Samuel! Samuel!

Yesterday I did the unusual thing and preached from the Old Testament, the calling of Samuel. You can read the text here – 1 Samuel 3.

Have you ever been in the kitchen or the lounge or some other place and you’ve heard someone call your name and when you go and see who was calling out your name you discover that no one was calling you at all? It’s a strange feeling because you are sure you heard something! 

In Israel at the time of the Judges the world was in a mess! Eli, was a terrible priest! He had failed to deal with the appalling actions of his two sons, who had turned the shrine of the Lord into a brothel and was complicit in their extortion of people who came to worship. The spiritual life of the nation was at a very low ebb and as a result, as verse 1 tells us, ‘in those days the word of the Lord was rare, there were not many visions.’ But there were still some people, Hannah in particular who trusted that God would redeem Israel once more and save them from themselves! All it needed was someone to be listening.

The spiritual life of the temple was so lax that people no longer expected God to turn up – what a very sad state of affairs things had become, can you imagine what it would be like if we came to church every week and we didn’t expect to meet with God or expect God to turn up? So when God did speak he spoke to someone who had never heard God’s voice before, he spoke to Samuel, a 12 year old boy, the priest’s apprentice. It takes three attempts by God before it occurs to Eli that maybe this is the Lord calling.

Now Eli was old and nearly blind and therefore Samuel would have been very used to getting up immediately, day or night, to attend to his master’s wishes, so we can forgive Samuel for not realizing that it was God speaking, but for Eli, the judgement is harsh because as temple priest he should have known better! But once Eli realizes, as a good training priest should, he helps Samuel in how to respond, verse 9, “Go and lie down, and if he calls, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening’”.

Samuel goes and waits. I wonder what went through his mind as he waited for God to call his name out again? What would you be thinking about if you expected God to call you this afternoon? What would you say, or ask or do? Verse 10 tell us what Samuel’s response is, ‘The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”’

Just as he obediently responded to Eli’s call many time before, Samuel is quick to respond to God and God has something important to say, verse 11, ‘And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family-from beginning to end.’

I think if God had said that to me I would rather he kept it to himself, what a judgement. But this message is just the beginning of God doing something extra-ordinary. Our clue is at the beginning of verse 11, I am about to do something that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle! Wow! What could it be that God is going to do? The message that Samuel is given is somewhat prophetic as it describes the downfall of Eli’s family line forever, but for Israel it is the beginning of something new and Samuel, a 12 year old boy is a part of God’s master plan!

The next morning Eli forces Samuel to tell him what the Lord said. Eli knew what he had let happen in the country and the temple and was fully prepared for the consequences, verse 18 says, “He is the Lord, let him do what is good in his eyes”. In between verses 18 and 19 one era ends and another begins but God still uses Eli in his failure to keep Samuel at the temple so he can become a trustworthy prophet of the Lord. Samuel remained in a place of waiting and listening and God did not let any of his words fall to the ground, in other words, his words did not fall on deaf ears, indeed, they caused the ears of those who heard his word tingle!

We can make some parallels with our two readings today, in our gospel reading we meet two more young people, Nathanael and Philip. Now Nathanael and Philip with whole nation of Israel had also been waiting for something. The prophets again had gone silent the next time God spoke it was in the mouth of Jesus, God with us, and here in John 1 Jesus is picking his disciples, his apprentices. Nathanael and Philip were waiting and watching and God saw the potential in them both and put himself in their way. Perhaps it was Philip’s keenness that endeared Jesus to him and for Nathanael, despite his retort: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Jesus saw something extra-ordinary in him, verse 47 ‘When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”

Not only is this knowing who Nathanael is, but it is a comment on his character and Nathanael’s response to Jesus is to call him ‘Rabbi’ and declare, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel. Just like Eli he eventually recognises who God is and responds appropriately, with awe and obedience, Eli continues to raise Samuel and Nathanael follows.

Epiphany is the season when the Church focuses on the revelation of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Last week, it was overt in the words from heaven at the baptism of Jesus and this week it is more covert because God’s glory is revealed in the unlikely circumstances of an ineffectual old man with a lifetime of failure to regret, and a young man who over confident about the parameters within which God should work, ‘can anything good come out of Nazareth?’

All of the young men Jesus chose to be his disciples had already been classed as rejects by other Rabbi’s after their lifetime of education, but God makes all things new, Nazareth, the young men he calls, you and even me.

It doesn’t matter how we feel, or what we think of ourselves Epiphany extends an invitation to every single one of us for our lives to be transformed and renewed so that God’s glory can be revealed through us. When God speaks to us or even through us, will the ears of the people we tell tingle? God is at work in our church and is doing a new things and he is inviting all of us to respond, here I am Lord, speak! God wants ordinary people, because that is all he has and through ordinary people like you and me God will do extra-ordinary things.

