Looking forward 4 - Prayer Sermon 29th September 2013

 As a vicar I get a lot of comments about prayer- even such things as the sun shining on a church event being because I have a special line to God.

Obviously in a lot of people’s eyes I have Prayer sussed- I am the professional in it.

Well unfortunately I just wanted to tell you that that isn’t true.

I probably have questions just like you guys about prayer and have and still do struggle with it sometimes.

There can be a lot of questions around prayer – such as:

Does it make any difference?

If God is all knowing and therefore knows the problems of the world already why does he need me to tell him about it?

There are questions which I am sure that from time to time we all have struggled with.

And today’s talk is not going to necessarily answer all these and other questions that you will have about prayer.

But I have to say that I have found this book very helpful as I have thought a little about prayer  and recommend it to you. – Philip Yancey - Prayer

And I will be digging into a little bit as we think today about prayer and what it means for us as members of the body of Christ.

We are together over the last few weeks and continue into October looking forward as a church. We have thought about our vision for the next 5-10 years, about mission and last week we thought about how we were all involved in the ministry of the church. So today we are thinking about prayer and how central it is in order to help us move forward as a church.

Our readings this morning looked at prayer in the sense of presenting everything we have to God in prayer and our dependence upon him. Today though rather than looking at those readings in detail I want to talk generally about how prayer can help us grow not only as individuals but in our relationships within the church.

So I want to think about prayer not only in terms of praying on our own but of praying together as the family of God.

And I want to think about prayer in two ways-

          Prayer and our relationship with God

          Prayer and our relationship with others

         

Prayer and our relationship with God

Often we are ask ourselves or we are asked the following questions.

If God knows all these things already why should we pray?

If God knows what he is doing – am I going to change his mind by my prayers?

One way of beginning to answer these questions is to see prayer as a means to deepen our relationship with God.

When Jesus taught us to pray he said –

Pray like this:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come your will be done.

Your Kingdom come your will be done.

When we pray like this we are offering to God situations and asking for his will.

Prayer therefore can be seen as a means of growing in our understanding of God’s will for others and for ourselves.

When we put ourselves close to God and pray for his guidance or for his involvement in a situation or even thank him for something that has been happening- we begin to see that situation from God’s eyes.

We begin to see his concern and his will.

I found this quote helpful from Philip Yancey:

“ Here, I believe is the key to understanding what is most personal in prayer. We do not pray to tell God what he does not know, not to remind him of things he has forgotten. He already cares for the things we pray about…..He has simply been waiting for u to care about them with him. When we pray, we stand by God and look with him toward those people and problems. When we lift our eyes from them toward him we do so with loving praise, just as we look toward our oldest and dearest frineds and tell how we care for them, though they already know it… we speak to him as we speak to our most intimate friends – so that we can commune together in love.”

We speak to him as to our intimate friends- we commune together in love.

And as we grow in how we pray then we grow in that relationship our friendship with God.

We communicate with people at lots of different levels.

When we don’t know someone very well we might actually talk more and tell them more about ourselves- but it will possibly not be at a very intimate level.

When we get closer we open up more and are more honest with each other.

And when we know someone very well sometimes we don’t have to say anything do we- they just know what is going on in our lives, we can be companionably quiet.

And we speak to our friends about all sorts of things- what we have been doing, how we are feeling, what’s happening in the world.

Friendship with God can encompass all these things.

We have wonderful examples all through the bible of people of people communicating with God in different ways.

The discussion with Job, the psalms some of which express deep concern for the world, some crying out in anguish and some crying out in praise.

So prayer can deepen our relationship with God- as we not only spend time with him but as we begin to share his concerns and to seek his will for ourselves and for others.

As we begin to see things from his perspective.

Secondly, prayer and our relationship with others:

As before when we seek God’s will not only do we grow in our relationship with God but our attitude and our relationships to others may change.

When we intercede for situations for others then we can begin to see them as God sees them and we can begin to share his concern and his love for all.

Have you ever prayed for someone and in turn seen how you see that person changed.

You see when you bring someone into God’s presence we begin to see them in a new way. So when you pray for someone like the neighbour you don’t get on with – you begin to see them not as the nosy person but as the person who is really lonely and sad.  A silly example but prayer does change our attitude towards others.

So prayer can change the way we see others and indeed then how we relate to them.

But not only does praying FOR others have a profound affect on our relationship with God and those individuals.

But also praying WITH others can affect us.

I have to say that I used to be very frightened about going to prayer meetings.

I used to dread them as something which I knew I Should go to but would come back not having enjoyed them.

You see I used to think that at prayer meetings you had to pray out loud and I didn’t think I was very good at that.

So I would sit there preparing a very worthy and wordy prayer in my mind- and I would just be about to sum up the courage to say it out loud when someone else would go on and do it first.

So I would go through the process again only for the same thing to happen.

I wasn’t really thinking about what other people were saying I was just worried about what I was going to say.

But then someone said it didn’t matter whether I prayed out loud or not and it didn’t mattered what you prayed even if it was only a name.

It just mattered that you were there with others together praying.

And I have to say that when I thought like this it revolutionised how I saw things.

And I began to see the power that was present in praying together.

It was true that what Jesus said when two or three are gathered I am present.

He was there and he led us in our prayers and guided us to pray powerfully into different situations.

When the early Christians prayed together they not only prayed for power they received it and were bold in how they then went out to share the good news.

When we pray together it is powerful as God meets us.

That certainly felt the case this week when we prayed together at different times on Wednesday,  and I would urge us all to consider giving up our time to join with others to pray.

But as well as it being powerful in how we meet with God in our prayer with others it is also powerful in how we relate to each other.

There is a vulnerability that is present together when we pray with each other – even if only silently.

And in this vulnerability then our relationships deepen as we begin to see each other in new ways.

This is true also when we are brave enough to ask for prayer whether it be for ourselves or others.

This may be just to ask another member of the congregation the person you have sat next today to pray for you even this week.

In these times we as the people of God grow not only in relationships with God but in our relationships with each other.

So prayer changes things- it changes our relationship with God and it changes our relationship with others.

And in doing so it is a vital component of being part of the family of God.

So for us to think about- what is God calling you to do in response to this.

Perhaps it is to commit yourself personally to praying more regularly on your own – to having time just to be quiet with God.

Perhaps it is to find one other individual who you feel comfortable with who you could pray together or commit to pray for each other.

Or perhaps it is to come along and pray with others at one of our prayer meetings- to see how God can guide you and recognise the power of praying together.

I want to end with another quote because we have to admit that still we have lots of questions about prayer.

We don’t fully understand it – and yet we know that we should still pray and that one day we will:

I end with Philip Yancey again:

“I pray in astonished belief that God desires an ongoing relationship. I pray in trust that the act of prayer is God’s designated way of closing the vast gulf between infinity and me. I pray in order to put myself in the stream of God’s healing work on earth. I pray as I breathe – because I can’t help it.  Prayer is hardly a perfect form of communication, for I, an imperfect, material being who lives on an imperfect material planet am reaching out for a perfect Spiritual Being. Some prayers go unanswered, a sense of God’s presence ebbs and flows, and often I sense more mystery than resolution. Nevertheless I keep at it, believing with Paul that, “now I know in part, then I shall know fully even as I am fully known.”

Yancey, P (2006)  Prayer Does it make a difference.  Hodder, London

Looking forward 3 All member ministry

            Romans 12: 1-8

            Luke 19: 11-27

Today we are moving on in our series on looking forward to thinking about the fact that we are all involved in the life of the Church.

At my licensing service I was very struck by how with each area that I was challenged to focus on  like baptism, sharing the word, the sacrament, I was also asked in turn to turn to you all and say words to the effect of – will you join me in this ministry.

This is not my church – but it is OUR CHURCH and we should together seek to move it forward for the next generation.

So today we are leaving you with leaflets which help you to think how you might be involved with the life of the church  in many different areas, and it would really help us if you could fill these in and leave for us as a sense of offering your gifts and abilities to God.

So I start with that but I want to explain this morning as to why this is so important generally for us as Christians and to explain the rationale by looking at the two passages that we have had this morning.

