SUNDAY 16 July 17-23

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56. (Sermon 1: “All is Well”)

Ephesians 2:11-22....

2 Samuel 7: 1-14a.... (Sermon 2: “Houses of Cedar?”)

Psalm 89:20-37

ENTRY INTO WORSHIP

The happiness of the children of God be with you all.

And also with you.

Come to worship freely, come sincerely, come expectantly come open-heartedly, come gladly, and come lovingly.

Amen!

The universe cannot contain the grace that awaits those who hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness.

Amen!

We are here....

In the name of Jesus Christ.

He came and preached peace to you who were far off

and peace to those who were near.

We are no longer like outsiders in a foreign land,

but are fellow citizens with the saints in the household of God.

Let every one praise the Lord!

The Lord’s name be praised!

PRAYER OF APPROACH

Let us pray.

God of Christ Jesus and our God, bless us as we assemble in this temple of praise,

help us to know that we are not strangers but members of your family.

In your presence let us be like children arriving home, like miners discovering new veins of gold, like musicians enraptured with a composition, like lovers who look into the eyes of the beloved and glimpse infinity.

May our joy exceed our knowledge, and our love stretch our worship to the utmost limit. Through Christ Jesus our light and salvation.

Amen!

CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE

The God of Jesus does not want us to wallow in guilt, but to experience grace, mercy and peace.

Let us pray.

Because we sometimes are resentful of those whose gifts and successes outstrip ours, and therefore denigrate them. Come with your grace, Saviour God

. Create in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us.

Because we notice the more foolish and morally lax crowd around us, and tend to get smug and self righteous about our own behaviour. Come with your grace, Saviour God.

Create in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us.

Because at times we allow ourselves to be unduly influenced by those who always seem sure of themselves, and let their approval rule us. Come with your grace, Saviour God.

Create in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us.

Because we sometimes become frightened of the liberty you have given us, and fall back into legalistic attitudes and actions. Come with your grace, Saviour God.

Create in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us.

Because we allow our fear of strangers to out-manoeuvre our love, and permit closed minds and hearts to become our habit. Come with your grace, Saviour God.

Create in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us.

God of Christ Jesus and our God, we ask forgiveness for our sins, a purging of our motives, a changing of our attitudes, a lifting of our sights, and a strengthening of our will to love and serve you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Through Christ our Saviour.

Amen!

FORGIVENESS

Know this for certain, my friends: Forgiveness is for the likes of you and me. It remains free and thorough by the grace of Jesus Christ. He came ‘preaching peace to those who are near, and peace to those who are far off’

You are forgiven. Now ‘you are no longer strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.’

Thanks be to God!

PSALM 89: 20-29, 36-37

Note: When I take this psalm in honour of God’s faithfulness to the house of David,

and transpose it to Jesus, the ‘son of David’, it becomes (for me) a more accessible liturgical resource.

I have chosen my servant Jesus,

and anointed him with my Spirit,

that my hand may be in his hand

No enemy shall be able to outwit him,

the wicked shall never take away his dignity.

Evil shall be crushed by his presence

and hatred will be struck down by his love.

The seal of my love shall stay with him.

and in my name shall he glory.

His left shall bridge troubled waters,

his right hand shall reach across oceans.

He shall cry out “My Father and God,

my confidence and good health.”

He shall be my first-born Child

above all the rulers of earth.

My love will be with him for ever,

a covenant that shall never be broken.

His followers shall never die out,

his fame is surer than the stars.

His new community shall outlive all things,

his love shall outlast the moon.

Longer than the sun his light shall shine,

more enduring than space and time.

Ó B D Prewer 2002

COME AWAY WITH ME

Mark 6: 30-32

Come away with me

to a lonely place,

where I may kneel

and give my pain

to the wilderness.

Come away with me

to a lonely place

where I may shout

my lurking doubts

at the wilderness.

Come away with me

to a lonely place

where I may leave

my gnawing fears

with the wilderness.

Come away with me

to a lonely place

where I may claim

the peace that waits

in the wilderness.

Come away with me

to a lonely place

where I may wrestle

with God who calls

from the wilderness.

Ó B D Prewer 2002

SERMON 1: ALL IS WELL

Mark 6:53-56

When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognised him, and ran about the whole neighbourhood and began to bring sick people on their mattresses to any place where they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, city or country, they laid their sick in the market place, and begged Jesus that they might touch even the hem of his garment. And as many as touched it were made whole.

Wherever the man from Nazareth goes, all is well.

