Sermon preached at the 11am Parish Eucharist at St Mary’s Lapworth on Sunday 20th February 20111. Shorter versions of this sermon were preached at the 8.30am Said Eucharist and at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton, 9.45am Holy Communion.
Third Sunday before Lent (Septugesima)
Readings: 1 Corinthians 3: 10-11 & 16-23 Matthew 5: 38-48
Notes only
Start with story about “If someone sues for your coat, give him your cloak as well”
- the “I like your shirt” story
Our gospel readings at present come from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is very challenging!
Last week’s gospel gave us some very challenging teachings from Jesus
- he condemned all anger, lust, divorce and untruthfulness
I said in last week’s sermon that Jesus seems to set an impossibly high standard, a standard that is beyond us all.
- we might be tempted to throw in the towel, say “this is too much”
- but we must remember that we are on a journey towards the life of heaven
- we might not be ready for heaven yet, but by the grace of Christ we will be one day if we travel in the right direction
- we journey not in our own strength but in the strength of the Spirit & grace of Christ.
This week we have more very challenging teachings from Jesus
- do not resist the evildoer
- love your enemies
Again Jesus sets a high standard – but we must not despair.
We can think of the Journey again.
Or we can think of the slimily used by St Paul
- we are being built into a spiritual temple – a temple of the Holy Spirit
- this applies to us as individuals, and also to us collectively as church
- God is working in us to build up the temple
- it is a process that happens over time
- We need to co-operate and work on this building up because the spiritual temple endures. Earthly things fall away, we suffer loses, eventually we die, so better to invest in the spiritual temple which endures.
- We are building towards perfection – towards the life of heaven. As Jesus said in the gospel “Be Holy as your heavenly father is Holy”.
Whether we think of it as a journey or think of it as a building under construction our part is to live our day to day life in front of God seeking to grow in love for God and neighbour day by day, moment by moment. But sometimes we must ask ourselves, “What can we do?” “How can we contribute to the journey, to the building?” Lent starts in three weeks so no is an excellent time to ask these questions. Lent is traditionally the time of year for seeking to turn more fully to God.
What might be do this Lent? We could
1) Give up some luxury or pleasure (chocolate, coffee, alcohol, facebook?) in order to orientate ourselves towards God. Every time we miss the item we can remember God, and that we do it for love of him; or
2) Add some new spiritual discipline to our lives; perhaps some extra prayer or worship or bible reading or religious study. We will offer options on a Wednesday evening in church – Complain for prayer or “Explore” for study.
3) Do something practical which involves cost to ourselves for the benefit of other people. traditionally almsgiving. Could also be the giving of time or attention to someone who needs it. Could involve visiting someone who is a bit isolated, or writing to someone we are losing touch with.
So let’s start thinking now, so as to use Lent well, and to make our full contribution in the building up of the spiritual temple. Amen.
Showing posts with label holy journey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holy journey. Show all posts
20 February 2011
13 February 2011
Jesus on the Law
Sermon preached at Choral Mattins at St Mary’s Lapworth on Sunday 13th February 2011. A shorter version of this sermon was also preached at the 8.30 Said Eucharist and at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton’s 3pm Evensong.
Fourth Sunday before Lent – Year A
Readings: Ps 119: 1-8 Ecclesiasticus 15: 15-20 Matthew 5: 21-37
One of my favourite Winston Churchill quotes relates to the time when he was appointed within H. H. Asquith’s government to be First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911. At that time there was widespread concern about the build up of German naval power, and there was a recognition that the Royal Navy would need to be strengthened if it was to retain its command of the seas. However there was political disagreement about how many dreadnought ships should be added to the navy, perhaps four, perhaps six. Then a German warship started to intimidate French shipping off Morocco, and suddenly a political consensus emerged. Churchill later summarised the debate saying, “The Conservatives wanted six; the Liberals wanted four; we compromised on eight.”
I was reminded of this story by our gospel reading today. Jesus was talking about the Jewish law and commenting on different matters, some of which were controversial at the time. The conversations would typically be about how much the Law should affect the day to day behaviour of the people. The Pharisees might say by four degrees, the Scribes might say by six degrees, but Jesus would say by eight! Jesus’ interpretation of the law always seems to go much deeper and be far more far reaching than the interpretation of other scholars at the time. In fact it seems to me that Jesus thinks about the Jewish Law in a way that is quite different from the way that scholars of the time might think of it.
