The writer Bernard Williams suggests “September tries its best to have us forget summer.” Well, tell that to the weather. This week as the schools go back for another academic year it is always warm and sunny. The Methodist church year begins in September. Some of my friends are standing in front of new church congregations this morning. We begin our fourth year together here today. Where ha f the last three years gone? What has God done with his church at Allhallowgate since I arrived in September 2020? Discuss! Remember my welcome service had about 12 people at it! As we receive eight new friends in membership by confirmation and by transfer from other places, this is a good opportunity to remind ourselves what an attractive church inside and outside is like. Why have people who were once strangers now friends amongst us? Our lectionary readings today point us to the importance of authentic, inclusive, loving community.
“I am nothing.” “I don’t know who I am.” We talk about “our church” – imagine not being part of a “we” group where you are included and becoming one of “ them” –
when you become one of “them” you soon disintegrate physically, mentally and spiritually. We say especially all are welcome but does all mean all really or do we keep those we label “them” out, shutting our door or refusing to go out of it in case we have to engage with “them.” In a church in Brazil, a beggar suddenly entered while in the middle of the pastor preaching. He seemed drunk.
First, he sat in front of the pulpit and eventually got up and asked the pastor if he could sing. After several attempts, the pastor gave in and let him sing in front of the congregation. That’s when everyone was blown away.
The man began worshipping with a powerful and incredible voice. He sang:
“For all of my life. Oh Lord I will praise You. For my air is Your life. And I will never get tired. I can hear Your voice. It is sweeter than honey. That pulls me out of this cave.”
The congregation stood and began to worship God. The Holy Spirit fell in the room; bringing some to tears. The homeless man continued to lead them in a powerful time of worship. The homeless man was a pastor apparently goes to churches and pretends to be a drunk man to test the church. To teach people not to be hypocritical anymore. To teach them that church is God’s home, not theirs.
We so easily discriminate or exclude by our attitudes, unkind words or lack of action. I’ve been reading the history of the old Methodist chapel in Grewelthorpe.
The original heating in the chapel was a hot air system. Under the carpets the old air grates were to be found. It became very inefficient by 1920. Smoke got into the air ducts, so in winter it was a choice between a warm chapel filled with smoke or no heat at all.
A trustees meeting was held to discuss the problem.
At that time Grewelthorpe was in the Masham circuit and a young man was stationed there. Because there was only one Minister he was the Superintendent Minister. This gave him an inflated sense of his own importance. He enjoyed making little jokes at the expense of those he considered to be slow witted country folk. One of the trustees present at this meeting was a local preacher called Joseph Pickles, a man with only an elementary education. But he was very intelligent, quick witted and skilled at repartees. Summing up at the end of the meeting the Minister said "We must get a good big stove it will be useful for local preachers to burn their old sermons." Quick as a flash Joseph replied "And some of the Ministers new ones!”
Today we begin a new church year. Today Lily comes to this point on her journey by professing faith in Jesus and wanting to follow him.
Today we welcome other friends who have joined us and found a home with us and that’s something to celebrate. Let today for all of us be a day of new commitment to build our community and be welcoming to everyone. Let’s make our task to be “us” including everyone and not label others “them” ever. I remember one of my former churches in well heeled West Sussex being twinned with a church in the East end of London. Once a year the folk from London came to the seaside and we gave them tea. And I remember some of my church standing in the door of the kitchen not mixing just staring. And one said to me “how do you talk to people like that?”
How will we be God’s people this year? What is God calling the people called Methodist at Allhallowgate to do and be together this year? We are here, God’s gifts to each other, a rich tapestry of possibility, a people worth inviting others to join, a church that has no walls and no shut door, whose work never stops because we are God’s people wherever we are and whatever we do, every day. Our readings suggest two things we might consider being.
First, really inclusive. Really inclusive. You may have read my worship at home for this week.
The plan came out while I was on holiday and I’m glad I spotted they’d put me down to write it for this Sunday. Well, here’s a paragraph from that service.
“This week’s Epistle reading is about transformation – how we think, how we see those around us, and how we behave. Paul knew that our behaviour is moulded by God’s love, and our minds are renewed by God’s healing power. Why is this important? Because our world needs to see how people can live, and how the world could be.
With transformed minds, this is how Paul invites us to live: ‘Let love be genuine: hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’ He challenges us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
He invites us not to give in to evil or be sucked in by the hate-filled rhetoric of our times. Paul’s words are as challenging now as they were when Paul wrote them. And they are as necessary now as they were when Paul wrote them. Can we make a difference in our world this very day. I think we can.”
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Paul gives instructions to the community in Rome for living a faithful life. When Paul speaks of rejoicing in hope, he is speaking of a truly biblical hope for the awaited day when the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of God and usher in the Kingdom of God on earth. Be patient in suffering because on that day suffering will cease. Persevere in prayer because this is the reverent response to the divine. Prayer that leads always to action: Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Serve the Lord with vigour, ardour and zeal. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. No us and them.
Then we need to get on with it! Methodists are good at having lots of meetings where there’s a lot of talk and little is decided. You will know I’m renowned for short Church Councils!
We need to remember no matter how long we’ve been here, how old we are, we are called to be ourselves. I am not a perfect minister. I get lots wrong. I annoy you sometimes but answering my own question of earlier what’s God done with us since we started ministry together, I think we have become more positive, more optimistic, less serious, more visual in the community, not afraid to make plans and dream dreams. I believe friends God’s spirit is moving, and you know what, if we all muck in together, if we trust God, and we carry our crosses and show some sacrificial love then this could be the most exciting year this church has had for a long while.
In the early Christian communities to who Paul wrote, there was a strong sense that the Kingdom of God was coming soon. The familiar blessing paraphrased from the Swiss philosopher and poet Henri Frédéric Amiel sums up Paul’s advice:
Life is short and we do not have too much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel this journey with us, so be quick to love and make haste to be kind. And I read this the other day. We are to live a life of reverent prayer and a life of faithful action. We are to live as if we have not much time and as if we have all the time in the world.
The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from prison, as he faced suffering with great faith:
“What remains for us is only the very narrow path, sometimes barely discernible, of taking each day as if it were the last and yet living it faithfully and responsibly as if there were yet to be a great future.”
A sermon shouldn’t give you homework but here’s some… Hear the passion, the energy, the effort in this love. Genuine love: hating what is evil, being devoted to what is good; showing a familial love for one another; outdoing one another in showing honour; being unflagging in energy; being aglow with the Spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; remaining steadfast in suffering; persisting in prayer; sharing in the needs of the saints; striving to show hospitality to strangers.
Read the Romans passage again. Commit it to memory. Use it as a checklist. That way we will remember what we are meant to be.
I don’t know what this year will bring for us in detail. We will celebrate our new colleague Sarah’s ordination next July, we will also mark them twenty five years since mine. We will try some new things. We will do what we are good at well. We may even discuss pews! But I do know this. The suffering world cries so often “I am nothing. I don’t who I am.” God in Jesus says through us “you are included. I love you. Follow me. When you were nothing, I made you something. You will never be alone. And I send you to tell those who need to hear that urgently they matter too.”
Isn’t that amazing good news to begin a new year with?
