EveryDay Miracles - Communion Service

 

 

 Readings: Psalm 51:1-12, Exodus 16:1-15; Ephesians 4:1-16, John 6:24-35
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, MD, August 1, 2021

Our readings focused on 2 incidents, "Manna from Heaven" and Jesus teaching that He was "Bread of Life."  I'd like to offer some thoughts on what I'm calling "Everyday Miracles."

Let's start with the Hebrew people. You probably know the story of how Moses led them out of Egypt into the Wilderness and how once they were there they started to complain, "At least in Egypt we had something to eat! We're starving out here." Moses promises them that sustenance will come, meat for the evening and bread for the morning. And so it was, quail for supper and manna for breakfast.

"Give us meat" they said. The quail came and everybody said it was a miracle.

Yet sometimes maybe the miracle we observe, is not the miracle we expect. Let me explain. Without wanting to diminish the sense of wonder or the ability of God to do amazing things, we know that nature herself can be a source of amazing provision.

Quails are found in countless numbers on the shores of the Mediterranean and their annual migration is still an event that causes great excitement as they move in vast flocks towards Africa.  It's an exhausting flight, done in stages. When the birds stop to take a rest, they are so exhausted that they can easily be picked up and captured.

So maybe the miracle wasn't so much that the quail came, it seems they had an annual migration pattern, but rather that, as the people of Israel responded to the call of God, they were in that place, at that time, when the quails arrived and were easily picked up.

And then there is the manna. In the wilderness where the Israelites camped lives an insect known as Najacoecus Serpentinus. I'm not making this stuff up. Look it up on the internet. If it's on the internet, it has to be true. Right?

Now... the sap from the Tamarisk bush on which these insects feed is rich in carbohydrates but low in nitrogen.  In order to aquire enough nitrogen for their metabolism to operate properly, the Najacoecus Serpentinus consume an enormous amount of sap.  

The excess from this process passes from the insect in the form of honeydew excretions which the desert air changes into clumps of sticky solids, which turn a whitish yellow color.

These solid lumps are thought, by a number of bible commentators, to be the “manna” that the people of Israel collected and ate in the wilderness. The Hebrews called it a miracle. As with the quails, maybe the miracle wasn't so much that the manna was there, but that they were in that place, at that time, to receive it.  

Our lives continue to be surrounded by everyday miracles, many of which, if we work hard at it, can be found to have a rational explanation.  What we cannot explain though is how we happen to be in a certain place at a certain time when a certain thing, which has a certain outcome, takes place.

I cannot tell you, how many times, over many years of ministry, that as I've opened up to God in prayer and asked, “Lord, what's on Your agenda today?” I just happened to have been positioned in a situation where I could offer something.

This is something I learned early in my discipleship journey, not in seminary, but from ordinary people of faith. Long before I was a minster, as a young person, I was working on a job scheme, helping old folks tidy up their gardens. I recall visiting one particular lady, and she said, 'C'mon in when you have finished, I'll have your favorite cake ready.” (Which at that time just happened to be Ginger flavored.)

“That's strange,” I thought. “Firstly, you didn't know I was  coming today. Secondly, we have never met, so how would you know what my favorite cakes was?” But sure enough, when I went in, there was a piece of ginger cake! When I looked puzzled, the lady said, “Last night in my prayers, I asked God what to be ready for...and God put the idea in my head to provide ginger cake. As it's not my favorite, I figured it must be yours.”

A saintly lady of God, confined to her home, needing assistance to get through every single day... yet experiencing the faithfulness of and reality of God's presence and being a blessing to others!

For me that is that is the real miracle... the timing and provision of the Holy Spirit. Nothing less than the Grace of God. One of the essentials of discipleship is cultivating within ourselves the kind of spiritual sensitivity that discovers the sacred within the common occurrences of everyday life.

If we don't do that we will find ourselves in the same boat as the people in our New Testament reading, who came to Jesus and said to Him, "What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe in You? You know, our ancestors had manna in the desert!"

There they were, talking with Jesus, who was a flesh and blood sign of God's grace and presence in their midst, and they could not see it.  Instead they are saying, "Let God knock us off our feet, astound us... and then we will believe."

Wasn't it enough that Jesus had healed broken hearts, made outcasts acceptable and drowned fear with a flood of love?  Had they not already had overwhelming evidence of His capabilities?  Even if Jesus had done some Divine magic trick, would it have made any difference? They saw nothing and they felt nothing because they lacked the capacity to discover the sacred within the common-place.

Jesus tells them, "What God wants you to do is to believe in the One He has sent." What God desired for them was not that they seek for some blinding light or dramatic experience but that they wake up to the fact that in the flesh and blood of human existence and in the everyday miracles of grace and life, they could discover the miracle of God's presence.

That is something that I believe we have to do as well. For most of us, most of the time, life goes on in a very ordinary fashion. We are not looking for, or expecting miracles.  We are not expecting God to show up, because we are not always showing up for God! We allow our self sufficiency and pride to direct us, rather than recognizing our dependence on God's grace for every breath we take.

Before I left for some vacation time, last month the United States celebrated Independence Day. Somebody asked me if we have July 4th in my homelands of the United Kingdom. I told them of course we have it. July 4th is the day before July 5th. But do we celebrate an Independence Day holiday? Of course not. Losing that rebellion in the colonies wasn't exactly a high point in British history!

As people and nations we celebrate the good things, not the times we have lost out. That's why coming together as the people of God once a week for worship is so important for nurturing our Christian faith. We gather together to open our hearts and lives, to remind ourselves that without God, we are nothing, we have nothing and we need God's love, and God's Spirit and the message of Jesus Christ to experience the everyday miracles of grace.

 "What God wants you to do" says Jesus, "Is believe in the One He sent." When we fail to practice disciplines of daily prayer, and fail to take the time to make worship an important part of our routine, friends, we forget. We forget.

From time to time I like to do this. Repeat after me.
“There is a God”  “There is a God”  
“And it isn't me.” “And it isn't me”  

We don't need independence from God. We need to have a deeper dependence upon God. For our sake. For our families sake. For our communities sake. We cannot serve without being equipped for service, and it is in God's church that we are trained for service, called to practice loving each other, so we can love the world that Christ died for. Jesus came, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

The Hebrew people cried out to God "Help us out here in the Wilderness." God already had it all figured out.  The quails and the manna were there but it took an act of faith to realize it.  The people cried out to Jesus, "Show us a miracle and then we'll believe."  But the miracle had already taken place.  He was there, in flesh and blood, standing with them.  But they lacked the faith to believe it.

So what of us as we go about our ordinary lives?  Will we trust God to meet us in our needs?  Will we recognize Him in the everyday miracles that surround our daily lives?

We are here surrounded by the Grace of God in the presence of His people, past, present and to come. Every weekend God lays before us an opportunity to worship, to seek Him to share our lives with Him. Christ died for our sins and was raised to bring us new life.

This is no little thing.  Unless our hearts make it so.  We need to recognize that it is through the ordinary that God seeks to do the extraordinary. "What God wants you to do is believe in the One He sent".

Believe in the capability of God's Holy Spirit,
to take the common things of life and make them miraculous.
Believe that the Christian message is the message for your everyday life.
Believe that being a community of faith, in age of unbelief,
is a challenge to be embraced, and a goal to work towards.

As we share together in bread and wine
and worship and service
may God renew us
that we may help others
discover everyday miracles
within them and around their lives.
AMEN.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

Mark My Words. "Shepherdless Sheep"

Readings: Psalm 89:20-37, 2 Samuel 7:1-14, Ephesians 2:11-22, Mark 6:30-34
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, on July 18 2021

We can get so busy.  There are a hundred things to do and not enough days to do them all.  People’s needs press in on us and we are not sure if we can cope.  We travel through different experiences and do not always have the time to evaluate them or consider how they have affected us.

The Good News is that God recognizes our need for time and space for ourselves, our need to be "far from the madding crowd."  After their Missionary journeys, Jesus invites the disciples, "Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest awhile".

The not so good news for the disciples was that this did not happen straight away. Jesus recognized they needed a break. But then the crowds pressed in. Jesus could have sent the crowds away.  Instead, the heart of Jesus is moved with great love towards them. As Mark tells it, (verse 34) "He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd."

The disciples witness two great miracles - the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus coming to them across the water during a storm.  At the time both happened, the disciples were still hoping for a break.  In retrospect, they must have looked back and been glad that they did not get one!

This passage tells us that there are times when compassion drives us to look beyond even our legitimate needs.  It is not that God doesn’t know we need space to be the people of God. But there are people with greater needs than us.  If we look at them through the eyes of Jesus, we might just witness a miracle! Our time for renewal will come, but their time of need may not be able to wait.

The disciples had their lives in the care of the shepherd, but the crowds are described as 'shepherdless sheep.' The need of the crowd was deeper than that of the disciples.  Though weary and exhausted, compassion is the adrenalin that motivates Jesus to teach the crowds of His Father's ways. The sheep needed their shepherd. To be a sheep without a shepherd was to live a precarious existence.  Let me suggest three reasons, why shepherdless sheep are objects of God's compassion.

1. A Shepherdless Sheep easily loses the way.

Sheep are prone to wander.  Sheep are pack animals that will follow any other sheep that appears to be heading somewhere, without questioning where they may end up.  That is why the field a sheep lives in is enclosed by fences.

"All we like sheep have gone astray" laments the prophet Isaiah (53:6). There is an inbuilt tendency in all of us to drift away from God. We spend much of our lives looking for others to guide us, but we do not always take the time to consider where they may be leading us.  Humans, like sheep, are pack animals. We are communal beings who need each other to live contented lives.

Life can be very bewildering. We reach a point of decision and don't know what to decide.  We come to a crossroads and don't know which way to turn.  We wait to see which way everybody else is going and join them, in the presumption that it must be the right way, because everybody else is headed there.

Sometimes we take the time out to consider questions like "Why am I here?" or "Where is my life headed?", but most of the time we don't. And even when we do we don't always have an answer. We can be like the motorist who stopped his car, looked around and said, "I don't know where I am, but wherever it is, it's not where I want to be!"

We need a shepherd to guide us. Jesus offers to be that Shepherd.  His Word offers signposts that guide the Way.  As we learn of the ways people of God before learned to live God's way, so we can walk in those ways for ourselves. As we discover how people of God have made their decisions, so we take confidence that God can also guide our decisions that we make the right choices, even when the crowd is heading off in the opposite direction.

If we allow Jesus to lead us, then we are no longer sheep without a shepherd.

2. A Shepherdless Sheep has a bad diet.

Sheep cannot consume anything they like without suffering the consequences. The professional sheep farmer ensures that the field in which their sheep live is free of plants that could harm them.  The sheep’s diet is supplemented by different feeds that maintain health and help growth. Like humans, sheep are prey to many different diseases and receive inoculations and preventative treatment to avoid them.

Turn on the TV or pick up a magazine and you can be sure, sooner or later, food will get a mention.  When it comes to food, we are a diet conscious people. We want to know not only what tastes good and looks good but also what is good for us. We know that what we put in our stomachs effects the way we live.  If we don't take care, then we suffer for it.

We even have tablets to take when our lifestyle causes us to eat badly - numerous remedies for heartburn, indigestion, constipation, overeating, under eating and so on. Even when we have a bad diet, we take steps to supplement it so that appears to our stomachs to be a good diet!

The tragedy is that though we are so conscious of our physical diet, we can be so indiscriminate in what we feed our hearts, minds, and souls upon. We fail to make the connection between the diet we spiritually consume with the condition of our health.

William Barclay writes in his commentary on Mark, "We need the strength which can keep us going, we need the inspiration which can lift us out of ourselves and above ourselves.  When we seek it elsewhere our minds are still unsatisfied, our hearts are still restless and our souls are still unfed. We can only gain strength for life from Him who is the living Bread!"

There is a lot of mindless junk food to feed upon in the field of this world. If we are indiscriminate in what we feed upon, it will result in spiritual indigestion. Maybe we can take our guidance from the tablets Moses brought down from the mountain. The Ten Commandments certainly offer good boundary fences to surround our lives with.

 Fences are important not just for what they keep in, but also for what they keep out.
 A Shepherdless Sheep has a bad diet, a shepherdless Sheep easily loses its way, and thirdly;

3. A Shepherdless Sheep is defenseless.

A sheep in Jesus time was easy prey for other animals.  As an animal it has little to protect itself with.  Mother nature has not blessed it with the greatest of defense mechanisms. It’s slow and wooly. It doesn’t have viscous teeth or claws. “Baa” is not a war cry!

A fence provides a boundary to enclose the sheep for their protection. In Jesus day the sheep would spend the night in the sheepfold and the shepherd would sleep across the door to prevent anything taking their lives. It was the shepherd’s job to guard the sheep.

It is good practice to build a fence around our own lives. Not literally, but I mean by setting boundaries. We can do that in all sorts of ways. One of the simplest ways is by cultivating good habits that slowly integrate their way into our lives.

Making time in our schedule every day for devotion and prayer, keeps us focused on the God who is always present. Regularly supporting a particular cause or concern keeps us focused on situations outside of ourselves. Regular attendance at church gives our week a focus that we otherwise easily lose.

But there are even simpler things. Like always counting to ten before we respond to a situation that is aggravating us. Like slowing down. Like being more aware of our surroundings. Like allowing God to be the One who makes the judgment calls, rather than setting ourselves up as God's authority. Like listening before we give our opinion. Like practicing simple virtues such as kindness and courtesy and tolerance.

Such simple practices build a fence around our lives in the sense that they nurture us spiritually and help us to see situations in a different light, because we are coming from a safe place, a quiet place, rather than from a place of turmoil and anxiety.

We also need to recall the promises of scripture in such a way as we make them our own. Words of Jesus. 'I will never leave you or forsake you' “I am always with you" 'I am the Good Shepherd who lays His life down for His sheep.' There is no shortage of words and phrases that we can call to mind when we are going through difficult times... or even when we are enjoying the best of times.

We'll be using the 23rd psalm as our affirmation of faith this morning, and one of the features of that wonderful poem is the way it is appropriate for so many different occasions in our lives, from their beginning to their end. I have heard it read at Christenings, at Baptisms, at Weddings, at the bedside of those critically ill, on battlefields, at picnics, at funerals, on occasions of national celebration or mourning, at times of dedication... the list goes on.

The Psalm is an affirmation that we are not shepherdless sheep. We do not walk through this world alone. 

There is One to...

 guide us, 

lead us, 

protect us, 

feed us, 

heal us,

 inspire us, 

move us,

 shake us, 

restore us, 

hold us, 

comfort us, 

clothe us, 

eat with us, 

protect us, 

and surround our lives with 

goodness and mercy and righteousness.

Jesus looks with compassion on all people. Jesus has compassion for us. Jesus wants to be our shepherd.  

Will we let His Word be our Guide?  Will we guard ourselves from feeding on the empty diet of this world and seek to be nourished by His Holy Spirit?  Will we allow God to surround our lives by resting our lives in the palm of God’s hand? None of us need to be shepherdless sheep. We have a Savior in the Lord Jesus Christ.

To God's name be all the glory. Amen.

Affirmation of Faith: 23rd Psalm.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures.
 He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil; for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

Mark my Words. "Beware The Toxins of Herod"

 

Readings: Psalm 24, 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12-19, Ephesians 1:3-14, Mark: 6:14-29
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, July 11 2021

In many Bibles and commentaries, our gospel passage from Mark is given the title 'The death of John the Baptist'. But it is not really about John. It is about King Herod. We may, in our better moments, wish to identify with John. John is the victim. John is the one who has done nothing wrong and makes a stand for what is right. John is the hero and the martyr.

Most of us here today are neither victims or likely to become martyr's. We are the ones with power. Power to choose. Power to decide. Power to create lives that have meaning and influence. If our life situation is to be identified with anybody in the account, it should probably be Herod.

Whilst we may identify with Herod's situation we probably do not want to be identified with his character. Though incredibly powerful he turns out to be weak, compromised, and dangerous. The word 'toxin' when used in chemical terms, describes a substance that is capable of causing injury or death. Hence our sermon title: “Beware the Toxin's of Herod”.

In the life of  Herod we observe a whole trinity of toxins!

•    The danger of toxic relationships
•    The delusive power of toxic environments
•    The dilemma of toxic choices.

The danger of toxic relationships

Pop-singer Britney Spears once had a hit song called 'Toxic' in which she sang of the attraction she had for the wrong sort of guy. With poetry that you only find in dance charts she sings; 'With a taste of your lips, I'm on a ride, You're toxic, I'm slipping under! With a taste of poison paradise, I'm addicted to you, Don't you know that you're toxic?' I was going to invite Thomas to make that an anthem this morning, but... maybe not.

Herod was in a toxic relationship with his wife Herodias. Herodias was his brother’s wife... and that is where all the trouble started.  Because when John the Baptist found that Herod had taken his brother's wife as his own, he spoke out about it. Herodias did not want to hear what John had to say, and through her incessant nagging, she persuaded Herod to have John arrested and put in prison. When it came to John, King Herod was completely paranoid. He was drawn to John's message like a moth to a flame. He knew John was in the right.

Verses 19 and 20 in the Message Bible picture the tensions in the story quite clearly.  “Herodias, smoldering with hate, wanted to kill John, but she didn't dare because Herod was in awe of John. Convinced that he was a holy man, he gave him special treatment. Whenever he listened to him he was miserable with guilt—and yet he couldn't stay away. Something in John kept pulling him back. “

For his birthday Herod throws a party and everybody who is anybody is invited. As she witnesses Herod's behavior, Herodias finds an opportunity to have John silenced for good.

The whole sad story begins with a relationship that never should have been. Herod's relationship with Herodias. The lady is toxic. In church we often talk about reaching out to everybody with the gospel and how all are welcome at our table. We do not always talk about boundaries and the danger that exists when relationships go bad.

Maybe we are not aware of the statistics regarding domestic violence, maybe we naively believe that somehow, we are a strong enough character not to allow toxic people to influence our decisions. But the truth is that certain relationships can be a curse rather than a cause of celebration. 

We must take care that our relationships do not cause us to compromise what we believe. Herod believed John to be in the right. Because of his desire to be in a relationship with Herodias, he did the wrong thing. He ignored his own conscience and went along with her.

We need to be careful who we make our closest friends. We need to get out of relationships that are dragging us down. Relationships that are causing us to compromise on what we know is right. Relationships that are causing harm. Once things start going crazy, it is not just ourselves who are hurt, but conflict spills over into every other relationship that we have in our life, including our relationship with God.

Which leads into a second observation. We need to be aware of...

The delusive power of toxic environments

Singer/Songwriter Randy Newman had a song that was a number 1 hit in 1970 for Three Dog Night 'I've seen so many things, That I ain't never seen before, I don't know what it is, But I don't wanna see no more... Mama told me not to come, Mama told me not to come, She said that ain't no way to have fun, Mama told me not to come.”

I am fairly sure that Randy Newman wasn't writing about this particular passage in Mark, but I tell you, if I was at a party where, following a dancing girls’ performance, they bring out a prophets severed head on a silver plate... I'd be singing along, '.Mama told me not to come.”  It is not enough to just watch who we are knowing. We also need to watch where we are going.

There are parties... and there are parties. I do not believe there is anything wrong with having a dance to celebrate a birthday with friends or a good company and a glass of wine. But there was something more than an innocent celebration going on here. Things were getting out of control.

Whilst the text does not suggest there was anything salacious about the young girls dancing, it appears to have been interpreted that way by Herod. His judgment is impaired by too much drink. He has no idea that he is being manipulated. He starts making promises that he could not possibly fulfill. 'Just dance for me one more time ...  I will give you anything you desire.”

No sooner has he said it than Herodias sweeps down like an eagle on her prey. “Ask for the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter” she goads the daughter.  Herod looks around at his guests.  He is afraid of what people will make of him if he goes back on his word. So, with a wave of the hand, it was done. Executioners are sent to do the dirty deed and return with their gruesome prize. What happened next at the party we do not know. I am not even sure I want to know!  'That ain't no way to have fun, Mama told me not to come.’

Sometimes we find in ourselves in situations where we feel we are out of our depth. We feel pressure from family, friends, or peers to behave in certain ways. We may let our guard down more than we should by relaxing more than we had intended. At such times we should remind ourselves that there are situations when we must walk away. And there is no shame in doing that.

And that does not just apply to parties. In the workplace, in a school or college setting, when people are joking around, even just being out with friends or colleagues, if something in our spirit witnesses that this just is not right, it is OK to walk away. 

It does not mean that we do not care or that we are being judgmental.Events can turn toxic. And when they do, we do not need to be there! Just as there are toxic relationships that we need to avoid so there are toxic situations we need to walk away from.  Or better still avoid getting into in the first place.

We also need to be alert to the simple truth that not everybody has our best interest at heart. I admit it, I can be “Mr. Gullible.” I often presume the best about people. If they spin me a sad tale as to why they need my help, I do not always ask the right questions. And then I have those “DANG” moments when I realize I have been taken for a ride.

Herod thinks he is being generous offering this dancing girl whatever she wanted. He is just being had. He is just being taken advantage of. Never underestimate people’s powers of persuasion. Remember the old adage “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!' And once our guard is down... then we make bad decisions. This account also warns us about...

The dilemma of toxic choices.

One of Herod's failings is that when he is called upon to compromise, he gets his priorities completely messed up. About marrying his brother's wife? No compromise. About locking up John. Total compromise. 

Herod knows he is doing the wrong thing. And then there is the question of his honor. Should he have made a compromise and declared that the death of a good man was more of a wrong than losing face with his guests? Yes. That is what he should have done. But rather than compromise on a drunken promise, he instead has a man executed!

The choices we make can be toxic. Maybe not quite as toxic as Herod's but nevertheless, we are daily faced with choices about what we support, where we shop, what causes we support, how we spend our leisure time... and on and on. Herod is not a puppet.

 Throughout the whole story Herod has choices. As do we. But he is weak. He makes all the wrong decisions. The story starts out with him choosing what he is going to believe about Jesus Christ. People tell us that it does not matter what we believe. That is not true. Because if we get it wrong about Jesus then that decision effects everything else that we do.

Some days after the party King Herod is learning about Jesus. People are expressing their opinions about who Jesus is. 'He's a prophet' 'He's a phenomenal teacher' 'He's a healer' 'He's Elijah”. Herod is fixed on his own idea. Jesus was not any of those things. Jesus was  John the Baptist, raised from dead, and come back to haunt him.  

Herod is riddled with guilt and remorse for his actions. He cannot get John out of his mind. His disturbed mental state means he has no comprehension of the Kingdom Jesus was bringing into being. He is so pre-occupied with his own assumptions that he gets it all wrong about the one who could have been his savior.

The question of who we believe Jesus may be and how we deal with all the conflicting information we hear, is one that each of us must work through. There is always a danger of being blinded by our assumptions or of reflecting too much on our own failures, that we fail to see how God can help us. I personally believe that if we turn honestly and openly towards God, God's Holy Spirit can help us make the right decisions and reveal to us things we may be missing.

So, there we have it! We have covered some ground this morning. Britney Spears, Three Dog night. Dancing girls. Parties. Silver plates. Be-headings and Beliefs. I am not really sure how to conclude other than repeating again my sermon title 'Beware the toxins of Herod!'

• Be alert to the danger of toxic relationships. Get out of them.
• Be aware of the delusive power of toxic environments. Avoid them.
• And be sensitive to the dilemma of toxic choices.
• Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. You can't trust Herod, but you can trust in Jesus! Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

Mark my Words. "Not Accepted in the Heartlands" (Communion)

Readings: Psalm 48, Ezekiel 2:1-5, 2 Corinthians 12:2-10, Mark: 6:1-13
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, July 4 2021

Today, is Independence Day. A moment in history when a nation remembers how they have declared their willingness to stand alone and be guided by principles of self-government and freedom. Later in your history you would declare a desire to be “One nation under God.” There is an acknowledgment, in that statement, that true independence can only be found through a reliance upon God’s love and grace.

It is an unusual day for a British guy to be standing in a pulpit in an area where there are still historic signs of the revolutionary war around. Thank-fully it was a long time ago and it appears old animosities have been replaced by a close relationship between the two nations and a recognition of commonalities rather than what separates.  

Of course, for the majority of you this is your homelands, while for myself and Yvonne, most of our extended family remains over the other side of the ocean. But wherever you call home, it is always a strange experience visiting your homelands after you have been away for a while.

Because of COVID, Yvonne and I have not been able to make that journey to our homelands in recent days. We have a family wedding coming up next year and hope that will be an occasion to renew our acquaintance once again. Things is, whenever we do go, we notice changes.

Things are so familiar, yet at the same time so different. Time moves on.  People move on. Things change. There is a new building here.  An old landmark is no longer there. Who we are, is not who we were.

There is the awareness that you have moved onto other things, whilst some of those who stayed where they were, are much the same as they have ever been.  You see them through different eyes, but often they see you as they always did.

I was reading of the Welsh singer Tom Jones, (who had hits like, "It's not unusual" and "The Green, Green, Grass of home"), and how, for him, visiting his home village was a unique experience.  In the eyes of the world, he was perceived as a glitzy Las Vegas nightclub superstar.  In his hometown he was still 'Tom, y’know, Mrs. Jones's boy, who sings a bit and went off to America.'

He found it a liberating thing to walk around his hometown and be treated just the same as everybody else.  There is something in being around folks who knew us when we were growing up that is a great leveler, and which can be very accepting and comfortable.

The reverse side of it is that it can limit people’s expectations of us. It is almost as though the people who think they know you the best, feel a need to set limits on what you should and should not be able to achieve in life.

That seems to be what happened when Jesus went to his hometown after being on His first mission trip. People would not accept Him. “Why, He is just Mary’s boy, the carpenter. We know his brothers and sisters! He’s nobody special.”

It could even be that the townsfolk thought He was dodging His responsibilities. As there is no mention of Mary’s husband Joseph in the account, the presumption is that he had died and left Jesus, as the oldest child, as the head of the household.  To walk out on the family and go on some crazy preaching tour was not the thing to do!

For whatever reasons, be it familiarity or just resistance because of actions He had taken that were socially out of line, Jesus is met with rejection when He returns to His hometown.  The people are offended by His teaching, viewing it as alien to their understanding of what should and should not happen in their locality.

Jesus marvels at their unbelief, quoting them a parable, “A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.” A few receive Him.  A number receive healing, but these are a small number in comparison to the multitudes that were touched elsewhere.

Reflecting on the thought of Jesus not being welcome in His homelands, challenges me to ask a searching question. “How welcome is Jesus in my heartlands? How welcome is the radical message of the gospel in my heart of hearts?” There is no more familiar place to us than the principality of our own lives.  In our own experience we can easily become content with the way things are and not face the challenge of developing in our spirituality.

Whether we have been faithfully attending church in the United Kingdom, or the United States, or any other land… we have heard the gospel message many times. So many times, that it has become familiar to us. Maybe so familiar, that we think we know what it is all about and see no need for change or greater understanding.  We can become so satisfied with the status quo of church life that we lose the expectation of God’s Spirit breaking in on us, renewing us, and changing us.

Jesus could not do the work He wished to do in His homelands because the people were imprisoned by a view of life that allowed no room for the unexpected in the common daily life of their community. They knew the mighty works He had done; they recognized His teaching as having great depth, and they did not deny great things were taking place.

What they had a problem with was fathoming how a man from their little village had been anointed with such great wisdom and power. They found the thought that He had a divine work to do in their midst an offense.  Who was He to tell them how they should be living their lives?  Wasn’t He, after all just a carpenter, just a local boy? Things like that did not happen in their town!

In a similar way in our inner heartlands, in our heart of hearts, we can limit the work of God.  We find the thought that Jesus wants to do some divine work in our midst somehow unbelievable. After all, that is not our daily experience. Of course, we believe Jesus can do great things, and we know He gave great teaching, but does it really penetrate our hearts?

William Barclay, in his commentary on Mark, tells the story of the poet Thomas Campbell, a man of considerable talent.  His father had absolutely no sense of poetry whatsoever. When Thomas achieved his longtime dream of having his poems published, he sent a copy to his father.  The old man looked at it.  

At least he looked at the cover and the picture on it. He never actually opened the pages and read anything. His only comment was “Well, who would have thought our Tommy could have a book made with a nice picture on it?”

“Sometimes” comments William Barclay, “when familiarity should breed a growing respect it breeds an increasing and easy-going familiarity.  Sometimes we are too near people to see their greatness.” I would want to add; “Sometimes we are so familiar with our limitations that we fail to see the possibility of there being anything more.”
 
Yet there were some in Jesus hometown who were not content.  Though the majority reacted with an unbelief that Jesus marveled at, some were healed.  So, there is a way to break beyond our familiarity barriers and expand our horizons! It may not be the way the majority takes, but has not that always been the case with those who desire to walk with God?

Consider Ezekiel, the prophet of our Old Testament reading.  God addresses him as ‘mortal man’ (for that is what he was) yet identifies him as being a person of faith amongst a nation where many disbelieved. (Ezekiel 2:3) “Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have turned against me.”

Consider how, after His rejection by most of His own folk, Jesus does not despair or change His plans, but rather carries on expanding His work, training His small band of twelve disciples by sending them out two by two to give them their first taste of preaching the Good News of the Kingdom.

Consider how, though initially rejected by His family, His mother Mary was one of the few who stood by Jesus to the end, when the rest of the disciples deserted Him. Consider how His brother James, after the resurrection, came to be regarded as the apostle and the leader of the Jerusalem church.  Though their familiarity was a stumbling block, it was one they eventually overcame.

We have stumbling blocks in our faith journeys.  We have problems that we do not seem to be able to get over. We become content with our unbelief and our unfamiliarity of God’s ways. We give up on ourselves.  We give up on each other.  We give up on our churches.  We let hope pass us by. The familiarity of our heartlands causes us to feel nothing can change or will change. We become so hardened by our familiarity that we reject even the words of those who tell us change is possible.

It does not have to be that way. It was not that way for Ezekiel.  It was not that way for those in Jesus town who found healing that day.  It does not have to be that way for us if we heed Christ’s words that we should seek the things of His Kingdom over and above all the other things we want in life.

This passage challenges us today, that though we are simply mortal women and men, it is in our lives, cluttered as they are with everyday concerns and mixed motives, that God wishes to work in the power of God’s Holy Spirit. It is for us to invite Jesus into our heartland, to see not the limitations that both ourselves and the world around us place upon us, but the vast possibilities that the Grace of God opens up to us.  

Today… Independence Day. Wherever we consider our homelands to be, one thing is clear. Freedom only comes to us within a certain framework. A war of independence took place that allowed this nation to be a place of self-government, rather than a colony under some the reign of some distant king.

The challenge remains that, for a person of faith, spiritual growth takes place, not through independence from a higher power, but through dependance upon the powerful love of God, that we find in Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit.

Here, around a table laid with bread and wine is an unparalleled opportunity to lay our lives before God and seek God’s renewal. Let us celebrate the freedom we have to be here. Let us celebrate our history and our unique identity. But let there be no familiarity. Let there be a recognition that we are where we are and who we are by the Grace of God. And let us seek for that grace, always fresh, always new and always amazing, to guide us through days that lay ahead of us.  

And to God be all praise and glory. Amen.

 The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

Mark My Words. "Jesus the Healer"

Readings: Psalm 130, 2 Samuel 1:1 & 17-27, 2 Corinthians 8:7-15, Mark: 5:21-43
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, June 28 2021

This morning our bible reading gave us an account of two acts of healing that Jesus performed. Firstly, that of the daughter of Jairus. Secondly of a woman who had a hemorrhage. The two accounts have several things in common.

Consider firstly this. That both these people were outsiders.

They were not the sorts of people who normally thronged around preachers.  Jairus was a part of the ruling minority that considered the likes of Jesus to be dangerous. Scripture describes him as a “synagogue official.” The unnamed woman, because of the nature of her illness, was not the sort to get out and about much.  Her illness made her unclean in the eyes of Jewish law.  Any person she came into physical contact with would also be considered unclean by the law. They were outsiders.

There was a song some years ago that said, “I’m in with the In-Crowd, I go where the In-Crowd goes.”  One of the things I have never figured out in life is exactly who the “In Crowd” are.  In fact, if some of the people who suspect they are 'in' the 'in crowd' are anything to go by, then I’m certainly sure I don’t want to be in with them, whatever that may mean.

When it comes to the love of God, we are outsiders whom God wants to be insiders.   We all fall short of being the sort of people we could or should be.  We are all misfits. Sometimes we may be foolish enough to believe otherwise. Numerous religious and political groups will invite us to be a part of their thing and suggest to us that everybody else’s thing is the wrong thing. But the testimony of scripture is clear. We are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God.

So, remember this. Jesus healed these two outsiders. They were not outsiders in His eyes. Neither are we.  He invites us, not to become part of the “In crowd” but to be part of a fellowship that meets around a common table. He invites us to be in His love. He invites us to be part of a community in which there are as many 'diverse' people as there are people.

The love of God invites outsiders to come inside. To taste and see that the Lord is good.

Notice secondly about this unclean woman and synagogue official, that though in the eyes of the world they were outsiders, in the eyes of God, they were insiders by virtue of being people of faith.

Faith is such a hard a thing to define. What makes it harder is that sometimes we seem to have it and sometimes we don’t.   

I am not a person who has tremendous confidence in air travel. The smaller the plane, the more angst-y I become. I remember being on a flight from Atlanta, GA to Charleston, WV, that was one of those tiny commuter planes with noisy propellers and engines that seem to splutter.

The pilot did not actually increase my confidence.  He kept coming on the loudspeakers saying things like, “Duh, this your ..er.. pilot… erm. There might be some bad weather ahead.  I guess… erm.. we’ll go round it some way. Erm.. Don’t know what time we’ll be getting in tonight… but hey, I think we got a lot of fuel on board!”

Of course, everything went fine. There were no problems. Statistically I knew I was safer in a plane than crossing the road, but.. well faith.. it’s a strange thing. Sometimes we seem to have it. Sometimes it eludes us.

In our bible passage, the woman and Jairus the synagogue official have it.  Big time. “If I just touch His garments,” says the woman. Jairus says about his daughter “Lay your hands on her so that she will get well and live.” If they have any doubts in their minds about the ability of Jesus to heal, their words certainly don’t express them.  They have complete confidence in Jesus.

That sort of confident faith is elsewhere described in Scripture as a gift of the Holy Spirit.  An experience that God grants to us through God’s grace. Faith is not something that we can artificially manufacture or achieve through the power of positive thinking. It’s a gift to be received.

But there are things we can do to be in a better position to be more receptive. We can be regular in our worship and personal walk with Christ.  We can nourish our lives through scripture and prayer. We can be more trusting in God and less trusting in our selves.  These things do not guarantee instant abundant faith experiences, but they do pave the way to recognizing a gift when God is offering it to us.

How much faith is necessary? Jesus said a little less than a mustard seed is quite sufficient! Just a grain. That will do it.  Just a whisper worth that tells you God loves you despite everything!

The love of God invites outsiders to come inside.
The love of God invites us to come with the faith we have, and trust God for the rest!

Finally, notice this about these two people of faith. They didn’t care what anybody else thought about them.

So many people worry endlessly about what others think of them whilst considering so little how their lives may look in God’s eyes.  Jairus had reached a point where he could not give two hoots what his influential friends made of him.  His little daughter was sick.  He believed Jesus could change things. So, he went to Jesus.

The woman with the hemorrhage did not care that the law branded her unclean.  She didn’t care that she’d seen this doctor and that physician, and they’d all declared her condition incurable.  She did not care about the social customs and niceties that every society inherits.  She needed a touch from Jesus to be made well. Forget everything else. She went for it.

Sometimes, like the two in our story, we must reach rock bottom before we stop wondering what other people think of us and start reaching out to God. But that does not have to be so.

If we can simply recapture the idea that God loves us, simply because we are God's children and precious in God's sight, that God sent Jesus into our world not to condemn the world, but that the world might through Him be saved, then we understand how outsiders become insiders. We recognize that it is the work of the Holy Spirit, a work of grace that accepts us, not what we can do or what others think of us.

Somebody asked me the other day, why they should bother attending a worship service, when there are so many other things they could do on a Sunday.

For me, it's like this. Every time we come to a worship service, we are putting ourselves in a place that where God's healing and freedom and joy can break through into our hurting and needy lives. That what we can discover through worship is something this world cannot even put into words.  It is through opening our hearts in worship that Jesus invites to experience His touch.

It is through opening our hearts to God in worship that we discover, like Jairus and the woman in our scripture reading, that we are outsiders that God wants to make insiders.

It is through opening our hearts to God in worship that we discover that however anybody else perceives us, God sees us as children in need of spiritual nurture and grace.

It is as we open our hearts to God in worship, not with the faith we would like to possess but with the little faith we do have, that we become aware that if it we only have as much faith as a mustard seeds worth ...that is absolutely enough.

It is as we open our hearts to God in worship, we remember that what others think of us does not matter as much as how God sees us. And we discover God is the only One who truly sees us, who knows the real needs of our lives, and only God, through the Holy Spirit, can meet us at the deepest point of our need. Such was the experience of Jairus, whose daughter found healing, and of a unknown woman, known to God by name, but for us just another example of how God's love, can take what is broken and create something new.

Whatever our need this day... be it for healing, for direction, for hope, for comfort, for peace... may we lift that need to God, trusting that God alone can fulfill God's Word and seeking for God's healing love to be a reality in our own lives.

For to God's name be all honor, glory and praise. Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

June 20 Mark my Words. "With Jesus in the Boat..."

Readings: Psalm 9:9-20, 2 Corinthians 6:1-13, Job 38:1-11; Mark 4:35-41
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church on June 20 2021

Many of my childhood holidays when I was growing up were spent on the Bonnie, Bonnie banks of Loch Lomond in Scotland. My late father's parents were from Alexandria, near Glasgow, and my dad had spent a lot of time in his childhood exploring the area, an experience he wanted to share with his family.

One of the joys of the “Bed and Breakfast” we used to stay in, was that the lodging included access to a small, motorized boat that enabled us to pack up for the day, sail out on the Loch and picnic on one of the many islands that the Loch contains. Dad even had friends that lived on one of the islands, Inchtavannach, and we would often be invited for a sumptuous dinner.

Scottish weather is unpredictable. Raincoats were never optional but considered essential supplies. One of the things you had to take note of, when out sailing on the Loch, was how suddenly and unexpectedly, the weather could change. One moment, a blue sky with a few clouds, the next a storm would roll in from the mountains, and it was much safer to be on the land, then out at sea. Thankfully, Dad knew the climate and knew the Loch, so we were never caught out.

However, unpredictable weather, is... well... unpredictable. And even the most professional of sailors can be caught out by unexpected storms. That seems to be what is happening to the seasoned fishermen, out on the Galilean Lake with Jesus, that is pictured in our Bible reading from Marks gospel. We read “A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.”

It is not just boat trips that can be unpredictable. Life itself is full of unexpected and unwelcome twists and turns. One moment we are going along smoothly, the next, out of nowhere can come occurrences that shake us to our core and change everything. Illness. Accident. Disaster. Loss. Most of the time we sail along quite happily, but there are those other times that leave us afraid, confused and wondering what we are going to do next.

This morning I want to think about several things.

•    Firstly, I want to say that fear is normal. It is a natural reaction to our losing control.
•    Secondly, I want to say that one of our greatest fears, is that of abandonment. The fear that God does not care.
•    Finally, I want us to see how, in this passage, the action of Jesus brings peace into the situation, and creates a great sense of awe at God's ability to effect change in our lives and our world.

Fear is Normal

The Old Testament passage recommended by the Lectionary comes from near the end of the book of Job. The story of Job is all about a man who, through no fault of his own, loses everything he held dear in a series of cataclysmic events. Though people seek to understand why all this is happening to him, and he himself is exasperated and fearful, by the end of the book we discover that no reasons for his plight are going to be given. Instead, he is reminded that our lives, for better for worse, are in the hands of a God whose actions defy our understanding.

God's word to Job is “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements-- surely you know!” (Job 38:4-5) People will ask us, “Why is this happening to me?” Often, we have to say, in all honesty, “God only knows” and we are not in on the secret. We acknowledge that even if we had an explanation, it would not help. When the boat is sinking, you do not care why it is sinking, you just want to know where the lifeboat is.

We have heard verses like 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” and feel that, somehow, expressing our loss of control, expressing our deepest fears is unfaithful and not honoring to God. That an admission of fear is evidence of unfaithfulness.

Job had no such problem. He gets angry at God for the predicament in which he had been placed. The disciples had no such reservations. As the storm envelops their lives, in verse 38 they cry out, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

Fear is normal. When everything spirals out of control it is the right emotion to experience. It is a natural part of our defense mechanism. Of course, we also have those irrational fears that nobody can explain, but that's just part of what reminds we are all unique... and we all a little bit crazy, we are all beautiful human individuals, but in each of us the image of God is tarnished by our sin.

Because of our imperfection, we are needy people. We need each other. We need God. And one of our deepest fears is of being alone. Which brings us to a second thing we see in this passage.

Fear of Abandonment.

Jesus is asleep in the boat. The disciples are terrified. Jesus sleeps. The boat is filling with water. Jesus sleeps on. They shake Him awake. They yell at Him. “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

We are His disciples, right? Isn't God supposed to take care of us? Isn't God being neglectful of God's duties when things do not work out for us? No... wait a minute, what if God is not really that interested in what we are going though? What if God does not really care? What if God has gone AWOL? What if God is sleeping in today and has missed this tragedy that we are living in the middle of?

How often have we been there? Yes, we know, we believe, that God is real. We believe that God is with us. Or at least, at times we have believed that. But now? Now this has happened. Now the unthinkable just became the reality. What is the deal God? Sleeping on the job? “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

Teacher, do You not care how hard life is right now? Teacher, do you not care about what is happening to my family? Teacher do you not care about that illness that is attacking that person? Teacher, do you not care about Covid? Teacher do you not care about the violence and the shootings and the climate of mistrust that is evident in this nation? Teacher, do You not care that Your church is struggling to make sense of the world it deals with day by day? Teacher wake up! Help us, wake up!

We read in verse 9 “He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.” It reads all so matter of fact. We don't read that He shook Himself and cried out “Oh my goodness. I cannot believe I was sleeping through this! Why didn't you wake me earlier?” We don't read, “And Jesus said, “Get out the life jackets, swim for the shore, there's nothing we can do, every man for himself!” We read “He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.” As the Word of God is spoken, faith is restored.

Faith Restored

Yes, the storm is rebuked, and peace is restored. Dead calm. But something else happens. The disciples take on a different kind of fear. An experience of awe and incredulity comes upon them. While Jesus is comforting and challenging them, saying “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” They are saying “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

It is as though our faith is not just about recognizing that the Word of God can make a difference, but that we also need to get out of the mindset that limits what God can and is able to do, in our lives, in our churches and in our world. This story takes us from a position of life crippling fear for survival and invites us to embrace visions of incredible possibility. It invites us to trust God, not just for the immediate crisis we are facing, but to open up to God's love in a new way that causes us to rethink the way we see the world.

It is this sense of overwhelming awe, this sense of, “Wow! Not only was God not sleeping, but God is control of … well... everything,” that brings peace flowing into the situation. It is here that this story once again intersects with the Old Testament story of Job. Job is put in a position where he sees that, even though he cannot change or explain the events that have befallen him, God is more in control than he could ever be. Job and the disciples reach a position where they understand that God cares about them more deeply than they could ever dare imagine.

It is as though life is cast into a totally different framework. We see everything in a linear fashion. Life goes smooth. A crisis comes along. We panic. God gets us through. We get back to normal. Then another crisis comes along, and we hit the “repeat” button.

This passage places our lives into an eternal frame. Good things will happen to bad people and bad things will happen to good people, but at the end of all things... God has it all under control. God is not sleeping on the job. Storms of life will come and go, but the Word of the Lord will endure forever.

A church I used to attend sang a chorus that said, “Peace is flowing like a river.” That was always a mixed image in my mind. When you witness the power that a river in full flood can create, that is both a challenging and a comforting image. Challenging because it reminds us that we are not in control. Comforting, because when we accept that God is in control, that is when the peace floods in.

That is also a chorus we used to sing at Vacation Bible School.

“With Jesus in the boat we can smile at the storm,
Smile at the storm, smile at the storm
With Jesus in the boat we can smile at the storm,
As we go sailing home.

Sailing, sailing home. Sailing, sailing home.
With Jesus in the boat we can smile at the storm,
As we go sailing home.”

It is a recognition that we are all at sea. And we all sometimes become afraid. 

While probably the last thing that occurs to us in the middle of the storms of life is “Smile,” if we can embrace the hope that God is not asleep, embrace the hope that God has placed an eternal framework around our lives, embrace the hope that God is able to deal with our lives in a way that is more abundant, more precious and more expansive than we could ever dream is possible, then the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ will come flowing into the situation.

To God be all glory.
Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

June 13 Mark My Words. "Seeds of Faith"

 

 Readings: Psalm 46; 1 Samuel 15:34–16:13,  2 Corinthians 5:6–17, Mark 4:26-34
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, June 13 2021

Our New Testament reading this morning had Jesus talking about seeds.  Little things that grow into things that are much greater. About how we play only a small part in it, we plant it and we harvest it, but God takes care of the rest.  Like the process of growth, from a seed to a tree, Jesus pictures the Kingdom of God growing mysteriously from small beginnings into something majestic.

The first parable talked about the mystery of growth. The seed is planted.
It goes through changes.  The stalk appears, then the head, then it blossoms.
When the grain is ripe it is harvested.

We know that sometimes the seeds we plant don't make it.  We know that we have to prepare the ground.  We know that a whole lot of conditions play a part. But most of it, just happens and as it happens, we can do very little to change it.  About the only thing we can do is stop it or ruin it.

It is much the same with spiritual growth.  Seeds of faith are planted in people’s lives.  Sometimes they take, sometimes they do not.  At times people are prepared for growth, at times they are not. There are occasions when the storms of life cause the growth to be hindered.  There are occasions when people will not go with the flow of it and the seeds do not come to anything.

But, by the Grace of God, sometimes things take root and we see people going through a process of changes and developments that show they are maturing and developing in their Christian life. And it is by the Grace of God. It is a thing that we cannot explain.  It is truly a miracle.

I have been reading recently some peoples accounts of their Christian journey.  A common factor in many people’s testimony, is that when things seemed at their worse, or when they travelled through an incredibly difficult time, God spoke and planted a seed in them that brought a result they had never expected.  

One recent example, for personal reasons, particularly struck me. Carley Cottingham’s story. I will share it in her words.

“Growing up in Three Rivers, I was a talented three sport athlete, who especially thrived on the basketball court, I had dreams to play basketball at the collegiate level and was well on my way to do so until my junior year of high school when my world was turned upside down.  

 In the spring of 2009, my right hand began to suddenly cramp up, ache, tingle, and turn white. I figured I had injured it while playing softball, but because I was such a competitive athlete I decided not to tell my coach.

By the time summer came around, the symptoms were getting worse and began spreading up my arm. I finally decided that I needed to see a doctor. I went to Bronson Hospital with my Mom where I was diagnosed with Tendonitis and was told to go to physical therapy for 6-8 weeks. I spent the summer before my senior year in and out of therapy, when at one particular session my right hand lost all color. The physical therapist was shocked at what was happening and scheduled an appointment for me to see a hand surgeon.

After that appointment with the surgeon, I was told that I had blood clots in my right arm that were completely clotting my arm from my elbow down to my fingertips. The doctors performed more tests and tried giving me medication to help break up the clots, but it was completely unsuccessful.

I was then transported by helicopter to Detroit where I was rushed into a twelve hour emergency surgery. Over the next four weeks I had over fifteen major surgeries. The doctors finally diagnosed me with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Unfortunately, the clots were discovered too late, and on August 26th, 2009 the doctors amputated my hand.

While lying alone in my hospital room, my body broken and bruised, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace. I felt the presence of the Lord there with me in that room. I heard His voice so audibly I thought He was on the hospital PA system. I heard the Lord say to me, "Carley, I might be taking your right hand, but your life is in my hands".

I knew right then and there that I was going to be just fine! I knew that the Lord had the most incredible plans for me and that He was going to use my story to glorify Him.
I continued my senior year and played basketball, where I was recognized by ESPN the magazine and was awarded Hero of the Month by the Detroit Pistons. The athlete in me was ecstatic, but I knew that I couldn’t have done without my Savior.

Over the last ten years I have shared my story all over the US, and work alongside Bethany Hamilton, professional surfer and shark attack survivor, to host retreats for young women who have lost limbs. Through continued support from my church community, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, I will continue to thank God for every day!”

I share that story partly because my own son, Matthew, was recently diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and over the last six months has been through a series of operations, but thankfully no amputations, only a rib removed! With the arrival of their first child it has been a difficult time for them and I was delighted, a couple of weeks ago, to be able to travel to Washington State and baptize my grandchild in the presence of family and friends.

Maybe not such a dramatic testimony as that of Carly, but God was with us. Grace is all around. We do not like to reflect on what could have been if a diagnosis were not found, and I am so thankful for the advances medical science has made. I cannot help reflecting that the Kingdom is working away today, just like Jesus said it would.

We forget what advances have been made in our world not just through science, but also through the growth of Christianity. William Barclay, writing in his commentary on Mark says;

"There is not the slightest doubt that the Kingdom is on the way if we compare, not today with yesterday, but this century with ones that went before.  When Elizabeth Fry went to Newgate Prison in 1817 she found in the women's quarters three hundred women and numberless children crammed into two small wards.  They lived and cooked and ate and slept on the floor.  They crowded, half naked, almost like beasts, begging for money which they spent on drink at a bar in the prison itself.  

She found there a boy of nine who was waiting to be hung. His crime? Poking a stick through a window and stealing some paints that were valued at two pennies.... Nowadays things like that are unthinkable. Why? Because the Kingdom of God is on the way.  It may, like the growth of a plant be imperceptible from day to day; but over the years that growth is plain."

It can seem like two steps forward, one step back. But how things are now, is not how things will be.  How you are now is not how you will be in years to come.  Where you are now on your spiritual journey is not where you are meant to stay. You have to grow, you have to move on. We are not at the end of the story. The story is still being written.  The Kingdom, though we may not always see it, continues to grow.

The second parable talks of how the smallest of seeds grew to be a great tree,
providing not just a place for birds to shelter,
 but fit for eagles to make their nests within its branches.

The significance of both the mustard seed and the great tree would not be lost on the original hearers.  The mustard seed stood for the smallest possible thing; the tree was a symbol of a great empire that encompassed many nations. So, the Kingdom of God would grow from something embodied in the life of Jesus Christ to something that embraced the whole world.

Everything has a beginning.  Nothing emerges full-grown.  It can start out as an idea.  It can originate with a prayer.  It can begin as an idea that comes as you open your heart to God in a service of worship. Without the acorns there would never be Oak Trees.  Never judge things by the initial size of the seed.  Particularly the things of God and the things of His Kingdom.

Growth takes place, not in leaps and bounds, but by little steps. Seeds of faith are little things, everyday things that we pass on to others.  The smile of hope when others are cast down. The phone call to express your concern.  The few items or dollars given to a food kitchen.  

The volunteering to do that job or this task that no one else wants to do.  Returning your trolley when you visit the supermarket because if the wind blows it could damage somebody else’s car. The picking up of that piece of litter in the street because it is there and no one else has bothered.  Little things that when put together grow to be big things.

Be patient with yourselves. Spiritual growth is also a progression of little things. Little insights. Gentle steps and gradual renewal.  Why are we always in such a rush?  You cannot rush a seed.  You cannot go out into the garden and shout at the seed, "C'mon, grow, grow you little scoundrel, get up out of that earth and let's see what you're made of!"

The Kingdom is coming.  But it takes time.  It has taken all the generations that led to our birth and could take just as many generations after our death. Sometimes it may feel like we take one step before taking two steps forward. If we can just trust that God knows how to handle time, then we will be able trust Him to handle the times that our life is going through.

Our world is beset with many divisions. Divisions of race and color and culture. Divisions of wealth and poverty. Divisions of religion and class.  Divisions of language and nationality.  It shall not always be so. The Kingdom of God is growing from a small seed to a mighty empire. That is God's way.  That is how Jesus said it would be. And we can be a part of it. Seeds of faith have been planted in our hearts. That is why we are here.  

May God help us to nurture those seeds, to provide the right atmosphere of trust, prayer and worship for them to grow and to spread those faith seeds in the lives of others through our work and service and sharing of our gifts and talents.

Seeds of faith.
They take time to grow.
Be patient.
God has not finished with us yet.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.