Proper 16 - Believe
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.
57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”
59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?
62 What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!
63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
May God add his blessing to our reading, hearing and doing of the Word. Amen.
Prayer for Illumination
Prayer for Illumination
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Believe
Believe
Today I’m going to tell you how pigeons find their way home.
So you’ll have to pay attention and stay awake…
John 6:68–69 (NRSV)
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Jesus had just asked:
67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”
Over the next three weeks I want to talk about three words:
Believe, Belong - and Become.
But the central theme is BELONGING.
What I want to talk about really is what it means to be a member of the Methodist Church.
Sometimes we forget the importance of church membership. The importance of commitment to this community - of sharing in its joys and sorrows - and of building it up - as Christ would have us build it.
I got an email a long time ago from someone - I can’t remember their name - I can remember the reply I wanted to send - I can’t remember if I sent it.
It was something like:
Dear Rev Kelly,
We are not happy with _______ . So after attending TVMC for xx years, we will be attending _______ Church from now on.
Lots of love…
I’m not sure it ended with ‘Lots of love…’
But I think I might have written back:
Dear xxx,
Thank you for letting me know. May I suggest that instead of attending a church - you join one.
Blessings :)
Don’t attend church.
Belong to a church.
Belong to a community.
It is not the easiest thing.
I often quote Dallas Willard who said of church:
Where else would I learn to love my enemies?
Thats got more to do with belonging - but we need to talk about believing.
It is in our believing - that we hear the call to belonging - and then on to becoming what we were created to be.
Believe, Belong, Become
Believe, Belong, Become
It doesn’t necessarily happen in that order.
My cousins went to church and took me with them.
I didn’t believe the songs we were singing so I volunteered to play the saxophone in the worship team.
(I belonged)
I heard enough sermons and met enough nice Christian people to start to think - hey maybe I do believe this stuff…
(I believed)
And then I noticed that my attitudes and values were changing - and I hope they still are… I am becoming something different - transformed by God at work in my heart.
(I become)
I used to love playing saxophone for Shine Jesus Shine…
18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
Believe
Believe
In our gospel lesson today Jesus speaks about believing -
Jesus had used a rather odd illustration - in John 6:53-54
53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;
In short - in John’s gospel - Jesus is the ‘Word made flesh’ - to eat his flesh and drink his blood is on one level - to believe his teaching.
But of course - with communion and the last supper - it is so much more.
But at the center of it - is believing - trusting in what Jesus has taught - and trusting in what Jesus has done.
And in the early church - eating together with Jesus in the sacrament of communion.
Next week we will share communion.
In the Methodist Church we have an open table.
I love the formality of our 1975 prayer books directions:
B4-23 At every celebration the worshippers present should communicate unless there is good reason to the contrary.
When you sign up as a member of the church we ask you to confess your faith - What do you believe?
In our confirmation and baptism services we ask:
Do you believe in God the Father, creator of heaven and Earth?`
Do you believe in his Son, Jesus Christ, who redeemed humankind?
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies the people of God?
The correct answer is given on all the slides:
We do!
A very brief affirmation of our faith in the Trinity. And these questions seem quite insignificant - but each of them says something about the way you see the world.
So I have to tell you something about pigeons.
And I also have to tell you that I’m not a great biologist or scientist.
But I think we’re all fascinated by homing pigeons - who can find their home - it seems from no matter where you leave them.
There are three main hypothesis about how they find their way -
- Magnetic Beaks
- Neural Networks
- Something in their Eyes
And the winning Hypothesis at the moment (last I heard) sometime in 2024 is that they have some sort of reactive material in one of their eyes.
And this means that they see more than we do. They can probably see the magnetic field of the earth in some way that helps them find their way home.
So we’re not quite sure what they can see.
But if one day you learnt to talk to pigeon’s - you’d find that it was hard to get along because they saw things that you didn’t see.
You’d be hanging out with your pigeon friend and he’d say what an amazing magnetic field.
And you’d have ‘no eyedea.’
Sorry - I can’t help it.
Believe
Believe
Our believing means we see the world in a whole new way. And our declaration - as simple as it may sound - means a whole lot more than we notice.
…creator of heaven and Earth?
…redeemer of humankind?
…sanctifier of the people of God
On one hand - we confess faith in God the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
But as we talk about Father, Son and Holy Spirit we also speak about what each of them do.
Creator
Creator
Of God - this reminds us that he is before all things - This is amazing.
But it says a lot about all that exists.
Every single thing that exists.
From Neutron Stars - so dense and heavy that light can’t escape their gravitational field.
To humming birds the size of bees.
All of these things - created by God.
Created by God who is good.
…creator of heaven and Earth?
…redeemer of humankind?
…sanctifier of the people of God
If God is good - and God created all things - then God’s goodness is foundational to all creation.
Like pigeons with their odd eyes that can see the magnetosphere of the Earth - the eyes of faith help us to see that there is more to life than what we see at first glance.
Do you believe in God the Father, creator of heaven and earth?
We do!
But there is more -
Redeemer
Redeemer
Do you believe in his Son, Jesus Christ, who redeemed humankind?
This says something of what we believe about God the Father, the Creator - but also about Jesus.
…creator of heaven and Earth?
…redeemer of humankind?
…sanctifier of the people of God.
And maybe that speaks more to our belonging.
When we say we believe in Jesus - the Son of God - we are remembering another major saying from John’s gospel:
18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
The Son - as a reflection of the Father - reveals who the father is and what the Father is like.
Again - reminding us - if God the Father is the creator of all things - and Jesus is God the Son - and through his life and actions we see his heart - we know that God is good, creation is Good.
Yet we know that the world is a mess…
But that is why we confess:
Redeemer.
He is the redeemer of humankind.
…creator of heaven and Earth?
…redeemer of humankind?
…sanctifier of the people of God.
Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Redemption)
The process by which sinful humans are “bought back” from the bondage of sin into relationship with God through grace by the “payment” of Jesus’ death.
In this our understanding grows a little more - we believe - we believe God is creator of all things. That Jesus is his son - so we know something more about God’s way with us.
But also - Jesus the ‘redeemer’ of humankind - the one who brings us back into relationship with God.
The one who picks us up - turns us round - and sets us in the right direction.
Do you believe in his Son, Jesus Christ, who redeemed humankind?
We do!
Sanctifier
Sanctifier
So God the Father reminds us what it means to believe… Believing in God - changes the way we see the whole world. In this faith perspective - we come to believe in Jesus.
(Believe)
Jesus - who through his death on the cross - invites us to belong. 2 Corinthians 5:19
2 Corinthians 5:19 (NRSV)
19 in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them,
(Belong)
And in the one who sanctifies us - we start to be transformed.
…creator of heaven and Earth?
…redeemer of humankind?
…sanctifier of the people of God.
Sanctifier comes from the Latin word - Sanctus - which means Holy.
The Holy Spirit - makes the people of God - Holy - like I mentioned that verse earlier in the sermon -
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NRSV)
18 transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
As we stand and declare our faith at baptism and confirmations - we speak about our fundamental reason for getting together - getting together - because like those pigeons who can see the whole world in a new light -
We can see our reality in a new light.
And we can see our reality in a light that sends us in a certain direction.
Pigeons may see the magnetosphere of the Earth - but we see in:
The Light of
God the father, creator -
God the son - redeemer -
and God the Holy Spirit - Sanctifier.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies the people of God?
We do!
Believe
Believe
So - these are some of the basics of belief.
But there is still a lot to think about - because different people think differently.
When I say God created the heavens and the earth some might say yes - like in Genesis - one after the other.
While others like myself will tell you that I believe that God used the miracles of science, biology - rules and nature to bring us to where we are.
But if you visit most church websites you’ll find a link to a page that says: “What we believe.”
A statement of faith from one denomination or another that outlines the specific angles of that particular church. It is important to know what you’re getting into.
Methodists get a little bit specific when it comes to our preachers. At our local preachers meeting every quarter I must examine our local preachers:
Is there any objection on the ground that they do not believe and preach our doctrines?
At our Synod once a year Methodist Ministers must stand before the Synod and allow the synod to ask of each of us:
5.4.2 Do you believe and teach sound Christian Doctrine as held by the Methodist Church?
5.4.3 Do you duly observe and enforce our discipline?
You should expect a lot from me, a certain consistency of doctrine and discipline in this broad church. And you should expect me to be a Methodist - even if you’re not that Methodist in your belief.
Because Methodists don’t expect you to be as Methodist as a Methodist Minister when you join - I like to say that we have:
Low Standards &
High Expectations
So what about our differing beliefs?
In the 17th century when the church was being split up in various ways by every wind and wave of doctrine - a wise C17 Lutheran Theologian declared:
"In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas."
In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things, charity!
Maybe that is a low standard - we don’t expect everybody to agree on everythinng.
But at the very center of Methodist Theology is a certain Method.
Method.
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) (Method)
1: a procedure or process for attaining an object:
Finding the Way
Finding the Way
The emblem of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa is the pilgrim shell…
If you walk the Camino or a pilgrim trail you will find these shells along the way - marking the path - letting you know where to go.
They were useful for pilgrims.
To scoop up water for drinking and washing.
But also a symbol...
Many paths leading to a central point.
All of our diversity - but headed in one direction.
So last big words for today’s sermon.
One of my favourite paragraphs in our Book of Order:
3.1. The conditions, privileges and duties of membership in the Methodist Church follow the tradition common to the Methodist People from the beginning.
Membership is not conditional upon the profession of theological tenets, or dependent upon traditional authority or ecclesiastical ritual.
It is based upon a personal experience of the Lord Jesus Christ, brought about by the Spirit,
ranging from the earliest signs of Divine Grace in the soul to its crowning blessedness in the joy of ‘perfect love’,
and upon a sharing of such gifts of grace with others seeking or enjoying a similar experience.
Our Low Standards:
Jesus meets people in the strangest places.
And he takes us on the most wonderful journey.
No matter who you are - or where you are in your faith journey - you are welcome here.
Amen.