The Dancing Trinity!

Sermon ~ St Mary’s Kemp Town – Trinity Sunday 2013

Proverbs 8.1-4, 22-31

Psalm 8
Romans 5.1-15
John 16.12-15

If you ever find yourself talking to a member of the Watchtower and Bible Tract Society, better known as Jehovah’s Witnesses, the conversation may turn to the Trinity.

They may challenge you to find were the Trinity is explicitly spoken of in the Scriptures.

Don’t try looking – you won’t find it.

The Trinity is better experienced rather than explained.

Although it is not explicitly mentioned in the Scriptures the Trinity is implicit in many places in both Old and New Testament Scriptures.

Beginning with the picture of creation in Genesis where we have God the creator, the Spirit of God hovering over the waters and the Word sent forth from God with creative power.

Now immediately your minds should have raced on towards the opening prologue of John’s Gospel.

‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.’

That’s exactly what John wants to remind us of, that the Word comes amongst us and as the Message Bible puts it, ‘has moved into the neighbourhood.’

The Proverbs reading for this morning also speaks of the Spirit of Wisdom that some scholars identify with the Holy Spirit.

This idea is picked up in 1 Corinthians 2 verses 10 ff.

‘The Spirit searches for the deep things of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught us by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.’

In December we celebrated the Word coming amongst us. We then journeyed with Jesus through his Triumphal Entry, his Passion, death and resurrection. Then a few weeks ago we celebrated Jesus Ascension and last week the coming of the Holy Spirit as prophesied by Joel and spoken by Jesus.

Notice if you will the forward motion of all of these events, for God is a sending God and we are a sent people.

A dictionary definition of mission is sending, i.e. to be sent out to accomplish some purpose or task.

We, as the people of God, are the sent ones, sent out by God.

Here we must note that the initiative always lies with God, ‘who so loved the world that he sent his only Son, not to condemn the world, but to save the world.’

It has been said that the ‘Church of God doesn’t have a mission but the God of mission has a Church.’

Today at this celebration of the Eucharist the most important words that will be said come right at the every end – ‘go in peace to love and serve the Lord.’

The dismissal from which in the Latin rite we get the word Mass. ‘ite, missa est’

After his resurrection John recalls Jesus commissioning the disciples in these words…

‘I am sending you, just as the Father sent me. Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Note another implied reference to the Trinity, the Father who sends the Son who then sends the Holy Spirit upon his disciples.

The same ‘Holy Spirit’ who will come, as we heard from our Gospel reading this morning, to guide us into all truth so that the Son might be glorified.

So what is our mission, what is the task for which God called us and commissioned us?

We return to the Genesis story and God’s good creation.

In that story you might recall that Adam hid in his naked shame before God.

In 1 John3.28 we read ‘Children, stay united in your hearts with Christ. Then when he returns, we will have confidence and won’t have to hide in shame.’

The disobedience of the first Adam and its subsequent outcome is made right by the obedience of the second Adam.

O loving wisdom of our God,
When all was sin and shame,
He, the last Adam, to the fight
And to the rescue came.

That is our calling and our commission; to proclaim in word and in deed that Kingdom of God has come. That a way has been provided for all creation to be reconciled to God through Christ’s sacrificial obedience, vindicated by God’s raising Jesus to life.

This is at the heart of the Lord’s Prayer. Something we may know ‘off by heart’ but do we know it ‘in our hearts?’

Your Kingdom come, your will be done, here in Kemp Town as in heaven.

May your name be held in honour – and to stop saying OMG I think would come into this category!

You know the rest; however the key is that whilst we may know the rest of the Lord’s Prayer; do we live it out in expectancy?

The Father, the creator God sends the Logos, the Word, who sends the Holy Spirit who sends us out as Ambassadors for Christ to bring about the redemption of the cosmos.

To set right the time; ‘when earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe That all was lost.’  

(Milton – Paradise Lost)

To the end that we may see a realized Lord’s Prayer in our own lives, in our homes, our communities, our nation and our world.

The early church leaders described the Trinity using the term perichoresis. (Peri = around & Choresis = dance, as in choreography) The Trinity is an eternal dance of the Father, Son and Spirit sharing mutual love, honour, happiness, joy and respect. God’s act of creation means that God is inviting more and more beings into the eternal dance of Joy. Sin means that people are stepping out of the dance, stepping on people’s toes instead of moving with grace, rhythm and reverence. Then in Jesus, God enters creation to restore the rhythm and beauty again.

You and I are invited to a dance with the Holy Trinity as together in creative harmony we dance into our communities the love and light and joy and peace that redeems God’s good creation. This morning allow the Holy Spirit to lighten your soul and set your feet dancing to the delight of our heavenly Father as you come to receive Christ in the sacraments in preparation to go dancing in the streets.   

A month in review...

Probably not helped by sitting out in the cold over three days for the Passion of Christ I was not in good shape during Easter week. Therefore it was a delight to learn that Jane had booked a very last minute short break to Portugal.

After speaking at the Sussex Prayer Breakfast we (me and the ‘girls’) headed off for Gatwick and then to Faro. We arrived at the set of apartments just a few miles west of Albufeira around 9pm.  I hadn’t a clue where I was, only a vague idea of how I had got there, and as often happens when I fly, I could hardly hear anything. But Jane and Tabitha were fantastic and ensured I had the time and space I needed to rest and recuperate. I soon picked up and we had a brilliant time exploring the area in a hired car. We visited a great Anglican Church in nearby Lagoa. Always worth doing, as amongst other things, ‘locals’ can give you the best information on places to visit on a short stay.   

Arriving back it was straight into ‘work’ as I attended a Training Day in Supervision for Spiritual Directors Part-Two with the excellent Andrew Walker. A few days later we had the concluding Day for the year long course ‘Introduction to Spiritual Direction.’

The pace of life remained hectic because as much as I needed the break and it was great to be away the flip side was that I now had limited prep time for some upcoming events and activities.    

  The first of these was the Residential Weekend for our MSM course. http://www.missionshapedministry.org/ I was co-leading a module on Evangelism. It was a huge challenge trying to condense  two 90 minute sessions into one 120 minute session. The weekend itself was great fun and this was my first visit to the fantastic Ashburnham Conference and Prayer Centre.

I arrived back home on Sunday afternoon and had a quick turn around before heading north at 7am on Monday. I was going to the Church Army Gathering at The Hayes Conference Centre Swanwick. ‘The Gathering’ was chosen instead of Conference to reflect our becoming an Acknowledged Mission Order last September. The title was ‘Fit Together’ which was a very clever idea as it carried a number of motifs. We heard some ‘stories’ of the work of various Officers and again it is amazing the breadth of the work of the Church Army across the UK and Ireland.  However in our agreed endeavour to make Christ known we ‘fit together.’ Our key note speaker was Graham Tomlin who helped us explore how we could train ourselves in Spiritual Fitness. (Getting 'Fit Together') For my part I set up a display of the work of CA in rural areas, I led a small group plus I ran a workshop introducing the Rural Evangelism Course Simon Martin and I produced for the Arthur Rank Centre. http://www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk/

Back from The Gathering and time for some last minute preparation for the final session of the ‘Everybody Welcome Course’ at Wivlesfield. www.everybodywelcome.org.uk/

Sunday, and I joined the good folk at St George’s Kemp Town for what has now become an established Celebration BBQ following the Patronal Mass. I provided some large garden games, a PA kit, a folk singing brother, Malcolm, and a singing wife who also helps set things up – Jane is a real treasure!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although not so much an aficionado of detective novels and stories as my wife and daughter I do like certain ones. ‘Foyle’s War’ is one for example that I really do enjoy. There is nothing really daring do about Foyle, he is no maverick figure as so many of them are. He is a man of absolute integrity on which he will not compromise. He also is not afraid of asking awkward question of anybody because nobody is ever above the law.

One of the keys to his detective work and all good detective work is that of observation. In one of the recent Sherlock Holmes films Holmes on one occasion says to Watson ‘you see but you do not observe.’

That is a skill all Christians need to develop and something I am learning and trying to put into practise on a daily basis.

How alert are we to the world and the people around us with whom we have a daily encounter? Do we randomly sit next to someone on the bus or train, or might this be a divine encounter? I am not advocating we muscle in on every occasion to begin a conversation with someone sitting next to us about the deep meaning of life. However I am suggesting we become aware, observant and prepared. (1 Peter 3.15) It might be a smile, a simple word, help with luggage, anything at all. This may not seem like anything earth shattering and yet if we practised this sense of God’s awareness, this observation, being God’s detectives, we would find our own lives richer and the Kingdom of God more fully realized.

Could we learn in each and every situation to look around and say quite literally, ‘what am I doing here for God’s sake?’ 

Having just celebrated the joy of Easter we now anticipate Christ’s ascension and then the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. The work of Jesus is now entrusted to us through the power of the same Spirit.

 

‘Without God we can not, without us God will not.’

This is beautifully encapsulated in this prayer by Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)

Christ Has No Body

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

That means through you and me Jesus now boards’ busses and airplanes, he rides trains and he goes to work at the head of multi-national companies and he cleans toilets!

I have in my head a children’s song that I think comes from a Captain Alan Price collection, ‘Life’s an adventure following Jesus.’

That’s what I am trying to do, to be aware of, to be attentive to and to be ready to act upon the prompting of the Spirit in each and every situation I find myself in.  

Passion of Christ

For information about the Passion of Christ 2013 and how to support this year’s production please visit www.soulbythesea.info

Next weekend marks the beginning of a very special and important time for us as believers, as we journey with our Lord through His passion and death and then rejoice on Easter Sunday when we witness to Jesus’ victory over sin and death!

Here at Soul by the Sea we are in the final stages of our preparations to relive the story of Jesus through the Passion of Christ, due to be held at 2:00pm daily from 29th – 31st March on the lawns of St Peter’s Church, Brighton.

Finances:

We would like to sincerely thank you if you have already made a financial contribution towards this year’s event, which we are hosting over three days, free to the public. However, we still need to raise a further £20,000 to cover production costs and this is causing some cash flow challenges, with the event now only a week away! If you are able to help us achieve our target, with a gift of any amount, it would be a fantastic encouragement to know that you have joined in this very practical way. Details of how to give are on our website and also on the attached ‘How to Donate’.

Our most vital prayer needs are:

For fine weather (also good for local businesses who benefit from crowds gathering to the Passion Play);

For all matters apropos health and safety and allied to that, all matters technical;

And most importantly, that the message of Jesus would be heard and received by many who have not yet given their lives to Christ.

Prayer must undergird this all! You can find current prayer requests on our website.

On-site prayer gatherings:

Beginning with Good Friday morning, prayer held from 9-10am on St Peters south lawns.

Following this, should you wish to join, there will also be a Good Friday Walk of Witness which will involve various Churches coming together at the Old Steine.

Again on the 29th, there will be prayer held at 12:30pm and this will repeat daily during the course of the weekend at our on-site prayer tent.

Volunteers: are still needed in variety of ways leading up to and throughout Easter weekend. A Recruitment Form is attached giving more details.

Final challenge: could you encourage all your Christian friends to invite a ‘not-yet Christian’ friend or family member to the Passion of Christ and then arrange to take them out afterwards for a coffee or even a meal? This would enable discussion on what it is they have just witnessed. Material will be available on the Soul by the Sea site to help guide those enquiring about the Christian faith.

February in the Mirror

Own up, who stole February?

Probably like you with being a short month it has seemed to have hardly started before it was coming to an end with things on the ‘to do list’ left undone.

One of the developments in my ministry (isn’t it great how God shapes, moulds and shifts our ministry according to our age, ability and location) is that of Spiritual Direction. One spin off for me in this, and in particular going through a year long Course with a monthly Training Day, is that I am being deeply challenged about my own life of prayer and spirituality and for the contemplative. I am currently reading an excellent book (loaned to me from my Spiritual Director) by Eugene H Peterson ‘The Contemplative Pastor’ – William B Eerdmans Publishing  Michigan  1989   ( ISBN 978-0-8028-0114-2). Speaking out of USA Pastor context, what he offers translate across the pond very easily, although the challenges he present are far from easy!

Another excellent Course that I have been facilitating is ...

‘Everybody Welcome.’ www.chpublishing.co.uk/feature.asp?id=2394839

This is a 5 session course that explores all aspects of our welcome, our Services, social events and our buildings. Asking questions about the gateways into the life of the community of faith and then what makes people stick.  I can’t recommend this Course highly enough. The great model the Church I engaged with ran the Course after breakfast on a Saturday morning, 8am – 11am.  

Brighton Half Marathon

A real highlight this year with a fantastic new course, along the Brighton & Hove seafront as before, but ‘tidier.’ The weather was bright and sunny, perfect for running. I was therefore doubly delighted to get in at sub-two, 1.58.43 (last year 2.07) and to have raised £162.00 for Off The Fence. This year it was very poignant as only days before a 40 year old man sleeping in the Arches (see picture) was brutally murdered.

The other BIG focus for me at the moment is the Passion Play for Brighton going under the title of ‘Passion of Christ.’  In a recent Grove Booklet, ‘The Gospel Message for Today’ Laurence Singlehurst (author of ‘Sowing, Reaping, Keeping’) argues for the power of telling the Jesus story.

Ev 100 The Gospel Message Today: Language that Connects in Communicating the Gospel 

This is exactly what we are planning to do over three days, Good Friday, Easter Eve and Easter Sunday at a central location in the heart of the city.  Brighton has a high number of Community Festivals and so something like this fits well into the culture and hopefully will engage with those coming to the seaside for the ‘Easter Weekend.’  However because of a strong festival culture what is put on must be of an excellent quality and that means considerable expense making sure the staging and the production is the best we can manage. Check out the web site www.soulbythesea.info

Mission Matters Mailing

  

Hope 14 ~ are you alerted to Hope 14 - you can check out the Diocesan blog here:

Building Hope ~ Sharing Faith Preparing for 2014 http://chichesterhope14.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Launched at the National Day of Prayer this is a great way of praying for your neighbourhood possibly leading to praxis -   prayer, care, share  

 www.neighbourhoodprayer.net/

 

Passion Plays – these are popping up all over the place and have recently held a National Conference.  I am involved in the Brighton one www.soulbythesea.info

'Everybody Welcome' I am currently facilitating this Course with St Peter and St John the Baptist Wivelsfield, ‘tis really good and raising lots of interesting challenges.      http://www.everybodywelcome.org.uk/

 Then this for your interest...

Dear All, Welcome to the new look Resourcing Mission Bulletin for 2013! In this issue Sandra Cobbin, freelance trainer and mediator, examines how conflict and reconciliation in churches can be dealt with in a healthy way. Lay Missioners Carolyn and Mark Gilmore explore the factors which have transformed decline into growth in Radford parish in Southwell and Nottingham diocese. We look at how Hodge Hill church in Birmingham diocese found a new model of community engagement after structural problems forced a move from its church building. Peter Morgan, New Communities Development Officer in Oxford Diocese, shares his overview of Local Plans and how to respond to them, in the context of meeting mission challenges in new communities. And we link to New Philanthropy Capital's recent report 'Making an Impact'. Read more about the Bulletin here.
	January 2013 Please use the buttons below to view the full Bulletin or download individual papers. Download individual papers: ·                  Conflict and Reconciliation in Churches ·                  Lay Missioners - Radford Parish ·                  Transforming Community Engagement ·                  Meeting Mission Challenges Further Reading: ·                  New Philanthropy Capital: Making an Impact
Previous Issue: October 2012 - Parish Development: This issue focuses on parish development. It looks at how Toronto diocese is supporting parish development; discusses a structured approach to parish development, drawing together the experience of a number of (English) dioceses; and offers a visioning day toolkit for growth action planning. Additional Information: It continues to be our hope that the Bulletin will be an effective vehicle for helping to disseminate the lessons learned from existing ministry and mission, spread ideas about the opportunities for growth and, more generally, stimulate thinking on a range of resourcing issues. Please do forward this e-mail to anyone who you think would find the Bulletin of interest. Please also feel free to include the Bulletin on diocesan and other websites and on blogs. Readers are warmly encouraged to help make the Bulletin their own by contributing to it. If you have suggestions for material for future issues, please e-mail us.
View in web browser | Follow us on twitter @churchgrowthrd Contact us online | Email: churchgrowth@churchofengland.org | Unsubscribe Copyright © The Church of England Archbishops' Council | The Commissioners are a statutory body, governed by the Church Commissioners Measure 1947 and is a registered charity no. 1140097. The Archbishops' Council is a registered charity no. 1074857 | Church Commissioners, Church House, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3AZ

Captain Gordon's New Years Message to the Church

The New Year may simply be one date passing as all others into the next, yet there is a significance of a year closing and a new one opening that gives us pause to reflect. Having lost two dear people, a favourite Uncle and a fantastic brother-in-law in 2012 I am acutely aware that we never know what may lie ahead for us, which is why I often use the phrase DV – Deo volente, God willing.  This is a recurring motif throughout the Scriptures – see for example James 4.13-17.

 New Year Resolutions also feature prominently at this time of year, some serious and others more frivolous.  I was asked to offer a New Year Resolution for 2013 in the latest issue of the Chichester Diocesan Magazine which had a short feature on NYR.  Chichester Magazine

My offering went back to a New Years Resolution I made on the 1^st January 1975. This turned out to be the most important decision I had ever made in my life and was to transform my life beyond anything I could have even begun to imagine.  In 1975 I made a NYR to become a Christian.

Reflecting back as one tends to do at this time of the year I think this is a major issue we need to address, the notion of conversion, of people making a definite choice to become Christians rather than through the process of socializing into the life of the Church, soaking up the life of the Church through an osmosis type process.

This I think is borne out by the analysis of the 2001 and 2011 census that showed a marked decrease in those claiming allegiance to the Christian faith.  Several commentators have said this denotes the ongoing death of Christendom and the passing away of a generation socialized into the Church and the life of Faith. What the 2011 figure begins to show is a confessing faith, rather than some vague idea or ideal or another way of saying I am British and therefore I am a Christian.

Whilst not making any value judgments on the validity of those who are ‘cradle Christians', nurtured on the milk of  Mother Church, I do believe  we need to understand the idea of conversion, of  people of various ages making a definite and conscious  decision to become a Christian.  Such thinking needs to be infused into our congregations and leaders so that in everything we do we will ask the question of how this might help people come to a living faith in Jesus, or help them on the pathway of discipleship.

I had a delightful conversation with one elderly lady following a Carol Service.  She said it was really good to see so many people in the Church who do not ordinarily engage with the Church and then she said, ‘but we must take the opportunity of telling them about how they can know Jesus for themselves, personally,’ Music to my ears indeed!

This raises a number of questions which are explored in the Rural Evangelism Course available from the Arthur Rank Centre.

The Arthur Rank Centre - www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk

 Direct link for Rural Evangelism Course

www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk/publications-and-resources/rural-evangelism

1. What is our own story of coming to faith, do we know it and can we tell it in an interesting and succinct way which includes the difference this made in our lives and what it means to us now to be a Christian.   
2. What is the story of our Christian Faith Community (Church) and is there an expectancy that people will come to a living faith through its life of work, witness and worship.
3. Is this factored into various events and acts of worship with definitive opportunities for people to confess faith?
4. Would at least a strong core of Christian faith community be able to answer if someone asked them how they could become a Christian?
5. Do you offer a full range of ‘diets’ for those who are exploring the faith and those who are life long disciples and also covering those in between?

Visiting various Churches over the Christmass period I have been impressed and disappointed in equal measure, not so much by the style of the worship or the quality of what is offered but by the way opportunities for people to embrace the faith have either been given or non-existent, certainly in any tangible form.  I have seen a very gentle invitation to say a prayer of confession at the end a Carol Service with a further opportunity to talk afterwards, to take some helpful material and then an invitation to join a Christian Enquirers Course. I have also seen Churches that told you what was happening by way of notices but made no or little attempt to articulate further on what any of them might actually mean.  I did have a couple of interesting conversations outside one Church with people who didn’t know what ‘Nativity’ meant.

I am in no way advocating we all become Evangelical but I am saying we all need to become evangelistic – proclaiming the Gospel in word and in action, with an understanding that people will be engaging with the Christian faith from no or very little background knowledge or socialization into the things of the Faith. Therefore there needs to be an opportunities for people to confess faith and grow as a disciple of Jesus within the company of others embarked on that same journey.

May you all know God’s richest blessing and a great harvest in 2013.