Living Out Kingdom Values!

Luke 21:5-19

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit….Amen!

At first glance there doesn’t seem to be much in today’s gospel reading that really encourages us to want to be a follower of Christ! If anything, some of it might make you want to turn around and head in the opposite direction! Jesus starts off by telling the disciples that the temple will one day crumble; there will be false teachers trying to lead them astray; there will be wars, earthquakes, famine and plague. Oh, and the icing on top of this lot is that they will be arrested, persecuted, betrayed and possibly even killed! It’s a wonder that anyone in their right mind would even consider that following Christ would be the best thing to do!

The scenario which Jesus presents to his disciples is an almost apocalyptic, terrifyingly doom-laden set of events which I’m sure would cause most of us (if we were in their situation) to at the very least think very long and very hard about what it is that we are called to do.

I’m sure that many of us will remember almost 14 years ago just as the new millennium was about to dawn, there was almost universal panic that the world would be thrown into chaos because the computer systems upon which we all rely simply would not cope! Well they did cope, and the world as we know it did not come to an end! Every generation seems to have its own particular events which seem to almost define it. We recalled last weekend the sacrifice made by those who laid down their lives in times of war for others. In our own recent memories many of us will recall where we were when we first heard about the planes hitting the towers on 9/11 (I was actually in a newsagents shop just off Putney High Street in London).

A few years later came the London bombings and an increased awareness that perhaps life was actually more fragile than we would like. We learn about genocides in parts of the world which if we stop and think about it actually aren’t really too far away from us. And we see on the TV and read about disasters such as the Japanese tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and only this last ten days or so the absolute devastation in the Philippines caused by the recent tornado. Wherever we look there are people whose lives have been deeply affected and indelibly shaped by these events and countless other events around the world which often go unnoticed by the rest of us but which leave a huge impact on those involved.

We are, it seems, living in a world which is falling apart. A world with too many people wanting to use the same few resources! We see the words of Jesus in this passage as we look around us and he speaks of “nations against nations” and “kingdoms against kingdoms”, we see climate change that is very often caused by our own use and misuse of the earth, and although technology may have moved us on greatly the world really hasn’t changed all that much. Human nature remains much the same now as it was in the day when Luke’s gospel was written.

We human beings tend to prefer certainty over doubt, security over fear. Very often we see things in terms of black and white when the reality of life is that for most of it can be quite messy and complicated at times! We were never promised an easy ride, as this gospel reading tells us! Sometimes perhaps we can look at just how comfortable and safe we are as Christians in our well ordered church buildings. For all the hysteria that certain parts of the media try to stir up, Christians in the UK do not suffer persecution or worse as they may in other parts of the world. There are parts of the world where to be known as a follower of Christ is to have your home or church at risk of being burned down, or have you and your family thrown into a re-education camp (North Korea), or even killed!

And in spite of all this people are still able to find the strength and the courage to stand and say that they are Christian…….that they follow Jesus! As I mentioned two weeks ago on All Saints Day we are now in what the church calls the “Kingdom Season”. It is a time when the lectionary readings tend to focus upon what is sometimes called the “end times”.

Yet the Kingdom of God is about so much more than what will happen at the close of all history or a state into which we hope to enter once we die. As we pray each time we say the Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. The kingdom of God is for the here and now as well as, not instead of, but as well as when one day we hope to be gathered with the saints around the throne. The catch is that we are each called to be the agents of God’s kingdom……to coin a phrase we are each called to live out “Kingdom Values”! And I know that to some that might sound like some kind of pious soundbite, but it is about living out the gospel in our daily lives whatever the situation may be. It’s about being in awkward, uncomfortable and sometimes frightening situations with those who hurt and are angry with the world and with God and maybe just listening and soaking up their pain.

When I watched the news a few days ago there was a Catholic priest on there who had opened up his church in the Philippines for anyone who needed help. You may well have seen the same news report. There were hundreds of people in that building who were seeking shelter. Camped out and sleeping where they could, on pews, under statues, in the nave…..anywhere there was space. In a city of devastation this priest and his church were very much demonstrating the values of the Kingdom of God to all who came, without judgment or preconditions. He spoke of how people had been taking food from supermarkets simply to survive……..others would quite likely condemn this as looting, but this priest offered not condemnation but rather the recognition of people who have found themselves in a dreadful situation having to cope the best way they can. And he opened up his church to them. This is the Kingdom of God in action!

In a world where there is so much uncertainty for so many we are called not simply to be passive observers hoping and praying that things will somehow all blow over and everything will eventually be all right again. No! We are called to be there right in the thick of it, standing with those who need someone to stand with them and speaking out for those who are without a voice. And yes, this might make us unpopular at times; this might make us misunderstood or cause us to be ridiculed, but this is what sometimes what it is to a follower of Christ. It is not supposed to be an easy path, but as the last verse tells us we do have hope, as “not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance will you gain your souls”. May we each of us seek to be the agents by which God’s Kingdom is able to flourish here in our own community as we live out our commitment to Christ.

AMEN

Seeing the Saints Amongst Us!

Sermon 3rd November 2013

All Saints

 

Luke 6:20-31

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Hands up anyone who thinks that they are a saint! No?

Hands up anyone who thinks that the person sitting next to them is a saint!

I suppose if we were to ask ourselves the question “What is a saint?” then we might get a variety of answers depending on our own experience or point of view. Ask someone who lives along the coast in Southampton and they will probably tell you that “The Saints” are their local football team! The Roman Catholic Church has some pretty rigorous standards by which it recognizes a person’s sainthood, yet it seems to me that our reading today from Luke’s gospel gives us a pretty good idea of what makes a saint!

 In Luke’s version of The Beatitudes we read of such things as “Blessed are the poor”, “Blessed are the hungry”, and “Blessed are those who weep”…….even “Blessed are you when they exclude you”. So much that chimes with what has become the daily experience of many in our own communities, yet which on the face of it seems to be complete nonsense! Poverty, hunger, mourning, hatred, exclusion,  – these things certainly don’t seem like blessings!

But Jesus is convinced that they are. And most shocking of all, Jesus says that these are the sorts of people to whom the Kingdom of God is entrusted.

 It goes on to tell us “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you”. I guess some of us will find it easier, and even perhaps temporarily more satisfying to hate those who hate us, ignore those who are different from us and give as good as we get when someone starts hurling abuse at us! Yet we are called to do the exact opposite and to demonstrate what it is to be a part of the Kingdom of God!

 It’s a pretty safe bet I reckon that most saints tend not to go around with lofty ambitions of one day achieving sainthood and maybe getting their own special day named after them. After all if they did then they would probably be going against the basic job description! When we read about the lives of the saints very often they are simply ordinary people who find themselves in some very extraordinary circumstances! We tend sometimes to think of the saints as a sort of breed apart……a kind of “Super-Christian”, much to be admired and looked up to, but there’s no way that any of us can ever hope to be part of such company!

Here in this church of course we remember St George, and there are those here who will have a particular place in their heart for St Anne and St Mark. I’m sure that most people here could come up with the names of any number of saints. Many of the churches in our own deanery are named after, or dedicated to saints.

Just up the road we have St Mary’s. A little further afield there is St Luke’s, St Bart’s, St Peter’s, St Michael’s, even St Wulfran’s in Ovingdean. Some of the saints may seem at times to be so well known that they almost have a kind of celebrity status surrounding them. Others remain relatively obscure and unknown, except by a few!

The witness of many of these women and men – such as St Francis of Assisi, St Theresa of Avila or St Augustine of Hippo – are well known. Many of their writings have become popular, their deeds have inspired us to name hospitals and schools and churches after them, and their service to the Church has been taught over many generations. Yet, for others – such as St Simon, St Jude or indeed, St Wulfran– little is known beyond their names.

But regardless of how much or how little we know about these faithful witnesses, one thing is certain: Their life and ministry has richly blessed and influenced the church. And as we gather to celebrate the Feast of All Saints, we are called to give thanks to God for the blessings that the saints have given the church, as well as the many blessings God has given us.

When we look around this church we see and feel the dedication, the love, the prayers, the lives of thousands of very ordinary people who have lived out what it is to be a part of the Kingdom in this place and in this community. The Kingdom of God is built of these people here in Kemptown over the generations, often quietly getting on with what it means to be the Body of Christ to those who come. These are our saints, often unnamed, who stand alongside the roll call of all the official more well-known saints. People whose lives and witness have helped shape this church and this community!

I do speak often about both inclusion and community, and it seems to me that All Saints Day is a great example of both. As people who are set apart for God we are all called to one day be a part of that great community of saints worshipping our Lord………not standing on the outside looking in, but to be right there taking our place before him.

And so we gather today, not just as a relatively small group of people in our own little corner of Brighton. We gather as part of a wider community. A community which goes beyond the walls of this building, beyond the invisible parish boundaries, beyond Brighton. A community which goes beyond what we experience in this life and joins us with all who have gone before us and who will come after us. On this All Saints Day we are all called to be a part of the great Communion of Saints which we affirm whenever we recite the Apostle’s Creed!

As Fr Andrew often tells us, look around at the people next to you, or in front and behind you………go on, take a good look! Because they are the saints you will be sharing the Kingdom with, and YOU are the saint they will be sharing the Kingdom with.

 

AMEN