Transcript of Sermon – St Mary’s Pulborough Sept 28th 2014 St Michael and All Angels ‘Back to Church Sunday’

Sermon – St Mary’s Pulborough Sept 28th 2014

St Michael and All Angels ‘Back to Church Sunday’

Gen.28.10-17 Psalm 103.19-22 Rev 12.7-12 John 1. 47 - 51

In 2007 my daughter had been spending time at Camp America in Virginia. She was twenty years old. After Camp she took the opportunity for some travel – solo! While she was waiting at Philadelphia airport to fly to New York a terrific storm began to close in that meant flights were being cancelled.

However she was booked into a hostel in New York and they would only hold the bed until 2am after which she would have to find another place to stay. She didn't have the extra money or really know how she could go about finding another hostel if she just turned up in New York.

While she sat waiting and wondering what to do a man came up and sat next to her and started chatting. He then said he knew how to get on a flight to New Jersey (which is close to New York). He said they should go to the information desk. They managed to get the last two seats on the last flight out before the airport totally closed down. On arrival he waited until Tabitha had recovered her bags and then escorted out to the taxi rank. He gave the driver $30 and told him where she needed to go. Before he closed the taxi door he looked at Tabitha and said, ‘you are a wonderful person’ then closed the door.

When Tabitha turned around to say thank you and wave goodbye he had simply disappeared.  There were no crowds around so he hadn't melted into the crowds, but he had simply gone, much like he suddenly appeared at the airport in Philadelphia. Tabitha arrived at the hostel just as they were closing up for the night.

An angel perhaps?

Angels appear in our very earliest cultures in both myths and legends.

These also feature in both the opening book of our Bible, Genesis. Those of you who were paying attention to the readings will have noted the link between the Gospel of John and Jesus’ conversation with Nathaniel and that of Jacob’s dream, our reading from the Book of Genesis. In case you missed it then let me remind you it was to do with a heavenly escalator and angels going up and down.

In our reading from Revelation we meet Michael, who’s Feast Day tomorrow we are anticipating in our Eucharistic Celebration today. We also meet Lucifer, the Angel of Light who rebelled and was cast down to earth along with his angelic followers, namely the Satan and his demons. 

In between Genesis and Revelation angels are frequently mentioned in various forms and guises.

So, you may agree with Abba whom you might recall sang ‘I believe in angels’ or with any number of other songs about angels – particular Robbie Williams’ song – Angels.

In the Christian tradition the realm of angels developed into a hierarchy so we began to have Archangels, Michael and Gabriel probably among the best known. Then we have numerous other forms of angels including cherubs, cherubim and seraphim and all manner of angelic beings.

Some of these have the role of worshiping God day and night and others are messengers which is probably why we often view them with wings. They are the winged messengers from God or in Greek mythology from the gods.

However they often turn up in the Scriptures stories bearing the resemblance of men.

Think of Abraham’s three visitors, or the angels who appeared in the doomed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

This of course is what lies behind Eastern hospitality.

There was, and still is, a very strong tradition that you might indeed be entertaining angels.

An idea that gets carried over into the New Testament…

Hebrews 13.2 ‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels
unawares.’

That is of course a very important message for us to consider, especially as today is Back to Church Sunday.

And if you are here today by way of an invitation you are very welcome. If anything I might say or anything else in this Act of Worship is puzzling to you then please do come and ask questions afterwards.

Hospitality and welcoming the stranger ought to be very high on our agenda.

When I worked in hotels, especially some of the smaller ones, the staff would become almost like a family. Yet we all knew we were not there for ourselves but to serve our guests. To make sure they had the best possible experience they could have. To go out of our way, to walk the extra mile to ensure they were looked after and would speak afterwards with warmth and satisfaction of their visit. Best of all if they became regulars.

St Michael is a warrior angel fighting against forces of darkness.

Not only in the Book of Revelation do we pick this up but also in Ephesians 6.12

¹² For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

It was whilst working in the bar trade that I saw the manifestation of evil and discord through the work of what are called poltergeist.  Nothing on the grand global scale of some of the horrors we are currently seeing being unleashed across the world, but nonetheless very scary and unnerving. Furniture smashed, bathroom cabinet ripped of the wall and thrown in the bath, banging and noise and disturbances, night after night.

C.S. Lewis wrote “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight”

(C.S. Lewis. The Screwtape Letter. 1941,p. 3).

