Lent Course Session 3 :- Generosity, Hospitality and Blessing

Power Point Presentation

Including Text of Love III - George Herbert used in the mediation

Also the Rublev Ikon of the Trinity and The Return of the Prodigal Son - by Rembrandt

Audio File 1 (50 minutes)

Audio File 2 (12 minutes)

Sermon for Sunday 11th March 2012 - HARVEST

 Sermon for Sunday 11^th March 2012

Harvest Festival

Deuteronomy 26:1-11
2 Corinthians 9:6-15

John 2:13:22

(LINK TO AUDIO RECORDING OF THIS SERMON)

‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’

Well I guess we probably may well think that this is a rather strange text for a Harvest festival service – surely better to use the letter to the Corinthians with its exhortation to generosity, or the reading from Deuteronomy which seems to be a sort of early harvest festival (By the way if you note in the Deuteronomy reading they bring everything to church, so to speak, and then throw a party with it all J  - but more of this later) – Yes Either of those readings fit well with a Harvest festival – but why this reading about the cleansing of the Temple?? Well I might respond that it is the set gospel, which it is, or that it fits my theme for the week, which it does – but given that that theme is Blessing, Generosity and Hospitality – we might still be left scratching our heads – especially with the opening text of the sermon - ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’?? What does the Temple, the money changers, and the death and resurrection of Jesus have to do with Harvest Festivals?

What is the connection? Well I happen to think that this gospel reading is all about Harvest, about rightly celebrating the goodness of God and revealing something of the powerful forces at work which seek and indeed often succeed in  destroying our sense that ‘all good gifts around us are sent from heaven above’

But to illustrate why I need to speak of a myth. A myth is as I’m sure you are aware a Controlling story. It is a ‘truth’ that our lives are oriented by. It is a ‘truth’ but that does not mean it is true. Only that is it true for us, it is the story we tell ourselves about ‘How Things Are’ Some are personal and private, and we all have these - but some are Big Stories –Out There, dominating people and governments, hearts and minds. The myth of which I wish to speak is ‘The Myth of Scarcity’ and it is a powerful myth in our culture, a culture in which we have become increasingly disconnected from the Good Earth.

To illustrate the Myth of Scarcity I’d like to tell a couple of brief stories. Firstly the Story of “what happened to Harvest??”

Over the past few years in England at any rate, away from the countryside something strange was happening in churches in towns and cities. Indeed I saw it happen in the church where I was a curate – the story went about – all this stuff about food and farming, the sheaves of corn and the like, just doesn’t connect to our lives here in the town – we need something more relevant – I’ll say that again, just in case you missed it all this stuff about food and farming, the sheaves of corn and the like, just doesn’t connect to our lives here in the town – we need something more relevant – and so in Pudsey we had a Harvest of Pudsey – it was all about the talents and abilities God had given us. Well I leave to one side the obvious point that the focus had shifted more onto us and less onto the Miraculous provision of God – just to reflect about how folk in the town thought of food. Dissociated from the Land, their story about food was no longer about where it came from, rather their story about food was if anything to do with prices and availability in the supermarket – where was the cheapest place to buy food., and thus prey to fear that their might not be enough. We saw this radically enacted in times of drought when there were on occasions fights over bottled water

And then a second story -  It was my first visit to Synod here in New Zealand and certainly if the groaning table at the evening meal was anything to go by, there was much that had been gathered in ‘ere the winter storms begin. But . . . in part the mood seemed to be covering over a deep seated problem. I refer to the finances of the Diocese, which was variously described as very dodgy, precarious, worrying and ‘falling off a cliff’. Well fortunately I had in David Fielding an excellent guide to the accounts sat beside me and so I asked, could he point me to the liquid assets, the cash reserves at the ready disposal of the diocese. And I was left thinkng – ‘why all the glum faces?’ having come from a much larger Diocese, with much smaller reserves. It’s a Prime example of ‘The Myth of Scarcity’ and this Myth seems to afflict people in inverse proportion to what they have – and it is the story we tell ourselves that ‘it’s all going to run out’ – Celebration in abundance is far more muted than Celebration in need. There we were, eating an incredibly good meal and worrying about whether the money was going to run out – it was . . . well perverse really. Faced with Wonderful confirmation of God’s provision – we doubted in the provision of God. We are afraid it will all run out – so we hoard and save and exercise financial management . . . and yet God has Always provided in Abundance

A few years ago this myth of Scarcity was mocked by the Archbishop of York at a large Diocesan Gathering I attended.

‘You are always saying here in England’ – The Archbishop is Ugandan – You are always saying in England, ‘ We are saving for a rainy day!’ – Well it is ALWAYS raining in England!! Always Saving against tomorrow, not believing in God’s provision for tomorrow – Give us this day our daily bread we pray, but then we go out and accumulate enough to keep us for many many days.

The Old Testament Scholar, Walter Brueggemann, who was the first person to help me see this myth, puts it like this – speaking of the miraculous provision of daily bread in the wilderness, the Manna he says ‘[the Isrealites] had never before received bread as a free gift. The meaning of this strange narrative [the manna from heaven], is that the gifts of life are indeed Given by a generous God. It’s a Wonder, It’s a Miracle, It’s an EMBARRASSMENT, it’s Irrational, but God’s abundance transcends the market economy’ It’s embarrassing because if when we are believe the myth of Scarcity, or worry about whether there will be enough,  we discover the Generosity of God, we feel Embarrassed at our foolishness. It’s an Embarrassment because the myth of Scarcity says ‘it’s all about Us’ – but the Scriptures tell us ‘Its ALL about God!’ (Which by the way is why we should be VERY wary of teaching on ‘being Good Stewards’) We Hate being served – we hate being blessed – we want to be able to say ‘My right hand and the strength of my arm hath gotten me this, rather than accept the free gift of God. The myth of Scarcity is an offence against Grace

The children of Israel had forgotten the Big Story of the Abundance of God, and taken on once more the myth of Scarcity – so they’re all into business and trade and trying to make profits from God’s generosity, trying to secure their own futures rather than accept God’s future – they are Denying that God is Who God is, Jehovah Jireh - the God who provides – and what is more, this act of apostasy, of practical atheism is taking place Right in the heart of the Temple. It comes to me as I write that there is a lot of mystery surrounding the phrase ‘The Abomination that causes Desolation’ what is it that is set up in the Temple that deserves such Censure?? Could it be this??

Why is it Such desecration in The Temple? Because this was symbolic of the dwelling place of God – in the Very place that Israel was supposed to remember this story of Salvation – of Life and Provision – they were denying it – choosing as once before had the Man and the Woman in the Garden, in the midst of God’s abundance to take matters into their own hands – refusing God’s over Abundant Enough, for the Lure of More. It is the old story we hit on a few weeks ago – there is no God AND. When we say God is not enough we reveal that we are strangers to God, and we discover we do not have enough

And So this Temple must go – it must be rebuilt – it must be a fitting House of God. And what in reality was always meant to be The House of God? Not specialized religious establishments, not places where the sacred coule be kept neatly away from the profane – No. The True dwelling place of God was the place God Made to dwell in with humankind – the heavens and the Earth – The Creation. The Temple, symbolized the fact that Creation was the dwelling place of God

The Creation, the place which was pure Gift, the place of Gift, the place of Grace. Because we want to make our own lives we either ignore Grace, or if we are religious reduce it to a spiritual message – we are happy to have the money changers, just not in the temple – we thing Grace and Salvation are spiritual matters – we take the provision of the Manna in the wilderness and say  - this has been spiritualised in Jesus - and now only applies to the forgiveness of sins. Daily bread reduced to spiritual graces. We do not believe that God provides Everything – that Salvation is the Whole of Life  that in the Risen Christ there is Only Abundance and that the myth of Scarcity is a Lie.

I entitled the service today – Blessing, Hospitality and Generosity – and we may well think ‘When are we going to get on with that’ – with exhortations to bless – like from 2 Corinthians, to be Generous and to be hospitable – but that would be exactly to miss the point – this isn’t about Us being Generous, or Hospitable or indeed blessing – it is about God’s Generosity, God’s Hospitality, God’s Blessing.

As Moses gave the people of Israel Directions about how they should respond to the generosity of God as they entered the land he said this – you will take some of the first fruit of the land – the first things that God gives you – ad you will go up to the Place where the Lord your God will chooses a dwelling for his name – you will come into God’s House – with what God has done for you and recite there all that God has done for you - ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. ⁶When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, ⁷we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. ⁸The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; ⁹and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me. You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God’ – and then this wonderful turn – God does not consume it all by fire – he doesn’t say, this is no more than I deserve – you can go now – no – ‘Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.’

You come into God’s house with the things God has given you and God says – use them to throw a party for yourselves. God has provided for a feast – it is God’s House, God’s Hospitailty, God’s generosity and abundance which we celebrate today – made Real in the New Temple – the one in whom all things hold together, forgiveness, generosity, blessing and hospitality -  our Risen Saviour, Jesus Christ

Blessing and the Shape of Reality

 Sermon for Evensong

Sunday 19^th February 2012

Numbers 22:21-23:12

LINK TO RECORDING OF THE SERMON

Blessing and the Shape of Reality

“The Righteous shall live by faith”

This morning I spoke about forgiveness being Necessary – that we needed it – but not purely in some psychological – emotional – or even spiritual sense. ‘Spiritual sense’ always sounds a little vague to me :) No, we needed forgiveness, to forgive and be forgiven in a very Real and indeed, I believe if we Saw its impact, a Very Concrete sense. That in forgiving we are restoring the broken bonds of Love, the bonds which actually hold the whole Universe together. That in forgiving we are engaged in a construction project, the like of which the world has never seen nor comprehended.

St Paul, drawing on the story of Abraham, tells us “the Righteous shall live by faith”, but I suggest we have far too narrow a conception of what faith is, or perhaps to put it better we are content with the seed or content of faith, but seldom do we allow it to flourish and bloom from a set of beliefs into that which it is intended to be, a Perception of the World in which we live and into which we walk. Moses, we are told, By faith left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger; for he persevered as though he saw him who is invisible. This is the Essence of faith – walking in a new reality which God has shown to us in Christ.

As I have said several times over the past few weeks, Jesus is about restoring sight to the blind and the gift of faith is intended to be a gift of sight, to see the world as God has created it and to order our lives in the reality of that vision, one which is clouded or obscure to those amongst whom we live. So we forgive at first because we hear the command of God, but as we grow in faith we begin to see – our eyes are opened to this enthralling work which God has called us to, to Participate in the healing of the very fabric of reality, that is given Concrete expression in the Word made flesh. Love incarnate.

Well tonight I’d like to add to that theme of forgiveness, that of Blessing – That Blessing is the most appropriate of actions for the people of God who pours out his blessings in abundance. Yet how slow we are to see this.

One thing that concerns me Very greatly in contemporary Christian life is the rapidly dwindling practise of Giving thanks before eating – it concerns me because actually it is an act of faith  - we come to table and there we SEE God’s blessing – and yet we do not recognize it. Failing to give thanks is a sign that our eyes have grown dim to Reality.

Tonight’s Wonderful story from the Book of Numbers is a beautiful illustration of this practise of Blessing, and throws in a talking donkey to boot for those whose attention is slipping :). Actually it is only about a ¼ of the whole story of Balaam and Balak and Israel.

To put it quickly in context – God has rescued Israel – he has chosen them to be his people and brought them out of Egypt and into a life of Blessing. He has given them daily bread in the wilderness and sustained their life. If you like he has given them a crash course in faith and like any crash course it has been a bit painful at times, but we come to the story as they have come to the plains of moab and the blessing of God means that they are quite a crowd – and as you might imagine, the locals are more than a little nervous – so we read a little earlier on . . .

Now Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. He sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is on the Euphrates, in the land of Amaw, to summon him, saying, ‘A people has come out of Egypt; they have spread over the face of the earth, and they have settled next to me. Come now, curse this people for me, since they are stronger than I; perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land; for I know that whomsoever you bless is blessed,

 and whomsoever you curse is cursed.’ Numbers 22 vss 4-6

And that is the context of our reading tonight. Well the story lasts an entire chapter before Balaam sets off to see Balak. Balak keeps sending messengers to him, but God prevents Balaam from going. Eventually he does let him go but it is clear that this is not Plan A!!

We read from just before tonight’s reading

That night God came to Balaam and said to him, ‘If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you to do.’ ²¹So Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the officials of Moab. 22 God’s anger was kindled because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary.

Certainly there is a degree of ambiguity here and I’m not going to attempt to iron it out – God says to Balaam, OK, Go with the men, but only do what I tell you . . . but it seems clear that he does so with a degree of reluctance and the next morning puts a shot across Balaam’s bows – a warning if you like, against any sense that because this is commanded it is necessarily good – Be on your guard!!

And here we begin to see how there is a greater reality – perhaps Balaam really doesn’t know with whom he is dealing – he is portrayed as blind – unlike the poor donkey!! The donkey sees how things really are. He sees the angel stood in his path with a drawn sword. The donkey’s no ass! He knows what is and isn’t good for him and desperately tries to avoid the Angel.

This story sounds to our ears most fanciful – yet how many of us not only have heard but believe thoroughly in the ability of animals to See far more than we do. Certainly here in New Zealand we know of how they seem to be ahead of the game when it comes to earthquakes – why do we understand ourselves so wise and the animals so foolish? All of Creation suffers through the sin of human kind, but only humans become totally blind, and in our fury lash out, like a frustrated child who cannot have his own way

When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. ²⁸Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ ²⁹Balaam said to the donkey, ‘Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!’ ³⁰But the donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you in this way?’ And he said, ‘No.’ 31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down, falling on his face.

Cursing and anger flow form the mouth of Balaam and it is Wrong!! As James tells us :- no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters,^* this ought not to be so.

[A brief aside at this point, just to note that I think it mistaken to remove the cursing Psalms from the prayer book – the fact it that at times we are full of anger and cursing and it needs a safe outlet and that is directed towards God who can handle it, rather than the Creation, which it destroys. We are not yet made perfect. We are given these Psalms as a release valve and a place where we might safely reveal our hearts and find them healed in doing so.]

Balak, The King of Moab understands the power of the prophetic word – he knows that Words can build up or destroy and he is afraid of the hoard of Israel, and so calls Balaam to Curse them – over the next two chapters there is an almost comedic battle between the King who has called for cursing to destroy and the prophet who Knows that he must Not curse, he can only bless to build up.
We are more than aware of the power of sin to destroy, but we are slow to believe in the Greater power forgiveness which restores the broken bonds of love. We are so aware of how Cursing and false words destroy, we know this. But we are all to blind of the Greater power of Blessing to build up. 

Do we have any idea of the Concrete power of Blessing in the Name of the Lord?? As some of you know, I belong to a New monastic order whose mother house is in South Wales, Old South Wales, that is :) One of our disciplines is that of Blessing, not so much Being a blessing, but pronouncing blessing. It comes out of the expereince as a good friend of mine who was called to the place that became the mother house of our order. He went in faith, but VERY reluctantly. He had NO idea of what the call was about and over time became incredibly frustrated with God – and one day made an ultimatum!! ‘I cannot stay here unless you do something!!’

Later that day, as often happened, some folk turned up at the centre, curious to know what it was – Roy took them round and talked about how it was a place where the Living God changed lives – this was more an expression of what he wanted than what he had seen to that point. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the idea came to him to bless them before they left. They responded positively and Roy said to them ‘I bless you in the name of Jesus, to know God, his purpose for your life, and his blessings on you, and you family and the situations of your life. Amen’ – they were immediately overcome with the most profound sense of the presence of God they had never known, with them. 

This became a very regular practise – and lives have been changed, healed and restored in many many ways through this. Every Friday, the folk who are resident at the centre stand on the high place overlooking the valley and pronounce blessing upon the whole valley – the life of the whole area has been transformed. Cows give more milk, even in a time of economic hardship, all the local bed and breakfasts are almost continually fully booked, the tiny country school thrives and people’s lives are being dramatically changed for the good.

We are called to a life of blessing – restoring through forgiveness and giving life through blessing. Paul reminds us ‘Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse’ 

I began reminding by reminding us that The Righteous will live by faith. Abraham is given to us as an example, that he reveals in his life the Blessing that comes through faith ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

If forgiveness is the way in which we heal the bonds of Love that hold the universe together, Blessing is I think the way in which we are called to Breathe the Life of God into those bonds. This is the Reality We are called to inhabit in Faith. Speak Blessing.