This week’s sermon, Waiting.  As usual your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

The sermon includes some words at the end which are not mine, but Jonny Baker’s from his book Alternative Worship.

Today’s sermon, preached at Barrhead URC.

Why are you here?  Today?  Why did you choose to come here this morning?  When you come here, what do you find?  Why do you come back every week?  To meet your friends?  To sing songs, to listen to people me, to hear the Bible read?

Your role in this whole Sunday thing is really very passive.  I decided the hymns, the prayers, the readings and the content of the sermon.  Your job seems to be to sit there and listen and to sing what I tell you to.

I suppose I hope that something you will hear or sing might cause you to think about your faith, your God, your place in the world, and if it does then that’s a good thing.  But if that is all that happens, if we have a nice time and are maybe stirred a little in our souls then we have completely missed the point.

Our Gospel reading today (Matthew 25: 31-46) is most definitely the point.  It is the reason for our being here, although it’s sometimes hard to see the connection.  Jesus tells the people listening to feed the hungry, give a drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and the imprisoned.

I’ve just finished reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell.  I know it’s taken me a while to get round to this but I’m kind of glad I waited because I think I’m probably in a place now where it makes more sense to me that it might have when it came out a couple of years ago.

The book is full of gems.  For me, Bell’s engagement with the Jewish Jesus is illuminating and helpful but the line that struck me most was:

If it’s not good news for everybody then it’s not good news for anybody.

His explanation is that if person X starts to follow Christ that should be good news for the Muslim next door or the Hindu across the road because person x will be a better neighbour.

I’ve asked the question ‘What difference does it make to the world that we follow Christ?’ in a few sermons over the past months.  I think Rob Bell’s observation gives at least a place to start looking for an answer.  The Good News isn’t just Good News for us.  It should be Good News for the people we live with, the people we work with, the people we share our street with, the people we meet and all the people we come into contact with.

The lectionary for this week is Matthew 25: 31-46 (the sheep and the goats/i was naked, hungy, sick, in prison) and in his Chocolate teapot for 28 Nov Roddy Hamilton has posted some thoughts:

There is no way Jesus intended to start a church. Nothing he did was designed to grow a great institution that has fought over how many angels you can get on a pin head, the colour of cups in the cupboards and who should be allowed to use them, should the minister raise three fingers representing the Trinity during the benediction, should we stand for the bible, what should be the balance of hymns between traditional and contemporary etc, etc, etc. You can add to the list as you feel the need.

All Jesus did was tell folk there are forgotten folk in the world and there ought not to be, there are people who starve and there shouldn’t be, there are folk imprisoned in memories and pain and guilt and marriages and illness who should rather be free to life fully, there are people who can’t afford clothes for their own backs let alone their children’s backs and that is a shocking thing to let happen. Sort it.

The principle is dead straight forward. This is quite simply all there is to do as a church, a nation, a company of people, an individual. Here, and rarely anywhere else will you find Jesus. He never said he’d be found among those who wanted pews or those who didn’t, those who wanted everything sung with the organ or the piano, those who wanted Moody and Sankey or those who wanted John Bell.

But he did say, if you want to find me, look among the poor.

Which bit did the church fail to understand?

My answer? All of it.

We, the church, the supposed people of God, the followers of Christ, have forgotten that the Good News should be Good News for everyone.  If it’s not Good News for everyone then it’s not the Good News Jesus was talking about.

Any thoughts?

I’ve been thinking of posting podcasts for a while so have a look in the sidebar for last Sunday’s sermon or listen here and let me know what you think. UPDATE - or get it on iTunes!

This morning I preached on Peter’s water walking.  Most people remember that Jesus came walking on the water in the middle of a storm and Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water for a while before realising what he was doing and starting to sink.

My message was simple. If you want to walk on water you have to get out of the boat.  We all cling to our comfort zones.  We all gravitate to the places where life is a little easier and we aren’t asked to risk so much.  The thing is, those comfortable places aren’t where we are called to be.  We’re called to be out there on the water, walking in the storm.

That for me is a challenge.  I like what I like.  Stepping out into the storm is scary.

This is yesterday’s sermon preached at Law Parish Church.  Your thoughts and comments are welcomed.

“No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey you are welcome here.”  That is the strap line of The United Church of Christ’s TV advertising campaign in the States.  The TV commercials have been banned by some of the major media corporations because they have been deemed offensive.  One portrays a church with bouncers at the door, keeping undesirables out, and the other has people being ejected in a James Bond fashion.  At the press of a button they are fired out of their pew.

The commercials have been deemed offensive by CBS and NBC.  By implication the UCC ads say that other churches are exclusive, that certain groups of people are not welcome there because of their race, sexual orientation or ability.  That’s why they have been banned.  The sad fact is that this is true, whether this exclusion is deliberately enshrined in policy and theology or not.  The UCC welcomes anyone, everyone, and has decided that spending millions of dollars on this message of inclusion is worthwhile.  And it works.  Thousands of people have come along to see if they really are welcome here.

The question of who is in and who is out is one that has perplexed and even obsessed the Christian church since its birth.

The difficulty is that the answer to this question, and indeed perhaps even the question itself, is artificial.  Institutions need to work out who their members are for all kinds of reasons.  We need to know who can and cannot make decisions and who can write cheques and most importantly, who can be blamed when things go wrong.  I’m not so sure that the kingdom of God has such limits.

This is a post from last year that seems to get lots of hits so I thought I’d remind people it’s there in time for Holy Week.  It’s a sermon about Mary of Bethany and Judas.

You can find it HERE.

This is today’s sermon, preached at Barrhead United Reformed Church:

Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

For the next few minutes I would like you all to hold the Palm cross you were given as you arrived this morning.  Feel it in your hand.  Look at it.

I have to admit that I find Palm Sunday to be one of the strangest days in the Christian calendar.  Preparation for today has occupied my thoughts for a few weeks because I wasn’t very sure how to approach today’s service.

You see today is the day when we remember Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  The crowds are cheering, the hymns of praise rise up to meet him and there is a party atmosphere.  Perhaps, despite all of Jesus’ hints and predictions, everything will be alright in the end.  Perhaps the people will accept Jesus.  Perhaps there will be no need for him to make that final journey to the cross.  And in my experience that is the way we have tended to treat Palm Sunday.  As a child I remember processions through the church waving paper palm leaves and singing joyful songs like the ones we have sung together this morning.

Lanark Greyfriars Church have a new addition to their website… a podcast of part of the morning service.  Now you can listen online or download some of the talky bits; the readings and sermon and stuff.  They are available on the church website by clicking the link above and will be on iTunes shortly.