Church Army Preachment St Michael's Lichfield - transcript of sermon

St Michael's Lichfield CA Preachment

April 30^th 2017

New Testament           Acts 2 v 14a and 36-41

Gospel                           Luke 24 v 13-35

Peter’s Pentecost sermon and the story of two disciples encountering the Christ on the road to Emmaus.

And three very particular points I would want to draw out from these passages allied to the work and ministry of the Church Army.

Numbers matter, individuals matter and you do not need scholarship or a degree to share faith or to talk about Jesus.

Over the last twenty odd years, the Church has been gathering more solid data, mainly through the Mission Returns sent into the diocese.  The information required has been tweaked and changed over the years to accommodate developments such as Fresh Expression of Church.

Originally, it was basic uSa numbers gathered in October – sometime skewed with a Harvest Service. This plus attendance at Easter and Christmass gave some measure of facts, figures and stats.

A more detailed report was published in January 2014 ‘Anecdote to Evidence.’

The Church Army’s Research Unit led by George Lings has been at the forefront of mapping out the emerging Fresh Expressions of Church and made a vital contribution to that document.

Now personally, I am not a stats geek and figures tend to make my eyes glaze over.

There are also those who state very strongly that numbers are not important, that we are wasting time with all this head counting malarkey.

‘Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number.’

(By the way, have you ever wondered about the logistics of baptising three thousand people?) 

Of course, numbers do not tell the whole story but they certainly tell a story – a story of how faithful we are at passing on the faith to the next generation.

And numbers mattered to the Founder of Church Army, Wilson Carlile.

They mattered as a young man when Wilson Carlile avowed to make £20,000 by the age of 25.  

He achieved his ambition in the family silk mercers business. However, following the collapse of the Stock Market and a bout of sickness at the age of 26, Wilson Carlile embraced the Christian Faith.

(You can read a little of his story in our magazine ShareIt)

Wilson Carlile became an Anglican priest and in 1882 founded the Church Army.

Again, numbers mattered and Carlile had a vision to create a mass movement of ordinary men and woman who were able to share their faith in their homes, in their work places or wherever they might find themselves.

‘Can you tell the Gospel in the same homely language of the workshop’ was one of his challenges.

And here we bring in another of my three points. Peter, was not trained for the Priesthood - by what knowledge we can glean from the Gospel’s, he was a rough and ready fisherman.

 There is nothing wrong with education and we should all strive to learn as much as we are able. However, having all the answers and a degree in 1^st century Greek are not a prerequisite for sharing our Faith.

Over the years, the vision of a mass movement began to fade and the Church Army for the most part became an elite corps of Officers with very few troops.

One of the reasons for the title of Captains, apart from the popularity of military metaphors at the end of the 19^th century, is that the Captain would have soldiers under their command.  These would be men and woman who while continuing in their daily lives joined the Captain on outdoor speaking engagements and other charitable acts.

Woman, as Sister, came later and here, Wilson Carlile’s sister, Marie stepped up and assisted her brother.  Because women could not minister in any form in the Church of England at the time, Church Army trained its woman as nursing sisters.  This gave them an opportunity to evangelize through this medium of a caring profession.

Some eight years ago under the very youthful Mark Russel as our CEO the Church Army began a serious review process.

We appointed someone to work alongside us for three years seeking to explore the charism of Carlile and consider what that might look like in the 21^st century.

In September 2012 in the Crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, where Prebandary Wilson Carlile is buried, the Church Army became an Acknowledged Mission Community.

Becoming a Mission Community has given the Church Army an opportunity to revisit the idea of being a mass movement and people can become members of the Church Army Mission Community as a Companion whilst continuing in their current situation. 

There are in fact four Pathways, Commissioned, Covenanted, Co-workers and Companions – and our numbers are steadily growing.  Today we are around 500 strong across the United Kingdom, both Lay and Ordained.

The Church Army uniform and many aspects may have changed over the years, however the core message remains the same, sharing faith through words and actions.

Our CEO, Mark Russel sits on the Archbishop’s Evangelism Task Force, and as you may know, Justin Welby has made evangelism one of his three priorities.

In his 2015 Lambeth Lecture speaking on evangelism he said... 

‘The best decision anyone can ever make, at any point in life, in any circumstances, whoever they are, wherever they are, whatever they are, is to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. There is no better decision for a human being in this life, any human being.’

All the members of the Church Army Mission Community would say a very loud Amen to that.

That is why throughout this country, Church Army Officers and all members of the Mission Community walk alongside people much in the same way as Jesus walked alongside those two disciple on the road to Emmaus, because individuals matter.

Many of those whom we walk alongside are the least, the last and the lost, those on the margins.

Working alongside local Churches we have over a dozen Centres of Mission where two or more Officers are based engaging in a variety of ministries, tailored to meet local needs.

Other Officers, as individuals, work in parishes, benefices, deaneries and some across a diocese in a specialized role, such as youth and children, or with the homeless.

My own role as Mission & Growth Partner sees me working across the Stafford Episcopal Area walking alongside parishes, benefices and deaneries seeking to encourage, enable and equip them for mission and evangelism.

So, let me return to that challenge of Wilson Carlile and ask you…

‘Are you able to share your hope and faith in the risen Lord Jesus in words that make sense and that can be understood by those you meet on your frontline - in shops, cafes, bars, gyms, schools, work places.’

If someone here this morning, or indeed someone you might meet in the week ahead, asked how he or she could become a Christian what answer would you give.

In closing let me mention one brilliant Church Army resource that could help you in that regard.   

Faith Pictures is a free course to download that helps you to frame your own faith story. It is serious fun, and a great way for us to begin talking about our faith to each other using metaphors and everyday items. If we can begin to feel comfortable talking to each other about our faith and our journey to faith, it will come more easily with other people outside the Church context.

For one definition of evangelism from D T Niles is simply ‘one beggar telling another where to get bread.’

Let me close with some words from His Holiness Pope Benedict XV1before I invite Jane to sing the words of the Chiefs Consecration prayer, words that I hope you may echo in your own hearts in dedication to walk alongside people, helping them to encounter the risen Lord.

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.

Jane sing...        (And now O Father, mindful of the love)

Now and here I give myself to you,
and now and here you give yourself to me;
and now and here I find your love within.
Break through me, Lord, that others I may win;
your wounded body and your life blood poured
impel me forth to live and preach you, Lord.

www.churcharmy.org.uk

'Following the man on the donkey' - transcript of sermon Palm Sunday 2017 St Anne's, Brown Edge

St Anne’s Brown Edge Palm Sunday 2017

Isaiah 50:4-9a; Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew 21:1-11.

On most Thursday nights, you will find me at the Ingestre stables helping with Stafford RDA. The ponies we use are docile beast, sometimes too docile.

 

Of course, for our riders with both learning and physical disabilities they have to be.

Also in the stable block are some magnificent horses, some big show jumpers. 

They are strong of limb, with keen eyes, sleek coats, fit and healthy.

Having served five years in Newmarket as an apprentice jockey, I can appreciate a fine looking horse.

Today I want to bring to present you with two people – one riding on a donkey and the other on a magnificent horse. Both represent two very different Kingdoms and everyone follows one of these people and is governed by the laws of whichever Kingdom they choose to live in.

The Prefect Pontius Pilate entered into the province in AD 26 and was to serve for 10 years as an emissary of Emperor Tiberius. 

He came at the head of an occupying army and entered Jerusalem with soldiers carrying their banners and effigies.  Previous Prefects had grudgingly accepted that Jerusalem was a most Holy City for the Jews, the place where heaven and earth met in the Temple itself with its Holy of Holies. It was only after a riot broke out that Pilate had them removed.

