St
Thomas and St Andrew Doxey 1st May 2016 Rogation Sunday
Acts 16.9-15 & Luke 6.1-5
Change
in thinking, change in direction and changed lives
“I’m going to tell mum on
you, you used a rude word.” “You tell on
me I will tell dad what you did to Jemma’s goldfish”
Put this kind of
conversation into your mind alongside one of those Harribo adverts – where the
adults are all talking in childish voices.
Doesn’t this story from Luke have a sense of that about it?
‘One Sabbath, as they were
going through some cornfields, his disciples plucked some heads of grain,
rubbed them in their hands and ate them.’
Er, excuse me; you are a
Nation that is under occupation. You are a Nation called after God’s own heart.
You are Nation who are called to administer the blessing to other nations as a
mandate given to Abraham. You are a Nation who is called to be a light to the
Gentiles – to show the Gentiles how we should live an authentic human life in
God’s good creation.
And here are these very
naughty followers of Jesus plucking ears of corn, grinding them in their hands
and eating them on the Sabbath. You just wait until we get to tell the High
Priest, you will all be in such big trouble.
If ever there was a clear
case of gnat straining and camel swallowing, then this has to be one of those
moments.
Jesus however, never one
to miss an opportunity, reminds them of a little story about David and his men
when they were on the run from Saul.
(You can read the story in
I Samuel 21)
So why might Jesus remind
them of this story, remembering there is usually a point that Jesus is wanting
to make, and Luke, in writing it down, wants us to understand as well.
Well, David had been
anointed King by Samuel, but at this stage he was on the run from King Saul
with a rag bag of followers. He was God’s anointed and would come into his
Kingship in due course.
Who is ruling over Israel
at the time of Jesus, well Herod as a puppet King in the Northern Province with the backing
of the Roman Empire and of course sitting in Rome, the Emperor himself, with his Proconsul, Pontious Pilate in overall command
If you have eyes to see
and ears to hear you will see here is Jesus as God’s anointed King, indeed,
King David’s greater son…here is Jesus with a rag bag of followers on their way
to Jerusalem were Jesus will be crowned and have the title of King of the Jews
bestowed upon him.
However, we know that the
throne was the cross of Calvary and we know that the crown was a crown of thorns
and we know that instead of ‘long live the king’ it was mocking and insults
Jesus received as he climbed the hill of Calvary.
Let me ask this question –
are we guilty of straining gnats and swallowing camels. Do we need to rethink
what is of first importance and what really matters in God’s plan for the
redemption of the whole of the cosmos?
Do some of our concerns
need to be placed in a larger and fuller context?
What mental furniture
might we need to move around to be able to accommodate God’s plans?
Certainly, Paul and his
companions had to do some rethinking and change their direction. A few verses before we picked up the story
from Acts, we hear of Paul and his companions planning on going into Asia but
the Holy Spirit forbid them to speak. Then they considered going into Bithynia,
but the Spirit of Jesus prevented them.
Paul had a vision of a man
from Macedonia appealing for help. Today we might get an email instead!
However, Paul was willing
to change course and respond to God’s new call.
Let me ask you this – hand
on heart do you feel you are in the right place doing the right things for God,
right at this moment.
Let me move that on a bit
– what if God was to ask you to move, live somewhere else, or to do something
completely different, how do you think would you react and respond?
Do we have our lives so
embedded we might be deaf to the call of the Macedonia man?
I am always amazed when I
hear stories like the one in this month’s Inspire magazine about 76 year old
Irish Missionary Maud Kelly who has given her life to a small village in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Now I am not saying for
one moment we should all up and leave and go somewhere else.
I am reminded of a story
about one woman who went to hear a Missionary talk about his time on the
mission field, ending with a call for more to come forward to help in the work.
This woman wrote afterwards to the missionary saying she felt inspired by his
words and wanted to serve on the mission field. However, she said, the problem
is I am looking after ten children.
The Missionary replied, ’I
am so pleased you feel called to the mission field, and even more delighted
that God has already placed you in it.
However, however, however,
the question remains valid and one we need to ask ourselves – as St Augustine
said, ‘if Jesus is not valued above all he is not valued at all.’
