Rev Helen preached this sermon on Sunday 8 December. Here it is for you again:
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? It’s an interesting question and one that we do ask a lot because that’s what we all are. We are disciples of Jesus, we are the ones who have received his message that has been passed down for over 2,000 years and are charged with keeping on passing it onto the next generation and the next. So how do we do that? Well we keep doing those things that Jesus asked of his followers while he was alive. He said to follow his teachings, follow his example of how he behaved and treated others, to love others as he loved us but one key thing he asked (so everyone knows these things in the future) is tell my story. Tell the future generations about me, who I was, how I lived, where I was born and how I died, how I rose from the dead. That’s what Jesus demanded of his followers and that’s what we do and how we be his disciples. We show his love in our behaviour and how we treat others, we live our own lives by his teachings and we publicly tell his story, the great miracle he preformed by raising from the dead and what that means for humanity. That message was passed on through Jesus disciples and beyond. Paul speaks of the start of this chain in his letter to the Corinthians ‘he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time…then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all…he appeared also to me.’ So we carry on and inspire others to be disciples of Jesus and so the chain goes on and on for many generations into the future.
This is all good but I think it does forget that here have been times when it isn’t that easy to be a disciple of Jesus. In fact Jesus himself warned his disciples of this. This is from Matthew’s gospel, ‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves…for they will hand you over to councils and flog you,…you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me…you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.’ that little bit at the end of why they do it. In today’s second reading Paul is talking about being in prison for proclaiming the words of Jesus, and he isn’t then saying, you might end up in prison for this guys, stop it’s not worth it. No he’s encouraging others to continue. Paul himself died a martyr as did most of Jesus disciples, the iconic images of Peter being crucified upside down! Many early Christians were also killed for their faith during the many persecutions under the Roman empire until it was made the official religion of Rome in 232 CE. We still remember those people who are a reminder that being Jesus disciple wasn’t always easy.
Don’t forget there are many Christians who still live in fear for their lives because of persecution and fear. It’s not something that’s gone away but while there are difficulties there are always those who are willing to help and support them. An example of someone who did this was Brother Andrew, a Dutch missionary who smuggled bibles into communist countries at the height of the cold war as Christians didn’t have access to them and he was given the nickname of ‘God Smuggler’. He saw that the churches behind the Iron Curtain needed bibles so he decided to try and help. He took a great personal risk doing this. He is reported to have prayed while having his car searched at the boarder of a communist country ‘Lord, in my luggage I have Scripture I want to take to Your children, make seeing eyes be blind’ you don’t pray that unless you’re in serious trouble. He also encouraged leaders in these countries, supported others who wanted to do the same and set up training for missionaries and he still does work to make things easier for Christians where they are persecuted. He worte a book about his work God’s Smuggler which is worth a read if you want to engage with his story more. He started a charity called Open Doors who continue this work and support Christians in countries where they are persecuted. The produce a list of the most dangerous places to be a Christian yearly, called the watch list, which you should have a copy of, and share stories of people in these places on their website and publications.
I have seen some of this first hand, while I was in Pakistan a couple of months ago, which is number 7 on the watch list (and I wonder why my mum was so worried when I told her). I read about it on Open Doors before I went but just doesn’t do it justice until you get there and see it. We were under the protection of the Bishop of Lahore which counts for something but others aren’t and some told their stories and things they had seen. People unable to get jobs or education because of being Christians, which is at the lowest of society there. Stories of churches being bombed and families being burned alive in their homes, churches being surrounded by barbed wire and guards with guns. It is frightening and humbling when you meet these people and they can still praise God with such joy because they know Jesus is with them and he is caring for them. As it says in the gospel today, all flesh shall see the salvation of God. They wait for Jesus return just as we do here. They just can’t do it quite as publicly.
So what do we do? How do we be Jesus disciples in this day and age when there is so much that is different but also not a lot has changed. We’ll we keep doing those things Jesus asked of us that I mentioned at the beginning. We follow his teachings, act as he asked and keep telling his story. How do we help our brothers, sisters and siblings who are persecuted? We can go to these countries and help and support charities but what they ask of us more than anything is to pray for them, let them know that we are thinking about them. When I was going to Lahore I took as many prayer blankets as I could fit in my case and gave them out to groups, people, churches, even gave one to the Bishop of Lahore they were greatly received as they showed that we are praying for them, we’re thinking about them and we unite with them as Christians around the world. So let’s pray for them, please use the list for this if it’s helpful, all of us be the disciples Jesus would have been proud of while we wait for him to return. Amen
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 