Preached at 10.00am Eucharist at St Helen’s Church, Solihull.
Sunday 14th September 2008, Holy Cross Day.
A shorter version was also preached at 8am at St. Helen's.
Readings Numbers 21: 4-9 Philippians 2:6-11 John 3: 13-17
I am sure that you have heard the phrase “Touch Wood” many times. I often hear it when I go visiting. People say something like, “Well the doctor has told me that I should be OK now, so I am really grateful for that, touch wood!” and then they look around for something wooden to touch, and they usually find something and touch it. And then they might say something like, “Well, I’m sorry…I shouldn’t be doing these supposititious things in front of you, should I?” Sometimes it seems that people have no problem with being superstitious, so long as they are not superstitious in front of the vicar (or curate)!
I spent a few minutes yesterday searching the internet for the origins of the phrase “touch wood” and I have to say I did not find anything very enlightening. However there are some intriguing references to an extraordinary series of events which happen around 325 AD. This was a very exciting period in the life of the Church. After three centuries of often brutal persecution by the Roman Empire, suddenly Rome had a Christian emperor, Constantine. Suddenly, far from being persecuted, the Church was in great favour with the state. At this time, the emperor’s mother, Helena, who we now call St Helena, went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When she went to see the place where Jesus had died and had been buried she was disappointed to find nothing but a pagan Roman temple on the site. You will recall that, as punishment for the Jewish rebelion, the Romans had completely destroyed Jerusalem and sent the Jews away in 70AD. The Roman temple was built to remind people who was in charge.
Helena ordered that the temple be demolished an excavations started to see what, if anything, remained from the time of the death of Jesus. As they dug, they found what they soon came to believe to be the tomb of Jesus and nearby they found buried three wooden crosses, including the inscription plate from Jesus’ crucifixion. This was of course very exciting. It was clear to the people involved that the three crosses were those of Jesus and the two thieves, but it was not clear which cross was which. This was resolved by bringing in a very sick lady, who in an atmosphere of intense prayer, was touched by the wood of each of the three crosses in turn. As soon as she was touched by the third cross, she was miraculously healed. This was taken as conclusive proof that the third cross was indeed the “True Cross”, the cross on which Jesus died. The True Cross quickly became one of the most important relics in Christianity, known for its healing qualities, and many legends and myths grew up around it. Constantine built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre over the whole site. It was completed in 335 AD, and it was dedicated over a two day festival on 13th and 14th September. People would come to venerate the cross on which Jesus died, and to this day we reserve 14th September as Holy Cross Day, a day for the veneration and remembrance of the cross of Jesus. The idea of healing by "touching wood" still resonates down the ages.
Now in this parish we often have some form of veneration of the cross on Good Friday. I don’t know what your practice is here, but at St Alphege we have a wooden Crucifix and one by one we come up before it. Some people kiss it, some bow reverently before it, some pray quietly. But whatever we do outwardly with our bodies and with a material wooden cross only has really value if it corresponds to what we are doing spiritually and inwardly in our relationship with Jesus dying on the cross.
The cross is absolutely central to our faith. Only two weeks ago in our gospel reading we heard Jesus say to us, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matt 16: 24). In our gospel reading today Jesus was clear that, as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent on a pole, so Jesus must be lifted up, in order to bring eternal life to those who believe in him (c.f. John 3:14). And the reason that the cross is so important to Christianity is because the death of Jesus is so very closely linked to his resurrection. The new life, joy and fulfilment of the resurrection come about precisely because Jesus died on the cross.
As Christians we are always called to grow in our love for Jesus. We might find it very easy to love the baby Jesus born at Christmas time, or Jesus the wise and merciful teacher who drew great crowds. But we are also called to love Jesus on the cross; Jesus treated as a criminal, Jesus humiliated and dying, who feels himself forsaken even by God.
And I would like to suggest that we have an opportunity to do this every time any kind of suffering crosses our path. Every time we suffer a disappointment, every time someone is rude to us, every time we encounter pain, every time we become aware of faults in ourselves or in others, these are moments when we need to love Jesus dying on the cross. In each of these sufferings we can, through prayer, find a link to Christ, suffering on the cross and we can try to love him.
And this is not easy. We are usually more keen to avoid suffering, than to see and love the suffering Christ in sufferings. But Jesus did not avoid suffering. Even though he was God, he was humble enough let go of his equality with God, to become human and to walk willingly into a most horrifying human death (c.f. Phil 2:6-8). In the face of suffering Jesus did not run away, but rather he loved. He continued to love throughout his passion, even forgiving his executors.
So when encounter suffer, in ourselves or in others, let’s first of all try to find a link to the sufferings of Jesus on the cross. Then let’s try love the suffering Christ in that situation. Sometimes love will show us things we can do to alleviate the sufferings. Sometimes, like Mary watching Jesus die on the cross, we can do nothing but just stand there. Either way, the important thing is to love.
And in this way our hearts grow. Our relationship with Jesus grows. As we share more with Jesus at his death, so we share more with him at this resurrection and we experience his reconciliation and new life in our lives. Loving Jesus in all our sufferings; this is the true way to venerate the cross.
14 September 2008
07 September 2008
Equality and non-discrimination
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull at Evensong 6.30pm, 7th September 2008 - Trinity 16
Readings: Isaiah 35: 4-7a Psalm 108 James 2: 1-17
This morning in church, in our observance of Racial Justice Sunday, we reflected on unjust discrimination against people from other races.
But then the theme of discrimination came up in the church news last week in a completely different way. A newly form group called “Accord” accused Faith Schools of discrimination in the selection of teachers and pupils. I found myself wondering what it means to be a faith school if it does not mean that at least some members of staff and pupils come form the designed faith. A ballet school must necessarily select people who are interested in ballet. Surely a faith school must do the same? But in the perception of people like Accord there is a particular difficulty of discrimination arsing from faith.
And then in our scripture reading today we heard St James warn against unjust discrimination against the poor.
So it seems like an appropriate moment to reflect around this theme of equality and non-discrimination, in the Christian understanding.
The equality of dignity of all human beings arises above all from our creation. God, in his great wisdom and love, has created human beings to share in his image and likeness (Gen 1: 26-27, 5:1 James 3:9). We are created for a great destiny; to share eternal life with God, through Christ. We are called to grow into the likeness of Christ (1 Cor 15:49, 2 Cor 3:18), the likeness of God. Whether or not people are aware of it, we are all called by Christ (John 12: 32, Matt 28:19). We are all created sons and daughters of the same heavenly father. Through Christ we have the possibility of fully realising that potential as fellow heirs with Christ, inheritors of God’s glory (Rom 8: 13-17).
So, all human beings share a common dignity. All are called to share in the life of heaven. Therefore each human being must be treated with great respect and afforded great value because of the presence of God, and the further potential presence of God in each one. And this dignity is equal among all human beings because it is one and the same dignity which is held in common; the share in the image and likeness of God.
And this has consequences in our attitude to other human beings, which are well illustrated in our reading from James this evening. We heard James emphasise that the Church must not show favouritism to the rich over the poor. He says tells us not to make distinctions among ourselves or make judgements about one another. He says that acts of favouritism suggest a failure to truly believe in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. He reminds of the beatitude, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). He grounds all this in the commandment, “Love your neighbour as yourself” and says that this commandment is broken if we show partiality. He says we should speak and act as those who are to be judged according to the law of liberty. He reminds us of the importance of an attitude of mercy, because the mercy that we show to others is the mercy that we will receive.
In the passage we read, James is particularly concerned with the poor; that there dignity be preserved (vv 3-5) and that their basic human needs for food and clothing are satisfied (vv15-17). But this need to preserve human dignity applies equally to all human beings who are likely to be discriminated against. We think especially today of people of different races, but we could also think of the very young, the very old, people with disabilities of different kinds, the uneducated, foreigners or people from different religions. As Christians we try to seek out, honour and develop this basic human dignity in all people. It is important even in people who wilfully damage the dignity of themselves or of others through greed or sex or drugs or violence or deceit or neglect. We might not agree with their actions, but we still value them as human beings and recognise that, like us, they are created by God, and like us, they are called to heaven, and like us their getting to heaven depends entirely on the grace and mercy of God.
My guess is that this understanding of the basic human dignity of all people is unlikely to cause problems for the supporters of Accord. But there are other aspects of it that they might find more difficult. In particular we must not think that our dignity as human beings a static thing. It arises from our creation as human beings who are called to share in the life of God. It is God’s call to us and his hope for us that is the source of our dignity. We are called to develop our relationship with God and to move ever closer to him. We are called to move from sin to righteousness. We are called to grow in holiness. We know that are human bodies are destined to die, but that we are called to life in the Spirit (c.f. Romans 8: 9-11).
And this call of God has consequences which sometimes are quite wrongly construed as inequalities. For example, God call is very personal to each one of us and the callings are quite different. It uniquely and precisely matches the way we have been made, our personal fulfilment and our personal contribution to the Church and to the whole body of humanity. We try to follow God’s calling for us in our everyday life in society and also in the life of the Church. As St Paul explains, “And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. … But eagerly desire the greater gifts.” (1Cor 28-31) Over time the roles we are called to move on and develop. Hopefully we mature, grow closer to God and offer better and purer service to the life of the whole Church. Paul talks about some gifts being “higher” than others, but this is not about having dominion over others, rather it is about serving others; the wider the scope of service to the whole church, the higher the gift. It is when gifts are properly used for the service of others that we are able to see most clearly that the diversity of gifts and the diversity of roles does not compromise our equal dignity as human beings.
Also this call to righteousness means that we value and celebrate our efforts to become better people, and to correspond better to God’s aspirations for each one of us. And when we try to follow God in this way it does introduce a certain tension into our life. We find ourselves trying to behave like saints, when manifestly we are sinners. This is sometimes quite wrongly construed as hypocrisy, as though it would somehow be more honest and better to fail to journey towards God and to rejoice in our inadequacies and sinfulness. Of course our own human efforts to become holy are in themselves completely futile. We fail and fail and fail again, but our efforts are still very important and significant because they express our desire to move towards holiness. As we fail and confess our sins and start again, so we create a humble space in which God’s grace and mercy is able to work, taking us forward not as we would expect, but as God has planned for us.
[The call to holiness therefore means that there are certain values, behaviours and attitudes that are helpful to us personally, to the church and to wider society. These we seek to promote. Similarly there are other approaches which are rebellious against God, unhelpful and destructive. These we would seek to move away from. What groups like Accord sometimes find difficult is that promoting certain values can feel like discrimination in favour of people who display those values and discrimination against people who don’t. Needless to say, I do not accept this. It seems to me that seeking to remove discrimination by removing values ultimately removes the very reason why we want to avoid discrimination. All sense of right and wrong, and all sense of justice disappears.
So what are the valid ways of promoting equality and non-discrimination? Well certainly it is to “Love your neighbour as yourself”. Certainly it is to recognise and rejoice in the dignity of each human being. Certainly it is to want the good of that human being, and want to help them on their journey towards God, even if they are currently very far from God. But we must not allow desire for equality to force everybody to be the same, or to exercise the same roles in society. Rather we should rejoice in diversity and encourage the people who are “greater” to focus more completely on the service of others. Neither should we allow the desire for equality to stop us from saying that certain behaviours are “good” and desirable, and others “bad” and undesirable. Rather we should redouble our efforts to promote that which is good, whilst retaining and attitude of great mercy towards those whose behaviour is “bad”.]
Readings: Isaiah 35: 4-7a Psalm 108 James 2: 1-17
This morning in church, in our observance of Racial Justice Sunday, we reflected on unjust discrimination against people from other races.
But then the theme of discrimination came up in the church news last week in a completely different way. A newly form group called “Accord” accused Faith Schools of discrimination in the selection of teachers and pupils. I found myself wondering what it means to be a faith school if it does not mean that at least some members of staff and pupils come form the designed faith. A ballet school must necessarily select people who are interested in ballet. Surely a faith school must do the same? But in the perception of people like Accord there is a particular difficulty of discrimination arsing from faith.
And then in our scripture reading today we heard St James warn against unjust discrimination against the poor.
So it seems like an appropriate moment to reflect around this theme of equality and non-discrimination, in the Christian understanding.
The equality of dignity of all human beings arises above all from our creation. God, in his great wisdom and love, has created human beings to share in his image and likeness (Gen 1: 26-27, 5:1 James 3:9). We are created for a great destiny; to share eternal life with God, through Christ. We are called to grow into the likeness of Christ (1 Cor 15:49, 2 Cor 3:18), the likeness of God. Whether or not people are aware of it, we are all called by Christ (John 12: 32, Matt 28:19). We are all created sons and daughters of the same heavenly father. Through Christ we have the possibility of fully realising that potential as fellow heirs with Christ, inheritors of God’s glory (Rom 8: 13-17).
So, all human beings share a common dignity. All are called to share in the life of heaven. Therefore each human being must be treated with great respect and afforded great value because of the presence of God, and the further potential presence of God in each one. And this dignity is equal among all human beings because it is one and the same dignity which is held in common; the share in the image and likeness of God.
And this has consequences in our attitude to other human beings, which are well illustrated in our reading from James this evening. We heard James emphasise that the Church must not show favouritism to the rich over the poor. He says tells us not to make distinctions among ourselves or make judgements about one another. He says that acts of favouritism suggest a failure to truly believe in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. He reminds of the beatitude, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). He grounds all this in the commandment, “Love your neighbour as yourself” and says that this commandment is broken if we show partiality. He says we should speak and act as those who are to be judged according to the law of liberty. He reminds us of the importance of an attitude of mercy, because the mercy that we show to others is the mercy that we will receive.
In the passage we read, James is particularly concerned with the poor; that there dignity be preserved (vv 3-5) and that their basic human needs for food and clothing are satisfied (vv15-17). But this need to preserve human dignity applies equally to all human beings who are likely to be discriminated against. We think especially today of people of different races, but we could also think of the very young, the very old, people with disabilities of different kinds, the uneducated, foreigners or people from different religions. As Christians we try to seek out, honour and develop this basic human dignity in all people. It is important even in people who wilfully damage the dignity of themselves or of others through greed or sex or drugs or violence or deceit or neglect. We might not agree with their actions, but we still value them as human beings and recognise that, like us, they are created by God, and like us, they are called to heaven, and like us their getting to heaven depends entirely on the grace and mercy of God.
My guess is that this understanding of the basic human dignity of all people is unlikely to cause problems for the supporters of Accord. But there are other aspects of it that they might find more difficult. In particular we must not think that our dignity as human beings a static thing. It arises from our creation as human beings who are called to share in the life of God. It is God’s call to us and his hope for us that is the source of our dignity. We are called to develop our relationship with God and to move ever closer to him. We are called to move from sin to righteousness. We are called to grow in holiness. We know that are human bodies are destined to die, but that we are called to life in the Spirit (c.f. Romans 8: 9-11).
And this call of God has consequences which sometimes are quite wrongly construed as inequalities. For example, God call is very personal to each one of us and the callings are quite different. It uniquely and precisely matches the way we have been made, our personal fulfilment and our personal contribution to the Church and to the whole body of humanity. We try to follow God’s calling for us in our everyday life in society and also in the life of the Church. As St Paul explains, “And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. … But eagerly desire the greater gifts.” (1Cor 28-31) Over time the roles we are called to move on and develop. Hopefully we mature, grow closer to God and offer better and purer service to the life of the whole Church. Paul talks about some gifts being “higher” than others, but this is not about having dominion over others, rather it is about serving others; the wider the scope of service to the whole church, the higher the gift. It is when gifts are properly used for the service of others that we are able to see most clearly that the diversity of gifts and the diversity of roles does not compromise our equal dignity as human beings.
Also this call to righteousness means that we value and celebrate our efforts to become better people, and to correspond better to God’s aspirations for each one of us. And when we try to follow God in this way it does introduce a certain tension into our life. We find ourselves trying to behave like saints, when manifestly we are sinners. This is sometimes quite wrongly construed as hypocrisy, as though it would somehow be more honest and better to fail to journey towards God and to rejoice in our inadequacies and sinfulness. Of course our own human efforts to become holy are in themselves completely futile. We fail and fail and fail again, but our efforts are still very important and significant because they express our desire to move towards holiness. As we fail and confess our sins and start again, so we create a humble space in which God’s grace and mercy is able to work, taking us forward not as we would expect, but as God has planned for us.
[The call to holiness therefore means that there are certain values, behaviours and attitudes that are helpful to us personally, to the church and to wider society. These we seek to promote. Similarly there are other approaches which are rebellious against God, unhelpful and destructive. These we would seek to move away from. What groups like Accord sometimes find difficult is that promoting certain values can feel like discrimination in favour of people who display those values and discrimination against people who don’t. Needless to say, I do not accept this. It seems to me that seeking to remove discrimination by removing values ultimately removes the very reason why we want to avoid discrimination. All sense of right and wrong, and all sense of justice disappears.
So what are the valid ways of promoting equality and non-discrimination? Well certainly it is to “Love your neighbour as yourself”. Certainly it is to recognise and rejoice in the dignity of each human being. Certainly it is to want the good of that human being, and want to help them on their journey towards God, even if they are currently very far from God. But we must not allow desire for equality to force everybody to be the same, or to exercise the same roles in society. Rather we should rejoice in diversity and encourage the people who are “greater” to focus more completely on the service of others. Neither should we allow the desire for equality to stop us from saying that certain behaviours are “good” and desirable, and others “bad” and undesirable. Rather we should redouble our efforts to promote that which is good, whilst retaining and attitude of great mercy towards those whose behaviour is “bad”.]
31 August 2008
Taking up our cross and following Christ
Sermon preach at 9.15 Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull
Sunday 31st August 2008, Trinity 15, Proper 17, Year A
Readings: Jeremiah 15:15-21 Romans 12: 9-21 Matthew 16: 21-28
One of my favourite television programmes is “You’ve been framed”. It is a programme where they show funny or embarrassing moments that have been captured on family camcorders. To try and keep people watching the during the advertisement break they often have a, “What happens next?” clip. Last thing before the break they show the start of some clip and you have to guess what happens next. Perhaps you see some lad on a quad bike skilful negotiate some hazard and start to accelerate way. So can you guess what happens next? Somehow you know it will be some kind of disaster. Perhaps he will over do it with the acceleration and the bike will go over backwards? Perhaps he’ll drive straight into a tree? Then after the break you see the second half of the clip. And what happens? Well, another quad bike zooms in from nowhere and knocks him for six. Well we knew it would be something like that, but we did not know exactly what!
This week’s gospel reading is a bit like the second half of a “What happens next?” film clip that we started last week. If you remember last weeks gospel you will remember it recounted a wonderful moment for Peter. He proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus was ever so pleased with Peter. He declared Peter to be the rock on which Jesus would build the Church, and he gave Peter great authority both in heaven and on earth.
And what happened next? Well that’s this week’s gospel. Jesus starts to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of the chief priests and scribes, and be killed. Well Peter, full of confidence following his great success, marches in and says, “Forbid it Lord, this must never happen to you!” And Jesus is furious. He says, “Get behind me Satan!” Peter must have felt stung to the core.
And what had Peter done wrong? What he said seemed pretty reasonable really. If you have just worked out that someone is the Messiah, the Son of God, you don’t in the next breath agree to let that person be killed by the very people who need him most. But Jesus explains. Peter was “setting his mind not on divine things, but on human things.”
So Jesus accepts that, humanly speaking, Peter’s has a point. But Jesus is not just human, he is also divine. He has come to earth to teach the divine ways to the apostles and to the whole world. He has come to show us the ways of heaven, and the ways of heaven are different from the ways of earth.
Humanly speaking we all want to avoid suffering. We instinctively want fullness of life, and suffering seems like the very opposite of that, it seems like the lose of life, it seems like the road to death. Yet Jesus teaches us the divine ways, and he is very clear. He says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
What does it mean in practice to take up our cross and follow Jesus? Well it means following Jesus through the bad times as well as the good. It means following Jesus in situations of suffering, or hurt, or pain. And it doesn’t matter if the suffering is physical, or emotional or spiritual. It doesn’t matter is the suffering is our own fault or the fault of the people around us, or no ones fault at all. It does not matter if the suffering is large or small. In all cases of suffering the call is the same; to continue to follow Jesus.
And as we think about Jesus carrying his cross to Calvary, and we think of us following with him, each carrying our own little crosses then there are a two ways in particular in which we are asked to follow him.
Firstly we follow Jesus by continuing to do God’s will, even when it is very costly. The gospels tell us about Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane praying that the Father might make the cup of poison may pass from him, and yet also praying, “Not what I want, but what you want” (e.g. Matt 26: 39). Following God’s will can be very costly. Sometimes we need to accept something hurtful or discouraging or sad. Sometimes we need to confront people or situations and risk conversations that might be difficult or painful. There can be all kinds of difficult things, but if we follow God’s will, even through sufferings, then we are following Jesus with his cross and sharing on his journey to Calvary.
Secondly we need to continue to love other people, even when we are suffering. Jesus continues to love through his passion. He forgives the people who crucify him. He ministers to the penitent thief. He makes arrangements for St John to take care of his mother. He continues to think about the others, to hope for the others, to see the good in the others, despite the great evil that is done to him.
So this is how we can follow Jesus in our sufferings; by continuing to do God’s will for us, and by continuing to love. And this very often means denying ourselves, giving up on our own plans and aspirations, giving up on our resentments and frustrations, giving up our sense of comfort or of being in control. This is costly, but Jesus is very clear, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
But now for the good news. By denying ourselves and taking up our cross and following Jesus we find that we are bound into a much deeper relationship with Jesus. It is a relationship that becomes deeper and purer and truer as we carry our crosses together. Sometimes we hear war veterans talk of difficult or dangerous situations that they have passed through together. This experience binds them together with a trust and understanding that goes very deep. It is the same with us and Jesus. When we continue to love, and continue to do the will of God through our sufferings we share in a profoundly important experience with Jesus, who loved and did God’s will through his whole passion and death. Jesus starts to share our burdens with us. Our trust and understanding of Jesus grows.
And the news gets even better, because we discover that we are sharing more and more with Jesus. We find we share in the healing and reconciliation that Jesus won for us. Slowly God starts to transform us, and the situations around us, and they start to reflect his peace and his justice and his love.
But the very best news is that when we start to share with Jesus in his sufferings and death, so we begin to share with him in his resurrection, in his newness of life, in his glory (c.f. Romans 6: 5, 8: 17). The risen life of Jesus restores us and makes us whole. It gives us power to hope. We start to share in the eternal life that Jesus promises.
So when sufferings come, let’s follow Jesus by continuing to love and by continuing to do God’s will. In this way we take up our cross and share sufferings with Jesus. In this way too we start also to share in his risen life. Amen.
Sunday 31st August 2008, Trinity 15, Proper 17, Year A
Readings: Jeremiah 15:15-21 Romans 12: 9-21 Matthew 16: 21-28
One of my favourite television programmes is “You’ve been framed”. It is a programme where they show funny or embarrassing moments that have been captured on family camcorders. To try and keep people watching the during the advertisement break they often have a, “What happens next?” clip. Last thing before the break they show the start of some clip and you have to guess what happens next. Perhaps you see some lad on a quad bike skilful negotiate some hazard and start to accelerate way. So can you guess what happens next? Somehow you know it will be some kind of disaster. Perhaps he will over do it with the acceleration and the bike will go over backwards? Perhaps he’ll drive straight into a tree? Then after the break you see the second half of the clip. And what happens? Well, another quad bike zooms in from nowhere and knocks him for six. Well we knew it would be something like that, but we did not know exactly what!
This week’s gospel reading is a bit like the second half of a “What happens next?” film clip that we started last week. If you remember last weeks gospel you will remember it recounted a wonderful moment for Peter. He proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus was ever so pleased with Peter. He declared Peter to be the rock on which Jesus would build the Church, and he gave Peter great authority both in heaven and on earth.
And what happened next? Well that’s this week’s gospel. Jesus starts to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of the chief priests and scribes, and be killed. Well Peter, full of confidence following his great success, marches in and says, “Forbid it Lord, this must never happen to you!” And Jesus is furious. He says, “Get behind me Satan!” Peter must have felt stung to the core.
And what had Peter done wrong? What he said seemed pretty reasonable really. If you have just worked out that someone is the Messiah, the Son of God, you don’t in the next breath agree to let that person be killed by the very people who need him most. But Jesus explains. Peter was “setting his mind not on divine things, but on human things.”
So Jesus accepts that, humanly speaking, Peter’s has a point. But Jesus is not just human, he is also divine. He has come to earth to teach the divine ways to the apostles and to the whole world. He has come to show us the ways of heaven, and the ways of heaven are different from the ways of earth.
Humanly speaking we all want to avoid suffering. We instinctively want fullness of life, and suffering seems like the very opposite of that, it seems like the lose of life, it seems like the road to death. Yet Jesus teaches us the divine ways, and he is very clear. He says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
What does it mean in practice to take up our cross and follow Jesus? Well it means following Jesus through the bad times as well as the good. It means following Jesus in situations of suffering, or hurt, or pain. And it doesn’t matter if the suffering is physical, or emotional or spiritual. It doesn’t matter is the suffering is our own fault or the fault of the people around us, or no ones fault at all. It does not matter if the suffering is large or small. In all cases of suffering the call is the same; to continue to follow Jesus.
And as we think about Jesus carrying his cross to Calvary, and we think of us following with him, each carrying our own little crosses then there are a two ways in particular in which we are asked to follow him.
Firstly we follow Jesus by continuing to do God’s will, even when it is very costly. The gospels tell us about Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane praying that the Father might make the cup of poison may pass from him, and yet also praying, “Not what I want, but what you want” (e.g. Matt 26: 39). Following God’s will can be very costly. Sometimes we need to accept something hurtful or discouraging or sad. Sometimes we need to confront people or situations and risk conversations that might be difficult or painful. There can be all kinds of difficult things, but if we follow God’s will, even through sufferings, then we are following Jesus with his cross and sharing on his journey to Calvary.
Secondly we need to continue to love other people, even when we are suffering. Jesus continues to love through his passion. He forgives the people who crucify him. He ministers to the penitent thief. He makes arrangements for St John to take care of his mother. He continues to think about the others, to hope for the others, to see the good in the others, despite the great evil that is done to him.
So this is how we can follow Jesus in our sufferings; by continuing to do God’s will for us, and by continuing to love. And this very often means denying ourselves, giving up on our own plans and aspirations, giving up on our resentments and frustrations, giving up our sense of comfort or of being in control. This is costly, but Jesus is very clear, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
But now for the good news. By denying ourselves and taking up our cross and following Jesus we find that we are bound into a much deeper relationship with Jesus. It is a relationship that becomes deeper and purer and truer as we carry our crosses together. Sometimes we hear war veterans talk of difficult or dangerous situations that they have passed through together. This experience binds them together with a trust and understanding that goes very deep. It is the same with us and Jesus. When we continue to love, and continue to do the will of God through our sufferings we share in a profoundly important experience with Jesus, who loved and did God’s will through his whole passion and death. Jesus starts to share our burdens with us. Our trust and understanding of Jesus grows.
And the news gets even better, because we discover that we are sharing more and more with Jesus. We find we share in the healing and reconciliation that Jesus won for us. Slowly God starts to transform us, and the situations around us, and they start to reflect his peace and his justice and his love.
But the very best news is that when we start to share with Jesus in his sufferings and death, so we begin to share with him in his resurrection, in his newness of life, in his glory (c.f. Romans 6: 5, 8: 17). The risen life of Jesus restores us and makes us whole. It gives us power to hope. We start to share in the eternal life that Jesus promises.
So when sufferings come, let’s follow Jesus by continuing to love and by continuing to do God’s will. In this way we take up our cross and share sufferings with Jesus. In this way too we start also to share in his risen life. Amen.
24 August 2008
St Bartholomew
Sermon preached at Congregational Evensong at 6.30pm at St Alphege, Solihull
Sunday 24th August 2008 - Trinity 14
Readings: Deuteronomy 18: 15-19 Matthew 10: 1-22
Today, 24th August, is the day when the Western Church remembers Saint Bartholomew one of the apostles. Bartholomew is mentioned four times in the New Testament. Each time he is mentioned it is because the writer is listing the names of the twelve apostles. His name usually comes next to Philip name. And the truth is that we do not know very much more about him, although there are a number of rumours that we receive from some of the less authoritive early Church traditions and writings.
For example, there is some speculation that Bartholomew might be the same person as Nathanael. The speculation arises for two reasons. Firstly because it was Philip who introduced Nathanael to Jesus (John 1:45-51). (You will recall that Jesus saw Nathanael sitting under the fig tree and said of Nathanael, “Here is truly and Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”) Secondly because in John 21 there is a list of apostles, which includes Nathanael (who is not listed elsewhere) but which does not include Bartholomew.
There are several traditions about Bartholomew going on missionary journeys, particularly to India. There are also traditions about his missionary work in Armenia and Azerbaijan. This is the area to the immediate South East of Georgia, much in the news at present. There is a tradition in this area that he was brutally martyred. First flayed (that is skinned alive!) and then crucified upside down. Because of the flaying, St Bartholomew is the patron saint of tanners. In the vast Last Judgement scene in the Sistine Chapel St Bartholomew is shown in a most disturbing way. He is brandishing a knife in one hand and holding his own skin in the other. He has been painted with Michelangelo’s own facial features!
St Bartholomew is also associated with medicine; hence the dedication of St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. He is also associated with miracles whereby things become suddenly and mysteriously either very heavy or very light.
It is not easy to know how much truth lies behind all these stories, but it is clear that Bartholomew has had a considerable impact in Christian culture and tradition. And yet all this comes from an apostle who the gospels never record as doing anything, except just being there. In this week’s Church Times, John Pridmore describes Bartholomew as the “hidden disciple”. Much of what he said and did seems to have had a hidden quality, yet in the long term it has turned out to have a great impact.
Here we have to pause for a moment and remind ourselves that many of the things that have most value in the Christian life, also have a hidden quality about them. Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field (Matt 13). He tells that when we fast or pray or give arms to the poor we should do it in secret (Matt 6) and win a reward in heaven. We should not do these things so that people say how good we are, and if people do praise us on earth then we have already received our reward. Jesus assures us that everything hidden will eventually be made know (Matt 10:26) and St. Paul says that the Lord “will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his reward from God (1 Cor 4:5). Paul always insists that it is our inner prayers and intentions that matter. What we outwardly achieve is less important. This means that we are not wasting time when try to love someone we will never meet, or do something good which no one will hear about.
This is very counter cultural. We live in a television age where only visible things are considered important. The more spectacular something is, the better its chance of being seen on TV. The quiet, ordinary behind the scenes things are not celebrated or valued, but are often ignored. In business or government organizations things that are not objectively quantifiable and measurable tend not to be taken seriously. And the result of forever prioritizing things that can be measured (things like GDP growth or crime rates reduction) is that things that can’t be measured (things like happiness or fulfillment or peace) get de-prioritized.
So let’s take heart from Bartholomew, the hidden apostle. Let’s remember to value things as God values them, not as they might appear on TV or in the papers. Let’s continue with acts of love or honesty that nobody will ever know about. Let’s prepare for the time when all secret things are revealed. Let’s have confidence that we have a reward in heaven, for the good things that we do that are not recognized on earth.
Sunday 24th August 2008 - Trinity 14
Readings: Deuteronomy 18: 15-19 Matthew 10: 1-22
Today, 24th August, is the day when the Western Church remembers Saint Bartholomew one of the apostles. Bartholomew is mentioned four times in the New Testament. Each time he is mentioned it is because the writer is listing the names of the twelve apostles. His name usually comes next to Philip name. And the truth is that we do not know very much more about him, although there are a number of rumours that we receive from some of the less authoritive early Church traditions and writings.
For example, there is some speculation that Bartholomew might be the same person as Nathanael. The speculation arises for two reasons. Firstly because it was Philip who introduced Nathanael to Jesus (John 1:45-51). (You will recall that Jesus saw Nathanael sitting under the fig tree and said of Nathanael, “Here is truly and Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”) Secondly because in John 21 there is a list of apostles, which includes Nathanael (who is not listed elsewhere) but which does not include Bartholomew.
There are several traditions about Bartholomew going on missionary journeys, particularly to India. There are also traditions about his missionary work in Armenia and Azerbaijan. This is the area to the immediate South East of Georgia, much in the news at present. There is a tradition in this area that he was brutally martyred. First flayed (that is skinned alive!) and then crucified upside down. Because of the flaying, St Bartholomew is the patron saint of tanners. In the vast Last Judgement scene in the Sistine Chapel St Bartholomew is shown in a most disturbing way. He is brandishing a knife in one hand and holding his own skin in the other. He has been painted with Michelangelo’s own facial features!
