Feast of Christ the King 2016

Sermon – St John the Baptist ‘Feast of Christ the King’ 20/11/16

Colossians 1.11-20 Luke 23.33-43

Let me begin by reading again some of those verses from Colossians...

Now Christ is the visible expression of the invisible God. He existed before creation began, for it was through him that everything was made, whether spiritual or material, seen or unseen. Through him, and for him, also, were created power and dominion, ownership and authority. In fact, every single thing was created through, and for him. He is both the first principle and the upholding principle of the whole scheme of creation. And now he is the head of the body, which is composed of all Christian people. Life from nothing began through him, and life from the dead began through him, and he is, therefore, justly called the Lord of all. It was in him that the full nature of God chose to live, and through him, God planned to reconcile in his own person, as it were, everything on earth and everything in Heaven by virtue of the sacrifice of the cross.

Laying my words against these is not unlike laying Cubic zirconia next to a high cut diamond.
However, I will prevail because of the importance of our subject matter this morning – Christ the King.

Today brings to a close our Lectionary Year C and next week we begin with Year A.

What could be more fitting as we begin the journey to the crib that we reflect once more on the journey to the cross as we have done in our Gospel reading.

A journey summed up perfectly in Philippians 2 as Paul encourages the Christians in Philippi to live as the people of God in that place by reflecting upon Jesus… 

 ‘Who always had the nature of God,
    but he did not think that by force he should try to remain equal with God.
 Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant.
He became like a human being
    and appeared in human likeness.
 He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death—
    his death on the cross.
 For this reason, God raised him to the highest place above, and gave him the name that is greater than any other name.
 And so, in honour of the name of Jesus
    all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below
    will fall on their knees,
 and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.’

‘There was a written notice above him, which read; THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.’

And we proclaim as the Scriptures we have considered so far attest, Jesus is not only the King of the Jews but King over all the earth.

As one Facebook post said, Trump may be President but Jesus is King – we do well to remember that.

Proclaiming Jesus as King is one of the reasons I like the Christus Rex.

For it is in this total self-giving that Jesus demonstrates…

‘That God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

That is why when we sing a certain song I change the words from ‘the wrath of God was satisfied’ to ‘the love of God was glorified.’

The cross of shame became the crown of glory by the redeeming power of God’s love for the world.

That is the bit we often miss in John 3.16, ‘for God so loved the world...’

For, we are saved not from the world but for the world.

‘For God so loved the world…’

And if we are ‘in Christ’

If we have accepted His amazing gift of love and grace

Then each and every one of us has a God given task and a vocation as a disciple of Jesus.

‘Michael Quoist in his book ‘The Christian Response’ writes;

‘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.’

We proclaim Christ Jesus as Lord of all creation.

As we heard from Colossians…

‘He is both the first principle and the upholding principle of the whole scheme of creation.’

And it was St Augustine who said; ‘If Jesus is not Lord of all then he is not Lord at all.’

I hope by now you will have noticed the far reaching implications of this proclamation, Jesus is King, and the radical nature of the Lord’s Prayer   

Tom Wright in a recent book ‘God in Public’ argues that for the last two hundred God has been increasingly side lined during the age of enlightenment.

He has been like some peculiar old man who lives up in the attic visited by those who like that kind of thing.

Christian faith, indeed any faith belief, was considered an outdated notion that over time would wither and fall away in the bright light of reason and rationalism.

Science offered a hope of bright new future; science would be the saviour of all.

And we must accept that it has brought us enormous benefits.

However, it has also brought us as one of its first inventions the guillotine, an effective way of killing people. Then Nazi scientist and engineers who devised a way of killing vast numbers of people took this to a whole new level.

For Christians however, following Jesus is much more than paying the occasional visit or saying the odd prayer. We proclaim Jesus as King, Lord and Saviour over all creation and over every aspect of our lives – and this is but the first step.

Paul writing to the Corinthian church says…

‘You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.’

That is what we are called to become – a letter from Christ to our family and friends, to our community, to our nation and to the world.

A letter that proclaims Christ Jesus as Lord and King.

A letter that demonstrates a better way of ordering our affairs

A letter that shows how to live an authentic beautiful life in pursuit of holiness.

A letter that speaks to those in authority reminding them that one day they will be judged and called to account.

A letter that commends anything that bears the hallmark of the Kingdom of God.

Today we hear a good deal about ‘make the switch’ from banks to utilities to phone companies.

Today you can make the most important switch you could ever make… Colossians1.13

‘For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son’

Let me ask you this morning – which kingdom are you living in?

The offer is there – but you have to make the switch and accept Jesus as King, Lord and Saviour.

