On
Monday evening, a good number of us went out for a meal together to celebrate
our patronal festival, the Feast of St Michael and All Angels. We were treated
to a lovely meal in a great setting, and we shared with one another the gift of
conversation and company, a giving of ourselves. Our bodies were fed, and so
were our hearts and minds and souls.
That
meal looks somewhat different, these several days later. The potato-peelings
and carrot-peelings and cauliflower leaves are, hopefully, rotting in a compost
bin. They will become something rich again, but right now they are probably wet
with condensation and crawling with slugs breaking them down further. As for
the food we ate, our bodies will have extracted the goodness, and whatever was
left has long since been flushed down the sewer.
Of
course, there was more to the meal than the food. We were nourished by the
company. But that night has passed, and we can’t point back to it as evidence
of our companionship if we are not to join together at the Lord’s Table afresh
today.
Today
we heard read to us Paul’s reflections on his background – those things over
which he had no say, for we do not get to choose our inheritance – and some of
his notable achievements – those things to which he contributed effort and
exerted some control, though the possibilities open to him were shaped by his
background. Paul describes these things as rubbish, and as what the rather
censorial translators have coyly termed loss. The point is not that these
things were never of any worth, but rather that these things have been used by
God to nourish him, but are not themselves the main thing.
The
main thing is the call of Jesus Christ, to become united with him, to grow into
what it looks like to have been made his own, to press on into the fullness of
what he intends for us, knowing that we have not yet achieved this. For our
true self is not located in our family background or in the strength of our
Curriculum Vitae, but is hidden in Christ, and is revealed to us and to the
watching world by the processes of dying to self and experiencing resurrection.
We
are continuing with our sermon series on work [albeit in truncated form this morning, due to it being a service of Baptism as well as the Eucharist], and this morning I want to ask
the question: In what ways is our work an
invitation to consider the call of Jesus Christ?
In
what ways has the work we have done been the place where we have encountered
the risen Lord Jesus? Or in what ways does our work invite others to consider
his call? Nursing, as both participation
in and signpost to his compassion
and healing. Law, as both participation
in and signpost to his justice.
Teaching, as both participation in
and signpost to his wisdom. And as we
come to baptise Kenaniah, who knows what will be added to his background, as
the context within which he will encounter Jesus, and respond?
This
morning we will be fed, by word and by sacrament, by the water of baptism and
the sharing of the bread and the wine. Immediately after the service, the water
in the font will become rubbish, will be poured down the sink: but being
baptised into the family of God … that lies open ahead of us, an ongoing going
and growing with Jesus. May we keep on pressing on …
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