Bridge to unity?

  1 Corinthians 1 v 10-18
10 Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,^* by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you should be in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you should be united in the same mind and the same purpose. ¹¹For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.^{* 12}What I mean is that each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul’, or ‘I belong to Apollos’, or ‘I belong to Cephas’, or ‘I belong to Christ.’ ¹³Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴I thank God^* that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Driving through rural Scotland, bridges often appear seemingly out of nowhere and sometimes with very little obvious purpose. Perhaps to link farmland that has become separated through sprawling urbanization. Or to allow the passage of livestock across a busy road that has materialized in a formerly rural landscape. It often seems like a lot of effort and expense has been incurred for correspondingly little benefit. Except history would decree a different story and place in context the need for a gap to be bridged and a new pathway to be created. And the many, creative, picturesque styles of bridges do make the scenery even more beautiful and varied.

Divisions in the church are nothing new - as old as time itself. We become quite tolerant and even, at times, indulgent of these divisions. But St Paul places in context the need for bridges to be built - or chasms dispensed with. The divisions and our pandering to them, claims Paul, distract us from the mission to which we are called - preaching the gospel.

This makes me uncomfortable. I would rather chip away at finding similarities in our differences, common ground over which we can agree than work at a real solution that would bring about unity. I am more content with living with the differences than with dismantling a system that, in the end, still excludes. I cling on to the arguments, rationalizing that they lend some spice to life, even, on occasion, beauty. Cozying up with division means that all the while, the gospel remains unpreached, far less lived out in the life of the church. Once again, Paul presents us with the unpalatable facts that we’d rather simply choose to ignore, just as we try to ignore the erosion of our open spaces and the deterioration of our rural culture, threatened by inappropriate land use, even if that does result in some pretty bridging structures.

 

This is a piece written for the 2014 edition of The Abingdon Creative Preaching Annual, a source of stimulation for preachers reflecting on the RCL texts Sunday by Sunday. Available on Kindle.

Water music

Isaiah 42:1-9
The Servant, a Light to the Nations
Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.
See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.

Matthew 3:13-17
The Baptism of Jesus
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptised by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptised, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

We've barely seen the wise men off and now we're reading of Jesus baptism.
The baby's all grown up and just about to begin the ministry of which we read in the gospels.
But before we look at Jesus baptism, let's take a moment to consider the season we're marking in the church right now.
The season of Epiphany.
A season that begins with the wise men and ends with the Transfiguration, just before Lent starts.
It's a season when we focus particularly on the many ways that God is revealed to us in daily life.
So it begins with the sign of a star - the one that the wise men followed and ends with Jesus being transformed in the presence of his disciples.
The season of Epiphany affords us many opportunities to see signs of God all around.
In our world.
In our community.
In each other.
It is also a season when we are encouraged to consider the divine spark of the presence of God deep within ourselves.
And so to this Sunday, when we consider the Baptism of Jesus by John.
When Jesus approached John for baptism, John seemed reluctant to baptise Jesus. He thought it should be the other way around,that Jesus should baptise him.
He did not think himself worthy to baptise Jesus.
But Jesus persuaded him, saying: “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.”
And so John agrees to do as Jesus asks - and becomes part of an amazing gift of blessing offered by God.
Pausing there in the story for a moment...to wonder at all those times we've gone ahead at the Spirits prompting, to do things that we might have shied away from.
Those times when even though our head tells us we have nothing to offer, our heart tells us - offer it anyway.
Those times when God has nudged us and when we have been blessed in responding to that nudge.
Because the grace of God has taken what we consider a paltry offering and turned it into something special, something that makes all the difference, something that brings to light the love of God at work in the world.
Many of us are plagued at times with a sense of our own smallness, with the notion that we can't possibly make a difference.
And yet God is constantly trying to tell us how important our contributions are.
God takes the little that we have to offer and turns it into a vital contribution in bringing the light of God into the world.
God deems each of us important enough to make a difference.

Those words spoken by God as Jesus came up out of the waters of the Jordan: This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am pleased.
Those are words that accompany each of us all through life.
We are God's beloved children.
WE ARE GODS BELOVED CHILDREN.
So many people are being written off in our communities today.
Our newspapers are full of stories, of folk being denied benefits.
TV programmes depict those who rely on welfare support as cheats and chancers.
A culture of disdain and suspicion is being fostered.
Folk are being made to feel worthless.
Going against EVERYTHING that God sought to reveal in Jesus.
And so coming to this gospel passage today, out of the world and culture in which we live and operate gives us cause to reflect on how we've moved so far from God's will for all God's children.
Those words we read from the prophet Isaiah:
Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name;
Gods will for Gods people is good.

