UNITED BENEFICE OF EAST MOLESEY

All Souls Sunday 6th November 2011

2011-11-06T18:56:00.001Z

This week in the Christian calendar we have remembered All Souls Day: A special day when we remembered those whom we love that have died. Perhaps over the years this may have been:

A husband or wife or partner
A parent or grandparent
A friend or neighbour
A son or daughter

In some cases this bereavement may have happened a long time ago but for some of you it will have been within the past year.

Someone wrote:

We are of the nature to grow old - there is no way to escape growing old.

We are of the nature to have ill-heath - there is no way to escape ill-health.

We are of the nature to die - there is no way to escape death.

And yet despite there being no way to escape death, it is a topic that is often avoided in contemporary society. We are uncomfortable talking about it. Most of us were not taught how to deal with death or how to relate to grieving people in school or at home. We are simply not taught how to grieve ourselves. And so we end up using euphemisms about death such as ‘passed away’. I once heard a person speak of a relative of his who had died as having ‘graduated’ as if he had obtained a degree or diploma.

Religious people especially may sometimes even feel guilty that they are grieving, for has not the deceased gone to a ‘better place’. Sometime the hymns we sing reinforce this idea.
This is from Charles Wesley:
“Rejoice for a brother deceased : our loss is his infinite gain;
A soul out of prison released, and freed from its bodily chain”.
People’s hearts may be breaking and yet they may feel that if they believe in God, they ought to be, if not quite rejoicing, at least content to release their loved ones into the hands of God and because they cannot, their grief is intensified still further. Listen to Henry Scott-Holland’s words which are often used at funerals:
“Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped into the next room
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow”.
Quite honestly I do not believe that death is nothing at all and I don’t know anyone who does. And whether or not we may believe that death is not the end of everything, it is most certainly the end of life as we know it. We will not see our loved ones alive on earth again and we may need to be reassured that it is alright, both as a human being and as a Christian, to grieve. Christian faith does not make people immune from the reality of bereavement.
Dietrich Bonheoffer, a German Pastor killed by the Nazis in the war wrote, “Nothing can make up for the absence of someone whom we love, and it would be wrong to try and find a substitute; we must simply hold out and see it through. That sounds very hard at first, but at the same time it is a great consolation, for the gap, as long as it remains unfilled, preserves the bonds between us. It is nonsense to say that God fills the gap; God doesn’t fill it, but on the contrary, keeps it empty and so helps us to keep alive our former communion with each other, even at the cost of pain”.
Faith does not take away grief, pain and loss. The process of grief and mourning, the denial, the anger, the depression and so on have to be accepted and valued as a part of life.

There are plenty of examples of grieving in the Bible. Abraham mourns for Sarah, David laments his friend Jonathan and later his son Absolom, Jesus weeps for Lazarus and they exhibit the full range of emotions associated with grief.

Often when we are faced with that kind of raw emotion we can’t deal with it and so we might end up saying unhelpful things like ‘God has his reasons’ or ‘he only takes the best’. St Paul, in his letter to the Romans offers an alternative way. He urges people to “weep with those who weep”.

Perhaps all we can do is to be there rather than try and explain the inexplicable. People of faith, no more than any one else, have all the answers. God’s creation is as it is and we cannot hope to understand it all because we are human beings and not God. Ultimately, there is no final answer that we can give. Presence is better than platitude.

But having said that Christianity affirms that God is not heartless or indifferent.

The God revealed by Jesus is the God who is always on the side of those who are suffering. Somehow we believe God is with us in our sorrow and grief.

And if we do believe that then we shouldn’t be afraid to show it. Some people seem to think that it is un-Christian to get mad at God but this is not the way of the Bible. The full range of human emotions is present in its stories, as people struggle sometimes against all odds to hang on to their faith, as they face the most awful disasters and tragedies. Sometimes the words we need to say to God are the words of David, the words of Jesus, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

And it is in this honesty that healing begins to take place. Can we ever entirely ‘get over’ a loved ones death. No, how could we? Grief is a natural process that we go through while we adjust to the realisation that a loved one has died. Family, church and community should be there to help us to live with our grief, to cope with our grief, to be real about our grief and to gradually move forward.

Grief is a journey that each makes in their own way and at their own pace. Rituals such as funerals and memorial services may help facilitate grief. Books and programs may help us understand grief. In observing grieving families I can say with certainty that faith helps. But in the end there are no short cuts. It is a journey that all who have lost loved ones MUST make.

If you have recently or even not so recently lost a loved one then take time to grieve properly. Talk to someone if you need to - a trusted friend, a minister or a counsellor. If you can, find comfort in the scriptures and in prayer. Our faith tells us that we do not mourn as those who have no hope. But we do mourn.

Let us give proper value to our families and our friendships. Let us remember well our loved ones who have gone before us today. And may God bless us and keep us in his love forever. Amen.

