Seventh Sunday after Trinity \u2013 evening<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSunday 4th August 2019 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Trinity 7 – Proper 13 \u2013 evening Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nwonder if anyone here has ever found themselves in the role of a\n\u201cwhistle blower\u201d; needing to speak out about something that they\nfelt was just wrong? Now I am not asking anyone for a confession or\nto put yourself in a vulnerable position. One thing is certain;\nspeaking out is never likely to win friends (even if sometimes it\ndoes influence people). \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n When\nthe Church speaks out with a prophetic voice \u2013 and maybe we do not\ndo it often enough \u2013 then feathers will be ruffled and some will\nnot like what they hear. When the Church speaks out with a prophetic\nvoice, then often we are accused of getting involved with politics.\nBut as one of my heroes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said, \u201cthose\nwho say that the church should stay out of politics is not reading\nthe same Bible that I am!\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n So\nspeaking out \u2013 prophesying \u2013 as Paul has it, is what the Church\nis partly for. And even if sometimes we upset people, well so be it.\nWe cannot always be dispensing comfort and ease. Sometimes the gospel\nmessage is an uncomfortable \u2013 a challenging – one to hear. When it\nappears that maybe God\u2019s justice runs counter to our own ease of\nlife and demands a change of direction from us. And there are times\ntoo when the Church needs to hear the voice of prophecy of those\nwithin and outside it! We do not have a monopoly of justice and\ntruth… in fact sometimes we fall very short sadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So\nI am all with Paul when he commends the need to prophesy in church.\nThat is one reason why I think it matters to try and include some\nsmall interpretation of Scripture at every service. Even if it is\nonly a couple of minutes \u2013 there should be something<\/em>\nto make you think a little deeper about the words we have heard \u2013\neven if only to disagree with the Vicar! We break open God\u2019s Word\nto share its meaning, just as we break the bread and share the wine\nin a Eucharist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking\nin tongues, however, is a feature of worship with which I am not so\ncomfortable \u2013 neither I suspect are many here this evening!\nSpeaking in tongues tends to be a feature of a particular style of\ncharismatic worship that seems rather far away from a traditional\nsung Evensong heard in a traditional English country parish church.\nAnd yet, probably in the right circumstances and in another setting I\nmight find it totally appropriate. And as a linguist by background I\nhave always had a fascination for foreign tongues and enjoyed getting\nmy tongue around unfamiliar sounds and words. All languages share\ncertain characteristics \u2013 but there are also marked differences.\nRussian for example has 10 vowel sounds instead of the 5 we are more\nused to. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul\nwanted the early church to be a family where no-one should feel\ndis-abled by lack of knowledge or understanding as to the message of\nthe Gospel \u2013 the meaning and significance of the life, death and\nresurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. So we strive \u2013 as he encouraged\nus \u2013 to excel in the gifts that build up the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And\nChristians are very good at mis-understanding each other sometimes.\nPeople of faith have no monopoly of tolerance and comprehension. Our\nOT reading this evening gave us a good example of the mis-trust that\ncan build up in a faith community. Joseph and his brothers went\nthrough a lot when they were first re-united in Egypt. There was much\nto be forgiven on both sides \u2013 especially perhaps on that of\nJoseph, as he had after all been sold into slavery by his\nhalf-brothers and his father had been told that he was dead! But then\ncomes the big reconciliation and all the family is brought into Egypt\nto escape the famine and live in relative comfort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then\nJacob\/Israel, the patriarch, dies and is buried. And suddenly all the\nbrothers are thrown into fear and apprehension. \u201cWhat if Joseph\ndidn\u2019t really mean it when he said he forgave them? What if now he\nwas planning to be avenged, even though many years had passed?\u201d\nAfter all \u2013 he was so well assimilated as an Egyptian overlord, he\nseemed more like a foreigner than their own flesh and blood … and\nthey all had a guilty conscience about what they had done to their\nboastful and annoying younger brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nJoseph\u2019s word is to be trusted. He understands that God\u2019s\npurposes have been served \u2013 even if in a rather roundabout and\npainful way for him personally. He has been place in a position where\nhe can help his family to survive and thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And\nso Joseph as an old man in his turn, prophesies to his people that\nGod will always be there to rescue them, to come to their aid, when\ntimes become challenging and difficult. More than that, he can look\nforward to a time when God will restore them to the land that he\noriginally promised to Abraham many years in the past. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nconsequences of that promise are ones that we still live with to this\nday. Much of the tension between Arab and Jew, between Israeli and\nPalestinian, hinges on that promise and that prophecy. What seems\nlike a message of liberation to one side, can so easily seem like a\nmessage of conquest and exploitation to another. And the great irony\nis that both Jew and Arab trace their origins back to Abraham and\nrevere him as a patriarch of their peoples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So\nit is important to speak out. To speak out about injustice, about how\nwe see and understand the world. About sin and evil in the world \u2013\nespecially when we see it manifest in corporate terms by large\ninstitutions or nation states. About the dangers for our planet if\nwe continue to use up the natural resources God has given us at an\nunsustainable rate. And as we speak out with our prophetic voice, so\nwe must expect to attract controversy, opposition and disagreement.\nBut better to speak out and be heard than for our words to become\nlike so much unintelligible babble, making a nice sound \u2013 maybe\neven bringing comfort, but ultimately lacking any significant\nmeaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks be to God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seventh Sunday after Trinity \u2013 evening Sunday 4th August 2019 Trinity 7 – Proper 13 \u2013 evening Gen. 50. 4-26 1 Cor. 14. 1-19 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs I wonder if anyone here has ever found themselves in the role of a \u201cwhistle blower\u201d; needing to speak out about something that they felt was just … <\/p>\n
\nGen. 50. 4-26
\n1 Cor. 14. 1-19<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n![\"Maureen](\"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/MaureenHobbs-02.gif\")
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