Today
we celebrate St Michael’s Tide. We have
brought harvest gifts, and we are considering the next stage of the Renewal
Project. We need to be renewed in our
lives, our community and in our building.
You
will remember that the major question that we have been asking over the past
few weeks as we have looked at Mark’s gospel together is: “Who is Jesus?” We have been endured what is sometimes called
the “Messianic Secret” as Jesus has encountered crowds, Pharisees, followers of
Herod, his own family and his inner group of disciples, and none of them seem
to have been able to work out who he is.
Worse, the doubt and scepticism of some people seems to be infecting
others, so that we saw last week that Jesus thought that his disciples’ hearts
were being heartened. The disciples know
now that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and have been faced with the
terrifying truth that he will be betrayed, and killed, and will rise
again. They do not understand. Moved by
the best of intentions, even Peter has been found acting as a mouthpiece of
Satan, tempting Jesus to take the soft option and find a way to avoid the
cross. Actually, Jesus says, it is worse
than that, because if you want to follow him, you must also take up your
cross. In a world where people just want
to get ahead and prosper, the true followers of God are those who are prepared
to surrender their rights. “For whoever would save his life will lose
it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.” All four
gospel writers record these words, and they seem to have been near to Jesus’
heart. But he also promises that they
(we) will share in his coming glory. In
the words of an old children’s chorus “If you will not wear a cross, you can’t
wear a crown.”
Following
on from this, just a few days later, we have this startling incident that we
call the Transfiguration. Matthew and
Luke also record it. Jesus takes Peter,
James and John up onto a mountain, and he starts to shine. They have seen him feed multitudes and stop
storms, heal the sick and raise the dead, but this is different. Always he has been a remarkable man, doing
remarkable things. Now he is permeated
with this divine, supernatural light.
There are two men with him, Moses and Elijah. Both, along with Enoch, were famous for
having “walked with God”, and no-one knew what ever happened to their
bodies. There were clear links between
them and Jesus. Both of them had been
sent by God but had been rejected by their own people. Both had to battle with loneliness and
misunderstanding. Both had gone up onto
a high mountain to meet with God. Elijah
was expected to usher in the “day of the Lord”, and Moses had promised in
Deuteronomy that God would send a “prophet like me”; for them both to appear
now indicated that God was fulfilling his promises.
Once more
Peter is terrified. Another gospel
suggests he had dozed off and woken with a tremendous start. Either because he wants some distraction
therapy, or perhaps because he wants to preserve the moment and the experience,
he suggests building three huts so that Jesus and his guests can take shelter.
Jesus
makes no reply. He does not need
to. A cloud appears (is this supposed to
remind us of Moses on the mountain top when he met with God and his face was
transfigured and started to shine?) Out
of the cloud come these words: “This is
my beloved son; listen to him.” And
suddenly, Jesus is the only one that they can see.
This is
our need for renewal. Each of us will
have our own response to Jesus. We have
perhaps taken on board some bible stories.
We have heard or said prayers. We
are aware that there is debate about the biblical and historical record. We have formed our conclusions, and these may
be fixed or perhaps changing over time.
We know a lot about him, have talked much about him, but how well do we
know him? Every so often we hear of
someone who was a keen church attender, seemed to have a firm faith, and yet
who suddenly announces that they no longer believe. Perhaps they never truly believed but had
been trying their best, for a variety of good reasons; it was the way they had
been brought up, or they wanted to please a loved one.
The truth
is that the Christian life is a miserable one if you do not know Christ. I would go further and say that it is
impossible to live the Christian life without a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ himself. We each need to
“listen to him”.
This is
our need for renewal. Even when we do
know him, events and our own waywardness conspire to harden our hearts. We need to “listen to him”, to encounter him
and grow in him.
Thus the
first week of Alpha Renewed is on the theme “Who is Jesus?” There are historical and biblical answers to
this question, but there is also our experience of him today. I look forward to the chance to interact
with you as we explore this together.
The
command to “Listen to him” is the word that we need to hear, each as
individuals, and also as community. We
are called to be his servants in Camberley today. We stand in a long line that stretches back
to the Revd Smith in 1851, and forward into the times of our children and
grandchildren. There are many ways of
“doing church”, and some would maintain that a traditional building such as
this is no longer needed. It will not
surprise you to learn that I do not take this view. Our Victorian forebears worked hard and
innovated to stay at the cutting edge of engagement with their culture and
time, and it falls to us to listen to what God is saying as we seek worship and
serve in ways that will bless the people of this and coming generations. Peter did not get it wrong when he wanted to
build, but he was acting on his own agenda.
We are called to listen out for God’s agenda, to look for the direction
and leading of his Son by his Spirit.
This is
why we are not telling you how much we think that you should give. As the PCC seeks God’s will for the detailed
planning and implementation of the way forward, we are asking every member to
consider what they feel that God is prompting them to pledge over the next four
or five years. One reason that this is
difficult time to do this is that there is a recession and money is short;
however the project is so large that even during a boom period we would still
depend upon God to help us to do it.
Some might be troubled that the future is uncertain and they might have
to vary the amount they can give. All I
can say is that if you are depending upon investments, it is unlikely that
interest rates will fall. Indeed, it
could be argued that you will have a better return by investing in the kingdom
of God.
Who
is Jesus? This is the question that we
want to hold up before our families, friends, colleagues and
acquaintances. A renewed building will
prompt some to ask. Much more important
will be the changed quality of our lives as we learn together, laugh together,
pray together, encounter him together.
No comments:
Post a Comment