St Richard, Haywards Heath Feast of St Vincent de Paul 27.9.23

‘The question which divides people today is whether Society will be merely an immense exploitation for the benefit of the strongest or a consecration of everyone for the service of all’. So wrote Frederick Ozanam the 19th century founder of the Society of St Vincent de Paul which is a key agency in the Church across the world, including a number of branches in the Church of England, serving the poor. 

The aspiration to get people gifts directed to God’s praise and service and not just to their own benefit is basic to Christianity. Generation after generation needs reminding of this and Ozanam’s reminder was today’s Saint.  

St. Vincent de Paul was born in Aquitaine and became a priest. He devoted his whole life to the service of the poor. He founded a congregation of priests for missionary work which the Society of the Holy Cross emulates. Vincent organised groups of laymen to help paupers and galley-slaves which led to the worldwide Society bearing his name.

Where did he get the vision and the energy to accomplish all he did? Can we find a message of spiritual encouragement relevant to our own lives in Vincent’s story. 

His call came to him through the experience of a false accusation.  

As a young man he was accused of theft and had to bear a lot of shame, though utterly blameless of the charge.

Vincent came to find in his own misrepresentation a closeness to Christ.

‘For one is approved if, mindful of God, he endures pain while suffering unjustly’ wrote St. Peter, ‘for…Christ also suffered for you…who committed no sin’.  1 Peter 2:19,21

Vincent’s biographer suggests that he became a great representative of Christ precisely on account of that bearing of misrepresentation in his youth.

Instead of becoming embittered, his spirit had in fact been sweetened by the experience of humiliation.

Who knows what trials await us in the coming days, weeks and years?  In our disappointments, if there are any, will we make an appointment with Our Lord as Vincent did?

Christ is well able to turn suffering and humiliation to good if we allow him space to do so.  As ever, the choice is ours.

We know that in everything God works for good, wrote Paul, adding this qualification, with those who love him.

Lord, we love you.  Out of love for you may we accept all that comes our way as part of our preparation for heaven.  We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

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

Trinity 14 (23rd of Year A) St Mary, Balcombe 10th September 2023

At my ordination as a priest the Bishop asked me this question in Sheffield Cathedral: Will you give your faithful diligence … to minister the Doctrine and Sacraments, and the Discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded?

I replied with the others: I will so do, by the help of the Lord.

This commitment came back to me as I looked through our readings for Trinity 14 with their focus on church discipline.  The reading from Ezekiel Chapter 33 reminds the prophet of his watchman role which connects with the gospel passage from Matthew 18 that provides instruction about correcting Church members.

The Anglican tradition emphasizes discipline alongside word and sacrament as foundational to church life. At their ordination, therefore, priests and bishops commit to teach, lead worship and pastor the flocks committed to them.

Among other words from the ordination service that stick with me – I read them every year before the renewal of priestly vows at the Chrism eucharist with the Bishop in Holy Week – are these: Have always… printed in your remembrance how great a treasure is committed to your charge. For they are the sheep of Christ, which he bought with his death, and for whom he shed his blood. The Church and Congregation whom you must serve is his Spouse, and his Body. And if it shall happen the same Church, or any Member thereof, to take any hurt or hindrance by reason of your negligence, ye know the greatness of the fault, and also the horrible punishment that will ensue.

As we heard warning in the first reading to the sentinel priest Ezekiel, their blood I will require at your hand. Neglect of Christ’s flock purchased at the price of his own blood is as serious a thing as you can imagine. It has made me as a priest more concerned to feed the sheep than entertain the goats! By that I mean this: we priests very easily get lost among non-churchgoers in our parishes to the exclusion of care for those who actually attend church and developing their gifts of praise and service. 

It’s never been easy to live and teach Christianity, let alone to minister the discipline of Christ. I’ve done my best as a parish priest and continue to do as locum here and through writing, broadcasting and in offering spiritual accompaniment. What I have to say in the rest of the sermon owes a lot to my book on Christian discipleship still available from Bible Reading Fellowship in paperback or on kindle show, ‘Experiencing Christ’s Love - establishing a life of worship, prayer, study, service and reflection

What is the discipline of Christ? How do I teach it?

Attend eucharist every Sunday wherever you are unless very seriously hindered. Pray every day. Read your bible. Serve the needy which includes giving your money to serve God’s work. Confess your sins. 

These five Christian duties - worship, prayer, study, service and reflection - are the basic disciplines Christians are under. We need these disciplines. They’re paralleled by our Muslim sisters and brothers whose Five Pillars consist of knowing their creed,  praying five times each day, giving to the poor and needy, fasting during the month of Ramadan and making pilgrimage to Mecca.

