Sermon on prayer

 

May I speak in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

One of the phrases often used when talking about our prayer live outside of church is having a quiet time with God. A time set aside to concentrate on our relationship with him. In our gospel reading this morning we find Jesus going of on his own to pray.

Now, I know Jesus is supposed to be an example for us to follow, but I have some problems with this. Firstly he gets up early, when it is still dark, well at the moment that would mean having to be up by half four in the morning. I struggle with getting up at 7 to get to work on time so I would really struggle getting up that early and he doesn’t even mention coffee! I don’t know about you but I can’t function without a coffee in the morning!

He then leaves the house and goes of to a quiet place to pray. Our gospel story takes place in Capernaum. This was clearly a much nicer place than inner city Coventry.

I really don’t think heading out from my flat in the dark and early hours to find somewhere to sit and pray is the best plan.

However, I can see what Jesus is trying to achieve. In going out to find a quiet place he is removing himself from any distractions. Finding time without distraction in the modern world can be really hard. Most of us will have people we live with, who while we may love them dearly, can also be annoying and disrupt us when we are trying to find that quiet time.

We also have these things called mobile phones. They can be a great resource for prayer, I use the church of England daily prayer app, however that does also mean that I have my phone in my hand when praying and it can be so easy to get distracted, to check that email that’s just come in in case its something important,

it never is but the temptation is still there. The other problem I find is that I think I’ll just check the news to see what needs praying for and half an hour later I have spent half an hour looking at stuff on my phone and no time with God. The intention may be good, but without a good dose of self discipline the result is not always so good.

Yet, I know that if I can mange to find the time to pray, to have that quiet time with God, I will feel better and stronger, and cope better with the days challenges.

It’s like physical exercise will build a stronger body, spiritual exercise will build a stronger relationship with God and provide us with inner strength. It allows us to build an internal strength and resilience to avoid the temptations that come our way and instead to keep us following the path of God.

Whilst, in this instance, we may not follow exactly what Jesus did when he prayed, after-all we are are living in a very different time and place. His example can still give us some pointers about how to pray and grow our relationship with God.

Jesus went out to pray early in the morning, but not everyone is a morning person.I don’t think the point is at what time do you pray. The important thing is to make sure that we find time. For some of you, early morning when you get up might work best, for others it may be the evening before we go to bed,

or you might find you have time when you finish work, before you step back into the pressure of family life. The time you pray doesn’t have to be the same time each day,

it can be worked around work and other commitments. The important thing is to make sure that you have that time set aside. Put in your diary even, schedule your meeting with God into your day and commit to it like you would any other meeting.

Jesus went out to pray because he wanted peace and quiet. I suspect where ever they were staying in Capernaum was probably very full and busy with people all around and little private space available. The thing is it doesn’t matter where you pray, as long as you do pray. I live in a small flat, we have a very small spare room.

I keep a candle and a cross on the table next to the bed in that room, and that is my prayer space. It’s not a lot but I can shut the door, light my candle and sit on the bed, and that is my time to concentrate on God.

Prayer doesn’t have to involve a space where we sit still, for some people sitting still can be hard and they may find they pray better moving. Look for a quiet place to walk, maybe a local park or the towpath along the canal.Have a walk and a chat with God.

I have a bookshelf full of books on prayer, and I have spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect way to pray, the way that will instantly lead to a wonderful revelation of God’s purpose for my life. What I have learnt over the years is that no such thing exists. There is no one absolute best way to pray. God created us all as wonderfully different people, and because we so wonderfully different, what helps one person pray, may not work for someone else. At different times in life we may find we respond better to different ways of praying. The really important bit isn’t how we pray, it’s to make sure that we do pray. In prayer we can find that quiet centre within ourselves that allows us to be fully open to God. We can build that relationship with God, knowing his love for us, sensing his guidance for us. The more we pray, the stronger our relationship with God becomes and from that relationship we can draw on his strength to help us deal with the problems and troubles of our lives day by day.

When the disciples come to find Jesus, he has been strengthened by his prayer time and is ready then to go and continue his work, carrying the good news to more villages, preaching and driving out demons.

So, we too, through a regular and committed prayer life can be strengthened to go out and do the work that God is calling each of us to do.

 

Audio link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hag606dm9plmzzyupms0w/Foleshill-Road-5.mp3?rlkey=03evom28n40wijdxgg15thg0q&st=vaj23fhf&dl=0 

Preached at the parish of St Paul, Foleshill, Coventry 

Good Shepherd Sunday

Today has traditionally been known as Good Shepherd Sunday after the gospel reading we have just heard and the psalm set for today. 

A good shepherd seeks to keep his flock together and bring his sheep along with him. Now if God is the shepherd that makes us the sheep, and I suspect that we can be a very troublesome flock. To use a biblical phrase we all like sheep have gone astray, each to our own way. 

We all have our own views, our own way we prefer things to be done, and of course, it’s obvious, to us, that our preferred way is clearly the best and right way and everyone else should just do as we want.

 The culture we live in these days can seem to reinforce that view. We are inundated by articles, inspirational quotes etc telling us to find our true self, that the most important thing is me and what makes me happy and the implication is not to worry how that might make others feel.  We are told to speak our truth and if we speak the loudest our truth will be the truth. 

 However, if we are all shouting, then we can fail to listen. Jesus says his sheep know him because we hear his voice. If we are to hear the voice of the shepherd than that means we have to stop shouting about my truth, or my rights, or why everyone should do things my way. We need to shut up and listen for the voice of the shepherd. We can do this through spending time quietly in prayer and contemplation of scripture.

 There is another danger in listening to our own voice, it might not be telling the truth. I was on a training course one day this week. I was learning about a form of cognitive behavioural therapy. One point raised is how we as humans developed language as a way to communicate. Language, whilst extremely useful, can have a dark side. When we tell ourselves we are useless, no one can love us we are that bad, not even God and we can come to believe it. Our own inner voice can start to drown out the gentle voice of the good shepherd calling us and telling us that he loves us. 

The gospel tells us that the sheep will recognise the voice of the Good Shepherd. We need to atune our ears and make sure we are listening to the shepherd.   

If each sheep follows it’s own way then the flock scatters. A scattered flock then becomes easy pickings for the wolves and other predators. If we all seek our own way, divisions grow, relationships break down.  We stop being a caring Christian community and can instead end up hurting others, making them feel excluded and cast out. Meanwhile we end up as a club for those that think like we do. This can be clearly seen in the history of the church, and in our own church of England now.  The new Archbishop of Canterbury, whoever they may turn out to be, will have a hard job to shepherd his or her flock.  This is why our shepherd calls us to a different way. 

In our reading from Acts this morning, we heard about a lady called Tabitha. Tabitha is a faithful disciple of the church. She is also clearly a person who has good relationships with others. She cares for the widows and helps them. The other members of the community clearly care about her. When she becomes ill and dies, they don’t just accept her death and move on, they know that Peter has recently performed a healing miracle, and is nearby so they send for him. 

Peter travels from Lydda to Joppa a journey of around eight miles. When Peter comes, he tells them to clear the room, prays, then speaks to Tabitha and bids her rise. It is not Peter’s prayer that triggers Tabitha’s return to life, rather it is when Peter speaks to her, that she responds. 

 We all respond when we hear things, especially our name. How often have you being having one conversation and you hear your name mentioned by someone in another conversation and instantly switch your attention. 

Our names are important. When we meet someone new, we tell them our name and they tell us their name, this is the first step of building relationships. Relationships will only grow if we are prepared to listen and to hear what the other has to say. By listening to each other, we can learn from each other about what we each feel  is important and why. When we do that we can start to compromise, to find a path that the flock can all follow, hopefully without any sheep going astray.  

God is the good shepherd  who calls each of his sheep, you and me, individually by name into relationship with him. A relationship that can be life changing. However he is also calling us into relationship with each other. Relationships, where whilst we might not always agree with each other we can build trust, build a community or a flock, that has God’s love and care at the heart of it.  A community that can show the world another way of being, a way where it’s about us, not me, where thorough compromise and understanding of each other, we can achieve more, become more of our best selves than we can if we just focus on me.  

I pray that this week we can all find time, to pause and listen for the voice of the Good shepherd that loves us and calls us by name.

Easter 3: The Importance of Meals and Forgiveness

Readings: 

Acts 3:12-19 1 

John 3:1-7 

Luke24: 36b-48 

When I first looked at the gospel reading for this morning I was imagining the scene in my mind and it started to seem to me to have a bit of comedy about it. To set some context, the disciples from the road to Emmaus have just rushed back to Jerusalem. They have met up with some other disciples and are regaling them with the strange and wondrous tale of their encounter with the risen Jesus. Then suddenly up pops Jesus in the middle Hi guys, peace be with you! The disciples all seem to lose their heads and start screaming and shouting it’s a ghost (to be fair I think I might have reacted like that too.) Jesus manages to calm them all done and persuade them that it is really him. They then all stand about in joyful disbelief gazing at him in awe and wonder, also I think a perfectly natural reaction, Jesus, who hasn’t had a lot to eat for the past three days and is I assume starting to feel a bit peckish asks errm any chance of some food. In my imagination the scene then ends with Jesus and the disciples sharing a meal whilst Jesus inspires them and explains everything to them, again.

Luke sets a lot of Jesus’s teaching around meals, There are 19 meals in Luke, and they are used as settings for teaching,fellowship and celebration, healing and hospitality, forgiveness and reconciliation, and prophetic confrontation. Here we have been known as the church that loves to eat. 

Sharing meals can be a really great way to get to know one another and grow in our relationship as a community. They can be an opportunity to exchange ideas, we don’t and won’t always agree with each other, but somehow I feel it can be easier to discuss our different views without getting into a full blown argument if food is involved. 

Every Sunday we share in bread and wine, body and blood together at the mass. We all share in the one bread because we are one body, even if we might disagree on politics, or what the best hymn is, or which hymn we should never sing. Somehow, in the sharing of bread and wine, food and drink we are all drawn together as one, sharing as one body in the one bread, despite our differences. We are called to share in this meal by God the father because we are all children of God, and he calls and values us each as we are. 

When administering the chalice to someone I may have had a recent disagreement or argument with, I have often felt a sense of being pulled back together with that person through the shared chalice, the shared blood of Christ which redeems us both. 

 In John’s letter he calls us Children of God, and that is what we all are. However, like all families the children of God can have their arguments, their disagreements. This leads to fractured relationships within the family of God and the world. At the end of the gospel Jesus tells the disciples to go and declare forgiveness to all the nations. 

Forgiveness is one of those things that I think sounds nice and we should definitely do, but when you really start to look at it in depth and even try and do it, it suddenly becomes a lot more difficult. I mean the small things are easy, if you accidentally step on my toe, that’s easy to forgive. If you eat my last bit of chocolate that might be a bit more difficult! And if you say or do something that causes me to feel hurt that can be very difficult. 

The problem is that whilst wrong actions might deserve a just punishment if we don’t forgive we can go on trying to punish that person or that group of people beyond what is just, until they start to punish us in return and so begins a cycle of violence, such as we see in the Holy Land and other places today. 

 John talks about sin being lawlessness. I think what he is getting at is the concept of God’s law, if we live within God’s law and that includes forgiving each other then we may find a peaceful way to live. But living in a way that breaks the laws God gives us can lead to a cycle of violence and community breakdown. 

As a church and as a community we can model to the world a different way of living. In a world that seems to be becoming ever more polarised and where a mentality is developing that if you don’t think like I do, I can’t possibly like you, we can give a glimpse of what a different kingdom, the kingdom of God might look like. To do this isn’t easy and we won’t always manage it, we may be children of God but we are still only fallible humans. 

However there are things that we can do that can help us. The first and possibly most difficult is to look at ourselves and see what we might need to ask forgiveness for. I know this is not something I find easy, I don't want to see myself as the bad person, but the reality is that I can and will do things that hurt others. 

We also need to nurture and grow our relationship with God, through prayer and receiving the sacraments. As well as relationship with God we need to form and grow relationships with each other. Next week after our 90th anniversary service we are having a bring and share lunch and I hope this will provide opportunities to help our relationships with each other grow and deepen. 

 If we do these things then we may indeed be able to follow Jesus command to proclaim repentance and forgiveness to all nations and people may see something in us that leads them to listen and respond. We are to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins, repenting of our own sins can be difficult, so can forgiving those that have sinned against us but through receiving the body and blood of Christ in the mass we can be helped to achieve this. Through shared meals we can grow as a community and model what living in a way that takes repentance and forgiveness seriously means.

Transfiguration and St. Cademon

11/02/2024 – Sunday before Lent Readings

 2 Kings 2 1-12 2 Corinthians 4 3-6 Mark 9 2-9 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. 

Today’s gospel reading is the somewhat odd story of the Transfiguration. Jesus takes three of his disciples of from the rest for a walk up a high mountain. At the top Jesus suddenly turns blazing white, whiter than even Daz will get your laundry. Next Moses and Elijah appear and Jesus has a chat with them. Then there is a voice from heaven declaring this is my son, the beloved, listen to him. Not surprisingly the disciples are terrified. 

So, what is going on here? Moses and Elijah are perhaps two of the most important prophets of the Old Testament, and between then represent both the prophets and the law. Here, they are bearing witness to who Christ is, the greatest prophet of them all, the fulfillment of the law, the Son of God. The transfiguration reveals, beyond doubt, his true identity. 

We have just finished the season of epiphany, and here we have one final reminder of exactly who Jesus is as we turn to face the cross and begin our Lenten journey. 

 Today, is also the feast day of one of the lesser known English saints, St Cademon and his story is also one that can be seen as a form of transfiguration that allows the glory of God to be shown. 

Cademon lived in the second half of the seventh century. He was a cowheard that worked caring for animals at Whitby abbey, which at the time was under the leadership of St. Hilda. One night after the days work there was some music and singing taking place, but Cademon feeling that he had no musical ability and couldn’t sing or offer any poetry crept away to settle down with his animals for the night. Cademon went to sleep and whilst he slept he dreamt that someone approached him and asked him to sing a song about the beginning of created things. At first he refused but then he sang a short poem praising God as the creator. Now, I normally forget most of my dreams as soon as I wake up, but Cademon the next morning could still remember the song he had created, and even added to it. He told his foreman about this strange dream and the new ability to compose songs and poetry that he now seemed to have. His foreman promptly sent him to see Abbess Hilda. 

The abbess and her advisers questioned Cademon and then set him a test to see if this really was a gift from god. He was to produce a new poem based on sacred scripture or doctrine. Caedmon came back the next day with a new composition and Hilda asked him to take monastic vows and gave orders that he was to be taught sacred history and doctrine. Each day Cademon would turn what he had learnt into poetry in his native old english tongue. According to the historian Bede “by his verse the minds of many were often excited to despise the world and to aspire to heaven.” Like the transfigured Jesus, Cademon was also showing the reality of who Jesus was to the people around him. 

Wednesday sees the start of lent, as Fr Edward has spoken about in previous sermons it can be a time to think about trying a new religious activity, a new way of praying or spending more time reading the bible, fasting or confession. Whilst these things may be good for our own spiritual lives may they also lead to other things? 

When I first started to think about this sermon the line from The hymn Love Divine, all loves excelling, that talks about us changing from glory into glory, kept coming into my mind. If by deepening our own relationship with God, can that impact on how others see us? 

In the second letter to the Corinthians Paul talks about how the God of this age has blinded people so they can’t see the glory of God. What things might be blinding people today so that they cannot see the glory of God? The idea that we are rational human beings who don’t need any sort of deity to guide us? Look at the world around us, that's working out so well… or not. 

Social media and TV shows tell us that the path to true happiness is about looking or acting a certain way, except as fashions change the path is never ending and can instead lead to people feeling as if they have somehow failed if they don’t have the latest whatever the latest thing is, or the ability to look a certain way. I know I often look at clothes and think that looks great on a skinny model, it’ll probably look terrible on me. 

Wellness retreats promise that we can find ourselves if only we pay them a large amount of money for someone to help us do so. St Augustine on the other hand said “our heart is restless until it rests in you.” True peace, truly knowing who we are and true wellness can only come from our relationship with God. So as we approach Ash Wednesday I have a question for us how can we seek to be transfigured this lent and better show God’s glory to the world and show people the true path to inner peace in relationship with God? Amen

Advent 2: Some Thoughts on Prophets and Prophecy

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11 2 Peter 3: 8-15 Mark 1:1-8 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

 Later this morning we will be singing the words, Long ago, prophets knew, Christ would come, born a Jew. But did they really know? Is prophecy just about foretelling the future, I prophesy I will have a cup of coffee after this service! Well, prophecy is not always just about predicting the future. Prophecy in the bible can be seen as falling into two categories, the prophesy that seems to predict the future and the prophesy that takes the form of speaking truth to power. 

As anyone who has read Harry Potter will know, understanding prophecy can be a tricky thing. We can read into the words what we expect to find there, which may not be how the original speaker or listeners would have understood the words. The words we heard from Isaiah this morning, have often been linked to Jesus, as the coming Lord who will make paths straight. However in Judaism prophecy is seen more as God declaring his current concerns to his people. The listeners at the time , might have interpreted it as referring to the coming of, the Persian King Cyrus who, when he defeated the Babylonians, allowed the Jews to return, from captivity in Babylon to their homeland. 

Down the centuries Jews and Christians when facing terror or hardship have reapplied these words to their own situation, situations the original writer could never have conceived off. 

Biblical prophecy shouldn’t be seen as prophecy in the fortune telling mystic meg sense of the word. We would maybe like to know what the future holds for us , as long as it is good, we may be less willing to know if it is bad. 

The problem with reading prophecy as fortune telling is that it can’t be true because the future is determined by our actions now, by choices that we are free to make. When we try to follow prophecy in a fortune telling way, we become enslaved to it and lose the freedom God gives us to choose our own path. 

What the prophets like Isaiah did do was give people, people that may feel they are waiting in the darkness, hope. It can still offer that hope today even as this advent the world around us may feel in a dark place. There is that hope that the light will shine in the darkness and the darkness will not in the end overcome. 

Prophets of course aren’t just in the Old Testament. Mark starts his gospel by quoting our friend Isaiah, but then introduces a new prophet, a prophet of the New testament, John the Baptist. John is perhaps more the second type of prophet, who speaks truth to power. He goes around in his wild way, telling people look here is the truth. He dares to speak the truth to those in power, and loses his head for it. Whilst I hope we will not all be called to lose our heads like John, maybe we do need to have a little bit of John the Baptist in us. 

To call out those, anybody, but maybe especially those in positions of power or influence who do not stick to their promises. Those who present information in a misleading way in order to stir up hated and violence towards others. We need to show people there is a better way. It can be very easy in the heat of the moment when our emotions have been stirred up, by a post on social media to quickly hit the re post button, without checking the source of the information, and the message the original poster is trying to put across. 

Video and audio clips can be edited, to put across a certain viewpoint, that may not accurately reflect reality. We should pause before hitting the re-post button, check the source and if something is misinformation, then maybe still post about it, but point out the problem. 

Be like John the Baptist.

 Advent is also a time of waiting, and it can seem like we have been waiting a long time, over two thousand years. After waiting this long it can be easy to give up, to drift away, from living as God intends us to. Peter, in his letter today, reminds us that how we see time and how God sees time may not be the same. God is not slow, he just wants to give everyone time to find the right way. Some people might need help to find that way, and that is where we come in. Peter calls us to live lives of holiness and godliness whilst we wait for the coming of God. To be lights in the darkness ,and lead others to the hope and promise of God, through the prophetic way we live our lives as children of God. 

So, how should we interpret prophecy today? Well we can use the writings of the biblical prophets to comfort and to challenge us to repentance and a turning to a better way. The prophets are also though, calling us to follow their lead, to comfort where comfort is needed but also to challenge and live in a way that speaks of God. 

At this time of year church life can feel as if it’s operating on a different time zone to the rest of life. We are here in Advent waiting and thinking of prophets, of calls to repentance. The rest of the world out there, has already got their Christmas tree up and is eating mince pies. By the New Year, they will be pulling everything down, saying Christmas is over, our celebration of Christmas will still be going on. This can in itself be a prophetic act, a way of saying to people, look there is more to this than parties and turkey and presents, something which is deeper and longer lasting than a bit of tinsel on a tree. Come and see, come and hear the deeper truth and find the deeper joy, and we like the prophets of old must have the courage to speak out and deliver the message. Amen

Sermon for Advent 4

Readings: Isaiah 7: 10-16

Psalm 80 :1-8, 18-20

Romans 1: 1-7

Matthew 1:18-25

Advent 4 is traditionally a time to think about the blessed virgin Mary. I wonder what comes to mind when you think about Mary? As a child I must have seen Mary as a figure of some importance as I can remember the excitement I felt the year I was chosen to be Mary in the school nativity play. However some of the first things that come to mind when I think about Mary are terms such as meek, mild and obedient. Yet when I consider things more deeply I realise that these are not really words that sit well with Mary when we really consider her story.

So who was Mary? She was the daughter of Anne and Joachim, but according to the legends she was no ordinary daughter. Anne and Joachim were a reasonably well of couple but had no children. Joachim went into the wilderness for 40 days to pray and was rewarded with the birth of a daughter Mary. This story has parallels to those of Sarah and Abraham and Eli and Hannah, and would have marked Mary out as a special person.

However we don’t really know that much about her background or upbringing. The gospels tell us that she was betrothed to Joseph, who was a carpenter, a skilled craftsman. All probably fairly normal for a middle class girl of her age in that time and place.

Then along comes an angel. Now I don’t know about you but if I was just getting on with life, washing the dishes or whatever one day and suddenly there’s an angel wanting to speak to me, I would probably be a quivering heap on the floor. However in the accounts we have Mary appears remarkably calm. When the angel tells Mary God’s plan, Mary’s first response isn’t to say yes. It’s more of a hang on a minute, can we just have a quick chat about this. She answers back to the angel and questions him, that’s not been meek and mild, that’s more brave and bold.

Of course, as we all know, Mary did agree to God’s plan, but that in itself was yet another brave and bold act. With that yes Mary must have known she was signing herself up to nine months of ridicule, of being the main topic of gossip among the local population. Just imagine what the women would have been saying when getting their water at the well, have you heard about that Mary, got herself knocked up and is saying it was an angel and God doing it? Who does she think will believe that?

And then there was the impact on her relationship with Joseph. As we heard in today’s gospel reading Joseph’s first reaction is to dump her and cancel the wedding plans. Mary has gone from a nice middle class girl to someone shameful that he no longer wants to be associated with. Then Joseph gets his own angelic encounter, although in this case it is in the form of a dream. There was maybe a heavenly assumption that an actual angel may have been too much for Joseph to cope with!

Matthew’s gospel is the only one that records Joseph’s angelic dreams, it is also the only one that tells us anything at all about Joseph’s reaction to Mary’s news. I always feel a bit sorry for Joseph, the bible writers don’t seem to include him much at all. Yet his life must have been turned upside down as much as Mary’s by this unexpected pregnancy.

Both Matthew and Luke give a genealogy of Joseph, although they differ in their details both show Joseph to be descended from King David. In Matthew's gospel Joseph gets to have two more angelic dreams, one telling him to flee to Egypt and one telling him when to come back, and that’s it. In Luke’s gospel he is in the story of the journey to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, the return to Nazareth and the story of the 12 year old Jesus getting lost when visiting the temple, and that's it. It is assumed by his absence that Joseph had died by the time Jesus starts his earthly ministry.

However, I think Joseph like Mary was a very brave man. Not only was he risking the ridicule of the local gossips by standing by Mary and caring for Jesus as his son, he was possibly risking his business as well. After all people may think twice about ordering their new dining room furniture from that Joseph whose gone a bit funny in the head , claiming to have dreams of angels even dragging his whole family of to Egypt on the basis of a supposedly angelic dream. What if he does that when he’s half way through making my table and chairs?

To do the task that God called them to, to be the earthly parents of Jesus, Mary and Joseph had to be far from meek and mild, they had to be bold and brave, to potentially risk everything, family, friends, financial security, and their social status. The young Jesus couldn’t have had two better role models to help shape him and give him the strength for his future ministry.

Their bravery and boldness was rooted in their faith and they can be an example to us today. In a world that is increasingly secular, or even hostile to religious faith, we all may need some of that courage if we are to follow the command of Jesus to make disciples of all men. The great thing is, that we are not alone in this. We are supported by the great cloud of saints including Mary and Joseph. In a few minutes we will be asking Mary to help us, using the words “Hail Mary, full of grace, the lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.”

I for one, can’t think of anyone else I would rather have on my side.

Amen

Mothering Sunday Sermon

Readings: exodus 2 1-10

Colossians 3 12-17

John 19 25-27

May I speak in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost.

Mothering Sunday is a day for thinking about the role of mothers in our lives. Mothers often play an important role in the Bible, not least that of Mary the mother of God. However motherhood in the Bible, as in modern life, can often also involve great sacrifice and tragedy. In our first reading we have the story of Moses and his mother. Moses was born at a time when the Hebrews were ruled by the Egyptian ruler Pharoah. Pharoah like many dictators became a bit paranoid that the Hebrews would rebel against him and so ordered all hebrew boys born to be killed. Moses's mother Jochebad comes up with a very risky plan to save him. She places him in a basket in the river when Pharaoh's daughter is coming. She is risking that the daughter of her enemy will have pity on a small child. The risk pays of, and even better Jochebad is able to offer herself as wet nurse to her son so she can still be with him. When reading this story I couldn't help thinking of the pictures and stories from Afghanistan and Ukraine of desperate mothers handing their children over to strangers as it seems their only hope of survival. Mothers across the world today are still taking great risks to try and protect their children. It can be seen that one aspect of being a good mother can be to protect their child.

Another aspect of motherhood that can be seen in the Bible is the role of mothers to be supportive. This is perhaps most clearly seen in Mary and her support for Jesus and his ministry. Mary still loves and supports Jesus even when others mock him and right through to his painful end on the cross. Loving support that must have cost Mary so much. My own mum always offered me her support, even with activities that when I've talked to her about them as an adult, I've discovered she thought I was bonkers to do. Without that support though I might not have the confidence to be up here talking to you today, of course you might not think that a good thing!

We are more used to thinking of God as father. There are however, also references to God acting as a mother such as sheltering Jerusalem like a mother hen shelters her chicks. God as mother is often seen as a protective role. But I think God also shares some of the other characteristics of being a mother. He supports and encourages us. In Hosea God says it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I who took them up in my arms. He protects us, in Deuteronomy he is described as like an eagle that hovers over it's young, He spreads wings to catch you and carries you. In Isaiah God says as a mother comforts her child so I will comfort you.

God is also prepared to suffer for us and with us. The theologian Jürgen Moltman says that "when we feel pain we participate in His pain." God suffers most obviously through the cross. However he also like a good mother shares in our suffering. There are many other examples in both the old and the New testaments where God is described as being like a mother.

The mystic Julian of Norwich also talked about God as mother. She wrote 

"Jesus Christ therefore, who himself overcame evil with good, is our true mother. We received our being from him and this is where his maternity starts, and with it comes the gentle protection and guard of love which will never ceases to surround us"

We can see that God has within his nature many aspects that we associate with motherhood. He provides shelter and nurture, protects us, guides us and shares in our suffering.

 Motherhood is an important theme in many of the biblical stories. However many stories also have the lack of motherhood or the giving up of a child as a key theme, from Sarah and Abraham, through Hannah who gives her much wanted son, Samuel to serve the lord, to Elizabeth and Mary. The sad truth is that in the world today not everyone is able to have a good relationship with their mother, and not everyone that wants to be a mother is able to be one. A mothering relationship though, does not necessarily have to be a blood one.

Jesus from the cross gives Mary and the disciple John a new relationship, although John I am sure would never replace Jesus in Mary's heart, it gave both John and Mary a new and deeper relationship. This is something I think we as a church today need to think about. We are in relationship with each other as the body of Christ. There may be those among us, who for whatever reason need to be mothered and those among us who are good at providing that mix of support, advice and comfort that a good mother would. We may at different times in our lives be in both groups. However I am not sure we are always very good at either giving or receiving this support. Some may find it difficult to reach out and admit they might need something, others may worry that if they offer something they will be rejected. As a community we need to try and be conscious of the needs of others and also be willing to accept help, support or just a friendly person to talk to when it is offered.

As Christians we are called to try and live our lives in a way that reflects something of the nature of God. This includes the nature of God as mother. This means offering support, advice and comfort in times of need. It also means standing up for and defending those who are weak or unable to defend themselves. Saying that this is what we should do is easy, working out how to do that in practice might be a bit more difficult. Maybe we need to start by building relationships among ourselves that are supportive and nurturing. Our second reading today gives us some ideas for how to do this. Be compassionate and kind, that's the easy part and then it gets harder, be humble, meek and patient, and finally the big one, forgive each other. If someone has upset us, caused us a problem or had an opposite view to us about some aspect of church or our life together, it can be very hard sometimes to forgive. Lent is a season of penitence and for confessing our wrongs and asking forgiveness, we need to remember that sometimes we need to forgive. Paul tells us how to do this put on love and give thanks to God.

Mary and John developed a new relationship and a church based on comfort, support, encouragement and hospitality. This is the model we need to follow today, both as a church and as individuals in our relationships with each other.

Amen

Messy Church - A Reflection

Last week I had my first experience of messy church. Messy church is a fresh expression of church aimed at families with young children.  Not having any young children myself it was something I had avoided till now, however part of being on the vocation journey is that you are expected to experience other types of church. So I arrived feeling somewhat apprehensive, various craft activities were being set out on tables and a BBQ was taking shape outside. People arrived as and when and did which ever craft activities they wanted.  After about an hour everyone went into church for a short talk finished by asking what people wanted to pray for and Stella Bailey doing a very good job on prayers for topics including ladybirds and teddy bears. We then all headed out to the BBQ.

So, what did I think to messy church? Well I had fun,  I think it's a great environment for building relationships and having conversations, probably more so then a Sunday morning. However having spent a week thinking about it a bit more I also have some criticisms and questions. Most of my criticisms will not apply to everyone, this is just my thoughts and feelings.

I had fun, it was a pleasant way to spend a few hours but I don't feel as if I worshipped or even felt much of God there. I am not saying  God wasn't there, just for me this didn't seem like activity that helped deepen my faith or relationship with God.

The activites were all very craft based, which is to a certain extent fine for me because I enjoy crafty stuff, but what about people and kids that don't like craft? I said to a certain extent that craft based was fine for me, as an adult I am aware of my limitations and I am generally ok with the idea that there are things I an not good at. Art happens to be one of those things. There was an activity to make stained glass windows, this involved cutting paper shapes and drawing over lines in pen. I avoided this as most of the kids efforts would look better than mine. As an adult I am fine with this, a younger me might have felt embarrassed and stupid at being so obviously bad at craft stuff. Adding in some non craft based activities might be good.

My final question about messy church is how do we develop the faith and understanding of the people that go to a deeper level? Is there such a thing as a messy Eucharist? Can we provide something more for adults / older kids that might like to explore in more depth alongside messy church?

Messy church does provide some thing useful especially for families with young children, but it isn't going to be for everyone and I have noticed a tendency for people who say they won't go or be involved to be criticised for that. My husband has been criticised for saying he wouldn't go near it, yet he doesn't like young children or craft stuff so what would he get from messy church?

Overall it felt to me like an extended version of Sunday school rather than a new way of doing church.