Sermon: 25th October 2009 - Mark 10:46-52

There is a sermon that I haven't preached. In fact I haven't written it down. It is about Plato and Socrates and Timaeus and tektons approaching death, and was triggered by a sceptical commmentary on Mark's gospel. However, to write it would only be an academic exercise and the true value of any sermon is that itch transmitted to others; the challenge to think differently, or to allow God's grace to reassure and to comfort, or to take our understanding and worship to new places.

Today I spoke most of what is written here, but the writing was unomfortable. I felt called to say it, but concerned about the reaction of the listeners. When discussing it with my partner I kept getting the advice, "Don't talk about that. Talk about Bartimaeus." Not much reassurance there. To re-balance the advice, the response was, "Don't know what you were worried about - that was fine." I smiled.

So I wrote and I spoke, and people were gracious. It provoked discussion, as I thought it might, but people were more positively inclined than I expected. See what you think?

(By the way, few sermons have been posted recently; that is simply a feature of a busy life. I won't promise that will change any time soon.)

My grandfather was deaf. He wore a hearing aid, and when he didn’t want to hear what was being said he would turn it off, lean back in his chair and close his eyes. “There’s none so deaf as those who don’t want to hear” was a phrase I heard many times in my childhood. And I would add, “nor so blind as those who do not want to see.” My grandfather wasn’t the only person that this could be said of. I think it's a family trait; it applies to all the members of my family - my Chritian family that is.

So today, the last Sunday before we start the countdown to Advent, we are coming towards the end of the church year and our series on Mark’s gospel. The big question that permeates Mark’s gospel is ‘Who is this man?’ And we, the reader, know who this is because Mark has told us in the first lines of the gospel, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God’. So, to paraphrase Rolf Harris, “Can you see who it is yet?”

The disciples couldn’t see who Jesus was at first, although they knew he was special enough to leave their previous lives and follow him. They didn’t have the advantage of the first sentence of the gospel so they had to work it out as they went along. But we’re now quite a long way along the story. The transfiguration has revealed who Jesus is, and they are able to see, albeit not quite as clearly as they will later on. As a way of illustrating this we have read the healing of the blind man in two stages – remember he could see men walking ‘like trees’ first, then he could see clearly. That’s where we are in the journey.

Jesus has been touring the Judean desert and the Jordan, teaching and healing, and he is now returning, with a multitude of people, from Jericho, uphill on his final journey to Passover in Jerusalem – via the Mount of Olives on Palm Sunday, about 8 hours walk away. The question remains, “Who is this man?” It’s decision time. Some people are afraid because they hear Jesus talk of being killed. Some, like James and John, want a share in the glory – few people see clearly that this man is their hope.

And then the crowd passes a blind beggar and we discover again that it is the people with less invested in society; those for whom the world isn’t a place of bounty and reward, who are best able to deal with that dissonance – that difference between the Messiah they expect, and the man walking uphill on a hot day. I wonder if it’s easier to challenge when there’s less to lose from the status quo? Is that, perhaps, a challenge for us today?

So what is special about this beggar on the side of the road?

He recognises who Jesus is and he calls him by a name that shows his insight. He calls him “Son of David”. He also addresses Jesus as “Rabboni”. The only other place we hear that name is when Mary Magdalen meets the risen Jesus in the garden. This blind man can see who Jesus is, he believes Jesus can help him, and he’s ready to accept that grace. When Jesus calls him, he throws his cloak aside. He left what he had to come to meet Jesus, just as the disciples left their nets when they were called – so unlike the rich man in the previous story, who went away rich, but sad.

When Jesus asks the beggar the same question that he asked the rich man, ‘What do you want?’ the man answers, “I want to see”. I think he can already see better than most.

He makes his request and he’s healed; and then we see that he really has understood. He doesn’t then go back to his life as a beggar, or go on a different journey. He throws in his lot with Jesus and follows him along the road – the road that leads to the cross and the resurrection.
This fulfils the prophecies in

Isaiah 29:18 “In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of
gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.”

Isaiah 35:5-6 “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the
deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue
shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the
desert.”

Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD
has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the
broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness
for the prisoners.”

So we have a blind man healed, following Jesus. What has it got to do with us?

