Trinity 6 Sunday 15th July 2012

It’s the preacher’s default to distil the three readings into one truth and spell that truth out to mind, heart and will.

This week for a change I’m going to resist that and take the readings one by one in their own right.

On this 15th Ordinary Sunday and sixth Sunday after Trinity we have:

Amos 7.7-15 which gives insight into the necessary tension between where a religious body is and where it should be moving to.

Ephesians 1.3-14 which is the earliest eucharistic prayer listing with thanksgiving the great blessings of Christian faith.

Mark 6.14-29 which describes how St John the Baptist lost his head.

So let’s start with Amos. Scripture calls him a prophet but he himself denies it if you look at the end of the first reading. I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”

In scripture prophets and priests are linked respectively to challenging and maintaining the status quo. In our passage Amaziah, the priest of Bethel is a sort of Dean of Westminster Abbey of his day as an appointee of the King of Israel. Even the band of prophets were King’s men in those days. This is why Amos says he’s no prophet’s son. Though a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, God took him saying “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”

Last Sunday our status quo as a religious community was challenged as we reflected together. Was Fr Keith an Amos like figure? Whatever – but I felt there was something of a shaking out of complacency as God, set a plumb line or marker against us.

We were reminded that we need more church members and all of us need to take more responsibility for bringing them in.

I would go further: sheep produce sheep, not shepherds. If 8th July raises more fervour for each one to reach one that will prove its worth for the inspiring half day it was.

Then we heard how we as a church are ‘fundamentally uncool’ to young people. That’s unsettling! More so our priest isn’t so cool – positively discomforting!

If the Holy Spirit is the Comforter he’s also the dis-comforter. As he used Amos, he’ll use some of the thoughts received last Sunday to get us all on our toes, priest and people. Please pray for Thursday’s PCC as we shape up our strategy from Sunday’s input.

The Ephesians passage counts God’s blessings, as we also had reason to do last Sunday. If you weren’t there - I announced a grant of £50,000 towards enlarging and upgrading the Martindale kitchen, converting the toilet by the main entrance into a disabled WC and forming a large window in the north wall of the main hall. This grant from the Verity Waterlow Trust has been augmented by a £10,000 gift from Derek Crowson leaving us £10,000 short of the £70,000 we need for the work. Last Sunday another £1,000 was pledged towards this work, set for mid-November, and further donations are welcome to bridge the funding gap of £9,000.

When people are generous with God they’re giving back in gratitude for all God gives to them. Just look through that second reading...It speaks of our adoption as God’s children, our redemption through Christ’s blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, ...the obtain(ing of) an inheritance...and the seal of the... Holy Spirit.

God who’s given us his dear Son Jesus Christ has given us all things in him. The money to be invested in the Martindale furthers God’s plan in Horsted Keynes that’s part of his plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

One of the challenges set forth last Sunday was to build relationships between the church and the village, especially through the Martindale, so all that we know to be precious, the things Paul lists in the reading, may be made evident to those around us.

Through the various enterprises in the Martindale church members and non-church members engage. Through our prayers, and its refurbishment, we look to them engaging with St Giles more fruitfully for the good of young and old in Horsted Keynes.

I said earlier that Ephesians 1.3-14 is one of the earliest eucharistic prayers – eucharistic meaning thanksgiving. The passage lists God’s mighty work among us in Jesus Christ. Our facilitator spoke of critical mass and the mass as critical. Of St Giles need to build a critical mass eg of youth for outreach and also to see the mass or eucharist as critical since it has in it the wherewithal to help us do what God wants us to do.

The more thankful we are, the more we live Ephesians 1 and the eucharist, the less inhibited we’ll be by pride and foolish self reliance as a Christian community. Self reliance is the major obstacle to hearts opening and being enthused by Jesus Christ who calls us as a church into greater dependence upon him.

In the Gospel account from Mark 6 of John’s beheading I was tempted to see my own fate as uncool leader of an uncool church! When the Bishop of Guyana was with us last week he’d wisdom about engaging youth. Yes John the Baptist got beheaded for his forthrightness but he also won respect from his hearers for it, and a place in the church calendar. People, young people especially, as Bishop Moss reminded us, feel they can engage with folk who’ve a definite and not a shifting world view. It’s the people prepared at times to tell us it as it is that are end up being most formative in our lives.

I visited an atheist recently who dragged me over the coals for an hour but for all of that I sensed he was in serious pursuit of the truth that I am about, despite the time he gave me. So with King Herod and St John the Baptist. When Herod heard John, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.

Truth speaks to power. Christianity is true. There is a God who both made us and loves us. As we witness to that, something inside of people is stirred, even if, as Fr Keith reminded us last Sunday, surveys show that it takes seven such stirrings before folk start coming to church.

For 1000 years the Christian community here at St Giles has been a generation away from extinction. The truth of what we stand for is a counter to the powerful apathy and unbelief around us. We shouldn’t lose heart but take courage to be forthright at time about the truth we share - even if it costs. You won’t lose your head in Horsted Keynes!

If there is a theme through today it is prophetic in that way. Amos and John the Baptist encourage us to speak the truth God lays on our hearts with courage and prudence. Paul in our second reading calls us to fresh awareness of all God has given us in Christ which will energise our faith.

In seeking a critical Mass for growth here we shall indeed do well to see the Mass as critical. Let’s then be open now in a quiet moment to what God is giving us this morning in the table of the word and the altar of communion so we can gratefully seize upon his leading.