Please and thank you

I have a problem which I can’t help but admit - I am obsessed with manners. I expect and appreciate the words please and thank you. If I am watching TV and someone is given something, but they do not say thank you - I shout at the TV.

A strange habit but I am always keen to make sure that I say please and thank you. If you are reading this, and you know me but can remember a time that I didn’t say please or thank you to you, I apologise.

In the gospel reading for this Sunday (Luke 17:11-19) we read of the healing of the ten lepers by Jesus.  It is a passage which should always challenge us to think of how often we forget to thank God rather than asking Him for something. In the story, we can be amazed that these lepers, who would have been outside of society due to their illness, are healed.  They call out to Jesus and ask Him to heal them. Of course, as Jesus sends the lepers to the priests they are healed. To be honest it is strange that unlike other healings Jesus has no physical contact with the lepers.

This shows us the power of Jesus but there is more to it than that. The lepers were outside of society but by Jesus sending them back to the priests he is almost skipping a step. Jesus hears their call but rather than making them come to Him, He sends them straight to the people who will be able to allow them back into society. If they were declared clean of leprosy by the priests they would be accepted.

This is really powerful. They were not accepted but an encounter with Jesus meant that they were now acceptable.  One of the lepers ran back to Jesus and thanked Him. 9 of those healed didn't go back to say thank you but they were still healed.

I wonder whether the ones who didn't turn back to say thank you were too excited, or if they took their healing for granted, maybe they were desperate to prove that they were now acceptable.  It makes me wonder how we can sometimes in our own rush, forget to thank God for all He has done. Perhaps we too can take Jesus for granted. It doesn't make us bad people. However, it does stop us from experiencing the opportunity of an enjoyable time with Jesus as we thank Him. The best relationships have to give and take but they always have an element of please and thank you. This is done with true appreciation. 

There is one other part of the story that I haven't thought of yet. The man who fell down at the feet of Jesus to worship Him and thank Him would have seemed the least likely. He was a Samaritan. The Samaritans were a group which the Jews didn't trust and the feeling was mutual. By Jesus, a Jew, accepting him the man knew healing beyond the physical. Jesus didn't just heal him so he could be accepted by others. Through the healing, the Samaritan had experienced acceptance from Jesus as well.

True acceptance, true healing. Something to be thankful for. Do we always realise and know that we are truly accepted and truly healed? This means we can approach Jesus whenever we want, this is a true relationship of give and take.

In the epistle reading (2 Tim.1:1-14)  we heard another vote of thanks. This time the writer of the epistle gives thanks for Timothy and his faith. I often find this a wonderful sign of appreciation. Can you imagine having a faith that encourages others so much that they thank God for your faith? This brings me to consider how often I thank people for their faith and praise God for it, but then how might other people react to this. I can shout at the TV when people don't say please and thank you, but how would I feel if I got so used to giving thanks for other peoples faith that this became an expectation of mine ?

A lot to be thankful for. One that Jesus loves and accepts us just as we are. Then that we can be thankful for the faith of others.

In the epistle there is the reminder to stay true to our faith and that this will be achieved by sticking to the teaching we have heard and also by never being ashamed of Jesus. 

Money, money, money ….

 As I looked at the readings for this Sunday I remembered the ABBA song, ‘Money, money, money, ain’t it funny in a rich man’s world’. The gospel reading (Luke 16:19-end) has in it the powerful parable spoken by Jesus of the rich man and Lazarus.

In the parable, there is a rich man, someone who, in worldly terms, had made it.  This is why the ABBA song came to mind. In the world of the rich man he can ask for whatever he wants, and he gains it. In the parable, he eats well and has everything he could ever want. In the parable we are told that he is so rich he doesn’t even notice the poor man at his gate. The rich man wouldn’t even give this poor man the leftovers of his wealthy meals. 

 

After death, the rich man in his suffering sees Lazarus with Abraham. The rich man with the help of Abraham realises that the roles have been reversed. The rich man, who ignored Lazarus actually shows the extent of his ignoring of the poor man by the fact that when he needed help, he suddenly knew Lazarus’ name. 

 

When Jesus told the parable he was repeating an already known parable. However, in the other version, the rich man gets what he wants when Lazarus goes to the brothers of the rich man and warns them what can happen when you ignore those in need. In the version Jesus told, this did not happen.

 

It sounds really mean perhaps.  It is like having ‘Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens without Scrooge having a chance to see what he had done and was doing wrong in his behaviour. 

 

Jesus is making the point that you can hear a story, but you need to let that story ask you questions. The rich man had been given all the good things. The people of Israel had heard all that God could do for them and continued to do. Moses had given the law and the prophets had taught them how to live. The answer given to the rich man in the parable, as to whether Lazarus could warn his brothers is that they had Moses and the prophets. 

 

Jesus was challenging people to realise that they couldn’t enjoy a relationship with God that was one-sided. They needed to reach out and help others. As Jesus taught, they needed to see both who he was and the need to follow Him.  Perhaps we could take this as a warning to not just enjoy a one-sided relationship with God.  The type of relationship where we do not follow the behaviour of God. 

 

I think that Jesus was pointing out that in the same way that the rich man missed what was right in front of him we can do the same. Also, whilst we would probably be shocked at the behaviour of this rich man who ignored Lazarus, what would we see about ourselves and the way we treat not only others but God Himself which would shock us? 

 

In the epistle reading (1 Tim. 6:6-19) there is an evaluation as to the correct way to live, as being one which doesn’t rely on and worship money to the extent that we can lose our focus on God. I was particularly struck by the last part of verse 19. In this verse, there is a description of what people living a righteous life do and then the end product of all this,  “… so that they may take hold of the life that really is life”. 

 

This explains what the rich man was missing, he was missing life in its best form. A real-life, one based on what comes after as well as what is here now. A real-life based on and rooted in a relationship with God. 

Matthew - gospel writer and martyr

 THIS IS A SERMON PREACHED 21st SEPTEMBER AT ST.PADARNS 

There is a story about a priest who was ill and in hospital. A Churchwarden came to see the priest to cheer them up. The Churchwarden expressed his concern and said that the night before at the Church council they had passed a vote to wish the priest a good and speedy recovery.  This was a rather strange thing to do but encouraging, the Church council was behind their leader. The Churchwarden said, however the vote was only passed with 13 votes to 12. 

A little humbling perhaps ! In our gospel reading we heard of the call of Matthew the tax collector. Jesus clearly wasn’t bothered about being popular with his new followers as He called a tax collector. Matthew as a tax collector was working for Rome, the occupying force. It was not a great job to gain friends. After all, we all groan a bit around tax people, or people who just seem to understand money - maybe that’s just me ! 

For Matthew, also known as Levi, he would have a double whammy of dislike as he was the one who not only collected the money, but did it for the much less than popular Roman authority. 

One of my favourite bits about the call of Matthew, is that he just gets up and follows straight away. This is amazing, Imagine that you were sat in Church and someone stood up and explained how they had met Jesus and jumped up and followed Him straight away. If you were feeling positive and very happy you might think - oh, that’s great. If you were a little more cynical you might be thinking, um:not sure it was that easy, there must have been more to it than that. Maybe you might think, I wish my turning to Jesus and my call was as instant and dramatic as that. 

I will rest assured in the fact that maybe if Jesus walked right by and called I would be so overawed I would just follow. 

The problem is though, that I think we can all hear and know God is calling us but we just don’t want to take the leap. I will admit that no matter how long you have known me for, or not, you will probably have heard my story of someone who trained with me. He used to turn to me and say, “I don’t know how I ended up here, I am a gardener not someone training to be ordained.”  I would explain, that he really was training and it was ok. He would shake his head and say that he didn’t think God had got it right. This person is a fantastic priest. Was it his humility ? Was it his almost disbelief ? No. God called him and it was a surprise but he just followed.

I wonder if Matthew thought, yes, of course I was going to get called to follow Jesus. Or whether he was so shocked he just jumped up and followed. We can never know but he heard Jesus call and he responded. 

The fact that you are here training shows that you have heard God call, you have responded and in this time with us you are continuing in exploring a vocation that the Church has said it was worth pursuing. 

I remember that when I realised my call at 17 I couldn’t work out why. I was very well behaved, my life was centred around God but I looked at my green doctor marten boots and thought, oh well here we go. I was a little uncertain, but I answered. 

At the age of 13 I had said that I would never work in the Church in Wales, I would never be a priest (women couldn’t be ordained priests then ) and I would never marry a Vicar, I am ordained and so is my husband. 

I think one of the biggest problems that gets In the way of us responding to God and His call is us not being sure. A little uncertain. 

Our calling to ministry isn’t our first calling, our first calling is to a relationship with God. Now, Matthew by following Jesus was following a new way of being and believing. From being well paid with job security he became unemployed following an itinerant preacher. You can just imagine his parents sharing that news ! 

This wasn’t all though, after the call Jesus had dinner with tax collectors and sinners. Poor Matthew, not only had he given up his job but now people who did his old job were having dinner with Jesus. We can only assume that Matthew was there as well. You can imagine, “oh Matthew you used to be rich like us, didn’t you ?” As if that wouldn’t have been bad enough the Pharisees questioned the disciples, which Matthew was now part of and asked them why Jesus was eating with such people as sinners and tax collectors? Poor Matthew not only did he not have a job, but Jesus, who he now followed, was seen in a very bad light by respected religious leaders. 

I feel for Matthew, he said yes and then he ended up suffering. I wish I could give you some good news now, but the fact that we are wearing red, shows that he was a martyr who died for his faith. 

Before anyone thinks where am I going with this, it is that Matthew believed to have written the gospel in his name was ready not only to jump up but to keep following because he had met Jesus and he knew forgiveness and the gospel he wrote shows that he carried on because he knew that God was with him.

In the first chapter of the gospel we hear that Jesus would be known as Emmanuel meaning God is with us. Then at the end of the gospel Jesus told the disciples that He would be with them always. It almost doesn’t matter what happens when we know that God is with us. This doesn’t take away pain or our happiness. Matthew had to associate with people who really didn’t like him, people who killed him. But in the gospel he reminds us that the knowledge of God with us always is why we follow, it’s why we do what we do. 

May we always know and believe that no matter what else, God is with us always. AMEN 

Praying for Kings

I am not good at maths, numbers do give me a headache. I was quite good at algebra and I put this down to the use of letters in an equation. When I looked at the gospel reading (Luke 16:1-13) for this Sunday I thought that my mind was confused due to the use of money and the manager not treating people fairly. However, I may have spent so much time trying to work out the money owed, and the money written off that I lost the part of the parable where it is clear that there is dishonesty here.  The manager is being investigated, which is correct. He has been squandering the wealth and, as he knows, he has been found out. He gains some but not all of the money owed. By doing this he hopes that if he loses his job he will still have friends to turn to as he has not made them pay the amount they owed.  All well and good but then Jesus says that the listeners are to make friends for themselves through dishonest wealth.

This is all confusing, but then I remember that this is a parable. Did Luke the writer of the gospel remember the story he had been told of a Jesus speaking the parable incorrectly? It think that as with all parables we need to look at things in a less obvious way. 

Parables were told by Rabbis, and when they did this, their use of a master and a steward meant God and Israel. This turns everything around. God the master has entrusted His people and they have not been honest. They have tried to do the best that they could to stay in God’s good books by trying to hide what they were really like. It is a challenge to us as well. How often do we try and hide our true selves from God? There is no point trying, our creator knows us and all that we have done. 

The good news is though, that we are able to enjoy the riches that God gives us. Jesus challenged the people to think about the fact that if they were  dishonest with God, why would He trust them with the great riches that come from knowing Him.

To be honest, this is the part that makes it less uncomfortable. We know that God can see us, we know that we need to be faithful in following Him. We also know how great the riches are from following Him.

At the end of the reading Jesus pointed out that you if you can’t be faithful with what is your own, how can you be faithful with what belongs to others. The answer is that if we serve ourselves over God, if we don’t act with fairness when we are with others, then we are are not serving others. If we don’t help others, how can we be true to our relationship with God ?

The epistle reading (1 Tim. 2:-7) is so timely, it is incredible. We are told to pray for Kings and all those in high places so that  we will live a quiet and peaceable life. At the moment with our new King, and the loss of Queen Elizabeth II we can see the need to pray for the new role of the King and that he and all leaders will know the strength of God and the wisdom, clarity and compassion which is truly needed of our leaders. To a family in mourning we can pray for comfort and we also remember the resurrection hope of life after death.

We are told that as we pray for our leaders we will have a peaceable life. This could sound self serving almost. Except that, when we pray for those in authority we are being good stewards. This is because as we pray for those who have power so we pray that they will treat their power wisely. To be honest, I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes, and I am very happy to pray for them. 

The readings call for honesty in our relationship with God and others, they call for humility in acceptance of those in authority over us as we pray for them. 

Losing and rejoicing

 As I looked at the readings for Sunday, I had a sudden feeling of, something lost. This is a daily occurrence for me. I need to make sure that I keep things in the same place as otherwise I lose  them. Keys, books, handbags, pens, mobile phones, anything that can go missing, does.  I am sure lots of people have turned their houses upside down to search for something. I am stubborn so I will keep looking even if there doesn’t seem to be much point.

The woman looking for her lost coin in the gospel reading (Luke 15:1-10) had other coins. In the parable Jesus didn’t say the woman was poor, maybe she could have waited for it to turn up. However, she didn’t wait, maybe she was stubborn too, maybe the coin was a very significant one, or maybe Jesus was trying to show us something that could seem ridiculous. 

This would make sense when you think of the shepherd who left 99 sheep unattended to search for one that was lost. It makes little sense except the shepherd was prepared to hunt and search for this sheep. Maybe the point is that it is God not giving up on any of us until we turn to Him. 

Or, maybe Jesus was pointing out to the scribes and Pharisees who were listening, that you can have the role of a shepherd, that of a leader but how far will you go to bring everyone to God ? Or maybe Jesus was making the point that like the woman and the coin you don’t give up until that which was lost has been found. 

This relates well to the epistle reading from 1 Timothy 1:12-17. Timothy had turned to God, and Paul writing this letter was making sure that Timothy didn’t stray. In order to do this, he explained that he had not been perfect, but he had come to know Jesus. My favourite verses in this section are verses 15-16. In these verses Paul says that he was the foremost of sinners but God did His utmost in patience with Paul so he could show the difference it made to be forgiven. This was an encouragement to Timothy, to remind him of what God had done and how Timothy was to respond by remembering the difference that God makes.

In the gospel reading there was great rejoicing at the finding of the coin and the sheep.  The women told all her neighbours who rejoiced with her. This sounds like a weak excuse for a party, it is this rejoicing which stands out. A lost coin which is found becoming an excuse to make your neighbours come and rejoice with you. The shepherd getting people to rejoice over the sheep makes more sense. 

Perhaps the point is that the rejoicing completes the search. The beginning of the stories are things being lost, then comes the search and then the rejoicing. Paul had been lost but after his experience at Damascus (Acts 9:1-9) he came to believe in Jesus and so there was rejoicing. We are found, we are in relationship with God but do we rejoice enough? Sometimes we can take for granted the hunt and search of God for us. The search only happens so we will turn to Him, and what a great reason to rejoice!

Being a sporty disciple .....

I enjoy watching sport, not all sport but some. I recently discovered a love of Formula One racing. The daftest bit of this is that I can’t even drive myself!

As I looked at the readings for this coming Sunday I could not help thinking about discipleship. In Psalm 139 we read of the knowledge that we are never far from God’s presence. This is good news but the bad news is that it means that God can see when we do things wrong. This, coupled with the reading from Philemon which talks of a runaway slave, reminds me that whilst God loves us and will never leave us, we can never be far from his presence and He sees what we do. 

I want to think about Discipleship. It is a challenge it is following Jesus and being more like him. In the gospel reading (Luke 14:25-33)  there is a call to give everything up for Jesus.

This is where sports comes in. I’m not sporty myself and I like to joke this is because otherwise I would be so good no one else will get a chance! Of course, this is far from the truth. However, I have noticed the sheer dedication of sportspeople to their task. They have a coach who guides them through, they have a goal to do well, and they change their life to reflect a healthy lifestyle. This will sound a little corny, but I actually really believe that discipleship done can be likened to training for a sports event.

Discipleship is about us working out how best to follow Jesus. We have a goal which is heaven, our coach is God, our healthy lifestyle is living more like Jesus. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

I have thought about the way that Philemon (1-21) fits into discipleship and God knowing us. I recently heard a lecture by Dr. Esau McCauley about the letter to Philemon. In this lecture he thought about the possibility that Onesimus (the runaway) may have been a relative of Philemon. If this was the case, then the relationship between a slave and a master changes. It could be someone leaving their family and letting them down.  He also suggested that Onesimus was the slave of Philemon, his master and he had run away. This is the more common view, and the one we all know best.

Of course, in the epistle, Philemon is pleading for Onesimus to be welcomed back and treated well. This makes me think about freedom. On the one hand we can’t hide away from God, but on the other it is He who brings us true freedom. 

This is what makes being a disciple a perfect task. We are following the One who created us, who loves us, who brings freedom. I truly believe that the best way we can ever be is in a relationship with God. Our coach, leading us to be more like Him. The best bit is that in this relationship we can truly be who we are meant to be, people who are both loved by God and who are so in love with God that we will follow Him, knowing freedom and assurance that we are never far from His presence.