Maintenance, Ministry and Money. St Paul's 04/09/11

2011-09-06T19:53:00.000+01:00

When I was considering mycalling to church ministry in the mid ‘90s one of the most terrifying aspectswas the idea of public speaking. Years ago I could probably have been describedas a typical computer nerd – happier when trying to solve a problem with acomputer program or a piece of equipment than dealing with people. I supposethat I struggled with the idea of why God would call someone like me to be aminister although I had no doubt that the call was genuine. So I set aboutlearning to do public speaking by joining an organisation called Toastmasters. Toastmastersis a worldwide organisation that helps develop confidence in speaking throughparticipation in a local club. Every member is on a journey in developing theirspeaking skills as well as encouraging others to do the same.

Members prepared speecheson a topic of their choice but were advised to avoid the traditional threeconversational taboos – religion, sex and politics. Why? Because these can behot button issues for many people and so safer subjects were preferred. Ofcourse members were welcome to discuss whatever they wanted in the barafterwards!

In church we quite oftentalk about religion, sometimes (especially if you are the ArchBof C) we talkabout politics and very occasionally we might even get onto sex – but nottoday… Because today we are going to talk about the biggest taboo in the church– we are going to talk about money.

Of course when I say it isa taboo I am referring to the more traditional churches like the Church of England.Because the newer churches, the emerging churches as they are sometimesreferred to have no problem at all speaking about money. Specifically they hadno problem talking about tithing.

In the church where Iexperienced my calling they were quite clear that they expected their membersto give 10% of their income to the church based on their understanding of thescriptures. This is something I have practised ever since. You might think thiswould put people off. Well it put so many people off that they had to increasethe size of the church from 5000 to 8000 seats and to increase the number ofservices from 3 to 4! Back to planet C of E.

The Church of England is ‘blessed’with its many ancient and beautiful buildings. Nevertheless they are often quiteimpractical and expensive to maintain let alone heat. Not many can be used for anyother purpose than worship due to the ongoing love affair with pews. Fewer andfewer worshippers mean that the load upon those remaining becomes heavier andheavier. But maintain these buildings we must if we wish to continue using themfor worship. Maintenance would often seem to be the first priority for thechurch’s money.

Pushed into second placefinancially is ministry which is often associated with the parish share. Theparish share is quite often misrepresented as a tax levied upon churches by agreedy diocese. Parish share pays for the stipend and housing of the ministeras well as the support that the diocese provides to enable his or her ministry.Independent churches have to pay their ministers directly. If the income fallsshort, the minister simply does not get paid and may indeed have to leave theirpost.

In the Church of Englandthe effect of non payment of parish share may be delayed until a vacancy occurs.I believe that the removal of professional ministers from churches and theamalgamation into larger and larger benefices is a downward spiral. Lessministry results in less giving results in less ministry. But – if a churchlike St Paul’s canonly pay half a stipend it cannot expect to get a full time priest.

The third priority for achurch’s money would be mission. While there might be other interpretations Igenerally define ministry as occurring within the local congregation andmission as occurring within the wider community locally as well as abroad. Mostlocal Anglican congregations due to their size and locale are quite restrictedin the amount of mission they can do directly.

Perhaps a grouping ofchurches can manage a project together such as the Kidzone youth club. Butbeyond this organisations supported by individuals and churches do the workthat we cannot do. This might be in poor inner city areas in this country. Itmight be in slums abroad. It might be providing emergency relief and so on.Local churches cannot do these things but they can support agencies that do.

You might say thatfinancial stability is the eighth mark of a healthy church. Healthy churchesare able to maintain their buildings, enable ministry and support mission. Hereis where I get to call a spade a spade. I can do that – I was born in theNorth. After the annual meeting I encouraged the formation of a Team to lookinto St Paul’sfinances after a 10% default on last year’s parish share. It soon becameapparent that St Paul’sis currently running at a deficit of around £1000 per month. I am not afinancial expert but even I know that when expenditure exceeds income there isa problem.

There is no money formission and we have had to ask for a postponement of our payment of part of ourparish share. There is also no backup money. No reserve funds, no legacies.

The finance and stewardshipteam recommended to the PCC that this situation needs to be brought to theattention of the parish as a matter of urgency.

First of all I want to saythat I am not interested in looking for someone to blame. Our financialposition has arisen over a considerable period of time and the contributingfactors are numerous. The economic climate, an interregnum, not asking the congregationto regularly review their giving, and so on. What I am interested in is whatlessons we can learn and what we are going to do about it.

We have a well motivated financeand stewardship team with good skills. They are working hard on bringing downexpenses and looking at ways of raising income from outside as well as within thecongregation. We are also planning for a giving campaign in November this yearwhich will be an annual event. But in the meantime I would like to urge youseriously to take a good look at your contribution to the church right now.

Perhaps you may be askingwhat all this has to do with God. Why am I using a sermon slot to talk aboutsuch mundane matters. Well giving isa spiritual matter. It is all over the scriptures – Old and New Testaments. Itis a matter of Christian discipleship. Jesus expected his followers to give inresponse to God’s generosity. The ministry of Jesus was supported by thegenerosity of others. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus spoke about giving beforehe spoke about prayer. Giving to the church is not like paying a subscriptionto a club or society. It is an act of worship.

I would like to hope thatthis worshipping community can do more than just maintain its building. I wouldlike to hope that it can do more than pay its parish share. I would like tohope that it can make its contribution to the mission of the wider church.Today’s message is a challenging one – I hope that we, the people of St Paul’s can rise to thechallenge. Your church needs you and it needs you now.

So firstly, if you haven’tincreased your giving to the church since the last successful stewardship drivein 2004, ask yourself how much have your costs gone up since then? [pause]

Secondly, if you are notyet giving to the church by stop order which enables us to budget properly pleaseconsider doing so.

Thirdly, if you are a UK tax payerand you haven’t completed a gift aid form please do so. We can get an extra 25%back from HM revenue.

Someone will be at the backto help anyone with this after the service.

A Ruby Wedding 14/08/11 St Paul's

2011-08-18T15:29:00.001+01:00

Text : Colossians 3: 12-17, John 2:1-11

It’s always good to go to a wedding. A special event with everyone dressed up and the flowers and the food. The traditionally indelicate best man speech.

Of course the wedding is just the start of a marriage. Today we will celebrate with David and Judy Lanaway their 40^th wedding anniversary as they renew their vows (in the 10am service).

Marriage is a journey in which two peoples lives converge. Two people whose ideas and experiences may have similarities as well as differences. Marriage is a step of faith because it involves a life commitment - as you said all those years ago ‘till death do us part’. You promised to love one another in and through both the good times and the bad.

Neither of the readings I picked for today specifically had weddings or marriage as their main theme. The Gospel uses Jesus’ presence at a wedding and the miracle that happened there as a sign which would make people believe in him. The first reading was written with relationships in general in mind and as the marriage relationship is such an important relationship within our societies it is often used in wedding services.

St Paul uses the image of getting dressed as if the attributes of a successful relationship are like items of clothing. This is not the only time he does this. In another one of his letters he speaks of putting on faith, righteousness etc as pieces of armour.

Coming back to this letter his listeners are told to put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. That virtues seem almost to be counter cultural in western 21^st century life would seem to have been well in evidence in recent months. They seem to be, well, weaknesses rather than strengths.

Arrogance, ruthlessness, greed, selfishness; intrusive behaviour in the name of ‘press freedom’ would seem to reflect 21^st century values and that I would say that this is reflected from the top of society down.

But when you think about it, is this the way we would all like to be treated. Or could we do with a bit more compassion and gentleness and humility around. Author Karen Armstrong certainly thinks so. In wishing for a better world she calls for the restoration of compassion to the centre of morality and religion.

In relationships we seek too have someone around who understands our feelings and is happy when we are happy and who will cry with us when we are sad; to have someone around us who might put their own agenda to one side when we need them; who will walk alongside us when things are hard and will help us carry our burdens. This should be what typifies relationships within our church.

Most of us could do with a bit more kindness and gentleness for example in our lives. We are also told to bear with one another, to put up with one another - not being doormats but being a strength and support. If we can’t do that in church then where can we do it? We should not have to pretend in church; we should not have to put on our “I’ve got it all together” face, our religious face. Church should be where we can be our most real.

St Paul goes on to say we are to forgive one another – someone once said a good marriage is a union of two forgivers. It is one thing to piously make our general confession to God. It is often much harder to actually go and make peace or reparation for our wrongdoings. But Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount “if you don't forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Jesus never said that following his way would be easy.

And over all these virtues put on love. Love should be like the overcoat that protects us from the elements. As they say nowadays, waterproof and breathable. Love is the all encompassing virtue. It is more than just an emotion or a feeling. Love is a decision and at times it can seem like a costly one which is why it is sometimes translated in older versions of the Bible as charity. Love is about giving, and giving until it hurts sometimes. I heard it suggested once that we should take the well known passage from St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, the one that begins “love is patient, love is kind” and replace the word love with our own name as a kind of self-examination. So long as it is a positive exercise and doesn’t become a means to pile on the guilt.

A psychologist called Erich Fromm wrote a book called ‘The art of loving’. He says that “love is an art which we need to develop and practise in order to find true contentment. We need to find it individually and as a society as a whole.” All of these qualities, these virtues require time and effort. Practise is part of the journey of discipleship.

When someone described the South African golfer Gary Player as lucky he replied, “Yes and the more I practise the luckier I get”.

He also said “I try to work with God as a partner.”

Let us all try and work with God as a partner in our relationships with one another in church, as well as in our marriages and family lives. Who knows, we might even get as lucky as Gary Player.

