Sue Lepp | The Irreverent Reverend

2nd Sunday Before Advent: Risen With Healing

16/11/25
Malachi 4:1-2a
Psalm 98
Luke 21:5-19

You can always tell when we are getting close to the end of the church year – the lectionary readings begin to talk about the end of time. The Wednesday Study Group has been mulling this over for the last few weeks as we study The Book of Revelation.

There are only two weeks left before the start of Advent – scary I know! We should enter this season of waiting, preparing and expectation with an expanded view of God and his coming kingdom. I want us to do this with joy. Joy in our hearts and be sources of joy in the world. The Church of England’s Advent & Christmas campaign this year is around joy.

I do not always pay enough attention to some of the campaigns – but this year I have drunk the kool-aid. I think that the branding is beautiful and the message is so badly needed. We all need joy! The world needs joy.

Jesus’ ‘end of times’ warnings were not his most endearing nor evidently joyful. The disciples did not have the luxury of knowing what would happen. They are still unaware, unclear on the impending crucifixion of Jesus; let alone the resurrection and ascension. We live on the other side of those events. We are still all waiting for the end.

There are versions of Jesus’ warning about the destruction of Jerusalem’s beautiful temple in Matthew and Mark too. This passage occurs in the middle of the last week of Jesus’ earthly life. Jesus has been preaching in the temple and has been warning Peter, Andrew, James and John about what is to come.

It is going to be awful. Jesus paints a vivid account of what to expect and reinforces the need for us to be vigilant. We have much in common. In 2025 we need to be reminded and aware of false teaching, lying, deception, war, famine and earthquakes. Some of us will have experienced some of these things on a greater or lesser scale. Jesus ‘ is clear that it will only get worse.

Many of these events happened with little to no warning or time scale; a lack of awareness of time is not a new phenomenon. The prophet Malachi warns of the coming day of destruction and nothing will be left. But, he says, those who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.
Sound familiar? Third verse of the greatest Christmas Carol ever composed.

Hail the Heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings;
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the new-born king”

Despite having advanced technology and advanced knowledge of what, where and when it will happen, our humanness can make the reality of these events incomprehensible until they occur.

Recap: lots of really bad things are going to happen and we do not know when but watch out! Thanks Jesus. Thank God for the third verse.

All good Jews would have had great love for Jerusalem and reverence for the Temple. The disciples had all grown up not far away in Galilee; they too had walked the length and breadth of the city with Jesus. They knew the walls and gates. No Jerusalem and No Temple was inconceivable!

There is a sense of urgency in the questions they ask Jesus – When? What are the signs? No time frame makes this difficult! Jesus did not want the disciples to get overly fixated on either the time [whether it is long or short] or the events themselves. There is a kindness in this.

How do we measure time or response to a situation when there seems as though there is nothing to measure? Jesus’ concern is for preparation. It is Jesus who will protect, give them the words and wisdom that their opponents will not be able to contradict. The disciples though must make up their minds in advance and prepare their defence. We too must prepare ourselves in advance – how do we explain our faith? Are we ready for what is to come?

In Mark’s account, the disciples make comments about the grand size of the temple stones. In Luke’s, it is the beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God that get comment. They are impressed by the externals, but this is not what Jesus is after. Maybe this is why we can get lost in the Christmas stuff? We are attracted to the externals. They certainly are beautiful! I love a gorgeously decorated tree and twinkly lights, the special foods and delicious drinks in the celebratory meals at this time of the year.

I know some people get rather annoyed about all this stuff in the shops so early. This is why we need a prepared defence. To explain to people what this season of Advent is really about! It is about joy; the joy in the little things and treats. The greater joy of being part of something bigger and mysterious. No point is just being huffy about it. We also need to be prepared for what is to come; the end times should neither be fixated nor ignored. As we come close to the season of Advent once again, let us focus on the internals, the preparation that needs to happen in our hearts rather than in the shop windows and store shelves. Joy to the World! Hark the Herald Angels sing!

Remembrance Sunday 2025: Marching into History

Micah 4:1-5
John 4:46-end

On this day, the guns of the Great War fell silent for the last time. It was the end of a conflict that scarred the nations that took part very deeply. It began 111 years ago and ended 107 years ago.

The years of remembrance have helped new generations understand more of what their grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great grandparents and maybe even more greats went through. The hardships they faced, the courage they showed and the faith they shared have become more real to us.

Maybe this is why more people seem to attend Remembrance Sunday services; there is an upward trend in attendance. Poppy sales would appear to be growing. Maybe some of you watched the Festival of Remembrance last evening or will catch up with the Cenotaph on iPlayer later. It would appear that we care about this stuff! Remembrance Sunday captures something in our individual and collective memories, touches a nerve, moves us to give our time, our money.

This year marked the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War; VE Day was celebrated in May and VJ Day in August. The number of those who served and survived is rapidly decreasing as they reach great ages.

Many of us will know people who served in the World Wars. We will know them as real people we had relationships with – parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts & uncles and cousins. We know them as more than stories. We miss them. We march into history at different times.

Micah was an Old Testament prophet whose messages from God to the people of Jerusalem were mostly negative and critical. Micah had to call out their sinfulness, bad behaviour towards the poor, they were greedy and full of pride. The people of Jerusalem were going to pay for it when the Babylonians swept through and sent everyone into exile for many years.

Then the tone changes. Micah looks beyond the present crisis to a time when the people return to Jerusalem to learn the laws of God and there will be peace between them. Everything will be reversed. All that was destroyed will be made right. Even relationships between people.

The royal official whose son was dying was looking for a reversal in his situation. This man went to Jesus to beg for his son’s life. We know some of the stories of prisoners of war who had to beg for their lives. Maybe some of us have had to beg God for the life of a loved one. Many of us would know what it is to plead for salvation and mercy. This royal official, probably not one who had to beg for much, invites Jesus to come to his son. Jesus responds by telling the man to go home and his son would live. The man believed what Jesus told him.

This story is one of trust and belief. Trusting that God will redeem and restore – life, health, situations. The exiled people of Jerusalem had nowhere else to go. The royal official had likely exhausted his own resources on his son and it still did not improve the situation.

There are places in the world that need disputes settled, weapons to be laid down, training for war to stop. We need to listen to God again as people, as a village, a nation and as part of the world.

What a different world it would be if we could abide in God’s love and live out the commandment to love one another as God has loved us. Maybe we would not be here today? Maybe I am a little idealistic. Like many people, I yearn for a world that is fair, peace-filled with love, joy and forgiveness for all.

As we remember those who have died in the theatre of war, we can be reassured that because of the resurrection of Jesus, it was not for nothing. The cost of their service came at a high price; it cost everything. The love, the life, the sharing of burden and suffering, the service required to work together for a greater good is not lost in death. There is more to the story.

So Charlwood, as we meet today to remember those who have died in war and tell their stories and share our many talents, let us do it from a place of love. Leave the judgment to God and work towards peace and respect for all. We need to march into history leaving things better than we found them.

All Souls: Let Me Go

Sunday November 2nd, 2025

Lamentations 3 & John 5:19-24

Let Me Go 
Christina Rosetti 

When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me
I want no rites in a gloom filled room
Why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little, but not for long
And not with your head bowed low
Remember the love that once we shared
Miss me, but let me go.

For this is a journey we all must take
And each must go alone.
It's all part of the master plan
A step on the road to home.

When you are lonely and sick at heart
Go the friends we know.
Laugh at all the things we used to do
Miss me, but let me go.

When I am dead my dearest
Sing no sad songs for me
Plant thou no roses at my head
Nor shady cypress tree

Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet
And if thou wilt remember
And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not fear the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on as if in pain;

And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.

In Church of England tradition, we come together over these few days at the beginning of November for a short season of remembrance. The Church has marked All Saints and All Souls for hundreds of years. It stems from the belief that there is a powerful spiritual bond between those in heaven and those living on earth. It is often said in my family that the dead sit at the dinner table long after they are gone.

This service offers us space and time to give thanks to God for the life and love that was shared, for the memories we carry and to ask for God’s help if we have unfinished business with those who have died. Not all our remembering will be of the good, sweet times as none of us are perfect and neither were they!

