OMG! or 'My Lord and My God' (Transcript of 2nd Sunday Easter Sermon)

Cheadle & Freehay 12^th April 2015 

2nd Sunday of Easter

Acts 4.32-35 1 John 1.1-2.2 John 20.19-31

‘Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’

From the 1^st Letter of John…

‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we   proclaim concerning the Word of Life. ‘

Jesus’ words to Thomas, struggling to accept that Jesus had been raised to life (and who can blame him!)

‘Because you have seen me, you have believed, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’

I take that to mean you and me and all those over the centuries who have put their faith in Jesus. The countless millions who have declared along with Thomas, ‘My Lord and My God.’ Or perhaps in modern parlance…OMG!

Those who have found the truth of Jesus’ words ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’ John 10.10

Jesus was an epiphany of what it means to be a true human being, walking in perfect obedience and love of God. Someone who had mastery over the natural order and could commend sickness, demons and death to depart.

He drew back the curtain in much the same way as Elijah prayed his servants eyes would be opened when surrounded by his enemies. (2 Kings 6.17)

I stood in the place of Thomas on the 1^st January 1975 when at the age of 24 I said, ‘my Lord and my God’ and became a Christian.

Once having made such a declaration the question then is; how shall I now live? One of the most important aspects of growing as a disciple of Jesus is to meet regularly with others disciples.

Proverbs 27.17 declares, ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.’

This is what is happening to the infant Jesus Community as outlined in our reading from Acts.

Not too many people today would argue that this is a blue print for how a Christian Community should live. Although there have been some brave attempts over the years to do just that, the Anabaptist in particular. Of course to some degree Monastic Communities do operate in this way.

And it is from Monastic Communities that valuable lesson are being learned, or perhaps we ought to say, re-learned as to how we can be the People of God in this 21^st century.

There is a whole new movement being called New Monasticism which is influencing many churches. The argument being that we need to shift from being Church Congregations to become Faith Communities.

Faith Communities that are committed at the core and open at the edges. Faith Communities that are both evangelized and naturally evangelizing. Faith Communities that hold a Common Rule of Life and a Pattern of Prayer. (Which is made so much easier today with electronic communication.)

By far and away most people are brought to a Thomas like confession through a friend. What better place to draw them into the heart and love of God than a Faith Community of which you are an active member.

Just as Jesus pulled back the curtain and let us see a glimpse of what it means to live as an authentic human being, so the Church is meant to show how authentic human beings can live together and bring a blessing to the world.

‘The gate of heaven is everywhere - our role is to help open the door... to roll away the stone and unleash the energy and wonder of the risen Christ’.

Thomas Merton

The Church is the means by which God brings a blessing to the world; ‘the Church of God doesn't have a mission in the world, but the God of mission has a Church in the world.’

So what is God’s mission – nothing less than to bring about the redemption of the whole cosmos?

And we are invited to participate in this noble venture – you are invited and I am invited because as Michelle Quoist puts it…

‘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.’

Without God we cannot, without us God will not.

Jesus’s death and resurrection wasn't a tragedy, or part of God’s plan when everything went horrible wrong. In a way that is beyond our comprehension, in the deep mystery of divine economy Jesus was always part of God’s plan.

"The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things," he (Jesus) said. "He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead."  Luke 9.22

‘Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’

So, let me ask you this…

Are you able to declare as did Thomas, ‘My Lord and My God?’

Perhaps you are on the journey towards that belief and that is absolutely fine. 

Because if you thought making a decision about choosing a life partner or a house or a car or anything else you care to name was important – they all fade into insignificance when compared with making a decision to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.

Embracing such a belief is a game changer like no other. Or it ought to be if we take it seriously enough.

There are plenty of accounts in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles about people whose lives were turned around because they declared their belief in Jesus.  And that is still happening today across the world, maybe not so much in our own country, but certainly across Africa and China and many other places.

In some ways we have lost the dynamic, lost the passion, lost the drive. We have lost the expectation that people will come among us and in so doing will encounter the living God, an encounter that offers them life, and life in all its fullness.

Let me ask you this simple question as I draw to a close…

Where are you this morning in your relationship with God?

Augustine of Hippo wrote...

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

How true is that in your personal life and how true is that in the life of this church?

As you ponder on that let me close with some beautiful word from His Holiness Pope Emeritus 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.

Sermon for Palm Sunday 2015 Wetley Rocks

Palm Sunday 2015 Wetley Rocks

A farmhand named Fred was overseeing livestock in a remote part of the Derby Dales when suddenly a brand-new BMW 4x4 advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.

The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the farmhand, 'If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?'

Fred looks at the man, obviously a ‘city type’, then looks at his peacefully grazing animals and calmly answers, 'OK, Why not?'

The ‘city type’ parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 mobile phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. 

Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored.

He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-colour, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the farmhand and says, 'You have exactly 896 cows plus calves.'

'That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my animals,' says Fred. 

He watches as the young man selects one of the animals and looks on amused as he stuffs it into the boot of his car.

Then the Fred says to the young man, 'Hey, if I can tell you what your job is, will you give me back my calf?'

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, 'Okay, why not?'

'You're a Civil Servant or some such thing working in a government department', says Fred.

'Wow! That's correct,' says the ‘city type’, 'but how did you guess that?'

'No guessing required.' answered the farmhand. 'You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about cows...this is a flock of sheep.  

Now give me back my dog.

There is a long history of a certain kind of rivalry between rural dwellers and city types.

Jesus was a rural dweller, from the North as well.

Remember these words spoken by Nathaniel;

‘Nazareth, can anything good come from Nazareth?’

So perhaps we should see the Palm Sunday story in this light. Crowds of pilgrims would have been flocking into Jerusalem for the Passover Festival, one of the obligatory pilgrimages to the Temple for all male Jews.

We can easily imagine the crowds hustling and jostling in the hot sun, fractious camels, overladen donkeys, and kids running hither and yon. We can see groups of pilgrims who on approaching the city would lift up their voices singing the ancient Songs of Ascents from the Book of Psalms. A veritable riot of colour, smell and sounds.

And the Roman Soldiers, hands held close by their gladius, the short swords that could be used to great effect, watching nervously for any sign of trouble. 

And here is Jesus, riding on a donkey. The only time we have any record of him having done so. Those from the North know this man well, he is one of theirs, and so it is easy for them to get caught up in the triumphal shouts that are soon bouncing off the city walls. Hallelujah, correctly translated as ‘save us.’  This is one of their own.

But the sophisticated city types are not best pleased about this and call for a halt to it all. Jesus knows exactly what he is doing; he knows how this riding on a donkey was powerfully symbolic.

‘If they keep quiet,’ replies Jesus, ‘these stones will start shouting.’

Remember the forerunner, John the Baptizer, he had said, ‘Do something to show that you really have given up your sins. Don't start saying that you belong to Abraham's family. God can turn these stones into children for Abraham.’

Some years earlier someone else had ridden into the city, in all probability mounted on a splendid horse, he came at the head of an army and marched right up into the city and into the Temple causing a huge affront.

Although he grudgingly backed down and removed the Roman Standards from the Temple precinct.

We are reaching the peak of a titanic struggle, the clash of two kingdoms. The kingdoms of the world represented by Imperial Rome and the Kingdom of Heaven, represented here by Jesus. We will watch this drama unfold as both Pilate and Jesus come toe to toe.   

This cheering crowd of rough Northern folk who welcomed Jesus will be prevented from entering into the courtyard where only the right people are allowed in – the right people who want nothing to do with this Northern messiah – ‘can anything good come from Nazareth.’ Easy enough for them to pick up the cry ‘crucify him, away with him.’

So, let me ask you this morning, to which kingdom do you give allegiance?

If you haven’t given that much thought before now, then you ought to do so, and now is a good a time as any.

Imperial Rome may have long gone, but new worldly kingdoms have arisen that demand our alliance, obedience, demand our time and money and energy, our efforts.

Jesus said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.”

Perhaps it is time we began to really shout out – Hallelujah, save us! Save us from our madness that puts profits before people. Save us from a world in which we have child soldiers killing adults, very often their own parents.  Where young girls from our own schools are lured away to join a fanatical extremist group bent on murder and mayhem. 

Save us from a world where we still have hundreds of people in slavery and being trafficked.

But save us not by airlifting us out of it all. Not by taking us away to some dreamy heavenly realm with clouds, harps and angels.

But rather save us by indwelling us with your mighty power – the power of the Holy Spirit.

Save us by our wholeheartedly welcoming you not into Jerusalem but into our hearts and lives.

Save us that we may partner together with each other and with God that we may evidence a realized Lord’s Prayer, where God’s Kingdom comes and His will is done on earth as it is in heaven!

It is time to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Hallelujah indeed! Lord save us!

Captain's Log February 2015

Everything is new and different, and presenting a challenge. That includes a new lap top and lay out…

We are now living in a Methodist Manse! Because of what was being offered we decided that we would accept the salary package rather than the stipend package. However this did mean having to either buy or rent a property. We made a trip to Stafford to look around the area in October and managed to get a feel for the place. However, the Estate Agents told us that if we were looking to rent in January there was no point in looking at anything until December. So we made the long trip back to Stafford in early December. We looked at a few houses but nothing was suitable, either too expensive, too small or in the wrong place. I had a text from a friend Revd Sheila Foreman (Methodist) who knew a Methodist Minister in Stafford who had served sometime in Horsham.  I contacted him and left a text message.  He came back the next day and said they might be able to help as they had a Manse coming available in Stafford. There is a story behind how the Manse became available and all I will say is please pray for P and her family who have suffered an awful bereavement.

Although the house is four bed-roomed it is considerable smaller than our previous house. So we have been culling, sifting and sorting and making daily trips to the tip and charity shop. We still have a long way to go and two of the bedrooms are full of stuff acting as ‘storerooms.’  We are also outside of the town and our nearest Coffee Shop (Costa) is a 40 minute walk away. We have visited our local Anglican Church. As lovely and welcoming as the people were we do not feel particularity drawn there. We also paid a visit to the local Methodists who were amazingly friendly, warm and delighted to see us. We have visited St John’s Littleworth, a couple of times now which is about 3 miles away. This looks more promising, although making that journey is a bit of a pain.

We also made a trip over to Oswestry to visit my sister-in-law Alison. We joined her for worship at Hope Church, had some lunch, then a few hours chatting back at her home in Pant. The Service isn't until 10.45 so it was not that difficult to get over there and back in a day. This is great to know as this was one of the attractions of moving here.

On the work front it is going amazingly well so far and I have been deeply impressed by the warmth and friendliness. There is also a very rich, deep thread running through everything that the Diocese is committed to growth, both numerically and depth of spirituality and discipleship. There is an honest assessment that we need to do things differently and face tough decisions.  A number of new key appointments have been made, and mine is one of them. There is quite a buzz about the place. Initially I have been trying to get out and about and meeting as many people as I can.

Licensing on the 17^th January in the Bishop’s Chapel Lichfield. 

Bishop Jonathan behind, with Archdeacon Mathew and Bishop Geoff flanking me. I am working closely with both + Geoff and Matthew.  On this occasion it was wonderful to have the support of Jane, Captain Andrew Smith CA and Jennie Davies who had traveled up from Brighton.

I am missing running by the sea but have found, very close by, a canal.

I have now got a few routes of various lengths established.  

We had Tabitha visiting us recently and had a great time together exploring Lichfield - such a rich city with a diverse and fascinating history.  

So we are all set for another adventure - 'Make it so...' 

Advent One 2014 All Saints Patcham ~ transcript of sermon

All Saints Patcham Advent One 2014

Isaiah 64.1-9 & Mark 13.24-37

Have you ever taken a sauna, perhaps trying to outstay someone? Then coming out you enter a very cold shower or sometimes an ice cold plunge pool, or perhaps in Sweden roll in the snow! Or perhaps you took up the Ice Bucket challenge that was going around in the late summer months.

This passage from Mark has that effect – or at least it should if you are paying enough attention!

We have missed some of the earlier passages and jumped straight into Mark’s Gospel part way through Jesus’ outlining the future.

This is shocking and brings us up with a jolt, or at least ought to.

Today is the first Sunday in Advent, the beginning of the new liturgical year with Mark as the guiding principle Gospel for the year ahead.

I would encourage you to read Mark, learn and inwardly digest.

So, why have we jumped in here and not taken the more logical step and started at the beginning of the Gospel?

Well there are good reasons for that; however Mark’s Gospel is so dynamic that wherever you jump in it is like a slap in the face.

Mark begins and offers no birth narrative but plunges straight into Jesus’ public ministry with a startling announcement – an announcement that has everything to do with today’s reading and the season of Advent.

Mark opens his Gospel speaking about John the Baptizer making a straight road, a highway for the Lord.

Familiar words from Isaiah chapter 40 and set to wonderful music and words by Handel in The Messiah, ‘Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.’

Then Jesus’ first words set a challenge both then and now.

‘At last the time has come!’ ‘The Kingdom of God is near!’ ‘Repent and believe the Good News!’

We need to bear in mind that Jesus would have heard evangelist announcing good news of the advancing kingdom as he grew up.

These evangelists, tellers of good news, would have been dispatched from Rome and called to announce some glorious military triumph or the Emperor’s birthday or some such good news!

And here is Jesus announcing another kingdom, another Lord and inviting people to make a choice.

What the Kingdom of God will look like and how its citizens should act, Jesus will go onto teach and demonstrate over the new few years.

Back to where we jumped into the Gospel with Jesus talking about the last things, the end of the age, which seem to suggest that a new age was about to dawn.

This passage must be read in the context of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in the year 70AD.

It is way beyond our comprehension to even begin to understand what this meant to Jews at that time. Scripture after scripture from their prophets told of this time to come, principally Daniel and also Isaiah.

The Jewish historian Josephus recalls the horror of the final invasion, the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple under the hand of Titus, Vespasian’s adopted son.

This was indeed the end of the world as far as the Jewish nation was concerned.

No ‘ordinary’ language could begin to describe it and so Jesus turns back to the prophets Isaiah and uses his words;

‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give out its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

Not to be taken literally but as dramatic poetry.

And then from Daniel 7.13 – ‘At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.’

This reading from Daniel is the Son of Man coming to God after being subjected to suffering and now being vindicated

Following Jesus’ suffering and death there is a resurrection bringing vindication.

God’s new age has dawned; the Kingdom of God has been established up earth.

That same clarion call goes out to the four corners of the earth, ‘The Kingdom of God is here, repent and believe the Good News.’

However this is a now and not yet Kingdom.

And underlying the apocalyptic language that Jesus uses in Mark we need to hear and heed the message of Christ’ second coming.

In particular the final verses we heard from Mark’s Gospel.

‘Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back – whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly let him not find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone, ‘Watch.’

Imagine if you will Downton Abbey, and Lord and Lady Grantham have been away and have a long journey back home and have told Carlson to be ready at any time for their return. As a diligent and dedicated Butler Carlson would make sure everything would be ready for their return at what ever hour.

A silly illustration but I hope you see the point I am trying to make.

The keyword for Advent is ‘Watch,’ a time of waiting and reflecting.

An earlier tradition considered what are commonly known as the ‘Four Last Things’ – heaven and hell, death and judgment.

That would certainly knock the edge of early Christmass jollification.

Today the four Sundays of Advent are most often focused on the Patriarchs, the Prophets, John the Baptizer and Mary.