It seems to me that the law given through Moses was an effort to explain what good behaviour was; what it meant to help people to be good Jews, worthy of receiving God promises to his chosen nation. But then, over time, it seems that the Law ceased to function as something pointing people towards God, but became more like a boundary defining what was, and what was not, acceptable behaviour for a Jew. During this period the number of rules increased dramatically, and things like how far you could walk on the Sabbath became very precisely defined.
It seems to me that Jesus did not think of the Law as a boundary at all. For him it was all about pointing us towards God. And for Jesus it was not just behaviours that mattered. What mattered much more was the inner attitudes and values and beliefs that drive behaviours. In the eyes of Jesus, it is essential that attitudes, beliefs, values and therefore behaviours too are orientated towards God, that they draw us towards God. Jesus wants us to know God better, to share in God’s attitudes plans and hopes, to become like God.
And this makes the Law Oh so much more demanding. The letter of the law condemns the killing of a person, but Jesus condemns even being angry with a person, or thinking of that a person is a fool or traitor. The letter of the Law condemns adultery, but Jesus condemns even lust. The letter of the Law has a procedure for divorce, but Jesus condemns divorce. The Tradition says you must not break a vow, but Jesus says don’t even make vows, but always keep your word. And in fact Jesus goes on. It gets even harder in next week’s gospel with “Love your enemies”.
What is very noticeable when we think of the Law like Jesus does, as something that points us towards God, as something which prepares us for an eternal life shared with God, is that suddenly we are completely inadequate. No anger, no criticism of others, no lust, no divorce, no parting from our word…we are all of us hopelessly inadequate because none of us can live to this standard.
What we have to accept is that we are on a journey, a journey towards God, towards the life of heaven. It is a journey and we are not there yet. We are not 100% saints yet. We certainly cannot live to the standard that Jesus expects, we are not yet ready for life in heaven. But we also need to accept that by faith in God, and by the grace of Christ, we will one day complete that journey, we will pass through different purifying experiences and God will make us ready for heaven. Ultimately, as our first reading pointed out we all have to choose between fire and water, between life and death, between heaven and hell. So really we have to choose heaven, and the quicker we make progress on the journey to get there the better it is for everyone.
So we are on the journey towards heaven, but every now and again something happens that reminds us that we still have a long way to go. Perhaps a scripture reading like today’s reminds us that we are completely inadequate. What do we do? Do we give up on the journey because it is too difficult? Do we start to hate ourselves because we know that we are sinners? No. No, we remember that God continues to love us, and we must continue to love ourselves and, like God, we must hope for and work for the very best for ourselves. We must remember that Jesus came into the world precisely to save sinners like us and to bring us to the life of heaven. So we need to confess our sin and our inadequacies and our failings to God. We need to hold them before God and see them as God sees them and become totally realistic about them. And this can be painful, it reminds us that we are not as good as we like to think we are. But, it seems to me, that pain, in conjunction with Christ’s sufferings on the cross, gives us the grace to move forward. It fills us with the desire to move forward. It assures us that we move forward in God’s strength not our own. It helps us to make progress on the journey. We realise that God’s love for us goes much deeper than our sin.
So we hear a scripture reading like today’s and when we hear all about God’s laws, let’s not think of them as a boundary, and worry whether we are inside or out. Rather let’s think of them as pointers to God and to the life of heaven. Let’s be sure that we still have a long way to go before we reach God, but let’s also have confidence that Jesus will walk with us on that journey, and that Jesus, through his death and resurrection has already overcome all our sin. The end of the journey is assured, but we still need to walk it Amen.
Fourth Sunday before Lent – Year A
Readings: Ps 119: 1-8 Ecclesiasticus 15: 15-20 Matthew 5: 21-37
One of my favourite Winston Churchill quotes relates to the time when he was appointed within H. H. Asquith’s government to be First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911. At that time there was widespread concern about the build up of German naval power, and there was a recognition that the Royal Navy would need to be strengthened if it was to retain its command of the seas. However there was political disagreement about how many dreadnought ships should be added to the navy, perhaps four, perhaps six. Then a German warship started to intimidate French shipping off Morocco, and suddenly a political consensus emerged. Churchill later summarised the debate saying, “The Conservatives wanted six; the Liberals wanted four; we compromised on eight.”
I was reminded of this story by our gospel reading today. Jesus was talking about the Jewish law and commenting on different matters, some of which were controversial at the time. The conversations would typically be about how much the Law should affect the day to day behaviour of the people. The Pharisees might say by four degrees, the Scribes might say by six degrees, but Jesus would say by eight! Jesus’ interpretation of the law always seems to go much deeper and be far more far reaching than the interpretation of other scholars at the time. In fact it seems to me that Jesus thinks about the Jewish Law in a way that is quite different from the way that scholars of the time might think of it.
It seems to me that the law given through Moses was an effort to explain what good behaviour was; what it meant to help people to be good Jews, worthy of receiving God promises to his chosen nation. But then, over time, it seems that the Law ceased to function as something pointing people towards God, but became more like a boundary defining what was, and what was not, acceptable behaviour for a Jew. During this period the number of rules increased dramatically, and things like how far you could walk on the Sabbath became very precisely defined.
It seems to me that Jesus did not think of the Law as a boundary at all. For him it was all about pointing us towards God. And for Jesus it was not just behaviours that mattered. What mattered much more was the inner attitudes and values and beliefs that drive behaviours. In the eyes of Jesus, it is essential that attitudes, beliefs, values and therefore behaviours too are orientated towards God, that they draw us towards God. Jesus wants us to know God better, to share in God’s attitudes plans and hopes, to become like God.
And this makes the Law Oh so much more demanding. The letter of the law condemns the killing of a person, but Jesus condemns even being angry with a person, or thinking of that a person is a fool or traitor. The letter of the Law condemns adultery, but Jesus condemns even lust. The letter of the Law has a procedure for divorce, but Jesus condemns divorce. The Tradition says you must not break a vow, but Jesus says don’t even make vows, but always keep your word. And in fact Jesus goes on. It gets even harder in next week’s gospel with “Love your enemies”.
What is very noticeable when we think of the Law like Jesus does, as something that points us towards God, as something which prepares us for an eternal life shared with God, is that suddenly we are completely inadequate. No anger, no criticism of others, no lust, no divorce, no parting from our word…we are all of us hopelessly inadequate because none of us can live to this standard.
What we have to accept is that we are on a journey, a journey towards God, towards the life of heaven. It is a journey and we are not there yet. We are not 100% saints yet. We certainly cannot live to the standard that Jesus expects, we are not yet ready for life in heaven. But we also need to accept that by faith in God, and by the grace of Christ, we will one day complete that journey, we will pass through different purifying experiences and God will make us ready for heaven. Ultimately, as our first reading pointed out we all have to choose between fire and water, between life and death, between heaven and hell. So really we have to choose heaven, and the quicker we make progress on the journey to get there the better it is for everyone.
So we are on the journey towards heaven, but every now and again something happens that reminds us that we still have a long way to go. Perhaps a scripture reading like today’s reminds us that we are completely inadequate. What do we do? Do we give up on the journey because it is too difficult? Do we start to hate ourselves because we know that we are sinners? No. No, we remember that God continues to love us, and we must continue to love ourselves and, like God, we must hope for and work for the very best for ourselves. We must remember that Jesus came into the world precisely to save sinners like us and to bring us to the life of heaven. So we need to confess our sin and our inadequacies and our failings to God. We need to hold them before God and see them as God sees them and become totally realistic about them. And this can be painful, it reminds us that we are not as good as we like to think we are. But, it seems to me, that pain, in conjunction with Christ’s sufferings on the cross, gives us the grace to move forward. It fills us with the desire to move forward. It assures us that we move forward in God’s strength not our own. It helps us to make progress on the journey. We realise that God’s love for us goes much deeper than our sin.
So we hear a scripture reading like today’s and when we hear all about God’s laws, let’s not think of them as a boundary, and worry whether we are inside or out. Rather let’s think of them as pointers to God and to the life of heaven. Let’s be sure that we still have a long way to go before we reach God, but let’s also have confidence that Jesus will walk with us on that journey, and that Jesus, through his death and resurrection has already overcome all our sin. The end of the journey is assured, but we still need to walk it Amen.
25 May 2008
Holiness - The ultimate lifestyle choice
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull at the 11am Eucharist.
