The Power of the Spirit - Individually and Collectively

Our prayer reflection this week plays on the two dimensions of Pentecost - the individual and the collective, bringing together lines from two Pentecost hymns - one intensely individual, the other powerfully collective.

Breathe on me
Breath of God

O Breath of Life
Come sweeping through us

Fill me
With life anew

Revive your church
With life and power

That as you love
So I may love
And do what
You would do

In your tenderness
Remake us

Seven weeks ago today on Easter Sunday we adorned our Cross with flowers – a sign of the hope of resurrection.

On the fiftieth day, the day of Pentecost we share those flowers from the cross – the resurrection hope of Chrsit let loose in all the strength of God deep in our hearts.

At the Federation’s Assembly in Bristol we were given a lovely book of pictures, prayers and htoughts about the Holy Spirit, Let the Flame burn.

Three years ago our then President, Brian Grist challenged us with the following words:

“We are all called as followers of Christ, gifte by the Holy Spirit to serve God in the placees where we live and the work we do.  And so let us commit ourselves to seeking God and being people of good news in our own communities.

Jonathon Hemingway created a flame sculpture for the Federation, representing the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Each of the flames that made up the sculpture then was taken round the churches and in a book people recorded thoughs and prayers.

I thought we would draw from those thoughts and prayers and from those pictures over the next few Sundays as we seek from God the strengthening power of His Holy Spirit deep in our hearts.

The first thoughts and prayers that are shared speak of the Power of the Holy Spirit.

That strength we need from beyond ourselves that comes from the very presence of God.

Reflecting on our celebration of Pentecost today, I was struck by the way that strength, that power of God works at two levels.

That insight is prompted by the flames of that sculpture itself.   The eight individual flames make up one flame that is in the shape of the individual flames.

The thought to share is this.

On Pentecost Sunday our thoughts turn to the Day of Pentecost and what happened in that Upper Room.

It was a scary, frightening time for the followers of Jeus and they found strength in meeting toegehre, drawing on each other for the strength they needed.  They met together.

And it was as they were meeting together that the Power of God came upon them – it was beyond description: the best you could find to describe it was that it was like the sound of a mighty rushing wind, it was like flames of fire touching them all.

Empowered and strengthened, they rush down the stairs on to the streets and that day the church is born.  A wonderful birth day.   3000 are added to their number.

The strength of God’s Spirit comes upon them together.

At our Church Meeting we came together to reflect together on the shape of our church, the direction we should take.  We thought of the things we would love to see flower and flourish here at Highbury – we though t of those resurrection flowers.  And then we reflected on the way for the flowers to grow they need leaves – and we reflected on the things that we need to draw on for the flowers to flourish.

And then we recognised we needed our roots deep in the presence of God.

It is only as we are rooted in the strength of God – the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the fellowship, the coming together of the Holy Spirit that we can hope to see the flowers grow.

Come, breath of life come sweeping through us, revive your church in life and power.

But it is not just together that the Holy Spirit works on his church.  The Holy Spirit is at work individually in each one of us.

There is another account of the outpouring of the Holy  Spirit.  This time it is seen not as wind or fire, but as the breath of God.

The risen Jesus on the day of resurrection breathes on each of his disciples and says, receive the Holy Spirit.

Breathe on me breath of God.

That individual coming of the Holy Spirit makes for each of us a world of difference.

Karen, our Discipleship Ministry Leader shared her Christian story of an upbringing first in a Congregational Church and then a Baptist Church and then joining a church that one evening she fully expected to be very familiar only to find that it was for her something that impacted on the rest of her life.  She had after the service when someone prayed with her what Karen described as a feeling of warmth flowing through her that left her seeing the world so much more vividly.  It was a filling of the Spirit that has continued to shape her life of faith as she has received gifts from the Spirit, not least the gift of encouragement.

The two dimension s of the Spirit’s work working on each one of us individually and working on all of us in the body of the church are captured as we put together these two short songs…

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me

Break me, melt me, mould me, fill me

Spirit of the living  God, fall afresh on me

Spirit of the Living  God, move among us all;

Make us one in heart and mind, make us one in love

Humble, caring, selfless, sharing –

Spirit of the living  God, fill our lives with love!

We then had a few moments of quiet and people were invited to share a time of prayer.

Focus your thoughts on your life of Faith and Prayer.

Think of the way you are called to be a disciple of Christ.  You may think of wonderful blessings you have experienced, of things to give thanks for.  You may be conscious of weaknesses, things that you would love to be different.

In your mind’s eye, picture a flower or maybe more than one.  Flowers need leaves to enable them to flourish and roots to enable them to grow.

Think about what you would like your life of faith and prayer, your life of discipleship, to grow into.  How would you like to see it flower and flourish?

You may find it helpful to write your thoughts down around the flower.

Now think of the things you need to draw on for those flowers to grow - and write your thoughts on the leaves.

 Finally, think of the roots.  And delight in the way the roots that have given us that life of faith and prayer are deep in the love of God the Father, as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus and as we draw on the strength of the Holy Spirit.

We then moved into our prayers of concern led by Janet Partington.

PRAYERS – 08/06/14

Grant us, O Lord:

to know what is worth knowing

to love what is worth loving

to praise what delights you most

to value what is precious in your sight

to hate what is offensive to you.

Do not let us judge by what we see,

nor pass sentence according to what we hear,

nor be influenced by all that dazzles.

Rather, may we judge rightly between things that differ,

and above all, search out and do what pleases You.

Lord Jesus, you showed us a way to live

That goes against all we know

All we have experienced

All our understanding of how the world works

And what it is to be human.

Amidst our struggles, and the struggles of those around us

You showed us another way

A better way

And in spite of the taunts and incomprehension of the world

We find ourselves wanting to follow you

Seeking to live as you lived.

Help us to understand what it means to live foolishly

And when we understand

Give us the courage to act

For this is no easy path.

Teach us how to pray for those who harm others

Through war, street violence, abuse and harsh words.

Teach us to see the humanity in those we would rather avoid

And those we would find it easier to judge

Teach us to care for the unwashed and the unkind

The doubter and the drunk

The distressed and dispossessed

The sick and the successful

The caring and the criminal

The rich and the ridiculous

The weary, the wary and the wise.

For you taught us that we are all your children.

Lord Jesus, may we judge rightly between things that differ,

and above all, search out and do what pleases You.

Amen

Receiving from Jesus - Being Led

On Sunday morning, Karen, our Discipleship ministry leaders shared the third in our series of sermons on receiving from Jesus

Discipleship - Receiving from Jesus - Being Led (Exodus 40: 34-38, Matthew 4:17-22)

Today we conclude our Receiving from Jesus trilogy by considering how we are led by him.

In Mar we considered how we are loved by Jesus. Looking at the parable of the two sons we asked:

·        are like one or both of the sons?

·        and are we are eating at the banquet?

The image shows our places are laid at the table, ready for us to join the feast.

In May we considered how God looks after us at the most fundamental level. The cross is God's "cure" for the self-centred, destructive "condition" of the human heart.  Like Nicodemus we need to realise our dependence on God and rely on him rather than our own wisdom and logic. The image contrasts the two ways of life on either side of the cross.

Today we consider how we are led by Jesus - a key concept for Christians and one that often comes to mind when we think of discipleship. What image should I choose for this third theme?

The Cloud

Last week talking about names, Richard explained that the New Testament doesn't use the term "Christians". Instead it identifies Jesus' followers as followers of "the Way". From the beginning our faith was seen as a journey - a way to follow.

Richard also talked about the origins of the "Congregational" way of being church. During Queen Mary's Roman Catholic reign, many protestants fled abroad. Some scholars translated a new bible from the original Hebrew and Greek texts - the Geneva Bible. This is the frontispiece of the 1560 version:

The Bible and Holy Scriptures Contained in the Old and New Testaments

Translated According to the Hebrew and Greek and conferred with the best translations in divers languages

With most profitable annotations upon all the hard places and other things in great importance as may appear in the Epistle of the Reader

The image shows the Israelites wait for God to part the Red Sea. Moses holds his staff aloft ready. The cloud of the God's presence is across the water waiting to lead them on. Our Old Testament reading (Exodus 40: 34-38) explained how the cloud of God's presence led the Israelites on their journey through the wilderness. When the cloud lifted from the tabernacle, they broke camp and moved on. If it stayed still, so did they.

The Geneva Bible was the popular choice of ordinary people until the end of the English Civil Wars. It included wood-cut pictures, summaries and annotations in the margins which helped people understand the bible for themselves. When King James commissioned his authorised version, he forbade annotations. The King and official Church believed it was their job to interpret Scripture on behalf of the nation. Our early Congregationalist forbears didn't agree. They saw themselves like the Israelites in the picture - led by  God and seeking his guidance together.

The Lake Side

In our New Testament reading (Matt 4: 17-22), Jesus walks along the shore of Lake Galilee and calls Peter, Andrew, James and John. The fishermen leave their boats and nets to follow him.  They have to make a decision. They chose to follow Jesus and life will never be the same again. In the GNB translation Jesus says, "Come with me and I will teach you to catch men." In the NRSV he says, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." The old Sunday School chorus has, "I will make you fishers of men if you follow me." These are familiar words to many who have been brought up in churches.

What will happen?

The four will join a new family business - one that deals with people rather than fish - the business of the Kingdom of God. Its work includes finding the lost, mending the broken, feeding the hungry, joining the separated. The fishermen will embark on a new "career".

How will it happen?

Jesus will make them into skilled practioners in his business. As fishermen, the four already knew how they gained the ability to fish.  James and John weren't born with ability to mend nets. They learnt their skills from their father Zebedee over many years. Jesus was a working man too - a carpenter. He must have earnt about wood, tools, techniques and business skills from his father Joseph.

Although not an expert in fishing training today, I know that engineers, brick-layers, plasterers, auditors, accountants, nurses, doctors, radiographers, chefs and many others have to train over many years. Men and women still have to learn how to be effective practitioners in their own particular field. I think these images from the Modern Apprenticeship web-site that can help us understand how Jesus makes us into discipleships - how he leads us.

Apprenticeships

In April I started a new six month IT contract where the rest of the team are in their twenties. On Thursday we went out for lunch to mark a milestone - two young men were moving to their next placement on the graduate scheme. They have to spend a series of 3 month placements in different parts of the organisation in order to get a good grounding in the business.

Back in fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the early Congregationalists understood about apprenticeship. In those days young men typically served seven year apprenticeships followed by three years as a journeyman - ten years training before they could be Masters of their craft.

Apprenticeship schemes developed over the centuries and by the 1950s - when my Dad, his brothers and the contemporaries entered Portsmouth Dockyard - it was highly structured. Young men who left school at fourteen with no qualifications were able to pursue academic study in addition to learning on the job. Some went on to take HNCs and degrees.

I was sponsored as a student on an Electrical & Electronic University degree. Five of us spent three summers in Marconi Avionics in Rochester, Kent  on placements in the Production, Commercial and Engineers areas of a division making head up displays. I still remember much of what I learnt there.

So this is my favourite "Being Led" image. The Master has taken apprentices to a bench on the factory floor and is showing them how to assemble something. They concentrate on what he is showing them. Some try to do the same themselves. If they go wrong, the Master is there to help. There are many similarities with the way Jesus makes us into his skilled practitioners.

1. Learning from the Master

The gospels record many stories and direct teachings of Jesus. His disciples needed to listen and learn from him.

We need to be people who are prepared to learn. If we think the most important thing is for people to listen to us, we won't make good disciples. We need to read our bibles with teachable-minds, listen for the promptings of conscience and inspirational insights, listen and watch others around us and see what's happening in the world. We need to give prominence to those things which concur with what we know of our Master Jesus.

2. Developing new skills

In Matthew 10 Jesus sent out the twelve disciples saying, "As you go, proclaim the good news. "The kingdom of heaven has come near." Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, case out demons." He gave instructions about receiving payments and knowing how long to stay in one place. They needed to find out for themselves what that meant in practise - how to make the right decisions "on the job".

Similarly, we need to develop the skills we need and we have a Master who helps us along the way. As Jesus disciples, we never stop learning new skills or relying on Jesus to provide more.

Experiencing different "placements"

Just as apprentices experience different placements so Jesus led his disciples around Galilee, Judea and Samaria and crossed into Decapolis and they experienced different situations with him. They saw how Jesus interacted with lepers, prostitutes, Roman centurions and Pharisees. We will look at six of these placements in the autumn and share the first disciples' experiences as we consider Discipleship more.

The places where we spend our time each week - our homes, work places, communities, clubs, friendship groups etc - are our Kingdom of God placements - the situations our Master Jesus places us in for our own sakes and for the sakes of those around us.

Contributing to the Mission

Business expect apprentices to contribute to the business from day one. After sending out the twelve, Jesus sent out seventy-two followers in the same way. The seventy two returned full of joy because of the difference they'd made. They seemed surprised that they could achieve so much in Jesus' name.

In our placements we can make a difference too - salt & light, sometimes in the darkest places.

Growing more courageous

As apprentices experience new situations they build up resilience and grow more courageous, becoming braver to face further new things in the future. It is true of both professional life and Christian life. I can still remember the first time I plucked up courage to open my mouth in a group prayer meeting. It was terrifying. Jesus says, "Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say is given you at the time,"  but it's hard to trust his words.

Two Questions

·         Do we want to follow the Master? - to learn from Jesus, develop new skills, work for him in our different placements, contribute to the Kingdom mission and grow in courage?

·         Or do we want to stay where we are?

Change is unsettling. It challenges us. It takes effort. It's easier to stay where we are. We will be considering Discipleship at the Church Meeting this Thursday. Please try to come. We will seek what Christ would have us do, in the same tradition as the early Congregationalists. There will be two further opportunities to discuss discipleship on 17 and 24 June too. All start at 7.30pm.

There's never room for complacency, but the more we lean on Jesus, the more we know he's there to sustain us through everything.

Even as Discipleship Ministry Leader, I don't know exactly where we're going next. I finished most of this sermon on Thursday night, after the team lunch. One of the graduates is a Christian called Paul. On Friday he bounded into the office and described how he attended a YMCA discussion with others from his church.  He'd been challenged by the stories he heard - so different from his own background - but loved the honesty of the group. Paul had experienced a new placement while I was writing this sermon. We can never be complacent. God continues to surprise us as we follow him.

We don't always know Jesus is leading us to, but we can have courage and confidence along the way because we know our Master loves and looks after us every step on the way. 

One Way Many Way Our Way God's Way

These are rough notes of a sermon preached today as Ruth and Matt and Jessica and their family brought Miles to share with us in the Sacrament of Baptism.

Welcome and Call to Worship

Hymn: 33 Now thank we all our God

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

We share in the baptism of Miles

Reading: Mark 9:33-37

 Finding the Way

A Hy-Spirit song

Offering and Dedication

Following the Way

Acts 9:1-2 and 24:14-16

STL 39 Come let’s travel the way of the Lord

Prayers of Concern

505 Go forth and tell

Words of Blessing

Acts 9:2 – belonged to the Way

Acts 16:17 – proclaiming to you a way of Salvation

18.25 instructed in the Way

19:9 spoke evil of the Way

19.23 concerning the Way

22:4 I persecuted this Way

24:14

24:22 well informed about the Way

1 Corinthians 16;6 and 11 wend him on his way in peac

Names are special – sometimes easy to come by, sometimes difficult to find.

  But once chosen they stick.   Miles is now Miles.  Jessica is Jessica.  Say the name in the family and the person immediately comes to mind.

Names of organisations, names of things you belong to are similar.  If you have ever had to think of a name for something it’s hard – but once looked for it sticks.

When we started our children’s club the children who belonged looked for a name – and they came up with the name Transformers – quite a good name really and it’s stuck … so far, but watch this space.

The youth group – Hy-Tec – Highbury Youth the Eternity Club – a brand of trainer at the time – the name has stuck – and next year sees the twenty-fifth anniversary.

Today at a Baptism service we have all come together here in what we think of as our ‘church’ – it then has a couple of other words added on – Congregational to identify the idea that it’s the people who meet together  who shape the life of the church and Highbury given that name right at the outset back in 1827 by the people who came from Highbury in Islington North London and were belonged to the Highbury college there.  Church goes all the way back to the first century.

The name sticks – it’s known.  We know it.

Christianity, a Christian – the name sticks.

But intriguingly go back into the earliest accounts of the people who followed Jesus and there were a number of names they were referred to as.

Christian was coined as a nickname by people opposed to them – they are Christ – ians – almost sneering – not used much.

Church – body of Christ – disciples – saints –

But very early on one of the most popular names is one I think is worth re-discovering.

Very early on in the story of the church Saul who is incensed at the followers of Jesus and he persecutes them – he hounds them out of Jerusalem and then tries to track them down in Damascus.

Acts 9:1-2

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

The chapter goes on to tell of the encounter Saul has with Christ and the change it brings into his life.

What’s interesting is that through the account of Paul’s travels on a number of occasions the followers of Jesus are described as The Way.

Paul talks of the Way of Salvation

There’s talk of people being instructed in the Way, people speak concerning The Way, those opposed to Jesus and all he stands for speak evil of The Way.  Paul himself recalls the time he persecuted The Way.

It’s an intriguing picture for the church and I think one that’s very powerful.

As we celebrate a Baptism service we are making something of a statement about little Miles as we did for Jessica – we are identifying a Way for them to find.

Growing up they will be presented with all sorts of choices, decisions to take.  They will be presented with all sorts of differing sets of values.

Maybe the task you as Parents take on board today, and the task we have as a church is to help people find the way.

Share things with them … but then in the hope of a commitment they make – and say this is for me – so they come to the point at which they feel this is the way for me to take.

A point of decision – As children growing up, as they come to make up their mind, in decisions they take later on.

Our hope and prayer is that this way is a way to follow.

And the remarkable thing is that at any point they can take up their quest and find that way – unlike that experience of stopping to ask the way and being told I wouldn’t start from here – bit like the Sat nav – wherever you are you can start from here.

It’s a way of wonder, a way of discovery, a way of life.

But what’s it like.

It is as we come towards the end of the story of |Paul that he has been put under arrest – and goes through a series of hearings that stretch out over a number of years.

In Acts 24 he is brought before Felix , the Governor, who gives Paul an opportunity to speak for himself.  Intriguingly we learn that Felix was rather well informed about the Way.

He gives a defence of all that he stands for, of the decisions he has taken, of the Way he has followed.

Indeed he says as much

Acts 24: 14-16

¹⁴But this I admit to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our ancestors, believing everything laid down according to the law or written in the prophets. ¹⁵I have a hope in God—a hope that they themselves also accept—that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. ¹⁶Therefore I do my best always to have a clear conscience towards God and all people. 

¹⁴But this I admit to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our ancestors,

The spiritual dimension to life – the value of worship – it is good to worship – to

 believing everything laid down according to the law or written in the prophets.

A faith that is informed by the Word of God in the Scriptures as we enter into the conversations that are going on among all those writers of the Scriptures from so long ago, touched as we are by the very Spirit that was at work with them.

 ¹⁵I have a hope in God—a hope that they themselves also accept—that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

A hope that looks to resurrection – life not bounded by death – but life which has as part of its experience resurrection

Value of a world view

 ¹⁶Therefore I do my best always to have a clear conscience towards God and all people. 

Love for God and love for others.

The Way is centred around worship

And finds its focus in Faith, Hope and Love

It is not just that Jesus maps out the way for us to follow.

He’s there with us every step of the way – there to bring us back if we go off – a bit like the Satnav wherever we are pointing us in the direction.

We need to venture on to the journey – and find the difference it makes.

I think there’s something exciting on offer here …

The Way

A Way to find

A Way to take

A Way to follow

A Way of wonder

A Way of discovery

A Way of life

A way?

The Way?

One way?

Many ways?

Our way?

God’s Way

Being Looked After - Healing and Wholeness

I’ve kept on seeing it this week!

That bronze pole with a serpent on it became a sign of healing and a sign of life for the wandering people of God in the wilderness – ‘whenever a sermon bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.’

There it is in the middle of a blue cross on the side of the First Western Ambulances – the bronze pole with a serpent on it – still a sign of health and healing.

And linked with the NHS, of health and healing from the cradle to the grave.

That sign of health and healing is more than anything a sign of life and life in all its fullness.

For John it introduces one of the most wonderful verses of the Bible – as it makes John think of the way the crucified Christ is raised up on a cross and that death and resurrection of Christ is what for John and for us brings life and life in all its fullness.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

There is, it seems to me a wonderful cross over between the health service and the wholeness and healing that is at the heart of our faith.

If the NHS is about us being looked after from the cradle to the grave, then how much more is our faith and the love of God in Christ about being looked after from the cradle to the grave … and beyond.

IN the story of the woman with the issue of blood there is a reference that’s easy to skip over to physicians – ‘though she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her.’

Tradition has it that the one putting this story together in this gospel is none other than that travelling companion of Paul who was also responsible for writing the Book of Acts.

It is as Paul crosses over to Macedonia that the narrative changes to the first person plural and off and on for the remainder of Acts the narrative slips back into the first person plural.

It is as if the writer, Luke, is travelling with Paul and noting down the events that happened.

As the story reaches its climax it’s apparent that Luke is with Paul during his imprisonment.  Maybe, speculates one of the commentators, he took the opportunity those two years of arrest in Caesarea gave him to explore Judea and Samaria, maybe up into Galilee and meet with the eye-witnesses that he tells us at the outset of Luke’s gospel he draws on in telling the story of Jesus.

Joining with Paul on that hazardous final journey towards Paul’s imprisonment in Rome it looks very much as if Luke remains with Paul helping him in the course of that imprisonment.

Four of Paul’s letters appear to have been written from prison.  Colossians is one of them.  As Paul gets to the end of the letter he speaks of some of those who are close to him … and among them he mentions ‘Luke’

14Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you

You get the feeling that Paul honours and values the company of Luke not just as a friend, not just as a supporter, not just as one who is much loved but as a beloved physician.

Physicians then were honoured as we honour physicians now.   In amongst Jewish writings that come after the end of what we have as our old testament is a collection of wisdom literature that dates from the couple of hundred years before the time of Christ and gives a good insight into the Jewish world just before the time of Christ.  It is the wisdom of someone called Jesus ben Sirach and his book is included in Orthodox and Roman Catholic bibles, but in our bibles it is included in the apocrypha.

Known as Sirach or Ecclesiasticus it has a wonderful passage ‘concerning Physicans and health’.

As we explore a little further what it means at the heart of our faith to recognise that we are ‘looked after’ – I think it’s good to put side by side our faith and those who are skilled as physicians.

Honour physicians for their services,

   for the Lord created them;

2 for their gift of healing comes from the Most High,

   and they are rewarded by the king.

3 The skill of physicians makes them distinguished,

   and in the presence of the great they are admired.

4 The Lord created medicines out of the earth,

   and the sensible will not despise them.

5 Was not water made sweet with a tree

   in order that its power might be known?

6 And he gave skill to human beings

   that he might be glorified in his marvellous works.

7 By them the physician heals and takes away pain;

8   the pharmacist makes a mixture from them.

God’s works will never be finished;

   and from him health spreads over all the earth.

I think there’s a wonderful celebration of medicine as itself the gift of God to us – the wonders of medicine in the modern world and the care – for me there is something special about seeing that age old symbol of life from Numbers still used as a sign of health and healing today.

4 The Lord created medicines out of the earth,

   and the sensible will not despise them.

7 By them the physician heals and takes away pain;

8   the pharmacist makes a mixture from them.

God’s works will never be finished;

   and from him health spreads over all the earth.

One of the things that has happened for us is that the skill of those physicians the remarkable medicines those pharmaceutical companies produce has the danger of separating out what the physicians do from what God does.

We see them as two separate things.

And prompted by that story of the woman with the issue of blood we can easily find ourselves turning to God for hhis healing touch only when the phyicians have failed.

The wisdom of that ancient writer Jesus ben Sirach goes on to suggest that prayer to God and the skill of medicine are rather two sides of the same coin.  That we should engage in both as that releases something of the strengthening, the peace of God into our lives – for we are looked after by God.

⁹ My child, when you are ill, do not delay,
   but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you. 
¹⁰ Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly,
   and cleanse your heart from all sin. 
¹¹ Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour,
   and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford. 
¹² Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him;
   do not let him leave you, for you need him. 
¹³ There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians, 
¹⁴   for they too pray to the Lord
that he will grant them success in diagnosis
   and in healing, for the sake of preserving life. 
¹⁵ He who sins against his Maker
   will be defiant towards the physician. 

See health and wholeness as two sides of the same coin and that will lead to greater honour towards God and towards the physician.

But what about the situation when there is no cure.

At that point too what is at the heart of our faith comes into its own – we are being looked after – prayer is one of those things that releases that sense of God’s love encircling, upholding and strengthening us and drawing us towards that wholeness he alone can give.  IT may be a strength we can draw on from beyond ourselves that will see us through the darkness we are all too conscious of.

Maybe one thing to do is to think of that story of the woman with the issue of blood.

Picture yourself in the story - caught in the crowds, desperate for help..  No ne to help.

Not daring to think that any help is possible from Christ … and yet wondering, hoping, hoping against hope.

The woman cannot face him … and creeps up behind him.  Conversation is not possible and so she reaches out … she cannot bring herself to touch him for fear she might catch his attention.   To engage with him is the last thing she wants.

She touches the fringe of his garments, the hem of his robe.

Something happens.

How good it is to reach out, however tentatively, however hesitantly, even at such a distance.

It makes a difference to Jesus.

He stops.

He asks, Who touched me?

The crowds are pressing in.  It is Peter who sums it up – Master, the crowds surround you and press in on you.

But Jesus is sure, Someone touched me; for I noticed that power had gone out from me.

It is at that moment that the woman realises she cannot remain hidden.

It is a remarkable thought that as we approach Christ, even if is so hesitantly, something comes from his presence deep into our hearts – deep down to us.  He calls it power.  A strength.  Something beyond definition.

The woman comes trembling,  and then she tells her story to Jesus.

Approach Jesus from behind – it is a wonderful image to have in your mind.  And then Jesus turns and looks you in the eye.  And there is a love that streams from him.

It had felt as if no one could look after you.

Now there comes that overwhelming feeling, Jesus is looking after you.

Then Jesus says something remarkable.

Daughter,

Just pause there a moment.

This woman has an illness that her society not only cannot help, but doesn’t understand.  They keep afar from her.

Maybe that’s how we feel.  That people don’t understand us.  That society means we are squeezed out.

But Jesus looks at us and says, daughter.

That’s a wonderfully special moment – a measure of how close his love is how much he looks after her, how much he looks after each one of us.

Your faith has made you well – the word is ‘saved’

I could imagine the woman inwardly snorting with decision.  My faith!  But she hadn’t much faith at all.  She couldn’t bring herself to approach Jesus – she had crept up at a distance.  She h ad felt the outsider.  Her faith.

No, her faith – even that faith – had been the saving of her.   Go and keep on going in peace.  In the peace that comes from God, the peace that leads to God, the peace that the world cannot give.

The word used at the end isn’t the word ‘cure’.  It’s much deeper, much richer.

When there is no cure – yet, there is a wholeness and a peace that can come.

Go in peace and keep on going

Being Looked After - Peter and Jesus

St Luke’s has one.  St Peter’s Leckhampton has one … and this year we’ve had one.   And it’s still up.  But we have had May Day and this weekend is a bank holiday weekend and surely it should have come down by now.

Experience Easter with a church near you.

Easter was a full fortnight ago – we’ve moved on now.

Or was it?

Easter goes on – the resurrection appearances of Jesus go on for five and a half weeks in the accounts of that first Easter long ago.  We are still very much in the middle of that Easter period … though how long the banner remains we have yet to see!

Interesting slogan on the banner and interesting invitation too.

It doesn’t say come and celebrate Easter.

It says experience Easter.

It doesn’t say Experience Easter at a church near you.

It says experience Easter with a church near you.

Easter isn’t just an event we celebrate that happened long ago.

It is something to experience in the here and now.

In a very special way it ties in with what Karen has now invited us to move on to think about.

As Karen has embarked on her work as our Discipleship Ministry leader she has had a particular focus.  It’s one we need to come back to and keep very much in our minds.

It’s very easy to think that discipleship is all about what we must do.  But Karen felt very strongly that she was moved to begin in a very different place.

Discipleship is not about obligation … it begins with the recognition that we receive so much from God – Receiving from God is the bid idea that Karen invites us to reflect on.  The immensity of all that it is that we receive from God – the glory of his creation – the depths of his love.

The first of Karen’s themes focused on the Prodigal Son story – and reminded us of just how prodigal, incredibly extravagant God is with his love for us no matter where we stand – whether we are with the elder brother in our religious commitment, or with the younger brother in his waywardness – God’s love is there for us – being loved is with it is all about.

And now last week Karen reminded us of that care the NHS give us from the cradle to the grave and suggested that no matter how high up we may be or however we may be God’s love is there for us – which side of the cross are we on?  Was Karen’s question …

That sense of being looked after is right at the heart of what it means to be Christian, what it means to be a disciple.

Peter’s story is another of those stories that goes to the heart of what our fiath is all about.

Peter the fisherman is one who stands on his own two feet, has his own business, is set up in the world … when Jesus comes along and Peter is swept up into following Jesus … but what happens so soon after Peter is called by Jesus is that someone is very ill in his home: it is his mother in law – sick with a fever.

Jesus is there not just as the leader but to look after Peter too – and Peter knows what it is from the beginning to be looked after by Jesus as Jesus joins him and his family in his home and heals his mother in law.

You get the feeling that the disciples sense they are looked after by Jesus – they start afresh – they are dependent on him, the logic of the world they live in is turned upside down by the Spirit mystery of Christ and they find themselves learning from Jesus.

As they sit at his feet they are drawn to a different way of bulding society – not on the values of the world, but according to the rule of God in their lives.

Jesus offers them life, light, and covers the cost of their lives.

He has all sorts of ways of describing his relationship with them – one of the loveliest is the image of the Good Shepherd.

I am the Good.  The  Good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd.  I know my own and my own know me.

The shepherd imagery is one of those wonderful images that conjures up that sense of being looked after.

It works at so many levels – the beauty of the 23^rd psalm in so many settings

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

The tranquillity of the peace God alone can give

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil:

for thou art with me;

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

The courage of his presence in the darkest of paths.

Thou preparest a table before me

in the presence of mine enemies:

thou anointest my head with oil;

my cup runneth over.

The delight in his presence come what may

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

That sense of peace and assurance that God alone can give.

The wonderful imagery is extended in Ezekiel 34 as the way |God loves reaches out to those who have gone astray – as he will seek the lost, bring back the strayed,

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. ¹⁶I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

At our Ministry Leaders day we were challenged to think of the kind of leadership patterns you can see in Jesus – this was one of them – and we reflected on the different kind of sheep.  Were they woolly sheep you go aah to in a Cotswold field?  Or were they the scrawny sheep of the Forest of Dean, or the South Wales Valleys that I grew up with scavenging on the mountain side down into the towns in the dustbins …

We were thinking of Bethlehem and I recall my excitement at the sight of sheep and a shepherd – but they were outside the wall, separated from their people.   Scrawny, scavenging a living … and people devastated by all that is happening to them.

Imagery of the shepherd is not just an ‘aah’ moment – there is a strength, a protection, a challenge to justice as well.

And through the whole image a sense of ‘being looked after’.

Peter’s the kind of person you might think would not need that kind of sense of being looked after.  An independently minded person he could speak out on behalf of the others and speak his mind.

And yet, and yet … it wsa Peter who was the one who was overwhelmed when he found himself denying Jesus not once but three times.

There’s something very special about what happens to Peter as he is one of those first to experience Easter.  He is there at the empty tomb.  He is there in the upper room.  And now he is there on the shore.

Three times he has denied Jesus and three times Jesus gives him the opportunity to reaffirm his love for Jesus – Do you love me?

There is a wonderful sense as I read this story that Peter is being looked after by Jesus.

But there is a recognition that Jesus has in offering him that help.  He gives Peter something to do … and the thing he gives Peter to do is exactly what Jesus is offering Jesus.

The remarkable thing that Jesus offers is a sense not just of being loved but of being looked after by Jesus … and what Jesus invites Peter to do is to look after others.

Jesus is the shepherd to Peter in all his love … and he invites Peter in turn to shepherd.

Maybe this is a feature of that wonderful sense we have of receiving from Jesus and of being looked after – it is in looking after others that we find ourselves.

Maybe there are all sorts of circumstances that mean we are in need of being looked after by Jesus at this very moment.

Times of sadness, ill health, anxiety, troubles at all sorts of times … there is a wonderful sense of promise – the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters, he restoreth my soul.

But even in the midst of that sense of being looked after it is helpful to us as well to look after others.   We deepen our faith, our sense of God’s love as we share that love with others.

Looked after

In the second of a series of sermons exploring discipleship and what it means to receive from Jesus, Karen, our Ministry Leader for Discipleship, invited us to consider how we are looked after by God

Before Easter we considered how we are loved by God - the first part of our discipleship series on what we receive from Jesus . In the Parable of the Two Sons (Luke 15 v11-32), the wayward younger son and morally superior elder son were both lost in different  ways and needed to know the Father's love. Now we move on to consider how God looks after our deepest need.

1. PARALLELS WITH THE NHS

The NHS has been called "the closest thing the British have to a national religion".  Our hospitals were nationalised in 1948 in line with Beveridge’s  report which argued that universal health care access should provide us all with social security ‘from the cradle to the grave’. If we fell ill, the NHS would look after us. My Gran told tales from the days before the NHS. Her family agonised over whether to call a doctor when her father fell ill because of the cost. Last summer my husband  received amazing emergency eye surgery at Inverness hospital while we were on holiday.  I believe in the NHS. I'd hate to imagine life without it. But I also know it has limitations. We can't always see our favourite GPs, we wait for tests, test results and appointments and some drugs are too expensive to prescribe. The NHS doesn't look after all our needs.

It's interesting to consider the parallels between our old testament (Numbers 21 v4-9) and new testament (John 3 v1-21) readings and medical care. The Israelites grumbled on their journey from Egypt to the promised land and were bitten by poisonous snakes. God told Moses to lift a bronze snake on a pole and those who looked on it were healed. The medical profession still uses the snake as a symbol today, for example on Western Region ambulances. When Jesus meets the respected Pharisee Nicodemus, he uses this old testament story to challenge him about his condition. Nicodemus isn't bitten by a snake but there are key parallels. 

2. NICODEMUS "DIAGNOSES" JESUS

What do we know about Nicodemus? He's a free, Jewish male which immediatley gives him a certain status in his society. He's also a Pharisee but not just a Pharisee - Nicodemus is a top Pharisee. He's a Jewish leader.  A man at the top of his field. Respected in his society, much as we respect NHS consultants today. There was a hierarchy and Nicodemus was at the top. People were interested in his opinions. He advised others. He shared his wisdom.  When we go to an NHS Consultant  they ask us questions and then give their diagnosis. We don't start discussing their problems. There's a convention associated with the status differential. That's how it was with Nicodemus.

So when Jesus appears in Galilee and Judea causing a stir with his amazing healings and radical stories, it's not surprising that Nicodemus ways him up. He analyses this new phenomenon as he analyses everything else. When he reaches his conclusion, Nicodemus visits Jesus at night to share his insights.

"Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent by God. No one could perform the miracles you are doing unless God were with him." v2

Nicodemus "diagnoses" Jesus as a teacher and a miracle-worker. That's his conclusion. What do you think, with the benefit of two thousand years hindsight? We might want to commend Nicodemus on his wise analysis, especially as some Pharisees thought Jesus worked for Satan. Nicodemus has done well, hasn't he? Jesus doesn't think so. He immediately refutes Nicodemus' labels and starts "diagnosing" Nicodemus instead.

3. JESUS "DIAGNOSES" NICODEMUS

These verses from John 3 can be so familiar that we miss their radical nature. Remember, we don't diagnose NHS consultants. Jesus is breaking the norms of his day.

Jesus says to Nicodemus...

"I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again" v3

Nicodemus,  you may be an established, respected Jewish teacher, but you've got it all wrong. You've got to start again from scratch like a new born baby. You're used to weighing up ideas and situations independently without need to defer to any higher authority but you've got to re-learn what it means to be dependent again - dependent on God just as a new-born baby is dependent on its parents.

Jesus continues ...

"Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again. The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone born of the Spirit." v7-8

Nicodemus, you're an intelligent, respected man but you're relying on your own logic and its severely limited. There is a deeper, more mysterious wisdom that you've missed completely - Spirit-wisdom. God's Spirit is like the wind. You'll never completely understand it and you'll never  control it. Even with our 21st century weather stations and computer modelling, meteorologists can't predict the weather accurately. Nicodemus doesn't understand all the mysteries of God.

"How will you ever believe me when I tell you about the things of heaven? And no one has ever gone up to heaven except the Son of Man who came down from heaven." v12

Nicodemus may be a great teacher and Jewish leader but he know so little compared with Jesus - the Son of Man who has come down from heaven. Nicodemus is used to dispensing his own wisdom to others but now he's got to learn from Jesus instead.

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How can we summarise Jesus "diagnosis" of Nicodemus? What could we write in Nicodemus' notes? Nicodemus has the same perilous condition as ever other human being on the planet. He is self-centred, self-inflating, self-elevating rather than God-elevating. He's like the Israelites in the desert who stopped trusting God and did things their own way. He's like Adam and Eve who took instructions from another  talking snake rather than God, in an attempt to gain God levels of knowledge. It's the human condition - we all suffer from it. Nicodemus needs saving from himself just like all of us.

4. GOD PROVIDES THE "CURE"

God provided a cure for the Israelites in the desert. Moses lifted up the snake and everyone who turned to look at it was saved from death . Jesus says that he will be lifted up on the cross in a similar way to provide a "cure" for the human condition.

"As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God so loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its saviour." v14-17

Famous verses. The heart of the gospel. The good news. God provides the "cure" for self-centred, self-elevating human hearts  because he loves us - Nicodemus and everyone else in the world. Human beings misunderstand their place in the world. Jesus comes down from heaven and saves us from ourselves.

What does Jesus say about the "cure"?

"No one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again." v3

Those who start afresh pass from this world - the part of creation separated from God's ways - to the Kingdom - the part of creation where God's ways holds sway.

"Everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life." v16

God is the source of life - life in all its fullness, abundant love, eternal life. After rebelling against God,  Adam and Eve leave the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life and experience death for the first time. Separated from God, death is at work in us rather than life. Those who turn to the cross pass from death to life.

"The light has come into the world but people love the darkness more than the light ... " v20

Those who turn to the cross pass from darkness to light. We are reminded of this each Christmas when we read John 1.

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Kingdom, life, light - quick words to say  but the cost of our "cure" far out ways any NHS drug.  There was an enormous cost. Our "cure" cost Jesus his life. He dies our death that we may live his life. We are forgiven. We start afresh. We pass from darkness to light. Jesus bears the cost

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The Bible and Christians use different metaphors to try to explain how the cross works - the doctrine of atonement

                From the Temple - Jesus is a sacrifice

                The battlefield - Jesus is the victor conquering death

                The market place - he buys us like one would buy a slave

                Kidnapping - he pays the ransom to set us free

                Courtroom - he serves our sentence

They are each helpful in different ways but also have limitations. Key here is to remember Jesus words to Nicodemus about the wind. I don't believe we will ever fully understand how the cross provides our "cure".  It remains a Spirit mystery. However, the Hebrew word translated "atonement" in English bibles can also be translated more simply as "covered". It's the word used for snow covering the land and for covering the cost of a bill. The key fact for us as we focus on discipleship at Highbury isn't HOW the "cure" works but WHO provides it. God covers us. He "looks after us" our gravest need.

Different members of my family run the Great South Run each year. After the race the runners, spectators and other family members gather for a meal together to celebrate afterwards. One year our son brought two fellow university students and they joined us at Frankie & Benny's. As they looked down the menu and saw the prices their faces changed. They wanted to be part of the celebration but couldn't afford the food. What a relief when the older adults said they'd cover the cost.

That's how we have to accept God's providence.  The NHS is there for when we fall ill but God looks after us in a deeper way, saving us from our underlying problem - the self-centredness of the human heart - if we turn his way.

In one way we pass instantly from one side of the cross to the other when we turn to the cross but in another way it takes the rest of our lives for these to bed into us and melt and mould our hearts.

5. WHICH SIDE OF THE CROSS?

How much are we still trying to maintain our independence and rely on our own logic and wisdom? Please use the diagram on the service sheet to reflect over the coming week. Which side of the cross are you on? God offers us the "cure" at enormous cost but we each need to respond. Some people are reluctant to go to the doctor when we're ill. Are you like that with the cross? Are you accepting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour today?  Love so amazing so divine demands my life, my soul, my all.