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Sermon for Sunday July 15th – Bible Sunday
2 Ki 22
Col 3:12-17

“Let the word of Christ dwell among you richly”

Well today is Bible Sunday, or at least it is here 🙂 I have to say I was slightly taken aback when I discovered this, so used was I to having Bible Sunday as the Second in Advent and the words of Cranmers collect ringing in my ears in the run up to Christmas “BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.” But disoriented as I am, I still think that it is more than worthwhile taking time to consider the place of the Bible in the church and in our faith as Christians.

And that place is not in the least insignificant – indeed I was glad to discover that St John’s was one of those increasingly rare churches where all the set scriptures were read at services, including the Old Testament, given that the move, even in those churches which call themselves ‘Bible believing’ churches is towards less and less Scripture in services. And when the Vicar reinstituted the Psalm at the morning service he wasn’t met with uproar at ‘yet more Bible’ 🙂 (Of course that could be because everyone here is just extremely nice and hospitable 🙂 ) Yet Christian faith has always been a faith rooted in Scripture. In the Koran, the Christians along with the Jews are set apart as ‘People of the Book’ – except of course that can give a false impression.

For we are very used to holding Books, Having Books. The invention of the Printing Press led to a very rapid change in the way that The Bible was perceived, because for the first time in human history, for the first time in the 3000 year old Judaeo-Christian tradition, it became possible for people to ‘have their own bible’. Although the zeal of the infant church saw a huge explosion in the publication of Books – which is why we have so many thousands of fragments of scripture, indeed whole books of the Bible from very early times – this was as nothing compared with what happened post Gutenburg, a publishing phenomon the like of which the world has never seen and even to this day, the Bible is the most widely published of all books by orders of magnitude, so that the BIble may be put into people’s hands . . .

But therein in a sense lies a supreme irony, for it could well be argued that that move was the one which led so many people to dismiss the Bible and its significance. Poring over it for themselves many began to pronounce judgement upon it – it didn’t DO as a Holy Book. It was full of unpleasant things that they didn’t much like – the God who was portrayed in its pages seemed rather uncultured and at times capricious – or at least to their eyes. And this practise continues to this day. I remember one of my Vicars in my early years pronouncing from the pulpit that at Theological college he and his fellow students had spent much time dismissing ever increasing parts of the Bible – until as he said they had reduced all that was of any worth to a few verses in St Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians – That, they had decided, was authentic Christian faith. And of course it must be said that there are many many more who have a negative view of the bible that is at best second hand. Their opinions are just those thye have absorbed from those around them – like the perpetual old saw about ‘The God of the Old Testament’, being a God you wouldn’t want to meet compared with the God of the New – who was all sweetness and light, revealed to us in Jesus – that fluffy bunny Jesus of my childhood Sunday school who always seemed to be wearing a white dress and surrounded by woodland creatures – or perhaps I’m getting him mixed up with a Disney movie. It was a long time ago :). As an Jewish rabbi once said – exasperated by his liberal Christian friends – the person who talks more about hellfire than anyone else in the Bible is actually Jesus himself. And so of course there have also been those, highly influential in many circles today, who want even to rewrite the Biblical picture of Christ. Separating out the Jesus of the Bible from the sort of Jesus we wanted – a pietistic Jesus. If you were a spiritual person you could avoid all the talk about sending the goats who didn’t feed the hungry to hell, or everlasting damnation as the Greek puts it – and if you were a nice liberal person you could ignore all the stuff about the need for repentance and being born again and taking up your cross . . . in other words you made up a Jesus to suit you. Rather like Narcissus looking into the water, all too often we looked into the BIble and saw our own reflection staring back at us. The Jesus who thinks like I do. The rather simplistic question ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ being rather simply answered – he’d do what my best self would do. In other words we are the centre of it all. We come to the bible with our views – our questions. We judge it according to the former and find it fails us with the latter.

But, as I have suggested, that attitude came about in many regards because the BIble was mass printed and therefore became an object of study for all, ‘you in your small corner and I in mine’ as the old children’s song goes. And Reading it and Alone is precisely not how we should come to the Scriptures. For they were written not primarily to us as individuals but as a people, and not to be read in our heads, but Heard.

For for most of human history the BIble was not read at all. The JEwsih Scriptures were kept on huge scrolls in the synagogue and the early Christian Scriptures followed in suit although they did herald the beginning of what we would call a book. They were the possession of the community – say the Church in Collossae to whom St PAul wrote, and they were copied for wider distribution, but to own books was to show yourself wealthy. As one Father of the church rebuked another – you have taken the bread from the mouths of many poor ‘for he saw he had many books’ – and Hearing is a different thing to reading. FOr a start to hear is something that happens in that dimension of time we call Kairos. It happens – i was sat in church and I heard . . . Much like St Augustine in the story of his conversion heard the word of Scripture being recited by children in a garden. Yes the words they spoke were ‘Take it and Read’, But augustine’s approach did not come anywhere near study at the outset – rather hearing those words he opened a Bible to where it fell open and read the first words presented there ROmans 13:13-14 let us live honourably as in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Well Given that Augustine had been making more than amplpe provision for the flesh – these words woke him up! He heard and obeyed. Indeed that is the sense in which Scripture is given, that we hear and respond. Again St Anthony of Egypt – who heard one day the words ‘Sell your possessions and give to the poor and you wil have treasure in heaven and follow me” – Well St Anthony did just that and unbeknownst to him was a starting point for the preservation of the faith through the Dark Ages, his actions leading in time to the founding of the monastic movement – which amongst other things was responsible for keeping the Bible as a public possession.

