Sermon: Diocesan AAW Service
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
Cathedral Evensong AAW Sermon
7 February 2010
The Reverend Dorothy Howard, Diocesan AAW Chaplain
- Genesis 1:1-2:3
- Psalm 147:1-11
- Matthew 6:25-34
http://cathedral.wellington.net.nz/index.php/Sermons
I stand to be corrected when I say that for that it was about 14 or 15 years ago that the first Sunday in February became known as AAW Sunday, or for those of you here this evening who aren’t au-fait with that abbreviation The Association of Anglican Women, who last year throughout the country celebrated its 40th birthday in very many different ways. I would also hazard a guess that our individual groups have seen many changes during that time. However over these 40 years one thing that hasn’t changed is our aims.
1. To unite in prayer and to participate in the mission of the church.
2. To promote safeguard and nurture family life.
Aims which still hold true for us today and which were put into perspective, a number of years ago when Lady Eames was president of the Mothers Union, and she emphasised, that in the world wide mission of the church within the Anglican Communion, we all had a partnership, where we could give leadership, and where we are given opportunities to provide the correct tension, in the same way that a boat needs to have ropes with the correct tension, ensuring that it stays on an even keel, and stays afloat. She also emphasised the need for us all to keep focussed on prayer and the importance of family life, as well as the importance of reaching out into the church and its community, offering a helping hand to each other especially those less fortunate than ourselves.
The importance of family life was brought home to me very forcibly when on one of the occasions I was going back to England to catch up with our family, the plane I was travelling on had a stopover in Mumbai or maybe you still remember it as Bombay, and as a result of that stop, I was reading a newspaper called ‘The Times of India’ one of the letters on the correspondence page stuck the core of my heart. It had as its title; ‘One from the heart’ and is a letter I would like to share with you.
For street urchins in Mulund, the sight of Santa Claus riding a horse and cart on Christmas day was a delightful surprise, and although they expected a gift from Uncle Santa, the bag which this old man Santa was carrying seemed to be empty. When an urchin approached him our desi Santa patted him on his back and cheerfully waved to his friends, before riding away. Off he went without distributing a single treat to any of these the urchins. However, instead of being disappointed these children were leaping with joy. ‘Santa patted me on my back’ ‘he waved at us!‘, they shouted while they waved back to the old man fading into the distance. It just goes to show that a little love can meant far more than any other kind of gift to these children.
Why did it have such an effect on me? Well only a few days before hand I had celebrated Christmas with my family, were we had, had fun, and reached out to each other in love. As a child I had experienced the love of parents, the richness of being brought up in a Christian home, and, in a loving church family.
These children in India who through possible circumstances, and no fault of their own had very probably been deprived of being part of a loving functional family. That day the simple action of one person had brought some happiness into the lives of children who were probably too young to worry about the things of daily life, where their next meal was going to come from or where they were going to sleep that night, things that possibly was a constant source of worry to their parents. That day they experienced something good in their lives.
The readings this evening from Genesis, and the Psalm which has been sung speak to us about something that is good, in the story of the creation God saw as ‘good’ every stage of the enterprise, in fact it could almost be said that he was the originator of a ‘time and motion study’ on his work to date - and the verdict after each day was ‘that it was good’
In Psalm 147 we are encouraged through the words of the psalmist to appreciate with thankfulness, and to sing praises to God, for the many things that he has done for us. Our new Testament reading encourages us not to worry, no mean statement, as it is in our nature to do so. And it is often with a wry smile that I read the last verse of our reading from Matthew, ‘Do not worry about tomorrow, today has enough troubles of its own’ But by the same quota we can take encouragement from verse 11 of the psalm ‘The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, and those who hope in his steadfast love’
I believe that to know God’s love is the most precious knowledge we can have, and to let the love of God flow through us brings great happiness. It sounds so easy so cut and dried, so WHY aren’t we one big happy family on this planet, free from fear, and of one another. Is it perhaps that God’s love for us remains in our heads, and our lips and we don’t let it travel to our hearts? With the result that it make our life’s journey too painful and too costly, and so we focus on our life, and not on the treasure which is offered. I don’t think I speak for myself when I say that there are occasions when we wish God had arranged things otherwise, allowing us to have a beautiful relationship with God, which would leave us free to deal with impossible situations as our thoughts and feeling dictate.
It is only, through the grace and power of God that we are enabled to be a people of love, and to be partners in the mission of our church, focussing daily on is mission, what a privilege! Our AAW challenge this year is to serve God, Daily, Joyfully and Willingly. If we able to take up this challenge then, we will be able to show those around us that we really do care. Care enough to pray, and care enough to reach out both practically and prayerfully in love, and friendship, which will in turn enable us to put our AAW aims:-
1. To unite in prayer and to participate in the mission of the church. 2. To promote, safeguard and nurture family life, into practice. Amen.
