Sermon 1st February 2015

Today, one of our Lay Readers, Adrian Parkhouse, preaches. The reading is from Ephesians 1 verses 2-14. 

 “The secret plan/the great mystery”

“[H]e purposes in his sovereign will that all human history shall be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in Heaven or earth shall find its perfection and fulfilment in him.” Eph 1: 9,10 (JB Philips trans.)

1.              [In the ingratiating manner of a session-leader] OK ladies and gentlemen, thank you, thank you.  If you have all got what you need?  Phones off?  Good ‘cos we have got an awful lot of very important things to get through in our time together this morning.  I know that you know how seriously “management” takes the matters we cover in these sessions.  OK, as usual let’s start by considering our LOs for today and the KPIs we expect to be measuring.  “LOs”? … Come on now, basic stuff, “Learning outcomes”.  You know what, you will have learned by the time we leave here.  OK?  And so your KPIs are the key-performance-indicators, the ways we measure whether you have really learned it!  Now then let’s get to the meat of our topic this morning … Oh dear my powerpoint seems to be playing up …. .

2.              If only everything was as easy as that:  just listen to the explanation; check the achievement of the learning outcomes and then measure performance against pre-set targets.  Job done!  But in reality, most things are more complex:  we don’t necessarily want to be taught as if we were 5-year olds, we are not sure that the planned objectives, the outcomes, are valid for us and we will be hanged if we think that anyone has a right to assess the way we live our lives!  We are grown-up, thinking adults and we make our own decision about life.

                  OK, in anticipation of that view, I have set a very simple learning objective for today:  “try hard to listen”.  And an easy sort term performance indicator to measure:  “are you still awake at the end”.

3.              Some of you may be surprised by the basic level of these criteria – given the text for this morning.  Paul was almost certainly confined to prison when he writes this letter to the churches in around Ephesus and yet, as we read or hear this outpouring of insight into the intentions of God, it is hard not to imagine that he is excitedly pacing the cell dictating to his amanuensis and so the opening phrase of simple praise to God expands to become a  statement of wonder at the works of God.  And the prayer of praise intertwines:

·       God’s work at the biggest level:   before and in creation, in the implementing of a secret plan, a great mystery; and then in what is yet to come in fulfilment, perfection and redemption and glory;  and then too

·       God’s work in you and me – His work in the everyday level – choosing us, adopting us, letting us learn to praise, forgiving us, giving us insight and sealing us with the stamp of the Holy Spirit.

It is a wonderful passage; one to come back to again and again.  For today I want to use it in two ways.  First, I want you to breathe it in, I want you remember that sense of excitement, that emotion of grasping, however fleetingly, some element of the truths of God of which Paul speaks.  These things, this sense, are the background for what we will go on to consider in a moment.  Second, as a springboard to our main topic, I want you have in mind that the mystery/the plan that Paul speaks off is a vision of all human history, all creation, all things in heaven and earth finding their object in Jesus.  This was the vision that drove Paul’s mission to outsiders.  All, Jews and Gentiles were the same before God.

4.              Quick check:  still listening and therefore still awake?  Good.

                  So let’s do what I am meant to be doing today but let’s do it quickly.  Another text that is worth revisiting again and again is the report published in June last year by the Milkwood Working Party (available on the Parish website).  I would say that wouldn’t I – I was the Working Party’s convenor?  True:  but credit for the work of the group and particularly the writing of the Report is almost wholly down to others – returning to it recently I am bowled-over by its depth and its thoroughness.  One of the recommendations made is that the work recommended by the WP be the subject of regular reporting-back to the congregations:  that is why for the next 2 Sundays our sermons will centre around issues of social justice and why I take today as a chance to update you on what has happened since June.

                  Some background:  some years ago the PCC resolved to sell the site of St John’s Church on Lowden Road – originally a daughter/mission church of St Paul’s [remember the eventual street patterns were no known then].  At the same time it resolved to commit some part of the resource produced from the sale to continuing the parish presence in that area.

                  When the church was sold:  what to do?  We have a history of well-meaning but badly researched action.  Thus we undertook a process of investigation, in 2012 creating the Working Party and engaging an enabler from Tear Fund to guide through a process of looking at ourselves, our area, our dreams and what in practice we could do.  And from time to time you, the congregations, were drawn in.

                  The recommendations in the report amount to this:  that the parish should commit more to its engagement with social and community action within its own boundaries – to meet the needs that the Milkwood survey identified.  That we should look in particular at partnering with other agencies, leveraging our resources and theirs.  That a new Community Action Steering Group should take responsibility for co-ordinating and driving forward these plans and in generating enthusiasm among the congregations to engage.   (The real KPI for today.)

                  And so the CASG was set up in the Autumn and comprises Sharon, Wendy, Annabel and myself.  [St Paul’s].  And we are starting work.  The PCC this week received a bundle of papers which support a recommendation to work with London and Quadrant to provide youth activities during the Easter and Summer holidays.  At so many levels this has much to commend it:   not only activities but activities with an end in confidence and skill building; and creating and building a relationship with L&Q!  And we have just started to work with Tree Shepherd on a project with non-working folk in the area which is aimed at providing training and support to enable them to start new businesses.  And at the same time we have welcomed initiatives that have grown within the churches – Julia’s lunches for elderly.  And we are watching other things we learn of with potential community impact – eg the plans for the Carnegie Library and the Peabody homes on Milkwood.

                  The MWP report envisages the CSAG taking a lead:  that we will do.  But at the same time, in this working out the secret plan, the great mystery, in this acting out of the fulfilment of God’s love being shown to all our neighbours, you have to take a role:  first to listen and not to go to sleep;  then to tell us where you think the parish may have a part to play in the community – answering that question “what do you think we could be doing to make our parish “a better place to live”” (the question asked on our postcards) – the discovery process has not ended;  and also to get involved [St Paul’s?].  The projects mentioned already will give opportunities for engagement by helpers I youth work and mentors for employment from the churches.  Take the chance to be trained, get your children’s work screening (your Disclosure and Barring certificate) sorted now!

5.              This week marked the 60 years since the emancipation of Auschwitz.  It gave a chance to consider amidst the inexplicable horror, the countervailing acts of selflessness, of altruism by people who sacrificed themselves in place of others in the camps or who secreted Jews at enormous risk to themselves.  Why do people act like that?  What can provoke pro-social action?  As it happens, studies suggest that often the answer was that people who acted also held strong religious convictions.  But then so did many of the majority who did nothing.  The answer may be a highly individualistic thing – complex. 

Had I set learning objectives at the start which went beyond “stay awake”, that has suggested something “examine how the sense of God being at work in the world moves me”;  or if I had set KPIs that asked you to monitor how that sense, that knowledge of all people being part of God’s plan, showed itself in greater empathy for the poor, greater understanding for the marginalised, or making more time for others outside your own circle  - you would have accused me rightly or being utopian, unrealistic.  A criticism I would accept since our response to the sense of wonder is highly individuated – each of us has our own situations, our own responsibilities, our own histories.  But if you can tick the box as being still awake and if you have listened hard and if you sense the sense of excitement that says something like:  yes the church should be part of its community;  or yes I should like to be part of this, then do have a word with me either now or in the weeks ahead and we can talk more about what is happening  and what else may happen.  And do look again at the Milkwood report;  and do listen hard (again) to what Gill and Cameron say over the next two weeks.