Bible Sunday Year A – Nehemiah 8:1-4a; 8-12 & Matt 24:30-35 Many of us have Bibles, that carry stories. When we open them up, we may find underlined verses, notes in the margins, old prayer cards, funeral service sheets or reminders of seasons of both joy and of sorrow. The pages remind us that God has been faithful before. That matters, because all of us walk through seasons when we need to be reminded of that truth. Some of us may have arrived at church today full of hope and joy. Others may be carrying disappointment. Some may have seemingly unanswered prayers that weigh heavily on your heart. Others may be worried about the future. Some may not be sure what they believe, or even why they believe it. It strikes me that the people we find in Nehemiah chapter 8 were not so different. They were a people who needed to hear from God. The story begins with a people group who have been through a great deal. They have known exile, loss and disappointment. They have returned to Jerusalem, and the city walls have by this time been rebuilt. But rebuilding walls, though a difficult task, is far easier than rebuilding hearts. The people need more than physical security. They need to hear the voice of God. So they gather together and ask Ezra to bring out the book of the law. Notice that nobody has to persuade them. Nobody has to manufacture enthusiasm. They are hungry to hear God speak once more. Ezra reads the scriptures aloud. The people listen carefully. The Levites help them understand what is being read. And the people respond. Their example, gives us a simple but helpful pattern for engaging with the Bible: they listened, they understood, they responded. So, when was the last time you came to scripture genuinely expecting God to speak and meet with you? What if we opened our bible and simply prayed, ‘God, I want to hear from you.’? In our Gospel reading, Jesus makes a remarkable claim. ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.’ Those words sit right at the heart of Bible Sunday. In days of destruction and disruption, as concern weighs in even in the end of times, Jesus’ words remain. An anchor of hope for the soul, firm and secure. In Matthew 24, Jesus speaks in a setting of uncertainty, upheaval and change. the disciples are anxious about the future. Jesus does not promise them an easy of predictable path. Instead, he points them towards something utterly dependable … his word. Everything around us changes. Empires rise and fall. Cultures change. languages change. technology changes. Our own lives change. but the words of Christ remain. Faithful from generation to generation. The things surrounding us may be changing, but the word on which we build our lives does not. The same truth is illustrated beautifully in Nehemiah. Jerusalem has been rebuilt, but the people need more than walls. They need Gods voice. And when they hear Gods word, something happens. Gods word brings life, strength and joy. As Ezra reads, the people are deeply moved. They begin to weep as they recognise God’s holiness and their own need of him. But the story does not end in tears. Nehemiah tells them: ‘Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’ (verse 10) God’s word does not simply expose them. It restores them. Hearing the scripture leads them not into despair, but into renewed joy, hope and strength. What happened in Nehemiah still happens today. When people encounter God’s word, lives are changed. That is why the Bible matters. It is not merely a historical document or a collection of ancient writings. Through these words, God continues to reveal himself, draw people to him and shape his people. Across the world, Christians know the reality of Jesus’ promise that his word will never pass away. The bible continues to be read, translated, shared and treasured. People continue to encounter Jesus through its pages. And on Bible Sunday, it is right to give thanks for the Bible. But Bible Sunday is not simply about celebrating the Bibles survival. It is also about asking what place Gods word has in our own lives. The people in Nehemiah listened, understood and responded. The Bible society across England and Wales is focusing on the theme of Bible confidence. The pattern we find in Nehemiah of Listening, understanding and responding, can help us think about bible confidence with our heads, our hearts and our hands. Firstly, our head confidence. This is when we grow in our understanding of scripture. We learn its story. We ask questions. We allow others to help us understand. Bible confidence does not mean having every answer. It means becoming increasingly confident in exploring the bible and discovering what God is saying through it. Understanding the context of the stories that we read and the narrative from Genesis through to Revelation. Secondly, heart confidence. The bible is not simply information to master. Through scripture, we encounter the character, promises and purposes of God. We can ask, ‘What is God showing me about Godself?’ and ‘What is God shaping in me?’ I wonder, do we expect God to shape our hearts as we read his word? Thirdly, hand confidence. The bible invites a response. What needs to change? whom might we need to forgive? Where is God calling us to act with courage, generosity or compassion? Who needs our encouragement? What would it look like to put what we have heard into practice? A bible confidence that informs our heads, transforms our hearts and moves our hands. So as I conclude, a couple of questions to ponder What place does God’s word actually have in my life? Am I making space to hear Gods word? Am I allowing it to shape my heart, my thinking, my priorities? Am I putting what I read into practice? The people in Nehemiah gathered around scripture. They listened, they understood, they responded and they found joy. On Thursday, in my Morning prayer, I was encouraged to focus on the life of Eugene Peterson, who amongst other things, was the writer of ‘The Message’ bible. This paraphrase, took the great story of the bible and made it accessible to ordinary people in contemporary language. ‘Stories invite us into a world larger than ourselves,’ Eugene Peterson said in one interview, ‘and the bible is our greatest story. If we just live within ourselves, or if our needs are determined by our own needs, our wants and our desires, it’s a very small world.’ So, on this bible Sunday, let us give thanks for the gift of scripture. Let us recommit ourselves to reading it, listening to it and living it. And let us pray that many more people in this nation and across the world will encounter the life-giving message of Jesus through the Bible. For heaven and earth may pass away, but the words of Christ will never pass away. Amen
Trinity 20 – 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Faith, hope and love As he begins his letters to the Thessalonians, Paul, praises the people in Thessalonica with these words. We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by Faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance prompted by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Elsewhere, Paul writes, to the people in Corinth, ‘And now these three remain: Faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’ Faith, hope and love. This evening I thought we would just spend a couple of moments thinking about these three words, Faith, hope, love, as examples of our how we live out our Christian faith, vital ingredients on our journey of faith. So let us begin with faith. At every service, we affirm our believe, our faith in God, and in a nutshell, we affirm that we believe in God the Father, source of all being and life, the one for whom we exist, in God the Son who took our human nature, died for us and rose again, and in God the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God and makes Christ known in the world. This is our faith, we believe and trust in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But it may come as a bit of a surprise, when we hear the Christian faith summarised like this, there is little emphasis on rules and regulations, conditions of membership, do this, do that, do the other, don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t do the other. After all, there is a lot in the bible about rules and regulations, the first 5 books of the Old Testament are referred to as the law, the law is a key player in the bible and yet even in the baptism service there is no signing allegiance to it. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said he came to fulfil the law and the prophets, Jesus makes it clear that we are to live by the law, but it is not so much out of a sense of duty or religiosity that we keep the law, we keep the law because we have been transformed through becoming aware of God’s amazing love for us. We keep the law, because of our faith, keeping the law is the outworking of our faith. In our bible reading today, Paul writes ‘We continually remember before our God and father, your work produced by faith …’ In Hebrews we are given the following description of faith, which I think many of us might be able to relate to ‘Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see.’ There is certainty in this statement, but there is also that element of uncertainty. Faith is about accepting, that we don’t always have all the answers, after all, God is the creator of the whole universe and everything in it, for us to understand everything about God, would be to put us on a parallel with God, and I for one, certainly wouldn’t want that level of responsibility. And so we live by faith – being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see. And so what about Hope, what is it that we hope for. To quote from Paul – ‘…. And your endurance prompted by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Our hope is in Jesus Christ, who as we will say as we affirm our faith, took on our human nature, died for us and rose again. Sometimes when we use the word ‘hope’, we mean that we would simply like for something to happen, I hope my football team will win next week …. for example. What we are really saying is that it would be good if happened, but at the end of the day it’s not that important. At other times our ‘hoping’ something will happen is more of a strong desire … we could go on living if it didn’t happen, but life would be much better for us if it did. And at other times, our ‘hope’ is life-critical – or after-life critical in the context of life everlasting. Whilst these would all be appropriate uses for the term hope. The hope that we are talking about in the Christian journey, the hope that we have in Christ, is a noun, and not a verb. As insignificant as that might seem, remembering that hope is a ‘thing’ that is given to us and not a thing that we can muster up or do makes all the difference. The hope that we have in Christ is a provision of God, not from us or anyone else. Our hope is in Jesus Christ, who through his death and resurrection, has cleansed us from our sins, and promises us life everlasting. This is an eternal hope, a hope that endures, even when life in this world is difficult. John 3:16 says: ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ In Jesus, we see the ultimate gift of love, Gods love extended to all humanity and the whole of creation. A love for the whole world, which he created in the very beginning. In Ephesians, Paul writes ‘I pray, that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.’ Gods love for us is immeasurable … and we see that most powerfully through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Love encapsulates the law, when Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is, he summarises the whole law into two commandments. ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul and mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.’ Faith, hope and Love, but the greatest of these is love. As we go from this place tonight, may we do so with faith, hope and love in our hearts and minds, as we seek to live our out Christian faith in our everyday lives. Amen
Trinity 19 Year A – Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14 All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place. These words form the refrain of a song we sometimes sing when we gather together from across the Kings Ridge parishes. One of the key Christian messages has got to be that ‘All are welcome’ A few years ago, someone snapped a picture of a sign at Coventry Cathedral and uploaded it to social media. The image was soon hailed as lovely and brilliant, you may have seen or heard it before, the sign read. We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, widowed, gay, confused, filthy rich, comfortable or dirt poor. We extend a special welcome to wailing babies and excited toddlers. We welcome you whether you can sing like Pavarotti or just growl quietly to yourself. You’re welcome here if you’re ‘just browsing’, just woken up or just got out of prison. We don’t care if you’re more Christian than the Archbishop of Canterbury, or haven’t been to church since Christmas ten years ago. We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome keep-fit mums, football dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters. We welcome you if you’re having problems, are down in the dumps or don’t like ‘organised religion.’ (We’re not that keen on it either!) We offer a welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell or are here because granny is visiting and wanted to come to the Cathedral. We welcome those who are inked, pierced, both or neither. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down their throats as kids or got lost in the city centre and wound up here by mistake. We welcome pilgrims, tourists, seekers, doubters … and you! All are welcome. In our reading from Matthews gospel this morning, we heard a parable that Jesus told about the kingdom of heaven. When the invited guests failed to attend the wedding banquet of the kings son, even on the second time of asking, the king sends out his servants to invite people from the highways and the byways until the banqueting hall is full. The invitation is extended to everyone, the good and the bad … all are welcome. And if the parable had just stopped there, as indeed it does in Lukes gospel, we would be left thinking that’s great … everyone is welcome. But in Matthews gospel there is an unexpected twist in the tail, when the king spots one of the guests, who is not wearing the right clothing, the kings reaction is astonishing, as he throws him out, where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Here the parable becomes quite puzzling, after all the man who attended the wedding feast was invited off the streets, how is he supposed to have the right clothes for such an occasion as this? As a teenager, it might surprise you to know I was quite rebellious. As children we went to church every Sunday with our parents, my dad played the organ, my mum helped with the Sunday school, I, along with my sister, was in the church choir my younger brother managed to dodge that, and every Sunday we wore our Sunday best. A dress, or a skirt which had normally been made by either mum or nana. As a teenager, I decided that I had had enough of wearing dresses, I wanted to wear my skin tight, stone washed jeans to church … I was a lot thinner then 😊. My mum was not at all impressed, but I argued back that, surely God is more interested in what is going on in my heart, than in what I look like on the outside … and to my great surprise I actually won the argument. So, off I went to church, triumphantly wearing my skintight jeans, straight into the vestry, where I got robed up and went out to sing in the choir. Quite frankly, I could have been wearing absolutely anything underneath … clearly nothing changes 😊 Our parable this morning however, might suggest though that my mum was right. If the king in the parable, represents God, then God is very interested in what we are wearing. But perhaps we need to understand a bit more about the culture of the day. A wedding feast in the time of Jesus would have been very different to a modern wedding. And one of those differences was that as you arrived, you were given a robe to wear, a bit like my choir robes as a teenager, or indeed the ones I wear today. It would have covered whatever you were wearing underneath, and made all the guests equal in appearance …. role and status becoming completelty irrelevant. The invitation was open … all are welcome. The feast was an unearned gift, and so was the necessary clothing which was provided for you. For the first Christians, the parallel was baptism. The early church placed robes on those coming out of the waters of baptism. The white robes were an outward sign of the inward grace of being clothed in Christ. Candidates for baptism were washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb as Jesus’ righteousness covered their sins. The wedding banquet in the parable is the judgment at the end of time, the robe expected of the guests was this baptismal robe. The grace is that the guests, both good and bad, did not have to provide the robe. The king wants the man to explain how he is improperly attired after having been offered the garment needed for the feast. He was given the team jersey for the Kingdom of Heaven and had refused to wear it. It wouldn’t fit with the rest of Jesus’ teachings to decide that the point of the story is that we already have our baptismal robes and therefore can afford to be smug. No guest to the wedding banquet should enjoy seeing others who were invited failing to join the feast. The cost of the free gift of grace is too high for us to feel self-righteous and to show no concern for others. The gift is to see that even after having his gracious invitation rudely rejected, the king continues to invite others to the banquet. The feast is not reserved for the perfect, but for those willing to be perfected by the generous offer of the host to cover our imperfections with his own robes of righteousness. Far from making us arrogant, this is cause to be humble, knowing that we neither deserved nor earned our invitation. But as the last line, “Many are invited, but few are chosen” hangs in the air, we also see that those who have been robed in Christ are to live into that new life of grace. Having been perfected in Christ does not give us license to continue unchanged. We are to respond to God’s call by conforming our lives ever more closely to Jesus’ life. To enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you just have to receive the gift freely offered and then live into the life to which God has called us. As I close, let me use the words of another hymn as our prayer: Let’s pray Only by grace can we enter only by grace can we stand not by our human endeavour but by the blood of the lamb. Into your presence you call us, you call us to come. Into your presence you draw us, and now by your grace we come, now by your grace we come… Thank you Father, thank you Jesus…. Amen
A firm place to stand It could be said, that in many aspects of life today, we face uncertain and in some cases difficult times. The world is troubled, there are tensions rising between nations, distrust, fear and anxiety, which bubbles up into violence. This last summer has been extremely hot and dry and we have seen wildfires sweep devastatingly across swathes of land, destroying precious ecosystems, and we are being warned that the El Nino will bring storms and rain this autumn, and potentially an even hotter summer next year. So what do we do when life seems difficult? Whilst walking the Camino, one of my hardest days, was a very steep, rocky descent from the highest point, into the town of Molinaseca, the path was treacherous, and at one point, I found myself walking alone for what seemed like ages, I could see no one in front and no one behind. I had started the day, reading a couple of verses from Psalm 40: ‘I waited patiently for the Lord, he turned to me and heart my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.’ As I walked I found myself crying out to the Lord, asking him to give me a sign, that I wasn’t alone, that if I fell, someone would find me! Immediately, from behind I heard the familiar and unmistakable sound of a second set of walking poles, it was as if, though not literally, my feet had been set on a rock, and I had been given a firm place to stand. I had the reassurance I needed, that I was not alone, indeed that I am never alone, God is always there, before, behind, beside, above and inside me. We don’t need to feel overwhelmed by the troubles of the world, we just need to wait patiently on the Lord, knowing that he is with us, he has not abandoned us, he will set our feet on the rock and give us a firm place to stand. May God bless you Reverend Heather