And this is more, much more than a way of introducing a spiritual element into your life.

This is not some detox destress type thing.

This is the real deal that affects everything…

Paul writing to the Corinthians reminds them…

‘Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies.’ 1 Cor.6.19-20

Therefore, if we are loyal and devoted disciples of King Jesus how are we going to live out that reality in the days, weeks, months and years ahead?

On the 23^rd February, the Church remembers blessed Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna in the 2^nd century. During a time of severe persecution by Rome Polycarp was arrested and brought before the Proconsul.

“Swear,” urged the Proconsul, “reproach Christ, and I will set you free.” “86 years have I served him,” Polycarp declared, “and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?”
 

Going back even further Joshua put this choice before the people of Israel…

“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." Joshua 24.15

Part of our human make up is that we all live for somebody or something – we all in effect chose to serve someone or something.

Brothers and sisters in Christ may this be our song, our prayer and our pledge…

Lord for ourselves; in living power remake us-
self on the cross, and Christ upon the throne,
past put behind us, for the future take us:
Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone.

Amen

 

 

Jubilantly Joyful - transcript of sermon. St Anne's Brown Edge 9th October 2016

Sermon – St Anne’s, Brown Edge 9^th October 2016

 2 Kings 5.1-3,7-15c Psalm 111 2 Timothy 2.8-15 Luke 17.11-19

There are certain passages of Scripture that we can become so familiar with, that if we are not careful we skim read or do not pay as much attention as perhaps we ought.

I think this passage from Luke’s Gospel is one of those. We know the story and it all looks straightforward.

A story is told of a Church outing to a circus that was visiting the town. One of the acts was a Strong Man who did all sorts of amazing feats. He then took four lemons in one of his big beefy hands and squeezed and squeezed until the lemons were dry.

He then went around the ring asking if anyone thought that they could get any more out of the lemons.

From the Church party a small elderly man got up and entered the ring.

He took the four lemons and began to squeeze them. First one drop, then another until four large drops of juice had been squeezed out of the lemons.

That’s amazing said the strong man – how did you manage to do that?

The elderly man replied, I’m the Church treasurer.

So – let’s see what we might squeeze out of this passage that will help us live as God’s people today.

‘Now on his way to Jerusalem…

This is one of those little phrases that we might easily miss.

In Luke 9.51, we read ‘As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.’

This marks a turning point in Luke’s Gospel – this journey to Jerusalem will bring Jesus to the Cross and to a confrontation with all the powers of the world and the dark powers that lay behind them.

We might infer from the reading that nine of these lepers were of the Faith – Jews, and only one, a foreigner, a Samaritan.

A lesson we learn here takes us back to my opening words about how we can become overfamiliar with Scripture.

Could it be that the other nine as God chosen people almost took it for granted that God would cleanse them of leprosy?

I have a heard number of people who are new to the Faith and who then find great delight in reading God’s word, the Bible. They get excited about their discoveries in this remarkable book.

Have we become a tad sloppy in our reading of the Scriptures?

Do you read the Bible daily, perhaps with a good study guide to help you understand more?

Jesus’ work on the cross, which he is on his way to undertake, will open up the possibility for everyone to become a Child of God. Not just those who belong to ethnic Israel – it will include Samaritans as well. 

God’s healing power to cleanse is now to be poured out through Jesus following his death, resurrection and ascension to God’s right hand.

Romans 10.13 - for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Naaman, also foreigner, had to act in simple obedience to receive healing and cleansing.

Our obedience is to call upon the name of Jesus and accept the life of the Sprit dwelling within us.

That cleansing, that healing, that restoration – surely that should make us fall down on our knees in thankfulness.

Last week in my home Church, St John the Baptist, as part of our All Age Harvest Communion, we had a ‘Thankful Wall.’

People were invited to bring something for which they were thankful to God. We had pictures, and toys, and flowers and a whole range of different things.

So – let me ask you, what are you thankful to God for this morning.

‘One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice and threw himself at Jesus feet.’

I remember being with an American friend discussing some initiative we were both involved in. I said that I was quietly excited. He smiled and replied; only a Brit could be quietly excited.

Where is our loud voice singing out God’s praises?

Where is our exuberant joy at our salvation?

Would visitors here this morning know that we are people who have been healed, cleansed and restored back into God’s community of Love?

Will the people whom you will meet throughout the week ahead know that you carry deep in your heart the joy of the Lord?

Last week the Church remembered St Francis. With this in mind, I sat and watched one of my favourite films by Franco Zeffirellie, ‘Bother Son, Sister Moon.’ This is a highly romanticised version of Francis’ re-birth and the beginning of the Franciscan Order.

