Sunday 29th November 2020. Advent 1.

Isaiah 64:1-9 Psalm 80:1-8, 18-20 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:24-37

Happy New Year! Today is Advent Sunday the start of the church’s New Year. Perhaps you wonder why the church doesn’t keep the same New Year date as the rest of the world – although in fact, we could ask why the world doesn’t fit in with us, as Advent Sunday was established as the start of the Christian Year hundreds of years before the West settled on 1st January as the change of year.

Advent has many associations. For some it will always recall a crown made of wire coat-hangars and flame retardant tinsel, for others it’s lighting candles in church, for yet others it’s a calendar full of chocolate. For almost everyone there’s something special about Advent.

Advent is often treated like “Christmas Lite”. This year, even in the churches, the restrictions of Corona Virus mean that we are starting our Christmas preparations very early and impinging on Advent. Still, Advent isn’t Christmas, it’s a season of its own, and it’s a season we need.

Although traditional Advent calendars contain pictures and verses from the Nativity story, Advent isn’t really about preparing for Christmas. It’s about preparing for the end of time, for Christ’s second coming, for the inauguration of God’s new heaven and new earth. The traditional themes of Advent are death and judgement, heaven and hell: a reminder of the readings we’ve followed through November warning us not to be complacent about the Day of the Lord.

Today’s reading from calls on the Lord to come swiftly to rescue his people, the Psalm does the same. Knowing what we do about the reality of the Day of the Lord, we’re not surprised that 1 Corinthians urges us to stay firm in our faith, for the Day of the coming of the Lord may be a scary day. St Mark records Jesus saying that when we see him coming again in his glory with great power and glory, the sun itself will be darkened, the moon will go black and the stars will fall from heaven. The Day of the Lord is an awesome day, and a day for which we need to prepare. The readings don’t tell us how, only that we must. So each of us must look into our hearts and resolve how we need to prepare for the Day of the Lord.

The start of the New Year has become a time for making resolutions. Most of us fail to keep these resolutions, but maybe we could make some Advent resolutions, and maybe we could keep them as this isn’t the doomed start of the next year when we expect to fail at keeping resolutions.

The only resolution we need to make is to model our lives more closely on Jesus, so that when he comes in glory we will recognise him and be seen to be like him. However, working out that resolution will be different for each of us.

I wonder if any you need to live out your resolution in any of these ways

• Being more generous with possessions, time and talents, devoting them to God’s work, as Jesus did.

• Being more caring for those who are poor, annoying, a bit difficult, as Jesus did.

• Paying greater attention to God’s word by reading the Bible, as Jesus did.

• Spending more time listening to God in prayer, as Jesus did.

• Being God’s light in the place where we live, as Jesus did.

We want to be ready for Christmas, and we need to be ready for the second coming. Advent, season of preparation, gives us time to do that.

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility; that on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Sunday 22nd November 2020. Next before Advent. Stir Up Sunday. Christ the King.

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 Psalm 95:1-7 Ephesians 1:15-end Matt 25:31-end.

This is the last Sunday of the year. The Church’s year runs from the first Sunday of Advent to the Sunday next before Advent; that’s today. Today has many names: Sunday next before Advent reminds us to get ready for the season of getting ready; Stir up Sunday reminds us that getting ready may not be totally comfortable; Christ the King reminds us why we want and need to get ready to serve the King. This Sunday is so famous it has even made it into one of Nigella Lawson’s cookery books (although she did get some of the details wrong).

Today is a day that reminds us that we are under orders from God to be the people who live in such a way that anyone who looks at us can see that we are God’s people. There are many ways to do this: some of us wear funny clothes that mark us out as belonging to God. The clothes can be useful, they are a constant reminder to those of us wearing them that we are representing God, and we need to live up to God’s standards. Some of us choose to work for organisations which try to enact God’s laws and decrees, even though they don’t bring in much money. These organisations can be useful, they require us to be accountable to others about how we live and what we do. Some of us commit ourselves to praying for our communities so that we know how to act like God with those around us. These prayers can be useful because they open our ears to God’s words for a place and strengthen us to go and do God’s work. Some of us undertake activities which benefit our local community or the wider world, serving as councillors and committee members, working for the good of others. These activities can be useful because they make us visible to others so that they can see God. There are many things we can do to enact our prayer “your kingdom come, your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven,” but today reminds us that we don’t do them because we are good and kind, have a social conscience or a desire to tidy up the world, we do them because we are under orders from our King to behave like our King.

Our reading is clear and unambiguous: God orders us to care for those who need most care. Every Sunday when I stand at the altar in Woodditton church I look at a stained glass window in the tower which depicts people feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and welcoming the stranger. That window stirs me up to recall God’s orders to me, it stirs my conscience as I realise how often I have been deaf to God’s orders, it stirs my resolve to do better (if 2D people made of coloured glass can do this, surely I can).

Caring for those in need is not always comfortable. People have needs at times which are not convenient; they are not always as thankful for our help as our pride might like; they often need the same help over and over again. But then we know that, for we too are people who need help, are not always thankful and often need to be supported again and again and again, especially when we seek God’s help.

In our reading from Ezekiel the prophet condemns those who should be help-givers after the pattern of God: the rulers and priests, the leaders, movers and shakers. When they are compared with the Shepherd who is the King of Love they are found to be lacking in generosity and helpfulness. Ezekiel condemned them because, by their office, they had “taken the King’s shilling” and signed up to fight in God’s army. We can look at political leaders and church leaders and condemn them just as Ezekiel did. But we too have taken the King’s shilling, we too have signed up for God’s army, and so Ezekiel’s image of self-serving shepherds who fleece their flocks is a reminder of our responsibilities and the judgement that faces us. It can feel like a thankless task, always looking out for the needy, always taking second place behind those who have less, always setting aside our own desires to do God’s work. But Paul’s words to the Ephesians should encourage us. We have a King who has done this work already; when we offer Matthew’s cup of water to someone who is thirsty, we are offering this cup from a reservoir continually filled up by God; when we reach out to touch someone in need, we reach out with Christ’s own hand; when we remember to obey our orders we are marching alongside our leader who is also enlisted in God’s army with us. Christ is our King, he stirs us to action but he is not distant from us. He acts alongside us and in us and through us. He is worth following because he never just leaves us to follow but continually comes back to walk with us.

Eternal Father, whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven that he might rule over all things as Lord and King: keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace, and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet; who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Sunday 15th November 2020. 2nd before Advent.

Zephaniah 1:7, 12-end Psalm 90:1-8 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Matthew 25:14-30

The Psalmist says “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.” That is a wonderful and comforting image, and resonates for us all. Think of the comfort and ease we feel entering our beloved churches, places set aside for God and yet as well known to us as our own homes; places where we know where everything is, places where we feel comfort and security, places where we met God and are known by God. We can identify with the words of the Psalmist.

And yet, as the Psalmist continues his song we may start to feel a little bit uncomfortable. God who made the universe can also sweep it away; God who is so present in our little lives is also the God of eternity; God in whose presence we feel so comfortable is also wholly holy and other, and in our comfort we often fail to live up to and in to his holiness. How often have we made ourselves comfortable at God’s expense? The Psalmist reminds us that making ourselves comfortable is not what it means to dwell with God; rather dwelling with God means making ourselves conform to his intention for humanity.

Zephaniah is even more explicit. Just like our reading from Amos last week, this week these few short verses from Zephaniah bring us up short. The day of the Lord is not a party day for people, but a day when God will judge people according to how closely they have conformed to him. The people Zephaniah describes are not wicked, not criminals, not engaged in activities which set out to ruin livelihoods or the environment; they are comfortably off, they have enough to eat and drink, and a bit over for a few little extras. They are remarkably like you and me in their lifestyles and aspirations. They are people who believe in God, but who also think that God won’t worry much about them, he’ll neither help nor hinder them: God’s in his heaven, all’s right with my world. As I said, they are remarkably like us. But God has news for them: he will sweep away all the comforts they relied on and what he brings to them in exchange will make them most uncomfortable. Even the people who call themselves God’s own people will be utterly taken aback and ask “whatever did we do to deserve that?”

In 1 Thessalonians Paul addresses the same issue, the fact that the world is sleepwalking towards judgement. He says to his readers “you’re not in the dark, you know who God is and what he demands of us, so you can get ready to meet God by learning to be as much like God as possible.” But the reason he says this is because the Thessalonian Christians were just as likely to sleepwalk towards the Day of the Lord, just as likely to enjoy being comfortable in their own lives and their own faith, just as likely to have a nasty shock when they meet their maker as were any other people.

Jesus’ story from St Matthew’s Gospel is also making a similar point. Are we getting ready to meet our maker? God gives talents to everyone; what do we do with them? (Incidentally, our use of “talent” meaning an innate skill comes from this Gospel reading; originally a talent was a unit of money, but through this Gospel it came to mean “money invested to do something useful”, and ultimately just the ability to do something and do it well). The people Zephaniah wrote to used their talents to cushion their own lives; the people the Psalmist sang to were hoarding their talents, not using them for anything much; the people Paul wrote to were admiring their talents, but not using them as God intended.

What about us as individuals and as congregations. What talents has God given us, and how are we using them? Are we investing them in ways that bring glory and honour to God? Remember, talents today are not just money (although, actually, if we’re honest we all have enough and to spare even if we could think of plenty of things to do if we have more money), but all the skills and abilities that God has given us. Have you a talent for listening and helping people sort out their emotions, feelings and worries? How are you using that talent so that people can draw closer to God? Have you a talent for organisation and encouraging people? How are you using that talent to draw our villages together? Have you a talent for creativity and beautifying? How are you using that talent to reveal God at work in our world? God gives us talents for us to enjoy, but also for us to use for the sake of others. If we don’t use our talents what will we say to God when we meet him?

Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son was revealed to destroy the works of the devil and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life: grant that we, having this hope, may purify ourselves even as he is pure; that when he shall appear in power and great glory we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Sunday 8th November 2020. Remembrance Sunday.

Amos 5:18-24 Psalm 79 1 Thessalonians 4:13-end Matthew 25:1-13

Our readings today are awful in both senses: they describe some terrible things and they inspire awe in us. The Psalm describes the desolation felt by the people of when they were conquered by and their temple, God’s place, was destroyed; Amos 5 warns the people of Israel that the “Day of the Lord” is the day when we will have to answer for our sins, not necessarily a comfortable day; Matthew 25 asks us to reflect on whether we are ready to meet God, or whether we need to do anything before it’s too late. Only the reading from 1 Thessalonians has any comfort, promising that all those who died in the faith of Christ will be raised to everlasting life, even as Jesus himself was raised.

What might these readings say to us on this Remembrance Sunday, one hundred and one years after the first Remembrance Sunday?

It is a long time since we have seen our beloved and sacred places destroyed by enemy action. This year we have remembered the bravery of “the few” in the Battle of Britain and recalled how much, and yet how little, damage enemy attacks wrought on our land. We have also seen images on our television of people made homeless by natural and manmade disaster, watching their beloved and sacred places and possessions destroyed as Israel saw her land and temple destroyed.

In our comfortable world it is easy to forget that our actions have consequences and that our decisions, our consumption, our activity has cosmic consequences. This year we have seen Extinction Rebellion disrupt city streets, we have heard Attenborough’s impassioned plea for changes to our lives to save our planet, we have suffered extremes of weather and seen others suffer even more, and we have all endured the ravages of the corona virus. Amos called his first listeners to recognise that they would have to answer for their actions and the consequences of those actions; we must recognise that too.

It is a long time since we faced armed conflict in this land, but in 2016 over 87,000 people died as a result of warfare; in 2018 more than 10,000 children were killed in armed conflict, and it is estimated that there are a quarter of a million child soldiers in the world. Warfare is still part of life and part of death. As we look back on the strangest year we have ever known, as we reflect on the Bible readings, we recognise that the terror of the Psalmist, the warning of Amos and the lessons of Matthew are still current in our world.

But, if the distressing readings are still real, so is the reading of consolation. 1 Thessalonians was one of the first Christian texts to be written. Paul was writing to comfort people who worried about what had happened and would happen to the people they had loved who had died.

Death is so final and incomprehensible. One moment your loved one is there, then they are not. The body is there, but they themselves are not there. Where are they? Will we see them again? Will they know us and love us? What hope is there for us and for them?

Paul’s description is also a bit difficult to understand: how will God bring those who have died to life again with Jesus? What will God’s cry of command and trumpet and the archangel’s call sound like? What will it look like when God descends from heaven and the dead rise. Stanley Spencer and other artists have tried to visualise it, and to shew what it would mean for real people to really rise, although even the pictures require a leap of imagination.

Maybe on Remembrance Sunday 2020, we can take from these readings a call to repent for my unthinking actions, a warning to be change my actions and attitudes so that I am always ready to meet God, and the promise that even those who have died untimely deaths have not been forgotten by God, but will rise to eternal life with him.

The collect for today: Almighty Father, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of all: govern the hearts and minds of those in authority, and bring the families of the nations, divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin, to be subject to his just and gentle rule; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Credit Artwork. Copyright the Estate of Stanley Spencer. https://artuk.org/discover/stories/the-theme-of-resurrection-in-stanley-spencers-work accessed 21/9/20 7pm.

Sunday 1st November 2020. All Saints’ Day.

Revelation 7:9-end Psalm 34:1-10 1 John 3:1-3 Matthew 5:1-12

At our baptism, we, or the people speaking for us, declared the Christian faith using the words of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty; I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” Every Sunday in church we restate the claims of who God is and who his people are, and today, All Saints’ Day, we are living those claims.

We are part of the communion of saints, the gathering together of all Christian people through time and space: all the Christians who were and are and will be gathered together, communing together, in communion, the Communion of Saints. Our reading from Revelation gives us a vision of that whole communion of which we are a part. We see the saints from every nation and tribe gathering together in the presence of God to worship the Lamb that was slain, Jesus who died and rose again.

We often think that saints are holy and important and usually dead! They have been recognised by the church, are portrayed in stained glass windows and have days dedicated to them. They are super-human in their ability to love God and neighbour, to keep the Ten Commandments, to reflect the virtues of God. To be perfectly honest, they are so perfect they are a little bit scary and we are actually quite pleased to be able to claim “I’m no saint”!

But, actually, saints aren’t superheroes, they are just everyday sort of people who love God and who try to live like Jesus. In the Bible “Saints” is interchangeable with “Christians”, because a saint (from the Latin sanctus –a -um) is someone who is being made holy by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in them drawing them into the life of God, and that is what all of us are, and what has been happening to us since our baptism. At our baptism we were claimed for the Holy God and began that process of being made holy. So, when we read that description of the saints around the throne worshipping God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are looking at ourselves there too. Whenever we join in worship, whether in church or home, with others or alone, we are joining in this vision from Revelation of all the saints worshipping God.

The saints in Revelation have been through a great ordeal, but now, in God’s presence they will hunger and thirst no more, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. That takes us to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, where Jesus calls “blessed” or “happy”, maybe even “holy” or “sainted” are those who mourn, who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness.

The Beatitudes can be as scary as the idea of the saints! Do we really want to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be hungry and thirsty for righteousness, to be merciful, pure, peacemakers and be persecuted? Can’t we just be normal? But these blessed states, these beatitudes, are the things that Jesus did and endured while he was alive. If we are holy, blessed or sainted, we are sharing in the life of Jesus, if we are sharing in the life of Jesus we will suffer and mourn for all that is wrong, broken and damaging in our world and long for righteousness and mercy.

Today we rejoice that we are part of God’s communion of saints, we look forward to worshipping with all the saints not just here on earth, but also in heaven, in God’s closer presence. But, we also look out at the world and see the injustice, lack of mercy, and all that causes death and destruction. Surely we will mourn and long for change even as Jesus wept; surely we will strive to bring justice and mercy to the oppressed, even as Jesus changed the lives of the poor, the foreigner and women; surely we will stand in solidarity with those who suffer, even as Jesus took our sin and suffering on the cross.

Today is a day that recalls us to the Christian faith and demands that we don’t just look forward to heaven, but live now as God’s saints on earth, in communion with all those who have dedicated their lives to God and lived at least a little bit like Jesus.

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord: grant us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that we may come to those inexpressible joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.