Oh that you and I had the fervour and discipline of Islam!

Back to the scriptures! The Gospel reading makes clear that discipline in the Church isn’t just from the church pastor but fraternal, that is, carried out by church members to the benefit of each other

If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. We are all involved in church discipline and not just the priest. He of course is under a special discipline himself being accountable to God through the Bishop. At St Mary’s and St Richard’s we also have individuals sharing leadership and oversight of our congregation with our parish priest. Whilst Fr David was on holiday the Churchwarden at St Richard’s called me in to minister to a member of the congregation seriously ill in hospital.

If there are sick needing visiting, grieved needing counsel, church members who’ve fallen away or whatever we all share responsibility for them, according to the Gospel. However, according to the first reading and the ordination service, there is a special responsibility that lies with our priests and to a lesser extent lay leadership teams. 

At my ordination the Bishop said these words from St John’s Gospel Chapter 20 echoed at the end of today’s Gospel from Matthew 18: Receive the holy Ghost for the office and work of a priest in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained. And be thou a faithful dispenser of the Word of God, and of his holy Sacraments; In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Awesome words – what dignity, what responsibility! Also behind my preference to be called Father John, since to imagine John Twisleton could do what a priest does is fanciful and irreverent - I can change no bread and wine or penitent heart. 

Please pray for us priests, for all who minister the Doctrine and Sacraments, and the Discipline of Christ. Pray that we may carry our office courageously, believe in our priesthood and love our people. May we truly believe Christ’s doctrine, enter more fully into the awe of the sacraments and live more fully under the discipline of Christ so we priests who minister in God’s temple…may say and sing with our lips [what] we believe in our hearts, and show [that faith] forth in our lives.

Today’s Gospel ends with a promise to all Christians which has echoes of the ordination rite. Our Lord says whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.

Where Christians are united, where they accept a mutual discipline of worship, prayer, study, sacrificial service and confession of sin, the Holy Spirit can come in power among them. Part of that unity is obedience to our leaders in all things lawful and honest, you to me and my fellow priests, we priests to the bishop and the bishop to God. As St Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labour among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 

Indeed may peace be with us, respect for one another, priests and people, and agreement together in a common discipline so that where two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, he may be among us. We have heard his word and approach the sacrament but let’s now take a moment to think of and renew commitment to the five Christian  disciplines I mentioned:  Sunday worship, daily prayer, bible study, sacrificial service including giving our money to God’s work and reflection including confession of sin. Let’s pause for a minute and welcome any reminder the Lord has for us as individuals.

John Twisleton Experiencing Christ’s Love BRF 2017 £6.99 ISBN 978 0857 465177 available on Kindle

St John, Burgess Hill & St Richard, Haywards Heath St Teresa Benedicta 9 August 2023

 Introduction

We offer this Mass for the Jewish People and for peace in the Holy Land. It is said that the future of the world belongs to the intercessors and connectors. Today’s Saint Teresa Benedicta, formerly Edith Stein, helped change the world through prayer and empathy. She is a patron Saint of Europe on account of her connections with Germany and the Netherlands, her roots in Jewish faith, her life as a contemplative nun and her tragic death in the gas chamber. Her dust remains with millions of her coreligionists around Auschwitz which must be Europe’s darkest place in current memory. She offered her death as an intercession to God for her Jewish people to connect as she did with Jesus Christ our Saviour. 

St Teresa wrote words that might challenge us as we begin Mass calling to mind our shortfalls in love:  ‘If ‘God is within us and if God is love, it cannot be otherwise than that we love our brothers and sisters. Therefore our love of human beings is the measure of our love of God. For the Christian, there is no such thing as a stranger. At any time it is our neighbour who stands before us, the one who needs us the most’

Sermon

‘I will bethroth you with integrity and justice, with tenderness and love… and you will come to know the Lord’ (Hosea 2:21-22) we heard promised in the Old Testament reading anticipating the love of God revealed in the Cross of Jesus and documented in the New Testament. Today’s Saint first became familiar with this passage from Hosea as a child in a practising Jewish family in Germany. 

Edith Stein, now honoured as St Teresa Benedicta, born in 1891, went on to lose her faith when she was 14 and had a distinguished career as a philosopher. Reading the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Ávila during her philosophical studies helped her engage with the tenderness and love of God prophesied by Hosea revealed upon the Cross. She was baptised in 1922 continuing to teach at a Dominican girls’ school and study Catholic philosophy. 

She became a lecturer but was thrown out of her post in 1933 as a result of the Nazi régime’s anti-Semitic legislation. In 1938 she was professed as a Carmelite nun in Cologne and took prophetically the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Her order moved her to the Netherlands to keep her safe from the growing Nazi threat. While a Carmelite she wrote an important philosophical book linking to the understanding of empathy and also wrote on St John of the Cross.

On 20 July 1942 the Dutch Bishops’ Conference had a statement read in all churches condemning Nazi racism. In retaliation the authorities ordered the arrest of all Jewish converts to Christianity. Edith Stein was taken to Auschwitz and killed in the gas chamber on 9 August 1942. Pope John Paul II canonised her in 1998 as a ‘martyr for love’ and she has been made co-patron of Europe along with St Benedict, St Bridget, St Catherine of Siena and SS Cyril & Methodius.

In her philosophical work ‘On the Problem of Empathy’, Stein argued that the way we encounter humans is not the same as the way we encounter other things in the world, and this difference is no add on but something basic to being human. Our basic empathy helps us know that someone is fearful, ashamed or happy. We just know. We can also, uniquely, adopt the perspective of the other. We can, in a way which we are unable to do as fully with non-human encounters, care. Stein’s word for what we encounter in the other is their “spirit”, a  term that is problematic for philosophers on account of its religious connotations. In relation to her own pilgrimage from Judaism through atheism to Christianity her study of empathy is a document of her spiritual awakening which led her to give her life by intention for the Jewish people with, in and through Jesus Christ. In the face of the anti-Semitism that took her to death she told her Prioress before heading to Auschwitz: ‘Human action cannot help us, but only the sufferings of Christ. My aspiration is to share them’.

As we celebrate St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross we seek to emulate her love for God and empathy with humankind which took her, and will sometimes take us, to bear suffering cheerfully and creatively to bring light to those around us living in darkness and the shadow of death.

St John the Evangelist, Burgess Hill Transfiguration of Our Lord 6 August 2023

God has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6b)

The radiance of Jesus lightens the mind, warms the heart and energises the will.

Just as dynamite contains within itself potential energy that can be released to give light, heat and a surge of momentum so it is with Jesus Our Lord.

The Feast of the Transfiguration provides first disclosure of that radiant energy central to Christianity which is at the heart of its forward momentum flowing from ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’.  

Christianity goes forward today by radiant energy as we come again and again before Jesus in word and sacrament and in the hearts of his faithful to see our minds, hearts and wills irradiated.

As Fr. Bull, one of the great Mirfield Fathers put it, the glad tidings of Christianity are in what Jesus Christ did for men and in the abiding energy of that work.

We gather at the eucharist this morning to be caught up afresh into the radiant energy of Jesus which shines from today’s scripture with an invitation to seek a fresh illumination from the truth that is in Jesus (Ephesians 4:21), a fresh warming of our hearts by his Sacred Heart and a fresh energising for active service from the working of his great power (Ephesians 1:19b).

All of this will flow from the radiance of Jesus, what the Apostle calls the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

As dynamite is ignited to release its potential energy into light, heat and momentum so our faith ignites the radiance of Jesus to light up our lives and through us light up a world so desperately in need of that irradiation.

I want to suggest that this ignition process has three dimensions – intellectual, devotional and practical. 

There is an intellectual challenge to lay hold afresh on Christian basics so we better answer for our faith. I wonder when you last read a book about the Christian Faith.  Or even the Bible itself? If someone asked you why you thought Christianity was true would you be able to argue for the truth of the resurrection? 

Just a few questions to get us thinking about what’s called apologetics - not apologising but working at thinking through our faith so as to be able to give a better ‘apologia’ or reasonable defence for believing as Christians. I have brought a few copies of my own book itself entitled Elucidations - light on Christian controversies. (Show) It costs just a fiver if any of you fancy summer reading about  topics ranging from self-love to unanswered prayer, Mary to anti-Semitism, suffering to same-sex unions, charismatic experience to the ordination of women, hell to ecology and why we should trust the Church.

The radiance of Jesus lightens the mind. It also warms the heart to an overflow of love.

A radiant Christian is more than someone buzzing with ideas about Christ. There’s something out of this world streaming through them. To gain the radiance of Jesus we need to be exposed to his radiant love. Christian friends, holy priests, all of them help – but nothing can replace our own individual business with God. Welcoming the radiance of Jesus into our hearts is a life-long struggle because of our fallen nature. We need a regular time of prayer, a discipline of self-examination and confession, a resolve to intercede for others, to give a proportion of our income to God’s work and so on. You may have a chance in these summer days - or with greater opportunism the odd rainy day - to review and renew your Christian rule of life, maybe even plan a retreat. Anne and I are discovering Worth Abbey’s monthly Quiet Fridays. Ask one of our clergy if you want advice on planning a Retreat or Quiet Day. 

The radiance of Jesus lightens the mind, warms the heart and then, lastly, it energises the will.

Where would our study and prayer be if it never led us into action, to be part of what Fr. Bull called the abiding energy of the once-for-all work of Jesus Christ?  We are here at the eucharist to gain that energy. 

To go back to the physics analogy, just as the potential energy in an explosive is released to give light, heat and a surge of momentum so all Jesus attained through his life, death and resurrection is given to be celebrated and released so as to give power and direction to our lives. Send us out in the power of your Spirit to live and work to your praise and glory we pray.

How have we acted to transform our environment to be more as Christ would want it since last we met at the altar? How have we acted in recent weeks to change the world around us for Christ? Inasmuch as the radiant energy of Jesus is in us, we find ourselves raiding the kingdom of fear with love, encouraging those who are down, forgiving those who come against us harshly and providing for those in need from our own resources. This energy carries our lives forward to work for the kingdom of this world (to) become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ (Rev 11:15). 

For such energising of will, warming of heart and illumination of mind we lift our hearts to the Father at this Transfiguration Mass seeking our own transfiguration through the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

 

St Wilfrid & St Richard, Haywards Heath Diving for Pearls Matthew 13:46 2.8.23

I am grateful to our former diocesan spirituality adviser, Fr Andrew Mayes, for drawing my attention in his book ‘Diving for Pearls’ to the 7th century Saint Isaac of Syria’s commentary on the second half of today’s Gospel. Fr Mayes’ book draws on Isaac’s maritime, nautical and underwater imagery yoked to Our Lord’s parable in today’s Gospel: ‘the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it’ (Matthew 13:45). 

The merchant becomes a diver to St Isaac who presents the spiritual life as less ascent to God and more descent into his ‘everlasting arms’ to quote Deuteronomy 33:27. Mayes writes: ‘Ascent encourages us to think in terms of hierarchy. The goal is achieving success, spiritual attainment. It also seems to emphasize the place of human effort in the spiritual quest and downplay the role of the divine. The model of descent, rather, leads us towards surrendering, sinking into God, letting go, unlearning…This contrasts with ideas of ascendency and advancement - mastery, conquest of mountains, and yes, prideful achievement. The idea of elevation of the soul sounds like superiority. We notice a contrast between gritted determination and exertion required in climbing the mountain of prayer and a gentle sinking into the ocean of grace, as Isaac commends. Will we desire to sink or strive? Cling on or let go?’

The pearl of great price is to be placed into our possession in a moment as the body of Christ is placed into our hands and we express our appreciation outwardly in one word. Simply saying ‘Amen’ to that gift is an understatement. ‘So be it’ is, yes, a sinking into the ocean of God’s grace. It’s taking a plunge to seek the depth of God’s mercy. A favourite hymn of mine is ‘There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea’ written by Fr Frederick Faber which has the lines ‘we make his love too narrow by false limits of our own and we magnify his strictness with a zeal he will not own’.

Our Lord’s parables are amazing vehicles of the love and truth of God which speak afresh to generation after generation. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it’. Our spiritual determination links, or, under God, opens us to an anointing in God’s Spirit. As we read in John 7v37: ‘The scripture has said, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water'.

Our prayer, contemplation, study of scripture and the saints and our growth in grace is like an oyster generating, or opening us up to, the gift of the pearl which is Christ within us, the Lord we welcome in Holy Communion. As Isaac wrote 1300 years ago of the pearl of Jesus Christ forming within us: 

‘Let us consider as oysters the prayers upon which the intellect alights, the contemplative insights, divine knowledge, wisdom, joy in spirit… The primary pearl is Jesus Christ himself – a deeper appreciation of him’.

Once again I will read the last sentence of today’s Gospel and invite you to own it more fully as the invitation it is to spiritual zeal:

Prayers

‘The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it’.

Let us ask the Lord who invites us to open our hearts more to him in praise and more to others in service to grant us the anointing of his Holy Spirit as we bring to God the needs of the church and the world:

Holy Father it is said you look less on what we have been or are than on what we would be. We would be more fully your sons and daughters and we ask your cleansing and healing for this to come to pass. Lord, hear us.

Your invitation to Holy Communion requires our ‘Amen’ or ‘So be it’, a sinking into the ocean of God’s grace, a plunge to seek the pearl of God’s mercy. May our hearts be expanded by this gift to the wideness of your mercy so we are made a grace and a blessing to all in our acquaintance. Lord, hear us.

 

 

St Mary, Balcombe Trinity 8 (17A) Hidden Treasure 30.6.23

 

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Matthew 13.44

One Sunday in January 1927 this passage from Matthew 13 was the subject of a sermon by a predecessor of mine as Rector of Horsted Keynes, The Revd Frank Stenton-Eardley. It was an exceptionally profitable sermon. One of the congregation from nearby Broadhurst Manor went home, dug in a field there and unearthed a hoard of sixty-four gold nobles. This gold, deposited 500 years before, is now in the British Museum.

How profitable will this sermon be? Indeed how profitable is any sermon? Did you know you can engage with the sermon not only by grabbing the preacher over coffee but also by going on his blog? I was at the Eucharist on Friday and before the service I was putting £5 in the online donor box when I bumped into the celebrant, who is a friend. ‘I’m putting in a fiver’ I said ‘It’d better be a good sermon’. Fr Vlad promised me my money back! It was a good sermon.

There is no word of God without power. The preacher’s role is to read and study it and read and study his people and their context and make connections in a 10-15 minute talk that will help such an engagement with Our Lord that it will echo on in their lives in the coming week.

The guy who found the treasure remembered the preacher’s sermon when his spade clinked the treasure. What does today’s preacher suggest you might find memorable about the same Scripture?

I don’t know enough about the circumstances of the finding of the sixty-four gold nobles to say whether the finder gained, though I guess he did, or was it the then owner of the Manor? 

What I think you and I can gain a century on is the reminder to renew our spiritual alertness and determination. These are the clue to an ongoing welcome of treasure that’ll never be shipped off from us to the British Museum!

The two parables of the treasure and the pearl remind Christians of the need to put supreme value on building our longing for God and his kingdom.

It is not what you are or have been that God looks at with his merciful eyes but what you would be wrote the mystic author of that Medieval classic, The Cloud of Unknowing.

What would you be? Where’s your heart set? 

In our first reading from the book of Kings we heard of Solomon’s being approached by God in a dream with a similar question: Ask what I should give you. He answers with a prayer for wisdom and is praised accordingly. God said to him, ‘Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. 

God wants aspirations towards him to be of supreme value to us and we can’t attain these without alertness and determination, two virtues that come out of the parables of the treasure and the pearl in our gospel reading from the end of Matthew Chapter 13. Like the Broadhurst Manor labourer, if we live our lives attending to every moment we don’t have to go far to find God and his riches. The purpose of scripture, of sermons and bible study, is to school us to be alert to the possibilities of God breaking into our situation, as the clink of the spade on the gold alerted the farm worker schooled by the Sunday sermon preached from the pulpit.

Speaking personally I always find the number of God-incidences in a day linked to the fervour or length of my morning prayer. The more something of God’s eternal wisdom has touched my heart the more alert I am to the need to give ear to the person I meet on the street, phone or e mail.  Treasured encounters come to me inasmuch as my heart is set to evaluate everyone I meet as if they were Christ, to see my diary as containing what’s ultimately important as well as what’s merely pressing upon me.

The treasure parable of God’s kingdom is a reminder to recognize the treasure that’s already there in our lives and the joy its discovery brings. Over the summer we’ve got great opportunities to rediscover the joy of family and friends as the demands of work lift from many of us. 

If this parable is a reminder to be alert to God’s moments the parable of the merchant is a reminder to be spiritually determined. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Jesus emphasises in this parable how being his follower takes you on a determined spiritual search. The cost of this will be eclipsed by the outcome but there is a cost.

To be better disciples of Jesus we need opportunities to discipline ourselves so our personal agendas give way more and more to his. This cannot occur, Jesus cannot reach into our lives, without prayer, scripture and the eucharist. 

It is not what you are or have been or are that God looks at with his merciful eyes but what you would be. Saint Seraphim, a great Russian spiritual teacher, was asked what was the secret that lay behind people who appear to have more of the Holy Spirit than others. Just their determination was his reply.

May the Lord build that determination for him as well as the day by day, hour by hour alertness to the treasure we don’t need to go on holiday to find since it lies buried and awaiting us in Balcombe.