Sermon preached at 9.45 am at St Michael’s, Baddesley Clinton
Sunday 4th July 2010, Trinity V, Proper 9 – Year C
Other versions of this sermon were preached at 8.30am and 11am at St Mary's Lapworth.
Readings: (Gal 6: 7-16) Luke 10: 1-11 & 16-20
My daughter, Caroline, has just returned from a school trip to Snowdonia. It was a week of outdoor pursuits, including gorge walking and climbing Snowdon. In preparation for the trip both our family and the school worked quite hard to ensure that Caroline had all the appropriate kit. As she set off on the trip, with her hiking boots and carefully packed backpack we were confident that she had the things she needed for the different outdoor activities. And just to confirm that all the preparations had paid off, she sent us a text message from the top of Snowdon.
But what a contrast there is between our attitude in kitting Caroline out, the attitude that Jesus had when sending out disciples ahead of him to prepare the ground in the towns and villages that Jesus himself expected to visit. Far from kitting the disciples out, Jesus seems to tell them not to take things with them. Jesus tells them to “carry no purse, no bag, no sandals.” If we had read Matthew’s account (Matt 10) we would also have heard Jesus tells the disciples to take no money (not even coppers), no spare tunic and no staff.
Why would Jesus give such instructions? Surely it would be better if the disciples were properly kitted out for their missionary journey?
Well we can only speculate. It seems to me that Jesus wanted to make sure that the disciples were trusting completely in God, rather than trusting in their own skills, talents and resources. This attitude of complete trust and dependence on God is very healthy especially for people who are engaged in God’s work. If you have no resources of your own, but depend completely on what God gives you, then you have no choice but to stay focused on doing God’s work.
And it worked! The seventy returned with joy saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us.” Clearly the seventy had worked many miracles of healing. Jesus said, “See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.” So it seems that the disciples extraordinary trust in God, going out on their mission with no more than the clothes they were wearing, resulted in extraordinary graces and powers to work great miracles. And this was a cause of great rejoicing. But notice the comment of Jesus: “do not rejoice at this…but that your names are written in heaven.” The significant thing is not that the disciples have extraordinary powers, like comic book superheroes, but rather that this is evidence that they share in the life of heaven, the eternal life in the presence of God.
And this pattern of extraordinary dependence on God, and extraordinary earthly powers is by no means unique to this story about the 70 disciples. At the very end of Mark’s gospel (Mark 16: 17) Jesus says, “These are the signs that will be associated with believers; in my name they will cast out devils, they will have the gift of tongues, they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick who will recover.” And in the Acts of the Apostles there are lots of stories of the disciples performing healing miracles and of Paul, being unharmed by the bite of a deadly snake.
And in the history of the Church, this story has many resonances. St Francis was deeply struck by precisely this very story, which we heard from the gospel today. He felt called by God to live it out for himself in a very literal way. Francis went on to live in radical poverty, in complete dependence on God and on the gifts of other people. And as we know Francis developed an extraordinary ministry and demonstrated all kinds of miraculous powers, including healing and exorcism.
But what about us? We are ordinary Christians of the 21st century; ordinary believers. Are we too called to this life of radical dependence on God; this life where we go about with no more than the clothes we wear? Are we, too, to receive powers to heal diseases and tread on scorpions and snakes? Well some of us are called by God in a radical way, for example by giving up everything, and going to live in a monasteries or a convent. But probably, for most of us, God does not call most of us to a ministry like that. For most of us our ministries will be much smaller and simpler things; caring for our families, talking to our neighbours, visiting or offering a lift to an elderly person. We might also be called to specific ministries to help in the church, perhaps through a role on the PCC. Or perhaps we are called to a ministries to the wider community. Sometimes we are called to support particular communities groups, or to serve on their committees and help them to play their part in serving the whole community.
The important thing is to be very attentive to what God wants from us; by what ministry he wants us to serve other people. God always supplies the grace needed for the ministries to which he calls us. If the ministries are small then perhaps the grace need not be so big, but if we live our ministries well then perhaps God will call us to bigger things, and give us bigger graces. But we must be attentive to what God wants from us, because it all starts with what God calls us to do.
But we must not deceive ourselves into thinking that we can escape from our radical dependence on God. We all need to build and develop out trust in God, who created us and loves us. Sooner or later any earthly thing that we put our trust in must fail us. Eventually we must all face death. In death we lose all our earthly processions, even our clothes, even our body. In death our utter dependence on God is revealed. Let us pray that by that time we will have learnt to trust completely in God, and let us pray that, like the 70 disciples, we may rejoice to discover that our names are written in heaven. Amen.
Showing posts with label ministry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ministry. Show all posts
04 July 2010
01 November 2009
All saints day
Informal sermon preached at St Alphege 9.15 Eucharist
Sunday 1st November 2009 – All Saints Day – Year B
(A more traditional version of this sermon was also preached at the 11am Eucharist.)