At a meeting of the American Psychological Association, Jack Lipton, a psychologist at Union College, and R. Scott Builione, a graduate student at Columbia University, presented their findings on how members of the various sections of 11 major symphony orchestra perceived each other. The percussionists were viewed as insensitive, unintelligent, and hard-of-hearing, yet fun-loving. String players were seen as arrogant, stuffy, and unathletic. The orchestra members overwhelmingly chose "loud" as the primary adjective to describe the brass players. Woodwind players seemed to be held in the highest esteem, described as quiet and meticulous, though a bit egotistical. Interesting findings, to say the least! With such widely divergent personalities and perceptions, how could an orchestra ever come together to make such wonderful music? The answer is simple: regardless of how those musicians view each other, they subordinate their feelings and biases to the leadership of the conductor. Under his guidance, they play beautiful music. 

When we look at our life together as a church we can perhaps see similarities with the orchestra- individually we are all different, we all perhaps have onuses on different things but together – we make up one body the body of Christ the Church and together we can create something wonderful.

That’s the aim anyway- normally in church life we fall far short of that but if we have our onus on the great gifts that God has given us then we should be working towards being a healthy body – a bit like a beautiful playing orchestra.

So why should this be a priority for us as individuals and as a church.
Well lets start by looking at the parable we read of in Luke’s gospel that of the minas.

To set this in context we need to look at where Jesus is coming from when he tells this parable. Firstly he is on his way up to Jerusalem and he knows what that is going to lead to.
So when is talking of the nobleman going away it is undoubtedly true that he is thinking of himself and of the time between his leaving the earth in bodily form and him coming back as the time that the nobleman was away. That’s this time here and now when we await Jesus coming again.

So this parable is really saying that God will judge us all as to the gift that we have been given and the time that we invest this gift in the work of the King – that is Jesus.

But what is this gift that we have been given that Jesus is talking about here? Unlike the parable of the tenants in this parable everybody received the same thing. Each servant received one mina, which equals about 3 month’s wages.  And Jesus made a point of emphasising that each servant received exactly the same thing.

So what is He saying? What is Jesus teaching us? What does the mina represent?
What is it that we all have that is exactly the same? How are we similar? There are a lot of areas where we are different. But how are we all the same?

So we go through a process of elimination, checking off ways where we are not alike, until finally we eliminate almost everything. But there is one way where we are all the same. We have all received the gift of life. We didn’t earn it. God just gave it to us.
This is the gift that we have been given to entrust and to see how this earns interest in our lives. So Jesus is saying how are we going to use the gift of life that he gives us to further his Kingdom in the world.

In other words  Jesus is saying, "Take this gift & invest it. Use it until I come again." And if we look at the outworking of the parable we see those who do this and those who don’t and Jesus reaction to this.

So the message from here is that our life giving gift is important and shouldn’t stay static but our role as Christians is to work for the coming of the Kingdom in our lives.

And to help us think about how we do this I want to move on to look at the passage from Romans 12

And the first thing I want us to look at is how we use the gifts that we have been given.

The parable from Luke reminds us  we have all been given the same gift which is a free gift from God that is new life in the Spirit. However, we have also been given other gifts which we are told to use appropriately for his service.
And Paul reminds us that we need to have a right view of this – and use the gifts appropriately.
We are told not to think more highly of ourselves but have a right view of ourselves.

SO – you may have the gift of leadership in some way but actually that is no more important than someone else who has the gift of hospitality or encouragement.
We need to think of ourselves as equal – in God’s eyes. This is countercultural. Because the world sees those who can do certain things as somehow more special than others. So we give credit to status, money and power.

And yet here in God’s eyes we see that we have all been given the same gift and we have all been given God given gifts as individuals and we need to see these as all equally important as the other.

I am sure I am not the only one who sometimes looks at others in church and thinks – oh I wish I could do that like them.  The problem is they are probably looking at you and thinking the same thing!

The gifts that God has given each of us – and we have all been given gifts even if we can’t see them for ourselves are unique to you and special to you.

God has given them just to you for a purpose and he wants us to use them for his service.

Then secondly we have all been given these gifts to support each other.

The analogy of the body is really important here – the body is interdependent upon each other.

Most of us don’t think little toes are very important in our bodies do we. But think for a moment about your little toe

If you have a pain in your little toe what happens – well the pain affects the way you walk which then has a knock on effect on the rest of your body from your knees to your hips to your back and so on.

The little toe what seems an insignificant part of the body but one which if it is not well can have a knock on effect on the wider body. Each part of the body is so interdependent on each other that each part of the body is very important.

And Paul here uses the analogy of the body to talk about the Church – verse 5 so in Christ we who are many form on body and each members belongs to all the others.

We belong together – we are not isolated members but we belong together and are interdependent upon each other.

Therefore we need to support each other to work properly as the body of Christ.

The part that we play as individuals in the life of the church is of vital importance for the whole of the body. We are called to play our part.

So we are given gifts as individuals to use for God’s glory and we are called to play our part in the body of Christ and we do this because of the third thing that Paul says in Romans 12. We do this because this is part of the worship that we offer God.

Paul writes in Romans 12 – offer you bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.

When we offer ourselves all that we are, all that we do to God this is worship as much as sitting in a church on a Sunday.- because as we offer ourselves, our gifts, our abilities, all of ourselves to God we are honouring him and giving him glory.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born into the musical family of Bachs in 1685. By the age of ten, both of his parents were dead. Early in his friction-filled life, young Johann determined he would write music … music for the glory of God … and this he did.

Most of Bach’s works are explicitly Biblical. Albert Schweitzer referred to him as The fifth evangelist, thus comparing him to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. At age 17 Bach became the organist at the church; soon thereafter he was given charge of the entire music ministry.

During his ministry in Weimar, Germany he wrote a new cantata every month … EVERY MONTH! And during one three-year period he wrote, conducted, orchestrated, and performed (with his choir and orchestra) a new cantata every week!

No one had any idea what a mark Bach would leave. His legacy lives on some 300 years later. You can hear his music at will.

At the beginning of every authentic manuscript one will find the letters “J.J.” This stands for Jesu Java (Jesus help me). At the end of each original manuscript you will find the letters “S.D.G.” This stands for Soli Deo Gloria (to the glory of God).

Now I doubt any of us have the abilities or gifting of Bach but we can be like him and do all we do in God’s strength – Jesu Java Jesus help me and Soli Deo Gloria -  to God’s glory.

So we have all been given the same and different gifts. The same is the grace of God in allowing us to be part of his kingdom. But we need to be aware of how we invest in this Kingdom and use the other gifts that we have been given to support the body, to progress the Kingdom of God and as an act of worship.

We started with the illustration of the orchestra.  For the composer each note is pivotal to get the best out of the piece of music. In the orchestra the single drum roll is as important as the intricate series of runs by the flute. For the beauty of the whole each player has a part to play to make up something beautiful and unforgettable.

In our church – we each like the orchestra have our part to play – we have been given the gifts to do it and we do it to make something beautiful not only as an act of worship but to further God’s Kingdom.  

Looking forward 2 15th September Sermon

The mission imperative            Romans 10: 8-15 Luke 15: 1-10

How do you react when you have had some good news?

A few weeks ago I heard some good news, our daughter Megan got the grades she needed to get into the University she wanted to go too. I was standing behind her at the desk when she logged onto the university entrance website and I nearly deafened her with my screech. Then straight away what did we do as a family – we got on the phone to speak too or text other members of the family with the good news.
Then we started to tell other people who would be interested, we shared the good news far and wide until those we knew well knew the good news that she had had.

And then we went and celebrated together as a family.

I am sure we are not unusual as a family in celebrating good news. Each week we share our good news with other people. It’s part of our make up that we want to share our good news and actually most of us want to hear good news too.

Our reading from Romans today quotes words from the prophet Isaiah – how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news- so my challenge and question to us all this morning is – are we people with beautiful feet.

Do we as a church as individuals bring good news.

This week we are in the second of our series of looking forward and following on from last week when we spoke about vision I want us to focus this morning on mission.

I don’t know about you but I used to get a bit confused about mission – thinking that mission only referred to those who were sent away from the church often to another country to do missionary work of either evangelising or of practical things like nursing, teaching in areas of deprivation.

But today and in one way this is mission – but I want us to think this morning of mission as being more local – and not applying to a few people who are chosen especially for this but applying to us all as followers of Jesus Christ.

As Christians we are all called to take part in the mission of the church – the mission to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

What is Jesus’ final words to his disciples? – Matthew 28 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This commission of Jesus is still just as vital today as it was in the days when he said it.

Where are we as a nation? – although many would call themselves Christians we know that we are far, far away from being a Christian nation.

Do people know who Jesus is? – they may make scant reference to him at Christmas, but apart from using his name as a swearword the general society makes little reference at all to him and has no idea of the good news of his saving power.

We can all sit back in our pews and say how dreadful this is - which it is – or we can be people with beautiful feet – bringing good news.

So what is the good news we bring to start with.

Well the story that Jesus told is a wonderful illustration of this – the sheep who wanders of and the shepherd who searches high and low to find him.

No one is too far away from God for him not to be part of the Kingdom – and what do we learn about the shepherd well he rejoices when he finds the sheep – his sheep is so special to him that he rejoices. He’s not just a dumb animal, an insignificant he is special and he rejoices – like the father rejoices over one sinner who repents we are told.

The good news is of our saviour.

Paul writes to the Romans in chapter 10 – 12 For there is no difference between jew and Gentile, = the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Alleleuia- everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.

The Good news is that all no matter who they are, no matter what they have done, no matter what people think of them in human terms, no matter what there nationality, what their social status or lack of status, no matter….. everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.

This is good news – this is the heart of the good news of Jesus Christ – the gospel.

When we grasp that for ourselves as individuals it’s immensely powerful isn’t it – that Jesus because of his death on the cross, dying to take away all our sin, and then overcoming death itself at the resurrection , rose to give us life – because of this – when we call upon his name we know that we can be saved.

And the parable of the lost sheep shows us that our heavenly Father himself rejoices when we realise this good news and when we turn to him once more. Even more incredible that God cares about each and everyone of us that he cares whether or not we turn to him.

That’s good news-

BUT – the big BUT is coming up here.

It’s good news but we as a church aren’t very good at sharing it.

We don’t get on our phones, or text others or even put it on facebook!  It’s good news but somehow or other we have lost that urgency of sharing the good news.

And Paul writes too – how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?

Perhaps that’s where the problem is – we are waiting to be sent – or we think it’s only those that are sent who need to say anything.

But my challenge to you this morning is that we all need to be people with beautiful feet- Jesus has sent us already!

It’s not just the calling of special Christians to be bringers of good news – but it’s the calling of us all.

How tragic for us as a church in this country – what a damming indicement of the role of the church is that the good news is not being heard by so many – that so many children are growing up without any knowledge of who Jesus is.

We have lost the urgency to share the good news, we are perhaps embarrassed to say anything less we are perceived as somewhat strange- and so many people because of this never have the opportunity to hear of the life changing power of Jesus Christ of the wonderful good news that everyone who calls on his name will be saved.

So what can we do then to be people with beautiful feet and I want us to think in two ways briefly this morning – how we can be individuals with beautiful feet and how we can be a church with beautiful feet.

Firstly as individuals. We need to be people who walk the talk.

It saddens me greatly when I hear comments made by other people concerning why they don’t come to church and it is often something like this.

Well I don’t go to Church because I see those who do go to Church and I think they think because they go on a Sunday they can behave how they want to for the rest of the week – and I don’t like how they behave.

I am sure I am not the only one who has heard comments like this.

We need as Christians in our witness to walk the talk.

If we profess with our lips that Jesus is lord we also need to proclaim him as Lord of our lives.

That means our lives must reflect what we are saying. We must live lives which show forgiveness to others- just as we have been forgiven. We need to live lives that show love to others – just as we have ourselves received love.

As we grow in our discipleship then our lives should more and more display the fruit of the spirit and we need to take that seriously if we are to take Jesus commission to us to share in his mission with the world seriously.

St Augustine said these words hundreds of years ago – Preach the word at all times and if necessary use words.

We can live the good news in our lives so that we can then be prepared to answer questions when necessary.

Paul wrote elsewhere – always be prepared to give an account of the hope that is within you.

If we live the good news then we will get people asking us questions about why we react to situations in certain ways – and it is then that we can give an account of the good news.

So we live the good news and we are prepared to share the good news. The problem is that we can use the first as an excuse to ignore the second – but the two must go hand in hand – when someone needs to hear the good news then we must be prepared to tell them, and it’s your story that counts. Your story of faith – how God has touched your life personally, the peace you have found in your lives, the healing you have received, the joy you have been given. Whatever it is for you – that is your story- the way the good news of Jesus Christ has touched your life and that is what you must share to have beautiful feet.

So we walk the talk, and we are prepared to talk the talk as well.

And then as a Church how can we be a church with beautiful feet.

Well I think we need to think about how we perceive the role of the church generally and this goes back to our vision.

We need to be a church with low walls and which exists not for our own benefit but for the benefit of others.

When we have high walls around us we are telling people that you can only come in if you are like us and we don’t look out of our high walls very much.

But if we have low walls then others can look in and see what we are doing and see the good news that we preach not only with our lips but in our lives. We can’t literally change the height of our walls but we can make a difference if our perception of what we are here for changes.

Archbishop William Temple said the church is the only organisation that exists for the benefit of those who are not members.

This is so true, we need to remember this constantly as we plan our activities, as we plan our worship, as we think about the use of our buildings.  Our lives together as a church must reflect the mission calling we have been given by Jesus himself.  Can this church continue to be beacon of Christ’s light in this community for generations to come –to do this we need to be a church with beautiful feet as we serve others and tell in our actions and our life the good news of Jesus Christ.

So we started with talking about how we might share good news together. Well can we be challenged by this as we have heard again today the good news of our salvation to share this good news in our lives and in our words and be people with beautiful feet.

Amen 

Looking forward 1 8th September Sermon

What sort of church?                      Acts 2: 42-47,     Luke 14: 25-35

About 350 years ago a shipload of travellers landed on the northeast coast of America. The first year they established a town site. The next year they elected a town government. The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness.
In the fourth year the people tried to impeach their town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road five miles westward into a wilderness. Who needed to go there anyway?
Here were people who had the vision to see three thousand miles across an ocean and overcome great hardships to get there. But in just a few years they were not able to see even five miles out of town. They had lost their pioneering vision.

In Proverbs 28 it says: Without vision the people perish.

We need a vision to reach forward for the future. We can all be abit like those first settlers we get to a point in life and we think we are quite happy as we are – we are settled, we have achieved something why change now.

But for those early settlers they lacked the vision to move forward and to discover more of the land they had come too. 

In our life as a church we can also be comfortable and think we have got to a point where this is how it is going to be- we have good friends, we enjoy good worship which feeds us and helps us in our Christian lives- BUT what more is there on offer if we only had the vision to move forwards an to travel that little distance.

I love the analogy of an ancient church building. Back in Dorney where I was before people used to ask how old the building was. And I used to say well it started in the 12^th century but it has been changing ever since. Over the generations people had added to it and had the vision to use it to enhance there worship. It was never a static building but one which was changing and developing. In a similar way this building has changed a new buiding was built almost 200 years ago but we know how that too has changed from the great pulpit in the middle of the nave aisle and other things too.

A building is not static and the church should not be static – We are told in scripture that we are being built into a holy temple – an organic changing place where God is present. That is not static but changing and the challenge to us is what is our vision now to change and develop for the future.

So let’s think what our vision might be for the future and to do this I want to go back to the reading from Acts 2 and the way that the first Christians the new church acted and behaved and what we can begin to learn from them.

Acts 2: Now here we have very soon after Pentecost the early Christians gathering together. They didn’t have a church building – they met in the synagogue and in each others homes. And in this account and in elsewhere in Acts we can learn a huge amount from their priorities.

Firstly they were Showing the life of Christ – they were showing the life of Christ in the signs and wonders – people were healed from physical and spiritual bondage- we see that in the Acts – Just next in chapter 3 peter and john go to pray and meet a lame begger and they give him more than alms but they give him his wholeness. Jesus message and life of bringing healing and wholeness was being shown visibly in their life together.

They showed the life of Christ not only in the miraculous and in healing but also they showed the life of Christ in how they lived together.

Jesus showed no distinction between the haves and have nots – he was in fact often more at home with the outcast of society than the high and mighty, and here we see that too. There was no sense of distinction between the group they were all in it together, it says they had everything in common – they shared all they had together. This was in a sense a re-enactment of the priorities of Jesus of his breaking down barriers between people and living in unity one with each other.

When people saw this new community of believers it was as if they were seeing Christ himself – they took seriously Jesus’ command to us to be and to reflect his light in the world.

And then they also took seriously the need to Grow in the life of Christ.

Grow in the life of Christ – what we are told is that they  devoted themselves to the teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer.

They knew that for them the Christian life was not static but that they needed to continue to grow and develop in their understanding of God’s call upon their lives.

They grew not only by studying together but by being with each other – in fellowship, by praying with each other, by sharing the Lord’s supper together. In all these ways they grew in the life of Christ – they grew in their sense of discipleship. They didn’t stay the same but they grew.

And then they also served all in the fellowship of Christ

Serve all in the fellowship of Christ – here we are told that they gave to those in need, elsewhere we are told that they set a system by which the vulnerable the widows and those in need could be looked after by deacons. Elsewhere too in Acts we know that the early church outside Jerusalem when they realised that the Christians  in Jerusalem where suffering hardship took a collection to support them. they served other Christian groups – collection for the people in Jerusalem later in Acts. 

And as a result – I love this verse probably one of my favourite in the whole bible – because of this, because they were the beacon of light to others, sharing and growing and serving in the life of Christ – The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Not occasionally but DAILY.

The life of this new testament church was so vibrant, so meaningful that others came to see what was going on.

What about us – can we begin to compare ourselves to this sort of Church?

Those of you are on the PCC or have been on the PCC in the past may recognise something that I have said this morning – because I have deliberately used the vision statement that this church has had in place for a number of years when talking about this new testament church.

What is it:

To show the life of Christ

To grow in the life of Christ

TO serve all in the fellowship of Christ.

This is something that I think should continue to stand as our Vision as a church for the future – because this is the fundamentals of what we are about as a church and reflect what the church should have been down the centuries starting with this example back at the start of the Christian church as we know it.

This church has stood here proudly for almost 200 years in the form we know it and has been a Christian beacon of light in this community. We need to ensure as a church that that continues that we build on the heritage that we have inherited to ensure that we continue to be a vibrant Christian presence for the future.

So what things can we do to develop this.

What I have shared with the PCC which we are now looking to work forward is a strategy to look at the next 5-10 years which will shape our thinking and our priorities and it is based on the three areas of Showing, growing and serving

So our vision is that in 5-10 years time you would see I this church that

 Shows the life of Christ  - by the fact that

All ages worship God in the church and the  Church family is a true representative of family with all generations represented

The Church building is used as a Spiritual space for the community throughout the week and offers opportunities for others to engage in different ways such as art, music silence and retreat

Prayer central to the life of the church

In 5-10 years time you would see in this church

Which grows in the life of Christ by being  a church where

People are passionate about their faith 

There is a structure of teaching throughout the week and on a Sunday to support all age and stages of discipleship

There is an onus on mission and outreach both at home and worldwide

Stewardship is taken seriously and all members involved in the life of the church

A variety of worship opportunities are on offer.

In 5-10 years time you would see in this church a church

Serves all in the fellowship of Christ by being a church where

A trained pastoral care team offers support both to those inside and outside the church family

There are opportunities to receive prayer for yourself or others available at services and other occasions as appropriate

The church buildings are used to serve the community

The Church is involved in community activities with other local organisation to meet the issues within our parish community eg Alcohol and debt

This is our vision for the church  based on the new testament church I think this is God’s vision for the church. I hope that you as a congregation would join us in owning that vision.

I will be talking about the church with low wall next week and you will see on the back of the document the priorities for this year which please do take home and read and come back to myself or the PCC with any questions about this.

BUT a word of warning. Jesus says if you want ot follow me we need to carry our cross. Following Jesus in his vision for the world, a world where are salt and light, where we bring his hoe and love is something which can be costly to us all. We need to support each other in our own Christian lives and in the life of the church.

But we started with a story about vision and I want to end with a great quote about vision. It is from Helen Keller the first deaf blind person to get a Bachelor of Arts. She was given the chance of education and took it with both hands and in turn used her own  education as an activist for a number of issues particularly that of disability rights.Helen Keller said:  what is worse than being born blind – having  sight without vision

May we who have been given the life giving sight of knowing Christ our saviour – be given his vision to share this with the world.

Amen