Sermon on Luke 12:49-56

Sermon on Luke 12:49-56
Originally given 14 August 2022 at St. Alban’s Church, Coventry

If in the future I ever question whether God has a sense of humour, all I will have to do is remember that this Sunday the Gospel reading from the lectionary was Jesus declaring division amongst families, this same Sunday that my brothers-in-law and their wives came to hear me preach for the first time. Oh dear. When I discussed the passage with Reverend Barney he suggested it might be more sensible to preach on the epistle reading instead. But as most of you now know about me, I do like a challenge, and perhaps foolishly, I thought it might be fun to tackle the Gospel reading. I guess I’ll find out over lunch! 

There are two parts to today’s Gospel reading. The first is about the division caused by Jesus and the second is about interpreting the times.

‘Do you think I came to bring peace to earth? No, I tell you, but division.’ This verse is…unsettling. Did Christ not come to bring peace? In John 14:27, Jesus says, ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.’ And in the Sermon on the Mount, he declares, ‘blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called Children of God.’ In a few minutes, we will exchange with each other a sign of God’s peace. So surely, this is a faith based on peace. Maybe…sometimes.

Some people may instead point to today’s Gospel and say this is in fact a violent faith. Sadly there is much evidence to that point. A few weeks ago in Belfast, I saw the razor wire still on display on the edge of some neighbourhoods, reminding us of the Troubles that are sadly not a distant memory. Last week I was with my family at the tomb of Richard the Lionheart, the name he received while leading the murderous Crusades under the banner of Christian faith. In my adolecense, I was terrified that my brother would become another Matthew Shepherd, because living in the Bible Belt, it was made clear he would be better off dead than gay according to the Christ they worshipped. And what can I say? How can I defend the indefensible?

I often talk about context when reading the Bible. I would suggest that all this violence, from the Crusades, to the Troubles, from the KKK to Fred Phelps and Franklin Graham, all of this brutality is the result of misunderstanding context. To put it plainly, if your faith is translating into harming another human, then you are misinterpreting your faith.

So how can we interpret today’s Gospel in a way that still promotes peace? Or at least in a way that does not condone violence? I think it is important to point out that in this passage Jesus never tells people to go against their father or mother or sister or brother, he simply says that will be the result of his coming. This is in line with the second part of the passage with interpreting the times. Jesus has come to bring a fullness of life, but there are people who did not want to know that message. There are people who still today don’t want to believe that message. And when people reject the core of your faith, then of course there will be division. That division does not, however, have to result in violence. Sadly, we increasingly live in a society with an inability to disagree well, which has led to violence within relationships.  

But these verses are not just about division in personal relationships. At the time of Jesus, the Roman empire had taken over many lands and relegated many families to poverty. Jesus would have lived in a time not that different to ours, with class struggle and governments failing to support the most vulnerable. The subversive message of Christ is that we lift up the marginalised and give voice to the voiceless. This was not a message the imperialist government wanted to promote. And preaching this message is what eventually got Jesus crucified. Speaking truth to power will always cause division. For Jesus and all the modern prophets and martyrs, these divisions have ended in violence and sometimes death.

Going beyond personal relationships and societal relationships, the peace of Christ, might even bring division within yourself. One of my favourite quotes about the job of the Church is from Archbishop Michael Ramsay, ‘the church should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.’ Last year, Reverend Zoe and I talked about Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s description of ‘cheap grace’ and ‘costly grace’. If you are sat comfortably in your faith, then there is a good chance your faith is based on ‘cheap grace’. In other words, a faith based on rewards without any sacrifice. But the peace of Christ is not about an easy life. In Hebrew the word for peace is shalom, which is better translated as peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare, and tranquillity. These words combine to describe a fullness of life that all people should experience, this is the shalom Jesus wanted to bring to all nations and peoples of the world. And it is our duty as followers of Christ to make sure shalom can be attained by the least in society. In Jesus’ time the least in society would be the foreigner, the widow, the leper, the prisoner, and, once again, things haven’t changed that much for us since then. So in bringing peace, or shalom, Christ is calling each of his followers to also bring this shalom to others, which can sometimes mean putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations. Sometimes we have to overcome our own biases and prejudices to love our neighbour as Jesus taught us. 

In closing, I wanted to briefly address the second part of today’s passage, interpreting the time we are living in. For two thousand years, there have been warnings that the end is near. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. There are plenty of signs of the end of times if we look at our world today, but these are the same signs that have been present for millenia. Nobody knows exactly when a new heaven and new earth will come, but I will say that the time is now. The time is now to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless. The time is now to speak out for the refugee, prisoner, marginalised, and voiceless. The time is now, not because Jesus might come back tomorrow, but because it is the right thing to do. The time is now to bring the shalom of Christ to a hurting world, to be the shalom of Christ in a hurting world. Go create divisions, go rock the boat, go fight the good fight, because Christ came to bring the love of God to all people, and we are now responsible to live out this mission of Christ, and if it’s uncomfortable, then we know we’re doing it right.

Sermon on Mark 1:1-8 and Isaiah 40:1-11

Sermon on Mark 1:1-8 and Isaiah 40:1-11
Given 06 and 08 December 2020 at St. Chad’s, Rubery

May the God of hope enliven us through the words of my mouth. Amen

Today is the Second Sunday of Advent, which is traditionally the day we light the Advent Candle representing peace. But when I began writing my sermon for today, I based it on hope. I could say that I did this on purpose, because right now a bit more hope in the world is something we could all cling to. To be honest though, I simply got my Advent Sundays mixed up and I didn’t realise it until rather late in the day. In any case, I decided that right now we can’t get enough of it, so on this Second Sunday of Advent, I’m going to speak about hope.

Hope can be difficult to reflect on during a global pandemic. At this point in time all the typical stresses and worries of life become compounded because we carry not only the burden of our own lives, but also the burdens of those around us and worldwide. But I do hope the words of this reflection will bring you peace if you are experiencing distress, but challenge if you are experiencing plenty.

The Gospel reading introduces us to John the Baptist, who it is said was sent to prepare the way for Jesus. Preparation and hope work well together, because the definition of hope is the expectation of a desired event. We prepare because we expect Jesus to come again. We prepare because we expect a new heaven and a new earth.

Hope is not an empty wish. We find hope in the words of Isaiah – ‘Comfort, O Comfort my people.’ There is hope in the message brought by John the Baptist in his proclamation of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The refugees fleeing persecution, the children with rumbling tummies, the marginalised protesting injustices all have hope. Hope is about promise, it’s about a future. Our preparations through Advent, and through our lives as Christians, are not about an insurmountable goal that we may or may not achieve. We have hope because of the knowledge that a new day will come. This is not a maybe or a perhaps. This is a certainty.

Now this doesn’t mean there is no challenge in hope. There can still be pain, confusion, or disenchantment in the waiting. There is also struggle, disappointment, despair, and loneliness. The path we are meant to prepare is not an easy one. Isaiah describes that there are deserts needing straight highways, valleys to be lifted, mountains made low, and rough places that are to be made plain. But these challenges are not in vain. Each stumbling block is a step closer to the Kingdom of God, because Jesus promised us in the Sermon on the Mount ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.’

Former Archbishop Michael Ramsey once said, ‘the duty of the church is to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable,’ so it is my hope that I am able to do just that with these words. The comfort for those who are weary and in desperate need is that you are not alone. You have a family through Christ who will give sustenance to ease your burdens. There is never a reason to be without food, clothes, shelter, or companionship. And this is the challenge for those of you who have more. It is your responsibility to support your brothers and sisters in Christ. And although we are all weathering the same storm, we do not all enjoy the same boat. There are some of us in dinghies with our heads just above the treacherous seas, and others who are coasting by in ease. This is a difficult time for everyone around the world, but for those who can do more, we must do more. We are called to do more, for we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. Each one of us individually can make a world of difference, because even in the most consuming darkness, a single candle can light a path.

At this time of preparation, we prepare for the way of the Lord by doing his will. When we pray ‘thy Kingdom come’ we do so with the intention of making the kingdom of God here on earth right now. Of course you can’t feed hope to a starving child, but hope is made tangible in our actions. It is because of hope that we do feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless, and visit the lonely. Through hope we create a world where we give voice to the oppressed and empower the vulnerable. Now more than ever, we must be the representatives of Christ, bringing to all people the Good News. Now more than ever, we must bring hope.

So go, prepare the way. Make straight paths, lift valleys, and flatten mountains. Give hope to the hopeless, give peace to the troubled, give love to the hurting, and give joy to those in despair. Let us embody the spirit of the Gospel brought to us by Christ Jesus. As we wait in this Advent season, let us show hope is an expectation, not a wish. Go, bring the love of God to a world waiting in hope for a new day to come. Amen