C.S. Lewis held the firm view that the reality of the heavenly sphere and activity was not geographically placed somewhere in outer space, somewhere in the bright blue yonder, but close at hand in another dimension. Occasionally the curtain is drawn back as it where, and we see the reality.

We pick this up clearly in stories like that of Elisha the prophet as recorded in 2 King Chapter 6. Elisha appears to know exactly what the King of Aram is going to do and warns the King of Israel. So the King of Aram sends an army to capture Elisha and surrounds the city where Elisha was residing. Let me read for you direct from Scripture what transpired…

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don't be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

And Elisha prayed, O LORD, open his eyes so that he may see. Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all round Elisha.

Warrior angels also appear to be waiting in the wings in the story of Jesus’ arrest. We read of a follower who was seeking to defend Jesus with a sword as the Temple Guard came to arrest him. Jesus told him to put the sword away, that should he choose, he could ask his Father, who would send more than 12 legions of angels to save him. That is over 72,000 warrior angels!

If you take into account the story of the might of just one angel in Isaiah 37.36 who in a single night slew a hundred and eighty five thousand men – that is some awesome power.

And in the battle against the dark forces we know that God will be triumphant. We know that the victory belongs to our God.

We know that not only by looking at the great battles described in the Book of Revelation, with Michael and All Angels engaged in deadly conflict against the enemies of God.

We know it supremely because of other angels we meet following Jesus’ arrest, trial and torture and cruel death. 

From Luke’s Gospel - and we are outside the tomb.

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: `The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'

There is no more important question in the whole world than the veracity of what those angelic beings spoke of.  ‘Did Jesus rise from death?’

For it that is true then everything changes. 

In his famous book ‘Mere Christianity’, C.S. Lewis makes this statement, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.” 

Holding a belief in St Michael and All Angels battling against the forces of darkness is not a prerequisite for becoming a Christian. Although it is very much part of a strong Christian tradition and our Lord himself spoke of them.

However believing and accepting the message of the angels by the empty tomb is fundamental to a Christian belief.

Accept that message and everything changes – nothing is the same again.

Should you accept that message then the only appropriate response is to fall at Jesus’ feet and call him Lord and God.

And in so doing we heed the words of St Augustine who said, ‘if Jesus is not Lord of all he is not Lord at all.’

Lord of your life, your work, your money, the place you live, your friends, your leisure – everything.

Romans 12.1-2  ‘With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers and sisters, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.’

Angels or no, we are now citizens of heaven awaiting the full and final revelation of King Jesus. Like angels we are called to be both messengers and heralds of God’s coming Kingdom. ‘Your Kingdom Come, your will be done on earth as it in heaven.’  That includes Pulborough or wherever you might find yourself this week.

It is well worth pondering just what that might mean for you as you eat your Sunday lunch today and go into the week ahead!  And as you step into the week be aware because you may find that you are indeed entertaining angels!

Feast of St Matthews - Transcript of Sermon - St Peter's Bexhill on Sea

Sermon – St Peter’s Bexhill  (http://www.stpetersbexhill.org.uk/)

Psalm: 119.65-72 Readings: Prov. 3.13-18; 2 Cor. 4.1-6 Gospel: Matt. 9.9-13

* MEMO

TO: JESUS, SON OF JOSEPH, WOODCRAFTER CARPENTER SHOP, NAZARETH

FROM: JORDAN MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS, JERUSALEM

Dear Sir:

Thank you for submitting the resumes of the 12 men you have picked for management positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.

It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale.

We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic depressive scale.

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.

We wish you every success in your new venture.

Sincerely yours,
Jordan Management Consultants

Whether by modern techniques or ancient wisdom the 12 disciples would probably not be your first choice for an enterprise such as Jesus sought to bring about upon earth.

There a story told of Jesus’ return to heaven and the angels eager to hear what transpired.

So Jesus told them about what he had done and what had been achieved and what had happened.

“And no doubt,” said one of the angels, “you have left your work in the hands of the best minds, the teachers of the law, the finest religious leaders and the greatest theologians?”

“Well no,” replied Jesus. “I did leave 11 disciples who formed of my inner team. There were twelve but one betrayed me.

They are good simple folk, fishermen, workmen, oh, and although not part of the inner team we did have some woman among our group who were very important. Including one woman who had several demons possessing her - until I cast them out!”

The angel began to look nonplussed and said, “what if they fail - is there a Plan B?”

“No,” said Jesus, “there is no Plan B”

The story of Jesus is an uncomfortable one of his choosing to invite, meet and mix with all the wrong sorts of people. 

But all the wrong sort of people according to whom?

And God continues to welcome all sorts of people – some very strange people, have a look around and you will see what I mean, but also make sure you also look in the mirror!

Therefore it is of the utmost important that people experience that welcome when they meet with the people of God.  

Do you remember that awful experience, perhaps from your school days, of two Captains choosing their teams? Well it was awful for me; I was always one of the last to be chosen.

God reverses that around, the last first and the first last.

I began work at Church House nine years almost to the date. I remember the questions I had in my mind as people buzzed about busy and apparently knowing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. This was my very first experience of working in an office and it was even more daunting with being open plan. What do I do about coffee, where is the photocopier, how does it work. 

Have you had an experience like that, I am sure you have.

So how do you think the other disciples felt when Jesus invited Matthew to join them?

When they went along with him to Matthew’s house for a meal?

Remember the disciples were good Jews and would have in all probability been very uncomfortable and deeply puzzled by associating with Jesus in this kind of place with these kinds of people.

But that's Jesus for you, both then and now.

No barriers, no social class, no moneyed class, all alike are welcome to come and feast at the table and to know the new life that is on offer.

And that is a very important point to note and one we sometimes can overlook.

Both our Psalm and the reading from Proverbs speak of a new way of life, a different pathway to follow, seeking after the wisdom of God.

Our passage from Corinthians picks up a similar thread; we are called to be a different kind of people now that we have responded to God’s invitation and been welcomed into the family of God’s people.

Max Lucado in his little book ‘God's Story, your story’ writes ‘ God loves us just the way we are, but loves us enough not to leave us that way.’

I am sure that once Matthew responded to the welcome from Jesus his life changed.

That is why we need to have nurture courses and discipleship courses available. So that those who do come among us are given a welcome no matter whom they are, what they look like, or smell like or where they are from. Being welcomed into the Family of God is the start of a glorious transformation.

‘Changed from glory into glory

Till in heaven we take our place

Till we cast our crowns before thee

Lost in wonder love and praise.’

That begins with our getting to know people, and then proceeds on to our inviting them to Church or whatever is the most appropriate activity. That may or may not be Sunday Worship. Then our Nurture Courses help those who do not yet know Christ to make an informed decision. Following this we then seek together to become all that God would have us become as His people in this place at this point in history.

So that, like Matthew and many, many others, people are called out from the life of death to life eternal.

“I have come,” said Jesus, “so that you may have life and life in all its fullness.”

Mediation from His Holiness Pope Emeritus Benedict XV1

And only where God is seen does life truly begin.

Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is.

We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution.

Each of us is the result of a thought of God.

Each of us is willed,

Each of us is loved,

                                     Each of us is necessary.

There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel,

By the encounter with Christ.

There is nothing more beautiful than to know him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him.

I might add, and to give them a warm welcome into the great company of God’s People, the greatest adventure of all.

Amen

* I claim no originality for this ‘memo’ it has been around now for some time.

St Mary Magdalene, Cowden - Transcript of Sermon - 'Vision Day'

Sermon – St Mary Magdalene Cowden Sept 14^th 2014

2 Kings 6: 8-17   and Matthew 26: 47-56.

In 2007 my daughter had been spending time at Camp America in Virginia. She was twenty years old. After Camp she took the opportunity for some travel – solo! While she was waiting at Philadelphia airport to fly to New York a terrific storm began to close in that meant flights were being cancelled.

However she was booked into a hostel in New York and they would only the bed until 2am after which she would have to find another place to stay and didn't have the money or really know how she could go about finding another hostel if she just turned up in New York.

While she sat waiting and wondering what to do a man came up and sat next to her and started chatting. He then said he knew how to get on a flight to New Jersey (which is close to New York). He said they should go to the information desk. They managed to get the last two seats on the last flight out before the airport totally closed down. On arrival he waited until Tabitha had recovered her bags and then escorted out to the taxi rank. He gave the driver $30 and told him where she needed to go.

Before he closed the taxi door he looked at Tabitha and said, ‘you are a wonderful person’ then closed the door.

When Tabitha turned around to say thank you and wave goodbye he had simply disappeared.  There were no crowds around so he hadn't melted into the crowds, but he had simply gone, much like he suddenly appeared at the airport in Philadelphia.

An angel perhaps?

  

Angels appear in our very earliest cultures in both myths and legends.

These also feature in both the opening book of our Bible, Genesis and the closing book, Revelation.

In between they are frequently mentioned in various forms and guises.

So, you may agree with Abba whom you might recall sang ‘I believe in angels’ or with any number of other songs about angels – particular Robbie Williams’ song – Angels.

Certainly Vassula Ryden a contemporary prophet and mystic believes in angels. In her book ‘Heaven is real but so is hell’ she talks of her Guardian Angel who introduces himself as Daniel.

Of course Vassula is a controversial figure and the jury is still out on whether she is the real deal or not.

But they would have probably said much the same thing about people like Teresa of Avila.

Having a guardian angel is also not an easy concept to accept given the massive computations necessary for each and every person to have their own personal guardian angel.

However we need to tread with caution because our Lord himself said;

‘See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.’

In the Christian tradition the realm of angels developed into a hierarchy so we began to have Archangels and then numerous other forms of angels, cherubs, cherubim and seraphim and all manner of angelic beings.

Some of these had the role of worshiping God day and night and others are messengers which is probably why we often view them with wings. They are the winged messengers from God or in Greek mythology from the gods.

However they often turn up in the Scriptures stories bearing the resemblance of men.

Think of Abraham’s three visitors, or the angels who appeared in the doomed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

This of course is what lies behind Eastern hospitality.

There was, and still is,  a very strong tradition that you might indeed be entertaining angels.

An idea that gets carried over into the New Testament…

Hebrews 13.2

‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels
unawares.’

That is of course a very important message for us to consider. Especially as today we come to consider our life together here as the people of God, asking about our role and purpose as God’s people in this community.

Hospitality and welcoming the stranger ought to be very high on our agenda.

When I worked in hotels, especially some of the smaller ones, the staff would become almost like a family.Yet we all knew we were not there for ourselves but to serve our guests. To make sure they had the best possible experience they could have. To go out of our way, to walk the extra mile to ensure they were looked after and would speak afterwards with warmth and satisfaction of their visit. Best of all if they became regulars.

I hope you get my drift…

Some angels are also described as warrior angels fighting against forces of darkness.

We pick this up in Ephesians 6.12

¹² For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

It was whilst working in the bar trade that I saw the worst of this type of manifestation through the work of what are called poltergeist.  Nothing on the grand global scale of some of the horrors we are currently seeing being unleashed across the world, but nonetheless very scary and unnerving. Furniture smashed, bathroom cabinet ripped of the wall and thrown in the bath, banging and noise and disturbances, night after night.

C.S. Lewis wrote “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight” (C.S. Lewis.  The Screwtape Letter. 1941, p. 3).

Warrior angels it would seem are the ones we meet in our story from 2 Kings.

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. Oh, my lord, what shall we do? the servant asked. Don't be afraid, the prophet answered. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

And Elisha prayed, O LORD, open his eyes so that he may see. Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all round Elisha.

Again as with Guardian Angels we need to tread carefully in denouncing the idea of warrior angels.

In our Gospel passage from Matthew we heard of a follower who was seeking to defend Jesus with a sword as the Temple Guard came to arrest him. Jesus told him to put the sword away, that should he choose, he could ask his Father, who would send more than 12 legions of angels to save him. That is over 72,000 warrior angels.

If you take into account the story of the might of just one angel in Isaiah 37.36 who in a single night slew a hundred and eighty five thousand men – that is some awesome power.

So where does all of this leave us on the 14^th September 2014 gathered in this church?

Isn't all this simply to fanciful, to far fetched, way beyond what sensible and rational humans being should entertain?

I think it calls us to weigh carefully the Scriptures. 

I think it calls us to seek God in prayer, to try and discern what part God would have us play in bringing about the Kingdom of God in this place and into this community.

I think it calls for us to be mindful of the stranger for we may be entertaining angels.

It calls for us to be encouraged, for ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’

We know that the victory belongs to our God.

We know that not by looking at the great battles described in the Book of Revelation, with its myriads of angels engaged in deadly conflict against the enemies of God, important as that is.

