2024 Sermons

COP 29 Service Interview by Revd. Glen Ruffle

Why remember? Sermon by Canon Daphne Green for Remembrance Sunday

You too are a saint! Sermon by Revd. Glen Ruffle for All Saints Day

The guidance of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us Homily by Humberto Henderson

What do you want me to do for you? Sermon by Canon Daphne Green

Stewardship Sunday Sermon by Canon Daphne Green

Facing reality and turning to Christ Sermon by Canon Daphne Green

Will God provide? Sermon by Canon Daphne Green for Harvest Eucharist

UN Summit of the Future Various speakers for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Speak out for justice Sermon by Canon Daphne Green for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Texts: Isaiah 50.4-9a (at 10h30); James 3.1-12; Mark 8.27-end Speak out for justice In C.S.Lewis’ series for children ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, in the kingdom of Narnia, ruled over by the great lion Aslan, many of the animals receive the gift of human speech. It is recognised as a great gift and one of the most terrible things which can befall an animal in that land is to lose it. It is a gift that we too often take for granted. St James in that portion of his letter we’ve heard today shows us what an amazing thing the human tongue is. For with it, we can communicate in so many ways uttering words of praise, love, encouragement and truth. Yet sadly we often squander this great gift of speech, using it for malicious gossip and vicious attack which can diminish and hurt others, sometimes with lethal effects. The recent race riots in the UK, when hatred was stirred up against migrants based on false information relayed on social media flowing the tragic death of three young girts at a dance class, shows us just how our gossip and willingness to accept ‘fake news’ can have terrible consequences. Although we alone, as human beings, have the gift of speech, we know that all species of animals can communicate from simple to highly complex forms. We also are increasingly learning about types of communication existing between trees and other forms of plant life. What is clear is that creation is communicating to us, the terrible suffering which it is enduring through the damage for which largely we, as a species, are responsible. From global; warming, loss of precious biodiversity, oceans and rivers choked with plastics destruction of rainforests, and highly damaging intensive farming methods, we see creation itself crying out in pain and in warning. And despite the fact that we have caused such intense damage to satisfy our needs and wishes, so many of our fellow human beings throughout the world are also suffering. The Director of Franciscans International, Blair Matheson, who led the first of our sessions on advocacy this week, reminded us that every human being is unique, precious and has dignity. However, currently only one person in ten enjoys each of the basic human rights which we take for granted – the rights to food, clothing, shelter, medical care and clean water. Today we are being asked in our Bible readings two fundamental questions. What sort of God do we believe in? And depending on our answer to the first question, ‘So what am I going to do about it in terms of how I live my life? Jesus asks his disciples to tell him who the crowds think that he is and they give him the variety of answers they’ve picked up – ‘John the Baptist, Elijah; ‘One of the prophets’. But then he turns the question directly on them. ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter responds ‘The Messiah’. But it is clear from Jesus’ subsequent words 2 and above all, in his sharp rebuke of Peter, that the disciples have no grasp yet of what this really means. We suspect that for Peter and probably the rest of the disciples, their hope for the Messiah, in line with Jewish expectation would be someone who would triumphantly establish God’s rule, take power and they would share in the fruits of that power which would taste sweet indeed after the bitterness of Roman occupation. Yet Jesus paints a very different picture. The Messiah will suffer greatly, will be rejected, will be killed and rise again. And anyone who hopes to follow him must be prepared to live sacrificially, for God and for others, and that this is the only thing, at the end of the day which will have meaning and value. We have a choice whether to follow him in this path but if we do not, we cannot bear his name for we will not be with him. Today, we are challenged to think whether we too, really accept this. ‘What sort of God do I believe in?’ Is it God as Jesus has revealed to Peter or have we created some image in our minds of a God who is somehow less demanding. And the next question we face today is, ‘If I believe in God who offers himself for us in sacrificial love as revealed in Jesus and calls us to do the same, what am I prepared to do about it?’ Do I think my faith is just about me and my salvation? Or if I look at Christ and really think about what I am hearing from Jesus in the gospel today, am I prepared to go out and act? Today, we’re looking at this specifically in the context of the pain and cry of creation which we are facing now. For the environment is the number one issue we face today. We know that we are about hit the level for global warning after which we may be propelled to a stage in which we no longer have control on what happens next. Many of our brothers and sisters around the world are already living with the consequences of this as sea levels rise and flood their lands and habitats are destroyed. For their sake and for the sake of those who will follow us, we have to act now. So what can we do? First of look at our own life styles and see what changes we can make. These may include adopting a greater vegetarian diet as meat production has a huge environmental impact. In Europe we eat on average, I.5 kilos of meat a week which is twice the global average. Moving to a vegetarian diet cuts our carbon footprint from diet by 50% - that’s the equivalent of driving 1,300 miles a year!). We can make a big effort to cut down our use of cars and use of public transport or walk instead where possible. We can also cut down the number of clothes we buy and upcycle those we have as we know that the production of many clothes uses a huge amount of water and many of our discarded clothes with end up in landfill or flooding and damaging textile markets in Africa and elsewhere. Then, thinking of that message of St James this morning, we can use our tongues and our others gifts of communication to acts as advocates for others and to campaigning for change. For each of us, the path we feel called to take will be different. For some, we may be concerned at the excess of packaging including 3 plastics used by many of our major food and drink producers and we may want to try to challenge them to use more environmentally friendly methods. Our intrepid team from Holy Trinity who took part in the clean-up of Lake Leman yesterday will be able to tell you of the sheer amount of packaging and other rubbish which has accumulated in and around the lake – something we need to change. Others may be shocked at the effects of mining companies throughout the world, including much deep sea mining and its impact on the natural environment as well as the livelihoods of those who are displaced from their lands or are living and working in dangerous conditions in the mines. We may feel called to look more deeply into what lies behind the production of metals and products we use including the lithium in our electric car batteries and challenge the companies concerned to adopt better working practices. Or we may be uncomfortable as we find out the implications of the low prices of some of the foods and clothes we enjoy today – and draw to look more closely into the chain of production. How is this being supplied at this low price? Have those who have produced it received a fair wage? Are they working in safe conditions? Is the company helping to benefit the lives of their families in those countries, for example by ensuring they have access to health and education through providing health and education? It is important that we equip ourselves to do this and do it well and that it why I would encourage you to attend the next two sessions of our Advocacy course. These will be run by the Revd Mike French of the Lutheran World Federation on 25 September and 2 October at 19h here. Mike will help shows us all the practical tools for effective communication we have at our disposal and how to put these together to make a really effective campaign, A final reflection. This week, I have been moved, as a number of you I know have, by the sudden death, at a very young age of David Knowles, a former member of our choir who was a successful journalist with the Telegraph. We have also see this week, the tragic sudden death of Azania Lupai, wife of one of congregation James Alemi. It is a sharp reminder of our mortality and a call to use to use our lives wisely and generously. David Knowles did just that, using his gifts and skills as a journalist to help the people, particularly through his innovative podcasts in Ukraine. Azania through her work with UNHCR in Khartoum and here in Geneva did just this as well. Let’s pray today that we will have the courage to stand up for those who are suffering, to campaign for real and lasting change for good for the environment and to be willing to start with ourselves – to put our own lives in order. Amen

Am I the rich oppressor? Sermon by Revd Glen Ruffle for the Second Sunday of Creationtide Scripture references: Mark 7:24-37, James 2:1-10, Isaiah 35.4-7 Sermon 8 th September Each year “The Sunday Times” produces “The Rich List”, a list of something like 500 of the richest people in Britain, and I remember one day being a little naughty on a Sunday. I marched down to the newsagents and got a copy, and then studied carefully the people on that list, to work out what they did that got them wealth, and what I was doing wrong. Well, newsflash, an awful lot of them basically inherited their wealth! And the others mainly started off rich and then invested in key things such as oils, metals, etc, that fuel our economy. I wonder why there isn’t a “poor list?” Funny that I don’t think I would have gone out and bought that list. Riches are so attractive, but poverty…no thank you. Yet the book of James is adamant that it is the rich who oppress and the poor who are blessed. And this is seen so clearly when we consider climate change. I know a senior UN person who was offered the opportunity by their financial advisor, who seemed oblivious to the person’s job, of investing in weapons manufacturers and oil firms. The UN person was rather horrified, and reminded their banker that they worked against those exact things! This is what money does to us: it blinds us to moral integrity, and invites us to make compromises. The banker was not thinking “let’s exploit war”, but he was being part of that system. It is the rich who are flying to and fro across the world in private jets, who consider themselves too aloof to be with the rest of us, who own 20 supercars and 3 super-yachts, while ordinary folk are lucky to take one flight on holiday a year. 10 countries in today’s world produce 66%, 2/3rds, of all the world’s pollution. China leads, the USA is second. Nearly all of it for the sake of acquiring power and wealth. And who suffers? Chad, Somalia, DRC, South Sudan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Bangladesh. You don’t need me to tell you these are the poorest countries on earth, yet also the most affected by changes in the climate caused by human pollution. South Sudan for example has seen increased temperatures, killing off plants and crops, and increasing the desertification of the land, when the soil becomes unable to grow food. And then, when the rains do come, they come with such ferocity and speed that the soils cannot cope and floods occur, destroying the few crops that existed. And all of this fuels violence and conflict. People who cannot eat, who are hungry, who have lost everything, become more desperate. Some flee as refugees; some turn to gangs who offer food in exchange for violence. Do you see the connections? Oxfam did research that found that the emissions from the investments of 125 billionaires averaged 3.1 million tonnes per billionaire. This is more than a million times more than the average emissions of the bottom 90% of the world's population. James was right. The rich are oppressing the poor. And then there are differentiations of ‘poor’. And the bottom of the poor, are women. It is women who are raped in the conflicts of the DRC. It is women who are forced into prostitution to survive. It is women who are paid less than the men. It is women who cannot flee when the climate changes. Women get left behind. So when Jesus met the Syrophoenician woman in our gospel, he is meeting someone who is not in a position of power; someone who is alien to the Jews among whom Jesus walked. But Jesus has time for her. He listens to her plea, noting that this outsider has trusted that Jesus, someone foreign to her people, might just be kind enough to help her. In Greek, Jesus’ reply to her is “let the children be fed first, it’s not right to give the children’s bread to the family pet dog”. This is more familial language, inviting her to respond. And she does respond to this word game, recognising the smile and glint in the eye of Jesus. “Yes Lord, but the family dog gets the crumbs from the children!” In doing so, she brings herself into the story, albeit in a lowly way, but one that Jesus welcomes. In this exchange, Jesus has crossed so many boundaries: he’s talking to a foreigner. He’s shown the crowd around him that these “foreign dogs” are actually people of faith. And he’s talked to a woman, against the cultural divide. And that woman, who engaged with Jesus, goes away with a daughter liberated from oppression. She engaged with the foreign Jew, Jesus, and discovered his love extended beyond racial boundaries. That encounter turned her life – and her daughter’s life – around. She embodied the message of Isaiah the prophet: be courageous! God is here, he will save, so let the rejoicing start because healing shall come! When we truly encounter Jesus, he doesn’t leave us as we were. And this is the key: encountering Jesus. This is where everything must start: not in being nice, or going along with whatever the cultural zeitgeist is at our moment in history, but a one-to-one wrestling with Jesus Christ the Lord. Because as we wrestle with his words, and spend time in prayer and reading those words, he begins to change us, challenge us, mould us and renew us. And that might lead us to asking questions, and seeing the world around us differently. It’s fine to condemn the rich and famous, but what if I’m the rich and famous? I have a bank account. I have some savings. But a World Bank report from 2012 said that ¾ of the world’s poorest people don’t even have bank accounts… compared to them, I am the rich. I fly to family in the UK, to Angela’s family in the US. Sure, I use trains and public transport in Geneva, but compared to the average person from Mali, I am causing huge amounts of pollution. Am I the oppressor? Jesus is calling me to challenge my way of life. And I live in democracies in the powerful West. I have rights and a voice. So many people – especially women – have none of these. I have a duty to use my voice to try and care for those who have so little and face so much oppression and suffering. Jesus is challenging me – and perhaps you – to speak up for my sisters and brothers who are truly poor. If this speaks to you, don’t beat yourself up, take heart. Jesus turns us around. Jesus renews us. And Jesus works through his church to do that. And as part of that, we invite you to come to the course we are running on Wednesday evening. A 7pm start, we will have Blair Matheson, from Franciscans International, telling us about his work with some of the world’s poorest people. Then on 25 September and 2 October, Mike French from the Lutherans will come and show us the tools we have to make a difference and to speak out and bring about change in society, to use our voice for the poor. Please let me or Daphne know if you are coming so we can prepare enough cake! Because the good news of Jesus is not just for our salvation, it is for the renewal of creation. And the good news of Jesus is about creating one body that stands up for everyone within it. And the good news of Jesus is about us working as one unity and speaking for the poor and oppressed so that blessings flow to everyone. Because that is the royal law spoken of in James: Love your neighbour – even in far-away countries – as you love yourself

Daring to hope Sermon by Canon Daphne Green for the First Sunday of Creationtide First Day of the Season of Creation- Daring to Hope Texts: Deuteronomy 4.1-2, 6-9; James 1.17-end; Mark 7.1-8, 14-15, 21-23. Today marks the first day of the Season of Creation. This is a special time in the Church’s year which runs from 1 September until 4 October, the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi. Together with our Christian brothers and sisters from many denominations around the world, we are called to pray, to campaign and to make a real effort through the transformation of our lifestyle to care for creation. Each year, the ecumenical group of Christian leaders including the Archbishop of Canterbury, choose a theme to inspire and guide us during the Season of Creation. This year’s theme is ‘To have hope and act with creation’ based on the passage in St Paul’s letter to the Romans in chapter 8vv 19-25 and from which the visual image of this year’s theme “the first fruits of hope” which you will see at the top of our order of service also comes. Now I don’t know about you, but “hope” feels a strange word to be applying to creation and the environment at this time. For, as we look round the world, we appear to be faced on every side, by impending environmental catastrophe. Last year was the hottest year on record, and as records were broken around the world, so too we saw a rise in accompanying disasters- raging forest fires, growing numbers of typhoons and other forms of extreme weather; further loss of precious biodiversity and increasing threats to people’s lands and livelihoods as seas levels continue to rise. How in this context, can we be expected to talk of hope? And indeed, how can we, as Christians, do so with any integrity or conviction? I want to show you today that as Christians we are not only called to proclaim hope but also to live it so that we literally incarnate it. Why and how? Let’s start with the “Why?” We have hope because at the end of the day, it is God’s world not ours and for that we rightly thank God. Although we have caused terrible devastation and unleashed forces of destruction that we threaten to overwhelm us, we are followers of Jesus Christ and our ultimate faith is in Him. At the very foundation of our Christian faith, we believe that through his death and resurrection, Christ has redeemed us and ultimately, all creation. As St Paul writes, “So if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; everything old has passed away: see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5.17). None of this mitigates or diminishes in the slightest, the scale of the crisis which faces us. Nor does it remove from us the terrible responsibility we bear along with the rest of humanity, particularly in the West, for the damage which we have inflicted. But what it does do is reassure us that in Christ, however hard the path ahead may be, there is hope and the way of life is stronger that the path of destruction and death. Above all- it challenges us not to wallow in a sense of futility (“Why should I 2 change since we’re doomed anyway?”) to proclaim instead that things can be very different if we are willing to act. One of the very key truths of which we are reminded during the Season of Creation is that we are all part, of what we might call ‘a cosmic family’. That is, we are bound together, not just with our fellow human beings wherever they may live throughout the world but are also integrally linked with all creation – plants, animals, the physical terrain where we live and the seas and rivers which bring us life-giving water and food. As our knowledge and understanding of our physical world has deepened through advances in scientific research, we’ve come to glimpse just how finely tuned it is and how much each part of creation relies on the rest. And it is in the context that we are called to be bearers of hope. This is our vocation, given to us by God in our baptism when we are adopted as his children and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do just this. Part of being a bearer of hope is recognising that we are called to action. St Augustine wrote that “Hope has two beautiful daughters – their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are”. This call to action has two aspects. First, it involves us, each one of thinking about the environmental crisis, its causes and then looking honestly at our own current lifestyles. Asking ourselves, “How is the way I am living now, contributing to the current suffering of creation and what steps can I take to make a difference?”. For example, we may be grieved at the huge quality of plastics and micro plastics in our oceans and rivers which are threatening the entire eco system. Then think about how we use plastics every day of our lives. What can we do cut down our use and seek alternatives? Next February, I hope that we will join, as a church, in a project run by A Rocha in Switzerland to spend a ‘plastics- free ‘February. It would be great if we can do this together as a church community. But in the meantime, there is a lot we can each do now, if we are willing. Or we may be deeply concerned at the continued use of fossil fuels and how they are contributing to the continuing rise in global warming. There are simple yet effective steps we can each take – for example to if we are travelling, to consider if there are journeys we can do by train rather than plane and to use public transport, walk or bike instead of driving whenever we can. Each step we take in this direction, each little shift in our life-style decision, really can and does make a difference. During the Season of Creation, we‘re going to explore some of issues and how we can change. But there is another powerful way in which we, as Christians, are called to be bearers of hope and that is by speaking out on behalf of others, especially those who are most vulnerable and are suffering most because of the impact of climate crisis. One of the images which St Paul uses in his letter to the Romans is that of Creation groaning (Romans 8.22). In our current content, Creation is certainly groaning in anguish because of the terrible damage we have inflicted on it and continue to inflict. 3 But St Paul also uses the image in relation to childbirth, where the pains of labour point to joy and hope to come as new life comes into the world. Caring for creation invites us finding a voice and learning to use it effectively to bring good change. During this Season of Creation, there are two special things which I invite you to do. The first is in relation to challenging the continuing practice of fossil fuel extraction and use. It’s estimated that thirty percent of the greenhouse gases that are having such a terrible impact on the environment, are created by fossil fuel extraction and use. Although at the last UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai (Cop28) last year, there was an agreement about the need to reduce fossil fuel use, the agreement was weak and didn’t set the targets needed to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. It is really important that this year’s climate conference (Cop 29) takes far more decisive action on this. That’s why in the Season of Creation this year, faith communities are urged to hold and participate in events to call upon political leaders to sign the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. We’ll be planning to do just that on a special Day of Action on 21 September. The second is that we need equip ourselves with the skills and confidence required so that we can be effective campaigners for change. This is why we are running a short course on Advocacy at Holy Trinity this autumn. In the first session, starting on the evening of Wednesday11 September, Blair Matheson of Franciscan International is going to talk to us about the work the Franciscans do worldwide in advocacy for the world’s poorest people – practical ways to get governments and political leaders to help those living in extreme poverty or suffering discrimination, often linked to the impact of environmental problems on their way of life. In the second and third session, one of our former chaplains, Mike French, who works in the field of advocacy for the World Lutheran Federation, will introduce us to the tool kits available to each one of use to run an effective advocacy campaign and will show us how to put this together and run a small campaign locally on an environmental issue. This will be hands-on experience and will mean that we will be far more equipped to have our voice heard as Christian community as we stand up for environmental justice. I pray that you will commit to take part and make a difference. St James urges us to be true to ourselves and not to forget in whose image we are made. We are God’s children, made in His image. As such we are called to be bearers of hope, striving ourselves and urging others to make those vital changes we need to make for the sake of creation. He uses the wonderful image of looking in the mirror – in our case, fixing our eyes on Christ who offered himself for the world. And as St James points out, words and pious intentions are not enough – they simply reveal that we have taken our eyes off Christ and instead have focused on ourselves. We are called to act – to be ‘doers of the word’ and if we do so, he promises that we will bring forth ‘The first fruits of hope’ which is a gift of the Holy Spirit. 4 It is an amazing calling and invitation to us by God. This Season of Creation, may we, not just honour God with our lips, but seize the precious opportunity he offers us “to hope and act with creation”. Amen

Its a bit awkward Sermon by Revd Glen Ruffle for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity I wonder if anyone here has ever read the novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker? I read it when I was about 21, and it was the era of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was basically a teen drama full of teen hormones. I expected to find in Dracula a whole load of sexual desire and lust brimming off the pages; instead I found a rather conventional Victorian novel which is tame by modern standards. Dracula is a vampire who goes about biting the necks of young ladies and drinking their blood. Sound familiar? Yes, it’s a bit awkward. When we read the words in John’s gospel of eating the flesh of Jesus and drinking his blood, it’s rather uncomfortable. I’ve never particularly felt a calling to be a vampire… That’s why it’s so important for us to understand the context, the history, the ideas of that time in history, and not to read our ideas back into this ancient text! Dracula dates to 1897 – John’s gospel is 1800 years older, and I assure you, John had never heard of a vampire! Indeed, look at the evidence: the Jewish leaders, when told they should eat the flesh of Jesus, begin to argue among themselves. They have the law of Moses, which ABSOLUTELY FORBIDS them from drinking blood. If Jesus had just said “become a cannibal”, they would lynch him. Instead, they argue among themselves. They understand that Jesus is using metaphors, that he’s playing an intellectual game, not talking about digging bits out of his arm to feed them! So what ideas and context might Jesus be using? Let’s take a trip to Deuteronomy 8:3 “…understand that one does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” This is a verse the teachers of the law would have known by heart, and so the connection between words from God’s mouth and bread was obvious to them. So in the time of Jesus, the idea of the Word of God being BREAD and something we can EAT was common place! Jesus was connecting directly into these ideas. And the context of all this is that, at the beginning of this whole discourse that we’ve been reading for 3 weeks, was the feeding of the 5000 by Jesus, where he took bread and fed many hungry mouths. In other words, Jesus is saying “you know I fed 5000 people using bread? You know that bread will perish, and people will be hungry again? Well I have other bread I can give you. And it’s like the bread and food that Moses gave – it leads you to righteousness and eternal life. I suggest you eat that bread!” Let’s also remember that Jesus is rather fond of parallels. I am the bread of life. I am the Vine. I am the gate. I am the shepherd. Jesus is often contrasting himself to things the people of his day understood. So Jesus is saying you need to eat his flesh (meaning in the context of the whole chapter, feed yourself with the wisdom and words and teaching he gives), and drink his blood (because in the Old Testament, in Leviticus, blood is a clear reference to Life. Life is in blood). So drink in his words and trust in his blood, and you’ll find life. Proverbs supports this: gain wisdom and you gain life! It is and always has been God’s will for us to learn to live wisely, by God’s standards and ways. I have a friend who, at the tender age of around 25, once said to me “I want to be wise”. And he even then so impressed me – when I was busy seeking self glory, he dedicated his life to serving people in Malawi. He learned French, he diligently helped steward charitable giving towards projects that helped people. He visited projects on the ground. And since then, he has travelled extensively and now has an incredibly exciting life where he’s worked on Ebola in Africa and £7 million projects in Lebanon. He is living a wise life, placing first in his decisions the service of some of the world’s most needy people. So Jesus is saying: read my words, hear my words, do my words, and you will have my life. You’ll even be raised up: a reference to the resurrection of Jesus and to our own part in his new life. It’s worth remembering this too when we have eucharist. We talk of the body and blood of Christ – this does not need to be understood literally! This rich symbolic language points us to feeding on the source of life, Jesus Christ himself. How do we feed on the source of life, Jesus Christ himself? It is by hearing his words, learning his words, and doing his words. It is through the practices and rhythms of prayer and worship. It is, strangely, through the body of Christ, this broken and messy thing called the Christian church! Through all of this, we become his disciples, find a place for healing, find a place for home, find a place for family, and find a place for purpose. This is in many ways what Paul too is saying in Ephesians. He warns us: the days are evil! They are not for your benefit. So be wise and on guard, because wolves are out there prowling around waiting to get you. How might we fall victim? Well, Paul mentions alcohol! First, Paul is not talking about a nice glass of wine at dinner,. He’s talking about many nice glasses of wine! The love of being drunk is not a modern thing: 2000 years ago, people adored it, and going back to the dawn of humanity, getting drunk has been a popular past time. But what are the fruits? Liver disease? Doing things you regret the next day? When I was a student, I heard people say “I need alcohol to relax”, but if you need it to relax, is there not a deeper problem? It’s basically numbing ourselves…surely we would want to master ourselves and be able to relax without a ‘drug’? If we are to be sharp, and awake, and disciplined, we don’t really want to dull our minds with alcohol, but to rejoice in the senses we have and to embrace life in its fullest. Paul would also point to how we use our time. TV can be a blessing from time to time, but how often do we let entertainment dictate our timetables? I wonder if we are awake to the waste of time that is so much of modern life? ‘Streaming services’ sound good, but they play on the basis of you being a mini god. Real life comes from making God, God. Anyone remember a series called “Breaking Bad”? It was hugely popular (I’ve never seen it), but now its 16 years old, from 2008! We’ve had Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, Downton Abbey, and now there is one called Bridgerton…all of it seems so important right now, but a year from now, was it really that vital? What if the time spent binging on Lord of the Rings was instead spent learning French, understanding the human body, visiting an elderly person, or, heaven forbid (!), studying the Bible?! Because if we learn anything from Jesus, it’s that you are what you eat. If you feed on the teaching, words and actions of Jesus, you will become like Jesus, and he will work in you and build his purposes in your life. But if you feed on intrigue and deception, plots about murderers, violent thrillers and lots of swearing, that is what will start to come out. That is what you will start to think about, and then you’ll be surprised as it starts to come out of your mouth. Hear me clearly: this is not to make anyone feel guilty. The Lord knows I have watched a huge amount of dumb drivel in my life! And sometimes it can really help us escape and relax. But if we do that too much, there is a problem. We’re not called to escape from this world, but to be salt and light within it. The problems of this world are not to be run from, but transformed by the healing and reconciling power of Jesus, working through…YOU! That’s why Paul says be filled with the Spirit of God, sing psalms and hymns, and give thanks to God at all times. What he means is: if you are placing worship, remembrance of what Jesus has done for you, and the words of Jesus consistently in your mind, you will find this shapes whom you become and how you see the world. As we go into this new week, let us consider: we are what we eat and drink….so are we eating and drinking Jesus, or something else? Because what we eat determines who we become

Stones to destroy or bread to feed? Sermon by Canon Daphne Green for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Texts: 1 Kings 19.4-8; Psalm 34.1-8; Ephesians 4.25-5.2; John 6.35, 41-51 Stones to destroy or bread to feed? Watching the news this week has filled me with a number of emotions ranging from horror and grief to wonder, hope and expectation. From the riots in Bangladesh which have left so many dead yet ushered in a new and potentially peaceful new government, the continuing conflict in Ukraine and Russia, the race riots in the UK, the tribulations of the US elections to the wonder of the Olympic Games and a new medical development which looks set to revolutionise lives. But of these, the thing which has most disturbed me this week has been the race riots in the UK. Partly, I know, this is because I am British, I know and can visualise many of these cities in which this violence is taking place and in some cases, I have seen this spiral of violence taking place there in previous summers. I am aware that for many of us here, who are from so many parts of the world, these events must feel light years away in the context of peaceful Geneva. However, I believe that these riots in some way, represent a choice which is before each one of us, every day of our lives, wherever we happen to live. We may also have experienced similar events in our own country. That choice is whether we choose, in the decisions and actions which we take each day, to build and nurture or to hurt and destroy. These choices lie at the heart of our Bible readings today and not surprisingly for they reflect to us, the daily reality of the decisions which we as humans, have to make and the consequences. But our readings today also show where God is at work in this process and how this is both a source of hope for us but also a direct challenge to us. But let’s return briefly to these riots and what happened. They were sparked by a tragedy which happened on 29th July in the town of Southport in NW England. A 17- year old youth suddenly appeared at a Taylor-Swift themed holiday dance group for young children. He stabbed three little girls to death and severely wounded a number of others. The community was left reeling with shock and sorrow. But what happened next was even more shocking. False posts on social media implied that there had been a racial element to the attack. Mosques and other communities were attacked, the violence spread rapidly to other cities and the police became the subject of heavy violence. Far right groups have been involved in street battles with those taking part in anti-racism demonstrations. And at the same time, local residents have seen huge damage inflicted on the communities and have been unable to take part in their normal daily activities. Subsequent analysis by the BBC and other analysts has revealed that much of the false information was spread by social media channels including those who earn 2 their money by the number of posts they issue. The latter, whilst not necessarily consciously posting false information, do not take time to verify the accuracy of the information they issue. So from these sparks, this terrible violence has erupted. “So what does this have to do with us?”, you may well ask? “We’ve have done none of these things”. The answer is because many things in our lives start in a small way. Who we are, what we become, how we contribute or diminish to our families, communities, churches and where we work, depends vitally on the decisions, those choices we make every day. And these in turn, are particularly influenced by two things. First of all, on that which shapes our vision of the world and second, the extent to which we do or don’t discipline ourselves in our responses and our actions. St Paul is very clear in writing to the brittle and often fractious Christian community at Ephesus how their choices will make or break their life together. He urges them to stand up for truth and to strive for justice; to be generous and hard-working rooted on the love of God. He reminds them that the inspiration for all they do is the knowledge that they are beloved by God and are sealed by the Spirit of God. Because they are precious in God’s sight and have been forgiven and redeemed by Christ, they are now called by God to be a source of life and hope in their community. This means, as St Paul points out to them, that they will need to be both disciplined and proactive in their behaviour - consciously resisting the temptation to gossip, malign one another, nurse resentment and jealousy in their hearts or condone wrong-doing. They will only be able to do this by seeking God’s help every day to make a conscious effort every day to put this into effect. For only in this way, can the habits of grace can grow within us. This is true for us as well. For we are sealed by God through our Baptism as his beloved children and called by him to build up and bring hope to others in the world, not diminish and destroy them. To do this, we too, like the Ephesians, need to build up these habits of grace whilst recognising all the time, our own weaknesses and capacity to deceive ourselves. Something which can really help us with this is the practice taught by the great Jesuit saint, St Ignatius of Loyola which he called the Examen or in English, daily review of how we have lived. It is the practice of consciously reviewing in our prayers at the end of each day, all that we have thought and done that day in the light of Christ and asking for God’s grace to learn from this. Sometimes, we too will be challenged by God to stand up for what is right and true in the face of injustice and opposition as our Bible readings today show us. Elijah provoked the wrath of King Ahab and his wife Queen Jezebel when he challenged the false gods of Baal whom they worshipped. In a similar way, Jesus angers both the religious leaders and also some members of his own community when he witnessed to them how God’s love was revealed in him – that life-giving bread offered for the salvation of the world. And both the reaction of Elijah and also that of David as recalled in our psalm today, shows us just how hard it can be to hold on in faith when we are under attack. Elijah, worn out by standing up for God and destroying the prophets of Baal, has to flee 3 from the wrath of Jezebel into the desert. At the stage we encounter him today, he is in extremis and he has virtually lost the will to live. In a similar way our psalm today recalls how David had to flee the murderous wrath of King Saul. Although David was fiercely loyal, Saul nursed an insane jealousy of him and tried to kill him. Yet in the midst of their crisis, God makes it clear that they are not alone. He encounters Elijah, feeds him with life-giving bread and water, reveals himself to him as God in the midst of the desert and then gives him a new commission. David also encounters God at his lowest point who shows to him that he will deliver him so that he may bring life, justice and hope to his people. Jesus faced radical choices right at the very start of his ministry when he was tempted by the devil to turn stones into bread for his own ease, to win power over people’s hearts by acts of magic and to hold that power by force by throwing in his lot with the devil. He showed us clearly, through his decisive responses to the devil, that the choices God calls humankind to make are those based on love and offering ourselves for others. As we’ve heard in St John’s Gospel today, one of the images which Jesus used to help us understand what this means in practice, is revealing himself as the bread of life. He proclaims that “The bread that I give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6.51). In the Feast of the Transfiguration which we celebrated last week, we glimpsed the future glory of Jesus as the eternal Son of God, who offers himself for us on the Cross to be life-giving bread to redeem and nourish the world. He invites us too, as his followers, to be bread for the world also, bringing a vision of light, hope and renewal in all places of darkness. Yet whether we do this or not will depend on what we choose. Will we be those who throw stones and destroy? Or will we be those who offer bread and build up? The Eucharist which we will share together in a few minutes, brings this choice into sharp focus for us. This week, the Catholic development agency CAFOD, reminded us of the witness and teaching of the great saint, Archbishop Oscar Romero. He was murdered in his own cathedral in El Salvador in the very act of celebrating the Mass, by government forces. They were infuriated by his courageous witness for truth and human rights in the face of the murder, oppression and fear in that country. Archbishop Romero taught his people that the Eucharist is a call to action – not just something we receive just our own solace. For as we receive the grace of Christ’s flesh given for us, so Christ in turn commissions us to go out, offering ourselves to be bread for the world with all the vulnerability which this involves. This week, amidst all the violence, bitterness and hatred, we’ve also glimpsed signs of hope and grace. Examples which have struck me have included not just the remarkable dedication and skill of the Olympic athletes but also the generosity of the volunteers at the Olympic Games – all those young people who have come from all over the world to offer their time and love freely, so that those visiting and participating in the Olympics were cared for well and were safe. I glimpsed it in the courage of those who have come out throughout many parts of the UK to protect their communities and police against the violence of Far Right extremists and have 4 made it clear that those of all faiths and nationalities are welcome. I glimpsed it in the kindness of those who have crowd-funded the replacement of a children’s library and community resource centre in a poor area of Liverpool destroyed by rioters. I’ve glimpsed it in news that through the dedication of scientists, a new cure is now available to help those suffering from beta thalassaemia, a genetic disease which makes it difficult for the body to provide enough haemoglobin to carry oxygen around the body, which threatens life expectancy. We have before us such opportunities to make a difference. Will we be a stone which causes pain or life-giving bread through the choices we make in the week ahead? Amen

Feeding on the Bread of Life Sermon by Revd Glen Ruffle for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity On Monday this last week, I had lunch with a friend by the lake. It was beautiful: warmth, a nice breeze, and blue, see-through water. Then up came another friend. A swan. A big, beautiful swan. And he sat there, looking very reproachfully at us, as if to say “you really ought to be giving me some of your bread”. I could see right through him. He just wanted the bread. Jesus would know this feeling. I’m not sure swans were on Lake Galilee, but Jesus sees right through the people coming after him. He knows exactly why they are there. “You are not here looking for me because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves”. They are just like the swan. Jesus knows 100% that these people saw the feeding of the 5000. And rather than think “how did he do that?” or “what does this mean, that he’s doing things like in Moses’ time?”, they are thinking “free food!” It’s the same old story that Moses saw played out. God’s people are led from slavery, from a life of subjugation and oppression, into liberty…and the as soon as their tummies rumbled, they are saying “I’d rather be enslaved but fat, than hungry and free”. Yet out of his abundant goodness, God pours on them food. The psalmist says that the Lord God fed them the bread of angels – the Manna – and that God effectively rained meat on them in the form of quail! I’d like to point out that Quail are not Pigeons – we have had a few pigeons come in and as some of you saw, I had to throw one out last week, but while that pigeon lived to coo another day, we could have eaten it, but it still wouldn’t have been a patch on quail! Quail produce many eggs and have better meat than pigeons. God provided them for his people, whom he had redeemed from slavery and from subjugation, and he set them free to be his people, to flourish under his guidance and show the world the character and nature of the true God. But note how the people responded to all that: they quickly moaned about food. They had just been rescued through miraculous plagues, a sea that parted, seen a pillar of fire and cloud, and very soon they were taking too much bread and quail, and ignoring God’s instructions. They somehow missed out what had just happened to them! Just like Jesus’ people. They had just been through the feeding of the 5000, and now they are after this mobile McDonalds. Jesus to them is a food dispensary, and he has to start a conversation to correct this. So Jesus tells them: put your effort and work into getting hold of food that lasts and produces eternal life. You can get this from the Son of Man (a reference to Jesus). Indeed, God is doing work, and God’s work is to help draw you to belief in the One whom God has sent. That means, draw you to be loyal to Jesus. They say “what sign are you going to give us?” – completely forgetting the feeding of the 5000 and the other miracles Jesus has done – or perhaps deliberately goading Jesus to do another “trick”. They are totally missing the point: John’s gospel doesn’t talk about miracles of Jesus, it talks about SIGNS. Jesus is not doing tricks to impress people, his signs are pointing them to some facts: God is here; the Messiah has come; the new age of God’s Kingdom is beginning. And the people say “Give us this bread that does not perish!” And Jesus says “I AM the bread of life!” Let us realise that bread in that ancient world was more than just an addition to a meal; it was an almost ever-present reality of life. It was “the meal”, the core food of humanity. Jesus was saying to them that He is the core food for all people, and on Him we must learn to feed, because His teachings never perish. Rabbis and ancient teachers of the law talked about the Guidance and Law of Moses as bread and food given by God. So what Jesus means here is that, for life, we need to believe and trust in Jesus, and feed on his teachings and words. If we reach out to Jesus, and ask for him to forgive us, and accept his offer to take the controls of our lives, then we begin the process of “feeding” on him, the true food and bread of life. And his words and teaching, expressed in the Bible and the gospels, show us and guide us on how to live. This is where our Ephesians passage comes in. Paul is writing to the Ephesians and the churches in that area about how they are to live as God’s people, and why they are to live as holy people. He says lead a worthy life if you are called by God to serve him. Has anyone here served in the military? What happens if you go out, get drunk, vandalise houses, scare ladies and wreck the town? You probably get court-martialled! You are no longer completely your own. In my last job, there was a contractual clause saying that if I went out and did things that brought shame on the brand of the company, they could fire me. If we have been called by God to serve him, then we are called to obedience and to uphold the brand image! We are called to represent God and God’s character to this world. Paul then starts to outline that. Be humble. Gentle. Patient. Hold each other close. Seek unity and peace, don’t divide. God is one. There is one baptism. One Lord Jesus. So don’t divide, hold close together in obedience to Jesus. Paul is addressing a church where there seems to be a bit of self-assertion going on, a number of people saying that they know best and we all ought to follow them. What strikes me though is the first thing Paul calls them to do, and it’s not love! What is it: it’s humility and gentleness. Humility. Really, this whole church project is not about us or about our agendas. It is about the extension of Jesus Christ and the rule of his kingdom, so that all people might give their allegiance and loyalty to Jesus, who will return all to God. So be humble. So Paul reminds us: you have a high calling! So behave like it! He then outlines ministries in church: apostles, who were sent to start churches, like missionaries today; prophets, who speak the truth as seen by God; evangelists, who have the gift of sharing their faith; pastors, who are great at caring for others; teachers who can help us understand the scriptures. We are all of these! But we are also more one thing than another. I don’t think I’m a good evangelist, but it doesn’t mean that’s not my mission too. And Paul explains why we have these gifts: they equip us to minister to other people. To build up the Body, the church; and to bring us to a unity in our faith; and to help lead us to better knowledge of Jesus. We live in a world where there are many ideas blowing around. There are many new doctrines that catch the breeze and become the taste of the day. But we are called to hold fast to the faith of the church, a faith that is derived from and rooted in Jesus Christ. So as Paul says, speak the truth in love. Be gentle and humble, listen to other people, but also hold to the truth. And the truth is found in the bread of life. By eating that bread, which means learning from Jesus, reading and understanding his words, we become humbler and work to benefit everyone. The more we feed on the words of Jesus, the more we become effective in ministering to others; the more we find unity, and learn our calling and mission in God’s kingdom. So make sure you spend time in the gospels every day, learning about Jesus, for that is how we feed on the bread of life

Breaking down the dividing wall Sermon by Canon Daphne Green for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity Texts: Jeremiah 23.1-6; Psalm 23; Ephesians 2.11-22; Mark 6.3-34; 53-56. Breaking down the dividing wall During my life I have seen one major wall in dividing a country come down and three go up. I remember the profound joy and hope when the Berlin Wall came down in November 1997. But I also remember, with the sadness, the wall dividing the island of Cyprus coming into effect following the Turkish invasion in 1974, as well as the erection of the 708 km Israel West Bank Barrier and the terrible impact. More recently, we’ve also seen the development of part of the so-called ‘Trump’ wall between the USA and Mexico. Walls are, in a way, an outward and uncompromising symbol of the disagreements which so often arise between human beings. A wall is what we get when our fears, suspicions and dislike of others becomes so strong that only a hard, uncompromising barrier can reassure us. The paradox is, however, that rather than making us safer, the wall becomes a breeding ground of further prejudice, alienation and hatred. And we were not made for this. Walls built for reasons of fear and hatred are not signs of us living life in all its fullness in the image of God but rather a cruel inversion of this. The tragedy is that we often justify erecting walls whether they be physical or social ones on the basis of the myths and prejudices and fears we’ve either inherited or developed rather than trying to make a leap of imagination and faith to reconciliation with those we fear and dislike. But Christ shows us another way, calling those who claim to bear his name to break down these barriers, seeking something life-giving with our opponents. So today I want to explore with you what this might look like and how we can take the first steps to help make this a reality. Jesus, of course, was no stranger to facing walls of hostility and fear, rooted on difference. As we read the gospels, we see just how widespread these were including the division between the Roman occupying elite and the occupied communities of Judea and Galilee; between Gentile and Jew; between Jew and Samaritan. But there were also a number of other ‘walls’ or barriers in existence, for example, between rich and poor; between religious leaders and the people they were supposed to lead; between those considered pure and holy and those seen as sinful or unworthy of respect because of their low status. Earlier this summer, Glen and I ran the ‘The Difference’ course here at Holy Trinity. Designed to help us develop reconciliation and peace-building skills, the Difference course is rooted on what we learn from the Bible about how Jesus tackled the walls which he faced in his own life and ministry – those walls which were ultimately to lead to his death. 2 We found, through studying the course, that there were three main ways in which Jesus helped overcome differences and barriers which, on the surface, appeared insurmountable. First of all, he showed curiosity in those he encountered who were different from him. Not curiosity in the ‘fancy that’ way as a tourist when we come across someone from another culture on country wearing an exotic headdress or practising some exotic ritual and we rush to take a photo, even though we haven’t the slightest idea why they are wearing it or doing this (and often, sadly, we often show no desire to know). In contrast, Jesus was deeply interested in those he encountered, valuing them as fellow human beings made in the image of God, meeting them where they were and seeking to explore with them, what mattered to them and what they were seeking. Second, Jesus was present with those he met – not just in the sense of physical presence but focused on the person before him, and being willing to listen and put himself in their shoes, imagining and learning to glimpse what daily life was like for them. We see this dramatically in Jesus’ meeting with the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and the woman bent over and crippled at the temple. And thirdly, Jesus helped them find a new way forward in their lives through reimagining the situation – seeing how things could be different and more life giving. Think, for example of Jesus calling the little tax collector, Zacchaeus down from the tree and helping to find a new purpose in life and a new dignity, based not on cheating and exploiting the weak, but showing generosity and practising restorative justice by giving back what he had wrongly taken. Jesus incarnated these ways of overcoming difference and barriers of fear and hatred in his own life and this is why he is the model for us to follow. In doing so, he transformed the lives of many but also incurred the hatred and suspicion of those who had no desire to change the situation because it was personally advantageous to them or the group to which they belonged. And this is how, paradoxically, as St Paul shows us in his letter to the Ephesians today, what appeared to be the utter failure of Jesus’ death on the Cross, was in fact quite the opposite. For through being willing to live these ways of engaging with people, whoever they were, by being curious, being present with them and helping them reimagine the situation even when it led to his death, Jesus opened the door to help us relate to each other in an entirely new way. St Paul gives us a graphic description of what Jesus has achieved, breaking down the wall that for centuries had divided Jew and Gentile and enabling them to find a new way forward together. The Gentiles, once strangers and aliens, are now welcome and accepted, whilst the deadweight pressure of the law has been lifted for the Jews. Both Jews and Gentiles were now free to reimagine a future, growing together as one community, rooted on Christ who is its cornerstone. It’s a living, growing community with enormous potential. For if they can embrace and celebrate 3 their differences whilst recognising their common life in Christ, they can grow into a living temple of immense beauty and good in the world. As we reflect on this transformative image, it’s time now for us to reflect on what this means for us in our context today. At a national and international level, we can, quite understandably feel quite helpless and in despair as we look around the world and are confronted with so many, bitter, bloody and seemingly intractable conflicts. It’s very hard to imagine any walls coming down soon, let alone the building up of communities rooted in mutual love. Yet even in this situation, we make a difference in two main ways. First, by making a very conscious effort to inform ourselves about at least some of these conflicts so that we are not reliant on our prejudices and ignorance. We have particularly good opportunity to do this in Geneva and particularly at Holy Trinity with so many different nationalities represented including a number working for international organisations here, who are very well informed about the contexts and realities of life in a number of these conflict zones. So let us make an effort over the next few weeks and months to find out more – to be curious and to be present to each other in order to find out more about the contexts and reasons for these conflicts at first hand. Then in our prayers, let’s hold these situations before God, asking for grace so that we and all who are involved in these contexts may begin to take the first steps of building understanding. May we learn what it means to put oneself in the shoes of the other; of having the grace to imagine together how things might be different. And within our communities and relationships at work, in our studies and here at church we can apply the same principles, consciously seeking to be curious, to be present and to reimagine with those with whom, we know at present, we feel a sense of walls and barriers dividing us. If we can take the first step, the initiative in this, it can feel deeply scary and challenging but we will worth it. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God”. We can also make a commitment, to seek wherever we can, to initiate healing and reconciliation where things have gone wrong in our relationships and the lives of those close to us. This evening’s Eucharist with prayers and the laying-on of hands and anointing gives us one such opportunity but this is also something we can ask God to help us with in our prayers each day. Whatever we do, even on a small-scale, can have an impact, like ripples stretching out when we throw a stone in a pond. And the world desperately needs it for we are torn apart, not just by physical wars and conflicts but also by even more frightening invisible forms of war. Commenting on the digital outage this week which has caused chaos through the world, Sir Nigel Shadbolt, one of the UK leading computer scientists pointed out that what we don’t see is that ‘there is are 24/7 set offensive and defensive operations taking place between states every single day. The digital is invisible, pervasive, ubiquitous and it is difficult to pin down and make clear rules ‘. He went on to say: 4 ‘This is where our multilateral organisations need to be, to help us make settlements between nation states … And that’s at least one place we should start’. We can make a difference and if we consciously try to be agents of healing and reconciliation, then, with God’s grace, change can happen. Churches can provide a particular focus of this and I’d like to end with a story to illustrate this. It’s a story from St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland where there is a door of reconciliation. In the late 15th century, there were two leading families, the Butlers and the Fitzgerald’s who were in conflict because both wanted the coveted post of Lord Deputy. It resulted in war between them culminating in the Butler family seeking refuge in the Chapter House of the Cathedral. The Fitzgeralds wanted to come in a make peace but the Butlers refused, worried they would be massacred. So Gerard Fitzgerald, head of his family, as a gesture of reconciliation, ordered a hole to be made in the door and stretched his arm through. It was very high risk strategy as the Butlers might well have chopped it off. But recognising that he was risking his life by this gesture of friendship, the Butlers saw that he was serious, left the Cathedral and came out to make peace. Hopefully we’ll never be called upon to do anything quite so risky. But it’s an image that perhaps we can hold onto to remind us that when we are courageous enough to reach out first for reconciliation when relationships have soured or broken down, remarkable change can be possible. Amen

