Reading: Psalm 148, Revelation 21:1-6, John 13:31-35, Deuteronomy 26; 1-11
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, April 28th, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
Our lives are as much defined by where we have been (our heritage) as they are by where we are right now. Even though I’ve been in Baldwin for a while, people still say, “Where are you from?”
Looking back for my own roots is a complicated process. Because I moved here from the same land as Tom Jones, Catherine Zeta-Jones (as she was once known), Anthony Hopkins and Richard Burton, when I lived in West Virginia, some referred to me as ‘The Welsh Guy'. But though my children were born in Wales, and I lived in Wales, because I wasn’t born in Wales any self-respecting Welshman would remind you that I was not Welsh.
Because I was born near the River Mersey and have been known to strum the occasional Beatles song, some people say, “He came from Liverpool”. Actually, I worked in Liverpool, shopped in Liverpool, love to visit Liverpool. even ministered for 3 years in Liverpool, but I was born in a little town called Wallasey (Anglo-Saxon term for 'Isle-of the Welsh') and raised in a town called Moreton on the tip of the Wirral Peninsular, a part then of the County Borough of Cheshire.
Of course that’s not where my parents were from. My late father was very proud of his Scottish heritage. His middle name signified his relation to the ‘Morrison’ clan and my Grandma was just about as Scottish as Scottish can be. I feel very connected to Tartan Sunday. However my Uncle John, who has done a lot of family history, will tell you that on one side of my family there were roots in Southern England.
So what can I say? At best my heritage is broadly British. I’m always disappointed on American governmental forms where you have to specify ethnic origins that they lump all the Caucasians together. African-Americans and Native-Americans and Latin Americans often get to check their own little box. I want a new box added for those of “Broadly-British West-Virginian living on Long Island” heritage. It’s a rather small ethnic group but we are here and in your midst.
I’m sure that if you have done any work on your own families heritage that you will have discovered a fascinating story that may even have a few passages you’d rather not know about and others that really have shaped the person you are today. Our heritage, rather like our genetic make up, is something that shapes whom we are.
What applies to our historical heritage also applies to our spiritual heritage. Presbyterians in the United States have a heritage that has been shaped in part by Scots/Irish Presbyterians who came to the United States, seeking to make a life for themselves in a New Land. Whilst I don't think they believed for a moment it would be a land flowing in milk and honey, it was their prayer that they would find here greater freedom and opportunity to live a life shaped by their Presbyterian values and beliefs.
Those beliefs hadn't come easy. When you think about the word 'Protestant' it is mostly made up of the word 'Protest'. Whenever there are protests then it means that a power struggle is going on. In 16th century Scotland there was a huge power struggle between Catholicism, English Protestantism and Scottish Calvinism. Those labels were not limited to religious belief but also spoke volumes about political allegiances.
In 1560 the Protestant nobility of Scotland sought to win England’s recognition of Scottish sovereignty by obtaining the 'Treaty of Edinburgh'. The Scottish Parliament declared Scotland a Protestant nation. They asked the clergy of the land, including John Knox, to frame a confession of faith, known as the 'Scots Confession'. This was approved by the Scottish Parliament, and the Scottish National Church became (and still is) Presbyterian. They became the forefathers of American Presbyterianism and the Scots Confession appears in our PC(USA) Book of Confessions.
Two hundred years after the Treaty of Edinburgh, fighting between the English and Scottish continued. The English defeated the Scottish at the Battle of Culloden. In a misguided attempt to break the Scottish spirit an 'Act of Proscription' was passed that outlawed the wearing of kilts or any other tartan garment representing Scottish heritage. It also forbade any speaking in Gaelic, outlawed Scottish music, Scottish dancing, and the playing of the bagpipes.
The Scottish people protested. On a given Sunday every year they would secretly carry or wear a piece of their tartan as they went to Church, or 'Kirk' as they called it. The minister would slip in a blessing as a defiant way of honoring the clans and their tartans. Tartan Sundays back then had an extremely subversive theme.
Struggles continued and in the centuries that followed many Scottish people were forced into emigration. Some sought a home in Ireland, many sought new lands in the USA and Canada and greatly influenced the developing life of both nations.
The 'Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans' service was revived during World War II by Rev. Peter Marshall, who was originally from southwest Scotland and at one time pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. In 1947 he served as Chaplain of the U.S. Senate. Partly as an effort to encourage Scottish-Americans to sign up to fight on behalf of Great Britain, he recreated a 'Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans' ceremony.
The ceremony was at that time held in Presbyterian Churches of Scottish heritage across the USA. Today, the celebration is not limited to Presbyterian churches, but is found in Episcopalian, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and other denominations across the world. Though it has lost much of its political implications, it remains a celebration of the independent spirit of the Scottish people who refused to allow themselves to be defined by any other culture and sought to establish for themselves a life based on their religious convictions.
It is here that we can maybe find a connection with our Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy. In our passage the Israelites define who they are on the basis of what God had done for them in the past. Beginning what was a creed or affirmation of faith that runs from verses 5-10 are the words “My father was a wandering Aramean”. The passage then relates the great saving acts of God in their peoples history, their deliverance from Egypt, the signs and wonders that God worked on their behalf, and their coming to a land flowing with milk and honey.
As with the Scottish Presbyterians, the Israelites were a people who knew great struggle and suffered tremendous threats to their livelihood and religious identity, circumstances that caused them to be, for a time, a people without a home.
The setting of our Old Testament reading is that they are being instructed on what to do when they reach the Promised Land. As the very first verse explains, “Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance”. The instructions for worship and the Creed they are to speak are both in the future tense. At the time they are being taught these things they are still wandering in the wilderness.
That’s the way it often seems to be with the Kingdom of God. It’s an already arrived, here and now, but yet to come, sort of thing. Yes, in Jesus Christ the Kingdom has arrived, yes, we can experience the blessings and promises of God in our lives today, but there is still more to come, and so we pray “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven”. They were to worship. They were to make offerings. They were to re-tell the story of their faith and recommit their lives to being faithful to God in the present.
These days I fear we often forget that the freedoms we enjoy to be able to worship in the way that we please and when and where we please are things that only came about through long and sometimes deadly times of struggle. We don't have to hide our tartans under our garments and are not threatened with persecution simply because of who we are. We no longer see worship as being an act of protest. We don't think of Tartan Sunday as something subversive which calls into question the powers and authorities of our times.
St Paul, when he writes about the communion service says; “As often as you do this, you proclaim the Lord's death until He come.” This was fighting talk. This is saying to the world, “Look this is what we believe. Christ Died and Christ is Risen and Christ will come again” And if you don't get it now, then one day you will. We would rather die than deny our Lord.”
As we read the struggles of the faithful in the Old Testament and the early history of the Church and, yes, even the struggles that church has had within itself at times of Reformation, we see that being faithful has never been easy.
Could be we need to recapture that sense. Because the church is under attack in our day, and often losing the battle. Individualism, consumerism, materialism, all sorts of 'isms' declare a message that has very little room for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not respond well to these, somewhat insidious, influences but tend to have become so enmeshed within them that we don't even see the problem.
We do not seem to have the depth of commitment that both our Israelite and Scottish fathers and mothers in the faith had. I suspect that our apathy would probably offend them. Our failure to commit to religious duties such as Sabbath observance and prayer and disciplined study of scripture, our inability to memorize the catechism, would cause them to question whether our beliefs had any reality to them at all!
But … that was then and this is now. And for better or for worse, we are who we are! My challenge is as to whether we can catch a vision of what we could yet become. My challenge is as to whether we can be so inspired by our heritage that we resolve not to allow the apathy and individualism of the current times to steal our very souls.
I began by talking about my own heritage, which as I've gone through my life has taken on a number of different streams. The same can be said for each of us as individuals and for us corporately as church communities. That is not a negative thing, unless we allow it to be. I believe we actually grow and flourish and can be enriched, not by enshrining our past, but by taking what is best of our heritage and allowing it to lead us to new lands that flow with milk and honey.
For in the midst of all this change we find our true identity in Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of yesterday, today and tomorrow. His Kingdom transcends all other Kingdoms. His love transforms and heals past feuds and tribal conflicts. His love calls us to a new way and a new day.
So on this Tartan Sunday it is good to reflect on our heritage. It is good to remind ourselves that faith was never meant to be easy and that worship can be radical, subversive and a way of declaring to the world that there are more important things in life than the shallow obsessions that often consume us.
Let us be thankful for all those, who for the sake of independence and freedom have refused to shut up, refused to bow down, refused to go quietly. And because of them, and their like, we today can sing 'Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me”
And let us thank God for bagpipes. Because one thing you cannot do with bagpipes is ignore them. They are a call to action. A call to make a stand. A call to declare your allegiance. And on this Tartan Sunday, I invite to declare your allegiance, not to Presbyterianism, not even to nationalism, but to the One who gave his life for us all, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be all honor, power and glory, Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Easter Day “NORMAN, WHY DO YOU WEEP?”
Readings: Psalm 114, Isaiah 65:17-25, Acts 10:34-43, John 20:1-18
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, March 31st, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
Way back in time, in fact pushing 30 years ago, I was in my final years of college and had the exciting opportunity of going into a recording studio to record some songs I had written. My first album, on the Solar Sound label, “Jester Before The Throne” was at the pressing plant being made into a 12” piece of black plastic with a hole in the middle. This was of course in the days of LP's... before 8-tracks, cassette tapes, CD’s , MP3’s and i-tunes came along.
The label were promising big things. Distribution deals. Nationwide coverage. Radio play. Interviews. It all looked very promising. So I thought I had better get something in ready for a follow up recording. I hit on the idea of making a recording of twelve songs that went along with Christian themes that were emphasized in the 12 different months of the year.
January, a ‘New Year Song’. February, a love song for Valentines Day, March, something for Lent and Good Friday, April an Easter Song, May a Pentecost Piece, June, a song celebrating youth and the summertime, and so on. Furthermore, as I’d grown up with some guys who were really talented song-smiths and had helped me out over the years, I’d invite them to contribute songs on different themes, and so give their talents some exposure.
Oh, the best laid plans of mice and men! I had not calculated for a few major obstacles along the way. First of all my musical masterpiece on vinyl became stuck at the pressing plant, and when it finally appeared it had not been manufactured correctly, involving some heated negotiating with the manufacturers.
Then the record company went bankrupt. This meant that all their stock, including my efforts, were being held as collateral and of course any hope of distribution or nationwide coverage went out of the window. It appears that I was not predestined to become a rock star after all. Such is life!
But back then some of my friends had taken the task to heart of composing some songs on Christian themes related to months of the year. One of them sent me an Easter Song that was titled “Norman, Why do you weep?”
‘Wow’. I thought “This is pretty radical dude.” Taking the concept of the Easter story and earthing it in the experience of an everyday man in the street, who is struggling to get through the disappointments life had sent his way, a man called Norman. Norman, in the light of the Easter had nothing to fear; so ‘Norman, Why do you weep!’
Of course the song wasn’t really about anybody called Norman at all. I misread his hand writing. It was “Woman, Why do you weep?” and based on the experience of Mary. The reading we heard this morning, in which she encounters a gardener at the empty tomb, who asks the reason for her tears, and the gardener turns out to be the Risen Lord Himself, and Mary’s fear turns to joy.
Such was of course no less a radical experience than envisaged for the mythical Norman, and although the song and the proposed recording of songs to do with seasons and months never happened, that title... “Norman, Why do you weep’ and the idea that the Easter message was something to encourage people of all places and all times, has stuck with me over the years.
It’s the message I want to share about Easter this morning. Whether our name is Mary, Norman, Adrian, John-Boy or Mary-Lou, whoever we are, at the heart of the Easter experience is an experience that changes tears to laughter and mourning into dancing.
In just a few words that experience is captured by the phrase
‘Christ is Risen” (He is Risen Indeed)
Grammatically, the phrase Christ is Risen (He is Risen Indeed) is badly constructed. We should say “Christ Has Risen” or “Jesus was Raised from the dead”, but by using the term “is” we seek to express that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a present reality, a current happening and event, something that can touch our lives in the now, something that was not just for back then, something that is not only for the future, but is an 'is' that is for today.
Our lives today have the capacity to be transformed by the Living Lord Jesus Christ. That is what we celebrate at Easter time. That the circle of birth, pointless existence and ultimately death and extinction, has been broken into pieces by God raising Jesus from death and promising that those who put their faith in Him can share in His resurrection life.
Such does not mean that life will not bring along it’s share of disappointments, it’s moments when tears are the only correct response, moments when the pain is all that can be felt or that the struggle is so much with us that we cannot see any light at the end of the road. Life has it's moments when our best laid plans crumble into dust.
Indeed the message of the Cross is that life can be so desperately unfair, that sin continues to destroy and ruin and decimate the life we live on earth, so much so that even the Son of God cries out upon the Cross “My God. My God, Why have You forsaken Me?”
But the tears, the cry of anguish, the suffering, the striving… these are not the last word or the final word. The final word is 'Resurrection'. Christ is Risen! (He is Risen Indeed).
So today I stand and proclaim the Easter Message. That the Jesus who died for us, was raised for us. That He knows our name and knows our hurts and knows our hearts. That He is at the Fathers side and intercedes on our behalf. That God will send the Resurrection Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Re-forming, Re-Newing, Re-Storing our lives to all those who seek to do God’s will in sincerity and with whole heartedness.
And it doesn't matter if our name is Norman or Elma or Bob or Lucy or Mary or Peter. And it doesn't matter what may be causing our tears, our tears of laughter, our tears of joy, our tears of despair, our tears of joy. Jesus calls to us, “Norman, Why do you weep, Woman why do you weep?”
And that is an invitation. An invitation to place our lives into God's hands.
An invitation that needs responding to with an 'Hallelujah”.
Hallelujah... there's a God who knows
Hallelujah... there's a God who understands
Hallelujah... there's a God who forgives
Hallelujah... there's a God who sent His Son Jesus Christ
who was raised for us
who lives for us
who lives within us by His Holy Spirit
who has a purpose for us
who has a way through the tears for us
who has a hope for us
who has a place for us
who has a prayer for us
who has a healing touch for us
who has an encouraging word for us
who see us as we really are
knows us better than we know ourselves
cares for us more than we care for ourselves
loves us, loves, loves us,
loves us enough to die for us
with a love that is stronger than death.
Hallelujah.
Norman, why do you weep?
Woman, why do you weep?
Weep no more
For Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed
Amen and Amen!
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, March 31st, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
Way back in time, in fact pushing 30 years ago, I was in my final years of college and had the exciting opportunity of going into a recording studio to record some songs I had written. My first album, on the Solar Sound label, “Jester Before The Throne” was at the pressing plant being made into a 12” piece of black plastic with a hole in the middle. This was of course in the days of LP's... before 8-tracks, cassette tapes, CD’s , MP3’s and i-tunes came along.
The label were promising big things. Distribution deals. Nationwide coverage. Radio play. Interviews. It all looked very promising. So I thought I had better get something in ready for a follow up recording. I hit on the idea of making a recording of twelve songs that went along with Christian themes that were emphasized in the 12 different months of the year.
January, a ‘New Year Song’. February, a love song for Valentines Day, March, something for Lent and Good Friday, April an Easter Song, May a Pentecost Piece, June, a song celebrating youth and the summertime, and so on. Furthermore, as I’d grown up with some guys who were really talented song-smiths and had helped me out over the years, I’d invite them to contribute songs on different themes, and so give their talents some exposure.
Oh, the best laid plans of mice and men! I had not calculated for a few major obstacles along the way. First of all my musical masterpiece on vinyl became stuck at the pressing plant, and when it finally appeared it had not been manufactured correctly, involving some heated negotiating with the manufacturers.
Then the record company went bankrupt. This meant that all their stock, including my efforts, were being held as collateral and of course any hope of distribution or nationwide coverage went out of the window. It appears that I was not predestined to become a rock star after all. Such is life!
But back then some of my friends had taken the task to heart of composing some songs on Christian themes related to months of the year. One of them sent me an Easter Song that was titled “Norman, Why do you weep?”
‘Wow’. I thought “This is pretty radical dude.” Taking the concept of the Easter story and earthing it in the experience of an everyday man in the street, who is struggling to get through the disappointments life had sent his way, a man called Norman. Norman, in the light of the Easter had nothing to fear; so ‘Norman, Why do you weep!’
Of course the song wasn’t really about anybody called Norman at all. I misread his hand writing. It was “Woman, Why do you weep?” and based on the experience of Mary. The reading we heard this morning, in which she encounters a gardener at the empty tomb, who asks the reason for her tears, and the gardener turns out to be the Risen Lord Himself, and Mary’s fear turns to joy.
Such was of course no less a radical experience than envisaged for the mythical Norman, and although the song and the proposed recording of songs to do with seasons and months never happened, that title... “Norman, Why do you weep’ and the idea that the Easter message was something to encourage people of all places and all times, has stuck with me over the years.
It’s the message I want to share about Easter this morning. Whether our name is Mary, Norman, Adrian, John-Boy or Mary-Lou, whoever we are, at the heart of the Easter experience is an experience that changes tears to laughter and mourning into dancing.
In just a few words that experience is captured by the phrase
‘Christ is Risen” (He is Risen Indeed)
Grammatically, the phrase Christ is Risen (He is Risen Indeed) is badly constructed. We should say “Christ Has Risen” or “Jesus was Raised from the dead”, but by using the term “is” we seek to express that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a present reality, a current happening and event, something that can touch our lives in the now, something that was not just for back then, something that is not only for the future, but is an 'is' that is for today.
Our lives today have the capacity to be transformed by the Living Lord Jesus Christ. That is what we celebrate at Easter time. That the circle of birth, pointless existence and ultimately death and extinction, has been broken into pieces by God raising Jesus from death and promising that those who put their faith in Him can share in His resurrection life.
Such does not mean that life will not bring along it’s share of disappointments, it’s moments when tears are the only correct response, moments when the pain is all that can be felt or that the struggle is so much with us that we cannot see any light at the end of the road. Life has it's moments when our best laid plans crumble into dust.
Indeed the message of the Cross is that life can be so desperately unfair, that sin continues to destroy and ruin and decimate the life we live on earth, so much so that even the Son of God cries out upon the Cross “My God. My God, Why have You forsaken Me?”
But the tears, the cry of anguish, the suffering, the striving… these are not the last word or the final word. The final word is 'Resurrection'. Christ is Risen! (He is Risen Indeed).
So today I stand and proclaim the Easter Message. That the Jesus who died for us, was raised for us. That He knows our name and knows our hurts and knows our hearts. That He is at the Fathers side and intercedes on our behalf. That God will send the Resurrection Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Re-forming, Re-Newing, Re-Storing our lives to all those who seek to do God’s will in sincerity and with whole heartedness.
And it doesn't matter if our name is Norman or Elma or Bob or Lucy or Mary or Peter. And it doesn't matter what may be causing our tears, our tears of laughter, our tears of joy, our tears of despair, our tears of joy. Jesus calls to us, “Norman, Why do you weep, Woman why do you weep?”
And that is an invitation. An invitation to place our lives into God's hands.
An invitation that needs responding to with an 'Hallelujah”.
Hallelujah... there's a God who knows
Hallelujah... there's a God who understands
Hallelujah... there's a God who forgives
Hallelujah... there's a God who sent His Son Jesus Christ
who was raised for us
who lives for us
who lives within us by His Holy Spirit
who has a purpose for us
who has a way through the tears for us
who has a hope for us
who has a place for us
who has a prayer for us
who has a healing touch for us
who has an encouraging word for us
who see us as we really are
knows us better than we know ourselves
cares for us more than we care for ourselves
loves us, loves, loves us,
loves us enough to die for us
with a love that is stronger than death.
Hallelujah.
Norman, why do you weep?
Woman, why do you weep?
Weep no more
For Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed
Amen and Amen!
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Good Friday Service “THE CROSS”
Readings: Psalm 22, Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9, John 18:1-19:42
Preached at St Peter's Lutheran Church, Baldwin, NY, Friday, March 29th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
Have you ever considered what a strange thing it is that the central truth of Christianity is the death of it's founder? Our natural reaction to death seems to be to recoil from it in horror, yet here we are on Good Friday contemplating an act of murder upon an innocent man. Why? I can't answer that question for all of you, but I can share three reasons why I focus on the Cross as a central point for my understanding of life.
The Cross reveals;
1. The Cross reveals a God who totally identifies with the heights and depths of the human condition.
Sometimes I look around at the world and hum along with Louis Armstrong; 'What a wonderful World'. When the sun shines, the birds sing, and you are fit and well, and everything seems to be going O.K... yes... that's nice.
But other times I watch the television or pick up a newspaper and I think, no, life is not beautiful, for many people it seems like hell. The terrible suffering some endure, acts of war, victims of torture and atrocity, starving millions... a wonderful world? Sometimes I think 'You must be joking, Louis, quit singing!'. The natural world is beautiful, but it can be so cruel. The law of the jungle is kill or be killed, predator and victim, survival of the fittest... and that isn't just the animals situation, but appears to be a part of human life.
I feel in myself a huge tension. That there is within me a spirit which desires the things of this world far more than the things of God's Kingdom, that seeks for my own satisfaction rather than the good of all. Although I claim to follow Christ, I am often painfully aware of my inability to either love God with all my heart, mind and soul or to love my neighbor as much as I love myself.
But, when I look to Jesus I find One who totally identifies with the human condition. I see how He could express unimaginable joy. How He could welcome a child, could be the life of the party, could love the unlovable, who was tempted in every way that we are tempted, yet remain unscathed. I see in Him joy unstained and unrestrained.
I see also how He became the victim of acts of barbarity and violence and torture, suffered rejection and betrayal, cried out to a God who He thought had forsaken Him, who in His darkest hour had to sweat blood in order to accept God's will for His life, praying in Gethsemanae, 'Let this cup pass from me”. I see One who on the Cross was broken and destroyed by the sin of the world.
In Jesus, the Jesus of the Cross, are focused the extremes of life. It's brightest joy and it's darkest suffering. At the Cross we discover a God who totally identifies with our world, the heights and depths of the human condition.
2. The Cross reveals a God of awe inspiring, terrible, love
In a previous calling I was involved in chaplaincy at one of Europe's largest Children's hospitals, situated at Alder Hey, in Liverpool, England. I had deep admiration for the staff there. They were subjected to such highs and lows of emotion. To see a child suffer is a painful thing, yet it is such a tremendous joy to watch a recovery.
But the pain in such situations fell most acutely on the parents of the children. How can anybody enter into a parents feelings as they observe their child traveling through pain or distress? How can you put into words the helplessness and anxiety involved in having to stand by and watch events take their course, for better or for worse.
Scripture tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”
What sort of terrible love is this? Love that permits an only son to suffer and die? If earthly parents feel pain to see their offspring suffer, surely is not that pain also present in the heart of the Father, at the Cross, as the Son of God is crucified?
Can we not hear the tremendous, awesome, terrible, love, that is contained within those simple words, “God so loved... that He gave His … Son”? Where else in life do we discover a love that is revealed with such ferocity and with such intensity?
Love of such tremendous price and cost is surely only offered for a greater reason and higher purpose. Were that not so, such would not be love, but an act of gross, immoral, irresponsibility. The Cross reveals a God of awe inspiring, terrible, love.
3. The Cross reveals a God who is the Saviour
Paul states it quite plainly in First Corinthians 15:3 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins”. Here is the reason for that terrible sacrifice. God in Christ comes to redeem us to Himself. On that cross, through that death, the doorway is opened to fellowship with God and the gates of eternity are flung wide open. The way to life, the way to truth, the way of holiness, the way to joy and wholeness.
Here is God, somehow absorbing all that hatred and pain and suffering that is in the world, and clasping it to Himself, wrapping His arms around all of it and saying to us, “LOOK – MY LOVE IS GREATER THAN ALL OF THIS!”
On the Cross, we see Jesus bearing all the sin and guilt of the world, as the cry comes from His lips. “It is finished”... words that I take not to mean His mission was over, but that the victory of love had taken place. As we allow the love of God to embrace us, we too can discover the victory Christ achieved on the cross.
As we realize that it is sins like ours that caused His pain, then God's love inspires us to turn from our sins and prepare ourselves to know His love burning in our hearts with transforming and renewing power through the activity of the Holy Spirit.
Though it is Good Friday, the end of the story is not on the Cross. We must also travel to the empty tomb. After death we read of resurrection, an event which bathes the cross in an even more glorious and victorious light than ever! But we will save that journey till Sunday.
I began by suggesting it was a strange thing that we should make the cross, a place of death, so central to our faith. I believe it's not so strange, when you consider the circumstances of the man who hung there, that here was God incarnate, here is God in Christ revealing awesome love to God's world, aligning Himself with the most god-forsaken places and people, absorbing into His being all the hatred and evil that is in life, and overcoming it by a greater and more powerful love. For me...
Allow me to close with words from hymn writer John Bowring. The story behind these words is that he was traveling on a ship when glancing to shore he saw a burnt out church on the skyline with only the Cross left standing over the charred ruins. The sight inspired him to write a poem that began “In the cross of Christ I glory, towering over the wrecks of time'
When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day.
Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.
In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.
Let us pray that as we listen to the account of Jesus betrayal, torture and death, the glory of the Cross will be a reality for own lives. To God be all praise. Amen.
REV. ADRIAN J. PRATT B.D.
Preached at St Peter's Lutheran Church, Baldwin, NY, Friday, March 29th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
Have you ever considered what a strange thing it is that the central truth of Christianity is the death of it's founder? Our natural reaction to death seems to be to recoil from it in horror, yet here we are on Good Friday contemplating an act of murder upon an innocent man. Why? I can't answer that question for all of you, but I can share three reasons why I focus on the Cross as a central point for my understanding of life.
The Cross reveals;
- A God who identifies totally with our world.
- A God of awe inspiring, terrible, love.
- A God who is the Saviour.
1. The Cross reveals a God who totally identifies with the heights and depths of the human condition.
Sometimes I look around at the world and hum along with Louis Armstrong; 'What a wonderful World'. When the sun shines, the birds sing, and you are fit and well, and everything seems to be going O.K... yes... that's nice.
But other times I watch the television or pick up a newspaper and I think, no, life is not beautiful, for many people it seems like hell. The terrible suffering some endure, acts of war, victims of torture and atrocity, starving millions... a wonderful world? Sometimes I think 'You must be joking, Louis, quit singing!'. The natural world is beautiful, but it can be so cruel. The law of the jungle is kill or be killed, predator and victim, survival of the fittest... and that isn't just the animals situation, but appears to be a part of human life.
I feel in myself a huge tension. That there is within me a spirit which desires the things of this world far more than the things of God's Kingdom, that seeks for my own satisfaction rather than the good of all. Although I claim to follow Christ, I am often painfully aware of my inability to either love God with all my heart, mind and soul or to love my neighbor as much as I love myself.
But, when I look to Jesus I find One who totally identifies with the human condition. I see how He could express unimaginable joy. How He could welcome a child, could be the life of the party, could love the unlovable, who was tempted in every way that we are tempted, yet remain unscathed. I see in Him joy unstained and unrestrained.
I see also how He became the victim of acts of barbarity and violence and torture, suffered rejection and betrayal, cried out to a God who He thought had forsaken Him, who in His darkest hour had to sweat blood in order to accept God's will for His life, praying in Gethsemanae, 'Let this cup pass from me”. I see One who on the Cross was broken and destroyed by the sin of the world.
In Jesus, the Jesus of the Cross, are focused the extremes of life. It's brightest joy and it's darkest suffering. At the Cross we discover a God who totally identifies with our world, the heights and depths of the human condition.
2. The Cross reveals a God of awe inspiring, terrible, love
In a previous calling I was involved in chaplaincy at one of Europe's largest Children's hospitals, situated at Alder Hey, in Liverpool, England. I had deep admiration for the staff there. They were subjected to such highs and lows of emotion. To see a child suffer is a painful thing, yet it is such a tremendous joy to watch a recovery.
But the pain in such situations fell most acutely on the parents of the children. How can anybody enter into a parents feelings as they observe their child traveling through pain or distress? How can you put into words the helplessness and anxiety involved in having to stand by and watch events take their course, for better or for worse.
Scripture tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”
What sort of terrible love is this? Love that permits an only son to suffer and die? If earthly parents feel pain to see their offspring suffer, surely is not that pain also present in the heart of the Father, at the Cross, as the Son of God is crucified?
Can we not hear the tremendous, awesome, terrible, love, that is contained within those simple words, “God so loved... that He gave His … Son”? Where else in life do we discover a love that is revealed with such ferocity and with such intensity?
Love of such tremendous price and cost is surely only offered for a greater reason and higher purpose. Were that not so, such would not be love, but an act of gross, immoral, irresponsibility. The Cross reveals a God of awe inspiring, terrible, love.
3. The Cross reveals a God who is the Saviour
Paul states it quite plainly in First Corinthians 15:3 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins”. Here is the reason for that terrible sacrifice. God in Christ comes to redeem us to Himself. On that cross, through that death, the doorway is opened to fellowship with God and the gates of eternity are flung wide open. The way to life, the way to truth, the way of holiness, the way to joy and wholeness.
Here is God, somehow absorbing all that hatred and pain and suffering that is in the world, and clasping it to Himself, wrapping His arms around all of it and saying to us, “LOOK – MY LOVE IS GREATER THAN ALL OF THIS!”
On the Cross, we see Jesus bearing all the sin and guilt of the world, as the cry comes from His lips. “It is finished”... words that I take not to mean His mission was over, but that the victory of love had taken place. As we allow the love of God to embrace us, we too can discover the victory Christ achieved on the cross.
As we realize that it is sins like ours that caused His pain, then God's love inspires us to turn from our sins and prepare ourselves to know His love burning in our hearts with transforming and renewing power through the activity of the Holy Spirit.
Though it is Good Friday, the end of the story is not on the Cross. We must also travel to the empty tomb. After death we read of resurrection, an event which bathes the cross in an even more glorious and victorious light than ever! But we will save that journey till Sunday.
I began by suggesting it was a strange thing that we should make the cross, a place of death, so central to our faith. I believe it's not so strange, when you consider the circumstances of the man who hung there, that here was God incarnate, here is God in Christ revealing awesome love to God's world, aligning Himself with the most god-forsaken places and people, absorbing into His being all the hatred and evil that is in life, and overcoming it by a greater and more powerful love. For me...
- The Cross reveals a God who totally identifies with the heights and depths of the human condition.
- The Cross reveals a God of awe inspiring, terrible, love
- The Cross reveals a God who is the Saviour
Allow me to close with words from hymn writer John Bowring. The story behind these words is that he was traveling on a ship when glancing to shore he saw a burnt out church on the skyline with only the Cross left standing over the charred ruins. The sight inspired him to write a poem that began “In the cross of Christ I glory, towering over the wrecks of time'
When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day.
Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.
In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.
Let us pray that as we listen to the account of Jesus betrayal, torture and death, the glory of the Cross will be a reality for own lives. To God be all praise. Amen.
REV. ADRIAN J. PRATT B.D.
Maundy Thursday Service “THERE’S A HISTORY....”
Readings: Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14; 1 Corinthians 11–23–26; John 13:1-17
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, Thursday, March 28th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
There’s a history behind what we do here tonight. It is a history deeply rooted in the traditions of the Jewish faith and their celebration of Passover. Passover was the time they remembered how the angel of death ‘passed over’ the houses where doorposts were smeared by blood of a lamb and their first-born were spared.
Passover is the celebration of their freedom from slavery in Egypt and the beginning of a new journey towards the Promise land.
Passover Festival recreated for the Jewish people the events and circumstances of their deliverance.
Our communion celebration takes place within the framework of the Passover. Much of the symbolism of the Passover meal is carried over and reinterpreted within the Christian celebration of the Eucharist – a Greek word indicating “Thanksgiving”.
Many of the elements of Passover are taken on in our celebration of communion and give them an enhanced meaning. New elements are also present.
The lamb is still there – the lamb without blemish is represented through Jesus Christ, the lamb of God. His sinless life reached its brutal end through the bloodshed of the cross where He claimed to die for our sins and prayed, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”
The death of the first born is also there. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
The beginning of a new journey of faith and discovery is signaled through Christ’s proclamation that the Kingdom is being moved into a new phase through His life and ministry. This was not a journey straight from freedom to the Promised Land – but one that along the way would be nurtured and fed by His Presence – the Bread of Life.
The sign of the new Kingdom would be passing through the waters–not the waters of the Red Sea–but the waters of baptism. In baptism the old would be declared gone – the enemy of sin a conquered enemy buried beneath the waters – and the new covenant be in force.
The nature of the new covenant is startlingly different. Whilst the Israelites would on occasion fall prey to the notion that God had chosen them to be superior to their neighbors– through the ceremony of washing His disciples feet Jesus made it clear that in this strange new world – servants would be kings and royal authority exercised through service.
The keynote, the dominant theme, the overriding concept and meaning to be the hallmark of this new covenant was self-giving love– the Greek word “agape”. “Agape” was not love that was mere emotion or sentiment, not love in terms of affection or attraction, not even love that was defined by friendship and trust –but something deeper. Love that dared to express itself towards enemies. Love that embraced the unlovable and transformed the bleakest of circumstances. Love that could take a symbol of execution, bathe it in resurrection life, and transform it into an icon of faith.
Just as Passover was a celebration that bid the celebrants to call to mind the saving acts of God, so in communion we are called to remember. To remember Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on the cross in such a way as it feeds our spirit and renews our faith.
Our memories function in unusual ways. Words and pictures can come and go, but tastes and smells have a habit of staying with us.
So in our remembrance of God’s saving work in Jesus Christ we eat and and we drink. We go beyond words. We seek to ingest the life of God, to allow our lives to be filled by the Holy Spirit. To visibly and tangibly embrace and be embraced by the love of God “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lords death until he comes”. (I Corinthians 11:26)
Just as the Promised Land would be a distant hope for the Israelites – so the coming Kingdom would be one the church has to move towards in faith and hope. The kingdom had come. The kingdom would be with us. Yet the kingdom is still to come in its fullness.
It is for us to nurture our spiritual lives through participating in this ceremony, in this memorial, this recalling - this act designed to bring us into the nearer presence of God - in such a real way that we recognize ourselves as God’s children, free and forgiven through Christ’s death on the cross, empowered through the coming of God’s Holy Spirit and ultimately victorious through Christ’s resurrection.
The focus of celebrating communion is not the act itself. It is a preparation for service. After washing His disciples feet Jesus said, “As I have done for you so do for one another.” The act of communion prepares us for service to others in Christ’s name. We for a while 'look in' so we can 'look out'.
This also recalls the events of the Passover. The celebrations were to remind the people, not only of who they were and what God had done for them, but also that they had a mission and a task to ensure others came to know the saving acts of God. They were a people set apart, not just so that they may live in the light of God's presence, but that their communal life would be a light for all nations.
Passover Festival recreates for the Jewish people the events and circumstances of their deliverance. They feast on the lamb. They eat unleavened bread. They taste bitter herbs. They recognize that their deliverance has come to them at a price, a price that involved the death of first born sons.
So tonight you are invited to this table we sometimes call the wedding feast of the lamb. The lamb being Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, the lamb who was slain, the lamb who freely offered His life for our forgiveness and renewal. 'Behold' declared John the Baptist, as Jesus approached him for baptism, 'Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world'.
So tonight we are invited to eat of the bread. Bread that reminds us of the manna in the wilderness. Bread that reminds us of the body of Christ. 'This is my body which is broken for you'. Bread that reminds us of unity and gathering, of nurture and sustenance. Bread that reminds us of the One who declared 'I am the bread of life”
So tonight we are invited to drink the wine of the kingdom. The cup after supper, the cup of blessing. The cup of the new covenant. The cup that represents the life blood and love of Jesus that was poured into our world through His life, His death and His resurrection. The cup that declares; 'Christ died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.' The cup He promises that He will drink with us in the eternal kingdom. 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me”
So tonight we are invited to think again upon John 3:16 &17. 'God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that whomsoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
So tonight we are invited to the celebration of the upper room. To sit around the table with Jesus. To seek for our life to be nurtured by His love that we may go out into the world to serve His Kingdom.
There's a history behind what we do this night. A history rooted in the passover. A history reshaped through the life of Christ. A history that we become part of every time we gather around this table to share this bread and wine.
Tonight, in Jesus name, we are invited to be history makers
and place our lives into the care of God's love,
as we pledge our lives to God's service.
Amen.
REV. ADRIAN PRATT
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, Thursday, March 28th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
There’s a history behind what we do here tonight. It is a history deeply rooted in the traditions of the Jewish faith and their celebration of Passover. Passover was the time they remembered how the angel of death ‘passed over’ the houses where doorposts were smeared by blood of a lamb and their first-born were spared.
Passover is the celebration of their freedom from slavery in Egypt and the beginning of a new journey towards the Promise land.
Passover Festival recreated for the Jewish people the events and circumstances of their deliverance.
- They would feast on the lamb.
- They would eat unleavened bread.
- They would taste bitter herbs.
Our communion celebration takes place within the framework of the Passover. Much of the symbolism of the Passover meal is carried over and reinterpreted within the Christian celebration of the Eucharist – a Greek word indicating “Thanksgiving”.
Many of the elements of Passover are taken on in our celebration of communion and give them an enhanced meaning. New elements are also present.
The lamb is still there – the lamb without blemish is represented through Jesus Christ, the lamb of God. His sinless life reached its brutal end through the bloodshed of the cross where He claimed to die for our sins and prayed, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”
The death of the first born is also there. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
The beginning of a new journey of faith and discovery is signaled through Christ’s proclamation that the Kingdom is being moved into a new phase through His life and ministry. This was not a journey straight from freedom to the Promised Land – but one that along the way would be nurtured and fed by His Presence – the Bread of Life.
The sign of the new Kingdom would be passing through the waters–not the waters of the Red Sea–but the waters of baptism. In baptism the old would be declared gone – the enemy of sin a conquered enemy buried beneath the waters – and the new covenant be in force.
The nature of the new covenant is startlingly different. Whilst the Israelites would on occasion fall prey to the notion that God had chosen them to be superior to their neighbors– through the ceremony of washing His disciples feet Jesus made it clear that in this strange new world – servants would be kings and royal authority exercised through service.
The keynote, the dominant theme, the overriding concept and meaning to be the hallmark of this new covenant was self-giving love– the Greek word “agape”. “Agape” was not love that was mere emotion or sentiment, not love in terms of affection or attraction, not even love that was defined by friendship and trust –but something deeper. Love that dared to express itself towards enemies. Love that embraced the unlovable and transformed the bleakest of circumstances. Love that could take a symbol of execution, bathe it in resurrection life, and transform it into an icon of faith.
Just as Passover was a celebration that bid the celebrants to call to mind the saving acts of God, so in communion we are called to remember. To remember Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on the cross in such a way as it feeds our spirit and renews our faith.
Our memories function in unusual ways. Words and pictures can come and go, but tastes and smells have a habit of staying with us.
So in our remembrance of God’s saving work in Jesus Christ we eat and and we drink. We go beyond words. We seek to ingest the life of God, to allow our lives to be filled by the Holy Spirit. To visibly and tangibly embrace and be embraced by the love of God “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lords death until he comes”. (I Corinthians 11:26)
Just as the Promised Land would be a distant hope for the Israelites – so the coming Kingdom would be one the church has to move towards in faith and hope. The kingdom had come. The kingdom would be with us. Yet the kingdom is still to come in its fullness.
It is for us to nurture our spiritual lives through participating in this ceremony, in this memorial, this recalling - this act designed to bring us into the nearer presence of God - in such a real way that we recognize ourselves as God’s children, free and forgiven through Christ’s death on the cross, empowered through the coming of God’s Holy Spirit and ultimately victorious through Christ’s resurrection.
The focus of celebrating communion is not the act itself. It is a preparation for service. After washing His disciples feet Jesus said, “As I have done for you so do for one another.” The act of communion prepares us for service to others in Christ’s name. We for a while 'look in' so we can 'look out'.
This also recalls the events of the Passover. The celebrations were to remind the people, not only of who they were and what God had done for them, but also that they had a mission and a task to ensure others came to know the saving acts of God. They were a people set apart, not just so that they may live in the light of God's presence, but that their communal life would be a light for all nations.
Passover Festival recreates for the Jewish people the events and circumstances of their deliverance. They feast on the lamb. They eat unleavened bread. They taste bitter herbs. They recognize that their deliverance has come to them at a price, a price that involved the death of first born sons.
So tonight you are invited to this table we sometimes call the wedding feast of the lamb. The lamb being Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, the lamb who was slain, the lamb who freely offered His life for our forgiveness and renewal. 'Behold' declared John the Baptist, as Jesus approached him for baptism, 'Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world'.
So tonight we are invited to eat of the bread. Bread that reminds us of the manna in the wilderness. Bread that reminds us of the body of Christ. 'This is my body which is broken for you'. Bread that reminds us of unity and gathering, of nurture and sustenance. Bread that reminds us of the One who declared 'I am the bread of life”
So tonight we are invited to drink the wine of the kingdom. The cup after supper, the cup of blessing. The cup of the new covenant. The cup that represents the life blood and love of Jesus that was poured into our world through His life, His death and His resurrection. The cup that declares; 'Christ died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.' The cup He promises that He will drink with us in the eternal kingdom. 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me”
So tonight we are invited to think again upon John 3:16 &17. 'God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that whomsoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
So tonight we are invited to the celebration of the upper room. To sit around the table with Jesus. To seek for our life to be nurtured by His love that we may go out into the world to serve His Kingdom.
There's a history behind what we do this night. A history rooted in the passover. A history reshaped through the life of Christ. A history that we become part of every time we gather around this table to share this bread and wine.
Tonight, in Jesus name, we are invited to be history makers
and place our lives into the care of God's love,
as we pledge our lives to God's service.
Amen.
REV. ADRIAN PRATT
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