Graced Life in the Shaky Isles

From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

Graced Life in the Shaky Isles 12 September 2010

The Ven. Jenny Dawson

• Isaiah 60
• Psalm 125
• John 6:51-69

http://wellingtoncathedral.org.nz/index.php/Sermons

Everybody in Christchurch has an earthquake story. The stories will keep coming, not just because of the aftershocks but because the impact of a disaster continues for weeks and months and years. People need to tell the stories. It takes a long time to get over an earthquake. It takes a long time to become mature in faith.

At the end of tonight’s second reading we heard those confident words from Simon Peter: “We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One the Son of God”. Growing into relationship with God, and of God’s Son, is a long process, life-long. It requires profound fidelity if you are going to avoid being distracted by fears and temptations.

Recently I completed a 30 day retreat in which I was deeply moved by a modern translation of some words from St Ignatius Loyola: “O God, grant that I may never be distracted from your love.” During the days of silence, I learned how easy it is to run from God by simple everyday distractions that enable us to avoid the depth of prayer where we really meet and know our Creator. I also discovered the truth for all of us that “your whole life story is graced by God.”

My story of coming to faith may be like – or quite unlike – yours. I grew up in an Anglican family – in fact in Darfield the epicentre of the earthquake. In the back of my mind I always knew that the church and God would be there no matter what happened. Even in my post-confirmation years of not attending, I think I would have been insulted if someone had asked me to Back-to-Church Sunday because it was my church. I am not sure I would have said that the Lord of All was “my God” – until in my early twenties I had to let go and trust one of my children to God. Having taken that huge step, I realised that perhaps I could also trust myself to God.

I didn’t know what that meant really but I had an idea it involved reading the Bible and praying every day.... which happily and gently led me into a life of faith and a deep commitment to Jesus. Now I know that all through those years – as the song says “through my wild days” – God was there, inviting, offering and loving. My faith is grounded in knowing that, even when I wasn’t looking, my whole life has been graced by God.

It is not always easy to see life as graced if we have had hard times but for everyone however poor, however miserable, I believe there has been a moment, a person, a ray of sunshine. The great truth of our faith is that: God is for us – on our side. God comes through moments of compassion and beauty that cut through the bad times.

Here is a story I heard when I was in Ireland, where the retreat was. Near Belfast late one night a bus was held up by masked gunmen. As the eight frightened passengers were forced off the bus, one of the gunmen asked “Are there any Catholics among you?” There was one, and the others knew it. Assuming he was the target of the holdup, one of the Protestants whispered to him “Pretend you are one of us.” He squeezed the Catholic man’s hand. But the Catholic felt he had to own his faith. He stepped forward and said “I am.” The gunmen – who turned out to be the IRA - pushed him to one side and shot the others.

This is a story with many meanings – and I certainly would not want to say that God loved the survivor but not the others. The Catholic – who had told the story – definitely would not say that. But I am sure that in the horror of the memory, he will always remember the touch and the deeply human moment of caring. Human beings can care for each other profoundly.

We have seen that in the stories from Canterbury. We care because we are made in the image of God and so at our best we express the values and ways of God. Yet there are times when we, like the disciples in the gospel reading, say “This is difficult, who can accept it?” And we are reminded of Jesus replying “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” As in the earthly Jesus, God accepts us as we are but also dreams of and nurtures what we are to become. God feeds us through bread and wine and wisdom and hope.

Recently the British scientist Professor Stephen Hawking published a new book, in which he argues against any role for God in the origin of the universe or the beginning of time. Some of you may have seen Tom Scott’s cartoon in Wednesday’s Dom Post: a rather disgruntled looking Stephen Hawking from his super-duper wheelchair is saying “New discoveries in Physics show that universes can create themselves and there is no need for God". The predictable elderly old male figure of God looks crushed by this news. However the Devil slinks away in the corner saying to God “You’re depressed. How do you think I feel?”

The good news for the Devil or anyone else who wants to listen is that no-one – however brilliant they are – can take away someone’s relationship with God. Some of us, through the learnings and reflections of our own graced history, know unarguably that God exists and loves us. If the past is any indicator of the future, we can know that God will love us forever. I pray that we will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, find the grace to give a bold, brave, and confident answer to all Stephen Hawking's disciples. We can say along with Peter, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Back to Church Sunday has reminded me of how much we need the companionship of others on this faith journey. If we don’t worship together and meet with other Christians, it is easy to forget what our faith teaches us and what we know deep down to be true: that the eternal God lives in us. And unless God occupies our hearts, our hearts are empty and dead. St. Augustine said right when he stated, “Our hearts are restless unless they find their rest in Thee.”

To know all this is to know life. Even as many others turned from Jesus and deserted Him, the statement of the sometimes-flakey Peter stands for life. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.” This is wisdom, the wisdom of God. This Wisdom is Jesus, and He makes you whole and He makes you holy, through the long process of growing in faith.

Tonight’s reading comes after a story of Jesus facing a large crowd of tired and hungry people who had followed him around the lake. His disciples too must have been running on empty. Jesus gave both groups what they needed most—his word. He would soon take care of their short-term need for food, but first he focused on their long-term needs.

There is an old saying: “Give me a fish and you will feed me for a day; teach me to fish and you will feed me for a lifetime”. We may add that we need to teach people of every generation about the Words of Jesus Christ and about Jesus Christ himself who will make them live forever—for his words are eternal and they are life.

May the terrible experience of the earthquake not shake people’s faith beyond the limit. May they and we know that through everything our entire lives have been graced by God. May we learn to say: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe that you are the Holy One the Son of God.”