Sermons - June 2024

MORNING WORSHIP, ST. COLUMBA'S, PONT STREET
SUNDAY 9th JUNE 2024 11.00 a.m.
(ST COLUMBA’S DAY)

“And looking at those who sat around him, Jesus said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers!
Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:34-5

Groucho Marx famously gave us the line:
“I refuse to join a club that would have me as a member.”

Some decades ago, I attended a speculative job interview –
a prestigious company, with a long history, and wide-ranging business interests in Asia.
As the interview drew to a close, the company director asked:
“Do you have any questions?”
Summoning my most earnest eagerness, and looking him in the eye:
“Well, what sort of person is the company looking for?”
He paused, then after some consideration:
“Um, someone I suppose you could share a Mess with.”

I don’t know whether he was ex-military, but the implication appeared clear:
More important than the specific skills or talents a candidate might, or might not bring,
it was important that they fit in –
unsaid, but implied – necessary to be a “good chap – one of us, one like us.”
There is much one might unpack from that 1980’s vignette –
around entitlements and expectations of gender, social background, ethnicity and institutions.
(Maybe that is for coffee and cake, later.)
But the memory of that encounter surfaced unexpectedly this week,
because this Sunday, we mark and celebrate,
the profession of faith and formal joining of five new, congregational members.

What, do Hannah, Ruaraidh, Patterson, Arthur and Carlos,
think they have just joined? And in a sense, what happens now?
Meanwhile, the rest of us – witnesses today, many of whom are church members,
how might we reflect upon our own loyalties and commitments,
pledged in earlier times?
And those who are not church members –
perhaps just passing through – curious or indifferent - .
What is it that others are drawn towards?
What perhaps are you looking for?

One answer: consider the promises that were taken:
To join regularly with fellow Christians in worship on the Lord’s Day.
To be faithful in reading the Bible and in prayer.
To give a fitting proportion of your time, talents, and money
for the Church’s work in the world?
And, depending on the grace of God,
to profess publicly your loyalty to Jesus Christ,
to serve him in your daily work,
and to walk in his ways all the days of your life.
Good promises to make – a clear set of disciplines;
ways to train and maintain the muscles of faith – keep us spiritually, in shape;
ways to build resilience, for when times get tough,
or the lamp burns low.

These are the guidelines to of faith – tested over time –
not exactly club “rules”, more “best practise.”
But “rules” only convey so much.
They don’t capture the essence/culture of our association.
For that, we might pay attention to today’s Gospel –
but with a warning - it may prove disconcerting.

Nazareth. The prodigal son, Jesus returns home, after inaugurating his ministry.
Judging by the size and frenzy of the crowds pressing around him,
his reputation runs ahead.
Much has happened since the carpenter's son first left home.
Baptism at the hands of his kinsman John;
retreat into the wilderness – 40 days, holy time.
Already, he has driven out unclean spirits, healed the sick,
broken bread with the wrong sort;
chosen his disciples and declared himself the Lord of the Sabbath.

Alarm bells start ringing –
for his family, fearful that disturbing the status quo cannot go unchecked;
the spotlight he has attracted cannot remain benign – they are right.
The family verdict: “He’s lost his mind. He must be rescued.”

More dangerously, the religious authorities;
the scribes/legalists from Jerusalem –
sent to check out what type of trouble the provincial rabbi
may, or may not, be provoking.
Their verdict/accusation: “He is in league with the Devil!”
That is the mother of all cancellations.

Jesus does not take it lying down:
“If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
If a house is divided against itself, that too will fall.
If Satan is engaged in some kind of civil war – his end has come.”
Do you really think I am defeating the darkness of the world,
at the same time as being the darkness of the world?

He doesn’t stop there:
Jesus compares himself to a burglar breaking into the house of a strong man;
the “house” represents the territory of Satan.
To plunder it, will require strength sufficient, to overcome the householder.
John the Baptist has already predicted the coming of one stronger than himself (Mark 1:7);
while in the synagogue of Capernaum, the cry of the exposed demon:
“Jesus of Nazareth? Are you come to destroy us?” - witnesses to Jesus’ power:
This is not an entirely Sunday School version of Jesus.

While he refutes accusations of being in league with the forces of evil,
Jesus in no way denies or diminishes, their reality.
Instead - he will battle them, and promises to overcome.
Finally, those who accuse Jesus of having an unclean spirit,
he condemns in the strongest of terms.
If we are respectable, law-abiding, religiously orthodox – as I suspect most of us are –
is Jesus really the sort of chap we want to share a Mess with?

At that moment a message comes through.
Your mother and brothers are outside.
Jesus surveys the gathering of walking wounded,
the misfits and the needy; tax gatherers, sex workers, children, “newbie” disciples –
the disparate and the desperate.
They are not interested in dogma or piety;
They just hunger - for acceptance and forgiveness, for healing and love.
And it seems that that in the presence of this one, they have found it.
Jesus sees it and with an inclusive wave of his hand, announces:
This is my family.
When you wake up to what God is doing – what God is asking of you -
Then you are my mother and my brothers.

Jesus is not anti-family.
That he prayed to God, using Abba (Dad/Daddy)
surely speaks something about his own family life.
One of the final actions from the Cross was the placing of his own mother,
into the care of the beloved disciple. “Here is your mother.”
From that time on, the disciple took her into his home.” John 19:27

But in this unsettling encounter and seeming rebuff of his own kin
Jesus is establishing in real time,
a sense of widening responsibility and community.
Space and room for all sorts, not just the right sort.
The liberating understanding that his friendship group
is not confined to the respectable and sorted –
but to the flawed and the frail, the genuinely human,
who have made mistakes, and, most likely, will do so again -
lives in a mess, not necessarily in, the Mess.

“Yes, Jesus divides the house, and that process hurts.
But he doesn’t divide it to make us homeless. He divides it to rebuild.”
(Debie Thomas, Journey with Jesus)
To widen the circle;
reaffirm where we belong, who we belong to;
reimagine, who we are connected to.
And there discover, perhaps to our surprise,
we have found a place in a club that always longed for us to join.

MORNING WORSHIP, ST. COLUMBA'S, PONT STREET
SUNDAY 16^th JUNE 2024 11.00 A.M.
(4^th SUNDAY after PENTECOST)

“The kingdom of God is like someone who scatters seed on the ground,
sleeps and rises, night and day; the seed sprouts and grows,
but he does not know how.” Mark 4:26-27

Tucked away in West London’s, Acton,
hidden behind residential streets,
accessible only by a narrow pathway, lies a hidden gem.
It goes by the name of the St Columba’s Tennis Club.
For members with longer memories,
it holds happy reminiscences of seasonal tennis outings –
part of the complete package of London, Kirk life – spiritual and social -
for young Scots making their way in the Metropolis.

Surrounded on three sides by houses,
the courts are enclosed on the fourth side, by allotments.
As one member explained to me this week –
during the war, the courts, (in those days, grass courts),
were dug up and repurposed for additional growing –
part of the food production efforts necessitated by war.

Allotments, I know are the source of great significance for some church members -
hard graft and authentic satisfaction, a place of peace and perspective.
A contemporary voice, musing on today’s parables,
recalled her father working on summer nights on his allotment.
The steady labour required to raise his neat and proud vegetable patch.
The abundance in August, shared with their neighbours.
Yet the harvest that gave most pleasure, proved most memorable -
what he referred to as, volunteer tomatoes.
Those that had seeded in quite unexpected places, beyond the tidy rows,
unforeseen gifts - just as tasty, a variety of agricultural grace.

“The kingdom of God is … like the sower who labours,
rests and rises, night and day; the seed grows, he knows not how.”

In the first of our pair of parables Jesus reminds his listeners:
while farmers can be attentive, conscientious, skilful,
ultimately, the profound mystery of growth remains beyond them.
The farmer trusts a process that is ancient, mysterious, cyclical, and sure;
seeds, soil, sun, shade, clouds and rain.
Yes, he/she participates in the process by planting and harvesting;
pays attention to the seasons, and gets to work when the time is ripe.
But never harbours the illusion that they are in charge;
knows that they operate in a realm of mystery.
Just so, says Jesus, the kingdom of God;
it is ultimately God’s work, God’s growth.
As Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth:
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”

There is a meditation attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero,
but which was actually written by an American Roman Catholic bishop
for a memorial mass for priests:
“It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of
the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No programme accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation in realising that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen

Jesus’ second parable is the famous mustard seed.
We deploy it all the time to encourage small beginnings –
the significance of the first step, the encouragement to embark;
classic Sunday School landscaping.

Many of you will be aware that amongst the most regular users of this building
are the weekly Support Groups – Alcoholics Anonymous and others.
Often a meeting begins with a member of the group reading the Just for Today card,
A series of prompts/resolutions.
It opens: “Just for Today I will try to live through this day only,
and not tackle my whole life problem at once.
I can do things for twelve hours
that would appal me, if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.”
Reminder of the small, immediate next step,
whether it is Day1 or year 35 of recovery.

Or from the realm of the Church’s Benevolence Committee.
An update on a individual who received some financial assistance, to help buy some bedding.
“They did get several things for him with the money we sent, <
but the good news is that he got the chance of a job,
so some of the money was used to buy him a safety hat and boots.
He got the job, so is now in process of turning his life around
from just a week or two ago!
Nice to know what a little bit of help does.”

Yet, maybe this planting is meant for less settled gardens,
wilder volunteer tomatoes.
According to some, people of Jesus’ day did not plant mustard seeds –
wouldn’t dream of it.
It was a rapid growing weed that would overwhelm other choice plantings.
So, what is Jesus suggesting,
by comparing the kingdom of God with an invasive weed?
And the flocks of birds?
The image of the burgeoning bush offering shelter to the birds of the air is beautiful –
personally, I love it.
But like sowing mustard seeds, is it another kind of instructive joke?
Birds eat seeds and fruit; cause havoc in cornfields.
They are the reason farmers erect scarecrows.
“But Jesus isn't a scarecrow kind of gardener.” Debie Thomas

Is the kingdom of God the place where the unwelcome find a home?
Where the unwanted, untamed – unlike us – are sheltered.
Is the kingdom of God, by its very nature,
a sprawling, spontaneous, un-neat planting of radical inclusion?
And if a congregation – any congregation – is an allotment for God –
can we combine both the hard-worked, well planned rows,
but also notice and delight in the volunteer tomatoes?

Henry Thoreau, he of Walden Pond, who went to live in the woods,
with the determination to live deliberately:
“I have great faith in a seed.
Convince me you have a seed there and I am prepared to expect wonders.”

As an American pastor advised some years ago:
“Take a look around your congregation and your community
to see where life is springing up.
Get close enough to marvel at what God is already doing without your help.
And then try to catch up to it. (Janet Hunt)
That will be the beginning of all that comes next.

As the AA, Just for Today card concludes:
“Just for today I will be unafraid.
I will enjoy what is beautiful and believe that as I give to the world,
so the world will give to me.”
Prophets of a future not our own. Just for today.

[Now to him who by the power at work within us
is able to accomplish abundantly
far more than all we can ask or imagine,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.]