Well, there are two points for us all to think about today, because like Bartimaeus, once we recognise Jesus as divine, we have to start to make making choices. When we accept the forgiveness, compassion, love and mercy that sets us free, and make our relationship with Jesus a priority, the priority in our lives, we then set out, like Bartimaeus, on a journey with Jesus that will last for the rest of our lives.

Part of that is about learning about God’s will for this world. It can be very easy to see our faith as a kind of bubble that is all about us – but you know that's not true.
Because when we start to read God’s word in Scripture, we find that the sentences that we can so easily gloss over, actually speak of major themes in God’s will. The one passage of Scripture

that we hear of Jesus reading is that last one from Isaiah – let’s look at it
again from Luke 4:18. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed
me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for
the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the
oppressed.”

Themes of justice, a preferential option for the poor, unity, release from oppression, care for the vulnerable, care for creation run through the Bible, and we are challenged to notice, and to act.
We saw the video clip earlier, about Advent Conspiracy, that ministry to provide clean drinking water to villages around the world, which will help save thousands of lives, and I’m challenged by that. As a staff team we are also thinking about what we could do in place of our Secret Santa this year – we’ll let you know what we decide J. I hope it challenges you too, and no, I’m not going to tell you what you should do – other than remind you of the four themes, and suggest that you commit the idea to prayer:

• Worship Fully
• Spend Less
• Give More
• Love All

I’ve talked about the decision point, and about God’s will expressed in Scripture, and there is another point that this story draws out for me.

This is about personal salvation, through faith, but not just about an individual decision. Bartimaeus joined ‘the way’ – the group of people that were followers of Jesus. Just as in marriage, so it is in church, the decision and the commitment is yours and yours alone, but you can’t do it on your own. Christianity is a corporate religion – Christ didn’t die for himself – he died for us – as individuals and as a group, even for those whose views we might find distasteful.

We commit, when we are baptised and confirmed, to membership of the group that is Church – this church, the Church of England – with its diversity of people and its inheritance of faith seeking understanding. And within the Church of England we are also part of the mainstream churches through history, with direct links to those Apostles on the Jericho Road, through the orders of ministry from those earliest days.

We share agreements with the Orthodox and Catholic Churches of the East and West, we recognise each other’s Baptism. Despite this week’s controversy over the Roman Catholic Church offering a home for disaffected Anglicans we do try to stand together. We share the same Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the 10 Commandments, many of the same books of the Bible – and that, despite centuries of cultural difference and interpretation.

We are in full communion with the Methodists and United Reform Churches, and through the Anglican Communion we share our faith with millions of Christians throughout the world. We will say later, “This is our faith.” All the churches I’ve mentioned share that faith.

We’re going to use Eucharistic Prayer B today – of the 8 Eucharistic prayers available to us, this one is based on the oldest known communion liturgy from the second century. This is the prayer of the church that was founded by the Apostles, which would have included people like the grandchildren of Bartimaeus, those who said almost the same words in another language – it is their gift to us. We are using this today as a way of reminding us that we are members of the church of Christ throughout the ages.

We also share much with members of many dissenting churches. I find it possible to worship as a guest in a Baptist Church even though I’m aware of some important differences in doctrine (we don’t yet recognise each other’s baptism) because I know that we are worshipping the trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is more to unite us than to divide us, and for millions of people, not just those alive today, but those who have lived before us, we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

So when we come onto our Eucharistic Prayer, and we finally reach the sentence, “We break this bread to share in one body”, our reply is “Though we are many, we are one body because we all share in the one bread” that ‘one body’ does not mean any one of us as a blind individual.

This is a corporate act of committed people, joined in faith in the resurrected Jesus, and we welcome those who are visitors from other church backgrounds as well as those who are taking communion prior to confirmation, to join us as that one body, one family today.

When we finally answer that question, “Can you see who it is yet?” and answer 'Yes', our world changes, and we see, not in monochrome but glorious colour.

As we approach communion as the community that is church, maybe we could all still our thoughts and our hearts as we share the words prayed by so many Christians through so many centuries that tell the story and give thanks for our salvation through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

Sermon: 6th September 2009 - Mark 7:24-37

Hearing Dogs for the Deaf - that is the charity that the children in the church chose to support and raise funds for between now and Christmas, as a result of their own study of this passage. It was amusing and moving when they reported back at the end of the service, as this decision manages to combine both stories in a creative and useful way to benefit others. Oh what we learn from children!

Here is my less adequate take on the text.

