Sermon 19th May 2013

Today, one of our Lay Readers, Simon Brindley preaches based on the reading from 1 John 2, verses 12-17: 

Do not love the world

I am going to start what I have to say this morning with a beautiful dark blue Ferrari and finish with a lovely old fashioned wooden chest of drawers, the kind in fact you might find in a church vestry: it’s not particularly high but it is rather wide and there are plenty of drawers, some drawers narrow, some quite deep.

Now anyone who knows me well might think that I am not very easily led astray by the kind of material things that some people seem to value most highly. I have never really been one for the next bigger house or the latest car or for going after the biggest pay cheque, for example. A good friend once described our kitchen floor at home, before it was done up recently, as a monument to non-materialism, which I think was one way of saying it really desperately needed attention! I do get round to these things eventually, sorry Jennie!

I have another friend who has taken me over the years for a drive in a number of really very flash cars.  Each time I thought it was definitely worth a try to see what all the fuss was about. The first time I can remember was when he bought a Rolls Royce to send to his brother who lives abroad and he took me for a drive round the streets of West London. It was kind of comfortable inside I suppose but after 5 or 10 minutes I was bored by this rather sedate and lumbering piece of shiny metal, even if people did actually stop to look as we drove by. It really was rather dull!

Apologies at this point to all of you who are car fans!

Then a few years later this same friend bought a Porsche. Not the cheap one, the Boxter I think it is called, but the classic flash Porsche sportscar – might it have been a Porsche 911? - and we went for a drive up a dual carriageway near where he lives and he accelerated way beyond the speed limit in about 4.5 seconds.  But I just felt a bit annoyed as it was noisy and my back hurt. I wasn’t ungrateful, just not really as impressed as I tried to sound. It really was rather uncomfortable!

Pause..

But then a few years ago this same friend bought a Ferrari, a truly beautiful, sleek, wonderful Ferrari as richly, warmly darkest blue as a summer’s Italian sky at night, as comfortable inside as the finest leather sofa, not noisy but alive and as perfectly tuned as any petrol engine was ever made to be, everything truly stylish, everything working in perfect harmony. And at that point I think I understood what it meant to fall in love with a car! If I had been one for cars, I remember thinking, that is surely the car I would want to go for. My friend sold it a year or two later and I still can’t quite work out why and feel sad that I may not get another go in it!

So what does John mean when he says that we are not to love the world or anything that belongs to the world, what people see and want and everything in this world that people are so proud of? You see, I may not really love cars or bigger houses or really large paycheques but I actually I do love bikes and holidays and sport and my job and my collection of historical books and artifacts from the Polar Regions. There are, actually, plenty of things that, if I am honest, I do sometimes see and want and at least begin to feel proud of.

So what are any of us to make of John’s words? We’ll come back to this shortly..

In this letter, as I am sure we have already touched upon on a previous Sunday or Sundays in this series, John – who is also the gospel writer John - is writing to people who are already Christians but he is writing to remind them of the truths of what they believe because there are people around who are trying to lead them astray with different kinds of false teaching, in particular those who wanted to argue that Jesus was not the Messiah and was not actually the Son of God.

And there may also have been those who wanted to argue that our life in this world, with all its dynamics, fears, temptations and pressures, is so far removed or separated from the spiritual realms, the world of God, that actually it does not really matter what you do or think or experience in this world because in some way you will be saved into another or you can escape to another world and it is only there where God’s laws and standards apply.

You might find it helpful to think that one thing people were struggling with was the idea of God actually being present in this world in the person of Jesus Christ and this world, as it is, therefore being in that very real sense God’s holy world where God operates, where God is to be found, where God is to be followed, where God is to be obeyed..

That is one reason why, it seems to me, John has to remind his readers so forcefully to be very careful indeed about what they think and do now and about the way they behave. We’ll come back to that again and what it might mean for us shortly….

But first, before he gets to that, it seems to me that John wants to do two things in this section of his letter that is our passage for today: he wants to leave the readers of his letter in no doubt as to who it is he is talking to and he wants at the same time to remind them and to take them back to the truths of what it is that as Christians they believe….

So why not listen up and think which of these speaks most to you this morning?

First he says, “I am writing to you my children, or dear children….”. This is for all of you I think he is saying and it is for all of you who I care for either because you were my children in the faith, the ones I, John, helped grow into faith or the ones who are still perhaps like children in learning your faith..

I am writing to all of you… and why?

Here is the first reminder of the truth of what it is as Christians they believe, “because your sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ”. Here is that core of Christianity, sins forgiven, the past made good, the slate wiped clean. John takes the readers back here to that powerful reminder at the start of this letter that “if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins God will forgive us and purify us from all wrong doing”. Christ died for sinners like you and me….Mull it over, struggle with it, wrestle with it, think about it but don’t ignore it and do not say we have not sinned and do not need forgiveness.

He is talking to all of them and he reminds them first of that fundamental truth of what Christians believe. “I am writing to all of you, so listen to what I am going to say if this forgiveness has been part of your Christian experience. But it should be part of your Christian experience!”

Next he says, I am writing to you, fathers. Let’s forgive him the male specific language of the time on this one and accept that he is writing to fathers and mothers. And, I suspect, from the sense of this whole passage, he is at this point wanting to speak to the older generation of his readers.

I am writing to you, older people….and why?

“Because you know him who has existed from the beginning”

There is a sermon surely in those words alone. You could debate whether he is talking here about God the father or God the son but for today I am going to suggest that he is echoing the opening words of his gospel talking about Jesus as the Word, the one who both is God and was with God right from the beginning of all things, the one through whom everything was made and without whom nothing was made.

Here is a fundamental truth. I confess it is one of my favourites because it speaks of a conscious, living, deliberate, personal, warm and powerful Creator at the heart of this universe, not just the cold and powerful laws of physics….And as Christians you know him….mull it over, struggle with it, wrestle with it, think about it…

I am writing to you, my older readers, so listen if God the Creator has been part of your Christian experience. But it should be part of your Christian experience!

Next, he says, I am writing to you young men. Again let’s forgive him the male specific language and suggest he is really talking to the younger men and women he is writing to, to his younger readers.

I am writing to you, younger people…and why?

“Because you have defeated the Evil One”

Again surely a sermon in these words alone but it seems to me John is reminding his readers of this truth. That just as God exists, so evil exists and our existence is caught up, both personally and as societies, in a battle against it. Have you ever felt that desire to defeat the evil you see around you? Have you ever felt that need to battle in yourself against what you know is wrong?

And as Christians you know that evil is less powerful than good, both in your world and in yourselves. Evil is defeated………mull it over, struggle with it, wrestle with it, think about it.

I am writing to you my younger readers. So listen if the battle between good and evil has been part of your Christian experience..but it should be part of your Christian experience!

Then next it is back to writing to everyone, to the children and why, this time?

“Because you know the Father…”

And there is that truth that God himself, as he was for Jesus, is our heavenly father and that can know him as such. Mull it over, wrestle with it, think about it… but knowing God as your loving heavenly Father should be a part of your Christian experience.

Then John starts to repeat himself just to make sure they are not half asleep or not getting the point.

I am writing to you fathers, because you know him who has existed from the beginning! Don’t forget that one you older people!

Then back finally to the younger readers and before he repeats himself again and tells them again that the evil they experience in the world around them and struggle with in their own lives is not more powerful than the good that can be achieved and that they know in themselves is right; that the Evil One has been defeated, he finds time to squeeze in two more fundamental truths of the Christian good news:

I am writing to you younger people, he says,

“Because you are strong, and because the word of God lives in you”

Here are two final Christian truths, I would suggest. First our faith can make us strong. Faith gives us strength and hope, it does not make us weak and hopeless; the Holy Spirit gives us strength to work for God, to sustain our lives and our families and to help us to overcome evil both in society and in our personal lives.

And secondly, John says, the word of God lives in us. The Word in Christian tradition is sometimes used to describe Jesus himself and sometimes the word as written in the Bible. I would suggest that Christian experience is that both can come alive in us as we grow to know Jesus working in our lives and as we study these scriptures and understand their sustaining and guiding value.

So, you younger readers, listen to what I am about to say if you have had these experiences, of knowing the strength that faith can bring, of understanding what it means to know Jesus himself - and the words of scripture – sustaining your life….but these should be part of your experience!

And so, if any of this rings true in your own experience, young or old, all of you, listen now to what I am going to say, says John,

“Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world you do not love the Father…read the rest of I John 2 verses 15-17.

And what are we now to make of that, we who can say yes to Christian experience, we who have known forgiveness, we who believe in the Creator, we who can understand the truth of the struggle between good and evil, we who know God as father, we who know the strength that faith provides, we who cherish the word of God?

Are we all to become hermits, to reject all worldly material values, to take no pleasure in any thing? Is that what John is saying? I am sure there have been some over the centuries who would say so.

But the sense I get, both from this letter and elsewhere in the Bible is not that. I think it is rather where we are to put our trust, what we are to build our lives upon, what is to be our foundation, what is to be the correct order of priorities, how if you like we give God his proper place in our lives, what it is we think of as having the highest value.

Is it really the case that a person’s ultimate worth is to be measured by the size of their pay packet, by the car they drive, by their place in the pecking order? Love those things I would suggest, put them top of your agenda, build your life only on those, make them your highest values and you will be disappointed…

Is it really the case in fact that your true worth is defined by whatever things you value most whether that is, as it might be in my case, your bikes or your job or your collection of historical books on polar travel or whatever? Love those things I would suggest, in the sense of making them the foundation stone or the heart of your life, give them your highest values and you will be disappointed…

Don’t build your house on sand says Jesus in the famous parable story, build it on the rock. Don’t worry about what you are going to eat or to wear says Jesus, Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be given to you as well.

Love your neighbour says the Old Testament, but love your neighbour as much as you love yourself. But above all love God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength.

Put no more confidence in mortal men, says the prophet Isaiah in chapter 2 in a dramatic passage describing how everything man-made and that man relies on will be swept away. What are mortal men worth? Look it up if you would like to…

Rather than making things that the world values the heart and foundation of your life, says John in this letter, you are to do the will of God. And that is the challenge each day and in every situation, for those who would be disciples of Jesus Christ, young or old. Where is God leading me and what might He want me to do?

And here we come finally to the picture I have had in my mind this week of this wooden chest of drawers. Let’s imagine it has 5 sections to pull out. Three medium sized ones in the middle, one small narrow one at the bottom and one large one at the top.

But it is the three in the middle that tend to get the most use. Pull them open and they slip in and out easily, well worn….and there you see what we often rely on, what we often dress ourselves in to get through each day, the things the world values..whatever that might be for you.

One problem Christians have faced in my opinion over the last 40 or 50 years has been the growing feeling, in this society at least, that putting God at the centre of your life rather than the things the world values, meant shutting up those three middle drawers and instead opening the narrow door at the bottom of this cupboard. Open that up and you find a musty smell, dull and dusty clothing, damp buildings, incomprehensible language, a feeling of being oppressed and, possibly even worse, of being misused or abused. This is the drawer of narrow religion…

But instead I think there are plenty of signs that in fact doing the will of God enables us to open the top drawer, a bit stiff perhaps from little use, and begin to see what putting God first makes possible…the abundance of life with God at its centre. You might just catch it in this church where I hear people say they love to come. You might catch it on a visit to Brixton prison or when someone in your family is ill and you know you are rich because of the love poured out by your friends and neighbours in the family of the church. You might find it at a wedding where the couple want the wedding service to be the heart of their day not just the bit you have to go through to get to the real party afterwards, and it proves to be a really joyful time of worship.

Or you might find it in your experience of forgiveness or of understanding God as the loving heavenly Creating Father or when you sense that evil will not triumph over good or you feel the strength that God provides or the reassurance when God speaks right into your situation as you read what He provides in this book…

Then you might rightly enjoy some of the other good things that God provides in this world but in their proper place and always asking what is it that God wants me to do.

Amen

Sermon 12th May 2013 (AGM)

Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker, give a talk as part of a shortened service due to St. Paul's AGM being held afterwards.  The reading is from John 17 verses 20-26

Now, you know that saying, “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings” ... ? Well, Anita once asked: “Dear God, is it true my father won’t get in Heaven if he uses his football words in the house?”

Amanda requested: “Dear God please will you put another holiday between Christmas and Easter. There’s nothing good in there now”.

Joyce chided: “Dear God, thank you for the baby brother; but what I asked for was a puppy. I’ve never asked for anything before. You can look it up”.

Janet complained: “Dear Mr. God, I wish you wouldn’t make it so easy for people to come apart. I had to have 3 stitches and an injection”.

Norma asked: “Dear God, did you really mean for giraffes to look like that; or was it an accident?”

Larry advised: Dear God, maybe Cain and Abel wouldn’t kill each other so much if they each had their own rooms. It works best with me and my brother”.

Frank reassured: “Dear God, I am doing the best I can. Really!!!”

Thomas admired: “Dear God, I didn’t think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday night. That was really cool”.  

And Nancy mused: “Dear God, I bet it’s very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it”.

I could go on, of course; but on this AGM Sunday it is only a short talk – and the key point is already made, I think. Or maybe it’s projection, and your prayers are different to this mixture that we’ve just heard. I suspect, though, that we often do pray in this way, with friendly advice; information-giving; gentle complaint; admiration; and making outright requests of God. Of course I’d like to think that the series that we did in the middle of last year changed that, a little. Looking again in depth at the Lord’s Prayer should have taught us both how Jesus himself prayed and also how he wants us to pray – to our Father, in heaven. But it still seemed a good idea to return to this same territory, as today we look back over church life in 2012, and also ahead, to the rest of 2013.

Yes, it is weird to be doing this in mid-May; but that is how the system has to work. So we just need to make the most of it. And we can do that by bringing it all to God: past, present, and future; in the context of prayer, I thought. Our reading from John’s Gospel just ‘happens’ to be the set Lectionary one for today. But how better to pause our current series on the first letter written by this same John than in this way? Now all of John chapter 17 is, of course, another of Jesus’ prayers (and I’m sure that it hasn’t escaped your notice how he did a lot of praying). This was a rather more urgent one, because it was Jesus’ prayer on night before he died, which gives it huge added significance.

What’s most amazing is that, in those dire circumstances, Jesus prayer included us! In the first part of this chapter Jesus prayed for his disciples. Where we picked it up, he said: “I pray not only for them (the disciples) but also for those who believe in me because of their message”: i.e. for us! Even as he faced his own death – and all that involved – Jesus had the bigger, eternal picture very much in his mind. No doubt there are several lessons to be learned from that – including the most obvious one. The bigger picture does always need to be kept in mind, because very little ever happens by itself! As the old saying goes, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll certainly hit it”. Usually it takes being intentional about it: first aiming, and then achieving it.

We could say that was our primary learning point of 2011: being intentional about learning, growing, and doing. But our collective reading of Rick Warren’s book Purpose Driven Life two years ago mostly focused us on what we knew, and were doing already. We’ve long had a Parish Aim statement by which we measure all that we do. Being intentional certainly has carried on since 2011; but today we have chance to review that, to see if we have, or are, achieving what we set out to, within that bigger picture. And it certainly seems to me that we need to do that in the bigger-picture setting of Jesus’ final recorded prayer. So: “I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me”, Jesus prayed, for us – right before he died.

Well, there’s enough in just that one verse for us to be getting on with, I’d say! As we look back, and as we look forward, how united are we in what God is doing in this place? And how much do we focus on ensuring that people here believe that Jesus is God’s Son? All I can ever do is to ask the questions; and then invite us to address them – intentionally, of course! The year ahead has amazing possibilities for the Parish of Herne Hill, I truly believe. We’re starting to re-imagine mission, working outward from the Milkwood area. The St Paul’s redevelopment is imminent, we hope. And that’s ‘just’ the major new stuff! The key questions, for all of us, in all of this, then are: how united are we in them; and how focused are we on people coming to faith through them?

Those are the bigger-picture questions that I hope – and intend! – we will keep at forefront of our collective mind, and prayers, as we go through rest of year. We have got to be of one mind in this; and it has got to be about people coming to know Jesus as God’s Son. Today’s happy news is that we have a new member of the up-front team to keep us choosing to walk along this path through the year ahead. Ben Hughes has been on our preaching rota for some time now. His ‘secret’ is that he was ordained years ago in the Diocese of London. Negotiations have now been concluded for him to be licensed as an Honorary Assistant Minister here. He will now play his part in helping us to be united in people coming to know Jesus. But of course that can only ever happen if all of us are up for it. So there’s the question that’s put to each of us on this AGM Sunday: are you ready and willing to play your part too? Let’s pray ...

Sermon 5th May 2013

Today, our Assistant Minister, Gill Tayleur, continues our look at the gospel of John.
The reading is from John 2 verses 1-11.

I wonder if you’ve seen the film, The Karate Kid. It's about an American boy who moves to China with his mum and he gets bullied and beaten up at school. He meets an old man

who’s a karate master and asks if he can learn karate to defend himself. The master agrees to train the boy, but only if the boy will promise that he will listen to whatever he is told, and obey him, and do whatever he’s told, to learn well. The boy promises. Then, what’s the boy asked to do? For days on end the master tells him to wash and wax cars and floors, and to clean and paint walls. And even though the boy gets very sore muscles, he isn’t allowed to take a break. Finally, the boy can’t stand it anymore, and complains, "I came for karate, but you’re teaching me nothing!"It looks like he’s not learning karate at all. He complains he’s being used and treated as a worker and a slave. He feels he’s being tricked. But the master asks him: "How do you wipe the car? Show me.” The boy begins to wipe an imaginary car in the air and the teacher attacks him, but the wiping movement the boy is doing actually blocks the attack. Then the teacher tells him to "wipe the walls with both hands," and attacks him again. The same thing happens – the boy blocks the punch while he’s "wiping the walls". The teacher keeps on attacking him, but he keeps blocking by moving in the same way as he had done those chores. So the things his teacher had told him to do were not just ordinary tasks, but were training for karate movements. And the boy becomes proficient in karate in only two months and he goes on to be a champion. All because the boy obeyed the master in the first place, even when it seemed silly to him.

We’re on to the next part of John’s 1st letter, with some of the same themes we’ve heard before from the first chapter, like light, having fellowship with God or knowing him, sin and forgiveness, and some new ones. It has been said that John often seems to write that way – rather than in a linear A then B then C then D type way, he says A and B, then A and B and a little of C, and then A C and D, then B and D and a little E and so on, developing his ideas

in interconnected ways... And in the verses we’re looking at this morning, John builds on what he has already said and introduces his next idea, obedience. And he relates obedience to the knowledge of God, and to the love of God.

Loving God, knowing God, and obeying God, all go together. They’re all intertwined.

And they all encourage one another, and grow together, making a kind of virtuous circle:

the more we know God, the more we love God, the more we want to obey God, the more we know him, and so on...

In John’s gospel chapter 14, John – this same John – tells us that at the Last Supper

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

Loving God, knowing God, and obeying God, all go together. And here in John’s first letter,

again we hear about how they’re interconnected. In verses 3, 4 & 5 John says: “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says I know him

but does not do as he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.”

In other words, John says that if we don’t obey God, it shows we don’t really know God.

But if we do obey him, it shows we do know and love him.

In the Good News version of the Bible used at St Saviour’s, it says But whoever obeys his word is the one whose love for God has really been made perfect. In the NIV used at St Paul’s, it has been translated to say God’s love is truly made complete in him. The verb used here isn’t crystal clear which it is, our love for God or his for us. But what matters is that obedience and love are intertwined in our relationship with God.

My point is this: Unless our obedience springs from knowing God, and his love for us, and loving him in return, then that obedience will be nothing more than sheer determination, just willpower, effort, incredibly hard work and we’ll have to try harder & harder. It’ll be exhausting and draining, and probably not very effective.

BUT if obedience to God springs from a personal knowledge of God and of his extraordinary love for us, his mercy and forgiveness of our sin, then our obedience will flow from gratitude

and love for God – and it will be life giving!! Just as difficult, still needing lots of effort, but life giving, even joyous!

Back to Jesus’ words in John’s gospel: “As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

So obedience flowing from love can be joyous!

That goes against the grain I know, as obedience is not a popular idea – at least not for ourselves; we’re happy for our children or dogs or other road users to be obedient! – But being told we’re to be obedient to God is not so comfortable.

So I’d like us to look at it a little more closely. What is obedience? Why might we obey? And how might we obey?

First then, WHAT is obedience to God? Obedience to anyone is surrendering my will to theirs.

It’s doing what they want rather than what I want, often because I recognise their authority.

Sometimes we can easily see good reason for this, like when we obey the red traffic light,

because we know that if we don’t there’ll be chaos on the roads and people will get hurt

and the rules of the highway code are for everyone’s benefit. So we obey. We stop and wait at the red light even when we want to get going.

Or there’s when we really REALLY don’t want to drag ourselves out of bed the morning after a late night, and everything in us says no, it can’t be good for me to get up! I need more sleep! But we do get up, because we don’t want to lose our job. Obeying our boss by getting to work on time and keeping our job is even better for us than an extra hour in bed!

Other times it’s even harder, like when we obey a gym trainer or coach, or diet advice.

In those situations, our bodies may be crying out to stop exercising, or eat more, but we override what we want and instead obey what we’re being told to do, because of who’s telling us. Another ten sit ups, another glass of water rather than a creamy hot chocolate.

But to do that we have to trust the person we’re going to obey. And that may often be the crunch. Can we really trust God, enough to do what he says even when we want to do

something else? Even when it feels all wrong to us (like getting out of bed, or doing yet another lap of the park even though I’m already aching and breathless)?

Yes we can trust God. God is our creator, maker, designer. He knows us inside out. And he knows exactly what’s best for us, what’s the best way for humankind to live. Even those who don’t believe, recognise that the 10 Commandments are a good blueprint for happy and effective societies. And that Jesus’ command to do to others as you’d have them do to you, is a good rule for life. We can trust that God knows best.

This leads on to the WHY or reason for obedience – it’s down to our relationship with God. Why might I do what my husband Trevor wants rather than what I want? Because I love him

and know he loves me! And I know I can trust him. God’s love and trustworthiness is a million times better than Trevor’s. (Even Trevor’s – it’s our 29^th wedding anniversary today and I can tell you Trevor is a loving & trustworthy husband! But not as perfectly loving & trustworthy as God!)

In order to trust God, and grow to love him, we have to get to know him personally for ourselves. Nothing can replace this; no amount of knowing things about God will be the same as actually knowing him. I can read a book about Nelson Mandela, can read his own books and speeches, get to know a lot about him – but that’s not the same as meeting him for tea!

As we get to know God better and deeper, we’ll want to obey him more and more fuelled by gratitude and love. This is why finding time & space & quiet to pray on a frequent regular basis is so crucial. It’s how we get to know God and his love for us, personally. David Benner, a North American professor of psychology and spirituality, draws out the difference between obedience based on sheer determination and on love, saying: “Love-shaped willing-obedience has a softness that teeth-gritting determination & discipline can never mimic.

Love opens us up and makes us more alive, whereas determination makes us more closed and less vital. God wants to touch our heart with love, and if we genuinely allow divine access to our depths, obedience will flow out of us like water from an inner spring. This is discipline turned on its head – not the result of our effort but the fruit of God’s action in us.”

More like that in his short book, Surrender to Love, which I recommend as a real help and encouragement to get to know God more personally.

So WHAT is obedience? It’s surrendering our will to God’s because we know and love him,

in response to his wonderful gracious merciful love for us. And HOW do we do it, how do we obey? In this passage, John uses 3 ways to describe how we obey God: We have Jesus’ commands to follow, we have his example and we have his word. They all amount to the same thing, a way of life that’s Christ-like and Christ-centred. A way of life that’s selfless

and serving. And that’s loving. The one thing John spells out here about how to obey

relates to LOVING. The command to love God and love others is the summary Jesus gave,

of all the Old Testament Law. And here John calls it both a new and an old commandment. 

It’s as old as the sun, but newly given and empowered in Jesus Christ.

John talks of living out this commandment to LOVE one another and God, in terms of walking in light or darkness. Last week Anthony Buckley spoke about choosing between

two paths in the woods, one dark and one light. The dark path may be quite attractive, as people can’t see what we’re up to, and we don’t have to see much of anyone else or their needs. But if we walk in the light, we can see others, and respond to them, and love them.

 “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light... but whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness...”

So let’s pause and think, how loving are we? How well do we love those in our lives who aren’t easy to love? Oh we all have people around who we naturally warm to, find it easy to like and to love – but what about those who are difficult? Those we disagree with? Those we find irritating?! Those who have wronged us or let us down? Do we secretly harbour resentments, or unforgiveness, or feelings of superiority? ... Remember love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it is not proud; it’s not rude, it’s not self seeking, it’s not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Ouch.

We can choose to come in to the light, to recognise and repent of our lack of love, and receive God’s forgiveness. And then choose to love better – not only based on determination and willpower, valuable as they are in their place, but flowing from the great

fathomless wonderful love and mercy of God.

We see that love and mercy most clearly at the cross, as we’ll remember at Holy Communion in a few minutes’ time. Let’s do that – and let’s pray that we’ll grow in the wonderful intertwining knowledge, love and obedience of God. Starting now; we pray as we sit...

Sermon 28th April 2013

Rev Anthony Buckley preached on 1 John 1 v 5 to 10. These are just notes, so do listen to his sermon on the podcast at http://hernehillparish.org.uk/podcast.html if you would like to hear it all.

1 John 1:5

Elvis Presley: Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away

1)     Message – where did we hear the message of the good news of God’s love from?

How are we going to pass it on?

2)     God is light

A Holy God – good, not safe, but good

We can trust him…

3)     Walking by the light – two paths in the woods, one dark, one light

Let us be honest about the attraction of the darkness – people cannot see what we are doing. We don’t have to see much of anyone else.

But there is attraction of walking in the light –

We can see clearly, around us, we notice things & people and where we are going

You can’t hold hands with someone unless you know where they are

It speaks of warmth

4)     What does walking in the light mean?

Being honest about ourselves

Acknowledging our sins - stop pretending.

And confessing our sins

"I know all about the despair of overcoming chronic temptations. It is not serious, provided self-offended petulance, annoyance at breaking records, impatience etc. don't get the upper hand. No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one's temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence."

C. S. Lewis, Letters (20 January 1942)

5)     We are going to win… John 1:5

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away