Looking back to look forward

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

St Paul’s letter to the Christians in Colossae begins with prayers for the church there and reminders of its story of faith and those who were significant in that story (Colossians 1.1-8). In his prayers for the Christians in Colossae, he says that he always thanks God for their faith in Christ Jesus and the love they have for all the saints. He reminds them of the hope laid up for them in heaven and of how they heard of this hope in the gospel that has come to them. Just as the Gospel is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has also been bearing fruit among them from the day you heard it and Epaphras, a beloved fellow-servant, has been a faithful minister of Christ on their behalf.

It is helpful and encouraging for us to look back to the story of faith in our church and Parish, as Paul encourages the Christians in Colossae to do here. Sometimes, when we look back, we can do so from a negative or deficit perspective lamenting what we feel we have lost in the present but which was present in the past. That isn’t what Paul is doing here. Instead, he is looking back in order that the Colossians see that God is working his purposes out in the present, just as did in the past.

Anniversaries can provide us with helpful moments to look back and celebrate God’s faithfulness and constancy in our lives and Parish. Last year, we celebrated the 90th anniversary of a church being opened on this site. Next year, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the opening of the current St Catherine’s Church. As we look back, let us give thanks, as St Paul did, for the faithfulness of God in bringing people to faith and, despite the challenges involved, sustaining Christian witness in this part of Essex.

Looking back also enables us to remember and give thanks for specific individuals, like Epaphras, who have been significant in our lives or in this Parish. Here, such people may include those who have a shared place in our lives and faith journey such as David Loman, who was a much-loved Rector in the Parish and who was also my Diocesan Director of Ordinands who sensitively and helpfully prepared me for selection and for ministry or Paul Trathen, a curate in the Parish when Philip Kearns was Rector, who is also a good friend of mine and someone I met during ordination training meaning we have accompanied each other through our respective ministries. I wonder who the people are in your past who have supported and encouraged you on your faith journey. Take a moment now to bring them to mind and give thanks to God for their ministry in your lives.

Individuals from the past may also provide inspiration for the present and the future. Recently, those who established the exchanges with St Paul’s Wickford in Rhode Island have encouraged us to renew that link and begin preparing for the visit next year of Fr Spencer Reece, the current priest at St Paul’s Wickford. Richard Feldwick has encouraged me by telling me stories of Revd Roy Thomas, who developed cultural initiatives in the Parish, as we are currently doing with the cultural programming here at St Andrew’s and more generally across the Parish. Roy’s initiatives included dance, music and visual arts, involving youth work and a programme of speakers from Christian organisations.

This Saturday, there is an Open Day at St Mary’s Runwell – I encourage you to go along. It’s an opportunity to see inside that beautiful church, view Parish records from the recent past, and learn something of the fascinating history of that significant church. One of the past Vicars of St Mary’s who is an inspiration to me, as we try to minister across compassion, culture, commerce and congregation, is Henry Kingsford Harris (Rector from 1891-1912). He oversaw a significant restoration of the church building in 1907 which included essential structural remedial work on the south aisle, including underpinning the massive piers, and the rebuilding of the chancel. He was also a considerable electrical engineer and a notable feature of his time in the Parish was the ringing of the bells by electricity, and the electric lighting of the church. He built an orphanage and the children served as his choir. He also built several cottages in the parish and St. Andrew’s Mission Church, Chalk Street, on the northern edge of the parish. He also set up the first Parish Council in Runwell. You can find more about his ministry at St Mary’s in the church history book that will be on sale at the Open Day. In that way, you will see how he is an inspirational figure from our past in ways that inform and encourage us to persevere with the approaches we are using now in the present.

Who is there among the clergy that you have known that have impacted or inspired you on your faith journey and ministry. Take a moment now to bring them to mind and give thanks to God for their ministry in your lives.

As we look back, let us, like St Paul, in our prayers always thank God for this Parish and its people, their faith in Christ Jesus and the love they have for all the saints. Let us be reminded that, just as the Gospel is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has also been bearing fruit among us from the day people in this Parish first heard it until today and also give thanks for all who have been faithful ministers of Christ on our behalf. Amen.

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Roger McGuinn - Light Up The Darkness.

God will not let us be tested beyond our strength

Here's the reflection that I shared this evening during Evensong at St Catherine's Wickford:

Like many in the 1970’s, my family had an LP of the songs from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. I remember listening to it frequently and, at some stage, seeing the stage show when it visited Oxford.

The show makes Joseph’s test of brother’s integrity central to the second Act. We can retell the story by quoting lyrics from the show (Genesis 42: 1-25). Back in Canaan the future looked rough and Jacob's family were finding it tough. So, they finally decided to go off to Egypt to see brother Jo. They all lay before Joseph's feet. Mighty prince, give us something to eat. Joseph found it a strain not to laugh because not a brother among them knew who he was. I shall now take them all for a ride, after all they have tried fratricide. Joseph handed them sack loads of food and they grovelled with base gratitude. Then, unseen, Joseph crept out around the back and planted a cup in young Benjamin's sack.

When the brothers were ready to go, Jospeh turned to them all with a terrible stare and said, No. Stop, you robbers - your little number's up, one of you has stolen my precious golden cup. But the brothers said, Benjamin is an innocent man. Show him some mercy, oh mighty one please. He would not do this. He must have been framed. Jail us and beat us, we should be blamed, we are the criminal guilty ones, save him, take me. Joseph knew by this his brothers now were honest men. The time had come at last to reunite them all again.

Joseph’s test is worrying and hard for his brothers but serves to help him see that they have changed and become trustworthy. As a result, he reveals himself to them and they are reunited once more. Joseph’s earlier experiences in Egypt were also testing but he came through with flying colours and was rewarded with high office that then provided him with the opportunity to save his family and to reunite them.

In 1 Corinthians 10, we read that, although we will experience tests and challenges as we go through life, no testing will overtake us that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let us be tested beyond our strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that we may be able to endure it. That is also what we see happening in the story of Joseph and his brothers.

It means that, whenever we are in difficulty or some kind of test, we need to look to God to see what it is we are to learn and where the way out that he has provided is located. This can be a core part of our prayer recognising that, as with Joseph, it took much of his life before he realised how God was using what had seemed bad for good, and, for his brothers, the test was to see whether they would act with integrity under pressure, having failed to do so earlier in the story.

Hebrews 12 also speaks of tests and challenges and encourages in the midst of such experiences to strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees and make level paths for our feet. James, the brother of Jesus, wrote: ‘My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.’ (James 1. 2 - 4)

In a world of conflict and change is that difficulties, challenges and even opposition are inevitable. The key to coping is linked to attitude. Joseph’s integrity in the face of testing and that of his brother’s when Benjamin was accused are examples to us of viewing difficulties as a testing ground – an assault course – to build up our strength in order to go on; to look for the opportunities in our challenges. If we have a deficit mindset that is focused on all the difficulties we face, then we have lost before we have begun. If we have an abundance mindset that views God as providing resources, support and strength even in the most challenging of circumstances, then, like Joseph, we can have hope in the possibility of moving on and overcoming the challenges we face.

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Denison Witmer - Keep Moving Brother, Keep Moving Sister.

The Kingdom of God has come near you

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

In the National Gallery in 2013 you could find a St. Francis without a head and with a candy-grabber crane that went inside his body and which, if you were lucky, pulled out a T-shirt saying chastity, obedience and poverty; another St. Francis was mounted on a donation box and, when you put money in, he hit himself over the head with a crucifix. Michael Landy’s large-scale sculptures consisted of fragments of National Gallery paintings cast in three dimensions and assembled with old machinery, cogs and wheels, meaning that visitors could crank the works into life with a foot pedal mechanism.

They sound like pieces designed to mock St. Francis and other Saints represented and yet Landy is an artist who is fascinated by the renunciation and kindness that Saints like Francis have shown through their lives. Landy is best known for two works. The first being an installation in a former C&A store on Oxford Street, where over a two week period, he destroyed all his possessions except for the clothes in which he stood. The second being ‘Acts of Kindness’ where Landy asked members of the public who had witnessed or taken part in acts of kindness while travelling on the tube, to write about them. So, as at least one of the art critics reviewing the show at the National Gallery, has noted while enjoying the jokiness of the lucky dip St. Francis, “you also sense that Landy thinks Britain could do with a little of St Francis’s spirit.”

St. Francis lived out his faith and that is what today’s Gospel reading (Luke 10. 1 – 11, 16 – 20) is all about. This passage from Luke’s Gospel gives us Jesus’ inspirational team talk just before sending his disciples out to be his advance guard preparing those in the towns and other places to be visited by Jesus shortly after. He gives his disciples a message to share – “The Kingdom of God has come near you” – but his main focus is on the behaviour and attitude of his disciples; the way in which they live and act.

He instructs them to live simply (“don't take a purse or a beggar's bag or shoes”); to be focused (“don't stop to greet anyone on the road”); to be peace givers (“whenever you go into a house, first say, ‘Peace be with this house.’”); accept hospitality (“stay in that same house, eating and drinking whatever they offer you”); bring healing (“heal the sick in that town”); share your message (“say to the people there, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near you.’”); and move on when not accepted (“the dust from your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you”).

These instructions of Jesus became a model for itinerant preachers throughout Church history including St. Francis and his followers. The words “Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words” are often attributed to St. Francis but, while certainly reflecting something of what he said and did, that is not a phrase he actually used. ‘Francis did focus on proclaiming the word in deeds – as well as in words. And if you have ever read any of Francis’ own writings it is easy to see that Scripture is infused everywhere in his words, his life and his being – and his actions. It is easy to see where the oft-quoted phrase came from; for example, the Legend of the Three Companions’ includes this inspirational team talk from St. Francis:

“Calling together the six brothers, Saint Francis, since he was full of the grace of the Holy Spirit, predicted to them what was about to happen. “Dearest brothers,” he said, “let us consider our vocation, to which God has mercifully called us, not only for our own good, but for the salvation of many. We are to go throughout the world, encouraging everyone, more by deed than by word, to do penance for their sins and to recall the commandments of God. Do not be afraid that you seem few and uneducated. With confidence, simply proclaim penance, trusting in the Lord, who conquered the world. Because by his Spirit, He is speaking through and in you, encouraging everyone to be converted to him and to observe his commandments”’ (http://friarmusings.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/preach-the-gospel-at-all-times-if-necessary-use-words/)

But what has all this to do with us, as we are generally not being called by God to become itinerant preachers? The answer is very simple, that our actions, as well as our words, speak powerfully about our faith. Negatively, this is the reason why Christians are often criticised as being hypocrites; others look at what we do and complain that we aren’t practising what we preach. When our actions and our words come together, however, then our witness is powerful; to see that we only have to think of examples provided by Saints like Francis or more recent followers of Christ like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jnr, Mother Teresa, Oscar Romero, Desmond Tutu, among others.

This is also one reading of the message which Jesus gave his disciples to proclaim. Do you remember what it was? It was not quite the message that we might have expected or anticipated. The disciples weren’t given the message that ‘God is love’ or to ‘repent and believe’; instead they were told to say that “The Kingdom of God has come near you.”

What did that mean? The disciples were the heralds for Jesus’ imminent arrival in that place, so it would certainly have meant Jesus is coming and the Kingdom of God arrives where he arrives. But, because the disciples were also living out their faith in practice, as those bringing peace and healing into the communities they visited, it also meant that the Kingdom of God could be seen in their lives and examples too. This can still be true for us today. Doing good, for Christians, is not about our salvation – it’s not about earning God’s love – instead it is a consequence of our salvation; because God has loved us so much, we then want to love others and, as we do, the Kingdom of God comes close to those we love, help and heal.

That is the challenge of this passage for us today and so, in the words of St. Francis:

Dearest brothers and sisters let us consider our vocation, to which God has mercifully called us, not only for our own good, but for the salvation of many. We are to go throughout the world, encouraging everyone, more by deed than by word, to do penance for their sins and to recall the commandments of God. Do not be afraid that you seem few and uneducated. With confidence, simply proclaim penance, trusting in the Lord, who conquered the world. Because by his Spirit, He is speaking through and in you, encouraging everyone to be converted to him and to observe his commandments.

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Big Star - The Ballad Of El Goodo.

That the world may believe

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

“They love every one, but are persecuted by all … Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life.”

That is how Christians were described in the Letter to Diognetus which may have been written in the second century. Tertullian, one of the leaders in the early Church, in his 2nd century defense of Christians remarks how Christian love attracted pagan notice: "What marks us in the eyes of our enemies is our loving kindness. 'Only look' they say, 'look how they love one another'" (Apology 39).

This is what Jesus anticipated when he prayed that his disciples would be completely one in order that the world may know that he was sent by God the Father and they are loved by the Father just as Jesus is loved by the Father (John 17.18-23). As Lesslie Newbigin has written “this manifest unity in the one name will challenge the world to recognise that the name of Jesus is not the name of “one of the prophets” but the name of the one sent by the Father to whom all that belongs to the Father has been given.” The sign to the world that Jesus is who he claimed to be is to be, and has actually been at times in the past, the love and unity of the Church.

Therefore, the lack of unity, as expressed in the way discussions are conducted, that is currently found within the Church of England and within the Anglican Communion over issues of sexuality deeply grieves God and has a profound effect on the Church’s ability to witness to the truth of Jesus. It also reveals the extent to which we have not fully understood or received the love of the Father and the Son. It is not that difficult debates cannot go on - they absolutely should - but we need to have such discussions without impacting our unity.  

Jesus’ prayer is that the love which the Father has for the Son will also be in his disciples. It is as we know that love in our lives that we are able to love and be united with the wider Church. The Church is based not on our natural liking of each other instead the Church is based on our being caught up into the love relationship that exists between Father and Son and knowing both ourselves and each other to be loved in precisely the same way.

Richard Burridge has written that, “such unity is rooted in the life of God: ‘as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us.’ Jesus answered Philip’s desire to see the Father with ‘I am in the Father and the Father in me.’ This unity between the Father and the Son is to be shared through the indwelling of the Spirit with all who love him. Thus the command to ‘love one another’ is ‘new’, because it is no mere moral exhortation, but a sharing in the life of God, ‘as I have loved you’.

Stephen Verney has called this love relationship between the Father and the Son, the dance of love. He describes it like this:

“The Son can do nothing of himself”, [Jesus] says, “but only what he sees the Father doing” … He looks, and what he sees the Father doing, that he does; he listens, and what he hears the Father saying, that he says. The other side of the equation – of the choreography – is the generosity of the Father. “The Father loves the Son, and reveals to him everything which he is doing”, and furthermore, he gives him authority to do “out of himself” all that the Father does, and can never cease to do because it flows “out of himself”. In that dance of love between them, says Jesus, “I and the Father are one.” The Son cries “Abba! Father!” and the Father cries “my beloved Son”, and the love which leaps between them is Holy Spirit – the Spirit of God, God himself, for God is Spirit and God is Love.”

We become part of the love relationship when we become Christians as Burridge reminded us; to love one another is no mere moral exhortation but a sharing in the life of God. So that is the question for us tonight, and for the Church of England and the Anglican Communion at this moment in its life and history, to what extent are we actually sharing in the life of God? To what extent are we participating in the love that exists between God the Father and God the Son? If we are, then both our words and actions towards our fellow Christians will be words and actions of love leading to unity? If we are not, then the reverse will be true.

So, can we today regret our failure to participate more fully in the love that exists between the Father and the Son? Will we today ask to participate more fully in that love? Our answers are vital, not merely for ourselves, but for the witness of the Church to Christ. “Jesus brings together the unity he has with the Father and the love of the disciples for one another – but it is not just to generate warm feelings of togetherness. The purpose is for the continuing mission, ‘that the world may believe that you have sent me’. The world, Burridge writes, does not naturally ponder the internal relationships of the Holy Trinity, but when it sees Christians living this self-sacrificial love then it is challenged to think again. As were the writer of the Letter to Diognetus and those of whom Tertullian wrote:

“They love every one, but are persecuted by all … Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life.”

"What marks us in the eyes of our enemies is our loving kindness. 'Only look' they say, 'look how they love one another'".

May it be so for us. Amen.

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Eternal Ruler Of The Ceaseless Round.

Responsibilities and resources, challenge and means

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Catherine's Wickford tonight in our Ascension Day Eucharist:

The expression “step up to the plate” refers to “voluntarily assuming responsibility for something.” However, when someone seems to have a particular role or responsibility covered, it is then difficult for others to see the part that they could play or to think there is a need to play their part. That is, in part, what Jesus is addressing with his disciples when he speaks to them in his farewell discourse before he goes to the cross.

In that farewell discourse and also in many of his parables, Jesus was preparing his disciples for the point when he would leave them. That point was reached with his Ascension. Among the parables Jesus told to prepare his disciples was the Parable of the Talents, where the Master in the story is absent for much of the time. By telling stories where the central character was absent or had left the action, Jesus was saying that he would be leaving and that, when he did so, he was going to entrust his disciples with the responsibility of continuing his mission and ministry.

That was, and is, an awesome responsibility and we can readily understand why, for example, the third worker in the Parable of the Talents was depicted as being paralysed by fear at the prospect of the Master’s absence. However, it also shows the value that Jesus saw in his disciples and sees in us. It is amazing, but true, that God believes in us enough to entrust us with working towards the coming of his kingdom, on earth as in heaven.

The question, then, was whether Jesus’ first disciples (and by implication, all who follow, including ourselves) will step up to the plate and assume responsibility. When the one that was thought of as being in charge and responsible was no longer with the disciples physically, they were made aware of their own responsibilities. Jesus is recorded in our Gospel reading as saying that there were things he did not say to his disciples at the beginning because he was with them at that stage. It was only at the point that Jesus was to leave that it became essential that they heard those things. It was only at that point that they could hear those things.

What Jesus was saying was a version of the popular statement that no one is indispensable, even him. “The graveyards are full of indispensable men,” is another similar saying, popularly attributed to Charles de Gaulle. The reality for Jesus, as the incarnate Son of God, was that he could not personally share his message and love across the known world or throughout history without disciples committed to following him and sharing him with others.

Therefore, at the Ascension, Jesus was like an Olympic torchbearer passing his light on to his disciples and calling them to bear his light. This could only happen when those following him acted as his hands and feet, his eyes, ears and mouth, his body wherever they were. That is essentially the challenge of the Ascension for us, but this challenge is combined with the promise that Jesus will send his Spirit to us to empower and equip us to be his people.

For this reason, the Ascension and Pentecost are intimately linked. The Ascension provides the challenge – “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples” (Matthew 28. 19) – and Pentecost provides the means - “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In this way we have been given the resources needed to fulfil our responsibility. Similarly, in the Parable of the Talents, the Master gave out resources (the ‘talents’) alongside responsibilities. In the same way, after the Ascension, the Holy Spirit came to empower Jesus’ disciples.

Do we recognise that each of us has much that we can give; that we are all people with talents and possessions however lacking in confidence and means we may sometimes be? We all have something we can offer, so how can we, through our lives and work, benefit and develop the world for which God has given humanity responsibility? What resources - in terms of abilities, job, income and possessions - has God given to us in order to fulfil our responsibility to bear his light in this dark world? Through his Ascension, Jesus challenges us as to whether we will be faithful or unfaithful servants? How will we respond?

If we accept the responsibility we have been given, we can then pray for quiet courage to match this hour. We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age; but we can ask that its problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate us, its injustices anger us, its possibilities inspire us and its vigour renew us for the sake of Christ’s kingdom come, on earth as in his heaven.

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All Hail The Power Of Jesus' Name.

Faith that sustains in wartime

Here's the Address that I shared at St Catherine's Wickford this afternoon for our Act of Remembrance on VE Day 80th Anniversary:

In his book ‘Wickford’s Heroes’, Steve Newman writes: “In the Second World War, whether air crew flying missions over enemy territory, soldiers retreating to Dunkirk, or fighting their way across Europe, from the jungles of the Far East and the unimaginable Japanese labour camps and hell ships, to the freezing seas of the North Atlantic and North Sea, or indeed on the home front, all were served by and indeed claimed the lives of men and women from Wickford and Runwell.”

Today we have gathered to remember the many soldiers, sailors, airmen, and civilians who gave their lives restraining evil and opposing tyranny, whether from our local area or further afield, in order that we can know peace and commemorate this significant anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.

In doing so, it is helpful to know something of the lives of those we remember today. Albert Chable and his younger brother Ernest are among those named on our War Memorial and were sons of Joseph and Sarah Chable, who lived on the Nevendon Road. Albert was a Sergeant in 1st Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps and was first injured and then killed in fighting in Italy, having been earlier involved in the North African campaign. Ernest was a Lance Bombadier in 7th Battery 5th Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, and was killed in action in the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, a battle that started less than eight hours after the infamous strike on Pearl Harbour that brought America into the war. Both died when the eventual outcome of World War II was still in the balance but it was their sacrifice and that of so many more like them that would eventually lead to the War’s end. Albert’s grave is in the Cesena War Cemetery in Italy. His grieving parents chose to add a personal inscription to the headstone which read ‘The things which are seen are temporal but the things that are not seen are eternal’. Their belief was that their sons were safe in the everlasting arms of God.

The faith of those like John and Sarah Chable as they mourned the loss of their sons, sustained and inspired many involved in action, whether on the home front or the front lines. In 1944, Major John Pott led his battalion to support the defence of Arnhem Bridge during a fierce battle against German forces. Despite facing heavy enemy fire, Major Pott’s unwavering faith and courage led him to pray over wounded soldiers and show remarkable forgiveness even as a prisoner of war.

On Sunday, 17 September 1944, Major Pott’s Parachute Regiment battalion was airdropped into the Netherlands to support the defence of Arnhem Bridge. As the men of the battalion parachuted from Dakota planes, they faced enemy fire from German snipers.

The drop zone was at Ginkel Heath and the route to Arnhem Bridge led through a forest. As they moved through the woods, they encountered heavy enemy fire and several men were wounded and unable to continue. Major Pott, unable to carry the wounded with him, hid them under bushes for protection. Then, with bullets flying and explosions nearby, he stood and prayed over them.

Sergeant George Sheldrake, one of the men who witnessed this moment, recalled, “I was with another two lads. We were all in a bad way. Major Pott said he couldn’t take us with him, but he put us carefully under some bushes. He said the battalion might make a fresh attack and we could be rescued, or we would be picked up by the Germans.

“Before he moved off, he stood there and prayed over us for a couple of minutes, although there was mortar and machine-gun fire. A couple of minutes is a long time to stand in those conditions. It is something I shall never forget.”

With disregard for his own safety, Major Pott stood over the wounded men and spoke to them before leaving: "I am sorry that I have only led the Company to death and pain; but remember there is another Commander who is 'The Way, the Truth, and the Life,' and I am committing you into His hands as I leave you now. Lord Jesus, watch over them, please."

Despite the conditions, the men survived. Major Pott continued on and was shot and severely injured in the battle for Lichtenbeek Hill, with his right hand and femur shattered. When the Germans came to collect the wounded, Major Pott, unable to walk, was left behind to die. He lay in the forest for 18 to 20 hours, struggling with his wounds and writing a letter to his wife. But in a miraculous turn of events, Dutch teenagers found him and fetched their relatives with a stretcher who then carried him to safety, hiding him in a shed until a doctor could be found to treat him.

However, he was eventually discovered by the Germans and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp. While receiving treatment, he managed to escape, attempting to swim across a river despite having a plaster cast on his leg. Unfortunately, he was recaptured by the Gestapo and returned to the prison camp, where he remained for the rest of the war.

Major Pott’s son David later recalled how his father took the Bible’s command to “love your enemies” literally. “My father’s love towards Germans was maybe one of the most remarkable things,” he said. “How does a Christian soldier obey the command to ‘Love your enemies’? I think he got somewhere with that. It was amazing how he made lifelong friends with SS officer Werner Elfering and his wife in the hospital in Gronau. They became friends playing chess together!”

Even in the darkest moments of battle, Major John Pott’s faith was visible to all around him. Even as a prisoner of war, he continued to practise forgiveness and friendship, extending kindness even to his enemies.

As we come together today conscious of our need for God’s forgiveness for the sin and the desire to dominate others that leads to conflict between people, and war between nations, in our own day and time, it is the examples of those like Major Potts and the Chables that we need to remember and replicate if we are to have hope for the future and peace in our time. Amen.

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Oh God Our Help In Ages Past.

A God who entrusts us with things of enormous worth

Here's the Stewardship sermon that I shared at St Catherine's Wickford and St Mary's Runwell this morning:

Many of Jesus’ parables are set in the world of work. They concern masters, servants and slaves, as those were the primary work roles at the time and, because Israel was an agrarian culture, they often relate to farming. Ours is a very different context but, despite the many differences between the working life of Jesus’ day and time, the universal nature of the stories that he told, means that they still have much to say to the work practices of our own day and time.

One person who has specifically explored the implications of Jesus’ parables for the workplace is Will Morris who is both PwC’s Deputy Global Tax Policy Leader and a priest in the Episcopal Church. In his book ‘Where is God at Work?’ he devotes five chapters to exploring the Parable of the Talents or Pounds (Luke 19.11-28).

He notes firstly that this is story about workers and work. In the story people at work are ‘entrusted with vast sums of money and expected to use them in commercial ways’: ‘People are given assignments, they have responsibilities, and they have to report back to the boss, who then assesses them and rewards them with further work responsibility – or punishes them with demotion (or the sack). The relationships are business relationships. There is one worker who obviously has real commercial smarts, another who is not quite as high-powered but still does pretty well, and then there is the one who has no commercial savvy at all, and who lets his employer’s money sit in the ground doing nothing. So we have the successful risk-taker and the conservative, risk-adverse colleague who’d much rather do nothing than try anything. And there’s a hierarchy. It really is just like a workplace.’

He makes three key points. The first is that this is not directly a story about God-given abilities (a pound or talent was a measure of money, not a skill or gift). It is ‘rather a story about the entrustment of something of great price to various individuals.’

‘Second, the sums of money – the pounds or talents – are something given, entrusted by the master when he leaves and required to be turned back over when he returns.’ It is about ‘something entrusted to us which we are expected to work with – fruitfully – and then return to the person who gave it to us.’

Third, there is the size of the gifts. One talent is sixteen years’ wages, five is eighty years’ worth. ‘That’s a lot to entrust to a slave ... Slaves, those way down the pecking order, were here entrusted with huge wealth. The master didn’t entrust the talents to his fellow owners or to his friends, but to his slaves.’ In that sense, ‘this parable is more about equality, at least of opportunity, than it is about inequality. Slaves, if they can handle it, are as worthy of being trusted as the leaders of society.’

This parable ‘upholds commercial activity – even ... banking’ and, more specifically, ‘Jesus does indicate that – in the right settings – using money to make money is completely acceptable.’ ‘For Christians in the workplace that is welcome and affirming.’ Despite this, ‘the parable doesn’t tell us that money is good, or that we will be doing God’s work if we earn more talents for Him by any means we wish as long as we end up increasing the amount.’

However, ‘done well, done properly, these activities will validly contribute to the building up of the kingdom. As a result, we must be open to the possibility that God has placed them there for us to use in this way. If we approach the workplace with the idea, the preconception, that good cannot possibly be achieved there, then the chances are that it won’t be. But if, in part thanks to this parable, we are open to the possibility that God can work through instruments such as money and in the workplace, then who know what might happen? ... God can turn up and do amazing things in the most unlikely places.’

How will we respond to the challenge of Jesus’ parable? In the story, the faithful workers are those that accept responsibility and act on it. The unfaithful worker is the one who does nothing, who does not act. Are we faithful or unfaithful workers? Are our lives dedicated to working for the benefit of others and our world? It is important to also note that in the parable we have been given the resources needed for this responsibility. In the parable the master gave out resources (the ‘talents’) alongside responsibilities. In the same way, the Holy Spirit has come to empower all of Jesus’ disciples.

We are currently in Stewardship month, 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.

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, 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.

The ‘parable of the talents is not about the unequal handing out of skills and about the punishment of the weak. It is about whether we try to be the best we can be, working with God to build His kingdom, heal His creation, including the workplace – which, like everything else, will be perfected at the end of time. It’s about being ourselves, not trying to be people we’re not. It’s about doing only what we are capable of doing, but doing it very well. It’s about a God who entrusts us with things of enormous worth – the possibilities of being His co-workers – and who will love us for what we have done unless (and only unless we hide the gift, don’t ask Him for help using it, and then turn around and tell Him it was all His own fault anyway). Our God loves us. He really does. And all we have to do is love him back.’ That’s what Stewardship is all about.

So, do we recognise that each of us has much that we can give; that we are all people with talents and possessions however lacking in confidence and means we may sometimes be? We all have something we can offer, so how can we, through our lives and work, benefit and develop the world for which God has given humanity responsibility? What resources - in terms of abilities, job, income and possessions - has God given to us in order to fulfil our responsibility to benefit and develop the world? These are questions that Stewardship month encourages us to ask.

As we ask those questions together, we also want to affirm all the many ways in which people here give to St Mary’s and to the Parish is many different ways. We are very grateful for all you do and for all that is done to maintain and grow this church and its ministry. Thank you for all your contributions currently and in the past. Will you continue making those contributions or will there be changes going forward. Stewardship month is the time to have that conversation with yourself and God.

Jesus challenges us as to whether we will be faithful or unfaithful servants? How will we respond? If we accept the responsibility we have been given, we should then pray for quiet courage to match this hour. We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age; but we ask that its problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate us, its injustices anger us, its possibilities inspire us and its vigour renew us for the sake of Christ’s kingdom come, on earth as in his heaven. Amen.

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David Ackles - Berry Tree.

Give what you can

Here's the sermon I preached this morning at St Catherine's for the beginning of Stewardship Month: 

I wonder how many of us here today think that we have a lot to give to God. My guess is that most of us actually think we have very little we can give to God.

We may think that we have nothing special in terms of our talents. We may think that we have little by way of time because of the many pressures that we face in life. We may think that we have little spare cash because of the significant costs of living. As a result, we often think we have very little to offer and may hold back from offering at all as result.

This is a particular issue when it comes to the suffering and distress that we see on our TV screens around the world, whether through conflict or lack of resources and relief. Global issues seem so huge that the contribution we could make pales into insignificance and we think there is no point doing anything ourselves as our contribution will simply be a drop in an ocean.

It is easy for us to think that big is best and that what we have and are is too little to make an impact but today’s Gospel reading says otherwise (Luke 21. 1 – 4). Jesus sees and values the contribution which the widow makes. Everyone else gave from their surplus wealth, but the widow, from her poverty, contributed all she had, her whole livelihood. So Jesus uses her example as a challenge to the wealthy and well resourced who often give less proportionately while the less well off give more of what they have.

A New York Times Magazine article in 2010 highlighted the myth of philanthropy and the “benefits to the poor” of having the super wealthy. What this well-researched article revealed was that the super wealthy, the wealthy and ostentatious “scribes” of today, as a percentage of their income actually give less than those who have middle and lower incomes. Most absurdly, what Jesus observed in his day remains true today — those with the least continue to give more, by percentage of their resources, than the wealthy! (http://datinggod.org/2010/08/22/today%E2%80%99s-parable-of-the-widow%E2%80%99s-mite/) So this is a message that needs to be heard in these times of austerity where budget cuts are often focused on the poor rather than the wealthy.

Small is beautiful, as E. F. Schumacher once reminded us, and our small actions or contribution, combined with those of others, can then have a big effect. The butterfly effect which is found in Chaos Theory and the Multiplier Effect in economics both show, on the basis of research, that small changes and small contributions can have significant effects.

Here's one story that demonstrates that truth. Hattie May Wiatt was a young girl in Philadelphia in the 1880s who began saving towards the building of a church which could accommodate the large number of children going to Sunday School in those days. Hattie May died young and after her death the pastor of the church, Rev. Russell Conwell was given the 57 cents that she had saved. He used these to begin a fundraising campaign which resulted in the building of a church, a University and a Hospital.

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.

Our Parish needs a whole series of small contributions at present as we need new volunteers across the whole range of our ministry. We are looking for a new PCC Treasurer, members of our District Church Councils (the DCCs) and Parochial Church Council (our PCC). We would value new members of our choir and people who could work with children when they come to our services. 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.

When it comes to our financial giving, we have faced significant challenges as for a long time we haven’t been able to give the Diocese the Parish Share that is needed to cover the cost of clergy and the other support that the Diocese provides. We also face a significant financial challenge here because of the underpinning work needed to secure the long-term future of this building. We are gradually increasing the amount we give to the Diocese for our support year-on—year and have raised funds for the first two Phases of our repair project. However, we need to maintain and improve that situation this year, so ask that you reconsider your giving at this time and use Stewardship Month to decide what you can contribute to St Catherine’s and our Parish in future. There are forms in the Pack which can be used if you want to start giving or if you are able to change what you are giving.

For those who are tax payers there has for some time been a way of increasing the value of the gifts you give. Gift Aid enables us to reclaim the basic rate tax from HMRC for those who are taxpayers, so for every £1 that you give we can claim an extra 25p. That means that, if you are a tax payer, we need you to fill out a Gift Aid declaration form in order to reclaim that money. There’s a copy in the Pack for you to fill out. There are three ways you can give using Gift Aid. The Parish Giving Scheme provides simple and secure ways to give regularly to this church; online, by phone, or by posting a giving form. Joining PGS means they claim the Gift Aid and send it direct to our Bank Account. You can also use our yellow envelopes for cash donations or fill in the Gift Aid declaration on the Card Reader where giving using your bank card.

Jesus commended the widow for giving the small amount that she had. Rev. Conwell took Hattie May’s 57 cents and used in to build a church, a University and a Hospital. We need the contribution that you can make to our Parish, however small it may seem to you, and in whatever way you can make that contribution. Thank you so much for all the ways you give currently and the different contributions you make. They are vital to the mission and ministry of our Parish and we are very grateful for them. The mission and ministry of this church is the combined effect of the contributions that each of us make. We need you now, more than ever. God has given you resources, time and talents, so this Stewardship Month I encourage you to reflect prayerfully on all that you can and do give back to him in order that together we can combine our individual offerings to make a bigger impact for him. Amen.

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Natalie Bergman - You've Got A Friend in Jesus.

Gratutious, extravagent generosity

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

As a child my faith was impacted by a musical drama of the life of Christ using scripture drawn from Genesis to Revelation which was called Yesterday Today Forever and was staged in Oxford in the mid-1970s. It was an ambitious production with three complete stage sets, a complicated lighting system, quadraphonic sound, a 50-piece choir, a 12-piece band, dance, narration, a great variety in music, and a back projected film. I was impressed by the integration of the Arts and scripture in a way that I had not seen prior to that point.

Included in the show was a beautiful ballad based on this story of Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus’ feet and wiping them with her hair (John 12. 1 - 8). Called ‘Remember Mary’, the song imagines Mary’s thoughts as she carries out this extravagant gesture:

“I cannot look at your face - I dare not - for I have sinned so much and you know my heart. I want to look at you Jesus, but I have not the power to lift my eyes for I am guilty - oh so guilty. What can I do? For I am lost and yet you care - even for me. So I will pour this ointment upon your feet, dear Lord. The ointment smells so sweet; smells so. sweet; and yet I am a broken creature, I'm only but dust, only dust …”

Jesus responds: “You have done a beautiful thing to me Mary, in pouring this ointment on my body, you have prepared me for burial. Your sins are forgiven, for you have loved much.”

The way in which Mary gives to Jesus in this story could perhaps be summed up in a verse from 2 Corinthians 9: “You should each give, then, as you have decided, not with regret or out of a sense of duty; for God loves the one who gives gladly.” (2 Corinthians 9. 7)

It was her decision to pour ointment over Jesus’ feet and to dry her feet with her hair. No one expected her action – it was not done out of duty - and at least one person criticised her severely for it. It was her entirely her decision, her personal way of giving to Jesus.

Giving in this way involved giving generously from her possessions because the ointment that she used was expensive (imported from countries such as India) and extravagant (half a litre was an enormous amount to use in this way). It also involved giving generously of herself, as Jewish women traditionally kept their hair tied up in public and only unloosened their hair in the presence of their husbands. What Mary did in wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair was the ultimate sign of her love for and commitment to Jesus. She did all this, not with regret or out of a sense of duty, but gladly and generously.

In fact, her gift to Jesus is a response to the love that Jesus has shown towards her. She gives because Jesus has first given extravagantly and generously to her. 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.

Love is the reason for giving, not duty, not regret, but love. 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 what Mary saw in Jesus and why she responded by giving extravagantly and generously to him. God does not need us; yet he created us out of his gratuitous love. Jesus astonished the disciples by giving Mary the highest commendation anyone receives in the pages of the Gospels:

“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (Mark 14:6 -9)’

In reflecting on this story the artist Makoto Fujimura has said that he prays that, ‘there will be a new aroma in the air: an aroma of Mary of Bethany, who in response to Jesus’ tears in John 11 and 12 brought her most precious belonging, her most gratuitous, expensive nard. I pray that in the days to come, this aroma will fill the air whenever the words of Gospel are spoken, that outsiders to faith will sense this extravagant air and feel it, particularly for them. I pray that when our children speak of faith, this gratuitous, intuitive aroma of the love of Christ will be made manifest in their lives.’

Fujimura sees an analogy between the extravagance of Mary’s gesture and the extravagance of art. He prays ‘that artists will no longer have to be on the defensive as was Mary in that aroma-filled room while disciples grumbled that her perfume could have been sold to feed the poor. “What a waste,” they said. What a waste. Is our art wasteful, too?

Art is gratuitous. Art is extravagant. But so is our God.’ And we need to learn a similar extravagance in our response to Jesus.

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.”

