Vicar of Eton Wick, Eton and Dorney

Invitation to come and see

2012-01-14T23:57:00.000-08:00

This is my sermon for today - based on Phillips comment to Nathaniel in John 1: 43-end.

I received an invitation this week to go to the party of a good friend who I haven’t seen for a long time.

It was good to hear from her and really nice to be invited to her party but unfortunately I am not sure I can go or not – you see the date is on our wedding anniversary and I had already made Andrew change something else he was doing that night!

For me I am not being forced to accept the invitation and I have to make a choice as to whether or not I want to accept it – I guess I need to think what would be my priority for that evening.

Invitations can be lovely to have can’t they but always they come with them a choice – will I accept it or not.

I start with this because I think the gospel reading for this morning comes with it a question to us all – the question that is posed by Phillip to Nathaniel,

Philip says – Come and see…..

Come and see – the invitation to come with Philip to see Jesus.

And as we see this invitation I think actually we can take this invitation for ourselves and it is my invitation to us all to hear this morning – come and see….

Come and see – what God wants you to- this morning, tomorrow, and so on and so on.

Because this is an invitation that goes on and on to us, no matter how many times we hear it.

And just like any invitation we can take it or leave it – we can accept it or not.

Nathaniel accepted the invitation to Come and see – and the reward was a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

What is our reaction to the invitation this morning.

Last week I spoke about the Kings noticing the star and therefore noticing God at work in their lives.

(We have thought again this morning about how we notice God in our lives and in the lives of others.)

Because coming to see is actually taking time to notice.

When we look through the bible we see countless times that God appeared to people in unusual ways.

For a very few we see dramatic “theophanies” or encounters with God – such as we see in Isaiah 6 or Paul’s Damascus road experience.

For most though an encounter with God is in more gentle different ways –

For Samuel it was the voice calling in the night.

For Elijah it was the still small voice in the calm after the storm

For Abraham it was in welcoming the visitors – who he later realised were angels

For Joseph it was the angel in the dream.

For the Kings it was in the reading of the stars.

And then with Jesus each day people encountered God – in sharing bread and fish on a hillside, drinking wine at a wedding feast, in homes of ordinary people and those who were outcasts.

On a fishing boat and even in a synagogue.

People met Jesus – they met God’s son and were able to come and see for themselves what he had to offer.

For those of us who are here today – I am certain we have in some way heard that invitation to come and see,

But I wonder in many ways whether or not we are uncertain how to really take up that invitation.

Perhaps it is a bit like hide and seek – often when you play hide and seek with small children you always know where they are going to be hiding – because most of the time they have just a few places which are there special favourite places to hide.

So as the adult playing with very little children you end up going through the pretence of looking for them in unexpected places before you finally go to the obvious place where they are waiting excitedly.

Perhaps we have favourite places but not to hide but to find – to see God.

Perhaps we go back to those places time and time again – expecting this is where we are going to find God – and I am sure we do….

But I am sure also that the God who poses the question Come and see is actually wanting us to look for him – to come and see him in those unexpected places too.

This week as I have been thinking about what this and what to say to you all – I have been struck by two very different examples of perhaps seeing or even hearing God in different ways.

I want to share these with you to perhaps get us all thinking about where God may be calling us to come and see him.

Firstly is the story in the papers this week of the lady who baked a cake every day of the year.

I read this because I love baking as some of you know and was intrigued by the idea of making a cake each day.

Where they different cakes – no they were the same cake, using the same recipe and she didn’t bake them to eat – she baked them to give away to others.

It started apparently when she began to make cakes for those she knew who were going through a rough time.

And then it just grew until she had set herself this challenge to bake a cake each day – and the recipients were those in the community in need, or going through difficult times.

In the newspaper article I read she commented on how this had made her feel to give so much to others in a very positive way,.

And how she was going to miss it when it ended.

Now I don’t know as it wasn’t said if this lady had a faith or not.

But as I read it I wondered if when she was doing this and saw the result was she noticing God – was she aware of his creativity as she used hers,

Was she aware of God’s sense of love as she shared with other people as she saw there faces of appreciation.

Perhaps God was revealing himself – inviting her to come and see in that situation as she helped others.

And the question for us all is this – would we have seen God in that too….

And then the second thing that struck me this week was in reading a book by the American contemplative – Richard Rohr,

He lives in a community, and as such has taken monastic vows.

This couple in their later working lives act as foster grandparents – and still regularly take in young children.

He writes of talking to the man – Hugh

“I often ask him who much sleep he has had, and he’ll answer. “oh they woke me at two and four – another chance to learn how to love.”…..it’s important for me to hear that. We who are celibate and have time for silence, living alone and shutting a door can give the impression that we are the ideal. That others should really be more contemplative like us. Hugh and Anne teach us that life itself is the necessary school for contemplation. Life is the best teacher of true prayer..”

Is he talking about the invitation to come and see? - well that is part of what prayer is, time to come and see and recognise God.

Here we see how our daily lives can be times when we interact with God in how we learn to deal with life situations.

How we encounter God in our relationships, in learning to love as well as showing love.

God will reveal himself to us through his written word but he enlightens this when we encounter the reality of his teaching in relationships.

God’s word is living and active as we read in Paul’s letters because it has impact on our lives.

But we see the outworking of his word as we learn to be open to God pointing it out to us in our daily lives.

To see what it means to truly love as Jesus loved.

To see what it means to put to death the old self and to clothe ourselves in righteousness.

God invites us to come and see as we interact with others.

I started in talking about invitations to something and said that God gives us the invitation to come and see.

There is however once big difference between His invitation and most others we receive.

Because His is not for one – one off event or even a series of different things – the invitation he gives us is to Come and see each day.

And like any invitation it is up to us to respond.

He calls us each day to come and see – to see Him at work in our own live and in the lives of others, to encounter him in our surroundings through creation, though his written word, through our relationships, to hear him speak to us in the still small voices and through the noise of life.

All we need to do to accept this invitation is to be open to “See”- not to necessary always go to the familiar places to see but to see where else he may be wanting us to see Him.

To pray for God to Open our eyes to see him in unfamiliar places.

Epiphany reflections

2012-01-07T03:01:00.000-08:00

This is what i will be preaching this Sunday as we celebrate Epiphany. It isn't really about the wise men but about being open to how God may want to talk to us. You really need to listen to the Army Wives recording, "Wherever you are" during this as we will be on Sunday. Thanks to my dear old Dad who spoke of this last week so movingly!

I wonder what would have happened if the wise men hadn’t noticed the star?

We would have missed out on a huge part of the Christmas story.
The wise men teach us so much and at the heart of their story is the fact of God’s love in the baby Jesus being open to all – men from the East Gentiles - a pivotal fact of our faith is that – the gospel of Jesus Christ being open to all – no matter what race or social status, whether jew or gentile, shepherd or magi.

But as I was reflecting on the wise men I thought also about their openness to receive from God.

They were willing to follow the star because they knew it was going to lead to something amazing.

They were open to what God might reveal to them through this star and in turn brought costly gifts for the new born King.

They saw this in their study of the stars, where do we see God revealing himself to us.

Perhaps we think that it’ll be only on a Sunday in Church, but in my experience and in the experience of Christians down the ages – God shows himself to us in unexpected places, if we are open to how he may speak to us.

Perhaps there is a message for us in 2012 to be open to how God might want to reveal himself to us, through all of life, through film, music, relationship, creation and so on and so on…..

This morning I want to reflect with you on some thoughts from what was the Christmas number 1 single, and what God may be saying to us through this.

(you may want to listen to the song now!!)

This unlikely song was No1 Christmas song, putting the X factor out the way – this song caught the imagination and the emotion of the nation.

I have to say I find it difficult not to get emotional when I hear it and I think about how it was made.

It is an amazing story and one of the best T.V. programmes we have enjoyed for a long time.

Imagine it is the New Year, last year for those Army wives and girlfriends.

All they were probably thinking about as the New Year came in was ‘this is the year when he will be leaving me and the kids for 6 months and he may not come back’.

This year for me will be about counting those days until my husband/boyfriend returns.

Then along comes a man who says let’s sing, let’s form a choir, and after much persuasion, they do.

When they started they had no idea how it will end

The men leave, the choir is formed. Then Gareth contacts a composer by the name of Paul Mealor to write them a song. The words used for the composition are taken from their own personal letters that go backwards and forwards to

Afghanistan

Person letters are so much more meaningful that text messages.

I remember as a child finding the personal letters that were sent between my parents before they were married when he was a young RAF officer stationed at various places and she a young nurse.

We had a childhood laugh at some of the content – which had a lot to do with the words darling and darning socks.

But as I look back on reading those – they have long since been destroyed apparently! – I do think how personal they were and actually how it was probably wrong of my sister and I to sit giggling at them.

The result. The choir perform before Officers at the passing out dinner at Sandhurst, then at the Royal Albert Hall before the Queen, and they end the year as the No 1 Christmas song. Amazing story, A year that started so bleakly, ends so amazingly. Perhaps there is a message here for us as we begin another new year.

Look at the words passed between the couples,

Wherever you are, my love will keep you safe,

My heart will build a bridge of light, across both time and space,

Wherever you are, our hearts will beat as one,

I hold you in my dreams each night, until your task is done.

They are lovely words, personal, from the heart. You could almost think it was a modern Psalm with Jesus singing those words to us. ‘Wherever you are my love will keep you safe’. God spoke through the Prophet Jeremiah(31:3) and He said ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love, Jesus said ‘Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends’. If we wanted proof how much God loves us, look to the cross.

Apparently when Gareth Malone does a programme like this and sets up a new choir he gives up his own home, moves into the area where he is going to form a choir, rents a house and lives among them for 6 months

Remember the beginning of John’s Gospel where, talking of Jesus, he wrote ‘the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’, from the Greek you could translate it as ‘pitched his tent among us’.

Jesus came alongside us to bring us back to God, so that one day we can be part of the Heavenly Choir.

Jesus said before He returned to His Father in heaven ‘and surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age, and through His Spirit, He is with us now.

It is sometimes thought that being a Christian is about going to Church occasionally, trying to do good etc.

But is a bit more than that, it is about having a relationship with Jesus.

Summed up by the first line of the second verse ‘Wherever I am I will love you day by day’. Just as we reciprocate our partners love, so we love God in return for His love for us.

Just as the love these army couples have for each other sustains them through the dark times, so the knowledge God’s love for us can sustain us when we face an uncertain future. T

heir response is to cling to faith along the dark, dark way and to pray each day a safe return.

We have to hang on to our faith, even though at times it seems like we are hanging on by our fingernails, and we can pray.

I and I know many others have been very moved by this choir. The way these women facing an uncertain future have become special because together they shared music, and the whole country have enjoyed seeing and hearing them.

By this I don’t think we glorify war but I do feel they can teach us something as we face a very uncertain New Year, I do feel God can talk to us through this. J

ust as the wives and girlfriends shared their music and blessed countless millions, let us as a Church ‘share God together and use this New Year as an opportunity to get closer to God in our own personal relationship with Him.

I want to finish with a few verses from Psalm 62: 5-8

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;

My hope comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;

He is my fortress, I shall not be shaken.

My salvation and my honour depend on God;

He is my mighty rock, my refuge.

Trust in him at all times, O people;

Pour out your heart to him,

For God is our refuge.

Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-24T02:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas. Here is what I will be saying at Midnight tonight as we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ as the baby in Bethlehem.

At this time of year – we hear a great deal about tradition.

The celebration of Christmas brings with it traditions from different countries – like the Moravian christingle we had this afternoon,

Those from

Germany

will have likely celebrated Christmas and their gifts this evening rather than wait until tomorrow.

And then I am sure in your own home you have your own traditions and ways that you celebrate – whether it be what you eat, when you open your presents, what you watch on TV, these traditions are part of our celebrations.

And then there are traditions which are like folk lore – everyone knows for example that Father Christmas is a jolly fat man, wearing a read coat with a big white beard.

Or is he? – actually he didn’t appear like that til 1931 when Coca-Cola used this imagery in their advertising campaign, so you could say that Coca-Cola made Father Christmas what he is today!

Tradition I think is good though as it gives us a focus and a sense of group identity – particularly in a family.

It helps us to know what to expect, but I guess it could also stop us from doing things in different ways – but perhaps that doesn’t matter too much as we celebrate together.

If tradition influences how we celebrate Christmas I wonder too if tradition has influenced what we think about the whole Christmas story.

Each year we hear it again but can we get away from our imagery of the story that we have learnt at school and by watching nativity plays, even by singing carols.

We have the image of the nativity in one way – the traditional way but actually has this stopped us seeing the truth at the centre of it all.

If we take away the tradition what are we left with?

Let’s look at the story again and see.

Well Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel and told she was going to have a baby – that’s fact that’s what is written in the bible.

But what we don’t know is what that Angel looked like- we see him with wings and a halo, because that is what the pictures we have seen look like.

But other accounts of angels in the bible where of visitors who looked quite normal – in fact it was only after they had come that it was realised they were angelic.

But behind the traditional angel is the truth – Mary was to have God’s son.

And then they go on a long journey to Bethlehem- and we are told on a donkey.

Or are we?- no mention of the donkey in the bible.

Makes a good carol though doesn’t it, we don’t know she didn’t but we also don’t know she did.

We do hear mention of another donkey in the bible though – when Jesus rode into Jerusalem to show he was the King of Kings, riding in to Jerusalem at the start of Holy Week in triumph and to is death on the cross.

The donkey the sign of his humility.

And then we have this wonderful picture of the Inn, perhaps in our mind some 1^st century Travelodge or Premier Inn.

The likely hood is though although the city was full because of the census the Inn wouldn’t have looked as we imagined.

The word for Inn used in the bible is the same as the upper room, it was likely to be just an extra room for lodging in an ordinary house.

And then what about the stable, well we imagine again – or tradition dictates a nice wooden structure.

The likely hood is though that Jesus would have been born in a cave under the house, that is where animals would have been kept.

And all we are told is that Jesus was born and laid in a manger – because there was no room in the Inn or upper room.

And then we are told that Magi – wise men from the East came to visit the new family.

Three of them? No three presents were given but we don’t know how many and we certainly don’t know their names.

We do know though that they followed the star which led them to see the Prince of peace lying in a manger.

So you see even in our celebration of the nativity we have added tradition to help us see the story.

Perhaps that is not a bad thing – but sometimes we need to take that away and see what is left.

Take away the images of tinsel angels, take away the donkeys and the wooden stables and three Kings in crowns and see what we are left with.

And actually we don’t need the extras because what we are left with is still an incredible story – an incredible picture of love and peace.

Here we have the young Mary willing to take on one of the most important roles in history, and heavily pregnant with her new husband beside her they make the long treck to Bethlehem.

There she gives birth and lays her new baby in a trough which is used to feed animals, likelihood in a cave.

And to announce the baby angels do visit Shepherds – the lowest of the low and the star does shine to show the way for he visit of those of more high esteem – wise men from the East.

This is the eternal truth of the incarnation – of God coming to earth to be with Man.

When you take away all tradition this is what we are left with – the miracle of God’s birth, the baby in the Manger the Christ child, God’s son.

The angels said these words to the Shepherds we hear in Luke’s gospel:

“Today in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”

The saviour of the world born without a huge fuss, born in the lowliest of surroundings but born to change the world forever.

When we strip back the reality and just see the miracle of the birth we see the incredible truth for ourselves – that Jesus crept into the world, with no amazing fuss.

He crept into the world, not demanding our attention, but awaiting our response.

He crept into the world, and showed us God’s love.

He crept into the world to be our Saviour, Mary may not have ridden on a donkey – but we know that Jesus did on his way for our salvation.

And as he creeps in to the world today – what is our response to him.

Just a nice story, something we traditionally read this time of year.

Or are we willing to strip back the tradition and be open to see the baby for who he truly is

– and what is our response to him?

– he may not demand a response from us, but he wants us to respond to him.

And if we do he can offer to us true Peace on earth, peace in our hearts and lives, as we let him take a place in our lives and as we let his truth into our hearts and minds.

Sermon on Mary - 4th Sunday in Advent Luke 1: 26-38

2011-12-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

One of the joys of my role as Vicar in Eton Wick and Dorney is going at this time of year to the nativity plays at the various schools I am associated with.

One of them I went to was truly wonderful this year – with the songs and actually the way the story was portrayed – but it did have a little hitch when Mary had been visited by the angel and was standing on her stage with her broom calling out to tell Joseph – who was no where to be seen and to the side you could just see a little Joseph on the side of the stage sat on his teachers lap – crying because he didn’t want to go on.

Quite often though it is the other way around – I heard the story of the Inn Keeper who had really wanted to be Joseph when Mary and Joseph knocked on the door and asked for a room he said quite loudly – well you can come in Mary but not Joseph cause I wanted to be him.

And then my friends little girl who dressed as a shepherd cried refused to go on the stage crying to her mum – But I wanted to be Mary.

I start with these stories because when we look at Mary and this story from Lukes gospel we can learn so much about calling and faith – and yet very often we can be like all these little children.

We can either not want to do it at all – or we can think for some reason we should be doing something else not really what God wants us to do.

So what can we learn from this account about faith and calling and how can we apply some of this to our lives today.

Well firstly we see in Mary an openness to hear what God was saying to her.

Tradition dictates that the Angel was a big very bright creature with wings and a tinsel halo!

But was he?

In our accounts of Angelic visitation we see angels appearing quite normal and often it is only afterwards that the individuals realised they had met with an agel.

When the angels appeared to Abraham – they looked just like ordinary people, in fact Abram and Sarai didn’t recognise who they were at first did they.

It seems to me that Mary must have been open to listen to God to be able to recognise that this was God speaking to her through the angel.

I think this tells us quite a lot about Mary and her faith in the God of Israel.

She was ready to hear and to respond to his word.

We don’t know what Mary was up to when the angel appeared to her- but we do know that she listened – the likely hood is that she was quite a busy person working in her home and getting ready for her wedding and yet she listened..

Mary must have had a life of prayer in some way to have listened to the angel.

She allowed time to hear the message amidst the noise around her of wedding plans and life.

So today what about us – would we be open to hear what God has to say to us even now in the midst of all the noise of Christmas.
And if God tried to talk to us would we hear him.

It always amazes me who God can speak to us in so many different ways – but often it is like we are safely in our homes watching the TV ignoring the constant ring at the door bell – hoping it will go away.

Do we take time to switch off the noise and actually be open to how God may speak to us – through his word, through his creation, through that still small voice, even through an angelic word from someone else.

And when we do take time to listen are we prepared to hear even if what he has to say is quite a difficult thing for us.

What he said to Mary wasn’t an easy thing to hear.

But she listened and obeyed.

Is God trying to say something to us and are we open to listen.

And secondly not only did Mary recognise God’s voice- the voice of the angel but she also was willing and open to do God’s will.

I think this is incredible when we know the context that Mary found herself in and the implication of finding herself having a child when she was not married.

She would have laid herself open to all sorts of problems if Joseph too had not been willing to accept her pregnancy.
At the very least she would have been a social outcast in her society, at the very worst she would have been stoned to death for conceiving out of marriage.

But we have no account of her arguing with God’s messenger, no account of pleading for it not to be her put under this pressure,

Not she simply says – I am the Lord’s servant.

In many ways she had a trust in God which we can all learn from.

She entrusts her life into God’s hands to be used in whatever way he wishes.

And we see her used in the most extraordinary way – a journey to Bethlehem, giving birth in a stable, fleeing to

Egypt

with a young baby away from all her family support network.

And then of course later she was to stand by the cross and weep as she saw her son dying for the good of mankind.

Perhaps she had no idea what I am the lord’s servant was going to lead too in the future – but she said it and she entrusted her life into God’s hands with the faith that he would be with her to help and protect her.

Does this challenge us at all?

The little girls who want to be Mary in the nativity have really no idea what it’s all about do they – they want to be centre stage – and yet the reality of Mary’s life is fat from being the glamorous mother of our Lord.

Mary was open to God and God used her in amazing ways – her journey of faith must I am sure at times been tested to the limit but she was open to being used and willing- I am the Lord’s servant – can we say that, entrusting ourselves to be used by God in whatever way he wants.

And then finally I think we can learn from Mary in her ordinariness.

Often we do not think we are particularly good at anything and we compare ourselves to others in the church.

Perhaps we feel not so educated as others, or gifted in different ways.

Yet I think that Mary speaks to everyone of us here today.

I wonder what she would have answered if someone asked her what she was good at?

I am sure like many of us she may have said well I’m not very good at anything really – I’m just an ordinary person.

Possibly she did say this – we don’t know much about her – but we can surmise that she was probably not very well educated- that she came from a humble background – otherwise she wouldn’t have been marrying a carpenter.

In human terms she was very little- but God used her for one of the most important jobs in the history of mankind, to grow, develop and give birth to his Son.

What does Mary teach us – to be open and receptive to use the things that God has given us for his purpose.

God can use us as we are

In fact the more we are the people that God wants us to be the more he will use us.

When we are open to seek God – to listen to him and then to be open to what he may ask of us – then he will surprise us as he uses us for his service.

Mary teaches us this and we can learn so much from her.

So in the midst of all the noise this Christmas what is God asking of you, are you open to him and able to say – like Mary – I am the Lords’ servant – I am willing.

Amen

What we can learn from the prophets - Amos

2011-10-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

With our present global financial crisis perhaps we can learn something from the Old testament Prophets. Here is my sermon from Sunday when we were looking at Amos. Particularly referring to Chapter 8.

Amos:

This is the third sermon in our short series of looking at the prophets and seeing what they have to say to us today.

In many ways the prophets are quite hard to come to terms with, they appear quite strange people even to their society of the day and yet, when we look at prophecy we see so clearly God speaking not only to the people of that day but to us now.

Think for a moment what you think is the key to the problems we have in our society today and in the financial system?

I’m not talking about complicated fiscal issues here – I am just thinking about basic human issues – what do you think?

Answers included: Greed, materialism, spending more than you have etc.

Then look at that reading we had from Amos this morning – verse 4-5

The basic problems of society, stem from the same problems centuries on – greed and the desire for more and more…

So when we look at Amos and the other prophets we see some basic similarities between people and we can be challenged from what they have to say to us.

So lets think for a moment who this person Amos was.

Well what we do know about him is that he was probably quite an ordinary person, he wasn’t amazingly well educated, he wasn’t one of the prophets officially associated with the temple,

He grew up within an agricultural community and it is likely that he worked on the land in some way – some argue that he was infact a shepherd.

But we do know he had a call from God to speak out to the people of the time over a period of some 2 years, in around 750 BC.

So what is his key message in this small book.

Well it seems that a key theme within the book is that of the justice and righteousness.

He speaks to the people clearly on these subjects, and as he speaks to them there is a sense that they should know what he is talking about.

He doesn’t have to spell out why these themes are important – they just are.

The people should know why – because the need for both is so steeped within the history and experience the Israelite people have in their relationship with God.

The people of

Israel

knew their relationship with God was based on the covenant they had with him.
And this covenantal relationship was based upon the principles of justice and righteousness, they were central to this relationship.

And particularly the themes of justice and righteousness in the book of Amos are seen with reference to how they treat each other.

In many ways in this book we see God’s anger and it appears like his patience is wearing thin with the people of

Israel

The passage we read this morning speaks very clearly like this. – the time is coming says the lord, when things will change..

And of course we have the ability of hindsight and know that it was not long after this book was written that the people of

Israel

were taken off into captivity by Assyria.

What is important though when we look at this book and other books where we see God’s judgement clearly indicated is that we see this also in relationship to God’s forgiveness.

When we look at the old testament we see it through the eyes of the new testament and the love and forgiveness shown to us by Jesus Christ on the cross.

So within the book of Amos generally there is a sense of God getting very inpatient with the people because of their constant falling away from him.

And in response to that he speaks of the consequences.

One of these is clear from chapter 8 and I think this speaks very clearly to us today as well.

God says through Amos in verse 10:

The time is coming says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the lord.

A famine of hearing God’s word – let’s think about that for a moment.

If we did not hear God’s word what would that mean to our society or world.

Not hearing God’s words would mean that there would no longer be a moral compass with which to guide our lives.

What would that result be:

Breakdown of family life,

Breakdown of community life

Lack of concern for others,

Self- interest abounding.

Distrust of each other and violence,

An individulalistic culture and the list would go on and on.

And as we look at that list we see how much of that sort of thing goes on today.

Has God given us a famine – or actually are we causing a famine of God’s word.

If we live without reference to him then how is God going to speak out- will there be a famine of God’s word in our world.

God calls us to be his body on the earth and we have a duty then to also speak God’s word to others.

That’s not by standing on street corners – though some of us may be called to do this.

But by living our lives in such a way that God speaks out through our actions and through our words.

How often do we give a Christian viewpoint on a situation?

How often are we led to write a letter, to speak out in a conversation, to go and do something that we know is right.

If we are called to be Christ’s body on earth then we are called to be his voice box as well.

If we don’t speak then just as in Amos there will be a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.

So for me this is my first challenge from this passage today in Amos.

Then there are a few more that I want to suggest to us.

And the next concerns our worship.

Verse 3 Amos says- the Songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day…

Chapter 5: 21- I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

It seems quite strange to us that God seems so anti – worship,

After all is that not what we are called to do.

But God recognises that the worship is not truly of the heart because it doesn’t inform their behaviour.

This comes back to what worship is truly about.

Worship is not something we do once a week – but worship is about our whole lives.

We worship together to draw close to God and to encourage each other, to spend time with God, but this is just one day one hour even of the week, for the rest of the week then our worship is in different ways.

We worship in how we serve God in serving others, we worship in our quiet times of prayer, we worship in how we have that conversation with another person who is in need, we worship in how we support each other and our families.

As we grow in our relationship with God we begin to see more and more of our lives as worship – we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice we say in the post communion prayer in our common worship liturgy.

For the people of the time of Amos they were getting it wrong because they were seeing worship as something separate – do we fall short in the same way.

Then we also see a challenge concerning justice and self interest.

The people were criticised for their attitudes to the less fortunate in their society.

Verse 6: buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.

What is our attitude to justice.

We may say we care for the poor and marginalised in our society in the world but do we actually do anything about it.

We hear a great deal of talk about justice in our society – we hear talk of what I really want is justice – when some injustice has been done to someone else.

But actually do we really care about justice.

If we did then we would care about fair trade, we would concern ourselves with issues of human trafficking, of the plight of the homeless, and many other issues.

Do we need to be reminded like the people of Israel of God’s concern for justice and act accordingly.

And how do we fare on a scale of one to ten of self interest?

What about how we view our money – do we give away to charity at the start of the month as a priority of our spending or the end when we see what is left.

I am sure we could all be challenged in many ways when it comes to thinking about self interest rather than thinking what God would want from us in principles of justice and self interest.

So we can see how even a book written to a people many thousands of years ago is still just as applicable today – we need to let Amos speak to us and challenge us once more.

Harvest sermon 2011

2011-09-26T02:14:00.000-07:00

This was the sermon I preached for Dorney Church Harvest festival on 25th September. The reading was John's account of Jesus feeding the 5,000.

I was commenting to someone the other day that this Sunday was harvest here at Dorney;.

And the response was quite interesting – he said: you celebrate harvest but there isn’t much farming around here.

My response was such that actually there is a fair bit as we look around at the various things that are grown locally.

But in reflection I thought about the importance of us celebrating harvest generally.

I have never lived truly in the heart of a farming community – I was on the edge in the village we lived in when I was a curate –but I remember throughout my life that the celebration of harvest was important no matter whether we lived in the town or the country.

So why do we year after year celebrate.

And actually I think there are three clear reasons why which I want to point to this morning – firstly we celebrate because it shows our dependence upon God, and secondly we celebrate because it reminds us of our own harvest in life, and lastly we can use this time as a time of remembering our own part in God’s plan to meet the needs of others.

So firstly we celebrate because it reminds us of our dependence upon God.

When I was growing up one of my favourite television programmes was the good life.

If you remember it we saw the antics of a couple – tom and Barabara who gave up work to try to live the rural idyl, the only problem was that they were in suburbia

And they had to contend with their snooty neighbours.

For many as they watched this the idea of self-sufficiency seemed quite attractive.

Self- sufficiency – living off your own produce, and to an extent many of us do this today – we have wonderful examples in this church of home grown produce.

But self-sufficiency as an attitude rather than a lifestyle is something which has pervaded our culture and society.

Self- sufficiency – we live in our own homes, we work hard so that we can have the comforts that we enjoy.

We have the use of amazing technology invented by man which helps us to enjoy these things.

And in the midst of this we create an attitude that actually it is our right to enjoy these things because we have earned them.

A self-sufficiency that man is sufficient.

And in the middle of this self-sufficiency we forget to see anything about the person who has enabled us to reap these benefits, who has enables us to have all the blessings that we have.

We forget to see the God who has given us the intelligence to create technology, who has given us the created world to enjoy.

The God who enables the harvest of not only the land and sea, but also the harvests of mine, of factory, of the creative art of research.

So Harvest bring us back to that God – it brings us away from our self – sufficiency to once more see our dependence upon God

Our reading from John -= the feeding of the five thousand is a wonderful story in so many ways.

And in this story we see Jesus’s concern not only for the spiritual needs of the 5,000 but also his desire for them to be filled in the physical way as well.

So he takes what is offered and in response is able to meet the physical needs.

God cares for the whole person and he is the one who provides for all our needs, phyiscially, emotionally and spiritually.

And then secondly as we celebrate harvest we can be reminded of our harvests – what we produce ourselves,

What was your harvest like this year?

Ours was pretty lacking – we tried to grow things in the vegetable patch but because of lack of time and attention the only things we managed to grow were sunflowers and they were self seeded from the seeds we put out for the birds.

Our harvest was appaling.

Or was it?

When we think of our harvest we can think beyond just producing crops and fruit.,

The little boy offered what he had and Jesus used it amazingly.

