What exactly is the point of the church......?

The sermon for the first Sunday of Trinity

Religious people have a great capacity to overlook the obvious barbarism in many stories in the Bible and seem unable to see just how offensive they are to modern sensibilities. Even the most horrible stories are surrounded by a warm golden glow......

Today’s O.T. story (Genesis 22: 1-14) is one where Abraham is going to murder his son Isaac because he heard voices in his head telling him to do it. Realising that the other two men he took with him  mustn’t suspect anything he lies to them saying “we will come back for you” and deceives his son by telling him that “God will provide the lamb”. He then takes him off to kill him. The text has God referring to Isaac as “your son, your only son” but of course Abraham did have another son called Ishmael, who he had just callously cast out into the wilderness along with his mother Hagar on the instructions of his jealous wife Sarah. Of course It was Sarah who had suggested that her husband sleep with Hagar in the first place!!

There is no hint of moral anguish in the text at all – just blind obedience to what is perceived as God’s will – even if it means murdering his own son.

Just imagine for a moment if this happened today how this would be reported in the Sun or the Daily Mail and dealt with by the law. Would Abraham even be deemed sane enough to stand trial – or just locked up as a danger to society? 

But for us it is a well loved, well known story – one of the most pivotal in the Hebrew scriptures.

In its own extremely harsh way – using shock tactics – the message it wants to convey is..... Be obedient to God, no matter what!

In the story, God intervenes at the very last moment, but the important thing is that Abraham was not to know that. He understood his instructions and was going to carry them out. It is for that very fact – that he was willing to murder his own son at God’s behest that God commends him.

The fundamental question this story, and others like it raises, is, what are your real priorities when it comes to following God.

For us as Christians this would translate as “Is following the way of Jesus really our priority in life or are we sidetracked by a myriad other concerns.”  Life can be hard and full of concerns that weigh us down and we can easily lose sight of any bigger picture. 

What are our priorities?

Because making a commitment to a way of being and living as a follower of “the way” – making that a priority in your life will cause friction. Let us now move to the gospel reading from Matthew......

This piece (Matt. 10:40-42) follows on from where Jesus says that following his way won’t bring you peace but conflict. It might conceivably tear your family apart.

“Don’t think that I have come to bring peace to the earth;  I have not come to bring peace but a sword”. He then goes on itemise all the family conflicts that will take place.

Today’s piece which follows on, then goes on to say that as one version of family will fall apart – the biological family – this will be replaced by a new spiritual family. In this little piece there is a dynamic relationship between

 - “me” meaning Jesus

– “the one who sent me” – God 

- “whoever welcomes you” – the hosts and

-  “Those who will be received” – the Disciples  

A new family is created from those who faithfully carry out the mission, those who receive it, and a fellowship is established which includes the divine presence.

Jesus relativises the natural family and establishes and promotes a new family based on those whose priority is a common commitment to follow God. He puts this much more directly a little later on in Matthew (12: 46-50)

Remember last week I said that Baptism is about a prior sense of belonging – of belonging to a much bigger family based not on blood ties but on spiritual ties? Well this is how Jesus put it.....

“While he was still speaking to the people, his mother and his brothers stood outside asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him. “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?”. And stretching out his hand to his disciples said “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother”.

O.K. Understood – But there is a clear inherent danger in all this to my mind is that we can relativise the biological family but if wedon’t carry through the next important step and create the new family then all we have done is make orphans of all of us. The church Community is not an optional extra but an essential part of the whole Christian story. A living breathing supportive and loving community is the end result of the Christian story. You – us - we, are an integral and important non-negotiable component in God’s plan.

What has happened though over the last 2000 years is that far from creating an alternative spiritual family all we have done is create an institution. With no fully functioning loving support network to effectively take the place of the biological family – we have regressed to promoting “Christian family values” which is not what Jesus was talking about at all.  

