This morning's sermon
Nov. 17th, 2013 09:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chrishansenhomeThe Lectionary readings at the end of the church's year are all about the end times. I liked writing and delivering this one since I could use an incident that happened to me very recently. It's always more interesting when you can write about something that's just happened.
My favourite paragraph: "Calamities test our reaction to the Gospel. They will happen whether we will them or no. And recovery will happen whether we help or not. And Jesus will come again, whether we are ready or not."
This sermon will not be about money. I feel the need to assure you of that so that you won’t close your ears to what I’m saying.
One of the difficulties that our Diocese is facing is a shortfall in revenue. A committee has proposed a different way of giving, and this proposal was to be debated at Diocesan Synod last Saturday.
I normally sit in the second row, left side of St. John’s Waterloo, where the Synod is held. A gentleman, who I will not further identify, sat next to me. We’ve attended many Synods together, and often chat to pass the time before Synod begins.
I expressed my reservations about this proposal, in that the Diocese might have to sell some of its investments to balance the books. My friend looked at me and said, “We should sell all our investments. Jesus is coming soon and what will he say to us if we are hoarding wealth when he returns?”
I was taken aback. I respect the Scriptures when they tell us that we are not to take account of worldly possessions. However, it is difficult for me to say to a priest who makes a living (and not an opulent one) from preaching and celebrating the Eucharist that the Diocese has sold all its investments to prepare for the coming of Christ’s Kingdom and therefore we have no money left to pay priest’s salaries. For clergy who have families to feed, this would be a very hard word indeed—the labourer is worth his hire.
So in these last weeks of the Church’s year, we hear a lot of hard words about the coming of the Kingdom. And in the light of subsequent history: around two thousand years of it, the scriptural prophecies about the end of the world being near are difficult to justify.
If we recall the words of the Gospel today, we hear of wars, and revolutions, earthquakes, plagues, famines, and persecutions. All these will be the precursors to the end times. And, all these things have happened in the thousands of years since the time of Jesus.
Down the centuries many preachers have torn the Gospels and Jewish Scriptures apart to try to determine exactly when the end of the world will be. They use mathematical formulas, Scriptural quotations, and historical events and come up with an exact date for the end of the world. Several years ago, an American minister came up with May 21st 2011 as the date. When May 22nd dawned, he then said that there was a “Spiritual Apocalypse” and that the real date was October 21st. Of course, October 22nd dawned, as usual.
I think that most people are not deceived by such prophecies. And when we hear them, we should remember the words in Luke: “Refuse to join them.” This sentence in Luke is the one that each of these false prophets and preachers gloss over when making their predictions of the end times. “Refuse to join them!”
That does not mean that we ought to ignore wars, revolutions, earthquakes, plagues, and famines. Our reaction to these events marks out the kind of Christians we aspire to be.
Most recently, the cyclone that has ravaged the Philippines has caused much misery, destruction, and death for that part of the world. It was and is a calamity. But Luke says of personal calamities as well as corporate ones: “…that will be your opportunity to bear witness.”
I do not mean that catastrophes and loss of property and life are meant to give us a chance to show how Christian we are. That would be a horrid act from an uncaring God, and the God that we worship is not uncaring or cruel to the peoples of the world.
Nor are wars and revolutions chances for us to demonstrate our charity. General William Tecumseh Sherman of the US Army said, “War is hell.” And he was an expert, having destroyed a good part of the Confederacy’s industry and infrastructure on his March through Georgia.
Calamities test our reaction to the Gospel. They will happen whether we will them or no. And recovery will happen whether we help or not. And Jesus will come again, whether we are ready or not.
Jesus mentions the persecution of Christians in the second part of this passage. Recently there has been controversy about Christians in the UK being persecuted for their beliefs, such as bed and breakfast owners who are Christians and who do not rent to same-sex couples. This has been called “persecution” by luminaries such as George Carey.
The real persecution of Christians happens in the Middle East and in Africa, where Christians in Nigeria are killed by terrorists who demand that they renounce their religion and shoot those who refuse. I have begun to wonder what would happen if I were subject to such persecution, and perhaps you have as well.
The end times are always near us, especially at this time of the Church year when the Gospels discuss them in great detail. We must be prepared spiritually for them, whether they arrive now, or in a year, or in a thousand years. Are we ready even now for the coming of Christ’s Kingdom?
Therefore to the One who is to come, Jesus Christ, be ascribed all might, majesty, dominion, and praise both now and evermore. AMEN.
My favourite paragraph: "Calamities test our reaction to the Gospel. They will happen whether we will them or no. And recovery will happen whether we help or not. And Jesus will come again, whether we are ready or not."
November 17, 2013 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sermon delivered at St. John the Evangelist, 10AM.
First Reading: Malachi 3:19-20;
Epistle: II Thessalonians 3:7-12; Gospel: Luke 21:5-19
"…the end is not so soon.”
In the name of God, the one, the Undivided Trinity. AMEN.
Sermon delivered at St. John the Evangelist, 10AM.
First Reading: Malachi 3:19-20;
Epistle: II Thessalonians 3:7-12; Gospel: Luke 21:5-19
"…the end is not so soon.”
In the name of God, the one, the Undivided Trinity. AMEN.
This sermon will not be about money. I feel the need to assure you of that so that you won’t close your ears to what I’m saying.
One of the difficulties that our Diocese is facing is a shortfall in revenue. A committee has proposed a different way of giving, and this proposal was to be debated at Diocesan Synod last Saturday.
I normally sit in the second row, left side of St. John’s Waterloo, where the Synod is held. A gentleman, who I will not further identify, sat next to me. We’ve attended many Synods together, and often chat to pass the time before Synod begins.
I expressed my reservations about this proposal, in that the Diocese might have to sell some of its investments to balance the books. My friend looked at me and said, “We should sell all our investments. Jesus is coming soon and what will he say to us if we are hoarding wealth when he returns?”
I was taken aback. I respect the Scriptures when they tell us that we are not to take account of worldly possessions. However, it is difficult for me to say to a priest who makes a living (and not an opulent one) from preaching and celebrating the Eucharist that the Diocese has sold all its investments to prepare for the coming of Christ’s Kingdom and therefore we have no money left to pay priest’s salaries. For clergy who have families to feed, this would be a very hard word indeed—the labourer is worth his hire.
So in these last weeks of the Church’s year, we hear a lot of hard words about the coming of the Kingdom. And in the light of subsequent history: around two thousand years of it, the scriptural prophecies about the end of the world being near are difficult to justify.
If we recall the words of the Gospel today, we hear of wars, and revolutions, earthquakes, plagues, famines, and persecutions. All these will be the precursors to the end times. And, all these things have happened in the thousands of years since the time of Jesus.
Down the centuries many preachers have torn the Gospels and Jewish Scriptures apart to try to determine exactly when the end of the world will be. They use mathematical formulas, Scriptural quotations, and historical events and come up with an exact date for the end of the world. Several years ago, an American minister came up with May 21st 2011 as the date. When May 22nd dawned, he then said that there was a “Spiritual Apocalypse” and that the real date was October 21st. Of course, October 22nd dawned, as usual.
I think that most people are not deceived by such prophecies. And when we hear them, we should remember the words in Luke: “Refuse to join them.” This sentence in Luke is the one that each of these false prophets and preachers gloss over when making their predictions of the end times. “Refuse to join them!”
That does not mean that we ought to ignore wars, revolutions, earthquakes, plagues, and famines. Our reaction to these events marks out the kind of Christians we aspire to be.
Most recently, the cyclone that has ravaged the Philippines has caused much misery, destruction, and death for that part of the world. It was and is a calamity. But Luke says of personal calamities as well as corporate ones: “…that will be your opportunity to bear witness.”
I do not mean that catastrophes and loss of property and life are meant to give us a chance to show how Christian we are. That would be a horrid act from an uncaring God, and the God that we worship is not uncaring or cruel to the peoples of the world.
Nor are wars and revolutions chances for us to demonstrate our charity. General William Tecumseh Sherman of the US Army said, “War is hell.” And he was an expert, having destroyed a good part of the Confederacy’s industry and infrastructure on his March through Georgia.
Calamities test our reaction to the Gospel. They will happen whether we will them or no. And recovery will happen whether we help or not. And Jesus will come again, whether we are ready or not.
Jesus mentions the persecution of Christians in the second part of this passage. Recently there has been controversy about Christians in the UK being persecuted for their beliefs, such as bed and breakfast owners who are Christians and who do not rent to same-sex couples. This has been called “persecution” by luminaries such as George Carey.
The real persecution of Christians happens in the Middle East and in Africa, where Christians in Nigeria are killed by terrorists who demand that they renounce their religion and shoot those who refuse. I have begun to wonder what would happen if I were subject to such persecution, and perhaps you have as well.
The end times are always near us, especially at this time of the Church year when the Gospels discuss them in great detail. We must be prepared spiritually for them, whether they arrive now, or in a year, or in a thousand years. Are we ready even now for the coming of Christ’s Kingdom?
Therefore to the One who is to come, Jesus Christ, be ascribed all might, majesty, dominion, and praise both now and evermore. AMEN.
