What to have faith in

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What to have faith in

Faith2 – What gives faith?

Texts:

Exodus 3.1-6; 13-14

Matthew 16.13-20

There was a wonderful cartoon in the ‘Life and Work’ recently, that showed two Martians sitting in the back of a church. Typically they are depicted as wee green men with TV aerials sticking out their heads. And one is saying to the other as the collection plate is going round – it is traditional to put in a button.

Well, just imagine, I suddenly say to you I have just seen two Martian sitting at the back our church. Well, I suspect you might be slightly surprised to say the least. Yet I could now ask you - what simple thing would make you believe me?

Let’s come back to that puzzle in a minute. But for the moment we need to review what we discussed last week in our first sermon on faith. For I am sure you remember we concluded we wanted to have faith because of the promises of God to us. The promise to give us meaning in the middle of an often meaningless world and mindless age; the promise to have the stability of character and relationship that will allow us be the person we want to be; above all, the promise of the joy of living what life ought to be. The life made complete in Christ.

Yet the nagging question remains – what makes me believe that this fullness exists? What convinces us that God’s promises are real? Well, back to our Martians! The one thing that would help you believe my startling claim about extraterrestrial visitors would be that if you had seen them too. So to - it is with trusting God’s promises. We trust God only when we encounter God for ourselves. We can have faith only when we encounter the source and object and guarantor of that faith

Yet such encounters cannot be pre-programmed. For these encounters are unpredicted, astonishing even as fearful as any science fiction. However, when they do occur they are far more overpowering. Take that out of the blue encounter that Moses had.

Read now Exodus 3.1-6; 13-14

Now the Bible is many things to many people. Indeed the spectrum of opinion stretches from those who see it as inerrant word of God, each word as it were dictated and uniquely protected by the divine, through to an atheistic view of it being a collected literary work of a certain merit. But whatever the view expressed we can at least agree it is a catalogue of perceived encounters. And we as Christians would say encounters with a supreme yet loving God. However, throughout its many pages one story of encounter stands out.

Please read about someone who realised that he was staring the ultimate encounter in the face at Matthew 16.13-20.

Of course, this morning we are not faced with aliens from the Red Planet but we are faced with a conundrum! Because if encounters with God are so crucial to faith yet unpredictable – how can we be certain we will meet God and believe. Well, God undoubtedly chooses his time to bestow the gift of faith. Nevertheless, encounters with the promising God are happening all the time and to all sorts of people in all sorts of places. And with a bit of thought we can see patterns emerging as to where best to meet up with the divine; places and modes of mind indeed where we can start our quest for these life enhancing experiences.

And for that reason, maybe, on the form one fills out for initial application to enter the ministry you are asked to name, after the bible, the most influential book upon your faith. To me it was Gerard Hughes – God of Surprises. Now there is much in it - worth reading. But one story stands relevant to exploration of our faith being based on encounter. For it tells of the author staying with friends who were having a room decorated by a Scots unemployed painter inevitably referred to as Jock. It appears that when the man was working his conversation was limited to ayes and hmms. But one evening Hughes and the decorator got on the chat about North Wales where Jock had had a recent holiday. Suddenly he said – Do you know what I found myself doing? I used to wander the moors with my dog. Then I would sit and realise that the sea was affie big and a felt affie wee but I wis happy. Jock, however, concluded that if his mates at the pub knew he had a such a spiritual encounter – they’d think him daft.

Here then is a reminder that encounter often occurs in quiet, contemplative and the beautiful moments of life; those moments of genuine wonder in the wilderness; those times in the hills and the glens when a voice speaks out of the natural in a whole unexpected way. Even more so, when someone beyond ourselves comes in the bodily pause and the silent place of mind and the scared place of Spirit.

This first pattern of encounters could be gathered together by the catch biblical phrase - Be still and know that I am God. For then we know the one who simply is I am who I am.

Another pattern to encounters that engender a life of faith is the meeting of God in others. One of the people who was, unknowingly, instrumental in me standing in this pulpit today was a Naval Reserve Chaplain I met over thirty year ago. Now as a Roman Catholic missionary in Africa he was caught up in the Nigerian Civil War; a conflict that still is remembered by the chilling name of the break away region – Biafra. Frank later recalled one day he was rescuing nuns and patients from a village hospital under fire from Federal Nigerian MIGs. He remembers being surprised by the strafing guns on the aircrafts wings not shooting straight ahead but converging in cone that was crossing the ground towards him. Moments later he was behind a wall taking cover and trying get one his perpetual french cigarettes out of its packet when a fellow and equally shaken rescuer joked – you know, smoking is dangerous to your health!

Now that tale and others even more harrowing set off in me the questions- of why would anyone take such risks for people who were not his own, aliens who lived such a different life from him and whose war was not his? In truth, what kind of faith was I meeting face to face? And the asking of these questions moved me to encounter God for myself. In other words, we can encounter God in and through others; the quiet saints around us; the often ordinary people who allowed their lives to be what they ought to be. And that is lives which are sacred places for God footsteps in another’s sand.

This second pattern of encounter then could be put into a pigeon-hole marked – know when you are near the sacred. Or empirically, know others who are as holy as God wants them to be.

I am not sure if you have been following the issue that has been exercising the minds of the musical cognoscenti this week. And it is whether Monday Night’s Prom should have featured Michael Ball and songs from musical theatre. Well, I leave it you to fight that one out over Sunday lunch. Yet he sang one piece from Jesus Christ Superstar that has always opened the door wide for encounter for me.

It is the song that Jesus sings in Gentleman and I’ll let its lyrics tell their own story. For it starts expressing what so often we feel on life’s road and they go;

I only want to say
If there is a way
Take this cup away from me
For I don't want to taste its poison
Feel it burn me,
I have changed I'm not as sure
As when we started
Then I was inspired
Now I'm sad and tired
Listen surely I've exceeded
Expectations
Tried for three years
Seems like thirty
Could you ask as much
From any other man?

But if I die
See the saga through
Would I be more noticed
Than I ever was before?

Would the things I've said and done
Matter any more?

I'd have to know
I'd have to know my Lord
I'd have to know...

But then the song gets darker still, for it moves into that hunger for further and reaffirming encounter that every life of faith seems destined to suffer. Because the next lyrics are:

Can you show me now
That I would not be killed in vain?
Show me just a little
Of your omnipresent brain
Show me there's a reason
For your wanting me to die
You're far too keen on where and how
But not so hot on why…..

Finally, we come to the point of Christ’s faith; a faith that we can only sense in the quiet places; a faith we can only glimpse in others; a faith that goes on when nothing absolutely can be seen ahead: Now Jesus sings out to an empty sky:

Alright I'll die!
Just watch me die!
See how, see how I die!
Oh, just watch me die!

Then I was inspired
Now I'm sad and tired
After all I've tried for three years
Seems like ninety
Why then am I scared
To finish what I started
What you started
I didn't start it
God thy will is hard
But you hold every card
I will drink your cup of poison
Nail me to your cross and break me
Bleed me, beat me
Kill me, take me now
Before I change my mind

Who then can doubt that the greatest pattern of encounter is in that story; that story of an itinerant carpenter who ministered merely for three years changing lives as he went; that story of he who gave himself up willingly in literally blind faith and changed the world; that story of the living man of Galilee who will change you and me if we let him.

Here then is the last category of encounter – encounter brought about by that great narrative of the ‘I am’ who walked in darkness so that we need not; the ‘I am’ who marks out the way more clearly and the ‘I am’ of faith who makes God visible to us so that we can better believe.

Here then is the task of faith for each of us individually and collectively as a congregation for the week ahead. And it is to ever strive for sacred space in our lives for that next encounter with he who is beyond us; it is to work hard at the sacred life that will allow others to encounter God through us and it is to interact once more with the story of Christ; that alien story that intrigues the mind; moves the heart and injects the spirit of certainty into what we cannot yet see; that counter-intuitive story which demands our answer to Gethsemane’s question. And the addictive story that provides the reply to who do you say I am? – you are my promise and my reward – you are my guide and saviour – in all faith - you are the son of the living God.

Amen

The following talks are available:

Primary School

- Moral behaviour

- World Concerns

- Basic Christian concepts

Secondary School

Be still

There is an old Chinese curse which is may you live in interesting times. Well,

that is certainly true for the times of religion. For even ten years ago, ministers

and vicars were portrayed as a mix of the vicar of Dibley and father Ted with

a few Harry Enfield impressions thrown in.

At best the local newspaper showed some pastor or priest doing a UK cycle ride

for the AIDs in Africa. But today everything is different – everything is more

interesting.

For now there is hardly a news headline today that does mention religion. In

other words, for the papers, radio and TV the undoubted impact of religion on

all our lives is big business.

However, in order to sell their products they must concentrate on the sensational, the extremes and often the least representative.

So much so, that in all their chatter, we can easily miss something –

something more important – something more peaceful.

And that is what God is saying.

For scripture held scared by Muslims, Christians and Jews tells us:

Be still and know that I am God

For I am your refuge

and your strength

Therefore do not fear because I am always with you Let us then give a few

moments today to listen less to the boring noise and more for the interesting

voice of God.

Thank you for listening.

Ann Frank

Well, next Sunday is Remembrance Day. Yet as none of us lived through the Second World War,

it may be difficult to know exactly what we should be remembering.

And if that is problem than the solution may be

to think of the experience of just one person. Take the experience of a girl about your age

called Anne Frank.

She was Jewish and as her home country of Holland had been invaded by people who wanted to kill her,

she and her family hid in an attic. Throughout her time in hiding, she kept a diary. And in her last entry,

she wrote – I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness and I hear the ever approaching

thunder which will destroy us to. I can feel the suffering of millions, yet if I look up into the heavens I think

it will come out all right. For in the end, people are really good at heart. In the meantime, I must uphold my                                           ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.

                        Sadly, she was unable to carry out those ideals for less than a month later her family’s hiding place was                               betrayed and she was to die in a concentration camp.

                        So this Remembrance Day, if we can think of nothing else may we remember Ann’s ideals. To remember

her hope that peace and tolerance will always come about through people’s goodness.

For when we do, they will not just be a remembered, but they will live again.

Thank you for listening

Faith - Illustrates meaning of having trust in God.

Christ as friend - Qualities of Christ’s friendship with us.

Why come to Church - compares strength of teams with church.

God finding you - The desire of God to find and call anyone

The Fourth Wise Man - story about helping others and giving

Faith - What it means

Aim: To illustrate what it means to have faith in God using a game about trust.

Materials: Blindfold; 3 pots of different flavoured Jams; 3 teaspoons

Talk

Start by asking some simple questions such as:

Where did you go on holiday?

How did you get there?

Did you eat something different there?

Then say you have a game about eating - tasting really!

Don’t worry there are nice - trust me!

(Get three volunteers out and blindfold them and ask then to name what the jam’s flavour.)

At the end, thank the volunteers for playing and trusting you not to give them something nasty tasting or even dangerous.

But we trust people all the time - mums & dads to drive us on holiday; airliner pilots to fly us on holiday and boat crews to get us safely on holiday. We also trust people in hotels and restaurants to cook us food safely.

And exactly like the trust we should have in God. The trust to:

- Give us things that are good for us.

- Get us to where we should go safely

- Help us to enjoy ourselves on the journey and when we get there

But we often use a different word for this trust - we often call that trust faith!

Follow-on hymn can be - Lord, into your hands

The Nature of Jesus’ Friendship

Bible Story: Zecchaeus

Generation Game

a. Pick a partner across the generation Gap

b. Ask questions and find the answers with the other hearing music or outside room

c. Then ask same questions of other partner and score

d. Message

i. We show friendship by knowing each other because

1. We are interested in each other

2. We enjoy the each others company

3. We like and even love each other

ii. Therefore as Jesus knows all about Zecchaeus and us, he is our friend because:

1. He shows he is interested what we would like to do

2. He wants to come into our lives and help us be what we can be

3. He loves us not just as we are what we will be.

iii. Possible questions for the game:

What is her/his favourite food

What is her/his favourite TV programme

Last holiday

Biggest day in their lives

What age

When last as the pictures

Where born

Favourite colour

Favourite song

Washes hands under running water or in basin

Prefers rice or pasta

Favourite hobby

Least liked day

Month of birthday

Favourite book

Likes to get up early or late

Favourite first name

Favourite month

Best liked ice cream flavour

Christians Stronger together

Start by asking what the children’s favourite sport is (either to play or watch)

- Ask how many in their team

- Or how many they play against.

Tell them there aren’t many sports that you play alone and it’s more fun to be in a team.

Also another reason:

Game:

Get on child to break a piece of wool then try to pull apart a sock.

Break a cocktail stick then try with a bunch held together with a band

Tear a sheet of paper then try with a telephone directory.

Explain that alone we are weaker and as a team we are stronger.

That’s why we come to church to be a team and therefore stronger:

- Stronger to do what God wants

- Stronger to not to do what God doesn’t want us to do

- Also its more fun.

God finding you

Start by asking who uses a computer at home or in school.

Remind children how hard it is to find some things on a computer or INTERNET.

Illustrate the point by showing them a word search puzzle you have made up using your computer

(a number of sites will generate a letter grid for you including a list of your words)

But people can hid themselves too

( you can include a brief game of hid and seek at this point)

But wherever you hid -

God will find you and call to you.

All you need to do is answer him

and then there will be no need to hid anymore.

Good Morning

One of my few calls

to fame

is that I saw

the initial episode

of Dr Who.

That was when

it was first on TV

over forty years ago.

It was in very grainy

black & white

and focussed almost entirely on

time travel.

Well, I have to say

I haven’t seen

much of the

Dr Who super glossy remakes

but the idea

of moving back and forward

in time

has always

fascinated humans.

For if we could go back

not only would we be there

at the great events of history

but we could put right

all the things

that went wrong.

It is a shame then

that time travel

is an impossible dream.

Impossible we think,

Because surely,

God made time

to go only

in one direction.

But has that

always been true?

Take the story of Easter.

A story when a man

Told us all

how with God

we could put right

all the things that are wrong.

The story of this man

being killed on a cross

by those who opposed him.

A story of him

coming back to life

To show that

he was right

Now if God had not

reversed time,

how did Jesus

come back to life

after he was crucified?

And God did that

once before,

then he’ll probably do it again.

There then is

an interesting thought

for Easter time.

Thanks for listening

I think we are all still shocked at the death of 4 fire-fighters on Friday night at a factory south of Birmingham. A sadness that is increased somehow by knowing that some of those brave men were part-timers. In other words, they gave up their spare time to serve their community and keep it safe. No wonder then that their fire stations have a carpet of flowers outside to say thank you.

Well, this weekend we have a chance to say thank you to more brave men and women who were killed. This time they did not go out to fight building fires but the flames of ideas that utterly devalued humanity. Ideas that so enflamed people that what they wanted was more important than another’s right to live. As a result our country found itself at war.

And just the same as the Warwickshire firemen, those men and women who often just a few years older than yourselves, put aside their own plans and careers for the safety of their community.; a community that we are still part of today; a community indeed that shows its gratitude for its freedom with a flower. For that is the only purpose and gift of the poppy of remembrance..

There was a piece

on the radio yesterday

about the strangeness

of some laws.

It appears, for example,

that is illegal

in Minnesota

for barbers to cut off

the ears

of their customers.

Maybe not surprising-

that one.

But the Canadian law

forbidding the feeding

of alcohol

to mooses and elks

seems a bit more obscure.

However, the brand new law

of one of our neighbours

in Europe

banning the wearing

of religious symbols

to school

is not obscure

in its purpose.

It seems to suggest

that everyone should be

forced to appear

the same.

Or at least,

appear to believe

the same.

Yet laws cannot

or should not

attempt to achieve that.

For in the end,

we cannot only all believe

in the same sort things

because of

a common even bigger vision.

The vision, say,

that we Christians believe

was given

to the world

at Christmas.

The vision of

peace on earth.

And the only law

That will bring that about-

is the one

that whatever our faith –

we should all willingly

obey each day.

The law that demands

we show

tolerance and

non violent goodwill

to all humanity.

Thank you for listening

and a merry Christmas

when it comes.

Prayers for Schools

Rainbow News

Voucher collection

Our Rainbows would like to say a big thank you to those that posted Sainsbury’s Active vouchers in their collection box last year. They collected enough to get a parachute which the Rainbows love playing with. They are collecting the vouchers again this year and would really appreciate any being posted in our box which will be situated in the small hall. We are hoping to collect enough for some dance scarves and pom-poms.

New Members

Also, we have a few spaces available at Rainbows at the moment, so if anyone knows of girls aged 5 or 6 years old who'd like to come and join in the fun on Friday evenings from 6.15 to 7.30 then please telephone the Church Office (01382 732094) for contact details. Or if they're not 5 yet, maybe they'd like to join the waiting list.

St Luke’s Brownies

Please phone the Church Office (01382 732094) for contact details for St Luke’s Brownies.

Crisis 1

Texts:

Genesis 1.26-2. 1

Matthew 6.19-27

There are many cares,

concerns and worries

in this world.

But until last year,

our bank folding

was not really one of them.

Yet last October

I am told

we were literally hours away from the cash machines

not paying out,

cheques bouncing

and our bank balances

being no more than ink

on paper.

Well as we know

that global financial crises

has now turned

into a monumental hang over.

For, as the press

daily points out

we will owe

a huge national debt

because of banks

for many years to come.

No wonder then

the Bishop of London

a few weeks back remarked - we have mortgaged

not just our own future

but our children's as well.

Yet, in many ways

we have been doing

that a long time

before the tsunami

of toxic personal

and corporate debt

hit our economic shores.

Because, since the end

of Second World War,

our society

has been having a bit of a ball.

With the result that

the earth's resources

are diminishing

and our unhealthy outputs

have been rising.

That is why

with all the clarity of vision

of the youth –

a pop singer commented

on her hit single

last year

by saying

she felt like

a weapon of mass consumption.

No surprise then

that her song was called

‘The fear’.

And so in the run up

to our harvest thanksgiving,

I want to look

at some of themes

raised the current crisis

and how we might gather

in a better crop for the future.

Now I speak

this morning

fully aware

that politicians

try to give us hope

by talking about sustainability.

By that

they mean

constructing the future

on the pillars

of a global economy

that is both ethical

and respects the planetary environment.

All laudible stuff you say.

However, deep down

we know

these high flown ideals

do not address

the root cause

of our problems.

Since the current economic crisis

is deeply linked

to everyone

expecting happiness

in objects alone;

the things we possess,

the things we want to possess and the things

we can never hope to possess but still thirst after.

And as an outcome

there is no room left over

for what truly brings contentment.

How heartbreaking is it then when

a British school class

was asked last week –

what they wanted most in life and the majority answered – win the lottery.

Nevertheless,

the myth that

more money would automatically make us

happier

is being challenged today

across the whole

of western civilisation.

That is why

the psychologist Oliver James claims to have isolated

the social virus

‘Affluenza’.

This being a nasty little bug

that sucks us into

an addictive cycle

of believing that buying

more stuff

will make us happier,

whereas it simply

leaves us

wanting more.

So, if we have

a context of creation

in crisis

caused by humanity

having the wrong values - where then lies the better purpose?

Indeed, in this context –

what does our Christian faith have to offer?

Put bluntly,

recognising that too often

in the churches

have simply mimicked

the values of wider society, where should we be different?

Well it should all start

with what Claire

talked of

so well about last week.

It is should all start

with what we have

here in this room.

It should all start

with what we heard of

in our bible lessons of today.

Because the panacea

to this world’s needs

is summed up

in one word alone –

the word –

relationship.

Take our Old Testament reading.

In the simple story

of the creation and Eden

we have all the wonder,

beauty and opportunities

of our relationship with God.

Not a link

based on obedience

or having the right things

or even of sucking up.

Instead it is a relating

based on love,

on mutual respect

and on our responsibilities

as co-owners of creation.

Pretty heady thoughts –

but it is all there.

For did we not read;

Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air

and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

And God saw all that he had made – and it was very good!

Here then

are the better pillars

to build our future upon.

And they are God,

people and planet.

Since it is these interrelationships only

that confer the strength

to weather any storm

and bring the current crisis

into perspective.

Indeed, Jesus

in his teaching

builds further

on the importance

of these relationships.

For, after all,

the concerns of Christ’s time would be little different

from our own.

They would be food,

clothing,

housing

and saving for a rainy day

-since these are universal human worries.

And so, in Matthew,

we hear that Christ

did not dismiss

our material necessities

as unimportant.

Far from it!

However,

he goes to say that

more is required

to live happy,

fulfilled and fulfilling lives.

And that is why

he starts out

by saying something

a bit surprising:

for he suggests

that we become ornithologists and botanists.

Because,

by looking

at God’s relationship

with his creation –

at birds and at flowers –

he is pointing out

that if God has sustained

this planet

and all its inhabitants

up until now,

why do you think

you live

in such special times

that will all change?

Jesus too looks

at the pillar

of our relationship with God.

It is there in the words –

“Do not store up

for yourselves

treasures on earth

but store up

for yourselves

treasures in heaven.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”

By that he is really saying –

our possessions

can easily take God’s place

in our lives.

They can become objects

of our false worship

and erroneous treasuring.

And it is this idolatry

that distorts

our view of God

and destroys our sense

of his providing for us.

No wonder he warns

that if the eye is bad

then the body

is full of darkness.

Finally, Christ turns

to on our relationship

with others

and the planet.

And there

he gives warning

we must guard

against working

for the wrong master.

We must not think

of turning creation

into an inventory of commodities and people

into units of production.

We must caution others

about worshipping economic growth and prosperity,

rather than worshipping God.

And we must

with every fibre

of our being bear

witness to the truth

that ultimate human happiness lies

not balancing economic,

social and environmental sustainability.

Instead it is founded

on God’s Kingdom –

its rule and its values –

its word and its relationships – its love and its mutual supplying.

So this harvest season,

let us take our minds off

our preoccupation

with tomorrow’s worries

and deepen our relationship with Jesus.

Let us rediscover

his ways

to what is really important.

And let us be open afresh

to our relationships

with all people

and all creation –

especially the world’s poor, fragile and vulnerable.

Since to do so

is to luxuriate

in what God

has already given us.

It is to rediscover hope,

faith and certainty

in the midst of apparent crisis.

And it is to acknowledge

that the fruits of relationship may not extend

our bank balances

but they will

make each of life’s hours

truly worth spending.

Amen

Offering

HYMN…………..

Great treats on the Internet are things web cameras. Now if you are not a computer geek, you may know nothing about so called webcams. But people up them up near famous buildings, busy city centres or beauty spots so as to give the world a free view of them at anytime. Now my favourite is just outside York Minister’s great doors. Well, it was there that Rowan Williams gave the world another view of itself earlier this year. For he said - ecological questions are increasingly being defined as issues of justice … justice for those who will succeed us to this planet - justice to our children and grandchildren.

As so as we come to the penultimate look at our globe in Crisis in this early 21st century we must look into the future. We also must have a commitment for the future. And we must hand on something viable to those who will live in that future.

Yet the gateway to all futures is this present instant. And what then is our planet wide webcam showing us here and now. Well, it might well show us this week’s news. For, perhaps, you heard about the opening of the great North East Passage? Now for centuries marine explorers have tried to navigate across the top of Scandinavia and then Russia to the pacific beyond. However they have all failed due to arctic ice. In fact, in 1553 the British voyager Sir Hugh Willoughby died attempting to pioneer this route. However, this week the two German ships arrived in a Siberian port having left South Korea in late July with their eventual destination being Holland. And when they arrive they will have done something impossible since the last time this channel was thought to be open and that was 5000 to 7000 years ago. Needless to say, it is now possible only due to global warming melting the ice cap. All rather reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s song:

Come gather round people wherever you roam

And admit that the waters around you have grown

And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone

If your time to you is worth saving

Then you'd better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone

For the times, they are a-changin'

So if we like it or not – the times are a-changin – how then do we as Christians change them to a better compass heading?

Back to York Minister; for if you know that sacred edifice well – you will also know that to one side of it is a statue of Constantine the Great. And who he? – none other than the creator of not the world wide web but the world wide church.

Let me explain!

About 300 AD this Roman General Constantine left his garrison in Britain to fight for his claim to be the Emperor. The night before the crucial battle he proclaimed Christ. In victory he was true to his word and as a result, Christianity inherited the Roman Empire. Constantine therefore changed the world for Christ and it was never the same again.

Today we too have slim window of opportunity to help change the world for Christ and the generations to come. We have the chance to put into practice proverbs great wisdom when it said:

A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children,

but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.

We have the chance to make amends for the awful statistics of suffering behind - a poor man's field may produce abundant food, but injustice sweeps it away.

We indeed have the chance to confer on our children and their children the fruits of truly grasping - hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

A divinity student once rewrote scripture like this:: "And Jesus spake unto Peter saying 'Who do men say that I am?' And Peter answered, 'Thou art, according to Paul Tillich, the very ground of our being. Thou art Emmanuel Kant's deontological categorical imperative. Thou art the man of the Eschaton, the ultimately determinative one!' And Jesus looked at Peter and saith, 'What?'

Well today, in the midst of the Lehmann brother catalysed, carbon fuelled, super-computer predicted crisis that story strangely has something to tell us. And that is we need simplicity. For we need to adopt at this very moment a child like simplicity. We need to put aside bamboozlement which leads only to procrastination and hear again Matthew’s gospel words; Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in.

Put another way, we must as Christians adopt a child like expectation of the future, a child like hunger for the future and a child like determination of a better future.

Or in a nutshell – we need to take decisive yet simple actions now.

For example we could all make a list of our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or children within our church. Then we could pray for each of them, imagining the world they are growing up in, and recommitting ourselves to giving them a better world.

We could also remember that Martin Luther said "If I knew Christ was to return tomorrow, I would still plant a tree today." By that he meant that planting trees can be a sign of hope for future generations - an investment that will produce fruit in decades to come. Let us, as active members of the Church community, work together to plant either real or metaphorical trees for the future. Indeed let us be imaginative in the communal activities which we offer simply in the service of Jesus to sustain the tree of life upon an endangered planet.

Finally, we can plainly let our political representatives and leaders know that climate change is important to us. In other words, let us keep the pressure up on world leaders to face up to the greatest challenge to humanity since the last ice age; since what we do today will not only effect the next generation but all generations ever to come.

Well, next week we offer our heartfelt thanksgiving for all of God’s bounteousness in our Harvest Festival. Quite rightly that will be an all-age celebration. And so as we ponder on the final part of Bob Dylan’s song what else can we do than resolve to ensure that our children have every cause to celebrate with us.

Because in the rapidly changing world of the 60’s, Bob Dylan saw the need for change and his part in it by singing;

Come mothers and fathers all over the land

And don't criticize what you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command

Your old road is rapidly aging

Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand

For the times they are a-changin'

The line, it is drawn, the curse, it is cast

The slow one will later be fast

And the present now will soon be the past

The order is rapidly fading

The first one now will later be last

For the times, they are a-changin'