Visitation Sermon 2014

Transcription

1 1 Visitation Sermon 2014 First of all I want to say Thank you, Churchwardens this is your evening and the thanks tonight goes to you, for your ongoing commitment, dedication and willingness to serve your local church, to act as key leaders of the congregation, to support your clergy and make sure the church continues be a significant part of our landscape, be it in our large growing towns and conurbations, our villages and hamlets, and particularly across Buckinghamshire. Let us who are not churchwardens, show our appreciation.. Thanks to those who have continued in this role for many years, and for those who have had their arm twisted to have a go, and tonight we give thanks too for all those who have served in the past some sadly no longer with us. I really enjoy this coming together annually, churchwardens, clergy and supporters because it gives us a chance, together to celebrate all that God is already doing in our communities, and to focus ahead at what God might be leading us into. Last year we launched our Mission Fund, and it is not too late to get an application in for this year we have 26,000 for use in the archdeaconry and last year we had applications asking for 120,000! This year there are so far fewer than the money we have to give away so if you are planning any outreach activity, or project locally then please do apply for some funding. Closing date the end of May. Contact my office if you would like a form. It has been good already to celebrate what God has been doing in this part of the archdeaconry in churches with the help of the Mission Fund, and although some of these projects may seem large to you in your church, anything is possible. This year I am celebrating a significant milestone birthday yes, 21 again! And I am sure like you at milestone events, I have been looking back at my life. Recently this was helped by a former school friend of mine posting pictures of our junior school classes onto Facebook didn t we look young? In terms of years it seemed an age ago as we all started a brand new junior school in 1971 at the age, yes of 7!, but in another way it seemed just like yesterday.. And my mind goes back to that first day, at Brightside junior school and the smell of the varnish on the hall floor still lingering in the air, all of us paranoid that we would not touch the wet paint, or even worse scuff the floor! And our new headmaster talking about the school badge which bore an oak leaf and an acorn. A large oak tree stood in front of the school, and the acorn reminded us all of the possibilities. We were all given acorns to go and plant, and this memory is even more vivid because each time I visit my parents and walk around their garden my mother points out the medium sized oak tree about 5 feet high that came from my acorn. Out of little acorns, do large oak trees grow we may all know that saying. It s just a little disappointing, I think, every time I see the result of my little acorn, and think of all the things that have happened around the world in the intervening years, that things do not grow faster than they do! And looking around at our churches, it is good to rejoice at all that is happening, but the realism is often the same, and we sit there wishing and praying, and hoping and longing, that the growth would just happen, or the giving will increase, or the faculty will come through, or the vacancy will be filled, that bit quicker..

2 2 However the truth is that only by planting in the first place, do we see any results at all. Hence the Mission Fund and my permission given to you to try, to take risks, to have a go, to be creative and have fun with the planting! I remember my junior school with fondness, because as we all set out on a journey together headmaster, new staff and classes of new pupils in a brand new school, it was like setting out on a big adventure. Looking back, I am not sure what I learned academically, however it was the ethos of learning together, having experiences together and sharing in the life of the school together that informed my education. I felt a part of it. This year the diocesan Living Faith vision is focussing on Shaping Confident Collaborative leadership, we have already held a very positive clergy conference, and thank you for allowing those clergy who came along, to leave parish life for a few days and attend. I hope you have heard something of their experience if not ask them! Coming up we have a conference in June for our LLMs, and then later in September a day in Oxford for the whole church family across the 3 counties to gather. Please do take a card about it and come along. The day will end with an open air Eucharist where there will be an opportunity for us to say farewell to Bishop John who is sadly retiring in October. Shaping Confident Collaborative Leadership means, I believe, shaping our church life, rather like my experience at junior school, so that clergy, LLMs, Churchwardens and congregations together can enjoy being part of something significant, which inspires possibilities and provides every participant whoever they may be and whatever their background, with the opportunity to be who God has called them to be. So, my challenge for you tonight is a question. It s an important question for all of us whatever role in the church God has called us to, and it s an important question because of the answer that we bring: Why do you do, what you do? Why are you clergy? Why are you churchwardens? Why are you churchgoers in this day and age? Why do you expend the energy you do on all the church stuff? Why is it important? Why does it matter? Now, I have already mentioned arm twisting, and in all reality, that might be something of your answer well there was no one else, well X person asked me, but deep down why? What is it all about? Some of you might be thinking well what a stupid question for the archdeacon to ask! It s obvious isn t it? Like the Vicar who went into the school assembly each week, and one day decided to veer off the Biblical script and asked who lived in tellytubbyland, the answer came back Jesus because the answer always asked for was Jesus! I do so hope, that for most, if not all of you, the answer is not support to keep the church building going, or something to do, or even the local community, or the local people, but because of Jesus. Out of love for God and for neighbour. If that is the case, then we are significant in the life of the local church leaders who have come from being observers, or even active participants, to committed members of the Household of God. Leaders plant the acorns make things happen in fact without them little would happen. I am sure that s how many of us sometimes feel. But there is something further that we are called to do, Leaders are also to be the story tellers. We are called to not only plant the acorn, but to share why we are planting it! The phone rings:

3 3 Hello. Hello, may I speak with the householder please? Yes, this is the householder. Hello, Karen. You have been selected for new double glazing... I don t need any more double glazing. this double glazing would be free if you go in our brochure... Did you hear me? I don t want your double glazing... the offer is only until the end of the week... Snarl I don t want double glazing. Goodbye. Free. Doesn t that sound... Nothing brings out bad manners in me like a phone call from a telesales person! Is it just me? or is it your experience that these calls come at the busiest times, dinner is cooking, the door bell is ringing... and some way-too-cheery person on the phone launches into their spiel that can go on for ten minutes before they draw their first breath! Sadly modern evangelism is, in the minds of many people, is equated with telemarketing! The E-word often has, and sometimes for good reason, a bad name, and as a reaction we, as Christians, can be so sensitive to those around, that it is easier to not even mention Church, yet alone Jesus! That is tragic. We are missing out on the greatest joy in the world seeing another person come alive to the presence of God! We know the answer in our hearts to that most important question. It is just so difficult moving the story that got it there from our hearts, out through our mouths to other people. We can get on planting the seeds, making things happen, serving, as long as we don t put ourselves in any situation where we are asked Why? and are not quite sure what to say And as we look around our churches, at the greying hair, at the fewer children who come along, at the families in our communities too busy for church, at the young couples seeking marriage who know very little about the Christian faith; we need to begin to realise that without us sharing the answer to the important question Why do we do what we do? that these people will be none the wiser, and the faith that has enabled us will not lead others to plant acorns of their own. Evangelism means purely to bring good news and it s because of our fear of the E- word that I not only wanted to demonstrate in the service that something of the good news of what is going on in and around churches in Buckinghamshire can be shared, but chose the passage from Acts as the reading for the service. Philip in this story was a layman, one of the first 7 deacons of the early church, but he carries on the same tradition of connecting others to Jesus as his namesake in the gospels. He is only mentioned 3 times in the Bible. First was when he was nominated by the church (maybe the earliest APCM) to be a deacon and given a job to do, to help oversee the distribution of food to widows in the congregation. Acts 6 tells us that he was known known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. But not long after Philip was given this responsibility, King Herod began to persecute the church in Jerusalem. Many Christians including Philip - fled for their lives to other cities and regions. Philip went north about 35 miles to the region of Samaria and promptly began to share his faith with the people in a city there. God honoured his sharing and many lives were changed through Philip s words. However just as things were taking off for Philip s new

4 4 ministry, God through an angel told him to leave and go south to continue his practice of connecting others to Jesus. That is what story telling is all about making the connections. The mission activities that we have heard, told by those involved, set the scene for telling the story and making the connection. Why do you do what you do? Because of our love for Jesus. But what does that look like and how can we accomplish it? So three simple steps to help all of us become a story telling disciple. First is to be available to God and enjoy the encounters on the way. When Philip got to Samaria, he made himself available to God to do his work. Yes, we all have a problem with busyness, and priorities, and the expectations of so many people around who want us for this and that, but by demonstrating the fact that we do what we do, has already made ourselves available. Being available also means though being willing to be interrupted. God suddenly presented Philip with another opportunity. Our value as story tellers and disciples depends much more on our availability than on our ability. Who may God be leading us to? Where might the conversation strike up? For Philip, when he saw the Ethiopian Eunuch reading from the Old Testament book of Isaiah, he recognised the opportunity for him to go and explain what he knew and understood about the text. God is the orchestrator of the events of evangelism, we need to be on the look out for them. God is already active in our world long before we get there. Our job is to find out what God is already doing and to help people see that God is Here I am! God asked Philip to leave a very fruitful ministry to go to Gaza, a city that lay about 50 miles away, at the very end of the Palestinian world, sparsely populated and right at the edge of the Sinai desert. And although this road was clearly not just a desert track, this probably seemed like such a fruitless area for ministry. No doubt Philip thought that God was going to use him in ministry somewhere in Gaza; not on the way to it. And that s something else for us to realise Sometimes we become too focused on our destination that we may miss opportunities to share the love of Christ along the way. Every step of the journey is important. You never know who God may send your way! The Ethiopian eunuch traveling along this path is a fascinating character on a number of different levels. As an Ethiopian, he was from a distant, little-known land. Geographically he would have been a resident in what we know as northern Sudan, in northeast Africa. Among first-century Romans and Greeks, Ethiopians were considered to be literally living on the edge of the world! This Ethiopian isn t only distinctive for his deep, skin colour and his edge-of-the-world residence. He s also described as a eunuch and as a high court official in charge of the entire treasury. The term "eunuch" had a variety of inferences in ancient times. The significant thing was that male eunuchs, because of prohibitions in the Old Testament, were denied access to God and could not become full converts to Judaism. Yet, he had been to Jerusalem to worship. The mere fact that as a non-jew he had been able to obtain a copy of Holy Scripture speaks to both the man s wealth, influence and passion for the faith. The text speaks of this pious Ethiopian traveling in his chariot. We should not be thinking "Ben Hur" here, it s probably more like a cart pulled by oxen. Still, for Philip to run up to him involved no small amount of God given confidence. As a wealthy, important

5 5 man traveling along a country road, this was risky So to be available to God and enjoy the encounters on the way, then secondly we are to make the connection. This is the risky bit this is when what we have in our heart has to move to the mouth. Philip heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. There is no assumed superiority, only a friendly encounter! Philip didn t present himself as one with all the answers and he didn t presume he knew the needs, wants, desires, of the stranger in the chariot. Making a connection means showing interest in others. Take time for others. Provoke their questions. Philip had the perfect opportunity. It s true to say that we may probably not find today too many people coming to our drop in s, or church flower festival, or community supper, reading the prophet Isaiah, but we can still make a connection, be it a similarity of personality or sense of humour, a job, a hobby, a common interest, a cause or any number of things. God can, and probably will place people in our lives on the roads of our journey, so that we can get to know them and share our story with them. People don t care how much we know until they know how much we care! So make the connection and thirdly tell the story and introduce them to God in Christ Jesus. This can take a number of forms. For Philip, that meant making a connection between Isaiah and Jesus Christ. For the Apostle Philip, it meant finding a friend and literally bringing them to Jesus. That can be through an invitation to attend worship, or an outreach event, a home group, the Women s lunch, the Men s golf tournament or even helping with the food bank or night shelter. If all we do is make a connection with people and never connect them to Jesus, through the sharing of what he has done for us, and His church, then sadly we ve failed in our mission as disciples. Philip s response isn t reported in detail in the passage. Whatever course his explanation took, the writer is satisfied describing it as simply the good news about Jesus. And Philip s witness was so effective that the Ethiopian immediately heads for the first water they encounter, exclaiming excitedly, "Look here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" And the answer is "Nothing!" Not the Ethiopian s race, not his gender-status, not his government attachments, not his previous religious life, not his social status, not his wealth: nothing about this man in anyway hinders his immediate baptism and his immediate entrance into the new community of faith. Philip took the opportunity, and in doing so not only took the Christian Mission to the ends of the earth but brought full inclusion through the Christian faith to someone previously excluded. Tony Campolo, an Evangelist himself, tells of a time he was walking down a street in Philadelphia. There was a man of the road, covered with dirt from head to toe. Tony writes He had a huge beard. I ll never forget the beard. It was a gigantic beard with rotted food stuck in it. He held a cup of McDonald s coffee and mumbled as he walked along the street. He spotted me and said, Hey, Mister. You want some of my coffee? I knew I should take some to be nice, and I did. I gave it back to him and said, You re being pretty generous giving away your coffee this morning. What s got into you that you re giving away your

6 6 coffee all of a sudden? The man said, Well, the coffee was especially delicious this morning, and I figured if God gives you something good you ought to share it with people. As we meet tonight, I d like each of us to think about the people around us, around our churches that we can connect with and share our story with. The answer to that most important question why do we do, what we do? Sometimes we see our mission task as being just too big, we feel that we are too small in comparison. Yet sharing the importance of planting just one acorn can make a big difference. To me the reassuring reality is that no one acorn planted in a life time will never produce a tree as big as the one that stood outside the school all those years ago, and my five foot tree may still look feeble, however the story, borne out in the lives of those listening to it promises to always have eternal consequences. Karen Gorham May 2014