ADVENT SERMON SERIES - FAITH IN DISTRESSING TIMES 27 NOVEMBER 2016

St P 27 Nov 16: 1st Sunday of Advent: Faith in distressing times patriarchs (& matriarchs)

Almighty Father, your Son came to us in humility as our saviour and at the last day He will come again in glory as our judge: give us grace to turn away from darkness to the light of Christ that we may be ready to welcome Him and to enter into His Kingdom; where He lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, oe God, fore ever and ever. Amen

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First Reading:

Isaiah 2:1-5 The Future House of God & Judgement Pronounced on Arrogance

2 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 3Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

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Psalm 122

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Second Reading

Romans 13:11-14 An Urgent Appeal

11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; 13 let us live honourably as in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

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Gospel

Matthew 24:36-44 The Necessity for Watchfulness

[Jesus says] 36 ‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour…’.

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Today is the 1st Sunday of Advent. Prophetically, I believe, our Advent theme is Faith in distressing times, and today we’ll be looking at patriarchs (& matriarchs) …

How are our times distressing?

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For some, the ongoing Springbok rugby team’s losing streak is as terrible as a plague of Egypt…

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For others, the alleged “state capture” by the Gupta’s, the ongoing corruption in government, or the chaos we’ve seen at universities in the “fees must fall” campaign, or racism and hate speech are more serious plagues…

Others have faced the horror of loved ones being ill, and the pain of loved ones dying….

We’ve also had a devastating drought, followed by equally devastating floods – one story that has really touched my heart is the anguish of the family of little 3-year-old “Everlate Chauke” who was swept away by floods, who blame themselves for her death…

All this anguish!

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Where is God in trying times? Where is God in the anguish?

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I believe our Gospel reading gives us one answer - there are others, but let’s explore this one: the answer I believe our Gospel reading gives us is that just as Jesus was sitting privately with His disciples on the Mount of Olives, after telling them that the Temple will be destroyed, and answering their question about the signs of His second coming and the end of the age, JESUS IS SITTING WITH US NOW, TOO, telling US, His disciples, His friends, about the signs of persecutions, desolating sacrilege, and then the Coming of the Son of Man immediately after the suffering of these days. Jesus teaches us the lesson of the fig tree in that as it’s sprouting leaves foretell summer, so we must be watchful for these signs...

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And in the passage we heard earlier (entitled ‘The Necessity for Watchfulness’), Jesus tells His disciples (and us) that only the Father knows when He will return…

Jesus warns that His second coming will be as cataclysmic as the flood was in the times of Noah, and how life will be continuing as usual, just as before the flood in Noah’s time, people will be eating and drinking, marrying, until, just like on the day Noah entered the ark, knowing nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be know nothing until we see the return of the Son of Man.

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Jesus warns us to keep awake, for we do not know on what day our Lord is coming, Jesus warns us he’ll be coming like a thief the night… 

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Are you ready?

It is imperative that we must be ready - scripture is full of examples of patriarchs & matriarchs who in their distressing times and in their distressing places, were ready, who stood up and were counted, when needed, BEING God’s light in a dark world, and we can be too!

Are we ready?

The word “patriarch” or “matriarch” literally means a “progenitor”, meaning an originator of a line of descent. In Hebraic scriptures, the 12 Patriarchs are the 12 sons of Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. The tribes of Israel bore the names of Jacob’s sons, although Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, became two of the tribes instead of Joseph — so Joseph had a double portion through his two sons.

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However, for me there is another meaning of patriarch or matriarch – a SPIRITUAL “father” or “mother” who in their distressing times and in their distressing places, were ready and stood up and were counted, BEING God’s light in a dark world. WHAT WAS THEIR QUALIFICATION? THEY WERE READY…

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Are you ready?

One of my favourite “spiritual mothers” is Sarah (not only our Sarah, but also the biblical Sarah who was a very old woman when she had Isaac.  She didn't initially believe that she would be able to conceive and bare a son, but after a visit from God she realized she was walking in unbelief and repented. 

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SARAH WAS READY…

Sarah reminds me of another wonderful woman, my wife Helen, because they both have a normal husband, who does silly things, stupid things, mean things, but who both love God and are READY to do their best!

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The biblical Sarah lived in tough times for a Hebrew woman, in a patriarchal time, yet Sarah's faith was in God so she was READY to withstand the mistakes her husband made and continue to walk in love and faith with her man of God…

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And my dear wife, Helen, also always seems READY to withstand the mistakes her husband makes as she too continues to walk in love and faith with her man…

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Like Sarah, like my wife Helen, we too, in our place and our time, are called to always be ready to walk in love and faith with the people God has put in our lives, as we too respond, always ready to BE and SEE the Good news, alive and well amongst, as Jesus Himself walks amongst us, bringing new life, new birth, resurrections all around…

Surely you can see it? Jesus is ALIVE! HIS SPIRIT IS WITH US! And the exciting thing is WE CAN BE the Good news, in our contexts, in the power of the Holy Spirit, for and with those whom God puts in our paths, if we are ready…

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And the VICTORY comes through THE MANY living SPIRITUAL patriarchs & matriarchs, young and old, who, in the face of evil, greed and selfishness, ARE READY TO BE CHRIST in the world, whenever they are called to be…

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Friends, truly I say to you, I have SEEN Christ incarnate in you….

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We can SEE the Holy Spirit in each other, in creation, in plants flourishing in what was parched and dead.

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LOOK! Can you not also SEE the Holy Spirit, at work, in and through our being ready?

• Be it in your being ready and praying for or having a kind word for someone in need…
• Be it in a young student being ready to face persecution and yet NOT resorting to violent or hateful words, but rather BEING READY TO BE Christ in her situation…
• Be it a loving wife, being ready to faithfully sit next to her husband as he dies, BEING Christ’s love for him, as she strokes his dying head…
• Be it in generous people being ready to form human chains to assist others in the floods; in public servants being ready to stand up against corruption and greed…
• Be it in each of the millions of seemingly random acts of love so many are ready to do that make our lives so much better? In generous parishioners giving sacrificially to keep our parish afloat financially? In people joyfully and sacrificing giving as they feed and clothe and teach and visit, being ready to BE LOVE, to BE CHRIST, as they love those who some see as only ‘waste’ – the poor, the oppressed, the young, the old…
• Truly I say to you, whatever we do for the least of these, we do for the Christ whom we are called to serve, the Christ who IS amongst us…

Friends, Jesus, IS amongst us, like a thief in the night, in our distressing times, and my joy is that I SEE you tending Him…

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I SEE your perishable bodies putting on imperishability, and your mortal bodies putting on immortality, as you serve Christ in others…

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And when our perishable bodies put on imperishability, and our mortal bodies put on immortality, then the saying that is written IS fulfilled: Death (and distressing times) are swallowed up in victory, and we can say ‘Where, O death, where, O distressing times, is your victory? Where, O death, where, O distressing times, is your sting?’… Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is amongst us, in the power of the Spirit.

Amen!

Rev Gavin Smith

THE WORLD IS AT WAR - FOR REMEMBRANCE DAY

THE WORLD IS AT WAR

If we listen to the news on radio or TV or open the paper (especially on a Sunday) – we are confronted with an avalanche of upsetting news, seemingly screaming for our attention – and let’s just look around in our immediate neighbourhood:

• ·         The students are at war with the universities (and visa versa!) 
• ·         The leading political party is at war with itself (and any opposition worth its salt will gladly join!)
• ·         And when we as individuals get behind our steering wheel we seem to be at war with each other ….

Looking beyond what we call home to “Big Brother” – the United States, where over the last few months the two presidential candidates have been in a much publicized mud slinging war ….

If you consult Google, the figures may vary of how many people died in the two Big Wars – reportedly sixteen million in World War I and an estimated sixty million in World War II.  Mind boggling figures and seemingly beyond comprehension what human kind was and still is capable of doing to one another – certainly not very human and definitely not kind.

There can’t be many people around who still remember World War I!  So how do we get to Remembrance Day?  From what I was able to ascertain, it was an Australian journalist who wrote in this regard to the London Evening News where King George V read his letter, and decreed “So that in perfect stillness the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverent remembering of the glorious dead.”

Wow, what a powerful statement, which subsequently lead to the tradition of a two minute silence at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month – observed by the Commonwealth of Nations.

What do you find in the Bible regarding the above?  In John 16:33 we read:

“I have told you this so that you will have peace by being united to me.  The world will make you suffer but be brave!  I have defeated the world!”

Sjoe, I don’t know about you, but I hardly can imagine how brave those soldiers, especially the young men, must have been in both those wars.  Not only to give up their homes and their loved ones, but their lives?!?   Isn’t that very similar to the calling of Jesus to follow him?  And yet, how powerful that call to enlist, to fight the worldly enemy must have been in those days?  If we look back in history on that time – how shockingly sad:  so no wonder that the commemoration of that day of peace when World War I ended, should serve as a reminder not only of the fallen soldiers, but also for today, to be kind and loving to one another.

Already early in the war in 1914 a certain Lawrence Binyon wrote the words that came to honour many young men who never returned from the war, and the soldiers who still give their lives today:

For the Fallen:

                        They shall grow not old
                        As we  that are left grow old.
                        Age shall not weary them,
                        Nor the years condemn.
                        At the  going down of the sun and in the morning
                        We will remember them.

How comforting then are the words in Revelation 21:7 from today’s reading:

“He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, there will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain.  The old things have disappeared …”

And yet, over the years, we do not seem to have learned our lesson from the atrocities of any of the wars.  Money, power and greed will possibly always remain the driving force behind yet another war. 

And these wars are about His Creation – the earth – the land and its resources, like oil in the previous century.  For all we know, the next war may be about another, even more precious gift of the earth – water.  In the Old Testament reading in Isaiah 2:4 we have heard

“He will settle disputes among great nations.  They will hammer their swords into ploughs and their spears into pruning knives.”

Music in our ears?  If only.  So many centuries ago, and where is the learning curve humankind has taken?  But we can cultivate that promised everlasting peace:  In our hearts, with the Grace of God, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and more encouragement in today’s Psalm 46:9 and 10: 

“He stops wars all over the world, he breaks bows, destroys spears and says, And know that I am God, supreme among the nations, supreme over the World”.

Between you and me, we won’t be able to stop the next war, but what we can stop is the fighting in our competitive world – for attention, for position, for power;  the fighting to be first, even if that first only means poll position at the next traffic light. 

“God is with us” is the title of our psalm and in 1 John 4:8 we are reassured of what we know:

            “Whoever does not love, does not know God, for God is love.”

So why fight if we can, no must, love and in the Exodus 14:14 we hear loud and clear:

            “The Lord will fight for you, and there is no need for you to do anything!”

So let God do the fighting, let God do the revenging, and let us find the true happiness as declared in the Sermon on the Mount in today’s Gospel.  After all, I am looking forward to the New Heaven and New Earth as in Revelation 21.  Are you?

Michael Nuechtern

SERMON - 13 NOVEMBER 2016 - THANKSGIVING SUNDAY

Collect

God of all time and the whole creation, in Christ you make all things new: grant us wisdom to interpret the signs of the times, courage to stand firm in the time of trail and faith to witness to your truth and love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

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Readings

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First Reading:  Isaiah 65:17-25 (NRSVA): The Glorious New Creation

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17 For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice for ever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. 20 No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat;

for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labour in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord— and their descendants as well. 24 Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

For the Psalm -  Isaiah 12:2-6 (NRSVA)

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2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say on that day: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted. 5 Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel’.

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Second Reading:  2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 (NRSVA) Warning against Idleness

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6 Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, 8 and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labour we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. 9 This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. 11 For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. 12 Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 13 Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

Gospel:  Luke 21:5-19 (NRSVA): The Destruction of the Temple Foretold and Signs and Persecutions

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5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’

7 They asked him, ‘Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?’ 8 And he said, ‘Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, “I am he!” and, “The time is near!” Do not go after them.

9 When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.’ 10 Then he said to them, ‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

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12 But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defence in advance; 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls’.

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THEME TODAY IS THANKSGIVING – “FAITH IN DISTRESSING TIMES” IS OUR ADVENT THEME, HOW PROPHETIC!

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1. What do we have to be thankful for? What did you put in your letter?

