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17th
February 2013 - First Sunday of Lent - Morning - Ken Scott |
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Sermon for First Sunday
of Lent 2013 - Morning
Readings: Deuteronomy 26. 1-11 and Luke 4. 1-13.
 "Talking and Giving"
I wonder how many of us walked up the church path this morning
with a song in our hearts thinking isn't it great it's Lent again!
It seems to have come early this year and to some there is a
sense of foreboding about it. The season seems to revolve around
the issue of what can be given up for a while; the usual suspects
being chocolate and alcohol. Our son once said that he would
like to give up church for Lent.
But Lent is meant to be about more than that. The purpose of
it was to strengthen and prepare Christians for the Easter season
when baptismal vows were renewed. It was of course based on the
40 days of Jesus stay in the wilderness that we read about in
today's gospel. This was to strengthen and prepare Him for his
subsequent ministry.
So how are we going to address the problem this year of strengthening
our faith and preparing for the sorrow and joy of Easter?
Let's look at the passage in Deuteronomy 26 that is our other
reading for today and see if it can help us. These were verses
recited at covenant festivals by the Jewish people, in this case
after the harvest was in. They had come into the Promised Land,
God had given them a wonderful harvest, so now they were to rejoice
and celebrate their deliverance from slavery and their new found
prosperity. In doing this they were to remember three things.
Firstly... The Lord heard their voice (verse 7) The people had
cried to God in the hard times in Egypt and in the desert and
he had heard them. God does hear our cry for help although we
sometimes find it difficult at the time to appreciate his response.
Do others hear our voice as well? As you know we are running
a Lent course based on the film The King's Speech called "Finding
A Voice". The depiction of George VI trying to overcome
his stammering, with the help of Lionel Logue, encouraged a journalist
to devise a course to make us think about how we need to find
our voices as Christians today. Our Christian faith is often
dismissed, ignored or derided in our country. By some measures
Britain is the least religious country in the developed world.
A recent survey showed that 64% of Britons never set foot in
a place of worship in a year. This is a higher proportion than
anywhere else in the world. We can feel that we no longer have
a right to be heard and allow our faith to become a private matter
and almost a secret. Something not to be talked about in polite
society. I took great heart from our new Archbishop when he said
recently that "Christians should be unashamed to talk openly
about their faith". He believes there is a great opportunity
today, in hard financial times, for the church to have a role
in the world in caring for those that the state cannot help,
thus showing God's love in action. He challenged an audience
in Nottingham with these words "Are we going to take the
opportunities that are there for the grasping, to bring people
to know and love Jesus Christ?" You might respond by saying
I cannot speak well, or I'm shy or too reserved. The Bible contains
stories of many famous characters like Moses or Jeremiah who
said this, because they were afraid of the consequences. But
God used them when they allowed him to, and he gave them the
ability to find their voice. This Lent, find your Christian voice.
Secondly... The Lord brought them out of Egypt (Verse 8). The
people of Israel had to remember how much God had done for them
when he rescued them from slavery and then brought them to the
Promised Land. It was a tough time getting through the wilderness
for 40 years and they often made mistakes, but God brought them
through it. Just as Jesus got through his experience of testing
for 40 days. During our time of preparation in Lent we should
remember how much God has done for us, through Jesus. As we lead
up to the remembrance of Jesus passion and death on Good Friday
can we grasp again the simple yet profound truth that "He
died that we might be forgiven" as the children's hymn says.
And most amazing of all he rose to bring us new and eternal life.
This Lent let us try to express our thankfulness for all that
he has done for us, even though we could never deserve it.
Thirdly... Bring the first of the fruits of the ground to the
Lord (verse10). This was the response that God expected from
the people. They had to give the first, the best of what they
had harvested and offer it to God. Here is a practical challenge
for us in Lent. Can we try this season, not to think so much,
"what am I going to give up?" as "what am I going
to give?" Can I give some more of my time? We are all busy
people, but take a moment of quiet in the next weeks to review
how you spend your free time. How much is spent on ourselves,
our interests, hobbies, or pleasure. Could I find more time to
help someone in need who lives near me? Can I find some time
to pray for myself and for others? Can I attend the course or
a Lent lunch?
Can I give more of my talents? We are going to have a Sunday
at the beginning of March where we will all be asked to review
our use for God of our talents, and we all have some. Do not
think you have nothing to offer, you do! There is a story of
a visitor to the site of St Paul's Cathedral, when it was being
built, asking the workmen what they were doing. A stone mason
replied that he was cutting his hundredth stone and he was pretty
fed up now. A carpenter said he was sawing more beams than he
could count and he too was tired of it. So the visitor asked
a small boy who was carrying water for the horses on the site
what he was doing. He replied that he was helping Sir Christopher
Wren to build a great cathedral. Your gifts and talents matter.
Can I give some more of my money? Lent is a good time to review
what we give to God in return for all he has given us. The church
accounts will probably show a loss this year and they should
not. No one can or should tell you what to give in your offering,
but it is useful to weigh it up against what we spend on some
of the other things in life. What did my last holiday cost? It
may be a lot or maybe you could not afford one. That gives some
indication of what you have available. It costs about £60-70
to fill up a car with petrol; a theatre ticket can be £30
or more. How does it compare with what goes in the envelope each
week? You might like to think about the diocesan scheme called
Giving Direct that makes life easy by using direct debits and
gets the Gift Aid Tax back quickly.
So this Lent by all means, if it helps you, make a gesture of
sacrifice, to focus the mind. But try to be positive as well.
Can we be more open about speaking about our faith? Can we be
more thankful for all that the Easter story means for us? Can
we give back to God some more of our time, talents or money?
If we can do some of this giving as well as giving up we may
be able to walk down the church path thinking Lent is not so
bad after all.
Ken Scott
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17th
February 2013 - Evening - Revd. Preb Maureen Hobbs |
Sermon
for Lent 1 - Evening 2013
Jonah 3
Luke 18.9-14
Confession, so they say, is good for the soul...
That would seem to be the central message of our two readings
tonight.
The people and the king of Nineveh were able to avert the wrath
of God that was heading their way by making a public confession
of their shared guilt; their waywardness and refusal to follow
the laws of God.... mind you, since they were gentiles - not
part of God's chosen people Israel, that seems like a fairly
harsh judgment... But let's not get hung up on details. The point
is that Jonah was being sent to the people of Nineveh to get
them to change their ways, and they did - and made a very public
demonstration that involved not only every man woman and child
in the place, but also their animals - or so it would seem.
I am not at all sure what my two dogs and the cat would think
if I told them that not only was I about to keep a strict Lenten
fast - but that they must do so too and not even drink within
the hours of daylight.... I don't somehow think they would be
too amused ... and neither would the RSPCA or my Vet!
And the Tax Collector and the Pharisee in our second lesson were
also - in different ways - being held to account before God for
their various misdeeds. The Tax Collector was in no doubt about
the ways in which he had fallen short of the standards that God
sets ; while the Pharisee thought he was home and dry ... failing
to notice that God seems to value honesty and humility above
smug self-righteousness... and that all human beings, however
good they set out to be, are innately self-centred by very virtue
of being human - we cannot help it - that is the nature of fallen
humanity. So the best of us still has to stand in fear and trepidation
before the seat of God's mercy and justice. But thankfully we
usually get more of the mercy than the justice!
I seldom seem to get to the cinema these days - just not enough
hours in the week - but one recent film that I am looking forward
to seeing is Les Miserables. Anyone seen it yet?
I love the music and have read the book, but I never got round
to seeing it on stage - though I have seen a concert version.
But the film - what I have seen of it on TV - looks amazing and
I hope that I may get the chance to see it in a cinema before
long. Not a very cheerful story in some ways of course, as the
title suggests. Not for nothing was it known in theatreland as
"The Glums". Several people have been commenting about
the deeply Christian themes that are contained within the story.
One way of describing the over-arching meta-narrative of the
plot is a battle between Justice and Mercy.
In the person of Javert - the dour and dedicated officer of the
law who pursues the escaped prisoner throughout the story, you
have the personification of Justice.
While in Jean Valjean, you have the personification of Mercy;
a man who - while himself the victim of poverty and despair is
granted a chance to redeem himself through the power of love
and charity. First because of the charity shown to him by the
old Bishop; and then through the love he shows to Cosette, Fantine's
daughter, in rescuing her and bringing her up to be a fine young
lady and to know herself deeply loved. However much we might
deserve Justice - we would all hope, I think to find Mercy in
our lives.
Oh well, maybe we might find another Lent course based on that
film one day!
This week we have seen much public soul-searching as our food
retailers and those involved in the tortuous supply chains of
the food industry are held to account, publicly, for their practices.
And all - it would seem, is far from well. And we have yet again
recently seen an MP been forced to admit publicly that he had
lied about a fairly minor traffic offence - a lie which has probably
ruined his career in public service ... as I said at the beginning,
confession is good for the soul - and for our PR image too it
would seem. Had he admitted to his guilt in the first place,
he might have suffered the indignity and inconvenience of having
lost his driving licence for a few months, but he might still
be a serving MP.
Lent is the perfect excuse to spend some time in self-examination.
To think back over the past week even, let alone the whole of
our lives, and think of the little tiny ways in which we might
have acted selfishly, or through which others maybe have suffered
as a result of our actions. As I said on Ash Wednesday, "I
know perfectly well that the food I eat and the clothes I wear
may have sometimes been produced through the exploitation of
other people or animals or the earth itself."
Of course, I still have to eat and to dress within the resources
I can afford, but that does not let me off the hook completely.
Each of us could do well to (metaphorically at least) don the
sackcloth and ashes, and to stand before our God with eyes cast
down, not daring to look up. If we do this, then I am sure we
are more likely to discover God's mercy waiting for us. But if
- as I fear I am all too likely to do - we take instead for our
model, the self-congratulatory Pharisee, admiring of all our
good work and our efforts to live holy lives, then we may find
God's Justice much less palatable in the long run.... we will
become les Miserables indeed!
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