Because the end result of Christianity is not the cross, or the resurrection, or ascension or Pentecost – the end result is what flows from all of those things – us – we are the end result of all this - a community of people at peace with God , at peace with ourselves and at peace with all creation who by our very existence can change the world in which we live for the better as salt and light. Co-creators with God.

To whom do we belong?

The sermon for Trinity Sunday and the occasion of the baptism of Jack Heywood.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptising in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “

A little later Jack Heywood is going to join the number of the baptised . What is true for him is also true for us. Two things need to be expanded on then – the nature of Baptism, and the Holy Trinity – all in about 5 minutes which is what I call “value for money”.

The very easiest and most poignant way of understanding baptism for me is in understanding it in terms of “belonging”. The formula in Matthew that says baptise “in the name of” signifies “with reference to” and implies a new sense of belonging.

Of course Jack has two loving parents and in the first instance and in the normal sense and understanding he “belongs” to them and his wider family structure but in baptism we affirm that Jack actually also has a prior mystical sense of belonging, as we all do, that beyond family ties he ultimately belongs to God. In baptism the person him/her self or those on their behalf are confessing that Jack belongs to God, and that God loves him just like his parents do. It is because we share God as our parent that we can call each other brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God – nothing less than children of God.

So baptism is about affirming our belonging to God, but what kind of God do we belong to?

The formula we use is Father, Son and Holy Spirit – The Holy Trinity. This is traditionally where people start to unravel and preachers come a cropper – and for good reason – because the first thing we must realise is that we cannot ever fully describe God. He is ultimately beyond description and every image and description is just an approximation to the truth of God. What the formula Father Son and Holy Spirit describes is three different ways in which Christian people have experienced God.

First things first.  God is ONE. We do not believe in three gods. This is affirmed by Jews, Muslims and Christians, whatever else we Christians go on to say how we have experienced God

Let’s take “Father” first. It is an image which is always going to be lacking because God is neither male nor female. “Father” symbolises the indescribable source of ALL THAT IS. The father has no source, He just is.

 It is the Father to whom we pray.

Jesus prayed to the Father.

He instructed us to pray to “Our Father”. The Eucharistic prayer every Sunday is a prayer “to the Father”, in the name of the son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is directed to the Father –The One God – the sourceless source of everything that is. The “I AM” – Yahweh -meaning simply pure existence.

The second person of the Trinity is the Son. In John’s famous prologue in Chapter 1 of his gospel the second person of the Trinity is called Logos – which means both “word” and “wisdom”. God’s creative power and a revelation of his nature. This is another aspect of God. Wisdom was very important to the Jews. Wisdom literature is an important part of the Hebrew Bible. Wisdom is divine. Wisdom was with God and helped in the creation of all things. Wisdom was female - It is the wisdom of God that Christians believe was fully revealed in the life of Jesus. Because Jesus was a man, we say Father, “Son” and Holy Spirit but I believe it would be just as legitimate to talk of Father, “Mother” and Holy Spirit because wisdom was traditionally thought of as female – though there are obviously many people who would disagree with me on that one!

We have the sourceless source, wisdom and so the third aspect of God that Christians have experienced God is as the Holy Spirit – another aspect of God. How do we experience the Spirit?

The Spirit is that which animates, which is dynamic, which guides, and befriends and teaches – that which adds colour to all life – a binding energy that convicts us of our essential unity with all things. That which gives and sustains life. It is a common saying – but which is true - that when looking at a person who has died – they are said to no longer really be there. The Spirit, which animated that life has gone. The Spirit is “Life” in all its colour, joy and diversity.

We belong to God – that is the nature of our Baptism and this God to whom we belong is God the indescribable source of all things, whose nature is the love and wisdom that underpins all creation, and the pure dynamism, joy and creativity of life – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptising in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “

A little later Jack Heywood is going to join the number of the baptised . What is true for him is also true for us. Two things need to be expanded on then – the nature of Baptism, and the Holy Trinity – all in about 5 minutes which is what I call “value for money”.

The very easiest and most poignant way of understanding baptism for me is in understanding it in terms of “belonging”. The formula in Matthew that says baptise “in the name of” signifies “with reference to” and implies a new sense of belonging.

Of course Jack has two loving parents and in the first instance and in the normal sense and understanding he “belongs” to them and his wider family structure but in baptism we affirm that Jack actually also has a prior mystical sense of belonging, as we all do, that beyond family ties he ultimately belongs to God. In baptism the person him/her self or those on their behalf are confessing that Jack belongs to God, and that God loves him just like his parents do. It is because we share God as our parent that we can call each other brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God – nothing less than children of God.

So baptism is about affirming our belonging to God, but what kind of God do we belong to?

The formula we use is Father, Son and Holy Spirit – The Holy Trinity. This is traditionally where people start to unravel and preachers come a cropper – and for good reason – because the first thing we must realise is that we cannot ever fully describe God. He is ultimately beyond description and every image and description is just an approximation to the truth of God. What the formula Father Son and Holy Spirit describes is three different ways in which Christian people have experienced God.

First things first.  God is ONE. We do not believe in three gods. This is affirmed by Jews, Muslims and Christians, whatever else we Christians go on to say how we have experienced God

Let’s take “Father” first. It is an image which is always going to be lacking because God is neither male nor female. “Father” symbolises the indescribable source of ALL THAT IS. The father has no source, He just is.

 It is the Father to whom we pray.

Jesus prayed to the Father.

He instructed us to pray to “Our Father”. The Eucharistic prayer every Sunday is a prayer “to the Father”, in the name of the son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is directed to the Father –The One God – the sourceless source of everything that is. The “I AM” – Yahweh -meaning simply pure existence.

The second person of the Trinity is the Son. In John’s famous prologue in Chapter 1 of his gospel the second person of the Trinity is called Logos – which means both “word” and “wisdom”. God’s creative power and a revelation of his nature. This is another aspect of God. Wisdom was very important to the Jews. Wisdom literature is an important part of the Hebrew Bible. Wisdom is divine. Wisdom was with God and helped in the creation of all things. Wisdom was female - It is the wisdom of God that Christians believe was fully revealed in the life of Jesus. Because Jesus was a man, we say Father, “Son” and Holy Spirit but I believe it would be just as legitimate to talk of Father, “Mother” and Holy Spirit because wisdom was traditionally thought of as female – though there are obviously many people who would disagree with me on that one!

We have the sourceless source, wisdom and so the third aspect of God that Christians have experienced God is as the Holy Spirit – another aspect of God. How do we experience the Spirit?

The Spirit is that which animates, which is dynamic, which guides, and befriends and teaches – that which adds colour to all life – a binding energy that convicts us of our essential unity with all things. That which gives and sustains life. It is a common saying – but which is true - that when looking at a person who has died – they are said to no longer really be there. The Spirit, which animated that life has gone. The Spirit is “Life” in all its colour, joy and diversity.

We belong to God – that is the nature of our Baptism and this God to whom we belong is God the indescribable source of all things, whose nature is the love and wisdom that underpins all creation, and the pure dynamism, joy and creativity of life – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Pastor's Ass

A Pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won. The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and it won again.

The local paper read:

PASTOR'S ASS OUT FRONT.

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the Pastor not to enter the donkey in another race. The next day the local paper headline read:

BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR'S ASS.

This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the Pastor to get rid of the donkey. The Pastor decided to give it to a Nun in a nearby convent. The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day:

NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.

The Bishop fainted! He informed the Nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for £10. The next day the papers read:

NUN SELLS ASS FOR £10.

This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the Nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to open land where it could run free. The next day's headlines read:

NUN ANNOUNCES THAT HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.

The Bishop was buried the next day. The moral of this story is...Being concerned with public opinion can bring you much grief and misery. It can even shorten your life. So be yourself and enjoy life to the fullest. Stop worrying about everyone else's ass and you'll be a lot happier and live longer.