Yet for all of that the story remains powerful and strong.

How free are we, how full of joy at the simple things in the life? The song of the birds, the smell of autumn, the laughter of friends.

I am not suggesting that we go around with stupid false grins on our faces, but that we know deep down in our souls that joy that comes when we know that we are a child of God. Beloved by him - one of his precious daughters or sons.

The 14^th century mystic and anchorite, Mother Julian gave us that wonderful phrase, ‘all shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.’

God alone knows what you are facing at the moment…

However, no matter whatever it is you are facing, if your cry out, as did these ten men, Jesus, Master, have pity on us. Then Jesus will respond and bring you cleansing.

You will then be able to find comfort in the knowledge that ‘all shall be well and all things shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.’

In the knowledge that although we may not see it or feel it, God is working his purposes out in our lives, we can then live in thankfulness for all God has done for us in Jesus.

Knowing that God is working out his purposes in our lives might cause us to shout out with a loud voice in praise and thankfulness occasionally.

For as we read in Romans 8.37-39

^… in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now isn’t that something to get more than quietly excited about – something to get jubilantly joyful about? So, how are you going to share and show the joy of the Gospel in the week ahead with the people you meet.

Let me close with some beautiful words written by his Holiness Pope 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.

So, how are you going to share and show the joy of the Gospel in the week ahead with the people you meet.

 

 

 

 

Captain's Log October 2016

Holiday…

Early September saw Jane and I relaxing on a fabulous holiday in Rhodes. Soaking up the sun and swimming in the sea with lots of nice wine, cold beers and gorgeous food. Plus fascinating places to visit. We hired a car and  traveled  around the whole island.

However it was back to business on my return with hardly time to stop and breathe.

An evening spent with my friends at Doxey Parish Church exploring ways in which they can share and show the love of Jesus. They have a lot of new build around them and so that is creating both challenges and opportunities.

Then another day looking at ‘Frontline Discipleship’ with LICC. (www.licc.org.uk)

We are delighted at the way they have worked with the Diocese in helping to create a package that we hope will embed the principles of ‘Frontline Disciples.’  We are currently working with them to craft and develop a programme whereby we will walk alongside a parish/benefice for a year with various inputs covering various aspects of ministry – i.e. worship, sermons, pastoral care, etc.

Stafford County Show – the planning team enjoyed a fabulous meal together as we looked back to 2016 and made some plans for 2017.  The real work now is to consolidate the core ministry of hospitality and providing a sanctuary at the Show.  Pray we might find people who will want to engage and join the Captain’s crew!

I did have one very silly Sunday that saw me preach at Trentham Parish Church at both their 9.30am and 11am Service. Then dash off to Egginton (nr. Derby) to run an PCC Away Afternoon for the benefice of Anslow, Rolleston and Tutbury. We were exploring a Benefice MAP that would provide a ‘Common Vision – Locally Expresed.’ I then stayed on and preached at Evensong at Rolleston.

Thankfully the next day I was at The Hermitage for a Quiet Day.

FCN (www.fcn.org.uk) continues to feature a good deal at the moment as we are busy making plans for our Harvest Service and AGM which the Staffordshire Group are hosting. We have developed a very helpful informal gathering in a local eatery in Stafford where we simple ‘chew the cud.’ Joining us on these occasions is Stella Mills, Agricultural Chaplain for Derby and Becky who is the RABI local rep as well as Staffordshire FCN folk. It is great to see the sharing of ideas and links and the offer of following something or someone up.

Stafford 10K – this happened on the 10^th anniversary of my mothers death. As my mum suffered from a heart condition I asked for sponsorship for the British Heart Foundation and have been delighted to have raised £145.00. I set a target of £79.00 – £1.00 for each year of my mum’s life, so this figure is fantastic. I was also really pleased to complete the run in 58.24 – which is only slightly slower than the same distance in 1998 albeit that was a much tougher course in Saltash, Cornwall.  
www.justgiving.com/Gordon-Banks8

The month concluded with Review Meetings with Bishop Geoff and Archdeacon Matthew and then Head of Missions, George Fisher. They all seemed very pleased with the way things have been progressing. God is good!

              

Some appointments October 2016

Saturday 1^st

Away Day for St Marys and All Saints, Trentham. They are currently in Vacancy and we are looking to create a MAP that will go towards the Parish Profile. The parish is being looked after by their curate Andy.

Monday 3^rd

Trustees Meeting of Sunrise Ministries – Selly Oak, Birmingham.

Tuesday 4^th

Meeting in the morning with Matrin Strang, Vicar for Doxey Parish and then in the afternoon with John Marshall who heads up ‘Love Stafford.’

Wednesday 5^th

‘Chew & Chat’ – informal meeting at Rising Brook Baptist (Brook Café) 12.30pm and all are welcome – very informal, we eat lunch and chat!

Thursday 6^th

 Representing FCN at the YFC Harvest Service St Chad’s, Stafford.

Sunday 9^th

Preaching and leading Service of the Word at St Anne’s, Brown Edge.

Monday 10^th

The Mission Caravan is being serviced. ‘Barnabas’ is really coming to the end of his life. He could still make a good prayer cell or  someone might want to renovate him. Then there is the question of a replacement!  

Saturday 16^th

Attending the Germinate Conference.

http://www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk/mission-and-ministry/germinate

Monday 17^th

Meeting with my Spiritual Companion

Tuesday 18^th

FCN Harvest Service and AGM at Rodbaston Hall. The Staffordshire Group are playing host and organising this day.

Saturday 29^th

Rural Mission Solutions – webinar. This is part of the series we have been covering on Seasonal Mission Opportunities. We will be looking at the ‘winter season’ – Advent to the beginning of Lent. If you have any good ideas or know of resources we would be delighted to hear from you. Barry Osborne is also running a webinar this Saturday 1^st October on ‘Image’ For more details visit…

http://www.ruralmissionsolutions.org.uk/

'The Divine Dance of Redemption' - transcript of sermon - St. Marys and All Saints, Trentham 18th September 2016

Luke 16.1-13 'The Parable of the Shrewd Manager'

On my recent holiday, I took two real books and one on my Kobo.

On the Kobo I had ‘Soulfulness’ by Brian Draper. Then I had Paula Gooder’s sequel to ‘Heaven’ – ‘body – biblical spirituality for the Whole person’ and finally Tom Wright’s ‘God in Public’ – How the Bible speaks truth to power today.

I read all three books concurrently (not finished them yet) and was delighted with the way all three books coalesced.

Draper’s ‘Soulfulness’ picks up the idea of ‘mindfulness’ which is very much in vogue at the moment. In case you are not familiar, mindfulness is a discipline of being in the moment, being aware of each and everything around you and what you are feeling. Not being distracted by phones or agendas or anything else.

Draper develops this from a Christian perspective and invites us to ‘soulfulness’ – knowing who we are truly are in God and from that place of knowing to be able to engage with others and with all of God’s creation.

Paula Gooder picks something of this up as she explores Paul’s view of the body.  

She argues that for the most part in the West we have a Platonic view of the body and the soul or spirit. If we conceive of any existence at all beyond death, it is very often as some sort of real ‘me’ that is defined as soul or perhaps spirit. 

This soul/spirit will escape from this nasty world and flesh and blood and will go to live with God in a spiritual realm for all eternity.

We might also add to this the triple decker universe that despite all our science still prevails in the common consciousness.

God and heaven are up there, we are here on earth below and hell is somewhere down below the earth.

Gooder argues powerfully for a better understanding and appreciation of our bodies as they now are and explores what Paul says they will be like as resurrected bodies. 

Paul’s famous treatise on this is 1 Corinthians 15 – in verses 42 for example we read…

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;   

In our Creed we say, ‘I believe in the resurrection of the body’ 

Our bodies are important – and an important part of our identity. What we do with them is important and how we treat other people’s bodies is also important.

This brings in Tom Wright who has written a great deal about an earthed focused reality. 

Post-modernist argue against all meta-narratives, all big stories, everything is relevant. That gives rise to that wonderful quote ‘all truths are relevant except that statement that all truths are relevant.’

Wright argues that the Scriptures offer a very important meta-narrative, a big story of how God created this good earth and is bringing it back into good order. 

One day it will be redeemed, renewed and reformed and we might say, re-populated with resurrected people.  

He argues powerful that whilst the ‘enlightenment’ brought great benefits it has also given us at its outset the guillotine as a clean efficient way of killing your political opponents during the French Revolution. And then those clever Nazi’s scientist who designed and developed an even more efficient way of killing thousands. 

Also the great Western democracy that during the recent banking crisis of 2008 managed to find $700 billion dollars to bail out the banks and keep the system afloat. All at the same time as continuing to demand crippling loans debts from poor countries in struggling sub-Saharan Africa. 

Wright argues that the Scriptures offer a powerful critique on all power structures and rulers and governments.

The scientific enlightenment and rational thinking pushed God up into the attic like some harmless old man. A few folk may like to go and visit him occasionally, but eventually this will all die away.

Much to the annoyance of many atheists, the rumour of God has not died or gone away. Therefore, they are lashing out and declaring people who believe in God have a deficient gene. For them, there must be a logical and scientific reason people continue to hold onto a belief in God.

The Scriptures give us an overall picture, that this earth is God’s good creation.

That one day it will be redeemed, restored and renewed. We are not going to float away as disembodied spirits to live in some ethereal heaven God knows where.

The Scriptures help us to understand the story of God’s outworking in this enterprise.

And in Jesus we see that matter matters to God.

And although the canon of Scripture is closed its outworking continues for each and every generation and for each and every situation. We are invited into the story as well – we are invited to read our Scriptures not so much as way of developing a personal piety but that we may speak truth into power, that we may offer a prophetic voice to the world as it ‘groans in its birth pangs’  Romans 8.22.

We are not offering an escape plan from earth to heaven aboard the good ship 'The Church’ with Jesus at the helm.

Jesus taught us to pray – Your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it in heaven.’ In your life, in your home, in your family......

Let’s not just pray it – let’s do it…

All of this and I have yet to mention Luke 16 and the parable of the ‘Shrewd Steward’ to which I now want to turn briefly.

This is a problematic parable and there are numerous interpretations and ways of considering it.

However having said all that I have said so far, it is important to allow the idea of God ‘so loving the world’ to inform any reading and reflection on this passage, or indeed any passage of Scripture we may be reading.

Although we may struggle to understand some of the things Jesus says here, one point is very clear.

Jesus came proclaiming the Kingdom of God.

Standing in the great tradition of the prophets, he announced that God was visiting His people in fulfillment of all the promises they had hoped for, longed for and prayed for over thousands of years.

This was the year of God’s favour; this was the year of Jubilee.

However, He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. John 1.11

In the story Jesus tells of the shrewd steward, the steward can see which way the wind is blowing, he can tell what’s coming up, and he acts, decisively and quickly to ensure he is safe and saved.

The people of God, the Children of Light could learn a lesson here. Jesus is offering them an opportunity – which they are either not seeing or if they do, they are rejecting it.

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Luke 13.34

There is much more that we could tease out of this passage and I do commend it to you for further study.  As always, when you are looking at a passage of Scripture do remember to explore it in its context.

Remember that Chapters and verses were only added in the Bible during the 12^th & 13^th century and whilst helpful for referencing they can isolate passages.

For example, this passage follows on from the stories about ‘lost things’ – a coin, a sheep and finally the Prodigal son. Following on we have the story of a Rich Man and Lazarus, which helpfully reflects back on the story of the shrewd steward.  

The rich man had failed to heed the messages of Moses and the prophets and had neglected to care for the poor and weak and vulnerable – he was now paying the price!

Let me offer one more observation of how this passage might speak prophetically today.

The story tells us that shrewd steward got some his master’s debtors together and ‘adjusted’ what they owed.  This could have been ‘usury’ – charging interest on money loans, something forbidden and against the Law.

One way around this was to take interest in kind – like oil and grain for example.

Therefore, it may just be that the steward is taking off or reducing the amount of interest.

The Master cannot of course say anything without condemning himself.

It could also be that the ‘extra’ was the steward’s commission on top of the loan.

Think of the loans to poorer countries I mentioned earlier.

Or, think of Pay Day Loans and Archbishops Justine Welby’s ‘War on Wonga.’  Not only did he speak out and draw attention to their malpractices he encouraged an alternative in Credit Unions and set up the Mustard Seed Appeal. The first six months of 2016 saw a total of 313,679 people contact StepChange for debt advice. 

We are called as the people of God to be informed by our Scripture.

We are called as the people of God to work towards a realized Lord’s Prayer.

We are called as God’s people to model a different way of ordering affairs. 

We are called as God’s people to offer a prophetic voice and a critique to the whole of life, especially and in particular politics and our politicians and leaders.

We need to gain confidence (not arrogance) and proclaim that Jesus is Lord of the Universe and is in the business of redeeming the cosmos and everyone is invited to join in the Divine Dance of Redemption.

Now that is an image to play with as we begin to watch ‘Strictly Come Dancing.’ 

Consider the discipline and hard work undertaken.

Reflect on the history of a particular dance and about its current interpretation. 

Think about the teamwork of all those involved with a whole range of skills and talents.

Above all – without bodies none of this could happen!

‘Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.’

Time to dance… 

 Let us pray;

Give to your people at this time:
A new vision of your glory;
A new experience of your power
A new faithfulness to your Word
And, a new consecration to your service,
That Your Holy Name may be glorified
 and Your Kingdom advanced
Where You live and reign,
   forever One God, unto the ages of ages.

Amen