Words for Worship

Ministry Today

 

Mark 3.21-28

Ephesians 6.10-20

 

It is called shooting the war

and it is a television series

about amateur cine  fanatic

who took footage

of the Second World War.

 

Monday’s night episode

showed some German film clips

from the concentration camps.

 

Well I don’t need to tell you

what sorts of scenes

were portrayed –

for those sorts of images

are seared into the memories

of all human beings

alive since 1945.

 

Yet they are more than

reminders of human bestiality.

 

For, in my view;

they are also proof

of the very existence of evil.

 

By that

I mean a power

beyond human minds

that can pervert and destroy

and delight in suffering.

 

Indeed, a scan of our newspapers

suggests such outbreaks

do occur occasionally

even in boring old Britain,

the actions of terrorists

are beyond bad

and depict evil

and I would suggest

some diseases

have evil in their affliction.

 

And so even

in these ultra rational,

‘there is nothing beyond me’ times,

that line

close to the end

of the Lord’s prayer

still has resonance –

for it is there written –

delivers us from evil.

 

In essence,

keep us clear of the evil one.

 

But we do know

that our encounter

with external malevolence

cannot always be avoided

even in the best planned

and regulated lives.

 

We know too that

sometimes

envy or hatred

even anger

can be allowed to exceed badness

and then

germinates an evil plant within us.

 

How then do we ward off temptation

from within

and subversion from without?

 

Well I could propose

three ways

and these are tradition,

love and Christ.  

 

 

For during the Second World War

one of the most spirited defences

against almost overwhelming odds

was at

the little remembered North African port

of Tubruk.

 

At the siege’s end,

the Coldstream guards

cut their way out

and reached allied lines

sorely depleted.

 

In fact of two battalions

who had held tubruk

for so long

only 200 survived

and even then

only as shadows

of their former selves.

 

When they were cared

for by the RAF,

one of their officers

was asked

why they had decided

to have a go.

 

To which he replied

it’s pretty tough

being in the Coldstream Guards

because tradition

compels you

to carry on

irrespective of the circumstances.

 

Well something of that –

in not quite

the same pessimistic terms –

relates to our resistance of evil

through tradition.

 

And here

I mean the traditions

of the Christian church

and its collective faith.

 

Those traditions

of godly practice

founded on our reading

from Ephesians.

 

Those historical traditions

whose building bricks

are truth of the gospel,

righteousness in behaviour,

faith in salvation

and belief in the word of God.  

 

For in his fascinating book –

healing in the spirit –

Jim McManus reports

a recent American medical study.

 

In it some patients

of open heart surgery

received a series

of daily hospital chaplains visits.

 

It was noted

those that did

recovered so quickly

that their stay in hospital

was on average reduced

by two days.

 

They were also far less likely

to suffer from

post operative depression.

 

Put another way

through the traditions

of the Church’s pastoral care

and meditation

upon the Christian faith,

these patients

cast off the evil of meaninglessness

that can so easily dog illness

and convalescence.

 

Indeed, through the tenets

of the Christianity

they found conformation

of the fullest quality of life

and eternal destiny.

Now as a dog lover,

I love to quote this.

 

But I do remember

being told

that you have

a much higher chance

of survival after a serious accident

or illness,

if you have a pet at home.

 

However,

I think

the real truth is

that we can cast aside evil

the more easily

if we have a loving home.

 

Now of course this

most likely

will be your own dwelling

surrounded by family

or friends

a phone call away.

 

But surely,

one the greatest shields

and citadels from evil

is the loving home

of your congregation.

 

A truly Christian home

where a word,

a touch

or a smile

can help turn us away

from the dangerous places

where evil lurks

or the impulses

through which evil attacks.

 

A loving dwelling place

also

where all are encouraged

to don the armour of Christ.

 

Moreover, a loving place

full of people willing

to lend a hand

in your building defences

against evil.

 

Jim McManus’ book

contains a story

that we

who are living in the 21 century

find hard to swallow.  

 

Yet deep down

if we agree

with the Christian tradition

that evil

is a separate force

from humankind,

then we need do

also to consider

the possibility

that evil

can take become personified.

 

Personified that is

in the way

that Christ

as a 1st Century Palestinian Jew

saw it

and as recorded in Mark;

 

Personified also

in a way

that 20 centuries of church teaching

has warned about

and unmasked;

personified as

in this account

from Jim McManus’ book.  

 

Because a Christian prison visitor

was once threatened

by a prisoner

that she would suffer

little visitors to her flat.

 

Shortly after,

she started

to feel nervous at home,

she no longer slept well

due to a feeling something

horrifying around her

and she lost strength and weight.

 

The prisoner too suffered

from moroseness

and ghastly facial sores.

 

Eventually,

she asked a clergyman friend

to bless the dwelling

in the name of Christ.

 

From then on,

everything was better

and she felt

her old self again.

 

She prayed too

for the prisoner

who at her next visit

fell on his knees

and begged her pardon.   

 

Well it’s your choice,

was it just a psychological trick

or the workings

of an overwrought imagination

or was it truly

a personification of evil?

 

I’ll leave it to you

to decide.

 

However, whichever way you look at it,

there was

genuine malevolence around.

And it was dispersed

and defeated

by the invocation

of Christ’s blessing.

 

And here is the most powerful way

to break temptation

and allude evil.

 

It is in calling upon,

welcoming

and relishing

the presence

of the living Christ.

 

Because he –

we all accept –

is the personification of good –

the very essence of God

and the force of Holy Spirit.

 

No wonder then

we sing

without a trace of self-consciousness

or embarrassment

but with utter certainty

the words of John Bunyan;

Hobgoblin nor foul fiend

Can daunt his spirit

He knows he at the end

Shall life inherit?

He’ll fear not what men say

He’ll labour night and day

To be a pilgrim

 

Well, we have come

to the end

of our short study series

upon the lord’s prayer.

 

I hope you have seen

that within its few lines

are treasuries of spiritual riches

and a compendium

of the Christian faith.

 

Let us then

give lip service to it less

and meditate upon it more.

 

For as the foreword

to Martin’s Cecil’s book

upon the Lord’s prayer

tell us –

it awakens

our purpose for being;

it recognises

our role

in the unfolding universe

and it outlines

our responsibilities

towards how

the very power and glory of God

are revealed on earth.

 

Amen

 

Offering

 

HYMN……..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Escaping Evil