Tag: Paul

Trinity 8: Small Things Matter

An acrylic painting on wood illustrating the bible verse in Mark 4 describing the kingdom of God like a mustard seed. Jen Norton

Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-5

When I was first ordained, I served my curacy in a lovely three church united benefice in Slough. You may insert any number of references to Slough – John Betjeman’s poem about the friendly bombs or The Office or the McDonald’s that is apparently sitting on crown land. One of my lines was that I could see Windsor Castle from the end of my road. Having that grand castle so close was a reminder of the rule and reign of Queen Elizabeth. Her kingdom and now Charles’ is visible among us.

If you have been into Windsor, Buckingham or Kensington Palace you can see the opulence, the indulgence of the earthly kingdom. This is equally true if you travel to other countries that still have a monarchy; there are grand palaces all over Europe that attest to this.

How does the luxury, excessiveness of the earthly kingdom reconcile to the kingdom of heaven that is described in terms of mustard seeds, yeast, hidden treasure, pearls and a fishing net? These earthly kingdoms are largely off-limits to us peasants! Sure, we get glimpses of it.

Millions of people watched the Queen’s funeral and then the Coronation of Charles. Maybe some of you have received an invitation to a garden party or received an award presented by a Member of the Royal Family. Most of us have to watch television programs or pay to visit the bits of the palace or castle that they want to show us. But it is not the whole picture.

The kingdom of God on the other hand is available to us all at any time. This kingdom is about small things that suddenly swell to take over the whole world. These small things are both common (seeds, yeast, fish) and incredibly valuable treasure and pearls). The most valuable things that you come across by accident and then cannot seem to live without.

Let’s pick apart these short parables…

The mustard seed and the yeast represent everyday miracles. We all know how they work. Mustard seeds grow in a wide variety of climates; Pakistan, India and Canada are the world’s top producers of mustard seeds. Once the seeds start growing, they need very little care and not much water. And they grow! They spread quickly; not exactly something you would want in a well-tended garden! Mustard seeds have small beginnings but grow into useful shrubs for the birds and connoisseurs of mustard.

Yeast. The bread makers among us know that you only need a little bit of yeast kneaded into bread dough to make it rise. Yeast is an agent of change as it converts fermentable sugar into carbon dioxide and ethanol. Yeast gets passed on from batch to batch in the ‘old’ dough. It is thought that yeast improved the quality of bread in ancient Egypt from the hard flatbreads to lighter and tastier bread. Something like sourdough as we know it.

Mustard seeds start small and grow into large, useful bushes. Small quantities of yeast change the taste of the bread. The kingdom of God starts small and grows, spreading out and changing the taste of the world around it. The lesson is that we should not discount the small things until we know what they are capable of! Most big things come from small beginnings.

The parables of the treasure and the pearl feed into the imagination. I am sure we have all had dreams of winning the lottery or finding treasure; look at programs like Cash in the Attic (a personal favourite) or Antiques Roadshow.

We want to find treasure that is hidden away that will put some cash in our pockets. The treasure dreams of most people are about wealth, striking it rich. However the two people in the parables dream of the beauty of the treasure itself; not what the treasure will bring to them.

Jesus portrays these two people as relishing in the feeling of what it is to know the treasure is theirs. There is no indication that they intend to sell their treasures to get richer. They see the value in what they have. It could be assumed that these people already have wealth as they are able to buy land and fine things. It looks like they gave up their wealth to get the treasure in the field and the pearl. These two parables tell us that the kingdom of God is attractive and valuable; something worth looking for, searching for.

The fishing net, again a common item to those listening to Jesus on the beach, is useful and needed. The kingdom of God is meant to catch people and bring them in. All fish, all people are welcome. However not all fish are good, not all people want to know. A time will come when there will be a separation. Those who do not want to be part of the kingdom will not be. Offers can be rejected and there will be consequences. It is hard to understand this. Jesus asked the disciples if they understood all this. They answered Yes. I bet!

We do not always fully understand the things of God or to know what to ask for, what to search for. Paul, in a slightly convoluted way, writes that we do not know how to pray as we ought to but that the Spirit does. The Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words and tells God what we mean to ask for because sometimes we just do not know what is missing.

Paul suggests that what we are missing is to know that we are loved completely and fully for ever and ever. God has had plans for us from the very beginning. Once we understand how high, deep, wide and indivisibly we are loved – then we can search out the right things, the things of God, the wisdom of God and the kingdom of God.

As we grow in wisdom we can come to know where the kingdom of God can be found – in the small things, the everyday things and equally in the surprises of treasure and pearls. The kingdom of God is everywhere! It is a kingdom that is ruled by love and wisdom and we cannot be separated from it.

Trinity 7: Wheat & Weeds

19/7/26

Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

We might be in Ordinary Time in the church calendar but our readings are anything but. Matthew has recorded Jesus’ agricultural parables of the good and generous sower scattering his good seeds on different types of soil. Paul starts probably the most difficult chapter in his letter to the Romans with the bold and joyful declaration that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. It is in the Spirit where true life and peace are found

While these images are beautiful and full of joy they have a shadow in them. A warning for us. The easier option would be to ignore the shadow warning and carry on with joy. In this week’s readings, the heat is getting turned up. To the good news of last week is added some bad news.

In Matthew’s Gospel we still have a generous sower sowing seed in his field. This time though, he is limiting the sowing to his field only. The other sower appeared to scatter seed everywhere, regardless of soil conditions.

This sower is narrowing his focus down. Both the sowers are references to God. We see God as desiring his love and word to go everywhere, be flung to the farthest reaches. We also see God focusing on a particular field.

My back garden has some magnificently tall weeds growing in it at the moment. It needs some weeding and my neighbour and his mower to do a job on it. I find weeding an immensely satisfying job. I am not always a careful weed-er but rather take the position that anything I do not want growing in a particular location is a weed. I would stop short of classifying myself as an enemy though.

The field in our Gospel reading has an enemy who sows weeds into the good wheat. A little research tells us that the literal weeds (which many scholars believe is darnel, also known as “false wheat”) are not harmless. They are poisonous. These weeds mimic the look and colour of nourishing grain, but they are fake. Their seeds can cause illness and even death if consumed in large quantities.

This is evil! We are not to deny or gloss over the evil that exists in the world. Debie Thomas writes, ‘In other words, there is nothing enlightened about denying the reality of evil in our world and in our midst. We are, like the field in the parable, both mixed and messy. Each of us individually, our faith communities corporately, and our world in its entirety, contain wheat and weed, good and evil, the fruitful and the poisonous.’

The existence of evil in the world brings a lot of questions. We might think that God should stop it, step in and intervene. Of course. However, we then need to be prepared for God to root out the evil in our own individual hearts and minds. Would we really want God to rule the world directly and immediately so that every thought and action was weighed, instantly judged and potentially punished?

These parables are about waiting. Waiting for the seed to take root and grow. The sower is watching, probably with frustration, as the weeds grow alongside his wheat. Waiting for the harvest to come.

So often we are like the servants who want to go out and pull up the weeds. Clear the field of them. The sower is emphatic that this is not what he wants. The weeds are to stay until the harvest comes. The danger being that the good wheat could be uprooted and the good crop could be lost.

For Jesus’ followers who heard this parable, they did not want to wait. They wanted Jesus to act, to bring about restoring the kingdom and Temple as they thought. Remove the Romans, get a Jewish king back and all would be well.

Patience is required. Patience on the part of the sower who watches what is happening to his crop. Patience for the servants who want to pull up the weeds immediately. Patience on the part of God who does not want to see a field full of weeds. But God does not enjoy the thought of declaring the harvest time too soon and destroying the wheat along with the weeds.

Those who cause sin and all evildoers will be harvested at the end of time. This is as serious as it gets. Some people will be harvested for the evil they have done and punished for it. It is but for the grace of God that (I hope) many of us will not. We should want all people to be the good seed of the children of the kingdom.

For the creation, as Paul writes in Romans, waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God. We wait to be set free, free to become the people God created us to be. Not only us but the whole of creation. Paul calls us to hope for salvation. This hope is often unseen and we have to wait patiently.

Trinity 5: Making up the Rules

5/7/26
Trinity 9

Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

I am never quite sure how to start sermons about sin. I have heard a good number on the topic; some have started rather bluntly with ‘you bunch of sinners!’. Others have led down the garden path with a gentle introduction of the topic and then dropped the hammer. I have not decided which I prefer.

This morning I am talking about sin. Your sin. My sin. Our sin. This is not solely because we are overly sinful or that you need a telling off from the front. Both readings this morning talk about Jesus and his coming to set people free. Free from what? Sin.

The word sin often gets used in the wrong context and has lost its meaning. In contemporary culture it used to advertise chocolate, alcohol, lingerie – all the ‘naughty but nice’ things. Sin is positioned as something indulgent but not necessarily dangerous. Sin in the church context can feel judgmental and outdated. Again we want to soften it.

How do you define sin? When you hear the word what immediately comes to mind? Is it only the naughty things we do? Is it harmless?

Sin is not limited to our actions but also our thoughts and words. We can also sin by not doing what we should do. In the words of the confession we seek absolution for the things we have left undone.

Sin has much to do with our attitudes. Any attitude that says ‘I don’t need God – I can do this myself’ or any action, thought, word that separates us from God. Anything that puts us out of sync with God can be considered sinning.

Sometimes it does not take much for that to happen. In the Romans reading Paul has caught the idea that we are often in conflict with ourselves. We know what good we want to do, but somehow we do the opposite. Paul is lamenting his own state; ‘I do the things that I do not want to do and the things I don’t want to do – I do!’ Anyone else?!
Part of the difficulty with this Romans passage is that we do not know if Paul is talking about his life as a pious Jew before his conversion or if he is talking about his life as a Christian after his Damascus Road experience.

Whatever the answer is; Paul is talking about the power of sin and the inability of human nature to break free from its strangle-hold. This is true for all human beings; regardless of religious stripe or belief. Even if people wanted to break free from sin, they would find that their good intentions were frustrated by sin. This is a very human response!

There are two dangers that we can fall into when it comes to sin. The first is that basically everything we do is sinful or has some element of sin in it. I am not sure if this is the case.

Secondly and more worryingly is that some people think that they do not sin at all ever. They may have convinced themselves that whatever wrong or unjust things they do aren’t really a sin. It can be excused away without confronting their actions.

If we are honest with ourselves and with God, we know that we do things, say things, think things that are wrong, that separate us from Him. We might be able to convince ourselves that whatever we thought, said or did was not all that bad when compared to what other people do or say or that the person affected deserved it. We are only playing a game with ourselves and making up the rules to suit us.

This is what Jesus is referring to in Matthew’s Gospel when he describes this generation like children sitting in the marketplace calling to one another. They were playing games and making up the rules as they went in regard to Jesus and John the Baptist. John didn’t eat or drink and they accused him of having a demon. Jesus ate and drank and was accused of being a drunk and glutton. You can’t win!

We sometimes hold ourselves to different standards than we do other people. We make up different rules for us and for them so we can let ourselves off the hook far more easily than others.

But when we compare ourselves to Jesus we all fall a long way short. We might look pretty good compared to murderers, robbers and maybe even our neighbours. However that is not the standard that Christians are held to. It is the standard of Jesus. The next time you find yourself getting a bit uppity with someone else, check to see if you do that thing that they are doing!

Another problem with sin is that we do not want to get caught. We don’t want others to know about the things we do, say, think that are less than honourable.

The author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (wrote the Sherlock Holmes books) once played a practical joke on 12 men. They were all very well-known, respected and honorable men. He sent each of them a telegram, with the same message: ‘Flee at once. All is discovered!’ Apparently within 24 hours they had all fled the country!

We all want to avoid shame and embarrassment; we have done and said things that we would not want others to know about. We often put up barriers around us to avoid the possibility of being found out. We don’t want people to think less of us or badly of us.

Paul laments doing those things that he doesn’t want to do – anybody can relate to this?

Whether it is a package of biscuits, what we watch on TV, the next drink or the deeper things such as unforgiveness, anger, lack of charity, and anything that we worship more than God needs to be addressed and treated seriously.

What do we do?
We start by recognising the sin in our lives. This is what Paul is doing as he realises the conflict within himself. Jesus points out to the child-like generation who make up rules and play their silly games.

Not just recognise – but name it. Not easy but necessary.

When are you tempted to fall into sin? Some of the most comforting words ever to fall from the mouth of Jesus are ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’

When you are stressed out, angry, anxious, hungry, not getting enough sleep; in other words weary and burdened. All these conditions can push us into making bad decisions that can lead us to sin. Jesus is saying come to me and I will give you rest.

Recognising it – identifying when it might happen and taking it to Jesus.

Leave a moment…

Sunday After Ascension: Jobs to Do

15th century manuscript

Acts 1:6-14
John 17:1-11

Like most times throughout history, life and the world can often feel up and down. Prices are up, spirits are down. Interest rates rise to try to keep inflation down. We can be happy one minute and weeping the next. Healthy in one breath and sick in the next. We can be on time in one minute and beyond late in the next five.

In our Gospel readings since Easter there have been many ups and downs. Jesus was lifted up onto the donkey and hailed as a hero. Next he was beaten down and lifted up onto the cross. To be brought down and put into the tomb. We are told he descended to the dead and rose again on the third day. At the end of the Gospels and the opening of the books of Acts, Jesus has been travelling around in human form meeting and eating with people. Seemingly appearing and disappearing at will.

This past Thursday was Ascension Day. The final act of Jesus’ ministry on earth was his return to heaven. Jesus ascending into heaven has been depicted in many pieces of art – often with his dangling feet at the centre while a crowd of baffled onlookers look up. Many poets have tried to capture the meaning and feeling of this rather odd event.

Jesus repeatedly told the disciples that he would be going up to be with God in heaven and would send down the Holy Spirit; the Counsellor to be with us always. One cannot help but to think about his disciples. Poor men! They had been through so much in the previous weeks. The Bible is not clear exactly how long it was between the resurrection and ascension.

However long it was, the disciples are imagining that life might go back to the way it was, only better. They ask Jesus, in verse 6 of Acts: ‘Lord is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ They seem to have gone back to old assumptions that Jesus was going to kick out the Romans and set up a new Jewish kingdom and they would be part of the ruling party.

However in the next moment, they realise that is not what is happening. Jesus is not staying with them as he was ‘lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.’ Maybe to the disciples the dream really was over. Jesus refused to tell them what was going on. Instead he left them with a job to do; to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

I have often wondered what the walk back to Jerusalem would have been like. A sabbath day’s journey is 0.6 mile (1 kilometre). This refers to the distance a person could walk without breaking religious law about working on the sabbath. It was not a long walk physically; but much longer mentally. Have you ever had that experience? A short distance in one respect but life changingly long in another.

Acts does not give away any emotion or conversation. They watched Jesus go up and now they are left feeling down. The disciples were left with two valuable lessons; the need to stick together and the need to pray.

When they returned to Jersulem, to the upper room where they were staying, they prayed together. No one wandered off to do their own thing. We need to remain rooted in Jesus and to each other. We can desire to go our own way when uncertainty comes, when the ups and down of life get too much.

The second lesson was about prayer. Jesus prayed. Jesus prays.

In John 17, after washing the disciples feet and before his arrest, Jesus prayed. He spent the last few precious hours of his life praying. For the disciples and for us.

I am making some assumptions here that I assume are right: first is that you do in fact pray. Secondly that you do think about prayer and praying. I think that this is an important question to ask ourselves this morning.