We know it because of other angels - 

From Luke’s Gospel…

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, Why do you look for the living among the dead?

He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:

`The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'

If that be true, then how brothers and sisters should we now live…

From Romans 6.4 ‘We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.’

Live a new life as an individual and as the people of God.

Live a new life inviting others to put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Live a new life of love and care for friends, family, neighbours, strangers and enemies alike.

Live a new life that looks out with a heart cry at the horrors in the world, seek to do what we are able with the resources we have and yet taking comfort and encouragement in knowing that King Jesus will have the victory.

As read in the Hymn of the Kenosis in Philippians 2…

Therefore God exalted him (Jesus) to the highest place and gave him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven, and on
 earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Let us pray…

O Christ in the synagogue at Nazareth;

O Christ in the pulpit of our Churches;

O risen and cosmic Christ;

O voice of the compassionate and righteous God -

Give us no peace until we become

co-workers for your Gospel. Amen

Sussex Prayer Breakfast 5th Sept 2014 'Transcript of Talk'

Sussex Prayer Breakfast  September 2014

http://www.sussexprayerbreakfast.org/

 

Genesis 3:8-11

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

And the Lord was walking through Hove early one morning and he saw friends gathered for breakfast. He entered the room and called out…

“Where are you?”

So, where are you this morning?

Now despite having spent five years as an Apprentice Jockey I am not a gambling man. However I think it would be certain bet that in answering that question you may refer to 1 John 2.28.

‘And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.’

I would think that each and every one of you here this morning has put on Christ.

However, here is what I want to leave with you as I prepare to move to Stafford at the end of the year.

Can I bring into your frame of reference Lazarus and his being brought back from death by Jesus as recounted in John 11.

Remember how Jesus called Lazarus out by name from the stink and stench of the grave. How on emerging Jesus said, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go”

It is surely safe to assume that other clothes were quickly brought for Lazarus.  

But here is the thing I find and I can only assume it is much the same for you.

I stand there; I know I have been called out of the stink and stench of death, from the sin that so closely bound, called out from a path to perdition. I responded to that call on the 1^st January 1975.

I know I have been clothed in a robes of righteousness and the filthy grave clothes have been removed – I know all of that and yet, and yet little by little, step by step I find I am creeping back towards the tomb.

Living in the light dressed as a Christian is no easy task and no easy calling.

Just how do you remain in the world and yet be not of the world?

How do you live by God’s standards and not appear as some holier than thou religious bigot?

So we find ourselves little by little putting back on the fashions of the world, the ways of the world around, the ‘normal’ things in our surrounding culture that squeezes us into its mould.

Of course it perfectly okay for couples to live together before they get married, it makes economic sense and beside everybody does that these days.

Well of course it’s okay to be creative with your tax affairs, and who is going to find out anyway and besides they get enough off us anyway.

Going over the speed limit – well only a little and everybody does it. It is not good to get caught though, that would be a bad witness!

Saying OMG – well that’s very popular and it trips of the tongue so easy. I know we are not to take the Lord God’s name in vain – but really, what harm can it do.

However, even the most cursory glance at Scripture will tell us we are called to be holy because God is holy.

We walk along a holy path – not towards a holy path. Holiness then isn’t so much something to be achieved as a way to be lived

This walking on a holy path however doesn’t begin with our feet (although check out Psalm 1.1) in begins in our minds, in the place of our secret thoughts and in our desires.

Remember that the thought is father to the deed.

We read in Romans 12.2 –

Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.   

But we are squeezed and often succumb and find little by little, step by step, inch by inch we creep back to the tomb and start wrapping ourselves once more in grave clothes.

How then can we learn once again to discern the sweet scent of heaven from the stench of hell, to have our minds renewed and to walk along a holy road?

September begins a new academic year.

Can I encourage us all to endeavour to take upon ourselves some form of study.

We are called to be disciples and as disciples we need training, regular training and retraining. Perhaps sign up for a Course, or read some more, anything to help you in your walk as a holy disciple of Jesus.  (I can highly recommend Tom Wright’s ‘Everyone’ series on the New Testament.)

I would also like to suggest that each and every one of us finds a Spiritual Director or a Soul Friend or a Companion. Someone who can challenge us, someone if I may put it this way, would smell us out when we meet.

For this world, the country, this city needs, desperately needs the sweet, sweet smell of heaven – the aroma of Christ.

So, let me ask you this.

God is here – his presence is with us, Scriptures tells us this and we believe it to be so.

Can I invite you to stand if you want to walk away from the tomb?

Can I invite you to stand if you want to have those fashions of the world, the grave clothes removed?  

Can I invite you stand if you are willing to say; here I am Lord, totally available to you. I surrender all; I want to live only for you. ‘For if Christ is not Lord of all then he is not Lord at all.’

Can I invite you stand if you are willing to go back to school – to engage in some study, to see how we can deepen our faith. To learn of what is happening across the word, to try and understand the ways of the world so that we can speak the Word of God in due season and bring salt, light and love into the darkness.

As we stand I am going to invite you to bless the person next to you and I want to give a brief explanation of what it we are doing.

 

(What we are not doing is praying for them)

We are proclaiming over them well words that will bring about all that God would have for them to become.

So pray for them by name, wait just a moment because the Spirit may have a very particular blessing he wishes to impart.

If there is no prompting of the Sprit then you may simple wish to pray the Aaronic Blessing over them…

“The Lord bless you and protect you;
 The Lord make his face to shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
 The Lord lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.’’

If you can’t remember that then simply pray a blessing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I will bring us back together by playing some music.

‘Jesus, all for Jesus’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ko16FPnEZs

Church Army September 2014 - Sermon Transcript

CA September 2014 – Sermon St John’s Westbourne

Exodus 12.1-14
Romans 13.8-14
Mark 7.24-37


Let me see I can scare you this morning with one word...

EVANGELISM

That being said I know many people who pray to be used in evangelism – in an advisory capacity.

Here I am Lord, send her!

However whilst not everyone is called to be an evangelist everyone is called to evangelize – to share our faith story and the story of God’s work towards the redemption of the universe.

Telling the story of God’s work in this way is what mission is all about – what is sometimes called the ‘missio-dei’ – the Mission of God.

Noting that Church of God doesn't have a mission, but the God of mission has a Church.

Evangelism as part of God’s mission is where people are brought into a personal relationship with God so that they can then partner with God in His mission.  It follows therefore that the more people who enter into a personal relationship with God the more people are partnering with God in bringing about a realized Lord’s Prayer in this community, country and across the world.

Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.

That is why evangelism is so important.

That is what the Church Army have been doing in this country for the last 130 years, sharing faith through words and actions.

And never let us separate those two – the pure Gospel and the social Gospel – there is only one Gospel and words and actions go together like the blades of a pair of scissors.

To help in this endeavour one of our recent resources is this book called ‘Stepping into Evangelism.’

These and other resources are available by the display I have set up.

In this book you will find exercises that will help you frame your own faith story, which believe me is the most important aspect of sharing our faith. It will be our experience more than our eloquence that will speak to people most clearly, that and a life that walks the talk as well as talks the walk.

So what of the Big Story of God.

(‘The Book of God’ – Walter Waggerin)

We really need to grasp the sweep of the Scriptures, the blue print of the Bible.

We have encountered a number of important aspects of this in our readings this morning.

We began with the story of the preparations for the first Passover. This is a very important story, a bed rock story of the Jewish nation. The time God called them out of Egypt to become formed and shaped into a people peculiar to God, a people who were called to be light to the Gentiles.

And on reading this story we should hear the musical refrain that we know is to be picked up later in God’s wonderful symphony of salvation.

They obeyed these instructions and acted in faith without prior knowledge. They had done nothing particular to earn or gain God’s favour. They were God’s sovereign choice.

Most importantly we hear that heart beat rhythm…

The blood of the sacrificed lamb will cover you and the angel of death will pass over you.

We, living this side of the cross, find ourselves breathless as we realise the import of this.

Paul in his ‘magnum-opus’ the Letter to Romans will explore all of this in a deep and dense way that is almost beyond our understanding, writing as he does as a Hebrew scholar of 1st century Palestine.

(Walter Waggerin – ‘Paul’)

(Tom Wright – ‘Romans for Everyone’)

It is not easy to comment on the short section we had from this Letter. It is packed with so many things and so many things we have often got a wrong headed view about.

It links in however with our reading about the Passover as you would expect.
The Passover was about calling out a particular people to God that they might be a sign, a symbol, a light to the Gentiles, demonstrating how it is that humans should live.

They were to walk in holiness because God was holy.

But now through grace, mercy and love God has extended that invitation and made it freely available to all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This time however it is not the blood of sacrificial lambs that bring salvation, but the blood of the Lamb of God - and yet the same principle remains.

We act by faith and accept that blood as our covering.

And in this passage from Romans 13 Paul is outlining how the new Israel should behave. How they are to walk in holiness, how they are to be a people peculiar to God, how they are to be a light to a watching world. How they are to be a people of light in a darkened world of a past night without realizing a new day has already begun. A new day that is a precursor of that great and glorious day when heaven and earth will become conjoined.

Like Lazarus called from the tomb we have been released from the grave clothes and re-clothed with Christ.

This is where our walk needs to match our talk – this is where people will notice.

And oftentimes this is isn't in the major life crisis things but in the way we are in the world. Our kindness and gentleness, our peace in the midst of troubles and above all in the love and care we have for each other.

Sad to say that a good number of our churches are a very pale reflection of the dynamic faith communities God would have them be. Faith communities in which the very palpable life of God flows through every warp and weft, their very DNA. Faith communities that whilst deeply committed at the core are open at the edges and allow people the opportunity to draw closer to the very heart of God at the centre of that community. And this is evangelism at its very best.

And everyone, yes everyone is invited in – even a Syria Phoenician woman. Let’s not get too caught up in this little banter. We can make much of it, and many scholars have. Could it be that Jesus is teasing the woman, knowing that she has a fire in her soul, knowing she is a mother and mothers will do almost anything for her children?

So, maybe knowing this he is goading her into a deeper faith and heart cry for mercy.

Maybe it is simply Jesus gaining a fuller understanding himself of what God was doing and just how wide God was going to fling open the doors.

It could also be that Jesus had gone, possibly with some of his disciples, for a bit of R&R on the North West coast, a short holiday by the beach. No one likes to be bothered when they are having down time.

(Andrew Mayes – ‘Beyond the Edge’ Spiritual Transitions for Adventurous Souls)

However, however, however - if it is that all people are called into the great company of God people there is a cost. Not the cost of gaining God’s love and favour – that, as Paul argues vehemently, is all of grace.

No, the cost is living the life of holiness. On one occasion confronted by two blind beggars Jesus asks, ‘what do you want me to do for you?’  (Wouldn’t that seem obvious.)

No, I think what Jesus is saying here is that if I heal you then your life will become transformed and you will no longer sit here day on day as a beggars.

Max Lucado in his wonderful little book called, ‘You, God’s good idea’ writes, ‘God loves you just as you are, but loves you enough not to leave you that way.’

I have watched one of the brothers at Holy Trinity Monastery go through various stages over the past few years. I have watched as he changed his clothes from ‘civilian’ clothes and now as fully professed wearing the community habit.

Wilson Carlile the founder of Church Army in 1882 had his life turned around when in his mid-twenties he embraced the Christian faith.

We have again recently embraced and rooted one of his watchwords firmly in our being a Mission Community. It is based around 3 C’s,

Conversion – have you fully embraced the love of God, painted the blood of the sacrificial lamb on all the lintels of your life?

Consecration – are you walking on a holy path, clothed in Christ with the aroma of heaven surrounding you?

Christian Community – are you deeply rooted in a community of faith. A community of faith that is both evangelized and evangelizing.

Leslie Newbiggin said that; ‘the only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it.’

Thank you for your support of the Church Army.

However I end as I began because it would be only too easy for you to say, here I am Lord, send the Church Army. Then, having kindly given us financial or prayer support to sit back and think – job done.

No, the jobs not done because the symphony continues and God wants each and every one of you, individually and collectively to invite others into God’s great orchestra that will sing in the redemption of the world. A backdrop to that day when sorrow and sighing will be no more, nor death nor any of the former things. The Lamb upon the Cross has become the Lamb upon the Throne.

But they won’t know that unless someone tells them, to quote from Romans 10.14. And you are just as qualified as anyone else to tell them!

Mediation from His Holiness Pope Emeritus Benedict XV1

And only where God is seen does life truly begin.

Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. 

We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. 
Each of us is the result of a thought of God.
Each of us is willed,
Each of us is loved,
Each of us is necessary.

There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel,
By the encounter with Christ.

There is nothing more beautiful than to know him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him.