The only alternative to avoiding grief is to avoid love. To avoid the grief I feel over my person who has died means I would have had to forfeit the love and the relationship that we shared. We cannot have it both ways.

I was given Christina Rosetti’s poem Let Me Go earlier this year to read an ashes interment. Rosetti was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children’s poems in the 1800’s. Let Me Go was written in 1862 when she was in her early 30’s. The Rosetti’s by all accounts were cultured, educated and at the centre of London’s Victorian society. Christina and her three siblings all had notable careers in arts and literature. Her work has never gone out of fashion; Christina wrote In the Bleak Midwinter which we will soon sing again.

Like all families, the Rosetti’s had their struggles with finances and health; both physical and mental. Christina was known to suffer from depression, she had a heart condition and ultimately died of breast cancer. She stayed at home to care for her father while her siblings went out to work to support the family. She had her share of heartbreak too with three failed attempts at marriage. Christina’s expression of pain, loss and resignation are main themes in many of her poems.

In Let Me Go, we see all three (pain, loss and resignation) in the transition to the afterlife. There is a desire for a peaceful and undramatic departure, without excessive mourning or rituals. The poem emphasises the inevitability of death and the importance of embracing the journey as part of a larger plan. Christina, along with her parents and siblings, were greatly influenced by the Christian faith. For Christina, faith and art were at the centre of her life.

The message in Let Me Go – is that. Miss me a little and then let me go. Carry on living. Remember what was good, forget the rest. Remember but do not be sad for too long. The writer will no longer see the sad and the bad – so why should we? Haply I may remember, haply I may forget.

It is so hard to do. The writer of Lamentations has ‘forgotten what happiness and lost hope’. They likely witnessed the fall of Jerusalem around 587 BC and the horrors experienced by the Jewish people. It made me think of the people of Jamaica at this time.

Jerusalem was once the chosen city of God but has now fallen from grace because of bad behaviour. The enemies have taken over and the people who lived in Jerusalem have been exiled. The loss for the people is immense. The reading we have here is about the author’s own suffering; he believes that God has deliberately marked him out and is now not listening to his prayer. His peace is gone. Yet at his lowest point he remembers God’s steadfast love, hesed. Hesed is the love and mercy God has towards his people; it is a long-term and loyal love. It is love that never ends. It is new every morning.

The writer has experienced this love, not just with his head and his heart but in his very soul, in the marrow of his bones. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ he says. The Lord is enough for him.

The bereavement that we are facing is not the whole story. It might be a very big part of the story right now, might feel like it has taken over the whole story for a long time. I hope that our loved ones forget the sad and bad; they do not see the shadows or fear the rain or hear the nightingale or witness the destruction of their beloved city.

In John’s Gospel reading, Jesus is telling the disciples that everyone (even him) and everything (even death) is under God’s control. He can raise the dead. This is not just the physically dead; but John is suggesting that those people who are spiritually dead. There is something of a spiritual revolution going on; the Quiet Revival started in 2024 and young people are turning to the Bible and the church in huge numbers. It looks like there is a shift in spiritual attitudes in England and Wales.

God’s love is so great for his Son and for us. The idea is that God the loving father is showing Jesus the beloved Son all that he does and even greater things. Those who believed in Jesus would be treated by God in the same way that Jesus was. Jesus died and rose again and so will we.

Where does that leave us on a November afternoon in Charlwood at an All Souls service?

We are part of a long tradition of remembrance.
The spiritual bonds between those in heaven and those on earth are real – but maybe not quite the way we think
Love and mourning have no ending because they are tied up together
God’s hesed underpins everything
Letting go is part of the process – it is about living forward, not being held back. They have moved on and so should we.

Finally, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses in the heavenlies and around us right now. All of us here have loved and lost. We can share God’s unending goodness and mercy. They are new every morning.

Bible Sunday: The Surprising Power!

26/10/25
Romans 15:1-6
Luke 4:16-24

A couple of years ago I had an interesting encounter at the Slough Police Station over a Bible. An officer was cleaning out a locker when she found a Bible. She did not know what to do with it. She came into the workroom where I was sitting and asked rather loudly what she should do with it.

Some of the answers are not repeatable in polite company, let alone church! The less offensive answers were ‘bin it – it’s a fairy tale anyway’; ‘take it to a charity shop?’; recycle it?’ One officer said something I shan’t repeat, as he said it, he turned around and saw me sitting there. He was completely shocked; I was looking rather bemused! He quickly tried to backtrack and apologise but then decided not to apologise because he believed what he said. Fair enough. I told him he did not have to apologise to me. I also did not rescue the Bible either as I was not asked for an opinion or to intervene. It sat on a filing cabinet for many months.

What I came out of that situation with was a fresh appreciation that even in a very hard, secular environment such as the Slough police station, the Bible has power. The book itself, just its presence is enough to elicit responses from people.

What do we make of the Bible? Do we just know a few quiz-like facts about it? It is a dust-collector on a bookshelf? Do the contents make us nervous? Are we unsure of how to handle it?

It is in God’s word that we encounter Him, the creator and saviour of the world. So how do we respond to God when we read the Bible? How do we treasure God and his word?

Emmanuel: I looked around the church yesterday when we were setting up for the quiz last night. I noticed something. There are no Bibles around. I am really embarrassed about this.

St Nicholas: We have a few ratty copies of the Good News Bible at the back.

Is this good enough?
I am going to suggest it is not.

I am going to suggest that the PCC’s talk about this at the next meetings.

The Bible was inspired by God for our instruction and encouragement that we might have hope. This was Paul’s explanation to the Romans. How can we know what God wants if we do not read the instructions? How can we be encouraged and have hope if we have no idea what God might be saying to us?

Luke has Jesus returning to Nazareth after being away for an unknown amount of time; maybe months or even years. Jesus returns differently to when He left. Jesus comes back after being baptised and tempted in the wilderness for 40 days and stands at the cusp of his ministry which boldly begins in the synagogue in front of the home side. A bold start that gets even bolder. Jesus is handed the scroll that not coincidentally was Isaiah, the Old Testament book containing more prophecy about him than any other. He is about to begin fulfilling some prophecy.

The congregation in the synagogue was not looking for anything out of the ordinary that day. The Jewish people had long been waiting for the Messiah to come. The good people in the relative backwater of Nazareth were waiting for Messiah too; but not expecting him that day in their midst. Not only that, how could Messiah be from the family of a local poor carpenter?!
But He was and is.

If you replace me in verses 18 and 19 with Jesus, it is difficult to see how anyone else in all of history fills this position.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me (Jesus),
Because he has anointed me (Jesus)
To bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me (Jesus) to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

This is Jesus’ chosen description of his mission; this is what He came to do. When Jesus said, ‘today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’, the meaning of ‘fulfilled’ here is ‘to fill a vessel or hollow place’. How many of us know what it is to have that hollow place? He wants to fill it now; not tomorrow or next year or when we feel better or life is back to normal. Jesus means now.

Preach the good news to the poor. This is not referring to the financially poor. These poor are those in ‘utter helplessness, complete destitution, the afflicted and distressed.’ This has wider implications than finances alone. Jesus does not want us only to subsist but thrive. Until we let Him fill our cups daily, we will only subsist.

To heal the broken-hearted. Broken-hearted means ‘to break, strike against something, to break the strength or power of someone’. This is more than a little romance gone wrong or love unrequited. This is a big break; when everything appears to be taken and hope is dwindling.

The Hebrew translation of heal ‘to mend by stitching, repair thoroughly, make whole’. Total breakage needs total healing. One stitch follows another, it takes time and can be painful.

To proclaim freedom for the captives. Notice that Jesus proclaims freedom, he did not impose it. The door of the cell may be opened but we have to walk through it. This is not just people in a physical prison; this is anything: addiction, behaviour, situation that prevents healing and captive to it.

Recovery of sight for the blind. There are many incidents of Jesus physically restoring the sight of many blind people. This is a different kind of blindness, a more serious kind of blindness. Blind here means ‘to envelop with smoke, be unable to see clearly.’ This is about clouded vision; not being able to see the light of gospel or the glory of God. Jesus came to clear our vision so we can see him clearly.

To release the oppressed. To be oppressed is to be treated harshly or unfairly by someone in authority. This release is about breaking the chains of unhealthy attachment.

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. That day in that year and at that time, those gathered in the Nazareth synagogue witnessed the embodiment of the Lord’s favour. His blessed gift of grace and love, Jesus. Year here means ‘any definite time’ and not a calendar year.

These are some of the instructions that we have been left with. They are in the book! We also find encouragement and hope, strength and wisdom to follow them. The question is: Are you curious enough to give reading the Bible a try that you would do something about it?

If we get more bibles in the churches would you take one home and start reading? There is a huge selection of books, apps, daily emails you can subscribe to and other resources to help guide you through. You do not have to do this on your own.

Like the surprised police officers in Slough and the synagogue-goers in Nazareth – there is power in the Word of God. We should want to discover it for ourselves.

Trinity 18: Attitude is Everything

19/10/25
Trinity 18

Psalm 119:97-104
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8

On Friday evening many of us attended the Farnham Maltings production of All For Your Delight at the Charlwood Village Hall. It is a charming and challenging story of three entertainers (Danny, Jojo and Yaz) on the resort-y, Butlins-y circuit who want to make it to television with their variety show of singing, dancing, games, skits, jokes, etc. Each character shares something of their story on how they got where they are. In the second act, a fourth character (Jude) appeared; a TV executive who held the power to make their dreams come true. Danny pleaded, persisted with Jude, tried to convince him to take this little show and make them stars.

In some ways it reminded me of the Gospel reading this morning, this odd little parable about faithful endurance. We have the judge with all the power and the woman, with no male relative to do her pleading at the bottom of the pecking order. By sheer persistence she gets what she wants. The judge, whose position is to administer justice, does not really care, he only wants her to go away.

Timothy needed a reminder to remain persistent. ‘Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it,’ says Paul.
Timothy has a sincere faith that has been handed down from his grandmother and mother. Yet it seems that Timothy needs a reminder to rekindle that faith that is inside him.

Timothy was to proclaim the message and ‘be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.’ Paul warns Timothy that a time is coming when people will not listen to sound doctrine but will have itching ears. Itchy ears are ears that only want to hear what they want to hear and always lead to trouble and separation. Timothy is to be faithful to the ministry he has been called to.

The thread in these readings is a call to persistence in the situations that we find ourselves. If you Google ‘persistence’ you can find a lot of catchy quotes such as:
‘Energy and persistence conquer all things’ – Benjamin Franklin
‘Persistence can grind an iron beam down into a needle’ – Chinese proverb
‘A river cuts through a rock not because of its power, but its persistence’
‘Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent’ – Steve Martin

Persistence sounds like hard work! And it is. It is not always comfortable; it does not feel good or nice much of the time either. Looking around this morning I know that we could all tell our own stories of persistence in various situations. Sometimes when persistence has paid off and sometimes when it has not. What do we do then?

Jesus asks the disciples listening to his parable a question at the very end. What faith will the Son of Man find on earth when he comes? Which sort of attitude will He find among his followers upon his return?

The judge is faithless and only wants a comfortable and convenient life. He does the right thing this time – but what about next time? Jesus told his listeners about their need to pray always and not lose heart. Maybe this judge has lost heart. For those who have experienced this maybe you lost focus, direction, care and attention. Do the least amount required to get to the finish.

Or will we have the attitude of the widow? She is determined that the right thing be done and will not give up until she gets it. She has purpose and clarity, she is alive and aware of her needs and they are urgent. She is not concerned with her low status, she ignores the rules on how to approach the judge, she just goes on and on and on.

What is it going to be? Convenient and lazy or faithfulness and persistence? The choice is ours! Will we remain faithful?

At the end of All For Your Delight, Jude the TV executive does not make Danny, Jojo and Yaz stars. He does not give them what they so dearly desire. Instead, Jude is the one who makes the change. He sees where he has gone wrong. The great executive returns to the stage at the invitation of the others. Attitudes have changed.

Like Timothy, we all need a reminder to be faithful and persist in the work we have been called to do and to remember who is faithful to us. Look back to the early examples of faithfulness. Beware of losing heart and gaining cynicism and disregard. Hang in and hang on your purpose and keep coming to God.