THE LIFE OF DAVID 2. “See How the mighty Have Fallen”

Readings: Psalm 130, 2 Corinthians 8:7-15, Mark 5:21-43, 2 Samuel 1:1& 17-27
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, June 30 2024.

Liverpool was always a busy city. The traffic was always moving. On the go all the time. The shops were busy. Even the Crematorium was busy. When you had a funeral, you only had thirty minutes to get in and out and then the next one would be scheduled.

A minister friend tells of a time he had a funeral at the Crematorium and the minister for the next funeral didn’t show up. So, he offered to stand in and conduct the proceedings. He read a few scriptures, said a few prayers and then when it came to the normal time for the eulogy explained that as he had never known the deceased or his family, it was not appropriate for him to speak... “Would any of those present like to say a few words?” he asked.

The request was greeted with a stony silence as people sought to avoid his gaze. After what seemed like an awfully long time he asked again, “Is there anybody here who could say anything regarding the departed?”.

Reluctantly, an old gentleman at the rear of the chapel rose to his feet. “All I can tell you is this” he said, “He wasn’t as bad as his brother!” It was one of those occasions when a pastor was glad there were time restraints in place, as to prolong the occasion was not going to be a worthy cause. A few more prayers were offered and that was that.

Our bible reading today is a eulogy. David has learnt of the death of the King, Saul, and of his dearest friend, the Kings son, Jonathan. It is understandable that David wants to offer some words of praise to honor Jonathon. They were as close as brothers. He describes their relationship as being ‘more wonderful than the love of women’. (verse 26)

What is surprising is that he should mourn the passing of Saul. Saul had plagued David throughout his life. He acted towards David with obsession and jealousy. David had the opportunity to murder Saul, but walked away from it, as murdering the Lord’s anointed was a line he refused to cross. As it was Saul ended his days at the hand of his own sword, preferring to take his own life than surrender to the Philistines.

David puts aside any personal feelings and, in this eulogy, known in Hebrew as a “qînâ”, three times uses a phrase, which translated has become part of English language:- namely  “See how the mighty have fallen”. He counts both Saul and Jonathan as being amongst the “mighty”.

In verse18 he asks that his song of lament be given the title “Song of the Bow”. The bow was Jonathan’s weapon of choice. Saul was more renowned for his prowess with the sword than the bow, but aside from that one preferential note the poem equally tells of the achievements of two heroes, a Father and a son who stood side by side in life and in death and carved out a future for the nation of Israel.   

The first part of the song speaks of how the loss that has been experienced is not simply the loss of a political opponent and a good friend but a loss to the nation.

"Your beauty, O Israel, is slain on your high places! See how the mighty have fallen! Tell it not in Gath, Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice, the daughters of the uncircumcised will exult.”

It is thankfully not often that as a nation we are called upon to corporately grieve. There are occasions though when such a thing is only right. My own land came to a standstill after the death of Queen Elizabeth. 10 days of mourning.  Something similar was experienced following the assassinations of President Kennedy or Martin Luther King Jr. in this country.

There are times when it is right to put differences aside and in the interest of the common good allow room for recalling the noble acts of a leader’s life. A nation needs space to grieve.

David knew that their loss was, for the Philistines, a great victory. Images of your enemies rejoicing at your misfortune, rather like some of those coming from the Middle East following 911, are always disturbing. So, David expresses a vain hope that news of their defeat will not be proclaimed in the streets of the Philistine cities of Gath and Ashkelon.

This second section acknowledges that even though defeat and loss had been suffered on the mountain of Gilboa, Saul and Jonathan had not given their lives in vain. Saul carried a warrior’s shield that was anointed for battle and lived a life that was anointed as King. Saul and Jonathan fought a valiant battle to the bitter end.

"O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet, who put ornaments of gold on your apparel. "See how have the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!”

The nation had enjoyed a level of prosperity under Saul’s leadership never before experienced. Though this battle had been lost, the fact was that there had been a whole lot more that had been won. Though it was a dark day in their present history, because of Saul and Jonathan they had enjoyed much and because of their legacy they could look to the future.

The poem finishes on a personal note; “I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me”. Whilst Saul’s loss was a loss to the nation, the loss of Jonathan was a deeply personal grief for David himself.

What can this passage teach us?

1) There are times when telling the whole truth is more harmful than helpful. David tells no lies about Saul. He is honest and truthful and godly. The Book of Proverbs teaches that the wise man carefully chooses what he will say, and how and when he will say it. That some things are better left unsaid. David tells no lies. In the interest of edifying the nation, he simply does not tell the whole story,

Paul’s letter to the Philippians offers this advice: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8)

In our day everybody wants the gossip. Instead of looking for the good in the person or the situation, people want the juicy details. David grew to greatness as a King because he cultivated in himself the ability to seek the best in the situation and to refrain from disrespecting those who were his opponents. He knew the value of silence. That may be because of a second lesson this passage offers to us.

2) There are times when we need to acknowledge that God’s hand has guided us through our opponents. Those who take an opposite position from us sharpen our focus in a way that yes-men can never achieve. Although Saul had often acted against David, the actions of Saul had been turned to positive opportunities for David to act with grace and wisdom.

David recognized that God was at work as much in his troubles and his defeats as he was through the victories and the things that turned out just as he had hoped. Scripture teaches us that we should give thanks in all things. That’s hard to do when you are traveling through the hard times. Often it is only retrospectively that the ‘thanks’ come!

As I look back on my own life, I see that many doors that I hoped would be opened to me were closed, and because of that my life took on a different course. Other doors opened.

The week before I was due to be married, we had a mortgage set up on a property and I was in a job where I was being offered a supervisory position. Within the space of a week the loan company decided they weren’t going to allow us the money to purchase the house and the people I was working for decided that it was too expensive to pay a married person’s wage. Instead of promoting me they let me go.

Looking back, I see now how those events opened the way for me to move onto other things. Had I been in a job with considerable responsibility alongside meeting the financial demand of paying off a house, would I have been able to respond to a call to ministry? Would I even have considered it? Maybe. Maybe not. Life is full of ‘What ifs?’ Looking back, I see a guiding hand that I didn’t appreciate at the time! The things that seemed to oppose me in the end turned out to bless me.

3) There are times when speaking of our pain and our loss breaks their power over us. David teaches that we cannot move to joy, renewal, and praise too soon. The poetry of pain and grief allowed the lost kingdom of Saul to give way to the renewed kingdom of David. It is helpful to speak of kingdoms we had hoped for that have suffered defeat and is a good thing to express our feelings when events have left us despairing of justice or peace or hope.

