Sermons

Service interrupted was the title I had for my blog of 10  February. It was more apt than I realised as I ended up missing a couple of services due to a cold.

My original service interrupted  was simply because I started to record what  Tim was preaching on and then ended up  having to leave the service to help deal with the challenges posed by some young people from the estate who were playing up. My blog was split therefore between a little of what Tim was preaching on and then what Richard Hetherington preached on later that day at the Gathering of the Baptist churches at Oxford Road.

Tim preached on 1 Corinthians chapter 15

We are ressurrectipnists we do Easter every day. So it’s ok to have crème eggs every day Tim says.

Do we need reminding about the gospel? How would we describe it? All too often it is turned into some sort of ticket for heaven. Believe what I believe and you we go to heaven. Is that really what Paul is saying here. ?

Does this mean some go to heaven and some to hell . The theme here is of resurrection and the Corinthians were having problems here. ..

They had lost the plot about what the gospel really is. They need to live according to the scriptures. They need to see the whole story. They need to understand Jesus the raised Messiah. Remember they did not have the New Testament ! Paul uses the Old Testament to point the way.

Jesus his shameful death his burial and his resurrection. That’s the message in a nutshell. On that first Easter Day he appears to all sorts of people.” And that was all I got to hear thanks to having to deal with the young people outside the church.

Fast forward to the Gathering and my second attempt to reflect the preaching I heard.

Richard talked of the commentators of the bible. Something significant and dramatic takes place. It’s life changing for Peter it reaches through the 21st century. Would we have seen this or would we have just seen a carpenter and his friends passing through and stopping to chat? Richard shared the verse from Zachariah 4:10 “ Who dares despise the day of small things…..”

Richard outlines two points,one of encouragement and one of challenge. The encouragement is the place that it happens. Can we remember the first time we heard this message. “Who do people say I am?” Peter’s reply can be added to with many other names. Caesarea Philippi was a renamed town and it was a way of saying the town was dedicated to Caesar with all the emblems of imperial power. 14 temples and shrines to all sorts of foreign gods. It was full of all the new things. And there was a mountain with a gorge with a tributary of the Jordan called the Gates of Hell. Yet Jesus took them there to ask the question. And the disciples got it.

The word of encouragement is this, the community we live in is uninterested, following odd ideas of spirituality. Never be tricked into believing that the gospel message you share does not have power with some else. What you share may change someone else’s life. Here’s the challenge when people come for baptism Richard always tells them the same story. Whatever has brought them to that point , they shouldn’t ever think that that was all there was. At the point of committing yourself, that’s the start of the challenge. Will you surrender this, if it works out it is from me, if not move on.

Richard also reflected on some of the things he struggled with. His wife came from a background where tithing teaching was familiar and routine to her. For Richard this was yet more to learn.

We all at some point ask Jesus to be Lord of our Lives. Is he still Lord of our Lives?

Richard reflected on the story of Joseph and his brothers, he shares the dreams with his brothers and they rejected it as not from God. What does it take to let Jesus be Lord of our Lives. Many people fall into the trap of only thinking that it’s God’s will if the outcome is beneficial to them. “

Richard concluded by asking us to think and reflect on the challenges you face as a church, and encouraged us to ask the question “how’s your commitment to Christ standing up?”

Amanda, Ian, Jonny and Mark provided our music for worship today.

Amanda led worship with some work with the kids and adults on being part of a team and in turn part of one body. Jonny provided the expert football advice reinforced by Josh whilst our body illustration was provided by Jess. Amanda  encouraged us all to come and enter the things we do on the diagram that symbolised the body of the church. She took us through all the different roles and  asked us to remember not to say “we are just the…” when describing our role. We’re all a key part of the body of the church.

1 Corinthians 12:12-31 was the passage preached on by Tim.

Paul has used the picture of a body . But imagine an eye with just two legs running around. Imagine an ear just flying off on its own. The church in Corinth was in a mess, full of factions all intent on following different people or ideas. Spiritual gifts were being shown but they were not being used in the right way , not for the common good as Esther showed last week. We often look at the gifts and and what applies to us and this is not helpful at all . Just ticking off a list and aspiring to other gifts. This means we’re focussed on the I and not the we. It blinds us to what others are to us. Paul urged unity, to see it is about us, about us being a part of the incredible thing that God calls the church. There were those in Corinth who spoke in tongues who were queuing up to perform. Without interpreters this was just babble. There are several different lists of spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts were granted in Exodus to decorate the temple. God equips his church for every moment in history. There are gifts now that did not exist in the Bible, such as doing the computers at the back of church. Each of us is a unique gift to the other. The churches are all different. We’re walking along a path with our brothers and sisters from Headland Baptist Church.

It may be uncomfortable. What about the other churches Holy Trinity, St. John Vianneys, the Pentecostal church. They are our partners in Christ, without these unique gifts from God we are not complete. The church is intended to be a first taste of all creation. It is difficult to work with people who are different to us. It’s a gift from God, his grace at work through difference and diversity. Paul’s claims in 12 and 13 are rooted in baptism. Baptism lets us experience the spirit of God at work. The Corinthians were using gifts for their own glory and not for what got intended . Paul writes to the people urging them to be part of one body. This image was used in the Roman world but they made it that the privileged did not have to do anything. Paul turns this around saying that the weak parts are there to be cared for and not abused. Tim was stuck on the image of an eye just running around on two legs! Paul points out the absurdity of parading gifts without love. Paul deliberately focussed on the weaker parts having a special place in the body picture that Paul is describing. Those cultural weaknesses characterise his own weaknesses. The weakness of |God is stronger than human strength. God’s power is at work in what the world sees as weakness. Paul reinforces this in his second letter. God has arranged the body giving greater importance to the weaker elements. A well functioning Christian community should release the gifts of others.

The gift of each is inseparable from the need of each. It is easier to reach out and embrace our Baptist brothers and sisters at headland. Yet we’re not so comfortable reaching out to our Anglican or Catholic brothers and sisters. Yet god made all this diversity. Paul reminds of the need for unity, paul needs to bring the letter to a close and in verse 27 he does this. In the Greek translation this starts “You” imagine Yoda saying “You, the body of Christ are!” This is a plural you in the Greek . Each one us is part of it. Whatever strengthens the community is to be sought out and welcomed. We are his body, let us live up to that calling.

On Sunday 20 January Mark Ian and Amanda provided the worship lead and music today. Mark introduced a new instrument into our worship band today. We think it was Leo’s guitar but Mark is adamant that it is a ukulele.

Esther brought the Word. She opened by saying how great it was to see Mark and the family after a week of sickness. We’ve seen people sharing their gifts today, start with an illustration of today’s Bible passage.

Esther pressed Jacob into service to help her with a bowl of Granola. She used this to reminds us we’re all different. She read out the advertising on the box with ingenious blend of exciting flavours as she went through the ingredients.

Where are we in the granola picture? We need something special and for us it is the Holy Spirit. Milk is the example she used in the Granola exercise to illustrate the spirit. We’ve all come with different gifts and worries. Esther then read fron 1 Corinthians 1:11.

This is Paul , we know him well now. It would serve us welll to remind ourselves of the encounter with God in Acts 9. Paul (as Saul) was persecuting Christians and then he met God and was blind for three days until Ananias was sent to restored his sight.

Saul was a changed man ,verse  39 talks about the impact of Paul, we may not have had a Paul moment but the passage in Corinthians reminds us this is the same spirit, the same God moving with us. Paul has a close relationship with thee church in Corinth. He visited them in his mission to Europe. He met people and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks alike to turn to Christ. He’s ministering to people God has placed there, people who were led by God to set up the church in Corinth . Many of the people who heard Paul believed and were baptised. God spoke to Paul , and told him do not be afraid keep speaking and Paul stayed for a year and a half.

Paul appeals for them to be united. C 1 v10.There was disunity going on. They were all following someone else. He reminds them where they come from. He shows them a living God! He shares the relationship he has with God.

We can have the same relationship with God. We all have the Holy Spirit in us when we proclaim Jesus is Lord. We all have gifts to share .

There are different gifts for different people. We pray for unity for this week in our country in our town, in Brexit. We need to pray this week for unity in the nation.

We celebrate our diversity, our different gifts and backgrounds. We don’t need to wonder. The focus in verse 7. The gift is given for the common good. What they are for is the common good, as we share our gifts, Ian with the music, Edris with her bible passage, the community with Filling Station.

Esther then quotes from Rowan Williams from his book Tokens of trust, which she has borrowed from Tim.

He describes a church together in active peacemaking no I without the other. God gives you a gift that only you can give. Esther shared her own recent experience of a missing bottle of Lenor conditioner. She thought her daughter may have taken it by mistake,  but when she asked her she said she hadn’t taken it. So they investigated the boot of the car and found a gap in the bottom of the car that led to the empty spare wheel well. Not only did they find the missing bottle of Lenor, they also found lots of other missing shopping items. There were lots of hidden gifts found in the car. It’s easy for our gifts to get hidden.

We should all be working to release the gifts of others, how can we help the person sitting next to us. Esther recalled the many surveys that used to go around churches in the past. She made the point that you don’t find your gifts through a survey you find them by serving.

Rowan Williams pointed out that as the needs of others change our gifts may change. Ask God to use us to benefit others.

Esther offered up her own experience as an example. She’s done a lot of children’s work in the past but has always said to God “not teenagers!”.

God had different plans for Esther’s gifts though and she is now working with teenagers at filling station and attending youth work training. We want these teenagers to fulfil their potential.

9 gifts mentioned in this particular passage. This is just about Jesus and if we have Jesus these gifts are available, prepare for them, share them. Our scripture and songs touch everyone each week. God wants us all to be healers.

It is great when we see people demonstrating their gifts and showing people the way to God. Be prepared to share. Was Jesus’s the first miracle at a social function important? He showed who God was. Jesus’s death on the cross and his powerful resurrection is through the same gift of the spirit. Tim Kellor a unique flower in his garden. All the gifts are important and we should not take them for granted or use them to dominate or exclude. Our launch event will an opportunity to share on Saturday! We hope for us all to be able to share to be stronger, to be bigger.

Esther concluded with a quote from Lynn Green of the Baptist Union of Great Britain ‘As I meet churches and leaders across Baptists Together it is very clear to me that God is at work stirring up a renewed passion for prayer and a fresh desire to work together because we long to see God’s Kingdom come in our communities and nations. Pray, deepen relationships and be part of what God is doing in these days!’

Welcome to 2019. As always, not all our friends and family made it into the New Year. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those adjusting to the new reality and facing that year of firsts without someone, the first Christmas, the first Easter, the first anniversary and the first birthday. Those firsts are tough but get easier to bear over time.

We’ve just celebrated the season celebrating a huge first for the Christian church the birth of Jesus Christ.

This Sunday was Epiphany and the word was brought to us by Tim. He read from Matthew 2 verses 1 to 12.

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’]”

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”

There is a tendency at this point in January to think Christmas is over and done with, and we’ve probably heard through songs and carols that the 3 kings have already been and gone. But that’s not the case (and they weren’t kings anyway). The Magi’s visit happened well after Christmas and not to the stable but to the house where Mary and Joseph and the baby have returned to after their travels.

Tim asked us “How do you find your way about?” Are you a sat nav person or are you old school? Can you use a compass and an ordnance survey map to find your way about. Your sat nav is accurate to about 4 metres, (Mr Google knows exactly where you are!), your map a little less accurate depending on the scale.  The Magi actually used the conventional method of navigating in their time. They used the stars. 

Isaiah the poet foretold all of this centuries before. In a passage he recited to Jews returning from exile in 580 BC, Jews who were returning to a Jerusalem in ruins he said to look up  and hope. He anticipates a Jerusalem that will rise up  again from its ruins. This revived Jerusalem will be prosperous and a cause for real celebration. God promised this and God keeps his promises.

The Magi’s star nav gets them to Jerusalem. They really believe that they will find the new king of peace and prosperity in the city. But their news does not please Herod. Not surprisingly the news that there’s a new king on the block sends Herod into a panic.  He consults all his scholars, his own wise men.  He wants to know the meaning of the words of Isaiah that the Magi are referring to.

The scholars tell the truth thankfully. They tell Herod that the Magi have got the wrong coordinates but that its not surprising because they are quoting the wrong man. They need to look to the message from Micah. (Micah 5:2)

The Magi were 9 miles off! Not bad I suppose for star nav. The ancients never forgot the night skies as a source of information. They didn’t have street lights and light pollution to get in the way like we do.

There’s been a lot of debate over the centuries as to what the Magi followed. Halley’s comet was too early, but Jupiter and Saturn were in conjunction 3 times in 7 BC so it could be them. Micah anticipates a very different leader in Jesus, a leader who brings well being .  Thankfully Herod passes on what his scholars tell him and the Magi now have their destination, Bethlehem.

Matthew tells us political dynamite after this. The new king is here and the old will fall, Herod dies shortly after this but his descendants will continue to play a role in the life of Jesus. The appearance of the Magi marks the first recorded instance of strangers from a foreign land worshipping Jesus. This occurrence points the way to Pilate and his soldiers. Pilate like Herod is warned not to harm Jesus. His soldiers will be the first Gentiles since the Magi to call Jesus “King of the Jews” even if they do make the cross his throne and thorns his crown.

This story is an overture setting the scene for what it means for Jesus to be King of the Jews and for us in turn to bring him the best gifts we can.

What would have happened if Herod’s scholars had not remembered Micah’s words? What directs our steps through 2019? Will we be off by 9 miles?

Sometimes God will need to change our direction although he will always guide us. We need to lay aside our egos and our self sufficiency. Thus Epiphany our way forward should be through our vulnerability, generosity and neighbourliness. Are we heading in the right direction? Sometimes God’s people end up resisting and it is strangers that point out the new path.

Tim concluded with a poem from Walter Breuggemann.

On Epiphany day,
we are still the people walking.
We are still people in the dark,
and the darkness looms large around us,
beset as we are by fear,
anxiety,
brutality,
violence,
loss —
a dozen alienations that we cannot manage.
We are — we could be — people of your light.
So we pray for the light of your glorious presence
as we wait for your appearing;
we pray for the light of your wondrous grace
as we exhaust our coping capacity;
we pray for your gift of newness that
will override our weariness;
we pray that we may see and know and hear and trust
in your good rule.
That we may have energy, courage, and freedom to enact
your rule through the demands of this day.
We submit our day to you and to your rule, with deep joy and high hope.

Amanda Jonny and ian led today and Tim brought the word.

We’re in advent and the readings often bounce between the old and new testament

Tim brought us the word from Zephaniah 4 14:20 and Like 3 7:end

Zephaniah and John the Baptist have slightly different messages. Tim told us that the 3rd Sunday in advent is joy or happy Sunday. He made us smile remembering remember Tola who used to greet all with that lovely expression “Happy Sunday”.

The passage in chapter 3 of Luke is uncomfortable. John didn’t go to preaching class, for effect Tim shouted you broad of vipers and suggested he might change his style int the new year. This doesn’t feel very Christmassy, remember when you were at school and the teacher left the room, chaos ensued! Always one by the door to warn teacher is returning.

John is doing the same here! Gods coming and he’s urging is to change our behaviours.

Love god and love your neighbour. Mica6 has the same message.

John the Baptist message is tough and people realise and coming to be baptised. But God demands a change of heart rather than just a ritual

What shall we do? Run for cover god’s coming. Repentance means a change of heart, a concern for others around them. If you see someone in need meet that need! In a world where the minority have the world’s majority of resources in our hand we need to act justly, in our workplaces and in our lives. We should make a difference wherever we are in the world.

God does not want us to be religious he wants us to reflects our beliefs in our whole lives. It’s difficult as we live bound by sin! The prophets had so many restarts so many fails.

God is coming what shall we do. John points to the one who is coming will give you the means to do it. He hurls up the beaten grain to drive away the light chaff and have the wheat remain.

It’s s purification process. We are refined and purged through the Holy Spirit. But what will the fire burn up? If only it were all so simple, insidious deeds, line cuts right to the heart.

Who can claim to be all wheat and no chaff?

The Holy Spirit cleans us from inside

Santa is supposed to knows whose been naughty according to the song but what an awful song. Christmas is about Jesus coming as him and dwelling amongst us to carry out one immense act to save us.

Rejoice says Zephaniah God has come.

Each of us needs a personal relationship with god, a change of heart, we carry the scars of failure we struggle to get it right. You can draw on the presence of the Holy Spirit. We need to let god in, to help our shivering hungry neighbour.

Advent takes back to the prophets of the old testament who tell the coming of Christ. Let us rejoice and be the people he wants us to be.