“THE VINE (Kenya and the world)”

 

A sermon preached
at the Mint Methodist Church, Exeter,
by the Minister, Rev Andrew Sails
as part of a World Church Sunday service on a Kenyan theme,
at 10.30 a.m. on 18th May 2003

 

 

Readings:   1John 4:18-21, John 15:1-5

 

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1 John 4:7   




“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God”
 
I came across a hymn this week – 




Its by Frederick Lehman it was written in 1917– 




and in fact it draws on old mediaeval Jewish writings – 
I’ve never seen it before.   maybe you know it –




it’s a religious version of 




“If all the world were paper and all the sea were ink” – 




it goes like this – 
 
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were ev'ry stalk on earth a quill,
And ev'ry man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the
Whole, though stretched from sky to sky.
 
Oh how could we ever exhaust our praise of God - 




for his love is beyond measure & beyond human writing or telling.
 
God does not simply have a loving side – he is love. (1 John 4:16)
 
And so on World Church Sunday – 




whether we are in Lavington Church Kenya or in Exeter, 




whether we are lovely or unlovely, 




we know ourselves loved-
 
And so the writer of 1 John simply says – 




because God loves us let us proclaim and live that love for others – to everyone!
 

            You know the 8 year old writing to God – saying

            Dear God - I know you’re meant to love everyone,
            but have you actually met my sister?   

            Sincerely,   Arnold.

 

And God says: “Yes – I have met all your sisters and brothers -




I love every one of them – and I ask you to do the same.”
 
That means, in John Wesley’s famous words, 




“The world is my parish”
 
Today we thank God for all those who taken the Gospel over parish boundaries –




indeed to the ends of the earth.
 
We thank God for Dr Johan Ludwig Krapf 




who in May 1844 began his pioneering ministry in Kenya, 




translating the scriptures into Swahili 




and preaching the Gospel in this far flung part of God’s parish.   
Two months after his arrival in Mombassa, 




his wife Rosina and their newly born child died – 




Krapf himself was so ill himself he could barely attend the funeral, 




but he cabled the Church Missionary Society in London – 




“Tell our friends at home that there is now on the East African coast 




a lonely missionary grave.   




This is a sign that we have commenced the struggle.”
[cf Davies George & Rupp eds, A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, vol 3, p78]
 
So we thank God for the commencement 




and the continuance of the struggle 




to bring the Gospel of the love of God to Kenya 




and as Nancy Day from Kenya shares this year with us here in Exeter




we thank God for her,




for the bringing of the Gospel back here to us in this land.
 

Today’s Gospel reminds us that as Christians we are like the branches of a vine,
drawing sustenance from the trunk and roots of the vine which is Christ.

 

Whether we are in Exeter or Nairobi,
let us grow strong in the Lord.

 

Today we are supporting world mission –

·        thanks to those who supported a coffee morning and raised £150 yesterday morning.

·        Today please make a contribution to JMA at the end of the service – 
Johan and Rosina Krapf’s baby never grew to collect any money,
but succumbed to the fevers of the East African coast –
we thank God our children are able to collect today –
let’s support them.

 

And then we will gather for our General Church Meeting –
to think about the work of the Church here in Exeter –
and as we were saying last week in the context of Christian Aid week,
our concern to live the Gospel in this city and around the world
complement each other.   

 

And in this part of the vineyard too
we have a calling to grow strong and bear much fruit.

 

There is an old African proverb which says
“The best time to plant
a tree is 20 years ago.  
The next best time is today!”

 

Lets thank God for those who have planted and watered
from generation to generation –
and as we reap the fruits of their harvest let us –
here at the Mint and throughout the world –
sow seeds which will bear fruit for children yet to come.

 

So please today commit yourself afresh to the Lord’s work –
sow rich and plentiful seed that we may bear much fruit!

 

I finish with part of a Samburu prayer from Kenya –

 

“O God let us become like a running vine,
and like millet with very many small grains.
God of the mountain of our ancestors, hear us.
May God be favourable to us that we may be vigorous
like trees that last through the annual cycle of falling leaves,
the barrenness of winter,
and the blossoming of new shoots in the spring.  
Amen

 

So pray God may our work,
and all God’s work throughout the world,
flourish and grow
to his glory.

 

 

 

 

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