A Framework for Flourishing - transcript of Sermon St Oswald's November 26th 2023

 This sermon concluded a sermon series covering Nehemiah. 

Sermon November 26^th St Oswald’s

Nehemiah 13.15-22 & Romans 12.1-2

Do you like to buy a tour guide after you have visited somewhere, like a National Trust property or English Heritage site?

As we draw our journey with Nehemiah to a close, I would like to suggest this book, Restore, Renew, Rebuild – the life of Nehemiah and the mission of Jesus.

This would help cement our learning and insights from the book of Nehemiah.

It picks up many of the themes and ideas we have explored.

I would also encourage you to listen to Ezra and Nehemiah being read, remembering that in some earlier versions of the Bible they would have been one book.  The YouVersion Bible App enables you to do that, I’m sure others also will have this feature.

What is fascinating, especially with listening to Nehemiah, is the lists of people’s names. It is also good to hear them read out and to hear their pronunciation
.

On Tuesday Jane and I went to see the film ‘Journey to Bethlehem’ and as the music at the end was good, we lingered longer and read the credits, and everyone gets a mention no matter the part they played in the production.  

I remember going to the Thiepval Memorial with Jane and searching for the name of her grandfather who was killed during on the Somme during World War 1. It felt important to find his name amongst the many thousands etched into the memorial.

On Wednesday last Church Army held its AGM and as part of the Trustee’s report it was noted that the Marylebone project in London had offered 39,000 nights of accommodation offering shelter, hope, safety, and support to women who would otherwise have remained on the streets or in situations detrimental to their well-being. And to help understand what that means there was a short snapshot from one of the women who received helped and support.

Names, people, individuals, matter to God and they should matter to us.

As we watch with horror at what is happening in Israel and Gaza, I am reminded of a quote sometimes attributed to Stalin, “A Single Death Is a Tragedy; A Million Deaths Is a Statistic.”  Let us never lose sight that we are talking about thousands of individuals each with their own uniqueness and each made in the image of God.

And in the Nehemiah story, each individual person makes their own contribution.

All of that is something of an aside, but a very important aside.

Turning now to Chapter 13 of Nehemiah and the section we read outlining Nehemiah’s sabbath reforms.

When we read this, and indeed any related text to the sabbath, we need to be cautious in thinking that we can simply lift it out of its context. Which was a community seeking to live in communion with their God in the Middle East in the 5^th century B.C. We cannot simply pick it up and plonk it down into a capitalist-based society like ours in the 21^st century and declare a mandate for the way we should live our lives now.  The Bible is not that kind of book.

Remember, a text, out of context, can become a pretext.  

What can we learn then by meditating and reflecting on passages such as this from the Hebrew Bible.

Well once we have recognised that we cannot simply lift any text and its ideas into our context and ideas there is much we can learn, much wisdom to be imparted. But that takes work and devoted dedication.

Yes, you can gain much by reading the Bible at a fairly simple surface level, and that’s great. However, if we are hungry to know God’s will and ways then we need to spend time exploring the Bible and not just bits of it, but following themes, words, and concepts across the whole corpus.

And the sabbath which Nehemiah speaks of here is one such theme.

The Bible Project has several hours of podcasts exploring the theme and the essential importance of understanding the sabbath on which so much else emanates.

Therefore, we could hardly begin to explore the depth of meaning, all the hyperlinks, and all that sabbath means.

But I do want to offer something for us to ponder on and consider.

Sabbath, or Shabbat, means literally to cease, desist – so basically stop, and also allied to it is rest.

(Noah’s or Noach, from the Babylonian word ‘nukhu’ means rest)

This of course we know comes from the creation account of God’s work of creation and then on the seventh day resting.

And here we can begin to follow Alice down all sorts of rabbit holes and if anyone wants to join me at another time chasing some rabbits, I am well up for that. 

In the pre-fall state there is a work, such as God did in calling the world into being, of ordering and setting boundaries for the sea and the land and the sky, which was completed in six days.

And God calls humans into partnership to continue this work so that the Eden project spreads out across the world, bringing order, abundance and flourishing, pushing back the chaos and darkness.

However, the narrative tells us that some kind of deceiver comes and lures the couple into disobedience.  (Spot a rabbit hole)

For which, we have come to use the term, the Fall.

Darkness, disorder, and death come as a result of becoming separated from the source of Life which is God.

Work then becomes a labour, a hard task, something that must be done to help keep body and soul together but which we know in the end is a mere chasing after the wind.  (See Genesis 3.17-19)

All that we are, all that we might acquire, no matter the size of the barn and how much grain we have, it’s all going to come to nothing.

This ‘post fall work’ is also now not a work of God, but one of survival.

This is exactly what we see in the passage we are reflecting on.

‘In those days I saw people in Judah treading out the winepress on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine. Grapes, figs, and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath.’  

This is the type of work after the fall, and it was taking place on the Sabbath, the Shabbat, the ‘ceasing day.’

Why was this such an issue? Because of the many things keeping Shabbat meant and still means today.  

It recalls that place of perfection and completion on the sixth day of creation.

Because Shabbat is a gift our time to God, just as much as we might offer other gifts.

Because Sabbath also looks forward to the time of restoration of all things as we read in the Book of Hebrews…

“There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.…”  Hebrews 4.9-11

Because Shabbat reminds us of that other work, to be a kingdom of Priests, holy unto God. 

Exodus 19.6 “you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

Hyperlink that to 1 Peter 2.9

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.”

Because keeping the Sabbath reminds us that God alone is the source of all life.  Raising the question of dare we trust in God’s provision or are we going to try and gather two days of manna on the same day.

Because keeping the Sabbath in this way, with this in mind, serves as a witness to the surrounding nations, that we are looking to God and trusting in God’s provision.

Because keeping the Sabbath and all the related feasts and festivals gives a rhythm and a pattern, a framework on which you can flourish and learn to love God and love your neighbour.

Some of you will remember ‘God in my Everything’ by Ken Shigematso with the strap line…

“How an ancient rhythm helps busy people enjoy God.”

For those who built their framework I wonder how it is doing.

Nehemiah saw plainly that the framework of festivals and especially keeping the Sabbath had fallen into disrepair, and that it needed building up even more than the physical walls they had just built.

Keep in mind what we have been considering from Nehemiah, the traders wanting to work on the Sabbath, then listen to this account from Number 15. 32-36 (No slide)

 Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation; and they put him in custody because it had not been declared what should be done to him. Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone   him with stones outside the camp.” So, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. (Nb. Individual actions affects community and the community carry out the execution, stoning means no one person is culpable of another person’s death)

Consider how far the Israelites had shifted in their behaviour with regards to keeping the Sabbath from this account to the behaviour of those with whom Nehemiah remonstrates.

It may be a fair conjecture to say that Nehemiah’s contemporaries where merely doing what everybody else was doing, seeking to work to keep body and soul together, working in order to survive. 

Allow that thought to land and see if you might begin to see some of the wisdom, some of the insights we might begin to draw from both stories.

They had lost sight that everything they had come from God and had lost their trust that God would provide enough.

They had lost sight that they were called to be a kingdom of priest, a holy nation, God’s own people. To be a light to the surrounding nations.

As we come to step away from Nehemiah this is a good reflection for us to ponder on. Especially as we have our own physical building project. We might have a lovely building and great facilities but then loose sight of our calling… 

“…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.”   (No slide)

Let me spell it out – if you have aligned yourself with Christ, perhaps in Baptism as Alan spoke of a few weeks ago, if that is you, then this is you and me, this is now our calling.  

And all that we have been thinking about, the reasons for Sabbath observance, that hasn’t changed.

Except we are no longer a community living together but are a dispersed mission community living in a culture that works 24/7 365 days a year.

How we build our framework for flourishing so that we can love God and love our neighbour as ourselves will be complex.

However, we can draw wisdom from our reflection on Scripture.

And as we heard Paul offers some good advice to help us.

Romans12 1-2…

“With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, and sisters, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.”

We need to ensure that the framework of our life has a pattern, a rhythm and a structure built on firm foundations with Jesus at the centre - with Christ alone as our cornerstone. 

https://youtu.be/izrk-erhDdk?si=gM77RAKzut7ycpXf

'Dedicated Devoted Demanding Discipleship' - transcript of sermon St Oswald's 23/07/2023

 

St Oswald’s Rugby 23^rd July 2023

John 6: 60-71

Dad Joke – why don’t cannibals eat comedians?

Because they taste funny!

Painted just after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Salvador Dali’s ‘Autumnal Cannibalism’ shows a couple locked in a cannibalistic embrace. They are pictured on a table-top, which merges into the earthy tones of a Spanish landscape in the background landscape in the background. 

Throughout history, humans eating each other has been considered utterly repugnant.

There are cases of cannibalism when people find themselves in extreme circumstances, and resort to eating human flesh to survive.

We also know of tribes who practised cannibalism, but most often this was a terror tactic against your enemies. It also sometimes carried the idea that to physically consume part of another person you might then acquire their attributes.  

And as chillingly portrayed in Silence of the Lambs, there are cases of the criminally insane practising cannibalism.

Now layer onto this universal repugnance and horror at the thought of eating human flesh the many dietary laws of the Jewish people.

Add in for good measure the drinking of human blood which for Jews was viewed as the sacred life force with very strict taboos around blood.

Then with all of that in mind hear Jesus say these words…

“I tell you the truth, unless you can eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

Suspend for a moment all that you know about the Last Supper and the Eucharist and hear these words as stark, as puzzling, and as disturbing as they would have been to the first hearers.

And Jesus says this in the synagogue – which only adds to the offensiveness.

As Margaret mentioned last week, this is one of those conversations like the Samaritan woman at the well. It begins on the peripheral level, the need for a drink and the need for food, but then as it continues it goes deeper and deeper.

Bring back to mind also that last week we reflected on the initial response and the conversation that arose after the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 - and very important for the narrative that this was the time of Passover. Jesus is setting himself up here as the sacrificial Passover lamb whose flesh was eaten and whose blood served as a sign of salvation on the doors of the Israelites as the angel of death passed over killing all the first born of both man and beast in Egypt. 

Jesus reiterates and expands upon his invitation ‘to eat his flesh and drink his blood’ set within this framework of Israel’s defining foundational story, the Exodus celebrated at Passover.

Consider how Jesus is reframing that story around himself.

Remember the shed blood of the sacrificial lamb.

Remember the freedom from captivity and slavery.

Remember the miraculous provision of manna in the dessert.

Remember the journey towards the promised land, the giving of the law and the establishing of the People of God.

Remember their call to be a light to the Gentiles and to glorify God.

All of this is now being reframed around Jesus.

‘He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.’

On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “this is a hard teaching. Who can accept it.?

Jesus responds, and then we read, ‘From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.’

“You do not want to leave too, do you,” Jesus asked the twelve disciples.’

We have no indication of Jesus intonation in asking this question.  How do you read it. Was he angry, in despair, frustrated?

I see Jesus speaking with a wistful sadness.

Think if you will of a party setting out to climb a mountain with a clear leader to follow.

                                            

Initially all goes well as the group has exciting days and see some amazing things. They receive warnings that it is going to get tough ahead, but if they stick close to the leader, they will get through it. 

But now higher up the mountain the climb is beginning to get tougher and tougher.

Many give up and head back down the mountain. They take offense against Jesus. This is not what they signed up for.

They return to tending to their business, to marry a wife, to bury their dead, to look after their finances, to build bigger barns. To return to the well-worn, safe, secure, and familiar paths marked out by previous generations.

We have met them as the Gospel story unfolds. They are simply unwilling to make such a paradigmatic shift in their thinking. Or they are unable to shift their mental furniture in their understanding about God, Israel, the Messiah, and their place in the world.

And Jesus is literally going to climb a mountain.

He is going to climb what was known as Mount Zion from of ancient times. A name that carried deep undertones as the place where God had come to dwell, the place of the temple, the footstool of God’s throne.

And then he was going to climb a smaller hill just outside the walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem, sometimes itself called, Zion the City of God. And on the hill of Calvary, Jesus is going to become the sacrificial Passover lamb bringing freedom from captivity of death and slavery to sin and ushering in a new exodus.

And it is Peter, the de facto leader who responds to Jesus’ asking if they are going to head back down the mountain.

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Remembering all that David Long said regarding ‘eternal life.’

John 5.24

“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”

On a memorable day on the 30^th July 1966, (World Cup) I set off from my home in Royton, Lancashire, at the age of fifteen and travelled to Newmarket to sign on as an Apprentice Jockey.

 

I had never been near a horse and never watched horse racing.

It was because of my small stature and a quip by a school friend that got me thinking that maybe I could become a famous jockey.

So that when I died, which I knew was inevitable, my name would live on.

 

“Don't you know who I am?

Remember my name

Fame!

I'm gonna live forever

Baby, remember my name.”

I didn’t find fame but found faith ten years later.

On the 1^st January 1975 I made a New Years Resolution to become a Christian. I passed from death to life. Recognised that there was only one place I needed my name to written and remembered, The Lambs Book of Life.

 

Within about six months my then wife said I had to give up this Christianity or she was going to begin divorce proceedings.

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Within eighteen months of my becoming a Christian I was divorced, had left the family home and our two-year-old daughter, and moved into a bed-sit a quarter of a mile away.

Fast forward eight years and God brought Jane into my life. A couple of years later we married on this day, 23^rd July, forty-one years ago.

Then whilst working as a Parish Evangelist in Prudhoe in the Newcastle Diocese the bishop told me that he wasn’t going to renew my License, largely because the parish I was working in had recently appointed a husband and wife as vicar and curate. They couldn’t afford my post as well.

We had sixteen months of unemployment with three very small children. It was tough, very tough, but…

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

 I eventually secured a post in Cornwall.

Within a year of moving, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

You can but imagine my joy to complete the Plymouth half marathon the following year.

We had settled well there but after ten years a bishop said that the diocese could no longer afford to fund my post.

This time the move came to the Chichester diocese and living in Hove, just outside of Brighton.

Nine years later a new Diocesan Bishop was appointed and wanted to radically restructure the whole of the diocesan staff. I was in the Mission & Evangelism department as the Diocesan Evangelist. That department was going to close, and my post would not exist, but…

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

I secured a post in the Lichfield Diocese and finally concluded my active ministry with fabulous support and had a marvellous time before moving into retirement.

At our wedding we sang ‘Great is thy faithfulness’…

Great is Thy faithfulness,

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Now I have mentioned some of these events not because I seek to boast and say look how faithful I have been. These trials and tribulations are part of our common lot. You will have your own stories to tell, and we will all probably face difficult times ahead. Or you may be going through just such a challenging time right at this moment. 

And yes, God has been faithful and provided for our needs – but not our wants. The Israelites longed for the food they had back in Egypt, but God provided food that would sustain them, not what they wanted, but what they needed.

A key that helps us understand something of the difference between those who left and those who remain is found in verse 62.

“What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before.”

And if we have been paying attention we will be reflecting on the prologue to John’s Gospel and all the wonderful language about Jesus as the Word of God, there at the beginning of creation.

We would also be remembering his words to Nathaniel linking back to the story of Jacob’s ladder and ascending and descending from earth to heaven. Jesus is a heaven and earth reality. We will be recalling Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus and with the Samaritan woman.

Our faith in Jesus is no real faith if it is based on his provision for our needs. That was the issue with the feeding of the five thousand.

Our faith in Jesus is as we see Him as part of the wonderful, glorious Trinity – see him seated at the right hand of God – see him as the author and giver of life – see him as the bread of life, the sustainer of life – the one through whom all things were made, things in heaven and things on earth.

That’s the nub of the issue here. The disciples who found his teaching hard could not accept that the person in front of them was God incarnate – God come to dwell amongst us. Jesus uses the extreme language of eating his flesh and drink his blood as a profound metaphor. If you want to enter into eternal life, then you have to be willing to be so identified with Jesus, that it is as if you were actually eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood.

How do you see Jesus this morning?

Are you seeking to follow Jesus and why?

Are you following Him because he provides for all your needs?

Or because you acknowledge that Jesus alone has the words of eternal life.

This morning I want to encourage you as you face your own trials and tribulations, not to head back down the mountain.

I want to encourage you to turn to Jesus, who alone has the words of eternal life.

Acts 4.12 declares, “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

I want to encourage you to eat Jesus’ flesh and drink his blood as we will do symbolically this morning in the Eucharist.

                                                                          

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

I invite you now to sit quietly, to close your eyes and hear Jesus’ question…

“Do you also want to leave?”

What are you going to decide to do, what choice are you going to make?

Are you going to head off back down the mountain…

Or are you willing to reach out to God the Father and declare…

I believe in Jesus,​

I believe He rose again.​

I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord.

I believe he has the words of eternal life.

https://youtu.be/VRzI_FbWTkg

And for the sermon in context...

Worship and prayer - St Matthew and St Oswald's with Overslade (m2o.org.uk)