Wheat and weeds - St Mary's, 17/07/2011

2011-07-16T19:47:00.000+01:00

Today’s parable is about weeds among the wheat. Another one of Jesus’ farming stories. Last week we had the story of the sower. When we read the story of the sower we could be excused for thinking he was a bit of an idiot. After all, what kind of farmer doesn’t prepare his soil before sowing - removing the rocks and thorns, breaking up the hard ground? Today’s’ farmer was the subject of a deliberate attack – while he was sleeping someone sowed weeds amongst his wheat.

The wheat and the weeds grow up together until harvest time. When I read this I wondered to myself: how many weeds do I have growing up with the wheat in my life? How many weeds do you have growing up amongst the wheat in your life?

And I thought about the different areas of life where weeds could be growing – the classical division of body, mind and spirit.

At the level of the body, the physical level, so much of our lives is taken up with clutter. So much of our lives is taken up by accumulating and hoarding. Perhaps not all of us accumulate on the scale of Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philipines. When she and her husband fled their palace she left behind 2700 pairs of shoes. If she wore a different pair every day it would take 7.5 years to wear them all.

But we do accumulate stuff, we do hoard stuff. We clutter up our lives with things; we clutter up our lives with activities. How many times have I heard retired people tell me they have no time. Even schoolchildren often belong to so many clubs or do so many extra curricular activities they don’t have an hour to spare.

How much of the physical things we have, how much of the physical activities we do could be compared with weeds. Someone, usually called Jones, has planted the weed in our head that unless we have a plasma HD TV for example we are behind the times.

How much of the physical things we have, how much of the physical activities we do could be compared with wheat. If the harvest is the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God is about peace and justice and joy and love. What brings about these things and what causes guilt and anxiety and worry. Are our possessions and activities wheat or weeds?

At the level of the mind, the thinking level, so much of lives is taken up with noise and negativity. So much of what we consume through our reading and listening, particularly in the news media is voyeurism, scandal, rejoicing sometimes in others misfortune. Many years ago someone said that you are what you eat. If much of what we ‘eat’ is negativity there is a good chance that we will end up as negative people. So how much of what we allow into our minds is weeds.

Or how much of what we allow into our minds improves our mood, makes us happy and serene. Or does it make us angry, dissatisfied, bitter and so on.

How much of what we allow into our minds could be compared with wheat. Does what we read or watch; do the conversations we have with others build us up or bring us down. Do we tend to hang out with positive rather than negative people. Is our own view on life positive or negative. Do we need to remove the weeds of negativity and plant some good seeds – good reading, good watching, good conversations.

What about the level of the spiritual life. How much of what passes for spirituality in our lives is wheat and how much is weeds. A good test is whether our beliefs cause us to be negative, to be judgmental about other people. Does our spiritual life make us narrow minded and exclusive? If our God is a God of life shouldn’t we be a people that are full of life, rather than life denying?

If our God is a God of love shouldn’t our lives reflect that love outward and to all just as Jesus love was outward and for all?

Does our spiritual life derive from a view of humanity that is essentially negative or one that sees the divine spark of God in all? Original sin or original blessing?

What is the wheat and what are the weeds in our spiritual life, in our mental life, in our physical life. Let us extend this metaphor to the church. What is the wheat and what are the weeds in our church life? As a rule of thumb I would say that anything that brings a growth in love for God and for our brother and sister is wheat. If something is bringing about a deepening in faith and Christian discipleship it is probably wheat. Anything that brings about division and disunity is a weed.

Prayer, Bible study, worship – all of the basic things that make up our church life can be a weed if there is underlying disharmony. It is no coincidence that the Bible is sometimes known as the sword. A sword can be a lethal weapon. For example. The same Bible that was used to justify slavery inspired those who sought to abolish slavery.

Like our personal lives, what aspects of our church life are wheat and what are weeds. I hope that as we continue to seek to find out what God wants, as we strive to be more energised by faith there will be an increasing desire to get rid of the weeds – the weeds that are choking growth in this church and the Church of England in general.

The Greek word translated as “repent” does not primarily mean to say sorry for what has been done that is wrong although that may be involved. It means a change of mind. To change your way of thinking. It is about starting afresh. As St Paul says “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”.

Surely our business as a church is to strain for what is ahead of us; to press on toward the goal; to win the prize for which God has called us. We can’t do that looking over our shoulders. We can’t do it if we are weighed down with clutter. We can’t do it if we are choked with weeds.

I believe that right now we are standing at a crossroads – one of the roads leads to a new beginning, a fresh start. A harvest. You might call it the King’s highway. I want to be on that road. Will you join me?

