Sermons

Collect

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was circumcised in obedience to the law for our sake and given the Name that is above every name: give us grace faithfully to bear his Name, to worship him in the freedom of the Spirit, and to proclaim him as the Saviour of the world; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion

Eternal God, whose incarnate Son was given the Name of Saviour: grant that we, who have shared in this sacrament of our salvation, may live out our years in the power of the Name above all other names, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Old Testament

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

    Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them,

    The Lord bless you and keep you;

    the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;

    the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

    So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

Numbers 6.22–27

Psalm

1    O Lord our governor,  ♦
how glorious is your name in all the world!

2    Your majesty above the heavens is praised  ♦
out of the mouths of babes at the breast.

3    You have founded a stronghold against your foes,  ♦
that you might still the enemy and the avenger.

4    When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,  ♦
the moon and the stars that you have ordained,

5    What is man, that you should be mindful of him;  ♦
the son of man, that you should seek him out?

6    You have made him little lower than the angels  ♦
and crown him with glory and honour.

7    You have given him dominion over the works of your hands  ♦
and put all things under his feet,

8    All sheep and oxen,  ♦
even the wild beasts of the field,

9    The birds of the air, the fish of the sea ♦
and whatsoever moves in the paths of the sea.

10    O Lord our governor,  ♦
   how glorious is your name in all the world!

Psalm 8

Epistle

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

Galatians 4.4–7

Gospel

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Luke 2.15–21

Sermon on Naming and Circumcision of Jesus

Today is another festival, one of the many feasts of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church at this time of year – it is a celebration of an event in a Jewish boy’s infancy, his naming and circumcision. This would be the equivalent of a christian infant’s baptism, when we gather to welcome a baby into the fold of the Church, when we make the promise to the child of acceptance into our own lives as well as entry into the Kingdom of God.

I wonder why there are not more parties for the child. Why don’t we madly rush about shouting the good news of the child’s birth AND his acceptance into the people of God. In the gospel story, we hear about the grand announcement of the good news of the messiah’s birth, but no one makes anything of the naming of the child. The gospel reading makes this disjunction very clear.

Today we read about the shepherds visiting the manger. They shouted about Jesus’ birth from the moment they saw the angel and the multitude of the heavenly host praising God despite their anxiety and fear. They ran down into the town announcing the good news. They crowded around the manger where the child lay, then, poof, they disappear. There is only silence where once there was raucous delight. The scene changes abruptly. At one point the shepherds were there, then they are no longer mentioned and the babe is being named and circumcised.

After this long passage about the shepherds, there is only one sentence concerning the naming of Jesus and the fulfilment of the Law. That is no different from today – we all make a big thing about a child, but when they are named in church, not much is made of the fact. The community of faith is not involved, is it? Perhaps the immediate family gathers to wet the baby’s head, but the wider community, whether of faith or not, has nothing to do with the child’s taking its place in the world with its name. Quite often we only just hear by chance how we are to address the child. The rowdy shepherds have gone away and no one is gaily celebrating the naming of Joseph’ and Mary’s new-borne.

The churches are complicit in this downgrading of the naming and baptism of our infants. How many times do we have a baptism in the context of a public eucharist, in the midst of our giving thanks to God, through the sharing of the cup, within the gathering of the whole community of faith?

Jesus, like our children, was brought to the centre of the faith. Jesus went with his parents to the Temple on the eighth day to fulfil the Law quietly without lots of friends. Our children do appear in church but not often as quickly as the eighth day.

When our children are presented in the local centres of faith, it is “private”. The select group gathers around the child and the baptism of the baby occurs among the close family. No one else needs to be part of the event. It is much like the faith we all say we have – it is very private. We don’t normally stand up to give a testimony of our faith, unless you’re that odd duck who likes to dress up in an ancient frock and lead worship like me.

Private faith – that is really rather an odd thing, isn’t it? How can the core of our lives be “private” – never to be revealed? When we talk about authenticity, don’t we mean that the inside is the same as the outside? That there is nothing hidden in an authentic life? Everything is, if I may use the word, “transparent” about the authentic person – there can be no duplicity – the authentic is there in front of you without doubt.

I cannot say one thing and mean another. For instance, I cannot say money doesn’t matter to me and be a miser. The degree of discrepancy can be as great a gulf as the sea or just the merest hair’s breadth, but if the gap is there, it will always separate the true from false self. Though I have the tongue of an angel, but speak not through love, am I not merely a clanging cymbal? How can I be true when that crack is part of my being? We all know from Bargain Hunt that a good piece of ceramic or crystal will sound hollow and dull if it has a fault even the tiniest crack. – Such a piece,  never rings true. I think we can apply this test to our own lives, don’t you?

If there is a separation between my public and my private self, how can I sound a true note? How can I speak with angelic feeling if I have no love? Paul was speaking of authenticity long before the philosopher coined it in his writings. They speak of the same thing, don’t they?

Both would wish each of us would unite the whole of our lives into a single entity. The philosopher tells us that crack in our lives is a chasm of immense proportions, even if it is not visible to anyone else. It is the fault line along which our hearts will break. We have to make a leap to unite our lives, away from the false into the true, from hate to love, from indifference to kindness.

With that leap to authenticity, to wholeness, we rise with the angels into the sky to sing “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth, to people of good will.” The people in whom there is no sin are the people of good will. They are pure of heart, their hearts will never be broken.

That cracked heart which was perhaps about to break, has leapt. It has re-formed itself with that leap. Now it is whole. The reformed heart will always stand tall and proud. It is upright and whole. Now that it is re-formed, it is much stronger. The reformed heart lives a new life, full of joy and love.  The reformed rejoice in the Lord always.

We are naming Jesus today. Let us cut out all sin from our lives, that we may be able to sing with the angels. Let us be re-formed – reformed – in peace as the angels declare.

I wonder if that is why we read the lesson from Numbers today.

    The Lord bless you and keep you;

    the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;

    the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

I think peace is the significant mark of an authentic, or should I say “angelic”, life, a state of mind so very different because of the light which shines there. This, I suppose, is the hope we all have on this, our New Year’s Day, when we are full of resolution to live differently, perhaps even authentically.

Amen

Collect

Almighty God, you have given us your only–begotten Son to take our nature upon him and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin: grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Lord Jesus Christ, your birth at Bethlehem draws us to kneel in wonder at heaven touching earth: accept our heartfelt praise as we worship you, our Saviour and our eternal God.

Post Communion

God our Father, whose Word has come among us in the Holy Child of Bethlehem: may the light of faith illumine our hearts and shine in our words and deeds; through him who is Christ the Lord.

Readings

Old Testament

How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,

who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’

Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices,
together they sing for joy;

for in plain sight they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.

Break forth together into singing,
you ruins of Jerusalem;

for the Lord has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.

The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations;

and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.

Isaiah 52.7–10

Psalm 98

1    Sing to the Lord a new song, ♦
for he has done marvellous things.

2    His own right hand and his holy arm ♦
have won for him the victory.

3    The Lord has made known his salvation; ♦
his deliverance has he openly shown in the sight of the nations.

4    He has remembered his mercy and faithfulness towards the house of Israel, ♦
and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

5    Sound praises to the Lord, all the earth; ♦
break into singing and make music.

6    Make music to the Lord with the lyre, ♦
with the lyre and the voice of melody.

7    With trumpets and the sound of the horn ♦
sound praises before the Lord, the King.

8    Let the sea thunder and all that fills it, ♦
the world and all that dwell upon it.

9    Let the rivers clap their hands ♦
and let the hills ring out together before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.

10    In righteousness shall he judge the world ♦
and the peoples with equity.

Epistle

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs

Hebrews 1:1–4

Gospel

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-14

Sermon on Christmass Day

They used to say on the mean streets of Chicago, “Hey, man, what’s the word?” They were asking about any news, any gossip, any rumours. I suppose, “Tell me what’s happening,” would be the best translation of that street slang.

So if I ask you now, “What’s the Word?” what would you say to me?

? Peace – War – Love – Hate – Kindness ?

What do we want to pass on to our family, friends and neighbours as the important news of the day? St John the evangelist is passing on his Word for today with this, “In the beginning was the Word.”

What a peculiar opening to the story we tell when celebrating Christmass! What is the news that was in the beginning? What is our evangelist trying to tell us? The other gospels don’t start with such a profound, philosophical opening, do they? Matthew recounts the lineage of Jesus. Mark begins with Jesus preaching about the coming Kingdom of God. Luke about the birth of Jesus with those shepherds creating a ruckus with their joyful songs, echoing the angels from the realms of glory. Now we have the fourth gospel talking about an abstract concept – the Logos, which we call “the Word”, which was from the beginning, with God, and an agent of creation. Is this the way you share the Word you have to tell?

Probably not. – Most of us would rather tell a more prosaic story. Shepherds and wise men do very well, don’t you think? Most of us would tell an insignificant story. We might not want to make it as soporific as a list of names taking us back to the beginning of the world, nor detail some philosophical concept which makes no sense to us or our contemporaries because it is so abstruse and has no contact with culture today, in spite of the fact that it ticked all those boxes for St John the Evangelist and the society of his time.

Today’s gospel is one of the traditional Christmass Day readings, but how different that is from the usual nativity stories which inform the many school plays at this time of year with their angels, shepherds, wise men, Santa Clauses, elves, ghosts and shopping. Those three other gospel openings point to the content of our reading, the very real incarnation, the child in the manger and so on. St John has a different way of presenting Jesus Christ to us, doesn’t he? “In the beginning was the Word.” This is a strange opening to the story we tell as we celebrate Christmass Day. We needn’t go into the many forms of the story we have today, although all the stories told at Christmass time are founded on the very real history of God’s participation in the life of humanity.

“The Miracle on 34th Street” is one of the many Hollywood versions of the Christmass message. After all don’t we consider Jesus to be the meek and mild presence in our world, just as Chris Cringle is the quiet centre in all the hectic activity depicted in that film (whichever version you remember)? What about the film, “It’s a Wonderful Life” which depicts how integral each of us is to the shape of the world and the lives of each other? Then there is Dickens’ “A Christmass Carol” which can be seen in the same light, as another vision of the christian ideals of faith and mercy and the greatest of these gifts – Love.

The christmass message is all about the transforming presence of love, just as each and every retelling of the story makes clear. Chris looks into hearts and makes people see the world very differently. George Bailey looks at his own life in the light of love and he is transformed. Ebenezer Scrooge’s overnight experience opens up the floodgates of human kindness, so much so that that old miser is no longer recognisable in the new man now present – a man now so full of joy and warmth to all, the old man does not exist. He treats people as equals with an equanimity which no one would ever expect from anyone else.

These images for Christmass are just as familiar as the biblical images of shepherds and angels on that holy night are described. All these traditional images, old and new, literary and celluloid, inform us about the significance of transcendent values.

And here St John comes among us to tell the same story precisely, but in terms of transcendent values, God as Word! Imagine that. John has a completely different way of telling the story of God in the world. It speaks of a completely different power at work here and now – indeed, the world comes about because of The Word which was in the beginning.

The Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us is a very strange telling of Christmass, but that is exactly what it is all about. There are no angels announcing the Lord’s birth. The low and despised and the high and mighty do not witness to the enfleshment of God on earth in John’s telling of the incarnation. His version is an abstraction, a philosophical construct for our benefit. When we read these first verses from the gospel, we do not have glorious visions dancing around our heads. Rather our heads are sent spinning by so many words, and that Word, our good news, by which we tell the story of God’s involvement in life as we know it. We should not be afraid of “The Word” as St John presents it, should we? – After all, words are the lines by which our lives are bound together.

I was listening to the radio some time ago and someone was talking about words and dictionaries, he spoke about how they are organised. The presenter said that different types of dictionaries sort words in a number of ways.

There are dictionaries which organise the contents by significance, by meaning, like Roget’s Thesaurus. That collection of words is a very different thing to the Oxford English Dictionary, isn’t it? The OED is a very scientific listing of every word according to alphabetical order. Meanings don’t help organise the words in that dictionary, only the letters.

I would liken the synoptic gospels to the OED and the gospel of John to a Thesaurus. Matthew and Luke list the life of Jesus in a very prosaic way, from birth to death concluding with the revelation of the resurrection. John seems to be a treasure chest with the items stored away for our recollection. They have been saved because of their meaning for us, just as we keep things in a chest – to be taken out at important moments for proper consideration, when we want to tell the story through that particular item. I think we do that all the time, don’t we? We don’t take everything out of the treasure chest at once or single things randomly. Don’t we display our secrets to the light and anyone who wants to see when we think it is necessary?

This thesaurus idea of the gospel is much the way someone described religious people. They collect everything, nothing is ever discarded. All is stored away somewhere. Everything is precious, to be taken out at the right time, at a moment when its significance should be appreciated. That is why we have four gospels – we could have had more, but that is another story to be told at another time – each of the gospels has a particular slant on the message of the incarnation.

I would encourage you to be like Mary and store everything in your heart. Put things away safely. We need to take them out now and again to see how we have changed and how they make a new sense to us. That is the glory of the thesaurus, that treasure chest, the faith entrusted to a living tradition, keeping all these things in its heart. Just as dictionaries contain all living words, so we have an infinite number of ways to put them all together. Faith contains everything for us to make animated sense here and now.

At Christmass the image of the child and the infinite possibility of life in all its fullness comes to the fore in John’s Word. The Word from the beginning with God is ours – it is now ready to be shared with anyone who would ask, “Hey, man, what’s the word?”

Collect

O Lord Jesus Christ, who at your first coming sent your messenger to prepare your way before you: grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready your way by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; for you are alive and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

God for whom we watch and wait, you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son: give us courage to speak the truth, to hunger for justice, and to suffer for the cause of right, with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion

We give you thanks, O Lord, for these heavenly gifts; kindle in us the fire of your Spirit that when your Christ comes again we may shine as lights before his face; who is alive and reigns now and for ever.

Readings

Old Testament

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,

   the desert shall rejoice and blossom;

like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,

   and rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

   the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord,

   the majesty of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,

   and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who are of a fearful heart,

   ‘Be strong, do not fear!

Here is your God.

   He will come with vengeance,

with terrible recompense.

   He will come and save you.’

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

   and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

then the lame shall leap like a deer,

   and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,

   and streams in the desert;

the burning sand shall become a pool,

   and the thirsty ground springs of water;

the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,

   the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

A highway shall be there,

   and it shall be called the Holy Way;

the unclean shall not travel on it,

   but it shall be for God’s people;

   no traveller, not even fools, shall go astray.

No lion shall be there,

   nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;

they shall not be found there,

   but the redeemed shall walk there.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,

   and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

   they shall obtain joy and gladness,

   and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 35.1–10

Psalm

4    Happy are those who have the God of Jacob for their help, ♦

whose hope is in the Lord their God;

5    Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them ♦

who keeps his promise for ever;

6    Who gives justice to those that suffer wrong  ♦

and bread to those who hunger.

7    The Lord looses those that are bound; ♦

the Lord opens the eyes of the blind;

8    The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; ♦

the Lord loves the righteous;

9    The Lord watches over the stranger in the land; he upholds the orphan and widow; ♦

but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.

10    The Lord shall reign for ever, ♦

your God, O Zion, throughout all generations.

      Alleluia.

Psalm 146.4–10

Epistle

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.9Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

James 5.7–10

Gospel

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way before you.”

Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Matthew 11.2–11

Sermon on Third Sunday of Advent

Last week we considered the prophets in the form of Jesus and John particularly. We are reminded of all the prophets again in today’s reading from James, “As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” This week, however, our focus is John the Baptist alone. He is the forerunner, the prophet preparing the way, who was unworthy even to carry Jesus’ sandals.

Today we hear about the disciples of John and Jesus and how they moved between the two. I think they are of equal weight when we look at these two as prophets, though after our eyes are opened by our faith, we know that relationship is much more than equals. Jesus tells us so, doesn’t he? He asks John to acknowledge the miracles that are happening all around them both, the most significant that “the poor have good news brought to them”. What could be a greater miracle than that?

What is the good news which is the sum of all the miracles being done in God’s name? What is that good news at which no one can possibly take offence? You know what it is – I know what it is. Each of us knows what that good news is for each of us ourselves individually. Perhaps we gather together as we do here in this building to share it. However, it doesn’t matter why, but the good news is always the ground of our happiness. Nothing is more important than that good news on which we found our lives. That good news is the meaning of our lives, the wherein we live and move and have our being.

I have been reading some philosophy again and it has been about this notion of meaning as the ground of being. The whole of our lives stands on that ground, a ground that we clear day by day so we may see afresh. We continually try to keep everything in order because of all the significances discovered new and old. This ground gives us meaning and yet we find that meaning at the same time. These philosophers I have been reading write about their never-ending work – they forever try to make meaning clear for all to see.

This is the prophets’ job as well. God’s message – that good news – must always be made clear in every generation, in every community, in each and every heart. In other words, I think we have to say we are all prophets – and we all have been given that life’s work, to declare the good news, to share the fact that we can all participate in such joy. John and Jesus did this, didn’t they?

But John is our focus today. He was in the wilderness. He proclaimed the message in a very bleak way, in a bleak place, a place which no one willingly wished to be. Who wants to go to the desert, to live on locusts and wild honey wrapped in camel’s hair? Don’t we consider those people rather odd? Like the people who become monks and nuns, we don’t think they are quite right in the head, do we? We might admire their dedication to their vision, but that seems to be a rather odd focus for a person’s life especially in this era when the church has been sidelined on a Sunday morning.

John was quite different from Jesus. He stood as a reed in the cluttering winds of the wilderness. John opposed the values of the everyday in a very stark way. He was the hard place on which people found themselves when the rocks of trouble came down upon them. His message was one of cold comfort, for he told of the reversal of everything, just as Jesus did in the Sermon on the Mount, the poor rich, the humbled exalted, the mournful joyous. That reversal can be seen in the apocalyptic visions of the time, as they are preserved in the bible.

John is at the forefront of these forbidding messengers, for he tells of the very presence of the final Kingdom, that unknown country to which we have been invited. He even threatens the status quo, doesn’t he? That was why he was killed, and his head served up on a salver. This is a prophet’s lot – for his message to go unheeded by the people who should know better.

If this was the way John ended up, what would happen to the one who was coming, whose sandal he would not even attempt to untie? When this long-expected saviour came, what would they do to him?

Even today we are expecting salvation, either from God or the government, what will we do to that agent when he appears with that same harsh message, “The kingdom of God is nearer than you think, repent and become worthy of it.” What do we do to those who repeat those words? We can’t do any worse than what happened to Jesus. We could even repeat the crime against John. In any case, I think that most would mock the prophet who proclaimed such a worthy message. We would pay no attention, just as they did at the turn of the eras, the centre of time. Whether a reed in the wind or someone feasting with friends and strangers, we don’t give any credence to what is being proclaimed in the name of the Lord, in the name of God, then or in our time. Instead we ignore at best and mock at the very least.

Is this what we should do when we acknowledge that the message of a change of heart is being proclaimed right in front of us? Should we mock the messenger of repentance? Should we eliminate that inconvenient truth from our convenient everyday lives? Do the prophets just fade away just as the prophets of old disappeared? The truth pursues us as we run away, just as our conscience nags when we try to turn away from it to hide in the crowd.

John, like all the prophets, stands tall in our minds, a reminder of all the virtues from which we stray. In other words, we are sinners, because we have missed the mark of virtue in our lives. The world in which we find ourselves is a wilderness.  We must make our mark in the desert, and we all know that that mark is indelible, if it is virtuous. Sinners and criminals may find themselves feted by the crowd, but eventually they will be toppled because they will be seen for what they are. In our final moments, as we hide away from each other and ourselves, we will discover what we really are. In that apocalyptic time, we will repent of our inhumanity, of our wasted lives.

Our hope is that every moment of life will be lived against that virtuous background of the Kingdom of God. Our hope is that we will hear the message of John preaching in the wilderness of our own lives. Won’t we pray to have ears to hear and eyes to see the sacred as it stands against the profanity of the world?! I hope so every day, just as you do.

Amen

Collect

O Lord, raise up, we pray, your power and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness we are grievously hindered in running the race that is set before us, your bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, now and for ever.

or

Almighty God, purify our hearts and minds, that when your Son Jesus Christ comes again as judge and saviour we may be ready to receive him, who is our Lord and our God.

Post Communion

Father in heaven, who sent your Son to redeem the world and will send him again to be our judge: give us grace so to imitate him in the humility and purity of his first coming that, when he comes again, we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Old Testament

1    A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

2    The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

3    His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

    He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;

4    but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

5    Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

6    The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.

7    The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8    The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.

9    They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

10    On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Isaiah 11.1–10

Psalm

1    Give the king your judgements, O God, ♦
and your righteousness to the son of a king.

2    Then shall he judge your people righteously ♦
and your poor with justice.

3     May the mountains bring forth peace, ♦
and the little hills righteousness for the people.

4    May he defend the poor among the people,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; ♦
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

    deliver the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.

5    May he live as long as the sun and moon endure, ♦
from one generation to another.

6    May he come down like rain upon the mown grass, ♦
like the showers that water the earth.

7     In his time shall righteousness flourish, ♦
and abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more.

18    Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, ♦
who alone does wonderful things.

19    And blessed be his glorious name for ever. ♦
May all the earth be filled with his glory.
Amen. Amen.

Psalm 72.1–7,18,19

Epistle

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles,

and sing praises to your name’;

and again he says,

‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’;

and again,

‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,

and let all the peoples praise him’;

and again Isaiah says,

‘The root of Jesse shall come,

the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;

in him the Gentiles shall hope.’

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15.4–13

Gospel

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.” ’

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

Matthew 3.1–12

Sermon on Second Sunday of Advent

When I was growing up in the States, there was an advertising jingle based on the song “Love and Marriage” – perhaps you know it? Sung by Frank Sinatra, it is all about things that go together – just like love and marriage and then there is the pair of a horse and carriage. But the jingle paired “soup and sandwich” which made perfect sense because it was a Campbell’s advertising campaign. But this came to mind because of today’s gospel reading. The pair I want to match up is John and Jesus, this pair even fits the song, doesn’t it? But I would have to be very clever to come up with alternative verses in order to make it a hymn or an Advent carol.

The hymn-writers often did that though, didn’t they? They used well known songs and crafted words to fit. “Ilkley Moor Bar Tat” is a famous example of the reverse. It is one of many tunes for “While shepherds”. There is even a Ramsbury tune. We used to sing While shepherds with gusto in that village where we lived when we carolled around the village. However, writing a new hymn is not what I want to do. Rather, I want the association of John and Jesus to be stronger in our minds at least for today. I also want to see John and Jesus as prophets, as that is the theme for the second Sunday of Advent.

The first thing we are told in our gospel reading is that John appeared in the wilderness of Judea. But Jesus also rose to fame there in Judea. “In Bethlehem of Judea” the narrative starts, doesn’t it?

Jesus’ message was the same as John’s, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.” And Paul wrote to the Thessalonians that that kingdom was right on top of them. Preparing the way of the Lord was imperative for the kingdom to become a reality here and now. That was the corollary to this message about the kingdom. All must actively engage in the grace and mercy, and the justice and righteousness, of God’s kingdom. Both John and Jesus proclaim as prophets the imminent arrival, the advent, of the kingdom and what that means for all of us.

Then there is “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.” These words from Isaiah have always been quoted incorrectly. Scholarship agrees that we should be saying, ‘A voice cried, “Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness.”’ We are living in that wilderness where there is no mercy and justice, where there is no grace nor righteousness. We live, it seems, where there is no royal road for our God. This quotation sets the narrative about John – that he dwellt in the wilderness, that he ate locusts and wild honey, that he wore clothing of camel’s hair and a leather belt. He preached out there in the wilderness, proclaiming the word of God, so that we might change our ways. He can be likened to the homeless in our city centres. However, instead of being avoided like the homeless people we know, John became a tourist attraction. Do you remember the film Jesus Christ Superstar? Jesus is brought before Herod who asks him to do a miracle for him. As the children taunt their playmates when they say, “We piped for you, so dance for us,” it seems John was out in the desert to perform for everyone who made their way to the River Jordan.

You might say John was a performing seal in that river. But something happened. Although curiosity led people out of the city, away from the comfortable everyday, away from the chattering crowd that presses down, they were freed from social constraint foisted on them. People of all sorts on the banks of the Jordan listened to John speak about preparation for the kingdom of God. These words did affect them, to the point that some were offering themselves for his baptism. They let that water cleanse them and they took a different view on everything – well, at least they did when they were with John.

John saw that a great many different sorts of people had made their way to the Jordan, like those crowds around Jesus – however, he must have been very perplexed, for he even saw the religious leadership from the temple there by the water. John reacted very strongly to them, didn’t he? He condemned them. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” The water of baptism alone is not sufficient, though it is a start. Fleeing to the waters of baptism to avoid the wrath to come is commendable, but the water alone does not save all. John demands they bear fruit worthy of repentance, fruit that will last. He condemns these vipers as the children of the ancient covenant – they are not the real heirs of the kingdom since their lives are superficial, they have only washed their skin, neither have they dedicated themselves to the work of the kingdom. In other words, their lives have not borne the fruit of the kingdom, acts of mercy and love.

Doesn’t Jesus do the same? Doesn’t he call down woe on that same group of people? He calls them hypocrites, doesn’t he?  They have not purged themselves, what he called the sepulchres of filth have not been cleansed. He has no time for people who will not love their neighbours.

John and Jesus do go together so very well. Their prophetic messages reinforce each other and their disciples form a living pool between them. They all understood the closeness of the coming of God in power and might. In time and space, the apocalypse is about to happen. The final time will be the next moment of life in all its fullness. At that point when the four horsemen, with all the disasters and all the bloodshed, appear, then the final trumpet will sound and we will all be called to account for our sins seen by our neighbours and the sins in our hearts unseen except by our conscience and our God. At that very moment will we stand like the rich man who had built his new barns and hear the words, “Now is the time for reckoning.” We will hear the commendation of all the Lazuruses of our time and we will beg for respite from those we despised when we had not shown compassion.

The visions of the Bible are not all sweetness and light, but a believer’s eyes sees the delight of a life lived in mercy and love, don’t they? Don’t we, when we act charitably and recognise acts of altruism all around us?

This is what John and Jesus proclaim in the wilderness. This is the message of evangelism. “Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come so very near” – it is all around us, if only we would see. John and Jesus do go together, both as a story and as a part of our lives because we are the people expecting the coming of the kingdom of God proclaimed by the prophets.

Amen

Collect

Almighty Father, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of all: govern the hearts and minds of those in authority, and bring the families of the nations, divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin, to be subject to his just and gentle rule; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion

God of peace, whose Son Jesus Christ proclaimed the kingdom and restored the broken to wholeness of life: look with compassion on the anguish of the world, and by your healing power make whole both people and nations; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Readings

Old Testament

23    ‘O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!

24    O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock for ever!

25    For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;

26    and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,

27    whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!

Job 19.23–27a

Psalm

1    Hear my just cause, O Lord; consider my complaint;¨
listen to my prayer, which comes not from lying lips.

2    Let my vindication come forth from your presence; ¨
let your eyes behold what is right.

3    Weigh my heart, examine me by night, ¨
refine me, and you will find no impurity in me.

4    My mouth does not trespass for earthly rewards;¨
I have heeded the words of your lips.

5    My footsteps hold fast in the ways of your commandments;¨
my feet have not stumbled in your paths.

6    I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; ¨
incline your ear to me, and listen to my words.

7    Show me your marvellous loving-kindness, ¨
O Saviour of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them.

8    Keep me as the apple of your eye;¨
hide me under the shadow of your wings,

9    From the wicked who assault me,¨
from my enemies who surround me to take away my life.

Psalm 17:1–7

Epistle

As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?

But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

2 Thessalonians 2.1–5,13–17

Gospel

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.’

Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.’

Luke 20.27–38

Sermon on Third Sunday Before Advent

‘O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!

O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock for ever!

For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;

These words can be seen as a background for so many of our own thoughts, can’t they? They come from Job as he laments his situation, all the disasters which beset him from the boils to the deaths of his family. He wants to let people know what his life was like. The pain and heartache of everything he has had to endure should be a lesson to us all. But he goes on – it is not the disaster that he wants his readers to read about. He says, “I know that my redeemer lives!” and continues, “Although my flesh is destroyed, I shall see my God.”

 These words are taken up in Handel’s “Messiah”, aren’t they?

These words become the start of some of the most sublime music we have. That we shall see God – isn’t that the most sublime thought we can aspire to? “Oh that my words were inscribed in the rock for ever!” That is the sentiment Job recommends to us all. And don’t we all think this? Don’t we want to share our most profound thoughts with the world, so that our experience will help all those around us? Perhaps that is why I stand here in these outlandish robes and rattle on … and just like Job I say, “Oh that my words were inscribed in the rock for ever!” Eternal words are something we long to pass on, aren’t they? I think we all want to be able to handle those words – to ground ourselves so surely on an eternal verity.

What do we reach for in our lives which will set a sure foundation for all we do? Do we have a favourite book which acts as our cornerstone? As christians, we profess the bible to be the rock of our salvation. We always turn to it to begin any of our thoughts for the day, don’t we? — We call the Bible “the Word of God” – we capitalise that phrase, don’t we? It is a special artefact whether an ancient manuscript on papyrus, printed by Gutenberg or provided electronically by Google. We treat the Bible as holy and sacred. For us no other book is held in such respect. We hold the Bible as eternal and unchangeable. It stands firm against the changing world. I think we all agree with that notion, don’t we? God’s Word impacts us every moment of every day and we feel it never changes in its demand on us. It challenges all humanity to act in goodness and righteousness. Consequently, I think, there is an understandable conservatism within any community, religious or not. We don’t want things to change at all, do we? We want to keep the special relationship as God’s people. Like people from Yorkshire who call that county “God’s own county” even thought they never go near a church. There is within each parish the wish to “keep things as they are”, whatever that might mean.

The Bible contains the words we feel are written down for ever. Those words dominate our lives, don’t they? But outside the church, there is a relativism, where nothing is more lasting or important than anything else. Over against the permanence of the church’s message of salvation, there is the world’s quest for novelty, those “fifteen minutes of fame”. Everyone wants those moments of glory for themselves. We want to “publish abroad” that message about our selves. We do this through ephemeral electronic media, using Facebook, TikTok and others that are proliferating now. The pandemic forced us to Zoom with each other, and UTube has brought so many videos into public consciousness. We all know about the cute cats that have “gone viral”, don’t we? We may even have contributed ourselves to the numbers of likes and hits of particular instances.

All of this is an expression of Job’s words, don’t you think? That I have contributed

 something to the future forever, written in the modern stone of the computer so that it will never be forgotten.

We all want to “make a difference”. We all want to make the world a better place. I stand here because I believe I might be able to do so – certainly, that is my hope, and, I believe, it is the Church’s hope. Perhaps I aspire to be a great influencer. – This right now may be my fifteen seconds of fame. Who knows? – Whatever the case, I also show the human tendency to wish to make my mark, just as Job did with his iron pen and the tablets of stone which had words in lead on them.

The ancient Laws of Hamarabi  were tablets of stone with words written with lead letters on them. They were set up at the gates of the city so no one could claim ignorance of the law. I think that is why it is so natural for Job to use this image, apart from the fact that Moses came down from the mountain with the law of the Lord written on the tablets. We understand this image of unchanging law written down forever so easily today. Why even in our older churches there are plaques with the ten commandments on them. In the churchyard and within our churches the permanent epitaph continues this image. I think that is why the toppling of the statues in Bristol was so extraordinary brutal to our sensibilities – I think it might signify a cultural shift.

That shift was foreshadowed millennia ago. The destroying of carved images is part of OT and christian iconoclasm. More

 importantly, the locus of the writing of God’s Law has always been shifted away from these stone tablets. Where is a better place to write the law – God’s or the King’s? What is a better medium for a law that makes sense for an ordered society? I think you all know. One of the prophets spoke directly to this point. “I will write these laws on the hearts of my people. Once they had hearts of stone, but now they will have hearts of flesh” – that is the place where law is truly kept. The stone tablets, the Word of God, influencers – don’t they all point to something missing in our lives? Those hearts which beat steadily to the Laws the Lord, that we love God and our neighbours.

To use that iron pen and lead to encase the law is one of our dearest conceits, isn’t it?

 However, the immortality of the writing on stone has passed. Now we want to write on hearts which feel compassion and love. Don’t we all want to share our most profound heart with the world? Perhaps that is everyone’s compulsion. This impulse to ‘publish it abroad’ is important in every person’s life. We do it at home – we also do it with friends. – And if we are very bold, we may stand up in public and open our hearts, calling for mercy and righteousness all the days of our lives. I think hearts are where these eternal words are written, not on the stone artifacts which too often crash into nothing. In the heart are etched the words of eternal life.

Collect

Almighty and eternal God, you have kindled the flame of love in the hearts of the saints: grant to us the same faith and power of love, that, as we rejoice in their triumphs, we may be sustained by their example and fellowship; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

God of glory, touch our lips with the fire of your Spirit, that we with all creation may rejoice to sing your praise; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion

Lord of heaven, in this eucharist you have brought us near to an innumerable company of angels and to the spirits of the saints made perfect: as in this food of our earthly pilgrimage we have shared their fellowship, so may we come to share their joy in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Old Testament

In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head as he lay in bed. Then he wrote down the dream: I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.

As for me, Daniel, my spirit was troubled within me, and the visions of my head terrified me. I approached one of the attendants to ask him the truth concerning all this. So he said that he would disclose to me the interpretation of the matter: ‘As for these four great beasts, four kings shall arise out of the earth. But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever—for ever and ever.’

Daniel 7.1–3,15–18

Psalm

1    Alleluia.
O sing to the Lord a new song; ♦
sing his praise in the congregation of the faithful.

2    Let Israel rejoice in their maker; ♦
let the children of Zion be joyful in their king.

3    Let them praise his name in the dance; ♦
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and lyre.

4    For the Lord has pleasure in his people ♦
and adorns the poor with salvation.

5    Let the faithful be joyful in glory; ♦
let them rejoice in their ranks,

6    With the praises of God in their mouths ♦
and a two-edged sword in their hands;

7    To execute vengeance on the nations ♦
and punishment on the peoples;

8    To bind their kings in chains ♦
and their nobles with fetters of iron;

9    To execute on them the judgement decreed:♦
such honour have all his faithful servants.

      Alleluia.

Psalm 149

Epistle

In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 1.11–23

Gospel

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

‘Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.

‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.

‘Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.

‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

‘But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.

‘Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.

‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.

‘Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

‘But I say to you that listen,
Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.

If anyone strikes you on the cheek,
offer the other also;

and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Luke 6: 20 – 31

Sermon on All Saints

I have been reading a novel this week whose main character lets her mind wander time and again throughout. On each page she goes off on a tangent – and every time it is interesting in itself, and relevant to the moment. The novel is an impression of how one can allow philosophy – or philosophical thinking – to impact on life in general and specifically. This novel has intersected very nicely with a book by a French philosopher, Gaston Bachelard.

He writes about philosophy as “reverie” – thought in the form of dreams and daydreams, thoughts rational and non-rational, which become real things in speech and art, in the playthings of poets and philosophers. The objects of reverie are not, however, children’s toys which have no consequences. Rather these items of the mind’s eye are very real and reveal more about ourselves than what we choose to announce loudly to one another. In reverie philosophers approach anything, and every single thing, openly as the novel “A Distant View of Everything” depicts. And the poets in their reverie also bring about insight of the world in which we live as they paint pictures of things in new relations which only a daydream can elicit. There can be no harm from this active imagination as these images swarm and attack the common sense of the everyday – like when we question accepted norms. At that moment of question, in that twinkling of an eye, there can only be revelation about life in all its fullness, don’t you think?

But, ‘the visions of my head can terrify me’ to paraphrase the prophet from our reading this morning. Visions are very real experiences for all of us. In reverie we open ourselves up to vision. You might think that the windows of perception are to be cleansed through the daily exercise of dreams. Or, perhaps, with Timothy Leary and his friends, you might be tempted to “Turn on; Tune in; and Drop out” with or without some synthetic help, as many cultures have done in the past, as many individuals are now doing all around us. Perhaps the visions of Leary’s dreamy sleep will become a reality, forsaking the clear sight of religion.

Religion is not the opiate Marx suggested a century ago. I say this because in religion there are often visions, like night terrors. The OT is full of the might of Jehovah over against a sin full humanity – even God’s own people quake in their sandals whenever their Lord nears. The NT describes its own view of the future with the Apocalypse appearing with dreadful power – with its power to terrify. Even our Gospel reading for today speaks of the final times and the eschatological reversal of life as we know it. – The humble being exalted, the mighty cast down to the depths, the happy saddened, the mournful joyful – nothing we ordinarily expect, is it? All the everyday aspirations of life are turned on their heads.

This revolution is one which happens in our own dreams, like the daydreams of the prophet and the poet, when the everyday is suspended and the extraordinary are realised in one’s own experience. In my philosophical reveries, I contemplate “the good life” – not that of suburban Tom’s and Barbara’s, but that of Socrates’ philosopher-king in the Republic, that state in which the wild horses of emotions are bridled to traverse a more beneficial course, where we all dwell in the ideal realm of moral righteousness.

No wonder “the visions of my head terrified me” when I returned to the everyday world of political intrigue, warfare cold and hot, open and clandestine. In the normal crowd, I find a place of secrets and lies, of falsehood and deception, the place where “they” say, “It has always been so,” and accept this wretched status quo and take no action to change what they want to find in life. We are drugged to mindless unseeing by the crowd’s everyday illusion.

This season of the year is exactly one in which “the visions of my head terrify me” for we are in the time of remembrance. I worked in France off and on for short periods and a friend kept talking about memories as ‘souvenir’. It struck me as an interesting way of thinking of what we hold in mind. This French word calls up English ‘souvenirs’, those nik-naks we can handle and rearrange, which we can man- handle and coerce into new significances which may have no relation to the event remembered. Souvenirs are reconfigured and rearranged on the shelf of memory. That French word recalls a philosopher’s state of mind. I think religious reverie and daydream attempt to make remembrance a reality, for instance that state of mercy and grace, of righteousness and holiness, where all the saints and all souls dwell – a place of heavenly reality which we expect for all creation. – Don’t we think this way in this season of remembrance?

I would suggest that remembrance is reverie on our beloved heros, personal and national. We entangle ourselves in the perceptions of the past and free ourselves for the future. We establish our own dream-time – through our reverie, our remembrance – on the reality of our lives. I would like to say, remembrance is the bedrock on which prayer is founded. Last week at the Benefice Eucharist, Mary Tucker promised to speak about prayer, so I feel obliged to mention prayer today because our congregation is divided into its separate parishes. It is not a stretch to go from the reveries of my philosopher to Mary’s prayer mode, for both actively engage with matters past and present in detail, allowing free association between the elements.

This season of remembrance allows us the time to dwell on our souvenirs. We can contemplate those memories of the past which are caught up in our lives – we can pray using our own souvenirs in reverie, for instance, the joyful smile of the beatified saint, the holy wrath of the terrifying preacher, or the hand held in the deepest of friendship’s affection. There are so many memories which can begin our prayer, and we must be aware of them as they fly past the windows of our perception, while we forget them in the dust of the attic storeroom or the clutter of the crammed basement. Wherever and in whatever condition they are, these souvenirs must be inspected and considered again. “Souvenirs” act as markers on our way, pointers which call us to reverie and prayer – that prayer that orients us in the eschaton, the time which God gives us, the time during which the mundane and profane everyday becomes an extraordinary and sacred moment, the joy of the divine in our lives. — These are the moments of true remembrance, when our reverie transforms merely existing into life in all its fullness, when, like St Paul, we pray unceasingly for others throughout the world because the saints and souls who have passed before us have allowed us to see the glory which should be universal here and now.

Amen

Collect

Almighty God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you: pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself, and so bring us at last to your heavenly city where we shall see you face to face; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Gracious God, you call us to fullness of life: deliver us from unbelief and banish our anxieties with the liberating love of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Old Testament

These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Jeremiah 29:1,4–7

Psalm

1    Be joyful in God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name;
sing the glory of his praise.

2    Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!
Because of your great strength your enemies shall bow before you.

3    ‘All the earth shall worship you,
sing to you, sing praise to your name.’

4    Come now and behold the works of God,
how wonderful he is in his dealings with humankind.

5    He turned the sea into dry land; the river they passed through on foot;
there we rejoiced in him.

6    In his might he rules for ever; his eyes keep watch over the nations;
let no rebel rise up against him.

7    Bless our God, O you peoples;
make the voice of his praise to be heard,

8    Who holds our souls in life
and suffers not our feet to slip.

9    For you, O God, have proved us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.

10    You brought us into the snare;
you laid heavy burdens upon our backs.

11    You let enemies ride over our heads; we went through fire and water;
but you brought us out into a place of liberty.

Psalm

Epistle

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David – that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. The saying is sure:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful –
for he cannot deny himself.

Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:8–15

Gospel

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’

Luke 17:11–19

Sermon on Sunday, Trinity 17

Here are the words of the alternate collect for today:

Gracious God, you call us to fullness of life: deliver us from unbelief and banish our anxieties with the liberating love of Jesus Christ our Lord.

I would like to consider these words because there are so many ideas and longings expressed in them. Let us start at the beginning, when we call upon God. Here we describe God as “gracious” – but just what do we mean by a gracious God? How does grace enter our lives? Is it as amazing as the hymn has it? Does grace enter our dark lives with resplendent light? Does grace embolden us in our fear? Does grace strengthen the weary? Does grace bring about the reversal of all things at the final trumpet call when the beatitudes are realised? – when the poor become rich, the low lifted high, the sorrowful made glad? Is this grace more than we can expect in our lives, when everyone becomes blessed? I think all those hopes and fears are called to mind as we address our “Gracious God”, don’t you?

Amongst the maelstrom of grace, we see that we are called to “the fullness of life” – the heart of the bishop’s call to “LIFE” in her vision for the diocese and the church here in this place. We proclaim this gracious God has taken us over wholly and fills us completely. This call from God to the fullness of life is like calling upon our gracious God, isn’t it? Isn’t the call of our gracious God fraught with more difficult things than comfortable? Don’t we begin to question the excesses of our everyday expectations when we start to delve into the fullness of life? Even our celebrations of harvest last week were double edged, weren’t they? Didn’t we wonder about greed amongst plenty as we offered to God from our bounty which we donated to charity?

The fullness of life is not just about the things we have gathered around ourselves physically, is it? No, it is also the fullness of our mental life, wherein we appreciate the riches of a developed sense of self, where generosity and kindness evolve, where each of us comes to appreciate the other as the completion of him or her self. The sense of the world in which we live is more than an egocentric self, the mental health of the individual finds expression in the sociality of the person, of all the others round about each of us. This health can be seen in both negative and positive expressions. Covid and lockdown propelled our understanding of the extremes of good and ill mental health, haven’t they?

The fullness of life gives us our mental health but fullness of life, more importantly, is about the spirit. The Church has taken up the spirit as its own preserve, hasn’t it? The Church uses an extensive language of the spirit.

However, saying that the Church has its own spiritual vocabulary is not enough, is it? – We have to ask ourselves, what is ‘the spirit’ for us? For the moment, let us say the spirit is the expression of the whole of the individual. Body and mind are united in this transcendence which we call ‘the spirit’. In our prayers for others we often pray for their health in body, mind and spirit, don’t we? We are ever finding fulfilment in those intentions we have, as we hope and plan, as we enter the future, whether it be just a moment ahead or generations hence. Those intentions speak of that spirit within us, but we also find them in our recollections of the past as we knit the whole of time together in our consciousness. The spirit is our transcendent self, the self which retains and intends to make sense of life in all its fullness in time and space.

With the address to the gracious God and the acknowledgement of our final cause, if I may use that philosophical language, we have stated our hope – that life will be perfected in fullness. Then we move to the second part of the prayer, the petition – ‘deliver us from unbelief and banish our anxieties’. This is the hardest part of our prayer.

Normally we might say that we are calling for complete certainty. But I don’t think that is the case. Unbelief is not doubt, it is the opposite of belief, its negation. Even though I believe my dog loves me, there are moments when I wonder, especially when he takes off after an interesting sniff. I still believe, but there is a doubt when a treat from a stranger is more engaging than me.

It is not unbelief, is it? My belief underlies all my actions, even when there are moments which are pretty tricky. There are moments when my belief is confused, but never is there UNbelief, rather there is distraction and doubt. I am sure we have all experienced that, haven’t we? Yet still we return to the bedrock of our belief.

In our journey back we are anxious, though, aren’t we? Don’t the shadows stretch into our minds? Don’t we feel it is all too much for such a poor sinner who is awaiting the approach of that amazing grace? Anxiety is nothing new, we have lived with it since we became adults. We have been confronted with wars, cold and hot. We have been thrust into a world of ambiguity where anxiety rules. (Just think of everything we should be praying about and influencing with those petitions to God.) At the edge of the abyss, where we find ourselves all too often, especially when we have glimpsed grace in our lives, on that limit of life in all its fullness, we experience everything in a whirl, don’t we? We are in the midst of anxiety before it resolves itself into salvation and our vision of the divine.

How does this anxiety become amazing grace in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye? We are in a state of discomposure, for that maelstrom of our experience lifts us up out of banality and into a very living world. Nothing can prepare us for it. Nothing ever will. We are excited, brought to life ‘with the liberating love of Jesus Christ our Lord’. As in the first embrace of your beloved, the world is transformed, unbelief and anxiety are banished. All strain, physical and mental, dissipate. We have become ‘spiritual’ beings in that moment of love. We are free from all those awful additives of everyday life which the crowd forces upon us. We stand alone invigorated, and willing and able to transform all around us.

‘The liberating love of Jesus Christ our Lord’ brings us into the orbit of our gracious God where we are saved from the absence of belief and the void of anxiety, where fullness of life is the whole of our experience.

And so our prayer begins and ends in the loving grace of God within the great congregation – with that great

Amen

Collect

Almighty God, whose only Son has opened for us a new and living way into your presence: give us pure hearts and steadfast wills to worship you in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Merciful God, your Son came to save us and bore our sins on the cross: may we trust in your mercy and know your love, rejoicing in the righteousness that is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

My joy is gone, grief is upon me,

   my heart is sick.

Hark, the cry of my poor people

   from far and wide in the land:

‘Is the Lord not in Zion?

   Is her King not in her?’

(‘Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,

   with their foreign idols?’)

‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended,

   and we are not saved.’

For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,

   I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.

 

Is there no balm in Gilead?

   Is there no physician there?

Why then has the health of my poor people

   not been restored?

 

O that my head were a spring of water,

   and my eyes a fountain of tears,

so that I might weep day and night

   for the slain of my poor people!

Jeremiah 8.18 – 9.1

 

1  O God, the heathen have come into your heritage;

   your holy temple have they defiled

      and made Jerusalem a heap of stones.

2  The dead bodies of your servants they have given

      to be food for the birds of the air,

   and the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the field.

3  Their blood have they shed like water

      on every side of Jerusalem,

   and there was no one to bury them.

4  We have become the taunt of our neighbours,

   the scorn and derision of those that are round about us.

5  Lord, how long will you be angry, for ever?

   How long will your jealous fury blaze like fire?

6  Pour out your wrath upon the nations that have not known you,

   and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon your name.

7  For they have devoured Jacob

   and laid waste his dwelling place.

8  Remember not against us our former sins;

   let your compassion make haste to meet us,

      for we are brought very low.

9  Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name;

   deliver us, and wipe away our sins for your name’s sake.

Psalm 79:1–7

Gospel

Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.” Then the manager said to himself, “What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.” So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?” He answered, “A hundred jugs of olive oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.” Then he asked another, “And how much do you owe?” He replied, “A hundred containers of wheat.” He said to him, “Take your bill and make it eighty.” And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’

Luke 16.1–13

Remembering promises made

I vow to thee, my country

I vow to thee, my country

All earthly things above

Entire and whole and perfect

The service of my love

The love that asks no questions

The love that stands the test

That lays upon the altar

The dearest and the best

The love that never falters

The love that pays the price

The love that makes undaunted

The final sacrifice

And there’s another country

I’ve heard of long ago

Most dear to them that love her

Most great to them that know

We may (we may not count her armies)

We may (we may not see her King)

Her fortress is a faithful heart

Her pride is suffering

And soul by soul and silently

Her shining bounds increase

And her ways are ways of gentleness

And all her paths are peace

Sermon on Sunday, Trinity 14

My joy is gone, grief is upon me,

   my heart is sick.

Hark, the cry of my poor people

   from far and wide in the land:

Don’t these verses apply today? We mourn the death of the head of our state. The past few days have been full of reminiscences of the sovereign in an attempt to console ourselves.

We are in the midst of mourning for the most beloved of servants, Queen Elizabeth II. We all agree that she was the shining example of selfless service for the country. Many have told stories of meeting the Queen, and they acknowledge that the Queen had been true to her pledge of a life dedicated to caring for her people – so many have related examples of her care as she looked into their eyes. I think this also came across in all of her Christmass messages as our gazes met at the television screen.

The Queen has served us all – reigning in our hearts because she cared about each and every person she met.

The Queen is dead. Long live the King!

We now have a new national anthem. Now shouldn’t we speak of a new Carolingian Age, just as we spoke of the second Elizabethan Age in 1952? The epoch of King Charles the Third has begun. What will be the hallmarks of his reign? Charles has promised the same service to country which his mother pronounced seventy years ago and she repeated in the midst of her reign at a Jubilee. Will this Charles be a new Charlemagne? Will we call him Charles the Great? Will there be a renewal of the arts and crafts? Will there be a flourishing of scholarship and knowledge in the universities and schools? Will mercy temper justice? Will each of us attain a personal righteousness while Charles reigns over this country?

I certainly hope so. For the sake of the peace of the world, I pray that his rule will flourish with honesty and truth. I say, let there be an end to the sharp practices of the past, may the law serve all for the sake of righteousness and mercy. These are the thoughts I have as I mourn the passing of the late Queen and welcome the new King into my life.

The prophet mourns his country in our reading, but he asks most pertinent questions,

    Is there no balm in Gilead?

   Is there no physician there?

Why then has the health of my poor people

   not been restored?

What is the balm in the Gilead of this country? Who is to be our physician here and now? In this broad context of national mourning, we are looking to the King, aren’t we? We ask along with the prophet, Why do we lack true health, the wellness of body and mind, the strength of soul? We wonder as we wander along the route of the funeral cortege with the television coverage. I think we are all in a deep shock – we are not thinking straight, if at all.

So let’s turn that around. Let us start anew by thinking about the physician and the healing balm, just as the prophet does in our reading. What does a good doctor do when you visit him, or when she visits you? I think it is like Androcles and the Lion. The doctor approaches with sympathy and care, observing your pain and offers a little something to take away your hurt, something to start you on your way to a true health. Then he, like Androlocles, takes away the thorn which is sticking in you with a magic potion, that pill which is the silver bullet to solve all ills.

But is that really the healing of the nations? Doesn’t the doctor do something else? She allows you to be yourself again. When you get that, there is true health. It is not just about the extraordinary pill – the physician is treating the whole person. You remember Dr House on the television, don’t you? He was rather cynical and said all his patients lied to him. When they stopped deceiving themselves and told the truth, then they began the healing process. Of course, he was brilliant with his alchemical offerings, but the turn-around always came when the patient was able to speak truthfully about him- or her- self, when the patient did not hold onto an image of self which did not correspond to how the patient appeared before the doctors who were stumped by a set of symptoms gathered together in the life of the patient.

That Lion Androlocles healed was in the same situation. He was beyond all his handlers could do with their given methods, methods which did not include sitting quietly to see just what was wrong, waiting silently for the Lion to show just what the problem was.

The modern Hippocrates should take a leaf out of this fable. The doctor needs to give time and empathy with the hurt person. Hippocrates also said the first maxim for the doctor is “Do no harm.” What harm could there possibly be when the doctor sits and listens to the person before them?

Don’t we all want to be healed in this way? Isn’t the true balm of Gilead that caring silence of the other? It may be that the quiet solicitude of the doctor is all we need in the age of the instant, in this electronic age when apps are the fullest extent of our attention.

I look forward to seeing the eye of the King through the medium of television – I hope to catch the care he will offer to his loyal subjects. The balm is there but will all the physicians dispense it? This is not just a metaphorical question – the NHS is at the heart of so much of our worry, let alone the economy. Or shall we despair with the prophet about the restoration of the health of the people?

Will the physicians of this modern Gilead distribute the balm of healing on the people who are in such dire need of their help? We must ask the dishonest steward of the gospel reading this question, “where is the balm for Gilead?” He was entrusted in a small matter by his master, and he failed. Consequently, every one of us suffers as a result. Who will be worthy of great tasks?

I have been to two funerals this week, and this question of confidence was a very important theme. So many had confidence in the person whose life we celebrated, and we mourned wholeheartedly because of their impact on us. They were the people upon whom tasks great and small could be thrust. They were people in whom confidence has been entrusted. But they are gone now. Who will take their place? Who will be the physicians dispensing the balm to us now? I pray that King Charles, the head of the Church, will distribute that healing medicine.

Amen

Collect

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than either we desire or deserve: pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

God of constant mercy, who sent your Son to save us: remind us of your goodness, increase your grace within us, that our thankfulness may grow, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion

God of all mercy, in this eucharist you have set aside our sins and given us your healing: grant that we who are made whole in Christ may bring that healing to this broken world, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Old Testament

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

Jeremiah 18:1–11

Psalm

1    Blessed are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked,
nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the assembly of the scornful.

2    Their delight is in the law of the Lord
and they meditate on his law day and night.

3    Like a tree planted by streams of water bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither,
whatever they do, it shall prosper.

4    As for the wicked, it is not so with them;
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

5    Therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgement,
nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous.

6    For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked shall perish.

Psalm 1

Epistle

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the church in your house:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith towards the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.

For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love – and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back for ever, no longer as a slave but as more than a slave, a beloved brother – especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

Philemon 1–21

Gospel

Now large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to them, ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

Luke 14.25–33

Sermon on Sunday, Trinity 12

Last Sunday we said goodbye to Bill Boon. I think we are mourning his departure from the benefice. We have been anticipating his leaving for over a month in different ways. But now that he has left, we are bereft. Alone. And feeling our inadequacy. I myself have failed you this morning, for I have not arranged any music. So I too am in mourning. — What biblical story does all this remind you of? (Don’t worry, I had to look it up too – it comes from the gospel of John.) I am tempted to compare our experience of Bill’s departure with that of the disciples when Jesus set his face to Jerusalem, when Jesus told them in the Farewell Discourse that he was leaving them, that he was going away to the Father, that death awaited him in Jerusalem and he had to go. Don’t you think the disciples feared his departure, just as we fear for the future of the benefice?

Absence is what strikes us so palpably when we think about the vacancy in the parish. We will be without an assigned leader. We thrash about asking questions in this “inter regnum” – What are we to do? Who will tell us what we ought to do? Who will take over all those things that were automatically done in the Sharpness vicarage? So many questions are raised about the future and how our lives will be affected. – Jesus said in that story from John, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Bill also said this from time to time as well, even before he announced his own departure from us. – This gives me pause for thought – matters philosophical and theological flood into my mind and I have to ask myself difficult questions – what is the most important problem of life really? – is it making money or having a nice home? Do we pursue something intangible when we struggle for meaning in life? Should we consider our intention to grasp others lovingly in our lives? Do we reach for the divine?

When we stand at the cliff edge of absence, we are forced to confront those questions, aren’t we? These are the questions the Danish theologian Kierkegaard raised over a century ago. He wrote about the existential angst of absence. He was perplexed by the utter loneliness of being a human being. The usual perception of this quandary is totally at odds with those words Jesus used in his Farewell Discourse, “Let not your hearts be troubled.”

In my first class at university, the teacher said, “Philosophy must first consider death.” – that ultimate moment of being alone, by that abyss Kierkegaard describes. Jesus says in the gospel this morning –

Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

What do you think this means? On one level I think it points to our alienation from family and friends, estrangement from the life we all consider normal. Another aspect is the self-loathing of the ascetic, when we really don’t like ourselves at all. Another way to look at it is the solitary life which is bound to the cross. I think it can also be seen as the moment when the child becomes a singular individual, when we become mature adults. Doesn’t Jesus embrace this loneliness of faithfulness completely when he turns his face to Jerusalem?

Let’s consider Good Friday explicitly, when our Lord gave himself up to the hands of sinful men to reveal the power of God in life here and now. – I would like to say that the crucifixion of Jesus does call on all of us to confront the imminence of death so that we understand what life in all its fullness truly is. Here and now we are alive and the object of our faith has to be seen through the prism of the cross. We read in the Gospel of John, when Jesus was lifted up, when he had irrevocably gone away, then he reveals the glory of God, that he has healed the world.

I begin to wonder whether we ever take that statement seriously. Do we understand that, when Jesus was nailed to the wooden beam and roughly raised to hang in the blistering sun –that the glory of God is radiating out from the agony of that ignominious death, a death reserved for the most heinous of criminals, a death forced on men who were the lowest of the low, men held in contempt by all because of their crimes against what we all consider the normal life?

Imagine that! We human beings pass judgement on and murder the incarnation of the divine in one of the most painful and wicked ways possible, an utter destruction devised by people just like you and me. But it is transformed against all expectation by our perception. Instead of showing how wretched humanity can behave towards itself, the cross becomes the wonder of salvation. Jesus shows us life in all its fullness as the glory of God, even as it ends in his own crucifixion. We must remind ourselves that the cross becomes the way to understand life.  Jesus has foreseen the manner of his death as a revelation for those who have eyes to see. As he undergoes the end of his life, alone and solitary, offering himself up for others, he silently declares the meaning of a life lived in all its fullness.

The Church says he died for me. For the wretch I consider myself to be, just as the hymn “Amazing Grace” explicitly says. For me, who once was blind but now I see just what that death is. – It is mine own. It is up to me to live life in all its fullness, so that when I have passed others might be blessed by my spending time with them – that is something we all hope, don’t we?

Yesterday as I drove home from enjoying myself for the day, I listened to a J B Priestley play on Radio 4extra. As I heard it unfold, I was forced to consider our topic for today, our hopes for those who come after, the stuff of that Farewell Discourse from the Gospel of John.

I know that we have been blessed by the presence of Bill Boon in the last quarter century. — However, now he is absent. We must take the lessons he taught and make them our own. Bill taught us that we can stand on our own, that we can live out the christian virtues and avoid the vices which populate the circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno. Bill was only repeating Jesus’ words – he says to the generations, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” These words of Jesus should put our minds at rest, even if we think we hate our parents and siblings. We need to let all that pass away until we can stand alone and free, on the edge of Kierkegaard’s abyss.

Each one of us must struggle with that most important of philosophical problems with the same candour and passion of Jesus, just as we have to deal with the mundane decisions of our day to day lives. Whether they are large or small choices, we have to consider every moment of our time as life in all its fullness. In other words, I think each of us must contemplate the divine and come to terms with the sacred for ourselves. Each of us stands alone at that decision of faith, and we stand there at any – and every – moment of our lives.

Amen

Collect

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: graft in our hearts the love of your name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of your great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Generous God, you give us gifts and make them grow: though our faith is small as mustard seed, make it grow to your glory and the flourishing of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion

Lord God, whose Son is the true vine and the source of life, ever giving himself that the world may live: may we so receive within ourselves the power of his death and passion that, in his saving cup, we may share his glory and be made perfect in his love; for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Readings

Old Testament

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me – and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labours under the sun, because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 1.2,12–14; 2.18–23

Psalm

1    Hear this, all you peoples;
listen, all you that dwell in the world,

2    You of low or high degree,
both rich and poor together.

3    My mouth shall speak of wisdom
and my heart shall meditate on understanding.

4    I will incline my ear to a parable;
I will unfold my riddle with the lyre.

5    Why should I fear in evil days,
when the malice of my foes surrounds me,

6    Such as trust in their goods
and glory in the abundance of their riches?

7    For no one can indeed ransom another
or pay to God the price of deliverance.

8    To ransom a soul is too costly;
there is no price one could pay for it,

9    So that they might live for ever,
and never see the grave.

10    For we see that the wise die also; with the foolish and ignorant they perish
and leave their riches to others.

11    Their tomb is their home for ever, their dwelling through all generations,
though they call their lands after their own names.

12    Those who have honour, but lack understanding,
are like the beasts that perish.

Psalm 49.1–12

Epistle

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things – anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

Colossians 3.1–11

Gospel

Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’

Luke 12.13–21

Sermon on Sunday, Trinity 7

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Teacher, “All is vanity.”

We all know this saying, don’t we? We quote it when everything seems absurd, when we feel there is no sense to events around us. We express this sentiment when we are alienated from everything that once made life worth living – when we experience confusion – when we wonder why everything seems to be a chasing after wind. This, I would say, is universally human.

What is the context of this very well known quotation? I would like to take a step into Biblical Studies to think about what is called “Wisdom Literature” – and the book of Ecclesiastes from which we read this morning, is an example of this type of writing. It is not prophetic like Amos or Isaiah, nor is it history like the book of Kings or Exodus. It is not anything like the poetry of the Psalms – even though it does express itself poetically – unlike the Psalms, Ecclesiastes does not speak about God in terms of praise and thanksgiving. Rather, its purpose is like that of the book of Job – to find sense, a book in which we find very human questions expressed in simply comprehensible language. In Job, for instance, the very human problem of suffering is the focus of the whole book. Wisdom literature gives voice to the questions each of us has about the whence and whither of time and life, more often it turns to the existential question “Why? – why is there being and not nothing?” a question the philosopher asks so pointedly.

These questions confront us in those very human moments of wondering doubt, when we consider life in the concrete terms of our lives, when we question everything, especially where life in all its fullness has disappeared. Don’t we ask ourselves, “Is everything in life just our own vanity over against the world?” Our readings both ask why we do things, don’t they? – Questions, questions, questions, none of which seem to have anything to do with our everyday routine. All these questions, the majority of people don’t address at any point in their everyday lives. Perhaps they do toward the end, at retirement or in hospital in the course of a long illness, like those deathbed confessions of belief we heard of in school. We do ask these questions when there is a crisis. There is, however, no one to reply when we voice our doubts in the blackness of the dark night, as each of us stands at the edge of a decision of conscience – the choice between life in all it fullness or not, as that wonderful Welsh hymn sings, “Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide.”

This hardly known wisdom literature has been remembered and stored in the Bible to help us in these moments of dread. However, it is not at the front and centre of the great festivals of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. Rather, and I think more appropriately, the books of the wisdom literature are to be found in this great green season of Trinity – in other words, we find wisdom in “ordinary” time.

The Teacher spends all her hours in ordinary time. She wonders about the everyday and its implications for the Good, what is right, what is moral. The philosopher cogitates and eventually comes to a conclusion which everyone agrees, “is so obvious”. We all know, as Socrates was quick to elicit in his dialogues, just what we know to be good. But the philosopher wants to know why we consider this or that better than something else. – Don’t we also? Don’t we want to know with certainty why this is the Good in our lives so we might pursue it with a clear conscience vigorously? Don’t we want to live that examined life?

However, when we start on this train of self-discovery, don’t we get confused? Don’t we want to surrender our ticket and get off this express to confusion? The conformity of the everyday is much more comforting than moral certainty, much more easy than standing alone in righteousness. The express train to clarity is a singular journey, one that can be  perilously lonely. To be honest, it seems to be a trip everyone avoids, many call it a train to nowhere. We “blunder in confusion”, as the Cagdwith Anthem sings out, as we consider the vanities of our lives.

I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me – and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish?

The Teacher is non-plussed by everything around her, she asks about life and its vanity, whether all we want and do exposes our wisdom or our foolishness. Another philosopher calls life “short and brutish”, reflecting on all that hated toil undertaken in the heat of the sun, a heat we now know since we have suffered those 40°
temperatures.

We should all become pupils of this Teacher as she asks about the everyday in order to expose those deeper meanings, as the philosopher examines through the broken hammer. We all question when our worlds are torn apart by the broken-ness of something we rely on in our everyday lives. The teacher and the philosopher agree that wisdom must be pursued in order to banish vanity.

We experience this vanity now, don’t we? We see the four horsemen of the apocalypse charging through what we thought was an ordered life of commerce and ordinariness. The events of the past six months have disabused us of that vanity, haven’t they? The wars and rumours of wars of that horseman since the end of World War II should have made us question our everyday assumptions. The horseman of plagues has ridden through our lives. Covid should have put an end to our vain thoughts of what is “normal” – and yet here we are confused and asking the questions our Teacher has already posed in this wisdom literature. The horseman of famine has reared up lately, hasn’t he? And now everyone can see that final horseman of death riding the skies threatening everything people have built up. We can understand the book of Revelations quite clearly now, can’t we? – Our Lord has posed the questions as our Teacher. The four horsemen, I believe can be seen as the background for the parable of the rich man and his barns. It reflects the vanity of our ordinary way of life. That man builds barns larger and larger and yet in vain, for that very night he was taken. So it is with all of us. We fasten our claws onto the ephemeral in the vain hope that they will be eternal and, despairing, we see them pass away. We have not learned from the Teacher, have we? Are we aware of what wisdom has taught? As a society, have we heard the lessons from Wisdom herself? Whether it is from the bible or another world religion? whether it is from the Buddha or Mohammed? whether Ecclesiastes or from the lips of Jesus. Have we listened?

Let us have those eyes to see and those ears to hear what wisdom teaches are the real prizes, the reality in which we comprehend life in all its fullness as our own.

Amen