Sermon Details

"Caring and Calling"

Scripture Reference	Notes
Mk 1:31	"Caring and Calling" A sermon preached at the Mint Methodist Church at 10.30 am on Sunday 5 February 2012, Education Sunday by the Minister, Rev Andrew Sails Mk 1:31 "And he went to her, took her hand and helped her up - The fever left her and she began to wait on them” Simon Peter's Mother-in-Law Imagine you are Simon Peter’s mother-in-law - feverish and sweating on a mattress in a dark back room of your single storey Capernaum house. In an age of rudimentary medical knowledge - maybe death was near? Maybe Simon Peter has already been in and told you excitedly of the new rabbi Jesus and how only that morning Jesus had called him to follow him. Are you too tired to take an interest, or are you strong enough to envy him his future, his role, his challenge, his calling? But then enter Jesus - and Simon’s mother-in-law discovers that - even from her sick bed - she has a calling too! In the version we read this morning it says Jesus “helped her up” - not maybe the best translation - the Greek word egeiro is the same word Mark uses of Jesus himself after the resurrection to say that he was raised up to new life - Jesus raises up Simon’s mother in law - empowers her, gives her new life - a glimpse of resurrection. Then scripture says “The fever left her and she began to wait on them” Now we could read this in a male chauvinist gender stereotypical way- the healing allowed her to get back to her job looking after the men - after all that’s what women are for. Let’s not read it that way - this is Jesus we are talking about - Rather let’s see this as the woman’s call to Christlike service. Like her son in law Peter she is called by Jesus. Unlike Peter and his male companions, who were conspicuously slow in learning that our Christian calling is to service, the woman at once knows that the call of Christ is not be served but to serve - she has learnt the lesson they took three long years to grasp - that the tools of faith are the towel and the bowl. Christ comes to us all - he comes to lively young men with their lives opening up before them - but also he comes to the sick and frail. He holds our hand - sees our individual need and capability - and as he hold us, he lifts us up - that we may do his work. It would be wonderful of course if that meant that everyone in a hospital bed might be raised back to full physical health - that happens sometimes but not always. But the touch, the call, are there for all - How often I have visited a hospital to minister to the sick and dying only to find myself ministered to in that half smile, the hand pressure, the nodded assent to prayer. Long ago I learnt that Christ can still hold the frail suffering hand and lifts the sufferer up so that each soul may offer themselves in his service. Young or old, weak or strong, Christ comes to all, holds our hand, bids us rise to the challenge and to the specific calling he has for each of us. Now very briefly I want to relate all this to three areas of life - Welfare reform, education and the Church. 1. Welfare Reform Bill. It is difficult to know when it is appropriate to take sides politically in sermons. The pulpit is not a party political soapbox. But if the Gospel is about real issues, it has to be about politics. And you only have to open the pages of the OT to see how time and again the prophets condemn the leaders of the nation for leading the people in ungodly ways. In the same way the Church today sometimes needs to say Amos and Jeremiah “Thus saith the Lord - you have departed from God’s ways” The leaders of Methodist, URC, and Baptist Churches have this week produced a statement saying pretty much that - condemning the Government for its approach to those who are needy and disabled. The Revd Leo Osborn, President of the Methodist Conference, said: “We regret much of the tone of the debate around welfare reform especially where it has encouraged people to blame the workless poor for their struggles. Rising unemployment, the deficit and flat economic performance are not the fault of the poor, nor will capping benefits solve these problems ..” There is no time here to explore the detail - there is material on the Mint website if you want to follow it up from a Christian perspective. I would merely suggest that our Church leaders speak from the Gospel - and that we need to ask whether on this issue our Government does not. Christ calls us to see the individual need and potential of every individual human soul, to hold their hand, to lift them up, to help them discover their potential, and inspire them to creative action. We need to ask whether Christ would have voted for this bill. 2. Education On Education Sunday we might ask the question “What is the purpose of education?” A few years ago now a survey was taken of 500 American college students. What was the purpose of the education? 498 answered in terms of getting qualifications which would give them wealth and security in life. Only 2 (both as it happened recent immigrants from Africa) spoke of education as giving them the ability give something back to the world, the planet. There has been much discussion this week about vocational qualifications v GCSEs - whatever our education programmes, they will be worthless if they merely produce greater technical skills to be used for self serving and selfish ends. “Yea thou I understand all mysteries and have all knowledge..but have not love, I am nothing...a sounding gong, clanging cymbal” (I Cor 13) Here is something written by a nurse looking back on her student days: “During my second month of nursing school, our tutor gave us a mid term test. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was some kind of joke! I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50's, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would really count toward our test grade. "Absolutely", said the tutor, "In your careers you will meet many people. All are significant and they deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say Hello." I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.” Education isn’t just about amassing knowledge for its own sake. Nor about accumulating skills for my own personal advancement and aggrandisement. It is about gaining the wisdom to find and fulfil our potential to serve and enhance the community of which we are a part. As educators and teachers we are to hold out a hand to Simon and to his mother in law, to lift them out of their ignorance and equip them for their calling. 3. The Church The theatre group went to see Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads at the Northcott on Friday. One monologue featured the wife of the vicar - She is an alcoholic, and finds herself hopelessly trapped in a spiteful, backbiting and mean spirited Church community. As she says whilst arranging the Church flowers “If you think squash is a competitive activity, try flower arrangement” Eventually this poor sick lady finds comfort, acceptance and understanding not amongst the Church community but with the young Hindu owner of the off licence which she regularly in town - they make love in the store room amongst the sacks of lentils and finally she feels valued and loved. Do we condone their actions? Well no we can’t do that - and yet we know that the lovers are not the real villains of the piece - the villains are the smug self satisfied Church folk who trample over the weak and the vulnerable and far from caring for them, treat them as pawn in their own person games of self advancement. Sadly the God of this dry and embittered Church congregation is made in their own image - a petty and mean spirited deity of no use to the suffering and lost wife. O that she had met the real Christ, waiting to accept her for what she was and show her what she might be, holding her hand and lifting her up into new life and the freedom of true service. But that was not the way the sad tale went - for the Vicar and Church groupies never stopped to care - never offered Christ where he was needed. The simple challenge for every Church congregation to live Christlike lives Conclusion So Christ called strong bustling Simon to the road to discipleship. But he also came to Simon’s weak and frail mother in law He looked her in the eye, held her had He lifted her up as one day he would be lifted into new life He called her to service in the name of the one who loved & accepted her. That is what Christ does for us - weak or strong - the care and the call is there. Can we respond to it? And then - In our welfare state - in our schools and colleges - in our Churches, Can we do the same? Can we search out the unfulfilled and needy and lost can we hold out the hand of Christ and lift them up that together we may share the glorious knowledge of Christ’s call?

Scripture Reference

Notes

Mk 1:31

"Caring and Calling"

A sermon preached at the Mint Methodist Church
at 10.30 am on Sunday 5 February 2012, Education Sunday
by the Minister, Rev Andrew Sails

Mk 1:31 "And he went to her, took her hand and helped her up -

The fever left her and she began to wait on them”

Simon Peter's Mother-in-Law

Imagine you are Simon Peter’s mother-in-law - feverish and sweating on a mattress in a dark back room of your single storey Capernaum house. In an age of rudimentary medical knowledge - maybe death was near?

Maybe Simon Peter has already been in
and told you excitedly of the new rabbi Jesus
and how only that morning Jesus had called him to follow him.

Are you too tired to take an interest, or are you strong enough to envy him his future, his role, his challenge, his calling?

But then enter Jesus - and Simon’s mother-in-law discovers that -
even from her sick bed - she has a calling too!

In the version we read this morning it says Jesus “helped her up” -
not maybe the best translation - the Greek word egeiro is the same word Mark uses of Jesus himself after the resurrection to say that he was raised up to new life - Jesus raises up Simon’s mother in law - empowers her, gives her new life - a glimpse of resurrection.

Then scripture says “The fever left her and she began to wait on them”

Now we could read this in a male chauvinist gender stereotypical way- the healing allowed her to get back to her job looking after the men - after all that’s what women are for.

Let’s not read it that way - this is Jesus we are talking about -
Rather let’s see this as the woman’s call to Christlike service.

Like her son in law Peter she is called by Jesus.

Unlike Peter and his male companions, who were conspicuously slow in learning that our Christian calling is to service, the woman at once knows that the call of Christ is not be served but to serve -
she has learnt the lesson they took three long years to grasp -
that the tools of faith are the towel and the bowl.

Christ comes to us all - he comes to lively young men with their lives opening up before them - but also he comes to the sick and frail.

He holds our hand - sees our individual need and capability - and as he hold us, he lifts us up - that we may do his work.

It would be wonderful of course if that meant that everyone in a hospital bed might be raised back to full physical health -
that happens sometimes but not always.

But the touch, the call, are there for all -

How often I have visited a hospital to minister to the sick and dying
only to find myself ministered to in that half smile, the hand pressure, the nodded assent to prayer.
Long ago I learnt that Christ can still hold the frail suffering hand and lifts the sufferer up so that each soul may offer themselves in his service.

Young or old, weak or strong, Christ comes to all, holds our hand, bids us rise to the challenge and to the specific calling he has for each of us.

Now very briefly I want to relate all this to three areas of life -

Welfare reform, education and the Church.

1. Welfare Reform Bill.

It is difficult to know when it is appropriate to take sides politically in sermons. The pulpit is not a party political soapbox. But if the Gospel is about real issues, it has to be about politics. And you only have to open the pages of the OT to see how time and again the prophets condemn the leaders of the nation for leading the people in ungodly ways.

In the same way the Church today sometimes needs to say Amos and Jeremiah “Thus saith the Lord - you have departed from God’s ways”

The leaders of Methodist, URC, and Baptist Churches have this week produced a statement saying pretty much that - condemning the Government for its approach to those who are needy and disabled.

The Revd Leo Osborn, President of the Methodist Conference, said: “We regret much of the tone of the debate around welfare reform especially where it has encouraged people to blame the workless poor for their struggles. Rising unemployment, the deficit and flat economic performance are not the fault of the poor, nor will capping benefits solve these problems ..”

There is no time here to explore the detail - there is material on the Mint website if you want to follow it up from a Christian perspective.

I would merely suggest that our Church leaders speak from the Gospel - and that we need to ask whether on this issue our Government does not.

Christ calls us to see the individual need and potential of every individual human soul, to hold their hand, to lift them up, to help them discover their potential, and inspire them to creative action.

We need to ask whether Christ would have voted for this bill.

2. Education

On Education Sunday we might ask the question “What is the purpose of education?” A few years ago now a survey was taken of 500 American college students. What was the purpose of the education? 498 answered in terms of getting qualifications which would give them wealth and security in life. Only 2 (both as it happened recent immigrants from Africa) spoke of education as giving them the ability give something back to the world, the planet.

There has been much discussion this week about vocational qualifications v GCSEs - whatever our education programmes,
they will be worthless if they merely produce greater technical skills to be used for self serving and selfish ends.
“Yea thou I understand all mysteries and have all knowledge..but have not love, I am nothing...a sounding gong, clanging cymbal” (I Cor 13)

Here is something written by a nurse looking back on her student days: “During my second month of nursing school, our tutor gave us a mid term test. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was some kind of joke! I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50's, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would really count toward our test grade.
"Absolutely", said the tutor, "In your careers you will meet many people. All are significant and they deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say Hello." I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.”

Education isn’t just about amassing knowledge for its own sake.
Nor about accumulating skills for my own personal advancement and aggrandisement.

It is about gaining the wisdom to find and fulfil our potential
to serve and enhance the community of which we are a part.

As educators and teachers we are to hold out a hand
to Simon and to his mother in law,
to lift them out of their ignorance and equip them for their calling.

3. The Church

The theatre group went to see Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads at the Northcott on Friday. One monologue featured the wife of the vicar - She is an alcoholic, and finds herself hopelessly trapped in a spiteful, backbiting and mean spirited Church community.
As she says whilst arranging the Church flowers
“If you think squash is a competitive activity, try flower arrangement”

Eventually this poor sick lady finds comfort, acceptance and understanding not amongst the Church community but with the young Hindu owner of the off licence which she regularly in town -
they make love in the store room amongst the sacks of lentils
and finally she feels valued and loved.

Do we condone their actions? Well no we can’t do that -
and yet we know that the lovers are not the real villains of the piece -
the villains are the smug self satisfied Church folk who trample over the weak and the vulnerable and far from caring for them,
treat them as pawn in their own person games of self advancement.

Sadly the God of this dry and embittered Church congregation
is made in their own image -
a petty and mean spirited deity of no use to the suffering and lost wife.

O that she had met the real Christ,
waiting to accept her for what she was and show her what she might be, holding her hand and lifting her up into new life
and the freedom of true service.

But that was not the way the sad tale went -
for the Vicar and Church groupies never stopped to care -
never offered Christ where he was needed.

The simple challenge for every Church congregation to live Christlike lives

Conclusion

So Christ called strong bustling Simon to the road to discipleship.

But he also came to Simon’s weak and frail mother in law

He looked her in the eye, held her had

He lifted her up as one day he would be lifted into new life

He called her to service in the name of the one who loved & accepted her.

That is what Christ does for us - weak or strong -
the care and the call is there. Can we respond to it? And then

- In our welfare state - in our schools and colleges - in our Churches, Can we do the same?

Can we search out the unfulfilled and needy and lost
can we hold out the hand of Christ and lift them up
that together we may share the glorious knowledge of Christ’s call?

Latest Sermons

Featured Articles

Web Update Blogs

Verse of the Day

New Articles

Sermon Details

"Caring and Calling"