This talk followed a selection of Christmas bible readings alongside some poems and videos…

Tonight, as we have gathered to celebrate, we have considered some serious things. We have remembered Shane Mc Gowan and Benjamin Zephaniah, and maybe as we did so, you remembered other people who won’t be here this Christmas. And as we recall a story set in the town of Bethlehem, we could not help but think of the Holy Land today, torn apart by bloodshed, fear, violence and death.

How do we celebrate Christmas with these painful realities never far from our consciousness? Perhaps we shouldn’t be celebrating this year?

But, if we do so, the darkness and despair win. Tonight, I invite you to a revolution of joy! Joy is not something which denies the suffering of the world, nor is it over-indulgence which tries to drown the difficult things out. But joy is resistance. To have joy is to say that even in the darkness of the world, the light cannot be defeated; even in the heartache of death, life will continue; even in humanity divided, there is a love which is stronger still.

Jesus did not come to a perfect world. He came to a world that needed him. He shared it’s darkness, death and division, so his light, his life and his love might begin that work of healing and salvation which is good news to all creation. And so we HAVE to celebrate, because there is hope. There is hope, and we – as follower of Jesus this Christmas – are called to be that hope wherever we can and wherever God has put us. Jesus came to us as a baby – with tiny hands and wrinkly feet and a little mouth that quavered a newborn cry. Now as St Theresa of Avila says, we are his hands, his feet, his mouthpiece. How will we use our lives to bring light, to bring life and to bring love.

Because every time we try – Jesus will be in our midst again.

So celebrate! Not because there aren’t dark and difficult things in our world, but because they will not win. They cannot win. Because of the baby in the manger. Join the revolution of joy this year, be part of a holy resistance and celebrate the birth of Jesus. In Jesus name – AMEN!

Readings

Matthew 25:31-46

³¹ ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³ and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴ Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸ And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹ And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” ⁴⁰ And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,^[g] you did it to me.” ⁴¹ Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

Sermon

I get places that dust can’t.

This is a phrase that I picked up from Kate Bottley, a priest whose ministry to the world of media means she is frequently asked to do some quite remarkable things. And I was thinking about it this week, because it was quite literally true in my case! The previous Bishop of Coventry, with whom I had worked quite closely over the past 7 years, invited me and others from the diocese to go to his installation as Dean of St George’s Chapel in Windsor. So on Thursday, a bunch of us headed off in a minibus, which my husband insisted on calling the Venga Bus, to attend the service and share refreshments afterwards.

The Dean of St George’s is appointed by the monarch, and so the King, Queen and other royals were present at the service. And what a service – the setting, the music, the coordination. It was just perfect. And then afterwards, we were taken for refreshments in the Windsor State Apartments, where we mingled with the King and John Major and other grandees, while being plied with champagne and the most exquisite canapes. It was perfect. And, there wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere – I truly had got where dust couldn’t!

It felt quite significant to have my first real brush with royalty in the week we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. I love this festival – it is the last Sunday and highpoint of the church year. We began anticipating Christ’s coming in Advent, we celebrated his incarnation at Christmas, we recognised who he was with the Kings and others at Epiphany, we joined him on the journey to the cross in Lent and Holy Week, rejoiced in his resurrection and ascension in Eastertide, and the awaited his Spirit at Pentecost. Since then we have thought about how we follow Jesus in the needs and joys of our world, before in these final weeks of Kingdom season turning our thoughts towards the future – a future where we long to join all God’s saints, a future where wars will cease and peace will reign, a future where Christ’s Kingdom will come in all its fullness. And all will be perfect!

It would have been very easy to draw a false binary distinction between our earthly king and our heavenly one. King Charles is not immune to the struggles and imperfections that afflict all humanity – his privileged position will protect him from the worst of many challenges, but might well amplify others. In his work for charities, most notably his work in setting up the Princes Trust which has transformed thousands of young lives, giving opportunities and hope, he has been aware of the needs of those less fortunate than himself. But the reality is that he does spend a lot of time in places where there isn’t much dust and there are plenty of staff to ensure things go smoothly.

In contrast, our heavenly King didn’t just learn about the challenges the poor and vulnerable experience, he became one of them. And he is still to be found there. When we care for those who are hungry or thirsty or lonely or sick or imprisoned – we will find Jesus in that place. If we find ourselves hungry or thirsty or lonely or sick or imprisoned, Jesus is with us.

Pope Francis once, when teaching priests about their ministry, said “the shepherds must smell of the sheep”. He meant that if they were to care for the flock God had entrusted to them, they would be with them, sharing their joys and sorrows, a closeness that meant they even took on the aroma of their charges! And Jesus didn’t just smell like the sheep he had come to save, he became one of them, sharing every struggle and joy humanity can experience.

However, one day his Kingdom will come in all its fullness. There will be justice, there will be mercy, there will be peace, there will be abundance – it will be truly perfect. The question Jesus asks us is whether we are willing to work for that Kingdom. These are the last teachings Jesus gives his followers before he goes to the cross, and they are urgent and get to the point. Will we follow our King, even into the world’s unwanted and untended places? Will we serve our King in our love for one another, for the lost and the least?