Readings: Wisdom 3: 1-9 Rev 21: 1-6 John 11: 32-44
[AV - Camera]
So it’s All Saints Day; the day when we remind ourselves about all the saints in heaven, both those who are famous and have their own special days in the churches calendar, and especially those who are not so famous, those whose holiness is known to God alone.
And what is a Saint? Well a saint is a person who is holy. A saint is a person who has drawn very close to God, who is illuminated by the holiness of God. A saint is someone who is completely filled with the love of God, who moves in complete harmony with God. A saint is someone who has at last become precisely what God created them to be. God’s creation in them has been realised in all its fullness.
[AV - Picture of saints in heaven]
And here we have a picture of the saints in heaven. In the centre you can see Jesus on the cross, above him God the Father, and above him the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. And around the three persons of God we have countless saints, all looking to Christ and all moving in perfect harmony with God.
And the good news is that we are all saints. In the New Testament, all the baptised people are commonly called saints. And we have been baptised. We are a new creation (2 Cor 5: 17), we are members of Christ’s body (1 Cor 6: 15), children of God, and co-heirs of God with Christ (Roman 8: 16-17). By our baptism we become part of God’s chosen people, part of his royal priesthood, and holy nation (1 Peter 2: 9). And all this because we have believed and been baptised (Mark 16: 16). So there is a sense in which we are all saints, already!
[AV - Camera]
Well you are probably sat there looking at the person next to you and thinking, “Well she’s not a saint. I know that for sure. If my wife was a saint she would be far better at cooking!”
And this is where we get to the bad news. Although all of us in the church are saints, we are also all sinners. We all have this part of us that rebels against God’s love; that says, “No, I want to do it my way.” And this sin affects us in many ways. First of all it clouds our vision. It makes us look at things selfishly and not as God sees them. There is a sense in which your wife really is a saint, but in your sinfulness you don’t see it. You are too busy thinking about your stomach! But then our sinfulness also leads us into bad attitudes and bad behaviours. We treat other people as enemies or threats and not as children of God. And as we all know, it gets worse.
So we are all saints, and we are all sinners. Well we probably knew that already, because we know that everyone has their good points and their bad points. But the very important point that we must not overlook is that the saint within us has an eternal and blessed future with God in heaven, and with the saints, whereas the sinner within us has no future. He can only shrivel up and die. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6: 23). So the skill of life on earth is to always make the saint within us grow, and flourish because the saint is our future. And the sinner we allow to die, because in the end that is all he can do.
And how do we do this? How do we make the saint within us grow? Well we do it by focusing on Christ, who is THE saint, the holy one, the source of our holiness.
Our gospel reading today presented a powerful picture of Christ as the resurrection and the life. Jesus was able to restore the body of Lazarus despite the stench of four days of decay in the tomb. Jesus was able to call Lazarus back from the dead and give him life once more. So it is that Jesus is the source of our resurrection life. He is the one who gives life to the saint within us makes it grow. Our holiness does not come from us, it comes from God. It is the gift of grace. Our part is to want it, to pray for it, and to accept it and co-operate with it. And accepting this grace means accepting the commandments of Jesus, especially the commandments to love other people. If we practise loving then the saint grows within us. The kingdom of God within us might feel like a very small mustard seed, but it has the potential to grow into a great tree (c.f. Matt 13: 31).
And as the saint grows within us, so the sinner within gets marginalised and squeezed out. And this can be painful; it a kind of death. But its worth it because it allows the saint to grow.
[AV - Picture of saints in heaven]
Let’s go back to that picture of the saints. One of the amazing things is that they are all very different. In Revelation 7 (v 9) we are told that they come from every tribe and nation, every people and language, and they all have a specific role in heaven. They all have their own distinctive way of ministering to the other saints. And the church on earth is like this too. We are all very different. We do come from many different tribes and peoples, nations and languages. And we all have a distinctive ministry to one another, each of us our own particular way of helping the others.
[AV - Picture of listening]
And today I would like to emphasise one particular ministry that lies beneath all the others; the ministry of listening. It is so important to listen properly to one another, to create the space for the other person to express themselves. Listening is the basis of so many other ministries because only by listening can we understand the needs of the other person, only by being attentive to them can we be sure that our ministry is exercised for their benefit and not out of our own pride. And listening is also very counter cultural. Our culture always emphasises the importance of getting our message across. Listening, in contrast seeks to hear the truth of the other person; not the bluster and self propaganda, but the truth of the person created by God. In October’s parish magazine we advertised a taster evening of training on Christian listening coming up on 17th November. I commend this to you. Look out for more details in the next weeks pewslip.
[AV - Camera]
So, on All Saints day let us rejoice with the saints in heaven. Let’s praise God for our baptism which like a small mustard seed means that we too can grow up to become great saints. And let’s focus on Christ. Even if our lives are sinful and putrid, like a body four days in the grave, Christ can show us the way and make it happen, so that we grow up to discover our own small place in heaven, along side all the other saints. Amen.
Sunday 1st November 2009 – All Saints Day – Year B
(A more traditional version of this sermon was also preached at the 11am Eucharist.)
Readings: Wisdom 3: 1-9 Rev 21: 1-6 John 11: 32-44
[AV - Camera]
So it’s All Saints Day; the day when we remind ourselves about all the saints in heaven, both those who are famous and have their own special days in the churches calendar, and especially those who are not so famous, those whose holiness is known to God alone.
And what is a Saint? Well a saint is a person who is holy. A saint is a person who has drawn very close to God, who is illuminated by the holiness of God. A saint is someone who is completely filled with the love of God, who moves in complete harmony with God. A saint is someone who has at last become precisely what God created them to be. God’s creation in them has been realised in all its fullness.
[AV - Picture of saints in heaven]
And here we have a picture of the saints in heaven. In the centre you can see Jesus on the cross, above him God the Father, and above him the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. And around the three persons of God we have countless saints, all looking to Christ and all moving in perfect harmony with God.
And the good news is that we are all saints. In the New Testament, all the baptised people are commonly called saints. And we have been baptised. We are a new creation (2 Cor 5: 17), we are members of Christ’s body (1 Cor 6: 15), children of God, and co-heirs of God with Christ (Roman 8: 16-17). By our baptism we become part of God’s chosen people, part of his royal priesthood, and holy nation (1 Peter 2: 9). And all this because we have believed and been baptised (Mark 16: 16). So there is a sense in which we are all saints, already!
[AV - Camera]
Well you are probably sat there looking at the person next to you and thinking, “Well she’s not a saint. I know that for sure. If my wife was a saint she would be far better at cooking!”
And this is where we get to the bad news. Although all of us in the church are saints, we are also all sinners. We all have this part of us that rebels against God’s love; that says, “No, I want to do it my way.” And this sin affects us in many ways. First of all it clouds our vision. It makes us look at things selfishly and not as God sees them. There is a sense in which your wife really is a saint, but in your sinfulness you don’t see it. You are too busy thinking about your stomach! But then our sinfulness also leads us into bad attitudes and bad behaviours. We treat other people as enemies or threats and not as children of God. And as we all know, it gets worse.
So we are all saints, and we are all sinners. Well we probably knew that already, because we know that everyone has their good points and their bad points. But the very important point that we must not overlook is that the saint within us has an eternal and blessed future with God in heaven, and with the saints, whereas the sinner within us has no future. He can only shrivel up and die. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6: 23). So the skill of life on earth is to always make the saint within us grow, and flourish because the saint is our future. And the sinner we allow to die, because in the end that is all he can do.
And how do we do this? How do we make the saint within us grow? Well we do it by focusing on Christ, who is THE saint, the holy one, the source of our holiness.
Our gospel reading today presented a powerful picture of Christ as the resurrection and the life. Jesus was able to restore the body of Lazarus despite the stench of four days of decay in the tomb. Jesus was able to call Lazarus back from the dead and give him life once more. So it is that Jesus is the source of our resurrection life. He is the one who gives life to the saint within us makes it grow. Our holiness does not come from us, it comes from God. It is the gift of grace. Our part is to want it, to pray for it, and to accept it and co-operate with it. And accepting this grace means accepting the commandments of Jesus, especially the commandments to love other people. If we practise loving then the saint grows within us. The kingdom of God within us might feel like a very small mustard seed, but it has the potential to grow into a great tree (c.f. Matt 13: 31).
And as the saint grows within us, so the sinner within gets marginalised and squeezed out. And this can be painful; it a kind of death. But its worth it because it allows the saint to grow.
[AV - Picture of saints in heaven]
Let’s go back to that picture of the saints. One of the amazing things is that they are all very different. In Revelation 7 (v 9) we are told that they come from every tribe and nation, every people and language, and they all have a specific role in heaven. They all have their own distinctive way of ministering to the other saints. And the church on earth is like this too. We are all very different. We do come from many different tribes and peoples, nations and languages. And we all have a distinctive ministry to one another, each of us our own particular way of helping the others.
[AV - Picture of listening]
And today I would like to emphasise one particular ministry that lies beneath all the others; the ministry of listening. It is so important to listen properly to one another, to create the space for the other person to express themselves. Listening is the basis of so many other ministries because only by listening can we understand the needs of the other person, only by being attentive to them can we be sure that our ministry is exercised for their benefit and not out of our own pride. And listening is also very counter cultural. Our culture always emphasises the importance of getting our message across. Listening, in contrast seeks to hear the truth of the other person; not the bluster and self propaganda, but the truth of the person created by God. In October’s parish magazine we advertised a taster evening of training on Christian listening coming up on 17th November. I commend this to you. Look out for more details in the next weeks pewslip.
[AV - Camera]
So, on All Saints day let us rejoice with the saints in heaven. Let’s praise God for our baptism which like a small mustard seed means that we too can grow up to become great saints. And let’s focus on Christ. Even if our lives are sinful and putrid, like a body four days in the grave, Christ can show us the way and make it happen, so that we grow up to discover our own small place in heaven, along side all the other saints. Amen.
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