As we posted on the church Facebook Page for the New Year:
I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. Plans for your welfare, not harm.
To give you a future with hope.
These words, from the prophet Jeremiah are so far fetched for many in our communities today, folk who live without hope.

In the birth of Jesus, God's gift of love was given to the world.
And today, in this account of Jesus baptism, we are reassured that Gods plans and Gods will for us and for all Gods people have not changed.
God calls us beloved children.
And we, who are fortunate enough to be in this sanctuary this morning are called to respond to that gift of God by taking the love and hope that God gives us into all the world, starting with our neighbours.
Hope is one of the biggest casualties of our society today.
Folk who are continually being put down.
Folk who are constantly being told they are not good enough.
Folk who are denied help by agencies charged with caring for them.
Is it any wonder they lose hope?
We are a pretty hopeless society.
But it's not just those who make it into the stories in our newspapers.
Or who make it onto our television screens who demonstrate hope lost.
There are folk living alongside us who have also given up.
Folk who have been told once too often that they are not good enough, that they have nothing to offer.
Folk who feel unloved and unwanted.
Folk who watch their loved ones suffer and feel helpless and powerless.
Hope is in short supply.
It is hard to penetrate such a culture.
You know how it is when you get a song in your head and you can't get rid of it?
You wake up in the morning with it going through your head?
You're singing it while you brush your teeth, humming it while you load the dishwasher?
It's hard to shake off.
The message of hopelessness and worthlessness that so many folk have grown up with is like that.
It's something that's on constant play. That they can't shake off.
How is it you get rid of the annoying song in your head?
Well, usually, you replace it with something else, something that perhaps isn't quite as annoying.
So, instead of replaying "Sean the Sheep" all day long, perhaps you'll replace it with something from Les Mis, or a favourite from Jim Reeves - just something that haunts you just as much but is more palatable.
It takes the same kind of strategy to convince those who have lost hope in our communities today that they are beloved children of God.
Replacing their constantly playing sound track of hopelessness with the loving words of God.
This is my beloved child.
Replacing a hopeless sound track with one bringing the message of the love of God.

When I worked in the hospital, I remember one woman in particular with whom I worked.
A woman who, for weeks, answered only in distracted nods and grunts when I tried to speak to her.
She always had the TV on loudly to keep folk away.
She was a woman judged by professionals to be not clinically depressed but simply miserable.
The staff on the ward were at a loss to know how to get through to her and, busy as they were with so many other things, they had little time to try and break down the barrier she carefully built around herself.
It took a few weeks of persistent visits to enable this woman to open up enough to tell me part of her story.
A story of loss and rejection. Of being let down. Of feeling she was a burden to family.
Of feeling she had nothing to offer and even less to look forward to.
Even when I had been seeing her almost daily for a number of weeks, I knew that it was useless to simply speak to her of the love of God. It would have meant nothing to her to hear that she was a beloved child of God because life had convinced her otherwise.
The only way to convince her that she mattered was to be persistent as God is persistent, not in word, but in action.
To keep on going back even when the signs were not encouraging, even when there were other, friendlier, people I might prefer to spend time with.
Even when there were no signs that my visits made any difference to her mood.
It's easy to give up on folks.
Not so much because we're judgmental of others.
But because we find it hard to believe that we could possibly make any difference.
And so we decide just to leave things as they are.
While there is always a place for the preaching of Gods word, today more than ever, folk need to see God's love lived out in those who profess to know God.
People need us today, by our persistence and by our patience to convince them that they matter, to us and to God.
That we are all children whom God calls beloved.
And for some people, it is only the little that we feel we have to offer that will make any difference.
It is that one visit.
That one word.
That smile of encouragement.
That helping hand.
Small gestures.
Almost insignificant for us.
But that will make all the difference for others.
God made each one of us special - a beloved child of God.
And each one of us, however much we might doubt it, has what it takes to bring the love of God into the lives of others, and into the life of the world around us, restoring the hope that has become so scarce, changing that soundtrack that plays over and over telling folk they don't matter.

We rejoice each time we celebrate baptism here.
Bit we also know that, as a community of faith, baptism demands that we step up and share the gifts that God has given.
Those gifts might seem small to you and me.
But in the hands of God, they are gifts that make all the difference for others.
Convincing others that they matter.
That they too are beloved children of God.
And that God wants, for them, a future filled with hope.
In baptism, we recognise that divine spark present in each of us and fuelled by that spark, we go into the world around and light the spark in others so that they too may know themselves beloved children.
Thanks be to God.




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Rewriting the story

Matthew 2:1-12
The Visit of the Wise Men
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel. ’”
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.


Every year, at this time, I, and many of my colleagues ask: How can we tell the Christmas Story in a new way?
How can we bring it up to date and make it relevant for folk today?
And so we keep on coming up with different ideas.
Different ways of getting the Christmas message across.
Be it You Tube clips of Mr Bean and the Nativity Scene -
Or the Digital Facebook Nativity.
This year I was involved in filming a part of the Christmas story based on The Apprentice.
Our task, as apprentices, was to find a gift for a king.
We keep on trying to update the story.
But the truth is that, whatever you believe:
The story of Christmas is one that we see repeated the world over - and not just at Christmas time.
The biblical story of Christmas is the story of a child being born in difficult circumstances.
Born to an unmarried, teenage mother.
Born into poverty.
Born into a land ruled by oppressive forces.
It was a grim story.
Not the pretty version that we often portray-
With a warm stable and a tired donkey and smiling shepherds.
The bible story is much harsher than that.
The baby is no sooner born in awful conditions before his parents have to flee for their lives.
They become refugees, forced to take to the road and hide from soldiers roaming the streets.
The story is dark and depressing.
No wonder we try to dress it up.
No wonder we get little children to dress up as angels and shepherds and sing of little donkeys.
If we told the story as it really was, we'd give children nightmares.
But, in all the harshness of the story is an underlying message of love.
It was out of love that God chose to send Jesus.
Out of love for a world dark and oppressed.
Out of love for people struggling to survive.
Into that world God sent Jesus to bring love.
One of my favourite Christmas Carols is Love came down at Christmas.
The idea was that the birth of Jesus would change the world.
That people would no longer struggle with the kind of poverty and the kind of oppression that existed when Jesus was born.
No longer would families be forced to flee from unjust regimes.
No longer would they be caught up in conflict.
But just look at any news broadcast today.
And we see countless refugees.
In Syria, in Serbia - and in so many other places.
Folk forced to abandon their homes, meagre as those homes are.
Folk forced to take to the streets to avoid opposing forces surrounding their homes and villages.
And Aid workers unable to help, held back by corrupt governments and regimes.
And, in case we think that that's something that's happening far away.
Something to which we can send money, (though nothing seems to be helping at present).
There are also pressing issues right here in our own communities.
That's why Food Banks are springing up everywhere.
It's why there are more and more folk sleeping on our streets.
Here, too, poverty and injustice leaves people without food or shelter, all the things we would consider basic human rights, if we consider them at all.
Christmas is not a warm, family, sharing time for so many people for all sorts of reasons.
But it is a time when we can choose, whatever we believe, to make a difference.
To do something, however small, to share the love that is at the heart of the season.
It's a time when we can choose to update the story.
To break that cycle of injustice and oppression with the power of love.
To rewrite the story for our community.
In churches at this time of year we reflect on the themes of light, hope, peace and love in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Just imagine being the generation that manages to change the story of Christmas.
The generation that finally manages to see some real light, some real hope, some real peace and some real love being born in the world.
That WOULD be a new Christmas story.
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Dreaming repentance

Matthew 1:18-25
The Birth of Jesus the Messiah
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Normally, on this 3rd Sunday in Advent, we read about John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord. We read about him going out into the desert and calling people to repentance.
John's message is harsh and uncompromising.
It's never a comfortable thing to hear this time of year - or any time of year.
But that's not why I've chosen to avoid it this year and read, instead, of Joseph's dream.
We've been following a theme of dreaming through Advent.
Beginning with our House of Dreams when we tiled the roof with prayers that we wanted to journey with through advent.
But, though we're not reading, today, of John the Baptist setting out his stall in the desert, our theme of dreaming nonetheless leads us to consider repentance and to re-define righteousness.
Dreams are all very well, but unless we are prepared to act on them, they remain ethereal, without substance.
When we gathered our prayers a few weeks ago, we acknowledged that all of us would be required to play our part in answering these prayers we brought, the longings of our hearts, our dreams.
What's the point in cherishing a dream if we aren't prepared to go and do something about it?
It's in the achieving of dreams that we begin the work of repentance.
Resolving to be the means by which dreams are fulfilled, by which prayer is answered, brings about the kind of turnaround of which John the Baptist spoke in the wilderness.
Repentance is not about beating ourselves up for all that we have failed to do.
It's not about regrets.
Repentance involves us taking a course of action that will make a difference to our world, to our community and to our neighbours.
Our repentance might involve us consciously setting aside more time for prayer in our daily lives.
It might involve us contributing weekly to the food parcels collection.
It might involve us taking more time to notice the people around us - here in worship and in our day to day encounters, taking the time to notice the hurt that lies behind a smile or the loneliness that wears a brave face, or even the desperation that is masked in silence,
Our repentance this morning begins in our resolving to bring the light, the hope, the peace and the love of Advent into todays world.
Our repentance begins when we resolve to find a way to bring about the peace we pray for, to feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless, to share the love of God.
The stuff of dreams - in the palm of our hands.
So we might not have read those harsh words of John the Baptist in church this morning but we are headed down the path of repentance that he bids us travel.

John the Baptist is not the focus of our musings this morning, but Joseph is.
Joseph, who plays a bit part in the Nativity.
At least, that's how it often seems.
We portray Joseph as a benign, insignificant character in the Nativity.
A character who was obedient and faithful.
And he was.
But, in portraying Joseph in such an insipid light, we totally underestimate the subversiveness of Joseph's actions in his time and culture.
It was the law that Joseph should separate himself from Mary on discovering her pregnancy.
Not only should he remove himself, according to the law, he should also publicly disgrace Mary, bringing to attention her unfaithfulness.
In choosing compassion over the law, Joseph risks bringing shame and scandal on himself.
And isn't that a foretaste of all that is to come in Jesus?
How often, through the gospels, do we see Jesus choosing the way of compassion rather than fulfilling the law?
How often do we see Jesus pronouncing forgiveness rather than condemnation?
When he touched a leper to bring healing.
When he rescued a woman about to be stoned for adultery.
When he ate with tax collectors and prostitutes.
Every time, Jesus chose the way of compassion rather than the way that the law would prescribe.
And, often, he was ridiculed and condemned for going against the law and practising love.
Joseph's actions are mirrored in the actions of Jesus as he transcends the law and brings about grace.
So, perhaps instead of seeing Joseph as having a bit part in the story, we might be more influenced this advent by his redefining faithfulness and righteousness.
We might be more influenced by the difficult choices he makes to do the will of God.
His actions wouldn't have gone unnoticed by his contemporaries.
Rather, he was prepared to endure ridicule and shame in order to demonstrate love.
It might be useful for us to ask ourselves today:
What ways might it be time for us to subvert in order to practice compassion?
What traditions or rules do we uphold that no longer serve the purposes of God?
What things do we indulge in that prevent folk from experiencing the amazing love of God?
Are there things that we do, that we have done forever, that we could let go in order to serve God better today?
Where might God be calling us to travel unfamiliar paths, ways that cause us discomfort, so that this community might know that God took on flesh for them?
And are we prepared for the hostility that might be directed our way when we reach out to those God calls us to love?

Joseph's dream, in which God revealed how prophecy would be fulfilled was the culmination of centuries of dreams of the people of God.
All through the ages, God's people dreamed of the day when God would send the Messiah to rescue God's people.
The prophets pointed to that day.
It seems that all of history was heading to the fulfilment of those dreams.
The verses in Matthew's gospel immediately before those we read today, trace Joseph's lineage right back to David.
David, to whom God made some astounding promises, promising to bless David's descendants, promising to always be with the people of God.
Here, in Joseph, a descendant of David, we see that promise coming to fruition, not just for the people of Israel, but for the whole world.
Because Joseph was faithful, because he was willing to go beyond the law of the day, redefining righteousness and compassion, the promise of God through the ages was able to be fulfilled.
And Gods son was born.
Immanuel - God with us.
And so dreams are fulfilled.
And our House of Dreams becomes a stable in which the prayers of the world are answered in the birth of a baby - God with us today.
And so, as we enter this 3rd week in Advent, our task is to make our repentance joyful.
To find ways to strengthen our resolve to journey on, making a difference in our neighbourhood and throughout the world by finding ever new ways to reveal the love of God who keeps promises.
It won't be easy.
But it's God's gift to us - to be the means by which hopes and dreams are fulfilled for all Gods people.
God's gift to us to throw off the restraint of years of tradition, to redefine repentance and righteousness, to escape the mould and, with compassion to bring light, love, hope and peace to the world.
God's gift to you and me.
Today.
Thanks be to God.






