St Bartholomew, Brighton Epiphany 5 Seasoning the world 9th February 2020

You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? Matthew 5:13a

As on many occasions we wrestle with Our Lord's imagery in this passage from the Sermon on the Mount. Trained as a physical chemist I find it hard to imagine that most stable of compounds, sodium chloride, losing its taste other than when removed from solution by a high energy desalination plant! However I do see how Christians can lose their flavour and I know that happens in my life many a time.

In today’s first reading we’ve got additional wisdom on how Christians are called to season the world.  The passage from Isaiah, often used in Lent to highlight the value of fasting, thrills with a passion for justice that’s been inspiration to many. Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house… then…your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard. (Isaiah 58:7-8).  Many Christians are joining with other folk of good will to make a practical response to the world’s unprecedented refugee crisis. As we respond to the needy, again and again we sense God going with us, not just in the feel good factor but in the ripple effect of any unselfish act of service. God… our vindicator goes before us, the glory of the Lord is our rearguard.

The mystery of why so few citizens of Brighton & Hove worship on Sundays is tied in with the mystery of the choices of God. We are no better than those who aren’t called, those some of us have left at home this morning, but in the loving providence of God we are being put to a special use in his praise and service. I do not know why God called me as a Christian and as a priest – I am no better than others - but God has called me and what an awesome privilege that is, to be called into situations where God takes me, uses me and is my rearguard, covering my inadequacies and provoking thought of him in what comes to pass in such engagements.

As believers and disciples of Christ we many times find ourselves in situations not of our choosing that have the hand of God upon them. If we are praying, worshipping and studying God’s word we should expect to impact the world in such a way as to get people pondering. Like our immense building we point above and beyond ourselves, inasmuch as God has chosen us to be his pointers.  As we do so Paul’s words are very apposite, where he speaks of weakness… fear and… trembling and yet being given words that are powerful instruments of God. You know those occasions, when you’re given words that unblock things for others, including opening their eyes to the reality of the living God.

You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?

Being salt is about instrumentality, about giving up our own ambitions, the desire to make our mark on others, in the name of collaborating with God and others to season the quality of the common life of the world. Day by day a selfless team of volunteers makes St Bartholomew’s accessible to thousands a month. Another much smaller team led by Fr Martin Morgan seasons the life of our Primary School. Through that partnership of teaching staff and volunteers a real difference is made to the life of the children of our locality.

What might God be saying to you this morning as you hear Jesus say 'be salt'? 

How is he speaking to where your life is currently bound up in marriage, family and workplace and how in those several engagements you can season things? Or how you might be salt through the organisations within the orbit of St Bartholomew’s? 

The ministries of the Church – welcoming, catering, serving, church cleaning, flower arranging, choir, music, PCC, deanery synod, service booklet production and so on – serve and savour the life of the Christian community as it overflows in service to others. One of these ministries might contain the Lord’s invitation to you at this time, as the pastoral vacancy continues. Losing a chief pastor has strained us but it's never meant loss of the pastoral care gifts within this worshipping community called to season the life of our church and our city. As the enormous Midnight Mass congregation demonstrated we are Brighton’s Church in the sense at least of being the Church they don’t go to Sunday by Sunday. They know we’re here, though, and here for them!

God has called you, and if he has called you, he will not fail you! God’s work always brings with it God’s provision.

In the passage from 1 Corinthians set for today but omitted to shorten High Mass Paul enthuses: What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,   nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’ - these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.  In other words, to be a Christian is to have insight into the depths of things - just as our spirit senses our depths the Holy Spirit searches… the depths of God who is God of our life and that of all that is, capable of linking our passion for him to his passion for all. 

We only have one life but as folk called by God our limited being finds repeated applications that help change the world. We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 

The so-called spirit of the world is exemplified in a degree of pessimism and fruitless pondering over the state of the world. When we see the world apart from God we see a great deal of self-interest and blindness towards what Isaiah calls the homeless poor. The Spirit of God in contrast cares for all that is just because it is, and more especially those in God’s image who are cast to the margins. Through spiritual discernment, what Paul calls understanding the gifts bestowed on us by God we’re empowered to invest our time, talents and money in making a difference where we are. I believe time spent in intercession for world leaders at this junction is one gift God is calling many into. 

God who has called us is God of the world. He is preparing a bride for his Son, the company of the faithful we call the Church, by purifying Christians to be part of that Bride destined to be enthroned at the marriage supper of Christ who is the Church’s husband to be. One part of our purification is a loss of anxiety about the future and laxity in prayer for the kingdom to come. Earthly rulers and kingdoms fail – but what we’re about as Christians seasoning the world can never fail, as expressed in the great hymn of The Revd Sabine Baring Gould: Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane, but the church of Jesus constant will remain. Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail; we have Christ's own promise, and that cannot fail. 

We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God. That spirit cannot fail. It is salt that savours the cosmos. 

The church’s humanity fails, yes, but its divinity will prevail as sure as the Spirit of God prevails. In our Christian calling within that of the Church, Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail; we have Christ's own promise, and that cannot fail. 

God has called you, he will not fail you! God’s work as you discern it will always brings with it God’s provision to season the life of this ambiguous world.

Seek what the Lord requires of you and cheerfully accept that requirement, Give and it will be given to you - for God is no one's debtor!

Epiphany 5 Seasoning the world 5th February 2017

You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? Matthew 5:13a

As on many occasions we wrestle with Our Lord's imagery in this passage from the Sermon on the Mount. Trained as a physical chemist I find it hard to imagine that most stable of compounds, sodium chloride, losing its taste other than when removed from solution by a high energy desalination plant! However I do see how Christians can lose their flavour and I know that happens in my life many a time.

In today’s other readings we’ve got additional wisdom on how Christians are called to season the world.  The passage from Isaiah, often used in Lent to highlight the value of fasting, thrills with a passion for justice that’s been inspiration to many. Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house… then…your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard. (Isaiah 58:7-8).  Many Christians are joining with other folk of good will to make a practical response to the world’s unprecedented refugee crisis. As we respond to the needy, again and again we sense God going with us, not just in the feel good factor but in the ripple effect of any unselfish act of service. God… our vindicator goes before us, the glory of the Lord is our rearguard.

The mystery of why a hundred of our fifteen hundred villagers worship on Sundays is tied in with the mystery of the choices of God. We are no better than those who aren’t called, those some of us have left at home this morning, but in the loving providence of God we are being put to a special use in his praise and service. I do not know why God called me as a Christian and as a priest – I am no better than others - but God has called me and what an awesome privilege that is, to be called into situations where God takes me, uses me and is my rearguard, covering my inadequacies and provoking thought of him in what comes to pass in such engagements.

As believers and disciples of Christ we many times find ourselves in situations not of our choosing that have the hand of God upon them. If we are praying, worshipping and studying God’s word we should expect to impact the world in such a way as to get people pondering. Like the church spire we point above and beyond ourselves, inasmuch as God has chosen us to be his pointers.  As we do so Paul’s words in the second reading are very apposite, where he speaks of weakness… fear and… trembling and yet being given words that are powerful instruments of God. You know those occasions, when you’re given words that unblock things for others, including opening their eyes to the reality of the living God.

You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?

Being salt is about instrumentality, about giving up our own ambitions, the desire to make our mark on others, in the name of collaborating with God and others to season the quality of the common life of the world. Last week we celebrated our school and its right to praise the school governors, not least those from St Giles, for their voluntary input week by week, month by month, which seasons the life of our Primary School. Through that partnership of teaching staff and volunteers a real difference is made to the life of the children of this village and its surrounds.

What might God be saying to you this morning as you hear Jesus say 'be salt'?

How is he speaking to where your life is currently bound up in marriage, family and workplace and how in those several engagements you can season things? Or how you might be salt through the organisations within the orbit of St Giles?

The ministries of the Church – First Steps, School, Sunday Club, serving, church cleaning, flower arranging, village lunch, service booklet production and so on – serve and savour the life of the Christian community as it overflows in service to others. One of these ministries might contain the Lord’s invitation to you at this time, especially as the pastoral vacancy approaches. Losing a chief pastor for a time doesn’t mean we lose the pastoral care gifts of our hundred strong worshipping community called to season the life of Horsted Keynes and its surrounds.

God has called you, and if he has called you, he will not fail you! God’s work always brings with it God’s provision.

As the second reading puts it: What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,   nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’ - these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.  In other words, to be a Christian is to have insight into the depths of things - just as our spirit senses our depths the Holy Spirit searches… the depths of God who is God of our life and that of all that is, capable of linking our passion for him to his passion for all.

We only have one life but as folk called by God our limited being finds repeated applications that help change the world. We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.

The so-called spirit of the world is exemplified in the current pessimism and fruitless pondering over international politics. When we see the world apart from God we see a great deal of self-interest and blindness towards what Isaiah calls the homeless poor. The Spirit of God in contrast cares for all that is just because it is, and more especially those in God’s image who are cast to the margins. Through spiritual discernment, what Paul calls understanding the gifts bestowed on us by God we’re empowered to invest our time, talents and money in making a difference where we are. I believe time spent in intercession for world leaders at this junction is one gift God is calling many into.

God who has called us is God of the world. He is preparing a bride for his Son, the company of the faithful we call the Church, by purifying Christians to be part of that Bride destined to be enthroned at the marriage supper of Christ who is the Church’s husband to be. One part of our purification is a loss of anxiety about the future and laxity in our prayer for the kingdom to come. Earthly rulers and kingdoms fail – but what we’re about as Christians seasoning the world can never fail, as expressed in the great hymn of The Revd Sabine Baring Gould: Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane, but the church of Jesus constant will remain. Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail; we have Christ's own promise, and that cannot fail. 

We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God. That spirit cannot fail. It is salt that savours the cosmos. The church’s humanity fails, yes, but its divinity will prevail as sure as the Spirit of God prevails. In our Christian calling within that of the Church, Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail; we have Christ's own promise, and that cannot fail. 

God has called you, he will not fail you! God’s work as you discern it will always brings with it God’s provision to season the life of this ambiguous world.

Seek what the Lord requires of you and cheerfully accept that requirement, Give and it will be given to you - for God is no one's debtor!

Epiphany 5 Salt and light 9.2.14

When we look at the impact of St Giles Church on Horsted Keynes and its surrounds it amounts to far more than an ancient spire pointing to God. The real pointers to God are you and I and all members actively involved in family, work and neighbourhood.

'You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? ... You are the light of the world... let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven'. Matthew 5:13-16

Those words from the Sermon on the Mount capture a large part of what we are at St Giles. We aspire to be a church 'growing in faith, love and numbers' not just for our survival but for the sake of the quality of our life together in the village and its surrounds.

To dwell on salt, it may be currently an unfashionable commodity, but without it much of what we eat would be uninspiring. When we were on our self-catering holiday we bought some the first day having forgotten to bring some along. We got far more than we needed, so here it is coming out this morning as a sermon aid! (show Gran Canaria salt)

Those who live close to God, as Jesus intimates, have disproportionate impact on their surrounds and here I take a bit of a risk naming some village ventures that have been church initiated and are making a difference.

The idea for the village lunch came from St Giles. Through that vision 50 or so partake of a monthly event that brings the village together. The lift scheme is partly manned by church members. You may remember from the Premier Radio series how it was an important first step towards the Church for Lesley Whiting who was confirmed last year. Her husband John phoned me during a freeze up to ask for help to get to hospital for Lesley's ongoing cancer treatment.

That story shows how social engagement can have evidently evangelistic consequences - in any case we show the good news of God's love by living it as much as, if not more, than by speaking of it, though speaking of it we must do on occasion. This is where salt partners light (show bulb).

Another seasoning to village life is the effort taken by church members in the name of Family Support gathering clothing, toys, food and so on to serve families in need. In this way surplus goods are seasoned, to use the Gospel image. The little bit we do, like a little bit of seasoning salt, puts tasty meals on the table for many in Sussex driven to choose between food and fuel.

'You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?' As on many occasions we wrestle with Our Lord's imagery. As a physical chemist I find it hard to imagine that most stable of compounds, sodium chloride, losing its taste other than in a high energy desalination plant! However I do see how Christians can lose their flavour and I'm sure it happens in my own life at times through lack of imaginative service.

Being salt and light is about instrumentality, about giving up our own ambitions, the desire to make our mark on others, in the name of collaborating with God and others to increase overall the quality of our common life.

Last week we celebrated our school and its right to praise the school governors, not least those from St Giles, for their voluntary input week by week, month by month, which seasons the life of our Primary School. Through that partnership of teaching staff and volunteers a real difference is made to the life of the children of this village and its surrounds.

The salt and light images are images of love in being outgoing and selective. We choose where we season or where we shine our light, 'this little light of mine'. The love of Christ in us has no ambition to serve itself but only to move beyond selfishness into service where Christ so desires.

That love within us has the power, Scripture says to overcome all things and it is such faith that helps us stand alongside struggling people and agencies pointing them to what's within their grasp.

Here I could remind us all how imaginative connected up thinking by a handful of individuals of Christian conviction, brought funding into play to renovate the Martindale and season it for better service. I would also here pay tribute once more to Derek Crowson at the Old Rectory for his generosity to the village and the church over many years. Where people are in a position to donate large sums of money the presence of community groups who know the ground and how its best to be cultivated often leads to transformative action.

To speak here of the need for toilet facilities at St Giles is not a distraction. It's evidently not a kingdom of God priority along the lines of Family Support Work or the Village lunch, packing of clothes for Mozambique or sending funds to Guyana - but it is exactly relevant to restocking the salt cellar (show) or renewing the light bulbs (show). For church growth you need nowadays, besides good preaching and reverent celebration of the sacraments, car parking, heating and toilets. I am encouraged by the interest of the Friends in finding us a lavatory!

Our Mission Action Plan seeks church growth 'in faith, love and numbers'. Today's Gospel addresses how we exercise faith to show and build love. By that I mean how we overcome selfishness so as to see things as others see them, sympathise and place our time, talents and resources their way. 'Give', Jesus says, 'and it will be given to you'.

We're thinking from our Gospel reading in Matthew Chapter 5 of church growth in faith and love, how we give out, but that in itself should grow us in numbers. Of course God doesn't think primarily in numbers but he does so sufficiently to maintain his work which is always one generation away from extinction.

Last year I invited each of us to pray for a period of time a blessing on one person 25 years younger than themselves. I believe those prayers have been answered among other things through our having eight or so confirmation candidates preparing for full church membership next month. Keep up those prayers, for without them, without new leadership emerging at St Giles, we'll see the Friends taking over the whole building in 25 years time!

Into the melting pot of these godly concerns, concerns for St Giles to maintain itself to give salt and light to Horsted Keynes, I would add a concern we find God's women or men to serve in forthcoming PCC vacancies. In particular one to stand alongside David Lamb in place of James Nicholson whose much appreciated term of office as Churchwarden will end in two months time.

What might God be saying to you this morning as you hear Jesus say 'be salt' or 'let your light shine before others'? Most of all he would speak to where your life is currently bound up in marriage, family and workplace so there you can shine and savour things. The community ministry of the Church is an add on to this, partnering what we do together to savour and light up the life of our community, but it may be his invitation to you at this time.

My advice is seek Him, seek what the Lord requires, seek God knowing family and work must come before church, but seek him mindful of the needs I have set forth which we have at St Giles in case you can add value to his work among us.

'Give and it will be given to you' - and God is no one's debtor!