Reuben's Sermon for the 2nd. Sunday of Lent at Evensong. Sunday, 24th. February 2002 Anno Domini. (cycle A):

Reuben's Theme: "A new start, a new life, a new journey and a promise from the Lord our God"

(Lent 2) - EVENSONG 1830hrs. at Saint George's - Cullercoats.
Sunday, 24th. February 2002 Anno Domini.
Morning Mass: Genesis: 12.1-4a Ps: 121 Romans: 4.1-5, 13-17 John: 3.1-17
Evensong: Psalm: 135. Numbers: 21.4-9 Luke: 14.27-33

February 24, 2002 Cycle A Lent 2.

Morning Mass:

FIRST READING (morning Mass) Genesis 12.1­4a (NRSV)

A reading from the book of Genesis.

1 The LORD said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'
4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him.

PSALM (morning Mass) Psalm 121 (NRSV)

R R My help comes from the Lord, [the maker of heaven and earth].

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come?
2 My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. R R
3 He will not let your foot be moved and he who watches over you will not fall asleep.
4 Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep; R R
5 The Lord himself watches over you; the Lord is your shade at your right hand,
6 So that the sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. R R
7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; it is he who shall keep you safe.
8 The Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth for evermore. R R

SECOND READING (morning Mass) Romans 4.1­5, 13­17 (NRSV)

A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.

1 What are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh?
2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
3 For what does the scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.'
4 Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.
5 But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.
13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
14 If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
15 For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us,
17 as it is written, 'I have made you the father of many nations') ­ Abraham believed in the presence of the God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

GOSPEL (morning Mass) John 3.1­17 (NRSV)

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

1 There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.'
3 Jesus answered him, 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.'
4 Nicodemus said to him, 'How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?'
5 Jesus answered, 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, "You must be born from above."
8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.'
9 Nicodemus said to him, 'How can these things be?'
10 Jesus answered him, 'Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
11 Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.
12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.'

Evensong:

PSALM (Evensong) Psalm 135 (RSV)

1 ¶ Praise the LORD. Praise the name of the LORD, give praise, O servants of the LORD,
2 you that stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God!
3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing to his name, for he is gracious!
4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.
5 ¶ For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.
6 Whatever the LORD pleases he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
7 He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
8 He it was who smote the first-born of Egypt, both of man and of beast;
9 who in thy midst, O Egypt, sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants;
10 who smote many nations and slew mighty kings,
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan,
12 and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people Israel.
13 Thy name, O LORD, endures for ever, thy renown, O LORD, throughout all ages.
14 For the LORD will vindicate his people, and have compassion on his servants.
15 ¶ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
16 They have mouths, but they speak not, they have eyes, but they see not,
17 they have ears, but they hear not, nor is there any breath in their mouths.
18 Like them be those who make them! --yea, every one who trusts in them!
19 O house of Israel, bless the LORD! O house of Aaron, bless the LORD!
20 O house of Levi, bless the LORD! You that fear the LORD, bless the LORD!
21 Blessed be the LORD from Zion, he who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the LORD!

FIRST READING (Evensong). Numbers: 21.4-9 (RSV)

4 ¶ From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient on the way.
5* And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food."
6* Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
7 And the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
8* And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."
9* So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

SECOND READING (Evensong).Luke: 14.27-33 (RSV)

27* Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
28* For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
30 saying, 'This man began to build, and was not able to finish.'
31 Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace.
33* So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Reuben's Sermon:

Reuben's Theme: "A new start, a new life, a new journey and a promise from the Lord our God"

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

There's messages in all of the readings today.

A message about a new start... ...A new life... ...A new journey...
...and A promise from the Lord our God.

It's not always easy to fathom out the message that God is giving us in the texts and readings from the Bible.

That's why we have sermons....

....So that characters like me can come along and give you a bit of 'In-your-face Christianity'.

This morning, in the first reading which was from Genesis (12:1-4a), we have the Lord God calling Abraham to a new start.

The Lord God's promise to one man and his obedient response.

"I will make you a great nation, and will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the ones who curse you - I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

The Lord God's promise to us and our obedient response.

"..and in you ALL the families of the earth shall be blessed."

A new start.... ....A new life.... ....A new journey.... ....A promise from the Lord our God.

The second reading this morning was from Paul's letter to the Romans (4:1-5,13-17).

Paul, writes about Abraham, father of the Jewish nation, and those who follow him.

The promise that 'Abraham would inherit the world' did not come to Abraham, or to his descendants through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Those who only obey Jewish law will not inherit God's promise, for there, there is no faith and therefore God's promise is void.

Paul would have much to say about the behaviour of the Nation of Israel today.

A nation that has lost its faith, strayed from the Lord God, believes that Jewish law is all that counts and has alienated itself from the good and true Jewish people throughout the world.

God's promise will come to those with faith; those (with faith) who obey Jewish law and those (with faith) who are not Jews, because Abraham is the father of all of us, for it is written "I have made you father of many nations".

So it is to those who share Abraham's faith, not simply his national identity, that God extends his promise...

"..and in Abraham ALL the families of the earth shall be blessed."

A new start.... ....A new life.... ....A new journey.... ....A promise from the Lord our God.

In our Gospel reading this morning, Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, comes to Jesus secretly (later he comes out openly on the side of Christ).

It's all about faith again.

We all need a Spiritual rebirth in order to enter God's kingdom. The new age Jesus was announcing was not to be bound by the old cycle of physical birth and death.

It was to be a radical new beginning, a new quality of life - eternal life!

Jesus came to save...   ...but the consequence of His coming, for those who refuse Him...

A new start.... ....A new life.... ....A new journey.... ....A promise from the Lord our God.

In tonight's readings we dot the eyes and cross the tees.

Moses gets more complaints from the people on the trek south to the Gulf of Aquaba (the 'Red Sea' here) to clear Edom's territory.

Jesus used the incident of the bronze serpent to explain His own death, in His discussion with Nicodemus (John 3:14) this morning.

In the wilderness the people had only to look, and they lived.

We must have faith for salvation.

As Jesus says in our second reading tonight "Whoever does not bear their own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple."

No one can follow Jesus unless they are prepared for all that this means.

Too many people, good people, set out on their journey with Christ, with all the best intentions possible...
...and then fall short, because their faith is not fuelled.

Fuelled by...

Regular prayer,

regular worship

and regular commitment to Jesus Christ - our Lord and Saviour.

"So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that they have cannot be my disciple."

I offer you a new start.... ....A new life.... ....A new journey.... ....and a promise from the Lord our God.

A new start?

Prepare to be born again this Easter.
Go to confession,
spring-clean your soul,
sort out your spiritual commitments.
Watch out for "Fan the Flame" coming to us later this year.

A new life?

Be a Christian!
Not just on Sundays... Not just every day.... but 24 hours a day!

A new journey?

A hard journey... ...A dangerous journey... ...but a journey in good company...
...Take up your cross - and follow Jesus!

A promise from the Lord our God?

Yes, the Lord God, creator of the Universe, has made a promise.
A promise to you. (pointing to a member of the congregation)
A promise to you. (pointing to another member of the congregation)
A promise to you. (pointing to a member of the choir)
A promise to all of us!

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

© Reuben Condie - February 2002
©Bible texts: Morning Mass - NRSV and Evensong - RSV