St Giles Festival 8th September 2013

Introduction

Welcome to our beautiful church this morning – beautiful on account of the 26 village organisations that have contributed to our flower festival in honour of St Giles feast and in aid of church funds.

If you’ve not had time or occasion to contribute to the flowers you’re welcome to make a financial contribution – we want the weekend to make a difference to things here - and especially to the shortfall in paying our parish share which cries out for attention.

St Giles got lamed by a hunter’s arrow as he protected a deer. In the same way Jesus took the wounding of our sins on the Cross – this is our faith – but we have to let Our Lord take those sins from us. Let us therefore begin this holy eucharist by calling to mind and confessing our sins in the silence of our hearts.

Address

Last week I was in Israel. It was a bit scary because it’s next door to Syria and they were distributing gas masks last weekend, but it was also exciting for me because it’s where Jesus lived.

At Cana I brought St Giles a special present for St Giles Day: The First Miracle Cana Wedding Wine. We’ll be using this Israeli wine for today’s eucharist.

It was Cana where Jesus worked his first miracle when wine ran out at a wedding he attended with Mary his Mother. Mary asked Jesus to help and he changed water into wine, his first miracle.

Jesus can change things – if we let him!

At Cana I prayed for a couple on the pilgrimage, Jason and Debbie Jones from Los Angeles. They’ve been married 11 years and have no children so they asked me to ask a special blessing from Jesus at Cana.

On my trip I joined around 750 people from 60 countries and 20 Christian denominations including 120 clergy, part of the True Life in God inter faith movement.

We prayed together day by day in places linked to Jesus starting here. Show Bethlehem star.

The ornate star has these words on it in Latin – here Jesus Christ was born. Last week I knelt and kissed the ground here – in Bethlehem (turn) where Jesus was born in a place just south of Jerusalem. It’s the site of a cave that’s covered by the oldest church in the world, the fourth century Basilica of the Nativity or birth of Christ. To pray in Bethlehem we had to pass through an immense security wall from Israel into the Palestinian territories.

I bought some souvenir holding crosses made smooth by the Palestinian Christian carpenters that I’ll pass round church. Show and pass round crosses

As you hold them think and pray about Christians in the Holy Land. In 1948 Christians made up 43% of the population. Today they make up but 1.3% of the population since many have fled the conflict between Jew and Arab that makes Israel a sad place today. We must have faith: Jesus can change things – if we let him!

One of my most powerful memories was of the 750 of us praying in the church but 40 miles away from Israel’s neighbour, Syria, and for the British Parliament vote the next day. I saw Parliament’s refusal to join the bombing of Syria as an answer to our prayer. Show ‘Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem’

We went back from Bethlehem to Jerusalem so important for Christians since Jesus died and rose there.

Today it’s a town divided between Christians, Muslims and Jews. On the map you can see the bright Dome of the Rock over Mount Moriah, the place Abraham sacrificed Isaac and considered by Muslims as their second holy place after the Kaaba in Mecca. Just to the left in the foreground is the so-called Western or Wailing Wall of the ruined Jerusalem Temple visited day by day by Jews and the most holy place of their religion. Behind it is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the most holy place of Christianity where last week I visited the site of Jesus’ death and his empty tomb. We had to queue for two and a half hours! How moving it was to be where Jesus died and rose – it really touched my heart! But then my heart gets changed whenever I come close to Jesus in the Bible or here in the Eucharist or in prayer.

Jesus can change things – if we let him!

My last picture is of Mount Tabor. It’s where he took Peter, James and John and was transfigured – his whole being lit up with sun-like brightness as a sign of the resurrection to come. On my holiday I did think of everyone here. Whilst Fr John was celebrating the eucharist for you last Sunday I spent an hour climbing this mountain praying for you as I walked up reading your names out to God from my phone. My prayer was change them by your Spirit from your image into your glory. As Jesus was transfigured I prayed that we might be even more lit up spiritually!

Everyone is made in God’s image but not everyone gets filled by God’s Spirit so that God who made them gives them his life right inside of them. This is my prayer for us today on St Giles Feast – we prayed it already in that passage from the first letter of John: that we purify ourselves, just as Jesus is pure. 

Jesus can change things – if we let him!

Let’s let him!