Words for Worship

Ministry Today

Conducting God

Texts:

Exodus 20.1-19

Matt 5.13-20

 

I don’t know

if you have been following

the new series

by Andrew Marr

called Britain from above.

 

In it, we have seen

a whole series of aerial views

of these islands

that define how we live today.  

 

We see

the apparently random movement

of children after school;

the journeys made

by security vans

carrying the nation’s cash

and the rapid replacement

of factories with shopping complexes.

 

Last Sunday we saw

an overhead photograph

of Heathrow Airport

with its familiar Star arrangement

of runways.

 

Yet if you had not seen

such a photo,

I defy anyone

to draw the airport’s lay out

simply from experiencing it

on the ground.

 

For when we are at zero feet

we are too busy

finding our bags,

navigating the corridors

and avoiding the on-rush of people

to worry about what

the whole structure looks like.

 

And that -in a way –

is like life.

 

For when we are fully engaged

in the normal pressures

of living

we rarely have sufficient overview

to understand the ways ahead.

 

Well few of us

have the luxury

of aerial photographs

of our journeys.

 

However, invariably

we have a very useful alternative –

and that is a map.

 

And that is also

the function of

the Ten Commandments.

 

For they provide a diagram

that points out routes

through problems

and gives warning

of any dead-ends that lie ahead.

 

May be even better,

these commandments

map out the way

to unimagined destinations

that are still beyond

our sight.

 

For this summary of God’s law

indeed

offers a fail-safe plan

to finding life beyond existence

on this overcrowded planet.

 

Therefore over the next few weeks

I want to explore

this ancient text

and find out

what a new view of it

can give

to the hard work of living today.

 

Actually the ten commandments

are sometimes called the Decalogue.

 

 And it was on researching

the Decalogue

for today’s sermon,

I was stunned

to discover that

its essence is law too

for all of the world’s religions.

 

In fact, these

apparently universal commands

are recorded and demanded

by the scared writings of Islam,

Hinduism, Buddhism

and Sikhism.

 

Yet with a bit of thought,

we can see why this must be.

 

For, I don’t know

if you have been following

the TV series maestro.

 

In it, a group of personalities

have to learn

to be orchestral conductors

with the best one

appearing at

the last night of the Proms.

 

And these programmes

make very clear,

that it is the conductor

- through his commands alone

that shapes the sound,

balances

the individual instrumental voices

and sometimes

even just keeps the music going!

 

And so too it is with

the ten commandments.

 

For they are

the most basic instructions

that God

as conductor of time and space

can give to his creatures;

orders applicable

to all people

independent of race, appearance,

personality  or creed.

 

Ultimately they

are the fundamental demands

for

at least

keeping humanity’s music going.

 

And how does

the Decalogue do that?

 

Well, in the armed forces

one of the greatest crimes

is theft.

 

Because as it is explained

there is no quicker way

to undermine a community

than a lack of trust

in others.

 

And so it is

with the Commandments.

 

For they are the very ground rules

for any group

so as to have social cohesion.

 

Anything less soon degenerates

into a lawless fight

for survival;

a bullying supremacy

of the loudest and most violent

and the devil apparently

taking the vulnerable.

 

Put another way, the Decalogue

is a reminder that God

does confer individual rights

but he also requires

the observation of

the rights

of the community.

 

Moreover, he gives

certain rights to himself.

 

For without the rule

of impartial law

there is no community.

 

Without personal reliance

on fair treatment

there is no trusting cooperation.

 

And without the fear

of God’s justice

there is no promise

of better times.

 

It seems then

it was the hoped-for fruits

of this universal law

which inspired

the famous words

by Emma Lazarus

written on

the United States Statue of liberty:

 

 

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses

yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse

of your teeming shore,

Send these, the homeless,

tempest-tossed, to me;

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

 

 

 

 

At one point in my naval career,

I had to ensure

the correct working

of a highly complex machine

that could tell

where it was

without any external reference.

 

The problem was

this contraption

had - like every thing else –

imperfections.

 

The outcome being that –

with time –

it drifted,

it gradual wasn’t

where it thought it was

and eventually got lost.

 

That was until

it was told

once more

its correct position.

 

Well, here

is the second purpose

of the Decalogue.

 

For any nation

living without external reference

to what is right

soon drifts

and becomes utterly lost.

 

Indeed, we need not go back

to Nazi Germany

to see this effect.

 

There are more than enough

examples

in recent years

to know this is the truth.

 

The Decalogue

therefore remains

for all peoples

an inerrant moral compass,

a unfailing path finder

to righteousness

and the very rock

for all  political systems,

religious dogmas and governing rules

to be founded on.

 

Because in God’s commands alone

is the place

where we all must be

and live

and have our being.

 

Yet there is an equally mighty use

of the ten commandments

which is too often

not employed today.

 

For it has been observed

that by saying –

You shall have no other God

s before me,

the Bible is not denying

the existence of other gods.

 

It is simply stating

they are subservient

to the one supreme God.

 

Well there are many gods

in our world

at the moment;

entities that seem

to have supernatural power

over us.

 

And I briefly mention

worries about

the global environment,

pandemic disease

and economic recession

as examples

of modern day invincible ogres.

 

Yet by enshrining

God’s simple commands

in all that is done,

then these

undoubtedly huge problems

will be seen

as at least not insurmountable gods.

 

Because through

a common respect

for a Divine

still in firm control,

in working together

within his harmonious will

and in valuing

each and every human being –

we will prevail –

we win through –

we will be free

of the slavery

of lawless exploitation,

suffering and danger.

 

We will indeed

as a chosen species

go on knowing God’s love

for another thousand generations.

 

 

 

One of William Barclay's friends

tells this story.

 

In the church

where he worshiped

there was a lonely old man,

old Thomas.

 

He had outlived all his friends

and hardly anyone knew him.

 

When Thomas died,

this friend had the feeling

that there would be

no one to go

to the funeral

so he decided to go,

so that there might

be someone to follow

the old man

to his last resting-place.

 

There was no one else,

and it was a miserable wet day.

 

The funeral reached the cemetery,

and at the gate

there was a soldier waiting.

 

An officer,

but on his raincoat

there were no rank badges.

 

He came to the grave side

for the ceremony,

then when it was over

, he stepped forward

and gave a salute

that might have been given

to a king. T

he friend walked away

with this man,

and as they walked,

the wind blew

the soldier's raincoat open

to reveal the shoulder badges

of a brigadier.

 

He then said,

"You will perhaps

be wondering

what I am doing here.

 

Years ago Thomas

was my Sunday School teacher;

I was a wild lad

and a sore trial to him.

 

He never knew

what he did for me,

but I owe everything I am

or will be

to old Thomas,

and today

I had to come to salute him

at the end."

 

Well today,

our old teacher

the Decalogue is sorely forgotten

by many in power.

 

Many more

have never enjoyed

its wise

yet sometimes painful mentoring.

 

In all honesty

maybe we have thought less

of its restrictions

than we should.

 

Yet in it’s time

it has tamed the wild,

it has protected

the least able a

nd has ensured

the progress

albeit painfully slow

of what is truly human civilisation.

 

No wonder then Jesus

did not cast

this sacred baby out

with the hollow legalistic

bath water.

 

No wonder he said –

I come not to abolish the law

but to fulfil the law.

 

No wonder Edmund Burke

wrote -

 

There is but one law for all,

namely,

that law which governs all laws –

the law of our Creator.

 

 

No wonder Grace and Peace Bruce

could advise –

 

 

 

Above all else love God alone;
Bow down to neither wood nor stone.
God's name refuse to take in vain;
The Sabbath rest with care maintain.
Respect your parents all your days;
Hold sacred human life always.
Be loyal to your chosen mate;
Steal nothing, neither small nor great.
Report, with truth, your neighbour’s deed;
And rid your mind of selfish greed.

For these will bless your ministry.

 

Amen

 

Offering

 

HYMN…..