Deuteronomy 30.15-20 Psalm 119.1-8
1 Corinthians 3.1-9 Matthew 5.21-37
Here we are, a dozen Christian gathered together on the 12th February 2017 in a place called Brown Edge on the very edge of Stoke.
1 Corinthians 3.1-9 Matthew 5.21-37
Here we are, a dozen Christian gathered together on the 12th February 2017 in a place called Brown Edge on the very edge of Stoke.
Here we are in this rather
strange building and before us are some very ancient texts – and it is good to
remind ourselves that these texts are ancient texts, none of them less than
1,500 years old.
Manifestly what we are doing
here this morning is of little concern or interest to the majority of people in
and around Brown Edge.
And as we sit in here this
morning the world out there, we might say, appears to be going to hell in a
handcart.
He prefers to tweet –
government and pronouncements reduced to 140 characters.
Across the world at the
moment there are an estimated 1.5 billion people living in an area of armed
conflict or a war zone.
Europe has taken a million
migrants and refugees fleeing the violence and war. They are amongst us, and they are
traumatised, especially the children and not 3,000 but 350 is scandalous.
In our own country, we have
campaigns to end hunger, one shortly to begin in Stafford. Food Banks have
become normalised. Our heath service is on the verge of collapse.
Members of the Cybernetics
Society say this will become as mainstream as tattoos and body piercing has
over recent years.
Today, if you were to read
one daily newspaper from cover to cover, you would absorb more information that
a person would have done in the whole of their life 100 years ago.
There is an increasing call
for gender to be a matter of personal choice and not specified as male female
binary but anywhere along that spectrum. This is leading to more gender-neutral
toiles in public places, schools and colleges.
And we sit here this morning
with these ancient texts and going through some rather strange rituals.
However, do not these very
text, written by men and woman over thousands of years, men and woman inspired
by God's Holy Spirit, do not these texts tell us a different story.
Do they not tell us that
this earth is God’s good creation and that God is bringing everything back into
good order? 
Do they not tell us about
how God became man and then became King – King of over all. We find that
supremely in Philippians 2 – ‘The Hymn of the Kenosis’ or ‘Song of Self-Emptying.’
If, Jesus says, you come to
the Temple, to bring an offering, and as you get near to a Holy God in the
Temple, and you realise you are in contention with a brother or sister (not
necessarily relatives I think we can presume) then leave your gift and go and
be reconciled. That would mean a round trip of about a week – now that’s a
serious undertaking.
Our Gospel reading is part
of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (mountains are important for Matthew and the
places where key things happen) and it would appear that Jesus is saying that
the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart, perhaps with verses like
this one in mind.
From Ezekiel 36.26-27
"Moreover, I
will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will
remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and
cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My
ordinances.…
And this is a choice put
before us as we heard from the Book of Deuteronomy…
“See,
I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in
that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to
keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and
multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are
entering to possess it
So, what is your choice
individually and what is your choice as the people of God in Brown Edge?
Just what does it mean to
love the Lord, walk in his ways and keep his commandments, his statutes, and
his judgments?
It would appear for the most
part that the People of Israel thought this meant keeping rules and following
regulations. Regulations that Jesus was to say on one occasion, that appear
bright and shiny on the outside, like whitened tombs, but inside are full of
dead men’s bones.
Jesus calls for a heart
surgery that removes stony hearts that are satisfied with ritual and
regulations for one that beats with the blood and fire and passion of the
living God.
Jesus call for radical
discipleship where we would rather mutilate ourselves than offend God and go
against his good will and create dis-ease with our brothers and sisters.
Cutting of hands and tearing
out eyes is a serious suggestion – albeit obvious hyperbole.
Jesus knows that the heart
of the matter is the matter of the heart.
Jesus knows that the thought
is father to the deed and must be stopped at source.
Jesus knows what it is to
live as an authentic human being and invites us to follow him.
Jesus invites us to become a
different kind of community where love and forgiveness prevail.
Jesus calls us to
demonstrate that we as the People of God are people of hope and we know that
God is bringing everything to good order.
However, how do we go about
doing that?
I would want to suggest that
it isn’t by pulling up the gang plank on the Ark and shutting ourselves in and
away from the world with all its problems and challenges.
Sitting here singing
familiar hymns and going through certain rituals and studying ancient texts in
some vain hope that we can escape from all that is going on in the world.
In The Message translation of
John’s Prologue, we hear this…
The
Word became flesh and blood,and moved into the neighbourhood.
If we are to have anything meaningful to say to our neighbourhood, I would want to suggest that we need to do far more than we already do to be and become an authentic Faith Community of God’s people set here in Brown Edge.
We need to gather regularly
as God’s people to study together and wrestle with these ancient texts. We
need to do more life together, to eat more together and most certainly to pray
more together with and for each other and for the wider community in which God
has called you.
In the ancient world, such radical
communities quickly spread the Gospel around the Roman Empire. Today, such Communities and Fresh Expression of
Church are offering hopeful signs and showing real growth. You can read about this
in this month’s copy of Inspire magazine.
Maybe the Churches future does
lie in the past – if we go back far enough!
Let us pray…
O Saviour Christ, in whose
way of love lays the secret of all life, and the hope of all people, we pray
for quiet courage to match this hour. We did not choose to be born or to live
in such an age; but let its problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate
us, its injustices anger us, it possibilities inspire us, and its vigour renew
us. Pour out upon us a fresh indwelling of the Holy Spirit; make us bold and
courageous in sharing faith in both word and deed for your Kingdom’s sake we
ask.
Amen
