When we get it wrong

                                                          

Snowday Sermon March 2018

Title: When we get it wrong                                                   

Bible reading:John 12:20-37

Introduction

Have you ever asked a question and got an entirely different answer to what you were expecting. Instead of a simple answer the response doesn’t seem to answer the question you asked?

This seems to be the case today. Jesus gets asked questions, and the answers He gives are quite mysterious and very different to what the people were expecting.

It was Passover time in Jerusalem. This feast is a grand affair a bit like what Christmas is nowadays with an added legal requirement. The Israelites were expected to assemble yearly for this feast in Jerusalem.

The number of the Jews around the empire made the cost impossible for many to take this trip, but even so, every Jew tried to attend the feast at least once.

The population of the city increased vastly for that week as pilgrims came to the city. Some would come up from the coast road from Caesarea and others like Jesus came on the Jericho road from the east.

It was a time of joy and excitement for the Jews. In the chaos of people, they had to make their way to the shops to purchase a Passover lamb as well as pay their Temple tax.

Lodging was also hard to find. Jesus and his disciples seemed to have sheltered in a garden called Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Others rented guest rooms. Food had to be purchased, and shops and vendors were busy.

But for the Romans, it was a time of great concern. Pilate, who hated the Jews and Jerusalem felt obligated to come up from the city of Caesarea with his minders to make sure a riot did not break out.

The reading we heard from John's gospel, take us to a time around Palm Sunday Jesus was coming to town on a donkey. Everyone was chanting the Psalms of Ascents (112-118), using the words from 118. “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

The Jewish leaders were also watching and sent a message to Jesus to shut the crowd up. They were afraid of the Romans. The disruption would soon continue as Jesus would proceed and cleanse the Temple, overthrowing the tables of the moneychangers and releasing the doves.

The result would even be more chaos, with some of the crowd rejoicing that the crooks in the Temple got what they deserved and others beginning to plot to destroy Jesus. The commotion got the attention of certain Greeks who had come up to the feast. What we know about them is that they were not Greek speaking Jews they were most likely gentiles curious about Judaism.

They were probably what is called “God-fearers” who were attracted to the Jewish religion but had not submitted to circumcision. They could come to the outermost Temple court, but no further – or risk the pain of death.

These Greeks drew near and found Phillip. Phillip had a Greek name, and it’s possible that he may have spoken Greek. Phillip and Andrew were always bringing people to Jesus, so they brought the these Greeks who wanted to see Jesus, to him.

These Greeks had more than a casual desire to meet Jesus. They were willing to assume the expense of the journey to come to Jerusalem. They earnestly desired to know more about Jesus.

Phillip and Andrew told Jesus, probably expecting a yes or no answer. Instead Jesus answers in a way which would make the disciples wonder whether he was answering their question at all.

Jesus starts by talking about glorifying the father and then about planting of seeds. And the most mysterious thing was the seed has to die in order to sprout and produce a plant that produces more seeds.

It is a parable of course, which Jesus will relate to His own death. But first He talks about true discipleship. The true disciple follows Jesus at the real risk of losing his or her own life.

The disciple who tries to preserve his own life when persecuted will lose the life that really matters, and the one who loses his or her earthly life will attain eternal life.

What Jesus seems to be telling “them” is that if one really wants to come to Jesus, to see Him, they cannot come as a casual follower. Following Jesus is not a hobby or a spare time activity.

The call to discipleship is not one to “Come and dine” ( we had a nice lunch yesterday with Jesus) but as Bonhoeffer put it it’s to “Come and die.” This is certainly not the expected or even the desired answer. But it is the true answer.

After Jesus says this, He Himself has a human moment. Jesus cries out to the Father. And asks the Father to glorify the Father’s name through His’ upcoming death. To this, He hears a voice of affirmation from heaven that this will indeed be the case.

It is interesting to note here, that everyone else hears a noise like thunder.. But no one understood the message, but Jesus.
Nor did they understand that the voice they heard was the voice of God.

While they were perplexing about the sound, Jesus tells them the voice they could not understand was not meant for Him, but for them..

Jesus was telling those who heard why He must die. But they did not get it, at least not yet. This is made explicit by John at the end of chapter 12 where He quotes Isaiah 6 which says “Seeing, they did not perceive; hearing they did not understand.

Jesus makes another mysterious statement. He tells them that He the light would only be there a little longer. They needed to walk in this light or darkness would overtake them. They need to decide now to follow Him. Then we are told by John, He went out and hid Himself. The people were left in the dark.

We have the same difficulties today in trying to understand Jesus. And this is some considerable time after the cross. We should be the more enlightened, but we are not. People can see an earthly Jesus, a great teacher and a martyr of religious intolerance.

They see the tragedy of Jesus’ death but not the glory of the resurrection. They see that maybe in a world enlightened by the teaching of Jesus that someday we might have a more just world. We have had the teaching for 2000 years.


Every effort has been made to apply His teaching, but the world is as dark as ever, and becoming even darker. Do we still not understand what Jesus is saying or what He has done?

Others follow a political Jesus. They think if we can just take over the world for Jesus by force then we can set up His Kingdom. We can then force His teaching on everyone through fear of death for disobeying God.

We have tried Christendom too, and it has been found wanting. We cannot force people to be a Christian How many have been burnt at the stake in the name of Christendom or suffered other great afflictions? Whether through activism or passivism, the Kingdom we are expecting has not come.

So We need to pray the Lord lift the scales from our eyes and unstop our ears to hear what Jesus is really saying to His church, not what we think He is saying or should be saying.

This is the only way we can truly see and hear. Jesus says He will return and at that time the Kingdom will be fully realized. But this is in the Lord’s timing and by the Lord’s means.

We don’t make a Kingdom for God but wait patiently for the Kingdom of God. For the moment the world is in deep darkness and it seems that we too would be swept away in this darkness. But the truth of the matter is we who believe in Him are in the light of Jesus.

Bishop Steven – Bishop of Oxford writes. Jesus calls us to follow him with the whole of our lives and for the whole of our lives to offer everything to the service of God.

This means a willingness to sacrifice and to endure for the sake of the gospel, to bear the cross individually and together.

Personally I find this really reassuring as we await the last great Passover day. We are in the Kingdom, suffering even as Jesus said we must.

We do know the day of suffering will end.

The day of the cross will be over, and glory awaits. Let us console each other with this sure hope and press on towards the goal with courage determination standing together in solidarity to those who gave their lives for their faith.

Lent - A season of Hope

Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return" (Gen. 3:19).

Those words remind us that without God, we are simply dust and ashes. Death is the end.

The messy smudge you will receive in the shape of a cross reminds us of our fragile lives in a fragile world.

That’s why the Lenten season urges us to turn and return to the source of abundant life.

Our Christian faith tells us that death is not the end. There is hope.

The Lenten season proclaims the reason for this living hope.

I guess we would all agree the world isn’t, as we would like it to be.

We all wish things were different; we all wish things would change.

But how can the world change when we can hardly change ourselves?

In a sober consideration of our mortality, we face temptations along with Christ that would detour us from living in newness of life in our earthly life.

Lent invites us to invite the Spirit to breathe life more fully into lives that are nothing but dust and ashes without that life-giving Spirit.

The service of Ash Wednesday looks at everything in our lives that threatens to turn our lives to dust.

That’s why we shouldn’t be surprised when Jesus turns the dynamics of change in our personal lives and shows us how to be the change we want to see in the world.

Because you will see that the Key concept according to Jesus is the opposite of what we expect.

If we want to see change in the outside world the first step is to withdraw into our inner world.

To see change in the outside world we need to connect with God in secret. Connect with God in secret and results will occur openly for everyone to see.

How does that work?.

Jesus offers three specific examples of how this withdrawal process works.

Giving in secret

Praying in secret

Fasting in secret.

Giving, praying fasting are often called spiritual disciplines. Actions within our power that make us capable of things we belief to be beyond our capability.

For example. If you want run a 20 mile race. First you must train in private. You don’t enter the London marathon and turn up in full public view to run it in front of the world without any training do you?

You can get dress look the part and then have your photos taken. But as for completing the race. If you try you will fail to reach the finish line.

Quite often people say to me do you think if you didn’t train you could still run a marathon?  The simple answer is no.

That’s why Jesus emphasise the importance of practicing prayer, fasting, and giving in secret.

If we don’t withdraw from public view we will constantly turn our spiritual practices into a show for others, which sabotage any chance of change taking place in us.

So instead of appearing to be more holy or spiritual in public than we are in private, Jesus urges us to become more holy or spiritual in private than we appear to be in public.

Make perfect sense doesn’t it.

When it comes to giving to the poor. Jesus says don’t publicise your generosity like the hypocrites do. Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. By giving in secret, you’ll experience the true reward of giving.

It’s the same when it comes to prayer. Jesus says. Prayer can either strengthen your soul in private or raise your profile in public., but not both.

Rather than the elaborate eloquent prayers in public, A few simple words uttered in private is acceptable to God.

Especially since God knows what you need before you even ask.

As the ashes are applied to each individual later on in this Ash Wednesday service, with a solemn confession,.

the declaration of forgiveness stresses that we are reconciled, redeemed, forgiven and released from the bondage of the dust of death.

But there are just a few simple but profound steps that we need to take.

1.    We need to orientate ourselves to God. Acknowledge God as a loving parent.

2.    Align our greatest desire with God’s greatest desire.

First ask what is it that God wants….we want the world to be a kind place. Then we are to make God’s dreames come true, God’s justice and compassion reigns

3.    Bring God our needs and concerns, Physical – food and shelter as well as our spiritual needs for forgiveness, wrongs and reconciliation.

4.    Prepare ourselves for the public world we will soon re-enter on Maundy Thursday. Guided away from temptations and trials.

The word from Jesus and this Lenten season seek to more fully connect heart and hand, words and deeds so that the Gospel words and Gospel deeds are connected for the sake of the world God loves.

The world won’t change unless we change, and we won’t change unless we pull away from the world’s games and pressures, stresses of life.

And so this Lenten season is a time to deal with those blockages in relationship to God, to ourselves, and to people with whom we live.

But we must accept the invitation to a spiritual examination and forty days of healing therapy.

And in in secrecy, in solitude, in God’s presence, a new creation a new beginning, like a seed can begin to take root. And if that life takes root in us, we can be sure it can bear fruit through us. Fruit that can change the world.

Pray that this lent your secret life will reconnect with God beyond your imagination and that you will be the instrument for change that God created you to be.-

Hosanna

The eve of the London Marathon and I'm busy getting ready for Holy Week.

Holy Week is for me the most important week in the Christian calendar. It's not about buying and wrapping presents, going to parties, the last minute food shopping and waiting for Santa to come.  Somehow there is a sense of wonder, a sense that something wonderful beyond human imagination is about to happen.  I remember Easter as a child growing up being mesmerised by the story that Jesus had died on a cross for me, something I couldn't take on board but I just knew it was special.

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and as I run through the streets of London I will imagine what it was like for Jesus as he came riding into Jerusalem with people lining the route welcoming him, singing hosanna to the King of Kings, in what was no doubt a very party like atmosphere. But of course very quickly everything changed - as someone put it this week he met a sticky end, and all to provide new life, new beginnings and fresh hope for the future.
I pray that this Holy Week and Easter will provide fresh hope for all who seek to find out more about the real Easter story.

The Mountains we must climb to find ourselves.

Sports accessories are a big industry nowadays, from mp3 players, Ipod’s, drinks carriers, and the more complex GPS watches there are all sorts of devices designed to make us faster, leaner and fitter. Having a GPS (sports watch) is described as an indispensable tool for runners. It does everything from monitoring your heart rate, pace and time to motivating you during your training runs with a virtual partner if you chose to have one. I have to admit that I find them useful but like the mobile phone I wonder how we would cope without them. Yesterday as usual before my run I switched on my GPS and waited for the satellite to be located, usually just a few seconds. However after a couple of minutes with the words ‘finding satellite’ I decided to get started, hoping it would kick in soon into the run, after all I was only going for a four mile run. Sadly it wasn’t to be by the time the satellite had been located I was well into the run and in fact only had 1.5 miles to go. I had managed quite well without it.

We have become so accustomed to these devices that it's difficult to cope without them. At first the thought of not been accompanied by my GPS to monitor my pace was pretty scary especially days from the marathon. I felt lost without it.  Relaxing into the run though made me realise that by checking and listening to my body I was able to manage the pace quite well without it, enjoying the run which was quite liberating. It felt like climbing a mountain in order to find out something about myself I already knew.

In different areas of our lives we can allow devices such as these to take over our lives and they can. Sometimes it’s good to rely on the bare essentials of God’s beautiful creation; you may be surprise at what you find, certainly you won't get the message 'lost satellite reception'.

Tapering

The best part of training for a marathon is tapering, reducing the mileage to get rested for the big day. Last weekend I ran the Eton Dorney half marathon, just one more race I thought to get me ready mentally for London, I was pleased with the result of 1.36.29 an improvement on Reading by about 2mins 30ses, yes every second counts at this stage. The bonus,winning the female vet category. Next week will feel normal again, I will enjoy the shorter hopefully slightly quicker runs, trying to emulate at some points what it will feel like in the race. It feels surreal at the moment but gradually reality hits especially when I have my running number in my hand. I am running the London marathon again. The training is nearly over and I am so grateful to have got this far. Please sponsor me, it http://www.justgiving.com/RevJanetBinns1
makes all the difference.

Another race another goal

My running week generally starts on a Saturday morning with a long run of between 12 -20 miles depending on whether I am training for a marathon. Each week I run six days with Friday as a rest day. Running is as much a mental effort as a physical one so it’s important to include time to concentrate on form. Mostly I use my Thursday run for that, when I think about the rhythm of my strides, my breathing pattern and pace.  This week I managed 46 miles in total, my aim was to run 55 by the end of the week, but things got in the way. So actually a lot about running and achieving your goal is about determination, endurance, and perseverance and of course commitment.

Life is crammed full of things that must be done and without the determination and the desire to focus on what matters we inevitably end up off track.  Perseverance then is key because with perseverance, surprising things happen.  The same is true for our Christian life somehow we expect to have this wonderful relationship with Jesus without the determination and perseverance to stay on track through bible study, prayer and quiet time because quite often we are afraid to commit. Lent is a time of self-denial, a time when we are called to focus outwards away from ourselves rather than inwards.  It is a time of desiring to know what God desires of us - the desire to desire in a way that enables us to overcome barriers.

God desires through us and longs for life and love through us and in us. Over the years I believe running has helped me to overcome some of the barriers that prevents us from consciously, deliberately and wholeheartedly seeking what God desires of us. I know without determination things won’t get off the ground, without perseverance and endurance I’ll end up giving up and of course committing to the journey is essential.

Tomorrow I will run my final long run of 20 miles plus before the Marathon and it will serve to mentally and physical prepare me for what lies ahead. My desire to finish the race will be acute but more importantly my desire to serve the community will be uppermost in my mind. For further information see previous blog.

Please sponsor me here: http://www.justgiving.com/RevJanetBinns1

You are never too late to set another goal or dream a new dream ~ C S Lewis.

To run or not to run

Training for a marathon is never easy, in fact quite often running the race itself can be far easier than executing a training plan. There are no shortcuts when it comes to building up strength, you have to go out and put in the mileage come rain or shine. I remember one Saturday morning going out on a long run in very cold icy conditions, when with about 2 miles to go the skies opened, the rain came and I was soaked to the skin, not much fun I can tell you.  I know some people say well it’s the taking part that counts so why train so hard and to a certain degree that’s true but actually the quality of the training determines the quality of the race. Why would you deliberately put yourself through the additional anguish that not training properly undoubtedly cause? My advice is to take it seriously and train, it will pay off.

Having said that training for me this time was difficult, so much so that three weeks ago I considered deferring my place until next year. I found out that the organisers in fact allow deferring (through injury or illness) up to a couple of days before race day. I decided to keep going and see how things progress. I have since ran the Reading half marathon and felt happy with the race, I ran well and completed the race in a fairly good time. So providing I’m able to keep on track with the remainder of the training, in five weeks’ time I will line up for my sixth London marathon. It’s exciting, it’s scary, it’s as daunting as ever but once I’ve done all I can to prepare, the rest I will leave to God.

This time I am running to raise funds to build a new parish centre to support the work of the benefice of St Nicholas Hedsor and St Mark’s Bourne End. Our vision is to have a facility that serves the community well and enables both churches to reach as many families in the area as possible.

If you feel inspired you can sponsor me here http://www.justgiving.com/RevJanetBinns1

I can do all things through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4 v 13.