Faith and grace

For some reason when I started planning this mornings sermon, I thought of the 1985 sci-fi classic back to the future: where the young Marty McFly accidentally travels back in time and meets his parents as teenagers, of course him going back disrupts a whole lot of things his job is to get them together so that he and his siblings can be born: aside from all that craziness, the main point of the film seems to be that he discovers why he is the way he is and how he can change things.

The reason I think that film came to mind was last week Alistair delivered a sermon on the adult Jesus and his influence over the disciples and the community around him, yet we are tasked today going back to interpret Jesus’ influence through the lens of his childhood-and all of that made me think about going back in time. I don't know about you: but I often think that coming to church does resemble going back in time, Do you know what I mean by that? What I mean is coming to church fellowshipping with our community and thinking about what led us here and what keeps us here has the potential to keep us grounded as we live our lives.

This is the place, this is the community and these are the values that remind us or at least should remind us why we are here.

So we are going back coming back to what is important to us, you get it? In fact, here's today's first pause I'd like to invite you to think about the role or roles that our community and what we experience here play in grounding you, how does it work? Would you like it to change in anyway? Take a moment to think about that. In terms of the gospel today, there are a lot of directions that we could go in: that's why I elected only speak on it this morning. One of the first things we have to unpack, is that it's easy to look at this and think “oh man not another religious ceremony all that noise and quiet what is all this for” As you've heard me say many times I think one of the challenges to those of us who've been in the church a long time it's to not become so familiar with our practises and doctrines that they put to sleep or lose their punch.

As a friend of mine who is a monk said to me in my 20s “You've got to look behind the letter of the word to see the spirit of the word” And by that, I mean you and I are being called to discover the message, the spirit and the point of the word for ourselves: and of course, that applies to us both individually and collectively.

We live in a society, in which waiting and having patience are not common attributes, almost everything about our society is instant ranging from coffee to messenger. Today’s gospel goes in the opposite direction, it is painting a picture of both acting and waiting at the same time. Mary and Joesph acting on, responding to God’s call and on the side of the experience we see Simeon and Anna waiting with hope filled hearts for God to act. Simeon and Anna for their part could be labelled or seen as a shot in the arm, as we've read, their enthusiasm and devotion to the Christ child seems to have no limits they're almost like the child whose parents wait until the last possible minute to give the child their favourite birthday present, or it's like me going book hunting spending a long time on a second hand book site or hunting in a book shop and finding the book that I wanted.

Along with the portrait of Joseph and Mary’s commitment, they show us a beautiful picture of spiritual joy. Have you ever been in a situation like that? You know, may not even be related to faith, you’re Just busy playing your part within your job or your family and your waiting for something to move or develop. Interesting isn't it? Here's what we need to remember life isn't full of mutually exclusive experiences. I'm sure most of you have lived long enough to know that you can feel or be living through more than one thing at a time. Yes? Many of you know that our beautiful friend Dave Collie, Used to support me in my teens and 20s. I can remember being around the age of 19 and I was working through something with Dave and for the life of me, I can't remember what we were talking through but I do remember him saying that emotions and responses weren’t mutually exclusive. Here's today's second pause, I invite you to think about a situation in which you were doing your best but part of the equation was waiting on something to happen or something to get resolved.

What did it teach you about faith and where did it place you in relation to others? How present was joy? Take a moment to think about that. The scene in the temple is incredibly humbling, serene and interesting given the fact that the adult Jesus will spend a huge amount of time during his public ministry challenging if not in direct conflict with the religious community of his day. Inside our theology we tend to elevate Jesus to the point where we forget that he was human, and he was born and lived amongst the poorest of the poor the forgotten people: in fact, did you know that two doves were usually given by the poorest of the poor?

So perhaps this is one of the many factors that led to his affinity with the poor and for him to make the countercultural claim that poor would be among the first to inherit the Kingdom of God? he was the link and still is the link between the human and the divine. That's what I think the purity rites and the religious ceremony is pointing us towards, so it's not just about Jesus as a child it's about what it's happening and will continue to happen through his birth and through this life. In a very clever way Luke takes the purification rights of a practising Jew and uses them to promote a universal experience of grace.

Which as we have talked about before was especially challenging when Jesus offered grace to those whom his community thought should be excluded. As followers and seekers of Christ today, I think we can take a lot of encouragement that the stories of Jesus show us what holiness is by his example from the time where he was born to his death on the cross and being a person such as I am, who is all about equality coming to life: I take a lot of encouragement that the voice of God chose to speak through a child, a man, a life who knew what it was like to be an outcast the poorest of the poor and who knew what equality was and wasn't.

Here's today's final pause, how do you think you're being called to use your talents and abilities in the coming year? Who are you being called to lift up and elevate with your voice and with acts of love and grace. And how are you being called to wait while promoting faith filled joy? Take a moment to think about that. Today, as comfortable 21st century believers we are being challenged to think about that Which is familiar and comfortable to re-examine it And to reclaim it as the Pentecostals say to ensure that what we are believing has meaning in the deepest part of our lives, and that is of course so it might have the same meaning to those whom we are called to love. May God bless you all, may love and grace be the languages you Speak and hear now and forever. Amen