Last week we read the first part of Chapter 7 of Mark’s gospel, which was ostensibly about hand-washing, and this week we follow on from that with a story of Jesus insulting a Gentile woman and then healing two Gentiles.

Last week I talked about this part of Mark’s gospel showing us the progression of Jesus’ mission, through unclean hands to unclean people i.e. Gentiles, and I suggested that Jesus was saying that even Gentiles are acceptable to God; that although the passage seemed to be an argument about man-made tradition and God’s law, it was actually about more than hand-washing – it was about the overflowing love that includes us in God’s salvation plan – love in action.

Today I want to talk a bit more about that, and to show that this passage today is also about abundance.

Before I move on to look at the specifics of this story, I’d like to take a helicopter view of this part of Mark’s gospel, and you might find it easier to follow if you have your bible open.

I see this story as part of a set that starts at Mark 6:34, where Jesus feeds five thousand. The story implies that these are Jewish people, and the twelve baskets left over is enough, symbolically, for the twelve tribes of Israel to have one basket each. The generosity is overflowing and there is plenty to go around. While we may feel uncomfortable with that, I think the message here is clearly that Jesus has come to feed the Jews.

In the next instalment, in Chapter 7, the boundaries between clean and unclean, Jew and Gentile start to dissolve. The overflowing generosity, grace and love that God has for humanity is there to feed, firstly the Jews, but is now starting to include Gentiles, and purity becomes something that we reflect because our hearts are engaged, rather than simply because we are told what to do. This is the moment when our story, our Gentile story, is grafted into the history of the Jews to become the history of humanity.

Moving swiftly on we see today’s story of healing two Gentiles, and then to come - another story of feeding – this time of four thousand, many of who would have been Gentiles, with seven baskets of food left over. The boundaries of love are overflowing.

Coming back down to earth, today’s story shows the beginning of God’s direct mission to the Gentiles.

Jesus had moved into Gentile territory – north to Tyre – 40 miles north-west of Capernaum. (Sidon is another 26 miles north-east of Tyre). Jesus was a long way from Galilee, well into Gentile territory. Despite his attempts to travel quietly, his fame had spread and a Greek woman heard of his healing ministry and came looking for him.

Tyre was wealthy. She was probably better educated and from a higher social class than Jesus so for her to seek him out would have been socially unacceptable to her. Likewise, as a Jew, Jesus would not have been expected to speak to her because she was Gentile, a woman, and she had a demon-possessed daughter – contact with any one of those three would have made him ritually unclean – put all three together and you can see that Mark is making a powerful point about breaking down barriers.

Yet, her need was great. Her love was great. Her daughter was ill, and she loved her daughter and wanted her to be well. She was helpless to change the situation in her own strength, and she was willing to do whatever was necessary to make her daughter well. She had heard of Jesus and she wanted him to heal her daughter. So she came to visit Jesus and she fell at his feet. She begged him to heal her daughter. As in other healing stories, Jesus didn’t turn her away, but he did point out that he needed to feed the children first- in other words, his mission was firstly to the Jews, not to her.

I think Jesus was quite rude. Some preachers and commentators have tried to dilute what Jesus said by saying he had a twinkle in his eye, or that the word he used actually meant pet dogs rather than wild dogs (which it did). Yet we know that ‘dog’ remains an insult in Middle Eastern countries to this day, and we have similar terms of abuse in our own society. I struggle to see how this was anything less than an insult, and I think it is important to the story that we recognise this.

Because this woman was not one of the Pharisees and teachers of the law that we read about last week, and she was not going to be diverted by outward appearances, even by Jesus’ language. She didn’t hear the words at face value and go away insulted. This wasn’t about her pride, her ego, her view of herself – if it were, would she have been kneeling at the feet of a Jewish artisan preacher?

The woman didn’t want words; she wanted the active love that would express itself in healing for the person she loved. She knew what she wanted and she hoped and trusted that Jesus could supply it.

She didn’t argue about whether or not it was fair for God to choose to favour the Jews. We know from Genesis 18:18 that Abraham was promised that through him all the nations would be blessed. Her reply assumed that generosity, and she used words in response, but turning the argument to her favour.

Like the Samaritan woman by the well in another story, she had a quick mind and was able to reply with an intelligent and reasoned argument – “- isn’t there enough for everyone? Even the left-over’s would be enough?” And of course, the answer was yes. God’s overflowing abundant love was sufficient – it wasn’t rationed, and in trust she was able to go home and find that her daughter had been healed. Her loving heart and the loving heart of God were in tune.

The second story tells of a deaf man being healed, again in Gentile territory, this itme further south in the Decapolis (the ten cities) and draws our attention to another theme that runs through Mark – that of hearing.

In Mark 4:9, Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." The disciples struggled to really hear, to understand what was happening. And here we have a story of a deaf man being healed. Jesus healed his hearing, and enabling him to speak. Here we have a story of God teaching the Gentiles to hear, through the healing work of Jesus. That is what God does for all of us when we are prepared to listen. Do we then go on to speak clearly – to share what we have heard?

The Syrophoenician woman heard that Jesus was nearby and responded quickly – in contrast to those at the centre of Judaism, she was able to listen and to hear, and then to act on what she had heard.There are echoes of the reading today in our prayer of humble access, when we say, “we are not worthy even to eat the crumbs from under your table”. This is a simple statement of fact. In our own right we are not worthy; nothing we have gained is because we are intrinsically good enough, but because of the overflowing love that God has for us, the salvation that Jesus achieved for us, the resurrection that we are a part of through our faith.

It is our faith that ensures we, Gentiles, have a place at the table; it is our faith that has made us a part of the family. And it is our faith that encourages us to go and tell other people about this wonderful love, and offer them the chance to sit at the table and eat, because God’s love is not limited to us, any more than it was limited to the Jews; it is abundant and overflowing, and there is plenty to go round. All we have to do is have faith, then come and eat.

Sermon: 30th August - Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23

"The law and the heart - are they really opposites?"

We are celebrating a communion service today, so you will be relieved to know that I have washed my hands, and will apply an alcohol gel rub before touching the bread.

I am doing this for two reasons; one is that I have been recommended to behave like this by the Bishop of St Albans, and I have taken a canonical oath to obey all lawful commands that he gives me. This isn’t actually a command as such, but the principle will do for the purposes of this sermon. The other reason is that I don’t want to pass on any germs to you, and you might be interested to know that I used alcohol gel before the recommendation was made.

So today’s reading, which appears to be about hand-washing, is quite apt, isn’t it? Or is it?
On the surface this seems to be a debate about tradition versus the law of God, and which one is being treated as most important by the Pharisees and teachers of the law. It seems to be about hand-washing.

However, below the surface is a broader debate about the place of Gentiles in the new order that our Lord is inaugurating. One church, one faith, one Lord.

I think this is a question about why Gentiles are eating with the Jews, and what it means for Jews and for the followers of Jesus. The passage clearly states that all Jews, not just Pharisees, washed their hands. Yet there are people present who have not washed. This suggests that there are Gentiles present and it is this ritual uncleanness created by association with the ‘unclean’ that is being challenged – Jesus is eating with Gentiles.

Why does that matter? We know from other gospel accounts that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners so we are not surprised. But to the teachers (and upholder remember) of the law, those who are fulfilling the commands in Deuteronomy 4 to teach the laws and decrees to their children, this was cause for concern.

It must have seemed as if Jesus was breaking the laws that God had given. We know from Matthew 5:17 that Jesus was sent, not to abolish the law, but to fulfil it, but they didn’t know that.

So here we find Jesus, expanding his ministry from the Jews alone to include Gentiles – something that the Jewish leaders would only have expected at the last times when all the nations were expected to flock to Jerusalem. The clues are there, but they do not see who they are talking to.

We look back with 20/20 hindsight so must avoid the temptation to look down on those teachers and preachers who were so tied up with their own task that they didn’t recognise that Jesus had a greater task; that he was the very person they had been praying for.

Mark’s gospel is written in the context of an expanding church, one in which Gentiles were welcomed, as we are now. The fact that Mark has included a comment to explain the Jewish custom of washing suggests that the original audience for this gospel included people who were not familiar with Jewish customs, i.e. Gentile – people like you and me in fact, although I hope we do wash our hands!

I think Mark was trying to say to his Gentile readers – “see, Jesus intended you to be part of his plan, part of his kingdom. All that anyone has to do is repent and believe in Jesus as the Son of God.” Jesus fulfilled the law, and we are the beneficiaries of that. We can be and are a part of it. One church, one faith, one Lord.

But the time that is being written about this hasn’t yet happened. So we have some 20/20 hindsight being applied to this story. That inclusion now of Gentiles is, I think, what Jesus is talking about when he appears to be challenging the purity laws of Leviticus 11 (which is about what kind of living creatures Jews may eat). In this part of the story I think Jesus is using a picture to make a point. He says “Nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him… it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean” – in other words, returning to a point we make frequently, action not feeling is what matters.

We know we are saved by faith, but the epistle from James tells us that faith without deeds is dead. Our behaviour, our actions tell who we are.

As I read this I was reminded forcefully of Mark 12:30-31 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.", and of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians where he speaks of the need for love.

Paul says, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal… Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Compare that list to the list of unclean outpourings that Jesus lists, every one of which is some kind of perversion of love, “evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly”. Most of those are actions too, and they demonstrate how far we fall short of selfless love of God and our neighbour.

I think that Jesus is telling us once again that love, selfless love as he modelled it, is a verb not an intention or a feeling; it is the spirit of love living in us, outworking in our lives that identifies us with God, it is the outpouring of that love in caring action for others that shows us to be one with him in the kingdom.

So what does this have to do with hand-washing?

The Jews had a tradition of washing, which was sensible hygiene practise for people who lived in a hot country where water was scarce, in the days before refrigerators and antibiotics. Jesus isn’t criticising them for holding on to their traditions; he effectively says, as Morna Hooker puts it, “you are so concerned with keeping the letter of the law that you have forgotten the other side of it, the spirit of the law.” I believe the first flows from the second, that the action flows from the change in heart.

For the ignorant, uneducated, or just plain ‘ornery among us the letter of the law is all we have, and whether we agree with individual laws or not, blind obedience is better for our society in many cases than blind disobedience. We too had better wash our hands and wear aprons because the kitchen regulations say we must.

Most dangerous though is the person who may not bother to wash their hands unless someone else is watching – who rejects the spirit and the letter of the law - after all it is simply legalistic nonsense, the nanny state in action…

For those of us who love and care for our fellow humans, and who want to serve them in our shared newness of life through Christ, we want to wash our hands because, understanding the way that disease is spread, we don’t want to make another person ill. One is done from ignorance, the other from a heart of love.

As Gentile inheritors of Christ’s love for all humanity, let us all remember that the heart and the law of God work together to show us how to live in loving, active relationship with each other as one church, one faith, one Lord.

Sermon: 16th August 2009 - Baptism

Yesterday I performed my first Baptism at the 'little' church at Bourne End - St John's. I really enjoyed the experience and the service, and remain in a state of wonder that I have been fortunate enough to find myself in this role.

You might wonder why, over a year after being ordained as a deacon, and almost a month after being ordained as a priest, this is my first Baptism (the second is next week at the 'big' church - Sunnyside)

As an evangelical church we don't get lots of requests for baptisms, probably because we ask families to study a 6 week course so that they understand what they are asking for and committing to. If people want to have the ceremony with perhaps, less of an overt commitment for the time being, there are other Anglican churches locally that will help them.

This sermon may sound very familiar. It is. It is based quite closely on the Pastoral Introduction to the Baptism Service, and I have also used an idea I found elsewhere. We didn't have room to include the Pastoral Introduction on the Service Sheet, or the Notice Sheet so it was missed off. There was an argument that to include it would be too 'wordy'.

When I read through the final version of the service that we had printed, I noticed that for an unchurched person, they would leave the church knowing no more about our rather strange customs than when they arrived. This seemed wrong, especially for a church that does explain things.

The other aspect of this decision was that the lectionary reading called for an explantion of transubstantion/communion in Anglican terms, and this again seemed inappropriate for unchurched listeners. If they don't understand Baptism, how can I build on that to explain the Eucharist?

The reasons are above. The text is below. The outcome was that two long-standing members of the regular congregation said that they had never heard such a clear explanation of Baptism in their lives, and that some gaps in their understanding had been filled. Which just goes to show that liturgy teaches (one of my hobby horses!) and that sometimes plagiarism can be a positive thing :-) Thank you to the Archbishop's Council for providing these words that I have adapted.

Let us pray: May the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts be now and always acceptable in your sight, O Lord our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

In Hertfordshire it is possible to book a civil ‘naming ceremony’ through the staff of the Registration Service. It costs about £250, and provides a setting in which a family can make promises of commitment to a child. To quote from the publicity, “it has no legal standing, is unconnected with birth registration, cannot be used to change a child’s name and there is no religious content to a ceremony. The certificate issued at a ceremony cannot be used as for identification purposes nor are the promises made legally binding on those that make them.” Despite all the things that it is not, it seems to be based on the Baptism service, and I think that underlines the need we have to celebrate and mark the importance of a child in our lives, and the importance of promises in our lives, even for those with no religious faith.

This is not a naming ceremony, (and there is no charge). This ceremony is a Baptism, and yes, it is about celebration and promises, but it is much more than simply that. The entry in the church register afterwards will confirm this baptism has taken place, and that entry has legal standing.

The Baptism itself, with water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is a sign that is recognised by every mainstream Christian church throughout the world – Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, United Reform, Methodist. Baptism in one is valid in all.

For all of us, Baptism marks the beginning of a journey with God which continues for the rest of our lives, the first step in our response to God's love.

In baptism, you as parents are thanking God for the gift of Louie’s life, deciding to start him on the journey of faith and asking for the Church's support.

As Godparents, you will speak on behalf of Louie during the baptism service itself and have also promised to support Anthony and Claire in bringing the child up as a Christian within the family of the Church, so that in due course, he will confirm this faith for himself, come to confirmation and take his place as a full member of the Anglican Church.

It is as if you have put a sum of money into a bank account for Louie, and over the years to come you have the responsibility of helping him to look after it, and teaching him how to manage that until the time that he can take over responsibility for the account himself.

You have all made a public statement of renunciation of the devil and all that is evil and declare that you turn to Christ, and shortly, with the rest of the congregation you will make a declaration of Christian faith based on the ancient statement of Christian belief called the ‘Apostles’ Creed’.

For everyone involved, particularly the candidate but also parents, godparents and sponsors, it is a joyful moment when we rejoice in what God has done for us in Christ, making serious promises and declaring our shared faith.

The service itself paints many vivid pictures in symbols and signs of what happens on the Christian way.

We pray that God will use the water of baptism to cleanse Louie from sin and give him new life as part of His people. What does this word 'sin' mean?

(Here I did a visual illustration of sin/salvation using a handkerchief and some very dirty water, showing us being washed clean by baptism)

Baptism represents our 'drowning' in the water of baptism, where we believe we die to sin and are raised to new life; it unites us to Christ's dying and rising. Water is also a sign of new life, as we are born again by water and the Spirit, and we are reminded of Jesus' baptism.

There is the sign of the cross, the badge of faith in the Christian journey, which reminds us of Christ's death for us on the cross. Making this sign of the cross signifies that from now on Louie belongs to Christ and must be prepared to live as His follower.

When I make the sign of the cross on Louie's forehead, I will be anointing with chrism - note the similarity to the word Christening - the oil of those who are being baptised. This oil was blessed by the Bishop of this Diocese at the Maundy Thursday service at the Cathedral earlier this year, and has been distributed to all the churches in the Diocese. We all use the same oil. It is another symbol of our joint membership of one church. As in the days of the early Church this represents the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

And as a sign of that new life, we will give Louie a lighted candle, a picture of the light of Christ conquering the darkness of evil. Everyone who is baptized walks in that light for the rest of their lives.

The wider community of the local church and friends welcome the new Christian, also promising support and prayer for the future. Hearing and doing these things provides an opportunity to remember our own baptism and reflect on the progress made on that journey, which is now to be shared with this new member of the Church.

We will also pray that Louie may grow in holiness and may come eventually to share in the life of God’s eternal kingdom.

In Christian baptism our sins are washed clean, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and we receive dignity as a beloved child of God. Every one of us; beloved, with dignity. This is strong imagery, but the images help us to understand real truths about how we are loved by God.

In a few minutes we will move to the font. It is placed next to the entrance because it symbolises our own entrance into faith. I would encourage each person here, as you pass the font later, to reflect on your own baptism and to remind you that you too are God’s beloved son or daughter. Let it remind you that you have been given the Spirit of holiness; let it assure you of God’s love and forgiveness and of your unity with Christ and other Christians through your baptism.

As you pray for Louie, picture him with yourself and the whole Church throughout the ages, journeying into the fullness of God's love. Jesus said, 'I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.' John 10:10

Let us pray: God of grace and life, in your love you have given us a place among your people; keep us faithful to our baptism, and prepare us for that glorious day when the whole creation will be made perfect in your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

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.