Yesterday I had the real
joy and delight to be at the wedding of Adrian and Esther at St John’s,
Littleworth. What was manifestly evident is that there are three involved in
this relationship, Adrian, Esther and God.
Indeed, during speeches afterwards, Wendy, one of our Readers said
exactly that, to remember that God is always first and foremost in our lives,
above all things and above everyone else, including our spouse.
Do you need to change
direction – are you sure you heading where God wants you to head so that you
can be of the best service to Him.
Paul and his companions
heed the call and come to Philippi, a leading city of Macedonia and a Roman
Colony. Here they meet with a group of woman who are gathering for prayer. What
a delightful picture of these women coming together, to pray and trying to
understand and discern the things of God and perhaps having heard stories about
Jesus. One of the women at least was of some substance and wealth, Lydia. We
are told she was a dealer in purple goods, which was a highly prized and an expensive commodity. Definitely more Harrods
than Primark.
She received the news
about Jesus and along with her household underwent baptism as a sign of her new
life. Then comes hospitality, always
hospitality, a mark of love and friendship and so much part of the people of
God. A quick trawl through the Gospels will soon tell you how important hospitality is, with so much eating, drinking,
and enjoyment of each other’s company.
Many of the emerging fresh
expression of church are based around food – think of the Bread Church in
Liverpool and indeed the work of House of Bread here in Stafford with the
recent development of the pop up cafe at Rising Brook Baptist.
Because Paul re-thought
his view of Jesus, and he changed direction and his life was changed, Lydia got
to hear about Jesus and re-thought about how she saw the world, changed
direction and her life changed.
We can follow that as a
chain of events running throughout history that leads to you and me being here
at St Thomas and St Andrews on the 1st May 2016.
In the week, leading up to
Pentecost, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have invited all the churches
across these islands to engage in fervent prayer for the evangelization of our
Nation.
(We will be hearing more
about this later on)
A part of this call to
prayer is an initiative called, ‘pray for five.’ We are invited to pray for
five people we know who are ‘not yet Christians.’
I recently took part in a
webinar on rural evangelism and we were asked to answer a quick poll on how
many ‘not yet Christians’ we knew.
For the majority it was
sadly too few – and I put my hand up here as well, to not knowing that many
‘not yet Christians.’
That is one of the reasons
when I came here in January 2015 I was determined to do something outside the
church bubble. Last Friday morning you would have found me in Sainsburys bag
packing for the RDA. (Riding for the Disabled)
Having been an apprentice
jockey some fifty years ago, I have a love and knowledge of horses. Therefore,
on Thursday nights I go along to Ingestre Stables and help with their ride.
Changed thinking, changed
direction and changed lives.
May we stop straining out
gnats and swallowing camels. May we offer outrageous hospitality – because God
invites each and every person to the party and we are agents of expectation. In
other words, we are called to anticipate by our generous love and acceptance
that great Wedding Banquet when heaven comes to earth, and sorrow and sighing
are no more and death is finally defeated. When King Jesus will reign supreme
for ever and always.
Thinking back on the
wedding yesterday reminded of something Mark Russel the CEO of Church Army said
recently at a Conference.
“Evangelism is a champagne
fountain, someone at the top with a massive
bottle of the best champagne, with it flowing
and bubbling extravagantly everywhere.
Expensive, generous,totally extravagant and
radically inclusive”
He then went to quote Jack Nicholls…
“There
is nothing like the local church when it is working right. Its beauty is
indescribable; its power is breath taking. Its potential is unlimited. It
comforts the grieving and heals the broken in the context of community. It
builds bridges to seekers and offers truth to the confused. It provides
resources to those in need, and opens its arms to the forgotten, the
downtrodden, the disillusioned. It
breaks the chains of addictions, frees the oppressed and offers belonging to
the marginalized of the world.Whatever
the capacity for human suffering, the church has a greater capacity for healing
and wholeness. Still to this day, the potential of the local church is almost
more than I can grasp. No other organisation on the earth is like the church.
Nothing comes close”
Are you ready to play your
part, to heed that call, to introduce Jesus to your ‘not yet Christian’ friends
so that they can re-think, change direction and change their lives?
Because changed lives,
changes people and transforms communities.
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