Based on Luke 14. 1, 7-14 & Proverbs 25. 6-7.
When I was looking at the Gospel reading today I did a quick Google search as I sometimes do to look for news articles about someone or something being humbled. And what I found wasn’t a story, but rather article after article extolling the benefits of humility, in dating, in employment, in starting your own business. What I found was lots of testimony that humility is a good thing, an admirable thing. But here’s the thing, it’s a quality we like to admire in others, but it doesn’t really seem desirable for ourselves does it? If we’re humble, if we’re not shouting our achievements, our successes, whether it’s in family life, wealth, home, job, education etc, if we’re not shouting about these things we worry we’ll be overlooked, forgotten about whilst those who do brag, even exaggerate somewhat get all the attention and make all the progress. We deem humility as admirable, but not desirable.
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A sermon I preached back at my sending church, it's based on Hebrews 12. 18-29.
The letter to the Hebrews is a letter in the New Testament which ties the Old Testament into the new, uncovering how the Old Covenant prefigured and pointed to the New and what has changed. For this reason it’s one of my favourites of the New Testament letters. And today’s passage is no different, contrasting the giving of the Law to Moses at Mount Sinai to us approaching Mount Zion, the place of God’s dwelling. And the writer gives us very quickly a summary of the terror, majesty and awe of that day when God descends upon Mount Sinai to make a Covenant with his people. They’re referencing Exodus 19 and to help us enter into this better I’m going to read a portion of that passage. This sermon is based on Mary's song in Luke 1. 46-55 also known as The Magnificat (after the opening word in Latin) and preached for the Feast of St Mary at two churches which bear her name.
Our world is facing all sorts of crises’ at the moment isn’t it. We have the threat of global warming, we have war in Eastern Europe, we’re still suffering the results of the pandemic which sort of feels over but certainly isn’t. We have Monkeypox floating around on the side lines and we’re not sure what’s going to happen with that. And then we come closer to home and in our country we’re facing a cost of living crisis with rising fuel bills, rising petrol and diesel costs, rising food prices. Fears of shortages of those things. We have a government which feels rather paralysed as we await the results of the election of a new leader of the Conservatives and Prime Minister. We have this rolling heatwave which we aren’t really set up for, and the risk of water shortages because of it. |
AuthorAn Anglican Curate in my 20's I was raised in an Anglican Church, went to a Youth Club run by an Evangelical Church, attended a Baptist Church while at Uni and was a member of a New Monastic Community after graduating. As such my faith has been influenced by these experiences and traditions into what I hope is a more rounded viewpoint. Archives
September 2022
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