John 20: 19-31

Have indulged after the end of lent have you now cleared all remnants of Easter away with the empty egg boxes? Most shops will now have cleared all the bunnies, and the chickens and the shops will now be launching into try to encourage us into summer mode and holiday shopping.

But in the church we don’t forget about Easter that easily. Like Christmas the Easter season continues in the church for a good few weeks as we continue to celebrate the amazing truth of the resurrection, central to all we believe and why we are here at all today.

So in our readings for the next weeks we will be looking at the different resurrection accounts.

Before Easter I introduced to you the idea that we would be concentrating on discovering more about what Jesus teaches us about himself – how we can Know him better through the readings that we have been given in this period of Easter tide.

What it means to us to Know him influences how we are going to be and how we are going to live as Easter people in our own relationship with God and in our relationship with each other.

So what can we learn about Jesus from todays reading? Normally faced with this reading I would be concentrating on Thomas but today because of our focus I want to focus on Jesus and three things he calls us too.

Firstly He calls us to live at peace – because he brings it

Just imagine for a moment how the disciples were feeling at the beginning of our reading. Huddled in the upper room because they were afraid. The news of Jesus’ resurrection had got out and the jewish authorities were not happy. So the disciples were frightened as to what was going to happen.

And then into this fear Jesus appears and brings with him the greeting of Peace.

What a strange thing is happening in that room. The Prince of Peace has come to them and they are afraid. He is the very one who can calm all their fears. He is the one who had told them before his death, (John 14:27) “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”. But here they are very afraid. He proves to them that he is not a spirit, not a ghost. He shows them his hands and side. They see clearly that this is indeed the resurrected Christ.

At that moment of revelation their fears are gone. Their sorrow is turned to joy. Their hopes are revived.

The presence of Jesus turns everything around. Jesus had said “I will never leave you nor forsake you”, and the realisation of this is what made a difference to his disciples that night.  

What about us – are we aware of the Prince of peace with us.  The message from the resurrected Christ is that his presence with us gives peace.

We may not experience it outwardly with things going on in our lives but knowing Christ’s presence with us can bring to us a deep seated and inner peace.

We need to hear this message again today - Jesus says Peace be with you.

Do you know that peace for yourselves? The words of the resurrected Christ come to us afresh and call us to spend time with him to discover or rediscover the peace he brings to us. Because it is by consciously spending time with him that we grow in our realisation of his presence with us and the peace he brings. 

Jesus says to his followers, “Peace be with you.” That is a powerful revelation of his heart toward us. Think about the way these disciples have been behaving. Suppose you had served twelve people for three years. You had cared for them and taught them. When they found themselves perishing on an angry sea you came and rescued them. They had told you how much they loved you and would even die for you. But then when the pressure got on they wouldn’t even pray with you. You asked them to pray but instead they slept. When the authorities came to arrest you, you made sure they were safe and not arrested. You are about to be brutally beaten and crucified. One has betrayed you. One openly denies even knowing you. All of them have run away and left you to deal with the problem alone. How would you feel about friends like that?

Would your first words to them be “Peace be with you”? I think I would probably say something like this, “A fine bunch of friends you people are. With friends like you, who needs enemies? I’ve had it with all of you and doubt I will ever be able to trust any of you again. I hope you know how deeply you have hurt me? Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”

Isn’t it wonderful what Jesus does not say to these people? He does not say to them “Shame on you. I’m really disappointed in all of you.” Quite the opposite, he says, “Peace be with you”. 

We can at times be just like the disciples when we disappoint Jesus failing to admit our discipleship, falling asleep on him in our complacency, running away from his challenge. And yet just like his message to his disciples he says to us- Peace be with you.

And then the second call we see from this passage is that of the call for us to share in the resurrected Christ’s ministry and how he equips us with the Holy Spirit of life.

Straight after Jesus brought the message of peace he commissions the disciples for the next chapter in the story.

He knows that his earthly life was coming to a close when he was to ascend to heaven, but he knew that the next revelation of him was going to be through the disciples and followers of Jesus. So the commission to them is clear-as the Father sent me so I am sending you.

And the message that seems to be stressed here is that of forgiveness. The death and resurrection of Jesus allows the ultimate forgiveness of sins and the disciples are to preach that and to practise that in their daily lives.

This must have seemed like a daunting task to the disciples but at the same time as commissioning them he equips them with the Holy Spirit.

Now this is where it can get a bit difficult to understand- because here we have Jesus breathing on them and them apparently receiving the Holy Spirit and this is before Pentecost.

But the easiest way of understanding it rather than thinking it is in terms of the writers emphasis on the Holy Spirit. In John the emphasis is on a life giving spirit and in Luke’s account in Acts the emphasis is on the power of the Holy Spirit. So John’s account shows that the life of the Holy Spirit the spiritual life of knowing God for themselves, of knowing their own forgiveness and the ability to share this with others is given to them here. Later in Acts we see the power of the Holy Spirit shown clearly.

So the disciples are commissioned to bring forgiveness and are given the life enriching Spirit to equip them to do this.

And then the third call for us is when Jesus challenges the doubt of Thomas and calls for a response to him.  For Thomas the pain of the death of Jesus had caused him was evident in his response. He brought to mind the crucifixion clearly with his desire to see the nail marks.  Perhaps his pain and suffering marred his believing. Perhaps he just couldn’t bring himself to be hurt again if he discovered it was all some scam.

And then Jesus appears to him and he is brought to a realisation of the risen Christ.

Jesus challenge to him is clear – stop doubting and believe. Don’t let the pain of hurt now cloud your reaction to me, I am here risen believe it. And what is his response well he falls in submission to Jesus – My Lord and my God. Realising the magnitude of the resurrection and answering the call to stop doubting and believe he affirms his faith clearly.

What about us – can we be a bit like Thomas sometimes. Can the pain or hurt of a situation cloud our belief, make it difficult for us to wholeheartedly submit to the risen Christ.  Do we need to hear Christ’s call to us again this morning – Stop doubting and believe. See me as the risen Christ, know my presence with you- the peace I bring to you,  hear my call to go out and tell others about me in how you live your life and what you say, equipped with the Holy Spirit of life to bring forgiveness to the world.

This is the third call on us from the resurrected Christ in this account. But the call links in with the call to know his peace and to go out in to the world. What is our reaction to these calls this morning?

Palm Sunday and the challenge to Know Christ as King

If I was to ask you to introduce yourself this morning to someone you didn’t know in Church I wonder what you would say about yourself.

Perhaps you would give your name,  a little bit about yourself, what you do for a living, how long you may have been coming to this church, 

But I wonder if by the end of the conversation whether the other person would really know you?

Last weekend we were away with friends who we have known for a very long time some 30 years now and although we don’t seem them very often these days the depth of the relationship was obvious as we spoke, laughed and travelled together.

It takes time to truly know someone and to grow in that relationship with them.

We have been thinking as a ministry team of what we can teach on a Sunday and in mid week groups as we approach the interregnum and beyond, what will best help us to seek a vision for the future here, and as we have thought about it I was struck powerfully by the call for us as Christians to Know God.  Paul says in Phillipians 3: 10  I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection,    and it is this desire that I think we need to grow in all of us- to desire to know God-

This is both about our own discipleship and about sharing in Christ’s mission for the world. So what does it mean to know Christ?

At a basic level it is about our own personal relationship but this is not something that is static – if we take discipleship seriously then this should be ever changing and developing as we travel our lives with Christ by our side.

So knowing Christ is about intellectual knowledge in our deepening of understanding and intellectual enquiry as to the deep questions that we are posed from the bible  - Who really was Jesus, what did he mean when he said I am the way, the truth and the life, how does this knowledge influence my thought processes and actions

But knowing Christ is so much more about head knowledge, it is something deep seated and all about heart knowledge as well. As we grow in our relationship with him we begin to know him at different levels of understanding. As we grow in our relationship with him we begin to see the intricacy of our lives being woven together in a unique and beautiful way with Christ as the master weaver of the threads.  Knowing Christ involves our prayer lives, our quiet lives, our times of reflection and how we deal with the stresses and strains of life.

And knowing Christ is all about relationships with each other and the world outside our life as a church. Knowing Christ involves us learning together what it means to be Christ’s disciples at a very deep level, what it means to love each other as Christ himself loves us. Knowing Christ is as much about our relationships with each other as it is about our relationship with Christ himself.

And in order to make Christ known we need to be growing in our knowledge of Him. It is not a one comes first and once we have that sorted we can move on to the next part of the jigsaw puzzle. It can’ t be that because in many ways we would never get there – it takes a life time to truly know Christ. But when we are on that journey it is a gospel imperative to begin to make Christ known in the world. But we begin that because we have begun to get to know Christ ourselves and want to share the amazing news/life/blessings that this entails.

So as we move out of Lent and into Easter we are going to be thinking about this in our sermons – we are going to be thinking as we read the resurrection accounts what each teaches us about Knowing the resurrected Christ, and then in our small groups we are going to be thinking how we can deepen that relationship with continuing to think about prayer.

Jesus asked his disciples the question who do people say that I am- and then more challenging to them – who do you say that I am?  When we look at Jesus presented to us in the Bible who do we think he is?  Today’s story is a great challenge to us as we see Jesus presented to us as a King riding into Jerusalem- to the jews of the day a deeply significant event- they shouted Hosanna to him thinking he was one thing and then when he didn’t live up to their expectations a week later they were shouting crucify.

So as we think about  deepening our understanding of who Jesus is – what sort of King is Jesus?

And as we answer that question we are left with many more as his Kingship challenges us if we accept the invitation to be part of his radical and life changing Kingdom, because as we look at Jesus today and see him riding into Jerusalem on a donkey we are left with the picture of a King of surprises.

Jesus’ Kingship is surprising in that it is so different to the idea of Kingship and power in the world today. Jesus rides a donkey not a symbol of power and authority but a symbol of humility and peace.
If he had come to be a wordly King with power and with view to conquer by force he would have been on a white charger or war horse- but here he is on the back of a donkey a symbol of peace.

We know this fulfils prophecy, prophecy written in the book of Zechariah 9– “Rejoice o daughter Zion! Shout aloud O daughter Jerusalem!  For your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey.”  But this prophecy continues with the reason why the Messiah will come— “he will cut off the war chariot from Ephraim, and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace (shalom) to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”  

Yes the Messiah shall come as a King on a donkey but he wasn’t coming to bring freedom from oppression as they anticipated – he was coming as the Prince of Peace, and the people didn’t get it.

Take for example the waving of the palm branches. This had a specific symbolic meaning. It was used to celebrate the Maccabean victory less than two centuries before, when the Jewish Maccabees militarily conquered and retook Jerusalem from pagan overlords.   It was what the crowds hoped for when they saw Jesus riding into town on a donkey, which reminded them of King David or King Solomon and their ceremonial ridings into Zion. 

The people waving their palm branches had one expectation but Jesus came not to meet their expectations but to meet a more profound need.

Jesus raised the hopes and expectations of his own disciples who thought that he was coming to town as the new leader the new King perhaps they thought they would have pride of place in the new government.  Perhaps it is not surprising their lack of understanding when things changed during the next week.

Jesus was a King of surprises his Kingship was radical and he had already shared this with his disciples yet they didn’t appear to understand. His manifesto was contained within his teaching most notably that on the mount when he shared the priorities of his Kingdom.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

When we read those words we are challenged in our discipleship –– these are the characteristics of his Kingdom – meekness, righteousness, mercy, peace, and in turn persecution and rejection.

And the challenge then to us is how do we display these characteristics in our daily live

Jesus came to bring this peace to the world.  Peace in our hearts and lives. The events of this coming week as we look to the cross show his love for us and by the cross we are able to know forgiveness and peace in our hearts as we find access to God again.

As we enter Holy week we look to the cross and we see God’s amazing love for us all.

But as we see the prince of peace the King of all Kings riding on a donkey we are challenged to think of what it truly means to be part of His Kingdom.

If we take this seriously then our lives as individuals and a church will be radically changed because this is about putting the characteristics of Christ’s kingdom into practise. Jesus as the King of Kings rules over the world and shows himself to the world through his people.  

As Tom Wright writes: “When God wants to change the world he doesn’t send in the tanks. He sends in the meek, the mourners, those who are hungry and thirsty for God’s justice, the peacemakers, and so on. Just as God’s whole style his chosen way of operating, reflects his generous love, sharing his rule with his human creatures, so the way in which those humans then have to behave if they are to be agents of Jesus’ lordship reflects in its turn the same sense of vulnerable, gentle, but powerful self-giving love.”

We have seen examples of this throughout the centuries as Christians have stood up for the Kingdom values and have led in the move to change the world – the abolition of slavery, the ending of South African apartheid the setting up of the hospice movement – all these have been led by members of Christ’s Kingdom taking his Kingdom values seriously – showing by example of the Kingdom of the prince of peace who came riding on a donkey.

So as we look at Jesus on the donkey riding into Jerusalem  we can hear his question to us - Who do you say that I am?  If we have begun to know him as the Prince of peace then we can not fail to be challenged to consider the implications of his Kingship on our own lives. 

If others are to know Christ as the King of their lives how can they see him reflected in my life? Do I display a Kingdom of peace in how I live and interact with others?  

Perhaps this week as we journey with Jesus towards the cross and pause at its foot on Friday to see the enormity of Christ’s love for us we can be challenged in our own discipleship to Know Christ as the prince of peace in our lives and live by his Kingdom values.

Reflections from my recent retreat: Finding God in the gaps

Anyone who is an artist of any sorts knows the importance of the gaps. Gaps or spaces are as important as the brush strokes that are on the page. Gaps or spaces are filled in with your eye to make the whole whether or not be a hidden bit of branch from a tree or a suggestion of a person sitting or standing by a beautiful scene the skill of the artist is as much about the use of spaces as about the use of detail, in fact the space makes the detail.

The same could be said about the gift of composing beautiful music – the pause is as important as the note itself and adds texture, emotion and meaning. 

So why in our world when we see gaps as being important to add to artistic beauty are we so frightened of gaps or spaces in our lives?  It seems to me that we live life generally at 150% most of the time. Even our children suffer the delight of busyness as they are rushed from one frenetic activity to another never giving time to sit and relax and switch off.  And what about our adult lives. How often do you like me when asked the how are you question reply with the answer “Busy!”  Most of our lives revolve around rushing around from one thing to another even those who are recently retired comment that they don’t know how they found time to work before. Busyness is a condition in our society and I am afraid to say leads not only to personal stress but little time to appreciate the needs of others. On top of this busyness leads us to do lots but most dangerously does not allow us time to “be”.  We may be busy even in our church lives doing lots of worthy things but surreptitiously our busyness pushes God out of the equation as we fail to take time to realise who He is and what is our calling as His children.

So what can we do about this? I think we can yet again learn from our children in this and from the artists mentioned at the beginning of this piece. When children were asked what they liked about their time of collective worship at school they answered  - the chance to be quiet! Wow, not what you would expect as we normally like to hype children up and think they enjoy things when they are wound up and excited. But no the answer was clear. For them the important part of worship was being still and quiet and in this way open to God. They enjoyed the spaces, the gap as it were from the day to day routine of rushing around. The gap of silence added to the beauty of their experience of that day, allowing space for God within it.

So what about us?  How do we add some space in our day for silence and to “be”.  Silence can be a frightening thing for most of us who are used to noise around us all the time. But silence can allow that space for thought and reflection and God time, to allow God to minister to us at a very deep level. I am fortunate to be able to go on retreat once a year and enjoy the chance to be silent within it, but most of us I know do not have such opportunities but there are still ways we can add silence into our lives. So here are a few suggestions:

·         At each meal time just take a few minutes of quiet before you start eating if you are able perhaps have a silent meal once or twice a week too

·         If you enjoy a walk read a passage of scripture perhaps a psalm before going out for a walk and use your walk as a reflective time

·         When you go to church sit quietly in the pew/chair for a few minutes before the start of the service – don’t use this time to catch up with friends that can be done at the end of the service!

·         At the end of the day give yourself some time to reflect on the day and where you were able to see God within it.

So I guess my challenge to us all is not to mind the gaps but to enjoy them and appreciate the chance to develop the beauty of our relationship with God within them.

Lent 2: Jesus laments over Jerusalem

I have recently read the book the Unlikely Pilgramage of Harold Fry, it was really good and here is a review of it  from the Guardian.

"This Booker long-listed debut novel begins with the arrival of an unexpected letter and an impulsive act. When Harold Fry, a timid man in his later years, discovers that a former friend and colleague is seriously ill, he sets out with the intention of posting her a letter but instead embarks on 600-mile walk from Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed. He believes that in some way his journey will help his friend to live. Without maps or waterproofs and only yachting shoes on his feet, he walks and walks, while his wife Maureen waits at home; at first she is angered by what she perceives as abandonment but eventually his distance allows her emotions to resurface. She remembers her husband as he once was and everything he once meant to her.

Joyce's writing is clean and simple, at times deceptively so. There are Biblical overtones and elements of parable to Harold's story. Along the way he encounters many different people. Some are moved by his act, others bemused. At one point he attracts a growing band of fellow pilgrims and becomes the centre of a media storm." 

I really enjoyed this book this week as my bedtime reading and thought it quite appropriate as we think about Lent.

A modern parable would be a good way of looking at it – but Harold started out on his journey not really sure why or what he was going to achieve, but over the cause of it he was singleminded in his task and it was interesting that others who joined him fell by the wayside as they didn’t really understand what he was doing.

Why start with this? Well todays reading from the gospel of Luke sees Jesus on his journey towards Jerusalem.
He had started out on it – knowing what he was heading for and he is single minded in his mission to get there and what he had to achieve.

We are too on a journey this lent – journeying with Jesus being challenged to take up our crosses to follow him – are we like him being single minded and can we be challenged this morning from Jesus’ journey towards Jerusalem.

So what does this passage teach us about journeying with Jesus – his journey towards Jerusalem.

Firstly this was his mission – it was clear from this passage that he knew when he journeyed towards Jerusalem that he was journeying towards the cross.

He said – it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside Jerusalem.

The beginning of the passage is surprising as it seems that some Pharisees are out to help Jesus.

This goes against what we normally think of when we think of Pharisees – as out to harm Jesus, but these seemed to be worried about him and suggest he goes a different way.

But Jesus was not to be deterred – he knew despite Herod that he had to travel that journey – that he was heading towards Jerusalem.

I don’t know about you but I often, mistakenly think that Jesus was so single minded that he never had any doubts – and then I compare myself and I find myself failing in so many ways as I doubt God’s plan for me or even sometimes my faith can appear shaky, so I am left feeling a failure in many different ways.

And yet I think when we look at the stories of Jesus very often we see Jesus needing to go off and spend time with God to as it were re focus where he was and his mission.

We saw that clearly last week in the temptations,

We see it again after the feeding of the 5,000 when in John’s gospel John says that the people were wanting to take Jesus forward as a King and Jesus goes off again.
The temptation to go that way must have been huge but Jesus knows that this is not God’s way and goes off to refocus on God and on the plan he had for his life.

When faced with temptation and doubt what does Jesus do – goes back to his mission, he goes back to his Father and is given the strength to carry on.

So here we see him very clearly when faced with what must have been a temptation to take an easier road he answers determinably based on the mission that he has been given by God.

For us on our Lenten journeys, or indeed on our life  journeys do we give ourselves such time and space to regroup, to refocus on what and where God is calling us.

To focus on our calling as his people to live our Christian lives and then our calling as his people to share in Christ’s mission for the world.

Lent is a time to regroup, to refocus on this.

And as we do we realise that we are going to like Jesus walk the way of the Cross, not an easy journey but one with God beside and before us.

And Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem shows the pain of this journey not only for Jesus but for ourselves as well.

As Jesus looks over Jerusalem we feel the pain that he feels of the rejection that has been apparent not only of himself but for the rejection of God his Father.

Jesus cries over Jerusalem – Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to it!

Pain of rejection of those who have been sent to save the city of Jerusalem.

Jesus feels it – he knows that many have rejected God’s saving love down the centuries and here he shows the emotion of that in the pain he expresses towards Jerusalem.

If Jesus felt the pain of rejection here how many times does he also feel the pain of our rejection of his word.

How many times does he look at Dorney/Eton Wick Church and feel rejected as we focus on things that are not of his love, as we forget to trust in his provision for us, as we personally see other things as our priorities and not him.

But also as Christians we can also feel his pain as we feel the rejection of other people too to his love.

When we share our faith with other people and are dismissed for whatever reason we may feel rejected but Jesus feels it too.

And what should our response be- if we have lives modelled on him then we need to show his mission of love.

His reaction to this rejection is to go straight back to the love of God and he uses one of the most powerful analogies ever to show this.

Jesus says – How I long to gather you despite your rejection under my wings like a mother hen protects her chicks.

Indian Christian, Sadhu Sundar Singh tells us the following story about a bird protecting its young in a fire. When the bird’s nest caught fire, he said to himself:

‘Now the mother-bird will fly away.’ Instead, to my astonishment, I saw her fly down and spread her wings over the young ones. In a few minutes the poor bird was burnt to ashes along with her youngsters. I had never seen anything like it before, and said to those standing near: ‘Are we not astonished at this wonderful love? Think how much more wonderful must be the love of Him who has created such an unselfish love in His creatures. The same infinite and unselfish love brought Jesus Christ down from heaven into this world to become man that, by giving His own life, He might save us who were dying in our sins.’

Jesus her shows the pain of rejection and the mission of love.

This is the love that brought him to walk the road of the cross towards Jerusalem.
This is the love that he wants to pour out to us each day – and in turn this is the sort of love that keeps on giving and giving despite the reaction of others.

If Jesus shows this love then he wants us too to model this love in the world.

He wants us too to pour out his love self sacrificially as we walk too the way of the cross.

This is not easy as we all know too well the pain of rejection but this is our calling as Christians. – to take up our cross, and to follow him.

I started with talking about the book the Unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

In that book we see Harold walking because in some way he thinks his pilgrimage will make his friend live even though she has terminal cancer, in the process we see the healing that takes place not in his friend who eventually dies but in himself and in the relationship he has with his wife.

If we walk the way of the cross – will we make others live. Jesus’ walk brought the offer of life to all, Jesus walk brought healing to the broken hearted.

If we walk in this way not only will we realise the reality of the life that Jesus brings and the reality of healing and wholeness for ourselves – we too will offer the life that Jesus gives and bring healing and wholeness to those who choose to accept this way too.

Ash Wednesday 2013

I was only thinking to myself the other day I hadn’t seen many snowdrops this year.

But then today I drove past the end of the road and looked into the grounds of Dorney Court and saw the woodland floor covered with them.

They have been lying dormant since last year – doing all they needed to do under the ground and then like a symbol of resurrection came alive again to inspire us all.

I start with this picture because I want to think as we begin our Lenten journey today about the idea of journeying with God and of the difficulties that can be but the rewards too.

Just like the snow drops does all it’s work unseen in the dark before it can rise through the ground again in beauty – our Lenten journeys are done quietly unseen in our hearts – between us and God and can bring us to a place of new beauty – in our relationship with God and also in our relationships with each other.

So we start Lent and start that journey of discovery – journeying towards the cross with Jesus and journeying to get closer and closer to God through disciplines which we adopt during these 40 days.

So I guess the question I want us all as individuals to address is this – how are we going to make the most of this journey? What things are we going to do to enable it to be a time of spiritual growth, growth done in our hearts in the quiet place out of sight, but growth which will show in a beautiful way.

And each of us will respond to this in a different way but there are some principles which are good to think about together this evening as we start off on our journey:

Firstly, the prophet Joel says these words which we heard this evening- Rend your hearts and not your clothing.

I am a person who wears my heart on my sleeve so these words speak quite powerfully to me. If I am giving up something for lent, or doing something which is hard I want other people to know about it! – I want people to look at me and think = wow she’s doing well,

But here God speaks to us through Joel and says – it’s not about other people it’s only about you and me, it’s about my relationship with you.

Don’t rend your clothes so other people can see what’s going on – don’t make a public display about it – but rend your hearts,  this is about stuff that is done quietly silently between you and God.

Jesus himself picked up on this when he spoke to the disciples about prayer – he said don’t be like the hypocrites who stand on street corners but go into your rooms and shut your doors and pray to your Father in heaven who hears you.

This lent what are you going to do that allows that space to be quiet with God – to rend your hearts not publically but quietly to allow that deep work to take place.

To allow God to challenge you- which leads me nicely on to my second point which is about allowing space this lent for careful examination of our lives.

In the gospel reading we see Jesus hear challenging those who brought the women to be condemned for her adultery.

We are not sure what he wrote in the sand but we know that his challenge to the crowds was clear-Whoever is without sin let him throw the first stone.

Janet on Sunday asked us – who is blameless here to put up their hands and their wasn’t one hand up.

We all know that we are not without sin – we know that we all struggle with different things and lent is a time for us to rend our hearts to examine our lives to ask God to help us to change.

How do we do this – perhaps it is by looking at our behaviours- looking at the things that wind you up on a daily basis and asking the question – why? What does this say about me, why did I react in that way and is their a better way to react?

Why not journal during lent – keep a diary of what happens to allow yourself that reflection time. No one else has to see it – it’s just between you and God.

What about examining yourself by actually trying to carry out something in a positive way – if you know you struggle with negativity try to not  avoid it during lent but try to be positive.

If you struggle with putting people down – try to build people up instead.

If you struggle with gossip try to pray for others in need and commit them to God without having to know any details.

If you are a moaner or complainer –try to give time for praise for all the things that God has given you.

Acting in these ways can not only challenge your behaviour but also bring change of heart.

And then the third thing I want to think of tonight is that of discipline verse instant gratification.

I have been thinking a lot about this recently as I have had conversations with others and as I have watched and heard news of the latest food scares in our supermarkets.

We are very much living in a society which seeks instant gratification and convenience, and this has led us into all sorts of trouble.

The instant gratification of I really need that – I must have it even though I can’t really afford it. Leading to increased debt and worse.

The culture that has led to the need for convenience quick and easy food at ever cheaper prices and we are now reaping the consequences in not being sure what our food actually consists of.

This culture will continue  if we let it. But surely as Christians we can take a stand because this goes against what we stand for as Christians.

The Christian faith is about a long term relationship not instant gratification.

The Christian faith is based on daily denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Christ.

This involves disciplines of prayer and study – to discern God’s will and ways, it involves changing behaviour that is not honouring to God, it involves giving up things that do not build us up in our faith.

Lent brings us up short to think again of the importance of discipline rather than instant gratification.

Perhaps this year during Lent you may want to think of one of the Christian disciplines to focus on – perhaps to fast once a week, to pray on a more regular basis, to read a book of the bible or a Christian book.

God calls us for the long haul – change is not going to happen overnight and he needs us to work to change and develop.

So I started with the anology of the snowdrop which appears in all its’ glory after the dark ground has allowed it to change and develop again.

Lent is a time of the silent heart to rend and change to examine ourselves and to grow into the likeness of God in all his glory.

Will we give others opportunity this lent for this to happen.

Parable of the sower

This is the sermon i preached today at Eton College Chapel - based on Luke's account of the parable of the sower.

This week we had the chance to go and see the film zero dark thirty – centred on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden – it is quite an action packed film and I think well worth seeing- all though there has been some controversy surrounding the torture scenes with in it.

It focuses on the CIA agent Maya who gets a hint of a connection with Osama Bin Laden and an unknown courier and her life’s work is to hunt it down until she is able to pull it all together.

She is focused and determined – she is like a bear with a bone, gnawing away at it – piece by piece until she gets the end result.

Why start with this because I was thinking of this film in contrast to the film forest gump.

One of my favourite films but in that film – Forest seems to just go from one thing to another – he drifts from one extreme situation to another not by any planning of his own but by just going with the flow of life.

So the contrast of the driven person to the drifter- the focus to the unfocused.

Which is best- which will get the best results –

Now I am sure we all know that generally to succeed with something the more focused you are the better.

Generally in life if you are not focused you don’t tend to get anywhere – unlike the Holywood movie.

Whether it be academically, in sport, in music in other areas generally one can see that being focused is a good idea to get the best chance for yourself to succeed.

But what about life away from the demands of academic success or career, what about the internal life we all lead the spiritual side of our lives.

Are we focused here or do we just let things drift?

It’s easy to forget this side of our lives and the parable from Jesus this morning brings us up sharp to think about it.

A simple story with a meaning that helps us to think about our own response to the spiritual sense of our lives.

Here we see seed growing and we are told by Jesus if we read on to hear the meaning of this parable that the seed is God’s word.

The challenge then is what sort of soil or response do we give this seed.

You see just as through life we have a choice to let things happen or be in control and to work towards a goal – so in our spiritual lives we do too.

And the response to the seed – Jesus says is like our response to his word and he identifies 4 different responses to his word, 3 drifters and 1 focused.

Now if we were scattering seed today with this in mind we might be a bit more careful than the farmer here.

We might avoid the areas that we know seed would not grow.

But we are told here that the farmer was not like that – he scattered the seed liberally, he scattered the seed over all the soil and he waits to see what will happen.

Interesting because in this way Jesus tells us in this parable  – God’s word is not spread only to the areas where there might be a response – but God’s word is spread to all just like the seed.

The seed doesn't determine the outcome. The conditions of the soil and surrounding areas determine the outcome of what will happen to the seed.

This puts the responsibility straight away back on us and our response to the seed- God’s word,

So the first lot of seed falls on the wayside.

The wayside would have been the paths that farmers left for travelers through their fields. This ground naturally would be hard-packed by the traffic. So birds would quickly eat the seed which fell there.

The challenge to us then is our reponse to God’s word a hard path-

 do we even give it a chance to break into our lives or are we just too cynical, too closed to let anything challenge and change us?

And then what about the seed that falls on rocky ground Galilee is underlaid with limestone rock. In some places this rock is covered only by a thin layer of soil. The seedlings had little chance of rooted properly.

In our spiritual lives do we allow the word of God to permeate our lives deeply or is it just something shallow, is it OK for somethings but when it becomes too challenging we choose to ignore and move on.

And then what about the seed that fell by the weeds. The seed might have grown but the young plants were soon strangled by other plants around them and couldn’t grow.

Here we see the analogy of giving our faith time to grow amidst the pressures and conflicting interests of our busy lives.

We may be so focused on some things in our lives that God’s seed never has a chance to grow.

And then of course we have the last seed scattered on soil where it can grow and flourish and bear more fruit.

The parable of the Sower is one of the most well known parables that Jesus ever shared with the people.

The Sower shows us that there are different responses to the same gift - the giving of the Word of God. For all of us here this morning the Word of God is being scattered upon all of our lives, but that should not lead anyone to believe that we will all leave here the same.

Just because the Word of God is given doesn't mean the receiver will allow the Word of God to shape and mold their life.

We started by thinking about being driven or drifting – we are soon approaching lent a time to think about our internal spiritual lives – perhaps the challenge to us all this morning is are we prepared to be focused in this as well as other areas of our lives to grow inwardly and in our relationship with God.

I end with a final picture of the film Zero dark thirty – at the end we see the CIA agent on her own – you can identify the emotion she is feeling – she has succeeded with what she set out to do, she has achieved her goal but you are left with the unsaid question – yes that’s great but what on earth am I going to do now, how can I now give my life meaning.

The experience of countless Christians down the ages is that feeding and growing your inner life can do just that 

Ephesians 2: 11-22 Christ's presence in the church

I wonder what is the most beautiful church you have ever seen – and why?

Any ideas?

For me the most beautiful church I have ever seen is still in the process of being built.

The Sagrada Familia in the city of Barcelona has been being built for some 100 years or so.  It started construction in 1882 and it is anticipated that it may be complete in 2026.  It is imposing in it’s architecture having been overseen by the Spanish artist and architect Gaudi for a significant part of it’s construction.

What always impresses me when you see it and we have seen it twice some 5 years apart is the way that it uses different interpretations of gothic architecture at different parts of it’s construction. It very much feels like something which is unfinished and organic in it’s construction.

Now of course if we go back to very old churches like Dorney itself we know that the building has changed dramatically over the years since it’s original construction with different generations adding their own bits to it. But of course when we see it now we at first glance see what we think has been the same church for many hundreds of years.

Why start with describing church architecture.

Well I think this in itself is a very good analogy of what Paul is talking about when he talks about the church here in the book of Ephesians.

Now of course he is not talking about the church as a building – physical in the sense of this church building we are in today,  but he is talking about the church in the sense of the spiritual building that is created by Christians who together create a worshiping community of faith.  It may be in a physical building like we worship or may be in a house church or a community that meet in a school or leisure centre.
But Paul talks of the community of the church being like a temple where God dwells.

Verse 21:  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

This few weeks before lent we are looking at Christ’s vision for the church and we last week Janet led us in thinking of the power that was available to us as God’s people. But today we are looking at the presence of God in the church.

And I want us to continue to think of this idea of the analogy of the building but not one which stays the same but one which is growing and changing- being added too and changed to become more and more beautiful.
Something which is organic in that it never stays the same but is always being changed and developed.  And you may want to hold on to the pictures you have of beautiful churches to help you  in this analogy as we think of it in the spiritual sense of the church.

SO what does Paul teach us as we look at this passage in Ephesians.

Firstly let’s go back through the thrust of his argument before we get to the last few verses which I have already quoted.

So in verses 11-13 he tells us that we are no longer aliens and foreigners but citizens with God’s people.

This is written primarily for the Ephesians who were gentile converts to Christianity. So Paul is saying that because of Jesus we gentiles can know the reality of being fellow citizens of Israel.

We now can know the same privileges of God’s people, we are not outcasts but insiders with the same rights.

I love this analogy because I remember well the reality of being a foreigner or alien. Living in India as an 18 year old I knew very well what it felt like. I was young, female and blond and as such was well aware by the looks I got that I was different that I was like an alien in some of the more remote places I visited. It was an uncomfortable place to be as you felt completely outside of the culture and the normal things you depended upon to help you were not around.

But Paul says because of Christ we are not like this we are insiders – not outsiders we can know the reality of being part of the body of Christ- the reality of knowing the blessings of being part of God’s people and not merely residents but CITIZENS.

And then we can in verse 14-18  know peace.  Because the gentiles were living outside the law – there was hostility between Jew and Gentile.  

But we know that Christ, the Prince of Peace, becomes our peace, and speaks peace to us.   Then, in himself, he unites Gentile and Jewish believers into a single new Humanity.

Now this is where the theology gets a little complicated. This new humanity is actually Christ himself – when we know him for himself we become part of his body.

Being part of his body leads us to be in peace.

Peace in it’s deepest sense in terms of well-being as opposed to peace as merely the absence of conflict.

This peace is deep seated in the sense of us as individuals when we know Christ – but also is a hall mark of the corporate nature of being part of Christ’s body – the church.

This is something which we need to work at though – because we all know that unity or peace is one thing that we lack a huge amount of the time as Christians. This is the start today of the week of prayer for Christian unity. Just to have a week of prayer shows that how often this is a problem in the church today – and that the presence of so many different denominations in the Christian church shows in itself that this has been an issue down the centuries.

But that is not an excuse for us – we can pray for unity but we need to work for unity in our relationships, and that brings us to what is I think is at the heart of Christ’s vision for the church as seen by these verses in Ephesians.

Consequently Paul writes in verse 19- as a consequence of being a citizen of God’s kingdom, a consequence of being part of the new humanity living in peace as part of Christ’s body – Paul writes we are being built into a dwelling place where God lives.

And this is where we get to think of the vision for the church – because it is here that we see the analogy of the church as a living building coming into play.

Now firstly we need to see that being built into somewhere where Christ dwells covers us both as individuals and as a church together.

It is not just here that us being a dwelling place for Christ is written about. In the book we see it as well as the book of Corinthians. If Christ dwells in us because of what he achieved on the cross then we are individually temple like.

This is in sharp contrast to the Old Testament view of the temple as housing God – the holy of holies only being able to be accessed by the High Priest. But now God is present in each of us.

But what is clear here though is that it is not only as individuals that Christ dwells within us – but actually together we are being built into his body- an organic dwelling place for him that changes and develops over time.

The beauty of this building is that each part of it has a vital part to play, each part of it adds to the dynamic of the building and constantly creates something new within it.

And this is truly Christ’s vision for the church – is a place where he dwells – a beautiful building.

The word vision is one which is banded around Church circles a great deal. It is good to think of vision because it helps us to focus on our priorities.

With the interregnum coming the PCCs are going to have to try to articulate the vision for the benefice in order to find out the sort of person that is needed to lead the church into the next stage of its life.

So I guess the question I have is what is our vision for the church?

We do have one which has been around for a long time which is:

‘a community centred on God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, worshipping Him with our whole being, seeking to grow in our love for and knowledge of Him and enthusiastic in sharing his grace and truth with others’

But I wonder if what Paul says here about Christ’s vision for the church is something which resonates with us as his people here in Dorney, eton wick and Eton.

Because I think that Paul’s words here in the last couple of verse of our reading are really helpful:

²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

 What does it mean to be built together to become a dwelling:

Quickly I want to think of three ways we can do this – and the emphasis on this is intentionally.

Firstly we need to grow together – in the intentionality of our relationships. Last week Janet at Eton Wick asked people to turn to the person next to them and say something like – I am really pleased you are here today. We all felt a bit awkward doing it but actually she is absolutely right – it is important that we are all here for each other.

We don’t just come to worship for what we can get out of it ourselves- but we come to worship because of what we are giving to each other as well.  Working together as one body we need to get to know each other – to share with each other, to support each other.

People often say to me that you don’t have to go to Church to be a Christian and whilst that is true to some way my stock reply concerns the need to come together with others to keep the flame of faith burning in some way.

But I think this passage urges us to think bigger than this. We come together because we need each other. Christianity isn’t just  about our own personal faith – but it is about the fact that together we are growing into something amazing. We need each other to create this.

The church needs you- your fellow Christians need you. And we are to be intentional in developing those relationships with each other so that we can together become the dwelling place for God.

And then we need to be intentional in our worship – The church needs to be a place where God is seen and he is seen not only in our relationships but also in our worship.

We may all like different styles of worship but yet again it is not only about what we are getting out of Church but it is about what we achieve when we are there.

By being together and worshipping with others then God dwells within our time together.

The Lord is here – we say at the eucharist – and Paul in this passage affirms this  as we know that together in our worship then Christ within us builds us into the organic building that he wants us to be.

And then thirdly we should be intentional in our witness. We together are Christ’s body and as such as represent him to the world around us.

It is our responsibility to witness to him in our relationships with each other and in worship and in how we respond to the world.

This is a huge challenge for us but one which we must take on board.

Are we a beautiful building that others see and through this building they see Christ?

So Christ’s vision for his church is the vision of a beautiful organic growing and changing building.

In order to develop this we need to be centred on him, living out our relationship with him not only on our own but with each other, intentional in how we share with each other, how we worship and how we witness.

Let us pray that this is not only Christ’s vision – but this is our own.