Saturday 23 October 2010

Sermon for Sunday 24th October 2010 – Bible Sunday – Luke 4: 16-24 and Romans 15:1-6, Kim

(Remove all Bibles from the pews. Remove the choir from the choir stalls.)

Why are we removing the bibles? We don’t need them? If anyone has brought their own bible with them, you need to hand that over too! We are having a NO Bible Sunday.

What do you think to the idea of a NO Bible Sunday? Put your hands up if you think ‘It’s a terrible idea!’ ‘How could our church have a Sunday without the Bible?’

That’s the point.
- Without the Bible it would be difficult to worship God not just because the Bible shows us what God is like but also because most of our songs are based on Scripture. So no need for a choir then!
- There is no other book that can speak more powerfully into our lives than the Bible. So it would be very difficult to hear from God.
- Without the Bible it would be difficult to learn much about God or about our purpose in being in this world, and even more difficult to know whether what anyone else says about God is true.

For many people, No Bible Sunday or any other day is a choice they make, they have access to one but it stays in the cupboard or on the shelf. They don’t need it in their lives! They have it all worked out. It’s just another book - we’ll get round to reading it one day! There are other people though who through ignorance, indifference, or their own religious beliefs, many outside the church choose never to read the Bible. But for hundreds of millions of people there is no choice. Through barriers of language, illiteracy, educational needs or religious persecution they have no access to the Bible.

Do you have a Bible? How often do you read yours? Daily? Weekly? Have your children, grandchildren seen you reading yours?

We are fortunate that we have the privilege to hear and read the Good News not only in our own language but also in the comfort of knowing that we can do this freely – in the open – with no risk of arrest or imprisonment. If we have a problem, we can ask and receive help. But are we really interested in hearing and reading what God wants to say to us?

In the Gospel passage today we hear what God’s message is about. It was a statement made by Jesus in the synagogue and was as controversial then as it is now. He was telling everyone that He has come to restore what has been lost. To put things back where they belong! On one level, Jesus is insisting that those who want to follow Him should give back what they have taken dishonestly, and redistribute wealth so that those living in poverty can be ‘released’ from the economic ‘chains’ which bind them. On another level, He is making the point that He wants to bring release to those who are feeling isolated because of emotional hurts and physical problems. He wants to bring FREEDOM. Most importantly, He wants to restore a relationship that has been lost, the relationship between ourselves and God the Father.

If I were to blindfold someone and ask them to go and make me a cup of tea, they would not be able to do it. They can’t see – they need help – someone to guide them – issue instructions on where to walk, when to go upstairs, where the kettle is etc. It’s the same with the Bible. Without it we cannot know how God wants to set us and our communities free to be the people He wants us to be. We cannot know of the love and mercy of God for ourselves and others. We cannot find out how we are to live our lives. We cannot know how to be to those around us.

Those who have translated the Bible have done us an incredible service and have helped to look for ways for people to understand it. By translating it into our own language they removed one the hindrances to finding freedom. Freedom from fear, pain and addiction, to finding forgiveness, to finding that we are loved, to finding courage to face the future, peace of mind, liberating us from the tyranny of sin and death so that we are free to enjoy eternal life with God. But if we don’t read the Bible and if we who know of God’s love and mercy do not extend that information to others, then we are poorer for it and, worse still, guilty of withholding the most precious gifts of God from the very people who need them.

I have had days when reading the Bible I would skip reading the passage for the day because I knew the story. The familiar ones, which get repeated every year; the author might be different but the story is almost the same. Then, one day it dawned on me that I was missing God’s opportunity to speak to me and for me to hear what He was trying to say to me. The more times I read the same passage, the more I got out of it, and more often than not something different each time. Each time something unexpected was heard, something unfamiliar. Suddenly, a word or two would leap off the page and hit me in a new way and lead me to an encounter with God and on a journey I never thought possible. When that happens, in that split second, the living God who breathes through the words of scripture is there with us in that moment and the scriptures are fulfilled in our hearing. But it doesn’t happen if the Bible stays on the shelf or sits in the cupboard or along side the TV Guide.

Today is Bible Sunday, a day when we recognise the importance of the word of scripture in defining who we are as a community of faith. Today, like Paul writing to the Romans, we acknowledge that this collection of writings that we know as the Bible, written over 2000 years ago is for our instruction, our encouragement and to give us a sure hope. Yet we also know the sorrowful truth that those words around which we are called to gather are too often a source of division; words of hope and encouragement are too easily used to judge and condemn; the good news of Jesus Christ can too readily become the bad news or human ego and human defensiveness.

The Bible has nothing to do with moral high ground – it has everything to do with the living God whose word is spoken through the scriptures. I believe that when you take the scriptures and you read them regularly and pray them passionately you find that what you get is not certainty but possibility; what you get is not always answers but questions that leave you longing for more; what you get is not definite direction but a compelling call to go deeper into the mystery of this always new and every surprising God; what you get is not grounds for self-justification but the reality of a God who embraces our human vulnerability and sinfulness and who in living, dying and rising opening the door to life in all its fullness.

Today and everyday we are called to follow the pattern of the living Word, as we enter with Jesus Christ into his dying and rising. Today and everyday we are called to read and pray so that the word of God will become so familiar that the ears of our hearts may be tuned to listen for the unfamiliar and the unexpected and to the possibilities this God of life and love longs to offer to all of us, you and me alike. There will of course be days when the words of scripture will stay fixed and lifeless on the page; when there’s no sign of movement. We will too experience times when the light of dawn seems far away and the night seems endless. But as we journey each day with the dying and rising with Christ, we will be able to keep believing, keep the scriptures being fulfilled in our hearing – for it is the reality of the living God who dwells amongst us in the Word made flesh – that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.

They lie on the table side by side, The Holy Bible and the TV Guide.
One is well worn and cherished with pride.
Not the Bible, but the TV Guide.
One is used daily to help folk decide.
No, not the Bible, but the TV Guide.
As the pages are turned, what shall they see?
Oh, what does it matter, turn on the TV.
So they open the book in which they confide.
No, not the Bible, but the TV Guide.
The Word of God is seldom read.
Maybe a verse before they fall into bed.
Exhausted and sleepy and tired as can be.
Not from reading the Bible, from watching TV.
So then back to the table side by side, Lie the Holy Bible and the TV Guide.
No time for prayer, no time for the Word,
The plan of Salvation is seldom heard.
But forgiveness of sin, so full and free,
Is found in the Bible, not on TV.

Questions:
1. How often do you read the Bible? If not often, what stops you from reading it? How can we help you to make it an everyday event?
2. Does God speak to you in the Bible? If not, is there a reason why not?
3. If God does speak to you, how does he do so?
4. How can we hear more?
5. Luke tells us Jesus had a habit of going regularly to the synagogue. He also knew the Scriptures. What can we learn from this?

ST MICHAEL’S. LIQUID FAMILY COMMUNION. 17 OCTOBER 2010. ROBERT.

This is rather a perplexing parable about prayer until we spot the fact that Jesus pitches his story almost as a joke. The judge and the widow are really like something out of a cartoon. A good modern translation (Tom Wright) has the judge fearing he is going to get a black eye from this impressively persistent widow who is simply not going to leave until he attends to her case. There’s an element of Tom and Jerry about it. Hopefully our imagination can stretch to the idea of these two formidable people having a stand-up fight, with the poor little old lady with her umbrella coming out decisively on top and the rich judge crawling under his desk to avoid her blows.

It is this ‘knock-about’ element to the story that helps to make it clear that we are to contrast God’s attitude to the judge’s. Verse 6 means: ‘If even this thoroughly rotten and probably corrupt judge agrees to achieve justice for the widow, how much more will the just and merciful God in heaven achieve justice for us, and for the world he has created.’

And Jesus uses this as an encouragement to us all to pray, and never give up – or, in an alternative translation, never to lose heart and become discouraged.

We have to make a distinction here between ‘perseverance’ and ‘pestering’. Consider a child pestering his parents. ‘I want an ice-cream’ while tugging at their coats. The parents have every right to say ‘No’ and to hold out as long as is necessary. We are not to be like children pestering God, and thinking that, if we keep on tugging at his coat-tails long and hard enough, he will eventually give us what we want, even if it’s not good for us. But consider with me two kinds of example of how faithful, persistent prayers are answered – the first personal, the second of world-wide significance.

