I was pointing out to friends that this week, that instead of the usual challenge of preaching about the Trinity – one of the great mind-blowing doctrines of the Church – I was going to go one better. I was going to wrestle with one of the most contested passages in the Old Testament books of Proverbs, about Woman Wisdom, on Father’s Day on Trinity Sunday. I do like a preaching challenge. Someone then kindly pointed out, that in addition, I had to try to live up to our curate’s excellent Pentecost sermon last week. We loved her props didn’t we? So, when I saw this the other day, I had to buy it. Jo had chattering teeth. I have a dancing person. Not just any dancing person – a Dad-dancing person! Tenuous link to Father’s Day – tick! But we will come back to our dancer in a while.

But let’s turn for a moment to the Book of Proverbs.  This book sits amongst the wisdom writings of the Old Testament.  You will find it after the book of Psalms and before Ecclesiastes.  It is responsible for such pithy pieces of advice as:

“Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish.” – Proverbs 31:6 

“It is better to live alone in the desert than with a crabby, complaining wife.” – Proverbs 21:19

“If a man loudly blesses his neighbour early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.” – Proverbs 27:14

But aside from these amusing one-liners, what is the Book of Proverbs about?

Scholars believe that this book of the Bible was written between the tenth and eight centuries before Christ.  The book is attributed to Solomon, but he clearly didn’t write it all.  He may well have started the process of gathering these wise sayings, but others continued it, and then, later on, compiled the book in the form we have today.  There are a number of sections to the book, and our reading comes at the end of the first section which goes from chapter 1 to chapter 9.

This first section is written as a father giving advice to a son about to embark on adulthood.  Today, as we think of Father’s Day, I wonder what is the best piece of advice your Father, or another Father-figure in your life, gave you?  What sayings – wise or otherwise – would they trot out at predictable times?  Often when I take funerals, families will tell me: “Dad was always saying…”  Or put yourself in the place of the father in the Book of Proverbs – if you were to give advice to a young person about to leave home, what would you say?  What do you wish someone had maybe said to you?

So, this father gives his advice to the son.  While some of the exact instructions might seem a little bizarre to our ears three thousand years later – the world has changed much – the themes he addresses don’t, because people are still the same. Stay away from bad company! Learn right from wrong!  Have good values!  Value good relationships!  For this Dad, in a world of good and evil, wisdom is learning to choose the good.

To illustrate this choice between good and evil, the father describes two women – Wisdom and Folly.  Both speak to the young man in the street.  Both appeal to him and offer him something.  Both undoubtedly have their attractions for the young man, but only one offers him something good.  Folly offers selfishness and unfaithfulness and short-term pleasures.  Wisdom offers life.

And, surely we can relate to this in the modern day too. We have so many voices trying to influence and guide our choices. Adverts, politicians, celebrities, friends, experts, teachers, social media memes – all giving information to us, all asking us to believe them. It can be so tempting to get overwhelmed. To give up our responsibility to make choices. To throw up our hands when confronted with an issue and say “Oh, they are all as bad as each other!” But, actually, they are not. Not all opinions are equally helpful. Not all statements are equally true. They are not all the same, and it does matter what we choose. As people who follow the Jesus who calls himself the Truth, we have a responsibility to discern what is good and true in the world around us and work for it.

Oh, that sounds too hard!  Of course it is, but there is hope if we think just a little more about Wisdom.

What is wisdom not? Wisdom is not being brainy! Talking about things Dads used to say, my Dad used to talk about people in general, and me in particular, as being all brains and no common sense! Do you know someone like that? You can read the Bible in the original Greek. You can split the atom. You can recite Pi to the thousandth place. You can understand quarks. You can remember who won the FA Cup for the last 50 years. You can fill out a tax self-assessment form. You are not necessarily wise, because wisdom is not knowledge or skill.

Wisdom is simply about making the right choices in the context of our everyday relationships.  The Book of Proverbs in its entirety is about the nature of wisdom itself, and the questions it asks are:

• What makes for a good wise life?
• What makes for strong family life?
• What makes for just and fair communities?
• What does a good neighbour, partner or friend look like?

Wisdom is making the choices that nurture loving living relationships in families and communities and the wider world.  Wisdom is all about relationship!

And so, three quarters of the way through my sermon, I finally get to the reading for today: Proverbs 8. Wisdom was the first creation of God. As I mentioned at the start, this is one of the most contested passages in Proverbs – what does it mean? Some wonder if Wisdom – Sophia – is a feminine imagining of the Word (cf John 1). Some debate whether Wisdom is based on a Canaanite fertility goddess, despite there being no evidence of this goddess. You get the picture! But actually, I think it is quite simple. If wisdom is about always making the living, loving choice in relationship, of course wisdom would be the first fruit of a God who is relationship – one God, in an interweaving dynamic relationship of love between Father, Son and Spirit. So before anything else is loved into being, the very nature of God as Trinity means that Wisdom has begun.

But it gets even more interesting as we get towards the end of our reading:

³⁰     I was the architect at his side.
I was his constant delight,
    rejoicing always in his presence.
³¹ And how happy I was with the world he created;
    how I rejoiced with the human family!

The word translated as architect, is a difficult one to translate.  If we take the meaning chosen in this Bible version, a better way of putting it would be “craft master”.  But the Hebrew word could also mean faithful one or little child, and the words that follow, I think lend themselves more to that idea – one who is God’s delight and who rejoices in God’s presence.  I am minded of a little child capering around the adult they love. Dancing like my little person at the start, careless of how she or he looks, dancing like no one is watching as a more recent bit of wisdom puts it.

Wisdom is not solemnity and sourpuss-ness.  Wisdom – as right relationship with God, humanity and all creation – is joy. Pure joy!

And lastly wisdom is found close to God.  It is God who makes us wise, who teaches us to value what God values, who helps us, by God’s Holy Spirit, to choose what is good and right.  So this Father’s Day, let us draw near to our Heavenly Father, in trust and delight like his child, Wisdom, and ask God to help us choose what makes for life – for us and for others. Amen

Gospel: Mark 9:33-37 – a sermon from autumn 2018

A book I read this week suggested that Christians should really wear a sign around their necks. One that said: “Work in progress”. Or maybe: “God’s not finished with me yet”. Or perhaps: “you should have seen what I was like before”.

Last week, we had the most incredible baptism and confirmation service here, and it was such a joy to watch seven people take the next step of their journey of faith. But the reality is that all of us are journeying, all of us are that work in progress and all of us will be learning how to be followers of Jesus until the day we go to meet him.

When I was a junior doctor, many many years ago, there were some consultants I really wanted to be like one day. I would look at their wisdom and humanity and skill and think “That’s the sort of doctor I want to be.” But studies have shown that sometimes junior doctors and medical students actually learn best not from those at the pinnacle of their powers, but from the people just a stage on from them, people who are a little closer to where they are at. So, a junior doctor is actually better at teaching medical students, a middle grade doctor better at teaching the juniors. It is great a have a fantastic aspirational role model, but also it can be good to have someone just a few steps ahead of you whose example, whose successes and mistakes can be a lesson to you as you journey along.

I was reminded of this as we read this week and last week’s gospel passages. We have something to learn from Jesus, as our ultimate role model, as the one who teaches us about living life as a child of God, life in all its fullness. But we also have things to learn from the disciples too, fallible people, who only see things imperfectly and yet are the people Jesus chooses to begin his revolution of love in the world.

So, let’s look at what Mark is saying about Jesus in this passage. It is actually very reminiscent of last week’s gospel. Last week, we had Jesus teaching his disciples that he was going to be handed over, killed and then rise again. This week, we have Jesus teaching his disciples that he is going to be handed over, killed and rise again. Both times, they don’t get it. Then last week, Jesus tells his disciples that to follow him, they must take up their crosses, give up their lives and follow him. This week, Jesus says that to follow him, they must give up their status, give up their power, become as weak and vulnerable as a child. They are very similar passages.

