2nd January - Revd. Jo Jones

Sermon 2^ndJanuary 2011 – Epiphany readings (transferred from 6^th)

Lord, create in us a hunger for your Word, a thankfulness for your gospel, and a faithfulness to your commands. Through him who is your living Word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I wonder how many of you have made New Year’s resolutions? And how many have you broken so far, given that it’s only 2^ndJanuary?! I started formulating mine in December and wondering whether I could pick some that were easier to keep than last year’s – or whether this year the Lord would grant me the grace of perseverance, the sort of perseverance that the Magi had which took them from the East to Jerusalem and back again. I wonder how many times they felt that the journey was too tough, too demanding and nearly turned back from their quest. And then they had Herod to contend with – devious and dangerous – and they had to trust their instincts that the dream they had was the real guidance they needed, rather than being swayed by the powerful king they’d met. Indeed they were three very wise men.

So how do we become wise? How do we get the discernment that’s needed for us to become more faithful disciples and more loving witnesses to the power of the gospel? Well, we have the tradition of the church, the inherited wisdom of its teaching over the centuries, the example of the saints and the patterns of worship which have evolved during two millennia. And the universal church, the body of Christ which is both visible and invisible, is a rich source of inspiration, learning and guidance for every Christian, as well as a witness to the world.

And if we have the church, then we have the members of the church who share our Christian pilgrimage with us; and together, we seek to discern the purpose and wisdom of God for our lives as individuals and as a community. We have the Holy Spirit at work in us personally and corporately when we come together in prayer and in meetings such as PCCs. We have the Holy Spirit without which we would not be able to recognise Jesus as Lord; the same Spirit which inspired and guided the disciples and the church through the ages is present now, inspiring and guiding us.

We also have our God-given reason. God has made us as thinking, reasoning, questioning beings, and expects us to use whatever gifts of intelligence we have to uncover the wisdom and knowledge we need to grow in faith and to deepen our relationship with him in Christ. He expects us to be theologians – to use our minds and our hearts in prayerful thought and thoughtful prayer to look at both what we know and what we experience – God calls us to reach a greater understanding of who we are and what we are for. For wisdom is not just knowledge; to be wise is to know what is true, and beautiful, and good.

And in doing our theology, we also have a precious and inexhaustible resource in the scriptures. We have the Bible which gives us the story of God’s people from creation to revelation. But hearing it read week by week in church might be the only time that we encounter it. We also need to engage with scripture outside of Sunday worship as part of our own discipleship. Of course a major obstacle with reading the Bible is that it’s not just one book, it’s a vast collection of books with proverbs, psalms, morality tales, obscure passages, bloodthirsty history, erotic poetry, prophecy, eyewitness testimonies, letters and theology.  So it’s often hard to get to grips with, it’s daunting to start reading from Genesis onwards – by the time you get to Leviticus you might well get bored with it and give up! Or maybe you avoid the Old Testament altogether and maybe Matthew’s gospel because he bangs on a bit about the law, and maybe Revelation because that’s rather bloodthirsty too, and so on …. So how do we approach reading the Bible so that it too becomes an essential source of wisdom and discernment, the daily bread which nourishes us and guides us in the year ahead and beyond?

As I said, it can be off-putting to start at the beginning of the Bible and read to the end, even if you have a Bible that’s already divided into 365 readings. So why not begin with the essential parts of the story of God’s people? Instead of trying to digest the whole Bible, try a selection of readings which can then give you a thirst for discovering more.  You’ll have been given one of these reading plans with your Link today – it’s called the e100 challenge and it’s an initiative from Scripture Union to encourage people to make a commitment to read the Bible more in the coming year, when we’re commemorating the 400^thanniversary of the publication of the King James Version of the Bible. (Internet:   http://www.e100challenge.org.uk/)  As you can see, there are 100 Bible readings, 50 from the Old Testament and 50 from the New Testament so it’s designed to give you a good understanding of the overall Bible story from Genesis to Revelation. The 'E' stands for Essential and each reading ranges from a few verses to a few chapters, so it’s not too much to read each time.

So why not make another new year’s resolution and have a go at reading these Bible passages over the coming months? Read them and mull over them, chew them over in your mind and perhaps take a phrase from a reading and repeat that phrase over the day and see what God’s Spirit teaches you through it. And be assured that God is faithful, that even if the going gets tough, his promises remain. In scripture, as in our worship, prayer and fellowship, God touches our lives afresh and inspires us with his love. The more we open our lives to the wisdom of God, made known to us in Jesus who is made known to us in the scriptures, the more we’re able to bear witness to his love, to know Christ and to make Christ known.