Simple Rule of Life - Rejoice, be a Witness, Don't worry, Pray
May the words of my mouth and the mediations of all our hearts be acceptable to you - our Lord and saviour - Amen
I stand before you this morning as a one week old Priest
Today, I feel very blessed to stand before you as a new priest
Today, I am doubly blessed by you, the people of St. John’s to be given a beautiful stole
a liturgical vestment, a garment of clothing to decorate me and which can make a statement - that I am now a priest
Webster’s defines a Priest as:
A man who officiates in sacred offices
or the word denotes any licensed minister of the gospel
and in Hebrew’s 5 it says:
Every high priest is one chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins
That sounds lofty so let me finish the thought with the next two verses:
2 And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses. 3 That is why he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as theirs.
The last time I was with you, I was a student in the final stages of preparation before ordination,
I was ordained a deacon on June 4th
Deacon is most simply defined as: a Servant
- I will till the day I die remain a deacon, a servant in the church
- our bishop, Ralph, the Primate and the Archbishop of Canterbury may have many titles but one thing that never changes - is that they continue to be a deacon in the church - a servant
It is the notion of being a servant in Christ’s church that I feel most called to do
The ministry of servant - supporting people of God’s family here on earth and proclaiming and sharing the gospel is my simple desire
Funny isn’t it, how in the rest of the world, the one that serves is seen as less
But in Christ’s Church - the Lord of All, the saviour came to serve and calls us into service - in love for one another
Jesus turns our understanding upside down on so many things
The Jews expected a triumphant messiah to be the military leader that would topple their opponents and bring the ‘people of God’ into the role of leaders over all the earth
But Jesus came as a little baby - the most vulnerable of all creatures
Most creatures in God’s world are pretty rugged right away - but humans are the most fragile, the most needing of care - the longest
At this Advent time we celebrate the waiting period for the most important arrival of all creation - a baby
Jesus, came first as a baby and came as Matthew writes - Emmanuel - God amongst us - Came into this world not to rule over it militarily - but came in fragility and vulnerability to serve and to be a sacrifice for all humankind
As a Priest I can now celebrate the Eucharist and give blessings in worship
[Now between you and me, in the nightly prayers with the kids, I passed on God’s blessing everyday]
And I have to tell you, I thought that celebrating communion would be incredible, - and it is - but I am now not sure which is more significant for me,
Because as acting as God’s agent, God’s servant - in the message of God’s blessing - there is everything
- It is the promise from God that is beyond all understanding
The words traditionally used in our Anglican worship for the final blessing are taken directly from the passage that we have today in the reading from Philippians
For me - in the first week of being a Priest
- it is incredible - God’s timing of this scripture
At the beginning of any journey a map or directions from those that have gone before are very important
In this time of Advent - the beginning of the Christian year - we are given all we need for the journey ahead.
It is this timeless message from the pen of St. Paul that I want to explore this morning
It is a very short passage (4 verses) from a generally very positive letter from Paul to Philippians [Paul liked the Philippians and had good things to say to them]
A very simple straightforward set of advice - from which we can model our whole life as Christians
Rejoice
Be a witness
Don’t worry
Pray
…And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
simple rule of life
Rejoice
Be a witness
Don’t worry
Pray
…And God will provide the peace of Jesus the Christ - beyond all our understanding
God’s message for the beginning of the journey of this year, for this the third Sunday in Advent, tells us all we need
Step one - “rejoice in the Lord always” and in case we didn’t get it clear enough, Paul repeats himself and says “again I say rejoice”
[I think that Paul want to tell us to rejoice]
Which is a part of what we do by coming to Church
We celebrate
and worship
and rejoice
in what God, the Father - creator,
God the Son - redeemer/saviour
and God the Holy Spirit - sanctifier
- has done for us
It is not limited to Church and we carry this feeling beyond
A life lived in reflection and awareness of what God has truly done for us
Is a life lived - “rejoicing in the Lord always”
Step two - “Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near”
We are called to be a witness of the fact that the Lord is near
God came as a man to live as one of us, we are created in the image of God and God left behind the comforter - the Holy Spirit
- God is near
Now as an aside - every year there is a campaign to “keep Christ in Christmas”
Now of course I believe that “Jesus is the reason for the season”
But no slogan or campaign is truly going to be effective
What will bring Christ into people’s hearts at this time of the year is if you are a witness that attracts others
If you “Let your gentleness be known to everyone”
People will be attracted by the power of Christ working in you
You may even have the blessing of someone asking you why in the midst of all the craziness that surrounds this holiday season
- the decorating
- the gift buying
- the getting the house ready for guests
- or in the preparations to travel to someone else’s home
Why you are able to let your gentleness shine through?
Then you can tell them about who you rejoice in
Step three - “Be anxious about nothing”
Don’t worry…
To all that life throws at you - “don’t worry!”
Seems like simple advice - yet impractical to fulfill
But it was the same advice that Jesus offered on the sermon on the mount
“can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.”
We don’t need to worry because of Step four - how Paul finishes the sentence
“in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Pray
Pray in everything
Share with God everything
Accept God’s offer to be ‘in community’ with you - and talk to God
Let the light of God shine into even the darkest corners of your heart
“And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”
God’s Blessing is the “peace of God”
Beyond all knowledge
Beyond knowledge of physics, chemistry, biology
Beyond archeology
Beyond physiology
Beyond proctology
Beyond all the ologies
The peace of God surpasses all understanding
Christ - messiah - saviour
Comes into our hearts (our emotions) and our minds (our thoughts)
Passes by all our worries,
all our doubts
and in communion with us grants us His peace
So…
Rejoice
Be a witness
Don’t worry
Pray
…And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus - Amen