Vicaring - A sermon resource for all those involved in Christian ministry

First preached               Trinity 7              25^th July 2004

Colossians 3.1–17         *        :        Luke 12.13-21

*As noted in the sermon the reading is longer than that set in the lectionary, which ends at v11

The doctrine of the two ways: The way that leads to life and the way that leads to death, as used here by St. Paul, is traditional

We do not teach it anymore. ‘Moralising’ has become a bad word. We have as St. Paul describes it set our mind on ‘Earthly things’.

[The items below were major mews stories at the time that the sermon was written. They may have dropped out of thye news for now, but the facts wil remain. Nor, sadly will t behard to finf current items to make the same point.]

I offer two news items from this week from a nation which has chosen ‘The things of earth’ :

The reported massive increase in Sexually transmitted diseases. Not once did I hear any mention in regard to the problem of teaching on fidelity and responsibility. People asked what was the cause and no one said: Take a look at the attitudes which pervade our popular, even our serious, media and you will  find the root causes of the problem.

The Prevalence of self harm. Why in a society that has so much are there a large and increasing number of people so unhappy with themselves and their life that the will inflict pain and injury on themselves?

There is a paradox here to which Jesus in this parable alerted us 2000 years ago. The correlation of wealth and well being is a fallacy.

Beyond certain limits (I do not deny the benefits of adequate diet, clean water, warmth, housing and decent clothing) research shows, happiness is not related to the tangible but intangible. And among those intangibles those listed by Paul obviously have negative correlations.

(Recently displayed in a much reviewed book, ‘The Progress Paradox by Chris Coyne While every material index of well-being has increased dramatically over the last 50 years, the subjective indictors of happiness have hardly budged and people often believe things were better in the past)

‘Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.’

The point is that our society has opted for earthly things in a big way and at the end of the day they are not enough. They lead to death, or at the least leave us looking foolish in the face of our own mortality.

Yet the danger of such talk is you sound like a grumpy Old Man. – Puritanism: ‘The sneaking suspicion that someone somewhere may be enjoying themselves.’

Which is why I lengthened the reading. We need a positive context. This passage (Col 3:1-17) for all its sombre core starts and ends gloriously:

The opening given by Paul. ‘You have been raised with Christ’ This is the hope of glory. Life lived with a focus – A Purpose Driven Life.

It has purpose because in Christ we have glimpsed an alternative way. Therefore let us pursue it wholeheartedly; let us pursue its fullness (The unhappiness of the half & half)

The positive alternative of life in Christ points to aa more positive way of living

‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ may have its problems, but have you ever tried to make progress against a barrage of negative thinking. People thrive on hope.
 The grateful life: It was one of the conclusions of Chris Coyne cited above, that we need to be more thankful. Yet how can this be self generated? It can only come from an outside reference. Someone to be grateful to. The sense of grace, of good being given, not earned. This is what we have in Christ. Be grateful!

The power of praise.

Our duty to each-other.

Living in total dependence:- When you hang on to God, you can hang on through anything the world can throw at you and you will emerge victorius.

• Proper 13 C

First Preached         29th July, 2001        Trinity 7

Colossians 2.6-15 [16-19]

There are some things in life which are intrinsically difficult. Like trying to explain Test Cricket to an American:

“Well you see there are two sides and they toss a coin to see which side is in. Then two men from the side which is in go out and the other side tries to get them out. When one of them is out another man goes in until they are all out. Then the other side is in. And so on for five days. Unless they are all out earlier, or unless  it rains in which case it is all up.”

Life can be very complex, but the secret of successful living is not to make it more complex than it has to be. Which fact seems to have eluded a great number of otherwise intelligent people. Not least the members of the European Commission.

St. Paul However had it bang to rights. He basically keeps repeating one basic theme:-  You have all that you need in Jesus Christ. The grace of God poured out through him cancels all your sins and brings you the greatest possible resources to live according to His will.

This does not of course mean life will be simple. Life is complicated knotted and twisted by human ingenuity. And human ingenuity reaches its highest point when it comes to sinning. Geoffrey Archer for instance never composed a plot for one of his novels anywhere near as convoluted as his real life.

People actually love complexity and give great esteem to those who can produce it, we call them experts, or scholars, or authorities.

The best field of all in which to be an authority is religion. Not necessarily the most profitable but certainly the most fun. Because there are very few fixed points so you can say almost anything if you say it in a sufficiently mysterious way.

Which is what had happened at Collosae. A group of people had got in who knew a lot. They had a complex theory of the universe. They had special insight into heavenly things, and they saw visions which they reckoned were vitally important.

None of these things would have upset Paul too much he was a fair hand at visions himself. Except that they were getting in the way of the central truth.  Christ was becoming one thing among others, and maybe not the most important.

So Paul has to remind them. (Colossians 2:9) ”For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form”

You will not find out more about God than you can know in Jesus.

And you will not find a more complete transformation of your being than you can find in him. (Colossians 2:13)” When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,”

And there is no Spiritual force greater than Him and no other Lord to whom we have to bend the knee. (Colossians 2:15) “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

From this overwhelming fact there flows an equally awesome consequence:

Therefore we ought to live ‘graceful’ lives. (Colossians 2:7) ”rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. “

That is quite difficult enough. It will land you in al kinds of hot water in the complexities of this world. To live straightforwardly in a crooked situation among perverse people will create unimaginable complications. That is unavoidable.

But it is all the more important that you do not complicate your starting point. The world is full of ifs and buts. But as Paul says elsewhere, “The promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus Christ” (1Cor 1.20)

Christianity is not difficult to understand .”God Made you alive with Christ” The teaching should not be made needlessly complex. For to live it out that is where the real demand lies.

• Proper 12 C

First Preached         22^nd  July 2007        Trinity  7  (Proper 11 C )

Gen 18.1-10                :        Colossians 1.15-28   :        Luke 10.38-end

[Apologies these notes are unusually cryptic. I hope however that some of the allusions may be thought provoking. ]

Not do but be.

Be: Caught up in Christ. – in you the hope of glory. In Him Spotless.

And realise how magnificent a thing this is.

The attempts to diminish Jesus. We do have a very diminished comprehension.

A figure in history.

But for Paul [ Also particularly for John & Hebrews] history is in this figure. He is the centre, but also the beginning and the end of History.

So it is a farce to set him among other figures. At Colossae there were those who wanted to place him among angels. Today people would group him among other inspired leaders.

It is to miss the point. He is king of angels. More they owe their being to him.

There is no power that is not subject to his authority, and under his judgment.

The Barman Declaration: “We reject the false doctrine, as though there were areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ, but to other lords–areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.”[i]

Conforming to the way of the world leads to a false view of Christ. But trying to escape from it can have its own dangers. The religious mind loves subtlety for its own sake. The esoteric as intimacy with God.

For Jesus intimacy with God comes through loving your neigbour. And loving God. But not  from loving something in between.

That is the point. Jesus is the Way to the Father. He opens God up.

You are made in the Image of God. What you would you be like if you were God? -Like Jesus.

Jesus reveals the open heart of God,  the revelation of the Father.

He comes to bridge that gap. (Between what we were made to be and what we are)  To reconcile. No system does that. Not even the C of E! You really have to trust in Jesus to save you from the vicar.

All that is needed, is to acknowledge the need;  the alienation from God.

Our problem is our refusal to face up to sin. Our problem is the denial of the problem.

It should not be too hard to twig. The signs are all around us in our culture: The death of creative ideas. The efflorescing complexity; it reminds me of late Medieval Theology. The anxiety of our society.  The death of hope.

Christ in you the hope of Glory. The potential waiting to be realised. The new perspective on the world and its obsessions.

Above all the new perspective on yourself. Christ is in you and, “Neither height nor depth nor anything else  in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom. 8.39 

• Proper 11 C