“Father Mund, If someone didn’t know you were a vicar and didn’t know you went to church, how would they know you were a Christian?”
“Father Mund - have you ever said or done something that would have put someone off becoming a Christian?”
“Father Mund, have you ever stopped someone from doing something in church because they weren’t part of the in crowd, because their face didn’t fit?”
Don’t you just hate it when someone asks you difficult questions - especially when it is not just [the people who read the questions above] - but God asking the difficult questions. Which he frequently does in his Word the bible….
Well, I’m going to start with the third question because it is the one I am least embarrassed about answering (always good tactic when someone asks you a set of difficult questions - answer the one they are comfortable with and hope they forget the other ones)
“Have I ever stopped someone from doing something in Church because they weren’t part of the in crowd, because their face didn’t fit?”
“Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us. But Jesus said “Do not stop him, for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:38-39)
It’s amazing how Jesus can say something plain and simple to us, and we can spend hundreds of years ignoring it…
On Good Friday each year, we process up Northalla Hill with a bunch of baptists, Anglicans, and Methodists. The Methodists are lovely people, and every year after the walk they give us hot cross buns in their church hall.
The Methodists are lovely people … but they don’t need to exist. The only reason the Methodist Church exists because we Anglicans said “You may be doing things in Jesus name, but you are not doing them in a proper Church of England way, so we are going to kick you out”
John Wesley travelled the country up and down 18th century England telling people about Jesus. He preached to people who had never before heard about God’s love for them. He would literally stand outside the factory gates and preach to the folks as they were coming out of work. Wherever possible he would work with the local vicar, preaching in the Church and being loyal. But if the vicar would not work with him, he would still preach at the factory gates because people needed to hear about Jesus and “the world is my parish”. John Wesley organised class meetings and preaching services for the Methodists, but for all his life he refused to let them hold Communion services because they should go to communion in their local Anglican Church. But the Methodist style in which rough uncouth miners and factory workers were dramatically coThe Methodists are lovely people … but they don’t need to exist. The only reason the Methodist Church exists because we Anglicans said “You may be doing things in Jesus name, but you are not doing them in a proper Church of England way, so we are going to kick you out”
But it’s not just in the 18th Century. I spoke to one friend who had to be in a church for about 5 or 6 years before she was allowed to do anything “oh you are too new - you have to become properly known to the congregation before you can do anything”. In another parish, we started having some very talented lay people deacon the mass and occasionally preach. Instantly uproar from other parts of the congregation - “they shouldn’t be allowed to do that, that’s the vicar’s job”.
On Tuesday I went to the open evening at William Perkin, and saw a beautiful thing. During the talk Dame Alice not only spoke about the school but demonstrated the types of prayers with which the school would begin and end every day. Here was a bunch of parents and children from non-religious or Hindu or Muslim backgrounds being invited to take part in a very Christian School. I know from Fr Chris Hill at St Mary’s Northolt of one teenager (now confirmed) who brought his family to start coming to church because of the experience of William Perkin. Yet I also know of a lot of Christians who moan “why are we providing places at a Christian school to non-church goers”
God isn’t interested in ticking the box of every rule. God isn’t interested about whether people hold the right role. Not rules, not rules but a right attitude to Jesus, that’s what Jesus is interested in.
“Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us. But Jesus said “Do not stop him, for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us”
Remember what Our Lady says about “God casting down the mighty from their thrones and lifting up the lowly” (Luke 2:52)… and beware
“Father Mund - have you ever said or done something that would have put someone off becoming a Christian?”
Jesus said “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung round your neck and you were thrown into the sea”
This is an uncomfortable question for me. When I was 17, there was a boy at school, Edward Sanders whom I bullied. I can give excuses - I didn’t bully Edward perhaps as much as some other people did. I myself had been bullied a lot worse …. Yes I can give excuses…
But I was known to be a Christian, and I behaved like that. What did that say about Jesus to little Edward….
We can all make excuses. It doesn’t have to be something as “bad” as what the teenage me did. You might just want to talk to your friends after mass, not a bad thing - but when everyone apart from the vicar (who doesn’t count because s/he is paid to do it) doesn’t talk to a newcomer, do they feel welcomed? Or do they not come back because the Church was too unfriendly? You may just want to hear what I am saying in the sermon (and of course every word I say is worth hearing) - but if you turn and give a frustrated glance to the mum with the young toddler who is clambering about- will she feel wanted in church? And don’t start sitting there smug thinking I haven’t done those two things - what about the other things you have done that have put people off Jesus
“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung round your neck and you were thrown into the sea”
“Father Mund, If someone didn’t know you were a vicar and didn’t know you went to church, how would they know you were a Christian?”
“Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt loses it’s saltiness, how can you season it?”
What is it that gives us our saltiness? What is it that makes us Christians distinctive?
If you had asked Moses on a bad day he’d have given you an answer. “You can tell who the believers are by the fact that they are always moaning about how much better it was in the old says”
“If only we had meat to eat. We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leaks the onions and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at” (Numbers 11:4-6)
It can sadly be true that what defines Christians is harking back after the good old days - but God shows Moses it doesn’t have to like that -
“The Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him (Moses) and took some of the Spirit that was on him and placed it on the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested on them they prophesied.”
If someone didn’t know I was a vicar and didn’t know I went to church, how would they know I was a Christian?”
What is my saltiness? I hope it would be about God acting through me..
As James puts it “Are any among you suffering ? they should pray. Are any of you cheerful? They should sing songs of praise? Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, annointing them with oil in the name of teh Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise them up. And anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you might be healed”
“Are any of you cheerful - They should sing songs of praise” - Do I have an attitutude of gratitude. Did you know one of the 12 steps of the AA program is to give thanks for the things that are good in your live.I’m terrible at this - but actually it is really important. Do we come across as people who are grateful for all the blessings in our life?
anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another”
As Christians we are distinctive because we are honest that we screw up and need God’s help. Most people out there either think they are so bad they have no hope or more likely think “I’m not that bad anyway”. We christians recognise we are sinners. We have to be honest with God and honest with ourselves. And that is why I and many other Christians will make our confession out loud. Two or three times a year I will go and kneel down and say my sins out loud to God in the presence of a priest. The reason why I say it out loud with a human witness there is it is very easy for us to lie to ourselves when we just do our confession up here in our heads. It’s much harder to lie to ourselves when we have to say it out loud. That’s why I say it out loud in the presence of a human witness - the reason I do it in the presence of a priest is they have been trained to keep things confidential
“Are any among you suffering? They should pray” - “teacher we saw a man casting out demons in your name”
Prayer - what a powerful thing. If someone tells me about something difficult in their life, I always try and pray for them. Not later when they won’t know about it and I might forget about it, but there and then. Not becasue I am a vicar but because I am a Christian. The one thing that is especially distinctive about Christians is we pray! If your friend comes and tells you she is scared because she has just been diagnosed with cancer, and you can’t offer to pray with her, what is the point of you as a Christian? And if we as a Church haven’t taught you how to pray for her, what is the point of us as a church? That’s the reason why once a month we have prayers in small groups - so you get a chance to practise praying for when a friend needs you to do it. Don’t worry about your words. Don’t worry about what you say - just do it, because prayer is part of the point of being a Christian.
“Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt loses its saltiness, how can you season it?”
“Father Mund, If someone didn’t know you were a vicar and didn’t know you went to church, how would they know you were a Christian?”
“Father Mund - have you ever said or done something that would have put someone off becoming a Christian?”
“Father Mund, have you ever stopped someone from doing something in church because they weren’t part of the in crowd, because their face didn’t fit?”
But what about you?
If someone didn’t know YOU went to church, how would they know you were a Christian?”
Have YOU ever said or done something that would have put someone off becoming a Christian? have YOU ever stopped someone from doing something in church because they weren’t part of the in crowd, because their face didn’t fit?”
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Preached St Barnabas Northolt on 29th September 2018 - Trinity 18, Revised Common lectionary Proper 21
