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7TH SUNDAY OF EASTER: THE SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION
EVENSONG & BENEDICTION
Fr Alan Moses

This morning at mass, Fr. Neil told us something of his spiritual journey. Those who were confirmed or received at mass on Thursday evening did something similar when we began their period of instruction. It helps to see how out story fits into a wider one.

Sometimes, we encounter people who tell a different kind of story; a fiction, a fantasy about themselves as they would like to be. Occasionally such people get into the papers: there was an American from Florida recently who had spent years pretending to be the Earl of Buckingham.
A few years ago we had an application to join our Electoral Roll from someone calling himself the Duke of Vallambrosa. The church is used as a means of social climbing. Such a life of pretence must be exhausting; always having to remember what spies call the “legend”, so as not to be caught out.

The people of Nazareth thought they knew who Jesus was: one of them, the carpenter’s son. They knew that he was proving to be rather more than that, a rabbi of growing repute. That is why when he returns home and goes to synagogue, he is asked to read from the scriptures and comment on the passage.

Jesus uses this occasion to locate himself in a much greater story; one which tells who he truly is. In order to understand Jesus we must grasp that there is at the heart of everything a deep and grand story which gives meaning and shape to life. It was the story which Jesus found himself in.

God is the central character in the story from the moment of creation - “in the beginning”. God gives creation a fertile goodness, a precious independence, a life of its own, a certain creative freedom - the signature of the good, free and creative being who could say, “Let there be light”

Creation is never seen as being entirely independent of God, God would continue to care for it and interact with it. Creation would have its own story, but God would always play a role in that story - the role of the good and wise king, with creation as God’s domain.

Adam and Eve are the first human characters in the story. They are made in God’s image, which means at the very least they reflect the goodness, creativity and freedom of God. God’s image reflects God’s kingship, with humans having responsibility to be agents of God’s rule in their care of the earth. Adam and Eve’s noble status quickly deteriorates as they disconnect from God and reject the limits placed on their freedom by their Creator. The results of their disobedience are visible as the story unfolds - a sense of shame and alienation from God and one another, violence of brother against brother, disharmony with creation itself, misunderstanding and conflict among tribes and nations.

How does God respond to this crisis? Does he abandon humanity and leave us in the mess we have made? Destroy the earth and start all over again? Abrogate our freedom and force us to behave? None of these. God responds by creating a family, a line of people who will, through the generations, remember their creator and their original purpose and who will seek to bring truth, blessing, wisdom and healing to all people so that God’s creation can be rescued from human evil.

God begins with an old couple called Abraham and Sarah who miraculously conceived in their old age and gave birth to a people who will be called the Jews, people with a special vocation to know God and to make God known, to be enlightened and blessed by God, and to enlighten and bless everyone else.

Centuries later, Abraham’s descendants have fallen on hard times. They have become slaves in Egypt. They have no hope of escape until God calls a man - Moses - to lead them to freedom. But how can Moses help Abraham’s descendants reclaim their high and holy calling? They have been degraded and humiliated through generations of slavery; how can they be restored? Moses received from God and gives to the people, the Law - a wise way of living that will shape the people as individuals and as a community, restoring their dignity so they can rise from slavery’s degradation and fulfil their original purpose in the healing of creation. The prophet-leader Moses is joined by Aaron the priest, who will pioneer a priesthood to help the people be instructed and trained as a holy, healthy and exemplary people. The work of the priests will be supplemented by that of the prophets and others - including poets, philosophers and political leaders - who will carry on the conversation across generations with and about God and about their special relationship, the covenant, with God. That conversation involves conflict because remaining faithful to God’s calling involves great struggle with both internal and external antagonists.

God faithfully preserves the people of the covenant through many external dangers and internal failures. Finally, they reach a time of stability and peace under the leadership of King David. Will they now fulfil their original calling to bring light to the peoples? Sadly, the kingdom of David slowly deteriorates and two generations later, the kingdom flounders under foolish, arrogant leader

Jesus grew up in this story. From his childhood, Jesus has had a sense of special spiritual calling and empowerment - a sense of calling no doubt intensified by his parents, who had reasons of their own for believing that Jesus had a historic role to play. How would he understand his world, his times, his life and mission? Where would he fit into the story of creation, crisis, calling and conflict?

From Jesus’ first public speech - or prophetic demonstration - it is clear that he sees each theme or thread or episode in the story coming together in his time. He sees his own calling in terms of the heroes we have seen.

Luke describes Jesus coming to his hometown, entering the synagogue on the Sabbath, and coming forward to read. He is given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and he unrolls the scroll to find a certain passage..