Why? For this is the place of the Cross. The brokenness of our lives and our world must be voiced. Otherwise, we are simply avoiding life; we are not living the abundant life Jesus spoke of. Easter needs Good Friday or else Easter Sunday has nothing to celebrate. There can be no resurrection without a death. And the death of Christ goes to the darkest and deepest depths of human suffering.

Was not Jesus crucified because of lies and treachery? Was He not betrayed? Was He not abused? Was He not the victim of unjustified violence at the hands of those who abused their power? Was there ever a more holy one about whom it could be said, “See how the mighty have Fallen”?

We look to the cross as a sign of hope.  We acknowledge that the forces that crucified Him are at work in our lives and in our world. That’s not good. The Good News is that Jesus Christ overcame the forces that crucified him through resurrection to eternal life. The Good News is that He sends the Holy Spirit to give our lives an eternal focus.

Speaking of our brokenness opens us up to receive the Good News. Scripture calls us to repent and believe the gospel. Repentance is acknowledging our brokenness and sin. Believing is acknowledging Christ died for our sins and that in the strength of His Spirit our lives can be made new.

David’s eulogy teaches us important truths. To mind our words and look for the best in situations and people, no matter how they have treated us. To recognize that God is at work in our troubles as much as our victories.  To acknowledge our brokenness that we may find renewal through God.

The time will come for us when we will attend our own funeral. That is one appointment we cannot avoid. What words will be spoken over our lives? Will the preacher have to spare the grisly details and search hard for the good in us? Will it be a case of “Well. He wasn’t as bad as his brother”?  

Or will we be blissfully unconcerned, because the only words we are hearing come not from any preacher, but from God. “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” By the Grace of God may we seek to make such words apply to our lives.

For at the end of the day it is God alone who shall evaluate them. At the last day we either stand through the grace and merit of Jesus Christ, whose love we have accepted and welcomed in our hearts, or we stand before the judgment seat of the God whom scriptures tells us will deal with us according to our sins. Put your faith in Jesus Christ. Saved, through grace, you’ll be safe.!

The Rev Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

THE LIFE OF DAVID 1. “Bringing Down The Giants”

Readings: Psalm 9:9-20, 2 Corinthians 6 :1-13, Mark 4:35-41, 1 Samuel 17:32-49
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church on Sunday June 23, 2024

He was brash, loud, and downright annoying. Nobody argued with him. Why would they? He was bigger, meaner, and nastier than anybody else! His appearance made everyone shiver with fright. He was over nine feet tall, wore a bronze helmet and sported a coat of scale armor of bronze that weighed 125 pounds. On his timber-like legs were coverings of armor as well. He carried a bronze javelin slung over his back and its shaft was like a weaver’s rod with the iron point weighing fifteen pounds! Is it any wonder they called him “a champion”?

His name, Goliath, brought goose bumps of fear to the Israelite army. Every day for weeks he taunted the Israelite army of King Saul. Each morning the Israelites would line up in military ranks until they heard the voice of Goliath. Then they fled to their tents.

One day a mere boy in his mid-to late-teen years from the Judean countryside visited his older soldier brothers at Socoh in Judah, where this morning’s bible reading takes place. The text gives us the order of events that made Jesse’s son David a national hero, a biblical heavyweight, and a spiritual giant, propelling him forever from obscurity into history’s limelight! How did it happen?

I. David’s Confidence Was in God (vv. 32-37a).

The Israelite army including David’s brothers and King Saul had lost their confidence and were ill equipped to find it. They looked for their confidence in their numbers, equipment, fortification, and other warlike material. Each of them had lost sight of the real basis for confidence—God.

It was not the case that the Israelites had never been a people of faith. On the contrary the fact that they were on the battles lines was a direct result of past faithfulness. They still had the promises of God to guide them, but they were no longer reading them or understanding them or seeking to apply them to their situation.

Way back in their history they had a recipe for dealing with situations that involved facing giants. It can be found back in Deuteronomy 20:1-4.

"When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people. He shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”

A few verses later God instructs the Israelite's to identify those who are fainthearted so that they will not be a discouragement to them. In the situation Israel faced, their discouragement has spread from the top downwards. Saul felt the situation was hopeless. He had lost his nerve. And that sense of futility spread, through him, to the entire body of the people.

For us this passage asks us to consider exactly where we place our confidence. It calls us to make God, and the promises of God, our focus. It cautions us to not put our confidence purely in material things. It advises us to pay no attention to the doubting and faithless voices of those who should know better.

The promises of God remain the same. “I will be with you always” “Trust in me” “I am the Lord Your God and you are my people” “I will never leave you or forsake you” “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble”.

Yet time and time again, we hear the promises; but act as though they had no substance to them. “I have to face this alone” “I just don’t believe God can help me with this” “I feel as though God has abandoned me” “Yes, I trust in you… but…”

We are like the man who fell over the cliff and landed on a ledge, clinging to a tree branch. “Is anybody there?” “Yes” came the voice. “I am the Lord your God. Let go and trust in Me”. So, the man shouts back, “Is anybody else there?”

In our lives we look for solutions by saying, “If only I had this thing” or “If only I had that thing... then all my problems would be solved”. Just like the Israelite's. “If only we had more swords, or more chariots or a bigger army, then we would show those Philistines a thing or two!”

It took a young shepherd boy to remind them that confidence is found through faith in God. Listening to the doubters, even if they were in leadership, wouldn’t provide it. Looking to what they themselves could create or provide wasn’t going to do it .

The apostle Paul, a man who achieved more than you would expect of any man who was once an opponent of the gospel, one who faced overwhelming odds against him, offers to us a maxim that we do well to take note of.  He said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

II. David was comfortable with God’s Plan (vv. 37b–40).

Goliath’s battle plan was intimidation—his brute strength against an Israelite’s brute strength. David didn’t fight that way. He didn’t meet Goliath on the giant’s terms but forced the giant to meet him on his terms: five smooth stones. (and he only had to use one of them.) David understood that to meet this challenge he would do his best and leave the rest to God.

David refused to be intimidated by Goliath’s appearance. Young David was outmatched by size, age, experience, and weapons, but in a moment of sheer abandonment, he approached Goliath in the power of God! With an attitude like his and a faith in the living God, David’s plan succeeded.

Cassius Clay (who later became Muhammad Ali) is probably the world’s best-known boxer. He was practically unbeatable during his prime. The sports announcers always commented that Ali made his opponent “fight his fight.” That Ali set the pace and the other boxer either kept up or ended up on the mat.

Technically some of the other boxers could seem more impressive. Sometimes they had the advantage in terms of size. But Ali knew himself. And he had a way of understanding his opponent’s weakness.

David did something similar. He knew that God had taken care of him in the past. He had been called upon to protect the sheep he cared for from both bears and lions. Though they were physically stronger and capable of making a lot of frightening noises, he knew how to deal with them. Swiftly. Showing no fear. Trusting in God.

He knew God had a purpose for his life. If that purpose was to protect sheep, then God would see that he fulfilled that purpose. If that purpose was to take supplies to his brothers fighting on the front lines, then God would see to it that he got supplies to them. If Gods purpose was that he slay a giant, then God would give the victory.

Central to this idea of purpose was the idea that God would use David, as he was, to do God’s will. That David didn’t have to conform to others’ ideas of how things should be done or achieved. So, when Saul starts to dress him up in all the king’s armor, you get the idea that David knows this is a mistake. The boy can hardly move under the weight of all that steel.  

The greatest weapon that God has provided us with to face the things that threaten our lives is our individuality. The notion that God has a plan for our lives, and that it is an individually tailored one, can enable us to achieve far more than we could ever dare imagine.

The Harry Potter series of books captured the imagination of a generation and have continued to do so ever since the series was launched many years ago. What is the uniqueness of that series? Is not part of it the fact that Harry appears to be just your average kid, yet constantly has to deal with discovering who he really is? Time and time again he faces his fears, overcomes obstacles, and attempts to work out what the extraordinary plan is that is coming to fruition through his life.

What is it we fear? What obstacles do we face? Whose plan are we working on—our plan or God’s plan? We can waste a lot of time trying to be something that we’re not. You can spend a whole lifetime living up to other people’s expectations, putting on their armor, living by their rules, and never discovering what it was God wanted for your life.

Of course, like David, there will always be those who laugh at us. Those who treat our dreams as cause for disdain. Those who have long since lost their own purpose and direction believe that the only way to justify their own sense of hopelessness is by dragging us down to their level.

Discovering God’s unique plan for your own life, is not an easy task. It requires that you totally surrender your will to the will of God. It requires that you completely reassess your priorities and values. It means evaluating your dreams, your hopes, your aspirations... everything... in the light of Christ. Whilst not easy... it is a way that cuts the giants down to size!

III.  David Conquers the Enemy with God (vv. 41-49)

One of the visions of the Christian faith is that our God is not just somewhere in the sky and unconcerned about us. God’s presence strides alongside us as we meet the giants in our life. We take aim with our rocks of faith and God delivers them to the right spot.

In order to be a straight shooter, we need to focus. We have tools to help us do that. One of the most reliable of them is that we become a person of habit. That we habitually attend worship. That we make it a habit to read our bibles and bring our lives before God in prayer. That we consistently look for the good, not the worst in people and in situations.

That we make it a feature of our lives to look beyond the trends and the voices of the present day and to connect with the eternal Holy Spirit of God for direction and leadership. That we recognize that the people of God can sometimes lack direction and offer discouraging words rather than positive ones.

Derl Keefer, one of the contributors to the Abingdon Preaching Series makes the point that; “We either conquer with God, like David, or fail like the army of Israel against the Philistines.” As people of faith either option is open to us. We make the choice.

Davids’s previous experience prepared him for the battle that was at hand and for battles that lay in the future. As we walk with God, we learn not only from our mistakes but from our victories, that God is greater than our sin, and that our lives, placed in the hands of God, can rise to heights and face situations we are totally unable to face in our own strength.

If called upon on by God to face giants, then God will supply what we need to bring them down. All God asks is that we give God our trust and do things God’s way.

•    David’s Confidence Was in God (vv. 32-37a). So, we are called to trust in that same God.
•    David was comfortable with God’s Plan (vv. 37b–40). God has a plan. It may not be our plan. But God’s plan is always the better option.
•    David Conquers the Enemy with God (vv. 41-49). He does not win the victory in his own strength, but through God’s Spirit who empowers him. It should be no different for us.

May God help us to bring down the giants that threaten our spiritual life. And to God be all glory. Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J Pratt B.D.

June 9 2024 "Confirmation Address 2024"

 Readings:  Psalm 130, Genesis 3:8-15, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, Mark 1:16-22
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church on June 9, 2024

I shared a story with the Confirmation class, about my own confirmation. I had gone back to church as a teenager, after being absent for many years. Most of my friends that attended church had already been confirmed. But not me.

In the church that we attended one of the things you were not allowed to do… unless you were confirmed… was take communion. So, whenever there was a communion service, I always felt a little bit left out. That was not, however, my reason for wanting to be confirmed. I really wanted to say “Yes” to the promises made on my behalf when I was baptized as an infant in the Methodist church my mum attended.

I had become a follower of Jesus for myself, started going to the Presbyterian Church and  I wanted to witness to that fact that, like Simon and his brother Andrew, who all those years ago by Galilee’s shore heard Jesus saying, “Follow Me” I wanted to be a disciple. And in that particular church, that meant taking on the confirmation journey.

I went to see the minister, the late Rev. Barrie Redmore. Turned out that year I was the only young person wanting to be confirmed, so I was in a class of “ONE.” He gave me a folder (still got it) of pamphlets to read… and if I had any questions, well we could talk about it. So, no classes. No meetings. Just a lot of reading.

I know some of the youth might have found the classes I offered a little dull, but honestly if you had had to read those leaflets, they redefined the idea of dullness. I gave it my best shot, went to see him one more time. Then on Easter Sunday, 1976, (yes, that long ago) I was accepted into full membership of the church. They gave me a hymnbook which I still treasure it as a reminder.

I guess, considering the way my life has turned out, the process worked just about as well as it possibly could have. But everybody’s journey, is not my journey.

I do not know each of these confirmand’s reason for traveling through the classes. Maybe they were told to take the classes by parents or grandparents. Maybe, just something they had always thought to do as part of growing up in a Christian family. Maybe, just curiosity and a desire to do the right thing. Or maybe, like me, it just felt like the next thing to do in their discipleship journey.

As well as classes, like my home minister, I’ve given them a whole load of leaflets and stuff to read. I truly pray that it has been of value to them in their spiritual journeys. Because that’s what confirmation is, another of those milestones in our spiritual growth. And it does not matter if we don’t understand it all or believe it all or find it all works with where we are or who we are right now. I’ve sown seeds that only God can bring to fruition.

Our reading from Corinthians had Paul telling his readers “We look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen.” And he speaks about our lives as a “building from God, a house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens.”

