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Sermon
at Holy Trinity Cathedral by Reverend Murray Spackman, Vicar. 5:00pm, Sunday 14th March, 2004 Gen 28:10 –19a. Jn.1: 35 –51 It is not unusual for people to have life-changing encounters
with God in what would be considered strange or unusual place, times or
situations. My
earliest and perhaps strangest experience was one Friday night
when I was about 14 or so years old, I was on a bus from the city,
returning to my home in New Lynn. It was past six o’clock, and in those
days as many of you will remember, the pubs closed at that hour.
After six was not a good time to be on the bus, as frequently you
had to contend with inebriated passengers.
I sat near the back of the bus and tried to keep to myself. However,
an older man got on board and staggered his way to the back of the bus and
sat a few seats away. He
tried to engage me in conversation, but I thought it best to keep my
responses to a minimum especially since he was fairly drunk.
He asked me what I wanted to do when I left school and I replied
that I thought I wanted to become a Minister.
I cant remember exactly his reply, but it surprised me
in the sense that it didn’t seem like a partly drunk man
now speaking, but somehow God
speaking, almost prophetically, through
him, to me. I don’t
know if he realised what he was saying!
I have never forgotten that brief experience. That was perhaps the strangest experience I have had in
which I felt and heard God’s Word. I
wonder if there comes to your mind some time or place in
your life when out of the blue, you had what you can only describe as some
experience of, or encounter with, God? A
visitor to our Diocese last year was an African Evangelist by the name of
Stephen Lungu - he spoke
briefly to our Diocesan Synod which was in session at the time. After an early life of growing
up in a Black township not far from Salisbury in Zimbabwe and
being abandoned by his parents, Stephen became a teen-age leader of
a notorious street gang, the Black Shadows.
The gang were strongly influenced by communist terrorists and were
opposed to anything that could be equated with white Western colonialism.
That included particularly missionaries, Christianity and the
Bible. On their way to blow
up a bank, they came across a Christian Evangelistic tent meeting. They
decided that instead of blowing up the bank they would throw their
explosives and Molotov cocktails into the tent, which held over a thousand
people, and shoot any survivors who tried to escape.
The gang would infiltrate the crowd, position themselves near each
of the exits, and at 7pm exactly, on a signal from Stephen, they would
bring destruction on these silly people who came to listen to the Western
world’s propaganda and message of Christianity. The gang were in
position by 6:45pm , and for fifteen minutes they listened to a
presentation of the gospel message. At
7pm , when Stephen was due to give the signal, he was so convicted by the
message he heard, and by the presence of God there in that tent, that he
ignored the impatient signals from his other gang members, listened
spell-bound to the speaker, and at the end of the message was one of the
first to go forward and surrender his life to Jesus Christ.
From that moment on his life began a dramatic process of change,
and he is now a world renowned evangelist with African enterprise.. My
experiences of God have never been that dramatic – and perhaps neither
have yours. But what we shouldn’t forget is that God often chooses the
most unlikely time or unusual place to meet us. And its not always in
church , either. Both
our Bible readings tonight are about God meeting people, who weren’t
seeking Him, at a most unlikely time, in a most unusual place.
Throughout the bible, that seems to be the way God normally works. The
Old Testament reading tonight of the story of Jacob is a fascinating
example of God, in His typical manner of grace – suddenly intervening
– without invitation, without warning, without being sought.
Jacob, son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham, doesn’t come on the
scene in the bible with the best of record.
From the day of their birth, the twins Esau and Jacob were like
chalk and cheese. The
Authorised Version of the Bible describes Esau as a “hairy” man, but
Jacob was a “smooth” man. Esau
was Dad’s boy – a huntin, fishin, shotin – outdoor’s boy; - while
Jacob was a Mummy’s boy who preferred to stay home and learn cooking.
Though twins, it was Esau who arrived in the world first, and was
therefore entitled to the birthright – the inheritance and blessing of
his father, and first place in the family.
But there was intense sibling rivalry between the two, and Jacob
resented this preferential place which Esau occupied, and this reached its
peak when Jacob, with his mother’s help, cheated his older brother Esau
out of his father’s blessing and in another incident demanded Esau’s
birthright or inheritance in exchange for a meal.
The name Jacob sounds similar to the Hebrew word for “cheat”,
and Jacob seemed to live up to that name on more than one occasion. As the two boys grew older, so their rivalry and antagonism
went deeper – so much so that Esau determined to kill Jacob.
Jacob’s mother, Rebecca, learned about it and, no doubt being
totally fed up with the bickering and hatred that went on in the home
between the boys, hatched a plan to get Jacob safely away from home.
Rebecca’s plan was
to send Jacob up north, to Haran, to live with his uncle, and hopefully to
find a wife there from among their relatives. Jacob
thought this was a good idea, and so set off, no doubt a little anxiously,
in case Esau was following.. Jacob
now had a mission – both to get away from Esau, but also to find a wife.
On
his way, he stops and camps at a certain place. While he slept, he had a
dream that he saw a ladder – though probably more correctly interpreted
a “staircase” reaching from earth to heaven.
And on this staircase were angels ascending and descending. And there standing alongside him was the
Lord, who made a promise – a covenant with Jacob – to be with him and
to bless him. ( 28:10-15)
Jacob was in fear of his life and running away from his brother!
– yet in that very human situation, quite unexpectedly, God met with
Jacob.
Scratch the surface of the lives of many people and you will find
that God met them when they were least expecting it, or even when they
were running away from God. Maybe
God first caught your attention in some similar situation?
God meets us where we are, often uninvited; usually unexpectedly.
The same happened with Jesus’ disciples in our New Testament
reading. In the midst of
their work – Jesus
interrupted and said “Follow me”.
Jacob went looking for a wife – and in the process found God ( or
should I say - God found him)
in a personal experience. Yes – quite often
God intervenes – almost miraculously, in our lives and we find ourselves
experiencing God in a way we find hard to describe. But
at other times – like tonight – we have come, deliberately, I hope, to
meet with God, to talk with God, to worship God and maybe to unburden our
hearts to God.. Our intention in
coming here is not just to enjoy this Cathedral, not just to appreciate
the music, or the prayers, or the formal atmosphere of choral Evensong –
but first and foremost to meet with God.
And if we come with a desire to know God more in
our lives – if we come with a desire to DO God’s will in
our lives and to live out the Christian calling in our work and at home
- then we have God’s promise
that we will indeed find Him. For he has said
(Jer.29:12) “You will come and
pray to me, and I will answer you. You will seek me, and you will find me
because you will seek me with all your heart.” Often God seeks us out,
and intervenes unexpectedly in our lives;. But always –
when we seek Him – He will come to us, and make Himself and His will and
way, known to us. ------------------------ |
