Galatians 5.1,13-26 [1], Luke 9.51-62
30 June 2019: The Second Sunday after Trinity
Keasden (United service)
‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’, said Jesus.
What would happen if a person did keep on ploughing while looking backwards? (The plough line would go off-line; some of the land available to be ploughed would be lost).
What would happen if a person kept on grass-cutting on their tractor while looking backwards? …
I once knew a teenage farmer who destroyed a precious boundary hedge whilst driving a tractor because he was distracted, busy adjusting his headphones. You’ll have stories of your own…..
Have you noticed how Jesus often taught with stories and images just like this one? Pictures from nature, images from agriculture. It was natural to him to do this, for Jesus and his generation lived close to the land. His people’s life is familiar to people here, who also live close to the land, and so the things he says are understandable to us, the things he asks for are do-able by us, here where we are.
‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head’, Jesus said, impressing on his would-be followers the great challenge of living the life of faith. And that’s what today’s readings are about. The challenge of living the life of faith. Paul also writes about this, in his letter to the Galatian believers, also using an image from the natural world.
‘The fruit of the Spirit,’ he says, ‘is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.’ [2]
I wonder if you think of yourself as a disciple of Jesus, as someone who has at some point in your life made a conscious decision to put your hand to the plough and make it your life’s mission to follow Christ? Or maybe you feel more like, ‘I’ve always been a Christian, from birth, from baptism. I was born to plough that furrow.’ However you’d describe yourself, Paul describes us all as ‘those who belong to Christ Jesus’; and he details those forms of behaviour which show us and everyone else how well we are doing at ‘living by the Spirit’,as he puts it, or ploughing a straight line, to use Jesus’ image.
It does us good to run ourselves through Paul’s checklist every now and again. For we do get distracted and diverted, ‘becoming conceited, competing against one another, envying one another’, as Paul puts it. Taking our eyes off Jesus and focussing on ourselves and the way we look in relation to others. It’s good to keep an eye on the direction we’re taking.
On clergy training this week I joined a group visiting St Paul’s Church, Manningham. Led by their clergy, we took a short walk to their neighbouring mosque, where we were warmly welcomed by one of the mosque committee (someone I suppose like a PCC member) and an imam, who gave us a guided tour. [3]
I’ve visited mosques before and learned a lot about our Islamic neighbours. [4] This time I was struck by how protestant the prayer rooms feel - they are vast open spaces with the minimum of decoration, so that worshippers can focus entirely on Allah - on God - without distraction; but I also noticed the prayer beads which were hanging on one wall for anyone to borrow, which, from what we were told, function in exactly the same way as rosary beads do in our Catholic tradition.
But most of all my eyes were drawn to the various notices on the walls and on electronic display panels - notices giving the Salaah times for the day - the set times for the five daily prayers; and other notices of a more practical application: ‘Please park your car considerately’, one said; ‘No children under 7 years old in the masjid’. There were lots of notices about bullying not being tolerated, and then one which particularly struck me, a notice which said, ‘Please refrain from talk of worldly materialistic matters whilst in the masjid. Keep your complete attention on Allah.’ [5]
Now imagine if, inspired by this, I decided to adopt these ideas here - and that next time you walked into church you’d be greeted with signs which said, ‘No gossiping or idle chit-chat whilst in church please, focus yourself completely on Jesus’. … We might laugh or scoff, but that’s close to the spirit of what Paul and Jesus are talking about in our readings today, when they give warnings against living by the flesh with its passions and desires, against ‘becoming conceited, competing against one another, envying one another’.
Jesus says, don’t look back. For our temptation to think that our way of doing things is the only way - isn’t that a form of conceit?
Jesus says, focus on the furrow you are ploughing. For our striving to succeed where others fail - where does that competitive spirit come from?
Jesus says, stay fit for the kingdom of God. For our gossip and chit-chat - why create space for rivalry and envy?
You know, some churches do have instructive notices posted in prominent places for people to read and respond to. [6] Sometimes you’ll see The Lord’s Prayer painted high up on a wall - to help us use our time in church prayerfully. Sometimes it’s the Ten Commandments - inviting us to reflect on the ways which God expects us to live.
It is good that we should use our time in church to do these things, whenever we’re here. It is good also to take time every day, wherever we are, to ask the Spirit to help us put away those things which distance us from God and others and to fill us instead with that good fruit, of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Notes
[1] Galatians 5.1,13-26. The lectionary reading for the day stops at verse 25 but, following Paul Nuechterlein (Thinking We're Right: the Ultimate Conceit), I’m including the crucial verse 26. My earlier talk Family misfortunes - the difficulties of desire is my version of Paul Nuechterlein’s sermon.
[2] Galatians 5.22-26.
[3] St Paul’s Church; Masjid-e-Quba, in Manningham, Bradford.
[4] This training course was initiated by the Diocese of Leeds Faithful Neighbours programme, which is affiliated to Presence and Engagement, the Church of England’s national programme ‘equipping Christians for mission and ministry in the wonderful diversity of our multi faith society’.
[5] Paraphrased from memory. See Masjid-e-Quba: While in Masjid.
[6] St Matthew, Keasden is one of these churches, with these texts displayed either side of the altar - as pictured here.
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