Sermon 27th March 2011

Today, one of our Lay Readers, Adjoa Andoh Cunnell, preaches based on the reading from Romans 8:28-30

“We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.
Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the eldest brother in a large family.
And so those whom God set apart he called: and those he called he put right with himself and he shared his glory with them.”Romans 8:28-30

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose.
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be firstborn among many brothers.
And those he predestined, he also called: those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
LEGO!!!!
OK so how do I factor being created to become like Christ into trying to find a work placement for a 15 year old, worrying about work, having to re sort a mess of the banks making that I thought was dealt with weeks ago, getting ungettable tickets for my mother in law’s birthday, running out of time to do everything, , worrying about work, supporting a loved one emotionally who lives thousands of miles away, helping with homework, getting people to DO homework, checking essays, walking the dog, worming the dog, going to Sainsbury’s , attending hospital appointments, did I mention worrying about work, returning friends’ phonecalls, emails , texts, discovering why the car engine is still leaking even after being ‘fixed’ weeks ago, repainting the house..ha ha, doing a thorough spring clean ha ha. You get the picture.

So I ask again where is growing in a Christlike way in this picture??
So that is my picture I am sure we all have our own variation on that picture.

How do we contend with all the day to day pulls and pushes of our lives while being mindful of the Christ centred lives we wish to lead as Christians?
How do we come to terms with the idea that we are created to become like Christ, what can we know or understand of the entire nature of our divine Lord made man?
IN the Bible alone.
We have words and actions reported by those who knew him, saw him, were inspired by his Holy Spirit.
We have the spreading of reports of what he did and said by those who were taught by him, rebuked by him, loved by him.
A whistle stop grabbing of examples in no particular order, is all we have time for now, although we will be looking at who Jesus tells us he is in scripture, in depth later in the year in our “I am” series. So..
We meet Jesus with the Samarian woman at the well, a disatisfied and devalued woman of multiple relationships. Jesus gives this despised woman his entire focus, the entire light of his love: the longest conversation between Jesus and someone else reported anywhere in scripture. We see Jesus spending time with the deranged , the unclean, the excluded, the despised.
We have Jesus angry at the market sellers in the temple, weeping over a friend’s death,
cooking breakfast for friends,
knowing that one of his friends had betrayed him,
We see Jesus being baptised,
Jesus wanting his friends to keep him company,
Jesus dreading what is to come, battling his fear,
…all human responses we can relate to.
And we also meet with the divine Jesus;
Jesus turning water into wine,
feeding thousands from a couple of fish and loaves, healing people, feeling power drain out of him from the slightest touch on his clothes from a woman in need of his healing,
casting out demons,
calming a raging storm,
walking on water,
raising people from the dead,
battling the devil,
dying and coming back to life…. overcoming death itself

The man and the divine is this where we begin to intersect, where we discover ourselves becoming like Christ.
Where we have Jesus spending time with the deranged , the unclean, the despised, the excluded, so can we spend time.
We can pray for his healing , his forgiveness.
Where we have Jesus teaching how to live a life that pleases God, Jesus praying and teaching prayer, we can continue to learn from his teaching in scripture, spread his teaching, pray his prayer.
We can call on the divine power of his Holy Spirit to touch our lives and the lives of those around the world.
Rick Warren says Obedience unlocks God’s power.
Loving Jesus is about obedience to his vision for our lives and a desire to grow spiritually into the person God created to become like Christ.

As many some of you will know this Thursday just gone I co hosted with another actor William Gaminara, a fundraising dinner for a South African Christian charity Learn To Earn. The parish of Herne Hill was also very much a part of the evening, Geraldine was our chef, Jonathan her sidekick, Jim our quiz creator, Adrian our quiz master, Daisy, Lily and El, waitressing, both church urns making coffee & tea and various family and friends guesting.
At the end of a very long happy evening, I drove Roche Van Wyck to Battersea, home to the friends he’s staying with.
Roche is the director of Learn To Earn. You may have seen him here one Sunday last year. At Learn to Earn he is following the vision for his life that God has given him.
He is very productive, very twinkly, travels a lot, giggles a lot for a round bearded Afrikaaner, loves a good Cape Meerlust red wine.
Roche I’m sure will have other meetings while he’s here, but he came over especially for this dinner, and although also speaking about the charity, spent all day with us laying tables, carrying chairs, sorting literature, at the end of the evening, unsetting tables, clearing away glasses, scraping plates, all the while joking though still quite jet lagged.
And as we drove through the quiet south London streets at 1am in the morning, his first question was ‘Where is William spiritually?’- Willy the co organiser.
In the midst of the hustle and the bustle, Roche’s focus in that moment was on his new friend’s relationship with Christ.
We are called to be the body of Christ, this isn’t just as his hands and feet but also as a ‘gathering together in communion’ , a community of Christ, and in that moment Roche was concerned that Willy not miss out on being in that body.
The wonderful work that LTE does is a blessing in the world in itself, in that seeks for social justice for people who have been disenfranchised and the means for them to get back dignity into their lives, through work and training, but more than that LTE evangelises by example. Through his work Roche meets people where they are, like Jesus with the woman at the well, he shines the love of Christ on them in the circumstances of their lives and in doing so opens the arms of that body of Christ and says come on in, come home.
This is what we are called to do wherever we are. That is God’s will for us. WE evangelise by example and our example is Christ.
Now remember the less than edeifying picture of my daily life which I drew earlier ?
Clearly it comes no where near to the extreme circumstances Christ found himself as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane knowing the full horror of the crucifixion to come.
Matt 26:39
“ Yet not what I want, but what you want”
“ Yet not as I will, but as you will”
he accepts after much anguish.
It was not without anguish that he prayed, it was not instantaneous obedience, even though he new the wonderful consequences of his grissly death would be salvation for us,
and even though he knew the dreadful consequences of not dying for this broken world, would be no opportunity of redemption for us.
Even knowing all this, Christ struggled before coming to to that place of obedience.
In our daily life we too struggle.
Christ had in Gethsemane ‘Divine Vision. he had that God vision we lack, he could know of the ultimate good his present sacrifice, his present struggle would reap.
He could see into the lives and circumstances of all those surrounding him as he prayed that night,
he knew the disciples would fall asleep leaving him alone, he knew who of his closest beloved companions would kiss and betray him,
who would deny all knowledge of him,
who would doubt his resurrection,
never mind those who hammered in the nails to his feet and palms
and yet among his last words were words of forgiveness.
Luke 23:34
“Forgive them Father!. They don’t know what they are doing”
“ Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”.
And then John tells us he said (John19:30)
“It is Finished,”
The plan for which Christ came to earth was set in motion.

And over 2 millenia later we wrestle with our day to day lives in the context of God’s plan for us. But we do not wrestle alone.
We are not the divine Christ in the world but we have been given the divine support of his Holy Spirit. We can call on that Divine spirit to be our source to fill us top to toe so that at the end of our lives we can say, it is finished, our work with God on earth is finished, we are returning home.

We can only be obedient to the Will of our heavenly father not through sheer frankly unsustainable willpower on our part , but through that source of Divine inspiration waiting to empower every step of our lives in Christ, his Holy Spirit.
Changing the way we think to Christ’s way, becoming obedient to his will, is beyond our own will power while we still hold on to our old mind. It’s like changing our diet and exercising in a burst of willpower but in our mind still hankering after all the things we’ve given up and yearning to sit in the sofa not run about…
Verse 30 of this morning’s reading tells us
“And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them.”

“And those he predestined, he also called: those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

As Rick Warren points out , the solution to a life times sustained change of mind, is to let God transform the way we think, to let ourselves be put right with God ( be’ justified’ by God). And how are we ‘put right’ ( justified), brought into a proper relationship with God?
Paul explains in
Romans 12;2
“Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of mind.
Then you will be able to know the will of God - what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.”

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

And what is the point of being ‘put right’? In doing so God chooses us, sets us apart from our old lives in order that we may become like Christ, the purpose we are looking at today.
In Verse 29 of this morning’s reading Paul confirms this purpose
“Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the eldest brother in a large family.”

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be firstborn among many brothers.”

How do we generate the mindset to sustain this transformation. This growth towards becoming like Christ?
Rick Warren points us to the need for a spiritual renewal of our thoughts.
Ephesians 4;22 -24
“So get rid of your old self, which made you live as used to – the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires.
Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must out on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.”

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
and to put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

The example, the only example that we have of that revealed, “true life”, “upright and holy” (true righteousness and holiness )is the life of Christ.
In choosing us and setting us apart from our old lives, God is preparing us to live as our new selves, living “the true life”,( in true righteousness and holiness) as modelled by Jesus.
Christ lights our path, his life model of Love, Humility, Obedience, thorough knowledge of scripture and trust in God to address our physical and spiritual needs is our guide. And that guidance is all underpinned by the astonishing joy of Paul’s words
“We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.” (Verse 28)

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose.

If we love Christ wholeheartedly, whatever the direction that loving guidance may take us in our lives… jump in , hold back, pray, wait…God will be working for good with us.
He chooses to partner us in the bringing of good into the world, in whatever form he chooses that good to be.
More than that, this relationship, this partnering extends to others who have given their life over to Christ, for we individual Christians are to be the body of Christ.
Part of the prayer we pray together before receiving Holy Communion says
“we are one body,because we all share in one bread,”
We share in the symbol of the sacrificed, risen Christ. A physical symbol of us absorbing the body of Christ into our body , being literally filled with his presence.
So in this sharing, we acknowledge to each other that it’s not just an individual pool of good we can bring to the world, working in partnership with God through loving Jesus, but an endlessly expanding sea of Good: because like the apostles we love Christ in communion with one another.
Not one brick alone but a body of bricks building one church family, the continuing body of Christ on earth.
And what a fantastically mixed body we are,
all with our own day to day pictures,
all with our own paths of obedience to follow ,
all calling on Christ to be the source in our lives of all we do, in response to all circumstances , by the power of his Holy Spirit,
all concerned to follow in love, the ultimate Good our God is working with us towards.
In Roche’s question ‘where is ‘so and so’ spiritually?’ I would suggest we find the ultimate good of partnership work with God.
When Jesus meets with the Samarian woman where she is in her life and addresses her spiritual needs, we are led by example to examine our own practical everyday actions and responses to situations.
Are we encouraging those we encounter to come spiritually closer to God? Or do they get no sense of Christ’s presence in us, that they could be drawn to.
Are we calling out and inspiring through the divine building brick in ourselves an answering need in those we meet? Are we calling out the divine building bricks in others to come together as one expanding body of the loving Christ?
During the next song as we ask Jesus to be the centre of our lives, please just take a moment to hold your lego brick as you consider the joy of how you are a partner in God’s working for good in the world. Then please come up during the song and add your brick to the green base, as a symbol of our body of Christ in Herne Hill.
How wonderful that that particular Christ shaped brick of our lives can join with all those other differently shaped bricks so that we all grow together as the body of Christ, becoming more like him as God created us to be.
After we’ve sung we’ll go into our time of confession, asking God to forgive our shortcomings where we try to live by our will power alone, so that we are free to grow from the source of Christ in our lives through the power of your Holy Spirit.
Let’s pray MUSIC
Heavenly Father Thank you for loving us, thank you for the privilege of being able to become like Christ individually and in communion with others. Make us lovingly bold to examine our hearts and our actions, so that we may humbly ask your forgiveness when we have not reflected your love in our behaviour. Please pour your spirit on to this body of Christ at St Saviour’s/Paul’s this morning, so that we may love you in all the different pictures of our lives and know for certain that we are part of building your work for good in the world.
In the power of Christ who died for us we pray,
Amen.

Sermon 20th March 2011

Today, our Curate, Gill Tayleur, continues our study of The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren.

FORMED FOR GOD’S FAMILY 20 MARCH 2011 EPH 3:14-21

Three members of a church are in a boat far out to sea. They decide they are going to confess their sins to each another.
One asks another, 'What is something that you have a problem with?'
The first church member says, 'Well, I have a problem with alcohol. I drink far too much. I can’t get through the day without it.'
The second one says, 'Well, I have a problem with lust. I desire every young woman I see.'
One of the others asks the third church member, 'Well, what is something that you have a problem with?'
The third man replies, 'Gossip, and I can't wait to get back to shore!'
... ... ...
In that wonderful prayer we just heard from Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul prays that they would be strong in faith and really know the hugeness of God’s love. How high and deep, how broad and long it is.
And the interesting thing is that he prays it for them, not just as individuals, but together.
Together as God’s people.

We are God’s people, together, too.

Our ‘togetherness’ is what we’re looking at today, as the 2nd of our life purposes described by Rick Warren. In his book, our Lent book, the Purpose Driven Life, Rick suggests that we are Formed for God’s Family. Formed for God’s family. He says we are called to belong, not just to believe.

I should think lots of us consider ourselves to belong to this church. And for many of us, it’s a belonging to a church family.

When we chose to believe, when we start to follow Jesus,
God becomes our father and we become his child in a special way. And other Christians become our brothers and sisters; the church becomes our spiritual family. Family relationships, as we all know, can be very tricky! Family relationships are often characterised by deep love and commitment, but also real tensions and issues! And the church family can be much the same.

This morning I’m hoping to enthuse us all with the wonderful picture that the Bible gives of how church family relationships might be, at their best. And I’m hoping to challenge us all to deal with the ways in which our relationships are not their best, and to take steps to make them better.

So, we’re formed for God’s family. How should that family get on?

In the New Testament, there are over 50 times when the phrase, “one another” is used. We are commanded to love one another, pray for one another, encourage one another, reproach one another, greet one another, serve one another, teach one another, accept one another, honour one another, bear one another’s burdens, forgive one another, submit to one another, be devoted to one another, laugh and cry with one another, and have many other mutual responsibilities. This is how we’re meant to treat one another! It’s tremendous! All that mutual love and support! And it’s tremendously difficult. Because our relationships are with REAL people, not IDEAL people.

And real people are sometimes difficult, annoying, frustrating and imperfect. Like you and me. They irritate us, they wind us up the wrong way, they let us down, and they hurt us. Like you and I do.

So, how do we build the sort of loving relationships those “one another” phrases describe, with real not ideal people?

First we have to spend time together! Not just over a coffee after church, although that’s a good place to start. Many of us do stay on for a drink, although of course there are reasons why some can’t. If that’s not something you often do, maybe today, or sometime soon, you could do so. And if you do usually stay, how about speaking to someone you haven’t before, or not for a long while? It’s not just about catching up with friends, although that’s part of it. It’s also about looking out for one another and caring for one another, including those on the fringes. Or those who are different from us – in age, for example. The night before his death, Jesus told his followers that they’d be known by the love they’d have for one another. When we come together, as we do, from different backgrounds and races, it’s a challenge to really connect across those differences sometimes, but it’s important that we do.

So, church family relationships start here on a Sunday morning, but in order to build the sort of loving ‘one another’ relationships we’re thinking of, a chat after church isn’t likely to be enough. Are there people in the church family that you see outside of Sunday morning? Perhaps, a few, who live nearby? Or maybe those who go to one of the small groups we have here in the parish. I realise that not everyone would be able to get to one, but let me remind you we have 7 small groups, of people who meet together weekly or fortnightly. Some meet in the day, some in the evening, and one with childcare for toddlers.
The groups are a great way to get to know a few people better, and be able to give and receive the sort of care and support we heard in those ‘one another’ phrases. Ask me or Cameron more about them after the service.

So our church family relationships, like any family relationships, need time and attention. They also need to be real. By which I mean there’s a time and a place for being open and really honest with one another. Sharing our hurts, revealing our hopes and fears, confessing our failures, admitting our doubts and our weaknesses, asking for help and prayer. That sounds difficult, risky or scary? Yes it can be hard, but being honest and learning to trust one another is essential if we’re to really care for one another, support and encourage one another effectively.

Which brings me to the next aspect of ‘one another’ relationships. They’re to be mutual. Two way. This is about giving and receiving! We all like to be independent, don’t we? But as God’s family we’re designed to be dependent on one another. The Bible uses the picture of a body: we are all like different parts of one body. And the eye can’t say to the hand, I don’t need you! Or a head to the feet, I don’t need you! We are designed to need one another. That’s how we work best together and become what God has made us to be. Formed for God’s family.

Of course there may be particular times in our lives when we need to give more, and times to receive more. At times we’re to rejoice with one another, at other times to weep with one another, and to carry one another’s burdens. It will depend on what we’re each going through, but such support and care is to be mutual.

So, formed for God’s family, we’re to spend time with one another, be real with one another, mutually caring and supporting one another. That sounds pretty attractive to me, on both the giving and receiving ends! But let’s face it, it’s not always like that. And so perhaps it’s not surprising, that another ‘one another’ we’re commanded to do, is to forgive one another, bear with one another and accept one another.

I suspect we need to bear with one another, and forgive one another more often than we care to admit. Because we are all imperfect, selfish, needy, irritating people! We’re sinners! With faults that rub others up the wrong way. I can be bossy, convinced I’m right and you’re wrong, and totally caught up in my own perspective, wants and needs. And so can you! And so of course we infuriate one another, disappoint one another and hurt one another. And the closer we get, the more we’ll do so! Well, isn’t that how it works in families?! But – learning to forgive is really important. Jesus told his followers to forgive one another as God forgives us. So here, in God’s family, this should be a place where we see forgiveness and grace flowing between each other all the time, because together we’re children of our great Forgiving Father God. Remember how much he has forgiven us, me!

We all need forgiveness and mercy, because we all stumble and fall. Sometimes we need help to recognise that, and sometimes the most loving thing we can do is to very gently draw someone’s attention to their sin or shortcomings. But only if we do so in mercy, forgiveness and love, and help them get back on track. Would we dare to do that?

And that brings me to the last aspect of church family relationships I’d like to highlight – unity. We’re not to criticise, not to gossip, not judge. We’re to be realistic in our expectations, and focus on what we have in common, not our differences. We’re to build up the unity of God’s family. The man in the boat in my joke wasn’t exactly going to build unity if he gossiped when he got home! It can be so damaging, destroying trust and openness at a stroke. Instead let’s make sure the things we say build one another up, individually and together.

Well there’s plenty more that could be said about relationships within the church, including unity, on the wider scale. We’ve not time to address those as well right now, but I think some of the same principles apply.

Before I wrap up this taster of how our church family relationships might be – of course many of you will read more about all this when we get to days 15 to 21 in the Purpose Driven Life – I’d like to recognise how there are many ways in which this church family does already have a lot of the sort of loving relationships we’ve been thinking about. I’m not suggesting we’re starting from scratch! But there are probably some of us who aren’t plugged in to these sorts of relationships, giving or receiving. There are probably some of us who aren’t in real, honest relationships, who aren’t being the part of the body they might. And I dare say there are some of us who need to forgive, or be forgiven. Let’s hear that list of ‘one another’s again, and listen out for what we might need to do in response.

“Love one another, pray for one another, encourage one another, reproach one another, greet one another, serve one another, teach one another, accept one another, honour one another, bear one another’s burdens, forgive one another, submit to one another, be devoted to one another, laugh and cry with one another.”

So, do these ideas about how our relationships might be, within God’s family, make you excited or daunted? Maybe both!

Our Ephesians reading, about being strong in faith and knowing the hugeness of God’s love, TOGETHER as his people, ends with some wonderful encouragement.

St Paul says,
“[God] is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us!”

Living in the loving ‘one another’ relationships we’ve been thinking about this morning, is tremendous, and tremendously difficult. BUT God’s power – remember, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead! – is at work IN US, to do more than we can ask or imagine! How wonderful! It’s possible! God can do it! And so let’s pray...

Sermon 13th March 2011

Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker preaches based on our Lent series, The Purpose Driven Life.

25 550. That should be a number that's familiar to many of you, after this week: 25 550. But why? If you need a clue, think Wednesday; as in Ash Wednesday ...

Any offers? ... That's the average number of days that most of us will live for! It's quite simple maths to work out that Rick Warren is assuming the biblical ideal of 3-score years and 10 is where we have reached. Any quick Internet search will show that's not the case, though. The UK is joint 20th in the world in terms of life-expectancy. Males born here in this century can expect to live until they are 78, and women to 82, rather than the Bible's 70 years. By the way, that's double the figure for Swaziland, which has the world's lowest life expectancy. To save you working it out, that UK average is then about 28 400 days for men, and 29 900 for women.

Be that all as it may, the more significant figure that I'd hope is in your minds today is 40. I'd hope that it's there even if you've not started reading our Lent book, The Purpose Driven Life. It should be there even if you didn't come to the Ash Wednesday service, which marked the start of Lent. I'm hoping that you are all good enough Anglicans to know that Lent is this 40-day period that is purposefully set aside for us to prepare for Easter. It's a long-standing practice of the church, dating back to the 1st Century. It's based on the example of Jesus before the start of his public ministry. It's also the principle that underpins our studying this book together this Lent: important events and occasions need, and are worth, getting ready for.

In this book Rick Warren has in mind an even bigger occasion than Easter that we need to get ready for. It's hard to think what could be bigger than Easter, I realise. But what is bigger is what Easter has opened the door to – and that is to eternity itself! So Rick Warren is quite right to challenge everyone to use a mere 40 of our supposed 20-something thousand days at least to ask ourself relevant big-picture questions. Is there more to life than just here and now? What on earth am I here for? Do I matter? What is my purpose in life? And how then should I live my life?

Having posed those questions, Rick Warren moves beyond them almost immediately! As many of you will have read on Wednesday, “It's not about you” is the first line of his first chapter! Yes this book is a genuine invitation to ask big life-questions. It is a process that occupies this biblically-significant 40-day period, at the rate of 1 short, challenging chapter per day. But his assumption from the start is that none of these questions – like life itself – make any sense unless we accept the existence of the God of the Bible. As the author puts it, “If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born BY his purpose and FOR his purpose.”

These are the sorts of phrases that hopefully many of us have been reading since Wednesday. Even as I read it yet again, I'm finding this helpful, challenging stuff. And I know that there is plenty more of the same to come! However, I'm sure that you will also have discovered already some of limitations of the book. It's far from perfect, in its language and also in its thought. But even in those places you can still use it, to help you to clarify what you believe, and why. And that in itself is a useful exercise, specially if you accept Rick Warren's key proposition. He believes that one of the main purposes of our life here on earth is to prepare to spend eternity in heaven with God. And that needs quite some preparing for!

That is the main thrust of the chapter that many of us will have read yesterday. We have been made for eternity with God; and we need to be, or get, ready for it. Beyond this point we will be going to places that few have reached yet, then. I am unfortunately having to cover rather a lot of ground today. The original plan was for us preachers to use these Sundays off to reflect on the section of the book that we'd all be in the middle of reading. Given when the school holidays fall, though, we only have 5 Sunday for this series, rather than the 6 we need. That means that I'm having to speak on the seven-day introductory section – plus the first of the 5 life-purposes that Rick Warren then sets out, 7 chapters at a time!

The first thing to do is to point you to our web-site, then. You'll find there all the sermons from our first run-through of this book. That includes full sermons on the introduction, and on how we have been planned for God's pleasure – as well as the 4 other God-given life-purposes. That series finished just last week, to help us get as ready for Lent as possible. We're doing it twice, like this, partly because we have always known that there's more material in each section than we could sum up on any one Sunday. It also reflects just how important these issues are – even for those who are already Christians. Our intended aim is to enable us to live truly focused, Godly-purposeful lives; for, and in, Him. We want that for us as a church, at St Paul's and at St Saviour's, and we also want that for us as individuals.

Back to today, in some ways it's a shame that the timings are like this. I was looking forward to keeping my promise to tackle the 3 key biblical life-metaphors! I could speak with feeling on how life is portrayed in the Bible as a test of our faith and trust in God, when circumstances aren't as we'd choose them! Globally that would be relevant in the light of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It could apply personally too, after the past fortnight when Jocelyn when has barely been out of one hospital or another. First it was for surgery on her transplant scar, and then because of a whole range of complications that have arisen from that. And we have not yet got to the end of this process either!

However, the Bible portrays any number of ways in which God can, does, and will test us, our faith and hope – and Rick Warren makes good use of many biblical examples. You can read those for yourselves, and also about how life-metaphors unconsciously shape how we live. In case you have missed the connection, I will point out that the Bible sees life here as temporary assignment because heaven is our home for eternity. And I will also mention briefly the third Bible life-metaphor now too: life is a trust because God watches how we treat what He entrusts to us – gifts, time, talents, money, people, and in every other way. Details of that are in the relevant chapters coming up – but do note there are eternal consequences to that, both ways!

On the basis that Rick Warren is right, that life is a test, a trust and a temporary assignment, what comes next? Well the logical step is to do exactly what we are urged to at the end of today's reading – to understand, or to find out, what God wants us to do. In passing, I should also point out that in this series we'll frame each section with Bible passage, instead of speaking on one, as normal. This passage frames our task for the rest of Lent, and beyond – understanding God's will for our lives. Rick Warren says that our whole life-purpose is to bring God glory, in what we do, and in how we do it. Life is not for or about us remember; it's all for Him! What we then read in God's Word, His revelation of himself, are these 5 key life-purposes that Rick Warren writes the rest of his book about.

Clearly I don't have time to say too much on the first of those purposes now. Gill covered a lot of the ground first time; and you will have 7 chapters of material on it to enjoy from the middle of this week. But I do want to encourage you to take very seriously this idea that you, yes YOU, have been planned for God's pleasure! When asked, Jesus said that the greatest commandment from the Old Testament is that we are to love God first and best, with everything we've got and are! We do that in response to God's love for us, of course. The Bible is full of expressions of God's love for us, in word and in deed. We see His love for us most clearly on the cross – where Jesus died so that we don't have to, but rather can love him back.

As anyone who has ever loved knows, when you love someone you want to make them happy. You want them to enjoy you as much as you enjoy them – and God is no different! In fact, we are made in God's image: He has given us our 5 senses to enjoy Him, and His world. What He wants above all is for us to use all of that for and with Him, in ways that He enjoys! That's as good a definition of worship as I have ever heard. It's wonderfully put in the Message version, like this: “Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life and place it before God as an offering”. How can we live for God's pleasure? By doing exactly this, every day, day after day – for Him!

Of course nothing is ever quite that simple! But maybe it's a whole lot less complicated than we sometimes make it! I'm sure that we'd all do well to read, and heed, Rick Warren's simple advice in these chapters. It can show us how to: obey God; trust Him; communicate with Him; surrender to Him; be His friend; and give Him our all – in bad times as much as in good. And these are lessons and stories that we can come back to time and again in the months and years ahead. This series isn't some passing fad: it's purpose is to help us to learn to live permanently changed lives – so preparing ourselves for the eternity during which we will be enjoyed by, and enjoy, God! So let's pray that it will do just that ...

Sermon 6th March 2011

Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches based on the reading from Matthew 28 verses 16-20

Here's one for anyone who has ever been driven mad by some kind of public works, be it as a pedestrian, a cyclist, or a driver - i.e. it's for all of us! This fictional action takes place in a leafy suburb, where an intrigued onlooker observes how two industrious workmen slave away all day. One digs a hole, and the other follows behind him, and fills the hole in. They work up one side of the street, then down the other, and then move on to the next street. They work hard all day long one workman digging a hole, the other then filling it in again.

In the end our onlooker overcomes their British reserve, in order to satisfy their natural curiosity, and solve the mystery. He politely says to the hole-digger, “I'm impressed by the effort you two are putting in to your work; but I really don't get it. Why are you digging these holes, only to have your colleague fill them up again?”

The hole-digger wipes his brow, and sighs. “Well, I can see it probably looks odd, because we're normally a 3-person team. But the one who plants the trees called in sick today.”

As is often the way, the sermon-connection is perhaps a little tenuous. My best effort to make one is that it can be easy to keep on living life in what become our habitual ways. We don't always stop to think about what the point of it all is. Mind you, my hope very much is that if that was true of any Parish of Herne Hill regulars then this is already a past issue for you! Nobody could have sat through the last 6 weeks here without at least asking some key, fundamental questions: what does life mean; why are we here; and how should we live?

Today marks the end of our first run through this very helpful book, The Purpose Driven Life. I don't plan to say too much by way of concluding thoughts on what we have learned so far. That's not least because we're starting it all over again next week! As I said at the outset, there's far too much material under each of the book's 6 headings to be covered in just one sermon. The American author, Rick Warren has produced a book that is meant to be literally life-changing. Its deliberate aim is to get people to stop and ask such questions – on the basis that God created all of us for particular purposes. The idea is that life can't, and won't, make sense until we start to live out the purposes which we have been made for. These are important, and eternally valuable matters, then. So they are well worth giving a decent amount of time to – whatever stage of life, or faith we are currently at.

Plenty of other people have been here before us – at least 30 million in the book's first 5 years! We have decided to join in, by making this our Lent book. More details next week on how it's all going to work – but it starts in earnest from this Wednesday. This Lent we are all invited to read one of this book's short chapters per day – except on Sundays! And if you're worried that you have missed what we have said on it so far, it's all posted on our website, or we can print copies for you. There is no excuse for not getting involved, then: purposefully!

This is about each of us actively choosing to go on the most significant journey that we could ever make. Yes, many of us are Christians, and some of us have been for a long time. If that's you, it could be a case of taking what you already know and re-focusing it for your next step forward in faith. Lots of people I've been talking to share my sense that God is up to stuff across this parish at the moment. And I'm sure that this process is a key part of that. It's like God is inviting us to be clear about what we truly believe. More than that, it's like He's inviting us to be intentional about what we then do – individually and corporately. That, in turn, must come out of understanding what God wants for us and from us – personally and as church.

So today we arrive at Rick Warren's final suggested God-given purpose for our lives. Yes it's the one that so many have been desperate to get to – because it's that God has Made us for Mission! We will explore that in about as much detail as we have the book's four other suggested purposes – but we also do need to set it in context. One of the many quotes that I have noted from this book is: “Blessed are the balanced”. No, that's not one of Jesus' Beatitudes (as his “Blessed are ...” statements are known) in modern language! It is from Rick Warren, but it's still vital that we hear it.

As we read throughout this book, God has made us each different. Yes, we are all made for these same five key, Godly purposes; but God gives different people different passion-levels for each of them. It's part of the unique person that God has made you that you should express that passion – without expecting everyone else to feel the same way too! It's definitely not true that I am right by emphasising one area, and anyone who doesn't do what I say is wrong. We each need to listen just as much to the passions of those who care equally as deeply about God's other purposes for our lives. That is how we will achieve a Godly balance, for our own life, and also for our life together, as a church.

This principle cuts both ways, of course! We need people who are passionate about each of these 5 life-purposes. If we don't, we'll be missing out on some of what God wants for us. The picture the New Testament most often uses of the church is that of the body: we need eyes and ears; hands and feet; and every other part too! In the purpose-driven language of this book, then, we need people who are passionate about how we are: Planned for God's pleasure; Formed for God's family; Created to become like Christ; Shaped for serving God – and just as passionate about us being Made for mission too! In other words, every church needs at least some people who are passionate about worship; and about fellowship; and about discipleship; and about ministry; and about evangelism.

The Bible passage that we have hung this one on – not surprisingly – is that known as Jesus' Great Commission. Rick Warren is swift to point out that all four gospels record some version of this encounter between Jesus and his disciples at the end of his life. We also find it at start of Acts, right before Jesus was taken into heaven. And of course we are meant to pay special attention to someone's parting words. When they know this is 'it', the very last thing that anyone says is what they most want us to remember. So, as Rick Warren puts it, we have to see this for exactly what it is – it's Jesus' Great Commission, not his mild Suggestion! It's for us to do, not to think about whether we might possibly feel like it, maybe!

For some reason, this is the Godly purpose that most of us find it hardest to be passionate about. There is something rather exposing about having to reveal who and what we are – especially in this current anti-faith era. But aren't you glad that someone once did that for you? And if you don't now do it for someone else, how will they ever hear or know the good news of Jesus? And of course it's based on the example of Jesus himself. He chose to give up the glory of heaven, to die in shame on a cross – for you! The nature of God is to reach out in love; and that's whose image you have been made in. Here's a God-given purpose to get truly passionate about, then!

Rick Warren has plenty of practical suggestions in his book to help us get over our fears. He helpfully points out how this call applies to our community, country, other cultures and nations simultaneously. Like so much else, you can read the detail of it for yourselves when you get there in Lent. But I will (hopefully!) encourage you with one specific thought from the book. 'All' we have to do is to tell our story! We are called to be 'witnesses', look: not experts, but witnesses. Nobody else shares your story – literally nobody: present, past or future. Only you can tell it – and you must, because you are part of God's on-going work. Yes, you are part of the evidence for the reality of God's grace and love: you!

Again Rick Warren has practical tips on how we can all do that effectively and honestly, in good times and in bad alike. And we are all called to live out this purpose, remember! It may not be your primary area of passion, perhaps; but it is just as much part of you, and us, living a Godly, purpose-driven life as all the others are! You have been Made for mission. Your calling is to continue Jesus' own mission, to tell and show everyone the love of God. And, be encouraged! Above all, we are to do it in the light of Jesus' very specific promise that he also made here: that he will be with us in the doing of it, every step of the way!

So, there you have it: edited highlights of living a Godly, purpose-driven life. In these 6 weeks we have addressed, and answered, the three basic life issues that many struggle with: Who am I? Do I matter; and, 'What's my place in life?' As Rick Warren says, the answers are found in God's 5 purposes for us – which are about Him, not us, remember! We are: Planned for God's pleasure; Formed for God's family; Created to be like Christ; Shaped for serving God – and Made for mission. Now that we know all that, the blessing lies in living it out. How amazing that we can spend all of this Lent working that out, on our own, and together! So let's pray that we will ...