First Sunday of Christmas - Massacre of the Innocents!

This time of year when we have just had Christmas and we are now looking forward to the new year seems to be in a bit of a no mans land.  We are still waiting to celebrate the new year and we are not sure if Christmas is over or not. Except in the church’s year we are still very much within the Christmas season and waiting in anticipation for Epiphany which we will celebrate next Sunday.

I have to say I find this time of year a time of reflection. As we wait for the new year and we have celebrated the feast that is Christmas with family and friends I often think back on what has happened in the past and look forward in anticipation to what may come in the next year.  Christmas messages can be a bit like that can’t they.  And I have to say the Christmas letter often expresses these sorts of thoughts.

The Christmas letter – in our house we have a competition as to who is going to have sent the funniest letter.  They seem to be in two halves these letters – either we have every single detail of a person’s year and of their family, OR they seem to show the very best of their year – the amazing results of their children, the fabulous holidays they have been on- and there are occasions when I wonder what the reality really is.  I do occasionally send one from our family and one year I was banned from doing so by my family. I wrote the letter after what had been quite a difficult year in different ways- I didn’t think it was too bad but I was told by the girls and Andrew that it was far too depressing and so it wasn’t sent that year.

I start with this because today in the lectionary we are confronted with a reality within a very beautiful story. We have been singing and celebrating the birth of Jesus possibly sentimentalising the story. Although we see him born in the stable with muck and hay I am sure in equal measures the shepherds with their lambs and the angels make the story rather more palatable don’t’ they. And then in our lectionary reading from Matthew’s gospel we are confronted in the middle of this story by something really really shocking.  The reaction of a despot who to protect his own power and authority orders the slaying of innocent children- babies in Bethelehem.

How do we react to such a story. Most of us want to cut it out – it’s uncomfortable in it’s reading. We are left with the question of why it was allowed to happen by God – was it part of his plan – surely not.

But Matthew writing his gospel for a jewish audience puts this story in. And as he does he asks us to remember back to another story which was key to his early readers- key to their heritage and history. He asks them to remember the saving of another baby from the slaughter of innocents. The saving of the baby by being hidden in a wicker basket and put into a river. And in such a way the purposes of God and the exodus from slavery of the Israelites was assured in the little baby Moses  growing up in the royal palaces.

Moses destined to be the one who led the people of Isreal from Slavery out towards the promised land. Moses who led the people through the red sea and into the dessert where God protected and provided for them.

And I think Matthew wants us to remember this – to see the similarities. Because in this time too a power hungry individual showed gross inhumanity to protect his own throne and power. He had the babies slaughtered to stop the Israelites growing too strong and to protect his own power position as ruler.  And here too in Matthew we see Herod doing just the same. His inhumanity is overwhelming, we baulk at it, we are revolted by it. In the midst of our cosy view of the Christmas story it reminds us so starkly and powerfully of the type of world that Jesus himself was born in. A type of world where man shows gross inhumanity to man and man lusts for power at all costs.

Do we live in a world that is any different today I wonder? Just this year we have seen the slaughter of innocents again for purposes of power and to promote terror.  Stories in the summer from Iraq spoke of Christian children being beheaded in the streets by Islamic state. And then just a few days ago we saw those children again killed in Peshwara.  Evil and evil purposes are still at work in our world today and will continue until the time of Jesus’ return.

But and the big but in this story – is we can think only of the evil that is so apparent and abhorrent. OR we can think of the fact that God’s plans and purposes where not destroyed despite the evil. God is bigger and more powerful and has the victory over evil itself.

Despite the best efforts of Pharaoh and Herod God still triumphed.  In both cases the babies were protected so that they could grow up for acts of salvation – Moses for the Israelites for a time and place, Jesus for the whole world and for eternity.

And God was able to do this because of the faith of people just like you and me who were prepared to put their faith in God in action and take a step of faith. Joseph must have been pretty shocked to receive the dream he had to go to Egypt, but he took action on the dream and in doing so he protected the whole family and Jesus the son of God himself.

So I think this story can give us hope in a modern world where evil is still so evident. Because God’s purposes and not held back despite evil. And God still wants us to live out his kingdom in a world where we are in the middle of earthly kingdoms and expectations.

The reality is that all of our lives are touched by the stresses and strains of the world, by the evil of others and by the pain and suffering that results from living in a fallen world. But we can hold on the fact that despite this Christ entered our world to show us his Kingdom value and to usher in a new way of living. And it is this that we need to show to the world. And because of his power over sin and death, and because of his ascension into heaven we have the assurance that he is with us by the power of the Holy Spirit and will always be with us no matter what life throws at us.

So as we enter into the new year – are our lives going to be perfect ? This time next year I am sure we will all be thinking the same thing – some good things have happened and some not so good. And yet we can know like we did this year the reality of the presence of God with us through it all. And we can try to live out and show his kingdom this year so that we begin to make a difference in our corner of the world. 

At this time of year we have thought a lot about Jesus as the light of the world – a light that shines in the darkness and as John 1 says – a light that has not been put out by the darkness. And as we start the new year lets think about Jesus’ words on the sermon on the mount which are still as relevant today as when Jesus himself said them: You are the light of the world, a city built on the hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let you light shine before others, so that they may see your good world and give glory to your Father in heaven.  

Are you ready yet?

The countdown has begun- on Tuesday here I will lead our first carol service with the local scouts,  All around us at the moment is getting ready – the lights switched on, the shops urging us to get ready, and as a Mum as well as a vicar I have been getting ready for quite a considerable time already with my long list of presents to buy and the joy of online shopping!

And today in the churches year the countdown starts proper with the first Sunday of Advent – when we talk a lot about getting ready.

Our reading which was the reading set for today talks about getting ready,  not getting ready for Christmas when we celebrate Jesus born as a baby in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago but getting ready for the next time Jesus will come again to earth – what we think of as the second coming at the end of time.

It’s not an easy thing to grasp but I think it does help us to think about what faith is all about and asks us to think for ourselves about what we believe.

Now whenever I go to the cinema I tend to go to see chic flicks but I am always amazed at how many disaster movies are advertised,

Time and time again you see portrayed the major disaster from the invasion by aliens to the virus that has no cure all of which point to the end of the world – the end of the world will be upon us unless we get the vaccine right or unless we have the ability to somehow destroy the incoming invasion.

The story of the end of the world or the potential end of the world makes great cinema and I guess for most of us the thought of it ends there.

But there are also those who like to think they can work it all out.

There are those who down the centuries have told us that the end of the world will end on this or that date.

Back in 1842 an American William Miller predicted that Christ would come again on 21^st March, he had to revise his date a few times as with each date nothing happened.

Finally he came up with 22^nd October 1844 and was widely publicised.

As news of this spread it had a disastrous effect on people -One account of this time notes that “Fields were left unharvested, shops were closed, people quit their jobs, paid their debts, and freely gave away their possessions with no thought of repayment.” 

Of course we know that as before this date came and went.

But people still are fascinated with this and we still have predictions made

There was a date recently worked out by some complicated mathematical formula- but it came and went.

But the message of this reading is as clear today as it was to the people of Jesus’ time – we don’t know when it will happen – so there is no point trying to predict it - but it will and we need to get ready for it.

But how exactly are we to get ready for it.

The disaster movies would have us fill our cupboards with food or even better have some sort of nuclear bunker but the message from this reading is something very different.

We are not to prepare physically for this event but we are to prepare spiritually.

To really understand the significance of Jesus coming again we need to understand the significance of Jesus coming in the first place.

And to understand that we need to think not in terms of the big disaster movie – but more in terms not of the chick flick but more in terms of the Great love story.

Because that is what is at the heart of the Christmas message.

It was God’s intention when he created mankind to have a relationship with him – but because of mankind’s free will they turned away from him so he had to somehow turn this round.

A little story to illustrate the point- just imagine we are in the time set in Merlin if you ever watch it.

The Prince of the kingdom falls in love as he rides through the town with a beautiful peasant girl.

What can he do – if he ordered her to marry him or even if he went up to her and tried to get her to love him as he was “the prince” how could he be sure she was marrying him for the right reasons.

So he decides to give up all his princely attire and leave the castle, and for a period to live as one of the peasants and in turn she got to  know and love him for herself.

He made himself like one of the people so that she could know him in an understandable way.

And it’s a bit like that with Jesus coming to human kind, God made himself understandable so that we could know and love him for ourselves and of course more than that he had a plan of salvation we which we see revealed at the first Easter.

But what difference does that make to each of us as individuals.

You see what Jesus says to us from this reading is that one day he is going to come again and we need to be ready for that.

And to do that we need to have thought through the implications of him coming in the first place and what difference that makes to our lives.

Because the reality of the Christmas story is such that it isn’t just a nice story – we make it appear cutesy on our Christmas cards and in Children’s nativity plays but it is far from that.

It asks us that question have we realised what God was doing when he came? God made himself knowable to us when Jesus came into the world – have we got to know him for ourselves?

This time of year – Advent urges us to see the miracle of God breaking into our world. –Jesus is going to come again – but have we thought about the significance of him coming in the first place?

Is it just something we may think we believe but it hasn’t made a difference to our lives.

In 2002 in America the Allstate insurance company surveyed Californians in earthquake- prone regions.  They found out that 64% of those who responded believed that a massive earthquake would hit within 3-5 years, but only 25% of them had earthquake insurance.

We can be a bit like that too with our belief- we may think we believe in the fact that Jesus came as God but actually it has made no obvious difference in our lives.

Advent and getting ready points us to change this.

To think about what difference it could make in our lives that Jesus came the first time and that he is coming back again.

We don’t know when it could be in may be in our lifetime if may not be for another 1,000 years but Jesus tells us here to get ready.

So how do we do this.

And this is where faith is all about.
To begin to discover for yourself what a difference a relationship with God can make.

Stepping out in faith is about putting your trust in God even if you don’t understand it all –because most of us throughout our lives don’t.

I remember in my early twenties spending many evenings with a friend discussing the reality or not of God.

Discussing the big philosophical questions into the early hours of the morning.

And in the end I said to him – we can discuss this til the cows come home but in the end you need to take it from a philosophical viewpoint to the reality of faith you need to find out for yourself whether or not faith is real to you.

Another friend of mine did just that – he didn’t know what he was doing but just one night knelt down and prayed and said God if you are there just reveal yourself to me- I don’t understand it all but I do want to know more.

And in answer to that prayer he had a huge sense of God’s presence with him – he discovered more as he went on what that was all about – but he just took the first step of faith and God honoured that.

Perhaps this Advent as we are called to Get ready – we need to think about that.

How am I open to what God is all about, how am I open to what a difference God can make in my life.

Then we will be ready when he comes again as our reading said: with great power and glory.

Amen

          

Christ the King

Have you ever had the privilege of meeting our Queen?

I have to say I haven’t but I did sing to Princess Ann once when I was at school.

She was visiting the school I was at and we put on a great show for her, from the Army group putting on a display to the music school showing off with the madrigal choir – which I was in – to a sumptuous lunch with all the great and good of the school.

Royalty in this country is something which many people are still terribly proud of and it comes with it a sense of awe and wonder, putting on our best for them.

Why start with this – well today is the day in the Church's year when we celebrate Christ the King.

And it seems that we have a lot of expectations about earthly kingship which we bring into our understanding of Heavenly Kingship.

And earthly Royalty or Kingship holds with it a pattern of behaviour and expectations, we are not really worthy to be part of it so we put on our best show, royalty is far away from US as normal people or subjects of their realm.

And yet when we think about Christ as King we need to think beyond our understanding of earthly monarchy to think of Kingship in a different way and of our responsibilities of being part of a heavenly Kingdom.

Christ as King urges us to see our King Jesus beyond our human understanding,

A King who although perfectly God was also perfectly able to relate to humanity.

Who made his home not with the high and mighty, not with the powerful but with the poor and outcast of society.

Who surrounded himself not with great scholars and educated leaders and statesmen but with fishermen and tax collectors.

Who was educated not in the great schools of the day but at the bench of his earthly father the carpenter.

And yet we see Jesus, – this Jesus as King- having all power and authority that have been given him by God.

So it is not surprising therefore that when we look at his Kingdom – the priorities and guiding principles,  will be vastly different from those of the world.

And todays gospel reading speaks clearly to us as we celebrate Christ the King today and as we think about what it means to us to live as part of his Kingdom.

So I want to look at this briefly this morning to see what it can teach us about priorities in the Kingdom of God and living under the rule of Christ as King.

Well firstly when we look at this reading we need to see clearly how it follows on from the previous parables in Matthews gospel – the parable of the talents and before this the parable of the ten virgins waiting with their lamps for the bridegroom.

These perhaps are unsettling parables which speak to us about being ready for when the Lord returns but also of ensuring that we work diligently for the Kingdom in using the gifts and talents that we have been given.

And in culmination of these parables now Matthew gives us some teaching of Jesus on judgement and this wonderful story about the King.

So I want to look at it firstly in terms of judgement – which is something not many of us like thinking about.

Then secondly in terms of what we will be judged against and how this may help us think about our priorities in living as part of the Kingdom.

Firstly, then judgement.

The idea of judgement day was a common feature of first- century Judaism, and it was also an expectation amongst the early Christians.

We now a days don’t emphasise it too much in mainstream churches- and often the idea of judgement is parodied by those who we probably see as not quite normal wondering around Oxford st with sandwich boards declaring the end of the world and judgement on the world.

So what relevance is judgement today.

In this story Jesus uses the idea of judgement and the story of the sheep and the goats to bring home the fact that we are all being judged all the time by the response to our fellow human beings especially when they are in need.

According to John 3: 17 God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Then he goes on to describe judgement in terms of light and darkness: “This is judgement that the light has come into the world……..read John 3: 19-21

When we read this we realise that God’s light exposes all the darkness of our lives.

It’s a bit like the sun shining through your windows.
If they haven’t been cleaned the bright light will show up all the dirt and grime/

So we see from John’s gospel that when Christ came into the world he didn’t intend to condemn the world, but that the light of his goodness and truth actually had the effect of showing up all the sin and darkness in the world.