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A promise, not a threat!

Matthew 24:36-44
The Necessity for Watchfulness
“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 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, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 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. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

My early upbringing in Christian faith was accompanied by the soundtrack of tonight's gospel reading.
The teaching I heard, the music I listened to, even movies I watched all described this "leaving behind" that we read of in Matthews gospel.
Perhaps it was a familiar theme for you too.
Cliff Richard sang : I wish we'd all been ready.

Life was filled with guns and war
And everyone got trampled on the floor
I wish we'd all been ready

Children died the day grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we'd all been ready

There's no time to change your mind
The son has come and you've been left behind

A man and wife sleep in bed she hears a noise
And turns her head he's gone
I wish we'd all been ready

Two men walking up a hill one disappears and
One's left standing still
I wish we'd all been ready

There's no time to change your mind
The son has come and you've been left behind


Perhaps some of you shared similar experiences.
But, for a time, I lived almost in a state of readiness for the rapture - that time when Christ would come and take people away.
It didn't stop me doing the usual teenage things- but I do remember occasionally being at the pictures, or at a disco, surrounded by friends and noise and thinking: "What if Jesus returned now? How would he find me?"
In the ensuing years I think it's fair to say that my Theology of the Rapture has changed.
The wonderful thing about theology is that it is not something fixed or static - or, at least, it shouldn't be - It is always something evolving in response to life and our experience of God in life.
God is constantly revealed in new and surprising ways.
And, as long as we are prepared to keep on searching and keep on working, not at understanding God but at building our relationship with God, that is what's important.
And as we build our relationship with God, we learn to view the people of God in a different light.
Our view stretches and expands and we begin to see God in places and in people we would never have expected.

And so to this Left Behind Puzzle.
I'm not sure that its so much about folk being left behind but more about folk having already left.
Folk choosing to move away from God.
Our gospel reading points to the flood and the folk who were swept away - those who didn't stay with Noah in the safety of the ark, those who were oblivious to the warnings.
The story of the wise and foolish virgins - another apocalyptic story that we often read in this Advent season is a story of those who left being caught out. The foolish virgins left to find some oil for their lamps. They weren't there when the bridegroom returned.
So, perhaps the rapture is in fact the opposite of how we often imagine it.
Folk aren't snatched away - they have already left - and the party begins with those who remain.
The folk on the streets.
The folk at the Food Bank.
The folk trying to pick up the pieces after devastating loss.
The left behind folk with whom God dines.
The great reversal.
That's how my Theology has evolved on the Rapture.
But, does it really matter whether or how we understand it?
At the end of the day, does it really make any difference?

Jesus exhorts his listeners to "wake up!"
Every day I hear folk saying "you never know what's around the corner - and it's just as well"
I know lots of you have experienced those times when you'd rather not know what comes next - it's too scary to contemplate.
And we've seen it demonstrated in spades this weekend.
Who would ever have imagined that popping in for a quick drink, or going to hear a band would end up with the kind of nightmare scenario that unfolded this weekend in the helicopter crash in Glasgow?
All the health and safety that we get so caught up in today, all the risk assessments in the universe cannot legislate for events such as happened in a busy bar on Friday night.
But I'm not convinced that its that sort of unpredictable tragedy for which Jesus asks us to be ready.
Although if the news headlines, even in all their inaccuracies and sordidness encourage us to care more for our loved ones, encourage us to do more to express our love, that can only be a good thing.
But that's not what Jesus was getting at.
Rather, it's the everyday opportunities that life presents to us that we so easily overlook and take for granted.
It's those that we are exhorted to Wake up to.
The themes we normally contemplate as we move through Advent are Hope, Peace, Love and Light.
But we also contemplate a God who surprises us.
A God who intersects with our lives every day in all sorts of ways.
Who knows how many encounters we miss because of our inattention?
Who knows the opportunities we have missed when we are distracted by issues that are unimportant?
Here in the church we get caught up in distractions.
We worry about minutiae that doesn't really matter, things that have so little to do with the kingdom of God but that keep us from being about the business of Hope and Peace and Love and Light.

Jesus return is not a threat - it is a promise.
Not something to fear but something to hope for.
An acknowledgment that what we know is not all that there is.
As we come to share in the sacrament of Holy Communion, we touch and taste that promise.
We touch and taste the hope and the joy and the love and the light that Gods promise brings, a promise shared by saints through the ages.
But as we taste that promise, might we also be surprised by God in this place?
What are the chances that, sharing in this sacrament in which you have shared so many times before, that today, you might be surprised by the God who meets us here?
Jesus exhorts us to be ready for such an encounter - be it in bread and wine or on our journey into work, at the coffee shop, in the supermarket queue.
May we be surprised by God in communion today by the God who dines with us.
For the glory of God.
Amen


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Giving dreams flesh

Isaiah 65:17-25
The Glorious New Creation
For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
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.
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.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
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.
They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord —
and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
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.

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Warning against Idleness
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. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command:Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

This is the penultimate Sunday of the year in the church's calendar.
The new year in the church starts on Advent Sunday which is just two weeks away.
In two weeks time, we will move from a year spent with the gospel of Luke to a year spent with the gospel of Matthew.
But at this time of year, the gospel passages point us to signs of the end of the world as we know it.
Signs that the old order is coming to an end and that a new order is being established and that, finally, we will see justice in the world and peace on earth.
So, before we enter the season of Advent, we are invited to consider what that new order might look like.
"I am about to create..." says the Lord in our Isaiah passage. But, I want to ask: WHEN?
New heavens, new earth, Jerusalem as joy- WHEN?
And I'm sure Gods people in exile, hearing these words fresh, wanted to ask that too- WHEN?
For a people in captivity, living among strangers in borrowed homes on foreign soil, forced to labour for a foreign power, this message must have been like music for their ears:
The days of building houses for others to live in were coming to an end.
The days of working the land, so that others could enjoy the fruit of their labours, will be over.
BUT WHEN?
When will God start delighting in these people again and fulfil all these promises?
When will we ever see that new world when the wolf and the lamb shall eat together and the lion eat straw like an ox?
WHEN?
The glorious new creation - when will that be?
If we struggle to see the tide turning in our personal landscapes, how more more difficult is it to keep hope alive that Gods will can come to pass throughout the world?
That we won't have beamed into our homes daily on news programmes, children and families and towns and cities ravaged by war and disease and natural disaster.
And that we won't see, in the midst of those catastrophic events, people taking advantage of those already down trodden.
Those in power, obstructing aid agencies.
Those with authority getting rich on bribes for allowing passage.
Those, already desperate, turning to looting, depriving others of the little relief available.
When will we see a just and equal sharing of all the earth's resources?
WHEN will that be?
It seems that we have become so used to things as they are that we cannot envisage the world any differently.
And,of course, when disaster strikes, as it has this week in the Philippines, we are happy to send some money for relief, we are happy that our government pitches in too.
We're happy to do our bit but we can't really imagine that things will ever be any other way.
We will always be the ones asked to help, the ones with the ability to be generous.
Here in the UK, we raised £31million this weekend for Children in Need.
We have the capacity and the will to be generous.
But can we imagine a time when that wouldn't be so?
A time when we are not so affluent because resources are distributed much more equitably around the world?
We are good at responding when asked.
But,I wonder, how good we'd be at living less extravagantly as a way of life,so that others wouldn't constantly have to ask for help.
To put it bluntly: Would we be prepared to take a cut, in our income, in our pension, in our benefits, in our healthcare, in whatever other forms of entitlement we have grown used to so that others wouldn't have to exist on our handouts or hand downs?
Would we be prepared to live on less to ensure that folk in other parts of the world had clean water and homes that could sustain the ravages of weather?
Maybe the answer to the question WHEN lies in our hands.
Maybe the WHEN is when we release the sharing capacity to create that new world that is laid out as Gods vision.
And, no matter how many rogue evangelists proclaim that these disasters, the devastation ravaged by nature - or by warfare, the scenes of displaced people living in squalor that we view daily, no matter how many false prophets proclaim that these are signs of God's judgement on an evil world, WE are the people called to keep those dreams alive of a God who loves, a God whose dream is also peace in a world where resources are shared.
We are called, not only to dream with God but to make the dream come true!

Lots of my friends, over the past year or so, have been celebrating big birthdays - birthdays with a 0 on the end.
And there is something about entering a new decade that somehow focuses the mind on goals.
I've seen umpteen lists that folk have drawn up - "things to do before I'm 30 or 40 or 50 ... And so it goes on.
Lists, sometimes referred to as "bucket lists".
In fact there was a film released a few years ago called The Bucket List and starring Jack Nicolson and Morgan Freeman - worth a watch, funny and moving in equal measure.
On my bucket list was the determination to learn to play cello - and I'm delighted now to be taking cello lessons. It's good when we dream about things and then actually manage to capture some of our dreams.
But we don't need to be entering a new decade or facing some kind of trial to draw up a bucket list.
In fact, I'd go as far as to suggest that, every day, we are striving to fulfil some kind of bucket list - to achieve the things that would make any particular day feel like a day well lived.
And so, I'd like to invite you, on this, the penultimate Sunday of the church year, to give some thought to your bucket list.
What goals, big or small, would you like to achieve in the near future?
What difference would you like to make - in your life and in the life of your community?
And would your bucket list have any similarity to the picture of peace and prosperity laid out in the passage we read from Isaiah?

Or would it bear any resemblance to the work ethic of the apostles as laid out in our reading from 2 Thessalonians?
That text has been misappropriated so many times, particularly in this day when governments the world over are trying to shirk their responsibility of caring for those who are unable to support themselves.
The most shocking, tyrannical benefits cuts seek justification from texts such as these.
Of course the apostle did NOT advocate that those in the community who couldn't work should not be supported by those more able and with resources to spare.
The apostle was, rather rebuking those whose work was non productive - those people we find in every community, even here in Castlehill church, whose work is mischief making, those who go out of their way to be difficult or to bring down the efforts of others. Those are the ones who are to be discouraged, the ones we should avoid being caught up with.
Those disruptive people who discourage others from continuing to be generous and loving in their service to God.
We are encouraged, in spite of such idle folk, to never weary in doing what is right.
And, believe me, I know that that is easier said than done.
But why should we allow a few busy bodies to throw us off track, and find ourselves giving of less than our best for Gods Kingdom work?

There is a story of a holy man engaged in his morning meditation under a tree whose roots stretched out over the riverbank. During his meditation he noticed that the river was rising, and a scorpion caught in the roots was about to drown. He crawled out on the roots and reached down to free the scorpion, but every time he did so, the scorpion struck back at him.
“An observer came along and said to the holy man, ‘You fool - Don’t you know that’s a scorpion, and it’s in the nature of a scorpion to want to sting?’
“To which the holy man replied, ‘That may well be, but it is my nature to save, and must I change my nature because the scorpion does not change its nature?”
We are called to go on dreaming and to go on working to see our dreams fulfilled and not be dragged down by those who have no dreams except for harm.

So - What would be on your bucket list?
What if we had a bucket list of bringing to fruition the Isaiah prophecy?
A bucket list that would bring to pass the kind of dreams envisaged there.
What if we could give flesh to the dream that children didn't die from preventable tragedy?
In a country where there is adequate free health care, why are some denied access?
What if we facilitated better access to health care?
What if we gave flesh to the dream that the elderly and the infirm in our community were properly cared for?
And not just cared for but recognised as valuable members of our community and society - not those who have contributed to the past but those who still have a contribution to make today with the wisdom accrued through years of experience?
What if our dream was to fulfil Gods dream for all creation to live in Equity, Justice and Peace?
We know that God has a bias for those who are poor, those who are hungry, those who are homeless.
How about if our prayers and our actions focused on those people, if our bucket list aligned us with the will of God that:

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.

So may it be.



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Why remember?

Haggai 2:1-9
The Future Glory of the Temple
In the second year of King Darius,
in the seventh month, on the twenty- first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say, Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear. For thus says the Lord of hosts:Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendour, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. The latter splendour of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the Lord of hosts.

Luke 20:27-38
The Question about the Resurrection
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

Haggai is a prophet we don't hear much about.
In just a couple of chapters he boasts of a time in the history of Gods people when they came together, got their focus right, and rebuilt Gods temple.
Haggai comes across as some kind of cheer leader in that process, encouraging the people again and again to "take courage".
But, more than helping the people find their flagging energy, as they become overwhelmed by the enormity of their task, Haggai brings their minds back to what underlies that task.
What is important in it.
The whole point of rebuilding the temple was to honour God.
Giving their time, their talents and their money to focus on God, central to their life and faith.
The people were beginning to fear that they had bitten off more than they could chew.
It was a huge task to rebuild the temple and return it to its former glory.
It took a huge commitment - hard work and dedication.
The prophet Haggai realised that, what the people needed, was not simply someone to appeal to their work ethic, and their charity, they needed someone to stir their soul.
To take them back to basics - reminding them of their roots in God, their relationship - a symbol of which is this temple that honours God and the unique relationship that these people share with God in community.
It's more than - " build the temple and God will reward you"
It's more too, than " build the temple and people will flock to it"
Haggai's message strips away all the superficiality and invites the remnant, those who remember the old times, to remember specifically how God has been at the heart of their culture for ever - and more, will always be at the heart of their being in community.
God - yesterday, today and forever.
That is the God who is to be honoured in the building of this temple, a work that demands only the best in recognition of the God at the heart of all life.
Today we talk of honouring our dead - all those who have been sacrificed in war.
Those who have served their country - and those who have, quite simply gotten in the way of war.
Modern warfare often results in shocking numbers of civilian casualties.
Once again, we need reminded of why we honour the dead today.
And that is - to ensure that we do not ask of others the sacrifice that has already been made.
At the heart of our remembering must be the determination to stop the violence.
That is a huge task.
It seems impossible in today's world where so much rests on the economy and infrastructure of war, where politicians use the threat of war as a first and not a last resort.
But, like God's people, in danger of being overwhelmed at the enormity of their task in rebuilding the temple, so we need to be reminded of the underlying purpose of our remembrance - to bring about peace.
To honour the dead and the God who calls us into life.
To do that demands that we glimpse Gods vision for all Gods people - a vision beyond our limited sight, beyond our dreams.
A vision of the new life offered by God for the life of the world.
In the gospels, we often find Jesus trying to describe that new life.
But often, those around him were too mired in the life they knew to even begin to glimpse the kind of life that Jesus offered.
Like the Sadduccees we encounter in our gospel reading today.
Jesus, surprise, surprise, is arguing with the Sadduccees.
They are trying to trip him up with a question about marriage and the resurrection.
They didn't believe in resurrection and wanted to discredit the notion of it.
Here's the scenario:
For the protection of women, the law decreed that a man should marry his brothers widow.
The Sadduccees painted a ridiculous scenario, involving one bride and seven brothers.
(Not seven brides for seven brothers)
This poor woman was widowed 7 times.
Each time, like property, she was passed on to the next brother.
And so, the Sadduccees asked Jesus - to whom would the woman belong in the next life?
You can just imagine Jesus shaking his head in frustration at their question.
Because they were missing the point entirely.
Resurrection signals a new life we cannot possibly envisage.
It is beyond our ken.
Far outstripping our limited imaginations.
Resurrection sets aside the limited concepts that folk struggle with in this life.
As with the rebuilding of the temple, where the prophet Haggai implores Gods people to have courage, to get back to the centrality of God at the heart of all things, so Jesus encourages those caught up in the minutiae of daily life to catch a glimpse of something much bigger and, in particular, to see God present in all life.

This Remembrance Sunday, we are called to lift our eyes beyond what we see,what we have witnessed, what we have learned about war - the pity of war.
In the words of Harry Patch, one of the last survivors of the First World War: " War isn't worth one life".
We are called, today, to imagine a world without violence.
A world where all life is honoured and where God is at the heart of all life,
Only by working to ensure that war and conflict between races and peoples and nations becomes a thing of the past can we truly honour those we remember today.
Only by working for peace can we honour the God of peace who is at the heart of our faith and our life together.
Today, we are exhorted to "take courage" and to work for peace.
For the glory of God.
Amen.

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