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Reuben's Sermon for the 5th. Sunday within
Lent:
Reuben's Theme: "To Sin or Not to Sin"
(Lent 5) - MORNING MASS
0800hrs. and 0930hrs at Saint George's Parish Church - Cullercoats.
Sunday, 29th. March 2009 Anno Domini.
Morning Mass: Jeremiah: 31.3134
Ps: 51.1 13 or 119.916 Hebrews: 5.510 John: 12.20-33
March 29, 2009 Cycle B Lent 5.
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
Most merciful God,
who - by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ
- delivered and saved the world:
grant that - by faith in Him who suffered on the cross - we may
triumph in the power of his victory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns
with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for
ever.
POST COMMUNION PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us that what we do for
the least of our brothers and sisters we do also for you:
give us the will to be the servant of others - as you were the
servant of all, and gave up your life and died for us, but are
alive and reign, now and for ever.
March 29, 2009 Cycle B Lent 5.
Readings:
FIRST READING Jeremiah 31.3134
A reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah.
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of
Egypt a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband,
says the LORD.
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them,
and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other,
'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of
them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their
iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
PSALM Psalm 51.112
R A clean heart create in me, O God.
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness;
in your great compassion blot out my offences.
2 Wash me through and through from my wickedness and cleanse
me from my sin. R
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before
me.
4 Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your
sight.
5 And so you are justified when you speak and upright in your
judgement. R
6 Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, a sinner from
my mother's womb.
7 For behold, you look for truth deep within me, and will make
me understand wisdom secretly. R
8 Purge me from my sin and I shall be pure; wash me and I
shall be clean indeed.
9 Make me hear of joy and gladness, that the body you have broken
may rejoice. R
10 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
11 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit
within me.
12 Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy
Spirit from me. R
SECOND READING Hebrews 5.510
A reading from the letter to the Hebrews.
Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but
was appointed by the one who said to him, 'You are my Son, today
I have begotten you'; as he says also in another place, 'You
are a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchizedek.'
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications,
with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him
from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;
and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal
salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God
a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
GOSPEL John 12.2033
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some
Greeks.
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said
to him, 'Sir, we wish to see Jesus.'
Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and
told Jesus.
Jesus answered them, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to
be glorified.
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the
earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies,
it bears much fruit.
Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life
in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will
my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.
'Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say "Father,
save me from this hour"? No, it is for this reason that
I have come to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.' Then a voice came from heaven, 'I
have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.'
The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder.
Others said, 'An angel has spoken to him.'
Jesus answered, 'This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.
Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world
will be driven out.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people
to myself.'
He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
NOTES: This day was the day after the clocks were moved
forward one hour from God's Meaningful
Time (GMT) to Bright Southern Time (BST), losing one hour throughout
the night.
This day was also the day we welcomed our new assistant
priest, Fr. Geoff Short.
Reuben's Theme: "To sin... ...or not
to sin"
+ In the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
What a welcome for Fr. Geoff and his family.
A sermon preached by Reuben in 'Lent-mode'.
Yes, 'Grumpy Old Man' meets 'Good and Evil'.
Well here we are.
The fifth Sunday within Lent...
...and next Sunday is Palm Sunday.
Our Lenten journey is nearing it's fulfilment...
...and Passiontide begins today.
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem.
The arrival of the Greek converts brings Jesus
face-to-face with His destiny.
The time has come for Him to buy life for mankind with His own
death.
His last public statements are full of paradox:
Life through death.
Glory through the ignominy of death of the cross.
The world judged in the execution of judgement.
But what does that all mean?
Throughout Lent we have listened to, and read, a series of carefully
selected readings from the Old Testament, the Letters, and the
Gospels.
There is, in my opinion, one reading that stands out.
One reading on which everything is based.
It is the foundation of everything we are all about.
Last year it was set for the main Sunday morning service on the
first Sunday within Lent, on 10th. February, and we all, hopefully,
read it on the newsletters which we take home with us.
Note: Last year only the Epistle
and Gospel were read out at services, as part of a plan to keep
the services shorter during our church heating crisis.
This year it was read at evensong on 1st. March,
on the first Sunday within Lent.
Next year, during Lent, we don't get it at
all!
What is it? I hear you ask.
It is the reading, from Genesis, that chronicles
a vitally important part of the evolution of mankind.
And the LORD God commanded the man,
"You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
Or, more properly translated, "You shall know death."
Eve is persuaded, by the serpent, to eat the
fruit of the tree of knowledge.
She gives some of the fruit to Adam and he also eats it.
Adam, as a representation of men...
...and Eve, as a representation of women.
What the passage tries to explain to us,
in the form of a story,
is something that no scientist can argue with.
It explains that early in our evolution...
we did not know right from wrong.
We did not know good from evil.
And, at a pivotal point, in the evolution
of mankind,
human beings gained the knowledge.
We became the creatures that could distinguish
right from wrong.
Suddenly we knew good from evil...
...which opens up... ...as I like to mix my metaphors...
...a whole new nest of ball games!
You see, if human beings didn't know right from wrong...
...they could not sin.
They were truly innocent.
If you don't have the ability to distinguish
goodness from wickedness...
...you cannot be judged,
because to commit a sin, you must know you are sinning.
But once Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge...
once human beings had the knowledge of good and evil...
...we were given the choice.
We could choose to do what is right.
We could choose to do wrong.
And that, I believe, is the foundation of
all true religion.
The basis on which we are all judged... ...by
God.
So, equipped with all our existing natural instincts and desires...
human beings went on through the generations.
Often getting it right...
...but mostly getting it very wrong.
Which brings us to why we are here today.
And that is where we come to today's Gospel
reading.
Jesus, as usual, turns everything on its head
as He tells us:
Those who love their life will lose it,
and those who hate their life, in this world,
will keep it for eternal life.
When things go wrong, in our lives now...
...it doesn't matter!
When we're in trouble, in our lives now...
...it doesn't matter!
When we're sad, in our lives now... ...it
doesn't matter!
When things get desperate, in our lives now...
...it doesn't matter!
When we are ill, or suffering, in our lives
now... ...it doesn't matter!
When that pension plan, that I've been paying
into all these years,
suddenly becomes next to worthless... ...it doesn't matter!
About 2,000 years ago,
God became a human being in Jesus Christ.
God born as a baby, like you and me.
God growing up through childhood, just like
us.
God working and playing, happy and sad.
Jesus lived a perfect and blameless life...
totally righteous... ...pure goodness.
And yet He died a most horrible death.
He did it for us.
He did it so that all the world could see
that earthly things are of no consequence.
Not only material things...
...but even our families...
...even our very lives!
When we look at ourselves...
...we are not the body we inhabit.
When we look at ourselves...
...we are not the brother or the sister.
When we look at ourselves...
...we are not the son or the daughter.
When we look at ourselves...
...we are not the father or the mother.
We must look at ourselves and see ourselves
as God sees us.
When God looks at us...
...we are everything that we have done in this life.
When God looks at us...
...we are everything that we are doing in this life.
When God looks at us...
...we are everything that we are going to do for the rest of
our life.
And even when we get it wrong...
...When we give in to evil and sin...
...(and we all do)...
God still loves us.
And when we are truly sorry...
...God always forgives us.
In the world today,
we have the knowledge.
We know what is good and what is evil.
We know what is right and what is wrong.
And even though we can never hope to be as
perfect and sinless as Jesus...
...that must always be our goal.
Those who love their life lose it,
and those who hate their life, in this world,
will keep it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there will my servant be also.
Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.
+ In the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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