Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost. June 30 2013. Choice and Change. “Like a mighty tortoise, moves the church of God, treading up and down in the place its always trod!” This little ditty is an amusing piece of mockery which would be funnier if it didn’t often seem to be so true. It is a reminder of those two unavoidable things in life. I don’t mean ‘death and taxes’ – even though they are mostly also unavoidable. I mean the two ‘c’s: Change and choice. This is where life happens. These two things are impossible to avoid. Change and choice. It has been said that change is the most important constant in our world – the fact that life changes, we change, the world changes, everything changes. The latest greatest phone or computer which was top of the range last month has already been superseded by something faster, with more features, operating in a better way. At my 50th birthday party Philippa read out this amusing piece: Everything has changed. Everything is farther away than it used to be. It is twice as far to the corner, and they’ve added a hill, I noticed. I have given up running for the bus, it leaves faster than it used to. It seems they are making the steps steeper than they did in the old days. Have you noticed the smaller print they use in newspaper? There is no use asking anyone to read aloud. Everyone speaks in such a low voice, I can hardly hear them. And its almost impossible to reach my shoelaces. Even the people are changing. They are so much younger than they used to be when I was their age. On the other hand, people my own age are so much older than i am. I ran into an old classmate the other day, and she had aged so much she didn’t recognise me. I got to thinking about the poor thing while I was combing my hair this morning, and in doing so I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. They don’t make mirrors like they used to. Everything changes whether we want it to or not. As I read through the readings for this week I was struck by how apt they are for some of the events of this past week. The first reading from the second book of Kings (chapter 2) is an account of a change in leadership. There was no spill with blood on the party room floor here though. There were no cameras and commentators, though there was an audience. There was plenty of drama and fiery emotion but in this case the mantle of leadership was happily handed from Elijah to Elisha. Any change of leadership is significant. It will never mean just more of the same but will always different insights, different nuance, different perspective. The prophets of this time in the history of Israel were key leaders. There were kings already but the prophets were popularly recognised as those with authority which required recognition. There was no popular election, no ballot or factions, no lobbying or campaign promises. The prophets were leaders chosen by God to influence the life of the community, to guide and to rebuke and to call them to holiness and faithfulness and integrity. They were the Jiminy Crickets, the honesty-encouraging minor parties, the voice of conscience. There is a common misunderstanding about ‘prophecy’ both in the way in which it is used broadly in society and when people within the church community read about ‘the prophets’. Prophecy has very little to do with prediction. The task of Prophets was not to try to tell people what was going to happen in the future. Prophecy is focussed on helping people to understand what is happening NOW, in the present. How? By understanding the past AND, essentially, by looking at the swirl and flow of life through God’s eyes. Prophets were the political and social commentators. If you wanted to understand what was happening and why, you asked the prophets. And then, naturally, that flows into the future. It is like the extrapolations from the opinion polls. If we continue with this particular pattern or course of action then blind freddy could see that this is what is going to happen. That is what seems to have spurred the Labor caucus to act as they did this week, though politically it is the equivalent of shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. Too little too late and in such a messy way. There are other equally obvious predictions which can flow from a clear sighted analysis of a present position. We can look at the way in which the church operates and patterns of attendance and predict what will happen if nothing changes. Closing church buildings, even either or both of those in this parish are inevitable, if nothing changes. If nothing changes about how we do what we do, then a gradual slowing and dimming could easily be the clear prediction. Have you ever seen Judge Judy? It is many years since I have had the opportunity to watch daytime TV but apparently she is still there presiding over her court and televised for the world to see. I do remember that she had a common and oft repeated summing up once all the evidence had been heard. She would set out for a person where their life was headed if they kept going with the sorts of things that they were doing, if nothing changes. The prophets were agents of change. They shared God’s perspective. And in this reading we see the passing of the mantle, the cloak of office, the sign of recognised authority from Elijah to Elisha. And through Elisha we continue to hear – as we will next week – God’s perspective which rattles and encourages and opens eyes to see what godly living looks like. The task of the Prophets was never about predicting doom and gloom. It was and still is about opportunity. The connection with the events of the week in Canberra was even starker in the reading from Galatians (chapter 5) though! Galatians 5:15 “If ... you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” That verse could have been added as a caption under lots of the photos coming out of Canberra this week. What an evocative image! How damaging it is when people act in selfish ways. The encouragement to the Galatians was both negative and positive: do not bite and devour each other – use your freedom for the good of others. When engaging with change, when making life choices, when making choices which affect others, the encouragement is to use our freedom . For us the crucial question is where do we find the source for inspiration, where do we find the resources to draw on to make good choices? It is from the Spirit of God who is here – in our hearts. Towards the end of John’s gospel we have long speeches from Jesus, some of which are a prayer for the Spirit to come and dwell in us – in those who want to live the sort of life that God invites us to discover and to share. Here is another of those essential pieces of Christian faith. To see through God’s eyes, to listen to the sort of message that the prophets gave, to be able to embrace change and to make good choices is not just about learning the right things to do or say or believe. It is about allowing the Holy Spirit into our hearts and allowing the Spirit to be active in us and through us. It makes so much difference that it is like comparing painting by numbers and finding the freedom to be an artist. If we are just following a pattern outside of ourselves then we may know where to put the blues and reds and greens to put a picture together. But if we are putting out to share something which is deep within us it has the potential to be art. There is an art to Christian living, and the colours are there in that reading from Galatians - Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These things add brightness and colour and depth and richness to our lives and the lives of those around us. Each of those fruits deserves some deep teasing out. Briefly – love is that expression of self-giving, when the focus of living is outside of yourselves; joy is arises from a deeper contentment which has nothing really to do with happiness and is more about inner peace, contentment and hope; peace is more than the absence of conflict but is an active pursuit of reconciliation; patience is one of those things I am sure many of us pray for – ‘God give me patience and give it to me now!’ – being able to stop, take a breath, look again at the piece (or the pieces) of life in front of us and to find a calmer perspective with which to engage; kindness is inspirational compassion; generosity is when we step beyond what is deserved to what is needed; faithfulness is lived commitment; gentleness is a quality which seems like weakness to a world in which the brittleness of strength is a mask behind which so many hide; and self-control is that capacity to keep on track, to be true and trustworthy and live integrity. All these fruits stretch us, take us to deeper levels of living. Think for a moment. Which of those ‘fruits of the spirit’ has had the greatest impact on you? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Take a moment to consider them. Which have you felt in you, flowing through you and the choices which you have made in life? And which of them has been most strongly in the people around you and has helped you to grow and to thrive? When you have thought about that I want you to share those thoughts with people around you – which of the fruits of the Spirit have you felt most strongly flowing through you, and how? And which have you experienced in others which have helped you to make life-giving positive choices, to embrace change and embrace life, to see from God’s perspective? Paul Mitchell
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 21:44:28 +0000