HT to Rosalind Brown in last week’s Church Times for help!

Advent part 2

Last night I preached again and decided to think further about how we might live in the spirit of humility, simplicity and joy. I pre-empted next week’s reading and based my sermon on Luke 1 and Psalm 62. 

In my Advent sermon a couple of weeks ago I invited us to do three things to get the most out of this season:

• To live in a spirit of simplicity
• To live in a spirit of humility
• To live in a spirit of joy

There are so many demands made of us in this season – our time, our money, even our emotions are played on – by the people we love for the amazing present we think we can’t live without and certainly by adverts on the TV. By the time we get to December 25th: the first day of Christmas (!) we are ready to pack everything away and feel relieved we’ve made it and now it’s over…

You may recognise this scenario, you may not – but at the heart of Advent there remains an invitation – an invitation to do nothing for Christmas!

Mary and Martha welcomed Jesus into their home and while one worked to make the house all nice and get the meal ready, the other stopped and waited on Jesus’ words. In Mark’s gospel we here Jesus tell us to watch and wait for the time is coming.

We’ve already heard that Advent is the season for waiting and preparation and we think in our own minds that we just hope that we get everything done in time.

As Christians we have an opportunity to rediscover and marvel at the way of life that we are invited to live out – but how is it done? My suggestion is that it is knowing who God is that gives a clue in how we can live differently,

To live in a spirit of simplicity: is to recognise that like Mary and the entire Jewish nation we know that our hope comes from God alone, verse 5 of Psalm 62 says, ‘Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.’ The first four verses are full of angst and worry about what the Psalmists enemies are going to do to him, but then he clicks – no, I will be at peace because God alone is my hope, verse 6, he alone is my rock and my salvation, he is my fortress, I shall never be shaken.

When our priorities put God first, we catch a glimpse of this amazing God who is redeeming the world in his Son. So, first, to have a spirit of simplicity is to simply put God first.

To live in a spirit of humility: is to live always in total confidence of God’s love, protection, and guidance and therefore to have no concern for yourself when others insult you or praise you. Secure in God’s love, you don’t have to base your identity on whether or not others acknowledge you. This is very difficult and we often forget that our identity in Christ is the most important, but for Mary and the Psalmist the knowledge of God’s sovereignty and might is foremost in their minds, Psalm 62 verses 7 and 8 say that, ‘7 My salvation and honour depend on God; he is my refuge, my mighty rock. Trust in him at all times, O you his people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.’

In Luke 1 we get the sense that Mary knows these Psalms inside and out and therefore her response is simply, ‘yes’. So, to live in a spirit of humility, we are simply to say yes to God.

In living in the spirit of simplicity and humility we open our hearts, minds and bodies to the possibility of what God can do in us – by saying ‘yes’ we receive that final component – a spirit of Joy! To live in a spirit of joy produces in us something of the mystery of God: heaven and earth collide and a song of praise is sent to heaven like sweet smelling incense to the Lord: in Mary this spirit of Joy produced a song of praise, just like that of Miriam when she crossed the Red Sea, Anna upon seeing the Christ child and many more examples I am sure! Mary’s song of praise, also known as the Magnificat, went something like this…

Therefore to live in the spirit of simplicity, humility and joy, we are simply to know who God is – and this Advent we are all invited to stop, wait and know that he is our rock, our refuge, the one who loves us and the one who protects us, the one we are waiting for and the one to whom we say ‘yes!’

 

Advent in Chartham

This morning I preached for the beginning of Advent. The readings were 1 Corinthians 1.3-9 and Mark 13.24-37

I began my sermon by making people wait – for quite a while and then invited them sit down and then make them wait for a bit more. I really enjoyed that and was wondering how long I could keep it going for – people afterwards told me they liked that! Then I went onto say:

We spend a lot of time waiting don’t we? – did you know that on average, a person spends 45 to 62 minutes waiting every day. Over a lifetime, motorists spend up to 6 months waiting at traffic lights. We spend 7 years waiting in queues and the amount of time a man spends waiting on a woman – varies on the woman! And when it comes to the NHS, it’s probably best not to go there!!

The Bible is also full of people who are waiting -

• Sarah waited for a baby
• Moses waited 40 years in the desert
• The prophets waited 1000 years for a promised Messiah
• Mary waited 9 months of her 14 years for the child of God
• Jesus waited – 30 years of creeping time, 40 days in the desert, 3 years of being misunderstood and 3 days in the midst of hell – all this waiting -

We all wait for the future with hope – we hope it will be better, bring us happiness, a brighter time – we expect something of the future – and in our gospel reading today we get a glimpse of what that future holds in Jesus’ own words – “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but this future sounds scary to me, but as we heard in last Sunday’s celebration of Christ the King, Jesus is set in place where all authority has been given to him and in the following verses Jesus tells us that ‘they shall see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. Then he send out the angels and gather his chosen ones…’

This reading raises a question in my mind, and might raise one or two in your own, bur for me, I am left asking – why does the church focus on Jesus’ return at the beginning of Advent when we logically think about Jesus coming first as a child?

Jesus is warning his disciples to be prepared! Advent is the season of preparation – not just for buying presents and decorating the tree, but looking forward and getting ready for the return of Christ as well as the arrival of the Christ child. Jesus is calling each of us to wait – and this is a very high calling!

As we wait God invites us to join in the excitement and anticipation of keeping watch, just like the little boy in this year’s John Lewis advert, he is keeping an eye on the calendar day after day and in his watching and waiting he is getting more and more excited as Christmas day approaches! At the end of his wait we are all treated to the delight of seeing the boy not receive a gift but give a gift to his surprised parents!

That little boy is a good example of how we must wait and anticipate in the arrival of Jesus as a baby and as a King. As Jesus makes clear in verse 33, ‘be aware, be alert, keep awake!’

How can we prepare this Advent for the coming of the Christ child and Christ the King? There are three things I invite you to consider:

1. Live in these weeks in a spirit of simplicity – it may seem contradictory to the world’s spirit of seasonal indulgence and material gain but we have the opportunity to fast before the feast. Christmas is worth celebrating, but it doesn’t have to be preceded by weeks of the same. When all is stripped away what should remain is our focus on God. Bishop Stephen Cottrell, in his book, ‘Do nothing for Christmas’ says,

“Spirituality is not some vague feeling of goodwill towards the universe; it is the way our experience of God is sustained and expressed. If we believe that God has a concern for all the universe, then so should we. If we believe that God is concerned with those who have little at Christmas then so should we. Christmas is a time of crippling difficulty for many people who live below the poverty line and inhabit the shadows of our increasingly flash and affluent society. Somewhere, probably very close to here there is someone worse off than us. There is no room at the inn because we have booked out all of the rooms, how can we reorder priorities to make room for others?”

2. Live these weeks in a spirit of humility – as Christian people Jesus calls us to be a humble witness to the world pointing as John the Baptist did only to Jesus and what he has done for us. In Advent our pointing should reflect the humbleness of Christ, in the generosity of our love and our giving. Generosity is not measured by how much we give but how much is left over after all the giving. What is left over is the spirit of joy of Christ born as King and Saviour of the world, redeemer, lover and friend.

3. Live these weeks with a spirit of joy – where we find our hope and strength in our thankfulness for His faithfulness and because of His faithfulness we keep pointing others to Him as a witness, with the cloud of witnesses before us so that they may wait with us for the coming of Christ.

Throughout Advent if we choose to live in the spirit of poverty, humility and joy we are joining in the mystical journey of waiting with Mary as she waits; just as Christ is forming in her body, so we reflect on Christ being formed in our own lives, coming again to us, being born again in us.

Where is God waiting to be born in our lives this Advent?

As we wait on God, God waits for us.

Advent is not mere repetition; but it gives us an opportunity to be available to a further call inviting us to an ever-deeper fulfillment in our relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist’s cry of preparation and repentance is as loud and relevant to us today as it was to the first hearers over 2000 years ago. The invitation is the same and we are invited to respond to this calling – to live in simplicity, point others to Jesus and wait and prepare for the coming of Christ to our world. Amen.

The meaning of life?

When was the last time you heard something controversial? Was it the debates around Col. Gadaffi’s death this week, or the circumstances of Liam Fox’s friendship with Adam Werrity or maybe you’ve made a controversial decision at home or work and it hasn’t gone down too well with the people you love or your colleagues? And of course, what is controversial to one would seem natural and common sense to another! That is the annoying thing about being human – not everyone agrees with you, even when you are right!

Having read these chapters in Matthew’s gospel I am left wondering if Jesus loved being controversial? Was it a ploy to get people thinking and engaging with what they had taken for granted their entire lives? Was Jesus pushing the people to the edge to see God in the light he was supposed to be seen in? What do you think Jesus was doing?

In the previous few verses Jesus has just had a showdown with the Sadducees and his answer has sent them away shamed faced with their dodgy theology of not believing there is a resurrection. But now, the Pharisees have a turn at trying to catch Jesus out with a difficult question. So, they send in their best scholar, an expert in the Law to ask Jesus about the Law of Moses.

The expert opens his question in an extraordinary, almost patronising way by calling him ‘Teacher’. You would have thought that they would have learned by now that Jesus can see through their hypocrisy of trying to trick him into giving an answer that would contradict their Laws, and the expert asks: ‘which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’

Now imagine for a moment if someone came along and asked you, ‘which is the greatest law in the UK?’ I think I would be stumped for an answer, it’s not something I think about all that much, but I may be forced to come up with one thing – maybe, don’t drive too fast, or don’t harm children or maybe even pay your taxes. Jesus doesn’t even take a moment to ponder, verse 37 says, Jesus replied…and what did he reply? ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.’

Summarising the Law of Moses is no mean feat – where would we begin in summarising our own country’s law into one sentence? In Matthew’s account of this story Jesus uses two passages from the Torah and brings them together – Deuteronomy and Leviticus. What Jesus is pointing out to the Pharisees is that God is first in everything, even before the Law and when we realise God is first we then love God with everything we have, everything we are! Heart, soul and mind are not different parts of a person but different ways of thinking of the whole person in their relationship to God.

Our mind gives our intellectual commitment to God, our soul, our emotional commitment to God, our heart is the hub of a person and drives us and it gives all we are to something or not. Jesus said in Matthew 6 ‘that for where our treasure is, there our heart is also.’ God made our whole being to be in relationship with Him, not just parts of us and God is seeking a holistic commitment from us and Jesus is spelling this out to the Pharisees. It’s not easy being a disciple of Christ and Jesus was making this plain.

The scholar asked what is the greatest law and Jesus not only gives one example, he gives more than what was asked just to show that he knows what the Law is about and he gives a second – ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’

We receive more than we expect from Jesus and with this comes a greater expectation from him that we give not just more of ourselves, but our whole selves to God and to others. The Law is a living relationship between God and people, not a cold, complicated and unattainable set of rules that the Pharisees have made it into.

Love is at the heart of it all. When we take the heart out of something it dies but Jesus renews us with his love.

We were learning in our house group this week that the Bible begins with ‘Dear Phil’ and ends ‘Love God’. The Bible is one long story of a relationship between God and his people and how much he loves us and how much he wants us to love each other and in the end, no matter what has happened, the good news of Jesus is that LOVE WINS!

We talk about the love of God all the time but it is the one thing that is most misunderstood. We can get so used to it that we don’t listen anymore and sometimes not even believe it, but here in this passage Jesus puts it right back on the agenda – Paul says in Romans 13 and Galatians 5 that ‘love is the fulfilment of the law’. As Christian disciples, as followers of Jesus we should sit up and try and understand what it means to love as Jesus meant us to:

Love DEMANDS – from us a sacrifice of our whole being, heart, soul and mind to God and to each other. In this sacrifice that is supposed to hurt sometimes we find that…

LOVE is SUBVERSIVE – what Jesus was asking us to do was something outrageously different to the norm. By loving one another, particularly our enemies we are actually standing out from the crowd and Jesus says that we should known by this!

LOVE is DIFFERENT – It’s easy to join in the jokes about others; its easy to walk by someone needing help; it’s easy to get stressed and angry with others. But to love! That’s something that takes effort, every moment of every day.

LOVE is the GREATEST above all – Paul tells the church in Corinth that without love we are nothing at all, we have faith in God, we have our hope in Christ but the greatest of things is love and in this dialogue with the Pharisees Jesus is asking us, ‘what are you going to let define you?’ Do we make love our first choice?

If there is real love for God then there will inevitably be real love for our neighbour because this outrageous love of God penetrates our entire being, it is infectious and as a living response we are to be equally outrageous and infectious with God’s love – when someone asks you to define Jesus, our answer is, LOVE. When someone asks you to define you – our answer is, LOVE because of what God has done for you. The underlying message of Matthew 22 verses 39to 41 is this: “Never forget.” Never forget what God has done for you and that is – has loved you and has died for you. So, go – and love one another as Christ has loved you!

Baptism

Today in a service after the main church service I welcomed over 100 people to my first baptism. They obviously didn’t know that, and I certainly wasn’t going to tell them that, but what an amazing privilege it was. In my preparation I had focussed on the service, getting the name right and not dropping the baby (an important one I got around by letting the mother hold the child over the font – I call it ‘collaborative working’) and of course making sure there was water in the font! What I had not anticipated was the number of guests! They just kept coming in…it began to dawn on me that this was a bigger affair than I first anticipated. Not only did I have to deal the significant theology of the questions asked and vows being made but the fact it was me on my own and ALL THESE PEOPLE! I was a little scared…but God created adrenaline and it kicked in and I got through it! It was great fun!

