“life’s journey”
[A confirmation sermon]
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A confirmation sermon preached at Readings: Isaiah
6:1-8, Matthew 4:18-22 |
Mt 4:19 “Follow
me”
In every generation Jesus comes to his people
with the same words,
”Follow me”
Mark and Wilson – here today you come to
be confirmed -
publicly seeking God’s strength and guidance to respond to that call
But of course the call comes not just to
2 people today –
Joan, David and Maureen, Lorna, George, Margaret,
Shimba and Hwa, John, Deryck, Elsie, Hsin Yi -
you have already in different ways made your act of commitment
in other Churches and congregations in the past –
and as you now come to join the membership roll here at the Mint
you renew that commitment to walk with Jesus here in this place.
Indeed for everyone of us here today
this is an opportunity and a challenge
to review our call and renew our commitment.
I invite every
single person here to stop and reflect.
See you life as a journey, a path.
Look back on that winding route which has brought you to this place –
both your physical and geographical travels
which have brought you to Exeter and the Mint,
but also your spiritual journey.
Each of us I guess will look back on a different journey
– some parts more sunny, joyful and clear, striding
forward with the Lord
others much more fraught, uncertain and sorrowful, battling through.
Look back on your own spiritual journey thus far –
see yourself standing there in the road –
What is in front of you??
It is Jesus saying “Follow me”
Jesus saying as always
“Come on, we have places to go, you & I – Follow me.”
And for all of us the question is –
where does he want us to go?
And will we follow??
And Wilson, Mark –
don’t make the mistake of thinking this is a once and for all thing you do
today –
today you set off on the next exciting stage of your journey –
perhaps you leave base camp with new provisions –
but for you as for Peter and Andrew and James and John
there are plenty of tough pathways, uncertain turnings awaiting you.
All you know is that the one you follow will be there with you.
It would of
course be nice
if I could give you a foolproof roadmap for your journey –
I can’t.
I can give you the Bible, and we present you with a Bible each today.
That will I trust be a huge help to you in the years to come –
from its pages you will often find the man of Nazareth stepping out into your
life
challenging and encouraging and enlightening you.
But do not expect to read the Bible like a computer print out of travel
directions.
Jesus doesn’t give us simple answers all the time –
we are often asked to journey with partially legible maps
which don’t always seem to fit the terrain
This is Trinity Sunday, which is enough
in itself to say
that your journeying with Jesus you will not be given
a set of neat answers
to love, life, the universe and everything
One day St
Augustine was walking along the beach
puzzling over the doctrine of the Trinity.
As he did so, he saw a young boy with a bucket,
running back and forth to pour water into a little hole.
Augustine asked, "What are you doing?"
The boy replied, "I'm trying to put the ocean into this hole."
Then Augustine realized
that he had been trying to put an infinite God into his finite mind.
The Christian life is a long struggle to
understand the incomprehensible
and to find hints, metaphors, signposts, that help us understand God.
It is an endless task,
but in the Son we have a window onto the Father,
and as Christians the best guide we have to the mighty mysteries of God
is the man of Nazareth saying “Follow me”
If you’ve ever
stopped in a strange town to ask the way,
you know how quickly your head can begin to spin –
“Take the 2nd on the left past the broken lamppost, left 2nd
right under the bridge,
veer down the slope by Johnson’s place,
right again opposite where Woolworths used to be –
its over the wall behind you – you can’t miss it….
and then perhaps your helpful local sees your eyes begin to glaze and she says
“ I tell you what – I’ll show you – follow me”
and suddenly all is well.
And Jesus says
“Follow me”.
If you had
lived here in Exeter 1300 years ago
and had walked a few hundred yards from here towards what is now Cathedral
Green
you would of course have found no Cathedral (it was still many years into the
future).
But where the steps now lead down to the West Door of the Cathedral
you’d have found a small Saxon monastery.
One of the young boys taught in the monastery school there was called Wynfrith –
And in the
monastery chapel 400 yards from here Wynfith
was called by God to become a monk;
and later he was called again (because God keeps calling us)
to take the Gospel to what is now Germany –
Given the name Boniface,
he was destined to become one of the most influential Christians ever to live
in this country –
bringing the Gospel to huge swathes of Northern Europe.
When you stand in a Church in Exeter and
hear God’s call,
you never know where it will lead!
You may of course say that such things
are all very well for the Bonifaces,
the Mother Teresas and the Martin Luther Kings of
this world –
God does not call the likes of you and me to such things.
I am just Wilson Wong doing my PhD,
I am just Mark Robinson doing my paediatrics placement…..
Maybe so, maybe
not.
From Moses to Isaiah, God’s chosen have
said
“no I am not able I am not worthy” –
“I have unclean lips” -
to which God has replied-
in your own strength No, in my strength yes.
And think of whom Jesus chose for his 12
disciples –
Peter, half coward half fool;
Matthew – a tax gatherer.
On a weekend
when the media has been full of the deeds of D Day heroes,
I wonder if anyone has stopped to think
of those still struggling with the memories of fighting on the other side?
Maybe we need to remind them of Matthew –
in World War 2 terms a traitorous Quisling Collaborator
on the imperialist invading payroll –
How Jesus turned to Matthew and said
“It is OK – I have a place for you –
Yes I can use heroes, but I can use failures too – Follow me”..
So Mark and Wilson, when you make your
promises you will reply not
“Yes I am able to do that”
nor yet “No I can’t possible do that”
but rather “With God’s help I will”
The journey is one you share with all God’s
people –
and as new people join us here every week we cannot say this too often –
it
doesn’t matter who you are –
whatever your race, your colour,
your sexual orientation,
your age, your intellect,
you are a child of God, and he wants you to follow him and be a part of his
family.
On Thursday
many of us vote in the elections.
The British Methodist church has strongly urged the Methodist people
under no circumstances whatsoever to vote for the BNP or any other racist
party.
And on a day
when we joyfully welcome new members onto our membership roll
from Malaysia, Taiwan, and Korea, not to mention Scotland,
(and in the congregation Chris from Afghanistan, confirmed here last year)
on such a day we rejoice that we travel together as all God’s children
and will have nothing of racist politics.
Like Boniface of old we need to see the
whole of Europe,
indeed the whole world, as a place to meet and share with our sisters and
brothers.
to laugh with those who laugh, to weep with those who
weep –
and bring the peace and the love of Christ into every place
And how can we ordinary people do this?
In the power of the Spirit.
Boniface’s
biographer tells us how he decided
to chop down a great oak tree symbolic of the pagan gods.
He laid one axe blow to the base of the tree
and immediately a great wind blew up
and the huge tree was blown over.
I don’t seek to defend the historicity of
that story.
But I do say this:
when you kneel here in confirmation,
and a hand is placed on your head,
this is no mere human activity at work –
It is like a live coal touching your mouth and cleansing you and giving you
speech,
it is like a great tree toppling at a touch,
it is the power of the Spirit blowing powerfully through you.
When Isaiah stood in the temple
it was filled with smoke and the overwhelming presence of the Almighty –
that is what happens on these occasions.
For the man of Galilee who bids us follow
is at the same moment the King of Glory
In conclusion
let me remind you what happened on 5 June 754 -
exactly 1,250 years ago this weekend.
A now very
elderly Boniface was still preaching the Gospel in what is now Holland.
He was ambushed by local men hostile to his work.
Boniface came out of his tent, protecting himself only with a Gospel Book.
He held it above his head, but his attackers wielded swords –
they attacked the book and its bearer.
Boniface, the apostle of Germany
lay dead this weekend just 1250 years ago.
Today we give thanks for his life and the lives of all the Saints.
I cannot promise that the journey with
Christ will always be easy –
nor how many tears you may shed and share,
nor even what death you will suffer -
But we need not fear those who kill the body and not the soul.
Our journey is ultimately to the Kingdom,
and the Lord who calls us will assuredly guide us safe home at the last.
Here I am Lord.
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart….