Tag: John

Easter 6: Loved to Action & Obedience

“St Paul Meeting Lydia of Thyatira” by Edward Irvine Halliday. (1902-84)

Acts 16:9-15

John 5:1-9 

Easter 6 

25/5/25

If you can remember back to last week, I ended my sermon with, ‘The old commandment is to love one another. The new commandment is to love one another as Jesus has loved you. It is by this that everyone will know that we are disciples. It is stunning to think that if the first disciples had not bothered to do this, then the church likely would have shrivelled and died on the vine 2000 years ago. This love came to make all things new.

The task remains the same – we are to love as we have been loved. Go into the world, into work or families and to neighbours and show them God’s love.’

In this week’s readings we see how love is shown by Paul and his companions to Lydia in the city of Philippi and by Jesus to the man laying at the Pool of Bethesda. We also see how these people respond to God’s love. Lydia and her family were baptised and the man picked up his mat and began to walk. This is the focus for today; how we respond to God’s love.

Lydia, the merchant from Thyratira, was on a business trip 300 miles from home. It is not clear if she sold purple dye or purple cloth or what exactly she did. Whatever it was, she was marketing a luxury product to the wealthy elite. Lydia was clearly a woman of means, agency and authority. There are no men in this story — no husband, father, son, or brother, for example. Maybe she was divorced or widowed. After her own conversion and baptism, Lydia commandeered her entire household to be baptised, meaning she employed servants. Perhaps her “household” also included extended family members.

Lydia had all the trappings of success. Yet she was found outside the city gate next to the river for a prayer meeting with a group of other women. She listened to what Paul was saying and the Lord opened her heart. The Lord only opens hearts that are ready to receive.

She then opened her home, a sign of wealth, as it was big enough to accommodate Paul and his companions (at least three are named). Immediately after Lydia’s conversion, Paul mentions other prominent women who came to believe. Lydia is honoured by being the first European convert to Christianity and her house was the first church in Europe.

What looks like a chance encounter on the river bank was a divine appointment between a woman with an open and seeking heart meeting a man whose life had been turned upside down by the resurrected Jesus.

In contrast to Lydia’s story, we have the man at the Pool. He is unnamed and of no significance to anyone. No family, no friends and this has taken a psychological and social toll as well as physical.

This is reflected in his non-answer to Jesus’ question; do you want to get well? I think the more pointed question that Jesus is asking is: do you really want to get well. Or are you happy with the way things are; sitting pool-side with the feeble excuse that someone always gets in before you.

We know that to be in any way physically or mentally flawed in 1st century Jerusalem was a bad thing. In the absence of family to care for you would be destitute and assigned to a life of poverty. Notice that Jesus does not wait for an improved answer from the man. He tells him to ‘stand up, take your mat and walk.’ He does and begins to walk.

There is no further mention of him in the Gospel which leaves us hanging. What happened to him? Where did he walk to? Was there anyone waiting for him anywhere?

Life off the mat was likely going to be much harder for him. Literally no more lying around and waiting for others to help him out. He was going to have to learn to live in a whole new way.

Both of these stories demonstrate that no one is beyond the reach of God’s love and healing. There is no one He will not go to and/but there needs to be a response. Lydia’s heart was open and she used her gifts and talents of hospitality to help Paul. The man was obedient to Jesus’ instruction to get up and off the mat. Both their lives were changed in their encounters.

How do we respond to God’s love? We are to have faith, belief that Jesus is the Risen Christ, the Son of God and that salvation comes through Him alone. We are also called to a life of service, of action and obedience that reflects that love. It might be a public life like Lydia with influence, wealth and authority; or maybe in obscurity like the man formerly of the Pool of Bethesda.

Either way, we are found and loved to action and obedience.

Eternal God, who gives good gifts to all people, and who grants the spirit of generosity: Give us, we pray you, hearts always open to hear your word, that, following the example of your servant Lydia, we may show hospitality to those who are in any need or trouble; through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Feast of Candlemas: Temples of Stone & Flesh

St Mary’s Langley – Evensong
2/2/25

Haggai 2:1-9
John 2:18-22

Today the Church has been celebrating the Feast of Candlemas. I explained in my Charlwood Family Service this morning that Candlemas marks a turning point in three ways. Within the Church it is the moment we take a last look at Christmas and the infant Jesus before turning towards the cross. In the northern hemisphere it marks the turning from winter towards spring which heralds the shift from darkness to light.

We see change and transition in our Gospel readings set for today. This morning was sweet baby Jesus carried into the temple by his young parents for the expected rituals required by their Jewish faith. This ordinary event transitioned to a divinely appointed meeting with Simeon and Anna. Jesus is revealed as the light of the world and an ominous warning was given to Mary. This evening grown-up Jesus returns to the same Temple and causes some havoc. The ominous warning follows as the rising and falling of many begins. Our account is the conversation that followed Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple.

The Temple was the beating heart of Judaism. Anyone who has been fortunate enough to visit Jerusalem can appreciate the size and scale of it as the centre point. The Temple was the home of worship, music, the focal point of politics and Jewish society, a place of national celebration and mourning. Westminster Abbey or St Paul’s Cathedral are somewhat a parallel in terms of significance to the people. The Temple was the place where YHWH, God had promised to live in the midst of his people.

Yet over time it became more of a market-place and one of corruption; and it is now under God’s judgement. Those who were selling the animals for sacrifice and the money-changers did need to be there. Jewish law required the right sacrifices to be offered. Unfortunately dodgy practices had infiltrated and corrupted the Temple. People were being cheated out of money by their own people. This is what Jesus was raging against.

We see Jesus on the side of those being cheated, devalued and treated badly. Jesus certainly had zeal; both for the Temple as his Father’s house and for the oppressed people. The Temple had been made into something it was never supposed to be. Jesus is correcting a serious wrong by showing that He will restore things to the way they should be.

The Jews in attendance ask for an explanation, a sign for why Jesus is tearing the place up. This is not unreasonable as they would likely not know who He was.

Who here does not like a sign? We will reflect on the significance of signs for a few minutes. There are the obvious signs that feature in everyday life; fire exits, stop signs, traffic signals, push/pull, open/closed enter/exit, etc. These signs provide practical information and direction, keep us safe, and bring order to the world around us.

There are also practical signs that we cannot see. This past week I got a lesson in infra-red technology in a fire truck on a Gatwick taxi-way. It was pouring rain and we were sitting behind a plane that had an engine fire warning light flashing in the cockpit. There was no outward sign of smoke or flames; but the attention of the fire crews was on the cameras that showed heat (within normal levels) coming from both engines. There was no sign of imminent danger but that did not mean there was not any. Anyway that plane was not going to be flying that day.

Then there are the signs from God. Many prayers have begun with, ‘God if you are real…give me a sign.’ These tend to be prayed in times of desperation and fear, when all control is lost and people come to the end of themselves. God in his infinite goodness answers these prayers. Often not as expected as the external conditions might not change and/or even get worse. The answer can be an internal sign or feeling of overwhelming peace and love, a change of perspective or defusing of intense emotion that can allow for clearer thinking.

There are wrong and dangerous places to look for signs: anything that is human-made like tarot cards, mediums, horoscopes, reading tea leaves. People can become so hungry for signs that they will consume anything that looks like it might give them what they seek.
We need to be people who can read the signs of the times correctly and it takes work.

Back to the Temple. It is useful to remember that the Temple was the second one that had been built. The First Temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians around 587/586 BCE as the Jews were sent into exile by King Nebuchadnezzar. This was a devastating event for the Jews that reverberated for centuries.

The rebuilding of The Second Temple began about 50 years after the first destruction. Then it stalled out for about 20 years. Two to three generations have now passed, the exile was over and they could return home to Jerusalem. This is what and who the prophet Haggai is speaking into.

Haggai is a tiny two chapter book towards the end of the Old Testament and is the tenth of the 12 minor prophets. Not much is known about Haggai: his name means ‘festal’ which is fitting for the prophet who called the Jewish people to rebuild the temple of God and to bring back worship in Jerusalem.

In Haggai’s second sermon, he is reminding the Jews of the exodus when God called the Hebrews out of Egypt. Jesus and the disciples arrived in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover. Passover is a time to remember what God had done in the past when he saved the Jewish people from Pharaoh in Egypt. It was also a celebration of liberation, freedom and rescue from slavery.

Haggai was a champion for the homeless as he called the Jewish community to action in the rebuilding of the Temple. He was also calling the Jewish people to wake up to their responsibilities, obligations, privileges and promises of their heritage.

Jesus did the same thing when he entered the temple. He is reminding the Jews of the Ten Commandment as they were breaking at least two of them: the making of idols (money) and stealing. Jesus was referring to himself in the remark about the destroyed Temple rising up in three days. Jesus is the true temple, the word made flesh and cannot be corrupted. Haggai proclaims that the true glory of the Second Temple will not be the gold and silver of the nations but of God himself.

Jesus appeared in the Temple as a six week old baby and was shown to be the light of the world. He returned at that Feast of Passover pointing to himself, the temple of his body. Jesus is the one we are to watch and wait for. It is not always easy waiting.

At least two or three generations passed before the rebuilding of the first temple began when Haggai appeared and time had come. Anna had waited for decades in the Temple for the arrival of the Messiah. Simeon had been promised that he would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Messiah.

For us, we are to watch for the signs when Jesus will come again. We are to take courage, in the words of Haggai, ‘take courage, all you people of the land, you people of Langley, for I am with you. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.’

Epiphany 2: Wedding with a Difference

Paolo Veronese – Wedding at Cana (1440’s)
19/1/25
Epiphany 2

1 Corinthians 12:1-11
John 2:1-11

O God, we give you thanks because,
in the carnation of the Word,
a new light has dawned upon the world,
that all the nations and peoples may be brought out of darkness to see the radiance of your glory.

The Wedding at Cana is one of the great epiphany stories that is included in the lectionary for Year C. An Epiphany is to have ‘a moment of great or sudden revelation or realisation’ as I have mentioned over the last two Sundays. The Year C epiphany set features Jesus. First as an infant/toddler at the time of Wise Men’s visit. This first epiphany was to the Gentiles; all of those outside of the Jewish faith. The masses down the ages; millions and billions of people. Epiphanies need witnesses.

The second epiphany involving Jesus was at his Baptism when he was revealed as God’s Son. This was witnessed by those standing on banks of the River Jordan immediately following their own confessions, repentance and baptisms. Jesus is washed in the same waters as those He came to save. This too is a witness for all those baptised after Jesus including us that we are significant as called by name by God.

The third epiphany is the sign at the wedding of Cana. It is a familiar story and has many threads on which to be pulled. Many sermons highlight the scarcity and humiliation the lack of wine would have brought on that family. Jesus’ miraculous provision protects and covers the couple from shame. Some focus on the relationship of Mary and Jesus as the mother pushes son into acting despite his initial resistance. What did Mary know about Jesus that the rest of us do not? Others go for the miracle of the water into wine, serving the best first instead of last.

Unlike the Wise Men and the crowds at the river, no one at the wedding is searching for anything. Except for maybe a good time! The preparation for the banquet is done and festivities are underway when the potential problem arises. Only one person directly witnesses this epiphany: the steward.

It only took the chief steward a mouthful to know that he was drinking something magnificent. The symbolism here being of course that God takes what is ordinary and makes it extraordinary. We are told that a faith the size of a mustard seed is all that is required.

The steward then calls over the bridegroom to taste the new wine and praises him for serving the good wine. And the party goes on.

Where is the bride? There is no mention of the bride at this wedding. There had to have been one. Before we get hung up on another voiceless woman in the Bible; note that the bridegroom is not recorded as having said anything and only his presence.

There is another symbol here: there are references in the New Testament that refer to Jesus as the bridegroom. Taken on its own that might mean that Jesus signifies celebration, fulfilment and new beginnings. Yet Paul in Ephesians argues that the marriage relationship could be understood as the model of relationship between Jesus and his Church. Jesus the bridegroom and the Church is the bride.

Jesus went to the wedding to find his bride: not the bride at Cana but people needing redemption by his blood. Water and wine together pointing to the Eucharist. Jesus’ overflowing love is signified in the water becoming wine was lavished upon his Bride, the Church.

The Church as the Bride is not always very well behaved! The Church of England is going through an anxious, strange and confusing time. Many people can become disenfranchised by the corporation, the lapse in integrity, compassion and understanding by senior leaders. An unwillingness to listen and change. A loss of trust in the leadership at the highest level. How are we doing as the ‘Bride of Christ’ in Charlwood and Sidlow Bridge?

Jesus still seeks out his bride and calls her home in the water and the wine. The waters of baptism and in the wine of the Eucharist. Baptism is a one time event but the Eucharist is to be repeated and shared over and over again and is new each time we celebrate together.

Back to the wine, Jesus uses six stone water-jars which each hold 20-30 gallons each; let’s say 150 gallons. That is a lot of wine and it was good wine; not the plonk served when the wits of the guests had been numbed. Jesus provided an abundance of wine; probably more than was needed and this is where this story goes from scarcity to abundance. There will always be enough, Jesus as the bridegroom will always provide. He comes looking for us.

In this epiphany season, we consider the Wise Men and the message of inclusion to all. The baptism of Jesus and the revelation of being the Son of God. The wedding at Cana and the epiphanies that come when no one is waiting or looking, Jesus comes as the bridegroom with enough water and wine to care for us all. Maybe Mary was on to something when she told the servants to ‘do whatever he tells you’. May we do the same.

Christmas Eve Mass

St Nicholas
Christmas Eve Mass
24/12/24

Christmas Eve – Set 3 (Year C)
Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 98
John 1:1-14

God of love and life,
we have glimpsed something of your glory.
Your glory in creation.
Your glory in Jesus.
Your glory in re-creation.
Your glory in us.
We thank you for your unconditional love for us.
For the abundant life that you offer.
Amen.

This is a two part prayer; the second half to follow shortly. It is taped on the wall in my airport office at about eye level and has been there for over a year. Today was the first day that I properly read it. Why today of all days?

Desperation for something to say this evening? My disbelief that it is really Christmas Eve? Lack of planning and time? It was the glory that got me.

It came upon a midnight clear, that glorious song of old from angels bending near the earth… Glorious imagery weaves through our hymns tonight.

We will see his glory. What does glory look like?
How do we know if something is glorious?

John 1:14 tells us that we have seen God’s glory. Really?! Really. It might be just a glimpse of glory but we have seen it. We might have to look for it; orientate ourselves to expect it. It might be in plain sight like a prayer on an office wall.

The essence and glory of Christmas is the greatness of God coming down to meet us and sweep us into the bigger picture of his love and His kingdom. It always has been and always will be.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah is alluding to the beautiful feet of the messenger who announces peace, brings good news and announces salvation to the Israelites in captivity and slavery in Babylon. They had been taken away from their homes, families had been separated and some would never be reunited. Most of the Israelites were desperate to go back home, back to what they knew and how it was.

The Israelites needed to be reminded that better times were ahead. God had not forgotten them; He was making a way for them to be rescued. Theirs was not only physical captivity, but spiritual, emotional and social. They desperately needed the messenger Jesus and his glorious message.

St John begins his Gospel in darkness and mystery, casting us back to the opening of Genesis when in the beginning there was nothing, but God created order out of chaos. Like a human author who creates a new world with words on a page, God speaks a word and things come to be. A burst of light and a new life coming through Jesus.

John proclaims that the light in the midst of darkness is Jesus and this needs to be worked out. These big readings hold grand visions and promises that break into the lives of people who are struggling, who are in need of good news; for those who need to see glory.

‘The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee (Jesus) tonight.

Who’s got some hopes and fears here tonight?

Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.

Anyone meek of soul?

God’s glory will be full of grace and truth. That is how we will know it is from God. Jesus is love, grace and truth. God’s glory in creation and Jesus. And God’s glory in re-creation.

Tonight we go back to the beginning, to when the Word became flesh and all things came into being through him and lived among us. We see his glory, the Son full of grace and truth.

We were all created in His image. We all need to be continually re-created in that image. Sometimes our shine wears off and we weary. Anyone else weary on the road tonight? Take a rest and listen for the angels. Watch for their glory to help recreate yours. God’s glory is in each one of us.

You satisfy our deepest longings for living water.
You equip us for service;
to love as you love,
beyond our comfort zones.
In those places, you are with us.
We thank you for your faithfulness
and an invitation to be with you.
We praise and worship you,
the one who delight in us.
Amen.

Advent 2: Lives of the Prophets – Light in the Darkness

Emmanuel – 11:00 am P&P
8/12/24
Advent 2 – Year C

Malachi 3:1-4
Luke 3:1-6

This past week I have spent quite a lot of my parish time on funeral planning for three upcoming services. Yes – we are starting on a happy note. I went looking for a grave from 1872 in the St Nicholas churchyard with no luck. While there I ran into an aunt visiting the grave of her nephew on the anniversary of his death. I also went to East Surrey Hospital to give our dear Marion Dallison last rites before she died on Wednesday evening.

There has also been a spate of deaths in the Gatwick terminals that I have been made aware of. And I learned about the impending death of an old school friend in Canada after a horrendous cancer journey and she will be leaving a husband and two little boys.

My heart has been rather heavy! This is supposed to be a holly-jolly time of year…

Yet in the midst of this I met a family to discuss the baptism of their delightful first born daughter Anthea. What a joy that was. To bask in the smiles of a 5 month old baby to talk about her life in Christ at the start of the journey was balm to this soul. This was a reminder about light in the darkness, in the sorrows of life that there can be joy.

This theme is found in the heart of the messages and prophecies of the prophets.

The Second Sunday of Advent focuses on the prophets of the bible. The Wednesday Advent study group has been looking at them as well. There are four Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The prophets and prophetesses in the Old Testament were spokespersons for God. Their job was to announce God’s will or intentions for people, predicted the future, or did both. They represented God to a particular people at a particular time about specific events. They voice God’s opinion on what is going on – offering God’s perspective.

The messages of the prophets cannot always be applied to other events so careful reading is required. The original messages are rooted in historical events. Some spoke to the political & military crisis (Isaiah). Amos spoke about lament and social justice. The prophecies are always connected to the now and possible future consequences; prophets are not fortune-tellers or speaking directly to future events.

Many of the prophets found themselves literally and figuratively in the wilderness. That place of loneliness where nothing grows; all seems empty and lifeless. We too can find ourselves in those wilderness places, maybe when things do not work out the way they should, when that death comes sooner than we thought, health fails, that job gets lost, a relationship breaks down.

To make wilderness experiences all the more painful, we can often feel that God has somehow left us alone and has become distant or absent. We may not feel close to Him or Him to us.

Malachi is assumed to be the last prophet of the Old Testament as his book closes it out. There was roughly a 400-year gap when God was silent. (Jane Williams): In Malachi there is an argument going on between God and his people. At the end of chapter 2, Malachi says that the people have wearied God, and they ask indignantly what they have done.

Malachi replies that they have called into question God’s justice and so his very character. The people have said, ‘All who do evil are good in the sight of the Lord. Where is the God of justice?’

God answers them – both in Malachi and Luke. God is a righteous God and he will make sure his righteousness prevails. He does this by sending his messenger and the people may well live to regret it. God’s messenger is of course Jesus. The Lord’s messenger will be sent to prepare the way and then the Lord will suddenly come to his temple. There is no time given for this. The people have to watch and wait for the signs.

And then the dawn breaks in the wilderness. After 400 years with not a word from the heavens, the forerunner to the messenger appears in the wilderness. ‘The word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.’

This is no random appearance. If you look at the detail that Luke provides: ‘in the fifteenth year of reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, when Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.’

John’s timing was precise and divinely ordained for that exact moment and place in the wilderness. Our time on earth is just as precise and divinely ordained. When you pray with and for someone around the time of death there is always a space for prayers of confession, repentance and absolution. This is a very fruitful time for many people.

I understand not everyone gets this opportunity for repentance at the time of death as it is very dependent on various factors. Therefore, my friends, we need to take the opportunity in life to use our time and timings for this very fruitful activity!

Like John, we too have been given a way to prepare. The way of repentance. This is what the people who heard Malachi’s prophecy and later John’s and likely many of us today may not want to hear! John came at that exact moment to proclaim a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. What if we too started this new church year with an honest, wilderness-style reckoning of our sin?

Debie Thomas. ‘What is sin? Growing up, I was taught that sin is “breaking God’s laws.” Or “missing the mark,” as an archer misses his target. Or “committing immoral acts.” These definitions aren’t wrong, but they assume that sin is a problem primarily because it angers God.
But God’s temper is not what’s at stake; he’s more than capable of managing his own emotions. Sin is a problem because it kills. It kills us.
Why? Because sin is a refusal to become fully human. It’s anything that interferes with the opening up of our whole hearts to God, to others, to creation, and to ourselves. Sin is estrangement, disconnection, sterility, disharmony. It’s the slow accumulation of dust, choking the soul. It’s the sludge that slows us down, that says, “Quit. Stop trying. Give up. Change is impossible.”
Sin is apathy. Care-less-ness. A frightened resistance to an engaged life. Sin is the opposite of creativity, the opposite of abundance, the opposite of flourishing. It is a walking death. And it is easier to spot, name, and confess a walking death in the wilderness than it is anywhere else.

Here’s the really great news, repentance and forgiveness are not far away from any of us. We do it in every service whether Matins or Communion. We started this morning with the Sentences of Scripture before we are invited to confess our manifold sins and wickedness.

Can I ask you to think back a few minutes, what did you do with that time this morning? What goes through your head when we say these things? Did you repent of anything? Ask for forgiveness?

You were then offered absolution; did you take it? I make an assumption every time I put my hand up to make the sign of the cross, that you have repented and that you take the comfort of the absolution offered. There is also further reference to repentance and forgiveness; in the Benedictus and the Apostles Creed, ‘suffered under Pontius Pilate’ – there’s that timing again – ‘was crucified, dead and buried.’

Lord’s Prayer – forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

This is not in any way to condemn, make us dwell in our failures and shortcomings but rather to free us from the bonds, to wake us up to the reality we may live in, become more aware of the dust and sludge has built up and we may not have even realised it. This is what stands in our way to the manger on this Advent journey.

Our human love, however well-meant and deep, remains imperfect in the light of God’s love. Love and repentance go together. There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.

At the start of this new year, we need a wilderness moment that will lead to fruitfulness and abundant living in this new season. The time is now and the time is always right to confess, repent and accept forgiveness that is on offer to us. If this is a wilderness season for you, start to look for signs of new life. That life may start with confession.

We don’t have to go far: it is in your hands at every service, it is in the words we say. Sometimes it simply needs to be brought to our attention. Grab hold of the promises of God, grab hold of the messenger who has come to prepare the way for us, grab hold of the deep and unchanging love of God. Listen for the voice of the one crying out in the wilderness.