Sermon 8th January – A Fresh Start

Who can remember that first day of the school term? All those promises made to yourself about working harder, getting your homework done on time. Or how about the opening of a fresh new jotter – crisp and clean. The effort during the first weeks of term to ensure the jotter stays neat and tidy – extra effort with the handwriting, no doodling on the cover.

A fresh start.

The New Year is another time we take stock and think about making changes, starting a fresh with diets or fitness regimes, taking up new hobbies or stopping bad habits.

A fresh start.

Our Bible readings this morning are a wonderful way to start the New Year – Both speak to us of beginnings.

A fresh start.

The opening words of Genesis – the beginnings of God’s word, the beginning of God’s world.

A fresh start – THE start.

Words from the opening of Mark’s Gospel – Jesus baptism – the beginning of Jesus ministry.

A fresh start – HIS start. OUR fresh start.

Both passages pack a punch – neither footers about – it’s straight in there.

In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water. Then God commanded,

         Let there be light—and light appeared. God was pleased with what he saw. Then he separated the light from the darkness, and he named the light

         Day and the darkness

         Night. Evening passed and morning came—that was the first day.

80 words in and the first day if done.

So John appeared in the desert, baptizing and preaching.

         Turn away from your sins and be baptized, he told the people,

         and God will forgive your sins. Many people from the province of Judea and the city of Jerusalem went out to hear John. They confessed their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan River.

  John wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. He announced to the people,

         The man who will come after me is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to bend down and untie his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

   Not long afterward Jesus came from Nazareth in the province of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, he saw heaven opening and the Spirit coming down on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven,

         You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you.

180 words in and Jesus ministry is ready to rock and roll.

There is no hanging about – no lengthy preamble or introduction. No faffing about – it’s straight to work.

Mark’s Gospel doesn’t start with the nativity – it starts 30 years later. None of the imagery of Christ’s birth – the intensity of Mary’s Magnificat, the confusion of Joseph – the wonder of the shepherds, the loyalty of the wise men, the humbleness of the birth. None of that – no sentimentality.

Instead it is bang! Jesus is here, he gets baptised. We only need to read a further 120 words of Mark’s Gospel and Jesus has recruited his first disciples.

There is an immediacy, an urgency almost in Mark’s Gospel – the need to get the message out there. Many writers and theologians make the judgement that the Gospel writer Mark is writing for Christians who are enduring great persecution. They needed to hear the words of comfort and reassurance that we find in Mark’s Gospel.

For example they may have asking questions about why if Jesus is the Saviour are they having such a hard time? Mark answers with telling them about Jesus calming storms, about Jesus teaching that they would suffer persecution for his sake, if they were looking for personal power and glory then they needed to think again.

An urgency about the message of the Gospel. An urgency to reassure the early Christians about the promise of God in Jesus – their saviour, our saviour.

When I read this week’s reading and began thinking about what I might say to you in this the first sermon of this new year – I was surprised that we were back with John the Baptist – it seems only a few weeks ago that we were thinking about him during advent.

It reminded me of that Sunday in advent when we witnessed (in Aberlour) the baptism of Shu May, Stephanie, Kaitlyn and Sophie – three generations, four new beginnings of lives in and with Christ. That was a special Sunday for them and their family – it was a special day for us and it was a special day for God.

When in baptism we replicate, in our own way, the baptism of Jesus – I have a feeling that just as he did with Jesus – God whispers through the Holy Spirit “You are my own dear child. I am pleased with you.”

Our baptism marks the beginning – the fresh start we have in our lives – only made possible through the love of God – shown to us in the life, death and resurrection of his Son –Jesus.

In our tradition we accept the principal of infant baptism as well as believer’s baptism. Not every tradition accepts an infant baptism as a true baptism as they question the infant’s ability to acknowledge their past life and fresh start.

Our understanding of it is that the family takes this responsibility from the child and promise to bring the child up within the church family.

The early church accepted infant baptism – whole families would be baptised together – a bit like Shu May, Stephanie, Kaitlyn and Sophie.

For these ancient families marking their welcome into a new way of life, a new faith was not as easy as it is for us – and I am talking from a personal safety perspective. They were under persecution – life as an early Christian was a dangerous one.

Our baptism’s are no less life changing though – if taken seriously.

They are a hugely important part of our lives as Christians. This fresh start is something that is only made available to us through the grace of God.

And it is important that we take this seriously.

And what better way to begin this new year together than to think again about what it means to be baptised into the family of God.

‘Turn away from your sins and be baptized’ is what John the Baptist said to the people. Repent, be washed clean – begin again.

So, what does repent mean? Repent means to think with sorrow and with sorry hearts about what we are and what we have done. Repent means being regretful enough about something and being determined to make amends.

Repent suggests acknowledging our guilt in the sight of one we have hurt and seeking pardon and forgiveness.

Within the context of the Gospel, repentance means coming before God, acknowledging our waywardness, confessing our need of him and seeking his power to renew, to wipe clean our guilt, to restore us by his grace.

Is that not what the world desperately requires? Is that not the simple message John the Baptist proclaimed – a baptism in token of repentance, for the forgiveness of sins?

So large numbers of people came to hear this amazing message. They came accepting for themselves its profound truth. They were baptised by John in the River Jordan, confessing their sins. Yes, that must have taken much courage in the first place.

What would other people think or say, some might have wondered.

When God is allowed to come into the picture, does it matters what people think or say?

It matters not one bit, for Jesus himself came to the Jordan and there was baptised by John. At the moment when he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.” The dove has always been associated with the qualities of peace and gentleness.

Washed clean by the Spirit of God – an old life left behind and a new beginning.

And this wonderful gift is freely available for each and every person that seeks it. If there is one thing that continually moves me about God – it is his infinite capacity to love and forgive.

He forgive and loves me, he forgives and love you – each and every one of you.

That is awesome.

And yet how often we forget this – how often we ignore God’s love and go our own way.

We forget that in our darkest moments, in our darkest thoughts – God is there.

God is there willing us to acknowledge him and to trust him.

In baptism God is with us – just as he called Jesus his own dear child – his beloved child – he call us in the same way.

A friend of mine, Fiona, very kindly posted this following quote on her Facebook page the other day – it’s a quote from Henri Nouwen – Henri was a Dutch born priest who became a prolific writer about his faith and his living experience of it.

In this quote he talks about the voice of God in our baptism – calling us his beloved.

Anyway the quote – and please listen carefully to this – it is so worth it!

He said: “that soft, gentle voice that calls me the beloved has come to me in countless ways, my parents, friends, teachers, students and the many strangers who crossed my path have all sounded that voice in different tones.

 I have been cared for by many people with much tenderness and gentleness. I have been taught and instructed with much patience …and perseverance. I have been encouraged to keep going when I was ready to give up and was stimulated to try again when I failed. I have been rewarded and praised for success… but, somehow, all of these signs of love were not sufficient to convince me that I was the beloved.

Beneath all my seemingly strong self-confidence there remained the question:

if all those who shower me with so much attention could see me and know me in my innermost self, would they still love me?

 That agonizing question rooted in my inner shadow, left persecuting me and made me run away from the very place where that quiet voice calling me the beloved could be heard. Would they still love me?”

Would they still love you? God does.

Because that is what God asks of us.

As parents to love our children.

As friends to look out for our friends.

As teachers to care for our students.

As students to care for our teachers.

The list goes on and on…

Whoever you are,  whatever you are – you are the gentle voice of God whispering – you are my beloved.

To the people outside the church – you may be the only way they see Jesus. That may be a startling revelation – but in a world where many don’t know Jesus – we might be the only link they have. Our lives, our choices – the only pointers to what a life with Christ is like. We might be the only Bible they know.

And that is a huge responsibility.

But we are not alone – never alone in any of this. We have God’s love.

God’s infinite capacity for love – knows no bounds.

But do we let God loves us?

Here are some more words from Henri:

“For most of my life I have struggled to find God, to know God, to love God. I have tried hard to follow the guidelines of the spiritual life—pray always, work for others, read the Scriptures—and to avoid the many temptations to dissipate myself. I have failed many times but always tried again, even when I was close to despair.

 Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to find me, to know me, and to love me. The question is not “How am I to find God?” but “How am I to let myself be found by him?”

 The question is not “How am I to know God?” but “How am I to let myself be known by God?”

 And, finally, the question is not “How am I to love God?” but “How am I to let myself be loved by God?”

 God is looking into the distance for me, trying to find me, and longing to bring me home.”

Henri wrote those words in his book about the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

There is a challenge for us all in those words – how are we to let God love us? How do we allow ourselves to hear again that voice from our baptism – you are my own dear child, my beloved.

A challenge for the New Year – a resolution perhaps to think more about what if given freely in baptism –  a resolution to let God into our lives like never before.

To let God into our daily lives – not just our Sunday lives.

To let God work through us in new ways,

To let God reach out through us in new ways,

To let God love through us in new ways,

To let God love us,

To let God love.

Amen

 

Waiting…its almost over!

This advent we have been using the material put together by a group of Church of Scotland folks under the title ‘Spill the beans’ – it has introduced us through our worship to preparing and waiting for Jesus – the Light the world has never put out.

Waiting can be difficult – and we wait in all different sorts of situations – good and bad. Waiting for Christmas, waiting in a relatives room at the hospital – good and difficult.

Our Advent time of waiting is almost over – is just six more sleeps we will welcome the baby Jesus once again. This is an exciting time of waiting and if you are anything like me as the week progresses you will be getting ever so impatient. 

But it is so worth the wait – Jesus is so worth the wait. And I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing this time of waiting with all those who have come to our services or been at an assembly.

Enjoy the next few days – get ready to celebrate!

 

Sermon for Remembrance Sunday – Craigellachie

Joshua 4:1-9 & Ephesians 2:12-22

Remembrance Sunday is always a poignant day. Whether or not it falls on the 11th of November it is important that we take time in the context of worship to remember the sacrifice of those who have given their lives in the service of their country.

Important to do so in the context of worship as it gives us the opportunity to bring to God our thoughts and our feelings.

In the passage we read from Joshua we heard a tale of the building of a memorial – a memorial to the power of God. In the previous chapter of Joshua God had just made the River Jordan stop flowing, so that his people, the Israelites could cross over safely with the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was the special chest that the people understood was God with them.

The memorial the Israelites build had twelve stones in it – each one representing one of the 12 tribes of Israel. The memorial that would provide a powerful visual reminder to anyone who saw it of God’s power. A Cairn of sorts.

Most of us will have at one time put a stone on a cairn at the top of a hill or at some beauty spot. A stone that represents the person who put it there. In the same way the stone on the Israelites cairn represented the 12 tribes – each stone at the top of Ben Aigen or Ben Rinnes represents a hill walker. A reminder or memorial to the effort made.

In this church we have many different memorials of many different kinds – some commemorating sad events and some happier ones – but all a visual reminder of someone or something.

And it is good and right to remember – what has gone before shapes our future. To think otherwise is to not understand life.

Following our service this morning we will make our way outside to the War Memorial in the church garden. The War Memorial has some names on it – to most of us these are the names of strangers – to a few perhaps the names of family members. But each of them is a person – each name has a story behind it.

A Young man who had his whole life ahead of him before the advent of a war dashed that.

A life is cut short and lives are changed. It is essential that for our future we never forget what these young men did for us. And how their sacrifice has shaped our lives and our futures.

Whether or not you agree with war – and I respect anyone’s right to disagree with the need for war it its most bloody of meanings – what we must never do is forget the name and stories behind each of the names on our War Memorials.

Our War Memorial tells its own story and it is sad that the end of World War Two did not end wars altogether and that the world has not learned that there are better ways to live together than in conflict.

God’s people in Joshua build a memorial to the twelve tribes – it marked a union – a shared history and a shared future. How sad that today that that land is in turmoil and that the Holy Land should be a place of conflict. I do not begin to understand it all – the politics of it, the history. But it is a mark of the world that the land where our story as a church began – is a place of disagreement. Where people are willing to fight and commit humanitarian atrocities on one another – and yet profess faith in a God who must surely weep at what he sees.

Our second reading from Ephesians is a powerful one – one that I found quite emotional when reading it. Hear again these words:

At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God’s chosen people. You had no part in the covenants, which were based on God’s promises to his people, and you lived in this world without hope and without God.13 But now, in union with Christ Jesus you, who used to be far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.[a]14 For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies.15 He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace.16 By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.17 So Christ came and preached the Good News of peace to all—to you Gentiles, who were far away from God, and to the Jews, who were near to him.18 It is through Christ that all of us, Jews and Gentiles, are able to come in the one Spirit into the presence of the Father.

These words were written by Paul to the church in Ephesus – a Greek church in a foreign land – not one that was part of God chosen land – Israel. Paul, a former Jew and now Christ’s apostle – is making clear that God’s love is for all. Not just the Jews but for all – no matter where they were born. And he is stressing in this passage how Christ himself breaks down the barriers between people. And through this brought peace to all.

How sad that when we look at our fractured word that so many walls still exist. In Aberlour at our service there we are going to firstly build a cairn and then use the stones from the cairn to build a wall – the stones will begin by representing the stones on the cairn built by the twelve tribes – such a hopeful memorial.

Then we will then take the stones and build a wall with them – and as we do we will be thinking about the many things that cause disagreements which form barriers and buttresses in our own relationships – and when taken on a grander scale cause wars. The stones once a hopeful memorial now represent twelve causes of hurt and disagreement.

Starting with pride – Thinking we are important – more than we really are – always thinking we are better than others. How often do we see that lived out in politics – between countries? Too often.

Jealousy – wanting what someone else has – whether that is clothes, money or land – disliking them because they have it and we don’t.

Selfishness – always putting ourselves first – making sure we are ok even if it means hurting others.

Prejudice – treating people unkindly or unfairly – just because they are different to us in some way.

Insincerity – we feel a bit small or insignificant so we hurt other people as a distraction from what we think of ourselves.

Greed – not satisfied with what we have we want more.

Being unable to forgive – hanging to angry feelings – holding a grudge.

Hatred – seriously disliking someone.

Fear – when scared we do one of two things – its fight or flight.

Wealth – we might have it or we might not – either way it can cause problems for us.

Equally poverty – when in poverty desperate people can do desperate things.

And finally power – some people are just power hungry and will to do anything to gain even more. More often than not causing even more suffering for some of the world most fragile people.

These words can all be used when we think of not just war but also our own relationships. Where there is a balance in favour of one – another suffers.

And where an equal balance does not exist then a proper relationship cannot flourish.

All of these words which we have very quickly explored – cause a misbalance – they cause walls to go up – whether that be metaphorical or real walls.

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians reminds them that Jesus takes those walls down – he breaks the power games and makes everyone equal.

Jesus brings peace – the imagery Paul gives of Jesus breaking the wall with his own body is a powerful one. Jesus gave his live so that the world could know the real love of God – the real will of God – Peace & Love, Hope and Joy – a world of equals, a world where no-one was worth more than another – where no life is worth more than another.

Each November we take time to remember the price paid by each life lost in the name of peace – each one a heavy price – each one a legacy.

And yet what have we learned? Surely we should have worked out that life is costly and the loss of life painful. Why is it that we preach forgiveness, and I don’t just mean via the pulpit, and yet find it hard to do the other bit – the forgetting.

A friend and colleague wrote the following in her blog yesterday and I want to share with you Julies thoughts as they ring true for me. She wrote:

Forgiveness is bitter sweet; it needs to be given, and it also needs to be received.
The specifics need to be forgotten to allow healing,
What we remember is the why & the what;
Why was it necessary?
Why did we believe it was worth it?
What has been achieved?
What is the outlook for the future?

We in Britain, in the Western World, may be seen as meddlers in other people’s problems
As arrogant dictators who think they have all the answers.
We impose our worldview on others and expect them to abandon their culture, their context, their society, for the bright shiny Western Ways – oh how arrogant we can be!!

Yet, what we fight for is what we fought for more than half a century ago – freedom to be ourselves; freedom to make our own choices; freedom to live as we wish.

To move forward we need to leave behind the accusations; forgive and forget – but remember the price that has been paid: lives laid down.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends

The ones who paid that price are ageless, timeless – forever young

We who remain remember the sacrifice and embrace the freedom

Julies words are a stark reminder of why we have fought in wars and continue to fight.

And what whilst it is right to forgive and forget – that forgetting does not mean we do not remember the sacrifice of others on our behalf.

This is something that God understands – it is something he experienced and experiences still today.

For peace to exist we must forgive the past and forget our hurts, but we must never stop remembering those who paid the ultimate price.

Lest we forget:
Take up your quarrel with the foe;
to you from failing hands we throw
the torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

 

Ch ch Changes!

We are now settling into our temporary home at St Margarets Church as the work on our church renovation gets started. So just what are we doing to our church at Aberlour? Well here is a flavour of what is happening:

1. Installing a new boiler and relocating it to an upstairs boiler room.
2. Creating new male/female/disabled toilets in what used to be the vestry & toilet wing (this is also where the boiler will be)
3. Removing the remaining pews (contrary to local press this has not been a controversial move – several of the pews were removed years ago and the intention then was that the rest would follow!)
4. Creating a kitchen at the back of the church underneath the balcony.
5. Creating a small meeting room underneath the balcony opposite the kitchen, this will have moveable partitian walls so it can left open and part of the church.
6. New flooring
7. Ceiling cracks repaired and ceiling repainted.
8. Installing a new audio visual system (sound and projection)
9. Reusing the wood from the pews to create panelling for the church side of the kitchen walls and doors for storage cupboards at the back and front of the church.
10. Insulating the roof space and the two long exterior walls – this is perhaps the most controversial part of the renovation as it will result in stone walls being covered and painted.
11. A new front door.
12. Purchasing a further 100 chairs which are high quality folding chairs that will be stored in one of the new cupboards at the rear of the church and will be used when needed for weddings/large funerals, concerts etc.

So as you can see quite a bit of work is involved. We anticipate being able to return to the church in February. In the meantime we are very grateful to our friends at St Margarets for being such helpful hosts and neighbours.

But why are we doing all this work? Several reasons – some of it needs doing (heating, lighting, decoration); without a hall of our own we need a more flexible space; we have no kitchen facilities which makes catering even for simples teas after the service difficult; our heating bills are huge and we simply need to make the building more sustainable – our ‘green’ credential will be greatly increased! But more importantly the changes will make our church more inviting and usable. We have so many ideas of what we coud be doing but our building restricts this currently. Our vision is to be a church in the community and serving the community.

I am very excited about the changes and see so much potential in the building and the people who are part of the church – the years ahead will see this fulfilled, I am in no doubt about this.

See below for some ’before’ pictures.

This wall will remain in stone and the Apse will have enhanced lighting

to right hand side underneath the balcony will be a kitchen and to the left a small meeting room.

 

Holidays by the sea…

It seems I have not be very good at keeping this page up to date! I must try to do better and I will once my holiday is past.

But for the moment we are at our wee house by the sea, a sample of the view from the back…