The great divide
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
The great divide: 20th November 2011: am: The Very Revd Frank Nelson
- Psalm 100
- Ezekiel 34: 11 – 16, 20 - 24
- Ephesians 1: 15 - 23
- Matthew 25: 31 - 46
It’s happened again! Two days before one of the most disturbing Gospel readings of the year is read, the Dominion Post led with headline “The great divide”. You could be forgiven thinking that the editor had been listening in on one of the many conversations between preachers this week – most likely over a cup of tea – as we thought and prayed about today’s Gospel reading. The last of Jesus’s parables that Matthew chose to include in his Gospel is that of the great divide. When the Son of Man comes, says Jesus, all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. We have just heard the story. You have the details in front of you. Did the editor of the paper have this parable in mind when she signed off on the headline? The stories are remarkably similar in content – the rich and the poor, the vulnerable and the strong. The twist in Jesus’s much older version is that he expected people to have recognised himself among the poor, the vulnerable, the suffering, the sick, the hungry and the naked. In these last few days of election build-up today’s Gospel reading could be an interesting one for your daily reflections.
But in fact it is the reading from the Epistle to the Ephesians that I want to focus on this morning. On the last Sunday of the liturgical year, a day on which, apart from our normal three services, there will be two baptisms, the unveiling of a plaque and a funeral, it seems good to take time to digest some of what St Paul has to say about our faith in Jesus Christ. We could look a little wider than simply today. Yesterday this Cathedral was heaving with people as over 1000 people from across the Diocese of Wellington, came here to witness, celebrate with and pray for the twenty-six people being ordained: ten of them as priests, sixteen of them as deacons. What a reminder, if one were needed, that God is alive, the church is alive, and that people are listening to the call to follow Jesus.
Last Friday we gave thanks to God for one of our own who followed Jesus all his life. Fred Coad was a life-long disciple of Jesus, one who did not make a fuss about his faith, simply lived it – especially through his God-given gift of organ playing. In a moving tribute to Fred that flew through cyber-space from Korea, Daniel Woods had this to say: “He was one of the first people to welcome me to the cathedral when I arrived at the end of 1999 as a shy young boy from a small town. He always took a keen interest in whatever I did and wherever I was. He was a dear and loyal friend to me. That was just his nature.”
There is evidence here too of others who continue to hear God’s call and follow Jesus. Take time to look at the exhibition, read the commentary, and pray for the children of Burma. If we take the Gospel seriously then these children are just as much our neighbours, those among whom we will find Christ, as anyone else.
How is all this energy created and sustained? What lies behind people offering their lives to Jesus – to go and work among the war-ravaged people in the Burmese camps, to move from the so-called secular world into being ordained to serve as a deacon or priest, to take that momentous step of being baptised, of saying “Yes” to God?
This is where we need to listen again to the Epistle to the Ephesians. Join with St Paul in rejoicing in the faith of people in God and the love for all God’s people that we see around us. Pray, as Paul does, that all who believe – young Isla and Rubie soon to be baptised, those twenty-six ordained yesterday, those missionaries in Burma and Thailand, each one of us living out our belief in Christ in our daily lives – pray that you may be given the “spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know Jesus, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe.” I am left quite breathless when I read Paul’s prayer. It is almost overwhelming. Does God really think that highly of me, of you, of us? Did God really send His Son to live and die for me, for you, for us? Does God really call me, you, us, to follow Jesus, to live for Jesus, to find Jesus in the stranger, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the imprisoned?
Think about these things as we continue with today’s service. As we move into the baptism of Isla ad Ruby. As we join together in prayer – particularly the Lord’s Prayer. As we put our money into the offertory bags and place them, along with bread and wine, on the altar - a symbolic gesture of our own commitment to be part of this great thing God calls us to do and be. As we come forward, hands outstretched to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. As we bow our heads to receive the Blessing at the end of the service. As we are sent out into the world – to love and serve the Lord.
The Lord “who is seated at the right hand of God, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come” – he it is who says, in baptism and again each time we receive Holy Communion – I know you, I love you, come and follow me.
Will I? Will you? Will we?
