The gravity and gladness of preaching

 I have been reading The Revd Dr John Piper on this subject in The Supremacy of God in Preaching. I think he is on to something, you know. Drawing on Jonathan Edwards, he warns against preaching which is cold or in which we speak of the great things of God to sinners as if it were an ordinary conversation about indifferent matters. None of Edwards' 1200 surviving sermons contains a joke, but they do express an earnest passion for souls. He sought not to entertain his hearers with notions but to preach the Word of God with a certain seriousness of purpose. Even when Edwards read from a full manuscript with few gestures, his sermons could have a powerful effect. He would not raise his voice, but he would present an overwhelming argument with an intense sense of the presence of God such that the congregation were overcome with a great solemnity. 

Piper argues the great lesson we can learn from Edwards is to take our calling seriously and not to trifle with the Word of God or the act of preaching. 

Thomas Chalmers was said to be in bondage to his manuscript, even following along with his finger on the text as he read it, and given to long sentences but he had one thing: "blood-earnestness". 

Preaching should not be morose, boring, dismal, sullen, gloomy or unfriendly but it should arise from and seek to mediate a deep and reverent encounter with God.

Away with light-hearted, chipper, talkative preaching. The pulpit is not the place for trivial levity, flippancy or carelessness.  Don't forget: something eternal and infinite is being done there. 

Platinum Jubilee Sermon

 

 

Revelation 21:22—22:4

Luke 22:24–30

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

 

It’s impossible to sum up any human person and any life.

When it comes to Her Majesty the Queen, we know both so much and so little about her.

Hers is both the most extraordinary life, and in some ways it’s very ordinary:

There may sometimes be golden plates and cutlery at State Banquets, but there is also Tupperware for the cornflakes at breakfast. 

She is one of us, the best  of us, and yet her life is unimaginably different from yours and mine.

There’s so much which we might say about her 96-year life and her 70-year reign.

She has been a symbol of continuity, and yet so much has changed.

 

I am going to say something about Her Majesty and our readings later, but I didn’t want us to miss the opportunity to hear from Her Majesty herself about what she thinks matters most.

We’re going to watch a specially compiled 9-minute video which picks out some of the things which Her Majesty has said about the Christian faith in her Christmas messages from her first televised broadcast in 1957 to last year’s.

 

* * *

 

Video / quotation from 2011 broadcast:

 

For many this Christmas will not be easy.

With our armed forces deployed around the world, thousands of service families face Christmas without their loved ones at home.

The bereaved and the lonely will find it especially hard.

And, as we all know, the world is going through difficult times.

 

All this will affect our celebration of this great Christian festival.

Finding hope in adversity is one of the themes of Christmas.

Jesus was born into a world full of fear.

The angels came to frightened shepherds with hope in their voices: ‘Fear not’, they urged, ‘we bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.’

 

Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed.

God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general (important though they are) – but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.

 

Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith.

It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships and it can reconcile divided communities.

It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God’s love.

 

In the last verse of this beautiful carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem, there’s a prayer:

 

O Holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us we pray
Cast out our sin
And enter in
Be born in us today

 

It is my prayer that on this Christmas day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God through Christ our Lord.

 

* * *    

 

Over the last few days we’ve heard some wonderful anecdotes about the Queen.

Many have revealed her wicked sense of humour.

Not all monarchs, I think, would have agreed to films with James Bond and Paddington Bear.

 

The Queen was once at some great event and someone’s mobile phone rang unexpectedly.

There was frantic fumbling and the phone was turned off.

And Her Majesty said: “Oh dear, I do hope it wasn’t anyone important!”

 

I dare to suggest to you that today, someone important is trying to communicate with you.

Will you pause and ask yourself what God has been saying to you by his Holy Spirit?

What he is saying?

Maybe something from a hymn or reading, or something her Majesty has said?

Has there been a word for you, which you need to answer, rather than ignore?

 

Perhaps my favourite story of the Queen is one it’s hard to believe.

It feels like a preacher’s story but I saw the Royal Protection Officer in Morning Suit and Medals telling it on Sky TV.

The Queen and Richard, of Her Majesty’s Constabulary, were out near Balmoral with some sandwiches when an American couple came and spoke to them.

“Have you ever met the Queen?”, they asked.

Quick as a flash, Her Majesty said: “No, I never have, but Dick has, many times!”

Well, they wanted to know everything!

They even asked the Queen to take their photo with Dick!

Dick and the Queen persuaded them to have a photo with the Queen too, but they never let on, hoping they would go home and show someone the photo and all would be revealed.

 

Isn’t it a wonderful and unbelievable story?

 

But it’s a gift for the preacher too, because we are in danger of making just the same mistake.

 

It is good and right that we should make much of Her Majesty the Queen today.

We give thanks for her.  

But she would have us make much more of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, to whom she looks as her Lord and Saviour.

 

Jesus has been the model for Her Majesty’s remarkable lifetime of service.

He, the greatest of all, who was First by right, became the lowest and the last.

From the throne of heaven, he willingly served us by coming to a Manger and going to a cross.

He served and served and served.

And his life was spent, for us in our place.

 

We ought to have died for him:

That’s what subjects must do for their sovereign at need.

But he died for us.

He took all our sin and guilt.

He overcame our death.

 

He gave up his kingdom only to take it up again and to bestow it on us.

 

We may have felt blessed to be British these last few days.

But this Sceptred Isle is at best a Demi-Eden.

 

As we seek under God to do what we can in the power of the Spirit to make earth more like heaven, do we not feel our want, our need – how very far from paradise our nation is for many?

We need the Lamb and the Light!

The Kingdom of God can never come from our best efforts alone.

I am all for Big Lunches but they cannot truly and for ever bring our society together and make us whole.

We must come empty handed to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.

We are hungry beggars whom King Jesus in his mercy would feed.

Real community is based only on Communion with the King.

 

Happy the British Citizen, perhaps, but happier yet those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life!

 

This Jubilee Pentecost Sunday, the Spirit of God invites all those from every nation to the good news of King Jesus.

He offers forgiveness, peace, hope, joy and more to all who will receive him with humble faith.

Honour the Queen.

Trust in God.

 

Friends, enter his gates now with thanksgiving!

Step into the Light!

Drink of the Water of Life!

Here is the healing of all hurts – now in part, then in full.

Eat and rejoice!

 

Only if we do so now with repentance and faith will we see his face with joy at last.

The gates of his kingdom will for ever stand open wide, but some will have excluded themselves.

 

My friends, as we celebrate the Queen, let us meet the King!

Let us leave here today not with a photo of a royal protection officer, but as subjects, and even friends, of the King of Kings.

 

That is what the Spirit of God says to you today:

Come and welcome to Jesus the King!

 

And so to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be all honour and power and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Long term church leadership

I've been Rector here now for the best part of twelve years. Our eldest is about to start GCSEs. And just assuming for a moment that we were to stay here until our youngest finishes his A-Levels, I would have notched up twenty two years - quite a stint by modern standards. So I have been thinking about this. 

OPPORTUNITIES

One can know and be known. And show commitment to people and place. You live out perseverance. 

More and more, if you are doing a good job, people will come to you for weddings, baptisms and funerals across the generations. You will have lived through joys and sorrows with more and more families. You earn the right to speak into their situation quite boldly, perhaps, if you all know that you have poured years of love, prayer and practical care into their lives. 

You and the church will have changed together - perhaps for better or for worse. Even if you didn't come with a master plan for revolution, tiny tweaks over five and ten years might have made a big difference. It is said that people overestimate what they can do in a year or two but underestimate what they can do in five or ten.

CHALLENGES

You can't look to a change of place, necessarily, for stimulus. So how will you keep fresh?

If you are going to preach engagingly on Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and Trinity for twenty years, you will need to expand beyond a few favourite Bible passages and ideas. You need depth. Your rootedness requires roots.  

And you need to pray for openness and optimism. Someone (perhaps you!) will say, "We tried that ten years ago and...." You need to be willing to try new and old things. You need to keep plodding on, sometimes slower, sometimes faster, but knowing the Goal and the Way, following Christ and leading others to him. 

Which of your weaknesses are deforming your church over time? How can you and others mitigate against them?

What do you think? What have you seen of long or short spells as Vicar for good or ill? What are your hopes and fears for the long haul?

Applied Focused Purpose and Church Leadership

 The phrase "applied focussed purpose" can help us think about the how, what and why of church leadership. 

You need FOCUS. Even in a small church, there are probably too many people and things to really concentrate on. For a time you may need to focus on admin, or the building, or even the flowers. But what are the things and people you really want to give your attention to? 

PURPOSE. Why? What are your aims large and small? Yes, the glory of God and the good of people. Growth in number and commitment to Christ. 

APPLIED. Break it down. What now? What next? How do your focus and purpose get put in to action by you and others? We don't want activism and we know that being matters more than doing, but you will do some stuff so what and how and why?

What might our church look like with the blessing of God in five years time? What are the next steps, as well as prayer and openness to changing our ideas?