When he has finished reading it, he dramatically rolls up the scroll, returns it to the attendant, and sits down - sitting being the posture of a teacher in those days. Everyone’s eyes are on Jesus, as they wonder what comment he will make on the passage. His comment anticipated what he would say about the kingdom of being at hand now: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”.

Jesus seems to see the whole story of his people coming to fulfilment in his time and in his own person. In speaking of the kingdom, he is evoking the memory of David, the great king under whose reign the Jewish people enjoyed unprecedented peace, prosperity and spiritual vitality. He is claiming to be a new David.

In talking of liberation, he goes back further. evoking the memory of Moses. More, in speaking of a “new commandment” or in repeating, “you have heard that it was said…but I say to you”, he is identifying himself as the new Moses, a new law-giver.

In calling people to faith, in choosing the disciples, in challenging them to be the light of the world, in sending them out to make disciples of all nations, in constantly affirming the need to believe the humanly impossible is possible with God, Jesus returns back still further to Abraham, the man of faith, the origin of the 12 tribes of Israel, the original recipient of the call to be blessed in order to bless all nations.

In refusing to draw or respect racial, religious, moral,. ethnic economic or class barriers, in welcoming non-Jews and treating them with kindness and respect, in eating with both Pharisees and the prostitutes and tax collectors hated by them, Jesus shows his primal kinship with all people - a kind of second Adam who seeks to bring people together after so many centuries of distrust and division.

In healing the sick and raising the dead, in performing exorcisms and confronting injustice, in interacting miraculously with the forces of nature, we see Jesus identified with the story’s original and ultimate here, God, stating that those who had seen in him had in some real way seen God, declaring that he and God were one, and suggesting that through him, God was launching a new world order, a new world, a new creation.

In offering himself to the Father on the cross, he becomes both perfect priest and victim and fulfils the meaning of sacrificial worship in reconciling us to God.

In these days between Ascension and Pentecost, we relive that time the first disciples, the apostles and Mary and the rest, spent in prayer, waiting for the promised power from on high, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We too gather in worship to hear the story of God’s purposes, not as ancient history, but as the story which is our story as by the spirit we are drawn into the life of Jesus. It is that story which shows us the truth about ourselves; both the folly of our attempts to deceive others and ourselves, to remake ourselves in some image we prefer to the one we were born with, and the glory of what God intends for us, our Christian calling.

	ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET
	All Saints, Margaret Street, London, W1W 8JG, UK
Welcome Worship and visitor information Diary dates History and architecture Music The life of the church Sermons Support All Saints Get in touch	7TH SUNDAY OF EASTER: THE SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION EVENSONG & BENEDICTION Fr Alan Moses This morning at mass, Fr. Neil told us something of his spiritual journey. Those who were confirmed or received at mass on Thursday evening did something similar when we began their period of instruction. It helps to see how out story fits into a wider one. Sometimes, we encounter people who tell a different kind of story; a fiction, a fantasy about themselves as they would like to be. Occasionally such people get into the papers: there was an American from Florida recently who had spent years pretending to be the Earl of Buckingham. A few years ago we had an application to join our Electoral Roll from someone calling himself the Duke of Vallambrosa. The church is used as a means of social climbing. Such a life of pretence must be exhausting; always having to remember what spies call the “legend”, so as not to be caught out. The people of Nazareth thought they knew who Jesus was: one of them, the carpenter’s son. They knew that he was proving to be rather more than that, a rabbi of growing repute. That is why when he returns home and goes to synagogue, he is asked to read from the scriptures and comment on the passage. Jesus uses this occasion to locate himself in a much greater story; one which tells who he truly is. In order to understand Jesus we must grasp that there is at the heart of everything a deep and grand story which gives meaning and shape to life. It was the story which Jesus found himself in. God is the central character in the story from the moment of creation - “in the beginning”. God gives creation a fertile goodness, a precious independence, a life of its own, a certain creative freedom - the signature of the good, free and creative being who could say, “Let there be light” Creation is never seen as being entirely independent of God, God would continue to care for it and interact with it. Creation would have its own story, but God would always play a role in that story - the role of the good and wise king, with creation as God’s domain. Adam and Eve are the first human characters in the story. They are made in God’s image, which means at the very least they reflect the goodness, creativity and freedom of God. God’s image reflects God’s kingship, with humans having responsibility to be agents of God’s rule in their care of the earth. Adam and Eve’s noble status quickly deteriorates as they disconnect from God and reject the limits placed on their freedom by their Creator. The results of their disobedience are visible as the story unfolds - a sense of shame and alienation from God and one another, violence of brother against brother, disharmony with creation itself, misunderstanding and conflict among tribes and nations. How does God respond to this crisis? Does he abandon humanity and leave us in the mess we have made? Destroy the earth and start all over again? Abrogate our freedom and force us to behave? None of these. God responds by creating a family, a line of people who will, through the generations, remember their creator and their original purpose and who will seek to bring truth, blessing, wisdom and healing to all people so that God’s creation can be rescued from human evil. God begins with an old couple called Abraham and Sarah who miraculously conceived in their old age and gave birth to a people who will be called the Jews, people with a special vocation to know God and to make God known, to be enlightened and blessed by God, and to enlighten and bless everyone else. Centuries later, Abraham’s descendants have fallen on hard times. They have become slaves in Egypt. They have no hope of escape until God calls a man - Moses - to lead them to freedom. But how can Moses help Abraham’s descendants reclaim their high and holy calling? They have been degraded and humiliated through generations of slavery; how can they be restored? Moses received from God and gives to the people, the Law - a wise way of living that will shape the people as individuals and as a community, restoring their dignity so they can rise from slavery’s degradation and fulfil their original purpose in the healing of creation. The prophet-leader Moses is joined by Aaron the priest, who will pioneer a priesthood to help the people be instructed and trained as a holy, healthy and exemplary people. The work of the priests will be supplemented by that of the prophets and others - including poets, philosophers and political leaders - who will carry on the conversation across generations with and about God and about their special relationship, the covenant, with God. That conversation involves conflict because remaining faithful to God’s calling involves great struggle with both internal and external antagonists. God faithfully preserves the people of the covenant through many external dangers and internal failures. Finally, they reach a time of stability and peace under the leadership of King David. Will they now fulfil their original calling to bring light to the peoples? Sadly, the kingdom of David slowly deteriorates and two generations later, the kingdom flounders under foolish, arrogant leader Jesus grew up in this story. From his childhood, Jesus has had a sense of special spiritual calling and empowerment - a sense of calling no doubt intensified by his parents, who had reasons of their own for believing that Jesus had a historic role to play. How would he understand his world, his times, his life and mission? Where would he fit into the story of creation, crisis, calling and conflict? From Jesus’ first public speech - or prophetic demonstration - it is clear that he sees each theme or thread or episode in the story coming together in his time. He sees his own calling in terms of the heroes we have seen. Luke describes Jesus coming to his hometown, entering the synagogue on the Sabbath, and coming forward to read. He is given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and he unrolls the scroll to find a certain passage.. When he has finished reading it, he dramatically rolls up the scroll, returns it to the attendant, and sits down - sitting being the posture of a teacher in those days. Everyone’s eyes are on Jesus, as they wonder what comment he will make on the passage. His comment anticipated what he would say about the kingdom of being at hand now: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”. Jesus seems to see the whole story of his people coming to fulfilment in his time and in his own person. In speaking of the kingdom, he is evoking the memory of David, the great king under whose reign the Jewish people enjoyed unprecedented peace, prosperity and spiritual vitality. He is claiming to be a new David. In talking of liberation, he goes back further. evoking the memory of Moses. More, in speaking of a “new commandment” or in repeating, “you have heard that it was said…but I say to you”, he is identifying himself as the new Moses, a new law-giver. In calling people to faith, in choosing the disciples, in challenging them to be the light of the world, in sending them out to make disciples of all nations, in constantly affirming the need to believe the humanly impossible is possible with God, Jesus returns back still further to Abraham, the man of faith, the origin of the 12 tribes of Israel, the original recipient of the call to be blessed in order to bless all nations. In refusing to draw or respect racial, religious, moral,. ethnic economic or class barriers, in welcoming non-Jews and treating them with kindness and respect, in eating with both Pharisees and the prostitutes and tax collectors hated by them, Jesus shows his primal kinship with all people - a kind of second Adam who seeks to bring people together after so many centuries of distrust and division. In healing the sick and raising the dead, in performing exorcisms and confronting injustice, in interacting miraculously with the forces of nature, we see Jesus identified with the story’s original and ultimate here, God, stating that those who had seen in him had in some real way seen God, declaring that he and God were one, and suggesting that through him, God was launching a new world order, a new world, a new creation. In offering himself to the Father on the cross, he becomes both perfect priest and victim and fulfils the meaning of sacrificial worship in reconciling us to God. In these days between Ascension and Pentecost, we relive that time the first disciples, the apostles and Mary and the rest, spent in prayer, waiting for the promised power from on high, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We too gather in worship to hear the story of God’s purposes, not as ancient history, but as the story which is our story as by the spirit we are drawn into the life of Jesus. It is that story which shows us the truth about ourselves; both the folly of our attempts to deceive others and ourselves, to remake ourselves in some image we prefer to the one we were born with, and the glory of what God intends for us, our Christian calling.