• A beautiful world, made in and helping us experience LOVE, and God is love…
• Our lives, our loved ones, our many blessings, all good gifts from our LOVING God,
• Our religious freedom, our right to express ourselves, our right to learn, to make mistakes, to have our opinions, all gifts from a loving God
• The words of our collect put it beautifully for me “God of all time and the whole creation, in Christ you make all things new: grant us wisdom to interpret the (challenging) signs of the times, courage to stand firm in the time of trail and faith to witness to your truth and love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!”

• What is stopping us from feeling as thankful to God as we would like to be? In what ways do we see things in the old way, as if corruption and decay is our path, feeling defeated when we face challenging signs of the times, instead of Holy Spirit inspired courage to stand firm in the time of trail? Instead of accepting Holy Spirit inspired courage and faith to witness to God’s truth and love, showing we really believe in the victory of the resurrection that comes after the crucifixion, showing this belief in ways that show we KNOW we having a LOVING God, with a PERFECT plan, even if some people imagine God is mean and stern?
• God is seen by some as capricious – we are tempted to respond in fear to natural evil and greed in the world (be it environment – droughts and floods, politics – scandal & corruption, economy - recession, ill health / death of loved ones, but God invites us to TRUST and KNOW that God IS good, and that EVERYTHING WILL END UP as it should do, PERFECTLY!
• We often feel appropriate sadness at spiritual evil and / or persecution in the world – e.g. corruption in governments, fear mongering in politics (US election, EFF threats to whites, and exploitation of / cruelty to children, animals, the environment, the weak, the different (e.g. homosexuals, different religions, etc.).
• Our parish council and clergy similarly feel great sadness because our beloved St Paul’s is facing a financial crisis – all reserves will be used up by the end of the next financial year, if we do not either increase our giving, or drastically cut costs in ways that will seriously undermine our ministry…. Yet, I have a sure and certain hope God will inspire His people to give generously, so our LOVING little parish can continue as a light in our community….
• Something else that has really touched me recently is the story of an Anglican priest, the so called “Vicar of Baghdad”, Canon Andrew White, who recently visited South Africa and a friend who attended one of his talks told me he described how parents are being beheaded in front of their children for being Christians, rather than denouncing Christ…. It made me wonder - how far would I go for Christ? 

1. This brings me to my second point: how can we (like the Christians martyred by ISIS) live fearlessly, in our trying times, trusting the true God of LOVE, the way Isaiah did in his time, the way St Paul also did in his time, the way countless brave people of God have done through all time?

• Have you noticed, most psalms are LAMENTS, but that they end acknowledging God IS in control?
• We (like the saints, psalmists, martyrs and authors of scripture), need to have a LONG VEIW, and ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE on our LOVING God fulfilling His GOOD, PLEASING & PERFECT PLAN…
• We need to trust in our God who is our loving creator, inviting us to co-create…
• We need to trust that God works to the good in ALL THINGS, Cosmic Christ IS in all and in control of all, all the suffering we see are like child birth (and I should know, I’ve watched it 3 x J), good comes of it!
• Richard Rohr, in his daily meditation of 6 November 2016 on “The Christification of the Universe” writes “God is not just saving people; God is saving all creation…. Franciscan Sister and scientist Ilia Delio writes ‘Christ invests himself organically within all creation, immersing Himself in things, in the heart of the matter, and thus unifying the world…” From the way we treat the planet, other humans, and sometimes even ourselves, it seems we don’t understand or really believe this… The full Gospel takes away from you any power to decide where God is and where God isn’t.”
• This all brings us to a point – we ALL need to decide on our basic view of the universe: which is real, the God of love, or the mean god of fear? Friends, I assure you, it is SATAN who is the trickster, the ACCUSER, the false god invoking fear…. We worship a God of LOVE, a God who (for example) inspired +Steve to beautifully respond to the EFF’s Julius Molema’s hate speech with God inspired love speech.
• In his November ad clerum, +Steve wrote that “Vibrant Christian communities demonstrate… Life based on the peace that passes all understanding, on the love that doesn’t give up, on the staring evil in the face and seeing the truth of its destruction and the repentance from it. Such truth is hard won, but it is worth it”

AMEN!

Rev Gavin Smith