Recent Reports

Isaiah 12:2-6 Matthew 20:20-28

Agatha Christie wrote that ‘A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no laws, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that sticks in its path.’ Which to me sounds incredibly harsh and would suggest a real ‘tiger mother’ But this said it would seem that a lot of her daughter’s early care was provided by  her grandparents while her mother was busy carving out her literary career which brought her such fame as well as goodness know what riches! But such quibbles apart I can agree with her opening words that a mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world.   Our children may send us demented at times but their wellbeing and happiness will always I think be central to the lives of the vast majority of mothers and for that matter fathers too.

We want our children to do well, we want them to be duly rewarded for their skills and talents, we want them to be happy and fulfilled and quite simply we want the very best for them. And recognising this I think we can sympathise with the mother of James and John when she made that request to Jesus for her precious sons to be given top places in heaven, Surely, after all they had given up in order to devote their lives to following Jesus was ample proof of their right to be so rewarded and never mind there were ten other apostles who could also qualify for such prestigious places.  Fishing may at times have been a precarious occupation for  her sons , but it brought in the money and ensured there would always be plenty of tasty fish dishes for their supper And I feel pretty certain that Jesus completely understood and indeed was sympathetic to  and maybe even a little amused  by that request; he knew what in effect that mum had sacrificed in seeing her sons leave all with which they were familiar and join this man in his peripatetic, hugely  demanding and most uncertain life not to forget a questionable future.

Whether that request was granted we may or may not ever know or indeed where  that aspiring mother of her so called Sons of Thunder was seated at that heavenly banquet but what I do think is that her maternal bosom  would swell with pride for the way in which both her sons’ memories over more than two thousand years have been remembered  and revered in part through all the churches and cathedrals which have been named in their honour among which of course is this ancient church of Abinger whose patronal festival in honour of James is being held this morning. In the list of dedications of English churches St James ranks as ninth while his brother John only makes it to twelve, But across God’s world goodness knows how many churches and cathedrals have been dedicated to James. The most famous of course is Santiago da Compostela where James’ body is claimed to lie along with those of two of his disciples St Athanasius and   St Theodore. Traditionally James’ remains were discovered by a shepherd or in another version of the story by a hermit early in the ninth century although quite how they got there remains a mystery This amazing find led to the local community building a small chapel in his honour. But how thrilled  Mum must have been when in 1003 work began on building a huge cathedral dedicated to him and which at one point is history boasted the title of the tallest building in Europe at some seventy-six metres. And how thrilled she must be that annually over one million people come to this shrine to honour her son among of which about half have walked the Camino de Santiago as pilgrims finding rest at night at one of the fifty thousand beds provided by one thousand five hundred albergues. What other apostolic mother could boast such a claim?

And here in England we have just the   one cathedral dedicated to St James and that is the one in Bury st Edmund’s. Originally it was simply a church dedicated to St Denis, not even an apostle, but then in the early twelfth century Abbot Anselm wanted himself to make a pilgrimage to Santiago da Compostela but for some reason I could not ascertain failed to do so but instead to make up for his disappointment rebuilt the church and rededicated it to James. Bet Denis’ mum was cross.!  And then hooray hooray in 1914  the church was elevated to the status of cathedral making James’ Mum swell with even more pride at such a promotion,

So yes, all around the world churches will at this time be honouring St James as has been done ever since his beheading; the first of the original twelve apostles to be martyred. So apart from lots of splendid music and  a few facts about our patron saint what else does today mean for us and what would James’ mum   ask of us? What would she like to see us do in imitation of her sons? Is it simply enough that we have turned up this morning or would she and indeed James himself, our patron, our father figure, expect more of us in service to our Lord; the service which so dearly cost James his life?  And for me the answer lies in today’s collect and the passage read from Isaiah.  The words of the collect are crystal clear ‘help us, forsaking the false attraction s of the world, to be ready at all times to answer your call without delay.’ That is exactly what James and John did when they without pause for thought for reconsideration left their nets without delay and followed Jesus. Can we claim that we have done the same whenever Christ has called us to act in his service or have the false attractions of the world prevented us from so doing? A question we might like to carefully consider on our way home after this service. And the wonderful words of the Isaiah reading also tells us how we are to, act in God’s name ‘Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust and not be afraid. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. On that day you will say, “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name”; Make known his deeds among the nations, proclaim that his name is exalted.’ And how do we best carry out this commandment and again the answer surely lies with Jesus’ first instruction to those four-fisherman James and John, Simon Peter and Andrew: ‘From now on you will be catching people.’ Catching people by sharing God’s love with them; by giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, welcome to the stranger, care of the sick, a visit to those imprisoned.’ Teaching them of that love which is extended to all God’s children; an unparalleled love which was revealed through the incomparable sacrifice of his own Son. A love which drove James to fearlessly preach that gospel of redemptive love no matter that it also cost him his life knowing without a doubt that God truly was his salvation and knowing that he could trust implicitly and not be afraid. Can we do our very best to imitate him and know in so doing that while we certainly won’t have the seats of honour in heaven both James and his mum would surely be at least a little bit proud of us. And who knows our own mums   might well be vociferously protesting that we merited a higher place at that heavenly banquet! Whatever the truth may we with true joy and thankfulness sing today both God’s praises and those of his devoted and obedient apostle James.

Isaiah 55: 10-13, Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23

As some of you know I have recently been on holiday for a week and in my absence my lovely neighbour had been watering all my pots. However, she also went off on holiday before my return so for three days neither my pots nor hers were watered. Thus, when I went to make amends on my return some of the plants looked very droopy and in particular my wonderful hydrangea whose mass of flowers looked oh so sad for themselves as did her tomato plants. But hooray after a good soaking they all recovered and I have to say the hydrangea now looks the best it has ever done and all being well there should be a good crop of tomatoes for my neighbour’s delectation.

And thinking about all this and today’s gospel reading it struck me that while I think we can all understand the meaning behind Jesus’ parable about the sower what was not mentioned that the seed sewn in the good rich soil may well produce healthy sprouts and promise a most excellent yield but it still has to be as it were watered and indeed nurtured.  And that is surely where we come in. All of us here must in some way have the seeds of faith within us even if perhaps for some here it is difficult for them to recognise the truth of my assertion.  But however deeply rooted those seeds, however rich the soil, however abundant their promised crop we are I think called to tend them and notice when they might need that careful watering, that expert nurturing to ensure that promise is fulfilled.

And as this is choral evensong I think there is another illustration of this called for attention to the wellbeing and successful fruition of those seeds. Those of you who are in the choir have been blessed with the seeds of a beautiful voice, seeds I fear I lack as they seemed to have fallen on very stony ground. But for all of you who are so blessed you know that it is essential if you are to fill this church with glorious music to join with that of the heavenly choirs that you practice; that you as it were refresh and water  your talent.  If you did not do this the music would like my hydrangea flowers, like those tomato plants droop and fail both to inspire and to give true glory to God.

So I firmly believe that we are called to tend to our faith, never to neglect it and just assume it can manage without any sort of ‘watering’ or ‘nurturing’ from us. Coming to this service this evening will surely help refresh and invigorate our faith and even give us that very real sense that our worship is joined with heaven but what about in the coming week? Will we be sure to keep an eye on it or just leave it to luck?  And here I think we need to look at the example of Jesus Himself whom we are told in the gospels so often took himself off to a quiet place to pray, to seek in solitude the very presence of God We live in a noisy, distracting, manipulative world bombarded on all sides by the media all of which can all too easily as happened to  some of the seeds in the parable choke  and over-run us  Are we aware of this danger, this possibility that our faith may become overgrown with the worries the  concerns and all the flim-flam  of a secular world? Our last hymn this evening points to this need to take care not to be ensnared by the thorns of choking care, the gilded baits of worldly love but to be prepared every moment to watch and pray and look not at those worldly temptations but to the glories of the eternal.

I am quite certain we need within the framework of our daily lives to allow ourselves time for Godly refreshment, for that essential watering and nurturing. And mostly I think we can achieve this by following the example of Jesus himself through stepping right away from all the demands and concerns of daily life and make real space for prayer and quiet contemplation.  Quiet contemplation of the innumerable rich blessings which are surely the soil in which our seeds of faith have been planted. Quiet contemplation of just what our faith means to us and how it has shaped us to bear fruit in God’s name and of how by careful husbandry and with God’s ever-present help that faith will continue to grow and we can produce a harvest of even more fruitfulness in the years ahead. Perhaps too we can find that much needed reinvigoration of our faith through being outside be it for a walk or simply to sit and look at and absorb   all the beauty which surrounds us. I’m sure Jesus did exactly this as evidenced by his many references to nature found in the gospel.

My hydrangea was planted in good rich soil and had all the promise of an abundance of flowers but without water it would have shrivelled and died. So too you who are blessed with musical gifts know that you must allow them to be continually refreshed and reinvigorated by practice or they too will not fulfil their potential. And the same goes for our faith it must never be neglected and assumed to be some sort of constant which we can for the most part ignore and which does not need any attention from us. That resolute attention is essential if we are to ensure those thorns and brambles of worldly cares do not overgrow and stifle the growth of those precious seeds of faith. The care of our faith is for each and every day and not just Sundays. But if we do this then surely we will discover that when we do come together on Sundays to offer our worship then it will indeed be replete with the strains of truly holy joy joining together with all the choirs of heaven.

 Matthew 11:16-19 and 25-30/Romans 7:15-25a.

Feeling frustrated is a very human emotion.  I am sure we can all remember feeling frustration at some point with something or someone in the last couple of weeks.  Last Saturday morning, I chose the slowest self-scanning till at the supermarket in the history of the universe, I think I probably could have walked round the store once between each item that registered on the screen!  It was so very tempting to voice my frustration…..

The section of Paul’s letter to the Romans, that we heard read certainly suggests he is becoming frustrated with himself.  Paul knows what is right and good and he deeply desires to keep the law.  However, he finds himself struggling and doing what is sinful instead.  Paul describes the immense internal struggle he experiences and cries out in frustration,

“I do not know what I want….I do the very thing I hate…. But I do agree the law is good.”

The powerful confessional sentences from the Book of Common Prayer echo the internal conflict Paul is expressing.  They remind us of our need to share with God the ways in which we have let him down.

“…we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, we have offended against thy holy laws, we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done”.

Our gospel passage from Matthew begins with Jesus publicly thanking John the Baptist for all he has done to prepare the way for his own teaching.  But the crowd are less than impressed, John is in prison and already yesterday’s news.  They only want hear what Jesus has to say, they have heard he is a compelling speaker and they want to hear the new exciting things he has to say. 

Jesus, unsurprisingly, has them all worked out and tells them a parable.  He describes his contemporaries as children in a market place arguing amongst themselves about which game they should play.  Some want to play weddings and others to wail as if they are in mourning.  One understanding of this parable is that one group of children, those who are joyful, who want to dance and play music represent Jesus.  While the other group who want to wail as if in a funeral procession represent the fiery, disciplined and self-contained figure of John.  Jesus describes the current generation as those who want to dance, shout and sing but they have heard the message John preached, of repentance and retribution.  They are frustrated and confused.  Similarly, John’s followers do not understand the lack of fasting and lament among Jesus’s followers.  But Jesus does not want his disciples to mourn while he is still with them.  He wants them to rejoice and to immerse themselves in the love of the Father.  The argument between the two groups of children leaves both groups feeling isolated, misrepresented and most likely immensely frustrated.

The lectionary then moves us on to the end of the chapter.  Here Jesus tell us not of frustrated and cross children but instead uses imagery suggesting happy, content and well cared for children.  These are children who have been cared for by their Father, who has taken time to explain the things that confuse and trouble them.  These children have not been left to try to sort things out for themselves.  Their Father has been their sharing in their game, teaching, guiding and delighting in all that they are doing.  God has chosen to reveal himself to little children, those who do not think they have it all sorted out and have all the answers.  He has revealed himself to the curious, the seekers and those who have not developed fixed and inflexible opinions.  Jesus thanks God for revealing the truth of his message to the humble rather than the proud.

And then Jesus shares the justifiably famous and often quoted words,

“Come unto me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest”.

To me, these words convey such tender intimacy, love and care.  They are the words I turn to again and again when I am feeling overwhelmed or exhausted.  There is real sense of being given permission to lay down all that we are carrying, leaving it at Jesus’s feet.  It is an amazing gift to know that we are able to truly unburden ourselves, knowing that all we are worried about is held and acknowledged by God.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me”.

Jesus was sent into the world not to pass judgement but as a shepherd who has compassion for each of his sheep.  Jesus reminds us that “his yoke is easy and his burden is light”.

It is so easy to get frustrated, with others and with the injustices of the world.  It is even easier to get frustrated with ourselves, to become self-critical, to dwell on what we have not done and should have done differently.  We can so easily become just as frustrated as Paul in his letter to the Romans.  Instead, Jesus invites us to place our lives in God’s hands, leaving all of our frustrations with him, trusting completely that he knows all that we need and loves us unconditionally. 

At the end of his Spiritual Exercises St Ignatius of Loyola uses a prayer of surrender that invites us to trust God completely and open ourselves to his will.  I would like to end by sharing this beautiful prayer with you.

“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
My memory, my understanding and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me,
To you Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours, do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
That is enough for me”.

Amen