St Bartholomew is also associated with medicine; hence the dedication of St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. He is also associated with miracles whereby things become suddenly and mysteriously either very heavy or very light.
It is not easy to know how much truth lies behind all these stories, but it is clear that Bartholomew has had a considerable impact in Christian culture and tradition. And yet all this comes from an apostle who the gospels never record as doing anything, except just being there. In this week’s Church Times, John Pridmore describes Bartholomew as the “hidden disciple”. Much of what he said and did seems to have had a hidden quality, yet in the long term it has turned out to have a great impact.
Here we have to pause for a moment and remind ourselves that many of the things that have most value in the Christian life, also have a hidden quality about them. Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field (Matt 13). He tells that when we fast or pray or give arms to the poor we should do it in secret (Matt 6) and win a reward in heaven. We should not do these things so that people say how good we are, and if people do praise us on earth then we have already received our reward. Jesus assures us that everything hidden will eventually be made know (Matt 10:26) and St. Paul says that the Lord “will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his reward from God (1 Cor 4:5). Paul always insists that it is our inner prayers and intentions that matter. What we outwardly achieve is less important. This means that we are not wasting time when try to love someone we will never meet, or do something good which no one will hear about.
This is very counter cultural. We live in a television age where only visible things are considered important. The more spectacular something is, the better its chance of being seen on TV. The quiet, ordinary behind the scenes things are not celebrated or valued, but are often ignored. In business or government organizations things that are not objectively quantifiable and measurable tend not to be taken seriously. And the result of forever prioritizing things that can be measured (things like GDP growth or crime rates reduction) is that things that can’t be measured (things like happiness or fulfillment or peace) get de-prioritized.
So let’s take heart from Bartholomew, the hidden apostle. Let’s remember to value things as God values them, not as they might appear on TV or in the papers. Let’s continue with acts of love or honesty that nobody will ever know about. Let’s prepare for the time when all secret things are revealed. Let’s have confidence that we have a reward in heaven, for the good things that we do that are not recognized on earth.
Two visions of Church
Sermon preached at 11am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull on Sunday 24th August 2008
Trinity 14, Proper 16, Year A.
Readings: Isaiah 51:1-6 Romans 12: 1-8 Matthew 16: 13-20
Our readings today encourage us to reflect on two different images of the Church; two different ways of thinking about the Church, and our role in it.
Our gospel reading was the story of Simon recognising Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Let’s just take a moment to think about though two titles, Messiah and Son of God, to check that we know what we mean by them.
First of all, the word Messiah. This is a Hebrew word which means “anointed one”. This equivalent Greek word is “Kristos” from which we get our word Christ. Within the kingdom of Israel the tradition was that God would choose a king, and he would tell a prophet to go and anoint that person with oil to show that they were to be king. Perhaps the most famous occasion when this happened is the one recorded in the first book of Samuel, Chapter 16. The prophet Samuel was sent by God to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king over Israel. Jesse paraded seven sons in front of Samuel, but none of these were to be king. Jesse’s eighth and youngest son, David, had to be called back from the fields. The Lord told Samuel that David was the one to be king, so Samuel anointed him with oil, and of course he went to become the great King David, who established the people of Israel in Jerusalem at the start of what was to become their golden age.
But the golden age only lasted for two or three generations. After that the people of Israel passed through hard times. They were always ruled by some foreign king or empire and they always felt oppressed and downtrodden. God promised them that in the fullness of time he would send a descendent of David to be a new Messiah, the anointed one, to be a great King, to save Israel and to enlighten all the people of the world. The people of Israel were always looking for the new Messiah and in our gospel today Simon recognised Jesus as the long awaited Messiah, the Christ.
Simon also recognised Jesus as the Son of God. This is effectively saying that Jesus is God, is of the same being as God. The rest of us were created by God, but Jesus was in some sense “begotten by God, before all things began.” The virgin birth bares witness to the fact that Jesus had no earthly father, but rather he should be called the Son of God.
So Simon’s recognition of Jesus as Messiah, anointed one, Christ, and as Son of God is very, very profound. Jesus certainly was very impressed and said to Simon, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Now it is not easy to understand what all this means. Jesus later repeats many of these things to all the apostles, so there is a sense in which they are shared by all the apostles, by all of the church. But within this sharing they still all come together in a particular way in the person of Simon, now called Peter, which means Rock. And this image of Peter, the rock, on which the church is founded, and the ministry that Peter shares with the other apostles, has been very influential in the churches understanding of itself; of what it means to be church. In Ephesians 2:20 St Paul compares the Church, the people of God to small stones which are being built together to form a great structure, a temple which is being built up to form a dwelling place for God’s Holy Spirit. In this comparison St Paul says that the prophets and apostles are the foundations and Jesus Christ himself is the chief cornerstone.
And I think that this is a very helpful and useful image of the church. But it is by no means the only helpful image of the church, and in fact it is necessary to lay it alongside other images of the church, in order to develop a fuller understanding of what the Church is, what it is for, and how we play our part in it.
In our second reading today from Romans chapter 12, we heard St Paul set out a different image of the church. It is the image of the Church as the body of Christ, and it is one that Paul repeats several times in his epistles (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 1:23, Col 1: 18). In this comparison, Christ is the head of the Church, and the Church is like his body. We are like different members of the body, perhaps we are an arm or a leg, and ear or a nose. We are all very different, but we all have a role to play that is of service to the whole body. We are all joined together in the body; we are members one of another. Just as the different parts of the human body are sustained by the flow of blood round the body, so we in the church are sustained by the presence of God in the Church. God present in his Word proclaimed from the scriptures. God present in the consecrated bread and wine of Holy Communion, God present in the midst of his people gathered in his name (Matt 18:20).
The image of the Church has a great building has it strengths. It makes us reflect on the structures and organisation of the Church, on the bishops and on all the rules and regulations which give us clear guidance on how we all fit together. However this is no more a complete view of the Church, that a skeleton is the complete human body. The body includes many soft tissues, much that is moving and changing all the time, and blood that is in constant circulation.
In our reading St Paul also said, “Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Rom 12: 2) And this is essential. It is by discerning God’s will that we work out how we, personally, fit into the body. Perhaps we are an arm, and rather action focused. Perhaps we are an ear, and draw the Churches attention the cries of the people around us. Perhaps we are good at talking and, with all charity (not as idle gossip!) we keep news moving and circulating round the people of the Church. Perhaps our role is to pray; we are more like the soul of the body, holding the whole body up before God.
So as we reflect on our own role in the church let’s make sure that everything is done in accordance with God’s will, so God will show us our right place alongside all the other people. Let’s remember that those structural bits, the Bishops and the rules, often show us the will of God and give form and structure to the church, just as the skeleton gives structure to the body. But let’s not make the mistake of thinking the skeleton is more important than the flesh and blood; otherwise we reduce the church to dry bones. Rather let’s recognise that we all need each other, and lets rejoice together, each in accordance with God’s will for us personally, so that the church can be a strong and vibrant body.
Trinity 14, Proper 16, Year A.
Readings: Isaiah 51:1-6 Romans 12: 1-8 Matthew 16: 13-20
Our readings today encourage us to reflect on two different images of the Church; two different ways of thinking about the Church, and our role in it.
Our gospel reading was the story of Simon recognising Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Let’s just take a moment to think about though two titles, Messiah and Son of God, to check that we know what we mean by them.
First of all, the word Messiah. This is a Hebrew word which means “anointed one”. This equivalent Greek word is “Kristos” from which we get our word Christ. Within the kingdom of Israel the tradition was that God would choose a king, and he would tell a prophet to go and anoint that person with oil to show that they were to be king. Perhaps the most famous occasion when this happened is the one recorded in the first book of Samuel, Chapter 16. The prophet Samuel was sent by God to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king over Israel. Jesse paraded seven sons in front of Samuel, but none of these were to be king. Jesse’s eighth and youngest son, David, had to be called back from the fields. The Lord told Samuel that David was the one to be king, so Samuel anointed him with oil, and of course he went to become the great King David, who established the people of Israel in Jerusalem at the start of what was to become their golden age.
But the golden age only lasted for two or three generations. After that the people of Israel passed through hard times. They were always ruled by some foreign king or empire and they always felt oppressed and downtrodden. God promised them that in the fullness of time he would send a descendent of David to be a new Messiah, the anointed one, to be a great King, to save Israel and to enlighten all the people of the world. The people of Israel were always looking for the new Messiah and in our gospel today Simon recognised Jesus as the long awaited Messiah, the Christ.
Simon also recognised Jesus as the Son of God. This is effectively saying that Jesus is God, is of the same being as God. The rest of us were created by God, but Jesus was in some sense “begotten by God, before all things began.” The virgin birth bares witness to the fact that Jesus had no earthly father, but rather he should be called the Son of God.
So Simon’s recognition of Jesus as Messiah, anointed one, Christ, and as Son of God is very, very profound. Jesus certainly was very impressed and said to Simon, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Now it is not easy to understand what all this means. Jesus later repeats many of these things to all the apostles, so there is a sense in which they are shared by all the apostles, by all of the church. But within this sharing they still all come together in a particular way in the person of Simon, now called Peter, which means Rock. And this image of Peter, the rock, on which the church is founded, and the ministry that Peter shares with the other apostles, has been very influential in the churches understanding of itself; of what it means to be church. In Ephesians 2:20 St Paul compares the Church, the people of God to small stones which are being built together to form a great structure, a temple which is being built up to form a dwelling place for God’s Holy Spirit. In this comparison St Paul says that the prophets and apostles are the foundations and Jesus Christ himself is the chief cornerstone.
And I think that this is a very helpful and useful image of the church. But it is by no means the only helpful image of the church, and in fact it is necessary to lay it alongside other images of the church, in order to develop a fuller understanding of what the Church is, what it is for, and how we play our part in it.
In our second reading today from Romans chapter 12, we heard St Paul set out a different image of the church. It is the image of the Church as the body of Christ, and it is one that Paul repeats several times in his epistles (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 1:23, Col 1: 18). In this comparison, Christ is the head of the Church, and the Church is like his body. We are like different members of the body, perhaps we are an arm or a leg, and ear or a nose. We are all very different, but we all have a role to play that is of service to the whole body. We are all joined together in the body; we are members one of another. Just as the different parts of the human body are sustained by the flow of blood round the body, so we in the church are sustained by the presence of God in the Church. God present in his Word proclaimed from the scriptures. God present in the consecrated bread and wine of Holy Communion, God present in the midst of his people gathered in his name (Matt 18:20).
The image of the Church has a great building has it strengths. It makes us reflect on the structures and organisation of the Church, on the bishops and on all the rules and regulations which give us clear guidance on how we all fit together. However this is no more a complete view of the Church, that a skeleton is the complete human body. The body includes many soft tissues, much that is moving and changing all the time, and blood that is in constant circulation.
In our reading St Paul also said, “Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Rom 12: 2) And this is essential. It is by discerning God’s will that we work out how we, personally, fit into the body. Perhaps we are an arm, and rather action focused. Perhaps we are an ear, and draw the Churches attention the cries of the people around us. Perhaps we are good at talking and, with all charity (not as idle gossip!) we keep news moving and circulating round the people of the Church. Perhaps our role is to pray; we are more like the soul of the body, holding the whole body up before God.
So as we reflect on our own role in the church let’s make sure that everything is done in accordance with God’s will, so God will show us our right place alongside all the other people. Let’s remember that those structural bits, the Bishops and the rules, often show us the will of God and give form and structure to the church, just as the skeleton gives structure to the body. But let’s not make the mistake of thinking the skeleton is more important than the flesh and blood; otherwise we reduce the church to dry bones. Rather let’s recognise that we all need each other, and lets rejoice together, each in accordance with God’s will for us personally, so that the church can be a strong and vibrant body.
17 August 2008
Everybody called to share in the life of heaven
Preached at 9.15am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull on Sunday 17th August 2008
Trinity 13, Proper 15, Year A.
Readings Isaiah 56:1,6-8 Romans 11: 1-2a, 29-32 Matthew 15: 21-28
Years ago the Church Times published a letter. It said something like this: “Sermons – what is the point of them? Our Vicar’s preached hundreds of sermons over the years and I can’t remember any of them.” The next week the Church Times published a letter in response. It said, “Over the years, my wife’s cooked me thousands of dinners. I can’t remember many of them, but I am ever so grateful.”
I think it is a very, very helpful letter. It reminds us that, just as we need to keep feeding our bodies with food, so we need to keep feeding our souls with the presence of God. Coming to the Eucharist is a good way of doing this, because we encounter God in his Word proclaimed in scripture and when we receive Jesus present in the bread and wine of Holy Communion.
So, just as we don’t worry that we can’t remember all the good meals that we have eaten, so we should not worry that we can’t remember all the good sermons we’ve heard. And this is a good job, because I know that I have listened to hundreds and hundreds of sermons and I can hardly remember any of them!
But here is the funny thing, although it feels like I can hardly remember any sermons, I can remember two sermons about the particular gospel reading that we heard today! They were completely different sermons, by different preachers given years apart, and yet I can remember them both! And the reason I remember them is that they both surprised me, shocked me! So, I’ll tell you what the two preachers said, and let’s see if I can surprise you!
The first preacher said something like, “Well, of course, the big thing about this gospel reading is that Jesus is so rude to the Canaanite woman. She comes to him, wanting him to heal her daughter. To start with Jesus ignores her. When she won’t go away, he explains that he is sent to the people of Israel, not to the Canaanites. Then she comes and kneels in front of him. He can’t ignore her then, and so he says to her, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ Well you can’t get much ruder than that, can you? Basically he is calling the Canaanites, dogs. Nowadays we might call that racist.”
I found this a deeply shocking viewpoint. I was very surprised. I was not ready to think about Jesus being either “rude” or “racist”, even if the woman was being completely unreasonable. Fortunately Jesus’ tone does change dramatically at this point in the story. The woman answers him very graciously and with great faith. She says, “Yes Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table.” She means that Jesus may have been sent to the people of Israel, but the goodness of Jesus spills over beyond the people of Israel. Like crumbs falling from a table it spills over. Perhaps it spills over because it is so abundant. Perhaps it spills over because the people of Israel don’t value it properly, don’t take it seriously enough. Either way, it spills over and the Canaanites get to share in the goodness of Jesus. Jesus is deeply impressed with this answer. He say’s to her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And the woman’s daughter was heeled at that moment.
So that was the surprise from the first preacher. The second preacher to surprise me when discussing this story said something like this: “This was a crucial moment of Jesus. This was the moment when Jesus realised that his mission was for everybody, not just for the people of Israel. This was the moment when he realised that he had come to save, not just the Jews, but the whole world.” Again, this was a big surprise for me. Since Sunday school I have been taught that Jesus came to save the whole world. I thought everybody knew that! It had never occurred to me that Jesus himself must have learned that at some point. Because Jesus has a divine nature and is God we sometimes forget how humble and ordinary his human nature was. Just like us he had to start as baby and grow up. He had to lean things. We sometimes thing of Jesus as being like some great superhero, but in fact in so many ways he was just like us.
Now I have to say that I am not altogether sure that either of the two preachers was entirely correct. There are certainly other considerations here, but the point is that both sermons helped me to move forward in my journey of faith, and remarkably I remembered them both.
So as we leave church today let’s remember that Jesus came to save everybody. That means he came to save each one of you, and he came to save me. And we might think, “I’m not the religious type”, or “I’m a terrible sinner” or “I’m not worth it” but the fact remains that Jesus came for each one of us. God calls each one of us to our place in heaven. Now we all have a journey to walk. Even Jesus had to walk a journey as he grew up and grew in understanding. We all have to grow in love. We all have to grow in repentance. We all have to become good citizens of heaven. Some of us are starting from places a long way from God, places of great sin and darkness and we have a long, long journey ahead of us, but we are still called. God still wants to share the life of heaven with us. Jesus will still give us the grace we need to walk the journey.
And if we are already on the journey, if we are already growing in love, already growing in repentance then let’s work with God on all these other people, who he also calls to heaven. Let’s love them as God loves them. Let’s have hope for them, as God has hope for them. Let’s want to share the life of heaven with them as God does. And this can be quite a challenge. Do I really want to share heaven with that nasty man at the bus top? We need to grow in love. We need to help the man at the bus stop to grow in love. We will be ready for heaven ourselves when our love is like Jesus’ love; when we truly want to share heaven with everybody.
Trinity 13, Proper 15, Year A.
Readings Isaiah 56:1,6-8 Romans 11: 1-2a, 29-32 Matthew 15: 21-28
Years ago the Church Times published a letter. It said something like this: “Sermons – what is the point of them? Our Vicar’s preached hundreds of sermons over the years and I can’t remember any of them.” The next week the Church Times published a letter in response. It said, “Over the years, my wife’s cooked me thousands of dinners. I can’t remember many of them, but I am ever so grateful.”
I think it is a very, very helpful letter. It reminds us that, just as we need to keep feeding our bodies with food, so we need to keep feeding our souls with the presence of God. Coming to the Eucharist is a good way of doing this, because we encounter God in his Word proclaimed in scripture and when we receive Jesus present in the bread and wine of Holy Communion.
So, just as we don’t worry that we can’t remember all the good meals that we have eaten, so we should not worry that we can’t remember all the good sermons we’ve heard. And this is a good job, because I know that I have listened to hundreds and hundreds of sermons and I can hardly remember any of them!
But here is the funny thing, although it feels like I can hardly remember any sermons, I can remember two sermons about the particular gospel reading that we heard today! They were completely different sermons, by different preachers given years apart, and yet I can remember them both! And the reason I remember them is that they both surprised me, shocked me! So, I’ll tell you what the two preachers said, and let’s see if I can surprise you!
The first preacher said something like, “Well, of course, the big thing about this gospel reading is that Jesus is so rude to the Canaanite woman. She comes to him, wanting him to heal her daughter. To start with Jesus ignores her. When she won’t go away, he explains that he is sent to the people of Israel, not to the Canaanites. Then she comes and kneels in front of him. He can’t ignore her then, and so he says to her, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ Well you can’t get much ruder than that, can you? Basically he is calling the Canaanites, dogs. Nowadays we might call that racist.”
I found this a deeply shocking viewpoint. I was very surprised. I was not ready to think about Jesus being either “rude” or “racist”, even if the woman was being completely unreasonable. Fortunately Jesus’ tone does change dramatically at this point in the story. The woman answers him very graciously and with great faith. She says, “Yes Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table.” She means that Jesus may have been sent to the people of Israel, but the goodness of Jesus spills over beyond the people of Israel. Like crumbs falling from a table it spills over. Perhaps it spills over because it is so abundant. Perhaps it spills over because the people of Israel don’t value it properly, don’t take it seriously enough. Either way, it spills over and the Canaanites get to share in the goodness of Jesus. Jesus is deeply impressed with this answer. He say’s to her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And the woman’s daughter was heeled at that moment.
So that was the surprise from the first preacher. The second preacher to surprise me when discussing this story said something like this: “This was a crucial moment of Jesus. This was the moment when Jesus realised that his mission was for everybody, not just for the people of Israel. This was the moment when he realised that he had come to save, not just the Jews, but the whole world.” Again, this was a big surprise for me. Since Sunday school I have been taught that Jesus came to save the whole world. I thought everybody knew that! It had never occurred to me that Jesus himself must have learned that at some point. Because Jesus has a divine nature and is God we sometimes forget how humble and ordinary his human nature was. Just like us he had to start as baby and grow up. He had to lean things. We sometimes thing of Jesus as being like some great superhero, but in fact in so many ways he was just like us.
Now I have to say that I am not altogether sure that either of the two preachers was entirely correct. There are certainly other considerations here, but the point is that both sermons helped me to move forward in my journey of faith, and remarkably I remembered them both.
So as we leave church today let’s remember that Jesus came to save everybody. That means he came to save each one of you, and he came to save me. And we might think, “I’m not the religious type”, or “I’m a terrible sinner” or “I’m not worth it” but the fact remains that Jesus came for each one of us. God calls each one of us to our place in heaven. Now we all have a journey to walk. Even Jesus had to walk a journey as he grew up and grew in understanding. We all have to grow in love. We all have to grow in repentance. We all have to become good citizens of heaven. Some of us are starting from places a long way from God, places of great sin and darkness and we have a long, long journey ahead of us, but we are still called. God still wants to share the life of heaven with us. Jesus will still give us the grace we need to walk the journey.
And if we are already on the journey, if we are already growing in love, already growing in repentance then let’s work with God on all these other people, who he also calls to heaven. Let’s love them as God loves them. Let’s have hope for them, as God has hope for them. Let’s want to share the life of heaven with them as God does. And this can be quite a challenge. Do I really want to share heaven with that nasty man at the bus top? We need to grow in love. We need to help the man at the bus stop to grow in love. We will be ready for heaven ourselves when our love is like Jesus’ love; when we truly want to share heaven with everybody.
20 July 2008
The kingdom of heaven
Preached at St Catherine’s, Catherine-de-Barnes, Solihull at 11am Eucharist
Sunday 20th July 2008, Trinity 9, Proper 11, Year A.
A shortened version of this sermon was preached at the 8am Eucharist at St Alphege Church, Solihull
Readings Wisdom 12: 13,16-19 Romans 8: 12-25 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
(N.B. – The “Book of Wisdom” or “Wisdom of Solomon” does not appear in many standard bibles. To find it you need a bible that includes the Apocrypha, or a Catholic Edition)
One of the themes of Matthew’s gospel is the kingdom of heaven. In Chapter 13 of Matthew’s Gospel there are seven parables in which Jesus tries to explain what the kingdom of heaven is like. Today we heard the parable of the wheat and the weeds, which is quite a long parable, especially because Jesus explained it afterwards. The other six parables are very short, and we hear many of them in the gospel reading next week. But today, let’s spend a few moments thinking about the kingdom of heaven, as it is presented to us in Matthew’s gospel.
Jesus was concerned with preaching the good news of the kingdom of heaven (Matt 4:23, 9:35). The kingdom of heaven requires of us repentance (Matt 3:2, 4:17). Repentance means putting God in the first place in our lives, and making sure that everything else in our lives finds its right place under God. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus teaches us to pray, “Thy kingdom come”. This tells us that the kingdom of heaven something that is coming. It is not something that is already here, or at least not already here in a full and complete way. Closely related to this we pray, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. So the kingdom of heaven is a place where God’s will is done, and heaven is already part of the kingdom. (See also Matt 5:19 and 7:21). In the beatitudes Jesus tells us that, “Blessed are the Poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:3). He also says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:10).
The kingdom of heaven is something that we should be seeking (Matt 6:33) and we need to enter it with the simplicity and humility of a child (Matt 19:14). It is impossible for us to enter if we our attached to our personal riches (Matt 19: 23-24).
So let’s think again about the parable of the wheat and the weeds. What does this tells us about the kingdom of heaven? Well certainly the kingdom of heaven is something that grows. We are told that the good seed are the children of the kingdom and they have to grow. Hopefully this is something that we all experience. The life of God within us isn’t something static and stuck, rather it is something that grows and develops and matures and eventually it completely overtakes us. One of the six other parables is the parable of the mustard seed, which starts of very small and insignificant, but grows to be great tree. It is a bit like when a child comes into the world. To start with it is very small and hidden away, and only the mother knows it is there. Then the child is born and we all know about it, but it is very small and helpless. Slowly the child grows and develops. The child goes through many different stages and makes many different demands on the parents. Over time the child becomes as big and strong as the parents and starts to take over their roles. Eventually the parents grow old and frail and then die. At this point the child inherits all their processions and has taken them over completely. So it is that the kingdom of heaven grows within us, and eventually it takes us over completely. And this is a good thing, a wonderful thing, because our sharing in the kingdom of heaven is eternal.
And what about the weed in the parable? Jesus tells us that the weeds are the children of the evil one, sown by the devil. Notice that the weeds do not come from God, they come from the enemy; the one who rebels against God. And the weeds grow up alongside the good wheat, and what is surprising to the servants in the story is how tolerant of the weeds the Master appears to be. The Master says that pulling out the weeds would be more damaging to the crop than leaving the weeds in there. It is better to let the weeds grow up with the wheat and to separate them out at harvest time. And this goes someway to towards explaining our experience of evil in the world. As we grow up in the world we experience all kinds of sufferings and difficulties which we can attribute directly, or indirectly to the evil one. But we need to be patient. God has chosen to leave those weeds in there with us, for our own good, so let’s not grumble, but let’s get on with the uncomfortable business of living alongside them. And let’s not simply think of ourselves as good wheat and other people as weeds. There is plenty that is weedy about each one of us; we all need to repent and let our good wheat grow up good and strong, and hope that by God’s grace our weedy bits will wither and die. The more they wither and die now, the easier it will be for us at harvest time. We could paraphrase our reading from St Paul; “if you live according to the weeds you will die, but if by the wheat you put to death the weeds, then you will live.”
So let’s grow up like good wheat. But let’s also be patient with the weeds. God has chosen to leave them there for our good, and let’s be grateful that more time is given for ever greater and truer repentance (c.f. Wisdom 12: 10 & 20)
Sunday 20th July 2008, Trinity 9, Proper 11, Year A.
A shortened version of this sermon was preached at the 8am Eucharist at St Alphege Church, Solihull
Readings Wisdom 12: 13,16-19 Romans 8: 12-25 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
(N.B. – The “Book of Wisdom” or “Wisdom of Solomon” does not appear in many standard bibles. To find it you need a bible that includes the Apocrypha, or a Catholic Edition)
One of the themes of Matthew’s gospel is the kingdom of heaven. In Chapter 13 of Matthew’s Gospel there are seven parables in which Jesus tries to explain what the kingdom of heaven is like. Today we heard the parable of the wheat and the weeds, which is quite a long parable, especially because Jesus explained it afterwards. The other six parables are very short, and we hear many of them in the gospel reading next week. But today, let’s spend a few moments thinking about the kingdom of heaven, as it is presented to us in Matthew’s gospel.
Jesus was concerned with preaching the good news of the kingdom of heaven (Matt 4:23, 9:35). The kingdom of heaven requires of us repentance (Matt 3:2, 4:17). Repentance means putting God in the first place in our lives, and making sure that everything else in our lives finds its right place under God. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus teaches us to pray, “Thy kingdom come”. This tells us that the kingdom of heaven something that is coming. It is not something that is already here, or at least not already here in a full and complete way. Closely related to this we pray, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. So the kingdom of heaven is a place where God’s will is done, and heaven is already part of the kingdom. (See also Matt 5:19 and 7:21). In the beatitudes Jesus tells us that, “Blessed are the Poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:3). He also says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:10).
The kingdom of heaven is something that we should be seeking (Matt 6:33) and we need to enter it with the simplicity and humility of a child (Matt 19:14). It is impossible for us to enter if we our attached to our personal riches (Matt 19: 23-24).
So let’s think again about the parable of the wheat and the weeds. What does this tells us about the kingdom of heaven? Well certainly the kingdom of heaven is something that grows. We are told that the good seed are the children of the kingdom and they have to grow. Hopefully this is something that we all experience. The life of God within us isn’t something static and stuck, rather it is something that grows and develops and matures and eventually it completely overtakes us. One of the six other parables is the parable of the mustard seed, which starts of very small and insignificant, but grows to be great tree. It is a bit like when a child comes into the world. To start with it is very small and hidden away, and only the mother knows it is there. Then the child is born and we all know about it, but it is very small and helpless. Slowly the child grows and develops. The child goes through many different stages and makes many different demands on the parents. Over time the child becomes as big and strong as the parents and starts to take over their roles. Eventually the parents grow old and frail and then die. At this point the child inherits all their processions and has taken them over completely. So it is that the kingdom of heaven grows within us, and eventually it takes us over completely. And this is a good thing, a wonderful thing, because our sharing in the kingdom of heaven is eternal.
And what about the weed in the parable? Jesus tells us that the weeds are the children of the evil one, sown by the devil. Notice that the weeds do not come from God, they come from the enemy; the one who rebels against God. And the weeds grow up alongside the good wheat, and what is surprising to the servants in the story is how tolerant of the weeds the Master appears to be. The Master says that pulling out the weeds would be more damaging to the crop than leaving the weeds in there. It is better to let the weeds grow up with the wheat and to separate them out at harvest time. And this goes someway to towards explaining our experience of evil in the world. As we grow up in the world we experience all kinds of sufferings and difficulties which we can attribute directly, or indirectly to the evil one. But we need to be patient. God has chosen to leave those weeds in there with us, for our own good, so let’s not grumble, but let’s get on with the uncomfortable business of living alongside them. And let’s not simply think of ourselves as good wheat and other people as weeds. There is plenty that is weedy about each one of us; we all need to repent and let our good wheat grow up good and strong, and hope that by God’s grace our weedy bits will wither and die. The more they wither and die now, the easier it will be for us at harvest time. We could paraphrase our reading from St Paul; “if you live according to the weeds you will die, but if by the wheat you put to death the weeds, then you will live.”
So let’s grow up like good wheat. But let’s also be patient with the weeds. God has chosen to leave them there for our good, and let’s be grateful that more time is given for ever greater and truer repentance (c.f. Wisdom 12: 10 & 20)
Why does God tolerate evil?
Thought for the parish pewslip.
Readings: Wisdom 12: 13,16-19 Romans 8: 12-25 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
(N.B. – The “Book of Wisdom” or “Wisdom of Solomon” does not appear in many standard bibles. To find it you need a bible that includes the Apocrypha, or a Catholic Edition)
If God is all powerful, and all good, why does he tolerate evil? Why does God allow bad things to happen? Our readings today give some insights into these deep mysteries.
The book of wisdom reminds us that God is all powerful, but cares for ALL people, and judges them with mildness and forbearance. Above all he allows time for repentance (verses 10&20).
In Romans, St. Paul tells us not to live in accordance with our flesh, because we know that one day we will die and our flesh will turn to dust and ashes. Rather he tells us to live by the Spirit because by the Spirit we share the destiny of Christ. He tells us that we suffer with Christ, so that we may be glorified with him. Certainly we suffer as earthly things pass away (our health, our bodies, our wealth) just as Christ suffered, but Paul tells us to have hope and confidence that a much more wonderful glory will be revealed, just as Christ’s resurrection was revealed. And this glory of renewal is not just for us, and our bodies, but for the whole of creation.
From Matthew’s gospel we hear the parable of the weeds among the wheat. We need to concentrate on doing good, and growing up like the wheat, which has a great future. We should do our best to ignore the weeds in us and in other people, because at the end of the age the weeds are destroyed.
Readings: Wisdom 12: 13,16-19 Romans 8: 12-25 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
(N.B. – The “Book of Wisdom” or “Wisdom of Solomon” does not appear in many standard bibles. To find it you need a bible that includes the Apocrypha, or a Catholic Edition)
If God is all powerful, and all good, why does he tolerate evil? Why does God allow bad things to happen? Our readings today give some insights into these deep mysteries.
The book of wisdom reminds us that God is all powerful, but cares for ALL people, and judges them with mildness and forbearance. Above all he allows time for repentance (verses 10&20).
In Romans, St. Paul tells us not to live in accordance with our flesh, because we know that one day we will die and our flesh will turn to dust and ashes. Rather he tells us to live by the Spirit because by the Spirit we share the destiny of Christ. He tells us that we suffer with Christ, so that we may be glorified with him. Certainly we suffer as earthly things pass away (our health, our bodies, our wealth) just as Christ suffered, but Paul tells us to have hope and confidence that a much more wonderful glory will be revealed, just as Christ’s resurrection was revealed. And this glory of renewal is not just for us, and our bodies, but for the whole of creation.
From Matthew’s gospel we hear the parable of the weeds among the wheat. We need to concentrate on doing good, and growing up like the wheat, which has a great future. We should do our best to ignore the weeds in us and in other people, because at the end of the age the weeds are destroyed.
13 July 2008
Our destiny in Christ
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull at Evensong 6.30pm 13/07/08
Readings: Amos 7:7-17 Psalm 63 Ephesians 1: 3-14
Both of our reading today talk about destiny. However the contrast between the two readings could hardly be greater. One talks of a terrible destiny of destruction and death; one talks of blessing, holiness and grace.
