Bible Sunday

St  Mary’s , October 25th 2009 – Bible Sunday

Readings: Psalm 19.7-14; 2 Tim. 3.14 -4.5; John 5.36- end.

Heavenly Father, as we think about your Word together, I pray that through your Holy Spirit, you will guide us to a right understanding of your meaning for us here today.

I wonder if you noticed the common thread running through our psalm and our two Bible readings today.  In both Paul’s second letter to Timothy and John’s Gospel, there is a focus on scripture, in particular on how we should approach it, both in terms of its authority and the way in which we should read it.  The psalm, rather than talking about scripture talks about the importance of God’s law, or statutes, or precepts or commands, all words which have the same meaning.  And unlike today, when many people find the law something of a problem - think of how we moan about Health and Safety regulations or think about that case not so long ago, when two policewomen found themselves caught out by the law relating to when the person looking after your children ceases to be a friend and becomes a child—minder, and therefore in need of registration – as I say, unlike today, when we frequently find the law a burden, the psalmist delights in God’s laws.  Because God’s laws revive the soul; they give joy to the heart and in keeping them there is great reward.  Maybe there’s a lesson for us here.  In fact I’m sure that there is.   Read more

And You Shall be my Witnessess…Dying (Philippians 1:21)

“For me to live is Christ; to die is gain.”

May I speak in the name of the Father…

Each Sunday during this sermon series on what it means to be a witness, we’ve included a story of faith at each of our 10am Parish Eucharists. You can read some of them in the Parish Magazine this month. Last Sunday was rather special, because we heard a short but moving testimony from a 93 year old member of the congregation. He spoke about his need to grow in prayer and deepen his relationship with God. Even at 93, here was a Christian man who knew what he needed to come closer to God. It was a powerful reminder that, in our later years as much as in our youth, our journey with God can develop and grow. Read more

Witnessing through resisting

Witnessing through resisting
All Saints 18/10/09
Readings
Romans 12: 1-2
Excerpt from a speech by Martin Luther King
“To our most bitter opponents we say: “We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws, because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. Throw us in jail, and we shall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall win freedom, but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.”

Mark 14: 53-65

Martin Luther King, in the speech we heard just now, expresses succinctly what it is to witness through resisting. “non- cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is co-operation with good” together with the vital “Do to us what you will and we shall continue to love you.” It is not a modern idea. Isaiah’s suffering servant epitomises it. Jesus before the Sanhedrin and throughout his Passion was certainly in Martin Luther King’s mind. In every age there have been Christians who have sided with the poor and oppressed, been the voice of the voiceless, stood up for the weak and vulnerable. Sometimes they have started movements which have later become mainstream. Where once monasteries provided the only infirmaries and schools, we now have NHS hospitals and education for all. Where once slavery was taken for granted, Christians spearheaded the opposition to it in this country and elsewhere. It is the Christian belief that all people are equal in the sight of God that has deeply influenced the human rights movement, which culminated in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Witnessing through resisting may not be a new idea but that doesn’t mean it is comfortable. I have been living with the idea that we are called to witness through resisting for some weeks now as I have prepared this sermon and it has challenged me in all sorts of ways. Could any of us honestly speak MLK’s words and mean them? We’ll come back to that.
First let’s acknowledge that resisting the powerful on behalf of the weak can be very dangerous. Read more