Transcript of Sermon - Revd Kate Lawson First Eucharist 07/06/15

Revd Kate Lawson First Eucharist All Saints Hove

Ezek.34: 11-16, 20-24

Eph. 1:15-23

Matthew 25.31-46

Chinese philosopher Laozi said,

‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’

Jesus said, ‘follow me.’

Kate responded to the latter by the former, taking that first step in the call towards Ordination.

It has been a deep joy and a huge privilege to have walked alongside Kate as a Companion on part of this journey.

That journey, that pilgrimage, continues for Kate, as indeed it does for each and every one of us in our various vocations and callings.

Kate has been called to the Priesthood, to be a Priest for the Body of Christ. However she has not been called into some ancient craft or cult.

There is no magic formula, no magical incantation of words that brings about a particular effect.  

What Kate will be doing as she recites the words of Consecration over the bread and wine will be witnessing to the reality of God’s presence in each and every thing.

The words used do not bring God into these elements as if by magic, for God is already fully present. God always was fully present, fully present in both the grain and the grape.

Kate has been ordained to bear witness to this profound and mysterious reality. So that these simple gifts of bread and wine can become for us an icon of God’s very presence upon which we can feed, be nourished and sustained.

For that is the primary calling of the Priest. To bear witness to the reality of God in each and every situation they face.

That will be easier at some times than others. It is not very difficult to witness to the love of God as a couple come before the Priest to ask for God’s blessings upon their union. However it will be a deep challenge, say when a child dies. On that occasion it may that the need is to sit quietly and travel gently with those journeying through that Holy Saturday experience, knowing that tomorrow is Easter Sunday.  

At other times it will be less sharp and less profound, in the day to day, sometimes mundane routine.

In this calling to bear witness to the reality of God’s presence in each and everything you will be acting as an exemplar to the body of Christ, God’s people.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 11.1 declares ‘Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 

Each and every one of us in our own journey is called to bear witness to ever present reality of God in each and every situation we find ourselves in.

Our Gospel reading marks out in very stark terms what this looks like as we engage with the world. As we become as St Theresa says, Christ’s hands and feet, Christ’s eyes, Christ’s heart of compassion.

We are each and every one of us, to discern and discover what is our calling, what is our vocation and where is our front-line.

Just how do we bear witness to the every present reality of God, especially to those in particular need?

‘Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.’  1 John 3.18

Priests have as their high calling to be exemplars in this mission and ministry. We are to look to them to help us discern and discover how we can truly be the Body of Christ upon earth. How we can evidence a realized Lord’s Prayer, God’s will be done upon earth as in heaven.   

We sit down with our Priest when we are beaten and baffled and bemused as to how to conduct ourselves as we engage with our own particular front-line. We sit down together and we search the Scriptures, we seek God in prayer, we muster as much human wisdom as we can to help us minister in each and every situation so that can bear witness to the ever present reality of God.

Alongside this high calling as an exemplar to the Body of Christ, being a Priest in the Church of England brings with it a whole raft of other stuff borne out of a desire to be the National Church and to have a visible presence in each and every community across these lands.   

Most Priests will be called at some time to minister to a given geographical location and usually with that also comes buildings in various sizes, shapes and states of repair.

There will be committees to chair and deal with, fund raising, child protection, and civic ceremonies, grant applications, etc. etc, etc.

Little wonder woman make good Priests, used as they are to multi-tasking!

However, however, however, all of this must serve all I have been saying so far, to bear witness to the ever present reality of God.

We are not called to worship buildings, choirs, worship bands, committees or any other things; we are called to worship God.

This ‘stuff’ is to be an icon that speaks of God’s ever present reality. It must never, ever, ever become a mere idol.

I can highly commend a study of the Nehushtan – the bronze serpent set up by Moses that was eventually destroyed by King Hezekiah.

Let me leave you with two final thoughts.

You will recall Kate, that when I was walking alongside you as a Companion we used to meet for breakfast. Our conversation was wide and roaming and always fascinating. However there would always come a point when I would stop and ask, ‘how is it with Kate and God’ – how is your soul?’

I want to remind you of that and ask you to bear that in mind. Fr John Twisleton once said, ‘why is that when someone speaks to a Priest they will often preface their words by saying, ‘I know you are busy but…’  When he asked, did it come to pass that Priest were known for being busy instead of being holy, and wholly available?

It takes deep courage and great strength in our world of high demands and frenetic activity to be contemplative. It feels all wrong to sit in silence and in reading when the emails are bouncing into your inbox, when there is that committee to organize and then they are a dozen and one things that need doing. However, continue to bear in mind we are first and foremost human beings not human doings.  

And remember again your calling to be an exemplar to the Body of Christ. Is ill health, high stress levels and living on a hamster wheel really a good model?

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

Then Kate, do you recall a part of training when you were asked to explore the Eucharist. I asked you what you thought were the most important words and you gave your answer.

I then suggested that the most important words of the Eucharist are the ones most often said not by the Priest but by the Deacon. ‘Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.’

Go and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison. Go and bear witness to the ever present reality of God in each and every situation. Go and be attentive to the prompting of the Spirit to share the Faith in word and in actions.

 ‘Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.’  1 John 3.18

It is from the dismissal that we get the word Mass.

The term "Mass" being derived from the late Latin word missa (dismissal), a word used in the concluding formula of Mass in Latin: "Ite, missa est" ("Go; it is the dismissal")."In antiquity, missa simply meant 'dismissal'.

In Christian usage, however, it took on a deeper meaning. The word 'dismissal' has come to imply a 'mission'.

And when we speak of mission let us recall that ‘the Church of God does not have a mission in the world but rather than the God of mission has a church in the world.’

As Rowan Williams once put it, ‘mission is about finding out what God is doing and joining in.’

We seek to do what God is blessing rather than ask God to bless what we are doing.

So let me leave you with this thought for us all to consider…

Just what are you doing for God’s sake?

We can see what Kate is doing for God’s sake. As part of the calling to being a Priest as an exemplar to the body of Christ, now in a public office, the body of Christ will observe how you live and conduct yourself, in and out of cassock if I may put it like that!

But what about you and what about me?

What is our peculiar and particular calling?

Michael Quoist in his book ‘The Christian Response’ wrote…

 ‘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.’

Jesus said, ‘follow me.’

I had the great privilege at the Church Army Gathering at Swanwick back in April to sit under the ministry of Paula Gooder.  Among other things she explored with us the Great Commission.

She argues that the ‘go and make disciples of all nations’ is perhaps not the best interpretation.  She contends that the ‘go’ can sound like a dismissal where Jesus remains and we go. A better reading would be ‘come with me and together we will make all nations my disciples.’

Jesus said, ‘follow me’, we do not take Jesus anywhere, for in each and every situation is the ever present reality of God.

So, when the most important words of this Mass are said we should hear that as Jesus inviting us out into the world, into our Monday to Saturday world, into each and everything we do and say and each and every place we find ourselves.

And we look to our Priest as exemplars;

‘Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 

… as we bear witness to the every present reality of God in each and every thing and in each every situation…

 Christ be with me, Christ within me,

 Christ behind me, Christ before me,

 Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

 Christ to comfort and restore me.

 Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

 Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

 Christ in hearts of all who love me,

 Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Kate, the journey is not over. Follow Christ and as you do may you find joy and fruitfulness in your ministry and become a perfect exemplar to us all.  Amen.   

Captain's Log & Schedule

 

Another full month that saw me engaging with numerous Churches and enterprises.

This began with an ‘Envisioning Afternoon’ for St Giles the Abbot and St Chads, Freehay.

I’ve had several preachments and speaking engagements including an invitation to speak of my work to a visiting group of German curates. It would seem that they face similar challenges to us and we had a useful time in sharing together. 

Preachments continue to come in and this month saw me preaching at St Paul’s, Croxton, St Mary’s, Ellenhall and Holy Cross, Ilam.

It was great to get my Games and Badge Machine busy at a Church Event. This was at St Thomas and St Andrew’s, Doxey. They offered a fantastic ‘free’ afternoon of fun and games along with a BBQ linked in with a Festival of Flowers. I was kept very busy making key rings and badges and keeping an eye on the Games. On the Sunday I joined them for a special Café Church style Service.

Stafford County Show.

I helped to dress the Tent and took along games, badge making and toys. I also set up a FCN (Farming Community Network) display in the NFU marquee. It was fantastic to be involved and to make some great contacts with RABI, NFU and YFC. I am helping to try and set up a Staffordshire FCN Group. www.fcn.org.uk

O yes, I had a birthday as well this month! 

(Think of a Paul McCartney song and you will get the age!)

 

Church Army display at a Diocese of Lichfield Ministry & Service Market Place.

Also mini-bus driving, taking a group from the John Young Foundation on a Day Pilgrimage to Alton – not the ‘Towers’ but the Pugin Church. 

www.johnyoungfoundation.org.uk 

Finishing with a ‘Discussion Day’ for the Alstonfield Benefice, way up in the Derby Dales.

 

Plus a trip to Cornwall to meet granddaughter number two - Lowenna

Schedule for June 2015

Monday 1^st

 Meeting with Revd Alan Betts planning Parish Weekend (September) for St Michael’s, Lancing. Based around LICC – www.licc.org.uk

Tuesday 2^nd

Meeting with Revd Adrian Stone (Home Church) discussion on proposed ‘Hot Potato Evenings.’

Friday 5^th

Travel to Crawley

Sunday 7^th

Preaching at the First Eucharist of Revd Kate Lawson, All Saints, Hove.  Then in the afternoon over to St Peter’s, Bexhill for a ‘Everybody Welcome Course Review’ and preaching at Evensong.

Monday 8^th

To London for the AGM of Sunrise Ministries.

Tuesday 9^th

Travelling back home

Wednesday 10^th

My first meeting with a new Spiritual Companion

Sunday 14^th

Preaching at St Mary’s, Bradley and St Peter’s, Alton

Tuesday 16^th

Meeting with the PCC of St John’s, Ashley

Wednesday 17^th

Lunch time ‘Chat and Chew’ with Mark and Colin. In the evening speaking to Cheadle Deanery Synod

Thursday 18^th

Meeting of Diocesan Mission & Outreach Team and in the evening meeting with the PCC of St Mary’s Mucklestone.

Sunday 21^st

Leading and Preaching at All Saints, Chebsey and St Chad’s, Seighford. (In Vacancy and I am walking alongside them)

Tuesday 23^rd

Lichfield Church Army Cluster Gathering

Wednesday 24^th  (Joe’s birthday)

Farming Community Network 20^th Anniversary Celebrations (Cirencester)

Also 29^th Commissioning Anniversary

Thursday 25^th

Meeting with my ‘line manager’ George Fisher.

Sunday 28^th

Leading Praise and Worship at St Margaret’s, Draycott. (In Vacancy and I am walking alongside them)

Monday 29^th

Diocesan Mission Department meeting

Tuesday 30^th – July 2^nd

Missioners Conference at Buxton

Love maybe all you need - its just how you understand it!

 St Mary's Ellenhall United Service 10th May 2015

John 15.9-17

The Gospel reading last week invited us to consider Jesus as the true vine, and we, as followers, as branches abiding in the vine and bearing fruit to the glory of God.

Today we keep with the same passage from John 15 and are considering one of the hallmark fruits of the community that would gather around Jesus…

‘Now I tell you to love each other as I have loved you.’

In the Greek language there are four basic words used for love.

Phileo – which is often referred to as brotherly love, a love between equals.  (Philadelphia USA)

Eros – intimate and something often equated with sexual love.

Storge – that most often refers to family, parents for children.

Agapa – this is a deep kind of love, a sacrificial love, a total self-giving love.

(Read C.S.Lewis ‘Four Loves.’)

In the English we have to make do with just the one and hope that the context expresses the meaning.I can say I love rice pudding, I love God and I love my wife.

Hopefully you will understand that I mean something different in each case.

Here is one way we can consider this hallmark fruit of the community of God’s people.

L = laughter

In the previous diocese I worked for I was based at Church House, the diocesan administrative centre. In November 2013 there began a major review that led to several amalgamations of departments and a good number of people losing their jobs.What had been a reasonable happy environment with lots of laughter became a very sad place indeed and a spirit of depressions fell over everything.

I am so pleased that there are some good Christian comedians out on the circuit – some who organised a ‘Clean Comedy Tour.’  They are able to show that you don’t need smut to be funny and get people laughing.

There are of course laughter clinics where the beneficial effects of laughter are known for the huge medical and mental benefits.

Of course there are times when it is inappropriate to laugh and we should never laugh at someone whilst we can laugh with them and share the joke. However that should never be at their expense making them feel stupid or belittled.

I remember hearing of two Jewish friends who found themselves in one of the Nazi death camps. As they entered they agreed with each that they would find at least one thing at the end of each day about which they could laugh or at least smile. They both survived because that gave them hope.

When people look at us as the people of God, do they see laughter and joy among God’s people?

O = obedience

This is one of those things that we don’t like that much in our live and let live liberal culture. Who am I to tell anybody how they should live their life. While we do not want to go down the route of ‘thou must not’ and ‘thou shalt not’ there are things that are manifestly bad for people and we have a Christian duty, especially to those of our own Faith Community, to speak out the truth in love.

There are of course many instances in the Scriptures and in the teachings of Jesus that will help steer us on a right path. Remember 6 foot planks and specks in somebody else’s eye!

I do remember a story from just a few years back of a mother who was threatened with child neglect and having her child taken away because he had become obese. In her defense she said, but he likes crisp and burgers and chips and won’t eat anything else. In her mind she was being a loving and caring mother giving to her child what he craved – yet she was quite literally killing him with this misguided idea of what love is.

So, sometimes love has to be tough and love has to say no, that is not the way to behave or act.

‘If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.’

This is my command: Love one another.

Perfect – but let us not fool ourselves in thinking that means we shouldn't call each other to account and to live a life of holiness and obedience.

V = valued

An anthropologist proposed a game to some children in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruits near a tree and told the children that whoever got there first wins the sweet fruits.When he told them to run, they all took each other’s hands and ran together, then all sat together enjoying their treats.When he asked them, why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for themselves, they said:

''UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?''

'UBUNTU' in the Xhosa culture means: "I am, because we are"

So, tell me this, who do you think is the most important person in the Church. Perhaps you might think it is the Priest as he/she celebrates the Eucharist or leads the Service. They may look like they are playing an important role, and in some ways they are. But so are those who have washed and ironed the linen. So are those who have spent time creating floral displays. So are those who have who have cleaned the place and so have those, if you have one, who have cleaned the toilet. 

‘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’

Toilet cleaners, priest and politicians are all of equal value in the Kingdom of God. So don't look down on anyone or put yourself down either, each one of us is a precious daughter or son of God.  We need to recognize and see the Christ in each other.

E = encouragement

‘Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.…

This is written in Philippians 2, 1-2 which gives a lead into what is called the Hymn of the Kenosis, that is self-emptying. A most wonderful early Christian hymn that speaks of Christ leaving the glory of heaven to come and dwell among so that he might show how we should live as authentic humans beings. Then going on to die on the cross to make it possible for us to have a restored relation with God, with ourselves and with each other and indeed with the whole of creation.

In the New Testament, principally in Acts we meet a character called Barnabas, son of encouragement. He is one of my favourite characters and when I was asked how I would like to be remembered I said, ‘he was as a Barnabas among us.’

As a runner I can tell you how important it is to have that cheering crowd as you pump your tired legs in the last leg of a race and as you head towards the finishing line.

‘Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.…’

Hebrews 12.1-2

So in closing let me ask you this.

What do people see when they look at us the people of God?

Do they see a community of faith, love and hope? Do they see a community of faith that is living for each other and for the larger community in which they are set? As engage with people in the shops and in the streets, in the market place and along the lanes and at schools do they look at us and see something attractive – and I am not talking physical attraction here. But a deep inner beauty because we are those who spend time with God, with Scripture, spend time in prayer and spend time with each other, encouraging each other. We spend time calling each to account. We spend time and make sure we value each and every one from the very youngest to the very oldest. 

We are one body because we share in one bread…

Numerous surveys are now coming out that are showing that not everyone wants an all sing, all dancing worship experience with bright lights and loud music. That may suit some, however what the surveys are findings is that people are looking for authenticity. They want to know if Christianity works and does it make a difference day by day.

We need to learn to share our faith in words and in actions and that begins with the household of faith, the church, and then spills out into the streets as we will soon be celebrating at Pentecost.

1 John 3.18

‘Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.’

Of Vines Vineyards and Abiding!

United Broughton/Croxton/Chapel

3rd May at 11 am at St Paul's, Croxton.

John 15.1-8

In thirteen days’ time I will be celebrating a birthday, when thanks to some catchy lyrics from Paul McCartney I will be able to ask my wife if she still cares for me and if she will still look after me!

There are a few odd things about getting older that kind of creep up on you and take you by surprise.

Just the other day as I was driving somewhere I was listening to Radio Stoke. (Radio One is way too loud!)  That might be bad enough, but then Gardeners Question Time came on – and I went on listening - and listening with interest.

(With huge respect for all lovers of gardening of more tender years)

However I remain largely ignorant about all matters horticultural.

Having been in Ministry for nearly thirty years we have traveled around a fair bit and have had to deal with some pretty neglected gardens during that time. I remember digging down into the back garden in a council house we lived in during our Luton days.

As I dug down it became like a bizarre archaeological dig, I found a mattress and all sorts of other stuff. Eventually we found a path that must have been at least 2 feet down, buried under soil and other stuff.

The Vicarage Garden in Luxulyan in Cornwall however did beat us. It was huge and had become a veritable wilderness. I was always scared I would lose one of the children and have to send out a Search and Rescue Team.

Our current garden in the Manse at Stafford is basically okay, but just been neglected for about a year. So I am trying to re-establish the borders as one of the first task.

But I don’t really know whether what I am digging up and consigning to the tip is a good flower or plant or a pernicious weed. I can tell the basic stuff, I know what dandelions look like and nettles and brambles. I am also transplanting some stuff and pruning the Wisteria and Honeysuckle that was growing at the front of the house and taking over everything and blocking out light.

‘I am the vine and my father is the Gardner.’

(You were wondering when I would get around to the Gospel reading weren't you!)

Jesus himself may have been a gardener as well as a carpenter come builder. 1^st century Palestine was an Agrarian society.

However Jesus isn't merely using a horticultural metaphor, but saying something far more profound. When we read our Scriptures we need to learn to see links and patterns, we need to take cognizance of echoes and themes that we have come across before.

We have to learn to do that because we are not 1^st century Jews living in Palestine.

So what do we hear when Jesus speaks of the vine?

We should hear a rich and deep metaphor that was very much part of the warp and weft of how the Jewish people thought of themselves.

The picture of the Vine is a picture of Israel transplanted from Egypt and placed in the Promised Land.

Psalm 80.8-11 ‘You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. It sent out its boughs to the sea, its shoots as far as the river.'

In Isaiah chapter 5 we read a very well-known piece about a Song of the Vineyard. About how Yaweh had planted this vineyard, nurtured it and tended it and looked for good fruit and yet it yielded only bad fruit.

Then do you recall the story of that we find in all three Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke – sometimes called the Parable of the Tenants.

The story tells of a man who planted a vineyard and a built a wine press and a watchtower. (Nothing to do with J.W.s)

He rented out the farm to tenants. At harvest time he sent servants to collect some of the fruit. But the tenants beat him and chased him away. Eventually the owner sent his son, thinking they will show respect to him. But instead they killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.

That story needs to be read in the light of Isaiah 5 and other related passages.

So you can see why this story about the vineyard in John 15 is not simply a 

good horticultural illustration.

This is a story that is as deep and as rich as the very best and most expensive of red wines – wines that have a long, long history.

‘I am’ – the well know motif of John’s Gospel. I am the true vine – here Jesus declares that in him is Israel personified, he is now Israel coming into the Promised Land.

And he brings with him a new people – those who will abide in him, those who will stay close to him.

Those who will accept the pruning and cutting away of long held and deep traditions so that the true vine as God intended can flourish.

Now I did have one bush in our current garden that I think was some kind of rose bush. However it had become so long and spindly it was hard to tell, and most of it was dead anyway. So, down went the lot, cut right back almost to the roots.

Those branches I cut off would soon die and find their way to the tip.

‘…apart from me you can nothing.’

It is a partnership – the whole enterprise of God is to bring about a new heaven and new earth, a redeemed and restored cosmos - as we read in Romans 8. 21-23…

‘…that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.… ‘

Can I ask you this morning how big is your concept of God, of the Jesus story, of the Lord’s Prayer that is often on our lips but in reality far away from our hearts and even further away from our hands and feet in making it a reality. 

Of course, of course, there are some massive questions that we in our generation face, in the same way each generation has had to face.

Where is God in the appalling disaster in Nepal. Where is God protecting His people as Isis continues to rampage and brutally kill and murder with impunity men, woman and children?

Those and many others like them are hard questions to face.

I remember many years ago visiting Speakers Corner in London when I lived not far away. On one occasion someone took me to task about the Christian faith and successfully deconstructed so much of my belief and made it sound like so much bunkum.

I walked the couple of miles home in sombre mood. However as I walked I kept thinking, maybe, but Jesus is real. I know Jesus is real, I know that I have experienced his love for me.  I know the love, care and support shown to me by others of God’s family.

I was cut, pruned, taken right back to the roots, but remained in Him.

Gradually I grew back, and I grew back stronger and more fruitful.

None of us like to be pruned, but think of it this way.

My Father is the Gardener, a skilled Gardner, who is not like me with my honeysuckle, randomly hacking away at each and everything.

Pruning a vine is a skillful operation and the gardener needs to get in very close to the vine.

When things are most painful, when it seems the pruning is almost unbearable, it is then that your Heavenly Father is the closest. 

So, we may not have a ready answer to those who would quiz us about our faith in God when disaster strikes.

We may not have a ready answer, but we can know Jesus. We can abide in Him. Rev 3.20 ‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.’ 

We can take faith in the resurrection as sure evidence that Jesus as Israel personified has entered the Promised Land. We can become part of a new faithful people peculiar unto God who are being rooted and established.

Mixing metaphors and referring back to the passage from Romans, childbirth is painful, even for Princesses. However there is joy in new life, new hope and new promises.

So, let me ask you again, how big if your God?

And let me ask you how fruitful are you?

In the back garden of our home in Hove, Sussex we had a pear tree. How did I know it was a pear tree – because it produced pears?

However we tried to harvest the pears one year and it was complete waste of time. The tree hadn't been pruned and tended and looked after. The fruit produced were very small and bitter and fit only for insects to enjoy or the compost bin.

What fruit am I bearing and what fruit are you bearing?

A few weeks ago I was at a Church Army Gathering. This brings together 

Members of the Church Army Mission Community. Among those gathering are our retired Officers, many of whom have served in God’s vineyard for many, many years. And it shows, their bodies may have grown weary but their spirits remain strong and from eyes that may have become dull physically, the light of the Spirit shines brightly.

When someone tells me that they have been coming to church all their life I would expect to see some good fruit. We have a list of what some of this fruit looks like in Galatians 5:22-23

'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.'

.

Try putting your name against that fruit and see how you measure up!

However remember we all are a work in progress!  God loves us just as we are, but loves us enough not to leave us that way.

I would expect that if people have been abiding in Jesus for decades then it would show.

My wife and I will have been married for 33 years this year. One of the things a number people have noticed is how much we are beginning to look alike. (Much as some say is the same for pets and their owners!)

Now we don’t know what Jesus looked like physically, and that’s not the point anyway. The point is that we abide in him and bear fruit.

This is how we will show we are disciples.

There is a world of difference between being a Church goer, a follower of Jesus and being a disciple.

The Greek word for disciple is mathetes, which means “learner,” the word indicated “thought accompanied by endeavour.”  This meant that a disciple was not merely a person who was learning something as a fact but was actively learning to adhere to the principles of whoever he was following.  In the ancient times, when a person chose to become a disciple of another person, the disciple would follow his teacher everywhere. 

He would live where he lived, he would sleep where he slept and he would eat where he ate. He would be with his teacher every moment so that he could learn everything about him. 

Augustine of Hippo wrote…

‘Jesus Christ will be Lord of all, or he will not be Lord at all.’

I am the Vine (said Jesus) – the true Israel, sent to do all that Israel was meant to do, to be a light to the Gentiles, to show to a watching world what it means to live a life as an authentic human being lined up with God’s will plan and purpose.

As disciples of Jesus we are called to work and labour in God’s vineyard, so that we may see a realized Lord’s Prayer, where His Kingdom comes and His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. That means right here and right now!

Let us pray – (Ignatius of Loyola)

Teach us, good Lord, 

to serve you as you deserve,

to give and not to count the cost,

to fight and not to heed the wounds,

to toil and not to seek for rest,

to labour and not to ask for any reward,

save that of knowing that we do your will. Amen.