EASTER 7

John 17: 1-11 (Sermon 2: “Zap Them, God!”)

1 Peter 4: 12-14 & 5: 6-11

Acts 1: 6-14 (Sermon 1: “In the Waiting Room’)

Psalm 68: 1-10 & 32-35

PREPARATION

Today is the final Sunday of the Easter season.

Christ Jesus lives on among his people!

Christ Jesus lives on indeed!

We are just one week away from Pentecost.

During this week most of the church, world-wide,

prays for the unity of Christianity.

We follow the prayer attributed to Jesus by the Gospel of St John:

“That they (the disciples) may be one

even as we (the Father and Son) are one.”

Let each of us own that prayer:

May we all be one, and Jesus and his God were one.

Christ has been raised from the dead

and has now the ascendancy over all things.

He has been made God’s right hand Person,

outranking all earthly rulers and authorities,

above every other name in this world and the next.

Let those who love God be joyful;

let them celebrate together before God,

let them be jubilant with happiness!

Christ Jesus is the head of his body, the church,

filled with the fullness of the God who fills all things.

Sing praises to God, all nations on earth,

for God’s power and glory last forever and ever.

Amen!

PRAYER OF APPROACH

Glory be to you, great reconciling God, in you our Lord Jesus found his guide and goal.

Encouraged by his Spirit, we come to you with thanksgiving and praise.

Draw us closer to you that we may be closer to each other, and closer to each other that we may be closer to you. As we seek your blessing on this gathering, we also pray for your blessing on all other congregations who will gather on this Lord’s Day. Help us to find a unity in praise and in outreach. We long for the day when the world will say of us: “See how well these Christians love one another.’

Then shall Christ Jesus be truly glorified on earth, and our earthly songs shall echo the music of heaven.

Amen!

CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE

Introduction to confession:

My friends, when we think of the disunity of the church, it is hard to get our thinking straight, let alone our feelings. Reading the church’s story, we can understand and sympathise with the reason for the formation of different denominations. Moreover at the present time there are many special things about our own denomination which we treasure and for which we give God thanks. Yet we know we were not meant to be so splintered up under different labels as if we were competing laundry detergents or breakfast serials. Therefore let us sincerely seek the mercy of God.

Let us pray.

Merciful God, please show us ourselves as you see us.

Give us insight into the fractured Church at the present time

that we may be capable of genuine repentance and renewal.

Convict us of all sins of indifference, prejudice,

self righteousness, enmity or sectarian egotism.

If we need gentle rebuke,

please do that for us.

If we need confronting and breaking down,

then please do that for us.

If we need healing and then painful rehab therapy,,

please take us in hand and exercise us for your glory.

Lord have mercy

Christ have mercy

Lord have mercy

FORGIVENESS

My sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, know this for certain:

There is no personal or churchly sin that lies outside the remedy of Christ’s love on the cross.

There is no evil that cannot be conquered by the resurgent power of the risen and exalted Lord.

To those who turn from darkness to light there is forgiveness and a new day.

Accept from the hands of God the free gift of liberation and healing.

It is yours for the taking.

Thanks be to God!

PRAYER FOR CHILDREN

Dear God,

you and Jesus are inseparable mates.

We wish we were more like that;

closer together and closer to you.

But silly or bad things keep us apart,

and we don’t love other Christians

like we should love them.

Please help us

to get over that.

Cure us of whatever sickness it is

that keeps us apart.

Help us to love one another

like you love us.

Amen!

PSALM 68: 1-10 & 32-35

Please God, get moving and scatter your enemies,

let all hatefulness run for cover.

Like smoke on the wind let them be dispersed,

like wax in a fire let evil perish.

Now let the loving people celebrate,

let them leap before you and shout for joy.

Sing and sing again, to God who sweeps by

like rain clouds across an arid land.

As Father of the fatherless and Friend of widows,

God makes a holy home among us.

God gives the destitute a place to live in,

and liberates the forgotten prisoners.

They go out to live productive lives,

but the rebels end up in the wastelands.

God, your people do let you lead them,

they stride with you through the outback,

the earth moves and the heavens pour

when you are the Pastor among us.

