First
Reading:The
Revelation to John
Chapter 21, verses 1 - 5
Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “now the dwelling place of God is with mortals, and he will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making all things new!”
Introduction
A year ago we went through a whole church consultation and discernment exercise to work out what were the basics of our mission. We spent a month praying, answering questions, talking, feeding back, compiling responses and drafting and redrafting until we could sum up our reason for being into five short phrases:
*
Raised up by God
* To be transformed disciples
* Using our Gifts
* Following Jesus
* So that our people might be saved.
Last week we looked at the idea that we were raised up by God to reach our people with the message that they were loved and made by God. God raised up MCC as no other church really wants to work with and amongst our people. Today we look at what we mean by saying we are called to be transformed disciples.
It seems to me that the cry of our culture is a desire to change. People are dissatisfied with who they are so they will do any number of things to try to change. They may re-decorate or at least watch Changing Rooms or Grand Designs. Ian and I often watch Grand Designs as we see what people with seemingly limitless amounts of money do to their homes. One of the assumptions implicit in the programme, however, is that changing one's home will necessarily change the person who lives there. It puzzles us both. People seek to change by joining a self help group, a recovery group, reading a book, getting a massage, lighting a joss stick or joining an internet support group. People are desperate to change, to be transformed.
The Exodus, a Journey of Transformation
One of my favourite parts of the Bible is the story of the Exodus of the Jewish people from the land of Egypt. In Egypt the Jews had been slaves, victims of terrible oppression and they had prayed and called up on God time and time again to set them free. Eventually God heard their cry and sent Moses to them to lead them from slavery to freedom. After a series of plagues Pharaoh let them go and the people journeyed into the desert. It only took a night to get the Jews out of Egypt - an event we commemorate each year in our Passover meal. Yet it took God 40 years to get Egypt out of the Jewish people.
Soon the immediacy of oppression wore off and they started to be nostalgic for the good old days. God let them wander around the desert for forty years to learn what it was to be the people of God, children of freedom not of fear. They were slowly transformed from being a group of freed slaves to being the people of God. They were already precious in God's eyes but they were not ready for their historic role to be a "light to the gentiles" as they had not yet learnt to depend on God for their daily needs.
And so, little by little, the people were changed. As the memory of slavery grew dim, their knowledge of God increased. As they learnt to depend on God, new possibilities for their mission and purpose became clearer. As they learnt to trust they matured and were slowly transformed into being the People of God. They were saved from slavery and then slowly transformed.
Glory to Glory
Charles Wesley wrote about this process of change and transformation from a Christian perspective in his great hymn "Love Divine". One line in this hymn says we are "changed from glory into glory". He recognised that we were saved by God, rescued from lives of slavery to sin, self loathing, despair and hopelessness and then we started a gradual process of being changed. Jesus meets us where we are, and then starts a life long process of helping us become the person we were created to be. Just as with the Jewish people so long ago, it may only take a moment to take us out of slavery, but a lifetime to take the slavery out of us.
When we decide to accept God's forgiveness and to invite Jesus to take control of our lives we are set free from all the things to which we are addicted. We are shown the possibility of freedom from substances which control us, from behaviour patterns which are negative and self destructive, from oppression - but we need to work at this freedom. We are shown a way to be free, but learning to live in freedom takes some time as we are transformed.
Maintaining Freedom
So how do we hold onto the freedom that is given to us? How do we continually be in a process of transformation. Making a decision to follow Jesus is the first stage, just as deciding to follow Moses out into the Wilderness was the first stage for the Jewish people. They had, however, to learn what it was to be the People of God and change their behaviour and patterns. So to do we.
I make a number of suggestions of resources we can use to help us maintain our freedom, to break loose from the chains of addiction, to engage in this slow process of being changed from glory into glory.
Prayer
The first is prayer. It seems sensible and straight forward to say it, but most Christians need to pray more! What we receive on Sundays at Church is not meant to be the only thing on our spiritual menu for the week! We need to develop the discipline of praying and spending time conscious of God's presence on a daily basis. There are lots of ways of doing this; one of the main reasons for producing the daily devotional each week, is to give us a chance to spend some quality time with God. Other people use a web based prayer medium - so they can pray at work or in front of their computer. Prayer is not always exciting. Prayer is often dull and routine. Prayer is often difficult, but over time we learn that it calms us down, it settles us and helps us concentrate on the things which matter. I am told that going to the gym is something many of us do. On the occasions when I go to the gym I get a sudden rush of enthusiasm which quickly gives way to the reality that this is going to hurt and going to cost! It costs in terms of the fees for using the gym, in terms of the time it takes - when there are so many other things I could be doing which are more fun - it costs in terms of the energy it takes up and in the pain I feel as muscles remind me they exist. Yet I know this is good for me. Prayer takes time, prayer can seem dull, or painful, but it is good for us, it strengthens us, it makes us more aware of the God we seek to serve. It helps change us.
Sacramental life of the Church
The second thing which helps us transform is regular participation in what is rather grandly entitled "the sacramental life of the Church". In other words using the sacraments as they are intended to be, means of grace. Each week we confess our sins to God, we receive God's forgiveness and we are fed by God in the bread and wine we share together. This helps us grow in God's loving kindness. Each month we have an opportunity to be prayed for and anointed with sacramental oil in our Recovering the Calm service. Again this gives us an opportunity to allow God to touch our brokenness, to warm and lift our spirits and to bring a strong healing presence into our lives. These things help us grow in grace and help keep us free.
The Fellowship of the Church
Then there is the experience of meeting, getting to know and praying with other Christians. Evangelicals call all this "fellowship". There is something about getting to know each other's struggles and successes which helps us support each other in our quest for freedom. We can experience this kind of fellowship each week in worship but in a more deeper way in a mid week group. As we befriend each other, we let others in to our lives and hearts, and this helps our hearts expand and be transformed with love. We are changed from glory into glory partly through the experience of being with other Christians.
Giving
The giving of ourselves and our finances is also part of our transformation. We are changed from glory into glory where it hurts - and it can hurt most in our bank accounts! We give because it is good for us. We give because it teaches us to develop a spirit of generosity not of meanness as we respond to the generous love of God which transforms us. In giving of ourselves we become more loving and open to the leading of God through the wilderness of our world
The Personal is Political
So
far all this has sounded very much like a personal religious journey towards
holiness. In many ways it is, but there is an important "other side"
to all this. We were reminded by the sixties feminists that the personal is
political. Every time we become more loving, more focused on God's great offer
of freedom, we become salt and light to our world. It is impossible to be
transformed into the people
God calls us to be without seeing how this works out in our world. Too much
evangelical piety is concerned with personal transformation and forgets that
this has implications for our world. Too much liberal social justice theology
forgets the personal need for holiness.
In our first reading today from the Book of Revelation we hear of John's vision for a New Heaven and a New Earth. A place where we have all been transformed, and in that transformation our world is changed too. We are called to make that vision a reality through how we live our lives, through how we let God transform us.
Neil is now going to read us a modern rendering of that vision entitled:
The New Manchester
I saw a vision – it was last Thursday at eleven o’clock in the morning.
I was driving down the M62 past Rochdale, looking down over the city of Manchester;
And the cold blue autumn sky broke open above my head
And the Spirit of God breathed on my eyes and my eyes were opened.
I saw Manchester, the Holy City, coming down out of Heaven;
Shining like a rare jewel, sparkling like clear water in the eye of the sun;
And all the sickness was gone from the city,
There were no more suburbs and council estates;
No difference between Moss Side and Sale.
I saw the Mersey running with the water of life,
As bright as crystal, as clear as glass,
The children of Manchester swimming in it.
And the Spirit showed me the tree of life,
Growing in the centre of Piccadilly Gardens.
I looked out and there were no more homeless people,
No more women working the streets, no more rent boys at the bus station,
No more needles in the gutters.
HIV and AIDS were things of the past,
There were no more racist attacks,
No more queer bashing, no more rapists,
No more stabbings, because there was no more hate!
And I saw women walking safe at nights,
Saw the men full of passion and gentleness,
That none of the children were ever abused,
Because the people’s sex was full of justice and joy.
I saw an old woman throw back her head and laugh like a young girl;
And when the sky closed back, her laughter rang in my head for days and days,
And would not go away.
This is what I saw, looking over the city, from high up on the motorway.
Looking up from the city of death;
And I knew then that there would be a day of resurrection,
And I believe there will be a day of resurrection.
Prayer
Loving
God,
Help us to truly be transformed disciples,
Help us to pray more often,
To experience you in the sacraments and in each other,
To grow in holiness so that we will truly be free.
Help us to transform our world by love,
So that the New Heaven and the New Earth,
The New Manchester, you dream of
Will become a reality.
Amen.
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.