It is lovely to be invited to places like Windsor Castle, where all is clean and sparkling and the canapes and champagne are abundant. But it is a greater privilege to be invited into the vulnerable, hurting places of people’s lives, to be with them and make sure they know that God is with them too. And sometimes we are the ones who need to invite the other in, to share our struggles and allow them be Jesus’ hand and feet with us. Don’t be scared to invite others – the place you meet in Christ’s name is holy ground.

And in the inviting and being invited into those places of struggle we both work for and prepare ourselves for Christ’s eventual kingdom, where all shall be truly and endlessly and wonderfully perfect. Amen

Readings

Romans 10:1-16

Brothers and sisters,^[a] my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. ² I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. ³ For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. ⁴ For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

⁵ Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that ‘the person who does these things will live by them.’ ⁶ But the righteousness that comes from faith says, ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?”’ (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ ‘or “Who will descend into the abyss?”’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say?

‘The word is near you,
    on your lips and in your heart’

(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹ because^[b] if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. ¹¹ The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. ¹³ For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

¹⁴ But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? ¹⁵ And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’

Matthew 28:16-20

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Sermon

So today we are on our fourth Sunday of thinking about the different holy habits – the practices and
spiritual disciplines which we weave into our daily lives to help us fulfil our purpose of glorifying God and enjoying God together. We have thought about the place or worship, prayer and reading the Bible. Today, we are going to think about sharing what we know about God.

Now I am going to confess to a bit of a love-hate relationship with a certain saying attributed to St
Francis: preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words. Now, why do I love this quote – well, it reminds us that the way we live our lives is so important. If our lives are not good news, if the way we live doesn’t in some way attempt to love God and love our neighbours, words are going to be useless. In fact, worse than that, our words about Jesus will come across as insincere and a message of love, peace and hope will come across as hypocrisy. The medium is the message, as advertisers say – they way we live is the most powerful proof of the transforming love of God. Let our light shine before others to the
glory of God!

BUT the reason I sometimes don’t love this saying is because people can hide behind it and use it as an
excuse to never say anything at all! Now, I can understand why people might worry about telling others about our faith. The first reason relates to what I have just said – my life is not perfect, so how am I equipped to tell others about Jesus? I don’t want to look like a hypocrite. The second is that the church has made a hash of telling others about Jesus in the past, and come over as dogmatic and self-righteous. Goodness, our own church’s story is that it was started to put the fear of God into the poor after they had the temerity to
protest against wage cuts – you can spend two centuries living that down! The third reason is that people feel ill-equipped to explain their faith. In a fact-based and scientific world, not everything about our faith can be readily explained (that is in fact why faith is needed) and we can feel uncomfortable trying to justify why Jesus is so important to us. The fourth is that they are nervous about people laughing at something which is precious to them, and even being rejected for following Jesus.

These are real fears, but as Paul says so succinctly in his letter how can people call out to God unless
they have believed, unless they have heard and unless someone has told them! And sharing faith is not an optional extra in the Christian life – it is Jesus’ last instruction to his followers: go and make disciples, baptise people and help them to follow Jesus’ teachings. It is important too because the more people who choose to follow Jesus, the more people there are to share God’s transforming love with the world, the more people there are to love those who need loved, help those who need helped, change what needs changed and generally make the world more as God intended it to be. We need people to join the adventure of God’s Kingdom! And lastly, sharing good news is a good thing. Some people really want to hear about Jesus, so being a loving neighbour but never sharing the faith in Jesus that inspires your love, is not the kindness you
might imagine.

Preaching the Gospel at all times and at times, necessarily, with words is the task of every member of God’s
family, but HOW do we do it. Firstly, we ask God to help us. When Jesus gives those final daunting instructions to his disciples to spread the good news throughout the world, he reassures them – remember I am with you always. You are not doing this alone, and indeed faith is a gift of God. We don’t make anyone believe – that is between them and God. Our task is simply to give people opportunities to hear about God and the difference knowing God can make.

The next thing is simply to talk about what you know. You are not expected to have the answer to every question, but to play a little with the verse Paul quotes in Romans, what is in our hearts just needs to find its way to our lips from time to time. You don’t need to be able to explain how prayer works or why God is love and the world is unloving – you just need to be able to say why praying and being loved by God makes a difference to you.

The next thing to remember is that you are not a salesperson. You are not trying to make a deal by the end of the conversation. Rather each conversation, each small story you share, each invite to something that your friend might enjoy, can be a small encouragement on their journey of faith. You aren’t trying to sell anyone a product – you are simply sharing something precious with people you care about in case they want that something precious too.

A slightly frivolous example: something highly prized in the vicarage is my Dairy Milk. Anna knows that when I offer to share my Dairy Milk with her it is because I love her. She knows it is important to me, and to share my chocolate is no small thing. Sharing – as we try to teach small children – is a very good thing.

