Sermon - Trinity 5

Proper 7:

Jeremiah 20.7-13
Romans 6.1b-11
Matthew 10.24-39

The tenth chapter of Matthew is dedicated to Jesus’ disciples. The Lord sends them on a mission and gives them guidelines to do their task: He warns them that people will not make life easy for them. He sends them off on their mission to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”

This may not be our experience of being a disciple, mainly because we live in a fairly free society, and we can practice our faith without too much difficulty. We probably have people thinking we are mad for being Christians, and certainly much of the community is wondering what we do in here on a Sunday morning, but it really isn’t that bad.

To people like Richard Dawkins (the author of the bestselling book the God Delusion) we are clearly insane, and to some psychiatrists and psychologists we are seeking meaning in our lives, that we have been unable to find in the normal way.

This means that we are always on the defence as Christians. We are told by the atheist that because of the presence of suffering in the world there is no God. My counter to that view is that if there is NO God whatsoever, then why is it that most people say there is – and in particular at least a third of the world believes that Jesus is the Son of God – if we are mad, we are in good company.

He tells us that this is because we have a ‘religious virus’ that makes us believe in God when the atheist doesn’t. Of course, this is the easy argument really, I would like to believe that many people have a taste virus which means I am criticised for thinking cold curry is nice the day after, and trainers look fine under a cassock when doing a service – but the truth of it is, it’s no good making up a position other people can’t argue with.

My last run-in with a paid up atheist revolved around the fact that when he made a bee-line for me to tell me that “God doesn’t exist, and it’s all rubbish” I told him it was fine for him to believe that because we all have to believe in something. He was really angry and shouting, saying that atheism wasn’t a belief, it was just the truth, or something like that. I remembered the Christian union in Cardiff University being the same when I told them that I wasn’t interested in creation and where the dinosaurs came from, I wanted to know why they weren’t out on the streets helping the poor and needy like Jesus would have.

Dawkins also directs a ferocious trade of criticism against religion in general and Christianity in particular (I had wondered why he chose Christianity – well I think that would lie in the fact that we tend to let people criticise)

Why so much anger from Mr. Dawkins? Until recently, western atheism had waited patiently, believing that belief in God would simply die out. But now, a whiff of panic is evident. Far from dying out, belief in God has rebounded, and seems set to exercise still greater influence in both the public and private. The God Delusion expresses this deep anxiety, he obviously hates religion.

Even more than this, the arguments that hold atheism together are falling apart themselves. It is now becoming harder to persuade people of nothing, rather than the existence of God – look we can argue about the nature of God and the other stuff, but fundamentally almost the whole human race believes in something beyond themselves – someone good, someone merciful, a creator who cares for creation.

That's what Dawkins is worried about. The shrill, aggressive rhetoric of his God Delusion masks a deep insecurity about the public credibility of atheism. The God Delusion seems more designed to reassure atheists whose faith is faltering than to engage fairly or rigorously with religious believers, and others seeking for truth.

The main argument of The God Delusion, however, is that religion leads to violence and oppression. Dawkins treats this as defining characteristic of religion – completely forgetting two things:

Firstly he forgets that people will organise themselves into groups according to what’s popular. My recollection of school was that children were ruthless; I was in a different group every day waging war on another. I usually got into a fight most days in some form or another. That wasn’t the worst thing, it was remembering who I was supposed to like that took the most energy. As I might have said before, intolerance leads to violence, religion is just an excuse.

Secondly, Dawkins says (rather curiously for such an academic) that he himself, as a good atheist, would never, ever fly aeroplanes into skyscrapers, or commit any other outrageous act of violence or oppression. Good for him. Neither would I. Yet the harsh reality is that religious and anti-religious violence has happened, and is likely to continue to do so.

The history of the twentieth century has given us a frightening awareness of how political extremism can equally cause violence. In Latin America, millions of people seem to have "disappeared" as a result of ruthless campaigns of violence by right wing politicians and their militias. In Cambodia, Pol Pot eliminated his millions in the name of socialism.

The rise of the Soviet Union was of particular significance. Lenin regarded the elimination of religion as central to the socialist revolution, and put in place measures designed to eradicate religious beliefs through the use of violence. One of the greatest tragedies of this era in human history was that those who sought to eliminate religious belief through violence and oppression believed they were justified in doing so. They were accountable to no higher authority than the state.

In a bizarre statement as an atheist, Dawkins insists that there is "not the smallest evidence" that atheism influences people to do bad things.

Dawkins next argument is that Christianity creates in-groups and out-groups, and social division amongst communities and families. He then suggests that Jesus never meant the faith to be for anyone other than the Jews, and that it is Paul’s fault that it is now an international faith of people of all backgrounds.

Dawkins' analysis here is unacceptable. There are points at which his ignorance of religion stop being funny and become just offensive. Jesus went out of the way to bring the excluded into communion, and to go out of his way to bring to light the plight of the suffering people of the day. He gave clear rules about hospitality and also chose his own disciples from those thought to be unworthy and ritually unclean. Any ordinary Jewish mother wouldn’t have been proud of that. With Jesus there is no ‘out-group’ only an ‘in-group’.

As Alister Macgrath says; “The God Delusion for modern atheism may be to suggest that it is actually atheism itself may be a delusion about God.”

