Ordinary and extraordinary

Short sermon preached at St Alphege 8am Eucharist on Sunday 5th July 2009
Trinity 4 – Proper 9 – Year B

Readings: [Ezekiel 2: 1-5] 2 Corinthians 12: 2-10 Mark 6: 1-13


Four times a year I go to Glasshampton Monastery in Worcestershire to make my confession and to receive spiritual direction from Br Anselm of the Society of St Francis. As well as being a priest of the Church of England, Br Anselm is a Franciscan friar and has spent the last 56 years living the simple life of community envisaged by St Francis, guided by vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
I was very interested to see an interview with Br Anselm, which appears on the back page of this week’s Church Times. In the interview he is asked when he is most happy. He recalls a moment from last summer, when he was sitting on a stool in the garden at Glasshampton picking spinach in the sunshine. I was very struck by this answer. Firstly I was struck by what a very ordinary and simple thing that was. Happiness is something that we all search for and for many of us it seems very illusive; but sitting in the garden picking spinach; it would probably be very easy for most us to do something quite similar to that. Secondly I was struck because I know that Br Anselm takes his stool and does some work in the garden almost every day. OK, the sun doesn’t shine every day, but it does seem that he has a happy lifestyle.
And Anslem’s lifestyle is worth some reflection. In many ways his lifestyle is extremely simple, natural and ordinary. Most of his days are made up of domestic chores, welcoming visitors and gardening, as well as the moments for prayers and meals around which the monastery life is structured. But the simplicity and ordinariness of this lifestyle has to be compared with some aspects which are very radical and extreme. The monastery is in the middle of nowhere. It reflects a real poverty, with no central heating and a rather run down, in need of decoration, feel. Then there is the celibacy; few of us could cope with that. And obedience; for many of us that would feel like a denial of freedom. So Anselm has a lifestyle which is on the one hand extremely ordinary, and on the other is very radically different.
I think we get a sense of both this ordinariness and this radical difference in our gospel reading today. Jesus returned to his home town of Nazareth and teaches in the synagogue. The radical wisdom of his teaching and the great power of his miracles were on display, and people were amazed. But at the same people just could not grasp it because they knew it was Jesus, the very ordinary boy who had grown up among them, not in any way outstanding or remarkable, but the very normal son of Mary and the carpenter. People could not get their heads round it, and they took offence at Jesus.
And there is a hint of the same contrast in our reading from St Paul. On the one hand St Paul has received visions of the third heaven, of paradise, and he has received unspeakable revelations of an exception character. On the other hand he suffers from some thorn in the flesh. We don’t know what it is but the scholars speculate that it is some physical or physiological problem, from which Paul can never escape, but which gave him pain and made him weak as a human being. How normal and ordinary! How easily we can identify with that; some enduring problem which never goes away, but which frustrates us in so many ways.
And it seems to me that, as each of us walk the journey towards heaven we should expect to see some of this contrast in our own lives too. As we grow in holiness we should expect to become more radical in our choice of God and our love for other people. We should expect extraordinary and remarkable things to happen. But at the same time, if we live as God wants us to live, then the beauty and fulfilment of God’s creation in us should start to become apparent. There should be a simplicity and ordinariness about our lives; naturalness about everything we do. These are the characteristics of the saints. This is the way of heaven.

God's Providence

Sermon preached at 11am Eucharist at St Alphege Church on Sunday 21st June 2009.
Second Sunday after Trinity, Proper 7, Year B.

Readings: Job 38:1-11 2 Corinthians 6: 1-13 Mark 4: 35-41


Our gospel reading today presents Jesus to us as the one whom the wind and sea obey. When the disciples were fearful of storm that was threatening their boat, they woke Jesus up. He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still”. And the wind ceased and there was a dead calm. The disciples were filled with awe and were forced to ponder, “Who then is this that the wind and sea obey him?”
Well in our first reading from Job, we heard God remind Job that it was he, God, who laid out the foundations of the earth, who determined its measurements, who shut in the sea and set bounds for it and said, “Thus far shall you come and no further.” So control of the elements, and especially control of the sea, is seen as a characteristic of God. Jesus’ ability to control the wind and the sea suggests powerfully that Jesus is divine, that he comes from God.
And it seems to be particularly significant that Jesus can give orders to the sea. The bible commentaries tell us that the Sea of Galilee is particularly prone to sudden changes of weather and dramatic and unexpected storms that have great power to destroy. Because of this, the commentaries say, that the sea was commonly seen as a symbol of all that was unruly and uncontrollable, and especially of evil spirits that seek to defy God. And yet even the sea obeys Jesus.
And there is an interesting parallel here with the very first miracle that Jesus performs in Mark’s gospel (Mark 1: 21-28). Jesus is teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum when a man appears who has an unclean spirit. The unclean spirit cries out to Jesus, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are, the Holy One of God.” Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. And all who saw it were amazed, and asked one another, “Who is this who teaches with such authority, who can command even the unclean spirits and they obey him?”
These two stories in Mark’s gospel present Jesus to us as divine, as coming from God. And Jesus has extraordinary authority to command the natural elements, the wind and the sea, and also the unclean spirits, the forces of evil in our world. And this is very particularly powerful. In theology we think of the Devil and the Fallen Angles as having been created good by God, but as having exercised their own free will to rebel against God. It is precisely their rebellion against God, their disobedience to God, which makes them evil. And yet here, it seems, they have to obey Jesus. Perhaps, facing a direct command from Jesus, they have little choice. As the psalmist says of the wicked, “They are like the chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgement.” (Psalm 1: 4-5)
These stories invite us to reflect on God’s and his relationship with his creation. As Christians we believe that God takes an intimate interest in all aspects of his creation. God did not set creation up and then just leave it to unwind, like some old alarm clock that is running out of steam. Rather, God works continually on his creation, sustaining all that exists and drawing forth new things. God is always steering creation towards a fuller perfection. We describe as God’s “providence” the extraordinary and ever developing plan of love whereby God draws all things forward towards fulfilment and perfection. Now we are all called to participate in God’s creative work. We are all called to co-operate with his providence and to make our own contribution to God’s creation. Most obviously this happens when parents have children. I quite rightly say that I was created by God, but I also know that my parents played an important part in my creation. God’s providence works through the very smallest things and through the very greatest things. For the very smallest things, Jesus tells us that even the hairs of our head are all numbered (Matt 10:30). For the very greatest things we can think of the power of kings and rulers. At his trial, Jesus tells Pilot that all the power that Pilot has as Roman ruler comes to him only because it is given from above, by God’s providence.
And there is another mysterious and extraordinary aspect of God’s providence. We all have free will. We all have the possibility of choosing to work against God, against his providence and to do evil. But God’s providence is always greater than evil; it can always draw good out of what is bad. Even the greatest disaster possible, when the creator of the world is crucified by those he created, God’s providence was able to reveal the resurrection and the defeat of sin and death and freedom and new life in Christ. God makes all things work together for good for those who love him (Rom 8: 28). As Julian of Norwich put it, “I must earnestly believe in what the Lord showed in this time; that all manner of things shall be well.
So how do we co-operate with God’s providence? How do we play our part in God’s creative work. Well the first things is to walk in the way of love, because God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them (1 John 4: 16). If we are abiding in God, then we are sharing in his creative work. And if God is abiding in us then God is sharing in our creative work. Then, as a next thing, I think it is important to be attentive to God in each present moment of our lives; to seek to live each present moment well as a gift for God. Of course, in most present moments of our lives we are doing very normal things; walking, talking, working, resting, playing but we can still seek to do these things well, and as a gift for God and as love for the people around us. The more moments in our lives that are lived for God, the more consistent we become and easier it is for God to bring about his purposes through us.
In the boat, in our gospel story, Jesus scolds his disciples for their lack of faith. So let’s have faith. Let’s learn to trust ever more deeply in the providence of God. Even when things seem to go badly let’s trust that God loves us, and is working for our good. Let’s seek always to grow in love, and to be attentive to what God wants from us in each present moment. In this way we can share in God’s work, we can become expressions of God’s providence, of his great love that creates, sustains and redeems. We can become more like Jesus and be great gifts of God’s love for other people.

Growing up in worship

Sermon preached at Solihull School Chapel, 6.30pm Eucharist on Sunday 7th June 2009.
Choir present: boys and men. Trinity Sunday – Year B

Readings: Isaiah 6: 1-8 and John 3: 1-17


I would like you to cast your minds back to when you were little, when you were about three and used to play at being like the grown ups; play at being like Mum and Dad. And perhaps you had some toys to help you to do that. Did you have one of those little plastic vacuum cleaners so you could walk round behind Mum, doing the cleaning? I am sure that some us here had those little plastic lawnmowers that you could push round and they would throw up some green beads that looked like grass clippings. And then there are those red and yellow Little Tikes coupe cars you could ride around in – how cool were they?
Now someone might say, “It’s very silly for the children to play at being grown ups, because they are not grown ups, and that’s not a real lawnmower; its made of plastic.” And in one way this is quite true, but in another way it completely misses the point. Children are pre-programmed to grow up into adults. Playing at being an adult is an important part of growing up. It shows that the children understand their destiny, their calling. It shows that they want to grow up to be adults; they want to be part of the adult world, to share in the adult world, and to make their contribution alongside the other adults. And this is a very good thing. It gives us good grounds for hoping that these children will indeed one day grow up and take their right place in the adult world.
Now, what I want to suggest to you this evening is that rather like children, who are pre-programmed to grow into adults, we Christians on earth are pre-programmed to grow up into saints in heaven. This is what God created us for. This is our true destiny. This is where we find fulfilment, the full realisation of God’s creation in us. And just as it takes time for a child to grow into an adult, so it takes time for a Christian to grow into a saint in heaven. And just as children need a lot of love, encouragement, teaching and example to grow up into adults so Christians need love, encouragement, teaching and example from God, and the saints and from good people in order to grow up to become saints in heaven. And just as it is natural and good and helpful for children to play at being adults, so it is natural and good and helpful for Christians to play at being saints in heaven.
In our gospel today Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needs to believe about earthly things before he has any chance of believing about heavenly things. In the same way we Christians have to live good Christian lives on earth before we can hope to live the lives of the saints in heaven. And there are many different aspects to living a good Christian life on earth. But today I would like to focus on just one aspect of our earthly Christian lives; our worship of God.
On Trinity Sunday we often sing my favourite hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.” The hymn presents us with a vision of God seated on the throne of heaven in his power and glory, being worshiped by all the angels and saints:
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who was, and is, and evermore shall be.
This description of the worship of the saints in heaven is mainly based on chapters 4 and 5 of the Book of Revelation, the last book in the bible. But today we heard, in our first scripture reading, of another vision of heaven coming from the prophet Isaiah, probably in the eighth century BC. Yet the similarities are striking. The seraphs are in attendance. Those words “Holy, Holy, Holy” crop up again. There is great power and splendour and majesty and the pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
And for Isaiah, a mere human, in mortal flesh, aware of his sin this is an overwhelming experience. He is filled with a perplexing mix of awe and wonder and fear. These are the emotions of our Anthem, “Let all mortal flesh keep silence”. We are painfully aware that anything as earthly as human flesh might simply melt aware before the mysterious majesty of God’s presence. Isaiah says, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips”. But the seraphs purify Isaiah from his sin using a burning coal. Nothing is said, but I imagine that the burning coal was very painful. Certainly our experience of the Christian life is that there is usually a cost, some kind of suffering or pain or hard work associated with being purified from sin. But them suddenly it seems that Isaiah can stand in the glory of heaven and can respond positively to the Lord’s invitation. “Here am I, send me” he replies. The worship of heaven and the presence of God have transformed him. They have given him his role, his identity.
These visions (and others in the bible e.g. Daniel 7 or Ezekiel 1) give us some insights into the life of heaven, and the worship that takes place there. And there is a sense in which our worship on earth is seeking to copy this, the great worship of heaven. Many of the visions of heaven talk about music and singing and certainly we do this in our worship on earth. In this chapel a great deal of effort and energy goes into the organ and singing and we do our best to do these things very well, in order to worship as well as possible. And in our worship we have a rite of repentance and forgiveness, so that like Isaiah we can be purified and made whole. We have periods of silence, in which we seek to be aware of our own nothingness before the awesome presence of God. Sometimes we copy the worship of heaven with loud singing, maybe even enough to make the pivots of the thresholds shake! Sometimes we use incense and we do our best to fill the house with smoke, as in the Isaiah vision. Certainly we use those words Holy, Holy, Holy in every Eucharist, often singing them in Latin: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.
Now we know that all this worship on earth is a bit like child’s play compared to the great worship of the saints in heaven. But just as children who play at being adults do eventually grow up to be adults so we hope and aspire that through our worship on earth
we will eventually grow up to become saints in heaven. We will be joined forever in that great and eternal worship of heaven. Amen.

Pentecost and the Global Day of Prayer

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

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


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

Christ the true vine

Short sermon preached at 8am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull on Sunday 10th May 2009, Easter 5 (Year B)

Readings Acts 8: 26-40 1John 4: 7-21 John 15: 1-8

As an eighteen year old, between school and university, I worked as a cook, gardener and housekeeper in the Diocesan House in the Southwark Diocese, South of London. The house is know as Wychcroft. One of the jobs I was given to do was to remove the ivy that was growing up the side of the brick incinerator. I made a start on this, but it was very difficult to pull the ivy off the incinerator. Every stalk had little hair like shoots that bound it onto the brickwork. The stalk would break easily enough, but when you tried to pull off a whole stalk it would immediately break again. I found I had to scrape the stalks off inch by inch.
When the warden came round to see how I was getting on he was surprised how little progress I had made. He tried the job himself and immediately found it just as difficult as I did. So he made a suggestion. “Let’s cut the ivy stalks at the bottom. This will kill off all the ivy above them. We will let it dry out for few weeks and then pull it all off.” And that was exactly what we did. When I returned to the job three weeks later the ivy on the incinerator wall had died and dried out and the hair like shoot that bound it to the brickwork had shrivelled. It was easy to pull the ivy off the wall in sheets, like loose wallpaper, and it all went straight on the fire and burnt very well. It was very satisfying!
Jesus’ parable “I am the true vine” always reminds me off this incident. If the branches of the vine are not bound into the true vine then, without its sap, they soon dry out and shrivel and die. In the same way we Christians must be bound into to Christ who gives life to our souls. Without Christ our souls shrivel and die. They are good for nothing accept the fire. However, if we do abide in Christ and Christ in us then our souls will be healthy and will bare much fruit. Further, we are told, we may ask what ever we wish and it will be done for us.
And what does it mean to abide in Christ, and have him abide in us? [Well clearly our baptism is important here because baptism binds us into Christ; into his death and resurrection. And coming regularly to the Eucharist is important too. When we receive Holy Communion we receive Christ’s presence into our physical bodies; this surely helps us to have Christ abiding in us.]
How in our everyday lives do we abide in Christ? Well, printed on our pewslip today is a passage from 1 John 4 which includes several suggestions about abiding in Christ. It is well worth reading and reflecting on. In particular it says, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (1 John 4: 16). To me this is the very best suggestion for abiding in God. There are two sides to it. Firstly, we must learn to recognise and trust in God’s immense love for us. We must learn to give thanks to God for all things. We must recognise that even when God prunes the branches, which is painful and can leave us with a real sense of loss, this is actually God’s love for us, forming us more closely to his great designs for us, and enabling us to bear more fruit. Secondly we must make God’s love in us grow by loving other people, by seeking to serve them and help them in the most practical ways possible. It is Christ in others that we serve; we do our best to ignore their bad points and we concentrate on serving Christ.
In this way love grows in us. We abide in love and so we abide in Christ. This ensures that we are properly grafted on to Christ the true vine. It ensure that we can bear much fruit. Amen
[Now what is this fruit of which Jesus talks? Well, in the first instance it is the personal benefits of holiness; the love and joy and peace, the patience and kindness and goodness, the faithfulness and gentleness and self-control that we think of as the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5). But more than that, it is about the good works that we do (Col 1:10), the effects that we have in our families, our communities and our nation. Our fruit is our contribution to help those who are downtrodden, our contribution to the good of society, to justice, to peace. And then more than that, fruit is about restoring, renewing and growing the body of Christ, the Church. It is about loving other people so as to help them on their Christian journey. It is about being full of mercy, so that people are helped to repent of their sins. It is about being full of faith, so that faith spills over and many may turn to Christ. Notice that all these fruits depend not so much on us, but more on our co-operation with God. It just like the fruit on a vine depends just as much on the sap from the vines roots, as it does on the vine itself. We need to abide in Christ and Christ in us.]

