Extracts from the sermon delivered at the Benefice United Service

29th August 2010

Gospel Text: Luke 14:1,7-14

I’ve had a few weeks off, the first week I spent with the Air Training Corps as a Chaplain on an RAF station in Yorkshire, then I had a couple of weeks hanging around with the family. I think it’s called a “staycation”, it was very enjoyable, and reminded me of how lovely this part of Wales is.

Refreshed and reinvigorated, revived and revved up, I’m back for the next chapter of Church in the 21^st century.

The reading tells us that...

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of the leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.

Jesus is hob-nobbing with the religious glitterati of the day. He’s been invited to the home of a leading Pharisee for the Sabbath meal. Jesus has already nearly broken up the party by healing a man afflicted with oedema (or dropsy as it used to be called).

(it’s the bit of the Gospel we didn’t have between verse 2 and 6) I can imagine the scene, it was probably the equivalent of turning up to a country mansion in jeans and a tee-shirt, driving across the croquet lawn in your land rover and letting your dog chase the swans.

They say to Jesus, “Steady on old boy, you’re not supposed to be healing on the Sabbath, it’s just not cricket” (it’s my new translation….), Jesus actually says (and this IS in the NIV translation)

If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?

I can imagine awkward silence, as they look around at each other.

For the Pharisees, the act of eating a meal together was just like praying together. The two activities had rules and ritual.

In the silence, Jesus notices that people had been vying for positions of honour at the dinner, presumably closest to the host or the guest of honour. Luke doesn’t tell us if Jesus was the guest of honour, but even if he was, he quickly went down the rankings as he used the opportunity to teach the assembled guests about manners and the Kingdom of God.

Then he turns on the host and gives him a further lecture about whom he ought to have invited to dinner. What a party! What a guest!

Jesus is telling the host that he should have invited the marginalized, the poor and the outcast. This, for Jesus, isn’t a matter of party political position, it’s not a matter of economic theory or social philosophy. It isn’t even a matter of whether he is or isn’t a follower, it’s just bad manners not to do so.

After the host and the guests have chosen to point out that in their book it’s bad manners to heal on the Sabbath, so Jesus points out that in the same book, and in life, it’s really bad manners not to consider those with less in all situations.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been listening to the economic arguments for austerity and caution in the economy, I’ve heard about the wide-ranging cuts that need to be made and I’ve heard who is going to suffer the most. I’ve been really worrying about those who have the least, as benefits are squeezed and cuts to pubic services start to bite.

I can hear Jesus saying “Whether you are a follower or not, to fail to put the poor at the top of your list is not just misguided, it’s bad manners”, he is asking us all, “who are we inviting to the party”.

If you have difficulty in thinking about this issue as ‘bad manners’ you could always think of it as ‘humility’.

Now I don’t mind telling you that I had a problem with the whole ‘humility’ thing, people laugh when I say that. The difficulty is that the people who tell me that being ‘humble’ is important are the people who are nothing of the sort.

I always wondered how we were supposed to be ‘humble’ and how this really helped build the kingdom, feed the poor and enable the disenfranchised, just by us being meek and modest (part of the definition of being ‘humble’), I also didn’t see Jesus being particularly humble, especially not in this reading today. That was, until I heard the definition of humility from Alcoholics Anonymous;

Alcoholics Anonymous defines humility this way:

Humility is not thinking less of yourself.

It is thinking of yourself less."

Exactly what Jesus was talking about at dinner with the Pharisees.

Do we live as if we want to be an inviting people?

Do we speak inviting words?

Do we have inviting attitudes?

Do we invite others to the feast, where they can meet Christ in the bread and the wine?

Do we really, through our words and actions bring others to faith?

Feast of St. James (and the retirement of Archbishop Desmond Tutu)

In the Christian calendar, every few months a ‘Saint’s Day’ falls on a Sunday, when this happens the readings change from the usual cycle and we think about the impact the person has had on the faith.

I like to think of ‘Saints’ as ‘superheroes’ of the faith, people who have managed to walk closely with God, and as a result, secure our freedom to worship without fear.

St. James is an interesting figure however. It is said that his relics lie in the great pilgrimage church of Santiago de Compostella, he was the hero of generations of crusading Spanish soldiers, who would cry “Santiago y cierra Espana”, St James and strike for Spain!

The origins of this tradition went back to the story that St. James appeared as a great warrior in the year 844, helping the Christian Army defeat the Moors , led by the Emir of Cordoba.

James is shown throughout history in art as a warrior on a white charger, ghostly in his appearance and cheerfully wielding a sword, hacking down the enemies of Spain.

Moving on a few centuries from the battle in Cordoba, we have the Spanish Inquisition and the forced conversion to Christianity of Jews and Muslims alike. Torture and death being an integral part of this particular episode in the history of our faith, it’s not surprising that we don’t talk about this too much.

St. James the great, the Moor Killer or Matamoros in Spanish myth and legend represents the struggle between control and freedom. What is ‘faith’ worth if there is no freewill or choice? Surely the most valuable thing we have is our faith, and the most valuable thing in our faith is that fact that it sets us free. It’s doesn’t enslave us.

In the Gospel reading this morning we have an interesting event. The mother of the Sons of Zebedee (a James and John) is asking Jesus for preferential treatment for her sons. “Lord, can they sit on your left and right hand?”.

She wants earthly guarantees in a heavenly way, she wants to be close to the seat of power, and perhaps without the knowledge of Mr. Zebedee, she approaches Jesus with this request.

Jesus’ response is typically mystical; he addresses the boys, James and John, together. He tells them that they don’t know what they are asking, then he closes the matter by saying that it isn’t his job to decide who sits where, it is God’s job.

The struggle between control and freedom is here too! Mrs Zebedee wants control from the very man who has given them freedom. Freedom from the ways of the world, the challenges of conforming to the laws of the day, even the fact that Mrs. Zebedee is asking questions of the Rabbi is testimony to the freedom that Jesus has brought her and her family, but still she wants to squeeze them back into the same old format of earthly power and authority.

Beware of being squeezed into the mould everyone expects you to be in. Be unpredictable to the people obsessed by the ways of the world and remember that true greatness is shown by humility, not pride.

Yesterday it was announced that Archbishop Desmond Tutu at 78 is about to withdraw from public life after four decades in the forefront of it. The BBC said that “he has never been known to mince his words”, I would like to add, and “through his humility he has shown the power of the Holy Spirit working in him”.

In the struggle against apartheid he was a voice to the Christian world, a seemingly unstoppable and invincible voice.

Even though Robert Mugabe once called him “evil”, I think he is a great example of holding the tension of control and freedom in balance, a man of true greatness.

Welcomed into the Church he was inevitably thrown into the political spotlight, but he always took the time to make it clear that his faith was his motivation not politics.

On the subject of apartheid, he said;

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of human rights - January 1985

Be nice to the whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity - October 1984

On justice, he said

Resentment and anger are bad for your blood pressure and your digestion - January 2000

On fashion – he criticized Nelson Mandela’s dress, he said….

His sartorial taste is the pits!

He's such a lovely guy, but he was nasty to me when I publicly commented on it. He said the critique was pretty amusing coming from a man who wears a dress - October 2006

On winning the Nobel Peace Prize

A child asked him why he had won it, he said

"It's very easy, you just need three things - you must have an easy name, like Tutu for example, you must have a large nose and you must have sexy legs." - July 2009

In 2007 however, he gave his most thoughtful analysis on uniting the nation. He said;

This is something that can unite us.

We have 11 different official languages but only one word for the wonderful institution of braai (barbecue): in Xhosa, English, Afrikaans, whatever - September 2007

True greatness is shown by humility, not pride. This was powerfully demonstrated and taught by Jesus Christ, who told His ambitious disciples: “Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:26-28).

There is a little verse that says…

Find out what God would have you do,
And do that little well;
For what is great and what is small
The Lord alone can tell. —Anon.

Still today, pilgrims walk the way to the shrine of St. James, for many it is a new way of travelling. They pray for a better future where there is no slavery or war, torture or executions. In humility and patience they march, many of them in a foreign land as a symbol of Christian identity.

