Introduction
The clip we have seen is one of the most famous, and funny, from the Life of Brian film. It's funny because we can relate to it. The revolutionaries are busy trying to plot the kidnap of Pilate's wife so that he will be forced to dismantle the whole Roman state in just two days. Cleese asks "what have the Romans ever done for us" as he sees them has hated oppressors. By the end of the clip we realise that actually the Romans have brought them aquaducts, sanitation, roads, irrigation, medicine, education, wine, public baths, security and peace!
Positive or Negative
I suppose it all depended on your point of view whether you saw the Romans as good or bad - or a mixture of both. We are the same we can be either natural optimists or pessimists. Are you a person who sees this {picture of a glass half full of water} as being either half empty or half full? If you are a half empty person do you also wonder which so and so stole the other half of the water?
Maybe like me you are a mixture of being both an optimist and a pessimist. Maybe it depends on the situation. There are some institutions and organisations that I can never accept in a positive way. There are some people who, not matter what they tell me, I will never believe them! o I have a relative who is a congenital liar. She has been lying since she was a child and continues now, well into middle age to lie. Some of the lies are the same; she rang me a few years ago to tell me she had terminal cancer; forgetting she had told me the same when she was just 18 and had only 6 months to live! No matter what this person tells me I won't believe her. Sadly this means that even when she tells the truth she won't be believed. However, my cynicism with her is based on experience.
Sometimes we can be cynical and negative for no really good reason. We see this in politics. If we don't support the party in power then whatever they say or do we will be suspicious of and cynical about. But there is a consequence to all this pessimism and optimism.
Thoughts and Feelings
Psychology tells us that how we think effects how we feel. This is rather a strange idea until we get our heads around it. We are so used to reflecting on how we feel that we forget or don't realise that our feelings are often based on how we think and what we think about.
If we think in certain ways it will make us feel down. If we think that no one likes us, we will feel lonely. Feeling lonely then re-enforces our thoughts that no one likes us. In the clip the revolutionaries had a way of thinking that meant that they saw the Romans as evil oppressors; this meant that they had trouble thinking of the good things that the Romans had done since they had occupied Palestine. o If we secretly think that being gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgendered is wrong or shameful, then we will become guilty and full of shame about who we are. That feeling of guilt then plagues us and effects our thoughts.
If we think that we are basically good nice people who are created in God's very own image then our feelings will be more positive and we will start to behave like good nice people who are created in God's image!
Now all this sounds very easy; yet we all know that it can be very difficult to change thought patterns and processes - especially ones that are firmly established within us. If we have spent all our lives thinking we are bad, then we are not suddenly going to turn ourselves around. If we have always felt that that being lgb or t is wrong we won't suddenly stop feeling guilty about it.
Be Transformed
St Paul recognised this in our reading today. He writes telling us to "be transformed by the renewal of your minds". Paul recognises that the key to our behaviour and feelings is our minds. Our mental health and our mental discipline makes a profound impression on the rest of our lives. If our friends in the clip were less inclined to believe the worst about the Romans they would have known all along "what the Romans have done for us".
So how can we have our minds transformed?
First, we need to be disciplined. That means not letting negative thought patterns take over. We can do this in a number of ways; distracting ourselves when the negative thoughts seem to be running away with ourselves. Our whole policy of dealing directly with people helps here too - if you have a pile of negative thoughts it's often best to check them out "oh I think x hates me" can simply be resolved as it turns out you misunderstood a comment that was made. We need to be disciplined in not letting negative thoughts run away with us and in checking out where we can what the actual facts are.
Second, we need to develop "holy habits" that will help transform our minds. This means regular worship, regular prayer, time for stillness, reflection, the reading of the Scriptures. All these things give better input into our lives than so much of the rubbish that we pick up around us.
Third, we need to be positive - to others and ourselves. Instead of jumping always to the negative conclusion we need to always consider the positive and to be positive to others. We pride ourselves on being a healing community here in MCC Manchester - one of the ways that sense of healing happens is that we are positive and loving to each other.
Conclusion
St Paul reminds us to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. We saw from the clip the consequences of remaining negative. As we continue to grow and mature we realise that the renewal of our minds is key to our growth.
Amen.
(Rev Andy Braunston)
This
sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester.
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