Now whenever, I see passages close together in Mark which have this sort of similarity, I start thinking “sandwiches”. Nope, not BLT or cheese and pickle, but Markan sandwiches. The technical name for these is architectonic triads, but I am sure that you will agree sandwiches are easier. Basically, Mark will often put two similar stories either side of another key story and the three are meant to play off each other in some way. The way the stories are placed is meant to shine a light on each other. So, if this gospel passage and the one from last week are the bread in our sandwich, what is the filling?

Two stories sit in between the two gospel stories we have been looking at and are the meat of our sandwich. The first is the story of the Transfiguration, when Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain to pray, and there they see Jesus in all his glory, speaking with Moses and Elijah. Then coming back down the mountain, Jesus heals a boy with an evil spirit that his disciples couldn’t drive out. Both these stories emphasise Jesus’ divinity. He is God. He does the things God does. He has God’s power at his command.

Peter was right. Jesus is the Messiah. But what sort of Messiah? The readings on either side – our bread – show that this Messiah is the sort who works in the most counter-intuitive topsy-turvey ways. That is why it takes a lifetime to learn to follow Jesus, because his ways are the ways that involve letting go to keep, giving to receive, exerting power by laying it down. It is a terrifying way to live. And as our epistle reading points out, it isn’t a way of life that comes easy to normal human beings who can be selfish and jealous and full of competing desires. The good news, the grace is that by the Holy Spirit working in our lives, the Holy Spirit that Bishop John prayed would be at work in those who were confirmed last week, we do, little by little, day by day become more like Christ. James calls it the wisdom that comes from above- a true gift of heaven. But it is a long job – we are all a work in progress.

So, what do we do in the meantime? Well, I am encouraged by the examples of the disciples. Boy, do they get stuff wrong. Peter puts his foot in it twice in as many passages. Jesus is talking about torture and death and the rest of the group are arguing about who is getting the glory. There must have been some red faces and uncomfortable squirming amongst the Twelve when Jesus put that child in the middle and started teaching about true greatness. How does he always know? Seriously! There was so much they didn’t understand. So much they only got in part. But they knew that Jesus was someone special, someone worth following, so they kept going. And Jesus, despite their mistakes and misunderstandings, never gives up on them. He keeps working with them, investing in them, loving them.

Now, I am not sure whether I can manage a sermon at this time of year without some mention of Strictly. Apologies to anyone who isn’t a fan, but it is an autumn ritual in the Vicarage. Please only phone between 6.30 and 8.30 on a Saturday night if the church roof has fallen in. Sorry, back to the sermon. The thing is, that these celebrities, who get up each week after only seven days to learn a completely new dance style and to perform it in front of several million people, and some rather critical judges, just have to go for it. They know their technique is not perfect. They know that there is a risk of landing on their backside. They know if their gambles don’t pay off they will end up looking foolish. But they know the only thing to do is to give it all they have got.

It is pretty much like that as a disciple of Jesus. We look at Jesus and his example of divinity and perfect humanity and know we are truly a work in progress, that God is far from finished with us yet, yes, that we are better than we were but a looong way from where we want to be. But we cannot wait until we are perfect to start doing the things God calls us to be and do. We have to be like those first disciples, imperfect and muddled and sometimes getting it wrong and… and give it all we have got.

Last week, Bishop John challenged our confirmation candidates to bring someone else to confirmation in the next year. There were audible gasps and chuckles at this – I think one of them may have been me. But the reality is…why not. Sometimes, it isn’t the so-called experts – us with the funny collars – that are best at helping people discover faith. Sometimes, it is the person just a few steps ahead, who can say “I am no expert. I am a work in progress. I don’t have all the answers. But actually, this Jesus… knowing Jesus makes a difference in my life.”

So why not. Why not give it all you have got? Why not invite that friend to a seasonal service? Why not begin a conversation about something that happened at Church with a friend? Why not offer to pray for a neighbour who is having a tough time. Don’t wait until you are perfect to begin. Bad news: that isn’t going to happen anytime time soon. Good news: it doesn’t matter. Give it all you have got.

Amen.

Preached by Rev Kate Massey. Readings Acts 1:4-11 and Luke 24:44-end. At the start of the service a large wrapped present was placed under the altar. It has a large tag saying “Do not open until Pentecost!”

Is anyone curious what is inside our present?  Is anyone wanting to open it to see what is inside? You’ll have to wait to find out! In the meantime, let’s turn our attention to the Bible readings…

So tonight we have had two readings telling the same story – one from Luke and one from Acts.  There are some minor differences in the telling, but the main features remain the same.

The first is obviously that Jesus ascends to the glory of heaven.  He leaves.  Why does he leave?  Why doesn’t he just stay?  It would have been so much easier.  But God wants us to grow in faith and love, and we can never do this unless we have to do it on our own.  Just as my daughters would never have become proficient cyclists, if I had refused to let go of the saddle of the bike, we would not grow the depth and strength of faith it is possible for us to have if Jesus was standing over us constantly telling us what to do.  Paula Gooder says: ‘At ascension we celebrate the great divine absence, which is a vital ingredient in our call to mission. I don’t mean by this that God has abandoned us but that, if Jesus were still on earth in his risen existence, we would probably leave him to it. We might stand on the edge making admiring noises but it would be hard to join in. Who could feel confident to make disciples, to baptize or to teach Jesus’ commandments if Jesus were likely to appear at any moment?’  Jesus had to leave so the next part of God’s plan could unfold.

The second is that he is leaving, but the task of the Kingdom continues.  He is giving his friends a job to do. The disciples are to take the good news of Jesus to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth (in Acts) or to all the nations beginning in Jerusalem (in Luke).  One thing I like about this instruction is that it is staged.  Christians have an awful habit of going for the hardest possible option.  “I am going to try to get my hardnosed atheist argumentative brother-in-law to come to church.”  Well, miracles definitely happen, but why not begin with your friend Tom who sometimes asks you about church stuff up at the allotment.  Or like one previous church, who when we were discussing mission, wanted to start a youth group.  The village had hardly any youth.  We had no equipment, experience or – to be completely honest in my own case – aptitude to deliver a project like that.  It would have been an exhausting, morale-destroying disaster.  I encouraged them to identify something a bit more realistic and they exceeded their own expectations.  I am not suggesting that God cannot do things beyond our expectations and competence – in fact, thanks be to God that God frequently does – but sometimes it is wise to work with what God has given you.  Start in Jerusalem.  Start where you are, and then move outwards.  So where are you?  Where are your opportunities to share the love of God with the people around you?

Another thing I love about this instruction is that in both versions Jesus calls his friends to be witnesses.  In the church, some traditions talk about people “giving their testimony” – testifying to what God has done in their lives, a bit like an eyewitness gives a statement of what they have seen to the police or a court.  This is the point.  You are not required to have the theology of God, the Universe and Everything sorted.  You are not required to have every answer and argument covered.  You are only required to tell your story.  Say what you have seen and known.

This is what God means to me…
This is why I pray…
This is why Church matters…
This is the difference forgiveness has made in my life…
This is what I believe about following Jesus…. 
Nothing fancy, in your own words, wrapped up in your own honest doubts and questions if needs be.  Just your own story.  Witness to what you have seen and experienced of the grace and goodness of God.

So armed only with their story the disciples were to head to Jerusalem and get cracking – yes? Well, no.  The third thing they had to do was wait.  Wait for the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit, who would come to them as a Helper, Advocate, Teacher and Guide.  Wait and pray.  And so this is what they did, and at the end of their waiting and praying came the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit equipped them, at the right time, in the right place, to tell their story, to witness to what they knew about Jesus and to start that story spreading through Jerusalem and beyond.

And so beginning today, that is what we are going to do.  We are going to wait and pray as those first disciples did.  We are going to pray as individuals with the help of our Novena booklets, and on Sunday, we are going to devote a large part of our service to praying as a Church family.  We will pray trusting that, as Jesus says, God delights to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.  We will pray that the Holy Spirit will help us, in the right time and in the right way, to do our part, in words and in action, to witness to the power and love of God.  We will pray “Thy Kingdom Come”

Back to the present – well, you still have to wait a little bit longer.  But as you wait, pray for a gift, the gift above all gifts, the gift of God, the Holy Spirit…