Talks and Sermons
Sunday 2nd November 2025
Reading: 2 Corinthians 8: 1-15 The Collection for the Lord’s People
And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”
Sermon on 2 Corinthians 8: 1-15
At the beginning of our service this morning we sang Amazing Grace. Many of you will know that this hymn was written by John Newton, a repentant trader of enslaved people who, as his faith matured, gave up what he described as “an easy and creditable way of life.”
He changed his trade as an expression of the great gratitude for the grace he had received from God.
He became horrified at the way he had treated people and full of remorse at the way he had lived his past life.
He recognised that he needed to realign his values with God’s values.
Because God had offered him such ‘amazing grace’ he could not treat fellow image bearers of God as co-receivers of God’s grace and love as he had once done.
And he was called to action by preaching and campaigning for the abolition of slavery with a particular ministry to support and encourage the abolitionists who came after him.
When we come to understand what Jesus went through on our behalf, we gain a completely new perspective on God’s generosity. When John Newton, whose Christian maturity didn’t come overnight after conversion….when he realised the extent of the love he had received from God; he realised that he could no longer continue in a business that mistreated other children of God. You might say he came to “test the sincerity of his love” (v.8) for God by testing whether his business practices were in line with the command “love your neighbour as yourself” and the eternal values of the Kingdom.
Whatever he felt as he came to make those financial decisions, and it must have initially hurt giving up the wealth……but…… his desires came to reflect his good actions.
He came to place his hope and happiness in eternal riches as expressed in another of his well known hymns Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken:
“Fading is the worldling’s pleasure,
All his boasted pomp and show;
Solid joys and lasting treasure
None but Zion’s children know.”
Let’s turn to our New Testament reading from Second Corinthians.
There was a very severe famine in Jerusalem and the churches in Jerusalem were in trouble.
Paul had a key role in the relief effort, being the key church leader in the area unaffected by the famine.
At the beginning of the campaign the Corinthians had been excited about the fundraising project, and had started well.
The previous year, they had made a commitment to help their brothers and sisters in Christ.
But somewhere along the way they had become distracted from being generous by other concerns.
If you were here last week you will know that I talked about being distracted from what God wants.
When the time came to hand over the funds, the Corinthians became preoccupied by calling into questions Paul’s integrity and by calling into question the acceptability of the Jerusalem church.
They were distracted from their task by old arguments around differences between churches; Gentiles versus Jews.
Believing Gentiles with abundant gifts of the Spirit calling into question the worthiness of propping up superstitious, behind the times Jewish Christians.
In contrast the small, impoverished Macedonian churches who included the churches in Philipi, Thessalonica and Berea had given generously and graciously and Paul rather takes his life in his hands, and writes to the Corinthians commending the Macedonians’ approach in the hope this spurs the Corinthians into action.
I remember a former boss, comparing me unfavourably with another colleague. I don’t think it’s terribly motivating and neither is it very good practice because we’ve all got different roles and personalities and we’re all working in different circumstances, but this is what St Paul does here.
But he says it with the health warning that it is not because he wants to make the Corinthians feel bad or guilty; he wants to inspire them with information about the generosity of the Macedonian church because they gave with grace.
Paul writes:
“In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability…they pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.” (v. 2-4.)
Paul was moved by the Macedonian Christians sacrificial giving. They were poor…but they were generous.
The Macedonians set themselves apart by their good example of holding onto their sense of joy through adversity. They considered it a privilege to be able to serve their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and not do so reluctantly or out of jealousy or self-righteousness. Instead they were inspired by the supreme generosity of Jesus who gave up his divinity to death on the cross. Jesus was the ultimate cheerful giver, and the Macedonians followed his example, not thinking or analysing, their generosity - they just let it overflow like a fountain.
As a church today it’s crucial that we remember that just because someone is poor or a church is poor, it does not mean they are ungenerous.
God is concerned with what’s in your heart, not what you put in the collection. And we as churches need to remember that it is not about figures it’s about where our hearts are at. The experience of poverty does not preclude generosity, though it might.
In verse 8 Paul says that he doesn’t want to make the Corinthians feel bad. They already excel in pretty much every other area of spiritual gifting and they need to use God’s gifts of grace rightly too.
So he urges them:
“To test the sincerity of your love.” (v8.)
That’s not a bad idea. If there’s something that keeps coming up for you where is the model in the Bible of how things should be?
Think how well do you live up to that model. How would the model be in today’s society?
In the world money is power but Jesus gave up his power and glory when he was made man. He was subject to place, time, pain, death and all human limitations.
In response to his Father’s call, he became “poor”, because he limited himself so much.
Yet in doing so, he made us rich because we receive the gifts of salvation, eternal life and a loving relationship with God.
God’s generosity overflowed on the cross, and I know that many of you give incredibly generously of yourselves already: your time, your gifts, your love, your money overflow for your church family.
I don’t know who gives what, and I don’t want to know who gives what – so please don’t volunteer that information to me. The only people who knows are our respective treasurers.
The common fund or parish share pays predominantly for the cost of clergy but it also pays for the Bishops, archdeacons, training for prospective and current clergy, safeguarding and people who work for the diocese and help us in some way. As I said last week, to those of you who were in Locking, it’s important that our two churches know that we are currently benefitting from the generosity of other congregations funding me and the diocese. And while what you receive in ministry shouldn’t be about your ability to fund it, it is important that you are aware that other churches are subsidising ministry here and some will have made sacrifices to do so. I know of one church who gave up paid staff to pay their benefice share in full. We’re far from the only ones though – more churches are being subsidised than are doing the subsidising.
As I said last week both churches need work done to them so that we can carry on being focal points for God’s grace in our community. Where future generations of residents of Locking and Hutton can hear the Gospel proclaimed, where people can continue to experience God’s forgiveness, acceptance, welcome and love.
This letter to the Corinthians is very clear, not to give out of guilt or coercion and no pressure should be put on anyone. And if you are giving more than you can afford or you’re at your limit then you should consider whether you should be giving less, knowing our great gratitude for all you are and do for the church family. But please take the opportunity to consider whether you are able to support the work of the church any further.
Giving should express our love for God, create joy in our hearts, it should enable us to do more mission, and it should bring the two churches closer together and should bring us closer to our sister churches throughout the diocese and the world. Your giving is between you and God and his Amazing Grace and can I take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you for the part that you play in the life of our two churches. You are precious in the sight of God and one another. The churches would be different and weaker without you and in the words of our next song – let’s give thanks with a grateful heart for our life together.
Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 26th October 2025
Reading: Matthew 6: 25- 34 - Do Not Worry
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Memorial Sermon on Matthew 6: 25- 34
This reading was used at the first funeral I ever went to in a ministerial capacity. It was the funeral of a lovely lady who liked to feed the birds. She had chosen this passage, partly because it was about birds, but I think she also wanted to encourage her family and friends to worry about the right things in life.
This passage is all about understanding what will pass away and what will endure forever.
As I was reading this passage, what came to mind is Hugh Grant’s speech at the beginning of Love Actually that goes:
“When I get gloomy about the state of the world I think of the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport. General opinion has started to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that….it seems to me love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy but it’s always there….When the planes hit the twin towers as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hatred or revenge. They were all messages of love. If you look for it – I’ve got a sneaky feeling – that love is all around.”
I am a natural pedant.
And I spend a lot of my time worrying about a small mistake rather than about the overall big picture of whether something was positive.
And I think this passage God disapproves of this type of worrying.
I remember a friend agonised about whether to go to a work thing or whether to go to a child’s horse riding competition. In the end she prioritised her child over the work thing. And she reflected two years later she can’t remember what the work thing that she missed actually was, yet thought that her daughter may have remembered for the rest of her life whether her mother was present or absent that day.
In this passage, Jesus shows that he wants us to get our priorities right.
Jesus is not saying we should live as reclusive eccentrics. He is not saying be carefree and have no savings, insurance or pensions.
Neither is he being uncaring. In the Bible we heard Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus his friend. He cares if you or a loved one is sick, dying or has died and is troubled be our troubles.
But he is recognising that our lives are limited.
In the words of the Committal at a funeral service I read:
“Our days are like the grass;
we flourish like a flower of the field;
when the wind goes over it, it is gone
and its place will know it no more.
But the merciful goodness of the Lord endures forever and ever.”
So what might Jesus have to say, to someone who is at the end of their life or whose loved one has died?
The 14th century Benedictine nun and mystic, Julian of Norwich, suffered from ill health and lived at a time of social unrest and the Black death. She said: “Just as our flesh is covered by clothing… so are we, soul and body, covered and enclosed by the goodness of God. Yet the clothing and the flesh will pass away, but the goodness of God will always remain and will remain closer to us on our own flesh.”
God is close and He cares for us in this life and the next.
He is concerned the birds are fed and that we have our daily bread.
He was so committed to being with us after our deaths, that he gave his life on the cross for us.
Jesus is saying, look to him and he will love you, comfort you and strengthen you through his Holy Spirit for the painful times in your life. He can’t fully take away our pain, and you wouldn’t want him to because grief is in the nature of losing a person you love, but he offers us love and help.
God is always close to us, trying to comfort and help us.
But he does want us to look to the horizon, beyond the immediate, and to things that will last forever as opposed to those that will pass away.
Jesus talks about Solomon because Solomon was probably the wisest, wealthiest, most attractive, blessed person who ever lived. Craftmanship and social advancement under Solomon’s reign was possibly the best in human accomplishment.
Yet God has blessed creation more abundantly than Solomon could ever achieve in his life or legacy. All Solomon’s work and our work and accomplishments will pass away.
But on the other hand God offers us an eternal tomorrow.
When we die, we will be offered a better life than the one we know now.
God’s blessings in heaven outstrip any man-made beauty and man-made comfort.
In nature God creates beautifully…..
….but he will do so much more in heaven.
You will be clothed more elaborately than Solomon in all his splendour.
Our heavenly accommodation will be more wonderful than any royal palace. A place of beauty beyond any natural wonder.
A place of love beyond that which any human heart can give or know.
And there God dwells, ready to welcome us and ready for relationship with us. There he will abide with us.
This is love that lasts beyond death.
And God will unite us with our loved ones.
And this transcendent relationship will be without all the distractions, stress, jealousy, envy, hurt and pain that are a part of even the best relationships of this life.
The flowers and birds are so beautifully clothed by the God who made them. As our loved ones have gone to that God….we know they’re onto something good.
Pure love… actually.
Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 19th October 2025
Reading: 2 Timothy 3:14- 4:5
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
Sermon on 2 Timothy 3:14- 4:5
Last week, Larissa talked about how we need to and how we can talk to others about Jesus. A couple of weeks before that I’d been to the annual Readers Day study morning and service in Wells, the focus of which was on sustaining spiritual life within ministry and how the mission of the Church is carried forward when we pray, are present in our communities, and proclaim our faith, allowing others to see something of the love of God through our words actions and engagement. And today, we turn to Paul’s letter to Timothy with his charge to Timothy to preach the word. Paul knows he is dying, he knows that early church is under attack and he is encouraging Timothy to continue with the work that needs to be done. He tells him to remain anchored in the Word. Paul’s words are addressed to Timothy but for a moment think of them being addressed to each one of us.
‘But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the holy scriptures.’
How do those words make us feel? Do we continue in what we have learnt from scripture? Do we continue learning? Is our faith always ‘firm’? Some of us were ‘ from childhood acquainted with the holy scriptures’; others came to that knowledge and faith later in life. All of us need to keep learning from scripture, from each other. Do we know, do we believe that ‘all Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the people of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work’?
Like Paul and Timothy (and generations before and after) we are living in a world full of noise, opinions, controversies, false teachings, and pressures to compromise. The nuances of the cease fire agreement between Israel and Hamas; the Chinese spy case; the categorising of people into types, all these examples show how words can make things unclear, unfair, destructive and without hope. What chance does Christianity have in breaking into that noise? Well, the answer is: each one of us.
Paul’s advice, that experience, remains true for Christians today, for us. The Scriptures are holy—set apart, unlike anything else. They are not just good advice or religious tradition. They are God’s revelation. The Word is saving : ‘which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.’ The Word is sufficient: it equips us for all eventualities.
Having given Timothy all of this advice, Paul then gives him a charge: ‘Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.’
That charge is not just for Timothy: it is for us all. Remember what Paul wrote next:
‘For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.’ Sound familiar? The Word has always had to work hard to be heard, to be understood, to be accepted, so we too must be determined to speak up for it, share it, live it in our turn, using Paul’s words: ‘But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.’
‘Your ministry’. What does that mean for each one of us? Take a moment to reflect. Don’t be hard on yourself: think about how your ministry shares the Word. It’s not about spouting bible passages to people; it’s about living the way God wants, treating others with respect, empathy, sympathy, with positive words to encourage rather then negatives to discourage, listening to others, looking outwards rather than inwards, enabling others to learn about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. It is about fairness, of opportunity, of comfort and about challenge. We have to share the wonder and joy our faith brings us, how the knowledge that Jesus is always with us inspires us and how we don’t know everything, don’t understand everything but that we have faith in a God who loves us all and understands each one of us.
It’s not always easy to find the right words at the right time, as Larissa reminded us last week. Take the case of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally. As soon as it was announced, people of faith were posting Paul’s first letter to Timothy Chapter 2: ‘’I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.” We can discuss this over coffee (!) but we all need to consider the questions that people can raise about parts of the bible. The Church has much to grapple with: as individuals we need to use our relationship with God, with the Word, to guide us as we share our faith with others.
The study morning at Wells was led by the Rt Revd John Lomas, Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, who was brilliant in his practical, realistic approach to spreading the Word. He preached at the service and his chosen reading was the whole of Ephesians 1 (do read it later), which includes the words ‘ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.’ If we all keep learning, if we all keep praying, if we all keep sharing, if we all keep ministering, then we will have achieved God’s purpose for us. It’s never too late. Reflect on the words of theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar that Bishop John shared with us: “What you are is God’s gift to you; what you become is your gift to God.”
Jane Barry (Reader)
Sunday 12th October 2025
Reading: Romans 10: 11-15
As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Reading: Matthew 28: 16-20 - The Great Commission
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Sermon: Talking Jesus - Session 2 - What Motivates us to Share our Faith?
Apparently a lieutenant in the Japanese Army, based on a remote island in the Philippines was still fighting World War 2 until 10th March 1974.
How did he no know that peace had been declared??
No one had told him the war was over.
‘Come home letters’ had been sent, but it seems he did not trust these. No one had told him in person that peace had been negotiated and so he remained at his post.
It’s a remarkable story that takes some believing, but the principle behind it is clear enough.
And it is one that we would do well to heed as Christians.
“How can they call on one in whom they have not believed, and believe in one whom they have never heard.” Said the Apostle Paul.
And of course they can’t.
Unless people are told about Jesus, they will never come to faith.
The temptation is to leave someone else to tell them and they will never hear what Jesus has done for us.
But I want to give this session’s sermon a bit of a health warning,
Today’s sermon is going to pick up on the Talking Jesus material that encourages and equips Christians to share their faith.
Back in August we heard that research shows surprisingly Good News when it comes to evangelism in the UK. To give a very quick recap of the most important points. 1 in 3 of our non-Christian friends and relations would like to know more about Jesus and that non-Christians have a surprisingly high opinion of their Christian family and acquaintances. They know us, they like us and so we are the right people to tell them about Jesus.
Today’s session is about what Motivates us to Share our Faith with others. Jesus said: ‘Go…I am with you…” But we often hesitate, even when we have the chance to talk to our friends and family about Jesus. Taking on Jesus’ challenge can seem difficult. But, when we pray and go for it, it is thrilling to see how God uses us.”
In the Bible it is clear Jesus goes out to find all sorts of people, rich and poor, powerful and weak, young and old, male and female, Jew and non-Jew. Last month Jane spoke to us about God the Good Shepherd carrying out a search and rescue mission for a lost lamb that had gone astray. This is a picture of the lengths God goes to and the urgency and prioritisation he gives to being united with all of us. And he calls us to be part of that rescue mission.
Because God has gone to these lengths to go out and find me and secure our eternal life, so must we go out and tell of the Good News amongst those we know.
In 2 Corinthians 5:14 St Paul says “the love of Christ compels us” to bring others to him, and these others are most likely to be our family and friends. Someone once told us about Jesus and so we have a duty to do the same for others.
Now when we look around us, it doesn’t always feel that the non-Christians we see look terribly lost! They often are nice people with nice families, with good jobs doing good things. And certainly I think to myself, they are doing much better than me, how can I turn to them and say they need Jesus in their lives. But everyone needs Jesus
And yes when they become Christians they’ll continue to be nice people with nice families, with good jobs doing good things, but they will have Jesus accompanying them every day too.
Andrew Ollerton said Talking Jesus is like climbing a mountain. Both can feel like hard work, tiring and a bit intimidating, but just like climbing a mountain if you go for it, you give it a try, you do reach a place of feeling that was so worth it, you find you’re part of something so significant, something so weighty, something that really matters.
What keeps us going is God’s love, it’s his love for the lost that drives us forward and gives us the energy, when we feel it’s easier to keep quiet or give up God’s love gives us the energy to keep going. Back to that story of the lost sheep; he’s the Good Shepherd he loves each one as if they’re the only one. That’s the love of God that energises us. Jesus dies because God loves this broken lost world so much.
So how do we go about Talking Jesus to our family and friends?
Well first of all we pray.
We pray that God that God would show us who he wants us to approach, at the right time for them, we pray that he give us the right words, the invitation to the right thing and that they would encounter helpful things when they come.
It's important that our conversations are intentional but not forced. 81% of Christians say their church provides course events and services which they feel are suitable for their non-Christian friends to attend.
Talk naturally to our friends about what we do in church, perhaps looking for an opening to say something appropriate about Jesus, or tell them a bit of our testimony and about what Jesus has done for us.
So we might tell them something about what we’ve done in church lately and see if they seem to be showing any interest.
A student was wondering how to share her faith with her student friends. Her birthday fell on a Sunday and she told her friends she wanted to go to church not expecting them to come along. But most of them decided to come with her because they liked it. And they found they enjoyed it. So it all happened quite naturally. She had a good response. Some have continued to go to church with her. Some showed interest but stopped going. Other have stopped going. Just because they went once, they did not necessarily want to come every time. But some of us committed it’s a bit alien not wanting to come every single time. But she continued to ask. So she’s been faithful and they’ve been exposed to some Christian stuff. .
Given that we’ve likened sharing our faith with climbing a mountain, on a mountaintop, Jesus gave his last words to his disciples on a mountaintop.
Jesus’ words, the Great Commission to his disciples were left ringing through the centuries to us from the mountaintop.
From the mountaintop Jesus said:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to you.” To go and tell.
But it’s Jesus who saves people.
We don’t need to make people believe.
We just need to be ourselves and share and be faithful. He says go. That’s his commission to us.
Go is an intentional word.
Go means to go and pray. Anyone can do that – if you can’t get out of the house everyone can do this.
We’ve got to be intentional on a daily basis to God and talk Jesus.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 5th October 2025
Reading: Luke 17: 5–10
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
Reading: 1 Chron 29: 6-19
Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lord in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.
David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying,
“Praise be to you, Lord,
the God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. Lord, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you. And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, statutes and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.”
Sermon on St Francis whose feast day is 4th October
Yesterday was the feast of St Francis and it is very appropriate that the commemoration of him coincides with the time of the year when we celebrate the gathering of the harvest alongside the breath-taking beauty of autumn.
Francis is the patron saint of animals, ecology and the environment and peace; themes which are all interconnected with harvest.
Francis was the son of an affluent merchant. As a young man he was something of a party animal and his father raised him in preparation to take over the family business.
Francis also had military ambitions to be a knight which were fulfilled. But his life changed when he was captured in a battle between Assisi and Perugia. He suffered harsh treatment when he was captured and to top it off contracted malaria. He returned to Assisi disillusioned with life, experiencing something of an existential crisis.
Whilst trying to make sense of this confusion and meaningless, Francis heard God’s voice say “Francis, go and rebuild my church.”
He initially took this literally, interpreting rebuild the physical church in bricks and mortar and he stole his father’s possessions and business assets to pay for his rebuilding project. His father was incensed and brought him to trial before the Bishop of Assisi who ordered him to return his father’s possessions. Some accounts report that Francis stripped himself naked and renounced his inheritance and his relationship with his father, declaring “That today my father is in heaven”.
Later Francis came to understand God’s call to rebuild the church was not buildings, but people and the natural world.
I said Francis is the patron saint of animals. Well Francis famously called animals brother and sister because we are in relationship with one another in creation, through God.
A well-known legend about St Francis which is particularly appropriate today is about a wolf because it is about provision and relationships.
Francis was living in a town called Gubbio. Outside the town lived a wolf. The wolf began attacking sheep and cattle which lived in the fields just outside the town. So the people moved their animals to a safer location instead. Now the wolf was very hungry and so he began attacking humans instead, particularly tender succulent young children. He became very cunning and it was impossible for the townspeople to kill him, but he continued to devour them.
Francis intervened. Approaching the wolf, he made the sign of the cross and commanded the wolf in God’s name not to attack him. Immediately the wolf lay down obediently at Francis feet and let him stroke his head. Francis offered to make peace between the wolf and the people of Gubbio. He took the wolf into the centre of the marketplace and preached to it and the people. He asked the people to feed the wolf in return for not attacking them or their livestock. The people agreed and the wolf lived peacefully alongside the people of Gubbio for the rest of the wolf’s life.
This is a legend, but it demonstrates what happens when we behave generously. The potential transformation.
At harvest time we think about God’s earthly generosity that we experience today and also his eternal providence. We give thanks for what we have, and we regret that around the world and also in our neighbourhood that others go without. We lament our part in the overconsumption of the earth’s resources and the destruction of the natural world.
Our Old Testament passage, and “we plough the fields and scatter”, remind us that
“All good gifts around us are sent by heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for allllllllll his love.”
Both Bible passages tell us that it is only because of God’s generosity that we have material blessings, so we should give back to others as generously as we first received from God. If it was not for God, we would always be in deep trouble both materially and spiritually.
Harvest gives us a glimpse of God’s loving care being poured out and this is seen in gathered crops, filled supermarket shelves and vibrant autumnal colours in the natural world.
And at harvest time we are also reminded that our spiritual transformation needs to imitate the seasonal change. As the Summer ends, we see decay in the natural world as one cycle of life is ending. We need to take stock of our lives let go of the productivity of Summer. We consider how are lives could be improved and how we could change to make a better contribution to God’s providence. This could be paraphrased as how we could we make the world a better place in this little corner of Somerset.
At harvest we are confronted by the challenges of God’s providence eternally.
In our Gospel reading we hear the disciples ask Jesus to “increase our faith.” And I must say that I ask this a lot of Jesus too so I feel for the disciples when on first sight his response is really rather discouraging. We should be aware that Jesus has just spoken about not caring for “little ones” who are new converts, children and vulnerable people, forgiving others and not stumbling. Well I think the disciples have honed in on “not stumbling” – they think greater faith will prevent them from stumbling. They also are still in something of a mindset that thinks there is a hierarchy of discipleship. That it’s a competition and that my faith is superior to yours. This is why Jesus is so dismissive because they are motivated by anxiety and also honour and reward for themselves. Jesus wants to see love, loyalty and compassion from them and us instead.
Faith as small as a mustard seed is good enough. Not only is it good enough, faith as small as a mustard seed can, with God’s help, accomplish what is impossible by human ability alone.
I am something of a hypocrite saying this next thing as I cannot grow and keep alive – NOT ANYTHING.
However, it is in the nature of seeds to grow. The gardener just needs to nurture them. Likewise we don’t need super faith with showy offy gifts.
All we need to do is love God and keep showing love to those around us.
This mini parable about the master and servant, tells us that we aren’t heroes if we forgive one another fully – we are only achieving what Jesus did for us before. We are only doing what is expected of us.
And this Gospel reading is particularly suitable at harvest time because we are reminded that all goodness is from God. And the good news is that we are children of God and are offered his love not because we have done anything special but because we are loved.
Harvest is about treasuring human life and the whole of creation and thinking about all the things that might help or hinder that treasuring. As well as his care for animals, Francis also championed the poor and powerless. When he ran out of resources to give others he made every effort to reach out to them to bring comfort. He loved lepers and accepted them and nursed them.
How could we show love and care as Francis did?
Might we consider our charitable giving, our personal carbon footprint or our practical contribution to a project?
But Francis was also a great example of spiritual transformation.
As we move past Summer and closer to Winter we think about what we might need to let die or let go of; to prune in order to flourish. We consider the things which hinder our relationship with God and the things that work against the coming of God’s Kingdom here on earth and ultimately the eternal harvest.
Harvest gives God another opportunity to enter into our broken lives, to show us that he prioritises the welfare of the whole earth and to reaffirm his commitment to us.
As the evenings draw in earlier, more and more physical darkness is the reality until spring breaks through. Let us pray that God’s light will shine on the seeds that we plant, and our generosity will mimic and mirror the generosity of Jesus who was generous first and provided in abundance in every way.
Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 14th September 2025
Reading: 1 Timothy 1:12–17 - The Lord’s Grace to Paul
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutory and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the Kingj eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Luke 15: 1-10 - The Parable of the Lost Sheep
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders6and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Sermon on Hide and Seek: The Heart of God in Pursuit
Here’s a sermon idea titled “Hide and Seek: The Heart of God in Pursuit”, based on our reading today of 1 Timothy 1:12-17 and Luke 15:1-10. The central theme is how God relentlessly seeks out the lost, and how we, like Paul and the shepherd/woman in the parables, are called to respond to that grace.
Remember the game of hide and seek? As kids, it was all fun and games. Some hid so well they couldn’t be found. Others were eager to be discovered. In my case, I used to get fed up of hiding or seeking. But in God’s version of hide and seek, it's no game — it's a mission of love. And here’s the twist: we’re the ones who hide, and God is the One who seeks. Both of today’s scriptures highlight this divine game of hide and seek — not played for fun, but for redemption, restoration, and rejoicing.
Paul’s case is interesting. In many ways he had not hidden himself from God. As Saul, he went about persecuting Christians. Paul admits that in Acts 22: 20 ‘And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ He was actively denying him and fighting against him. But God had another purpose for him, saw the potential in him and challenged him in Acts9 ‘Saul why do you persecute me?’ There is no comdemnation in this encounter, just a question and then instructions as to what to do next. When Saul did meet Ananias ‘something like scales fell from his eyes, and the rest, as they say, is history. Paul was found by Christ, forgiven, and given a purpose
Paul reflects on his past. He was, in his words: “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man” (v. 13). He didn’t just "hide" from God — he actively fought against Him. Some of us are hiding behind shame, regret, guilt, or even religion. But God's grace doesn't wait for us to come clean — it seeks us out.
In Luke 15:1-10, Jesus tells two short parables which tells of how God’s love actively seeks the lost.
The shepherd notices the lost sheep; the woman notices the lost coin. Both of these people are busy but they search diligently for the missing one percent. And when the sheep/the coin is found there’s great rejoicing. Jesus told these parables because the Pharisees and teachers of the law were upset: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” and because Jesus wanted them — and us — to understand the seeking heart of God. No one is too lost, too broken, or too far gone. God doesn’t write off the lost — He leaves the 99 to find the 1.
The Result of Being Found: Rejoicing and Testifying
1 Timothy 1:16 Paul says: “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who believe in him” If Paul could be found, with his background, so could anyone.
And in both parables there are celebrations when the lost is found. Heaven rejoices more over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who need no repentance.
Implications for us. Being found by God doesn’t end the story — it starts a new one. Like Paul, and like the shepherd/woman, we are called to testify, to celebrate, and to join the search.
Conclusion:
God’s game of hide and seek is not about winning or losing. It’s about restoring what was lost, about a Father who never stops looking, and about a Saviour who finds us in our darkest places and carries us home. Maybe today:
• You feel like you’re the one hiding. Know this — God is looking for you.
• Or maybe you’ve been found, like Paul. Then your role now is to rejoice, testify, and seek others.
Final Words (1 Timothy 1:17):
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Let’s live lives that reflect His grace, join in His mission, and celebrate every soul that’s found.
Jane Barry (Reader)
Sunday 7th September 2025
Reading: Luke 14:27-35 - The Call to Discipleship
And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
Sermon on Luke 14:27-35
In our language we build up lots of phrases that are memorable because they state a truth. So if I mention one that describes not giving up but keep trying, what would that phrase be?
It at first you don’t succeed, try,try,try again.
What about not being too quick to make a decision?
Look before you leap.
I guess that other countries have the same kind of thing.
In a similar way, the Bible gives us other phrases which stick in the minds helping us to remember important truths. Our passage from Luke 14 ended on one this morning ?
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear”. Other sayings from Scripture would easily come to mind I’m sure.
So the essence of this passage in Luke is about listening and really hearing what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. It is a challenging and intense series of words of teaching from Jesus.
V 33 ‘any one of you who does not give up everything he has, cannot be my disciple’
The illustrations Jesus then gives, such as even hating relatives and us carrying our cross, are meant to help us guard against the temptation which faces us all, of us being nominal Christians. That means, Christians who have admitted to receiving Jesus as Lord of their lives but have held back from following His encouragements to be servants and witnesses. It’s quite clear from these probably uncomfortable words of Jesus that having a Christian faith is not a soft passive option. It is not a kind of crutch to support us but rather the complete opposite. Our role is one of prayerful and active support as we live in this world, with our strength drawn from our discipleship to Jesus and His example.
So what do these words of Jesus really mean about giving up everything in order to be a disciple? Or the even stronger language of V 26 about hating our families?
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father,mother,wife or children,even his own life, cannot be my disciple” How do we understand the word Hate ?
There Is a word ‘Hyperbole’. The word describes something we find it easy to do, which is to exaggerate to others something we have experienced or something we have done. What happens is that we can so easily exaggerate with the intention of helping others to appreciate our experience. For Jesus to use the word hate here, he is in a way exaggerating and so drawing our attention to the difference between our understanding of the word Love in human terms and Love as God understands the word. They are a world apart. Jesus is in no way contradicting the many times Scripture encourages us to love others as much as we love ourselves.
Jesus goes on to give two illustrations as to how we can be disciples. Firstly building a tower, and secondly a king going to war. The key ingredient for both of them is preparation. That means sizing up the challenge before you begin, so that you are prepared for what lies ahead. How do these help us ?
They help us because, as in the builder building a tower, we need to be aware of the cost of being a disciple by laying a foundation that will last. Secondly, we need to be aware also, like the king going into battle, of the opposition we will face. Being prepared is the challenge, and that inevitably entails making sacrifices. Remember V33 ‘In the same way (like the builder and the king) any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
When we consider the prospect of eternity, it seems sensible to give some thought to that prospect so that we are prepared, and won’t be taken by surprise. There are some words in Matthew 7.33 which none of us want to hear. It is in the context of the parable of the wise and foolish builders only one of whom would not be ready to meet God. Do you remember what Jesus said about God’s response to the foolish builder ? Away from me I never knew you. It is a challenging thought !
So to summarize so far, we need to be sure that we have our eyes wide open and to see the challenge of discipleship through to the end .
So the question is, what is it that Jesus wants of us mere mortals as we struggle with life ? What does being a disciple really mean?
Well, being honest, from what we have already looked at this morning, Jesus does not set out to make it sound like an easy journey! He almost goes out of his way to put us off. So what are our priorities ?
Consider an athlete training for the Olympics. Everything is devoted to an all embracing regime, until that is, a serious health issue strikes. Everything then is focussed on fighting the health problem. It becomes more important than even the Olympics. Nurturing our faith and our relationship with God is more important than anything else. So when considering our priorities, Jesus is asking us to focus on him because to be a disciple is to change our priorities. We are being called to a change of life focus, with God first.
So with that in mind, just for a few moments , let’s think about what Jesus means in V27 about wanting us to carry our cross and follow Him. Earlier, in Luke 9V23 Jesus uses the same challenge with slightly different words.
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me”
This change of life doesn’t mean denying ourselves as a person, It much rather means that we switch who we depend on. Without faith in God, we depend on ourselves when problems begin and the future seems bleak, but as disciples with faith, we learn to depend on and trust God. Taking up our cross is being prepared for how being a Christian affects every aspect of our life, both positive and negative, but knowing that God is dependable and discipleship is a learning process of experiencing that, not just during our lives here and now, but especially for our eternity in heaven.
So God, out of love, gives everyone of us the invitation to follow Jesus and to move on in our faith. You cannot stand still as a believer. This discipleship business is a fair old commitment. It is a daily challenge to grow and not stand still, taking the cross of Jesus in daily prayer and service. Humanly it is beyond us, we, me included, cannot meet the criteria because we still get tempted and sin. Recognising this then leads to saying sorry and being open to God’s solution. As Samuel said to the future King Saul,
The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power and you will be changed into a different person.
As we have today been reminded of the phrase ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear’, so also we can be reminded of another Biblical promise. FromPsalm 34 ‘ O taste and see that the Lord is good’.
Taking God at his word we will never be disappointed. You might even say ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating’
Rev Geoff Hobden
Sunday 31st August 2025
Reading: Isaiah 6:1-8 - Isaiah’s Commission
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Sermon on Isaiah 6:1-8
Have you a guiding anthem to your life and faith? A theme tune to your life and your walk with God. A song or songs that summarise your mission and ministry?
If the answer is yes, this song will probably have changed at various points in your life.
In 2021 Neil Diamond’s song Sweet Caroline was played instead of the more traditional “Three Lions” after England's victory against Germany at Wembley, and the crowd's enthusiastic reaction solidified its place in English football culture.
Its simple and catchy melody makes it easy to sing and so all fans feel included when they belt out its positive and uplifting phrases like “Good times never felt so good”. It became the perfect celebratory anthem for sporting events.
Sports stars sometimes have their own theme tunes playing as they walk out onto the arena and take up their starting positions. It gets the crowds excited and the gives the player and their fans a sense of self belief that they will win.
Music has also been used on the political campaign trail with Hilary Clinton effectively but ultimately to no avail, using Rachel Platten’s Fight Song to announce the beginning of her campaign rallies. Before her Obama had more luck with Bruce Springsteen’s “Working on a Dream” and latterly Donald Trump with the use of YMCA. I asked AI why he might have chosen this song, and it told me “It offers a sense of ‘carnivalesque’ irony”.
Hymns and worship songs generally do two things.
They tell us about God, how he died for us, how he offers us a relationship with him.
OR they are about OUR commitment to God, his mission and his people. A call to action. A saying yes to God’s invitation.
And since “I the Lord of Sea and Sky” was written in 1981, with only two days notice, for an ordination service it will have been played at a great number of ordination and commissioning services, and indeed was played at both of my ordinations.
The song encapsulated the Bible reading we’ve just heard, when Isaiah gained the courage and commitment to say yes to God’s call to be a prophet. He responded immediately and unequivocally: “Here Am I; Send me.” One of the most famous saying Yes’s of the Old Testament.
When we know, deep in our hearts that God is calling us to step forward and serve him, will we instead of looking the other way and making excuses, be ready to pick up the mantle?
Isaiah’s ministry was demanding and costly, but he did not shy away at the scale of the challenge or look the other way for someone else to step forward. However limited the resources, God equipped him to do what was asked of him. Isaiah became one of the greatest of Old Testament prophets, his poetic words offering words of warning, comfort and solidarity and of course told us of God’s future plan to send his son to live amongst us.
Unlike the winning (or losing) soundtracks of sports players and politicians, our hymns and worship songs reveal to us that we do not walk alone and that God shows us the way, tends the poor and lame, sets a feast before us and provides for us until we are satisfied.
However exciting and inspirational a piece of music can be, and however competent and hardworking we are, as Christians we know that we do not succeed in our own strength and we do not journey alone. We are loved, saved and nurtured every day of our lives by the God who created us and whose image we bear. Who commands our destiny and in whose power we stand. The glory and success is not mine. My hope, my light, my strength, my song. It's In Christ Alone.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 17th August 2025
Reading: Hebrews 2:9-18 - Jesus Made Fully Human
But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says,
“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the assembly I will sing your praises.”
And again, “I will put my trust in him.”
And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
and Reading: Mark 8:27-29 - Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
Sermon on Hebrews 2:9-18 and Mark 8:27-29
Back in 2015, a cross-denominational group of Christian evangelists and researchers wanted to find out more about Christian faith and belief in the UK.
They wanted to find out about how people self-identify in faith terms.
They wanted get an idea of what people believe about the Christian faith.
And they wanted to discover how many people needed to be reached and make an overall assessment of the scale of the missionary task here in the UK.
By interviewing people about what they believe, or didn’t believe, the researchers hoped to gain information in order to help us, everyday Christians, share the good news of Jesus Christ better with our friends, neighbours and family.
What are the hidden opportunities?
How can we best overcome the challenges?
And what could we do better?
The very reputable researchers Savanta Com Res were commissioned to carry out the research.
The researchers were really surprised by the data and information they gathered. It was overwhelmingly Good News!!
In our Gospel today, Jesus and his disciples are travelling about the countryside together.
He’s taught them. He’s done spectacular things. He’s attracted crowds of thousands wanting to hear his words. But the tide has changed. His ministry in Galilee is ending, and he’s now heading towards Jerusalem and to his death. He stops them, sits them down and says to them: “Who do you say that I am?”
And on some level this is a question that all of us need to consider at some point in our lives.
Who do you say Jesus is?
This is the question that Jesus asked his first followers to think about, and it’s the same question he asks all of us today too.
The researchers found people had more definite views on this question than you might think!
This key question, first posed by Jesus, re-emerged as more and more important in their research. Because “who do my friends and family think Jesus is?” is very important in people answering this question for themselves.
So first of all some Good News about the numbers of believers in the UK.
Apparently 6% of the UK population say they are a practising Christian; saying that they meet the criteria of going to church at least monthly and praying at least weekly. So that’s better than we might have thought. 6% of the UK population are so positive towards a church that they attend monthly (or at least aspire to).
48% of the UK population described themselves as Christian. So minus that 6% of practising Christians, leaves 42% of the population who already call themselves Christians. So that gives us confidence that people are to some extent keen to extend their faith and discipleship.
Now if we want to develop our friends and relations relationship with Jesus, it is incredibly helpful if they already call themselves Christians. This should give us confidence in starting a conversation and helping us feel equipped.
But it’s not just what people call themselves….what do the UK population think of Jesus?
Well the stand out piece of information the researchers rejoiced in, was that 45% of the UK population believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! They have that amount of information about theology and the Christian narrative and 45% tell anonymous researchers that they believe it!
So minus that practising 6% that’s 39% of our friends and relations that have overcome disbelief in the fundamental miracle of Christianity and 20% of Uk population believe Jesus was God in human form. That’s very helpful if we want to tell others about the tenets of faith – firstly that they already have a fair amount of information and second that they’ve started to accept it for themselves. If you’re going to start a conversation about faith with someone, you may well be talking to someone who is more open, informed and accepting than you might realise.
The researchers found that people had a high opinion of Jesus and the words they used to describe Jesus were once again surprisingly good.
The most powerful words to describe Jesus, in this order were:
- Spiritual
- Peaceful
- Leader
- Loving
- Wise
- Moral
- Role model.
The research also suggested that 1 in 3 of our non-Christian friends and relations would like to know more about Jesus and a further 36% of them, say that are open to having an encounter with him and that figure rose between 2015 and 2022 when they repeated the research.
This research was such good news that the church leaders named the research report The Talking Jesus report. As people were kindly disposed towards Jesus, the best way to engage in faith conversations was to gently talking about Jesus in some way.
Now you might say: yes this is all very good news. But how do I know that I am the right person to “Talk Jesus”. I don’t have all the answers. My friends won’t listen to me. People like my home group leaders, church wardens, worship leaders are the people they should be speaking to.
Well the research suggested otherwise.
Raise your hands if….one or more particular Christian people had an important influence on you coming to faith? [About 15% of the congregation raised their hands.]
15% of practising Christians said this was the case for them that a conversation with a practising Christian prompted a significant step towards conversion.
Once again it was good news how non-Christians described the Christians they know. They described them as caring, friendly, encouraging, hopeful, good humoured and generous.
Whilst only a minority of people described the Christians they knew as hypocritical, narrowminded, homophobic or naive.
Rachel Jordan-Wolf the former Evangelism Adviser to the Archbishops’ Council said: “We are the right people in the right place to do mission… they know us they like us…. We are the essential link between Jesus and our family and friends.”
So those church leaders looking at the research came up with some suggestions for practising Christians to help take their faith to their family and friends.
First before you do anything else …..pray. Pray that God would go before you and guide the conversation.
It’s not an original idea but consistently pray for 5 people. Find a way of reminding yourself to pray for them consistently. Use a bracelet with knots in or a bookmark of whatever works for you.
Secondly think and pray about what is happening in their life.
What is God already doing?
What are the questions that they are asking?
What are they wrestling with?
What does the Christian faith have to say to all of this?
And thirdly the big goal is to speak the name of Jesus.
What might Jesus have said about their concerns or demonstrated through his actions?
Speak about what Jesus has done for you and what you’ve witnessed in your life.
What is the next step for their faith – what could help them? A book, a film, hearing a speaker on you tube, a church service to invite them to?
Pray about what might help them and how you might be able to provide them in what they need.
Who do you say that I am?
Jesus’s identity as Messiah is not cosy, respectable or self serving or even comfortable.
The message Jesus brought is a hard one of sacrifice, endurance, humiliation and death.
If he’d continued with the miracles, and the adoration of groups of thousands, and big teaching sermons perhaps belief in him would have been easier and more attractive.
But Jesus calls us to be disciples not fans.
To be part of a faith that makes the world a better place not which makes us richer, or untouchable or powerful.
We’re called to stick with Jesus when the going gets tough.
We’re called to develop a faith that supports us in the bad times and endures testing.
Our reading from Hebrews shows us that Jesus “tasted death for everyone”…he is the “pioneer of their salvation” and “because he himself suffered when he was tested, he is able to help those who are being tested.”
This is why the task of talking Jesus is so important.
It’s our job to share it now with our friends.
Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 3rd August 2025
Reading: Colossians 3:1-17 Living as Those Made Alive in Christ
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Sermon on Colossians 3:1-17
Q. Did , what we know as the Holocaust , really happen ? At the beginning of this century the decision was made by the government, to recognise the anniversary of the Holocaust, which led to special services and T.V. documentaries. But this emphasis spawned a new wave of those who set their faces against the idea that it had actually happened at all. Was it really possible that human beings went as far as they did without being challenged by their consciences or even the cries of men women and children? So there were, and still are those who are prepared to doubt and challenge history, claiming that it was fiction and a hoax.
So, did it happen ? Of course it did, and the evidence of physical and mental scars on countless families, the stories of bravery and sacrifice, the discovered camps of horror and mass graves, the testimonies of those still alive, all speak with graphic detail of something unspeakable in the history of the human race. How can anyone doubt that it happened? But they stilldo!
Our human capacity to doubt is immense. Many doubt that anyone has ever landed on the moon, that it was all an elaborate set up in a studio. So it’s absolutely no surprise that many people doubt the existence of God. Someone wrote in the Radio Time a few years ago. “ I am an atheist. When I exiled God from my consciousness, I also exiled the Biblical conceit that we are the Lord’s creation.”
The challenge for all of us is that doubt is part of our makeup. If we didn’t have the capacity to doubt,think about it, we would be very gullible. For example:- The ‘phone rings and the voice says “I am ringing from your bank and I need your password now because someone is trying to withdraw a large amount “. We live in the age of Scams!!
When people arrived at my door in Montpelier asking for money, I knew that the vast majority were spinning me a story that was completely fictitious . Doubt is there to help us be sensible and protect ourselves.
But there is one area of doubt which is not so positive for so many of us ? I wonder….Are you ahead of me ? It’s self doubt. This is an area of doubt which probably affects a great many of us, me included. And when that self doubt meets our Christian faith, we can so easily lose the confidence that God wants us to have in His promises. It’s a self doubt that can lead us to question the fact that God has really come into our lives, that we are forgiven, that God’s promises actually apply to me. It can so easily appear to us that other people’s stories, other people’s prayers, other people’s experiences have so much more life about them than ours, and we wonder if we have missed something. Was my repentance really genuine ? Does God really love and accept me? The vicious circle says that because we doubt therefore we haven’t quite made it as christians yet.
Now that’s all a long preamble to this 3rd chapter of Paul to the Colossians. We dived into this letter, chapter 1, at our joint service in early July, and as I said then , I say now , that in this letter Paul is full of reassurances to them, which equally apply to us.
I wonder if any of you went to any of the Billy Graham missions at Bristol back in the early 1980’s ? If you did, you would have heard his well known invitation ‘to get up out of your seat and come forward to commit your life to Jesus’. And many did, praise the Lord, but of those who did get up and go down, it’s reported that quite a number were actually looking for reassurance about the faith they already had. They were already Christians, but needed reassurance, it seems, because they doubted themselves. I can remember a time when I wondered if I was truly saved. Was my repentance really from the heart. It’s a real ploy of Satan to instil doubt, and it can affect how you read the Bible, how you pray and how you worship.
In V 1 Paul writes “Since you have been raised with Christ..”(which means the promise of Heaven) . In response to this, you might be tempted to question :- Have I been raised with Christ ? Do I really know that this is true for me ? Paul immediately gives words of reassurance V3 and V4 “For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory” What a wonderful promise that is.
He goes on to list a load of things that are part of our human baggage, but despite all of that Paul nevertheless encourages them and us to live with the guarantee that our faith is certain. In Chapter 2 Paul refers to the act of receiving Christ Jesus as Lord and that that is the beginning of our new lives. He is saying that anyone who has done that, is alive with Christ, no matter how much you may doubt that. It is a fact. Perfection eludes us of course, and there is more change needed because our human nature still tries to intervene, but you are being renewed, you are on the road to Heaven, you have been raised with Christ, you have been forgiven. These are truths to be grasped. There is a journey ahead but however we feel about the strength of our faith, we must not doubt. Of course we continue to say sorry. We continue to struggle with the presence of temptation, but knowing that our future is assured.
V12 says “ therefore as God’s chosen people.”
We can often not feel like being one of God’s chosen people, because we know what we are really like. We often don’t conclude that we are good at compassion, kindness or having humility. Our gentleness and patience sometime seems like a big ask, our love and forgiveness to others is lacking. But you know, all the flaws we recognise in ourselves and our attitudes at times, doesn’t , and please hear this, doesn’t upset or change what God feels about us. This is important. God understands and forgives ,and above all, goes on loving us because of Jesus. To know that you have been raised with Christ is to put on the new self. So have you ?? You have ! God promises that anyone who calls on His Name will be received as one of His children. That is the truth for anyone who follows Jesus. Use the communion rail this morning to restate your dependence on the death and life of Jesus.
This truth about God’s love and forgiveness, is not something we have earned, it is not a privileged position we have reached after many years of service to the church. It is simply a gift of God to anyone who decides to follow Jesus. Through Jesus, God lovingly welcomes each of us as part of his chosen people no matter who you are and what your background has been.
So when doubt enters your mind, with the question “Am I”, the answer is “Yes you are”.
There are two more really important verses for all of us who are part of God’s family.
V15 +16 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts and let the Word of God dwell in you richly”.
So, will you do that ? Will you consciously allow God’s peace and God’s word to enhance your life ? Things outside of your control can so easily crowd in and threaten to dictate how you react, but it’s then that you need to pray for God’s peace and ask for His guidance.
Self Doubt can be quashed by a closer study of God’s word.
Being part of God’s chosen people is something to cherish and grow to live with the assurance it brings.
Rev Geoff Hobden
Sunday 20th July 2025
Reading: Luke 11.1-13. Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Sermon on Luke 11.1-13
In our services I introduce the Lord’s prayer each week by saying: “We say together the prayer that Jesus taught us.”
But actually from researching this sermon it seems Jesus may have had in mind not so much a set prayer but rather a formula or some key headings to help us pray, rather than a prayer. So if I were being pedantic it may be more appropriate to introduce the Lord’s Prayer with the phrase: as our saviour taught us, so we pray.
But before we start looking at what those headings might mean, let’s remind ourselves: Why do we pray?
I’d like you to turn to your neighbour and talk for no more than two minutes about:
What is Prayer? and Why do we pray?
[The answers given were as follows:
- Ask for forgiveness.
- To say thank you.
- Ask for help for self/others/friends/world.
- For inspiration.
- To nurture your relationship with God – have conversations with God.
- To pray “Thy will be done.”
- To pray for those who don’t know the Lord.
- Arrow prayer – praying on the go as things arise. ]
Teresa of Avila said: “Prayer is nothing more than a friendly conversation with the One whom we know loves us.” So it’s first and foremost communication with someone we love.
We heard that the disciples had seen the way John the Baptist and his disciples prayed and they wanted Jesus to help them to pray as they did. We don’t know what the disciples liked about John’s method, and we don’t know what Jesus thought about John’s style of prayer ….. he doesn’t mention John…..instead he says pray like this.
Jesus starts his prayer “Father.”
So when we begin our prayers, the first thing we do is remember for ourselves that God is ‘our Father’. He is not some distant divine being. He is not a tyrant. He is not a light or some sort of force without feelings. This is a relationship of love, care and support, dependency, acceptance and communication.
Jesus addresses God as Father, because he relates to God as Father as well as us. So Jesus is drawing us in to the relationship that he has with God.
It’s significant that Jesus does not say “My Father” although he Jesus’ father and each and every one of us’s father and so the version of the Lord’s Prayer that we’ve adopted begins “our Father”. We are part of a relationship that is simultaneously both exclusive and universal, cosmic and intimate. Jesus is acknowledging that God is the Father of us all. And so when we address God as “Our Father” we are acknowledging our siblings in Christ the world over.
The most common way the early church described themselves was as a family and so when we become Christians we’re called into a new family centred around God who is the Father.
So we have commitments to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Theologian Paula Gooder once said that she was approached be a newish convert who had said that he had come to faith and joined a church. He said that he thought he was joining was a family…. but what he experienced was meetings! So churches don’t always get this right – churches don’t always look enough like families.
Next heading!
“Hallowed be your name.”
This is why we sang At the name of Jesus at the beginning. Because when we pray “hallowed be your name we are looking ahead to the time when “at the name of Jesus every knew will bow” or in other words, when everyone will understand who God is, and worship Him as Lord, and Jesus as our Saviour.
It’s hard to believe in this day and age, that this time will come…but it will.
Hallowed means holy, so we are calling to mind and heart the holiness and goodness and righteousness of God and looking forward to when that will be at the heart of everything.
This time will be when the Kingdom comes and God’s will, will be done! So the three ‘looking to the future parts’ of the Lord’s Prayer will happen together…..God’s name will be universally hallowed, the Kingdom will come and God’s will, will be done. and things on earth are as they are in heaven.
So what will the Kingdom coming look like?
In a very inadequate nutshell when the Kingdom comes, As I said everyone will be a Christian and recognise his death on the cross and his overcoming of death in the resurrection.
But not only that…..when our love for God and our dedication to Christian siblinghood is so strong is that we won’t harbour hate and unforgiveness in our hearts. When we see one another as God sees us and our behaviour to one another is truly Christlike.
Embracing reconciliation, sacrifice, giving up our own power.
The only solution to wars and poverty and hatred is to allow the forgiveness of Christ to override our human cries for justice, restoration, power. To put our siblinghood in Christ above all other concerns and priorities. And if every knee bows towards Jesus, God will achieve the impossible.
So we all have a profoundly important but miniscule part to play in this.
We need to look to Jesus for signs of the Kingdom.
We have to make Kingdom decisions individually in our lives to the little things we can more easily control are a bit more Christlike. And we should seek and pray for it as part of humankind for the whole world for all of time.
Next phrase: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
It’s ok to ask for help and the things we need ….and God wants us to do this and come to him for help.
The translation of ‘daily’ is rather unreliable.
God is not a genie in a bottle ready to grant wishes.
When the words was translated into Syriac, it was translated as “the thing that helps us to flourish.”
There is a resemblance here to the Israelites in the desert receiving the manna from heaven, where they were told not to take more than they needed for the day. So, Jesus is encouraging us to ask God for what we need for each day. We’re not praying for luxuries. It’s the things we all need.
Next phrase: Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
How often do we un-noticing recite this prayer? Without thinking what we are saying? If we’re honest with ourselves, we are going to constantly fail in this, that’s why we need to say this prayer and mean it again and again and again.
We may be completely genuinely sorry when we say our prayers and then we go out and into our lives and we’re going to fail and mess up and so we need to go back to God and say sorry again and again and again. This is why we come back to the Lord’s prayer over and over again.
Jesus’s forgiveness of us is one of the most important things in Christianity. And our forgiveness of others is probably the hardest thing Christianity requires of us.
God freely forgives us and wants to do so. But most of us find forgiving and moving on really hard. It’s difficult to put our grievances aside and focus on our relationships with others but this is what we should try to do.
In an another inadequate nutshell forgiveness is about going on loving, or being loving, in spite of the hurt, pain, fear, loss that you feel.
Try not to need understanding, contrition, repentance or an apology from the other party.
To try to loose the power the hurt has over you.
Try praying through it when you feel overwhelmed by the hurt.
Try not to let feelings of hate, inadequacy, hopelessness take over.
If it’s possible begin to see the situation from the other person’s perspective and what good they might have been trying to do.
As I said I haven’t begun to do justice to forgiveness. And forgiveness should be done within appropriate boundaries, such as it may be necessary to never see the person you are trying to forgive again for your own protection, wellbeing or the wellbeing of others. And counselling may need to be sought alongside trying to forgive.
Matthew’s words are much more serious than Luke’s…. Your heavenly father’s forgiveness of you will depend on your forgiveness of others. God’s forgiveness of our sins will mimic how we forgive others. I like to think Matthew’s misheard here, because I think God’s infinitely merciful, - this may well be wishful thinking on my part.
Whatever it makes you think…how would it be if God’s mercy only reached the level of mine.
“And lead us not into temptation.”
Another prayer we need to pray over and over again. Help us as we try to avoid things which are bad for us, others or creation.
And of course, there’s too much chocolate, cake, alcohol and not enough exercise are all features of our lives. The opposite of give what we need for this day. All these taken to a level can cause us significant harm to different extents.
But there’s a darker side.
There’s a phrase that’s often quoted in Christianity: “God does not give you more than you can cope with.” I don’t think it’s God’s fault, or that God’s to blame in any way, but I believe that life certainly throws a minority of people more than they can cope with. People have a tendency to use this phrase because all of us overcome huge hurdles and obstacles in life with God’s help. That doesn’t mean that every hurdle will be overcome or every burden is carriable.
And so that’s even more reason to faithfully pray: Lead us not into temptation. Or to put it another way: “don’t let us be taken to something that’s too much for us.” “Please God, don’t let us face something that is going to destroy us.”
As we said, prayer is first and foremost conversation with God who we love. God wants us to devote time to our relationship with him.
He wants us to bring our lives to him, with the joys and troubles we face.
He wants us to notice what’s gone well and what hasn’t gone well and tell him.
He wants us to spend time remembering that he is our loving Father and that we’re called to love our siblings in Christ as ourselves.
He wants us to reflect on his promises, that, as unlikely as it seems, they will be kept and that God will bring a better future.
He cares that we want to play a part in bringing about his Kingdom.
God cares that we have what we need and laments when there is scarcity in the world and when there is a lack of sharing and care amongst God’s children.
God understands how difficult it is to be human, and he forgives us willingly.
He claims his flock who’ve gone astray.
He wants us to say I intend to live a better life with your help.
He wants to make your broken relationships whole - another promise for the future.
When you are struggling to pray you might like to try praying the Lord’s Prayer slowly. Unpick it and consider how it is true in your life.
What would you like your future with God to look like? Think about what you’re struggling with and how God’s promises are for you his child, but also part of much bigger canvas.
When you haven’t a prayer – pray this one.
Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 8th June 2025
Acts 2: 1-13. The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Sermon on Acts 2: 1-13
A man fell in love with a beautiful woman. She was beautiful on the outside, and on the inside. She was lovely, she was kind, she was considerate, she was patient, she was thoughtful, she was delightful.
The man desperately wanted to ask her out, and indeed make her his wife.
But when he looked in the mirror, he did not like what he saw… on the outside or on the inside. Alas, his face was hideous and his heart was cruel. How could he make himself lovely to her? he thought.
He went to a mask maker who made him a mask that transformed his appearance. When he approached the woman, wearing the mask, she found him a pleasant looking man.
Pleased with this result, he tried to summon a character to match his outward appearance.
The relationship progressed and blossomed. They married and lived in wedded bliss for 10 years. But as time past, he felt he could not live with the deceit. One day he took a deep breath removed his mask, and waited for his wife’s reaction.
But to his surprise, there were no expressions of revulsion. He looked in the mirror and was overjoyed - his face was now as handsome as the mask!
He returned to the mask maker. How did this happen he asked?
The mask maker replied: “You have changed! You loved a beautiful person… …and you became beautiful too.
When you love someone, you become like the face of the one you love.”
When you love Jesus, this is what happens. What happens is we start to look more like him and indeed become like him.
The Spirit makes Jesus present in the world and we are changed by him. The Spirit communicates to us, either through head or heart. It’s up to us how we respond. It’s up to us how seriously we receive and absorb that message. It’s up to us how seriously we take being changed, contradicted, chastised. But also made happier, lovelier, excited, enriched, equipped.
The Holy Spirit is how we come face to face with God.
The book of Acts is the story of how those first Christians, were transformed to look more like Jesus. And it all started at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and God became present in a new way.
It wasn’t an accident that so many faithful people were gathered together in Jerusalem that day. Jesus’ death and resurrection coincided with Passover. God’s two great rescues of his people, first from the Egyptians, and then from their sins. And now 50 days later, Jews and Christ followers from across the nationalities were congregating in Jerusalem to celebrate Shauvot. Shavuot was a Jewish festival when the harvest was offered to God, as the community gratefully commemorated Moses receiving the law at Sinai; when God offered a new way of life to his people.
Something similar was happening again now.
At Pentecost God gave his followers what they needed to live between his first coming and his second coming. Offering believers a new way of life and help to live it faithfully.
This time God’s law will not be written on stone slabs as it was on Sinai. It will be written on our hearts. In our daily prayers we pray: “may the light of your presence, O God, set our hearts on fire with love for you.” And we must invite the Holy Spirit in.
[PAUSE]
Whilst we long for those intense experiences of the Holy Spirit, someone reminded me this week, that these tend to be quite few and far between. And the process of transformation may feel quite ordinary at times.
The important thing is that the Spirit is active. We don’t need to be constantly having exciting experiences for the spirit to work in and through us.
The important thing is that the Spirit is active. When the spirit does its stuff, that creative energy from heaven, comes and makes its home in our hearts and catalyses us to live for Jesus.
And we will be transformed to look more like him … but it may not always be with the intensity of the Pentecost experience at Jerusalem. And we need to look more like Jesus together. That’s the beauty of being Church.
There are three arenas for spirit activity.
In Christians. In non-Christians. And in creation.
We are or should be the first place that the Spirit works. In the hearts and actions of individual Christians. And collectively as Church.
The Spirit marks us out, stamps us with God’s official seal, as the people in the present, who are guaranteed to inherit the new creation. This is why there were so many faithful people from different backgrounds in one place at one time, to receive together the sign that God is renewing the whole cosmos. And the whirlwind came on all of them.
Pentecost brought unity but not uniformity. We all need to participate in bringing in that new creation with those who are alongside us but different to us.
There are many times, when the spirit works quietly and gently and unfussily in our lives. But when God truly equips, he is unstoppable and we with him.
Even though most of the disciples died along the way, their mission was pretty successful.
God built through them a church that survives 2000 years on, based on faithfulness and mutual care. When political empires and dynasties succumbed, the church for all its many faults, survived, grew and continues to grow today. Think how wobbly the disciples were before the Spirit came – even with Jesus alongside them. They didn’t have a clue! And now the Spirit has their backs. They became accomplished communicators, miracle workers, diplomats, justice campaigners, utterly brave. They were transformed.
In the Spirit, God breaks through to us. So, we need to receive and be transformed by the Spirit. This is hard!
In all honesty a lot of the time I’m looking at my feet or out of the window when I should be noticing what the Holy Spirit was doing around me and bringing it to God and listening to his voice in it all.
It’s hard to put our personal agendas aside. To look beyond our own preoccupations and fears, and to empty ourselves so we can receive from God. We need to give Jesus 1-1 time, and let the Spirit fill us up. Then we may find that we look more like Jesus. That we’re transformed.
I’ve found Melvyn Bragg’s post World War two novel, A Soldier’s Return, helps me think about the Holy Spirit and how we might receive from him.
Sam is a lieutenant in the British army recently returned from Burma. Sam visits the parents of his fellow soldier, Ian, who was tragically killed in the war. Sam’s presence makes Ian more real to them and brings alive his memory. Sam brings them comfort by telling them their son died a brave death, for a noble cause, in solidarity with his comrades. They feel that his death contributed to a just war, defending the weak.
Sam brings reassurance and peace to Ian’s mother, telling her Ian was killed by a sniper in battle. Instantaneously. Free of suffering. Noble.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit works by giving us what we need to get through the day.
When they are alone, Ian’s father, who fought in the trenches, asks Sam for the truth. Sam tells him that Ian did not die in battle, but well away from the front line, whilst on cleaning duties, accidentally pulling the pin out of a grenade while cleaning it.
There were others around and so Ian flung himself on the grenade. An accidental, self-inflicted, pointless, agonising, drawn out death. Not part of winning of the war, but an act of clumsiness. Yet his quick thinking saved others.
Ian’s self-sacrifice brings a sense of worthiness, safeguarding his fellow soldiers’ lives. Possibly he could have got away but he chose to save them.
In this story Sam’s role helps us to understand some of the things the Spirit does. Sam makes Ian present for his parents. Through Sam they are helped to understand Ian’s life as a soldier and the period of time prior to his death. Through Sam they receive comfort. But the Holy Spirit also brings truth, that is painful sometimes.
Sam and Ian’s father are the only ones who know the truth about Ian’s death. Some truths cannot be shared because they cannot be understood, appreciated or honoured by others; but are known to God and it’s with him that we share them. Sam helps Ian’s Father to live with his grief.
What revelation does God want you to come face to face with? What truths does God want you to address? Does God want you to understand someone differently?
Is God looking for some sort of change? Or does God simply want you to tell you or remind you, that you are his beloved child. That he thought you were worth dying for and that he wants the best for you.
At Pentecost we see that God was not prepared to be distant or unreachable.
And that the Spirit does not give up on God’s people, nor let us be defined us by our mistakes.
We see that the Spirit does not observe norms, limitations or boundaries.
Nor does it give up on justice and peace.
And finally, Pentecost revealed that the Spirit does not accept absenteeism when God has set a place at the table for his loved ones.
Like our besotted man, the day of Pentecost starts with what was wrong with God. Jesus was absent. But when the Holy Spirit came down, it took Jesus from Ancient Palestine and made him present in every other place and time.
Making God visible and audible in ways we can understand – but which perhaps we do not always notice because we are preoccupied.
We need to be committed to making space for Jesus in our hearts, our heads and our schedules so that we can receive from him and come to look more like him. But we also need to bear the family resemblance. If we’re not embracing all the people, we are not embracing all the gifts. We are not looking as much like Jesus as we should be.
We need to receive the Holy Spirit. We need to be transformed by it.
And we need one another.
Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 1st June 2025
Reading: Acts 1 Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.”
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Sermon on Acts 1
Saying ‘goodbye’ to someone is something we all do on a regular basis. We’ll be doing it this morning after the service as we head home for lunch, and then countless times during the week as we meet/bump into others or after sharing a coffee or tea with them. However, the gap between saying goodbye and then seeing friends or relatives again, can vary enormously. I have an older sister in Yorkshire with her husband and Hazel and I try, despite the long drive, to go up a couple of times a year, but the eventual goodbyes lately, at the end of a visit are increasingly infused with a bit of uncertainty about the future. Neither of us is getting any younger. But goodbyes can have an even deeper impact of course if the prospect of meeting friends or family again has a longer uncertainty about it because of age and distance. What words do we use then? What assurances can we give? What will be our final words of goodbye ? For our generation we would have used words like ‘Don’t forget to write’ or ‘ we will be praying for you’. Today, for generations it might be ‘ send us an email’ or ‘When you ring use facetime’.
As today we remember the Ascension of Jesus, we are given a picture with words, of Jesus saying goodbye to his disciples. What an experience the years have been for those disciples. An intensive 3 years of teaching and growth through their relationship with this man. So what is it that Jesus wants them to remember most of all in these last minutes ? What does He want them to hold onto as He leaves ? What is it that is vital for them as they face the world without Him ?
V8 in these last few minutes scripture gives us the clear answer very succinctly with two distinct promises.
1.You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
2.You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
The force of the second one about being witnesses, depends of course totally on the first promise. In other words, the ability to be witnesses can only happen after the Holy Spirit has been received. Next Sunday we celebrate the Pentecost event when Jesus’s first promise was fulfilled.
So we have the farewell words Jesus gave to his disciples, and the future testimony of the disciples is that, in the power of the Spirit, they took the Gospel message to all who would hear and respond to Jesus, and they were only able to do it because they received the promised gift at Pentecost.
But the message of the Ascension doesn’t stop there, does it.
As the disciples were watching this incredible event, with Jesus rising up into and then being hidden by the clouds, all of a sudden, as if all that wasn’t enough, v10 suddenly two men in white (that’s Bible speak for angels), stood beside them. So this unwelcome parting facing the disciples, with their teacher leaving them, also needed one more element. The message they needed now, as well as the promises of Jesus earlier about what to expect,coincidentally, was exactly the same message that you and I also need. Q ? What was the message from the angels ?
HE’S COMING BACK YOU KNOW !!!
The two angels were a bit more matter of fact about it. Having made that statement they went on” Why are you standing around?” It’s clearly implied to the disciples that you now have your task, so best to get on with it which for them meant praying. The other snippet we get, but a very important bit of information from those angels, is that Jesus’s return will be in similar fashion to his departure. Other scriptures bear that out, such as :-
Matthew 26;64 Jesus said “But I say to all of you, in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of Heaven” OR
Luke 21:27 Jesus said “At that time they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory”.
There’s no doubt in my mind that these words at the Ascension of both Jesus and the angels are just as appropriate to us as they were to the disciples. As the promise of the Holy Spirit was kept, so will the promise of His return, and in the meantime we are in the same boat as the disciples. The gift which came, was to help both them and us in our witnessing, because as Christians that is our task. Also the reassurance of His return is the inevitable fact for the future which we can also anticipate with confidence. As we wait for this and maybe question why is it taking so long……..
There is just one other important bit of information we get from V’s 6+7.where Jesus gives both the disciples and us a clear idea as to how much we can expect to be included in , and know about God’s plans The disciples asked Jesus “ Lord are you going to restore the Kingdom of Israel ?”
It’s an understandable question with Israel still under Roman control. His answer covers not just their question, but any questions we might have about the future. Jesus said
“ It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority”
So in similar fashion we are not included in the timing of Jesus’s return. ‘It is not for us to know’.
So just in case we should ever need any reminders that God’s message to us throughout Scripture is about witnessing, we have :-
Isaiah 43v10 You are my witnesses declares the Lord. Which Jesus now echoes at the Ascension. Isaiah 49v6 I will make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.
Matt 5v16 Let your light shine before men. And many others!
When Jesus said to the disciples that they were to be witnesses for him in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth he was writing the contents page for this book of Acts which Luke has followed. So the witnessing in Jerusalem comes in Chapters 1-7. Witnessing to Judea and Samaria is covered in Chapters 8-11 and from chapter12 onwards it covers witnessing to the wider world.
The witnessing message always has an urgency about it because there is work to be done and we don’t know when Jesus will return. We today may feel a bit daunted by the prospect, as no doubt those 11 disciples did, and their response we are told later, was v14, they all joined together constantly in prayer.
I would not be exaggerating at all to suggest that there are many thousands of people living in Hutton and Locking alone who need to hear about God’s love in Jesus and yet how easily we can become embroiled in discussions and disputes which take up our time and effectively prevent us from looking outwards.
Many years ago, I invited a mission team from Lee Abbey to come to our parish. On our first evening together with the team, the leader asked us all to form one big circle right around the inside of the church. We stood in the circle holding hands and facing each other. The leader then asked us all to turn around again holding hands and face outwards. A simple exercise to illustrate where our emphasis should be as a church. That has stuck with me over the years.
Those first disciples were ordinary men. No qualifications to speak of, no computer technology, no football stadiums for large rallies like Billy Graham, and yet despite all that, they were entrusted with the birth of the church and to take the Gospel to the whole world. The task ahead for them, as it is for us , was beyond their capabilities, and that’s why the final statement of Jesus to them and to us, includes the coming gift of the Spirit. Rather than being an extra something/someone to tag onto our Christian lives, that gift is essential to us being willing and able to face outwards rather than inwards in our worship and service within our churches.
Celebrating the Ascension of Jesus doesn’t have the pull of a Christmas or Easter perhaps, but it does contain those final words of parting from Jesus which are so essential for the future of our faith in these challenging days.
Rev Geoff Hobden
Sunday 25th May 2025
Acts 16: 11-15. Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi
From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. From there we travelled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Sermon on Acts 16: 11-15.
Lydia lived in Philippi, which was one of the first places Paul visited in Europe. Lydia was one of the first people Paul met when he arrived, and so, she was probably the first convert to Christianity in the whole of Europe! She came from a non-Jewish background. So she didn’t have the benefit of knowing stories about God. She didn’t know about his faithfulness in the past or his promises.
But she was a seeking, listening, discerning person. She had a sense of God’s spirit. And everything fell into place when she heard Paul’s words about Jesus.
Lydia traded in purple – so she was influential. Important, rich people wore purple and she would have had a business relationship with high status people. She was from Thy-a-ti-ra, which was a little bit like the Saville Row of the ancient world. It was synonymous with purple dying and production. Lydia probably had a lot. She had a sizeable household, so she was probably quite rich.
But it’s likely she was born poor. Lydia is a nickname that was usually given to slaves. So she may well have been born a slave and for some reason given her freedom. This would explain why she was running her own business as a single woman, founded on her personal skill and expertise. She had other things too: colleagues, influence, opportunities, autonomy and - perhaps most important of all - her house.
She heard Paul’s words and she was baptised. And then she went and brought all those she was responsible for, to faith, and they were baptised too.She used what she had to serve God and spread the Gospel. Lydia realised that the fledgling church would be more stable and established with a base in her house. There were a lot of advantages of this arrangement. Not least that it was safer for Paul and his companions. So she threw open her house and her resources to the church family in Philippi.
Lydia gave the Philippian church a focal building – that’s her great legacy. Lydia seems to be head of the household. She was gifted with a level of independence, and she took advantage of it. Her business background would have made her a good co-worker in Paul’s church planting. We hear that she persuaded Paul. It sounds like her influence extended beyond providing hospitality, to contributing to a mission strategy. She was a patron and benefactress, and matron of the Jesus movement in Philippi.
I don’t know if any of you are familiar with The Apprentice on the BBC. When the show first aired, Alan Sugar devised a process of business challenges to recruit an apprentice. But then the prize changed and he offered a business investment and mentorship. And since this change, Lydia’s role is really quite similar to Alan Sugar’s! She invested her money in the work of Paul, Silas, Timothy and the rest of them. She used her contacts to support and inform their work. She offered them a house as a base to go out from. Her workers helped them.
As patron she would have had a place at the table when decisions were made, and as business woman probably had something of a critical friend role. She made the most of the unusual circumstances she was in, with its advantages and privileges, and used these to extend the reach of the Gospel.
Whilst we’re thinking about work and business, what might be a job description be for someone who serve the church, as a witness to God. This job description will include “Showing love and kindness to your friends, colleagues and neighbours.”
Do you represent yourself well in your work? Your leisure activities? Amongst your friends and neighbours? Do you give being Christian, a good name or a bad name? Do you pray for particular people? Anyone can do that.
Perhaps particular people who, like Lydia, are seeking and searching and waiting for the message to land.
Have you thought of 5 people to pray for during Thy Kingdom Come? Who don’t know Jesus yet but could have an important role in serving and leading the church? Are you open about your Christian routines?
Do people know you’re a Christian? Or do you pretend you’re not going to church or homegroup? Do you tell people you’re going somewhere else instead. Can people approach you about something spiritual? Or something difficult? Are you able to say a little about the difference God makes in your life? Why is God good for you?
If you think God is wonderful but can’t say how … that’s probably an area to work on. Be ready to talk about how God has brought you comfort at a particularly sad time in your life?Did something work out for the best when all seemed to be lost and you think God had a hand in it? Has God brought a person or activity into your life that has really helped or comforted you? How could you describe God’s impact and help in your life?
Having said all this…. in Paul’s letter to the Philippians Lydia isn’t mentioned. In many of Paul’s letters, he sends greetings to particular allies, but he doesn’t mention Lydia in Philippians. She’s done all this for Paul…and he forgets her…or so it seems!
Maybe she’s died – that’s a possibility – she was an influential woman - and first century Christians were disposed of on a regular basis. She’d probably be a threat to the fledgling church’s opponents. Or she might have died a natural death. We don’t know why she is unmentioned but we all face being forgotten sooner or later – quite often God calls us to move on.
Some of us live all our lives in the same place. Others move around a lot. But sooner or later we’ll be forgotten but the fruits of our labour live on. When Lydia chose baptism, she chose the path of being a Christian for God, with a particular calling to witness to the business community of Philippi.
We are the baptised people of God in Hutton. We are God’s ambassadors. Yes probably with fear, doubt and confusion ….But nevertheless we are witnesses. It’s not something that we decide to do when we are feeling particularly holy. Being a Christian does not require a particular skillset or a defined mission field. But neither can we exclude a particular part of our lives.
It’s who we are. It’s who we become at baptism. At baptism our task becomes the same as Lydia’s. To use what we have, the gifts, the knowledge, the relationships to be God’s ambassadors.To proclaim God’s love and Jesus’ work in thoughts words and deeds. In work and in play.
In purple making, in business deals, in the playground, in the classroom, in Messy Church, in Mustard Seed, in the clubs and societies we belong to. Whatever God has given us, wherever God has placed us. Our task is to open our hearts and respond to God’s message.
Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 18th May 2025
Acts 11:1-18. Peter Explains His Actions
The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’
“I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
“The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
“Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’
“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”
When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Sermon on Acts 11:1-18
The vicar in this story is a friend of mine….it isn’t me …but it could have been. This story is all about my friend’s assumptions and pre-judgement of people.
He’d been asked to take the funeral of a man whose heavy drinking and addiction to alcohol had contributed to his sickness and eventually death. He visited the family. He met the wife and adult children. They chose the hymns, they’d gone for a nice uncontroversial Bible reading. He’d listened to the sad story of the deceased being unable to stop drinking. He sympathised with the worry, the financial difficulties, the hospital visits.
A family friend was to give the eulogy…The vicar presumed this family friend was skilled at diplomacy or perhaps he knew the deceased before he started drinking and could say some nice things about him. He presumed that the funeral would be a quiet affair, family only probably. He was prepared for a depressing one!
Yet what greeted him was a revelation. The crem was packed. The deceased was spoken of as a man of compassion, love and care. There were many people who shared about the deceased’s gifts of encouragement, wisdom and insight in the face of adversity. There were a good many people present, who themselves had struggled with their own addictions and testified to the difference the deceased had made in their journey to recovery. That he had been an inspiration to them and convinced them to be brave and carry on when they were at the end of their tether.
My vicar friend expected to be the one who would bring the hope, the positivity, the new life to the funeral service. He had expected to be the glue that would hold everything together. And yet it was the Vicar being ministered to in the testimonies, the fellowship, the togetherness. From beyond the veil, the deceased, and his friends were showing the vicar what love looks like when things are difficult.
As we say at Christmas, the light was shining in the darkness and the darkness was not overcoming it. The vicar was underestimating the power of love, the strength of the holy spirit and the possibilities of transformation. We assume things about people who are different to us.
We know the theory that Jesus would have made a beeline for people on the margins and those going through a tough time. But we still manage to right off people who are different to us. We still assume that it is those with privilege, or respectability, who reveal Jesus in the world rather than the other way round.
Walter Bruggemann said that the Church tends to resist the trance that inspired and changed Peter. Or to put it another way, the church resists the invitation to imagine God working in a different way.
In this incident and in our reading from Acts we are shown that God has been working all along it’s just we’re seeing the church through a lens of what we’ve always known. Peter and the other disciples heard the command of Jesus to be “witnesses” in Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Yet they had not imagined that this commission to share the good news might mean they’d have to share food with the Gentiles.
Peter and the other disciples had been brought up to obey the Jewish food laws and to keep those traditions which had shaped their spiritual lives. As Peter later reported to the disciples in Jerusalem, even when commanded in a dream to “Kill and eat” he had stood firm, responding: “By no means Lord”. Yet when prompted by the Holy Spirit, he soon found himself proclaiming the message to the Gentiles, and rejoicing as they were baptized and accepted as brothers and sisters in Christ.
God has promised down the generations to reach the nations. Ther prophet Malachi had proclaimed the message from God: “My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets.” (1:11.) But this was a very difficult truth for those from a good Jewish background to accept.
So when the new Christians from Jewish heritage learned that Peter had been staying at the house of Cornelius, a centurion, they were shocked. This was in the chapter 10 of Acts, the previous chapter. It was one thing to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to Gentiles, but quite another to sit at table with them. But what about us, we too fail to learn the lessons, which should be clear from our Bible reading. Too often we are inclined to accept only the parts of God’s word that appeal to us and support our thinking, our life lifestyles, our conveniences.
We ignore the parts of the Bible that don’t resonate or that we outright don’t like. I tend to be aware when I do this over matters of theology, but I can be very blinkered when I do this about people.
What does welcoming the uncircumcised mean for the Church today? What might this look like in our context today?We need to be prepared for the transformation of all people and not right others off. We should not be surprised at the powerful working of the Holy Spirit.
The Gentiles lives had been changed and that was all the evidence that was needed. Peter recounted his experiences, perhaps they realised that genuine love will always draw us out from ourselves and enable us to reach out to others in ways that we would never have imagined.If we make assumptions about people who we label as “the other” we also make assumptions about the incapability of the Holy Spirit too.
How does the church need to shape itself to include those God welcomes?
In many ways this is an impossible task, but if we, like Peter, inspired by the Spirit, are challenged to let go of some of our long-held views, and embrace the equality of forgiveness we all receive from the cross, we might just catch a fresh glimpse of the height, depth and breadth of God's love. These two passages are connected in that they both show us that through sharing a meal together Jesus demonstrated to those present and Christians today what love looks like. The gifts are the same but the people are different – and all loved, chosen, saved and used by God. Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 20th April - Easter Sunday
Reading Luke 24:1-12 - Jesus Has Risen
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Sermon on Luke 24:1-12
When you read Luke’s account of the resurrection after having read either Matthew or John’s, the words disorganised, frustrating, disappointing or anti-climax might spring to mind. It feels as though none of our Gospel characters have done their job properly! That no one really acquits themselves well in this scene. And that includes Jesus – he doesn’t show up! Not tomb-side or anywhere else in the garden in Luke. And this is supremely frustrating if you’re hearing this Gospel on Easter Day. You have to wait for next week to hear about Jesus turning up on the road to Emmaus or to Doubting Thomas before you actually get to experience the resurrected Jesus.
Both Matthew and John do things properly! In Matthew everything is well organised. The chief priests and pharisees try to be organised and post guards on Jesus’ tomb so there’s no uproar. But God out-organises them and sends an earthquake and angels that scare the guards to petrification, nicely supporting the case for Jesus’ rising. The angels give the women a nice clear instruction to go and tell the disciples. And they dutifully do so, showing an appropriate balance of fear and joy. And then Jesus makes his appearance right on que. Hooray!
In contrast John focuses on relationships. In John we see the third male/female partnership in a garden in the Bible. Mary Magdalene and Jesus succeed Adam and Eve and the Song of Songs lovers, showing that God’s love transcends evil and the world’s brokenness. In the Easter garden men, women and God were confirmed as inseparable. Again….Hooray!
But in Luke’s Gospel we have to contend with so many questionmarks. An empty tomb, possibly some angels, disbelief and puzzlement. No heroics, no great faith, no instant sense of things clicking into place. And worst of all - no Jesus.
The women weren’t believed for one reason or another. Maybe this was because they were women. Maybe it was because they were gossipy or incredulous and so mistrusted. Maybe the disciples thought they’d got their theology completely wrong…that resurrection will only happen at the end of time… when God will raise all people to share the new heaven and the new earth. There was nothing to suggest that God would bring men or women back to life now. (“This is precisely why we don’t teach women theology.” They might have said!)Whatever the reason, the women weren’t believed – they were considered unreliable.
Why does the Gospel writer only identify the shiny men as men? Why does he not identify them as angels as Matthew does? And the angels don’t direct the women to go and tell the twelve (eleven now that Judas is dead). They seem to just terrify the women; they don’t give them a nice clear instruction about what to do next. And it feels as though Peter falls short too. He runs to the tomb and sees the strips of linen, but it doesn’t seem to take him to the conclusion that Jesus is alive – just a state of wondering. Wondering why the linen cloths are lying on the ground and where Jesus’ body has gone.
We hear the word “wondering” another time in the passage. The women wonder who rolled the stone away and they wonder where Jesus’ body is. And wonder they might. If we witness and believe the tomb is empty, it is still a big jump to say that Jesus has risen from the dead. Clearly something very odd has happened but what? So they wonder uncertainly. These words don’t speak into the glory, the triumph, the making of history, the correction of injustice. We’re not quite taken out of the fear and confusion zone. This Gospel leaves us wondering rather than believing at least for now.
But maybe Luke’s resurrection best represents the situation we’re in now. The shiny men tell the women “He is not here! He has risen!” And as Gospel readers we simply have to rely on the words: “He is not here! He has risen!” That’s the predicament we are in.
Unfortunately we cannot rely on an explicit message or instruction from angels either. These angels give the women a message that only God can give…“He is not here! He has risen!” but they don’t tell them what to do with this knowledge or what to do next. They let them work it out for themselves. They’re probably accused of silliness or hallucinating or being spooked or maybe even drunkenness or making things up.
Likewise we have to work out what to do with our Christian knowledge ourselves. We have to work out whether we believe Jesus rose from the dead or not and what it means if he did. Like the women, maybe we’re not the best witnesses to the risen Christ either.
Often Christians are not regarded as plausible. People will look at us doubtfully when they hear us speak about our walk with Jesus. We don’t usually bump into the risen Jesus or angels. We simply have to believe (or not) the words: “He is not here! He has risen!”
Peter’s actions are also a helpful example to us. An example of discipleship for prospective followers. What Peter did, said and thought is quite a realistic one for people hearing the Easter story for the first time, both then and now.He heard the women’s words and went to the tomb to see for himself. He neither trusted immediately nor disbelieved too quickly.He went to look for himself.
Throughout Jesus ministry he was asking the disciples to notice the people and the world around them, to think, to observe God working, making a difference. Assess what you think and learn for the future. Discipleship is about constantly learning new things about God and discovering him afresh. Perhaps at long last Peter has learnt that’s what he needs to do as a disciple and follower of Christ. Luke’s resurrection probably isn’t going to be your favourite. Most people are going to prefer the passion of one of the other two Gospels depending on your personality type.
But we should bear in mind that the people who heard this much less polished resurrection story… the people who Luke ministered to and lived among and read or heard his words…..they went on to be the people who would feature in the book of Acts, which is the other book of the Bible that Luke wrote. These folk were some of the earliest examples of Christian discipleship for us today. Who ultimately spread the Christian message swiftly through Jerusalem and across the whole of med and passed it down the generations to us today. The book of Acts is working out what to do next after those two greatest events in history….the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They turned resurrection into a way of life. They showed us not to search for meaning among the tombs. That everything in this life has its limits and it is only God and the power of his Spirit who can transcend those limitations. And that our hope is ultimately based on the power that raised Jesus from the dead.
Christian hope comes from the journey we take with God and his working in our life. When we base our lives on the good things of this life, God’s good gifts but nevertheless limited things, we’ll be left looking in the wrong place – among the tombs among limited things that will ultimately die. We don’t get our meaning from this life, neither past, present nor future. Sooner or later these things lead to loss and grief. Ultimately the only thing we can depend on is God and our life with him and our forever life with him……. And the knowledge that death did not defeat God’s son and does not defeat us either.
We have a future with God beyond death itself. We belong to Christ. We are his and he died and rose for us.
Alleluia, Alleluia. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed alleluia!
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 13th April - Palm Sunday
Reading Luke 19: 28-40 - Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Sermon on Luke 19: 28-40
On 14th February this year, US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said to Ukrainian President Vlodomir Zelensky. “I want to tell you and your people, you’re the ally I’ve been hoping for all my life. Not one American has died defending Ukraine. You’ve taken our weapons and kicked their !!!!!! And I am very proud to have you as our ally.”
Two weeks later, following the infamously hostile meeting between Trump and Zelensky’s in the Whitehouse, Graham said of Zelensky: “What I saw in the Oval office was disrespectful. I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelensky again. He either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with or he needs to change.” What a difference a fortnight makes!
One day, Zelensky was lauded as the charismatic leader, guiding his brave country fighting the more powerful adversary. A David figure doing his best, and fairly successful, against the brutal Goliath. The next thing we know, is that he’s being derided as an ungrateful and entitled despot, undemocratically holding on to power, and lacking a commitment to peace. Irresponsibly risking his people’s lives. As Trump put it “Gambling with world war three.”
In the research I did for this sermon, it’s very depressing at how many people seemed to share this view on social media. How quickly the tide can turn against you, when you appear to be in a weak position, or losing an argument, or not giving people what they want. This change of heart towards Zelensky reminds us how drastically and quickly popularity and good opinion can be lost, particularly when events are turning against you.
The prevailing question of Palm Sunday is: “What happened to the crowd?”
On the first Palm Sunday, when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, people were excited about Jesus. They were aware he was fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9: “See your King comes to you, righteous and victorious and riding on a donkey.”
Jesus’ death took place at Passover. God delivered his people from evil and oppression at the first Passover in Egypt, and now He is doing the same again. But with Jesus as the Passover lamb, sacrificed to deliver his people. Jesus will emerge from all this victorious, as Zechariah predicted, just not in the way the crowd expected. The crowd had seen or heard about Jesus doing spectacular things, and they expected more of the same. And they expected a Messiah who would overthrow their enemies and bring freedom, justice and peace overnight.
We could translate the crowd’s joyful shouts as “Long live the King!” Ironic, considering that in a week they would be calling for Jesus’ death. This wasn’t the first time the people of Israel had got Kingship wrong! Generations before, the people of Israel wanted a human king to lead them and they chose King Saul for the throne by casting lots. Even though God had been faithful to them and guided them, the people rejected God as their true King and crowned Saul instead. That didn’t end well!
And once again Israel is misunderstanding the role of King. The people had seen him do spectacular things, but Jesus wasn’t going to perform any more miracles now until Easter morning (save for in Mark when Jesus restored the high priest’s ear cut off at the time of the arrest). Peter wasn’t supposed to do that! Matthew, Mark and John record the crowd shouting: “Hosanna” which means “save us”. So, we can be confident the people had connected Jesus with their salvation and had recognised him as the one who’d fulfil prophecy.
But Jesus’s ideas of Kingship and deliverance are different to the preconceptions of the crowd. The people who were praising God and delighted to see Jesus, had the wrong idea about who Jesus was and how he’d save them. They thought this saving would happen by military force. And the peace would be accomplished by Jesus restoring the nation’s former glory. But when it becomes apparent that Jesus was not going to fulfil their hopes, most in the crowd would turn against him.
But it’s not just a misunderstanding of Jesus’ mission that causes the crowd to fall away. With thousands of people descending on Jerusalem for Passover, it’s likely that their minds turned to finding a room for the night and getting some food. That took priority over being in Jesus’ presence. They were drawn to Jesus, but they became distracted by sorting out their practical needs…..
……. “I’ll go with Jesus when it suits me, but now I need to check into my digs for the night.” …….“My people have been waiting for this man for generations, and I’ve had the privilege of putting my cloak down in honour of him…..but arggh look at the time …must go!” Human nature is fickle.
We struggle to withstand the pressure from cancel culture, to disown and punish those who popular opinion is unhappy with. And then there are those personal distractions – the things we feel we must do, but which get in the way of giving our attention and time to God. When the way of life we are following is demanding of our time, our attention, our money, our comfort…we lose commitment, we make excuses, absenteeism sets in as far as our walk with God is concerned. And in so doing we disown Jesus and leave him to his suffering. We call these events the “triumphal entry”, but really this is an ironic description, at least from Jesus’ perspective.
One little bit of triumph…one little piece of very good news in this challenging passage is the final verse, verse 40: The Pharisees and teachers of the law appeal to Jesus to rebuke his followers. They thought the crowd’s shouts were sacrilegious and blasphemous. But they were also fearful of disorder or a full revolt or a threat to their power. And for the Romans suppression of hostility which quite possibly might involve the Romans removing their power.
Jesus responds to their indignation with: “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Truly faithful followers of Jesus Christ will always praise him and proclaim the Good News and share that with others.
On Palm Sunday my heart goes out to the disciples and the true followers of Jesus there that day. They must have looked around on that first Palm Sunday and thought: “This is going rather well.” But what a difference a week made? They could have scarcely believed what they were seeing on Good Friday, how could this have happened?
The test for them and for us as Christians is to keep proclaiming Christ’s love – whatever the popularity of Christianity in the culture in which we’re living. So let’s be faithful to Jesus’ Passion. Let’s remember, and follow, and reflect on his suffering and sacrifice in these coming days and be thankful. And let’s try to be like those few, those very few of his followers who made it all the way to the foot of the cross, and heard in that place of unmatched cruelty, those words of inestimable comfort, ‘Father, forgive.’ Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 16th March 2025
Reading Philippians 3:17- 4:1 - Stand firm in the Lord
Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
Sermon on Philippians 3:17- 4:1
What makes you really smile ? I’m not referring to jokes here, but just in ordinary daily life, what are the things, or experiences that can bring a smile to your face? The kind of smile that says you are at peace with yourself. In which case it’s the kind of smile that can even, at least temporarily, overcome any negatives that may be uppermost in your mind. We all know what I mean by that, don’t we? Health issues, the news, relatives, other folk we know who are struggling, etc, etc. There are always going to be challenges that confront us, no matter who we are, but the frown that this can cause, which is quite understandable, surely must be subject to, and balanced by that inner smile.
We know what good a smile on your face can do to those we meet, friend or stranger, but more often than not, as you walk around the town, you see mainly dour faces. I suppose it’s a measure of the way things are. We live in a pressurised society with so much information about what is happening in the world. Reports of fighting, bombs and death, of yet another teenager being arrested for murder. There is more than enough to be miserable about especially including the future for our children and grandchildren. As I say this, you are not smiling now !! Generations in the past didn’t have access to all this information, but we do, and it’s a challenge, and it’s even more reason why we need to be sure about our faith, because that is the place, our faith, where we are given so many reasons to smile. We heard some of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. He would have been well aware of problems and challenges in his day, so he uses these words in chapter 3 to give a real and powwerful sense of how we can as Christians, despite all the negatives, have a very positive view of our lives and especially of our future.
In building up to the passage we heard, Paul reminds them and us about the central factor of Jesus in our lives and says:-
V 8 “ I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”.
He continues V 10,” I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
And it’s this last point especially, about us, you and me sharing in the resurrection, that Paul wants to flesh out in our reading this morning. This is where my reference to smiling came from, because to have the kind of confidence in the future that Paul talks about here, which is there for every Christian to have, is worthy of a smile, not necessarily constantly on our faces, but something that can well up from within us, a smile that can help us as we, like everyone else, digest the challenges of life in the 21st century.
In these verses Paul points out the huge difference between firstly, an approach to living in the world as Christians on the one hand, and secondly, living as those who reject God on the other. I can’t improve on Paul’s words so V18+19 “For, as I have often told you before and now say again, even with tears, many people live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
These are stark statements about rejecting God and a massive contrast to what comes next about us. So again using Paul’s words V20 “But our citizenship is in Heaven. And we (that is all follows of Jesus) we eagerly await a Saviour from there , the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body”. That is a fantastic statement of reassurance for us.
And Paul ends Chap 4V1 “Therefore, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord dear friends.”
This is a statement that is wonderful beyond words. The question for us is, do we believe it ? Have we really understood and grasped its significance for our future ? Paul is writing this because it is vitally important for us in how we live our daily lives . To grasp this truth is key to giving us the confidence God wants us to have in our daily lives. That despite all the negatives that can so easily bring us down, there is this underlying promise from God, a truth that can bring a confidence to our faith and a smile to our faces .
As Christians, all of us, with our failings and weaknesses, all of us can nevertheless, because of these words, know for sure that the promise of God to us is that life for eternity in Heaven is a guaranteed promise. And if anything ever deserves a WOW it is that !! It doesn’t mean that we skip through life without a care in the world. Quite the contrary, because firstly, our call is to be servants as Jesus came to serve. Secondly, our call is to share this reason to smile with any who will listen, because Heaven has room for everyone who will respond to the fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus Finally, our call is to worship our creator and show the love He shows to us, in forgiveness to others.
It seems that Paul’s reason for writing so strongly was his understanding that all was not well within the Christian community at Philippi with factions and disputes. He was aware that some were losing sight of the basic fundamentals of their faith and needed to be reminded. The temptation for us all is to compromise, to relapse into a secular frame of mind. The temptation is to sidestep the command to love and forgive and to let go of the standard God asks, is never far away, and can subtly erode our aims and relationships. That inner smile of confidence in God’s promises can so easily turn into a frown.
Paul knew the importance of working, worshipping and loving together. V17 “Join with others in following my example and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.” That advice hasn’t changed. That is the way to help ourselves in living lives that reflect our Heavenly citizenship.
So Paul’s clear intention is to give some clarity about some vitally important basics about our faith as a reminder that there are standards. SO…..
Reminder number one. As Christians we are citizens of a world to come, a future eternity in Heaven.
Reminer number two. We can eagerly anticipate the return of Jesus.
Reminder number three. We need to stand firm on the promises of God whilst we still here.
Reminder number four. We need each other.
Paul’s conclusion. 4V1 “Therefore my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends”.
To use a word we are familiar with, we are like expats from Heaven, having common standards and beliefs, a common hope through the resurrection of Jesus which means that one day we will be transformed into the likeness of Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait and it brings a smile to my face !!!
Rev Geoff Hobden
Sunday 16th February 2025
Reading Luke 6:17-26 - Blessings and Woes
He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, or you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets".
Sermon on Luke 6:17-26
We have just been reminded of Luke’s version of the Beatitudes and I’ve got what I hope are some interesting observations on how they reveal to us the challenge we have today of sharing our faith with others. Let me tell you first of all that Luke’s version is basically the same as Matthew’s , but he also, in addition, uses different words which I find helpful. For example, Matthew uses the word ‘Blessed’ throughout whereas Luke, changes the approach by starting with Blessed but then adding a section beginning with the words ‘Woe to you’.So Luke’s version is not an exact take on what Matthew records. One rather humorous difference is that Matt says that Jesus spoke to the crowds on a mountainside, whereas Luke says that Jesus went down with them and spoke on a level place ! Typical of two people reporting the same event with some differences. What is identical is that Jesus is speaking to a large crowd plus the disciples and is giving some in depth teaching about faith and what it means to be a believer in God.
So, holding that in our minds, I need now to change the scene and ask you to think about how you communicate with others. Imagine, that you are a volunteer in some charity, be it church or elsewhere. You have been doing the job for quite some time but it’s time to hand your responsibilities on to someone else. However, the role is quite time consuming and you worry that it might be difficult to persuade someone else to take it on. As a result, your approach to asking someone may easily go down the route of trying it make it sound so much less demanding than it actually is. So, “It’s very straightforward really, there’s plenty of help, not too time consuming, just counting the cash on a Sunday” What is the job, oh didn’t I say, it’s church treasurer. Wow, that is certainly not an accurate description of the duties of a treasurer. You get the idea?
Maybe you’ve done something like that in the past to hand a job on to someone else?
I suppose that in the main we start with the assumption that no one will actually want to take it on. We assume that the answer is likely to be ‘NO’. They know what we are doing though, and we know they know what we are doing. It’s a bit of a game !
Do you see where I am taking this in relation to the challenge of sharing our faith and the good news of Jesus, with others? If we find ourelves with the opportunity to share, there is a huge temptation to either oversimplify or more likely to avoid it altogether . Why? because we probably feel inadequate and also that they might be reluctant to listen. This is quite understandable and affects all of us, you are not alone. Let me at this point introduce the word ‘Paradox’.
A paradox is a statement which appears to be contradictory or absurd but is nevertheless true such as:-
1)The only rule is that there are no rules.
2)I can resist anything except temptation.
3)The more you know the more you know you don’t know.
You may not realise it, but the Christian Gospel is full of Paradoxes, not least in The Beatitudes. The teaching of Jesus in the Beatitudes is still very early in his ministry. He already has his 12 disciples, has performed miracles and been rejected from his home town. Who Jesus actually is has so far only been eloquently described by a demon possessed man in Chap 4 “I know who you are, the Holy one of God”. Absolutely right !
Where we are now in Chap 6 Jesus is faced with the opportunity to reach a huge number of people, possibly the largest crowd so far, people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon. Many of them in coming to hear Jesus, had experienced some kind of healing and so the stage was set for Jesus who took a line of approach which, in this evangelistic opportunity, could be considered surprising.
To summarise Luke’s first set of Blessed’s, he says
If you are poor, hungry, weeping, hated , insulted and rejected, that’s something to rejoice about because you are blessed. Really?
But He goes on, If however you are rich, well fed, laughing, respected, flattered, and welcomed that’s awful because you are to be pitied. Woe to you .
Can you imagine the reaction of the crowd? What does He mean? Is it really better to be poor, and hungry and is it worse to be rich and respected ? In these words of Jesus we have two Paradoxes, that opposite as those these statements sound, they are nevertheless true for followers of Jesus as they respond to what God asks of them. What we as Christians see as good things, are different to the world. Jesus elaborates from V27.
I tell you, love, do good to, bless and pray for those who treat you like dirt. Don’t retaliate , release possessions and money and finally, Jesus says “You must live by the code you would like them to adopt towards you, not what they actually do”. That’s what brings blessings.
What Jesus is saying to this large crowd is dynamite. It’s nothing like the approach we might take in persuading someone to follow Jesus. We would much prefer to take John3 about God loving the world so much that he sent his son, or possibly using Revelation chap3 with the picture of Jesus standing at the door of our lives and asking to come in. So why did Jesus take this rather strong approach ? Well, he is certainly not resorting to a softly softly approach in sharing what being a Christian means, and do you know, neither should we.
If we approach sharing our faith worrying about how they might consider us to be religious fruitcakes and how they might switch off if we talk about spiritual issues and Jesus, then we are going to avoid explaining what is really involved and end up watering it down to make it more acceptable and hopefully more attractive.
On the contrary, we need to be bold enough to take courage from the approach of Jesus and not assume that they don’t want to hear it. If we are going to water it down to make it more acceptable, we are almost guaranteeing that they will not be challenged to see the major message in the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Our hesitation is very understandable but we do know that every single person needs Jesus, whether they realise it or not, that their eternity depends on it.
Jesus gave his hearers on that day the full picture. He didn’t set out to make it attractive. He chose, to much rather show how the paradox of unselfish obedience and service is a perfect match with being blessed and loved by God. And when it comes to Paradoxes,
Let me remind you that the sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross to give us life is a Paradox. Death leading to life is a strange concept but nevertheless true .
We have another greater Paradox in that our all-powerful, self-sufficient God asks for our worship.
There is of course a difference between us and Jesus. When he was preaching to this crowd he was a living, perfect example of what he was saying. His life completely backed up what he said. Our lives don’t always conform do they ?
We still at times long to be rich, happy, and respected and so it seems have a natural reluctance to speak up for our faith. That leaves us with both good news and bad news. The good news is that God understands us and forgives, knowing that we can’t shake off our tendency to sin. Repentance leads to our forgiveness. The bad news is that we aren’t let off the hook when it comes to witnessing to our faith. We may not live a perfect life as Jesus did, but we are as Christians, living examples of God’s love and forgiveness with a real testimony about heaven.
None of us are ever going to feel good enough. But we can help ourselves daily by drawing closer to God and reading His word which gives us life. God wants the challenge to us to witness and give our testimonies, to change from being something scary to being a real joy. May that be our story of faith for as long as we have left, and God’s blessing will be the result.
V23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy because great is your reward in Heaven
Rev Geoff Hobden
Sunday 2nd February 2025
Reading 1 Luke 2:22-40 - Jesus Presented in the Temple
When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”, and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation,which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.
Sermon on 1 Luke 2:22-40
I wonder if you have a personal bucket list? A list of once in a lifetime moments or experiences that you particularly want to fit into your time on earth. Jack Reynolds was still ticking things off his list when most of us would be putting our feet up. At 104 years old, he became the oldest person to get his first tattoo. He broke another record by taking a rollercoaster ride on his 105th birthday. A year later he marked his birthday by doing a zip wire. At 107 Jack got himself a cameo part in the soap opera Hollyoaks, making him the oldest person to perform as a supporting artist on TV. He died in 2020 aged 108! It’s never too late to have new experiences.
Our Gospel reading is about more than an ambitious bucket list. Of things we might fancy doing or even things which will bring us very significant fulfilment. It’s the culmination of Anna and Simeon’s lifework after years and years of waiting. You could call this scene Epiphany 2!
A few weeks ago I explained to the children in Locking School that “Epiphany” comes from a Greek word which means “reveal”. If you say “you’ve had an epiphany” it means things suddenly make sense, my ideas have finally fallen into place. Have you ever had a Simeon and Anna type epiphany?
When something you were so sure about has been found to be true? This is particularly important if others seem to be against you. So Anna and Simeon’s epiphany is where we see their expectations justified and their hopes vindicated.How might we have a similar experience of vindication?
Maybe because something that you were so sure about, that others doubted, maybe the whole world doubted, has been proven true. You might feel a huge relief, a huge burden lifted off you. Grateful that you weren’t going mad, if everyone said you were wrong, misguided, deluded, pig-headed.You may have seen others give up when you’ve stayed clinging on. Maybe you stayed firm, when others counselled you to give up and move on for your own sake. Maybe your dearest wish has finally come true after many years of waiting and hoping, bringing lasting happiness. The truth is finally revealed and you can move on. Move on to the next life in Simeon’s case. God’s enacting of the world’s salvation has begun with the birth of His son, and now his servant can depart in peace.
As I said vindication is a wonderful thing and in this lovely scene we see many expressions of vindication. Simeon, Anna and perhaps most importantly Israel. And so too are Mary and Joseph. Although scripture doesn’t definitively say that Simeon is an old man, we presume he is. The Holy Spirit told him that he would not die before the enacting of God’s promises to secure salvation for the world in “God with us”.
Simeon has been waiting a long time to see this, and he says he can now die unburdened because God’s salvation plan has begun, and we get the sense that the release of death will be coming relatively soon for him. Interestingly Simeon talks of “a light for revelation to the Gentiles”, so he was way ahead of his time, he was confident that God’s Messiah would unite both Jews and Gentiles with himself. We learn Anna, the 84 year old prophetess, has been a widow for many, many years. Widows were people looked down on by the society of the time. They were usually considered not worth listening to. Widowhood was probably a tragedy for Anna, and she may have gone to the temple because she had nowhere else to go, but whatever she was steadfast in her devotion to God. The temple priests probably would not have recognised her as a prophet. But Anna’s exuberant response is an example of evangelism to all and also mimicked the praise offered up by her predecessor prophet Hannah for her son Samuel, another child promised by God.
Israel is vindicated because the Messiah has come and exile is gone. In Jesus God is with us. The people of Jerusalem receive the news from Anna that the Messiah has come on behalf of all Israel. Israel is vindicated for her patient if imperfect faith that the Messiah would come to save her. For her belief that her people would be freed from their enemies power and that God’s justice would reign. They’d be confirmed as God’s chosen people and that he’d been faithful to the covenants made between them.
If I were Mary or Joseph, I probably could not get enough signs to reinforce my vindication and my calling. Angels, shepherds, magi and now Simeon. Mary arrives at the temple only able to afford the cheapest sacrificial offering. She has to give two turtledoves or pigeons because she cannot afford a lamb. She is of course unmarried and probably to some extent shunned, but Simeon confirms what has already been revealed to Mary, identifying and receiving Jesus as the Christ. The temptation to doubt her vindication must have been all around her. Mary travels to the temple also in the footsteps of Hannah.
Hannah’s vindication came hundreds of years before Mary’s. Like Samuel, Jesus was taken to the temple to be presented to the Lord. Samuel was to be used by God for a special kind of service, different to other baby boys. And the same was true for Jesus, in the temple for the first time …. but not for the last.
And on that day Simeon prophesied Jesus’ future. But Mary was to hear that heartbreak is on the horizon. That the Good News is not exclusively good news as far as Mary is concerned. There are consequences when you are the Son of God and his mother and father. Simeon speaks of the division that Jesus will bring. There will be no neutrality with Jesus. There will be a shift in authority and power, and this is already being demonstrated, with God choosing the weak, the old, the widowed, the poor, the marginalised to reveal his work. And conventional forms of power would fall. The light of the world was coming into a world that had been the location of so much fighting and violence and power struggles and oppression. And not much has changed. The shadow of the cross was present even here when Jesus was a newborn.
Anna and Simeon show us how to live in the now but not yet. They believed God had given them a role to perform in the future and they waited patiently for God’s sign.They show us how to live with uncertainty in our lives.They never lost hope of seeing the Messiah, though they had to wait for many years to see God’s promise to be fulfilled. Their faith remained strong in spite of the disappointment of widowhood, old age, waiting and the subjugation of Israel.Both lived their lives dedicated to worshipping God and pointing others to him. Simeon was given special insight by the Holy Spirit so that he would recognise Jesus as God’s son. And guided so that they could come upon the infant Christ at just the right time.
Like a glitter and glue picture, where you paint with the glue and then pour the glitter on, mid project the picture doesn’t seem recognisable at all. But when the glue dries and excess glitter is shaken off, the picture becomes clear and the truth is revealed. Anna and Simeon revealed God’s glitter glue picture to the world, identifying God’s truth revealed in the most unexpected of forms: a tiny baby.
Anna and Simeon show us that waiting will not be forever and that vindication will come for those waiting for God. The truth will become clear when we shake off the glitter of hopelessness, faithlessness, defeat and doubt. And wait for the epiphany moment when truth comes, the ultimate bucket list is fulfilled, the faithful servant’s work is done and they can depart in peace.
Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday January 26th 2025
Reading 1 Corinthians 12 12-31 - Unity and Diversity in the Body
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
Sermon on 1 Corinthians 12 12-31
When I was a child in the 60’s we played a favourite game called Misfits. It consisted of 60 cards with hats, faces, body and legs. 7 cards per person were dealt and then, starting with a hat, bodies were formed. The hats, faces, bodies and legs did not have to match but to win the legs had to be a matching pair. The winner was the one who completed the most bodies. Such fun we had with that game. But I hadn’t thought about it for years until I started preparing for this service and re-visited this part of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians entitled ‘Unity and Diversity in the Body or ‘One Body, Many Parts’. Not sure that Paul would approve of the connection but here are my thoughts.
Last week in the first part of this letter we heard about Paul writings about the gifts of the spirit. ‘There are different kinds of gifts, but same Spirit’ . These gifts include the message of wisdom, gifts of healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues. But Paul makes it clear that ‘All these are the work of one and the same Spirit’. That Spirit gives those gifts to each person as he determines. And that includes us. Everyone has been given gifts: think of those you recognise in others and don’t be afraid to acknowledge the gifts you have been given. The gifts are shared around so that they can be used at different times, different ways and in different situations. Furthermore, in today’s part of the letter Paul tells us that we were all baptised into one body by the Spirit and as a human body is made up of different parts so ‘you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it.’ A body can’t be all hands; the eye can’t say to the hand ‘I don’t need you’. Paul writes ‘there should be no division in the body but that that its parts should have equal concern for each other.’ Different people are given different gifts and different roles and they should all work together. That’s us too. The body of Christ, filled with the Spirit, should work together, , all the parts doing their bit for the good of the whole. And the body of Christ, of which each one of us is a part, has a greater gift which all should desire. Paul finishes the chapter with the words ‘And now I will show you the most excellent way.’ And then comes 1Corinthians 13 and the power of love which underpins, holds together, inspires and will not let us go.
The bodies that were created in playing Misfits looked odd: a top hat, a policeman’s head, a banjo players body, a pair of trousers with clogs. Fortunately no-one here is dressed so bizarrely. But it was a body. All human beings are different to each other: no two people are completely alike (identical twins do not have the same fingerprints). Gender, race, wealth, health, age show our differences but we are all human. God created humans and wants his creation to acknowledge him and to love each other and his creation. In love he gives each human being gifts that will enrich, develop, cherish, protect and respect each other. God sent his Son, his greatest gift, to remind humanity of God’s purpose, to challenge humanity about the way people were being treated and to show them the way: the way based on love.
As we look at the world today we can wonder where that love is. We look at the situation in the Middle East; we wait to see what the new President of the United States will do next; we mourn the death of a 12 year old boy stabbed in a park in Birmingham by a 14 year old boy. We look at the Church of England which has not dealt well with those within it who have abused their status; we look at the homeless: the lonely; those who feel all hope is gone. We remember the horror of the Holocaust. We look at the issues around climate change, the threats to our planet and the ways of life of so many and wonder what we can do about it. And how.
Well, we should look to Jesus, our Lord who knows what it’s like to be human. From Luke’s gospel we hear that Jesus, ‘full of the Holy Spirit’ was led into the desert where he was tempted by the devil. We can usually recall what the temptations were, but let’s focus on Jesus’ responses: “It is written man shall not live by bread alone’; ‘worship the Lord your God and serve him only’; ‘Do not put your God to the test.’ Jesus, full of the Spirit, knew what was right, knew what God wanted. He drew on that knowledge and resisted the temptations of the devil. How strong are we in our faith, in our knowledge of what God wants. Do we go out, as Jesus did, in the power of the spirit? He went out to teach and preach. In his own home, Nazareth, he read out Isaiah’s words to show who he was:
‘The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.’
Jesus’ mission was ‘to proclaim the good news to the poor’, not just those who lacked wealth or opportunity but to challenge those who were poor in their lack of love for God and his purposes. Jesus came to get people to re-examine their lives, their attitudes to others, the way they used their talents for the good of others. And it was a message for all: the young, the old, men and women, the powerful and the powerless, the marginalised and the complacent. When Jesus spoke to huge crowds he would have seen a range of people, misfits in the eyes of many, and he would have been speaking to each one of those directly, telling them that everyone has a place in God’s family, his love and his blessings.
Jesus could do all of this because he was filled with Spirit. And that Spirit is available to all of us too, we misfits here today and in our church family. Christians and the church may well been seen as irrelevant or odd nowadays so we have to stand firm in our faith and united in our fellowships. The Spirit comes to us through our worship, through our fellowship, through our reading of the bible, through our prayers. It guides and inspires us, comforts and encourages us. Each one of us is given a talent and the means of how to use it. As the body of Christ now, we have to work together in love, thinking of the needs of others, reaching out to others, challenging our own preferences and judgements, having ‘equal concern for each other.’ And when we get downhearted, let’s think about Jesus and his first disciples, the fishermen, the tax collector, old and young, the women. They would have been seen as misfits by many: but look at what they achieved.
On the lid of the box that held the Misfits cards were the words: ‘A game full of fun for children of all ages and the family circle’. Life isn’t a game and it isn’t always fun, but God’s love and the Spirit are available to all. Being brought together in the body of Christ we are the family circle of faith. It is up to us to share that good news with others: let’s draw on all that God has given each one of us, using our talents and working together, with ‘equal concern for each other’, just as God intended.
Jane Barry (Reader)
Sunday 5th January 2025
Reading Matthew 5:13 - Salt and Light
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
Sermon on Matthew 5:13
Turn to your neighbour for two minutes and see how many things we can think of that we use Salt for. With a little help from Google I came up with:
- Put on your chips/food (taste)
- Salt to grip on the road
- Kill Slugs
- Preservative
- Bless/curse/sacrifice
- Currency/payment
- Mouthwash – relieve sore throat/clean teeth.
- Prevent infection
- Cleaning
- Exfoliate your skin
- Extinguishing grease fires
Salt is used for all sorts of things. Back in the day it was perhaps more important than it is today because, before the days of fridges, it was a preservative. It was used to keep food from going off so quickly, which was really, really important for daily living. Today we’re more likely to add it to our food for flavour, so you add salt to your bag of chips. But the key thing about salt is that it has an effect on the things around it. In flavouring. As a preservative. To stop you skidding on the M5. To kill a slug.
So when Jesus tells his followers they should be like salt….he’s saying they ought to have an effect on the world and the people around them. In other words – a Christian's life is not just personal for us alone. Of course, a life of faith is there to help us personally by bringing us closer to God, and giving us comfort and hope and encouragement … that is good in itself. . . But our life…. like salt; should have an effect on the people and the world around us.
So, in the same way as it makes your chips taste better, if you’re a truly salty Christian, your faith should make your life taste, feel, sound, be better. It should add flavour to your life. It should have an effect because the salt is there to have an effect.
As Christians, Jesus is saying, we are there to have make other people’s lives better! Jesus says: "you are the salt of the earth”. So it should change who you are for the better. And it’s not something we reserve for special occasions – no – it's there for the everyday as well as you feel in a particularly holy mood. Jesus said these words during the Sermon on the Mount. When he told the crowd what they had to do, to be his followers. This isn't some special teaching reserved for Jesus closest or most experienced disciples – this is for everyone. It’s a key part of every Christian’s identity. "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?"
Most of us will know the salty sea foam we can see around on Weston beach. Which is a bit yucky. I understand this would also have been present around the edges of the dead Sea in Israel, where there are salty foamy mineral deposits round the edge of the water. And if the salt itself was washed away . . .you will be left with a sort of mush! That's quite a challenging thing to say for any Christian – that if there's no sense of us being a positive influence on our things around us – if the salt has been washed out of our Christian life – all we are left with is some foamy mush!!
Being like salt is intrinsic to being a follower of Jesus and – it's the "living it out" of loving God and having faith. To mix my analogies…as Salty Christians, we’re called to be big flashing neon signs for God or an equivalent. Maybe that’s why we’ve got those great big noticeable, attractive, noticeable buildings that people have an affection for – to be noticeable, to make a difference, to be a beacon. To have an effect in people’s lives.
And similarly, that’s why God provided our villages with all of you. You can be salty around your neighbours in Hutton and Locking and Parklands and wherever you go. You are called to point people to Jesus. You are family members of his church and you’re called to welcome more siblings to God’s household. To reach out to our friends and neighbours. So I want to us to return to the strapline I introduced when I arrived here: “In friendship, In fellowship, In Christ.”
I think folk in our churches are really good at friendships, and we need to use those friendships and relationships to bring the people we are friends with and care about to Jesus. Jesus commanded remain in my love.
We need to persist in our relationships. We need to invest in our friendships. We need to go out and be salt and light to our friends.And pray for an effect. We need to really feel and believe in God’s love for us and to believe and feel that love is extending wider to all those around us even those who know nothing about him or who have rejected him.
So how do we do this when the truth is that the majority of people we meet in our lives and in our community are good people who live good lives and often do really good things. (And of course, we should be good people too, but if that's all we are, then it's unlikely to be that effective.) This teaching about being salt and light is part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus describes a Christian life as being of goodness that far exceeds the norm. In other words – showing such grace and kindness and love that would be beyond what any of us could achieve of our human nature.
So, for example – if we're just kind to those who are kind to us, that's no big deal…. Jesus says our goodness should exceed that: In Matthew 5:23: ‘You have heard that it was said "love your neighbour and hate your enemy". But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’ In Verse 46 “If you love those who love you what reward will you get? Even the tax collectors doing that and if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?”
Our society and everyday life can be full of backbiting, worry and selfishness. But supposing we could be people of such mercy and joy and peace and generosity and love . . . . that we stand out. I think that’s where living out: In Friendship, In Fellowship, In Christ begins.
Our society is full of selfishness and worry. If we are unnaturally graceful and hopeful and joyful... we will be different and hopefully others might observe that and be interested in that difference. We’ll be salty if you like, and others may start to notice it.
The difference a relationship with Jesus Christ makes is a distinctiveness in loving and caring for others … so that others start to notice it. And want some of that too. That’s how we go from friendship, to fellowship in some sort of joining in, and then to faith in Jesus Christ. What if we could be people of unusual amounts of grace, far beyond what others might expect. Wouldn't it be lovely if villagers said that of people from Locking church or Hutton Church… that they show unusual amounts of love!
Many of us will have heard this teaching about salt and light before. Probably all of us would agree it was a good thing …but secretly when we think about our lives we wonder “is this beyond us?” Well, if you’re overwhelmed by the scale of the task, and feeling you're not up to it, remember that we don’t do this in our own strength. In fact, it’s impossible to do this in our own strength. God helps us. Just before Jesus talks about being like salt, he talks about certain people who are blessed. The first of the Beatitudes is this: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
A Christian who is humble enough to realise they are spiritually poor . . . .who painfully knows the limits of their ability to love . . . . you may be surprised to hear is blessed! You’re blessed when you ask for God’s help. "The Message" paraphrases this verse as: "you're blessed when you're at the end of your tether. With less of you there is more of God and his rule".
God helps those who know their need of him. Are you humble enough to realise that when it comes to being salt and light in the world, you can't do this by yourself? That is the very point God will help you . . . . .if you pray and ask for his help.
Do you feel like you may be "at the end of your tether" in terms of these challenges? Then ask the help of God's holy spirit and, if you’re willing, he will fill your life with his fruit. – Of love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and self-control. Ask God and he will fill you to the measure that will overflow to others – and you will become like salt. Because of God's work inside you.
And also we are here in church to encourage each other to be salty in our lives. That's one of the main reasons we meet together is to help each others live out our lives during the week as Christians. To get the information, encouragement, strengthening to go out and be salt and light in the world.
I hope that as we journey together, as two churches, we will find more and more ways to live out our faith. And church should act as a springboard to help each of us do it. I'm sure this is something many of us know and realise but I hope and pray for a renewed understanding and enthusiasm for doing it.
The opportunities to be salt and light for Jesus Christ are all around us in each and every one of our networks – whether it is work, family friends, activities, neighbours. In all the interactions and relationships there is the potential to show unnatural grace – to be salt and light in the world. And we invite God in to help us to be truly people living out and responding to God's amazing love. Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 15th December 2024
Reading Luke 3 - John the Baptist Prepares the Way
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
“What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.
But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.
Sermon on Luke 3
Did you know that John the Baptist and my son had one thing in common ? They were both raised in a vicarage !
There the similarity ends. You will remember that John’s dad Zechariah had a rural ministry as a priest and we know the story of how John’s birth came about. We will shortly be reminded of Mary turning to John’s mother(who was also pregnant) for support and travelled to her ‘vicarage’ to stay for 3 months. No doubt between the two of them there would have been a huge sense of expectancy. We know from the Old Testament that God had already given prophecies about both these births. The angel said to John’s father “He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth”. And of Jesus the angel said to MARY, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his servant David. His kingdom will never end”.
There aren’t too many babies born with those kind of expectations are there? These were messages that both families would need to hold on to in the future as events developed.
It would be interesting to know what kind of conversations Zechariah and Elizabeth would have had ? They had no idea as to what course their new baby’s life would take. I wonder how much they told John about the unusual nature of this prophecy from the angel ?
Similarly for Mary and Joseph of course, a statement about the birth which was mind blowing and once Joseph got over the shock, no doubt they talked about and wondered.
I think that we can confidently say that both boys would have been aware of the prophetic nature of their births at an early age, and as a result both would have lived with a high degree of expectation about the future. So both households would have moved into the future with the promises of God ringing in their ears.
It would be good to remind ourselves at this point that both John and Jesus had the free will to refuse the ministry allotted to them, just as Judas had the choice of betrayal and you and I also have the choice of how we serve God.
In our reading from Luke 3 we see from verse 15 that John had already taken on his role with gusto and was making an impact with many sections of the population. He knew that he was to be a voice calling in the wilderness and that’s what he did. We are also told that the people were waiting expectantly and were wondering. Question ? was it a coincidence that both John and Jesus began their ministries at the age of 30 ? In the days when the Ark of the Covenant containing the ten commandments, had to be carried around from place to place on poles because of its weight, there was a rule that the men carrying it had to be from priestly families and had reached the age of 30. You know we do worship a God of order who likes things to be done properly.
The people were expectant because they knew the scriptures. They were acutely aware of the prophecies about John and Jesus and it’s not surprising that they weren’t sure if they listening to Jesus or John. So we shouldn’t be surprised that when John began, that crowds came to listen. Luke calls them crowds, in Mark we read that it was the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem. These really were momentous days. John didn’t need a poster campaign or facebook to get the word around. Was he a gifted orator who flattered and entertained them ? Quite the contrary. In fact his words were more likely to put them off. V7 You brood of vipers v3 You need to repent and be forgiven. V9 Your religion is in danger of being cut off at the root. In the style of the Old Testament prophets his message was clear. What he had read in the Old Testament gave him the content. In short, God hates Sin !!! and that hasn’t changed.
John’s message was straight and direct because it was clear that the Jewish religion had become nothing more than words and symbolism. So despite his words and accusations I ask again, why did they continue to come? I have two suggestions. Firstly I feel sure that they knew that it was the truth. Certainly not a new truth, as they knew their scriptures and therefore had heard it from the prophets of old. Like them, John was calling for repentance, a turning away from disobedience, and because they knew that it was true, many of them were ready to respond. My second suggestion as to why they were so attracted to listen and respond centres around a word I have already used several times is the word ‘expectancy’. Just as the two mums were waiting with expectation for their babies to be born, so the whole Jewish nation lived in the expectation of a promised Saviour. We’ll be having these readings over Christmas. So to summarise, the Jewish history included……Expectation of freedom from slavery in Egypt, expectation of the Promised Land, expectation of a Messiah. These were all integral aspects of their faith in God. Two of them had already happened, but now it was for them, waiting to be released from slavery to the Romans. Remember too that for them, nothing had been heard from God for about 400 years. From the time of the prophet Micah God remained silent. Their expectancy was, as a result heightened. Despite John’s tough words, they listened. V10 What shall we do then? Followed by the tax collectors asking V12 What should we do ? and in V14 even the soldiers asked and what shold we do ? There was a consensus that change was needed. Could it be possible that this man John was either the Messiah or telling us about him ? Perhaps as individuals they were hardly daring to voice this age old promise and control their sense of excitement.
Let me stretch your memories as I have stretched mine to think back to the time when as a child you were approaching Christmas hoping like mad that what you had asked for was going to happen, but not daring to ask in case you are going to be disappointed ?
V15 tells us that the crowds came out to hear John and “were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ” and in
V16 they get the answer “But one more powerful than I will come….”
It wasn’t long before, perhaps many of the same crowd , witnessed the baptism of Jesus which included, as we know, the voice from Heaven conforming who Jesus was.
For us now, with these well known stories of long term promises of God being realised and expectations being fulfilled,we as Christians, also live with the same kind of long term expectancy that the Jews lived with. We too, as followers of Jesus, have long term promises regarding both our individual futures and the future of God’s creation. We too can have the same thrill of knowing that God is faithful, even though the wait seems so long. We can allow that firm expectation to fuel our daily lives and service. I believe that God can do so much more when he is working alongside people who have that same sense of expectation. The season of Advent can so easily be swallowed up with preparations to celebrate the birth, that the promise of His return is hardly mentioned. It will happen and we are called to wait, but if we become apathetic or indifferent and lose that sense of expectation there’s a chance that that we may be blocking our witness of God in our lives.
The days in which we live and practice our faith now, are not dissimilar to the period of Jewish history when John arrived, but because of the past, because of the birth, life , death and resurrection of Jesus and the words in this wonderful book, we have every reason to live in expectation of the promised return of Jesus and, as Christians the prospect of our own secured future in Heaven. So this Christmas, as we celebrate the birth, lets live expecting God to keep His promise, that for all who follow Jesus our eternity is assured and that the best is yet to come. Alleluia !!
Rev Geoff Hobden
Sunday 24th November 2024
Reading John 18: 33-38 - Christ the King
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
Sermon on John 18: 33-38 and Rev 1: 4-8
A light depiction of apparent good leadership in recent years has been the Love Actually prime minister’s speech, where the prime minister, famously portrayed by Hugh Grant, refuses to let the UK be pressured into decisions by an American president who uses and abuses the UK/US special relationship, not to mention the prime minister’s PA, for his own and America’s betterment. Hugh Grant’s character refuses to be bullied and demands equal status within the partnership. But the Love Actually prime minister is a long way from the kind of leadership that we see from Jesus in these two readings.
Today is the feast of Christ the King. It was established by the Pope in the mid 1920s as a reaction to the first world war. While the fighting had stopped, earthly governments had failed to stop nationalism and solve the class divisions. Christ the King falls on the Sunday before Advent, a time when we think about the future, to Christ’s return and the coming of his Kingdom. Today we recognise that Jesus responds in a way that human leaders cannot, and consummates the work that is beyond earthly leadership.
We hear Jesus say to Pilate: “My Kingdom is not of this world.” And the words from Revelation, give us a sense of this world beyond. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Verse 8).
We hear words that describes eternity. Language that transcends the world’s limitations telling us Christ’s power will last forever. With these words we’re simultaneously taken back to Eden and transported forward to God’s Kingdom. We regain the purity and simplicity of creation. And we experience the consummation of Christ’s Kingdom in spectacular fashion God taking control over nature, specifically the clouds. God will be supreme over every evil humans can devise. And he will overcome death. And he will capture every heart and mind, convincing even those who put him to death.
At Christ the King we particularly think about power and specifically how earthly power is at odds with divine power. Whilst the point of Christ the King is to acknowledge that human leadership is never going to match up to God’s standards, we are called to ask: How can earthly power be exercised in a Christlike way? Our readings hold human leaders to account and projects Kingdom values into our world.
Our Gospel passage is an account of Jesus’ meeting with one of the most earthly powerful people alive at the time. And Jesus appears powerless before him. By most earthly standards, Pilate is powerful and assumes the power lies with himself. But Jesus refuses to let Pilate get himself off the hook by saving Jesus life, and so denies Pilate his power. When Jesus speaks about the Kingdom, he’s speaking to Pilate and every other tyrant, saying: I am powerful, yet you are incapable of seeing my power. My power is beyond your heart and your understanding and values. I have the power to get out of this situation, but I won’t, because I won’t capitulate to the power of evil. And I don’t recognise your power which is the power of saving oneself. I will de-centre the power of Rome. My Kingdom will transcend human power, earthly power, here concentrated in you.
Heavenly authority does not come from tyrrany or indeed an election, or an appointment or war. Whilst Jesus is standing there in human frailty, his authority is fully divine, and is not accountable to Pilate and his questioning. But neither does give self protection from human powerlessness. Jesus’ approach to power isn’t the same as ours. Jesus’ power came through the cross. Before, during and after Jesus’s lifetime crucifixion equalled powerlessness. In 30 AD crucifixion was a disaster. It was not a Tale of Two Cities honourable, worthy death. It was the death for the lowest of the low. It was a disgraceful death for disgraceful people. In submitting to crucifixion Jesus was saying I don’t care about disgrace, shame, loss of reputation. I expect to be abandoned and misunderstood. And I refuse to use my power to avoid that.
The early Christians were really unsure and embarrassed about the crucifixion. The didn’t know how to deal with it. They didn’t like to think about it. Let alone wear a cross around their necks. But the cross was the means by which God triumphed over everything and made himself Kingly. It was the means by which he will convince everyone in the end. By the cross he could, reject all human power.
The most Christlike way of exercising power is to be faithful to what you believe to be true. It’s important to remember the truth of the cross is beyond the good opinion of our or any generation’s contemporaries. A much better judge of power is how you’ll be judged in 200 year’s time, than what seems reasonable or approved of now.
Jesus’ power brought the freedom to the world.It brought life to all who follow Jesus. The power of the cross will last forever. As we know, Pilate’s oppressive power didn’t last. Pilate will be judged eternally by the earthly power he misused briefly. Jesus’ Kingship is found in his faithfulness, constancy, truthfulness, goodness and his enduring love and this will last forever. And instead for Pilate, the eternal judge of Pilate will be his poor character.
In life we gain glimpses of heavenly power. We live in earthly time and circumstances. And it’s so difficult to throw off our earthly values. But fortunately God was able to do this where we fail.
Pilate was consumed by his failures. He is forever associated with cowardice and weaseliness. But he Pilate brings us closer to understanding the forsakenness of the world and how much we need Jesus, who we know never fails and will never fail us. The reality is we share some things in common with Pilate we fail regularly and choose the easy option. We are complicit in the decisions he made and the actions he took when we choose our own security over justice. When we wash our hands of the injustice of the world and pretend there is nothing we can do.
At times we betray Jesus. Failure, failure, failure. We want Jesus to use his power and take away our failure. We want him to be strong and Kingly. We want his reign to begin. Righting wrongs, ending pain, correcting injustice, sending the wicked away empty, setting the record straight and making all well with the world. And we tend to think of power in Pilate terms rather than Jesus on the cross terms. Even now, as Kingdom people, we think of the majesty of Kingship and the bang, crash, wallop of the end times. But the ultimate truth of Kingship is that at the end of time, the face that we will see on the throne will be the same face we see on the cross.
When Christ sits on his throne, we will see the vindication of the oppressed. All pain sorted. Everyone and everything healed forever. Death and sin will have failed. The scars of the crucifixion will still be there but their ability to harm us and dominate us, will be gone. Truth, love and God’s kingdom …these are the only things that will last forever. And God’s mercy is the only thing that has never failed.
In this Kingdom season and as Advent comes in let us put our hope at the foot of the cross ....the one thing that has never and will never fail us.
Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 10th November 2024 REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY
Reading John 15: 9-17 - Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
Sermon - John 15: 9-17
In all wars, countless servicepersonnel on all sides put their lives on the line for the good of their country and to save the lives of their comrades.
There were two friends in World War One who were inseparable. They had enlisted together, trained together, shipped overseas together and fought side by side in the trenches together. During an attack, one of them was critically wounded on no man’s land, and barbed wire was preventing any likely return to the home trench. The entire area was under constant enemy crossfire and any attempt to reach him was certain to lead to the death of any rescuer. Their sergeant forbade his friend from going after him, saying: “It's too late, you’ll only get yourself killed.” But when the sergeant’s back was turned, his friend went over the top onto no man’s land to rescue his friend.
A short while later, he staggered back, mortally wounded with his friend in his arms. The sergeant was both angry and deeply moved: “What a waste he blurted out. He’s dead and you’re dying. It just wasn’t worth it.” With almost his last breath, the dying man replied: “Oh yes it was Sarge. When I got to him, the only thing he said was: I knew you’d come.”
Second Lieutenant John Robert Fox was an African American artillery officer fighting the Nazis in Italy during the second world war. In December 1944 he was commanded to stay behind in the small village of Sommocolonia, in Tuscany. The village had been overrun by the German side, and his comrades were in retreat. Fox found a house to hide in and, from the second floor, he used his radio to contact his commanders. He called for artillery fire to be directed at the village in order to give his comrades time to retreat, regroup and then launch a counter-attack. Fox even specifically ordered a barrage of fire on his exact position. The gunner who received the message assumed it was some mistake. Fox, simply said: “Fire it.”
His act of self-sacrifice was not in vain. Just as he’d planned, the artillery barrage did indeed give his comrades the chance to regroup and launch a successful counterattack. In April 1982, Fox was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. In the early 1990s, the US Army determined that black soldiers had been denied consideration for the Medal of Honor in World War II because of race discrimination. In 1996 ten African American veterans of World War II were awarded the Medal of Honor including Lt. Fox.]
And I am grateful to Steve de Bruin for sending me this final story, taken from the pocket sized John’s Gospel, distributed to soldiers on active service, during the Great War, which we have placed on the altar.
A young soldier on the front line, developed a love for singing hymns to keep his spirits up. He became known as Singing Jim. During a reconnaissance mission, a young soldier from his company was wounded between the trenches. A volunteer was asked for, to recover his body, and ‘Singing Jim’ stepped forward. He reached the man undercover of darkness, and began crawling home with his friend on his back. Then a flare burst overhead, revealing their position. A single sniper shot rang out and Jim was killed outright.
The stories that we have just heard show us what redemption means in the face of the horror and devastation of war. In our Bible passage we hear part of Jesus’s farewell message to his disciples and friends, just hours before his own death. Jesus was worried and concerned about the danger and difficulties the disciples would face in the future. Jesus died at the hands of an evil regime, and he knew that was also the destiny for most of his friends too. And he wanted to prepare them for what lay ahead.
The service personnel who we heard about, made the ultimate sacrifice, showing us the path Christ walked before them. Whilst they faced death, all around them in battle, Jesus also willingly walked into the place of enmity, carnage, and horror, carrying his cross on his final journey, just as terrified as any combatant on the front line of war.
Throughout history, service personnel in all conflicts lost their lives responding in love, obedience and compassion for one’s friends. Fox was obedient to his duty and the other two were obedient to his friend. The soldiers in the stories we heard walked the way of the cross; Their broken bodies are witnesses to Christian self sacrifice. In the midst of utter darkness hope is found in their friendship, duty, bravery and loyalty. Like the three hero soldiers we heard about, Christ could have stayed in the place of safety. But instead he chose to go into the heart of the danger zone to defeat evil and to protect his people. When God became man in Jesus, God accepted that he would encounter the worst evil that humanity could experience.
On the cross Jesus confronts the hate and anger and divisions of the world. And he does it with love. He receives the worst the world can give. And he goes on loving. He lays down his life for his friends in the face of evil. He asks us to do the same.
When we pray the Lord’s prayer we beseech God to deliver us from evil. God did not grant this request for himself. In war yesterday, today and tomorrow, God accompanies the service personnel of every nationality and faith into battle. He weeps for the lives lost and seeks to comfort those who mourn. He comes alongside terrified civilians caught in crossfire and those survivors for whom the psychological traumas cannot be shaken off.
On the cross God faced evil head on, and did not turn away. God does not guarantee us a happy ending in life. In war, He does not promise to preserve lives and protect bodies, but on the cross he protected humanity’s destiny, which was to be WITH HIM in his eternal kingdom, where justice and peace will reign forever, and there will be no more fighting or war or tears or pain.
On the cross God was prepared for whatever his enemies could do to him in order protect his friends and followers. And today we remember those who did the same for our freedom. Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 3rd November 2024
Reading Colossians 3:1-17 - Living as Those Made Alive in Christ
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your[ life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Sermon on Colossians 3:1-17
If we were to gather all the clothes we have ever owned and worn, we could paint a picture of ourselves and how we have become who we are now. We would see moments in our lives marked out by outfits worn on particular occasions….maybe the stand out moments in our lives. The garments might remind us of formative experiences, good and bad. The garments would likely speak about changes in our personal development and our changing attitudes and wealth. Our clothes might reflect mistakes made or lessons learnt. Damage to the items might say a thing or two. A rip or a bloodstain might be a reminder of an accident or a trauma.
Some items of clothes speak into our sense of identity. Women often keep their wedding dresses, though they will never wear them again. Some people keep school ties or sports uniforms as mementoes of our younger days or group wear which forever links us to a particular group. Perhaps a gaudy T-shirt or sombrero, (which let’s face it you wouldn’t be seen dead in, in public,) preserves the memory of a precious family holiday; acting as a souvenir to be worn, or at least stored sentimentally at the back of the wardrobe. Some women keep pieces from their maternity wardrobe as reminders of their journey towards motherhood , which hopefully hold joyful, happy memories. Baby clothes are often kept to remind parents of how small and cute their now 6 foot tall ‘child’ once was. Those bereaved often hold on to the sweater or jumper of a loved one, preserving their smell as long as possible. The item might be worn or hugged by the grieving person; a link to the intimacy of the relationship.
So our clothes do more than just cover us, they reflect our history, our identity, the ups and downs of life, what’s important to us and how we have lived and loved. And to use this idea, Paul seems to be saying that when we become Christians, the change in us should be very visible, similar perhaps to changes in our dress sense over time.
And I chose these two passages this morning to help us think some more about our strapline: In friendship, in fellowship, in Christ, which I feel God is saying will help us to think about our Christian witness as two church families, working together, loving God and loving our neighbours. Visibly “Putting on love” in these two villages.
Thinking like this can help us to avoid the mistakes the church in Colossae was making, that the apostle Paul was trying to fix. The Colossians were in many ways Christians who were doing quite well. But they were getting a few big things wrong. The Colossians didn’t fully understand that Jesus was and is God. And they hadn’t quite understood that Jesus was and is the source of salvation. They hadn’t quite got that Jesus died on the cross to forgive us, from our sins, through his mercy. They thought salvation was through special knowledge, gained by the person, and that Jesus was the intermediary who can help us gain this knowledge to save ourselves. So on some level they thought that they could earn forgiveness and saving. And Paul was absolutely refuting this in his letter to them. Paul told them things are more clear cut than that.
It’s as simple as getting dressed in the morning. There’s no cleverness or earning involved. Salvation is through the cross. And we’re called to turn from sin and accept the love and forgiveness that Jesus offers. And then try to be good and kind people. When we become Christians, says Paul, it’s like changing out of dirty, old clothes, into clean new clothes. This is a major change in life and so people should notice a difference in us by observing us. A major change has occurred, and that means we have to change how we appear to others. Much like the sorts of life changes evidenced by our wardrobe evolving with us.
These new clothes should makes us feel different in a positive way. Just as we put on new clothes after having a bath, when you put on fresh clothes and launder the old ones it makes you feel good. You feel fresh and uncrumpled and you appear differently. We have new attitudes and new behaviour so that people can see a positive change in us. We should now represent a different Kingdom, a different way of life to the society around us. We are to drape ourselves in new values and in different personal behaviour and we put on a new way of being alongside others. Whether that's our family, our church, or our community. If our faith means anything, then we must demonstrate that a Christian lifestyle looks different. Christ has changed us and that must be reflected in how we behave.
I’ve said this already to you as Vicar, it would be so much easier if God were to Zap us into faith, believing in him, and all the Christian values that come with it. But actually God gave us, his local disciples, the very ordinary everyday tasks of showing love to one another.
Paul tells us: “Our values are to be compassion, kindness, meekness, humility and patience.” They are to be like clothes to us. We can’t opt out of putting clothes on, thank goodness, and we can’t opt out of putting on our Christlike attire. We have to put on these values in the same way we put on all our other clothes, and wait patiently for God to work. These spiritual clothes should flatter us. With our spiritual clothes on, people should observe in us, what’s at the heart of Jesus’ Kingdom. We should appear spiritually attractive. Being seen in these spiritual clothes - is like helping us to move from friendship, to fellowship, towards faith, belief, and Christ being part of our lives. That’s our witness to those we live among. In a world of pain and material values, we’re to be a group of people who seek gentleness, meekness, the well being of others.
The Colossians didn’t like the idea of God being human and having a physical body. And they’d also got in a tiz about sin. They thought God was too good to have anything to do with sin and they thought knowledgeable humans could deal with their own sin, through gaining more and more knowledge. But Paul is using this very physical image of getting dressed to tell us that God is quite happy with physical things when our hearts are directed towards him and our goals are Kingdom focussed. So what does daily dressing, as Christians look like?
Firstly, we need to think intentionally about what God wants us to look like everyday. Paul says: “Over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (v14.)I need to not just put on a loving persona, but care for all those I meet, whether they are my first choice of company, or not.
Secondly be aware God preserves our modesty every day. We hear Paul say “you life is now hidden in Christ in God.” So our sins our hidden, concealed, covered. Those things that you don’t even want to think about, let alone that others should know about, are dealt with, lovingly, compassionately by Jesus. Your relationship with him counts for much, much more than the things you’re ashamed of. And thank you God, we can move on in life, knowing God’s more than capable of dealing with the messiness and un-pleasantness and has dealt with our pasts. And so we need to be thankful for the forgiveness that God offers. And forgiveness is held up by the belt of binding love. We have received God’s love and forgiveness, and we need to forgive others too. And live as a forgiven person not self-righteously.
Thirdly, we need to think what are the specific clothes I need to wear today. Is there anything special or different that God is nudging me to put on today. If you’re dealing with a difficult situation you might need to be firm, along with all the compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. If you’re doing a job where you need to be confident you need to show this balanced with a spirit of humility and a thankfulness that God equips; not be boastful or arrogant. When we become Christians we can keep good things from our pre-Christian life we don’t need to get rid of these. But when things hinder us spiritually and take us away from God, that cause us to be unloving towards our neighbours, that’s when worldly things become incompatible with our Christian clothes. What good do we want to take with us and what bad do we want to divest ourselves of?What new clothes do we need more of and put on all the time?
So let’s return to Paul’s list.
“Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, forgiveness, peace. (v13-14). We are here for the long haul! We need to avoid getting scruffy, and the way to avoid getting scruffy is through love! Love is the finest garment we wrap around us, every day. We need to allow God to envelope us in his love Of course we’ll fail some days, we’re human, we’ll fail, but we ask for forgiveness pick ourselves up and go back again.We can only have these gifts in Paul’s list if we have love. We can only keep going as Christians if we embrace God’s love constantly and repeatedly. We can only do In friendship, In fellowship, In Christ if we accept and try to imitate and model Jesus’ love. It’s only because of God’s love that we have anything to share with the world. We need to be renewed daily by God's spirit of love wrapping around us to renew, equip and sustain us.
If we are sentimental types, who keep things, the clothes in our wardrobes, are artefacts testifying to our life story. If we get our spiritual wardrobe in order we’ll dress our lives with the values of Christ’s Kingdom, with an attitude of love, compassion, thankfulness, peace and forgiveness. All of us have a role to play, dressing our lives with Christlike apparel. As we go out from here, let’s walk the catwalk of the Kingdom. Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 27th October 2024
Reading Mark 10: 46-52 - Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight
Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”. So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
Sermon on Mark 10: 46-52
For me one of the pleasures of winter is a cosy Saturday night at home. Sausage, egg and chips for tea, Strictly Come Dancing, then some other entertaining programme (not Casualty) finished of by Match of the Day (oh, that tune!). And this year Strictly has been particularly entertaining and particularly moving (emotionally). For those of you who are not Strictly fans, this year, for the first time, a blind contestant is taking part. Chris McCausland, a well-known stand up comedian, is dancing with professional dancer, Dianne Buswell. Chris lost his sight at 22 due to a hereditary syndrome. However, this has not stopped him performing a variety of dances with Dianne with remarkable skill and enthusiasm. His first dance, the cha cha cha, moved me to tears, as it did many. Not only must it take a huge amount of trust in his partner, Dianne must be inspirational and wise about teaching a blind man to dance so well.
And then I remembered that the gospel for today is about Bartimaeus, the blind beggar who Jesus encountered on his way out of Jericho. We all know that in Jesus’ time (and now) people with disabilities could find themselves ostracised, neglected, out on the street. Bartimaeus is such an example, another beggar on the roadside who others don’t see. When Bartimaeus realises that it is Jesus walking by he shouts out “Jesus, Son of David”. These words show that Bartimaeus knows that Jesus is the Messiah. It would come as a surprise to many that a blind beggar had just knowledge and understanding of the prophesied Messiah. In Isaiah 11 we read the words
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; (who was David) from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
Bartimaeus knows who Jesus is and wants him to notice him. So he ignores all those who tell him to stop shouting: he just shouts louder: “Son of God have mercy on me.” And Jesus responds: ‘Call him’. In his joy Bartimaeus jumps up, throws away his cloak (probably all he owns) and goes to Jesus. When Jesus asks him what he wants, Bartimaeus’ answer begins with ‘Rabbi’. He wants to learn more about Jesus, he wants to be taught and guided by Jesus. As he says, he wants to see.
Jesus’ response underlines Bartimaeus’ faith: he is healed. And Bartimaeus actions also underline his faith: he follows Jesus along the road. And that road is the road into Jerusalem.
Bartimaeus’ faith is an example to us all. It shows us that faith is open to all. It is a faith that trusts in in Jesus’ power to rescue, to change, to understand. It is a faith that shows more understanding than some of that of the disciples. In the previous part of Marks’ gospel, when asked by Jesus what they wanted him to do for them, James and John had asked for prestige and glory. It is faith that recognizes who Jesus is, what Jesus can do and it is a faith that won’t be quietened.
The story of Bartimaeus is worth visiting again and again. We can look at it from the crowds point of view: seeing a beggar, a nuisance, hearing him call out again and again to Jesus, being irritated, even scared by him. And then we see Jesus engaging with him, talking to him kindly and then walking with him towards Jerusalem. Why didn’t Jesus do that with us? Why didn’t we shout out in faith? What stopped us?
And we can experience it from Bartimaeus’ viewpoint. We all have things that get in the way of us being what we’d want to be, what God wants us to be. Do we know his teachings well enough? Do we learn from him day after day? When we know Jesus is near to us, do we call out to him? Do we respond to his call to follow him? Are we prepared to follow Jesus wherever he leads us? Bartimaeus is someone who is worth using as an example because of the strength of his faith that overcomes things put in his way.
The reading from Hebrews reminds us that Jesus is our Great High Priest appointed by God. This Great High Priest knows what it’s like to be human: he is human and divine. He can sympathise with us; he can understand the challenges that life brings, he can see the potential in us. We, in our turn, must remember who he is: the Jesus who loved us enough to die for us and who will be there to guide us, guide, keep us and feed us when we turn to him in faith. So we should not be afraid to stand up for our faith, to speak out our faith. We must see each other through Jesus’ eyes, supporting each other, seeking out opportunities to support others, to see the potential in people and situations and to share what Jesus offers, to put aside the our preconceptions, our tunnel vision and to work for the kingdom of God.
Every one of us here today has challenges in our lives in a variety of ways. Every one of us will have a different ways of coping with those challenges. In challenging time, it is good to find joy in the company of friends and family, in the beauty of nature, in quietness, in worship and prayer. It is also good to watch Strictly Come Dancing and watch a blind man dance with such joy with his teacher who understands his needs so well and to see the trust between them. There is much to learn from others: how can each one of us help others to learn about the greatest gift: the support, joy , comfort and wisdom of Jesus Christ, our master and our friend. We must never stop learning, we must never be afraid to speak up for our faith, we must never ignore Jesus when he calls us to do something which we might see as too much of a challenge. We must trust in ourselves, our own potential, whatever age we are; we must trust each other to work together for the spreading of the word and most of all we must trust in Jesus, who knows each one of us and who will never let us down.
Jane Barry (Reader)
Sunday 20th October 2024
Reading Mark 10: 35-45 - The Request of James and John
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” “We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Sermon on Mark 10: 35-45.
James and John remind me of some of the characters in the famous Blackadder Goes Forth series, set in the trenches of World War One.
Firstly, there’s hopelessly naïve Lieutenant George. There’s danger and death all around him. The probability of death for him and his men is extremely high, yet he treats the war like a game of cricket and the consequences of losing like a sports thrashing. Like George, and in spite of having just been told the exact opposite, James and John believe that Jesus is mounting a Messianic coup, and it has never occurred to them that there could be anything other than a completely happy ending.
Then there’s Captain Blackadder. The main plot line of each episode involves Blackadder positioning himself to be elevated to an exclusive specialist role in the war effort, that will gain him praise and honour; but which will also coincidentally take him out of the trenches and away from the danger zone. Inevitably Blackadder’s plans never quite work out, and he ends up back in the trenches again. Until eventually his ingenuity can delay the inevitable no longer, and he has to advance over the top, where he meets his tragic death!
Then there’s Captain Darling who has landed a desk job, well away from the front line. He is aid to General Melchett, and believes their close relationship will protect him from the fighting. He lauds it over Blackadder and uses Melchett to preserve his own life. Sadly for Captain Darling, his relationship with Melchett doesn’t keep him safe, and he ends up on the front line anyway where he also perishes on no man’s land.
There are similarities between James and John and all these characters. They are all using some avoidance strategy to keep them from danger or at least from thinking about the danger.
Like George, James and John, cannot envisage anything other than a straightforward happy ending ahead. They believe Jesus will emerge victorious, and that they will be rewarded for their loyalty, and like good politicians, are now jostling for the best positions of significance in the new Messianic world.
Like Blackadder, James and John believe they can earn their way out of danger. Blackadder’s believes his cunning and cleverness will get him out of the trenches. And the Zebedee boys believe they should get praise and credit for their discipleship, and are in fact at that moment, using Jesus to gain a position of significance.
And like Darling, James and John believe their devotion to Jesus will elevate them and secure them a clear reward. That Jesus will emerge victorious and that he will protect them.
Blackadder is quite honest with himself really, he’s clear he wants to save his own skin, he doesn’t really want to be a hero.
At this point I want to say that I find James and John incredibly honest too! James and John demand that Jesus gives them whatever they want and then they ask to be elevated and rewarded. We think they are incredibly cheeky. But actually if we’re honest, we also tend to tell God what he should do too. We think “What a cheek” and “how childish” about James and John, but actually, a lot of the time we want God to do what we want him to, too! We have a very clear idea of what is right, and we demand in our prayers that our plans are enacted. Sometimes our ideas of what are right and wrong are pretty reasonable!
That someone should be healed.
For just decisions.
For the welfare of others.
For more good things.
But at other times what we perceive to be right, is about gaining what we want. Rather than think God might be doing something special from an unlikely place. That’s why it is good to pray humbly, knowing that God knows the future and that he might have other plans.
Jesus tells the Zebedee boys … and us actually… we have to be different. “Not so with you.” We have to be prepared not to dominate but to serve and suffer at Jesus’ side. James and John lived in an honour and shame culture where it was natural to increase your own honour, or raise yourself up the pecking order, and conversely lower others or shame them. That’s what everyone did! And in their culture, Roman rulers did not care for their own people, let alone those they were subjugating.
Jesus warns those present that if they are going to be his disciples they must be different to the leaders around them and must get away from the mindset of reward, and instead be ready to serve.
Far from being those rewarded, the supreme irony in this passage is that the author reveals that those on Jesus’ left and right, are those who will die or certainly suffer with him, and eventually James and John do sit in those places of suffering, sacrifice and certainly in James’ case martyrdom.
It’s worth mentioning that the lectionary cuts off three very important verses prior to the start of our reading:
“32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
So James, John and the rest of the disciples were warned. Clearly some people have heard correctly because we hear they were afraid. Jesus told those travelling with him that if they want to follow him, they have to head to Jerusalem. To take up their cross and follow him!
But it’s often so difficult for us to hear what God wants us to hear. To be satisfied with God’s timing. To be satisfied with God’s weaker position. This is a particular challenge to us as the Christian narrative becomes more and more unfamiliar outside and sometimes inside the church as well. To be patient and work with God’s plan when our plan is a much quicker fix and a much happier ending.
A memorable recurring theme of Blackadder is that every week the dogsbody Baldrick, tries to devise a cunning plan to deliver them all from harm and to gain them something better. The plan is always straightforward, usually absurd and always ends in disaster….Fortunately, God had a cunning plan too, which he was already enacting. But unlike Baldrick’s, cunning plan it did not fail! And that was to face evil on the cross.
The difference between God’s cunning plan and Blackadder and Baldrick’s is that God’s plan, didn’t involve getting out of the trenches. As we heard, Jesus was telling his friends that he was heading for Jerusalem. And was saying that if they wanted to continue to be his disciples they’d need to walk into the heart of danger with him.
Later between 1914 – 1918 God was walking across no man’s land, shoulder to shoulder with his young men disciples of that day. He may not have protected their bodies, but he was determined to protect their destiny, which was to be WITH HIM in his kingdom, and he was prepared for and ready to accept whatever they were going to do to him. Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 6th October 2024
Reading Ephesians 3: 1-21 - God’s Marvellous Plan
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you,that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. n him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Sermon on Ephesians 3: 1-21
This is quite a well known story, so apologies if you’ve heard it before. A girl was adopted by a family. But she, and they, never quite gelled. After a couple of difficult years, the adoption was dissolved, and she was adopted into a new family.
For one reason or another, whenever the first family holidayed in Disney World, they left their adopted daughter behind with a family friend. Usually — at least in the child’s mind — this was because she did something wrong. So when her new family announced they were visiting Disney World she expected to be left outside the Magic Kingdom, though they did not initially realise that this was her expectation!
The family were confused when the prospect of visiting this dreamworld, produced a stream of challenging behaviour, a month or so prior to their visit. She stole food when a simple request would have gained her a treat. She lied when it would have been easier to tell the truth. She whispered particularly hurtful insults to her siblings - and, as the days on the calendar moved closer to the trip, her mutinies multiplied.
A couple of days before the family headed to Florida, her Father talked through her latest incident. She responded: “I know what you’re going to do - You’re not going to take me to Disney World, are you?” The thought hadn’t actually crossed her Father’s mind, but her downward spiral suddenly started to make sense to him. She believed that she would be excluded from the holiday. And it was a lot less scary to believe she was being punished for her bad behaviour, than she was unloved by her new family. She was making doubly sure that her behaviour was the deciding factor, rather than consider the other possibility.
Her Father asked her, “Is this trip something we’re doing as a family?” She nodded, her eyes tearful. “Are you part of this family?” She nodded again.“Then you’re going with us. There may be some consequences to help you remember what’s right and wrong — but you are part of our family, and we’re not leaving you behind.”
You might think her behaviour immediately got better. It didn’t. Her choices spiralled out of control at every opportunity. But the family headed to Disney World on the day that was promised. And the family experienced all things Disney. Overpriced tickets, overpriced meals, and lots of lines, mingled with just enough manufactured magic to consider maybe going again someday. But by the end of the trip, a very different child emerged. She was exhausted, pensive, and a little weepy, but her month-long facade of rebellion had faded. On the last night her Father asked “How was your time at Disney World?”She reflected “Daddy, I finally got to go to Disney World. But it wasn’t because I was good; it’s because I’m yours.”
I’ve chosen these two readings for my first sermon with you, because the starting point for everything we do, needs to be because we belong to God and that we are loved. And these two readings show us how much God loves us. How much he forgives us. And how desperate he is for us to accept his love.
As Vicar, my prayer for the Hutton and Locking church families needs to be the same as St Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians: I pray that you: “being rooted and established in love, may …grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses [all] knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God”.
Our first task as Christians is to know how good God is … and that he is watching for us coming home. To be God’s children before anything else. We need to know we are all lost sons. And that our only hope lies with our Father. Just like the lost sons in the parable, we are lost in different ways, different places, at different times. Some of us are at rock bottom. Others fail to realise how good God is. Either way, we miss out on an abundant party. If we know how good God is, we shouldn’t have an aloof relationship with him. We cannot negotiate a middle point through our own merit. We are lost without the Father and homeless without a place in his family. We must recognise and confess that we go astray at times and betray our Father’s embrace. But our un-lostness is found in the Father’s arms and the curtilage of his household. We need to work on our own relationship with God before we start worrying about anyone else, partly because it’s by knowing God really well ourselves that we will point him to others. By being really at home with God that makes us big flashing neon signs for him.
Turning to Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. Firstly Paul prays “for the strengthening of their inner being. In other words for Christian maturity. We don’t do things in our own strength. Without God’s love we are lost like the older son. We can’t fruitfully or authentically act alone. God goes with us and helps us. It’s not going to be me… or you…. who brings about renewal to Hutton and Locking …it’s God. When we forget Jesus, when we are busy running around serving him, it’s quite easy to forget to love him!We need to stay grounded, and rooted in Jesus’ love! Immersed in prayer, living and breathing the Bible, taking in God’s word.
Secondly Paul prays for the blossoming of faith through a loving relationship with God. With God, everything is ultimately about relationship. Paul paints this wonderful picture of dwelling together, living with one another. Making a family with. Sharing a name. Passing down a good inheritance to loved ones. It’s important for how we understand our own relationship with God and it’s also important for our coming together as a church family and for our mission to people who don’t yet know God. God claims us for his own. He wants to be part of our lives and for us to belong to him. mAnd he wants that from all people. Those that attend church, and those who don’t. We all want God’s family to be bigger. To welcome more people into God’s household.
Thirdly Paul prays that his church family will know God’s love which surpasses knowledge. Cleverness doesn’t count. Service doesn’t count. You are loved, honoured and cherished by God… and responding to that love is what makes a difference. Saying yes to God when he claims you for his own. Thanks to God’s love and devotion, you and I are fully known and accepted. God knows all the things that we’ve got wrong in our lives, whether we pray about them or never acknowledge them, he knows about them and still loves us. Once we’ve grasped how loved we are, we need to share God’s love with others. God’s love needs to be front and centre of our ministry here in Hutton and Locking.
The best thing that we have received and the best thing that we can share is God’s love. We want every person in Hutton and Locking and Parklands to receive that love and be a part of that family life. We want our church families to be a dwelling place for God to be found in our communities. But in doing this we must be rooted in God’s love and motivated by God’s love. Our motivation cannot be about more bums on seat, healthier finances or better building maintenance. Our motivation needs to be more people knowing God’s love for them and more siblings in God’s family for us to dwell with, love and cherish. And I am preaching to myself here as well as you. I have only been a rector for 3 days, but I suspect it’s easy to slip into this mindset!
And finally, our heads need to follow our hearts. Our heads need to understand our own limitations. To comprehend that God’s love drives everything. When we stay rooted and abiding in the love of Jesus, he is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. But this ability lies with the Holy Spirit not with us. God’s love surpasses all knowledge. I know you’re excited about having a new vicar but any clever ideas I or anyone else can come up with are not ultimately going to make a difference. It all comes down to God’s blessing in love. And we need heads, hands and habits that allow our faith to flourish. We need to remember to be persistent in prayer and persistent in loving God and neighbour and ask him to work, maybe using us. We need to be observant and attentive to what God is doing in the world, pray about it and discern God’s nudging, bidding, moving.
Ephesians is an attempt by Paul to encourage the fledgling church to love God and neighbour and to stay on track in this. And I want this sermon to encourage you too!I think you are probably already salt and light in your neighbourhoods and we need to work out how to be renewed in this new season. I think you already love your neighbours and are already serving them well. And we need to ask God’s help, anoint, and bless our attempts to serve them even better.
Let’s pray for that and for our faithfulness. We want more family members including some younger ones. And just like the church in Ephesus we face some challenges – telling the Good News of Jesus Christ into a culture that is really unfamiliar with things Christian. Our task is to be the body of Christ alongside people who are different to us … who don’t have a Christian background. Ephesians offers us a vision of God’s hope for the world, to a church with all the same problems as us, except that the Ephesians live under fear of persecution and Paul was under house arrest, expecting execution, when he wrote this letter.
Preachers often preach the message that they need to hear. And in his imprisonment, Paul needed encouragement for himself. And he also wanted to offer encouragement to his fledgling churches. And I suspect many of you may need a bit of encouragement too.
I am really excited to be here and I take seriously the need to love and care and cherish the congregations that you are. Next week I want to talk more about God’s mission going forward and I’ve spoken about how I see this in my pastoral letter: “In friendship, In fellowship, In Christ.” The role each of us is going to have in the homecoming party the Father’s hosting. Welcoming our fellow siblings who need the Father’s hosting. Welcoming our fellow siblings who need the Father’s love.
But I want to leave you wallowing in God’s love for you. God calls us into his household not because we’re good but because we’re his. God has chosen us and made us his own. For our neighbours who don’t know him - HE WILL chase them to the ends of the earth to discover his lost child, and nothing on earth can stop him. Throughout history, God’s grace has been revealed to the world, and he has used the lives of ordinary people like you and me to show his love to the worlds and welcome our brothers and sisters to the party. Amen.
Rev Larissa Trust
Sunday 4th August 2024
Reading Ephesians 4:1-16 - Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.”
(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions[? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Sermon Ephesians 4:1-16
Our Ephesians passage this morning is all about unity, as in V4 “Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace”. Before we dig into this important issue, I want to start with a quote from Checkov. Oh dear your thinking, who’s he ? He was a Russian playwright also writing short stories like ‘Seagull and Cherry Orchard’. Ringing any bells ? No matter, because he had quite a thought on the question of unity and wrote this “ Love ,friendship and respect do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something’. Repeat. We experience that kind of unity in our society all the time. Protests about the environment, strikes for more money, pressure groups on racial issues, opposition against building schemes and Far Right now !etc. All evidence that what Checkov said is true. The old maxim ‘United we stand, divided we fall’is part of the American declaration of independence but first coined by Aesop as part of a fable. All these expressions involve people who are united but against a common enemy.
The Christian response about unity is to paint a completely different picture, because to follow Jesus and his teaching is to see that LOVE is a far more powerful uniting factor than hatred.
The Psalmist wrote 33v1 ‘How good and pleasant it is when people live together in unity, it is like precious oil poured on the head’. Luke wrote at one ppint, that all the believers were one in heart and mind. The significant difference between the protester and the Christian ideal of unity is that the unity for the protesters is held together with usually a degree of anger and often revenge whereas Paul describes the uniting factor as v.3 ‘ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace’. In other words the glue that leads Christians to unity is the peace given by the Spirit. So Checkov’s observation was correct from a human perspective. We are more easily united when we have a common enemy. The unity we crave as Christians however, can only come as we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit.
As we look back over history, what are the signs we see of spirit led unity amongst the Christian church ? Well I have to say that it’s difficult and discouraging to be sure about many. In fact signs of disunity were in evidence right from the word go amongst the churches Paul was writing to. Which isn’t to say there weren’t positives because there were. In fact the first two chapters of this letter are full of Paul’s thanksgivings for the Christians. But we don’t have to move too far into history to find disunity. The Council of Nicea in 382 formed our Nicene creed purely to state the basics of our faith as against the welter of other ideas and the canon of Scripture.(382)
You only today have to look at the huge variation of different denominations to see that unity is a struggle. There are attempts to help with organisations like ‘Churches together’, but in truth unity is in theory not in practice. So we have Methodists, Anglicans, Baptists, Plymouth Brethren, open Brethren, strict Baptists, Roman Catholics, free evangelical churches, black churches, Seventh Day Adventists, and many more. Each resolutely maintain their individualism and there is very little contact, with exceptions. In an attempt at unity we come up with words like ecumenical and when a new area is being built or extended like Worle 30 years ago we discovered ‘Local Ecumenical Projects’ which then was Anglican and Methodist agreeing to share leadership on a rota basis. Both St Martins, Worle and St Marks are both now Anglican parishes.
Locking Castle was formed on the basis of 4 denominations sharing leadership. I think that only Baptists and Anglicans are still involved. In practice it’s difficult. Another phrase comes to mind. ‘The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak’.
The challenge of unity was as much an issue in New Testament times as it is for us now. We remember now that in the (19 the church didn’t speak up against slavery and it took Christians like Wilberforce and others to campaign for a united view.
Paul, in this letter is making the principal of unity as a matter of urgency and perhaps his words can help us understand what Christian unity could be like and how it might be achieved. Yes it’s tricky and difficult which the past of the church shows. Yes we all end up with preferences and fixed attitudes which we all have , including me, but because it is such a strong Scriptural emphasis, we do need to persist in being open to some things that need to change. Paul says in v3 Make every effort. Perhaps this whole unity thing begins with us. So what is it., Well?
Is it losing all our denominational structures and becoming one big amorphous whole ?
Is it simply worshipping in each others churches ?
Is it accepting the pope as a kind of universal head of the church?
Is it enough simply to work together on local projects?
Lets go back to Paul where in v 4 he reminds us of some central truths.
V4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. What a fantastic statement that is.
There is also the phrase ‘When you were called’. So our unity begins once we are individually called to take up God’s offer of forgiveness and become one with God through Baptism and receive His Spirit.
Yes, there is a richness in our differences but the key to unity is in our attitudes to each other, to all those who take both the Bible as their handbook, and Jesus as their Saviour. There can be no compromise on that.
Q Have you ever had that feeling on meeting someone new that they are Christians? When that happens, it doesn’t matter where they worship because you have a distinct sense of unity with them and it’s a great feeling.
Paul, towards the end of this section gives a description of how unity could work. Listen again:-
V15 ‘Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is Christ.
V16 From Him, the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work.
So Just drawing to a close, and aware that there are so many other issues, Paul highlights that in our relationships with each other he wants to encourage us to v2 be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love.
It would perhaps be a sobering exercise to know how others would mark you and me in these areas. I guess that most of us struggle to some degree, but unity and the fruits of the Spirit go together in a natural way.
Perhaps the whole challenge of unity is so hard that we are tempted to give up, but to do that would be to ignore God’s perfect plan for us. He has designed that as Christians we should live together in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace, so that the world may look at us and say “See how these Christians love one another”.
Rev Geoff Hobden
Sunday 28th July 2024
Reading John 6 1-21 - Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many? Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.
Sermon on Reading John 6 1-21 and Ephesian 3 14-21
I love words. I love reading them, I love hearing them, I love singing them. Most of all I love the power of words, how they can be put together for so many purposes, so many reasons. I love how a single word can evoke memories (Exmouth), can conjure up flavours (chocolate); can summon up emotions (Trump). They can be used correctly, they can be used ambiguously, they can be used derogatively, they can be misused and misspelt. The meaning and interpretation of words, signs, and sentence structure can be different from one person to another: the phrase ‘it’s just semantics’ is often heard about political arguments. But this morning we can concentrate on two wonderful pieces of writing that remind us very clearly about the importance of the use of words in our understanding of our faith.
The feeding of the five thousand appears in all four gospels: today we have John’s version. Unlike the other three, John doesn’t start the account with the disciples telling Jesus to send the crowds away: instead we see Jesus seeing the great crowd and then asking Philip the question: ‘Where shall buy bread for these people to eat?” Unlike the account in Mark , it’s a personal challenge: John tells us ‘He asked this only to test him as he (Jesus) already had in mind what he was going to do’. And Philip was from nearby Bethsaida, so would know where to shop. Philip’s answer shows his concern about what was possible: eight month’s wages couldn’t cover the cost. In Mark’s gospel that’s what all the disciples say to Jesus. And it’s Andrew who finds a boy with five small barley loaves (small number, small size, poor quality) and questions how far they would go. John is personalising these reactions to emphasise the response of individuals within a group reaction. John’s purpose as he states in John 20:31 is ‘these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’ By choosing his words carefully, drawing our attention to individuals he is making us think: what would I have done/said/felt?
We also see Jesus’ command of the situation. He is calm, in charge. ‘Make the people sit down’. And they did. And when everyone had had plenty to eat, he calmly commands that the leftovers be gathered up and nothing be wasted. The amount that was gathered emphasised the enormity of this miracle and the power of Jesus, his care for all and understanding of indviduals.
And that power, that calm is shown again that evening. Jesus walks on the water to the disciples who were in the middle of rough lake. When they saw him they were terrified (Mark and Matthew say they thought he was a ghost). What does that tell us? Why were they terrified by someone they knew well and who had just fed 5000 people? Where was their faith in him? Again, he knew what they needed: ‘It is I: don’t be afraid’. Words of reassurance, words of comfort. And when they let him on to the boat, immediately it returned to the shore: another miracle. We can align the experience of the disciples in that event so clearly told with the times when we’ve felt ‘at sea’ ; when we are frightened; when we fail to see Jesus in the midst of our turmoil. It’s when we hear his voice, however it may come to us, with those reassuring words: ‘It is I: don’t be afraid’. And we are brought safe to shore.
No matter how often we read or hear the accounts of Jesus’ ministry, his miracles, his teachings and his care for all, the words strike us in familiar and different ways. We are challenged, as Philip was, to examine our attitudes, our outlook and our faith and to be reminded how wonderful our Lord is. The gospels, written so long ago, still have the power to meet us afresh as we read, listen, interrogate them.
And then there are Paul’s letters, which challenge, explain, argue, compliment, admonish, confess and guide. Today’s reading from his first letters to the Ephesians is the prayer for the Ephesians, which I think is one of the most powerful prayers for us all. Hear it again:
‘For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.’
Paul prayer makes it clear how much God can do. Part of us cannot grasp how much God can do; part of us is terrified of that power just as the disciples were when they saw Jesus walking on the water towards them. God’s generous love can change the world and if we grasp that we can be part of that change.
Paul’s passion, his faith and his words in this prayer are for us all. How can anyone not be moved, made curious, want some of this ‘fullness’?
Paul’s doxology:
‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.’
reminds us that we are one of the generations who are glorifying the God. Those words remind us that we should be rejoicing always, through our words, through our prayers and through our actions. Let’s always keep the words of Psalm 19 v14 in our lives:
‘May the words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.’
Jane Barry (Reader)
Sunday 16th June 2024
Reading 2 Corinthians 5: 6-10 and 14-17
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.)
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Sermon on 2 Corinthians 5: 6-10 and 14-17
Do you need new glasses? I keep getting reminders from Specsavers that my sight test is overdue! But how is your sight at present? Of course, I don’t just mean physical sight but your spiritual sight or insight? How are you seeing the world at present? What do you see that God is doing and what is your vision for your life at this season? Vision is so important. Getting the right perspective on life and the world is vital to help us live joyfully and effectively. Are you a ‘half-full’ person or a ‘half-empty’ person? Do you see mainly the positives and things for which to be thankful or do you see mainly the problems and challenges and disappointments and discouragements? Our news media tends towards the latter, so how can we correct our vision?
In our New Testament passage today, Paul is seeking to ‘correct the vision’ of the disciples in Corinth, who had welcomed some false teachers who were dismissing Paul as their founding Apostle and causing all sorts of divisions and problems in the church. After his first letter, which taught on many subjects, in response to their questions to him – such as the place of spiritual gifts, sacrifices to idols, the importance of the resurrection and the primacy of agape love… Paul is now defending his ministry against his opponents but is teaching us to get ‘new glasses’.
In Chapter one, he testifies to the help of the ‘God of all comfort’. In Chapter two, he describes believers as the ‘aroma of Christ’. In Chapter three, he describes believers as ‘living letters for Christ’ who are in the process of transformation by the Spirit. In Chapter four, he describes believers as ‘cracked pots’ – treasure in jars of clay, seeking to preach Christ as Lord and as servants.
Twice he says ‘Therefore we do not lose heart… give up’ 4v1,16 Why? Because of having a new pair of glasses – God is gracious and merciful and we can see life from God’s perspective; we have an eternal home and a heavenly body. So, Look Up to a wonderful future life with God. With a heavenly perspective then, we can be of great earthly use. And the Holy Spirit is a deposit and guarantee for this future hope.
THE VISION FOR NEW LIFE. V6-10
In Chapter five, Paul continues to contrast being Home or Away, in this ‘Tent’ or putting on our new ‘Heavenly Body’. He is ALWAYS confident, even while still living on earth in this increasingly frail human body, because he lives by faith not be sight – that is by believing rather than just by seeing. But whether at Home (in our human bodies) or Away (with the Lord), his goal, his vision, his desire is to ‘Please the Lord’, to honour and bring glory to Him alone.
As the Euros started on Thursday and we watch and wait to see how England will do in this football competition, we wonder who will be the top goal-scorer. Goals are what it is all about! But what is OUR goal in life? What is our vision? Do you have a personal ‘mission statement’?
For us personally, we were given at various stages of our life, some pictures or prophetic words to guide us – Bridge, Plough, Surfer….word pictures that describe our calling and ministry…
Bridge – work in partnership, seek to bring people together (reconciliation ministry), also point to ‘The Bridge’ between God and humans – Jesus
Plough – prepare the ground for sowing the seeds, hard places, need for perseverance and ‘yoked to Jesus’, who gives us the strength to keep going
Surfer – catch the wave of where the Spirit is already working and join in. Less work but more allowing ourselves to led by the Spirit to people and places where He is working.
Short family mission statement ‘Blossom where you are planted’. What about you? Do you have a personal or family mission statement, vision? Westminster Confession: ‘To glorify God and enjoy Him forever’. YWAM – ‘To Know Christ and make Him Known’. Why is this important? Exam or Inspection day is coming.
‘ALL appear before the judgment seat of Christ…. Receive what we deserve for what we have done on earth, whether good or bad’.
This could cause us to be anxious and fearful. It should certainly spur us on to seek to please the Lord in all that we do and say, but other scriptures remind us that God has in Christ already taken the judgment which we deserve for our sin and wrongdoings. But Psalm 139v23,24 are still so relevant to us today, as we seek to please God…. ‘Search me O God and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.’
A regular life of confession, seeking God and listening for his correction and His word of forgiveness and cleansing is so important as we seek to grow more like Him and follow His ways.
Paul continues to defend his ministry and says that he desires to persuade all people of the good news, because he recognises it as his fearful responsibility to the Lord and he is seeking to live a life of integrity and an ‘open book’. He is even willing to look crazy to some people if that means he is obeying God and pleasing Him. He was willing to take risks – for example by open air preaching in the market places!
THE WAY TO NEW LIFEv14-17
But what motivates Paul and us in our ministry? Why do we do what we do? Is it guilt, fear, pride, ambition, insecurity? What are our DRIVERS?
v.14 ‘For Christ’s love compels us… controls us, motivates, energises, urges or drives us on…. Paul’s motivation is LOVE from Christ. That’s what we need more and more… an overflow of the Love of Christ within us and from us to those around us. It can be so attractive….
Paul is convinced and has a deep conviction that ‘ONE DIED FOR ALL’ or in the words of the writer of Hebrews ‘ONCE FOR ALL’.
ONE – There is Only One who could be good enough to pay the price of sin, to unlock the gate of heaven and let us in
FOR – in place of, on behalf of, substitute for (as in football and other sports)
ALL – whosoever will may come. No-one too far gone that God cannot change them
‘We also believe that we have all died to our old life NLT = ‘Therefore all died’ Death to sin, symbolised by baptism, ALL who are aware of their need for forgiveness, cleansing, mercy and grace
V15 ‘He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves… but for Christ who died and was raised for them.’ NLT. So, we no longer live for ourselves but for Christ.
Cf. Phil.1v21 ‘For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.’ Gal.2:20 ‘I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, who loved me and gave himself for me.’
V16 Stop seeing people and evaluating them only from a human or worldly point of view but see them through the eyes of faith. See their potential as a new person in God’s family?
We need divine revelation by the Spirit of God of the full nature and identity of Christ as Son of man, Son of God, Lord and God…both fully human and fully divine!
v.17 ‘Therefore (with new spectacles of faith, receiving a heavenly point of view), If ANYONE – note the conditional IF but the invitation is to ALL. Is – that is remains in, stays, abides, connected with.In Christ – New identity of a believer. Paul’s favourite expression. Eg. Col.3v3 our life is hid with Christ in God…. Illustration.
NEW CREATION, new person – There is often a gestation time, like the life-cycle of a butterfly from caterpillar to chrystallis to butterfly. And there is an ongoing process of transformation and renewal of the mind Romans 12v2 ‘Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you can discern the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.’ This takes time, but the spiritual birth can happen in a moment!
The Old has gone – old life, the bad, the old master, expelled, out, gone. The New has come – new life, the good, the new master, welcomed, in, the Spirit. Story of the New Landlord….
THE RESULTS OF NEW LIFE V18-21
V18 Ministry of Reconciliation – enemies becoming friends
V19 Message of Reconciliation – God reconciled world to himself in Christ. ‘For God was in Christ…’
Imagine the potential for reconciliation in the Middle East, as there has been in Northern Ireland between Catholics and Protestants. Pray that God will raise up true peacemakers who can bring people to the Cross where true reconciliation can take place.
V20 Christ’s Ambassadors – God makes His appeal through PEOPLE, though He can speak directly or use angels at times. ‘Come back to God’
-Get connected, be forgiven, join the family, receive His mercy, gain new spectacles, new compelling love, fear the Lord, desire to please only Him, go on being transformed. “I am a new creation, no more in condemnation, here in the grace of God I stand. My heart is overflowing, my love just keeps on growing, here in the grace of God I stand. And I will praise you Lord… and I will sing of all that you have done… A joy that knows no limit, A lightness in my spirit. Here in the grace of God I stand.’
V21 The divine exchange. Jesus who had NO sin BECAME sin for us, so that In Him, we might BECOME the righteousness of God.
Hand/book illustration by David Watson. Ministry explanation:
• God’s part – together first, sin separates, spoils & spreads, Christ came, died, buried, rose, took our sin
• Our Part – acknowledge sin, confess & repent, believe & trust, receive and thank.
6v1 Final Appeal, conclusion: Don’t receive God’s grace in vain. So, make your life count, make a difference.
V2 Do it NOW. Time of God’s favour, grace and salvation. He has helped many in the past and He can help you now, if you just ASK Him.
NOW is the time… Don’t waste it or let the moment pass you by. Call to rededication to the Lord.
Rev Smon Holloway
Sunday 9th June 2024
Reading : Mark 3: 20-35 - Jesus Accused by His Family and by Teachers of the Law
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 3Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Sermon on Mark 3: 20-35
You must be mad! You’re out of your mind! Has anyone said those words to you or something similar? Have you ever said them (or thought them?) about someone else? What bizarre behaviour, what lack of judgement, what potential trouble, what threat can cause these thoughts? And how could anyone level that at Jesus, especially his family?
Let’s put this in context. From v9 of Mark 1, Mark writes about Jesus’ ministry. By v21, Jesus is driving out evil spirits; by the end of Chapter 1 he has healed many (including Peter’s mother-in-law’ and people are gathering to receiving healing. By v7 of Ch 2, he is upsetting the teachers of the law because when Jesus saw the paralytic man being lowered through a gap in a roof for healing he uses the words Son, you sins are forgiven.’ And he challenges them when they challenge him. In v13 Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector, and then eats with him. The Pharisees aren’t happy with that. They continue to challenge Jesus behaviour but he always has answer which confounds them. By Ch 3 v 20, Jesus is well known, mobbed, in demand and a thorn in the side of the authorities.
This renown and challenging to the usual order get back to Nazareth about 30 miles away, back to Jesus’ family. His mother and brothers (and sisters) must have been worried to death about him and the consequences of his actions. So as any good family would they rushed to try and sort things out, him out. We’ve all been there haven’t we: running to help those we love when we perceive a threat to them. As they are arriving at the house which is packed with people, Jesus’ integrity, his truth, is also being challenged by the teachers of the law, who had travelled from Jerusalem, a journey of about 120 miles. They accuse him “He is possessed by Beelzebub! “By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” Jesus returns the challenge: ‘ How can Satan drive out Satan?’ That is madness: once a house, a family, start fighting among themselves that’s the end. No, Jesus’ fight is against Satan and his power. Jesus has come to overcome Satan, to fight sin and to render it defeated, bound up. And those who continue to remain in sin, who reject the Holy Spirit, who continue to see Jesus as evil, will be lost.
It’s at this point, this tense situation, that Jesus’ family arrive and send someone in to get him out. His family are afraid, they want him to get out of this situation, they want him to go home with them to safety. Jesus is told: Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you. ”But he stays inside. It seems to me that if Jesus chooses not to go out to his mother and brothers who – understandably – come looking for him, it is not because he has stopped loving them or caring about them, but because to return home with them would be to take a step backwards. It would mean returning to the old value system and the divisive and unjust rigidity of its traditions and boundaries. In the ancient world, a son was expected to live in obedience to his father and follow his father’s trade. This signified his acceptance of religious, social and cultural norms, and his willingness to conform to the status quo. But the purpose of Jesus’ ministry was not to support the status quo, but to proclaim the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of his heavenly Father. Jesus asserts that he is called to confront and overcome the power of evil in all its guises. A return to the old life-style is impossible.
“Who are my mother and my brothers?” Jesus asks and then looks around. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus was speaking to those who were sitting around him. As we sit here, he is saying them to us now. Just as Jesus refused to be turned from his course by those who thought he was off his head or in cahoots with the devil himself, we too are challenged to stay true to Kingdom values. Jesus wasn’t rejecting his family but he knew what he had to do. We are called to follow in his footsteps to challenge injustices, inequalities, ignorance, prejudice to bring healing, hope, refreshment, friendship and peace. I’m sure that some people think we’re mad, turning up here every Sunday, singing hymns, saying prayers, affirming our faith in someone we have never seen. We may feel unworthy, we may feel we can’t make a difference. But we need to speak out, to work for the Kingdom. Many fears, hatreds and divisions tear our world apart, while new forms of slavery never cease to rear their heads. But as followers of Christ today, and as members of God’s family charged with doing his will, we are called in our turn to recognise where evil is at work and to commit ourselves to ‘binding the strong man,’ to overcome. The challenge for each one of us is to discern how and where shall we speak out? What action shall we take?
Mary and Jesus’ family and followers grew to understand what Jesus had to do, even to the end, when Jesus through his death and resurrection overcame sin and death. Like them, have his example and we know what he would have us be and do. He knows what each one of us is called to do and as we do God’s will we are family. So let’s get on with it! We’re not mad: we are loved.
Jane Barry (Reader)
Sunday 2nd June 2024
Reading : 2 Corinthians 4: 1-6 - Present Weakness and Resurrection Life
Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
Sermon on 2 Corinthians 4: 1-6
I have no doubt that every one of us could instantly recall Corporal Jones’s catch phrase when faced with a challenge. “Don’t Panic Mr Mainwaring, Don’t Panic"
When we hear statistics about numbers of people now going to church and huge reductions, especially in the C of E after Covid, we might be tempted to use Cpl Jones’s phrase. Along with the facts, come the predictions about the future, and it can make sombre reading.
It seems that the church in Corinth may have been having a similar challenge because Paul, in writing to them said in the reading we had a moment ago:- “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God”
The fact is that there are other forces at work and I think that we need to treat statistics and predictions with a cynical respect. Come back Cpl Jones and heed his call not to panic. WHY ??
Because we have a much better source of advice and assurance. It comes right at the end of our reading where Paul says to Corinth, as he says to us. V16. Therefore we do not lose heart. How does he reach that conclusion ?
I suggest that this advice to the Corinthians, not to lose heart, must have come from Paul himself having been tempted at some point to lose heart over where this church was heading. WHY did that happen ?
We need to remember that the founding of the church at Corinth was Paul’s baby, and it’s become clear that the church has developed some problems. They are being misled by some alternative teaching. Some, it seems were even turning against Paul himself through misunderstandings and misrepresentations, and was proving to be quite hurtful. His letter is in effect an attempt to sort things out and is a loving attempt to restore things. He needed to let off some steam and perhaps we can relate to that at times can’t we ? But he didn’t leave them and go off in a huff or panic having been offended and hurt.
It seems to me that the way that this country is wandering away from God is frustrating and I would add is hurtful, but Scripture guides us in how to respond. After all, God didn’t reject Adam and Eve in the garden after they disobeyed, and in the same way he doesn’t reject us when we continue to let him down, offering us love and forgiveness.
At the very beginning of this chapter Paul begins:- “Since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart”. As a Benefice we have a ministry to our villages.
So, do we, sometimes lose heart? Do we feel like giving up ? In the context in which we live here in 2024 why might we feel like losing heart? (1) Maybe our own perception of unanswered prayers. (2) There could be a persistent sin that we struggle with. (3)Maybe life is hard with lots of knocks, or (4) even a realisation that clergy are not perfect !!
Why might I lose heart ? Lack of impact in the community , occasional offices, disappointment when some folk slip away from their faith without asking for help , an impression that some have stopped growing as Christians.
But Paul says to us all ,”Don’t lose heart”. Now this is important. In V2 Paul tells us that to lose heart is to allow temptations to creep in. V2 speaks of “secret and shameful ways “ which includes thoughts and actions. It also includes V2 “deception” i.e. reaching out to others but deceiving people and holding back on our Christian motives. I can give a personal example. In developing the idea of Hospicecare there was strong pressure from some parts of society, to water down our Christian driving motive. We had to take the brickbats and stand firm.
The 3rd temptation from losing heart in V.2 Paul uses the word ‘distortion’, that’s in the context of distorting the word of God by watering it down so making it more acceptable. He says “ by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God”
This is so important and any distortion of truth is to be avoided as a temptation for us, and those over us, in our context today. If that should happen, losing heart can become a reality for many.
Now consider ,have you ever had the experience of sharing the Christian truth with someone and then come away thinking “Why don’t they see it, it’s so obvious !”
Paul explains V4 “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers”
It is the same now. When Jesus was alive the Jews were blinded by generations of false teaching and they were unable to recognise who he was. So it is today because in our Western culture especially , the trappings and aspirations of success with, for example the idolising of people in the media is so great that there is no room for words like sin, repentance,love, eternityand thruth. They are blinded, the veil covering their eyes is solid.
It is so easy to be trapped by consumerism for those with disposable incomes and affluence. OR for those trapped in poverty with despair and addiction.OR yet others trapped in living just for today with no hope for the future.
Paul says, and I’ll say it again “Don’t lose heart”.
In history there have been some really black times for our Christian faith not least prior to the Reformation. Times when it was a miracle that it survived, but it did, for which we praise God.
This is now our generation and it is our privilege to follow Paul’s advice and to set forth the truth. We are those who are to V6 “Let light shine out of darkness”.
We all know that whatever the disappointments, however hard things seem to be, regardless of statistics and predictions about the future, that what we have is the truth that God has given to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
We also know V14 “the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us in His presence”
Therefore,again V16 “We do not lose heart”. How do we help encourage each other ?
We do that by meeting together to worship, to pray , to listen and to seek God’s help. However the future develops we need to hold to the truth and not lose heart.
So in a strange way Cpl Jones and Paul had the same message,
DON’T PANIC and DON’T LOSE HEART. God will not desert us. That’s a fact. AMEN
Rev Geoff Hobden
Sunday 5th May 2024
Reading John 15: v9-17 - Joy Through Friendship with Jesus.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
Sermon on John 15: v9-17
Introduction: JOY AND FRIENDSHIP
JOY & Friendship are promised to the followers of Jesus in these words which he spoke to the 11 on their way from the Upper Room Passover Meal to the Garden of Gethsemane.
They have passed the great entrance gates to the Temple which were embellished with an amazing golden Vine and Jesus has spoken to them about the importance of Abiding or Remaining united to the Vine in order to bear fruit in Christian character and more fruit of new shoots and vines. He has spoken about the importance of Pruning, both the removal of dead branches and also even removing healthy ones which may prevent more fruit. Such pruning can be painful and it is in this context that Jesus then promises JOY, to those who remain, abide, stay connected to Him and receive His amazing love.
THE PROMISE OF JOY
But what is JOY? Is it the same as happiness? Happiness depends on good things happening to us, but Joy is something much deeper and can sustain us even during dark and dangerous times. Jesus knew such Joy and as Nehemiah wrote ‘The Joy of the Lord is your strength”.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer also know such joy, even during the dark days of the Third Reich in Germany and he wrote in his final circular letter in November 1942 to the Finkelwalde community (Underground seminary) from prison and focused on joy, showing the difference between counterfeit and real joy.
‘Joy abides with God, and it comes down from God and embraces spirit, soul and body; and where this joy has seized a person, there it spreads, there it carries one away, there it bursts open closed doors.’
He also wrote earlier in ‘Life Together’, his reflections on living in a Christian community: ‘the physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer’.
CS Lewis was ‘Surprised by Joy’, something that he was looking for all of his life and yet only found when he came to know Jesus as His Lord and Saviour. In His biography, he recounts how it was in Jesus alone, not religion or ‘Christianity’ that His source of joy was found.
That is why Jesus refers in this passage to MY JOY, a gift from the Father to sustain Him as He came to face His testing in Gethsemane and then His death on the Cross. Hebrew reminds us that it was ‘For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God’ (Heb.12:2)
However, we cannot have the joy of the resurrection without the suffering of the Cross. So, that is why William Blake also wrote about the balance and existence of both Joy and Woe in his famous poem, ‘Auguries of Innocence’
“It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
The Apostle Paul wrote about Joy a lot in his letter to the Philippians and he exhorts them ‘Rejoice in the Lord, always and again I say rejoice!’ He exhorts them to rejoice in the midst of pain, suffering and disappointment. Paul is in prison himself, yet still finds cause for Joy – in fellowship, in answered prayer and God’s wonderful faithfulness. Instead of being angry and fearful and anxious, he choses to abide in Christ, knowing and depending on Him. He urges unity and the practice of joy in suffering, serving, believing and giving.
Do you know and experience such Joy in your life at present. Is it an undergirding to the trials and tribulations that you experience? We can know this quality of Joy both within the fellowship of believers and directly from the risen Christ as His gift to us. The Holy Spirit is the author of such Joy, given as part of the wonderful fruit of the Spirit which grows in us even through times of pruning, pain, disappointment and woe.
THE PROMISE OF FRIENDSHIP.
Also, Jesus promises that His disciples will now be His friends. They never call Him their friend, but rather their Lord, Master, their Rabbi or Teacher. And yet now Jesus is passing onto them what He has received from the Father and treats them no longer as servants but true friends.
But what is a FRIEND? How many friends do you have? Not just Facebook friends, who are really just acquaintances but those with whom you have done life and can count as true friends.
Proverbs 17v17 ‘A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.’ Not only in good and easy times, but a true and genuine brother shows true love in hard times also.
A true friend sticks by us even in hard times. Jesus even called Judas ‘friend’ and entrusted to him the common purse. A true friend will also challenge us when we are going off in an unhealthy direction. We ALL need such friends.
Jesus showed us the true nature of friendship. He was willing to lay down his own life for his friends. Epitaph for students of my old school who died during the two World Wars : ‘Greater love has no man than this that he lays down his life for his friends’ John 15v13. And a second epitaph quotes the words of Mr Valiant-for-Truth on the completion of his Journey, like Christian in Pilgrim’s progress, to the Celestial City.
‘My sword I give to him who will succeed me on my pilgrimage and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought his battles, who will now be my rewarder.’ …. So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.
John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s progress. Part 2. Christiana’s journey.
What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear,
What a privilege to carry,
Everything to God in prayer.
O what peace we often forfeit
O what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry,
Everything to God in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Prayer: Thank You, dear Lord, for your promise of Eternal Life to those who believe and trust in You. We thank you also for your gifts of Joy and Friendship to those who know you, love you and obey you. Help us experience more of this quality of life, joy and friendship and pass it on to others also. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, AMEN
Rev Smon Holloway
Sunday 14th April 2024 Evensong
Reading Luke 24: 36-48 - Jesus Appears to the Disciples
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
Sermon on Luke 24: 36-48
Last week we heard from John the appearance of Jesus to the disciples after his resurrection (and his appearance to Thomas one week later). This week we have the same occasion as written by Luke. In each text Jesus appears to the disciples; they are afraid and unbelieving; and he convinces them that he is indeed their teacher and friend raised from the dead, and that they, believing in him, are to continue his mission in the world.
Now, before this appearance, in his gospel Luke records the encounter on the road to Emmaus, where Jesus met with Cleopas and another, who didn’t recognise him but through the encounter, they realised and went off to tell the disciples of their news. But even after the eleven disciples had been told by Cleopas and friend, the disciples were ‘startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.’ All of these encounters show how difficult it can be for humans to believe what seems to be impossible, even when provided with such proof and reassurance. So what chance do non-believers and believers have now?
These two stories each follow a similar pattern:
Encounter—failure to recognize
Explanation—interpreting the resurrection through the lens of the scriptures
Eating—Jesus breaks bread or eats fish
Enlightenment—the disciples’ eyes are opened, their hearts burn, and they recognize
Exit—Jesus departs
The disciples initially fail to recognise Jesus, even though they really knew so much. He offers them proof of who he is through showing them the marks of his crucifixion. Even then, because of their ‘joy and amazement’ they still didn’t believe, he eats with them. Ghosts don’t eat! Then he opens their minds, through references to the Law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms, for example Deuteronomy 18:15 ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him’; Isaiah 53; Ezekiel 34: 32 ‘I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd’. Then he reminds them of what he taught them as recorded in Matthew 16; 21 ‘From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.’ It’s all there; deep in their hearts they know it, they have seen it and so they go out and share it.
It is here that we are able to enter the story. We come with our doubts, confusions, fears, and misunderstandings. We, each week, through worship can encounter the risen Christ. In the reciting of the scriptures and the preached word we are offered explanation, proclaiming the good news of what God has done and is doing. We may eat with Christ, breaking the bread of the resurrection in the Eucharist. The Spirit brings enlightenment, opening our hearts and minds, setting our hearts afire. Finally, the exit should be ours, for Christ has sent us out into the entire world to be witnesses to this amazing news. We may not have the experience of seeing the risen Lord but we can hold the word in our hands when we read and study our bibles. And we have his faith in us. In John’s gospel Jesus tells Thomas: “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
So, as this week we prepare to leave this place as an Easter people, rejoicing in the resurrection and all it means to us, for us and for others, let us take strength from the examples of the those first disciples: their doubts, their fears, their shortcomings and their burning hearts response to the Jesus who will come amongst us to reassure us, to teach us, to inspire us, to show us the way. Let us also take time to read the gospels to remind ourselves of what Jesus tells us, to guide us and inspire us. He wants us to be sure of him: his words are there in the gospels for us, whatever the circumstances. In both of the accounts of this meeting, Jesus begins with the words: ‘Peace be with you.’ May that peace be with us all always, as we go out as Jesus’ disciples in this world as an Easter people with burning hearts.
Jane Barry (Reader)
Sunday 31st March 2024 - Easter Sunday
Reading Mark 16:1-8 - Jesus Has Risen
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Sermon on Mark 16:1-8
A couple of days ago I picked up the latest copy of my Radio Times and saw that there was an Easter article by the archbishop of Canterbury. As I read it, it seemed appropriate to read it out this morning morning because he is stating very clearly something we all believe. I quote:-
“It is my strongest belief that Easter day speaks directly to our lives and deaths. Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus because it is the ultimate good news. If this event didn’t happen, then every church building, all Christian worship and ministry, is in vain. But because we are convinced it did, this news is too good to keep to ourselves.”
End of quote. When you think about it the resurrection is probably the most incredible fact of history that the human race is asked to believe. In the world of nature we are faced with some fantastic things that we see on our screens with animals and plants. When we consider the world of space and distance and time, it stretches our imagination, especially when we are treated to an eclipse or an aurora borealise. We are told that there are mountain ranges in the sea higher than the Himalayas ! Not content with all that, we humans then go on to invent monsters. However I can assure you that having sat for 30 minutes overlooking Loch Ness, Nessie does not exist.
But measured against all the wonders we know about, the bodily resurrection of a human being is in a realm of its own. There is nothing in history to compare with this claim. And yet despite its uniqueness in every way, it is in truth the absolute cornerstone of our Christian faith. It is the very essence of the Gospel story because without the resurrection, we have no Gospel. Question? Might we be tempted to think that God made a mistake in planning something so unique?
It would be easy to think that the incredible uniqueness of the resurrection of Jesus could so easily be a stumbling block when it comes to other people finding faith. I am going to suggest to you that yes, there will be some who find it beyond belief, but that in all my years of ministry and before, I have hardly ever found that the resurrection has been a problem. When facing questions from non- believers I cannot recall a single occasion when the claim for resurrection has been raised as an issue. The issues are much more likely to be suffering issues, natural catastrophies, other faiths, religious wars like the crusades, and also including people they know who go to church but behave badly. The resurrection just doesn’t figure, despite its incredible nature.
So rather than the subject of resurrection being a negative, preventing others from coming to faith, I have to say that it is much rather a strength. Why do I think that ? Firstly because it’s true. It is’nt some fanciful sci-fi story that is the product of someone’s imagination. There is evidence that it is an historical fact and over the years , all the possible objections have been dealt with. There is a book entitled ‘Who moved the stone’. It is the account of a man setting out to disprove the resurrection and ending up as a Christian ! The angel at the tomb said to the two women “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here." We also know about the subsequent appearances to the disciples. So fantastic but true, and truth always has a ring of truth about it. It is a truth to be shared and in the early days after Pentecost, we do need to note that the apostles ,in preaching and evangelising, made no bones about proclaiming it openly and at every opportunity. For them it was a positive truth.
In Acts 2, Peter’s first sermon made a big point of it. V24 But God raised Jesus from the dead because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
V32 God has raised this Jesus to life and we are witnesses of the fact. Psalm 16 states ‘You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
No opportunity is missed by those early disciples to point to the resurrection. It is therefore within our brief to continue to proclaim it boldy, just as the archbishop has done in that article, and so can we, not holding back from declaring the truth.
We need to remember and be aware of an important fact, that no other faith claims a resurrection. It is a unique and bold claim as part of our faith and setting us apart from others and giving us credibility in God’s plan for salvation.
There’s also a strength in the fact of the resurrection, in that everyone is made in the image of God. There is something within everyone that wants to believe it. Yes we are broken images of God because of our sin, but despite the brokenness, folk are drawn towards God. However, within the confusion of life and often out of ignorance, many seek spiritual support in other directions and appear to turn their backs on God, finding temporary benefit in other forms of spirituality. People, as spiritual beings, but without God , have a vacuum which needs to be filled.
Having been so positive about strength in the uniqueness of the resurrection which we rejoice in today, the question is, why are we so singularly unsuccessful in bringing others to faith ? Are you aware of the derivation of the phrase ‘Shooting yourself in the foot’? It comes from a wild west shootout between an outlaw and a marshall. The law officer is really quick but in his anxiety he pulls the trigger before the gun comes out of his holster!
Especially in the wealthy west, the church shoots itself in the foot time after time with its multiple divisions and variations so that the world is left confused. The church ends up being dismissed as irrelevant. The early Christians majored on the fact of the resurrection because it was true. If we agree with the archbishop and his statement, as I do, perhaps we should be more ready to introduce the truth of this amazing fact. The early church began as practically nothing with just a handful of people. But through their message the church grew both within Judaism and also throughout the gentile world, and their proclamation of what we celebrate here today, was, I believe a major factor in the growth of the church.
For the sake of the Gospel we need to be clear ourselves about this vital part of the story. The whole Jesus story in the New Testament is full of the traumas of life, such as the death of John the Baptist. It includes stories of strong personalities like Peter. It includes greed and temptation with Judas, but especially the story emphasises the love and sacrifice of Jesus showing God’s victory over Satan and death becoming a path to Heaven because of the resurrection. There is absolutely nothing to compare with this story and it seems incredible that so many folk hide from, ignore , resent or are too busy for its truth.
For our part we must avoid at all cost any temptation we might have to water this story down to something that we might feel is more acceptable to the society we live in and therefore more appealing. However, the fact is that people are much more ready to hear it than we are to proclaim it, and that is really sad. Like the early disciples, so now the whole church, including us, needs to be bold and confident, without compromise, holding firm to the authority of Scripture.
God raised Jesus from the dead and through His resurrection we can all have new life for ever.
THE LORD IS RISEN HALLELUJAH.
Rev Geoff Hobden
Sunday 10th March Mothering Sunday
Readings Corinthians 1: 3-7
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
Luke 2:33-35
The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Sermon on Corinthians 1: 3-7 and Luke 2: 33-35
We all know that it’s never too late to learn and that’s been true for me in the last few weeks when I’ve re-visited my knowledge about Mothering Sunday. Does the name Constance Penswick Smith mean anything to you? Well, here is a quick resumee of the history of celebrations on the fourth Sunday of Lent and her part in it.
In the 16th century, Mothering Sunday was less about mothers and more about church. Back then, people would make a journey to their ‘mother’ church once a year on the fourth Sunday of Lent, also known as Refreshment Sunday This might have been their home church, their nearest cathedral or a major parish church in a bigger town. The service which took place at the ‘mother’ church symbolised the coming together of families.
Another tradition was to allow those working in the fields on wealthy farms and estates in England to have the day off on the fourth Sunday of Lent to visit their mothers and possibly go to church too. This was a variation on the theme of visiting the 'mother' church and was a move towards a more family focussed occasion.
In the early 20th Century there was a movement in the USA to establish a Mother’s Day to honour mothers (it is held on the second Sunday of May each year.) Reacting to that movement, in 1913, Constance Penswick Smith created the Mothering Sunday Movement and published booklets, the most influential being The Revival of Mothering Sunday (1921).This book has a series of four chapters outlining the different aspects of motherhood that the day should honour beyond a strictly biological one:
• 'The Church – Our Mother'
• 'Mothers of Earthly Homes'
• 'The Mother of Jesus'
• 'Gifts of Mother Earth'
There is a Blue Plaque for Constance Penswick Smith, 1878-1938 located on Church Walk, Newark on Trent, England, with the words ‘who revived Mothering Sunday’
And so here we are today, thinking about all the aspects of motherhood which link us all together. We are here in our church, which is the mother church for some where many have wonderful memories and where many feel at home and safe. We are here to give thanks for our earthly mothers (we’ve all had one) and to give thanks for all we have received from them. We are here to give thanks for the example of Mary, mother of Jesus, who reminds of the joy of love but also of the struggles, challenges and pain of motherhood. And we give thanks for creation as a whole, for mother earth and all that is provided for us.
But in our rejoicing and giving thanks we also need to acknowledge the challenges that mothering brings. In the readings today, we are reminded about how all of us we should think about caring for each other, about mothering.
Life wasn’t easy for Paul or the early church in Corinth but he writes about the example and support Christians have.
‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.’ There will be troubles for us all and in learning of God’s love for us all in those times, we will be able to support and comfort others. Paul says ‘And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.’ That is what families should do: join together in all the good times and the hard times, sharing, caring and mothering.
Later Paul writes to the early church and wants them to change their behaviour so that it is honouring to God. In Colossians he says “therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” These are characteristics which we should be living each day, but just as a mother encourages a child and redirects their focus so the church should redirect our attitudes. In the church family we are to be a body of people: they say you can’t choose your family but as a family of God we can choose how we behave. Ultimately that behaviour is to be anchored in love. For love, as Paul says, binds us all together in perfect unity. And that love goes beyond the church’s doors. The life of the church is to be one of encouragement and direction sought from the word and the Spirit. And it mustn’t stay in the church: it should be taken out of the church into our families, friends, communities, into nature and into the world.
Then in the reading from Luke, we are reminded of the responsibility that Mary takes on because of who her son is. Let us also remember that, at the same time that Simeon says these words to Mary, he is blessing her. And he is not just blessing her, he is blessing Joseph as well. Mothers cannot mother alone: mothering is not confined to women. I am sure that the majority of us, regardless of our individual circumstances, have at some time or another, received a form of ‘mothering’ from someone who was not our biological mother. It may have been a stepmother, foster mother, a childminder, an aunt or grandparent, or a wife, or a sister, or a teacher, or a friend. It may have been someone much older than we are – or someone younger. It may have been someone who is male rather than female which, interestingly enough, has good biblical precedent: after all, it was Jesus himself who wept over Jerusalem saying: ‘How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings’ – a wonderful, and expressly maternal image.
At the heart of mothering is love, the love that Jesus so clearly showed through his life, his teaching, his death, his resurrection, his promises. Mothering love is a love that is realistic, is forgiving, helpful, unselfish, frustrating, is a love that encourages, teaches, rebukes. It is a love that encompasses every aspect of life and generates responsibility and care, extending beyond our own churches, families, communities and countries. It takes in the environment, equality, justice, fairness and needs. And underpinning it all, surrounding it all, there for all, is the love of God for his creation, embodied in Jesus Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit. So, as Constance Penswick Smith thought we should, let us celebrate Mothering Sunday with open hearts, grateful thanks for all of God’s love and provision for us and a promise to share the love of Christ with all.
Jane Barry (Reader)
Sunday 3rd March 2024
Reading John 2: 13-25 - Jesus Clears the Temple Courts
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts, he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves, he said, "Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a market!" His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
The Jews then responded to him, "What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
They replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then, they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
Sermon on John 2: 13-25
This story that we heard from John’s Gospel about Jesus, is a bit of a teaser for us, especially bearing in mind the old chorus, ‘Gentle Jesus meek and mild’ with Jesus apparently losing his temper and causing havoc with a whip! What are we to make of this ? I remember once seeing an artist’s impression of this scene with animals scattering everywhere, people cowering and Jesus as a wild eyed man in the middle flaying a whip. I suppose it’s easy to see why this scene could be interpreted in this way.
V.15 So Jesus made a whip out of cords and cleared everyone out including animals, and money was scattered all over the floor.
We often say that actions speak louder than words but in this case the words of Jesus are vital to understanding what drove him to take this action. But first we must also take note of v.14. where it says :-
‘In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money’. So now imagine, Jesus arrives at the Temple, has a wander around, observes what is happening and as a result is filled with a righteous indignation. Two key words here are ‘selling’ and ‘exchanging’, both of which involve money. Now the people who were at the temple would have comprised two groups. On the one hand the stall holders, i.e the sellers of animals, exchangers of money and local Jews. The other group would have been the pilgrims who had travelled especially to come to the temple in order to make a sacrifice under the Jewish law and know God’s forgiveness. This is why they had come, it was a pilgrimage, a spiritual journey. The reality for them was that they needed to buy an animal to sacrifice, maybe a simple dove or even a sheep. You need to know that the Temple had its own currency and these pilgrims would have needed to exchange their money before they could buy. Even today the exchange rate when you go abroad always favours the foreign currency. You buy at one rate but when you sell the rates are lower.
As Jesus looked around he would quickly have worked out that both the sellers and exchangers were out to fleece the pilgrims. The prices of animals and exchange rates were heavily weighted in favour of the Temple authorities. It is estimated that the Temple had an annual income of around £75,000 with the men doing it earning about £9,000. Quite a business, but as we know, fleecing tourists is still an issue !
For Jesus however, these pilgrims were not simply tourists, and where this was happening was not in some market in the city, it was happening in the Temple courts. For Jesus it was a case of Righteous indignation verses Gross Irreverence and extortion on the part of the religious authorities. Why did it mean so much to Jesus? We do need to remember that Jesus was both fully human and fully God. His justified anger was on behalf of the pilgrims. They had travelled some distance in all sincerity to worship at the Temple, which was the only place where God was present in the Holy of holies. So to offer a sacrifice was not an optional extra, they just had to buy. They were taken advantage of and this was one reason why Jesus was so incensed. God’s plan for people to be able to know forgiveness does not involve others getting rich In the process.
Can I remind you of the key part of the build up to the Reformation, that was when the Church of England split from the Roman Catholic Church, saw Martin Luther objecting to the church selling indulgencies, that is, people having to pay money for a piece of paper stating they were forgiven so filling the coffers of the Roman church
God’s promise to us through Jesus is that forgiveness is assured simply when we sincerely say sorry. For the Jewish nation at that time God had provided a physical place, the Temple where they could go for that assurance. Jesus was also incensed because the Temple, which was a sign of God’s passionate love for his people, and was provided as a symbol of that love, was here being turned by the authorities into a money making opportunity. The Temple, over the years, became a focal point of prayer and worship. A place where God’s justice was exercised. It was a place of repentance and of forgiveness. It symbolised God’s continued willingness to have a relationship with his people based on the 10 commandments which were in the ark in the Holy of Holies. By their actions the authorities were compromising the very credibility of the Temple being there. So the two reasons why Jesus was angry are:-
1..The abuse of the pilgrims 2. Misuse of God’s provision of theTemple.
It is no wonder that Jesus, having personally witnessed what was happening, allowed himself to do something which would be a shot across the bows of the leaders.
I need to say at this point that we must not confuse this incident with someone losing their temper. Jesus was always fully in control and knew exactly what he was doing. In those days the whip or scourge was an accepted symbol of justice and judgement, as it was used, if you remember, on Jesus, and so for him to take a whip, was a symbolic gesture which everyone would have understood and we don’t need to have a picture in our minds of him flailing it wildly around. Animals are very skittish and would soon have assisted with the upset of tables with money falling to the ground.
Interestingly this same story appears in both Matt and Luke, but for them it comes at the end, whereas John has the story right at the beginning as if to highlight the bigotry and selfishness which was rife among the authorities. By making this point, Jesus was ensuring that he would be rejected. What happened next is that the Jews demanded an explanation from Jesus, but his answer was beyond them. He said, V.19 Destroy this Temple and I will raise it again in 3 days. They could only think in physical terms whereas Jesus was predicting his death and resurrection. Jesus was going to be the new Temple. He was to become the means whereby anyone could know God, Jew of Gentile. His act on this day was, in effect, to seal the end of the need for a Temple. On the day of His death on the cross, when the curtain in the Holy of Holies was torn in half, that signified the end and changed the covenant relationship between God and us. So now, rather than a physical Temple, Jesus has become the perfect expression of God’s love for us, and so gives each of us the way to draw close to God.
I would like, from this incident, to highlight one very real lesson we need to be conscious of in our approach to God through Jesus. We each need to ask the question, are we, am I, taking Jesus for granted? Are we, am I, allowing our approach to God, and our approach to worship of becoming merely a ritual, a form to get through on a Sunday? It’s clear that the Jews had forgotten how much of a gift it was that God had provided the Temple out of His great love, and the result was that they abused it. So for us, we must never forget how much it cost God to come as Jesus and be subject to death on a cross. It was a sacrifice beyond anything we can imagine. The world in which we live has a history of not learning from past mistakes, but as Christians, as people who claim to be forgiven through the blood of Jesus, our prayer must be that we will forever worship our marvellous God in sincerity and thankfulness with humility and confession.
As God considers our activities and shares in them with us, as He hears our conversations and sees how we treat one another, let us be sure that nothing which Jesus saw in the Temple that morning finds any parallels with our lives, worship and witness today. Amen
Rev Geoff Hobden
Sunday 4th January 2024
Reading Colossians 1: 15-28 - The Supremacy of the Son of God
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[a] your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.
Amos 8 - A Basket of Ripe Fruit
This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.
“A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered.
Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!
Sermon on Colossians 1: 15-28 & Amos 8
If there’s one thing I don’t like seeing it’s a bee, butterfly or moth trapped in our conservatory ! I will do my best to open doors and windows, but their level of cooperation is very frustrating. I can make the exit so obvious but they keep banging against the glass ! I’m sure you know what I mean. I usually eventually manage to release them, especially with my new machine that sucks them into a tube. This is a simple illustration of the message of Amos the prophet to the Israelites, and picked up by Paul in his letter to the Colossians which I will explain later.
Amos is one of the really early prophets in the life of the Jewish nation and what we read is that the Lord showed Amos a basket of ripe fruit. Although it was obvious what it was, God asked Amos ‘What do you see’ and Amos simply replied ‘a basket of ripe fruit’. You know sometimes it’s quite good to actually verbalise what we see even though it might be obvious. Remember the time when Jesus asked the blind man, what do you want me to do for you. Again, it was obvious, but the man had to respond, ‘I want to see again’. There’s something important about putting a situation into words, however obvious it might be. It’s taking a thought and giving it more weight. You might think ‘that person needs help’ but if you actually say it, actions are more likely to follow. This has a bearing on our prayers, of putting into words our thoughts, concerns and failings.
Any basket of ripe fruit needs to be eaten soon otherwise it deteriorates very quickly. It’s time has now come to be eaten. God’s point to Amos in asking the question is in v 2 “The time is ripe for my people Israel. I will spare them no longer.” The ripe fruit is running out of time, as is God’s patience with Israel.
Amos is being given this message so that he can warn the Israelites about what the future holds if they don’t turn from their sinful ways. It’s a final call to repentance. Amos had already been given the illustration of a plumb line showing that the nation was out of line with God’s direction for them. They are being given every opportunity to escape from the things that will happen if they don’t listen to the warning. Like the bees, butterflies and moths the nation seem intent on ignoring the way out . The warnings are clear, there will be wailing and financial ruin, there will be floods and unusual weather and famine. There will be no escape. This is to be Amos’s message and the future was certainly going to yield evidence of all this happening. Remember that Amos comes well before the northern kingdoms being taken over by the Assyrian empire and later on the rest i.e. Judah also taken captive into Assyria.
Later on in the history of the Jews there comes a space of 300 years between the Old and New testaments when God’s voice was absent from the Jewish nation. Listen to this…
v.11 The days are coming declares the Lord, when I will send a famine through the land, NOT a famine of food or water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
It happened !! You see, prophecy is rarely instant and can spread over a long period of time
So to end that 300 year period of silence, between the testaments, comes Jesus who will bring God’s complete answer to the challenge of human sin. We have recently celebrated his birth,and rightly so because there is nothing that is more significant than the birth of Jesus in the history of creation. Paul, in his letter to the Colossians is quite clear about the massive importance of Jesus, but as we know, that as far as the Jews were concerned , Jesus was rejected. Despite the quality of his life, the truth of his words, the evidence of the miracles, Jesus was seen as a threat and had to be eliminated. Jesus reached a few to become disciples, but the vast majority refused to see the truth. It’s a bit like those bees, butterflies and moths ignoring the escape route, blindly going in the opposite direction. Isn’t that what people are doing now? Isn’t that what people have always done ?. Avoid the obvious truth, latch onto something else or simply stick your head in the sand. When it comes to spiritual issues people can’t see for looking. It’s so frustrating because as Christians, it is so obvious. Like those early disciples, including Paul, as Christians, we have each of us, found the open window and escaped to freedom.
Just imagine that you were leading a person, who had been blind from birth, into the world for the very first time with sight restored. What would you show them first? People….themselves……sky….nature…..buildings ?
In the New Testament that is exactly what is happening as those who have seen the light of Jesus, the disciples, attempt to share it with us through their writings. They are painting pictures in words, almost too much for us to grasp, as they explain how the life , death and resurrection of Jesus offers the gift of forgiveness now and the promise of eternity later. The important thing is for each of us to know and be sure that we have found that open window of new life because of Jesus, and that we can then add our witness to that of the Bible to help others also find that open window.
In the Colossians passage we had this morning, it is headed in my Bible “The supremacy of Christ”. Paul, in trying to describe Jesus to help us understand how unique he was, uses words and phrases about him that do not, and have not ever applied to anyone else. Paul wants his readers to grasp the magnificence of Jesus and as a result to open our eyes to the sheer wonder of God’s offer of forgiveness and eternity.
Some years ago the Sun Alliance Ins coy rebranded themselves “More Than”. Presumably attempting to persuade us that they offer something more than all the others. In Paul’s writings both here in Colossians and elsewhere he is describing Jesus as “More Than” anything we can imagine or know. In other words we can never plumb the depths because Jesus is More Than. What do I mean by that? That he was there at creation. That he is the image of God. That he is the supreme being. That he is our Saviour. That he was and is the long promised Messiah.
Whatever we discover about Jesus in our lives , there will always be more. Paul in Colossians, shares his objective in putting his views down on paper . So v26 He says he wants to open up the mystery which has been hidden for ages, and then v27 to reveal the hope of glory in Christ, and v28 to proclaim Jesus so that many may have confidence in eternity, and stating his own intention v29 to work hard to share this powerful truth.
This was Paul’s life’s work. With his help and the rest of Scripture, we too can 1 open the window for others to find true freedom which is more than we or they deserve, but which is nevertheless offered freely through the death of Jesus.
A bee trapped in my conservatory faces certain death unless I help it escape . In the same way, each of us has the capability of opening the window for others to discover the truth about Jesus. May we pray for the willingness and the opportunity to play our part in opening that window for them.
Rev Geoff Hobden
Sunday 28th January 2024
Reading Mark 1: 21-28 - Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit
They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
“Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galile
Sermon on Mark 1: 21-28
I was brought up to respect authority. Parents, elders, teachers, the police, the vicar, the BBC, anyone with a posh accent. So of course I did. Or in reality, of course I didn’t! I pushed against authority, I questioned the authority, I challenged authority. Ironically the success of my chosen career depended on being able to maintain authority but they do say that ex-poachers make the best gamekeepers.
What does having authority mean? Does it come automatically with a given title: police officer; politician; vicar? Or does it mean wisely using the authority that the post provides to gain trust, to reach goals and to meet the needs of all. When we look at those in authority now, do we see integrity in the Post Office which is owned by the government, do we see compassion in world leaders, do we see an understanding of the ways in which authority can be used for the good of many instead of the few? Do we see actions backing up promises and do we recognise the results?
Jesus came to a world that was waiting for the promises of God to be fulfilled. Their usual teachers, priests and scribes, the literate ones, always told them what ‘Moses said’ or what Rabbi so and so said. But things weren’t happening. However, on this particular morning here was a man, a man who began to tell people in his own authority what God’s will is: to love him and to love each other as he loves us.
Imagine the scene. Imagine the questions people might have. Who was Jesus anyway? He was an unexpected guest speaker, in the teaching seat, unlocking the scroll and whatever he was saying, was fresh. He was speaking with authority. The synagogue listeners – including four visiting fishermen whose whole identity has been left behind for one of discipleship – were shocked. There was tension, drama, astounded people. Something about Jesus had interrupted the mental to-do lists. Eager ears and bodies began leaning in – what was he saying? He was changing the world with his words.
And then, there was the public moment every speaker dreads. The possessed, unclean-spirited person raucously shouted out, interrupting with excruciating tortured words: the shout of pain and plea. The man was not unclean, he was possessed by something evil that has ‘swallowed him’ from the spiritual realm. His shouts identified Jesus: ‘What do you want with us? Do you want to destroy us? I know who you are ... I HAVE SEEN WHO YOU ARE...THE HOLY ONE OF GOD.’ In this moment, evil was seeking to name Jesus and gain power, doing what it does best, breaking in to create chaos; spread anxiety; warp goodness, But, in that moment, evil declared something true. Jesus is the holy one. Not a, not one of, but THE.
Imagine the gasps? How might those around him have reacted? What would happen next?
And then the voice. The voice of authority.
‘Be quiet. Come out of him!’ The rebuke was sharp, concise, and uncompromising. The evil spirit was addressed and conquered. Jesus demonstrated there, in that worshipping place, that he was who he is. The best answer to ‘have you come to destroy us’, if the ‘us’ in that sentence is evil, darkness, chaos-creating, pain-giving spirit – the best answer is yes!
The people present then saw that the man, now dispossessed, was juddering, convulsed. But then he was free, released, liberated, clean, empty of evil, free to be fully himself – his life, reputation, community restored. The evil spirit didn’t go quietly of course, but it DID GO. Everyone there really had something to talk about! This man, who seemed already to have authority in what he said, also had it in what he did. His authority was rooted: when Jesus the Word spoke, it came to pass. The people were amazed by him and the word spread, mouth by mouth, door to door. Jesus’ authority and his use of it not only freed that man, it freed and empowered others.
So what does this story mean for us? As disciples, we follow Jesus. He has authority, and he comes to set people free. He’s profoundly good news and his being, his life, his teaching and his actions remind us that ‘God reigns, God is here.’
The idea of someone who would speak with authority stayed in people’s minds: it is what they recognised when Jesus started teaching. Right at the beginning of his ministry, according to Mark’s Gospel, people were astounded by his words, because they had that ring of truth. Wherever he went, troubled spirits were overcome, people were healed, hypocrisy and exploitation were challenged, and the most unexpected people responded to his call.
All through his ministry, people asked: ‘Is he the prophet, the one we are waiting for?’ The answer was ‘No, not quite.’ Jesus was something more than that: he was the true mediator between God and human beings because he was God, here in human form, speaking to people face to face.
Moses and the prophets spoke God’s word, often with great wisdom and courage. But Jesus embodied the Word of God. He not only spoke about God’s justice, but also stood up to a mob of men who wanted to stone a woman to death. He told brilliant stories about care for people who were outcast and vulnerable, and then healed a group of lepers. And always, always, he transformed people’s lives if they would let him.
These people whose lives Jesus touched were facing just the same kinds of issues that we face today: anxiety about health, or about loved ones; coping with unfair systems; how to tread the pathway between right and wrong in working life where it’s not always clear; how to find forgiveness or deal with regret when things go wrong; living day by day in this rather messy, confusing world, a world where human authority is being used for misplaced power or not used to put things right. Yesterday was Holocaust Memorial Day, remembering the six million Jews killed by the Nazis. Yesterday the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said “'Never again' is every day. January 27 calls out to us: Stay visible! Stay audible! Against anti-semitism, against racism, against misanthropy and for our democracy.” We see the horrors in Israel and Gaza; the way women are treated in Iran; the way men working on buildings for the World Cup in Saudi Arabia were exploited. In Jesus’ name we have to work for justice. We have to stand up to challenge the misuse of authority, drawing on the authority of Jesus, we have to do something.
We know what Jesus wants us to be and to do. First of all, we have to deal with our demons: the ways we judge others, the ways we make excuses, the ways we speak when we should listen, the way we decide to do noting, to keep quiet. We have to be ready to challenge evil, unfairness, abuse of power, inequalities, in whatever way we can, not because we know better but because Jesus wants things to be better and wants his word to be better known. We can change things bit by bit, prayer by prayer, action by action. It will not be easy, it will take time. But we do it, not in our own power, but in God’s power and authority. We are his children and he has passed the knowledge of the power of his authority to us. Let us remember that the evil spirit that possessed the man recognised Jesus as the holy one of God and was defeated by him. Let us in confidence play our part in bringing the good news of Jesus and his authority into the world in which we live, the authority that was steeped in the love of God and everyone and every part of his creation.
Jane Barry (Reader)
Sunday 14th January 2024
Reading John 1: 43-51
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Sermon on John 1: 43-51 ‘Come and See’
Question: what do we know about Nathanael from the bible?
Nathanael is mentioned only twice in John’s Gospel: in the passage read today and John 21:2 where we learn that Nathanael came from Cana in Galilee. Nathanael is also known as Bartholomew, which can be a bit confusing. But Jesus wasn’t confused when he saw Nathanael under that fig tree.
It must have been ordinary day for Nathanael who was taking some time to sit under the cooling shade of a fig tree, a place where someone could reflect, pray, meditate. And then he was interrupted by Philip who bustled in telling Nathanael ‘’We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” This suggests that Philip knew Nathanael knew the prophets. Philip certainly did: he’d just responded to Jesus’ simple invitation of ‘Follow me.’ But Nathanael wasn’t quite so keen: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” It was Philip’s invitation that made him move towards Jesus: ‘Come and see’. And so Nathanael did, maybe out of curiosity, maybe to please his friend, maybe because he nothing better to do now his peace and quiet had been disturbed.
As he approached Jesus, Nathanael must have heard his words “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” How must he have felt: he was the one who’d just declared nothing good could come from Nazareth! How could Jesus know him? Jesus’ answer “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” must have stunned Nathanael, disconcerted him: how could Jesus have noticed him? In that moment, Nathanael knew the truth: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” It all came together and Nathanael believed.
Jesus, the Son of God, had seen Nathanael at prayer, knew his longing for truth. Nathanael was known by God, just as we know from Bernadette Farrell’s version of Psalm 139 that God knows us all and is calling to all. He wants us to ‘Come and See.’
When Jesus saw Nathanael, he also saw into his heart. . The good. The bad. The ugly. Jesus knew Nathanael’s heart. He knew his passion. He knew his prejudice. He knew that he had longed to know God, sitting alone under the fig tree to study His Word.
Despite his flaws, if there was one thing Nathanael wasn’t, it was a hypocrite. He hadn’t put on a show or pretended to be something he was not to impress anyone, let alone Jesus. In Nathanael, Christ had found a genuine and authentic believer. There was nothing fake or insincere about him. What you saw was what you got.
Despite Nathanael’s initial prejudice, Jesus saw through the sinful, the imperfect, and the ordinary to the eager heart of one who was willing to leave everything behind to follow Him. This was one Jesus could transform and equip for His glory.
By the grace of God, Nathanael was chosen to follow Christ. The most remarkable thing about his calling was that he had simply said yes.
Jesus gave Nathanael an Epiphany promise that he would see greater things, something of the glory of Jesus: ‘the heavens open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’ (v51). Well, Nathanael was still there after the resurrection, one of those for whom Jesus made breakfast after the great catch of fish (John 21). He saw the risen Lord. We don’t know what happened to Nathanael/Bartholomew after that. It is accepted that he went to India to spread the word and was eventually martyred. But from his brief appearance in the gospels, we can learn much: that we are known; that we are wanted and that if we respond by saying yes, we will be able to follow Christ in faith and trust.
And there is one other important thing to be learnt from this part of John’s gospel: the importance of Philip’s words: “Come and See’. We too are called to offer that invitation to others. We worry sometimes that if we do offer, the invitation will be rebuffed. Nathanael’s ‘ can anything good come from Nazareth?’ could be compared to the cynicsm we sometimes encounter. Philip’s gentle ‘come and see’ enabled Nathanael to take those first steps and look what happened!
Of course responding to God’s call may not always happen as quickly as it did with Philip and Nathanael. Remember Samuel: three times God called to him in the night; three times Samuel thought it was Eli. It was Eli who realised that God was calling Samuel and so told Samuel, ‘Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”’ And so Samuel did and God did speak to him and the rest, as they say, is history. God will find a way and that can be though anyone of us.
As Eli said later to Samuel “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.” We have to keep on seeing people, situations, ourselves through God’s eyes. We may feel that we aren’t worthy enough, clever enough, strong enough as his disciples but He knows us and knows what we are capable of, what is good in his eyes and what he desires for all. As believers, we must continue to ‘come and see’ Jesus for ourselves in our reading, our discussions and our prayers. And we must be ready to invite others to come and see the love that is there for them through Jesus Christ. That is what Jesus did and what he wants us to do.
Jane Barry (Reader)
Sunday 7th January 2024
Reading Matthew 2: 1-12 - The Magi Visit the Messiah
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; f or out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Sermon on Matthew 2: 1-12
What quickens your pulse ? What gets you really excited ? As we look at society as a whole it seems quite clear that we live in an age of the celebrity cult. I can easily feel a bit negative about that but at the same time have to admit that actually meeting a celebrity is something that can excite us. I can confess that I have a very nice picture of me standing close to Jill Dando. She was a fantastic patron of Weston Hospicecare and visited frequently. I guess that most of us might have some story of a brush with a celebrity. Our story this morning is about some celebrities, be they Magi, or Wise men or even Kings who would take some stories back to their homeland.
On a Bakers coach journey into London quite a few years ago now, as Hazel and I entered the city we became aware of a buzz of excitement and above that buzz rose the phrase “It’s the Queen”. Sure enough as we looked out there was the instantly recognisable car with crest and pennant with the Queen in the back. The atmosphere in the coach was electric which was an understandable response. There is a story I must tell you of a lady in the States, on a hot day fancying a Hagen Daz icecream cone. As she turns from the counter with the cone, she came face to face with (pause) Paul Newman. He said Hello and her knees turned to jelly. Outside the shop and regaining her composure she realised that she didn’t have her icecream cone. Heading back to the door she again met Paul Newman coming out and he asked if she was looking for her icecream cone. She nodded, unable to speak. He said “You put it in your handbag with your change!” An example of someone finding themselves in the presence of acting royalty. God doesn’t want us to feel like that with him, but nevertheless I wonder when was the last time that being in God’s presence quickened your pulse ? When did you last feel emotional when singing some of the words in our wonderful hymns and worship songs, or sharing Communion with the fantastic underlying truth of forgiveness and eternity.
Matthew reminds us that the Magi , when they arrived in Jerusalem as part of their search, made no secrecy that their objective was v2 to Worship Jesus. The intent is carried out in v.11. ‘On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, and they bowed down and worshipped him’.
For the Magi, after a long and no doubt tiring journey across country, I have no problem in anticipating that their pulses were quickened .From whatever old manuscripts they had read and from a long journey planned, they followed the star and found God’s promised Messiah. A physical bowing down simply paid tribute to who they believed Jesus to be. There was no set form of worship for them to use, it was an act of the heart which included some thoughtful gifts.
I have a few brief observations to add which I hope might be helpful. Firstly, who were these Magi ? What we glean from other parts of the Bible is that they were set apart as wise men who were religious and also astronomers. However the most important information is that they weren’t Jews, they were Gentiles from the east. Their pilgrimage to worship the new King is quite simply a confirmation of the Old Testament prophecy that the Messiah was for ALL people, Jew and Gentile alike, and that the nations of the world will come to His light. Read Isaiah 11…Jeremiah 16…Malachi 1…. And later, the song of Simeon proclaims Jesus as the light for revelation to the Gentiles. So Jesus was visited, firstly by lowly Jewish shepherds and later on by these highly respected Gentiles.
We might ask, where were the Pharisees and Saducees, the Jewish teachers and experts in the law who knew their Scriptures. When asked by Herod where the Messiah was to be born, they were very clear. They directed the Magi to Bethlehem. That’s where it will happen. So it begs the questions, where are they? What are they thinking? Why are they waiting ? We are aware of how the story unfolds and that for the leaders both fear and jealousy take over, guaranteeing their opposition to Jesus. These learned Jews were so familiar with the prophecies and yet strangely, when the Messiah arrives they both failed and refused to accept it. Their familiarity with the story did nothing to aid their enjoyment of the event. Is it possible do you think that we too might just be a little subject to that danger of familiarity? Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Harvest are all so familiar and for myself having prepared services around those themes for over 30 years now I recognise that it’s easy for that familiarity to dull our senses of the magnitude of the truths we are celebrating. The Magi were undoubtedly putting the Jewish leaders to shame and their negative reaction creates a shadow over the ministry of Jesus which leads to the crucifixion.
Our familiarity with the story must not blind us from a heart response every time we come to worship. Whilst 2000 years of worship is a cause for celebration, it must not weaken our grateful appreciation of God’s love and promises. When the Magi reached Jerusalem they asked questions and had also been following the star which marks them out as being both observant and determined. With careful observation they had concluded that this star was indeed unusual and worth studying. Despite the challenges, the inevitable expense and danger they embarked on a journey into the unknown because the prize was life changing. So it is for us. As Christians we need to be observant about the world around us, aware of the pressures and tensions, aware too of the shifts in standards and behaviour but at the same time ready also to be the voice of God in our daily lives and words. As God guided the Magi to the baby Jesus so he guides us to be his disciples each and every day.
Drawing things to a close let’s take a re- run of v11 . ‘On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh’
What this verse tells us is that the Magi had found what they were looking for. Just imagine for a moment their meeting with Mary and Joseph. It would undoubtedly have included conversations between them and a sharing of their stories . The result was that they were convinced as to the truth of the birth of the Messiah. The story points us to a great God who can do things his way, perhaps when we least expect it. As the Magi were convinced and returned home with a story to tell , so we too can be convinced about the continued relevance of God’s message of love, forgiveness and eternity through the life and death of this baby who grew up. The story both for the Magi and the story for us is so tremendous, that for them and us the response can be none other than to worship our God . They brought gifts of value and symbolism. For us, the Christmas carol askes ‘what can I give him poor as I am’ and gives the answer ‘Give my heart’. We can do that again today.
The Magi had 4 characteristics. We have already seen 3, that of observation, determination and conviction, but finally they were also obedient when a dream warned them about avoiding Herod on the way home. We need those all those characteristics as well and more so in the current and deteriorating climate of the world in which we live. God will help us, and as we worship, may our pulses quicken with the same determination and conviction to serve Him every day.
Rev Geoff Hobden