“CINDERELLA
GOSPEL”
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I
stand before you today still flushed from my success
in the Mint Pantomime Cinderella last night.
Thanks to all involved.
If you missed the show, you can get just a idea of the
event
from the pictures at the back
For
those of you from overseas who may not know the story,
Cinderella slaves by the kitchen fire, abused by her ugly and selfish
stepsisters.
But finally she goes to the ball at the palace in a fine gown and carriage
and wins the heart of the Prince and everyone lives happily ever after.
We’ll
come back to Cinderella in a moment or two,
and also reflect briefly on Harry’s baptism -
but let me begin with today’s gospel reading from Luke 6.
Jesus
preaches to the crowds –
and a sees a sea of need and anxiety and trouble.
This is not the age of the welfare state and social security,
of the hospital and the secure unit.
Here is all life streaming out to see him dragging
their needs and inadequacies, their sins and their sorrows after them.
A hush awaits – what will Jesus say?
Jesus speaks first of blessings (“Blessed are those who…”)
and then utters a series of woes (“Woe unto those who….”)
In so doing, Jesus paints a picture of a new world order
which will be stood on its head:
·
Where
the wicked and manipulative will be brought low
and the poor and the victimised will be held high,
·
Where
the comfortable will be troubled
and the troubled will be comforted
·
Where
the sad will find joy and the poor find true riches…
Perhaps
we need to join that crowd and hear Christ’s words to us.
If we did so, would Christ offer us woes or blessings?? I guess both -
For every one of us has a mix within us -
Each of us is partly rich complacent, comfortable, & selfish…..
(Woe to you)
Each of us is also partly poor, suffering,
the servant, the slave, victim.….(Blessed are you….)
Christ
says – I offer to each one of you blessings and woes –
I
have a hard word – promising a radical purging of your sins
But
I also have a soft word of blessing - of rich grace for your sorrows
And
the two go together – woe and blessing -
until as through the refiners fire,
we find the glorious salvation of God.
As I was
practising my ballet steps for my moment of glory in the panto,
I started thinking about the Cinderella story as a Gospel parable.
And here
we have the Cinderella Gospel.
·
Christ
says to the poor and downtrodden,
slaving for the rich and heartless: blessed are the poor-
they shall go to the Ball! –
there is a place for Cinders & all who slave in the kitchen
at the Heavenly Banquet in the Kingdom of Heaven!
·
Christ
says to the orphan and the bereaved,
crying tears over the ashes of a lost past –
Blessed are those who mourn – you shall be comforted –
for in me death shall have no dominion,
and you and all God’s children shall yet be at one in God’s family
·
Christ
says to those stuck in guilt and remorse,
who can never get beyond Ash Wednesday
to Good Friday and Easter Day –
your days raking the cinders of guilt and despair shall end
·
Christ
says to those who struggle to serve –
you are treading nothing less than the path to Calvary –
the burden you bear is my cross, and the victory will be yours too.
·
Christ
says to those who through greed or arrogance or thoughtlessness
victimize and tread down others:
Do you not realize that these people you treat as slaves
are actually your brothers and sisters?
You too will be a part of this new topsy turvy world –
your destiny is also to be loved and accepted for what you are, God’s children
– but for you that may be a hard path
as you learn the spiritual ugliness & discord
to which you have so long been deaf & blind…
The
Cinderella story is a Gospel story
because it is about the contrast between
the present state of this sinful world
and the ultimate reality of God’s coming reign –
a reality yet to be recognized by a blind and disbelieving world.
I remember my old College
Principal Gordon Rupp
describing a visit to an old village chapel
deep in the Cambridgeshire countryside.
The building, he said, was damp with paint peeling from the walls.
The congregation was small and old.
But he said
“That congregation was a Cinderella Church –
to the untrained eye it looked a hopeless case –
a sad place of mice and pumpkins and cinders -
But, he said, I looked at that congregation with the eye of faith
which can see beneath the world exterior of servant’s rags.
And suddenly, he said, I saw that small and tired congregation
in a whole new way – I saw a glorious bride adorned for her husband.
All unseen by a blinkered world,
I saw the Church (even in her tatters and rags)
as nothing less than the intended bride of Christ.’
This
is the good news of the topsy turvy
gospel which says
that the downtrodden servant girl
is to be the Belle of the Heavenly
Ball.
And as a Church we need to remember that
even when we feel ignored and put down by the world,
we have a destiny which is not to be denied –
for we are beloved by the Prince of Peace.
The Church is indeed the Bride of Christ!
So to Harry – Well I wonder if in
a few years
you may be enjoying the panto season –
Oh no he won’t…Oh yes he will….…
But today is Harry’s baptismal
day.
In many cultures baptism is still
by total immersion,
and when you come out of the water,
you are traditionally given a new set of clothes to wear –
your baptismal garments – symbol of your new life in Christ.
So
we the baptised are indeed a Cinderella people –
like Cinders attired for the Ball,
we are clothed anew for the feast of the Kingdom.
So
what do we offer Harry this day?
Well
at one level we offer him a place in the Church –
in a very human institution full of flawed and sinful people –
that’s you and me.
Hopefully
we also offer him a place within a community
which seeks to serve with humility, grace and fortitude
But
above all, we offer Harry and all the baptised
a place within the people of God,
for whom is promised (against all human expectations)
a place at the Feast of the Kingdom.
One
final thought.
You
recall in the story of Cinderella who was instrumental
in providing the fine dress and the coach to the Ball?
It was of course Nina Black –
or to be precise, Nina Black playing the part of the Fairy Godmother!
On
this baptismal day, that is perhaps an encouragement
and a challenge to parents and godparents everywhere –
indeed a challenge and encouragement to us all-
For
in this life it is true that God does give his grace
through human agency.
In our service today we have all
made promises.
We may not be given the magic wand of fairy tale -
But we are given the privilege, the responsibility and the power of God
·
to
care for each infant in our midst,
·
to
love and care for them as they are,
·
to
believe passionately in what they are yet to be ,
·
and never to rest until they and we together
have fulfilled God’s promised destiny.
So
to you Harry, to your parents and Godparents,
indeed to everyone of us here
may you and all God’s children
know God’s richest blessing in often dirty & troubled world
and in God’s good time may you find your promised place
at the Heavenly Banquet in the world to come.
Sunday 11th February 2007 - 10.30 a.m.
Morning Worship led by Rev Andrew Sails
with Baptism of Harry Albert Todd Forsyth
Hymn 86 “Tell
out my soul”
Prayer
Baptism of Harry Albert Todd Forsyth
The Declaration (Methodist
Worship Book p.88)
The Request for Baptism (p.89)
Minister: James and Fran,
having heard these things, how do you respond to the offer of God's grace?
Parents: We thank God, and ask that our child be baptized.
Thanksgiving
over the water (p.90)
The Affirmation
of Faith (p.91)
Minister: Do you turn away
from evil & all that denies God?
Parents & Godparents:
By the grace of God, I do.
Minister: Do you turn to God,
trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and in the Holy Spirit as Helper
and Guide?
Parents & Godparents: By the grace of God, I do.
(The congregation stands)
Minister: We say
together:
People: We believe in God the Father,
who made the world.
We believe in Jesus Christ, his Son,
who redeemed humankind.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
who gives life to the people of God.
(The congregation sits)
The Baptism (p.92)
Minister: What name
have you given this child?
Parents: Harry
Albert Todd
Minister: Harry Albert Todd,
for you Jesus Christ came
into the world;
for you he lived and showed God's love;
for you he suffered death on the Cross; for you he triumphed over death, rising
to newness of life;
for you he prays at God's right hand: all this for you, before you could know
anything of it.
In your Baptism, the word of Scripture is fulfilled:
‘We love, because God first loved us.’
Harry
Albert Todd, I baptize you
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
By Baptism, God has received you into the Church.
Harry Albert Todd, I
sign you with the cross,
the sign of Christ.
Julia Fry: Harry Albert Todd, receive this light, for you belong to Christ, the Light of
the world.
Christ is your Light and your Way.
People: May
you grow and live in the faith of Christ.
Amen
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord look on you with kindness
and give you peace. Amen.
The Baptismal
promises (p.94)
Minister: James and Fran, I ask you now to respond to
God’s love and grace to your child by making these promises:
Will you
love this your child committing
yourselves to care for him in body, mind and spirit?
Parents: With God's help we will.
Minister: Will you, therefore,
ensure that he is nurtured in
the faith and life of the Christian community?
Parents: With God's help we will.
Minister: Will
you set before him a Christian example,
that through your prayers, words and deeds, he may learn the way of Christ?
Parents: With God's help we will.
Minister: Will you help James and Fran to nurture Harry
in the Christian faith?
Godparents: With God's help we
will.
Minister: Members of the body of Christ, we rejoice
that this our brother has been baptized. Will you so maintain the Church's life of
worship and service that he may
grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ
our Lord?
People: With God's help we will.
Minister: Let
us pray
People: Generous God,
touch us again
with the fire of your Spirit
and renew in us all
the grace of our Baptism;
that we may profess the one true faith
and live in love and unity
with all who are baptized into Christ.
Amen.
Hymn “Lord, look upon this little child”
[HAP 586 -
Derek R Farrow, adapted]
The
Peace
Leader: Let us share the peace
Adults: The peace of the Lord be with you
Children: And also with you
Leader: Go in peace
(Young
people leave for their own sessions)
Reading: Luke 6:17-26 (p.1034)
Hymn SOF 27 “As the
Deer”
Sermon “Cinderella Gospel”
Hymn 281 “Come down O love divine”
Collection
Prayers
Lord’s Prayer
Hymn 566 “Now thank we all our God”
Blessing