Midweek - Thursday Sermon Trinity 7

Are you angry?
Sirach 27:30-28:7 “Anger and wrath, these are abominations!”
Ephesians 4.25-end “Putting away falsehood, let everyone speak the truth with his neighbour, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin.”
Matthew 5.20-24 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgement”.
The readings for today are particularly difficult to judge mainly because we are given a good cross section of “what to do when you are angry”. On the one hand, it is ok, as long as you don’t sin, and on the other hand the mere act of being angry is sin.
I am sure we all get angry, and in the past I have been an angry young man. As I grow old disgracefully, I find that my anger is now more akin to disappointment. You can, after all, only be angry so long, before something else comes along to take its’ place. Indeed, I believe even Our Lord himself was rather angry when the money lenders set up shop in The Temple.
I’m not sure what the right translation of ‘anger’ is, because from the readings I think we have a difficulty. The letter to the Ephesians – translated from the Greek, the anger sounds more like being indignant – caring enough to make a point, for the sake of the community. On the other hand, the Hebrew from Sirach when speaking of anger, sounds more like the uncontrollable rage that is neither productive or positive.
There is, of course a difference when you are angry because the rain is spoiling a good walk, and the anger you feel when you see people being beaten in somewhere like Zimbabwe and feel so helpless all these miles away. I am sure this is a whole study in itself.
It is right to feel angry (or should I say concerned) when something is not right, it is important to speak out about what you feel. It is another matter altogether if you start a schism or division because you just don’t like a person.
I love all these old bits of wisdom from the Bible – they really do need more translation and careful understanding.
The Wisdom of the Book of Sirach is a bit like proverbs, but not a collection of sayings, it is the hand of one author. The Book is not in the usual collection in the Bible, it is also known as Ecclesiasticus (a name given by St. Cyprian because it was read in churches). The 39 articles mentions it in Article 6, saying that the book is ok to read, but not to make any church rules about (basically). The best title for the book is the original one however “The Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Siera” (obviously not THE Jesus).
Looking at this book from thousands of years ago, I can’t help thinking how we shouldn’t get angry – because so little has changed. We are just players in a grand drama – we are dancing the waltz of time.
The teachings are applicable to all conditions of life: to parents and children, to husbands and wives, to the young, to masters, to friends, to the rich, and to the poor. Many of them are rules of courtesy and politeness; and a still greater number contain advice and instruction as to the duties of man toward himself and others, especially the poor, as well as toward society and the state, and most of all toward God. These precepts are arranged in verses, which are grouped according to their outward form. The sections are preceded by eulogies of wisdom which serve as introductions and mark the divisions into which the collection falls.
Wisdom, in Ben Sira's view, is synonymous with the fear of God and sticking to the law. They show a profound knowledge of the human heart, the disillusionment of experience, a sympathy with the poor and the oppressed, and an unconquerable distrust of women.
There are two opposing tendencies war in the author: the faith and the morality of olden times, which are stronger than all argument, and the problems of being modern.
Ben Sira attacks theories which he considers dangerous; for example, that man has no freedom of will, and that God is indifferent to the actions of mankind and does not reward virtue.
The book finishes with a sort of statement that “God knows all” and should be trusted, especially when it all gets too much for us.
I think that Sirach/The Widsom of Ben Sira/Ecclesiasticus shouldn’t be seen as a design for life, but proof of life – down the generations God’s hand has guided his people through the same concerns and worries – we are still his people, and he is still our God.
Thank God for that - AMEN

Sermon - Trinity 7

Today’s gospel reading (Matt 11:16-19,25-30) often reminds me of the problems the Church today faces in making ourselves both relevant and heard. Jesus is speaking to people after he has been questioned by followers of John the Baptist about whether he is the promised Messiah or not, and you can almost sense his exasperation as he talks of people’s dissatisfaction.
And he says, ‘John (the Baptist) came neither eating or drinking, and they say, “he has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners !”’
Over the last week or so the Anglican Communion has once more been divided with some Bishops holding their own meeting in Jerusalem, and refusing to attend the Lambeth Conference. Without commenting either way on the rights and wrongs of the various arguments, I think you have to feel sorry for Archbishop Rowan Williams who must somehow try to hold together 2 groups that are absolutely miles apart, when neither of those groups would even consider any sort of compromise.
Division and discontent are sad realities of human nature. Closer to home, I’m sure we can all think of people who seem to be dissatisfied all the time as if they were constantly under attack – when only some people are satisfied! We all know people who love to talk in negative tones about the signs of the times – prophets of doom – only able to offer a negative view, seemingly unable to properly engage with the discussion.
In Jesus’ time it was just the same. People of course had their own idea of what the Messiah would look like, what he would do, and what his presence would mean for them… Jesus didn’t fit this image because he never could – the images that the people had were selfish – they were for their own benefit.
Some of those who saw Jesus missed totally what his message was about because of selfishness and self interest… it would be great to say that we never fall into that trap but I’m pretty sure that most of us do at times! And the only way to try and avoid that is to try and remain focused on Jesus.
He didn’t come to meet our expectations, he didn’t come to get rid of all the nasty people in the world, he didn’t come to enforce some sort of rule on people – he came filled with love and compassion to offer a gift that could never be bought – a gift even more precious than earthly life itself…
Today we get caught up very often trying to be the people others expect, or trying to do the things that we think we’re supposed to do. As a Church we often convince ourselves that we have to preserve a tradition - that we have to maintain everything as it was many years ago. As a Church what we are NOT to preserve any particular tradition to please ourselves - but further the ministry of Jesus, in other words making known in words and actions his message, a message that is as relevant today as it has ever been.
Last weeks service reminded me that world turns and people change, and the church should be sensitive to the fact that it too must change to survive. However poetic and beautiful the language of the 1662 Book of Common prayer, I know that if we used it each and every week, with the priest being distant from the people, and the words being repeated like the words of a song in an historic language, the church would stop speaking to the people.
It is worth mentioning here that it is not only historic liturgy that this can happen with. Services which would be considered modern can become self-centred and self-righteous – not really looking for mission but maintenance.
And this thought has meaning for us as individuals as well, because faith is personal but it should also be proclaimed together publicly in worship, but if it is not making a real difference to our lives, then just like so many people who met Jesus, we are missing the point.
As Jesus goes on to explain in this gospel message, he came to bring peace to those whose burden was heavy, to all those who are weary, and there are probably times when that includes every one of us.
It is said that when the British and French were fighting in Canada in the 1750s, Admiral Phipps, the commander of the British fleet, was told to anchor outside Quebec. He was given orders to wait for the British land forces to arrive, then support them when they attacked the city. Phipps' navy arrived early.
As he waited, Phipps, who was opposed to any shows of Catholicism, became annoyed by the statues of the saints that adorned the towers of a nearby cathedral, so he commanded his men to shoot at them with the ships' cannons. No one knows how many rounds were fired or how many statues were knocked out, but when the land forces arrived and the signal was given to attack, the admiral was of no help. He had used up all his ammunition shooting at the "saints."
Today, some people in the church still ‘stamp their feet’ metaphorically speaking – firing remarks and making gestures that will benefit nobody but themselves. Taking their ball and going home.
As a church we will certainly never satisfy everyone (and I don’t think we should bother trying)– people expect different things of us as Christians and as Churches, just as they expected different things of Jesus. It is not for us to act like they expect us to. We should remember that just because The Lambeth Conference will be a bloodbath of selfishness, we shouldn’t, mustn’t copy them. We should only focus on him and try to be like him in all of our dealings with others.
Sadly, Jesus’ exasperation, expressed so well in this reading, must have been compounded so many times through the history of Christianity… We must surely not make it worse today…
If you are exasperated by the church, then this Sunday is the Sunday for you, it is when the Gospels remind us that Our Lord was exasperated too.
And to this end we can do no better than to just listen to the commands of Jesus, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your soul and your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself’, whoever that neighbour is and whatever that neighbour may think of you, and then of course ‘Go out into the world making disciples of all nations’, remembering always that Jesus is with us. He is with us here, He is with us when we wake up, when we go to sleep, he is with us every moment of every day. AMEN