Doing a baptism for a family in England who don’t usually come to church is a tricky one for me. I was more than delighted to baptise the child and I took the opportunity to spell out the commitment of what was being professed, but when you are immediately sidelined after the service for photos and the party afterwards, all there is left is a church to tidy and lock up…well, actually, that is not true as what was evident to me today was the incredible sense of the God’s love an grace that filled the building. The baby slept during the baptism but there was a security and a peace about her that was profound and I would argue spiritual.

In one sense the service were words on a page to some, but for me it showed just great the Church’s responsibility is in making sure they keep their end of the bargain – we welcome you in the family of faith has such wide reaching consequences and today I think I was made fully aware of just big and scary the commitment of baptism really is…

*image by Jonny Baker

Grace for everyone?

Last Wednesday I did a school assembly on the theme of ‘the God of second chances’. I decided to use Jonah as my example who a) was sent to a corrupt city to deliver a message that God wanted to give the people there a second chance and b) poor ol’ Jonah was given a second chance himself to deliver the message but didn’t realise that God’s second chances are also third chances, fourth chances, fifth chances…! If only Jonah could have lived that himself!! Anyway, I used Veggietales to punctuate my story telling with a bit of humour and life and thought I would share with you my favourite scene – Jonah is in the ‘big fish’ and he receives a few visitors (clearly a very loose translation of the Hebrew at this point…!). Enjoy!

 

Outrageous Grace!

This is a sermon I preached the other week on The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard and you can read it here in Matthew 20.1-16

This parable comes in a series of accounts and stories about status and position. Jesus is trying to get the point across that in his Kingdom the usual way people see the world isn’t how God sees it. The disciples have been working out who will have the greatest place in God’s kingdom and while they have been getting the children out of the way Jesus draws the children in and in other lessons, teaches them about serving others before themselves. All of this culminates in Jesus, the messiah, the King, riding on a donkey into Jerusalem to demonstrate the final act of love and service to all people – in his death.

Jesus has just spoken to the rich young ruler about inheriting eternal life – selling all his possessions and giving them to the poor is just one giant step too far and he goes away without the one thing he was looking for – eternal life. The disciples are worried – they have already given up everything to follow Jesus, so what is there left to receive? Jesus tries to communicate to them that eternal life is the ultimate prize, but it is given according to God’s justice not our own which is too earthly bound and not heavenly minded.

Jesus actually begins the parable of the workers with the statement, ‘But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first’, and then he continues with one of his famous phrases: ‘the kingdom of heaven is like…’.

When we hear this we know we’re in trouble because we’re going to hear something about the way God works and it’s not usually very comfortable to the way we like to view God.

‘What is heaven like?’ I am sure that this is a question that we have all asked our friends or ourselves at some time or another. I wonder what is in your mind right now as I ask that question?

Jesus gives us many clues throughout the gospels as to the answer to this question, in fact, most of the parables are examples of what the Kingdom of heaven is like and here in Matthew 20 is another…

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them out into his vineyard…”

The vineyard owner goes out another four times throughout the day to find more workers – there is lots of work to be done, it’s harvest time. At the end of the day, beginning with the most recently employed each person is given their agreed payment – one denarius – a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work? Well, not according to those who had been working all twelve hours – they worked more, they expected more – but Jesus points out to his hearers that the agreement was one denarius – would it be fair or generous to go against that agreement and give more to those who worked more or less?

This parable focuses on the goodness of the owner, he gives work to lots of people who need it, and it focuses on the envy of those who thought they should get more for their work. The owner asks of the worker, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

If we focus on this short phrase, ‘I want to give…’, let’s ask ‘what does God want to give?’ The disciples have asked about status, the young ruler has asked what he should do to inherit eternal life, the children have been shooed away only be ushered in and told the Kingdom belongs to such as these and now at the turning point of this parable Jesus is making the point again that in God’s kingdom there is no status or position – everyone comes under God’s outrageous grace.

This is infuriating because the world just doesn’t work like that…but…this is what the kingdom of heaven is like! God does what we don’t expect, he dispenses gifts, not wages! None of us are paid according to merit, for none of us comes close to satisfying God’s requirements for a perfect life. Grace is needed and is given and Grace it is said, is not fair!

Whenever people are involved in something grace is always needed – a mature Christian once told me that grace only goes so far, I must have really annoyed him to come out with such dodgy theology – Adrian Plass wrote a poem about grace and it goes like this:

“Freely I confess my sins for God has poured his grace in, but when another lists my faults I want to smash their face in.”

So, the challenge we face today is huge. How do we imitate God’s unfair and outrageous grace? When our world values status, position and wealth, how as God’s people do we do counter this? Jesus ends the parable with the same proverb he began it with: ‘the first shall be last and the last shall be first.’ Well, how does this help us?

If we imagine a circle – there is no end point, no beginning point – no one is at the head of a circle – there is no first – there is no last – if we as a church can place ourselves in the circle of God’s grace we serve God and one another in love and that grace we so duly do not deserve we begin to demonstrate the kingdom here on earth just like it is in heaven – and that is something we pray for every time we pray the Lord’s prayer!

So, in half an hour when we leave this church how are we going to imitate God’s unfair grace to the people we will meet? Where will you place yourself and them within this Kingdom principle?

Psalm 63: earnestly I seek you

This evening I preached on Psalm 63. My favourite Psalm of David.

I don’t know if can recall a time when you were really desperate for something? What were the thoughts and feelings going on inside when you were desperate? Were you in danger? Did you need something or someone? Did you get the thing you were desperate for? Can you remember a time when you longed for something? A feeling in the pit of your stomach that is overwhelming and causes you to stop and almost makes you feel like you can’t do anything until that longing is satisfied? What was that for? Was your longing satisfied? If you could make a metaphor out of your longing what metaphor would you use? Where did you have your longing? Could you use the place you were in as your metaphor?

Psalm 63 is a passionate song of a man in the wilderness who is desperate to do nothing but worship God: ‘O God you are my God, earnestly I seek you’ these words come from the depths of David’s soul, even his physical being – he is desperate, he is reaching out, he wants to meet with God but he feels lost without a place to do what his heart and soul desires. He longs for something that he is used to doing but there is no access for him in the place where is in.

The context of this Psalm is located within two places – the first is where the action of the Psalm is taking place – the desert, the wilderness of Judah where he has been running away from his son Absalom (you can read about that in 2 Samuel 15-19). He has been there so long that God’s presence seems very distant and this Psalm becomes a cry from the heart of one in the desert who is desperate – his body and soul cry out, ‘where are you?’ David uses his desert context as the metaphor of his longing, ‘my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.’ He is dying of thirst.

The whole of verse 1 is taken up by how desperate David is to meet with God but in verse 2 David curiously declares that he has met God in the sanctuary and tells God that he has ‘beheld your power and glory’ and then verses 3 to 5 is a profound outpouring of love and praise for his God, ‘because your love is better than life, my lips they will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.’ For King David this outpouring of praise is a reminder that it is only God that matters even though his son is chasing him to kill him, but the longing to worship is overwhelming, but why can’t he worship God where he is in the desert place?

In 2 Samuel 15 Zadok the priest ordered the ark back into the city when David fled from his son because the only place he had worshipped God was in front of the ark in Jerusalem and a part of his deepest longing was to be back in the city with his people so he can do the one thing that will bring him physical and spiritual fulfillment – it is almost like his life depends upon it – to seek God and to see God in the temple is his reason for being, ‘your love is better than life’ and when he can raise his hands in God’s name, he will be satisfied as with the richest of foods.

In verses 9 to 11 we read that David’s rebuke to his enemies is almost like a footnote because finally he has realised that he is the true king anointed by God and he will rejoice in the Lord again with all his people in the right place. His enemies will be silenced because they do not put God in his right place in their hearts and purely speak lies. David’s longings will be satisfied.

In the lives we live today what makes us long for God? In the people, places, situations and contexts we find ourselves in on a daily basis what makes our souls and bodies cry out to God to worship Him? Very often we hear or say that as disciples we need to be more disciplined in our Christian walk, be disciplined in reading our Bibles, be disciplined in praying more. I think for me, this Psalm shows that David didn’t want to worship God out of a place of discipline but out of desire and longing. What drives our Christian faith, discipline or desire? I am desperate to meet God and sometimes I wish He would make it easy for me and just show up and say hi, but I know that is not how it always works and my soul and body keeps longing.

St. Augustine declared, ‘My heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.’ and in the first verse of the previous Psalm David declares, ‘My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.’

I think David shows us that our longings after God are a natural part of our humanity and perhaps we can use our context to seek God. David always knew exactly who God was even in the dark moments of his life and it is this acknowledgement of who God was in his life that we still find a profoundly deep longing and desperation to have a fresh encounter with the living God at all times and in all places.

 

Careforce

When I was 21 I did a gap year with an organisation called Careforce. It’s an organisation that sends volunteers to churches and Christian projects that need support. I loved my two years in Nottingham and made significant friendships there. I was very sad to learn today that after 31 years of ministry Careforce is to close down. I think this is a tradegy as they were certainly the pioneers for this kind of scheme. What was particularly unique for me was the fact that if you couldn’t afford to pay they would pay for you. I remember applying to other agencies who were asking for £5000 and this was just impossible.

I received a letter today from Ian Prior, the Director and it spells out the reasons for closure.

Dear Friends and Alumni of Careforce

I am writing to tell you some important news about Careforce.  The Trustees, after much prayer and discussion over many months, have taken the decision to bring the Careforce ministry to an end in the summer of 2012. 

Looking back with thankfulness

When Careforce began its life in 1980 it was a pioneer, perhaps the only evangelical agency providing gap year opportunities for younger people in the UK. For 31 years Careforce has enabled volunteers to get a real taste of ministry, serving and learning in churches and projects, often in the toughest of situations of real need. We are deeply thankful to God for 2,555 volunteers (including nearly 500 from over 50 countries worldwide), nearly 500 placements and the generosity of Careforce’s many friends and supporters.

Since those early years similar gap year opportunities have multiplied. There are now schemes for volunteers, apprentices, interns, ministry trainees right across the evangelical spectrum and many larger evangelical churches have also embarked on their own schemes.  A great many more young people now have that opportunity to serve and learn. Whilst our decision to close Careforce is a great disappointment, we do believe Careforce was given its ‘season’ from the Lord and that that ‘season’ has now come to its close.

Our present position

In recent years the number of UK young people applying to Careforce has dramatically declined.  At the same time the number applying from overseas has grown.  This has become the heart of the Careforce ministry – to recruit young people from overseas to serve and learn in the UK – and what a huge blessing that has proved to be to so many!

However, it has become very clear to the Trustees that this ministry is no longer financially viable. The financial surpluses of the past, from the years of many UK volunteers, are no longer able to sustain a programme in which the majority of volunteers come from outside the UK. The Trustees have considered many options including making a very substantial increase in the cost to placements. But we believe that would have gone against our ethos, to serve the smaller churches, those less able to provide for themselves. Already we are seeing a significant number of placements withdrawing from the programme for financial reasons.

The way ahead

We are committed, under the Lord, to finish well. There is another year of ministry ahead. We are recruiting another team of volunteers to start this September – they, and their placements, will need our care and support.

It is anticipated that all the present staff – Ian Prior, Caroline Goringe and Veronica Cresswell – will continue in their posts until next year. Summer 2012 will also mark Ian’s retirement, a special cause to thank God for his 20 years of faithful service.  It is our intention that in finishing well we all come together at that time to celebrate the goodness and faithfulness of God for the remarkable Careforce ‘season’ of ministry since 1980. We will keep you posted!

Also, over the coming months, the Trustees will explore whether there is a possibility for others to take up the vision of recruiting overseas volunteers to engage in UK mission alongside churches.

But for now we would ask you to continue to support us with your gifts and prayer through to the summer of 2012. We are determined to finish well and need your continuing encouragement for this further period!

Thank you for your participation in the gospel ministry.

Yours sincerely

David Bourne
Chair of the Trustees  

Living life in Chartham

Well, it’s been nearly three weeks since Lucy and I moved back to Kent and all has been going well! At least, I’ve been having a good time, I don’t know about the parishioners! The ordination retreat and service were incredible experiences and ones I hope not to forget for a long time. I was most grateful to God for all my wonderful friends and family who supported me on the day from afar and at home. The Archbishop was amazing as was the Bishop of Dover and I am really looking forward to getting to know them both over the coming years.

I started work almost immediately with leading the Sunday morning service the following day and have been following my training incumbent around a little bit. I have enjoyed visiting people the most and for the next few weeks there seems to be no end of preaching assignments, but that’s ok! I was let off at Ridley, so I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of it again!

Speaking of preaching, as is my practice I post my sermons online here for people to read. Last week’s reading was Romans 8.1-13 – Living life in the Spirit. I started with a little play from Adrian Plass called The Law that seemed to go down well. And then I said…

This poem is a funny and thought provoking introduction into what Paul was saying to the Roman citizens in Rome in what we heard read to us earlier from Romans chapter 8.

Verse one of Romans 8 packs a punch! It is a short sentence. And one which would have rocked the Jewish world, so it’s a good job Paul was in Rome when he said it! In Jewish custom, the entire Jewish law was hung upon the fact that we are condemned by God because of our sinful nature and there were very specific things you had to do to appease God’s wrath and it was all tied up in the Law, or the Torah, but here in Romans chapter 8, Paul has a complete surprise for the entire human race:

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.

I would say that this short statement is an entire sermon in itself as it seeks to sum up everything that God has done for us through Jesus in one neat sentence. But, in his usual style, Paul takes the opportunity to explain what he means. So, what does he mean? There is now no condemnation? What does that mean for the people or Rome, what does that mean to us here today?

I don’t know if you’ve ever watched any of those court dramas on TV – some of my favourites are Perry Mason, Ally McBeal and Law and Order.

The plots were usually very similar, but normally there would be opportunities for the counsel of the prosecution and defence to ask questions and make their case as to why a particular person would be or should be found guilty or innocent. There is always that moment when the piece of paper is handed to the judge with the jury’s verdict and everyone’s eyes are following it wondering what is written down: are they guilty or not guilty?

Paul is taking on the role of head juror in this passage by declaring to the world that we are now – ‘not-guilty!’. But how and why?

The main characters in Romans 8 are Jesus and the Spirit: In verse 2 Paul is describes to us that: “the LAW of the Spirit of Jesus that gave us all life has set us FREE from the law of sin and death.” That’s complicated enough, but in other words, the Jewish law was not powerful enough to save us from our sin that separated us from God, not only was is it not powerful enough, Paul tells us it was POWERLESS in bringing us to God and there was only thing that had the power to set us free from sin and death – God’s own son, Jesus.

Only Jesus could free us from the power of sin and eternal death because he was above the law – and because of this, the law could be and was fulfilled in him.

Jesus summed up the law in Mark 12.28-31 (read):

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

• love God
• love your neighbour
• love yourself

…this same pattern for life can be found in other places in the Bible too where we are commanded to put:

• God first
• Neighbours second
• Ourselves last

The ten commandments have this structure – Worship God only, take a day off and keep it holy; then think of your neighbours, don’t kill them, don’t steal from them; and then we can think of ourselves – don’t lie, don’t be envious of what belongs to others – God has given us enough.

By putting others before ourselves we are taking on the attitude of Christ, of one who came to serve. I always find it a struggle that God’s son would leave the comfort and glory of heaven and give it up for us just so we can know what God is really like – he came to show us to how to serve by becoming a servant himself – an act of selfless love. Because Jesus did this Paul reminds us in Romans 8 that living a life through the Spirit is about living in relationship with God and if we are Christians we are to be like him and when we want to be like someone we admire we do the things they do – for us as Christians we put ourselves last and in doing so we are acknowledging our need to ask God’s spirit to sustain us in all we do for him.

Now we live in a new era of God’s amazing grace: Paul has told us we are free from sin and free from death and God has given us a new life to live – one that is essentially life in the Spirit – a life which is animated, sustained, directed and enriched by the Holy Spirit. We are now living a life of freedom won for us by Christ Jesus who died on the cross but who then broke death by rising to life again so we can all share in this new life. However, as Christian people we still have a choice to make – we may be Christians but we still have to choose to live in the freedom that Christ won for us – but how do we do that? Paul tells us in verse 6 that the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace, in verse 9 we are told that the possession of the Spirit is the hallmark of those who belong to Christ – we are God’s children with an inheritance!

Once we have said yes to Jesus, we will want to continue following him, because his way brings life and peace with God. Daily we must consciously choose to centre our lives on God. We do this by reading God’s word, asking the Holy Spirit to fill us so we can live in God’s strength and by loving our neighbours and loving ourselves. To choose not to live in this freedom simply doesn’t bring the life and freedom God wants for our lives and can lead to captivity and bitterness:

Nelson Mandella story

President Clinton tells of his meeting with Nelson Mandella. In his conversation with this great leader of South Africa, the president said, “When you were released from prison, Mr. Mandella, I woke my daughter at 3 o’clock in the morning. I wanted her to see this historic event. As you marched from the cellblock across the yard to the gate of the prison, the camera focussed on your face. I have never seen such anger, and even hatred, in any man as was expressed on your face at that time. That’s not the Nelson Mandella I know today. What was all that about?

Mandella answered, “I’m surprised that you saw that, and I regret that the cameras caught my anger. As I walked across the courtyard that day I thought to myself, They’ve taken everything from you that matters. Your cause is dead. Your family is gone. Your friends have been killed. Now they’re releasing you, but there’s nothing left you out there. And I hated them for what they had taken from me. Then, I sensed an inner voice saying to me, ‘Nelson! For twenty seven years you were their prisoner, but you were always a free man! Don’t allow them to make you into a free man, only to turn you into their prisoner!’”

God’s spirit speaks to us and is drawing us into a deeper relationship with Him. Our invitation is to embrace a life that frees us from the power of sin and death and in doing so we fulfill the words of Christ that said: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and all your strength, and love your neighbour as you love yourself.”

Please stand.

Lord God,

we thank you that you sent your Son Jesus to free us from a law that could not save us. We thank you that your Son was willing to show us a way that would bring freedom from sin and death. We ask now that by your Spirit you would help us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and in doing so seek to live in the freedom you have won for us in your Son. Our Saviour. Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen.