February 9th, 2025 Sermon given by Revd Dr Elizabeth Welch
Theme: Called to be Jesus’ loving disciples.
Readings:
Isaiah 6.1-8; Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15.1-11; Luke 5.1-11
Introduction
I grew up in South Africa, in interesting times. We had a so-called Christian government, run by people from the white Dutch Reformed Church Government. I remember as a child listening to the argument which the government made, which claimed that the Bible said that races were meant to be divided, and that God meant Whites to rule over blacks.
My father was a Congregational minister, and the Congregational church was actually a black majority church, even though black and white weren’t often allowed to worship together. Growing up in an anti-apartheid campaigning church and family made me reflect from a very young age about the evils of apartheid and racism. My parents would regularly say to my brother and I ‘watch what you say on the phone, because you never know when the secret police will be tapping the phone’.
Today, we’re going to look at what we’re actually called to do and be as Jesus’ disciples – where there’s no words of discrimination or separation, just a calling to be his followers, whoever we are, and whatever differences we might have.
Sermon
The Council of Churches of Britain and Ireland, in their material for this Racial Justice Sunday, point to its significance:
This year is an important one for racial justice on these shores as it marks the 30th anniversary of Racial Justice Sunday. RJS was established by the Methodist Church in 1995 following the tragic racist murder of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence in southeast London in April 1993. The Lawrence family attended a local Methodist Church in that part of the capital, and the Methodist Church agreed to support the family’s justice campaign to find young Stephen’s killers. A few years later, the Churches’ Commission for Racial Justice (CCRJ), a Churches Together in
Britain and Ireland programme, agreed to mainstream the special Sunday so that all the churches could engage with it.
Underlying the issues of racism and discrimination, spread across the world so widely for many generations, is the issue of what we believe as Christians about the kind of people God calls us to be, and the kind of life God calls u to live, as an example to the wider communities around us.
What is God’s call to us?
I am going to look at three angles of this, as we look more deeply into our readings for today.
Firstly about how we come to know God; secondly; about the way knowing God doesn’t just mean an easy ride; thirdly about how we go about living in God’s way.
Firstly – knowing God.
There are so many issues in our country today about who God is and how we know God. We live in a country which traditionally was Christian, but in which more than half the population has moved away from the Christian faith.
In today’s world we can find people saying ‘we’ve moved beyond faith, in order to live in a more material way’ OR ‘faith is just a private matter, anyone can believe what they want in their own hearts and mind, it doesn’t really affect how they live.’
I’m interested in the role of Trump – supposed to be a Christian, but I find myself wondering where his biblical basis lies. e.g. the frequent words ‘blessed are the poor’ and the teaching about God being on the side of the oppressed, that run throughout the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament, don’t seem to feature in his thinking. For him it seems to be about seeing the people of wealth as the ones who should be honoured, and whose views should be listened to. But this isn’t actually at the heart of scriptural teaching.
Then there are those who say that ‘worship is a tickbox’ – come to church on Sunday, tick the box, and then you can get on with whatever you want during the week.
But the scriptures point us in a deeper direction.
Psalm 138 ‘I give you thanks with my whole heart….’ The Psalms often take the shape of prayer, and on many occasions begin with an encouragement to praise God.
Worship at the heart of our knowledge of God. It’s where we come together with one another, and encounter God in a way that equips us to go out during the week and live each day in God’s way. Worship draws together people who are similar and people who are different, as one community, in God’s presence.
The psalm goes on to speak of God’s steadfast love which endures forever. In worship we can know that we’re loved, just as we are.
It’s not that there’s only one way or shape of worshipping. There are as many patterns as there are people. In Isaiah we see an interesting picture of the prophet seeing God surrounded by cherubim and seraphim. I’m not sure how many of us would see God in this way today.
But, underlying our worship, there’s a reminder that, in the midst of the diversity, there’s one God, who draws each one of us close to each other and to God.
