{"id":19894,"date":"2025-09-07T10:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T10:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stjameschurchabinger.org\/?p=19894"},"modified":"2025-09-03T11:38:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T11:38:42","slug":"sermon-2025-09-07","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stjameschurchabinger.org\/?p=19894","title":{"rendered":"Sermon 2025-09-07"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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7th September 2025<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Philemon 1-21,\u00a0<\/strong>Radical Kindness<\/strong><\/p>

It used to be that people actually\u00a0wrote\u00a0<\/em>letters.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>I know it sounds arcane, but they would actually use a pen, write on something called paper, and in their own handwriting pen a message to a friend or loved one, then post it.<\/p>

It is so rare these days to get a letter in the post \u2013 an actual hand written letter, in fact I can\u2019t remember the last time I did.<\/p>

Letters are rare things indeed, as they were over 2 thousand years ago, and if you received a letter you treasured it and poured over it with care and attention.<\/p>

Today\u2019s reading from Philemon is a letter too.\u00a0 It\u2019s only 5 paragraphs.\u00a0 Short for the NT.\u00a0 A few words squeezed onto an old letter. \u00a0 But one that shakes the foundations of a society with the Gospel of Jesus. \u00a0<\/p>

It\u2019s written by Paul.\u00a0 He\u2019s in prison.\u00a0 Probably in Rome.\u00a0 He\u2019s 55-60 years old now.\u00a0 A lot of his work in planting churches is behind him.\u00a0 And in prison, he comes somehow in contact with a slave who has likely stolen money and run away.\u00a0 His name is Onesimus.\u00a0 And in this letter, Paul writes from prison to this slave\u2019s owner, Philemon, encouraging him to receive Onesimus back into his household no longer as a slave, but as a beloved brother in Christ Jesus (v.16).<\/p>

Now this is a situation that should NOT be filled with gratitude, love, forgiveness or kindness.\u00a0 It was not OK for a Roman slave to run away. It was not OK for other people to take them in.\u00a0 Slaves could be crucified.\u00a0 People who helped them could be made to pay the owner compensation.\u00a0 And slave owners who acted in ways other than harshness and severity would be seen as weak, as dishonoured in their own houses and communities. So this letter,\u00a0this situation that Paul finds himself in.\u00a0 This is not fine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

Quentin Tarentino released a film back in 2012 called Django Unchained.\u00a0 In one scene, a group of slaves in America in the 1800s are on a forced march.\u00a0 They are in chains.\u00a0 They are treated terribly.\u00a0 Their feet, without shoes, are bleeding.\u00a0 They are thirsty.\u00a0 Their owners shout insults at them\u00a0and whip them.\u00a0 Then a vigilante comes out of the forest and sets them free and wounds their owners.\u00a0<\/p>

The slaves are then faced with the choice of how to treat their owners.\u00a0 And the scene that plays out is one that is far, very far, so very far, from the kind of response and reaction Paul writes about in this letter when he says to Philemon, the owner – receive him no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother, and he writes about Onesimus, who ran away – I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. v. 12. \u00a0<\/p>

It\u2019s a radical kindness and forgiveness when there should be hate and aggression.<\/p>

It\u2019s that kind of letter, this letter to Philemon.\u00a0 And it\u2019s that kind of Gospel.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>

I think the three characters in this letter have some helpful things to show us as we try to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our own lives. \u00a0<\/p>

First, there\u2019s Paul.<\/p>

Paul, is a man, who is completely taken by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. \u00a0 He describes himself not as an apostle, or an amazing church planter, or speaker, or even a successful tent maker, which was his trade.\u00a0 Paul describes himself first in this letter, as a\u00a0prisoner of Christ Jesus<\/em>.\u00a0 He sees his life, his current situation, as completely caught up in Christ.\u00a0 Even though he\u2019s in prison.\u00a0 Even though he\u2019s not sure where his life is going to lead.\u00a0 Even though he\u2019s not in great health.\u00a0 Despite and IN all these things, Paul sees his life in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Christ is not separate. \u00a0 A Sunday from 10.30-11.30 kind of thing.\u00a0 He is in prison in Rome but describes himself instead as a prisoner for Christ.<\/p>

We are Surrey Hills people for Christ.<\/p>

We are commuters down the A25 for Christ.<\/p>

We are makers of ethical decisions at work, for Christ.<\/p>

We are people for Christ.\u00a0 Grandparents, parents, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, friends – for Christ.<\/p>

We are, in poor, good, or perfect health,\u00a0for<\/em>\u00a0Christ.<\/p>

We\u2019re invited to see no separation.\u00a0 No compartments.\u00a0 But Christ in every part of our lives. \u00a0<\/p>

But Paul, also helps us with something else.\u00a0 Paul shows us what it\u2019s like to be an advocate.<\/p>

Paul lives out the Gospel of Jesus, like this.\u00a0 He advocates, he pleas on behalf of, he stands in, he helps a brother.\u00a0 He takes up his pen, and puts his own self, his own reputation, his own character, his own wallet on the line.\u00a0 If he owes anything, Paul writes to Philemon, if Onesimus the slave owes anything, charge it to my account.\u00a0 Paul is an advocate for a man who has no rights, no standing, and is unable to do anything about it.<\/p>

And as Christians, I think that\u2019s helpful.\u00a0 Living out the Gospel, we\u2019re invited to be advocates for those who need it.<\/p>

It\u2019s hard, almost impossible, not to think of one Christian in particular who was an amazing advocate.\u00a0 He gave his life to a cause.\u00a0 And I want to read you part of his speech that helped to change the course of many lives and the course of history.<\/p>

Spoken to the House of Commons, 12 May 1789.<\/p>

\u201cWhen I consider the magnitude of the subject which I am to bring before the House \u2014 a subject, in which the interests, not of this country, nor of Europe alone, but of the whole world, and of posterity, are involved: \u2026. I must speak of the transit of the slaves in the West Indies. This I confess, in my own opinion, is the most wretched part of the whole subject. So much misery condensed in so little room, is more than the human imagination had ever before conceived\u2026. A trade founded in iniquity, and carried on as this was, must be abolished, let the policy be what it might,\u2014let the consequences be what they would, I from this time determined that I would never rest till I had effected its abolition.\u201d<\/p>

William Wilberforce, a Christian.\u00a0 An advocate for others.\u00a0<\/p>

How is God calling us to be advocates today? \u00a0<\/p>

Second, there is Philemon.<\/p>

Philemon, who receives this letter is helpful to us, I think, because he is a man who practices forgiveness.\u00a0 And does it when it makes no sense in the least.\u00a0 Remember,\u00a0He\u00a0<\/em>is the one owed in this situation.\u00a0\u00a0He\u00a0<\/em>is the one wronged.\u00a0\u00a0He\u00a0<\/em>is the one who has lost.<\/p>

Here is a man, whose name actually means \u2018Love of brother\u2019.\u00a0 And here is a man who, faced with this decision extends forgiveness and kindness radically, well beyond the custom of the day.\u00a0 Well beyond expectations.\u00a0 But does so completely.<\/p>

I just picture a Christian here in Philemon who is known by love, acceptance and forgiveness. They are a force in his life.\u00a0 Forgiveness and grace are a power in his household and on his street.<\/p>

Could it be, that we\u2019re being called to forgive radically, completely, when we know it is not deserved or even expected?\u00a0 Are we being called, to be a Philemon?\u00a0 To love our brothers and sisters anew, to show a radical kindness. \u00a0<\/p>

And lastly, there is Onesimus.<\/p>

He is a slave running for his life.\u00a0 Imagine his journey from his home \u2013 ancient Greece \u2013 to somewhere in Rome.\u00a0 Looking over his shoulder all the time.\u00a0 No idea what the future might hold.\u00a0 Knowing that he owes a debt he\u2019ll never repay.\u00a0 Not in control of his fate.\u00a0 A sense that his options are limited to none. \u00a0 And somewhere along his journey he meets a Christian, and he finds himself face to face with something he never could have imagined.\u00a0 The possibility of grace.\u00a0 He\u2019s the receiver not of judgement or cruelty, which according to the law, he deserved.\u00a0 He\u2019s the receiver of forgiveness and grace.<\/p>

Onesimus is someone we can remember who\u00a0received<\/em>\u00a0radical kindness when it seemed completely impossible.\u00a0 And that is helpful for us because he reminds us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has a power we can\u2019t imagine or predict.\u00a0 All the regular stuff is transformed. \u00a0<\/p>

There\u2019s a legend about Onesimus that I like to believe.\u00a0 The legend is that Paul does send him back to Greece, where his master Philemon greets him, receives him.\u00a0 Onesimus gets his freedom.\u00a0 Becomes a Christian leader in Greece.\u00a0 Eventually becomes bishop of Ephesus, a city of a quarter million.\u00a0<\/p>

I think that\u2019s helpful, because Onesimus, whose name means, useful, reminds us that God has a use for us.\u00a0 Right here and right now.\u00a0 In our lives.\u00a0 In our homes.\u00a0 In this community.\u00a0 God, the living God, has a use for us. \u00a0<\/p>

We\u2019re invited, like Paul, to be advocates for those without a voice; we\u2019re invited like Philemon, to offer radical kindness and forgiveness in our daily lives, to be known, to be famous, for love;\u00a0and we\u2019re invited to live like Onesimus, to trust in the kindness and compassion of God in Jesus Christ. \u00a0<\/p>

And like Paul writes to Philemon so long ago,<\/p>

I repeat here for us, for today, for every, day in this year ahead. \u00a0<\/p>

\u201cThe grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Amen.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Rev’d Kia pakenham \/ 7th September 2025<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7th September 2025 Philemon 1-21,\u00a0Radical Kindness It used to be that people actually\u00a0wrote\u00a0letters.\u00a0\u00a0I know it sounds arcane, but they would actually use a pen, write on something called paper, and in their own handwriting pen a message to a friend or loved one, then post it. It is so rare these days to get a … <\/p>\n

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