Pusey House Sermon
5th Sunday of Easter
May 14, 2023
Joel 2:21-26
James 1:22-27
John 16:23b-33
It is both delightful and daunting to be preaching here this morning. A dear Pusey friend, after looking at the term card, sent the text: ‘big shoes to fill. Kiss.’ The provision of supportive and honest friends is one of the many great blessings of Pusey House.
It would be far more comfortable to stand here and tell of the many blessings that Pusey House has brought to my life and ministry over the last nine years. From the very first Sunday Mass, amidst the smoke, the liturgy and magnificent music (all very different to where I had come from) I felt at home. This, too, is a great blessing of Pusey House.
Therefore, it is wildly appropriate, on this Rogation Sunday, not only to remember the blessings we have been blessed with in the past; but to ask for more blessings in the future. Rogation Sunday ties in ancient traditions of invoking divine favour to protect crops from mildew by processing around the parish boundaries, using processional litanies ending with a mass, for the blessing of the land. This is where the tradition of ‘beating of the bounds comes from.
This is still the practice in some rural parishes, including my own in the Hambleden Valley. My first proper Rogation Sunday was last year. It was not previously on my religious radar. A dutiful Church Warden provided a brief of what was expected. As usual, I took that a few steps further.
At the end of the service using the Rogationtide liturgy, I had the entire congregation process out behind the church, overlooking fields of cereal crops and sheep. This was met with nods of approval. I then asked the congregants to raise their hands towards the fields and sheep. And repeat the blessing after me. Which they mostly did. Next, I asked them to extend their hands towards the people around them. Eeeek. And repeat the blessing after me. Which they mostly did; quietly.
It gets worse. I then asked them to put their hands on their heads. And repeat the blessing after me. Evidently this was done in the quiet of their own hearts and minds. We held that moment and it was powerful. The final blessing was offered and we drifted back for Rogationtide baked goods and coffee.
On this Rogation Sunday we can take some time to consider our own understanding of what it is to be blessed and how we go about seeking blessing.
Is being blessed or asking for a blessing complicated for you? Priests bless people rather frequently: in wedding ceremonies, at death beds, in baptisms and at the end of services. People who may not receive the elements are invited to be blessed at the rail in a Eucharist. These blessings are simply given. The congregation is not asked if they would like to be blessed as though it is a democratic process.
Priests are also stopped on the street, in pubs, on trains, in shops, anywhere they are visible and asked for blessings. Often without hesitation or embarrassment from the asker. Blessings are seemingly accessible and available all around us.
It is not unusual to see #blessed on social media posts. 147 million on Instagram! A quick perusal and it would appear that to be #blessed is arbitrary, socially constructed and heavily dependent on outward appearance. These blessings seem to have more to do with positive circumstances and obtaining favourable or desired outcomes: cute babies, attractive partners, fit bodies, amazing hair, etc. ‘#blessed is a far cry from the blessings God offers us.
Are we able to recognise God’s blessings when they come and how are we asking God to bless us?
Some blessings have been given away or fought over right from Genesis by the descendants of Abraham. Esau gave up his birthright over a bowl of stew. The deathbed deception carried out by Jacob and Rebekah to steal the blessing of Isaac on Esau. Later in Jacob’s life, he wrestled all night with the angel for a blessing and came away with a limp. Some blessings appear to come with a perpetual reminder of them.
Other blessings have come as a reversal of fortune. The prophet Joel begins with lament and a call to repentance. The dating of Joel’s prophecy is woolly but likely before the exile. There is no mention of the northern kingdom and the Israelites are still worshipping in the temple. The locusts, probably both actual and metaphorical, have been ravaging Judah. People are suffering and will only suffer more: the farmers will lose everything, the drinkers will have nothing to drink, the priests nothing for temple-service.
Joel appeals for repentance as Israel has sinned. They need to return to God who promises salvation. Prophecy turns to promise: the enemy will not overcome and the famine caused by the locust will be turned to plenty. All aspects of creation will be restored and blessed from the soil to the animals to the fig tree and vine. Early rain and full threshing floors, overflowing vats. This is true levelling up. All will have plenty and be satisfied. Forget the cost of living crisis.
The days eaten by the locust will be repaid. What a blessing that would be!
There is a greater blessing though. Joel announces twice that ‘my people shall never be ashamed.’ Acknowledgement of shame is a major issue for many people and has become a source of much interest and research in the last few years. Freedom from shame would be a priceless blessing to many people.
In the Old Testament, some blessings are given away or fought over; and some blessings come as a reversal of fortune. In the New Testament, we see in the Beatitudes the head and heart of Jesus’ teaching of what true blessing is.
The Beatitudes show us the very best of what it is to be human; how to live the most fruitful life we can. The way to live well is the way of humility before God, compassion, mercy and peacemaking. We see these profound qualities in other people: the great saints of the past and present.
The word ‘blessed’ also means happy, which makes these statements quite confusing. Happy are the poor in spirit, happy are those who mourn? This does not make sense! But these people are not happy now, they are happy because of the promise that immediately follows: blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. The Beatitudes move on from a state of mind to a state of being.
As part of the farewell discourse in John 16, Jesus is telling his disciples that blessings need to be asked for. This can be dangerous when the ‘in my name’ bit is overlooked. Too many people read ‘ask anything of God and he will give it to you.’ The harmful narrative of the ‘prosperity gospel’ preached in many parts of the northern and southern hemispheres works on this premise. Asking means working; just work harder, pray harder, be better, give more, believe more.
No he will not give us anything we ask. We need to read these verses through the lens of the Beatitudes. Frustratingly, God’s priorities and ours do not always line up. God cannot give us anything that is beyond his will or outside his providence. It is not always clear who is more frustrated by this; God or us?
Not to complicate matters any further, in the Epistle of James, his pronouncement to ‘be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves’ can add to the confusion. This James, not to be confused with James from the House of Zebedee, brother of John, was concerned for the early believers to demonstrate the reality of faith in obedient lives.
This James is presumed to have been a close relative of Jesus, potentially a half-brother or cousin. They would have grown up together in close quarters. For three decades James heard the words, he saw the life and the word in action yet did not do anything about it. James did not follow Jesus during his earthly life, and was only converted after a resurrected encounter with Jesus (1 Corinthians 15). This helps to frame the urgency, the passion with which James writes. For James, if you truly know the word, you will want to do something about it. For James, only listening and not doing anything about it, is the issue. One would have to know what the ‘word’ was before acting upon it. James would have encouraged studying, meditating, and pondering the word.
John, like James, is emphatic about knowing the word. The word made flesh and dwelt among us. John makes clear that asking has to be done in the name of Jesus. Do we know what that means? It follows that if you are going to ask for something in someone’s name, you better know them. God’s love should compel us to want to know him better, love him more. Blessing at the heart is about love. It is not about accumulation of stuff or favourable circumstances to be #blessed. It is to be loved.
The Father, who is the ultimate source of blessing, loves and wants to bless us. Sometimes that blessing comes down and sometimes we have to ask for it.
Other times we have to work at it but in the right way through relationship, study, pondering and doing.
During these next few days of Rogationtide, my prayer is that we will consider again what it is to be truly blessed and be a blessing to others. May we find the courage, the passion to seek God’s blessing for the world, creation, for our neighbours and for ourselves. May we be aware and ready when God’s blessing simply falls on us because He loves.
Bless you.