War, bridesmaids and Jesus' return

Here is the sermon I preached at this year's Remembrance Service at Hibaldstow - the readings for the service were 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and Matthew 25:1-13. The whole service can be viewed here:

As we gather for this year's Remembrance Service we are very aware of the war that's going on in Israel and Gaza at the moment, as well as the continuing war in Ukraine.  And so you might have come here wondering what the Christian faith might have to say into those situations, or to us as we look on.

If so, you might be slightly puzzled that the reading we've just had is Jesus talking about bridegrooms, virgins and oil lamps!  Just to explain, I didn't choose the readings – in church we have set readings for each Sunday and these are the ones set for today.  However, I do think that they do have something to say to us at this time.

But first let's unpack Jesus' story a little bit, because it's describing a very different culture to our own.  In Jesus' culture, the bridegroom would leave his house, go to his bride's house, they would have the marriage ceremony and then he would process back to his house with her for the wedding feast.  This journey would go a scenic route around the village or villages so that the whole community could greet the couple.  Because it was hot, the bridegroom would often not set off until it was cooler in the evening, so by the time he got back again it would be late at night, therefore the bridesmaids who were waiting for the couple to arrive for the feast would have to keep watch with lamps burning in the night.

This is all very alien to our way of doing weddings, but perhaps you might be familiar with the song “Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning” - and if you've ever been puzzled by those lyrics, you might understand them more if you know that they're based on this parable of Jesus'.  However, this reference and meaning are slightly obscured when the lyrics are changed from asking for oil “till the break of day”, to asking for oil “till the end of day”  In the parable the lamps are needed till the break of day not the end of day because this is a parable about waiting.

Jesus has taught that he's going to die, be resurrected and then go back to his Father before returning at the end of time, for the Final Judgement and the start of the eternal kingdom of God, where there will be no more sin or death.  His disciples have asked him what the signs will be that he is about to return, and he says there will be no signs.  The day and hour are unknown, his return will be unexpected, but when he does return we will all know about it.  As Paul says in our first reading Jesus will return “with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God.”

This parable gives us a picture of waiting for something that will definitely happen, but at an unknown time.  The bridegroom will return but the bridesmaids don't know when.  So what are they to do in the meantime?  They are to keep their lamps lit.

That's not the most helpful piece of advice for us!  But by describing the bridesmaids as being either wise or foolish, Jesus reminds us of an earlier parable (which also has a song about it!!): the parable of the wise and foolish builders.  The wise man built his house upon the rock; the foolish man built his house upon sand and when the storm came only the house on the rock survived.  Jesus explained “everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

The way the wise keep their lamps lit is to hear Jesus' words and obey them.  To hear and obey his commands to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  It is to love your neighbour as yourself, including loving and praying for your enemies and those who persecute you.  But most of all it is to recognise not just the wrong things that others do, but to recognise our own sins and failings; to realise that in God's eyes all sins are equal, because his standard is perfection.  Unless we are perfect as God himself is perfect none of us deserve to enter into his eternal kingdom of peace.

But Paul reminds us in the next chapter of his letter to the Thessalonians the God doesn't want us to be punished for our sins, but wants us to be saved by Jesus: for Jesus died for us, he died in our place, to take the punishment we deserved.

The wedding feast image is not an accident.  Jesus the bridegroom has gone out to get his bride, us.  We are not able to come to the wedding feast unless we are his bride, unless we've joined ourselves to him, as a man is joined to his wife.  If we have joined ourselves to him, we stop using our old name of 'sinner' and take on his name 'holy'.

But what's all this got to do with war and conflict?  It is only in and through Jesus that there will be a solution to the wars and conflicts we have, because it is only through repentance that we can be being transformed into the likeness of our perfect bridegroom.  And as we wait for his return, as we wait for the dawn of his reign of perfect peace and justice, we are to continue to be wise; listening to and obeying Jesus.

Grief and hope at empty tombs

Here's my sermon for this year's Remembrance service at Broughton:

Last Thursday, the Cubs, Scouts and Explorers came to church to think about Remembrance Sunday and created these poppies to decorate the church with for today. We thought about the two minutes silence and how, for some people, in the first minute we recall those who have died in the two world wars, and whose names we hear read out, and in the second minute we think of all those affected by war, through injury, bereavement or loss of homes and livelihoods.

So on these poppies we wrote on the top half a name of someone from Broughton who died in the two world wars, and then on the bottom half people that we pray for during the service, either because they are suffering because of war or because they are trying to make peace. So thank you to the Cubs, Scouts and Explorers for helping us to remember the purpose of Remembrance Sunday – to remember and to pray.

Of course, this two minutes silence happens at our poignant War Memorial: with our soldier deep in thought, remembering his friends who have died and holding in his hand a laurel leaf for peace. Remembering and praying.

There are many war memorials throughout the country – from simple plaques to huge monuments but almost all of them have one thing in common – they are technically cenotaphs. A cenotaph is a monument to someone who has died and whose body is buried elsewhere and I learnt recently that the word 'cenotaph' comes from two Greek words meaning 'empty tomb'. So these cenotaphs are not graves but memorials.

This reminds us that so many of those who went to war never came back, for most not even their bodies came back and for some the location of their bodies is unknown. In the absence of a proper grave, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier represents all those whose bodies never returned, and all our local cenotaphs are testament to the absence in all senses of the word of those who never returned from war.

We gather at an empty tomb to remember those who should be here but aren't. And as we feel the pain of the empty tomb we commit ourselves to praying for all those who suffer because of war and violence, and all those who are working for peace and justice.

But we don't just gather at the cenotaph, we also gather here in church, where the words 'empty tomb' have a different resonance.

In our first reading (Acts 13:26-39) we hear the words of the apostle Paul telling people in a synagogue about Jesus. He tells them that Jesus was unfairly tried and unjustly put to death, but that he was raised from the dead, and that unlike his ancestor, the great King David, his body did not decay. Instead there was an empty tomb. And because of that empty tomb Paul could say for certain that Jesus' death is the way sins can be forgiven, as Jesus himself had said it would. And it's those sins of course which lead to war and violence. Therefore, Paul goes on, everyone who believes and trusts in Jesus is set free from their sins, something that is simply not possible through being a good person doing good things.

That empty tomb is the central belief of Christianity – if it is untrue, as Paul says elsewhere, then our faith is pointless, but if it is true it should change every part of our lives. If Jesus has not been raised to life again then all graves are empty tombs – they all mark people who no longer exist except as dust and ashes and memories – merely names carved on stone. If Jesus has not been raised all grief is without hope – we will never see those we love again. But if Jesus has been raised from the dead then those who believe and trust in him will share eternal life together.

To stand at the empty tomb of Jesus is to celebrate that death is no longer the final word in our lives either personally or as a world. In our second reading (Luke 21:5-19) Jesus teaches his disciples that after his death and resurrection he will return to his Father for a while before he returns to earth again at the end of time. In the meantime there will be suffering, wars and disasters, and his followers will be persecuted. His promise is that those who remain faithful will receive eternal life. But when he returns death and suffering, along with war and disaster, will be got rid of once and for all and justice will be done. Without that empty tomb, death, suffering, wars and disasters will continue, and evil will go unpunished.

So as we gather around the cenotaph, the empty tomb, let us remember those who died and pray for those who suffer and who work for peace. But let us also remember that it is only by gathering by faith around the empty tomb of Jesus that there is the certain hope of an end to injustice, suffering, wars and death.

What we still need to learn from the Battle of the Somme

Here's my sermon from this year's Remembrance Service at Hibaldstow (the reading was Luke 21:5-19):

Jesus said “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” words that are as true now as when he first spoke them, indeed they seem to have been true for the whole of human history. But out of all the many wars that this world has seen, what was it about the First World War that has left such a permanent mark on our psyche and collective memory? Why is it that it is this war that spawned and indeed is still the focus of Remembrance Sunday?

It seems to me that the answer may have something to do with the Battle of the Somme, the centenary of which has been commemorated this year. The Somme features many of the common images of the First World War: trenches, mud, barbed wire, machine guns and so on. But it also highlights some of the themes of the war: industrialised mass slaughter; tiny gains at a massive cost; conscripted young men, promised glory but sent to their deaths by old commanding officers. By the end of the four and a half months of the offensive, the Allies gained 12km of ground at an estimated cost of 620,000 casualties (420,000 British, 200,000 French). The Germans lost around 500,000 men.

The Battle of the Somme also seems to represent another feature of the First World War that has made it so outstanding, and that is that it was the end of the idea of human progress, that humanity is getting better and better, that the world is improving. What the First World War demonstrated was that history wasn't inevitably improving, because so many civilised nations ended up fighting each other - the only progress that was made was our ability to kill more people, more efficiently.

The destruction of the view of the inevitable progress of humanity has had bad consequences for us all. Since then, without the feeling that we're working for a better world, we've become self-centred, out to get the best for ourselves no matter what it takes and no matter who suffers as a consequence. With no hope for the future we become people who live only for the present.

Remembrance Sunday is a day to recall the consequences of war, not just in terms of the people who died, who were injured or who lost loved ones, but also in terms of its effect on us as a society. More importantly, remembering the past must lead to learning from it, otherwise our remembrance is pointless.

We no longer share the naïve optimism of the Victorians and Edwardians that humanity is marching to a glorious future by its own efforts. But that shouldn't mean we should only think about the present and what we can get out of it for ourselves. The First World War reminds us that we have an almost limitless ability to be cruel to each other especially when we believe we are in the right. Our present time reminds us that we will do almost anything if it makes us happy, regardless of its effect on others.

There is a hope for the future but it lies outside of humanity. Yes we should do all we can to make this world a better, more peaceful place, but ultimately only God will bring a lasting kingdom of true justice and peace. Jesus came to announce the coming of that kingdom, but he also came to die so that those self-important and self-centred desires can be forgiven and changed. And he promised that one day he will return to make all things new and those who believe in him will share in that glorious future.