We may not produce a harvest of fruit and vegetables but we do produce a harvest in what we do in our lives.

We can not separate our lives into the spiritual and the not so spiritual.

The Christian life is all about integration – we don’t just do our Spiritual bit on a Sunday when we come to Church or even occasionally mid week if we come to a prayer meeting or bible study,

Our Christian life impacts on all our lives.

So for each situation we face, each reaction we have to make, each conversation we are caught up in, we are aware of how our faith may impact and influence and determine how we react, what we say or do.

And if we see life in this way then at harvest we can offer too what we do to God to be used for his service.

We may not have very spiritual or vocational occupations, we may be retired but never the less we have a harvest in our daily life.

In some working lives it is easy to see what your harvest may be, if you work in schools your harvest could be seen as the development of those in your care.

For others it may be more difficult to see a harvest in this way, but if we think of the integration of our lives then how we react at work or with others then will be our harvest.

We can sow seeds of good will, we can sow seeds of understanding and of respect for others, seeds of grace as we do something we would rather not do, or we can sow seeds of distrust, seeds of begrudgingness as we do an activity we would rather not do.

The biblical principle of we reap what we sow is clear here.

We have choices about what we sow- just like the farmer can choose what plant to sow in his field, or we choose which vegetable to grow in our vegetable plot.

And thirdly harvest reminds us of our responsibility to share what we have and meet others needs.

Perhaps we think this is a token venture as we bring a few tins, and other bits.

But we forget how God can use what we have given to support and help others.

And in the same vein too this story of the feeding of the five thousand challenges us to think of how we can be used to meet the needs of those around us.
a little detail that often gets overlooked in this story is this Jesus needs the little boy and the five loaves and the two fish.
How often do we pray for something – God do this, make this to happen, stop this happening. We pray for wars to cease, we pray for the hungry to be fed, and we pray for the sick to get better.
But in this story Jesus doesn’t just magic up food out of thin air – he needs something from the 5000 – he needs something from us to work on.
We pray for wars to cease – God will do great things in answer to our prayers – but we need to offer a loaf and a fish – what are we doing to make wars ceasing. Have we written a letter, supported a peace project, have we even found out what is really going on?
We pray for the hungry to be fed, and God will do great things in answer to our prayers – but we need to offer something ourselves. Have we given something away, have we supported one of the hundreds of charities which feed the starving, have we even found out where the starving are?
We pray for the sick to be healed, and God will do great things in answer to our prayers – but what do we do in support, care, understanding the medical profession, backing research.
“Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat” Jesus says to Philip – or whenever we’ve prayed for this or that “And what are we going to do about it” Jesus says to us! Five loaves and two fish was not very much, but it was just enough for Jesus to work on!

So this harvest we give thanks once again to God for his love for us and his provision of all our needs, we also offer ourselves to be used thinking of our own harvest and of how we can help to meet the needs of others too.

Amen

9/11 sermon The Prophet Jeremiah

2011-09-12T04:46:00.000-07:00

This was the sermon i preached yesterday on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11. When i was planning the sermon series for the autumn i had not clicked that this sermon would fall on this day, but in preparation i couldn't believe how appropriate it was. Lucy

Jeremiah – the weeping prophet.

Today we are starting a short series on the prophets – following our E100 series earlier in the year.

The prophets I think are quite difficult for us to relate to – because in many ways they are quite strange figures of jewish history, often displaying different behaviour to make a point and more often than not having to speak out strongly about what was going on in their day.

However, when we read the prophets we see so much of what they spoke of then having relevance for us today, and also so much of the prophecy that was for the people then not only still being applicable to us today – but in some ways we are still waiting for some of it to be fulfilled fully even today.

And Jeremiah is a good illustration of this point which we will be looking at this morning.

So who was the prophet Jeremiah

Jeremiah was a prophet of God for almost 50 years
Time period: 627 bc - 580 bc (48 yrs)

Prior to this time period, the divided kingdom period existed; The Northern kingdom, known as Israel, consisted of 10 tribes; The Southern kingdom, known as Judah, consisted of 2 tribes. ( the two kingdoms had been united under David)
In 722 bc (100 yrs before Jeremiah), the Northern kingdom was destroyed and carried off to Assyria. (Throughout the book of Jeremiah, he proclaims did you not remember what the Lord did to your brothers in Israel?)
In 612 bc, Nineveh, the capital of Assyria was captured by the Babylonians.
Therefore, Jeremiah was a prophet to the remaining kingdom, the Southern kingdom (Judah). Interestingly, Jeremiah prophesied during their last years and was present for their destruction and captivity by Babylon in 586 bc

God clearly stated that Jeremiah's ministry would be very difficult and full of suffering:

"Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them... They will fight against you but but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you" declares the Lord. ( Jer 1:17-18)

For almost 50 years, Jeremiah preached a very unpopular message of repentance to the people of Judah. For this same time period, there was no measurable change in their lives. (Can you imagine dedicating your whole life to a cause and having it fall on deaf ears ?)
In addition, he was shunned, rejected, imprisoned beaten and persecuted - FOR 50 YEARS !!!!. He had few, if any, friends, no sympathizers to his cause, never married or have children because God instructed him not to (Jer 16:2) and lived a life marked by constant sadness. Consider 9:1 - "Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people."

This is probably why Jeremiah is sometimes known as the weeping prophet.

SO what can we learn from him:

I want to start with looking at a bit of theology which we see clearly in the prophets but quite clearly in Jeremiah – which will then help us to look to how we can apply this to our lives today.

We went to the cinema the other day and as we waited for the film to begin we were tempted with previews of other films coming up.

The most dramatic moments or the most romantic moments of the film used by the filmmakers to try to tempt us to come back and watch the complete film at a later date.

IT gave us a foretaste of what it was about – but we didn’t realise the whole story – and wouldn’t until we paid the extra money and came back at a later date.

We get foretaste of a lot of things – from tasting wine before it is served to bits of nibbles in a supermarket.

Foretaste helps us to see what the real thing is going to be about.

And in the Christian life a similar thing happens too.

Throughout the Christian life we get a foretaste of the Kingdom of God – but we won’t really experience it entirely until we share it with God in eternity.

This is the now and not yet theology that we work with all the time.

Yes we can know God now, but we will experience it even more fully in the future – the not yet.

The now and not yet of the Kingdom of God.

This theology of the Kingdom of God is something which is quite hard to understand.

The prophets encapsulate this as what they were saying was so much now and not yet.

NOW – because what they were saying was so much for the then and now.

So with Jeremiah we see him strongly prophecying to the people of

Judah

about what would happen to them unless they came back to God.
We then see then in exile and yet again Jeremiah’s prophecies were for them about restoration, not only nationally but also of their relationship with God.

The passage from Jeremiah 31 that we had read is just one of such passages – we see this in the context of the people of

Israel

being in exile in Babylon

But underlying all the prophets is the theme of not yet as well.

Because so much of the prophecy that we see within the old testament is not only pertaining to the people of that day – but is also pertaining for the future.

That’s why it is there for us to see – it is not merely like reading history when we read the prophets but it is reading things that apply to us, hope that is there for us as well as for the people of

Israel

And this passage from Jeremiah today is just that. – the promise of restoration for the people then – the now as it where and the not yet – the time is coming says the lord when I will make a new covenant – and this is a message for us all, the promise of the relationship with God – a new covenant, which of course we see through Jesus Christ.

So I want us to dwell for a few moments on this new covenant – and then move on from that a bit to see how this idea of now and not yet can be seen for us and one particular application for our lives.

The promise of the new covenant is one which would have been radical for the original people to have heard this message.

Principles of the Old covenant-

Law – the 10 commandments and the levitical law

Sacrifice – to be made for atonement for their sins

Meeting with |God – only through the levitical priest who could enter the inner temple

Principles of the new covenant

Law- I will write it upon their hearts – no longer an external thing but something internal -

Meeting with God – no longer restricted - the presence of the Holy Spirit will be upon all people

From other prophecies we also get a hint that this is wider than just

Judah

and

Israel

– the people of

Israel

, but here we get a sense of the two being united once more – of being restored once more.

So the prophecy in Jeremiah was talking about restoration of the people of

Israel

from captivity in Babylon, but also pointing clearly to a new way of God.

A new covenant – a new relationship that was going to be not only for

Israel

but also for the rest of the world.

When we look at this with the wisdom of knowing the new testament we can only see this in the light of Jesus Christ and what he achieved on the cross.

So in the prophecy of Jeremiah we see the promised restoration of

Israel

and the promised restoration of God and all mankind

But as I was thinking about what to say today and the implication of the promise of restoration I was also led to think about it in terms of the now and not yet of this all, - we know God now we will know him more fully, we experience God now but we will experience him more fully.

And as I dwelt on this I thought it had huge implications with how we today handle what we are going through and that actually the weeping prophet Jeremiah can teach us a lot about living with this tension in how he handled the suffering he had to experience in his life;

Today is the 10^th anniversary of 9/11.

I should imagine that all of us can remember quite clearly what we were doing on that day – where we were when we heard the news of the dreadful atrocities that happened at the world trade centre and other places around the

United States

When we look back we all probably still ask the question why – yet when we look back we also can realise that for many people they are still living with the consequences of that day – the suffering continues – whether or not it is the relative of one who lost their life on that day or the British servicemen we recently saw on the expedition with Prince Harry in the arctic – there to prove they could carry on despite dreadful injuries incurred in Afghanistan.

Suffering is something which we all live with to a greater or lesser extent.

It is something which I am sure most people including Christians struggle to understand.

What can we learn from Jeremiah – the prophet who is often called the weeping prophet because of his own experience of suffering.

Restoration will happen – one day – that is the hope that we hang on to as Christians.

God will restore us to a place where we will know complete healing not only of individuals but of the world – i saw a new heaven and a new earth Revelations 21.

This is promised in Prophecy in both the old and the new testament.

We will be restored – and this is important when we pray for healing or for God to reach into a situation.
Sometimes we are so focused on the now that we forget to think of the not yet- we are so focused on healing this side of heaven that we fail to see restoration/ completeness as knowing God for ourselves in heaven – the not yet

And then what about those unanswerable questions?

God doesn’t cause our suffering – why does he allow it to happen ?

Time and time again in the psalms and in the prophets we see them asking why is this happening to me.

And time and time again we see the response of faith – the realisation that we don’t understand it but we can live with that uncertainty resting in the arms of God.

Jeremiah is a marvellous example of this for us, we know his life was characterised by suffering, pain, loneliness in human terms, but we know that he was sustained by the undying promise he spoke of restoration and his faith in the God for whom he spoke.

We see clearly when we read Jeremiah that he had undying confidence in God and his promises and that his situation forced him to personally find solace and strength in God alone.

For him the now meant he realised God’s anointing on his life, his sustenance through the suffering but also the promise of the not yet the promise of restoration in the future.

For us Jeremiah challenges us to see the now in our own situation and also the not yets.

This is the challenge of faith for us as we cope with our own issues and minister to those who are suffering in many different ways, to acknowledge what may be happening with God Now but also what we may have to wait to see in the future - the not yet., a tension that may test our faith.

So on the anniversary of 9/11 I want to end with a reading written after the atrocities of the world trade centre, acknowledging that even when things were so awful God was there, just like Jeremiah himself experienced.

Meet me in the stair well!

You say you will never forget where you were when you heard the news on September 11, 2001. Neither will I.

I was on the 110th floor in a smoke filled room with a man who called his wife to say "Goodbye." I held his fingers steady as he dialed. I gave him the peace to say, "Honey, I am not going to make it, but it is OK ... I am ready to go." I was with his wife when he called as she fed breakfast to their children. I held her up as she tried to understand his words and as she realized he wasn't coming home that night.
I was in the stairwell of the 23rd floor when a woman cried out to Me for help. "I have been knocking on the door of your heart for 50 years!" I said. "Of course I will show you the way home - only believe on Me now."
I was at the base of the building with the Priest ministering to the injured and devastated souls. I took him home to tend to his Flock in Heaven. He heard my voice and answered.
I was with the Firefighters, the Police Officers, the Emergency Workers. I was there, watching each brave step they took.
I was on all four of those planes, in every seat, with every prayer. I was with the crew as they were overtaken. I was in the very hearts of the believers there, comforting and assuring them that their faith has saved them.
I was in Texas, Kansas, London. I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news. Did you sense Me?

I want you to know that I saw every face. I knew every name - though not all know Me. Some met Me for the first time on the 86th floor. Some sought Me with their last breath. Some couldn't hear Me calling to them through the smoke and flames; "Come to Me...this way...take My hand." Some chose, for the final time, to ignore Me. But, I was there.

I did not place you in the Tower that day. You may not know why, but I do. However, if you were there in that explosive moment in time, would you have reached for Me?
September 11, 2001 was not the end of the journey for you. But someday your journey will end. And I will be there for you as well.
Seek Me now while I may be found. Then, at any moment, you know you are "ready to go." I will be in the stairwell of your final moments.
~~~ God ~~~

Written by: Stacey Randall

Sermon 15- The Church is Born - Lucy Holt

2011-05-31T04:12:00.000-07:00

Sermon preached on 28th May 2011

Readings Acts 2: 37-47 Matthew 16: 13-20

I often get quite upset when I go to meetings and hear about church growth.

There is always such a despondency around – the statistics are quite frightening when they talk about how many churches will close in the future, how few people there will be to run them and lead them.

It can be quite a difficult thing to hear.

Difficult because on a personal level it is quite depressing to think you may not have a job in the future!

But more than that I find it difficult because it goes against what I entered the church in the first place for,

It takes no account of the transforming place the church has in society, in education, the transforming place the church has in the lives of individuals and communities.

I honestly believe that the church is God’s plan for the world to know Him and to make Him known, and that is an awesome responsibility and an awesome task for us to be the Body of Christ in the world.

And so this morning it is great to go back to basics and to see what the Church is all about through the eyes of the early Christians.

And this week those who will be reading the E100 will be looking at the growth of the early church.

So I want this morning to look at the marks of the early church – and perhaps we can then use them as a check list to see where we are as the church here in 2011.

Let’s start by looking back at the sort of disciples we saw when they were working out what had happened in the garden tomb.

All the accounts of the resurrection appearances appear to point to a confused and worried group of people.

They were locked in an upper room, they went back on their fishing boats, they were downcast as they walked to Emmaus.

This is a group of people that were so unsure as to what had happened, that were frightened and afraid, confused and bewildered.

But how do we see them in our reading from Acts this morning – transformed.

They were bold in their declaration of the good news of Jesus Christ,

They were bold in living their daily lives in community with other Chrisitans.

They were totally transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit that they received on the day of Pentecost.

And the sort of Church we see here is one of growth, what always strikes me from this reading is growth – 3,000 new believers, the Lord adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

This transformation was not just for the disciples who had followed Jesus in his earthly life but was now transforming the lives of others.

Peter was bold in his preaching and 3,000 people were baptised! – just one sermon!

Then we see a transformation into their lives as a community too.

It is radical what we see in terms of how they lived together.

We are told they had all things in common – they shared all their possessions

They lived a very different life from others around them, they were distinct and became a real community of believers.

And as we read through this week we will see other examples of them in witness and in community together.

So what can we learn from them, in terms of Church growth today?

Well I think there are some key points that we need to look at and then ask ourselves questions about as the Church in 2011.

Firstly, they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

If we were to read back from the passage in Acts we would see the amazing account of Pentecost.

We of course will be celebrating that in our church’s in just 2 weeks time.

The power that they had to go out and to tell others about was the power of the Holy Spirit.

They were not doing it in their own strength but through the strength of God, the power of the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost they saw what they thought was fire, they heard what seemed to be like wind.

Wind and fire- both things that can comfort but can also transform.

Gentle wind blowing on a hot summers day can make us feel comfortable and relax,

The fire in the grate on a cold winters evening we can sit and warm ourselves and be comfortable again.

But both have the power to transform too don’t they, the fire that burns to such intense heat that elements of metal can be transformed, can be purified.

The wind that sweeps through and bends and sometimes breaks trees.

I am sure we are more comfortable with the first thoughts about wind and flame than the second.

The second is worrying because it can disturb our lives and turn it upside down.

And as we look at the Holy Spirit in this way I am sure we are comfortable with the first thoughts too.

We all like the thought of the Holy Spirit being with us – to bring God’s comfort to us, to help us in our daily lives.

But are we prepared to let the Holy Spirit come and change us, to transform us and our church.

The early Christians lives were not necessarily comfortable but they were transformational.

As we see the readings this week we see the Holy Spirit taking them to unsure and uncomfortable places,

Stephen standing up for his faith and being stoned to death,

Peter and John arrested but carrying on preaching.

Phillip drawn close to an Ethiopian official.

They were bold because they were filled with the Holy Spirit of God and they were willing to let themselves be taken to unexpected places not in their own power and authority but in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit.

The question that leaves me with is am I?

So the early church was filled with the Holy Spirit, but secondly they were also centred on Jesus.

If we go back to the gospel reading we see very clearly the importance of the church being centred on Jesus.

Jesus says to the disciples who do people say that I am?

They give various answers but Jesus persists- but who do you say that I am?

And we hear Peter’s amazing reply – showing a depth of insight that he probably wasn’t even aware of at the time-

You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Jesus replies on this rock – I will build my church.

In other words Peter’s words are the rock on which the church is founded – that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God.

And we see the centrality of this in the life of the early church, in how they lived together in what their priorities were.

We see central to their lives together was the re-enactment of the sacrifice of Jesus as they shared bread and wine together.

When they go out to heal and to preach – whose name do they quote- they don’t do it in their own name but in the name of Jesus Christ.

So Peter and John say to the man at the gate – in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth get up and walk.

We see clearly they are doing everything in Jesus’ name, not on their own but in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ.

He is totally central to all they do.

It is so easy to forget this in our lives together.

Yes Jesus is hopefully central to our worship as we meet together and celebrate his death and resurrection for us.

But how often do we in other things forget to put him central, forget to seek his will and just think of our own good ideas.

We need to be challenged by the early Church to get back to basics and to ensure that we are doing things in his name and not our own.

And then thirdly the early church had community and the centre of their lives.

We see this wonderful account of their lives together in Acts 2 and in other places in our readings we will see the importance of community for them.

They lived a communal life as we have already spoken of.

But what about us, how important is our community life.

I do think that the community of the church is more important than we realise.

By sharing community we learn from each other, we support each other, we pray and grow together.

But creating community takes time and effort.

Reading from Rick Warren. - The purpose Driven life - which speaks of the effort needed to make community in terms of spending quality time with each other.

We have seen in recent weeks examples of our community life being strengthened, how we worked together for the fun afternoon, how we shared lunch together at Eton Wick last week for Christian Aid.

Can we continue to do this – can we all take a part in building community.

How about inviting someone around for a cup of coffee or even a meal, getting to know each other at a deeper level.

And then lastly and most obviously when we think of what we can learn from the early church about church growth – it is this – witness was a priority to them.

Those in the early church were constantly going and telling others about Jesus.

They didn’t just sit in their buildings waiting for others to come to them, they went out and spoke of their faith.

I am sure not every one they spoke to turned and wanted to know more, but we do know that many did.

We see examples of this in our readings this week.

And this wasn’t easy for the early Christians.

They didn’t have a safe ride with this – when they were persecuted it wasn’t just a bit of teasing or mocking for their faith – it was being sent to jail, being stoned to death.

And yet they carried on because witness to them was a priority.

We can build a wonderful community of love and fellowship, we can have wonderful worship, uplifting liturgy in our beautiful well kept buildings BUT unless we are prepared to see witnessing to our faith as a priority then our churches will not grow.

The early church witnessed in how they lived their lives but in what they said as well – we need both.

We need to share the love of Christ in many ways BUT we need to share the love of Christ.

As Paul said we always need to be able to give an account of that hope that is within us, and that is US personally not someone else.

We need to pray for the Holy Spirit to lead us and to direct us in how we witness, and then we need to follow his direction.

This is the responsibility of us all!

So going back to the beginning, the statistics for the church of the future are frightening so what are we going to do about it, bury our heads in the sand and pretend it isn’t happening.

OR – perhaps we can go back to basics like the early Church and follow their priorities.

Being led and challenged by the Holy Spirit

Having Jesus at the centre of all we do

Building a strong and vibrant community

And seeing witnessing to God’s saving love as a priority in all we do.

Sermon 14 - The Cross of Christ - Janet Binns

2011-05-31T04:09:00.001-07:00

Eton Wick & Dorney 22/05/2011

Bible reading: Luke 22 14-23 & Acts 1 1-11

Title : Remember me

Application: When “do this in remembrance of me” becomes an active reality of lives

1. Introduction

- In the romantic drama Remember Me, the character Tyler, a rebellious young man living in New York City

- There’s been some tragedy in his life that has separated his family

- Tyler’s relationship with his father is strained and difficult.

- Tyler doesn't think anyone can possibly understand what he is going through, until one day through an unusual twist of fate he meets Ally

- Love was the last thing on his mind, but as her spirit unexpectedly heals and inspires him, he begins to fall in love with her.

- Through their love, he begins to find happiness and meaning in his life. But soon, hidden secrets are revealed

- and the circumstances that brought them together slowly threaten to tear them apart.

- Remember me is an unforgettable story about the power of love, the strength of family, and the importance of living passionately, treasuring every day of one's life.

2. Remember Me

- The words I want us to focus on this morning are the words remember me.

- Jesus’ words to his disciples ‘do this in remembrance of me’ What it meant to his disciples then and What does it mean to us today when we join in Communion at the Lord’s Table?

- I don’t know about you but one of the things I cherish in life is the ability to remember.

- Article: God gives us memories so that we can have roses in December. But I have to admit that I haven’t got the greatest memory and in order not to forget I have to write things down. Especially those things which are important.

- I wonder how the disciples felt when Jesus said these words. Do this in remembrance of me

3. Hebrew vs English translation

- When I was at college in addition to Theology and Ministry we were offered the opportunity to learn Hebrew.

- It’s important to learn Hebrew especially those words which are commonly used in church.

- Hebrew meanings and English meanings are often quite different

- Let’s look at the word remember it doesn’t mean in English what it means in Hebrew. But in order to understand what remember means in Hebrew it’s important that we understand the difference between the Hebrew and English meaning for the word forget.

4. To Forget.

- To forget in English means merely to have an idea or notion slip out of your mind.

- Whereby to forget in Hebrew means to annilate a person to obliterate and blot out completely.

- As we read through the Old Testament when the Israelites cried out to God not to forget them. They didn’t mean, remember us once in a while.

- They meant don’t destroy us don’t annilate us don’t blot us out.

- It’s obvious then that to forget in Hebrew is not to do with putting ideas and notions out of our mind but to do with the active realities of our lives. The things we do.

5. To Remember

- In the same way to remember is not to recall to mind ideas and notions but to do with the active realities in our lives.

- In Hebrew terms to remember is to bring a past event into the present so what happened in the past becomes a living and active part of our lives.

- In other words to remember is to bring a past event into the present so that what happened in the past continues to happen now .e.g. Royal wedding street parties

- When the Israelites are urged to remember the deliverance from slavery of their forefathers centuries earlier they aren't being urged chiefly to recollect a historical facts;

- They are being urged to live the same reality themselves hundreds of years later.

6. The Lord’s supper

- And so two thousand years after Jesus words’ do this in remembrance of me the same words continue to be said at communion tables in churches across the globe. Jesus first said these words at the last supper to his disciples.

- When he spoke, he didn’t mean “think of me every now and then, especially whenever you celebrate the last supper with bread and wine,

- Pause for a kindly though about me.

- What good would that have been? We remember our Lord only when we come to communion.

- When Jesus spoke these words what he meant was ‘my sin bearing death was your salvation.

- As often as you eat and drink at the Lord’s Table, make my sin bearing death an active part of your life now. So that the forgiveness I give you epitomises every aspect of your life.

7. The way we remember now

- This way of remembering I venture to say is very different to the way we remember today. When we remember we merely bring to mind the idea and notion of an event.

- But when the Hebrew forefathers spoke they meant something much stronger, they meant that what happened in the past continued to be a present and active life changing reality.

8. God Remembers

- Over and over the Hebrew bible insists that God remembers. God remembers his covenant; God remembers his holy promise; God remembers his steadfast love; God remembers his mercy.

- All of these things ultimately amount to the same thing. God's covenant is his bond with us.

- Of his own grace and truth God has bound himself to his people. He will never quit on us out of weariness or give up on us out of frustration or spurn us out of disgust.

- He has pledged himself to us.

- To be sure, in his gracious pledge to us, he wants us to reciprocate; as he binds himself to us we are to bind ourselves to him.

- Nevertheless, even though we break our covenant with him he never breaks his covenant with us.

- Our gratitude to him may be as changing as our moods; nonetheless, his graciousness towards us is unwavering.

9. God forgets

- Since God is God his memory must be exceedingly good; in fact, is there anything God doesn't remember?

- Does God have a photographic memory, remembering everything forever? The truth is, God is supremely good at forgetting; he loves to forget, literally "loves" to forget.

- A minute ago I said that to forget, in Hebrew, doesn't mean to let something slip out of your mind accidentally; to forget is to annihilate deliberately, blot out, obliterate.

- To God's people who humble themselves penitently before him, says the prophet Isaiah, God declares, "I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my sake, and I will not remember your sins."

- The prophet doesn't mean that God has absentmindedly lost track of his people's sin.

- He means that God has forgotten their sins in the Hebrew sense of forgetting. God has blotted out the sins of repentant people; their sin is no longer the active reality of their existence before him; it no longer determines their standing before God; it no longer precludes their intimacy with him.

- God is marvellously forgetful when repentant people come to him.

10. Lord remember me

- Of course we know that we need God to remember for we want his mercy to be the active reality in our lives.

- Remember the dying Criminal crucified alongside Jesus, as he gasp his last breath. Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom.

- When Jesus remembers us he makes our need, our desperate need of pardon and new life, his preoccupation his all-consuming concern which becomes the active reality of his life. Do this in remembrance of me.

- And he expects us to remember others in the same way.

- Paul tells the Christians in Galatia that they must remember the poor. To remember the poor, everyone knows by now, isn't to recall them to mind, or even to think charitably about them.

- To remember the poor is to make the reality of their poverty an active ingredient in our discipleship.

11. What does it mean to us

- In this Benefice, Deanery, Diocese we may ask the question who is the poor? Because although we acknowledge that there are some who are economically disadvantaged there is virtually no one who would be classed as economically destitute

- In ancient Israel the poor were classed as the vulnerable i.e. the widows the orphans the sojourners, those who were especially defenceless.

- When Paul urges us to "remember the poor" he means that the plight of those people who are especially vulnerable; these people may not be financially poor at all.

- Nonetheless, we are surrounded with people who are extraordinarily vulnerable, unusually defenceless, even though they may be wealthier than us.

- It's not difficult to find people who are financially adequate yet who are emotionally vulnerable, psychiatrically vulnerable, racially vulnerable, ethnically vulnerable, physically vulnerable, and intellectually vulnerable. And of course those who are spiritually vulnerable are everyone, in fact.

12. What should we do?

- Then what exactly are we to do as we "remember" such people? There is no pre-packaged system; there is no assured formula or step-by-step program of remembering the poor.

- One thing we must do, however, is simply welcome and cherish those who are vulnerable, defenceless, in every respect.

- We had a community event last week, people commented that it didn’t cost much at all in terms of money. But it was a time of family togetherness fun laughter and enjoyment. How do we remember the day e.g. name a few activities

- Reminder: Jesus’ words….Do this in remembrance of me.

- When does the activity day become an active reality of our lives?

13. Who are the poor among us

- In Eton Wick and Dorney who are the poor among us. The single mother left to bring her children on her own.

- The child who is intellectually challenged and is tormented by other children. The elderly man or woman unable to go out any longer and so spend much of their time alone at home.

- The single person who have found living in a couple oriented society almost a form of solitary confinement.

- The spiritual impoverished who wonders what life is about anyway.

- Whom do you and I know to be especially vulnerable and defenceless?

- These are the people with whom our lives must interact, for only as their vulnerability becomes an active reality of our lives are the poor remembered.

14. Finally

- The boy in the story I read at the beginning was vulnerable in many ways until he found the power of love and it changed his life. It is the power of Jesus love for us why our sins are forgotten obliterated, blotted out.

- Like the needy man on Good Friday all that any of us can do ultimately is to cry “Lord remember me” and know that our Lord Jesus will do precisely that. Remember each of us when he come into his Kingdom.

Sermon 13 The miracles of Jesus - Lucy Holt

2011-05-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

.The Miracles of Jesus.

What is your favourite miracle?

Why?

At Little Fishes this week we were going to tell the children the story we had today of the feeding of the five thousand.

Before we had even got into church – I got out five bread rolls and put them on a plate and was just about to find the paper fish- when one of the mums said to me – oh I know which story we are having today.

The bread gave it away – it’s a familiar story isn’t it.

One which most people if they have had any Christian teaching however small, at school would know.

And we did tell the story and they enjoyed eating the bread rolls – in fact I have never seen so many little children so quiet with just a piece of bread to chomp on.

This week we are going to be looking at the miracles of Jesus in our readings.

The miracles are often very familiar stories to us, stories like the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on water.

But the problem with familiarity is that we can think we know them and we can fail to stop and see what new things we can be taught by them.

So this week as we do read these stories I want us to stop once more and look at what God might be saying to us through them.

And this morning I want to look at several things that we can see and question we can ask from reading the miracles of Jesus:

Who Jesus is

What were his priorities

What is our response to this

Who Jesus is?

As we look at this passage today – what things are we struck with?

It’s pretty amazing really isn’t it – here is Jesus away from everywhere and surrounded by a huge crowd of people – over 5,000 if we count the women and children, and he is able to take 5 little loaves of bread and two fish and enable the assembled crowd to be fed to their fill.

This isn’t just some trickster who had a load of fish and bread stored on the hill just in case this arose.

This was an amazing miracle that revealed the truth about Jesus, that he had the power and authority over creation itself.

You see as we read the accounts of the different miracles this week – and hopefully it will spur you on to look at more of Jesus’ miracles as well – we can slow down to see what is it about Jesus that has been revealed.

I am certain that Jesus didn’t just perform the miracles we had recorded in the bible but there were many more people who received healing and wholeness when they came to him.

But the gospel writers have used their skill to show us different miracles that speak of different truths about Jesus.

That begin to reveal to us who this person was.

Most obvious in the gospel of John, but this is evident too in other gospels.

John speaks of the different miracles in his gospel as being signs.

Signs point to something, and John has carefully crafted his gospel to slowly reveal who Jesus is.

He starts with the wonderful description of the light coming into the world, and then slowly through the stories he has included in the gospel reveal who this light is.

So we see in Jesus’ first miracle in John – the water into wine, something about Jesus coming to change the old order of things – the ceremonial water jugs used for ritual cleaning into something really special- the best wine.

And this continues throughout the gospels as we see different miracles giving us more of an insight into who Jesus is.

The reading this morning – the feeding of the five thousand does just this.

We didn’t end the reading with the miracles but continued to hear a further conversation between Jesus and his disciples.

What is the question that is asked- who do you say I am? Jesus asked.

And we hear Peter’s reply – The Messiah of God.

This is a pivotal moment of revelation – and it is linked clearly with the experience of the miracle.

In John’s account of the feeding of the five thousand which we read in John 6 we see Jesus asking the question afterwards – are you following me because I can fill your stomachs?

And then he goes on to expand on what it means to feed on him spiritually and he makes the staggering statement – I am the bread of life- whoever eats of this bread will live forever.

So as we read the miracles of Jesus – stop and listen, see what this teaches us about who Jesus is.

Let Jesus ask you the same question that he asked Peter – who do you say that I am?

And like Peter perhaps once more we can see Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God.

And then as we read these miracles we also see something quite profound about Jesus priorities.

In the feeding of the five thousand what was Jesus response to the people.

The disciples were wanting to send the people away but Jesus even though it was getting late was still concerned for the people.

He had compassion on them- he probably realised that they wouldn’t find enough food in the surrounding villages- after all the day was getting late, even in our modern society a crowd of 5,000 people descending on the village shop is going to leave a great deal hungry!

So Jesus once more had compassion, he cared for the people not only for their spiritual needs but also for them physically.

Last week in the teaching of Jesus we were asked the question can we be unmoved by the teaching of Jesus.

And I want to suggest as we look at the miracles we are asked the same question.

You see as we see Jesus’ priorities often they are far away from our priorities and the affluence of modern society.

As we look at the miracles of Jesus we see that those who were touched by Jesus were not necessarily the rich and the highly respected in society – sometimes we do see that for example when Jesus heals the daughter of Jairus.

But often the people that Jesus brought healing to where the outcasts and marginalised of society.

The blind beggar, the ten lepers who would have lived outside the village, the woman who had been bleeding for years.

And when we see Jesus healing we see his utter compassion for these people.

Time and time again when we see Jesus’ miracles we see his compassion for those who are marginalised and his healing brings wholeness not only physically but also enables people to re-enter the community.

I think this speaks very profoundly to us about God’s Kingdom priorities.

The healing ministry is so much bigger than simply praying for someone to be made better.

When we think of healing we need to think of wholeness, which includes not only physical healing, but care for the spiritual, psychological and also community needs of the individual.

So we carry out the healing ministry of Jesus when we are concern for the poor and marginalised in our society leads us to action – when we show practical care to others.

God’s Kingdom priorities are so different from the worlds and we need to be aware of these and in our actions show them.

As we read through the miracles this week – ask yourself the question how did Jesus respond to need – how can I?

What about our response to the miracles of Jesus?

When we look at Jesus miracles we see different responses.

We see large crowds following as we did in the account of the feeding of the 5,000.

And we see Jesus responding to their need.

But out of these 5,000 how many turned to Jesus?

We are not told, they experienced this miracle but did all of them realise the magnitude of it?

When we read the accounts of the miracles of Jesus we see different responses from people.

And surprisingly not all are positive.

We see the religious leaders respond quite negatively to Jesus as they are challenged by him.

They saw what he was doing, they must have heard the accounts of the miracles and they still failed to see who he was.

What about us- what is our reaction to the miracles of Jesus?

Are we still moved when we read them, do we believe that Jesus can still work miracles in people’s lives?

If we believe in a God who came to earth to transform our lives, then why wouldn’t he care still for us today and long for us to know the miraculous.

We need to trust in a God who does hear and answer prayer and longs to bring healing of body, mind and spirit to individuals.

We may not understand how this can happen but we do know that there are times when we see the miraculous happen.

Eg of Andrew White in Baghdad.

Miracles can still happen today – we are not to say how God can work in someones lives and we need to see the miraculous as not only healing physically but also healing emotionally and spiritually.

What we are called to do is to bring those we love to Jesus and lay them at his feet.

Just like the friends who lowered the man through the roof we offer those we love to Jesus and he asks of us – what do you want.

We may not understand the miraculous but we do know that God has power to transform lives, each of us knowing him for ourselves is a miracle in itself.

If we believe this then we should be able to put our faith in him to transform and renew people and situations, to have faith however little in His miraculous power.

So this week as you look at Jesus miracles – and even if you aren’t doing the E100 course perhaps have a look at some of his miracles again.

Ask yourselves these questions:

Who is this Jesus that I see

What are his priorities

What is my response

Sermon 12 Jesus the Teacher - John Clark

2011-05-31T04:04:00.001-07:00

Jesus the Teacher Dorney and Eton Wick May 8^th 2011

Oliver James is a psychologist who spent nine months travelling some of the most prosperous cities of the world to establish what makes people happy. He discovered that our modern lifestyle has made many people really unhappy and he described their condition as ‘affluenza’. People today are preoccupied with four things: money, possessions, their physical appearance and celebrity. For them their lives were about ‘having’: they wanted to be rich, they want to own smart cars or houses, to look special and to enjoy status. But they also discovered that however much they gained of what they wanted they were no closer to happiness. James said the key to happiness is not about ‘having’ but about ‘being’ – of how we understand ourselves, about how we relate to and care about others.

This week’s readings in our E100 series are on Jesus’ teaching. The marvellous opening passage which we had read to us in the second lesson gives Jesus’ own answer to the question, How Can I be happy? His answers are so different to modern society’s. Some translations say ‘Happy are those who are poor...happy are those who mourn...But even better is the translation ‘Blessed’. To be blessed is to enjoy God’s favour; to be blessed is to be fulfilled; to be blessed is to be the person God made me uniquely to be. There is no greater happiness than that.

Martin Lloyd-Jones suggests that the qualities Jesus refers to in the Beatitudes are the qualities which mark out the life of every Christian. In that sense they are a litmus test to prove the work of God within us. They are acquired qualities which flow from the transformation God is undertaking in us. Jesus is speaking of a dissatisfaction at the core of our being about how hopeless we are spiritually; of a deep yearning to confront the ways in which we fall short; He is saying we should enjoy a way of living which does not seek our own way but respects the needs of others ahead of our own; a spirit of forgiveness which is always merciful and which goes on and on being merciful; a deep-seated yearning to be the very best God wants me to be; to be someone who transforms difficult situations to bring peace when all around there is conflict; he speaks of a deep inner battle to live out our best for Him. We may be frustrated by our failure to achieve all this but we know in the depth of our being that it is what we are made for. The Beatitudes are both a challenge and a promise.

When we study the teaching of Jesus we discover

1. That Jesus had a radical message.

In Africa my missionary friends and I would spend hours debating whether to give to beggars in the street. But what does v 41 say? ‘Give to the one who asks you’. Our Tanzanian friends often asked to borrow from us and we would refuse on the grounds that they would be unable to repay. But what does Jesus say in v 41 again: ‘Do not turn away the one who wants to borrow from you’. We were offended when someone stole the second coat that Jesus said we should have given away; we were quick to see the errors in others and miss our own complacency. And I am sure that we were not alone.

I read a biography of St Francis while in Mvumi. He sought to live precisely the kind of life which Jesus speaks of in the Sermon on the Mount. I was embarrassed because I knew I was not prepared to trust God like St Francis by giving away my possessions, or to trust him to clothe me like the flowers and or feed me like the birds of the air. Too often as Christians we can dabble with what Jesus has to say, cherry-picking the bits which we can live with but explaining away the more difficult and demanding passages. I warn you all as we read the Sermon on the Mount you will be excited by his challenge and thrilled by his words, but too often be unmoved by the radical demands He makes of us.... Do we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us? Do we store up treasures in heaven or like me in the attic or on the shelves: do we take pleasure in feeling superior to others as we judge them?

2. Jesus also had a radical method

He was a master story teller who made everyday experiences come to life unearthing great spiritual truths using a method which a parent uses with his children. I have an eight year old niece and occasionally she asks me to read to her to go to sleep. It never ceases to amaze me that she seems to fall asleep so quickly or is it she feigns sleep to escape the tedium of my stories! Jesus was not like that: his stories pulse with humanity and humour and compassion – I am sure we all have our favourites. Who cannot be moved by the remarkable kindness of the Father when his son has squandered his fortune; or by the willingness of the Good Samaritan to take such personal risks to help a stranger; or the perseverance of the Shepherd when he searches and searches for that single sheep that went astray; that poor widow with no possessions who sweeps her house to find the coin she has lost. I don’t know if you know Van Gogh’s marvellous picture of the sower throwing seed under a massive gold sun, but Jesus‘ words clearly resonated with him too. His stories require us to see ourselves in the picture and to make the appropriate response. They keep coming back into our minds to challenge or inspire or unsettle.

3. But most importantly Jesus lived out the teaching which He gave.

He lived a blameless life in an inspiring and attractive way.

He attracted a group of fishermen to leave their nets to follow Him. Wherever he went He drew people to Himself - outcasts and sinners, the sick, the disabled, the mentally ill, children. He attracted scholars like Nicodemas, the self-satisfied like the rich young ruler, foreigners like the centurion. He was a charismatic leader because he lived the life of poverty and dependence on God he himself taught; he turned the other cheek when he was mocked and scourged; he offered love and friendship and not judgement and criticism.

But our Faith does not see Jesus as an example that we should follow, but rather a friend to change us. I am a hopeless romantic and I loved the Royal Wedding. There was a clear sense that both were in love and their union together would enhance each other so that each was better for having given themselves to the other. In Colossians, Paul speaks of ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’. Jesus may make radical demands; he may challenge and inspire, but there is nothing worse than to demand of us the unattainable. The promise of Jesus the Teacher is that He will live His risen life in us so that the qualities which we see in the Beatitudes and in the Sermon on the Mount become the characteristics which mark out our lives as we spend time with him. It may take at least a lifetime to make the changes but how blessed shall we be.

Sermon 10 - The prophets

2011-03-26T11:13:00.001-07:00

Prophets

I wonder if you have ever regretted not following someone’s advice.

I have to say I did yesterday, I was due to pick up Megan from Dedworth and Kathryn texted me to say don’t go on the relief road as it is was really snarled up.

Well I don’t know why – but I just didn’t think it would be that bad- needless to say I was half an hour late to pick her up and almost got caught up in road rage on the way – it was so frustrating.

Sometimes well quite a lot of the time it is just not worth following good advice from a trustworthy source.

I start with this because we have reached the readings this week which focus on prophecy within the old testament.

The prophets who were sent to give good advice – sometimes tough advice – but never the less good advice from God, in fact perhaps advice is too loose a word for what they had to say – perhaps commands or instructions would be a better way of putting it.

And we know from the whole story that they didn’t always follow it and it was to their peril.

So today we look at the role of the prophets in the Old Testament and some of the key themes as well as what we can take from it today.

But I want to start with a bit of a recap on where they come in terms of the history of Israel, then think about who they were, and then what sort of things did they have to say, and then we will finish with application for today.

So a bit of a brief history lesson.

In the past few weeks in our readings we have seen a huge journey of the people of Israel, we have seen them literally journey from nomadic tribesmen, into Egypt and then out again through the wilderness to the promised land.

We have seen them journey from having leaders to judges and then to Kings to be like the other nations.

We have seen throughout their journey as a nation the people going away from and then coming back to God.

And we finished our journey with them when they were at the height of their national identity in the reign of King David and then Solomon.

But what happened next?

Well in the next period of time it was yet again a very turbulent time for Israel.

They were being led by Kings some of which were holy and led the people to follow God but many of whom were not.
At the same time they were at risk from other nations and the Babylonian empire was becoming stronger, until finally the people of Israel were taken to Babylon in exile.

And it is at this point of time that we start to read the books of the prophets.

Because they cover this period of time of the reign of various kings of Israel and into there time of exile.

There are 16 books of prophecy in total covering this period of time, within some of them we see reference to the risk of captivity, and in some it is obvious that it was during the time of captivity, some for example the book of Isaiah cover both times – before and after the people of Israel were in exile.

So if we see reference to the threat from other nations – then likely to be before exile

And if we see reference to salvation – then it is likely to be during exile.

So who were these prophets?

Well basically they were God’s messengers to the time.

They were ordinary people who God had called out to stand up for him against the goings on of the day.

Often they were uncertain to start with like we will see when we read passages from the beginning of Jeremiah.

