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Sunday, 8 August 2010

DON'T BE AFRAID, LITTLE FLOCK


Trinity 10: Luke 12.32-40
It is a universal truth and nugget of everyday wisdom that ‘You need to have the right tools for the job’.  There is no point trying to bang a nail in the wall with the handle of a screwdriver (I know, because I’ve tried!).  And there is little use in attempting to drive in a screw with the end of a knife (yes, I’ve tried that as well!)  But there is another piece of wisdom that accompanies this truth, and that is that if you have the right tools for the job, then you need to keep them where you can find them.   I have a very good tool box, which is in the shed, but fairly empty.  However as I sit typing a sermon and look to my left, on the bookshelf above the printer I can see a hammer, two screwdrivers (one flat head, one Philips), and there is another hammer and a pile of ¾  inch screws on the shelf behind me – and I know that at any given time there will be at least 5 tape measurers secreted in various places in the study.  But when I need them, I can guarantee they will be invisible to the human eye!

You need to have the right tools for the job, and those tools need to be in the place where they can be most effectively used.  Admittedly there is no mention of toolboxes in this morning’s gospel – but there is a similar theme of being suitably equipped and well prepared for the job in hand.

We take the gospels so much for granted that we miss the beauty and intricacy of the text and the many different layers of understanding.  Luke tells how Jesus urges his ‘little flock’ to be ready: to sell their possessions, give alms, be dressed for action with lamps lit, waiting an ready to welcome the master when he returns from the banquet.  There is an urgency in his tone – and that urgency has a hidden depth of theological meaning in itself.  We need to dig to find it, but Luke’s original readers would probably have spotted it straight away. “Be dressed ready for action and have your lamps lit”….

Journeys are very important in both Luke’s gospel and in his sequel, The Acts of the Apostles. Don’t get me started on the Road to Emmaus (!) but there is much also to be said about the Road to Damascus when Saul is convertyed, and the Road to Gaza where Philip baptises the Ethiopian eunuch. But in his gospel in particular, as Jesus travels on the Road to Jerusalem, Luke drops hints and back-references to the beginning of the journey that runs through the Old Testament – the Exodus.  In Exodus 12, Moses gives instructions on how the people of Israel ought to eat the Passover meal in readiness, saying: “This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand.  And you shall eat it hurriedly.” (12.11)  The same urgency.  The same need to be ready, to waste no time.  To have the right tools in the right place at the right time – because it is always time to move on as God’s people, and we mustn’t get caught out by not being ready when Christ calls.

As always, we can (and should) apply the message of Jesus not only to ourselves as individuals, but also to our collective self, as his body the Church. So what are the things that, if we knew Jesus would be with us tomorrow, we would be hurriedly trying to sort out, patch up, put right, or sweep under the carpet before he got here?  How would our focus be sharpened?  What would we need to do quickly to make us ‘fit for purpose’ as his disciples. The answer to those sticky questions will be different for each of us – but all of us, without doubt and without exception, would have a lot of cramming to do in order to be ready!  And as the church we must always be ready to respond to Christ’s presence, to Christ’s call.  Always ready to move on.  Its far too easy to caricature, but the Master is likely to return and find the Church of England not ‘ready with candles lit’, but debating whether the candles ought to be 100% beeswax or not, and what kind of candleholder would be most appropriate given the breadth of options available and current health and safety legislation!

In the past few months there has been much thinking and effort and deliberation on the part of your Parochical Church Council to determine what we ought to be doing in order to be ‘fit for purpose’ as the part of the church in East Barnet. You will probably have heard at least a bit of the situation.  After years of thinking, planning and preparation we have grasped the nettle and decided to close the Church Hall – prompted by the death of the boiler and the prohibitive cost of bringing the building in line with current disability access legislation and fire regulations.  At some point in the New Year the site will be put on the market and sold for housing suitable to this locality. It is envisaged that the proceeds of that sale will go a long way to fund the further development of this site – making this building ‘fit for purpose’ and ready for action for the next generation. 

Those of you who have been part of our Challenge Groups in recent months will have already heard what that involves – picking up where the millennium project left off prematurely; removing the pews, levelling the floors and installing underfloor heating, relocating the font and corona to the back of the south aisle and redecorating the interior.  And in addition, extending the building to the south: providing meeting rooms, larger vestries, a kitchen and office with proper toilets and disabled facilities with a new entrance.

Even with the sale of the Hall site that’s going to involve us in a fundraising appeal to the tune of £300,000 and it will pretty much dominate our church life for the next few years.  So it is a little fortuitous that this morning’s gospel reminds us WHY we are embarking on such an ambitious and potentially controversial scheme.  It is because Christ calls us to be ready and 'dressed for action with our lamps lit'.  It is because Christ calls us to be fit for purpose as his church, and be ready for mission and ministry now and in the years ahead.  And it is because, like all God’s people from the beginning of time, we are called to journey on, to move forward, to have the right tools for the job, and have them not scattered all over, but here in the right place where we need them, and where they can be best used.

It’s a daunting prospect.  But as Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not be afraid, little flock’.  ‘Be dressed for action, and have your lamps lit’  Amen.