Lastly, one of the places we do talk about our faith all the time is in church. So if finding your own words for faith is daunting, invite people here. We are about to start silly season in Church, by which I mean that we barely have a week without something special going on between now and January. So invite your friends to things. The ways Jesus’ first disciples got people to join them was simply to say “come and see”. Come and see that church is full of ordinary people like you and me, who find comfort, purpose and peace in following Jesus. Come and hear about Jesus in our readings, talks and prayers. Come and meet Jesus in our worship. Come and see.

So why not make it a personal commitment to invite someone to a church event this month, and next month and definitely the month after. Ask them to join you. Say “I really think you’d enjoy this!” Pop a flyer through their door with a nice hand written note. Say “we could really do with your help at this event…”

My last bit of advice is the yellow car rule. So, yellow cars are the least common colour of car. But the minute you get one yourself, you see them everywhere! And it can be a bit like that with sharing your faith. The minute you say to God, well I am not very good at this but I am willing to give it a go, you will find that chances to talk about faith start turning up.

So pray, remember that God is with you, let what is in your hearts escape through your lips at times and if in doubt remember “come and see!” Share the precious faith you have in God with others so they too might glorify God and enjoy God forever. Why on earth would we want to keep something so precious to ourselves?

Amen!

Readings

Exodus 20:1-17

 Then God spoke all these words:

² I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ³ you shall have no other gods before^[a] me.

⁴ You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation^[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

⁸ Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. ⁹ For six days you shall labour and do all your work. ¹⁰ But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

¹² Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ You shall not murder.^[c]

¹⁴ You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ You shall not steal.

¹⁶ You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

¹⁷ You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

Mark 2:23-28

²³ One sabbath he was going through the cornfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’ ²⁵ And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? ²⁶ He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.’ ²⁷ Then he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; ²⁸ so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.’

Sermon

Over the past few weeks, we have been thinking about the spiritual disciplines, or holy habits, that help us be all God made us to be. They are practices we intentionally weave into our life to enable us to fulfil our purpose of glorifying God and enjoying God forever. We have thought about worship, prayer, reading the Bible, sharing good news, being grateful, giving generously and now we finish with sabbath. The word Sabbath comes from a Hebrew word which simply means “to rest”, but as we will see over the next few minutes, it is about so much more than that.

Sabbath as a word can have a singularly joyless reputation – perhaps from the days when a Sunday day of rest meant three trips to church and absolutely no fun. And this is a shame because Sabbath is a great gift. It is about so much more than resting – it is about reconnecting and recreating, it is about enjoying the world and the life God has given us, it is about justice and play and it is about living in grace. It is utterly subversive and revolutionary. That’s quite a lot to unpack, so hold on to your seats and let’s go!

Let’s begin with our Bible readings though. Our first reading was the ten commandments given to Moses – fundamental rules for God’s people, and the one that gets the most explanation is the one about sabbath. Sabbath is good enough for God and therefore is good enough for God’s people. And sabbath isn’t just for us – it is for our neighbour, those whose labour supports our living, our fellow living creatures and for the planet.

The first thing to notice is that sabbath – that rest – is a command. Too often we squeeze rest in after we have done everything else. Once we have ticked off everything on the to-do list, we will have time to rest, to recreate, to play… But God says not. Rest, restoration and recreation are to be a regular part of our rhythm of living. I have always been something of a workaholic, and moving to life in ministry was a bit of a challenge for me for two big reasons: the work was never done – there was always another phone call to make, email to send, prayer to offer, visit to make – and in living and ministering from my home, there were no office hours to contain everything. I am sure other home workers will be able to relate to this – it can be hard to be truly off duty. If I was to keep sabbath, I had to put in the rest before the work. So days off and holidays went in the diary FIRST and then work was done in the time left around them.

We live in a world where busyness is a badge of honour, and we are judged by what we earn, what we produce and what we contribute to our society. Take a look at your average popular newspaper or read the comments on a social media post and see what people think of people out of paid work or being supported by the state. Benefits can have a huge stigma even when people are entitled to them and need them. No, in our society our worth is tied up in our paid work, whether past or present. And certainly, work is good – it is good to be able to earn and support our families and it is good to contribute to our community – but it is not our purpose. Work is something we do – it is not who we are. Sabbath – the intentional setting aside of our productivity each week – is a reminder that we are human beings not human doings, and that while work has value, our value as people made in God’s image, beloved by God is something else entirely. Sabbath says “I have a value that is not determined by the money in my bank account, the size of my house or the holidays I can afford – I am valuable because God loves me.” In a society driven by wealth and status, this is hugely countercultural – and it is something important to remember, both for ourselves and how we treat others.

But sabbath is not just for us – it is for others too. This means sabbath is about justice. It is about ensuring that for our neighbours and fellow creatures, life is not just about productivity and survival, but there is space to be, to breathe and to enjoy the life God has given them. Sabbath is deeply political – it is about working rights and trade unions and pay that means families can survive without working every hour God sends and more. It is bigger than whether you pop into Aldi on a Sunday, but rather about whether the ALDI worker who serves you has good working conditions and space and means to rest and recreate themselves.

