“GOD’S
CARPENTERS”
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A sermon preached Readings:
Genesis
1:26-2:3 and John 14:15-21 |
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“As fellow workers with God….” (2 Cor 6:1a)
Today is May Day –
a day when traditionally lads and lasses danced around the Maypole
– now increasingly a day when Trade
Unionists and others
celebrate work and labour.
The Church has always sought (and why not?)
to give a Christian spiritual interpretation of secular festivals.
That is why, when the early Church needed a date
to celebrate the birth of Christ
(no one knew in which month he was actually born)
they chose Midwinter
– It meant that they could take the
pagan yuletide festival
of light in winter darkness
and Christianise it into the Christmas Festival
of the coming of the Light of the World in Jesus.
So too in recent years the Roman Catholic Church has taken May Day
and re-branded, Christened it as “The Feast of St
Joseph the Worker”
So today we join them in honouring Joseph as a model –
as one who accepted Jesus into his home and his family,
(and there’s another sermon there)
and as one who used his hands and worked for his living
Our OT lesson today is part of the old Jewish myth of creation –
in which God himself is seen as a worker, crafting the Universe in 6 days..
And he gives to us – the human race –
power and dominion over his creation –
we too are to work to fulfil the potential of God creation.
For, as Paul says, we are all
called to be God’s co-workers.
We are all called to be
co-creators,
using our God given dominion to do God’s work
making this world more like heaven,
and (now that Christ is ascended back to the Father)
being Christ’s Body, doing his work on earth.
So Joseph the Carpenter took the
things of God’s creation –
specifically wood and timber -
and he crafted them
Doubtless he was a Lumberjack of
all Trades –
Cabinet Maker, Shipwright and Coffin Maker/Undertaker.
God calls us to be his
co-workers, his carpenters.
Some of us here may be prime
candidates
for those TV reality shows featuring DIY disasters,
but that is not the point.
·
We may not be able to craft beautiful tables –
but we are called to provide tables
around which the poor of the world may
·
We may not be undertakers,
but we are all called to care for our sisters and brothers
in life and in death.
·
We may not be expert shipbuilders–
but we are all called to help others in the journey of life
(and indeed the journey of death),
however troubled and stormy the sea mat be.
Our other theme today is the
ascension –
as we approach Ascension Day this coming Thursday.
It may seem a very different sort
of theme,
concerned with heavenly hope and vision
rather than mundane Christian duty and service.
But actually the two go together – work and vision
As Christians we are called to be
visionaries
(always looking for Christ’s heavenly rule) –
but we are also called to be workers –
never settling for anything on earth below
which is less than an image of God’s heavenly rule.
I am reminded of the old saying:
“Vision
without Work is a Pipedream
Work without Vision is Drudgery”
As Christians we need to be both
visionaries and workers –
both looking to the Kingdom and Christ on the throne,
but we also need to be sawing wood.
Our heavenly vision is no
pipedream.
And on May Day of all days we would want to take issue with
Karl Marx
and say that religion should never be a mere opiate for the masses -
our vision of heaven is no (fanciful opium den) pipedream -
rather it is a vision of the future which challenges and inspires us
to work for a world here and now
which more fully reflects the values of God’s coming Kingdom.
Thursday (as you may perhaps
know)
is not only Ascension Day, it is also Election day.
I hope you will try to attend our
Election Form
with our Exeter candidates at Southernhay URC at 8 pm
tonight.
Did you hear about the old lady being stopped by a reporter
in the street –
Who will you be voting for on Thursday? she was asked
–
“Oh I never vote for any them my dear” she replied – “it only encourages them”
But according to Genesis, God has
given us power and dominion –
and politics is about how we use that power.
So as Christians it follows that
we should use that power carefully and prayerfully
as God would wish it used -
to make our dreams come true.
I received another email from our friend Graham Shaw in
Zimbabwe this week.
As we look at the nature of electoral practice and political power in Zimbabwe,
we should give thanks that we at least have a vote
which has at least some real significance.
Many across the world envy us our
ability to vote –
and even if we sometimes despair of our politicians,
we should still as Christians seek to exercise our vote –
it is our way to exercise our God given dominion over the earth.
History of course is littered
with sad examples
of the way in which men and women have abused their God given powers.
The Old Testament is a constant story of the abuse and neglect of power.
And our recent history fares no better.
60 years ago today on 1st May 1945,
the German Government announced the death of Adolph Hitler.
It is frightening to see how from small beginnings in the
1920s,
playing on the fears and prejudices and petty hatreds of ordinary people,
one man could lead people so far astray.
Metal can be used to make
ploughshares or swords
Wood can be used to make tables – or a cross.
As Christians we should remember
that we are called to be visionaries
seeking to build a society on earth
which reflects nothing less than the glory of heaven -
So when we cast our vote,
we should be simply asking how near the candidates policies are
to the Kingdom of God.
The key question we should ask ourselves before we vote is
this-
Does the person I vote for care more
for the interests and needs of the poor,
the disenfranchised and marginalized of our society,
and indeed of our whole world –
or do they pander to the self interest and petty prejudice
of a self seeking electorate?
Oh that the pensioners would cast their votes to help young
families,
and young parents would cast their vote to help the pensioners,
and everyone would cast their vote to help those
who have no vote and no power and no influence –
the asylum seekers at our gates and the starving of the world!
So let us be co-workers with God.
Let us help him make this world and
this nation what he would have them be.
As we live out this week, and
especially as we go to vote,
may we be ever aware of the Risen and Ascended Christ who reigns in glory.
And may we never rest until
that heavenly vision
of the reign of love and peace and justice
is known here on earth