Monsoon rains fall everywhere,.

restoring the land we have inherited.

Your flock find themselves at home,

you provide for the least and last.

Sing to God all nations of the earth,

sing the song of joy everywhere

to the One who rides through time

and speaks with a cosmic voice.

With the faithful souls throughout the universe,

tremble with awe at the love-power of God.

Stunning is God of the holiest realms,

who gives brave-hearts to the faithful.

Ó B D Prewer 2001

TO DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM?

John 17

That they may be one?

It seems

an impossible dream

a wish list

for a perfect church;

the Lord’s A team.

That they may be one?

Too soon;

the severing soon came

and multiplied;

“I with Apollos, I with Paul”,

and sullied Christ’s name.

That they may be one?

But now

we have become possessed,

like Legion;

a church of many voices,

and our Lord finds no rest.

That they may be one?

His words

retain the laser-fierce light

that may yet

become our salvation

and Christ’s delight.

. Ó B D Prewer 1999

SERMON 1: IN THE WAITING ROOM

Acts 1: 6-14

On this last Sunday of the Easter season, we are waiting for Pentecost. Just as the first followers of Jesus had to wait.

They waiting for an unspecified special day which Christ told them would come. It was to be an extra-exuberant outpouring of God’s Spirit.

For John the Baptist baptized with water, but before many days you will be baptised

with the Holy Spirit.

But prior to the event, they did not know what precise form the event would take. But they believed Jesus and looked forward to the extra special “something” that was going to happen. Jesus had ascended from the here to the everywhere, and had promised them. That was enough...

WHAT BROUGHT THE BROTHERS OF JESUS IN?

All these [the disciples] were constantly at prayer together. With them were a group of women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. Acts 1: 14

As Luke writes about it (his sequel to his Gospel story of Jesus) in his new book, “The Acts of the Apostles” (a best seller without doubt) the core of the church was at that stage a very small group. Luke informs us that there were the eleven surviving male disciples, together with the group of women who had so loyally followed Jesus. Also gathered were Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the brothers of Jesus.

He has not seen these brothers for some time. The last time we met them in the Gospel story, they believed their brother Jesus to be out of his mind and arrived to take him safely home. Things have changed. Now they are believers. In spite of the public disgrace of their big brother’s arrest and trial, in spite of the horror and public shame of execution on a cross, they were now believers. The resurrection their brother had caught up with them, and gathered them up in the new dynamic of Christian faith.

Wouldn’t we like to know how their conversion happened? Did Jesus make a special appearance to them? Of did they simply believe on the testimony of the others followers, who had gone from despair to overflowing joy. We can only guess. The main fact is that in the interlude between the ascension of Jesus and the Day of Pentecost, we discover his brothers are members of the small church that gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem.

A SENSE OF PLACE?

After the ascension of Jesus, the disciples returned from the hill called Olivet to Jerusalem: On entering the city, they went to the upstairs room where they were lodging. Acts 1: 13a.

Now here’s another question for us: What upper room?

Did Luke mean us to understand it was the same upper room where the last supper had been held? Where Jesus served them bread and wine, asking them to do this in remembrance of me? If so, it had become a most precious place to those few Christians at the beginning of the church’s story. What better place could there be for them to wait for the next instalment in the amazing acts of God?

This reminds me of the special joy certain places have for us. While I fear the temptation that seduces some Christians, whereby they begin to worship their lovely, or homely, building rather than God (edifice idolatry) I also recognise the importance of a sense of place. We treasure those special places which God has used to make his presence known in comfort or challenge, in times of joy and times of deep sorrow.

There can be something almost sacramental about special places. The aborigines in Australia know this as they traverse the landscape of their forebears. They have their sacred sites. We also experience it in certain cathedrals or chapels, or special places among the mountains or by the ocean.

God has a sense of place. The Holy One uses special places to enrich us. But we need to be wary less we turn such places into idols.

I like the idea of that upper room in Jerusalem was one such place for that small church community. However, as special as it was they knew how to move on when the time came. Those disciples were never tied to temples or upper rooms. They knew that the Lord who served them bread and wine in the upper room, could serve them still in far away places, even to the end of the world.

