Glorify God and enjoy him forever

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

The Westminster Shorter Catechism is a catechism written in 1646 and 1647 by the Westminster Assembly, a synod of English and Scottish theologians and laymen intended to bring the Church of England into greater conformity with the Church of Scotland. It was intended to educate children and comes in the form of 107 questions and answers.

It asks first what is our chief end as human beings, in other words what is our purpose and meaning. The answer given is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

That answer is essentially based on the prayer that Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, which begins with a prayer that both Jesus and God the Father be glorified as they are one and then says that eternal life is to be found in knowing God as Father and Son (John 17. 1-11).

So, let's reflect together on why we are here; both here today and why we come to church at all. Asked that question, we might give a range of answers that might include fellowship and friendship, refreshment and renewal, service and witness. Last year a number of you completed questionnaires asking, among other things, about church services. People said they want the churches to contribute to a sense of community, provide support for others and be centres for peace and prayer providing a sense of Christian presence. People’s best experiences of worship were in family-friendly services where there were plenty of other people, often at Festivals, and where they felt welcomed. A sense of closeness to God was seen as being the most important experience in worship, with music, prayers, the Eucharist and fellowship/belonging all contributing highly to this. Finally, people had a range of different preferences regarding styles of worship ranging from traditional to contemporary, and from one style to many.

Whatever we get personally and individually from being part of church, that is not the fundamental reason for being here or for our lives as Christians, which is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

Understanding and taking on board that aim is transformative because it shifts our attention from ourselves to God. When we come to church and think about our involvement in church, it's easy to make it all about us and focus on the extent to which we enjoy the service and the time together or not and the extent to which we enjoy being with others here or not. However, if our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, then our responses to what is going on and to other people are not the main point. Church isn't all about us, it's all about God.

On this day when we hold our Annual Parochial Church Meeting and review what has happened here over the past year, the first question we should be asking is not about our own reactions and responses to what has happened - what did we enjoy and what did we dislike - but, instead, how was God glorified in what we did together and, also, in our individual lives. In other words, where has our main focus been and what have our priorities been over the past year; has our year been focused on ourselves or focused on God?

Next, we see Jesus' prayer setting out how we develop that focus on glorifying and enjoying God; that is to receive all he is giving us because all he has has been given to him by God. In receiving from Jesus, both his words and his Spirit, we are receiving from God himself.

Now, it is important here to pause and recognise that Jesus' experience here on earth was primarily one of rejection. People at the time, did not universally receive him or his message. He is described as the stone which the builders rejected that has then become the cornerstone.

It is easy to think that, because we've responded to Jesus, we're on the right side of that equation, but the church has a whole has regularly been guilty of rejecting others, in the same way that Jesus himself was originally rejected. Whether we are looking at church justifications for the slave trade or for apartheid or for the exclusion of women from church leadership or, today, our lack of welcome for the LGBT+ community, the Church, as a whole, has often rejected and excluded others and been blind to the reality that by doing so it has been rejecting Jesus all over again. There are always people on the edge of church who feel overlooked, marginalised and rejected and these are the very people that God calls us to be with as they are the gifts from God which have the potential to transform and renew us all; just as Jesus himself was rejected but became the cornerstone of faith.

In his prayer, Jesus calls us first to glorify God, then to receive the gifts he is giving to us and then to live together in unity, as God himself is united. His prayer is that we will be one, as God himself is one. Unity is not achieved by our own efforts, as we are all too easily frustrated by or annoyed with one another. Instead, it comes as we participate deeply in God, experiencing the love that exists and is exchanged within the Trinity, between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The love that is continually exchanged within the Godhead overspills to us and draws us into that relationship of love so that we experience love and acceptance which enables us to then share love and acceptance with others. We have, in and of ourselves, the resources to do that but, if we are constantly receiving God's love and acceptance ourselves, then we have an endless supply of love and acceptance to give to others.

As we stop today to review the life of this parish over the past year, this prayer of Jesus, prayed in the most extreme of circumstances knowing he was about to die yet looking forward to all that his disciples would do and be in his name, is key to our reflections.

The key is not to start with ourselves, asking what have we enjoyed and whether our needs or wishes have been met, but instead to start with God; in what ways have we glorified and enjoyed God, what have we received from God, and how have we expressed our unity in God.

Beginning with these reflections enables us to travel well together, as Bishop Guli, the Bishop of Chelmsford, is encouraging us to do (see the Travelling Well Together booklet). The values that Bishop Guli commends to us are very similar as they begin with awareness of grace. So, we look firstly, not to ourselves, but to God, as God always provides the resources required for the mission of the church to continue. An awareness of grace engenders a spirit of thankfulness and enables us to notice what we have, rather than grieve for what we lack. Next, is a valuing of the small, the vulnerable and the marginal. Our calling is not to strain after worldly success, influence and power but to be a faithful and gentle presence and trust that God will use our conversations, encounters and all our efforts in ways we may never fully understand. Where there is growth we will rejoice and offer encouragement, whilst always remembering that God also treasures that which is small and fragile and we are invited to do the same. Then, there are kindness, mutual respect, gentleness and humility; virtues which are often underestimated and undervalued. They flow out of Jesus’ command that we should love one another. To embody them we need to practice them intentionally, treating others as we would want to be treated ourselves and assuming the best of one another. This will enable us to develop greater trust.

These latter virtues are to do with giving and sharing, something which is needed in order to keep our churches financially viable. Alongside, the Travelling Well Together booklet, we have also given you a leaflet explaining the new Parish Share scheme in the Diocese and the ways in which local Parish ministry is funded. If you would like to give regularly to support the ministry of this Parish and that of the Diocese, please think about joining the Parish Giving Scheme and, if you are a taxpayer, gift aiding your donations. Sharing financially in our mission and ministry is an important part of enabling us all to travel well together and thereby experience the oneness for which Jesus prayed.

We can be the answer to Jesus’ prayer, if we focus on glorifying and enjoying God, receiving from God, and expressing our unity in God. As we do so, let us allow awareness of grace to engender a spirit of thankfulness, value the small, vulnerable and marginal, and practice kindness, mutual respect, gentleness and humility towards others. Amen.

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Paul Simon - Seven Psalms.

Travelling Well Together

Here's my sermon from this morning's joint service at St Mary's Runwell:

There's a very old joke about a child in Sunday School. A Sunday-school teacher asks the class of young children, "What is little and gray, eats nuts, and has a big bushy tail?" After a moment one child replies, "I know the answer's probably supposed to be Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me."

Talking recently with our youth discussion group about the Bible, we were saying essentially that, that Jesus is both the way in to the Bible and what the Bible is all about. It's all about Jesus, as the Sunday school child had grasped.

That's what we get here in these parables from Jesus (John 10. 1-10). Jesus is both the gate to the sheep fold and the shepherd who brings the sheep in and out. It's all about Jesus, whether it's about beginning the Christian life as we join the flock and enter the fold or living the Christian life, as we go in and out of the sheep fold with Jesus in order to find pasture.

These parables give us picture of a part of the Christian life; that part that is about being together as a flock, receiving sustenance during the day when we are away from the fold and protection during the night when we are in the fold.

It's all about Jesus because he is the one who leads us to sustenance and who protects us with his body from evil. It's all about Jesus because Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the way we can come to see what God is actually like and feed on him by becoming like him, as well as the one who, by laying down his own life, enables us to find forgiveness and freedom from sin.

The point, in these parables, is that we travel well together; that we remain together and that we travel in and out of the sheep fold together.

Bishop Guli, the Bishop of Chelmsford, spent time at the beginning of her ministry in the Diocese travelling around the Diocese listening to people in it. As a result of her listening exercise, we have a document called Travelling Well Together, a document that is being given out today and also on Sunday 21st May, the day of our APCM, as it, as its title indicates, suggests ways or values for travelling well together as churches, parishes, a diocese, and as the pilgrim people of God.

The values are: Awareness of grace – as God always provides the resources required for the mission of the church to continue; Valuing the small, the vulnerable and the marginal - our calling is not to strain after worldly success, influence and power but to be a faithful and gentle presence and trust that God will use our efforts in ways we may never fully understand; Focusing outward - always called to look to the needs of those beyond the Church; Sustaining healthy rhythms - invited to live life in all its fulness; Kindness, mutual respect, gentleness and humility - virtues which are often underestimated and undervalued; Generously collaborative – a willingness to work well with others in a spirit of open honesty and transparency; Faithful, creative, courageous and open to the unexpected and surprising – faithful to the traditions we have received, whilst at the same time being open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit who continues to lead us into all truth. These are values that are all about Jesus, as he provides the template as well as the means for coming together, staying together and travelling well together.

We need to be focused on Jesus and on shared values at this time as we approach the APCM and the point that I have been with you for a year. We can look back on a year of development, a year in which seeds have been sown, some of which have already sprouted.

Our connections to the communities of Wickford and Runwell have grown, our profile in the wider community has developed, new initiatives like Unveiled, Quiet Days and the Parent and Toddler Group have helped in bringing that about. Some new people have joined, our youth discussion group has begun and we are preparing to run enquirers courses and wellbeing groups.

So, there are encouragements, but we are also at a critical time, a time when, rather than staying together and travelling well together, we could begin to pull apart and allow our differences as people and churches to pull us apart. The reality is that there are differences as well as commonalities in the way that we are as churches in our team and if we focus on the differences - one does this, while the other does that, or one has this, while the other has that - then we will pull in different directions and will pull ourselves apart.

The answer to it is to look to Jesus, rather than at ourselves. In Jesus, we see how God is one, although three; how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each different persons with different roles, yet are constantly communicating with one another, constantly sharing love, and therefore constantly communicating and sharing love with us too.

The values that are shared in Travelling Well Together are the values of Jesus, which are the values of the Trinity, of God. They are what we need in order to be together as a flock, to travel in and out of the sheep fold together to find sustenance and to be protected.

To be in that place and to travel in that way is to look at Jesus, rather than ourselves, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, rather than going our own way, and to feed on Jesus, rather than finding our own sustenance. It's all about Jesus, as the Sunday School child had come to realise. If we want to travel well together as a team and a parish, then we need to do the same, and reading and absorbing the values in this document will help us do that together. Amen.

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Cat Stevens - Peace Train.