Friday 8 November 2013

Sermon Opoho Church, Sunday 3rd November, 2013 All Saints, Pentecost 24

Readings:  Ephesians 1:11-23, Luke 19:1-10

Let us pray;  May the words that we speak and the understandings in our hearts be to your glory Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Saturday afternoon, in a place of absolute blankness re the sermon for today, a bit filled up with cold, a great deal filled up with the wide ranging discussions of Leadership sub committee, I was just about to suggest a ten minute silent contemplation of the scripture readings, when I had an unexpected and very welcome text – from Judy.  And she said – what about continuing to explore and preach on ‘expecting the unexpected’ in the light of the most amazing response to our Saturday morning tea.  I am going to invite Judy to share her thoughts on that in a moment - and anyone else who wants to talk about that - but first I wanted to do a little pondering the story of Zacchaeus.  Because I don’t think he quite knew what it was that he was letting himself in for climbing that tree that day.  I would be pretty sure it was curiosity that sent him up that tree that day, that or maybe stubbornness in the face of those who closed ranks and didn’t let this less than worthy person through to see what was going on, and that there was no way he would expect to come face to face with this man, to converse, let alone to have him come back to his place.  But there were other things that make, for us, the ending of this story quite a surprise – Luke has spent enough time warning of the impediment of riches for those who wish to enter the kingdom – and this man, as chief tax collector, was seriously rich and heavily despised by his fellows – he would have expected no less than rejection from Jesus, I am sure.
But Jesus offered words of invitation – much as we offered to the people of this community for yesterday’s morning tea – come and eat, let us spend some time together, get to know each other a bit.
You see those are just such small words – come and eat with me – offered to one who had no expectation of hospitality by one who had trust in God and in the power of proffered love to the stranger. 
And Zacchaeus’s response to the invitation was nothing short of miraculous – way beyond what he had to do to even up the scales of justice- his delight was contagious, his smile broad, his promises generous, he had found the joy of commitment to Christ, the yoke that is easy and full of hope.
There was a delightful description in one of the commentaries of, if there was a group photo of the moment, wee Zac would be sitting in the front row– or better still hanging in a tree – beaming.
And you know that was the feel of the morning tea yesterday – there was a palpable sense of joy – not just of the somewhat less than optimistic church members there (myself included)  – but of the people themselves.

Ask Judy to come speak.  And any others.

The simple act of hospitality, of welcome, of engagement has unexpected and powerful results when Christ, when love, is present.  What might Zacchaeus have written in his diary after this astounding and yet so simple reaching out to him as he sat up that tree.  These are some of the words of a meditation from Iona:
“Since then my life has been turned upside down.  And I get the feeling that all sorts of other things have changed, are still changing, won’t ever be the same again.  I can’t say I understand even the smallest part of what is happening.  Somehow the things that mattered before are of no consequence – stability, security, having enough money to meet our needs and putting some aside for a rainy day.  My poor wife and family don’t understand it at all either – but of course they too are caught up in it.  He touched their hearts as well when he came to our house.  There’s a new restlessness and urgency about life.  But there is also this deep inner peace.  He’s completely changed the way we look at things: it was something he said about finding life by giving it away, and the sense about belonging together that he communicated.  It’s so hard to describe how just being with him makes such a difference.  And somehow he stays with you even when he is not there – and you still belong and you see how important it is that other people should know and feel that they belong too; that there’s a kind of openness, a reaching out, a generosity.  I got a feeling I’ve never had before, that I was close to God and God was close to me, and people like me on the margins, the outsiders, the victims.  I think he has a special part he wants us to play...”

And we take a time of silence now to remember those people who have played a special part in our lives – who have offered hospitality, unconditional love, insight, example, who have shown us God’s face.  The ones for whom we might want to pray, giving thanks for them and all that that have been to us in our journeys of life and faith.


Margaret Garland

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