SELECTING BY CHANCE?

As Luke writes the story, they were waiting in the upper room for whatever it was that God was about to do. It was something radical, something to do with God’s Holy Spirit. While they waited, they occupied themselves with prayer and the election of a new apostle to replace the dead Judas Iscariot. One essential qualification was that such a person must have witnessed the risen Lord Jesus.

“Two nominations were made: Joseph (also known as Barsabbas and bore the second name of Justus) and a man called Matthias. Then they prayed for God to make a choice. They proceeded to draw lots. The lot fell on Matthias, who was then given a place among the twelve apostles. Acts 1: 23 & 26

The selection of that new apostle makes fascinating reading. They used their collective wisdom to narrow down the choice to two candidates: one chap named Matthias and another named Joseph Justus. Evidently they could not distinguish between these two men. They prayed about it but still did not have a clear conviction. So they did what the Roman soldiers had done at the crucifixion, when deciding who should take possession of Jesus’ clothing. They drew lots to decide the matter. And the lot fell on Matthias. He became one of the twelve apostles.

Let’s reflect for a minute or two on this method of choosing. In some awkward circumstances, reason and prayer can often only take one so far. It is very rare indeed that God intervenes and gives a sign. Finally a risk has to be taken, in one form or another. That young church employed chance.

That’s a teasing thought for us, especially in those strict puritan congregations where all games of chance are forbidden; where even at a church fair the guessing of the number of “smarties” in a jar is verboten. Do some of us think God cannot work through chance?

Drawing lots may not be the method I would employ to try and ascertain the will of God. But I would never attempt to say God cannot use that means. Or any other means. I dare not put any restriction on God at all. There is a sovereign freedom in the way God works that should keep us meek in the matter of what God will or will not do.

WAITING WITH IMPATIENCE?

Before he ascended, Jesus told them not to leave Jerusalem: You must wait for the promise of my Father......... You will be baptised with the Holy Spirit within the next few days. Acts 1: 4a & 5

That period between the ascension of their Lord and Pentecost, may well have been an awkward period for the small church community. It was almost as if things were “on hold”. The Jewish festival of Pentecost was in fact only a week away. But they did not know it would be the time for the next big Christian happening. They had no precise idea of what was to come (what did “baptized with the Holy Spirit mean?}or when it would take place. But they did what Jesus asked and they waited. That was sufficient.

Remember that old saying: “They also serve who only stand and wait.” Like many such sayings, it may have become overused and dog-eared. But it is certainly the truth in many situations for a follower of Christ. To stand and wait, to wait and pray, to let go and wait for God to lead us, can be a difficult challenge for impatient critters like us.

We are indeed impatient. Well, most of us! We want to bring on events. To get to grips with the future. The idea of waiting does not rate highly in our nature, and certainly not in our Western culture.

The Psalm for today, 67, is from of those delightfully frank outpourings where the very human poet tells God to get on with it.

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered.....

Summon your might, O God,

Show your strength, O God..........

Rebuke the beasts........

Trample down the tribute hunters....

Scatter the war mongers.....

I love the psalms for many things, especially such raw honesty.

Likewise I have always taken delight in one of Charles Wesley’s buoyant hymns, in which he displays a similar impatience. Perhaps you know that hymn My heart is full of Christs, and longs its glorious matter to declare” [By the way, I have always imagined that hymn being written when Wesley was on horseback. It seems to have an equestrian rhythm to it!] You may recall a later verse:

Stir up Thy strength, almighty Lord,

All power and majesty are Thine;

Assert they worship and renown;

O all-redeeming God, come down!

The impatience in those words of Charles Wesley is not a flaw. It is permissible for us to be impatient, even though is must be tempered. I believe it is a healthy faith that can openly express our impatience directly to God. It is okay to pour out our frustration in prayer. Our God understands that.

However, sometimes our Lord says “Wait.” The time is not yet. New things will happen when the time is ripe. Don’t try to force the issue. Attend to whatever practical matters lie before you. Maybe such practical matters include the selection of a new team member, like Matthias, or the preparing of a meal, or getting to work on time, or forgiving an enemy. The time may not yet be opportune for a major event from God. So wait. Wait in hope, not in frustration. Wait in faith, not in despondency. Wait while actively expressing love through your deeds, not in inactive resignation.

I would go so far as to say that the process of active waiting may even teach us at least as much as the dramatic events. Maybe it can teach us more. It is when we go faithfully about the Lord’s business without any sign of the heavenly wind and fire, that significant Christian growth can take place.

A PENTECOST CANNOT BE ENGINEERED

You will receive empowerment when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Acts 1: 8a.

Events like the incredible overflowing of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost cannot be engineered by us. We cannot push God into precipitous action. Our prayers should always be tempered with humility, keenly aware of how clumsy our timing is compared with God’s, and how minuscule is our wisdom compared with the wisdom of God.

The Apostles could not precipitate events. In the upper room, the twelve disciples, the group of woman, the Lord’s mother Mary, and the brothers, waited.

They did not wait in vain. Nor do we. In times of God’s choosing we are blessed with special times of divine delight. Times when

the wind of God blows through our weary lives, and the flame of God warms our hearts and inspires us to make room for others near the fire of God’s love.

Family of God, by all means cherish whatever personal “Holy Spirit times” that have enriched you. Yet do not idolise them or try to manufacture them. They are no more important than those numerous plain days and weeks when we faithfully trust and obey. The ultimate sign of the Spirit is not wind and fire, but faithful love.

SERMON 1: IN THE WAITING ROOM

Acts 1: 6-14

On this last Sunday of the Easter season, we are waiting for Pentecost. Just as the first followers of Jesus had to wait.

They were waiting for special day which Christ told them would arrive. It was to be an extra-exuberant outpouring of God’s Spirit.

For John the Baptist baptized with water, but before many days you will be baptised

with the Holy Spirit.

So they waited.

All these [the disciples] were constantly at prayer together. With them were a group of women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. Acts 1: 14

THE BROTHERS OF JESUS?

Hey, did Luke just mention the brothers of Jesus?

Sure did.

Luke informs us that there were the eleven surviving male followers, together with the group of women followers of Jesus. Also gathered were Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the brothers of Jesus.

The last time we met these brothers in the Gospel story, they reckoned their brother Jesus had gone bonkers.

Yet now they are believers. In spite of the public disgrace of their big brother’s arrest and trial, in spite of the horror and public shame of execution on a cross, they were now believers. Only one event could have wrought such a dramatic change in them: The Easter day happening.

Wouldn’t we like to know how the details of their? Did Jesus make a special appearance to them? Of did they simply believe on the testimony of the others followers, who had gone from despair to overflowing joy. We can only guess.

What we do know is that Luke now records Jesus’ brothers as church members .

A SENSE OF PLACE?

After the ascension of Jesus, the disciples returned from the hill called Olivet to Jerusalem: On entering the city, they went to the upstairs room where they were lodging. Acts 1: 13a.

Now here’s another question for us: What upper room?

Did Luke mean us to understand it was the same upper room where the last supper had been held? Maybe. What better place could there be for them to wait for the next instalment in the amazing acts of God?

God has a sense of place. The Holy One uses special places to enrich us. But we need to be wary less we turn such places into idols.

I like the idea of that upper room in Jerusalem was might have been one such place for that small church community. However, as special as it was they knew how to move on when the time came. Those disciples were never tied to temples or upper rooms. The Lord who served them bread and wine in the upper room, could serve them still in far away places, even to the end of the world.

SELECTING BY LOTTERY?

As Luke writes the story, While they waited, they occupied themselves with prayer and the election of a new apostle to replace the dead Judas Iscariot. One essential qualification was that such a person must have witnessed the risen Lord Jesus.

Odd stuff, huh? A new apostle was selected by prayer and lotto? They had used their collective wisdom to narrow down the choice to two candidates: one chap named Matthias and another named Joseph Justus. Evidently they prayed about it but still did not have a clear conviction. So they drew lots to decide the matter. And the lot fell on Matthias. He became one of the twelve apostles.

That’s a teasing thought for us, especially some of us who stem from a strict puritan background where all games of chance were “verboten.”

Drawing lots may not be the method I would employ to try and ascertain the will of God. But I would never be stupid enough to say God cannot use such means. Or any other means. There is a sovereign freedom in the way the Holy Friend works. We would do well to stay humble on such matters. .

WAITING WITH IMPATIENCE?

Before he ascended, Jesus told them not to leave Jerusalem: You must wait for the promise of my Father......... You will be baptised with the Holy Spirit within the next few days. Acts 1: 4a & 5

That interval between the ascension of their Lord and Pentecost, must have been an awkward period for the small church community. It was almost as if things were “on hold”.

They had no precise idea when or of what was to come (what did “baptized with the Holy Spirit mean?} or when it would take place. But they did know that Jesu s had asked them to wait. So they waited. It was sufficient.

Remember that old saying: “They also serve who only stand and wait.” Like many such sayings, it may have become soiled and dog-eared. But it certainly is true in many situations for followers of Christ. To stand and wait, to wait and pray, to let go and wait for God to lead us, can be a difficult challenge for impatient critters like us.

Impatient? Well, most of us! We want to bring on events. To get to grips with the future. The idea of waiting does not rate highly in our nature, and certainly not in our Western culture.

We Aussies are more like the writer of the Psalm for today, 67, who tells God to get on with it!

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered.....

Summon your might, O God,

Show your strength, O God..........

Rebuke the beasts........

Trample down the tribute hunters....

Scatter the war mongers.....

I love the psalms for many things, especially for such raw honesty.

Likewise I have always taken delight in one of Charles Wesley’s buoyant hymns, in which he displays a similar impatience. You may recall at his verse:

Stir up Thy strength, almighty Lord,

All power and majesty are Thine;

Assert they worship and renown;

O all-redeeming God, come down!

The impatience in those words of Charles Wesley is not a sin. It is ok for us to express impatience, even though is needs be tempered. I believe it is a healthy faith that can openly express ourselves to God. It is okay to pour out all our frustration in prayer. Our God understands that.

However, sometimes God says “Wait.” The time is not yet. New things will happen when the time is ripe. Don’t try to force the issue. Attend to whatever practical matters lie before you. Maybe such practical matters include the selection of a new team member, like Matthias, or the preparing of a meal, or getting to work on time, or forgiving an enemy. Wait. Wait in hope, not in frustration. Wait in faith, not in despondency. Wait while actively expressing love through your deeds, not in inactive resignation.

I would go so far as to say that the process of active waiting may even teach us mor e (or at least as much) as our busy times. When we go faithfully about the Lord’s business, without any sign of the heavenly wind and fire, that significant Christian growth can take place.

A PENTECOST CANNOT BE ENGINEERED

You will receive empowerment when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Acts 1: 8a.

The Apostles could not precipitate events. In the upper room, the twelve disciples, the group of woman, the Lord’s mother Mary, and the brothers, waited, waited, waited.

They did not wait in vain. Nor do we. In times of God’s choosing we will be blessed with special seasons of spiritual delight. Times when the Wind of God blows through our weary lives, and the flame of God warms our hearts and inspires us to make some room for others to gather around the fire of God’s love.

FOR EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON.

There are times for quiet waiting and times for busy outreach.

By all means cherish whatever lively “Holy Spirit seasons” that have enriched you. Also cherish those opportunities for busy outreach, to the point weariness or utter fatigue, that the Spirit may give you.

Yet do not idolise those special seasons, or try to manufacture them. Sufficient for each day are both the troubles, and the delights, that God may send your way .

SERMON 2: ZAP THEM GOD!

Psalm 68: 1-2

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered;

let those who hate him flee before him.

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away.

Zap them God! That would be a modern equivalent of As wax melts before a fire,

so let the wicked perish in the presence of God.

Those words came from tough times, when God’s faithful people suffered badly at the hands of oppressors. For those ancient Jews it was a matter of survival: survival both for their race and their unique faith in Yahweh. Unless enemies were scattered, unless wicked powers were melted like wax in a fire, they had no hope.

In recent times, the nearest we might get to such an upsurge in feelings is our reaction to terrorists, who kill and maim whoever gets in their way, whether they are guilty of anything or not.

But for most of us in this lucky country (not ignoring those who suffered in the outrage of the Bali bombings) enemies are merely those opponents who criticise us, seek to exploit us, try to beat us in securing a promotion, or defeat us in the ballot for president of the local sporting club. For most of us therefore, the word enemies might seem too strong... Those passages in the Psalms that beg God to inflict a nasty fate on their enemy, may seem to go too far.

However there are some for whom the word enemy has the right connotation. If your child’s life is being ruined by drug pushers, then the word enemy is appropriate. If you are elderly folk whose savings have been embezzled by an accountant or solicitor, then enemy is about right. If you are a child whose life is made utterly miserable by school bullies, then to see those bullies as the enemy is very true. If you are an aborigine whose attempts to gain rights to the land where 100 generations of your ancestors lived continuously, then those who usurp your right are indeed enemies.

For such people, to pick up and read a psalm where the speaker begs God to come and scatter and destroy their enemies, seems a perfectly valid prayer.

It is even more so for people in parts of Africa, Central America, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, Indonesian Ambon or the Gaza Strip. Wherever enemies indiscriminately injure and massacre, ordinary people long for them to be destroyed. or at least that they be scattered. If you have just seen your husband and son shot, your sister beheaded, or maybe your daughter raped, enemy is the only word, and destruction seems the only answer.

I remind you of this to stress the point that the Psalms that call for drastic action against enemies have a keen relevance to many Christians somewhere in the world at this moment. Anything I now go on to say about our cosy situation is not to write off the anguish so many good people who cry to God for rescue from vicious enemies.

EVIL IS OUR MORTAL ENEMY

Nevertheless, we in this lucky country, worshipping freely in the lucky congregation, do have enemies of another kind. These are the demonic forces against which must fight around us and within us. Evil in its many forms is our mortal enemy, and we beg God to scatter it, or destroy it like wax in a fire.

Evil is a personal power. It does not operate in rocks or cabbages, not in caterpillars or crocodiles. It only operates in and through persons.

Whether you literally see wickedness as the kingdom of an evil that is ruled by a fallen angel named Satan, or whether you see it more as the sum total of the personal evil of communities and nations personified under a name like Satan, I don’t mind. I do not mind as long as we see it as a personal power. It operates with extreme cunning. It devastates lives. It is our personal enemy, and it is the enemy of the church of Jesus Christ.

In this lucky country of Australia, I pray that the demonic enemy we see on every side will be scattered and destroyed. Zap them, God! Let all the curses of the Psalms fall upon everything that maims and corrupts and destroys my fellow human beings.

THE EMEMIES OF CHURCH HARMONY

More particularly on this day, in the week of prayer for Christian unity, I pray that God will scatter the evils that bedevil the church. I want not only look at the words of psalm 68 but also at the words in the 17th chapter of St John’s Gospel where Jesus on the night of his betrayal prays for his followers, the church: That they may be one as you (my Father) and I are one.

This prayer for the harmonious fellowship and witness of the church is the recurring theme of the whole of chapter 17, the prayer which is often called the “great high priestly prayer of Jesus.” There is a passion in this prayer from a condemned man which makes it a focal point for Christians around the world today as we pray for the universal church in its plethora of denominations: That they may be one as Jesus and his God are one.

The awkward question I now must ask is: What are the enemies that keep us from greater expressions of unity? What are the evils that prevent fuller unity?

I will suggest a few of these evils, some of the demons that possess us. You may wish to add a few more. My list is not in order of priority.

First, there is resistance to change. Most change is painful. All of us except masochists evade pain. To become more like the harmonious fellowship for which Jesus prayed, we would all have to suffer the pain of changing our ways. Remember that Jesus said: He who tries to save his life will lose it. But he who loses his life for my sake will find it. In the church we recite those words, we nod our heads wisely when they are read, but we are not keen on practising them.

In Australia some of us felt called to go through the pain of losing life as Presbyterian, or Methodist, or Congregational to find ourselves in the Uniting Church. It has meant pain, before and after. Over a quarter of a century on and some members are still experiencing the pain. I remember a weary Bruce saying to his best friend Marie, not long after the UCA came into being: “I don’t think I could go through the pain of another union in my life time. But it was the right thing and it is worth it. If I had to go back to the 1950’s and as a young minister start the torturous process over gain, I would certainly do it.”

Reluctance to face the pain of change is one of the enemies facing the divided churches. Therefore today I pray: Zap it, God! Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him That the church may be one even as Christ and God are one..

Secondly, there is the enemy of fear. Fear of others who we find it hard to understand, fear of different shades of opinion, fear of other ways of doing things, fear of taking the risk and getting it wrong, fear of letting our denominational forbears down, fear that the more we do together with other churches the more it might appear that our particular denomination is redundant. Fear of the loss of our own particular religious identity.

Fear is a nasty enemy of Christ. What is more it is an emotion that unscrupulous people find it easy to exploit. Many a move towards more cooperation between churches within local areas has been undermined by the whispers and lobbying of the fear mongers. Indeed, there are some religious groups within the general Christian fold who openly raise the fears of their members to limit association with other denominations. We have yet to learn the wisdom of St John who said that “perfect love casts out fear.”

Today I pray for the demolition of fear: Zap it, God! Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him. That the church may be one even as Christ and God are one.

Thirdly there is the enemy of selfish power. The more we work with other denominations the more the ‘little kingdoms” of the power-brokers among us gets nullified. When I say “power-brokers” I do not necessarily mean the “top brass” of the church’s organisation - although it can be a barrier there also. In every congregation where I have ministered, there have been powerful sub groups. In truth in a few situations the real decisions are not made by the official councils of a congregation but by a coterie who have (for various reasons) much clout. The bigger the pond the smaller these little fish must become. They do not welcome that.

Today I pray for the demolition of selfish power wielded by either clergy or laity. Zap it, God! Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him. That the church may be one even as Christ and God are one.

Fourthly there is the enemy of religious jingoism. It has a variety of self righteous manifestations... This old enemy seemed to have mastered much of the Jewish religious hierarchy in the time of Jesus. They were exclusive. They thought themselves utterly superior. All others were wrong. They had the truth and would kill you if they must in order to uphold their truth.

There are very few church denominations that have not either openly or more subtly held the doctrine that: “We are a little bit truer than the others.” Even though we act kindly and generously towards each other, this insidious enemy can be still lurking in the shadows, pulling the strings when major decisions have to be made, telling us to go a little way towards the other, but no further. Draw the line and do not cross over. We have the truth and it must not be sacrificed. Religious jingoism; trumpet blowing self righteousness.

Today I pray for the scattering of this enemy in our midst: Zap it, God! Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him. That the church may be one even as Christ and his God are one.

Resistance to change, fear, selfishness, jingoism are the enemies of the “gathering together of the separated Christians.”

Make no mistake about it: in this lucky church in this lucky country the personal power of evil does exist; it is the enemy of Christ. It will attempt at all costs to hold the churches apart.

Occasionally it will come out in the open and beat its chest like a proud gorilla. But more often it work subtly from within, and often with the impression of saccharine reasonableness, deny the fulfilment of Christ’s high priestly prayer.

SUMMARY

I want to sum up with a brief account of one of the most spine chilling exhibitions of the demonic dressed up in pretty religion that I have witnessed- outside my own shadowy heart and mind, that is!

It was a highly emotional revivalist-type happening. A lot of glitter, much noise and extravagant promises. Much shouting and finger jabbing about the untruths and wrongs in other denominations, especially in high church and Roman Catholic fellowships. The World Council of Churches was delivered a special high velocity serve of invective. Then a trio of blond girls, no more than 11-13 years of age, decorated up like beauty queens, sang in sweet harmony a song about the virtues of their denomination and the sins of all others. Each chorus was a ditty which always finished with a damning of the ecumenical movement.

Of course there are faults within the ecumenical movement. Just are there faults within any one of the world’s many congregations. But that song coming out of the mouths of mere children, offended me more than most of the things folk label as filthy. I found it appallingly obscene.

I am not finding fault with the three children. They were not the obscenity. They were just being a part of their parent’s church scene. But they could not have had any understanding of the prejudices they were extolling or the people they were condemning. They were just being used. Whoever it was that set those girls up, and trained them to sing the spiritually obscene doggerel that they did, was surely the enemy of Christ and his great high priestly prayer. The manipulators were the obscenity. There are some situations are satanic. Evil is a personal thing; it only works through persons. Zap them, God!

So that we all may be one as Christ and God are one, I pray for the destruction of evil wherever it manifests its arrogance; and that includes elements within our own church.

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him.

And may God have mercy on us, sinners one and all.

SERMON 2: ZAP THEM GOD!

Psalm 68: 1-2

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered;

let those who hate him flee before him.

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away.

Zap them God! That would be a modern equivalent of As wax melts before a fire,

so let the wicked perish in the presence of God.

In recent times, the nearest we might get to such an upsurge in feelings is our reaction to terrorists, who kill and maim whoever gets in their way, whether they are guilty of anything or not.

However there are some for whom the word enemy has the right connotation.

-- If your child’s life is being ruined by drug pushers, then the word enemy is appropriate. ---- If you are elderly folk whose savings have been embezzled by an accountant or solicitor, then enemy is about right.

-- If you are a child whose life is made utterly miserable by school bullies, then to see those bullies as the enemy is very true.

-- If you are an aborigine whose attempts to gain rights to the land where for 50,000 years your ancestors lived continuously, then those who usurp your right are indeed enemies.

For such people, to pick up and read a psalm where the speaker begs God to come and scatter and destroy their enemies, seems an honest, valid prayer.

I remind you of this to stress the point that those Psalms that call for drastic action against enemies will have a sharp relevance to some Christians, somewhere in the world at this moment.

But let ‘s be honest . Most of us have it easy.

EVIL IS OUR PERSONAL ENEMY

It is right that we should ask God to scatter it, or destroy it like wax in a fire.

Evil is a personal power. It does not operate in rocks or cabbages, not in caterpillars or crocodiles. It only operates in and through persons.

Whether you literally see wickedness as the kingdom of an evil that is ruled by a fallen angel named Satan, or whether you see it more as the sum total of the personal evil of communities and nations, I don’t mind. I do not care as long as we see it as a personal power. It operates with extreme cunning. It devastates lives. It is our personal enemy, and it is the enemy of the church of Jesus Christ.

THE EMEMIES OF CHURCH HARMONY

More particularly on this day, in the week of prayer for Christian unity, I pray that God will scatter the evils that bedevil the church. Jesus on the night of his betrayal prays for his followers, the church: That they may be one as you (my Father) and I are one.

There is a passion in this prayer from a condemned man which makes it a focal point for Christians around the world today as we pray for the universal church in its plethora of denominations: That they may be one as Jesus and his God are one.

The awkward question I now must ask is: What are the enemies that keep us from greater expressions of unity? What are the evils that prevent fuller unity?

I will suggest a few of these evils, some of the demons that possess us. You may wish to add a few more. My list is not in order of priority.

First, there is resistance to change. Most change is painful. All of us, except masochists, evade pain. To become more like the harmonious fellowship for which Jesus prayed, we would all have to suffer the pain of changing our ways. Remember that Jesus said: He who tries to save his life will lose it. Reluctance to face the pain of change is one of the enemies facing the divided churches.

Resistance to change is a nasty enemy of Christ. Therefore today I pray: Zap it, God! Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him That the church may be one even as Christ and God are one..

Fear is a nasty enemy of Christ. Therefore today I pray: Zap it, God! Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him That the church may be one even as Christ and God are one..

Thirdly, there is the enemy of complacency. We have live for so long with a dismembered body of Christ that we have become comfortable with it. We actually like things the way they are. Let others make the first move and come to us. Or let us wait for the next generation to take up the challenge. We are tired , and we are….. are….well….complacent?

Complacency is a nasty enemy of Christ. Therefore today I pray: Zap it, God! Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him That the church may be one even as Christ and God are one..

LITANY OF THANKSGIVING

Give thanks to God who is so good,