And in Britain today, this is the best they could throw at us people of faith. I think that it is time we put our feet up a bit – and stop worrying about the future so much. The church changes, just like the Victorians put the pews in and we have women clergy playing a full role in the life of the church, and NRG once a month. Change is inevitable. But with change we will see growth.

The readings today are probably the most important we have had for a long time, it is God (through others) letting people of faith know what awaits them in some lands. It tells the faithful how bad it can get.

We would be foolish to pooh-pooh the possibility that times may change, and that we may yet be mercilessly mocked for the sake of who we are. We might be imprisoned and persecuted.

However, whilst things are good, go about your work as a disciple, never forgetting to thank God for religious tolerance, however strange it may seem, and be tolerant to others as they try to make sense of life, death and the bit in between.

Metro Ministries

Many thanks to the reader who gave me more details about the provision for children - Blog edited accordingly. Visit www.metroministries.com for more information on the work of Pastor Bill Wilson

Sermon - Trinity 4

The last week I have been thinking about my ‘job’, what I ‘do’ and how that might describe what I do in ordinary terms to people who might not know what a ‘Vicar’ does, or even a ‘priest in charge’. I think it does us all good to take stock now and again…stops you drifting off into your own little universe and all that.

I would probably start by talking about being available for people at different times – from early to late. I would talk about trying to make sense of faith and belief, sharing the Good News about Jesus, and I would speak about the balancing act of being both a minister to church congregations whilst still being a priest to a community – parishioners are the ones who don’t come to church too – I need to be available for weddings, funerals and baptisms, and all the other stuff. I suppose telling people that I am trying to make God present (although that is a bit confusing too!)

It’s harder than I first thought.

For all of us who struggle to put words to what we do as Christians, the reading from the Gospel is excellent. The last few weeks we have thought about the nature of God, being merciful and more concerned with justice than judgment, and now we hear the call to action from Jesus himself.

We are sent to the harvest – not worrying about worldly things, not even what we need to say…those things will come

do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

It is what we make of the opportunities that we have that set us apart from the others. It is how we make the most of the lot given us that helps us reach fullness of life.

And today, on Father’s day, some of us men will think quite a bit about how we are making the most of the gifts that God has given us. Are we kind and caring fathers, are we fathers that couldn’t care less – or are we fathers who wish we could have or should spend more time with their families. Just like with faith…It is what we make of the opportunities that we have that set us apart from others. It is how we make the most of the lot given us that helps us reach that sense of fullness of life.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans we are told that ‘We have been justified by our faith’ and that ‘we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’. Wonderful words aren’t they? We have peace with God and we have been given this great gift. It is the gift of being included.

When we call ourselves the CHURCH, we are making a STATEMENT in the eyes of GOD. We are saying out loud that we are caring for the poor and destitute, we are calling for peace in the world, we are demanding justice and equity for those imprisoned. We are drawing the outline of the Kingdom of God.

God is inviting us to sing songs of freedom and salvation for the whole world – we know the words – they are in the BOOK! (this book)

We have the example of Jesus himself in the Gospel according to Matthew. As our Lord was teaching we are told ‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they we harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’. Jesus had compassion – this is not pity – compassion involves sharing and making their sufferings and aspirations his own. Because this task is too big and needs to be continued OUR LORD passes it to the disciples. He entrusts HIS disciples to follow his example and bring LIFE and LOVE to people who have little, through our compassion.

It is here we find God’s peace and understand that we are called by God to be one of his own. WE can see that we are continuing the work of the disciples – Disciples of JESUS who has given us strength and courage to share in the joys and sufferings of others.

I met a friend of mine in the week and we went for a beer. He told me that he had been to see a speaker at a large Pentecostal church in Cardiff…I started to glaze over and think about what was for tea the next day, he must have sensed something and said “he was really rude to them – telling them that it is all about doing rather than thinking – and the fact that they needed to invite him meant that they weren’t busy enough DOING” – instantly this got my attention.

The man in question Bill Wilson of Metro Ministries started a Sunday School, the workers in the field provide a service to the children and even a weekly visit to the families in the poorest areas of New York –I must have yawned again – so my friend said – oh! there are over 22,000 children on the roll. He had my attention.

He then told me a story about a man who had been shot in the head by a drugs dealer, stabbed several times by drugs users and was regularly involved fighting his way out of difficult situations…not much like round here.

This is, of course, a story of extraordinary courage and vision, prayer and hard work. I wondered exactly why he had flown over from America, and was he now the CEO of a rather successful industry? But Bill just says that he drives a bus

I think Bill understands that it’s no good being an expert on pastoral care, theology or Christianity if you don’t practice it – and it is in the ‘doing’ that we learn about faith.

Many of you are involved with work outside church to build community and care for those who are down – and you will know too what peace God gives - even in the face of problems that are impossible to solve. We are encouraged by the fact that we are there – because we care. We care for others because God cares for us (no strings attached)

It is what we make of the opportunities that we have that set us apart from the others. It is how we make the most of the lot given us that helps us reach fullness of life.

Well, I suppose that I should make my statement about my work that bit clearer.

I believe, so I pray.

I pray, so I work.

I work, so I have faith.

I have faith so I believe.

ONE LOVE – ONE HEART, LET’S GIVE THANKS AND PRAISE TO THE LORD AND WE WILL FEEL ALRIGHT - AMEN