Sermon - Easter 6 - Rogation Sunday

Acts 16.9-15;
Revelation 21.10,22-22.5;
John 14.23-29 or John 5.1-9

One beautiful Sunday morning, a priest announced to his congregation: "My good people, I have here in my hands three sermons...a £100 sermon that lasts five minutes, a £50 sermon that lasts fifteen minutes, and a £10 sermon that lasts a full hour.

"Now, we'll take the collection and see which one I'll deliver."

We are approaching the conclusion of the Easter cycle, and we are anticipating the feasts of Ascension and Pentecost – so this Sunday we are encouraged to think about the new presence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Following Jesus, keeping his word as the text of St. John says (v.23) is the proof of love, of true discipleship. At the same time, it is the way to God – following Jesus.

This is a major theme in the Gospel of John: Jesus is the word, the son, the revelation of God in our human history. This is why there is no other way to God except by “keeping his word” as it says in the text.

This “keeping his word” should be a matter of our life and practice – it entails paying attention to the word of God, and trying to discern God’s will for us. With this information we are ready to do good, for the sake of others, and not ourselves. “keeping his word”.

This is not a flight of fancy from me, it is the bread and butter of the Gospels it is the focus of our faith – our Gospel starts “If anyone loves me, they will obey my teaching” it leaves no room for manoeuvre – no room for bargaining – no room for haggling.

So what exactly are the teachings of Jesus?

Don’t worry about money, food, clothing or tomorrow.

Don’t judge others.

God loves us all

Each person has an immense value to God

Treat others as you want to be treated.

Don’t follow the ways of the world.

Beware of false prophets and ideologies.

Be obedient to God’s teachings.

God forgives if you only ask (and mean it).

Ask and seek and God will answer.

Love the Lord God with you heart and mind, and your neighbour as yourself.

Ok, so we have the job description to be a Christian – the pay isn’t quite what we expected, it seems to be almost all perks and benefits, but most of it is paid as an after death-benefit. There is no application form – no interview, but more like on the job training with a large instruction manual that looks like half of it is 2,000 years old – and the other half even older - Life really is a race, and we must make up as much time as we can before we pass the baton to the next runner.

What does the life of Jesus tell us about life and faith?

The life of faith is a ‘tale of two cities’ – they are both described in the Book of the Revelation. The first city that we have been reading about recently is the city we must be cautious of; “Babylon”, a city condemned for its idolatry of wealth and for the traffic “in human bodies and souls”, which was the basis of its prosperity (Revelation 18.13). Crackpot historians attempt to locate John’s mythical Babylon precisely on the world map and in world history. All that their conflicting suggestions have in common is that Babylon is seen as some other place, it is the city we have built for ourselves – shameful humanity. It is the city of wealth but no spirit. It is the city we must leave with our Lord.

Jesus was crucified outside the city walls, but spent time amongst the people in their greed and confusion, their poverty and their pain. Babylon – the city of a thousand broken dreams.

I have spent many nights sat on the pavements of Babylon, speaking to people who have been blinded by the bright lights of the city – sharing time and comparing battle scars – trying to speak a word of peace and comfort before it was too late.

One of my favourite theologians, Gustavo Gutierrez suggests that we should ‘flee’ Babylon, as fast as our legs will carry us. I disagree, the light faces the darkness. We should be in the darkest corners and alleyways of Babylon, shining the light that can’t be extinguished.

A week last Friday, I spent the morning talking to the staff of a homelessness hostel where one of the residents (a 16 year old girl) had committed suicide. The loss of life was almost unbearable – I had no answers, we just sat on the pavement of Babylon together – glad to be in the city, doing all we can, but recognising the pain and upset our failure brings. It is better to have at least tried though!

Sometimes, when I seem distant and unresponsive – sometimes when I seem to be terse and unhelpful, it might just be because I have been on a night out to Babylon!

The second city – well it is a lot different.