In a way, they are as dangerous and rebellious as the crusaders who followed St. James in the past – these however are dangerous because as they march on their pilgrimage, they don’t need the world and it’s all too earthly promises because they have their eyes to heavenly things – service and freedom.

God bless you in your endeavours to be dangerous and rebellious in the name of him who came not to be served but to serve.

Trinity 7

Pentecost 8

Year C

+ May I speak in the name of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN

Mary and Martha

I don’t know if any of you have watched the comedy drama ‘Rev’ on the television recently… As the title suggests its about a Vicar working in the East End of London with a very small congregation – I was a bit suspicious about watching it, when someone religious turns up on telly they are usually strange or dangerous. Dot Cotton in Eastenders seemed bad enough until the bloke who is a part time minister/part time serial killer turned up.

It was with a degree of trepidation that I turned the computer on and watched an episode of ‘Rev’ – I’m a week or so behind….

Last week the episode had another church coming in to use the parish church building – it was ‘all singing all dancing’ TV screens, rappers and a ‘personality’ running the show. The Church was packed and lots of money was collected – lots of which was donated back to the usual church and its’ congregation.

In the older congregation there were all sorts of characters, and they didn’t all really fit in to the ‘new’ service. One of them did something to upset one of the helpers in the new congregation and the minister of the new congregation insisted that he be excluded from the Church.

The Vicar refused and the Archdeacon agreed – they pointed out that nobody could be excluded from the Church… It is open to all – and that sometimes mean people who are very different from those we would choose to spend time with…

At this stage I was waiting for the Vicar to turn out to have a dark sinister secret that no one knew about…but it didn’t happen….thankfully.

Whilst this was an episode of a comedy programme there were all kinds of realistic incidents, this particular episode seemed to relate well to the readings we have today.

In the Gospel the reported event in the lives of Mary and Martha is an important one, we have the busy Martha, distracted by her many tasks, trying to make things perfect, and we have Mary, who would rather choose to sit at the feet of Jesus, just listening.

It isn’t as easy to split their tasks up by saying it’s all about faith and works, Mary having faith without works and Martha having work without faith, because that does a great disservice to the them as people. It’s not a case of two women getting it completely wrong in two different ways.

I think it’s a lesson to us all, as are all the recorded events, parables and allegories in the Bible. They are all there for a reason. This lesson, once again, has a wide-ranging and deep message. The thing about Mary and Martha is that Martha was so busy ‘doing the right thing’ in the sight of God she forgot to check what ‘God’ actually wanted. God incarnate is sat on her sofa, and she still knew best – but it was hardly her fault.

The Pharisees and the Scribes and the religious officials of the day couldn’t see Jesus as the Son of God either, because they were too busy dealing with the day-to-day business of what they felt was ‘God’s work’ even when he was hanging on the cross and all the prophesies were being fulfilled, they couldn’t see the real event that was happening.

Abraham in the reading from Genesis is sat at the doorway to his tent in the heat of the day, and God talks to him. St. Paul in the letter to the Colossians talks about his mission to ‘make Christ known’ he who is the ‘image of the invisible God’, so that we can all be ‘mature in Christ’. What a fantastic phrase and thought. To be growing towards a maturity in Christ. Taken together, we could say that the readings are inviting us to grow more mature in Christ by waiting for him to speak to us in the quiet, in the peace and in the calm. It’s only then can we actually say we are doing his work.

The first image was that of the apparently incredibly successful Church – lots of people came, most of them were young too. I’m sure they were learning about God, the stories of the Bible and even how we are expected to live. But faced with a problem, faced with someone who didn’t actually want to do things their way, they couldn’t cope with it – the other person had to be wrong.

Lots of people believe that their way is the right way, and excluding others, questioning the motives and integrity of others – as the Archdeacon in the series pointed out, we can exclude nobody from our Churches however different they may be… And the fact is that it’s not our place to be judge.

The second image was of an apparently unsuccessful Church, with money problems and a small congregation – but for all the faults associated with it, it was this group, this Church, that best understood Jesus’ command to love their neighbour… they accepted everyone just as they are. Here is Mary, patiently waiting on God and then having a clearer understanding of what makes success, what makes us mature in Christ.

