Sermon for September 4th 2022 - the true you, with a smorgasbord of love, depression, dyslexia and a shout out to Greenbelt and our LGBTQ+ friends.

A honest sermon about being the true you, with a smorgasbord of love, depression, dyslexia and a shout out to Greenbelt and our LGBTQ+ friends.

12th Sunday after Trinity - September 4th 2022

Deut. 30:15-end, Luke 14:25-33

To commit to being a follower of Jesus is not an easy choice. And Jesus is aware of this. On several occasions he issues what are known as hard or strenuous sayings, known this way because they can seem tough, impossible or cruel.

In this instance, Jesus is telling us that our families and everyday lives may not be enough to save us and may even be a hindrance.

Here, He is promoting the steadfast refusal of anything displace faith in Him, of something infinitely more valuable.

Jesus is challenging us to embrace commitment to him. This does not mean hating everyone else, but that following him may mean setting aside anything which may distract us from that path.

It's interesting that Jesus uses the analogy of planning the building of a tower, and planning a war to being prepared to follow him, accepting that it may not be a rash choice, but a considered one, thoughtful and prayerful, because it will be costly and involve sacrifice.

Which is why the daily reminder to take up the cross is helpful, because sometimes life is very tough, so begin the day, take up our cross, strong in faith, as we prepare to go into battle, into the day ahead, building the kingdom of God, one brick at a time, and sometimes that brick is just getting out of bed or to the end of the day.

We must also accept that in the real-world building projects don’t always go to plan, as any building plot unchanged for years or an episode of Grand Designs will testify.

Or that no war runs ever runs smoothly, however much planning is done, and I think Jesus knows this.

This is all in a world which is a messy place, where making the step to take up your cross is often a commitment made out of hope and faith, rather than planning and certainty.

It is also true that, even knowing this, for many, faith is often the only certainty in our lives.

For many people, knowing where they belong in a world full of boxes, where we’re expected to fit into one of them can be hugely challenging and emotionally damaging.

People who are told to be yourself, are also told just not that version of yourself, or perhaps its best if you keep that part of you hidden.

There are people of faith who don’t always feel at home in church because they sense they don’t belong or from teaching they see as hurtful.

This came home to me, once again, last weekend at the Greenbelt festival. It’s a Christian event over four days with speakers, music, comedy, children’s activities and much more.

A theme which came up more than once was about working out who we really are.

This can take a lifetime of work and one of biggest challenges is accepting who we truly are, in ourselves and in the eyes of God.

After all, we are told to love our neighbours, as ourselves, not someone else.

Our world may not be perfect, and neither are we. But God is perfect and when it come to creation, God does not make mistakes. And this is reflected in Psalm 139 which the song we will sing before communion is based on/said earlier (in Evensong).

And so often we are surrounded by messages in the media, from our peers, our churches or by the voice in your head saying, you just need to be better, thinner, stronger, healthier, learn more, use less, be more compassionate, to conform, to smile more, be less gay, be more feminine, more masculine, inclusive, exclusive, straighter, wealthier and only then people will love you, only then will God love you, but first you need to be better than you are today.

It's like saying only if you follow God will God love you, when God loves you anyway.

And let me just say, God does love you, today, for who you are, today, whether you follow him or not. You don’t have to be better, you don’t have to be better, thinner, straighter or more beautiful, that’s all nonsense, because our perfect God made and loves us just how we are, to be as we are today.

This message is one I heard and also experienced at an alternative eucharist at Greenbelt, which was described as a Goth eucharist. The priest wore long beaded dreadlocks, the preacher a long leather black coat and leather cowboy hat.

The band wore black make up, and matching clothes. There were drums, a harp, an electric guitar and yet the words we sang to a heavy rock tune to the Sanctus and gloria were familiar.

It struck me that outside that space, these people were probably misfits, their lives confused and disorganised as ours, just seeming confident on the outside and they were taking up their crosses and following Jesus.

And the preachers first sentence was one I could have written myself. He said, “at school, I was bullied, I did my best to be unnoticed and not bring attention to myself.

You probably wouldn’t think that looking at me now.”

This was powerful and is part of my story as well.

To which I’m going to add, testimony time! that for me, life is sometimes a struggle. Feeling less than good enough, underachieving, introverted and for several years being on anti-depressants and in counselling.

Then in November last year, at my counsellor’s suggestion, I was tested and we found out that I am also dyslexic.

Something which puts me into the neurodivergent category and means I am protected under the disability act, not something I thought applied to me.

The main effect, which has always been there, is that my short-term memory struggles with remembering details and words, I can lose my place easily, I can’t remember a page of text after reading it, unless I do so very slowly, and it explains why I’ve always struggled academically, even though I thought I’m cleverer than this, but there’s no evidence, so either I’m lying to myself or completely deluded.

Now this wouldn’t have been picked up at school and there is no one to blame, but it also means I don’t need to blame myself either for many of the things which have happened in the past.

Now you’re probably wondering why I’m telling you all this, and perhaps I am as well at this point! But I think it’s important to show that who we are now, who I am now, is someone wonderfully made and loved by God.

I love God, I do my best to take up my cross and follow him each day, and I know God loves me. The festival has shown me that I don’t need to fit into a box to be accepted, that my brain is part of who I am.

At Greenbelt, they had sessions for people on the neuro sensitive spectrum, so that, for example, if you didn’t want to share communion with 10,000 with other people on Sunday morning, because of the noise and chaos, you could go to a quiet communion service instead, which was calmer and quieter and less anxiety inducing.

There is sometimes a sense that only if we are fully committed, with a perfect faith, and follow all the rules, then we are saved and loved by God.

These days, professing to have faith in God is often more than enough to make you stand out in society.

Then, when facing adversity, as the disciples did and we do, it’s possible we may be hindered by kinship or family so that we may have to choose, as we have heard today.

Especially if we think we have to pretend to be someone else to fit in.

But really, we need only look to Jesus. He will work out the rest because in his compassion for the whole human race, he loves each and every one of us.

So this message is to all the people who feel like misfits, like they are lost and confused, the people who are autistic, dyslexic, have ADHD, are depressed, are housebound, lonely, confused, people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and plus, people who are straight, the married, the happy, the sad and all else in between for anyone who has ever felt like they don’t belong.

None of these things make you a sinner, None of them mean you lack faith or that you are being punished, instead, they are simply a part of the true you, as you are today, created by God.

So today, You are loved.

Just do your best to carry your cross, as well as you can, for today.

But you are not alone, today.

For Jesus loves you, today, just as you are.

God loves you and we love you, today, just as you are.

For you are perfect as you are and fearfully and wonderfully made just as God intended.

Be who you are. Be brave.

Take one day at a time, take up your cross and know you’re not alone, if you need help, simply look to God, to the helpers and those of us trying to help. Life can be difficult but also joyful, hopeful and wonderful. God is great, and he will do it.

Amen.

Preached at Holy Communion at St George, Cam and Evensong at St Cyr, Stinchcombe. 

The service can be watched here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfteW9JixxU

 

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

¹⁵See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. ¹⁶If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. ¹⁷But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

 

 

Luke 14:25-33

²⁵Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, ²⁶“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. ³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.