{"id":1911,"date":"2018-09-04T13:32:49","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T13:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=1911"},"modified":"2018-09-04T13:32:49","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T13:32:49","slug":"sermon-2nd-september-2018","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-2nd-september-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 2nd September 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity – evening<\/h1>\n
\n

Sunday 2nd September 2018<\/h3>\n

Proper 17 – 14th Sunday after Trinity – evening
\n
\nExodus 12.21-27
\nMatthew 4. 23 \u2013 5. 20 <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n

\n

\"MaureenHow many of you can remember what it was like to be young? Really young \u2013 still at school? Still at the mercy of all those adults who wanted to teach us facts and new things and to make us work? <\/p>\n

It is still \u2013 just \u2013 the summer holidays, but this coming week lots of young people will be returning to school and before long the students will be setting off for life in university \u2013 probably leaving parents and grandparents who are much more worried and concerned for them, than they are themselves! <\/p>\n

Now to some extent, being young, is just what it always was. A time filled with excitement at everything that is changing; with frustration at the things that appear never to change; filled with mystery about the reality that awaits out there, and about the changes that are happening inside \u2013 both mental and emotional and physical, as young people mature. <\/p>\n

And what about spiritual growth in this time? <\/p>\n

Youth is a time of questioning; of deciding for oneself what to believe and what to reject. It may involve a time of turning away from all the values with which we have been raised \u2013 some young people have a deep need to rebel and reject all accepted wisdom \u2013 particularly that of their parents! It makes them difficult to live with, (and probably sparks too many painful memories of youthful rebellion and radical notions for the grown-ups who share their space!) But it also makes them totally loveable as personalities emerge and you realise (with a bit of luck) that you have under your roof a young person who can be totally maddening, but who is also totally wonderful at the same time! <\/p>\n

Some young people will also have a deep experience of God reaching out to them during this time. Not all will choose to share that experience with others \u2013 maybe not for many years, fearing that it will mark them out as different, \u2018as freaks\u2019, possibly even as having mental illness \u2013 which is desperately sad. <\/p>\n

But if their experience is truly of God, then it will surface again in ways that they and we will not be able to ignore. Many young people training for ministry in the church, either lay or ordained, will speak of knowing \u2013 from a very young age \u2013 that God wanted them to do something \u2018special\u2019. <\/p>\n

So what is it like to be young today? <\/p>\n

Very difficult I think \u2013 even when I compare it to my own experience, which was not always happy or straightforward… in general I enjoyed school more, the older I got \u2013 but this week \u2013 at the end of August and beginning of September often had me sinking into fairly black depression at the thought of the holidays coming to an end and the return to school work looming. <\/p>\n

The psalm we sang this evening, asks how the young are to be kept \u2018pure\u2019. How may they cleanse their way and keep themselves according to the word of God? <\/p>\n

Now this purity has very little to do with sexual morality \u2013 the young have always needed a time of exploration and experimentation in that regard… and most of us come through it more or less unscathed and with a growing awareness of who we are as individuals. Indeed unless we get to know ourselves and learn to accept ourselves as God does, it is doubtful that we will have much success in forming and sustaining relationships with others. As they say, love is love. <\/p>\n

No, this purity is about single-mindedness in following God\u2019s purposes for our lives. <\/p>\n

In OT times, the people learned of their miraculous escape from the Angel of Death at the first Passover and they were commanded and became devoted to teaching this tradition to their children and their children\u2019s children. And it still persists to this day in observant Jewish households. God\u2019s purpose for them was to be a nation devoted to his service and from whom stories of God\u2019s love and foregiving justice would flow out across the whole world. <\/p>\n

In NT times Jesus says that he is the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets \u2013 of everything that has gone before. Again he tells the people to keep the commandments and to teach them to their children. So that they will be even better than the Scribes and the Pharisees. Not so that they will accept everything they are told without question, but so that they can come into a vibrant and loving relationship with God himself for their own selves. <\/p>\n

And if they hold single-mindedly to this purpose \u2013 if they protect their purity in this way \u2013 then they will indeed be truly blessed as Children of God. <\/p>\n

Our young people have so many distractions that can keep them from understanding how much God loves them and wants the best for them. Stress at home or at school; mental health issues; pressure from peers and social media; doubts about body image and \/ or sexuality; worries about the state of the earth that we are bequeathing to them, polluted by carbon wastes and plastics. <\/p>\n

I am not at all sure I would want to be young again when I realise quite what they have to contend with \u2013 and that is a terrible thing to admit! <\/p>\n

So it is down to us \u2013 those of us who can no longer call ourselves \u2018young\u2019 (except perhaps at heart!) We are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world for them. To show them the way to hold to God\u2019s purposes. To set good examples by living a life that demonstrates love and not hate; generosity of spirit and not hardness of heart. To put God at the centre of our lives and show them what a difference it makes to us and to the world when we do… <\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes recommends, \u201cRemember your creator in the days of your youth.\u201d … those who succeed, may be able to teach a few lessons to those of us who are older. Amen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermons index Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity – evening Sunday 2nd September 2018 Proper 17 – 14th Sunday after Trinity – evening Exodus 12.21-27 Matthew 4. 23 \u2013 5. 20 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs How many of you can remember what it was like to be young? Really young \u2013 still at school? Still at the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Sermon – 2nd September 2018”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":270,"menu_order":72,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1911","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1911"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1913,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1911\/revisions\/1913"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}