Preacher: Dr. Richard Dingley
Readings:
Isaiah 9, 1-4
1 Corinthians 1,
10-18
Matthew 4, 12-23
Father, show us through your Word how we may grow more like
your Son in character and action, the perfect model in character and action.
When I was reading through the scriptures set for today I
was struck by the relevance of them to our own present situation. I first read the Gospel – where Matthew
records the call of the first apostles, Peter and Andrew, followed closely by
James and John. The political situation
at the time was dangerous. John the
Baptist had just been arrested and the focus now turns onto Jesus, freshly back
from confrontation his future, and his victory over Satan in the dessert. Jesus felt the need to move away from his
old home in Nazareth and to make his base in Capernaum, thus incidentally
fulfilling the prophecy we also had read to us in the passage from Isaiah. This was the place where Jesus was to reveal
the light to those walking in darkness; to bring joy as a result of breaking
the rod of oppression. Here Jesus began
his ministry with two important signs: he was both creating a new model of
community and revealing that he possessed the power of healing over sickness
and disease. The people that walked in
darkness could therefore now see that the prophesied great light was present in
the person of Jesus.
But then I turned to our epistle –
the beginning of Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Corinth. Here there was already trouble developing in
the church he had planted: the sort of trouble that has afflicted the church to
some degree in every age since. A
problem that remains alive and well throughout the world and with which we too
have to grapple. The name of the
problem? Partisanship! The church, the
body of Christ in Corinth, was being broken apart. They were no longer united in their worship; instead they took
differing sides and were replacing their previous unity with discord and
strife. The divided company were shouting
I follow Paul! I follow Apollos! I
follow Peter. Or even I am in the
Messiah’s group! As the Message so
dramatically states the position “Has the Messiah been chopped up into little
pieces so that we can each have a little bit for ourselves? No we are all baptised into Christ, it was
Jesus who died for us on the cross, it was Jesus who enabled God to forgive us
our sins and to be grafted into his family.”
Paul was reminding them that they should be one body. Jesus had indeed prayed that they might all
be one, just as he and his father were one, without the present partisanship
and without the separation of Jew and gentile.
The family of God was and still is one!
We have the same problem today with our
denominationalism. This is even more
glaring as we visit churches in some developing countries. Missionaries have not enabled local
traditional worship to become a part of church life but have transported
denominational bias, liturgy and divisions wherever they have planted the
Christian faith. The authorised version
is the only acceptable edition of the bible in some African and Asian churches.
It all gives a false image of the unifying power and love of God when we fail
to see the light of the beauty of Christ in our relationships with Christians from
other churches.
And then this led me on to think of our own position at the
present time. We are in a time of
change, a time of uncertainty. We are going to have to make adjustments as we
move into the prospect of a new, enlarged Benefice. There will be new relationships as we look again at our enlarged
Benefice, our Local Ministry Group and at our Ecumenical relationships in the
Cheddar Valley. Tomorrow the PCCs of
both our parishes will be meeting to start the process of preparation for the
way ahead. The members who will
represent us in the selection process for the new Incumbent will be
appointed. They will be charged with
preparing the Profile of the new enlarged Benefice. What sort of person are we looking for? What particular gifts are
needed to make up the LMG team? As they
meet they will need the regular prayers of each member of our congregations
because there are vital and important decisions to be made and each of the
three parishes will need to be able to both give and take with those
representing the other parishes. We
will need to have God’s Spirit with us and be able to show the love of God and
concern for each other as the profile is put together. It is Christ who must be pre-eminent; it is
his name that must be glorified; it is his word and work that needs to be
proclaimed by what we are and what we do. We must seek to submerge the Andrew’s
faction, or the Peter group, or the Leonard’s followers and put Jesus firmly in
the driving seat. For surely we need
and seek a pastor who will lead us into spiritual unity and growth so helping
us all to truly become the body of Christ in our villages.
This is a time of great opportunity; we need to grasp it,
look upwards to God and seek to be obedient to his calling so that his name may
be praised, his word proclaimed and many more of our fellow residents come to
know Jesus as both Lord and Saviour.
Amen