Give church a chance this Christmas

When I was a teenager I remember having an argument with the guy who gave me a lift to work. He was a Christian and he used to try to encourage me to take an interest in faith, but I wasn't having any of it. I remember saying to him one morning, "I don't need your crutch. I can stand on my own two feet. I can make my own decisions."

The reality was that I was deeply hurt by parts of what had happened in my life. I did need a crutch... in fact, I was making use of several at that point in my life. Popularity was one, partying another. Music gave me an outlet for my frustration. I was in fact totally dependent on these external factors for my happiness. I wasn't free at all- I was, in fact, trying very hard not to notice that life was empty and pointless. Becoming a Christian really changed that for me.

If you are someone who has been put off church or is unsure about faith I'd like to share a thought or two with you as we approach Christmas. It's the perfect time to visit a church and consider faith in Jesus Christ as a source of deep joy and comfort.

The Church is a place to learn to be fully human

If you go to church and ask God, "are you there?" that's  a perfectly understandable thing to do. First of all, he might answer, " I am here in baptism where you can have your old life washed away as I set you free. I am here in the bread and wine, broken for you and shed for you. I gave all of me for you."  Think of all of the miracles that made the unique person that is you. The nativity speaks of hope, new life and God's faithfulness- things which can fill your world even now.



 The church is the opposite of the shopping centre. There we are isolated individuals, serving our own desires, never fully content. In church, we are called together by his desire, for all of this life and heaven to come. At first glance, it mightn't seem that way. Yes, that pensioner in front of you looks grumpy. The child behind you is crying. The sermon is a bit confusing. The band/choir are a bit out of tune. Imperfection is everywhere in the church. And that's good because then you will fit right in. That grumpy pensioner will be delighted to see a new face. You might end up teaching that baby in Sunday School in a few years. You might never win X-factor, but the band/choir will love your help. You have found a new family.



The church doesn't need to change, we do.

We spend most of our lives rushing about, working hard, chasing the next goal, hitting the next target. In church, we are invited to stop. To wait. To release the death grip we have on the reins of our lives. To learn to see ourselves from God's perspective.

 We love watching reality tv and fantasy epics or sci-fi. It's great to escape from the worries of life. Yet when the show ends our thoughts and worries are still the same. It's all popcorn entertainment- fun but not nourishing.

An hour in church should turn this on its head.  We come to church not to be entertained but to find new life. Not to forget who we are for an hour but to become the person that God wants us to be. In the quietness of an ordinary parish church, we can find the God who waits for us to listen to him.

Have a blessed Christmas :-)

Looking good - being happy with what we see in the mirror. James 1:17-27

James 1:17-27 English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.[a]18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Hearing and Doing the Word

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Thinking About The Christian Life

I really enjoy this letter that James, the brother of Jesus, wrote for the church. It is a very practical letter. We can tend to get caught up in

thinking about Jesus,

thinking about what religion is all about,

thinking about how we should be living,

thinking about what others think of us,

and let’s be honest- thinking about many things we shouldn't be thinking about!

But  here James is encouraging us to be doers, not just thinkers. This is what makes the epistle of James a practical letter- because Christians in the early days of the faith weren't just sitting around worrying about how to respond to this moral crisis or that doctrinal issue. There was the real and urgent danger of losing one’s life for following Christ. There were no Christian bookshops - in fact, there was no bible as such- to help one understand how one could be sure to be following the teachings of Jesus. There were only the writings of the apostles and the elders of the Church. So what James writes in his letter to the Christian community is answering an important need. How do I follow Jesus? What is important? How can I be sure that if I am martyred,  I will be a part of the Kingdom to come? For us the question is… how do I know that I am really a Christian, living a life pleasing to God?

In verse 17 James reminds us that following Jesus has incredible benefits. All good things come from the Lord. The Christian life has many great blessings. That wonderful hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” contains the lines- “thou changest not” and “there is no shadow of turning with thee”. Well, here we read the text that inspired these words. We can trust God- he is ever reliable and ever faithful. The question is.. are we? Many of those who shouted "hosanna!" on Palm Sunday would have shouted "crucify!" on Good Friday. What is the evidence of our faith beyond enthusiasm for Jesus beyond a Sunday morning or midweek fellowship?

Living The Christian Life

James goes on to tell us how we should live. What we find here are not just helpful suggestions, but clear outlines of the shape that a Christian life must take. As someone who is reborn through the Gospel, we must put away our old vices. We must withhold ourselves from immorality. We can only be filled with the Holy Spirit, transformed after hearing the Gospel, when we make room for new life through the weeding out of our sinful nature. This sounds so straightforward, but as we all know it isn't an easy task.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Yes indeed, we all know people who call themselves Christians who are living double lives.

