Contrasting a scarcity mindset with a mindset of abundance

Here's the sermon that I shared this morning during the Harvest Festival at St Mary’s Runwell:

The cost-of-living crisis has, in recent years, seen inflation rise above normal levels because of a combination of global issues including the Ukraine and Iran conflicts. This comes after years of austerity where our governments implemented a series of sustained reductions in public spending all intended to reduce the budget deficit. As a result, we live in a time of relative scarcity compared with years of a booming economy prior to the time of austerity. When we are in a scarcity mindset we focus on all the deficits in our situation, all that is wrong, all we have lost and all that we don’t have.

When St Paul contrasts one who sows sparingly and also reaps sparingly with one who sows bountifully and also reaps bountifully, he is contrasting a scarcity mindset with a mindset of abundance (2 Corinthians 9.6-15). Harvest Festivals are times to remember the abundance of God’s provision in our world and to reflect on the difference between a scarcity mindset and an abundance mindset.

Today, we often experience a sense of scarcity in the Church as well. In our generation God has given his Church a financial crisis, and this can only be for one reason: to teach us that abundance does not lie in financial security, and to show us that only in relationships of mutual interdependence, relationships that money obscures as often as it enables, does abundant life lie.

Sam Wells, the Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, says that, as Christians, we are called to live in such a way that gratefully receives the abundance God is giving us, evidences the transformation from scarcity to abundance to which God is calling us, dwells with God in that abundant life, and shares that abundance far and wide. That is what we celebrate annually in our Harvest Festivals and is what Paul commends to the Christians in Corinth when he calls us to be cheerful givers recognising that God provides us with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, we may share abundantly in every good work.

As Christians, we don’t have to look far for a mission statement for the church. ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’ (John 10.10) Living abundant life. That’s what the Father intends, the Son embodies, the Spirit facilitates. God is a God of abundance who is continually giving us all we need even in the midst of scarcity and trouble; perhaps, especially, in the midst of scarcity and trouble. Jesus is our model of abundant life; his life, death and resurrection chart the transformation from the scarcity of sin and death to the abundance of healing and resurrection; he longs to bring all humankind into reconciled and flourishing relationship with God, one another, ourselves and all creation. The Church of today needs to rediscover his teaching because God gives us the abundance of the kingdom to renew the poverty of the church.

Why then do we often live with a scarcity mindset instead of an abundance mindset? Firstly, we often overlook what we already have. John McKnight and Peter Block are pioneers of asset-based community development. In their book The Abundant Community’ they talk about our consumer society as an economy of scarcity because it ‘constantly tells us that we are insufficient and that we must purchase what we need from specialists and systems outside of our immediate community.’ Instead, they argue that ‘we can do unbelievable things by starting with our assets, not our deficits. We all have gifts to offer, even the most seemingly marginal among us. Using our particular assets (our skills, experience, insights and ideas) we have the God-given power to create a hope-filled life and can be the architects of the future where we want to live.’

This is true too for churches, which thrive when the gifts of all their members are released and they build on one another’s assets. The currency of the kingdom of God is of things that never run out. ‘The secret of happiness is learning to love the things God gives us in plenty. There’s no global shortage of friendship, kindness, generosity, sympathy, creativity, faithfulness, laughter, love. These are the currency of abundance.

Our problem, though, is not just that we don’t always recognise the gifts that God is giving, it is also that we sometimes reject and do not receive the gifts he is giving. A key temptation we face as God's people is to a scarcity mindset in which we reject or fail to recognise the gifts that God is continually sending to us.

Jesus is described as the stone that the builders rejected. Sam Wells notes that 'the rejected stone became the cornerstone, the keystone – the stone that held up all the others, the crucial link, the vital connection. The rejected stone is Jesus. In his crucifixion he was rejected by the builders – yet in his resurrection he became the cornerstone of forgiveness and eternal life. That’s what ministry and mission are all about – not condescendingly making welcome alienated strangers, but seeking out the rejected precisely because they are the energy and the life-force that will transform us all. Every minister, every missionary, every evangelist, every disciple should have these words over their desk, their windscreen, on their screensaver, in the photo section of their wallet, wherever they see it all the time – the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The life of the church is about constantly recognising the sin of how much we have rejected, and celebrating the grace that God gives us back what we once rejected to become the cornerstone of our lives.'

Then, when we do recognise that God provides us with every blessing in abundance, we need to become cheerful givers so that, by always having enough of everything, we may share abundantly in every good work. We can become cheerful givers because Jesus has first given extravagantly and generously to us.

In Jesus’ life, death and resurrection God gave everything he had for us. Philippians 2 tells us that, of his own free will, Jesus “gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant. He became like a human being and appeared in human likeness. He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death – his death on the cross.” This is the extravagant nature of Jesus’ love for us, that he would give up all he had in order to walk the path of obedience all the way to his death on the cross. This is the pattern that we see repeated in God’s dealings with human beings throughout scripture and which we see summed up in the most famous verse of scripture, John 3: 16: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son …” God so loved that he gave.

Oliver O'Donovan writes that, “Generosity means: not staying within the limits which public rationality sets on its approval of benevolence. An extravagant, unmeasured goodness, corresponding to God’s own providential care, defies the logic of public expectation.”

So, the challenge for us as a church and as individuals is this, are we going to live in the economy of scarcity, ‘the economy that is fine as far as it goes, but turns out not to go very far – the economy that only includes certain people, only buys certain things, only lasts a limited length of time – the economy of anxiety and scarcity?’ Or are we going to live in the economy of abundance, ‘the economy where the only use of wealth is to make friends and set people free, the economy in which you are never homeless and you cannot be destitute because you have spent your time and money making friends who will always welcome you into their homes – the economy of abundance, where generosity is the best investment? Which is it to be?’

If we live in the economy of scarcity, we will spend our lives fearing for our jobs, our livelihoods, our reputations, our health, our families, our lives themselves. If we live in the economy of abundance we won’t fear anything. We’ll have the things that money can’t buy and we’ll know the things that hardship and even death can’t take away from us. We’ll have learned to love the things God gives us in plenty. We will be living truly abundant life. We will experience Harvest all year round.

But, in order to see what God is truly giving us, our mindset needs to change from a scarcity or deficit mindset which sees problems to an asset, abundance or Harvest mindset which looks for resources around us where we are. Then, as St Paul writes, each of us will be able to give as we have made up our minds, not regretfully or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver as we recognise that God is able to provide us with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, we may share abundantly in every good work. May that blessing of God be true for each one of us in abundance this Harvest. Amen.

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Corinne Bailey Rae - Before The Throne Of The Invisible God. 

Stewardship 2: Time & talents - Coming alive

Here's the sermon that I used for the second Sunday of Stewardship month at St Mary's Runwell and St Catherine's Wickford:  

I wonder howmany of you have seen the TV game show, All-Star Family Fortunes. This is a game show that features two teams of five contestants. Each team consists of a celebrity and their family, who are trying to win money for charity. The two teams are asked to guess the most likely answers given in surveys where 100 people were asked a series of questions.

I have a list of the top five most common New Year’s resolutions in the UK (taken from a YouGov poll for 2018) and would like you to guess what they are.

1. Eat better.
2. Exercise more.
3. Spend less money.
4. Get more sleep.
5. Read more books.

The rest of the top ten was:

    6. Learn a new skill.
    7. Get a new job.
    8. Make new friends.
    9. Get a new hobby.
    10. Focus more on appearance.

Has anyone has ever made a New Year’s resolution? Has anyone has managed to keep it? At New Year, people often think about making some significant changes to their lives. However, it seems that these good intentions do not last long. According to a story in U.S. News in 2015, 80 per cent of people fail in their resolutions by February. In fact, the second Friday of January has been coined ‘Quitters’ Day’ because that’s when people are most likely to give up!

So, why do people persist with making New Year’s resolutions when most people will break them within three weeks? Perhaps it’s because our culture often sells us the dream of a ‘new you’: becoming a version of ourselves that is fitter, stronger, wealthier, brainier, more physically attractive, more popular and so on. We believe that when we find this ‘new us’, we will feel better, happier and more fulfilled.

Clearly, there’s nothing wrong with deciding to eat more healthily or having a go at a hobby that we’ve always fancied trying. However, what if we are looking for the best version of ourselves in the wrong place? What if the person we really want to be is not out there somewhere, waiting to get in? What if that person is already inside us, waiting to get out?

Jesus told the story of a rich businessman who goes away and leaves his fortune with three of his employees (Matthew 25: 14-30). He gives five bags of money to one of them, two bags to another and one bag to the third. He instructs his employees to use the money wisely so that when he returns, there’s a profit. Sure enough, two out of the three end up making a big return for their boss, which leaves him delighted. However, the third one doesn’t. He buries his bag of money in the ground, which makes the businessman very angry.

We can often end up focusing on all the things about ourselves that we feel dissatisfied with and wish we could change. However, this ancient Bible story provides a different perspective on the person we are. In the story, the businessman is God and the radical message is this: God has invested his treasure in us.

The word used in the Bible for the bag of money is ‘talent’, which is where the English word ‘talent’ comes from. In other words, every single one of us has been given unique gifts, abilities, passions and interests – a wealth of things that make us uniquely ‘us’ – that can have an extraordinary impact when they are put to good use.

Think about how it feels to do something that you really enjoy. How does it feel to discover that you are good at a particular thing or to talk with somebody about something you are passionate about? When we discover and begin to use our God-given gifts, it makes us feel great! It gives us a sense that this is who we really are and what we’re made to do. It makes us come alive.

When we feel this way, it is not just us who feel the benefit. In the parable, the businessman wants to see a return for his generous investment. It’s often the case that the world is changed for the better by people who use their God-given talents well, such as:

• the eager engineer who pushes the boundaries of what technology can do
• the songwriter who creates music that brings joy or comfort to others
• the gifted peacemaker who builds welcoming communities for others
• the talented teacher who inspires and brings out the best in others.

It is possible that making a few lifestyle changes will make us happier for a time. However, perhaps true fulfilment is only found when we discover what makes us come alive – whether that’s creating, running, gardening, inventing, being hospitable or standing up for the needs of others – and we do it to the best of our ability.

So, here’s a simple challenge for us: forget the new you; find the true you instead! Reflect on this quotation from Howard Thurman, a twentieth-century American theologian. ‘Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.’

Think about the things that make you ‘come alive’. Think about your talents and gifts: the things that you are naturally good at or enjoy doing. Think about your passions and interests: the things that excite you, or stir you up. Consider how you can develop these talents this year and how you can use these to help and benefit other people. 

Our Parish needs a whole series of contributions at present as we need new volunteers across the whole range of our ministry. We are looking for a new PCC Treasurer, for churchwardens at St Mary’s and St Andrew’s, for members of our District Church Councils (the DCCs) and Parochial Church Council (our PCC). We would value musicians and singers, people who could work with children when they come to our services, and people who can volunteer at the foodbank. We always value help with administration, pastoral visiting, prayer ministry and with our publicity (website, social media etc). The packs that you have been given include more information about Stewardship and response forms to help you think more about the ways you give currently and what might be possible in the future. The packs include a form you can fill in to offer your help but we don’t want you simply to do a job because it needs doing. Ideally, we want to match the skills and passions and interests you have with the needs we have for volunteers. Filling in and returning the response form on Stewardship Sunday will help us to do that.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you that you made and love each one of us. Thank you that you have given us interests, passions and talents that bring us happiness and fulfilment. Thank you for the many talents that you have given us. Please help us to use these wisely and to share them so that others might benefit from what we have been given. Help us to use them to their full potential and in so doing to bless other people too. Amen.

(Adapted from ‘Come Alive! Forget the new you; find the true you instead!’ by Rachel Noyce - https://www.assemblies.org.uk/sec/3447/come-alive)

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Robert Plant - Shine It All Around.

God so loved that he gave

Here's the sermon on John 3. 1 – 21 that I shared at St Mary’s Runwell and St Catherine’s Wickford this morning:

God so loved - love is from God because God is love; pure love, the essence of all that love is and can be. Love that is patient, kind, not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Love that does not insist on its own way; is not irritable or resentful, does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love that never ends.

God so loved the world - the heavens and the earth that God created in the beginning, the heavens which declare the glory of God and the sky that displays what his hands have made, humankind that God created in his own image. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. God so loved he world that he created in the beginning.

God so loved the world that he gave – true love involves giving; in fact, true love is giving. Our love is often less than this. We speak of those we love as being everything we need or as soul mates who complete us, but rarely talk in terms of giving all we have to others. Yet that is the nature of God’s love, he gives all he has to us.

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son – the Father gives us his Son and the Son gives his life, his whole life, even unto death. Yet, because Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God, this is a way of saying that what God gives to us is himself, everything he has and is. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life – God gives himself to us in order that we can become part of him and enter the very life of God himself. Jesus said he came that we might have life and have it to the full. Eternal life is the life of love that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit share within the Godhead and in to which we are called to come and share by the ever-giving love that God the Father shows to us through God the Son.

God’s love has been revealed among us in this way, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. We live in the light of this love which reveals all that we can potentially be and become as human beings. God so loved the world that he gave. How do we unwrap the gifts he has given?

God gave us the world in which we live, including the life that we enjoy now and the life that we will enjoy into eternity. One of the ways in which we unwrap those gifts is by means of appreciation. Taking a break to get outside and enjoy God’s creation or counting our blessings by beginning a list of all the things we’re grateful to God for including all areas of our lives - family, work, sport, food, sleep etc.

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. Jesus is God’s greatest gift to us. We unwrap the gift of Jesus as we admit to our need for salvation and change. We receive Jesus through the gift of his Spirit, who enables us to change by focusing our thoughts and lives on Jesus. At every moment of every day, we can ask ourselves ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ and allow the Spirit to answer that question by guiding our actions and words.

To support us in living as followers of Christ we have been given the gifts of the Bible (with its story of God’s dealings with the world he created and of Jesus’ sacrifice of himself for that same world), prayer (which brings us into conversation with God), the Church (the group of people locally who are seeking to go deeper into God and, together, to reveal God to their local community), and the gifts of the Spirit (talents and abilities given, not personal benefit, but for the benefit of others).

These are among God’s greatest gifts to us for which we should be truly grateful. We are used to the idea of saying grace (thank you) before enjoying the food we eat. In the same way, we could say grace before reading the Bible, conversing with God in prayer, coming to church, and using the gifts of the Spirit which have been given to us.

Lewis Hyde writes that ‘a gift that cannot be given away ceases to be a gift’ and ‘the spirit of a gift is kept alive by its constant donation.’ Leo Buscaglia said, 'Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.’ St Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12 that ‘the Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.’ He follows his chapter on the gifts of the Spirit by sharing, in 1 Corinthians 13, the best way of all; that of love. God so loved the world that he gave; as God’s children and followers of Jesus, we too are to love the world by giving.

In Lent, as we reflect on all that Jesus has given for us and to us, it is also helpful to reflect on all that we can give back to God in thanks for his overwhelming generosity. Stewardship is about the ongoing contribution we make as Christian disciples; when it comes to the money we give back to God, the talents we use in his service, the community contribution we make and the environmentally-friendly actions we take.

We live in the light of Jesus’ love which reveals all that we can potentially be and become as human beings. In Lent, particularly, we come into the light of Christ by comparing our lives to his. As we do so, inevitably we find that we fall short; that our capacity to do what pleases him (by living out goodness, righteousness and truth) is less than his capacity for these things. Jesus, through his life and death, showed us the depth of love of which human beings are really capable and, on the basis of that comparison, we are challenged to become generous in the way that God is generous towards us.

God is love. Love is gift.
God so loved that he gave;
gave life, bringing the world into being.
Life is gift. The world is gift.
God so loved that he gave;
gave his one and only Son.
Of his own free will the Son
gave up all he had
and walked the path of obedience
all the way to death -
his death on the cross -
that we might have the gift of life.
Life is gift and giving.
Life without giving
cannot be living.
God so loved that he gave.
Love is unmerited gift,
to be given freely, willingly,
without expectation.
We do not love to be loved;
we love to love.
Love is the gift.
God so loved that he gave.
Love grows by giving.
The love we give away
is the only love we keep.
God so loved that he gave.

As his love resulted in his giving himself to us and for us, so our response to him should be the same. God so loved the world that he gave – true love involves giving; in fact, true love is giving. As God’s love resulted in his giving himself to us and for us, so our response to him should be the same. May we use the opportunity of this Lent to reflect together on the love that God gives to us to also reflect on the contributions we make as Christian disciples, thinking about the money we give back to God, the talents we use in his service, the community contributions we make and the environmentally-friendly actions we take. Amen.

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Victoria Williams - Love.

Nothing lost, all raised up on the last day

Here's the Stewardship sermon I shared at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:

Justin Welby once welcomed an Evening Standard campaign on tackling food poverty and waste by saying that as “hunger is a complex, widespread and shocking blight on our country … more needs to be done to highlight this issue.”

In commenting on this statement, the paper noted that the Archbishop had good scriptural reasons to join the Food for London campaign. They noted that after ‘feeding the five thousand, Christ instructed the waste to be gathered up afterwards’ and said that it was in that spirit that the Archbishop had supported this campaign.

It was positive to see a major newspaper quoting scripture and doing so with some understanding. This contemporary reminder of the feeding of the five thousand and the 12 baskets of fragments that were gathered up afterwards gives us one way of reflecting on Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel reading (John 6. 37 – 40) that it ‘is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.’

These words come in the middle of Jesus’ teaching about being the Bread of Life which followed shortly after the feeding of the 5,000. When Jesus gave thanks over the bread, the word used is ‘eucharistesas’, the word which gives us ‘Eucharist’. Jesus shares the bread around in communion, then, when everyone is satisfied, he instructs his disciples to pick up the fragments using that same phrase, ‘so that nothing may be lost.’ Just as none of this ‘eucharisticized’ bread was lost after the feeding, so, because ‘Jesus is the bread of life, [those who] see and believe in him … receive eternal life [and] become a fragment which he will gather up on the last day.’ (John, Richard Burridge, BRF 1998)

This is the reason why Christ came, which he reveals both here and in the parables he told about the lost sheep and coin. The shepherd and woman in those two stories are exactly the same; because of their concern for the sheep and coin which are lost, they will not give up searching until these have been found. The sheep and the coin are loved and this love is revealed or proved through the search.

The point of those parables is for us to know that we and all souls are similarly loved by God because he also searches for us until we are found. This search is the story of the Gospels:

‘Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death
— even death on a cross.’ (Philippians 2. 6 – 8)

Christ went on that search to seek and save those who are lost and thereby to ensure that none shall be lost and all souls shall be safely gathered in.

How much are we loved by God? So much that his Son left all he had in heaven to become a human being and die to rescue us for God. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, searches for all souls with God’s attentive love, looking and listening, finding and carrying; carrying us home, like a sheep on the shoulders, from the cliff edges of our lives.

The lost almost universally consider themselves worthless but these parables and this story specifically deny that assumption. What is lost is actually the most precious thing or person of all; the person or thing for which everything else will be given up or set aside. What is lost and found is us. We are the ones for whom Christ searches at the expense of all that he has, including, in the end, his own life. We are the most precious lost person for whom he searches. We are precious, we are loved.

We live in the light of this love and as his love resulted in his giving himself to us and for us, so our response to him should be the same. Stewardship month is an annual reminder to us that that is so when it comes to the contribution we make as Christian disciples; when it comes to the money we give back to God, the talents we use in his service, the community contribution we make and the environmentally-friendly actions we take.

‘God has given you unique abilities, talents, and gifts … If you think your talents are simply for you to make a lot of money, retire, and die, you’ve missed the point of your life. God gave you talents to benefit others, not yourself. And God gave other people talents that benefit you … We’re all a part of the body of Christ, and each part matters. There are no insignificant people in the family of God. You are shaped to serve God, and he is testing you to see how you are going to use the talents he gave you. Whether you are a musician or an accountant, a teacher or a cook, God gave you those abilities to serve others … You are a manager of the gifts God has given to you.’

Ministry belongs to the whole people of God. Every person, because of their baptism, has a ministry. Each of us has special qualities, skills and talents. How could your talents and gifts be used more fully for the work of God through St Andrew’s? Each of us has time, talents and treasure which could be given out of gratitude and to help this church. Will you help in some way? Can you use your gifts to share in God’s plan for his kingdom and for the work of ministry here at St Andrew’s?

Could you offer your time and talents for tasks such as Administering Communion, Contemplative Commuters, Campaigning on issues, Children’s work, MU Committee, Choir member, Musician, DCC member, Odd jobs, Committee member, Painting & decorating, Church officer, PCC member, Cleaning, Toddler Group helper, Coffee Morning helper, Prayer for others, Reading the Bible in church, Sidesperson, among other tasks? I encourage you to reflect on how you use your gifts and talents currently and whether you could give us of your talents in new ways out of gratitude to God and to help this church.

We do so because we are the most precious lost person for whom he searches. We are precious, we are loved. We live in the light of this love and, as his love resulted in his giving himself to us and for us, so our response to him should be the same. Amen.

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Moby featuring Gregory Porter - In My Heart.

Coming to Christ and going on with Christ

Here's the sermon I shared at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:

Jesus teaches and demonstrates the abundance of God. People realise their need of God. Jesus calls them and they follow him with all their lives. This is a common pattern for many in coming to faith and also to baptism.

In this story (Luke 5.1-11), Jesus teaches from a boat, his demonstration of God’s abundance is in the amazing catch of fish after the fishermen had caught nothing during the night. Peter responds by saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ but Jesus calls him, and all those with him, including James and John, to follow him by giving them a task - ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ They give their lives to him by leaving everything and following him.

Today, those being baptised are becoming part of this story as a result of the way God has been at work in their lives and in their family. Telling our stories of encountering God is a key part of preparing for baptism. Within this parish we use a course called Being With to enable people to share their stories and see how those connect with the story of salvation that we see in the Bible. Being With is a life changing way to help people explore the Christian faith because it helps people consider Christian faith in new and refreshing ways, without needing prior knowledge, but a simple willingness to share what you do know or feel. 

However, baptism isn’t just about coming to God, it is also about going on with God, recognising that we all have God-given gifts and talents that we can use in his service and God-given tasks that only we can do for him. That’s why when Jesus called him disciples, he also gave them a task to fulfil – to be fishers of people; those who share the good news of God with others and bring them into the family of God.

That is why, after our baptism candidates have been baptised, there is a part of the baptism liturgy called the Commission in which they will be asked: Will you proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ? Will you seek and serve Christ in all people, loving your neighbour as yourself? They will reply, With the help of God, I will. Each of us is also called to serve God by using our gifts and talents in his service and by taking on specific tasks to bring into being signs of the kingdom of God in our time and our communities.

So, first we need to identify our particular gifts and talents, then get practice and support in using them, and ask God’s guidance on the tasks and roles he wants us to fulfil. Later this year, we will be organising a Stewardship Month to encourage all of us in the Parish to reflect on the various ways in which we can use our time, talents and treasure in God’s service. Each of us has special qualities, skills and talents. How could your talents and gifts be used more fully for the work of God through St Andrew’s? Each of us has time, talents and treasure which could be given out of gratitude and to help this church. Will you help in some way? Can you use your gifts to share in God’s plan for his kingdom and for the work of ministry here at St Andrew’s?

Could you offer your time and talents for tasks such as Administering Communion, Contemplative Commuters, Campaigning on issues, Children’s work, MU Committee, Choir member, Musician, DCC member, Odd jobs, Committee member, Painting & decorating, Church officer, PCC member, Cleaning, Toddler Group helper, Coffee Morning helper, Prayer for others, Reading the Bible in church, Sidesperson, among other tasks? I encourage you to reflect on how you use your gifts and talents currently and whether you could give us of your talents in new ways out of gratitude to God and to help this church.

Ministry belongs to the whole people of God. Every person, because of their baptism, has a ministry. We must nurture an expectation in our churches that every Christian gives expression to this ministry in their daily life and in their participation in the life of the Church. To see our churches grow and flourish there needs to be a huge flourishing of lay ministry here including youth and children’s workers, authorised preachers, pastoral visitors and evangelists.

Contrary to popular belief, we do not have to be perfect to do God's work. We need look no further than the disciples Jesus called whose many weaknesses are forever preserved throughout the pages of the New Testament. Jesus chose ordinary people - fisherman, tax collectors, political zealots - and turned their weaknesses into strengths. Jesus had a large number of followers including women as well as men and those who remained at home to support those who were on the road with Jesus, as each of us have different circumstances and different roles to play.

John McArthur writes, ‘What we know to be true about Jesus is that He chose [those who were] ordinary and unrefined … They were the commonest of the common. They were from rural areas, farmers, and fisherman. Christ purposely passed over the elite, aristocratic, and influential … and chose mostly … from the dregs of society. That’s how it has always been in God’s economy. He exalts the humble and lays low those who are proud.’

All such were chosen, trained and used by Jesus. Even those who were in the background as disciples were valuable team members. This was so despite their personal failings and failures. None of those things were barriers to being called by Jesus, trained and used by him. That remains true for each of us.

Realising that God loved me unconditionally and as I was, with my shyness and reserve, was key to finding my way through life and using the mix of gifts, skills and interests I developed. Like Jesus’ disciples I wasn’t an obvious candidate to be called to ministry. But none of us are; that’s the beauty of the way God values each person as a unique creation, calling us to be with him so that, over time, our gifts, skills and interests are all utilised in his company.

As Rick Warren has said: ‘God has given you unique abilities, talents, and gifts … If you think your talents are simply for you to make a lot of money, retire, and die, you’ve missed the point of your life. God gave you talents to benefit others, not yourself. And God gave other people talents that benefit you … We’re all a part of the body of Christ, and each part matters. There are no insignificant people in the family of God. You are shaped to serve God, and he is testing you to see how you are going to use the talents he gave you. Whether you are a musician or an accountant, a teacher or a cook, God gave you those abilities to serve others … You are a manager of the gifts God has given to you.’ May it be so for each one of us. Amen.

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Joy Oladokun - Dust/Divinity.

You are enough

Here's the sermon that I shared this morning at St Catherine's Wickford:

Standing proud in the heart of Manchester’s university district on the exterior of St Peter’s House, a 22 x 13 foot billboard towered above the streets below, giving a refreshingly affirming message to passing students and commuters. It said, ‘You are enough’. It would be easy to assume this was an affirmation of the kind of individualism that says ‘I’m alright, Jack’ as ‘I’m looking after No.1.’ However, as St Peter’s House is the base for the Christian chaplaincy team for the Manchester Universities and the Royal Northern College of Music, that was unlikely to be the intended message.

The artist who created the piece, Micah Purnell, notes that, ‘Capitalist ideology aims to impart the notion that we are worthy of love and belonging - once we have bought into the product or service. Consumerism wraps things up in neat little packages and sells them as idealised gifts of perfection. Advertising props up this notion with the assumption that we are inadequate - stealing our love of ourselves, and selling it back at a price.’

He went on to say that Brené Brown, a research Professor at Houston University, has found through extensive quantitative research that the one thing that keeps us from love and belonging is the fear that we are not worthy of love and belonging. She found that those who fully experience joy and live wholeheartedly have four characteristics in common: the courage to accept their imperfection; compassion towards themselves first; the ability to let go of who they should be in order to be who they really are, and to embrace vulnerability and unknowing. His installation, therefore, says, ‘You’re not perfect, you’re never going to be, and that’s the good news.’ You are enough, as you are.

At a conference in Edinburgh in my previous role, I heard Cormac Russell, a leader in Asset-Based Community Development, also say, ‘You are enough’. His point was that in every community there are leaders, makers, traders, networkers, peace brokers, gift givers and receivers, labelled/marginalized folks and connectors. Some of these folks then get together with a few of their neighbours and initiate a project; organize an event, share casual moments, help one another or respond to an immediate crisis that impacts the wider community.

Asset-based Community Development essentially says that the work of building community belongs to those who reside in that area as a birthright, it is the work of near neighbours; not salaried strangers. That means if neighbours don’t do it - it won’t be done. Cormac was saying, ‘You are enough’ to us, because, in any community, residents can initiate their own action and tap into local assets that are within their own control. That doesn’t preclude future action to address structural issues, but it does build a wider base of residents who can deepen their sense of what they want from outside because they know what they internal assets they have.

At St Martin-in-the-Fields I was part of HeartEdge which believes that we can do unbelievable things together if we start with one another’s assets, not our deficits. HeartEdge believes that churches and communities thrive when the gifts of all their members are released and they build one another’s assets. Sharing our particular assets (the skills, experience, insights and ideas) with other members will foster a wider understanding and model the practice of hospitality towards others.

As Christians, we don’t have to look far for a mission statement for the church. Jesus said, ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly’ (John 10.10). Living abundant life; that’s what the Father intends, the Son embodies, the Spirit facilitates. Sam Wells, the Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields says that, as Christians, we are called to live in such a way that gratefully receives the abundance God is giving us, evidences the transformation from scarcity to abundance to which God is calling us, dwells with God in that abundant life, and shares that abundance far and wide. Jesus is our model of abundant life; his life, death and resurrection chart the transformation from the scarcity of sin and death to the abundance of healing and resurrection; he longs to bring all humankind into reconciled and flourishing relationship with God, one another, ourselves and all creation. Discipleship describes inhabiting that abundant life. Ministry involves building up the church to embody that abundant life. Mission names the ways that abundant life is practised, shared and discovered in the world at large.

In 1 Corinthians 12, St Paul teaches that God has given us an abundance of gifts and we are use them for the benefit of others in order to build up the Body of Christ. We all have our own particular role to play and we are all needed as we are enough. This means that: ‘God has given you unique abilities, talents, and gifts … If you think your talents are simply for you to make a lot of money, retire, and die, you’ve missed the point of your life. God gave you talents to benefit others, not yourself. And God gave other people talents that benefit you … We’re all a part of the body of Christ, and each part matters. There are no insignificant people in the family of God. You are shaped to serve God, and he is testing you to see how you are going to use the talents he gave you. Whether you are a musician or an accountant, a teacher or a cook, God gave you those abilities to serve others … You are a manager of the gifts God has given to you.’

Ministry belongs to the whole people of God. Every person, because of their baptism, has a ministry. We must nurture an expectation in our churches that every Christian gives expression to this ministry in their daily life and in their participation in the life of the Church. To see our churches grow and flourish there needs to be a huge flourishing of authorised lay ministry (especially youth and children’s workers, authorised preachers, catechists, pastors and evangelists) and ordained self-supporting ministry.

As a result, later this year, we will be organising a Stewardship Month to encourage all of us in the Parish to reflect on the various ways in which we can use our time, talents and treasure in God’s service. Each of us has special qualities, skills and talents. How could your talents and gifts be used more fully for the work of God through St Catherine’s? Each of us has time, talents and treasure which could be given out of gratitude and to help this church. Will you help in some way? Can you use your gifts to share in God’s plan for his kingdom and for the work of ministry here at St Catherine’s?

Could you offer your time and talents for tasks such as Administering Communion, Contemplative Commuters, Campaigning on issues, Children’s work, MU Committee, Choir member, Musician, DCC member, Odd jobs, Committee member, Painting & decorating, Church officer, PCC member, Cleaning, Toddler Group helper, Coffee Morning helper, Prayer for others, Reading the Bible in church, Sidesperson, among other tasks? I encourage you to reflect on how you use your gifts and talents currently and whether you could give us of your talents in new ways out of gratitude to God and to help this church.

If we do, we will experience joy and live wholeheartedly having: the courage to accept their imperfection; compassion towards themselves first; the ability to let go of who they should be in order to be who they really are, and to embrace vulnerability and unknowing. Like Micah Purnell’s poster in Manchester and the church in Corinth hearing St Paul’s letter read, we will hear God saying to us, ‘You Are Enough’.

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Dissident Prophet - Unconditional Love.

We shall not cease from exploration

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Catherine's Wickford this morning:

The Magi searched for a sign, then searched for the one to whom the sign pointed, and then gave gifts when they found the one for whom they were looking for (Matthew 2.1-12). We think of them as being wise for doing all this. When we think about their story in these terms, it can give us a framework or a pattern for thinking about our own lives; perhaps then we will also find or know wisdom!

The Magi searched the stars looking for signs of divine communication; messages from the gods that could guide individuals and nations in the present. In other words, they were seeking answers, by the best means they knew how, to the big questions in life:

• Who are we or, in other words, what is the nature, task and significance of human beings?
• Where are we or, in other words, what is the origin and nature of the reality in which human beings find themselves?
• What's wrong or, in other words, how can we account for all that seems wrong or broken in the world?
• What's the remedy or, in other words, how can we alleviate this brokenness, if at all?

These are questions that each of us, consciously or unconsciously, find answers to by the way that we live our lives but it is only when we consciously ask them and actively search for answers that we begin to leave behind our natural inclination to live life for our pleasure and convenience.

The sign which the Magi found through their searching was the star in the east which they thought was a sign that the king of the Jews had been born as a baby. This sign uprooted them from where they were. If they were to see and to worship the baby King then they had to leave where they were and travel not knowing for sure where their journey would take them. Their journey was probably inconvenient and uncomfortable for them but was the only way for them to find what they were seeking. It is similar for us as we consciously ask ourselves the big questions in life and seek answers; asking questions and seeking answers is uncomfortable and often means making changes to the way that we are currently living which are inconvenient and disruptive, yet necessary, if we are to find any sort of answers at all.

T. S. Eliot writes, in his poem called ‘Little Gidding’, “We shall not cease from exploration,” and that is right because if we stop searching, if we stop questioning, then we get stuck and stagnate. We only have to look at nature to see the way in which all growth involves change; the caterpillar and butterfly being one of the most dramatic examples. Our own bodies are constantly changing throughout our lives with many of our cells being replaced as we progress through life. Growth involves constant change and if we apply this same principle to our thought life, our emotional life and our spiritual life then, as Eliot wrote, we must not cease from exploration.

The Magi’s journey found its immediate conclusion when they knelt before the Christ-child and worshipped him. They had no independent verification that this child was the King that they were seeking; they simply had to trust that this was so because they had arrived at the place to which the star had led them. Once again, T. S. Eliot’s ‘Little Gidding’ describes this well:

“If you came this way,
Taking any route, starting from anywhere,
At any time or at any season,
It would always be the same: you would have to put off
Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel …”

The answer to our questions is a person, not a fact, and the person who is the answer to our questions turns out to be God himself. Because God is infinite, he cannot be fully known or understood by human beings. With God, there is always more for us to know and understand. Knowing God is like diving into the ocean and always being able to dive down deeper therefore are ultimately only three responses we can make to the wonder and majesty of God. The first is, as we have been saying, to keep exploring and the second is this, to express our sense of awe and wonder by kneeling in worship.

The third is to give gifts. The Magi gave gold, frankincense and myrrh; each being costly gifts expressing aspects of Christ’s nature and purpose. Christina Rossetti expressed the significance of the Magi’s gift-giving beautifully in her carol, ‘In the bleak midwinter’:

“What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.”

She understood that the costliest gift we can give is our life and that our life is given to Jesus when we express through our lives and actions something of who Jesus is.

Kneeling in worship was the end of the journey that the Magi took when following the star but it was also the beginning of the new journey that they were now to make; the journey home. Eliot used the phase, ‘In my end is my beginning,’ at the end of his poem called ‘East Coker’ and, in ‘Little Gidding,’ he writes:

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”

The Magi journeyed home, but their home was no longer what it once was because they had been changed by their journey. Eliot’s poem ‘The Journey of the Magi’ ends with these lines:

“were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.”

The Magi are no longer at ease with their old way of life because they have been changed through their searching and journeying. Now they see life differently because of what they have seen and heard; the answers they give to life’s big questions are no longer the same as before – their worldview has changed.

Are we asking the big questions? Are we constantly questioning and exploring yet also kneeling in awe and wonder to worship? And are both our answers to life’s big questions and to the way we live our lives changing as a result? If we wish to be wise like the Magi then our answer to all those questions will be, “Yes.”

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Brightest and Best.

True and proper worship

Here's the reflection that I shared at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:

Jesus taught that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:36-40).

Our readings today show us some of the ways in which we can do that.

In Revelation 4 we read that “whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing,

‘You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honour and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.’

This picture of worship in heaven shows us everything that exists kneeling before God. “The Hebrews regarded the knees as a symbol of strength, to bend the knee is, therefore, to bend our strength before the living God, an acknowledgment of the fact that all that we are we receive from Him. In important passages of the Old Testament, this gesture appears as an expression of worship.” 

The word worship comes from an Old English word, worthship, and it literally means “to give something worth—to demonstratively attribute value, especially to a deity or god." (Zach Neese, How to Worship a King). Worship is putting the value you hold for something on display. Just like a groom saves up money to buy his future bride an engagement ring, worship says "you are worth this sacrifice." When we worship God, we demonstrate how important He is to us and bending our knees before the living God in acknowledgment that all that we are we receive from Him is one of the ways in which we can do so. 

As believers, however, there are so many ways to worship God. We can worship God through song, as we see happening in Revelation 4 and as Psalm 150 encourages us to do. Psalm 150 ends by saying, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” and demonstrates that by encouraging us to use a great array of instruments – as many as we can – in worshipping him:

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.

“But we can't stop there. Worship is much more than a song; it's a lifestyle. Giving our time is worship, whether it's serving in church or out in the community. Being generous with our finances is worship. Obeying the Holy Spirit’s prompting is worship. Choosing Jesus even when we don't feel like it is worship. It’s all worship.”

Our Gospel reading (Luke 19.11-27) encourages us to use our gifts and talents in God’s service as an act of worship. In the story of the Ten Pounds, what is criticised by Jesus is sitting on our gift and doing nothing with it. In the story the person who fails wraps the pound in a cloth and does nothing with it in order to give it back to the master safe and sound. Doing nothing with our gifts, even if our intent is that we don’t damage or harm our gifts is not good enough, is not worship. Instead, they are to be used, even if we make mistakes in doing so. In the story ten slaves are given ten pounds. Then, we hear what has been done with their gifts by three of the slaves. Two have made more money from their pound and one has kept theirs. What happened with the other seven? We don’t know. It may be that they lost money through their activity but at least they tried, unlike the slave who did nothing. The outcome of our activity is not as important as the attempt. In trying to make use of our gifts we are honouring the one who gives them to us, while by choosing not to use them, we are not.

St Paul wrote that we are to be “a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” as that is our “true and proper worship” (Romans 12.1-3). We can do so as we sing, as we kneel, as we acknowledge God as the giver of all we have, and as we use the gifts he has given in his service. In these ways, we are loving the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.

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Martin Smith - Joy (What The World Calls Foolish).

Being used by God in uncommon, remarkable ways

Here's the sermon I shared this morning at St Andrew's Wickford:

Contrary to popular belief, we do not have to be perfect to do God's work. We need look no further than the twelve disciples whose many weaknesses are forever preserved throughout the pages of the New Testament. Jesus chose ordinary people - fisherman, tax collectors, political zealots - and turned their weaknesses into strengths.

While Jesus had a large number of followers including women as well as men and those who remained at home to support those who were on the road with Jesus, this passage focuses our attention on the 12 who were amongst the first that were called to follow him, were amongst those closest to him and who became apostles following his Ascension.

Their names, as given here, are: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew (Nathanael); Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus (James the Less), and Thaddaeus (Judas, son of James); Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him. (Matthew 10:2-4, emphasis added)

What do we know about them? Peter and Andrew were fishermen in the town of Capernaum working alongside James and John. Peter and Andrew were early followers of John the Baptist. Andrew was the first to follow Jesus and his enthusiasm was evident as his desire to introduce his older brother to Jesus revealed what was already in his heart—a deep love for God. Once Peter was introduced to Jesus they left John and became followers of Jesus. Peter is portrayed as impetuous, always speaking his mind and acting on impulse. He is well known for denying Christ three times after Christ was arrested but became one of the key leaders of the early church after Jesus’ ascension.

James and John were both known for being men of intense passion and fervour. Because of this Jesus nicknamed them the Sons of Thunder. They asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven to destroy a village which failed to show them hospitality and also asked if they could sit on either side of Jesus’ throne in heaven. Philip was the one who suggested that Nathanael come and see Jesus and who brought a group of Greek people from Bethsaida to Jesus. Nathanael, also known as Bartholomew, expressed some local prejudice about Nazareth but was recognised by Jesus for the sincerity of his love for God from the beginning of their relationship. Jesus said, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Matthew was a tax collector; tax collectors being the most despised people in all of Israel. They were known for taking extra money from the people of Israel to pay off the Romans and to pad their own pockets. Thomas is best known for his moment of skepticism after the Resurrection which earned him the nickname “Doubting Thomas,” a term for anyone who needs proof before they believe something.

James the Less is the son of Alphaeus. His mother’s name is Mary and he has a brother named Joseph. Except for a few details about his family, there is nothing more mentioned about him in Scripture. Maybe that is why he is referred to as James the Less in Mark 15:40. Simon the Zealot was probably a political activist in his younger years. Some have suggested that the fiery enthusiasm he once had for Israel as a Zealot was now expressed in his devotion to Christ. Judas, son of James, is the eleventh name on the list of disciples. Also known as Jude, Thaddeus, and Lebbaeus, he lived in obscurity as one of the Twelve. He is recorded as asking Jesus the question (in John 14:22), “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?” Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver but, by doing so, enabled the events of Christ’s Passion to occur as Jesus knew they would.

So, amongst those that Jesus chose are one who denied him, another who betrayed him; while all of them abandoned him at the last. Some were ambitious and some revengeful. Some had complicated and morally dubious backgrounds. They were primarily ordinary working people; none of whom held influence or power. Some were so obscure, even among the disciples, that we know virtually nothing about them.

They are, therefore, great encouragements to us ‘because they exemplify how common people with typical failings can be used by God in uncommon, remarkable ways.’ John McArthur writes, ‘What we know to be true about Jesus is that He chose [those who were] ordinary and unrefined … They were the commonest of the common. They were from rural areas, farmers, and fisherman. Christ purposely passed over the elite, aristocratic, and influential … and chose mostly … from the dregs of society. That’s how it has always been in God’s economy. He exalts the humble and lays low those who are proud.’

All of them were chosen, trained and used by Jesus. Even those who were in the background as disciples were valuable team members. This was so despite their personal failings and failures. None of those things were barriers to being called by Jesus, trained and used by him. That remains true for each of us.

This week some of us have taken part in formation sessions for the new ‘Being With’ course that is being developed here. The wonderings we used took me back to my teenage experiences and the shyness that impacted my personal development. An experience summed well in The Smiths song ‘Ask’, which begins ‘Shyness is nice / and shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life that you’d like to.’

Realising that God loved me unconditionally and as I was, with my shyness and reserve, was key to finding my way through life and using the mix of gifts, skills and interests I developed. Like Jesus’ disciples I wasn’t an obvious candidate to be called to ministry. But none of us are; that’s the beauty of the way God values each person as a unique creation, calling us to be with him so that, over time, our gifts, skills and interests are all utilised in his company.

(This reflection draws on material from https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/who-were-the-12-disciples-and-what-should-we-know-about-them.html and https://overviewbible.com/12-apostles/)

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Adrian Snell - Peace Be With You.

Where is Jesus now?

Here's the sermon I shared at St Catherine’s Wickford for Ascension Day:

Where is Jesus now?
Not here!
Jesus has left the building,
left the earth.
The last we saw of him
was the soles of his feet
as he ascended to heaven.

Where is Jesus now?
No longer God with us,
now God in heaven.
Distant,
removed,
out of our league.

What is he like?
We do not know –
we cannot see him!
What does he say?
We do not know –
we cannot hear him.
What is he to us?
We do not know –
he is not with us.

Where is Jesus now?
Here in body.
Here in what body?
The body of his people.
In the diverse,
differing,
fallible,
forgiven folk
who follow him
forming
his body on earth,
becoming his hands and feet,
his eyes, ears, mouth
on earth.

Where is Jesus now?
Here in Spirit.
Here in what Spirit?
The Spirit of love,
joy, peace
and hope.
The Spirit that
animates his body
into acts of service
and words of love.

Who are we
to be where
Jesus is now?
Only the struggling,
the failing,
the falling.
Only those calling out
for the Spirit’s
empowering.

Where are we
who are where
Jesus is now?
Only a fragment –
the minutest part -
of the glorious whole
that is his body
on earth.

How do we feel
to be where
Jesus is now?
Affirmed and humbled,
gifted and graced,
on top of the world
and
put in our place.

What does it mean
to be where
Jesus is now?
Like children
becoming adult
to grow up into him,
together
becoming him.
Each playing
our part
in the whole
that is Jesus,
Emmanuel,
God with us.

Jesus has returned to God in order to give us his Spirit and the Spirit’s gifts. He does this because he loves us. To him each of us, despite our failings, is a special child of his with unique abilities given to us by God and a unique part that only we can play in the body of Christ, the Church. As we each play our part working together with each other we show each other and the world what Jesus is like and come to know him better as a result.

For this to happen, we need to know Jesus and receive his Spirit, know ourselves and our giftings, and know each other and the part that each one of us plays in the body of Christ, the Church. Which of these needs to happen in your life at this moment in time?

If you are wanting to know Jesus for yourself and to receive his Spirit, then simply ask him now. Here and now, in the silence of your own heart and mind, tell him that that is what you want.

Maybe you are thinking that you are good for nothing, without gifts and abilities. Jesus knows you better than that. He created with a unique combination of gifts that only you can use in his service. Ask him now to share that knowledge with you and then begin to act on it.

Maybe your need is to know those around you better - to understand their gifts and to know the part that they play in the body of Christ so that you can be more effective in supporting and working with them. Why not speak to someone you don’t normally talk to after this service and find out all you can about them?

As we finish, can you hold your hands out, palms upwards and look at your hands and the hands of your neighbour. The hands you are looking at now are Jesus’ hands because he works through his people. As you look, think for a moment of all the ways in which these hands can work and care for others in this Church and outside the Church building in our community and pray silently for that to happen … 

Jesus says:

“I am going to send you what my Father has promised.”

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.”

“You have been clothed with power from on high.”

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Christ Triumphant, Ever Reigning.

Vocation: interests, insecurities and arenas

Here's the sermon I preached today at St Catherine's Wickford:

In the film ‘Chariots of Fire’, Eric Liddell says “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.” Liddell was one of the most famous athletes of modern times and the Olympic glory of Scotland. He was also a Christian who refused to compete on Sunday and refused to compromise. And yet, more than anything else, Eric Liddell believed that “God made me for China.” After the Olympics in 1924 Liddell went to China to serve as a missionary teacher. He remained in China until his death in a Japanese civilian internment camp in 1945. In the Weihsien Internment Camp he was forced into a foretaste of hell itself but there he became legendary and his witness for Christ astounded even many of his fellow Christians.

We currently have another 100 metres runner who feels free when he runs, just as he does when he sings for God in church. Jeremiah Azu, bronze medallist in the 100 metres at the European Championships, puts his sporting success down to his faith in God. “My faith is massive for me. For me, it means athletics isn’t the be all and end all. It helps me take the pressure off myself by knowing I’ve got God on my side. I know there’s nothing to worry about.” The prophet Jeremiah is someone he says he would have liked to have met as he has his name, but also thinks there’s a lot of stuff in that book that relates to him. He says he prays most that God’s will is done in his life.

So, here are two people who believe, like Jeremiah, that they were born to do what they do for God, in their case to run. How do they know that? As the appropriately named Jeremiah Aze says, there is much in the Book of Jeremiah with which we can identify, not least the story of his calling. Let's look at that story now to see three ways in which we can identify our own individual callings and be confident that, like Jeremiah, we, too, are born to do the things we do for God (Jeremiah 1:4-10).

First, our calling is to be found in the unique people we are. Jeremiah was told by God, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Now, we might think that God has never said anything similar to us. If that is so, then I suggest reading Psalm 139 which begins: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. / You know when I sit down and when I rise up; / you discern my thoughts from far away. / You search out my path and my lying down / and are acquainted with all my ways. / Even before a word is on my tongue, / O Lord, you know it completely.” The Psalmist continues: “it was you who formed my inward parts; / you knit me together in my mother’s womb. / I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. / Wonderful are your works; / that I know very well. / My frame was not hidden from you, / when I was being made in secret, / intricately woven in the depths of the earth. / Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. / In your book were written / all the days that were formed for me, / when none of them as yet existed.”

God knows each one of us intimately and prepares us for our calling before we are born, so we need to trust that our interests, skills and talents are gifts from God to be used for his glory. Then, as St Paul wrote to the Colossians, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3.17). Whatever our task, he wrote, we are to put ourselves into it, as done for the Lord (Colossians 3.23). The poet George Herbert wrote that this way of thinking is the “famous stone / That turneth all to gold.” So, this is where we begin with our calling, looking carefully at our natural interests, abilities and talents and putting them to use where we are doing what we do in the name of the Lord Jesus and for his glory.

Second, we consider our insecurities and look to increase our trust in God to resource as we need it. Like many of us and, like Moses before him, Jeremiah lacked confidence in his ability to speak publicly. He said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” God responds, “I have put my words in your mouth.” So, God promises to give him the words to speak. We see the same happening with Moses when he is called. Moses has at least four objections based on his insecurities, including being “slow of speech and slow of tongue.” Again, God promises, “I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you shall do” (Exodus 3 & 4). Jesus makes the same promise to his disciples, including us, when he says to them: “When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you will answer or what you are to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12.11-12) So, God promises to give us resources that we don’t think we have in the moment as we step out in faith by using the gifts and talents we have in God’s service and to God’s glory.

I’ve certainly found this to be true in relation to my ministry. As I went through training, I wondered how I would continually find new things to say in sermons about the same passages. I thought I would at some stage need to get up in the pulpit and say, well, I’ve got nothing new to say about this particular passage. That hasn’t happened yet. In practice, have found that God always provides new thoughts and insights as they are needed.

Finally, God gives Jeremiah a task to perform using the gifts and talents with which he was born and the insights and resources that God provides along the way. That task is to “pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” It sounds dramatic but it’s primarily about discerning what needs to stop and what needs to start; a task which is ever new and always relevant. Jeremiah took on that role for a whole people which made him a prophet but we can all contribute in someway to reflection on what has reached the end of its useful life and what needs to begin as a replacement.

So, ask yourself what you are able to see in regard to those two things? Are you someone with the courage to say that something has come to its natural end? Are you someone with the vision to start something new? Then, ask yourself whether there is an arena in which you can see or sense these things more readily. If that’s in relation to your own life and family, then your ministry will be primarily around home-making. If in relation to the church, then church leadership, whether lay or ordained. If in relation to your work, then you should probably be looking for some kind of managerial role. If in relation to the wider community, then you’re likely to be an effective community activist, and, if in relation to the wider society, then politics is going to be your sphere.

So, Jeremiah’s call provides us with some areas for reflection and questions that we can all explore including: identification of our natural interests, gifts and talents; insecurities that can hold us back from realising our God-given potential; and those arenas in which can discern most clearly what needs to be started and what needs to stop. I invite you to think about those three areas for reflection in the course of this week and then fill in our church questionnaire which in many respects is asking for your views on these things, including ways in which you can contribute to the ongoing mission and ministry of our Team Ministry.

Once you find your answers to these three aspects of calling, you will be able to say, with Jeremiah, Eric Liddell and Jeremiah Azu, I was born to do this and, when I do it well, I feel God’s pleasure.

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Delerious? - Find Me In The River.

Gift to the City: A Passion Art Project

Passion Art is launching a massive hidden art trail in Manchester to remind us we are not alone.

During the last two weeks in July, two artists, ceramicist Rachel Ho, and artist and designer Micah Purnell will leave 240 beautiful ‘gifts to the city’ to find, to remind us to embrace our stories of loss and self-worth.

18 July - 29 July

www.gifttothecity.org

Hidden in the nooks and crannies of the city centre, the two artists will leave 120 Kintsugi pots and 120 You Are Enough oak engravings which the public are invited to find, and keep them as gifts. The art will be placed on the streets of Manchester between the 18th-29th July.

Rachel Ho (https://rachelho2020.wixsite.com/rachelhoceramics) is a ceramicist, who has exhibited nationally including London. Her work is inspired by Kintsugi, an ancient Japanese method of mending broken pottery with gold, resulting in more beautiful and precious pots. Rachel explains “The pots symbolise the fragility of our lives, the scars are then filled with gold lustre; expressing the mystery of new beginnings and new life even in our deepest pain. They pots represent all our stories of loss and reflect the beauty of hope, healing and renewal. I am drawn to clays delicate nature. My aim is to make work that evokes a sense of beauty and mystery. Just as ancient pots have told stories for thousands of years, I aim to use my pots to tell stories of healing.”

Micah Purnell (www.micahpurnell.com), whose clients include The Guardian, Elbow and the NHS, is a text based artist who has exhibited in group shows alongside Turner prize winner Douglas Gordan and global street artist JR. The award-winning artist and designer, renowned for his typographic work that took over Wembley Park during the Euros works to bring the humanities to public spaces. His well known phrase ‘You are Enough’ has appeared across the city over the last few years as giant banners and billboards. He says ‘My work is a lot about togetherness and self-worth. The oak reminders are made by Chapel-in-the-fields who use wood as a vehicle to work with people who have mental health vulnerabilities. I hope the phrase You Are Enough will help people to cut themselves some slack from the ever demanding voices in society and recognise the spark of beauty in themselves.”

Each gift will be accompanied by an invite to share anonymously how the artworks resonated with those who find them at www.gifttothecity.org where you’ll be able to read stories of difficulty and hope as the artworks are found.

The Passion Art project, entitled ‘Gift to the City’, is dedicated to founder Lesley Sutton, who, after five years of living with terminal illness, is drawing very close to the end of this life. Lesley founded Passion Art to build bridges between sacred and secular spaces through art. She is as beautiful in dying as she has been in living.

The project aims to help people feel seen and less alone, to recognise we all have our daily battles and to create a sense of hope and healing.

Rachel Ho: https://rachelho2020.wixsite.com/rachelhoceramics

Micah Purnell: 07990 533 749 www.micahpurnell.com

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Manchester Orchestra - I Know How To Speak.

Seeing the gifts God is giving

Here's the reflection I shared in today's Choral Eucharist at St Martin-in-the-Fields:

In today’s Old Testament reading (Exodus 17.1-7), we're with the People of Israel after the Exodus in the midst of the wilderness where there is no water. The sun is beating down and we're dehydrating. We're also complaining - quite understandably, because the situation is dire, and it looks as though we're likely to die. We want to go back to Egypt because, although we were slaves there, ill-treated and exploited, at least we knew where our food and drink was coming from.

But at the point when all seems lost and hope is exhausted, God reveals the hidden spring of water within this wilderness landscape. As a result, it looks as though God was somewhat late in arriving on the scene. The singer songwriter Sam Phillips writes that:

'Help is coming, help is coming
One day late, one day late
After you've given up and all is gone
Help is coming one day late'

She continues:

'Try to understand, you try to fix your broken hands
But remember that there always has been good
Like stars you don't see in the day sky
Wait till night

Life has kept me down
I've been growing under ground
Now I'm coming up and when time opens the earth
You'll see love has been moving all around us, making waves

So help is coming, help is coming
One day late, one day late
After you've given up and all is gone
Help is coming one day late'

In her song, help, goodness, life and hope are all around but hidden or overlooked, as was the vital spring of water in the wilderness. Maybe, the issue is not one of God turning later than we expect but instead that how we perceive things needs to change in order that we start to see what is in fact already there.

As Christians, we don’t have to look far for a mission statement for the church. ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’ (John 10.10) Living abundant life. That’s what the Father intends, the Son embodies, the Spirit facilitates. God is a God of abundance who is continually giving us all we need even in the midst of scarcity and trouble; perhaps, especially, in the midst of scarcity and trouble.

Our problem is that we don’t always recognise and receive the gifts that God is giving. In order to see what God is giving us, our mindset needs to change from a deficit mindset which sees problems to an asset mindset which looks for resources. The Israelites had a deficit mindset as they were focused on the problems they were experiencing and that was what led them to complain. It meant they weren’t looking around them to see what assets there were where they were. When we develop a habit of looking for assets, we then begin looking at our situation widely and broadly and notice what is ordinarily hidden to us by being on the edge.

I wonder whether the experience of the Israelites in undercovering the hidden spring of water in the wilderness is not somewhat similar to the experience many of us have had in the pandemic; of help, of goodness, of life, of hope being there in plain sight within our local communities but only seen, appreciated and valued when we were forced to stop and look and reflect. Community like never before. Kindness at its proper level. These were some of the discoveries of the first lockdown. Qualities that were always there within our communities but only revived and received in the adversity of the pandemic.

Let’s make that love normal by praying for eyes to see and ears to hear, that we might receive all that God, in his abundance, wishes to give us; receiving those gifts in the form in which they are given to us. Amen.

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Sam Phillips - One Day Late.

Epiphany: Exploration, kneeling and gift-giving

Here's the reflection I shared last night at Bread for the World at St Martin-in-the-Fields:

The Magi searched for a sign, then searched for the one to whom the sign pointed, and then gave gifts when they found the one for whom they were looking for. We think of them as being wise for doing all this. When we think about their story in these terms, it can give us a framework or a pattern for thinking about our own lives; perhaps then we will also find or know wisdom!

The Magi searched the stars looking for signs of divine communication; messages from the gods that could guide individuals and nations in the present. In other words they were seeking answers, by the best means they knew how, to the big questions in life:

• Who are we or, in other words, what is the nature, task and significance of human beings?
• Where are we or, in other words, what is the origin and nature of the reality in which human beings find themselves?
• What's wrong or, in other words, how can we account for all that seems wrong or broken in the world?
• What's the remedy or, in other words, how can we alleviate this brokenness, if at all?

These are questions that each of us, consciously or unconsciously, find answers to by the way that we live our lives but it is only when we consciously ask them and actively search for answers that we begin to leave behind our natural inclination to live life for our pleasure and convenience.

The sign which the Magi found through their searching was the star in the east which they thought was a sign that the king of the Jews had been born as a baby. This sign uprooted them from where they were. If they were to see and to worship the baby King then they had to leave where they were and travel not knowing for sure where their journey would take them. Their journey was probably inconvenient and uncomfortable for them but was the only way for them to find what they were seeking. It is similar for us as we consciously ask ourselves the big questions in life and seek answers; asking questions and seeking answers is uncomfortable and often means making changes to the way that we are currently living which are inconvenient and disruptive, yet necessary, if we are to find any sort of answers at all.

T. S. Eliot writes, in his poem called ‘Little Gidding,’ “We shall not cease from exploration,” and that is right because if we stop searching, if we stop questioning, then we get stuck and stagnate. We only have to look at nature to see the way in which all growth involves change; the caterpillar and butterfly being one of the most dramatic examples. Our own bodies are constantly changing throughout our lives with many of our cells being replaced as we progress through life. Growth involves constant change and if we apply this same principle to our thought life, our emotional life and our spiritual life then, as Eliot wrote, we must not cease from exploration.

The Magi’s journey found its immediate conclusion when they knelt before the Christ-child and worshipped him. They had no independent verification that this child was the King that they were seeking; they simply had to trust that this was so because they had arrived at the place to which the star had led them. Once again, T. S. Eliot’s ‘Little Gidding’ describes this well:

“If you came this way,
Taking any route, starting from anywhere,
At any time or at any season,
It would always be the same: you would have to put off
Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel …”

The answer to our questions is a person, not a fact, and the person who is the answer to our questions turns out to be God himself. Because God is infinite, he cannot be fully known or understood by human beings. With God, there is always more for us to know and understand. Knowing God is like diving into the ocean and always being able to dive down deeper therefore are ultimately only three responses we can make to the wonder and majesty of God. The first is, as we have been saying, to keep exploring and the second is this, to express our sense of awe and wonder by kneeling in worship.

The third is to give gifts. The Magi gave gold, frankincense and myrrh; each being costly gifts expressing aspects of Christ’s nature and purpose. Christina Rossetti expressed the significance of the Magi’s gift-giving beautifully in her carol, ‘In the bleak midwinter’:

“What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.”

She understood that the costliest gift we can give is our life and that our life is given to Jesus when we express through our lives and actions something of who Jesus is.

Kneeling in worship was the end of the journey that the Magi took when following the star but it was also the beginning of the new journey that they were now to make; the journey home. Eliot used the phase, ‘In my end is my beginning,’ at the end of his poem called ‘East Coker’ and, in ‘Little Gidding,’ he writes:

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”

The Magi journeyed home, but their home was no longer what it once was because they had been changed by their journey. Eliot’s poem ‘The Journey of the Magi’ ends with these lines:

“were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.”

The Magi are no longer at ease with their old way of life because they have been changed through their searching and journeying. Now they see life differently because of what they have seen and heard; the answers they give to life’s big questions are no longer the same as before – their worldview has changed.

Are we asking the big questions? Are we constantly questioning and exploring yet also kneeling in awe and wonder to worship? And are both our answers to life’s big questions and to the way we live our lives changing as a result? If we wish to be wise like the Magi then our answer to all those questions will be, “Yes.”

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T. S. Eliot - Little Gidding.