Sermon St Anne’s, Brown Edge The Fourth Sunday before Lent
It is a historical fact that Jesus lived and died.
The question that remains however is did Jesus die and
live.
Say yes to that question and everything changes.
Say no and still everything changes but in a different
way and a different order.
Say no and you are wasting your time here this morning.
You might be better going to the Garden Centre and grabbing a bacon butty.
Because if you say no, then all of this Church and
Christian malarkey is based on lies, miss-truths, speculations, hearsay and a
bunch of other stuff.
Basically it is built on sand and sham.
As we read in 1 Cor 15.17 ‘And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still
in your sins.’
Words from St Paul, who originally said no to the
resurrection then following a dramatic encounter with the risen Jesus, said yes
– and his life was turned upside down or perhaps the right way up.
And as we heard this morning he also wrote these words
to the Christian Community in Corinth…
For I handed on to
you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for
our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and
that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that
he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than
five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still
alive, though some have died
Here in these words lie some of the credibility behind
the resurrection.
Then he (Jesus) appeared to more than five hundred brothers and
sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died
Well then – if Paul says
there are over five hundred people who met with Jesus let’s go and ask them and
check out the veracity of this claim.
Unless Paul was sure of
the resurrection this was either a bold or a stupid thing to say that could
easily refute claims of the resurrection by asking some of the witness who
claimed to have seen him.
Another piece of evidence is in front of you and all
around you, this building and the People of God, the Church.
How could a small group of
frightened and dispirited followers of Jesus move with such boldness and
conviction that within a short time Faith Communities were being established
across the known world and eventually the might of Rome would capitulate to the
Gospel message.
And although the Church
has wandered off the straight and narrow path, quite seriously on occasions,
and although there are dark periods and stains on the Church it still remains a
powerful force for good across the world.
In our own country
Christian’s contribute thousands of hours in social care and other practical
expressions of the Faith - Loving God and Loving Neighbour.
Without the
Christian Church the social fabric of this country would quickly disintegrate.
However we can still lose sight of the primary calling
of the Church, and that includes this Church.
ABC Justin Welby I believe summed it up succinctly when he said
this…
“I want to start by saying
just two simple sentences about the church. First, the church exists to worship
God in Jesus Christ.
Second, the Church exists
to make new disciples of Jesus Christ. Everything else is decoration. Some of
it may be very necessary, useful, or wonderful decoration – but it is
decoration.”
Let’s go out on a limb
this morning and let me ask you what you think of this idea, turn to your
neighbour and chat about it for a minute.
I would argue that without
the latter, the making of disciples, the former would not happen.
Because who are those who
worship God in Christ Jesus, today’s disciples.
No disciples = no worship
of God
We have in our Gospel and
in our reading from Isaiah two models to help us think through how we are
called to this task of making disciples.
From our passage in Isaiah
we hear an individual call to be as a prophet to the people.
You and I have a personal
and an individual call upon our lives as Christians.
‘You
are a unique and irreplaceable actor in the drama of human history, and Jesus
Christ has need of you to make known his salvific work in this particular place
and at this particular moment in history.’
Michael Quoist ‘The Christian Response’
Each and every one of us has a distinct and unique
vocation.
And it is this distinct and unique contribution that
goes towards the building up of the body of Christ.
And
it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be
evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for works
of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the
faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure
of the stature of Christ.… Ephesians 4.11-13
If you are not playing your part you are playing apart.
Then let us consider the story we heard from Luke’s
Gospel.
And here I want to draw attention to the corporate
nature of the Church, the Body of Christ, the Faith Community, the People of
God.
Following a time of teaching Jesus invites Peter to put
out for a catch. To a seasoned fisherman this is all nonsense; fish go down
deeper in the middle of the day, that’s why you fish at night or early morning.
But as daft as it might sound Peter obeys.
For a very small Methodist Chapel in Polzeath the idea
that they could do much more than accept the large sum offered for the premises
seemed a tad ridiculous.
Yet they went to prayer,
made contacts, looked to God and today that little Chapel is called Tubestation,
a Fresh Expression of Church. It is
still a Methodist Church but now serves the surfer community with a cafe and
has a regular through flow of over 30,00 people a year and with contacts across
the world.
What might God want to do
here at St Anne’s, Brown Edge – or do you think God has finished with you and
you are merely seeing your time out until this fishing vessel is hauled ashore
or sold on?
When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets
were beginning to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come and help them.
Who might be
your partners in the task of making disciples? Perhaps ‘Connect 2’, which is
also a Fresh Expression of Church here in Brown Edge.
It is now well established and flourishing, meeting in St Anne’s school every Sunday afternoon.
And
here is the key verse I implore you to hear, take to heart and put into action
like Peter did, although what he was asked to do all sounded a bit ridiculous
at the time.
‘Put out into the
deep water and let down your nets for a catch.
Put
out into the deep in prayer.
Put
out into the deep in discipleship.
Put
out into the deep in study of the Scriptures.
Put
out into the deep of fellowship with one another.
Put
out into the deep and see who else might come alongside you to help bring in a
great catch.
Put
out into the deep – or, prepare to haul your boat ashore, cast your nets into a
corner and spend your remaining days talking about how good the fishing used to
be and how much easier it was in the old days. The choice is yours to make!
Let
me close with a prayer attributed to Sir Francis Drake, hoping and praying you
will make it your own.
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well
pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
No comments:
Post a Comment