They struggle with sin.

They struggle to be generous and kind, self-controlled, wise in speech.

From looking at them, we can easily see that what James is saying is not easy.

There is the trap we fall into! James is not offering us a lens through which we can better see the faults in others. He holds a mirror to our own lives- one where we see our own flaws and lazy attitudes. In verse 22 and 23 we are told not to lie to ourselves.

When we look in the mirror

knowing what God has done for us

Also, the Holy Spirit shows us who we might be in Christ. He encourages us to become free from what enslaves us and hurts us. The mirror shows us the person that God plans for us to be. On one hand we see where we have fallen short, on the other we see the person that we might become in Christ.

We turn away, knowing what must be done to really live.

and within moments, live as if we had never looked in the mirror.

No wonder so many in the Church are confused in their faith. We say with our mouths “Jesus is Lord” but when we step out of church our lives say “I am King.” or “I am Queen.”

Behaving Like Jesus

So what is James answer to this problem. How do we learn who we really are in Christ and see ourselves as we really should? How can we live, in a way, that what we see in the mirror is what we would have others see?

James doesn’t tie us up in religious ritual or imposing rules. It’s practical. It’s doable. Verses 19-20 sum it up for us.

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Here we have three simple ways that we can live life in a way that is appropriate for a Christian:

1. Be a listener. Have compassion. Take the time to listen to what others have to say. Be ready to lend a shoulder to cry on.  Let someone know that you care about them enough to let them talk to you in total confidence. Listen carefully to God in prayer and regular reading of scripture.

2. Be quietly spoken. When you do speak- let the words be kind. Choose them carefully. Saint Benedict, in his rule for Christian living, said that

The eleventh degree of humility

is that when a monk speaks

he do so gently and without laughter,

humbly and seriously,

in few and sensible words,

and that he be not noisy in his speech.

It is written,

"A wise man is known by the fewness of his words"

3. Be self-controlled. You cannot avoid anger. It’s a real emotion and sometimes it’s a good thing. But being ruled by anger, letting it overrun you is not the way of Christ. Know when to count to 10. Walk away from a fight. Be oil on the waters when others are in conflict. Be careful who you give your heart to. Be disciplined in prayer. Don't give up on church just because Mrs McCombe talks about you behind your back. Fix your eyes on the mirror, know who you are and who Christ is moulding you to be. Rise above squabbling. Be careful who you fall in love with. Be a rock. You can shout at a rock all day, it's not going to get offended. You can flatter it all day long , it's not going to be seduced. Be steady. Keep your eyes straight ahead, don't lose your vision. You know what God has shown you.

Three simple instructions. Be a listener. Be quietly spoken. Be in control of yourself. If we leave here today, determined to live these instructions out we will be

more fulfilled as believers

easier to work with in Church life

and our witness to family and friends will be greatly enhanced.

Imagine waking in the morning and looking in the mirror to see someone who is patient, gentle and compassionate. That's how Jesus lived!  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live like that? To be more like Jesus?  Imagine knowing that others would say if Jesus is anything like Susan I'm going to go to church! Be a good listener, a gentle speaker and slow to anger. As Christians, James calls us to listen carefully to the Gospel, to God speaking to us, and then to respond, to act. Let's do so by living attentive, gentle and self-controlled lives that bring glory to our Saviour and blessing to those that God brings into our lives.

Dear God,

Through your word we hear the truth of the gospel and our hearts are called to respond. Lord, this morning I realise that I have not always walked the path that you have set before me. I have been distracted by the things of the world or by decisions I have made. Today Lord, I promise to look straight ahead. I have seen the truth and I want to live my life shaped by it. I know that there will be times of great blessing and times of great pain but I will persevere to the end. Carry me so that I might finish even more strongly than I started out, and raise me to eternal life. Amen.

Bread of Heaven John 6:51-58

Year B Trinity 11 John 6:51-58

John 6:51-58 English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread[a] the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

Chapter 6 of St. John's gospel is probably most famous for his account of the feeding of the 5000. John's gospel takes this miracle as the beginning of Jesus declaring who he really is and what he has come to do. In chapter 6 we read that Jesus miraculously feeds those who have gathered to listen to him by mysteriously sharing the lunch that a young boy had brought with him. The people respond by declaring him to be a prophet and rush to make him king. Rather than allowing himself to be dragged into the political affairs of men Jesus withdraws to a quiet place. We know that this is Jesus' pattern-  often withdrawing to be alone with the Father. In his absence, the disciples find themselves in trouble. Jesus walks out onto the water to calm the lake and their nerves. The crowd follow Jesus across the lake, seeking his leadership and wisdom. What he says to them there causes them to reject him. It's a difficult teaching then and one which we should be careful to understand as people who call ourselves Christians.

