St Richard, Haywards Heath 24th Sunday (A) 17 September 2023

‘As the heavens are high above the earth so strong is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins.’ Psalm 103:11

The words of today’s Psalm jumped out at me as I pondered one of life’s by-products, dimethyl sulfide likely present in a planet 120 million light-years from our solar system. The observation came from NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope and it got me thinking of the immensity of space and God.

How big is your God? That his choicest gift of life might be widespread is humbling. 

Humbling also this week, though, has been the loss of thousands of precious lives in the Moroccan earthquake and Libyan floods. 

How can human life, so precious it images God, be treated so casually by the universe? As a student I hitch hiked with a friend on ox carts in the Atlas Mountains staying in houses like those shown sunk into the ground with immense loss of life. ‘God - what are you about?’ has been my prayer, and no doubt yours, at the dreadful scenes of the recovery operation.

‘As the heavens are high above the earth so strong is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins.’ 

Our Christian faith provides a perspective on life, on the universe, on evil including unforgiveness and, supremely, upon the life of the world to come. The readings today hardly need a sermon to explain them. Our Lord's parable of the unforgiving servant demonstrates how paltry is the human grasp upon the miracle of forgiveness which is rooted in the resurrection. We go like children ‘tit for tat’ and our minds and hearts need expanding to cope with our sins being written off.

Have you ever thought - it's as astonishing as God allowing life at the other end of the universe - that when you give your sins to God they fly away as far as the east is from the west? The writer of Ecclesiasticus had his heart expanded into the truth Our Lord Jesus reveals when he wrote the words we just heard read: ‘If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord?

Showing no pity for a man like himself, can he then plead for his own sins?

Mere creature of flesh, he cherishes resentment; who will forgive him his sins?

Remember the last things, and stop hating, remember dissolution and death, and live by the commandments’ (Ecclesiasticus 28).

‘I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me’ the Lord says in the Gospel from Matthew 18. ‘Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” 

How big is your God? The Christian religion is a revelation of ‘the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting’ (Apostles’ Creed). It is primarily a supernatural religion which is why the flame of Christian faith is burning less in materialistic Europe and more in Africa, Asia and South America. When Anne, John and I were in Guyana we hardly met an atheist. People looked to the all-powerful and ever-living God revealed in Jesus Christ as our be-all and end-all. The God who puts your sins away when you ask forgiveness is the same God who lifts the pall of death to reveal the resurrection and gather us into the communion of saints in his never-ending family.

This world with all its great and beautiful gifts cannot offer what today’s Gospel celebrates - the supernatural grace of Christianity - forgiveness and resurrection. The two are linked - unforgiveness imprisons people’s souls just as death will one day imprison their bodies. One of my greatest privileges as a priest is to pronounce words of absolution to penitent sinners, as from Christ's Cross, by his authority vested in me - and to hear those words for myself in confession. Another privilege is the invitation to attend death beds and see Christian souls loosening themselves from worldly attachments in preparation for the life of the world to come. How often in my ministry I’ve seen long delays in that process through the dying person loosening from unforgiveness or more often awaiting reconciliation with unforgiving children. ‘If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord?’ 

Welcoming the forgiveness of Our Lord is preparation for heaven. It is central to Mass where it is conveyed to us in the Lord’s body broken for us and his blood shed for that forgiveness. When we receive the body and blood of the Lord his forgiveness enters us in the Bread and Wine. That forgiveness and acceptance expands our hearts, if we will but let it, with his Sacred Heart, to others especially those in the prison of unforgiveness or living in the shadow of death as many are today in Morocco and Libya who await our prayer and giving.

‘As the heavens are high above the earth so strong is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins.’ 

That is our good news and where on earth or heaven or across the universe could it be found other than in God’s gracious action revealed to us in the bearing of sin upon Calvary and the relief it brings us at Mass, the supernatural resurrection of our soul and the promise of supernatural resurrection of our body with all the saints in ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Corinthians 4:6) 

‘The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for you and his blood which was shed for you preserve your body and soul unto everlasting life. Amen’.

Picture: Anne Twisleton

Wivelsfield Church & St Richard, Haywards Heath Our Father Luke 11:1-4 5 Oct 2022

 As we read this month through the gospel of St Luke at weekday eucharist we have reached the start of Chapter 11 and Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer. It's shorter than Matthew’s but is still formative of the prayer we will use later on in our worship.

The prayer Jesus taught us has five aspirations: belonging, purpose, empowerment, forgiveness and direction. 

It starts Our Father which is an aspiration for the world to be a place of belonging that goes beyond this world. The building of bridges between Jews and Gentiles by Peter and Paul referred to in the passage from Galatians was an extraordinary new beginning in terms of inclusion. When we pray to God as Christians we pray Our Father, that is on behalf of all - especially, yes, on behalf of those who know Jesus, but also on behalf of all people since God ultimately wants everyone and everything to be gathered together in Christ.

This is captured as Jesus teaches us to pray Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. All three phrases effectively say the same, that God won’t let us waste our energies but direct them towards what’s right - and what’s right is the building of unity in the truth that is in Jesus, in our circle, community, nation and across the world.

Thirdly Jesus brings empowerment of body and spirit. Give us this day our daily bread. Even in Sussex that prayer applies to physical bread in the case of some of us, but Jesus promises food not just for the body. He came to bring the food for the spirit that’s given us day by day through prayer, the bible and the eucharist. At this eucharist we ask that Holy Spirit for ourselves and all who’re overwhelmed by the cares and crises of the world.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. No one else is equipped as Jesus is to bring forgiveness and a new start to all of us who’re caught by our past wrongdoing. Joseph called him Jesus because he saves his people from their sins.

The prayer moves to its conclusion with a plea for discernment. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. God sent Jesus so you and I could know what’s important in our lives and do it. God loves us so much he doesn’t want our lives lost in trivial things but caught up into his grand scheme. 

As we prepare to celebrate the eucharist we aspire as ever for what Jesus wants - for us and for the whole world – belonging for the isolated, purpose for the lost, empowerment for the overwhelmed, forgiveness for sinners and direction for those who’re wasting their lives. So be it - for the kingdom, the power and the glory are his for ever. Amen

St John, Burgess Hill & St Richard, Haywards Heath Wed 5 Jan 2021

The Son of God became Son of Man so children of men can become children of God through his lowering a ladder from heaven.

We read about that ladder in today’s Gospel from John 1:43-51 where the context is the drawing of Andrew and Peter, then Philip and Nathanael to the Lord. Philip's confidence in Jesus shared with Nathanael - known to us as St Bartholomew - paves the way for his encounter with the Lord.

47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming he said of him, "There is an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit!" 48 “How do you know me?” said Nathanael. “Before Philip came to call you,” said Jesus " I saw you under the fig tree. 49 Nathanael answered, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

To understand this encounter we need to go back to Genesis 28 and the story of Jacob. Nathanael ‘incapable of deceit’ is contrasted with Jacob who deceived Isaac his blind father. The contrast continues in v51 of John Chapter 1 where the vision Jacob was granted of angels ascending to heaven on a ladder on one occasion is contrasted with the ultimate vision promised to Nathanael and all Christian believers.

What impresses Nathanael and brings him to faith is Our Lord's 'gift of knowledge'.  Jesus refers to some incident in Nathanael's life 'under a fig tree' known to Nathanael alone.  The sharing of this information establishes Jesus wisdom and trustworthiness so Nathanael is drawn to confess those great words: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

Our Lord deals with us as he did with Nathanael as individuals. Though we gather together at this eucharist we worship and do business with him also as individuals. The Lord wishes the objective love and truth that he is to become subjectively real to us and in us, challenging our fear of change, reluctance to accept suffering or let go of resentments. In this way the grand aims of Christianity get tighter hold on our flesh and blood and heart and mind. One of the most common sicknesses of the soul is disbelief in the love of God though that’s as real as 2+2 makes 4 or the irrefutable law of gravity: what goes up must come down!

50 Jesus replied, "You believe that just because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that." 51 And then he added, "I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open, and, above the Son of Man,  the angels of God ascending and descending" .

These words echo the Pauline promise in 2 Corinthians 3:18 'And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit'. 

Coming back to the parallel with Jacob's ladder in Genesis that vision came after the experience of Jacob wrestling with an angel. So it is with us, our struggles with God in our individual circumstances are heartened by glimpses of where those struggles will lead.

'No ladder now', writes Archbishop William Temple in his commentary on this verse, contrasting it with Genesis 28. 'No ladder now; the Messiah Himself is the meeting point of human need and divine blessing or judgement.'

'Christian Healing is Jesus Christ meeting us at our point of need' (Morris Maddocks). Nathanael is promised no ladder to heaven but One who himself 'opens wide the gate of heaven to man below'. Jesus is the Mediator. He is the One who draws heaven to earth and human beings to God. 

Our Lord is the meeting point of human need and divine blessing. For some of us, some of the time, that meeting will bring forgiveness from sin or physical healing from sickness or breaking an emotional bondage or an opening up of the eye of faith. Sometimes such a meeting comes through meeting a priest one to one for counsel or confession and we priests are here for that above all things.

At this eucharist we meet Jesus Christ in word and sacrament. How about our points of need?  Are we bringing them to him expecting healing and transformation? If we are not sure of our needs are we asking to be shown them? Blest are those who know their need of God!

I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open, and, above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending" .

Intercessions

Blest are those who know their need of God! We seek that blessing, Lord, at this eucharist. Show us our exact needs as we begin this New Year and help us to put more faith in you to supply them by your grace. Lord hear us

‘You will see heaven laid open, and, above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending’. We pray, Lord, for Christian leaders that they better help your people look to heaven to receive the healing and transformation they need in preparation for full union with you. Lord hear us

We thank you, Lord, for all who seek and all who provide the ministries of confession, healing and spiritual direction. May these ministries be more available in the wake of the COVID epidemic Bless each and everyone who enters this Church regularly or occasionally. Lord hear us 

St Bartholomew, Brighton Trinity 8 (16B) 22.7.18

The Lord’s prayer opens up Christianity as a place of belonging, purpose, empowerment, forgiveness and direction.  Reflecting on this Sunday’s readings I find they illuminate each clause of the prayer Jesus taught us. We’ll go for these five headings as a way to understand today’s scripture, as a framework for reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer and as a reminder of the main blessings we possess as Christians: belonging, purpose, empowerment, forgiveness and direction.

First belonging. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Our first reading from Ephesians stated that we believers have access in one Spirit to the Father. To be a Christian is to belong to God as Father and to one another. The Church is God’s never ending family. Sunday by Sunday we come to say ‘Our Father’ - not my Father but Our Father for the God and Father of Jesus is your God and my God. Jesus died to gather together the scattered children of God and that gathering occurs through baptism and through faith.

Someone asked that heroine of Calcutta’s slums Mother Teresa how she prayed and she answered I just say again and again ‘Our Father’. When we pray we affirm our belonging both to God and to our neighbour. Hallowed be thy name - Jesus leads us in contemplation of God as his Father and ours. Today’s Gospel is a striking example and reminder of our need to set time apart day by day to contemplate God and to say the Our Father. Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while, Jesus says. How can we take up that invitation in our own daily routine? To contemplate our belonging to God and bring to our loving Heavenly Father in prayer the sisters and brothers he has put on our hearts?

Second purpose. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done That purpose, that will is stated in the New Testament. Its a purpose for the cosmos and for the church, one stated in Colossians of bringing all things together in Christ and in today’s first reading stated as one of growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God. As Christians we’ve a purpose in life: drawing the world together. I think of how iron filings randomly scattered form up beautifully when magnetised. You and I are here in Church to be magnetised by the love of God shown us through word and sacrament in Jesus Christ. We leave Church that bit more assured of God’s love and that bit better instruments of healing and reconciliation in a broken world.

I was preaching last Sunday in Bordeaux and quoted this saying from the Abbe de Tourville: Say to yourself very often about everything that happens, ‘God loves me! What joy! And reply boldly, ‘And I truly love Him too!’ Then go quite simply about all that you have to do and do not philosophize any more. For these two phrases are beyond all thought and do more for us than any thought could do; they are all-sufficing. We sometimes make Christianity more difficult than it is - its purpose, our purpose is to welcome the fact we’re loved and hand on that amazing truth to others.

Third empowerment. Give us this day our daily bread - being Christian is counter to self-sufficiency. We’re called to live in the love of God with an eternal perspective. In other words living in the here and now, in the present moment - for God is there and nowhere else. We don’t find God or life in the mental constructs of the past or future but in the present. And the present has a present! Give us this day our daily bread. This phrase has all sorts of interpretations, here at the eucharist for example when the Lord’s prayer is said as preparation for receiving Christ’s body in the form of Bread.

Christianity ultimately is empowerment. They found that empowerment in Jesus Christ from the very start as we heard in today’s Gospel. Jesus we heard had compassion for them... A God who answers prayers, who gives us the Holy Spirit. They laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed. It may be as you sit in Saint Bartholomew’s this morning you sit with a weight of care. Ask the Lord to empower you by taking that burden from you, to free you to be his more effective servant. He will do - if you ask!

Fourthly forgiveness. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Some say Christianity’s heavy on guilt. Its precisely the opposite because the Holy Spirit that impacts us from the Cross of Jesus delivers every penitent heart from guilt. As we heard in the first reading: in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace… Jesus has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility caused by unrepented sin.

To know your sins are forgiven is knowledge the whole world would quickly seek if only it knew it was on offer in Christianity. We come to church to receive that assurance in Jesus’s Hour, the hour of Sunday Mass which irradiates us with God’s love and mercy. Let all that is on your conscience be given to him this morning - prepare for the new start forgiveness offers week by week, hour by hour if need be!

Fifth and last direction. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. If Christianity brings belonging, purpose, empowerment and forgiveness it lastly provides spiritual direction. As we heard in the Gospel how many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and Jesus began to teach them many things. That teaching is handed on by the church through a network of spiritual directors with gifts of listening and teaching relevant to discerning the forward course in life set by the Holy Spirit. Did you know Anglican Communicants can be put in touch with a spiritual director by their clergy or by a phone call to the diocesan office?

To pray the Lord’s prayer is to set yourself against sin, temptation and evil. Jesus himself we know was impermeable to these but he left a prayer for us with a couple of phrases irrelevant to him. Since Our Lord came into the world to provide the remedy for sin the prayer he taught is a realistic prayer for us. We so often find ourselves going in a direction away from the prompting of the Holy Spirit through nameless fear, anxiety, inappropriate sadness, self-centredness, the tendency to see endless snags ahead or through a basic lack of hope. These feelings can prevent us doing what’s best and we need to counter them and seek help from God and maybe other Christians to do so. Our clergy are here too to help with guidance.

To sum up, the Lord’s prayer displays Christianity as a place of belonging, purpose, empowerment, forgiveness and direction. Ours is a deep, hopeful and forward looking religion.

The Lord bless us as we pray the ‘Our Father’ prayer of belonging and contemplate God day by day, as we pray and act according to his purpose with the empowerment of his Spirit, seeking forgiveness and spiritual direction.

For thine, Lord, is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Mothering Sunday 8am 6th March 2016

It is a strange paradox that this year’s Gospel for Mothering Sunday is that of the Father’s love.

It’s not deliberate, just that we’re in the year of Luke and no Lucan passage is more Lent suited than that of the Prodigal Son! The fact Lent 4 is Mothering Sunday is secondary so far as the Lectionary goes. It’s a universal Lectionary and many countries don’t keep Mother’s Day today.

In the story of the Prodigal Son we have a beautiful demonstration of what Lent is all about – the healing joy of repentance.

At its centre is the welcome home of the prodigal. I love the King James Bible version of this story with its rich cadences:

But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Luke 15.23-27

What wonderful words! They serve as no other words to give us invitation to seek God as our Father.

That paragraph provides the heart of the story involving three characters each of which we may find ourselves identifying with.

First the openness of the prodigal - how ready am I to admit my mistakes? As Christians we believe we are sinners in need of grace. What is so surprising about a sinner sinning? 

Yet many of us are slow to seek forgiveness from God or neighbour.

Our slowness links to the judgmentalism around typified by the elder brother in the parable whose attitude is far from forgiving!

Lent is a time to challenge that judgmental ‘elder brother’ within each one of us. It’s a time to challenge the habitual sins that get on top of us. C.S.Lewis once wrote a caution about despairing over our habitual sins:

I know all about the despair of overcoming chronic temptation.  It is not serious, provided self-offended petulance, annoyance at breaking records, impatience, etc. don't get the upper hand. No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time.  We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home.  But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard.  The only fatal thing is to lose one's temper and give it up.  It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us: it is the very sign of His presence.  Daily Readings p122-3

The main figure in the Parable is the loving Father who represents God. Jesus teaches God is always helpfully present to us in his holiness and ready to show us the dirt and dysfunction in our lives.  He makes himself present in practical love to remedy our situation - the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard.

Our Lord cleanses us of sin and guilt by practical demonstrations geared to our humanity. That’s particularly true of the sacrament of reconciliation also known as sacramental confession in which we play the part of the prodigal in a re-enactment of Luke 15. There is great freedom to be attained through celebrating this sacrament so misunderstood in Anglican circles. We have set times for this sacrament in St Giles nearer Easter or you can make an appointment.

The father may represent God but he is also an example of the love a parent, father or mother, is called to show his or her children. Lack of affirmation by parents, lack of generous reconciliation in family life, is the root of much domestic misery.

In Henri Nouwen’s The Return of the Prodigal Son the author speaks of his being inspired by Rembrandt’s famous painting of that title. The gnarled yet welcoming hands of the Father in Rembrandt’s picture symbolise God’s hands stretched out for us upon the Cross.  They challenge us to pay the price ourselves for a more affirming attitude to those falling short around us.

The great inspiration of this book is the Christian call to a ministry of affirmation.

Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate as Jesus said elsewhere.

As we come to the altar this morning on behalf of ourselves or those on our hearts we come as the prodigal son knowing our need of forgiveness. We come repenting of the ‘elder brother’ in us and all that critical spirit that subtracts from the joy God wants in our hearts. We come finally for grace to be like our Father, capable of love for sinners.

The readiness to treat others as better than they are is simple imitation of God’s readiness to treat us as far better than we are. We can ask the Holy Spirit to build that affirming capacity within us so that having received laying on of hands this afternoon we may be better equipped to embrace others as instruments of the divine mercy.

The bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard.

Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. 

Palm Sunday 24th March 2013: I believe in the forgiveness of sins

Like Muslims it could be said that Christians have five pillars that support their faith: The Bible, The Creed, The Sacraments, The Commandments and The Lord’s Prayer. During Lent we’ve been refreshing our grasp of one of these pillars - The Apostles Creed during the renewal of baptismal vows. Though it has twelve articles of belief we’ve split it into five. 

On the first three Sundays of Lent we looked at belief in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the Church. Next Sunday we’ll look appropriately at the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. This morning’s article is the forgiveness of sins so I want us to consider these four questions: What is sin? What is forgiveness? Why do we believe in the forgiveness of sins? How do we receive the forgiveness of sins?

What is sin?

·         Something young people do not know or care about (Survey of the beliefs of "generation Y" (15-to-25-year-olds)) shows they don't have any real sense of sin.

·         Sin is as alien to the contemporary mind as fetching water from a well or darning your socks  (Guardian)

·         Alas so is the sense of a personal God which defines sin – a failure in our relationship with God. A culture that doesn't even care about sin has truly cut itself off from God's grace and is therefore sinful in the most profound sense.

·         Sin, as defined in the Bible, means "to miss the mark." The mark, in this case, is the standard of perfection established by God and evidenced by Jesus. Viewed in that light, it is clear that we are all sinners. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 3:23: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." 

·         PALE gas is a mnemonic for the seven deadly sins – pride, anger, lust, envy, gluttony, avarice, sloth which miss the mark of seven God-like qualities: humility, patience, chastity, love, temperance, generosity, diligence.

·         In his Divine Comedy Dante ranks sins that damage the community such as pride, violence and fraud as more damaging than sins of the flesh.

·         Culpability for sin links to how seriously an action was intended

What is forgiveness 
Letting go of the need for revenge and releasing negative thoughts of bitterness and resentment. 

In January of 1990 after the fall of the Berlin wall Erich Honecker, the brutal and hated dictator of East Germany, found himself sick and homeless. So despised was he that no one could be found to provide him shelter. They contacted Pastor Uwe Holmer who directed a church-run convalescent center in the village of Lobetal. Pastor Holmer had bitter memories of Honecker and his regime. Honecker had personally presided over the building of the wall, the wall that separated Holmer's family and kept him from attending his own father's funeral. He had even greater reason to resent Honecker's wife, who ran the East German ministry of education. Holmer's ten children had been denied admission to any university because of their faith. It would be easy for Pastor Holmer to turn Honecker away because the church's retirement home was full and had a long waiting list. But because Honecker's need was urgent, Pastor Holmer decided he had no choice but to shelter the couple under his own roof! Pastor Holmer's charity was not shared by the rest of the country. Hate mail poured in. Some members of his own church threatened to leave or cut back their giving. Pastor Holmer defended his actions in a letter to the newspaper. "In Lobetal," he wrote, "there is a sculpture of Jesus inviting people to himself and crying out, 'Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' We have been commanded by our Lord Jesus to follow him and to receive all those who are weary and heavy laden, in spirit and in body, but especially the homeless… What Jesus asked his disciples to do is equally binding on us."

 Why do Christians believe in the forgiveness of sins?

·         To believe in Christianity is to believe in new starts.  The Resurrection of Jesus is the greatest new start ever given to humanity and the forgiveness of sins flows from this.  

·         The interpretation in scripture of Christ’s death and resurrection: If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.1 John 1.9 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2.38

·         The Apostle's Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins with faith in the Holy Spirit, the Church and in the communion of saints. This is because Our Lord gave the Holy Spirit to his apostles it came with authority to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

·         Is God fair to forgive? People can react very unfavourably to talk of Christian forgiveness, especially in the case of very hurtful sin.  The God and Father of Jesus has holiness that is affronted by wrong. That holiness which is above us is coupled to a love that is beyond us. Jesus came to give us what we need before he came to give us what we deserve.  If God is fair He goes beyond fairness. He treats us as really much better than we are.  His holiness and mercy came together on the Cross of Jesus.                       

How do Christians receive the forgiveness of sins?

·         By facing up to and not excusing our sins. C.S. Lewis: The trouble is that what we call "asking God's forgiveness" very often really consists in asking God to accept our excuses. What leads us into this mistake is the fact that there usually is some amount of excuse, some "extenuating circumstances." We are so very anxious to point these things out to God (and to ourselves) that we are apt to forget the very important thing; that is, the bit left over, the bit which excuses don't cover, the bit which is inexcusable but not, thank God, unforgivable.. What we have got to take to Him is the inexcusable bit, the sin. We are only wasting our time talking about all the parts which can (we think) be excused. When you go to a Dr. you show him the bit of you that is wrong - say, a broken arm. It would be a mere waste of time to keep on explaining that your legs and throat and eyes are all right. You may be mistaken in thinking so, and anyway, if they are really right, the doctor will know that.

·         Christianity is not guilt-ridden because it encourages people to do something about sin. It is in fact guilt-ridding! 

·         Through the church Christ offers forgiveness. The church does this supremely in baptism and then through prayer, scripture promises and sacramental ministry. 

·         In sacramental confession the priest acts for Christ in welcoming sinners who wish to confess aloud.  This rite echoes Christ’s story of the prodigal son who returned to his father’s embrace. The whole point of sacraments is to give outward and visible signs of inward and invisible gifts from God. The inward gift of forgiveness is brought with visible assurance for many by their coming to the priest, as God’s representative, to receive an individual word of forgiveness. For other Christians it is more a matter of taking God at his word in scripture. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins (1 John 1v9).

There is a condition for being granted forgiveness: penitence, being truly sorry for your sins.  You cannot be truly sorry without resolving to put right the damage you’ve done as far as it can be put right.  There is one other condition for receiving forgiveness: the readiness to forgive others.

·     
 To believe in the forgiveness of sins is to believe in a God who is more ready to give us what we need than he is to give us what we deserve. He treats us as really much better than we are and challenges us to do the same by being ourselves generous to those who are in our debt.  

Midnight Mass & First Eucharist of the Day 2012

If I were asked to put Christianity into a Tweet I’d quote Matthew 11.28:

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’ ²⁹

It’s less than 140 characters and it gives the whole Gospel in one sentence.

Come to the Lord Jesus Christ who came tonight to be God present with us.

Offload on him, on his broad shoulders, and welcome what the world yearns for – inner peace.

Christianity shows itself in all who’ve got that peace - for there’s nothing more infectious!

As we come to the crib tonight/this morning Jesus wants no less for us than to lay down our burdens and come to him for rest so we can infect the world around us with his peace.

He’s here – Jesus is always here in St Giles in this Sacrament – he’s here and he’s waiting!

‘Two African women boarded a train. Each one carried an enormous basket of goods on her head. On being seated one woman laid her basket on the floor. The other woman continued to carry it on her head for the entire journey. The train journey ended. One woman, refreshed and rested, gladly lifted her burden and peacefully resumed her journey. The other woman, tired and disgruntled, wearily plodded along’  (Bible Alive notes 2 Dec 2012).

I wonder as you sit in your pew which woman you are tonight/this morning?

Are you sitting with the world on your head?

Put it down in Church! Lay it before the altar! Take it to the Crib!

This isn’t magic. Trusting Jesus is a practicality we have to work at hour by hour.

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens’

The endless whirring of your mind can be stilled as you see his mind thinking beside you.

The physical aches and pains of life will feel different when you admit him to tend for them.

Friendship with him makes it easier to befriend those who’ve unfriended you, and I’m not just talking Facebook unfriending.

Coming to Jesus refreshes our hearts and makes them like his.

One lady on the train kept the burden on her head. We resolve to do the same when we trap ourselves in fear, resentment, anger or anxiety.

We’re living in what’s been called a ‘culture of contempt’ in which contempt and unforgiveness are at a premium. The Church isn’t immune as the women bishops and same sex blessing divides show.

A parish magazine had this amusing advertisement: “Churchyard maintenance is becoming increasingly difficult and it will be appreciated if parishioners will cut the grass around their own graves”.

There’s a laugh but one illustrating a very serious point. We all need a fair sized cemetery to bury the faults of our friends.

We need to bring our faults and theirs to Jesus because if we fail to forgive our neighbour we end up locking ourselves in the prison of our own unforgiveness.

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’ ²⁹

Is there a heavy burden of unforgiveness pressing you down tonight/this morning. As you kneel at the altar for Christmas Communion lay it down.

‘I will give you rest’ the Lord promises.

‘Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth’.

Christianity is no one line tweet or sound bite but a peaceful disposition.

'Acquire that spirit of peace’ wrote St Seraphim ‘and a thousand souls around you shall be saved'.

We acquire it by coming to Jesus, trusting he’s here, and opening our hearts to him day by day, hour by hour.

That pain in your heart – he knows all about it! That useless anxiety – he laments! That whirring mind that won’t settle into commitment – he sees, sympathises with and regrets!

Seek his healing presence tonight/this morning in the eucharist and he will satisfy the deepest hunger of your heart.

‘Come to me’, he says, ‘all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’ ²⁹