Sermons, meditations and writing
Easter Sunday - 8th April 2012, Bishop Jana Jeruma-Grinberga at St Anne's Lutheran Church
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The long days of waiting are over; the Lenten journey, the fasting and the prayer are behind us for another year. Today, with real joy in our hearts, we can say Christ is arisen! He is risen, indeed. Yesu amefufuka! Amefufuka kweli kweli.
Year by year, season by season, we see the stories of Jesus’ life unfold before us. Through our lives, we hear the Gospels of Holy Week, telling us about Jesus’ last week of life, Good Friday, with the shocking, painful, story of His crucifixion and death; and lastly the Easter Sunday Gospel, full of life and light, hope and excitement. We read and hear these Bible texts again and again. Those of us who are preachers preach about them again and again.
The stories form the basis on which we worship, the way we structure our lives, when we have holy-days, how we live and how we think. And the astonishing thing is that each time, every single time we read or hear them, the stories have something to teach us; every time we are transformed, changed a little by hearing the words that so many Christians have read over the last 2000 years. Just think – how many millions of times have people everywhere in the world heard the Easter Gospel? And each time that Word that we hear changes each person that hears it in their heart.
In the reading from Isaiah that we heard earlier, Isaiah says, after prophesying about the days of the Kingdom to come, when all pain will be wiped away: 9 It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Psalm 118 said the same thing: 1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever! Both the writers of Isaiah, and the psalmist know well that there are good times and bad; that death and exile are realities, but that the goodness of the Lord endures beyond the times of hardship and pain.
In the reading from Acts, we hear Peter telling a group of people in Caesarea – both Jews and Gentiles together – how the Good News spread from Galilee, became a message not just for Jews, but for those “in every nation who fear him and do what is right”, for they are all acceptable to him.
We only have to look around us today to see that Christ is a Saviour for all; that the Gospel is a message for everyone; that the Good News has spread far beyond Galilee or Judea. Could Peter ever have imagined that his words could be heard, 2000 years later, by a congregation in London, with people from Finland, and Africa, Latvia, Australia and the United States? He probably had never heard either of your country or of mine, although he might have heard about Britain (and he would have thought that it was an island inhabited by savages, incidentally).
Christ died for our sins: he climbed the hill of Golgatha, and poured himself out to save humankind from sin and death. He was beaten; he bled; he was thirsty and he was in agony. He, the Word who was present at the creation of all things, the Lord of the Universe and the Breath of Life, died, humiliated, in public, in the heat of a dark day in Jerusalem. He was buried in a stone tomb; even that was done without dignity, as the day was ending, and the Sabbath was starting, so there was no time even to surround him with herbs and balms. He did this for all humankind, for all time, in all places; we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, as Hebrews 10:10 says. It is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And then he rose again, the first fruits of a new Kingdom, in the dawn of a new day; bringing hope, light, joy and new life to the world, starting with that garden in Jerusalem, not far from Golgotha. And that new life, again, is for everyone – Jews and Gentiles, men and women, adults and children, black and white, rich and poor, in AD 33 and in AD 2011.
But it starts, this wave of light and hope rolling over the darkened world, with one moment, and one person. Mary is weeping over the last humiliation of the empty tomb because she imagines that grave robbers have been there, and taken away even the body of her Lord. The last 3 days have been unimaginably traumatic; one shock after another, the sight of Jesus’ broken body on the Cross, the utter helplessness they must have felt; the grief and sheer incomprehension. What was happening? Why? How could it be that their beloved Friend and Lord could have been so tortured and broken before their eyes? And now, not even a body to wash and to anoint, not even a last moment alone with Jesus before the stone rolled before the tomb for ever. Mary must have been absolutely heartbroken in her pain and grief.
John tells us: “Mary turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’
It is the moment when Jesus calls her by name, in a way she must have heard many times over the previous 3 years or so. With that moment comes recognition; Mary realises he is alive – he is risen! Her feelings at that point – joy, relief, confusion, surprise? – are probably beyond words. But the point is this: that this mission to the world, this message which is for everyone and for always, starts with the individual. God calls us each, by name, as individuals, as beloved children; the universal Christian church is made up, one by one, of people who are known and loved by God. Jesus did not live, suffer, die and rise again for an anonymous, huge mass of people, but for Mary, and Peter, for each single one of us.
This is the Gospel of love for all people, for all time and for all places
This is the Gospel of salvation for each woman, man and child
This is the Gospel of hope for every country, town and village
This is the Gospel of grace for every single moment and heartbeat.
Amen
Fourth Sunday in Lent 18 March 2012
Lay minister Sarah Farrow at St Anne's Lutheran Church in London
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Readings: Numbers 21:4-9 Psalm 107:1-3, 7-22 Ephesians 2:1-10 John3:14-21 |
‘If you want it done right, do it yourself.’ How often have we either said or heard these words? Said when someone else muddles up what we see as a perfectly straightforward task that we could accomplish far quicker and with less fuss. If we had control of the situation things would have gone smoothly without problems. ‘If you want it done right, do it yourself.’ We often moan and complain when things are not going our way and we can’t change the situation ourselves, often complaining that ‘if I ran this company, this or that wouldn’t happen, and I’d straighten that out’ and so on and so on. ‘If you want it done right, do it yourself.’ Well, guess what? We come here every week to hear that we can’t ‘do it ourselves’ – that our salvation is not a ‘do-it-yourself.’ It is the complete opposite of ‘if you want it done right, do it yourself’. It is an acknowledgement that if we want it done right we better not do it ourselves or we’d never get there!
Jesus uses the example of Moses and the bronze serpent, which was also the first reading today. In this passage, the Israelites are told that they need only look upon the serpent raised on the pole and they will live. That they need only look to the promise from God and they will live. They need to trust only in God and they will live. For the Israelites, it was not about trying to push away the serpents coming to bite them, being distracted by the possible threats to them, but turning their heads up and focusing on the serpent, focus on that promise from God and they will live.
And Jesus tells Nicodemus that the Son of Man will ‘be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.’ And this is the promise given to us, to look upon Christ on the cross as our salvation, to look to this promise from God that we may be saved through Christ, to trust only in God that we may have eternal life. And it is not the gold-encrusted bejewelled cross that we look upon for this, it is the crucifix with Jesus Christ nailed upon it, his body broken, his bowed head. This is the cross upon which we meditate. This is the cross where our salvation is found. This is the cross we look upon to receive the Gospel with open, trusting hearts: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’
But we are so easily tempted to doubt this promise and return to that poor thinking of, ‘If you want it done right, do it yourself’, that nagging feeling that we have to ‘stay in control’. I recently heard a story that may serve as an analogy to this feeling we often have of ‘staying in control’. Many years ago, a world famous performer planned to walk across a tightrope over Niagara Falls in the United States. He shouted to the crowd of spectators ‘Do you think I can walk to the other side of these falls on this tightrope?’ And everyone responded with a ‘yes, of course!’. Then he brought out a wheelbarrow and asked, ‘Do you think I can walk to the other side of these falls on this tightrope pushing this wheelbarrow?’ and the crowd again responded with a ‘yes, of course!’. Then he asked, ‘Do you think I can walk across these falls on this tightrope with this wheelbarrow filled with a 150 pounds?’ and the crowd said, ‘yes, of course!’. He next asked, ‘So, who will get in this wheelbarrow?’ And, of course, there was silence.
This is a mere anecdote and should be seen as no more, but it may help us look at how we understand not being in control and believing in something outside ourselves. How do we, going back to example used by our Lord, stop looking down and trying to bat away the serpents on our own and instead look up believing in God’s promise? How do we really believe in Christ? How do we let go of everything and allow God full control of our lives? Someone once said, ‘There’s God and there’s yourself; and you are settling down on one or the other.’ How do we put our lives in God’s hands and acknowledge that we do not have complete control, that we cannot maintain, pretend or assume complete control over our lives or, more to the point, over our salvation? Believing in Christ – a personal trust. Forf we see no hope in this promise, if we do not see truth in this statement that whoever believes in Jesus has eternal life, ‘then our judgement comes from ourselves, not from God.’ This is not a matter of questioning each other, ‘how much do you believe?’, or ‘how strong is your faith?’, this is – do we confess Jesus Christ as God and Saviour? Do we confess that Christ on the cross is our salvation not just with our lips, but with our hearts? Knowing, as Paul writes, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.’
But we are not facing this personal conflict, this temptation to doubt, alone. With the Lord on our side, by our side, we are strengthened through the knowledge of God’s constant love for us. The knowledge that God’s love is there. And I use the word ‘constant’ in all its meanings: God love for us is constant in that it is steady - it does not fluctuate, but is always overwhelming. God’s love for us is constant in that it is continuous – it is endless. God’s love for us is constant in that it is persistent – even though we may turn away, when we are turned back to God, His love is there. And God’s love for us is constant in that it is faithful – God’s promise is a sign of His devotion to us, His creation.
Both the Gospel and the Epistle remind us of God’s awesome love for the world. And let us not dismiss our Lord’s persistent use of the words ‘the world’. God’s love is universal. Christ came to take away the sin of the world. ‘…in order that the world may be saved through him.’ ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.’ There is no discrimination in this. There is no exclusion from this gift of salvation; all who believe – whatever age, race, class, nationality, gender – are saved through him. Yet, one of the amazing things about God’s love is that while it is universal, it is strictly personal. God’s love for you. When we receive communion, we hear the words, ‘The Body of Christ, given/broken for you. The Blood of Christ, shed for you.’ For each and every one of you, of us, individually. For God knows you, He knows me, in our hearts, and speaks to each one of us accordingly. So let us open our hearts to the Gospel – to the Good News. To hear and know that ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.’
Amen.
1st Sunday in Lent, 26th February 2012
Right Rev'd Jana Jeruma-Grinberga at St Anne's Lutheran Church
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Readings Genesis 9:8-17 Psalm 25 1 Peter 3:18-22 Mark 1:9-15 |
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Once again we have a text from Mark’s Gospel that challenges us with its immediacy, and the sheer pace of the story. If we look at the equivalent passage from Luke’s Gospel, there are 347 words contained in 17 verses; the passage in Mark has 6 brief verses, and only 134 words to cover the whole story from Jesus arriving from Galilee, being baptised by John and affirmed by God’s voice, driven into the wilderness, tempted by Satan, John being arrested and Jesus beginning his public ministry. It’s breathless stuff: and it’s a lesson to us all in not using 15 words when one will do!
But at the same time, there is a great deal of significance in the words that Mark uses, and the message that he proclaims to us, and to Christians everywhere.
1. Jesus simply arrives in the story. Mark’s Gospel starts with the words: the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Then Mark tells us about John’s baptism of repentance, and his proclamation, and even that he was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. But Jesus is introduced simply with the first words of today’s Gospel: In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. No explanation of Jesus’ birth; no conversation between John and Jesus about the reason for Jesus, the sinless one, to be baptised, no explanation of the relationship between Jesus and John. It seems as though Mark is confident that simply telling the story of Jesus’ ministry is enough; that he doesn’t need the ‘back story’, as it were, to back up what Jesus is and what he does.
2. The voice of God is heard here speaking to Jesus for the first time. God is heard speaking only three times: once here, at Jesus’ baptism; once, as we heard a couple of weeks ago, on the mountain at the Transfiguration; and once, in John’s Gospel, just before the events of Maundy Thursday and Jesus’ Passion. God affirms Jesus as his Beloved and speaks to him at focal (or fulcrum) points in Jesus’ ministry: when he first arrives from Nazareth and steps into the public arena; when he is about to turn his face towards Jerusalem and the fulfilment of his mission of salvation for all. So this is one of the three most important and crucial markers in Jesus’ ministry. He steps forward, out of the shadows of his life as a carpenter in the quiet obscurity of Nazareth, and accepts both his complete humanity by being baptised by John in Jordan, and his complete divinity by the affirmation of the voice of God. From this moment his path towards death on Golgatha in the heat of the day, and resurrection in the garden in the cool of dawn, becomes inexorable.
3. From the waters of Jordan, Jesus heads straight into the wilderness, the desert, where his companions will be wild animals and demonic forces, but where angels will minister to him. Again, this affirms his nature as both man and God; temptation is part of the daily round of human existence, and we know, as the author of the letter to Hebrews tells us, we have a high priest who is able to sympathise with our weaknesses, and who was tested in every respect just as we are. But – he is God, and remained without sin; just part of the long, eternal struggle between the forces of good and evil; but a sign for us that in the strength of Christ evil cannot, and in the long term, will not prevail. As Pastor Tumaini said on Wednesday night at the Ash Wednesday service, by ourselves we cannot. With Jesus we can.
4. And once the wilderness time is over, Jesus heads back to Galilee, to do what Mark said he will: he proclaimed the good news, calling people to repentance, to return to God and simply believe. Again: no complex words, no illustrations or argumentation: repent and believe.
5. And yet, despite the simplicity and brevity of these verses, the language that Mark uses is vivid and very physical. Jesus comes out of the water – perhaps better rises out of the water; this is not a polite baptism with a sprinkle of water! This is Jesus stepping right into the river, and getting properly wet. The heavens are torn open – ripped apart by the voice of God. The spirit drives him into the wilderness; he is tempted by Satan and lives with wild beasts – what would they have been? Hyenas, probably, desert lions, snakes, : did they come and kneel before him, as at the manger in Bethlehem, or was it distant howling in the night? The images this use of language conjure up are vivid and clear – with primary colours and primary emotions to the fore.
As we move forward in Lent, we will have our own struggles with temptation, and our own desert moments, perhaps wild beasts howling around the edges of our consciousness. Whatever Lent Discipline we have undertaken, we are aiming to strip away some of the business and pre-occupation of daily life to give an opportunity for us to hear what God is saying to us, and allowing us to draw nearer to God. Again, as Pastor Tumaini said, we need to lose some of our spiritual weight to improve our spiritual health. And at times like that, the temptations also tend to grow greater and to trouble us more. But we know that Jesus was tempted like us, and that the Baptism which he sanctified by his own divine presence in the Jordan, is a place that we can return to each day to strengthen us in our journey towards the new joy of Easter. As Luther says in the Small Catechism, the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever; baptism now saves us, as the reading from Peter says, as we live and grow in faith and love.
4th Sunday after Epiphany, 29th January 2012
Lay Minister Sarah Farrow at St Anne's Lutheran Church in London
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Readings Deuteronomy 18:15-2 29 Psalm 111
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Walking to St Anne's
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Second Sunday after Epiphany, 15th January 2012
Rev’d Wendy Sherer at St Anne’s Lutheran Church in London
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Have you ever thought: “If they really knew me, they wouldn’t like me.” How much of ourselves do we conceal from one another, how often do we hold things back, for fear of judgment, criticism, or rejection? Why do we often feel that if we were truly ourselves, we wouldn’t be accepted? There can be a number of reasons for believing this: a past painful experience of having shared yourself only to have that person disappoint or reject you. It could be that you were once teased for standing out or being different, and you don’t ever want to risk a repeat of that feeling.
Fear of rejection can be a powerful thing. It’s often what keeps us from being genuine with one another. It can prevent us from opening ourselves to relationship, or from sharing authentically when we are in a relationship. And it can distort the way we see ourselves—perhaps we are the ones who really can’t accept who we are, versus who we think we should be.
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New Year’s Eve Service at St Anne's Lutheran Church
Meditations on the past, present and future
Meditation on Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 -Lay Minister Moses Shonga
The past
Meditation on Psalm 8 - The Rev'd Wendy Sherer
The Present
Meditation on Revelation 21:1-6a - Lay Minister Sarah Farrow
The future
Extract from a sermon given Sunday 18th December 2011 at St Anne's Lutheran Church
by Jean-Marc Heimerdinger.