Consider, firstly, the faithful prayers day by day, month after month, for someone’s healing, and then seeing the person slowly making a recovery. Or, of course, as we continue to pray regularly, persistently in the Spirit, gradually realising that our prayers need to be adjusted, and that full healing will take place on the far side of death. We are to pray and not be discouraged because God will answer our prayers in the way that is best within his sovereign will. Or, in another example, how faithful people pray for a person’s life to change, and for them to come to faith, and how those gently persistent prayers are answered often many, many years later – perhaps not even within the lifetime of the person praying. The people to whom Jesus was speaking had been imploring God for so many years to send his Messiah to deliver them. And God has heard their prayers and the Son of Man has come in answer. But many did not recognise in Jesus the answer to their fervent and oft repeated prayers. Sometimes our prayers are answered, and we fail to recognise it because it isn’t what we are expecting, and faith does not turn into thanksgiving and response.

Secondly, this passage points us to a bigger and longer term fulfilment in answer to the prayers of God’s people.

When we pray for peace and justice for our world, we don’t expect to see quick answers. And we may be tempted to give up, because it seems that war and evil continue to flourish. But here is the encouragement to continue quietly praying and never to give up – to persevere – because it is God’s intention that, one day, there will indeed be peace on earth, wrongs will be righted, and, as God promises in Revelation 21, there will be no more death or mourning, or crying or pain, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

Because we had family in East Germany throughout the Communist regime, we knew at first hand how many people had quietly been praying for their families to be reunited. They prayed for more than forty years. And then, as quietly and suddenly as the Berlin wall had appeared, it collapsed – and without a shot being fired. You simply never know when or how God is going to answer our deepest prayers. But here is great assurance that our persevering prayers for justice in our world will one day be answered, and the deepest longings of our hearts will be fulfilled. Be encouraged to pray – and never give up. As the hymn tells us:

Have we trials and temptations/Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged/Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Discussion

1. Are you sometimes tempted to give up your faith because your prayers simply haven’t ‘worked’? Can you share the circumstances?

2. Can you share examples of how God has answered persistent prayer, perhaps in ways you didn’t expect?

3. The Christian faith and hope is that, one day, God – the Judge of all the earth – will bring justice to those who are wronged, and peace to a warlike world. Do you find this difficult to believe? Do you pray for it regularly?

Sunday 10 October 2010, Luke 17:11-19, Bruce

This is a loud episode. It contains several themes that crop up in Luke. Jesus has a care for the outcast. To be a leper was to have a mysterious, incurable disease that seemed to be very infectious. Without our science, anyone who had any sort of skin condition was shunned and excluded, and this would have included people with conditions such as psoriasis; even severe acne would lead to you being looked at with suspicion. The group of ten lepers must keep their distance, but they lift up their voices. They shout Jesus, Master, eleison hemas – have mercy on us!

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem for what we know will be the great showdown. The Greek text actually says that Jesus is passing though the midst of Samaria and Galilee – we are not being given a precise itinerary but rather a general idea of the area he is moving though on his way, and this accounts for the fact that he meets a group of outcasts who are mixed – Jews and Samaritans. The Samaritans are descendants of foreigners imported by Assyrian conquerors centuries before who have inter-married with the locals – they are despised by the Jews as half-breeds and outsiders. The greater shame and pain of being lepers has banded this group together. All ten of them are outcasts, from society in general, and specifically from engaging in temple worship – they are unclean.

Jesus sees them, and he does nothing. He does not touch them, pray for them, anoint them; he does nothing. He merely tells them to do what anyone has to do when their skin condition clears up – go to the priest to be examined and if pronounced clean, offer the proper sacrifices to God in praise and thanksgiving.

All ten of them go. It showed faith – a reliance on the word of Jesus. It is as if I told someone with a medical condition that they should go to their doctor to be examined and pronounced healthy, perhaps so that they could get their car insurance reinstated. Would you go on just my say so?

All ten of them are obedient and go. As they go, they are cleansed. All ten of them.

One of them sees. What does he see? That he has been cleansed, yes, but something more, that his cleansing has somehow come from Jesus. Here is the irony. The other nine are presumably still on their way to see the priest for the all-important pronouncement that will lead to their re-admittance to society; they are going to offer the sacrifices and praise God. This man, however, disobeys Jesus. He turns back.

He comes back, praising God in a loud voice. I wonder if having sent them on their way, Jesus has moved on to someone or something else when there is a ruckus, a disturbance in the distance, coming nearer. And here is this man, shouting the praises of God, throwing himself at the feet of Jesus, and offering his eucharist, his thanksgiving to Jesus.

What has he seen? That his encounter with God has been through Jesus. That the praise of God is linked inextricably with the offering of praise, worship and thanksgiving to Jesus. That instead of going to the temple, where as a Samaritan he might still not be welcome, he should come to Jesus to offer thanks.

Jesus comments that it is the outsider who has responded thus. The man’s faith has made him well, has saved him. This means so much more than a physical cleansing from his leprosy, or even his reinstatement in society. He has a wholeness that encompasses his whole being. He has encountered Jesus and has been saved, made whole, transformed in every area of his being. His worldview has changed. His hopes and aspirations have changed. He has been saved.

To be saved has become a sort of shorthand in some circles for being converted, born-again, a real Christian. The term is used more widely in the bible for being rescued from physical danger, for being healed or delivered from illness or distress, to encompass being made whole, and to describe God’s ultimate act of kindness in welcoming us in to his kingdom because of all that Jesus has done for us by dying and rising again for us.

Peter writes in his first letter 1:8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

We have received a present forgiveness for past sins, the promise of our future home with God, and we are also experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit, transforming us to be like Jesus.

The world is full of people who feel themselves to be living incomplete, unfulfilled lives. It is a common theme in books and films. At the end of the film Titanic, Rose says that Jack Dawson has saved her, presumably from a life of careless meaningless wealth and a loveless marriage. After the battle outside the city of Gondor, the dying King Theoden says that his niece Eowyn has saved him, in his case from disgrace and feeling that he has shamed his ancestors. Steven Spielberg made a whole film about saving private Ryan – the irony being that Ryan survives the battle but seems to spend the rest of his life looking for a kind of salvation.

We are gathered today to celebrate the fact that we are saved. That we have encountered God through Jesus, and he has made us whole. He has brought us forgiveness and a fresh outlook on life – a perception that the world is his, that he is king of the universe, but he is also our loving heavenly Father.

(1) Why are we not more thankful? We are here to share in the Eucharist, but so often this is merely a ritual and form of words that we go through:

Lift up your hearts.

All We lift them up unto the Lord.

Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.

All It is meet and right so to do.

It is very meet, right and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God.

Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee, and saying:

All Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts,

heaven and earth are full of thy glory.

Glory be to thee, O Lord most high. Amen.

As a choir boy and now as a man, I have been saying these words or something like them for most of my life in church on Sundays. But how often do we give thanks in the supermarket queue? Or in the traffic jam? Or when doing the accounts? Or when we are cleaning up sick? Or when we see sunset or a new-born lamb? How often do we discern, see, God’s hand at work in our daily lives? As a church, we have much to give thanks for. Last Wednesday 100 Christians from across Camberley joined in prayer for the renewal of St Michael’s. Every day we have opportunities to share God’s love with our relatives, neighbours, colleagues and friends. As a church we have seen how God provides for our needs.

(2) To what extent is it possible to be truly a Christian if we do not thank God in our hearts? If we are not thankful, perhaps we need our eyes to be opened to realise, to understand the greatness of all that he has done and is doing in us and for us?

So here are two prayers that you might find helpful. The first is from the Alpha booklet Why Jesus? It is designed for those seeking to start their walk with Jesus:

“Lord Jesus Christ, I am sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life (take a few moments to ask his forgiveness for anything particular that is on your conscience). Please forgive me. I now turn from everything which I know is wrong. Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free. Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Spirit. I now receive that gift. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me forever. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer today, you might want to talk to me about it quietly after the service.

The second and final prayer is much older and is known as the General Thanksgiving:

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

Sunday 10 October 2010, Luke 17:11-19, Bruce

This is a loud episode. It contains several themes that crop up in Luke. Jesus has a care for the outcast. To be a leper was to have a mysterious, incurable disease that seemed to be very infectious. Without our science, anyone who had any sort of skin condition was shunned and excluded, and this would have included people with conditions such as psoriasis; even severe acne would lead to you being looked at with suspicion. The group of ten lepers must keep their distance, but they lift up their voices. They shout Jesus, Master, eleison hemas – have mercy on us!

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem for what we know will be the great showdown. The Greek text actually says that Jesus is passing though the midst of Samaria and Galilee – we are not being given a precise itinerary but rather a general idea of the area he is moving though on his way, and this accounts for the fact that he meets a group of outcasts who are mixed – Jews and Samaritans. The Samaritans are descendants of foreigners imported by Assyrian conquerors centuries before who have inter-married with the locals – they are despised by the Jews as half-breeds and outsiders. The greater shame and pain of being lepers has banded this group together. All ten of them are outcasts, from society in general, and specifically from engaging in temple worship – they are unclean.

Jesus sees them, and he does nothing. He does not touch them, pray for them, anoint them; he does nothing. He merely tells them to do what anyone has to do when their skin condition clears up – go to the priest to be examined and if pronounced clean, offer the proper sacrifices to God in praise and thanksgiving.

All ten of them go. It showed faith – a reliance on the word of Jesus. It is as if I told someone with a medical condition that they should go to their doctor to be examined and pronounced healthy, perhaps so that they could get their car insurance reinstated. Would you go on just my say so?

All ten of them are obedient and go. As they go, they are cleansed. All ten of them.

One of them sees. What does he see? That he has been cleansed, yes, but something more, that his cleansing has somehow come from Jesus. Here is the irony. The other nine are presumably still on their way to see the priest for the all-important pronouncement that will lead to their re-admittance to society; they are going to offer the sacrifices and praise God. This man, however, disobeys Jesus. He turns back.

He comes back, praising God in a loud voice. I wonder if having sent them on their way, Jesus has moved on to someone or something else when there is a ruckus, a disturbance in the distance, coming nearer. And here is this man, shouting the praises of God, throwing himself at the feet of Jesus, and offering his eucharist, his thanksgiving to Jesus.

What has he seen? That his encounter with God has been through Jesus. That the praise of God is linked inextricably with the offering of praise, worship and thanksgiving to Jesus. That instead of going to the temple, where as a Samaritan he might still not be welcome, he should come to Jesus to offer thanks.

Jesus comments that it is the outsider who has responded thus. The man’s faith has made him well, has saved him. This means so much more than a physical cleansing from his leprosy, or even his reinstatement in society. He has a wholeness that encompasses his whole being. He has encountered Jesus and has been saved, made whole, transformed in every area of his being. His worldview has changed. His hopes and aspirations have changed. He has been saved.

To be saved has become a sort of shorthand in some circles for being converted, born-again, a real Christian. The term is used more widely in the bible for being rescued from physical danger, for being healed or delivered from illness or distress, to encompass being made whole, and to describe God’s ultimate act of kindness in welcoming us in to his kingdom because of all that Jesus has done for us by dying and rising again for us.

Peter writes in his first letter 1:8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

We have received a present forgiveness for past sins, the promise of our future home with God, and we are also experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit, transforming us to be like Jesus.

The world is full of people who feel themselves to be living incomplete, unfulfilled lives. It is a common theme in books and films. At the end of the film Titanic, Rose says that Jack Dawson has saved her, presumably from a life of careless meaningless wealth and a loveless marriage. After the battle outside the city of Gondor, the dying King Theoden says that his niece Eowyn has saved him, in his case from disgrace and feeling that he has shamed his ancestors. Steven Spielberg made a whole film about saving private Ryan – the irony being that Ryan survives the battle but seems to spend the rest of his life looking for a kind of salvation.

We are gathered today to celebrate the fact that we are saved. That we have encountered God through Jesus, and he has made us whole. He has brought us forgiveness and a fresh outlook on life – a perception that the world is his, that he is king of the universe, but he is also our loving heavenly Father.

(1) Why are we not more thankful? We are here to share in the Eucharist, but so often this is merely a ritual and form of words that we go through:

Lift up your hearts.

All We lift them up unto the Lord.

Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.

All It is meet and right so to do.

It is very meet, right and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God.

Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee, and saying:

All Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts,

heaven and earth are full of thy glory.

Glory be to thee, O Lord most high. Amen.

As a choir boy and now as a man, I have been saying these words or something like them for most of my life in church on Sundays. But how often do we give thanks in the supermarket queue? Or in the traffic jam? Or when doing the accounts? Or when we are cleaning up sick? Or when we see sunset or a new-born lamb? How often do we discern, see, God’s hand at work in our daily lives? As a church, we have much to give thanks for. Last Wednesday 100 Christians from across Camberley joined in prayer for the renewal of St Michael’s. Every day we have opportunities to share God’s love with our relatives, neighbours, colleagues and friends. As a church we have seen how God provides for our needs.

(2) To what extent is it possible to be truly a Christian if we do not thank God in our hearts? If we are not thankful, perhaps we need our eyes to be opened to realise, to understand the greatness of all that he has done and is doing in us and for us?

So here are two prayers that you might find helpful. The first is from the Alpha booklet Why Jesus? It is designed for those seeking to start their walk with Jesus:

“Lord Jesus Christ, I am sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life (take a few moments to ask his forgiveness for anything particular that is on your conscience). Please forgive me. I now turn from everything which I know is wrong. Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free. Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Spirit. I now receive that gift. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me forever. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer today, you might want to talk to me about it quietly after the service.

The second and final prayer is much older and is known as the General Thanksgiving:

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

Saturday 9 October 2010

Harvest Sunday 3 October 2010, John 6:1-13, Bruce

The first character that we meet is Jesus. After a busy period in the region of Galilee at the beginning of his ministry, he takes his disciples for a quiet rest and some one-to-one teaching on the other side of the lake. But they are not alone.

The crowd is following. It is near the time of the Passover, March or April when the grass is green. There is excitement in the air; it is a time of nationalistic fervour and celebration, rather like 4 July in USA or 12 July in Northern Ireland. The Passover is the time to remember when Moses led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, and when God fed them in the wilderness with bread, manna, that he sent down from heaven. They remember the prophecy in the Old Testament that God would raise up another prophet like Moses who would deliver God’s people. Could Jesus be the one who was promised?

There is Jesus and his disciples preparing for their quiet time together when crowd shows up. We learn from the other gospel accounts that Jesus teaches them for quite a while, but now he asks the question about how the crowd will be fed? It says something about Jesus’ openness to others and his willingness to serve and care; he will teach them when they show up uninvited and he will feed them.

So he tests the disciples to see what they make of it all. Philip produces the accountant’s answer. “I have done the sums, assessed as accurately as possible the financial realities, and I have to advise you that this is not a viable proposition.”

As we saw last week, Andrew’s strength lies in bringing people to Jesus, and this is a good thing. He does it even is he cannot really believe that it will do any good. I am not sure if this is desperation “We have searched everywhere and this is all we have come up with”, irony “Here’s the answer to our problem, I don’t think!” or sanctified hope “This is the best we could come up with, but it is not going to do much good is it?”

And the boy? What a wonderful example of sharing and making one’s self available. Some have been tempted to reduce this whole episode to a parable about how good it is to share with each other. It is much more than that, but we should never lose sight of the fact that sharing is a mark of love and Christian commitment. Together with prayers, bible reading, and breaking of bread, sharing is what we do.

Nevertheless the story remains a reminder of the Exodus event. We see the link with the Passover and the manna; immediately after this we see Jesus walking on the water, and then we are led into a tempestuous discussion about who Jesus is that reminds us that for 40 years the people contended with God.

