Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts

Thursday, 4 October 2007

Another sermon! Trinity 17

Year C Proper 21 (2007) RCL Principal

Nervous Church..

In reports in the news media, from comments I hear at Church meetings and around the place I get the feeling that we are a very nervous Church at the moment. We are told our congregations are dwindling, there are competing ‘entertainments’ which distract people from involving themselves in Church life, people are interested in ‘spirituality’ (whatever that means) but not in ‘institutional religion’ – except, it seems, for various forms of fundamentalism which offers a safe haven in a rapidly changing world. Within the Church ongoing rows bubble away over the ordination of women, now concerned with consecrating women as Bishops, and over the ordination of openly gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex marriages, and to top it all every now and then up pops a conspiracy theory aimed at taking away the little authority the Church has – whether the Gospel of Judas, the daVinci code or any other fashionable excuse for dismissing the Church.

And some of this is true. There are a lot of things which are stripping away the authority and influence the Church has built up over many centuries. People are less afraid to criticise the Church, and we find ourselves ridiculed or, more often than not, ignored in our present day society. Many people lament the fact that we no longer have the respect we once had, or that people no longer consider Churchgoing a duty as they once did. As if somehow we deserve to have our Churches full, and for people to listen and take note of our every pronouncement.

These days it seems the Church is only noticed when there is some negative news, like a child abuse scandal, or some form of sexual or financial misconduct, or sadly, as we have seen recently in the news, when a Vicar falls out with his or her congregation in a spectacular way and they feel the need to bring this up before a Consistory Court.

But, and this may come as a surprise, we do not have any right to expect respect, or to be heard, just by virtue of being ‘the Church’. And we shouldn’t expect to either. Jesus certainly didn’t expect this would be the case.
Luke 6
22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. 23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
or
John 16
1 ‘I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. 2They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. 3And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me.

Jesus knew that following him and proclaiming his message was more likely to lead to condemnation than adulation. And that our message was not an easy one to hear – even though our message is weighted towards love and grace and forgiveness, it is still a message of calling, of faithfulness, of living to a different standard, of faith, of trust, of hope. These aren’t actually things that people seem terribly keen on if it cuts into their lives of self sufficiency, self obsession and self absorbtion. If it prevents them enjoying the things they want to enjoy on their own terms.

But this isn’t new. Look at today’s parable. We have the familiar, though disturbing, parable known traditionally as the parable of Dives and Lazarus. One in which a rich man through his selfishness finds himself condemned to eternal punishment and a poor man through his suffering finds the reward of the next world.

Now I would caution about taking this parable too literally as a description of how God sorts out the afterlife – it seems to rule out the possibility of forgiveness and grace, and has no mention of faith or trust in Christ. Like many of Jesus’ parables it paints a vivid picture of the consequences of our actions, and challenges us to live to God’s standards, though we may not necessarily believe in a literal hell where people are punished for eternity for their deeds we are warned how seriously God takes us neglecting our neighbour and not working to end the kind of injustice that causes the suffering endured by Lazarus.

But i want to particularly highlight the last words of today’s parable.
Luke 16
30He (Dives – the Rich man) said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” 31He (Abraham) said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” ’

Not being listened to is not a very new thing for Christians. It does no good to lament our lot, complaining that we don’t have the power and influence we once had – and there are very good arguments against that power and influence for it seemed to breed corruption through the whole of the Church and meant that the Gospel message was often lost in the midst of religious trappings and a desire for money and to keep the power over people’s lives that this position brought.

It should cause us to ask, though, what is it that would make people listen to our message? If preaching the Gospel of the risen Christ cannot convince people, as the parable implies, then what is it that will draw people into new life?

Well there is an implication from the passage that it is our deeds that make a difference. Rather than focussing on the life beyond, we should focus more on the life we lead here. Not so that we might earn a place in paradise, but so that the way we live is consistent with God’s values. In contrast with the rich man in today’s parable these values consist of humility, compassion and doing what one can about injustice. It seems to me that being rich was not that man’s problem – but his attitude and use of that wealth was. The Gospel is for rich and poor, it calls us to recognise our need for each other, and calls us to share all that we have with one another without begrudging those in need. In this way our Christ-centred values are lived out, with grace and love and faith.

And alongside this we are called to live out our lives faithfully, with love and forgiveness, with a calling to moral purity, gathering together as the God’s people sharing life and love and worshipping God. Recognising our own need of grace and of God’s touch of healing and forgiveness. It is this that earns us the right to speak out the Good News of Jesus Christ. Lives lived to God’s standards, inspired by God’s holy Spirit and heeding the calling of Christ. We call upon God for grace to live as he demands and in living this way we are able to invite others to share in this great story of redemption that we are privileged to share in.

This should embolden us in our proclamation, too, as we find our who lives consistent with the message of truth which we are a part of. We have no need to be nervous, for the numbers who attend our church, those who respect our Clergy or the privilege which our Church has enjoyed in previous generations are not marks of our faith. The test of whether we are successful as a Church is not whether we have lots of people coming, but whether we are following Jesus, and learning to love God, our neighbours and our selves with all that we are. May God give us his grace that it might be so. Amen.

Sunday, 22 April 2007

Sermon for Easter 3 Year C

Easter 3 (2007) Year C RCL Principal

‘Do you love me’

There are two ways in which we could interpret Jesus’ question to Peter from our Gospel this morning ‘Do you love me more than these?’

Firstly Jesus might be asking Peter, as many translations seem to suggest. ‘Peter, do you love me more than the others here do?’ Perhaps asking him if he is able to bear the responsibility placed on him when Jesus said ‘You will be called Peter (which means ‘rock’) and on this rock I will build my Church’.

Secondly Jesus might be asking ‘do you love me more than these other things in your life’ – following on from the fishing (which had been Simon Peter’s livelihood before following Jesus) and in which much of his life would have been invested. In this way Jesus might well be asking ‘do you love me more than security, peace, a safe living, home, perhaps even family and friends – do you love me more than any of these things?’

Both translations are valid. The Greek word is not terribly clear. And I think, in the way that scripture often does, there is a point to this. I think it is a question that is meant to mean both things. Is your love for me greater than anything else? Does your love for me strive to be greater than anyone else’s love for me, and greater than your love for any thing else in the world?’

Now if you remember to the sermon I preached on this reading three years ago (and I would be amazed if you did, I had to look it up myself) then you would remember that I used the phrase ‘firmly but gracefully’ to describe this passage where Jesus asks Peter three times about his alliegance. Firmly because it is a challenge, ‘do you love me’, gracefully because it was, as many call it, the re-instatement of Peter after failing Christ by denying him when challenged as to whether Peter knew Jesus after Jesus had been arrested. These three questions give Peter the opportunity to, as it were, ‘make up’ for the denials he had previously made.

But it was a hard challenge to face, and we are told that by the third time of asking Peter was quite upset. Now bearing in mind what had happened at Jesus’ arrest and betrayal I can’t see much justification for the fact that ‘Peter felt hurt’ as it says in our translation. It can only be that there was something more going on in this questioning than what we read from reading the passage, Peter was being challenged by Jesus on a deeper level than the questions we see recorded here.

And to me, it is a reminder that challenge is a very real part of our Christian life. It is a challenge to live up to the standards which our faith demands, living lives which show Jesus’ way of doing things, bringing (as St Paul says in the letter to the Romans) ‘every thought captive to Christ. It is a challenge facing up to the ridicule, persecution, misunderstanding, scepticism and sometimes just plain apathy of others towards our faith.

But more than anything it is a challenge when we stand before Christ and hear the question for ourselves.

Do you love me more than these?

Do you love Christ more than anything else? Could you say that you love Christ more than anyone else here in this fellowship today? Is this what our faith, our church attendance, our part in the life of this Christian community is all about? Do we love Jesus?

It’s a good question to ask at this time in the parish year when our annual meeting follows this service, when we again consider the ways in which we seek to reach out in Christ’s name to our community, when we again consider our part in the life of this Church.

It is a challenge – and one which applies equally as much to me as to anyone else listening here. Is my love for Christ limited by my love of anything else? I think for most of us, the honest answer will be yes. We find ourselves distracted by the world we live in, the lives we lead, the things, and indeed the people, we consider precious and valuable.

But, like Peter, our calling is to love Christ more than these.

Now if I had a few hours I would go into detail about an excellent book written by the Theologian Miroslav Volf called ‘Free of Charge’ which explains why participating in God’s way of loving, giving and forgiving makes it possible for us to love one another in a way which far outstrips any love we can give, and that God’s love gives us the appropriate tools with which to grapple with the world and things in it that draw our attention.

But I won’t do that, I recommend the book to anyone who wants to get to grips with this issue, but want to re-iterate that Jesus calling us to love him more than anything else, and to love him above all others, is not a recipe for detaching ourselves from others, or for neglect of family and friends, but on the contrary enhances and transforms those relationships.

But there is plenty to learn about this encounter with Peter which can challenge and encourage us.

Firstly, the most important thing to note is that, obvious as it may seem, this is an encounter with the risen Jesus. Peter’s life, one which had been very recently filled with fear, and had involved him going back, at least to a certain degree, to the life he had before becoming a disciple, is transformed as he meets Jesus again. This is our challenge too, to meet Jesus – to be open to his life, his influence, his transformation in our own lives.

We encounter Christ in our prayer lives; which needs to be worked at, in reading scripture; which needs to be a daily discipline, in worship; which should be a regular feature of our lives, and in so many unexpected places in our lives. But in order to encounter the risen Jesus we need to be open to him and allow him in to our lives.

Secondly from this encounter we see forgiveness. Jesus brings Peter on from the guilt and pain of his denials to a new relationship with him, a relationship with responsibility, new life, and a new level of commitment and grace filled living.

Which leads onto my third point, that it didn’t end with Jesus forgiving Peter. Again it may seem an obvious point, but in response to Peter’s statement that he did love Jesus he is given a task to do – feed my sheep.

It is like that in our own Christian lives. It doesn’t all grind to a halt when we say we are Christians – our responsibility, and indeed God’s work in us – doesn’t start and finish with a commitment to Christ and with our forgiveness.

The purpose of Jesus’ reinstatement of Peter was to draw him onwards to where God wanted him to be. It was not just to make him feel better or to make him feel a part of the ‘Jesus club’ where membership has its privileges!

It’s the same in our wider Christian lives – we find ourselves caught between assurance of our salvation, and the absolute nature of what Jesus has done for us in dying on the cross an rising to new life, and the need to grow in that faith, to be drawn towards holiness, which is known as ‘sanctification’. So Paul can write to the Phillipians ‘continue to work out your own salvation, with fear and trembling.’ (Phil 2.12) – it is not that we haven’t been saved, but that our salvation leads us on to something, as our lives are changed, as the hymn says, from glory to glory – glory in the salvation wrought for us, to glory in lives filled with Christ.

So when Jesus asks if we love him, we can be encouraged because if we respond ‘yes’ he will begin to lead us to the places where he knows we should be, doing the things he knows we should be doing, and growing in the faith which he provides and the fullness of life which comes only through Him.

May our Church be a place where we can say ‘we love you lord, do with us as you will’ Amen.