My Sermon for Trinity 2

Sermon for Trinity 2

We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, his life death and resurrection. In him we are saved and made free! In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.

The King sends out invitations to a wedding and all the guests respond one after another with reasons why they cannot go. The first “I am so sorry but I am on a zero-hour contract and I have to work that day or I will lose my job” or another “Oh, we would love to come but we don’t really do church weddings …. Or perhaps the third “we are in India that week”. The king responds with anger, go then, go out and bring me the poor, the blind and the lame, bring me the homeless and the hopeless. Invite all who will come. Why though did it take the rich and popular to refuse before the poor were invited? Why were they left out of the picture and only invited as a last resort?

This theme of invitation speaks very much to our own campaign to invite local people to attend our Sunday service and the 100 letters inviting anyone and everyone to hear the message we have for them. Some people are scared I think to talk about religion, they believe it causes arguments and serves to damage human relationships. This is perhaps understandable because of what is happening around the world at the moment. What is the answer then to assuage peoples fear? What are the magic words we can say which will turn the hearts of men and women towards God? In short how do we do the work we are called to carry out at this time in this place?

(Pause)

When I was little and attended Sunday school occasionally, the lady leading it would periodically ask us a question, to which the answer would always be “Jesus!” because we always knew what the answer was going to be we didn’t always listen to the lesson, nor the actual question itself! But how wrong is that simple Sunday school faith? Actually in the final analysis isn’t our Lord, our God and our King Jesus Christ, the first and the last, the alpha and omega. Isn’t he always the answer?

(Pause)

We (like the servant in the parable) are called to invite everyone to hear the gospel and come to a living relationship with the true and living God and his church. The servant doesn’t simply remain inactive in his duties to invite anyone who comes, rather he is sent out to find them, so are we.

When we do find them, when we share that God loves them, that Jesus died to save them, it is possible that they will respond from a place of hurt. With questions such as these…

It is easy to proclaim you Lord, in times of plenty and joy, when there is abundance of grain
Much harder to enthrone you, in tear streaked grief, or gut wrenching pain

You are Lord of the dance, baby Jesus, ever meek and always mild
Tell that to the woman who’s just miscarried her third child!

You healed the sick, made the lame walk, the deaf hear and the blind see
Yet now the cry rings out amongst us “if you healed them, why can’t you heal me?”

Fear, depression, pain and loss. Do these have any place in our church? What does the gospel message have to say to all of us who have asked these sort of questions in our own lives, and also to those who we might encounter in the future?

A further few verses from the poem I quoted just now reveal what I am getting at here.

Let us cling to our King, in the rain, storm and drought
Allowing our pain and anger and even our doubt

With the gift of this sweet Child, this tangible gift of grace
Your Covenant ever new, your sign of hope in this place

The family, your Church in miniature here at this place on earth
Not perfect, but in its humanity broken, rejoices at this birth

King incarnate, in Horfield, in Bristol and in grace everywhere
You are not just hinted at, or abstract, you are truly there

Jesus please hear me, please listen even in my grief
Lord I do believe “help thou mine unbelief!”

Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine et homo factus est." "And by the Holy Ghost was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made man” this is our answer to those questions and our own fears! This is our belief and the belief of holy mother church. That the Lord Jesus Christ entered our human world, at a particular place in space and time, that he got tired, he got sand in his toes, that he knows all of the wonder and beauty of our world and the feebleness of its inhabitants, not only because he created us and knew us before the world was, but also because he has experienced it, like we have…. But so much more than we have, for he was bruised and wounded, spat upon lied about, and eventually murdered as a criminal because of the lies of the people and the political fears of the romans.

In the words of business, this is the USP, the unique selling point! But it is oh so much more than that! It is the truth, a living reality sharper than any two edged sword! That is the invitation which we offer to all who would receive it! Jesus is the answer to all the questions of pain suffering and doubt. He lived, he walked among us, he was crucified, laid in a tomb and then on the third day he rose again. He lives, he lives who once was dead, he lives our ever living head.

Then my beloved brothers and sisters, let our answer to that invitation which our lord presents to us, that of his very self, let our answer be with those disciples of old who when asked by our Lord Will ye also go away? Let us say with Peter Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen