I was in Eastbourne some time back walking on the promenade. Something landed beside me.
It came from a seagull – and, no, it wasn’t what you might expect!
It was a clam. The bird was continually dropping the shellfish until it broke.
Powerless to break into the clam by its own strength, the seagull invoked a higher power, that of gravity. By working with gravity the bird got its dinner.
This remarkable scene reminded me of how many an impenetrable problem – even a pastoral vacancy - can yield when we have the humility of faith to call upon a higher power to assist us.
In Jesus God has come to us, is ready to give himself to us, and is able to help us grow to rely on him more and more in all circumstances of our life.
We only need to take on board the invitation of Jesus to humble ourselves with confidence in his provision.
He must increase, but I must decrease we heard in the second reading from St John’s Gospel chapter 3v30. This is a call to humility.
He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure, verse 34.
What a wonderful promise! There’s nothing in short supply for those who take God at his word. As Isaiah promised in chapter 33 verse17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty.
How could that vision of God be possible for us in our own strength?
Yet God, who loves us through and through, has promised it.
The same promise of the beatific vision is found amplified in the
first letter of St John chapter 3: See what love the Father has
given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is
what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did
not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will
be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
We will see him as he is...Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. What promises!
Though God calls us to decrease in ourselves he sets before us the heavenly promises referred to in today’s collect.
To be a Christian we need twin virtues – confidence in God and humility before him.
To have Christian faith is to say yes to God’s promises freely and wholeheartedly, to open our hands to welcome his mighty provision to reach into the waywardness and poverty of our lives.
This is what we mean by having faith - saying yes to what God promises, freely and wholeheartedly, trusting him with the whole self. Saying yes with humility, knowing we’re not actually the centre of things however much our senses delude us into thinking so.
Faith isn’t sophisticated beliefs, strong convictions, or some sort of moral perfection.
It’s a readiness to reach out and receive from Jesus.
Faith is less something we have and more something we do.
God has far more riches in his treasury of grace. They’re on offer. You need faith to lay hold on God’s grace. That means a readiness to open your hands to receive.
To live by faith is to live humbly with confidence in God’s empowerment!
The seagull couldn’t get the clam open but saw a helper in his situation so he could get his dinner.
We’re looking ahead as a church and as individuals.
We face many situations both as a church and as individuals that we need to approach not with the clenched fists of battle but with the open hands of faith.
Maybe God is laying on these situations to build our faith, to teach us wisdom and make us more open to his power from on high.
By faith we come to welcome the riches God has for us in Jesus. We discern God's loving wisdom and direction for our lives.
By faith we are sustained through disappointments, frustrations, and failures.
Faith is possible for all. It is a simple turning to God as we are.
This is what St Margaret’s is all about – and St Giles – our prayers are very much with you at this time.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, writes St Peter (1 Peter 5) that he may exalt you in due time.
With two wings, humility and confidence in God’s word we lift ourselves heavenwards like the seagull and see the impossible made possible.
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