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.

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.

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?

ST MICHAEL’S. 12 SEPTEMBER 2010. ST PAUL – BEFORE & AFTER. 1 Timothy 1: 12 – 17 Luke 15: 1 – 10 Robert

I wonder what picture comes into your mind when you try to visualise St Paul. I won’t try to guess, but I suspect it isn’t quite how Paul saw himself before his conversion. In our Epistle today from his first letter to Timothy, we get a fascinating flash of autobiographical detail – fresh (so to speak) from his own lips. He describes himself as “a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man” and then (twice) as the worst of sinners. The language is very strong and he describes a man whom, frankly, you would not want to know, let alone cross. A potential Christian? – absolutely not!

He calls himself a blasphemer, which must mean that he not only rejected outright any idea of Jesus as God’s promised Messiah, but must have used some extremely unpleasant words to describe Jesus. We get just a tiny insight into his thinking in his letter to the Galatians. It had been ingrained into him since his early lessons in the Torah, that in Deuteronomy (21:23) God had said through Moses that anyone who was hung on a tree was under God’s curse. He quotes this in Galatians 3:13 (although he draws a wonderful conclusion from it). So you have to imagine the sheer vehemence with which he must have asserted again and again that ‘Jesus was cursed by God’ when he was crucified.

He calls himself a persecutor. We read in Acts 8:3 that Paul ‘began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.’ And his reason for undertaking that life-changing journey from Jerusalem to Damascus is described in Acts 9: 1f: Paul ‘still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples, went to the high priest and asked for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that, if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.’

He calls himself a violent man. His murderous thoughts against Christians clearly translated into violent actions in the way he handled these men and women whom he seized them as prisoners. Who knows in what other ways his violent nature manifested itself?

We hear a lot at the moment about this woman in Iran whom they want to stone. Buried up to the neck and then pelted with rocks of a specified size so that death does not come too quickly. We don’t know whether the stoning of Stephen (as described in Acts 7) was as organised as that, or whether it was more like a spontaneous lynching. But those taking part threw off their cloaks or outer garments, so that they could hurl rocks more effectively, and left them with Paul to look after, as he stood by watching with approval. He was very close to being a murderer.

I don’t think you or I would have seen him as a potential church leader, let alone a leader who probably had more influence on the spread of the Gospel than any other single person, ever. But the risen Christ saw him in an entirely different light. We read in Acts 9:15 that Jesus said to Ananias: ‘This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’

If ever there was a lost sheep or a lost coin, Paul was it. He was, in every sense, a ‘fully paid up’ member of God’s people. He gives us his credentials – his CV – in Philippians 3. He was a totally dedicated worshipper of God and committed member of God’s chosen people. He must have been eagerly hoping that God’s Messiah would appear.

Yet, when God’s plan came to fulfilment in Jesus, Paul refused it outright, and turned decisively against God’s purposes. Not, of course, exactly on purpose – any more than the sheep or the coin went missing on purpose – but (as he says here in 1 Timothy 1:13) through ‘ignorance and unbelief’. But entirely through grace, the risen Christ stepped in and summoned him to be his follower. What a miracle!

To the end of his life, Paul was overwhelmed by gratitude and wonder that Christ had sought him out when he was at his most violently rebellious, and - like the shepherd and the woman in Jesus’ stories – brought him back into his care, with much rejoicing in heaven.

The point of these autobiographical details here in 1 Timothy, is so that he can express his thankfulness and praise at the grace of God – grace, which is unmerited love for sinners. And now the negative and destructive elements in Paul’s character could be channelled into strength and total dedication and perseverance for the Gospel and for his Saviour, Jesus.

What are some of the things we can learn from this? For today I suggest three.

First of all, there simply couldn’t be a clearer illustration of the fact that every Christian is saved by grace, and not by our own efforts. The shepherd found the sheep, and the woman found the coin – not the other way round. Here is a wonderful affirmation in real life that God loves us so much – each one – that he comes looking for us even when we are far, far away. Surely we must have the same sense of overwhelming gratitude and praise, expressed every day and in every single aspect of our lives. Think about it as we approach Pledge Day.

Secondly, we should not be put off in our witness when someone is antagonistic to our faith – even aggressively so. How often do you read in Christian books, stories of how the most fiercely aggressive atheists have been converted quite suddenly when a Christian has had the courage to witness to them. Beneath Paul’s furious anger lay some past personal agenda which was actually very brittle. Personally I think he had been more moved by Stephen’s speech and subsequent murder than he cared to admit, and – as he travelled to Damascus – furious questions were going round and round in his mind. If people are angrily aggressive about Christianity, there is generally a reason lying somewhere in the past which is not expressed. A personal story from our own lives about the grace and love of God, and the forgiveness of sins, can sometimes break through the most unlikely façade. Perhaps we should be much bolder in our testimony – think about it as we approach Back to Church Sunday.

Thirdly, God saw in Paul huge potential, where ordinary Christians saw only hatred and aggression. When we need help in the church’s ministry, we should not just be looking at the obvious people. We all have gifts for ministry and often they are not apparent on the surface. We need to pray for spiritual discernment to see beneath the surface. And there is nothing more exciting in Christian ministry than to see a person’s unnoticed gifts blossoming beyond all possible expectations when they are encouraged and we have faith in them. I could give you so many great examples from my years in parish life. You have gifts to offer – spiritual and practical gifts – and we have so many needs. If God can make something great out of a character like Paul, just think what He could do with you! – if you are open and willing, and we are perceptive and encouraging. If all the gifts in this church were being fully exercised in the power of the Holy Spirit, this church would be transformed. Think about it. Pray about it.

In conclusion, though, let us come to Communion this morning full of thankfulness for the grace and mercy of God who has sought us out and saved us like the sheep and the coin, and lavished his love and grace on us, and brought us to faith and eternal salvation. We join with Paul here in verse 17: ‘Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.’

ROBERT




Discussion

1. What do you understand by the term ‘Saved by Grace’? How do you think it applied to Paul? Do you think it applies to you?

2. In what different way do you think our gratitude to God can be expressed – spiritually and practically?

3. We believe that every Christian has gifts for ministry. How can these best be discerned, developed and used in our church?

4. Have you any experiences to share of someone who, previously antagonistic, has now become a Christian? Describe how this came about.

ST MICHAEL’S 29 AUGUST 2010. WALKING THE TALK. ROBERT Hebrews 13: 1 – 8, 15 – 16 Luke 14: 1, 7 – 14

We have probably all had the experience at one time or another of giving or attending a party where there has been no seating plan. It never fails to cause an element of confusion and jostling – who should sit next to who etc, and where? The Pharisee in this story had obviously forgotten to organise the table seating plans, or perhaps they didn’t have such essential things. Certainly if I were invited to some important civic event, I would definitely want to know where I was expected to sit! And at really important dinners, where you sit will indicate your status and importance, and of course, at events such as weddings, much will depend on your relationship with the host.

The advice Jesus gives in the first section of today’s Gospel from Luke 14 is, I have often felt, so obvious and – in a way – mundane, that you find yourself wondering why Luke included this advice in his Gospel when papyrus was quite expensive and you couldn’t just pop round to WH Smith and buy a pad of paper.

But, after the social behaviour strategy plan, the punch-line comes in verse 11 : “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Jesus is constantly telling us that, in the Kingdom of God, our normal, worldly, human values are reversed – turned on their head. As Jesus had told his hearers in the Beatitudes, it is the meek (the humble) who will inherit the earth. Try telling that to your average politician, business executive or pop-star! Of course, in practice we know that usually the more exalted they are, the further they fall and the more they are humbled. They who exalt themselves will be humbled, and when – like Icarus – they fly too near the sun, they come crashing down to earth. The epitaph for most VIPs and celebrities could well be Macbeth’s reflection as he faced ruin and death: “A poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.”

As always for the Christian, our model is Jesus. As Paul so wonderfully states it in His letter to the Philippians (2: 5 – 11): “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant...he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even (the most humiliating and ignominious) death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name....”

The dinner party in the story is simply an everyday working out of this supreme example in a daily life.

So we have the role model of Jesus becoming a servant to us, so that we might become servants to each other and to the world outside. Hence the words of Jesus to his host that follow (verses 12 – 14): When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame – people in need who will never be able to invite you back.

This is living according to the principles of the Kingdom of God. And when you try it, sometimes wonderful things happen. The writer to the Hebrews says: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” It can be the apparently unlikeliest of people who turn out to be those who bring a special gift, or a vital message from God.

Tom Wright, whose Bible commentaries many of us are engaged with in our groups, is retiring as Bishop of Durham. He was interviewed on Friday on the Today Programme on Radio 4. He said that people are basically as religious as they ever were, but that - to be impressed and interested - what they look for are actions not words. He pointed out that the Gospels are full of the actions of Jesus, and that it was mainly those actions which drew people’s attention. And his teachings are often not ‘stand alone’ words of wisdom, but rather in commentary or explanation of something he had just done. He suggested that the outside world should be looking at what the church is doing, rather than concentrating on its internal arguments and quarrels. And in many parts of the country, the churches locally are actually doing some very impressive work. When people see that, they begin to ask why – where the motivation comes from.

The writer to the Hebrews in our epistle is just as insistent on actions. “Keep on loving one another...remember those in prison as if you were a their fellow prisoners, and those who are ill-treated as if you yourselves were suffering...” And he ends by saying that, as Jesus has now offered, once for all, the perfect sacrifice for our sins, the old temple sacrifices are redundant, and (verse 15), this way of living service and witnessing has become our sacrifice - a sacrifice of praise – the fruit (the practical product) of lips that confess his name (verse 15).

So, how can we put this into practice? One initiative that has clearly caught the imagination of the public is the Street Angels scheme, and it’s a very good example of how the church can serve the community in a positive way that catches the attention and positive media interest. A guest at our lunch meeting here on Thursday came up with a quotation that sticks in the mind. The church is not a cruise-liner - it’s a lifeboat! And when it acts like a lifeboat instead of a large passing cruiser, people take notice and want to know more. Our primary aim is not to seek happiness and enjoyment for their own sake. But when we serve others, we find that happiness and enjoyment come naturally as part of the Christian package.

Clearly, being a street angel is not for everybody. We need always to think of ways in which we can all both serve one another in love, and also the wider community. Our work among children is much appreciated through Butterflies already, and that work is to be expanded in mid-September to include older children. Volunteers to be present at such events, and do the simplest of jobs will be essential to make it work – look out for more information. We can keep our eyes open and our imagination at work to see who needs care, invitations or visits. Often it is something very simple, done in the name of Christ the servant, which make an impression quite out of proportion to the deed itself.

As one writer cogently remarks, in the Kingdom of God, service to others is the only kind of status – the only kind of royalty - that is recognised.


Discussion

1. What sort of actions might count as Christian service? Broaden the list as much as possible, and perhaps come up with some ideas for practical follow-up.

2. What sort of words might count as Christian service? Broaden the list as much as possible, and consider whether you need to put this into specific practice.

3. How can St Michael’s become more suitable for service to the community, both as a building, and as a congregation of people?