SERMON - The First Sunday of Lent

Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?

It seems like only yesterday that we were celebrating Christmas. Some of my friends still have their decorations up, and nearly everybody is trying to pay off debts accrued celebrating. It seems like In the blink of an eye spring has appeared. The seasons are changing and I am sure I actually saw the sun earlier this week.

As the daffodils are starting to spring up LENT is here again, and we are preparing for Easter, in many different ways – some by giving things up, like chocolate, alcohol or biscuits, and some by starting new things, like lent courses and spending more time in prayer or working to help others. I hope that all the things that we do over the next few weeks will help us enjoy Easter more.

We pray for perseverance, and we resolve to walk closer with God for the few short weeks until we celebrate Easter again.

Our time of reflection has begun - our Lenten exodus with God. I use the word exodus because it is just that. As we walk with God, we pray that we might be freed from all that enslaves us, and that we might use that freedom to become more like the person God wants us to be.

Each Lenten exodus is the opportunity for us to engage a little bit more with the wonder of God, and then we can see ourselves a little more clearly in relation to God. It is a painful task – to ask those awkward questions in Lent – the ones about belief, faith and calling – the God who calls.

The cycle of Wilderness – Awareness - Cross – Resurrection is one that is most important in Lent. We journey through the wilderness of things worldly, attempting to see a glimpse of things heavenly. Our prayers and actions will give us an awareness of God with us, then each and every year we are shocked by the brutality and inhumanity of the cross, until we are resurrected with our Lord to search again for another facet of God in places where we might not expect to find God.

It is a feature of Luke’s Gospel that we see the power of the Holy Spirit at work through Jesus, and in the lives and works of those who followed Christ. On the first Sunday of Lent, if we are determined to spend a prayerful and holy lent, we too will be driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, to join our Lord in our own wilderness.

The inhabited part of Judea at the time stood on the central plateau which was the backbone of southern Palestine; between it and the Dead Sea stretched a terrible wilderness some thirty-five miles across by fifteen miles, it was called JESHIMMON which means the devastation. The limestone desert swoops 1,200 feet down to the sea, very little grows there, it is covered in jagged rocks. This is where Jesus was taken to be tempted, this was his wilderness.

There are some significant features of the Gospel reading today, that make it stand out. Some of these I will mention later, but there is one important one that I should start with really.

The fact is that the account of Jesus being driven into the wilderness and the temptations are some of the most important and sacred parts of the Bible. Christ was alone in the wilderness (apart from the Holy Spirit), so the account would have been given to the disciples directly from the mouth of our Lord.

The time in the wilderness was special for Jesus; he was about to begin his work proper, he was drawing the lines for what had to be done, he was preparing to be tested. Jesus would have been aware that he not only possessed exceptional powers, but that a huge responsibility rested on his shoulders. Why else would he be tested in such a way?

When Jesus was tested, he chose the route of suffering and death to the cross, and rejected the route of power and glory.

The book ‘QUARANTINE’ by the author Jim Crace, that won the Whitbread prize in 1997is a fictional work, supposedly following Jesus during his time in the wilderness. It is of course fiction, purely speculation and highly stylized, but it does have its’ uses. It suggests that the three temptations did not take place like acts in a play, one after the other, but they formed a part of the whole forty days, and indeed the whole ministry of Christ, recurrent temptations that continually questioned his purpose. These temptations encouraged Jesus to think of HOW exactly he could win humanity

The first temptation in LUKE’s gospel was to turn the limestone rocks into bread. The temptation was not just for food at the time, but the question was being asked, would you bribe people with worldly things to follow you? This is rebutted by Jesus who quotes Deuteronomy “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”.

The task of the church is not to produce new conditions, but to produce new people. If we really care about inequality, one off acts of kindness will help but only in the short term. The real change comes when people realise that oppression is wrong, and the injustices start to right themselves.

Bribery is short term. If I told you that for every pound you put on the plate you would receive ten, I would be lying. But if we all worked together, as Christ had instructed us, we would not need to gamble the pound in the first place, we would have enough.

The second temptation was on a mountain from which all the civilized world could be seen, “worship me and all this will be yours” is the temptation. This is the temptation to compromise. “Don’t set your standards so high! Bargain with me; compromise with evil and you can do more good!”

Jesus had an answer, also from the Book of Deuteronomy “Worship the Lord your God and Serve only him”. It is a constant temptation to win by compromise. If we can somehow water down our beliefs, we are then more attractive to others. What we fail to remember is that we are doing both them and us a dis-service.

In the third temptation Jesus found himself on the pinnacle of the temple where the Royal porch and Solomon’s porch meet, there was a drop of some 450 feet, down to the Kedron valley below. This was the temptation to give the people sensations. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy again “Do not put your Lord God to the test”. Jesus saw quite clearly that by producing wonders and sensations, he would lose integrity for the message that he was to bring.

The message of the love of God is simple, and does not need to be dressed up with grand gestures and actions. The smallest kindness shows the love of God to others.

The lesson is clear in the task that is beginning, Jesus proclaims the primacy of God, and of God’s kingdom. We cannot use them for our own personal prestige or to dominate others politically or spiritually. The attitude of Jesus must be our own and that of the church. Its message and its power are not to serve itself but to serve God and his chosen ones, the poor and the oppressed.

The first reading this morning shows us that the wilderness has a special significance for the Jewish people. The experience of the wilderness leads them to deepen their faith. The reading gave us the beautiful picture that BIBLICAL faith is HISTORICAL faith. This is faith for them, so what is faith for us?

Our belief in God is also rooted in the presence of his liberating love in history. This love is opposed to every form of humiliation and exploitation. In the reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans we see also however that the word of faith must be proclaimed. We have to tell others what we experience with a profound conviction.

You see, communicating faith means telling a story: a story etched on our own hearts. We take it from there and re-tell it. As it says in the reading from Romans “One believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved”

From the first Sunday of Lent we are called to believe with our hearts, as we take our place in the wilderness with Christ – with the Holy Spirit to guide us. We should find time for ourselves to think deeply about what our faith means to us, and how it affects our lives personally, and the lives of those we know and care for.

We need to think how we can communicate our life-changing faith to others, not by means of BRIBERY, COMPROMISE or SENSATION; but by our sure and certain belief that we can bring life to others, by sharing God’s life changing love with them.

May God be with you on your Lenten journey.

Sermon - Ash Wednesday

Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?

It seems like only yesterday that we were celebrating Christmas. Some of my friends still have their decorations up, and nearly everybody is trying to pay off debts accrued celebrating. It seems like In the blink of an eye spring has appeared. The seasons are changing and I am sure I actually saw the sun earlier this week.

As the daffodils are starting to spring up LENT is here again, and we are preparing for Easter, in many different ways – some by giving things up, like chocolate, alcohol or biscuits, and some by starting new things, like lent courses and spending more time in prayer or working to help others. I hope that all the things that we do over the next few weeks will help us enjoy Easter more.

Today, Ash Wednesday, we start Lent. We pray for perseverance, and we resolve to walk closer with God for the few short weeks until we celebrate Easter again.

During the service we will have to opportunity (if you wish) to receive what is called the ‘imposition of the ashes’ where the sign of the cross is made on your head, hands or both to signify penitence. The ash is made from the burned palm crosses of last year. The symbolism signifies that our time of reflection is beginning, and that we are ready to begin our Lenten exodus with God. I use the word exodus because it is just that. As we walk with God, we pray that we might be freed from all that enslaves us, and that we might use that freedom to become more like the person God wants us to be.

Each Lenten exodus is the opportunity for us to engage a little bit more with the wonder of God, and then we can see ourselves a little more clearly in relation to God. It is a painful task – to ask those awkward questions in Lent – the ones about belief, faith and calling – the God who calls.

The cycle of Wilderness – Awareness - Cross – Resurrection is one that is most important in Lent. We journey through the wilderness of things worldly, attempting to see a glimpse of things heavenly. Our prayers and actions will give us an awareness of God with us, then each and every year we are shocked by the brutality and inhumanity of the cross, until we are resurrected with our Lord to search again for another facet of God in places where we might not expect to find God.

I can remember every single lent that I have spent reflecting on my own life, vocation, relationships, concerns and successes – There haven’t been that many - I can honestly say that the importance of Lent has passed me by for most of my life.

When I became a Christian , my first few Lenten journeys involved reading theology, attempting to define God, working out what made him tick, trying to understand and solve the puzzle of religion. It was my biggest mistake, because when I ended up with more questions that answers, I gave up.

I spent so much time trying to get the answer to life and faith, that I completely missed the point.

The JOURNEY is more important than the DESTINATION. It is in our journeys with GOD, we start to become more whole. As soon as we think we have all the answers, we are lost – we are lost to the world that DEMANDS proof and GUARANTEES.

We all wasted so much time in theological college investigating possibilities, pushing the boundaries, and looking at other peoples’ always inadequate definitions of GOD, that we lost that all-important PERSONAL JOURNEY with God. We were acting very much like scientists, with GOD in a test-tube, carrying out our experiments.

This, of course makes for stress and an immense amount of pressure. We were encouraged to ONLY SEEK GOD IN BOOKS, not in the places where we know he will be found, in the faces of the needy and unloved – there is so much work to do that we will never be bored.

And it is a temptation isn’t it, that exists for all of us everywhere. Shall we deal with the certainties about GOD we find in books, or shall we risk all by searching for GOD outside the safe and cosy environments of our church buildings or home. The temptation is to set ourselves apart from the lives of others. To care only for the people who attend church and not the others who live in the parishes. To set ourselves on a pedestal with the authority of the past…it is a real challenge for many.

This LENT we are ALL being invited to stand up and be counted for what we believe in.

We don’t need permission to have an opinion on war, poverty, homelessness, hunger and the third world – it is our job. As Christians, we are expected by GOD to call for justice and peace for all.

Our authority is not one that comes and goes, it is one that we receive at baptism and it can never be taken from us. The world may hate us for making demands, but we will be only doing our job.

LENT is only a few short weeks, and EASTER will be upon us.

When we look back at lent in 2003, will we remember that this is the year that we gave up cigarettes, alcohol, chocolate or biscuits?

Or will it be the year that we remember that we called for PEACE and JUSTICE in the name of JESUS CHRIST the prince of peace. Will it be the year that we remember upsetting the powers that be, by making demands for those who have no voice to speak for themselves? Will it be the year that we built a little bit more of the KINGDOM OF GOD on earth?

Let’s surprise ourselves this lent – Let’s do something daft and show the world that we haven’t forgotten how to care. From the greatest gesture to the smallest kindness, we will be making a stand for GOD.

Let us pray;

Heavenly Father, Lord GOD of all creation; Give us strength and courage to all who work for justice and peace. Keep them safe in the knowledge that they do your work. Make this lent for us a time when we meet you in our love for others.

We ask this through JESUS CHRIST your SON our LORD

Sunday Next Before Lent

No sermon this week - we all had to read a pastoral letter from the Bishop