Joy at Christmas

Preached on 25 December 2024 @ 10.00 at Christ Church, Billericay

Reading John 1v1-14; Luke 2v8-20

Prayer

Christmas Cracker

As it’s Christmas, I’m going to start by pulling some Christmas Crackers.  They are very old, so, if you pull a cracker, you might like to shout ‘bang’.  I’ve primed each cracker with a topical joke – a typical cracker one, on a theme from our readings.  From these, perhaps you can work out what I’m going to talk about.

[Volunteers to pull the crackers and read the jokes]

My mate works as a shepherd, but he keeps getting in trouble for showing up late.
Doesn't seem like he's lost any sheep over it, though.

How many sheep does it take to knit an entire sweater?
None — sheep can't knit.

How do you put a lamb in orbit?
On a space sheep.

Detective’s Answers

[Get answers to theme of jokes]

Christmas Cards

We also have four Christmas cards, that I will use as prompts to talk about the passages, So let's see what the First Christmas card has on it.

Shepherds

Card 1 - Shepherds

The picture of the shepherds visiting the baby Jesus makes a lovely scene, but in reality the Shepherds of the time had a difficult job.  They were out on the hills day and night for nine months of the year.  For November, to February, the sheep would be in pasture that was better protected because it was too cold for them on the hills.  That’s too cold for the sheep, not the shepherds. 

Not 25^th December

This is what give us the clue that perhaps Jesus wasn’t born on 25^th December.  It doesn’t matter, because He is king, and this is his official birthday. 

Bears & Wolves

Up on the hills, the shepherds would have to protect the flock from bears and wolves, so they would have to be ready day and night.  They would also have to deal with the occasional dead animal, and search for lost sheep.

The result was that they were ritually unclean and were not allowed to join in the religious services of the town’s folk.  They were also rarely in the village, so were seen as outsiders.  This gave them a poor reputation – they were thought to be thieves and liars.  Therefore, they were not allowed to be witnesses in a criminal trial because they were not trusted to tell the truth.

Angels

Card 2 – Angels

So, there are the shepherds, minding their own business, or perhaps I should say minding their own sheep, when an Angel appears.  If that wasn’t scary enough, the glory of the Lord shone around them.  The picture does a reasonably good job of showing how they are in the spotlight.  Angels are primarily God’s messengers, and given that their appearance is frightening, it’s not surprising that the first part of the message is “do not be afraid”.  The angel makes an incredible announcement:  Christ the Lord is Born TODAY.

Every faithful Israelite has been hoping for this for centuries.  Here it is, happening today, just down the hill.  That would be unbelievable, if it wasn’t for the detail that the angels include in their message.

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

The shepherds now find they have the best seats in the house, as a great company of the heavenly host praises God. 

Their song says “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”

We will see why that message is important later.

The test of the Angel’s message comes when the shepherds leave their sheep and head into town.  Bethlehem isn’t that big, but there will be a lot of strangers around, who have come back for the census.  Maybe they heard the baby crying, or just caught a glimpse through the doorway, of people in the downstairs part of the house that is usually reserved for animals.  Putting a baby in a feeding trough would be VERY unusual at any time, so they can be sure that the message was true if they find one. – and they did.

Spread the Word

Once they had seen the baby, they knew that it was all true.  They then went out and told all who would listen about their amazing night.  They were praising God for the miracle of the saviours birth.

Dead Robin

Card 3 — Dead Robin

Well, that’s a strange picture, a dead robin – a bit distasteful for Christmas.  In Victorian times, a dead robin was a sign of good luck, that why it appeared on their Christmas Cards. 

For us, it reminds us that Jesus was born into a hostile world.

We are celebrating the birth of the Saviour, but in many ways His birth is less important than what He did.  This baby is described by John as the Word.  He says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”  He also says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”.  John also tells us that not everybody recognises Him for whom He really is.

“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”  He came to the Israelites, God’s chosen people, but they did not recognise Him.  It shows how far they had moved away from God.  In the end, they arranged for Him to be put to death. 