At the time when I commenced preparing this sermon, it was a superb late-autumn morning. After a frost which crusted the lower land, some mist-wraiths ambled across the lake. On the hillside beyond a thin fog hung among the gum trees, while over the brow of the hill the sun’s rays, like trumpets of light, celebrated a new day.

Everything seemed glorious. My mind rejoiced in God my Creator for such goodness. My heart praised God my Saviour for opening my eyes to see and revel in such providence. My soul sang with God the Spirit in celebrating all things. All was well. All was very well indeed!

YET ALL IS NOT WELL

Yet at the same time, all was not well. In my other prayers which followed, I remembered some of the human pain and grief that exists amid so much beauty. I prayed for some of my fellows whose needs are personally known to me.

For--

--A very dear woman, choice soul, fighting a long, rearguard action against cancer.

-- A friend, once outgoing, who is trying to extricate himself from the dark, cold pit of depression.

--The kindly man devastated when his wife left him, taking the children to live with a fellow who had been his closest friend.

--The woman minister serving in a very remote parish who has been caught up in a most difficult pastoral crisis.

--An elderly couple who after the best part of a life time of serving God together, now seem be estranged though under the same roof.

--The retired judge, who appointed to head an inquiry into issues related to indigenous people, has since been subject to ongoing denigration by politicians who did not like his report.

--The soul-mate of a compassionate young man who died suddenly from a virulent infection in the heart.

--The young parents of a little girl suffering from a severe growth defect.

I did not even get around to remembering the wider wave of calamities and diseases afflicting humanity. But they are there all the time. Terrible injustice and terrorism and war. Disease and poverty, hunger and homelessness, road trauma and domestic violence, drug addictions and youth suicide.

Though all is well, yet at the same time all is not well.

CHRIST ENABLES US TO CELEBRATE

How then can I, in the same hour, presume to celebrate a new day with such exhilaration?

My answer is simple. Because of that divine, human being named Jesus. He is the one who combined the deepest joy with the most profound grief. He is the source of thanksgiving that rises up even though we may be laid low by many disasters.

His is the light that shines even in the darkest pit, and the laugher that echoes across all the graveyards of the world. His is the new life that rises from the ashes. He is the man of salvation: Rescue and healing abounds wherever he goes.

Jesus reveals God, the ultimate healer of a broken world. Because of this I am enabled to celebrate a glorious new day, even as I pray for the healing of the multiple ills that afflict and imperil humanity.

JESUS ON THE FAR SHORE

I want you to turn again to that brilliant snapshot produced by Mark, of Jesus at work in the land on the far side of Galilee.

When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognised him, and ran about the whole neighbourhood and began to bring sick people on their mattresses to any place where they heard he was.

And wherever he came, in villages, city or country, they laid their sick in the market place, and begged Jesus that they might touch even the hem of his garment.

And as many as touched it were made whole. Mark 6:53-56

Can you picture that scene?

The far side of Galilee was a territory avoided by some of the strict Jews. Many of the inhabitants there were of mixed blood. The fastidious Pharisees saw them as mongrels, not much better than the despised Gentiles. Yet there Jesus came ashore from the fishing boat and was soon surrounded by a mass of suffering. He had time for them.

Can’t you visualise them all? A sample of humanity in its piteous need. On crutches, or dragging themselves along the ground. Some sightless, some deaf and dumb. Some riddled with disease. Some mentally deranged. In city, village or countryside, says Mark. Many being carried on stretchers into the market place to meet him. Just to touch the hem of his garment, gave them hope. He was sufficient.

THIS CHRIST IS SUFFICIENT

And as many as touched it [his garment] were made whole. Mark 6:53-56

This is the Christ who holds me in thrall. The inclusive healer. True child of humanity, true Child of God. The fellow who knew how to deeply laugh and cry. The person who allowed both the bubbling happiness and the unfiltered misery of this world to invade his personal space, and responded to it with a gift of salvation. The man who challenged ‘bad karma’ with free grace.

Jesus of Nazareth encourages us to live life to the full, to be thankful without ignoring the pain of others, to suffer pain without begrudging the health of others, to have faith and love without despising those of little faith and scant love.

I lack patience with those religions and sects that promise their converts protection from all ills, plus special financial success and favours. I regard such religious enthusiasts as either misguided or as dangerous confidence tricksters.

The Gospel that has grasped me comes from a Jesus who stands in the midst of human suffering with hope, who calls us to remedy whatever ills we can, to pray for one another in sickness and in health. My hope comes from the one who himself willingly suffered a most horrific death for the sake of his faith in God and his inclusive love for all. The Gospel is not an insurance policy against disaster. It is a Gospel of Emmanuel; God with us, present in all circumstances with transforming love.

