Sermon from 8th July 2007
Today, one of our Lay Readers, Adrian Parkhouse, bases his sermon on
Luke 8: 22 – 39
1. A derivation on a camp fire game: Do you want a day out? Come on then: on to the boat – {get balance} oh-err; calm water – {relax} very nice; bit of a wind {shiver} brrrrr; {shout} bit of a storm! - Help!; calm again {relax} very nice; off the boat – {stand firm} – that’s better; a naked lunatic!! {panic} – Help!; flying pigs {astonishment} – what?; a grateful man – that’s nice; ungrateful pig-owners! – time to go. [and return through the events].
A day out with Jesus. “One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples and said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake””. And what a trip!
While we are not told it, one senses that the trip was suggested as one of those “time outs” that Jesus made for himself during his ministry – a time for rest, for peace, for prayer. Quite often we read that he had left the disciples and gone out alone to pray. This time he takes the disciples with him. We read that he is leaving a crowd that is so thick about him that his own family can’t get to him (v19) –and immediately after our passage we see that “When Jesus returned to the other side of the lake, the people welcomed him, because they had been waiting for him”: v. 40. An intensity of ministry, so it is no surprise that almost as soon as they are aboard the boat Jesus falls asleep.
2. It is a fearful day out. Literally, as told by Luke, it is a day that seems filled with fear. In one form or other the words “fear” or “afraid” occur 3 times in the passage; but even when they are not used, the dominant emotion is fear. For example Luke does not say (as Matthew does) that the disciples – experienced sailors though many of them were – were scared by the storm – but he doesn’t need to: clearly they were terrified. Nor does he say tell us how they react to the dangerous, naked, demon-possessed madman in Gerasa/Gerasenes, but if in doubt, think how you would have felt and apply it to them: scared witless? And, to me, this atmosphere of fear is magnified by the begging and the pleading on the part of the demons possessing the lunatic: don’t torture us, don’t send us into the Abyss! They too are scared.
A day out with Jesus.
3. A derivation on a camp fire game: Do you want to come on a Parish Weekend? Come on then.... . No, I won’t set out the stages in the journey through last weekend or else you will only see it through my eyes – those who were there, give me one or two word memories that might inform those who could not make it. [record the replies on the board].
It was – for most – a tremendous weekend; a great 2 days out with Jesus.
If I can share a particular thought I came to me early last weekend - from John’s meditation on Saturday morning – set simply around the opening passages of Genesis “and God saw all that He had made and behold it was very good”. And we looked to at Jeremiah’s visit to the potter’s house: “whenever a piece of pottery turned out to be imperfect he would take the clay and make it into something else”. It struck me how I read these passages in the negative: it was good but then came the Fall and it was ruined; we are the imperfect item under judgment from God. But the positive understanding is that God made everything good and wants it like that; and that He is forming us into something perfect.
And it was easy then to hear the teaching on being the people of God from Ephesians in that context: God wanting us to be good and perfect.
4. Not a lot of fear then? A bit of a contrast between our day out and the disciples’?
Actually, I think not. I think they might have felt at home in the woods and lakes of Ashburnham. Why? Two thoughts:
A. In it simplest form, the lesson the disciples were learning on their day out was that Jesus was in charge. He was in charge of what threatens us from the outside; and he was in charge of what threatens from the inside. Some commentators will say that the storm on the lake was the act of the Enemy; I don’t go that far. It is enough to describe what Jesus was doing as being to control both the devil without and the devil within.
Fear – in the negative sense – and we will come to the positive sense - we know to a very powerful thing. It can be good and natural that it is – fear stops us taking unnecessary risks. But often it is powerfully harmful. At its most extreme, irrational phobias, eg of flying or of spiders, can impede the development of a full quality of life; they can amount in themselves to an illness. Gill reminded some of us last week that her Parish Audit recorded “fear of crime” as the number one concern among those living in this Parish – a fear that has practical consequences on how we live and how we feel.
If I was ask and to build up a list of things that scared you, what would be on it? Fear of the future for the children; fear of losing a job; fear of loneliness; fear of illness or of dying; fear of addiction…..I guess the list would go on and on.
““Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.” Note: Jesus rebuked the storm – not the disciples. You may recall my love of JB Phillip’s rendering of these words: “O little-faiths”.
The teaching is that faith and this kind of fear are in opposition. This kind of fear is cast out by the love of God; it is to be dealt with; in the potter’s house, God’s remodelling of you and me involves replacing these fears with faith. Jesus is in control of the devil inside you and without.
And if that what was the disciples learned, I think I saw people at Ashburnham for whom a day out with Jesus was bringing them to precisely the same point.
B. And then there is the other meaning of “fear”: the “fear of God” – the sense of awe and wonder that is the reaction to the holiness and majesty and power of the Almighty. That is the sort of fear displayed both by the demons in the madman, who recognised the power in Jesus and by the swineherds and villagers, who saw enough of it to know they could not cope. “They were overcome with fear”.
And it was, I think, the greater part of the fear of the disciples on the boat when the storm was quelled. Their fear of nature turned to awe and astonishment and amazement; (“they were amazed and afraid/ In fear and amazement”). This could only be re-doubled after the events on the lakeside?
A fear of God like this brings us to worship: hesitant, respectful perhaps – but to worship. And at Ashburnham, reminded as we were by the teaching of what God wanted to do through His church and reminded as we were of the importance of each one of us to one another, we worshipped. And I like to think that, notwithstanding the differences of time and culture, at the end of a long day out with Jesus, the disciples will have felt at home in that worship
5. Do you want a day out?
Luke 8: 22 – 39
1. A derivation on a camp fire game: Do you want a day out? Come on then: on to the boat – {get balance} oh-err; calm water – {relax} very nice; bit of a wind {shiver} brrrrr; {shout} bit of a storm! - Help!; calm again {relax} very nice; off the boat – {stand firm} – that’s better; a naked lunatic!! {panic} – Help!; flying pigs {astonishment} – what?; a grateful man – that’s nice; ungrateful pig-owners! – time to go. [and return through the events].
A day out with Jesus. “One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples and said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake””. And what a trip!
While we are not told it, one senses that the trip was suggested as one of those “time outs” that Jesus made for himself during his ministry – a time for rest, for peace, for prayer. Quite often we read that he had left the disciples and gone out alone to pray. This time he takes the disciples with him. We read that he is leaving a crowd that is so thick about him that his own family can’t get to him (v19) –and immediately after our passage we see that “When Jesus returned to the other side of the lake, the people welcomed him, because they had been waiting for him”: v. 40. An intensity of ministry, so it is no surprise that almost as soon as they are aboard the boat Jesus falls asleep.
2. It is a fearful day out. Literally, as told by Luke, it is a day that seems filled with fear. In one form or other the words “fear” or “afraid” occur 3 times in the passage; but even when they are not used, the dominant emotion is fear. For example Luke does not say (as Matthew does) that the disciples – experienced sailors though many of them were – were scared by the storm – but he doesn’t need to: clearly they were terrified. Nor does he say tell us how they react to the dangerous, naked, demon-possessed madman in Gerasa/Gerasenes, but if in doubt, think how you would have felt and apply it to them: scared witless? And, to me, this atmosphere of fear is magnified by the begging and the pleading on the part of the demons possessing the lunatic: don’t torture us, don’t send us into the Abyss! They too are scared.
A day out with Jesus.
3. A derivation on a camp fire game: Do you want to come on a Parish Weekend? Come on then.... . No, I won’t set out the stages in the journey through last weekend or else you will only see it through my eyes – those who were there, give me one or two word memories that might inform those who could not make it. [record the replies on the board].
It was – for most – a tremendous weekend; a great 2 days out with Jesus.
If I can share a particular thought I came to me early last weekend - from John’s meditation on Saturday morning – set simply around the opening passages of Genesis “and God saw all that He had made and behold it was very good”. And we looked to at Jeremiah’s visit to the potter’s house: “whenever a piece of pottery turned out to be imperfect he would take the clay and make it into something else”. It struck me how I read these passages in the negative: it was good but then came the Fall and it was ruined; we are the imperfect item under judgment from God. But the positive understanding is that God made everything good and wants it like that; and that He is forming us into something perfect.
And it was easy then to hear the teaching on being the people of God from Ephesians in that context: God wanting us to be good and perfect.
4. Not a lot of fear then? A bit of a contrast between our day out and the disciples’?
Actually, I think not. I think they might have felt at home in the woods and lakes of Ashburnham. Why? Two thoughts:
A. In it simplest form, the lesson the disciples were learning on their day out was that Jesus was in charge. He was in charge of what threatens us from the outside; and he was in charge of what threatens from the inside. Some commentators will say that the storm on the lake was the act of the Enemy; I don’t go that far. It is enough to describe what Jesus was doing as being to control both the devil without and the devil within.
Fear – in the negative sense – and we will come to the positive sense - we know to a very powerful thing. It can be good and natural that it is – fear stops us taking unnecessary risks. But often it is powerfully harmful. At its most extreme, irrational phobias, eg of flying or of spiders, can impede the development of a full quality of life; they can amount in themselves to an illness. Gill reminded some of us last week that her Parish Audit recorded “fear of crime” as the number one concern among those living in this Parish – a fear that has practical consequences on how we live and how we feel.
If I was ask and to build up a list of things that scared you, what would be on it? Fear of the future for the children; fear of losing a job; fear of loneliness; fear of illness or of dying; fear of addiction…..I guess the list would go on and on.
““Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.” Note: Jesus rebuked the storm – not the disciples. You may recall my love of JB Phillip’s rendering of these words: “O little-faiths”.
The teaching is that faith and this kind of fear are in opposition. This kind of fear is cast out by the love of God; it is to be dealt with; in the potter’s house, God’s remodelling of you and me involves replacing these fears with faith. Jesus is in control of the devil inside you and without.
And if that what was the disciples learned, I think I saw people at Ashburnham for whom a day out with Jesus was bringing them to precisely the same point.
B. And then there is the other meaning of “fear”: the “fear of God” – the sense of awe and wonder that is the reaction to the holiness and majesty and power of the Almighty. That is the sort of fear displayed both by the demons in the madman, who recognised the power in Jesus and by the swineherds and villagers, who saw enough of it to know they could not cope. “They were overcome with fear”.
And it was, I think, the greater part of the fear of the disciples on the boat when the storm was quelled. Their fear of nature turned to awe and astonishment and amazement; (“they were amazed and afraid/ In fear and amazement”). This could only be re-doubled after the events on the lakeside?
A fear of God like this brings us to worship: hesitant, respectful perhaps – but to worship. And at Ashburnham, reminded as we were by the teaching of what God wanted to do through His church and reminded as we were of the importance of each one of us to one another, we worshipped. And I like to think that, notwithstanding the differences of time and culture, at the end of a long day out with Jesus, the disciples will have felt at home in that worship
5. Do you want a day out?
posted by Parish Administrator at 2:29 am
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