The Pharisees who challenged Jesus missed this point. They were so focussed on the rule, they missed the values that lay behind the rules. Jesus puts them right – sabbath is made FOR humanity, not the other way round. Sabbath is bigger than who does what when, but is rather about humanity remembering that they are more than the things they do – as are their fellow creatures.

So what do we do when we are doing sabbath. Well, in short – we rest and play. We are two third of a Mars Bar – a Mars a day lets you work, rest and play, well we just rest and play. If you don’t know how to play, watch some children – or watch your dog. They are not driven by should – they just fill their time doing what they like doing, reconnecting with themselves and the people they love in the process. The play is important because rest isn’t what everyone needs. I was chatting to Jane the other day about this. Both have us have suffered different sorts of ill health in recent years and for us rest is work – rest is the thing we have to intentionally build into our schedule to ensure we have the energy to do the things we do. Rest refreshes our bodies but not our minds or souls. Instead Jane told me about a day spent sketching at Poleworth Abbey – sitting there drawing, listening to birdsong, her heart felt at peace – and that to me sounds like sabbath. So what is play for you – something that doesn’t make money or produce something useful, but as you while away a few hours, you feel peaceful, you feel restored. Maybe it is gardening, maybe it is knitting, maybe it is baking a cake. Maybe it is trainspotting or bird spotting or plane-spotting. Discover your play – and do it!

This blog is out of order and was preached after the following two blogs!

Readings

Amos 5:18-24

¹⁸ Alas for you who desire the day of the Lord!
    Why do you want the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, not light;
¹⁹     as if someone fled from a lion,
    and was met by a bear;
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall,
    and was bitten by a snake.
²⁰ Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light,
    and gloom with no brightness in it?

²¹ I hate, I despise your festivals,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
²² Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings,
    I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
    I will not look upon.
²³ Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
²⁴ But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Matthew 25:1-13

‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids^[a] took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.^[b] 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³ When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; ⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵ As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. ⁶ But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” ⁷ Then all those bridesmaids^[c] got up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” ⁹ But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” ¹⁰ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. ¹¹ Later the other bridesmaids^[d] came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” ¹² But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” ¹³ Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.^[e]

Sermon

We come to this Remembrance Sunday with hearts and minds full of war – who can have escaped seeing terrible images of conflict from Gaza. Who can have been unmoved by the terrible stories of loss and suffering that fill our news reports.

On one level, war is simple – it needs to stop. There is no cause more important than an innocent life. There is nothing good that can be achieved by the waste of life we are seeing on our televisions each night. It needs to stop.

But on another level, war can be more complicated than we choose to make it. Too quickly we forget that this latest round of violence was triggered by the worst attack on Israeli soil in decades. 1400 innocent people killed, hundreds held hostage in Gaza. In some ways, this was their 9/11 – and not with terrorists coming from a continent away, but just down the road. Is it any surprise that they want to eliminate this threat whatever the cost?

After the real 9/11, the USA and her allies – which included the UK – began a War on Terror. We will never know exactly how many people died in that conflict. 457 British service people died on deployment in Afghanistan. At least 40,000 civilians died in Afghanistan with a further 67,000 in Pakistan. Has it made the world safer? Were those lives worth it?

I am not saying this to condone Israel’s actions, but simply to remind us that when we point fingers in judgement, we find three fingers pointing back at ourselves. War is not an Israel problem, or a Hamas problem – it is a human problem. We have been using violence to solve our problems and deal with our fears since Cain killed Abel. In the Coventry litany, we do not say Father forgive THEM, but simply Father forgive – forgive them, forgive us, for we all have a part to play.

And first reading today doesn’t bring much comfort. What use are our festivals, our gatherings, our songs, our offerings, if justice and righteousness are not present in our midst?

But perhaps the second reading gives a glimmer of purpose in its encouragement to be ready for the Kingdom. It is a weird parable – no one really understands what it means other than to say “be ready, be ready for the Kingdom”. How might we, as people of God’s Kingdom be ready for peace even in a world at war? How might we work for peace, make peace possible?

One final thought – for when ideas and problems are too big, poems help:

November pierces with its bleak remembrance
Of all the bitterness and waste of war.
Our silence tries but fails to make a semblance
Of that lost peace they thought worth fighting for.
Our silence seethes instead with wraiths and whispers,
And all the restless rumour of new wars,
The shells are falling all around our vespers,
No moment is unscarred, there is no pause,
In every instant bloodied innocence
Falls to the weary earth ,and whilst we stand
Quiescence ends again in acquiescence,
And Abel’s blood still cries in every land
One silence only might redeem that blood
Only the silence of a dying God.

https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/tag/remembrance-sunday/

Malcolm Guite is right – a hundred years of silence have not made us any better at peace, as the news each night proves. But, we gather and remember each November as part of our commitment to be ready, to be people of God’s Kingdom of peace because the alternatives don’t bear thinking about. We gather in silence to remember not just those who fought for peace, but the one who died in silence on a cross that one day justice, righteousness, peace and reconciliation may be possible.

Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay

Romans 8:18-39

¹⁸ I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰ for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; ²³ and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. ²⁷ And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

²⁸ We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

³¹ What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? ³³ Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God,

who indeed intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,

‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;
    we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Luke 18:1-18

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. ² He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. ³ In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” ⁴ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.”’ ⁶ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? ⁸ I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’

Sermon

Over these few weeks, we are thinking about our purpose – to glorify and enjoy God, to share God’s goodness and love by being rooted in Jesus – and thinking about the different practices and rhythms which Christians have throughout the ages to help them as they follow Jesus and share God’s love. Last week, we thought about worship. This week we are thinking about prayer.

Now prayer is a big topic. We have had five week lent courses on prayer and only scratched the surface! There are many sorts of prayer: prayers of adoration and praise, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of confession and lament – indeed we have had lots of different types of prayer and our service is less than halfway through. And there are many different ways of praying: you can pray alone or with others, using words or music or silence. You can pray with prayer beads or when knitting or while walking. You might write your prayers in a journal or make them into a piece of art. Prayer is as a varied as the people who pray, but all prayer draws us into the current of God’s love and grace; all prayer tunes us into the frequency of God’s kingdom or justice and peace; all prayer nestles us closer to God’s heart.

So today, I want to focus on one sort of prayer. The church calls it intercessory prayer, but that is just a fancy way of saying prayer that is FOR something: ourselves, our world, our church, our friends and family and more. It is when we ask God to help. It is when we invite God into a situation believing God can and will make a difference. We pray prayers of intercession at every act of public worship – they are really important. Prayer is one of the ways we serve God and God’s world.

But prayer FOR is a bit of a paradox. By that I mean that there are a whole bunch of things that are true about praying for ourselves and others that are true, but which don’t fit easily together.

The first paradox is prayer and action. So Pope Francis once said something like: you pray for the hungry and then you feed them – that is how prayer works. And he is right – sometimes we are to be the answers to our own prayers. Sometimes our prayers for a situation simply give us the courage and commitment to do what we know needs to be done. In the book of James, thought to be written by Jesus’ brother and it certainly has more than a dash of Jesus’ straight-talking tone, it says that there is absolutely no point in saying to people “be clothed and well fed” if we aren’t prepared to give them food and clothing! Prayers for God to act when we aren’t prepared to act ourselves are probably not the most compelling. There is another quote I love: pray as if prayer is the only thing that works and then work as if work is the only things that works!

But we are also called to pray for things we cannot deliver ourselves. There are some situations where we cannot practically help, some where we don’t know enough to help, but by inviting God into the situation, by asking God to do something, we HAVE done something important. And that is the first paradox: where possible prayer should be accompanied by action, but sometimes prayer IS the only action we can take, and it is vitally important. Never think that a whispered prayer for someone unknown as an ambulance siren wails by, or a heartfelt cry for someone on the nightly news experiencing suffering or a desperate plea for a loved one who is struggling is worthless. You have asked the God of Eternity to care for them – you have given them something beyond human efforts.

When we pray for, not only have we done something important, we have done something risky. How will God respond? Not every prayer is answered in the way we expect. Not every prayer is answered in a way we will ever even be aware of! And so we encounter our second paradox: how do we hold on to the fact that every prayer is heard, every heartfelt request held by God and yet God does not always respond as we expect?

In our Gospel reading today, we have a poor widow who continually presents her requests for justice to an extremely unjust judge. Finally, through sheer pester power she gets a response. I think this reading has been misused by the church over the years. They have made it about the woman, and her persistence, and suggested that those of us who have not received an answer to our prayer just haven’t been praying hard enough. But I don’t think that is what Jesus was saying. He wasn’t talking about the woman, but about God. If even a corrupt and lazy judge will give justice when asked, how much more will God respond to the heartfelt and committed prayers of God’s people. Jesus finished with a slightly odd remark by asking if when he returns he will find faith on earth.

Which links to our first reading, where Paul says that hope that seen is not hope. It echoes the first verse of Hebrews 11: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. God is not a heavenly vending machine where if we put the right prayer in, we get exactly what we desire out. Rather we pray in faith: faith that God is loving and good, and faith that our prayer to God makes a difference.

Jesus knew about unanswered prayer. In the garden of Gethsemane, praying so hard he sweated blood, he asked God to change what lay ahead of him. What lay ahead of him didn’t change – it couldn’t if he was to fulfil the salvation of creation – but he did receive the strength to endure, to continue his path in love and faith. And what lay ahead of him had meaning beyond imagining. We can never know the whole story – we don’t know how our prayer has helped, even if we do not see the result we longed for. The poet, Alfred Tennyson, once wrote: More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.

When Jesus returns, will he find a church full of people faithful in prayer? Will we continue to present our requests and prayers to God even when the response isn’t what we expect, what we sometimes so desperately want? Will we have faith that God is good, even when circumstances are difficult?

As a church, we demonstrate this faith by praying each week for the needs of our world, our church, our community and those known best to us. We also have people in the congregation who pray regularly for people in need of longer term prayer support, and people who will get a text alert and pray for people in an emergency. It might be that you would like to be involved in supporting our shared prayer life by volunteering to lead prayers on a Sunday, pray for people throughout the week or be an emergency prayer in a crisis.

Prayer is a shared task, but also one we can undertake alone throughout the week. Although, even when we do pray alone, we are never alone. Our reading from Romans reminds us that when we simply don’t know what to say, God’s Spirit prays for us and in us with groans too deep for words. I find this such a comfort in prayer – that when something is too heavy or heartbreaking for me to even know what to ask, I can simply hold the situation and my emotions before God and know that God understands.

Prayer doesn’t need fancy words or expertise in religiousness. It needs a caring and faithful heart. All you need to do is notice – and then to bring your concern for a situation before God, in faith that it will make a difference.

So this week, the challenge is to make time to pray for others regularly. Pick a time and way that works for you, but try to remember before God those in need. You may even feel prompted to tell someone you are praying for them – be courageous and kind and see what happens. But remember that as the Benedictines say, prayer is work, prayer is action and prayer might be one of the most amazing things you can offer a person or a situation today.

Revelation 4

After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’ ² At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! ³ And the one seated there looks like jasper and cornelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. ⁴ Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. ⁵ Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; ⁶ and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.

Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: ⁷ the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. ⁸ And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing, ‘Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.’

⁹ And whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, ¹¹ ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.’

John 4:7-26

⁷ A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. ⁸ (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ ¹¹ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹² Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ ¹³ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ ¹⁵ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ ¹⁷ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ ¹⁹ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ ²¹ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ ²⁵ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ ²⁶ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’

Sermon

So last week we were thinking about our purpose. We are made to glorify God and enjoy God for ever. It is the number one task on our to-do list every day of our lives. And as we glorify God and enjoy the relationship with God for which we were made, God can use us to share God’s love with the word.

But learning to glorify God and enjoy God forever, is not one of those tasks that we do once and it is done. Rather it is about being a learner – which is what the word disciple means – and just like learning any new thing (how to speak a language, how to drive a car, how to play an instrument), it takes time, commitment, usually a bit of help from others and some tried and tested techniques to make sure we make progress.

So over the coming weeks, we are going to think about some of the tried and tested things that have helped disciples over centuries grow in their faith, glorify God and enjoy that relationship with God. We are going to think about how we do them here – in church, together – how we might practice them ourselves during the week, and how they might help us reach out beyond our church community to bless others.

Today we begin with worship. But it probably means we have to take a moment to work out what we mean by worship. Because actually the word worship can mean different things to different people. For some people, it is about the music we sing in praise to God. You might go to churches where there is a worship pastor and a teaching pastor – one is in charge of the music, the other in charge of the sermon. But for some people, it is about the whole church service – the people of God gathering to focus for one hour a week on God. And then there is a definition of worship which is wider still – it is anything we do in response to God’s love and wonderfulness. It is an offering of time, skill, energy, effort, resources, joy or love, given to God because of what God means to us. So a flower arrangement, or a donation to the Foodbank, or a visit to a neighbour or a knitted shawl or a carefully painted wall could all be worship. Our friend Rob Harrison calls that sort of worship “something that made God happy” and it is a very important sort of worship indeed.

Why do we worship God? Again there are several answers to that question. First and foremost, we worship God because God deserves it! God has made us, God loves us, God has saved us, God cares for us and God helps us. Our worship is a response to the love and generosity of God. When a friend does something incredibly kind for me, I give them a huge hug and say an enthusiastic thank you. It isn’t forced or a duty – it comes from my heart. How much more is worship a response of our hearts to the God who has given us so much more!

But there are other reasons why we worship. Worship puts us right for the week. I don’t know if any of you have ever driven a car where the tracking is off. As the wheels aren’t aligned properly you can get all sorts of problems, but one is that the steering goes wonky. The car always seems to be pulling to one side or another. You think you are steering straight but the car isn’t driving straight. A quick visit to the garage however sorts it out.

We live in a world which is very beautiful, but also very broken. We are surrounded by beauty and generosity and love which points us to God, hallelujah! But all this goodness is muddled up with violence and selfishness and wrong priorities and unfair systems – in other words sin – which can knock our spiritual tracking out of sync. It can be easy to slowly absorb sin’s story of selfishness, death and decay and gradually veer off track. Worship is an antidote – in worship we remind ourselves of God’s bigger and better story of forgiveness and love. If we don’t take time to realign ourselves in worship, we will probably tootle along fine for weeks, maybe even months, but over time, our we risk our spiritual steering becoming wonky and landing us in a metaphorical ditch! Returning regularly to God in worship is like that quick trip to the garage which keeps us safely on track.

If cars aren’t your thing, here’s another way to think about it. Worship keeps everything in their proper perspective. When I was much younger, I was a very anxious person. I found work very difficult and would come home and fret half the night about mistakes I may have made. Then I had our daughter, Erin. And I noticed that when I drove home from work, I would spend the first half of the journey fretting as usual, but as I got to the halfway point between my work and her nursery, something shifted. Suddenly, I wasn’t worrying about work, but looking forward to seeing Erin. I knew that even if I had messed up at work that day, she would love me. Having Erin in my life gave me a sense of perspective. When we come to worship, we come to God who loves us, who knows we makes mistakes and forgives them, who will never leave us, who will always be there for us. Worship reminds us that while the world may be messy and difficult, God is God and God is love.

Worship, resets our lives, reminds us of God’s bigger and better story and puts things in perspective. But worship is even more than that. When we worship God, we join with the whole company of heaven in our shared task of glorifying God. When we speak about heaven, we are – to quote Doctor Who – entering the realms of wibbly wobbly timey wimey. Our worship takes place at a set time: 8am or 10am on Sunday or 10am on Wednesday, and in a known place: this church, here! But we also join in with the eternal worship of heaven, when we will spend eternity responding to the love and wonderfulness of God. As we gather around the table to celebrate the Eucharistic feast, we are joined by the host of heaven, all who have gone before us. In worship, we are not simply learning how to live better now, but practicing for the life we will live in eternity caught up in the endless joy, love and peace of God.

At this point, I am reminded of the wonderful story in The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass aged 37 ¾. Adrian is having an existential crisis. He doesn’t want to die. He is worried that heaven will be like a Sunday morning service that goes on forever (some of you may feel that they already do!) Finally, he is pulled out of his misery by a wise monk who reminds him that God knows him and loves him, and so whatever eternity is like – and both our reading from Revelation today and our very best experiences of worship here on earth are just glimpses – it will be beyond our wildest imaginings. So let us remember that when we worship, we do not do so alone – when we worship we join with saints and angels who, like us, rejoice in God’s love.

So, we have thought about the what and the why, but now to the how. How do we practice this first spiritual discipline of worship and weave worship throughout our lives. Well, to be honest, this one is probably the easiest: come to church. Make it your regular habit. Now of course, life happens, work patterns are work patterns, family commitments come along. I am not about to start taking a register and judge people on their attendance. It’s not about duty or guilt. Come to respond to God’s love, come to remind yourself of God’s story, come to share an hour of your week with God’s people now and in eternity. And come because your being here blesses others. Being together reminds us that we are not alone in loving God and valuing God’s ways. Being here encourages one another. Being here means we can share love and wisdom and burdens and prayers. Be it weekly, monthly, at Christmas, Easter and Harvest, come to church and make worship part of your life.

But of course, worship doesn’t always happen at 10am on a Sunday. In our Gospel reading, we have the Samaritan woman asking where she should worship God, and he replies that it isn’t about a place or a time – it’s about spirit and truth. It’s about our heart. Worship is our heart responding to the love and wonderfulness of God.

And sometimes that might be humming a hymn of praise to God when we wake in the morning, a quiet word of thankfulness during the day, a few moments of quiet spent in God’s company over a cuppa or listening to some praise music when we need a reset. But worship can be so much more – it can be anything we do to respond to the love of God. And so when we do any of those things I listed at the start – that flower arrangement, or donation to the Foodbank, or visit to a neighbour or lovingly knitted shawl or carefully painted wall or so much more – if these things are done to make God happy, to glorify God, they can be worship.

So our homework this week is to think about the place of worship in our lives. Most of you are regulars at our church service, but if not, might you come back, might you make joining with us in worship part of your rhythms of life and learning that help you follow Jesus? And for those of you who do come regularly to church, how might you take worship out into your daily lives this week. How might you respond to God’s love, reset your spiritual tracking and join the eternal joy of heaven in everyday moments of your day? How might you make each task you do this week an offering of love which glorifies God and makes God’s love real to those around us?

1 Corinthians 9

¹⁹ For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. ²⁰ To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. ²¹ To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. ²⁵ Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one. ²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; ²⁷ but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

John 15

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. ² He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³ You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

Sermon

In the 1640s, in the midst of the English Civil War, at the instruction of the English Parliament which was rebelling against its King, a group of Puritans met repeatedly in Westminster to create a new set of standards for the life of the Church of England. The documents they produced in 1646 were never properly adopted by the Church of England, but for centuries were second only to the Bible in importance to the Church of Scotland in which I grew up. They were adopted by many other Presbyterian and Baptist churches too. The Westminster Confession, as it is known, and its associated catechisms were very Calvinist documents, and much of it I would probably struggle with today. For example, I think the Pope is a rather decent bloke and certainly not the antichrist! However, the opening line of the shorter Westminster Catechism is one of those bits of theology that anchors my soul.

It simply says: “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever!”

Now, forgive the non-inclusive language – it was 1646. But I love its meaning. Our chief end, our purpose, the reason we exist is to glorify God and enjoy God forever. Our purpose is not to make our millions, or have the perfect house, or achieve worldwide fame or even leave a legacy of some sort. Our purpose in our own way and in our own place is to glorify God and enjoy God forever. We were made to know the God who made us and loves us. We were made to live lives that show God’s love in the world. This purpose is accessible to everyone and anyone and yet demanding enough that we can spend eternity pursuing it. It is an adventure, a challenge and a precious, precious gift. So what are we going to do about it?

My poor husband has been listening to my sermons for about 18 years, and has been my greatest encourager as well as my most honest critic. One of the things he really doesn’t like is when I forget to include a “so what” in what I say. Basically, you know those sermons where I share a nice thought about God, but don’t give any ideas of what it might mean for our everyday lives. I really hope he is going to enjoy the next few weeks as I plan for them ALL to be sermons with a strong “so what” element!

If our chief end, our main purpose in existing, is to glorify God and enjoy God forever, we need to take this seriously and think about how we go about ensuring that we fulfil our lives’ purpose and don’t miss the mark. What should we do?

In our first reading today, we have an apostle who is very determined to fulfil his purpose. Paul’s way of glorifying God is to help as many people as possible know Jesus, and he is giving it everything he’s got. He compares his efforts to an elite athlete preparing for the race of their life. He is training, he is preparing, he is staying focused. In short, Paul is demonstrating discipline.

Discipline is a word with the same root as another word we often use – disciple. It is wat Jesus calls us to be at the end of our Gospel reading. Discipline and disciple come from a root meaning to learn. How do we learn? Well recently, I have been trying to revive my high school German. It is not easy to learn another language. It is not a simple task you can do once and tick off your list. If I genuinely want to learn another language well enough that I can use it to talk to others, I need to give it time, make it a priority in my day, develop regular habits of learning, find ways of learning that fit in with my life and – ideally – make it fun! And so, with millions of people around the world, I have signed up to Duolingo and am currently 110 days into my learning journey. If you need someone to tell you how to say “the owl doesn’t like your carpet” or “my Uncle never surfs in Winter”, then I am your girl. But I am making progress because of a little discipline.

Learning how to glorify God and enjoy God forever isn’t something we can learn to do over night either. It is a lifelong process of learning, a lifelong process of discipline. And it is a million times more exciting and rewarding and important than learning a new language, teaching yourself to play a musical instrument or training to run a marathon. But HOW do we learn to glorify God and enjoy God forever? Well, we do what hundreds of children will be doing in our community over the coming week – we go to school!

Don’t fret. You won’t need a uniform, a bookbag or a new pencil case. This is your school! One of the many reasons we meet together as a church is to learn – from God and from one another. But just as a child who learns maths in school will learn better if they do a little maths at home and will enjoy their maths better if they try it out in the real world and see how useful it is – well, church is just part of our learning journey. As Rob Harrison said in one of the services he took for us, church is where we learn and try out things that we take out into our everyday lives, to practice and to use for God’s glory!

If we want to fulfil our lives’ purpose of glorifying God and enjoying God forever, we need to make our learning – our discipleship as the church calls it – seriously, and one of the ways we can do this is by creating a Rule of Life.

A Rule of Life sounds fancy, but it is very simple. It is way of talking about a collection of habits and rhythms – or disciplines – that we create to support us in our growing and learning in God. In our second reading, we hear how as disciples of Jesus, those who are learning God’s ways, we are like branches growing on a vine. We are to stay connected to the vine that is Jesus and we are to bear fruit. To me these too tasks reflect that purpose in the Westminster Catechism – we enjoy God, by remaining connected to Jesus and we bear fruit in living loving lives which bring God glory. In many ways, our discipleship is less something that we do and more what God does in us. But a rule of life, the habits and rhythms we develop are like the trellis that support the vine, helping it as it grows to stay healthy and bear fruit.

So, over the next few weeks, we are going to explore some different habits and rhythms: those disciplines that might support us as we grow in Jesus and seek to live out that purpose of glorifying God and enjoying God for ever. We will think about worship, learning together, prayer, sharing, generosity and finally sabbath. For each one, we will think about what they teach us about God, how we practice them as a church together, how we might practice them outside of church services and how they might help us love and serve God’s world. Perhaps, by the end of these few weeks, you will have some new ideas about how you might keep learning and live out your purpose as the person God made you to be.

So, what am I suggesting you do differently this week? Well, this week I invite you to spend a little time thinking about your current habits of faith. What helps you connect with God? What helps you live a loving life each day? What gets in the way? Where would you like to do better?

But, one of my own rules of life – and rules of preaching – is never to forget grace. We are exploring these questions not because we are afraid of getting things wrong, but because we believe in a God who loves us, who delights in us, who chooses to work with us in blessing our world and who invites us always to grow in love and faith and peace. Let’s accept that invitation in joyful trust over the coming weeks – let’s glorify God and enjoy God forever!