Harvest is a time for us to celebrate God’s rich provision and all of creation. We take delight in the foods, the clothes, the homes, the games, and everything else that he gives us. We take stock and remember to have a care for those less fortunate than us.

We see also that these lead on to a discussion. Who is Jesus? Can we trust him?

The obvious answer is that, yes, we can trust him and indeed we have no other choice.

This is true when we consider our relationship with God. How can we be forgiven and have peace with God? What can we do when our lives seem to be so much at variance with the way that we would like to live? We try to live well, do we not? And yet we cannot live well enough to please God.

This is also true when we consider our finances, whether our own personal finances or those of the church. The need is so great and such are the uncertainties we face that we are reduced to the position of a Philip: “Our need is so great that we do not stand a hope.” Or of an Andrew: “What we have got is totally inadequate to help us meet the need.” Either way, we are doomed. Or are we?

We can be so familiar with the story that we lose sight of the strangeness, the wonder. Jesus turns water to wine, he feeds 5,000 men (perhaps 20,000 people) with practically nothing.

He is trying to tell us something!

He is sowing a seed in each of us. We can trust him. Even if the seed is very small, and we are very small in our faith and Christian experience, he can and will do something mysterious and miraculous in us.

We can know his rich provision, as much as we want or need, and there is much more left over.

There is nothing that Jesus cannot and will not forgive in your life. You have only to trust him. There is no need that you have that he cannot or will not fulfil for those who trust him, obey him, surrender their lives to him. This is the true harvest that he is looking for.

Saturday 2 October 2010

Sunday 26 September 2010, John1:35-42, Bruce

Each of us is here today because we have responded to an invitation. Some of us were specifically invited to attend because today is Back to Church Sunday. The card says to “Come as we are”. Others of us have been attending this church fellowship and perhaps feel part of a community; in some way we must have felt invited or called to be here. Still others of us cannot remember any time in our lives when we were not part of the church; our parents or others issued the invitation to us when were very small and too young to remember.

Our gospel passage this morning begins with John the Baptiser pointing out his cousin Jesus to two of his followers; they were already seeking the truth. We proclaim Jesus to everyone around us, but we do not go out of our way to force him upon the unwilling!

John calls Jesus the “Lamb of God”. Perhaps this was mysterious to them at the time, but as we have later learned the story of Jesus sacrificing himself for us on the cross, it becomes full of meaning.

The disciples follow Jesus, prompting him to ask them what they want. They want to be with him. Jesus issues the invitation “Come ....”, and they spend the rest of that day with him.

There must have been something. We are not told what they did or what they talked about (there are plenty of Jesus’ talks recorded later in the gospel). We do guess, however, that it was a time of excitement and wonder. Something must have happened.

I think this because of the effect on the disciple called Andrew of his time with Jesus. We are told that the first thing he does is to find his brother Simon. It is a time of excitement and sharing. If it had been taking place today we would call it a Facebook/Twitter moment!

We learn first that you do not have to have the gift of the gab. We hear very little of Andrew but he pops up at key moments helping people to meet Jesus: the boy with five loaves and two fish, some anonymous Greek seekers, and here his own brother Simon. Andrew does not seem to say much, but at the important times he speaks.

Second, it is good to share good news about Jesus in our networks, perhaps among groups of friends or colleagues or as here within the family. (Note that there are two brothers, and that only one will end up leading their party!)

Third, Andrew does not share good news about a thing or an experience or an ideology, but about Jesus. When we talk about Back to Church, we are not making out this building or the particular group who meet here to be the main thing. It is short hand for saying that we see no substitute for living in a real relationship with Jesus.

Fourth, Jesus meets us where we are. For Simon this involved a new name Cephas, Peter, the Rock. Jesus not only saw Peter as he was, but could see what Peter could and would become if he threw in his lot with him.

For Simon now called Peter this was the start of an adventure that would transform him. There would be other invitations, to be a fisher of men, beside the lake shore to feed Jesus’ sheep, to rise up kill and eat.

For each of us, whether we are newly arrived this morning or if we have been following Christ for many years, the invitations keep coming to encounter him, to grow in him.

As a church we will spend time this coming Wednesday in responding to the invitation from Jesus to be his church here in the way that is right for Camberley at this time. I invite you to come as you are, to follow him and work for him.

Sunday 19 September 2010, Luke 16:1-13, Bruce

Who is God? What is he like? Luke did not insert chapter breaks, so this story of the shrewd manager follows in a sequence. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The Pharisees and teachers of the law demonstrate that they do not have ears to hear: God obviously only favours respectable people like them. Jesus on the other hand tells the story of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, the Lost Sons (both the younger and the older, and at the end the status of the older is still in doubt), and finally this story of the Shrewd Manager.

“What is this I hear about you?” is usually the prelude to hard bargaining. The man is to be fired, but is expected to plead his case, fight for his job, and at least try to get compensation. His silence is an admission of guilt.

“What shall I do now?” He considers the options of labouring and begging, but he is unsuited for either. He is not strong enough to dig, but paradoxically, he does not have the handicap that would inspire pity and make him a successful beggar. He wants to be welcomed into another house, in other words to get another job. But there will be no reference.

Inspiration! The manager has only a little time, one or two hours at the most before he must hand over the account books. Only the master knows that he has been fired. He instructs servants to call in his master’s debtors; the servants will assume he is carrying out orders from his master, and therefore so will the debtors. Each debtor is instructed to write in his own handwriting a reduced amount. Are the debtor and the manager to divide the difference and make a profit? If so, it is a scam, and they are implicating themselves in it! Or are they innocently being involved in the manger’s machinations, blithely unaware? After all, the manager would never have done anything so radical unless on his master’s instructions, would he?

By the time the manager returns to the master to hand over the incriminating books, there is a hubbub of joy and celebration going around the village. Everyone is feeling better off as their debts have been written down. They are all saying what a useful fellow the manager is to know; a bit shady perhaps, but what a good chap to have working for you if he is so shrewd. And the master – well he is obviously generous and wise and good to know; his kindness will be the talk of the village for years to come.

What is the master to do? Legally, he could go throughout the village and explain the scam, and that the manager was acting illegally and beyond his powers, and that the debts still stood at their original amount. But his name would be mud.

Or he could do what the manager has gambled on. Ruefully, perhaps shaking his head, the master commends his roguish servant – not for his honesty or trustworthiness, but because the manager has accurately understood his master and how he would respond, and has risked everything on that.

His master is just and upright. He listened to claims that the manager was dishonest and, if true, act on them; the manager instinctively knew that there was no point pleading or making excuses. The master is also compassionate and merciful: he could have thrown the dishonest manager into jail, or sold him and his family as slaves to recoup his losses; he opts instead merely to fire him.

The manager sees that the way out of his predicament is to risk all on his master’s compassionate and merciful nature. He cannot earn his way out of trouble, or bribe his way. He cannot pull a fix. All he can do is put himself in a position of great risk, trusting that his master will be kind.

And, Jesus says, this is exactly what those who have ears to hear will do.

God is the one who loves the sinner and seeks us, like a shepherd searching for one lost sheep in a hundred, like a housewife who has lost the gold coin given her on her wedding day, like a loving father who will forgive his lost sons anything, like a landowner who is compassionate as well as just.

We can trust him. Indeed, we have no alternative than to trust him for nothing else we can do will bring forgiveness for our sins, bring us into a right relationship with God, help us to enjoy the life of God and his kingdom now here on earth.

To follow Christ is not the safe, soft option that we can do diplomatically, quietly, with no one noticing. Rather, we will risk all to know Christ and to be his. We will be excited by the prospect that our relationship with him will inevitably affect everything else – how we spend our time, how we react to other people, yes – and how we spend or do not spend our money. To pretend otherwise is to fool ourselves and demonstrate that the most important thing for us is our own wishes, our comforts and the respect and good opinions of those around us.

How much better to throw ourselves completely on the mercy and goodness of God? That way he will audit the books, and discover that Jesus has paid every debt for us. He is worthy to be praised!

Questions for discussion

1. Who is the hero of the story, and why?

2. What do you learn from this story about who God is?

3. How would you imagine that Jesus would like us to respond to this story, and how might our lives be different if we did? Would you welcome this?