Our reading summarises neatly what Jesus taught and the jews rejected. I am the living bread. I am the bread of life. My flesh is true food. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and me in him.  Those four statements from this morning's gospel reading  give us a clear picture of what Jesus came to do and be. He is not simply a prophet. He is not simply an earthly king. He is God's ultimate gift to creation, willing to sacrifice himself so that no one need go spiritually hungry again.

Abide in me and I will abide in you. Eat my flesh, drink my blood and live forever. We cannot  fix our relationship with God and find true peace and happiness by ourselves. Jesus must abide in us.

and we take him in by eating his flesh and drinking his blood.

Forgive the phrasing, but this is really difficult for many of us to stomach. The Jews certainly didn't like it. Many of those who followed him left after this teaching. And to be fair many religious leaders today talk about how Jesus is being figurative here- he doesn't really mean drink my blood. He doesn't really mean eat my flesh. He's really talking about something else. This morning I am going to say that Jesus meant every word of what he says.

This is difficult for us because we may have been brought up to believe that communion is just a remembrance. A meal we share in fellowship to remember the sacrifice of Christ. Eating a meal like the manna that the Jews shared in the desert did not deal with the real problem- their sinful and disobedient hearts. It  only fed their physical hunger. And what happened? forty years they wandered because of their unbelief! Only Jesus, the sacrifice from heaven, is able to point the world back to God. Like the Jews, we were lost, but Jesus doesn't just feed our stomachs to die in isolation from our God. Jesus rescues us. He does so by becoming the perfect sacrifice. Literally his flesh and blood are the means by which we can be one with our maker in the promised land. This food doesn't just stop us being hungry as we search for a better life. This food brings the better life right into our hearts.

You will have often heard that Jesus is the full and sufficient sacrifice for sin. This is an important teaching that we should try to understand more clearly. In the 1st-century, animal sacrifice was widespread. They were used as a means of gaining forgiveness for wrongs or simply seeking the blessing of a god. These animals would then be sold for food. So it was quite natural language for a sacrifice to be eaten.

We take in the sacrifice of Jesus in two forms, which depend on each other.

In one sense, we share in the sacrifice of Christ by faith. In faith, we receive his sacrifice for us and by faith we accept him into our bodies are accepted into his body, the church. It is absolutely clear in scripture that the means by which we receive the forgiveness of God is

Grace, love freely given, chiefly so on the cross

through faith, our acceptance of the father, son and Holy Spirit and the resurrection.

The second expression of this receiving of Christ's sacrifice is holy communion. In many of our traditions, we have a low view of communion. It is a remembrance. It's something the Holy Joes do. Sometimes even worse we believe it has magical powers to wash us clean, no matter what we hold dearest in our hearts. Without faith, one cannot truly receive the communion that Jesus promises us. Yet we must completely ignore what John writes here to have anything but the deepest reverence for what we receive. Indeed in faith, we actually do receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ. His flesh is true food. His blood is true drink. This is my body. This is my blood. We do not worship bread and wine. We worship the one who gave these gifts to us... His body and his blood. The one who gives us himself so that we might fully be alive.

Alive with hope.

Alive trusting that when is life does end our God will gather us to him.

Alive in Christ and he in us.

In the desert the Jews received food which filled the stomach even as their hearts wandered.  In Jesus they had food which would sustain eternally yet they refused to sit at his table. When you receive Christ's gifts,  in whatever way or sense is your custom, do so gladly accepting all that he died for you to receive.  Verse 58 "This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."

In the lord's supper, Eucharist or holy communion there is a wonderful feast that we can all share together. A meal that we share which is the promise of eternal life. Jesus Christ, our Lord and saviour gave everything he had for us and we must only receive him. Jesus gave himself that you might never be spiritually hungry again. Today would you be freed from your hunger and thirst to live a life of fulfilment and plenty? You might say, Peter I don’t feel hungry my life is filled. But we read in  1Cor 5-8.ESV Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Your life may be full, but what with? Gossip and division or peace and joy? Peace and joy are the food that Jesus offers. We are all very aware of our diet in this day and age, but it’s not easy to do something about it- to leave those food alone which we enjoy but are bad for us. Do you feel in need of a change in spiritual food? Is your heart blocked up with bitterness and guilt? Would you fill yourself with the love of the cross and the hope of the resurrection?. Join me in this prayer:

Dear Lord,

Lord Jesus abide in me. Lord I gratefully receive all that you promise. Fill me anew with your Holy Spirit. Be alive to me in all of your creation, most especially in your sacraments. When this earthly life ends, raise me up to be you in your kingdom. You are the bread of heaven. Feed me now and ever more. Amen.