Trinity 2011 - Sermon by Rev Paul Webb. St Mary's

2011-07-16T19:00:00.000+01:00

For many years now, generations even, we have been taught that we need to be independent and that independence leads to happiness. The more independent we are whether financially or relationally or whatever the happier we will be. And yet we have probably never lived in an unhappier society: depression and anxiety are rife, families and relationships are breaking down, stress and burnout occur at work. Much of that can be put down to an attitude summed up by a tee-shirt I saw recently which said: Actually I am the centre of the universe. You an order one form zazzle.com

Happiness, however, does not come from independence. Happiness comes from relationship and community. It comes from inter-dependence. We are better – together.

The idea of trinity which we celebrate today teaches us about a relational God. It teaches us that God is about community. If God is a God of life, we can only live life to the full – together. If God is a God of love, we can only love in all its fullness – together.

Out of our exploration into growing healthy churches I would like to pick up three (obviously on Trinity Sunday) – three ways in which we are better together. There are others I am sure but I was taught at the Baptist College that you should always have a three point sermon and preferably all the points should begin with the same letter!

Firstly, we are better together when we are praying together. It came out very clearly on the PCC away day and from your feedback a couple of Sundays ago that “Seeking to find out what God wants” – mark 3 of growing, healthy churches, is not something that either church does very well. It may reassure us that other churches of other denominations struggle with this one as well – so it’s not just an Anglican thing. But how do we seek to find out what God wants? Is this something we send the clergy off to do as ‘the professionals’? Well you could do that of course but the Gospels speak of Jesus’ presence in corporate prayer – “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” So when we gathering together in prayer – prayer of seeking, of asking, of listening – we are praying together and we are together with Jesus.

Some people are afraid to go to prayer meetings. To be honest I am afraid to go to some prayer meetings. Because one gets the impression that what it’s about is rambling on to God using a special kind of language, telling God what we would like to do, what outcomes we would like, and asking God to bless it. Not much about what God wants at all.

I would suggest that what we need to be doing is meeting for prayer and listening together – asking God to take us forward, repenting from what we may have done to thwart God’s agenda – asking for God’s help and guidance and listening. And we will begin tomorrow at 7.30 right here and weekly after that alternating between St Paul’s and here. The meetings at both venues are for all. There will be some teaching input and no one will be expected to pray aloud. I am hoping that as a community we can begin to pray regularly together and by so doing we may know both God’s will and God’s blessing.

Secondly, we are better together when we are worshipping together. “Facing the cost of cost of change and growth” was the mark of healthy churches that was the second highest priority at St Mary’s. Someone from the congregation said “what we are doing is not working and we’ve been doing it a long time.” When we worship together, when we can put aside our differences in churchmanship and theology (and if you don’t know what that means you are better off), we will come closer to what Jesus prayed to his Father in St John’s Gospel – “that they may be one as we are one.”

There is an energy, a dynamism in worshipping together that is independent of style or type. When we have a common purpose in worshipping our God as a Christian community, as a church family, we begin to lose sight of those things that separate and divide us. Churches that worship well together are attractive churches and attractive churches are growing churches and I don’t think that anyone would not want to see St Mary’s growing. So we may need to shift our priorities and take hold of what is really important.

At the PCC last week I proposed and the PCC agreed that we try worshipping together – as one congregation for a trial period from 24 July with a start time of 1030. The service would be Eucharistic but not as formal as the current 0930 and we would try to vary the music to include the full repertoire of our new hymn books and other sources. Pooling resources would I hope enable us to develop a better ministry to children and young families including baptism families. My hope is that rather than the current two declining congregations we can become one growing healthy congregation.

Thirdly, we are better together when we are – together. I was going to say learning together but what I am going to say is much more than simply about learning. “Energised by faith” – mark 1 of healthy growing churches, was the third priority area identified by the PCC and backed up by the congregational responses. Much of the discussion that followed has been about small groups – as some would call them home groups or cell groups. The early Christian movement, before major persecution, met in the temple for corporate worship and in homes for teaching, fellowship, prayer and hospitality. Many successful churches have adopted that model.

Over the next couple of months we will be looking at how we can become energised by faith through the medium of small groups. All worshippers and newcomers to the church would be invited and encouraged to join. These small groups would allow for:

Teaching and learning – material would be provided for learning more about God, about the Christian faith and about Christian life.
Support – St Paul tells us to encourage one another, to build one another up. This happens best when a small group of people are getting to know one another really well. This would be the church’s first line of pastoral care.
Prayer – it becomes easier to pray for one another in a more targeted way in a small group setting where people have developed confidence and trust in one another.
Fun – these groups could also be social groups where friendships deepen and laughter and food is shared.

On Tuesday at 8pm there will be a meeting to begin to discuss how we might develop small groups at St Mary’s and St Paul’s. You would be welcome to come or to let me or Carole have ideas in advance of the meeting.

Better together, growing together – in community, interdependent.

Please come pray with us tomorrow as we seek to find out what God wants for us – together.

Please give changes to the worship time and format a chance as we all worship our God – together.

Watch this space for further news on small groups.

May almighty God bless you – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

From Rev Paul Webb 16/06/2011

Sermon for Pentecost 2011 at St Paul's by Rev Paul Webb

2011-06-18T22:19:00.000+01:00

Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost which in the Christian calendar signifies the sending by God of the Holy Spirit.

The word means 50^th and in Jewish terms this was the 50^th day after Passover. It was the Greek name for the Jewish Feast of Shavuot. One of the three feast days on which it was compulsory for all Jewish males to make pilgrimage to worship at the Jerusalem Temple. The city would be full of pilgrims from many countries.

For forty days after his resurrection Jesus had been teaching them about the kingdom of God. He then left them with the command to wait for the fulfillment of a promise – a promise that they were to be baptised with the Holy Spirit. When that happened they would be witnesses to Jesus beginning in Jerusalem and from there to the ends of the earth.

The disciples which included Jesus’ mother and other women gathered in an upper room. Possibly the same upper room in which they had shared the Last Supper with Jesus. They gathered for prayer. I wonder what that very long prayer meeting was like? Was it formal or informal? Was it verbal or silent waiting?

Certainly the Jews of Jesus’ day had formal prayers. But in addition they were encouraged to constantly initiate personal, heartfelt prayers and conversations with G‑d. According to Rabbi Naphtali Silverberg, “For Jews prayer is about a child approaching his loving parent. To a certain extent, the content of prayer is less significant than the experience itself.”

During that meeting it became clear that they needed to find a replacement for Judas Iscariot who had betrayed Jesus and so they chose Matthias. Probably because his name was easier to remember than Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus. Although he would appear later on in the book of Acts.

Then, after ten days of prayer, on this significant day in the Jewish calendar, the Holy Spirit came as wind and fire. Artists down the years have tried to depict this scene as Luke attempts to describe it secondhand. What is perhaps more interesting is the result of this outpouring of the Spirit. That Jews from all over could hear them speaking in their own language.

(Including Cretans – from Crete. Not Cretins which is a medical condition). And they were speaking, we are told, of God’s deeds of power which would, we suspect, include the resurrection of Jesus.

Peter as is customary takes the role of spokesman refuting the allegation that the disciples had been on the Beaujolais Nouveau. Instead he tells them that what they are witnessing is the fulfillment of a prophecy made several centuries before. A universal and inclusive outpouring of God’s Spirit on humankind – male and female, old and young, slave and free - and that all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

This was where our readings from Acts today ended but we need to continue the story to get the full impact of what happened on that first Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection. I resist saying the first Christian Pentecost because the term Christian had not been invented by then.

He tells them about how Jesus, a man attested to them by God through his words and deeds, was killed by them. But God raised him and exalted him to heaven and sent forth the Holy Spirit, the effects of which they were witnessing. He urged them to repent and be baptised and 3000 were added to their number. Not bad considering they started with 120.

The example of Peter and those first disciples at Pentecost offers a number of lessons for us today:

• Their first order of business was proclamation. All of them were speaking in other languages and the people could hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power. Proclamation of the Good News of God and Jesus remains the church's first order of business today. The hymn is right that says we have a Gospel to proclaim.

• Peter, who would later be called “unschooled” by the Jewish Council, refers in his sermon to the scriptures that he had learned from early childhood. He clearly knew his Bible. The church today has a great responsibility to teach both children and adults. Particularly in an age when we can no longer assume that people in our churches have even the most basic knowledge of the Christian faith. It is our duty to make the faith as accessible as possible to all who wants to learn.

• The Spirit who brought life to the first Christian Pentecost continues to bring life to the church today. We affirm the presence of the Holy Spirit giving life to this church and its ministry.

• The first converts, those who welcomed the disciples’ message were baptized. After which they devoted "themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers". This is an excellent four-point model for the church's program today.

• Finally, the disciples came from behind closed doors to meet people where they were. The church today needs to come out of its buildings to encounter people where they live and work and learn and play.

As we celebrate today what some call the birthday of the church let us remember what this day challenges us to do. To go out in the Spirit’s power proclaiming this Jesus who we claim to follow.

Sermon by David Balding - 29/05/2011, St Paul's

2011-06-02T13:41:00.002+01:00

John 14: 15-21. Easter 6 May I speak in the name of the living God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When you came into Church this morning, did you notice the sign? You know by seeing this, that if you are isolated by hearing difficulties, you are to be reassured, that despite any impairment, you will be able to participate normally in the service being held. Simply put, if you came in this morning, you will be open to the word of God. Now, when you came in this morning, what you didn’t see, was one of these: But, as most of you are observant and caring, you would have noticed the dropped kerbstone, the easy, step free gradient that takes you up to the porch; and once inside, the wide aisles and parking spots within the body of the congregation, for anyone in a wheelchair or a mobility buggy. So, no visible and informative sign, but if you look for them, the indications are there, that you – even if so disadvantaged, will be welcome. Thinking a little more about this, our politically correct world seems to be ruled by signs. · Speed limit signs. · No entry. · No parking. · No right turn. All highly visible; and all there for a purpose. To help maintain an ordered environment and, to keep the roads free of chaos. But, what about the unwritten signs? Invisible signs, that designate an important code to help preserve life by keeping us (literally) on the right track or aware of the needs of others? You go out and get into your car. Automatically, you: · Keep left. · Give way to the right. · Stop for pedestrians at a zebra crossing. Which, I would ask you, are the more important? Or - which set of rules is going to keep you alive? The written, or the unwritten? Now, I’d like you to turn to your neighbour. Greet him or her (or them) and ask them, without words, to look carefully at your forehead, to see if they can see the cross on your forehead. It is there, because we all know its there and has been ever since we were baptised. Like the invisible road signs, this tells us that we belong to Christ. That we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and that we can be expected, to travel in a particular sort of way and behave according to a certain code of conduct. We can’t see Jesus, but we know he’s always there for us and in the form of the Holy Spirit. Like a satnav, the Holy Spirit will lead us, guide us and recalculate if we take a wrong turning, to point us back in the correct direction. In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus preparing his disciples for the future; a future without his physical presence to guide and lead them. He is also preparing them (and us) for one of the greatest gifts of all time. The gift of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus said would come to them and us and, most importantly, would be with us forever. The Spirit is first mentioned in Genesis, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” This is the Spirit, through which God created the universe. Again we see the Spirit in Ezekiel, the spirit which enlivens the community and gives hope for the future. Remember the dry bones? And the Spirit, which breathed life into them? Moving now to New Testament times, we see the Spirit being present when the birth of Jesus was foretold in Luke’s Gospel. Mary questions the angel and asks how this birth will come about and the angel says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so the Holy one to be born, will be called the Son of God.” The Spirit doesn’t get a lot of exposure in terms of direct reference in the OT, or for that matter – even the NT, but the Spirit’s shown to be, and shown to be active at some very important times. Understandably, it’s only after the resurrection, that the Holy Spirit, so to speak, really gets going. We see things clearly mapped out by Paul in Ephesians. Have a look at Chapter 4 if you get a chance, it’s really quite revealing. Paul calls us in the name of Christ, to live a life; worthy of the calling we have received. He says, and I quote: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us (that’s you and me he’s talking about) grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says (and Paul quotes here from Psalm 68) When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” We have, through his Spirit, been endowed with many and diverse gifts, including the Holy Spirit. So, when you are charged at the end of this service, to go forth and live and work in the name of Christ. Follow the sign of the cross, the personal sign and gift of the Holy Spirit that you were given. The gift, which will enable you to do what you are called to do, by one who has befriended you; dwells continually with you; and will do so forever. Amen.

Growing Healthy Churches Part 3 - Beverley Hunt, St Mary's 15/05/2011

2011-05-23T15:18:00.003+01:00

Our series of sermons on the subject of Growing Healthy Churches concludes today with a look at the following three marks:

to operate as a community,
makes room for all, and
does a few things and does them well.

As you may know, these marks will be discussed further in the PCC’s workshop next Saturday, 21^st May. If you missed the sermons oevr the past two weeks which explored the first 4 marks of a healthy church, you can access them on the United Benefice blog. I am also happy to discuss them with you after the service.

Why are we exploring Growing Healthy Churches (GHC)? In United Benefice of East Molesey, there are two churches serving just over six thousand people and a combined congregation of approximately three hundred people. These data speak for themselves. We need to grow both numerically and in faith and one of the key aims of GHC is to explore how we can best nurture the life and health of our churches in line with the Biblical concept of salvation, i.e. faith, wholeness, balance and harmony with God and all creation. In other words, how can we best express ourselves as church in our local context and community?

As we explore the last three marks of GHC, let us reflect on how we are as church individually, as a congregation and as a United Benefice. Let us also consider what St Paul said to the early Gentile-Christians in Ephesus (Ephesians 4:1-16) as he encouraged them to live out the gospel of reconciliation and unity in Christ.

These early Gentile-Christians came were from the uncircumcised. The religious bodies of the time didn’t see them as part of God’s people. However, St Paul tells them that through Christ crucified, their situation changed and they are God’s people. St Paul also encourages them to live a life that promotes unity – and not to let selfishness, pride and arrogance sever the bonds that unites them, through the Holy Spirit, with Christ and with God the Father. And so, Father God, I pray that these passages of scripture will lighten our paths as we discern, with your grace, your call to and the way forward for the United Benefice in East Molesey. Amen.

The fifth mark of a healthy church is “to operate as a community” rather than functioning as religious club. But what does it mean to operate as a community? As you know, a community does not fit into a neat package. They come in different shapes, sizes, colours and locations. The sociologist among us might say that, ‘a community is a set of interactions, expectations and human behaviours that have meaning between its members. From a Christian perspective we, the church, will need to determine the shared expectations, values, meanings and beliefs (which many of us affirm weekly) that can best help us to live in harmony and operate as a community. To do so we will need to inhabit values of self-less commitment.

As part of my Continuing Ministerial Education, I spent last Thursday at Pirbright Army Camp to get a sense of military chaplaincy. That camp operates as a community with a selfless-commitment to serve. This selfless-commitment is one of the six core values underpinning their service in the army. The 3000 plus personnel are very well-organised and are highly aware of the need to support each other. They know only too well the high cost to them if they fail to do so.

So what can we learn from this? If we are going to operate effectively as a Christian community rather than a religious club, then we too need to discern and live out our Christian values. As you know, efficiently functioning communities are alive. They have strong leadership and the capacity to foster trusting and harmonious relationships. Such leadership is not positional. It runs throughout the community where each individual’s gifts and talents are valued. It is also concerned with creating opportunities for individual personal growth, and the encouragement to enable them to flourish and to use their gifts effectively.

For example, how often have you heard it said we need to give out notices appealing for help verbally, yet, when this happens, it tends to yield little, if any, response? In GHC, when a task needs doing, e.g. someone to help with the children’s ministry; individuals are personally invited to help because notices tend to end up with the same few busy people responding and new comers are overlooked. If, as Christian disciples and followers of Christ, we operate as a community, then, like those soldiers in the army, we too should be willing to engage in self-less commitment to God’s work.

But we need to go further and leave our nets –the symbols of our baggage– behind. We need to put aside our preoccupation e.g. with roles and procedures, and explore (a) how we might operate as a community that is focused on serving the common good; (b) how we might operate as a community that is worthy of God’s calling,

(c) how we might operate as a community living a life of corporate humility, gentleness and patient forgiving love. This raises further questions about what we perceive as our calling as a community. About how we can be transformed to operate as a community and about how we can transform our community.

This brings me to the sixth mark of a healthy church, which is to ‘make room for all’. Making room for all is concerned with our approach to inclusivity and serving the common good. As Paul Webb said last week, this is different to making room only for those people who look like us and act like us. It is about responding to the inclusive love of God in the way that we, as church, welcome and affirm others.

Questions are raised by all of the marks, but this sixth mark raises a number of questions that may potentially have a high impact. Such questions include e.g.

· How can we make room for all, particularly with the diverse needs in our community and it is difficult to know what those needs are?

· How are we to make the Church’s voice heard above the din of our divisions, e.g. around our preference for a particular churchmanship; when or how we should have children in church?

· What do we do to welcome and affirm others, particularly, the disabled, the deaf, the alcoholic, those with mental health problems and those on the fringe of the community?

· How can we make room for all when one of the main problems we have in Molesey is the East-West divide based on wealth and social class? How do we overcome or work across the boundaries of social class that impact on the church community?

Finally, for the seventh mark of GHC - a healthy church is one that does a few things and does them well. Naturally there are the occasional offices of weddings, baptisms and funerals as well as the weekly services and myriad other activities that compete for our attention. But how do/should we prioritise our goals?

Prioritising our activities may mean letting go of things that we dearly love doing - and do very well - so that we can take on activities that are more suited to the needs and goals of the church as a community responding to the liberating love of God and God’s call to his people. But how do we know what God is calling us to do?

Often, it is hard to know what to do and we pray to God for direction. But there are also times when we have to take a leap of faith into action and not let ourselves become spiritually paralysed as we wait for a sign about what to do. This reminds me of the first mark of GHC – to be energised by faith – this is the kind of faith exemplified by the prophets and fathers in the pages of the OT and NT. It is the kind of faith that bids us to take God at his word and live expectantly and obediently in the present with the hope of sharing in the God’s promise of eternal life. It is the kind of faith that grows and matures through our participation in worship, scripture and service.

The church is good at being busy, to the point that by being busy we may lose our distinctiveness. Why – because we have spread ourselves too thinly. The many social activities to raise money for good causes are good in themselves, but often, they become simply that –social activities which have consumed all of our time and leaves us feeling tired and stressed out with little time for spiritual renewal.

The final three marks of GHC underpin a healthy concern for inner peace, for making space for growth, enjoying what we do, reflecting on and being the good news that we seek to bring to others and listening to God. God is not heard in the whirlwind and thunderstorm of activities. God is heard in the silence.

So let us stop the clamour and take stock of where we are by taking quality time out to discern the way forward for both the Church community and the community that we seek to serve, in the name of God, in Molesey.

I have raised several questions for reflection in relation to the last three marks of GHC. I suspect that many of you will have questions of your own that you may wish the PCCs to consider at the Away Day on Saturday. If so, please let us know.