Everyday Witness: Sermon 2

The Story of Us

Matthew 1.1-17

An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

 

When was the last time that you heard that genealogy read out in church? Have you ever heard it? Perhaps you have wondered why every Christmas, when we listen to the gospel writers’ account of Jesus’ birth, Matthew’s gospel appears to begin at verse 18 of the first chapter. Well, this is why. It’s not really one to ignite a carol service. What on earth is going on here? Why has the vicar inflicted upon you this gospel readin? It’s not a barnstormer of a bible reading is it? No parable, no miracle, no teaching, no wise words of Paul, no inspirational passage – just a list, and rather long list, of names, long forgotten names of those long dead.

What has it got to do with being a witness?

Well last week, in the first of the sermons in our ‘Everyday Witness’ series, we thought about what it is we are actually witnessing to. A witness has to be a witness of or to something and we are called to be witnesses to God’s big story. We heard about that overarching narrative that links all those great bible stories about a drama in four acts plus a prologue, of which we are players in Act 3. And here, with this list of names, Matthew begins his gospel by locating Jesus in the story of Israel, placing the Messiah in David’s line, bringing the central character into God’s big story.

And what a list of names! Accounts of genealogies were as important to the ancients as they are to us today. As a vicar I am contacted regularly by people asking about parish records as they are researching their family tree and are looking for evidence of a particular ancestor. And think of the popularity of  the tv programme ‘Who Do You Think You Are’. They are all about locating your own personal story in something bigger. There is always a big reveal in ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ isn’t there? An ancestor who gives cause for that celebrity to reassess who they are. And in Jesus’ family tree we find some strange names also – women for starters. Tamar – who disguises herself in order to fall pregnant by her father in law Juday; Rahab the prostitute of Jericho; Ruth a Gentile; the unnamed Bathsheba, described merely as ‘wife of Uriah’ and so flagging up the sordid dealings of David.

It's a collection of heroes of the faith, lesser known names and somewhat dodgy characters. Probably rather similar to our own family trees. And that’s quite reassuring because, as well as this being Jesus’ family tree it is ours as well. When we embraced the faith, became a disciple of Jesus, and were baptised in his name, our name was added to that list that we have just heard. Our story became part of the story of those who have passed through this world in relationship to God. Our story became connected with God’s story.

Who remembers Venn diagrams from their schooldays? I’ve always loved them – a great visual tool to to help think about how different groups or themes interact with each other. So here is God’s story….

And here is our story…

And through baptism and our part on the church, this is what happens to our story…

Becoming part of this great story means a fundamental change of identity.

When we were carried by our parents to a font, or leaned over ourselves as an adult, when those promises were made and the water and Spirit were poured upon us, it was if we passed through the gateway to our inheritance, the land that God has promised us, a share in his kingdom. Like the wardrobe door to Narnia or the changing room door in Mister Benn, the font (and note how fonts are almost always positioned near the entrance doorways of churches) is that doorway to a changed existence and nothing can be the same again. We pass through water so that we can claim our inheritance and place our story within God’s story and the story of his changed, redeemed, transformed people. We come recognising that before that moment we have spiritually been in the wilderness, we come, like all those who flocked to the Baptist, knowing our need of repentance and desiring a new identity.

And it was this new identity and transformed nature that the fledgling Christian community we heard about in the second reading gave witness to by their words and deeds – a countercultural group of people whose identity was founded in Christ and incomplete without each other. They met together, pooled their resources, prayed together, broke bread together. And in a world today in which the idea of identity for many is individualistic or self chosen, there is still something captivating about that vison of an Acts 2 church and still something of it that is replicated in our own church now, in the care we take with each other, the worship we express together and the love we show together to others.

This sermon series is all about gaining that confidence to be a witness to God’s story. That confidence can also be founded upon our own story because becoming part of God’s story means that when we tell our story – our own story of transformation or belonging; or when we tell the story of Christchurch and all that this church has been, is now and will continue to be; when we tell the story of the church in England and that parish system that seeks to give care and hope to all; in telling the story of all of these we are indeed witnessing to that big story of God’s love towards and purposes for his people.

Everyday Witness - Sermon 1: The Story of God

 

Everyday Witness

Sermon 1: The Story of God

What's your favourite Bible story?  There are so many to choose from aren't there? Is it the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden; the call of Abraham; perhaps Joseph his dreams and his coat; or Moses in his basket; Daniel in the lion’s den; the boy Samuel and blind old Eli; Elijah and the prophets of Baal; or New Testament stories like the birth of Jesus; the feeding the 5000; the parable of the prodigal son; the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; or the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus. What's your favourite Bible story? Is it one of these?

Talk to your neighbour and share with them for 30 seconds-what's your favourite Bible story and why.

30 seconds each; off you go.

 

We know, don't we, that we live in a society that is becoming increasingly biblically illiterate. Each generation seems to lose more and more memory of all those great Bible stories we have been sharing. And I know that in some of our all-age worship we have been trying to reconnect children with those great stories and help them fall in love with the Bible stories as we once did.

But all of these, however loved, are but small vignettes, individual scenes in the great four act drama that is the big story of God. It’s the story of a good and loving God who creates a beautiful world, and of creatures made in God’s image who then go their own way and corrupt God’s creation – The Prologue.

God calls a people to know him in a special way, with the aim of the blessing the whole world – Act 1 is the story of God’s people the Jewish people; the people whom he liberates from slavery and establishes in a promised land, who time and time again turn away from him and to whom time and time again he reacts like an exasperated, angry and sorrowing parent.

In Act 2 we hear of the promised saviour who will make all things right, the one who will be God’s chosen one to embody all that was meant to be in God’s chosen people. When Jesus appears on the scene, some people recognise him as the one, even though he doesn’t fit people’s expectations. He is crucified and, though most conclude that this is the end of the story, we hear how it is just the beginning.

Act 3 is the Act in which we are involved, the age of God’s church, Jesus’ family, the primary sacrament by which God’s grace is mediated to his world. We are still playing out the part of the drama that began on that day of Pentecost.

And Act 4, the final act is when Jesus returns, the bridegroom ushering in the new heaven and the new earth, when all will be made right and that kingdom glimpsed in the promises to the patriarchs, pointed to by the prophets and bursting through in Jesus will finally be made real and permanent.

 

Telling stories is a little of what we will be doing as we think about what it means to be an Everyday Witness over these weeks before Lent and after Easter. ‘Living and Telling The Story’ is the diocesan strapline. In a sense this is what being an Everyday Witness is all about. This big story is what we are called to live and tell, to witness to – God’s loving purposes for us from the beginning of time. And it’s most certainly not just on a Sunday in church among our brothers and sisters in Christ that we are asked to live and tell the story. Where will you be tomorrow? Home? Work? School? The tennis club? The art group? The pub? What might it mean to be a witness to God in these everyday situations?

I wonder if any of you have ever been called upon to be a witness by the justice system, make a witness statement or even give evidence in court. Being a witness in that context is all about seeing or hearing something important, relating it to others and so helping them to make sense of it. I remember many years ago at the Natural History museum in an exhibition about how we as humans relate to the world there was an interactive section. There was a short video to watch and then you were asked to be a witness to what you had just seen – describe it to others. Lisa and I compared notes afterwards and realised that we had noticed different things, witnessed to slightly different aspects of the video. Together, I guess, we would have given a fuller picture.

Being a witness to God’s big story takes in both these ideas – seeing and hearing, relating it to others and so helping them to make sense of it and doing this together because together we can give a much fuller picture.

In Acts chapter 1, just before the ascension of Jesus, we read that he said this to his disciples ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.’ (Acts 1.8). That’s not just a message for the people who heard Jesus on that day. It’s a message for all of us who think of themselves as followers of Jesus. Those disciples who heard this message had been on a journey of learning and growing with and being surprised by Jesus. This was the final commission, not the first one. And they had taken that journey together, sharing their hopes and dreams and their setbacks and mistakes.

So we, too, are going to embark on a journey together to learn how we can be witnesses. Has anyone here taken on the NHS’ ‘Couch to 5K’? (explain). It’s genius lies in recognising that the only way for non-runners to become runners is to run! No amount of inspiring books and videos will make the change. It is beginning to run, little by little, starting small doing what is achievable; but doing it; and knowing that you are not alone in doing it.

This is what we will be doing together with Everyday Witness. It’s not just about the rhetoric from the pulpit and the inspiring words that Sam and Tony and I will shower upon you. It’s also about putting into action what we have learned. We will do it gently and we will do it together.

 

So I’m going to stop now (‘thank the good Lord for that’ they all sigh) and ask you to make your first step on your Pew to Witness journey to think of five people whom you know whom you would love to see come to fall in love with God’s big story. And commit yourself to pray for them regularly. Just five. It may just be the first step in you becoming a witness to them of God’s loving purposes for them.

Amen.