Still I will say, 'Blessed be the name of the Lord' - A New Year's Day sermon

Habakkuk 3: 16-19; Matthew 26: 36-50

El Salvador was a country torn by greed and corruption; 40% of the land was owned by 14 families with 90% of the country’s wealth owned by 0.5% of its people. On the 15 August 1917 a baby was born to a regular and typically poor family, in a small city. Shortly after, the baby was baptised and bought up in the faith, spending much of his free time growing up in one of the two churches in the city. At this time many believers were being persecuted even to the point of death and assassination. At seven he contracted a life-threatening disease but slowly recovered. He was only educated till 13, although that in itself was for then average. He was trained by his father in carpentry as academia very rarely lead to any work but at the age of 14 he left home by horse to begin his calling to ordained ministry in the church. At 25 he became ordained and worked as a parish priest in El Salvador. His eyes were opened to the extreme injustice that was all around him and was known for his hard stance on ethics and justice. Progressive reforms were being issued as the church stood with the people in criticising the government. In 1974 he was made the bishop of the diocese of Santiago de María, where his home city was. The following year the national guard raided a village in his diocese, killing and mutilating the inhabitants. At the funeral of one of the victims, he spoke up against human rights violations. Shortly after, his friend, another priest who was out spoken against the government was gunned down. He buried his friend, although he was not given governmental permission to do so and the next Sunday cancelled all services though-out the country, except one: A mass service, conducted outside the cathedral for all to see. Over 100,000 people turned up to see and hear what he had to say whilst government groups were leafleting: “Be a patriot: Kill a priest.”. For the next three years he spoke up against injustice and received a steady stream of death threats. On Sunday, March 23, 1980, he went to a quiet place to pray then phoned a local news paper to say his goodbyes, telling people that the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. At the service he was speaking, as usual, about how the gospel speaks against injustice including a famous call for the government to repent, "In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose cries rise to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you in the name of God: stop the repression." The following day, during mass, after speaking about the need for a seed to die for wheat to grow and bring a harvest he was assassinated by a single bullet. His name was Oscar Romero, the Salvadorian martyr.

Believe it or not we are still in the middle of the Christmas season. We’ve written cards with “Merry Christmas and a happy new year” inside, or something like that. They may even depict in picture or maybe even in words the cry of the angels “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.” It is the season of good will to all mankind and dream of a wonderful season full of parties and rest with friends and family. We also look forward to the new year and hope that it is better then the one that’s gone before, full of hope and expectation for what the new year might bring for us, pregnant with potential. Movies at this time of year particularly are full of happy endings and things that turn out alright in the end. The problem is that things in real life don’t work that way. All of us have bad days, weeks, months and years. For those of us whose year has been wonderful we rejoice in that and look forward to another, but for those of us whose year has bought pain and disappointment the clichés can feel painful and the thought of a new year evokes pain and fear. I think most of us can probably relate to these feelings and if you cannot, although I pray you won’t, you almost certainly will one day. The world is full of wonder and awe but also of pain and disappointment, and no-one is exempt. We like to think that if we are good enough or nice enough, if we do the right things and work hard, or we worship regularly enough then we will have a long and happy life. It was, and in some cultures still is, common to think that if we succeed then we deserve it and if we suffer, we deserve that too. The problem is reality just doesn’t share the same thought. There are plenty of good, loving, kind people, like Oscar Romero, who suffer miserably and plenty of evil, cruel, and twisted people who know little or nothing of pain and struggling.

The Jewish people thought very much like this. They were God’s special people so of course God would protect them and give them financial security. If people were poor or ill it was because they weren’t religious enough and didn’t do the right things. You may remember the disciples shock at being told it was hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven because they thought the rich were the ones that God blessed the most. Constantly though we see another picture. The Jews are constantly in trouble. The big two are Exodus and Exile: Exodus, where God saved his people who had been enslaved to hard labour in Egypt, and Exile where the Jews had been invaded, captured and taken to Babylon. The book of Job addresses this subject too. Job looses everything, except his own life, and his friends try to help him by saying that he had done something to deserve it and to repent but Job is insistent that he is innocent. It turns out he is right. He is vindicated by God although he is not given any more answer to why, then to trust in God and his ways.

Our OT reading this morning was from a book called Habakkuk. He was a prophet who was troubled by the unfaithfulness of his people and their abominal behaviour. The book starts with Habakkuk complaining at God in the same way many of us still do today, “How long, O lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” and “Why do you tolerate wrong?”. God's answer is 'patience'. “I am doing something in your day that you would not believe even if you were told”. God was telling of the exile, that extremely dark but important period in israels history. Habakkuks message is a call to faith. You have forgotten God and follwed idols, he says. Stop and return to God. Have faith in him and trust. That is where we get to our reading for today. Despite the darkess that is to ensue and the seemingly hopeless situation, Habakkuk chooses to trust in God because he knows who He is. It is not that Habakkuk thinks he will have a better time then the rest for, as we have already heard he has suffered and knows he is not immune but realises that either he can forget God and worship wood and stone which is powerless or he can remember God, the mighty God who loves and remembers his people and is mighty to save.

We see the pinnacle of this, as in many things, in Jesus. We know Jesus as the God-man, the one with whom the father is 'well-pleased', the perfect, the righteous. If there was ever one for whom the common thought should be true then it should be Jesus, the truly blessed one. We would expect to see him healthy, rich and happy. This however is not what we see! He is no richer then the average man, he was born running for his life and became a refugee, he was hated by those who you would expect to be his closest allies, he had no real home to speak of, he had few close friends and of those whom he did, one betrayed him and of course he died an early, unjust death of the most horrific nature. In our gospel reading we peek at him at his lowest moment. He feels crushed by the weight of expectation and the severity of what is to come. He takes his closest friends with him for comfort and support and they continually fall asleep. Alone in the garden he prays, “Father, if its possible take this away from me”. This is not an easy or happy life!

This year friends perhaps we will feel like Jesus, over-whelmed by all that is expected of us or scared by the prospect of what is to come. Perhaps we are praying to have something taken from us yet it remains, or perhaps we are just praying in general that we might have evil taken from us, as we do everytime we say the Lord's prayer. Perhaps we are tempted to just walk away and leave our worries behind. Remember Jesus, our example. Things were not going how others expected yet he trusted in the father. It meant great pain and loss from his part but he still trusted. He could have walked away but trusted in God and that all things work together for the good of those who love him, even if it means pain now. God never promises to take all pain and suffering from us this side of the new creation but he promises to be with us, just as the father was with Jesus in the garden and how he was with his people in exile.

Belief, faith and trust are not abstract principles. They are not things we believe despite the evidence but they are things we actively do. To know God, to know his character, when things are good. To build a relationship and a trust in what he does so that when he seems quiet, when the world seems too much to bear, we have a foundation to work on. C.S. Lewis once said that “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” Are we willing to trust God even in the pain, even if it means pain? Of course this is not easy or passive. Sometimes we ignore God all year and call on him when something goes wrong and wonder why he is hard to hear. We must get practicing at hearing his voice now, get reading the bible and praying, learning his character so that trust is not blind but reasonable behaviour. We must also support each other. Rejoice together when things are good and mourn when they are not. This of course means a community of friends and family, of openness and trust. When others cannot hear God's voice we can speak words of life to them to hear. When our faith is weak alone, together we are strong. When we stumble on the rocks of life alone, together we pick each other up. And of course, as the apostle Paul tells us, where we are weak, God is strong.

I of course hope that you will have a year of peace but I pray that our faith is strengthened and that we trust in God no-matter what 2012 brings. In a moment we will listen to a song that speaks of trusting in God no matter the circumstance. I hope that this can be a reminder to each of us this year in the good and the bad. Have a read of the words and dwell on them. It's called 'blessed be your name'.



Till Next Time!

Dear Lord Baby Jesus: A Thought for Christmas

I wonder what you think about when you think of Jesus. Is it:

A 6lb 8oz baby boy like Ricky
A man with a beard like Chip
A party Jesus like Cal
A gentle man holding a lamb like in many pieces of art

I’d bet good money that at this time of year at least, the image that most of us have of Jesus is the little baby, helpless in a manger, surrounded by lowing animals. It’s a thought that makes us feel warm, comfortable and nostalgic. Most of us rejoice over the birth of a baby, even if we don’t feel very comfortable around them. They make us think of family and future. This is even more so with special births. Recently I became an uncle for the first time and have never been more excited over a baby. She was more then a baby, she was a gift, a hope and a purpose.
Well every birth is worthy of such excitement but I wonder whether this is where we often stop with Jesus too. A lovely story of a baby being born in remarkable circumstances, made even lovelier by the pretty animals around and the presents given by the wise men. I’d like to suggest though that if we stop at thinking of Jesus as a cute baby, or a man with a beard, or as a mate to go to parties with or a suspiciously Caucasian man who cuddle lambs then we miss the point of Christmas and who Jesus really is.

At Christmas we all like to give and receive gifts and the Christmas story is no different as the wise men brought their gifts to Jesus. These were no normal gifts though, rather they told us about who Jesus is. I’d like to spend the next few minutes then having a look at the gifts the wise-men bought to help us see who Jesus really is:

The first gift was that of Gold. For millennia, gold was the thing that captured the desires of all people. It was that thing which all people wanted but was unattainable. There was one exception: kings. What the wise men saw in that famous star was the birth, not of just any other baby, but of a new king. You may remember the darker side of the Christmas story where Herod slaughters all the infants: A king haunted by fear and constant suspicion of having his power usurped and here were men telling him on the birth of a new king!
There are two responses we can make to a king: to accept and follow, or reject and go our own way. The same is true of Jesus. Will you choose to accept him as the rightful king of the world, of you, or will you reject him and hail yourself as king?

The second gift was that of frankincense. You may have seen that this has been in the news this week. The world’s supply of frankincense is running low. For millennia this tree resin has been highly sought after and used by many people in the east. It’s been particularly notable in worship. For millennia Frankincense had been used in the temple in worship towards God. It was a very apt gift then for Jesus. The gospel writer Matthew reminds us of what God had promised long before though the prophet Isaiah, that Jesus would be Immanuel, or ‘God with us’. He was to be ‘mighty God’. We are told that the wise men, on seeing Jesus, even bowed down and worshipped him.
This baby then is more remarkable then any other. Not just a baby, but God with us. In Jesus then we have proof that God is not some far off deity looking down scornfully upon us, but is among us and to be worshipped. Will you follow suit and worship him?

The third was of myrrh. Pound for pound is worth the same as gold. Quite a costly gift and a very suitable one for a baby king. Today it is mainly used for its fragrance and antibiotic properties in toothpastes and soaps but in the ancient east it was far too expensive to be used so menially so instead it had two main uses. The first was a pain killer. First century Israel knew nothing of Paracetamol and Ibuprofen so other sources had to be found. Occasionally, those who were rich enough put a little myrrh in their wine to ease their suffering. The second was for embalming. When people died, bodies were treated rather differently then they are today. They were wrapped tightly in cloth and various different chemicals, including myrrh to slow decay and to cover any smells.
We see both of these uses in the death of Jesus. On the cross he was offered wine with myrrh to ease his pain, although he did not take it, and when he died his body was prepared for burial using, along with other things, myrrh. It might seem an odd thing to think about when we think of Jesus’ birth but he came to die. Not because he deserved it but to make us right with God. He died to pay the price we owe, to redeem us from our sin. Unable to save ourselves he stepped in and rescued us. This is the wonder of Christmas. Jesus was born as a baby, not to be pampered and set in a palace but to suffer and die for the sake of each of us, to rescue us from sin. Now that’s a king that I want to follow!

The wonder of Christmas then isn’t gifts and decorations but is this: God has not left you, God has not forsaken you–behold! a virgin shall conceive and bear a son! So, when you open your presents tomorrow, give a thought for the gifts those the wise men gave and what they say about Jesus: our king, God and rescuer. After all, Jesus is the reason for the season.

Till Next Time!
Merry Christmas.

X-mas Factor 2011

Still looking for your Christmas nativity play? Want something a little alternative? Well look no further. I've written a play for use at St. Peter's to teach the nativity through the medium of the X Factor. Please feel free to use it (and edit if you'd like), just message me below to let me know you have.
Download 'X-Mas Factor 2011' here.
Till Next Time!

Occupy Gotham

Till Next Time!

This Sunday is ‘Back to Church Sunday’. The B2CS campaign has seen thousands of people come back to church in recent years, including some at St Peter’s. We look forward to welcoming people this Sunday – some who have received a personal invitation from a church member, and others who have just seen the publicity.

In preparation for this Sunday, we asked our members to tell us why they come to St Peter’s, and how they would recommend it to a friend. Here are some of the responses:

‘St Peter’s is a very down-to-earth church with a warm and caring congregation’

Going to St Peter’s sets me up for the week and sorts out all my problems’

‘I shall always remember how kind members of St Peter’s church were at the time of my husband’s terrible illness and subsequent death.’

It is a warm and friendly church which accepts me and tolerates my occasional eccentricities!’

This is such a friendly church: For those with modern ideas of worship, you will find it here; for those of more traditional bent, you are not forgotten. And in the winter, the church is warm!’

‘Walking into St Peter’s is like coming home, especially at 8.00am Communion; it is peaceful and quiet which gives time to reflect on the past week, and give thanks to God, as well as asking his help for the coming week’

‘I like St Peter’s because everyone is very friendly and welcoming. It caters for the whole family, especially children – they love the songs with actions!’

‘I like St Peter’s because everyone is kind and welcoming. Everyone makes an effort to join in the songs especially’ E, 8 yrs old.

‘I like St Peter’s because it has a fun ‘Lighthouse’ and I learn more about God, and the Vicar is very kind.’ H, 10 yrs old

So, be prepared to receive a warm welcome in a heated church, with a variety of worship styles for all ages, a kind Vicar who will make a serious attempt to apply the Bible to your life (and his!) – plus a cup of coffee and a chance to talk to others at the end of the service! Come at 8.00am for a Prayer Book (1662) Communion, at 10.30am for a more contemporary service with baptisms of 3 children, or to a more reflective evening service at 6.30pm.
We’d love to see you!

Till Next Time!

Copied entirely form Mick Hough.

Does “Sin” Mean to “Miss the Mark”?

Many thanks to Baker Book House Church Connection from whom the following is copied directly:

Given enough time you will a preacher or teacher say that the Greek word for sin “actually” or “literally” means “to miss the mark.” It really is sad with all the excellent resources on Greek and Hebrew that things like this are still so often heard. I offer as a corrective this great paragraph taken from J. P. Louw’s book Semantics of New Testament Greek.

“A very important fact, as always neglected when ἁμαρτάνω is explained etymologically as ‘to miss the mark’, is that among the oldest usages of ἁμαρτάνω contexts can be found in which ἁμαρτάνω not only meant ‘to miss a target’, but also ‘to make a mistake, to be deprived of, to lose, to neglect’ (see LSJ). Why is ‘to miss a target’ taken as the ‘hidden meaning.’ not not one of the others? Furthermore, if etymology is to be used, why go back only as far as Homeric Greek? Why not even further to ἁ + μαρτος in which μαρτος goes back to a stem σμερ from which μέρος ‘part’ is derived. This derivation is given by J. B. Hoffman (1950) as the origin of ἁμαρτάνω. Thus, the basic meaning would be ‘not be have a part in’–a meaning which can easily be applied to ‘sin.’ In fact, the concept ‘sin’ has so many facets that it takes little imagination to link any of the above mentioned ‘meanings’ in some way or another to a favored explanation of the basic notion of sin.”

Who today, for example, would try to make a case that the English word “nice” “actually” or “literally” means “stupid” or “ignorant” even though these meanings can be found in an etymological study of the word? For someone to claim that “sin” literally means “miss the mark” is simply showing how “nice” they are (literally speaking).

Till Next Time!

One Fine Day - Sophie Madeleine Cover

Hi all, today is my day off so I thought I'd sit and work out (using the video and also internet sources) the chords for Sophie Madeleine's cover of 'One Fine Day' by The Chiffrons. So here it is! Sorry for the formatting issues as normal. Listen to the video below to get the rhythm and timing for chords. Thanks to Sophie Madeleine.


F A# C (5433)

F A# C (5433)
Shubi shubi etc.

F
One fine day
C
you'll look at me
Dm
and then you'll know our love was
Bb
meant to be

F Dm
One fine day
Bb C7
You're gonna want me
F Dm
For your boy

Bb C

F
The arms I long for
C
Will open wide
Dm
and you'll be proud to have me
Bb
Right by your side

F Dm
One fine day
Bb C7
You're gonna want me
F Bb
For your boy

F

Cm7 F Cm7 F
Though I know you're the kind of girl
Bb Bbmaj7(3210) Bb6(0211) Bbadd9 (3213)
Who only wants to run around
Dm7 G Dm7 G
I'll keep waiting and one day darling
C Bb Gm7 (0211) Bb C
You'll come to me when you want to settle down--oh!

F
One fine day
C
We'll meet once more
Dm
And then you'll want the love you
Bb
Threw away before

F Dm
One fine day
Bb C7
You're gonna want me
F Dm
For your boy

Bb C

F C Dm Bb
*Kazoo*

F Dm
One fine day
Bb C7
You're gonna want me
F Dm
For your boy
Bb C7
You're gonna want me
F Dm Bb
For your boy

C F Dm Bb
One fine day (X4)
C F
One fine day



Till Next Time!