Sermon by Revd Caroline Risdon

 

Second Sunday after Epiphany, 17 January

Heavenly Father, may your Word be our rule,
your Spirit our teacher
and your glory our chief concern. AMEN.
 
I wanted to show you one of my favourite photos of Cape Town...
 
There are many pictures like this on postcards and in travel magazines, all showing this beautiful city with it's instantly recognisable mountain. Quite often images like this one are used to draw us in, to offer us a version of paradise, to sell us the idea of escape from our routine and everyday.
 
 Now January is generally my month for being homesick! As each aeroplane flies over our house, I think how much I would love to be on it travelling to Cape Town. For when I look at this picture, I don't just see a beautiful corner of the world. For me this image is imbued with meaning- my family; the childhood I enjoyed there; the heat of the sun on my skin; the taste of foods so common there and so rare here. 
 
 Yet, a lot of what I am missing is a fantasy in some sense, it exists in my head and my heart only. For the stark reality is, that if I were to travel to South Africa right now, I would be unable to enjoy all that I miss about my home city. I would be in lock down there and, of course, at risk of spreading the virus further. Gazing at this image has brought home the difference between fantasy and reality.
 
 Today's readings contain two very important sentences, which are imperative to our lives of faith. The first is from Samuel's story, where he is instructed by Eli to say, 'Speak Lord, your servant is listening.' Surely one of the most beautiful phrases in all the Bible. And a very difficult model to live by. How much of our understanding of God or our faith, is based on an image of ourselves? How often do we crowd our prayer lives with our words rather than seeking God's words? Do we attend to what God is really calling us to, or merely to what we want to do anyway?
 
'Speak Lord for your servant is listening' is I think one of the most challenging ways to live out our faith. It means holding up the postcard and seeing it for what it really is- a fantasy, a dream, one that may very well be rooted in reality, but one that has grown to reflect more about us than about our Creator.
 
If we work daily at the discipline of bible reading and prayer, we will come to a way of being which allows us to understand what God is saying to us. In the Old Testament we hear, 'Speak Lord, your servant is listening' and in the Gospel reading our Lord speaks and says 'Follow me.'
 
Jesus calls the disiples in the midst of their everyday- fishing, sitting under the fig tree, in the temple, at the well. He meets people in these everyday experiences and he asks them to follow him. And day by day, they follow him, not in headline grabbing ways but in small yet significant actions. Philip is the one who says, “we've found him!” and “Come and see for yourself.” Surely this is our task- to seek God and to share God's love with others.
 
And yet, Jesus asks us to follow him to a particular place- the Kingdom of Heaven. This is our spiritual paradise. In many ways I would love the Kingdom of heaven to be South African! But that says more about me than the Kingdom of Heaven and that is exactly my point. Let us not reduce God or the Kingdom of God to a glorified image of ourselves. If we attend to God, we may find that the Kingdom of Heaven means a world where each child, woman and man has food security; housing security; safe and clean water; education; healthcare; the full dignity of citizenship; a lifetime of peace and stability. We hold that image before us- for in it is our hope for the future and our work for the here and now.

AMEN.