Sometimes they had amazing experiences of meeting with God such as we see in Isaiah 6.

Often their words of prophecy are referred to as visions – and use amazing illustrations of the people’s sin and God’s response to this.

Often too we see the prophets themselves as rather strange figures – because their lives in many ways stand up against the prevailing culture of the day.

And in this we see God showing through their own lives aspects of himself.

One clear example of this is in the life of the prophet Hosea who was called to marry an adulteress woman as a picture of how God felt the pain of people rejecting him and how he constantly draws the people back to himself.

So what did the prophets have to say to the people and how are these 16 books of the bible still relevant today?

Well as you read through this week you will begin to see key themes that are contained within the prophets.

Whether or not the people were in exile there is the constant theme of God’s amazing love, his judgement too but overarching this is his love.

Despite what they have done, despite how many times they have failed him, God is still calling them back and gives them hope for the future.

We read the prophets with the eyes of people who know the full story.

The promise of salvation to them from captivity was fulfilled when they returned to Israel.

To us we see the promise of salvation in a different light.

And that is the joy of the prophets, much of the prophecy we see was not just pertinent for the people of the days in which it was given, but is also pertinent for today.

So we return to the prophets time and time again, we hear the words each year as we come to our carol services as we see the promise of Jesus echoes through these words.

So the promise of salvation that we see written in the prophets is just as real now as it was to the people way back then.

Despite what we do – God still reaches out to us, and he did that of course through the cross of Jesus Christ.

So a key theme for the prophets is the reaching out of God’s love and the promise of salvation.

But a key theme also is the expectation of God for us to live the way that pleases him.

We see time and time again within the prophets God’s displeasure over man’s actions.

Man’s inhumanity to man, the lack of thought of others.

God’s displeasure over the way man acts is evident.

The words of the prophets make stark reading when we consider our lives even today.

How many times even in our own churches do we consider the needs of the poor and marginalised?

How many times do we put others needs first before our own?

How many times do our actions trample over others who are not as fortunate as ourselves?

And as we read the prophets we realise God’s displeasure on our actions as well as the people of that day.

Things are not so different are they? People fundamentally haven’t changed in their self seeking actions and the out for all you can get culture.

But the prophets call us back to re-examine our live and call us to put our own house in order.

And the last theme I want to look at today is that of the need to put God first.

The prophets are full of description of Idolatory – the worship of other Gods.

And in this we see the people turn away from God to other things.

And this leads us nicely to our reading this morning from Daniel – (I bet you thought I’d never get there!)

What was the challenge to Daniel in this reading? The command he was given was to put aside God, to take the easy option and obey King Darius command.

But he chose instead to carry on putting his faith and his relationship with God first.

The priority of his life was to serve God not man.

He took the commandment to put God first above everything else seriously.

Here he is in exile in Babylon, in a strange country yet continuing to put his faith in God first.

And despite the risk to his own life this was paramount.

I wonder how you feel when you read this? Perhaps you think Daniel was foolhardy, perhaps you wish you had that faith, perhaps you think its just a nice story and anyway I’l never be in such a situation so it doesn’t really apply to me anyway, perhaps you see the lions as some cartoon characters – nice cuddly lions that wouldn’t hurt a fly!

Well the reality of this story is- that Daniel was in danger, and his faith is an example to us all.

I am fairly certain that putting God first is probably the biggest thing that we struggle with as Christians, because it concerns so many parts of our lives.

If I want to put God first then it will impact on how I live my life, how I relate to other people, how I handle my money, and so on and son.

If I put God first then actually I will get increasingly upset about the inhumanities in the world and in our society and will want to work to change these

If I put God first then I will want to spend time in worship, I will want to help and encourage others to worship too.

But how often actually do we see worship as a nice added extra- what I can get out of it, and I’ll go if I have time.

What is the example of Daniel – it was imperative, no excuses not to – even at the threat of his life.- he saw this as fundamental to his faith.

Putting God first isn’t easy as we saw in the example of Daniel – but the prophets constantly call us back to this, to stop having other Gods and to put the one true God first.

We may not have the Baal Gods or even be asked to bow down to a King, but what about the Gods of job success, the God of the golf course or Gym, the God of the perfect home, and I could go on and on.

Because all of these things stop us putting God first, they stop us living by his priorities in our lives, they call us away from regularly spending time with him and other Christians in worship, they lead us to stop thinking about the poor and marginalised in society and seeing things from God’s perspective.

IF we take the words of the prophets seriously we are called back to the first commandment of God: I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other Gods before me.

And what was Jesus’ summary of the law- what did he say was most important.

To love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and to love your neighbour as your love yourself.

This is no half hearted commitment this is a command which challenges all parts of our lives.

So my challenge to you as you consider Daniel and the rest of the prophets this week is this- If God isn’t your number one priority in life, what needs to change for you to put God where he belongs.

Sermon 9- the psalms and proverbs

2011-03-22T00:03:00.001-07:00

Sermon at Dorney and Eton Wick 20th March 2011 – E100 The Psalms and Proverbs

What makes Christianity different from other religions? Well at the heart of our faith we have relationship. God himself three-in-one exemplifies relationship and God’s love is such that he was prepared to create us with the potential to love both God and each other. Christians believe that through Jesus we have the chance of a restored relationship with God.

Most religions say DO (you must do this and do that) but Christianity adds two more letters and says DONE. Jesus has done all that is required for you to return to a relationship with God. All you must do is accept it.

And what you may well ask has this to do with The Psalms and Proverbs. Psalms is a book of songs written by believers in response to God: written because the writers had a relationship with God. Written in many different situations but each one reflecting aspects of that loving relationship.

The great evangelist Billy Graham said that wherever he was in the world he always tried to make time to read at least two Psalms before breakfast. I know I need to become more familiar with the psalms so I really hope that by looking at 3 of the better known Psalms this week in the E 100 series, all of us will be inspired to read more – many are very short and even possibly we might try to commit one or two to memory.

So, three very different Psalms which, although all attributed to David are very different responses to God at very different stages in his life.

Trust (Psalm 23) in this Psalm God is likened to a shepherd, a travelling companion and a host. Each of them is to be trusted and so in turn we can trust God in any and every situation. As verse 4 says “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me”. Christians can trust in God even in the worst of all situations. I dread to think of all the horror stories that will never be told of those that perished in

Japan

’s tsunami, those horrifying final minutes and seconds, yet even in great peril, as Christians, we can trust in a God that promises us everlasting life. Even the threat of oncoming death need not separate us from the love of God. We can trust him whatever.

Confession (Psalm 51)

We heard last week about the consequences of King David’s adultery with Bathsheba. Psalm 51 which we heard just now was written by David when he finally falls on his knees and asks for God’s forgiveness. Through this Psalm we get an understanding of God’s forgiveness, his compassion and his love. David has a deep faith in God’s absolute goodness and his ability to completely forgive sins so as to allow for a clean fresh start. This is a crucial message for all of us and worth dwelling on briefly.

When we confess (whatever we’ve done) we can be forgiven – do we confess? Do we simply say the confession at the start of each service we attend, or do we actually come before the Lord with a broken and contrite heart? Confession can easily get overlooked in church as we are lost in wonder, love and praise.

Once we’ve been forgiven we need not live forever in guilt – are you still wracked by guilt? Notice that David says, in vs. 7 “cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” even after adultery and murder. We are not allowing God’s forgiveness to work if we continue to be wracked by guilt, we too need to believe in our innermost being that we have been remade, whiter than snow.

A red napkin is fundamentally red, it can be washed but it stays red, this represents us before we have ever asked God for his forgiveness. Once we have asked Jesus to forgive us and be part of our lives and to therefore be in a relationship with us we are transformed totally. We become like this white napkin, whiter than snow. But even then whilst we remain upon this earth we will inevitably fail to live perfect lives, we will not please God 100%. It’s like this white napkin becoming dirty, so we need to continually come back to God and ask for his forgiveness time and again in the same way that, although this white napkin is still white it will often need to be washed.

And then we must get on with living a life that will please our Lord out of gratitude for his forgiveness. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. ¹³Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. ¹⁴ Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

Praise (Psalm 103)

Psalm 103 reflects David’s new relationship with God. It is based on a restored sinner’s thankfulness to God and contains those great verses:

⁸ The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
   slow to anger, abounding in love.
⁹ He will not always accuse,
   nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
   or repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
   so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
   so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Notice that our sins have been removed as far from us as possible, this is a great cause for praise.

The thread of David and Bathsheba continues on into the next book of the Bible. Although the child that was conceived when David committed adultery with Bathsheba died in infancy we are told that once Bathsheba was married to David she became pregnant again and this time their son survived and became King Solomon and it is his wisdom that fills much of the book of proverbs and certainly the chapters we will read this week. This means that when Solomon writes about the relationship between sons and their parents he is thinking of David and Bathsheba as well as his own sons.

Psalms mostly reflects on our spiritual relationship with God, Proverbs on the other hand is much more down to earth and practical. Reading the book of Proverbs is quite difficult in some ways; it is so densely packed with bits and pieces of advice and guidance that it’s impossible to take in all that one reads even in a chapter, let alone 3 or 4 chapters at a time as we are encouraged to read during the E100 readings for this week.

But...it hits us where is counts. I have never read even a small section of Proverbs without feeling truly enlightened about life and informed regarding specific situations in my life.

Even when I was preparing this sermon I read 3:27-28 “ ²⁷ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. ²⁸ Do not say to your neighbour, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”— when you already have it with you.

It made me stop and go and do something that I ought to have been doing – it was in my power to act, so why not?

There is so much SENSE in Proverbs that we really ought to read it more often. There is huge encouragement and indeed even a hint of humour and so much of it pertains directly to the situations we find ourselves in day in day out.

There is practical wisdom such as:

17:14 Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out

17:28 Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.

18:13 He who answers before listening - that is his folly and shame.

And then guidance about wisdom and its advantages

We read 2:13 “Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable then silver and yields better returns than gold”

It’s impossible to read the Psalms or proverbs and not to come away changed. Because they were written in response to God and written to be used by people; they are as integral to our lives today as they were when originally written.

So how did Solomon become so wise? Well, the Bible tells us in the book of 2 Chronicles.

2 Chronicles 1: 7 - 10 That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” ⁸ Solomon answered God, “You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place. ⁹ Now, LORD God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰ Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

Have you ever prayed to God and asked for wisdom, either wisdom in a specific situation or just wisdom generally? Ask and it shall be given unto you; God wants us to ask for good things.

Let me leave you with three things to remember:

First – the Christian life is a relationship and we can express all facets of this relationship through the Psalms.

Secondly – God is waiting to forgive us and so return to a right relationship with us, he wants us to be whiter than snow, even more than we do. We were born as red table napkins and so unable to be in a relationship with God but because of what Jesus has DONE we can become white table napkins.

And Thirdly - Proverbs is an excellent source of day to day wisdom; read it, act on it and ask God to help you to be wise.

Sermon 7 - the rise of Israel 27th February

2011-03-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

The Rise of Israel.

I used to love watching Casualty on a Saturday evening.

I guess it took me back to my nursing days –

But when I used to watch it I used to be watching out to see what was going to go wrong.

When you began to see a scenario being laid in front of you – your reaction is now who is going to have the accident, what accident is going to happen.

It seems inevitable – because it’s the reason behind the programme – that some disastrous thing is going to go wrong and of course Charlie and the others from the A and E are going to end up having to put them all together again.

They nurses and the drs an paramedics are the heros of the hour who we put our trust in to make things better – to hold it all together despite the chaos that can rage around them.

When I read through the old testament I have a similar feeling in he pit of my stomach – because it seems to me that so much seems to go wrong.

Where things start so well inevitably they end in disaster as people fail in their relationship with God.

We had it last week – examples of the Judges who for a time brought the people back to God before they rejected him again.

And who is the person that holds it together despite the chaos that people get themselves into – well of course it is God – who keeps loving and loving his people – despite what they do – despite how they treat him.

It is God who constantly draws them back to himself.

This weeks readings are no different from the rest.

This week we move into a new phase of the life of the people of Israel and into what was probably their greatest hour in terms of their heritage and national pride.

You see this week we see a united nation with a ruler as we enter the time of the Kings and in particular the reign of the greatest King David.

But it seems to take a long time to get there in terms of our readings – 5 days before we finally see David taking up his kingship.

So what will we see this week in our readings.

Well they start and end with faithfulness of two individuals – even though in the middle the people may all go a bit astray.

So we start with the faithfulness of Hannah, childless and pouring her heart out to God in prayer.

And she is heard and in turn gives birth to Samuel who she dedicates to God.

The child Samuel grows up in the house of Eli the priest and becomes receptive to hear God speaking to him even from a young age.

Then the people not content with the “Seers” or wise men or women Judges that have been leading them demand to be like the other nations and look for a King.

God although once more disappointed with their actions allows this and Samuel goes in search of the man God has chosen.

Saul is anointed King and remains faithful for a period, led by the Holy Spirit.

But soon looses his way so in turn Samuel goes out again to anoint a King and this time finds David the shepherd boy who has a right heart.

After David is anointed he waits in the wings to be King, and we have the wonderful account of David and Goliath, and then the stories of David’s popularity spreading until enraged by this Saul banishes him and looks to kill him.

Eventually David is in the right position and on Saul’s death he is made King of Israel and the start of an era of power for the people of Israel really begins.

So that’s the basic story but what themes can we see within this.

And I would like to think about three I see this week – all beginning with P

Gods priorities, his pain and his plan.

God’s priorities.

When we see the people that God chooses to do his work – there is one overwhelming thing that strikes me- and that is their humility.

We don’t have any of them saying – pick me God I’m the best one for the job – but time and time again we read of the humility – what me surely not God – surely I’m not the sort of person you are looking for.

Moses – send someone else he said,

Gideon in the last weeks readings if it is me and you are God show me clearly.

And now in this reading we see it in the people God chose to be King – Saul and David.

Saul was chosen and anointed by Samuel privately so what is reaction to it.

Well you will see he doesn’t shout it from the rooftops but he quietly goes home and doesn’t own up to what has happened til Samuel summons the tribes together to announce Saul’s Kingship.

And where is Saul to be found – well he’s hiding, perhaps the burden of responsibility is too great and he wants to run away from it, so he hides in the luggage.

And then when it all goes wrong with Saul David is chosen to be King.

And again this is not someone who would have been the natural choice is you were looking at it in human terms.

He wasn’t the strongest or the tallest – he wasn’t even very old – he was still the shepherd boy in the fields.

The people that God chose were not perhaps the natural choice in human terms but God saw something else than human terms.

Chapter 16: 7 “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at, Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart.

And what did God see in the heart of those he chose – a love of himself and an attitude of humility and service.

Move this now forward til today, God still calls unlikely people to his service.

We need to be open to how God may want to use us – we may not always feel that we are fit for the job, but God can and does equip us for his service.

As we look at God’s priorities the question then is – what is God calling each of us too?

Then the second P

God’s Pain.

How do you feel when others seem to reject your faith.

Perhaps not in an overt and persecutive way – but in terms of “well it’s nice that you have something that makes you feel good”

The little put downs that see faith as a crutch, or just another interest you may have like this or that committee.

We feel uncomfortable with this – we may even get a little wrangled by it.

We may even feel that we are not being taken seriously – that something that is so important in our lives is not being recognised for what it is.

Well at this time we need to go back to these passages and recognise God’s pain too.

How did God feel when the people of Israel constantly rejected him and went back to other Gods.

He felt Pain

How did God feel when the people decided that they wanted a King to lead them- he felt pain.

Chapter 8:7 – 8

And the Lord told him (Samuel) “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.”

That verse speaks to me so clearly of God’s pain of those who have rejected him.

He has tried and tried to bring them back to himself, he has the power just to make it happen but he knows that that would be to control them so he gives the people a choice.

And when they fail to chose him he is deeply saddened.

He recognises Samuel’s pain too, that the people wanted a King just to be like the other nations rather than to recognise the priestly role that Samuel had had in the past.

But he says very clearly if you feel this pain – how do you think I feel.

And it is the same today – when we feel that our faith has been rejected or not even acknowledged - we may feel it but we need to recognise that God feels it too.

That it is not “us” who are being rejected but God.

God’s priorities, God’s pain and finally-

God’s plan

Throughout these readings in the Old testament that we have read over the past few weeks we see an underlying thread of God’s plan.

That he despite all the wranglings of humankind he will bring things to pass for his glory.

And in individuals too as we look back on their lives we see a sense of God’s plan throughout.

David is no exception here in 1 Samuel.

He had been anointed King as a relatively young man and yet he had to wait several years for this to come to fruition.

All through that time he much have been wondering what on earth was happening.

Whether or not God had forgotten about this bit of his plan.

He was chased by Saul, forced into hiding and the promise of his anointing as King finally came into being many years later.

In this time though had got forgotten about him, no – and more than that these times must have been used to change and grow David into the sort of man who was to make one of the greatest rulers in the history of Israel.

And we too can be like a bit like David in our lives too.
Often we can’t understand what it happening, we can’t see why something should happen in this way or that.

But only when we look back over time do we recognise God’s weaving and crafting and using of different situations to change us, to teach us, to use us in different ways.

So we need to hold on to trusting in God despite what happens in our lives and be open to how he may be working in and through us.

And then of course when we look at the story of David and the rise of a new King in Israel we can not fail to recognise the finger pointing to the future and the rise of a new King who was to rule not over just Israel but over the whole world.

This King will be a descendent of David,

But this King – King Jesus will rule in a different way to earthly Kings.

And the calling to follow this King is one of service as we see so clearly in Jesus’ words in Matthew 16.

God’s priorities, his pain and his plan, all three echoed through the readings this week.

And God ultimately in control despite the times man gets it so wrong, and his control pointing to a solution when he will send a new King who will not be just the saviour of Israel but of the world.

Amen

Sermon 6 - the Judges from Janet Binns

2011-03-01T07:59:00.001-08:00

Eton Wick and Dorney 20/02/2011

Bible reading: Judges 2 10- 23 & Matthew 21 33-46

Themes: Obedience Disobedience Salvation

Application: The struggles of God’s people to remain obedient but God’s forgiveness is always present.

1. Introduction

- Illus: meal out – relaxed atmosphere “ no rules”

- However look carefully we are surrounded by rules

- rules that we are quite relaxed about.

- From booking, to being seated and given a menu.

- We wouldn’t dream of walking in taking a seat

- demand that the chef provide something not on the menu and then walk out without paying

- society has strong feelings against those who break rules of etiquette & good manners

- Yet God has spoken, His rules are clear

- the rules He gave us were commandments not Suggestions

- Not to be adhered to when the moods takes us

- it’s important that we are aware of the blessings of obedience and the consequences of disobedience in life.

- Abraham received instructions from God to leave his country, his people and father’s household, that he would be blessed and all people on earth would be blessed through him.

- Passage tells us Abraham left as the Lord commanded

2. The Judges

- In the Book of Judges, we see the consequence of disobedience .

- during the time between the death of Joshua and the anointing of King Saul the people found themselves without a leader

- It was a period of internal anarchy and external conflict, for the most part day to day administration of justice and oversight of community affairs was provided locally by the elders of various clans and tribes. God raised up Judges to deal with matters that could not be settled quickly or easily.

- Ch 2 states, “The Lord raised up judges who saved

Israel

out of the hands of raiders. Yet they would not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshipped them” (16-17).

- It was a disastrous time in Isreal’s history. God’s people were led to Canaan to conquer the land, but instead they became infected with the idolatry of Canaanite people.

3. The Canaanites

- They (Israelites) became a permissive society, drawing their standards from those around them. Finding themselves surrounded by settlements of unconquered Canaanites the Israelites became attracted to the practises of their neighbours

- Their disobedience complete; they mutilated a captured king and, instead of driving them out completely pressed the Canaanites into forced labour

- The book displays a clash of values.

- the Canaanites were experienced farmers who had attributed their ability to control the soil and weather to the worship of various male and female nature gods the Baals and Ashtoreths

- The Israelites were very attracted to these gods and increasingly mixed their worship of them with the worship of their own God.

- Envitably their loyalty to God and to one another became weak and resulted in spiritual and moral decline, so serious it threaten to destroy Israelite community.

4. Being Canaanised

- Paul urges us to prevent the world from fitting us into its mold (Rom 12:1-2); we have to guard against becoming secular in our thinking, which can result in compromising our behaviour.

- Sometimes we are content to be “Canaanised”; we grow far too comfortable living as the world dictates. But we answer to a higher authority; God has called us to higher standards.

Israel

’s complete disobedience led to compromise with idolatry, inter-marriage, and eventually to everyone doing “as they saw fit” (17:6, 21:25)…”No rules”.

5. Idols in our lives

- We can slip into a sense of false security when we read about

Israel

’s idolatry—after all, we’re not bowing down to idols!

- We forget that the old gods are still with us; they’ve simply updated their appearance, accommodating the times.

- They still claim to provide meaning to life and they still promise to provide for our personal desires. They still demand wholehearted commitment from their worshippers.

- Today’s most popular idols are materialism, comfort, power, pride, sexual immorality- greed etc. e.g. Bankers bonuses in the news this week.

- The modern idols are no less unacceptable than the ancient ones. We need to be free from all idols,

- Ancient and modern, and Christ offer such freedom!

6. Parable of the Tenants

- In the parable of the tenants Jesus begins his story with a very familiar hallmark of the Middle Eastern agriculture, a vineyard.

- But Jesus’ parable of the vineyard is unique. It is not just a story, but an allegory, with each part representing something else.

- A man (who represents God in the parable) plants the vineyard and then rents it to tenants.

- Unlike today, tenant farmers are usually paid by allowing them to keep a portion of the harvest, with a fixed percentage going to the owner.

7. The owners’ son

- But these tenants didn’t want to share. When the owner’s representatives come to claim the owner’s share, the tenants beat and mistreat them

- It’s pretty clear to the disciples who have heard Jesus’ teaching who he is referring to.

- He sees the current rulers doing the same as their ancestors - killing the prophets who were sent to

Israel

to correct them and turn their hearts back to God.

- So in this parable, the tenants represent the unbelieving rulers, while the vineyard is nation of

Israel

itself. But this rebelliousness does not refer only to killing the prophets.

- The owner’s son who should be offered respect is thrown out of the vineyard and killed him." (20:13-15a) the son is the Son of God whose death takes place outside the city on Golgotha.

- "What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When the people heard this, they said, "May this never be!" (20:15b-16)

8. Having our own way

- Turn back to Joshua 24 and we see the renewal of the covenant at Shecham

- Joshua said to the people ‘This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to God.’

- We began looking at judges by talking about our own tendency to rebel against God and his will.

- We want our own way, prefer our own way, and resent it when we can’t get it. Too often there are issues we war with God about – the loss of a loved one, a financial crisis, a difficult situation we have difficulty resolving.

9. Land of Milk and Honey

- The period of the Judges was a time of war. The Jewish nation was charged with driving out the Canaanites.

- I’ve wondered why God would give His people an occupied promised land. You’d think this “land of milk and honey” would be vacant, open to development but instead of simply arriving and settling down; the Jews have to conquer Canaan.

- After the hardships of the wilderness they are forced to deal with internal and external conflict. Possibly God’s reason was to cause His people to trust in His power to grant them victory.

10. Christian Distinctiveness

- In the Book of Judges we see a chosen nation risking assimilation by a pagan culture. God warns

Israel

that the Canaanites will be “thorns in their sides, and their gods a snare to them”

- The challenge of this book for us is maintaining commitment to God in a hostile, secular environment

- In our pluralistic society it’s uncomfortable to stand out, or to appear intolerant. Yet God has called us to be distinct, to show by what we say and do that we belong to Christ.

- We are not to dilute the Gospel. We proclaim Jesus as the only Saviour and Lord, which sets us apart. The word “saint” literally means one set apart—we are compelled to be different from our unbelieving world, living our distinctive Biblical values and priorities and convictions - even if that means we don’t quite fit in.

- As always in such circumstances, however there were faithful Israelites who continued quietly to pursue lives of genuine piety and holiness.

11. Conclusion

- As we continue to study the book of Judges this week, we’ll encounter familiar heroes such as Gideon, Deborah, and Samson, along with some lesser-known individuals.

- A theme throughout the Book of Judges is that the God Who rightly casts us to the ground should stoop to lift us up.

- No book of the Bible so clearly reveals our human frailty, but throughout we see unmistakable signs of God’s patience and compassion.

- A God who time and time again calls back his people to himself in a covenant relationship that continues from one generation to the next.

Deborah the Judge

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Well we are really reading bits that we don't normally look at in Church. It doesn't make amazingly comfortable reading and tent pegs into skulls is normally the province of rather nasty movies rather than Sunday services. I have to say these readings are very challenging to really see what God may be saying to us through them. If we truly believe as Paul wrote to Timothy "All scripture is God breathed" then this is too and we need to look to see what is behind it all. What is the context of this passage? Well we see the people of Israel yet again having rejected God and the consequence of this is loosing their identity as a nation and being captive to the Caananites. Again they have rejected God and there is a consequence of this. But God doesn't leave them there and the "Judge" Deborah who is faithful to God leads the people back out of the hands of the Caananite King and in turn they return to God, the result: Then the land had peace for forty years (Judges 5: 31) We may not understand why things happened the way they did but despite this we see God's reaction to man's disobedience and then despite this his constant drawing them back to himself. The ultimate end to this disobedience and God's love is of course seen as we jounrney further on into the bible and read of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The result not just peace for forty years but the offer of peace for eternity.

Joshua 1 - Be strong and courageous

2011-02-16T10:20:00.000-08:00

I have always found God's words to Joshua in this chapter really reassuring. Be strong and very courageous and remember that I am with you. The collect for last Sunday said these words:
O God,
you know us to be set
in the midst of so many and great dangers,
that by reason of the frailty of our nature
we cannot always stand upright:

How true these words - how often do we feel we can't stand upright, or we need supporting in order to do so. Perhaps at these times we need to remember God's words to Joshua again. Or indeed if we are holding someone up we perhaps need to remind them of these words. As well as being strong and courageous Joshua is also reminded to meditate on the law, to deepen his relationship with God not only by recognising His presence with him but by getting to know him better through his word. When we step out in faith we need to hold onto both of these.

Moses and the law - some thoughts 15th February 2011

2011-02-15T05:56:00.000-08:00

I have been reflecting after Alison's sermon on Sunday (still waiting to recieve it and then I'll put it on the blog!) about judging others. I am often brought up short about my judgmentalism when I find I have more in common with someone who I differ from in many ways. At the heart of the bible is that we are all made in God's image perhaps to combat our judgmentalism we/i need to constantly seek to see God in the other. Anyway, as well this morning in our reading we see Aaron getting things very wrong and Moses and of course God's obvious anger. Aaron's excuse seems weak but can we judge him too harshly - how easy it is for any of us to fail to see God working and in turn walk away from Him. What amazed me though is the change in Moses. It seems only a few chapters ago we were reading about him not thinking he was up to the job when challenged by God to lead the people. And then here we see his righteous anger and his ongoing growing relationship with God. When we look back at these Old testament accounts of the lives of men like Joseph and Moses I find it inspirational to see how God has worked to change and refine them as they step out in faith and follow Him. Should we not be praying for the same thing to happen to us?

Sermon - an intermission Sunday 6th February

2011-02-09T07:29:00.000-08:00

Sermon given by Rod Dollimore - E100 Catch up week.

And so after 4 weeks of our readings being based on our E100 readings – this week we take a break – an intermission perhaps -.

It might seem odd to stop almost as soon as we’ve started, but the pause gives us the opportunity to change our focus,
and so as we return to the lectionary readings we pick up on the second part of the Sermon on the Mount

Today’s Gospel follows straight on from Matthews’s account of the Beatitudes.

"You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.”

Words so familiar, and ‘Salt of the earth’ in particular being in such common usage that its easy to forget that these are God's words, not those of a Tabloid headline writer.

They are Words that should challenge us in the way we should live,
Words that should challenge us in the way we should demonstrate our faith to others: -
Boldly, and full of confidence.

Because
Salt and light are powerful active things, not weak and passive

Salt is such a common and cheap commodity that we can so easily take it for granted,
2000 years ago it was a precious commodity, it wasn’t always pure, it was often tampered with – corrupted. In its purest form Salt purifies, preserves and flavours.
When it is tampered with or is corrupt it is useless.(from the time of Roman occupation salt gave us the word ‘salary’. the Latin salarium, was the money, paid to Roman soldiers for the purchase of salt. And the Roman fashion of salting leaf vegetables gave us the word Salad.)

Just imagine your reaction if you went for a meal in a restaurant and there in a small bowl on the table instead of a fine and white and salty condiment there was a bowl of road salt – that would certainly corrupt your meal!!

Some years ago a friend of mine trained under a world famous chef – He tells the story that while he was preparing a dish a pair of ‘eagle-eyes’ noticed that he was putting a number of pinches of salt into the recipe. The great Chef walked over to my friend’s station – took a fistful of salt, added it the dish – giving it extra flavour -and said: -
“We’ll put you down for MANAGEMENT! Because cooking like that you’ll never make a Chef!’

Nowadays the health advice is to minimize our salt intake, but that is because our intake has become excessive.
Because it adds flavour, and preserves, companies have found it a cheap and easy additive in manufactured food preparation, so we get more than enough of our intake from pre-prepared food.
I can still remember my Grandmother putting what nowadays would seem excessive amounts of salt into the boiling vegetables. – They were always sharp, colourful, and full of flavour.

And like salt, our witness must be sharp, and full of flavour,
not so flat that we are hardly noticed.

Our challenge though is to proclaim our faith in our daily lives

And if salt is essential what about light?

‘“You are the light of the world.

Light was there from the first of our E100 readings when we started with Genesis

Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. God saw that the light was good;

And from then on when God speaks to people there is usually a bright light, it happens throughout the Old Testament, and when Saul is converted on the road to Damascus, he is ‘blinded by the light’ as Jesus speaks to him.

If you took your car in for a service and on the way home you realized the headlights didn’t work you would say
‘How can they do that?”
It is essential to have light and for that light to shine brightly.

Good headlights might brighten the few minutes of a journey across Dorney Common.

But Jesus’ light changes our lives forever.

But it takes effort – the light goes out without care.

We need to make an effort to continually tend the light (as we are with our E100 readings and our prayers),

We need to live in the light, and we will grow in the light.

AND We need to share the light

Every time we come to this service we hear the words

“Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven.”
OR DO WE?
We probably never really hear them, as this is the moment when we dive into our pockets or purses to find that forgotten envelope. So we only hear them as a regular prompt to undertake a regular task. NOT as we should, as a call to joyfully make our offering to the Lord – and as a reminder that we should be beacons in the world.

There is an old Irish folk custom of leaving alight in a window to guide the way of strangers, and when Mary Robinson was President of Ireland in the 1990s she started the tradition of putting a symbolic light in her kitchen window in the Presidential residence, as a sign of remembering Irish emigrants around the world. Robinson's symbolic light became an acclaimed symbol of an

Ireland

thinking about its sons and daughters around the world.

That’s very nice – but again we need to be more active than that.

Its all very good to put a candle up at the window but “Let your light shine before men,” is a command.

We have been called to share the light of Jesus, And to take our light out with us into the World

Salt of the earth. And light of the world.”

Sharp, Pure and uncorrupted, and shining like a beacon.
Like a nice crisp salad. – Not a bunch of soggy leaves.

Well there we are, what started as an intermission almost certainly introduced reading E101!

But there again, there can be no inter-mission –
No rest with ice cream & popcorn for us, because every one of us has our mission to fulfill!

A burning bush moment

2011-02-01T07:42:00.000-08:00

A modern day burning bush!

What has been your burning bush moment today? I would be surprised if any of us had had a moment quite like Moses in the dessert with God. But I would not be surprised to hear how we have each recognised God today. For me I have had two distinct moments when I have seen God at work today. Firstly the joy and excitement and wonder in a child's face during one of my morning assemblies. They were singing "Be Bold, be strong because the Lord your God is with you" - and how true that was as I saw for a moment a real gem of a smile, God meeting me through that child. And then a phone call to a friend, the calm reassurance from her amidst my panic of organising my daughters party! God ministered to me through my friend. So my burning bush moments today haven't just been in the quiet times of prayer - though yes I can say for certain we met God when we prayed together at 8.15 this morning - but my burning bush moments have been there in my daily life what I needed to do was to recognise them as such. Perhaps if we took more time for reflection I/we would be able to do just that!

Sermon 4: Moses

2011-02-01T03:58:00.000-08:00

Sermon given by Janet Binns 30/01/11

Bible reading: Exodus 12 1-19 & Matt 26

Themes: Faith Grace Salvation

Application: Our great and wonderful God can use unlikely people in his service

1. Introduction

- We live in a world that gets more complicated every day. Ask a simple question and more often than not you will get a very complicated response.

- Illustration: [overcomplicated directions to the Vet]

- Have you ever overcomplicated something? Sometimes we overcomplicate things and in the process we miss the point.

- 4^th week of E100 challenge

- many complicated stories and journeys involved

- This morning we are going to be looking at a series of complex events surrounding the exodus of the people of

Israel

from

Egypt

. But rather than overcomplicate things I want to draw out the simple truth about God’s plan to save mankind.

2. Joseph story recap

- Last week’s readings introduce the situation in

Israel

. Joseph, the youngest and Jacob’s favourite son, had been sold into slavery in

Egypt

by his brothers, largely because of jealousy. You could say Joseph asked for it by the way he taunted his brothers with his dreams. But what they meant for evil, God meant for good. Joseph became a force to be reckoned with in

Egypt

, becoming the second in command. The only greater power being Pharaoh himself. What we see is God using Pharaoh in an extraordinary way to nurture the very person He has chosen to bring great blessings to

Israel

3. God blessings comes through unlikely sources

- The events described in the early passages of Exodus bring us to a place generations after Joseph, to a time when the Israelites had become enslaved, were persecuted and even feared because of their increasing numbers.

- Joseph had indeed gained great power in

Egypt

and Moses was raised secretly by Pharaoh’s daughter.

- Here we see a principal that we do well to recognise in our own lives. That God is sovereign ruler over all the earth and is able to use whatever means he deems fit to deliver and bless his people. Just as God use unlikely people and situations. The blessings of God do indeed come through unlikely sources.

[Illustration: journey to Oxford on Wednesday]. Broke down in the middle of the road. The RAC helped. Went beyond the call of duty to take me to my intended destination. Going that extra mile made a huge difference to me.

God do indeed use unlikely sources to bring blessings to his people

4. Moses’ life

- Exodus 2 outlines Moses birth, the events surrounding his having to flee from

Egypt

- Exodus 3 the Lord appears to Moses in the burning bush, the invisible becomes visible as God interacts with Moses, giving him instructions on what to do. I always find this interesting how Moses responds.

- Who am I that I should ask the king, the mightiest ruler in the entire world to let the people of

Israel

go?

- (Exodus 5) Moses and Aaron are standing in front of Pharaoh demanding that he let the people go so that they may worship the One true God.

- Pharaoh response.” Who is the Lord that I should obey him and let

Israel

go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let

Israel

go”. And to prove his point he made the labour of the people of

Israel

harder by forcing them to make mud bricks with no straw.

- No doubt Moses and Aaron may have been surprised, but they should not have been. They had been warned. God was prepared he knew exactly how Pharaoh would respond, because Pharaoh heart had been hardened.

- I wonder if that happens to us sometime? Our hearts are hardened to what God is asking of us.

- Now come the series of plagues that God through Moses delivers upon

Egypt

in an effort to get pharaoh to relent.

5. The ten plagues

- I will go thorugh them briefly to demonstrate the length to which God goes in order to deliver and bless his people.

The plague of blood- god turn the Nile into bold

The plague of frogs; when frogs came up from the Nile and covered the land.

The plague of Gnats.

The plague of flies.

The plague of the livestock; all of the livestock of the Egyptians died but none of the Israelites.

The plague of boils; men and animals alike were covered in festering boils.

The plague of hail.

The plague of locusts; covered the land and devoured what crops were left over from the hail.

The plague of darkness; as light hid itself from

Egypt

for a period of three days.

And finally the devastating plague was that of the firstborn.

6. The plague of the first born

Moses message to Pharaoh was that God said that He would kill the first born of all the land of Egypt on that very night.

The passage tells us Pharaoh arose in the night after his son had been killed. This means he had been asleep. How could he sleep after what Moses had told him, that the Lord himself would kill all the firstborn of the Egyptians? He even told him what time it would happen.

After all God had proven through the previous nine plagues that he was real, more powerful than any god in Egypt, and he meant business.

But of course Pharaoh was stubborn, proud and arrogant- so he slept through the whole thing.

Only the children of

Israel

the children of the covenant made with to Abraham Isaac and Jacob.

Those under the provision of God’s sovereign protection were spared.

7. The cross of Jesus revealed

- What we see here is the paving of the way of the cross of Jesus. You see God made a way for salvation through the blood of the lamb. The spotless and blameless lamb which was sacrificed as part of the Passover meal. In the same way he made a way for salvation for the whole world through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

- The Passover

- Passover is the oldest religious feast/festival celebrated by any group of people in the world. Celebrated by orthodox Jews and by us in its fullness in the elements of Holy Communion.

- The central elements of the Passover Feast are a lamb roasted over an open fire which speaks of God’s protection and provision for his people –

Israel

is God’s firstborn. The bitter herbs present in the meal represent the bitter suffering of

Israel

while in captivity in

Egypt

. The flat unleavened bread recalls the haste of their departure as they had no time to prepare the bread with yeast (leaven).

In Matthew 26 when the people celebrated the Passover the primary purpose would have been to bring to mind what God had done for his people in their deliverance from

Egypt

. And yet contained in this celebration is the fulfilment of God in Christ to free his people not only from earthly captivity, but from spiritual enslavement to sin and its eternal consequences.

- The blood of the lamb which was sprinkled on the door post of the house of every Jew in

Egypt

to mark the home of God’s covenanted people

- the blood of the Lamb of God would ultimately save all who would call upon his name for forgiveness.

- There is no division to what we are taught in the Old Testament and what we are taught in the new.

- Jesus said I have not come to abolish the law but fulfil the law

- There aren’t two God, one of wrath one of grace. There is but one God of promise fulfilment and salvation, law and mercy.

8. Conclusion

- The prevailing theme remains that on the eve of the Passover, as God spared the first born of

Israel

and slay the first born of

Egypt

, God revealed Himself as the God of the Fathers of Israel, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who remained steadfast in the covenant.

- On the eve of the crucifixion, in not sparing his son he quite simply with no complications what so ever revealed himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who had delivered His people Israel from Pharaoh and who offers deliverance to all who receive His Son; the spotless and blameless paschal (Passover) lamb!

The same God who delivered the people of Isreal delivered us! The same God who delivered His people from the bondage of Pharaoh and the affliction of slavery has delivered us from sin! The same bitterness represented by the bitter herb of the Passover has been removed from our lives as well.

Jesus is the Passover Lamb. He foreshadowed Passover lamb the only real question to ask ourselves is, “Is He my Passover Lamb?”

- Last night’s visit to Soul Survivor 900 young people there.

- the spirit is at work

- In John 13 something happened at the Passover meal, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples.

- And he wants us to wash each other feet.

- Are the doorposts of our home covered in the blood of the Lamb? Amen.

Trusting when it's going pear-shaped

2011-01-26T11:24:00.000-08:00

I was reflecting on Jacob this morning. I wonder how he was able to hold onto God's promise when all around him seemed to be going pear shaped? Perhpas it's the same for us at times too! Yet I guess it's at these times when we need to hold onto God's promise even more. The commentary this morning mentioned that we are all deeply flawed yet we put on a brave coping face - how true is that! I wonder if we can learn to be more vulnerable with each other, I know this requires deepening relationships and trust. But I am sure if we do then we can all, with God's grace, uphold each otehr to trust in God's promises in the bad times as well as the good.

Joseph - an arrogant young man

2011-01-24T09:51:00.000-08:00

I am pretty sure that if I was one of Joseph's brothers I may have reacted in just the same way to him. I didn't think he came across as a very attractive person - and he seemed to use his favoritism to his advantage. Yet God took this young man and used him for his plan and purpose and in turn he changed. From this arrogant young man we see at the beginning of the story we see at the end a man of humility and authority. Those awful situations that Joseph found himself in were used to change him and refine him for God's purpose. Often when we face difficulty we are quick to either say woe is me, or even to blame someone else and become bitter and twisted about it. But what seems to be a God given gift are those who say - I wonder what I can learn from this experience, or how is God going to use my experience to help others.

Sermon 3 - Joseph- Plans and promises

2011-01-22T10:46:00.000-08:00

This is a sermon to be delivered by Andrew Miles on Sunday 23rd January.

Plans and Promises

Genesis 45: 1-18 (and Genesis 37-47)

I predict that....

England

will win the world cup cricket having beaten

Bangladesh

in the semi-final and NZ will win the world cup rugby having beaten

England

in the semi-final.

I promise my sermon won’t last more than 45 minutes!

What’s the difference between a prediction and a promise? Both look to the future but only one has a sense of certainty and even then when we promise something sometimes we are powerless to fulfil the promise or sometimes we just don’t because we are weak willed or lazy.

It would be much easier for us to be confident in making or accepting a promise if we knew the future. God doesn’t make predictions, he only makes promises. He knows what will happen therefore when God makes a promise it is 100% guaranteed.

God made a promise to Joseph’s father Jacob, during his dream about angels ascending and descending into heaven in Genesis chapter 28, God promised that ‘I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go’. I wonder if Jacob was tempted to wonder whether God was going to keep his promise, as his beloved son was as good as killed, as the famine worsened, as the Egyptian ruler demanded that Benjamin went to

Egypt

too.

We all know the story of Joseph – it’s a great story. It includes separation, suffering, redemption, forgiveness and reconciliation. Courtesy of Andrew Lloyd Webber and subsequent productions of his hit musical on stage and screen most of us can sing, or at least hum, many of the tunes that tell this story nowadays.

I am not planning to retell the story, or to simply lay out the structure of chapters 37-47. For those of us who are using the E100 readings that will be clear. No instead I want to ask three simple questions today and the first is

What can we learn from Joseph?

The story can be summed up in the phrase, he remembered the Lord in the land of Egypt and the Lord remembered him. Joseph never gave up on God, despite so many setbacks.

How many of us, like Joseph, can with hindsight see God slowly working out his plan. In Joseph’s case he tells his brothers that it was God’s plan that he should be sold into slavery etc. in order that he would then be able to manage resources and so save thousands of people during the famine.

He trusted in God even when he might have been tempted to doubt. When he was thrown away by his brothers, when he was jailed for a crime he didn’t commit, when the cup bearer forgot about him, all this time he trusted in God, his faith remained intact. He even trusted in God’s great plan for his people even though he had just caused the entire Israelite nation, all 80 or so of them to leave the Promised Land. Notice Jacob and his whole family left Canaan to come to

Egypt

, even though God had promised them the land of Canaan. (This is why the Israelites were in

Egypt

and why Moses had to take them back home, but that’s another story.) But Joseph was adamant that his bones should be buried in the land that God intended for his people and indeed Moses carried them out of

Egypt

and in Joshua Chapter 24 Joseph’s bones are finally buried with those of his Fathers back in Canaan. Joseph trusted in God’s promised land. He knew that God kept his promises.

Throughout the story Joseph never takes the credit for his success but continually makes it clear that God is on his side helping all that he does go well and giving him interpretations of dreams. He is always giving glory to God – do we? Or are we more inclined to puff ourselves up when we have success?

How hard did Joseph have to work in order to fulfil God’s plan? Answer very, first as a slave to Potiphar where he rose through the ranks by working hard and being loyal, secondly in prison he did the same sort of thing and finally he ended up running a country for many years through troubled times, God was with Joseph certainly, but this was no reason for him to work any less hard. The same applies to us; the fact that we are trusting in God will not mean that we have to work less hard.

So Joseph trusts in God and never gives up, he works hard and gives glory to God.

What can we learn about the New Testament?

This may seem an odd question but the Old Testament often points us forward to the New Testament and helps us understand more fully what we read in the New Testament.

Joseph’s story has many echoes of the greatest story of salvation ever told – the story of Jesus. God is once again using the great stories of the Old Testament to point us to his ultimate plan to save all mankind.

Who am I talking about? One man is sold for silver but stays true to God, even through a time of apparent abandonment and so through that man many are saved and there is reconciliation. Does this sound familiar? In Jacob’s eyes Joseph is dead but is brought back to life and through that resurrection God’s people, the Israelites are saved. God stays true to the promise he had made Jacob all those years ago, in a way that Jacob could never have dreamed of.

Joseph realised that throughout so many bad things God had a plan to save many. Jesus knew God’s plan for his life in advance and continued even when he could hardly face it. I sometimes think we are so fortunate to not know what the future holds.

What difference does this make for us?

God makes promises for us that we can trust. Even when things seem way out of control and far from ideal, God is in control. Often we can only see this with the benefit of hindsight, remember though God really does have foresight.

Will he always act the way we would like him to? No, God does not pander to our whims.

So there are two things to beware of:

·We need to beware of trying to persuade God to act according to our plan. For example prayers such as, bless this good idea of mine, or to put it another way please God may my will be done. We need to be like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and however hard, we must say “not my will, but thy will be done”. We have to hand over our desires to God and release our future plans to his control, trusting God to know the best plan.

·Beware of assuming that God can’t act through ungodly people, situations or events. Potiphar’s wife, Pharaoh’s cup bearer and indeed Pharaoh are all integral to God’s plan to rescue Joseph and through him to save whole nations. Yet none of those three is in the remotest bit interested in doing God’s will. God is much bigger than we think sometimes. As we read the whole story this week, think of all the sinful acts that God uses to make sure that Joseph is in the right place at the right time to save many.

Is it any more valid to question God’s plan when things don’t go as we’d like to than when things do go smoothly? Deep down we are so self-centred. We never question God’s plan when things go the way we’d like them to, only when they don’t suit us.

To summarise

God has a plan for everyone. He had a plan for Joseph and Joseph trusted in God even when he was so far from the comfort of home and far from the rest of God’s people.

Joseph is a model for us. Not only he does he point towards God’s ultimate rescue plan. He also shows us what it means to trust in God. Even when left to rot in a prison cell in a foreign country.

God is 100% trustworthy, he doesn’t make predictions, only promises.

To finish here are three of God’s promises to us.

Never will I leave you nor forsake you (Heb 13:5)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Heb 13:8)

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:28)