The Father’s call and the Spirit’s empowering

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

Jesus’ baptism marks the point at which he was commissioned for his public ministry (Matthew 3. 13-18). Through his baptism, he is publicly affirmed by John the Baptist, who says that Jesus is the one for whom he has been waiting, and by God himself, as the dove of the Spirit descended on him and the Father said, This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased.” Following his baptism, he goes into the desert, where he is tested by the Devil, before returning to begin his ministry by quoting Isaiah as his public manifesto in the synagogue at Nazareth.

In the contemporary paraphrase of the Bible called ‘The Message’ we read of Jesus saying to John the Baptist, who questioned the need for Jesus’ baptism, “Do it. God’s work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism.” In his baptism, Jesus was equipped by the Spirit to carry out the work of putting all things right and he was affirmed in the rightness of this work when the Father said, “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.” Following his baptism, Jesus knew he was in a partnership with God working to put the world to rights.

Let’s explore those two aspects of Jesus’ baptism – the Father’s call and the Spirit’s empowering – in a little more detail this morning.

The Father’s call is about the question, ‘Who am I?’ The answer to that question was given to Jesus as soon as he came up out of the waters of baptism. As he did so, he saw heaven opening, the Spirit coming down on him like a dove, and he heard a voice from heaven saying, “You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you.” As he was baptised, he was immediately affirmed as God’s Son.

It is easy for us to think that that only applies to Jesus. That it was a special word spoken by God the Father especially to him and, on one level, no doubt it was. But the Bible makes it quite clear that Jesus laid down his life to make us one with God so that, as Christians, we are Jesus’ brothers and sisters, members of the same family – God’s family – and co-heirs with Jesus of everything that he has. Listen to what St Paul says about this in Romans 8:

“Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children. For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, Father! my Father! God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children. Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him …”

Take a moment, to let those words sink into your hearts and minds. You are a child of God, you are a brother or sister of Jesus, you are loved, you are valued, you are blessed. This is the Father’s call to us, as it was to Jesus. It is transformative to know that we are loved and accepted by our Father God.

The Spirit’s empowering is to do with the question, ‘Why am I here?’ and that question too is answered in this reading. After he is baptised, Jesus has a time of preparation in the desert and then begins to preach the Good News from God. He had a God-given task to complete, a reason for his existence and a meaning for his life. The same is true for us. Listen to St Paul again, this time from 1 Corinthians 12:

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service. The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.”

For each one of us, the Spirit’s presence is shown in us in some way for the good of all. Take a moment, to let those words sink into your hearts and minds. You have been given the abilities you need for your particular service. The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in you for the good of all. Your life has meaning and purpose because God has work that only you can do.

These two aspects of his baptism were vital for Jesus because he then experienced significant testing in the wilderness when he was tempted by the Devil. He was able to go through that experience and emerge victorious because he had been affirmed and equipped by God through his baptism. Re-emerging from the desert to begin God’s work, he could then explain what he was about to do in words taken from the prophecies of Isaiah:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."

These words describe what God’s work involves, the work of putting the world to rights.

As those who follow Jesus, we are the body of Christ – the hands, eyes, mouth, ears, feet and hands of Jesus in our world. Therefore, we have the task to undertake. We are called to the same job of work and need the same resource. Whatever our role in life, we are called to work together with God in our shared task of putting the world to rights. Each of us can consider how our day-to-day lives could contribute to this task – for example, through care for family and friends, through visiting those who are unwell or elderly, through consistent prayer for people and places in need, through generosity in our giving to those in need, and so on.

To do this we need to know that we are loved and accepted by our Heavenly Father and also to be equipped and led by the Holy Spirit. Led by the Spirit, our work can involve creativity, care and collaboration; biblical signs that work is undertaken in partnership with God. Jesus says to us what he said to John, “Do it. God’s work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism.” May it be so for each one of us. Amen.

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Duvall - Gimme Some Light.

Advent Meditation: The Prophets

Here's the meditation on The Prophets that I shared during Advent Night Prayer at St Andrew's Wickford this evening:

The prophets dreamed.
They dreamed of Bethlehem.
Of Bethlehem of Ephrathah, one of the little clans of Judah,
from whom shall come one who is to rule in Israel,
one whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
When she who is in labour has brought forth,
then the rest of his kin shall return to the people of Israel
and he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God,
and they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth; and he shall be the one of peace.

The prophets dreamed.
They dreamed of a sign that the Lord himself would give.
The sign a young woman with child.
A young woman who shall bear a son.
A young woman who shall name that son, Immanuel.

The prophets dreamed.
They dreamed of a child.
A child born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority grows continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom
when he will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from his time onwards and for evermore.

The prophets dreamed.
They dreamed of a shoot.
A shoot to come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch to grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord would rest on that shoot,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight would be in the fear of the Lord.
He would not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he would judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he would strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips kill the wicked.
Righteousness would be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and the little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear would graze,
their young would lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child would play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all God’s holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

The prophets dreamed.
They dreamed of a star.
They saw him, but not then;
they beheld him, but not near.
They saw a star,
a star that would come out of Jacob,
and a sceptre that would rise out of Israel.

The prophets dreamed.
They dreamed of Egypt.
As, when Israel was a child, God loved him,
and out of Egypt he called his son.

The prophets dreamed.
They dreamed of the Temple.
The temple to which the Lord who is sought will suddenly come.
The messenger of the covenant in whom we delight,
the messenger is coming,
coming to be like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap;
to sit as a refiner and purifier of silver,
and to purify the descendants of Levi
and refine them like gold and silver,
until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.
Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord
as in the days of old and as in former years.

The prophets dreamed.
They dreamed of people,
people who walked in darkness
seeing a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shone.

The prophets dreamed.
They saw from a distance and greeted their dreams.
They died in faith without having received the promises.
We are those on whom light has shone;
those who know the story of Mary and Joseph travelling to Bethlehem,
a census requiring Jesus’ birth in Joseph’s home town.
We are those on whom light has shone;
those who know the story of the sign given
in the child Immanuel, God with us.
We are those on whom light has shone;
those who know the story of the child born for us,
the Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
We are those on whom light has shone;
those who know the story of the shoot
coming from the stock of Jesse
on whom the spirit of the Lord did rest.
We are those on whom light has shone;
those who know the story of the star,
the star that led the Magi to worship Israel’s star.
We are those on whom light has shone;
those who know the story of Egypt,
where our Saviour fled and from where he returned.
We are those on whom light has shone;
those who know the story of the Temple,
where Simeon and Anna see salvation
in the young Christ unexpectedly come.

Therefore, since we are surrounded
by so great a cloud of witnesses and prophets,
let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,
and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,
the one from of old, from ancient days,
the son who is named Immanuel,
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,
the one on whom the spirit of the Lord rests,
the sceptre that rises out of Israel,
the one God calls his son,
the one who refines like gold and silver,
until we present offerings to the Lord in righteousness,
that our offerings will be pleasing to the Lord
as in the days of old and as in former years. Amen.

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G.F.Händel - The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Come to the feast of life

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

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear. (Isaiah 25:6)

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long. (Psalm 23.5&6)

Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, [Jesus] took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. (Matthew 15.35-37)

In Old Testament prophecies, the Psalms of David, and the miracles and parables of Jesus, we see that God is inviting us to share in a banquet laid on the new heaven and new earth that he will create. In Jesus’ parables, invitations to the party are sent to all and sundry, including those who never get invited out, those from the wrong side of the tracks, the homeless and poor; all are invited and those who don’t come are those who choose to exclude themselves by making excuses because the one condition is that you drop everything to come there and then.

The great Elizabethan priest and poet George Herbert included some of the excuses we commonly make in his third poem about love. We draw back, he suggests, because of our sense of guilt, our sense that we are unworthy, unkind and ungrateful, that we have made mistakes with the gifts we have been given, and only deserve to serve not to be served:

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lacked anything.

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?

Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.

I identify strongly with this poem because it expresses how I felt as a teenager having come to faith but then being very aware of my faults and failings and so feeling like a hypocrite who did not deserve God’s love. I had to come to a point of realizing that God loved me regardless of whether I was good enough or not and whether I felt good enough or not. The moment of realization came for me when a youth leader took the time to listen to me and then showed me Romans 5. 6 – 8 which says this: "For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time that God chose. It is a difficult thing for someone to die for a righteous person. It may even be that someone might dare to die for a good person. But God has shown us how much he loves us — it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!" As the old hymn says, "I love Him because He first loved me." He didn’t wait for me to become deserving of his love, instead he showed his love for me while I was still far away from him. So, there is nothing I have to do to earn or deserve his love.

So, Jesus simply says, "come" and all I have to do to enter into his love is simply come. That is what George Herbert’s wonderful poem is all about. Whoever comes simply, like a child, accepting God’s invitation as it is, are those who sit and eat, who become saints and priests, who become Christ. For "little Christ" is all that ‘Christian’ means. The meal, the feast, the banquet, the party to which we are invited is communion; sharing in the body and blood of Christ as a precursor to the coming in full of the kingdom of God on earth as in heaven.

This table, the table of Jesus is our place of gathering: here you are welcomed, wanted, loved, here there is a place set for you; come, come to the feast of life. This is the table, not of the Church, but of the Lord. It is made ready for those who love him and who want to love him more.

So come, you who have much faith and you who have a little, you who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time, you who have tried to follow and you who have failed. Come, not because I invite you: it is our Lord, it is his will that those who want him should meet him here.

Come. Come to the feast of life that the Lord Almighty prepares for all peoples. A feast of rich food, the best of meats, the finest of aged wines, and water from the spring of life itself. A banquet at which tears are wiped away, disgrace removed, where death, grief, crying and pain are no more as God himself sits down to eat with his people.

Come, all you who thirst;
come, all you who are weary;
come, all you who are poor;
come, all you who are bitter;
come, all you who grieve;
come, all you who are sinners;
come, all you who are oppressed;
come, all you who are traitors;
come, all you who are sick;
come, all you who are lost.

Come to be saints;
come to be priests;
come to be Christians;
to be "little Christs."
Come to sit and eat
at the feast of life.

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Steve Bell - O come, O come Emmanuel.