Sunday 25th May 2008, Trinity 1 – Year A (Readings from Epiphany 7)
Readings Leviticus 19: 1-2 & 9-18 1 Cor 3: 10-11 & 16-23 Matt 5: 38-48
Our readings today focus on the theme of becoming holy; holiness as a lifestyle choice. There is quite a lot in the readings about what it means to be holy. There is quite a lot about how we might become holy. But the theme of our readings that stands out most clearly is the call for us Christians to work towards personal holiness as individuals and collective holiness as Church.
The call to holiness is one of the themes of the New Testament (e.g. John 17 17-19, Phil 2:14, 1Thess 4:7 5:23, 2 Tim 1:9, Heb 9:13 13:12, 1 Pet1:15). In our gospel reading today we heard Jesus say to his disciples, “Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” And this call to holiness is not something new that arrives with Jesus. God has always called his people to holiness. When Jesus says, “Be perfect and your heavenly Father is perfect,” he is making a reference to the book of Leviticus, which we also heard read today. In Leviticus God himself says to the people, through Moses, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” So God has always called his people to holiness, but Jesus gives this call new impetus and he provides new resources to help us on the journey towards holiness.
People often think, “I am a good Christian…I go to church,” without realising the full implications of being a Christian, without realising that the Christian life is a journey, a journey towards heaven. And heaven is not just a place that we go to when we die, rather heaven is a experience, a state of being. Heaven is where God dwells. To be in heaven means to dwell with God, to rest in his presence, to be illuminated completely by the light of his love, like a crystal of cut glass in a chandelier. Our journey to heaven is therefore about drawing closer to God. It is about improving our relationship with God; about getting to know God. It is about getting better at living in the presence of God. It is about growing up into Christ (Eph 4:5). It is about being formed into Christ (Gal 4:19). It is about being made complete in the love of God (1 John 4:12). It is about being purified from all sin (1 John 1:8). It is about being pure so that we can see God (Matt 5:8, 1 John 3:12-13). And these things take time, they can take a lifetime, perhaps even more than a lifetime. But this journey can be walked much more effectively and much more profitably if we are aware of it, if we welcome it and if we work with it.
Holiness is our true destination. Ultimately our personal fulfilment comes from becoming holy. God created us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He wants us to fulfil our potential, to become what he created us to be. His plan for us is greater than anything we could imagine for ourselves, it satisfies completely our most profound desires and aspirations. Growing in holiness is therefore the logical and sensible way to live our lives. It is the way to self-realisation. It is the way to heaven.
The raw material for this journey of faith, this holy journey towards heaven, is all the circumstances of our everyday lives. There are many different ways of interpreting the circumstances of our everyday lives. Suppose for example we catch a cold. We can interpret this in different ways. We can think, “it’s so-and-so’s fault – he sneezed near me, yesterday.” Another interpretation might be, “It’s my own fault for getting cold on the bus and not having enough victim C.” Another interpretation might be, “I need to take good care of myself for the next few days until I am better.” And all of these interpretations might be true to a greater or lesser extent, but there is one interpretation which is always going to be the most helpful interpretation from the point of view of our journey towards heaven. This is the interpretation that, “God, in his great love for me, has either willed or allowed that I should catch this cold in order to help me to grow closer to Him.” This attitude trains us to find God’s love in everything. It helps us to understand suffering. It helps us to grow in love. This attitude is especially helpful when we deal with other people. Cardinal Van Thuan apparently trained himself not to think, “This person is a nuisance”, but rather to think “This person is sanctifying me”.
Perhaps we have never thought of becoming holy. Perhaps we can’t imagine ourselves as a saint. Perhaps we think, “but I am just very normal…I can’t be something really extraordinary like a saint.” Perhaps we are aware that sin runs deep within us so we feel we can’t become a saint. Perhaps we think, “Ah well, holiness, that is for the enthusiasts…it’s not for me.” If we are thinking like this then we need to think again. We need to remember that we are created for heaven. One day, by hook or by crook, we have to get to heaven. Of course we always have the option of rejecting God completely and going to hell, but assuming that is not what we want, then it makes sense to start work on the journey to heaven right now. This is the journey to life and hope and joy and the sooner we can start making progress the better.
And the good news is that we are already part holy. The embryonic saint already lives within us and is keen to grow and develop and to mature into the new life in Christ. The bad news is that we are also part sinner. Despite our good intentions we are slaves to sin and our behaviour often falls well short of holiness. The devil does his best to convince us that holiness is unattainable. But the devil is a liar. We have been baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection and this has broken the power of sin. If we concentrate on living in the saint and growing in the life of Christ then, in the fullness of time, it is inevitable that the sin within us will be overcome.
So today I invite you to make the ultimate lifestyle choice. Let’s commit ourselves to holiness. Let’s commit ourselves to becoming saints. Let us offer this project to God and let us pray to God for his help. Let us ignore the great liar who says that holiness is irrelevant, or unrealistic or impossible, or not desirable, or not for me. Let’s commit ourselves to walking the way of Christ. Let’s forgive ourselves when we fail. Let’s pray for the grace to start again each time we fail. Let’s not be put off by our failures but rather entrust them to the mercy of God and make a fresh start. And let’s walk with confidence. Christ’s death and resurrection has broken every barrier. If we want our place in heaven, and work for it, then ultimately we cannot fail.
Sunday 25th May 2008, Trinity 1 – Year A (Readings from Epiphany 7)
Readings Leviticus 19: 1-2 & 9-18 1 Cor 3: 10-11 & 16-23 Matt 5: 38-48
Our readings today focus on the theme of becoming holy; holiness as a lifestyle choice. There is quite a lot in the readings about what it means to be holy. There is quite a lot about how we might become holy. But the theme of our readings that stands out most clearly is the call for us Christians to work towards personal holiness as individuals and collective holiness as Church.
The call to holiness is one of the themes of the New Testament (e.g. John 17 17-19, Phil 2:14, 1Thess 4:7 5:23, 2 Tim 1:9, Heb 9:13 13:12, 1 Pet1:15). In our gospel reading today we heard Jesus say to his disciples, “Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” And this call to holiness is not something new that arrives with Jesus. God has always called his people to holiness. When Jesus says, “Be perfect and your heavenly Father is perfect,” he is making a reference to the book of Leviticus, which we also heard read today. In Leviticus God himself says to the people, through Moses, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” So God has always called his people to holiness, but Jesus gives this call new impetus and he provides new resources to help us on the journey towards holiness.
People often think, “I am a good Christian…I go to church,” without realising the full implications of being a Christian, without realising that the Christian life is a journey, a journey towards heaven. And heaven is not just a place that we go to when we die, rather heaven is a experience, a state of being. Heaven is where God dwells. To be in heaven means to dwell with God, to rest in his presence, to be illuminated completely by the light of his love, like a crystal of cut glass in a chandelier. Our journey to heaven is therefore about drawing closer to God. It is about improving our relationship with God; about getting to know God. It is about getting better at living in the presence of God. It is about growing up into Christ (Eph 4:5). It is about being formed into Christ (Gal 4:19). It is about being made complete in the love of God (1 John 4:12). It is about being purified from all sin (1 John 1:8). It is about being pure so that we can see God (Matt 5:8, 1 John 3:12-13). And these things take time, they can take a lifetime, perhaps even more than a lifetime. But this journey can be walked much more effectively and much more profitably if we are aware of it, if we welcome it and if we work with it.
Holiness is our true destination. Ultimately our personal fulfilment comes from becoming holy. God created us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He wants us to fulfil our potential, to become what he created us to be. His plan for us is greater than anything we could imagine for ourselves, it satisfies completely our most profound desires and aspirations. Growing in holiness is therefore the logical and sensible way to live our lives. It is the way to self-realisation. It is the way to heaven.
The raw material for this journey of faith, this holy journey towards heaven, is all the circumstances of our everyday lives. There are many different ways of interpreting the circumstances of our everyday lives. Suppose for example we catch a cold. We can interpret this in different ways. We can think, “it’s so-and-so’s fault – he sneezed near me, yesterday.” Another interpretation might be, “It’s my own fault for getting cold on the bus and not having enough victim C.” Another interpretation might be, “I need to take good care of myself for the next few days until I am better.” And all of these interpretations might be true to a greater or lesser extent, but there is one interpretation which is always going to be the most helpful interpretation from the point of view of our journey towards heaven. This is the interpretation that, “God, in his great love for me, has either willed or allowed that I should catch this cold in order to help me to grow closer to Him.” This attitude trains us to find God’s love in everything. It helps us to understand suffering. It helps us to grow in love. This attitude is especially helpful when we deal with other people. Cardinal Van Thuan apparently trained himself not to think, “This person is a nuisance”, but rather to think “This person is sanctifying me”.
Perhaps we have never thought of becoming holy. Perhaps we can’t imagine ourselves as a saint. Perhaps we think, “but I am just very normal…I can’t be something really extraordinary like a saint.” Perhaps we are aware that sin runs deep within us so we feel we can’t become a saint. Perhaps we think, “Ah well, holiness, that is for the enthusiasts…it’s not for me.” If we are thinking like this then we need to think again. We need to remember that we are created for heaven. One day, by hook or by crook, we have to get to heaven. Of course we always have the option of rejecting God completely and going to hell, but assuming that is not what we want, then it makes sense to start work on the journey to heaven right now. This is the journey to life and hope and joy and the sooner we can start making progress the better.
And the good news is that we are already part holy. The embryonic saint already lives within us and is keen to grow and develop and to mature into the new life in Christ. The bad news is that we are also part sinner. Despite our good intentions we are slaves to sin and our behaviour often falls well short of holiness. The devil does his best to convince us that holiness is unattainable. But the devil is a liar. We have been baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection and this has broken the power of sin. If we concentrate on living in the saint and growing in the life of Christ then, in the fullness of time, it is inevitable that the sin within us will be overcome.
So today I invite you to make the ultimate lifestyle choice. Let’s commit ourselves to holiness. Let’s commit ourselves to becoming saints. Let us offer this project to God and let us pray to God for his help. Let us ignore the great liar who says that holiness is irrelevant, or unrealistic or impossible, or not desirable, or not for me. Let’s commit ourselves to walking the way of Christ. Let’s forgive ourselves when we fail. Let’s pray for the grace to start again each time we fail. Let’s not be put off by our failures but rather entrust them to the mercy of God and make a fresh start. And let’s walk with confidence. Christ’s death and resurrection has broken every barrier. If we want our place in heaven, and work for it, then ultimately we cannot fail.
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.
13 May 2007
Admission to Holy Communion - part 1 (text)
Sermon - 13/05/07 – Easter 6 – Year C
Admission of Young People to Communion – preached at St Alphege 9.15am
Readings: Acts 16:9-16 Revelation 21:10,22-27 John 14:23-29
Sermon delivered without notes so text is approximate.
As Fr Patrick was saying earlier, today is a very exciting day because we are about to admit, I think it is 23, children and young people to Holy Communion. Today they start receiving Jesus, present in the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist.
They have all been baptised, Prudence was baptised just last week.
They have all attended a course so help then understand the Eucharist and to make the most of the gifts they receive.
They all come from families that are committed to supporting them in their faith and in their attendance at the Eucharist.
So now a question: Why do we want admit young people to Holy Communion?
Many answers are possible.
For me, I remember the start of the first epistle of John. It says something like, “What we have seen and heard we share with you, so that you may join with us in the life that we share with the Father and with Jesus Christ…so our joy may be complete.”
Because when we receive Holy Communion, Christ shares his life with us. We receive his body and blood; his very life. And this is very good for us. It draws us into communion with him; into the life that he shares with the Father, and as we all start to share in that life, it draws us into communion with one another. If we think of life as a spiritual journey, a journey that starts here on earth and continues and we draw closer to God, and finally ends in heaven where we share in the life of God in a much fuller and more complete way, then Holy Communion is the food for the journey. It nurtures us in the shared life of heaven. It nourishes us, giving us strength for our holy journey. It keeps our souls healthy and our spirits full of the life of Christ. And we all know that we need that, living in the very secularised world that we live in.
But, a word of caution.
In past years we have received young people into communion, and they have received with us and it has been wonderful, but then after a few months they have stopped coming. We don’t see them and they start to miss our on all the benefits that the Eucharist brings.
Well this is very sad. It’s a bit like passing your driving test and then never bothering to drive. And I don’t think it is that people make a conscious decision not to come. I think rather they have busy lives, full of many good things and these grow and take over and squeeze out the most important thing, the source of all life. So how do we avoid this trap. The answer is to build a habit of coming to the Eucharist, build a discipline. Each of us, and especially the new communicants, need to work out how often we want to come; perhaps once a week, perhaps twice a month. It is important that we are realistic, but once we have made that choice, then let’s commit to it and build it into a habit. That we can prevent the many good things in life from squeezing out the one thing that is essential.
I was listening to the radio recently and I heard some good news. Apparently as a nation we are doing better in the battle against heart disease. There are several reasons for this, but one of them is diet. Apparently, as a nation we are eating better and this is helping us to be healthy.
