Reflections from my recent retreat: Finding God in the gaps

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lent 2: Jesus laments over Jerusalem

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We saw that clearly last week in the temptations,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ash Wednesday 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Parable of the sower

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which is best- which will get the best results –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So the first lot of seed falls on the wayside.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Any ideas?

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

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

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

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

Why start with describing church architecture.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well Happy New Year 2013 to you all. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to write more and to blog more. So here is my Sunday sermon for Tomorrow Epiphany.

Is Christmas over and done with for another year?

Well the tinsel and cards and trees are supposed to be down today. The presents will all be put away, the thank you letters on the way to be written and Christmas is over again for another year.

It feels that way as we come to this Sunday –we are all into the next year and already the things of Christmas have been forgotten.

But this Sunday when we celebrate the Epiphany forces us back to the new born King and to see him again.

And as we look at the wise men it makes us realise that Christ – the baby isn’t just for Christmas but for life, as the experience of the magi and the lessons they teach us make us think of our Christian journeys and our response to the new born King not only for a season but for each day of the year.

So here we are again looking at the coming of the kings- magi – wise men what ever you want to call them. Coming from the East following the star and arriving at some point after the birth in Bethlehem to see Mary and Joseph and the baby.

So what do they teach us as we start this new year together. Firstly - God makes every effort to teach those who are far away from him

First, we have to remember these wise men were likely Gentiles, and not Jews who had come seeking the king of the Jews.

The Jews thought the promised Messiah was for the Jews, not the Gentiles. In fact, all the first followers of Christ were almost exclusively Jewish.

The Christ was supposed to deliver them from their sins. He was supposed to deliver them from their oppressors, and yet the signal to the wise men was that God was calling them as Gentiles to the Christ. Second, they didn’t even share the religion of the Jews, they were Magi, which was a combination of a learned scientist with cultic astrologer.

They knew science as well as magic. They were the academians of their time,
What this tells us is that God never abandons anyone – no one is too far away from him.

If God can reach pagan Gentile astrologers, he is still working on people who we may think are too far gone. God never gives up on anyone and he uses whatever means he can to help lead them to Christ.

In this case God sent them a message using an astronomical event, a star, to signal to them that they needed to search for the child born as king of the Jews.

God used a language they understood – the language of astrology to bring them to see Christ – so God uses a star.

Sometimes we look around at society and at others around us in our communities and loose hope that individuals will ever think of God let alone come to a relationship with him – they seem so far away- there seems so little hope.

And yet we need to be people of hope as we think of the magi- God reveals himself in different ways to people, and often it is through us that he does so too.

We may be the person whose lives point to him in how we act or react to different situations- are we open this year to be used by God to be a star- pointing to Jesus?  Because God never gives us on anyone.

Secondly-God wants us to diligently seek him  By that I mean we must seek out a relationship with Christ, or God through Christ.

The danger we fall into is thinking that by knowing about Jesus is enough. The truth is we can have all the knowledge of the Bible, we can follow God’s commandments, and still miss what the Christian faith is all about, seeking Christ until we find him.

These Gentile, pagan astrologers, with only partial information about a Jewish Messiah set off on a journey of faith to find the Christ, the king of the Jews, a journey which is estimated at 500-1000 miles.

It may have taken them 3 months perhaps even longer to get to Bethlehem. That journey cost them time, money, and it cost them their precious gifts.

We know these Magi only had partial knowledge about the Bible and the Jewish Messiah because otherwise they would have known to look for the infant in Bethlehem, but they had faith, and made an effort to seek out the Christ child.

On the other hand we see the religious community in Jerusalem. The people with a firm grasp on the Bible, people who lived out the letter of the law as written in Scripture.

They did all of the ritual and followed all of the commandments. They knew about God from their Holy Scriptures. Yet, when the Wise Men show up, Herod and these religious leaders, were stunned to find out the Messiah had been born, in fact it says they were “disturbed,” or “troubled” upon hearing the news.

They had either not seen the star in the sky, or were unable to interpret its meaning. They had no clue their king had been born, and it had to take some pagan, Gentile, astrologers to tell them about the Messiah.

Did the religious community seek the Messiah earnestly – or did they just have some vague hope.

We are told to seek God – to take opportunity to find him in our lives.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6).”

And when we find him, when we have a relationship with God through Christ, everything else falls into place. The magi were rewarded for their journey of faith to meet Christ.

When we come to church, when we live good lives is it because our primary focus is on seeking Christ, to search for him to try draw nearer to him? Or are we like the religious leaders in Jesus day who think that doing our religious duty is enough, following God’s commandments, being at church, maybe even knowing the Bible really well?

Then thirdly we need to offer of ourselves/worship Christ

Worship is not an option with Christ. We need to worship him. Once the wise men reached Jesus it says the first thing they did was worship, just like the shepherds who had already visited Jesus and worshipped by singing praises to God. It says of the Magi:

NIV Matthew 2:11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh

They bowed down and worshipped. One way to worship was to bow low before another. It signaled ones submission to the other as having authority over them.

How do we in our worship show that Jesus is our Lord- how do we in our daily lives show this too.

Then they worshipped in another way. They presented an offering, three gifts were presented to Jesus as a sign of worship

We worship when we give our offering of ourselves, our offering of our time our offering of our finanaces.

 We worship by offering that which is valuable to us. The gifts which the Magi brought were very valuable, they were given at great cost to themselves. The Christ deserved a gift worthy of his kingship.- Gifts of gold, frankinsence and myrhh.

Each of these gifts came at a significant cost to the bearers. Worship should cost us something.  – What are we going to give as our offering to God to Christ- this Epiphany, this year?

And then finally the Magi remind us that we need to continue to be open to God’s Spirit – The wise men obeyed God’s direction by not returning to Herod.

The journey to the Christ and their reward of faith had taught them to remain open to God’s leading.

There is never a point in our lives when we can say that we’ve arrived in the sense that we’ve got the Christian life all figured out. We need to seek him, we need to worship him, but these aren’t a one time event. We must continue to remain open to God’s leading. Scripture concludes by telling us about the Magi:

NIV Matthew 2:12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Even though the wise men had found the Christ child and had worshipped him, they weren’t done. It wasn’t, “okay I did my duty, I’m glad that is over let’s get back to regular life.”

Their seeking God didn’t end with meeting Christ. They continued to remain open to God. God gave them a message in a dream. Remember these are men whose job it was to interpret dreams, and so God spoke to them again in a way they would understand, in a dream.

They recognized this dream as a message from God and they obeyed. They didn’t go back to tell Herod, because little did they know Herod was making plans to try to kill this king of the Jews.

The point is clear for us. Just because we have sought Christ, and found him, doesn’t mean we are at the end of our journey. It is only the beginning. God wants us to be open to the leadings of his Holy Spirit. It may not be a dream, but God still speaks to us in other ways such as through Scripture, through prayer, to lead us away from danger and to stay focused on his plan.

So has your encounter with the new born King ended with the New year and the putting away of the Christmas decorations – or will it continue to challenge you through this year too.

God calls us to seek him just like the Magi – he reminds us through them that no one is too far away from him and that he speaks to us all in ways we can understand. He reminds us to offer ourselves to him in the fullest sense and to be continually open to the journey of faith and where he will lead us to this year.

Sermon on Passion Sunday 2012 text: John 12: 20-33

I remember the time not so long ago when you used to book a holiday without really knowing what you were going too.

You may have seen the odd picture in a brochure but you were never really sure if this was going to be the apartment you were having or even if the picture was of the right hotel.

Nowadays though you go onto your computer and google it to have a look.

If you go into google earth you can also pin point apartments and villas round the world if you want to have a good look at where you are going.

Its difficult for us in our world not to see things, in a way with computer access we can all see the world- nothing is particularly hidden from us.

Why start with this- because our gospel reading starts with the request of some individuals to see something.

And that something is Jesus.

And I want to think this morning as we enter the time of passion tide as we approach Easter to think how Jesus is seen in the world.

how in a world where we can see things from around the world at a click of a button- how Jesus can be seen and experienced in the world in which we live.

So we start our gospel reading with the request of these greeks to see Jesus.

We see them coming up to Philip and asking him.

Perhaps they had heard about him, or may even have seen him from a distance and decided it would be good to see him closer.

We are not sure why they ask but this request is pivotal to Jesus then beginning to teach the disciples further about what was to happen that first Easter.

It’s odd perhaps that Jesus doesn’t seem to want to see these Greeks.

He doesn’t appear to welcome them with open arms and invite them in.

Odd when we know that the good news of Jesus is shown not to be just for the Jews but also for the gentiles.

Of course he may have welcomed them in and we are just not told- but Jesus appears to use this incident to speak of how his death is going to open up to all the possibility of being part of his kingdom.

As well as speaking of how the world will see Jesus throughout the generations.

This is the glory that Jesus is talking about here.

So let’s think for a moment about what Jesus was saying here.

In verse 32 Jesus says: “And when I am lifted up from the earth- I will draw all people to myself”

What does he mean lifted up?

It seems to me that he is speaking not least of being literally lifted up when he was put on the cross to die.

He was literally again speaking of his death.

So he is saying that if the Greeks want to really “See” Jesus, if they want the full benefit of what he was sent in to the world to achieve.

Then he had to carry on and complete the task for which he had been sent.

He had to go to the cross in order to open the way for all men to come to God for themselves.

He had to go to the cross in order for man to gain a deep and true access to God.

If he carried on then these Greeks wouldn’t just be able to literally see Jesus- but they would be able to come to him, to know him for themselves through the amazing love of God.

This is a clear picture that Jesus was doing on the cross what he intended to do.

This is important to remember as we face people in the world arguing against our faith.

Some would say he was just a good person – who ended up dying and people just thought they saw him again to give a happy ending to a tragic story.

But this speaks against this strongly

This wasn’t just some accident that had a quirky ending where all was not lost.

This was a deliberate act- Jesus knew what he was doing.

As he entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey- Jesus knew what was to happen.
He knew that his time had come to draw all men to himself through his cross.

And in this way he was to be truly glorified- not how we think of glory but in a completely different way.

So the role of the Greeks in this little scenario in Johns gospel are key.

They enable Jesus to speak of the way that he will be seen for the whole world.

That to see him fully – for us to know him fully - he must die in order for us to reconciled to God.

But Jesus does not only in this passage speak of himself.

We are aware as we read this passage that this has a message to us too as his followers.

Although Jesus is speaking of how he alone will stand for our sin on the cross.

How this means that we will no longer have to take the punishment for our sin.

That he has won the power over sin and death through his death and resurrection.

He is also speaking of how this is a route which we his followers- his servants must follow.

This is a challenge he makes to his followers then, to the Greeks who came to see him and to us.

That if we really want to “see” him, to get to know him and understand what he is about for ourselves,

Then we must be ready in his words to be “Planted”- and to risk all for his service.

How does a plant grow- first the seed must die in order to break down and bear fruit- to grow into a healthy plant.

How do we grow as Christians- by loosing our life and following him.

Quite a tall order.

In some parts of the world the challenge is huge and individuals literally loose their lives or livelihoods to follow Christ.

We don’t face that challenge here – in many ways it is too easy for us to be Christians in England today – it doesn’t really challenge us at all.

And yet if we want to like Jesus show God’s glory then we are called to do this.

And this challenges me about the complacency of my faith.

What would I be prepared to bear- to loose – to give up because of my Christian faith.

And it was here as I was writing this that I began to feel quite uncomfortable.

That I got up and wondered around because I wasn’t sure what I should say.

Because this is really quite a challenge to us all- this is uncomfortable stuff, because it can take us out of our comfort zone and into unknown territory.

Because being a Christian does not make you immune from problems, it doesn’t keep you safe and wealthy and well fed.

Following Christ may lead us to have to do things where we are going to be ridiculed, laughed at, where it may have a detrimental effect on our bank account.

In our country it is unlikely that we will ever face the things of those Christians in other parts of the world.

But are we willing as Christians in this country to go against the grain of society to stand up for things that are wrong.

Are we willing to take action that leads us to be labelled fundamentalist or loony Christians- just because we stand up for what the bible tells us clearly.

Are we willing to do something that means giving up our time and money to follow Christ.

I ask this question because it asks a bigger question - Are we prepared to follow him fully or do we often put limits on what we are prepared to do.

These are the challenges I think from this passage.

The challenges that this gives us of dying to our selves and following Jesus.

And yet as we do this- as we serve others- as we begin to be an authentic witness to Christ in this world, this answers another huge question –

We began with thinking of seeing- of the Greeks question – can we see Jesus.

And it is in our witness that Jesus is seen in the world today.

If we went onto our computers and did a google search for Jesus – it may give up some interesting websites but it wouldn’t give us a true picture.

But how Jesus is seen in the world today is through us.

Jesus reveals himself now in the world through changed lives, through our experience, through us modelling his life of devotion and service.

If someone came into our church and said – can I see Jesus what would we say.

Would we point to some picture of him, would we invite them to see the Vicar-

Or would we say- here’s my life- this is what he has done for me- this is how he died on the cross- and this is how I now spend my life serving and following him.

Perhaps as we enter this last bit of Lent and into Holy week as we begin to look again at the cross- lets ask ourselves the question – not how do I see Jesus, how do I see his true glory- but how do I show Jesus in my life, how does his glory shine through me.