Sermon for the 26th of October - Bible Sunday

Lectionary Readings for Bible Sunday, the Last after Trinity

Isaiah 45: 22–25

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.’ Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; all who were incensed against him shall come to him and be ashamed. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall triumph and glory.

Luke 4: 16-24

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me o bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.” ’ And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town.

Sermon for Bible Sunday

When each of my two sons was presented for baptism I was mindful of a gift I had bought for them: A Children's Bible that I had carefully researched and chosen through my years of ministry. They grew up on these stories. After my two sons, now 28 and 26 1/2, had finished their secondary school education, we gave them two books to take with them as they left home for university: a Bible and The Complete Works of Shakespeare. If you were in a prison cell, or amid a howling wilderness, or deposited on a desert island, it has long been said in our culture that these two books would sustain you.

Just as I had been given these gifts by my parents,

so I gave them to my own children.

We celebrate this gift of the Bible today, a gift that has been given to all the world: we have even set aside this Sunday as Bible Sunday.

We take this brief moment to ponder what kind of gift this is,

and what the Bible still has to say to us today.

The news is bad from the world outside.

The Holy Land has been in a state of war for day after agonising day; the current ceasefire may not hold, as the causes of this conflict run very deep, and they have not been resolved.

The cost of this war has been unimaginable:

After two years, not only the 1,195 Israelis who were killed by Hamas, but also more than 67,000 people in Gaza have been killed. That is 1 in every 33 persons. At least 20,000 children have been killed, on average---one every hour. Hospitals have been destroyed; 1,722 doctors, health care and aid workers have been killed; aid has been deliberately withheld, and at least 500 people, including 154 children, have already died of starvation.

Last month, the United Nations issued a statement that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

For us, who are Christians, this has been a terrible reality to acknowledge, because, like our ancestors in the faith, the Jewish people, we are both people of the Book.

We celebrate this Holy Book, a book that is rooted in this land of conflict, because it is the book that has offered both sustenance and hope to the Jewish people and to all the peoples of the world---those far beyond its borders---for over three thousand years.

Amid a world not only scarred by war, but where human beings cannot seem to work together to solve climate change, radical inequality of wealth, and menacing autocracy in nations near and far, we still hold up this book, we still look to it to speak to us, to guide us, to console us, to reassure us that God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

We believe, as Christians, that although human beings have made such a mess of things, it is still God's good world, and that God still rules over it.

This book is testimony to His presence with us, and to the Good News that Jesus's inbreaking into history has brought us.

The Bible, if we would only read it, is a little library of many books---of wisdom, prophecy, poetry, history, love songs, visions, gospel. Our culture is so deeply permeated by the words of this book that we don't even recognise them as being from there. (Read the historian Tom Holland's thought-provoking book, Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind). You may have heard him on the wildly popular British radio programme The Rest is History.

What we have come to take for granted as common wisdom, perhaps, was, over against the ruthless power and cruelty exercised by the Roman Empire, revolutionary:

Listen to this proclamation from The Gospel of Matthew!

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

These are called The Beatitudes. They form the heart of the Christian Gospel.

What does this Bible still have to say to us?

Seek peace and pursue it; love your neighbour as yourself---care for the poor, the sick, the lonely; love God with all your heart, and the rest will follow.

We become like the books we read and the music we hear and the images we view. God wants us to be the best we can be:

to grow into the image of Christ, as fully and deeply as we can.

Baptism is a rite we celebrate that marks this welcome into the household of Christ, a loving, living fellowship, a way of life guided by the texts of this Holy Book.

So I am happy to present to you this morning, Henry and his family, my favourite Children's Bible. May it be a companion to you as you grow in faith!