The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few.. Sermon by Canon Daphne Green for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity & Celebration of 25th Anniversary of Ordination as Priest Texts: Jeremiah 31.31-34; Psalm 85.8-end; 2 Corinthians 5.17-6.2; Matthew 9.35- 10.1 “The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest’. (Matthew 9.31) One of the saddest sights is to see fruit and vegetables go to waste because they are not harvested at all or are damaged before they can be picked. I remember witnessing this on a trip to the Black Forest two years ago and seeing hundreds and hundreds of apples lying on the ground and thinking what one might have done with them. But imagine that instead of apples, it was human lives which were going to waste. This is what confronted Jesus as he travelled around the towns and villages of Galilee and Judea teaching and healing those who came to him. The gospel writers often tell us of Jesus’ emotional response to the situations and people he faced. In our gospel today, we’re told that Jesus had compassion on the crowds who came to him – seeing them as ‘harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’. He is moved to act and he sends the twelve disciples, commissioning them and giving them power to heal and to cast out unclean spirits. It’s no accident that this gospel text is often chosen for the ordination of deacons and priests and bishops. For it is about God’s calling and it is why, as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of my ordination as priest at this time, I have also chosen it for our service today. I give profound thanks to God today for the gift of ordination and to every one of you for your warmth and welcome as I minister here at Holy Trinity. However, as John Pritchard, the former Bishop of Oxford points out in his book on the life and work of a priest, the priest is there ‘as God’s gift of love, to help the Church live up to its calling and to help the Church make the love of God known in the wider community’. All clergy, whatever their role or office are only there to serve and support the ministry of all God’s people. The priest has vital representative role as a sign, but God is calling every one of us to take part in this ministry of making the love of God known in the world. So whilst I rejoice at the 25th anniversary of my priesting, this it is fundamentally not about me, but rather what it means for us as the whole people of God gathered here at Holy Trinity, to be faithful to our calling to make God’s love real, visible and experienced in the world. Today therefore, I want us to address some challenging questions. Why is God calling us to do this? What exactly is He asking us to do? How is He equipping us to do it? And finally, what resolution will each of make today to do this? 2 Why is God calling us to do this? We don’t have to look very far to start to see some answers. Just as Jesus saw the crowds ‘harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’, so we too see those who are bewildered and lost today. People who are seeking meaning in their lives; those who are hurt, alienated or ignored; those facing life’s hardest battles with no source of hope; those are rich in the world’s terms but wonder what on earth it is all about. And as we look then to Christ, we see that this was the very reason He came into the world. For God’s love constantly reaches out, overflowing from the love which exists at the heart of the Trinity. Jesus came into the world to help humanity find its way back to God; to understand, through seeing his own life, what it means to live as a true human being, as God intended. Through his sacrificial death on the cross, he conquered the power of evil and through his resurrection, opened to us the gateway to the new life of God’s kingdom which wells up, wherever we allow ourselves to be touched by the life of the Holy Spirit. What exactly is God asking us to do? A couple of weeks ago, here at Holy Trinity, we said farewell to the Liddle family. Aidan Liddle had served as UK Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. Aidan played a key role in representing the values, expectations, plans and ideas of the UK government to the UN and at the same time, he was able to be a conduit, sharing and explaining thinking within the UN to the UK government. As such he had a key role in helping to bring about reconciliation in a number of contexts through building up understanding and trust. Jesus, as St Paul shows us today, came into the world to reconcile us to God – to help us find the way back to God and to show us the values of God’s kingdom. These are values based, not on serving our own interests and ambitions, nor trying to gain as much as we possibly can at the expense of others, but those of self-giving love, of forgiveness, of seeking mutual flourishing rooted in the love of God. Jesus, in a way, was Ambassador for God the Father. For he showed us in his own life on earth, his death on the Cross and his resurrection, what it means to live as a human being, by these values of God’s kingdom, which bring ultimate life and fulfilment, not just to us, but to others and can bring healing and reconciliation. So what is God calling us to do? To be ambassadors too, but in our cases, not for our governments but for Christ whose kingdom embraces the whole world. This is a role for every one of us through the commission which God gave us at our Baptism. Bishop John Pritchard reports a conversation which occurred between three clergy and a newcomer to one of their clergy chapter meeting. The newcomer asked each of them, in turn, where their churches were. The first replied, “Just down the road by the library”; the second said, “It’s on the way to the station”. However, the third replied, “Where is my church? Right now, they are spread out all over the town”. It’s a wonderful image and one which is true for all Christian communities including us at Holy Trinity. Only in our case, we’re not just present in Geneva, but through neighbouring cantons, over the border in France and through our very welcome online presence, in a number of other countries throughout the world as well. It’s something worth really reflecting and praying today what it means. For mission is not 3 a ‘bolt-on’ to the church – to be done by those who have special qualifications or more than usual degrees of confidence. The Church is mission and every one of has this role as an ambassador of Christ, not on Sunday morning in church but in the rest of our lives. What we are called by God to do will depend on our specific contexts, whom we encounter and the situations we face in the context of our individual lives. But as a common thread, our calling is help people to experience the love of God; to find meaning and purpose in their lives through this; and to see how life can be very different if we live by the values of God’s kingdom. It will also require at times, to challenge the values of our current age – calling for justice, for concern for the poor and marginalised; to question how resources are used in our name, for example on military spending, to challenge the bombardment and killing of innocent civilians, to seek environmental justice and to ensure that all are included, have a voice and are made welcome. In this context, I am mindful that I am only speaking to you today as priest, because of courage and determination of those who for over a hundred years, sought to bring about the ordination of women in the Church of England. For I grew up within the Church of England in which there were no women deacons, priests or bishops. Indeed, there were very few women in any representative role at all, apart from a few Readers as well as deaconesses who, despite their significant role, were treated from the point of view of church governance, as laity. Women were also largely absent from the liturgy of the church which referred to ‘all men’. Change did come as a result of many years of raising questions, campaigning and exploring this through a process of discernment in the life of the Church. It was a long and at many times, a painful process during which a number of women faced prejudice, discrimination and in many cases, vocations not fulfilled. We rejoice today now that women can be ordained as deacons, priests and bishops. It was also though, a grace-filled period in which we learnt that this is far more than securing the ministry of ordained women in the church but is also about our identify, as women, made, like men, in the image of God and to see how that could be expressed in in a more inclusive way in theology and in our liturgy including the hymns and other music we use. I’m delighted that in this service today that our anthem will be a version of the Magnificat by Sarah Macdonald – the first time, I think I have ever heard this great song of Mary composed by a woman. Thank you Mark and the choir for this. How does God equip us for the task of mission? It’s probably fair to think that most of us can feel quite daunted about how we live out our Christian calling. So how does God help us to do this? First of all, we need to root ourselves on God as the very source of our life. Just as our phones won’t last very long without charging, nor will we go very far without seeking God and listening to Him, in prayer, through the scriptures, through worship. 4 And it is in the Eucharist that our encounter with God is most vital. For this is where we come into God’s presence -, where we enter into Christ’s sacrifice of love and offer ourselves, just as we are, to be taken, blessed, broken, renewed in Christ and equipped by Him to bring his love to those who are in desperate need of it. God also calls us to go on learning so that we can feel confident to share our faith. Just as at work we would not get very far if we failed to learning about the products and services we are providing and the changing environments in which we are doing this, so too, we need to go on learning as Christians more about our faith so that we can share this with others. And finally: What resolution will each of make today to do this? I invite you for a couple of minutes, to reflect where you think God is calling you to be His ambassador this week? What situations or relationships are you aware of that call for God’s love, healing and reconciliation to be brought to them? What gift of grace do you need to ask God for today to enable you to do this? Have a couple of moments’ silence. End with a prayer of +John Pritchard God of glory and unquenchable Spirit, May your Son direct us afresh to the fire of your presence Where nothing may amaze us more than your love, Nothing inspire us more than your forgiveness and nothing dazzle us more than your beauty, Disclosed to us in your world, your story and your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Go to stubborn people Sermon by Revd Glen Ruffle for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity “Son of man!”. “Child of humans!”. “Daughter of woman”. “I am sending you to my stubborn people”. In the Hebrew, Son of Man basically means “human” in this passage. And so Ezekiel is commissioned to his job and calling. Go to stubborn people. What a job – being sent to the people of God who long ago stopped living as God’s people. And despite the warnings, they have refused to change. They are stubborn – they are a people who refuse to change attitude or opinion despite the evidence presented. Being stubborn can have its rather more positive sides – it reminds me of a class debate we had when I was learning French. It being France, where people still love to smoke despite the evidence, we had a debate – arranged by the teacher – on whether we should smoke outside or inside, in a special room. Obviously the logic is to smoke outside, but I was placed on the team arguing for smoking to be inside. So, despite the difficulty, I stubbornly kept on arguing in my best (or worst) French! Finally, despite all the arguments against me, I turned to them and cried out “Where do dogs live?” “Outside” they said, rather baffled. “And you want to smoke outside! Why do you want to give dogs lung disease?” It’s fair to say they weren’t expecting that argument. But it’s a silly example of stubbornness – refusing to back down, despite the logic. But real stubbornness is incredibly frustrating and destructive. It says you refuse to acknowledge the other person’s insights, or to consider their point of view. And usually that comes from pride. And pride of course leads to one thinking more highly of oneself than one should. Dare I say it, one becomes a bit conceited. And this is what Paul is talking about in his second letter to the Corinthians. “I knew a man who was caught up to the third heaven! That is something I am willing to boast about! But what I will not boast about is my own strong points and glorification.” This is shockingly countercultural. We are trained to parade ourselves and show off how good we are. If you have worked in business, a huge amount of effort goes into brand reputation, preserving your image, promoting your expertise, and asserting yourself as the best on the market, in order to win more clients. Indeed, a whole website called LinkedIn is basically one giant advertising platform for people to show off their skills and try to get hired by someone else. They say all social media is like that – as we only ever post the best photos, the most photogenic and ideal shots, all the time conveying the idea that my life is perfect. Paul says stop. Let’s change the narrative. When I boast about how great I am – and Paul says he could do that – when that happens, it only serves to make me look impressive. Think what Paul could have said: “I singlehandedly started churches across Asia Minor and Italy. I launched a fundraising charity campaign for the church when famine hit. I advised leading Roman military personnel on how to sail and saved many lives from a shipwreck. Jesus personally appeared to me to commission me.” This guy could really spin his career and make himself look great! But no, he says “I’ll only talk about my weaknesses, so that people won’t praise me. I really don’t want to become conceited.” It’s so easy to be proud, to say “I know best” and to accept the praises of other people. And of course we should thank and build people up. But if you are the object of that praise and building up, always hold to the forefront of your mind the danger of being conceited. Of pride. How many Christian leaders have let that derail them? I worry a little when I see the names of speakers being advertised at Christian events – it raises those people up and can easily start a slippery slope to pride. How many stories from the USA could we mention of Christian leaders being raised up only to find that they weren’t little messiahs, they were very naughty boys! Paul then rejoices that he has a “thorn in the flesh” to stop him being too conceited. To remind him continually that he is not the aim, the target, the outcome or the goal. Jesus is the aim, the target, the outcome and the goal. God’s power is made more evident in our weaknesses. So let me practice what I preach. I am Glen, a sinner, someone who thinks bad things and does bad things. I am genetically faulty – I have allergies, eczema and asthma. I might carry the genes for Alzheimer’s, or some other hereditary disease. I’ve been insulted and accused, I’ve made mistakes and covered them up. I’ve lied to people I love, and been stubborn and proud way too often. Yet through this messy, complicated, sometimes wicked person called Glen, God has worked. But here it becomes dodgy ground…if I mention successes, it really is not me, it is God’s grace at work. I’ve had the privilege of visiting the lonely and isolated. Hearing about and speaking on behalf of people in war zones. Helping missionaries and those doing amazing acts of care. But I don’t want to go on or give details – I don’t want to be proud or conceited! The point is – I am a mess. Yet God through me has brought good things into this world – but I won’t boast of what “I’ve done”, but I will rejoice in God’s work. And what about us? We could talk of how, through a community of broken people, God is ministering to those lacking homes at Jardin de Montbrillant. How through confused people like us God is working among our children, young people and young adults. How through failures like us there is still community, excellence in music, beauty, care for the dying and suffering, training on building peace, planning our lives…the list goes on. We are all Work In Progress – but God is the one building and doing the work through us. It is Christ’s power in us – so let us boast of our individual weaknesses but raise up His Glory! And it was ever thus. When Jesus sent off his disciples in pairs, the 12 went out 2 by 2. Where have we heard that before? The animals went out 2 by 2… just after the ark. Just after this great event when God restarted the world. The disciples are sent out like the animals, fresh into a new world, free to recreate it! And the message of those disciples is the same as that of Jesus: verse 12: they went out and preached that people should repent. This is the same message as that of Jesus in Mark 1:15. And it’s consistent with our readings from Ezekiel and Corinthians: proud, stubborn and conceited people – that’s us. But God calls us to humility, and that is an act of self-denial, of dying to self. Like Jesus said, we love it when people say “you are so generous when you give money to help the poor”. But Jesus said if you really want to check your motivations, give money without anyone else knowing. People say “You are so holy, you pray lovely prayers in church and sound so eloquent”. Jesus says, if you really want to know your prayer is heard, then do it in secret at home, where no one can see you. Humility is a way of death and self-denial. A way very alien to all of us. But it is a calling that, if I want to please God and live a righteous life, then my good deeds should honour my Father in heaven, not myself. It’s a call to live counterculturally, to find rest in God and trust in him; to trust his leading more above our own self-assertion and promotion. To find meaning where we are, and to be disciples who deny ourselves and go out to recreate this world according to God’s calling. So we started with stubbornness, pride and conceit. And then we finished on how it’s not about me, or us, but how we need humility. How we are instead to raise up the work of God in us, rather than us ourselves. As the BCP service says “Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven”. Amen

God indeed calls us to life not death... Sermon by Canon Daphne Green for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity. Biblical References: Wisdom of Sol. 1.12-15; 2.23-24; 2 Corinthians 8.7-end; Mark 5. 21-end ‘Do not invite death by the error of your life, Or bring on destruction by the works on your hands. Because God did not make death, And he does not delight in the death of the living (Wisdom 1.12-13) These are timely words for us from the Wisdom of Solomon for we live in a world which often feels characterised by a death-wish both in how we relate to one another globally and in the context of how we live our individual lives. This morning I want to explore with you how God indeed calls us to life not death and in Christ, shows us the path to life away from destruction. In this passage from the book of Wisdom, we see a heart-felt contrast between the rich, vibrant potential of the world which God has created and our tendency as human beings, to wreck things through our sin. Listen to these words: ‘For he created all things so that they might exist; The generative forces of the world are wholesome, And there is no destructive poison in them, And the dominion of Hades is not on earth. For righteousness is immortal’ (Wisdom. 14-15) These words take us back to the very act of God’s creation of the world as described in the first chapter of Genesis when ‘God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good’ (Genesis 1.31). Yet how comprehensively have we unleashed destructive forces in this world which is intrinsically good. Not only that, but we have also made it worse by succumbing, certainly in the West, to a dour fatalism that there is very little we can do to change our ways. Any of you familiar with the BBC sit-com ‘Dad’s Army’ about the Home Guard in the UK during the Second World War, will remember the character James Frazer, a platoon member and undertaker, who catchphrase was – “We’re doomed!”.  We too, despite our Christian faith, tend to go round like rabbits blinded by the headlights, expressing the fear that we too “are doomed”. And in many ways, there are sound grounds for that view because of what we have done and also failed to do in our public and personal lives. Let’s start with the public sphere. We know that we have wreaked enormous environmental damage on the planet through the way we live our lives.  This has resulted in dangerous global warming, loss of biodiversity, a clogging and pollution by plastics of our precious oceans and rivers and some changes which irreversible. Politically, we are living in a world torn apart in many, many countries by wars and civil wars. The unthinkable has now become the thinkable as we now also have war in Europe after the many decades of peace following the Second World War. The number and spending on nuclear weapons has proliferated despite attempts for disarmament. And in many cases, we have lost the appetite, or perhaps lost the way to create peace, and so bloody conflicts fester and continue. We also are now in a context in which the uniqueness and preciousness of human life is under threat.  Aidan Liddle talking at a recent Sunday service here spoke to AI – the tremendous potential which it offers us, for example in medical interventions, but the risks to human employment, creativity and dignity. And in the West, this has compounded a trend which had started far earlier and it is what I would describe as the commodification of human beings. As we live in an increasingly affluent society in the West, so too, we have tended to categorise and judge people as to how useful they are economically.  This has meant that those who are older and no longer working as well as those with little or work are seen as less useful, less important and in some cases, a drain on limited resources.   With this, has come a dangerous diminishment of the hallowing of each human being. In our own lives too, we can see a similar dynamic at work of choices we are making which are fundamentally destructive. Often we deny that this is the case and also fail to acknowledge that there is a link between the choices we make, however small they may be, and their impact on our communities and the lives of others. Yet there is a direct link and many of our choices are leading to death rather than life. Thus our desire to have more and consume more, regardless of what we already have, is having a terrible impact on the life of our planet as we squander precious resource. Our desire to have things straight away has put pressure both of people and resources.  And our reluctance often to pay a fair wage or stand up for those we know are exploited condemns others to a life where they can barely subsist, let alone flourish.    ‘Do not invite death by the error of your life, Or bring destruction by the works of your hands’ Where, then, does the path to life lie?  How do we bring our Christian faith to show that God calls us to life not death? I believe that our Gospel reading of today with Jesus’s encounters with the woman with haemorrhages and Jairus’ daughter, points us on the way that leads from death to life. Both encounters bring us face to face with the reality of both physical and spiritual death and how they are transformed by the one who is the author of life itself, Jesus. It is, I think, no accident that Mark has placed these two incidents together, with the story of the raising of Jairus’ daughter, sandwiching that of the woman who seeks healing from Jesus.    For both deal not only with life and death but also the ways in which the taboos, rules and judgements we make as a society, can entrap and diminish others and rebound on us too. The story starts with Jairus, the leader of the synagogue in the small town of Capernaum. His daughter is dying & suddenly, whatever his reservations may have been about Jesus, it is her life and that only which matters at this moment.  We too share this experience in the face of disaster or at the deathbed of a loved one.  The barriers come down as in a moment of startling clarity, we see what really matters – the need to show love, to reconcile, to forgive and be forgiven. Jesus agrees, without hesitating to come and help him and yet on the way to his home, Jesus is touched by the woman in the crowd. We can imagine Jairus longing for Jesus to finish with her and hasten to his house before it is too late. But Jesus asks who has touched him and, knowing that she cannot keep hidden any longer, the woman forward trembling proclaiming what God has done for her. Under the Jewish ritual rules, she would have been regarded as ritually unclean for all the period she had bled – twelve, long years. As we think of this woman and what life must have been like for her, cut off from friends and family, reduced to poverty and isolation, let’s think for a moment about those who the outsiders in our community today.  Those we do not welcome in to our churches and homes because they seem to us as different and perhaps difficult. However, as she comes forward, confesses what has happened – instead of facing condemnation by Jesus for ritually polluting him or rejection, he affirms her – ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease’. She is set free with dignity, like the woman at the well and Mary Magdalene, to witness to the power of life in Jesus and the potential of communities to overcome fears and taboos and instead make those who are suffering welcome and accepted. As Jesus and Jairus at last resume their way to Jairus house, a messenger comes to him with the news he had dreaded to hear.  ‘Your daughter is dead.  Why trouble the teacher any further?” Yet Jesus is unperturbed, reassuring Jairus with the words, “Do not fear, only believe”.  As he brings the young girl to life, so he reveals himself as the Lord of life itself. This is the life on which our Christian faith is rooted and why it matters so much that we bear witness to this hope. For as Christians, baptised in to the family of Christ and made in the image of God, our calling is to proclaim this truth - that Christ is the source of life; that life in Christ is stronger that death and that God calls us into the fullness of that life, both during our time on earth and in His kingdom. Finally, St Paul in his 2nd Letter to the Corinthians today, indicates how we too may break ourselves, with God’s grace, from the spiritual death of selfishly focusing on ourselves, to engage instead with the source of life itself.  We do this is through consciously turning away from focus on ourselves, to give to God and to others. In St Paul’s case, he was seeking to persuade the fractious and selfish Christian community in Corinth to offer money generously to help the early Christian communities in Jerusalem. Many in Jerusalem lived on the breadline, often unable to find work and barely subsisting. Paul tells the Corinthians of the wonderful example of the Christian community in Philippi who, although they are far poorer, have given generously. By turning the attention of the Corinthians outwards to those in need, he helped them to find a life-giving way forward.  This is rooted on Christ who offered everything, including his own life, so that they, we and the generations who follow us may have life in all its fullness. Jesus said, “I came that you might have life and have it in all its fullness” (John 10.10). May we learn to embody this truth and by so doing, help others to find in Christ, the way that leads to life. Amen

