Rev Sue gave this sermon on Wednesday 7 June. Here it is for you again:
When I was a child, my mother never liked cut flowers in the house, in spite of the fact that they were growing abundantly in the garden. She said that they required attention and they made a mess by dropping petals and pollen. However, she did have a small bunch of plastic lilies of the valley on her dressing table. My mother was nothing if not a practical woman, and her reasoning made sense. The artificial flowers would last forever and only needed a little dusting. They would not fade or decay.
And yet, how many of us would be impressed with receiving a bunch of artificial flowers as a thank you, an apology, or to congratulate us? Even the most clueless would-be suitor knows better than to present their beloved with a bunch of silk roses. The point about flowers is that they are living things, and that is something that no artificial version can replicate. To live is to change, and we enjoy the flowers precisely because they are not unchanging and everlasting.
In the passage from his letter that we heard read earlier, Peter says that we were ransomed by the precious blood of Christ, not by perishable things like silver or gold. It’s an interesting comparison to make because silver and gold are metals that do not rust away, although they may tarnish a little. So, Peter has gone straight for the most extreme example – even precious metals do not last. As we get older, we realise that everything is precarious and will not last forever – money, careers, youth, beauty, health, and life itself are all fleeting and impermanent. There are two ways that we can go with this. We can become saddened and discouraged, giving up hope and waiting for the inevitable, or we can be liberated by the freedom from trying to grasp and hold onto these things.
Once you acknowledge that nothing is yours for the keeping, everything is lent to you for the moment, the glorious sunny day is there to be enjoyed and made the most of, and it becomes more precious because the next day may be dull or rainy. Many years ago, I spent a few weeks in Uganda. Uganda is on the equator, but because of its altitude, it is no hotter than a pleasant summer’s day in the UK. There are two seasons, dry and rainy. We went during the rainy season. At 5 pm, it rained every day for half an hour. No one bothered with raincoats or umbrellas because they knew that shortly afterward, they would dry off in the sun. It is a lovely climate, but after only three weeks, I was already beginning to be bored with it. I missed the variety and unpredictability of the English weather. It is the relatively rare perfectly sunny day in the UK that makes it so special.
Living each day fully in the present means being done with anxiety or disappointment. Once you truly realise that you have no control, that everything might be snatched from your grasp no matter what you do, worry becomes pointless. In the words of the song, “Whatever will be, will be, the future’s not ours to see, que sera, sera.” This could lead to fatalism and apathy, but there is always plenty to be grateful for if we appreciate the people we love, the little pleasures like drinking a cup of coffee and reading a good book, or taking a walk in the park.
When Peter speaks of being born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, he is talking about the experience of leaving aside what he calls our futile ways and instead trusting in God. The other side of the coin is that God is a living being who is nevertheless unchanging and eternal. Jesus came to share our fleeting earthly lives, but he was destined before the foundation of the world and was raised from the dead so that our faith and hope are set on God. His humanity is set within an eternal framework, he is the utterly dependable and constant God. Our lives may be short, but they are never meaningless. Difficult though it is to believe, God delights in us, not for what we do, but for ourselves, so our existence is shot through with purpose and imbued with significance.
Let me finish by quoting William Blake who describes the experience of living in the present:
“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 