Perhaps you are familiar with this symbol [image - "five a day" logo]. This was a campaign that the NHS launched a few years ago to get us to eat more fruit and veg; “five a day”. Well it seems that this has been very successful. We are eating more fruit and veg and we are healthier. I was discussing this with Fr Patrick [whose idea this was!] and we were saying that if a campaign like this can improve the heath of our early bodies, which we have for perhaps 70 or 80 years, how much more important it is to improve our spiritual heath, and the life of our souls, which are promised eternal life? Perhaps we need a campaign like this [image - “just receive more”]. “Just receive more – Holy Communion”.
So let’s finish with this image in our minds. Let’s work out how often we can come to communion and then let’s make a commitment, and keep to it, so that it becomes a habit. And let’s use that habit to support us in our spiritual lives and to draw ourselves into the shared life of God. In this way we can be nourished and strengthened on our holy journeys towards heaven. Amen.
Admission of Young People to Communion – preached at St Alphege 9.15am
Readings: Acts 16:9-16 Revelation 21:10,22-27 John 14:23-29
Sermon delivered without notes so text is approximate.
As Fr Patrick was saying earlier, today is a very exciting day because we are about to admit, I think it is 23, children and young people to Holy Communion. Today they start receiving Jesus, present in the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist.
They have all been baptised, Prudence was baptised just last week.
They have all attended a course so help then understand the Eucharist and to make the most of the gifts they receive.
They all come from families that are committed to supporting them in their faith and in their attendance at the Eucharist.
So now a question: Why do we want admit young people to Holy Communion?
Many answers are possible.
For me, I remember the start of the first epistle of John. It says something like, “What we have seen and heard we share with you, so that you may join with us in the life that we share with the Father and with Jesus Christ…so our joy may be complete.”
Because when we receive Holy Communion, Christ shares his life with us. We receive his body and blood; his very life. And this is very good for us. It draws us into communion with him; into the life that he shares with the Father, and as we all start to share in that life, it draws us into communion with one another. If we think of life as a spiritual journey, a journey that starts here on earth and continues and we draw closer to God, and finally ends in heaven where we share in the life of God in a much fuller and more complete way, then Holy Communion is the food for the journey. It nurtures us in the shared life of heaven. It nourishes us, giving us strength for our holy journey. It keeps our souls healthy and our spirits full of the life of Christ. And we all know that we need that, living in the very secularised world that we live in.
But, a word of caution.
In past years we have received young people into communion, and they have received with us and it has been wonderful, but then after a few months they have stopped coming. We don’t see them and they start to miss our on all the benefits that the Eucharist brings.
Well this is very sad. It’s a bit like passing your driving test and then never bothering to drive. And I don’t think it is that people make a conscious decision not to come. I think rather they have busy lives, full of many good things and these grow and take over and squeeze out the most important thing, the source of all life. So how do we avoid this trap. The answer is to build a habit of coming to the Eucharist, build a discipline. Each of us, and especially the new communicants, need to work out how often we want to come; perhaps once a week, perhaps twice a month. It is important that we are realistic, but once we have made that choice, then let’s commit to it and build it into a habit. That we can prevent the many good things in life from squeezing out the one thing that is essential.
I was listening to the radio recently and I heard some good news. Apparently as a nation we are doing better in the battle against heart disease. There are several reasons for this, but one of them is diet. Apparently, as a nation we are eating better and this is helping us to be healthy.
Perhaps you are familiar with this symbol [image - "five a day" logo]. This was a campaign that the NHS launched a few years ago to get us to eat more fruit and veg; “five a day”. Well it seems that this has been very successful. We are eating more fruit and veg and we are healthier. I was discussing this with Fr Patrick [whose idea this was!] and we were saying that if a campaign like this can improve the heath of our early bodies, which we have for perhaps 70 or 80 years, how much more important it is to improve our spiritual heath, and the life of our souls, which are promised eternal life? Perhaps we need a campaign like this [image - “just receive more”]. “Just receive more – Holy Communion”.
So let’s finish with this image in our minds. Let’s work out how often we can come to communion and then let’s make a commitment, and keep to it, so that it becomes a habit. And let’s use that habit to support us in our spiritual lives and to draw ourselves into the shared life of God. In this way we can be nourished and strengthened on our holy journeys towards heaven. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