What is our vision then? Is it to build a church on strict rules and regulations that excludes people from our worship and fellowship? Is it a vision to mould people to be like us, because we are always right? Or is our vision to join with everyone in the kingdom of God – because the reality is that as we seek to do our bit to build the kingdom of God, so we will face challenges as to the type of people we meet… and welcome…

Here we go again worrying about the churches – even during the sermon, I’ve forgotten to think about the man. Well, a woman called Barbara Johnson wrote a little parable that is a perfect commentary – it tells us a lot about the man in the episode of ‘Rev’ who found himself outcast in his church, by people who didn’t find him quite right.

A man fell into a pit and couldn't get himself out.

A subjective person came along and said, "I feel for you down there."

An objective person came along and said, "It's logical that someone would fall down there."

A Pharisee said, "Only bad people fall into a pit."

A mathematician calculated how he fell into the pit.

A news reporter wanted an exclusive story on his pit.

A fundamentalist said, "You deserve your pit."

A tax inspector asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.

A self-pitying person said, "You haven't seen anything until you've seen my pit."

A charismatic said, "Just confess that you're not in a pit."

An optimist said, "Things could be worse."

A pessimist said, "Things will get worse."

Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit!

That is what Jesus does, and that is what he calls us to do… AMEN

Rev Mark Lawson-Jones

2010

Congratulations

Revd Jeremy is officially our newest Team Vicar

Well, if you were there you will know it was a fantastic celebration as Bishop Dominic licensed Jeremy as Team Vicar to the Benefice.

Thanks to everyone who made it such a special event. Below is the text of the press release

"On a beautiful midsummer evening, the Revd Jeremy Harris was licensed as Team Vicar to the Benefice of Magor. People travelled from across the Diocese and beyond to fill the church and pray for Jeremy as he joins a team that serves the ten churches of the benefice and the wider communities. Team Rector, the Revd Mark Lawson-Jones said "We are blessed to have Jeremy here as Team Vicar, he has considerable gifts and skills that are needed here as we look to the future and strive to grow our churches both spiritually and numerically." For more information about the Benefice of Magor have a look at the website www.magorbenefice.co.uk"

Our Mission Statement

“God rejoices in all people, so we welcome all who are searching for the truth in mind or spirit, wherever they are on their journey”.

The Rectorial Benefice of Magor

MISSION STATEMENT

The Church is worldwide

We come together not merely as single congregations, but as part of the universal Church all around the world. There is only one God, only one Christ, only one Church. Artificial human barriers are of no importance.

The Church is eternal

We celebrate the Communion of Saints, the spiritual union of all Christians, those on earth and those in heaven. We share a single mystical body, with Christ at the head, in which each member contributes to the good of all and the welfare of all.

The Church should be inclusive

We want to welcome everyone, and exclude no one, whatever their age, race, background, nationality or sexuality. God rejoices in all people, so we welcome all who are searching for the truth in mind or spirit, wherever they are on their journey.

The Church is ecumenical

Although we greatly cherish our own traditions and insights, we recognise that these can only be part of the whole truth of God, we rejoice with others as they search for God in their own way.

Worship is a meeting of earth and heaven

In worship we seek to express and enter the mystery of God, who cannot be captured through mere words, doctrines or formulae. Our worship has the potential to take us beyond words and give us a foretaste of the wonder and beauty of heaven, using gestures, ritual, music, silence and all the senses as a way of opening ourselves to God.

The Church should allow us to be ourselves

In all our learning and all our lives, we should never force each other into a mould, but set one another free to become the people God wants us to be.

Tradition is alive, not dead

The Spirit of God is alive and active, leading us further into God’s truth. Tradition constantly invites us to new and creative ways of understanding God; Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.

The Benefice of Magor within the Diocese of Monmouth of the Church in Wales

May 2010

Welcome to the Magor Benefice Blog. We are not too sure what's going to appear here yet, but it will probably be a few sermons or thoughts. There might be some news and events, there might even be some information about the churches and the work we are doing. Keep tuned in for updates.