Sermon for Sunday 14th June 2009

I start this morning’s sermon with a quote which I have used before -

'A faith that sets bounds in itself, that will believe so much and no more, that will trust thus far and no further, is no faith.'

The one thing about the Christian faith that we can be sure of for ourselves, is that we will never stop discovering new aspects of it, provided we do not limit the power of God’s Holy Spirit to work within us.

To set boundaries on our faith and seek to prevent the work of the Holy Spirit leading us into all truth, is to pronounce a death sentence on our relationship with the God who especially at this time of the year, we are reminded is three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

For faith is an infinite experience. We can never know all that there is to know, and the more we share that faith with others, the more I believe we are led deeper into that faith.

At Morning Prayer this past week we have been reading the Book of Job and one commentator in reflecting on the Book of Job wrote that –

‘It is always the temptation of the faithful to think that they must know all the answers. Job affirms that knowledge of God, and knowledge of all the answers about God are two different things.’

Following the Feast of Pentecost, we now enter the Trinitarian season, which the church calls ‘Ordinary Time’ in which there is no seasonal emphasis. There is one other period of Ordinary time in the church’s calendar which begins at the beginning of the year, and lasts from the Feast of the Presentation until Shrove Tuesday. Both of these two periods are seen as an opportunity for each of us to grow in the faith, for it is seen by the church as a time of teaching.

As we remain faithful to the ‘Trinitarian’ God so we will by the Holy Spirit of God be equipped for proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others - so far better that we build our faith slowly, than seek to know all the answers today; far better to build our ‘house’ on firm and solid foundations, and not on the insecure and unstable foundations which, when times of difficulty and challenge come upon us, lead to a collapse of that faith.

It is sometimes easy to make judgements about other people’s faith, and the way that they work that faith out in their own lives, but God knows the intentions of our hearts. Faith wise, we do not have to be like others – for the faith that each one of us has received is God’s personal gift to us, and it is on that foundation of faith, that we are encouraged to build our relationship with the God who is three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Jesus said – ‘Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in Heaven.’

For each one of us, knowing the Father’s will for ourselves, is an important part of the outworking of and development of our faith.

It will certainly not be the same for each one of us here today, as most certainly it will not necessarily be, in seeking to ‘copy’ anothers outworking of the faith.

Having celebrated the feast of Pentecost, with all its emphasis on the receiving of the Holy Spirit, and the gifts associated with it, there will be those who will be tempted to judge our faith, on some sign or evidence of those biblical gifts.

I remain convinced that all of us have been given ‘gifts’ as part of our creation, our birth. And in the context of our Christian faith, it is not only ours, but also the churches, responsibility, collectively and individually, to recognise the gifts that we have within the body of the church, and work out how they can best be used in the service of the creator.

As we know from our own experiences, it is one thing to hand over a gift to somebody celebrating an event in their lives, but it is only when that gift is unwrapped and used, that the full significance of that gift can be appreciated, and others perhaps benefit from it.What is equally important I believe is that within the lives of Christians, there should also be the cultivation of the nine ‘fruits of the spirit’ - Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.

In cultivating these ‘fruits’, perhaps concentrating on the one which we find at times most difficult to witness to within our own lives, we will not find it too hard to carry out the will of our Heavenly Father.

Traditionally the Thursday after Trinity Sunday is celebrated as a Day of Thanksgiving for the Eucharist – better known perhaps as Corpus Christi. And on Thursday a party from Cobham once again, visited the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Arundel to see the annual festival of the ‘Carpet of Flowers’ laid out along the length of the aisle. Later that evening the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton was to celebrate a solemn mass to mark this feast day. This service we are attending this morning is known under various names - the Eucharist, Holy or Parish Communion, Breaking of the Bread or the Mass. The importance of this service, by whatever name we know it, in the lives of Christians cannot be underestimated – providing as it does our ‘food for the journey’. And there are instructions to the faithful about the manner and way that we approach and receive the Holy Communion.

Justin Martyr who lived in the 2nd Century wrote –

‘No one may share the Eucharist unless they believe that what we teach is true, unless they are washed in the regenerating waters of baptism for the remission of sins, and unless they live in accordance with the principles given us by Christ.’

‘For as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.’

Paul also encourages us to prepare ourselves to receive the sacrament – to use those minutes perhaps before the service to reflect on what we are about.

A sacrament, as we were told at our confirmation is the outward visible sign of an inward spiritual grace.

Here in this service, we see with our eyes bread and wine – the outward signs as they are presented by representatives of the church this morning to the priest. But our faith requires us to believe that the bread is Christ’s Body, the wine – Christ’s blood. They are called sacraments because our eyes and the eyes of non-believers simply see them as bread and wine – outward visible signs. But to believers, through our understanding, our faith, they mean so much more – they become inward spiritual gifts.

Paul in his writings says to us – ‘Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.’ And St. Augustine in one of his sermons tells us that these elements being offered here at the altar this morning are in fact representative of ourselves, which will be blessed by God, and returned to us. So that strengthened by this Holy Communion we can go back into the world to proclaim Christ to it.

So ensuring that our faith is built on a strong foundation, will not only give us the confidence to share that faith with others, but will also enable us to be the people that God has created us to be, enabling us to achieve our full potential in Jesus Christ.

Let us therefore, each confidently face the world with the truth of the gospel. Proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, of our whole lives, not just today, but every day of our lives. And continue to do so, until that day, when we also will share in that final Glory of seeing Him, who for the love he had for us, sacrificed himself, so that we might be cleansed from all our sins, and so be counted worthy to share in the life of eternity.

©Peter Vickers – 14th June 2009