What do you think you are doing when you pray?

Are we telling God what to do?

How about giving him information about a situation, a person or ourselves that He already knows and then offering suggestions on what the Almighty might like to do about it?

Are we presenting a laundry list of ills and complaints?

Are we praising and thanking?

Are we pleading and begging?

What do you think you are doing?

I suspect it is a combination of all the above things! God knows everyone’s heart. Every thought, the deepest secrets and hurts, the highest highs and joys, He knows every crack and break. God knows before we even utter a word from our mouths what the condition of our hearts are. There is no fooling him.

Do you expect an answer? I do not think I could pray with no expectation that God is going to do something. Sometimes expectations are low as I have to be willing to wait and trust. Wait to see what the answer is and not rush off in fear that I won’t get what I want or worse, no answer at all.

I also have to trust that even if I don’t see a clear answer (ie: voice from heaven, message written in the clouds) that God has heard my prayer and will do as He sees fit. Even if – even if – I don’t get the answer that I want.

Jesus prayed for some very specific things for the disciples with the underlying message of unity in God and Jesus. We are all bound together in love. Helpfully, if we find ourselves stuck on what to pray for, Jesus also gives us some ideas. In John, verse 12 he talks about protection. Jesus asks God to protect the disciples with the same power that God has already given to Jesus. This is what ‘in your name’ means.

He guarded them while he was with them. Jesus has been utterly faithful to the task assigned to him: to keep and protect those God has given to him.

This is an important thing to do for those given to our care; pray for God’s protection on them. Not only from physical dangers, illness and all the other bad things that can happen. But they will stay under the spiritual protection of God that comes from staying close to Jesus.

The next thing that Jesus prays for is joy; this means rejoicing, celebrating, enjoyment, bliss. So often our joy in a worldly sense is never quite complete. It is only in Jesus that our joy will ever be complete. It is only the love of God that brings us joy, brings us salvation.

Thirdly, Jesus prayed that the disciples would know the truth and be sanctified by it. Sanctify here means to be set apart for God and God’s purposes alone. It does not mean that someone is better than anyone else, but they are different. Jesus is praying that the disciples will be set apart to do only what God wants them to do. Jesus was sanctified, set apart by God to fulfil his purposes.

For us, we can pray that our people will know the truth of God and go into the world to live and share it. Of course there are many more ways and things to pray about for those we are called to pray for. I think that protection, joy and truth are very good places to start. Remember that He knows the condition of our hearts. We also need time and preparation for the answer even if it seems hard. God is faithful!

Jesus sets an example of how and what to pray as He prayed for his disciples right before his death. He prayed for protection, joy and truth. In his Ascension, Jesus leaves us with jobs to do and in the sending of the Holy Spirit, the power to do them.

Leave some space for you to think about the people who know and love who could use protection, joy and truth today.

Easter 6: Know Your God!

10/5/26
Easter 6

Acts 17:22-31
John 14:15-21

This is the last Sunday of the Easter season! It has gone by quickly; Easter Sunday feels like years ago. Over the last few weeks we have heard the stories of the first disciples and the establishment of the early church. Year A, our current lectionary year, has a focus on the conversion of Saul from the persecuting, misguided baddie to Paul the Saint following his encounter on the road to Damascus. The disciples are still in the Upper Room with Jesus on the last night of his life.

We are starting to hear snippets about the work of the Holy Spirit when it is finally sent. Jesus (according to the church calendar) has not yet ascended into heaven but is telling people to expect the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. Paul, a few years on from Damascus, has travelled to Athens and is waiting for his followers to arrive and is getting impatient. He has been changed by his encounter with the Holy Spirit and is anxious for others to hear the good news too. Paul decides to explore the city and ends up in the marketplace where he is able to engage and challenge the locals on their belief system of various gods (with a small g).

What is the message for us here this morning in Charlwood ahead of our Annual General Meeting?

As we celebrate Jesus, our patron, in the work of this church I came up with three things to be reminded of and celebrated today.