Again, I pray that here has been with each you, something going on with God’s Spirit, and that you will commit to carry on growing and building, that you will allow God to help you be the ‘you’ that only God can see right now.

There is so much pressure on youth in every age, to live up to everybody else’s expectations of what they should be and are allowed to do. If I’d listened to the expectations and ideas of those around me, rather than seeking God’s direction for my life, then I would not be standing here today. I hope you come to understand that it is your relationship with God that can determine your life’s paths in ways that nothing else can and nobody else can.

Your church may not live up to your expectations. Your family may not always be supportive. Your friends will let you down. But God is a rock. Sometimes when relationships with church, family or friends don’t work out, people blame God for that. 

My experience has been that God remains rock solid and can always be trusted. While others have let me down, God never has. One songwriter described his relationship to God, with these words. “He’s good for the body and great for the soul, He’s the Rock that doesn’t roll.”

Today, you have made your promises and given your statements of faith and we have been witnesses.  From here on, it’s in your hands as we commit you into God’s hands. I’ve witnessed some folks stay true to their confirmation commitments. I’ve seen others walk away as if their words didn’t mean a thing. Sad to say, but sadly true. So, I hope you understand… it’s all up to you now.

I hope I see you often in worship. I hope you fulfill all the leadership potential that I have seen in you over the last few months. I pray you discover the reality of a God who invites you to dance throughout your life with love and desires that this awesome grace filled  dance will continue on into eternity.  

I hope you’ll discover how the words of life in Scripture can be words for your life. I hope you’ll find, that among all the self-help and suggested ways of coping with life, that the best ways of all are the great privileges of prayer and service.

Confirmation class of 2024, Eli, Ami, Evie, Fallon, Dylan, Hudson, Poppy, Lila, Meadow and Sebastian, Jesus calls you by name, and like those very first disciples by the Sea of Galilee, is saying to your hearts… "Follow Me!” By the grace of the Holy Spirit may you be enabled to answer that holy summons, to the glory of God. Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
 

June 2, 2024 “A MEAL TO REMEMBER” Communuion Service

Readings:  Psalm 81:1-10, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Matthew 22:36-46, Revelation 7:9-17
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church on June 2, 2024

As I think back over my life and about the people who have touched my life, I see how many encounters with others have taken place around tables. I recall one Sunday when I was a theological student, being invited to the home of a Welsh farmer, along with the rest of the congregation I had worshiped with in their small country chapel.

Roast Duck it was… wheeled in on a special serving table, on a huge plate, cooked just right, surrounded with vegetables of all kinds, and variety of succulent sauces … all steaming hot. Every time I see Roast Duck on a menu I’m always transported in my mind’s eye to that gathering of folk and recall the warmth of welcome and fellowship that I was privileged to share.

There is just something about sitting down together and eating together that builds into our minds precious memories of times and people we shared those times with.

I’m sure that the disciples who walked with Jesus must have had their memories of special times that they met around a meal. James and John may have remembered the last meal they ate with their father in the boat before they left the trade of fishing for fish and started to follow Jesus fishing for people.

Matthew maybe remembered a time when he and another disciple were in a little village, sent there by Jesus to declare the kingdom, and the villagers took them in and fed them a meal fit for royalty.

I’m sure none of them would forget that time in the wilderness when Jesus said the blessing over a few loaves and fishes a little boy had bought along with him, and they ended up feeding over five thousand hungry folk.

Or maybe nothing could top that beautiful breakfast by the sea, when they had fished all night and were tired and hungry and Jesus called to them from the shore, “Let down your nets on the other side”, and they did ….and the nets became unbelievably heavy with fish. When they rowed to the shore, there was Jesus with a fire already glowing, ready to cook the fish and eat a meal with them.

Or what about those two who after the crucifixion were on the road to Emmaus, downhearted and miserable, when a stranger came alongside them and asked what was going on. In bewilderment they explain all that had taken place, and all the time Jesus is explaining to them from the scriptures how these things had to happen. Their hearts are beginning to burn with excitement and so they invite the stranger to stay for the evening and eat with them.

Then as they sit at the table, Jesus breaks bread, and then … only then are their eyes open and they realize that this is no stranger, but the Lord Himself, risen from the grave as He had promised.

Sometimes a similar thing can happen as we meet as families around tables and remember those we have lost. As we talk and as we remember them, it can be as if they were sharing in the meal with us. For a moment we feel their nearness and believe that with them all is well and even feel that in some unknown way they are still watching over us.

Such table experiences give a tangible hope to great visions such as those John offers us in Revelation Chapter 7, verse 9 “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.”

It can be when we sit down at table that we realize that there is a great sea of unseen witnesses, sitting in the heavenly balconies, encouraging us, cheering us on, directing us to live in a way that glorifies God and joins our songs of praise to theirs.

Surely though, for the disciples, the most memorable meal of all was the one that they ate with Jesus around Passover time in an upper room in Jerusalem shortly before he died and rose again. A Seder meal, with actions that were full of meaning, lamb to represent the sacrificial one who was slain, bitter herbs to remember their life before they were free, special nuts and fruit that recalled God’s bounty and wine to celebrate the Kingdom.

And how could they forget when during that joyous setting, Jesus broke a piece of bread and gave it to them saying, “This is my body, broken for you, do this in remembrance of me”. And in different ways they would recall how He offered them a cup to drink of, a cup that represented a new covenant brought into being through His shed blood, a cup of blessing and hope for forgiveness and renewed life.

Paul, no doubt building upon the memories and recollections of the disciples he had come to know as friends, would later explain “For as often as you eat this brad and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

Memory for the Hebrew mind had a strange power. It bought back experiences, set them in motion once again, brought them back into being. When they remembered, as they did every time they gathered around that table, He was there. The bread and wine brought Him back to them.

The strangest part is, they do something similar for us. We were not there, but when we think about it, and take the bread and the cup in faith, it as if we had been there and Christ is surely here amongst us, offering Himself to us all over again. Such has been the experience of countless numbers over the centuries as they have come to the sacrament of communion in the faith of the Risen Christ.

And every time we share in this meal, we look forward to another one, forward to what one hymn-writer describes as the “Lambs great bridal feast of bliss and love”. To sitting down way over the other side of the Jordan, way past this life’s fleeting breaths, taking our place at a table laid with good things, where our cup overflows, in the presence of those we have lost for a short while, but whose presence we will again enjoy, and this time for all time.

So come to this meal in a spirit of remembrance. Remember the great Christian hope. That this life is not all there is. That those who gave passed into God’s nearer presence are just a little way ahead of us, waiting to greet us and share in our lives in a deeper and fuller way. Sometimes, on days like this, we can almost sense their presence, we can almost hear the encouraging words they offer as we make our way down the road.

Remember most of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who lived and died and was raised again in order that our lives may be transformed by living hope. We come to the communion table only at His invitation. We who are unworthy, frail and sinful are invited to come as He breaks bread and shares the cup with us. And, mysteriously, we feed on Him as He does. It is a miracle even greater than feeding five thousand. It looks back to that last meal he spent with His disciples in the Upper Room..

This is a meal to remember because it never ends. It points us to a heavenly banquet, when we shall eat and drink with Him, in the presence of His saints and angels in the fullness of God’s Kingdom.

Surely then… this is a meal to remember. As we come to the table may the Holy Spirit fill our lives, renew us for Christ’s service, bring peace and healing to our lives and through our lives to the life of this world. And all to the glory of Him who loved us and is preparing us for a weight of eternal glory that we can scarcely even comprehend.

To God’s name be all praise and honor.
Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

May 26, 2024. Trinity Sunday "Living the Trinity"

Readings: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31, Psalm 8, Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, May 26, 2024

Today in the church calendar is Trinity Sunday. And we know what the Trinity is… right? It’s that doctrine that tells us that God is One yet at the same time is three… or is it that God is three and at the same time One. It’s that thing about God being Father, Son and Holy Spirit and how that’s not three separate things… but all the same thing … but actually different things… but all at the same time.

We are all crystal clear about that aren’t we? It’s something our minds can deal with, right? Now why is it, I’m standing here and some of you are shaking your heads and looking a little confused? It’s Trinity Sunday! We are here to proclaim that we believe in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit… One God.

The Trinity. Did you know that the word “Trinity” never once appears in Scripture? Not once, in anything that Jesus says or that Paul or any other of the biblical writers teach us are we told to believe in something called the Trinity.

Now before any of you are about to report me to the “Presbyterian Heresy Committee” I can tell you that the bible does speak about God as our Father, about Jesus as being uniquely the Son of God and the Holy Spirit being both the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God. The Bible also uses other images of God, such as Creator, or as one who has a motherly concern for us, or as our Sustainer, but I’m focusing on the traditional orthodox view that the church has lifted high over the centuries, God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I can remind you of what we read this morning, some of the things that Jesus said. In verse 15 He says, “Everything that the Father has is mine”. In verse 14 He says of the Holy Spirit  “He will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” Back in Chapter 14 Jesus has told the disciples; “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” In John 17:21 Jesus prays for His disciples “That they may all be one, as You, Father, are in me and I in You, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that You sent me.”

Whilst the word “Trinity” isn’t used, throughout the New Testament the relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is pictured as being a unity. Each person of that unity has distinct attributes and functions, but they are never separate from the other persons. That’s the idea the word “Trinity” attempts to communicate to us. It’s a shorthand word to explain that the nature of God’s revelation has come to us in three distinct, yet united ways, and seeks to speak of a great mystery; God is a Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is a great mystery. Things that are a mystery tend to be difficult to understand. My favorite way of trying to get my head around the idea of God as Trinity is to think about the sun. (That’s sun… S.U.N.).

We know that the sun, up there in the sky, is essential to life. In fact our solar system revolves around the sun. It is the center of our little bit of the universe. We also know when we look up to the sky that there is only one sun. Yet we experience that sun in three distinct ways.

We know that the sun is a vast ball of molten rock, gases and heat that is out there, way beyond us and impossible for us to penetrate. If we sent a spaceship it would burn up before it even got near. Nobodies ever actually been to the sun but without the sun nothing else could be.

But how does the sun get to us? Well, you’ve heard about light speed. The light of the sun travels to us at the speed of light. Sunshine illuminates our lives. In a literal sense the suns rays come down from the heavens to light our way here on earth.

How do those rays affect us when they reach us? As they light our way, they also give us warmth. That warmth spreads throughout our whole being. When people say they enjoy sunbathing they don’t mean that they have flown for countless centuries through the solar system and dived headlong into a molten pool of rock, they mean that the light of the suns rays is warming them through.

Although we understand the sun in three distinct ways; as the physical mass around which we revolve, as rays which bring light to the earth and as heat that warms the earth; the body, the rays and the heat are not separate from each other but all part of one sun.

So how does that help us understand God as a Triune God?

Sometimes the Old Testament pictures God as a consuming fire, way beyond us. We cannot travel to God in a spaceship nor completely immerse ourselves in all that God is. God is out there whilst we are down here. We know we couldn’t exist without God, but neither can we fully contain God or enclose God.

God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through sending a bright ray of light to us, Jesus Christ, “Who came from the Father and returned to the Father.”  The way Jesus lived and the things He did reveal to us the nature of God’s love.  “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son so that whomsoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

We experience the love of God in Christ through the warmth of the Holy Spirit acting in and around our lives. The Holy Spirit and the work of Jesus Christ, like heat and light, are closely related. Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish them. In fact we may even just choose, as at times do the biblical writers to say that “God is at work in us.”

The physical sun, the sun’s rays, the warmth of the sun. Three things yet one thing. God our Father, Jesus our Savior, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Three things yet one thing! Such is the way the Scriptures speak to us of the God we are called to trust our lives too. But… that being said, how do we live the Trinity? After all Christian doctrine isn’t just meant to tickle our imaginations but help us live as faithful disciples. How can the idea of the Trinity help us do that?

With it being Trinity Sunday, let me suggest three ways.

Firstly, understanding God as beyond us can help us accept that to be a disciple we don’t have to know everything or do everything for ourselves.

For myself the idea of God as my Father communicates to me both the distance of God from myself and the nurturing love that seeks to mold the way I live. The idea of Father reminds me that I am a child who has a lot to learn. And whilst, as Jesus bids me, I can sometimes use the familiar words of childish babble, ‘ABBA’, my ‘Father,’ I also need to respect that the Fathers ways are higher than my ways, my father’s thoughts higher than my thoughts.

If you are fortunate enough to have had a loving and stable perfect two parent family, then you can identify with the experience of a small child who looks upon their father in complete awe. That childlike heart that looks up and thinks, “Dad, if I can grow up to be half the person you are, then I’ll be somebody”.

Even if such a father figure is absent from our lives, I believe God opens the doorway to other ‘Father-like’ figures around our lives, people, female or male, parent or mentor, teacher, or friend, to whom we look up and think, “I want to be like them.”  I know that when Jesus speaks of God as Father, He doesn’t mean for us to bring God down to the level of any earthly parent but directs us towards a heavenly Father whose perfect love is beyond anything we can conceive. Understanding God as that perfect Father, nurturing us, yet beyond us, helps me to aspire to greater things.

