St Margaret's Church Prestwich

Rev Helen gave this sermon whilst away on the parish retreat to Parcevall Hall. Here it is for everyone to share:

We are all followers of God and Jesus and we’ve spent a few days thinking about not only what it means to be a disciple but what is the cost of being a disciple. It can be an amazing thing and we can see people doing so many amazing things! We can praise God, love God, speak of this and later the sacrifice Jesus made for his children. However we all know that this isn’t always the case and that sometimes being a disciple isn’t easy. We have times in our personal lives when things go wrong that make it hard to praise God, then sometimes looking at the church which has been shaken by the after effects of Covid 19 and other scandals around abuse, racism, sexism to name a few. It can sometimes be difficult to praise God when we feel there is nothing to get excited about having God in our lives.

I think there is one book in the bible that exemplifies this rollercoaster of life as a disciple and that is the book of Job. That might be predictable but I do think it shows someone trying to negotiate their faith through tragedy and you can still have a relationship with God through and beyond. So lets have a look at the story of Job.

Job is someone who has a good life, he has a home, property, his wife and children. He praises and worships God with thanks for the good things that he has. In heaven Satan or the accessor (depending which version you are reading) claims that Job will only worship God while he has a good life but if he didn’t then he would stop. So God allows the accessor to take away everything that Job has, as a challenge to see what happens. Job loses everything and by chapter 3 Job is at his wits end and curses his life, his existence and even the day he was born, this really is Jobs lowest moment of his life. I’m sure we have all had times when we have felt like this, when we have just needed to share or despair and unhappiness with God. Job’s friends come to console him but soon become accusatory making Job examine his life and what he must have done to displease God for this to happen to him. How would you answer if you were Job? Curse God? Defend God? It is difficult to know and comprehend God’s actions towards Job at this point.

But we’ve all been there and felt this kind of despair and what do you do? Remain calm, composed or cry out in despair, get angry as Job does. We’ve heard about Jacob over the last couple of days who had his trials and even wrestled with God. Moses debated with God over his anger with the Israelites at times and Abraham trying to reason with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, sometimes this is the only way to rationalise how we feel.

The other thing we can do, which Job also does is Lament, the great Psalms of Lament, even the book of Lamentations because Job is living through trauma, he’s has a tough time and sometimes Lamenting is a good way of getting through and trying understanding that trauma, especially when we are still digesting and trying to come to terms with the communal trauma we all felt and experienced during the Covid 19 pandemic and everything lost personally and as a community during this time. Mourning what we have lost and sharing in that is just as important as celebrating our joys.

So back to Job, what did he do with all these questions and examinations that were being thrown at him. Defend God’s action, curse God or continue lamenting? He does all three, sometimes with confidence that God is just and would never abandon him, but at other times there is doubt, serious doubt about why God has taken this from him when he has praised God. Being a good disciple and showing God praise and worship. Eventually Job demands that God come and defend these actions to him so God obliges and appears as a storm cloud. So does God explain to Job why he had to suffer and explain why God has taken from Job who was his faithful disciple? Sort of or at least God doesn’t directly answer the question, we heard some of what was said in the first reading today.  God takes Job on a tour of the universe and berates him because God has control of everything that exists in the universe and has to work with the complexities of it. God has to bring and keep order on such a large scale it’s beyond Job or anyone’s understanding or comprehension how that order is kept and accepting that will help Job to come to terms with what his has lost, it’s all part of God’s infinite wisdom. That the explanation, it is a bit difficult to comprehend or understand but think that’s the point because if we did then we’d be God and that’s not the case! That sometimes is another reality of being a disciple, when you’re asked those big questions and the only answer you can give is, I don’t know.

When Jesus calls his disciples they quickly understood the reality of what it meant to be a disciple. They would face ridicule, difficulties even their leader being executed as a common rebel.  Jesus told them what to expect: you will be hated, you will be persecuted because of me and many of our brothers, sisters and siblings in Christ still are around the world, another reality of being a disciple! No one said this was going to be easy and with the joys of loving and worshiping God sometimes things don’t go as well.

So what does it mean to be a disciple and how do we sustain ourselves through the good times and the bad times that we will all encounter?

Sometimes hanging onto the good and the pray that things will get better helps. At the end of the book Job has everything he has lost returned to him double and many others who go through difficulties will see things get better. You can’t run away from God and God’s love even when you feel abandoned by God. I’ve tried when I was angry with God and it led to the loneliest two years of my life, I wouldn’t recommend it at all. We are God’s children and God loves us all. We are those who God has called and as we heard today who did Jesus call to be his disciples, the people he wanted, the people he chose, those who would be his disciples no wonder you can’t run away from it even if you try! If you stay faithful like Job it will sustain you and help you to manage those times when being a disciple is difficult.

So back to the question how do we sustain ourselves as disciples? Put your trust wholeheartedly in God, which can be hard at times but God’s got you, celebrated and rejoice when things are going well, lament, morn and get angry when things get tough, pray and at times more than pray speak to God and say how you really feel God will always listen, listen to Jesus and follow his example be his disciple, be Jesus love and message in everything you do and keep telling his story. With God’s love and God’s help we truly can do or get through anything and be disciples.

Amen