Sermons

A sermon by June-Marie Conabeer fro the 2nd Sunday of Advent 8th December 2024

Lord God, guide my thoughts, guard my heart and govern my words. Amen

Well here we are, the second Sunday of Advent, decorations and lights everywhere, we’ve even got our Christmas tree in time for the carol service that’s here next week, I believe there may even be some Christmas cards, gifts and food for sale in the shops, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised to find hot cross buns or easter eggs for sale!
So the shops seem to be ready, but are we ready, have we prepared ourselves during this busy time for the coming of that little baby that we will find lying in a manger in 17 days time.

Unfortunately, for some people that baby is the only Jesus that they will know unless of course they remember the reason for all the chocolate in about four months time! If we didn’t have Christmas and Jesus being the reason for the season, for many people these days Jesus would not exist!

But enough of my moaning because I could probably stand up here all day and do a lot of that. When we lit that second candle we did it to remember the prophets of old who promised a saviour who would bring peace, which is why it is called the candle of peace.

In our gospel reading today Luke gives us quite a few names which help us to date this as happening in approximately 27 or 28AD. But Luke probably includes all those names to show how far Israel had fallen. Politically the Jews were ruled by foreigners and religiously Annas and Caiaphas had been illegally put into their positions by the Roman authorities and they constantly used their power to line their own pockets and increase their own authority. So the Jews were probably looking to the prophets and praying for a Messiah to come and rescue them because their world can’t have been a very nice place.

And the word of God, does it come to that high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, no it comes to a man who is living in the wilderness, eating locusts and honey!

And what is it that John is telling the Jews to do? He quotes them in the words of Isaiah, to go and prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.

Well in ancient times when a king was going to visit a city he would send before him a herald to announce his coming. And that herald would also go around the city and make sure it was suitable for the king’s visit. He’d walk around inspecting and give the leaders of the city a list of all that needed doing in preparation for the visit - clean up your city, sweep your streets, get rid of the rubbish lying around, get rid of any criminals and make your city safe, Fix the roads and make them smooth and straight.

Which made me think, shouldn’t they have done this anyway, king’s visit or not!
It also reminded me that when we had Princess Anne visit Herne Bay, to open Windchimes, which is just round the corner in Reynolds Close, the surface of Mickleburgh Hill was magically made smooth and the footpaths replaced from the

broken paths with very weedy grass to the smooth tarmac paths we now have. I think I’ve said this before, things don’t change!!

So that is what John is doing in this gospel reading he is heralding the coming of Jesus and telling people to repair their lives and prepare for Christ’s coming.
So, think about it if Jesus had knocked on your door last night, would he have found your house in order and your paths straight? Are you ready for him?

And by that I don’t just mean have you ordered your turkey yet or decorated your Christmas tree! But I’m sure that like me we all have preparations yet to make, parts of our lives that still need straightening out.

There is a famous Christian, Tertullian from the 2nd century who wrote that to prepare the way of the Lord through repentance is to Prepare the home of our heart by making it clean for the Holy Spirit. And isn’t that ultimately what matters this season, preparing the way of the Lord by preparing the home of our heart.

So, here’s a simple suggestion as you decorate your homes and prepare for Christmas. As you put up your decorations think about how you will decorate your hearts for Jesus. What item in your heart needs to be dusted off, or repaired or simply thrown away? What things in our lives need changing or need extra decoration?
So as we prepare our homes this Christmas let us also prepare the homes of our hearts and make our own paths straight.

Changing the subject a little, before I announce the next hymn, I was looking it up in the hymn book earlier and it occurred to me that at Christmas we always sing the crowd pleasers, the carols that we all know and love, we couldn’t have Christmas without Once in Royal David’s City or While Shepherds Watched or Oh Come all Yea Faithful but there are so many in the hymn books that I’ve either forgotten or never even heard.

So I am going to finish today by using the last verse of a carol as my prayer to finish my talk and at coffee time I’d like to see how many of you can name that tune!
Let us pray: O perfect Love outpassing sight, O light beyond our ken,

Come down through all the world tonight, and heal the hearts of men. Amen

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A sermon by Rev Dr Lawrence Tuck

Sermon – The Parousia

May the Spirit speak through my heart to yours with these words. Amen.

Prior to today’s gospel reading, there is a section where Jesus foretells the destruction of Jerusalem. He has already predicted the fall of the Temple, and of coming wars and persecution, and he then tells of the Holy City’s fall. The fall of Zion is immediately followed in Luke by the coming of the Son of Man. This may well appear in chronological order, but it is not intended to suggest this will all happen within a precise timeframe. Instead, or so I believe, the intention is to alert believers to always be on the lookout. ‘Be always on the watch’ (21:36), Luke records Jesus advising his followers. We are to remain alert because in this way we will live according to the truth taught by Jesus and be able to stand before him at the Parousia – the final judgement.

One thing that I learned from my experience with Cancer is that any of us can be stricken at any time by disease or adversity. One moment you can be in the prime of life, careless and carefree, while in the next you are scarcely able to drag yourself from the bed to the bathroom. We can quickly go from choosing between a gin or a vodka martini nightcap, to being vein-fed a cocktail of drugs throughout the day. There is no guarantee how long we will live, or how we may die. The one thing that is within our control, however, is how we live that life while we have it.

In Luke’s gospel, the message that “redemption is near”, and that “the kingdom of God is near” (21: 28, 31), is meant to alert us of the need to always be prepared for the eventuality of our end of life. Rather than living the worldly ‘like there’s no tomorrow’, followers of the Christ are to live ‘like tomorrow can come at any given moment’. We are to be vigilant, Luke advises, but we are also to pray that we may be able to stand before the Son of Man when the day arrives. Luke does not dwell on the penalties of sin, but instead elevates the blessing of redemption. This is the gift of our saviour, Jesus Christ.

The lesson of the fig tree that Luke includes in this gospel section presents in parable form how redemption works. The fig tree is an appropriate image as no other tree in Palestine appears so dead in the wintertime. It is a dried-out husk of its summer self. It endures the winter awaiting the rains in the spring. These rains cause the sap to return to the twisted branches and spikey twigs, and the tree bursts into a greenery of new life from death and begins to produce fruit.

The fig tree adapts well in Luke’s theology as it, as did the early Christians, endures the strains of the harsh season, only to prosper when more favourable conditions occur. The kingdom will become near first after the trials of life have been endured. For me the ordeal of experiencing throat cancer was my winter period. It was only after such an experience that I was able to truly appreciate the return of the sunshine and the favourable conditions. My redemption came in realising the blessing I had in life and the opportunity I had to aid others. The lesson of the fig tree is that there will be hard times, even unto death, but that God rewards those who provide fruit for others.

Jesus’ final discourse prepares his followers for the hard times that are to come. He speaks of signs in the heavens, and on the earth of the “distress of nations” (21:25). He speaks of people fainting with fear and with foreboding. In today’s world we are witnessing things that seem incomprehensible. The wars that are raging in Europe and the Middle East are both highly volatile conflicts which could escalate into disasters affecting the entire planet. The far right that is gaining a global ascendancy again after a major war was fought to eliminate it, is similarly alarming.

Of particular concern for us as Christians is how the world seems to be tipping more and more towards selfishness and greed, disrespect and lack of consideration. The disciples had their persecutions to face in the world, but they were given the hope of the coming of the Son of Man in glory to sustain them. We have the same hope. Luke presents the many coming trials and the fall of Jerusalem against the backcloth of the reality that Jesus has established the Kingdom through his life and sacrifice. These hard times must come to pass. Good will ultimately prevail, however.

As we enter the period of Advent, we prepare for the festive and joyful season of Christmastide. We have fairs and carol singing and feasts and candle services to look forward to. It is a season for giving and for love and great joy. Christmas is when we give thanks for the birth of our Saviour, who, as God in Man, blessed us with his presence on earth for a limited time, but left us with everlasting grace and the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit. At this time of year more than any we can strive to change the tide of the worldly ways and offer ourselves and our means to others.

Christmas is a time for the giving of gifts. It is a season to demonstrate the importance of the other, rather than obsessing with the self. Over this holiday season, let us stand before God, and before our fellow men and women, and give a good account of ourselves. Let us be charitable, not only with worldly goods, but with kindness and goodwill, with love for God’s creation in all its aspects. Let us rejoice in our redemption and for the fact that the springtime does arrive, and the cold is burned away, and the leaves and fruit reappear upon the branches of the tree of life. Amen.

Let us pray,

Holy Jesus,
by being born one of us,
and lying humbly in a manger,
you show us how much God loves the world.
Let the light of your love
always shine in our hearts,
until we reach our home in heaven,
and see you on your throne of glory.
Amen.

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A sermon by Rev Dr Lawrence Tuck

Sermon – Christ the King

May the Spirit speak through my heart to yours with these words. Amen.

The Jewish leaders had Jesus taken from the home of Caiaphas, through the Upper City, to the palace of the Roman governor, Pilate. The long night of interrogation had ended, and it was now early morning of the Passover. The men did not wish to make themselves unclean which would mean they would be unable to partake in the Passover feast, and so they would not enter Pilate’s palace (a gentile) when they arrived there. Instead, they gave word of their mission and waited for Pilate to come out to them, which did not endear them to him. He appeared on a portico above them. “I hear you have brought a man to me – what charges are you bringing against him?”

“He is a criminal. If he were not, we would not have handed him over to you for judgement.” If Pilate was not already annoyed at these insolent and presumptuous Jews, this tone of sarcasm certainly got under his skin. “So, take him back and judge him by your own laws. Rome has no business with him.” “But we have no right to execute anyone,” they protested. This was untrue, as they could have had Jesus stoned had they wished. Their desire was that he should be crucified as an enemy of both the Jews, and the Romans. In truth, they did not wish his blood on their hands for fear the people might turn against them.

Pilate returned into his palace and approached the prisoner. “Are you the king of the Jews?”, he asked him. “This is the charge being brought against you.” The man he looked upon was clearly spent. He showed signs of extreme exhaustion. His face was bruised, and he shivered from the cold; or was it fear. Despite this, the man replied with surprising confidence, “Are you asking for yourself, or have others told you to ask me this?” Pilate was not amused that he now seemed to be treated with equal disdain by this Jew as well. This day had truly not gotten off to a good start. “Do I look like a Jew to you, man? It was your people, your chief priest that handed you over to me! Do you not understand the seriousness of the punishment they wish me to pass upon you? I will ask you this once – What is it that you have done?”

“In reply to your original question, my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would certainly fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders, just as yours would for you. But my kingdom is from another place and so I stand here now before you.” Pilate stared hard at the prisoner. The Jewish men he was accustomed to examining were either thieves, or rebels, or both. This man did not seem to be either. He spoke with confidence but not arrogance. He spoke with kindness and not hatred. He did not appear at all dangerous or threatening, if, perhaps, a little unhinged.

Pilate thought a moment before asking, “So, your crime is being a king that is not of this world?”

“They speak of kingship, which is now in your words as well. My mission, however, is to teach the truth to others. Those who are on the side of truth listen to me, those who will not listen oppose me.”

This deflection of the conversation perplexed Pilate, but he caught on the word “truth”. With truth he was on familiar territory with this man, as the Greek philosophers speak of it. The quest to seek a definition of truth and therefore a meaning to life was a common enough endeavour. “And what, may I ask, is truth?”

Pilate did not wait for an answer. This man was clearly a thinker, possibly a nuisance, but not an aggressor or instigator. He was no threat to the Jews or to Rome. Pilate returned to the portico. A crowd had begun to form around the temple guards and men of the Sanhedrin that had brought the prisoner to him. “I find no basis for charges against this man. Take him back and treat him according to your own laws.”

The men that had brought Jesus to Pilate had been assembling the crowd that now stood below. They had stopped passers-by, and others had appeared upon hearing of Jesus’ arrest. They had incited them to bay for the blood of Jesus of Nazareth. When the men replied to Pilate, the crowd followed suit with cries and shouts and waving fists and arms. “The prisoner is an enemy of Rome. We wish no trouble with Rome. We have no law to crucify him. Crucify him, crucify him!”

The very fact that these Jews were so antagonistic towards this apparently gentle man put Pilate on edge. Their arrogance and ignorance provoked him more. As he mused, he remembered that at the Passover there was a tradition to release a prisoner. “It is your custom to have Rome release a prisoner to you at this Passover season. I will therefore release this Jesus of Nazareth unto you.”

There was much murmuring and agitation in the crowd. Pilate had already swept up his toga under his right arm and was about to retreat to his palace. The crowd still did not reply and so Pilate added, “Shall I release unto you the King of the Jews?” These words seemed to centre the crowd. After more bustling and consulting they cried out, “Give us Barabas!” Not this man – release to us the man Barabas! Not him, but Barabas! Release Barabas!”

Pilate was at his wit’s end with these people. He was ready to crucify the lot of them. How dare they bother him with such a trivial affair. What could this man possibly have done to deserve such animosity? Did they not like his definition of truth? Did the truth hurt them so much? He may be no king, but neither was he an imposing threat. It was situations like this which made Pilate truly regret being assigned the prefecture of Judea. One thing he was convinced of – these people deserved this man as their king.

This is how the account of John, with some personal elaboration and artistic license, presents the encounter between Pilate and Jesus, and Pilate and the Jews.

Historically, Pilate was not a popular figure among some Jews, or Romans for that matter. Initially he was protected by Sejanus in Rome – a favourite of the Emperor Tiberius. After the fall of Sejanus in 31 AD, Pilate’s protector was gone. Certain Jews (for example in the Sanhedrin), who were already dissatisfied with Pilate for insulting their religious sensibilities, exploited this exposed weakness to make harsh criticism of the Judean prefect. It is therefore possible that this provided them with the extra persuasive power to make Pilate bend to their will in their demand for Jesus’ crucifixion.

There are two things of particular interest we are left with in the encounter between Pilate and Jesus, and Pilate and the Jews. One is the title of king bestowed upon Jesus of Nazareth. The other is Pilate’s question to Jesus, “What is truth?” Jesus is referred to as the King of the Jews at the beginning and the end of his life in the gospel accounts. The Magi in the account of Matthew refer to the baby Jesus as the King of the Jews. In all four canonical gospels, the title of “King of the Jews” is used in the charges brought against Jesus by the Sanhedrin.

The sign which Pilate had placed above the head of the crucified Christ is said to have read “INRI”. When the Jews protested to this, they asked that it read instead, he claimed to be the King of the Jews. According to John, Pilate replied, “What I have written, I have written.” He retained at least some defiance towards their demands. The INRI written on the sign is an abbreviation for Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum, where the Latin uses “I” where we would use “J”. The sign therefore reads Jesus (of) Nazareth King (of the) Jews.

When Jesus referred to the title King, he would no doubt be thinking of the word ‘Messiah’, which was a leader regarded as a saviour. Pilate, on the other hand, would be thinking of ‘King’, which was something of an abomination for Romans. They were proud of their Republic which had replaced the monarchy, although the current reign of emperors was not much different, and in the case of Nero, or Tiberius, for example, could be seen as even worse. In any case, we should be thinking more of Jesus the Messiah – the Saviour, the King of Kings, the right hand of God the Father.

Finally, we come to the use of the word ‘truth’. The Epistles use the word numerous times to refer to the Gospels, or the Good News of the life and works of Jesus. Truth is then the fundamental teachings, as well as the principles espoused by Christ as presented in the Gospels. ‘Truth’ is revealed in his life and his mission, in much the same way as John describes Jesus as the Word. Word and Truth can be seen as interchangeable. Jesus himself said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” His words and his actions are the example for us to follow in living our own lives.

Ironically, the Truth is standing right beside Pilate as he inquires what truth is. Pilate, like most of the members of the Sanhedrin, the scribes and the Pharisees, does not know what the Truth is, because he does not recognise Jesus as Christ the King. It is with equal irony that the Jewish mob, who wish to remain clean for their Passover meal, are gathered demanding the blood of the real Paschal Lamb. They prove to be the instruments of his sacrifice on their, and on humanity’s behalf. Jesus demonstrates his claim to Kinghood and Truth through the two groups who do not understand his role but are nevertheless complicit in him realising it. In their efforts to work against him, they operate instead in perfect harmony with his mission. This is God in action. Amen.

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A sermon by Rev Jenny Hadlow for 16 November 2024

Year B. 2nd Sunday before Advent

Mark 13 : 1-8

In the reading from Mark we have a picture of the disciples with Jesus leaving the temple and going to the Mount of Olives and looking back on the city and the temple building, it was a magnificent building. If any of you have been to Jerusalem or known the Mount of Olives you get a panoramic view of the city. The disciples and Jesus would have been looking down on the great walls of the city, 30 m high, beautifully constructed. The wall is still there though now, only half its original height. The stones used in its construction were enormous slabs of limestone, 10 m long. Behind the wall was the Temple that King Herod had built, still unfinished, but at its inner most heart was the Holy of Holies, the place where God dwelt: the high priest was the only person to enter, just one day a year, to ask atonement for the sins of the Jewish nation. God was at the physical heart of a securely built capital. Had the Jewish people got it all sorted? Time for complacency? No.

Looking at this magnificent sight, Jesus said, “Not one stone here will be left upon another”. He was right - this magnificent building, which must have looked indestructible, just 40 years later, lay in total ruins. It was to be destroyed by the Romans and was never to be rebuilt.

But Jesus was not simply talking about the Temple - the world then and now is always in a state of change. Nothing is permanent. There have been continuous wars and with them, the rising and destruction of empires and kingdoms. The Roman Empire disintegrated. In today's news, we hear about Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Gaza and the Lebanon. Nations trying to destroy each other and also many immigrants worldwide wanting, needing, to change the country where they can live and prosper.

Jesus said ‘Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom’.

We have a world, where Sunday is a shopping day, a catching up day after a busy week. If I leave here and go to Sainsbury's it'll be busy. Many people do not have time or feel a need for God.

Can we look for anything that is permanent? Any anchor? Anything trustworthy? Jesus was about to be arrested and his lesson to the disciples then and to us now is crucial. DON’T be tempted to compare the kingdom of God to the kingdoms of this world.

Today our world looks increasingly tottery, uncertain, impermanent, BUT we can come to God unafraid and trusting, hopeful, because he is the only true security and hope available to us. Jesus suffered the violence of the world upon himself, and His sacrifice of Himself shows us that whatever is happening around us, God is truly victorious. And through Jesus's resurrection we are offered forgiveness, healing and peace. There is nothing permanent in this world which we can totally put our trust in. Love of our families and friends yes space but space we do not live in a strawberries and cream world, there will be wars, famines, disasters, trials, stresses, disappointments. Jesus in the passage from Mark says there will be false profits, people who will lead us astray

Many will come in my name claiming to be me.

Life will not be comfortable.

Imagine if you would, a picture of us walking along a ridge. Brian and I are not great walkers, but on a trip to the Lake District, we climbed a ridge and walked along it towards the ‘Old Man of Coniston’, one of the higher peaks in the district. Fortunately for us, a party of walkers guided us when we were, at one point, in danger of walking off the edge. The path along the ridge was narrow and slippery but the drop on either side was steep and treacherous. Ahead was the mountain peak. Concentration was needed all the way. Each step had to be placed carefully. There was no point going back, because nothing would've been achieved. Yet to keep walking was difficult. The one sure thing was the goal ahead which was always in our site.

Jesus wanted his disciples to walk with care and wanted them and us to believe in God’s Kingdom. As the collect said: ‘and revive in us a new hope that all creation will one day be healed in Jesus Christ our Lord’.

The only security we have is to keep our sights on God, to keep God as the centre of our lives. The past can be treacherous. The situation in our world does not improve, there will always be difficulties.

The only certainty we have is the love of God for each one of us and the sure knowledge that there is a place for each one of us in eternity.

Hebrews. 'Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful’.

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A sermon by Rev Dr Lawrence Tuck for Armistace Sunday, 10 November 2024

Sermon – Sacrificial Mission

May the Spirit speak through my heart to yours with these words. Amen.

We often hear of the many young men who heroically fought in the Great War, the War to End All Wars, or, more commonly these days, the First World War. There are many stories of their bravery in books, poems, and films, but there is not much to be found about the equally brave women who contributed to the war effort. Many women served at home in the factories, but there were also those select few who risked their lives on the front lines with the men. They did not carry arms but entered the inferno of war to save and treat men who had fallen.

In our gospel reading today, we see Jesus at the beginning of his ministry, gathering his apostles following the arrest of John the Baptist. Jesus is taking up the role of the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He knows what the outcome of this mission will be. He knows it will lead to his death. Jesus will present a Saviour the Jewish people are not expecting – one that represents peace and love. He will not conquer with the sword, but with the truth and word of God.

Mary O’Connell Biaconi, known as ‘Molly’, was one of the brave women who served in Europe during the First World War. Born in 1896, she grew up in County Clare, Ireland. She was educated at Laurel Hill Convent in Limerick before heading to the continent to finishing schools in Paris and in Southern Belgium. When the war broke out, she enrolled in the Voluntary Aid Detachment, or ‘VAD’. These volunteer women were civilians who gave nursing and medical care to the military forces of the British Empire. She worked at field dressing stations and hospitals close to the fighting.

The women of the VAD were said to be as much a part of the war effort as the British Tommy. They fearlessly served near to the front and suffered from exhaustion (both mental and physical), swollen ankles and aching feet, rough and reddened hands, often exposed to the cold and sleeping in tents. While serving, Molly completed a ‘Motor Car Maintenance Course’ learning to drive and perform car mechanics. These were skills that many men of the period did not possess. She then joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, also known as FANYs.

In August 1917, aged 21, Molly was sent to the front at Amiens in Northern France. She drove ambulances, shuttling the wounded to field hospitals from the lines, often in dangerous conditions under enemy fire and bombardment. She was reported as being exemplary among her peers for her hard work, her courage, and her innovation. In 1918, Molly was deployed to St Omer at the start of the German Army’s final offensive on the Western Front. She was driving her ambulance back and forth as the Germans came perilously close to smashing through the Allied lines. During an allied retreat, she and her fellow six nurses drove in the opposite direction to rescue wounded soldiers.

Jesus began his mission at the time the Baptist was arrested and later beheaded. Jesus was, throughout the course of his own mission, facing the threat of violence. The Pharisees almost immediately took a dislike to him, and he attracted the attention of the tetrarch Herod Antipas (the man who had the Baptist beheaded) as well. Jesus’ mission entered no man’s land, he was exposed and vulnerable to attack, and yet fearlessly advanced. He preached in the open air and in the synagogues, setting up his base in Capernaum, possibly in or near to the home of the fishermen Peter and Andrew. He preached the good news of God – that the kingdom of God had come near. His was a mission of mercy.

During Molly’s deployment at St Omer, there was an occasion where she served with a particular distinction, or perhaps more accurately, where her service was more appropriately recognised. Molly drove through a heavy barrage of enemy artillery fire to an ammunition dump on the front line where there were multiple casualties. Facing sustained and vicious bombing from the air, she worked tirelessly and fearlessly to provide on-the-spot medical attention and to help evacuate them. She even dug into collapsed trenches and caves to pull men out of the earth and bring them to safety.

For her courageous and selfless efforts, saving multiple lives, Mary O’Connell Biaconi was awarded the Military Medal. She was presented it in person by King George V. She also received a citation for bravery. After the war she apparently lived a humble life, returning home and marrying. She died in Guildford, 29 August 1968. Molly did not pay ‘the ultimate price’, she did not lay down her life, but she most certainly offered it. Jesus said, “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Molly certainly risked her life for her friends. She could not know what the outcome of her efforts would be. She was every inch the hero as those who laid down their lives and died were. She committed to and was prepared for the consequences. Our Saviour knew exactly what the consequences of his offering would be. For him there was no possibility of coming out alive. Molly followed the path of her Saviour in selflessly dedicating her life for the benefit of others. She faced the horrors of hell, the nightmare of bombs and shells, of death and dying, of pain and suffering, all for the benefit of the other.

As I expressed earlier, the offering of one’s life does not necessarily imply that the outcome of that offering is death. Rather, what is crucial is how one’s life is dedicated to a loving cause, whatever the result of that dedication may be. Mary O’Connell Biaconi risked her life for others. She was determined to save lives, whatever the cost to herself. Thankfully, she survived the war. She married and lived a humble life, dying in Guildford, Surrey in 1968.

Molly is an example to us all. She lived the example set by the Christ in loving others as herself. She entered the field of war purely with a loving mission – to rescue and to care for those needing healing and salvation of both a physical and a spiritual kind. She entered without a weapon and without armour. And yet, Ephesian 6 (10-17) tells us of the armour of God. In his letter, Paul talks about our need to arm against the spiritual forces of evil. We must wear the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandals of readiness (the gospel of peace), the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (the word of God).

We are all soldiers of God in that we need, on occasion, to face evil and be prepared to overcome it. To do so we must be honest, righteous, versed in the good news of peace, ready to save others with the word of God. Our preparedness for sacrifice lies in our being ready to stand up for what is right. We do not all have to do so in such an active way as Molly, however. Our sacrifice can be in the time and energy that we dedicate to the good of others. We may do this through physical offerings of goods or money, or we may do it, for example, through prayer. Acting in love is acting as a soldier of God. We overcome hurt and evil through being charitable and caring for one another.

On this day we remember those who gave their lives fighting the wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45. There have been many other wars, of course, both fought by this nation and fought around the planet. Mankind has a warring nature. When dialogue breaks down, we often resort to violence. Let us pray, therefore, that God will help teach us the ways of peace, that the world leaders might learn to listen to the needs of the other and respect their requests. Let us pray that we do not forget the lessons from the past and that we create a better future for our children, and our children’s children. Amen.

Let us pray,

Merciful God, your love embraces all of creation.
Your realm knows nothing of the borders we draw between nations.
You have taught us that every woman, man and child is our neighbour.
You have commanded us to love, love, love,
without thought of our own security, or glory, or gain.

Remind us that you have pronounced your blessing,
not upon nations and armies,
but upon the poor, and the meek, and the peacemakers. Amen.

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A sermon by Rev Dr Lawrence Tuck for 3 November 2024

Sermon – New Life

May the Spirit speak through my heart to yours with these words. Amen.

‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.’

Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’

Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’

Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’

‘Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.’

This scene, which occurs prior to today’s reading, reveals Martha’s faith in the Lord and of his intention to raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. The death of Lazarus foreshadows the death and resurrection of Christ himself, and of our own promised life after death.

Death is a terrible thing. We occupy our time in life planning not for death, which is inevitable, but for furthering our life, which is unpredictable. We do not think much upon the Kingdom whilst we have the ongoing reality of life to deal with first. Sadly, we do not know when or how our end will come. It may turn out we come to experience that ‘if’ expressed by Martha which may dictate our fate. ‘If only I had not drunk so much whiskey, eaten so much saturated fat, smoked so much tobacco, consumed so many carbs, enjoyed so much processed food.’ ‘If only I had gone for daily walks, lowered my stress levels, cycled more, practiced yoga or meditation, paid more attention to my heart rate, spent more time in healthy living.

The ‘ifs’ in life can make death even more terrible. Regret leaves a person scarred, disoriented, and discontented. Nobody wants to leave this life in regret. Martha’s ‘if’ displays her faith, she is confident Jesus could have saved her brother Lazarus from death, but at the same time reveals that she believes he is now beyond aid, that is, at least until the coming of the Kingdom. Jesus, however, tells her otherwise. Prior to today’s reading, Jesus tells Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even through they die.” He is telling her, and us, not to listen to ‘if only’.

In truth, we do continue to live even though we die. As Christians, our faith dictates we become raised up after death. We may not have the Christ resurrect us on earth, as Jarius’ daughter did (Math. 9:18-26), or Lazarus, or a widow’s son did (Luke 7:11-15), but his loving grace extends to us as well, nevertheless. Death is not our end, but a new beginning. Death is the end to sin and suffering and evil and hate, but the beginning of eternal love, unity, and forgiveness. Jesus’ message to Martha, and to us, is that with God all things are possible. Yes, as Martha suggests, Lazarus will rise again in the Kingdom, but to display God’s love, and might, and mercy he rises again in Palestine four days after his death.

Besides the sensational raising of a dead man, today’s gospel reading reveals how Jesus the Christ was a man of emotion. We witness him moved by anger, as well as by sadness. These displays of emotion tell us how Jesus was very human, while also displaying how deeply God cares for us. Although the emotions displayed may at first seem contrasting, there is certainly a close link between them. Jesus becomes upset when he witnesses Mary weeping, along with the Jews who accompany her. There is a mention that he might have done something to save Lazarus from dying, That is when he responds with emotion.

Depending on the translation of the Bible you look at, Jesus’ initial response varies from ‘a deep anger’ (NLT), to ‘groaning in the spirit’ (KJV), ‘deeply moved in spirit and troubled’ (NIV), to having a ‘deep anger welling within him’ and being ‘deeply troubled’ (NLT). The King James’ ‘groaning in the spirit’ seems too poetic and in denial of what Jesus was experiencing. At the same time, I do not believe he was feeling any anger towards the mourners or what they might have been saying or doing. Instead, his emotions seem to stem from the inner and outer conflicts he has with the power of death. Jesus could have returned and stopped his friend from dying, if he did not feel compelled to continue his mission on the other side of the Jordan.

Jesus is not in the habit of responding to his own needs or desires. He goes and he does what God tells him to do. For this reason, he remains two days in the place where the Baptist ministered, to complete his work there, before heading back to Judea. While there, ‘many people came to him’ and ‘many believed in [him].’ He was certainly performing a significant task. So, after doing God’s work, Jesus returns to Bethany in Judea, too late to save his friend from death, but not too late to do something about it. He feels angered and troubled because death has such a power even over him. He cannot both serve the Father and be present to aid his friends at any given moment.

‘Jesus wept.’ Such a short and poignant verse of Scripture. Our Saviour cries. He cries for the death of his friend; he cries because even he is helpless is certain circumstances; he cries because he knows his own violent death approaches. He cries in empathy for his dear friends; he cries in sympathy for all humanity. Any, or all, of these reasons may explain Jesus’ tears. Suffice it to say that they are a product of deep love and compassion. Jesus weeps because, although sent by the Father from heaven, he is flesh and blood like us, and emotion is not foreign to him.

Jesus raises his friend from the tomb. Did Jesus also weep because he knew Lazarus would not live forever – that he was only curtailing the inevitable? Death is so final. This is the perspective of those who are committed to a life on earth. God’s message to us is that there is the Kingdom to come after the life on earth. The Kingdom we have seen portrayed in both our other readings from today. In Isaiah we learn of the eschatological banquet – the coronation feast spread on the peak of Mt Zion in honour of Jesus the King.

All will be joy at the banquet, we discover in Isaiah. God removes the veil of mourning when death, who swallowed up men in the grave, is himself swallowed up. There will be no more need for tears. This notion of the abolition of death is a novel one in the OT. It becomes linked together with our reading from the book of Revelation. In this NT reading we witness a new heaven and a new earth, and a new Holy City. God will then dwell among His people, and, as in the book of Isaiah, He will ‘wipe every tear from their eyes’ and ‘there will be no more death.’

The fact that there will be no more death with the Kingdom, and that there will also be no more tears, clearly links our history from the gospel of John with the other two readings. Jesus experienced death and grief. He knew the dread and the anger, and sorrow, of death. He knew tears – even tears of blood. He knelt in the garden and asked if he might have his mission taken from him if there was another way.

Our God is a loving God. He was willing to share death with us – even a violent death. He knows our pain, but like Jesus on the other bank of the Jordan, He knows too what must first occur for the Kingdom to come. As people of faith, we accept His plan and His grace. We know our God is a God of love, and mercy, and forgiveness.

Jesus knew that his works here on earth were to be his death. He knew that, although countless people would come to understand God through him, countless too would shut him out. The seeing of God’s glory comes, Jesus tells us, through our belief in the Son and the Father. If we see how God loved us enough to suffer death Himself; if we understand how the Messiah wept when faced with the death of a loved one; if we believe that life ends in a new beginning in the Kingdom of love – we have no need to fear or despise death. We may mourn, but we may also experience contentment. “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” Amen.

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A sermon by June-Marie Conabeer for Bible Sunday. 27 October

Lord God, guide my thoughts, guard my heart and govern my words. Amen

Good morning! Today, as you may have noticed, if you were paying attention earlier, is Bible Sunday or the last Sunday after Trinity, the Sunday before All Saints Sunday, it is the day when we give thanks for and reflect on - the importance of this book that we call the Bible.

The Collect in the Lectionary for this Sunday, is different to the one on your pew sheet. It is a prayer that was originally the work of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and is the collect set for the second Sunday of Advent in the book of common prayer as this was the date when Bible Sunday was originally celebrated. The words have been modernised but I expect that many of you will recognise them if I read it now…Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning: help us so to hear them; to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them that through patience, and the comfort of your holy word, we may embrace and for ever hold fast the hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

So, leading question, what is the Bible? Well as there are many versions of it - the standard version, the revised standard version, the new international version, the Jerusalem Bible, the King James Bible, the new King James Bible, the Living Bible, the Good News Bible - the list goes on and on, there are probably many answers to that question. And I expect if we asked people outside the church we would get a different set of answers!

While we are on the subject of the various versions of the Bible, I am the proud owner of a version that I can guarantee none of you have read! A few years ago my eldest grandson wrote his own version of the story of Noah, he even illustrated it and in my very humble opinion, it’s a much better read than those three chapters of Genesis! The last sentence reads like this - ‘Finally after all those 150 days on the ark, Noah hopped out and noticed a rainbow!’ Please don’t tell him that I showed you this, he’s now 12 and would be mortified!

But where was I? The bible, it usually comes in the form of a book, though for many people today, it may be on line or some other digital form.

So here we are in the year 2024, with all the scientific marvels and technological advances that have transformed our world, we are still reading a book whose earliest texts were put together four or five centuries before Homer wrote the Odyssey. And it is read very seriously in church, usually announced by the collect after which everyone falls silent as we hear stories of times so utterly different and distant to our own that there seems almost no point of connection.

Except of course for the people, then the stories are all too familiar.

Rulers who went off the rails and did dreadful things

Nations that fought and conquered or were conquered

Men and women who knew love, hatred, fear, jealousy, family feuds, national disasters and pandemics. Doesn’t it all sound familiar, the bible is full of people just like us, which makes me want to say - will we ever learn, do we ever listen? Well yes, some of us do - thank goodness!

But when we say This is the Word of the Lord, it isn’t really the words on the page.

Christianity has never regarded scripture as the dictated word of God, but the word inspired by God. Many Muslims would regard the Koran as the dictated word of God which is why they treat it with such reverence. But a well used bible may have scuffed edges, the odd coffee stain and probably quite a few pencil marks in the text. But of course the words that we read are a translation from Hebrew and Greek and in most cases a translation from a translation. They are the work of men and women over several centuries. Our bible is Literature, laws, letters, stories, dreams. It is a whole library between hard and sometimes soft covers.

Parts of the Old Testament date from the Bronze Age and yet we are here reading it in the age of smart phones and social media. When it comes to the Epistles, which are a bit like reading somebody else’s post, we almost have to do historical sociology before we can make sense of what is being said and why! And so many of the stories, about Jesus and other people too, were circulated by word of mouth for many years before they were written down, and then they weren’t written by people trying to be historians, but as it says in chapter 20 of John’s gospel, they were written so that people would hear and come to believe. But John also ends his gospel by saying that there is much else that Jesus did, if it was all recorded in detail the world could not hold the books that could be written!

The message in the bible is continually unfolding, through the work of archaeologists, academics and theologians But at the same time it is unfolding in our lives as we engage with these texts and find in them a message which shapes our lives, challenges us to change, comforts us in distress and brings us hope. For us, the central character in this book is Jesus and if it wasn’t for our faith in him we probably wouldn’t be reading the bible at all.

Each week we come to church and listen to three passages from the bible and each week someone usually stands up here and tries to explain one of those readings to the best of their ability.

But how many of us actually sit down and read this book, do you ever sit at home and read it through like reading a novel? Well here’s a challenge for you, in your preparation for Advent and Christmas, [it’s only just over 8 weeks to go!!]. why don’t you try and read one of the gospels before Advent Sunday? If you read it like a novel, Matthew is 28 chapters, Mark is 16, Luke is 24, and John is 21 chapters so easily a chapter a day before Advent Sunday and a very positive way of preparing for Christmas and reminding ourselves of that baby whose birth we will be celebrating, what He did for us, and how many lives He has changed.

In fact you could easily replace your watching of the news on TV with the reading of the Good News that lies within these covers because, lets be honest, good news on our television screens is a rare thing, the TV channels seem to delight in being the bearers of bad tidings and sometimes it’s just so depressing.

And the bible, this book is a lifeless thing without the people who read it and live their lives through it - this is the only way the bible becomes living and active. The bible without a believer is empty and as some-one once said ‘Be careful how you live, you may be the only Bible some person ever reads’.

So on this Bible Sunday, let us give thanks for God’s word living and breathing through us and I am going to finish with a verse from our second hymn,

Lord for that word, the word of life which fires us,

Speaks to our hearts and sets our souls ablaze,

Teaches and trains, rebukes us and inspires us:

Lord of the word, receive your people’s praise. Amen

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A sermon By Rev Dr Lawrence Tuck for Harvest Sunday 6 October

Treasures in Heaven – Homily

May the Spirit speak through my heart to yours with these words. Amen.

I recently attended the Archbishop’s School in Canterbury as part of my school chaplaincy training. On the day I was assigned a workshop group to lead in four sessions of a half hour each with different students. One of the questions that I asked them during the workshop was what it was they treasured the most. The most frequent answer was friends and family. Other answers included food, home, school, horses, faith, basketball, chocolate, and manga. Some of these may seem more noble, and others more trivial, but they are all about something the student was passionate about.

Jesus taught us that having the wrong treasures leads to our hearts and minds being committed to the wrong things and therefore not receiving the joy and love from heaven we receive when we commit to the right treasures. The things that we treasure the most control us, control our way of living, that is our goals and aspirations. If our treasures are inward based, we will look towards satisfying things that give us pleasure. If our treasures are outward based, we will strive to give pleasure to others.

That is not to say we should be making judgement calls on whether manga and chocolate are as valuable as home and school – we can all have luxuries and favourite pastimes – but that the things we prioritise ought to be things directed towards love and joy, not just for ourselves, but for those around us as well. Bishop Rose sat in on one of my workshop sessions and she said that one thing she greatly treasures is Ferraro Rocher. Because of this fact, she said that she would often give a box of these chocolates as a gift to people she wished to give special pleasure to. When offering something she would like to keep for herself she was demonstrating her love for another (as well as a certain self-discipline).

The ancient peasant or labourer would often bury their treasure in the earth of their homes. This is a fact attested by Levantine archaeology. It was not often these labourers would receive hard currency they could preserve, and so it was buried in the earth for safekeeping from thieves. Since we are still finding such “treasures”, this would give witness to a forced evacuation from the home, or the death of the preserver of the coins without disclosing their whereabouts to spouse or children. Jesus’ words could therefore be expressed as, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures in earth.” In either case it is a lesson learned in not valuing that which can be easily lost.

God is love. As his children we are creatures of love. Love is therefore in our true nature. When we act according to our nature. we experience wellbeing and joy. We know we are acting in harmony with God’s loving mission when we do a good deed and feel a special warmth in our heart. This is God’s reward, and encouragement, for us to continue along this path. When we bury our treasure in the dirt, we are withholding our loving service and keeping it for ourselves, and for a day that will never arrive. We are stockpiling our Ferrero Rocher, only for it to melt or go stale.

Materialism will enslave the heart, the mind and the will. The material things of life can shackle and restrain our potential, while the Spirit of God liberates and enlightens. It is a difference between the enrichment of selflessness and the impoverishment of selfishness. Jesus’ teaching is all about what we seek to preserve we will lose, whilst what we give away will reap reward. Naturally we can seek to preserve love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness and self-control, but they are all heavenly attributes. The heavenly gifts are uplifting, the earthly seductions are mere distractions.

Jesus teaches us that the gifts we possess ought to be used for the glory of God. When we are laying up treasures in heaven, we are using the faculties we possess for achieving the glory of God. Another way of looking at this is by using the analogies of light and dark. Seeking material gain is represented by a darkness within, whilst serving and glorifying God is represented by a light within. The heart and the eye are both centres of the person according to OT and Jewish anthropology. Spiritual vision entails our capacity to clearly see what God desires of us and to see the world from His perspective. Any self-serving desires, interests or goals serve to block this vision.

Verses 22-23 liken the eyes not to a window, but to a lamp. The image presented is not of light going in but of light going out. The eyes are in essence the light of the world – the illumination coming from the generosity of spirit. The eye of light is the healthy eye which illuminates the whole inner man, while the “evil”, or wicked eye is considered diseased. If the eye light becomes darkened, then the whole person dwells in darkness. Envy, for example, dims the vision, while compassion enlightens. “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14), a city on the top of a hill is a beacon of guidance and hope.

Spiritual vision is the ability, or capacity, to see clearly what God’s mission is and to see the world with his loving eyes. Self-serving desires, interests, and aspirations, impair or block this vision. In this harvest season we should be particularly grateful for all the good gifts we have been given, and even more generous towards those who we see going without. Let us enjoy the fruits of our labour but let us also share with those who are less fortunate. Let our eyes be beacons of welcome to others and not to turn blindly from their need. Amen.

The Special Prayer for Harvest Sunday

Eternal God, You crown the year with your goodness and you give us the fruits of the earth in their season: grant that we may use them to your glory, for the relief of those in need and for our own well-being: through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever, Amen.

A sermon By Rev Jenny Hadlow for Harvest Sunday 6 October

Prayer. Dear God please help each one of us to hear your voice and help us to grow in faith and love for you. Amen

Think- Really Jesus!! when I read this gospel passage from Matthew. Has Jesus read our news? Even more hostilities this week- frightening. Israel and Lebanon! Israel has attacked Beirut and warned people living in south Beirut to leave the area. Our fuel allowance has been withdrawn and the cost of electricity has risen 10per cent - one couple on Meridian news this week, were talking about the choice between heating or eating this winter - but maybe not able to do both.

Jesus understood, he experienced more suffering than any of us could endure, but maybe - just maybe he was enjoying the birds in the Galilean hills - flying freely, the range of flowers thriving in the countryside - where did their beauty come from? Nature itself can be glorious, God given and beautiful.

Jesus had a strong, living sense of goodness of his father - the creator of our world. Maybe when he told his followers not to worry about tomorrow, we must assume - trust - that he led them by example. He wasn’t always looking ahead anxiously - where do you feed thirteen men and find them accommodation daily etc? But he seems to have had the skill of living totally in the present moment - giving attention to the present task, celebrating the goodness of God in his everyday living. And he wanted his followers to do the same.

He was urging his listeners to make God their priority - our God - our God who created the world and filled it with beauty and wonderful and mysterious things, full of energy and beauty and excitement. So when Jesus tells us not to worry about what to eat, or drink, or wear - He he doesn’t think these things do not matter - but maybe he was teaching us about priorities. Putting our worlds first - YES - our worlds matter and take organising - but they can’t give us the peace and love and freedoms that we receive from God. God should be our priority and we get the world as well.

“Anxiety can get us nowhere!” Do we, in our hearts trust God? Because out trust in God forms our inner priorities. Ambitions are normal but Timothy advises: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. Trusting God in all things and prioritising God’s life and agenda is vital to life. Timothy again! -But godliness and contentment is great gain.

Today we celebrate Harvest - we are all aware that harvest does not just happen without a great deal of effort and hard work. The farmer worries about getting the crop in before the weather turns and ruins it, feeling great relief when he beats the rain - and yes we also have responsibilities. But we should respond to our work and daily tasks - with joy because our creator God wants to feed and clothe us and living without worry is a challenge but it is nor irresponsible.

Jesus is encouraging us to enjoy the world we have been given, to consider the beauty around us - just like the conker trees nearby - because when we do we are enjoying God’s creation - basking in God’s glory. Our response is one of thanks - Enjoy those around us - or friends and families. “Thanks God.” - And it helps us to move on to appreciate what we have and how we can help others - such as the Food Bank - so maybe we can help to ease the suffering locally and in our world. Thanks to all who have made a donation to the Food Bank for Harvest.

So… At Harvest but also every day, let’s appreciate and enjoy the world we have been given and making thanking God our priority; and trusting God to help us with our everyday lives - “Thanks God” - And as Timothy reminds us - we came into our world with nothing and we take nothing with us when we die - so let’s enjoy each day we are given and thank God for His amazing love and provision for us.

End of Post communion prayer.

Dear Lord - by your grace plant within us reverence for all that you give us (every day) and make us generous and wise stewards of the good things we enjoy through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

A sermon from Rev Dr Lawrence Tuck for the service on Sunday 8 September

Sermon – Magnificat

May the Spirit speak through my heart to yours with these words. Amen.

Today’s Gospel reading is a song of joy – a hymn of praise to the Lord. It is called Magnificat because Mary’s wish with this song is to praise, or magnify, her God. As a truly humble and God-fearing woman, Mary’s praise is directed entirely to God, and not herself. In this hymn we find numerous OT phrases and allusions which can make it appear ponderous, but at the same time it expresses deep emotion and a dedicated conviction which lends it charm and beauty. Linked to the OT references is the portrayal of God working contrary to the ways of the world, a description which brings us directly into the ministry of His Son, who was also to turn the thoughts and ways of this world upside down.

The most profound link with the OT to the Magnificat is in the song of Hannah from the book of Samuel (1 Sam. 2:1-10). I’m going to read Hannah’s song to you now, and as I do, I’d like you to compare it to the Magnificat, but also to think about Jesus’ mission revealed in its words.

‘My heart rejoices in the LORD;

in the LORD my horn is lifted high.

My mouth boasts over my enemies,

for I delight in your deliverance.

There is no one holy like the LORD;

There is no one besides you;

There is no Rock like our God.

Do not keep talking so proudly

or let your mouth speak such arrogance,

for the LORD is a God who knows,

and by him deeds are weighed.

The bows of the warriors are broken,

but those who stumbled are armed with strength;.

Those who were full hire themselves out for food,

but those who were hungry are hungry no more.

She who was barren has borne seven children,

but she who has had many sons pines away.

The LORD brings death and makes alive;

He brings down to the grave and raises up.

The LORD sends poverty and wealth;

He humbles and he exalts.

He raises the poor from the dust

and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

he seats them with princes

and makes them inherit a throne of honour.

For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’S;

on them he has set the world.

He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,

But the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

It is not by strength that one prevails;

those who oppose the LORD will be broken.

The Most High will thunder from heaven;

the LORD will judge the ends of the earth.

He will give strength to his kind

and exalt the horn of his anointed.’

Of great significance with both songs is how God is pictured as a champion of the poor, the oppressed and the despised. Hannah’s song describes a God who punishes arrogance and the proud, who sees the full hire themselves out for want of food, while those who were hungry go hungry no more. The Lord both humbles and exalts, raises the poor from the dust and the needy from the ash heap.

In comparison, Mary’s song sees God as one who scatters the proud and brings down rulers, while lifting the humble. He fills the hungry with good things but sends the rich away empty. Both songs exalt God for his goodness; Hannah’s heart rejoices in the Lord, while Mary’s spirit rejoices in God her Saviour. Like Hannah, Mary glorifies God in her song for what he is going to do for the world through her. Hannah speaks of how God will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed, while Mary states He has helped Israel and is merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever.

The piety of Hannah makes her a most fitting forerunner of Mary, and the role of Samuel, as both prophet and leader under God, illuminates his work as a humble servant, very similar to that of Jesus. The Word of God in the OT anticipates that of the Word in the New. Hannah is the gift of God bringing forth Samuel the prophet, as Mary is the gift of God bringing forth Jesus the Messiah. Both women display utter trust and devotion to their Lord and offer Him thanks and praise with their songs. Both Hannah’s and Mary’s songs exhibit great reversals where one must be in need to be saved.

It is no coincidence that the Magnificat resembles the psalm of Hannah. It is, I believe, intentional, and the reader, or listener, is meant to read both and understand the link between them. Such an action would draw the old word of God to the new, and it would similarly bring the story of Jessus into that of the prophets of old. Hannah’s words describing God the Father can equally be used to describe Jesus the Son. Jesus raises the poor and lifts the needy, he speaks of justice for the faithful and punishment for the oppressors.

Hannah calls God a rock, “there is no Rock like our God. In the NT, Jesus is also described as a rock. In Mark (12:10), for example, Jesus is portrayed asking, “Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” This verse from the psalms (118:22) describes Jesus’ future as the one who will be rejected by the Pharisees and the people but will become the foundation for the new Church. Jesus, like the Father, is a secure rock upon which we can build our hope and faith. His love is solid as a rock.

On this festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary we have heard two songs, one from the OT and one from the NT. We have heard two women’s love and devotion for their God. We have been introduced to the birth of a great prophet, and the birth of the Messiah. We have seen how Jesus the Son is compared with God the Father by way of his mission. Mary knew of this mission as revealed in the lines of the Magnificat, “He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants for ever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

Mary discloses that God’s promise to Abraham (Gen. 22:16-18) to be merciful to his descendants forever, is now to be fulfilled in her son. She is giving thanks for the Lord choosing her to give birth to the Messiah who will lead her people into salvation. She anticipates how she will be considered blessed by all future generations for the honour and privilege bestowed upon her. She speaks with awe of God’s love for her, a humble handmaid. We too could speak with deep emotion the first stanza of her song – for our Father has been equally loving to each of us in the gift of the Son.

My soul glorifies the Lord

and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,

for he has been mindful

of the humble state of his servant. Amen.

A sermon by Rev Dr Lawrence Tuck

Sermon – Judgement of Pharisees

May the Spirit speak through my heart to yours with these words. Amen.

Today’s gospel reading examines the difference between outward and inward – actions and thoughts, appearance versus reality. In Mark we witness Jesus scolding the Pharisees for keeping the law and traditions to appear holy rather than to honour God. Affectatious behaviour does not fool God. The message coming through the gospel writer is that we need be more concerned about what is unclean coming from within us, rather than what may enter from without. It is a lesson about what is acceptable to God and what is not. Our instruction is to act from love of God and not for social standing, or profit.

Washing before a meal was not something commanded in law, but was part of a long-standing tradition, particularly among the scribes and Pharisees. They would therefore not be criticizing Jesus for breaking Mosaic law, but, rather, inquiring why he allows his disciples to eat without ritually washing first, presumably, to make him look bad in front of the people. It may have even been something of a throwaway comment, but Jesus uses it to make an earnest point. Jesus does not oppose the traditions of the Pharisees, instead, he finds fault in their motivation and rationalization for upholding them.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes it clear that true holiness is a matter of affection and attitude rather than merely actions and associations. He demonstrates this, for example, by speaking of how to fast (Matt. 6: 16-18). Rather than making yourself look suffering and miserable to draw attention to yourself, he suggests washing your face and anointing your head with oil. You do not fast for the sake of becoming noticed and therefore create an image of a holy person, but instead go out of your way to look in fine health and spirits. The message is that we might fool others, but we will not fool our God.

This message of not fooling God links in with Jesus’ teaching about either living for this life, or for the Kingdom. His message of living for God as opposed to living for the world is also apparent in the Mount Sermon when he speaks about giving to the needy (vv. 1-4). “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” To strive to look holy is to live in the world, while to act from love and respect with no reward in mind is to live in the Kingdom. The message given to the Pharisees, therefore, is that they are both looking to be recognised as holy men and are living for the world of men (and women) with their posturing, rather than striving for the Kingdom of God by acting out of lovingkindness.

The fact that we may appear squeaky clean on the outside does not imply that we are without sin. If we allow our minds to dwell on lust, envy, hatred, bitterness, prejudice, or vengeance, we are allowing ourselves to be drawn into the worldly and the sinful. We are reminded of John 8:7, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her.” Again, in this yet another confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus highlights their shortcomings in judging others while remaining themselves impure. We could say today that some Christians, like some Pharisees of Jesus’ day, would try to stop Jesus from working in certain places or with certain people.

It is not our duty to judge, and especially not to condemn others. We cannot accuse others of having unwashed hands if our own are defiled by any number of actions. Holy living, Jesus teaches us, is not about what we do without us, but what springs from within. We can appear to obey the law outwardly, but still be continuously breaking it in our heart. Any so-called ‘defilement’ of the outer flesh has a very tenuous connection with the inner person. What is crucial is that we act out of love and compassion, acceptance and fellowship.

The commandment about loving one’s neighbour as yourself, does not apply only to those that we find acceptable. Again, as Jesus is teaching us in this reading, our neighbour is judged in love and acceptance, and not in spite, or envy, fear, or disdain. Beginning judgement through sinful thinking is never going to be Kingdom productive. We work towards God’s Kingdom by loving one another whether black or white, straight or gay, male or female (including alternative pronouns), Christian or Muslim, working class or aristocrat, capitalist or communist, native or foreign. Jesus and his disciples broke down the differences that separated Jews from Gentile, infirm from healthy, outcasts from ‘estimable’ citizens.

Loving God and being obedient to God is not only a teaching of the Christ, however. Moses made it clear in Deuteronomy (6:4-5; 10:12; 30:6-20) that God desired such characteristics to come from the heart, and not merely through outward obedience to rules. “Fear the Lord your God…walk in obedience to him…love him…serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul…observe the Lord’s commands and decrees.” The issue is not only to follow His decrees, but to do so with love – with your heart and soul. God is love. He is not about prejudice or discrimination. That is a very human and living in the world characteristic.

We can ask ourselves how our practices today might not meet with the standards Jesus expected of the Pharisees. Do we ‘go through the motions’ of a service, or do we truly believe and understand what we say and do, and do we venerate with love and genuine meaning our Creator and our Redeemer? How much of our observances have degenerated into ‘formalism’? How might we rejoice in new and artless ways? Are we living for the Kingdom, or for the world? These are challenging questions, but ones we should not avoid.

We should not pass judgment on the Pharisees if we are not willing to judge ourselves in a similar way. Our approach needs to be one of lovingkindness, generosity, goodwill, understanding, acceptance, and, appropriate to today’s reading in particular, modesty and sincerity. We need to inwardly observe our own motivations and behaviour rather than outwardly judging others for what we see as faults in them. It is also crucial that we consider our thoughts as much as our actions, and that we understand negative or sinful thinking leads to negative or sinful behaviour.

If we always strive to act from love of God, rather than love of self, we can be confident we are on the right path. If we look to judge ourselves more than we condemn others, we are similarly following the desired path. If we are more alert to the wellbeing of our neighbour than we are to how we might appear to others, we are acting as true Christians. The lesson we receive from today’s gospel reading is of the importance of acting from a genuine love for the other, and not from a need to appear acceptable to our fellow man. Amen.

For Sunday 21st August

A sermon by Rev dr Lawrence Tuck

Sermon – The Suffering Servant

May the Spirit speak through my heart to yours with these words. Amen.

Today’s Gospel reading takes us to the role of the Apostles, both in the early Church and in the coming Kingdom. In our Gospel reading, we see the Apostles being prepared for their future roles; in the reading from Acts, we observe them fulfilling those roles. Luke presents the chosen followers of Jesus in what would appear to be an unflattering way. Their dispute over who is the greatest is worldly and egocentric. Jesus’ response to them, as well as their portrayal living up to their roles as Jesus had intended, demonstrated in the book of Acts, reveals that they have learned and developed their faith and understanding.

Jesus displays remarkable control when his Disciples debate over which of them is to be the greatest at the coming of the Kingdom. It would seem a palm slap and heavy sigh would be a more appropriate response. Instead, Jesus calmly puts them in place by stating how it is the way of the Gentiles to lord over others their power and authority. I would imagine he is thinking of the Romans, although Herod and other local rulers would similarly come to mind. The rules for his followers, he continues, is entirely different.

The first come last and the last come first; Jesus puts the hierarchy on earth on its head in the Kingdom. It is not the ones who have the most money, the most prestige, the most power or the most popularity who matter in God’s realm. It is those who are humble, who are loving and generous, who make sacrifices, who think of others rather than only themselves, who receive the rewards. He explains how he is among them as the one who serves. Follow my lead is the unspoken instruction.

Jesus teaches us that every Christian leader, indeed, every Christian follower, needs to have a servant’s heart. His apostles are slow to understand and to heed this advice, and so, it would seem, God has patience with our ineptitude when it comes to hearkening His desire. Living in the world and for the Kingdom is a challenging task. However, if we choose to live in love, as God is love itself, our aspiration ought to be to live in harmony with His way of being. Being a servant is being loving, considerate, compassionate, generous, and selfless.

Our Gospel reading illustrates how the Kingdom, which the Father covenanted to Jesus, is now, in turn, covenanted to the Apostles. They anticipate the rewards of this duty, while Jesus isolates the costs. If they desire to be leaders, they must first follow. Their reward comes through service. In today’s reading from the book of Acts, we witness the apostles at work in the ministry they have inherited from their Rabbi. They are at the Temple in Jerusalem and are performing signs and wonders, bringing them high regard from the people.

The miraculous healings of the Early Church, displayed in the Acts reading, are significant for attracting new believers, confirming the truth of the apostles’ teaching, and demonstrating the power and authority of the Messiah vested in his followers. Peter becomes distinguished in this reading for his incredible healing power. The new Church we see presented as being unified, magnified, and multiplied by its followers. Jesus has prepared his apostles well. Where they first seemed at best naïve, and at worst witless, they have now become resolute and enlightened disciples of their Messiah.

Going out and being witnesses of Jesus Christ is the duty of every disciple, and as Christians, we are all His disciples. We may not heal people by casting our shadow on them as Peter did, but we can bring serenity and joy to others through being witnesses. In our daily lives we can witness by living as Christ taught us to – living as a servant lives, as we have already examined. Being a witness is not about knocking on doors and preaching Gospel as much as it is setting a good example, being loving and generous, and compassionate and understanding.

Jesus’ own miracles during his mission on earth had three principal purposes. First, to exhibit compassion and to provide for human need; secondly, to authenticate his claim as coming from God; and thirdly, to provide a spiritual truth. When, for example, the apostles wished to send the multitude away that had been following them, Jesus took pity on them and fed them. His miracle of feeding the five thousand exhibited his compassion in providing them food, authenticated his claim of coming from God in the miracle of the division of bread and fish, and provided a spiritual truth in the way he used bread as a theme for a sermon on his being the bread of life.

Saint Bartholomew, whose patronal we celebrate today, was one of the original apostles. There are two existing ancient accounts of his mission after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Both Eusebius of Caesaria (early fourth century), and Saint Jerome (late fourth century), locate St Bartholomew in India, leaving behind him a copy of the book of Matthew. Tradition places him in places as far apart as Armenia and Ethiopia. Our old testament reading from Isaiah includes the lines, “All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble.” The apostles spread the word of Jesus’ mission to peoples across the known world. The kingdom that Jesus promises to the apostles begins here in this life but becomes fulfilled in the time to come.

At first divided through disputing over which of them was the greatest, the apostles become resolute selfless followers of the Christ, who spread his truth to the different corners of the known world. As witnessed in the Book of Acts, they work from the core, the Temple of Jerusalem, outwards around the Mediterranean and beyond. Their lives are hard, and they suffer for their faith, even unto death. The disciples truly learned the lesson of becoming servants, and of how the last become first. Their love for God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was absolute. Amen.

Let us pray:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the joyful, abundant life that is mine through our Lord Jesus Christ. Guide me according to Your will and help me become a servant whose life is a worthy example to others. Give me courage, Father, to claim the spiritual riches that You have promised, and show me Your plan for my life, today and forever. Amen.

For Sunday 11 August

A semon by Rev Jenny Hadlow

Year B Proper 14

PRAYER O Lord, help – as I speak and as we listen – bless us mightily that your truth may be heard by each one of us. Amen

Have you been enjoying the Olympics? So many athletes in different sports achieving remarkably – how interesting it has been, seeing so many sports which don’t usually get TV coverage. Kayaking through rapids – this week BMX, lots of athletics and skateboarding – Toby Roberts 19 – won a shock climbing gold medal – amazing how he hung on and got to the top of the wall. So many fit bodies – athletes whose daily life choices govern their fitness – disciplined days of exercise and diet for absolute fitness, physically and mentally. Katerina Johnson-Thompson – silver medal – heptathlon – first Olympic games was in 2012 – 12 years competing at this level – what discipline

This week we are thinking about God’s provision for us – Jesus as the bread of life - JESUS' FITNESS REGIME AND DIET – suggest to you Jesus is our own personal trainer – He is with us every step of our journey through life: feeding us, leading us and getting us in shape for eternity. We have the very best personal trainer.

In our reading from Kings, we meet Elijah in the wilderness – the desert, but he is also in the wilderness emotionally as he asks God to take his life. He has endured a dramatic episode with the prophets of Baal and demonstrated God’s power to Ahab and is now deflated, despondent and depressed. God listens and hears Elijah and sends help. The care of the angels and the nourishment of the food – cakes – set him back on his feet with the energy to walk 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb. Open your mind now and feel the cake that God supplied, it contained every vitamin, mineral, carbohydrate, protein that Elijah needed – and even more important God was on the journey with him.

Manna in the wilderness – cake – bread – are the visible form of all kinds of goodness and nourishment. Bread – always staple food

When Jesus talked about himself as the bread of life – he was describing how he is the visible form of an invisible GOD. Jesus was fully human, to touch, to listen to, to converse with,to learn from – he was showing us the face and nature of God. A Loving God full of grace and mercy.

In the gospel - Jesus expands this – I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE – whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

If you open your ears and mind, you will hear Jesus saying – I am your personal trainer – believe in me and I will take good care of you. I will make sure you have everything you need and guide you to all success…

RESPONSE from his listeners, who didn't open their ears and mind just thought - GET REAL

The Jews – religious leaders – didn’t want to hear what Jesus was saying. He was too normal – Joseph and Mary were his parents.

When Jesus offered his real life to the people – when he said I am the bread of life –response was - who does he think he is. He’s from Nazareth – he’s the son of a carpenter – we know his parents – how dare he have the cheek to claim he is a messenger from God.

Their expectations blinded them from seeing the person they had been waiting for, for generations – the messiah.

GET REAL ! MOST OF OUR WORLDS are OUR FRIENDS, FAMILIES – would maybe listen to this and think – WHAT!

I’d like to suggest that real life is the new relationship with God – a relationship of love, and trust that is only made possible by Jesus Christ. Through Jesus we are all invited into a personal relationship with God.

That is to say without Jesus we may exist but we may not have the REAL LIFE, ETERNAL LIFE. Real life with God now and in the life to come.

Jesus response to his critics is I AM / I AM REAL./ We have the same opportunity to turn away as did many of those people who heard the message for the first time.

The gospel reading

Noone can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.. The original word used by John for DRAW implies some kind of resistance. It is the word used to draw or drag a heavily laden net, full of fish, ashore. Also to draw a sword from a scabbard. God can draw but man can resist.

Real life is to accept that Jesus is the source – he is the bread – to accept his offer is to find real life in this world – and to be with God forever. Jesus is our very personal trainer and God is inviting each one of us onto his podium – we are all gold medal winners to God. Gold medal is life eternally with God.

EXCITING – GOD WANTS US SO MUCH HE IS DRAWING US – MAKING SURE HE DOESN’T LET GO AND HE GETS US TO SHORE.

And award us his medal – the very best there is –

Wear this around and explain why – people would maybe have the same attitude – get real – who does she think she is? God’s medal winner

Ephesians – THEREFORE BE IMITATORS OF GOD – LIVE IN LOVE.

As Christ’s people we are here to support and love one another – building each other in love and prayer. We are Christ’s winning team for the world – and it is challenging!!

We cannot do it without feeding on Jesus as our bread – asking him every step of the way to help us, nourish us and keep us fit for him.

For Sunday 21 July 2024

A sermon by Rev Dr Lawrence Tuck

Sermon – Feeding the 5000

May the Spirit speak through my heart to yours with these words. Amen.

There are two words in today’s reading that stood out for me. These words, which might seem unremarkable at first, are “green grass” (v. 39). In fact, these words can be seen as highly significant. Firstly, the grass in Palestine is most often brown. It is a hot and dry climate, and the earth gets quickly parched. The one time of year when you might expect to see some green grass would be in the springtime. Another fact that we are told by the gospel writer is that there are “so many people coming and going” (v. 31). It is a time in the spring when there is a great movement of people.

It is likely that the occasion of the great movement of people is because it is near the time of Passover. At Passover, many people would be heading to family and friends to celebrate the occasion with. The north of Galilee normally had traffic heading to and from Phoenicia and the Tetrarchy of Philip and down to Jerusalem in Judaea. Near the advent of Passover, there would be even more movement. Many people were clearly following Jesus, hoping to hear what he spoke, find healing, or discover for themselves if this was the promised Messiah to liberate them from the Romans.

Of course, the Jewish Passover is also associated with the time of year when Christians celebrate Easter. The “green grass” takes on another meaning when we think of it representing new life, beginnings, and springtime. Jesus feeding the five thousand can therefore be understood as a symbol of the eucharist. It is the introduction, or the prelude to his eucharistic feast. He feeds the assembled people with bread and with fish, both of which became symbols of the new faith. We see Jesus take the bread and look to heaven and make a blessing and breaking the bread giving it to the disciples to set before the people.

The green grass can be seen as the new faith which is developing as the apostles are sent out on their own and, upon returning, are gathered with the people in a eucharistic style feast. The new faith is seen in the 5000, who in all probability were more like double that number. The gospel writer records that there were 5000 men. There were certainly women among them, and probably children too. I think it safe to assume that there would have been Gentiles as well as Jews present. Jesus was the hottest thing going on in the region and he would have attracted more than one group of people with his offerings of healing and wise words.

We know that the people were arranged in groups of 100 and of 50. Assumedly, this aided in counting how many people were present. It seems a startling number, and it is understandable why such gatherings would make Herod nervous. We are told that the disciples produced five loaves of bread and two fish. We are not told if this was supplemented with food from the people – a kind of bring and share banquet. In any case it is a stark contrast with the kind of feasting we can imagine occurred at Herod’s palace as Salome danced so enticingly.

The people ate and were satisfied and there was even a substantial amount of food left over. No matter how you try to explain it, there was something miraculous about the gathering. The story reminds us of the giving of manna to the people in the desert. They are even described as being in a desolate or “lonely place”. And yet, Mark does not present it as a miracle story, but more as the reporting of an event as it happened. It is a story which is found in all four gospels and therefore it is well supported and substantiated.

The people that have followed Jesus are hungry. They require food, but they also require learning, healing and guidance. As we do each Sunday, they gather for sharing a meal, to hear the Word of God, to receive healing of the sick, and to commune with their Creator. They sit on the green grass under the open sky. For the moment they are grateful and at peace. Their shepherd has given them all that they require. It is a worshipful moment which presents the ideal of the Church which our Saviour is offering to us. Sadly, for many of the people present, because they are expecting the wrong kind of Messiah, it will be a moment lost and forgotten.

Jesus was threatened by Herod. He was also threatened by the Pharisees. Even the people that thronged around him were a threat. And yet, when he sees them leaderless and needy, he takes pity on them, even though he surely realizes that many of them are looking for the wrong kind of leader in him. All he sees is green grass. Although he knows that many will turn out to be weeds, he knows only love and patience. The love of Christ extends to all. The banquet of Christ is offered to everyone. Amen. (Read Psalm 23)

For Sunday 14 July 2024

A sermon By June Conabear on Mark 6; 14-29

Lord God, guide my thoughts, guard my heart and govern my words. Amen

Welll! when I first looked at this morning’s gospel reading, I thought ‘you’ve got to be kidding! This is a bit of a gory story’ - I thought that the word gospel meant good news but where’s the good news in this!?? But perhaps we need to look deeper in to it.

The beheading of John the Baptist, a story filled with drama, conflict, conspiracy and a violent resolution. We may not like the story but it has inspired many plays, an opera, some films and several very grand paintings.

So, where do we look for meaning in this violent account of the end of John the Baptist? How about the issue of Herod keeping his promise, regardless of the cost? Is this something to be admired or is he just being an absolutely spineless idiot? What about a sermon on the terrible anger of Herodias who could probably have killed John with her bare hands? Or perhaps the exploitation of a teenager, who may actually have been as young as 12, as a sex symbol - I’m not sure that Herod or his wife would have passed one of our DBS checks today!

This is the only biblical reference we have to either Herodias or Salome, the more common name for her young daughter. It is also a very unusual gospel reading, no matter how carefully we listen, there is not a single note of joy or hope anywhere in this text. Instead what we hear is a wretched tale of anger and revenge, resentment and death, a bit like Eastenders or Coronation Street and sadly too much of the world today!

This is also one of the very few stories in Mark’s gospel in which Jesus doesn’t really feature. Instead the plot revolves around two men, John the Baptist and Herod Antipas, and two women, Queen Herodias and Salome.

I thought I’d just take a moment or two to try and explain a little of Herod’s family tree so that you might have a better idea of why John was objecting to his marriage to Herodias. I say try - it does get a bit complicated so you probably need to concentrate.:

This Herod, Herod Antipas, is the son of Herod the Great, the one who tried to befriend the three wise men and then murdered all the little boys in Bethlehem.
Herod the Great had at least five wives and had sons and daughters by them all.
Among Herod Antipas’s half-brothers were Aristobulus who was murdered by their father, and also Herod Philip.

Herod Antipas originally married the daughter of Aretas an Arabian king.
It was Herod Philip who married Herodias, the woman in our gospel reading, she was the daughter of his half-brother Aristobulus so she was in fact his half-niece! It was they who had a daughter called Salome - our dancer who was Herod Antipas’s half-niece but later became his step-daughter - Are you with me so far!?!
But Herod Philip was disinherited by his father, Herod the Great, so he and Herodias moved to Rome.
Herod Antipas and his then wife visited his brother Philip in Rome and Herod Antipas fell in love with Herodias who was also his half-niece and his sister-in-law. They had an affair and both left their spouses and married one another.
Confused? I certainly was and had to read it several times before I could stand here and try to explain their relationship - it’s no wonder that John the Baptist objected to this marriage!

So, back to our gospel story, Herod Antipas had some power, but only as much as the Romans would let him have, he was a puppet king over Israel, installed by the occupying Roman army. And he had a birthday so he threw a birthday banquet, inviting the great, the good and the not so good, in fact anybody who was anybody was invited, even John the Baptist, but not all of him!! When the party started John was sitting in Herod’s prison, but by the end John’s head was chopped off and delivered to Herod on a plate!!

John was murdered for acknowledging God and fearlessly speaking out for him! He wasn’t frightened to speak out and confront Herod over this adulterous marriage to his brother’s wife, a judgement which so angered the blushing bride that she was determined to destroy John. But Herod kind of liked John the Baptist and some scholars believe that he imprisoned John to protect him from the revenge of Herodias. We are told that he liked to listen to him.

Sadly, as so often happens today, Herod abused the power that had been given to him. Following Salome’s seductive dance he felt that he had no choice but to grant her wish for John’s head on a plate. He couldn’t break the promise he had made in front of so many people or maybe he was just so drunk that his thinking and judgement were badly impaired. But what a hangover to wake up to! His abuse of the power that he had - led to the murder of John the Baptist and he would go on to also have a say in the crucifixion of Jesus. But what a way to be remembered, Herod Antipas is only remembered for his bad decisions - for stealing his brother’s wife, for the beheading of John and the crucifixion of Jesus.

John died at the hands of abusive, hateful power.
Jesus was also to die at the hands of abusive, hateful power.

Now we all have power, to some extent.
Policeman have power, your boss has power, the tax man has power as do MPs and Prime Ministers and Presidents, but so too does the drunk driver who comes haring round the corner towards you!
We all know that there is good power and abusive, hateful power.
I too have power, standing up here I could ask you to please to stand to sing our next hymn, Just as I am without one plea, but that power would be short-lived as Mike would soon put me right, as I am sure would all of you.

We all have power, but sometimes it seems as if some people, like Herod, have too much power. Can the power and wealth of this country ever be shared, can the power and wealth of this world ever be shared? I’d like to think so and I pray that the Power of God’s love can bring forgiveness, healing, peace, hope, joy and a promise for a better tomorrow. After all let us not forget the words we all pray, that thine is the kingdom, the Power and the glory for ever and ever Amen.

For Sunday 7th July 2024

SERMON FOR THE WEEK

Sermon by Rev Dr Lawrence Tuck.

Sermon – Nazareth

May the Spirit speak through my heart to yours with these words. Amen.

A very young Fox, new to exploring the world without his mother, happened to come across a magnificent Lion in the forest. The Lion, who had thankfully not seen the Fox, but happened to tread upon a thorn, let out a great roar. At that, there was no longer sight of the Fox, for he had departed with such haste that he left his heart behind in his tail and a scattering of dust and whistling leaves in his tracks. The second time the Fox stumbled across the Lion, he crept behind a tree to have a good look at him. He marvelled at the Lion’s massive frame, his bulging muscles, his fearsome teeth and daggerlike claws. The fox then slinked away deep into the forest. This time he could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest. The third time, however, that the Fox came upon the Lion, he walked boldly up to him and, with his heart calm and disdainful, said to the Lion, “Hello there, old top!” and passed on his way.

This story is by the Greek fabulist, Aesop, (and slightly tampered with by me) who was said to live between 620-564 BC. It was summed up by the Latin writer Publilius the Syrian (who lived between 85-43 BC), who penned the expression, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” This, then, is what happened with our friend the young fox. At first terrified by the imposing figure of the lion, he came to see him as no threat, and, in fact, as simply another of the many creatures in the forest he was equal to. The motto of “familiarity breeds contempt” can be found in another of Publilius’ sayings, which is, “no man is a hero to his valet.” If you are too familiar with someone, they may become so commonplace that you no longer see them with respect or admiration.

There is a contemporary story with a similar message. A tourist, who is keen to see every painting in the National Gallery, flits from one masterpiece to another, scarcely taking the time to study any of them. Upon completing the final room, the tourist walks up to the security guard and says to her, “You know, I really didn’t see anything very special here”, to which the guard replies, “Sir, it is not the pictures that are on trial here—it is the visitors.” In other words, it is not the artwork that should be held with contempt, it is the person passing judgement on them without even trying to understand them.

Jesus left Capernaum where he had healed the woman with the flow of blood and resurrected the twelve-year old girl. He arrived at his hometown with his disciples and entered the synagogue and began to teach. Many of those that heard his words were amazed and said to themselves, “Where did this man get all this knowledge and wisdom? Where did he receive the power to perform such marvellous deeds?” They remembered the young man Yeshua, who once lived among them. They thought of his family, his father the carpenter, his mother Mary, and his brothers and sisters. For them he was as familiar as the thrice-viewed lion to the fox, or the hastily seen paintings by the naïve tourist at the gallery. And he was equally underestimated and disrespected.

In the Nazareth story found in the gospel of Luke (4:16-21), we are told that Jesus was given the scroll of Isaiah to read from. We are also informed that he found a particular passage to read, and this is that passage:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news tothe poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

Further, we are told in Luke that when Jesus had finished reading the passage, he said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Now, if the people of Nazareth had truly seen the wonders that Jesus performed, and truly heard the wisdom that he spoke, they would have rejoiced at the gift they had been given in him. Instead, they saw only the person they had once known, of the family they were so familiar with. They could not appreciate him as their messiah, or even as a great prophet, despite his marvellous powers.

What the people could not explain they rejected. Their familiarity with Jesus and his family bred contempt within them. This, of course, does not make Jesus any less the prophet and saviour that he was. He is no less a great rabbi and healer than the paintings in the National Gallery are less masterpieces because someone does not take the time to appreciate them for what they are worth. The lion is still noble and powerful (if a bit taken aback), and still the king of the beasts. The valet is still employed by a respected and lauded member of the ruling class.

The response of the people from his homeland caused Jesus to become amazed at their unbelief. He could perform no great deed of power, we learn, beyond the healing of a few sick people by the laying on of hands. Now to us this may sound like an ample example of power, but it might be seen to pale somewhat in magnificence compared to raising the dead, stilling a storm, or healing a paralytic, all of which occur previously in Mark. It is worth contrasting Jesus’ reaction to the people of his native town with how he responded to the people at Capernaum, where he found the haemorrhaging woman and the synagogue leader to have great faith.

We learn from these two segments of Jesus’ ministry (at Capernaum and at Nazareth) that the power of God operates best where there is great faith. Also, that those who do not display the respect and honour due to the divine saviour and prophet may preclude themselves from receiving the marvellous benefits he is capable of bestowing upon them. In other words, miracles can and do take place in a context of great faith, while, conversely, if there is no faith, such miracles will not occur. God requires that we believe in Him and in His ability and His desire to provide healing.

The response of the people in Nazareth sadly prefaces the horror that is to come, where Jesus will be resolutely rejected by the people of Israel and nailed to a tree. We can therefore also sense a foretaste of what is to come in the following passage which deals with the sending out of the disciples. Jesus bids them to go out in pairs to proclaim to the people the need to repent, to cleanse their spirits, and to cast out demons and heal the sick. With the power of Jesus’ authority, and with his example to guide them, they began the work which they would later resume after his execution.

We must not become complacent with our faith. It is not helpful to rush through the scriptures and think that we have understood them. A few prayers to God do not make us great believers. Instead, we come closer to God through continued prayer and through dwelling in His Word. We too are disciples of Christ with the responsibility to be examples of His grace, and we learn of this grace through prayerful study. We come to best understand God through knowing that we have yet much to learn about Him. We are the antithesis of the Fox – we grow more respectful of the Lion our God through repeated exposure. We come closer to our Lord through filling our hearts with love and imitating the mission path of his Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.