Secondly, understanding Jesus Christ as One who “Came from the Father and returns to the Father” helps me understand that I constantly need the light of Christ to guide my steps.

The Bible speaks to me of that light in a way that nothing else can do. Trinitarian faith is biblical faith. The scriptures tell us how the prophets of old foreshadowed Jesus coming, what He did when He came and how the church sought to carry on His mission.  

This idea of coming and going reminds me that being a disciple is a process. We see something, we understand a little more, and it leads us to the next step. We can’t say, “Well that’s it. I’ve arrived. I’ve met Jesus and that’s the end of the story.” Yesterday’s light is not much use for us today. We  need the suns light to light up where we’ll be traveling today.

Thirdly, understanding the Holy Spirit as the present influence of Jesus Christ, as the presence of God within me and around me, reminds me that faith is something that I live, not an intellectual exercise that somehow validates my life before God. 

Presbyterians have been described as “God’s Frozen Chosen.” If that be so, then its time we got out of the freezer and sat by the fire. The Holy Spirit is the flame that ignites my love and my passion for God and the mission that God is calling us to. I don’t just need to understand that I am to love God with all my heart, mind and soul and to love my neighbor as myself, I need to experience that love in tangible, practical ways. I need to feel the heat!

Now putting all that back into our scripture reading of John, and I hear it in a different way. When I hear Jesus saying, “Everything that the Father has is mine” then because I have a Trinitarian understanding of God, I look at that and think, “Wow!”

When I hear Jesus speaking about the Holy Spirit who “Will take from what is mine and declare it to you” then again it’s a “Wow!” Through Jesus Christ we get a glimpse of what the heart of God desires for this world in which we live out our days. We are not left alone and abandoned.

When I read of Jesus praying for His disciples “That they may all be one, as You, Father, are in me and I in You, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that You sent me,” then again I am caught up in awe, that our lives, we who seek to be the church of Jesus Christ empowered and inflamed by the Holy Spirit, that the ordinary lives of everyday people like you and me are in some mysterious way participating in something so much greater than ourselves.

And yes, all that is a great mystery! It’s all about as easy to explain and decipher as the doctrine of the Trinity itself. The best way to explain it is to live it!

•    To live in a way that brings glory to a Holy God, ‘Our Father’, Our Creator and the Righteous Judge of every human heart.

•    To live in a way that is molded by the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, redeemed through His death upon the Cross and bathed in hope by the resurrection light that shines out of an empty tomb.

•    To live in a way that is guided, comforted, enlivened, renewed and re-energized by the Holy Spirit, within us, around us, binding us together, communicating the love of God in Christ through our lives.

May God help us to be people who are living the Trinity! Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

May 19, 2024 Pentecost Sunday "Pressing On!"

 PENTECOST SUNDAY

Readings: Psalm 104:24-34, Ezekial 37:1-14, Acts 2:1-21, John 15:26-27, Romans 8:22-27
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, May 19, 2024

A group of bewildered disciples are meeting in an upper room in Jerusalem. Jesus had told them after His resurrection that they needed to wait on God and be ready for what was coming next. As they wait on God in prayer, the promise of Jesus, given us in John 15:26 is fulfilled. “When the Advocate (or in some translations 'The Helper') comes, whom I will send to You from the Father, the Spirit of Truth... He will testify on my behalf.”

The room is suddenly flooded with the sounds of wind and images of fire and the disciples become inflamed with a spiritual passion that they had never before experienced. They move out into the streets and begin declaring the wonders of the gospel message in ways that all can understand.

The day of Pentecost marks the birthday of the church. From that day on, that Pentecost day when the Spirit came upon them in a new and powerful way, faithful disciples have sought to press on with the task of declaring God's love to a fragmented and needy world.

It has never been easy. There has always been misunderstanding. There has always been opposition. There has always been conflict. There has always been division. The Spirit comes as a mighty wind and as tongues of fire. You cannot contain the wind. You cannot predict the path of a wind driven fire.

Paul was not with the disciples when the church was born. He had his own personal Pentecost on the road to Damascus. It was just as dramatic and powerful for his life as the Jerusalem Pentecost was for those in the upper room. He too became inflamed with a passion to declare God's love. The task fell to him, through his letters, to attempt explain for the growing church, how the Holy Spirit was at work in the world and in their lives.

In his great theological work, the Book of Romans, Paul includes a passage that speaks of how all creation is infused with a longing for redemption. Such redemption was not just going to happen overnight. The Kingdom of God would come, but their baptism by the Holy Spirit was not the culmination of the process, it was only the beginning. 2000 years later the church still lives within the tension of the kingdom she believes will come and the world as it is.  Every generation has its struggles, dreams, and challenges.  

As individuals we sense that tension within ourselves. We understand that God loves us. We celebrate resurrection. Yet often the same old problems haunt us and stifle our ability to be faithful servants of Christ. Discipleship requires more than just going with the flow and enjoying the good times. There has to be a desire to follow wherever the road might lead and to press on with endurance with the hope that, by God's grace, the Holy Spirit will enable us to complete those tasks God is calling us to. Paul mentions two things related to pressing on; Patience and Prayer.

Patience

 Eugene Petersen in the Message Bible transliterates the first part of our reading from Romans 8 like this: “All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. “

We read 8:25 “If we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”  It is a lot easier to endure if we have a vision of what can be birthed through the process we are traveling through. That is obvious in the case of a pregnancy. But every great endeavor began as a vision of something previously thought impossible. As an example; the history of flight.

The first commercial flight in history occurred on January 1, 1914, between St. Petersburg and Tampa, flying a total of 23 minutes between the two cities separated by 21 miles of bay waters. The plane, a Benoist 14, maintained a grand altitude of 15 feet across open waters.  It was piloted by Tony Jannus, and had one paying passenger, Mr. Abram Pheil, who paid $400, around $5000 in today's currency.

100 years later we think nothing of catching a flight across the country. If you go first class, the price is not much different! We take it for granted that travel by air is not only possible, but normal. In fact, if ever you are around an airport when flights start being delayed, you observe that patience is a virtue that some sadly lack.

For most of human history flight was inconceivable. A few crazy dreamers persevered. The first transcontinental flight took place on September 17, 1911. Cal Rodgers lifted off from a small airfield in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. In front of him lay a 4000 mile flight, no airports, and no navigation equipment.

Upon takeoff Rodger's plane immediately snagged a tree and crashed to the ground. After making repairs, Rodger's was determined to try it again. Before his journey ended, he would crash land over 15 times and make several visits to various hospitals. By the time he arrived at his destination on the West Coast, Rodger's plane had to be repaired and rebuilt so many times that little of the original craft remained. After 70 stops, numerous injuries, and 86 hours in the air, Rodger's finally reached his destination in Pasadena, California. Next time you are stuck at the airport with a delayed flight, remember Cal Rodgers. He could teach us a thing or two about patience and pressing on!

Nothing great is ever achieved without patience. That algebra task we thought we would never master. That health challenge we thought we could never face. That relationship we thought would never work out. That trip that was on our bucket list. Such things never come to fruition unless we have the patience to press on. It is not about how many times we mess up, but how many times we pick up the pieces and move forward.

Returning to the Message Bible “That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”

But what do we do when our patience is at an end? When we feel we are never going to get there?
Paul says pray.

Prayer

I have it on the highest authority that science has proved that prayer is beneficial to our wellbeing. I saw that on the 'Today' show, so it has to be true. The presenter said so. Never mind that Scripture has been suggesting as much ever since time began, now it's been on TV we can actually believe it!

For Paul, prayer is co-operating with the Holy Spirit. It is not about getting God to do things that God is reluctant to do.  It is not about seeking the impossible. It is finding strength by positioning ourselves in a place where we allow God to help us.

Message Bible. 8:26-27 “The moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God.”

It is as though, when our hope is all used up, the Spirit hopes on our behalf. Our groans are caught up with the sighing of all creation. We are sustained by the grace that God offers to us through Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord.

A popular saying in Christian circles is 'Let go and Let God'. Such a phrase never appears in scripture and is open to misinterpretation, but it can apply to our prayer life. We can reach a point when we really do not know what to pray or how to pray. At such times it is OK to say, 'I can't do this'.

There's a song I know that contains the lines “Quiet resignation, Hold me or I fall, I don't need any explanation, I just need You, that's all.” Trusting God is easy when we do not have much to trust God for. The rubber meets the road when our only hope is in God's intervention and we are willing to accept whatever God's will may bring our way. It is the kind of prayer that Jesus made in Gethsemane. “Lord, not my will, but thine be done.”

I am not sure we can fully understand the state of mind of those disciples on that first Pentecost. What a seemingly impossible situation to be in. To have witnessed the unbelievable, the death, resurrection, and ascension of their leader, to have come to a position of total belief in all Jesus was and came to do, but not have a clue of how to do it, other than that He had told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Spirit to come.

What did that mean? How would that work?

 The answer came as they patiently waited on God in prayer. The boldness came, the words came, the ability to declare God's love and build a community of hope beginning right where they were, suddenly were not a dream but a happening. They had to let go of everything they had previously understood and allow themselves to be embraced by new visions and new possibilities.

How would the gentiles fit into the picture? How should they regard rituals and customs they had observed for centuries? How could they live as citizens of God's Kingdom in the kingdoms of this world? Such insights would only come as they pressed on with the business of being disciples!

Flying didn't happen overnight... and the Kingdom of God will never be seen upon earth as it is in heaven without people prepared to press on with doing those things, they believe God is calling them to do. It requires prayer. It requires patience. It requires the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. God can provide safety, strength, security, serenity, and service. But we must, patiently and prayerfully, let go and let God have God's way.

To borrow from a preacher, I heard on the radio; “Only God can turn our 'tests' into His testimony, only God can turn our 'mess' into His message to encourage others.  Keep your head up to the sky. Press on, press on, press on. Be strong in all you do, be the you God created you to be and, by the great and glorious grace of God, Get ready to fly!”

So... 'Happy Birthday Church'. With all the blessings of Pentecost may we each press on in the power of the Holy Spirit towards achieving those things we believe God is calling us to. Amen!

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

May 5, 2024 The Early Church 5. “God's Big Umbrella”

Readings: Psalm 98,  1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17,  Acts 10:30-48
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, May 5, 2024

I want to talk to you today about ‘God’s Big Umbrella’. When the rain comes down or the sun shines so bright that it may burn us, we are glad to have a big umbrella to shelter beneath. If we are the sorts of people who ‘share’ in the way God wants us to, we may also shelter others beneath our umbrellas, so they don’t become soaked or burnt.

Our story from Acts reveals that God has a big umbrella. Big enough to provide shelter for all who come to Him. In our short reading we heard Luke’s account of Peter sharing the gospel message with Cornelius, a Roman Soldier and a Gentile. Just as on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit filled the lives of Jewish believers gathered in Jerusalem, so that day the Holy Spirit fell upon Gentile believers gathered at Cornelius house.

As a result, not only do the Gentile believers have their experience and vision of God magnified, but also the Jewish believers are challenged to magnify their vision of whom the umbrella of the gospel covered, and whom they should invite to be under its protection.

Let’s back up a little! Our little reading didn’t give us the full story. Peter has been having a time of things. Preaching in the synagogues, healing, teaching, telling the Jewish folk that their Messiah had come, in the person of Jesus, and that though they had rejected Him, God had raised Him from death and now their lives could be renewed through the Holy Spirit.

Peter knew in theory that the gospel wasn’t just for the Jews. He had after all heard Jesus commanding him to ‘Go into all the world’ and make other people Christ’s disciples. However, knowing it and doing are not the same thing. After all, he had his hands full just going to the Jewish folk. It was a good plan. Go to the synagogue, preach, talk about scriptures the folk could relate to, these were his sort of people. But Gentiles? How did they fit into the picture?

Pop Quiz. What was Peter’s name before Jesus called him “Peter, the Rock”? Answer: Simon. Or actually… ‘Simon Bar Jonah’. Jonah was of course Peter’s dad, but there is another Jonah in Scripture, the prophet who went to Nineveh City . To summarize Jonah’s story…

“Nineveh City was a city of sin, The jazzin’ and a jiving made a terrible din,
Jonah got there after a whale of a time, he preached the Word,
They repented, everything was fine!
Except for Jonah
Who sulked and sulked under an umbrella like tree
And told everybody ‘God’s got it in for me”.
God rebuked him and said “My love is not for you alone,
Jonah, get with my program, and catch the next boat home”

Absolute bonus point, if you can tell me; on the basis of Jonah 1:3; ‘Where was it that Jonah set sail from when he tried to flee to Tarshish so that he didn’t have to go and preach to the nasty Ninevites?’ Answer: Joppa. Now, just one more. Find Acts 9:43. ‘Where is Peter just before he has his encounter with the Gentile Cornelius?’ Answer: Joppa!

It was in Joppa that Jonah justified his escape from cajoling naughty Ninevites, and also in Joppa that Peter pondered profusely in prayer precisely where the Spirit may be leading him. The answer came in the form of a dream. He dreams that a sheet, almost like a huge, upturned umbrella, containing all kinds of animals that the Jewish faith designated as unclean, descended from the heavens. And he heard the voice of God saying, “Up, Pete, Eat”.

But Pete wouldn’t eat. “I can’t do that Lord; these are unclean animals!” And the voice said, “What God has made clean, no longer call unclean.” Just like Jonah is in the belly of the whale for three days, three times Peter has the same vision. As Pete ponders what the eat meat dream might mean, there comes a knock on the door, and three men telling him he needs to go with them to the house of Cornelius. Providentially, having also just had a premonition that three men would come looking for him and that he was to follow them, they set off.

Who was Cornelius? The visitors tell us that he was a centurion, a God fearing and righteous man, well spoken of by Jewish folk, and that he had just had a vision to send for a person called Peter staying at the house of Simon the Tanner in Joppa. Everything’s working together. Just like last week, with the account of Philip and the Ethiopian Official, the Holy Spirit is setting everything up!

Just as an aside point I want to say that, once we reach a point where we truly ask Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, God has a habit of working in our lives in unexpected ways. As I look back over my own experience, it astounds me how often God has just ordered seemingly irrelevant and unrelated circumstances to guide me and direct my life. It makes no earthly sense. It goes far beyond co-incidence.

And what constantly floors me, is that usually I’m unaware of what’s going on. I am the one, stumbling through like Peter and Cornelius, the one with more questions than answers, the one trying to be faithful to a pattern only discerned ‘through a glass darkly’.

The only way you can find out the truth of this is by placing your life unreservedly and unconditionally in God’s hands and seeking to do God’s will. That’s the bottom line when it comes to faith and discipleship. Giving God what you are, the mess, the confusion, time, talents and treasure, giving it up, so God can work. But that’s not where the sermon is headed this morning. Back to Cornelius and Peter. And the Old Testament prophet Jonah

Jonah had every reason not to like Ninevites. They were the enemy. He was hopeful that after he had harangued them with the word of God, that God would blast those Gentile heathens to Hades and back. That’s why the story ends with Jonah sulking under a tree. God had let him down. God had made the umbrella of acceptance so big that it welcomed repentant heathens under its shade.

Peter has a whole lot of reasons to despise Cornelius. First, he was a Roman centurion. The Romans were the enemy. They were the occupying force in Jerusalem. It was under Roman law that Jesus had been executed.  Cornelius was also an uncircumcised heathen Gentile. He had spent all his life being ‘unclean’. He ate ‘unclean’ foods. Wore the wrong clothes. Didn’t observe the Sabbath. Didn’t involve him self in all those ceremonies and rituals that were so essential to a Jewish person’s relationship with God.

But what was it God told Peter on the rooftop? Oh yes. “What God has made clean, no longer call unclean”. So, he goes to Cornelius and preaches the gospel, just as he had to the Jews. And then and there, witnessed by others of Peter’s Jewish friends who had come along for the ride, the Holy Spirit came down upon the Gentiles, just as the Holy Spirit had come upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost. There was speaking in tongues and the believers experience of God was magnified.

Peter is astonished. He recognized that the umbrella of God’s acceptance was a lot larger than he had ever imagined. “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” Nobody even hints at the possibility of un-acceptance. The Gentiles are baptized into the household of God and Peter decides to stay a while and teach them some more.

Occasionally I get the chance to meet with ministers of other denominations at conferences or events of an ecumenical nature. “How many do you have in your church?” is a question that somebody usually raises. “Oh”, I say, “about 1.5 million, at least nationally, if you include other countries, you can multiply that figure maybe ten times over!” To be Presbyterian is not just to belong to a local church, but you are part of a nationwide denomination called the P.C.(USA) and a worldwide communion of Reformed churches that spans the globe.

That’s a big umbrella! And under that umbrella you will discover that are some folks whose theology you don’t agree with, or whose lifestyle seems peculiar, or don’t believe precisely the same as you, but they still insist they are also ‘Presbyterian’, and that they are standing under the same umbrella.

But that’s not the whole umbrella story. By virtue of faith in Jesus Christ we are all, regardless of denominational barriers, part of this global multi-faceted two-billion-member organization known as “The Christian Church”. As one of our hymns declares, “One Church, One Faith, One Lord”.

One thing, that doesn’t always reflect so well in community like ours, or even a Presbytery like Long Island, is that Presbyterian polity is biased towards inclusion of those whom life often excludes. We want to try and include everybody under our umbrella.

Part of our polity, reviewed by what are known as “Committees on Representation” has to do with the extent that racial minorities, those with disabilities, those from different ethnic backgrounds are included in the life of our churches. We want our umbrella to be inclusive. We don’t want to leave people out in the rain! Just like Cornelius and Peter and all the visitors at the Gentile house, we need our vision of God magnified.

It could be we need our vision magnified as to what God can do through this little corner of His church here in this community of Bridgehampton, New York. Maybe we have forgotten that we are the people of God through whom God seeks to build the Kingdom.

It could be we are facing some problem that seems too big to handle. Like young David who faced the giant Goliath and saw the big guy from God’s perspective, “Who does that Philistine think he is, doesn’t he realize God is with me?” we need to see God’s perspective regarding the things that trouble us.

It could be that there are those we seek to exclude or can’t imagine that they too may be recipients of God’s Grace. We need, in the name of Jesus Christ, to invite them to come and stand under the umbrella of God’s love alongside us. Who knows? It could be argued from this story in Acts that they are the ones already enjoying the shade and it is we who need to join them!

God’s umbrella is a big umbrella. When we gather around the communion table, we sometimes include words of invitation from Luke 13:29 “They will come from east and west, and from north and south, and take their places at the banquet table  in the kingdom of God”

All are welcome here. Jonah thought Ninevites were not welcome. Peter struggled to see that Gentiles were welcome. Scripture declares “What God has made clean, no longer call unclean.” I declare that through the grace of Jesus Christ, all barriers are broken down, all sins forgiven and here at the table, the broken are put back together, the outcast becomes part of the family, and the stranger finds a home.

Like those earliest believers who gathered at the house of Cornelius, now is a time to seek the anointing of God’s Holy Spirit to fall upon our lives, that we may be filled with the love of God who sends us out into the world to serve, in Jesus name.

Thanks be to God! Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J Pratt B.D.