God loves you - A non lectionary sermon based on Luke 15: 11 - 32

With just a few weeks left in sunny north Devon I have found myself reflecting about the time here. This has included glancing at numerous sermons preached and the odd article written. Certainly as I look through the sermons I find one essential message even if it is occasionally preached in a somewhat roundabout way. That message is;

“God loves you.”

It is tempting to think I could just have said that time and again therefore saving myself thousands of words and perhaps more importantly saving countless trees that ave been pulled down to provide me with paper.

But that is not the way it is with preachers. And yet if you take nothing else from this morning’s sermon just take those words;

“God loves you.”

Over the seven years here I seem to have done my fair share of baptising infants. Now I know that there are those who believe that baptism is something for those who show repentance and I confess that I have some sympathy with that position which can certainly be argued from scripture. Yet I gladly baptise infants because I believe it to be a sign that we have a place within the cycle of God’s love before we do anything to deserve it. Is not infant baptism a sign that from the very moment of birth;

“God loves you.”

And this is a reality throughout our lives even we we foul up big time. Back in the days when I gave every sermon a title one of them was “God loves Osama.” It was provocative but it had a purpose. After all if God loves a terror chief who not long before had brought mayhem to the streets of London, the whoever you are, you cannot escape the message that in that case;

“God loves you.”

We see it in the parable which we have just heard. This parable is not about the prodigal son as he is often called. It is instead about the father. Jesus told the story to show the nature of God. In it the father is effectively told to drop dead by a son who wants his share of the inheritance right now. He lets him have the inheritance in an age in which he would be more than entitled to let him have a right hook to the jaw. And then whilst the lad messes up big time, he keeps a lookout for the day his son will return. And when the son for self serving reasons does make his way back he doesn’t make him grovel but restores him to the privileges of being a son and puts on a party to celebrate. Of course there’s another son who forcefully makes the point that young brother is a wrong ‘un who doesn’t deserve this special treatment and behaves appallingly to make the point. Yet the father is seen to treat both of his sons better than they could possibly deserve even though he has been hurt.
Why? Because Jesus is using this story to tell you;

“God loves you.”

Sometimes we use a word to describe this love that goes way beyond anything we can deserve. That word is “grace.” The Irish rock band U2 once produced a song by that title. In it they sing of grace as an idea “that changes the world.” Certainly it challenges religious concepts based on fear. Instead it proclaims that there is hope because;

“God loves you.”

In a few minutes we shall be singing a song written by John Newton. Now I know that in some Christian traditions the story of coming to faith is expected to be a “guttermost to uttermost” story as if there was no merit in pre Christian life. I am uncomfortable with this but in Newton’s case it does seem to be the truth. A slaver, rapist and violent man, his coming to faith marks the beginning of a process that would eventually lead him to oppose slavery, serve as a clergyman in the Church of England and write hymns such as the autobiographical “Amazing grace” in which he writes of the grace that “saves a wretch like me.” For he had learnt so well the good news that;

“God loves you.”

And because God loves you there is no reason why his love should be restricted. For it is for all races, religious understandings and types of people. For even those whom we find it hardest to be alongside, those whose deeds put them outside of decent human society are not cast aside by God for God’s love is not restricted or limited in any way. After all;

“God loves you.”

So today we rejoice that we have a place in God’s cycle of love. Knowing ourselves to be loved by God, we see all those who may feel deserted or rejected as also caught up to a place in that cycle. For God loves us even when we are at our most desperate or most ugly. This is truly Love Unlimited.

So yes let us say it, proclaim it together that it is true for us and it is good news for all whom we encounter that we can say with confidence;

“God loves you.”

Then let the message go out that the grace of God in Christ means that our words and deeds to those in isolated dwellings, and those in might cities, to those in hospitals struck down by cruel fate and those in prisons be it through their own fault or the failings of justice, far away and here in Bideford proclaim;

“God loves you.”

And let us see that this truth transforms lives, communities, politics and economics for in the words of a song;

“Love changes everything.”

From this place may we go knowing that we have a shared truth that together we can shout;

“God is love.”

My Letter to Western Morning News in response to a correspondent suggesting Archbishop should keep out of politics

Colin Richey (June 16) seems to fail to understand the responsibility of Christian leaders in his letter criticising recent comments by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

The idea that the Archbishop should keep out of politics is a nonsense. After alll the scriptures are full of political clashes.

The prophets of the Old Testament seem to be continually challenging the Kings. And the issue that dominates in such clashes is the condemnation of the unjust treatment of the poor which is the main concern of Dr William's New Statesman article.

The parables of Jesus are often highly political and those who first heard them would be quick to observe clear attacks on the injustices meted out on the peasants by the absentee landowners who were very much in league with Roman power.

Indeed Palm Sunday is a street theatre in which Jesus sets up his vision of the Kingdom of God with its emphasis upon the dignity of the poor against the wickedness with which Rome ruled and oppressed those poor people.

Scripture presents a clear message that God is on the side of the poor as has been recognised by Roman Catholic Bishops at Medellin, Anglicans in Faith in the City and other prophetic voices such as Martin Luthe King and Jim Wallis. To fail to assert this would be to water down the message of the Bible to such an extent as to make it unrecognisable.

At present a lot of people are having their hopes and dreams smashed by a government which perpetuates the myth of us "all being in it together." It would be a spiritually bankrupt church that failed to raise a protest on their behalf.

At a time such as this to stand on behalf of the poor, the unemployed and those who are vulnerable is not merely an option for Christians. It is a duty. My only regret about the Archbishop's comments is that he didn't go in harder!

That he took the stand he took is to his credit. After all speaking truth to authority is one of the better Christian traditions

A day that changes everything - A sermon for Pentecost Sunday based on Acts 2: 1-21

It's a day that means the world can never be the same!

Pentecost so often the Church festival that passes the world by! The day in which the Jesus story becomes a story without end.

It happens on a day in which Jerusalem was a busy city just as it had been seven weeks earlier for the festival of Passover. Jewish people have travelled great distances just to be there for the celebration of Pentecost, a festival which celebrated both the gathering of the harvest and the giving of the Law to Moses.

Streets would be full but this could be no ordinary Pentecost. For this would be the day in which a group of people who only weeks earlier had seen their dreams crumble, would suddenly come alive to proclaim the story of Jesus in a way they could never have imagined. And this time there would be no running away as happened when confronted with the shadow of the cross. Now boldness in speech and action would be the order of the day.

It all begins in a place where the followers of Jesus have gathered to pray. But this is going to be no ordinary prayer meeting. Instead Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit comes upon them. And his language of a rushing wind and tongues of fire is language rich in imagery to describe that which is the undescribable.

After all the Hebrew and Grek words for wind also translate as Spirit. After all legend had it that with the coming of the Law on Mount Sinai a flame had come down from heaven dividing into 70 tongues of fire, one for each nation of the then known world with only Israel promising to keep the Law.

But this is not a story about wallowing in an experience. Those who have been touched by the Holy Spirit now go out onto the streets and there they begin to tell others of the stories of God transforming the world through Jesus. And whilst the gathering is cosmopolitan, now all are able to understand the message in their own tongues. Whereas the ancient story of the Tower of Babel had suggested that language divided people and blocked their capacity to communicate with one another, Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit comes to unite people and to enable them to share the good news of the gospel with one another.

Not surprisingly people are astonished. Not surprisingly the more cynical suggest that those touche by the holy Spirit are drunk!.

But drunk they are most certainly not. After all the drunken person becomes incoherent. These people on the other hand become more coherent than they have ever been and by the time Peter has addressed the crowd some 3,000 people have joined the community of Jesus followers.

Sometimes Pentecost is spoken of as the birth of the church. It certainly is a day in which the community of believers are enabled to do that which they cannot do in their own power. The Spirit which in the Hebrew Bible came upon individuals who were called to specific tasks is now made available not just for a spiritual elite but for all the followers of Jesus. Why? So that the deeds of power and words of mercy that marked the ministry of Jesus might go on happening, no longer however limited to one geographical location or one moment in time. Yes, this is the day when the gospel goes global and eternal. This is the day when we get the assurance that no Caesar or dictator can stop the gospel because God the Holy Spirit is unleashed into our world and is actually enabling even the most timidly ordinary of us to be used to extraordinary effect. Truly, the Holy Spirit is the guarantour that the Jesus story can never be halted. Why? Because God is present and always will be!

But this is not just a story of the past. The Holy Spirit is at work today. Today people go on being called to follow the Jesus way, to identify with his story and to embrace his values. And to that end The Holy Spirit is today guiding, encouraging and enabling men and women not just in Bideford but across the globe. And as with those early followers of Jesus, we find the Holy Spirit working in us enables us to do more than we could ever do in our own strength.

This doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit is a device to be manipulated for selfish purposes. Far from it! Back in the 1800s an American man sat in a prayer meeting in Bristol. He heard a prayer in which a man spoke of how the world had yet to see what God could do through someone wholly comitted to him. The American prayed quietly that he might be such a person through the power of the Holy Spirit. And D.L. Moody for that was the American's name went on to be hugely used - a man of clumsy speech that led to him being mocked by the arrogant clever clogs of Cambridge University, within days he had been used at that same university that talented young men including C.T Studd the best allround cricketer in England at that time, would not merely seek to follow Jesus but would go on to take that message to China and later other distant lands. And belive you me that episode is but one of many concerning the one time Boston shoe salesman who was refused a church membership in his youth because he couldn't articulate his faith.

But let's not get stuck on big names. The Holy Spirit is God's gift to each of us and is at work in acts of kindness and deeds of mercy in every town across this land including our won town of Bideford. And each of us needs the Holy Spirit, God dwelling in us, if we are to be followers of Jesus rather than mere fans.

Look back for a moment to the Last Supper jesus ate with his friends but a day before his crucifixion. His words at that meal point to parting but in those words he also makes a promise, the promise of the Holy Spirit. In this he was saying that the Divine presence would not be taken from them. But the time was coming when that presence would be not in his physical presence but in the gifting of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost we rejoice in the fulfilment of that promise. for we are not left alone but with what one writer has termed, "The Go Between God" that we might have God's loving presence in our lives, in highs and lows, in joys and sorrows.

Finally back to the concept that Pentecost is the birth of the church. It's a concept that at times is troubling. After all the Christian church has all too often screwed up in terms of its attitudes to war, the existence of slavery and segregation, its toleration of social injustice and indeed its tendency to moral judgementalism particularly at this time in relation to gay people. That is of course not the whole story and each of those wrongs has indeed been challenged from within the church to some considerable effect. But get it wrong the church often does - and yet I would not want to be without the church. Sure she's not perfect and if you want a perfect church please on finding her don't join because as is the case with me you'd wreck it because you like the rest of of ain't perfect! that's part of being human. After all the church is made up of imperfect people but people who have discovered a beautiful truth - that despite our failings God goes on loving us.

Pentecost speaks to us of the true calling of the church. And that calling is to point in word and deed to the Kingdom of God in which there is shalom, the peace in which all are valued, in which all are included, in which there is true justice.

On this Pentecost Day may it be our prayer that God the Holy Spirit is experienced in our lives, our communities, our world and throughout the Church whose birth we celebrate this day.

Final Editoriall Letter to Bideford Methodist Circuit Newsletter

Dear Friends,

This is the last editorial letter that I shall write for this Circuit Newsletter.

There are two reasons for this. One reason is that Rev David Morris will soon be back from the joys of sabatical and raring to take up his leadership role once more. The other reason is that I am in my final two months as a serving minister in North Devon and the time to move on is getting ever closer.

Seven years seem to have gone by quickly and yet the relationships formed during those seven years do make leaving rather painful.

As I prepare to leave I find myself thinking of the many people I have got to know in pastoral situations. Some have left this life and are in the closer presence of God. Others of you I will soon be parted from by a distance of approximately 240 miles.

In North Devon I have seen many people living out their faith in Christ. At times I have been privileged to see quite extraordinary spiritual depths in our people often at cost and in difficult circumstances. I have also seen and indeed been a recipient of wonderful expressions of love.

These seven years have at times been difficult as we have struggled to discern what God wants of us. At times we have felt as though we were swimming against a powerful tide given that the times have seen to be against us and the reality that our demographic profile raises some very real difficulties. However, I cannot leave without expressing a conviction that God's presence has been a reality in our churches and indeed that we have often met God through our brothers and sisters in the faith. For this we have cause to be grateful.

As a family we have found these to be important years in our lives. Andrea has been become involved in working with people who have learning disabilities at Bidna House and we have seen how such people are people who often teach us much about what is really important in life. James and Kaye are both a little bit bigger physically than when they first came to Bideford and have this year been facing the challenges of A Levels and GCSEs respectively. Their lives are being shaped for the adult world and people within the circuit have played a significant part in their development.

Leaving a community we have come to love is certainly not easy. Doubtless we shall pass this way many times given our Cornish connections and it will be a joyful experience for us when we are in your midst again. In that sense it is very different from when we left the Isle of Man where the sea is a real barrier. However, we know that we will be visitors rather than part of the local scene.

Still whilst leaving is hard we do look forward to the next chapter of our lives. We believe that in Nottingham we face new challenges and opportunities and we have found the people whom we have met to be very warm people indeed. We look forward to getting know them better and to becoming a part of their communities. We are sure that as with Man and North Devon we will be ministered to as much as can minister. We shall as has always been the case for us receive more in terms of human kindness and assistance than we are able to give. For we have learnt much of the many virtues of the people called Methodists. Methodism is not a perfect family by any means but it is one that we are greatly privileged to belong to.

As we prepare to say our farewells, I would commend to you the diligent ministers who remain in the circuit and the lay people whose commitment to both God and the people of God are real strengths. I encourage you to pray for one another, to love another and to share your hopes and dreams with one another.

I do not know quite how many sermons I have preached in this circuit or how many words have been compressed within them. Ultimately their message has been quite basic and simple. That message is that God loves each of you to bits. God also loves the rest of society to bits as well and that includes those whom we might find strange or difficult. It certainly includes the poor and needy whom we are called to serve and to be in solidarity with. And that love of God is deeply transformative for in the words of the title of a book by Rob Bell which I commend to you, "Love Wins." Please go on exploring that love and living it out!

Anyhow we just thank you for have been such a welcoming people to us over these last seven years. You will always have a place in our hearts. Our work now lies in Nottingham and as of July 31st we shall be disentangled form the processes of this Circuit. Yet we hope we will see many of you either in Nottingham or on our visits whilst visiting family in Cornwall. We certainly wish each of your every possible blessing.

Roads may separate us by some hours yet we are united in the same Lord and our common faith now and forever.

God bless you,

Paul, Andrea, James and Kaye.

Civic Service Sermon based on Micah 6: 1-8

Politics and religion are often seen as a toxic combination. Secularists argue that religion should keep its nose out of the politics that does not concern it whilst many people of faith contend that faith is about the beyond rather than than the debates of this world.

Many look at times when politics and religion come together with devastating consequences. Think for a moment of religious influences at play in the Troubles of Northern Ireland or look to the theocratic government in Iran where religion is used to stifle both political debate and freedom.

Consider how in Germany during the Nazi era how the so called German Christian movement provided a form of holy oil that gave comfort to that most insidious of regimes. Or look to south Africa where the dominant Dutch Reformed Church offered a theological justification of the sickness that was appartheid. Of course in Germany there were Niemoellers and Bonhoeffers who made sacrifices in the stuggle against nazism at great personal cost, the cost of his own life in the latter case. And of course in South Africa there were the Alan Boesaks and Desmond Tutu's who contributed so greatly to both the theological and political struggles to bring a monstrous system down

I mention these episodes to affirm that whilst the world of faith can sometimes be beneficial in its influence on the issues of the day, it can also be malign. And it is at its most malign when it seeks to dominate in the tradition of the bloodstained Roman Emperor Constantine who following his supposed conversion sought to align the Christian faith with exploitative power structures. Meanwhile the influence of faith is at its best when it is linked to the service mode demonstrated by Jesus who specifically sought to align himself with the powerless, the dominated, the poor and the outcasts.

Jesus was very much influenced by his Jewish background. He knew the Hebrew Bible very well. He knew that the history of the people of Israel was a history with much political conflict. An important part of that conflict was between the Kings and the prophets. Kingship was something that had been permitted reluctantly. and the history of Kingship was pretty tawdry indeed. The Deuteronomic histories of Kings from thetime of Saul going down to the time of the destruction of jerusalm five centuries later was with a few honourable exceptions a history of those who may have started with good intentions but ended up being no better than they ought to be.

This is why the prophets were needed. Whilst court prophets all too often tickled the fancy of their paymasters there were those who dared to speak truth to authority. These were people who looked asked the big questions as to whether society was developing in a way that was true the Divine image. And in a world in which Israel's Kings were all too often seduced by war and violence, all too often part of an elite that failed to justly share the riches of the land, being a prophet was a busy as well as a dangerous calling.

Amongst these prophets was Micah. A man who saw the powerful perverting the cause of justice, he lived about 2,700 years ago. His denounciations of the sins of ruling elites against the poor were colourful indeed likening them to "tearing the skin of my people."

In the scripture we heard this afternoon he puts the ruling elite on trial and finds them wanting. then he goes on to say what God wants and it is nothing to do with the things that rteligion has been reduced to but is now about doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God.

What does this mean for us? To prophets like Micah justice is about fair treatment for all. "Let justice flow like waters" proclaimed Amos. And thge justicew of these prophets is about fair treatment and full inclusion for all people. It is about a bias for the poor, the weak and the disadvantaged. As David Fillingim puts it, "Justice is about restoring the marginalised to their rightful place as full participants in the community."

On this basis our western societies are as much under condemnation as ancient Israel. We have permitted even in the good times a situation in which many are left behind in terms of housing, employment and general living standards. Clever our finance ministers may be but voodoo economics has created a scandal in which over 22 million people in the EU are currently unsuccessfully looking for employment - and that is a figure taken from the notoriously deflated figures of national governments. And meanwhile contibutions to production and caring services alike are denied from being made whilst those denied pay the heaviest price on being scapegoated for problems they never created.
The justice envisaged by the prophets such as Micah mean solidaity with the poor, the homeless, the jobless, the sick in body or mind and those who are old. To fail to treat these people properly and as our equals puts us in dire need of their forgiveness.

As for loving kindness, Micah uses the word "hesed" a word with echoes of God's covenant love for us. This is about the love that goes the whole way and which is rooted in how God treats us rather than in how others treeat us. This is the path of treating others including strangers and those whom we might find strange in a way that does not have to be earned. just as God gives freely to the created order even when failed by that created order, Micah suggests that we are called to be committed even to those who may have brought misfortune upon themselves. Might not this speak of a real reposnsibility to offenders or those who have fallen into addiction or unhealthy patterns of life. The society envisaged by Micah calls for a durability to such people on the lines of that shown to us by God. And whilst charity is not a substitute for economic or social justice, it does have an important role to play in reflecting this Divine compassion.

And finally Micah speaks of walking humbly with God. Now let's be clear that this is not about Uriah Heap "ever so humble" type of attitudes which have nothing to do with being children of God.Instead it is about recognising our limitations. It's about recognising that we are at times tempted to dominate or to look down on others and not just tempted but prone to doing so. We can easily be a contradiction of all we proclaim. More than that none of us are so brilliant that we can in our own strengths build Jerusalem in "England's green and pleasant land." No! We need to appreciate both that our talents come from God and we need God's guidance on how best to use them. In a world that has so manycalls for independence, we do well to recognise that we are dependent on God - a realisation that can help to prevent us being pumped up with notions of our own importance.

20 years ago I brought to an end a four year term as a Town Councillor in Redruth. that term taught me that there was good we could do but equally we needed help in many places. I sympathise with Town and indeed District Councillors when subjected to unrealistic expectations. You can only do your best with whatever limitation are imposed upon you.

But still you have a privilege in both acting and speaking for this town with its commercial life and its public services plus a whole host of community needs and aspirations. In the midst of your busyness I simply invite you to look to the ancient prophets of Israel and to Jesus himself who was in many ways shaped by them. Sure your deliberations will cover a range of issues that were unimagineable in Biblical times. But I believe that prophets like Micah and indeed Jesus himself would whisper to you a simple guidance regarding priorities.

Put the poor and vulnerable first!

Put the poor and vulnerable second!

Put the poor and vulnerable third!

For this is the way of true religion as embodied by Jesus Christ.