Some critics call believers escapists. Not so. The church building is not a place where we hide from the ugly facts of life. Nor is the church community a fellowship where we pretend that bad things will never happen to God’s own.

Here we do not shut our eyes to the anguish of our fellows, in order to sing other-worldly songs of thanks and praise. The church is a place where we can both celebrate and lament together, in the knowledge that God in Christ is with us and for us. The cup of Christ holds tears; both tears of joy and tears of grief. We lift up that cup to God with thanksgiving.

SUMMARY

I started by mentioning the beautiful autumn morning when I commenced the preparation of this sermon; the kind of morning that evokes celebration. It is good to be alive! All was well. All was very well.

Then I mentioned the friends who were facing difficult, painful times. Since I commenced the preparation, I have heard that one of those friends has lost her battle against disease. Loss and grief are now interlaced with the glorious sunrise in which I truly delighted. Such hard experiences in no way negates the celebration. In a paradoxical way, grief even enhances the celebration.

I follow Christ ashore on the far side of Galilee and see the crowds come flocking to him. “And as many as touched him were made well” I’m one of those mongrels on the far shore. I thank him for coming our way, and having time for us.

There is one minor point in this story which becomes a major point when I compare Jesus with us.

It was Jesus’ day off. The events of our Gospel reading took place when he was hoping to get away from the pressures of ministry and relax.

Everyone is entitled to some time off, aren’t they? I treasure precious times off. I’m sure you do. Jesus took his disciples across the lake to get away from the crowds for a bit. He was very weary. His was an exhausting ministry. He said to his friends: “Come away with me to a lonely place, and rest a while.”

He went to that unpopular shore looking for a bit of peace and quiet. Yet when he arrived, another crowd of human misery found him there, and he did not send them away. He let them invade his space. His love included them.

It is that same incomparable Jesus who allows us to celebrate life in joy or grief. He is the one who is there for people, even on his day off. This Christ enables us to continue on celebrating even in the most adverse circumstances. Through him, all is well and all will be very well.

SERMON 2: A HOUSE OF CEDAR?

* Too lengthy. Abbreviate by one third.

2 Samuel 7: 1-14a

Does God require, or even want, the sacred buildings we erect in which to give our praise?

Does God need our churches, chapels and cathedrals?

Maybe a quaint episode recorded in the second Book of Samuel can shed some light on this question. It’s a good story.

DAVID AND THE HOUSE OF CEDAR

The fortress on Mt Zion, in the Judean highlands, was held by a people called Jebusites. It had withstood all attempts to capture it. It was left to a newly crowned king of the Jews, a young ex-shepherd boy named David, to take it and establish that site as capital hill; Jerusalem.

To also make Jerusalem the religious capital, David had the very holy “ark of the covenant” brought into the city. This “ark of the covenant” was a kind of mobile altar which originated the days of Moses in the wilderness. It was kept in a tent and was considered to be dangerously holy. Get too close and you could be “zapped!” Worshippers kept their distance, and even priests would only approach it with trepidation.

King David now lived in a fine palace built in Jerusalem. The palace was lined and furnished with the most valuable timber then available; that cut from the renowned cedars of Lebanon. To speak of a “house of cedar” was to speak of luxury. Not bad for a fellow who for some years slept out in the open with his father’s flock of sheep.

However, David was not content. He was uneasy. He summoned his ecclesiastical adviser, the doughty prophet Nathan, to the palace and said: “Just look at this, will you Nathan? Here am I living in this house of cedar, while the holy ark of God resides in mere tent. What do you think I should do?”

Nathan was cautious. A doughty character he may have been, but he was also smart; not inclined to get on the wrong side of the new king without good cause. So he answered: “You do whatever is in your heart, for God has certainly been at your side.”

But that same night the word of God came to his prophet Nathan, “You go and tell my servant David this: So you want to build me a temple in which to live? I have never sought such luxury. I have always been content with a tent. In the past did I ever complain to the leaders of my people: ‘Why haven’t you lot built me a house of cedar?’ No so. When a temple is built, David, it will be by one of your descendants. Not by you. For now the tent is sufficient.”

The next day Nathan set his jaw and faithfully passed on the message to the king. So David shelved his plans for a temple. Restless for new projects he went off to war in order to extend the boundaries of his kingdom. End of this episode.

TEMPLES; THE PROS AND CONS.

Well, what do you make of that story? Does God need a house of cedar? A palace of luxury?

A lofty temple?

Many people would say the Jews would have been better off if David’s son Solomon had never built a temple; that the idea of settling God in a sacred site is to misunderstand God. Temples, they suggest, are vain attempts to tame God and make him a kind of domestic chaplain.

People with this theory argue that a portable sanctuary, like a tent, is always the better proposition. For then and now. A mobile worship centre is the best option for those who should always be on the move in serving God.

They contend that putting down roots and building edifices distracts us from our true mission. It diverts valuable financial resources from the front line work of the church. Even worse, temples can become a form of idolatry. The more substantial and beautiful they are, and the more connected with important events in our personal lives (like baptisms, confirmations, weddings, funerals) the more such buildings become a millstone around the neck of God’s people.

There is much validity in this position. That is, maybe, what God, through his spokesman Nathan, may appear to be saying to King David. “What do I want with a house of cedar? A tent was good enough for Moses and Joshua and the leaders that followed them. You did not hear me complaining then, did you? So why the hurry now, huh?”

On the other hand, the pro-temple lobby might well argue that beautiful houses of prayer are within God’ wishes. God may have said no to David. However we are assured that God was willing for a descendent of David, who turned out to be Solomon, to build a large and ornate temple, and furnish it with precious metals. And there was plenty of cedar. Solomon had one thousand timber workers rostered each month, working in Lebanon for a considerable period of time.

It may have taken up to twenty years. Finally it was dedicated and opened. We are told that God accepted this offering and consecrated the temple of Solomon

Therefore, sacred buildings must be okay with God, the argument goes. God always deserves the best. We should honour God with the most beautiful architecture and art and the most expert craftsmanship that we can produce. That is the least we should do for such a glorious Being as the glorious Creator and Redeemer of all things. Who dare deny this?

Against this pro-temple stance opponents retort: But although Solomon did build a temple, did it in fact honour God? Was it to the glory of God or the glory of Solomon? The centuries later, when the new golden temple of King Herod was built, one of the wonders of the world, was it to the glory of God or to the glory of Herod?

(Go around today, and look at the inscriptions on church buildings; our equivalent of the “house of cedar.” You will discover that many of them give you- in medium sized letters- the date and time when the building was dedicated to the glory of God, followed by- in BIG LETTERS- the name of the dignitary who unveiled the plaque. Our glory or God’s?)

However much temples may serve, sadly they can also cause much trouble. We read in the Old Testament how the true prophets railed against the attitude of their fellow citizens to the temple built by Solomon, and its practices. Edifice idolatry did in fact replace trust in the living God “whose Spirit floweth free, high surging where it will.”

People lapse into admiring the work of their hands, the structures they have erected, rather than worshipping the God of glory. They pour their efforts and resources into serving their temples, rather than serving the living God “in all the sundry scenes of life.”

GOD’S FRUSTRATION

In the Old Testament, it seems God became most frustrated with what the temple and what its rituals came to represent.

The prophets of God challenged those who idolised the temple yet denied not only compassion to the needy, but indulged in many injustices towards the poor. There were those who would never miss a temple festival, or fail to make the proper ritual sacrifice, but for a few “silver coins would sell a poor neighbour, make them slaves for the price of a new pair of shoes.”

The prophets (such as the remarkable Isaiah) preached against their fellow Jews who, in times when the nation was under threat from oppressors, put their trust in the temple. Instead of placing their faith in God and God’s righteousness, they parroted: “The temple of the Lord. The temple of the Lord. The temple of the Lord,” it will save us.

They were wrong. Their temple would not save those foolish and disobedient people. No matter how strong the stone walls. No matter how grand the stone pillars supporting the roof and towers, no matter how beautiful the sanctuary, it would not save the people and their city and the nation from destruction.

Amos passed on God’s grim warning: “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your religious assemblies. Even though you offer me burnt offerings, and cereal offerings, I will not accept them.................Rather let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream”

On another occasion Amos declared: “I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, saying: “Smite these pillars until the colonnades shake, let them shatter and fall on the heads of the people.”

His warning became fact. The temple of Solomon was destroyed by enemies.. And God did not lift up a finger to save it. It became a pile of rubble. Even its sacred gold and silver vessels, and its brass ornaments, and its cedar panelling, were plundered. The choicest pieces were taken way into pagan Babylon. Sacred cups were used for drunken orgies.

Such was the fall of Solomon’s temple.

Centuries later, Jesus of Nazareth understood the same fate awaited the famous golden temple of his day. Herod “the great” thought he had it built to last forever, using massive stone blocks in its construction. But Jesus scandalised the keenly religious types by predicting the whole structure would soon fall and become utterly demolished.

The only thing that did in fact survive was that small section of one wall, displaying those enormous blocks cut by Herod’s stone masons. That same “wailing wall” where Jews gather today to say prayers, has survived to remind us of the judgment of God and of a departed vain glory.

WHAT OF OUR SACRED BUILDINGS?

What of our Christian buildings? Will they save us? Will they endure?

Even those masterpieces designed by remarkable architects in the Middle Ages, and erected by the most skilled and dedicated craftsmen, furbished by gifted artists, and hallowed by many centuries of prayer and praise, shall fall. They do not have primary importance in God’s scheme of things. All of them will one day crumble to dust. They are at the best, only of third rate importance. And maybe at their worse, they can become a grave hindrance to the Spirit of God.

Houses of cedar? Temples and cathedrals? If they ever become a barrier between us and the living God, then they are a blight not a blessing. If they ever divert us from the outreach that Christ commenced, they are damned.

The question must always be faced: Are they really built and truly maintained to the glory and service of God, or are have they become and end in themselves, and a hindrance to people of faith?

Yet I must come clean and confess my love for such places set aside for the worship of God.

Such places become a channel of blessing for me.

Be it a cathedral like Sydney’s St Mary's, Melbourne’s St Paul's, or Hobart’s St David’s,

or be they churches like Pilgrim in central Adelaide,

or a rural ones like that at Windermere on the River Tamar in Tasmania, or the humble church without walls at Humpy Doo in the Northern Territory,

such places have been a channel of blessing for me. They aid me in quietening my soul and focussing my worship.

Those more ancient and magnificent houses of prayer like York Minister, Chartres or Westminster Abbey, assist me to enter into awe and wonder as I contemplate the holy beauty of our loving God. In these I also feel surrounded and blessed by those countless souls whose prayers seem to have hallowed the very stone walls and massive columns. Yes, frankly I am a temple-phile.

Nevertheless, I refuse to bow down and worship them. Buildings can too readily divert us from our primary mission.

Some denominations in Australia and New Zealand have established ‘community churches’. These often meet in rented, secular buildings. As the size of a congregation changes, it can change location to either larger or smaller premises. Moreover, if the congregation believes it should be located in a different region, it can do so without any hassle. Many of these congregations that use such temporary “tents” seem to exhibit a freedom for outreach which those meeting in traditional buildings can only envy.

I suspect there are times when even those dedicated folk who maintain both the physical fabric and well as the community of faith in places like Canterbury Cathedral, sometimes long for the flexibility and economy of contemporary “tents”

Does God need our “houses of cedar”? Are our places of worship erected for our sakes or for God’s? I do not think God does always need them. I fear that in most cases they are there to please us. However (and this is a big HOWEVER) with the proviso that they must only be seen as third level priority, they can be used to the glory of God, and become a rich blessing to many souls.

WHY ONLY THIRD RATE?

Why have I rated our sacred buildings as only of third degree importance?

Well obviously, God must always be the primary focus. God (and God alone) is the source of our deepest joy and the focus of our holiest worship.

The second priority goes to our human bodies. Jesus referred to his own body as a temple; a temple that would be destroyed by his enemies yet raised up again on the third day. St Paul asks us to never forget that our bodies are the “temple of the Holy Spirit.”

There is no more precious cathedral in all creation, than your body and mine. When you glance at yourself in a bathroom mirror, you may be tempted to shrug your shoulders at such a small and frail temple. But that this is the one cathedral where God really does choose to dwell.

I have used that word ‘cathedral’ deliberately as applied to our body. At this point I forsake that quaint phrase from the story of David about building “a house of cedar” for the Lord. I dare to even put aside the word temple. I opt now for cathedral.

Cathedral comes from the Greek word for chair; the cathedra. It refers to the bishop’s chair; sometimes called the throne. It is the seat of that person who is shepherd of a whole diocese.

Well my friends, each of us are God’s chair, God’s cathedral. God, the true Shepherd chooses to reign in our humble lives, that we may partake of his glory at the very throne of our being.

Miss out on that, and all other temples or “houses of cedar” will finally let you down. They can well become a stumbling block to dynamic faith and hope and love.

God first. Then our human lives are the cathedral. Get it right and everything else will fall into place.

A CREED

With the confidence bestowed by Christ, and through the good counsel of the Holy Spirit, let us profess our faith in the living God.

At the dawn and at the dusk, at high noon and at midnight, you are my God,