All of them revealing that the Word of God was meant to be heard – as Creation responded to the Voice of God – so we too the Creatures were created to respond to God speaking to us through the scriptures – to hear and to obey. The Word is Given that we might respond, and the word Obedience means ‘to have Heard’. Jesus in his teaching makes this very plain – the one who builds his house on the rock is the one who hears these words of mine and acts on them’. Now imagine how different it is if on the one hand we hear the Scripture say but once a week as we gather for worship – that is an Instant, a moment – what do we do? Well me may of course forget, but then we may not, we may respond. What the word does not allow is that we will go away and think ‘Shall I respond to this word or not?’ for that is to be as it were Master of the Word.

So like King Josiah – the young King – he is in the midst of a great Temple rebuilding project when if you like the Bible is found – quite possibly the book of Deuteronomy The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, ‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.’ When Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, he read it. Then Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, ‘Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workers who have oversight of the house of the Lord.’ Shaphan the secretary informed the king, ‘The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.’ Shaphan then read it aloud to the king.
When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and the king’s servant Asaiah, saying, ‘Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our ancestors did not obey the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.’ In the Instant the rebuilding of the Temple grinds to a halt – God has spoken – The Word has gone forth. Josiah realises that he must respond.
It seems to me that in this age when so many have bibles and supposedly read them, the Response that the Word calls for is far more muted than in times past when people were like the young King Josiah cut to the heart by the Word. It is worth asking, when did we last change our ways because of what we read in the Scriptures or heard in church?
But that last point – in church brings me to the second way in which ‘having our own BIbles’ distorts how the word is received. The printing press in putting the bibles into everyones hands also led in no small part to the individualism of our age, where every person became there own authority. It is no small surprise that Protestantism is so phenomenally fractured as each person comes up with their own interpretation and so creates their own Church – ultimately the church of the alone, the church of the one.
When St Paul counsels the Colossians ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly’ he is asking us to ponder the word – chew it  – inwardly digest it as the collect has it – but together. Perhaps the Greatest and most significant loss in translating the bIble into English, and this is a modern problem for older forms of English did not suffer this lack, is that in the Scriptures, the word You, is almost always Plural, throughout the Scriptures. That we are addressed Primarily as the People of God through the Scriptures – so it is much better to render ‘Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly’ as ‘Let it dwell among you richly’ as is clear from the whole context – teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. The Word is given to the Church – The Word of God Written Gathers and indeed constitutes the Church – we are a people shaped and formed by this Amazing narrative. It shapes our liturgy and it is given to shape our common life together as do these words of St Paul  As God’s chosen ones, As his people holy and beloved, Declared Holy by his Word – not by our actions – it is all gift clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. There is no harmony singing alone – All of it about our Common life – what is the command to Love if it is not to do with our Common life – but how frequently in our self centered age it has all become about loving ourselves And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. HEaring the Word of God together – we become the Peaceful community. The Peace of Christ is not some existential feeling – rather it is the product of his word going forth into the hearts and minds of his people, who are called to the mutual forebearance, foregiveness and Love that creates the Peace of Christ.
We are to Hear the words of the Bible and that together. Perhaps there is no more significant way in which we can grow and develop in our common life as the people of God  than by together hearing the Word and responding to it, as His people have done all through the ages

Amen

Sermon for Sunday July 8th, 4th After Trinity

Sermon (LINK TO AUDIO)

2 Samuel 5:1-10
Psalm 48
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13

‘Truly I tell you, unless you are converted and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Whoever becomes humble like a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’

Just this last week I attended a symposium on Mental Health and theology at the University where amongst others, our own Jo and Jubilee were presenting papers. One of the wonderful things about it was spending time with folk who whilst not parading their struggles with depression and the like, did not hide them either. This admission of weakness quickly opened the door in conversation, and with complete strangers we were rapidly talking about deep issues of life and faith, rather than the usual topics with strangers – ‘the weather, where are you from and, what do you think of the new rugby stadium :)’ There was a tremendous and unusual openness – not sharing our difficulties in a sort of shared therapy session, but actually a deeper sharing of life made possible by the acknowledgement of weakness.

One of the gifts of the day was to listen to Mike Noonan – Mike is a member of the L’Arche movement, established by the Catholic Priest Jean Vanier. L’Arche communities are communities of the mentally and physically able, and the mentally and physically impaired. Of course those who are ‘able’ for want of a better word, serve the needs of those who are not – but the Essence of L’Arche is that this is a true community, where all are understood to be gift to the other – all have contributions to make and indeed that it is often those who on the surface look most to have their lives together who have most to learn from those whose disabilities may mean that they can do nothing for themselves. That those who are utterly dependent actually profoundly serve those who are utterly competent. To follow on a little from last weeks theme, those who seem to have it all, have nothing and those who seem to have nothing, have it all.

Well Mike didn’t give a paper – rather he told stories and one stuck particularly in my mind, a tale about the gift of weakness and how that invited others into a new understanding of life. A group of folk from L’Arche were going to Israel on pilgrimage. Whilst they had been airborne there had been a major security alert and so when the plane put down on the tarmac of Tel Aviv Airport, the passengers were ‘Welcomed’ by the sight of massed ranks of the Israeli army, wielding rifles, pointed towards them. One of their number, Graham, was severely learning impaired. As he walked off the steps from the plane, Graham, to the consternation of the community rushed towards all these guns trained on him – pushed them aside and began vigorously shaking the hands of the soldiers. For Graham looked at the world through the eyes of a child – he didn’t see that he was faced with hostility and fear – all he saw was a group of people who had obviously come to welcome him to Israel and he was happily expressing his joy at their welcome.

I wonder what the Israeli soldiers would have made of it, how they would have felt. Whether any were changed by the encounter with the childlike Graham and perhaps put down their rifles and their fear for good. Of course they like us are very well trained in fear and defense, unlike the one who is like a child. Indeed we are very fearful of such vulnerability. Childlike vulnerability scares us.  I remember not long after I’d had a period of being ill, meeting a very fearful individual, someone who was well known for using her strength and ability, to mask her own fears. She said of my time of disability ‘Ah Well – I guess that which doesn’t break you, makes you stronger’ – I bit my tongue, but actually what I wanted to say in response was – ‘Actually I’m beginning to understand that it is that which makes us stronger, that kills us in the end’

That human pathology, that is afraid of weakness, is what makes Jesus’ saying about becoming like a little child so terrifying to us. And Yet, Life being born again – another way of becoming like a Child. Graham, who was in many people’s terms a child in the body of a an adult, could see the Kingdom in a way most of us couldn’t being faced with a gun. He had no sense of shame or embarrassment – He was Perfectly himself – others may have been embarrassed by his action, but not him  – and in that moment, faced with unembarrassed humility, those who watched on and the Israeli soldiers were challenged to lay down their defenses – challenged out of weakness. And i many ways that is the ky challenge of the gospel to us who are Strong, Rich, Healthy – that it is in our weakness that the power of God is revealed. Graham in his action revealed a way of being in the world that unmasked its reality and challenged all those who looked on. Yet we are afraid of such vulnerability, of nakedness, of weakness – and our response is often one of embarrassment.

Which often extends to  the way we express our faith – I have spoken of our pathological need to mimic the world in terms of whom we appoint to positions of leadership, how it makes us feel safe to have those who are proven track leaders in the wider world, who have a line of glittering academic achievements behind them. One of the great challenges of the appointment of Bishop Justin to some is that his way of being in the world does not fit with what we have been led to expect – and indeed there are a good number who are privately fearful of the possibility that he will lead his flock into similar situations of vulnerability that he himself has walked this past 20 years.

All too often our embarrassment proves too much for us and we cover up – take for example in our reading from 2nd Samuel this morning. You will not be aware but the lectionary had taken a pair of scissors to the text of the story of David taking Jerusalem from the Jebusites – the text that someone was too embarrassed to allow us to hear was this  “The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, even the blind and the lame will turn you back” —thinking, “David cannot come in here.” 7Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, which is now the city of David. 8David had said on that day, “Whoever would strike down the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, those whom David hates.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” As has been pointed out by many detractors from the faith there are many stories and words in the scripture which you wouldn’t want your elderly spinster aunt to hear, lest she be overcome by a fit of the vapours. The Bible, our ‘Sacred text’, the Word of God – is full of Murder, Rape, theft and politically unacceptable attacks on the lame and the blind (actually I typed blond here – and I’m sure you’d find something against blond people too if you were looking for it 🙂 ). For some reason or other these verses have been taken out of the text you heard. Now I think that this is just Wrong. For it assumes a) most Christians are biblically illiterate and won’t notice – b) that we have a right to change the story to fit our own petty morals and c) that our faith is actually NOT about the real world at all, that our faith is to do with a world where such things do not happen. We want a Nice and a Respectable faith – not one associated with embarrassing texts

One name particularly associated with this whole movement towards intellectual unembarrassment was the German theologian Frederick Shleiermacher. He grew up in an atmosphere of religious skepticism, and desired to express a faith in terms that were acceptable to what he called the ‘cultured despisers’. We may ourselves think this reasonable, but we ought to take more careful note of what was going on – for actually Schleiermacher’s project was in essence to create a faith which He himself could accept, having as a young man rejected orthodox Christian beliefs. His ‘cultured despisers’ were in fact a projection of his own inner rejection of faith.

In regard to all this fleeing from weakness and embarrassment, the Apostle Paul is a stinging rebuke. His entire agenda with the church in Corinth seems to be heading towards the passage we read from earlier, where he says “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” Paul’s consistent theme throughout the letters to Corinth is that humanly speaking he could boast in many many things – as many have noted for example, his letters often display a man of Exceptional intellect – here in our passage he alludes to the fact that he could allude to Spiritual experiences I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. 3And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— 4was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. Generally it is accepted that Paul is probably talking about himself, but he puts this into the third person – I am not going to boast about that – what will I boast about? So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, I will boast of that which the world in all its sophistication, and remember that cultured despisers of the gospel have Always been around – ‘I will boast of my weakness – so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.’ Unless you become like a little child . . .

Paul rejoices in the vulnerability of faith in Christ Crucified and refuses to know anything else except this disturbing image of a dead naked Jew, nailed to a Roman Cross as being the entire meaning of human Life and existence – so that Nothing gets in the way of his proclamation of Christ – as he says right at the beginning of his first letter to Corinth, trying to cajole them into fuller faith  Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: Remember who you were – not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are,  In the way Graham reduced to nothing the fear and histility of those Israeli soldiers. Remember your weakness – not many powerful, not many wise, not many of noble birth – by and large nothing, like the child, but CHOSEN. Why is Christian faith So counter cultural? Because we do not choose it – we are chosen – as we are, in foolishness and weakness, to reveal the life of Christ – for our faith is not about us – it is about Christ – he is the heart of our faith, and his life is its outworking – it is not about us – and Paul challenges us ‘Is Christ enough?’ – Or must we dress our faith up – seek to make it intellectually respectable – cover up the unmentionable parts, and in so doing obscure Christ, who comes to us in unmentionable childlike vulnerability.

But Simple faith and trust in him is actually not the easiest thing – it is not the refuge of the lazy or the thoughtless as some might make out – it requires us to be like children and That , for those of us who have spent years building our careful defences against vulnerability and weakness, is the hardest thing of all – because it leaves us as exposed as he was.

I don’t know if you noticed, but the gospel contains some very scary words – Jesus has returned to Nazareth and there he is confronted by the village community who look at him and say “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” Just like Paul and the Corinthians, they had heard his reputation, but in the flesh?? This is just Mary and Joseph’s lad – who does he think he is – he has got above himself!! The people of Nazareth more than anyone knew the Human reality of Christ – perhaps apart from on the cross, he was never more vulnerable than before them – and then those Very Scary words “He could do no deed of Power because of their unbelief” Jesus, helpless. Jesus himself – the little child – Jesus, vulnerable – Jesus Himself – naked and unembarrassed – nothing in the eyes of those who knew him.

This is essence of lived faith and the meaning of the way of the Cross – that it is all about God, that no-one may boast – that Faith is Not a magic bullet – and that that is made clear as Jesus is with his own – He could do no deed of power. The way of weakness is not a formula for a successful life, but it is how the life of Christ is revealed amongst us. The Life of Christ For it is not about us – not about our lives – not about our achievements, not about our wisdom or strength – it is about Christ – and the power of Christ cannot rest in or on us – unless we let go of our own

Our faith really Is ‘All about God’ – we have no business trying to put anything in the way of his power, but in the face of human unbelief we understand the double side of what it means to be a child. We are invited to be like Graham – to a disarming vulnerability  and openness, but with no guarantee the world will lay down its weapons. Graham’s story could have worked out Very differently. ‘If anyone would be my disciple, let him take up his cross and follow me’

It is pretty much universally acknowledged, that it was Christendom which first created and then cemented into place a two tier expression of Christian life. There were those Christians who had ‘a vocation’ and those who didn’t.

This separation appears to have had its roots in the flight, out of the world and into the desert following the Constantinian settlement. Alert souls became aware that as Christian faith was normalised, all of life seemed to be ‘baptised’ and that this had a profoundly negative impact upon faithful Christian living. They thus had to leave the city, a world where to be Christian was synonymous with being a good citizen, and go out into the desert. Over the years, this separation became institutionalised in the Monasteries, which led in part to our contemporary understandings of ‘Clergy’ and ‘Laity’. Those who are called ‘into the church’ and those who are not. Such a view of Vocation also changed our understanding of Baptism.

Having baptised the world, Our Baptism became of little significance. It was reduced to ‘a public demonstration of faith’, or a family ritual. The end product was the same. Baptism no longer required a renunciation of the world – there was no need to leave anything behind. Thus 1700 years later, many contemporary candidates for Baptism, if they dream of going on to university and business career, with wonderful holidays and a rich family life thrown in for good measure, never imagine that Baptism might in any sense affect the story they hope to write for their life. And often, an emaciated theology does nothing to disrupt their fond imaginings, or indeed wake them from their slumbers once the Sacrament has been applied. We may well be in a post Christendom world, but our theology of Baptism is still mired in the Christendom way of thinking. Cheap Grace, Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it

Like couples who live together before getting married, the Before and the After of baptism, like the Before and the After of ‘The Big Day’, was and remains, demonstrably the same in most cases. In this respect we are completely blind-sided by arguments over ‘believer’s baptism’ vs ‘infant baptism’. There is little in the praxis or teaching of the church of whatever denomination, to suggest that Baptism requires to change the way we live out most of our lives, apart from a few moral injunctions. Having tacitly agreed this, we carefully arrange our theology to suit.

[Perhaps another time I may write a little more about how Theology is taken captive by our desire to ignore the command to follow Christ]

As a result of this we have those in the church who give up careers etc to ‘go into the church’, and those who don’t. That in itself is bad enough, but we then further compound the error by a way of thinking about the church that re-inforces the sense that this is the way it is to be. The role of the minister is to look after the flock by tending to various trials and traumas and teaching timeless spiritual truths to edify the soul, not to call everyone else similarly to leave the lives they have so carefully arranged for themselves and likewise follow Christ. In this, those of us who are ordained often conspire with the rest of the church in not rocking the Christendom boat . . . I mean “we can’t all leave our nets behind, can we!”

Yet Hearing the gospels, try as we might, we cannot avoid the radical nature of the call of Christ. To leave nets, to leave everything to follow Him – trusting that our Father in heaven will in truth provide all we need – “homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields, and with them, persecutions” (In other words physically and socially, not ‘spiritually’) . We cannot fail to note the radical discontinuity between the life of the disciple of Jesus of Galilee and its contemporary expression. We have developed a ‘spiritual’ gospel which requires nothing of us at all – which takes the ‘following Christ’ out of the ‘believing in Christ’. And where the church is wealthy this can  still be readily played out as if it was the honest truth and blessed by God, but where it is not, or where the money is fast running out, it is revealed for what it is, a Lie. And we all know where Lies come from.

BUT . . . WE CAN’T ALL LEAVE OUR NETS BEHIND! . . . can we . . . ? ? ?

Can we?

Seek first God’s kingdom, and all these things will be given you

Of course, Christendom is dead – even if many churches still only acknowledge this purely in theory and not yet in practise. Yet where the Christendom church has all but ‘croaked’ there are, here and there, signs springing up that the Life that is to be found in following Christ and trusting our Father to provide for our material needs. Interestingly and indeed encouragingly here in the Anglican Church in New Zealand, it is Bishops, the Apostles amongst us, called to embody the life and the mission of the church, who are making the headlines

First there were of course the Earthquakes in Christchurch, which apart from the desperate tragedy of so many deaths and the way in which lives have been scarred emotionally and permanently, has brought down the Cathedral of that city. Although demolition orders are now passed, still there are those who want this solid sign of God’s presence to be rebuilt. After all the city is Christ Church . . . but the church under the leadership of its Bishop, Victoria Matthews sees that God in the midst of this upheaval is about something new. As the old order is passing away . . .

Secondly in my own diocese, the effect of the Christchurch earthquake has been felt in terms of the financial cost of significant rises in insurance for church buildings, which may well be the final blow for some congregations, and on top of that the requirement for earthquake strengthening which may prove too much to bear for others . . . and we are few . . . Yet again in these events our Bishop, Kelvin Wright hears God speaking to his people, calling them to a deeper commitment to Christ as many of the last vestiges of Christendom are being swept away, all but overnight

The third Bishop, is only just this moment in post – the newest bishop in the world 🙂 – the new bishop of Wellington Diocese, The Right Reverend Justin Duckworth. Justin is not your typical episcopal candidate, and for those of you who are curious, I’ll leave you to use the mighty power of Google to find out more :). However one way in which Justin is untypical not only of many Bishops, but indeed of most Christians is the way in which he and his wife Jenny have for the last 20 years lived in a radical dependence upon God our father to provide. At the heart of their story which you can read about in their book, was a determination to follow the call of Christ. This led them to live and work amongst the urban poor and indeed more. They set aside their dreams, they set aside the typical life which anyone of their background would expect to be held by and largely be able to live out, of stable careers and trips overseas and more and trusted in Christ to lead them where he would and His Father to provide.

What they found was that their needs were taken care of. Not through lots of fat cheques falling through their letter box from those ‘working in the real world to support those called to mission’, (although I am sure there were a few of these), but by putting their work with young people and those in difficult circumstances first. Only then did they work out how best they could earn a penny or two around the fringes of this work. They put Christ at the heart of their lives and the work they needed to do to provide their basic needs was relegated to their spare time. In other words they turned inside out the way Christendom has taught us to live, which is first to look after your own needs, and then to do what you can to further the kingdom in your spare time. [Of course we have further diluted the call of Christ by a convenient theology which allows that Everything we do is part of God’s work in the world, but as I said, we like to shape theology to our lives rather than have to conform our lives to a new reality] They left their nets and found that as they concentrated on what Christ had called them to, God provided opportunities for work that fitted around their calling.

This seems to me to be a Very Clear Example of what Christ meant when he called us to ‘Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you’. Such lives are rare, yet as I read the gospels I cannot help but think that they are The Normal Christian Life. It is only Christendom that has taught us otherwise – and by and large we have preferred the theology of Christendom to that of the Kingdom.

I hope you’ll join with me in praying for Justin today, and also Kelvin and Victoria, but also for ourselves, for Grace to follow Christ, putting down our nets, laying aside our own stories (many of which are amusingly and sympathetically parodied here 🙂 ), for the adventurous life of faith in Christ, to the greater glory of God our Father who will supply all our needs according to His riches in Glory.

(And there is more to that quote than meets the eye . . .)

Sermon for Sunday July 1st
5th after Pentecost
2 Sam 1:1,17-27
2 Cor 8:7-15
Mark 5:21-43

Gospel astonishment

“But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared”

The Story is told of a man who was taken to visit Heaven and Hell. Being taken into Hell he was astonished to discover it full of tables, groaning with the most sumptuous of food, and yet everyone looked emaciated and miserable beyond description. Turning to his guide he expressed his astonishment. Why are they so sad when there is So much wonderful food to be had? “Ah” – his guide smiled sadly – “it is because in order to eat the food they must use these” -and he pointed to a table covered in chopsticks 10 feet long”

Of course this could be a metaphor for the Hell of the modern world where the poor have the life of the rich constantly thrust in their faces through the media, and yet it is utterly out of reach . . . but that is not the point of the story  – for that I will leave You Also, Tantalised – and waiting for the second part 🙂

Our theme this morning is ‘Gospel Astonishment’ and you may be thinking that our focus must be these two miraculous healings, from the Gospel. I mean, a woman healed of chronic bleeding and a little girl raised from the dead – how astonishing is that? Surely such happenings must have meant that they all believed in Jesus – except of course they didn’t. As Jesus puts it at the end of the story of the Rich man and Lazarus “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” The point of all of Jesus’ miracles is not that they are miraculous, but that they point to the Rule of God – the Kingdom of God, which Jesus embodies “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” The question we should be asking about the miracles is what do they teach us about the Rule of God. Astonishment is not a proper response to the miracles themselves. Jesus is not a magician, rather he is the one who reveals the Kingdom of God. This is why he is Crucified, for the Kingdom of God is a Scandal to us – we cannot bear it

Well like the story about heaven and hell, I’ll come back to the gospel as well, but in our search for Gospel astonishment I want to turn to the epistle and Paul’s words to the church in Corinth. The situation of the letter is that there is tremendous need in the Jerusalem church, such that Paul in his first letter has asked the Corinthians this – “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come.” These folk have no savings – their lives are pretty hand to mouth – but he is asking All of them to put aside Everything above their basic needs for the sake of their brethren in Jerusalem. But it is clear that they are not at all keen on the idea, because this is now Paul’s Second letter and Paul is having to use the example of the Macedonian church effectively to shame them into action “We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints— and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us”

The church in Macedonia gave beyond what they could reasonably manage  -they were suffering “a severe ordeal of affliction” – yet they gave “even beyond their means” And that this was a manifestation of “The Grace of God that had been granted to them” By Grace these Poor Macedonians had been allowed to share in the Life of God – the Kingdom of God has been made plain among them – Poor people giving up the scraps they have and more, going without for the sake of others – Paul sees this as the Grace of God. And it is Astonishing, no? What would make poor folk give up even some of the essentials of life for the sake of others – they begged Paul for the privilege – you can imagine him saying – no you have given enough, you have so little – but they Give themselves to first God and then to their brethren. They are embodying the Life of God. Here is the Gospel – the Life of God in abundance flowing out into the world. This is beyond belief in a way that the miracles of Jesus are not, for they reveal radically converted human hearts, hearts which now are consumed by the Life and the Love of God – that have become vessels for God. They have given themselves to God. Salvation has come to their house

Gospel astonishment – yet not all would concur. For many the gospel has become distorted into, as the writer Dallas Willard puts it – ‘a gospel of Sin management’. Sin management works like this. “We are sinners, Christ died for our sins, if we believe in him we are included in his saving work on the Cross. We will not face the penalty of sin – heaven – and undeservingly will receive the life of Heaven.” And for some, indeed for many that is the gospel – that is their idea of Grace.  But that personal gospel has for many many years cause more than a few to ask the question, is that really it? Is all God interested is interested in doing is taking sinners to heaven?? Is there really no ethical dimension to the Christian life. To hear some speak of Grace and the Gospel one might think not. The Gospel it seems places no demand upon us – Free Grace, or as Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it, Cheap Grace – Salvation without any demand for a new life. Repentance  – a verb full of meaning about changing direction – evacuated of all meaning except changing your views, your beliefs. A Christianity which has nothing at all to do with how we live. Baptisms which do not result in any change of course, Baptisms which don’t require anyone to let go of my own story of what my life will be about. Baptisms which are like those weddings where couples have lived together for years before getting married, and they wake up on their wedding morning to that sense that nothing has changed, except perhaps they have a few more pots and pans in the kitchen. Baptisms which require no renunciation of the world and no costly following of Christ in the Life of the Kingdom. There is just ‘getting saved’ to use the jargon, and pie in the sky when I die.

This view of the gospel falls into the trap of ignoring the whole story of Scripture – which is the Story of Salvation. The early Christians understood that the Old Testament foreshadowing of the work of the Cross was the Exodus – God saving the children of Israel. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the Sin of the world – the Passover Lamb, whose blood was shed to cover the Israelites as the angel of death took all the first born of the Egyptians, and then God Saved his people taking them through the Red Sea – as the early church understood it – the waters of Baptism, into the promised land?? Well no – not straightaway – first they had to re-order their lives, to learn obedience to this strange God who had rescued them. Yes they had been Saved, but they had to learn what it meant – to be Saved to live a New Life. Crossing the Red Sea, their old life of Slavery was put behind them and they were now free to learn and live a New Life which was to reveal the Life of the God who had saved them, to become Light as He is Light. In Egypt, enslaved as they were they could not be a light to the Nations, But God saved them from slavery that they were then set free to live the Saved Life.

For too many, faith is Salvation without the saved life – faith emptied of all ethical requirement or content.

Yet what is the command of Christ, “to love one another as I have loved you”, if it is not a call to a way of life which is imitative of his life? How is it that St John can say “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?”, if we are not to give to all who are in need? The Macedonian Christians See their brother and sister in need and they reveal that they truly are saved for the Life of God – the Salvation Life is revealed in them. In their Life they look like God their Father who pours himself out on the world in costly love – “who for our sake became poor that we might become Rich” – that we might become Children of the Living God – imitating our heavenly Father in his life giving generosity. That is astonishing.

But that gospel astonishment has another edge, one that we should all hear. For many saw the miracles of Christ and yet there hearts were hard, they did not repent – their lives at root did not change. And Jesus declares to them ‘When I was hungry you did not feed me, when I was thirsty you did not give me something to drink . . . etc’ and they saw ‘when did we we see you hungry and thirsty etc etc.’ The miracles of Jesus are about opening blind eyes, eyes blind to the need around them. To be Saved is to be set free from sin, set free to Love because our hearts no longer blind us to those around us in need “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister* in need and yet refuses help?” Plainly St John puts it – they are not children of God – they are not saved. And so the Kingdom is a matter of Dramatic reversals – those who think they are saved discover they are not, and those without hope in this world discover they are sons and daughters of God.  Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God – But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your reward.

And that reversal is played out in our Gospel – a tale of two daughters. One is the daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue – the daughter of wealth and privilege. The other, well we don’t know who she is, she is to be found in the nameless mass. For twelve years she has been as good as dead – her flow of blood making her unclean and cutting her off and now all the physicians have taken every last penny from her. She is destitute. She has nothing – except faith in Jesus. Unlike Jairus she has not the status to ask anything of Jesus. She cannot ask him – all she can do is risk touching this male rabbi. And the one who is rich becomes poor – “power went forth from him”. This is the only time this happens in the gospels – someone is healed without Jesus being asked. Life flows from the one who has everything to the one who has nothing – he becomes poor for her sake. This is the natural order of things, as water flows down hill so Life flows from those that have it to those that do not. The one who was excluded and as good as dead is now restored “Daughter” Jesus says ‘you are not a nobody, you are a daughter of God’ – but as in so many ways we as humans have the power to interrupt the flow, indeed to reverse it.

The announcement of the Kingdom is the Year of Jubilee – the year of restoration – where people are set free from their sinful need to acquire and to hold back life for others for themselves – set free in order to be restored to their full humanity as children of the Living God, who pours himself out, that there may be no poor amongst his children.

This reversal does not sound good news for the rich, but only because being rich amongst the poor is not in itself good news. Is there a gospel for the rich? Well the answer is yes, but it is miraculous. The poor church in Macedonia is overflowing in generosity, the wealthier church in Corinth has to be shamed and cajoled – we do not know how that story ends. As for the child of wealth and privilege, she dies. The woman had had no life for twelve years – the girl had had twelve years of good life. At the point the girl dies it seems it is a closed system – her twelve years of life being given to the woman who had nothing. All there is is the great reversal and no good news for the rich, BUT, Astonishingly, the system is not closed –  and in that there is hope even for the rich. It is not a closed system – God is the source of all life – he is more than ready to pour out the abundance of his life where there is faith – where there is trust in him. Where there is trust in him, Faith then we move from a story about scarcity where life must be fought over and hoarded, to one where Life is always available. The woman with the flow believed – Jesus now exhorts Jairus – become like that woman, Jesus said to him “Do not fear, only believe.” Enter into an imagination of the Generosity of God. And the girl is raised to life. There is hope for the rich, astonishingly, but only because of the nature of God. It is purely by Grace and through faith that this comes about. The fruit of faith is that Life can flow, “that there may be a fair balance” – both the woman and the girl now have life. Both have been saved.

The Corinthians are called to reveal the Saved life – to show their faith by their works – to reveal that they are not blind to their brethren and that they trust in God to supply all their needs – Paul asks them to show that they are truly Saved, that they are not blind – that there might be restoration, that Life may flow  – he says “I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written, “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.” That is what the Kingdom is like . . . Because, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister* in need and yet refuses help?” As on Earth, as in heaven

Our visitor to Hell, having been traumatised by the sight of all those people starving in front of so much excess and their 10 foot long chopsticks, is then transported to heaven. And he is amazed because it looks exactly the same – a great table, laden with the choicest food, but all the people look so full and content and joyous. ‘I suppose the chopsticks here are a lot shorter’ he grins as he looks to his guide. ‘Oh no, that would not be fair – the chopsticks are ten feet long here too’, he says pointing to where they are kept. The man looks puzzled. But they are so full and happy? ‘Of course they are – they know the joy of feeding one another’

May we know that joy too – may we know the joy of living the Saved life – the Astonishing Gospel life – and seeing it may the world see the truth about the God whom we worship

Behold the Lamb AUDIO OF SERMON – SUNDAY JUNE 24TH

Sermon text  Text – somewhat different 🙂

Sermon for St John the Evangelist

SESSION 1 – BACKGROUND 1

SESSION 2 – BACKGROUND 2

SESSION 3 – BACKGROUND 3

SESSION 4 – THE GOOD SHEPHERD

SESSION 5 – THE NEW CREATION

SESSION 6 – SEEING AND BELIEVING

“he who loves his brother tolerates everything for the sake of unity,

because brotherly love exists in the unity of charity.”

Augustine of Hippo – First Homily on 1 John

It is a readily observable fact that the children of divorce are themselves more likely to divorce, and I should imagine, given a few more years evidence, that the further down the line we go, those who are the offspring of a line which has seen frequent divorce will be even more prone to take this path.

Thus it is also with Schism in the church. In 1967 the Anglican John Stott, used his position as chair of the Evangelical Alliance conference in Keele, England to argue against a proposal of the Presbyterian, Martyn Lloyd Jones – that Evangelicals should separate themselves from theologically compromised churches. Stott, being of the offspring with only two ‘divorces’ in its history – (Agreed,  some of her ‘husbands’ walked out 🙂 ) – was keener to call for remaining integrated, than the great preacher Lloyd Jones who belonged to a root with considerably more separation in its DNA.

Yesterday at Morning Prayer we remembered the Puritan, Richard Baxter of Kidderminster, author of The Reformed Pastor. Now to some it may come as a surprise to hear that Baxter was himself an Anglican. There will be some who are surprised because they have forgotten that the Anglican church is both Catholic AND Reformed – but for most the label ‘Puritan’ would suggest that Baxter was amongst those who left for New England. However Baxter was only 5 when the Mayflower sailed and his writings show him to be far from a separatist. Rather he argued strongly that Presbyterians and Congregationalists should stay within the Church of England following the 1662 Act of Uniformity which made life exceedingly difficult theologically, not only for them but for Baxter himself.

And, theological difficulties proved of far greater consequence for dissenters than ever they do in the Western church nowadays. Late on in life Baxter found himself persecuted greatly, banned from preaching and at the age of 70 imprisoned on a charge of libeling the church in his writings. Yet he never declared ‘a plague on your house!’ and departed.

Now it must first be admitted that Baxter was not absolutely against Schism. As he writes to persuade Congregationalists and Presbyterians to remain within the fold of the Church, he does make reference to circumstances under which perhaps one might consider such a move, but of course Baxter is living in the early Post Reformation era, one in which the unthinkable has become thinkable. On the whole his writings are marked by a far firmer call to put the unity of the church first than one would find in many writings of our era, and therein there is a faint echo of the remembrance that for the first thousand years of the churches history Schism was unthinkable, indeed Augustine refers to it as The unforgiveable sin.

Baxter was not at all alone in the history of the church in remaining within the flock of Christ whilst undergoing fierce persecution. One need only think of the decades of persecution suffered by the Eastern Christians over icons, or the example of Athanasius of Alexandria. Athanasius lived in the 3rd Century at a time when 90% of the church were Arians, that is they were out and out heretics. He suffered greatly for upholding the Trinitarian faith and was exiled on several occasions – but many many years later we give thanks for him, and the creed that bears his name is a jewel of theology, still on occasion to be recited upon Trinity Sunday. In the light of these great Saints it seems perverse in the extreme that nowadays people think we preserve the faith through Schism, when in the past the faith was contended and cemented into the core of our being precisely by staying put.

Augustine’s writing is of particular note in this regard – for it is produced in the light of the Donatist heresy ( a reminder that the judgement of History is that schismatics are recorded as heretics . . . ). The Donatists were so eager to preserve the holiness of the church that they separated themselves because some Christians under persecution had made public renouncement of their faith under persecution, and had been restored to the body of faith. They could not countenance being part of a church where such a thing occurred. And thus cutting themselves off from the Vine, they withered and are no more. The part of England where I grew up and indeed ministered in the church was littered with tiny, closed chapels of one sect or another. All of them products of the Donatist Spirit. Agreed the Spirit of Donatism is alive and well, but those who drink at its well, would be advised to consider the consequences of such separation on purely historic grounds, even before we consider the matter on theological grounds.

So if Schism is so very wrong – from whence does it come? Well as always the root is inadequate Christology, a failure to apprehend the Gospel, which is the source of all Light and Truth, a failure to behold Christ. This in turn leads to inadequate secondary theologies, in this case ecclesiology. Ironically, those who seek to preserve the truth by separating from the Church reveal that they do not know the Truth – they have not heard the command of the Good Shepherd to love one another ‘as I have loved you’. Or as Augustine would have it, they cannot bear this word.

[Interestingly, Augustine uses as another example of inability to bear the Word of Christ the incident where some of his disciples turn away because they cannot bear his word about eating his flesh. Is it entirely co-incidental that the Spirit of the Donatists is primarily alive and well amongst Protestant churches (or the Protestant elements within the Anglican Church) – is it not in truth a failure to discern the body?]

Those who seek separation may well argue that Truth is at stake and that this must be balanced by Love, but the Love we are commanded to is a Love which is revealed to us in Christ, ‘as I have loved you’. The Only one who is Pure, the Only one who is Truthful in and of himself does not withdraw from us – Never. We withdraw from him. This is revealed throughout Scripture as being the character of God, taken on flesh in these last days in the Person of his Son. The God who patiently Loves disobedient, faithless, untrustworthy Israel. The God who is Always calling his people back to himself. The God who even takes the one who blatantly denies him three times and restores him. The Donatists revealed they were not of Christ, for they could not bear the command of Christ made flesh in the restoration of Peter.

Above all, a God of Patience, for Love never fails. Athanasius and countless others knew that the Gospel required Love, year after year after year, through marginalisation, ridicule, scorn, even to the point of death for our enemies, let alone for those who are of the household of faith. Athanaisius had such a burning vision of God, put into words in his creed, that he lived it and thus it was preserved.

Thus the Church is called to costly unity. It has Never been utterly united. Two thousand years have seen the church always at a degree of disagreement from Corinth to the modern Western Church. Indeed there are nothing but ‘theologically compromised churches’.

There is No rest to be had ahead of Christ’s return, purely the costly command to love one another as He loved us and thus to be known as his. To love as He loves is to refuse the path of separation, for he bound us to himself in Love. And thus the Truth was made manifest.

An Audio file of today’s sermon ‘The Kingdom of God’

And here is the Written text (somewhat different 🙂 )