Introductory Sentence: "With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them." (Acts. 4:33)

The collect for the day:
"Almighty God, who didst call thy Church to witness that thou wast in Christ reconciling the world to thyself:
help us to proclaim the good news of Thy love, that all who hear it may be reconciled to Thee;
through him who died and rose again for us and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever."

Evensong Readings: Jonah 1&2 and Acts 28.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Last week, with the readings and sermons, we were shown that we must try to do as Jesus did; to try to love as he loved and be as he was - a tall order.

This week we are being told that we must go around telling everyone about Jesus and our faith.

The term "Mission and Ministry" crops up quite a lot these days, and quite rightly so. "We are," as the collect for today says, "called to witness that God was in Jesus; serving the world," and that we must tell everyone the 'Good News' of God's love for us all - everyone.
You can just picture it now; a man is sitting on a train. Then someone comes to sit beside him. After a short while the man turns to the passenger sitting beside him and says, "Did you know that God loves you and that we can all be saved through Jesus?"
This, I think, is possibly one of the best ways to make sure that you have a seat by yourself on a train journey.

You see people get nervous when you start talking about God anywhere else but in church. People react to Christianity in many different ways. You see, for many people it's a fear of the unknown. They know the Christian Faith is something very powerful, and that makes many people uncomfortable.

When people are uncomfortable in a situation they become defensive and react many different ways.

Some people avoid the situation, some just ignore it and get embarrassed, some even resort to violence. I know that displaying Christian posters in a shop window, in Station Road, Cullercoats, can result in that window being smashed on a fairly regular basis.

Some years ago, some of you will probably remember, there was a regular 'Sunday Morning Car Boot Sale' on Beaconsfield, next to this church building.

Hundreds of cars would be parked all over the place. So many that there wasn't enough room so that many cars were parked illegally; on double yellow lines and even on the pavements.
Here at Saint George's Church, many people (including myself) spoke out against the terrible encroachment on our worship and the inconvenience caused by the volume of traffic and amount of parked cars. Things became so bad that yellow lines were painted in on the road alongside the church to help keep the front of the church (and the entrance to the Beverley Gardens) clear. We all got a little hot under the collar, after all, it was Sunday and people should be at church on a Sunday morning (and anyway, we were here first).
Secretly, I think we were annoyed that so many people were enjoying themselves in the field next to our church when they should have been at church.

I can't imagine many of us complaining if there were cars parked illegally because so many people had turned up for the Parish Eucharist on a Sunday Morning.

Our reaction to the "Car Boot Sale People" was, in many cases, quite hostile. This was because we were faced with something we didn't understand - we were frightened of the unknown.

Let me leave you with that thought for a moment and tell you about a meeting I attended at about the same time as the 'Car Boot Sales'.

The meeting was organised by Fr. Mike Cattling, our assistant curate at the time, and was a meeting of the "Worship Planning Group" which had been formed to plan and organise 'one-off' services and special services such as the "Saint George's Day Uniformed Organisations Services" for local members of the Scout and Guide Movement.

I remember that we had just completed the planning for the Saint George's Day Special Service, which was to be held after the Sunday morning Parish Eucharist.
All the arrangements having been made, Fr. Mike asked for any suggestions for other services that might involve people who don't regularly attend church. We all looked thoughtful and after a short while one person (normally quite quiet and shy) said, "What about the 'Car Boot Sale?".
"Yes," we all agreed, "it was a problem and a terrible nuisance."
"No," she said, "We should look on them as a blessing from God. Why don't we have a special service and go out to them?".
"What?" we all gasped (even Fr. Mike was looking a little anxious).
"Yes," she continued, " surely God has brought these people to us, we should go out to them and share the Gospel".

"Of course we should."

"What a wonderful idea."

"Yes marvellous - Just as the Bible teaches us to do."

"Mission and ministry - the Decade of Evangelism."

We all slowly sank into our seats and tried not to look at anyone else in case we were asked to actually do something.

Let's face it, most of us have problems knocking on a door for "Christian Aid".

It was a case of what a wonderful idea, but - NOT ME!

Well, despite a few attempts to organise such a service, it never happened. Other special services were organised, but not that one.

Eventually the 'Car Boot Sale' went away.

This series of events had a profound impact on me, and were part of a long list of many moments in my life that guided me to do what I am doing right now. Something very special has to happen to persuade people like Andrew and I to put ourselves through such nerve-racking and stressful situations such as this (preaching one's first sermon).

In the first reading tonight; God tells Jonah to go to the City of Nineveh and tell them that because of their wickedness, God's going to destroy them - or at least do horrible things to them.

Let's bring the story a little closer to home.

Let's think about a Geordie Lad named 'Jonna'.

"Jonna!" says God.
"Warissit Lord?" Jonna replies.
"Jonna, I want you to go to the place called Sunderland"
"What for Lord?"
"I want you to tell them that their wickedness has greatly upset me and I may have to destroy them if they do not mend their ways."
"You've gorra be jokin!" says Jonna who is off like a shot, in the opposite direction, like any sensible person who wants to stay healthy and in one piece.

The trouble is you can't hide from God, He is omni-present, and for those of you in the front row I can tell you that 'omni-present' means everywhere.

God is everywhere! Yes, even in the bathroom!!

So, getting back to our story, God makes it difficult for Jonna, and the people he is with have to turn on him (but God saves him even though he didn't do what he'd been told to do).

Remember in the proper story that we heard earlier; Jonah is thrown out of the boat into the raging sea, but God saves him. He gets swallowed, unharmed, by a big fish (or possibly a whale). Highly improbable, but God can get away with things like that. So possibly God would have protected Jonah if he had gone to Nineveh, (or Jonna if he'd gone off to Sunderland).

Jonah was very sorry that he did not obey God, and said so to God in his prayers.

God forgave Jonah, and Jonah was spat out, by the big fish, (very uncomfortable, but still alive and in one piece).

You see, God tells us to do things, but we're not always certain it's God telling us, or just our own thoughts.

I can tell you now that if you think God is telling you to do something, and it's something that you like and will enjoy, the chances are that it's probably only your own thoughts. Nothing wrong with that, we can all come up with some excellent ideas for doing good and still enjoy ourselves.

However, if you think God is telling you to do something, and deep inside, you know is right, but you would hate doing it, the chances are that He is talking to you!

Don't be frightened to listen to him.

A few years ago as a direct result of the Lent Group Meetings, organised by the Anglican, the Methodist and the Roman Catholic Churches in Cullercoats, we all became very concerned and aware of the homeless people - living on the streets and identified in our own area, and together started to make plans to try and finance a local hostel for homeless people.

A representative from Byker Bridge Housing Association, came here and gave a talk on the 'homeless problem'. Martin Hope, our D.C.C. Treasurer at the time, drew up a financial plan and small groups of us attended meetings with housing associations. Many people from all denominations were involved.

Had God spoken to us all? I'll leave that for you to decide.

Anyway, the plans started to falter after a while and because of many good and reasonable reasons they finally fizzled out.

Recently, planning permission was granted by the council to convert a house, not far from here, into a hostel for the homeless. The money was there, and it was all organised. But because of threats of violence towards the housing association staff, Byker Bridge Housing Association withdrew their plans.

Local residents' natural fear of 'the unknown' (fuelled by rumours put round by local rogue-landlords) made them act in a way they would never normally have acted.

Homeless people are normal, average people who's only crime is that they do not have a home and usually get ripped off and robbed by sleazy guest houses and bedsit landlords.

Let me tell you a true story about a perfectly normal, average person, the type who needed that hostel.

As a young man, Andrew had been an enthusiastic architectural technician. He worked hard and at the age of 25 married. He and his wife settled down in a pleasant terraced house in Earsdon. By the time Andrew was 30, they had two children, both girls. Andrew continued to work very hard. He worked long hours and regularly worked at weekends. The company he worked for had high expectations.
Very suddenly, or so it appeared to Andrew, on a Tuesday morning at breakfast, his wife announced that for some time she had been having an affair. She wanted a divorce. Andrew was devastated. He begged and pleaded, and finally she agreed that they should talk when he came home from work that night.
As a direct result of that mornings events, Andrew was very late into the office that day, which caused problems. His boss was very angry.
There was a very important piece of work that had to be finished. Andrew worked very hard into the early evening and then hurried home, only to find that his wife and daughters had gone. No forwarding address - No note.
Andrew was desperate. To calm his nerves and clear his thoughts he opened a bottle of rum and had a drink. Later in the evening he went out, in the car, to look for his family.
Andrew was convicted of driving with excess alcohol in his blood and banned from driving. He lost his job (there was an expectation in his contract that he would be able to drive to site meetings.
Andrew had already attempted to take his own life before he got the letters from his wife's solicitors.
Within six months of losing his wife, his children and his job, Andrew had a complete nervous breakdown.
His house was sold, but there was a negative equity situation.
With no money, no home and no family, Andrew became a perfectly normal, average, HOMELESS person, with a drink problem and a mental health problem.

People like this need help, and the Church (with a capital "C") needs to get involved in a practical way.

We have to learn to take God with us outside this building to the community and all the people we meet.

We have to be prepaired to be labeled as "Christians" and stand by our faith. Even if it means doing things that we don't want to do.

With great power we should give our testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Great grace could be upon us.

So the next time God talks to us, be it about

'Sunday Morning Car Boot Sales'

the plight of the homeless,

let's try to listen, and however uncomfortable we are with the situation let us remember...

"Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"

Amen.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

© Reuben Condie August 1997