David Dark writes that, “Extravagant kindness of action … amounts to apocalyptic disruption of whatever norms currently crown themselves as “realistic,” “prudent,” or “appropriate.” “These confrontations bring onto the scene an indiscriminate generosity that will often appear supernatural and scandalous as they necessarily go beyond what has appeared previously available or reasonable.” In this way, such actions expand “the sphere of what’s considered historically possible” and “testify to a transcendence in everyday activity with an earth-bound agility that interpenetrates all that appears mundane and insignificant.”

Perhaps, most incredibly of all, what Mary gave was a blessing and help to Jesus. Jesus had been explaining for some time that he was shortly to die but no one believed him or accepted what he was saying. Famously, Peter had told Jesus that he would try to stop that from happening and Jesus rebuked him by saying, “Get behind me, Satan.”

But here, Mary anoints Jesus for burial. She understands. She accepts what is going to happen and she prepares Jesus for it. What a blessing that must have been to Jesus that someone understood and supported him in what he was about to do. And, in just the same way, we bless and encourage God when we give generously of our time, talents and treasure to God.

Judas didn’t understand the love and generosity in Mary’s gifts and this seems to have been because his motives were selfish, not loving. In criticising Mary’s gift, he purported to be concerned about the poor but actually wanted to help himself to some of the money. Today it is still easy for us to find reasons not to give. We will all have heard people give a whole string of reasons for not giving – excuses like the money is spent on administration or wasted through corruption rather than going to those that it is meant to benefit. While these are valid issues that need to be addressed, the end result of people’s reasoning is that their money stays in their bank accounts and pockets to be spent on themselves rather than others. As a result, their motivations for not giving can be viewed as selfish, as was the case for Judas too.

Giving to God does not mean ignoring the poor. Jesus said that we show our love for God by loving our neighbours as we love ourselves. He calls us to commit our lives, our time, our talents, our treasure to God for the transforming of our communities and the treasuring of our environment.

So, together with Makoto Fujimura, let us offer a ‘prayer and invitation to encounter the mystery of the Gospel, one which is still filled with the aroma of Mary of Bethany.’ Let us ‘pray that this aroma will invade us too with love and hope.’ May our lives and work ‘witness in some way to this extravagance of the Gospel’; ‘without reduction, in the grace of this encounter, let us continue our work in the extravagance’ of God’s love.

As we do so, out of love rather than duty, we will be following in the footsteps of Mary as she anointed the feet of Jesus and dried his feet with her hair.

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John and Ross Harding - Yesterday Today Forever.

No league tables for sin

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

Do you remember the story Jesus told of the Pharisee and tax collector praying in the synagogue (Luke 18. 9-14)? The Pharisee prayed, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector’. The tax collector prayed, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ Jesus said that it was this man that went down to his home justified, rather than the other. The prayer of the tax collector opened him up to reality – the reality of who he really was – while the prayer of the Pharisee was an exercise in unreality because it was designed to make him look better than he was by comparison with others.

In today's Gospel reading (Luke 13: 1-9), something similar is happening as the story told to Jesus about the Galileans was supposed to demonstrate that their sins had been particularly bad. The belief, at the time, was that bad ends or outcomes were equated to severity of sin. This carried over into experiences in life perceived to be particularly difficult, such as disability. People attempted to identify the particular sin in someone's life that had resulted in the disability, as when Jesus was asked whether it was a man's own sin or that of his parents that had caused the blindness experienced by a man who met Jesus (John 9. 1-12). Jesus said that his blindness was nothing to do with sin at all.

These stories show the extent to which we can come to think of God as a kind of old-fashioned headteacher keeping a record of our sins on a chalkboard and marking some sins as particularly reprehensible and, therefore, deserving of greater punishment. Sometimes we think of God in this way because, like the Pharisee, we want to say ‘I'm alright, Jack!’ meaning it's other people that are the problem and, sometimes, we do it because, like those in the other two stories, we want to identify particular sins done by particular people as being particularly bad.

Jesus is having none of it. God doesn't keep league tables for sins, the challenges we face in life are not punishments inflicted on us by God for particular sins, and we all are sinners. The fact that we are all sinners is the fundamental reality that we need to face and all attempts to grade sins are simply distractions and deflections from facing that core reality.

Lent is an annual opportunity to reflect on that reality. That's why, on Ash Wednesday, at the beginning of Lent, the sign of the cross is marked on our foreheads and we are told to turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ. The prayers and practices of Lent exist to open us to reality. Their words of penitence urge us to face the truth about our sins and their impact on others.

We receive the sign of the cross because it is the sign of God's enduring love for us, despite our sin which nails his Son to the cross. It is because God's love for us is deeper than the effects of sin that we can turn to him and know forgiveness and live changed lives.

That is the point of the parable that Jesus tells in response to those who come to tell him about the Galileans. In the story, the vineyard owner wants to get rid of the fig tree which is not bearing fruit, but the gardener says to give it another chance.

The imagery of trees and fruit was regularly used by Jesus in his teaching. His followers are chosen and appointed to bear fruit, so fruitfulness is the overall aim and he tells and enacts parables of fig trees which don’t bear fruit being given further opportunities to become fruitful.

So, God is the one in this story wanting to give the barren tree a new opportunity to flourish. That is what Jesus wants for our lives and what he endured the cross to show; there are no depths to which God will not go to enable us to turn from our sins and be faithful to him. And that means, too, that there is no league table of sins with some being worse than others. We are all sinners and are all in need of the second chances that God provides to turn from our sin.

How do we do this? Like the fig tree which if it doesn’t bear figs is not being fruitful in the way it was created to be, so we need to become authentically the people that God created us to be. David Runcorn argues that if “we define sin solely in terms of wrong actions or thoughts, we trivialise it [and] our diagnosis does not go deep enough.” He says that the Pharisees trivialised sin in this way by being pedantically obsessed “with external standards of behaviour” and that that is why “Jesus furiously castigated and mocked the religion of his day.”

Runcorn says that “who we are always comes before what we do” and that “our choices, desires and actions … always flow from our sense of personal identity.” This means that “our deepest need is not primarily to stop doing or saying bad things” because the power and significance of sin “lies not so much in what we are doing or saying, but in who we think we are.” Real sin, Runcorn argues, is insisting on being what we are not; the desire for a life other than the one God intended human beings to live.

We can, of course, make the decision to live the life that God intended human beings to life at any point and at any time in our lives, but, I wonder, how we are using this Lent to reflect on our own sinfulness, rather than that of others, and also are making this Lent a time to turn back to God and be faithful to Christ. May that be our intent and activity this Lent and always. Amen.

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Andrew King - Could Ye Not Watch With Me One Hour.

On the third day I finish my work

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

The singer-songwriter Bill Fay died recently aged 81. A very private man, he rarely performed in public, but his songs nevertheless touched the hearts of many people.

This was despite a long period, from the mid-1970s to the 2000s, where he was without a recording contract. Such setbacks didn't seem to phase him and he found other work while continuing to record his songs. Eventually, the strength of his early work, which had been overlooked at the time, brought attention back to him and he recorded three well-received albums before he died.

His life mirrored the faith and belief that he poured out in his songs. Songs which are laments for the violence and lack of care often seen in our world together with celebration of the everyday acts of love and care undertaken by ordinary people. The latter reveal God's love in the midst of difficulty and point towards a future day when love will reshape the world in the image of Jesus Christ.

In today's Gospel reading (Luke 13:31-35), Jesus, himself, is facing the forces of violence as Herod is seeking to kill him in the context of a conquered nation ruled by the Roman oppressors. His response is to continue working in the face of the threats around him and to lament the effect the oppressive forces have on the people around him.

He longs to gather those around him and shelter them from the storms of life as a mother hen does with her chicks by bringing them under her wing for warmth. In this way, he shows us the mother heart of God, which is overflowing with love towards us. Lovingly, Jesus is saying he wants to be like the mother hen gathering God’s people to him where they will then experience safety and love. At the same time that he makes this specific statement to the people of Jerusalem, he is also paying a wonderful tribute to motherhood itself by equating the love which God shows towards us to the love that mothers show towards their offspring.

This is one of several passages in scripture where God is described in feminine terms. Given the patriarchal nature of the society in which the Bible was formed, it is surprising to find any references to God as feminine and it is particularly significant to find this reference on the lips of Jesus.

The Bible tells us that God is Spirit and therefore not male or female. When human beings enter the story of creation, it is as beings made in the image of God, both male and female. So, God is ultimately not gendered in the way that we are and it is important for us to understand and celebrate the way God expresses his love through both genders.

Jesus laments here over the patterns of response in our world which see those who are different from us and have a message of change being scapegoated and killed. Scapegoating others is the way in which we consistently act as human beings. We desire something that is possessed by someone else and become disturbed through our longing for what we don’t have. We resolve our disturbance by creating a scapegoat of the person or people who appear to have or prevent us from having what it is we desire. When the scapegoat is killed, we can gain what we desire and also release the sense of disturbance that we feel.

That is what Jesus knew he was facing and his response was to double down on his work of healing and care until such time as his death came when the people would then say 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’

That change would come about because on the third day his work would be finished; the third day being the day he rose from the dead. The scapegoating and crucifixion of God is the ultimate demonstration of God's love for humanity but it is the resurrection that then changes the arc of human history away from oppression and towards peace. Jesus is resurrected as the first-fruits of a new way of life wholly characterised by love and where there is no more mourning or crying or pain.

In rising from the dead, he has gone ahead of us into the new risen body and existence that we shall experience in future when Jesus returns to this earth to fully bring God’s Kingdom into existence here. When Jesus walked the earth, he looked ahead to that future time when the Kingdom of God will be made perfect, and all suffering will come to an end. But he also announced that, because of him, there is a sense in which that Kingdom has already begun. When he healed sick people and brought good news to the poor it was a sign that the Kingdom had come. In the same way, when he overcame death by rising from the dead he became the first fruits of the Kingdom, an example of what we will all become in future.

All of this is also to be found in the songs of Bill Fay. In ‘There is a valley’ he sings:

“There is a hill near Jerusalem that wild flowers grow upon
Flowers don't speak, but they speak to each other of a crucifixion
Just because he said he was the son of God
And the fury of the moment they felt they could only silently look upon
Every city bar brawl, every fist-fight, every bullet from a gun
It's written upon the palms of the Holy One
Every city bar brawl, every fist-fight, every bullet from a gun
It's written in the palms, in the palms of the Holy One”

In ‘Still some light’ he encourages us to go on in the face of this world’s troubles because we have seen the light:

“Still some light for this frail mankind, still some hope, some end in sight
Still some light for this frail mankind, still some grace in troubled times
When this world seems like a market place, where souls are bought and sold
And it’s all to easy, for a soul to grow cold
When this world seems like a market place, where souls are bought and sold
God knows it ain’t easy, don’t give up on it all, still some light”

The light that we have seen is ‘The Healing Day’ that is still to come:

“It'll be okay
On the healing day
No more goin' astray
On the healing day
Yeah we'll find our way
On the healing day
To where the children play
On the healing day

When the tyrant is bound
And the tortured freed from his pain
And the lofty brought to the ground
And the lonely rage

Ain't so far away
That healin' day
Comin' to stay
The healing day”

In the face of violence and oppression, Jesus doubled down on his ministry of healing and his acts of love and transformation. Following in Jesus' footsteps, Bill Fay continued to sing of this world's transformation into the image of Christ despite being ignored and overlooked for many years. In a changing world where hatred of others is on the rise and where authoritarian figures are increasingly being given power to oppress, we are challenged by their examples to continue to act in the ways of love as a sign of the coming kingdom of love. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.

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Bill Fay - Still Some Light.

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died

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

On Wednesday Richard and I spoke to Year 4 classes at Hilltop Junior School as part of their RE lessons, where they are currently looking at the charitable and community work that churches undertake. We spoke about the Gateway Project, our collections for the Women’s Refuge, and the funds we collect for Positive Life Kenya but, through the questions the children asked, we also spoke about the ways in which the church is there for people and with people at all the key moments in life – at birth through Christenings, when people get married through wedding, and when people die through funerals. It’s sometimes, disparagingly spoken of as ‘hatch, match and dispatch’ but actually means the church ministers to people at every stage of their lives and at all the really important moments in life.

The children specifically wanted to ask about funerals, which is interesting as parents often try to protect children from the reality of death; although, as was clear to us on Wednesday, they are aware of the reality of death and can and will speak about it. That was also the case in the church at Corinth, to which St Paul wrote first and second Corinthians, as we have them recorded in the Bible.

The reality of the resurrection was the big issue or discussion that Paul addressed in the section of his letter that we heard read this morning (1 Corinthians 15.12-20). Paul makes the resurrection central to Christianity by arguing that if it did not happen, then the rest of our faith must be false.

In this section of his letter, he doesn’t give his argument for the reality of the resurrection. He simply states that belief at the end of the passage - in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. But in the section of the letter that was read last week he does set out his argument (1 Corinthians 15.1-11). So, let’s look briefly at some of the reasons for believing in the reality of the resurrection.

First, we need to be clear that those who say there is no evidence for the existence of God seek to disallow the very evidence which has helped convince us otherwise by saying that the only acceptable evidence is scientifically measurable evidence. This is the argument that science and its methods provide the only way of knowing that gives us true knowledge of the world around us. Yet, if that were to be the case then, for example, a wedding would make no real sense. Instead of being about the mutual celebration of love and affection between the couple, on the basis of measurable scientific knowledge what occurs when a wedding happens simply becomes about the survival of the fittest through the passing on of selfish genes in procreation. Our experiences of love and faith cannot be adequately captured through the language of scientific measurement. Instead, we need the languages of belief and imagination to give voice to what we truly experience of love and faith. As Richard Chartres once said, "Faith and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life.”

Second, we need to understand that faith is fundamental to all true knowledge and that applies to scientific knowing as much as to any other form of knowing. Scientists like Michael Polanyi have come to understand that faith is fundamental in the whole enterprise of understanding because all knowledge of reality rests upon faith commitments which cannot be demonstrated. As a result, scientists and philosophers of science are now rediscovering the vital role that the imagination has to play in their endeavours.

When there is an acceptance that other forms of knowing and other forms of evidence have validity, then two further arguments can be made. The first of these is that belief in God makes sense of our experiences of life and love in ways that give full weight to our experience of these things without contradicting the findings of science. On this basis, Christianity offers, as Lesslie Newbigin has argued, “the widest rationality, the greatest capacity to give meaning to the whole of experience.”

Second, the arguments for the resurrection made in the New Testament and also subsequently come into play. Many historians, lawyers and sceptics have testified to the convincing nature of this evidence when objectively considered. Many would, for example, agree with E. M. Blaiklock, , who said, “the evidence for the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ is better authenticated than most of the facts of ancient history . . .”

One of the earliest records of Christ's appearing after the resurrection is given by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. There, he appeals to his audience's knowledge of the fact that Christ had been seen by more than 500 people at one time. Paul reminded them that the majority of those people were still alive and could be questioned. Dr. Edwin M. Yamauchi, associate professor of history at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, emphasizes: "What gives a special authority to the list (of witnesses) as historical evidence is the reference to most of the five hundred brethren being still alive. St. Paul says in effect, 'If you do not believe me, you can ask them.' Such a statement in an admittedly genuine letter written within thirty years of the event is almost as strong evidence as one could hope to get for something that happened nearly two thousand years ago." These New Testament accounts of the resurrection were being circulated within the lifetimes of men and women alive at the time of the resurrection; people who could certainly have confirmed or denied the accuracy of such accounts.

So, there is good reason for believing that Jesus rose from the dead but what difference does it make that he did? Paul addresses that at the end of today’s reading - in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. This means that what Jesus experienced is like a template for our own experience in future when we, too, are raised from death.

The risen Jesus had a resurrection body and was recognisable to his disciples, although not always. He was able to come and go and move around in ways that had not previously been possible for him and he bore on his body the scars of his crucifixion. This means that there was a continuity between his earthly body and his resurrected body, although they were not one and the same. Later, in this chapter, Paul explains this by saying the perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

Writers and theologians have explained this in a variety of different ways. One of those that I find most helpful is that of C.S. Lewis in the last book of The Chronicles of Narnia called 'The Last Battle'. There, he describes his characters dying and entering eternity. In eternity they find themselves back in the land of Narnia but it is a Narnia that has more depth and beauty than previously. As they explore this revitalised Narnia, their cry is one of exploration, 'Come further up and further in'. When they reach the garden at the centre of Narnia, they discover that this is a gateway to another Narnia that has yet more depth and beauty than that which they had just left. Lewis' idea that we abide in eternity in the world that we know but know it in ever increasing depth.

Lewis’ idea works with what we know of Jesus’ resurrected body in order to imagine a new heaven and new earth that is deeper and more beautiful and more real than this earth. Therefore, there is continuity between this world and the next with much that we will recognise but, because it is more real and more beautiful than this world there is much that is also new and unknown that we can discover and explore. In fact, Lewis’ idea is that, because God is inifinite, there is also more of the new heaven and new earth in which we will live our resurrected lives to be explored, discovered and enjoyed. By saying that the resurrection of Jesus is the first fruits of what we will experience, St Paul opens up that possibility to us.

So, as Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15, there are good reasons for believing in the resurrection and for having hope that that we will spend eternity living lives for which Jesus’ resurrection provides the template. Amen.

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Fiction Family - God Badge.

Retaining a sense of wonder

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

All new babies bring new possibilities into the world. That is because each of us is unique and will therefore have the possibility of doing things that no-one else will or can do. Some babies grow up to be great – to be Winston Churchill or Nelson Mandela - but at the point of birth we don’t know what a new baby will be like or what he or she will do. Anything is possible, the future is completely open.

But in our Candlemas reading (Luke 2. 22 - 40) Simeon and Anna both knew that the six-week-old baby in Mary’s arms was God’s Messiah, the one who would bring salvation to all peoples. At that time all six-week-old babies had to be brought to the Temple in Jerusalem. How did Simeon and Anna know that baby Jesus was different from all the other babies that they had seen brought into the Temple?

It was the Holy Spirit that led Simeon into the Temple on that day so that he could encounter Jesus and it was the Holy Spirit that had assured him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s promised Messiah. Simeon was waiting – looking out, praying for, expecting – Israel to be saved and so the Holy Spirit was with him and revealed the Messiah to him in a six-week-old baby boy. Often God’s work in the world and in other people is not easy to spot. God works in and through the ordinary and every day, through the people and things around us and we need to be looking out for signs of his activity and presence. We need to be listening for his Holy Spirit to prompt us to look at some ordinary thing or ordinary person in order to see God at work.

In the film ‘American Beauty’, Ricky shows Jane a blurry video of a plastic bag blowing in the wind among autumn leaves. As they watch he explains that "this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it … And that’s the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid. Ever."

"Sometimes,” he says, “there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.” To encounter God as that incredibly benevolent force that wants us to know that there is no reason to ever feel afraid, we need to pay attention to the beauty of the ordinary, overlooked things in life, like a plastic bag being blown by the wind. As Saint Augustine said, “How many common things are trodden underfoot which, if examined carefully, awaken our astonishment.”

We assume because Simeon expects to die once he has seen the Messiah that he was an old man and we know that Anna was 84 years old when she saw Jesus. Many of us, after living a while and seeing a lot, become a bit bored, even jaded and, when that happens, we stop expecting much, resigning ourselves to life pretty much as it is. Simeon and Anna didn’t do that though. They retained a sense of expectation, a sense of wonder, a sense of the marvel of life and so they looked for the new thing that they were confident God would do.

The singer-songwriter Victoria Williams wrote a great song called ‘Century Plant’ in which she tells the stories of older people who do something new in their old age – paint, travel, study, join the Peace Corp or ride the Grand Rapids. The Century Tree is a cactus plant which blooms once in a hundred years and you never know when it will bloom. Her point is that it is never too late to ask God to give us a sense of wonder and expectancy about the world.

Many people at that time could not see what Simeon and Anna saw. John’s Gospel tells us that the world and his own people did not receive or recognise him but that to those who did receive him and believed in him, he gave the right to become God’s children. Simeon and Anna, although they were old and close to death, and Jesus was only a six-week-old baby, became children - God’s children - because they believed that Jesus was God’s Messiah.

The same possibility is there for each one of us. We may have become jaded and cynical because of what we have experienced in life, we may have become closed off to wonder, we may have rejected the possibility of God and the possibility of good. Jesus came as a new-born baby to reawaken all those possibilities in us and in our world, for us to truly be born again. That is what Simeon and Anna experienced and it is what we can experience to as we respond to this child that is God’s salvation for all peoples. It is never too late to recover a new sense of wonder, it is never too late to ask God for it because you never know when it will bloom.

Let us pray: Lord, keep us from an ‘I’ve been this way before’ or ‘I know this already’ attitude. Revive in us a new awareness that you are alive and awake in the world and therefore every day can be filled with good things, even surprises. Amen.

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Victoria Williams - Century Plant.

God's presence in cloud and fire

 Here's the reflection that I shared at St Catherine's Wickford this evening:

As they travelled through the wilderness, God’s presence was shown to the Israelites by a cloud and a fire (Numbers 9.15-end). These symbols help us to understand aspects of God’s support and presence in our lives too.

The cloud was both a guide to the Israelites and an immersive presence. When they were outside the cloud, the movements of the cloud were able to guide them on their journey through the wilderness and God continues to guide us as we pray, whether through the Bible’s teachings or through the prompting of our hearts. When they were within the cloud, they became immersed within it and surrounded by it. This provided protection for them but also, because the cloud could not be fully seen from the inside, revealed God’s omnipotence; the all-surpassing greatness of his being which can never be fully known or understood by human beings. 

‘The Cloud of Unknowing’ is a Christian spiritual classic, written in the fourteenth century, which sets out to describe a transcendent God who exists beyond human knowledge and human language. The anonymous author asserts: " We can not think our way to God. He can be loved but not thought." So, we dwell in a not-knowing where contemplation, calm, and above all, love, are the way to understand the Divine.

The fire provides light, warmth and inspiration. The light of Christ is revelatory as it reveals the good and bad in our lives and communities. Light reveals those things that have been hidden so we can see their true nature; whether live-giving or life-denying. Fire also provides a warmth that encourages everyone to gather together around its source. The fire of God’s love is what draws us to church to gather together and together receive that love. 

Finally, fire is inspiration, as was the case for the first disciples at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon them with tongues of fire giving them the gift of inspired utterance in a number of different languages so they could speak God’s message to all that were present in Jerusalem at that time. God continues to inspire and equip his people who turn to him in prayer.

Like the people of Israel, may we also know God as guide, as omnipotent, as revelation, as love and as inspiration. And may we pray that we might experience him in each of these different ways. Amen.

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Anawim - Give Us The Peace.