some people planting pineapples in South Africa.
[Picture of tractor]
Look at the person riding behind the tractor who is placing the pineapple tops in the ground. Here is another picture where you can see it better.
[Picture of woman behind tractor with pineapple tops]
And then God sends the sun and the rain on the pineapples and they grow. Do you know what they look like when they grow? They look like that:
[Picture of man and woman in a pineapple field]
(Do you know? I thought they grew on trees; shows how much I know!)
And then the pineapples are harvested, and that is a big job. Look at all these people involved in the harvest.
[Picture of pineapple harvesting]
So that is how pineapples are grown! So I wonder if we could have someone come forward and stand here and represent all those people who are involved in the growing of the pineapple for us.
[Someone stands up with hoe and pineapple]
And perhaps someone else can stand up and represent the sun, which God sends to make the pineapple grow and ripen.
[Someone stands up with sun picture]
And perhaps someone could come and stand here with a watering can to represent the rain which God sends to water the plants and make them grow.
[Someone stands up with watering can]
But this is only the start of the story. We still have to get the pineapple from the farm to Solihull. Well at the farm the pineapples are all packed into crates so that they can be loaded onto lorries. Here is a picture of them all ready to be loaded onto lorries.
[Picture of crates and crane]
And perhaps someone could come forward and hold up this lorry to remind us of all the people involved in transporting the pineapple.
[Someone comes forward with lorry]
And then the pineapples get to the factory
[picture of people working in factory]
and they are pealed in a machine, and hand checked and then sliced in a machine and the put into tins by hand and look how many people are involved in all that! And that is before we start to think about all the people who supplied the machinery or the empty tins or the metals that the tins are made from. So let’s have some people come forward and represent all the people involved in putting a pineapple in a tin
[Someone stands up with tins]
And we are still not there yet. We have to ship the tinned pineapples to Britain.
[Someone stands up with a ship]
And there is a lot more lorry driving involved the tinned pineapples goes to a supermarket
[Someone stands up with a supermarket basket]
And someone buys it and takes it home and then brings it into church as a harvest gift, so perhaps someone can stand here who has brought in a harvest gift today.
[Someone stands up]
So there we are – amazing how many people and much of God’s creation is involved in bringing us the gift of a tin of pineapple. It is incredible that all this is done so that we can have a tin of pineapple, but it is, and we need to thank God for it.
Giving thanks to God helps us to understand the world as God made it, as God’s gift of love for us. It helps us to realise how many of God’s wonders lie behind a simple thing like a tin of pineapple. It helps us to realise many different people have given something of themselves, so that we can have some pineapple. So let’s praise God and give thanks for his great gifts to us.