29 August 2021, Trinity 13, Year of Mark, Prayers and Reflection
Saying Sorry (Prayers of Penitence)
Father, you command the world into
being in love,
but we are fearful of all you call us
to.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Jesus you command us to love, and
love us into love,
but we think our own impulses are
best.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Spirit, you renew us in love more
than we dare hope,
but we stay stuck in our own plans
for coping.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Deuteronomy
4:1-2, 6-9
Reflection (Sermon)
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with Thee.
If you want to know where we get the
idea that there is “no shadow of turning”
in God, take your sheet with you, and read the excerpt from the Letter of James. The link is
deliberate. That’s where it comes from. But I’d like to turn from the
no-turning.
I’d like us to think about the First Reading, from the Old Testament, the
Hebrew Bible. I have said it before, and I’ll say it again (and I won’t
apologise for repetition), that the Old Testament reading is chosen because
people think it deliberately anticipates,
echoes, mirrors, reflects, or picks up a theme (or maybe more than one)
from the Gospel of the day.
·
In
today’s Gospel, Jesus is speaking about commands
from God, and traditions from human beings. The commands from God, Jesus is clear, are good.
·
In
today’s First Reading, Moses is
speaking, and he too is saying that commands from God are good.
Why are the commands from God good?
Why, in particular, is Moses so clear that the commands from God are good?
Sometimes, people have strange ideas
about this. Sometimes people think that Moses (and his followers then, and his
followers throughout time) thought that God was a cruel Commander, a fierce Warrior
King. God’s commands were good, then, only in the sense that it was bad for you to disobey them. God is (on
this reading) at God’s kindest a Lawgiver, and God’s people need to knuckle under and obey the laws.
Another idea (different but related)
is that Moses thought the commands from God are good, in the sense that they
are as good as it gets.
God is so distant,
so “transcendent” (to use the big word),
so big (to use a simpler word),
just so different from us,
that the only point of contact we can have with God is through these
commandments. God is a Lawgiver, because the idea of God having anything more
to do with us than the bare minimum
(keeping us from harming each other) never occurred to Moses.
Well, if we read today’s First
Reading, we can see
how foolish,
how bluntly wrong these
ideas are.
What does, actually. Moses say?...
He imagines other peoples saying in amazement [words adapted here]:
Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!
What other nation has God so near
to it as the LORD is whenever they call to him?
God so near.
The commands are in themselves signs and promises that God is near.
The commands tell us that there is a
Commander, yes,
and
·
that
God the Commander really cares about
those in God’s care,
·
and
his commands are to lead them to a good
life,
·
and,
as a good Commander, God is – God stays – close
to God’s people.
·
God
can be called upon.
At any time, God can be called upon.
That’s written in to the commands, as it were.
God so near.
That’s the core message of Moses,
whatever else we might have picked
up, or other Christians might have picked up.
So…
God gives commands about what to eat
and what not to eat
– as a sign that God is near when we
eat.
God gives commands about who you can
marry and when you can have sex
– as a sign that God is near in
family life.
God gives commands about when to go
on pilgrimage, and where to
– as a sign that God is near when we
gather as people of faith.
God gives commands about keeping your
scales fair and accurate
– as a sign that God is near when we
buy and sell.
God gives commands about protecting
young animals in the field
– as a sign that God is near when we
are enjoying nature.
And so on.
God so near.
*
We must ask:
what do we do with this,
this insight from Moses,
this conviction from Deuteronomy?
Jesus is a Commander of course,
but (at least on one occasion)
insists that
his one new commandment is that we
love one another.
That is good and important and true.
But it doesn’t give us a whole panoply or pattern of signs of God’s
closeness,
that Moses talks about, that Moses
sings the praise of.
Well, I want to suggest that
wondering where that leaves us
is the right place to be.
I even want to say further:
wondering where that leaves us
is close to the heart of the life of faith for the Christian.
The life of faith for the Christian
might even be summarised in this way:
·
We
are drawn to Jesus.
·
We
are convinced he can supply what he
needs.
·
We
can an intimation, a hint, or maybe
more than that - maybe a strong sense - that Jesus loves us, that the love of God radiates through Jesus.
·
We
call Jesus Lord, our risen Lord.
·
Another
way of saying that is to call Jesus
Commander.
So we look to Jesus not only as Friend and Lover and Beloved.
We also look to Jesus to give us
commands.
We look to Jesus to tell us what to do.
I cannot tell you, quite, what Jesus
is telling you to do
(though I might have to say when I
think you’ve misheard him).
You cannot tell me, quite, what Jesus
is telling me to do
(though you might have to say when
you think I have misheard him).
The task is to listen, to listen in, to listen out, for the command, for the
word.
Jesus is Emmanuel, God-is-with-us.
Jesus is God-so-near-is-with us.
We can expect him to speak to us, lovingly to command.
We may use this space and time to
sense how he may be speaking.
Yes, we may use the week ahead - and
indeed all our lives ahead –
to sense how he might be speaking.
But, look, listen, here is a dose of stillness right here.
We can begin that sensing right here.
“Jesus, who is God-so-near-is-with us,
speak with me, command me, as you will.”
You may say it:
“Jesus, who is God-so-near-is-with us,
speak with me, command me, as you will.”
Amen.
Prayers (Intercessions)
Jesus our Commander, free us to serve you.
Jesus, you command us in love to love.
May your whole Church be a haven of
love, care, and service.
Bless Bishop Graham,
all who bear the burden of leadership
throughout our Churches,
and all who challenge the Church from
its margins and beyond.
Jesus our Commander, free us to serve you.
Jesus, you command us in love to love.
Bless the whole human family, in all
its chaos, violence, and lack of care.
Give wisdom to all in authority.
We renew our prayers for the peace of
Jerusalem,
and for peace with freedom with
justice with forgiveness
throughout the Middle East,
offering you our sighs and tears for
the people of Afghanistan,
both refugees, and those unable to
flee.
Jesus our Commander, free us to serve you.
Jesus, you command us in love to love.
Bless this place,
and all who live, work, or visit
here.
May this be a place which bears
witness to your transforming grace.
Be close to all who are lost in
despair, or pain,
or ways of living which do not work.
Jesus our Commander, free us to serve you.
Jesus, you command us in love to love.
Bless all those who are unwell or
face dislocation of any kind.
Be with them as the Healer you are.
In the silence, in the stillness,
we name before you those on our own
hearts and in our own minds…
Jesus our Commander, free us to serve you.
Jesus, you command us in love to love.
Draw those who have died further into
your gentle and generous Light,
all who will die today,
especially those who will die alone,
or unprepared, or in agony,
in war, or at their own hand.
Bless those who have shaped us and
who have died,
whom we name now in the silence of
our own hearts…
Jesus our Commander, free us to serve you.
Jesus, you command us in love to love.
Speak to us, even now, and in this
week,
about how we might serve you through
helping our neighbour.
Jesus our Commander, free us to serve you.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment