Easter 4 – Spiritual Gifts?

Acts 9:36 – end and John 10: 22-30

 Do we ever wonder why we do certain things?  Often we find out later what God’s plan was in asking us to make a phone call or visit a friend.  The story from Acts is one in which we can see God’s plan in action, while the people taking part might not have been able to.

Dorcas was a needlewoman and dressmaker.  She was generous with her gift and known for her generosity and so was much loved.  We often feel that our skills are not included in the list of spiritual gifts that Paul lists in 1 Corinthians 12 – where he includes things such as wisdom, knowledge, prophecy and teaching.  Paul had obviously only included a few of the Holy Spirit’s gifts, as it seems clear from this passage that needlework was for Dorcas a spiritual gift because she used it for God.  It is possible that we have not properly understood the gifting teaching, as the more I look into it, the more I become convinced that a gift comes from the Holy Spirit to the extent that we use it for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom.  If we think along those lines, then we will look at how we do things in a whole new way.  If you are a regular maker of cakes for our coffee mornings, you might now look at this in a new light.

Another way of looking at this is to consider the rule of St Benedict for monastic life which has three mottoes. The first is ‘’So that God may be glorified in all things” which could be described as the reason for choosing the way of life, the second “peace”, the reward hoped for in leading the monastic life and the third is “work and pray”, and is what monks do in order to obtain the first two.  We could all do worse than apply these three mottoes to our own lives, as George Herbert encourages us to do in the hymn ‘Teach me, my God and King in all things Thee to see’.

If we look back at our original question, there are actually several questions.  The matter-of-fact way that the death of Dorcas is told implies that this was an occasion for sorrow, but in the ways that things were in those days, not the shock that it would have been nowadays.  Illness and death were a much more common occurrence than they are nowadays, although as the reaction of those who knew her shows, still the occasion for sorrow.  No reason is given for summoning Peter however.  There is no suggestion that a miracle was hoped for, although the timescales indicate that her body was not buried as quickly as was customary, so perhaps they were just daring to hope.  As ever, we have the advantage of knowing how the story continues.  We know that Peter was not far away at Lydda – about 14 miles, so certainly he would have been there by the next day and it is possible that he was able to return with the messengers within the day.  The text of the reading sounds as though he wasted no time in leaving.

It is customary, even today to visit or make contact by a phone call, email or card with a household where there has been a death, and it is possible that Peter simply intended to visit to pay his respects to a much loved friend.  Could he also have been thinking though of the time when Jesus raised Lazarus, or when he witnessed the raising of Jairus’s daughter?  Unfortunately Luke only tells us what people did, and not often what they thought at the time!  It does seem to be the case though that Peter was following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, even if he was not aware at the time what God had in store for him.  One of the things that Jesus says in our Gospel reading is ‘My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.’  Peter had been with Jesus for long enough to know his master’s will, and he was generally careful to follow it after his catastrophic denial during Jesus’ trial.  We heard last week in our gospel reading how Jesus took Peter aside after the breakfast meeting on the beach and tasked him with caring for his sheep.  Those words must have stuck fast in Peter’s brain in the way that lessons learned the hard way often do.

Both of our readings today are full of questions why – why was Peter sent for, why did he go, and added to that what made him think when he arrived that Dorcas could be raised?  In the gospel we are also wondering why the Jews could not see and hear from Jesus’ teaching and actions who he was.  Nearly all the unanswered questions we have regarding our faith begin with why – my hope is that when we finally see God and can be in his presence, it will all suddenly become plain to us.  For now, that is why we need to have faith.

What we can see from today’s story from Acts though is the way in which the Holy Spirit is at work in joining things up – bringing people to the right place at the right time.  This chapter in Acts covers a lot of ground, and possibly several years, as it began with Saul setting off to destroy the church in Damascus before his dramatic meeting with Jesus on the way.  He then spent time with the Damascus church before returning to Jerusalem to meet with the church leaders there, where he was initially met with suspicion until Barnabas supported him.  Once he was accepted, the church appears to have entered into a period of relative peace and growth, and it was during this time that Peter seems to have travelled around the area to meet with and encourage new believers and fellowships.  It was this travelling that brought him to Lydda, where he was instrumental in a healing miracle, and it was here that Dorcas’s friends found him, and summoned him to her.  It could be that having heard of the recent healing they had hope for her.

At the end of this story however, we hear that Peter went to lodge with Simon the tanner.  In those days tanning, which involves handling of dead animals was considered unclean to the Jews.  I had a friend who lived near a tannery a while ago, and she told me that as far as she was concerned, having lived near enough to smell the chemicals, it still was unclean!  However, the fact that he visited implies that Peter’s thinking was becoming more open.  The story of what happened next is no doubt one that we shall be looking at soon, but it shows how the Holy Spirit is moving people around so that they can be in the right place at the time when God has work for them.  As my commentary says: ‘Note how God used the invitation of the people of Joppa to bring Peter there. Likewise, God often uses what appear initially to be incidental occurrences to open up great ministries.’[1]

If we have been able to act upon reminders from God to check up on friends, only to find out afterwards that they were going through a tough time, we too will be able to look back and see the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  And the next time any of us does some cleaning or needlework, makes a cake or arranges flowers, we need to remember where our gifts and skills come from and for whom we are ultimately doing the work.

[1] Constable’s notes, Copyright ©1996-2020 Bible.org, but reprinted with permission

Readings: Acts 9^1-6 ; John 21^1-19

The long reading from the Gospel has many points of interest, but I’m going to concentrate on just one.  The Risen Jesus invited his disciples to breakfast.  Offhand, I can’t think of any other mention of breakfast in the Gospels.  But then the word breakfast is of modern origin; the Authorized Version translates the Greek simply as dine.  Reference books suggest that in the first century, working men might break their fast with a morsel of bread and some olives; the two proper meals of the day were a light meal at noon and the main meal at sunset.  So, the meal Jesus invited his disciples to share might have been an augmented breaking of the fast or may have been later at noon, when bread and fish would have been quite normal.

Whatever the case, meals in general were prominent events throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry.  We may think of him attending the wedding feast at Cana; or eating at Peter’s house in Capernaum; or, after calling Levi to follow him, dining at his house with tax-collectors and sinners; or in the house of Simon the leper, when a woman washed his feet with her tears.  And, as a different kind of meal, again at evening, there was the Feeding of the Multitudes with bread and fish.  At most meals Jesus is described teaching by questions and answers, as well as by Parables that challenging his hearers to come to a decision or to accept the need for change.

The most famous meal, of course, was what we know as the Last Supper.  If we’re to be precise, it was the last meal before was Jesus betrayed and crucified.  From it came our Christian tradition of the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion or the Mass or the Eucharist.  In the medieval Church and then in Roman Catholic rites and the Book of Common Prayer, it was very much a commemoration of Jesus’ Passion and Death.

However, after Jesus’ Resurrection the Gospels describe a number of meals which the Risen Jesus shared with his disciples.  In the Upper Room, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews; the supper at Emmaus when the two disciples only recognised Jesus when he broke the bread; and as we heard just now the meal by the Lakeside.  The Risen Jesus came with a greeting of Peace be with you; he helped his disciples begin to understand what had happened; and he came with forgiveness.  The disciples all ran away at his arrest – so they were all in need of his forgiveness and loving acceptance.  By the Lakeside this was focused on Peter – who’d denied knowing Jesus three times.  And so, three times the Risen Jesus asked Peter ‘do you love me?’  And Jesus responded to Peter’s affirmative answer, by charging him to care for all the disciples, so demonstrating his forgiveness and acceptance, adding: ‘follow me’.

In his book Resurrection, Rowan Williams writes of [p.100f] :

the enormous importance of the stories of the risen Jesus breaking bread with the disciples.  … To welcome or be welcomed by him at a meal on the further side of Calvary [and the crucifixion] is the ultimate assurance of mercy and acceptance, of indestructible love.

… after Calvary … the community’s meal with Jesus is invariably an ‘Easter’ event (and so most properly celebrated on the first day of the week).

To take food as from the hand of Jesus after Easter is to receive from him the gift of his essential being – that presence of truth and acceptance before which we find again our lost selves.  His food is the bread of life … : to eat Jesus’ food is to recognize the gift of himself behind it.

This may seem a long way from our attendance at this service.  And yet, as we ponder the Gospel descriptions of what happened after the first Easter Day, we may catch something of the wonder and joy of those appearances of the Risen Jesus to his followers.  We have not have gone through the trauma of our earthly Master being crucified, but we may be able to empathise a bit – and therefore then to appreciate something of the incredible change brought by his Risen presence.

In this Eastertide service of Eucharist – of Thanksgiving – we may find in ourselves some Peace, some forgiveness and acceptance, some joy and love, as well as some awareness of the presence of the Risen Jesus.  As we do, we may share these among ourselves and then go out to share them with others.  And the call of the Risen Jesus comes to us, as it did to Peter: ‘Follow me’.

A prayer I often use before the service seems especially appropriate after this morning’s Gospel:

As watchmen look for the morning, so do we look for thee, O Lord; come with the dawning of the day, and make thyself known to us in the breaking of the bread; for thou art our God for ever and ever. Amen.

Easter 2 – April 24^th 2022 – Rev Alison Way

Acts 5:27-32, John 20:19-end

In the name of God, loving Father, risen Son and ever present Holy Spirit. Amen.

In the gospel reading we just heard, it began with Jesus appearing on the evening of the first Easter day, in the locked upper room with the disciples. He said a greeting to them – Peace be with you. Now this is a greeting we still use in Church. If I say it to you – Peace be with you. You automatically say back and also with you or and with thy spirit). Until recently this was accompanied by a handshake or for the more touchy feely hugs and kisses. It comes from the need “to be at peace with our neighbours before we receive communion”. I am not sure when we are going to get back to a more physical approach to each other, but I do hope we will when the rigours of COVID are further behind us.

Let’s go back to the point about Jesus when he said Peace be with you. What did he mean? – He meant completion – In what God had done through him rising from the dead. He meant wholeness – making things the way they would be from now on and forever. When we rest in God’s love for us we will be whole in his completion.

Interestingly the same word Jesus used for peace Shalom is a Jewish greeting – particularly something you would say when you are saying goodbye to someone. The Old Testament concepts around this word are very much a sense of “wholeness” that people enjoy when they follow God’s way for them and live in His power.  It makes sense as that is opened up to all of us – that is the greeting and the wish of Jesus as he met with the disciples on the first Easter.

There are other Old Testament understandings as well as completeness, soundness, and well-being of the total person. This peace is considered God-given, obtained by following the Law. Peace sometimes had a physical meaning, suggesting security. For example in one of the psalms often used in Compline (night prayer). Psalm 4:8 I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety. It can also mean contentment. The prophet Isaiah says Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace, in peace because they trust in you (Is. 26:3). And it can also point to prosperity (Ps. 122:6–7) Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.’

In the New Testament – the meaning of peace grows too! It often refers to the inner tranquillity and poise of Jesus. The peace that Jesus spoke of was a combination of hope, trust, and quietness in the mind and soul, brought about by a reconciliation with God.  Such peace was proclaimed by Jesus in his teaching and  the host of angels at Jesus’ birth.

Jesus also taught about this kind of peace at the Lord’s Supper, shortly before His death (John 14:27) – he said Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. And as we heard today he shared peace with them after the resurrection.

The apostle Paul later wrote that such peace and spiritual blessedness was a direct result of faith in Christ (Rom. 5:1). He said – Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The kind of peace we are talking about is peace that affects our hearts and how we love each other. It is peace that unlocks our hearts. Remember when Jesus appeared to say peace to his disciples. He also appeared in a room that was locked and the reading does not explain how he got in. He just appeared – he did not unlock the door and walk in. Jesus also appeared to unlock their hearts mysteriously in this encounter and has been unlocking the hearts of people ever since. This is all just as mysterious but the unlocking – is to his peace  and wholeness for us. Though in a way this can work just like a key in the door as the first time we really know Jesus for some people
For others this is a much more gradual experience: they have known Jesus all their lives and cannot pin down when it first happened. Somehow immediately or gradually Jesus opens our hearts – His key is his love for us

The difference is that once Jesus has opened our hearts to his peace with his key of love  – he is there forever. Once our hearts our open to him through his spirit he tops us up with his peace! Day by day, week by week, year by year in this life. Until one day we will dwell with him forever in the fullness of his peace… that brings wholeness and inner tranquillity and hope in our hearts and allows us to live in the knowledge that we are loved!

Sadly, this deep inner peace we can experience and know for ourselves doesn’t necessarily bring wellness or peace in our world as a whole. We know this only too well at the moment. The wellness of our world is a real concern currently. As a world we need to face the consequences of our poor choices and step back from much of our consumption of resources and power. At the beginning of this month, the United Nations produced a sobering report pointing to the need for rapid, systemic changes to combat climate change.

The situation for world peace is equally challenging. Watching the unfolding story in Ukraine and other parts of the world where there is conflict and war is very hard to bear. Our best response has been to pray and to help out practically where we have been able to and we must continue to pray for peace in these places, and for a world that values peace and reconciliation over conflict. I end today with a Christian Aid prayer for Ukraine

God of all peoples and nations, who created all things alive and breathing, united and whole, show us the way of peace that is Your overwhelming presence. We hold before you the peoples of Ukraine and Russia, every child and every adult. We long for the time when weapons of war are beaten into ploughshares when nations no longer lift up sword against nation. We cry out to you for peace; protect those who only desire and deserve to live in security and safety. Comfort those who fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Be with those who are bereaved. Change the hearts of those set on violence and aggression and fill leaders with the wisdom that leads to peace. Kindle again in us a love of our neighbour, and a passion for justice to prevail and a renewed recognition that we all play a part in peace. Creator of all hear our prayer and bring us peace. Make us whole. Amen

Copyright acknowledgements

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 #

https://www.christianaid.org.uk/pray/prayer-ukraine

Order One for the Celebration of Holy Communion from Common Worship = Text copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2000-2020

Easter Day – 17^th April 2022 – Rev Alison Way

Isaiah 65:17-end, Luke 24:1-12

In the name of God, Loving Father, risen Son and ever present Holy Spirit Amen

As many of us know – I have been a bit of a captive audience in the last few weeks as I haven’t been at all well. As a result, I have consumed some day time telly in a way I wouldn’t usually, which has regularly featured a 30 second advert from one of the supermarkets. It begins well with Isn’t Easter just the best. The first time I  saw it – My heart soared at this point, because Easter is absolutely the best and beyond that too. Opening out God’s heart of love for us, the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever – AMEN!

If only this advert had stopped there! However it didn’t – A woman trimming a hedge then asked – What’s so great about Easter? And then from the perspective of this famous supermarket – we get what they think is great! I am going to use their ideas – to crack open the answer to the question – What’s so great about Easter – Because the reasons why Easter is the best can be revealed in this most unlikely source if we open our eyes to them! Showing us the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever – AMEN!

The first image used is of cascading easter eggs like this one. Pouring out of a shed and the words – for starters chocolate is everywhere. Hands up if chocolate is on the agenda for today? Who has given some Easter eggs to other people or is planning to? Who has already had some chocolate this morning? (is Easter day the day to have chocolate for breakfast?)…..

In our commercial world, it would be easy to think that Easter is primarily about chocolate!! Around 14 million easter eggs are purchased in this country each year! This tradition started in this country with decorated ordinary eggs. There are records from the court of Edward 1 in 1290, about him acquiring 450 eggs for the sum of 18 pennies. He then having them gilded with gold leaf and painted to distribute at Easter!!

The use of chocolate for eggs was introduced from Europe by our old friends the Victorians. In the days when Chocolate was something still very expensive. Cocoa had come along way – and a lot of effort was consumed making it egg shaped. The use of chocolate came from the sentiment of offering the best they had to mark Easter

The reason eggs were chosen for Easter can be broadly divided into 3 reasons:-

• The first – The egg representing the rebirth of nature – given to mark the start of spring and new life heralding the kingdom in a new way. SO as Christians an egg represents the rebirth of humanity through Jesus resurrection we mark this day

• A second alternative is that the egg represents the stone – more convincing without the sparkly wrapper – that was mysteriously rolled away from the tomb entrance, when Jesus rose from the dead. When we tuned into the account in Luke’s gospel reading, which we heard this morning – we find the women as the sun was rising heading to do the important tasks there had not been time to do on Good Friday. The women must have been anxious on their journey to the tomb as to how they were going to roll away the stone – But the job was already done. The way to life in God’s kingdom had been opened out to them and to us.

• A third alternative is that breaking open the egg reminds us of the tomb. The tomb the women entered – and encountered the two men in dazzling clothes. Another demonstration of God’s power. This was an important moment – and one where the women pieced together what had happened and it’s significance – it’s glory. The first thing they then did was to head off to share the good news.

So like that we can use Chocolate eggs to answer the question – What’s so great about Easter!

The advert went on to say “you can pick and choose who to invite!” and an exchange about an absent family member ensues. I have to take issue with supermarket thinking here and say that one of the very best things about Easter is that Jesus rising from the dead is for all and for everyone and also forever and ever. For the delight of all people as Isaiah had it. Jesus’ resurrection swept away once and for all any divisions set up through God’s earlier promises and opened the kingdom, the power and the glory to everyone. Not just for now but forever and ever!

The advert goes on to answer the question – what’s so great about Easter – with the weather – glorious in parts. I think we can use this to think about our how our natural world, which played apart in the events of the first Easter Day. How God’s power made things happen we can’t explain – like the stone rolled away and the dazzling angels. How we always mark this festival as Spring is breaking forth in our land! and the wonder of this.

The advert and the answer to the question – What’s so great about Easter – then turns to a mountain of these – hot cross buns. Traditionally in our country these are the fair of Good Friday, but for Easter Day -The bun shows us an empty cross reminding us that death could not contain Jesus or limit him through God’s love for him. As St Paul reminds us – Death has lost its sting and the glory of God is revealed. And in one of our hymns – in this amazing way Endless is the victory thou o’er death has won.

The final thing our supermarkets thinks is great about Easter revolves around the Easter bunny. A man lifting weights surrounded by white rabbits and a woman trimming a rabbit shaped topiary bush! Neither of these work well as a visual  to have here, so I have returned to chocolate representations. The history of the Easter Bunny is fundamentally of Christian origins – With the bunny sharing his eggs symbolising us sharing the good news of the first Easter as we saw the women sharing the good news in our gospel. But I think if we use rabbit instead – we can think about some words beginning with R to remind us of what is so important about Easter – like Risen, resurrection and REJOICING!

So to sum up the answer to the question – What’s so great about Easter – that the supermarket posed and  all the things we have revealed using their visuals.

• New life, rolling away the stone, the empty tomb encountering dazzling – The glory of God

• That Jesus rising is for everyone and for ever in his kingdom

• The power of God over nature, and new life springing around us

• The empty cross and power over death

• Sharing the good news

• Risen – Resurrection – Rejoicing

To finish this day and the power, love and purposes of God for us it demonstrates. All this enables us to say the final line of the Lord’s prayer deep in our hearts and with great confidence. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever, Amen

Say that with me – For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever.  Amen

The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition), copyright 1989, 1995

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/zone/easter-advert/?icid=zone_easter2022_treats_topnav_advert

Songs reproduced under CCL 217043 for St Peter and St Paul’s Church – Wincanton

Good Friday 2022 – Deliver us from evil

I am very aware that there are people listening to me now who know their bibles very well, and will have noticed that I have shortened the gospel account from John of Jesus execution.  Had I included the full reading that our lectionary sets for today, Angie would have had some 3000 words to read.  I am also aware that there are people here who will have found some parts of the service difficult as we all come from different traditions.  The important thing, however is that we are all here, all together and will walk together behind the cross after this service to place it on a hill in the middle of town to remind people what their holiday with its buns and chocolate eggs is actually all about.

Yesterday evening we held a service of communion and shared a simple meal of bread and cheese together in this church as has been our custom for the last few years – with a break of course for Covid.  After this meal and service, we strip the church of all decorations so that for today and tomorrow it is reduced to bare wood and stone.  I grew up in an evangelical Anglican church in Southsea, which did not go in for rituals or symbolic acts, and the first time I saw the church being stripped I was surprised at how moving I found it.  We have removed from this place of worship everything that might distract us from the bare facts that are placed before us in our bible readings.

In this church for the period of Lent we have been looking in our reflections at the Lord’s Prayer, and the phrase that has been allocated to today is ‘Deliver us from evil’.  So considering that as our theme for today, and looking around us at the church building which has been stripped back to the bare elements, raises the question – why do we call it Good Friday.  We have heard that it was the day when the central figure of our faith – we all call ourselves Christians after all – was betrayed and sold by a friend, submitted to a sham trial, was stripped, flogged, denied and deserted by his friends and put to death with criminals by the will of the religious leaders of his day who almost blackmail the governor of the occupying power to get the sentence that they want.  Finally, his body was given a rushed burial in a borrowed tomb and left with an armed guard in case of grave robbers.   As Isaiah put it – ‘He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief’

And yet since the 4^th century – for some 1700 years, this has been one of the three days of celebration of Easter and although among many this is a day for penance and fasting before the great celebration that comes on Sunday.  We have the advantage over those disciples who mostly fled in the gospel accounts – we know how the story goes on.  We know the truth of Psalm 30 v 5 – ‘Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes in the morning.’  We were reminded by the last person to preach at this united service that we are an Easter people – I would take it further – we are a resurrection people.

We have not been able to meet together like this since 2019 – three years ago and they have been years that many people found hard.  In that time, we have lost many people whom we loved – some to the pandemic itself, and others to other things.  Many of us have found it hard to mourn as we need to or have been denied the provision of fitting funerals.  We have also been unable to celebrate the seasons of joy – the wonder of the incarnation at Christmas, or the joy of the resurrection on Easter Sunday.  Surely the fact that we can at last come together today underlines the Good in Good Friday.

I spoke earlier of the differences that you would find if you visited each of the churches represented her today – differences in layout and style of worship.  I would suggest though that the one thing that we all have in common – and that you would find in each of our churches is the symbol that we gather around today – every one of us, somewhere in our church buildings will have a cross – some of us many and ornate, others fewer, some very plain and simple, but each of them will be unmissable and unmistakeable.  As St Paul says in the first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 2 and verse 2: For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (I Cor 2:2)

Or as the Message version puts it: ’I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified’.

And in that message – boiled down to its bare facts, stripped if you like of all decoration, we have the reason why this day is called Good Friday.  The reason why we are able to set aside our differences and worship as one body – one church, one faith one Lord as the hymn says.  And why we can know that because of all this, because of the obedience of Jesus in going to the cross, we have been delivered from evil.

But today is not an ending.  The disciples thought that it was, and mostly hid in fear and grief – and who can blame them.  As I said earlier – we know what happened next, and that is why we must not just use today to look back – Easter Sunday could not have happened without there being a Good Friday, but let us not get stuck there – just as we will celebrate Jesus glorious resurrection on Sunday, so we have to find a way to move forward from the crises that we have endured over the past years, and still – in places like Yemen and Ukraine – endure today.  It is important too that we do not seek to go back to what we have always known – our God has said ‘Behold I make all things new’ (Revelation 21:5).  To move towards the unknown new from the comfortable well known is not easy and will certainly at times be uncomfortable, but I believe it will be worth it.  I also believe that Pope Francis was right when he said, ‘To emerge from this crisis better than before, we have to do so together; together, not alone. Together. Not alone, because it cannot be done. Either it is done together, or it is not done. We must do it together, all of us, in solidarity.’ (Pope Francis, General Audience, September 2, 2020.

More and more we will need each other for support, for encouragement and to remind us at all times that we have more in common than divides us.  To bring each other back on occasions to ‘first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did.’  Today we look to, follow and proudly place in the middle of our town, the cross, because on the cross the work of God’s redemption was perfected.  We read that the last enemy to be overcome is death (I Corinthians 15:26).  In the words of John Donne in his holy sonnet no 10 – Death be not proud he finished with the words ‘And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.’  In the Lord’s prayer we ask to be delivered from evil.  And as Jesus said from the cross – ‘It is finished’.

A Sermon preached by The Revd Ken Masters at Wincanton on 5th Sunday in Lent, 3 April 2022

Readings: Philippians 3^4b-141; John 12^1-8

This sermon is the fifth in our Lent Series on The Lord’s Prayer.  Today we look at ‘Thy will be done.

The prayer ‘Thy will be done’ extends the meaning of the two previous phrases.  Where God’s Name – where God Himself – is hallowed (held holy); there His Kingdom will come; and His Will shall be done.  So, God’s will is done in the context of hallowing His Name and praying for the coming of His Kingdom – rather than being something separate.

Sometimes God’s will is not what we want.  Much of the time, of course, we don’t spare a thought for what God’s will may be in a particular situation.  Perhaps saying The Lord’s Prayer with more attention may help us to remember that vital question a bit more often.

When we look at the Gospels to see how Jesus himself approached God’s will, then the most obvious – and moving – example is, as I mentioned a month ago, his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Jesus prayed desperately, in the knowledge the crisis was just about to break, when he would be arrested and condemned to a lonely and horrifying death.  ‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘all things are possible to thee; take this cup away from me.  Yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.’  [Mark 14^36.]  This was a real, heart-wrenching moment of praying –

‘Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.’

There are times when, like our Lord, we’d prefer to avoid God’s will; times when it is hard or painful.  There are also times when, despite our best endeavours, we cannot see what God’s will is in a particular situation.  God has never promised us an easy or comfortable life.  We have to keep on praying.  And, eventually – perhaps after a very long time of what has felt like unanswered praying – God’s will may become clear.  And I take it as self-evident – that God’s will is what in the long run promotes the greatest, deepest and most fulfilling happiness – for ourselves and for all His other children on earth, as well as the whole company of heaven.

If we think for a moment of the situation in Ukraine, I cannot imagine that the Russian invasion was God’s will.  Now that they have attempted it – with all the loss of life, destruction, and refugees, we have to continue praying, ‘Thy will be done’.  None of know how things will turn out.  Many of us hope against hope that the brave Ukrainian people will succeed in saving as much of their country as possible – and that families split apart will be able to be reunited.  But we can only trust in our heavenly Father and keep on praying, ‘Thy will be done.’

The other day I came across a description of an encounter ‘during the American Civil War.  A lady exclaimed effusively to President Lincoln: “Oh, Mr President, I feel so sure that God is on our side, don’t you?”  “Ma’am,” replied the President, “I am more concerned that we should be on God’s side.”’  [K Edwards, MQ&A, C39.]

If we read biographies of great Christians of the past, we’ll find that while there were “Road to Damascus” moments, for much of the time individuals had to go forward in faith, trusting they had found the right way, and they were doing God’s will – yet without any certainty.  That comes out in Newman’s hymn we sang a few minutes ago.  ‘Lead, kindly Light, amid the’encircling gloom, lead thou me on.’  And as the verse concluded: ‘Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see / the distant scene; one step enough for me.’

At a very much more hum drum level, I remember applying for a parish job.  When the interviewers asked why I’d applied, I told them it was because I felt called to do so.  So, they came back with the further question about what if I was not appointed.  To which I answered, that was fine, because I only felt called to apply – and what happened after was another matter.  In case you’re curious: I wasn’t appointed to that job.  But I still feel it was part of my path in life to apply – and then to find out what happened next and ask further guidance.

We can – and indeed do – repeat The Lord’s Prayer without thinking about a word of it.  But the Lord gave us this prayer – not as an empty formula to mumble automatically – but as a framework for our prayers and also as the simplest and the deepest expression of our relationship with God, in whose constant presence we live.  And so, through all the multifarious tasks and relationships and thoughts of each day, there may run this prayer of the heart: ‘Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as in heaven.’

We follow a Lord who walked that way.  He spent hours, as the Gospels tell us, praying to His heavenly Father.  The result was not good fortune, nor a splendid palace, nor even popularity.  Instead, the way led to the Cross and to dying in disgrace.  Yet, then, God raised him to new and glorious life eternal.  So, if we are to follow him with any faithfulness, we must keep remembering his prayer.  ‘Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as in heaven.’

I’d like to finish with the prayer of St Ignatius Loyola – which was used at Prince Philips’ Memorial Service:

Teach me to serve thee as thou deservest;

To give and not to count the cost,

To fight and not to heed the wounds,

To toil and not to seek for rest,

To labour and not to seek reward,

Save that of knowing that I do thy will.  Amen.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight amen.

 While reflecting on the readings we have heard today I strongly felt I needed to talk about honour it was put strongly upon my heart, so Honour is the subject of this talk. How do we honour each other and how do we honour God?  We don’t honour people enough, do we? It’s not a word we use much anymore It means to hold someone in the highest esteem and respect.

In our first reading, Paul teaches the Colossians to clothe yourself in love, to honour and how it binds everything together in perfect harmony, to be patient. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it. I feel I spend a lot of time saying to my family if anyone has a complaint against each other forgive!

If you are a parent, when did you know that you were going to be a parent? How did that feel?  For me it was the first scan, seeing a little perfectly formed human swimming around. Or maybe the first small kicks and the joy that brings? Signing the adoption papers? We would have all felt the same trepidation mixed with joy. Then you have a baby! Some things are instinctive, feeding, the need to keep it warm. It’s a big deal, God has put you in charge of a life! Then the first milestones, first words, and steps helped by careful, loving nurture.

I am not talking just about woman today I’m talking about all those who mother in love. You don’t have to be a mother to mother something, or someone. Mother comes in all shapes and sizes and so does family. Our parents, stepparents, grandparents, same sex partners, uncles and aunts, God parents. And all who raise children alone being both mum and dad.  We honour you all!

When reflecting on parenthood, I wondered what Jesus’ first words were. Did he sleep well? Was he a good baby as we say today? Mary knew she was going to have a baby via a message from an angel. She knew she was going to bear the savour of the world! She must have been very anxious as a new parent to be like us. I wondered what Jesus thought of children and had a read of the bible. In Matthew, Jesus invited children to come to him for blessing, The disciples had not wanted the children to go to Jesus, children were very much ‘women’s work’ back then. But Jesus wanted the children to see him, to come to him, a very motherly thing to do. It was the custom for Jewish mothers to receive a blessing from high-ranking rabbis for their children and they recognised Jesus as such.  Christs love for children was real and genuine.

Julian of Norwich wrote a book in the Middle Ages.  The revelation of Jesus in motherly love. She was a medieval mystic who had a number of visions when she was gravely ill, she saw Jesus as mother and father She said ‘Our true mother Jesus, he who is all love, all the debt we owe at gods bidding for his fatherhood and motherhood is fulfilled by a loving God.’ She recognised God both as male and female and wrote ‘ just as God is our father, also he is our mother.’ Both maternal and paternal.

Like a mother who nurses her child, I believe we are fed from Christ’s own body during the eucharist the food of true life. It enriches the spirit and the body.  We are protected, gathered under the wings of Christ like chicks to the mother hen. Jesus honoured children.

In the second reading we come to every parent’s nightmare the loss of a child. We see Mary Jesus’ mother standing at the foot of the cross about to lose her firstborn son.  We must assume that Joseph has died as we don’t hear about him later in the Bible. Back then this was an extremely difficult place to be a woman. All women had to belong to a man. So, Jesus honours his mother, he tells John ‘Here is your mother’ he is asking john to take responsibility for Mary after his death. John takes Mary into his home. We honour Mary today. To all those who have lost a child we honour you.

Parenting is an honour, a very special calling and certainly not an easy one. I have four children aged between 8-21, It can seem like you a juggling so may balls, trying to keep them in the air while working, cleaning mixed in with trying to nurture yourself as well as children. And sometimes we drop a ball, sometimes we get things wrong, sometimes difficult decisions are made for what is best for now.  And that’s ok!  its ok to reach out, its ok to cry. Who do we reach out to? A parent? A friend? Did we open the bible? Did we pray and ask God for strength?  Shall we try it next time. We as parents make mistakes, it is a lifelong commitment that does not stop when they turn 18, as I’m sure most of us with older children and grandchildren know that! And how expensive they become!

Our children can teach us how to be better adults. Christ wants us to be childlike in our faith, easy, free and unashamed. We honour all those parents who are struggling to do their best to raise their children in the way of Jesus. Relationships are not always easy, We honour those whose relationship with their mother was not good, those abandoned, neglected who have sadness in their hearts. There will be many of us here. Mother’s Day can be difficult for some people, bringing out difficult memories and emotions.  Paul says Forgive. Forgive each other as the lord has forgiven you, with the strength of God and allowing him to richly dwell in us he will clothe us. God is with us, every day, we have that promise, all the time beside us our heavenly parent, and in him, we will find peace.

We have heard about how God honours us, how then do we honour God? In the words of Paul, with gratitude in your heart, and whatever you do, in word and deed do everything in the name of lord Jesus giving and praise to God through him. We go out to do God’s work, nurturing each other and helping all Gods people thrive.

Eventually we must let our children go, they grow they leave and follow their own paths. We never have children to keep them. If your children are leaving home, going to university or going away, we honour you. We remember that children are a blessing from God and we watch them grow up as Mary did.  God honours us with the privilege of parenthood in all it’s forms when we sit down today and share a meal together, read the kind words in cards or enjoy some time to ourselves, we give thanks to God for the joy our young people bring, the honour of watching them grow and thrive in their lives and faith while remembering Gods’ abundance towards us.

Today on this Mother’s Day we give thanks to God for our mothers, the givers of life.  I hope you are honoured not just with flowers, chocolates, a nice meal but most of all, with love.  Amen.

Reference: Revelations of divine love. Julian of Norwich

Thy Kingdom Come

Our theme for today in our journey through the Lord’s Prayer is ‘Thy Kingdom Come’.  They do say that you should be careful what you pray for, and I think that the phrase that we are looking at today – Thy Kingdom Come – is one of those occasions.  I did think that since we have a 9-day season with this heading, there would be plenty of resources for me to draw on today, but sadly I couldn’t find any.  I personally find it difficult to separate Thy Kingdom come from the phrase that follows it – Thy Will be done, but Alison will be talking about that in a couple of weeks’ time!  I do feel, however that both should have a comment after them in brackets to the effect that this means you too – and me.

It might be a useful idea to define what we mean by ‘God’s Kingdom’ if we are going to pray for it to happen as often as we do.  The Bible gives us a lot of pictures, and many of them very different – to a wandering people with no settled home it is easy to see why they thought God lived in a garden where everything they needed would grow nearby without too much effort on their part, and where God would come and talk with them at the end of a day’s work.  To a people wandering for many years in a barren desert, the thought of God leading them to a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’ is easy to understand.  Living, as we do in a place where grass grows all too easily and cattle thrive, it is hard for us to understand what a luxury a ready supply of dairy products is.

Isaiah and Micah, both writing at about the same time, and if not actually from a position of exile, then with the strong possibility of it always in mind tell us that the reign of God will bring peace not only to people but also in the animal kingdom – the wolf will lie down with the lamb, the lion eat straw like the ox and a little child shall lead them, and  Micah tells us that every man shall be able to sit beneath his vine and his fig tree, and that swords will be beaten into ploughshares and no one shall study war – or again, as Isaiah put it ‘They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain’ says the Lord.

It is easy to see that our picture of the kingdom of God is very much coloured by our circumstances at the time.  I could be tempted to think that the kingdom of God is where nobody ever grows older or develops new aches and pains and I am sure some of you would agree with me.  We might feel that it is the place where we shall see again people we have loved but who have been taken from us, or perhaps even people we never got the chance to know.

Jesus gave us more pictures of the kingdom than I can count – variously it is like a mustard seed, a valuable pearl, a farm or vineyard, a sheep fold, yeast, a fishing net, a wheat field and buried treasure.  The things he does seem to make clear however, are that the Kingdom cannot be seen except with the mindset of a child, and that, as he explained to Pilate, it is not of this world but that it is growing.  So, what are we actually asking for when we pray ‘Thy Kingdom Come’?

In its simplest form, God’s kingdom must be that place or state of being where God is obeyed.  In this country, all the laws are enacted on behalf of the queen, and it is at least theoretically true to say that if we break the law, we are being disobedient to her, and so it must be with God.  Jesus gave very few commandments but the one that he gave most often is that we should love one another.  We heard it in the summary of the law that was read as part of our service to encourage us to repentance only a few minutes ago.

One thing Jesus was clear about, however, is that going to look for the kingdom is pointless.  We cannot look for signs of the approaching kingdom in the way that we see snowdrops and daffodils as signs of spring, as the kingdom is already here.  So how to be aware of it?

I think we do see glimpses of the kingdom when people are behaving in ways which I think would be pleasing to God.  I am writing this before Comic Relief, but I am sure that by the time you read or hear it, we will once again be amazed by the generosity of people in giving to this cause at a time when their finances are under stress already.  I recently heard that 100,000 people had registered to offer to share their homes with refugees from the war in Ukraine – by now it will be many more than that, and some of the community organisations collecting things to take have had to ask for donations to stop for a while as they have more than they can cope with.  I am fairly sure that there will be people from all the churches – as well as from none – who will come to our Lent lunch on Friday and help us to support our Zambia link.  Alison and I recently heard a speaker telling of how she loves to buy bunches of daffodils at this time of year when they are so cheap, and give them away to complete strangers – simply because she thinks they might be in need of a blessing, and I have in the past spent a day giving away bars or chocolate as part of a lent observance.  It brings home the truth of the saying that it is more blessed to give than to receive – if you haven’t tried giving unsolicited gifts, or even kind words, praise or smiles, I recommend it, it is more rewarding than you could imagine.  All of these must bring joy to our heavenly father, and cause the invisible kingdom that is here and now to grow a little.

So are we saying that the kingdom of God is somewhere where everyone is nice?  Somehow that doesn’t seem quite right.  Jesus said a great many things, and some of them seem very far from nice.  And yet people were drawn to Him.  I have been privileged to meet on occasions people who simply made me feel better.  They didn’t necessarily do or say anything unusual, but after talking with them I always felt that the world was a better place.  The one thing they had in common was that they were people of prayer – who spent time with God, in just the way that we read of Jesus doing – slipping away to a quiet place to just be with his Father, when often no words were necessary.  I think this may be the way in which we can seek the kingdom of God, cause it to grow within and around us so that people will be drawn, not to us, but to the Kingdom.  And that is why I think that praying ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ is not just asking God to act, but also to spur ourselves into being a part of making it happen.  Maybe we should be careful only to pray it if we are prepared to do it as well.

Reflectio will be here!

A Sermon preached by The Revd Ken Masters at Pen Selwood

on 4^th Sunday before Lent, 6 February 2022

Readings: Isaiah 6^1-8; Matthew 5^13-20

The two readings have an obvious similarity.  Both men felt themselves totally unworthy.  But there were a number of differences.

In almost poetic language we heard how – ‘In the year that King Uzziah died’, namely about 740 bc – the young Isaiah was in Solomon’s Temple.  It was possibly at their New Year’s Day of the Autumn Festival, a time of prayer and sacrifices.  King Uzziah’s death had provoked a sense of foreboding and urgency.  Affected by this, Isaiah was then overwhelmed by the surroundings and significance of the Temple, aided by the swirling clouds of incense.  He became aware of the presence of the Holy One, the Lord of Hosts – and his sense of his own uncleanness and unworthiness became unbearable.  But then he had a profound experience of being purified and forgiven.  And when he heard the call of the Lord, he found himself saying, ‘Here am I; send me!’  So began his life as one of God’s prophets.

Simon Peter, on the other hand, was (you may say) at work.  He and his colleagues were washing their fishing nets.  According to Luke’s Gospel, before that, Jesus had taught in the synagogue at Capernaum – and then had gone nearby to Simon’s house, where Simon’s mother-in-law was sick; and Jesus healed her.  That connection could explain why Jesus asked Simon to let him teach from his fishing boat.  After that Jesus told him to fish again, further out.  After the amazing – if not alarming – catch of fish, Simon knelt before Jesus.  ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’  As he owned up to his own unworthiness – perhaps he was also fearful of what might be involved; he didn’t feel ready or good enough to be accepted and called by Jesus.

But Jesus reassured him.  ‘Do not be afraid.’  Words that had to be repeated time and again, in his roller-coaster career as an Apostle.  And with the others, he left everything to follow Jesus.  Perhaps to begin with, it wasn’t too hard.  Capernaum – the small town by the shores of the lake of Gennesaret (otherwise known as the Sea of Galilee) – was their base and Simon Peter’s home town.  The big step came when they moved north to Caesarea Philippi – and Peter spoke up on behalf the disciples.  ‘You are the Christ.’  But he couldn’t face the consequences of Jesus’ kind of Messiah – and told him so.  Later on, in Jerusalem, Peter said he’d never deny Jesus – yet, only a few hours later, he did so, three times.  And then after the Resurrection, he confessed his love for the Risen Jesus – and was reassured and confirmed as Peter, the Rock, and told to tend the flock of Christ.

Simon Peter was no lifeless and rigid rock.  He was a fallible, impetuous, developing human being.  He made mistakes – but he also became able to accept forgiveness.  He learnt and he grew.  As Jesus told him, he changed his original ‘occupation [of] fishing for fish to fishing for men’.

[C F Evans, St Luke, p. 292.]  Eventually he followed Jesus to the end.

In very different circumstances, many of us will have experienced feelings of unworthiness.  There were times when, in my own small way, I felt unworthy to be called and lacking in confidence to be entrusted with new responsibilities.  And from the opposite angle, there were many occasions when I asked individuals to take on some particular work in the Church, and the response would often be, “No, not me, I’m not good enough.”  It was an initial sign that they might be the right person.  To some extent any new responsibility can bring out a sense of unworthiness and unfitness.  Yet we learn that God lovingly accepts us and gives us the resources to take on the task of working with Him.  And, of course, that is never the end, but another beginning.

Some of you may have read Nelson Mandela’s memoirs, Long Walk To Freedom.  It was partly written during his imprisonment on Robben Island – and then finished after his release from prison, before he was made President in 1994.  He died in 2013.  The last paragraph of his epic story has an attitude of openness, hope and trust.  We might apply his words to our experience of discipleship, and to our own individual journey.

I have walked [the] long road to freedom.  I have tried not to falter; I have made mis-steps along the way.  But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.  I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come.  But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.  [p. 751]

For each of us, in our many different ways, the journey goes on.  Dag Hammarskjold put it succinctly: ‘For all that has been, Thanks; for all that shall be, Yes!’

I’ll finish by repeating the prayer in today’s Collect:

O God, … grant to us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.