Pilate it would appear was rather like the Borg in Star Trek with their oft-repeated mantra, ‘you are an inferior race, you will be assimilated’, and, ‘resistance is futile. ‘

For most of the time, Pilate was garrisoned at Caesarea except during Festivals when he would move into the Antonia Fortress, which overlooked the Temple Mound. Keep in mind the picture of Pilate arriving ahead of his cohort of troops to bolster the number of troops in Jerusalem, barging their way through the crowds, hands close by their short swords.

We do not have exact records but it is estimated that between 80,000 and 100,000 people lived in Jerusalem. During the Feast of the Passover, this would swell to around 4 million. The Temple Mound could accommodate 1 million people.

The occupying Roman Army would be on high alert during the religious Festival of Passover that celebrated the liberation of Israel from slavery in Egypt.

It is into this heady mix that Jesus comes to make his bold move. It is obvious Jesus knew exactly what he was doing – he knew the Scriptures, he knew about the prophecies of Zechariah.

He had even arranged to acquire the appropriate beast – not a magnificent horse leading a cohort of heavily armed soldiers, but rather a humble donkey, a young foal colt that by this account needed to have mother there also.

‘Say to the daughter of Zion, see your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, on the foal of a donkey.’

As Jesus begins to enter into Jerusalem, he is recognized, especially by those from up north, recognized as one of their own.

Recognized as the one who has brought healing and controversy, whose teaching is with a hitherto unknown authority. 

Is it these people that begin to cheer, wave and chant and shout out ‘Hosanna’ – Lord Save Us.’

‘When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’  The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.’

Most likely, not at all the same crowd who would in a few days’ time shout for his death, for Jesus to be crucified.  Those people, in all probability, were a selective group mainly of Jerusalemites, southerners.

We will of course be rehearsing once more this cosmic drama of the man on the donkey and the man on the horse, both representing two Kingdoms coming toe to toe.

John’s account bristles with electricity as Jesus stands before Pilate. It is not easy to say for sure who is on trial.

Certainly, Pilate has power of a sort, the power that can bring death, and very often does.

In his Lenten book, ‘Dethroning Mammon’ Justin Welby discusses speaking ‘truth to power.’

‘What is truth’ asks Pilate.

That phrase is very much under discussion in our own day and age with much talk about fake news.

Jesus was to declare on one occasion, ‘I am the truth and the way and the life.’

Today our choice is to either to follow the man riding the horse or the man riding the donkey.

Should you choose to follow the man on the donkey you should be aware of where this is all heading?

It is towards the cross and crucifixion – before resurrection, new life and ascension.

The cross that speaks of suffering and that may come to us as indeed it comes to many of those who have chosen to follow the man on the donkey.

However, more than that, despite the modesty of most depictions of the crucifixion, Jesus would have been stripped naked. In every sense of the word, he gave up everything.

Therefore the challenge is, are we ready to give up everything to follow the man on the donkey.

Our homes, jobs, families, position, prestige, money, as St Augustine said, ‘Jesus will be Lord of all or he will not be Lord at all.’

Saul was knocked of his horse, then as Paul, began to follow the man on the donkey with a willingness to give up everything and to follow him…

He wrote to the Philippians (3.8), ‘More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ’

Our New Testament reading, also from Philippians, invites us to have the same mind as Christ Jesus as outlined in the wonderful ‘Hymn of Christ’ – in Greek called the ‘Hymn of the Kenosis’ – self-emptying.

However, in God’s economy things are often turned upside down.

What certainly looked like a dead would be messiah hanging on a Roman Cross, was not the end of the story at all, but only the beginning of a completely new chapter.

As we read in Colossians 2.15,

In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

To follow the man on the horse and to align yourself with the rulers and authorities of this world leads to darkness, destruction and death.  You have only to look around you to see the truth of this.

To follow the man on the donkey leads to light, love and life – ‘I have come, said Jesus, that you might have life and life in all its fullness. ‘

I put before you today the words of Joshua 24.15

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

The man on the donkey or the man on the horse - it is your choice!