It’s good to take time to reflect together on how God speaks to us in worship – in music, in scripture, in sharing in one community, and to listen to what those who are different from us have found in terms of their understanding of who God is. God is so much bigger than we can dream or imagine, and holds such a range of diversity together.
Firstly, God’s call to us is to know God better, and worship is a primary focus of deepening our knowledge and experience of God.
Secondly, the passages remind us that God’s call doesn’t always take us on an easy ride.
In Isaiah’s passage today, the prophet initially calls out, when he sees God ‘Woe is me, I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.’ His first thought is one of inner struggle and stress, and of his weakness and limitations. But then he hears God’s voice and is able to respond positively. And after that God sends him out to the people. And if we’d read on we’d have seen the challenging words Isaiah has been given to say to them.
In Luke, there’s the interesting story of Jesus and the fishermen. Jesus asks Simon to catch some fish. But Simon responds by saying that he and his colleagues have worked all night. It sounds like they’re worn out and just want to stop. But then they catch a huge range of fish – so many ‘that their nets were beginning to break and it looked like they were about to sink’. And they were all amazed at this. It didn’t feel like an easy ride. But then Jesus says that what’s happened is an example of what will happen when they follow him, and invites them not to be afraid, for they will be able to reach out to the crowds around them.
I know that overwork and weariness are a big issue in today’s society. There’s much that’s written about people not having enough time off, because there’s so much they have to do. People feel that they don’t have the energy they need, or the time available to do what they really want. It’s interesting to reflect on when we need to stop what we’re doing, and perhaps, even, change direction, to move on to ways that we don’t yet know about, but might prove to be more fulfilling.
Then in the Corinthians reading Paul writes about what lies at the heart of our faith – Jesus dying that we might have life. The road Jesus walked wasn’t an easy ride. He didn’t just at the drop of a hat transform the world. He travelled amongst crowds of people, teaching, healing, offering new life. But the crowds didn’t just accept him as he was. He was taken on the way to the cross, and to death, before coming to the real vision of new life in his Resurrection.
When we’re tempted to think that the Christian journey should just be an easy ride, we’re also drawn back to what Jesus had to endure and the struggles that there can be along our way.
Today, Racial Justice Sunday points to some of the struggles and suffering that there can be, as we follow faithfully in Jesus path, living out God’s call.
Thirdly, God’s call is about living in God’s way – a way that is continually being opened up for us, and taking us in new and unexpected directions.
The Christian faith and life is not only a matter of what we believe and how we trust. It’s also about how we live day by day in the face of the issues that surround us, whether personally or in the wider world.
The psalm helpfully reminding us of God’s steadfast love. Above all else, we are held in God’s love.
God’s love has brought creation and humanity into being, and given humanity the responsibility of caring for all of creation. There are big issues today about climate change that we need to be attentive to, if we are to see creation as God’s gift.
The scriptures also point us to the need for care of the poor and the sick, the homeless and the refugees, all who are oppressed. It’s part of living in God’s way, and something we’re all called to share in.
Living in God’s way, and starting with God’s love, means placing ourselves in God’s hands and seeing ourselves in God’s eyes. Stopping to take time for daily prayer or reflecting while we walk, can bring us closer to God and what God would have us be and do. There is a purpose for each one of us. Each one is gifted and called by God, but in many different ways. It’s about recognising our diversity rather than thinking we’re all the same.
Recognising our diversity means seeing the way in which we can learn and benefit from people who are different from us.
I remember in my youth in South Africa, going to the whites only services, and being told, these last for an hour. And then when we went to black led services, being told ‘well, it will be three or four hours that we spent together’. And there were times when the vigour of worship that including a range of music and movement, actually felt much more inspiring than sitting quietly for an hour!
Racial Justice Sunday is about honouring the diversity of God’s people and God’s gifts, and campaigning for what we believe in the church to be taken seriously in today’s so often divided and divisive world.
Let us commit ourselves again this morning to knowing God more fully, to being aware of our struggles and challenges, and to praying for God’s courage and strength, that we might, day by day, be able to live fully and inclusively in God’s loving way.
To God be the glory