If you just had more faith …… Sermon by Canon Daphne Green for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity Biblical References: Texts: Job 38.1-11; Psalm 107.1-3, 23-32; 2 Corinthians 6.1-13; Mark 4.35-end

Sow the seed, and live as lamps... Sermon by Revd Glen Ruffle for the Third Sunday after Trinity Biblical Reference: Mark 4:26-34

Swords into Ploughshares Sermon by Aiden Liddle for the Second Sunday after Trinity

A Sabbath a week, helps you work, rest ... Sermon by Revd Glen Ruffle for the First Sunday after Trinity

Taking another road Sermon by Canon Daphne Green for the Feast of Epiphany Texts: Isaiah 60.1-6; Psalm 72.10-15; Ephesians 3.1-12; Matthew 2.1-12 Taking another road Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany which in the Eastern Church focuses on the baptism of Christ whereas in the West, it focuses mainly but not exclusively on the visit of the Magi to Jesus and the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. It also brings the traditional twelve days of Christmas celebrations to an end and marks the start of the season of Epiphany tide which leads up to Candlemas in early February. It’s one of the most magical festivals (and this is not just a play on words on the Magi!) in the Church’s year but also, which may come as more as a surprise, one of the most disturbing. We tend to visualise the Epiphany in mysterious and exotic ways, influenced not only by the biblical account the arrival and homage of the three kings or wise men but also the rich tradition of artists over the centuries. Their various interpretations, have inspired us regarding the mystery of this event. However, they also, encouraged us to sentimentalise this feast, by introducing things never included in the biblical account of which top of the list must be camels! As a consequence, whilst celebrating the mystery and joy of this festival expressed both in the visit of the Magi and the underlying theme of the revelation of the light of Christ to the Gentiles, we have been tempted to treat it in one-dimensional and cosy terms. We treat is as onlookers, standing by and thinking, “Isn’t this nice?” Isn’t this charming?”; Isn’t this a fitting end to the twelve days of Christmas?” But we have ignored the elements in the Feast of the Epiphany which are disturbing, perhaps almost consciously because they threaten the cosy image we have created in our minds. Yet, as I wish to show you in this sermon this morning, if we do this, we not only ignore the truths to which the Epiphany points us and calls us to engage but also lose sight of the real message of hope which it contains. Being disturbed is not a comfortable experience yet it is essential both for our spiritual survival and our growth. We enter into this, only by recognising with wonder, the extraordinary paradoxes in this story. The wise men or Magi were probably highly skilled astrologers and fortune-tellers in their own countries. They have the wisdom and grace to discern that a new king is to be born and a profound desire to come and encounter him. The paradox is that they, the strangers come from outside, gate-crashing the Roman Empire to seek the one whom many of God’s own people will fail to notice or recognise. Yet, as they encounter the infant Jesus, they will be bearers of this revelation to their own people – the Gentiles. However, in the process, they themselves will become strangers to their communities for reasons we will see. 2 There are many other paradoxes in the events that then take place. The wise men can follow the star by their calculations to the land where the new king will be born but they have no idea where in that land this will happen. Logic would suggest Jerusalem – the set of power but where to look? So they consult the political leader, King Herod, the tyrant and puppet ruler for the Romans in that land, knowing that he will be able to consult the experts – the religious advisers. Sure enough they have the answer through their study of the scriptures. ‘In Bethlehem of Judah, for so it has been written by the prophet (Micah). Ironically, Herod’s own ‘wise men’ have identified the very place where the child will be born. But Herod is by now thoroughly disturbed – he is supposed to be in control yet these visitors from afar have declared the birth of a new king. He dissembles well, telling them to come back and advise him once they have found this new king so that he too may go and worship. But we know that the murderous desire to seek out and remove this threat to his power has already been sown in Herod’s heart. The Magi, now on the right track, follow the star, leading them to the stable where they fall to their knees with joy, offering homage to the child held by his mother Mary and then offer him their precious gifts. It’s an extraordinary moment, again of paradox – the Magi realise that all their knowledge, their skills, their powers, are as nothing before this child who is the source of all creation. Yet rather than being driven to despair, they all filled with overwhelming joy. I am reminded by the revelation of Christ which the great theologian, St Thomas Aquinas had towards the end of his life. He had spent his whole adult life beavering away to produce his great theological work ‘The Summa Theologica’. Yet in a moment of insight after his vision he exclaimed in his last words on 6 December 1273, “Such secrets have been revealed to me that all I have written now appears as so much straw”. Yet like the Magi in the manger, his response was one of utter joy for what he had glimpsed. And the Magi are not allowed to stay. Warned in a dream by God not to return to King Herod, we’re told that they returned to their own country by another road. It must have been a terrible decision to make, given the joy they had experienced in the stable. But what is clear is that love, the humility and the vision which this young child represents, is a profound threat to the political powers that be as represented by King Herod. They go to their own country by another road, profoundly changed – bearing the message of the light of Christ coming into the world to their own people. Yet in the process, ironically, they too will become strangers in their own communities for they have glimpsed the one who challenges and disturbs the confidence, cruelty and power of this world. The image of taking another road lies at the heart of the Feast of the Epiphany and is why I believe it is disturbing both for what it reveals as well as how it challenges us. What it reveals first of all is the shaking, rather like the movement of tectonic plates as the light of Christ coming into the world and revealed to the Gentiles, provokes a violent reaction from the powers that be. The impact of this is widespread. Mary and Joseph cannot return to their home by the familiar road but suddenly are forced into taking another road, a strange and dangerous road into exile in Egypt, fleeing for their lives and above all, to protect the 3 precious child. Even after Herod’s death when it might be thought they could return in safety to their home, they are warned in a dream of the threat which King Herod’s son. Archelaus who now rules Judea, poses to the young Jesus. So they again, have to take another road, this time leading to Galilee where Jesus will grow up and have his first childhood and adult encounters not only with his own people but also with Gentiles. And underlying all this, is the terrible massacre which Herod is about to unleash – his hatred of the baby king is now whipped up into a pathological fear and hatred of all male babies and infants who could threaten his power. The unthinkable has been unleashed and has become a reality. This is one of the reasons that the Epiphany cannot be treated simply as a feast of unrelieved happiness. But this hatred and the terrible abuse of power which the birth of Christ unleashes is not the final word either then or for us. The Magi were full of joy on encountering the infant Christ and took the good news of the birth of Christ in their hearts to their own people. This is why we rightly celebrate the Epiphany with joy. But they were also transformed – seeing with sharp clarity, how this child challenged the power and certainties of this world provoking not only then but for all time, violent reaction from those who hated the light this child brings to the darkness of their own deeds and lives. They not only physically took another road but mentally and spiritually took another road, as they realised the cost of that discipleship – what it would mean to bear faithful witnesses to the Christ child, not just as a one-off event but throughout their lives. Today, through the witness of the Magi, those outsiders and strangers, we too are led to recognise with joy, God incarnate, lying in humility in the manager – coming in love, grace into our world to be beside us. This challenges us to open our eyes to recognise in those whom we too may see as strangers and outsiders, those who may be bringing us the truth and joy of Christ. The Magi fell to their knees, paid homage to the Christ child and offered him their finest gifts. Today we too are called to offer him the very best – not the gabbled 5 minute of prayer at the end of a day or when we have an urgent want, not the grudged half hour or 20 franc note to help our neighbour or church. No, -God is calling us to offer the very best we can in the offering of our lives and resources. Yet, as we offer these to the Christ child, so we in turn receive richly from God who gives us those gifts we need to equip us as we witness to the world. And like the Magi, we are called by God today to take another road. To take the road that does not buy into the power struggles, bitter hatred and political conveniences of this world but instead witness to something far more powerful, enduring and healing – which is the love, the humility and the reconciling peace which Christ offers. Whether it is our voice and witness for peace and justice in Gaza where 70% of those killed have been children and women, for kinder treatment of refugees particularly those fleeing as unaccompanied minors, of greater justice for those condemned at present to live radically curtailed lives, due to lack of access to health, to employment or freedom of speech and access, we need to be willing to take the other road. 4 So let us end with a prayer: ‘Holy Lord, On this the Feast of the Epiphany of your Son, As we rejoice in the light of his revelation to the whole world, Help us like the Magi to have the courage to take the other road, To proclaim and live out the love, truth and justice which Christ offers Every day of our lives. Amen.