Talk given by the Rector at services for the Patronal Festival of St Nicolas on 9 December 20071st Reading: Isaiah 26:1-6
Gospel: Matthew 7:21-27
I
had the privilege of officiating at a wedding yesterday. We sang
'Morning has broken' - with the somewhat ironic start to verse 2 -
'Sweet the rain's new fall, Sunlit from heaven...' Rain certainly fell,
though I don't recall it being sunlit! Anyway, as in every wedding, the
bride and the groom committed themselves to each other 'for better, for
worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health...'
Now,
of course, as with every couple, we very much hope that they will
experience more of the better than the worse, more of the richer than
the poorer, more of the health than the sickness. But we know from the
statistics of human experience that, for some, from time to time at
least, it's going to be the other way round. That their commitment to
one another will be tested by the harsh realities of things not working
out quite as they - and we - would hope.
And it's not just
married couples, is it? None of us knows quite how our lives will pan
out. We hope for more of the better than the worse, more of the richer
than the poorer, more of the health than the sickness. But it could
very well turn out to be the other way round.
But the good news
is this. We may not fully realise it, but you and I have the secret of
how to thrive despite this sense of uncertainty. We don't have to try
and pretend that all will be well and nothing bad will happen - as
people so often do. Do you remember the poem 'If...' by Rudyard
Kipling? It includes the challenge, 'If you can meet with triumph and
disaster, And treat those two impostors just the same...' Well, the
good news that we celebrate today is that you and I, whoever we are,
can do just that...
There was once a painting competition in
which the artists were invited to paint a picture entitled 'Peace'.
Various works of art were submitted. Gentle pastoral scenes,
captivating sunsets, views of azure seas lapping onto sandy white
beaches... you can imagine the sort of thing. The winner did something
very different. The picture which won first prize was a painting of a
violent storm at sea. In the centre of the picture was a tall sailing
ship being tossed around by the waves. All seemed complete chaos and
upheaval. Apart from in the crow's nest, where the artist had depicted
a bird which was calmly asleep, its head under one wing. "Ah yes," said
the judge, "this is a picture of peace. All the other entrants have
painted stagnation!"
Today's first reading was chosen by those
who compile the Church of England's list of Bible readings as one of
the passages to be read on the festival of St Nicolas. While I was
growing up, one of my favourite texts from the Bible comes in Isaiah
26. It really caught my imagination for some reason. I remember it most
vividly in the words of the Authorised Version, the rather
old-fashioned but nonetheless beautiful version of the Bible we used
when I was a child. 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is
stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for
ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.'
The
modern version goes like this: 'You will keep in perfect peace him
whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord
for ever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.'
I think
I have some idea about what 'peace' is. But what, I wonder, is perfect
peace? What do you think? Well, I think I want to suggest that perfect
peace is peace a peace that nothing can disturb or shatter, no matter
what happens, a peace on the inside, a peace for better, for worse, for
richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. It's what St Paul calls
'the peace of God, which transcends all understanding', the peace of
God which doesn't make any sense - because it operates at an altogether
higher level. It sounds good, doesn't it - but where does perfect peace
come from?
Two men decide to build themselves houses. Houses
that, once built, look pretty much the same, despite the way they're
often portrayed. They're both solidly constructed. They're both
comfortable to live in. An unsuspecting visitor would find little to
choose between the two of them. The two builders look much the same as
well. There they are, each one sitting on his patio, having a cup of
tea and admiring their work. Under a cloudless sky, all is well.
But
then the crisis comes. Worse rather than better. Poorer rather than
richer. Health rather than sickness. And this is the point at which it
rapidly becomes apparent that there are in fact very great differences
between the two houses and the men who built them. Although they and
their houses look exactly the same, one man is seen to be wise while
the other is revealed as foolish. One house remains. The other falls
'with a great crash'. Why? Because of the decision they made about what
to build on. The wise man built his house on the rock. Whereas the
foolish man built his on sand.
And the difference between
wisdom and foolishness? The only significant difference between the two
sorts of people Jesus has in mind is in how they respond to him. They
both hear what he has to say. But at the end of the day, wisdom means
hearing what Jesus has to say and putting it into practice. Foolishness
is hearing what Jesus has to say and not putting it into practice.
'What
is a patronal festival and why do we have one?' is a question to which
there are a number of possible answers. The thing I want to concentrate
on today is the idea that a patronal festival is an opportunity to
pause, take stock of where we are and focus on where we're going. What
are we about as a church? What is important to us?
Well, in
the light of where Scripture is taking us today, I think I want to say
this. That we at St Nicolas are in the perfect peace business. We're
about introducing people to Jesus Christ, enabling people to hear what
he has to say and helping people put it into practice. We're about
building lives on the Rock.
This is why we gather together. We
all belong to this glorious rag-bag of a community of people who have
discovered, or are in the process of discovering, that the best way to
live the life God has given us on this planet is to do so with Jesus
Christ at the centre - not only in theory but also in practice.
The
phrase we use to guide us here at St Nicolas is that we are about
'sharing the life of Jesus today'. It's a summary of a rather longer
way of describing what St Nicolas is about which the leaders of the
church came up with a few years ago. Taking the letters that make up
the word 'LIFE' they came up with L for Loving God, I for Involving
everyone, F for Finding faith and E for Enabling growth. I still find
this to be a very useful framework for thinking about what's important
to us as a church.
First and foremost, St Nicolas is about
Loving God - the amazing adventure and awesome privilege to which he
calls us. And so our chief focus is to develop and deepen the
perfect-peace-generating relationship of trust and obedience which God
invites us into with himself - both as individuals and as a community.
This is what our worship is for. This is what guides me when thinking
about how we plan and lead worship. It's not primarily about whether we
enjoy it or find it to our liking. It's about whether it develops and
deepens our love for God.
Secondly, we're about Involving
Everyone - the idea that each of us has a part to play. It's like a
church I heard about in the USA years ago where the noticeboard outside
listed the rector and other ministers in the church. Under 'Rector' was
'The Reverend so-and-so'. And then under 'Ministers' was 'The Entire
Congregation'! That's exactly it: the conviction that Christianity is
not a spectator sport but that everyone has a role.
Picture
the church as a peg board for a moment. A peg board in which there are
a number of holes. And a pile of pegs. The task of church leadership is
to match them up. The challenge of church leadership is what to do when
the holes are round and the pegs are square. We have two choices. We
can either hack away at the pegs and try to force them in. Or we change
the shape of the holes. So tell me - from your perspective - if you are
to be as involved as you could be - where do we need some new holes? Or
which existing holes need a change of shape?
Thirdly, we're
about Finding Faith. The church's mission takes many forms. But chief
among them is getting across the good news of Jesus - his offer of
inner peace and his command to all to change sides and become aligned
with him in order for it to work. The way I think about what we do here
is governed as much, if not more, by what will help those who are not
yet part of us as on those who are.
Fourthly, we're about
Enabling Growth. It's all very well helping people to find faith and
begin the journey with God. But Jesus told his followers to take things
further - to make disciples, to deepen faith not just find it. Not only
to find the Rock but to build on it. And so we're committed to helping
one another grow and develop in our faith, not least through our
network of small groups and home groups.
It's a tall order, isn't it? Sharing the life of Jesus today is an awesome and complex task. How can we possibly manage it?
A
great violinist once visited Houston, Texas, to give a concert. The
newspapers used most of their available space to describe his extremely
valuable Stradivarius violin. On the morning of the concert, the papers
actually carried a picture of the great instrument that he would use.
That night the hall was filled to capacity, and the violinist played
brilliantly. As he finished, applause thundered from every part of the
concert hall. After it subsided, he carefully laid down his bow and
carried a chair out to the centre of the stage. Then, raising the
violin over his head with both hands, he smashed it across the back of
the chair. It splintered into a thousand pieces. The audience gasped
and sat stunned. Then, coming back to the microphone, he said, "I read
in this morning's paper how great my violin was, so I walked down the
street and found a pawnbrokers shop where I bought a cheap violin for
20 dollars. I put new strings on it, and that's the violin I played
this evening, the smashed one. The Stradivarius is back in the safe at
my hotel. I just wanted to show you that it isn't the violin that
counts. It's the hands that hold it."
It isn't the violin that
counts. It's the hands that hold it. As we continue to explore what it
means for us to be in the perfect peace business, to share the life of
Jesus today, to build lives on the Rock, whose hands are holding us?
And what can't they do?
© 2007 David Stone |