There is no "God AND . . ." - Sermon for Feb 5th 2012

 Sermon for Sunday February 5^th

5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2012AD

ISAIAH 40:21-31

PS 147:1-11

1Corinthians 9:16-23

Mark 1:29-39

God’s mission, not ours

(LINK TO A RECORDING OF THE SERMON)

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.”

First Corinthians Chapter 2, verses 2-5

Last week I spoke at some length about Brockville Community Church and as I spent some time with Andrew Scott their minister this week – one thing very forcibly struck me – that what is happening there is almost spontaneously springing up – and that they have very little by way of resources – and I wondered if these were in fact related.

            I spoke last week amongst other things about how in the shift away from Christendom - that era when we thought mistakenly that the gospel had taken root in the world - social works that the church had instigated, healthcare, education and the like - had lost any sense of being Christian. And I suggested that perhaps this was because we had lost sight of the primacy of worship, that this LIFE that created these good things, was the Life of God which found entry into the world through the worship of the human creature, supremely revealed and eternally true in Jesus of Nazareth.   

That in losing sight of the Primacy of the Worship of God, we had actually lost sight of God himself, indeed God had departed and all we were left with was a vast infrastructure we call church – which we now mistake for His Life, His Kingdom.

Now we are taught to think that this loss of Vitality, this loss of life is only recent –but even at the Very height of Christendom, in the High middle Ages – when Glorious Cathedrals bestrode Europe and fine hospitals and Universities were springing into being, even then when it seemed to the casual observer that ‘God was in his heaven and all was well with the world’, even then the life had Gone, the true Glory had departed, except that wasn’t clear to everyone. The Emperor actually had no clothes but we wanted to believe otherwise – yet here and there there were those who saw what had happened. That you can have what looks utterly like a Healthy vibrant and successful church and yet the glory has departed.

A story which puts this very graphically is that of Thomas Aquinas, the great Saint and teacher of the church was one day shown the splendours of the church by the Pope Innocent II? IV? “Ah, Thomas” he said – “we can no longer say with St Peter, Silver and Gold have we none J” To which Thomas is said to have replied, yes father, and neither sadly can we any longer say, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk. ‘We have the best church money can buy, the best human endeavour can create . . . and we cannot do that which Christ commanded’

Luke Chapter 10 – Jesus sends out his disciples – to declare that the Kingdom of God has come near, AFTER they have healed the sick – and we read that they returned rejoicing saying ‘Lord, in your name, even the demons submit to us!’

Matthew Chapter 10 - Jesus sent out the twelve with the following instructions: ‘Go . . . to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for labourers deserve their food.

Amongst young folk in the church there was a trend a while back to wear bracelets with WWJD on them. What Would Jesus Do? What would Jesus do?

Mark Chapter 1 vvs 32-34 32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered around the door. ³⁴And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

WWJD?? When we imagine ourselves there, hearing the command of Christ to do what he is doing – ‘In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk …’ I imagine we feel utterly helpless . . I know I do. Many many times I have stood with someone who is ill – or even beside the body of someone who has died and hear the words of Jesus . . . and turn sadly away to those things which I know I can do – I can teach, I can devise plans for developing the life of the church, I can visit and pray, I can study and increase my knowledge so my teaching will be better, I can try and do something about the loss of youth. I have skills, I have ability, I have money, I have the ability to develop impressive looking strategies and plans – Silver and Gold have I none? No – I’m overflowing with talents and resources – but I cannot do what he commands. Of course there was another who turned sadly away from the Kingdom – the rich young man, for none of what he had availed him anything – all the things he thought so necessary, Jesus told him to leave them behind

You see when Jesus announces the kingdom he does so in actions – he reveals what happens as the Life of the Kingdom breaks out – but we don’t really want the Kingdom on these terms – because when you express it  in these terms, sick healed demons cleansed etc etc – these are things that we cannot do – so we re-express the Kingdom in terms of the church of what we think we can do. And we use the label Kingdom of God, or Gospel Work – as if this is what it is meant to look like – but when John the Baptist was in prison and asked if Jesus  was the one they were looking for – Jesus told his disciples ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers^* are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.’ That is what the Kingdom looks like and it is at hand

Why is the church in such radical decline? Humanly speaking it makes No sense. WE are better educated than ever. WE are more precise in our planning than ever – my entire church life seems to be dominated by one strategic document after and other. WE still, despite many accounts, have more money than Ever – the church in the West is phenomenally wealthy – WE have incredible resources, fine buildings – WE are in many places still respected within our communities – WE have technological means of reaching the whole world with the message – we have Christian radio stations, we have . . . we have . . . we have . . . God AND we have all this all this other stuff, how on earth can we go wrong??? The problem must be we don’t have enough of it – SURELY??? More money , better technology, More careful planning . . .

And Jesus says  - ‘none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions’

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
   Has it not been told you from the beginning?
   Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

. . .

Why do you say, O Jacob,
   and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord,
   and my right is disregarded by my God’?
²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
   his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
   and strengthens the powerless.
³⁰ Even youths will faint and be weary,
   and the young will fall exhausted;
³¹ but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   they shall walk and not faint.

These words of Isaiah of the utter Glory of God are as a response to the Idolatry of Israel. The deepest most intractable sin of the human soul is Idolatry. And as Christians we are just as prone. For non believers of course it is very straightforward – it is to invest ourselves in that which is not God and for Christians, it is the same. Except we cover it up by saying What we need is God (well of course that goes without saying) AND . . . We may sing ‘You alone are my strength and shield – but it feels a lot better singing that when we have money in the bank, food on the table, several degrees from excellent Christian colleges, fine buildings,

Is 40:25 To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal?

There is NO God AND!!! If we think there is we have not begun to comprehend the limitless majesty, the Grandeur, the Glory of God –If we for even a moment imagine ourselves sat in the courts of the Living God and imagine He is Not enough, imagine ourselves saying, AThank you Lord for loving us so – but we really need some money, or we really need some education . . .

Silver and Gold have I none . . . but in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, Get up and walk . . . and the man got up and walked - - and when the powers that be, Scandalised by this LIFE breaking out in front of them confronted the men . . . it was found that not only did they not have two cents to their name, but they were uneducated men. They hadn’t even been to theological college . . . Peter and John, pillars of the church, pioneers in the greatest missionary movement the world has ever seen and their only credentials? They noted that they had been with Jesus. And as when they had been with Jesus, they were still with him – living in the power of His Spirit, going where they were led – responding to what Christ was about and the Kingdom was breaking out left right and centre. You know we speak often of the presence of Christ with us, but . . .

St Paul when he goes to Corinth says For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

If in our hearts and minds we see Jesus doing these things and we feel the power of our inability, this is perhaps the greatest gift we might receive – that Nothing we have can avail us in proclaiming the Kingdom of God

As we think about Brockville Community church perhaps they are more gift to u than we might be to them. For they have seen so much Life with so few resources – and let us STOP right there and don’t think . . . well if they had more resources! They seem to have everything they need, no?

Marks Gospel is dominated by one word –Immediately – immediately this, immediately that – life here – life there – healing here – storm stilled there – resurrection here – demons cast out there – hungry fed here. The Kingdom is amongst you – breaking out  - present in the risen Christ. Jesus will not let them settle – to go back to their boats – the disruptive Life of God is breaking into the world and there is no time or space for careful though reflection or planning. You just have to go with Jesus. As Andrew told me, Brockville is at the point where they are being overwhelmed by opportunity

Imagine for a moment what that must be like – imagine if you will what it was like to be with Christ in his mission (they are one and the same) –not the wonder of it – we can all sit back and go how wonderful – but enter into the sheer bemusement of the Apostles – the profound disorientaiton. When Love comes to town – Everything we thought we knew is thrown into disorientation – what we thought was up was down, what we thought was down was up – what we see as weakness is strength and strength weakness. The disciples saw so much they could do under their feet – but Jesus was moving on - ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ They said -  He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

May God give us the grace to know our helplessness – to lay down all those things we thought we so indispensable - go with Him, and do likewise

Amen

Sermon for Holy Innocents

Although written three years ago, nothing has changed

A few days ago I received a circular letter from a Christian organisation with their Presidents message for the Christmas Season. I have to say I receive quite a number of such letters and pay little attention but something caught my eye in this letter, the sentiment of the opening paragraph. Without quoting exactly, it was ‘well what with the credit crunch and wars around the world I am finding it hard to get into the Christmas spirit’ - and I wonder how many people felt the same, but I found it a little disturbing. It was as if Christmas should be some sort of distraction from the real world, as if the message of Christmas was all about taking our minds off the reality of the world. And I found it disturbing because here was someone in a very senior position in a church organisation, who seemed to imagine this to be true - as if we needed Peace on Earth in order to celebrate Christmas -but the message of Christmas is that God does not wait for the world to get itself ready for his appearing, that global economic meltdown and wars and rumours of wars is the world into which God comes in Jesus.

Put another way - if we in our wisdom and power have got the world all sorted out  - well then a Saviour arriving on the scene isn’t good news, because we don’t need one, we’ve saved ourselves.

To paraphrase one Christian Writer, the message of Christmas is not that everything is fine - it’s far from fine, but in Jesus God has made a decisive start on putting things right and shows us a new way - but it is not an easy way, it is the way of Love. Not a romanticised Love - not the sort of Love often on the lips of Christians which ignores the reality of the world and blithely announces ‘I Love everybody’ - but the Love of Christ that sees the world as it is and then lays down it’s life for this cruel and broken world - greater Love. When Jesus appears on the scene we see Love in Reality - and so we see the World as it truly is.

As we do on this day - The feast of the Holy Innocents.  The slaughter of all the male children under two by Herod. A reminder of Pharaoh - his injunction that all the male Hebrew babies should be  killed at birth. Rather like the romantic view of Moses in the basket which clouds our imaginations to the wholesale slaughter of children around him - the birth of Jesus may be so romanticised that we forget Holy Innocents. We may wish to escape into a fantasy Christmas with words about ‘Christmas Spirit’ and familiar rituals and forget today’s Holy Innocents - we may choose to ignore the truth that that today’s rulers think the daily death of 36,000 children of malnutrition or from lack of clean water is a price worth paying for  'Progress', or 'National Security', or the greatest of all Idols, 'keeping the economy on track'. When the powers that be are disturbed the most vulnerable in society are always the victims - I do not need to tell you what will happen because we know - in the need to tighten our belts - the shamefully small aid budgets of the wealthy will be reduced even further. I gather that despite the credit crunch people have continues to spend on Christmas but at the same time charities are reporting sharp decreases in donations. When the rulers of this age be they ’the economy’ be they Pharaoh be they Herod - when they are threatened the weakest are sent to the wall as a price worth paying. And the weakest are the frail and elderly, and the children.

The Holy Innocents. Why do we use this word Innocent for children? Because they are powerless - they are wholly irresponsible for the way the world is - Who creates wars? Who creates violence? Who creates unjust economic orders? Who makes a mess of the world? Not children but adults. Here again is that strange revealing of the Nature of Love.

A child, uniquely amongst humanity embodies perfectly the human vocation - to be recipients of Love and to give love in return - it is only as we bring them up that they forget the way of Love. And we in our wisdom think we know how to bring children up, that their vocation is to become like us adults. But Jesus says the exact opposite -  ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like children you shall not enter the Kingdom of God’. And when we think about becoming like children the true cost of Love is revealed - for we see what happens to children - what happens to the weak and the vulnerable in our society and across the World, we see what the World does to them, not only two thousand years ago around Bethlehem but today.

And we are frightened of that reality - why becoming like a child, eschewing control and power, entering into weakness and vulnerability. So we hedge ourselves round with reasons to ignore Jesus’ way of Love - ‘why, if we became like children we think’ - the world would go to pot! Well folks, take off the dark glasses - the world has gone to pot and only the children are innocent. Only the children are not responsible for the way the world is. Funny isn’t it - how we try to bring children up to be responsible . . .

This is why the freedom which Jesus brought was rejected and continues to be rejected to this day both by those inside and outside of the church - because freedom means vulnerability and we prefer life trapped by the walls we’ve built for ourselves to defend ourselves than accept the offer of freedom and vulnerability which Jesus brings. We see what happens to the weak and are trapped by the Herod’s and Pharaoh’s of this age. But the way of the Holy Innocents is also the way of The Holy Innocent - The Archbishop of Canterbury in his Christmas address says the following “Human beings, left to themselves, have imagined God in all sorts of shapes; but it took Christianity to introduce the world to the idea of God in the form of a baby: in the form of complete dependence and fragility, without power or control.” In the birth of Jesus we see the Life of Jesus - born in weakness and vulnerability, living in weakness and vulnerability and dying in weakness and vulnerability - and so revealing the truth about the World and the Truth about Love. Upon the Cross St Paul reminds us - Jesus unmasks and dethrones the powers and authorities of this world - it is only as the world is confronted with something alien and strange to itself that its true nature is revealed.

The Holy Innocent’s don’t fight back - the cruelty of the world is revealed - Jesus unlike so many failed Messiah’s does not come into Jerusalem with an army - he is the only Messiah we remember because Jesus alone did not answer the world’s violence with violence and so hide the truth about the world, rather he confronted it with Love and so unmasked the world’s truth.

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, so that no one* might boast in the presence of God.

Christmas is truly about children, it’s about learning from children, it’s about relearning our humanity from children because as Christians we believe that God comes to us as a vulnerable child and he calls us to follow his way -  the way of vulnerability, the way of weakness, the way of Love, which is the power of God.