From the Patriarchs like Abraham and then the Prophets, culminating in John the Baptizer as the Prophet of Prophets, God reveals His plan for the redemption of the cosmos. And miracles of miracles that plan included God squeezing himself into human form and sharing our life with us. He finds Mary, as a willing God bearer, the Theotokos.

Jesus born of Mary comes amongst us as we will hear from the Prologue to John’s Gospel, as the light of the world.

 Further on in John’s Gospel (14.46-48) we read...

"I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.  "If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.  "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.…

This encapsulates the two Advent themes, Jesus coming as Saviour and then coming again as judge, when the secrets of all hearts will be opened.

And you and I as members of the Body of Christ now upon earth are called to be light bearers.

This season of Advent affords us the perfect opportunity to reflect on how well we are doing as bearers of the Christ light. Perhaps we might think back to the parable of the wise and foolish virgins with their lamps trimmed and oil at the ready for the coming of the bridegroom. We need to be alert and watch because we do not know the day or the hour when the master will return.

We have already seen and will continue to see lights decorating homes, shops and streets.  But however bright those lights are they cannot hide the darkness that remains in the world. Were thousand still die of hunger, were nearly one in four women across the world suffer abuse, were nearly 80 medical staff have died trying to treat and bring comfort to sufferers of Ebola. Where in our own country Food Banks have become normalized and we are seeing cases of rickets returning.

Sad to say, it is more often the case as a song writer once put it;

 ‘The world is living in the dark because the Church is asleep in the light.

Let us pray…

To make our weak hearts strong and brave, send the fire!

To live a dying world to save, send the fire!
Oh, see us on Your altar lay our lives, our all, this very day:
to crown the offering now we pray, send the fire!

William Booth

Captain's Log October 2014

Two months until my time with the Diocese of Chichester comes to an end and I continue to say farewells to numerous groups and people as well as other ongoing ministry. 

Older People was the focus of a PCC Away Day held at Bell House, Chichester. This was linked in with their MAP which had engaging with ‘older people’ as part of their mission. I haven’t really focused

 on older people before and so this was an interesting challenge.  The morning was given over to four 30 minutes sections. Each section introduced an aspect of engaging with older people (60+), a short discussion and then one action point from each of the four groups. We then voted on the action we liked best. That gave us four action points and a number of subsidiary action points. We focused on, Music, Golden Memories, Change and Decay (in all around I see) and Spirituality. In the afternoon we brought all of this into the context of the overall mission strategies and the MAP.

This, by the way, is going to be the main focus of my new appointment, helping parishes with the Mission Action Plans and Growth Strategies.

One of the things I will miss is the coast and it was great to be able to take part in a fantastic Harvest of the Sea at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Brighton. This is a very large open church building which was filled with all manner of things appertaining to fishing. This included fresh fish for sale after the Service.

Germinate was a one day Rural Conference organised by the Arthur Rank Centre and attracted 200 delegates. I had the delight (and somewhat daunting) challenge of presenting a Rural Evangelism Workshop – two forty minute sessions back to back. The ‘rural church’ seems to be finding a prophetic voice and discovering new ways of being church and engaging with communities. Check out this link for material.  www.germinate.net/go/germinate .

Everybody Welcome – I have been working alongside St Peter’s Bexhill going through this excellent course. They have been presented with some real challenges especially from the ‘strangers’ reports.’ 

http://www.everybodywelcome.org.uk/

One of the things I hope to pick up quickly when I move is a regular Quiet Day. If you have the opportunity of taking some time out like this I can highly recommend it.

Visit to Stafford - towards the end of the month Jane and I had an extended weekend in Stafford. First it was a weekend spent with my sister-in-law Alison who moved up near Oswestry a couple of years ago. It was great to join her at Hope Church in Oswestry. On ‘welcome’ - top marks to Hope Church as we were approached in a gentle manner, they had picked up we had come along with Alison.  However I still took (for interest) the Welcome Bag, a little paper bag with an array of items including a chocolate bar and a CD introducing the Church and other helpful material. Then on Monday/Tuesday we began a bit of a house search. This is all very scary as there are so many things that need to mesh together if this is to come to good and we can feel settled quickly. We are currently looking to rent so we need the right size house, remembering we have lived in Vicarage size houses for the last twenty years so have built up Vicarage sized furniture! There is also need for a study/office space alongside all the resources I have built up over the years – that includes a two berth caravan. The price has to be right as well, because alongside paying rent we are now going to be responsible for Council Tax and Water Rates. Currently we only have the one car and so something else we are looking for is accessibility, not only for various obvious facilities, like cafés, shops, doctors and dentist, but a good supportive Church.  All of this, plus arranging removals, has to come to good by the end of this year with a move planned for the first week in January!

Transcript Sermon 'Harvest of the Sea' Church of the Good Shepherd Dyke Road Brighton 5th October 2014

Sermon – 5^th October 2014

The Church of the Good Shepherd 

      ‘Harvest of the Sea’

Genesis 1.1-2, 20-23 Psalm 107.23-31 Matthew 8.23-27

In 2011 as a 60^th birthday treat my wife booked a Mediterranean Cruise, something we have never done before.

We flew over to Tenerife to board the ship. Around 12 midnight the ship slipped anchor and sailed away with an Upper Deck Pool Party.  However that wasn't to last long as we sailed straight into a storm force 12 gale with a 4 metre swell and spent the night being tossed about like a cork in a barrel.

Never having done anything more than cross the English Channel and the Straights of Gibraltar I thought this was par for the course. It was only the next day with the wind still howling and all decks closed off that we realized this wasn't ‘normal.’  The doctors were kept very busy not only with a large number of guests but also with very sick crew members.

The Captain knew it would be a rough passage and knew equally the ship could handle it even if some of the guest and crew couldn't. So he sailed through the storm rather than get delayed. After that it became quite literally plain sailing. I might add that neither my wife nor I felt any effects at all and in fact thought it quite a giggle and enjoyed being rocked to sleep totally oblivious to those trying to handle the ship through the stormy weather.

The Jewish people (remembering Jesus was a Jew) had no love or liking for the sea. They were a land based, dessert people. The opening passage of the Bible tells a story of the creation being spoken into existence and the waters of darkness with the Spirit of God brooding over the waters of the deep.

At the other end of the Bible in the Book of Revelation we read this rather obscure little verse;

Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. (Rev 21.1)

Then we have the story of Noah – who of course is one of the best businessmen recorded in the Scriptures. He kept a limited company afloat whilst the rest of the world went into liquidation!

  

But more importantly is a story amongst other things about overcoming the floods of destruction.

Then we have the stories of Jesus.

Remember the one about the demoniac and the pigs running down the hill into the sea? That story comes after this one – once they have journeyed across the Lake to the other side.

Forget all the other stuff for a moment but look at it as pigs being an unclean and forbidden animal for Jews and think about the man possessed of a legion of demons and how Jesus casts them back to where they belong and from where they emanated – the sea!

We do have one account however of Jesus taking a Mediterranean coastal break in Tyre and Sidon.  It may be safe to conjecture he took the boys with him on this trip walking the 35 miles there and then a circuitous route back.  If the disciples did go with Jesus you can only imagine what they thought as they looked out across the wide expanse of water.  It would be lovely to think of Jesus having a barbecue on the beach, a small fire and talking late into the night before curling up on the beach and going to sleep.

We just don’t know, maybe he arranged a boat trip for them out onto the sea.

What we do know is that Jesus went to the edges and pushed others to travel to the edge as well. In this instance, in Tyre and Sidon, he encounters the Syro-Phoenician woman and heals her daughter – Jesus had stepped outside the role of saviour only to the household of Israel.

The disciple did however have the experience of the Sea of Galilee also known as Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias.

Not a sea at all, which probably goes to show what they knew about seas! This is Israel’s largest fresh water lake, about 53 kilometres (33
miles) around, about 21 km (13 miles) long, and 13 km (8 miles wide.

We are also familiar with some of Jesus’ first disciples being fishermen working the lake.

The Sea of Galilee can experience powerful storms that can form suddenly when dry, cold air from the surrounding heights flow down to meet the moist, warmer air over the lake.

That’s where we find ourselves in our story from Matthews Gospel.

Keep in mind all that I have said about the Jewish people being a dessert people with no love or liking or real experience of the sea.

The story is easily told. For those with any imagination, especially those who know through experience about storm tossed seas. It is easy enough to imagine yourself in this story, battling away with sails and ropes and oars, the wind and rain and sea spray threatening at any moment to break the boat apart.

Now for a moment let’s imagine the story not being about a physical boat struggling on a stormy sea. Let us instead let think of it being about our life and the many storms that beset us and break about our heads.

A year after our first cruise we embarked upon another shorter Mediterranean cruise planning to spend some time in Tenerife afterwards as well when our daughter would join us.

Shortly before we were due to fly out my sister-in-law Alison phoned. She had some bad news about her husband Colin. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This came as a real blow as only a few months before at our son’s wedding they were telling us of their exciting plans to sell up in Farnborough and move up near their daughter close to Oswestry.

Alison encouraged us not to cancel the holiday saying that nothing would probably happen while we were away and we could catch up when we got back.  Of course it was not possible to really relax and enjoy the cruise as we had before. We berthed at Tenerife, picking up our daughter from the airport the next day. On the last day before we were due to fly home we had the devastating news from Alison that Colin had died. Little more than six weeks had transpired from diagnoses to his death at the age of 62. We are close to the second anniversary of Colin’s death on the 29^th of this month.

Not so long ago Alison had embraced the Christian faith. Urged and encouraged by Alison and others Colin went through the Alpha Course at a local church as a result of which, Colin also gave his life to Christ and became a Christian.

As things were in place with house sales Alison had to go ahead with the move and settle into Oswestry. Alison is also living with M.S.

I asked Alison if I might mention her story by way of encouraging people that having Jesus in the boat when unexpected storm clouds break can help you face the future and continue onwards.

This is what she wrote in reply…

Hi Gordon, I'm okay with your telling my story. I believe things happen for a reason & that God has a plan for me. He has steered my boat on a different course from the one Colin & I originally planned. However I am discovering things about myself that have given rise to many different feelings & emotions some quite scary but fulfilling in other ways, if that makes sense! I have had a number of previously unknown experiences to deal with but Jesus has always kept me from going overboard. He knows just how much a person can take & it's a lot more than one would imagine had one been given insight. I think it just as well we don't know what's around the corner!!

So, let me ask you, is Jesus in your boat as you prepare to sail into the week ahead not knowing what might happen?

Perhaps you might carry with you this well known Breton Fisherman’s prayer…

Dear God,

Be good to me;

The Sea is so wide, 

And my boat is so small.

But above all, I would urge you with every fiber of my being don’t try and sail into the week ahead without making sure Jesus is on board. I invited Jesus into my life on the 1^st January 1975 and it was the best decision I have ever made. You could make that decision today for the first time or by way of renewing your faith.

Let us pray and particularly if you want to make sure Jesus is on board in your life then I invite you to repeat this prayer quietly in your heart.

Lord Jesus Christ, I don’t know what lays ahead, calms, storms or plain sailing. But I acknowledge that on my own I am lost. I accept you came on a rescue mission to save the world – to save me. I invite you now to come on board, to help me get through what ever I might have to face. I place my life into your care trusting that at the last you will bring me home to your safe harbour in heaven. 

Amen.    

www.christianity.org.uk

'Harvest of the Sea' was put together largely by Deacon Helen Rawlings who oversaw a transformation of the Church. Helen is Port Officer at Shoreham for Fisherman's Mission and had invited local fishermen to bring along a whole range of items plus fresh fish for sale! Prayers were written of fish shaped rice paper which I took with me and put into the sea.

www.fishermensmission.org.uk