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Apples, Faith and the Garden of Eden
 Sunday 13th February 2005
The first Sunday of Lent - Andrew
Today’s first question: what sort of fruit is it that Eve bites into? We assume apple. Why? Because the Latin name for the apple tree is malus and malus is Latin for bad. Except that that’s bad, malus, etymology: malus is from the Greek word melon which means yellow, and thus by extension apple-coloured.
Time was, just a couple of centuries ago that there were something like fifteen hundred known varieties of apple. Nowadays we are lucky to find more than four or five different sorts in the supermarket.
Cox’s Orange Pippin, Worcester Pearmain, Granny Smith, Russet, Golden Delicious, Braeburn, Bramley’s, Beauty of Bath. The list goes on.
Dessert apples, cooking apples, cider apples. The early and the late. Heavy croppers. Those that keep, those that have to be eaten straight away. Apples for all sorts of occasions.
Apples crop up in a variety of phrases –
an apple a day… keeps the doctor away
apples and pears
don’t upset the apple cart
a bad apple
the Big Apple
love apple – anyone know what a love apple is?
crab apples: small, shiny and viciously bitter.
So much for apples, we’ll come back to them later.
Thank God for Eve. The temptation in the Garden of Eden is a very powerful myth. It’s only a story. But it speaks about what matters deeply, matters that are fundamental to being human.
Thank goodness Eve had the courage to call God’s bluff.
Eve did as she was told not to and she did as she was told: she ignored God, listened to the snake, and bit into the root of forbidden fruit, the juice running down her leg.
Forget lost innocence, this is the first song of experience: sensual, illegal and delicious. Things will never be the same.
So, Eve did a good thing. Adam followed her good example. And, the serpent wasn’t entirely bad either – and if you want further evidence of the worth of the serpent then look no further than St. Hilda of Whitby who is sometimes represented in art with a little red snake at her feet signifying wisdom.
Well done Eve. Fairly good, Adam, for following in Eve’s footsteps. And a wise snake. It’s not quite the usual take on the story.
But, if you want tradition then here it is according to St. Matthew. Our gospel reading this morning. Jesus was in the wilderness forty days and forty nights and at the end was tempted. Forty days and nights, just as the Israelites were in the wilderness forty years after their escape from slavery in Egypt. Don’t forget: Matthew never loses an opportunity to make connections, to call for the echo from scripture.
Back then in the wilderness the Israelites were hungry and complained. And God gave them bread, the mysterious manna from heaven. At the end of his forty days, Jesus is hungry. John the Baptist had said that God could make Israelites out of stones, so surely the tempter said, Jesus could do the easier thing of making bread out of the stones. But, the Israelites had suffered hunger in order to learn that they had to rely on God. And that’s how Jesus resists the first temptation.
The devil then plays that back to him: if you rely on God, be spectacular, throw your self off a high place, and he quotes scripture, that the angels will break his fall. The Israelites had tempted God at Massah in the wilderness. Unlike them then, Jesus will not put God to the test.
And then finally, the tempter tells Jesus to face the facts: the devil is in charge of the world, if Jesus wants to rule the world then he’ll have to bow down to the devil.
Once again we’re back to the wilderness wanderings. You remember there was an occasion, when Moses was away, that the Israelites were seduced into making an idol, a golden calf that they all bowed down to. Jesus refuses to give in to his third temptation.
Jesus doesn’t give in to his temptations. But that means he comes away with nothing. No heavenly bread, no proof that God is watching over him, no assurance that the world will take any notice of him.
And, that’s more or less how it is at the end. In between times, Jesus certainly knew how to throw a party, his care for those around him, and for those brought to him was immeasurable, and, most of the time, he was followed by huge crowds.
But at the end, there was no life-saving rescue from the cross; there was the dereliction: my God, my God, why have you forsaken me; and, the vast majority of folk at the time took very little notice as they walked by. It was, after all, just another barbaric crucifixion.
It’s very reasonable to want sufficient and good food. It’s quite acceptable to want to be loved and cared for. We like to be liked. We want God to provide all these things for us.
Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings, says the psalmist to God. And so say all of us.
Except that, to want these things is not faith. To expect these things is not faith. Being satisfied by these things is to have given in to the tempter.
Under the apple tree I awakened you one lover says to the other in the Song of Songs. Underneath that tree, there’s just going to be, you and me – Eve says to Adam. Actually, it was Dylan who wrote that, but it’s the same point.
We can’t presume to have God on our side, said Eve. We can’t take this island-of- Dominica Eden for granted, she said, with every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food. It’s time to taste and see what it’s like to be unpopular with God, she told Adam.
And so saying, she brought faith to her mouth and took the first bite.
Which brings us to the last question: what sort of apple is our faith?
Perhaps it’s a mix of White Sour, Redstreak, and Scudamore Crab – powerful cider apple faith that drifts us into hazy delight and knocks us off balance.
Or maybe a slow cooker like Early Victoria or Bramley’s Seedling.
Then again, we might have a sharp Granny Smith or a tough-skinned Golden Russet faith. An exotic, Bardfield Quining, or Pigsnout faith, or maybe a rather utilitarian M8 faith.
All sorts and kinds of faith.
It’s Lent, said Eve, go on: face your temptations. Take a bite.
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All life is a journey
 | Sunday 20th February 2005
The Second Sunday of Lent - Bridget
The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not where it comes and wither it goes – so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. John 3 v 9
All life is a journey in one way or another. Times of waiting, uncertainty, times when nothing is happening. Times when we lose the way, need guidance. But without going forward there is no growth, no freedom towards God. There has to be new ideas, new horizons, new discoveries.
God said to Abraham, “Go,” and he went. He simply did as he was told - God was telling him to migrate, to let go of his familiar place and become a nomad; to embark on a journey into the unknown. He abandoned the security of the present and accepted the insecurity of an unknown future.
Jesus sensed Nicodemus was too set in his ways and needed a considerable shake up – if he was to make any spiritual progress. In his case it wasn’t a physical journey like Abraham, but a new look at life leading to a change of heart and mind – opening his eyes to the infinite possibilities, to see life as a gift from God.
He certainly took some shifting! - probably only coming to spiritual rebirth completely after the resurrection of Jesus. He went with Joseph of Arimathea to the tomb to bring large amounts of myrrh and aloes. We don’t know much about him, but he certainly became a disciple, and probably a member of the early church.
Nicodemus learned that going towards God involves terrible risk. We see that in the last journey of Jesus into Jerusalem. Pain and suffering, we learn in life are part of the growing maturity of ourselves, and spiritual growth and our understanding of God and his love for his world.
It is too easy to want to be safe, not to want to listen, resenting change, not to venture out. But we must or we get stuck! And I have to say the Church of England is rather good at that!! I was encouraged by the retiring Archbishop of York, David Hope, when he said he hoped the church would choose a risk-taker for the new Archbishop of York because, as he said, “That is what we need.”
William Fiennes, a free-lance journalist has written his first, highly acclaimed book, “The Snow Geese.” A profoundly moving story about a journey. He decides to follow the migrating Snow Geese from the bottom of North America (Texas) to Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. A journey of 4,000 miles – following the route of migrating birds. He began at the end of February, travelling mostly on Greyhound buses!
Snow Geese fly at about 50 mph, at altitudes of 2,000 – 3,000 feet, although pilots have recorded heights of 11,000 – 12,000, and once over Louisianna at 20,000 feet.
For the Geese, the migratory journey is hazardous, but the mystery of their journey into an immense world in their millions is one of the wonders of Creation.
Then there are journeys “within journeys”. In “The Snow Geese” there is an account of hundreds of people waiting in the dark on a particular night, when it was possible that the “Mexican Free-tailed Bats, roosting in the grooves of the Congress Avenue Bridge would all take flight up the river, on their migratory flight.
While people waited, a car drew up, and a very old, very frail man, dressed in a Hospital dressing gown, and slippers, got out of the car – accompanied by a male nurse. The old man, very shakily with inch-long steps got to the edge of the bridge.
He was just in time. Without warning thousands of bats dropped from the grooves, streaming past the Oaks and Cypress trees.
“There they go,” said the old man, gaunt, pale and trembling. “We didn’t get here a minute too soon,” said the nurse.
“I told you didn’t I? Didn’t I tell you?” said the old man, his whole body shaking as he gripped the balustrade with bony hands.
“Yes you did,” said the Nurse kindly, as the bats disappeared into the dim light.
All through the book are accounts of people the author met, with their hopes, questions, inspirations, their own journeys – the wonder in the getting up and getting on with daily life.
Geese help and protect each other. If a bird goes down exhausted or sick two others go down with it until it is strong enough to fly on. The younger, weaker birds fly at the end of the long ‘V’s because it is easier for them. The stronger birds are at the front and change over on the flight.
But migrate they must – they have no choice - they have to have the right climate or else they cannot raise their young.
The long hazardous journey is the only way to bring new life into the world.
Here in Stockton Parish Church we are slowly endeavouring a journey to bring new life into this place. There is risk involved; there are doubts, questions, disappointments, setbacks – we have lost members of our congregation.
But we have also gained new members with all sorts of experiences of life. So, in all this there is hope and vision, and we have to thank them for that. We are all enriched by them.
Above all we have to care and support each other on this journey. To help, and listen to each other – to gain insight from each other’s experiences and gifts. As we journey forward let us know life and faith in all fullness.
The Holy Spirit is represented in the Celtic tradition by the symbol of a goose. In all our struggle as we journey forward let us remember the mystery, freedom, risk and life that that involves.
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A Church that welcomes all
 27 February 2005 - Third Sunday of Lent - Andrew
Today's gospel reading is John 4.3-42. What a nice story. A wishing well, a bit of a clairvoyant, some straight talking, lots of converts and a fairy tale ending.
Of course the gospel is not fairy tale. Yet how easily familiarity tempts us into the happy-ever-after.
So. Let’s start again: the person who encountered Jesus at the well was a Samaritan. Israelites didn’t speak with Samaritans. They hated each other. The Israelites regarded Samaritans as outsiders, they didn’t belong, couldn’t belong. This Samaritan was a woman. Women, by definition, at that time, like children, were non-persons.
Jesus engaged in conversation with a doubly despised person – someone who was female and Samaritan.
Dear Incumbent – this is from a letter I received last week.
Dear Incumbent, The current controversy in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion over human sexuality may leave you feeling … well, how does it make you feel? However you react yourself, it is an issue that impinges on the lives of very many Christian people, whether they are homosexual themselves or have gay or lesbian friends or family, and on society at large.
At Changing Attitude we are concerned to move the debate forward in as constructive and respectful a way as possible. We believe that we must proceed with courage and sensitivity if we are to discover together the mind and the heart of Christ for the church on this issue at this time.
Lesbians and gays are treated as outsiders by the Anglican Communion. They don’t just lack a voice, they aren’t even allowed a whisper. They are non-persons.
It is well worth reading the statement issued by the 35 Anglican primates at the end of last week – well worth reading the statement in full. It is also worth reading the sermon preached by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the beginning of their deliberations. There are copies of both documents available at the back of church. They are both easily available on the internet.
It is important that we remind ourselves that behind the row over homosexuality is a more basic struggle. Many conservatives say the Bible is an infallible guide to human conduct, which must be followed strictly.
The liberals say the Bible must be interpreted in the light of modern knowledge. What I’d like to do this morning is simply put before you a few fragments.
First of all: the meeting of the primates in Northern Ireland was not just concerned about the future of the Anglican Communion after the consecration of a gay bishop in America.
Their discussion was centred on God – through worship, prayer and the study of scripture.
Their discussion began with reports from those Provinces most affected by the recent tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean and the relief work that is going on.
And in the second half of their meeting they addressed the fact that this year 3 million people will die of AIDS related illnesses, 2 million of TB and 1 million of malaria.
They also discussed the part the Anglican Communion should play in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals identified by the United Nations (which include reducing absolute poverty by half, reducing hunger by half by 2015, lowering child mortality, universal primary education, access to clear drinking water and the building of sustainable development partnerships between rich and poor).
In other words, it wasn’t all sex, blind prejudice and anything goes. They also talked about theological education and the discernment of theological truth.
Inevitably, though, the media and ourselves are especially interested in whether the Anglican Communion, so seriously divided, can hold together. Whether in fact even with the three year pause that’s been agreed, the institution will still fall apart.
This next bit is from the leader in The Guardian yesterday:
Two opposing forces are driving Anglicans towards a parting of the ways – the liberal North Americans’ willingness to treat openly gay people as equals and the conservative, mainly African, determination to stop them doing so.
The fact that schism has been postponed means that Anglicans in the developing world still have access to the 40% of the church’s funds that are contributed by the small but rich American Episcopalians. In the short term, the bottom line is that the conservatives need the liberals’ money to stay in business.
And that takes us to the BBC.
It is too simplistic, it says, to see the struggle being waged along racial lines, with the African churches taking a much more conservative line than the Europeans.
Certainly some African Anglicans are prominent in the traditional camp. But so are others from Asia, South America and Australia, and also from the US and the UK.
One of the chief liberals is the archbishop of Cape Town, an African who says the church has far more urgent problems to talk about than sex.
In parts of Africa there is keen competition between Christians and Muslims, and that can strengthen the traditionalists' hand.
Probably part of the answer depends on who were the first Christian missionaries.
Much of central and west Africa was converted a century ago by conservative English Anglicans, while liberals were more active in southern Africa.
And finally, with a little bit of editing on my part, here is some of what Rowan Williams said in his sermon: we are called upon to become …a place where God is to be found. That is what the Church exists for and I say it once again, a place where the reality of Christ is alive in our midst, a place where God is to be found. A sanctuary. But remember the two meanings of the word sanctuary in common use. A sanctuary, yes; a temple for God; but a sanctuary - a place of refuge, a place of asylum, to use a very current word. A place where those who need a home and have none may find it. So that to be built by God into a sanctuary, a living temple, is not to be built into some closed holy space. It is to be built into a temple whose doors are open, where God is to be found and God's peace makes a difference.
The person Jesus spoke with at the well was a woman, she was a Samaritan. The people speaking to us today are gay. May God give us grace.
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Baptism and Mothering Sunday
 Sunday 6th March 2005
The fourth Sunday of Lent - Andrew
Today’s star player is Connor. The main reason that most of us are here this particular Sunday is because Connor has brought us to his baptism.
Connor is the light of your lives, the centre of your attention. The candle burning here in the middle of church is a reminder of the centrality of baptism.
But today there are other things going on as well. Today is Mothers’ Day, Mothering Sunday, when we traditionally say thank you to our mams for mothering us. Connor is only three months old, so he’s not doing a great deal of talking just yet, but in his own particular way he very clearly expresses his delight in his mother, and how grateful he is for her motherly love.
Today is not just Mothering Sunday, in the church’s calendar it’s also the fourth Sunday in Lent, commonly known as Refreshment Sunday. It’s half-time, we’re about half-way through the season that the church calls Lent, and so it’s time for a breather.
Lent is a time for us to put ourselves right with God, to say sorry for the things we’ve done wrong. Time was when people would fast as an expression of their penitence. Some people still do give things up for Lent. And today, Refreshment Sunday is when they can take a break, have a bit of a blow-out and then get on again with the second half.
Connor is far too young to be fasting. Quite rightly, he expects his food as and when he is hungry. For Connor, every day is Refreshment Sunday.
In the Orthodox church, fasting through Lent is taken very seriously: no alcohol, no meat, no dairy produce – six weeks of monotonous very little.
In the Church of England we are not as keen. We give up chocolate, or sweets, or alcohol or cigarettes. But even that sort of giving-up is going by the board. I suppose in part because we are so enthusiastic about the latest diets and weight-losing regimes.
But whether we are Orthodox or Church of England, every Sunday there is the symbolic meal of Holy Communion, when we taste the bread and wine which is the body and blood of Christ. It’s a taste of that Last Supper that Jesus had with his disciples before he was betrayed and led off to be crucified. It’s a taste of what we believe is to come in the eternal banquet that lies beyond death.
It’s a meal that all of us here today are invited to. Later in this service, after Connor has been baptised we shall all gather around this holy table and stand in a big circle to taste this heavenly food. It’s not a meal to sit in the pews and watch, it’s a meal to be involved in.
Today, Mother Church is putting on refreshments: bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ, for everyone.
Mothering Sunday, better known now as Mothers’ Day, is a special day for mums. When it comes to Connor’s baptism in a few minutes’ time, the first thing we’ll say is thank you for this gift of creation that is Connor. Mothers, in the hard labour of giving birth, in the daily labour thereafter of mothering love, are the nearest we’ve got in this life to God. Mothers are next to God in the business of creation and the care of their children. Dads do their bit, but it’s mothers, still, who bear the burden: mopping up after us, being there for us, letting us take the risks and helping us to pick up the pieces. And so on.
So today is that annual fixture for saying a big thank you to our mothers. And as a special treat for his mam, Connor has brought her along to his baptism.
Connor Michael. The name Connor means lover of dogs, and Michael, well according to the last book in the Bible, Michael was the one in charge of the army of heaven. Maybe this Connor will become a leading light in the dog world, breeding champion greyhounds. Maybe he’ll go into the armed forces.
Maybe he’ll grow up to be a shepherd and become a brilliant One Man and His Dog. Maybe like the Michael in the Bible he’ll fight for right and for justice. Who knows.
What we do know is that he is already a light in the world, brightening the lives of his parents and all who spend time with him. He is a miracle of life who opens our eyes to hope, commitment, wonder and love.
On this Refreshment, Mothering, Baptism Sunday, then, we say thank you to God for being fed, mothered, and Connored.
And we ask that God’s blessing be upon Connor and his family from this day forward and for ever – in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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