Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Pray
Our last evening Carols by Candlelight was in 2019 -
the world was a different place!
Corona was just a beer.
Brexit - was the only news headline - what happened to all that!!
Holidays consisted of travel beyond our front rooms!
One big change I’ve observed as someone who speaks regularly to large groups of people -
Before 2019 in the middle of winter - any public talk was accompanied by a backing track of coughs and sneezers!.
Listen -
leave a silence
Not even a sniffle!
We darn’t let out a cough in a public setting!
I was at my sons choir performance the other day and a lady coughed -
a 10 row radious of people gasped, screams - people dived for cover - the conductor dropped his baton...
Ok - so I exagerate - but it feels a bit like that doesn’t it!
Some like me smiled with amusement as she cringed and squirmed!
It’s going to be terribly awkward now if someone coughs here isn’t it!
Please don’t worry - in reality, people really don’t mind - human beings cough - it is just funny how culture determins our behaviour so significantly.
It’s slightly ironic really that in a culture that demands we accept every view,
opinion,
identity,
cause,
and perceived injustice
- it is also still a culture that is incredibly opinionated and judgemental about those who don’t agree or behave as we think they should.
Very ironic - that everything is acceptable - and no other view will be accepted!
This trend even has a name - ‘woke’.
Tim Stanley, a well regarded - author and newspaper journalist wrote a book about such things and
He quotes an American Bishop to summarise this idea:
‘Everything is permitted but nothing is forgiven’ (Tim Stanley)
How true that is!
Anyone can be anything they want - believe what they want, behave how they want.
Every minority group is to be heard with the same if not a louder voice than the majority.
Every cause is to be upheld - many of which are without question very good and important.
BUt - find yourself on the wrong side of our ‘woke’ culture,
or more precisely find yourself growing up in the previous generations with different traditions and permissions - and there is no forgiveness.
Or find that somewhere in your past you once made a mistake against what is now the culturally accepted.
And you will go down for it.
No forgiveness.
Ricky Gervais - the actor and screen writer - has said recently that
"I want to live long enough to see the younger generation not be woke enough for the next generation.
It’s going to happen.
Don’t they realise that it’s like, they’re next?
That’s what’s funny."
(Ricky Gervais)
‘everything is permitted but nothing is forgiven’
What with Covid, Woke culture,
so much permitted freedom to choose who you are - so much that our children ironically don’t have a clue who they are.
So much baggage in our past, fear of judgment from the world, it’s actually a very dark time.
A dark world,
a dark life,
A dark culture.
But there is an alternative culture on offer - a different one from the ever changing culture of our time.
One that never changes,
one that is consistently good,
And one that is very forgiving.
One that embodies the very nature of What Christmas is really all about.
And we heard it read in one of our readings
The Word - another name for God the Son - Jesus - dwelt among us - He was born as a baby - a human being.
Who’s glory and life was countlessly witnessed in history, and written about in the bible
And the end of that verse - The Word Came from the Father God full of..
‘everything is permitted but nothing is forgiven’
No,
Full of grace and truth.
Grace and Truth.
They are the 2 opposites of what’s on offer in the world,
Rather than a culture that says everything is permitted - as deemed permitted by the current culture - so it’s ever changing - with no moral basis,
Jesus was full of Truth - when he was born.
An anchor for what is right and true.
And rather than a culture than never forgets and never forgives -
Jesus brought Grace - when he was born.
Pause
And so unless you have seen some hope in the world,
some resemblance of an eternal truth that will bring peace on earth from our culture.
Or Unless you have found a way through the bad decisions, and unforgiveness, both for yourself and for others,
or some hope beyond covid and even death
that offers Joy to the world..
Shouldn’t we just consider Jesus and the culture he offers?
For He is Truth and Grace.
So what is Truth?
Jesus is Full of Truth
The bible here in this passage in the book of John uses an illustatrion to describe Jesus and His truth compared to our human attempts at truth,
It’s the illustartion of Light and Darkness.
It’s a true statement isn’t it?
When Jesus lived on earth 2000 years ago, they rejected him as truth so much so that they had him put to death on a Cross.
Light came into the world - but darkness didn’t recognise him.
Some here today have rejected Jesus the light - the truth as well.
HAng on though - what makes Jesus Light?
What makes Him truth?
What gives him the right to make such a claim!?
He’s starting to sound a bit like our woke culture - I can be what I say I am.
But that is to miss the crucial point.
Jesus is no ordinary human being - with no moral foundation other than what he decides it to be.
back to our passage
Jesus (the Word) is God - and He created everything!
We only exist becasue he exists and created us.
And if he did that - then what other truth could there be!?
What other true light can there be.
A creator God has a monopoly on truth - that cannot be defeated or changed.
I know it’s very trendy to think that there is no creator God,
but as many a phylospher and scientist has said,
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