The Church needs to be Fulfilling Scripture in our Day as Jesus did.

Sermon Preached at St Mary's and then at the Good Shepherd 27 Jan 2013 

Jesus Said: "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. (Luke 4:21)

The Challenge to the Church today is whether we are ensuring that these words are true in our communities and our time. Scripture needs to be fulfilled in our time, in our lives and by our actions.

Today I’d like to explore a few things that we need to take to heart to ensure that we are continuing the ministry of Jesus and to ensure that the Good News that is revealed through the Holy Scriptures is being heard in the world.

From Nehemiah we are reminded of the centrality and importance of Scripture to us as God’s people.

From Corinthians we are reminded that we have gifts and duties that make us part of the body and how each part of the body has a role to play – a body in which one part is not doing what it should be doing is a diseased body – A body that rejects its own members and does not appreciate them is a diseased body. Each and every member of this body is vital to the successful functioning of the Body of Christ. And each of you are appreciated and loved as members of this body – as we say in the Eucharist- we are one body –for we all partake of the one bread. So you are important. You are needed. You are necessary – for scripture to be fulfilled in the world today – you must play your part.

In Nehemiah we see how the people responded to the reading of Scripture – I must admit I have seldom noticed that response during Anglican Services –maybe our readings are too short – vs 10 we seem to have mastered however: - Neh 8:10  Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord.."

Our fat and sweet wine consists of Milk Tart, and tea but it will do.

But seriously -We need to take scripture to heart as they did.

The walls of Jerusalem had just been rebuilt and the nation felt safe for the first time in a long time and when they heard the Law being read they realised that their real hope was in the Lord – their real protection was from him...

May we come to the same conclusion – may what God has done for us bring us to tears – of sorrow for our short comings and repeated mistakes, and tears of joy as we realise how deep and how wide and how wonderful the Fathers love for us is.

Tears of joy for the privilege of being part of the Body of Christ – how wonderful it is to be called Sons of God = coinheritors with Christ and to be His body that is in need of all the parts. Each called and given specific gifts for the building up of the body of Christ. 

Jesus brings us to the realisation that Scripture is real, relevant and role specific. Scripture is being fulfilled in our time, in our presence in our circumstances and situation. If we are going to see the effects of this in our time then God’s Church the Body of Christ has to be doing the right things. Jesus said that the following things were being fulfilled in the peoples hearing:

Proclamation of the good news to the poor.

Proclamation of liberty to the captives

Recovery of sight to the blind,

liberty of the  oppressed,  and

the  proclamation  of the Lord's favour."

In order for these five things to be seen in our time the Church needs to be displaying – showing forth- the truth about God: the Scriptures speak of prophecy which was not so much fore-telling as we mostly think of it in other words telling what would happen in the future- but more a case of  Forth telling- speaking the truth of God explaining his presence in the present- showing God’s presence in the world.- this is our prophetic role:-revealing the truth  that One: Jesus is the Good News of salvation, he liberates us from the effects of our sinful nature, he enables us to come to God – as we say in the Eucharist – not trusting in our own righteousness – but in the manifold love of God. We proclaim the Good News.

Two: He opens our eyes to see the things that need to be changed in our lives and when we change we will no longer be oppressed by the things of this world. Critical to the witness to the world of scripture being fulfilled in our lives, critical to our witness to the love of God is the understanding that:   

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;

persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

Being a Christian does not mean that everything will be perfect – but it does mean that we will have the strength to endure all things, that no matter what happens we will have the courage and the wisdom  to face the challenges of every day and so we are set free from the things that bring fear and apprehension, our eyes are opened to opportunities, opportunities to be useful, to have meaning to be joyful and content.

So how do we as the Church ensure that “Scripture is fulfilled in our hearing”

In his book “the Living Church” John Stott speaks of four essentials for the Church – He says that we must be:

·       A learning Church

·       A caring Church

·       A worshipping Church and

·       An evangelising Church

Scripture tells us that the early Church met constantly to hear the apostles teach: - We too must open ourselves to the teaching of Scripture – reading it discussing it putting it into practice.

I have been told that if your hear something you forget it in about 72 hours, if you read it you remember it a bit longer – but if you do it – you will never forget it – St James says do not merely listen to the word but do what it says:

We need to be a learning church – you are never too old to learn – and we must make what we learn corporate knowledge – we must share your wisdom our understand and grow together. That is why our weekly Bible study on Tuesday’s at 14h30 is important and I’d love to us start some more as well –opportunities for studying God’s word together. 

Secondly we need to be a caring church: One of the fascinating things about the early church is how they cared for each other and for the community – our slogan is [the church in the community and the community in the church] {know Jesus and make him known}  - that means that we see that being church is not just what we do in these walls but it is what we do in the world – giving people time, listening to them, being patient with them, sharing in their joys and sorrows, being available to them asking how they are and then actually listening to the answer… in today’s world possibly this is the greatest thing that we can do – listen to others attentively. Caring meanings sharing of yourself with them  - realising that we share a common life and that when one part hurts the whole body hurts. John Stott speaks of the Art of double listening – listening to the world to hear its needs and listening to God to hear the solutions.

Thirdly for God’s word to be fulfilled in our hearing we need to be a worshipping Church. We need to be both joyful and reverent.

While working with youth in an ecumenical setting one comment that I repeatedly heard from the young people was how they were amazed by the way as Anglicans we could have fun together and joke and enjoy ourselves but that when we came to the Eucharist or prayer services we displayed a reverence. We need to learn how to be joyful and reverent.

Lastly we need to be an evangelising Church, Acts 2 tells us about the Early Church and covers all that we have spoken about this morning. And vs 47 says – and the Lord added daily to their numbers those who were being saved.

Again our slogan [the church in the community and the community in the church] {know Jesus and make him known}  -

Speaks of growing the church – and this begins by us seeing that the community of this church is not limited to the Parish Roll – but to the people who we interact with every day.

The adding is; that when we treat every person we meet with on a daily basis as if they are part of us – then we are Kingdom building.

Imagine if you treated everyone you met each day as if they were part of this congregation. You would meet people’s deepest need – to be noticed, to have their worth appreciated, to be loved, to be reminded that they matter. God loves people by having you love them. God cares for people by having you care for them – God speaks to people when you speak to them – you fulfill scripture when you share yourself with others.

 So I charge you commit yourselves to learning, fellowship, caring, and witnessing in the love of God to the world and fulfill scripture this day in the world.

Amen. 

Jesus takes our servant hearts and turns them into the wine of blessing for others.

(Sermon Based on: Isaiah 62:1-5/Psalm 36:5-10/1 Corinthians 12:1-11/John 2:1-11)

This morning’s readings are so full of symbolism that we could spend hours just going through each different train of thought.

I just want to highlight one or two things as a way of encouraging us as a congregation to respond to the love of God and grasp how deep and how high and how wonderful the love of God is for us.

Anybody who has attended a few weddings in their lifetime must have heard this story of the wedding at Cana. It reminds me of a story told by the wife of a renowned American Pastor who spoke of how she got sick of hearing the story of the prodigal son. It seemed that the text was used everywhere she went. And on the way to a women’s talk one day she literally prayed that God would spare her another talk on the Prodigal son. To her dismay the speaker stood up and used the prodigal son as her text, but something happened because for the first time she realized that she was the prodigal son –she had always stood at a distance from the text and the narrative -  and it was as if God was plugging away repeating his point until finally she got it.

I will always encourage you to look at a text from every side – put yourself in the place of every character and see what God is saying to you. At the wedding in Cana – Mary is there, the servants are there the Master of ceremonies – at times in our lives we are each of those characters and we need to play our part.

·         If Mary had not spoken up – there is no story

·         If the Servants had not done what Jesus said – there is no story

·         If the Master of Ceremonies had not spoken up – there is no story.

What is God doing in the world today – that never manifests into a story because we are not playing our part?

I’d like to highlight –

1)     Mary’s statement – in faith and expectation she called on Jesus to address her need.

2)     The use of the washing jars as opposed to the wine bottles

3)     The relationship between the wedding of Cana and the use of Spiritual gifts.

There are many reasons why Mary would have asked her son to help out when the wine ran out. But the theological significance of what happened is more important than the historical one.

As we read in Isaiah – the Jews were waiting for the fulfillment of the promises of God to his people – and Mary saw every opportunity as an opportunity for God to restore Israel.

We need to be the same – every life event is an opportunity for God to restore the Kingdom.

Secondly Jesus says a seeming strange thing but lets keep it in context  - Jesus is saying I am not going to restore the kingdom at this point but I am going to continue to affirm the promises.

Unless we are prepared to accept this our faith journey is very difficult.

Then Mary accepts whatever it is that Jesus is going to do  - in faith:

She had never seen him perform a miracle – she had no idea how he was going to address the problem and I think that if she heard what he said to the servants there would have been a moment that she regretted asking him at all.

Like Mary we must bring our concerns our lives our events our problems to Jesus and ask him to address them in the faith that the promises of  God  will be fulfilled in our daily lives – At Cana we learn that each day is a reminder of the promise that the Kingdom is to be established Jesus will come to Judge the world in righteousness and in Truth.  

What Jesus does is then the most amazing thing.

All around the room are empty wine jugs. Every table has an empty wine bottle on it, and as we hear later these jugs had contained quality wine…

And in the corner of the room are the empty foot washing jugs ….

Amazing why did he not get the servants to fill the wine jugs – why did he use the washing water jugs – only the servants and possibly Mary and the disciples saw where the servants drew the wine from..

At Cana we see one of the most profound statements of God saying – see I am doing a new thing.

This miracle was saying – the Messiah will not simply do what the ancient Kings did  - he will be the servant King – and the servant will do great things – he will restore God’s people to be something greater than could ever be imagined –

Mary called on Jesus – in faith

Jesus did the unexpected and showed us that he was to be the servant king

And lastly the servants were obedient – Just as St Paul speaks to the Corinthians about using their God given gifts as opposed to their pagan ideas that led them astray – the wisdom of the servants said bring the Wine jugs filled with water – but they did as they were told – they did it God’s way –

What does your wisdom limit you from doing because God has other plans?

  Man they must have been nervous – imagine being a servant at an important banquet and you draw washing water and give it to the Master of ceremonies – that took courage.

Have you got that kind of courage? in your hand you have gifts from God – a ministry, a calling, a blessing – but it feels to you that it is nothing of value – washing water…

Be like the servants at Cana and offer that in the world – for as you pour it out  - Merlot from the best Vineyard in the world will flow out and bless the receiver..

And so be of good courage  -

Expect God to act like Mary did –

Be obedient in faith like the servants were –

And allow God’s mercy and grace to flow from you into the world that His name may be praised.

Amen. 

Moving to Toti

Well we arrived Friday 28th at 18h30 after a long day of travel with the singing cats. But the trip went well. Tiger was the first to escape his cat box - about 2.2 minutes into the trip, "in-car-ceration" was not on his bucket list and besides  a  room without a view is not something that a discerning cat would order now is it.

He was promptly  placed back where his humans wanted him - not without objection and the handlers have the scratch marks to prove it - a bit of duck tape over the door to add insult to injury and we were off.

Chris Tomlin  was  joined by the "Tom Cats " as additional backup, as Michelle piloted the zoo towards  Standerton and listened to the cat choir  version of her favourite "road tunes."

Vocal chorus was not the only contribution and soon the cats put up a real stink over the indignity of being removed from their hunting grounds of Pannevis street, and soon Michelle and Noah had natures air con as open windows  whistled fresh air in to add to music the ambiance of a convertible - all Michelle needed now was the scarf blowing in the wind and a set of pilot goggles.

With great tenacity se soldiered on - while I on the other hand sat in the luxury of aircon and  that new car smell which still lingered, but was  lost  somewhere  in the free state I believe as our 12 day old car hit 2500km.

After a good lunch of Wimpy burgers and a rest at Harrismith which was a sea of activity of arriving and returning tourists either clogging or honking there way down the roadway - we set off on the final leg of our destination.

Thomas and Fluffy Bean soon rearranged the seating plan again and joined Kisha on the back seat, Thomas looking more like an  harassed African wildcat than a domestic  kitty.

Without too much additional drama besides the Gautengers not knowing how to drive at 80 Km and hour down the pass - we reached our new home at sun set - to discover that  it is not the sun that provides  the earths heat - for even in its absence it was  sweltering . Having no furniture and thus no where to sit in our new house we headed for the beach and our first swim and at east there are soft spots to sit in the cool (just below 30⁰Celcius) of  the evening.

 Back home in the evening we had our first encounter with Natal household wildlife. Having been born in Durban I was not taken aback by the creature that shocked the family by its shear size  - unlike Bill Cosby's old roach just trying to make it across the floor, this one was agile and darted too and fro inspecting our apparel like a sniffer dog at the airport.

Day two saw us up before the dawn as it was just too hot to seep    spent a lot of the day on the beach shedding the Secunda  out of us through sweet and copious amounts of sea water washing the inland life  out of us and preparing us for the status of beach B...- "is it boys and girls or something else)?

Sunday Morning I decided to sneak into the back of St Mary's and enjoy the service,   we went un noticed by most except those that we had previously met at a fellowship evening in October.  The poor women who sat in the same pew as us was of course very surprised to be welcomed as the new Rectors Wife - having  seen Michelle once, the mere fact that she was near me was enough to set some people off in cheerful and well meant salutations of welcome.

Having resolved that I chatted to those there and the poor Lay Minister who had know idea that I was in the congregation, was most relieved that the service had gone off well. She preached a great sermon on the need for maturity, using the Gospel reading where Jesus stayed in Jerusalem while his parent's  traveled on and when they found he was not with them they returned to Jerusalem to find him in the temple. Great use of the text and personal touch -She did well.

The truck arrived at around ten thirty and in the sweltering heat we unpacked all our things which seemed to overflow the house with Manning:  by evening we had secured a place to sit and a bed to sleep in which was most welcome.  

A thoughtful and kind parishioner provided a cooked chicken and some buns which is just what we needed to provide sustenance for the task ahead, and a kitchen made inoperable by boxes with three miles of paper wrapping up each and every small glass bowl which soon filled the kitchen like one of those kids play boxes full of balls or a balloon or foam party where you wade through  the objects in search of something - in our case the kitchen cupboards  and our menagerie of pots and pans and plates cups and sources.

Looking more like home we retired to bed to try and sleep despite feeling damp and sticky, tired but content, we are here.