A funeral sermon for a builder who became a farmer

N was a builder who became a farmer.

I won’t detain you more than a few days, but the Bible has quite a lot to say about both farming and building.

Let’s take building first.

It says that unless the Lord builds the house, the labourers labour in vain.

In the end, it is God alone who establishes the works of men’s hands.

Everything else will crumble, fall and fail.

In fact, if you set yourself up against God, he might even come and tear your tower down.

God is building his kingdom, his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

God himself is like a mighty building, he is a stronghold, a fortress to which we can run.

God is our mighty citadel in whom we are safe and secure.

Jesus is the stone the builders rejected which has become the chief cornerstone.

He is the rock on which the wise man builds his life.

If we build on sand, our house will come crashing down when the storms of life come.

There is much more we could say, but let’s consider farming.

Again, God himself is a farmer.

The world is his field.

God planted a garden in Eden and he made men and women to cultivate it.

We are all to be under-farmers, tenant farmers, stewards, if you like.

God looks for a return from us but we all tend to want our independence and seek to keep the crop for ourselves.

One man sows, someone waters, another man reaps, but God alone gives the growth.

The kingdom of God is like a seed that grows quietly but that bears a great crop, 30, 60 or a hundred times what was sown.

Jesus is like a seed that dies and goes into the ground only to rise again with glorious transformed new life, which brings life to others.

Like the plants, we are not to worry:

God the farmer knows our needs and will make expert provision for us.

There is a great harvest coming when God will gather in his crop and separate the wheat from the chaff.

But God’s farm is a mixed one.

He’s not just into arable.

(I don’t think he has a farm shop exactly but…)

He has many creatures.

The cattle on a thousand hills are his.

God is a shepherd who knows and guides and provides for and protects his sheep.

In fact, Jesus Christ is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep to save them from the satanic wolf, only to take it up again.

N was a builder and a farmer.

So is God.

May God enable us to build our lives on Jesus Christ, the rock, the chief cornerstone and to put our trust in him, the Good Shepherd, that we might grow and flourish and be fruitful and at last be brought safely in in God’s great harvest.

Amen.

A funeral sermon for someone who loved and worked with horses

...

In fact, the Bible has quite a lot to say about horses.

I realise that I’m on dangerous ground here, but one of the main things that the Bible says about them is “put not your trust in horses”.

Now, before you all walk out in disgust, I ought to explain.

Of course, horses are wonderful and marvellous.

I know nothing about horses.

I have to admit I would be a little bit scared of going riding.

Some horses are much bigger that you might imagine, aren’t they?

Even I know that horses are impressive creatures, some for their speed, their grace and elegance, their power, their usefulness and much more.

The Bible has nothing against horses!

On the contrary.

The Bible says don’t put your trust in horses because it knows how good and valuable they are.

In Bible times, the people might very well have been tempted to trust in horses.

What the Bible is thinking about is the war horse – in fact, many war horses.

Now, even war horses are fine and good if the cause if just.

The Bible is not a pacifist book. Far from it.

But the Bible says don’t put your ultimate trust even in a mighty host of the finest war-horses.

It is as if the Bible said do not put your trust in Leopard 2A7 tank.

Or do not put your trust in the Trident Nuclear deterrent.

Again, I’m not making any kind of political point here either.

The Bible is saying that all those things might be very good and helpful, but ultimately you need something even better to put your trust in – someone even better – God himself.

What the Bible says is do not put your ultimate trust in anything or anyone other than God himself.

Death shows us that.

Everything changes and fails and passes away.

Even the best of people will let us down.

God alone endures.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and for ever.

He is the A and the Z, the beginning and the end.

He alone holds the keys of life and death.

God’s mercies are new every morning.

Jesus is a spring of water in the wilderness, a fountain of life in a parched land.

He is the bread of life to the starving soul.

He is an unshakable rock amidst sinking sands.

In fact, to return to horses as I close, Jesus is the Faithful and true Rider.

Let me finish with a great vision of the Lord Jesus Christ from the book of Revelation:

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse!

The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

¹² His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.

¹³ He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.

¹⁴ And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

¹⁵ From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.

He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

¹⁶ On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

May God enable us to trust in him alone: Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Faithful and True Rider.

Christ crucified and risen draw you to himself,

to find in him a sure ground for faith,

a firm support for hope,

and the assurance of sins forgiven; and the blessing ...

Do you love me more than these?

What is the risen Lord Jesus asking Peter here?

Who or what are the these?

Is it "do you love me more than [you love] these?"

Or, "do you love me more than these [love me]?"

The "these" might be the other disciples, the fishing kit and boats or the fish.

It seems to me that Jesus is unlikely to be asking Peter if Peter loves him more than the other disciples love him.

It seems to me that Jesus does require Peter to love him more than Peter loves the other disciples, or his old way of life which is represented by the fishing gear and than the fish, which stand for what Jesus can do for him and for "success".

Let us consider these temptations:

We are to love Christ more than we love anything else

We are to love Christ more than we love anyone else

We are to love Christ more than we love life without him / our old pre-Christian way of life

We are to love Christ more than we love success or what Christ offers

All you are

The most famous, most succinct, and most pitiless summary of the manifest image’s fraudulence was written nearly 20 years ago by the geneticist Francis Crick: “ ‘You,’ your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. Who you are is nothing but a pack of neurons.” 

Yes and no, maybe. But mainly no!

HT Glen Scrivener

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/heretic_707692.html?page=1

"Do you love me?"

The risen Lord Jesus Christ asked Peter.

Now, our society is very mixed up about love, just as it is confused about most things.

Of course, Jesus is not talking about romantic or sexual love. Neither is he being sentimental. This is not Jesus as my boyfriend or girlfriend. Neither does it necessarily involve a gooey feeling in the heart or a far away look in the eye.

This is love that will lead to obedience, to dedicated service and even to a grusome martyr's death.

But it is real love nevertheless. It's a passionate business. Love that involves heart, mind and strength. It is connected to the intelect, the emotions and the will. It is to do with thinking, feeling and acting in certain ways towards Jesus.

And it involves all heart, mind and strength. It is a controling, consuming, dominating, motivating, energising, enabling love. It is not a love that excludes other loves, but it puts them in their place, reoders, and reorients and redefines them. It makes them possible.

Perhaps it's a bit like love for a brother or father. Perhaps the kind of love some footballers might have for the manager who has been like a father to them. Or a boxer for his trainer who helped him to climb out of the gutter. Or the loyalty of a medieval knight to his lord. Or of a soldier to his comrades, or to an officer who loved his men and was willing to lay down his life for them.

But perhaps this is about a love affair after all. It is the love of pauper bride for her prince-bridegroom. He makes her free and clean and beautiful. Their relationship enobles her.

How could we not love him?

APCM 1 Draft 1

APCM 2013 – Rector’s “Sermon” / Report / Remarks / Ramble!

A good APCM is a bit like the Oscars.

I’d like to thank my mum, my agent…

Thank yous to you all.

For your regular prayers, your encouragement, your support, your partnership, your practical help, all that you do in the life of the church (sometimes hidden).

Other thank yous to come from others.

Invidious to pick out individuals.

...

Sorry to anyone I forgot to thank!

The rest of this ought to be familiar, motherhood and apple-pie, useful reminder stuff – but maybe some people would find it revolutionary, controversial and thought provoking.

A deliberate, thoughtful, intentional, purposeful church

A church with a mission

A sense that we are about God’s business

Not just going through the motions, keeping the show on the road, doing what we’ve always done

Intelligently planned, focused, creative, effective

Mission not just maintenance – though maintenance would be impressive

Not the management of decline!

Our purposes and priorities:

If we don’t agree on much of this, we might as well give up!

(1)   Discipleship – follow Jesus – be disciples

It’s Jesus who has brought us together and who keeps us together.

Church is radically  different from the History Group or Rotary or the Golf Club in that respect.

(2)   Evangelism – help and encourage others to follow Jesus – make disciples

(3)   Training in ministry – help and encourage one another to be those who can help and encourage others to follow Jesus – be disciple-making disciples

Not about keeping the show on the road, balancing the books, looking after the building.

All of that is important, but it is for the sake of our purposes and priorities.

We are not an amateur and underfinanced branch of English Heritage or Social Services.

We have a gospel to proclaim Good News for all!

A united team.

Every member a minister.

Not a one man band.

I cannot fill Dallington church.

All with our part to play.

One body, many different parts.

All with our gifts.

Some of you won’t want to preach sermons, I’m no good at flower arranging.

No one a mere passenger.

Working together across the benefice.

The importance of the school – assembly & governors’ meetings etc.

A Mission Action Plan that says what we’re going to do to seek to fulfil our purposes.

Going for growth.

What we have been doing gets the results we have been getting and we are not satisfied with that.

We want to grow in depth and in numbers.

Willingness to change in order to peruse our priorities and grow.

A selfless servant hearted attitude that thinks of others, including those who don’t yet belong to the church.

Faithfulness is success, but that’s no excuse for not constantly seeking to be as effective as we can be.

Andrew Atherston on the new ABC

On my post-Easter holiday, I finished reading Andrew Atherstone's new short biography of Justin Welby, the new Archbishop of Canterbury.

I was surprised by how readable and interesting it was.

Welby's connection to Holy Trinity, Brompton was widely reported, but I hadn't realised how important it was. He was also a regular speaker, it seems, at New Wine. But through CiCCU and camps, Welby also experienced a more conservative evanglicalism. Later he was influenced by Roman Catholic social thought and the Benedictine tradition in particular.

I read the book quite casually, but I was also surprised by how many outside interests Welby had, both as a Rector and later. At one point he was spending an average of 2 days a week chairing the local NHS trust, or some such, according to Atherstone. Whilst its hard to get an impression of this, there also seemed to me to be quite a lot of external speaking, writing and travel.

The comment of the Ministry Selector is priceless - and very rude! I must check so that he can be named and shamed here but it included a line like: "I have interviews 1000 candidates for ordination, and you are not in the top 1000!"

The first hint of the gospel in the Bible

is often thought to be Gen 3:15. Well, perhaps. It all depends how we define the gospel, of course. But it's grace all the way back. Creation itself is a matter of grace. God's making of the world is a matter of his overflowing goodness, it speaks of the love of God the Holy Trinity which is too good for God to keep to himself, which out of sheer generosity he wants to share. It is no need in God which creates, by sheer kindness, the expansiveness of a limitless, uncontainable God. So maybe Gen 1:1 is the first hint of the gospel in the Bible. God makes the world that it might be invited into relationship with him.

10 commandments: questions for study & reflection

In a former life I preached a sermon series on the 10 commandments and I have just completed a somewhat interactive Lent course on them. More or less off the top of my head, here are some questions for study and reflection on the commandments. Some questions may be more or less easy or relevant to some commandments.

The Westminster Larger Catechism is a worthwhile commentary on the commandments.

There are many good books on the commandments. Packer is always worth reading. J John is engaging. I found Frame by far the most stimulating read.

Specifically, what does this commandment command or forbid? Why?

What did it mean in its Mosaic context? What does it mean and how does it apply to us today?

Is the placing of this commandment significant? How does it relate to the other commandments?

How does the rest of Scripture inform your understanding of this commandment? For example, what are the punishments for breaking this commandment? What examples are there of people keeping or breaking this commandment?

Is it possible to break this commandment in your heart?

What does this commandment mean broadly understood? What are the underlying principles?

If the commandment is negative, what are its positive implications and vice versa?

How is this a commandment a perspective on all the others? May all sins be understood as a breaking of this commadment?

How might we be tempted to break this commandment? How can we avoid doing so?

How did Jesus keep this commandment?

What does this commandment teach us about God?

How does this commandment reveal our sin? And drive us to the Saviour?

How might this commandment be understood as a promise?

How might this commandment inform our prayers and praises?

Other questions?

Further jottings on this coming Sunday's lectionary Gospel

Thoughts on the anointing of Jesus from John 12 stolen from or provoked by Steve Levy’s sermon from last Sunday:

Reclining with Jesus at a meal the picture of the resurrection hope of a great feast, being yourself with your feet up.

This anointing of Jesus shows that he is the anointed one: a pint of perfume is poured out on the one on whom the Spirit of God is poured out without measure. As the fragrance fills the whole house, so the Spirit flows from Jesus to fill the world.

The woman pours herself out at Jesus’ feet, who will be poured out for her. As the perfume flows out, so Jesus’ blood will flow out for her and for many.

She bows before Jesus and lays her all at Jesus’ feet. The only way to come to Jesus is completely, wholeheartedly.

The woman takes on the aroma of Jesus. Jesus covers over the stench of our sin. The woman cannot cover her sin any longer, as a teenage boy might try to hide his stink with deodorant. The same anointing that comes on Jesus comes on her: she is united with him and takes on his life. It is as if the woman dies and lives again with Christ.

Jesus is her advocate, her defender.

John 11 & 12 are smelly

What is the aromour of these chapters?

At the end of John chapter 11 the people are afraid that the decomposing Lazarus will stink.

And death does indeed stink. It is horrible and unnatural and vile and evil and wrong. Or at least, death without Christ is like that.

But then at the beginning of chapter 12 there is another fragrance. Again it is the smell of death, but with a very different perfume: this is the aromour of Christ's death as he is annointed with expensive pure nard in preparation for his burial. The whole house is filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Although we can only catch the faintest whiff of it, and death still has its stinky aspects, death with Christ is sweet: it ends our suffering and ushers us into the fuller enjoyment of the presence of God.  Though our bodies will rot, may God enable us to catch something of this aromour on the wind of the Spirit.

Oh, and also 1 Cor 2:14ff