Being Made New

FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY (Yr. C)

Sermon preached in the Church of All Saints, New Eltham

at Parish Mass on Sunday, 30^th December, 2012

All- holy God,

you wonderfully created us in your own image

and yet more wonderfully restored us

through your Son, Jesus Christ;

Grant that, as he came to share in our humanity,

so we may share the life of his Divinity.  Amen.

X

INTRODUCTION

Christmas is a time to enjoy traditions and celebrate the wonder of life.  Families gather, food is shared, presents given and – hopefully – received.  And then we settle down and watch television, that medium by which we are offered the sublime - and the appalling.   

At a time when we celebrate the goodness and graciousness of God and seek to spread the message of peace and goodwill, it seems the media can’t stand too much of that.  Comedy, in particular, has moved a long way from Morecambe and Wise: this year, for example, the BBC thought we needed two episodes of Mrs Brown’s Boys.  For those who don’t know her character, she is – and I quote from the BBC website – ‘a foul-mouthed Irish mammy … played by a 57-year-old man.’ 

Actors like Brendan O’Connell ‘put on’ characters as we might put on a new set of clothes.  Today we heard St. Paul telling the Colossians: “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

All that was in the context of a Baptism sermon in which Paul reminded his hearers to change their lives because they had ‘stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.’   It would seem that’s a step too far for Mrs. Brown and those to whom her character appeals.

THE HIDDEN LIFE OF CHRIST

Of course she was a beautiful baby once and I doubt her parents ever guessed the kind of character she would become.  Today’s gospel tells of how the parents of Jesus worried as to what was becoming of him.  No parent can know what future awaits his or her child.  All they can do is give the best preparation for life that they can and support their child as they move into their future.

The gospels tell us little of those years.  We have some infancy stories and then, except for these few verses penned by Luke, we know nothing of Jesus’ adolescence.  Two days ago he was a baby, now he is a boy as Luke portrays an event that shows Jesus’ developing apart from his parents influence. 

Luke’s gospel has many layers.  He wasn’t just writing stories – he was writing a gospel and includes information that will highlight what he is seeking to get across.  So, in our passage today Jesus went missing for three days.  Not one, or two – or four, but three days.   Three days are important in this gospel: Christ was in the grave for three days, the temple was supposed to be destroyed and rebuilt in three days, and Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days.  Luke knew the way he was going to use the concept of “three days” later in the gospel.

Then there’s the matter of the setting of the event in the Temple.  This temple in Jerusalem will be significant in the future life of Jesus.  When he comes back as an adult, he will cleanse the temple of the money-changers, teach and argue there at length.  For those who heard this account for the first time the effect would have been something like – “Hey, this boy’s advanced for his age!  Was he another of those child-genius’?  He’s clearly someone special.”   No wonder his mother told him that he was causing them “great anxiety”.   “Why have you treated us like this?” she explodes on finding him: something, I guess, most parents say to their children at times.  Certainly my mother did!   So Mary, like all mothers, stores up these events in her heart to reflect upon as the years go by.

Yet on another level what Luke is doing is to build up the picture of an ordinary boy developing his gifts, abilities and skills, probing into important life-questions and expanding his understanding. 

RESTORING THE IMAGE OF GOD WITHIN US

Now there are some people who believe that Jesus was so divine that he was hardly human.  And some parents think their child can do no wrong.  But both views are misleading.  Our faith teaches us that Jesus was fully human.  Indeed, to be fully human meant that he had (as St. Paul wrote to the Philippians) ‘emptied himself (of his Godhead … and was) born in human likeness’ (2:6/7). 

He was ‘just like us’ and had to mature into his humanity, just as we need to.  To be fully human means that we don’t know all the answers but, in order to grow and mature, we need to be open to fresh insights.  Jesus questioned, explored, discussed; had flashes of insight and moments of doubt and confusion.   And that went on throughout his life.  His boyhood years clearly taught him the value and necessity of continuing to grow in wisdom.  It’s only when we stop wanting to explore that we begin to die.   

What, then, of us?  In the concluding Prayer at Mass this morning we shall pray that God,

‘who wonderfully created us in (his) own image

and yet more wonderfully restored us

through (his) Son, Jesus Christ;

may enable us to share the life of his Divinity

as he came to share in our humanity.’

Acknowledging our humanity and recognising our potential for divinity, it asks that in sharing more deeply in the life of Jesus God will restore within us his image.  Jesus began that quest from his youth: he desired to have his life moulded by God.  Our lives have damaged and wounded that image yet we still have the potential for it to develop.  When Brendan O’Connell ‘puts on’ Mrs. Brown we are appalled by the way in which life has led her into becoming a foul-mouthed, graceless old woman.   In a real sense she represents ‘unredeemed humanity’.  We, on the other hand, have the opportunity to continue to be restored into the likeness of Christ whose humanity reveals the glory for which we are all created. 

Today we stand at the end of an old year and the beginning of the new.  No doubt some of us will make New Year’s Resolutions – and promptly break them!  Yet we do so because we realise that we could be better than we are and want to ‘do’ something that will help us become who we might be. 

At each Mass, as water and wine are mixed together in the chalice, the priest quietly prays: ‘By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity’, a prayer rooted in our opening Collect today and based on the teaching that as God entered humanity in the Incarnation, so he made it possible for us to become one in His Divinity.  And that, if you like, should be our New Year’s resolution: to desire union with God that our human nature might be transformed into that which God created it for. 

We may no longer be at the threshold of life and will have made many mistakes through our journey.  Clearly Mrs. Brown is not bothered by the thought that she might need to change.  As far as she is concerned she is OK.  But God says to us – ‘I love you and you can change.’  For us the possibility of being re-made lies at the heart of our Faith and is God’s gift to us in Christ for this New Year – and every year.  There’s a poem attributed to Sir Francis Drake I’d like to offer you for the New Year:

Disturb us, O Lord

when we are too well-pleased with ourselves
when our dreams have come true

because we dreamed too little,
because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, O Lord

when with the abundance of things we possess,
we have lost our thirst for the water of life
when, having fallen in love with time,
we have ceased to dream of eternity
and in our efforts to build a new earth,
we have allowed our vision of Heaven to grow dim.

Stir us, O Lord

to dare more boldly, to venture into wider seas
where storms show Thy mastery,
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.

In the name of Him

who pushed back the horizons of our hopes
and invited the brave to follow.

Amen

THE SOUL'S DESIRE

FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT (Yr. C)

Sermon preached in the Church of All Saints, New Eltham

at Parish Mass on Sunday, 2nd December, 2012

‘Be alert at all times,

praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things

that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’ (Lk.21:36)

X

INTRODUCTION

Once again, we begin a new Christian Year with the season of Advent when we prepare for the coming of the Lord.  The somewhat ominous message of our gospel reading, in particular, is a salutary reminder that such preparation is more than making sure the cards are written and presents bought. 

Yet is the consequence of our praying ‘thy kingdom come’ really going to be like a divine disaster movie?  Is this what we really desire and long for: what my heart must be set on as we prepare for the coming of God?  No wonder it seems better to focus into more cuddly things – babies and mangers, Christmas trees and fairy lights.  As John Betjeman wrote in one of his poems:

And is it true?  For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,
No caroling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare—
That God was Man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.

What needs to lie at the heart of our preparations for the coming of a God is the realisation that God desires to be at-one with us and expresses this every time He makes Himself present through the Eucharist.  The prayer of the ‘heart’s desire’ is to want to allow God into the depths of our being.  That’s the essence of prayer, something I want to share some thoughts about on two Sundays during Advent.  This morning I’ll focus into some of the more common aspects and next time explore what we mean by meditation and contemplation.

WHAT IS PRAYER?

Now, if you were to ask most people what they understood the word prayer to mean they would, probably, say ‘asking God for things’ or, with any luck they might add ‘and thanking God for things’, or even ‘listening to God’.  And all these things are aspects of prayer, for prayer concerns the ‘inclination of the heart to God’.  At its most simple prayer simply involves giving time and attention to the desire of the heart to be at one with God.  So let’s see how the Eucharist can help us re-imagine our prayer.

COMMON PRAYER – THE EUCHARIST

Common prayer, or the Liturgy – the work – of the Church, helps our relationship with God to develop.  We come to church and sing hymns, listen to readings, offer our intercessions and make our Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ.  Hopefully, through all this, we are moved into a deeper union with God.  The ‘heart’ of who we are (not the physical heart but the centre of our being) is re-fashioned as we open our inner being, our heart, to the desire of God for at-oneness with us. 

When I was learning the Faith I was taught that one should prepare to receive Holy Communion.  I was encouraged to remember my Communion throughout the week and spend time the night before preparing by prayer and fasting.  Then when I first entered a church I should pray – something with the passing of time it’s easy to forget.  Yet if we stopped to pray that would be a reminder we are called, before we attended to our jobs or our friend, to Love God with all our heart, mind and strength’.  And, remember, the essence of prayer is the inclination of the heart to God.  As one of my Franciscan brothers used to say: ‘Get it right with God first, brother!’  Coming to church wasn't to be like visiting Tesco:  this is the House of God and the Gate of Heaven and everything here is designed to move the heart towards God.  If we have the eyes to see. 

There’s a story about the late Orthodox Archbishop Anthony Bloom I’d like to share with you.  One day a young man, new to the church, asked Archbishop Anthony what books he would need when he came to the church.  Instead of giving him a copy of the service Anthony said this: ‘Come and let your eyes see us.  See how we worship.  Then, come and watch our faces.  After that, take a service book and learn the words you need to use by heart, but never bring it with you!’ 

Perhaps, as someone once remarked to me, we ‘westerners’ are too attached to our books…

COMMON PRAYER – THE DIVINE OFFICE

Another means of prayer that many find of great help is what is known as the Prayer of the Church or the Daily (or Divine) Office.  Priests have to pray the Office of Morning and Evening Prayer daily and others find some form of such prayer to be of great value.  Consisting mostly of psalms and readings, the Office is a simple way of praying with scripture.  And immersion in scripture helps form our prayer.  Whilst it may be helpful to do that in church, most do so at home or even on the train to work.  It’s a great way to begin the day as it means we are giving attention to Jesus’ primary command.  But whatever we do, we need to get into the habit of prayer in our daily lives. 

CONFESSION          

Right at the beginning of the Eucharist we are invited to confess our sins by making a General Confession.  Some realise this needs to be personalised and have developed a practice of regular Confession to a priest.  Now the Sacrament of Confession is often neglected in the Church of England, but it is something available to all for all of us sin and need to be reconciled with God and our neighbour. 

The Anglican dictum concerning this Sacrament is, ‘all may, none must; some should’ and many find that making their confession at regular intervals is of great help in developing a right relationship with God.

PRAYER AS INTERCESSION

Only later in the Eucharist do we come to prayer for others, that prayer we call Intercession. Yet for many this is the only prayer they practice.  ‘Please help Johnny!’; ‘Don’t let Mary suffer!’; ‘Help Peter pass his exams.’  These are more rightly called ‘arrow’ prayers – shooting an arrow of desire to God.  

Or we might make ‘ejaculatory’ prayers; prayer that suddenly arises from some moving experience which may be silent or, at times, spoken aloud. Both might be called involuntary prayers which emerge from movements within the heart.  But they are dependent on circumstances outside of ourselves. 

A RULE OF LIFE

And it’s for that reason another way people find help in putting their relationship with God at the centre is by developing what is known as a Rule of Life.  A Rule sets out the norms by which we are called to live.  So, apart from matters like a pattern of prayer and attendance at Mass, it will also act as a reminder of how we give attention to charitable giving, and how we feel called to serve others – not least our families, partners and friends.  And for people who are very busy it’s a good way of making sure we set aside time for ourselves!

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

But all who are seeking to give attention to God recognise they need help and so the tradition of Spiritual Direction has developed since the earliest centuries.  Spiritual Direction is an on-going process whereby an individual, with the aid of a more experienced guide, explores a deeper relationship with themselves, the world around them and with God.  

IMAGES OF GOD AFFECT OUR PRAYER

But our image of God will affect the way in which we respond to our approach to prayer.  If our image of God is rooted in a distant father, or in one who was harsh with us whom we came to fear, or if we lacked love in our earliest years or have a poor sense of our own worth and value, that will affect our approach to God.  Thoughts of the coming of the Son of Man ‘in a cloud with power and great glory’ may then fill us with fear and anxiety.  Yet, if we embrace the image of His coming as the coming of our Divine Lover who seeks to re-make us in His image, then we can ‘stand up and raise ()our heads, because ()our redemption is drawing near.’ 

CONCLUSION

Next time I want to spend time reflecting on the place of meditation and contemplation in our life of prayer and there’s a leaflet inside the December magazine which, I hope, will be of help.  ‘When I prayed I was new’, wrote one great Orthodox guide, ‘and when I stopped praying I was old.’  ‘Prayer’ wrote another, is ‘the habit of being in the presence of the thrice-holy God and in communion with him, … the elevation of the soul to God.’ 

This matter of prayer is of fundamental importance to people of all faiths yet is daunting for many of us.  Yet it is as easy and as basic as breathing.  Rather than something to leave to ‘experts’, prayer is the very atmosphere in which we are called to live.  ‘For me’ wrote S. Therese of Lisieux, ‘prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.’  So may this Advent be a time when we pray and live the Eucharist – seeking reconciliation; centring on the Word of God; holding the world before Him; offering daily our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving as we seek to venerate Christ beneath all outward things.  This is the Prayer of Eucharistic Living as we open our hearts to the One who seeks and desires us.