Sermon. Are we/should we be passionate with Gd?

Sermon. 22 January 2017. St Michael and All Angels, Little Ilford.

Epiphany 3 (Year A)

Psalm 27.1, 4-9

Matthew 4.12-23

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. [Then immediately:] Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John were the first disciples called.

Did you get what I said?

Did you get what I did?

I preached 'immediately'. And it was not quite comfortable for us (I think). Something of a shock. We may be in the habit of saying 'I'll see to that immediately'. But as and when we actually do, it can be shocking. It's not part of everyday experience.

And it may be that you already see where I am coming from. Let us look at the calling of those first disciples I have just, if rather ineffectively, named.

Jesus says to Peter and Andrew, '”Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people”. And immediately they left their nets and followed him.. he saw... James... and... John... and he called them. Immediately they left their boat and their father, and followed him.'

Can we picture the scene? Can we? What was it about those encounters with Jesus – who is, at least at this point, not especially well known – that made these fishermen – successful business men we might also call them – abandon their comforts and livelihoods, and even their own father, to go with Jesus on some kind of mission - one that had no guarantees about it, and for that matter no clear plans for it? What was it? We don't know. But go they did. And... immediately.

By the way, it is true that in Mark's gospel, very many things happen 'immediately'. It is one of Mark's favourite words. He seems to want to give the impression that everything about Jesus happened in top gear, was relentless, was breathless. But this is not Mark; this is Matthew, and he uses our word, 'immediately' much less. So he must mean it. There was no delay. There was no deliberation. They set off with Jesus immediately.

And think of it this way. If any of our number came into church first thing... hey, let's make it interesting and say it's Fr Brian... Brian races in and says: 'Can't stay. Can't take part in the service. I've met someone new, someone surprising, someone different, and I'm going off with them. No time to explain. Gotta go. Bye...'. And – immediately – he goes.

I think we'd be... perturbed. And not only because that meant you'd be dependent on me for all priestly ministrations in today's service. Throwing everything away at a stranger's command is not what we do. It is not the done thing. It is not the mark of a careful, or indeed a caring person.

It may be that we have at heart just two models for thinking about people stopping what they are doing, and turning to a new life. One is when they do so out of force. You hear that your village is about to be attacked, for example, so you drop everything and flee. (A sadly much too common phenomenon in our troubled world.) The other is, well, romance. 'This is the one!' the lover says. 'Nothing else counts!' So they too drop everything, and they too flee – to Gretna Green or Marbella or wheresoever.

But don't mishear me here. I need to be clear. I am not suggesting that there was anything sexual, romantic or 'anything-like-that', about today's encounter between Jesus and Peter, Andrew, James and John. Not that! I am, though, saying that, if Matthew is right (and we might wonder), there must have been something equally as intense about that encounter. As overwhelming.

And immediately they left everything to follow him.

If we wanted to think not so much about Jesus and his disciples, but more broadly about the relationships of human beings to Gd, and think of those relationships as - not sexual but - as intense as any romance, one place we might turn to is today's psalm. Here are some of its themes (though there are more – do take the sheet away and pray with it through the week):

Gd is my light, my salvation, my helper.

Gd keeps me safe, Gd hides me, so that I am without fear.

I will sing and make music to Gd.

Gd, do not leave me, do not forsake me.

Already there is some of the language of love here, or the tone of something of a love affair. But there is also this:

'One thing have I asked of the Lord;

one thing I seek;

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life;

to behold the fair beauty of the Lord

and to seek him in his temple...

You speak in my heart and say: “Seek my face.”

Your face, Lord, will I seek.'

Does that not sound like someone besotted? Someone saying:

'Look, I just want to be with you,

sit on the sofa with you, look into your eyes.

Nothing more'..?

I think it does.

So the questions we seem led to today are:

Are we besotted,

do we know passionate love for Gd?

Do we long to gaze upon the fair beauty of Gd?

Does a life given over purely to seeking Gd

sound frustrating if not pointless...

or does the seeking itself seem exciting, enticing and what we are made for?

I am letting the silence hang.

I am not going to attempt to answer that question.

Because I don't think there is one right answer.

There certainly are Christians who think that Christianity is always, everywhere, about demonstrating a passionate love-affair with Gd, and, yes, with Jesus Christ. Many, though by no means all of them, would think the best way of worshipping is to sing choruses where you announce, literally hundreds of times 'Jesus, we love you' and such like.

That's not us. And I am not suggesting that should be us. Indeed, you could say that if you need to say 'I love you' literally hundreds of times to someone, whether human or divine, you are really just expressing your insecurity. You are trying to convince yourself, at least as much as the other.

So actually I am not going to say that we should always be intense and passionate when we worship. It sets up unrealistic and unattractive expectations.

Sometimes, indeed (we know this), worship is just something we get on with, because we know or feel it is the right thing to do. And that is perfectly valid. A friend of mine goes so far as to say: 'If people complain to me that their worship is dry, I say, “What's the problem? Why do you want to be wet all the time.”' And we may insist that boring or bored worship is still worship.

But I think we should be open to worship which is itself open to intensity and passion, to something at least a little like a love affair with Gd. Of course, it will be a love affair very different from any love affair we may have within our human relationships. Most obviously, a love affair with Gd does not stop us loving our human partners passionately. Gd is not – is never - in competition with the people we are attracted to, ever.

If we go to church at all, or a lot, we will hear that Gd is love. I wonder – it is an open question; I genuinely don't know – how often we think that this means that Gd is always, gently but persistently inviting us to love Gd back,

• love, often calmly,
• love, be it formally or ritually (that can count),
• love, sometimes, passionately and intensely?

I leave you with my own translation of some of today's psalm verses. Listen out, because they are quite different from the translation we have been hearing. And listen in, listen to what your own inner self is saying about your relationship to Gd.

You may like to close your eyes.

Just one thing I ask from Gd, this.

I seek to stay in the House of Gd all my living days,

to gaze upon the attractiveness of Gd

and to go on searching out, in Gd's Temple...

To you my heart speaks,

telling all-of-me to seek your face.

It is your face, your presence, O Gd, I am seeking.

Don't go. Don't leave me, O Gd of my healing.

Just one thing I ask of Gd, this.

Amen.