What Jesus did

Card 4 – Mother and Baby

Some people though, like the Shepherds, did receive him, and it gave them great joy.  These are the ones on whom God’s favour rests, and for those John says:

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” 

To be a child of God, is a privilege and a joy. It’s only possible because of the death and resurrection of the son of God, Mary’s child, that we see in the picture.

Mary, too, had great joy at the birth of her baby, but also at the things that happened around that birth.

Our joy comes from accepting the man that the child became. 

I wish you all the joy that Jesus brings this Christmas, and in the year ahead

Amen.

Sermon recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taXAF16JNEE, starts at 19:30 to 35:30

References

https://interruptingthesilence.com/2015/12/24/what-is-your-christmas-story-a-christmas-sermon-on-luke-21-20/

John for Everyone, part 1

https://sermoncentral.com/sermons/a-shepherd-39-s-perspective-on-christmas-rich-o-toole-sermon-on-christmas-277310

https://www.paulbeasleymurray.com/2017/12/21/the-shepherds-a-christmas-day-sermon/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqtgyT6z25U

https://upjoke.com/shepherd-jokes

https://www.childfun.com/articles/general/hilarious-sheep-jokes-for-kids/

https://kidadl.com/humor/pets-animals-nature/best-sheep-jokes-that-ewe-will-love

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-war-on-christmas-cards/

What should we do?

Preached at Christ church, Billericay, 15 Dec 2024 @ 08:00

Readings: Zephaniah 3:14-20 & Luke 3:7-18

Why the crowds were coming to John

A voice in the night

I was in a deep deep sleep, suddenly there was a loud voice. I woke slowly, it was pitch black. I couldn’t make sense of the voice or work out where it was coming from. I thought it was trying to tell me to do something. My brain was awake, now, but my body was lagging behind. I forced myself out of bed, and made my way to the lounge. The voice had stopped. I got to the lounge and woke the dog, but no-one else was about. After a short while, I said “good-night” to the dog and went back to bed. I couldn’t sleep, feeling I had missed something important. In the morning, I was told that the voice came from a radio, it’s left on all the time, it has batteries to keep it on in a power cut. It’s tuned to one station and the volume is turned all the way up – so everyone will definitely hear it. It is the hurricane warning system, and was telling us we MUST stay inside. It was so loud, the sound was distorted.

John’s Urgent Message

Anyway, it gave me a sense of urgency, that I must do something, and that is what John the Baptist is trying to do. And it’s working. Lots of people are coming out to him. They sense the danger.

The state of the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire is corrupt; it’s struggling to keep control of the Jewish state at the edge of the empire. The puppet kings are ineffective, and part of the territory is effectively under direct rule.

Out sourced tax collection

The collection of taxes has been outsourced. The rights to collect tax are sold to the highest bidder, who must then deliver the tax to the Emperor, and also collect enough extra tax to become rich.

How Jewish Soldiers make a living

The Jews have their own army, but it behaves more like the occupiers. Instead of protecting the people, the soldiers bully them, to supplement their own income.

The need for a new ‘Exodus’

It seems like things are coming to a head. That something important is about to happen. Something that will be on a par with God rescuing His people from the Egyptians in the Exodus. We have a vision of what they were hoping for in the Zephaniah reading. The oppressors removed, the festivals returned, and the world put to rights. They just had no idea how God would get them there.

Then this weird, but highly charismatic prophet – John the Baptist – appears and offers people baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Many people come and repent of their sins from all walks of life.

Vipers (Snakes) and their symbolism

John is not one to hold back. Calling those who have come to him a “Brood of Vipers” seems like quite an insult. Matthew tells us that this comment was addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees, not the crowd in general.

Genesis – the serpent

Brood here refers to them as offspring. So it takes the idea right back to Genesis, where the serpent tempted Adam & Eve and was cursed by God. He’s saying they are children of evil.

Wrath of God and how to avoid it.

The wrath of God will sort out all the problems. The Israelites have seen this before. God’s wrath is coming soon, and John uses two images to explain this. The axe is already at the root of the tree – a tree that doesn’t produce fruit is cut down. That’s the danger they face.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see how that might apply to the Jews who have come to be baptised. If they don’t get that one, the winnowing fork should explain it nicely – the chaff is about to be blown away, only the good grain will be left.

