Words for Worship

Ministry Today

Isaiah 58.6-12

Luke 4.1-13

 

 

According to the story,

Queen Victoria was once

at a diplomatic banquet

in London.

 

The guest of honour

was an African chieftain.

 

All went well until,

at the end,

finger bowls were served.

 

The guest of honour

had never seen

a British finger bowl,

and no one had thought

to brief him

beforehand

about its purpose.

 

So he took the bowl

in his two hands,

and drank its contents—

down to the very last drop!

 

For an instant

there was breathless silence

among the British upper crust.

 

But then

they gasped as,

in the next instant,

Queen Victoria

took her finger bowl,

lifted it,

and drank its contents!  

 

A moment later

500 surprised British ladies and gentlemen

simultaneously drank

from their own fingerbowls.

 

It was of course "against the rules"

to drink from a fingerbowl,

but on that particular evening

Victoria changed the rules---

because she was,

after all,

the Queen.

Well today

I am going to ask you

to be like royalty

and change the rules.

 

For when we consider

our world in crisis

we see certain patterns

of human behaviour emerging.

 

Indeed these malpractices

seem so ingrained

in every corner of the globe

that they appear

to be rules.

 

Rules like –

because someone is different

they can be segregated against

even better hurt,

enslaved or exploited.

 

Another one is that

the self interest of governments

and powerful individuals

cannot be prevented.

 

Worse still

there seems to be

an unwritten law

that some groups,

clans and parties

are invincible

even in the face

of legitimate mass protest

and world opinion.

 

As a result

our mixed up world

seems only slightly nearer

to the vision of Isaiah

that we drank in

so  joyously  this morning.

 

For do did your hearts not leap

and your minds soar

with his inspiring words:

 

The Lord will guide you always;

He will satisfy your needs

in a sun scotched land

And he will strengthen your frame.

 

Well, let me let you into a secret.

 

And it is this.

 

The only reason

that the human race

has crept

even an inch closer

to that Isaianic vision,

is that every generation

has had to break the rules

of human ill nature

with vigour

and enthusiasm

and with foresight.

 

Therefore, as we continue

to approach our harvest thanksgiving

by helping out

our good earth in crises,

we too need to set about

breaking these

apparent immutable inhumane conventions!

 

Yet how?

By breaking these rules up

with tools that are stronger –

the pneumatic drills

we call principles,

in fact.  

 

The very principles

Christ himself applied

in the extreme environment

of the dessert.  

 

Now there was a place

where Jesus was tempted

to be human

through it

being abominably inhospitable,

hot and barren.

 

Indeed this wilderness

was so generally hideous

that it was called in Hebrew–

the devastation.

 

No wonder

all the forces

of human self centredness

came to the fore.

 

And so Jesus

was drawn

as people usually are

in a survival situations

to look after number one.

 

But Christ

in knowing that human life

is far more than the purely physical

rejected his primeval instinct

and sought the higher cause –

the one that turns

the word human into humane –

the one that makes us

look out for each other

as the family of God.

 

The one that prompts

each and everyone of us

to seek out the greater good.

 

His second temptation

is also very common.

 

It is almost certainly experienced

by anyone

who has tasted power.

 

For that is the alluring desire

not just to look after number one

but make sure

that number one

stays well ahead

of number two.  

 

But here Christ

put obedience to God’s power

well above

other more base ambitions.

 

The very divine will

that does eventually

see even the most corrupt,

self-serving and exploitative

get their comeuppance!

 

Finally, Christ cast aside

the certain outcome

of following the rules of misbehaviour

by saying –

be warned –

don’t put your creator to the test.

 

For as Deuteronomy tells us –

do right in the sight of God

and it will go well with you!

 

Well, there can be no greater test

of God patience

than some of the things

we have

as species

been doing to this planet’s climate.

 

For Dr. Elaine Storkey,

President of Tearfund explains

why this matters so much.

 

She wrote recently

“Inevitably the poor

are picking up the tab.

 

The poor are there

when the hurricane hits

and when the tornado comes.

 

98% of those killed

and affected by natural disasters

come from developing countries.”  

 

Looking specifically at Pakistan,

one British Christian agriculturalist

working there

found that the changing climate

and the uncertainty of weather patterns

was making life unbearable.

 

Farmers would complain that

the crops that they

and their ancestors

had always planted

at the same time of year

were no longer reliable.

 

Nobody knew when the rains

would come

or whether they would come at all.

 

In the end

this Christian agriculturalist

made a hard decision.

 

Rather than helping Pakistani farmers

fight a losing battle

against changing weather,

he decided

he would tackle the problem

at its source –

by returning to the UK

and helping the British people

live a less damaging lifestyle.

 

On my Sunday afternoon off

from the General Assembly,

we went down

to the air museum

at East Linton

to visit the Concorde

and hear again its story.

 

Now I have to admit

it is an impressive piece of engineering.

 

Today’s technological advances

are less in your face

but even more astounding.

 

For on the news this week,

medical researchers

are talking about

soon

repairing human bones

without surgery

thus doing away

with hip and knee replacements.

 

And my point is

if we can achieve

these almost magical accomplishments

surely,

if we had the will,

we could conquer climate change

and all still have a life

that is worth living.

 

 And we generate

That sense of purpose

by bringing God back

into the equation

and casting aside

human baser motives.

 

We do that

by keeping alive

the dimension of humanity

that lies way above

the purely physical.

 

Not least that means

keeping fighting

the falsehood

of I’m alright jack

with the truth

that we are all in

the same rather leaky boat.  

 

Similarly, we need

to engage God

through prayer

and then reflect his direction

into this world

by any means we can.  

 

Most importantly,

we as a group of believers

must not let up

on holding the self interested,

self enriching and self serving

to account

for putting God to the test.

 

For to do so

is not just to follow

our lord’s example

in an apparently impossible place

nor is it just to be inspired

with the vision of Isaiah

and want to make it happen.

 

Since even above these fine principles

must be our active commitment

to self discipline by all –

because that

today

as never before

is the saving work of Jesus Christ.  

 

You know, Tearfund

in their mail shot of last week

reflected on

the forthcoming climate conference

in Copenhagen

and said –

if we had a minute’s silence

for every person

who has already lost their life

due to climate change

we’d be silent for over 200 days.

 

Well, in this moment,

by challenging

the devilishly tempting rules

of this world in crisis,

we will be silent no longer.   

 

 

Amen

Offering

 

HYMN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crisis II - Pollution