Sermon: 26th July 2009 - John 6:1-21

Before I start I'd like to refer you all, everyone who has the opportunity to listen again, to Dick's sermon on this topic. It should be on the Sunnyside website within a couple of days. Dick is exploring this story from the persepctive of Jesus being the 'new' Moses, the prophet spoken of by Moses, via the parallels between this story and the story of the Exodus - bread for the hungry, walking on water/splitting the water etc. It's worth listening to. However, I'm going to look at this story from a different perspective.

Last week I spoke about the compassion and power of Jesus,

Jesus shows that his gifts are also for the present – Jesus feeding people with physical food. And in another sign of the greater power, Jesus then walks
on water and stills the wind. Several different images of power, each time used to teach others that the kingdom of God is more powerful than the forces created by it; more powerful than ignorance, hunger, fear, natural laws, and man-made laws.

Today I want to look at the resources that are being used, particularly in the story of feeding the crowd. But first I’d like to note that this miracle is the only one that appears in all four gospels, so whatever emphasis each gospel writer puts on the story, whoever his version is aimed at, this is an important story.

Last week we read from Mark’s gospel; today we look at the version in John’s gospel, and with it to a more complex version of the story; with layer upon layer of meaning and allusions, far too much, in fact, to talk about today. And I note that we've just sung about God providing manna - food in times of need.

To stay at the simple level this is a story about the kingdom of God breaking through as Jesus meets our needs, and shows his mastery of natural laws. At the same time Jesus opens our eyes to our own resources, and the power within that.

And in among the many layers of meaning, there is also our individual response to the text, which must, because we are made in the image of God, will also influence our understanding. So may I invite you to come with me on a journey, as I look at the elements of this story as if it were a play, and what that has to say to us.

Firstly there is the time of the events – near to Passover, It’s a time when all God’s people turn to remembrance of Divine intervention in the history of the people; when God saved them from slavery in Egypt through the faithfulness of Moses. Are we intended to make that connection with Jesus as the new Moses, a prophet? Listen to Dick to find out.

Let’s look at the place. In John’s gospel this is on a mountain. Where do prophets go to reveal the power and presence of God; that’s right – mountains. Think of Elija and Elisha on Mount Carmel.

Let’s look at the characters involved and their relationship to Jesus.

The crowd. Was this only a crowd of lost and disenfranchised people looking for something that only God could provide? Or was it also a group of people seeking a political solution to their slavery? John tells us that the people followed Jesus because they saw miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. John doesn’t use words carelessly; when he used the word 'signs' it was because a sign points to something.

The healing that John speaks of is not the end in itself; all healing in the bible is only ever temporary. That doesn't stop it from being special to the person, their friends and relatives, but people still die in the end. However their healing gives them and others a foretaste of the future that we cannot see now, but believe will come, a glimpse into a future where pain and suffering is no more and our wholeness is completely restored.

The healing is a sign that points to a future when chaos and dis-order is completely over-ruled by a greater power. That is what I mean by God’s kingdom breaking through. The healing is a sign that points to Jesus being more than just an itinerant preacher. It is actually, and they are correct in this, a sign that Jesus is their king – just not in the way that they think.

This is also about power, and the use and misuse of power. Just as Jesus was encouraged, in the wilderness, to turn stones into bread for his own comfort, so the crowds here represent another temptation – to be distracted from his real mission by having human greatness thrust upon him; to accept the transient symbols of earthly power; to allow himself to be proclaimed what he was later accused of being – King of the Jews.

So, when Jesus actually performs a miracle involving bread, to feed the hungry, I can imagine a slight twinkle in an eye, and I can almost hear a voice saying, "you see, I can do it – at my will, not yours."

As a result the crowd is taught and fed, their immediate needs are met, their minds are opened; but they are not yet ready to understand everything and they are wrong in their conclusion; so Jesus makes his exit, back - to a mountain. A mountain - mentioned twice in one passage – John doesn’t waste words.

Now let’s turn to the disciples. What do they think is happening? Do they know more than the crowd? In modern management parlance – what is the learning point for them?

They are presented with a serious and apparently insoluble issue. Jesus’ words must have sounded a bit like “Houston, we have a problem” when he asked where to buy bread. Philip’s reply is not about where, but about the wherewithal – the cost. Again John is painting a subtle picture for us here. The actual cost of salvation in this gospel is far more than eight month's wages isn't it? Jesus has asked a question that has presupposed two things – firstly, that the solution is available outside the group, and secondly that it can be bought for money.

Philip’s reply is a quite straightforward answer to a question – thinking inside the box – 'we can’t do it that way.' It sets up the next statement.

Andrew’s follow-on statement is more interesting; he starts from where they are, with what they have – not a lot, but something. We then go on to read about the miracle. For now though, I wonder how often we look for outside solutions, wish for resources that we don’t have and can’t get, rather than look to the meagre resources that we do have and start from there.

If we look again at Moses, who reckoned himself to be a poor public speaker, Moses who wanted his brother Aaron to speak for him, God worked with that, took Moses from the man he was, and turned him into the man he wanted Moses to be. In this story, a few loaves and fishes become enough to meet the needs of a large number of people – the resources to feed the crowd came from the resources of the crowd.

And after people had ‘as much as they wanted’, they didn’t throw away the left-overs. This kingdom of God is not wasteful. You and I are not left-overs. All are safely gathered in – bread and fish – is this a reference to Jews and Gentiles? The analogy here is with the twelve tribes of Israel –the twelve baskets – full, ‘nothing be wasted’ – all God’s people safely together, and that after all have been fed – no-one goes hungry.

The disciples were the foil to this miracle – obedient, trusting, maybe a bit puzzled, certainly not aware of everything that was going in, but like us, learning as we go – works in progress.

There is another character that really matters in this story – one who is often ignored; the “boy with five small loaves and two small fish”. Suppose one boy had hung onto his lunch? Suppose he had decided that it would be better for him to be fed than for everyone to be hungry – after all, what difference could his small offering make to such need? Why should he give up his lunch?

Many of you will know this story, but it’s worth repeating,

A man was walking along a beach when in the distance he could see a small boy down on the shore line. As he got closer he could see thousands of starfish, washed up by an unusually strong tide, and left for dead stranded on the beach. The man paused and watched the little boy repeatedly bending down, picking each starfish up one by one and tossing it back into the water. The man approached the little boy and said “What are you doing? Stop now, you will tire yourself out, there are too many starfish stranded that you can’t make a difference here. The young boy stooped down silently, picked up another starfish and threw it back into the ocean. “It made a difference to that one” he said.”

How often do we find ourselves feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the problems we have to face, certain that we need far more than we have to make any difference at all. I find this story really challenging on that basis. We are so used to reading this story and thinking of abundance and generosity, of needs being met and wants exceeded, of Jesus the miracle-worker, showing us the kingdom breaking through, bringing wholeness and peace and the promise of eternity. And yet, isn’t it really easy to see this in terms of someone else doing something else to make things right for us? Isn’t that what the crowd wanted?

How often do we have the courage to work with God, to provide the loaves and fishes for the banquet? How often do we let our own doubts and fears stop us from looking to our own resources first to solve problems.

And, as I look through the glass door to the hall beyond, I ask, - how often, when we do start something in faith, do we find that the abundance and love of God overflows and leaves us with far more than we could have hoped for?

Here is another quote to close with,

What are you waiting for?
I’m waiting for my lottery numbers to come up.
I’m waiting for my children to grow up.
I’m waiting for the weather to change.
I’m waiting for him to say sorry.
I’m waiting for George to lend me a stepladder.
I’m waiting for the government to make a decision.
I’m waiting for the phone to ring.
I’m waiting for the fashion to change.
I’m waiting for the council to ‘do something.’
I’m waiting for a miracle.
I’m waiting for someone else to bring the bread.

Sermon: 12th July 2009 - Ephesians 1:3-14

You can listen to this here (which just proves that I don't always say exactly what I write...)

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified: hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people, that in their vocation and ministry each may serve you in holiness and truth to the glory of your name; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

God’s love is a freely given gift of grace, and we choose whether and how to respond to it.

A year ago I stood here and told you about a big thing that I had done some 25 years earlier (a parachute jump), and I reflected on the bigger thing that I had done the previous week (being ordained as a deacon). Doesn’t time fly?

Today I look back at that bigger thing, and think about the even bigger thing that I was blessed with last Saturday, in responding to God’s call on my life (being ordained as a deacon). That blessing was in the form of the Holy Spirit being called to guide and support me in my work as a priest. And I’m very grateful to have that help, because life without God is like living in black and white compared to the full colour and glory of life with God.

But today, I’m looking out at all of you here, and thanking God for every one of you that has also chosen to accept the call on your lives from God; to become part of Christ’s Church here in this place, and to share the love of God with each other and with those who do not yet know God.

Each one of us has a part to play in God’s plan. Each one of us, as we have heard in our Collect prayer today, has a vocation and ministry to serve you in holiness and truth. And every one of us as the Ephesians passage tells us is, “blessed in the heavenly realm with every spiritual blessing in Christ”

In Psalm 8 we read that God has made us for himself; ‘a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned with glory and honour.’

Ephesians, this passage that is a song of praise to God for what he has done for us, tells us that were chosen, before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless; that we were pre-destined (chosen) to be adopted into God’s family. Were you listening two weeks ago to Bishop John Taylor when he talked about the responsibility of the redeemer - the family member who will come to our rescue when we are in trouble, the one who pays our debts to keep us out of jail, the one who takes us into their family if we are orphaned?

That description reminded me of something that happened in Bishops Stortford when my own children were very young.

The parents of a family of young boys were killed in a car crash, and their sons were orphaned. The boys had been staying with their best friends, also a family of boys. The parents then cared for them during the immediate aftermath, and eventually adopted them, bringing up all the boys together as one family. That’s redemption; that’s love in action – our call to care for the widow and the orphan.

We are adopted into God’s family, when we believe and are baptised, we become part of that family. It’s a family bound together by love. It’s a family that is given remarkable gifts by the Holy Spirit. It’s a family that relishes good things.

Look at some of the words used in this reading:

Holy, blameless, praise, blessing, pleasure, glory, grace (freely given), chosen, included. Get the picture?

This is a free gift to us, yet expensively given by God – our sins are forgiven, “in accordance with the richness of God’s grace”.

No more guilt, no more fear; we are loved, we are safe in that love, safe in that family. Whatever happens to us in our lives, and it doesn't mean that we will be protected from living the same kind of lives as other people... if we are in that relationship with God, we have that support, strength and comfort. Most, if not all of us here today have accepted that gift, and our own experience shows us the truth of the promise. Why not talk to each other afterwards and share just one thing you have experienced as a member of God’s family? Have a look at the board outside and see how the family of the church has nurtured and sustained people’s faith in this place.

Many of us have gone beyond simple acceptance of the gift. We have allowed it to work in us; we have also listened to God’s call on our lives, and have found great joy in working to fulfil that calling – whether inside the church doing the jobs that maintain this community, or outside the church in working and social relationships that show God’s love in action in the world.

I am thankful for all those cards on the board outside, and for all the stories not told, for every one of you, and for those who can’t get to Morning Prayer in the church, you might be glad to know that the sound of the trains often prompts us to pray for the work of each and every member here, both inside the church community and outside in the world.

And yet, there are people who do not know that; people who are seeking answers to questions they can’t even frame – that vague feeling of dis-ease and dis-satisfacton that permeates our culture today.

I was at a conference yesterday where the Canon Robin Brown, who wrote the ‘Growing Together in Christ’ course, spoke of the difference between our society and the world of the people who wrote the Psalms. He said that today our big question is ‘Does God exist? We see that questioning in the recent debates about bus advertising, and the current posters for Alpha – there are some in this church.

Robin then said that in the days of the Psalmists there was no doubt about the existence of God, but there was debate about the goodness of God. Is God good? Does God care about me? People felt able to be honest before God and to challenge the unfairness they found in their lives. Psalm 22 was quoted by Jesus on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” They were able to be honest and to work through their fears and furies; the last four Psalms are all Psalms of praise.

Robin makes some good points, but I’m not entirely convinced that the division between then and now is quite so clear-cut. I wonder whether some of the militant atheism that we see around us today is really a concealed fear that God does exist, but is really,

“an unpleasant character… jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynist, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully” – to quote Richard Dawkins.

You will be glad to know that Dawkins also states that this is a fictional description. And to be honest, if this was my experience of God, I wouldn’t want to worship God, and I probably would prefer not to believe – rather like a child covering their eyes and pretending that if they can’t see you, you can’t see them.

(However, as anyone who has tried that with a child over about 8 weeks knows, the child also knows that it isn’t true, because they giggle when you put your hands down – they share the joke.)

I suspect, but I can’t prove it, that a lot of people who say they don’t believe in God are still willing to accept that they are spiritual people, that there is an extra dimension to that expressed by science and logic – something known, something understood, rather than something that can be weighed and measured.

I suspect, though I can’t prove it, that there are people who come across as hard-bitten and cynical, who would love to absorb and respond to the message that is in today’s reading, that God’s love is freely given, a gift of grace, undeserved and unearned, a mystery. I wonder though if they are afraid that God isn’t big enough, loving enough, if they are not good enough to benefit from such a gift.

And I also think, and this is the challenge for us, that Paul was entirely truthful when he wrote, cognisant of the mystery that is God’s will, that God’s purpose is “to bring all things in heaven and on earth together”. All things. All things in heaven and on earth.

By our baptism we are members together, we are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit; we belong to Christ. Our inheritance is guaranteed.

If God’s love is a freely given gift of grace, and if there is more than enough to go round, what is our role in helping others to hear that good news for themselves? What is God calling us to do? What gifts are we being called to exercise in his name? What decisions are we being asked to make? What response is appropriate to this word that we have heard today?

I’d like to do a small experiment now.

In a minute I’d everyone to sit quietly and to close their eyes, and then to listen, quietly, to see what God’s Holy Spirit saying to you? I’m not going to ask for direct responses today – that’s something that you might like to share in your house-groups, or to pray with other people about after the service.

Let’s be silent now and listen to God.

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified: hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people, that in their vocation and ministry each may serve you in holiness and truth to the glory of your name; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Sermon: 19th July 2009 - Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
The television programme, Antiques Roadshow has been running for many years, and remains endlessly fascinating. People queue for hours to discover something unknown about a familiar object, possibly also hoping that the item will may also be valuable; and we watch their reactions with vicarious pleasure. My brother once queued with a pair of Victorian bronze vases, owned by my mother, to be told that he held… a pair of Victorian bronze vases; apparently they are very common items.

One of the things I have learned through watching the programme is that old pictures in shoddy cheap frames are seldom valuable; and that a high quality old frame is seldom wasted on a bad picture. So a frame provides clues to the picture and vice versa.

Today’s readings from the gospel of Mark form part of a set of stories that demonstrate who Jesus is, and people’s dawning understanding of his love, compassion and power. The extracts for today frame two demonstrations of Jesus’ power; feeding the needy - five thousand of them, and bringing calm - walking on the water and stilling the wind. Both of these show Jesus bringing nature and natural laws under his command. But today, we are not looking at the picture in the centre; we are looking at the frame – the parts of the story that are easy to miss when we focus on the well-known and the familiar.

In the first extract we learn something of Jesus’ character and motivation. He has compassion on the people. That phrase, ‘having compassion’ was brought home to me when I visited St Paul’s Cathedral and saw an amazing painting. Not ‘The Light of the World’ by Holman Hunt – that left me cold.

No, the picture I saw was called Golgotha, and it was painted by SERGEI CHEPIK, a Russian artist. It was on loan to the Cathedral, and proved so popular that when it was removed Sergei Chepik was commissioned to paint a series of bible stories, which now hang in the main transept. But you do need to look up or you might miss them.

Golgotha's originality lies in the fact that Christ is represented only in the
shadow of the cross. The viewer therefore finds himself in the position of the
crucified, confronted by a crowd of onlookers, whose expressions run from horror
and pity to contempt and disbelief. The stifling midday sun and oppressive walls
of the ancient city create an almost unbearable claustrophobia. Its impact is
breathtaking. (Guardian 1999)

I would second that. When I saw the picture, I stood in front of it, transfixed. The artist enabled me to see humanity as Jesus saw it; and it brought tears to my eyes. It is hard to look on needy people and not be moved – we all know that from the Live Aid concerts.

Jesus looked on a crowd of needy people, people without the guidance, direction and care that they needed, and we are told that he had compassion. Interestingly, he didn’t initially offer to heal them; the first thing that came out of that compassion was that he taught them. He started to give them the tools to care for themselves in the future.

That’s a good model for us to follow - xxxxx xxxx does that when she travels to places like Bangladesh and Angola. She doesn’t just make physical aids for the disabled; she shows and teaches then how to do it for themselves so that after she has left they can carry on with the work for themselves. She helps them, and she teaches them to help themselves.

And in among all these needy people in our story were the disciples; also needing to learn, and watching Jesus, learning from his actions; the way that he offered himself and his presence to those in need. I remember some training that I did – about adult learning and how to train people in the workplace. One of the methods used is called, “Sitting next to Nellie”. If you have someone who knows how to do the job properly, sit the trainees next to them. That’s more or less what the disciples were doing at this point, and what must they have been learning as they watched the master? Sitting next to Jesus?

We then have the main picture, and Jesus shows that his gifts are also for the present – Jesus feeding people with physical food. And in another sign of the greater power, Jesus then walks on water and stills the wind. Several different images of power, each time used to teach others that the kingdom of God is more powerful than the forces created by it; more powerful than ignorance, hunger, fear, natural laws, and man-made laws.

And at the bottom of the picture, back to the frame, just beyond the point at which we would normally stop reading… we see that word has spread, and people are running to meet Jesus. They just can’t get to him quickly enough, and everywhere he goes people bring their sick to be healed. They placed the sick in the marketplaces; they didn’t keep them away, as ritually unclean, suddenly the sick were in the middle of crowds of people, and crowds were struggling to get to Jesus, to touch the hem of his cloak – to make him ritually unclean too. But even the hem of his cloak, the edge of his being, was enough to heal. Not just broken and damaged people, but also to begin healig a fractured and divided society.

All this ‘uncleanness’, and all this healing were mixed in together in a crazy chaotic muddle. God’s kingdom was breaking through and order was turned upside down. Can you imagine the noise and the crowds, and the excitement? No wonder the authorities were worried. And this, of course, is only a part of it, only the frame to the picture, and even with the rest of the stories included, it’s still only a glimpse of the full glory to come, the resurrection and our salvation.

Sometimes you just know when something is valuable. You don’t need an expert and a television camera to tell you. We place huge store on ‘things’, in our lives. And yet, when you ask people what would be the one thing they would save from their homes in the event of a fire, they will almost always want to caveat the choice with, “Once I knew my family were safe” before they run back for the photo albums, or something that reminds them of precious relationships. It certainly won’t be the silver fish knives, or a pair of Victorian bronze vases.

Those people on the shores of Lake Galilee, desperate for the love of God in their lives were the same people that Jesus looked down on from the cross. The same people from whom he chose his disciples, ordinary, confused, sometimes lost, looking for the right way and for guidance, sometimes getting life right, sometimes wondering why things have gone so horribly wrong. They represent you and me.

But we don’t have to run to catch Jesus before he moves on, We are the other side of that story, we are outside the frame looking in at a story that has the most joyful of endings; the resurrection, our salvation, our membership of a life with Christ. We are no longer unclean; we no longer have to reach to touch the edge of his cloak because we are one with Christ.

I’d be interested to see what value Antiques Roadshow would place on that.