Sermon preached by Simon Hattrell,

Rector of the Parish of the Ascension, Heatley,

at a combined service at the

 Upper Ross Sunday October the 30th 2011

Paul prayed for the Thessalonian Christians: May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

In 1998 I read a book by Larry Crabb called ‘Connecting’ in which he  spoke of a shift that had occurred in his thinking

“..I am now working toward the day when communities of God’s people, ordinary Christians whose lives regularly intersect, will accomplish most of the good that we now depend on mental health professionals to provide. And they will do it by connecting with each other in ways that only the Gospel makes possible.”

After more than 25 years as a psychotherapist he concluded

• beneath what our culture calls psychological disorder is a soul crying out for what only community can provide
• we must do something other than train professionals to fix damaged psyches. Damaged psyches are not the problem. The problem beneath our struggles is a disconnected soul
• the greatest need in our modern civilisation is the development of communities-true communities where the heart of God is home where the humble and wise learn to shepherd those on the path behind them, where trusting strugglers lock arms with others as together they journey on.

I am sure that many of us know what Larry Crabb is talking about and that you could tell me of times when that dimension of fellowship and sharing made the difference for you.

I can look back on my Christian experience and say that the times when I grew the most was when I was affirmed and encouraged and was able to affirm others.

Larry Crabb says

“Much of the Church for too long has had a limited approach to helping people change. I would simply describe it ‘Do what’s right.’ The counselling community them came along and said ‘No, there’s something beneath people’s outward problems that’s all messed up.’ They came up with a model that perhaps simplistically I dub, ‘Fix what’s wrong.’ My understanding is that beneath all the damage, because of the New Covenant, there is something good that God has placed within us-His Spirit and a new heart. Rather than fixing what’s wrong or doing what’s right, we need to release what’s good.

Quite a large group of about ten of us, who were involved in running the Alpha course in the 90s in Hobart went on to study some parts of ‘What’s so amazing about Grace?’ using Philip Yancey’s video series. It was a life changing experience. Yancey challenges the Church to be a loving caring community. Unfortunately, he says, that is not the message that people have received.

I wonder what are response would be, if we asked some of the kind of probing questions that Larry Crabb suggests!

“What is the major message that somebody who visits our church for three months would get?”

Is this a church where the preacher is popular?

Is this a church where we have lots of successful programs?

Or, is this a church that believes the power of the Spirit can move quietly, deeply and profoundly between ordinary Christians as they relate?

Larry Crabb wrote another book-a kind of sequel to ‘Connecting’ that amplified what he said in that book. It was called ‘The safest place on earth’

Someone once asked me ‘Is the church really the safest place?’ I had to admit that from my experience and many others too, it had not always been so. However, we should not back away from what God has called us to express. 

The great Eugene Peterson said “Most of us assume that, having decided to follow Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we will find ourselves in a spiritual community of like-minded friends, a family of brothers and sisters, enjoying one another’s companionship on our way to glory. More often than not we are disappointed”.

Rather than the Church being a place for people to display their goodness and hide their failures in fear of censure, the church should be open, supportive and compassionate in dealing with our weaknesses. It should be the safest place on earth.

Larry Crabb says that the church is a place of true spiritual community where people

• understand that brokenness is the pathway to a deeper relationship with God and others
• connect in ways that create a passion for God deeper than other passions
• believe in the power of spiritual friendships as the best care for hurting souls
• reach that sacred place of vulnerability, where lives are forever changed.

Let me illustrate this!

Did any of you see the horrors of the recent conflict in Sri Lanka? Think back to the 90s when terrible events unfolded in Rwanda and ex Yugoslavia.

A Croatian Christian Theologian Miroslav Volf, whose work we considered as part of the recent Pastoral care training, is someone, who as a young man faced the ugliness of ethnic cleansing and has reflected on that evil at work in his society. He believes that to embrace the way of Christ is not to exclude others but rather to include those who are usually excluded.

According to Volf while some say that “too much blood has been shed for us to live together”, Christ calls us to embrace the other “because the only way to peace is through embrace.” An embrace always involves a double movement of aperture and closure. I open my arms to create space in myself for the other. The open arms are a sign of being discontent at being myself only and of a desire to include the other. They are an invitation to the other to come in and feel at home with me, to belong to me.”

Have you ever been in another country where you have seen huge buildings under construction? In some of the countries I have been I've noticed the different types of scaffolding.

We have very solid scaffolding straight, strong, rigid, metal, painted, and bolted and clamped together. Something to be proud of. A result of our western planning, thought and expertise.

Compare it with other countries like Hong Kong where it is pretty primitive bamboo poles tied together with wire, rope and anything available. It's a bit rough flimsy untidy ugly and unprofessional.

When you think about it the scaffolding is only a means to an end. The real end is the completion of the building itself. When the building is finished the scaffolding is thrown away.

I submit to you that the Church is to the Kingdom of God what the scaffolding is to the building. Churches and their structure are only a means to an end. The end is the Kingdom of God.

We will never find the perfect blueprint for the Church. The perfect organisational structure does not exist. We should not feel obliged to copy the perfect church because it does not exist either. Some people think that the NT church was the perfect Church but I don't know that I would have found it easy to fellowship with the Corinthians and I would have gotten as frustrated with the Galatians as Paul did.  

Gil Cann has said that The best arrangement in terms of administration programmes and ministries is the one that will best facilitate the development and employment of every gift and every ministry of every member. In other words whatever approach will be most effective in helping discover and enable the full expression of every concern, priority or 'groan' which God has placed in the hearts of every member.

Paul prayed: May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

God of compassion,

you have shown us in Christ

that your love is never ending:

enable us both to love you with all our heart

and to love one another as Christ loved us.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen