Author: Stilman G Davis

Stilman preached at morning prayer in Slimbridge

Stilman preached at morning prayer today

A talk delivered at Purton

You can view it here

At Slimbridge morning prayer

Collect

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified: hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people, that in their vocation and ministry they may serve you in holiness and truth to the glory of your name; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Almighty God, send down upon your Church the riches of your Spirit, and kindle in all who minister the gospel your countless gifts of grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion

Grant, O Lord, we beseech you, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by your governance, that your Church may joyfully serve you in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Old Testament

10    For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,

    making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

11    so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,

    but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

12    For you shall go out in joy,
and be led back in peace;

    the mountains and the hills before you
shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

13    Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;

    and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Isaiah 55:10-13

Psalm

1    Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion;
to you that answer prayer shall vows be paid.

2    To you shall all flesh come to confess their sins;
when our misdeeds prevail against us, you will purge them away.

3    Happy are they whom you choose and draw to your courts to dwell there.
We shall be satisfied with the blessings of your house, even of your holy temple.

4    With wonders you will answer us in your righteousness, O God of our salvation,
O hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.

5    In your strength you set fast the mountains
and are girded about with might.

6    You still the raging of the seas,
the roaring of their waves and the clamour of the peoples.

7    Those who dwell at the ends of the earth tremble at your marvels;
the gates of the morning and evening sing your praise.

8    You visit the earth and water it;
you make it very plenteous.

9    The river of God is full of water;
you prepare grain for your people, for so you provide for the earth.

10    You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges;
you soften the ground with showers and bless its increase.

11    You crown the year with your goodness,
and your paths overflow with plenty.

12    May the pastures of the wilderness flow with goodness
and the hills be girded with joy.

13    May the meadows be clothed with flocks of sheep
and the valleys stand so thick with corn that they shall laugh and sing.

Psalm 65

Epistle

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Romans 8:1-11

Gospel

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!’

‘Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Sermon on Sunday, Trinity 5

The growing of a crop (flowers or vegetables) and how the harvest comes, are things we cannot penetrate. It just happens. All we know is that seeds grow wherever they land, in either good or bad soil, or even no soil at all, but we do not know why, nor how, all this living and growth happens. It seems we can make no sense of it except with help. This parable from the gospel is rather perplexing, isn’t it? Don’t we, like the disciples, wonder why Jesus taught in parables? Jesus replied to them that people listen but do not hear, much the same lesson that Isaiah gave in another place, in words that still apply today, I suppose. Jesus, however, relented and explained this parable for his followers, according to our reading. — This explanation of the parable might allow us to think we can understand everything – why, we might even think that we have secret knowledge. It is hidden in the parable and we, in this hubris of ours, consider ourselves the only people who understand. The one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church fought against this tendency in the beginning, when they fought against the gnostic heresy, and this battle has been rekindled in my lifetime. There is no secret knowledge, the Church says, there is only public faith and belief, so we proclaim today that salvation belongs to all who believe.

However, the notion of secret knowledge has always been a lure. Whether it is the solution to a quadratic equation or a probability conundrum, or maybe it is how to brew a love potion, or perhaps even the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, this secret knowledge tempts us away from the humble life of belief, separating us from the simplicity and open-ness of faith.

All of us are aware of this, aren’t we? This secret knowledge, this knowledge that makes us so different from the mass of humanity, could give us airs and graces beyond our humanity. We might think we are better than others because we have this very special knowledge. And so we fail to learn the significance of the meaning behind the parables which we hear. Sadly, it would seem that we have fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah about the people of Israel, and what Jesus feared for his disciples and believers in years to come. Jesus decries: “this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes.” We are condemned all because we think we have secret knowledge, because we think our special knowledge makes us so very different from everyone else.

But the wizard, Harry Potter, does not think himself better than anyone else, does he? He has special knowledge, knowledge which his teachers have freely given to him and his fellow students. It is all there, ready for them to use for good or ill. Similarly, Jesus teaches everyone the same. He uses parables because he wants everyone to be “on the same page.” – That book we read is not one which the hermeneuts own for themselves, a book which they hide away, as they say that no one else can read what is really in it except them. However, Harry Potter is just like everyone else, he has learned all the lessons the teachers have taught, but he is extraordinary because he has not been changed in his fundamental being – he is still humble and honest at heart, Harry is still self-deprecating and forthright in every situation. He has not raised himself above the crowd, but he distinguishes himself from the crowd by being himself. This is no mean feat, something I think Jesus emphasises by speaking as he does.

Parables are what places us all together in the same situation and without distinction. Parables are so often a blank wall at which we stare for far too long. I suppose that is why we let those questionable specialists con us into thinking we cannot understand anything for ourselves. We hide in the crowd of unknowing and play dumb. We let the self-proclaimed experts hoodwink us to follow them because they know Greek and can translate the ancient text. We let them take charge of the meaning of the texts for their own purposes when the meaning of the texts should be our own. I would rather say that we need to struggle with the text for ourselves, grasping the nettle of understanding with our own hands.

I think we should see parables as ciphers, that blank wall, through which we grasp ourselves and the world around us. So let us consider the parable we have been given this morning for ourselves.

What should our focus be? In this parable what is important? Should we concentrate on the sower? Is he being profligate and wasteful with the seed – broadcasting it on good soil and all that bad ground, where there are only rocks, and brambles and thorns, and perhaps even no soil at all? Who is this rather poor sower of the seed, who would cast it everywhere in the world, rather than holding back seed from all those bad and unprofitable areas?

Or should the seed itself take our attention, this precious seed which will spring forth and grow strong and yield a harvest? Or is it the ground into which the seed falls which should take our attention, all of those good and bad places where this seeming magical seed will land? – Where should we turn our attention in this parable? There are so many ways to approach this parable, aren’t there? No wonder we abrogate our responsibility to search for the meaning of the parables for ourselves. We think it so very difficult to come to grips with parables for ourselves. We would rather let the experts, like the NT scholar, Joachim Jeremias, do all the hard work of applying the parable to our lives here and now, so we can handle it at a far remove without any cost to ourselves.

I say that is much too easy – to let someone else make up our minds for us. I would want us to take the harder route, where we have to confront the meaning of the parable for ourselves, where the parable becomes our own. Of course, we may come to the same conclusions as so many others, those hermeneutical scholars included, but the dialogue we have had about the parable with our friends or even just privately in my own head, is the thing, the experience of teasing out the meaning  is the crux, not merely holding on to the bare explanation of the parable. That is what makes knowledge real and meaningful. Of course, it is so much simpler to have knowledge we can recite by rote, never having had to struggle with it. It is easier to follow the crowd and comply, but it is far more rewarding to make things your own by being yourself and living by that faith which is hard won. When we finally understand the parable alone or in dialogue with others, we can value everyone with their own opinions equally and life is valued at its fullest, as Jesus promised.

Amen

Collect

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that with you as our ruler and guide we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not our hold on things eternal; grant this, heavenly Father, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Gracious Father, by the obedience of Jesus you brought salvation to our wayward world: draw us into harmony with your will, that we may find all things restored in him, our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Post Communion

Eternal God, comfort of the afflicted and healer of the broken, you have fed us at the table of life and hope: teach us the ways of gentleness and peace, that all the world may acknowledge the kingdom of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Old Testament

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!

    Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!

Lo, your king comes to you;

    triumphant and victorious is he,

humble and riding on a donkey,

    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

    and the warhorse from Jerusalem;

and the battle-bow shall be cut off,

    and he shall command peace to the nations;

his dominion shall be from sea to sea,

    and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

    I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;

    today I declare that I will restore to you double.

Zechariah 9:9-12

Psalm

8    The Lord is gracious and merciful,
long-suffering and of great goodness.

9    The Lord is loving to everyone
and his mercy is over all his creatures.

10    All your works praise you, O Lord,
and your faithful servants bless you.

11    They tell of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your mighty power,

12    To make known to all peoples your mighty acts
and the glorious splendour of your kingdom.

13    Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;
your dominion endures throughout all ages.

14    The Lord is sure in all his words
and faithful in all his deeds.

Psalm 145

Epistle

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.

Romans 7:15-25

Gospel

‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,

“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

we wailed, and you did not mourn.”

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’

At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Sermon on Sunday, Trinity 4

Now that the pubs are open, and we can get our hair cut and, further down the list of the governments priorities, places of worship are open again, aren’t we relieved? Here in Slimbridge we will be worshipping together next Sunday – with all the regulations and guidance in effect, of course.

However, aren’t we weary after all the time we have been locked away? We have been in camera, as the lawyers would put it, or as we would say, “behind closed doors”. I suppose we are like the apostles at the first Easter. I would say that we, like them, have all been in dialogue within our homes about the things that really do matter to us. We have talked at length with our cohabiters about that all-important meaning of our lives, haven’t we? We have found that many of the ephemeral concerns of life have fallen away. We have had to do “straight talkin’” with our nearest and dearest – and we have discovered just how dear those near to us are, haven’t we?

Perhaps we have been depressed at the world being just too far away from us, beyond the window pane. But we have also learned about just how close reality is, just a window pane away. (A friend confessed that he now understood why his dogs went wild when people walked by, and I think we now all understand that.) We have, in fact, been perplexed about the world and reality. We aren’t really sure what reality is in light of the changed and enclosed world.

Now we are further confused. With the dismantling of the lockdown everything is being overturned again. We are not sure what is right and what is wrong – what we should do and from what we should refrain. Like Paul,

When I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. … I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

The problem of being in that dark place is the problem of being behind closed doors, so I wonder whether we have been private for too long. Everything has been turned around, nothing seems certain. I would even dare to say, we don’t even know what is right and wrong. At least many of the social verities of the past have been called into question. Should I be safe with a two metre bubble, or is the one-metre social distancing really right? When do I get to hug my dearest friends? What should I be doing to “Save Lives” as the government slogan had it only four weeks ago.

Meanwhile, I have been watching a lot of television – there are so many cop shows! The more I watch, the more I am convinced that the lockdown should have helped us solve the problem of murder. We should have come to realise that life is what matters, not the commandeering of power, nor the accumulation of wealth, nor is it sex – even though money and sex are supposed to be the only two motives for murder according to one of the many trailers for the mystery channel. However, the lockdown has revealed that motives are many and involve the whole of one’s intentions.

I think that looking at only money or sex as motive of action is really a “dumbing down” of interpersonal reality, just doing what my teachers called “methodological reductionism” – that is to say, reducing why someone does everything to one of those two motives. I think it is really time to think about motives all over again and realise the many things in our lives that are important and, when they are distorted, how things do go awry, and we have to call in the detectives to help us sort out why things have gone so badly, even to the point of breaking the law. Let’s not dumb down – let’s make reality as complex as we have discovered it to be in our lockdown. Our nearest and dearest have revealed themselves as very perplexing, and we have had to come to grips with their puzzling reality as we have remained in our bubbles of isolation with them.

When things go wrong, I think we would agree that things are confused, that our motives are very mixed, that the aim of our lives can change from time to time and that three or four things can confuse in such a way that “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” We realise that it is not just the accumulation of wealth any way we can get it, nor merely the comfort of another’s arms, that are the reasons we do the things we do. The philosopher has spoken of “being-with” as one of the fundamentals of humanity, and the other’s arms and money are symbols of that human reality, of how we touch each other’s  lives. The cynical detective may be right in that sex or money are clues to see motives in life, but the really good investigator sees that essential trait of being human – that bonding with another – is really the reason we do so many things, and the binding with others in love is the finest expression of humanity.

Paul knows the complexity of his life: after all he was a Pharisee among the Pharisees, he knew the Law and kept it, why he even held the coats of the crowd which stoned Stephen. Saul knows what is right, but does he do it? I am convinced that his whole life is trying to achieve that ultimate being-with – the being-with of the faithful with God. That is the motive we must look for in our own detection, both in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. But who is this God whom we pursue with such earnestness? The theologians have always said God is that beyond which there is nothing. If we can touch it, then it is not God, it is merely an idol. The theologians have been proved right, haven’t they? In our lockdown we have learned this lesson of God’s transcendent reality at the very least.

But now, I fear, the idols are being moulded again, the ads have taken over the great thoughts of lockdown for their own ends. Amazon, once understood for its impersonal, goods-only approach, has become a place where the workplace has become a collegiality and caring environment which considers the other, customer and worker, as its primary goal. But are we to believe that? After all, these delivery companies have grown exponentially, and all the practices of the past are still in place, for example, zero-hour contracts. But to listen to the ads we would have to believe differently, wouldn’t we? Are we being deceived, or do we hope that those words actually do reveal that life in all its fullness has been achieved in the workplace?

Let us listen to our own words carefully. I have always been concerned with the corona-virus mantra. What is the prime motivation? Did the mantra really tell that story of life in all its fullnes, that life we have discovered in lockdown? My question will always be – has “the way of the world” overtaken all the lessons we have learned?

We have learned about the life in all its fullness in lockdown, how love is the ultimate motivation for all of us. I hope we will never forget our lockdown and lose our love for God, one another  and ourselves, now that we can burst out of the bubble of isolation to enter the everyday world.

Amen

You can view it here

The June issue is now available here.