Late Evening Office - St. Columba's Parish Church Sunday 14th Feb 2010 @ 7pm
Bible Text
John 12: 27-36a
27 ‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ 29The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ 30Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people* to myself.’ 33He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. 34The crowd answered him, ‘We have heard from the law that the Messiah* remains for ever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?’ 35Jesus said to them, ‘The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. 36While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.’ (NRSV)
Sermon
Let us pray,
Help us O Lord to apply your word to our lives, your teaching to our circumstances – Help us O Lord to be disciples living each day learning from you. In Jesus NameAmen.
Spec-savers have a new ad on TV running at the moment – an older couple have taken their cheese sandwiches to the beach for a nice day out they find an empty seat with a view of the sea. And suddenly their whole world changes as the bars come down and suddenly they are propelled round a very big roller coaster. Twists and its turns, it propelling the higher and higher round and round at all sorts of angles. Eventually the ride stops and they get off. The husband says to his wife …that was strange cheese.
Sometimes life can feel like a rollercoaster, sometimes its stationary, not moving, then suddenly something unexpected happens, we feel we are not in control – sometimes it can get very scary indeed, sometimes life is moving so fast we want it to slow down, other times we are really enjoying life, othertimes we just want to get off, sometimes we enjoy the views.
The life of Jesus' disciples could be described as a rollercoaster – sometimes they were really enjoying being with Jesus, some great teaching everybody happy, then times of adventure as they are sent out, scary times when they encountered evil or felt like they were going to die when jesus was sleeping in the boat admist the storm, moutain top times, such as the transfiguration when Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah or when they saw Lazarus raised from the dead. But there were disapointments and discouargements along the way – Jesus kept talking to them about when he would die, he was ready to die …. this is not what they wanted to hear … this was definitely a time when the disciples and the wider crowd wanted keep him quiet this wasn't the way the messiah was ment to behave.
The roller coaster, the dramatic ups and downs of life, the tight corners, the changes in direction leave us all unsettled, perhaps daunted ...asking what is life about?, what should I do?.
In our reading this evening we see ups and down as Jesus speaks to the crowd
At the beginning we see Jesus – uncharacteristically down – Now my soul is troubled he said .. but a corner is turned … should I say save me … no – he yields to the father's will which is a high point … the reading progresses through Jesus explaining what will happen. He knows that things are uncertain at this time but appeals to the crowd to stay … in the light.
In Johns Gospel Jesus teaches much about darkness and light and the contrast between them.
Darkness in Johns Gospel is seen as … uncertainty, death, sin, not of God
In the great chapter one the distinction is drawn between darkness and light
In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not
In tonight's reading we see that we are all called to become Children of light. We are called to overcome darkness, we are called to overcome all that darkness means – sin, death
I wonder how we are all doing … I started off by thinking about a roller coaster … ups and downs, tight corners, scared, afraid of what is ahead. Jesus, as he looked at the road he must travel down was troubled but he did not loose focus, he did not say I don't want to do this, he did not say … “im your son get me out of here” ... what he did say was … father glorify your name.
In our world today – there is so much darkness – turn on the news and you see sin so prevelent, so much darkness in the mindsets of people, so many lives who see nothing but despair, grief, uncertainty and sadness.
However our reading tonight calls us to be people, disciples living a different way … people whose hope and trust is in God, people who are living as children of the light, people with purpose, with love, who face the darkest of nights with the knoweldge that whoever they encounter, whatever they come across, whatever they face they know that Jesus will help them through.
This is not simply wishful thinking but it is core to the Christian faith – Jesus knew the darkest of places and he knew how to overcome the darkness with light. Last week, at our dedication Bishop Harold spoke on the worry we can have and Jesus saying that we are not to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear. So often our attention is drawn to worry about the darkness,
worry about all kinds of things which may or may not happen.
As disciples, we need not worry about the darkness but rather be living as children of light, of getting on with the business of the things which God has called us to do. Of getting out into our dark communities, of loving our neighbours, caring for those who are lonely, of strengthening our Christian faith, praying, reading our bibles, getting to know strangers in our church, of living out our faith wherever we are.
Let us trust God, that he has a plan for our lives, not wasting time worrying but rather living life to the full. When we do that, when we talk about our faith, when we live out our faith – life becomes an adventure, when we focus on darkness it is very difficult to see light. But if we are focused on the light, when we are living in the light – we can have a profound effect on the darkness around us.
Are we prepared to live life to the full?
Let us pray.
Help us O Lord to apply your word to our lives, your teaching to our circumstances – Help us O Lord to be disciples living each day learning from you. In Jesus NameAmen.
Spec-savers have a new ad on TV running at the moment – an older couple have taken their cheese sandwiches to the beach for a nice day out they find an empty seat with a view of the sea. And suddenly their whole world changes as the bars come down and suddenly they are propelled round a very big roller coaster. Twists and its turns, it propelling the higher and higher round and round at all sorts of angles. Eventually the ride stops and they get off. The husband says to his wife …that was strange cheese.
Sometimes life can feel like a rollercoaster, sometimes its stationary, not moving, then suddenly something unexpected happens, we feel we are not in control – sometimes it can get very scary indeed, sometimes life is moving so fast we want it to slow down, other times we are really enjoying life, othertimes we just want to get off, sometimes we enjoy the views.
The life of Jesus' disciples could be described as a rollercoaster – sometimes they were really enjoying being with Jesus, some great teaching everybody happy, then times of adventure as they are sent out, scary times when they encountered evil or felt like they were going to die when jesus was sleeping in the boat admist the storm, moutain top times, such as the transfiguration when Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah or when they saw Lazarus raised from the dead. But there were disapointments and discouargements along the way – Jesus kept talking to them about when he would die, he was ready to die …. this is not what they wanted to hear … this was definitely a time when the disciples and the wider crowd wanted keep him quiet this wasn't the way the messiah was ment to behave.
The roller coaster, the dramatic ups and downs of life, the tight corners, the changes in direction leave us all unsettled, perhaps daunted ...asking what is life about?, what should I do?.
In our reading this evening we see ups and down as Jesus speaks to the crowd
At the beginning we see Jesus – uncharacteristically down – Now my soul is troubled he said .. but a corner is turned … should I say save me … no – he yields to the father's will which is a high point … the reading progresses through Jesus explaining what will happen. He knows that things are uncertain at this time but appeals to the crowd to stay … in the light.
In Johns Gospel Jesus teaches much about darkness and light and the contrast between them.
Darkness in Johns Gospel is seen as … uncertainty, death, sin, not of God
In the great chapter one the distinction is drawn between darkness and light
In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not
In tonight's reading we see that we are all called to become Children of light. We are called to overcome darkness, we are called to overcome all that darkness means – sin, death
I wonder how we are all doing … I started off by thinking about a roller coaster … ups and downs, tight corners, scared, afraid of what is ahead. Jesus, as he looked at the road he must travel down was troubled but he did not loose focus, he did not say I don't want to do this, he did not say … “im your son get me out of here” ... what he did say was … father glorify your name.
In our world today – there is so much darkness – turn on the news and you see sin so prevelent, so much darkness in the mindsets of people, so many lives who see nothing but despair, grief, uncertainty and sadness.
However our reading tonight calls us to be people, disciples living a different way … people whose hope and trust is in God, people who are living as children of the light, people with purpose, with love, who face the darkest of nights with the knoweldge that whoever they encounter, whatever they come across, whatever they face they know that Jesus will help them through.
This is not simply wishful thinking but it is core to the Christian faith – Jesus knew the darkest of places and he knew how to overcome the darkness with light. Last week, at our dedication Bishop Harold spoke on the worry we can have and Jesus saying that we are not to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear. So often our attention is drawn to worry about the darkness,
worry about all kinds of things which may or may not happen.
As disciples, we need not worry about the darkness but rather be living as children of light, of getting on with the business of the things which God has called us to do. Of getting out into our dark communities, of loving our neighbours, caring for those who are lonely, of strengthening our Christian faith, praying, reading our bibles, getting to know strangers in our church, of living out our faith wherever we are.
Let us trust God, that he has a plan for our lives, not wasting time worrying but rather living life to the full. When we do that, when we talk about our faith, when we live out our faith – life becomes an adventure, when we focus on darkness it is very difficult to see light. But if we are focused on the light, when we are living in the light – we can have a profound effect on the darkness around us.
Are we prepared to live life to the full?
Let us pray.
We pray for all those within our community who today can relate to this … those who have troubles, worries, concerns and issues of whatever kind. We remember how the disciples journeyed with Jesus through the highs and lows of life. How they supported each other, how they allowed Jesus' teaching to inform their actions when faced with difficulties
We recall the fact that Jesus did not take the easy road, he did not promise a problem free life but what he did promise that he would be with us, that he is able to walk with us through the darkness and through the despair.
Jesus in our reading challenged us to live as "Children of Light"
We pray for the challenge to all those, including ourselves, who call ourselves Christian to live as Children of light, ridding ourselves of the sin which so easily entangles and to run the race with perseverence.
O Lord you know that it is not easy to stand up for what is right, to find time in the busy-ness of life to prioritise reading the Bible and praying. Help us Lord to do the things you would have us do, help us to cut out the the things of darkness in our lives and transform us to be beacons for you wherever we may find our selves this week.
In Jesus name we pray
Amen
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