I'm missing preparing sermons. I'm on Sabbatical, and truth be told, it will be sometime before I'm preaching in church again. Preparing a sermon is important for me as I find another way of getting close to God. So, here's one yet unpreached.
Sermon based on St Mark xi.27-xii.12
Which is the most respectable profession?
Indeed, do we have respectable professions anymore?
A stomach complaint.
A trip to a large Victorian house,
spending half-an-hour sitting
in a bleak waiting room with ancient posters
extolling "Digging for victory"
or "Keep Mum, she's not so dumb."
A nod from the receptionist.
An invitation into a large wood-panelled room
smelling vaguely of carbolic soap.
In the chair behind the desk sits the doctor
- a formidable gentleman dressed in
three piece suit,
fob watch,
half-moon spectacles.
"What seems to be the problem?"
A lolly-stick down the throat and an "aahh" later,
you are sent out with a piece of paper
bearing indecipherable hieroglyphics which
would tax the most ardent of Egyptologists
to the chemist,
who obviously has a skill for translation
far surpassing
the most ardent of Egyptologists!
There is no quibble with the diagnosis.
There is no "can I have a second opinion?"
There is no threat of a lawsuit because the
medicine tastes like bluebottles in meths.
A doctor used to have respect.
Gone also are the unquestionable judgements
of the teacher clad in mortarboard and gown.
Gone is the pious parish parson
whose life has now been turned upside down
by the demands of petulant parishioners
for this that and the other.
Why has respect for these folk evaporated?
[PAUSE]
"More disrespect!
Won't they ever understand?"
Kesil helps Rachab back to his feet,
trying to wipe the blood from his nose
and see just how badly his friend is hurt.
"They just keep coming," says Rachab
dazed and distressed by the whole experience,
"there was nothing I could do to stop them.
They won't listen to me!"
"There's no reasoning with such people, Rachab,"
says Kesil sitting his badly beaten friend
on a convenient rock
while binding
a large cut on his arm with a strip of cloth
torn from his robe.
"They work to a different agenda.
They just do not see the truth of the matter.
If they would just let us do what we have to do,
the vineyard would be so much better
for everyone.
They have no respect for our authority."
"I don't know why.
It's not as if we're being unreasonable.
We’re just doing our job.
We’re good at our job, aren’t we?
Indeed, this is how the master wants it to be.
You saw the letter,
you read his words didn't you?"
Rachab nods,
"Most of it is as clear as day,
though some bits are a bit vague on the details,
but we managed to work it out.
It said that we had
the master’s full authority in the matter.
We’re in the right, so don’t doubt it, Kesil.
However, that's seven servants who have
been shown the door in unpleasant ways.
Don’t worry my friend,
they’ll get what’s coming to them
for their disrespect.”
“Indeed,” says Kesil, “only next time,
don’t try and throw them out
of the vineyard single-handedly.
Wait for the rest of us to get there
so that we can give them the hiding that they deserve.
When will they understand that
we know what’s best for the vineyard?
We run the show and
we do not need anyone else to
tell us how to raise our good crop
or interfere with it in anyway.
The master is abroad and he has left us in charge.
That’s what the letter says…
our way or the highway.”
“Oh, look. Here comes another one!
Isn't that the master's son?”
[PAUSE]
Does this help us understand
why professions which once had respect do so no longer?
Where was their authority
and where is it now?
There are those who demand respect,
and those who deserve respect.
And in this situation, the Lord Himself says
"Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's,
and unto God that which is God's."
Give respect to those who demand it,
but at the end of the game all the pieces
go back in the box
and what do they have left?
Give respect to God,
and that will be eternally
recognised.
Where is God's authority in our society?
Is it evident in your parish?
Showing posts with label Sermons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sermons. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Visions of the Future?
Lazar stands on the edge of the cliff looking over the metropolis watching the distant computer-organised vehicles weaving impossibly around each other from a thousand possible directions, each conveying a single occupant a hundred miles in a matter of a few minutes.
He looks up at the star shining redly over the landscape. Soon, in the next hundred thousand years, the metropolis will be uprooted to the next solar system. Lazar himself has had to endure that five or six times now. Each time, he has been responsible for ensuring that the servile classes in his area obey the directives that involve the regulations for packing away. The serviles just don't have the intellect required to follow the complicated sequences of digits formed by high modulus values of polylogarithms encoding population distribution data. Lazar can manipulate these in sequences in his 30 second sleep period. This reminds him that next week he is having genetic modification in order to reduce his necessary sleep to 15 seconds.
As Lazar looks into the distance, his eyes firmly focussed on a winged creature preening itself with one of its three appendages a kilometre away. he tries to find one good reason why he shouldn't take that one more step forward off into oblivion. His genetically perfected eyesight scans the figures in the citadels of the metropolis, each one moving aimlessly at their work - making sure that the computers self-regulation systems are still self regulating. What else is there for them to do?
They've dreamed their dreams. They fly among the stars visiting new planets, but when you've see 5,000,000 new planets, you've seen them all. Alien species have they met, but since most of them don't really resemble the life that human beings can really converse with (like the gas vortices living in the surface of the star above them) there is not much more mystery left in meeting them. Indeed alien life doesn't seem to recognise human beings as being living things.
Lazar realises that it has been 50,000 years since he last looked into a mirror. His enhanced memory remembers it well. However, since Lazar hasn't changed in 50,000 years, he hasn't needed to check his appearance. Nothing changes about him. his life goes on. His pleasures have been fulfilled a thousand thousand times over. He has had sex a myriad times with a myriad people of several genetically enhanced genders, and has fulfilled his quota of 3 children per planet that he has visited. He remembers his 5,000,000th educational stage that he reached last month with top marks. What pleasure does education have for him now? He remembers every word that he has ever read in his life, plus there is all the information that he has downloaded directly into his brain via the computer interface.
What else is there for Lazar to accomplish? So he shrugs and takes the final step off of the cliff into the lava flow below. Bessed oblivion?
The central computer of the metropolis recognises that Lazar has ceased to function. It then sends a signal to the biological reproduction centre which authorises a clone to be generated from Lazar's DNA. The clone is prepared in seconds. The computer interface is inserted into its neck and all of Lazar's memories are downloaded into it.
On the table, for the 4,000th time, Lazar awakes. Looking up at the ceiling above him he reads the words: "Science: mastery of the universe."
He looks up at the star shining redly over the landscape. Soon, in the next hundred thousand years, the metropolis will be uprooted to the next solar system. Lazar himself has had to endure that five or six times now. Each time, he has been responsible for ensuring that the servile classes in his area obey the directives that involve the regulations for packing away. The serviles just don't have the intellect required to follow the complicated sequences of digits formed by high modulus values of polylogarithms encoding population distribution data. Lazar can manipulate these in sequences in his 30 second sleep period. This reminds him that next week he is having genetic modification in order to reduce his necessary sleep to 15 seconds.
As Lazar looks into the distance, his eyes firmly focussed on a winged creature preening itself with one of its three appendages a kilometre away. he tries to find one good reason why he shouldn't take that one more step forward off into oblivion. His genetically perfected eyesight scans the figures in the citadels of the metropolis, each one moving aimlessly at their work - making sure that the computers self-regulation systems are still self regulating. What else is there for them to do?
They've dreamed their dreams. They fly among the stars visiting new planets, but when you've see 5,000,000 new planets, you've seen them all. Alien species have they met, but since most of them don't really resemble the life that human beings can really converse with (like the gas vortices living in the surface of the star above them) there is not much more mystery left in meeting them. Indeed alien life doesn't seem to recognise human beings as being living things.
Lazar realises that it has been 50,000 years since he last looked into a mirror. His enhanced memory remembers it well. However, since Lazar hasn't changed in 50,000 years, he hasn't needed to check his appearance. Nothing changes about him. his life goes on. His pleasures have been fulfilled a thousand thousand times over. He has had sex a myriad times with a myriad people of several genetically enhanced genders, and has fulfilled his quota of 3 children per planet that he has visited. He remembers his 5,000,000th educational stage that he reached last month with top marks. What pleasure does education have for him now? He remembers every word that he has ever read in his life, plus there is all the information that he has downloaded directly into his brain via the computer interface.
What else is there for Lazar to accomplish? So he shrugs and takes the final step off of the cliff into the lava flow below. Bessed oblivion?
The central computer of the metropolis recognises that Lazar has ceased to function. It then sends a signal to the biological reproduction centre which authorises a clone to be generated from Lazar's DNA. The clone is prepared in seconds. The computer interface is inserted into its neck and all of Lazar's memories are downloaded into it.
On the table, for the 4,000th time, Lazar awakes. Looking up at the ceiling above him he reads the words: "Science: mastery of the universe."
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Beaux people.
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church Swanscombe on 16th September 2007 based on and St Luke xv.1-10
It’s six thirty in the morning,
and the sheep need to be out grazing.
Sam packs his provisions for the day -
food, drink and Bible -
and, for the first time in his life,
prepares to move the sheep off
to their usual pasture .
He doesn’t have
very many sheep to look after, just 27
– all belonging to Mr Roache the farm owner.
As he lets the sheep loose into the pasture,
Sam counts them,
remembering that Mr Roache was only joking
when he told him to count the legs
and then divide by 4.
It’s when he reaches a count of 26
that he realises that the smallest sheep,
barely a lamb, has disappeared.
Sam remembers the parable of the shepherd
who leaves 99 sheep to find the missing one.
“Ah, “he says,
“that must be the right course
of action to take.”
So, he leaves his 26 sheep in their usual pasture
and wanders back to find the one missing.
It takes Sam an hour before he finds it
caught in a hedge where it has tried
to grab a blackberry just out of its reach,
so he disentangles it
and makes for the pasture
And the other sheep.
What do you think he will find
when he returns?
[PAUSE]
Well, not surprisingly
Sam returns to find the pasture empty.
Apart from the small one
that he’s brought back with him,
the hill-side is a sheep free zone.
Well, you can understand
that Sam is upset, can’t you?
After all, he’s tried to be a good shepherd
and follow what the Lord Jesus
tells him in the Parable.
“"What man of you,
having a hundred sheep,
if he loses one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine
in the wilderness,
and go after the one which is lost
until he finds it?”
Sam loses his temper, “O God,
I’ve tried to follow your word
and treat these sheep just as you’ve wanted.
You tell me to leave my sheep
just to come after this one who went missing.
Now they’ve all gone missing
apart from this one little sheep
who has returned with me.”
[PAUSE]
There is a rustle behind him that makes Sam jump.
He turns and he sees Mr Roache,
the owner of the sheep standing behind him.
“What are you having a go at God for?
Is it His fault that you’re in this mess?”
“Well, yes,” says Sam indignantly,
“I merely followed what He says in the Bible.”
“And look where it’s got you!”
says Mr Roache,
“all in a pickle.
Since when has the Bible
been a comprehensive manual
for the herding of sheep?
You might as well use Moby Dick
for tips on whaling
and “A very hungry caterpillar”
for breeding butterflies."
Is Mr Roache right?
[PAUSE]
"Read the passage again,”
says Mr Roache.
“"What man of you, having a hundred sheep,
if he loses one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness,
and go after the one
which is lost until he finds it?”
“Now,” says Mr Roache,
“where does it say he left the 99 sheep?”
“Well, according to the text,
it says in the wilderness,” says Sam,
his faith shaken.
“Right,” says Mr Roache,
“but what you’ve got to understand
is that the wilderness was the best place
for pasturing sheep in those days!
The sheep would have known
that place like the back of their hooves.
The Good Shepherd is not going
to leave the sheep on the edge of a cliff,
or a minefield
or in a place with a sign saying
“Wolf Enclosure” is he?”
“But what about all the sheep?
I can’t see them,” asks Sam, rather agitated.
“Call ‘em up,” says Mr Roache, “just like I taught you.”
Sam gives the call.
One by one,
the sheep appear out of the various nooks and crannies,
looking rather bemused at being called back
after only a few hours grazing.
But it’s Sam who looks sheepish.
“You see, Sam, the sheep know this pasture very well.
They can disappear into all their usual haunts
all safe and sound.
But I am pleased with you
‘cos you saw that little Doris was missing
and you did exactly what
any good shepherd would do
– left the sheep somewhere
where they would be safe,
and went to find the missing one.
I’m glad to see that you value all the sheep the same,
that just because one gets lost on the way
doesn’t mean that you forget it.
You could have said,
‘blow Doris, I’ve got the majority of the sheep,
that’ll do me,’
but instead you know that
all of these sheep matter equally.”
And it is at this point that Sam understands the parable.
[PAUSE]
The Lord Jesus is the Good Shepherd
and seeks to bring back any lost from the fold.
It’s not that He does not value the 99 sheep
– they are the ones whom He loves and keeps safe –
but He will seek out those who are lost
and rejoice when they are found.
He does so because He loves them
and will not allow any single one
to be overlooked.
Is the Lord Jesus looking for you?
What will you do so that He can find you?
It’s six thirty in the morning,
and the sheep need to be out grazing.
Sam packs his provisions for the day -
food, drink and Bible -
and, for the first time in his life,
prepares to move the sheep off
to their usual pasture .
He doesn’t have
very many sheep to look after, just 27
– all belonging to Mr Roache the farm owner.
As he lets the sheep loose into the pasture,
Sam counts them,
remembering that Mr Roache was only joking
when he told him to count the legs
and then divide by 4.
It’s when he reaches a count of 26
that he realises that the smallest sheep,
barely a lamb, has disappeared.
Sam remembers the parable of the shepherd
who leaves 99 sheep to find the missing one.
“Ah, “he says,
“that must be the right course
of action to take.”
So, he leaves his 26 sheep in their usual pasture
and wanders back to find the one missing.
It takes Sam an hour before he finds it
caught in a hedge where it has tried
to grab a blackberry just out of its reach,
so he disentangles it
and makes for the pasture
And the other sheep.
What do you think he will find
when he returns?
[PAUSE]
Well, not surprisingly
Sam returns to find the pasture empty.
Apart from the small one
that he’s brought back with him,
the hill-side is a sheep free zone.
Well, you can understand
that Sam is upset, can’t you?
After all, he’s tried to be a good shepherd
and follow what the Lord Jesus
tells him in the Parable.
“"What man of you,
having a hundred sheep,
if he loses one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine
in the wilderness,
and go after the one which is lost
until he finds it?”
Sam loses his temper, “O God,
I’ve tried to follow your word
and treat these sheep just as you’ve wanted.
You tell me to leave my sheep
just to come after this one who went missing.
Now they’ve all gone missing
apart from this one little sheep
who has returned with me.”
[PAUSE]
There is a rustle behind him that makes Sam jump.
He turns and he sees Mr Roache,
the owner of the sheep standing behind him.
“What are you having a go at God for?
Is it His fault that you’re in this mess?”
“Well, yes,” says Sam indignantly,
“I merely followed what He says in the Bible.”
“And look where it’s got you!”
says Mr Roache,
“all in a pickle.
Since when has the Bible
been a comprehensive manual
for the herding of sheep?
You might as well use Moby Dick
for tips on whaling
and “A very hungry caterpillar”
for breeding butterflies."
Is Mr Roache right?
[PAUSE]
"Read the passage again,”
says Mr Roache.
“"What man of you, having a hundred sheep,
if he loses one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness,
and go after the one
which is lost until he finds it?”
“Now,” says Mr Roache,
“where does it say he left the 99 sheep?”
“Well, according to the text,
it says in the wilderness,” says Sam,
his faith shaken.
“Right,” says Mr Roache,
“but what you’ve got to understand
is that the wilderness was the best place
for pasturing sheep in those days!
The sheep would have known
that place like the back of their hooves.
The Good Shepherd is not going
to leave the sheep on the edge of a cliff,
or a minefield
or in a place with a sign saying
“Wolf Enclosure” is he?”
“But what about all the sheep?
I can’t see them,” asks Sam, rather agitated.
“Call ‘em up,” says Mr Roache, “just like I taught you.”
Sam gives the call.
One by one,
the sheep appear out of the various nooks and crannies,
looking rather bemused at being called back
after only a few hours grazing.
But it’s Sam who looks sheepish.
“You see, Sam, the sheep know this pasture very well.
They can disappear into all their usual haunts
all safe and sound.
But I am pleased with you
‘cos you saw that little Doris was missing
and you did exactly what
any good shepherd would do
– left the sheep somewhere
where they would be safe,
and went to find the missing one.
I’m glad to see that you value all the sheep the same,
that just because one gets lost on the way
doesn’t mean that you forget it.
You could have said,
‘blow Doris, I’ve got the majority of the sheep,
that’ll do me,’
but instead you know that
all of these sheep matter equally.”
And it is at this point that Sam understands the parable.
[PAUSE]
The Lord Jesus is the Good Shepherd
and seeks to bring back any lost from the fold.
It’s not that He does not value the 99 sheep
– they are the ones whom He loves and keeps safe –
but He will seek out those who are lost
and rejoice when they are found.
He does so because He loves them
and will not allow any single one
to be overlooked.
Is the Lord Jesus looking for you?
What will you do so that He can find you?
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Divided we stand.
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Swanscombe, on Sunday 19th August 2007 based on St Luke xii.49-56
What is the hardest question to answer?
Are we alone in the Universe?
Is there a way in which
we can truly develop world peace?
Why is it that a toaster actually has a setting
that burns the toast to an inedible cinder?
Why does Goofy stand up
while Pluto remains on all fours
when they’re both dogs?
Difficult questions!
But what is
the most difficult question of them all?
[PAUSE]
She’s come downstairs
having spent a lot of time on
her make-up,
her dress,
her hair.
She turns to her husband
and utters the killer question:
“Well?”
It’s a horrible question!
A man has to consider a 47,631 possible answers,
and what’s worse is that
there are 47,631 wrong answers.
Yes, every answer
is the wrong answer!
Even too long a pause is the wrong answer!
It invariably means an argument
and a stay at Fido’s Motel.
[PAUSE]
It’s interesting that
we each have different arguments
with different members of the family.
The killer question “Well?”
does not have the same effect
on a teenager
for whom every grown up
dresses in a style
invariably known as “sad”.
With a teenage son,
you’re more concerned with his appearance,
his multicoloured hair,
those jeans that show
more of his underpants than anything else,
and is that a tattoo on his arm…?
We have different arguments
because we have different relationships
with each member of our family.
What types of argument
have you had with your spouse?
What types of argument
have you had with your children?
[PAUSE]
The Lord Jesus is fed up.
All He gets is grief and argument.
No matter what he does,
He is attacked, vilified, denounced.
His latest miracle,
driving out a demon from a man,
has seen Him accused
of being the Devil himself.
Who is it causing the trouble?
It’s the fathers of the community
- the scribes and the Pharisees,
men whose job it is to lead and guide the people
in the ways of truth and love
– at least that’s the theory.
Here are a group of educated men
more concerned with their own comfort
and rituals that have lost all meaning,
than the spiritual health of their people.
The Lord Jesus comes
to set the world on fire with the Holy Ghost,
and all that happens is that
the Pharisees try to pour cold water on it all.
Can you not hear Jesus say how distressed He is?
Here He is trying to help us
and all we do is fight against Him,
argue with Him,
tell Him to conform to our ways of doing things.
After all,
hasn’t He come to bring Peace to the world?
[PAUSE]
No, He hasn’t.
Listen to Him.
“Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth?
I tell you, not at all,
but rather division.
For from now on five in one house will be divided:
three against two,
and two against three.
Father will be divided against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
How can we call Jesus the King of Peace,
if He comes to divide us?
[PAUSE]
Just by being present on Earth,
Jesus divides communities and families.
He has always done so,
and He always will.
There will be those who submit to His rule,
obey His commands,
follow His example,
and there will be those who mock Him,
ignore Him,
deliberately misunderstand Him,
sometimes within the same family.
Look at the division that
He’s already caused in Jewish society.
In the Red Corner,
you have the Pharisees and Scribes,
the Jewish lawyers strutting about
like the invincible Giant Haystacks
weighing in at 48 stone and
standing over 7’ high.
In the Blue Corner
you have St Peter and the disciples
rallying behind Jesus
like Kendo Nagasaki
weighing in at 18 stone
and only 6’ 2’’ high.
All we need now is Mick McManus
and Big Daddy
and we have a nice little wrestling tag team
in first century Jerusalem!
[PAUSE]
There’s another way of looking at this division.
We have the spiritual elders
of the community against
the spiritually younger.
We already have
the fathers divided against the sons,
all split over one man’s words
and actions – Our Lord Jesus.
But to which group does Jesus belong,
the fathers, or the sons?
The elders, or the youngers?
[PAUSE]
Well, Jesus might not make it
past His 40th birthday
in our sense of the phrase,
but then age is not something
you can ascribe to Him.
He’s older than everyone here.
But He is clearly above such distinctions.
He’s eternal.
And what of His message?
It seems radical
like the views of a young man,
but it’s not new.
He’s preaching the same message
that God the Father has been telling us
right from day one.
It’s the Pharisees
that have made all the changes.
It’s the Pharisees
who have changed
the interpretation of Scripture
to make it justify their own meaningless actions.
They are behaving like the young rebels.
[PAUSE]
The division that Jesus is talking about
is that of authority.
Either we submit to His authority and that of His Father,
or we submit to the authority of
Worldly fathers who twist and corrupt
the word of God.
Those who submit to Christ,
who do things His way,
who follow the Eternal Teaching
of an Eternal God
- they are the ones who become
the spiritual fathers
worth listening to.
They are divided from the others
because they are faithful to God.
They are holy and as we know,
‘holy’ means set apart for God.
That’s how we can tell
whether what we’re taught
is really from the Lord.
Any teaching from God
must have the flavour of Eternity in it
– it must be Holy.
[PAUSE]
Jesus divides us,
even families,
into those who follow Him
and those who don’t.
Are there divisions in our family, our Church?
What does this mean?
Sunday, July 15, 2007
The Jericho-Jerusalem road.
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church on the sixth Sunday after Trinity, 15th July 2007, based on Deuteronomy xxx.9-13, Colossians i.1-14, St Luke x.25-37.
On the next day,
as he departs,
the Good Samaritan takes out two denarii,
gives them to the innkeeper,
and says to him,
'Take care of him;
and whatever more you spend,
when I come again, I will repay you.'
Just as he is leaving,
the Good Samaritan is accosted
by a rather formidable woman
clearly with a bone to pick.
“Where do you think you are going?”
The Samaritan stops dead,
taken aback by 13 stone
of pure peevishness standing before him.
“I’m going on my way,”
he says, clearly thrown
by this strange demand.
“So you’re going to leave
that poor chap here
are you?
Sure, you pick him up
and patch him up
and bring him here,
but then you leave him.
Why?
Why aren’t you staying
with him until he’s better?
Why aren’t you prepared
to travel with him back to his house
and make sure that he is returned safely?
You’ve paid for his bed and board here,
but how’s he going to get home?”
Should the Samaritan have done more?
[PAUSE]
It is clear to us
that it is the Samaritan
who acts as neighbour
for the victim.
In the Samaritan,
we see one who is willing
to make himself close to the one suffering;
the one who will not allow
distance to become an obstacle
to helping and loving and rescuing.
That’s the whole point of neighbourhood
- you make yourself close
to those folk around you.
But how close is close?
[PAUSE]
How many people would you say
are within 100ft of you
right now?
Would you say that
you are close
to each one of those people?
Let’s shrink the circle down to 10ft.
Are you close to all these folk?
What about at 1ft?
Are you close to the people
right next to you?
There are folk who
are not here in this building today
who are close to you.
You may even have a friend
a thousand miles away
with whom you are closer
than someone ahead of you
in the queue
at the Distribution of the Eucharist,
but it’s possible that
the person next door
might just as well be
on the other side of the world.
This is a phenomenon
that is affecting our Church.
How many people in this parish
do not actually live in this parish?
How many are from Northfleet,
from Welling,
from Dartford?
And how much
this parish benefits
from these folk!
Even though
they are not resident in the parish,
they are still a part of this parish.
But there is another question
that goes along with this idea.
How many people live in this parish
who are not members of the parish?
That number is rising.
The number of neighbours is shrinking.
What more should we be doing?
[PAUSE]
For the Samaritan,
his encounter with Jericho’s answer
to Nora Batty is troubling.
Surely there is a lot more that he can do.
Perhaps he ought to go back
and stay with this chap
and see him safely home,
but this takes him out of his next task,
out of his step on the journey.
It takes him away
from the next victim of robbery
on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.
It takes him away
from the next bond of neighbourhood
that he is to forge
as he treads this route again and again.
[PAUSE]
Meanwhile back at the inn,
months pass
and the victim grows whole again.
He decides to wait for
this Samaritan to come again,
to thank him for the kindness that he shows,
to pray with him
to the God whom they worship
albeit in different ways,
grateful for the love
of one man prepared to cross the distance
to become a neighbour.
And so he waits,
and, growing impatient,
he begins to go out onto the road
between Jerusalem and Jericho
in search of this Good Samaritan.
As he treads the way,
he sees a priest and a Levite ahead of him
passing by a small shape
huddled in the roadside.
As the man reaches it,
he sees that it is another man
stripped,
beaten,
bloodied
and bruised,
left for dead by robbers.
He binds the wounds,
puts the victim onto his donkey
and wends his way back to the inn.
And as he travels back to the inn,
the man realises what he must do now:
he must tread the road
again and again looking for others,
so that he might be a neighbour to them.
A new neighbour walks the dangerous road
between Jerusalem and Jericho.
[PAUSE]
We too as a church walk on a journey
with a mission
to bring the love of Christ
to the people of Swanscombe.
It’s easy for us to be directed
away from that mission
by things that we feel we should be doing.
We need to ask ourselves,
“how are we forging the bonds of neighbourhood?
How are we closing the gap?”
Invitations into the Church
and various celebrations
certainly let the people of Swanscombe
know that we exist,
but without the bond-making,
the cultivation of neighbourhood,
we lack the strings that bind us together.
And clearly we are limited in what we can do.
If we consider ourselves
close to everyone in a radius of 100 miles,
then that’s just too much for us.
If we consider ourselves close
only to the person within 1 inch
then we are clearly too individualistic.
Somehow we have to reach out,
to as many people as we can.
We need to close the gap
even the gap between people
we cannot stand!
It’s a big ask - a huge ask.
-an ask that’s beyond us!
So how do we do it?
Is there an All-powerful Neighbour
who will help us if we ask Him properly?
So how do we ask Him to help us?
On the next day,
as he departs,
the Good Samaritan takes out two denarii,
gives them to the innkeeper,
and says to him,
'Take care of him;
and whatever more you spend,
when I come again, I will repay you.'
Just as he is leaving,
the Good Samaritan is accosted
by a rather formidable woman
clearly with a bone to pick.
“Where do you think you are going?”
The Samaritan stops dead,
taken aback by 13 stone
of pure peevishness standing before him.
“I’m going on my way,”
he says, clearly thrown
by this strange demand.
“So you’re going to leave
that poor chap here
are you?
Sure, you pick him up
and patch him up
and bring him here,
but then you leave him.
Why?
Why aren’t you staying
with him until he’s better?
Why aren’t you prepared
to travel with him back to his house
and make sure that he is returned safely?
You’ve paid for his bed and board here,
but how’s he going to get home?”
Should the Samaritan have done more?
[PAUSE]
It is clear to us
that it is the Samaritan
who acts as neighbour
for the victim.
In the Samaritan,
we see one who is willing
to make himself close to the one suffering;
the one who will not allow
distance to become an obstacle
to helping and loving and rescuing.
That’s the whole point of neighbourhood
- you make yourself close
to those folk around you.
But how close is close?
[PAUSE]
How many people would you say
are within 100ft of you
right now?
Would you say that
you are close
to each one of those people?
Let’s shrink the circle down to 10ft.
Are you close to all these folk?
What about at 1ft?
Are you close to the people
right next to you?
There are folk who
are not here in this building today
who are close to you.
You may even have a friend
a thousand miles away
with whom you are closer
than someone ahead of you
in the queue
at the Distribution of the Eucharist,
but it’s possible that
the person next door
might just as well be
on the other side of the world.
This is a phenomenon
that is affecting our Church.
How many people in this parish
do not actually live in this parish?
How many are from Northfleet,
from Welling,
from Dartford?
And how much
this parish benefits
from these folk!
Even though
they are not resident in the parish,
they are still a part of this parish.
But there is another question
that goes along with this idea.
How many people live in this parish
who are not members of the parish?
That number is rising.
The number of neighbours is shrinking.
What more should we be doing?
[PAUSE]
For the Samaritan,
his encounter with Jericho’s answer
to Nora Batty is troubling.
Surely there is a lot more that he can do.
Perhaps he ought to go back
and stay with this chap
and see him safely home,
but this takes him out of his next task,
out of his step on the journey.
It takes him away
from the next victim of robbery
on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.
It takes him away
from the next bond of neighbourhood
that he is to forge
as he treads this route again and again.
[PAUSE]
Meanwhile back at the inn,
months pass
and the victim grows whole again.
He decides to wait for
this Samaritan to come again,
to thank him for the kindness that he shows,
to pray with him
to the God whom they worship
albeit in different ways,
grateful for the love
of one man prepared to cross the distance
to become a neighbour.
And so he waits,
and, growing impatient,
he begins to go out onto the road
between Jerusalem and Jericho
in search of this Good Samaritan.
As he treads the way,
he sees a priest and a Levite ahead of him
passing by a small shape
huddled in the roadside.
As the man reaches it,
he sees that it is another man
stripped,
beaten,
bloodied
and bruised,
left for dead by robbers.
He binds the wounds,
puts the victim onto his donkey
and wends his way back to the inn.
And as he travels back to the inn,
the man realises what he must do now:
he must tread the road
again and again looking for others,
so that he might be a neighbour to them.
A new neighbour walks the dangerous road
between Jerusalem and Jericho.
[PAUSE]
We too as a church walk on a journey
with a mission
to bring the love of Christ
to the people of Swanscombe.
It’s easy for us to be directed
away from that mission
by things that we feel we should be doing.
We need to ask ourselves,
“how are we forging the bonds of neighbourhood?
How are we closing the gap?”
Invitations into the Church
and various celebrations
certainly let the people of Swanscombe
know that we exist,
but without the bond-making,
the cultivation of neighbourhood,
we lack the strings that bind us together.
And clearly we are limited in what we can do.
If we consider ourselves
close to everyone in a radius of 100 miles,
then that’s just too much for us.
If we consider ourselves close
only to the person within 1 inch
then we are clearly too individualistic.
Somehow we have to reach out,
to as many people as we can.
We need to close the gap
even the gap between people
we cannot stand!
It’s a big ask - a huge ask.
-an ask that’s beyond us!
So how do we do it?
Is there an All-powerful Neighbour
who will help us if we ask Him properly?
So how do we ask Him to help us?
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Ten in the Bed… the sinister version.
Sadly, one of the most hard-working members of my Parish died on Monday after a long battle with cancer. I couldn't preach according to the lectionary because of the nature of the material.
I therefore preached a more personal sermon today, and I publish what I would have said here.
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Swanscombe on the second Sunday after Trinity Sunday 17th June 2007, based on II Samuel xi.26—xii.15 and St Luke vii.36—viii.3.
Leo is desperate. It is now nearly three days since he last got his fix of Heroin. There is only one clear thought in his head: get the next dose as soon as possible. He searches his pockets, his coat, his room. No money. So he leaves his filthy squat lined with dirty newspapers and even filthier hypodermic needles, in a frantic search for money to stop the pain in his stomach.
On his way he meets Kyle. Kyle refuses to give him any money, so Leo stabs him dead with his rusty penknife. He takes from Kyle a grand total of £3.87. Not enough.
Of course, Leo is caught and convicted of Kyle’s murder.
How long do you think his sentence should be?
[PAUSE]
He is sentenced by the judge to 7 years. Too short?
In prison, Leo attempts to kick the habit. But he is always faced with the same symptoms. He sits in the centre of his cell with a gut-wrenching pain in his stomach, his hands shaking almost uncontrollably, dreading the return of his cell mate. Several times he succumbs and manages to get hold of some heroin from the underground trade. But still he must face the withdrawal symptoms, the same symptoms which cost Kyle his life in return for £3.87, the same symptoms which make Leo wish that he were dead.
Does the severe physical and psychological pain of Leo’s withdrawal symptoms change your mind about what his punishment should be?
For what is Leo being punished?
[PAUSE]
In the court, the obvious charge is murder, but killing Kyle was the result of Leo’s desperation for his next fix of heroin. Heroin is an addictive drug, so is Leo’s real sin getting hooked on it in the first place? But it was his girlfriend Britney at his sixteenth birthday party who persuaded him to take heroin in the first place because it felt good.
So what was the cause of the chain of events that resulted in Kyle’s death?
[PAUSE]
Sin begets sin. It’s like a sinister version of “There were ten in the bed.” When the little one says, “Roll over,” someone ends up falling out. Someone said “Roll over” and the result was that Leo fell out. It only has to be a little one.
There is always someone who shouts “roll over.”
Robert forgets to hold the door open for Nancy and it hits her, taking the skin off her elbow. This puts her in a bad mood so she shouts at her secretary Jean for being, in her words, “bone idle”. Jean takes Nancy’s criticisms seriously and tries to compensate by working harder. She spends more and more time at the office trying to sort out what to do, so much so that she forgets about the needs of her children Bradley and Britney who crave attention from their mother and, without her guidance, start to wander away from the straight and narrow. And then Britney gets invited to a sixteenth birthday party where she meets Leo…
So is Robert’s unthinking action the cause of Kyle’s death?
Not entirely, but his actions certainly contribute. The cause of Kyle’s death goes back further in many, many directions and things get more complicated and twisted and we lose track of who caused what.
[PAUSE]
“For by one man came death…” As Christians, we believe that all sin has its source from our very beginning as human beings and we can see that that very first sin has affected humanity all around us, and will continue to do so.
As Christians, we come here every week and say “we have sinned.” How often, though, do we think honestly of the consequences of our actions? A moment’s lack of thought can set the wheels in motion for a murder. This isn’t something we like to think about, but it’s true – each burst of bad temper, each incident of “oh it doesn’t matter, no-one will notice,” each “I wish I were married to his wife” adds to a stream of events which will end in catastrophe for someone.
How could we live with ourselves if we knew the full extent of our actions?
[PAUSE]
One woman knows.
It frightens her. She’s filled with remorse at her actions as she sees their effects on her life and the life of her community. It seems that everyone around her is pointing – sinner! They believe her to be fully responsible for some of the unpleasantness in this town. Her sin is always before her and she cannot shake off the guilt. So what can she do?
She sees Him at dinner in Simon the Pharisee’s house and she begins to weep for her sins, for what she’s done, washing His feet with her tears – and her sins are washed away by His love. She is free from the guilt.
She still has to live with the consequences of her sin. She is still called sinner and shunned by those who have not heard the message of the Son of God. In the eyes of this world, nothing changes. But through her encounter with the living Christ she finds out that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
[PAUSE]
Through the love of God the effects of our sins are cancelled out. They die with us in this frail and fleeting world. To be forgiven fully, we need to bring all that we have done to Him in honesty. This is why the confession at Mass is so important - we need to say “I have sinned”. We will only be forgiven as much as we are willing to confess. Christ shows us that in His parable.
How much was your confession worth today?
I therefore preached a more personal sermon today, and I publish what I would have said here.
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Swanscombe on the second Sunday after Trinity Sunday 17th June 2007, based on II Samuel xi.26—xii.15 and St Luke vii.36—viii.3.
Leo is desperate. It is now nearly three days since he last got his fix of Heroin. There is only one clear thought in his head: get the next dose as soon as possible. He searches his pockets, his coat, his room. No money. So he leaves his filthy squat lined with dirty newspapers and even filthier hypodermic needles, in a frantic search for money to stop the pain in his stomach.
On his way he meets Kyle. Kyle refuses to give him any money, so Leo stabs him dead with his rusty penknife. He takes from Kyle a grand total of £3.87. Not enough.
Of course, Leo is caught and convicted of Kyle’s murder.
How long do you think his sentence should be?
[PAUSE]
He is sentenced by the judge to 7 years. Too short?
In prison, Leo attempts to kick the habit. But he is always faced with the same symptoms. He sits in the centre of his cell with a gut-wrenching pain in his stomach, his hands shaking almost uncontrollably, dreading the return of his cell mate. Several times he succumbs and manages to get hold of some heroin from the underground trade. But still he must face the withdrawal symptoms, the same symptoms which cost Kyle his life in return for £3.87, the same symptoms which make Leo wish that he were dead.
Does the severe physical and psychological pain of Leo’s withdrawal symptoms change your mind about what his punishment should be?
For what is Leo being punished?
[PAUSE]
In the court, the obvious charge is murder, but killing Kyle was the result of Leo’s desperation for his next fix of heroin. Heroin is an addictive drug, so is Leo’s real sin getting hooked on it in the first place? But it was his girlfriend Britney at his sixteenth birthday party who persuaded him to take heroin in the first place because it felt good.
So what was the cause of the chain of events that resulted in Kyle’s death?
[PAUSE]
Sin begets sin. It’s like a sinister version of “There were ten in the bed.” When the little one says, “Roll over,” someone ends up falling out. Someone said “Roll over” and the result was that Leo fell out. It only has to be a little one.
There is always someone who shouts “roll over.”
Robert forgets to hold the door open for Nancy and it hits her, taking the skin off her elbow. This puts her in a bad mood so she shouts at her secretary Jean for being, in her words, “bone idle”. Jean takes Nancy’s criticisms seriously and tries to compensate by working harder. She spends more and more time at the office trying to sort out what to do, so much so that she forgets about the needs of her children Bradley and Britney who crave attention from their mother and, without her guidance, start to wander away from the straight and narrow. And then Britney gets invited to a sixteenth birthday party where she meets Leo…
So is Robert’s unthinking action the cause of Kyle’s death?
Not entirely, but his actions certainly contribute. The cause of Kyle’s death goes back further in many, many directions and things get more complicated and twisted and we lose track of who caused what.
[PAUSE]
“For by one man came death…” As Christians, we believe that all sin has its source from our very beginning as human beings and we can see that that very first sin has affected humanity all around us, and will continue to do so.
As Christians, we come here every week and say “we have sinned.” How often, though, do we think honestly of the consequences of our actions? A moment’s lack of thought can set the wheels in motion for a murder. This isn’t something we like to think about, but it’s true – each burst of bad temper, each incident of “oh it doesn’t matter, no-one will notice,” each “I wish I were married to his wife” adds to a stream of events which will end in catastrophe for someone.
How could we live with ourselves if we knew the full extent of our actions?
[PAUSE]
One woman knows.
It frightens her. She’s filled with remorse at her actions as she sees their effects on her life and the life of her community. It seems that everyone around her is pointing – sinner! They believe her to be fully responsible for some of the unpleasantness in this town. Her sin is always before her and she cannot shake off the guilt. So what can she do?
She sees Him at dinner in Simon the Pharisee’s house and she begins to weep for her sins, for what she’s done, washing His feet with her tears – and her sins are washed away by His love. She is free from the guilt.
She still has to live with the consequences of her sin. She is still called sinner and shunned by those who have not heard the message of the Son of God. In the eyes of this world, nothing changes. But through her encounter with the living Christ she finds out that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
[PAUSE]
Through the love of God the effects of our sins are cancelled out. They die with us in this frail and fleeting world. To be forgiven fully, we need to bring all that we have done to Him in honesty. This is why the confession at Mass is so important - we need to say “I have sinned”. We will only be forgiven as much as we are willing to confess. Christ shows us that in His parable.
How much was your confession worth today?
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Vox Populi Aut Vox Serpentis?
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Swanscombe on 20th May 2007, the Sunday after Ascension, based on Acts xvi.16-34.
Can you hear her voice?
There, at the back,
the slave girl in the grubby tunic,
can you hear what she’s saying?
Amid the toil and bustle of Philippi,
all the noises of the street,
all the crowd pressing and milling,
can you hear what she is calling out to you?
This is the girl
who is following St Paul and St Silas
as they preach the wonderful news
about the love of God for human beings.
Listen as she adds her voice to those of the apostles:
"These men are the servants
of the Most High God,
who proclaim to us
the way of salvation."
[PAUSE]
This girl is a marvel.
This girl is gifted with a voice of foretelling.
She can speak with the voice of the future,
and she is responsible
for the well-being
of many of the citizens of Philippi
because of what she says.
Last year, Hermas
the wine-seller
sought her advice over the grape harvest.
She told him it would be a bad year for grapes,
so he prepared himself. In fact not only did he survive the year,
but he also made a tidy profit.
That is why Hermas is richer now,
and happier,
all because of this girl and what she has to say.
He is not the only citizen of Philippi
to have benefited in this way.
So now, what is the slave-girl telling us?
"These men are the servants
of the Most High God,
who proclaim to us
the way of salvation."
St. Paul looks at her in that odd way.
Clearl he is angry.
A prayer to Christ,
a word from him,
and the spirit is cast out.
What’s so wrong with what she’s saying?
[PAUSE]
"These men are the servants
of the Most High God,
who proclaim to us
the way of salvation."
Isn’t this true?
Why is it that St Paul gets his dander up and casts the spirit out?
Surely the spirit was on the side of God – it was telling the truth wasn’t it?
Perhaps St Paul is jealous
that she is stealing his thunder.
After all, he is just a sexist who doesn’t allow women to teach.
What has he got to fear
from a little slave-girl
who has special powers and is using them
to agree with what he’s saying?
Can’t St Paul hear what this girl is saying?
Can't we?
[PAUSE]
No!
It’s not the girl who’s speaking.
Listen carefully.
We cannot hear the girl at all!
We have not once heard her voice.
It is not the girl who’s talking,
it’s this spirit of divination,
a spirit that sees the future.
A spirit that has a name.
In Greek,
the spirit of divination is called Python.
In the Greek speaking world,
Pythonian spirits speak through people
using them like ventriloquists’ dummies.
For us less familiar with the beliefs of the Greeks, t
he word Python has only one meaning
– a large snake or serpent.
What images does that conjure up in your mind?
[PAUSE]
The girl is not speaking
through her own volition,
through her own belief.
She is being controlled by this spirit,
and this is what disturbs Paul.
God has created us to be free to worship Him.
For our lives to be controlled by others,
our choices made by someone else,
our mouths to speak someone else's words
is contrary to the will of God.
St Paul has a choice.
Does he believe the spirit,
or does he cast it out?
And what is Python saying?
"These men are the servants
of the Most High God,
who proclaim to us the way of salvation."
Can’t St Paul use this?
[PAUSE]
What Python says is perfectly true,
but that’s spirits all over.
If you want a false message to be believed
then you have to wrap it up tightly in what is true.
All spirits are aware of God.
Any spirit can speak of God,
whether they are good or evil.
An evil spirit will use the truth
to win people over
before slowly poisoning them
by twisting the truth very carefully.
These men are the servants
of the Most High God,
who proclaim to us the way of salvation."
It sounds okay,
but listen to the wider context.
The girl is not speaking with her voice.
Why should a good spirit prevent
someone speaking from their own will?
The girl earns a fortune for her masters.
The word of God is freely given to anyone who will listen.
The salvation that God gives
comes to us through Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Why then would a good spirit fail
to mention Him
but rather speak only of Paul and Silas
in the hope of making them seem more important
than the message they have to share.
The spirit has sought only
to tempt Paul and Silas with self-importance
to corrupt the message that Paul and Silas bear.
The spirit is removed.
The girl is free.
[PAUSE]
Last Thursday
we saw Our Lord ascend into Heaven,
leaving us without a physical presence
of God on the Earth.
How then do we continue
to live without Him telling us the truth?
How do we hear the voice of God
if there are Pythons snaking around us,
hissing half-truths into our ears,
telling us things which sound okay,
but are not?
There are even voices speaking
in the churches which sound okay,
but are not,
really not!
How do we cut through
the voice of the snake
to hear the voice of love?
[PAUSE]
The only way is to get to know the voice of Love.
The more time we spend listening to God
will we recognise His voice in our lives.
The more we pray,
the more we study,
the more we walk in the Faith,
the more we come together in Church
seeking Our Lord Jesus Christ in truth,
the more easily will we the Holy Voice of God.
So whose voice are you hearing now?
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Carnis resurrectiónem, vitam ætérnam
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church Swanscombe based on Ezechiel xxxvii.1-10, I John v.4-12, John xx.19-23
Gus struggles to his foot
as the rest of the congregation begins
to recite the Apostles’ Creed.
He lost his foot at Dunkirk
and the rest of that leg is still suffering
the effects of shrapnel.
These 60 years of wandering around
on crutches have given him
terrible arthritis in one hip and knee
as well as various aches and pains
in his shoulders.
It pains him to stand.
It pains him to sit.
It pains him to lie down.
So how do you think he feels
when he reaches in the Creed
the words
“the Resurrection of the Body
and the Life Everlasting”?
The Church says that on the Last Day
we will all be raised,
like the Lord Jesus,
from the dead not as disembodied souls,
but as human beings with physical bodies
able to see, hear, smell,
feel and taste.
Do you think Gus wants to believe that?
Do you think he would want
to spend the Life Everlasting
with the body that he has now?
[PAUSE]
The next day,
Monday,
Gus visits the doctor.
“Gus, we’ve got a new painkiller here.
It’s called Disagonyzin
and it should ease that pain you’re suffering.
Take one three times a day.”
Gus readily receives
the prescription
and makes his way to the Chemist.
It’s really effective.
Gus has the best night’s sleep he’s had in ages.
He’s out of bed easily,
and it’s a good thing.
He’s wanted to be ready
to see his new granddaughter,
Erica, for the first time.
Erica is just five days old
and apparently is a real cutie,
with beautiful pink skin and lots of hair.
He washes and shaves with ease.
He’s especially pleased
because the Disagonyzin
has taken the edge off of shaving.
It isn’t half as uncomfortable
as it was before.
He’s smartens himself up
and gets ready for the bus ride to the hospital.
On the bus,
Mrs Mills’ shopping trolley
runs over Gus’s foot.
It hurts,
but it isn’t the agony that Gus
would have expected.
“This pain-killer is really wonderful,”
thinks Gus,
“even Mrs Mills’ bumper packets of Daz
don’t hurt me that much!”
At the bus stop,
he’s off and away like a three-legged whippet.
He wouldn’t normally be able
to do that without severe pain,
and Gus is glad because
he is really excited about seeing
his little Erica.
Soon he is beside Julie’s bed
gazing at Erica lying across
her mum’s chest.
“Why don’t you hold her, Dad?” asks Julie.
Gus gently picks up the little one
from her mother and cradles her.
“She’s lovely,” he says beaming.
“Isn’t she?” says Julie,
“she’s got the softest skin,
and her hair is so thick and silky,
don’t you think?”
Gus strokes Erica’s hair and cheek, and frowns.
“I don’t know how soft her skin is.
I don’t know how silky her hair is.
I can’t feel them.”
[PAUSE]
Do you believe in the Resurrection of the Body
and the Life Everlasting?
After all, if there is no body,
then there is certainly no pain.
There are no nerves to feel
the aches of the human condition:
arthritis,
rheumatism,
stubbed toes,
indigestion
and the more severe pains
are all meaningless
either in a body that is numbed to pain,
or for a soul without a body.
But, as Gus realises,
the soul without a body
is also numbed to
the more wonderful sensations of life,
the warmth of the sun,
the nursing of a baby,
the taste of home-made chocolate cake.
If there is no Resurrection of the Body,
then our destiny is to become disembodied souls,
clinging onto vague memories
of what it was like
to be given a peck on the cheek
or to drink a cup of tea.
Is that Heaven?
What is the point of God giving us bodies
if we are only destined to lose them,
and all the joys that go with them?
[PAUSE]
Human beings are unique among God’s creation.
Animals are just bodies without souls;
angels are just souls without bodies;
human beings have both.
We are a unique fusion of body and soul.
This is how we are meant to be.
We’re not supposed to be split into two things
– a body and a soul –
but rather we are incomplete
if we are one without the other.
We are neither animal, nor angel.
Look at Ezechiel standing amongst the dry bones.
Watch as, with a rattling louder than
Patrick Moore’s xylophone
after he’s downed a gallon of Red Bull,
they are put back together
and given flesh,
but they are not human until God
breaths their spirits into them.
See that God raises the dead,
body and soul together.
If we cannot accept this,
then we deny the Resurrection of Christ in the flesh,
and if we deny the Resurrection of Christ
then we cannot be Christian,
and if we are not Christian
then we cannot be saved.
[PAUSE]
“Behold, I make all things new,” says God.
The body we have at the last day
will be able to experience
all the wonderful things we can feel now
but not pain.
St John tells us:
“there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow,
nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain:
for the former things
are passed away.”
It won’t be that we are numbed to pain,
but rather there will be nothing in Heaven to hurt us.
As Sam Tyler is told in “Life on Mars”,
it is only when we feel nothing
that we know we are truly dead.
If there is no Resurrection of the Body,
then the pain we suffer now
is meaningless.
We simply will not feel the love of God,
we will not live
– there will have been no Resurrection.
Would you honestly choose
an Eternity of numbness
over all those wonderful sensations
God really does have planned for you?
The Church believes in
the Resurrection of the Body.
Do you?
Gus struggles to his foot
as the rest of the congregation begins
to recite the Apostles’ Creed.
He lost his foot at Dunkirk
and the rest of that leg is still suffering
the effects of shrapnel.
These 60 years of wandering around
on crutches have given him
terrible arthritis in one hip and knee
as well as various aches and pains
in his shoulders.
It pains him to stand.
It pains him to sit.
It pains him to lie down.
So how do you think he feels
when he reaches in the Creed
the words
“the Resurrection of the Body
and the Life Everlasting”?
The Church says that on the Last Day
we will all be raised,
like the Lord Jesus,
from the dead not as disembodied souls,
but as human beings with physical bodies
able to see, hear, smell,
feel and taste.
Do you think Gus wants to believe that?
Do you think he would want
to spend the Life Everlasting
with the body that he has now?
[PAUSE]
The next day,
Monday,
Gus visits the doctor.
“Gus, we’ve got a new painkiller here.
It’s called Disagonyzin
and it should ease that pain you’re suffering.
Take one three times a day.”
Gus readily receives
the prescription
and makes his way to the Chemist.
It’s really effective.
Gus has the best night’s sleep he’s had in ages.
He’s out of bed easily,
and it’s a good thing.
He’s wanted to be ready
to see his new granddaughter,
Erica, for the first time.
Erica is just five days old
and apparently is a real cutie,
with beautiful pink skin and lots of hair.
He washes and shaves with ease.
He’s especially pleased
because the Disagonyzin
has taken the edge off of shaving.
It isn’t half as uncomfortable
as it was before.
He’s smartens himself up
and gets ready for the bus ride to the hospital.
On the bus,
Mrs Mills’ shopping trolley
runs over Gus’s foot.
It hurts,
but it isn’t the agony that Gus
would have expected.
“This pain-killer is really wonderful,”
thinks Gus,
“even Mrs Mills’ bumper packets of Daz
don’t hurt me that much!”
At the bus stop,
he’s off and away like a three-legged whippet.
He wouldn’t normally be able
to do that without severe pain,
and Gus is glad because
he is really excited about seeing
his little Erica.
Soon he is beside Julie’s bed
gazing at Erica lying across
her mum’s chest.
“Why don’t you hold her, Dad?” asks Julie.
Gus gently picks up the little one
from her mother and cradles her.
“She’s lovely,” he says beaming.
“Isn’t she?” says Julie,
“she’s got the softest skin,
and her hair is so thick and silky,
don’t you think?”
Gus strokes Erica’s hair and cheek, and frowns.
“I don’t know how soft her skin is.
I don’t know how silky her hair is.
I can’t feel them.”
[PAUSE]
Do you believe in the Resurrection of the Body
and the Life Everlasting?
After all, if there is no body,
then there is certainly no pain.
There are no nerves to feel
the aches of the human condition:
arthritis,
rheumatism,
stubbed toes,
indigestion
and the more severe pains
are all meaningless
either in a body that is numbed to pain,
or for a soul without a body.
But, as Gus realises,
the soul without a body
is also numbed to
the more wonderful sensations of life,
the warmth of the sun,
the nursing of a baby,
the taste of home-made chocolate cake.
If there is no Resurrection of the Body,
then our destiny is to become disembodied souls,
clinging onto vague memories
of what it was like
to be given a peck on the cheek
or to drink a cup of tea.
Is that Heaven?
What is the point of God giving us bodies
if we are only destined to lose them,
and all the joys that go with them?
[PAUSE]
Human beings are unique among God’s creation.
Animals are just bodies without souls;
angels are just souls without bodies;
human beings have both.
We are a unique fusion of body and soul.
This is how we are meant to be.
We’re not supposed to be split into two things
– a body and a soul –
but rather we are incomplete
if we are one without the other.
We are neither animal, nor angel.
Look at Ezechiel standing amongst the dry bones.
Watch as, with a rattling louder than
Patrick Moore’s xylophone
after he’s downed a gallon of Red Bull,
they are put back together
and given flesh,
but they are not human until God
breaths their spirits into them.
See that God raises the dead,
body and soul together.
If we cannot accept this,
then we deny the Resurrection of Christ in the flesh,
and if we deny the Resurrection of Christ
then we cannot be Christian,
and if we are not Christian
then we cannot be saved.
[PAUSE]
“Behold, I make all things new,” says God.
The body we have at the last day
will be able to experience
all the wonderful things we can feel now
but not pain.
St John tells us:
“there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow,
nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain:
for the former things
are passed away.”
It won’t be that we are numbed to pain,
but rather there will be nothing in Heaven to hurt us.
As Sam Tyler is told in “Life on Mars”,
it is only when we feel nothing
that we know we are truly dead.
If there is no Resurrection of the Body,
then the pain we suffer now
is meaningless.
We simply will not feel the love of God,
we will not live
– there will have been no Resurrection.
Would you honestly choose
an Eternity of numbness
over all those wonderful sensations
God really does have planned for you?
The Church believes in
the Resurrection of the Body.
Do you?
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Suffer the little children...
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Swanscombe on the fourth Sunday in Lent (Mothering Sunday), 18th March 2007 based on I Samuel i.20-28 and St John xix.25-27.
In a little house sits a mother,
her little boy at her breast
content and happy.
To him,
her thoughts are irrelevant.
All he seeks is warmth
and love
and milk,
items his mother supplies
as abundantly as she possibly can.
As he sleeps,
he is comforted
by the steady beat of her heart.
Not for him is it to know that
despite all this tranquillity,
his mother is wracked
with pain and worry.
The child does not know
of the preparation that his mother is making,
for when he has stopped needing
the milk and the cuddles,
when he has teeth and is on solid food,
when he is just about to walk,
his mother,
the one who has prayed fervently
for his birth,
will give him to the priests
and walk away.
[PAUSE]
Before Samuel’s birth,
Hannah,
his mother was declared to be barren.
Peninnah,
her husband’s other wife,
has children.
At that time Hannah didn’t,
and she was mocked for it.
Hannah has prayed
to the God she has always prayed to
and Samuel is the result
- a happy and fine baby boy
with fat legs and thick black hair.
So why on earth did she want him born
if she is only going to give him up
while he is still small?
Has Hannah been selfish?
Has she only prayed for Samuel’s birth
just to save face
in the light of mockery from Peninnah
and social disgrace?
Is Samuel just a trophy baby
so that Hannah can say
“see, I can have children”?
Is Hannah like some women of today
whose only thought is to have children
so that she can claim benefits?
[PAUSE]
Samuel stretches a little
in Hannah’s arms and
as she wipes his little mouth,
her heart is heavy
because she loves him
and she must give him up.
Is there anything more difficult
than for a mother
to give away her child?
[PAUSE]
Having to let go of a child
is an inevitable part of motherhood.
There are many tragedies in life
which see a mother having to say goodbye
to her baby prematurely.
Isn’t “goodbye” something
that all mothers have to say at some point?
Is there a mother
who hasn’t shed a quiet tear because
Her baby has left her because
it’s their first day at school,
the first time they sleep
over at someone else’s house,
go on holiday on their own,
go to university,
get married and leave home.
A mother’s heart is filled with worry.
Will they be alright?
Will they get there safely?
Will they eat well?
Have they packed enough clean underwear?
Motherhood is tough, no two ways about it.
[PAUSE]
When Our Lady, Mary,
presents the infant Jesus, Our Lord
at the temple,
the priest Simeon tells her that
because she is the Mother of God,
a sword will pierce her own soul,
just as the Lord’s body
will be pierced
on Good Friday.
Isn’t this a sensation with which
mothers are all too familiar?
Suffer the little children…
and, boy, do we have to suffer them!
[PAUSE]
In presenting Jesus in the temple,
Lady Mary is fulfilling the requirements
of the Jewish law.
Every first-born male must
be presented to the Lord for His possession.
Thankfully for the parents,
God usually charges them
to look after the child for Him.
It’s also a bit of a relief for the priests too.
Just think – wouldn’t the Rectory
be a little inundated with nappies?
But in giving the child back to the parents,
God is telling them that the child
must be brought up in His ways.
[PAUSE]
Hannah is serious in what she wants to do.
She loves God,
and wants a chance to worship Him fully.
This is why she is determined
to offer up Samuel in worship of God.
She’s not saving face
by praying for a baby to be born
and then foisting him on the priests
just because he’s inconvenient.
She’s asking God for a way to worship God
through the hard sacrifice of being a mother
- a sacrifice made harder
by giving Samuel up when he’s still very little.
Samuel will turn out to be a very fine priest.
What does this say about Hannah’s sacrifice?
[PAUSE]
Being a mother is a priesthood unique to women.
It involves a sacrifice of love
to bring a child into the world,
to nourish it,
to love it,
to teach it,
to give it every opportunity
to become the person that it is going to be.
This can only happen
if the mother decreases
so that the child increases.
As a church we all,
men and women,
have a duty in mothering.
When a child is baptised,
the Church becomes a spiritual mother
and has a duty to make sacrifices
in order for that child to grow up in the faith.
We, the Church, have a duty in our mothering
to decrease so that our little ones can increase
knowing the love of God,
and how He provides for them.
In giving us His son,
God also gives us the example
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
to show us how seriously
we must all take our
mothering duties.
Like any Jewish Mother,
Mary is the one who teaches the Jesus the Faith,
so must we teach our children
the same Faith built
on the same precepts.
Mary is the one who has
to accept the person that her son is,
so must we accept the people
who our children are,
and let them have every opportunity
to serve God.
Mary is the one
whose heart is broken
when she sees her son
bleeding on the cross.
So too must we have our hearts broken
in letting our children go
to do what they must do.
Mary— Mother of God.
The Church— mother of Christians.
Have you made your sacrifice of motherhood yet?
In a little house sits a mother,
her little boy at her breast
content and happy.
To him,
her thoughts are irrelevant.
All he seeks is warmth
and love
and milk,
items his mother supplies
as abundantly as she possibly can.
As he sleeps,
he is comforted
by the steady beat of her heart.
Not for him is it to know that
despite all this tranquillity,
his mother is wracked
with pain and worry.
The child does not know
of the preparation that his mother is making,
for when he has stopped needing
the milk and the cuddles,
when he has teeth and is on solid food,
when he is just about to walk,
his mother,
the one who has prayed fervently
for his birth,
will give him to the priests
and walk away.
[PAUSE]
Before Samuel’s birth,
Hannah,
his mother was declared to be barren.
Peninnah,
her husband’s other wife,
has children.
At that time Hannah didn’t,
and she was mocked for it.
Hannah has prayed
to the God she has always prayed to
and Samuel is the result
- a happy and fine baby boy
with fat legs and thick black hair.
So why on earth did she want him born
if she is only going to give him up
while he is still small?
Has Hannah been selfish?
Has she only prayed for Samuel’s birth
just to save face
in the light of mockery from Peninnah
and social disgrace?
Is Samuel just a trophy baby
so that Hannah can say
“see, I can have children”?
Is Hannah like some women of today
whose only thought is to have children
so that she can claim benefits?
[PAUSE]
Samuel stretches a little
in Hannah’s arms and
as she wipes his little mouth,
her heart is heavy
because she loves him
and she must give him up.
Is there anything more difficult
than for a mother
to give away her child?
[PAUSE]
Having to let go of a child
is an inevitable part of motherhood.
There are many tragedies in life
which see a mother having to say goodbye
to her baby prematurely.
Isn’t “goodbye” something
that all mothers have to say at some point?
Is there a mother
who hasn’t shed a quiet tear because
Her baby has left her because
it’s their first day at school,
the first time they sleep
over at someone else’s house,
go on holiday on their own,
go to university,
get married and leave home.
A mother’s heart is filled with worry.
Will they be alright?
Will they get there safely?
Will they eat well?
Have they packed enough clean underwear?
Motherhood is tough, no two ways about it.
[PAUSE]
When Our Lady, Mary,
presents the infant Jesus, Our Lord
at the temple,
the priest Simeon tells her that
because she is the Mother of God,
a sword will pierce her own soul,
just as the Lord’s body
will be pierced
on Good Friday.
Isn’t this a sensation with which
mothers are all too familiar?
Suffer the little children…
and, boy, do we have to suffer them!
[PAUSE]
In presenting Jesus in the temple,
Lady Mary is fulfilling the requirements
of the Jewish law.
Every first-born male must
be presented to the Lord for His possession.
Thankfully for the parents,
God usually charges them
to look after the child for Him.
It’s also a bit of a relief for the priests too.
Just think – wouldn’t the Rectory
be a little inundated with nappies?
But in giving the child back to the parents,
God is telling them that the child
must be brought up in His ways.
[PAUSE]
Hannah is serious in what she wants to do.
She loves God,
and wants a chance to worship Him fully.
This is why she is determined
to offer up Samuel in worship of God.
She’s not saving face
by praying for a baby to be born
and then foisting him on the priests
just because he’s inconvenient.
She’s asking God for a way to worship God
through the hard sacrifice of being a mother
- a sacrifice made harder
by giving Samuel up when he’s still very little.
Samuel will turn out to be a very fine priest.
What does this say about Hannah’s sacrifice?
[PAUSE]
Being a mother is a priesthood unique to women.
It involves a sacrifice of love
to bring a child into the world,
to nourish it,
to love it,
to teach it,
to give it every opportunity
to become the person that it is going to be.
This can only happen
if the mother decreases
so that the child increases.
As a church we all,
men and women,
have a duty in mothering.
When a child is baptised,
the Church becomes a spiritual mother
and has a duty to make sacrifices
in order for that child to grow up in the faith.
We, the Church, have a duty in our mothering
to decrease so that our little ones can increase
knowing the love of God,
and how He provides for them.
In giving us His son,
God also gives us the example
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
to show us how seriously
we must all take our
mothering duties.
Like any Jewish Mother,
Mary is the one who teaches the Jesus the Faith,
so must we teach our children
the same Faith built
on the same precepts.
Mary is the one who has
to accept the person that her son is,
so must we accept the people
who our children are,
and let them have every opportunity
to serve God.
Mary is the one
whose heart is broken
when she sees her son
bleeding on the cross.
So too must we have our hearts broken
in letting our children go
to do what they must do.
Mary— Mother of God.
The Church— mother of Christians.
Have you made your sacrifice of motherhood yet?
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Somnambulism in the City
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church Swanscombe on 18th February 2006, based on Exodus xxxiv.29-end, II Corinthians iii.12-iv:2 and St Luke ix:28-43.
Al reaches for the snooze button again
as, for the second time,
the alarm stridently cuts through
a lovely dream about Keira Knightly.
He switches the light on,
wincing as the neon bulb dazzles him,
hurting his eyes.
Slowly he rouses himself,
trying to focus on the day ahead of him.
Eventually,
he summons up all his strength
to poke a warm toe out into the cold room.
Yawning and scratching his head,
he stumbles through to the bathroom,
walking straight past God’s holy angel standing
by the doorway.
Al gets dressed,
and wanders downstairs
for his bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.
He switches on the Radio,
and the sound of Chris Moyles
playing “Hotel California”
drowns out the Eternal song o
f the two seraphim in the kitchen
singing “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
After cleaning his teeth and brushing his hair,
Al grabs his briefcase from by the door
and gets into his car.
As he drives to work,
he passes three angels
playing lute, trumpet and shawm,
a crowd of martyrs praising God,
Moses and Elijah calling out to the world,
and Our Lady in a shop window
pointing towards
the Divine person of Christ
in the world.
[PAUSE]
Al’s working day is uneventful.
He photocopies papers
unaware of a couple of cherubim
sitting on the copy tray.
He grabs a cup from the water-cooler
on which St Simon Stylites
stands motionless.
He sends countless emails to his colleagues,
missing the email sent to him
by St Isidore of Seville,
patron saint of the Internet.
On his way home from work,
the Glory of God shines all around Al,
radiant and pure light from an Eternal source.
He dines,
watches a bit of telly
and goes to bed unaware of the multitude
of the heavenly host moving around him.
All of these things have happened in plain sight.
One woman saw the angel
hovering above Al’s car as he drove by.
But Al has not seen them.
As far as he is concerned,
all he sees is the greyness of the pavement,
the fumes coming
from the exhaust of the car in front,
the irritated look on the face of his boss
when Al tells him that
the figures will be late
this month.
None of these wonders
have been hidden from Al,
but he does not see them.
You see, when the alarm clock rang,
Al did not wake up.
[PAUSE]
Oh yes,
he got out of bed all right,
and he was conscious
when he drove to work.
He was certainly conscious
of the idiot who cut him up
at the Walthamstow roundabout.
He was conscious of
the choice words and phrases
that he used to describe that idiot.
He’s conscious of the staple
that he nearly put through his thumb at work.
But Al isn’t conscious
of the angel standing
next to the homeless woman
to whom he throws a £2 coin.
Al is a somnambulist, a sleep-walker.
He wanders through his day
oblivious to the truth of the world around him,
concentrating on his life and how it works.
For Al, every day is much the same,
the alarm goes off every morning;
he has Crunchy Nut Cornflakes for breakfast;
his daughter always manages
to beat him to the bathroom
when he’s desperate;
Wednesday night is always casserole night.
That’s his life.
When the alarm rings and the lamp comes on,
Al shuts his eyes again
because he is dazzled by the light.
[PAUSE]
It’s easy to shut our eyes when they are dazzled.
It’s a reflex.
Indeed it hurts if we try to look at something
which is too powerful.
When we sleep,
we become used to the darkness
which hides our world.
In the dark,
we see only the shadows of the way things are,
and we make up our own ideas
of what the truth is.
But if we try to open our eyes to the light,
it hurts
so we shut them again.
How can we get used to the light
if we keep shutting our eyes to it?
How can we see the Truth
if our eyes are closed?
[PAUSE]
Peter, James and John
get to see Jesus as God on the mountainside
because they’ve been having their eyes opened,
little by little,
through devoting themselves to the Lord.
Day by day,
they sit with Him,
eat breakfast with Him,
walk with Him,
go out onto the lake with Him,
study the Scriptures with Him.
Jesus is there with them
in the intimacy
and day-by-day routine of their lives
and they are part of the intimacy
and day-by-day routine of His life.
Yet all the while, the Lord has been preparing them
for a deeper intimacy,
the intimacy of His Godhead which bursts into their hum-drum reality
quietly
on a mountainside in a blaze of Titanic Glory.
Yet, the Transfiguration is an intimate event.
It’s an event as deeply personal
as going to sleep with your spouse next to you,
yet it comes only as a result of getting used to Christ in your life,
of opening our eyes
to the brilliance of God who wants
to show Himself to us as He really is.
It is only by opening the eyes slowly to Christ that we see the wonders of God around us in a world that is darkened by much sadness,
selfishness and sin.
The season of Lent gives us
the opportunity for us to see
how much of our lives we spend asleep
to God’s Presence.
We could spend Lent
just giving something up
sweets,
chocolate,
television,
coffee
like we always do,
but what’s the point if,
at the end of it,
we are just as unaware of God in our lives
as we were
when we started?
How do you propose to seek
the light of God this Lent?
Al reaches for the snooze button again
as, for the second time,
the alarm stridently cuts through
a lovely dream about Keira Knightly.
He switches the light on,
wincing as the neon bulb dazzles him,
hurting his eyes.
Slowly he rouses himself,
trying to focus on the day ahead of him.
Eventually,
he summons up all his strength
to poke a warm toe out into the cold room.
Yawning and scratching his head,
he stumbles through to the bathroom,
walking straight past God’s holy angel standing
by the doorway.
Al gets dressed,
and wanders downstairs
for his bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.
He switches on the Radio,
and the sound of Chris Moyles
playing “Hotel California”
drowns out the Eternal song o
f the two seraphim in the kitchen
singing “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
After cleaning his teeth and brushing his hair,
Al grabs his briefcase from by the door
and gets into his car.
As he drives to work,
he passes three angels
playing lute, trumpet and shawm,
a crowd of martyrs praising God,
Moses and Elijah calling out to the world,
and Our Lady in a shop window
pointing towards
the Divine person of Christ
in the world.
[PAUSE]
Al’s working day is uneventful.
He photocopies papers
unaware of a couple of cherubim
sitting on the copy tray.
He grabs a cup from the water-cooler
on which St Simon Stylites
stands motionless.
He sends countless emails to his colleagues,
missing the email sent to him
by St Isidore of Seville,
patron saint of the Internet.
On his way home from work,
the Glory of God shines all around Al,
radiant and pure light from an Eternal source.
He dines,
watches a bit of telly
and goes to bed unaware of the multitude
of the heavenly host moving around him.
All of these things have happened in plain sight.
One woman saw the angel
hovering above Al’s car as he drove by.
But Al has not seen them.
As far as he is concerned,
all he sees is the greyness of the pavement,
the fumes coming
from the exhaust of the car in front,
the irritated look on the face of his boss
when Al tells him that
the figures will be late
this month.
None of these wonders
have been hidden from Al,
but he does not see them.
You see, when the alarm clock rang,
Al did not wake up.
[PAUSE]
Oh yes,
he got out of bed all right,
and he was conscious
when he drove to work.
He was certainly conscious
of the idiot who cut him up
at the Walthamstow roundabout.
He was conscious of
the choice words and phrases
that he used to describe that idiot.
He’s conscious of the staple
that he nearly put through his thumb at work.
But Al isn’t conscious
of the angel standing
next to the homeless woman
to whom he throws a £2 coin.
Al is a somnambulist, a sleep-walker.
He wanders through his day
oblivious to the truth of the world around him,
concentrating on his life and how it works.
For Al, every day is much the same,
the alarm goes off every morning;
he has Crunchy Nut Cornflakes for breakfast;
his daughter always manages
to beat him to the bathroom
when he’s desperate;
Wednesday night is always casserole night.
That’s his life.
When the alarm rings and the lamp comes on,
Al shuts his eyes again
because he is dazzled by the light.
[PAUSE]
It’s easy to shut our eyes when they are dazzled.
It’s a reflex.
Indeed it hurts if we try to look at something
which is too powerful.
When we sleep,
we become used to the darkness
which hides our world.
In the dark,
we see only the shadows of the way things are,
and we make up our own ideas
of what the truth is.
But if we try to open our eyes to the light,
it hurts
so we shut them again.
How can we get used to the light
if we keep shutting our eyes to it?
How can we see the Truth
if our eyes are closed?
[PAUSE]
Peter, James and John
get to see Jesus as God on the mountainside
because they’ve been having their eyes opened,
little by little,
through devoting themselves to the Lord.
Day by day,
they sit with Him,
eat breakfast with Him,
walk with Him,
go out onto the lake with Him,
study the Scriptures with Him.
Jesus is there with them
in the intimacy
and day-by-day routine of their lives
and they are part of the intimacy
and day-by-day routine of His life.
Yet all the while, the Lord has been preparing them
for a deeper intimacy,
the intimacy of His Godhead which bursts into their hum-drum reality
quietly
on a mountainside in a blaze of Titanic Glory.
Yet, the Transfiguration is an intimate event.
It’s an event as deeply personal
as going to sleep with your spouse next to you,
yet it comes only as a result of getting used to Christ in your life,
of opening our eyes
to the brilliance of God who wants
to show Himself to us as He really is.
It is only by opening the eyes slowly to Christ that we see the wonders of God around us in a world that is darkened by much sadness,
selfishness and sin.
The season of Lent gives us
the opportunity for us to see
how much of our lives we spend asleep
to God’s Presence.
We could spend Lent
just giving something up
sweets,
chocolate,
television,
coffee
like we always do,
but what’s the point if,
at the end of it,
we are just as unaware of God in our lives
as we were
when we started?
How do you propose to seek
the light of God this Lent?
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Checking Theology
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church Swanscombe 21st January 2004 based on Nehemiah viii.1-10, I Corinthians xii.12-31 and St Luke iv.14-21.
Pawn to King’s fourth.
This is how it starts.
George introduces himself
to his new opponent
and makes his first move.
He seals the envelope
and sends it off to the address
that the Correspondence Chess Agency
has given him.
Then he dons his
cassock, alb, maniple and chasuble
and becomes Fr. MacKinnon
of Our Lady of the Snows,
Purbridge.
A few days later,
after the Post Office has lost it,
found it,
lost it,
found it again,
sent it to the wrong road,
had it returned
and finally delivered it to the right place,
a letter drops through the door.
The Rev’d Derek Knox,
a Baptist minister from Falkirk,
opens it and finds himself
in receipt of George’s letter.
He does choke slightly
on his morning cup of coffee
when he realises that he’s been given
an opponent who is also
a Roman Catholic priest.
This, thinks Derek,
will give me the chance
to save this poor chap’s soul.
So he sends George a cheery note
and another Pawn to King’s fourth.
George is surprised at finding himself
in correspondence with a Protestant,
but happily replies to his opponent
asking him about his life,
what he does
and where he feels his ministry is going,
giving him in return
a knight to Queen’s bishop’s third.
Derek replies amiably enough,
but there’s a pointed remark
about his running his ministry
directly from God rather than
through middlemen.
George knows that
Derek is referring to
the government of the Pope and the Cardinals,
and makes a polite but firm reply
about Bishops in the New Testament.
Knight to king’s bishop’s third.
And so on.
Each clergyman makes a polite,
and well-reasoned defence
of his denominational position
as well as a challenge to the other.
The discussion is heated,
but never hurtful, nor impolite.
The game of chess goes on.
George matches Derek’s moves well,
and Derek meets every attack that George makes
with a subtle and cunning counterattack.
Does this theological wrangling matter?
Isn’t it all a simple game of chess
where it doesn’t really matter
who wins or loses an argument?
After all, we all get to heaven don’t we?
[PAUSE]
Well, no.
Jesus Himself spoils that idea
when He says that on the last day
there will be people who will say
“Lord, Lord, this is what
we’ve done in your name”
and to whom He will reply
“in truth, I never knew you.”
There are people who call themselves Christians
who will not be in the Heavenly host.
Is this something to do with
which church we belong to?
Is there a right denomination?
Are you in the right place
being members of the Church of England?
[PAUSE]
One thing is for certain,
a denomination is not
an opinion or a choice.
It is a deep-seated belief
held by many about
what is right and what is wrong
and who has the authority to say
what is right and what is wrong.
Opinion cannot do that,
because it is only personal,
and largely irrelevant in the scheme of things.
People don’t get burnt at the stake
and suffer martyrdom
for their opinions,
but for their beliefs.
Any Catholic will submit his life
to the rule of the Church.
A Catholic’s opinion
does not matter in questions of teaching,
because he relies on the Church
to teach him the truth.
The trouble is a Catholic
could deny his responsibility for thinking for himself
by saying “the Church tells me what to do.”
A Protestant relies on the Bible alone.
If the Bible says that it’s allowed,
a Protestant will do it with gusto.
If the Bible says that it’s not allowed,
not only will the Protestant not do it
but quote chapter and verse as to why it is wrong.
The trouble is that a Protestant
can make up his own interpretation of the Bible
to justify killing all the Jews or the Blacks.
This has been done and is still being done.
Why are there many more
Protestant denominations than Catholic ones?
They are all based on personal interpretations
of the Scriptures.
They can’t all be right!
So which is the right Church?
[PAUSE]
There is a car crash.
George’s mother dies very suddenly.
His letter to Derek is filled
with heartache and sorrow.
Derek replies,
Dear George,
Over the last months
I have enjoyed your letters
and this wonderful game of chess.
You certainly have a talent
for putting me in check.
You also have a talent
for putting me on the spot with doctrine.
I’ve learned a lot about myself,
and about Catholicism,
as I hope you have learned
about yourself
and about the Baptists.
You won’t change and I won’t change,
and only God can unify us.
I am so very sorry to hear about your Mum,
and I see how hard this must have hit you.
Yesterday I popped into
our local Catholic Church for Mass.
Don’t get excited.
You know how I disagree with you
fundamentally
about this Mass business,
but I know that you believe that
all Masses are linked by Christ
to any other Mass that’s been said.
Well,
I want you to know that I am here for you
in your hour of need,
and by attending this Mass
– although I couldn’t take Communion
and you know I wouldn’t do so
– I hope you will feel me
standing beside you.
Your friend in Christ,
Derek.
P.S. Queen to King’s rook 6.
Check.
What do you think of this letter?
Is Derek right to have done this?
If not what could he have done?
[PAUSE]
How do we know
which Church is The True Church?
Well the True Church is where
we find love expressed clearly and unreservedly
– a love that will risk all for us,
a love that will not be frightened to be angry
with us when we seek things
that will only harm ourselves
and each other,
a love that will weep with us when we are sad,
uphold us when we are fallen,
rejoice with us when we are happy,
challenge us when we are wrong.
It is utterly and completely devoted
to the Commandments of God.
It is not a place where everything works.
It is not neat and tidily put together.
There are many unanswered questions,
because the Church is comprised
of fallen Human Beings
who have been washed clean
in the Blood of the Lamb.
Where you find God,
there you will find love,
and where you find love,
you will find the Church.
Does this fit the description of your parish?
Pawn to King’s fourth.
This is how it starts.
George introduces himself
to his new opponent
and makes his first move.
He seals the envelope
and sends it off to the address
that the Correspondence Chess Agency
has given him.
Then he dons his
cassock, alb, maniple and chasuble
and becomes Fr. MacKinnon
of Our Lady of the Snows,
Purbridge.
A few days later,
after the Post Office has lost it,
found it,
lost it,
found it again,
sent it to the wrong road,
had it returned
and finally delivered it to the right place,
a letter drops through the door.
The Rev’d Derek Knox,
a Baptist minister from Falkirk,
opens it and finds himself
in receipt of George’s letter.
He does choke slightly
on his morning cup of coffee
when he realises that he’s been given
an opponent who is also
a Roman Catholic priest.
This, thinks Derek,
will give me the chance
to save this poor chap’s soul.
So he sends George a cheery note
and another Pawn to King’s fourth.
George is surprised at finding himself
in correspondence with a Protestant,
but happily replies to his opponent
asking him about his life,
what he does
and where he feels his ministry is going,
giving him in return
a knight to Queen’s bishop’s third.
Derek replies amiably enough,
but there’s a pointed remark
about his running his ministry
directly from God rather than
through middlemen.
George knows that
Derek is referring to
the government of the Pope and the Cardinals,
and makes a polite but firm reply
about Bishops in the New Testament.
Knight to king’s bishop’s third.
And so on.
Each clergyman makes a polite,
and well-reasoned defence
of his denominational position
as well as a challenge to the other.
The discussion is heated,
but never hurtful, nor impolite.
The game of chess goes on.
George matches Derek’s moves well,
and Derek meets every attack that George makes
with a subtle and cunning counterattack.
Does this theological wrangling matter?
Isn’t it all a simple game of chess
where it doesn’t really matter
who wins or loses an argument?
After all, we all get to heaven don’t we?
[PAUSE]
Well, no.
Jesus Himself spoils that idea
when He says that on the last day
there will be people who will say
“Lord, Lord, this is what
we’ve done in your name”
and to whom He will reply
“in truth, I never knew you.”
There are people who call themselves Christians
who will not be in the Heavenly host.
Is this something to do with
which church we belong to?
Is there a right denomination?
Are you in the right place
being members of the Church of England?
[PAUSE]
One thing is for certain,
a denomination is not
an opinion or a choice.
It is a deep-seated belief
held by many about
what is right and what is wrong
and who has the authority to say
what is right and what is wrong.
Opinion cannot do that,
because it is only personal,
and largely irrelevant in the scheme of things.
People don’t get burnt at the stake
and suffer martyrdom
for their opinions,
but for their beliefs.
Any Catholic will submit his life
to the rule of the Church.
A Catholic’s opinion
does not matter in questions of teaching,
because he relies on the Church
to teach him the truth.
The trouble is a Catholic
could deny his responsibility for thinking for himself
by saying “the Church tells me what to do.”
A Protestant relies on the Bible alone.
If the Bible says that it’s allowed,
a Protestant will do it with gusto.
If the Bible says that it’s not allowed,
not only will the Protestant not do it
but quote chapter and verse as to why it is wrong.
The trouble is that a Protestant
can make up his own interpretation of the Bible
to justify killing all the Jews or the Blacks.
This has been done and is still being done.
Why are there many more
Protestant denominations than Catholic ones?
They are all based on personal interpretations
of the Scriptures.
They can’t all be right!
So which is the right Church?
[PAUSE]
There is a car crash.
George’s mother dies very suddenly.
His letter to Derek is filled
with heartache and sorrow.
Derek replies,
Dear George,
Over the last months
I have enjoyed your letters
and this wonderful game of chess.
You certainly have a talent
for putting me in check.
You also have a talent
for putting me on the spot with doctrine.
I’ve learned a lot about myself,
and about Catholicism,
as I hope you have learned
about yourself
and about the Baptists.
You won’t change and I won’t change,
and only God can unify us.
I am so very sorry to hear about your Mum,
and I see how hard this must have hit you.
Yesterday I popped into
our local Catholic Church for Mass.
Don’t get excited.
You know how I disagree with you
fundamentally
about this Mass business,
but I know that you believe that
all Masses are linked by Christ
to any other Mass that’s been said.
Well,
I want you to know that I am here for you
in your hour of need,
and by attending this Mass
– although I couldn’t take Communion
and you know I wouldn’t do so
– I hope you will feel me
standing beside you.
Your friend in Christ,
Derek.
P.S. Queen to King’s rook 6.
Check.
What do you think of this letter?
Is Derek right to have done this?
If not what could he have done?
[PAUSE]
How do we know
which Church is The True Church?
Well the True Church is where
we find love expressed clearly and unreservedly
– a love that will risk all for us,
a love that will not be frightened to be angry
with us when we seek things
that will only harm ourselves
and each other,
a love that will weep with us when we are sad,
uphold us when we are fallen,
rejoice with us when we are happy,
challenge us when we are wrong.
It is utterly and completely devoted
to the Commandments of God.
It is not a place where everything works.
It is not neat and tidily put together.
There are many unanswered questions,
because the Church is comprised
of fallen Human Beings
who have been washed clean
in the Blood of the Lamb.
Where you find God,
there you will find love,
and where you find love,
you will find the Church.
Does this fit the description of your parish?
Sunday, December 03, 2006
The Generation Game
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church Swanscombe on Advent Sunday 2006 based on St Luke xxi.25-36
[Long pause, waiting for something to happen. After a minute waiting, I begin.]
Frustrating isn’t it?
When you’re not sure
what you’re supposed to be waiting for,
nor when it will happen,
nor quite what the consequences
of it will be.
It stresses you out.
Elaine is annoyed.
Her favourite programme
is on after the football,
and she has just switched on
only to find that
Jose Beckham
or David Shilton,
or Diego Smith,
or whoever is supposed to be playing,
is lining up the 150th penalty shot
at the end of another nil-nil draw.
What is she to do?
Should she switch over or off,
or should she stick it out
becoming ever more concerned
that the BBC will actually
take off her favourite programme
because the football has over-run?
The trouble with waiting is
that it leaves you in a quandary:
should I wait a little longer
or do something else.
[PAUSE]
Elaine thinks that
surely the 150th penalty shot
must be a sign that
the game is coming to the end.
The players must be tired,
and they are likely to make mistakes,
so one of them is bound
to score a penalty very soon.
That goalie is looking a little bit floppy.
She watches expectantly,
hoping that her programme will be on shortly,
as Bobby Shearer lines up the shot,
walks back,
takes a run up,
shoots…
The trouble is,
we know that the end of the game is near
because we’re on the penalties,
but the 150th penalty doesn’t mean
that the next penalty will be the last,
it could go on indefinitely.
Even then
Elaine has got the interminable
post-match analysis
to sit through.
Do you ever find yourselves
in situations like that?
What is the limit of your patience?
[PAUSE]
Do you find yourself
becoming more impatient
with the world around you?
How do you feel when Jesus says
“There will be signs
in the sun,
in the moon,
and in the stars;
and on the earth
distress of nations with perplexity,
the sea and waves roaring”?
Do you find yourself thinking
“Is it now?
Is God coming back tomorrow”?
Why?
Are you ready for Him if he does?
[PAUSE]
We certainly see signs around us.
Distress seems an inadequate word
to describe the situation
in the Middle East.
We’ve been told
that all around us
the climate is changing.
The Sun may be getting hotter;
scientists say the expansion of Universe
is actually speeding up.
Aren’t these the signs
that the Lord tells us will happen
before He came back?
But the Lord also says,
“this generation will by no means pass away
till all these things take place.”
So, if Jesus is talking
first to the folk 2000 years ago,
hasn’t the generation that He speaks of
passed away?
Does this mean
that we have actually missed
the second coming of the Lord?
Well, clearly not.
So is Jesus wrong?
—after all He is on record for saying
that even He doesn’t know
when the Day of the Lord
is, was or will be.
Do you really think that He’s wrong?
But this has profound
implications for our belief.
If Jesus is wrong about this,
He could be wrong about
a whole host of things.
[PAUSE]
Think about it.
What do we believe?
Do we believe that Jesus is risen from the dead?
Yes – it’s the heart of our faith.
So this means that He is alive.
Is He with us now?
Well, yes, He promises to be with all His children.
Moreover,
this is Mass – His Presence is more obvious here,
because we come to Mass
for the purpose of meeting and receiving Him,
and He us.
So can He still talk to us?
Well, doesn’t He always?
Surely we can hear Him say to us
“this generation,
(our generation)
will not pass away
until all these things take place.”
He is not talking about His coming again,
He’s telling us that there will always be
these signs around us
that point to His coming.
There are Christians
who will look to the Apocalypse,
the Book of Revelation
to reveal what’s going to happen.
They speak of beasts and horrible plagues.
But Revelation doesn’t tell us
what’s going to happen in the future.
It speaks of events that have already happened
in Roman times
mixed together with events beyond Time,
so we can’t rely on it.
There isn’t going to be a Rapture.
The Lord will not come again
until every person has heard
the Good News
of the Lord’s love for us.
He gives everyone the opportunity
to make an informed choice
– to love Him, or not.
The reason he hasn’t already come
is because He wants you to believe in Him
and have the same chance of Eternal life
as our parents
our grandparents,
our great grandparents
in fact all the generations
who have gone before us
and the generations who will come after us.
So, if the Lord is not going to tell us
when He is coming,
why should we worry about the future?
There will always be wars
and rumours of wars,
and storms,
floods,
famines,
earthquakes,
volcanoes,
and the most terrible catastrophes
to befall mankind.
But Jesus says
that we must not worry
about them happening,
but to use them to look to Him
and remember His presence.
Then we go out and tend to those
who have been hurt by these disasters.
If we spend our time
worrying about the future we cannot control,
then we forget about the people
whose present is appalling,
and who need our love, help and support.
Our future is safe in the hands of God.
We trust Him to love us and save us, don’t we?
Sunday, November 26, 2006
What is this King of kings?
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Swanscombe on Sunday 26th November 2006 based on Daniel vii. 9-14, Apocalypse i.4-8 and St John xviii.33-37.
In all the world,
there is none as bald
at this moment as Pontius.
He is tearing his hair out.
Before him stands
a rather grubby little Jewish man
who looks as if he has been
beaten up rather badly.
His clothes are covered in dirt,
his lip is bleeding,
and one of his eyes looks a little puffy.
“That’s going to be a proper shiner,”
thinks one of the guards.
So what’s giving Pontius grief?
Well, this grubby man
standing before him
has been accused of being
the king of the Jews,
and it is these Jews that are expecting
Pontius to do something about
this troublemaker.
The real trouble is that
he doesn’t seem to be able
to get a straight answer out of Him
in this most peculiar trial.
After all,
how can you be accused of being a king?
“Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Are you speaking for yourself,
or did others tell you this concerning me?”
What kind of answer’s that?
How can Pilate find out the truth
if he’s going to get an answer like that?
[PAUSE]
“Are you speaking for yourself,
or did others tell you this concerning me?”
Pilate can’t quite decide whether
this Jesus is being disrespectful
of his office as Governor of Judaea.
At Jesus’ reply,
he shifts on his throne uneasily,
brushing away an impertinent mosquito
that has decided to try and drill for oil
in his arm.
Certainly, the Jews have shown him
little respect when they delivered
this man to him at this time of night.
They don’t seem to have any respect
for their king either.
What authority
does this poor Jesus
have with the Jews?
What is a ruler without authority?
Perhaps it’s a Jewish custom to treat their rulers like this.
They’re a mad lot these Jews,
always getting their knickers in a twist
about something!
“Am I a Jew?”
says Pilate,
“I don’t understand your customs,
but it was your people
that brought you to me.
I don’t understand why?
What have you done?”
Has this Jesus made
the biggest mistake of his life
declaring himself to be a king
of a people who don’t want himto be king?
What is a ruler without
any understanding of his people?
[PAUSE]
Jesus looks at him,
wiping away a little blood from His lip,
“My kingdom is not of this world.”
“What?” thinks Pilate,
eyes widening, “he’s a lunatic!
But if he is a lunatic
why are the Jewish authorities
so afraid of him?
Is he their king or not?”
Jesus continues,
“If My kingdom were of this world,
My servants would fight so that
I should not be delivered to the Jews;
but now My kingdom is not from here.”
“That’s true,” thinks Pontius Pilate
relaxing slightly at the news
that Judaea isn’t going to be overrun
by angry hordes intent on chopping him
into pieces.
But what is a ruler without people to defend his rule?
[PAUSE]
But this Jesus has admitted He has a kingdom.
“Are you a king then?”
asks Pilate,
feeling a little bit surer that he is getting
near the truth about the identity
of this weird little Jew.
“You say rightly that I am a king.
For this cause I was born,
and for this cause I have come into the world,
that I should bear witness to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Pilate gives up.
“What is truth?”
he says dismissively.
Whoever this man is,
he is not a threat either to him,
or to the Jews.
Pilate decides that Jesus
should be free to live his life.
After all, what is a ruler without freedom?
The trouble is,
as we see in these, the last few hours
of the life of the Lord,
Pilate is not free to let Jesus go.
[PAUSE]
Is Jesus really a king then?
Is Pilate any more of a ruler than Jesus?
Pilate has authority over the Jews,
but he can’t seem to get them
to respect his decisions.
He doesn’t understand the Jews at all,
and if he had all the armies
in Rome at his disposal,
they wouldn’t get to Judaea
in time to prevent
a rather nasty massacre
if the Jews decided to revolt.
He may have the freedom
to try to impose his will on the Jews,
but he dare not exercise it
beyond what his army can do!
What do you think of Pilate’s status as a ruler?
Is it any better than any other world leader, even today?
What authority does any leader have?
What freedom do they have to do what they want?
Who fights for them?
Do they really know what their subjects need?
How do we answer these questions
about Jesus’ claim to be king?
[PAUSE]
Questions, questions, questions!
The fact that Jesus is the Son of God
means that he has complete freedom
over all of the Universe
– a freedom that He is prepared
to share with us.
Who fights for Him?
A heavenly army of angels
led by St Michael the Archangel
who defeats Satan,
and we too have angels to fight for us,
because He has given
His angels charge over us.
Does He know the needs of His subjects?
He knows us through and through.
He knows every thought that passes through our heads.
He may sit on His throne of fire in Heaven,
but His heart is with each one of us on earth,
and by living His way
of loving our neighbour as ourselves,
so will we know each others’ needs.
What authority does Jesus have?
He is our Lord and God.
All authority in Heaven and on Earth
have been given to Him,
and He shares this authority with the Church.
Is Jesus a king then?
Haven’t we just said so?
But if He shares all his kingship with us,
and if we keep a true faith with Him,
serving Him and loving Him
and worshipping Him,
doesn’t that make us kings as well?
What do you think?
Sunday, October 15, 2006
It's an ill wind...
Sermon preached at St Peter and St Paul's Church, Swanscombe on 15th October 2006, based on St Mark x.17-31.
That advert's on telly again.
A man lies beside a pool
on a sunny day.
One of those fluffy, shiny women
walks up to him with a drink
and sits down on the sun-bed
next to him.
He smiles at her,
she smiles at him,
reaches down and picks up
a packet of cigarettes
which she offers to him.
He takes one,
she takes one,
both light up,
and then the Narrator starts up
- an Alvar Liddell soundalike -
"cool, fresh, relaxing Llama cigarettes
- you know they're good for you."
Seen that one?
[PAUSE]
Well, perhaps not recently.
This could have been an advert
from the 1960s,
couldn't it?
Those were the days
when nobody was without
a cigarette in the hand
- it was fashionable,
and it did make people feel great.
Now that we have seen too many people,
our fathers and mothers,
husbands and wives
grandfathers and grandmothers
die from lung cancer,
do we know that smoking is
a highly damaging activity.
We may have thought
that it was good for us once,
but not now.
Certainly we wouldn't see
an advert like that these days,
would we?
Or would we?
[PAUSE]
How do we know that
something that is advertised as good
really is good?
After all,
the job of an advert is
to persuade people that
they cannot do without
a certain product.
What would be the point
of adverts which say:
"Glisty Hair Cream
-turns your hair blue and makes it fall out"
or
"look worse with Slick
- the mascara that makes you look as if
yo've gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson"
or
"Woohoo probiotic yoghurt
-Woohoo glues you to the loo"?
If adverts are designed to mislead,
who do we know the truth?
Remember "Go to work on an egg"?
Yet what happened when Edwina Currie
wen to work on eggs?
What once was good for us,
is regarded with suspicion and fear.
What is good for us, isn't.
How do we know what is good?
[PAUSE]
You push your way through the crowd of Jews,
fighting to get to the front to see Jesus.
Your head burns with that question
that you've allways been dying to ask Him.
Finally, you're through the crowd,
you fall at the Lord's feet.
"Good Teacher,"
you gasp, breathlessly,
"Good teacher..."
Jesus fixes you with His penetrating gaze,
seeing easily into your very soul.
"Why do you call me 'good'?"
Well? How are you going to answer that one?
[PAUSE]
Of course, Jesus is good.
Isn't it obvious?
But how do we know this?
How do we know that
He isn't some charlatan,
some hoaxer out to mislead the people?
Because He isn't.
That's what belief is all about.
We believe that Jesus is the Lord,
and the Lord is God and God is good.
As our Lord Jesus Christ says,
"No-one is good but One,
that is, God."
So "goodness" is something that God is.
It's a quality of the God Whom we worship,
and it's a quality that He has built
into His Creation.
On the Sixth Day of Creation,
before He goes for His nap,
God sees all that He has made,
and behold, it is very good.
[PAUSE]
This means that everything
that we see around us
has some goodness in it.
This is usually more obvious
in landscapes that make us go "ah!"
or the great cathedrals that make us go "ooh!",
or in kittens which make us go "aw!"
But equally so,
there is goodness in things
that we don't associate with goodness.
Is there goodness in the sight
of the litter-strewn streets of Swanscombe?
Is there goodness when
a lioness attacks and kills a zebra
to feed her hungry cubs?
Is there goodness
when someone we love
passes from this life?
God sees everything He has made,
and behold,
it is very good.
So why is this hard to believe?
[PAUSE]
"Good Teacher,
what must I do that
I may inherit Eternal Life?"
"Go sell all your possessions,
then take up your cross and follow me."
Do you follow the young man
as he turns away
realising that he cannot give away
all that he has?
[PAUSE]
Let's face it,
we're ju
That advert's on telly again.
A man lies beside a pool
on a sunny day.
One of those fluffy, shiny women
walks up to him with a drink
and sits down on the sun-bed
next to him.
He smiles at her,
she smiles at him,
reaches down and picks up
a packet of cigarettes
which she offers to him.
He takes one,
she takes one,
both light up,
and then the Narrator starts up
- an Alvar Liddell soundalike -
"cool, fresh, relaxing Llama cigarettes
- you know they're good for you."
Seen that one?
[PAUSE]
Well, perhaps not recently.
This could have been an advert
from the 1960s,
couldn't it?
Those were the days
when nobody was without
a cigarette in the hand
- it was fashionable,
and it did make people feel great.
Now that we have seen too many people,
our fathers and mothers,
husbands and wives
grandfathers and grandmothers
die from lung cancer,
do we know that smoking is
a highly damaging activity.
We may have thought
that it was good for us once,
but not now.
Certainly we wouldn't see
an advert like that these days,
would we?
Or would we?
[PAUSE]
How do we know that
something that is advertised as good
really is good?
After all,
the job of an advert is
to persuade people that
they cannot do without
a certain product.
What would be the point
of adverts which say:
"Glisty Hair Cream
-turns your hair blue and makes it fall out"
or
"look worse with Slick
- the mascara that makes you look as if
yo've gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson"
or
"Woohoo probiotic yoghurt
-Woohoo glues you to the loo"?
If adverts are designed to mislead,
who do we know the truth?
Remember "Go to work on an egg"?
Yet what happened when Edwina Currie
wen to work on eggs?
What once was good for us,
is regarded with suspicion and fear.
What is good for us, isn't.
How do we know what is good?
[PAUSE]
You push your way through the crowd of Jews,
fighting to get to the front to see Jesus.
Your head burns with that question
that you've allways been dying to ask Him.
Finally, you're through the crowd,
you fall at the Lord's feet.
"Good Teacher,"
you gasp, breathlessly,
"Good teacher..."
Jesus fixes you with His penetrating gaze,
seeing easily into your very soul.
"Why do you call me 'good'?"
Well? How are you going to answer that one?
[PAUSE]
Of course, Jesus is good.
Isn't it obvious?
But how do we know this?
How do we know that
He isn't some charlatan,
some hoaxer out to mislead the people?
Because He isn't.
That's what belief is all about.
We believe that Jesus is the Lord,
and the Lord is God and God is good.
As our Lord Jesus Christ says,
"No-one is good but One,
that is, God."
So "goodness" is something that God is.
It's a quality of the God Whom we worship,
and it's a quality that He has built
into His Creation.
On the Sixth Day of Creation,
before He goes for His nap,
God sees all that He has made,
and behold, it is very good.
[PAUSE]
This means that everything
that we see around us
has some goodness in it.
This is usually more obvious
in landscapes that make us go "ah!"
or the great cathedrals that make us go "ooh!",
or in kittens which make us go "aw!"
But equally so,
there is goodness in things
that we don't associate with goodness.
Is there goodness in the sight
of the litter-strewn streets of Swanscombe?
Is there goodness when
a lioness attacks and kills a zebra
to feed her hungry cubs?
Is there goodness
when someone we love
passes from this life?
God sees everything He has made,
and behold,
it is very good.
So why is this hard to believe?
[PAUSE]
"Good Teacher,
what must I do that
I may inherit Eternal Life?"
"Go sell all your possessions,
then take up your cross and follow me."
Do you follow the young man
as he turns away
realising that he cannot give away
all that he has?
[PAUSE]
Let's face it,
we're ju