The Gray Monk

Tewkesbury Abbey
Trinity 11 2007

+ May the words in my mouth be inspired by the Holy Spirit, guided by the teaching of the Son and blessed by the Father. Amen

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us."

When I read the lessons set for today as I sat down to prepare this sermon I was reminded of a famous incident which took place in the great fortress harbour of Gibraltar in 1941. A battlecruiser attached to Force H stationed at the Rock returned from a difficult patrol of the Western Mediterranean to be greeted by a signal that she would have to refuel, rearm and return to the patrol zone as the Flagship could not take her turn on patrol due to a breakdown. On departure, the battlecruiser passed close to the flagship, her Royal Marine band assembled on her quarterdeck playing a tune to which there were very rude and uncomplimentary words. Immediately the Admiral signalled, “On leaving harbour, who selects the music for the band?” Back came the reply, “Normally the bandmaster, but on special occasions the Captain.” Naval signal logs are also famous for their use of Biblical quotations to convey special messages, but enough of that for the moment.

The writer to the Hebrews is making a powerful point in his address to the readers, a point no less important to us today than it was to the original recipients. The early church had an immediacy to their expectation of the second coming, it was believed that it would happen within their own lifetimes and it is something we should take to heart and consider ourselves. For it is something that could happen at any time, no matter how cleverly we arrange to manage the ordering of our lives. Some things we can plan for – but, as we were reminded last week, storing up great wealth on earth can be a slightly fruitless exercise if our life expectancy can be curtailed at any moment. That was certainly true of all walks of life until a little over a hundred years ago when medical science began to make great strides and extend our life expectancy enormously. In effect, it has disconnected us with death – and the expectation of a better life in the hereafter.

Where death was a constant and familiar companion to our forefathers, that is no longer the case, and we have lost touch with the focus that familiarity gave to the promises of our Saviour in the life to come such immediacy in the first century.

The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that faith is the key. It was the faith of the Hebrews that allowed them to cross the sea and closed it over the Egyptians. It is faith which guided Jeremiah and the prophets and faith which must now guide every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, some still living among us and many, many more who have died in that faith and with whom we are once more joined in the Communion of the Saints as we profess to believe when we sing the creed. That is the promise of the resurrection and of the faith which we profess, that all who truly come to Christ are to be numbered among the saints – and I would hope that I am here among saints for that is what we are all called to be.

Turning to our Gospel reading today however, we find a stark warning – one which reminds us that the message of Peace will not be received in peace. Those of you who have satellite television will know of the forthcoming programme by the author of “The God delusion” to be broadcast soon. Entitled “The enemy of reason” it purports to “prove” that there is no God and that all religion is a lie and a deception. Well, I suppose he is entitled to his opinion, though I personally find the hype and the promotion of these arguments as being “scientific” offensive, because they are not. Humanism and philosophy are merely materialistic forms which attempt to replace faith. As Christ says in today’s Gospel –

“When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, it is going to rain; and so it happens,”

In a desert land, easily predicted, but who can answer his second charge –

“You know how to interpret the earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

It takes greater faith to stand and declare “there is no God” than it takes to believe that God is real and present in everything we do, so why is our faith so shaky? Why is it the cause of so much dissension?

There is an important clue in the closing passage of the Letter to the Hebrews, one which picks up on a passage from the Gospel. In Luke 12 v 30

“Do not set your heart on what you will eat and drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your father knows that you need them.”

In essence, as another passage tells us – “take no thought for tomorrow!”

Now, if I am honest, I have to admit that there are a number of things in my possession that I am rather attached to, in fact that I would find it difficult to live without, but the real truth is that I can live without them. And it is amazing how liberating it is to know that and to recognise it.

I took as my text the closing sentence of our epistle for today, but now I would like to turn again to Luke’s gospel, again to a sentence preceding our reading for today.

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be demanded.”

Our Lord is not speaking of the material things alone here, but of all our gifts, material and spiritual just as the writer to the Hebrews is. As we assemble to celebrate the Communion of our Lord in the presence of that great cloud of witnesses, we should take stock of how we will account for those gifts and our stewardship of them when we the Lord comes to demand it of us.
Amen