Renewal of Promises (Colossians 3.12-14)

On the 50th Anniversary of the marriage of Tom and Audrey Whitfield, celebrated in church with family and friends and with a renewal of the marriage vows.

Tom and Audrey, congratulations! 50 years of marriage is a significant milestone. We salute you both for staying the distance, staying faithful and staying in love.

Though we wouldn’t know it from looking at your own successful and marriage, there is a legendary rivalry that is supposed to exist between the sexes. It is celebrated in a thousand funny stories and one-liners.

So, says Rona, “If we can send a man to the moon, why not just send them all?”

Nancy talks about how she and her other half decide to go on holiday. “My husband said to me that he wanted to spend his holidays in a place he’d never been before. I said, ‘Right, how about the kitchen?’”

And Caroline sums up the married man in one sentence; “A husband; that’s the guy who supports you through all those problems you wouldn’t have had if you hadn’t married him.”

But if men are supposed to be lazy, unromantic, insensitive, only ever think about one thing and never ask for directions, women (I’ve heard) take forever to get ready, overspend on the credit card, can’t read maps and talk too much.

You know the story about the vicar with the dentures… The first Sunday after he gets his false teeth, he preaches for four minutes. The second Sunday, he preaches for six minutes. The third Sunday, his sermon lasts 2 hours and 48 minutes. The congregation has to eject him from the pulpit and ask what’s going on. So the vicar explains that the first Sunday, his gums hurt so badly he couldn't talk for more than 4 minutes. The second Sunday his gums still hurt and he couldn’t speak for longer than 6 minutes. But, the third Sunday, he put his wife's teeth in by mistake and couldn't shut up...

Tom and Audrey, I’m sure you’d be massaging the truth if you were to say that it’s been a blissful half century of uninterrupted ecstasy.

Every marriage needs a considerable investment of energy if it is going to work. And yours clearly has. I am sure your Christian faith has played a big part in making your marriage a success.

Our first reading today is a brilliant model for married life. It says;

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

A man chooses a woman and asks her out. A woman chooses to agree to his proposal of marriage. That’s the way it usually works. Husband and wife choose each other.

But it says here that Christians are chosen by God to be his people. Christians know that God has decided to love them even when they are unlovable. So we know that love is more than an emotion or a feeling. Christians know that love is first and foremost a choice. And as we choose to love and go on loving, we learn what love really is and it’s there that we experience love’s greatest riches.

As Christians we learn over time, and to our dismay, that we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe. But at the very same time we discover that we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.

This is why the New Testament compares the love of a husband and wife to the relationship between Christ and his people, the church. God chooses to love us and he determines to never give up on us.

On your wedding day, I suppose that Tom put on his best suit, polished his shoes, had a spotless, ironed shirt and made sure he was clean shaved. Audrey will have had her hair beautifully arranged and will have put on her radiant, white wedding dress. You will have wanted to look your very best. This will not have been a day for stubble, yesterday’s t-shirt, scruffy jeans and trainers. It wouldn’t have been appropriate.

God describes the way we act towards each other in all our relationships (including throughout married life) as being like the clothes we select from the wardrobe each morning. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience the Bible says. Put on love.

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you it says.

Interestingly, Paul mentions forgiveness twice; I’m tempted to say once for Tom and once for Audrey! Because, as you have learned, I’m sure, it doesn’t work if one of you forgives, while the other seethes with resentment.

There was once a man who talked down to his wife at a party. Next morning he felt bad and asked her to forgive him. She said she would, but she kept bringing it up. He said, “I thought you were going to forgive and forget.” She said, “Oh, I have, I just don't want you to forget that I have forgiven and forgotten!”

Forgiveness is reciprocal. And once an issue is forgiven, you choose to forget as well.

And finally, the reading says this: Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

How would we define love? Well, together, you may not quite define love, but you do very eloquently illustrate it.

Perhaps for a working definition of love we should look to children for wisdom.

A group of children were once asked, “What does ‘love’ mean?” Here are some answers:

Nathan, 7, says, “Love is what’s in the room at Christmas, if you stop opening presents and listen.”

Jessica, 8, says, “You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you do mean it, you should say it a lot.”

Tommy, 7, says, “Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.”

Happy anniversary, Tom and Audrey.

Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, 29th January 2012.


I, Tom, took you, Audrey, to be my wife,
to have and to hold
from that day forward;
for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish,
till death us do part,
according to God's holy law.
In the presence of God I renew this vow.

I, Audrey, took you, Tom, to be my husband,
to have and to hold
from that day forward;
for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love, cherish, and obey,
till death us do part,
according to God's holy law.
In the presence of God I renew this vow.

God the Father,
God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit,
bless, preserve and keep you;
the Lord mercifully grant you the riches of his grace,
that you may please him both in body and soul,
and, living together in faith and love,
may receive the blessings of eternal life. Amen


Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, 30th January 2012

Renewal for Our Building (2 Kings 12.1-12)

Introduction

Well, it’s Gift Day. Thank you to all those who have given a gift or offered a loan or made a pledge – or who plan to, today or soon. I don’t know who any of you are, and never will, but God does. Our treasurer will thank you on behalf of the whole church but even if you got no acknowledgement in this life for the gift you have made, God knows your heart. The Bible says that our giving should be done in secret. “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” said Jesus.

But in this life we may feel like that poor postman working at the sorting office who found an unstamped, shakily hand-written envelope, addressed to God. He opened it and discovered it was from an elderly lady, distressed because all her pension for the month, £200, had been stolen. The letter said, “Dear Lord, without your divine intervention I will be cold and go hungry this month.” So he had a word with his colleagues at the sorting office. They dug deep and came up with a gift of £180 which they got to her by special delivery the next morning.

A week later, the same postman noticed the same handwriting on another unstamped envelope also addressed to God. So he opened it and found a note inside which said “Dear God, thank you for the £180 - life would have been unbearable without it. P.S. It was £20 short but that was probably those thieving workers at the Post Office.”

I’m sure they all had a good laugh. But that’s one of the things about anonymous giving; we don’t give so that people will make much of us and admire us. Giving should first of all glorify God. Jesus said, “When you give, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Every church treasurer takes that to mean that your right hand puts a large wad of notes in the offering so quickly that the left hand doesn’t have a chance to say “No, not that much!”

Actually, the phrase probably traces its origin back to our passage in 2 Kings 12.9 where the collection chest was placed on the right hand side of the altar so that those putting money in would naturally use their right hand to do it. Some people were tempted to make a bit of a display of their gift, handling it with the left hand where everyone could see it.

Bishop Justin, in his New Year message was talking about three priorities this year, the first of which was to do with finances. This is what he said; “At a personal level, [let’s] live within our means after having given away ten pence in every pound to worthy causes. We always think of generosity as benefitting the receiver, but [Jesus] tells us that giving generously benefits the giver.”

That’s right. I have yet to meet anyone who said to me that, having tithed their income, they were dissatisfied with God’s provision, disappointed by God’s faithfulness or disenchanted by God’s blessing. One of the key indicators for me, of how healthy any church is, is how glad and open-handed the giving is.

The particular project we are focusing on this Gift Day is the plan to replace the roof that is over our heads as we sit here this morning. It is over 100 years old, it leaks (which adds damage to the walls as you can see behind me) and it is poorly insulated (as we noticed last Sunday when the heating was on full blast from 4:00am but was still inadequate to heat the church 6 hours later).

Our roof frequently loses tiles in high winds. Every time there’s a storm at night I lie awake wondering about how the roof will be coping. We have had to make emergency repairs over the last few years but every time the roofers go up there they find something else that needs serious attention. So the time has come to replace the roof and, as we do, to add a layer of high quality lagging to keep the heat in during the winter and reduce our fuel bills.

Of course, if you were to ask me what I would rather spend £80,000 on – a new roof or, for example, a children and youth evangelist it would be a no brainer. I want to say loud and clear that we want to focus on ministry and not maintenance. This building must never become an end in itself. Some churches become museums, even mausoleum. This one is a mission station.

But in order to facilitate the ministry here we need a building fit for purpose and essential structural repairs have to be done. When it’s finished the roof will no longer burn a hole in our budget every year so it will actually release us, and those who come after us for the next 100 years, to direct resources at building the church rather than the church building. When it’s our turn to pass on the baton to the next generation, we are not going to pass on to them a building with chronic structural issues that will weigh them down and burden them. Today we give to the Lord, but also we bless future generations of believers who will worship in this place. That’s a great legacy to pass on.

Joash’s Reforms

When it became clear to the Church Council last year that we were going to have to do this, I felt the Lord speak to me through 2 Kings 12 and the story of King Joash who lived around 800 B.C.

I need to tell you a little bit about the background – and I think you’ll see why in a moment.

When Joash was very young, possibly a babe in arms, there was a horrible and traumatic incident in his home. When his father King Ahaziah was brutally assassinated whilst on a foreign trip, Joash’s grandmother, Athaliah, went on the rampage and set about wiping out the whole royal family in a bid to seize the throne. There was a bloodbath and the nation descended into chaos, a bit like the reign of terror after the French Revolution if you’re familiar with the history.

But before the Queen Mother could kill her last grandson Joash, a quick-thinking aunt picked him up, ran away and hid him in the temple where he was secretly taken care of by a kindly old priest called Jehoiada.

Just think; if it were not for that intuitive saving act, Jesus could not have been the Messiah, and would not have been born - because if Joash had been killed, David’s line would have ended there and then. The prophets always said that the Christ must be descended from David’s royal lineage (which of course Jesus was). But God watches over his word to see that it is accomplished – he always has and he still does. God has invested promises into the future of our world that will shape future international events for God is faithful to ensure that his word comes to pass.

So the boy Joash, the rightful heir to the throne, was hidden away in the temple for about seven years before he was dramatically taken out of hiding and declared king at the age of 8. Wicked queen Athaliah was deposed and put to death.

The books of Kings and Chronicles record a verdict for every sovereign of Israel or Judah; either they did right in the eyes of the Lord, like David, or they did evil in the eyes of the Lord unlike David. What about Joash? He was neither good nor bad (or rather he was both good and bad – in that order).

He started well but I’m afraid he finished badly. Verse 2 says that as long as Jehoiada, the priest who had hid him away in the temple, was mentoring, nurturing and advising him from God’s word - he did well. But when Jehoiada died Joash drifted from God, he made unwise decisions and ended up assassinated by his own officials. Matthew Henry makes the telling remark that Joash “was not so illustrious at forty years old as he was at seven.”

It really doesn’t matter at the end of the day how enthusiastic or dramatic your conversion was. More importantly, will you walk with Christ in every experience in life, good or bad? And most important of all, will you still be hanging on to Christ when you breathe your last? It says about the long list of believers in Hebrews 11 that each one was still living by faith when they died. That’s what counts and sadly Joash wasn’t.

Parallels with Preston on Tees

Why do I feel that this story speaks with such resonance to our own situation?

Firstly, there is an interesting parallel between the age of the temple at the time of Joash’s repairs and the age of this building. Both are just over 100 years old at the time of the repairs being necessary. It’s just a small thing but it caught my attention.

Secondly, and this is where the historical background is important, this temple must have been a place that Joash had an emotional attachment to. This was the house he had spent his most tender years, hidden away from danger remember. He had learned to walk and talk there. But most importantly of all, it had been a refuge. I think that Joash had a heart to repair the temple because it had been a place of salvation for him – and now there was a chance for him to give something back. So I want to ask you, has All Saints’ been a place of salvation, a place of refuge in your life? I don’t want us to be unhealthily attached to a building but has God blessed you here? Do you have a heart to give something back?

Thirdly, I love the way the people gave personally and willingly to the project. I want to commend this as a model for us. We could put up cardboard thermometers outside the church and go on a fundraising frenzy holding jumble sales and so on - but that’s not biblical.

Verses 4-5 say this:

Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the money that is brought as sacred offerings to the temple of the Lord - the money collected in the census, the money received from personal vows and the money brought voluntarily to the temple. Let every priest receive the money from one of the treasurers, then use it to repair whatever damage is found in the temple.”

When we first started talking about the roof at the Church Council it was clear that there was an eagerness to get on with this. £80,000 a lot of money to find but we felt faith rising and that the time had come for us to stop talking and start to act.

We were reminded of Haggai’s prophecy four centuries after Joash when the temple was once again in need of extensive rebuilding. Haggai challenged the people of his day saying “How can you live in panelled houses when the house of the Lord lies in ruins?” 

We thought, “Yes, we wouldn’t sit on our hands if there were leaks in our roofs at home. Why should our standard for God’s house be lower?”

In a time like ours, where there is a national economic squeeze, we might have been looking at reluctance and pessimism but it was just the opposite.

And finally, I was struck by the fact that Joash’s repairs were accompanied by a new era of spiritual renewal. I like that.

The early years of Joash’s reign, when he did right in the eyes of the Lord, were years of significant spiritual advance. 2 Kings 11 says that, following Joash’s coronation, they renewed the covenant, they recommitted themselves as God’s people, they tore down altars to Baal, they smashed their idols and did away with their priests.

Verse 15 of chapter 12 shows how far righteousness was re-established in the land; from being a nation blighted by idolatry and corruption it says that the people acted with complete transparency and honesty as they handled the money for the rebuilding.

I’ll be frank; there is no point in renewing this building if we, the people inside it, are not being renewed in our faith.

Our goal this year is to grow in our awareness of God’s presence, to increase in evangelistic effectiveness, to swell in numbers, to mature in unity and love and strengthen our knowledge of and commitment to truth.

Ending

So, as I close, may the Lord pour out upon us a spirit of glad generosity.

May this place be a house of prayer that glorifies God, that facilitates acceptable worship and encourages relevant preaching from the Word of God.

May we, his people here, grow in grace and increase in faith this year. May this be our highest prize. And so may we joyfully testify to the truth of these words: “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Shall we stand to pray…

* The total given in this Gift Day was £58,000 in gifts and up to £42,000 in interest-free loans; a terrific response.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 22nd January 2012

Renewal in Awareness (Genesis 28.10-22)

Introduction

It’s a strange story isn’t it? A man called Jacob lies his head down on a rock, miraculously manages to fall asleep (how many of us would sleep well with a hunk of limestone for a pillow?) has a weird dream about a ladder stretching from earth to heaven with angels climbing up and down on it, wakes up - and immediately understands that his weird dream is one of the most significant God-moments of his life. So he takes the stone he used as a pillow, builds it into a pillar, tips olive oil on it, renames the place he stayed the night and moves on.

What is that about?

Let me ask you, do you find it an easy story to relate to? Maybe the dreamers amongst us get this story more than the rest of us…

Do you dream a lot? Hands up if you dream quite often… Do you ever think about what your dreams mean? Apparently, there are several accepted interpretations for common dreams. Dreams when you’re flying are supposed to be about gaining a new outlook in life or having control of a situation. Has anyone ever had a dream where you’re waiting for a bus or walking along the street and then it dawns on you that you are underdressed or completely naked? I used to have that dream quite often when I was a teenager. According to psychologists those dreams are apparently about insecurity or anxiety about secrets. To see birds in a dream is said to symbolize your goals, aspirations and hopes.

I’m sure some of you have heard the story about the woman who wakes up and turns to her husband saying, “I just had a dream that you gave me a pearl necklace for our anniversary. What do you think it means?”
He thinks about it and says, “Well, you’ll know tonight.” So that evening, he comes home with a small package and says “Happy anniversary.” Her face breaks into a smile; she opens the present… and it’s a book called “The Meaning of Dreams.”

If you’re like me, you seem to never have dreams (or rather you never remember them – the experts say that everyone dreams).

Some people though actually don’t dream that much because they are insomniacs – they find it really hard to get to sleep at night. They count sheep, they think about yawning people, they drink camomile tea, they try changing position… I try and list in my mind the 44 dioceses of the Church of England. How sad is that?

A friend of mine once said to me, “When you can’t sleep, just lie right on the edge of the bed. You’ll soon drop off.” If you’re insomniac you might find that helpful. If that doesn’t work, log on to the All Saints’ website and listen to one of my sermons – that will do the trick.

Verse for the Year

We find the whole realm of dreams a bit strange – and it is really. We might find this story a bit curious too but, when you get beyond the surface, it is packed with truth and light and revelation.

The MDT were praying at the end of last year about our priorities for 2012 and we were drawn to v16-17 of our passage where Jacob wakes up and says;

Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.

We felt that there was particular significance in these verses for us, that God was speaking to us through it and impressing upon us our need to become newly aware of his presence, newly alert to his purposes among us. God comes to us in surprising and unexpected ways.

But before we break those verses down, let’s try and get into what the whole passage is about…

Jacob’s Journey

Genesis 28 finds this character Jacob at a major crossroads, running to save his life. He has just fled his home and left his family, after causing an almighty bust-up in which he robbed his elder brother of his inheritance. If you’ve read the story of Jacob up to this point (Genesis 25-27) you’ll know what a rascal, what a rogue, this man is. You wouldn’t want to buy a second-hand car from Jacob! You’d think twice about lending him a tenner. He’s a double-crossing, sneaky, devious, deceitful old fox and unquestionably he has been spiritually asleep his whole life, but God is about to wake him up.

Listen, you’re on a journey too and so am I. And no matter how long you might have been running from God, how long you’ve been deaf to his voice, it is not too late. No matter how low you’ve sunk, how godless you are, how bad you’ve been, God is waiting for an opportunity to wake you up and begin something new in your life.

Anyway, after travelling about 55 miles the sun is setting so Jacob finds a smooth, cylinder-shaped rock to support his head anhe camps out under the stars.

The Dream

The dream is of a great staircase or ladder stretching from earth to heaven and wide enough for angels to pass one another as they ascend and descend on it.

What is the ladder all about? Firstly, it’s about the vast gulf and separation between heaven and earth. It’s about the infinite distance between the eternal supremacy of God and the trifling lowliness of man. In Christ, God holds the whole universe together and all things exist through him and for him. Human beings live for about 80 years, do stuff and then die.

Secondly, what about the angels? I think the angels in the dream are saying that the gap between heaven and earth is spiritual in nature; this is angel territory. In other words, no one can ever attain heaven without a supernatural work of God. It is futile to try and reach God on the strength of our merits.

But, thirdly,  the ladder is not just about the yawning spiritual gulf between the human and the divine. It also says this; even though we have no chance of getting to heaven on our own, God has provided a way for men and women to reach heaven. He has bridged the gap.

We have to say all three. We must tell people the truth and say all three. 1. Our sin (this is true for all of us) our sin has separated us from God and the chasm between us and him is too wide for us to cross. 2. Our biggest issue is not a matter of culture or education or politics; we are spiritually stuck and we must admit it. I've never met anyone who was convinced they were good enough for heaven; the doubt always lingers that however good they are, they might not have been good enough. They’re right. None of us are good enough.

And 3. We must also say that, God, in his amazing love and out of sheer grace, has sent us a Saviour. He has provided a stairway that reaches into eternity. There is a way for us to be forgiven and cleansed of our sins - and that way is Christ.

In fact, we know that the ladder in Jacob’s dream is all about Jesus. He himself said it was in John 1.51.

Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

Jesus is the ladder; he the only way God has provided for souls to reach heaven and for heaven to invade earth.He is the lens through which God becomes real to us.

And when we meet with God, through Christ, we encounter a place of promise, of blessing, of hope.

God speaks personally to Jacob about his future in the dream. Jacob is not even married at this point but God makes breathtaking promises to him; I am with you. I will keep you wherever you go. Your descendants will be like the dust – there’ll be millions and millions of them. I will never leave you.

All God’s promises to you are “Yes” and “Amen” in Christ. That’s what Jacob’s dream is all about.

The House of God and the Gate of Heaven

But the word I believe God has for us today is focused on Jacob’s response to his dream. I want you to notice this man’s newly awakened spiritual consciousness. There is a stirring in his perception of what God is doing in his life.

How aware are you of God’s presence and power in this place?

Jacob wakes up and says, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. I didn’t even know. Are there spiritual realities all around us that we miss? Are we insensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit?

How awesome is this place! says Jacob. This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.

This is a bit disturbing isn’t it? It tells me that I can be in a church where God is moving in power and not even know it! God’s presence is something we have to discern, be alive to. Could it be that the Lord is often at work among us in ways we do not perceive and need to become more aware of?

I had a conversation with John Greenwood before Christmas and we talked about going to places where your heart sinks a little. Every Church of England minister is familiar with this experience! Every now and then you go on a training day or you fill in for someone on holiday or ill and… it’s depressing frankly. And John (who is much more gracious than I am) said to me “Well, I try to look for what God is doing there and go with that.” I like that.I learned something that day.

I was walking outside early yesterday morning. The sun was up and it was a crisp, clear day. I looked east and squinted at the sun for a brief moment. For the next five minutes or so I saw the sun’s image every time I blinked, even though I was looking away from it. Have you had that experience? It struck me that our relationship with God is like that. The more you look to him, the more you’re able to see him at work everywhere else.

This is none other than the house of God says Jacob. Of course the reality of God’s house in the New Covenant is much more than buildings. There is a sense in which this is God’s house, but God doesn’t live here – he lives in us. We are his house.

We are being built into a temple of which Christ Jesus is the chief cornerstone. Look to Christ, look for him, and he will open your eyes to what he is doing in the lives of the people sitting around you today. Surely God is in this place, this is the house of God.

This is none other than the gate of heaven says Jacob. In other words, our Christian community, the unity that God blesses us with, is a portal through which the kingdom of heaven breaks in to our experience.

We will be moving on with our vision this year. You’ll be hearing about all that’s planned in a few weeks from now and it's really exciting. We believe that every home in our parish should know that they have a vibrant Christian community at the heart of their neighbourhood. That vibrant Christian community is, for them, more than just an enthusiastic church in Dunottar Avenue; it is an open door to heaven.

Ending

Take a card and put it on your mantelpiece or by your computer or above the TV. Pray that this year will be one of increasing awareness of God’s awe-inspiring presence here. Pray that random people, to their great surprise, will dream of Christ, or encounter him in other ways, and turn to him. Be open to God surprising you. Look for the working of the Holy Spirit in this place. Seek first the kingdom. Fix your eyes on Jesus so intently that you see him everywhere else.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 15th January 2012

The Song of Unanswered Questions (Psalm 88.1-17 and John 13.1-6)

A funeral sermon for a young mother killed in a car accident in the week before Christmas 2011. Some names and details have been changed as an expression of care for the family.

When, on Christmas Eve, I first heard about Janet’s untimely, sudden and tragic death, like all of us here I’m sure, I was shocked and shaken. Though I don’t think I ever met her personally, Janet had been in contact with the church just the week before asking us to do a registry search and issue a duplicate certificate. I signed the documents.

It seemed almost eerie that her life was ended so abruptly and so soon after that otherwise unremarkable contact over some routine paperwork. It adds to the sense of it all feeling unreal.

We are probably all in the stage of grief where we haven’t yet fully taken it all in. We feel numb. We can’t quite believe it has actually happened. What if it’s a bad dream and we’ll wake up? Maybe we can just press the “undo” key on the computer and get back to where we were before? We know it is real and that we can’t undo it – but we find ourselves thinking such things.

When I first learned that I would be taking this funeral I wondered which Bible reading I should choose to speak on.

The Bible contains a song book that we call the Book of Psalms; it’s a collection of 150 songs; songs of happiness, songs of longing, songs that narrate a story, songs about love and songs of grief - what we call laments.

There are dozens of lament Psalms written not just funerals, but also about suffering a great injustice, or a battle with deep personal depression and other sorrows too.

And all the laments in the Psalms take a familiar form. There is a description of what has gone wrong. There are lines expressing the raw feelings of those bearing the grief. There are searching questions; “Lord, why? Lord, how long will this go on?” And finally, there is a change of mood when the Psalm writer says: “And yet, despite everything, I will trust in God because he is faithful.”

I said they all follow this same pattern; in fact, all but one. Instead of finishing on the usual upbeat note, Psalm 88 just leaves the questions unanswered and ends abruptly with no glimmer of light.

I’ve sometimes wondered why this is. Did the Psalmist have no faith? Is there some kind of mistake? Was the Psalm unfinished?

Let me read a few selected lines of the Psalm to you…

I am overwhelmed with troubles...
I am like one without strength...
I am… like… those whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.
You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.
You have taken from me my closest friends…
I call to you, Lord, every day.
Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
Is your love declared in the grave?
Are your wonders known in the place of darkness?
Why, Lord, do you… hide your face from me?
All day long [your terrors] surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me.
You have taken from me friend and neighbour - darkness is my closest friend.

It’s not exactly light reading, but it articulates what people actually think when they’re not having to be polite and how people actually feel when they aren’t putting on a brave face - at times like these.

There are eight questions for God in Psalm 88 - but no answer from him recorded. There are several instances of finger pointing addressed to God; “You have taken my closest friend from me.” But not once does God explain himself in the Psalm.

We find ourselves here today asking “Why?” Why Janet? Why so young? Why did she make that particular journey? Why didn’t she fill up with fuel? (If indeed she did run out, we’re not sure). Why so near to Christmas?

We find ourselves probing God and doubting his goodness. “You took my closest friend, my daughter, my wife, my mother, from me.”

And at this moment in time there are no satisfactory answers to the questions we ask. At this moment in time there is no definitive reply for our complaints either.

I carry with me in my Bible a bookmark. It was a gift from a couple who have suffered much and whose strong faith is an inspiration to me. It’s a beautifully weaved design with birds, flowers, leaves and ornate patterns. The name of the country where it was made from is embroidered at the top.

But on the back it’s an abstract mess of coloured threads, with untidy loose ends. It is impossible to tell looking at the back what beauty and clarity is on the other side.

Perhaps this reverse side is life as we observe it from our perspective; a seemingly arbitrary mess of tangled threads. And perhaps this tapestry is life as God sees it from his perspective; everything makes sense.

In fact, the Bible says this is so in 1 Corinthians 13.12:

Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

I don’t think there is a mistake about Psalm 88; God knows there is a time when, for us, nothing adds up or makes sense.

We are like Thomas in our Gospel reading. "Do not let your hearts be troubled" says Jesus. Why? Because he knew that Thomas’ heart was troubled.

“Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” says Thomas. He is confused, bewildered, perplexed… He is trying to think about life and death and how he never seems to understand spiritual things.

“How can we know the way?” he asks.

We maybe expect Jesus to reply, “This is the way” and give an explanation of how to get to heaven.

But he doesn’t. He says “I am the way...”

May we all, in our confusion, our anger, our shock and our sorrow find the path of peace in him; the Way, the Truth and the Life.


Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton 10th January 2012.