SERMON - (OUT OF ORDER!) see below for this week. EPIPHANY 4

Last week we looked at the words of St. Paul to the church in Corinth, and we contemplated what he meant when he said “There is still a more excellent way”, well; this week we have that more excellent way, in the reading we had from the letter to the Corinthians this morning.

I was thinking this week how I owe someone an apology. I think that they might have got the wrong impression about me, and I allowed them to believe that. You know the score, you are at the end of a busy day and this and that happens…well here’s what happened.

I was in the car with Ray, driving to the Benefice Council. He said that he was looking forward to preaching tonight, and that he had already written his sermon. I asked what the text was, and he said it was the one about LOVE from Corinthians. I then launched into a speech of “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels…” after half a minute or so, Ray tried to interrupt me, but I was away “Love is patient, Love is kind and envies no one…”. Eventually, Ray stopped me, after I told him that it was 1 Corinthians 13 1-13. “You know your Bible well, he said…” And then the subject sort of changed, without me admitting I am not the best biblical scholar.

I know this reading from the dozens of weddings I have done, I based my wedding speeches on it, and how it has spoke to me in the past, in times of happiness and sadness too. It is not only read at weddings, but funerals too, and was read by Tony Blair at the funeral of Diana Princess of Wales. To me it is one of the most important texts in our faith, and if I had to edit the bible down into a few pages, it would be there as the one that demonstrates how the early church found meaning, as it talks about the love that Christians should have for God. In the original Greek the word agape (worshipful love) is used throughout; this was translated as charity in the King James version and then into love in more recent translations.

There is no question that it is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and this is what Paul intended us to think – this text appears in the middle of several chapters concerning Spiritual gifts.

So this text is all about CHARITY, not the charity you help when you put a quid in the tin outside TESCO, this is the CHARITY that literally means “CHRISTIAN LOVE”. This is Love for GOD to such an extent that you are benevolent to others, well disposed to others, caring to others, and not giving up on others, even though…even though, they might neither love us, like us or care for us in any way – we are called to love them, show real charity – that the light of Christ might be with them too.

Even if we could speak all the languages on earth, and have a global audience, we would do no good unless we carry GOD with us – and LOVE others with real CHARITY. Of course, the real truth of this is that REAL love is a universal language – and when we REALLY care, we can do that without language at all.

Love is never conceited, impatient, rude, never quick to take offence, and all the other things…that’s enough about the reading. I want to tell you a story about LOVE

Today is homelessness Sunday, and we are invited to think about the Homeless throughout the world. There is a special anniversary associated with this, because it is the 30^th anniversary of the release of a film that changed the way we think about homelessness. Cathy Come Home was revolutionary television, charting the plight of a family on the way down, eventually losing their children to the care of social services. Coincidentally, two weeks later the homelessness charity SHELTER was founded, and the rest, as they say is history. We have a lot to be thankful for, and a lot to work towards at the same time.

HOMELESSNESS SUNDAY

On Thursday night I was sitting in one of the houses run by a housing association I work with. A new venture has been set up to care for those with serious mental health problems, who had become homeless after institutional care – and is a new direction for the organisation. After the board meeting at tea time, I went to see how things were going there. I wanted to see the staff and the residents, to remind myself why I had spent a few hours around a table discussing their future. As I turned up there was a flurry of activity, as cigarettes were stubbed out and air-freshener liberally sprayed, the telly was turned off as I was eventually ushered into lounge. I asked a few questions and received answers.

I spent half an hour there, and realised that they were doing more for me that I was doing for them. The people had allowed me to live out the ‘more excellent way’ as they welcomed me into their home. I was privileged to be there.

Jesus had a soft spot for the homeless, and we should too!

Go out into the world this week and rejoice in the fact that YOU are loved beyond your wildest imaginings, by a God who wants the best for you, always. AMEN

SERMON - The Third Sunday Before Lent

When I was reading through this morning’s gospel (Luke 5:1-11), I was struck by the similarities that could be drawn with the Church.

Jesus is standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the crowds were pressing around him listening to all he had to say. Jesus then saw two boats close to the bank with the fisherman washing their nets after finishing their fishing for the night. Jesus got into one of the boats and told them to cast away from the shore. Then, we are told, he sat down, and carried on teaching from the boats.

The first similarity is that if we think that this excitement about Jesus is something that doesn’t happen in this day and age we would be wrong…. I believe today there is a great hunger for faith, statistics suggest that more people are interested in spirituality than ever before - almost everyone wants to believe in something.

If we as a Church are failing to find the people in need, or failing to reach those who are searching then we need to look at the way we are delivering our message. We may not have speakers with the charisma of Jesus, but we have his message, and it is a powerful message of hope and salvation, and peace and love and joy.

The second similarity to the Church comes a little earlier in the gospel reading – the fisherman, we are told, had been out all night and they had caught nothing. As a Church we so often bemoan the fact that we have little success, or we worry about the lack of money and so on, and when we look more closely at what we are doing we realise we are trying to get by without relying on God.

One of the easiest traps we can fall into is failing to rely on God – we can do it in so many ways. We must trust that as a church, God will show us the way, the tasks to be done, and then he will give us the tools to do the job. The Bible tells us that in all things we should seek the support and guidance of God. God wants us to share our problems as a church community with Him.

Like the fisherman who caught nothing all night, we will ultimately get nowhere without God.

And the third similarity follows on from this when Jesus tells the fishermen to go out again and cast their nets into the water. You can imagine how these men must have felt – they were tired, they were probably not in the best of moods – they had caught nothing… but they listened. Whatever it was that led them to listen, it was an amazing display of faith and it was a faith that was rewarded with a huge catch of fish.

As a Church I think there is a time for us to cast down our nets again, to occasionally do something that looks a little odd, even stupid. There is a time for us to trust more, and expect the results.

In the gospel we hear of Simon Peter who was terrified when he saw the huge catch of fish. He saw the power of God right up close and realised how unworthy he was… The reaction wasn’t just about fish. He realised that he had seen something that was proof of all he wanted to believe.

Today the Church needs to regain that vision of a powerful and transforming God – a God who forces a response from us.

Today, we are faced with a challenge too. To react to God and his interaction in our lives and the life of the church. To look closely at our church and our lives so that we can truly to proclaim the gospel we have promised to proclaim…

And that is the final similarity we can find from this reading. At the end we are told the fishermen dropped everything and followed Jesus. There is no lesser call on us today. As Christians we are called to follow Jesus. We are called to commit ourselves to him and to his work on earth. It’s not a part time calling, it may not always be an easy calling, but it is our calling… And it is the most exciting and the most privileged calling we can ever follow.

So the lessons are simple – firstly, without Jesus, just like the fishermen, we will fail, by ourselves we will never find complete fulfilment, and we will never transform our Church, however hard we may work. A strong Church will always have a healthy prayer life.

Secondly it is the faith of those fishermen, those fishermen who, as we know went on to become some of Jesus’ closest followers. They included Peter, the rock upon which the Church was built. They dropped their nets again, and were rewarded, probably against their own expectations.

And the final lesson we can pick up is that the people who listened 2,000 years ago were ready to listen – and so are the people we will talk to in 2007.

St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Cor.15:1) saying, ‘I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you… because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you.’

Paul spoke of grace, the grace of God. However the Corinthians had begun to argue amongst themselves – some had become over ambitious for power in the Church, there was disunity, sectarianism and so on. The message of God’s grace was gradually being pushed further and further into the background.

I suppose with all the changes in the benefice, many are worried about the future, but God is a transforming God – turning water into wine and fishermen into disciples.

It is a transforming power that can and will transform this Church when we follow the lead of Jesus. It is not about rejecting the past, but it is about looking to the future, and making a commitment to living out that future by following Christ as our guide.

God always listens when we call, and more than that, he always responds. As this church looks to the future, pray and ask God for whatever you need and he will hear your prayer, and he will answer.