The reading from the book of the revelation to St. John the Divine is from the last page of the Bible. It is all about coming home – the gates of the heavenly city are opened to us, and we walk in to take our reward. We are no longer outsiders, we are

no longer in exile, we are no longer lost – we are found and brought home. Our past difficulties are forgotten, our failings and foibles.

It is a beautiful city, well defended from invaders and running through it is a crystal clear river – not a muddy brown one full of shopping trolleys and stolen cars. There is no night; there are no dark corners, no hidden seediness, exploitation or upset. Things actually grow in the city too, the tree of life bears fruit with wonderful regularity and it heals the nations – bringing unity and peace! Babylon is a distant memory for all the inhabitants – they got a one way ticket from a man who stayed in Babylon so they could travel.

That’s the tale of two cities – the tale of faith as action, and not just a theory. I have so many stories I could tell you about life and faith – and I’m sure you have many stories you could tell me too.

Today is Rogation Sunday –

Rogation days are the three days (Rogation Monday, Rogation Tuesday and Rogation Wednesday) immediately before Ascension Thursday in the Christian liturgical calendar. The term, most frequently encountered in Roman Catholic and Anglican circles, is rarely used today.

The word "Rogation" comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning "to ask," and was applied to this time of the liturgical year because the Gospel reading for the previous Sunday included the passage "Ask and ye shall receive" (John 16:24). The Sunday itself was often called Rogation Sunday as a result.

The faithful typically observed the Rogation days by fasting in preparation to celebrate the Ascension, and farmers often had their crops blessed by a priest at this time, which always occurs during the spring.

A common feature of Rogation days in former times was the ceremony of 'beating the bounds', in which a procession of parishioners, led by the priest, churchwarden, and choirboys, would proceed around the boundary of their parish and pray for its protection in the forthcoming year. The name derives from the practice of beating choirboys with sticks, a possible throwback to pagan practices of the regions^[1].

I despair sometimes – is this what Jesus meant us to do?

However, in 1970, the Roman Catholic church did away with rogation calling it the 6^th Sunday of Easter – there is hope for us yet!

Perhaps we should call this Sunday "Ask and ye shall receive – Seek and ye shall find Sunday” for all those people stuck in the city of Babylon - and for those of us who want to do our bit in the service of God.

When you go out to help others though…please be careful what you do.

A Vicar is walking down the street one day when he notices a very small boy trying to press a doorbell on a house on the other side of the road. However, the boy is very small and the doorbell is too high for him to reach.

After watching the boys efforts for some time, the Vicar moves closer to the boy. He steps smartly across the street, walks up behind the boy and, placing his hand kindly on the child's shoulder leans over and gives the doorbell a solid ring.

Crouching down to the child's level, the Vicar smiles benevolently and asks, "And now what, my little man?" To which the boy replies, "Now we run!"

AMEN

Sermon - Easter 5

This week throughout Wales, Scotland and England, we have witnessed various elections at different levels of government. I found a joke actually about politics which said, Following a campaign speech, a young man rushed up to a politician and said, "Sir, I wouldn't vote for you if you were St. Peter himself”, the politician glared at the young man for a moment, then said: "Young man, if I were St. Peter, you couldn't vote for me, because you wouldn't be in my constituency.”

Anyway this week, we have witnessed the battering of some politicians, and the crowning of some new names. And once again we have heard the many promises about a bright new future.

There will be more spending on this and less waste on that and policies will be followed which make a real difference in the lives of people. And without exception these were the policies being followed by every person seeking election last Thursday. But for most of us, whoever has been elected, there will be very little difference in our lives on a day to day basis.

And please don’t think I am just knocking politics or politicians when I say that. I enjoy politics, and I think that there are many politicians who work tremendously hard for the good of others, but in a society without any great extremes, the sort of society in which we live, most of the differences that politicians will make to most of us are fairly small. Of course on a wider scale, major decisions, such as the war in Iraq, overseas aid, child poverty and homelessness in this country as well as abroad, will make a huge difference to some.

And so for many of us politics, or the politicians in power, though they would argue differently, will have no great effect on our lives each day, but today in our readings, something can be identified which can transform the whole of the world, something which transcends politics, business, wealth, influence, or anything else, and that is LOVE.

It’s a subject that we hear a lot about in readings and in sermons, because it is what the gospel is about. In our gospel today (John 13:31-35), Jesus said, ‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.’

Love is something which really can transform the whole of the world, making a difference in the relationships of individuals and even between different countries, yet once again we are reminded how difficult it is to practise. Many times I’ve talked about love, and issued the challenge to you all to love one another, and every time I do it I issue the same challenge to myself, because it’s not easy !

I love using quotations from the great Martin Luther King Jnr, and I’m going to quote him again today. He said once that ‘the church is like a great extended family that receives a tremendous bequest: they receive an inheritance of a wonderful, beautiful, spacious, luxurious home to share. There is only one stipulation… All must live in it together.’

I know lots of people who won’t come to church – I had always assumed that they wouldn’t come because they didn’t like the theology, the religion, the Vicar…it is really none of those things. Most of the people I know will come to church for one-off services, but won’t make a commitment because they tell me that churches are usually full of people who want their own way – with their own agendas and their own world-view.

Now, their views might be invalid, because they haven’t really engaged with church – but whether they are right or wrong, there is the perception (the widespread perception) that church is not a happy place to be, and that is a perception that we must change.

There is a great search by people today for happiness, and, I think, for love. People want to find something which is out of the ordinary, something that is changing people’s lives for good, and love is something which is out of the ordinary – not love between couples, or in families, but love which is practised indiscriminately – the sort of love that Jesus practices, without conditions and without limits.

The concept of this sort of love is something that can make a difference everywhere. For individuals who are lonely, who are friendless, who seem difficult, the knowledge that someone cares about them will be life changing. Feeling valued is something which is hugely important to us all.

The reading from Revelation (21:1-6) gave us that wonderful picture of a new world, a world where all things were made new, a place of no tears, or mourning, or crying and pain, a place where death will be no more. That is the great heavenly picture that we have, the great hope of every one of us as Christians, but that picture shouldn’t always seem so far away.

Jesus came down to live amongst us to demonstrate that love in our world, in the middle of political squabbles, religious turmoil, domestic disputes and so on. Jesus came to transform the lives of individuals through his love, and that is the challenge that he makes to us today – ‘Love one another’ – Here and now ! And he takes it a stage further by saying that it is by this love that everyone will know that we are his disciples. Loving one another was never just a good idea. It was, and is, a command from Jesus himself… Love really can make a difference in the world today, it isn’t just a glib and naïve sort of hope.

It was a privilege to hear Andrew Leighton preach at Redwick this morning. In the middle of the sermon he threw out a line about our failure to love as Christ loves us. He said “when all’s said and done – there is too much saying and not enough doing”. Excellent!

There's a story about a man who got out of his car and saw a young boy looking admiringly at it. The little boy said, "Does this car belong to you?" And the man said, "Yes, in fact my brother gave it to me for Christmas. I've just got it." With that the little boy's eyes widened. He said, "You mean to say that somebody gave it to you? And you didn't have to pay anything for it?"

And the man said, "That's right. My brother gave it to me as a gift." With that the little boy let out a long sigh and said, " Wow ! I would really like..." And the man fully expected the boy to say, "I would like to have a brother like that, who would give me such a beautiful car," but instead the man was amazed when the little boy said, "Wow! I would like to be that kind of brother. I wish I could give that kind of car to my little brother."

True love really does conquer everything – true love beats evil and hate, it breaks down barriers between rich and poor, it takes away greed and self interest, and it builds a fellowship of people committed to making life better for everyone. That is the unlimited, indiscriminate, true love that Jesus calls us to offer to everyone. AMEN