Monday, July 14, 2014

“OUR BIRTHRIGHT”

                                                           S E R M O N CNR1072                                           

Pentecost 3a (15) Mosman 13 Jly 2014, 9.30am
Gen 25:19-34; Ps 119:105-112; Mat 13:1-9, 18-23; Rom 8:1-11

1          TELL ME A STORY
1.1       Australian Dreaming
Tell me a story!
How often as children did we sit at some one’s knee and beg for a story?

We remember bedtime stories, funny stories, sad stories, scary stories, mystery stories and stories we didn’t understand at the time
but we still remembered them.

We didn’t take to abstract lectures but we do remember the stories.

The “Australian Dreaming” stories of the 1st peoples of this land were like that.

Many of them spoke of animals and birds
who behaved in either good or bad ways.

Whenever one saw that creature,
what that creature had said or done came back into mind,
and one became the wiser for it.

1.2       The Sower and the Seed (Matt 13:1-9, 18-23)
Now many of you remember Jesus’ Parable of the Sower better than I do.
It was often the first parable told to us.
In the Gospel according to Matthew, it becomes the first parable Jesus told.

In Matthew, Jesus tells the vivid story of the sower
to explain to his 1st disciples how he is now going to speak to the people.

It is a heartening parable
because when we are trying to get an important message across
and keep hitting brick walls, it is easy to feel dispirited.

The disciples felt that no one appeared to be listening
to what Jesus had to say.

In this story, we see the sower scattering the seed
in an apparent random way, a bit like letterboxing today.

What’s the use, we complain?

We see seeds consumed by opportunistic birds,
seeds that can’t take root on the hard ground,
seeds choked by competing weeds,
but there are some seeds who do escape the birds, do take root,
and do survive the weeds, and they flourish.

The toast we ate for breakfast this morning
comes from bread made by seeds that survived.

Oh yes, the parable is meant to say that although so many will not listen,
there will be the faithful few that take the words of Jesus in,
live by them, and inspire others, even others yet to come.

2          ESAU AND JACOB (Gen 25:19-34)
2.1       Two kings, one throne
The story of the twins Esau and Jacob is one such story.
We are familiar with the 1stborn inheriting the privileges and responsibilities.
Generally the 1stborn is fitted out for the job expecting to take on the mantle.
Occasionally, this doesn’t happen so Plan B comes into operation.

Many here would remember the Abdication Crisis of 1936
when K Edward VIII announced that he could not carry out his regal duties, “without the support of the woman I love”,
leaving his nervous younger brother with a stammering problem
to become K George VI.

As it turned out with the looming WW2, George became a far better king.

2.2       Shallow extrovert v reflective introvert
The story of Esau and Jacob reflects a similar dilemma.
Again, we have a shallow extrovert followed by a reflective introvert.

The older Esau was an active outdoor youth, earning his father’s favour
because he was always bringing home good meat from hunting.

The younger Jacob preferred the quietness of the tent.
Had they been able to read at the time,
he would be one of those always with his head in a book.

Even so, Jacob was calculating always with his mind on the future
compared with the more spontaneous Esau who could only think short-term.

Rebekah could appreciate Jacob’s worth and that planning ahead
would be a more productive exercise than ad hoc leadership
so in a later chapter we will find how she encouraged him
to secure Isaac’s blessing.

2.3       What are we doing with our birthright?
We have grown up with this story.
It now makes us think of our birthright.

What are the privileges and responsibilities we have inherited,
and what use are we making of them?

It is no secret that many of us are uncomfortable, to say the least,
that our leaders in our country are not thinking compassionately
with the spirit we have inherited.

The good news of the Kingdom of God often seems to us to be far away.

Asylum seekers are treated as disposable trash
to be swept offshore under some one else’s carpet,
fossil fuels are polluting our environment
when natural energies can be made available,
services for the disadvantaged, including the 1st people of our land,
are continually cut back to their further disadvantage
while the rich are encouraged to grow richer at everyone else’s expense.

Are we frittering away our birthright for instant gratification
rather than plan for the future of the generations
who look to us for responsible leadership?

3          PRIVILEGE AND RESPONSIBILITY.
3.1       Changing toward integrity and compassion
Paul’s Epistle to the Romans reassures us this morning
that we belong not to the flesh but the spirit
because the life and work of our Lord Jesus Christ
has made, and keeps making, all the difference to our lives.

This is our birthright – our great privilege and yes, also our responsibility.
Like Jacob and K George VI, we need to keep positioning ourselves
so that we are fitted to make changes towards integrity and compassion
within us and around us as far as we can.

3.2       Persevere!
Yes, we can become dispirited when our efforts are undermined,
or fall on stony ground or choked by competing weeds.

But, the story Jesus first told about the sower and his seed
keeps reassuring us that despite all that, something good will come of it, perhaps in the lives of those who are looking to us for responsible leadership.

We can testify that the spirit of Jesus shown to us
and embedded within and among us
can and will be caught if we persevere enough through the life changes
that inevitably come to us.

We have been given our birthright.

Let’s use it!

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