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.)