Encountering the risen Christ

Sermon preached at St Catherine’s, Catherine-de-Barnes, Solihull at 11am Eucharist.
Easter Sunday, 12th April 2009.
A shortened version of the sermon was preached at that 8am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull

Readings: [Acts 10: 34-43] 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11 Mark 16: 1-8



Biblical scholars seem to be convinced that the words we have just heard from Mark’s gospels are the last words in the gospel that can be properly attributed to Mark. Most present day bibles include two additional endings to Mark’s gospel, but apparently, for stylistic reasons, scholars seen sure that these come from a different source. The scholars debate whether Mark’s original ending has been lost, or was never written or whether it was really Mark’s intention to end the gospel with the passage that we heard today.
If we do take what we heard today to be the end of the gospel then it is a very strange end in deed. Although the young man dressed in a white robe tells the women that Jesus has been raised, there is no record of anyone actually seeing the risen Christ. Also the joy of the resurrection has not filtered through at all. We are told that women fled from the tomb because terror and amazement had seized them and they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.
If these are to be thought of as the last words of Mark’s gospel, then they are in complete contrast to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15. First of all Paul does not talk about “terror and amazement” but rather he confidently describes the Christ’s death and resurrection as good news.
There is a secondly contrast because the women in Mark’s resurrection account said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid, but what Paul writes is completely focused on the proclamation of the gospel. He talks about the way the gospel was proclaimed to him, and the way that he and others have proclaimed it to the Corinthians.
A third contrast, and this it seems to me is crucial, is that in the words we heard from Mark today, nobody actually sees the risen Lord. In Paul’s account he produces a list of people who saw the risen Lord, including a crowd of 500 people, and himself, who by some miracle on the road to Damascus, saw the risen Lord in heaven.
So what is it that changes the fear, amazement and silence of the women we read about in Mark’s account into the confident and joyful proclamation of the good news that we read about from Paul?
Well in part it is the passage of time. The resurrection of Christ was a very big and surprising event, and it takes time for it to sink in, and for us to realise all the wonderful implications it has. But it seems to me than it this passage of time the thing that makes the big, big difference was encounters with the risen Christ.
Let’s think about the resurrection accounts in John’s gospel. In John’s gospel we read of Mary Magdalene going to the tomb, and the story is fairly similar to Mark’s version, with the stone rolled away, and the body gone and the angel. But in John’s gospel, while Mary is weeping he sees Jesus, who she initially thought was the gardener. Seeing Jesus made all the difference.
Or we might think of the disciples in John’s account who gather together, very much afraid and behind locked doors. But when Jesus appears in the midst of them we are told that the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Or we might think of Thomas who was absent on that occasion, but who was completed turned around when he later encountered the living Christ.
It is encountering the risen Christ which turns the resurrection for being about a rather bewildering and frightening empty tomb into a piece of joyful news which people want to proclaim to others.
And in many ways this is still true for us today. It is the encounter with Christ which turns our faith from something rather strange and uncomfortable into to something wonderful that we want to express and share. So how can we encounter the risen Lord. Well, since the ascension, we have not been able to meet Jesus in his physical body on earth, but there are still places where we can meet him.
First of all we can meet him in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist he gives us himself, his life, his very body and blood, and certainly we can meet him here.
Secondly we can meet him in his word proclaimed. We think of Jesus as the Word of God and when the scriptures are read Jesus the word is present to us.
But thirdly, and importantly for a gathered Christian community like this one, Jesus is present when we meet in his name. “Where two or more gather in my name there am I in the midst of them” (Matt 18: 20) Jesus said. So when we meet as a Christian community we have the possibility of having Jesus present in our midst. To do this we must meet in Jesus’ name, which means in the essence of Jesus. This means meeting in mutual love, and in obedience to God’s will, but when we meet like this, Jesus is present. When Jesus is present in this way we feel our hearts burn within us, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
So as we gather let’s try to gather in the name of Jesus. Let’s gather in mutual love and in accordance with God’s will and if we do this Jesus will be present in our midst. We will have the encounter with the risen Christ, the encounter that makes all the difference! Amen.

Sharing in the death and resurrection life of Christ

Sermon preached at the 2pm Good Friday liturgy at St. Alphege Church, Solihull.
2pm, Good Friday, 10th April 2009.

Readings: Isaiah 52:13- 53: 12 John chapters 18 and 19


Over Lent we have been thinking about God’s call in our lives. The practice of following God’s call encourages us to think of our life as a journey, a journey which we walk with God moment by moment, step by step. It is a journey that slowly transforms us and develops within us the desires and capabilities [the virtues?] that we will need to live the life of heaven. And I think this Lenten reflection has been very helpful and very renewing for all of us as individuals and as a parish.
And yet we all know that the Christian journey can be extremely hard. We can pass through periods that feel barren, and periods that are very painful. Sometimes it is very hard to accept these. In such situations it we can feel let down by God. We might say, “How can God, who is Love, allow such a thing to happen?” There is a temptation to blame God, or get angry at God or worse still, turn away from God altogether.
But on Good Friday we reflect on the passion of Jesus, on the really painful moments of his journey on this earth. Jesus is betrayal by Judas, he is denied Peter. He is accused by the chief priests and, rejected by the crowd. Roman justice does not defend him. He is scourged. He is mocked. He is crucified. In the accounts of Matthew and Mark, Jesus cries out from the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” It seems that even God has departed from him. Jesus, who is God, experiences the pain of feeling abandoned by God. Jesus, in his humanity, experiences suffering exactly as we experience it. And he experiences it in the most extreme way possible.
The crucifixion is as bad as it can get. Yet we know that this is not the end of the story. We know that Easter Day comes, we know that resurrection life is revealed and found to be eternal and more powerful than the life that Jesus had before. And, more than this, the great barrier of sin that separated God from humanity is broken. The relationship between God and humanity has been restored. We have been redeemed.
This pattern of death, leading to new life is central to Christianity. It is profoundly linked to the restoration of broken relationships that is accomplished through Jesus’ passion and death. This is absolutely what Christianity is all about; the restoration of broken relationships and the passing from death to live. And all this is all made possible because of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
And we too, as individual Christians are also called to enter into this pattern of Christ, this pattern of death leading to reconciliation and new life. So how in practice do we do this?
Well one way is to walk with Christ through the Easter Triduum. These great liturgies that we act out over these three days so help us to enter into the great mysteries of Christ’s death and resurrection.
Another way is to come regularly to the Eucharist. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist we proclaim Christ’s death (c.f. 1 Cor 11: 26) and his resurrection. Participating in the Eucharist helps us to join ourselves into the Christ’s death, into Christ’s reconciliation and into the new life he wants to share with us.
But I would like to share with you today another way of doing this in our everyday lives, both inside and out of church. In Focolare spirituality we try to see every suffering that crosses our path as an opportunity to identify ourselves more closely with Jesus dying on the cross, and to love him more. And this can be done with any suffering of any kind. The suffering can be great or small, physical or psychological or spiritual, it can be our own suffering, or someone else’s. It can be caused by us, or by someone else or by no one at all. There are the small sufferings of everyday life; we spill food down our front, or cut our finger on some paper. There are the sufferings that come through our relationships; a son who is going of the rails, a neighbour who we can’t get on with, elderly parent who needs nursing, a lady who was rude to us in the supermarket car park. Then there are the sufferings that come from our own frailties, weaknesses and sins; perhaps we feel bad because we were rude to someone in the supermarket car park! Perhaps we eat or drink or gamble too much. Perhaps we get angry and hurt people who are close to us. Perhaps we are aware of some profoundly un-Christian attitudes deep within us. Then there are the big sufferings; being ill, an accident, losing a job, being bereaved, a divorce in the family.
Whatever suffering crosses our path, we can pray, “Jesus, in this suffering I am made a little like you, dying on the cross. May I love you more and sharing with you in your suffering and death, may I so also share with you in your resurrection.” I think this what Peter means when he says (in 1 Peter 4: 12), “rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” I also think it is also what Paul means when he says (in Philippians 3: 10-11), “I want to know Christ … and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
And this approach starts to give meaning to our sufferings. We start to see them as part of our relationship with God. We start to value the fact that they draw us closer to God. We experience new life, healing and reconciliation with God. We start to see how our sufferings have helped us in responding to God’s call, and walking the Christian journey. We understand that particular situations have helped us to grow in the virtues, or have helped us to become the person we are.
Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Focolare writes, “I wish to bare witness before the world, that Jesus Forsaken has filled every void, illuminated every darkness, accompanied every solitude, annulled every suffering, cancelled every sin.” [Meditations London: New City 1989 p33].
Now I can’t speak with the authority of Chiara, but I can say that my own experience to date convinces me that Chiara is right. Learning to love the forsaken Christ allows Christ to share his resurrection life, and this has immense value for each of us as individuals and for our church communities at every level.
So as we come forward today to venerate the cross, and as we see his broken figure hanging there, let’s renew our commitment to love Christ in his sufferings. Let’s then try to do this by loving Jesus forsaken in the sufferings of our daily lives. And in this way, may it please Christ to share with us his resurrection life. Amen.

A glimpse into heaven

Funeral homily

Scripture Reading - Mark 9: 2-9
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.


The reading that we have just heard might have appealed to ??????, because it all took place on top of a mountain. It even includes that experience, all too familiar to mountaineers, of being enveloped in cloud at the top of a mountain. And yet there were other things in the story which are not familiar at all; a very special and unusual experience entrusted to Peter, James and John. It seems that they were shown a rare glimpse into heaven.
And we can learn quite a lot from what they saw.
First of all it is reassuring to know that Moses and Elijah, both of whom died several centuries before Christ, are both alive and well and living in heaven. We can be assured of life after death.
Also there seems to be something very normal about the life of heaven. It seems very natural for Moses and Elijah to talk to Jesus. They are recognizable to the disciples, presumably through what the disciples know of them in the scriptures. We can be assured that our relationships, or certainly our positive relationships, continue into the next life in way that is recognizable to the way that they are now.
But then other aspects of the life of heaven seem extraordinary. Jesus’ clothes became dazzling white. Jesus was revealed in his glory and splendour. And this, although it was wonderful, was also very confusing and frightening for the disciples. Peter didn’t really know what to say or how to behave at all, but he did recognise that it was good for them to be there. This, it seems to me, is what it is like near the presence of God. Surely God was very present; they even heard the voice of the Father saying, “This is my son, the Beloved, listen to him.”
So with these thoughts of heaven, let’s have confidence in our Christian hope for ??????. Let’s have confidence that ?????? still lives in heaven, and we will see him again when we die. Let’s have confidence that heaven is a good and natural place to be. Let’s pray for ?????? as he grows accustomed to dwelling in the presence of God. And let’s follow the command of the father to listen to Jesus, so that when our time comes we too may be ready to dwell in the presence of God. Amen.

Discerning God's call

Short sermon preached at 8.00am Eucharist at St Alphege on Sunday 29th March 2009.
Lent 5, Year B, but with a special reading from the Parish Lent Course. The Parish Lent Course follows the book Life Calling by Robert Warren and Kate Bruce (London, Church House Publishing, 2007).

Readings: 2 Samuel 7: 1-17 John 12: 20-26
First three paragraphs are repeated from sermon for Lent 3, 15/03/09.

In our Lent Courses so far we have been thinking about God’s call in our lives. We have seen how God’s call is very personal to each one of us. We have seen how God calls us from where we are right now. God’s call takes perfect account of the person we are with all our specific talents and attributes and virtues, and also with all our many sins and hurts and difficulties and weaknesses. God calls me “just as I am”.
But although God’s call starts with us “just as we are”, it leads us to somewhere new. It is a calling to draw closer to God. It is a calling to grow in love, because God is love. It’s a calling that draws us forward towards our true identity, towards being the person God created us to be. It is a calling to live in perfect harmony with God and with all the other citizens of God’s kingdom. It is a calling to holiness and to the life of heaven.
So it is that we can think of our lives as a journey, a journey towards heaven, towards complete fulfilment, towards discovering our true identity within the love of God. And how do we make progress on this journey. We make progress by following the call of God, by following God’s will for our lives.
But how do we hear God’s call? How do we understand what God’s will is? Well, in our Old Testament reading today there was an interesting story of David trying to discern God’s will. First of all he has an intuition, that it would be good to build a house for God. Then he tests this intuition by talking to the prophet Nathan. Nathan initially says, “Yes”, but very quickly God corrects this understanding. God then talks to David through Nathan, and basically God says “No”.
Notice that God’s generosity in this story far exceeds David’s. David offers to build God a house, but God says that he will make the House of David great, and he will establish the throne of David for all time. As Christians we see this promise fulfilled in Jesus, the eternal king, who was born into the line of David.
Also it is clear from other parts of the book that God does have his own plans for his own house. It is David’s son Solomon who builds a great temple for God. And because of Solomon’s great wealth the temple he builds is altogether far bigger and grander than David could ever have imagined.
So David gets a “No” from God on his suggestion to build a house for God. If we had read further we would have heard that David tests this “No” by praying over it as some length. But then once he is satisfied that he understood correctly he seeks out other activities. In the next chapter of the book he returns to his military conquests, and in this he is greatly blessed by God. Notice that most kings would instinctively want to conquer their neighbours, but would not think to build a house for God. With David it is the other way round, and he has God’s full support.
So, how do we discern God’s will for our own lives? Well, like David, we should certainly listen for intuitions from God. These are often planted by the Holy Spirit. On important matters we should certainly talk our intuitions through with others for verification. Who do we talk things through with? Who has the role of Nathan in your life? Then prayer certainly has an important role in verifying the will of God. God’s will is often suggested to us by circumstances. It is often something very simple and natural and low key. But following God’s will, moment by moment as our lives progress is the key to walking the journey towards heaven. It is growing in love and in holiness. It is walking towards the full realisation of God’s creation in us. It is our fulfilment as human beings. Amen.

The Call of God - Leaving things behind

Sermon preached at 9.15am “Teaching Eucharist” at St Alphege, Solihull on Sunday 15th March 2009.
Lent 3, Year B, but with a special gospel reading from the Parish Lent Course. The Parish Lent Course follows the book Life Calling by Robert Warren and Kate Bruce (London, Church House Publishing, 2007).

Readings: [Psalm 40: 1-8] Luke 19: 1-10

In our Lent Courses so far we have been thinking about God’s call in our lives. We have seen how God’s call is very personal to each one of us. We have seen how God calls us from where we are right now. God’s call takes perfect account of the person we are with all our specific talents and attributes and virtues, and also with all our many sins and hurts and difficulties and weaknesses. God calls me “just as I am”.
But although God’s call starts with us “just as we are”, it leads us to somewhere new. It is a calling to draw closer to God. It is a calling to grow in love, because God is love. It’s a calling that draws us forward towards our true identity, towards being the person God created us to be. It is a calling to live in perfect harmony with God and with all the other citizens of God’s kingdom. It is a calling to holiness and to the life of heaven.
So it is that we can think of our lives as a journey, a journey towards heaven, towards complete fulfilment, towards discovering our true identity within the love of God. And how do we make progress on this journey. We make progress by following the call of God, by following God’s will for our lives. Now I think sometimes when people think about following God’s call, following the will of God, they think only about the big decisions in our lives. They think about choosing what subject to study at “A” level, or choosing what job or profession to enter, or choosing who or when to marry…And it is certainly true that these are important decisions that we must take in front of God and in accordance with God’s will for our lives. But responding to God’s call is not only about big decisions. Much more importantly it about our day to day lives and how we seek to grow in love and follow God’s will, God’s call, God’s prompting in each present moment of our lives. Most of the time, this is about little things. It is about being interested in what the children what to tell us about their day at school. It is about doing our daily work well, and out of love for God. It is about trying to see and love Jesus present, even in that person who is frankly rather annoying. It’s about giving ourselves enough rest and looking after our bodies. And if we practice following God’s call moment by moment in all the simple things in life, we build within ourselves the desire and capability to follow God’s call well when the big decisions come.
[This discipline of moment by moment seeking to understand and respond to God’s call in our lives does not mean we go about like some pre-programmed robot “Obey God’s will, obey God’s will”. God’s will perfectly fits the deepest aspirations of our humanity. We have huge freedom to choose what we do and how we do it. God values our creativity and want us to share with him in his work of creation. As St Augustine put it, “Love, and do what you like”. So long as you are seeking to love as God loves then you are within God’s calling, whatever you are doing.
And again although this practice of following God’s call in each present moment of our lives is a discipline, it is not meant to be burdensome or heavy. It is not like obeying the orders of some remote and far away despot who has no understanding of our local situation and no love for us. Rather when we follow God’s will we are following in the way of the person who created us, who loves us and who wants to share his life with us. We are walking in the way of our salvation. It is a discipline, but as Jesus says, “my Yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt 11:30)
Neither does obeying God’s will compromise our freedom. Our true freedom comes from acting as the person we were created to be. We think of the birds of the air as free, but they are not free to behave like fish. We think of the fish in the seas as free, but they are not free to behave like rabbits. Our true freedom comes from acting as God created us to act. Another thing that St Augustine said was that the service of God is perfect freedom, and this is quoted in the Lent Course prayer that will be familiar to those in the Lent Groups.]

Now let’s pause for a moment and think together about the story of Zacchaeus that we heard in our gospel reading today. We have a picture of Zacchaeus and four questions to consider.
Do you think Zacchaeus was following God’s call at the start of the story?
[No – he was a tax collector and rich. There is a suggested that he cheated people and he is publicly referred to as a sinner]
Do you think he was following God’s call by the end of the story?
[Yes, - he literally answered Jesus call and invited Jesus in. He gave generously from his wealth. He made good any past cheating. Jesus confirmed that salvation had come to this house.]
What had changed?
[He had repented of his sin, by putting God above his wealth]
What had enabled this to happen?
[The presence of Jesus. Jesus asks to come to his house, and Zacchaeus welcomes him. The story suggests that Zacchaeus gave away his money without further prompting from Jesus. But in the presence of Jesus, Zacchaeus knew this was the right thing to do, and he had the grace to do it.]
Now Zacchaeus we now made a big step on his journey towards God. He turned from his sin, and responded to Jesus. And this is something that we all have to do too. We all experience barriers and difficulties in responding to God’s call that arises from our sin and the sin of the world around us. What is sin? Sin is going against God’s will, and turning away from God’s love. Whether we like it or not we are all affected by sin. We all have our own tendency to sin, and we are all caused trouble because we grow up with sin in the people around us and because we live in a sinful society.
When we are turned away from God, and we are not putting God in the first place in our lives then we inevitably start to give other things priorities above God. Perhaps we start to prioritise our career, or the house or the car above God. Perhaps we start to prioritise our holidays or our hobbies or our clothes or our children above God. These things then become for us idols, things which take the rightful place of God in our lives.
The psalmist says that those who make idols, or who trust in them will become like them (Ps 115:8 and 135: 18). And it is certainly true that if we prioritise things ahead of God then we start to construct for ourselves a false identity. For example if we prioritise our career above God then we start to build our identity around success and money and worldly recognition. We become addicted to these things because our self understanding, our self esteem and our identity depend of them. But if these things do not come from God then they will sooner or later all pass away. They will be shown to be empty and futile and we will be put to shame (c.f. Is 42: 17 or Ps 97: 7). Similarly if we make celebrities our idol then our identity becomes very tied up with our clothes, and our image and our lifestyle. We become dependent on these things. They become addictions for us. Once again, if these things do not come from God then they soon pass away and the shameful truth of our compromised identity is revealed.

Now let’s pause for a moment and read about a C.S. Lewis character called Mrs Fidget. This is from page 70 of the Life Calling books, used by the Lent Groups.
Read Mrs Fidget from Life Calling, page 70.

Now let’s discuss, was Mrs Fidget’s work for her family a call from God, or an addiction.
Who thinks call from God? Why?
Who thinks an addiction? Why?
Well I suspect that it was a bit of both. I suspect that on the one hand God did call her to care for her family, but that means loving the family as they need to be loved, not loving them as I need to love them. I suspect that “living for her family” was also for Mrs Fidget a false identity, behind which she would hide many anxieties and past hurts. If she was more attentive to the call of God, he would have drawn her forward on her journey. There would have been uncomfortable and challenging moments when she would have needed to face up to those anxieties and hurts, but over time God would have healed her and delivered her into a renewed and greater identity.
So as we follow God’s call we will from time to time have to leave things behind. We will have to give up on parts of our old identity which did not come from God. Sometimes this can be a painful. Sometimes it can be very hard. Sometimes we might be tempted to fall into self-hatred or despair or self-pity, but this would be a mistake. We must entrust ourselves to the great mercy of God. God loves us as we are. If we can truly turn to God and accept his love, then we too can learn to love ourselves as we are. We can learn to accept the pain and suffering caused by sin and in this way, somehow, God overcomes our sin.
Let’s summarise. As we follow God’s call, and walk the journey towards heaven there will be times when God calls us to leave behind past behaviours or addictions or self understandings. Certainly we will be called to leave behind our sins, but sometimes there are even good things that we have to leave behind because God no longer wants them for us, their moment has past. This can be hard, but if like Zacchaeus, we place ourselves in the presence of Christ, then we will have the grace we need to move forward.

Deliverance by following the call of God

Thought for Parish Pewslip – 15th March 2009

Lent 3 (But reading following Lent Course)

Readings: Psalm 40: 1-8 Luke 19: 1-10


In our reading from Psalm 40, the psalmist pours out a song of thanksgiving for the good that God has done for him. God has delivered him from a bad place and set him somewhere secure. God has given him a new song of praise to sing and he emphasises the great value of trusting God. The last part of the reading reiterates a theme of many psalms. Obedience to God is worth more than sacrifice; our outward acts of religious worship are worthless unless the inward attitudes of our hearts and minds are orientated towards God.
Our gospel reading today is the story of Zacchaeus, the rich tax collector. Wealthy tax collectors were seen as sinners who collaborated with the occupying forces of the Roman Empire. The Jews treated them rather like our tabloid newspapers treat failed bankers who retire on huge pensions. Zaccheaus repented and made reparations for his sins. Jesus affirmed that salvation had come to Zacchaeus’ house. “The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” When people are vilified by our newspapers we must remember that, however bad their sins, Jesus came to save even them. Jesus’ hope is that their repentance (and ours!) will allow us to share together in the life of heaven, for all eternity.

Death at the height of life

JeFuneral homily for Lesley Bevan (44), wife and mother of three boys, 14, 11, and 9.
Preached at St Alphege, Solihull, 11th March 2009.

Reading: John 14: 1-7

In the passage of scripture that we have just read, Jesus is talking to his disciples at the last supper on the Thursday night before he died on the Friday. His disciples do have some understanding of what is about to happen, and they are appalled by it. Jesus is about 33 years old. He is at the height of his life, he has shown extraordinary potential to do really great things, and yet it is all going terribly wrong; it is all ending in death.
When someone dies at the prime of their life it is deeply shocking and disorientating. We are forced to stop and re-evaluate the way we think about life. How can it be that a loving God allows someone like Lesley to die?
Well, we could equally ask, “How could God allowed Jesus to die?” We know that God loved Jesus enormously; he called him “the beloved, the one with whom he is well pleased” (Mark 1: 11, 9: 7). Certainly it was not for lack of love that God allowed Jesus to die, and neither is it lack of love that God has allowed Lesley to die.
So how can Love allow such a thing? Well these are great mysteries, but one reason might be that there are better things beyond this life. What we lose in death, might seem very small compared to what we can gain in the next life. Certainly the words of Jesus that we read today, suggest good things in the next life. Jesus says, “I go and prepare a place for you” and “I will take you to be with me, so that where I am, you may be also”. This suggests that in heaven we dwell in the presence of Jesus, the one who loves us and who gave everything for us. Certainly sounds like a good thing. And certainly we can have hope that these things are true for Lesley too.
One of the scandals of Jesus’ death was his unfinished work. He seemed to have a transforming effect of the world around him, but he died before much could come of it. And yet, despite this, from Jesus’ life the church was born, and the church has spread right round the world and has transformed the lives of many, many people. And I believe that the same will be true of Lesley’s great work, her children. She always said, “I just want to see my boys grow up”. She might not have seen the final result, but it seems to me that she has given her boys very firm foundations. They know that they have been loved. They have seen and known a selflessness love, a courage, an honesty, and a devotion to family, that gives them a most powerful basis on which to build their futures. I am confident that they will be well looked after and will grow up a credit to their mothers legacy.
Let’s go back to our scripture reading. There is quite a lot in there about the hope of heaven, about Jesus preparing a place for us, and about being together with Jesus when we die, and this is all very reassuring. It gives us great hope.
But the scripture reading is also important because it tells us how this hope comes to be realised. Thomas says the Jesus, “We do not know where you are going, how can we know the way,” and Jesus assures him that he, Jesus, is the way the life and the truth. So our Christian hope is realised in Jesus. It arises from walking in the way of Jesus, following the paths that Jesus shows us. It arises from sharing the life that is Jesus, sharing our own life with Jesus. It arises from the truth, that is from the true relationship with Jesus, the one in whom we can trust.
So as we go from here let us rejoice in the great legacy that Lesley has left us. Let us offer to God the great suffering of her departure. Let’s look to Jesus, the way, the life and the truth, so that our hopes on earth and our hopes of heaven can be realised. Amen.

Following the call of God

Sermon preached at 11am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull on Sunday 8th March 2009
Lent 2, Year B, but with a special reading from the Parish Lent Course. The Parish Lent Course follows the book Life Calling by Robert Warren and Kate Bruce (London, Church House Publishing, 2007).

Readings: Genesis 1: 26-31 Mark 9: 1-2-9

Many of you will be familiar with the Life Calling course used by the Parish Lent Groups this Lent. In week two of the Lent the course encourages us to reflect on the relationship between our creation and God’s calling to us. To do this the course invites us to listen to the part of the creation story from Genesis 1, which we heard as our first reading today. This creation story does not provide many details about the way in which humanity was created, but it does offer some profound reflections on what human beings are, and on how they relate to God. Above all, the story affirms that human beings are created in the image of God. Created in the image of God! What does this mean?
Well it means that there is something about us which is like God, or at least has the potential to be like God. I once read a fascinating commentary on this passage which noted that in verse 26 of the story, God resolves to make humanity in his own image and likeness. But when God actually creates human beings in verse 27 we are told that they are created in the image of God, but nothing is said about the likeness of God. The commentator’s explanation of this point was that although humanity was created in the image of God, we still need to be nurtured and to grow and to develop in order to attain the likeness of God. It is a bit like a baby, who is born the image of its parents, but who still needs to grow up in order to become the likeness of his parents. Or perhaps it is like an apple pip, which already contains the blueprint or DNA of an apple tree, but still has to be planted and watered and to grow, before it attains the likeness of an apple tree.
I think this understanding of our creation has much to commend it because it suggests that there is a profound link between what we are now, as we have been created, and what we are destined to become. It recognised that God is always calling us, drawing forward, seeking to move us forward towards our destiny in the likeness of God. This call of God is uniquely personal to each one of us. Importantly, it reflects both the person we already are, and the person we shall be.
For example, let’s think about God’s call to Abram or Abraham, as he later becomes, in Genesis chapter 12. God calls Abraham to leave his country and his father’s house and to go to a new land that God will show him. God promises to make Abraham the father of a great nation and to bless him richly, such that through him all the families on earth will be blessed.
Now this call of God to Abraham reflects many aspects of who Abraham already is. It reflects the fact that Abraham’s father Terah had already moved his family away from their origins in Ur and to Haran, which is half way round the fertile crescent, towards the land of Canaan, the land that God promises to give to Abraham. God’s call to Abraham also reflects that fact that Abraham is already master of a household, so he has the freedom to make the kind of choice that God is requiring.
On the other hand this call of God is also about what Abraham is destined to become. Abraham is called to be the father of a great nation. Now at the moment when God makes this call to Abraham it has to be said that being the father of a great nation looks very unlikely. Abraham has no children. He is seventy five years old. His wife Sarai is not much younger and she is barren. Abraham’s anxiety about his lack of children becomes an on-going theme of the story, but we know, that in the end that Abraham does in deed become the father of several great nations. God’s call brings new dimensions to Abraham’s life, dimensions which would have been quite impossible to predict at the time of his call.
Notice however that while God’s call draws Abraham forward towards a wonderful destiny, it also requires Abraham to leave certain things behind. He has to leave behind his father’s house and all the securities of Haran. Later in the story he has to leave behind his nephew Lot, and later still his slave wife Hagar and his son by her Ishmael. These are costly losses to Abraham, but it is characteristic of God’s call that we have to leave things behind in order to take on the new things that God wants for us.
Now it is unlikely that any of us have a calling as important as Abraham’s, but we can all be certain that God does call us. The call is directed to us, exactly as we are right now, with all our sins and weaknesses and failings as well as our few good qualities and our particular talents. The call draws us towards the fullness of life in heaven, where we will be more in the likeness of God, more like Jesus (1 John 3: 2).
So how, in practice, do we follow God’s call? Well I believe that the best way to do this is to always practice following God’s promptings in each present moment of our lives. God prompts us through his commandments, especially his commandment to love other people. Growing in love is, after all, growing in the likeness of God. Sometimes God prompts us through the things people ask us to do. Sometimes, if we listen, we can hear God prompting us deep in our hearts. In most present moments of our lives the things that God want from us are very simple; to concentrate properly when driving, to listen properly to those who speak to us, to help with household jobs, to set aside time for prayer, to take care of our bodies and rest properly. However by doing these things well, for love of God and for love of the people around us, we build a discipline of listening to the prompting of God and following his call, moment by moment through are lives. And if we do this in all the small things of life we can be confident that we have the training and discipline to do it when the bigger decisions come.
Our gospel reading today was the story of the transfiguration. Jesus’ disciples saw Jesus in his heavenly glory. This is the glory which we are called to share (Romans 8: 17, 2 Thessalonians 2: 14). Let us try to follow the promptings of God in each present moment of our lives. In this way, moment by moment, we follow God’s calling and will realise the great destiny he has promised us.

One with Christ in the other

Short sermon preached at 8am Eucharist at St Alphege, Solihull
Sunday 8th February 2009 – Third Sunday before lent
Readings for Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Year B

Readings: Isaiah 40:21-31 1 Corinthians 9: 16-23 Mark 1: 29-39


The Apostle Paul is often seen as the archetypal missionary preacher. Certainly the New Testament, especially in the Acts of the Apostles, shows Paul as extraordinarily effective in proclaiming the gospel. This was his great passion; “Woe betide me if I do not proclaim the gospel” we read from him today. And for me, as a child, an image of this formed in my mind. A huge figure Paul is standing high above a crowd, preaching the gospel in a loud voice and with great emotion and with lots of finger waging. And the people in the crowd are cowering before him in fear for their immortal souls, and are weeping in repentance for their sins.
As time has gone by I have come to realise that this image is not quite right, and in places it reveals some serious misconceptions about what it means to proclaim the gospel. For a start we know that Paul’s physical stature was neither big nor impressive (Acts of Paul and Thecla 3 - late 2nd century). Paul notes of himself that, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible." (2 Cor 10:10) But above all, what is wrong is the impression that Paul, through strength of argument or personality was somehow able to force or coerce people into accepting the gospel. I am quite sure that it was not like this at all. In fact the techniques Paul described in our reading today are the very opposite of force or coercion. They show the love of someone who places great value on the experience and opinions of others.
First of all Paul says, “I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.” Paul sees himself as a slave or a servant of those who he seeks to convert. This does not mean that he allows them to dominate or control him or walk all over him. Rather it means he will look at these people with great charity, trying to see them as God sees them, and trying to recognise and understand God’s creation in them, and above all trying to find within them the new life of Christ. It is this new life in Christ and God’s creation in them that Paul is seeking to serve. He will do whatever he can to nurture it, understand it and help it to grow. And the point about being a servant or a slave is that this is done, not on Paul’s terms, but on the terms of the one who is served. Paul serves Jesus, present in the other people.
But then, even more mysteriously, Paul says, “To the Jews I became a Jew… to those not bound by the law of Moses I became like one not bound by the law of Moses…to the week I became week…I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means win some.” This means that Paul seeks to set aside his own agenda and priorities in order to focus properly on the experience and aspirations of Christ present in the people he meets, be they Jews, or non Jews, the week or the strong. Paul is ready to die to Christ in himself, in order to rise with Christ in the other person. Paul seeks to empathise with Christ in the other person. He seeks to walk in the shoes of the other in order to understand the other and to share in their joys and sorrows, their hopes and fears. And Paul remains convinced that it is this losing of himself for Christ in the other that will eventually win the other over to Christ.
And this is the pattern for our love too. We need to be ready to lose everything in order to seek out and love Christ present in the other person. We seek to empathise with and share in the experience of Christ in that person. And this helps Christ to grow, both in them and in us and so it brings forward the kingdom of God. Amen.

Preaching the message of God

Thought for the Parish Pewslip, 8th Feb 2009

Readings for Epiphany 5, Year B: Isaiah 40: 21-31, 1 Corinthians 9: 16-23, Mark 1: 29-39


Our readings today tell us about the compelling need to preach the message of God. There are also some top-tips on how this should be done!
From Isaiah, the prophet’s message is about the greatness of God. He wants to remind people of the God’s extraordinary power. The prophet wants to assure God’s people that those who wait on the Lord will receive new strength. He seems frustrated that people don’t understand this; “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” he repeats.
In our reading from 1 Corinthians, Paul explains that he is under an obligation to proclaim the gospel. But for Paul this means being empty of self and being ready to lose his own agenda. Paul focuses on empathising with other people and becoming one with them. He is even prepared to make himself weak with the weak. Somehow, through this emptiness of self, the blessings of the gospel are shared.
In our gospel, Jesus too is keen to proclaim his message. For Jesus, loving and serving others (by healing the sick and casting out demons) is an integral part of the proclamation.

Giving from our gifts

Preached at St Michael’s, Solihull, meeting in Sharmans Cross School.

10.30am Eucharist on Sunday 1^st January 2009

Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Candlemass)

Readings: Malachi 3: 1-5 Hebrews 2: 14-18 Luke 2: 22-40

Last week I was talking to a lady, and she was experiencing panic in her household because 31^st January was the last date for submission of an on-line self assessment tax return. Well today is 1^st February, so I hope that they got the job done and can now relax. This got me thinking about tax. I don’t know about you, but I always used to think that it was very strange that people who worked for the government had to pay tax. I used to think it would make much more sense to pay government employees smaller salaries, but to pay them tax free. Would this not save all kinds of administrative costs involved in paying out money and then taxing it back in again? But as I have got older I have come to understand the wisdom of everyone paying tax. There are many administrative advantages, but it seems to me that the biggest single advantage is that government employees share in the experience of being a taxpayer. If taxes go up, because of some government policy, then they share the pain with everyone else. If taxes go down they share the benefit. If some mess up in government wastes a lot of tax payers money, then government employees are likely to be just as annoyed and frustrated by it as any other tax payer. So the additional circulation of money caused by paying government employees and then charging them tax ensures government employees and the rest of us have a shared experience of being tax payers. This common experience of paying tax helps us to understand one another. It helps the nation to build a common mind on the way that government money should be spent. In its own small way it helps us to build unity in the nation.

And we have a similar situation in our financial giving to the church. There are people, like me, who work for the church and are paid by the church, but we also give money to the church. Just like everyone else in the congregation we have to sit up and take notice when the church asks us to review our giving and perhaps to give more. So church employees face the same challenges on giving as other members of the congregation. And this additional circulation of gifts in the life of the church gives us a shared experience of giving. This helps us to understand each other and to build unity in the church.

This pattern of giving from the gifts that we have received is also evident in the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, which we heard about in our gospel reading today. God had given to Mary the huge gift of the baby Jesus, and yet Mary still went to the temple to present her baby back to God, because the law said that, “every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord.”

Mary and Joseph knew that Jesus was the Son of God. So they knew that the whole temple, and all its officials which exist for the worship and glory of God, also exist in a certain way for the worship and glory of Jesus. And yet this did not prevent them from making the sacrifice required by the law, “a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.” In fact we are told that Mary and Joseph did everything that was required by the law of the Lord before they returned to Galilee.

So even though the Holy Family received very special gifts from God, given to them for very particular purposes, they still felt the need to give gifts back to God. And so we see a circulation of gifts a bit like the circulation caused by government employees paying taxes, or church employees giving money to the church.

And this pattern of receiving gifts and then giving back goes very deep. It is central to the life of God himself. God the Father gives everything to Jesus. In Ephesians (1: 21) we read that the God has set Jesus far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and … has put all things under his feet and has made him head over all things. And yet Jesus too gives everything to the Father. In Gethsemane Jesus is reluctant to drink the cup of poison, but he realises, deep within him, the need to do God’s will, not his own. It costs him everything; his human body dies. God the Father receives this gift of everything from his son, but then he has more gifts for Jesus, beginning with the gift of the resurrection from the dead, and our salvation. And the result of this total self giving is the perfect unity that we see in the Holy Trinity. As Jesus says, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14: 10-11).

As Christians we are called to share in the glory and holiness of this life of God, this divine life of heaven (e.g. 2 Th 2:14, Heb 3: 1,14). To prepare for this sharing we need to practice giving and receiving. Let’s be generous givers! We know that we brought nothing into the world. All that we have is God’s gift to us, either directly or indirectly. We also know that we will take nothing out of the world when we die, so ultimately everything that we have must be given away or lost.

Let’s give then, not just money, but of time, attention, talents and prayers. And let’s not be ashamed to receive gifts or love or attention from others, because these enrich us and allow us in turn to give more. All this giving helps goods, and money and news and experiences to circulate within the life of the church, and within the life of the wider community. This helps to build up a common life, a shared understanding. It leads to a sense of belonging and cohesiveness in the community, and it leads to unity in the church. Unity! This is perhaps God’s greatest gift to us, but we can only receive it when we are giving ourselves completely to one another.

Conversion

Sermon preached at St Alphege, Solihull at 9.15am Eucharist
Sunday 25th January 2009 – The Conversion of St Paul.
(A shortened version of this sermon was preached at the 8am Eucharist at St Alphege.)

Readings: Jeremiah 1:4-10 Acts 9: 1-22 Matthew 19: 27-30

In our second reading today we heard the story of the conversion of St Paul. It is about as dramatic as a conversion story could be. Jesus himself intervenes directly, with a flashing light and a voice from heaven. Paul goes blind, and then his blindness is healed. Jesus speaks directly with Paul, and Paul later (1 Corinthians 9: 1) affirms that he has seen Jesus. And the turn around in Paul’s behaviour is also extremely dramatic. He goes, in the space of a few short days, from being the worst enemy of the Church to being its most committed supporter. He goes from organising the persecution of the Church to proclaiming in the synagogues that Jesus is both Son of God and Messiah.
Paul’s is surely the most dramatic conversion possible, but there have always been dramatic conversions in the life of the Church. Three years ago, in South Africa, I came across a Free Church minister who had himself had a most extraordinary conversion experience. Overnight he abandoned the mainstay props of his old life; drink, tobacco, drugs and violence and he turned instead to a new life and a charismatic church ministry centred around repentance. He led many other people to repentance. He would baptise them with a full immersion baptism in a local river, a bit like John the Baptist. His church had a big following.
For most of us however our conversion is rather less dramatic, and rather more drawn out. Perhaps we get to know someone and the relationship slowly changes us. Perhaps we have an experience of being loved, and this brings us a new freedom. Perhaps, seemingly by chance, we attend a particular mission event, or church service or prayer meeting and we find ourselves strangely moved by the presence of God. Perhaps we start praying, and then come to realise that our prayer are important. Perhaps we come to a point of crisis and we painfully realise that we need to build our life on firmer foundations. Perhaps several of these things happen, and there is a series of milestones before we arrive at a point of conversion.
But at some point or other, for all of us this moment of conversion must come. It is a very important step, which sooner or later we must all take. We must turn to God acknowledge his love and our own sinfulness and commit ourselves to walk with him on the path that he sets before us. This turning to walk with God is an essential step. It is the beginning of a journey towards God, in which our relationship with God grows and deepens. It is a journey in which God’s creation in us is gradually brought to perfection. It is a journey through which we grow in love and become a blessing to the people around us. It is a journey that slowly forms us to make us ready to share in the life of God with all his people in heaven.
And I think it is important so avoid the mistake of thinking of conversion as something we do once and for all time. The fact is that as we progress along the journey of our Christian life we are continually called to a conversion that is ever deeper and ever more complete. This is about learning to accept and trust ever more deeply in the love of God. Even though I have this terrible fault, God truly loves me. Even though I have committed these terrible sins, God still loves me. Even though this dreadful thing has happened, God still loves me. Fr Sean, a priest of 58 years standing at St Augustine’s RC church, has a habit of asking people to pray for his conversion. There is something a bit comic about this, because Fr Sean is already deeply and profoundly converted. And yet there is a serious point to it. He, just like the rest of us, still needs to make progress on his journey towards God. He recognises his need for ever greater conversion.
So the Christian life is a journey towards God. But the first and most vital step is that we choose to be on that journey. We need to turn to face God, to trust in his love for us and start to walk with him. And it may well be that there are people here today who have never made that step, never made that choice. And if this is you, then I commend this step to you with all my heart. God is calling. Say “yes” to God; turn and follow his call. Say to him in prayer, “Lord, I want to follow you, help me to follow you.” And don’t try to do this all on your own. You will need the help of others. Talk to someone from the church about it. Talk to the priests at coffee squash.
But there are many here today, I am sure, who have long since made that choice and have long since set out on that journey. And if this is you then I urge you to make proper progress on your Christian journey. Let’s make the most of every opportunity that God sends. Let’s seek to love every person that God puts in front of us. Let’s establish a pattern to our prayer life and keep to it. Let’s humbly follow God’s will for our lives, trusting always in his love for us, and believing that he wants our good.
And maybe there are some people here today who have already made good progress on their journey and who are wondering what comes next. Well, that is for God to know and for you to find out! But as our journey progresses we should expect it to become more and more tied up with the journeys of the people around us. It becomes harder for us to make progress by ourselves. More and more we can only make progress by helping the people around us. The Lord told Ananias that Paul would be an instrument to bring Christ to many people and the Lord hinted that much suffering would be required on Paul’s part. Suffering for the sake of others might well play a part in our journeys.
An if that sounds a bit heavy, or if making the journey with Christ feels to costly because of the things we might have to leave behind, or let go of, then let’s remember what Jesus said to those who follow him in our gospel today. He said, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my names sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” May that be true for each one of us. Amen.

The Holy Spirit at the Baptism of Christ

Sermon preached at St Alphege, Solihull, 11am Eucharist on Sunday 11th January 2009
Epiphany 1 - The Baptism of Christ, Year B.

Readings: Genesis 1: 1-5 Acts 19: 1-7 Mark 1: 4-11


Our readings today make us reflect on the Holy Spirit. They remind us how incredibly important the Holy Spirit is, and how significant his role is in so many crucial moments.
In our reading from Genesis we heard the first five verses of the bible; the beginning of the creation story. And this included, in the second verse of the bible, a reference to the Holy Spirit. You may have missed it because we read from the NRSV of the bible, which translates the Hebrew as, “A wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” But the Authorised Version of the Bible translates this as “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” The NIV translates it as “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”. However it is translated, the point remains the same; the Holy Spirit was present and participating at the very beginning of creation.
In our gospel reading we heard Mark’s very brief account of the ministry of John the Baptist. We heard how people went see John in the wilderness. They confessed their sins and were baptised with a baptism of repentance. And John proclaimed that the one coming after him, was much greater than he was, because John baptised only with water, whereas the one who was coming would baptise with the Holy Spirit.
And is seems that there is some very profound link between Jesus, baptism and the Holy Spirit. This first comes to light when Jesus is baptised by John, and we heard this story at the end of our gospel reading. Jesus came up out of the water and he saw heaven torn open and the spirit descending like a dove upon him. Then there was the voice from heaven. “You are my Son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
This incident is recorded in all four gospels. In Mark’s gospel, which we heard today, it is not very clear that anyone else other that Jesus actually saw the spirit descend or heard the voice. Luke’s account suggests that the incident might have been clearly visible to the many people who were present. In John’s account John the Baptist testifies that he saw the Spirit alight on Jesus and remain there, and that this for him was a clear sign that Jesus was the one to baptise with the Holy Spirit; the Son of God. In the Church we always think of the baptism of Christ as a key “epiphany moment”; a moment when Jesus is revealed to the world as someone very important. In fact this is a particularly significant epiphany moment because the descending Spirit shows Jesus to be the anointed one, the Messiah, and the voice from heaven goes further telling us that he is God’s own son, the beloved.
But the links between Jesus, the Holy Spirit and baptism go well beyond the decent of the Holy Spirit onto Jesus at his own baptism. As John the Baptist explained, the baptism of Jesus is a baptism with the Holy Spirit, whereas John’s baptism with water is a much simpler symbol of repentance. This distinction between the baptism of John and the baptism of Jesus became even more important in the life of the early church, after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. This is because of incidents like the one we heard about in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Paul arrived in Ephesus and found some followers of Jesus there. However they had been baptised only with the baptism of John, and their baptism was in some way incomplete. But when Paul baptised them in the name of the Lord Jesus they received the Holy Spirit, and suddenly they started to speak in tongues and to prophesise.
Because of incidents like this the early Church quickly resolved to baptise, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. This formulation used in Baptism emerged very early on in the life of the infant Church, several centuries before the doctrine of the Holy Trinity was formulated.
So those of us who have been baptised have received the Holy Spirit in our baptism. Those of us who have been Confirmed have been further strengthened in the Holy Spirit as we give our own ascent to our baptismal promises, and as the bishop lays hands on us.
So what difference does it make for us, that we have received the Holy Spirit in our baptism? Well these are deep mysteries that mystics and theologians continue to dwell upon. But John’s gospel gives us some pointers in the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. As Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3: 5-6). Somehow, in our baptism, the Holy Spirit brings to birth within us a new life in the Spirit, which is also a new life in Christ. With the correct care and nurture this new life in the spirit can grow and develop within us, until we become mature, to the measure of the full stature of Christ (c.f. Eph 4: 13). And this maturity is deeply tied up with our unity with the other people who have been baptized into Christ, with unity in the life of the Church (e.g. Eph 4: 13, Gal 3: 26-28).
So the challenge for us is to nurture ourselves well so that we can grow in the Spirit and grow in Christ. And this is a great challenge because so many things about our contemporary society are very unhelpful to this growth. However there are things we can do. Coming to Mass regularly is a very helpful thing. Confessing our sins is very helpful. Prayer is very helpful. Studying the bible and reflecting on it is very helpful. Seeking to see Jesus in the people around us, and to love Jesus in them is also very, very helpful. It is very helpful if we can share something of our spiritual lives with others, so it becomes not just an individual things that I do on my own, but something I do together with other people, together with the others in the Church.
So today let’s give thanks for the Holy Spirit, let’s praise God for the new life that he gives us through baptism, and let’s pray that the Spirit will help us to grow in that life and to bring it to maturity.