Sermon 17th February 2013

Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches based on the reading from Luke 5 verses 1-11 and 13. 

I’ll never forget that day. Well, you don’t, do you: the day that all the foundations of your life were rearranged into a whole new shape really does stick in the memory. Or it did for me, anyway. And if I then start to think of where it went from there, in those next three, speech-defying, years ... Well, to think that I thought I even had a clue, sitting there in that boat ...

No this isn’t your normal kind of a sermon! The next 10 minutes or so are more like a personal reflection on today’s story from Luke 5. Of course there is good reason for preaching it this way, which we will get into later; but for now you may want to sit back, close your eyes, even, and just go with it as best you can ...

So there I was: sat in my boat on that hot, sunny morning. Simon by name, extravagant by nature: or I was back then anyway. Actually I’d got as far as sorting the nets out by the time that Jesus turned up on the shore. Bet he’d had a good night’s sleep. Mind you, I’d rather have been up fishing all night than have that many people pushing and shoving round me every time I stepped outside my front door. Still, no surprise was it: everyone knew exactly what he could do. I hadn’t just heard it; I’d seen it for myself. Into the house he’d come; got the monster-in-law on her feet and back into the kitchen, right as rain; just by commanding the fever to leave her: amazing; or what?!

I’d seen him around often enough since then. It was hard to miss that sort of circus even in a bustling place like Capernaum. He did come and go, but this seemed to be his base now; you knew soon enough when he was back too. So, I saw, and I heard him: Jesus often spoke to those crowds that never gave him a moment’s peace. It wasn’t just all the miracles that he performed: he really was worth listening to. Great stories he told, mostly about God’s Kingdom. They often bit a bit, mind; and some people got right offended. Those religious ones especially: they didn’t like it, or him. It was interesting stuff for sure; but I had a living to make, a family to support: such stuff was not for a fisherman like me.

Saying that makes me smile now, given how it all turned out. But you just can’t know in advance, can you. It’s only when it gets quite that up close and personal that you have to make a decision. And sometime it doesn’t feel like there is any decision involved at all, actually. You just know; and then you’ve got to go with it; all the way; even if it is like handing over a blank cheque. There I go again, getting ahead of myself: I know it’s important, but do tell the story properly, man! So: the boat; my boat; the one that I wasn’t in. Jesus just helped himself – he did stuff like that – but he wanted more from me. Didn’t he know that I had work to do, and sleep to get? Still, I wasn’t leaving a landlubber like him alone in my boat!

He didn’t want very much – not at first! Just to go a little way out, so everyone could hear him. The lake was perfect for that; of course! More typical Jesus, from what I’d seen; he wanted everyone to hear, to know – even the ones who were there with their own murky agendas. I didn’t really listen – it was hard to stay awake, to be honest. I’d heard most of it before anyway: the heart of his teaching was usually the same: “This is God’s time to act. His Kingdom is good news for the poor; it’s pardon to prisoners; it’s recovery of sight for the blind; it sets the burdened and battered free”; just like God promised through Isaiah; and hadn’t yet happened.

So most people drank it all in, as usual. This was like living in our own history: God present and active; putting everything right (and not before time, either!) Yes, you could see cross faces: those professional God-botherers. Then there were those who’d just tagged along to find out what all the fuss was about: not many of them appeared very interested. But you needed to see the look on the faces of those who were waiting for Jesus to get out of the boat, so that he could make them better. It didn’t matter how often I saw it – and I’ve seen it so often now – the desperation always gets to me. But on that day they had to wait longer than usual: Jesus had other plans.

Fishing plans, of all things! At that time of day?! “You have got to be kidding me”, I thought. Now I’d been in that trade since the time I could walk: I’d done well enough to have got my own boat; so I knew a thing or two about fishing, I’d say. A bit more than a carpenter, anyway; and a rabbi?! I rest my case! So I just couldn’t let it go when he told me to head for deep water rather than shore after he was done teaching. I remember thinking something like, “Let’s see how irony goes down, then”, before telling him the facts of fishing life. “We’ve been fishing hard all night and haven’t caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I will let out the nets: Boss!” I even did it with a straight face, I tell you!

30 seconds later and a feather would’ve knocked me flat! You’ve never seen anything like it: I hadn’t anyway, not in all my born days. Those nets are built to catch; if they don’t, we starve. And they were breaking with the weight of fish! I would swear that it was true but I don’t need to. You can ask James, or John. Our yelps told them we needed help, that second. They sped out to us; but even with half the fish in their boat we were both sinking: literally! It took all we had just to get us back to land. I didn’t mind much: I certainly didn’t want to look Jesus in the face, not for as long as I could avoid it. But then we’d reached the shore: no excuses left; it was time to try and put this right, if I could. Me and my big mouth!

‘Ashamed’ didn’t even come close: all I could do was to let him know he’d do so much better with anyone else other than me. You see, it was like heaven had opened, and I knew who he was. “Lord” is what I called him, when my knees had hit the planks; and I meant it as fully as I thought was possible, then. The chasm between him and me was so obviously wider than any ocean. If he knew that; if he could do that; this was the kind of stuff that made even angels unable to look at God. Talking of angels, so I’m not one for hours of scripture study; but I did listen when I was younger. I know what angel say when they turn up; and even then I truly didn’t think Jesus said it by accident: “Don’t be afraid”. Don’t be afraid? You what?! Even I was speechless at that one!

But he wasn’t finished with me, obviously: “From now on you’ll be catching people” he told me, all four of us. Not to eat or sell, obviously! From what he said we knew that he meant, “Catch them alive, to give them life”! That’s what Jesus wanted: from me; as messed up as I was; and he meant it: that was obvious from the way that he’d never stopped looking at me from start to finish. So there I was, then: the foundations of my life were laid in pieces around my boat. Jesus wanted to rearrange them into a whole new shape; he was waiting for an answer, for me to make a choice. And that’s when I knew, all up close and personal that I had to make a decision. But it didn’t feel like there was any decision involved at all, actually. I just had to go with it; all the way; even though it really was like handing over a blank cheque. We pulled the boats up on to the shore; left them, and everything; and followed Jesus.

Now we could get all fancy, and say that we’ve just been through an Ignatian spiritual exercise. It would be true too: St Ignatius of Loyola pioneered this method of engaging with God through the Bible that’s still very much in use today. Hopefully that label wouldn’t make you think that it wasn’t for you, because it is for all of us – as I hope I’ve just shown. I did search briefly this week for this sort of a reflection on this passage that had been written by somebody ‘proper’. When I couldn’t find one, I just wrote it myself! It’s not perfect, by any means; but it doesn’t have to be. I picked Peter because he’s central to the story that needs telling today; you could do the same yourself, but do it very differently. You might want instead to put yourself in the position of someone in the crowd. You could be there wanting to listen to Jesus; or to be healed by him; or whatever. The point is that what matters is that we do engage with God and the Bible, however we each best can do that.

Our specific aim this Lent is to encourage as many people here as possible to do that. Using our imagination is just one way of engaging with God and the Bible – and it’s not for everyone. There are plenty of other ways, though. Another way is the one that’s set out on the insert in the service sheet today. You may already have seen that we’ve kept our promise to offer a scheme of daily Bible readings right through Lent. It comes with the offer of a simple Bible study method. That works no matter whether you have 5 minutes, or an hour, to give it on any particular day. You don’t have to use it at all, of course! That, like the fact that all this material is also available via our website, is just a tool for those that may want help to read through Luke until Easter.

It doesn’t matter who you are: this really is for everyone. This may be the only time in your life that you are ever in this church: it’s for you. You may be here with all kinds of mixed motives, or feelings: it’s for you; you may have past that’s chequered enough to make a Grand Prix flag: it’s for you too! As Tom Wright wrote in his commentary on this passage, ultimately there are no bystanders to God’s kingdom. Jesus didn’t want to leave anybody out: then or now. That was why he called Simon, James and John: it’s why we have Luke’s Gospel; it’s so that this good news does get to as many people as possible. Those who do these daily readings will track that part of the story as it unfolded in the First Century. We’ll track a whole lot more besides, of course: but then, this book, Luke, is one of the most brilliant writings of early Christianity. It truly is worth engaging with – at whatever level you’re willing to go to, at this stage.

Having said that, our Lenten journey in Luke begins here: with the story of someone who was dramatically pushed to a whole new level of engagement with the reality of Jesus. Thank God that Simon Peter was willing to leave his boat, his family, and his all, after this life-changing encounter. (Just as an aside: in Luke he has always been ‘Simon’ until now; this is the one time that he’s called ‘Simon Peter’; from now on he becomes known as ‘Peter’.) Peter moved from being a spectator of Jesus to being personally involved in a venture that he had no idea how would develop. It was quite a risk that Peter took; far more risky than he knew when he took it. It was still nothing compared to risk taken by the one who called him, who taught him, and who put up with him, for the next 3 years. But Peter couldn’t do any more than to risk his all, in faith and hope and trust; and to follow, as Jesus led him towards the cross.

That is where this Lenten journey leads: it leads to the cross where Jesus died for us. Wherever you are today, this is a journey that Jesus wants to take you on too. Some of us are already on the way: well, there is plenty further to go yet. So engage with Jesus through Luke this Lent to see where he wants to lead you next. Others maybe aren’t sure that we even want to start. This Lent could ‘just’ be your chance to find out more about Jesus through reading Luke. Hear what he said, see what he did, for yourself. At the end you can then decide what you then want to about him. This venture is for all of us: no matter who, or where, we are, personally, or in terms of faith. The question then, for each of us, is whether you will take the risk of engagement with Jesus through Luke this Lent? And so let’s pray ...

Sunday 10th February 2013

Today, one of our Lay Readers, Adjoa Andoh-Cunnell, preaches based on the reading from Luke 4: 31-44

My cousin in Trinidad is always emailing me jokes , funny pictures, you know the sort of thing and recently she sent me a Quiz

And I thought we could try it out - see if you're all as dense as me...

It's a New High School Exit Exam, and you only need 4 correct answers out of 10 to pass. 

1) How long did the Hundred Years' War last?

1) 116 years

2) Which country makes Panama hats?

2) Ecuador

3) From which animal do we get cat gut?

3) Sheep and Horses

4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? 

4) November 5

5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? 

5) Squirrel fur

6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? 

6) Dogs

7) What was King George VI's first name? 

7) Albert

8) What colour is a purple finch? 

8) Crimson

9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? 

9) New Zealand

10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane?

10) Orange

Did you pass? Or are you still stuck in High School??

Isn't it interesting what seems obvious and what doesn't.

Like 'Jesus the popular teacher in the Synagogue in Nazareth is now moving on to be a popular teacher in the Synagogue in Capernaum, he's obviously so popular that the townsfolk try to keep him from leaving.'

However...In the gap between Trevor's passage last week and mine this week, that obvious conclusion would be wrong...

Jesus is ejected from the Synagogue in his home town, Nazareth and chased after by a synagogue congregation so furious at the words of condemnation he went on to preach that they intend to throw him off a cliff if they get hold of him...

 We'll come back to that later but remember these are the circumstances from which Jesus comes to Capernaum at which point today's reading begins.

To an ordinary person such as myself, the Nazareth response might have damped down my enthusiasm for immediately entering another Synagogue to speak on the word of scripture, but Jesus is not an ordinary person but God made flesh and as he explains to the people of Capernaum when they want him to stay

GN“I must preach the Good News about the Kingdom of God in other towns also, because that is what God sent me to do.”

NIV                                                                                                                               43  “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

Driven Out or Begged To Stay, Nazareth or Capernaum, for Jesus the mission remains the same and it's spread must steadily continue, not be flattered or undermined. As a result at the end of the passage, Luke tells us

GN44 So he preached in the synagogues throughout the country.

NIV44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.       

Jesus Kept On Preaching this is what God had sent him to do, he had a divine purpose and he was going to keep on doing what he was sent to do.

Now I don't know how many of you here are teenegers, have teenaged children, are involved in some way with teenaged children, or still feel like you haven't quite emerged from teenagedom yourself, but it's often a time when the big existential questions get thrown around, wept over, huffed about...

along the lines of;

'what's the point of being here?

I didn't ask to be born

I don't know what I want to do with my life'

Perhaps these comments appear in response to a simple request ;

to remove the clothes from the floordrobe and put them in the wardrobe

or to remove their eyes from the facebook and put them in a textbook;

or perhaps these questions are a response to a much deeper or more painful circumstance.

As people who love and care for such teenagers, wouldn't it be great to have the answers, like I had for this quiz, wouldn't it be great to be able to say to the teenager, look this isn't necessarily the obvious answer but I know with certainty that it is the right answer.

 But as we know, life is not that straight forward and the obvious answer as a believer in Christ, that God is the answer , His Kingdom , his son , his saving, gracious love - his purpose is the answer - can at first mention be hard for the teenaged ear to hear, to abosorb, to accept.

We see Luke's writing in the context of his being a medical doctor with a clear purpose and perspective on the world.

He is from a professional tradition of problem solvers, of people who respond practically to circumstances and questions.

And what a rollercoaster journey with Jesus Luke has taken us on already in these first 4 chapters. Some highlights

From angelic announcement to birth, to baptism in the River Jordon  by his cousin John The Baptist with the Holy Spirit arriving as a dove and voice of God proclaiming Jesus to be his son in whom He is well pleased.

And so on to a 40 day Holy Spirit led time of Solitude in the desert, ending with temptation by Satan and Jesus' rejection of Satan.

And then the work for which Jesus was born begins -

proclaiming the Good News of everlasting life with a loving creator Father .

Let's go back for a moment to that gap between being well received in Nazareth and arriving in Capernaum.

The theologian and commentary writer William Barclay drew my attention to the fact that Jesus attended Synagogue frequently even though there must have been many occasions when he may not have agreed with the religious perspective taken up by other worshippers. Nevertheless, the important thing regardless of differences was to be there worshipping with the other people of God, even if as in this instance such differences caused Jesus to be driven out by the outraged worshippers from the Synagogue in his home town....

incensed as they were by hearing from Jesus that their inheritance as God's children was to be extended to the Gentiles.

Incensed to murder is how angry those worshippers were and yet as they attempted to throw Jesus off a cliff, God made man, he simply walked away through the crowd and travelled on to the coastal town of Capernaum some 25 miles away.

Next we see him back in Synagogue in Capernaum - the Nazareth experience having distracted Jesus not one jot.

Not only was he doing what he had come to do but he continued to worship in his Father's house, congregational differences notwithstanding and I believe there is a lesson for us all in that example.

Part of our fuel as a faithful people is to worship God within the body of the church, it's part of Kingdom living, living in and for God's Kingdom.

We again see the divine authority of Jesus when casting out the demons from the possessed man in Capernaum. Whether we choose to regard the demons as literally spirits possessing the man or not, a mental disorder certainly held that man completely within it's grip, allowing no space for the man himself to be visible, and yet in an instant Jesus caused the man to be released from it's grip to live henceforth in a new found freedom.

Is this not one of the things Jesus promised to do when he told the Synagogue at Nazareth that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, here to set the captives free, in the Nazareth manifesto that Trevor spoke of last week?

Whilst the instant healing of Peter's mother in law with a high fever, is an example of a person released from the prison of suffering, into the freedom of a healed life lived with purpose, literally serving Christ, as Peter's mother in law immediately begins to do.

What are we to make of these healings?

The obvious conclusion to draw would be:

Jesus is the answer to all that ails us - if we believe, we too will be released.

Does that mean that those of us who experience bad things, mental health issues, physical or spiritual struggles, are just not believing hard enough? If we were would we be healed, surely ?

Should we add not faithful enough to our mountain of woes?

It feels like the connundrum of the desert temptation - Satan acknowledges the ultimate power Jesus has, even as he tempts him, yet Jesus stays with the hard path laid out for him,

And as with the question the demon asks Jesus in the temple, all that is of damage and hurt acknowledges the authority of Jesus,

GN 34 “Ah! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are: you are God's holy messenger!”

NIV

34 “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

We are to challenge all that works against God's Kingdom as believers and followers of Jesus and although it means we have the love, joy and comfort of God it does not mean that we avoid hard times, temptations or distressing conditions of mind body or spirit.

Jesus did not avoid death, neither did his great proclaimers John the Baptist, Paul nor Peter.

When the baby Jesus was taken to be circumcised, Simeon told Mary at Luke 2;35

GN And sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart.”

NIV

And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Even Jesus' mother could not avoid sorrow

Damage hurt and struggle do not avoid even the most highly regarded lovers of Jesus - why should it be any different for us.

But because we are loved and watched over by our heavenly Father we do not have to carry our sorrows alone, along with inspiration forgiveness and love comes respite, in all that we, do in our actions and in our burdens God's strength accompanies us in Christ and in the Holy Spirit. The heartbreak is perhaps for those who have to carry their burdens without Christ.

We believe, love and live in the world as it is, but by the way we believe, love and live, we can draw in the Kingdom of God on earth and help change the world.

We have the choice to help to make this God's Kingdom where His love freedom and justice are supreme or we can help to push God's kingdom away, either by inaction or by actively living against the way Jesus calls us to live, and thereby handing over supremacy to Satan.

Early on Friday afternoon I caught the bus into Brixton to get the tube up town.

As the 45 bus pulled up at the stop by Brixton Police Station, 3 young men came down the stairs to get off muttering that 'yeah yeah they'd be there.' As they exited the bus & the doors shut behind them, there was suddenly a flurry of limbs on the pavement as 2 other young men, boys really, scrambled & clashed with the bus boys.

One fell to the ground and above him a long broad steel knife was pulled out from coat layers.

It wasn't clear as to what happened next but suddenly the scrambling groups parted & one boy limped away.

It all happened in a matter of moments - so fast that as the bus pulled off past a police van that had just now arrived, it was left to the women on the bus, all of us black, mainly older women, to decipher what we had witnessed from behind the bus windows, as we watched our sons & brothers attempt to harm each other outside our police station.

I was shocked even though I know it happens far too often.

I was upset, what could I have done to stop it?

All I could do and will continue to do for those boys is pray that someone will intervene in their lives in some meaningful, life changing way.

But long term what can I do, where I live?

How can we challenge Satan's attempt at supremacy in our world?

How can we bring in God's Kingdom and offer Christ's hope of an alternative way of living to those young men who could have been my brothers, cousins or sons, but who are all God's children?

After a night of healing the sick of Capernaum, at sunrise, as in the desert, again Christ goes off to lonely place.

At other times in the Gospels when we hear of Christ going off to a lonely place, often in that place of solitiude, he is at prayer with his heavenly Father before re entering the world to continue doing what he was sent to do, so perhaps we can assume after a nights healing, he goes off to pray now.

Our strength, our fuel comes in worship, in study and in prayer, so that godly action can follow, just as Luke shows in the example of Jesus.

The demon asks what has Jesus to do with him?

The damage and suffering that he represents is to be challenged, commanded out, silenced.

 We can challenge, command out and silence damage, suffering and sin in our lives and in the world around us only in God's strength.

God our creator, all knowing, all powerful, sent Jesus here with the mission to win hearts and minds through love, not to change lives by force.  

GN I must preach the Good News about the Kingdom of God

NIV I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God

Jesus says.

It is with Love that we are to proclaim the Gospel.

It's interesting to see, in Nations across the world when a form of rule is imposed by dictatorship, how a country struggles to remain stable and adaptable to circumstances, compared to a country where rule is chosen in a democratic way.

Now I'd be a fool to say that democracy works perfectly in our imperfect world, but choice means we have ownership of the decision we make and have a strong relationship with that choice.

Coming to faith is like that - God created the world, God can do anything but love is at the heart of the relationship we have with Him and love means making the choice to live in his Kingdom not being forced to it. - Perhaps this is what constantly mistifies Satan and his demons in this passage. We are brought back into that relationship when we choose to accept the offer of God's love and the rule of His Kingdom in our lives.

Luke's Gospel lays out practical ways for us to live changed repentant lives, to stop doing the things that give encouragement to Satan and to start doing things that strengthen God's Kingdom.

We are reading all of Luke's Gospel - the whole account of Jesus' life, over Lent.

And as we prepare to celebrate Christ's death and resurrection at Easter we are also preparing ourselves for Kingdom activity in our own lives and in our own neighbourhoods and Parish just as Jesus did.

And Luke the doctor, the practical man the problem solver can support us in this - examining the life Jesus led, Luke lays out Christ's example for us to follow.

What's our response to Jesus' Nazereth manifesto that God... 4 18/19

GN has chosen me to bring good news to the poor.


He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    

and recovery of sight to the blind,


to set free the oppressed

19 and announce that the time has come
 when the Lord will save his people.”

NIV has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.


He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
   

and recovery of sight for the blind,


to set the oppressed free,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[f]?

Empty headed but alive in your hands we sang, in the song Majesty.

Are we alive in God's hands?

Are we alert to his call, is Christ's Nazareth manifesto alive in our lives and being shared with those around us?

Some of you may know that there is now a Milkwood Working Party it's a PCC Working Group chaired by Adrian Parkhouse exploring Tearfund's Discovery programme with the intention of preparing our two churches for greater community engagement.                                                                                The working party is working to be alert to God's call to us as Kingdom believers in the Parish of Herne Hill, and in the coming months we will be asking you to join us in discovering ways to best bring in God's Kingdom.

We will be asking you in many practical ways to listen for God's call, so that we may all discern in what godly way we can, as a believing community, live out Christ's Nazareth Manifesto, proclaiming the Gospel of Love and Hope from our loving God.

As with the answers in that quiz, once we have a clear sense of pressing Parish need, the answers we come up with to address those needs, may not be the obvious ones, but the overall aim remains in a very real way to bring Jesus to the centre of Herne Hill, and studying practical Luke feels like an appropriate preparation for the task ahead.

The demon demanded of Jesus.

GN34 “Ah! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us?

NIV“Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?"

Can we illicit such a response from the elements of damage, hurt and sorrow in Herne Hill?

In God's strength will we heed the call to follow our Lord's example in Herne Hill?

Will we bow to our Father's authority even when as worshippers we have differences?

Will we respond to that existential question why am I here, what's the point - by asking God, 'how can you use me?'

Can we work to release our teenagers and teenaged selves from broken hearts and sword pierced despair....?

In the Power of the Holy Spirit, in the example of our Lord Jesus, and in the strength of our heavenly Father I pray we will answer Christ's call and keep on being his Kingdom people proclaiming God's gracious unswerving love for us and our everlasting hope in Him.

So to we teenagers of all ages I say,

Christ is the answer.

Amen