The Rev. Canon Carl Turner

Sunday, December 21, 2014 @ 4:00 pm

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Saint Thomas
O Oriens — “O Rising Sun”

Saint Thomas

Everliving God, who didst strengthen thine apostle Thomas with firm and certain faith in thy Son's resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in thy sight; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Sunday, December 21, 2014
Saint Thomas
O Oriens -- “O Rising Sun”

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✛
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
✛

Particular Plans

No update needed for sermon_bbooks.

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Over the past four months I have been living in temporary accommodation while the Rectory was refurbished. Every evening I have walked my dog around the block and past the St John’s Roman Catholic Church – I am always amused when I get to the priests’ house because right next door is a huge neon sign which says ‘Clairvoyant – have your palm read and discover the future!’ The priests of St John’s, no doubt, were a little put out when the person next door moved in but they have no need to be worried because their Church, their Advent and Christmas, proclaims that there is no need to be worried about our future because Jesus Christ has changed the course of time and space and our futures are bound up in his present.

Predestination – the belief that God has a plan for us – can be troubling for some of us and yet this doctrine is at the heart of the Bible. God is part of his creation – he is Lord of all time and space and we believe that in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, God becomes PART of our history.

Our lessons from the Old Testament point towards God’s involvement in our world an in our lives; but it is when we get to the opening verses of the Annunciation Gospel we heard a few moments ago that we suddenly realise that none of what we celebrate at Christmas is mere chance or, worse, simply a nice story. – In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man names Joseph, of the House of David, and the Virgin’s Name was Mary.

God enters into the particularity of our existence.

I actually think it is far easier to have a faith where God does not intervene – where the miraculous does not happen or is explained away – far harder to have a God who does enter into our lives. When we believe in God having a plan we have hard questions to ask. Like those tragically bereaved – we have to struggle with the answer to the questions – why this suffering? Why this death? Or, worse, why this war? Why sickness? Why disease? Why famine?

The dirt of a cave used by animals and the pain of birth are what God knew in the incarnation – and the pain and the struggle of human greed, pride and disease was taken upon God himself in Jesus Christ.

And talking of particularities, what did Jesus look like? Have you ever though about that? Where did he get his looks? Of course, Jesus looked like Mary, his mother. The incredible self-emptying of God into creation is made even more tremendous when we ponder on the relationship between Jesus and Mary.

It is said that Mary conceived Jesus in her heart before she conceived him in her womb. She is Mother of God – but a better translation of that ancient title might be God-bearer for, immediately, that resonates with Christ’s call to you and to me; we, who are called to be images of Christ through our baptism, are also called to have that depth of relationship with God – with Jesus Christ. As Mary en-fleshed the word so we, too, can become God-Bearers by allowing Jesus to dwell in our lives; as one of the famous Christmas Carols puts it – be born in us today. Or, as St Paul said ion his letter to the Romans. “And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (Rom. 8:30)

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