Our first reading came from the prophet Amos. Amos prophesied in the 8th Century BC, when God’s chosen people were split into two kingdoms. There was the Northern Kingdom which comprised 10 of the 12 tribes of the original Israel. The Northern Kingdom was known as Israel and it lived in the area around Samaria and Galilee. There was also the Southern Kingdom, based around Jerusalem which was made up of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. Although the two kingdoms were politically separate they still shared the same religion and were all part of God’s chosen people. Something that the kings of the Northern Kingdom found very difficult was that all the citizens of the Northern Kingdom still needed to go to Jerusalem, in the Southern Kingdom several times a year for the religious festivals. Kings of the Northern kingdom were therefore always tempted to set up their own temples, or worse still their own idols in the Northern Kingdom, to stop people going to worship in Jerusalem. God however would not tolerate such behaviour and Israel experienced great political instability as kings came and went quite rapidly.
Somewhere round about 786 BC Jeroboam II came to the throne of Israel. He was a shrewd politician and his 41 year rule of Israel was very successful in terms of things outward and visible. Jeroboam II maintained good relationships with the kingdom of Judah. He recaptured lands that Israel had lost to the Syrians and the Moabites. Above all his economic policies were extremely successful and Israel enjoyed great wealth and prosperity during his reign. Jeroboam II’s relationship with God however appears a little ambiguous. On the one hand Jeroboam II appears to have supported and helped God’s prophets Hosea and Jonah. On the other hand, the worship of Baal and images of cows and calves continued during his reign and seemed to grow in its lavishness with the increasing wealth of the population. Also economic injustices and corruption became a big problem. Jeroboam II colluded with the rich and powerful in his land, and did little to defend the rights of the poor and weak.
And it was to this Northern Kingdom of Israel, in this time of great prosperity, that the prophet Amos was sent. Amos came from the land of Judah, so in some sense he was a foreigner in Israel. He was not a “professional prophet” who set out to make his living through prophecy. Just as today we buy different national newspapers according to what we want to hear, so in 8th century BC Israel, people often paid for and supported the “professional prophets” who said the things that they wanted to hear. Amos is quite clear that he is not a “prophet” but rather one sent by God to prophesy to the people of Israel. And the message that God sends to the people of Israel through Amos is very firm. He wants to see Israel straight and true, like a plumb line. He is critical of the religious cult at Bethel, because the unjust are not sincere in their worship. Of course this message did not always go down well. In our reading today we heard Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, took great exception to it, and complained to the king. Amos was not put off, however, we heard that he also had very strong words for Amaziah.
Throughout his prophecies Amos demands justice and integrity in trade. He is scandalised by the biased weighing scales used to sell food to the poor. He is scandalised that the poor are sometimes sold chaff and the sweepings of wheat, rather than real wheat. He warns of a forthcoming “day of the Lord” which will be a terrible day of justice. He talks of Israel being taken into exile. Scholars think that Amos was prophesising round about 750BC, towards the end of Jeroboam II reign. After Jeroboam died (round about 745BC) Israel experienced political instability and great political pressure from the Assyrians. When the Assyrians finally conquered Samaria in 722 they took and many of the citizens of Israel away into exile.
In sharp contrast to Amos we heard in our New Testament lesson of the wonderful destiny promised to us in Christ. Paul goes on an on about this. First of all he tells us that we have been given “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”. Perhaps we don’t quite know what that means, so Paul elaborates; we were “chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. This does not mean that we are already holy and blameless in love, but this is what we are called to. This is what we must seek and must work towards, by practicing as best we can being holy and blameless and by practicing loving the people around us. Of course we know that this is not easy and that we will fail many times, but Paul has an answer for this. He says, “In him [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, that he lavished on us.” It is not we who make ourselves holy, rather it is the grace that Christ lavishes upon us that makes us holy. Our part is to want it, to pray for it and to do what we can to work towards it. However it is God that actually does it.
St Paul tells us that we are destined for adoption as children of God, through Christ. We are called to be brothers and sisters of Jesus. This is a very high calling. St Paul talks of the inheritance that we will share with Christ. He says that the seal of his spirit that we receive in baptism is the pledge of this inheritance. And what is this inheritance. It is “to live for the praise of the Glory of God.” Elsewhere in the scriptures we might understand this to be to share in the life that Jesus shares with the Father.
So let’s give thanks to God for the great destiny that we have in Christ. Let’s praise God that he considers us as brothers and sisters of Christ, and worthy of sharing the same inheritance as Christ. Let’s do all our part to seek this destiny; to want it, pray for it and work towards it. Let’s not be put off when we fail. Rather, let’s always start again, and in this way we learn to trust and rest in the forgiveness and grace of Christ, which brings this destiny about. Amen.
Readings: Amos 7:7-17 Psalm 63 Ephesians 1: 3-14
Both of our reading today talk about destiny. However the contrast between the two readings could hardly be greater. One talks of a terrible destiny of destruction and death; one talks of blessing, holiness and grace.
Our first reading came from the prophet Amos. Amos prophesied in the 8th Century BC, when God’s chosen people were split into two kingdoms. There was the Northern Kingdom which comprised 10 of the 12 tribes of the original Israel. The Northern Kingdom was known as Israel and it lived in the area around Samaria and Galilee. There was also the Southern Kingdom, based around Jerusalem which was made up of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. Although the two kingdoms were politically separate they still shared the same religion and were all part of God’s chosen people. Something that the kings of the Northern Kingdom found very difficult was that all the citizens of the Northern Kingdom still needed to go to Jerusalem, in the Southern Kingdom several times a year for the religious festivals. Kings of the Northern kingdom were therefore always tempted to set up their own temples, or worse still their own idols in the Northern Kingdom, to stop people going to worship in Jerusalem. God however would not tolerate such behaviour and Israel experienced great political instability as kings came and went quite rapidly.
Somewhere round about 786 BC Jeroboam II came to the throne of Israel. He was a shrewd politician and his 41 year rule of Israel was very successful in terms of things outward and visible. Jeroboam II maintained good relationships with the kingdom of Judah. He recaptured lands that Israel had lost to the Syrians and the Moabites. Above all his economic policies were extremely successful and Israel enjoyed great wealth and prosperity during his reign. Jeroboam II’s relationship with God however appears a little ambiguous. On the one hand Jeroboam II appears to have supported and helped God’s prophets Hosea and Jonah. On the other hand, the worship of Baal and images of cows and calves continued during his reign and seemed to grow in its lavishness with the increasing wealth of the population. Also economic injustices and corruption became a big problem. Jeroboam II colluded with the rich and powerful in his land, and did little to defend the rights of the poor and weak.
And it was to this Northern Kingdom of Israel, in this time of great prosperity, that the prophet Amos was sent. Amos came from the land of Judah, so in some sense he was a foreigner in Israel. He was not a “professional prophet” who set out to make his living through prophecy. Just as today we buy different national newspapers according to what we want to hear, so in 8th century BC Israel, people often paid for and supported the “professional prophets” who said the things that they wanted to hear. Amos is quite clear that he is not a “prophet” but rather one sent by God to prophesy to the people of Israel. And the message that God sends to the people of Israel through Amos is very firm. He wants to see Israel straight and true, like a plumb line. He is critical of the religious cult at Bethel, because the unjust are not sincere in their worship. Of course this message did not always go down well. In our reading today we heard Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, took great exception to it, and complained to the king. Amos was not put off, however, we heard that he also had very strong words for Amaziah.
Throughout his prophecies Amos demands justice and integrity in trade. He is scandalised by the biased weighing scales used to sell food to the poor. He is scandalised that the poor are sometimes sold chaff and the sweepings of wheat, rather than real wheat. He warns of a forthcoming “day of the Lord” which will be a terrible day of justice. He talks of Israel being taken into exile. Scholars think that Amos was prophesising round about 750BC, towards the end of Jeroboam II reign. After Jeroboam died (round about 745BC) Israel experienced political instability and great political pressure from the Assyrians. When the Assyrians finally conquered Samaria in 722 they took and many of the citizens of Israel away into exile.
In sharp contrast to Amos we heard in our New Testament lesson of the wonderful destiny promised to us in Christ. Paul goes on an on about this. First of all he tells us that we have been given “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”. Perhaps we don’t quite know what that means, so Paul elaborates; we were “chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. This does not mean that we are already holy and blameless in love, but this is what we are called to. This is what we must seek and must work towards, by practicing as best we can being holy and blameless and by practicing loving the people around us. Of course we know that this is not easy and that we will fail many times, but Paul has an answer for this. He says, “In him [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, that he lavished on us.” It is not we who make ourselves holy, rather it is the grace that Christ lavishes upon us that makes us holy. Our part is to want it, to pray for it and to do what we can to work towards it. However it is God that actually does it.
St Paul tells us that we are destined for adoption as children of God, through Christ. We are called to be brothers and sisters of Jesus. This is a very high calling. St Paul talks of the inheritance that we will share with Christ. He says that the seal of his spirit that we receive in baptism is the pledge of this inheritance. And what is this inheritance. It is “to live for the praise of the Glory of God.” Elsewhere in the scriptures we might understand this to be to share in the life that Jesus shares with the Father.
So let’s give thanks to God for the great destiny that we have in Christ. Let’s praise God that he considers us as brothers and sisters of Christ, and worthy of sharing the same inheritance as Christ. Let’s do all our part to seek this destiny; to want it, pray for it and work towards it. Let’s not be put off when we fail. Rather, let’s always start again, and in this way we learn to trust and rest in the forgiveness and grace of Christ, which brings this destiny about. Amen.
11 July 2008
Funeral readings
This brief introduction to the readings at a funeral was given at St Alphege Church at the 1.30pm Funeral Eucharist on 11th July 2008.
Readings: Isaiah 43:1-7 2 Corithians 5:1-8 John 14: 1-6
Our readings today show great trust in God; complete confidence that Christ has conquered sin and death. They show a profound faith that death is now the gateway to eternal life.
In our first reading we hear from the so called “Second Isaiah”, one of the greatest prophets and poets of all time. Second Isaiah speaks the word of the Lord to the people of Israel at one of their lowest moments, when they are in exile in Babylon. Through second Isaiah God assures them that he has redeemed them. He will gather them together and restore them. They are precious in his sight. He created them for his glory.
Our second reading comes from 2 Corinthians. St Paul has been talking about our outer nature wasting away, while our inner nature is being renewed in Christ and prepared for glory. He compares our body to a tent (Paul was of course a tent maker) and he says that when we put aside our mortal body we take on an eternal building from God in heaven. Our mortal body might die, but we are swallowed up by life in God.
In our gospel reading, Jesus assures us that he goes to prepare a place for us in heaven where we shall be together with him. To get there Jesus himself is the way that we must follow, the life in which we must share, and the truth in which we must rejoice.
Readings: Isaiah 43:1-7 2 Corithians 5:1-8 John 14: 1-6
Our readings today show great trust in God; complete confidence that Christ has conquered sin and death. They show a profound faith that death is now the gateway to eternal life.
In our first reading we hear from the so called “Second Isaiah”, one of the greatest prophets and poets of all time. Second Isaiah speaks the word of the Lord to the people of Israel at one of their lowest moments, when they are in exile in Babylon. Through second Isaiah God assures them that he has redeemed them. He will gather them together and restore them. They are precious in his sight. He created them for his glory.
Our second reading comes from 2 Corinthians. St Paul has been talking about our outer nature wasting away, while our inner nature is being renewed in Christ and prepared for glory. He compares our body to a tent (Paul was of course a tent maker) and he says that when we put aside our mortal body we take on an eternal building from God in heaven. Our mortal body might die, but we are swallowed up by life in God.
In our gospel reading, Jesus assures us that he goes to prepare a place for us in heaven where we shall be together with him. To get there Jesus himself is the way that we must follow, the life in which we must share, and the truth in which we must rejoice.
29 June 2008
SS Peter and Paul
29th June 2008, Feast of SS Peter and Paul
Informal sermon with images, preached at St Alphege, Solihull at the 9.15 Eucharist.
Readings: Acts 12: 1-11 2 Timothy 4: 6-8 & 17-18 Matthew 16: 13-19
So today we remember Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Here is a picture of them.
[Picture - SS Peter and Paul]
That is St Peter on the left holding the two keys. St Peter is often depicted holding keys because of the incident that we heard about in our gospel reading today. Jesus declares that Peter is the Rock on which he will build his church. Jesus says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” It is not easy for us to know exactly what that means, but clearly great authority in heaven and earth has been given to him.
So obviously, that is St Paul on the right. He is often depicted carrying the Word of God, as a book or as a double edged sword. A sharp double edged sword is used as a symbol for the word of the Lord in the book of Hebrews (4:12) and in Revelation (chapters 1 and 2).
But why do we make such a fuss about Peter and Paul? They died almost 2000 years ago, why are they relevant to us now? Well first of all they are important because they are saints, and they show us the way to be saints. We are all called to become saints. We are all called to holiness. God has created us for an extraordinary destiny. We want us to take our place in the kingdom of heaven, and to share in his glory (2 Thes 2:14, 1 Pet 5:1). It is like we are called to be a small crystal of glass in the great chandelier of heaven, where we are illuminated completely by the glory of God.
[Picture - Chandelier]
Of course for this to happen we have to be raised up and cut into shape and cleaned and purified, but eventually will take our place alongside all the other saints around God, the source of all light and life. So the saints are important to us because they show us what our destiny is. They show us how by following Christ and his commandments we can grow in love and become holy.
[Camera on speaker]
But Paul and Peter are also important because they are the great apostles and preachers central to the setting up of the church. Peter was sent (apostle means “sent”) to preach the gospel to the Jews, to the circumcised, and Paul was sent to preach the gospel to the gentiles, the non-Jews, the uncircumcised. (c.f. Gal 2:7ff)
Let’s think about Peter for a moment.
[Picture – icon of Peter]
Peter was originally called Simon. He grew up us as a fisherman, with his brother Andrew. He got to know Jesus, who came to his house and healed his mother-in-law and performed many other miracles (Luke 4: 38ff). Then one day Jesus used Peter’s boat as a platform to preach from.
[Picture – boat]
After this they put out into deep water and caught a miraculous catch of fish. Peter became terrified of the power of Jesus, but Jesus told him not to be afraid, but to follow him and become a catcher of people rather than of fish. (Luke 5: 1-11).
Peter was the leader of the disciples, but he was also the one who made lots of mistakes. Jesus was forever correcting him, and in particular forgave Peter for his three fold denials of Christ, during Christ’s trial. After the day of Pentecost Peter becomes a great preacher and works many wonders. We heard today the story of his miraculous escape from jail. For the apostles he was the first among equals. He was indeed the rock on which the church was founded.
Now let’s think about Paul
[Picture – icon of Paul]
Paul came from an impeccable background. He was a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee and had had a full Jewish religious education. He was also a Roman citizen by birth and had received an Greek education. As a young man his name was Saul. Like many Pharisees he did not approve of the innovations that Jesus proposed within Judaism, and he actively persecuted the Church. He was present at the stoning of Stephen, and was on his way to Damascus to arrest more Christians when he had an extraordinary vision of Christ.
[Picture – conversion of St Paul]
The experience completely transformed Paul, who became a great preacher and teacher of the faith. He undertook three major missionary journeys to visit the fledgling churches in different places. He endured all kinds of sufferings including shipwreck, prison and being floged. He wrote many letters to the young churches and these quickly became important to the whole church and were included in the New Testament. He was the great theologian of the early church.
[Camera on speaker]
Another important reason why we particularly remember Peter and Paul is their importance as martyrs. There is nothing in scripture about how Peter and Paul died, but there are some traditions found in early church writings. In AD 64 there was a terrible fire in Rome, which destroyed a large part of the city. Nero, the unpopular emperor, was accused of playing his fiddle while Rome burned around him. Nero needed a scapegoat, and he blamed the Christians. A terrible persecution followed. Nero devised extraordinary new tortures to inflict on the Christians. The traditions suggest that Peter was crucified upside down on the site which is now St Peter’s basilica in Rome. Paul, who being a Roman citizen could not be crucified, was beheaded. The early church quickly started to remember Peter and Paul together.
[Pictue - Picture of Peter and Paul embracing]
They were the martyrs on whom the church in Rome was founded.
So as we remember Peter and Paul, we need to give thanks for their great witness to Christ. We need to give thanks for the secure spiritual foundations that they laid for the Church, and the church in Rome in particular. As we think about our own spiritual lives, and our own journeys of faith, let’s be inspired by their examples. Let’s each of us follow the path Christ has prepared for us; Peter and Paul show us that what ever the cost, it is worth it!
Informal sermon with images, preached at St Alphege, Solihull at the 9.15 Eucharist.
Readings: Acts 12: 1-11 2 Timothy 4: 6-8 & 17-18 Matthew 16: 13-19
So today we remember Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Here is a picture of them.
[Picture - SS Peter and Paul]
That is St Peter on the left holding the two keys. St Peter is often depicted holding keys because of the incident that we heard about in our gospel reading today. Jesus declares that Peter is the Rock on which he will build his church. Jesus says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” It is not easy for us to know exactly what that means, but clearly great authority in heaven and earth has been given to him.
So obviously, that is St Paul on the right. He is often depicted carrying the Word of God, as a book or as a double edged sword. A sharp double edged sword is used as a symbol for the word of the Lord in the book of Hebrews (4:12) and in Revelation (chapters 1 and 2).
But why do we make such a fuss about Peter and Paul? They died almost 2000 years ago, why are they relevant to us now? Well first of all they are important because they are saints, and they show us the way to be saints. We are all called to become saints. We are all called to holiness. God has created us for an extraordinary destiny. We want us to take our place in the kingdom of heaven, and to share in his glory (2 Thes 2:14, 1 Pet 5:1). It is like we are called to be a small crystal of glass in the great chandelier of heaven, where we are illuminated completely by the glory of God.
[Picture - Chandelier]
Of course for this to happen we have to be raised up and cut into shape and cleaned and purified, but eventually will take our place alongside all the other saints around God, the source of all light and life. So the saints are important to us because they show us what our destiny is. They show us how by following Christ and his commandments we can grow in love and become holy.
[Camera on speaker]
But Paul and Peter are also important because they are the great apostles and preachers central to the setting up of the church. Peter was sent (apostle means “sent”) to preach the gospel to the Jews, to the circumcised, and Paul was sent to preach the gospel to the gentiles, the non-Jews, the uncircumcised. (c.f. Gal 2:7ff)
Let’s think about Peter for a moment.
[Picture – icon of Peter]
Peter was originally called Simon. He grew up us as a fisherman, with his brother Andrew. He got to know Jesus, who came to his house and healed his mother-in-law and performed many other miracles (Luke 4: 38ff). Then one day Jesus used Peter’s boat as a platform to preach from.
[Picture – boat]
After this they put out into deep water and caught a miraculous catch of fish. Peter became terrified of the power of Jesus, but Jesus told him not to be afraid, but to follow him and become a catcher of people rather than of fish. (Luke 5: 1-11).
Peter was the leader of the disciples, but he was also the one who made lots of mistakes. Jesus was forever correcting him, and in particular forgave Peter for his three fold denials of Christ, during Christ’s trial. After the day of Pentecost Peter becomes a great preacher and works many wonders. We heard today the story of his miraculous escape from jail. For the apostles he was the first among equals. He was indeed the rock on which the church was founded.
Now let’s think about Paul
[Picture – icon of Paul]
Paul came from an impeccable background. He was a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee and had had a full Jewish religious education. He was also a Roman citizen by birth and had received an Greek education. As a young man his name was Saul. Like many Pharisees he did not approve of the innovations that Jesus proposed within Judaism, and he actively persecuted the Church. He was present at the stoning of Stephen, and was on his way to Damascus to arrest more Christians when he had an extraordinary vision of Christ.
[Picture – conversion of St Paul]
The experience completely transformed Paul, who became a great preacher and teacher of the faith. He undertook three major missionary journeys to visit the fledgling churches in different places. He endured all kinds of sufferings including shipwreck, prison and being floged. He wrote many letters to the young churches and these quickly became important to the whole church and were included in the New Testament. He was the great theologian of the early church.
[Camera on speaker]
Another important reason why we particularly remember Peter and Paul is their importance as martyrs. There is nothing in scripture about how Peter and Paul died, but there are some traditions found in early church writings. In AD 64 there was a terrible fire in Rome, which destroyed a large part of the city. Nero, the unpopular emperor, was accused of playing his fiddle while Rome burned around him. Nero needed a scapegoat, and he blamed the Christians. A terrible persecution followed. Nero devised extraordinary new tortures to inflict on the Christians. The traditions suggest that Peter was crucified upside down on the site which is now St Peter’s basilica in Rome. Paul, who being a Roman citizen could not be crucified, was beheaded. The early church quickly started to remember Peter and Paul together.
[Pictue - Picture of Peter and Paul embracing]
They were the martyrs on whom the church in Rome was founded.
So as we remember Peter and Paul, we need to give thanks for their great witness to Christ. We need to give thanks for the secure spiritual foundations that they laid for the Church, and the church in Rome in particular. As we think about our own spiritual lives, and our own journeys of faith, let’s be inspired by their examples. Let’s each of us follow the path Christ has prepared for us; Peter and Paul show us that what ever the cost, it is worth it!
22 June 2008
The struggle between good and evil
Preached at 11am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull, on Sunday 22/06/08
Year A – Trinity 5 (Proper 7)
Readings: Jeremiah 20: 7-13 Romans 6: 1b-11 Matt 10: 24-37
When I was little I used to enjoy the Narnia stories by C. S. Lewis. It was fascinating to see how the great struggle between Alsan the good and the wicked white witch was played out in the history of Narnia.
When I was a bit older I saw the first Star Wars film. Here the good Jedi Knights struggled against the evil empire, through the history of the universe. I have to say that I found the Star Wars film slightly less convincing because the notions of good an evil were rather more commercialised and slightly less Christian. “Good” meant good looking, wearing white and on our side. In Narnia the portrayal of “good” was rather more subtle, and in particular it included the forgiveness and reconciliation with those who had been bad.
Our scripture readings today cause us to reflect on the struggle between good and evil. This is the great struggle, that goes on all the time in individuals, and families, in communities, in nations, in the whole of humanity and indeed in the whole of creation.
In our Old Testament reading we hear about the struggle between God’s prophet Jeremiah and God’s people Judah, who have become complacent and corrupt. Jeremiah was a sent by God to the people of Judah, in the period shortly before they were conquered by the Babylonians and sent away into exile, in the sixth century BC. At this time Judah had strayed far from God and was in desperate need of repentance. Jeremiah was the prophet of doom who was for ever saying, “Repent, repent or disaster will come upon us!” He was working hard to sell a message that nobody wanted to hear. The people mocked Jeremiah, and isolated him and wanted some good reason to lock him up in jail. In the passage that we read today we hear Jeremiah wrestling with himself. He knows that all him problems come because he preaches such an unpopular truths, and yet he cannot help but preach it. The word of the Lord is like a burning fire within his bones and he cannot keep it in. It is a terrible struggle, but Jeremiah has to be forever proclaiming God’s word of judgement and the destruction which is about to befall Jerusalem.
In our reading from the book of Romans St Paul talks about the very personal struggle between good and evil that takes place within each one of us. This is the battle between our old self and our new self, our sinner and our saint. We notice this battle whenever we try to do good, we try to love God, we try to love our neighbour, but we find it difficult to love, or perhaps we fail completely. Paul insists that we must not be put off by difficulty or failure because we have been baptised into the death and resurrection of Christ. When we try to love, our old self, our sinner, dies, just as Christ dies on the cross. This death of “self” is painful and comes with a sense of loss, but we can afford to let it happen. We can afford to let it happen because of the resurrection of Christ. As our old self dies, so Christ shares with us his resurrection life and our new self, our saint, grows and matures within us. What is more, death and sin have no dominion over Christ’s resurrection life, so our new life in Christ has an eternal freedom. This is why Paul urges us always to see ourselves as dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In the gospel reading that we heard today, Jesus is briefing his disciples as he sends them out to proclaim the good news that, “the kingdom of heaven is near!” Actually it is quite a long briefing, but in the part that we homed in on today Jesus is emphasising what a struggle it will be to proclaim the gospel to God’s chosen people, the people of Israel. He warns the disciples that he has already been accused of being Beelzebub, and if they accuse him, Jesus, of that, how much worse will they treat the disciples? He tells the disciples to trust in him and not to fear, because the truth will always come out in the end. He tells them not to fear even if they are put to death, because those who kill can only kill the body, not the soul. Jesus gives the disciples many other reassurances and then he comes to the real heart of the struggle:
Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother…Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
This are hard words, which really emphasis the complete difference between the life that Jesus wants to share with us and the normal values of everyday life in the world. The life that Jesus wants to share with us is radically incompatible with evil and sin, and it will cause problems; it will upset the peace. Jesus absolutely demands the first place in our lives and we have to be ready to choose Jesus above everything else, even above our closest family relationships; mother and father, son and daughter. Obviously as Christians we are called to love our other family members, but we love them as an expression of our love for Jesus. We must never allow our love for Jesus to be compromised by our attachments to other people.
And just like St Paul, Jesus mentions the cross, and the need to be ready to lose our life in order to find it. Losing our life does not simply mean being a martyr. It means being ready to put aside things from our own life, our own desires and agendas, in order to love the people around us. It might mean putting down the newspaper to help in the kitchen. It might mean making time and space for someone who it would be easier to ignore. It might mean taking a risk; reaching out to greet someone who is very different from us, a child, a foreigner, someone in difficulty.
So, as we think about the struggle between good and evil, and as we think about the contribution that we personally are called to make, let’s focus our attention, in the first instance on that part of the world over which we have most influence; ourselves, our own personal lives. Let’s take to heart the teaching of St Paul who wants us dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let’s, as much as we can, live in our new selves, and let’s be ready to let our old selves wither and die. As Jesus suggests, let’s be ready to loose our lives for Jesus’ sake. And let’s trust Jesus, who rose from the dead, to help us find our new life in Christ, our eternal life, the life for which we were created. Amen.
Year A – Trinity 5 (Proper 7)
Readings: Jeremiah 20: 7-13 Romans 6: 1b-11 Matt 10: 24-37
When I was little I used to enjoy the Narnia stories by C. S. Lewis. It was fascinating to see how the great struggle between Alsan the good and the wicked white witch was played out in the history of Narnia.
When I was a bit older I saw the first Star Wars film. Here the good Jedi Knights struggled against the evil empire, through the history of the universe. I have to say that I found the Star Wars film slightly less convincing because the notions of good an evil were rather more commercialised and slightly less Christian. “Good” meant good looking, wearing white and on our side. In Narnia the portrayal of “good” was rather more subtle, and in particular it included the forgiveness and reconciliation with those who had been bad.
Our scripture readings today cause us to reflect on the struggle between good and evil. This is the great struggle, that goes on all the time in individuals, and families, in communities, in nations, in the whole of humanity and indeed in the whole of creation.
In our Old Testament reading we hear about the struggle between God’s prophet Jeremiah and God’s people Judah, who have become complacent and corrupt. Jeremiah was a sent by God to the people of Judah, in the period shortly before they were conquered by the Babylonians and sent away into exile, in the sixth century BC. At this time Judah had strayed far from God and was in desperate need of repentance. Jeremiah was the prophet of doom who was for ever saying, “Repent, repent or disaster will come upon us!” He was working hard to sell a message that nobody wanted to hear. The people mocked Jeremiah, and isolated him and wanted some good reason to lock him up in jail. In the passage that we read today we hear Jeremiah wrestling with himself. He knows that all him problems come because he preaches such an unpopular truths, and yet he cannot help but preach it. The word of the Lord is like a burning fire within his bones and he cannot keep it in. It is a terrible struggle, but Jeremiah has to be forever proclaiming God’s word of judgement and the destruction which is about to befall Jerusalem.
In our reading from the book of Romans St Paul talks about the very personal struggle between good and evil that takes place within each one of us. This is the battle between our old self and our new self, our sinner and our saint. We notice this battle whenever we try to do good, we try to love God, we try to love our neighbour, but we find it difficult to love, or perhaps we fail completely. Paul insists that we must not be put off by difficulty or failure because we have been baptised into the death and resurrection of Christ. When we try to love, our old self, our sinner, dies, just as Christ dies on the cross. This death of “self” is painful and comes with a sense of loss, but we can afford to let it happen. We can afford to let it happen because of the resurrection of Christ. As our old self dies, so Christ shares with us his resurrection life and our new self, our saint, grows and matures within us. What is more, death and sin have no dominion over Christ’s resurrection life, so our new life in Christ has an eternal freedom. This is why Paul urges us always to see ourselves as dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In the gospel reading that we heard today, Jesus is briefing his disciples as he sends them out to proclaim the good news that, “the kingdom of heaven is near!” Actually it is quite a long briefing, but in the part that we homed in on today Jesus is emphasising what a struggle it will be to proclaim the gospel to God’s chosen people, the people of Israel. He warns the disciples that he has already been accused of being Beelzebub, and if they accuse him, Jesus, of that, how much worse will they treat the disciples? He tells the disciples to trust in him and not to fear, because the truth will always come out in the end. He tells them not to fear even if they are put to death, because those who kill can only kill the body, not the soul. Jesus gives the disciples many other reassurances and then he comes to the real heart of the struggle:
Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother…Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
This are hard words, which really emphasis the complete difference between the life that Jesus wants to share with us and the normal values of everyday life in the world. The life that Jesus wants to share with us is radically incompatible with evil and sin, and it will cause problems; it will upset the peace. Jesus absolutely demands the first place in our lives and we have to be ready to choose Jesus above everything else, even above our closest family relationships; mother and father, son and daughter. Obviously as Christians we are called to love our other family members, but we love them as an expression of our love for Jesus. We must never allow our love for Jesus to be compromised by our attachments to other people.
And just like St Paul, Jesus mentions the cross, and the need to be ready to lose our life in order to find it. Losing our life does not simply mean being a martyr. It means being ready to put aside things from our own life, our own desires and agendas, in order to love the people around us. It might mean putting down the newspaper to help in the kitchen. It might mean making time and space for someone who it would be easier to ignore. It might mean taking a risk; reaching out to greet someone who is very different from us, a child, a foreigner, someone in difficulty.
So, as we think about the struggle between good and evil, and as we think about the contribution that we personally are called to make, let’s focus our attention, in the first instance on that part of the world over which we have most influence; ourselves, our own personal lives. Let’s take to heart the teaching of St Paul who wants us dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let’s, as much as we can, live in our new selves, and let’s be ready to let our old selves wither and die. As Jesus suggests, let’s be ready to loose our lives for Jesus’ sake. And let’s trust Jesus, who rose from the dead, to help us find our new life in Christ, our eternal life, the life for which we were created. Amen.
08 June 2008
Dealing with our sin
Preached at the 11am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull on Sunday 8th June 2008
3rd Sunday after Trinity, Proper 5 – Year A
Readings: Hosea 5:15 – 6:6 Romans 4:13-25 Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Our gospel reading today tells us a great deal about Jesus’ approach to sin and sinners. To understand it properly we need to understand the role of tax collectors in the society in which Jesus lived. Tax collectors were considered to be very public sinners. They were key collaborators with the Roman army of occupation. The occupying Roman powers gave to the tax collectors both right and the obligation to collect taxes from the local people. Most of the taxes went straight to the Romans, increasing the strength and resilience of their occupation. However the tax collectors were entitled to collect slightly more than they handed over to the Romans in order to cover their own living expenses. Of course some tax collectors had grand ideas about their own living expenses and became very rich at other people’s expense. To collect taxes effectively the tax collectors needed information about people, income and wealth so they would always be prying people for information. Nobody would voluntarily speak to a tax collector. The tax collectors were outcasts, treated with the utmost suspicion and often deeply hated.
And yet, most surprisingly, Jesus calls a tax collector, Matthew, to be one his disciples. Mathew becomes one of the 12 chosen by Jesus as apostles. He also becomes the writer of one of the gospels. The choice of Matthew can only have been damaging to Jesus’ reputation as a religious leader. How would we feel nowadays about a religious leader who chose a terrorist or paedophile to be one of his closest followers? Clearly Matthew must have left behind his tax collecting ways in order to follow Jesus, but it is still rather shocking. Clearly, in the mind of Jesus, sin, even very serious public sin, does not disqualify a person from being called by God. Coming from a background of sin does not prevent someone from eventually becoming absolutely central to the life and ministry of the Church. This is not saying that sin does not matter or is not a problem, but it is giving the most categorical assurance that, in relationship with Jesus, the problem of sin can and will be overcome. Through a relationship with Jesus, even the worst sinners can and will be made good.
And the gospel reading goes on to reinforce this by telling us about Jesus and his disciples eating with tax collectors and sinners. In those times, sharing food with someone was seen as a very intimate act of sharing. Eating food with tax collectors and sinners could easily be interpreted as condoning their sin. For the Pharisees this is a scandal, and they ask why Jesus does it. In his answer Jesus’ compares himself to a doctor, whose role is to heal the sick. He is not pretending that the sinners are righteous, but rather he is recognising that they need help and that he has come to give them help. “I have come to call not for the righteous, but sinners,” he said.
We all like to think of ourselves as righteous. We, none of us, like to think of ourselves as sinners. And yet we know that all of us are both saints and sinners at the same time. Particularly through our baptism, we all have the new life of Christ somewhere within us. Hopefully it is being well looked after, well nurtured and we are steadily growing up into the full stature of Christ. However we also know that sin, that is rebellion against God, is also present in each one of us, causing problems for ourselves and for others, and seeking to stop us growing up into Christ. And it is very important to be honest with ourselves about sin, otherwise we do ourselves a great disfavour and sell ourselves far short of what we are called to be.
Suppose (although it is quite impossible) that there was a scale for measuring how good or bad a person is, and suppose we are quite a good person, say plus seven or plus eight! This might sound quite good, but we must realise that this plus eight is actually made up of a plus 80 for our saintly part, and a -72 for our sinful part. Further we have the opportunity to make the 80 grow by choosing always to live in our saint, and we can reduce the effect of the -72, by recognising our sin, commending it to God’s mercy and asking for his help in overcoming it. Being honest before God about our sin is the really important first step towards its being healed. It is all too easy to say, “Well that’s not sin because everyone does it. It’s beyond my control. I can’t help it that I hate that person. I can’t hep it that I have this greed, this resentment, this disordered desire.” And often this is true, often our sin is not directly “our fault”. Often our sin arises from hurts and pains that we have received from other people. Often it arises because we have not been loved as we need to be loved. Often it arises because of the culture we live in. It can arise from adverts that teach us to want things that we do not need. It can arise from TV and films that fill our mind with sex and with selfish ideas of fulfilment. It can arise from newspapers that teach us to have fear; to fear bird flu or teenagers or other faith groups. And it may well be that much of this is not “our fault” as individuals. Much of it is not our personal rebellion against God. We may not be culpable, but this sin is still our problem. It is still limiting our development as human beings. It is still down to us to do something about it.
So what do we do about our sin. Well, as I have said, the first step is to honestly acknowledge our sin before God, without pretending its not there, or pretending it is not sin, or that it is not our responsibility. The second step is to continue loving ourselves, despite our sin, as God continues to loves us. We need to love ourselves with the same love that Jesus had for the tax collectors and sinners that he eat with. As we become aware of our sin we might be tempted towards self hatred, but this is quite wrong. We have to learn to forgive ourselves and believe in God’s love for us. Often this means accepting some pain associated with our sin, just as Jesus on the cross accepted the pain of human sin. Jesus, suffering for the sin of others, is the ultimate model here. We need to grow in love, honour and respect for Jesus in his suffering, and this will help us to approach our own sufferings with the right mindset.
Above let’s remember Jesus, quoting our first reading from Hosea, “I desire mercy not sacrifice.” We can’t buy our way out of sin with the blood of lambs or with burnt offerings, still less with money. Rather sin is overcome by mercy, that quality of love which has compassion on those in difficulty. Let’s pray that God will fill our hearts with mercy for our own sins and the sins of the people around us. Amen.
3rd Sunday after Trinity, Proper 5 – Year A
Readings: Hosea 5:15 – 6:6 Romans 4:13-25 Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Our gospel reading today tells us a great deal about Jesus’ approach to sin and sinners. To understand it properly we need to understand the role of tax collectors in the society in which Jesus lived. Tax collectors were considered to be very public sinners. They were key collaborators with the Roman army of occupation. The occupying Roman powers gave to the tax collectors both right and the obligation to collect taxes from the local people. Most of the taxes went straight to the Romans, increasing the strength and resilience of their occupation. However the tax collectors were entitled to collect slightly more than they handed over to the Romans in order to cover their own living expenses. Of course some tax collectors had grand ideas about their own living expenses and became very rich at other people’s expense. To collect taxes effectively the tax collectors needed information about people, income and wealth so they would always be prying people for information. Nobody would voluntarily speak to a tax collector. The tax collectors were outcasts, treated with the utmost suspicion and often deeply hated.
And yet, most surprisingly, Jesus calls a tax collector, Matthew, to be one his disciples. Mathew becomes one of the 12 chosen by Jesus as apostles. He also becomes the writer of one of the gospels. The choice of Matthew can only have been damaging to Jesus’ reputation as a religious leader. How would we feel nowadays about a religious leader who chose a terrorist or paedophile to be one of his closest followers? Clearly Matthew must have left behind his tax collecting ways in order to follow Jesus, but it is still rather shocking. Clearly, in the mind of Jesus, sin, even very serious public sin, does not disqualify a person from being called by God. Coming from a background of sin does not prevent someone from eventually becoming absolutely central to the life and ministry of the Church. This is not saying that sin does not matter or is not a problem, but it is giving the most categorical assurance that, in relationship with Jesus, the problem of sin can and will be overcome. Through a relationship with Jesus, even the worst sinners can and will be made good.
And the gospel reading goes on to reinforce this by telling us about Jesus and his disciples eating with tax collectors and sinners. In those times, sharing food with someone was seen as a very intimate act of sharing. Eating food with tax collectors and sinners could easily be interpreted as condoning their sin. For the Pharisees this is a scandal, and they ask why Jesus does it. In his answer Jesus’ compares himself to a doctor, whose role is to heal the sick. He is not pretending that the sinners are righteous, but rather he is recognising that they need help and that he has come to give them help. “I have come to call not for the righteous, but sinners,” he said.
We all like to think of ourselves as righteous. We, none of us, like to think of ourselves as sinners. And yet we know that all of us are both saints and sinners at the same time. Particularly through our baptism, we all have the new life of Christ somewhere within us. Hopefully it is being well looked after, well nurtured and we are steadily growing up into the full stature of Christ. However we also know that sin, that is rebellion against God, is also present in each one of us, causing problems for ourselves and for others, and seeking to stop us growing up into Christ. And it is very important to be honest with ourselves about sin, otherwise we do ourselves a great disfavour and sell ourselves far short of what we are called to be.
Suppose (although it is quite impossible) that there was a scale for measuring how good or bad a person is, and suppose we are quite a good person, say plus seven or plus eight! This might sound quite good, but we must realise that this plus eight is actually made up of a plus 80 for our saintly part, and a -72 for our sinful part. Further we have the opportunity to make the 80 grow by choosing always to live in our saint, and we can reduce the effect of the -72, by recognising our sin, commending it to God’s mercy and asking for his help in overcoming it. Being honest before God about our sin is the really important first step towards its being healed. It is all too easy to say, “Well that’s not sin because everyone does it. It’s beyond my control. I can’t help it that I hate that person. I can’t hep it that I have this greed, this resentment, this disordered desire.” And often this is true, often our sin is not directly “our fault”. Often our sin arises from hurts and pains that we have received from other people. Often it arises because we have not been loved as we need to be loved. Often it arises because of the culture we live in. It can arise from adverts that teach us to want things that we do not need. It can arise from TV and films that fill our mind with sex and with selfish ideas of fulfilment. It can arise from newspapers that teach us to have fear; to fear bird flu or teenagers or other faith groups. And it may well be that much of this is not “our fault” as individuals. Much of it is not our personal rebellion against God. We may not be culpable, but this sin is still our problem. It is still limiting our development as human beings. It is still down to us to do something about it.
So what do we do about our sin. Well, as I have said, the first step is to honestly acknowledge our sin before God, without pretending its not there, or pretending it is not sin, or that it is not our responsibility. The second step is to continue loving ourselves, despite our sin, as God continues to loves us. We need to love ourselves with the same love that Jesus had for the tax collectors and sinners that he eat with. As we become aware of our sin we might be tempted towards self hatred, but this is quite wrong. We have to learn to forgive ourselves and believe in God’s love for us. Often this means accepting some pain associated with our sin, just as Jesus on the cross accepted the pain of human sin. Jesus, suffering for the sin of others, is the ultimate model here. We need to grow in love, honour and respect for Jesus in his suffering, and this will help us to approach our own sufferings with the right mindset.
Above let’s remember Jesus, quoting our first reading from Hosea, “I desire mercy not sacrifice.” We can’t buy our way out of sin with the blood of lambs or with burnt offerings, still less with money. Rather sin is overcome by mercy, that quality of love which has compassion on those in difficulty. Let’s pray that God will fill our hearts with mercy for our own sins and the sins of the people around us. Amen.
01 June 2008
Caring for God's world - climate change
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull at the 9.15am Eucharist.
Sunday 1st June 2008, Trinity 2 – Proper 4 - Year A
A shorter version of this sermon was preached at the 8am Eucharist at St Alphege.
Readings Deut 11: 18-21, 26-28 Romans 1: 16-17, 3:22b-28 Matt 7: 21-29
Throughout Solihull Parish our preaching this morning has a theme of caring for the environment. We are doing this to highlight World Environment Day, which is coming up this Thursday, 5th June. We also have a special display and some further information available in the OBH at coffee squash. Maud Granger of Friend of the Earth will also be available at coffee/squash in the OBH, so we have the opportunity to talk to an expert.
The United Nations designated 5th June as World Environment Day as long a go as 1972. It is well worth having a look at the website of the United Nations Environmental Programme, which looks like this.
[Display Website Home Page: http://www.unep.org/wed/2008/english/]
This year the theme of World Environment Day is “Kick the Habit – Towards a Low Carbon Economy”, as you can see from the homepage.
But what has concern for the environment got to do with the gospel? We know that we have problems with carbon emissions and climate change, but how does that relate to our being Christians, and to our life as Church? Well I think that are some clues in the gospel reading that we heard today, which, looking at it from a particular perspective, is about sustainable lifestyles. At the start of the gospel reading Jesus tells us that that the really important thing is to order our lives in accordance with God’s will. The person who enters the kingdom of heaven is the one who does God’s will, not the one who cries, Lord, Lord, or even the one who does great things in the Lord’s name. Jesus illustrates this with a story about sustainability. The person who bases his life on following God’s will and on the teaching of Jesus is like a man builds his house on the rock. God is the source of life, so it makes sense to base our lives on the teaching of Jesus. Probably it is hard work to build on the rock, and probably it takes time, but the house is secure. When the time of crisis comes, the house stands firm. For us human beings we think of the ultimate crisis as the death of our earthly bodies, but if our lives are built on the rock they remain secure even through this crisis death. Jesus contrasts this to a man who ignores the teaching of Jesus. This person is compared to a man building his house on sand. Probably is quicker and easier to build, but the house is rapidly destroyed when a crisis comes.
Jesus addresses this parable to each one of us as individual human beings, but it is also applicable to families, communities, societies, nations and indeed to the whole world. Society need to order itself in accordance with the will of God, and in accordance with the teachings of Jesus, in order to be strong, secure and sustainable. And yet sadly we know that many aspects of our comtempory Western culture are far from the will of God, and far from the teaching of Jesus. Many aspects of our society are driven by greed, and selfishness and consumerism. There is often the covetous desire to have the things that our neighbour have. This leads to a society build on sand, a society that is unsustainable and in danger of being washed away.
Let’s go back to World Environment Day and the theme of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. I recently completed a Christian Aid questionnaire that helped me to understand how different aspects of my lifestyle contribute to my personal carbon emissions. I would like to very quickly show you the results:
[Display Fr Gerard carbon emissions:
10 Gas consumed
5 Electricity consumed
2 Use of public transport
16 Use of car
13 Air travel
4 Newspapers
20 Red meat
8 Fruit and veg
8 Other food
6 Furniture/appliances
6 Clothing/footwear
-----
98 …..equivalent to 11 tonnes in a year.
Compared with 10 tonnes UK average,
or with 3 tonnes worldwide average,
or with 2.5 tonnes sustainable world average.]
It is important to realise that these results are very broad brush, but they are still interesting, and certainly give me some pointers on how I might cut down my personal carbon emissions. Clearly the big items are use of a private car, air travel and red meat. Apparently red meat contributes because cows produce lots of methane, which is a very powerful greenhouse gas.
It seems that my personal carbon emissions are just over average for the UK, so I have got some work to do! However the really telling point is that even the average carbon emissions for the UK is still about four times what scientists believe is a sustainable worldwide average. In other words, as a society, we really need to work towards lifestyles that are far, far less dependent on fossil fuels. And it is not just global warming that is telling us this. The high oil prices and fragility of our western economies also make this essential.
When we consider a topic like climate change there is a temptation to become rather despondent. The problem is so huge, and my personal influence over it is so small that I might be tempted to lose heart. But here again the gospel helps us, with its emphasis on the will of God. Whatever we do about climate change let’s first and foremost do it in front of God, and in accordance with the will of God. God created humanity and works for the good of humanity. We can then entrust the problem to God and God will deal with it. I am not saying that the way forward will be free of suffering and difficulty, but I am saying that we need to trust God.
As individuals and as societies we first of all need to live in harmony with God, in accordance with God’s will. Secondly we must live in harmony with each other, loving one another as Jesus taught us with his New Commandment. Thirdly we need to live in harmony with all of creation, with all that God has made to sustain us and for our enjoyment. And let’s remember, Climate change might be a huge problem, but nothing is impossible for God.
Sunday 1st June 2008, Trinity 2 – Proper 4 - Year A
A shorter version of this sermon was preached at the 8am Eucharist at St Alphege.
Readings Deut 11: 18-21, 26-28 Romans 1: 16-17, 3:22b-28 Matt 7: 21-29
Throughout Solihull Parish our preaching this morning has a theme of caring for the environment. We are doing this to highlight World Environment Day, which is coming up this Thursday, 5th June. We also have a special display and some further information available in the OBH at coffee squash. Maud Granger of Friend of the Earth will also be available at coffee/squash in the OBH, so we have the opportunity to talk to an expert.
The United Nations designated 5th June as World Environment Day as long a go as 1972. It is well worth having a look at the website of the United Nations Environmental Programme, which looks like this.
[Display Website Home Page: http://www.unep.org/wed/2008/english/]
This year the theme of World Environment Day is “Kick the Habit – Towards a Low Carbon Economy”, as you can see from the homepage.
But what has concern for the environment got to do with the gospel? We know that we have problems with carbon emissions and climate change, but how does that relate to our being Christians, and to our life as Church? Well I think that are some clues in the gospel reading that we heard today, which, looking at it from a particular perspective, is about sustainable lifestyles. At the start of the gospel reading Jesus tells us that that the really important thing is to order our lives in accordance with God’s will. The person who enters the kingdom of heaven is the one who does God’s will, not the one who cries, Lord, Lord, or even the one who does great things in the Lord’s name. Jesus illustrates this with a story about sustainability. The person who bases his life on following God’s will and on the teaching of Jesus is like a man builds his house on the rock. God is the source of life, so it makes sense to base our lives on the teaching of Jesus. Probably it is hard work to build on the rock, and probably it takes time, but the house is secure. When the time of crisis comes, the house stands firm. For us human beings we think of the ultimate crisis as the death of our earthly bodies, but if our lives are built on the rock they remain secure even through this crisis death. Jesus contrasts this to a man who ignores the teaching of Jesus. This person is compared to a man building his house on sand. Probably is quicker and easier to build, but the house is rapidly destroyed when a crisis comes.
Jesus addresses this parable to each one of us as individual human beings, but it is also applicable to families, communities, societies, nations and indeed to the whole world. Society need to order itself in accordance with the will of God, and in accordance with the teachings of Jesus, in order to be strong, secure and sustainable. And yet sadly we know that many aspects of our comtempory Western culture are far from the will of God, and far from the teaching of Jesus. Many aspects of our society are driven by greed, and selfishness and consumerism. There is often the covetous desire to have the things that our neighbour have. This leads to a society build on sand, a society that is unsustainable and in danger of being washed away.
Let’s go back to World Environment Day and the theme of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. I recently completed a Christian Aid questionnaire that helped me to understand how different aspects of my lifestyle contribute to my personal carbon emissions. I would like to very quickly show you the results:
[Display Fr Gerard carbon emissions:
10 Gas consumed
5 Electricity consumed
2 Use of public transport
16 Use of car
13 Air travel
4 Newspapers
20 Red meat
8 Fruit and veg
8 Other food
6 Furniture/appliances
6 Clothing/footwear
-----
98 …..equivalent to 11 tonnes in a year.
Compared with 10 tonnes UK average,
or with 3 tonnes worldwide average,
or with 2.5 tonnes sustainable world average.]
It is important to realise that these results are very broad brush, but they are still interesting, and certainly give me some pointers on how I might cut down my personal carbon emissions. Clearly the big items are use of a private car, air travel and red meat. Apparently red meat contributes because cows produce lots of methane, which is a very powerful greenhouse gas.
It seems that my personal carbon emissions are just over average for the UK, so I have got some work to do! However the really telling point is that even the average carbon emissions for the UK is still about four times what scientists believe is a sustainable worldwide average. In other words, as a society, we really need to work towards lifestyles that are far, far less dependent on fossil fuels. And it is not just global warming that is telling us this. The high oil prices and fragility of our western economies also make this essential.
When we consider a topic like climate change there is a temptation to become rather despondent. The problem is so huge, and my personal influence over it is so small that I might be tempted to lose heart. But here again the gospel helps us, with its emphasis on the will of God. Whatever we do about climate change let’s first and foremost do it in front of God, and in accordance with the will of God. God created humanity and works for the good of humanity. We can then entrust the problem to God and God will deal with it. I am not saying that the way forward will be free of suffering and difficulty, but I am saying that we need to trust God.
As individuals and as societies we first of all need to live in harmony with God, in accordance with God’s will. Secondly we must live in harmony with each other, loving one another as Jesus taught us with his New Commandment. Thirdly we need to live in harmony with all of creation, with all that God has made to sustain us and for our enjoyment. And let’s remember, Climate change might be a huge problem, but nothing is impossible for God.
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.
The call to holiness
Thought for the parish pewslip
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
In our reading from Leviticus, the Lord calls his people to be holy, for the Lord God himself is holy. The reading then lists behaviours which it associates with holiness; helping the poor, being honest, honouring God, not exploiting the weak, being just and avoiding hatred and revenge. This is summarised as, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
In the reading from Corinthians, Paul reminds us that we, the church, are a holy temple where God’s Spirit dwells.
In our gospel reading Jesus calls us to love in a completely radical way, not resisting the evildoer, and loving even our enemies. He says we should do this in order to be like God the Father, who has a great love for each person, however good or evil that person might be. Jesus reiterates our Leviticus reading when he says, “Be perfect therefore, as you heavenly Father is perfect.”
When we think of people being holy there is a danger that we think of saints from long ago who immersed themselves in prayer and worship. Our readings today remind us that we today are called to holiness. Holiness is about our behaviour towards others. It’s about loving God and loving our neighbours.
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
In our reading from Leviticus, the Lord calls his people to be holy, for the Lord God himself is holy. The reading then lists behaviours which it associates with holiness; helping the poor, being honest, honouring God, not exploiting the weak, being just and avoiding hatred and revenge. This is summarised as, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
In the reading from Corinthians, Paul reminds us that we, the church, are a holy temple where God’s Spirit dwells.
In our gospel reading Jesus calls us to love in a completely radical way, not resisting the evildoer, and loving even our enemies. He says we should do this in order to be like God the Father, who has a great love for each person, however good or evil that person might be. Jesus reiterates our Leviticus reading when he says, “Be perfect therefore, as you heavenly Father is perfect.”
When we think of people being holy there is a danger that we think of saints from long ago who immersed themselves in prayer and worship. Our readings today remind us that we today are called to holiness. Holiness is about our behaviour towards others. It’s about loving God and loving our neighbours.
18 May 2008
Baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Sermon
Preached on Trinity Sunday – Year A - 18th May 2008
at the 9.15am Eucharist at St Alphege Solihull.
A shortened version was also preached at the 11am Eucharist at St Catherine’s, Catherine de Barnes, Solihull.
Readings: Isaiah 40: 12-17, 27-31 2 Cor13:11-13 Matthew 28:16-20
In our gospel reading this morning we heard the words of Jesus, which are known as, “The Great Commission”. They are Jesus’ last words to his disciples in Matthew’s gospel. He says,
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you, and remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
These words brought about a dramatic change for the first disciples. Up until this point Jesus’ main message to them had been “follow me”, and “follow my commandments”, and the disciples had done this as best they could. We know that there were all kinds of errors and problems (like Peter denying Christ) but as best they could the disciples had followed Jesus, through his death and resurrection. This had been a completely life changing experience for them. But with these words of the Great Commission and with the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, suddenly the focus for the disciples changes completely. Rather than following, suddenly they are sent out to call others to follow. The 11 disciples become apostles – that is people sent out by God. Suddenly they become preachers, teachers and leaders of the Christian community. This is the start of mission. Mission also means “being sent”.
And included in the great commission is a remarkably good and very short summary of what Jesus wants from people to whom the apostles preach the gospel. He wants these people to become disciples, that is “followers” of Jesus. He wants the people to be baptised. He wants the people to obey his commandments. This is such an excellent summary of what we must do to be Christians; follow Christ, be baptised and obey Christ’s commandments.
But because today is Trinity Sunday, and because next week we have several baptisms taking place in this service, I would like focus today on what it means to be baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
This formula for Baptism “in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” is recognised as the correct formula for baptism in all the main stream Christian churches. This is because the formula is recorded in Matthew’s gospel as a direct command from Jesus. All the mainstream churches recognise as valid a baptism made in “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. The only exception to this is that Baptist churches often do not accept infant baptism, but they do certainly accept this as the correct formula for baptising people.
And this is a very significant thing because the mainstream churches all recognise as valid each others baptism certificates. And although the Church of God has suffered all kind of painful divisions and has been separated into various different denominations there is a level of unity that remains in our baptism. Whatever our denomination, we are all baptised into the body of Christ, into the Church, and we all have become members of that one body.
There are some interesting stories in the Acts of the Apostles about the incompleteness of other forms of baptism. There are stories (Chapter 8) where people have been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, but have not yet been baptised in the Holy Spirit. There are other stories the other way around (chapter 10). Through these experiences the early church quickly realised that baptism needs to be in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.
Of course the formula “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” is familiar to us, not only because of baptism, but also because Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the three persons of the Most Holy Trinity. Today is Trinity Sunday, when we reflect on the great mystery of our God who is both three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and is also perfectly “one” such that we say with great confidence that there is just one true God.
And this can be difficult to understand. But really we should not be surprised that we find it hard to understand God. God is much bigger and deeper and greater than we are. If we think we have got God “all sust out” then we are putting God in a box; we are placing our own intellect above God’s. We are deceiving ourselves and being somewhat arrogant!
And yet, despite the difficulty in understanding the Trinity, I believe it is important that we always make the effort to increase the understanding that we have. Human beings are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) so looking at the Trinity gives us insights into the way that human life is meant to be.
If we look at the Trinity it seems that the perfect unity and harmony is maintained by love; by the love of God. There is lots of self-giving going on. The Father gives himself completely to the Son. The Son gives himself completely to the Father. The Spirit is likewise involved. This love and complete self-giving sustains the harmony and unity. This surely gives us an insight into how a Christian marriage might work. Similarly it throws light on how a community can sustain itself and become harmonious. And what about nations and the whole world even?
So as we celebrate Trinity Sunday, let’s ponder the mystery of the Trinity and seek to understand it better. Let’s seek to grow in relationships of love and mutual self- giving like those that we see in the Trinity. And by this let us come to live out ever better what it means to be a human being, created in the image of God.
Preached on Trinity Sunday – Year A - 18th May 2008
at the 9.15am Eucharist at St Alphege Solihull.
A shortened version was also preached at the 11am Eucharist at St Catherine’s, Catherine de Barnes, Solihull.
Readings: Isaiah 40: 12-17, 27-31 2 Cor13:11-13 Matthew 28:16-20
In our gospel reading this morning we heard the words of Jesus, which are known as, “The Great Commission”. They are Jesus’ last words to his disciples in Matthew’s gospel. He says,
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you, and remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
These words brought about a dramatic change for the first disciples. Up until this point Jesus’ main message to them had been “follow me”, and “follow my commandments”, and the disciples had done this as best they could. We know that there were all kinds of errors and problems (like Peter denying Christ) but as best they could the disciples had followed Jesus, through his death and resurrection. This had been a completely life changing experience for them. But with these words of the Great Commission and with the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, suddenly the focus for the disciples changes completely. Rather than following, suddenly they are sent out to call others to follow. The 11 disciples become apostles – that is people sent out by God. Suddenly they become preachers, teachers and leaders of the Christian community. This is the start of mission. Mission also means “being sent”.
And included in the great commission is a remarkably good and very short summary of what Jesus wants from people to whom the apostles preach the gospel. He wants these people to become disciples, that is “followers” of Jesus. He wants the people to be baptised. He wants the people to obey his commandments. This is such an excellent summary of what we must do to be Christians; follow Christ, be baptised and obey Christ’s commandments.
But because today is Trinity Sunday, and because next week we have several baptisms taking place in this service, I would like focus today on what it means to be baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
This formula for Baptism “in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” is recognised as the correct formula for baptism in all the main stream Christian churches. This is because the formula is recorded in Matthew’s gospel as a direct command from Jesus. All the mainstream churches recognise as valid a baptism made in “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. The only exception to this is that Baptist churches often do not accept infant baptism, but they do certainly accept this as the correct formula for baptising people.
And this is a very significant thing because the mainstream churches all recognise as valid each others baptism certificates. And although the Church of God has suffered all kind of painful divisions and has been separated into various different denominations there is a level of unity that remains in our baptism. Whatever our denomination, we are all baptised into the body of Christ, into the Church, and we all have become members of that one body.
There are some interesting stories in the Acts of the Apostles about the incompleteness of other forms of baptism. There are stories (Chapter 8) where people have been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, but have not yet been baptised in the Holy Spirit. There are other stories the other way around (chapter 10). Through these experiences the early church quickly realised that baptism needs to be in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.
Of course the formula “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” is familiar to us, not only because of baptism, but also because Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the three persons of the Most Holy Trinity. Today is Trinity Sunday, when we reflect on the great mystery of our God who is both three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and is also perfectly “one” such that we say with great confidence that there is just one true God.
And this can be difficult to understand. But really we should not be surprised that we find it hard to understand God. God is much bigger and deeper and greater than we are. If we think we have got God “all sust out” then we are putting God in a box; we are placing our own intellect above God’s. We are deceiving ourselves and being somewhat arrogant!
And yet, despite the difficulty in understanding the Trinity, I believe it is important that we always make the effort to increase the understanding that we have. Human beings are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) so looking at the Trinity gives us insights into the way that human life is meant to be.
If we look at the Trinity it seems that the perfect unity and harmony is maintained by love; by the love of God. There is lots of self-giving going on. The Father gives himself completely to the Son. The Son gives himself completely to the Father. The Spirit is likewise involved. This love and complete self-giving sustains the harmony and unity. This surely gives us an insight into how a Christian marriage might work. Similarly it throws light on how a community can sustain itself and become harmonious. And what about nations and the whole world even?
So as we celebrate Trinity Sunday, let’s ponder the mystery of the Trinity and seek to understand it better. Let’s seek to grow in relationships of love and mutual self- giving like those that we see in the Trinity. And by this let us come to live out ever better what it means to be a human being, created in the image of God.
Waiting on God
Thought for parish pewslip
Sunday 18th May 2008 – Trinity Sunday (Year A)
Readings: Isaiah 40: 12-17, 27-31 2 Cor 13:11-13 Matthew 28:16-20
On Trinity Sunday we reflect on the great mystery of God, who we say has three “persons”, perfectly united in the one essence of God. It was around 200 AD before the Church started to use the term “Trinity”, and the Church’s understanding of the Holy Trinity continued to develop over the next centuries. However, both of our New Testament readings today clearly show us that the understanding of God as three Persons was present right at the beginning of the Church.
Our reading from Isaiah is a reflection on the great majesty of God who is beyond all understanding and who displays such great power in creation. All nations, all peoples are as nothing when compared to God. The passage is written during the period when the Judeans were in exile in Babylon (6th Century BC). The Judeans had been calling on God to deliver them from exile, and the prophet assures them that God has not forgotten them and he will renew the strength of those who wait on him. God will do something new and they will rise up with wing like eagles.
Sometimes we can feel that God has forgotten us, or forgotten the society that we live in. Isaiah reminds us to renew our trust in the almighty, unknowable God, and to wait on him. The deliverance that we pray for will come. – Fr Gerard
Sunday 18th May 2008 – Trinity Sunday (Year A)
Readings: Isaiah 40: 12-17, 27-31 2 Cor 13:11-13 Matthew 28:16-20
On Trinity Sunday we reflect on the great mystery of God, who we say has three “persons”, perfectly united in the one essence of God. It was around 200 AD before the Church started to use the term “Trinity”, and the Church’s understanding of the Holy Trinity continued to develop over the next centuries. However, both of our New Testament readings today clearly show us that the understanding of God as three Persons was present right at the beginning of the Church.
Our reading from Isaiah is a reflection on the great majesty of God who is beyond all understanding and who displays such great power in creation. All nations, all peoples are as nothing when compared to God. The passage is written during the period when the Judeans were in exile in Babylon (6th Century BC). The Judeans had been calling on God to deliver them from exile, and the prophet assures them that God has not forgotten them and he will renew the strength of those who wait on him. God will do something new and they will rise up with wing like eagles.
Sometimes we can feel that God has forgotten us, or forgotten the society that we live in. Isaiah reminds us to renew our trust in the almighty, unknowable God, and to wait on him. The deliverance that we pray for will come. – Fr Gerard
16 May 2008
Trinity Sunday
Article for Faith Matters column of Solihull News
On Sunday (18th May) the churches celebrate Trinity Sunday. This is when we reflect on the great mystery of our God who is both “one” and “three” at the same time.
It is important to understand that the Holy Trinity is a mystery. As human beings we don’t have the capacity to understand our creator, who is so much greater than we are. We try always to grow in the love and knowledge of God, and by God’s grace we can make some progress, but we can never hope to fully understand God. If we think we understand God through and through then we are deceiving ourselves!
It is also important to recognise that the threeness of God in no way compromises the oneness of God. The perfect unity of God is central to Christianity, and to many other religions as well.
And yet within this extraordinary oneness of God, Christians recognise relationships of complete self giving between different “Persons”. God the Father gives everything to God the Son (c.f. Matt 28: 18). God the Son gives everything to God the Father, being ready to lay down his life for the Father (c.f. Matt 26: 39-44). God the Holy Spirit shares with us what the Son shares with the Father (c.f. John 16: 13-15).
Human beings are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). We were created to have loving, giving and sharing relationships like those that we see in the Holy Trinity. It is relationships like these that give us our true identity and our dignity as human beings. Trinity Sunday therefore invites us to grow in generosity, being ready to give time, money, attention and care to the people around us. Growing in generosity helps us to become the people we were created to be.
Revd Patrick Gerard
Assistant Curate, St Alphege Church, Parish of Solihull
On Sunday (18th May) the churches celebrate Trinity Sunday. This is when we reflect on the great mystery of our God who is both “one” and “three” at the same time.
It is important to understand that the Holy Trinity is a mystery. As human beings we don’t have the capacity to understand our creator, who is so much greater than we are. We try always to grow in the love and knowledge of God, and by God’s grace we can make some progress, but we can never hope to fully understand God. If we think we understand God through and through then we are deceiving ourselves!
It is also important to recognise that the threeness of God in no way compromises the oneness of God. The perfect unity of God is central to Christianity, and to many other religions as well.
And yet within this extraordinary oneness of God, Christians recognise relationships of complete self giving between different “Persons”. God the Father gives everything to God the Son (c.f. Matt 28: 18). God the Son gives everything to God the Father, being ready to lay down his life for the Father (c.f. Matt 26: 39-44). God the Holy Spirit shares with us what the Son shares with the Father (c.f. John 16: 13-15).
Human beings are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). We were created to have loving, giving and sharing relationships like those that we see in the Holy Trinity. It is relationships like these that give us our true identity and our dignity as human beings. Trinity Sunday therefore invites us to grow in generosity, being ready to give time, money, attention and care to the people around us. Growing in generosity helps us to become the people we were created to be.
Revd Patrick Gerard
Assistant Curate, St Alphege Church, Parish of Solihull
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
