ࡱ> LNKq` f.bjbjqPqP .@::f&$b$ h"www.wwww  6[J*w20bwV#rV#ww>V#,rw*\ab   3rd June 2007 Our curate David Wakefields Farewell Sermon 1 Corinthians 13 John 15:9-17 In my final assembly at the school it was Friendship Friday. I was talking to the children about what it means to be a true friend. I showed them some photos of friends from around the world, including our friends in Russe, and my friends who live in Bethany in the Holy Land. Will you excuse me now while I take just one or two photos of my friends here in Bures. [shows photos]. You never know, you may appear in the school assembly in Lingwood for the next Friendship Friday. Heather and I have made many friends here; friends who Im sure will long after weve left the benefice prove to be true friends . Im not sure the same can be said of two friends who were out walking in grizzly bear country in America. Suddenly one yelled and the other looked up to see a grizzly charging towards them. The first started to frantically take off his heavy walking boots, rummage in his rucksack and take out his trainers, to which his friend anxiously asked, "What on earth are you doing? Don't you know that its not possible to outrun a grizzly bear?" "I don't have to outrun a grizzly, came the reply. I just have to outrun you!" That storys a bit like the comment made by Jeremy Thorpe in 1962 after Harold Macmillans ruthless purging of the Tory cabinet. Mr Thorpe said, No greater love hath a man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life. Not quite what Jesus said in our gospel reading. Jesus is in that reading from John 15, talking in the days before he goes to the cross for us, about what it means to be his friends. We are his friends he says, if we do what he commands. And his command is that we love one another. Jesus is quite clear about this. He says it many times. He said that follow him meant loving one another. As I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35 When asked on another occasion what the most important commands in the Law were, Jesus said in reply that the most important things are to love - love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbour as you love yourself. Mark 12:31. More than that, in response to the saying Love your neighbour and hate your enemy he said But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matt 5:43-44 Loving God and loving others is a central theme running right through the gospels. Jesus spoke many times about love, and he demonstrated that love in what he did. Of course his ultimate demonstration of that love for his friends, for us, was his dying on the cross so we could live. Jesus commanded us to love each other. He didnt command us to get a grasp of church doctrines. He didnt command us to obtain a degree in theology. He said the important thing is that we love one another. Studying for a degree is some of what I've been doing while I've been here, and the final 2 essays are due in this month thank goodness. Its been great to have had the opportunity to stretch my brain in ways it wouldnt naturally want to be stretched, but its not what Jesus commanded me to do during my curacy. He commands us all to love one another. In April, Heather and I were with a group of 31 people, standing on the Mount of the beatitudes in the Holy Land, recalling the fifth chapter in Matthews gospel which we know as the Sermon on the Mount. That experience and preparing for this sermon, knowing it was Trinity Sunday today reminded me of this meditation based on the Beatitudes. Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain, and gathering them around him he taught them saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are they who thirst for justice. Blessed are all the concerned. Blessed are you when persecuted. Blessed are you when you suffer. Be glad and rejoice for your reward is great in heaven. Try to remember what I'm telling you. Then Simon Peter said, Will this count? And Andrew said, Will we have a test on it? And James said, When do we have 'to know it for? And Philip said, How many words? And Bartholomew said, Will I have to stand up in front of the others? And John said, The other disciples didn't have to learn this. And Matthew said, How many marks do we get for it? And Judas said, What is it worth? And the other disciples likewise. Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus' lesson plan and inquired of Jesus his terminal objectives in the cognitive domain. And Jesus wept. (From Worship Anthology on the Beatitudes). Jesus didnt come to test us on doctrine, he came to teach us how to love God, how to love each other. But having mentioned tests on doctrine, today is of course Trinity Sunday. Much has been written about the Trinity, some of it readable, some of it not. When I first went off to college, a good friend of mine gave me this book its at about my level and called, the potted guide to theology, and includes different ideas about the Trinity. For many people, the Trinity is a difficult concept to grasp. I remember well the first time I met Simon Godfrey, whos in my homegroup. We met in the Eight Bells for one of Freds fat boys evenings and after a couple of beers Simon said so David, Im having a bit of trouble understanding the Trinity. Alcohol consumed, and now he wants me to explain the trinity thanks Simon. But why shouldnt Simon want to know more. Its human nature that we want to understand, we want to know how things are, how things work. One of the best ways Ive heard the Trinity explained was at college, and it goes like this. Sue can you play me a sound. What do you hear? 3 notes perfectly blended together to make one sound. Sue, can you play that chord again, playing each of the 3 notes separately. Played like that, you can make out the individual notes. Those three notes exist as three distinct sounds, and you can hear each one, yet they all blend to make the one chord. But more than that- one note on its own may be OK to listen to, but played together, you experience and enjoy a much better sound. 3 notes 1 sound. Father Son and Holy Spirit- 3 persons, one God The trinity. Maybe that helps, maybe it doesnt. But as the meditation I read earlier points out, we dont have to pass a test or degree. You dont have to know all the technical stuff to listen to and enjoy music. The important thing about music is to experience it; to be moved by it. In the same way, the Trinity isnt just a doctrine or a concept to be grasped. The trinity is God. God our creator and redeemer, to be loved. Whats important says Jesus, is to love God and to love one another. Im not saying love is always easy, it can be hard. It can be much harder than intellectually understanding the trinity and other Christian doctrines. Sometimes love is exhilarating and exuberant, like Mary pouring oil on the feet of Jesus and wiping it away with her hair, but sometimes its gritting your teeth and going on, however hard that is, like Jesus at Gethsemane. And sometimes I wonder if its hard for God to carry on loving us, watching us make mistakes, watching us walking into situations that will hurt us, hurt others, hurt his creation. But even when love is hard, thats what were asked, no not asked, commanded to do to love God and love one another. And that applies not just within the Christian community of Bures Assington and Little Cornard but outside too. To extend Gods love into a world that can be disinterested, and increasingly it seems in our own country - hostile. Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan to make it clear that Gods love is to be shown by us to those we dont naturally warm to- to people who are not people like us. St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians that Murray read, that of faith, hope and love, the greatest of these is love. That reading is a favourite reading for weddings, but I doubt if St. Paul was writing with that in mind. Hed written about marriage several chapters earlier. Its included in a section on spiritual gifts, where Paul is saying how important it is to exercise the gift of love. Having faith alone isnt enough writes Paul. If I have faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing. Faith is to be shown in action by loving God and loving one another. During my 3 years here, I've seen the Christians in Little Cornard, Assington and Bures showing that love to one another. I've seen it in words said - in time taken to help one another when in need - in helping those who are not yet part of the Christian community - in offering financial aid to those too far away to offer practical support in any other way - in prayer. But if Im honest, and we look critically at ourselves, I've also seen times when maybe we could, and should have done more, when I should and could have done more. Im sorry for the times Heather and I have failed during our time here, but I hope we have at least attempted to demonstrate our love to you, as you have to us. I pray that you will go on loving God; that you will discover that your love for him grows even more after weve left. I pray that you will go on loving others; that you will listen to how God wants you to love others in new ways, that His kingdom will grow in Assington, Little Cornard and Bures in ways that you hadnt imagined, and that through you, God will be known by those people who dont yet know him. I pray that God will continue to work in and through you in the months and years ahead. 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