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.

Knowing our need of God

Informal sermon - 28/10/07 – Last Sunday after Trinity – Year C
Readings: Ecclesiasticus 35:12-17 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18 Luke 18:9-14


First of all I would like to thank Club 1 for proclaiming the gospel for us today, via video clip! As you know, Club 1 have been reflecting on the parable the we heard in today’s gospel reading, so I thought it might be good to ask them a question or two!
[What do we know about the Pharisees at the time of Jesus? Tell me about the Pharisees.]
In the world that Jesus grew up in the Pharisees were pretty much the most respectable people around. They were religious leaders, usually well educated and usually from good families. People would like to be associated with the Pharisees; they would like to invite them to their parties and to talk to them in the streets.
[What do we know about Tax Collectors at the time of Jesus? Tell me about Tax Collectors.]
By contrast the tax collectors were about the least respectable people in society. The tax collectors worked for the occupying Roman force. They had the power to decide how much or how little tax you paid, so you could afford to fall out with them. If they wanted to take money off you they had the full power of the Roman army behind them. Also they often took a bit of money on the side for themselves, in addition to the money that they took for the Romans, and there was nothing you could do about it. People hated the tax collectors. It was dangerous to talk to tax collectors, because everything they knew about you or your friends they used to get taxes out of you. So people stayed away from the tax collectors and tried to have nothing to do with them.
[Last question! What is it about the parable that would have been rather
shocking to the people that Jesus was talking to?]
The parable is shocking because, when they pray to God, it is the Tax Collector not the Pharisee who walks away justified, that is who walks away in the right relationship with God. This could be very unsettling. It tells us that the ordinary values of human society can be very different from what matters to God. I was wondering how the parable might look if we switched it into modern times.
Solihull is a very respectable place. Someone from Solihull, a priest even, might go up to the church and pray “I thank you God that I have a nice house and a nice car and a nice family. I thank you that I obey the law of the land and go to church and I keep the Ten Commandments and I give money to the church. I thank you that I am a really respectable person.”
And perhaps somewhere else in the Borough, perhaps in Chelmsley Wood a drug addict might go into church, and he might have all kinds of debts, and problems, and a broken family and he might pray “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” And perhaps it is that person who is in the right relationship with God.
To be in the right relationship with God! To be in a right relationship with God we have to humbly accept our need of God. We have to humbly accept the love that God has shown us in making us, in giving us our families, our friends and all the good things that we have. And above all we have to humbly accept that God has overcome our sins, through the passion and death of Jesus.
It is very easy to think, “I am a very respectable person…I’m not a sinner…well that’s not a sin…well everyone does that nowadays.” But that’s the Pharisee talking! It is much, much harder to be honest about the painful reality of our own sin; we have to cry out with the tax collector “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
And the key thing here is to believe ever more truly and ever more deeply in the mercy of God. The more that we can truly trust in God’s love for us, despite all the worst things about us, the more we can start to love ourselves as God loves us, to forgive ourselves as God forgives us and to move beyond denial, to move beyond self hatred, to move beyond our sin.
And I think it is important to acknowledge that this can be a painful process. Sin can cause pain in our relationship with God and our relationship with other people. Jesus on the cross has accepted that pain and we too need to accept some of the hurt before relationships can be properly restored.
Now I would like to tell you about a prayer that can help us to do this. Perhaps you know it already. It is called the “Jesus Prayer”, and it is rather similar to the prayer that the Tax Collector made in our gospel today. The prayer has many forms, but probably the most common is the simple phrase, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” , “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” In the tradition of the Orthodox Church it is recommended to repete this phase time and time again for several minutes. To start with we say the prayer with our lips, but the idea is that we build up a rhythm of prayer and slowly we start to say the prayer with our whole mind, our whole body and our whole spirit. And this is very helpful, because it reminds us ever more deeply who Jesus is, the Son of God, who we are, sinners, and of the mercy of God in which we are held.
So as we continue our service today, and as we go home, let us continue to reflect on this parable. Let’s be honest about our sin to God, and honest about our need of God. And let’s use the Jesus prayer to remind us that we stand always and only in the mercy of God. Amen.