Expecting the Unexpected - Preaching the Nonsense

 This is an edited version of the sermon preached at the Setting Apart Service for Bill Henderson (13/10/2020)

Scripture Readings included Luke 6:24-34 and 1 Corinthians 2:6-18. 

Sermon:  Expect the unexpected 

Without a doubt 2020 has been the year of the unexpected.    In the run up to this year plenty companies and institutions have played about with the visual aspects of 2020.  Ministries Council way back talked about having 2020 vision - where did we see the Church, indeed ministry being in the year 2020?  It was something to work towards over about 6 years, although being disbanded wasn’t on the cards!  And then

2020 arrived with a hint of trouble on the horizon which by March had become the entire skyline.  Church buildings closed and worship services took on a whole new shape.  Like the Israelites in exile we learnt how to sing new songs (or not), and like the Israelites in exile we pray to go home. 

We listen to the experts and pray for the willingness to embrace this new normal whilst pinning for what we had despite the fact that included the hard work of making bricks without hay, which in modern parlance was trying to get everything done without the time or the resources to hand, and therefore never finishing.  With notable exceptions most people don’t thrive during unsettled times.  Even as adults we can be homesick, missing the simplicity of childhood.  Sometimes we just have to admit nothing makes sense. 

And in that moment of accepting that fact we are open to so much.  In that moment we step back and we throw open the door of possibilities.  We relinquish control, we admit we don’t have the answers and we stop trying.  In that moment we find freedom and space - the trick is to not panic but just take a breath.  

As preachers we have to do that all the time.  We have to read God’s word and we are charged with proclaiming it to others.  And therefore we are supposed to be able to make sense of it.  Absolutely.  We study, we analyse, if we are linguistically gifted we can read the Hebrew and the Greek and parse to our hearts content.  But sometimes we need to stop and admit that the message is nonsensical.  

Before I get fired - hang in there.  Think about the reading tonight - woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort or love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Seriously people.  Of course I can preach how awesome this message is and you will have heard sermon upon sermon teaching you this.  But as preachers we have to look deeper than the surface - this message clashes with the expected message.  It did at the time and it does today.  But if we just accept it as it is written we miss the power, the drive, the wisdom behind the message. 

Paul writes in the Corinthians passage we had earlier about wisdom - God’s wisdom.  

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

The message of God is not some trite meme we post on Facebook or platitudes for the hurting or a weapon to crush the other.  The message of God is powerful and challenging.  It is a call to live like Christ in this world today.  It is a call to stop looking at our own comfort whilst offering from what we have left over.  Jesus said ‘even the birds of the air have nests and foxes have holes, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’.  He knew what it was to be misunderstood by his family who thought he was mad, or to be run out of town.  The message of love we preach includes death on a cross and the message of eternal life includes resurrection. 

The message of God is secure - it is his message and tonight’s readings leaves us with no room for compromise. We are not just called to worship God but to live lives that reflect the height and depth of his love for his people and for his world.  After all, not a single person here tonight, in this building or sharing through technology has done a single thing to deserve God’s favour.  Whether you have followed all of God’s commands since you were a child or fell out the gutter - you are equally welcome in God’s kingdom.  And that doesn’t make sense and yet makes perfect sense. 

We will never talk people into the kingdom of heaven - even the most crafted sermon will not do that.  A great sermon, however simply given, will niggle, will plant seeds of discontent and make the hearer wonder if there is something more.  And it will be seeing Christians throughout the church loving others more than their bank balance, loving enemies, blessing those who hurt and curse, and willing to hang out where Jesus is - with tax collectors and prostitutes, with the misunderstood, the excluded and the feared that will show the true wisdom of God. Every day, each and everyone of us can preach God’s message. The question that we all have to ask ourselves - ‘Am I preaching God’s message or my message?’  Just remember when you think you have God figured out - expect the unexpected. 

How deep are the wealth and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!  How inscrutable his judgements, how in searchable his ways! 

From God and through God and for God all things exist - to him be the glory for ever! Amen (Romans 11:33,36)

Congratulations Bill and welcome to the Readership of the Church of Scotland

The Sledgehammer of Grief

 I was floored today, literally on my knees in tears, grief stricken.  Those of you who know me well know that I don’t crack much.  I don’t cry at movies - well very occasionally but don’t tell Emma - she thinks I’m a hard-hearted.... :) ! And yes sometimes my emotions do get the better of me.  It’s not that I am against emotions but over the years, from an early age, I have always internalised my emotions.  I drove my mother up the wall because she could never read me as a child.  And like many who internalise emotions when the dam bursts it is usually breaks with style.  Temper tantrums are fireworks and like fireworks disappear just as quickly.  Grief is pushed into its compartment - and in my role much of my grief is not mine to own.  And with some exceptions I have managed to contain it. 

But sometimes the dam bursts, the tears fall and the grief wells up.  Today, I took the service of Margaret. A wonderful lady who I loved more than I knew.  She was a regular, a smiler, a kind person you’d be proud to call Gran. I just never realised what I had til today.  Ministry is such a blessing and I believe it is about relationships.  We are brothers and sisters in Christ - Hebrews 2 reminds us what Jesus did and how he calls us brothers and sisters.  We are family and we all know (with the exceptions) that families are hard work.  There are the easy to love, the hard to love, the rascals and the gems, but they are family.  And often I cast my eye around the congregation and miss people - those who have died and those who have left.  Like all families we miss our loved ones.  

Today, the reality of the last 6 months hit me like a sledgehammer.  Margaret’s sudden death just made the point that we can’t go back, we can only go forward.  Seeing her smiling face on her order of service broke any last hope of returning to that hall with coffee and cake and the vibrant thrum of conversation.  And you know it is that picture of the hall with everyone in it that sits with me -more than the worship in the Sanctuary and you all know how important that is to me.  That hall with ceilidh dances or Santa on his big chair, the coffee mornings or the Leisure Group and Guild talks and tables.  

I share this not because I want to make you sad but to say I get it.  Yes I know I keep looking forward, and we have to move forward.  But we are still grieving, and today Margaret helped me own my grief.  Sometimes we need to say it out loud - this season in exile is so very hard, and wherever we end up it will be different to what we left behind.  Full of opportunities and possibilities, but we must acknowledge the loss as well.  Otherwise a dam will burst in the future and we might never truly recover. 

Sometimes you don’t know what you have until it is taken away.  So know that I miss you.  I miss the clamour of questions, the overwhelming information at the door, the hugs, and more. I will never miss the coffee and cake after the service again! And as a wise man once said to me - if you have to choose what to do with your time, choose to spend it with people! 

Church life will not the same ever again and that is going to take some getting used to.  And our Elders and Ministers will do their utmost to restore and shape something that will bless members and community alike.  Like you they carry grief too so be gentle with them.  God remains faithful, and with him we have a safe refuge.  So whether you are the prodigal child who has run away and now come looking for him - he loves you and you are welcome. Or whether you are the elder brother who stayed faithful to God all the time, feeling out of sorts, remember God loves you too.  

‘He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.’ Isaiah 40:29

Rest in peace Margaret.  And thank you for being you.  

Love Sarah