Some of Tim's Sermons

Does anyone know who the UK’s best selling author of the 1990’s was? It is, of course, Terry Pratchett. He also happens to be one of my favourite authors, especially his Discworld series. There is, however a slight problem, with the books in this series. There are no chapter breaks. The writing just goes on and on. The reason that this is a problem is that you have to be really disciplined to stop reading. I don’t know about you, but if I’m in bed, reading a book, I’ll look at the time, and think, I really ought to go to sleep, I’ve got an early start – I’ll just finish this chapter and put the light out. Which is fine. Unless there aren’t any chapters and suddenly it’s 1 in the morning and you’re only going to get five hours sleep. Chapter breaks give us that opportunity to stop, to make a cup of tea, to have a think about what we’re doing. There might be a change of scene, a development of the story, a new character introduced from one chapter to another, but there’s also a sense of continuity. It is, after all, the same story.

When I started thinking about today, it seemed to me that in many ways, for many of us, it is a chapter break in our lives. For the confirmation candidates, it is a chapter break. There is a continuity – they are continuing in their life of faith, but there is also a sense of something new. A fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit into their lives, an opportunity for them to confirm their intent to live as disciples, followers and learners, of Jesus. For Richard and Linda there is a new chapter opening up in front of them. There is a new place to live, new friends to make, but also the continuity of their marriage, their family, and the faithful God who walks with and ahead of them in to the new things.

For me, there is the new chapter of serving at All Saints and St Catherines. I continue to be the person that I was, with the same strengths and weaknesses. I continue to be a child of God, called and beloved. But there is a new shape to my ministry now, a new group of people and communities to get to know and to walk and work with. And, for the churches of Eyton and Wellington it is a new chapter. We celebrate the long histories of worship and faithful witness in these places and communities that these churches have been part of. We have an inheritance of faith to pass on, and we look forward to discovering together what God is going to do with us as the next chapter of our story unfolds.

So, we have an opportunity this morning, at this chapter break, to take a moment and to breathe and to ask the Holy Spirit to counsel us, to comfort us, to give us wisdom as we prepare for the new chapter.

In the two readings we’ve had this morning, we’ve heard about two men who were facing new chapters in their lives.

The first was Joshua. Up to this point, Joshua has been Moses’ assistant but Moses has died, so God has called him to take Moses’ place and to lead the people of God into the land that God had promised Abraham. Now the people have been here, on the verge of going into this land before. Forty years ago, just after they had been rescued from slavery in Egypt by God, they had arrived here, ready to enter the land that they had been promised. Moses had sent twelve of his men to go and have a recce, to see what the place was like. The twelve came back and said that the land was great, fertile and beautiful. There was just one problem. There were already people living there and they were massive, and would slaughter them if they tried to move in. Except Joshua and Caleb, who insisted that they should trust God and go for it. But the people were afraid, and started to look back to Egypt – perhaps slavery hadn’t been that bad. Because of their lack of faith and trust in God, they were sent back into the desert to wander around for forty years until all those who had not believed were dead, then God brought the people back to the Jordan, ready to enter the land, under Joshua’s leadership. There was continuity with the past, it was the same place and the same God, Joshua was taking a lead in encouraging faith, but it was a new chapter, something new was going to happen – it was time for the promise to be fulfilled.

As God commissions Joshua and the people for this new chapter there are two key commands that God gives them. One of them is so important that it is repeated three times. “Be strong and courageous” “Be strong and courageous” “Be strong and courageous” Now we know from the Joshua’s history that he was a courageous person – it was him and Caleb who had wanted to go ahead with the invasion forty years ago. Nevertheless God reinforces this command to him. He and the people are going to face enemies and challenges that they have not faced before. They must not allow fear to stop them from acting, to dismay them, they must trust that God is with them where ever they go. We also, in the various new chapters that we are facing, are commanded to be strong and courageous. I don’t know what your reaction to that is, but for me it can seem a bit daunting, I’m not sure I can do it. The good news is that when God commands us to do something, God gives us what we need to obey.

The second command God gives Joshua is to keep God’s law, and more than to keep it – to meditate on the book of the law day and night. It is this that God says will lead to Joshua’s success. And it seems to me that it as we do that, we discover the resources that God has given us to be strong and courageous.

We are taught by the prophet Isaiah that, “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” In Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth we are taught that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. We are commanded to be strong, but we do not have to find that strength from within ourselves, God gives it to us.

We read in John’s first letter that perfect love casts out fear. When we are afraid or anxious and need courage we find it in the Father arms of God, embracing us and encouraging us. Again and again Jesus tells people not to fear. In our schools, our workplaces, our homes, our friendships, in the new chapters we are heading into, we are called to be strong and courageous ambassadors for Jesus and his love and we can fulfil that command because of Jesus and his love for us.

That love was shown to us by his life on earth, by his death and resurrection. The section of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ life that we read this morning occurs just as Jesus’ public ministry is about to start. This really is the beginning of a significant new chapter. After the drama of stables, angels, shepherds, wise men and a brief trip to Egypt to escape a homicidal Herod, Jesus has had 30 years of growing up quietly in a Northern backwater, probably working as a housebuilder, supporting his widowed mother like a good Jewish oldest son. Now it’s time to embark on the final three years of the mission he came to earth to fulfil, but first he’s going to be baptised.

As his cousin, John, says he doesn’t need to be baptised – being baptised by John was a sign of repentance, of being washed clean of old sin and declaring an intent to live in a new way. Jesus had never sinned, so he didn’t need to be baptised, but he chose to be so that he could identify with those he had come to rescue from the power of sin and death. As he makes this choice we see the Spirit of God coming and alighting on him, and hear his Father speaking words of love over him, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” These two things sustained Jesus throughout the new chapter that he was entering – the presence of the Spirit and the affirmation of the Father.

Even more good news is that both of these things are available to us. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven to fill Jesus’ followers. The same Holy Spirit is present with every Christian today. The Holy Spirit that strengthens, encourages, empowers, comforts, heals, and intercedes for us is with us as we live each chapter of our lives following Jesus. Our Father God loves us, sings over us, delights in us, and affirms us. You are my daughter, my son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.

In a little while we will be praying particularly for each of the confirmation candidates that they will be filled anew with the Holy Spirit and that they will know the affirmation and confirmation of God’s love for them as they begin a new chapter in their lives. The Holy Spirit, God’s affirmation, and the courage and strength that flow from it, are available to all of us – to Richard and Linda, to me, to the churches of St Catherines and All Saints, to each of us in our own stories.

There may be some here this morning, for whom today is going to be the beginning of a significant new chapter. It may be that Jesus has featured in your story in some way up to now, but he’s been on the edge, not really at the centre of the story of your life, but you want that to change. You know that the way that story has been going hasn’t been right, and you want the next chapter, and the ones beyond that, to be better, to have Jesus in them – right in the centre. If that is true for you, then you have the opportunity this morning to make that change – just tell him that’s what you want. Perhaps come and find someone with a green lanyard after the service, and ask them to pray with you.

We take a moment now, to give our stories to God. To ask the Holy Spirit to fill us anew, to receive the affirmation of God, and to draw on God’s love for our strength and courage. “You are my child, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”