The Rector's Easter Lead Article in the April Church Mag 2013:

 

 “Take heart, do not be afraid, it is I.”

 

Archbishop Justin’s sermon at his enthronement focussed on these words spoken by Jesus to his disciples, terrified in their boat of the storm around them. These words surely take on a whole new power as we imagine them spoken with the same clarity by the Risen Lord to his disciples, grieving and hiding away in the upper room of their lodgings, the weekend following his crucifixion.

 “Take heart, do not be afraid, it is I.” [Matthew 14.27]

 

“Our response to those words sets the pattern for our lives, for the church, for the whole of society. Fear imprisons us and stops us being fully human. Uniquely in all of human history Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the one who as living love liberates holy courage.” Archbishop Justin gave us this Easter invitation! Look to Jesus as Living One! As Liberator! And gain what from that beholding: “holy courage”.

 

Spoken back in Galilee on the Lake, these words led into the invitation to Peter to step out into the waves. And how there are waves for us! The choppy seas of uncertainties on the Economy, disturbances in the Climate, divisions between the cultures around the Globe, complexities of choice to make about everything under the sun and especially in Ethics.

 

Jesus invited holy courage in his first followers, and he under-girded that invitation with his acts and his promise of the abiding Spirit. How about we all, in the light of Easter, take courage! Holy courage, the kind which the Gospel inspires in those who hold to it and heed it. What might that mean? First and very ‘Easter’, we see every issue, including our own mortality, in the bigger picture of God’s eternal purpose and God’s promise of a renewal of all things. Then, we hold to the truth that God is passionately committed to all that has worth in this world: ourselves; every human individual; inspired and godly movements major and hidden; relationships and their potential, between persons, between peoples, between ourselves and the environment in which we are set.

 

As Easter people let us touch others and walk humbly on the earth with the holy courage which brings liberation and goodness to birth.

Wishing you a blessed Easter Season, Tom Jamieson

Sunday 10 March, Mothering Sunday

Family Service.

Not a sermon, but a tale of two millennia:

First, Jesus' Parable of the Prodigal Son read and mimed by young church

[they were excellent!]

Then, back into the 1st Century Jewish context of the story, and

Debbie Loughran prepared a monologue of the MOTHER'S angle on the story:

 

Now all the tax collectors and sinners

were coming near to listen to Jesus.

And the Pharisees and the Scribes were grumbling and saying,

‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’

So he told them this parable:

 

There was once a man who had two sons.

The older son enjoyed dutifully working for his father.

But the younger son found his work totally boring.

One day the younger son had a bright idea.

He asked his father for his share of the family business

there and then, while he was young enough to enjoy it.

He was actually shocked when his father immediately agreed!

 

With his new-found wealth he rushed out to buy a new car.

He drove a long long way from home.

Right to the other end of the country,

where there was a big city with a clubbing scene.

He got himself an apartment in a very trendy part of town.

He made lots of cool friends.

He squandered his money hosting wild parties.

Women, Booze, Gambling, you name it, he went for it!

 

But then, there was an economic down-turn.

Something really terrible happened with all the banks,

and in no time all the jobs seemed to have gone

to the other side of the world.

The dude ran out of money.

Who was cool now!

Only his flat, as he couldn’t afford the gas bill.

All those new friends of his? Well, the texted them a lot,

but the texts he got back were, shall we say,

short and pretty blunt.

 

He applied for loads of jobs but never got an interview.

He had to move out of his flashy flat.

He got a room in a basement which he shared

with people who spoke a different language.

He started looking in the bins near the Kebab shop,

late on when the street was deserted

and it was really, really cold.

He was lonely. His heart was heavy.

 

All of a sudden inspiration struck! He said to himself,

“My dad’s workers have a better deal than I do here!

I’ll go back home! I’ll say to my dad,

‘Dad, I’ve really messed up! I really, really, apologise!

Is there, is there any way you could give me a job?’”

 

So, car long since sold, it was a long road home.

 

Meanwhile, his elder brother had played his part

in making the family business work.

 

And meanwhile also, his Father missed him,

and longed to see him.

He’d walk down the long drive sometimes,

hoping that his younger son might come home.

The day came when, could it be?

The weary lad in the distance? It it my boy?

The father threw his arms open and ran to greet his son.

 

The boy said, “Dad, I’ve really messed up!

I’ve really really let you down!”

 

The father wouldn’t hear him out.

Rather, he called for a fine new jacket for him,

 

he called for his best signet ring to be put on his finger,

and a really snazzy pair of new shoes for his feet.

He got in touch with a firm of outside caterers,

and threw a party that very evening

for all the family and workers.

Marquee, champaigne, caviar, live group, dancing,

fireworks for later, no expense spared.

 

But. Oh dear. The older brother. He stayed in the house.

He was livid. He was furious. He was spitting mad.

The father went to seek him.

“You want me to join this party, dad?

This crazy waste of your money, for him,

for that son of yours who’s blown

everything you achieved for him?

And when was I going to have a night with MY friends

for all the years I’ve worked for you?”

 

The Father said to him,

“Son, you can enjoy yourself here anytime you wish;

all that is mine is yours!

But your brother, we had to celebrate his coming back!

He was dead, and is alive again!

He was lost, and has been found!

 

Monologue from the Prodigal Son's Mother.

 

Where are you?

 

Where are you?

 

I thought this part of my life was over, I thought we could get back to normal now.

 

Where are you?

 

There's a party going on in there, my husband has killed the fatted calf and is throwing a huge feast, all our family and friends have come, they will be wondering where I am, I'll have to go in soon.

 

Where are you?

 

Today has been a day of great rejoicing, my youngest son has returned home after being gone for a long time.

 

You see he left us to travel and enjoy himself.

 

He left with his share of the property which he would have received when my husband died,  he took it and went.

 

In these parts that meant he was officially dead to us, he had shamed us, he had considered his father dead.

 

It was so painful to watch how he treated us, the arguments, the shouting, the tears.

 

He wanted to go.

 

What could we do? We tried everything to keep him here.

 

We loved him.

 

But he went anyway, off to a distant land.

 

I heard rumours over time of him squandering all the money he had on things which he should have known better, alcohol, women, things which brought shame and guilt.

 

Some People around here stopped talking when we walked by, the shame we had brought to this area by him leaving was too much for them to bear. They whispered behind our backs and pointed when they thought we could not see them.

 

Our friends supported us though, they knew the hurt we were feeling, they knew how we longed for him to come back to us, to return to the safety of our home.

 

Where are you?

 

The whispering got worse when people heard he was feeding pigs, oh the shame - a Jewish boy feeding pigs. Working amongst the unclean, living an unclean life.

 

Doubts started to creep into our minds, painful feelings which kept nagging away at us.

 

Maybe is was better that he had gone? Maybe that was Gods plan for him?

 

But no, God is a God of love, God wouldn't want our son whom we loved wasting his life in this way. No, God would want us to pray for him, God would want us to remember him with love, God would want him to come home and be welcomed back. 

 

Where are you?

 

And so we prayed and prayed and prayed.

 

And today our prayers where answered, my husband was praying outside and scanning the horizon as he has done almost everyday since our son left and in the distance he saw a figure coming towards our house.

 

He came in to get me and we looked together, could it be our son coming home? Could God have answered our prayers? The figure looked to thin and ragged to be our son but there was something in the way he walked which looked familiar.

 

We where done with worrying about the shame we had brought to the neighbourhood now and so my husband set off running in the direction of this figure. Jewish Men don't run I hear you say, well this one does! I have never seen him run so fast and with such purpose. I stayed and stood and watched and prayed. Lord could this be my son, could you have brought him back to us?

 

I saw my husband stop when he came to the figure and throw his arms around him. It was our son, he had returned.

 

I sent our slave out to meet them. If my husband had thrown his arms around him then all would be well, all was forgiven. Our slave came running back looking for our best robe, a ring and sandals and shouting to our other slaves to kill the fatted calf and prepare a feast.

 

My husband and son collapsed in front of me, exhausted and overcome by emotion. Our son was home.

 

The slaves prepared a party and spontaneously started to play instruments and to sing, such was the joy  we all felt.

 

Where are you?

 

Our elder son came home from working the fields and one of our slaves told him his brother had returned, a party was happening, the calf had been killed and a huge feast was about to happen......

I don't know why, but our slave said he got really angry, he refused to come in. My husband went out and pleaded with him. But he wouldn't listen. He was angry that we had thrown a party and killed the fatted calf for someone who had dishonoured us in such a way, who had brought shame upon us, who had gone and lived a life which was not honouring to God.

 

And now, here I am. Back standing outside. Searching for one who is lost.....

 

One who feels abandoned, one who feels that his world has been turned upside down, one who feels alone, one who feels let down, one who is angry, one who is hurting, one who has turned away.

 

One who needs to feel loved, one who needs to feel protected, one who needs to know their purpose in life, one who needs to know the love of their Father.

 

Where are you?

 

Do you know your Father loves you? Do you know your Father protects you, do you know that you are just as important as his other children? Do you know he longs for you to come home to him?

 

Do you know?

 

Where are you?

Friday 1 March 2013

Women’s World Day of Prayer Service

Prepared by women of the French Churches.

Gospel: Matthew 25.31-40

Preacher: Tom Jamieson

 

Au nom du Père, du Fils, et du Saint Esprit, Amen.

 

A French Day at St James’ Park last week,

and a France focus for the Women’s World Day of Prayer this week;

Can’t be bad for such as me and Lyn who love France,

love the French and all things they do especially their cuisine!

 

I’d like to take you this afternoon

into my very limited experience of the French way of faith,

and what we may be inspired by from it in our English context.

 

My experience is not Paris or Lyon or Marseilles, but rural France,

particularly the West where my sister has property

and Lyn and I have stayed a few times.

On a Sunday we don’t seek out the Anglican chaplaincy

because we want to be with the locals, rather than the international set,

in their ordinary and weekly round of worship.

 

And, what, typically, do we find?

 

Well, an ancient church building in a pretty poor state of repair!

And inside that church, at the back,

a bold array of posters encouraging action and fundraising …

for what? For Restoration Projects? NO! NEVER!

For Development projects in Africa;

For Community projects in the inner urban scene;

For the local homeless, jobless, parentless.

It’s really, really striking, in my experience of ordinary French churches,

that it’s matters of justice and peace,

matters of meeting the needs of those who have not,

which predominate in what is displayed,

what is seen as central in the focus and work of the local congregation.

 

So, think of your own church posters; what are they about?

What do they ‘say’ about the priorities of your mission as the people of God?

 

So, Lyn and I have found a pew, and the service begins.

 

Who is doing most of the talking? Who has welcomed us?

Who is leading song, reading psalmody, bidding us to prayer,

and at the end encouraging people to engage with what is going on in the parish?

Almost always a local woman.

And, most of the time sat quietly behind her, a priest.

He will spend a lot of the service in the background, in calm prayerfulness,

stepping forward to lead the few things which only he

in his priestly ministry can lead.

He will give a homily; deep, provocative, with calm authority.

Such a beautiful balance of the lay and the clerical.

 

And how does that compare with our experience of church on Sunday?

 

Who else, then, is around on a Sunday morning in, say,

a larger town such as Poitiers where we have stayed on our way to my sister’s place?

 

We had noticed there, on the Saturday,

rather too many folk sat on pavements with a bowl in front of them,

asking for a few coins, or asking for food for their children.

A little shocking to our British sensibilities.

 

Walking to Mass on the Sunday morning,

they were not to be seen at their accustomed places,

and when we turned into the porch of the church, a very large porch,

we understood why:

 

There were at least six people, or pairs,

quietly expecting a little help from the members of the congregation

as they entered church,

and that help they did indeed receive, together with a few friendly words.

I tried to imagine that scene in the porch right here at Holy Cross,

and, I admit, I could not.

Is that because there are no folk around here

who could do with that kind of practical help and friendly encouragement?

Or is it because of some other reason?

 

“As you did it to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.”

 

Friends, my own experience tells me

that a bit more cultural exchange

with our sisters and brothers in Christ of the French Church,

might do us the world of good.

 

Alors! Vive la France!

 

Et je prie

Que la Parole du Dieu

Parcour

Tous le Monde!

Amen.

Sunday 20 January 2013

Third Sunday of Epiphany

GospelReading: John 2.1-11

Preacher: Jenny Roberts

 

This is a very well known story, and one with which most of us are familiar.  It is the first of Jesus’ public miracles, and seemed to be the trigger which really made his disciples totally believe in him.

 

 If you listened carefully, you will have heard that the jars held 20 or 30 gallons of water in each of the 6 stone water jars kept for ritual purification.  I guess because the guests were already present at the wedding, the jars would have been pretty much emptied. Jesus told the servants to fill the jars up, which they did, to the brim.  Then he told them to draw some of the water out and take it to the Chief Steward who made his famous statement about everyone serving the good wine first and then the inferior wine later after the guests have become drunk.  But you have kept the good wine until now.  I think perhaps there would have been a ‘why?’ in there don’t you? 

 

Let’s look at things from the Chief Steward’s perspective:  I guess in our day, this might be somebody like the Wedding Planner, and I would guess he was not very happy when he realised that the wine was going to run out. I think there might have been a bit of a kerfuffle, and the wedding party hosts would be quite distressed that they were not being very good hosts.  And who is this coming to the rescue?  Mary of course, Jesus’ Mum.  She didn’t make a fuss, just told Jesus “They have no wine”.

 

I don’t think Jesus was best pleased.  “Woman what concern is that to you and to me?  My hour has not yet come.” I have heard it said that one could consider this to be a ‘bit of a domestic’ in the Holy household, and I wonder how you feel about that?  It bears remembering by all of us, that Jesus has such a connection to us because of his humanity, and if you think that his nature cannot be wholly human and wholly divine, this story makes us think again.  We need to be very well aware that Jesus knows all about the human condition, which is why we ask for his intercession when we pray to God.  He really knows what it is like to be human! And he knew all about being a son to his mother, when perhaps he didn’t always feel like it.

 

I wonder whose wedding it was? I wonder if it was a relative of Jesus, and Mary wanted to help out.  Its interesting isn’t it that she knew, that Jesus wouldn’t let her down, when she told the servants to do whatever he told them, she must have known something amazing was going to happen.

But we don’t hear about her again at the wedding do we?  I suspect with that much wine the wedding could go on for several days!!!

 

I wonder what the words ‘good wine’ mean to you?  What is their flavour?

It is interesting to me that the servants did as they were told, but did not tell the steward where the wine had come from, they were obedient to Jesus, but

not reckless.  We are told no more about the fact that this miracle caused the disciples to believe in him, they knew that there could be no rational explanation for water turning to wine, and in such abundance!  Every imbibers dream!  Gallons and gallons of fantastic wine!  No abracadabra, no fuss, just pour out some for the steward.  He must have been aware something special was going on, and even while he was congratulating the bridegroom, he must have guessed that the bridegroom had no idea what had happened.

 

How about us?  Do we serve the ‘best wine’ first, or do we slowly reveal what we have to offer?  What do you think it means to say that Jesus ‘revealed his glory’ here?  I guess what he did was kind of a bit ‘over the top’ wasn’t it?  I wonder if he was just getting himself organised.  He obviously knew the water had turned into wine, but why so much?  We might pray to God when we are kids for a multiplicity of Mars bars, but we don’t get them, probably because they would not be good for us.  So why so much wine?  And such good wine.  Perhaps he was making a point, perhaps to his mum, who we don’t hear about, but also to his disciples, to take away any possible doubts they might have had about his powers if you like. 

 

Do we believe in miracles?  We don’t seem to get a lot to the pound these days, or perhaps its just me.  I find my very human nature coming out in being very impatient just lately.  Within our own church community we have had miracles happen in recent times, but our memories are short; the miracle we ask for hasn’t happened yet, and I find the answer that it isn’t time yet, or looking for another answer just doesn’t cut it any more.  Here I am puny little me, having the nerve to question God.  But of course I have to, I have to because I know he knows me through and through, and he knows I just don't get it when I pray for an outcome and it isn’t getting there, my response is, like the psalmists I suppose, Come on God, why not???  God is indeed mysterious in his ways but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep up the dialogue, and I have to keep praying that his will be done, not mine, even when I with my cheek, think I know what’s right.  He has a lot to put up with. Thank God for Jesus’ humanity, his knowledge of us is so deep.

 

The wedding at Cana became a kind of signpost for Jesus ministry.  It marked the beginning for him, yet I think it was very significant that his mother was present on this occasion, indeed that she almost precipitated his action.  Perhaps the Holy Spirit prompted her to give Jesus a bit of a prod,  encouragement which she must have known in her heart of hearts would ultimately take him from her, to really be ‘about his Father’s business’.

Our Lord Jesus invites us every Sunday to partake of the bread and wine at the communion table, a reminder of his body broken for us and his blood spilt for us.  His sacrifice saves our lives every day, the wine in abundance at the wedding at Cana reminds us of the abundance of life he shares with us in the sharing of the Holy Spirit.

 

I would like to quote a verse from our hymn today:  Jesus come! Surprise our dullness, make us willing to receive more than we can yet imagine, all the best you have to give: let us find your hidden riches, taste your love, believe, and live!   Our ecumenical service yesterday making a joyful noise to the Lord in prayer and praise and worship was balm to my soul, as I think it was to most of us here.  Maybe worshipping and enjoying the presence of Christ is its own reward, Sometimes maybe we are trying a bit too hard. Let his will be done.

 

 Let us not forget this the first of his public miracles, on this second Sunday of Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ as human and divine for our sakes.

 

Amen.

 



Sunday 13 January 2013

Feast of the Baptism of Christ

Gospel Reading: Luke 3.15-17,21-22

Preacher: Tom Jamieson

 

‘When Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”’  Luke 3.21,22

 

I saw three deer in the churchyard on Monday morning after Daily Prayer! It was a wonderful experience and I’ve been waiting for it for a long time. When we first came here, twenty years ago nearly, somebody said to me “We get deer in the churchyard sometimes; I’ve seen three on the top of the motte.” I’ve been looking for them ever since and now I’ve seen them! Wonderful.

 

It was the sound of their canter through the leaves that caught my attention and got me to turn round. They had clearly seen me first and were scarpering. I saw two of the three leaping through the leaves and then down the steep bank they went, out of sight. The other leapt up to the top of the motte with such ease and grace and then turned around, feeling I suppose more secure higher up than myself. She stood and watched me, I her, for quite a while.

 

Sights, sounds, can be so memorable can’t they. They can have such a deep impact upon us, more so than mere words. Though of course very well crafted words can do the same.

 

And so; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In glorious technicolour! In sight, and in sound. See it in your imagination. See Jesus coming up out of the river, dripping wet from head to toe, others also. And then something happens: the light changes; a bird swoops down; then some of them there, how many we don’t know but certainly Jesus and certainly John the Baptist; they heard, they heard the Voice: “You are my Son whom I love; my favour rests on you.” The sight and the sound of God: All of God, we might say: the sight and the sound of the Holy Trinity.

 

So much better than words isn’t it? Goes so much deeper than words ever could. Let’s look at the words that we say in the Nicene Creed proclaiming Jesus as a Person of the Holy Trinity: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father; through him all things were made.” Now, OK, I go with this big time, as you know. But dear me can’t you just tell that it’s some sort of Council of Bishops who have put that together! It’s not God’s idea to describe himself that way; it’s our idea. It’s our attempt at talking about the Holy Trinity, who God is, one God, three persons. And we go further don’t we: “We believe in the Holy Spirit the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified.” Yes, good stuff; but you see it doesn’t do anything like what the picture does for us.

 

Jesus dripping wet, the swooping dove, the Father’s voice, loving his Son. That’s the Holy Trinity whom we may know, and worship, and wonder at, and experience, and be caught up in. So. Let’s see and hear the Holy Trinity. One thing’s for sure: if we seek merely to understand the Holy Trinity, we won’t really get it, at least not very deeply. We need to see God, and hear him, and enter into him. The baptism of Jesus, surely, gives us a way to do that: explore the picture of the baptism of Jesus, the sight and sound of it, and we are perceiving God.

 

Firstly, it shows that God is the God of heaven and earth. Jesus very earthly there: wet, perhaps beginning to shiver a bit, I don’t know what time of year it was but it does get cold in the Jordan valley sometimes. Very physical. And yet along with that the mystery of the bird, and the profound experience of the voice, from heaven opened. So the God of heaven and earth is revealed to us here.

 

And then, the God who is, well, a team player! The God who is not solo, who is not alone and aloof. Rather, the God who is relationship of Love! Who is mutual support and affirmation! The God who expresses synergy [I’m trying to use the kind of language of contemporary context]. That’s what we see in this picture of the Holy Trinity: the sweeping flight of the dove, the profoundly re-assuring words of the voice for the young man. And may we imagine, though it is not written in the Gospel record but certainly would have been so, may we imagine the responsive delight on the face of Jesus as he experienced hearing his Father’s voice from heaven. What would he look like in that moment! Picture it.

 

This is God revealing to us who he really is. What he is like. In sight and sound and memorable moment.

 

As I stood there in the churchyard looking at the one deer remaining, she looking at me, I felt, humbled. I felt connected. And most certainly I felt refreshed.

 

Surely, that can happen, that and much more can happen for us, when we look at the Baptism of Jesus and the flight of the dove; when we listen to the voice from heaven, “You are my Son, the beloved; my favour rests on you.”

 

The picture was for Jesus. But even more so the picture was for us.

 

2013.01.06 Feast of the Epiphany

Gospel Reading: Matthew 2.1-12

Preacher: Tom Jamieson

 

“On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.”

Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 2 and verse 11.

 

Matthew follows his brief record of the Birth and Naming of Jesus with this strange story which we all know so well: the arrival of wise men from the East: “For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”

 

And so this Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord: a festival of the revelation of who Jesus is, to the whole world represented by these travellers from another land, another culture, another religious tradition.

 

St Luke in his Gospel tells us of those nearby, the shepherds of Bethlehem, who find Jesus; St Matthew in his Gospel tells us of those from far away who find Jesus, and recognise in him The Lord: “they knelt down and paid him homage.”

 

And in the year of Our Lord 2013, will there be people, near and far, who find Jesus? Think about that for a moment.

 

We know, we KNOW the answer is, ‘Yes’. In 2013 there will be hundreds of thousands of people who find Jesus, and in a deep sense for the first time as did the shepherds with their short and familiar journey and the wise men with their long and extraordinary journey. Hundreds of thousands of people will find Jesus in 2013. Of that we can be as sure as we are sure that the days of summer will be long.

 

How can I make that claim? Because every year, for a few hundred years, it has been so! And the more so year by year as we come closer to this year. I was reading just this week about a church in one of the provincial cities of Indonesia. Five years ago it had 900 members; a big church! In 2012 it reached over 39,000 members.

One church, in one city, where people are finding Jesus for the first time, and recognising in him The Lord. Extraordinary journeys of faith far away in the East.

 

But what of nearer home, we may ask. In the last twenty years in London, several churches have planted daughter churches for the simple and practical reason that they could no longer accommodate their growing membership in their current premises. The question arises, “shall we move somewhere bigger, or shall we divide like the vigorous cells in a healthy body, and spread ourselves around our district more effectively?” The answer in several cases in London has been, “Let’s divide; let’s plant a new church.” But the real story is that several of those daughter churches have likewise had to divide,

so that the original churches are now grandmother churches! In London, several of those churches are Church of England churches as it happens, such as Holy Trinity Brompton where our Bishop Justin Welby did his maturing in faith and took his first steps in lay leadership in the church.

 

Yes, yes my friends: in 2013 hundreds of thousands of people will find Jesus.

 

For many it will be the short journey, with or without its hurdles mind, from faith inherited from parents or other relatives or from experience with the children’s programme of a church they have connected with at some level; the journey from that ‘inherited’ faith, to ‘owned’ faith: a faith come aflame in their heart and spoken of on their lips and in their lives.

 

For many it will be a much longer journey and from diverse places:

 

From a place of chaos, hurt or despair, dysfunction, rescued into the secure and loving arms of the Prince of Peace, where, over time, perhaps a very long time, a whole new life can tentatively and tenderly grow and eventually, please God, blossom. A long journey.

 

There will be other long journeys: From a place of self-confidence,

success in career and relationships, a place of opportunity and promise, a long journey in search of deeper meaning? Eternal purpose? the means to a way of self-sacrifice: a journey in response to a half forgotten whisper, “Follow me”. That long journey can be a challenging and even a wild one, and certainly wonderful. Finding Jesus as the source of true meaning and the driver of genuine self-giving for the purposes of a greater good.

 

There will be other long journeys to find Jesus:

Journeys away from the blinkering effect of religion: Sometimes Christian, sometimes other traditions. Journeys away from mere rote and recitation, or from fear and discrimination, into the Freedom of knowing Jesus as friend and the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ as ‘my Father’.

 

So, my friends. ALL THIS AND MUCH MORE will be going on in 2013: shepherds and wise men and many women and children will FIND JESUS and, in their hearts, kneel down and pay him homage and bring the gift of their lives.

 

And will we play our part? Let me suggest that the very first part we need to play, the first part, is to believe that this will be happening.

 

Do you? … Do you believe that in 2013 hundreds of thousands of people will find Jesus?

 

It is such an odd question to have to ask in the light of the extraordinary statistics of recent years, but I must ask it because we in Northern Europe, and in our own country we in the North East especially, have over recent decades hunkered down and looked at just the ground of this fabulous picture of the number of the saints marching in, and we haven’t heard the song and we’ve seen only the gravel.

 

The shepherds found Jesus. The wise men found Jesus. No doubt a number of the good women of Bethlehem found Jesus and none of the Gospel writers took the trouble to make a note of it.

 

But you and me, let’s take note. Let’s take note that God is, day by day, adding to the number of those whom he is saving. They are finding Jesus.

 

We have our part to play: First, in believing this and looking forward to this! Then, in receiving those who find Jesus, rejoicing with them,

sharing our knowledge of God with them, giving them space in the life of the Church; not least for their mistakes and for coping with ours. Especially, let us learn from them and from the wonderful gifts they will bring.

 

2012.12.24 Midnight Candlelit Communion

Gospel Reading: Luke 2.1-7

Preacher: Tom Jamieson

 

“Because there was no room for them in the inn.”

 

Shocking to think how many people know how that feels:

People not allowed through border control

at Heathrow or Dover ferry terminal.

Home owners not able to pay their mortgage,

having to forgo and move out.

The young man who feels that back with his parents

is the last place he’d want to be for Christmas

These things go on, a lot.

 

“Because there was no room for them in the inn.”

 

There’s been a handful of really touching stories in the news this evening, From Cornwall and from Stonehaven, of neighbours offering rooms and some kind of a Christmas Day to those whose properties have been flooded out.Rooms in some inns, that’s good.

 

St Luke’s Gospel, chapter 2, verse 7.

“Because there was no room for them in the inn.”

 

Here’s a young couple, on a journey they didn’t want to make but had to, her baby’s due any time, and town’s chocker with visitors already. They end up in a shed for the animals, and, with some help from kindly neighbours we hope, this lass Mary gives birth to her first child on a bed of hay.

 

And this is God’s arrival?

 

“Born in the night, Mary’s child, a long long way from home;

coming in need, Mary’s child, born in a borrowed room.”

 

We do dress up the Christmas story with tinsel don’t we, and we surround it with a warm glow, yet at its heart this is a harsh and shocking situation: Strangers in a town full of strangers, These two are poor, powerless, in desperate need of attention and help, and it’s a cow shed with, please God, some kindly help for the lass through her labour and birthing.

 

In fact, this story has a … contemporary thread. Bit Channel Four really. Not at all East Enders, as it would seem nobody’s that isolated in Albert Square.

 

And this is God’s arrival?

 

I’ll run with that; I’ll go with the idea that God is bothered about the people who are excluded, vulnerable, up against it, pushed around by the system, of little account. I’ll go with the idea that God is bothered enough about those people that he chose to be one of them: He chose to be born of a young woman not yet married to her fiancé, their lives disrupted by the demands of the occupying power, the baby’s future forged in the context of a poor village nobody had heard of. Returning to the TV comparisons, if Bethlehem was Candleford, Nazareth was most definitely Larkrise.

 

“Because there was no room for them in the inn.”

 

It seems to me this ‘heart of Christmas’ gives a value to the vulnerable, the outsiders, the folk who get a raw deal. It gives a value to the small, the seeming insignificant. Indeed it alerts us to the significance of every life lived.

 

And it gives us all an invitation: See the dignity, the value, in every person,

whatever their circumstances. Understand that the God of all the worlds has made a radical identification with them; with each one of them; and with us in our littleness and our vulnerability however well we manage to mask it.

 

“Clear shining light, Mary’s child, your face lights up our way;

light of the world, Mary’s child, dawn on our darkened day.”

 

This Christmas invitation to place value in the lives of those of seeming little account cuts right across the grain of “Celebrity Culture”. Good news indeed,

given that we’re weary of the whole celebrity bandwagon! But if we’re weary, let’s do more than gripe and groan! Let’s be sure to do what the Eternal Word Made Flesh did: Get down to it; get involved; come alongside and walk the walk

with someone or some situation where there is need or hurt or a sense that it’s all overwhelming.

 

Likely, we will find God there, up ahead of us. And in our engagement, we will find transformation, and a blessing more than we can know.

Sunday 23.12.2012 Fourth Sunday in Advent

Gospel Reading: Luke 1.39-55

Preacher: Jenny Roberts

 

Nearly there! Only two days to go! Everybody ready?

Anybody here travelled far?

 

Not a brilliant link but studying this for today, I wondered “How far did Mary walk?” If you recall from the reading, this just follows on from the Annunciation when Mary has been told she has been chosen to be Jesus’ mother, and at the same time that her cousin Elizabeth is pregnant, who had been thought to be barren. Mary goes ‘with haste’ to a Judean town In the hill country. The town is not named, but going from Nazareth to Judea at all was quite a journey – around 140 km as the crow flies according to my measurement of the map in my bible, which is roughly 86 miles. This was a pretty fair hike when the only form of transport was a cart or walking. Maybe her haste was caused because she was able to travel with a group?

 

I wonder why she shot off like that? I have been thinking about it and I wonder if it was partly to check out what Gabriel told her, that Elizabeth was pregnant. Indeed in many accounts scholars believe that Elizabeth’s baby was born at the end of the three months that Mary spent with her. Mary knew

in her heart what the Angel had told her was true, and her greeting from Elizabeth precipitated her own song of praise and celebration. I love this poem, don’t you? Our bibles are full of the most beautiful words and these

come to us fresh and new every time we hear them, and Mary’s magnificat is one such lovely poem.

 

I looked up the word blessed too in my dictionary – we use it quite often but it bears checking out sometimes what words mean. Blessed means favoured, but also means consecrated and this may also colour our understanding and hearing of this reading. The fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord, which Elizabeth is quoted as saying to Mary is obviously that Mary is to bear

God’s son, she is indeed to be the mother of the messiah. It almost seems as

If Elizabeth is seeking to reassure her doesn’t it?

 

Picture the scene, Mary arrives at her cousin’s house, travelworn, dusty and tired. She greets Elizabeth warmly, and her warmth of greeting is reflected back in Elizabeth’s delight and declaration fueled by the Holy Spirit, when she also felt the child in her own womb leap with joy. Well, mothers, remember when you were pregnant? Remember those times when your baby seemed to spin around? I remember particularly with my eldest son, I used to think

he was skipping! But this was a bit more I think, even than that familiar

sensation of pregnancy, Elizabeth’s declaration “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’

 

The magnificat that follows is beautiful, and I wonder which line in Mary’s song evokes the most powerful emotional response? For me I guess it is the line ‘for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.’ Mary was just an ordinary girl, who became extraordinary through God’s choice of her

to be the mother of our Lord; she had to learn to be strong, tough, willing to go

against the crowd.   Joseph himself sought at first to dissolve their betrothal. God’s intervention was needed for him to accept the divine truth. But that was all ahead of her in this little snapshot. Mary, perhaps scared and anxious runs away almost from her home town to see her cousin – almost as far away as she could get, to find that her cousin knew all about what had happened to her, because she too had in her barrenness become pregnant with John who was to prepare the way for Mary’s son, who came to save the world.

 

I have also brought to show you a picture of Elizabeth and Mary with both their boys, Jesus and John, which I think shows the closeness of the cousins’ relationship; it seems they were more like sisters, and having a big sister myself I can buy into that feeling. Do look at it on your way to communion.

 

Mary’s song praises God. How big a feature of your life is praise? As I get older I find more and more of my prayer life is directed by praise, it seems to open my heart up ready to receive almost a reflected blessing when I begin with praise. I think sometimes our prayers may almost become selfish, not for ourselves (we think), but for others. We get an attack of what I call the “Gimmes” Gimme healing for this person, that person, gimme a good job for my son, my husband, my friend, gimme help to keep on when things are falling down around me! Gimme, gimme, gimme. How daft is that? God knows what we need, he knows what those we love need, he knows we need to be whole. And where do we begin to turn around? In the first instance we say sorry to God, and really mean it. Then comes the turn round, the new creation. And in praise of our Lord at that new creation. Blessing his holy name, worshipping his omniscience. He doesn’t need our praise, but we do need to praise him, for in that praise, the Holy Spirit lifts us, inspires us, heals and warms us to each other and all mankind

 

Mary’s song describes God’s activity in the world, and I wonder if our priorities as people of God reflect the priorities God’s actions in Mary’s song have? Perhaps we need to pick up the phone and talk to somene we have had in our thoughts this Christmas season, or indeed visit over the holiday. Have we always been as charitable as we should be? Have we responded to the call to ‘fill the hungry with good things’? How often have we sent the rich away empty? Goes against our hospitality streak I guess, but perhaps we need to think about it.

 

We get a lot of emails, but one I got yesterday I think worth passing on is a simple one minute video. It shows an elderly man sitting on a folded blanket at the foot of some steps on a city thoroughfare. A cardboard sign is in front of him with the words “I am blind, please help”. Passers-by pause now and again and toss a coin into an empty can.he has beside the sign. A young woman passes, then walks back and picks up the sign. She does something with it. Suddenly many people begin dropping more and more coins into the man’s can. And on the ground in front of him.   He hears the girl’s footsteps come back: “What did you do with the sign?” he asks“I just changed the words” she says. The sign now reads “It’s a beautiful day, and I can’t see it”. The email is called “The power of words” Let’s remember

that we have the power of The Word, who was made flesh which we celebrate in two days time, and that Word saved the world. Amen

 

Sunday 09.12.2012 Second Sunday of Advent

Gospel Reading Luke 3.1-6

Preacher, Debbie Laughran, Ordinand at Cranmer Hall

 

Let's pause and pray together. We thank you so much God for your word and the way it speaks so directly into our lives and we pray this morning that you would speak to each of our hearts. Come Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

I'd like to start by taking you back almost 2000 years to a place very different to Ryton.

 

It was the start of another hot sunny day, told you it was different to here...

 

The wilderness was as quiet as usual and John was tucking into his breakfast of locusts and wild honey, he loved this time of day, the sun rising in the east and the stillness before he had to move on to find more water and a place of safety to rest tonight.

 

It wasn't easy living in the wilderness, the land was dry and barren and water was scarce and the animals well they were more than a bit wild!

 

So why did he stay here, why didn't he just go back to where he was born and live with his parents - well firstly he was almost 30 and going back home to mum and dad well would that work? - Elizabeth was very much a tidiness and orderliness person mmm and secondly well he quite liked being on his own out here with God as his only companion.

 

He spent a lot of his day praying and listening to God and it made him feel alive.

 

He was used to God interrupting his thoughts and crashing into his dreams and so when his breakfast was interrupted he wasn't overly surprised or worried.

 

It's time to go now John he heard God say.

 

Ok I'll just finish this mouthful and then we are off he replied thinking God was a bit organised this morning he wasn't usually on a tight deadline.

 

That was easy said God, John looked puzzled, what was easy?

Getting you to go - well we always move of a morning said John

Ah said God, you didn't understand then? I thought it was a little easy....

I mean ITS TIME TO GO

go where?

Now your listening.....

 

Remember Isaiah?

Yes, he's my favourite prophet

That's good, it might help - remember the bit where he talks about The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: prepare the way of The Lord, make his paths straight.?

Oh yes, I love that bit - Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways be made smooth;

YES YES you've got it, well that's YOU!

Come again

That's YOU

What's me?

The voice crying in the wilderness.

What?

It's time to go. I want you to Go into all the region around the Jordan and proclaim a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

What are you serious?

Oh yes John I am very serious....now Go

 

Gee Thanks God.

 

Luke portrays this calling of John very much as a matter of fact, God called and John went. Is that really how things happen? Or was it because John had many years of preparation in a relationship with God that he was ready to go?

 

Advent is the start of a new Church year, it used to surprise me that the church year didn't start with the birth of Jesus, I mean that's the new beginning surely.. Well yes it is but in order to be a part of such an amazing event, we must first prepare.

 

You wouldn't go out and buy a turkey without making sure the oven was big enough for it would you, or maybe you would. What about the Christmas tree I'm sure no one here has ever bought a tree and then found it wouldn't fit in the house - oh sorry, I'm guilty of that one - more than once!

 

Well God doesn't want us to get to Christmas Day and not be prepared to receive His Son with the joy, love, awe and wonder which He deserves and so He gives us advent.

 

So how do we use advent? Well generally I guess we are running around buying Christmas presents making sure Uncle Jimmy has his favourite cheese and Aunty Mary her favourite chocolate and cousin Kate a new pair of earrings. Then I guess some of the more organised amongst us have their Christmas cake underway, their mincemeat for their mince pies bought and the baking tray for the turkey which will definitely fit into the oven at the ready – advent – the preparation time given to us before Christmas is being well and truly crammed full of preparations for Christmas Day itself.

 

But that is only one aspect of Christmas and it is an important aspect, God does not want us to not buy Uncle Jimmy his cheese, but he does want us to also prepare ourselves to receive Him.

 

How do we do that?

 

Well the Philippians passage we heard earlier holds some of the answers I like Eugene Peterson’s translation in The message

Paul says

So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

We can begin to prepare to receive Christ by Living in Love, love of self, of others and of God – making Jesus attractive to all and being involved in and getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. But we must also take note of the 5th word in this passage - prayer.. None of these things are possible without a relationship with God and this relationship is not possible without prayer.

There is something else though, something that we really should look at carefully and that is the last half of the last sentence in our reading from Luke today

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God!

John was not just preparing the people of His time for Jesus to walk down their streets although that was the immediate fulfilment of this prophecy, nor is advent just a time of preparation for the birth of a baby although that is what we remember next in the churches calendar.

The word ALL in that sentence means the people living when John lived, all who lived before him and all who live after him - and get this - that means you and me!

All flesh shall SEE the salvation of God.

Jesus is coming again and It will not necessarily be on the 25th December in nice orderly timing for which we can prepare, it may be in another 2000 years, it may be in 50 years, it may be tomorrow, it may be today.

 

So What is it that God is asking you to do in order to be prepared for the day when ALL flesh shall SEE the salvation of God?

Does he want you to go and chat with mrs jones down the street who doesn't get any visitors, does he want you to buy an extra tin of food for a food bank project, is He asking you to take up a role in the church or in the community or indeed to step down from something which you are finding hard to continue? Is he calling you to love those who you find it difficult to love? Or does He want you to come into a prayerful relationship with Him?

 

God does not ask you to do something you cannot do, John felt ill equipped I'm sure, and certainly out of his comfort zone, but God stayed with him, God remains faithful, God equips - so if you know that God is asking you to do something to prepare for His coming this advent, don't be afraid, hold tight to His hand and step out in faith - you will be surprised at how much you can do in Him who calls, equips, upholds and loves you.

 

Amen

Sunday 22.04.2012 Third Sunday of Easter.

New Testament Reading: First Letter of John 3.1-7

Address by Tom Jamieson

 

Two firsts for me yesterday!

I changed a washer in an overflowing cistern, and I cut some glazing to size for greenhouse repairs. So nervous I was about cutting glass that the first piece I cut three inches short; well, 6,9, when the tape measure is upside down to you, what’s the difference? Nevertheless, I was pretty chuffed about two new thresholds crossed into DIY.

 

And here’s the thing:

I thought to myself, ‘Me Dad would be proud’. Amazing thing that: 58 years old and 36 of them since my father died yet there’s that thought: ‘Me Dad would be proud.’

 

I sometimes wonder whether that kind of thought occurs for me because I spent LESS time with him than might have been: Parents separated and living in different countries,

and the four of us growing siblings to-ing and fro-ing between two homes, two worlds.

Perhaps, come to think of it, I’d have learnt to change washers and cut glass long before now if I HAD lived more years with him; or is it that I learnt a lot of DIY living with my mother as my attempt to step up into the vacant Male role in the household in England? Who knows.

 

See what love the Father has given us,

that we should be called children of God;

and that is what we are.

The First Letter of John 3.1.

 

Our identity in terms of who has formed and nurtured us is a profound thing. It is, in fact, a matter of identity, because if we had been removed from that relationship of formation and nurture we would have a different identity. Some aspects of our being would be just the same, yes, and yet the way it all fits together in personality, perception, abilities and strengths would be very different indeed.

 

It is more subtle still:

for people can live under the same roof and have very little of a relationship of formation and nurture, and people like my Dad and me can have lived in different countries and have a profound relationship out of which formation and nurture continues to mature long after the relationship is severed. To use the jargon, it is emotional presence, or absence, which matters so much. On my cheek I still feel the kiss of my father’s lips, each time we parted at Geneva Airport.

 

See what love the Father has given us,

that we should be called children of God;

and that is what we are.

 

Saint John is teaching us something very specific, very particular here; more so than we generally observe. We too easily revert to reading it in terms of the noble and yet flawed expression, “After all, we are all God’s children, aren’t we.” Sorry, but “No”.

 

Yes in a merely figurative sense, such as in that line in the desiterata, “You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.” But NO in the sense in which I have been speaking of fatherhood and sonship and formation and nurture. Very evidently, we are NOT all God’s children in that specific and particular sense.

 

The good news is that we CAN BECOME SO. We can become so. And the result of that adoption into a relationship of formation and nurture is nothing less than a change of identity, and a growth into a whole new set of abilities.

 

How good to be considering this deep truth of the Gospel in the Easter Season as it was this same John who, on the first Easter Day, heard the message of Mary Magdalene from the Risen Lord Jesus:

 

“Go to my brothers and say to them,

‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

 

John would have heard the import of that message: Jesus had never before called his disciples ‘my brothers’. And while he had often spoken of God as ‘My Father’ there is this new dimension of ‘My Father and your Father’.

 

John understood on Easter Day that the dying and rising of his Lord Jesus established a new relationship. Established a new relationship: between Almighty God the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and those who choose to belong to Christ: Those who so choose are ADOPTED INTO the relationship between the Father and the Son. That is what John is writing about in these words:

 

See what love the Father has given us,

that we should be called children of God;

and that is what we are.

 

Those who choose to belong to Christ are, by the fabulous virtue of his death and resurrection, and not by their own virtue, adopted into the family of God. So that God is “My Father and your Father” as truly as Jesus is our older brother. That is the heart of the new identity for Christian believers.

 

Now. We’ve been exploring how this relational identity really does depend upon ‘emotional presence’ before it bears its fruit in terms of formation and character. In the case of our relationship with God, surely we need to consider the ‘emotional presence’ in both directions: Yes, we can trust in the emotional presence – the unconditional loving – of the Father of Jesus for all of the friends of Jesus; this is the promise of the Gospel. But we do need to attend to our emotional presence to God. This is a matter of our choice and our desire, indeed of our obedience. As we open to that, well, we open ourselves to the experience which David Watson described as “the kiss of God” – the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 

Identity, and also Ability. The nurture in this relationship, the formation it achieves in us, Enables! To quote the popular song, “You raise me up to more than I can be”. I’ve challenged the popular saying, “After all, we are all God’s children”; let me challenge another one. “After all, we’re only human.” For Christian believers, emotionally present to God as Father, such a saying no longer applies!

 

‘See what love the Father has given us,

that we should be called children of God;

and that is what we are.’

 

Now it is a case of Jesus’ words: “All things are possible for those who believe.”

 

Let us my friends step up to our new identity. Let us gain experience with the abilities which are enabled by our identity in God, and do God’s DIY in the world in all the ways he invites us to. Let us live as children of God, ‘For that is what we are’.

 

Jenny Roberts’ sermon Sunday 4March 2012

Mark 8.31-end

 

‘Tough Talk’

We are parachuted in to the middle of Mark’s gospel where we are witnesses to a very tough exchange between Peter and Jesus. Earlier Jesus has congratulated Peter on recognising Jesus as the Messiah, yet here he seems almost to ‘turn on’ Peter and tells him he is Satan, because Peter doesn’t want to hear Jesus’ prediction of his passion and death. (I do not think Peter even hears Jesus talking about his rising after three days). Peter’s horror at the thought of Jesus suffering and dying is almost tangible. He has been part of the disciple ‘team’ since the beginning of his ministry two and a half years ago, he has seen Jesus and the disciples perform healing miracles, miracles of feeding thousands of people with next to nothing, and changing the mind-set of thousands of people with the sermon on the mount. And now he is talking about suffering and dying?? How can this be?

 

Jesus is in a decisive point in his ministry; it is vitally important to him that his disciples understand what is about to happen to him. This is no place for sissies. He lays it on the line.

 

As disciples we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus from v. 13. This is a tri-partite command. We may wish it was not so demanding but – it is. All three parts need to be interpreted. It involves words, but people also need actual living examples of self-denial, cross-carrying and following. At the time these words were spoken, Jesus hearers would know very well what cross-carrying referred to. It was the chosen mode of execution of Rome. In truth ‘dead man walking’ did refer to the criminal who carried the instrument of his own death – the cross piece- to the place of execution, where he was nailed to the cross piece and propped up to die a slow agonizing death. His audience would have gotten that reference. What about self-denial? As we are now in Lent some of you might think it refers to the ascetics of ‘giving up’ something for Lent, chocolate, sweet treats, whatever. This is not, however, what I believe Jesus was talking about. He was talking about putting Christ where we would normally put ‘self’ or ‘me’.   Denying self, is an integral part of being a Christian disciple, and we are not always very good at it.

 

Do you recall the advert. on television at the moment for a variety of beauty products, which ends with the strap-line – because you’re worth it? It really creeps me out, and I couldn’t figure out why until I was getting this prepared. Nothing is worth more than Jesus to me. This may seem harsh, but I do honestly believe it to be true. I have a loving family, a fine husband, two lovely sons, a beloved daughter-in-law and grandchildren, and loving brothers and sister, and a wide circle of beloved friends. But, all of these could be taken away from me in the twinkling of an eye. Nobody, neither angels nor archangels, nor anything on heaven or on earth, can take Jesus from me. He promised, and I believe him, that if I follow him faithfully, he will never leave me. For me, he went through rejection, suffering and a horrible death, his triumph in rising from death on the third day, becomes my triumph, my promise of eternal life at the end of my earthly life because I have done my best to be the follower he asked me to be, when I responded to his call to become Christian. We can boast of nothing but the Lordship of Christ in our lives. If we put him where we would put ‘self’, then everything falls into place. If we acknowledge that all we have, and all we are belong to him, then we do not have to worry about giving to charity – its not ours anyway, so why fuss about it? As Christians we want to be good stewards of our world, we want to leave the best of the world to our descendents, so we recycle, re-use and conserve what we can. We have a duty to do this for the sake of our God-given world.

 

Jesus goes on to discuss the condition of being ‘ashamed’ in verse 38. He is quite blunt in saying that anyone who is ashamed of him, he will be ashamed of them when he comes in the glory of his Father and the holy angels. Shame has been the subject of a great deal of interest in the last 20 years or so. It is still a concept we are not very clear about. It is to do with morality I think, but it is also deeply spiritual. Being ashamed cuts to the heart of us, and in modern times is deeply hurtful.

 

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a programme, I think Question Time, where a member of the

audience was asked about his response to the wave of redundancies which has followed on our government’s austerity package in this country. The man could barely speak, and with tears in his eyes told how he had been made redundant after thirty years faithful service, and how he felt ‘ashamed’ of losing his job. In this instance, I do believe this was to that person, a ‘spiritual’ attack, an attack on his sense of self-worth, an undermining of himself as a person. As Christians I do believe that we have an obligation to be supportive and encouraging of those of our friends and family and within our own community who have been put in this terrible situation. Being ‘ashamed’ of not working through no fault of our own is not what Jesus was talking about.

 

Being ‘ashamed’ of Jesus cannot be countenanced and is altogether different. Conversely, being proud of being a Christian, is not something that immediately springs to mind in today’s world. We do not like to stick our heads above the parapet, and prefer to keep a low profile, almost sneakily doing good works. Yet when we are open about being Christian, and when friends are going through a bad time, we ask almost hesitatingly if we can ‘pray’ for them, almost universally the response to us is positive and grateful. Why are we so reticent? I think culturally it is about not wanting to stand out from the crowd, being different. But we are different. We are different because Jesus invites us to be different and because we respond with a ‘yes’ to that invitation our lives are dramatically changed. Dead to our old self, denying our ‘self’ and putting Jesus first, is not an easy option. As I said earlier on, this is no place for sissies.

 

What will it profit us to save our lives as they are, but ultimately lose them in eternity because we do not allow Jesus Lordship of our lives? Is today’s tawdry materialism worth tomorrow’s Heaven? Do we want to live now, pay later? Answer in your own time, but remember tomorrow could be our last day – are we prepared to follow Jesus? Or do we deny him subtly, when we do not speak up for the unemployed, the disenfranchised, the poor, the sick, the needy? Lent is a time to re-order our priorities, we need to be very clear about who we are, and at what point we are in in our Christian journey.

 

Sacrifice is not a word we include in our vocabulary very often. Is it because we know that

sacrifice has been ‘done’ for us? That Jesus sacrificed himself, therefore we do not need to

do anything else? I don’t think so. Jesus gave himself up for us to save us. For what? For a purpose. To live our lives for him, to do justice, live wisely, be kind to one another. In our Lent group last week, the quotation came from Micah and was all about sacrifice, and the last verse reads as follows:

“What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

 

I do not think we can go far wrong if we follow those words. Amen.

Sunday 19 February 2012 Sunday next before Lent

Tom Jamieson’s sermon, Bible Readings: 2Kings2.1-15, Mark9.2-9

 

“Please let me have a double share of your spirit” 2 Kings 2.9.

 

SYNERGY.

One of those technical terms which is making its way into common parlance. I like it, because of the promise of what it means: synergy - the combined effect of a number of agents, or people, being greater than the sum of their effect individually.

At a basic level it works with vitamins and nutrients in our bodies all the time.

But let me suggest an example of synergy from current political landscape.

Speaking as a Scot who has lived in England most of his life, let me suggest that the contribution which Great Britain has made on the world stage, is greater than the sum of what Scotland, and Wales, and England, and Northern Ireland, if they were separate independent nations, would have made and are making on the world stage.

 

I am sorely tempted to abandon a sermon and beat my unionist drum but I must resist! Nonetheless, there’s an example of SYNERGY: a small family of smallish nations who TOGETHER have impacted the world – sometimes sadly for ill, much more often for good – way beyond what their size and individual influence might suggest.

 

Jesus understood synergy.

He sent out his trainee missioners in pairs.

He gave an enormous amount of time and energy to forming a cohort of Twelve. Within those twelve he, several times, opened up a new insight for three of them as a group: Peter, James, John; They he chose to see his glory on the mountain. No doubt there would be a really focussed buzz among them as together they reflected on the meaning of the Master, both while he was with them and all the more after he had gone.

 

The Christian Gospel makes the extraordinary claim that God is synergistic; words of Jesus in St John’s Gospel: ‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Father; Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.’

 

More! The Gospel calls us into God’s own holy synergy. Again, Jesus in St John’s Gospel: ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them’.

 

And the young man Elisha blurted out his request to his master and mentor:

“Please let me have a double share of your spirit.”

“Please let me have a double share of your spirit.”

 

I love it in the story as we heard it in the Second Book of Kings, how Elisha tests out whether his request has been granted: “He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he had struck the water, the water parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.”

 

Yes, there had been a synergy operating in the partnership of these two prophetic rebels of Israel, Elijah the Man of God and his young apprentice Elisha. And it’s better still! The synergy bears fruit as an extraordinary gifting upon the young man, after Elijah is taken in the whirlwind to heaven; taken by the ‘swing low, sweet chariot, comin for to carry me home.’

 

“Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.”

 

And what of me and of you.

 

In our endeavour to live the Way of God, are we solo, or synergistic?

 

There’s room for both, certainly. For those like me who are essentially introvert in the technical sense of the word, there is always a strong desire to think it through alone; pray it through alone, and then go it alone too. Indeed historically in the Church of England the image of the Parson – the godly person – exercising the ministry which the parishioners received with appropriate deference – that image of solo agency for God is still very much in community consciousness. But how I rejoice that in terms of the ministry of this parish, there is synergy sprouting everywhere like bunches of snowdrops!

 

I confess that in the recent past I was too long without a spiritual director. In terms of my personal walk with God I was going it solo. I am grateful to Lyn for prompting me occasionally through that time: “Tom, when are you going to arrange some soul friendship?” Since the summer I have. I meet with two guys every couple of months and we share our stories – and our failures – pray for one another, and provoke each other to focussed following of Jesus. Wow is it doing me good! I know that there will be synergy consequences.

 

I’m so glad that there are two or three informal prayer partnerships among our church members. Such things are enabling more than we can imagine. They may be long-term or for a season which naturally concludes; nonetheless of great value in the purposes of God. A good number have signed up for the Churches Together Lent Discussion Groups; another opportunity for energising one another at a deeper level. And not only explicitly ‘spiritual’ gatherings do that. How about our Craft Group? What delightful creativity they come up with, and what a buzz they have when they’re together!

 

Never mind the ‘organised’ partnerships we value in the life of church; cultivating an effective synergy for God among us might be quite simple: A habit of holy conversation. We so easily talk about the weather, don’t we. How about we find our way to talking of God, of his goodness, of what we feel he is doing in our lives and in the world. Some godly conversation. Much more interesting than the weather surely. But more than that will be happening: we’ll be opening the way for God to do among us what he did for Elisha: we’ll be opening the way for outpouring of the Spirit; for us to be caught up into the synergy of God.

Sunday 5 February 2012

Jenny Roberts' sermon on the Gospel reading: Mark 1.29-39

 

Prayer – Vocation and Mission

 

This week’s passage is about healing and prayer. But the questions of power and authority are never far from the surface.

 

In the first verse, ‘as soon as’ is quoted. This is fast paced, hurrying along, synagogue, home, sickness, healing, service: breathless. I always feel a bit sorry for Simon’s mum-in- law. Just got up from a fever, yes, healed miraculously, but no time to bathe, or recuperate, no, straight away, she begins to serve Jesus and Simon and the other disciples. Wow!

I wonder what this is telling us? Does it mean “normal service is resumed”. Is this what

Jesus does?? I’m not sure – it kind of seems ‘abnormal service’ to me, it seems to me

he questions the ‘normal’ and gives Simon’s mum-in-law in her healing more than normal health and well-being. She becomes ‘super-woman’ up and doing much more than perhaps previously. Touched by Jesus, isn’t this what we hope would happen to us? Wouldn’t this be in itself an amazing witness to the disciples, friends, family and neighbours?

 

In v. 33 ‘The whole city’ is mentioned. Again we have a crowd scene. But this time, the demons do not speak (if you remember last week, the demon possessed man recognised

Jesus and identified him as “the Holy One of God”.) This is too soon for Jesus, and it is within his power that he is able to silence them. The plot thickens.   This is amazing, enormous, spiritual power. However, if we remember Christ’s promise to us, we too can tap into this

amazing spiritual power. He promised us that he would be with us always, to the end of

the age. How often do we call on that power? How can we tap into that power that changes

lives, makes us more than who we are? The clue comes in the next verse.

 

Verse 35 ‘In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed’ Well come on, what else would you do after a day’s healing and coping with demons? Could it be that Jesus needed this withdrawal? He needed

to ‘re-charge’ his batteries. He needed to spend time with his Father God. He is galloping

along, well aware that his time is limited, so much to do, so little time to do it in. He needs

some ‘me with my dad’ time, perhaps to marshall his thoughts, plan his strategies, consult

with his Father and align himself with his will.

 

I wonder what his deserted place was like? I have a mental image of a bare secluded dip

In a hillside, quiet in the darkness just before dawn, Jesus prostrate, looking up at the stars

talking to his Father. How about you, where is your ‘deserted place’? For many of us in

this 21^st century, deserted places are not so easy to come by. Probably for you and I, the deserted place, could be just a room with a closed door, where we can be quiet, and reflective for a while, where we too can have some ‘me and Jesus time’ calming from the hustle and

bustle of everyday life, listening for his instructions – where do I go from here? Sometimes

in our lives we come across ‘deserted places’ unexpectedly – out walking in the country yes,

but sometimes they can be quiet places in church corners or cathedrals, where we can sense

the presence of God. We sometimes call these ‘thin’ places, places where there only seems

like the thickness of a fine membrane between us and God, Jesus and heaven itself.

 

When you have experienced them you do not forget them – sometimes we experience physical sensations – a shiver, hairs up on the back of your neck, a sudden joyful lurch of the heart, a mental ‘drenching’ when we suddenly have a conviction of what to do next. In my parents’ time, I think what they called ‘someone walking over my grave’ was the nearest they got to describing this peculiar sensation.

 

God, Jesus speaks to us, not necessarily in vocal words but in a sense of vocation, an idea of the ‘send’ as well as the ‘call’ of vocation.

 

Whatever that deserted place was, the prayer time he spent there did the trick. Even though

he was interrupted by Simon and his companions hunting for him, he is ready and able to

proceed. Now he says ‘Let us go on to the neighbouring towns’ in v. 28. The energy level is back. The missionary passion is there. But notice that before, or at least alongside, mission comes vocation. ‘that is what I came out to do”. Most of you will know that I, along with all of us here rely heavily on prayer in our daily lives. That doesn’t mean that I sneak off to deserted places all the time, but I do know when I need to spend time with God and Jesus. I am confident that when I need to, I can send up an ‘arrow’ prayer in a particular situation. But I do need, before I prepare for what God is calling me to do, to take time out, and pray for strength and the Holy Spirit’s blessing and support. I know if I don’t, I’ll mess up.

I might mess up anyway – if I do its because I am fallible, I get in the way, or I get my wires

crossed – blame me, not the Holy Spirit!

 

What is it that prayer is about?

Recognising a need, reconnecting with vocation, hearing the ‘call’ and responding to the ‘send’.

 

Here in Holy Cross I wonder what our ‘call’ is? How does it connect to our ‘send’?

 

Maybe I’ll leave us with that thought for all of us to ponder during this coming week. Amen.