In many ways Rev Sheila Cameron’s sermon on 9 October continued the theme of faith that she had started the week before. Here are some extracts …

Naaman the successful commander thought that something spectacular had to be done to get God’s attention, and especially for him, because he was such an important person: “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!” But the elusive prophet Elisha didn’t even come out of his house or perform any spectacular rituals at all. And Naaman the warrior was offended. But he received the gift of healing as a reward for the grain of faith he carried with him, obeying the instruction to wash seven times in the River Jordan, and his response was to praise God and make thank offerings to Elisha.

All we need is that tiny grain of faith and the willingness to place everything in the hands of God. Don’t we have a tendency to make life more difficult for ourselves than is necessary? Don’t we assume we have to make extraordinary efforts to increase attendance in our churches? But our efforts on behalf of the church would be in vain without the gifts of faith and prayer and in vain without the power of God.

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Thinking of the plight of many churches in recent years, these efforts didn’t seem to bear much fruit in terms of greatly increased numbers in the pews, and several denominations have had to close down many of their buildings as being no longer affordable, but that doesn’t mean that the Christian faith is moribund. We may have been powerless to recreate Sunday attendance as it was a generation ago, but the life of the church continues to bear witness to the presence and grace of God in its openness to every individual. The recent lockdowns have forced us to explore new ways of doing things, reaching out to house-bound and isolated worshippers, and have revealed people’s hunger for God through the often amazing response to online offerings.

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We preach the gospel of a Christ alive in the midst of us, calling us to bring the world back to God though nurturing tiny seeds of faith and growing them into a harvest of praise and thanksgiving. And our faith is strengthened daily by awareness of his grace, by the experience of faith rewarded. We who know Christ as our Saviour, who can identify with Christ on the cross, or who have encountered the risen Lord in the course of our life’s journey, have an unshakable confidence that he will always be with us and, as we cherish this certainty and live it day by day, we long to share it with all whom we meet.

Do read the whole of Sheila’s sermon at this link.

The image of the Cleansing of the ten lepers comes from the Codex Aureus Epternacensis (c. 1035–1040). The scribe/artist is unknown, and the image comes via Wikimedia Commons.

Rev Sheila Cameron’s Harvest sermon ended with thoughts on our reading from the final chapter of Paul’s First Letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 6:6–19) …

We do, of course, have basic needs for food and clothing, and Paul (v.8) acknowledges that, but the danger lies in our tendency to pursue the unnecessary. A.K.M. Adam remarks that there is “a transition from basic food and clothing to nice food and clothing, and from there to stylish clothing and rich food [that] takes place gradually.” And there, of course, lie the pitfalls: the competitiveness, the envy, the getting into debt, the descent into dishonesty. “The love of money,” writes Paul, “is the root of all kinds of evil” (v.10).

In contrast to the worldly discontent that leads us astray so very easily, Paul writes of another way, a way that recognizes the uniqueness and transcendence of God. God is “the only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords”, the one who “has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light” (v.15). This God provides for us richly “with everything for our enjoyment” – and we acknowledge this especially in the harvest season. The Christian life is far from dull, but on the contrary full of all the interest and stimulation, adventure, refreshment and comfort we need. In Christ, we are invited to “take hold of the life that really is life” (v.19).

Living in the light of the Resurrection, wherever we go, whatever the changing circumstances of our lives, we know we will encounter the living presence and the love of Christ. So let us set your hope on him and “take hold of the life that really is life.” Amen.

Read the whole of Sheila’s sermon at this link.

The picture by Frans Francken “Christian deeds of mercy” comes from the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw, and is used via Wikimedia Commons.

At this morning’s eucharist, after we had sung the hymn “All for Jesus”, Michael Paterson shared the uncomfortable reading of today’s Gospel from three different perspectives – as a priest; as a politician at COP26; as church folk – before offering an alternative ‘good news of our Lord according to the poor of our world’.

He continued: “Friends, it’s easy to hear today’s Gospel and thank God that we are not scribes and Pharisees. It’s easy to hear today’s gospel and point the finger at world leaders who are not a bit like us. But it takes real honesty and courage to face the challenge that this Gospel might just be about you and about me.

“Speaking personally, I would rather someone else was preaching today and I was sitting where you are. Because underlying today’s gospel are two piercing questions which challenge me to the core. The first is this: Am I a part-time or a full-time Christian? And the second is: Am I a person of religious words, or am I a person of Christian action?

“And what about you? Are you a part-time or a full-time Christian? And are you a person of religious words, or a person of Christian action?

“‘All for Jesus, all for Jesus’ – not what’s left when I get round to it, not the scraps of my energy or free time, not the loose change that I won’t miss, but my own widow’s mite. ‘ALL for Jesus. ALL for Jesus.’

“Let’s stand and sing the hymn together and make it an act of commitment and renewal.”

We did that, and then joined in the Creed for the Planet that you’ll find at this link.

Do read the whole of Michael’s sermon at this link.