Sermon 11/08/2024

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

John 6 35, 41-51

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Why have you come to church this morning? What has made you get out of bed at an early hour and give up your time to come and sit in church? I’m sure it’s not just to hear me preach. There is something that draws us here and nourishes us, and no, I don’t mean the coffee and biscuits or even  the occasional Prosecco and cake, nice though they may be.

Jesus tells us today that no one can come  to him unless drawn by the Father.  You know when you meet someone who you really connect with and you feel drawn to them and want to spend time with them? Well, maybe we come to church because we are drawn here by God and by wanting to spend time in his presence and worship him. 

Whilst at church we can be nourished through words and music and of course through our receiving of the Eucharist.  Jesus said “my flesh is true flesh and my blood is true blood. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I abide in them” This is food that can feed, nourish and strengthen us like no other.  It is a food that helps us to grow in a more Christ like way. As plants grow towards the sun, we are called to grow towards Christ and to model our lives on his. The keen gardeners among you will know that plants grow better if we give them plant food. So we will grow into better Christians if we receive the nourishment of the Eucharist.

We also might feel drawn to come to church so that we can spend time with other Christians. I hope we can be honest with each other about our faith and our struggles with faith. That we can be one family and one body helping to build each other up. However, we are also human, and live in a culture that loves to moan and complain, but in today's gospel Jesus tells us do not not complain among yourselves. 

I love to have a good moan about things as much as anyone else, but I think Jesus has a point. After all what does moaning, usually to those who agree with us actually achieve? Usually not a lot except for making ourselves feel better. The thing is, if we stop complaining to each other about things then we are left with the options of either doing nothing or having to do something about what we are complaining about! 

C S Lewis wrote a book called the Screwtape Letters, which is a collection of letters from Screwtape, who is a senior demon to a younger demon, Wormwood, in which Screwtape offers advice on how to tempt a Christian away from God. At one point Screwtape writes 

“The Church itself is a fertile field if you just keep them bickering over details, structure, organization, money, property, personal hurts and misunderstandings. One thing you must prevent, don’t ever let them look up and see the banners flying, for if they ever see the banners flying you have lost them forever.”

How much time do we spend bickering, moaning, looking down and in effect achieving nothing. What happens if we stop moaning and looking down and look up, up to God and the angels and realise we are not on our own. 

The last weeks and months with continuing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, a rise in Islamist attacks on churches in Africa and the rioting in our own country can seem like it’s too much to deal with. It’s easier to look down, to think there is nothing that we can do and that is exactly what the devil wants. 

If we look up and remember that we are not alone, that we have God and  the whole host of angels also working against the evil in the world, then we can have hope that things can change and we have a part to play in that change. Don’t panic, I’m not suggesting we all go out on the streets as a counter protest. However we do have one very strong weapon we can use wherever we are, and that is prayer.  

 

Prayer can be a strange and difficult thing to understand, I assume as we are all here at church that we all believe that prayer can and does work, even if we don’t understand the how.  There are many things that are difficult for us to sense or understand, what some people would call supernatural or others spiritual. If we believe in God, then it makes sense to believe in these other supernatural beings or forces. Our prayers can help strengthen good and attack the evil. It my be a comic book image but I think of someone having a devil whispering in one ear and an angel in the other. Our prayers can ripple out and maybe make a person listen more to the voice saying don’t get involved in this, don’t pick up that brick than to the voice encouraging them to violence.

I have a challenge for myself and for you for the week. To try and spend 10mins a day praying for peace. How you do it is up to you, you can do it by yourself or find time with others, follow the daily office, a set prayer or use your own words. Sit down, go for a walk, or even dance if that is what works for you. The important thing is to pray.  

I want to finish with a prayer:

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour, the prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever  else may hinder us from godly union and concord: that, as there is but one Body, and one Spirit,and one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all; so we may henceforth be all of one heart, and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Amen

A sermon for my commissoning as a lay preacher

Isaiah 6 1-8 Colossians 4 2-6 

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

A  vocation to any form of ministry can be an interesting thing. I’m sure I am not the only person whose first response to a sense of calling is ha,ha,ha, very funny God, you’ve got a great sense of humour, followed by a list of all the reasons why God has really got it wrong this time. 

However, God usually gets his way and here I am about to start this new chapter of my ministry, and here are all of you as well and I would like to say a big thank you to you all for being here and supporting me on this journey. 

The calling of Isaiah we heard in the first reading was a bit more dramatic than most. Isaiah also feels unworthy of his calling, until he senses God’s forgiveness. Isaiah is being called to a prophetic ministry, and preaching can sometimes have a prophetic edge. Isaiah is being called to speak out against the actions of the secular and religious leaders of his time, and to warn of the dire consequences to come if they did not change. 