Being subjects to God’s wrath is a painful experience, but the end result is worth it. Anyway, they have just been told that they can flee God’s wrath.

Baptism is for converts

The way for them to avoid God’s wrath is to repent and be baptised. Baptism was the ceremony that those converting to Judaism went through. So, in a sense, they are admitting that they do not really have Abraham as their father. Even though they have repented, they don’t seem to clear what they have repented of. Three people in the crowd ask John what they must do. Clearly, they are expecting to live a different way.

A different way of Living

Cartoon

A cartoon shows a sceptic shouting up to the heavens, “God! If you're up there, tell us what we should do!” Back comes a voice: “Feed the hungry, house the homeless, establish justice.” The sceptic looks alarmed. “Just testing”, he says “Me too’”, replies the voice.

Living Differently

They will have to live differently. They will have to look after one another – sharing the resources they have. They will have to deal with each other fairly, not using the power they have over others to take advantage.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to them – but it seems to be. Sometimes the obvious just needs pointing out. It’s there in the prophets:

Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

USSR

John’s call is for us too. Back in the USSR, where being a Christian was illegal, times were very hard for the believers. But some employers protected them as much as they could, because Christians were the only ones who could be trusted not to steal from their employers and not to use what they knew against them.

Living differently has an effect, not just in difficult situations, like living under persecution, but here and now in our world.

Perhaps we can feed the hungry, house the homeless and establish justice, because the sceptics aren’t going to. It is after all what the Lord requires of us, it is what we are here for.

Amen.

Two Kingdoms

Preached on 24 November 2024 at 10:00, at Christ Church, Billericay

Reading Daniel 7v9-10, 13-14; John 18v33-37

Lectionary: Christ the King

Today, the lectionary subject is Christ the King. It still feels rather strange to me, but at least it comes at the right time in our year – right at the end. At a time when Christ's mission has been fully completed, His kingdom established, and he has taken his place at the right hand of God in Heaven.

This subject did not appear in the Lectionary until 1921 when the Pope was trying to raise his profile against the newly appointed Italian king. For us, it entered the lectionary in 1990, so perhaps I’m taking too long to adapt. However, the two readings give us some great insights into God and his son Jesus, so let’s start with Daniel.

Daniel

Daniel is seeing a vision of that in our Old Testament reading this morning. In the first pair of verses he sees the Ancient of Days – that is God. The phrase literally means ‘before there were days’. That vision of God should certainly help us to understand His awesome power.

In the second he sees the Son of Man, which here refers to the Christ, being led to the throne and given dominion over all the nations and peoples, and all of them worshipping Him.

About kings and subjects

Both those images speak of unlimited power. Today, we don’t see the absolute power of Kings. Our king heads a constitutional monarchy. The King’s power is severely limited, now to the point where the role of King is almost exclusively ceremonial. Even when Henry VIII ruled and the theory of the divine right of kings was applied to the monarchy, he did not have absolute power. Remember what happened when king John pushed his barons too far.

As far as his subjects were concerned, though, it would seem as though he did. Had we been alive in those days, and been part of the peasantry, the King's power would have seemed absolute. He certainly had the power of life and death for us. Just as did his Lords and their representatives in each town or village. It was not so different in the Roman Empire in Jesus’s day. Keep that in mind as we look at the conversation between Pilate and Jesus from our Gospel reading.

Favourite verses

The report that John gives of the conversation is one of my favourite passages in the whole Bible. So, as we look through those verses now, I’ll try to explain why I find them so important.

Talk through verses

Background

Jesus has been arrested by “a band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees” (v3) led by Judas. There are many more men here than could possibly be required to arrest one man, so this was a show of force – just in case some of the disciples were thinking of trying to prevent the arrest. Peter had a go, but it came to nothing because Jesus told him to stop.

Jesus is then questioned by the High Priests.

By the time this had finished, it was early morning, and they had to wake the governor of the province – Pilate. They will not go into his building because that would make them unclean, so Pilate must come out to them.

They only need Pilate because they want the death penalty. Pilate calls Jesus away from them and takes him inside.

Now, at this point, you might wonder how we know what was said. Well, while the questioning goes on, there are plenty of staff in the house. Some may even have been sympathisers, and I’d bet most of them were nosey, after all knowledge is power. So, the conversation could easily have been reported to the disciples after the resurrection, by one or more of

[v33]

In v33, Pilate’s first question is “Are You the King of the Jews?”. If we think about what Jesus must have looked like at that stage – dressed in peasants cloths, probably roughed-up a bit by the arresting troops, and now on his own, because his followers had left. Thinking of him looking like that as a king would be laughable. But, Pilate must ask. His primary concern is to ensure there is no threat to the empire. He is, after all, the Emperor in this place.

[v34]

Verse 34. If you ask Jesus a question, you will rarely get a direct answer. His response here is a case in point. In terms of how the dialogue goes, this is probably the most important verse. Jesus knows that Pilate has the power of life and death over him. He knows that what he says here will in some way affect what happens next. While under arrest and the threat of death, He holds to his own agenda. He even takes control of the dialogue. “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

It’s Jesus’s control, His composure and His ability to guide the conversation under such extreme pressure that really impresses me.

[v35]

The NRSV translates Pilate’s response as “I am not a Jew, am I?”, which makes it clearer that the question does not require an answer. Trying to get back on track, he continues with, “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

[v36]

Again, the NRSV has a better translation than the NIV, when it uses ‘from’ rather than ‘of’ in the first part of Jesus’s answer. Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’

Not from here

If we use ‘of’ rather than ‘from’, it can suggest that Jesus’s Kingdom is unworldly and has no effect on the world as we and Pilate know it. If we use ‘from’, then Jesus kingdom comes from somewhere else, and will not be a threat to Pilate and his Roman Empire – he clearly doesn’t have an army with Him - but it is not just a spiritual kingdom. It also makes Jesus’s first sentence consistent with the rest of what he says.

[v37]

Pilate is still not sure, and he has no idea why Jesus has been handed over to him, except that the Chief Priest wants Jesus put to death.

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

Jesus now tries to divert the conversation again. He wants to talk about truth. The truth that each of the men see is very different.

Different type of kingdom – sacrifice not power

The two kingdoms we have been hearing about are very different.

Pilate knows the truth, that Rome’s armies are powerful. The political system runs on this power and the political manoeuvrings that go with it. If you control the power, you can make your own the truth.

Jesus knows a greater truth. His kingdom runs on sacrifice and love. What He is doing now – accepting His sentence and being prepared to be executed (along with all the pain and suffering that must happen along the way), will demonstrate how sacrifice and love work in His Kingdom.

Now we have a choice

We are faced with a choice. Which Kingdom do we want to live in. Which of them best serves our needs from now and into eternity. Because of what Jesus has done, all the things which keep us locked into Pilates Kingdom have been overcome. But, we cannot serve two masters, and we cannot switch sides as it suits us, because neither side will put up with that. Once our choice is made, we must serve the King we have chosen, in the way that he demands.

My Hope

My hope is that each of us has made our choice, and that we have decided to follow Jesus as our King. If not, and you would like to talk about it, please do talk to one of us at the end.

For those that have, I’ll finish with the words of the apostle Paul to Timothy, because I believe they apply to all of us. From 1 Timothy 6 starting at verse 12:

¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴ to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

References

https://www.patheos.com/progressive-christian/here-is-what-it-really-means-john-c-holbert-11-16-2015

https://sermonsfrommyheart.com/2018/03/29/john-1833-37-long-live-the-king/

https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/preaching-on-christ-the-king/

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/long-live-the-king-craig-condon-sermon-on-jesus-as-king-194920

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_X_of_Denmark

https://sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary-old/john-1833-37/

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/king-of-kings-and-lord-of-lords-a-sermon-for-christ-the-king-sunday-mark-a-barber-sermon-on-christ-the-king-285667

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_right_of_kings

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/king

https://bibleportal.com/topic/regicide

https://www.bibliaplus.org/en/commentaries/50/joseph-bensons-commentary-on-the-old-and-new-testaments/1-timothy/6/13-16

https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/why-is-god-called-the-ancient-of-days.html

In Christ Alone

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay, 4 November 2024.  this talk is about the song "In Christ Alone"

Reading Colossians 1:24-28

Origins

The song “In Christ Alone” was written by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty in 2002. That must make it one of the most up-to-date songs that we regularly sing. Stuart and Keith met at a worship event in late 2000 and decided to work together on some songs. A few weeks later Keith sent Stuart a CD containing some melody ideas. Stuart described the first one as a “magnificent, haunting melody that I loved, and I immediately started writing down some lyrical ideas on what I felt should be a timeless theme commensurate with the melody. So the theme of the life, death, resurrection of Christ, and the implications of that for us just began to tumble out, and when we got together later on to fine tune it, we felt we had encapsulated what we wanted to say.”

They had both wanted to capture biblical truth in songs and hymns that would not only cause people to express their worship in church, but will build them up in their Christian lives. Stuart says that songs are more memorable than sermons.

Recordings

“In Christ Alone” has been recorded many times, but Stuart’s favourite is a recording made at Stoneleigh Bible Week in England in 2019. He says of the experience “When we finish the third verse, about the resurrection of Christ, there’s an extraordinary burst of praise from the congregation that at the time was overwhelming, and listening back still sends a shiver down my spine.”

Stuart Townend

Stuart was born in 1963 and grew up in West Yorkshire, England, the youngest son of an Anglican vicar. He started learning piano at a young age, and began writing music at 22. He has produced albums for Keith Routledge and Vinesong, among many others, and has also released eight solo albums to date. Some of his better-known songs include “How Deep the Father’s Love,” “The King of Love,” and “The Power of the Cross.” He continues to work closely with friends Keith and Kristyn Getty, and is currently a worship leader in Church of Christ the King in Brighton, where he lives with wife Caroline, and children Joseph, Emma and Eden.

Keith Getty

Julian Keith Getty OBE was born on 16 December 1974 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. He is the eldest of four children and a Northern Irish businessman, Christian singer and songwriter. Getty now mainly works with his wife, Kristyn; they release music under the name Keith & Kristyn Getty.

Getty began making music at age 11, learning to play the classical guitar and then the flute. During school, Getty was influenced by classical music, Irish music, and church music of all kinds. As a young adult, he studied music at St Chad's College, Durham University, graduating with his Bachelor of Arts in 1995. As a student, Getty completed special conducting opportunities at the Canford Summer School of Music and the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts. He participated in a summer master class under Irish flautist Sir James Galway.

Kristyn met Keith Getty in 2002. Kristyn was attending a nearby university and asked Getty for some musical advice. The couple married on 16 June 2004 and they have four children.

Getty and his wife live between Portstewart, Northern Ireland and Nashville, Tennessee with their four daughters.

Song Popularity

“In Christ Alone” soon gained popularity, and by 2005 it was named by a BBC Songs of Praise survey as the ninth best loved hymn of all time, and in their 2010 survey was named second best hymn of all time. In 2006 it was in the No 1 position on the United Kingdom CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International) chart. It has made the top 25 in the American list and is popular in other English speaking countries. There are also many translations. It is currently no. 18 in CCLI’s “Top 100” list.

Controversy

The song is not without it’s controversies, perhaps more politely called theological debate. In 2013 the Presbyterian Church in the USA voted not to include the song in its new hymnal. They had been refused permission by the authors to make a small but significant change. The wanted to use the line "Till on that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified." in place of "Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied". They were faced with a choice – include the song in its original form or leave it out. One of their ministers - Chris Joiner - said "that lyric comes close to saying that God killed Jesus. The cross is not an instrument of God's wrath."

Satisfaction Theory Of Atonement

The discussion is long and complicated and involves the Early Church Fathers, particularly Anselm. It deals with the satisfaction theory of atonement, where Anselm describes human sin as defrauding God of the honour he is due. Christ's death, the ultimate act of obedience, brings God great honour. As it was beyond the call of duty for Christ, it is more honour than he was obliged to give. Christ's surplus can therefore repay our deficit. That’s a short description from Wikipedia, so you could start there if you want to research it more later.

My view of the argument

I followed their argument as far as I could and although I can see where they are going (I think), I cannot agree. The problem is that their argument departs from one of the central parts of Christian Theology – that Christ died on the cross to save us from our sins. One of the 16 scripture references that the song is based on is Romans 5:9, which says “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”.

There is no sense in any of the Gospels that God killed Jesus, each of them tells us quite clearly that Jesus went to the cross intentionally as part of His plan.

I made a decision a long time ago now, that when I couldn’t work something out for myself, I would trust the Bible, so that’s where I’ll start with this controversy.

 Creedal Song

“In Christ Alone” is a creedal song – it helps us with our statements of belief. That is certainly what the authors were trying to do. It is not a complete creed, like the Apostles Creed, or the Nicene Creed, both of which talk about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The simplest or shortest creed I could find in our liturgy only mentions Christ and the scriptures:

Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he was buried;
he was raised to life on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;
afterwards he appeared to his followers,
and to all the apostles:
this we have received,
and this we believe.
Amen.

The song concentrates on Jesus and especially how we relate to Him and benefit from what He has done for us.

I have tried to summarise what it is saying (but the song says it best, of course):

Verse 1 – Christ’s love is our strength and security.

Verse 2 – Christ, in human form, as Jesus, dies for our salvation and is our life.

Verse 3 – His resurrection, His victory over death frees us from our sin.

Verse 4 – We live in the power of Christ and cannot be taken from Him.

Hope

We need to go back to the first line to understand that all of this is our hope. None of us have yet been resurrected, as Romans 8:24 says

²⁴ But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

All these things are our hope, our belief, our faith. As we sing this wonderful modern hymn, let’s try to take in the meaning and understanding that it provides, so that our faith may be strengthened.

Amen.

Jesus and the way of the Servant

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay on 20 October 2024

Recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdnMfwbMjmI from 22:47 to 41:06

	Prayer
	[Slide 2 – James and John] James and John’s request to sit at Jesus’s right and left in the Kingdom of God comes as they are on their way to Jerusalem.  It shows that they want to be in charge, to have all the privileges that go with any of the positions that are close to the King.  They want to be VIPs and seen as great and glorious.  Perhaps they think some of Jesus’s glory with rub off on them, perhaps they’re just being greedy.  The other disciples weren’t at all happy with James and John trying to become more important than them.
	[Slide 3 – Who is the greatest ...] I wonder who you think is the greatest person that ever lived?  Of course, for this, you can’t choose Jesus.  I know that Jesus is the answer every time, and we will see that later, but for now let’s leave him out. [get answers and comment]
	[Slide 4 – List of the greats …] Here’s a list of candidates that people have voted for on a website called ranker.com Jesus Christ Leonardo da Vinci Isaac Newton Nikola Tesla Galileo Galilei Aristotle Martin Luther King, Jr. Albert Einstein Marie Curie Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Of course, this list is of its time, just as our ideas are.  The list is affected by those who have chosen to vote, so it’s not what you’d call definitive. In Jesus day, the greatest person would have been a king, a political leader, a commander of an army, or a high ranking priest.  All of these people lived in palaces and expected others to do their bidding. This is the sort of life that James and John were expecting, after Jesus’ death and resurrection.  They don’t seem to be at all worried by the difficulties to come, they are focussed on the end game.  We can tell this by their blasé response when Jesus asks them if they can drink the cup He is going to drink, and if they can be baptized with the baptism that He will be baptized with.  Jesus is trying to make them see how hard it will be, but they do not care.
	[Slide 5 – Learn by your mistakes …] They say that you learn by your mistakes.  It’s also true that we can learn by the mistakes of others, so let’s see what we can learn from James and John’s absolute howler.  Jesus uses their request as a ‘teachable moment’.  Here’s what he said: “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Up-side down Here’s Jesus turning the ideas and practices of the world on their head.  If God had followed the way of the world, His son would have been born in a palace to a King and Queen, and he would have grown up as a prince.  Instead, he was born in obscurity, in an outhouse, among the animals, and he grew up as a carpenter. His life was spent among the poor, helping and healing them, not being served by them.  So, when Jesus says that the son of man did not come to be served, He has already shown the truth of His statement. To serve - Activity Let’s see what it means to serve.  For this I will need a few helpers.
	[Slide 6 – Serving Others - Activity] Activity [Ask the helpers to pair up.  One of the pair must then select a sweet for the other.  Then change the pairings, and ask those with sweets to select a sweet for their new partner] Review Activity That was a very simple, and imperfect illustration of what it means to serve.  Did you get the sweet you wanted, or one that you don’t like?  Perhaps it would have been better if you had chosen for yourselves.  The problem with that is it leads to exactly what we have now, a society where the majority are only interested in their own lives and improving their lives, often at the expense of others. Lesson from activity Of course, we cannot serve the person we are serving just anyhow.  We have to be giving them what they want.  It would be better in our game to ask the person you were getting the sweet from what they like.  Jesus often asked those he was about to heal what He could do for them. Who do we know who serves? [get answers]
	[Slide 7 – Greatest servants of all time] Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was harder to find a list of the greatest servants that have ever lived.  So many of the lists included CEOs of large corporations and talked of their visionary leadership, those people were all very well paid for their genius, and would have had many others serving them.  That is not what I was trying to find.  I did find a few, though, who might just qualify (in no particular order): Abraham Lincoln Mahatma Gandhi Mother Teresa Nelson Mandela Jesus of Nazareth The problem with finding lists of people who serve is that most of them do it anonymously.   How do we serve? We only hear about them by the organizations they serve with, like the RNLI or St. John’s Ambulance.  The other time we may hear about them is when they win an award.  Occasionally they will appear on local news as they receive an award they would probably rather not have.  They will say something like “the work is its own reward”.  There is a sense in which service is its own reward.
	[Slide 8 – Albert Schweitzer Quote] Each of us has to find our own way to serve others, as Albert Schweitzer said, “the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.” Service Whether this is true or not, our calling, if we follow Christ, is to serve others.  He is our example.  He is the one who came to serve, to give up His life in that service, so that many could be saved.  Without his choice to serve and to die on the cross, there would be no reconciliation with God.  If we follow Him, then, just like the disciples, we must follow Him to Jerusalem, and to His death.  We must follow His example and choose to serve others.  There are endless ways we can do this, and we will find, if we try, that it is also the route to fulfilment and happiness. Benefits everyone If we are all serving someone else, then it is also true that we are all recipients of someone’s service.
	[Slide 9 – long spoons] This is illustrated by the allegory of the long spoons.  This is usually used to describe the difference between heaven and hell.  Let me explain.  Imagine we are all around a large bowl of soup.  Each of us has a small spoon with a very long handle.  We could try to feed our selves, but by the time we have retrieved the soup, most of it has fallen off the spoon.  That’s the top picture, if you can see it.  This is hell.  We are not getting enough to eat.   However, if we choose to feed someone else, someone at the right distance for the long spoon, they will be well-fed, and if everyone does it, we will all be well-fed. – This is what heaven is all about. Conclusion The children had a poster to colour, it says “The servant is the greatest of all”.  We can all want this greatness, and we can all have it.  All we have to do is to find a way to serve – and there are so many ways to do that.  I’ll leave you all to think of some new ones to try. Amen

References:

https://mypastoralponderings.com/2021/10/16/how-to-become-great-my-sermon-on-mark-1035-45/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_long_spoons

https://www.ranker.com/list/the-all-time-greatest-people-in-history/alan-smithee

https://interruptingthesilence.com/2021/10/17/too-big-for-your-britches-good-a-sermon-on-mark-1035-45/

https://ministry-to-children.com/he-came-to-serve-lesson/

https://sermons4kids.com/activities/to-be-like-jesus-group

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer