{"id":1950,"date":"2018-09-19T22:05:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T22:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=1950"},"modified":"2018-09-19T22:05:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T22:05:00","slug":"sermon-16th-september-2018-morning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-16th-september-2018-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 16th September 2018 – morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity – morning<\/h1>\n
\n

Sunday 16th September 2018<\/h3>\n

Proper 19 – 16th Sunday after Trinity – morning
\n
\nIsaiah 50. 4-9a
\nMark 8.27-38<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n

\n

\"MaureenMost of the time it is a joy to live in a community like Pattingham… But there are always downsides to any situation. And the downside of living in a village can be the way rumours and rumours of rumours can spread through the community. And with each re-telling, a story can become embellished or \u2018improved\u2019 \u2013 to such an extent that the story that becomes \u2018common knowledge\u2019 may be very far removed from the true situation \u2013 or conversely, only tell us half of the information!<\/p>\n

The truth is that we all carry around with us a very dangerous item. Can you guess what I am talking about? Not a gun or a dagger or a stick even…. our tongues!.<\/p>\n

The tongues were out and wagging about Jesus in his lifetime… Some said he was a prophet; some said he was Elijah or John the Baptist come back to life (!); some no doubt dismissed him as a fraud and a charlatan \u2013 like so many of the healers and miracle workers who were quite frequent characters in 1st Century Palestine.<\/p>\n

Mark in his Gospel is keen to emphasise issues of identity. And now Jesus presses the disciples to commit themselves rather than shelter behind the general gossip about his identity. \u201cWho do you say that I am?\u201d \u2013 You can sense can\u2019t you, that this is a turning point in the narrative…. if this were being televised, this would be the question on which the episode would finish… the Duh, duh, duh-duh-duh-duh, Duh! Moment (with apologies to Eastenders)<\/p>\n

And it is Peter who was the first to answer Jesus\u2019 call to follow him, who is also the first to acknowledge Jesus as \u201cMessiah\u201d \u2013 God\u2019s anointed one. The one for whom all Israel had been longing and waiting for hundreds of years. That title carries with it immense expectations.<\/p>\n

Matthew and Luke attach it to Jesus at an early stage in their Gospels, but this is its first appearance in that of Mark. We can picture Peter \u2013 ever the impetuous one \u2013 realizing that he knew something he did not know he knew! A real lightbulb moment.<\/p>\n

But the perfection of this moment is short-lived. Jesus goes on to begin speaking in an alarming way about his imminent death and suffering. As far as Peter is concerned this is way off-message… you can almost hear him saying,\u201d whoa there! \u2013 You can\u2019t go around talking like that! These fellows have given up everything to follow you \u2013 they expect something a bit more positive than talk of death and suffering!\u201d The perfect moment is shattered.<\/p>\n

What Peter is saying is of course quite sensible and wise \u2013 but it is the wisdom of the world, not of God. Jesus is living by quite different rules. He has in mind the gift of life, bought at great cost, because it is of infinite value. God\u2019s life should not be confused with the poor imitation that might tempt someone who feared conflict and pain.<\/p>\n

Easily said of course; easily heard; but very difficult to live by, no matter how sincerely we may think we believe it!<\/p>\n

Jesus persists in offering his dangerous invitation, not only to the disciples but to the crowd as well. Sparing nothing of what following him will mean. His challenge to them (and therefore to us too) is to consider what may be lost by refusing.<\/p>\n

Politicians and public figures have to choose their words wisely; consider how much freedom to allow their tongues.<\/p>\n

This week we have heard Boris Johnson using immoderate language when criticising the negotiating position of our government in the Brexit talks.<\/p>\n

We have also heard strong words from our Archbishop \u2013 likening the gig economy and those who profit from the exploitation of the poor to \u201can ancient evil\u201d. And there were \/ are plenty who think he was wrong to speak out on such a political topic. In fact he almost apologised to the TUC that he would be speaking quite a bit about God… as he put it \u201cIt\u2019s sort of my job!\u201d And actually his speech was full of references to the Bible \u2013 and as archbishop Tutu once said,. \u201cYou cannot read the Gospel without engaging in politics!\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Jesus is always likely to be a hard calling \u2013 his is a dangerous invitation. God\u2019s Word \u2013 as we encounter it in the Bible, – is a dangerous book (which was why for so long the religious authorities sought to prevent it being translated so that ordinary people could read it for themselves!) And all human beings \u2013 made as we are in the image of the eternal creator God, carry with them a dangerous weapon \u2013 our tongues. God invites us on a risky, costly and dangerous path, but with him to guide us, what have we really to fear?<\/p>\n

Dear Lord, help us to use our tongues wisely; to praise you, to speak truth (even when it is unpopular) and to help others with loving words. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermons index Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity – morning Sunday 16th September 2018 Proper 19 – 16th Sunday after Trinity – morning Isaiah 50. 4-9a Mark 8.27-38 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs Most of the time it is a joy to live in a community like Pattingham… But there are always downsides to any situation. And the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Sermon – 16th September 2018 – morning”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":270,"menu_order":74,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1950","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1950","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=1950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1951,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1950\/revisions\/1951"}],"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=1950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}