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.

Invitation to come and see

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

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

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

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