And the effect of seeing this light leads us then to repentance to a realisation that our lives are not as God intended.

To repent, to ask forgiveness for the bits our lives which are shown up as grimy and unclean by the bright light of God’s presence.

In this way we see judgement clearly as not something which we wait until the end of time for- though of course in some way we know there will be a final judgement as we are told elsewhere in the bible.

But this sort of judgement happens even daily as we continually assess our lives in the light of God’s light.

This is a continuous kind of self- assessment of our lives and we assess ourselves against the rule of Christ the King, the King who brought light into a dark world.

So what in this passage does Jesus teach us when he tells us what we will all be judged against.

And here we see clearly how we will be judged against the ways that we show love to others.

Jesus said: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

And they said – well when did this happen – we didn’t do that for you King,

But Jesus continued- the King will reply “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine you did for me”

I think these are very challenging words of Jesus to us in a culture which is out for self and all one can get for oneself.

It’s easy to help those who we want to help isn’t it.

It’s easy to help those who look like they need our help- who are responsive, who might even say thank you,

It’s easy to help those who are like ourselves, who are part of our congregation, who we generally are comfortable with.

But Jesus here is not saying that - he is saying that we will be judged not against  how we are with our friends and our neighbours, those who are like us,

But Jesus is here saying that we will be judged against how we are with the “least”,

Those who we are not comfortable with, the person on the street, the homeless, the single mum struggling to bring up her  children in a small flat, those who are in prison, the jobless, all those who society somehow condemns as irresponsibly getting themselves into a situation of poverty.

The modern day outcasts – the equivalents of the leper, the tax collectors, the sinners who we saw Jesus regularly meeting and caring for.

And when we look at this story like this it is indeed a challenge not only for us as individuals but as a Church.

Because how Jesus says this happens is something that is completely natural.

It should be our norm to offer help and care for the least of people.

Example of seaside parish – the priest who made himself up as a drunk and then walked into the church and got up to preach.

I wonder what our reaction would be – it’s quite a challenge for us to think about that question I think.

The marks of the Kingdom of Christ the King is a genuine concern for all in our society.

It’s not difficult to look back through history and find so many examples of Christians who have had this and therefore changed the world in their own way: Wilberforce with his work on slavery, countless saints who have been recognised for their self giving to those in need.
They are useful stories to look at but perhaps more useful is to hear the challenge for us as Christians here in Poole.

To look at Jesus life and in the light of this judge ourselves as to our willingness to help and care for those who are the poor needy and outcasts in our society and world:

          Do we as individuals and as a church show a concern for those who are not like ourselves and support us.

          If the answer to that question is maybe or no or sort of then we need to pray for this in our lives to grow.

          What is our reaction to those who are different from us – how do we respond to them and show God’s love and care.

          Who are the people in our communities who represent Jesus’ hungry, thirsty, sick or in prison – the least of God’s people and how can our lives make a difference to them.

When we come today to celebrate Christ as King, at one level it brings to praise and worship to think about him as King over the world.

But at the same time his kingship of light and life shows up our lives – it’s a bit like the sun shining in to our French windows – and what does it do it exposes all the dirty spots.

And then being part of his Kingdom puts play to the earthly measures of greatness and values of prosperity.

Because being part of his Kingdom requires us to draw alongside all people to show his love and care and concern for the world.

So this Sunday as we celebrate Christ the King let us be drawn back to our knees in prayer:

Giving thanks for his greatness,

Repenting of our unworthiness,

And committing our lives to serve him by having a genuine concern for others and putting our faith in to practise.

Amen.

Who are we following? Sermon Epiphany 3 2014

I love those movies where you see someone getting into a taxi and shouting to the driver- follow that cab!

And then there is the frustration as the cab gets stuck at lights or in a mound of other yellow cabs and the one who is following has to get out and run down a row of other cabs looking for the right one.

Following someone isn’t always an easy thing to do.

Those of us who drive know how hard it is to follow another vehicle especially at night.

No matter how hard you try other vehicles always get in the way of the one you are following.

And then you are also bound to get stuck at lights or at a cross road and you only hope that the one who you are following has had the sense to stop for and wait for you.

When you follow someone you have to work hard at it, you have to really concentrate and you have to have your eyes peeled to make sure that you are following the right car.

Following someone relies on keeping your eyes fixed on them.

And in our gospel reading today we have seen how Jesus called his first disciples to follow him.

“Follow me he said and I will make you into different fishermen, not fishers of fish, but fishers of men. Your life will be turned around and given a new focus if you but follow me.”

I often love to think of the unwritten parts of the bible, the bits that we are told just happen.

This is one of them, we are told simply that Peter and Andrew simply left their nets and followed Jesus.

But I wonder how they felt, what they thought was going to happen, what was it in Jesus that made them take this drastic action.

Why did Jesus chose these two fishermen to be his disciples?

Of course we can only speculate but we know that Jesus’ presence must have offered to them something amazing for them to take this action.

And we know that in these fishermen Jesus saw qualities which were going to be useful in the times that were ahead.

These fishermen would have been strong men, they would have been courageous, fishing in the Sea of Galilee was no easy feat

A fisherman needs to be patient, to be able to persevere, all these were qualities that they were to use as they followed Jesus in his life and as they worked after his resurrection and ascension to establish the first churches.

Now we don’t know what was in their minds when they did it, but we do know that they looked away from themselves and had their eyes fixed on Jesus and followed him.

So in many ways that’s my simple message for today- in our Christian lives we need to have our eyes fixed on Jesus.

But I don’t want to leave it there- but I want to reflect this back to the passage we had read from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church.

And in this short passage we see here where a Church was going wrong.

Where within the Church there is bickering and arguing,  where within the church individuals have formed themselves into cliques arguing over the authority of their leaders.

We see here that there are at least four different groups within the Corinthian church.

Some say they follow Paul, some Apollos, some Peter, and some Christ.

These divisions were about several things but probably they were to do with who in some way had most influenced each group.

So for those who said they were in Paul’s party they had probably come into contact with Paul when he had visited Corinth.

They might very well have found faith through the teaching of Paul.

And then there were those who were following Apollos.
Now we know from Acts that he was from Alexandria which was famed for producing great orators so it could be that people were following him because he was a clever and powerful teacher.

And then there were those who followed Peter, possibly because Peter had visited Corinth and because Peter unlike Paul had been present with Jesus in his earthly ministry.

There is a suggestion that those who followed Peter were trying to introduce more Jewish practises back into the Christian Church.

And then there were those who followed Christ.

Quite a strange grouping as surely they all followed Christ.

But it is likely that this group felt they didn’t need a leader at all – after all they had Christ and they were quite anti-authoritarian.

So it seems from this passage that the church in Corinth had got hooked on the earthly leaders of the time and were far from united in following Christ.

In many ways it is quite reassuring to read this passage as it can remind us of elements of our own church not only locally but nationally.

The press would have us believe that our church is torn apart by big issues such as homosexuality and whether or not now women are priests they ought to be bishops.

So nationally and internationally we see division in our church.

And then at a local level we can see the danger of cliques developing.

Now of course we develop preferences for styles of worship and for those who lead us- whether or not you are a happy clappy or a traditionalist.

And I hope and pray we do not become divided over who is the best leader.

But we can be influenced by personality, like the Apollos party.

We can also like the Peter party become hooked on some of the must do things of our faith.

We must have services in this way or that.

And then there is also a danger of thinking we have a monopoly on the truth like the Paul party because we have read the right books, or had the right training.

And then like the Christ party we can also slip into the danger in our churches of not accepting the authority and leadership that has been placed over us.

So there is a danger that even at a local level we too can become like the church at Corinth.

And if we become like that what do those outside the church see and say.

Normally it’s I don’t want to join the church because it’s full of hypocrites.

So what advice from Paul do we get to guard against this.

And it is here that it links back to our gospel reading and the response of the two disciples –

The advice seems to be simple- keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

What is important in the church is not who is your leader, or what training you have had, or how clever and impressive your church seems to be, but whether or not your church is fundamentally fixed on our Saviour Jesus Christ.

It is he that holds the whole thing together.

And it is when we let our eyes slip from Jesus and our focus becomes on other things that we begin to be disunited and division arises.

So how do we fix our eyes on Jesus.

Firstly, we need to accept the wholeness of Jesus.

As Paul writes: “is Christ divided?”

We cannot parcel Christ out into little bits- By this I mean we have to accept all of him.

We have to accept all his teaching, all he came to do for us.

We cannot say I like his teaching on love, but his challenge to us regarding money and possessions is a bit steep so I won’t bother with that.

We have to let all his teaching pervade our lives.

We can’t have half of him, saying “Please come in but leave your legs outside for the moment because I don’t like that bit of you.”

We need to accept the wholeness of Christ and his teaching.

Secondly, we need to have our eyes fixed on the cross of Christ.

It is the cross of Christ that makes us all equals.

It is only through the cross of Christ that any of us can come to God.

This is what is so amazing about the communion service that in that we all come to God as equals.

We all kneel together at the rail to receive from him, to celebrate all he did at Calvary as equals.

This is the power of the cross of Christ that Paul talks about, the power of the cross to save us all no matter who we are or what we have done.

And thirdly, we need to accept that Christ is our Lord.

It would be crazy to suggest that all the children I have baptised in the past 18 months have suddenly become my own children.

But this is sort of what the Corinthians were doing, and Paul points them back to the fact that in baptism we have not become the possession of the person who has baptised us but we have become Christ’s.

In baptism we have become a child of God.

We have accepted that we are now under the authority and Lord ship of Christ.

He is the one who must be in control of our lives in that we should follow him in all that we do.

So when Jesus says to us Follow me what do we do.

Do we look to what makes us feel good in terms of our worship or friends within the church.
Do we hark back to those who have taught us or introduced us to the Christian faith.

Or do we follow him with our eyes fixed firmly ahead- fixed on the whole of Jesus, fixed on his cross and fixed on the fact that he wants to be Lord of all our lives.

Following isn’t easy- we may get it wrong sometimes, but if we hold on to these three things we may prevent being torn apart and be able to be a more successful witness to him in our world. 

What are we called to be? Sermon Epiphany 2 2014

Over the next few weeks we will be looking together at the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.  Now when we think of 1 Corinthians I wonder what you first think about? For most people I bet chapter 13 the great hymn of love comes to mind.

But actually when we look at what Paul is saying to the Corinthian church it was far from a church that was very loving – it had made big mistakes, their were petty arguments going on over leadership.

Someone once said to me if you find the perfect church leave it because you will only mess it up. In other words no church is perfect we all get things wrong = and so I think we can learn a great deal from what Paul is saying here to the Corinthian church – because like that church in our church surprise surprise we don’t always get it right too.

So I want us to look at the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 1 in terms of how we see God’s calling to us as his people.

Let’s think about what we mean about calling for a moment or two to start with.

In Christian terms we talk a lot about calling,  our gospel reading this morning we see Jesus calling the first disciples to follow him.

When someone is involved in vocational work whether it be in the religious sense or in education, in health or social work we talk about it as that person having a calling to do that. So the language we use of calling is all about our vocation.

But are we actually right to do this?

Being ordained, or being a missionary or a monk or something like that, is quite secondary to the real, the central call we all have from God. Those two followers of John the Baptist who Jesus asked to “come and see” were called exactly as we are called. They were called to be disciples – just as we are called to be disciples. They were called to be disciples in their place and in their time, for the sake of their generation.

One of the things this means is that we don’t have to imitate Andrew’s, or John’s, or Peter’s actions in order to see, with some clarity, how their call is like the call of Christ to each of us, and to all of us.

The first thing to notice is that Jesus does not first, or primarily, call them to do a particular task or to fill a particular role. Indeed, he didn’t ask them to do anything. Our call as Christians is not initially for us – as it was not, initially, for his first disciples – a call to tasks.

It is, instead, an invitation to relationship. Jesus does not say, “Do this”; he says, “Come and see.” Only later does he give specific content and direction to where that might lead. There’s a big difference between a call to a task and an invitation to relationship.

To respond to a call for relationship, for intimacy, is a very different thing from signing up to do a piece of work – in the same way that falling in love is very different from getting hired. To set out to do a job requires some clarity about what is involved, it’s negotiable, it has its limits, you know what it looks like when the job is over, and so on. To be called into relationship – to be called in love – this is an invitation to enter a mystery; it’s to move out, blindly, into uncharted waters.

When Jesus says, “Follow me,” he is calling us first to himself – to a personal intimacy and a shared life. That’s what matters, that’s what is primary. Everything else is left behind; everything else becomes secondary.

Now, if we look at Jesus’ call from the perspective of what’s left behind, it’s a call to repent. But if we see that same call from the perspective of what comes next, then it’s a call to seek him first, to know him better and to move toward making that relationship the central focus of our lives.

So when we see calling in that way – we can see that each of us have been called by God to be in relationship with him.

Each of us have been called by God to grow in that relationship with him.

That is our primary calling in life – over our call to be in my case a vicar, or in someone elses case a teacher, or an it person or a housewife.

Our primary call – our primary focus in life is our calling to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

So seeing our calling in this way – how does Paul at the beginning of Corinthians help us to unpack this a bit.

What does that call mean to us?  and here Paul begins to give us some ideas.

Firstly it is a call to be holy.  We live lives as Christians in holiness.

When I type my name in on a computer keyboard often I end up making mistakes because the t is next to the y, and if you do this what do you end up with Lucy Holy.

Very apt some may say to do with my job – but I have to say most of the time I feel far from Holy – in how I live my life and the constant mistakes I make.

But Paul here says that we are called to holiness. Now this isn’t having a go at them telling them they are not living holy enough lives here.

But Paul is saying that actually because of what God has done for us through Jesus we live in holiness.

By God’s grace no matter what we do or say, or think, no matter how we act – if we come to him in forgiveness he will wipe the slate clean and enable us to come in holiness.

So because of God’s grace shown to us on the cross of Christ when all our sin was forgiven, taken away, washed clean we can come to  God now in holiness.

We have been called by God and made holy by him. What we must never forget is that this is not about what we do, how hard we try but it is all about the fact that God initiated this and gave us this gift through his own grace.

And then in response to this grace we are told elsewhere that we should try to live lives that are worthy of this calling – but this is in response.

So firstly we are called to be Holy.

And then Paul says we are called to be his church.

Paul addresses the church in Corinth as the Church of God in Corinth and reminds then that they are linked together with other churches too. Read verse 2.

In other words Paul might be saying here that they shouldn’t think they have the monopoly of God’s attention. He is urging them to see that they are part of a bigger picture.

We know that this Church is a church with problems. We can see that from just reading on into the verse 10 of chapter 1 when we see the divisions of the Church. Paul is writing to them to address these problems.

We all know that when we have issues in the life of our church or with other Christians  they can become all consuming. Somehow they can seem worse than issues you have in secular life, probably because we expect better of each other.

But what Paul is saying here is that your issues and concerns might seem as if they are that matters. But in reality, not only is God much bigger than your problems but the church of Jesus Christ also extends far beyond the border of Corinth's city limits.

Keeping the bigger picture in mind does not mean Corinth's issues are minor. Paul's passion to address the conflicts in church is evident throughout the letter.  However, severe conflict has the tendency to reduce our field of vision to a narrow tunnel. Paul seems to be declaring to the Christians at Corinth: You really are not that important! And...you are part of much bigger body.

We are called to be not only Holy says Paul but we are called to be part of the worldwide church of God.

And then I think thirdly Paul is saying that we are called to use the gifts for his purpose that he has given us.

For most of us involved in church life we hear ourselves say things like  - well if we could only have someone who would lead the childrens work then things would be Ok, or if we only had someone who could do this or that then we could really turn the church around.

But Paul here seems to be turning this idea on the head. Because here he is saying that God has given us all the gifts we need within our church… Paul tells us that we have all the spiritual gifts we need.

We have them here, and now, yes we could have more people but all the gifts we need are within the church already.

Eugene Peterson in the Message a paraphrase of the bible translates these verses like this:

Just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that.

We are called into a relationship with God and with that calling God urges each to play their part in building up His Church. He has equipped us with all the things we need, and he reminds us that he is with us all times.

Being in relationship with God – our first calling as Christians- means that God not only gives us the gifts we need but also that we can depend upon that relationship.

So if God has equipped us with the gifts we need to build up the church then it is our responsibility to use those gifts to do just that.

So today as we think about our calling as Christians perhaps we need to ask ourselves whether or not we are honestly using the gifts that God has equipped us with.

Today we have seen the call of the first disciples and we have been reminded that that call was not to tasks but to a relationship with the living God.

In that sense we are all have a calling from God too.

And that calling is to be holy – not because of anything we have done but because of what God has done for us.

That calling is to be part of the world wide church of Christ, and that calling is to use our gifts to build up others and our life as a Church.

How do you see your calling today and what difference is it going to make to you tomorrow?

Amen

John the Baptist - Advent 2

Imagine if you will you were nicely asleep, comfortably snuggled down under the duvet,

When suddenly someone comes rushing shines a bright light in your face and throws water over you.

I wonder what you would say – feel, do!

A brutal wake up call.
 Wake up calls- I’m sure we all have examples of not very nice ones possibly not as bad as that. .

In our gospel reading this morning we see a bit of a wake up call.

It’s a great wake up call though because what Matthew is telling us is that that’s what John the Baptist’s was like to the Jewish people of his day.

John’s ministry burst in upon the surprised Jewish world.

Many had been looking for a sign from God, but they hadn’t expected it to look like this.

Many had wanted a Messsiah to lead them against the Romans, but they weren’t anticipating a prophet telling them to repent.

John was a voice shouting across their dreams,

Their dreams of freedom- freedom that had been promised such a long time ago and freedom which seemed such a long way away with the situation of Roman occupation.

Some must have thought that he was mad- coming along telling them to wake up to the greatest moment in Jewish history

Within the Jewish history they were well used to prophets coming to give them messages from God.

Their history was full of situations where they had been called back to God,

They were told by the prophets of times when they would be taken over by other nations, where they would be in exile and yet how a remnant would return to their own land.

And through their history these prophets had spoken of a future time when the Messiah would come.

But these prophecies had apparently ended with Malachi and now some 400 years later there was a new prophet on the block.

This man John was telling them to wake up, to get ready, because something amazing was just about to happen.

And this strange man comes along and all he does seems to be full of significance.

He comes along wearing strange clothes – camels hair, with a leather belt.

Eating honey and locusts.

All these things reminding the people of the Old Testament prophets.- Elijah is referred to in 2 Kings as a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist.

So he looks like a prophet.

And the location that he finds himself in is also deeply significant.

The Jordan – full of significance for the Jewish people.

We had seen Jacob cross the Jordan to meet Esau.

Joshua led the people of Israel across the Jordan into the promised land.

The ministries of the prophets Elijah and Elisha had focused on the Jordan.

In preaching and baptising here, John was calling up many sacred memories.

And it wasn’t only the Jordan that had significance but also the dessert.

The people had wandered there fore 40 years, sustained by God’s goodness.

There was some idea that the Messiah would appear in the dessert.

This significance would not have been lost on the Jewish people who were still waiting with anticipation the promised messiah.

Who would have known the words that we had read of Isaiah which pointed to someone coming before to prepare the way.

The challenge that John brought had a sharp edge to it.

They were being told to get ready that someone was coming very soon.

At assemblies once as we thought about Advent I’ve asked the children to think what they would need to get ready if the queen was coming to visit.

They all came out with such things as making sure the school was clean, that their uniforms were pristine, that they had food and drink ready for a party.

Apparently it is a bit of a joke that everywhere the queen goes she smells fresh paint.

We would smarten things up if we were expecting royalty.

In the same way John is telling Israel that they need to smarten up to receive the messiah who is coming.

So what can we learn from this meeting of John the Baptist and his wake up call to the people to get ready for Jesus.

Well I think this can help us to think of our faith in three distinct ways or three things that matter.

Firstly our context matters

Secondly our whole matters- both body and soul

And thirdly we all matter

Firstly our context matters.

We see from this passage that Christian truth and experience are not found separate from the other bits of life of the day.

We see from John the Baptist that he was so geared in to the history of the Jewish people.

We see this also when we look at the old testament prophets.

They were not only looking forward but they too related to the day.

They challenged the society from which they came, they spoke out about aspects of contemporary life which were against God’s kingdom principles.

The experience of both John and also the prophets was that their faith impinged on all aspects of life, of the history of the nation, of the social life of the day, of the political life of the day.

And this is true not only for then but also for now.

Our faith can not be independent of other aspects of our lives.

It is only as religious belief and practise truly engages with the affairs of everyday life that it can be seen as authentically from God

John’s role, location, manner and message interlocked Jewish history, contemporary life, future hope and God’s presence in them all.

This has to be a key to our mission and ministry.

So is our faith separate from the context that we find ourselves in.

From this passage it can’t be.

We need to engage our faith within our context.

We have some wonderful examples of this with the campaign against poverty spearheaded by Christian organisations, and then recently the stop the traffic – working to alleviate the modern day slave trade.

True faith and mission engages with the context with which we find ourselves in.

So the question we need to ask ourselves is what is the context for our mission as a church – what are the key issues that surround us here and now in Poole and how can we get involved.

Secondly our whole matters both body and soul.

John the Baptist came preaching a baptism of repentance.

Repentance relates to every part of our lives.

We cannot separate our faith out and see it as something we do privately and on a Sunday without letting it influence the rest of our lives.

There is not room in Christianity for something which thinks just of the soul and not of the body, just of our time with God but not of our time at work, which separates our church life from our home life.

The call to repentance cuts across all of this – it cuts across our whole lives.

And the fact of forgiveness also cuts across this.

So our whole matters- both body and soul and God will forgive and redeem our whole when we repent.

And thirdly our faith is not something that we do individually but is intrinsically linked with other people and with God’s whole plan for salvation.

So in our faith we all matter.

We all have a specific place and role in God’s kingdom.

When we look at John we are able to see God’s plan for him in God’s wider plan for the world.

We have seen how even in the days of Isaiah there was a plan for John the Baptist.

John’s place in God’s larger plans is a lesson with broad implications for us all.

The Christian gospel makes us broad minded as we look at God’s eternal plan.

As we come to worship week by week we are reminded of this perspective, we see ourselves within God’s wider plan for salvation.

We see the wide sweep of God’s purposes,

And as we see this we begin to see that our own part within this.

And yet this is not something that we do on our own.

But we are linked clearly with other people.

In God’s purpose and plan we belong together with other people.

The message of the prophets would have been purposeless if John had not been raised up to preach repentance.

John’s words would have been meaningless had the prophets not stood up and said what they did hundreds of years before.

Jesus’ own ministry was aided by the fact that John was willing to baptise not only others but Jesus himself.

We see within this the way that our faith is not just something we do as individuals but is so linked with other people.

We see this clearly when we come to Paul’s teaching on the body of Christ – words which we echo regularly at our communion service= though we are many we are one body.

So our faith is not just individual but belongs with others.

So we see within this message how our faith is not individual but relates not only to our context, to our whole but to each other.

This advent as we come to prepare for God’s coming let’s begin to see how God may be calling us to share our faith in the context we find ourselves in and take our part in his plan for the world.

Amen