With many students interested in preaching and limited spots we decided that the students that are graduating would get first dibs on preaching spots. Last week, 29 September, was the first Sunday of the preaching series. And the message as POWERFUL! Each week I will post the text of the sermon given, and a short bio of the person who gave the sermon!
FIRST UP...
Catherine Baytopp
CSM Position: Chairwoman
Degree: BA, Psychology and Journalism
From: Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Gospel Reading: Luke 16: 19-31
Jesus said, "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, `Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' But Abraham said, `Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' He said, `Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house-- for I have five brothers-- that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' Abraham replied, `They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' He said, `No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, `If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"
Sermon:
Today we celebrate the patronal festival of the Cathedral, the 160th birthday of the Cathedral and the celebration of our patron Saints Michael and George. It is incredibly special to be sitting in a church that for 160 years has been a place of worship, fellowship and a home to all God’s people. But what does it mean to be a Godly person? How are we living our lives so that what we celebrate in this Cathedral can be seen everywhere we go.
When
thinking about this reading I was weary about preaching about something we have
all heard before. Deny worldly things and place all your faith in God. The
anti-consumerists sermon that is preached so often.
What
stood out for me in this passage was use of binary opposites.
·
Rich vs Poor,
·
inclusion vs exclusion
·
compassion vs indifference,
·
faith vs unbelief,
·
Heaven vs hell.
Without
lessoning the importance of the last 2 I am going to focus on the first 3.
Rich vs
Poor, as students and young adults we are now starting to learn the value of
our own money. Whether we earn it, get it as an allowance or are here on a
scholarship. In this parable Jesus is not saying that to be rich is to be
sinful nor is being poor holy, but it is where you place the power in your life
that is important. Are we allowing God to be in control to grant us eternal
riches or are we controlled by our desire for superficial, worldly power. The
type that is instantly gratifying, but short lived.
By being
rich in worldly things have we become poor in our relationship with God? Where
do we start to rebuild our lives when we feel as if we have lost God?
As students rich does not only mean to
have monetary wealth. We tend to place emphasis on our social wealth, the
number of friends we have, are we invited to the Rat every Friday night, do we
have more than 500 friends on Facebook, how many followers do we have on
Twitter?
What importance is all of this in our
relationship with God?
When we
walk down New street can people see that we are children of God, rich in God’s
love or are we hiding this for the sake of our street cred? If this is the case
the power in our life is not that of God, but a desire to be wealthy in a
superficial world. I’m not saying that you need to give up your friends, or
your money or delete your social network profiles, I am simply saying that
perhaps we all need reconsider whether those that we surround ourselves helping
us build a deep and rich relationship with the Lord or slowly helping us to
forget it landing us in spiritual and Godly poverty. Because in the long run
this is the relationship that matters most.
We need
to consciously and purposefully give the power in our lives to God and yes we
may lose something by doing this, but when we are serving a God who sacrificed
his own son to save us how can we deny the relatively small sacrifice he
expects from us?
Like the
rich man, are we only going to realise all too late that we needed that
relationship with God more than the hundred likes on our last Facebook status.
The idea
of surrounding ourselves with Godly people lends itself to the next binary that
of inclusion vs exclusion
Now we
are all faced with the idea of being included or excluded. Some of it is forced
on us by virtue of our gender, race, or religion, all of these governing the
groups that will include us whether we like it or not.
Here’s
an example, Zandile is a child that I work with every week suffering from
cerebral palsy, she cannot walk, talk or communicate in anyway, none of this is
her fault yet she is immediately excluded from ‘normal’ society.
This may
seem like an extreme example but I ask you to think about what aspects of your life, that you have not chosen,
have granted you opportunities that others may not have, and what has left you
feeling excluded or different?
Then
there is also inclusion and exclusion that is controlled by us. The friendship
groups we are in, the activities we partake in, the fact that we all decided to
come to this Cathedral tonight.
What
does this mean?
God gave
us free will, the will to choose where we want to be included and where we
choose to exclude ourselves. Are we consciously deciding to include ourselves
in activities that will bring glory to God, are we open to include people who
are seeking a relationship with God, but maybe aren’t at the same point as us
or have different opinions to us? Are we excluding ourselves from dangerous,
self-destructive things that may provide immediate satisfaction, but in the
long run leave us feeling empty and alone? Like the rich man, are we seeking
inclusion in the world rather than inclusion is God’s Kingdom?
The
third contrast that is made is that of compassion vs indifference.
I’m sure
as residents of Grahamstown we can all relate to the rich man as he walks past
Lazarus lying on the pavement and pays no attention to this man with no home.
We pass begging hands on the way to Pick ’n Pay and shrug them off or give them
a look of disapproval. Our disdain and indifference towards these people in
palpable.
To be
different from the rich man, we do not have to give every person we pass on the
street our hard earned money, but we do need to acknowledge them as people as
more than just a body lying on the side of the road, an obstacle to jump over.
Their humanity is as worthy as ours.
This
indifference can be seen in other places in our lives too.
Many of
us also hold strong opinions about every day issues, be it politics, sexuality
or religion.
I recently read a quote by Rick Warren
that ended, “we do not have to compromise our convictions to be compassionate”.
Our
opinions are not going to change overnight, but we are commanded to love one
another as we love ourselves and as God loves us. We cannot be cold, distant
and hateful to those who are different to us. How do we encourage people to
find God when we are not willing to hear them, love and show them what it means
to be a person of God. Are we open to loving people like Zandile, like the
person sitting next to you, like the person who spreads rumours about you, the
person who laughs at your religion or the homeless child who never gives up?
God calls us to love them all
How do
we do this?
Prayer?
Instead
of shrugging people off, pray for them, even if you may look a little strange
standing on the side of the road, with your eyes closed, deep in prayer.
And Love,
Treat
people the way you want to be treated. Show love even if you may disagree, with
what we may think or how they act.
Doing
this isn’t easy but, it’s is a struggle that we will all face together.
So what
are the commonalities between these three contrasts? Is it:
·
Good vs evil
·
God vs the world
I will
leave you to come to your own conclusion, but perhaps it is that to do all of
this we need God’s unconditional love as our example.
Now as
we consider these three opposites we realise that the other two, faith vs
unbelief and heaven vs hell. If we have faith then we will be called to love
other, include ourselves in God’s army and find wealth in our relationship with
God. And by doing this we will be saved from a life of eternal suffering and
allowed into eternal peace with God.
So I ask
that as we leave this Cathedral as people of God, may we be people that are compassionate even when it comes
with a sacrifice, to be inclusive
rather than exclusive and find our richness in God’s love.
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