I don’t know how many of you watch F1 racing but even if you don’t, I’m sure that there can’t be many, if any, of you who haven’t heard of Lewis Hamilton. And it’s quite understandable that even people who don’t watch, or even particularly like F1 racing, or motor racing of any kind should have heard of him because he’s a very good and successful racing driver. He’s won a joint record seven drivers world championships, a record he shares with another very famous racing driver, Michael Schumacher, and he holds the record for the number of F1 Grand Prix race wins with 105 victories. He’s so good and successful a driver in fact, that many people regard him as the GOAT, the greatest of all time.

I used to be very interested in F1 racing, though not so much these days, and I always think it’s a rather pointless exercise to say that this or that driver is the GOAT because times change, technology changes and as it does, so do the cars that racing drivers drive. And as the cars change, driving styles change too. Also, the F1 drivers of today drive in many more races than they used to and, thankfully, they have a much better chance of surviving than they once did. But even taking all those things into account, it’s still rather pointless to say who is the greatest racing driver of all time because no racing driver, no matter how talented they are, would ever have much success if they weren’t part of a great team. How much success would Lewis Hamilton have had, for example, without the people who designed and built race winning cars for him to drive? How much success would he have had without the people who look after those cars and make sure that they’re reliable enough to last a full race distance? How much success would he have had without the people who analyse conditions and performance to make sure that his car was at its best on race day? How much success would he have had without the people who get him in and out of the pits in just a few seconds during races? The fact is, that without all those people, and probably many more besides, all doing their jobs very well, Lewis Hamilton nor any other racing driver would ever have much success; they’d hardly ever, if ever, win a race let alone a world championship. They’d never get within sight of breaking and holding records and their names would never even be mentioned in the greatest of all time debate. The driver may get the glory for winning a race or a championship, but they’d get nothing if they weren’t part of a great team.

And I think that’s a good, modern analogy for what St Paul is saying about the Church in the reading we’ve just read from his First Letter to the Corinthians. As we know, St Paul calls the Church the ‘body of Christ’ and compares the individual Christians who make up the Church to the different members or parts of a human body. But the point he’s making is that, although each of us have different gifts and although each of us have a particular role or function in the Church, we are all part of the same Church; we’re part of the same team, and we can’t and won’t achieve the results our combined talents make us capable of if we don’t all work together as a team. And I don’t think there’s any doubt at all that one of the great failings of the Church, probably the greatest failing of the Church, is that we constantly fail to work as a team.

There are so many ways we do this but perhaps the most obvious example is seen in the divisions within the Church, whether that be divisions along lines of denomination or tradition. The very fact that the Church is divided in this way screams out that we’re not working as a team. We see so much  rivalry between denominations and traditions in the Church, so much animosity and at times even hatred between denominations and traditions in the Church.

‘We’re right, you’re wrong.’

‘We’re not doing anything with that lot because they’re Catholic.’

Or Protestant, or Low Church or High Church or whatever the difference may be. Even that those of different denominations or traditions are

‘Not proper Christians.’

Which can only mean that in the opinion of those speaking, those who aren’t like them aren’t part of the Church.

To use St Paul’s terminology, it’s like a foot saying to a hand,

‘You’re not a foot so you’re not part of the body’

You’d expect to hear this between F1 teams,

‘Don’t share this with them because they’re Mercedes and we’re Ferrari’  for example, because they are rivals and in competition with each other, but not between people in the same team where everyone is supposed to be working together to get their driver over the finishing line in first place. And aren’t we all supposed to be on the same team in the Church? Aren’t we all supposed to be one in Christ Jesus, all on his team and all supposed to be working together for the common goal of seeing the Gospel proclaimed and the growth of God’s kingdom on earth?

But we see this in parishes and congregations too. All of us, I’m sure, want to see our own parish church doing well. We want to see more people coming to our church and see our church grow and thrive. But if that’s what we really want, then we all have do our bit, play our part in trying to make it happen. But how many people don’t and won’t play a part in helping to make that happen because they think they can’t? How many people say,

‘I can’t do that, don’t know how to do this, have never done it before’

or something similar and so won’t even try? But, and to use the F1 analogy again, at some point every race or championship winning team had to start by doing things they’d never done before. People who’d never designed a built a race winning car had to learn how to do it. The team had to learn how to make a car fast enough to win a race reliable enough to finish a race. They had to learn how to analyse conditions to make sure that their car was performing in the best way possible on race day. Pit crews, people who can change all four wheels on a car in 2 seconds or less don’t simply appear, as if by magic, they have to be put together, and they have to learn how to work together so that they can do it. So to say that we can’t, don’t know how or have never done it before, is no reason not to do because we can all try, and we can all learn.

Just a few days ago, I was at a Clergy Chapter meeting, and one of the things that almost everyone there was, and is, concerned about is the fact that there is so much that needs doing in their parishes but so few people who are willing to do it. Everyone in a parish congregation wants to see their church grow and thrive, but it seems that so many also want to sit back and let other people do all the work in trying to bring that about. But what would happen in an F1 team if some people decided that they wanted their team to win races and championships but that they didn’t actually want to play any part in achieving success? That they wanted to wear the teams outfit so that they could bask in the glory of being part of a successful race team, but then go AWOL when the time came to get down to the hard work of being part of a race winning team? What would happen if, for example, Lewis Hamilton was leading a race but when he pulled into the pits for new tyres, he only found half the pit crew waiting because the rest of the team had gone for a brew or were too busy watching the race on TV to be where they were supposed to be during the pit stop? Or were simply too comfortable sitting with their feet up to be bothered to get up and get to work?

The answer is, of course, that it would take too long to change the tyres, if they could be changed at all, and the race would be lost. The individuals in the team wouldn’t have worked together as a team and there would be no success and no glory for anyone involved.

Any team who had people like this would very soon find that there were no race wins or championships to celebrate, no glory to bask in, and they’d soon be out of the racing business altogether. And it’s the same with the Church. If we want the Church and our parishes churches to survive then we all have to pull our weight and work together as a team to make what we want to happen, really happen.

And this is what St Paul is driving at too. Just as all the members of a human body work together for the good of the whole body, so every member of the Church has to work together for the good of the Church. Just as all the members of a human body serve different functions, so everyone in the Church has their own part to play in serving the Church. But St Paul makes it quite clear that each member of the Church does have a particular role to play; we don’t all have the same gifts, and no one has all the gifts necessary to do all the things that are necessary. So it’s not right to expect a few people to do everything. Where is the teamwork in that, that being called a body implies?

St Paul says tells us that God wills each and every one of us in the Church to care for one another and that,

‘If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together.’

One very real cause of individual suffering in a church is the unrealistic expectation and burden that’s placed on the few people who are willing to do, by those who won’t do. And that does cause all to suffer because it inevitably means that some things that need to be done aren’t done because the few can’t possibly carry the burden that all should be sharing. And if one is honoured for what they do for the body, how can those who’ve simply left them to it and not helped, rejoice with the body? It would be like someone claiming part of the glory for a Lewis Hamilton win when all they’d done is walked around wearing the team shirt.

Amen.

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Propers for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary time 26th January 2025

Entrance Antiphon
O sing a new song to the Lord; sing to the Lord, all the earth.
In his presence are majesty and splendour, strength and honour in his holy place.

The Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
direct our actions according to your good pleasure,
that in the name of your beloved Son we may abound in good works.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

The Readings
Nehemiah 8:2-6, 8-10
Psalm: 19:8-10, 15
1 Corinthians 12:12-30
Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21

Prayer after Communion
Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that, receiving the grace by which you bring us new life,
we may always glory in your gift.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

When I was going through the selection process for ordination training, one of the priests who was advising and helping me once asked me which was my favourite Gospel. And without hesitation I said,

“John.”

But the priest then said that this was a question I was almost certain to be asked at a Selection Conference (which I was) and he advised that if I was, It’d be far better to say that one of the synoptics was my favourite rather than John. Obviously, I asked why, and he said that I’d be asked to explain why John was my favourite and the problem with doing that is that John is so full of hidden meanings that, in trying to explain what I liked about John’s Gospel, I could very easily show how little I actually understood it. So I took his advice and when I was asked that question at my Selection Conference, I ‘ummed and ahhed’ a little and eventually said,

“Mark.”

Nevertheless,  and although all the Gospels are wonderful in their own way, if I had had to choose a favourite now, it would still be John. But that priest was right in what he said about John’s Gospel; it is so full of hidden meanings that, if you try to explain what you like about the Gospel, or even about a particular part of the Gospel or story in it, it is very easy to show how much of it you don’t understand, how much of the meaning you’ve missed. And this morning’s reading is a very good example of that.

On the surface, the story of the Wedding at Cana is a simple one; Jesus is at a wedding with his mother and some of his disciples and, when the wine runs out, at the request of his mother, Jesus turns some water into wine. And at the end of the story, John tells us what it’s about:

‘This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.’

But even if that is the overall meaning of this story, and the reason John tells the story, there’s so much more going on in the way John tells it than at first meets the eye.

To begin with, we’re told that this wedding took place ‘On the third day’ . For us, as Christians, the third day immediately draws our minds to Jesus’ Resurrection. But the third day is significant in many ways in the Scriptures. Very often we find that some great revelation of God’s power, or even of God himself takes place on the third day. So in starting the story in this way, John sets the scene for the glory of God to be revealed in some way at the wedding. And given that John has already told us at the very beginning of his Gospel that Jesus is the incarnate Word of God, in this instance he perhaps intends to draw our minds to the Book of Exodus when, on the third day, God himself appeared to the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. He seems to be saying to us that, as God showed his glory on the third day then, so now, on the third day, God’s Son will show his glory too.

John then tells us about some of the people at the wedding:

‘…the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.’

It’s noticeable that John makes a distinction here. Jesus’ mother was ‘there’ whereas Jesus and his disciples were ‘invited’. At this point in the Gospel, Jesus’ ministry hadn’t really begun; all he’d done at this time was call his first disciples and Jesus’ mother, Mary, wasn’t named as one of them. So this hints to us that this is a story about faith and discipleship too. We don’t know why Mary was at the wedding, but she was simply ‘there’ whereas Jesus’ and his disciples were ‘invited’ it’s almost as though some people at the wedding were called to be there to witness what was about to happen, while others simply happened to be there when it happened. And if we look at it in this way, it helps us to make sense of what happens next.

One of the most difficult things to understand about this story is the abrupt, off-handed way that Jesus speaks to his mother. When Mary tells Jesus that the wine has run out he says,

“Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

On the face of it, that does seem like a very strange way for a son to speak to his mother. But Jesus words are very reminiscent of something we find in St Matthew’s Gospel when he drives some demons from two possessed men. The demons say to Jesus,

“What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

We know that Jesus’ ‘time’ refers to his death and Resurrection, the time when his true identity will be openly revealed to the world. Until that time, his identity is only revealed to those who have faith in him. We also know that only those with faith were given the privilege of seeing his glory, witnessing the signs he gave of his true identity. So Jesus’ question to his mother can be seen as a question about her faith. The demons were not Jesus’ disciples and so they asked what Jesus had to do with them, at this time before his glory was to be openly revealed to all? In asking Mary what her question had to do with him, in essence he’s asking her, “Why are you bringing this to me at this time when revelation is only for those who believe in me? Do you have faith in me? You’re here at this time, at this wedding, but can you be invited as my disciple? And Mary’s response is an unequivocal ‘Yes’ because she demonstrates her faith in Jesus by telling  the servants, 

“Do whatever he tells you.”

One of the ways the Church sees the Wedding at Cana is as a revelation of the new creation in Christ. And we see that in what happens next in John’s story. Jesus tells the servants to fill six stone jars with water and he then turns the water into wine. In other words, he creates something new from the water. And this mirrors what we read in the creation story in the Book of Genesis;

‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.’

We’re not told that God created the heavens and the earth from nothing, but from ‘the waters’. God takes the waters and gives them new form. And it was a better form because when he looked on what he’d created,

‘God saw that it was good’.

We know from the Scriptures than wine was seen as something good too. It was seen something given by God as a sign of his goodness and favour towards us, something to gladden men’s hearts, as it says in Psalm 104. So wine was part of the goodness of God’s creation. But John tells us that the wine that Jesus created from the water at the Wedding in Cana was better than the wine that people had already drunk. So what John seems to be saying here is that the new creation in Christ isn’t only new and good, it’s better than what was before. He could be hinting here that Christ is ushering in the new creation prophesied by Isaiah, but he could also be speaking about the Church.

In his Second Letter to the Corinthians, St Paul speaks about Christ’s disciples as a ‘new creation’. He says,

‘…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’

The Church is the people of this new creation. And we see so much of the Church in St John’s telling of the Wedding at Cana. Water for the baptism through which we become members of the new creation. Christ himself, the incarnate Word of God who reveals himself to us in church through our reading of the Scriptures and gives himself to us under the form of the bread of Holy Communion. And wine which we receive in the sacrament as the blood of Christ. As the first verse of the hymn puts it,

The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord.
She is His new creation by water and the Word.
From heaven, He came and sought her, to be His holy bride.
With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.

If we think about those words in the light of this morning’s Gospel reading, we find so much imagery in them that connects with St John’s telling of the story of the Wedding at Cana. And we find so much more in that story if we scratch beneath the surface and try to understand what John is trying to say and to tell us through the story.

I don’t know how many of you would also say that St John’s Gospel is your favourite, perhaps not many of you because I know it isn’t the easiest to read and it is hard to understand in places. But even if you do find it difficult, don’t give up on it: stick with it and try to get your heads round it. John doesn’t always make that easy but if you can do it, you will find it well worth the effort because you’ll find so much hidden in its depths that is good, and new to you, that isn’t always apparent if you just hover over its surface.

Amen.

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Propers for the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, 19th January 2025

Entrance Antiphon
All the earth shall bow down before you, O God, and shall sing to you,
shall sing to your name, O Most High!

The Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
who governs all things, both in heaven and earth,
mercifully hear the pleading of your people and bestow your peace on our times.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

The Readings
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm: 96:1-3, 7-10
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
John 2:1-12

Post Communion
Pour on us, O Lord, the Spirit of your love,
and in your kindness make those you have nourished by this heavenly Bread,
one in mind and heart.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Of all the things that we have to endure as Christians, perhaps the most tiresome is having to listen to people telling us that you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. Sometimes that happens when we’re trying to talk to someone about our faith, and perhaps especially when we’re asking them to come to church, but it can happen too when we’re simply accosted by someone who just wants to spout off about what they see as the faults of the Church or of individual members of the Church. I’m sure it’s something we’ve all had to endure at times and I’m sure we all know people who espouse that view. But when someone tells us that you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian, what can we say to them to in answer, to counter that opinion?

Let me start by saying that I don’t think there’s very much you can say to them that’s going to change their mind. If we think about the statement ‘You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian’, it reveals a few things about the people who say it. First of all it shows that they believe that they are Christians, because someone of another faith or an atheist, would have no reason whatsoever to speak about being a Christian at all would they. It also reveals that the person speaking has made a conscious decision not to go to church, in effect, they’ve chosen not to join with other Christians in prayer and worship. But it also shows that the person speaking thinks that they know better than you, or anyone else who thinks that being a Christian does involve going to church. And, as I’m sure we all know, you can’t argue or in most cases even have a sensible discussion with a ‘know-all’, let alone get them to change their mind because they won’t accept that they can ever be wrong.

But even if we can’t get those who think you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian to change their minds, what we mustn’t ever do is allow them to change our minds. We mustn’t ever let them convince us that they’re right because they’re not: they’re completely wrong. In fact, I would say that someone who’s decided that they don’t have to go to church to be a Christian, isn’t a Christian at all. That doesn’t mean to say they’re not good people, but they’re not Christians. I want to make it clear that I’m talking here about people who’ve made a conscious decision not to come to church because they think that they don’t need to. I’m not talking about people who want to come to church and would come to church if they could but who can’t for some reason. I’m speaking about those who could but won’t and won’t simply because they think they don’t need to. And I say that they are not Christians because they’ve freely chosen not to follow the example of Christ, to ignore his teachings and commands and, to all intents and purposes, say that Christ was wrong and that they know better than him. That’s a very strong thing to say and I’m sure a lot of people won’t like me saying it, but I think it is a justifiable statement, and we can see something of why in the story of Jesus’ baptism.

This morning, we read St Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism which follows St Mark’s account very closely. But in St Matthew’s account we read this:

‘…Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.”’

Righteousness is what’s right in God’s eyes so fulfilling all righteousness is doing all that God requires of us and for Jesus that included being baptised. We have to remember that John’s was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. Those who went to John were being baptised to show their sorrow for sin and their commitment to turn from sin so that they could be forgiven by God. And John was right, Jesus had no need for that kind of baptism. But nevertheless Jesus allowed John to baptise him because it was what God required of people and so it was the righteous  thing to do.

But how many people think they can call themselves Christians, followers and imitators of Christ, whilst at the same time only doing what’s right in their own eyes? But when someone thinks that they’re being a Christian simply by doing what they think is right, aren’t they, in effect, saying that their eyes are God’s eyes? Aren’t they then guilty of the same blind self-righteousness that Jesus was so critical of in the Pharisees?

For many people, the most beautiful expression of Jesus’ teaching, of what God requires of us if we’re to fulfil all righteousness, is found in The Beatitudes. And the very first line of that teaching is,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…”

Blessed are the poor in spirit, the humble, those who know and accept their need of God. Not the proud and self-righteous, those who think that they know better than the rest, who know it all because they see and understand better than anyone else. Jesus said of people like this,

“If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see’, your guilt remains.”

He called them ‘blind guides’ and warned us not to follow them because,

“…if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

So we can’t allow the blind guides of the ‘You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian’ brigade to lead us astray. And if we call ourselves Christians and think we don’t need to go to church, we have gone astray.

Jesus wasn’t a Christian; he was a Jew. But our Christian faith is founded on his teaching and example, teaching and example that are founded on his faith as a Jew. Ultimately, they’re founded on the law of Moses. At his baptism Jesus said it was right to fulfil all righteousness, to do everything that God requires of us. He also said that he’d come to fulfil the law. So fulfilling the law and doing all that God wants us to do amounts to the same thing. And so we can see Jesus’ whole life, as a fulfilment of what God requires of us. His teaching tells us how to fulfil all righteousness, and his example shows us how to fulfil all righteousness. And we know that Jesus example was to join with others of his faith in public prayer and worship. We read that in the Gospels;

‘…he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day…’

Jesus knew better than anyone what it means to do what God requires. He knew better than anyone what it means to live a life that’s pleasing to God. And he went to the synagogue every sabbath. And if this was Jesus’ custom, it must also be the custom for anyone who wants to be his disciple, his follower. For Jesus, the place where the faithful met for public prayer and worship was the synagogue. For us, for his followers, for Christians, it’s in church. So coming to church is something Christians must do because if we don’t, we’re not following Christ’s example. And for those who say they don’t need to come to church to be a Christian, they are quite deliberately not following his example so how can they be Christians? Or do they think they know better than Christ himself?

Many would no doubt say what they mean is, that you can be a good person, a loving neighbour, without coming to church. Well yes, you can. But being a good person doesn’t automatically make you a Christian. Following the teaching and example of Christ is what makes you a Christian. And if Christ’s example of attending the synagogue isn’t enough to convince someone of the need to come to church in order to be a Christian, the fact that there’s a Church at all should seal the deal. If the Church wasn’t necessary, why did Christ bother to call it into being at all?

Strictly speaking, ‘Church’ is a poor translation of what Jesus called into being. The word ‘church’ comes from the Greek kuriakon, something dedicated to the Lord. What Christ called into being is the Ecclesia which means ‘those who are called out’. It’s a word that refers to an assembly of people, not to individuals. And we can’t be part of an assembly if we don’t join together with what the rest of the assembly is doing can we? So how can we be part of the people Christ called to be his disciples and apostles if we cut ourselves off from that people by refusing to meet with those people in prayer and worship? The answer, quite simply, is that we can’t. If we want to be part of the Church, the Ecclesia that Christ called into being and called to himself, we have to join in with what the Church is doing, and that includes coming together in church for public prayer and worship. We can’t call ourselves Christians if we cut ourselves off from the assembly of the Church and so neither can we call ourselves Christians if we don’t come to church to be part of the assembly of the Church.

So what can we say when someone tells us that you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian? Well, you could try explaining some of these things to them to help explain to them why they’re wrong. They might listen, but I doubt it. But even if you don’t want to do that for risk of getting into an argument with them about it, or you do try and they won’t listen, at least you’ll know why they’re wrong and you’ll have good reasons for not allowing them to convince you that it’s you who’s got it wrong and leading you astray and away from church and the Church.  

Amen.

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Propers for The Baptism of the Lord, 12th January 2025

Entrance Antiphon
After the Lord was baptised, the heavens were opened,
and the Spirit descended upon him  like a dove,
and the voice of the Father thundered: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

The Collect
Almighty and ever-living God,
who, when Christ had been baptised in the River Jordan,
and as the Holy Spirit descended upon him,
solemnly declared him your beloved Son,
grant that your children by adoption,
reborn of water and the Holy Spirit,
may always be well pleasing to you.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
Amen.

The Readings
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
Psalm: 104:1-4, 24-25, 27-30
Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-7
Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

Post Communion
Nourished with these sacred gifts,
we humbly entreat your mercy, O Lord,
that, faithfully listening to your Only Begotten Son,
we may be your children in name and in truth.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.