 A part of preaching can sometimes be to challenge people and institutions, to ask if they are really acting in God’s way or in their own interests. 

However,  Paul also has some advice, to preachers, to speak with grace and and make sure what we say speaks to the person we are speaking to. After all, if someone thinks the preacher is just having a go at some aspect of what they believe they probably won't listen to the prophetic message. 

The challenge is to be prophetic,  gracefully. Not always easy. 

To follow a calling is not always an easy path, it can put stress on not only the person called but those around them. I'm sure Andrew will agree with that when he wants to go to the pub and I'm saying sorry I need to write a sermon.  

This is where our relationship with God and finding time to nurture that relationship and draw on his strength becomes important. The act of benediction which we are ending our service with this evening provides space and time to sit with God. In Anglican belief God is really present in the Eucharistic host, in a different more real way than he may be in other places. The physical presence of the host on the altar gives us a focus to help avoid distractions as we come and kneel or sit before God and simply spend time in His presence and open ourselves to receive his blessing. 

Everything that I have said doesn't just apply to those in “official” ministry roles. We are all unique and loved by God as we are, we are also all called to do God’s work in the world, whatever that may be. It could be doing things for charity or just been that one person that someone else knows they can trust and lean on.  

In the Jungle Book Baloo tells Mowgli to forget about your worries and your strife. Benediction allows us a chance to perhaps forget about our worries and strife and just rest in God's presence for a few minutes. Through this we can be strengthened to continue with the work God has called each of us to do. Amen

Sermon 16/06/24 - The Kingdom of God

Readings: Mark 4: 26-34

2 cor. 5:6-17

In this morning's gospel reading Jesus is trying to explain the kingdom of heaven to his disciples. Jesus uses parables to do this, and the first parable points to why this might be. As how seeds grew into crops was a mystery to many people in the first century, so the kingdom of God is a mystery. It is something we can not fully understand.

The kingdom of God is another way of saying heaven, Matthew tends to use the term kingdom of heaven in his gospel, written for a Jewish audience whilst Mark and Luke writing for Romans and Greeks use kingdom of God.

A friend recently asked me a question about what heaven is like. He wanted to know if heaven is supposed to be a perfect sort of place, how does that work for different people at the same time. The example he used was that he likes smoking, I don't, I like dogs, he doesn't. We both like beer, so in heaven could we have a beer together with him smoking and me petting a dog and both still be happy? My honest answer to his question was I don't know.

A quick Google search for images of heaven reveals modern images mainly of clouds and blue skies. A look at medieval pictures of heaven produces more varied images of heaven. Some show it as a sort of palace, or city, one shows angels carrying souls up to heaven in what looks like a hammock made from a sheet. I don’t think anyone can say what heaven is really like.

The Bible tells us that heaven will be a place of joy with no more tears, no more pain, no more suffering. We will have physical bodies, but what will they be like? Will they be the state they were in when we died or a younger version? Will disabilities still exist, some disabled theologians have argued that their disability is such a key part of their identity that they don't want a heavenly body that excludes that part of them.

Lots of questions, ifs and maybes but very few definite answers. We just have to have faith and trust that in heaven we will be with God, and somehow he will make it all work, but how He does that will remain a mystery to us for now.

The second parable we heard this morning, points us to another aspect of heaven. Jesus compares heaven to a mustard seed. A mustard seed is a small round seed, only about 1-2 millimeters in diameter. Yet from this tiny seed grows a large tree. They can grow to 20-30 feet high and 20 feet wide.

So we can say that the kingdom of heaven is big, but I think Jesus is pointing to more than just the size of a mustard tree. He talks about it being a place where birds can build their nests. A home, a place that provides shelter and gives us rest. The kingdom of heaven will be our heavenly home where we can find shelter and rest from the struggles of this life.

The parable of the mustard seed also points to something else. Heaven can come from very small beginnings. In the Lords Prayer we pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It is a call to us that we should be trying to live our earthly lives now in a way that reflects something of the kingdom of heaven.

Now we all know that we should be kind and caring, love our enemy etc. However it’s not always easy. As we approach the general election, political debate seems to get more agitated and angry. We as Christians should be setting an example of how to listen to those we disagree with and engage with them in a more friendly way. In this way we can try and show others a glimpse of what the kingdom of God may be like and show them it is something that may be worth exploring.

I still don’t know what heaven is like or how God will work things so that we can all be happy, despite our different likes and dislikes, and I don’t think we ever will know until we get there. We just have to accept with faith that somehow it will be.

I'd like to end with a prayer attributed to St Brigid, which gives a description of how she saw heaven.

I’d like to give a lake of beer to God.

I’d love the heavenly

Host to be tippling there

For all eternity.

I’d love the men of Heaven to live with me,

To dance and sing.

If they wanted, I’d put at their disposal

Vats of suffering.

White cups of love I’d give them

With a heart and a half;

Sweet pitchers of mercy I’d offer

To every man.

I’d make Heaven a cheerful spot

Because the happy heart is true.

I’d make the men contented for their own sake.

I’d like Jesus to love me too.

I’d like the people of heaven to gather

From all the parishes around.

I’d give a special welcome to the women,

The three Marys of great renown.

I’d sit with the men, the women and God

There by the lake of beer.

We’d be drinking good health forever

And every drop would be a prayer.

Amen

Easter 3: The Importance of Meals and Forgiveness

Readings: 

Acts 3:12-19 1 

John 3:1-7 

Luke24: 36b-48 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Easter 2024 An Impossible Truth

May I speak in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

Christ is risen

He is risen indeed, Alleluia

 But is he really? People don’t  just rise from the dead, It’s impossible, yet this impossible truth is at the very heart of our faith, without it everything else falls apart. 

C S Lewis wrote that if Christianity is false it is of no importance but if it is true it is of infinite importance. 

So, can it be true? 

Let’s take a look at some evidence. Our gospel reading this morning features our very own patron saint, Mary Magdalen apostle to the apostles and the first witness to the resurrection. 

Hang on, this is the first century Roman Empire. A woman cannot be a reliable witness, that’s what the law says, her evidence wouldn’t be acceptable in court. 

If you want to convince people what you are saying is true, why do all four gospel writers have an unreliable woman as their first witness?  You wouldn’t write it like that, except, just maybe you would, because it’s the impossible truth.

Lets have a look at the rest of the apostles. On that first Easter day they are all hiding behind locked doors, too scared to go out, clearly believing Jesus is dead. 

Yet as we hear in the next few weeks, something changes for them. In forty days time at Pentecost they will be on the streets preaching the risen Christ, even at the risk of torture and death, and many of them will face torture and death for their belief in the risen Christ. What a massive, impossible change in attitude, unless the impossible is true. 

When Mary Magdalen first arrives at the tomb, she notices that the tomb was open. Archaeological evidence suggests that a typical tomb would have had a slope down to the entrance with a grove down which the stone disc to seal the entrance could easily be moved. 

It would be a lot more difficult to move the stone disc up the slope away from the entrance. We are also told that the linen wrappings from the body were still inside the tomb. 

Now some people have suggested that the body was moved by other people, but why would you go to all that effort to move the stone, then unwrap the dead and messy body before moving it? 

And if someone had moved the body, why did no one find it  and bring it out as evidence to stop this crazy new belief spreading? Or maybe the impossible is true and the tomb was empty because Jesus rose and a risen body doesn't need the grave clothes, so he left then behind.

I have one final piece of evidence for the impossible truth. In first century Judah there were quite a few itinerant preachers, going around claiming to perform miracles, even possibly claiming to be the messiah. 

Some may even have been crucified if the Romans thought they were a threat to the state. Yet 2000 years later, only one is not only remembered, but known around the world, why? Because of the impossible truth that he died and unlike the others rose again.

So we can believe in an impossible truth, but why is it needed in the first place?

The first Easter marked a crisis for the world. A crisis is a pivot point, where things could go one way or another, think about how we talk about the crisis point of an illness. The moment where the patient turns onto the path to recovery or not. 

A crisis is an event not a process, the decisive moment when something could go  either way. Easter marks a decisive moment for the world. 

Either the devil will win, and we are all doomed or  humanity will be redeemed, the mistakes of the garden of Eden will be reversed and we will be saved. 

The Whole future of humanity is at stake.  

Like a seed that has to be buried before it can bring forth new life, Christ has been buried but risen to new life. Because Christ is raised to new life, we can all be raised to new life. 

If Christ isn’t God and doesn’t rise again we are all doomed.  Through the cross and resurrection the world can be transformed, pushed onto a new life giving path and we can be transformed as well. 

Easter can be a chance to renew our faith, to bring fresh hope to ourselves and the world. As Liverpool football fans sing, we can walk on with hope in our heart.

The famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, once commented, that when you have eliminated all other options whatever remains however impossible must be true. The impossible is true, we have hope, the world is renewed, 

Christ Is risen! 

He is risen indeed, Alleluia.

Transfiguration and St. Cademon

11/02/2024 – Sunday before Lent Readings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Advent 2: Some Thoughts on Prophets and Prophecy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be like John the Baptist.

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

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

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