Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now

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

Who had family to stay for Christmas? Shout out where they came from to establish who came the furthest. Who went away to visit friends or family this year? Again, shout out where, so we can find out who went furthest, and how they got there.

Think about this question. What is the most important part of a journey? The beginning, middle or end? Why we travel, where we travel or how we travel?

At Epiphany we focus on the journey made by the Magi in order to be able to kneel and worship the baby king Jesus (Matthew 2. 1 – 12). In the ancient world, Jupiter was the ‘king star’, and at the time of the birth of Jesus, Jupiter appeared in the night sky very close to Saturn, which represented Israel. If you were reading the sky you’d see ‘new king in Israel’.

That was the starting point for their journey but it didn’t give them exact directions. They didn’t know exactly where they were going on their journey. They knew they were going to find the new king in Israel but they had to trust as they travelled that they would be guided and led to find him. They clearly travelled a great distance and, obviously, didn’t have cars, trains or planes, so they would have probably travelled on camels. But the distance and effort didn’t stop them because meeting the child was so important.

When they arrived, they gave extravagantly to welcome Jesus with gifts, time, effort, the risk of danger, and humility. But their gifts pale next to Jesus coming to earth to show God’s love for us; Jesus came from heaven, eternity and majesty to earth, time and humanity. He went on an even more incredible journey to show us God’s love. After they had found Jesus the journey of the Magi began again as they were guided by God to return home by another route and, as T. S. Eliot makes clear at the end of his great poem about their journey, their lives were forever changed by the experience.

So, their starting point was important but it didn’t tell them how to find their way and when they did finally arrive, their arrival actually meant the beginning of a new journey. All of which means that how we travel may be as important as why or where we travel. In one of my previous Parishes, we used to have a Text for the Year, which on one occasion was about how we travel and was taken from Matthew 6. 34:

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

Simon Small writes in ‘From the Bottom of the Pond’ that: “Our minds find paying full attention to now very difficult. This is because our minds live in time. Our thoughts are preoccupied with past and future, and the present moment is missed.”

But, he says, “Contemplative prayer is the art of paying attention to what is”: “To pay profound attention to reality is prayer, because to enter the depths of this moment is to encounter God. There is always only now. It is the only place that God can be found.”

This is very much what Jesus seems to be saying in Matthew 6. 34 and also in his teaching on worry and anxiety found in Matthew 6. 24 – 34.

When we are preoccupied with what might happen in the future, we are not living fully in the present and may well misunderstand or misinterpret what is actually going on. Jesus encourages us to live fully in the present because, as Simon Small says, that is where we encounter God.

When we genuinely encounter God in the here and now, we know that his love and forgiveness surround us and that his Spirit fills us. As Jesus prayed in John 17, he is in us and we are in him. When we know this in our hearts in the here and now, we can relax because whatever happens to us, we are accepted, forgiven, loved and gifted by the God who created all things and who will bring all things to their rightful end. We are held in the palm of his hands and, as Julian of Norwich put it, “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well”.

Even in the difficult times, we can still know that this is true because, as Matthew 6. 34 puts it, God will help us deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Jesus is saying that the more we live in the present and the more we encounter God’s love in the here and now, the less we will be anxious or worried. Prayer is able to help us do both things and therefore helps us to reduce our sense of anxiety or worry. Not because we have listed all our worries to God and believe that he will solve them all for us, but instead because, through prayer, we have encountered more of God’s love and, as a result, trust that he will be with us whatever comes our way.

This is important because so much of our sense of dissatisfaction with our lives and the complaining we do about other people stems from our own worries and anxieties rather than what may or may not have happened or what others may or may not have done. Instead of focusing on other people and what we think they should or should not do or have done, we need to begin with ourselves and our relationship with God by giving our entire attention to what God is doing right now, and not getting worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. Then God is able to help us deal with whatever comes up, whether hard things or blessings, when the time comes.

We don’t know what 2026 will bring, although we do know that we will be celebrating the 150th Anniversary of this building. We can never confidently and absolutely predict the future and, of course, the future will be different for each of us. But, as Brian Davison reminds us, “if the prospect of what lies ahead seems dark or threatening, remember the words with which King George VI reflected on the closing year in his 1939 Christmas broadcast. “I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” (Minnie Louise Haskins).

Like the Magi, we can only travel in hope that we will be guided by God. So, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” May it be so for each one of us.

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NEEDTOBREATHE - I Am Yours.

Joseph - the patience of a saint

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

Joseph had four dreams all of which come from the period around the Nativity of Jesus and his early life, between the onset of Mary's pregnancy and the family's return from the Flight to Egypt.

In the first dream (Matthew 1:20-21), Joseph is told not be afraid to take Mary as his wife, because she has conceived by the Holy Spirit. In the second (Matthew 2:13), Joseph is warned to leave Bethlehem and flee to Egypt. In the third (Matthew 2:19-20), while in Egypt, he is told that it is safe to go back to Israel. Finally, in the fourth (Matthew 2:22), because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee instead of going to Judea.

By emphasising their need for direct divine guidance, Joseph’s dreams indicate how far from normal life Mary and Joseph were asked to go by God in the Nativity of Christ. They are, therefore, a key example in scripture of people living wholly by faith with no human reference points to direct them in doing what God had asked them to do. In doing so we are also shown grace, as the Nativity and the salvation which leads from it are entirely instigated by God, Mary and Joseph lend obedient support although they don’t fully understand what God is doing.

In church tradition Joseph is a silent saint, given the noble task of caring and watching over the Virgin Mary and Jesus, who now cares for and watches over the Church and models for all the dignity of human work. The tools of his trade as a carpenter are what he uses to maintain his family. Once God has given direction, and that direction has been accepted by faith, Joseph then utilises his human skills and abilities in support of God’s plan for humanity. To adopt a phrase used by the American poet Delmore Schwartz, for Joseph, in dreams begin responsibilities.

He selflessly devotes his life to caring for God's son on earth. A carpenter by trade, he has become the patron saint of fathers and of workers. His feast days are celebrated on 19th March and 1st May, the latter feast of St. Joseph the Worker having been instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1955.

Jesus learnt the carpentry trade from Saint Joseph and spent his early adult years working side-by-side in Joseph’s carpentry shop before leaving to pursue his ministry as preacher and healer. In his encyclical Laborem Exercens, Pope John Paul II stated: “the Church considers it her task always to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights are violated, and to help to guide [social] changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society.”

Joseph is held up as a model of such work. Pius XII emphasized this when he said, “The spirit flows to you and to all men from the heart of the God-man, Saviour of the world, but certainly, no worker was ever more completely and profoundly penetrated by it than the foster father of Jesus, who lived with Him in closest intimacy and community of family life and work.”

Joseph is an example to us because his calling was to quietly support the calling of Mary – to marry her, to name the child, to raise him: ‘Joseph simply does as he was told. For him, belief is action. Quietly, Joseph cared for Mary. Quietly, he raised the child and named him Jesus. Quietly, he believed and acted.’

Joseph must have had the patience of a saint, as it must have taken an incredible amount of patience to follow God's plan, and to support his wife throughout their trials and tribulations. He was also the epitome of discretion. Despite the miraculous circumstances of Jesus' conception, he kept Mary's secret safe, showing incredible respect for her and her divine calling. He diligently provided for the physical and emotional needs of his family. He worked to ensure their safety and sustenance. He humbly accepted God's will and obediently followed His guidance, even when it meant facing challenges and uncertainties. His humility allowed him to support Mary in her unique calling without seeking recognition or glory for himself. These are all great qualities that we can take into our own experiences of supporting and caring for others.

To end, here’s a short poem by Madeleine L’Engle imagining Mary speaking about Joseph, her spouse.

It was from Joseph first I learned
of love. Like me he was dismayed.
How easily he could have turned
me from his house; but, unafraid,
he put me not away from him
(O God-sent angel, pray for him).
Thus through his love was Love obeyed.

The Child’s first cry came like a bell:
God’s Word aloud, God’s Word in deed.
The angel spoke: so it befell,
and Joseph with me in my need.
O Child whose father came from heaven,
to you another gift was given,
your earthly father chosen well.

With Joseph I was always warmed
and cherished. Even in the stable
I knew that I would not be harmed.
And, though above the angels swarmed,
man’s love it was that made me able
to bear God’s love, wild, formidable,
to bear God’s will, through me performed.

Joseph, by the work of your hands
and the sweat of your brow,
you supported Jesus and Mary,
and had the Son of God as your fellow worker.
Teach us to work as you did,
with patience and perseverance, for God and
for those whom God has given us to support.
Teach us to see in our colleagues
the Christ who desires to be in them,
that we may always be charitable and forbearing
towards all.
Amen.

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Bill Fay - Salt Of The Earth.

Start:Stop - Mountain-top experiences

Bible reading

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. (Luke 9. 28 – 36)

Meditation

As they looked back on their experiences with Jesus the disciples were able to see that the sight of Jesus transfigured had been an important assurance for them that Jesus was God’s Son and that the path he followed, even though it led to his death, was the path that God had mapped out for him. At his Transfiguration Jesus was seen in glory speaking with both the great patriarch and the great prophet of the Israelites, Moses and Elijah, and then God himself spoke to confirm Jesus as his Son. Everything about this experience spoke of Jesus as God. Moses and Elijah spoke to Jesus about his plan to fulfil God’s purpose by dying in Jerusalem and God confirmed that everything Jesus said came directly from him. This experience should have been a confirmation for the disciples of everything that Jesus is and was about to do but, at the time, it seemed to be too much for them to comprehend. They were afraid, confused and kept the experience to themselves. It was only later, looking back, that they could see the confirmation that this experience provided.

I wonder if we have had experiences of events and plans coming together in ways that confirmed to us that we were on the right path. It may be that we need that kind of confirmation in our lives now and could be asking God for his confirmation about our direction in life. What God wants to do for us, as he did for the disciples, is to give us a greater vision of Jesus as he really is. That will not answer all of our questions but can strengthen our ability to trust and follow him through our questions and uncertainties.

Like the disciples, we, too, will have mountain-top experiences in our lives; times of great blessing and revelation when all seems well with the world and when we know without any uncertainty that we are God’s children. What, I wonder, have your mountain-top experiences been? Whatever they were and however wonderful they were, we inevitably, as did Jesus, came down from the mountain-top to experience some suffering or failure as part of our life experience. We cannot live on the mountain-tops but those experiences sustain us when we are in the valleys. Such experiences are one of the means God uses to go with us through the valleys, even the valley of the shadow of death.

The disciples only recognised the full significance of their mountain-top experience as they looked back. At the time, they felt afraid and confused. Are you able to look back on events that may not have been clear at the time but which have been significant, sustaining experiences for you in your life? Have there been times of joy, wonder or blessing which you have now lost sight of in your life and need to rekindle and relive? The disciples relived their experiences by telling them to others and by having them written down so that their stories could be passed on to others including us. It may be that you also need to relive your experiences of refreshment, blessing and revelation by telling others about them or by writing them down to share with others.

Prayer

Lord God, give us your guidance over the direction of our life through the experience of events and plans coming together in ways that confirm to us that we are on the right path. Give us a greater vision of Jesus as he really is and, through that greater vision, strengthen our ability to trust and follow Jesus through our questions and uncertainties. Take us to the mountain-top and sustain us in the valleys.

Lord God, give us mountain-top experiences; times of great blessing and revelation when all seems well with the world and when we know without any uncertainty that we are God’s children. We know that we cannot live on the mountain-tops but those experiences sustain us when we are in the valleys. Go with us through the valleys, even the valley of the shadow of death, and sustain us in part through the legacy of our mountain-top experiences. Take us to the mountain-top and sustain us in the valleys.

Often we only recognise the full significance of our experience as we look back. Encourage us to look back on events that may not have been clear to us at the time but which can become significant, sustaining experiences for us in our lives. Remind us of times of joy, wonder or blessing which we have now lost sight of and need to rekindle and relive. Enable us to relive our experiences of refreshment, blessing and revelation by telling others about them or by writing them down to share with others. Take us to the mountain-top and sustain us in the valleys.

Blessing

Mountain-top experiences, times of great blessing and revelation, recognising the full significance of our experiences, confirmation that we are on the right path, and a greater vision of Jesus; may those blessings of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rest upon you and remain with you always. Amen.

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Delirious? - Louder Than The Radio.