{"id":1288,"date":"2017-11-26T14:05:43","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T14:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=1288"},"modified":"2017-11-26T14:19:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-26T14:19:00","slug":"sermon-19th-november-2017-evening","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-19th-november-2017-evening\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 19th November 2017 – evening"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n

Second Sunday before Advent – evening<\/h1>\n
\n

Sunday 19th November 2017<\/h3>\n

Second Sunday before Advent
\n
\n1 Kings 1. 15-40
\nRev. 1. 4-18
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n

\n

\"MaureenAnyone who enjoys good choral music \u2013 as I do! – will sooner or later \u2013 probably sooner \u2013 come across Handel\u2019s great coronation anthem \u201cZadok the Priest\u201d. It is one of those pieces of music that is instantly recognisable\u2026. We only have to hear the opening bars \u2013 those typical Handelian arpeggios \u2013 to know what is coming next\u2026
\n\u201cZadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, anointed Solomon King\u201d closely followed by, \u201cAnd all the people rejoiced!\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally written for the coronation of George II at Westminster, it made such an immediate impression on the Court, the clergy and the people that it has \u2013 by common consent \u2013 become a fixture at every coronation since. And if Prince Charles ascends to the throne in due course, I would be amazed if it were not to feature again.<\/p>\n

Well, our first reading this evening tells us where Handel got his inspiration\u2026 but it is not quite the scene of universal acclamation and joyous celebration that we might assume from the context with which most of us are familiar\u2026.<\/p>\n

We often hear the complaint that our present Royal Family has turned themselves \u2013 or that we have turned them \u2013 into yet another soap opera. And, given recent events in the news it is hard not to reach this conclusion.<\/p>\n

But a little study of the Old Testament will show us that this is hardly a new phenomenon.<\/p>\n

David\u2019s whole life story is worthy of the Broadway stage \u2013 if not his own mini-series on TV! Plucked from obscurity as a shepherd, the youngest son of a local chieftan, David goes on to save the nation from external threat, to marry the King\u2019s daughter and become best buddies with his son, only to have the King \u2013 Saul – then turn viciously against him and spark off a civil war. Eventually emerging as the victor, he takes over the kingdom but becoming bored with the reality of his new responsibilities, he abuses his power to seduce a married woman, having her husband effectively killed so that she might become one of his several wives\u2026 Later, one of his own sons, Absolom, leads a rebellion against him and attempts to seize the crown but is killed in the attempt. Another commits incest with his sister \u2013 leading to her being abandoned and suffering a nervous breakdown. David is left bereft and increasingly lonely to face an old age filled with uncertainty and the plotting of the court\u2026<\/p>\n

It is a storyline worthy of anything that Holywood might come up with \u2013 indeed there are shades of Shakespeare\u2019s King Lear and maybe several other plots you can think of.<\/p>\n

But in this evening\u2019s reading David is close to the end of his life. Enfeebled, sidelined by his many offspring, David is quite unaware of what is going on as his children jostle for the succession. Adonijah has decided to anticipate the actual death of his father and has himself declared King \u2013 but he makes a fatal mistake. He fails to take account of Bathsheba and Nathan \u2013 two of the still powerful characters of David\u2019s Court. This is any unlikely alliance. Nathan had denounced David\u2019s actions in seducing Bathsheba and having her husband Uriah killed. He effectively said that no good would come of their affair and, when the child that Bathsheba bears to David dies, it must have seem as though his curse has come true. We often forget that Solomon was not the first child of the union of David and Bathsheba.<\/p>\n

But Solomon survived \u2013 and Bathsheba was determined that he would provide the protection she would so badly need when David finally died. She has to secure the throne for Solomon \u2013 even though he is not the next in line. So even though there may be little love lost between her and Nathan, she listens to his advice.<\/p>\n

Nathan is offended when Adonijah goes ahead with his coronation celebrations without involving him. We don\u2019t know why\u2026 maybe he was too much of the \u2018old school\u2019 ; maybe Adonijah feared a lecture about his morals \u2013 who knows – but it is a serious political error. Nathan decides to combine with Bathsheba and together they are able to persuade (should that be manipulate?) David into formally declaring Solomon, not Adonijah as his named successor.<\/p>\n

I wonder if David had a butler, and what he would have made of all these goings on?<\/p>\n

The point is, that inspite of all this human manoeuvring and frailty; greed and machiavellian intrigue, God is still able to use these flawed human beings to achieve his ends. For Solomon will become one of the greatest and wisest Kings that Israel will know \u2013 even if the seeds of his dynasty\u2019s eventual downfall are sown more certainly than the greatest baddie in your favourite soap opera.<\/p>\n

God has used and continues to use the most unlikely people in the most unlikely circumstances.<\/p>\n

About 90 or so years after the birth of Christ, an obscure leader of the rapidly growing Christian movement was to find himself exiled to the island of Patmos. It is a beautiful, if mountainous little island, rising out of the staggeringly blue Aegean Sea. The rim of a long extinct volcano, it sits in a crescent moon shape facing eastwards and providing a natural harbour.<\/p>\n

St. John\u2019s cave, where it is believed he received and wrote the Revelation, is high up with a good view of both ocean and sky; the stars and the deep. Both of which reoccur time and again in the rich, poetic imagery that John uses. But John is also steeped in the Jewish scriptures and all the way through his mystical book, there are references that take us back into Jewish history and recollect God\u2019s actions and saving power as demonstrated throughout the ages. Part of a community undergoing great persecution, John writes to encourage, to admonish, to inspire and to reassure. For new Christians the future on earth might look particularly bleak and short, but John holds out a vision of God\u2019s purpose and will winning through all the earthly tribulations. God in Christ has conquered death. That is the simple truth that determines so much of the New Testament. That is the sharp, two-edged sword that the seven churches \u2013 in reality seven communities with links to many more churches all over the area we would know as the Near East. <\/p>\n

All good soap operas seek to leave us with a cliff-hangar between episodes, \u201cWill he, won\u2019t he? Have they, haven\u2019t they? How will she get out of this one?\u201d Anything to ensure we tune in next time. Well, God has ignored the dramatic conventions for us.
\nWe know how it will all end already \u2013 for he sent his own son to show us the way\u2026.<\/p>\n

Thanks be to God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermons index Second Sunday before Advent – evening Sunday 19th November 2017 Second Sunday before Advent 1 Kings 1. 15-40 Rev. 1. 4-18 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs Anyone who enjoys good choral music \u2013 as I do! – will sooner or later \u2013 probably sooner \u2013 come across Handel\u2019s great coronation anthem \u201cZadok the Priest\u201d. … <\/p>\n

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