Saints wanted: no experience necessary - benefits include eternal life.

 Today is All Saints’ Day.

I love All Saints’ Day—it’s a day of celebration. A time to give thanks for the saints who came before us and to reflect on what it means to be a saint today. When we decided to follow Jesus, we immediately became saints.

I decided to have some fun and think about being a saint as if it were a job advert or job description. I found a made-up example of a job recruitment organisation writing to Jesus about His choice of disciples:

Dear Sir:

Thank you for submitting the C.V’s of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests, and we have not only run the results through our computer but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.

It is the staff’s opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons with experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings.

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. 

Thankfully, we weren’t chosen as followers of Jesus—as saints—in that way.

In our readings this morning, we have heard the benefits of being a saint and also the more difficult things that we need to deal with.

Our first reading from the book of Daniel (7:1–3, 15–18) sounds a little confusing. This is because a particular style of writing was used, known as apocalyptic, which would critique political powers and also help people think about how things might be at the end of time.

Daniel had visions of great beasts. These beasts represented the empires that would have control in the world. The passage explains that being one of the holy ones of God means receiving something greater than any worldly empire. This is because the holy ones—those who follow God—will receive the Kingdom, that is, being with God forever. As followers, we have a promise of life everlasting. Life in the Kingdom of God, life in relationship with Him.

Back to our imagining of being a saint as a job—regardless of any job description, this would go down as a benefit of the job. A very good one.

In the reading from the letter to the Ephesians, we heard that the believers had an inheritance. This inheritance was to give glory to God, and later we heard that it is glorious. The inheritance is described as being for all the saints, and it is immeasurably great. The inheritance is so that we can be with God, so we can know the forgiveness and greatness of Him.

I don’t know if there would be an inheritance tax on this—I expect not, because it is God’s free gift to us. If we step back into imagining that we are talking about the job of a saint, then we would see another benefit: God, whom we serve and worship, is now above all others because of His resurrection from the dead.

Seriously, if this were a job advert, I can’t see how we could or would say no. We have been invited into a never-ending inheritance, which is life with God forever. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, we are reminded that God is above all things. Basically, if we choose God, then we are on the right side.

Back to the job imagination. There are tasks in any job. If being a saint were a job, then the tasks would be: following God, being more like Him. It would mean accepting the upside-down world that He offers. This means the times when God challenges society. The times when we realise that being a saint involves trusting even when things seem against us.

In our Gospel reading (Luke 6:20–31), we heard Jesus explaining what life is like in His kingdom. This was as He explained the most improbable things being true. He said that those who were hungry would be filled, those who were weeping would laugh. He also said that when you are attacked because of your belief in God, you can be full of joy, as it is a reminder of the great reward that we will have in heaven. This is because we are followers of Jesus. Then Jesus said that it was woe to those who thought they were doing really well—they were missing out on Him and His promises.

So far, being a saint sounds amazing. God is with us, and when things are going wrong, we can remember the inheritance we are promised: life with God always.

However, we are then shown the harder part of being a saint. We are to love our enemies, to do good to those who hurt us. We are to be different. This is where we know that we daily need God’s power to be more like Him. Being a saint doesn’t involve glory, but it does mean being more and more like God.

It’s great to be a saint. All around you today are other saints. As saints, we are to encourage and help each other as we continue our journey together, seeking to be more like God, as we enjoy the daily knowledge that God is always with us. As we remember the command to do to others as we would have them do to us. It’s not always easy, but it is always worthwhile. 

Now:

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

(Jude 1:24–25)

Part of the continuing drama

 I love books. And I don’t mean just a little—I mean a lot. In most situations, if you’re looking for me relaxing, I’ll be reading a book. I love thinking about different characters, and I absolutely hate being told the ending. I love buying a new book, and I hate being rushed when choosing one. Basically, books and I are lifelong friends.

I also enjoy reading the blurb on the back of a hard copy or the description of an electronic version. One blurb I particularly like reads:

“These pages contain stories on an epic scale—thrillers, adventures, family sagas, and more—taut with emotion and spanning the whole of history. Yet a single current—one of love, sadness, betrayal, and forgiveness—flows through. It points to a Father who offered his only Son so that we can go free.

A cast of thousands crowds the pages—people living in different times, different places. But the casting isn’t closed. In the continuing drama, each of us is invited to play a part.”

This blurb is from the back of one Bible translation. Today is Bible Sunday—a day to give thanks for the Bible and reflect on its importance to us and to the world.

There have been some unfortunate typing errors in Bible translations over the years—thankfully, most never made it to the shelves. For example:

• In 1832, one edition had Rebekah leaving her tent to meet Isaac with a group of camels instead of damsels.

• An 1810 version read, “If any man come to me, and hate not... his own wife” instead of “his own life.”

• The first English-language Bible printed in Ireland in 1716 encouraged readers to “sin on more” rather than “sin no more.”

• An American printer once published the “Parable of the Vinegar” instead of the “Parable of the Vineyard.”

Back to our Bibles. They’re not always easy to understand, but the Bible is a conversation—a plot into which we are all invited. That means we need to turn to God for help, to Bible commentaries, and to one another. After Christmas, a Bible group will be running weekly on Tuesday mornings from 10:30 to 12:00 in Usk, where we can explore the Bible together.

This morning, there are many things we could say about the Bible, but the main one is this: we are to be thankful.

We can be thankful that the Bible is both about God and from God. In it, we learn that God is deeply interested in humanity. For example, He sends prophets in the Old Testament to guide His people and show them how to turn to Him. As we heard in our reading from Isaiah (45:22–25), God is the only Lord, He is powerful, and He calls each of us to turn to Him.

We can be thankful that the Bible is God’s revelation—His description of Himself. It is the Word of God, a record of how He makes contact with humanity. As we read, we learn more about God, and so the Bible becomes a living word.

We can be thankful that the Bible is not just a historical document. It continues to impact lives today, showing people who God is. As the collect this morning reminds us, God has given us the Scriptures for our learning—to learn about Him.

We can be thankful that the Bible is useful. Because it reveals who God is, it is incredibly valuable to those He has created. It guides us in how to relate to God—the Creator, the Almighty.

In our reading from Romans (15:1–6), Paul encourages the Christians in Rome to care for one another and reminds them of the importance of Scripture. The Scriptures they had were what we now call the Old Testament. Our Bibles continue to teach us how to live.

With all this in mind, it’s no surprise that the Bible is central to our belief. Yet sometimes we forget how important it is. We’re so used to seeing Bibles in shops, in homes, on our own shelves, that we can start to treat it as a helpful extra—something that might even help with crossword puzzles.

But the Bible’s importance is immense. And as I said earlier, we sometimes take it for granted and forget to give thanks for it.

The Bible is considered dangerous in countries where it must be smuggled in because it’s banned. But it should be dangerous for us too—because it has the power to change us, if we’re willing to let God speak to us through it.

In our Gospel reading (Luke 4:16–24), we heard Jesus read from the book of Isaiah—a passage of hope. The people were waiting for a Messiah, someone to save them from Roman rule and make life better. Jesus stood up and declared that He was the One they had been waiting for. Incredible! This is what we know and believe to be true—Jesus is the one who can change everything.

This is how reading and hearing the Bible should make us feel: astounded at what God has done and continues to do, amazed that He wants us to be part of it, and challenged into action to go out and make a difference.

I often imagine that when people heard Jesus speak, they must have been in absolute wonder. His words couldn’t be ignored—a change was needed.

In our reading from Isaiah (45:22-25) we heard that when God speaks a word, it does not return to Him empty. That means we need to act on it.

We can be thankful because the Bible is powerful and it causes us to act, to change as we become more like Jesus. The Bible is  full of the words we need. It’s hard to describe, really. But perhaps the thing we can be most thankful for is this: the Bible is an invitation.

When we read the Bible and hear it read in church, we are invited—just as that blurb said—to be part of the continuing drama.

Now 

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Happy harvest !

 Harvest is here. I remember, as a child, the coming of harvest was rather exciting—after all, it meant half-term must be fairly close, and then, of course, Christmas would follow. I also remember, in school, waiting for the harvest loaf to appear for our harvest thanksgiving and seeing if there was a mouse on the decoration of the loaf. I remember the mad panic and rush to find a useful tin of food to take to school, along with any nice fruit we could find in the house. I also recall seeing other children with their prettily wrapped fruit baskets from the greengrocers.

Harvest—always fun, always a time to be joyful. It is a vital part of life. We need a harvest for our food, for living. It’s not just my memories from when I was younger; it’s real life. In a rural area, it’s part of the year’s cycle. So really, beyond saying thank you, it is part of our year.

Last year, I found some harvest jokes. I’ve done the same this year, so please get ready to groan or laugh. After all, today is a thanksgiving for the harvest, and thanksgivings are joyful.

• How do you make an apple turnover? Push it down the hill.

• What do you call a corn that joins the army? A kernel.

• Why was the apple always getting detention in school? It was rotten to the core.

Our reading this morning from the book of Deuteronomy (26:1-11) reminded us why we need to say thank you. God brought the people of Israel out of a life of slavery, out of misery, into a wonderful new place of freedom. God wanted to make sure the people never forgot what they had been through. To do this, He instructed them to bring the first fruits of the harvest and give thanks. This is what we are doing today. It is a great opportunity to say thank you. This doesn’t exclude us from always being thankful to God, but having a particular set time in the Church’s year ensures we don’t forget.

A while ago, I was asked to lead a children’s workshop on prayer. I was trying to think of creative ways to help children pray, and I came up with a game. I’m sorry, but we’re not going to play a game today. The game involved a football being passed to a child, and they would think of something they wanted to pray about. I used the word STOP to help them remember ways to pray:

• S stood for Sorry

• T stood for Thank you

• O stood for Others

• P stood for Please

As I was preparing for this morning, this idea came back to me as a way for us to think about harvest.

It may seem strange, on a day of giving thanks, to think of the word Sorry, but it is an important one. We can be sorry for all the times we do not appreciate the good gifts God has given us—gifts of food, a home, the work of those who prepare food, who harvest on land and sea. These gifts also include the one we heard about in the Gospel reading: the best bread we will ever have.

The passage from the Gospel of John (6:25-35) happened after the feeding of the 5,000. People had seen that Jesus could do incredible things, and so they came to see more. The point is, by doing this, they were making Jesus into a wonder-worker—someone who would perform whenever they wanted—which meant they were missing out on who Jesus truly was. In the reading, Jesus pointed this out to the people, and it almost seems harsh—sort of a “you’re only here to watch me perform, not to hear me speak.”

Jesus pointed out that while He had performed this amazing miracle, the people were missing out if they didn’t see past the food. Jesus Himself was all that they needed. Yes, food is good, but our greatest need is Jesus. By announcing that He is the bread of life, Jesus was pointing out the way we need to be—people who know they need God, people who know that nothing can compare with the amazing love of God. The life we all need.

We must be sorry for all the times we forget the greatest gifts of God—even the gift of God Himself, sacrificed for us.

We now move on to Thank you. This one is the most obvious harvest feeling. We thank God for the harvest and for His continual provision for us. We are thankful for all those who help bring in the harvest, and we are, like the people in Deuteronomy, to make this thankfulness a major part of our lives. God has provided—we must say thank you.

Then we come to Others. This reminds us, at harvest, of the need to pray for all those in need—for all those for whom a harvest would be a great joy. There was an African woman who met someone from Britain she commented that we must always be rejoicing. After all, we have both a hot and a cold water tap ! Something so simple to us, but so needed by others. We need to pray for others, to try and help them, to seek to show our thanksgiving to God by sharing and giving to those in need.

Then we come to Please. This is where we can ask God to help us continually praise and give thanks. To ask God to use us to help others enjoy the good gifts He provides. We can ask for God’s help to reach out to others with His love. In the reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus pointed people to Himself as one to follow and as the bread of life. We are to reach out and point people to Him.

So—harvest. Let us be sorry, be thankful, pray for others, and seek God’s help to please reach out to all those around us.

Amen.

Asking for more

 Do you find that there is always someone who wants more of a good thing ? Whenever I hear the word “more”, I immediately think of Oliver Twist asking for more food. Of course, his request is not met with an encouraging response. 

I have to admit that I enjoy watching Strictly come Dancing. I have noticed that people taking part often ask for more training. This is always met with an encouraging response. 

In our gospel reading this morning (Luke 17:5-10) the disciples asked for more faith from Jesus. I imagine that they may have been hoping for a long list of things to do, maybe an encouraging team talk but instead Jesus gives them a very simple answer. He describes an impossible scenario of uprooting a mulberry tree and planting it in the sea. Then he says that it can be done, as long as you have a little faith. Faith the size of a mustard seed.

I have never tried to uproot and replant a tree in the sea. I am pleased to say that Jesus isn’t saying that if we have enough faith we can do magic tricks. What He is saying is that we don’t need to ask for our faith to be increased. What we have is enough. 

This is incredible, a small amount of faith can make a huge difference. This is really encouraging, we aren’t to beat ourselves up thinking that we need to always have faith that is super size. We just need enough faith for us to trust in God that He can do the rest.

In the previous passage to this in the gospel according to Luke there is an incident of Jesus teaching the disciples about forgiveness. The disciples ask how many times they need to forgive and the answer comes back that it is never ending.

Jesus said that even if someone continually hurts you but asks for forgiveness for something then you must forgive them. This could even be up to 7 times in the same day. I think the disciples realised that this wasn’t easy and so they decided that the best way to do this was to ask for their faith to be increased.

They wanted more faith as they realised the task before them was really difficult. The response of Jesus which could be seen as comforting was actually a bit disappointing. He didn’t give them an easy answer. They had to think of the fact that Jesus was releasing them from having a long list of obligations. This was the type of behaviour normally expected by the religious leaders of the time. 

If anyone was in the guides, scouts, brownies, or any of the other uniformed organisations you will remember that in order to get a badge in a particular area you had a list of things you had to do. 

I remember being so keen to get badges as a brownie that we invited the brown owl (the leader of brownies) over for tea. This got me my hospitality badge. I had arranged some flowers which got me another badge. I had helped cook the food, which got me another badge. I showed her the dress I had made for my doll, which got me another badge. I played the piano, which got me another badge. The brown owl had a very busy evening that evening.

I am pleased to say that there isn’t a book for believing in and following Jesus with such a list of things we need to do. All we have to do is believe, have faith and keep following Jesus. Of course, there is always the good news that we can be forgiven time, and time again so we can start back on our course of following Jesus. 

I am afraid that I now need to take a moment to apologise to all those who were never brownies. As a brownie I learned lots of skills that could be passed on. I had a pack of younger girls that I was to help and support. Being a brownie was a skill I could pass on.

Faith is a skill we can pass on. As we tell people about our faith. As we take time to live in a way that is more like Jesus, people will ask us about our faith. In the reading from the second letter to Timothy (1:1-14) we heard more about passing on faith. Timothy’s faith was shared with both his grandmother and his mother. Paul, the writer of the letter shows that Timothy enjoys this faith and has a good example in his mother and grandmother of how to live as a follower of Jesus. There is this idea of passing on faith. 

Then Paul discussed a gift that Timothy had from God which had come about as a result of Paul laying hands on him. This would have been in a manner of prayer. We don’t know exactly what the gift was. We do know how it came about. 

Paul explains to Timothy that he is to use this gift without being scared, or as it is written, without cowardice. Paul had a relationship with Timothy where he is almost like a mentor to this young man. He encouraged Timothy in his leadership of a Church. This whole letter, just like the first letter to Timothy was to encourage and support him in his faith and leadership.

Paul had seen the gift that God had given Timothy to do this work and now he was reminding Timothy to rekindle this gift.

God has given us all gifts. We may not know what they are, someone may have seen a gift in us, we may be wondering what gift God has given us. This will become clearer through prayer and asking God how He can use us. Then it is, about us being ready to say yes to God. 

We also, like Paul can look for gifts in others. When this happens we can share this with them. 

God call us all to work for Him and we don’t need to be scared. After all, as we heard in the gospel reading we only need a small amount of faith. As we rely on God, He will do the rest. God can use us to share His word. To share His love. May we always ask God for how He wants to use us, remembering that we only need a little for God to do amazing things. 

Now 

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

(Jude 1:24-25.)

Chasing what matters most

 I want to do things a bit differently this morning. I am going to read out some background detail on two people, and I want to get you thinking of which person you would rather be.

One person is very rich, with lovely clothes, as much food as they want and a fantastic house.

One person is very poor, without many clothes, begging for food with no home. 

Ok, I can imagine where you would be automatically thinking… Let me try it another way.

After they died the poor person went to heaven. The rich person did not… Of course, this is all based on this mornings gospel reading (Luke 16:19-31). 

We all have the chance to follow Jesus, but here, the poor man put his spiritual health above his material wealth. The rich man put his material wealth above his spiritual health. The answers seem quite easy to us. We know the way the parable of the rich man and Lazarus ends. 

We may secretly want to have the earthly life of the rich man and the eternity of the poor man!

Moving on to the reading from the 1st letter to Timothy we come across ways to behave and the difficulties of chasing after the wrong thing. I read last week that Nelson Rockefeller, who was one of the richest men of his time, when asked how much more money he would need to live comfortably replied, ‘A little more than I get.’ It sounds absurd to us that one of the richest people of his time felt he needed more money.

It does show a picture of why the love of money is seen as the root of all evil. It is because when we chase after something, when we love it to such an extent that it is the main thing, we are then left with a distortion.

When we hear about celebrities doing something that we see as unthinkable and wrong I often wonder if their world has become so distorted that things that are wrong become as normal, or even acceptable. The love of the wrong things can build up to such an extent that people are almost closeted in a world of their own making. 

I read a really good way of dealing with this type of behaviour by Tom Wright, the former Bishop of Durham. He wrote about the ways that we can make sure that we stay on track with the good things, the spiritual things. 

It was to imagine an animal that really scares you. Something you are uncomfortable with. Maybe a spider, maybe a snake, or even a hippopotamus. We will want to run away from the frightening creature and definitely not pursue it. Now think of something or someone you love. When this item or person turns up unexpectedly you will chase after it or them.

In this reading that could mean running away from riches, a greedy lifestyle and all that entails. In the same way we would chase after someone or something we love, we are to chase after justice, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness. Tom Wright then made the point that these virtues do not come about in a person by any other means than a person chasing after them and choosing to live a life where these are most important. 

It is all about our priorities. Who we would like to be happens by what we pursue. If we pursue goodness then we will, through the help of God be good. This is amazing.

These verses alone could almost be seen as a manual for life. When we chase after the right things, when we seek to be more like God, when we make sure that we continually build our relationship with God through prayer and Bible reading and fellowship, we are changed. Things will not be distorted.

Back to our gospel reading. I always used to think that the rich man was really bad and deliberately ignored poor Lazarus. Back to the distortion idea. Perhaps the rich man was so focussed on money and on himself that he couldn’t understand that there was more in the world than his life and money.

Lazarus is the only person who is given a name in any of Jesus’ parables. This is really helpful for us in understanding the parable. This is because the name Lazarus means ‘the one who God helps’. Because of Jesus naming the man perhaps the people hearing the parable wondered how God was going to help Lazarus. They may even have thought what an unfortunate name. 

God did help Lazarus. He was the one who had not lived a life distorted by riches. Or, let’s put it another way, distorted by things that would take him away from God. 

Back to my who do you want to be questions. You can choose between the person who had lost sight of God by chasing after the wrong things or the person who has made sure that they have chased after good things. 

We are ok, because we can constantly be reminded to check what is first in our lives. How are we living ? What is most important for us ?

A large part of following Jesus does involve giving to others. It does mean caring for others, it does mean showing concern. 

I read something by a man called Philip Yancey who wrote in his book, ‘The Jesus I Never knew’, that, ‘For the first few centuries, at least, Christians literally took Christ's command to receive strangers, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit the imprisoned, until the triumph of the Emperor Constantine, who legalised the faith and established an official church, an imperial church. From then on, the church tended to spiritualise poverty and leave welfare to the emperor. Over time, the church itself became part of the establishment, more concerned about wealth than faith.’

This is another uncomfortable thought. It may not be completely fair everywhere, but it is a good reminder of what is our main concern? How do and can we help others? Who do we want to be like ? Imagine if our qualities were just like those of Jesus, what a great way to be. 

Now 

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
(Jude 1:24-25.)

Unheard music, unseen Grace

 I have often had the privilege of singing in a choir. I remember being in one church where I was asked to join a group singing some music for Holy Week. We practised this one piece a lot and I thought we sounded quite good. For some reason we never performed it! We enjoyed practising, and I can’t remember why but it never got sung past the practice. Hopefully, it wasn’t a reflection on our singing, but I do have to wonder ….

 

Part of the music included the words that we heard in our Gospel reading this morning, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved.” Amazing words, words that remind us straight away of what happened on the cross as Jesus died. 

 

In the gospel reading we heard of Jesus being lifted up on the cross and a link is made with the reading from Numbers (21:4-9). The reading from Numbers might seem a strange reading. The Israelites moaned and God responded by sending poisonous snakes to bite them ? It doesn’t sound right to us.

 

However, when we look into this passage a bit further we can see that God had a remedy to this. He told Moses to make a serpent and put it on a pole. Moses made a bronze serpent and when people looked at it, and had faith they were healed.  

 

The people needed to have faith in God. He had done so much for them but they moaned and grumbled. The fact that the people God saved from a horrible lifestyle of slavery then complained about food always makes me both shocked and comforted. Those two words don’t really go together. 

 

The shock is that they were so ungrateful they missed the point. God had rescued them and it would all work out in the end. The difficulty was that to get there they might suffer. This is where I find comfort. God helped the people and He helps us. As we follow Him, even when things might seem difficult and unfair we know that He won’t let us down. 

 

In the gospel reading John (3:13-17) we are reminded of the bronze serpent. The serpent represented healing and freedom if you had the faith to trust in God. To look at the serpent meant that you were asking for healing. As often happens with objects meant to help us the bronze serpent became an item of idolatry. 

 

In the same way that the serpent was lifted up and people had the choice to ask for healing or not, so when we think of Jesus being lifted up on the cross we can ask the same question. When you think of it like that it seems quite brutal. People were healed from the effects of a poisonous snake bite iff they looked at the serpent, and had the faith in God that He could heal them. 

 

When we look at Jesus on the cross we are not magically transported into a relationship with God where we are healed and forgiven. We need to have faith, to believe and then when we ask God  for forgiveness, It is given.

 

The passage from the gospel according to John contained one of the most famous verses in the Bible. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

 

The verse is really well known because it explains exactly what God has done for us. We just need to accept it, we can believe, be healed and be changed so we are more like Him.

 

When I looked at the reading from the letter to the Philippians (2:6-11) I was very happy. It is a passage that I know well and to be honest this morning has brought two very well known passages with this as well as the gospel reading. 

 

The reading from Philippians may have been the first creed or statement of belief. The people were working out who Jesus was and this section may even have been known as a popular hymn. We definitely know it as a popular hymn because we may think of the hymn, “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.”

 

The passage reminds us that Jesus could have had all the status and power in the world that He wanted, but He humbled Himself. It says He emptied Himself. He became like a servant, and was taken to death. It was all for us.

 

It is a really challenging thought. God became as nothing for us, so that we could know Him, so that we could turn to Him and be healed.

 

It goes against all ideas of power that we might have. All ideas of power that are portrayed in the media.

 

Recently in the news we have seen a lot of political changes. On the radio I have heard of person after person condemning other people.We have heard of people burning down hotels with asylum seekers in. There have been protests. In Ukraine war continues. In Gaza people are starving. 

 

There are countless other situations across the world where people’s search for power has ended up with them condemning others. The exact opposite of why Jesus came into the world, not to condemn but to save. 

 

It is hard to see and hear the news, it feels as if power and influence is taking control with disastrous effects. I can’t help thinking that when we think of God coming into our world we are looking at something quite different. God, who had all the power became as nothing for us. 

 

It is interesting that for us, the most powerful vision we can have is of God suffering on the cross for us. He was so powerful that He could step aside and show even more power and humility by becoming as nothing for us,

 

I will never know why the music I practised wasn’t sung. I pray that I will always remember God who became nothing for us. I pray that we will know and worship Jesus on the cross. That, as we think of this, we will know the best reason to believe - that we will know that the greatest power of all was in Him dying for us and rising again. I also pray that we will remember that the best thing we can do is to believe and have faith.  May this be what we are known for. AMEN

 

Difficult or worth it …?

 A former prime minister Herbert Asquith once spent a weekend at the Waddesdon estate of the 19th-century Rothschild family. One day, as Asquith was being waited on at teatime by the butler, the following conversation ensued:

"Tea, coffee, or a peach from off the wall, sir?" 

"Tea, please," answered Asquith. 

"China, India, or Ceylon, sir?" asked the butler. 

"China, please." 

"Lemon, milk, or cream, sir?" 

"Milk, please," replied Asquith. 

"Jersey, Hereford, or Shorthorn, sir?" asked the butler.

Life is full of choices and in our readings today we have heard about choices, and not just about choices but about the implications of those choices. In the reading from Deuteronomy (30:15-20) we heard the choice of life and prosperity or death and adversity. It isn’t really a difficult choice to make or so it would seem. 

Life and prosperity is a choice to follow God and be more like Him, knowing that given a choice the most obvious way to go is to follow. 

This is a good choice and it all makes perfect sense until you think of the gospel reading (Luke 14:25-33). In this reading Jesus explained what being a true follower would mean. In the reading we heard that Jesus is to come first and also that in difficult situations we are to keep following Him. 

Following Jesus is a risk at times it isn’t always easy to keep trusting when everything around is falling apart but it is a risk worth taking, We have chosen life and prosperity. This doesn’t mean that we will all be rich or that life will always be perfect but it does mean that we are choosing life following our creator and what better way can there be than that. 

Being a disciple reminds me a bit of my sporting career.

My sporting career never really took off – it may have been to do with my lack of desire to make things work, or maybe it was because whenever things got difficult I gave up.

I gave up ice skating – someone hit me with the blade of their skate it hurt. I gave up the trampoline because it hurt when I landed. I gave up swimming because it was cold getting changed in the winter and I gave up gymnastics because I was sacred of heights. 

Now clearly I didn’t have the determination or ability to sacrifice other things so that I could be committed to what I was trying to do. 

I needed to sacrifice my home comforts in order to succeed. I didn’t want to, the choice was not worth it. 

In our life as disciples of Christ sometimes it may feel easier for us if we just gave up. It is not  like that though.

Being a disciple involves sacrifice. It involves all of us. Jesus did not want a large number of “little bit” disciples who had a “little bit” of prayer, a “little bit” of commitment, a “little bit” of dedication, a “little bit” of love. He wants all of us, basically, we need to put Jesus first, we need to seek to be ever more like Him, and by doing that to literally be, Jesus in the World today.

We can talk about the needs of the world, we can pray for a better way in the World, we need to do more than this though. We need to be in the World, showing the way to Jesus.  We need to be prepared and ready to do what Jesus would do.  We need to stand up against what is wrong, and to seek to make a change. In our lives we need to sacrifice all that stops us from getting closer to God and to put Him first.  This is dedication, this is our call.

It isn’t easy but we have each other for support and that is so important. We are a family, the family of God and as that family we are to support each other and help each other. 

You may have heard of a lady called Frances Havergal. She was a Christian all her life, but at age 36 she rededicated her life to Christ. Soon after this she gathered together a small group of friends, some of whom were not Christiansand others were nominally Christian. She spent five days with them and in these five days she prayed for all her friends and told them about the difference God had made in her life. Through her encouragement and prayer by the end of the five days each of the friends had dedicated their lives to Jesus. She wrote the hymn “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee” after this experience.

This is what we do as disciples, we put Jesus first, we seek to be ever more like Him and we encourage each other and pray for one another. 

This is part of the choice that is worth making - a choice to follow Jesus no matter what happens to us and around us, knowing that He is always there loving us. 

St.Ignatius, was a man who lived in the fifteenth century, whose parents wanted him to be a priest, he was actually more interested in women, fighting, and fashionable clothing.  After an accident he started to dream that Jesus was talking to Him, and he decided that to be a soldier for Christ, a follower, was much more glamorous than his previous wild living, and he decided that whilst it was a harder road to be a disciple it was a road worth travelling. He founded the Jesuit order of monks. As well as this his thoughts on prayer still encourage people today in their prayer life. 

He wrote a prayer about following Jesus, about what it means to make that choice for God by offering our lives to Him a prayer with which I would like to finish.  Let us pray:-

Lord, teach me to be generous.

Teach me to serve as you deserve;

To give and not to count the cost,

To fight and not to heed the wounds,

To toil and not to seek for rest,

To labour and not to ask for any reward

Save that of knowing that I do your holy will. AMEN