Firstly, know the God you worship. Sometimes we need to take a wider view of what is at stake. This is what Paul is getting after the Athenians about. The people of Athens worshipped many different gods in their polytheistic society. They were anxious that no good be left out; to cover all bases they acknowledged any god that might exist. Paul sounds suspiciously flippant here; I see how extremely religious you are in every way!

Yet they were ignorant of the one true God. Paul proclaims to them the God who has revealed himself to Israel as creator, judge and saviour. What is the first thing that pops into your head when I ask who God is?

I love how Paul talks about God. God who made the world and everything in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, he gives himself to all mortals (us) life and breath and all things. God is not far from each one of us. In Him we live and move and have our being. We are God’s offspring.

It is of extreme importance that we know who God is. Why? When the things of this life: the inconveniences, the problems, issues, sorrows and disasters threaten to overwhelm knowing who God is will carry us through.

When I look around this church and get frustrated at various things; I need to rely on God for strength and wisdom. It might not change the situation but it will change how I see it; give my patience when it runs short. This comes from trusting and knowing who is really in control.

Secondly, in John’s Gospel Jesus is preparing the disciples for his imminent departure. He tells them ‘I have not left you as orphans. I will come to you.’ Without wanting to give you a veiled telling off, I would like to remind you that you have not been left alone. In verse 27 as Paul speaks to those who are looking for God, “though indeed he is not far from each one of us.”

It is God who is the head of this church. We come here to worship him. In 1st Corinthians 1 Paul has strong words for the people in the church at Corinth. They were making personality cults and dividing themselves up along the lines of the leaders of the church. They were saying ‘I follow Paul, I follow Peter’. Paul is clear that they were not crucified for them or baptised in their names. Only Jesus was.

As a church, we need to know who God is, believe that He is with us and for us. It is Him alone we worship as a church. Paul instructs the early church to be in agreement and there should be no divisions among us; rather be united in the same mind and purpose. That is the mind and purpose of Christ.

There is so much opportunity in this church beyond what we can ask or imagine. There is opportunity to be united in mind and purpose; there is opportunity to serve the community we live in. There is so much need.

Take a moment to think of the people, maybe some are in church this morning who have been a blessing to you. The people that took an opportunity to reach out to you. Think of the people that you have been a blessing to. It is really okay to acknowledge that you have been a blessing to others.

We are not alone; we are in this together.

Thirdly, we have the evidence, the promise of the Advocate. Jesus is promising the disciples the Spirit of Truth to be with them forever. Paul has encountered and been filled with the Holy Spirit and we see the fruit of that in his missionary journeys.

Many Christians are okay with Father and Son but when it comes to the Holy Spirit they get a bit nervous. If this is you it is worth some time and thought in these weeks leading up to Pentecost.

The original meaning of the Holy Spirit, a grammar lesson for you, was ‘one who gives strength’ but it is more than that. The Greek word is ‘parakletos – one who is called alongside to assist or one who stands by another to plead their cause’.

In English we are familiar with words like paramedic, paralegal, someone who works alongside or near a doctor or lawyer. Para means with or alongside and kletos means called or invited.

This word has tremendous meaning and importance to Christians. Jesus has promised us a parakletos sent by the Father and the Son to be ‘alongside’ us. This is what the Spirit does – comes alongside us. The Holy Spirit was sent to help us in our times of need; in those desperate prayers or situations we find ourselves in sometimes.

This church will only grow with the power of the Holy Spirit. Not on who is leading it, not on our activities and services. The Holy Spirit is alongside us, with and within us. It was sent as a gift to fill us with faith, grace and power to help us forgive those who hurt and offend us and to ultimately and eternally connect us to the Father and the Son.

St Nicholas, we have some work to do! As we come to Communion this morning we remember and celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus for us. As we meet together to look at the past year we are reminded of the commandments of Jesus to love God and neighbour, be wise stewards and to grow his church. And most of all – to know Him.