Sermon 13th July 2014

This Sunday, one of our Lay Readers, Adrian Parkhouse, continues our study of the Minor Prophets. 

Today, we look at Zechariah.

1.              Our text this morning is taken from the opening credits of the long-running BBC sitcom The Liver Birds.

                  “You dancing?”  “You asking?”  “I’m asking.”  “I’m dancing.”

                  Some of you will know the following piece of personal information:  others will not and for some it will come as a very great surprise. For a short time I was a dancer;  a contemporary dancer.  In fact I am able to say that Anne and I went on a dance tour of the East Coast of the US.  (I have to say that carefully since so often people assume I meant a darts tour).   Among the place that we performed was the New York School of performing Arts (remember the school in Fame?) and one lunchtime in the lobby of the World Trade Centre (the twin towers).  I confess that by then my talent had been exposed and I was third reserve as a dancer and responsible for stage management – but I had danced!  I had had that experience of control over my body; of discipline in movement;  of feeling and not  just hearing the music.  I had danced.  If only for a short time, I had danced.

2.              Perhaps that’s why I dance almost every Sunday morning.  In my mind.  I have shared before that as we gather for worship and during our opening hymn, I often imagine myself as a child in the streets of old Jerusalem, the warm sun on my shoulders, dancing, skipping, twirling my way up to the old Temple in worship.  Welcome to my world!

3.              There of course is the link to today’s prophet, Zechariah.  The Temple.  I am grateful to Simon whose sermon last week explained the historic situation in which both Haggai (on whom he spoke) and Zechariah found themselves.  The two prophets lived at the same time:  both began their prophetic ministries in the second year of the reign of the Persian king, Darius;  and both were in Jerusalem among the refugees from the Babylonian exile who had returned.  It had been the decree of a Babylonian emperor, Cyrus, that had permitted the return and had encouraged the reconstruction of the decimated Temple.  Civil war had then (as now) dominated the region and work on the Temple had stopped and only now, under the new Persian regime of Darius, could it restart.  Simon explained last week how Haggai had encouraged the people to make the rebuilding their priority – to put God at the centre of their lives. 

4.              Haggai’s message was brief – just 2 chapters.  Zechariah’s is longer and on first reading, much, much weirder!  I should be interested if anyone here has studied the prophet before?  One thing that is obvious quite soon is the variety of forms that the prophecy takes:  it is as if Zechariah knew that the time for prophecy was almost at a close, that the 400 years of silence from God that marked the period between the last of the books in our Old Testament and the birth of Christ was almost upon them – so that he was determined to include every form of prophetic messaging in what he had to say.  So for example we have the traditional prophecies against neighbouring countries, we have promises of blessing on Jerusalem and its occupants, we have the prophecy of the Day of the Lord, we have (and this is an important theme illustrated by our reading today) the promise of a messiah, and we have dreams.  Zechariah’s dreams take up the first 6 chapters and, because they are different, it is on them, I want to concentrate this morning.

5.              Zechariah’s dreams all come in one night.  He experiences seven visions:  he starts by speaking to a man on a red horse among myrtle trees;  then he sees fours horns and four craftsmen;  then a man with a measuring line measuring the city; then the high priest as an accused man in a court room being dressed in new garments;  then two olive trees and a seven-branch lampstand; and then things get really interesting as he sees a huge flying scroll;  which is followed by a woman in a basket  being carried away by angels;  and lastly four chariots racing out  between bronze mountains.  Quite a night!

                  What is it all about?  Zechariah’s message is one of comfort.  His dreams have taken him outside this world to somewhere that might be heaven and they have shown him that God is in control.  He has seen that in the heavenly places the script is already written and the story is a good one for God’s people.  The first horsemen receives the news that “we have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace”:  but that peace  is not God’s peace and it will be upset – those horns and the craftsmen will do that – while the man with the measuring line is designing the City of God to be without boundaries, to hold everyone;  and in the courtroom scene, the community while  guilty is forgiven, is clothed in white and the olive trees show the religious and the politicians working in harmony while the scroll and the basket concern the removal of lying and wickedness from the City.

                  A prophet dreaming dreams;  understanding and explaining  that God is in charge whatever immediate circumstances.  Makes you want to dance?  “Am I asking?”

6.              This week the PCC considered and endorsed a paper which has its share of prophetic  content for us in our places right here right now.  It was the report of the Milkwood/Discovery Working Party.  You may remember having contributed to its thinking by participating in the Celebration Sunday, by being part of the discussion at the Parish Weekend and by completing or delivering postcards saying what you thought would make our area a better place?  As one member of the group I am proud of the work that has been done and I am proud with our recommendations which in summary are a challenge to the whole Parish to engage more strongly with our communities.  We recommend the creation of (another) group, a Community Action Group, charged with continuing the research into need and opportunity and driving the process of engagement forward in Parish life.  More will be heard of this in the weeks and months to come.

                  For today I want to emphasise one element of the process we adopted:  for several weeks we “dreamed dreams”.  For several weeks we danced.  For several weeks we dreamed about how our area might be.  Will you come with me and join our dream?

Are you dancing?  I am asking

“Muslim, Rastafarian, healthy, sick - all connected; respect for each other; respect for place; ... young people invite their friends here because it is a good place to be. Church and schools much more connected ... People share their skills, expertise and time. Nobody worries about shopping lists because we all share. ...  people ... feel at home. Houses still affordable, keep a cultural mix. People are on the streets – and that is great; mothers walking children in their prams and singing. Nobody needs drugs... .

Youth club, farmers market and ladies’ cricket club in the park. Coffee and chat. Needlecraft in the park, teaching cookery ... . Arts and plays in the park theatre. Harvesting ... . The elderly at St Saviour’s for a slap-up lunch. A fashion show and fundraiser, a bake-off, food and culture shared and swapped; more food, a monthly food festival, a carnival. Social enterprises – enterprise and employment spreading out. Enablement training, to grow a new generation of community leaders.

Café opening onto the park – an awning, people relax. Local web forum – ... . A community health centre. ... . A welcome pack for everyone coming into the community.

Smooth pavements, clean streets. More greenery, birds and butterflies. The zip wire zips, the swings swing.

....

7.              Zechariah dreamed and learned that God was in charge and that the plan was already written. 

                  Are you dancing?

Amen