Sermon 19th September 2010

Today, Adrian Parkhouse, one of our Lay Readers, preaches based on the passage from Acts 14:8-28

“Paul in Lystra”
1. Have you been following the coverage of the Pope’s State visit. It didn’t get off to a great start did it: but if you looked behind the “Third World” comment of Cardinal Kasper, you find that the Cardinal was emphasising that Britain was, in his view, a “secular and pluralist” country in which there was a “distance from God”, where (he says) Christians suffer discrimination, “above all by an aggressive new atheism”. The Pope himself hinted that he might share this view of our society, when speaking in Glasgow on Thursday: “The evangelisation of culture is all the more important in our times, when a 'dictatorship of relativism' threatens to obscure the unchanging truth about man's nature, his destiny and his ultimate good.” Hold those comments on British society – comments which are more easily made by an outside observer?
2. Next a riddle: God willing, on what obligation, with Biblical significance, am I likely to be engaged at the end of March next year? A clue: this will the third time I have undertaken the obligation; but is the sixth in which I have been involved; and is likely to be my last.
Answer: the 2011 Census in England & Wales (and also – but separately - in Scotland and in NI): Sunday 27 March is Census night for which someone in each of the c.25 million households of this country will be required to complete a series of questions – for themselves and those staying in the house that night. The “biblical significance” was a reference of course to the “proclamation made by Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered”, in Luke 2, the census that brought Joseph to Bethlehem. And I reckon I will have been reflected in 6 censuses and responsible for two so far: and according to a recent statement by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, the 2011 census is likely to be the last: scrapped as being expensive and inaccurate.
There are arguments for and against this last view: but even as an amateur observer, I will miss the continual seep of off-the-wall but apparently authoritative statistics which the Census produces. One of the more interesting set of stats from the 2001 Census was the set that arose out of a new (or more properly “revived”) question which asked “What is your religion?”. You may recall that the inclusion of this question caused a degree of opposition – and indeed led to a campaign encouraging people to tick “Other” and then declare themselves as “followers of the Jedi-faith”! But it was a question endorsed by leaders of most of the major faiths: they wanted, amongst other things to dispel the fog of rumour and to establish the true facts about “multi-faith” Britain. And as I say, the statistics which emerged are very interesting. For example, out of 57M people recorded in the 2001 Census, are you surprised that the Jewish community numbers only 276K (barely ½%), that Sikhs are only slightly more numerous (there were more Jedi than either of these religions!); and that even the Muslim community was only 1.5M; that religions other than Christianity amounted to less than 5.5% of the total population?
But most surprising to me, given that those responding had the option not to answer the question at all or of replying by ticking the box “None”, was that 41M of the 57M recorded themselves as “Christian”. This was in 2001. Over 70% of the population at the start of the 21st-century positively opted for describing themselves as “Christian”. 7 out of 10 people you meet in the street are Christians! I find that flabbergasting. But perhaps that is your experience?
Who is right? Do you recognise more the society painted by the statistics from the 2001 Census – a predominantly Christian society; or the picture painted by the early coverage of the Papal visit – of Christians at the margins – driven there not only, you might feel, by reason of aggressive new atheism but also the growth of other beliefs?
3. In a sense your perception is as important as the statistics – either of them right or wrong. But it is important in all that read or feel we leave ourselves open to the influence of the Holy Spirit. It good then, that our reading this morning faces us squarely with an instance of Christians in the minority, facing, in this case, the challenge of another faith. Minority-hood was after all the lot of the first disciples and the Early Church – to be the minority, to spread the seed and pray it grew, to be the yeast through which the kingdom of God would grow. At first they were the minority among people of who were their own people, their own faith – a sect speaking to Jews. I find it amusing that the scene today in Lystra opens with the sight of a seated man, crippled in his feet, lame from birth; “amusing”! “why?” Because, its déjà-vu – this ministry to the Gentiles in Lystra begins with almost a carbon-copy of the event which had marked the start of the initial ministry to the Jews in Jerusalem – turn up Acts 3 and see there the man lame from birth, sitting at the Beautiful Gate to the Temple, healed by Peter passing by. An event which was to lead to questions, explanations and the first arrests.
4. In Lystra things took a different course – there was no time for questions or explanations – the marvel of the miracle caught the crowd’s imagination, was interpreted according to their own understanding, given the spiritual significance which was appropriate given their histories and Paul and Barnabas were hailed as gods! Religious fervour took over. It may seem over-reaction (but then how would you react to such a miracle?) but Lystra took no chances – they had folk stories which led them to fear a visit from Zeus. For Paul and Barnabas of course, the issue was more than an issue of confusion and mistake: to have colluded in the proposed sacrifices, to have accepted the people’s worship of them was akin to idolatry. Whether the tearing of their clothes was the natural Jewish reaction to blasphemy or an effort to demonstrate that they were absolutely 100% only human, we don’t know. But clearly there was a point beyond which, even as a small minority, their conscience, their belief would not go.
5. But within that boundary, when the crowd had settled slightly, it is of interest to listen and hear Paul’s words: he is at the same time firm (in his statement that he is the bearer of good news, of a living God who is to be contrasted with worthless things); and accessible. He looks to find his hearers where they are in the hope he can take them on. He meets these folk at the point of God the creator and the sustainer of the world. This (what the theologians call “common grace”) they can understand: this is exactly the sort of provision which they understand Zeus to provide. Not Zeus says Paul: God the Father. Not in human form either. And he had met the lame man at a point he could understand – his need; and as Peter in Acts 3 talking to the Jews, met them where they had understanding, in the words of scripture; and examples of such practical evangelism, finding common ground from which to build, keep on coming in the adventures of Acts.
6. Oh yes: and then they almost got executed and were thrown out of the city. Being a minority has its risks. So can being a majority or an influential minority: there may be a temptation to abuse the position – like these Jews from Antioch who were not content to have moved Paul out of their region but were determined to keep him on the move.
7. It fell to others in history to cope with the shift whereby Christianity moved from a persecuted minority to the ruling class. We have inherited and must own their efforts – both good and bad. Whatever our view of today’s UK society – Papal or the National Office of Statistics - ultimately we are left to listen to the Holy Spirit in our own place: to deal with extreme positions (9/11, burning Korans) and the everyday (including how to express the love of God to those of other faiths and no faiths). It is difficult stuff: What are the boundaries? What do we accept before “tear our clothes”? How and when do we find the “common ground” from which to begin to explain God’s love?
I have no easy answers – I do not even pretend that the principles to be applied today are easily distilled from the examples of Scripture such as today. I suggest only this: that these issues arise – and as I suspect, where we live, we see society as being somewhere between the extremes of the Papal view and the Census statistics – they arise regularly and will arise more often (even without Press hyperbole); and quite apart from the events of the weekend, the passage gives an opportunity to acknowledge this, to commit to seeking the Holy Spirit’s influence in our hearts and finally to share our experience and seek advice.

Sermon 12th September 2010 RACIAL JUSTICE SUNDAY

Today, our Curate, Gill Tayleur, preaches based on Acts 13.

A man was walking along a beach and stumbled across an old lamp. He picked it up, rubbed it and out popped a genie. The genie said "Thank you for releasing me from the lamp after all these years. I must reward you. I can grant you one wish!”
The man thought about it for a while and said, "I've always wanted to go to Jamaica but I'm scared to fly and I get very seasick. Could you build me a bridge to Jamaica so I can drive over there?"
The genie laughed and said, "That's impossible! It’s four and a half thousand miles! Think of the logistics of that! How would the supports ever reach the bottom of the ocean? Think of how much concrete! How much steel! You're going to have to think of another wish."
The man agreed, and tried to think of a really good wish. Finally, he said, "Well there is one thing I’ve always wanted to know. So, I wish that I could understand women. I want to know how they feel inside and what are they thinking. I want to figure out why they laugh and cry so much, know what they really want when they say 'nothing', and know how to make them truly happy."
The genie paused for a while and said, "How many lanes do you want on that bridge?"

Building bridges; we’re going to come to building bridges in a few minutes.
But first, back to that Bible reading we’ve just heard.
It was the 2nd instalment in the story of Paul’s adventurous journeys to spread the news about Jesus far and wide. Last week Cameron started us off, with Paul and Barnabas starting out from Antioch in Syria – see the map, Paul’s 1st miss journey, over on the right, the east. They sailed to the island of Cyprus, where they confronted a magician who stood against them declaring the truth about Jesus.

In this morning’s reading, we heard they left Cyprus, got in a boat to Perga, and then went inland to Pisidian Antioch, here on map. Obviously, that’s a different Antioch from the one they started off from. Pisidian Antioch was on a plateau about 3600ft above sea level, that’s the height of Snowdon, and to reach it, they had to cross the Taurus Mountains, on poor roads, which were notorious for robbers. Not an easy journey, but to an important city. Pisidian Antioch was a centre of trade, with lots of people coming and going, and an unstable mix of Greeks, Jews, Romans and local people.

Anyway, it was to this city Pisidian Antioch that Paul & Barnabas came; and on the Sabbath they went and joined in the worship at the Jewish synagogue. As we read more of Paul’s missionary journeys, we’ll see that they nearly always went first to the synagogue, as the natural place to start telling people about Jesus. Because at the synagogue were people who already believed in God, and who carefully studied the Scriptures. And Paul & Barnabas were asked to come to the front to speak. Visiting rabbis were often invited like that.

And so Paul preached. I didn’t read out loud the long sermon, there in verses 16 to 41, but Paul started with what they were familiar with, the God of Israel, and the long history of God at work in the Jewish people, leading up to King David. Then he introduced Jesus as David’s descendant, and explained how Jesus was the promised Saviour, the one the prophets had foretold and the one the Jews had been longing for. Paul tells them about Jesus’ death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead. And he tells them (in verse 38) it is through Jesus that sins can be forgiven, and that everyone who believes in Jesus can be set free from sin.

What did the people make of all this? Well many were interested. We read that Paul & Barnabas were invited to return and preach again the next Sabbath. And lots of people followed them out when they left, wanting to talk more. Imagine being so keen to hear more of the message you’ve heard, that you follow the preacher out of the building! And the next week on the Sabbath, half the city turned up to hear “the word of the Lord”, the truth about God and his son Jesus.
So the synagogue was crowded out, and what happened?
The Jewish leaders got jealous that Paul & Barnabas had pulled in so many people to listen. And in their jealousy, they started to argue against what they said, and insulted them.
So Paul & Barnabas spoke out even more boldly! Even more boldly, how brave is that?! And brave is a good description for what they said next:
verse 46 “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you (Jews). But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we will leave you and go to the Gentiles.”

Go to the Gentiles? To the non Jews? Well that was shocking! And outrageous! The Jews were God’s chosen people thank you very much! As Paul had recognised in his first sermon at that synagogue the previous week, God chose the nation of Israel, the Jews, to be his special people. They were his people, and he was their God, in a unique relationship. God had made a covenant, or pact with them long ago, that meant he would show them the best way to live and He would love and bless them, and they were to love, worship and obey him.
And out of this special relationship, God’s plan all along was to reach out to all the other peoples of the world with his love, through the Jewish people, and in particular through Jesus.

But many of the Jews didn’t understand this. All they could see was that they were God’s special chosen people, and everyone else, all the Gentiles, were inferior and to be despised. Jews looked down on Gentiles with utter contempt, and indeed their hard heartedness toward them led to a massive gulf of hatred, suspicion and enmity between Jew and Gentile.

Hatred, suspicion and enmity between peoples, is a pretty topical subject on Racial Justice Sunday.
And it’s a pretty topical subject in a week when a Christian pastor in Florida, Terry Jones, has been calling for an International Koran Burning Day, to coincide with 9/11 yesterday. There has rightly been outrage at the prospect of such an act, and it would certainly fuel hatred, suspicion and enmity.

Racial Justice Sunday has the slogan, “One race, the human race”.
“One race, the human race”.
And this year’s Racial Justice Sunday asks the question, do we build bridges or barriers? Bridges or barriers? Not bridges to Jamaica, but bridges to other members of the one race, the human race.

Within our own church family, look around – literally, look around! (me) – and see that we’re a mix of nationalities, cultures and backgrounds. How strong are the bridges between us?... How honest is the openness between us?... How deep the understanding between us?... How practical our loving care for one another?...
Are there bridges between us? What can we do to strengthen them?...
What will you and I do to strengthen them?... ...

In our community, there are similar questions to ask:
Are there parts of our community and parish that we don’t relate to, where there are barriers of misunderstanding or suspicion, (if not actually hatred or enmity), that we need to break down and build bridges instead?... I think there may well be...

How do we build bridges there? How do we take and share and live the good news of God’s love and forgiveness on offer, to every part of our community? That’s a big question that we’re going to keep coming back to in this series of sermons as we learn from Paul’s missionary adventures.

Paul & Barnabas knew that God’s love and forgiveness was on offer not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles too. And they preached that everyone could receive God’s forgiveness and freedom from sin if they believed in Jesus. And not surprisingly, the Gentiles who heard this message loved it. Their response was immediate and whole hearted.
We read in verse 48, “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the Lord’s message, and became believers.” And the word of the Lord, that is the truth about Jesus, about believing in him and the forgiveness of sins, spread everywhere in that region.

But many of the Jews didn’t like this ‘success’ one little bit. They stirred up trouble for Paul & Barnabas and had them thrown out of the city. So Paul & Barnabas left town, and headed for Iconium. And the believers they left behind in Pisidian Antioch were full of joy and the HS.

So at the end of this episode in Antioch, there were 3 distinct groups of people.
1st there were the people who refused to accept the message Paul & Barnabas brought and pushed them away.
2nd there were joyful and Spirit filled people who had believed the good news about Jesus.
And 3rd, there were Paul & Barnabas themselves, who had escaped persecution and scampered off to the next place to spread the good news.

Who are we like? And who do we want to be like?

Are we like the Jews? They thought they knew what the truth was about God, they had grown up with it. And when they heard the new and troubling message about God and his son Jesus, they turned away and refused to listen. They didn’t want to hear that Jesus was the promised Saviour. They expected a Saviour who would be a military ruler to save them from the Roman Empire. This idea that Jesus’ death on the cross saved them from their sin, and his resurrection saved them from the power of death – that’s not what they wanted to hear. That was a new and disturbing idea. It didn’t fit with what they thought they knew about God, and they didn’t like it. They didn’t want to know.
Are we like that?
We may think we know what the Christian faith is all about. Maybe you’ve come here today thinking that the Christian faith is about loving your neighbour and treating others as you want them to treat you. But here in church you hear there’s more to it than that; that’s not enough. It’s about believing in Jesus, in an active way, recognising your sin, your self centredness, and turning to him for forgiveness, and living with him and his wonderful love at the centre of your life. This is a deeply challenging message – do you hear it?! Or do you block it out? Or slide it to the edge of your mind until it’s forgotten?

Or it may not be the message about faith & forgiveness that you don’t want to hear, you may accept that readily. But when you sense God saying something really challenging or disturbing, about how you need to change, or take a difficult decision, or reach out building bridges to other people, then you just don’t want to hear it, and turn away and refuse to listen. Harden your heart to what God’s saying.

Are we like that? Like the Jews who didn’t want to hear the truth or its challenges?

Or are we like the Gentiles who heard the word of God and accepted it? Who believed the truth about Jesus, his death and resurrection for us? Who recognised the truth about themselves and their need for forgiveness?
They were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit! There is no better place to be, than receptive and obedient to what God is saying. However challenging and unexpected. Bring it on! Are we like that?

And finally, are we like the disciples Paul & Barnabas, willing to trek over mountains to share the good news, the best ever news of God’s love and forgiveness? Are we brave enough to speak and live the truth, knowing that, like in Pisidian Antioch, to some people our life and our message won’t be popular? (But it’s still true!) Do we want to be people who live and share God’s love with anyone and everyone, aware that we’re “one race the human race”? Then let’s listen out for how God wants us to do that, today and as we continue through Paul’s adventures in Acts. And now let’s pray...

Sermon 5th September 2010

Today, we welcome back our Vicar, Cameron Barker, who has been on a 3 month sabbatical. We thank God for bringing him and his family home safely and in good health.

Cameron's sermon is based on the reading from Acts 13: verses 1 to 12.
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Have you heard the one about the priest walking around his parish early one autumn evening? Through the gathering gloom he noticed a rather small boy trying to ring the doorbell on a house over the road. The boy was so short, though, that the doorbell was too high for him to reach.

After watching the boy struggle for a while, the priest went over to him. Placing a kindly hand on the child's shoulder, he reached over and gave the doorbell a solid ring.

Crouching down next to the child, the priest smiled kindly at him and asked, “And now what, young man?”

To which the boy replied, “Now we run!”

The connection between that story and today's sermon may be a bit tenuous – but it is there! Today we set off into the realms of a whole new set of unknown adventures. If the way we've begun is any indication, they will doubtless prove to be far more exciting – and challenging – than the game I know as 'tok tokkie'! This is no game at all, though. It's serious business – probably the most serious business we could ever imagine, or be involved with. Again the start of this series has made that very clear. We're talking about inviting and enabling people to make decisions that impact all of their lives, now and eternally! And let me also say this at the outset: I firmly believe that today marks the start of something new and different, and very exciting, for Parish of Herne Hill.

Don't ask me for details of exactly what shape that will all take. Our latest family experience during my sabbatical of adventures taking unexpected turns would in itself make me hesitate! Exchanging a leisurely trip round Vietnam for emergency medical evacuation to Singapore wasn't on our agenda! But, more importantly, this is a God-inspired adventure that we're embarking on together today. And there is no doubt the Bible teaches that God doesn't often make the way plain in advance. His invitation to us is usually more like, 'OK, let's start from here'. It's then a case of tightening our seatbelts, for whatever lies ahead! And today's passage is another clear example of that classic spiritual pattern at work.

We will look at this story in detail shortly. But first let me set it in context – both in terms of where we're coming at it from, and in the Bible. To start with us, the preaching team discerned back in May that this is where God is leading us next. Very like today's beginning that happened in the context of us praying and listening to God. We considered how we'd begun this year in rather dramatic fashion, after quite a recent history of challenges and difficulties of all sorts. If you missed our post Easter series of reflections on all that, based on the story of Lazarus, you can read them on our blog-site, or ask the Office for printed copies. Here's the headline of where we ended up, though. We emerged with a clear, God-given intent to live out the lessons that we've learned, about being a people of hope and faith even in the hardest of times. Allied to that was, and is, the strong sense of this being a church that God wants to use to help those who're suffering. We understand that to include not 'just' people in here, but very much those out there too.

What we re-learned above all in our series of reflections is that without Jesus there is no hope at all! It's the death and resurrection of Jesus alone that makes all the difference. By dying for us, in our place, Jesus has made it possible for us to be forgiven and become God's friends. By his resurrection he then broke the power of death, and has given us an eternal hope of life with God. This is the good news that has always been at the heart of the gospel of Jesus. It's what has given Christians sure hope, in any and all circumstances, for over 2 000 years. And that's precisely what we see is central to this part of the Bible this new series comes from. The book of Acts tells the story of how the message of Jesus, this good news of hope, spread like wildfire. Just as Jesus had promised, it started in Jerusalem, went into the rest of Israel, then into neighbouring Samaria, and on throughout the known world.

We're deliberately picking up that story at Stage 3 today. At the risk of confusing things, the whole of Acts is itself a Part 2! Luke had already written a gospel about Jesus. Here he tells the story of how everyone found out about what Jesus taught and did. And this is the point in that story where the gospel heads out into the wider world, driven by a dynamic new leader. Of course it's vital to know that Peter and the other leaders continued their God-given work. The early church kept on flourishing in Jerusalem, and among the Jewish people – despite plenty of opposition and trouble. But for the rest of Acts the focus is mainly on Paul-who-used-to-be-Saul. This is now the story of how he reached further and wider with the gospel than anyone had dared dream might even be possible. And of course our aim is that following this story will inspire us in our efforts – to reach further and wider with the gospel than anyone has dared to dream might even be possible!

That's a big aim, of course. So it's well worth noting that though this book is called Acts of the Apostles, many know it as Acts of the Holy Spirit! That's probably an even better title, in fact, because it puts the emphasis where it really needs to be. Everything that happens in the spreading of the gospel, in this book and today, is the work of the Holy Spirit. He's the one who calls and equips people to preach it, in word and in deed; he's the one who prepares people to hear it, and respond to it. And, once again, that's plain from the way this part of the story begins. To re-state the obvious, the Holy Spirit is the most prominent character in all that happens here: he chose Barnabas and Saul; he told them what to do, and where to go; 'all' the church had to do was obey Him.

Now, having taken this long over explaining how we've got here, most of the details of today's story will have to speak for themselves. One of the joys of Acts is that it's a ripping yarn in its own right, so it doesn't often need too much unpacking. Most of us can do with some geography help, with places that no longer exist, or have different names. So we've provided that, in the shape of this double-sided map. It has the route of first two missionary journeys that Paul made, which we'll be working our way through until the end of November. In some ways Paul didn't seem to have covered much ground in his first trip. But don't forget he was walking or sailing, so this all took about 2 years.

What Luke wrote is of course only a summary of what was said and done along the way. As a good theologian as well as a story-teller, Luke chose deliberately what to put in at each stage. We are supposed to take notice of that, then, and learn important lessons for our own preaching and living of the gospel from it. So I'd best focus our attention on the other main lesson that Luke teaches at the outset of this new phase of the story. I'm sure that you've not missed the first ones – that this is all, and only, about Jesus; and it's all the work of His Spirit. Well, please don't miss the warning note here, to expect stiff spiritual opposition at every turn!

In Paphos that opposition might have come in a form we don't quickly identify with. But we can certainly recognise those who oppose the truth about Jesus, and don't want others to hear it. The recent resurgence in militant secularism led by Richard Dawkins springs to mind, with demands for no RE in schools, let alone faith schools. Paul's opponent, ironically named Bar- (meaning son of) Jesus, had a more obvious motive for his opposition. If the Governor became a Christian, he probably wouldn't want a resident fortune-teller any more. There may well have been more to it besides job-security, though. We can work that out from Paul's stern response to this man. Luke tells us that Paul looked intently at the man, and saw through right him.

This isn't perhaps what we expect to read in the Bible. We can carry a mental picture of Christians as nice, polite people who wouldn't even think of rocking a boat. Well, there's clearly a time to take a firm stand – as Jesus often did too. Paul wasn't holding back when he called this man a son of the Devil! Nor was this opposition to the gospel treated lightly. Paul told him that he would be blinded for a time – as indeed he then was. Paul had experienced that fate himself as part of his coming to faith in Jesus. Maybe he hoped the magician would realise the error of his ways – though we don't find out if he ever did. What we do find out is that the Governor was very impressed. The gospel clearly was not just a matter of words, but of powerful action too – and he converted on the spot as a result.

This is a key lesson for us to learn, then, I'd suggest. Of course we need to be careful about who, what and how we confront – but there is a place for doing that. And I will also say I'm sure that some of the stuff that's going here on at the moment is opposition. I'm even encouraged by that, in a strange way. There is no doubt in my mind that we are being called to go on this adventure – and so we should expect opposition. No doubt that will show up in all sorts of other ways as we keep working on developing fresh practical means to live and share the gospel. I for one intend to confront who and what God calls me to: I invite you to join in too, after this model.

Well, that's about all we've got time to pick out from this part of the story today. There's plenty more to come in the weeks ahead: adventures and opposition, dramas, what seem like setbacks, and loads of comment and explanation from Luke. But what we'll undoubtedly see, time and again, is the Holy Spirit at work. Above all, we'll see this good news about Jesus marching forward, transforming lives and communities with hope and purpose. These were hugely exciting times for the early church. They can be that for us too – if we'll allow that same Holy Spirit to be at work in and through us today. So, can you hear His call to get involved in sharing and living this good news of hope? Come on then: fasten your seatbelt, and follow wherever he leads! And now let's pray ...