St Margaret's Church Prestwich

Rev Helen preached this sermon on Sunday 23 March 2025. Here it is for you again:

Now I would never wish to stereotype but British people, natives mainly, we do some very strange things don’t we, like bizarre! I follow on Social Media an account called ‘Very British Problems’ buy the books as well and it just points out some of the strange things that we do. If you’ve been on the parish retreats with me you’ll have seen the quiz books come out. What these do is they point out the strange things we do and allow us to laugh at ourselves, like apologising to something when you walk into it, board game ethics, it’s ok to get annoyed with that person who just can’t grasp the rules or keep the dice on the table, why we can’t just turn in a street and walk in the opposite direct you have to go in to a shop, pretend to browse for a bit and head out going the other way. Hours of fun and laughing at yourself.

One bit in book three that really made me laugh was the stages of British anger, now I love watching British people get angry because it happens but being British we still have to do it in a reserved way, not showing to much emotion. So let’s have a laugh at ourselves and see what you think of this! Bottom end is slightly put out, the time when someone park in your usual parking spot because a neighbour dares to have visitors, the tutting will start to denote this, then you get a bit cross, usually when you start to yell at someone else through no fault of their own, I was once cross and yelled at my brother for breathing to loudly, then you will start to seeth, this is recognised when you see someone annoyed, you tell them to calm down and they respond I AM CALM! So you have to take them aside just to… and finally silence, my dad’s good at this, you just leave him to it because he is like a firework that’s not gone off and no one dares to go and prod the fuse!

In the reading today we get a taste of God’s anger and there is nothing subtle about it at all. When God gets angry, God gets angry, look at the story of the flood! In the second reading today from the letter to the Corinthians, another disobedient group of followers Paul is trying to do something with, they are reminded about the generation of people in the wilderness who displeased God and the punishment they received, not being allowed into the promised land, God followed through on this one. Happened to them and could happen to you as well do not put God to the test or try God’s patience it’s not going to go well!

If you look back there’s quite a few people who have felt the wrath of God over the years, Adam and Eve, Cain, Ahab and Jezabel add your own to the list. Even those who have led a good life can go off the rails and displease God, Noah got drunk and ended up naked in a tent, Moses displeased God and he wasn’t allowed to enter the promised land after everything he did and King David greatest king of Israel, Jesus is a proud descendant of him and he had a good life, as long as you look over the whole Bathsheba incident. The punishments were handed out to everyone!

You can always tell went we get deep into the lent lectionary is all a bit punishment and damnation led, especially three weeks in and the lack of chocolate, for me, is just starting to take effect! I like to hope there’s a bit of a chance somewhere for some redemption.

Today’s parable is an interesting one isn’t it, not one of Jesus more well know parables and I think we can have a good guess at why that is as it’s not one of his most positive. You have a tree which has everything it needs however it’s not growing, it’s not flourishing. It is ordered, after a period of time, to cut the tree down as it is not bearing any fruit or flourishing, the gardener is ordered to chop it down. However the gardener there wants the tree to live for another year before it is destroyed, if it produces fruit it can stay but if it doesn’t then it shall be destroyed. The is Old Testament God’s anger right there, way beyond seething, not doing as wanted or needed, chop it down and get rid of it, but I think it’s fair to conclude there is a bit more going on in here.

Everyone knows they can delight in God’s word and hear it and rejoice, we hear that in Isaiah about how to satisfy and enjoy God. The thing is when you hear God’s word you need to do something with it, it needs to be more than skin deep. When it talks about the gardener coming to give the tree another chance and see if they can do something to make it fruitful, is that Jesus inserting himself into the story? Listen to me and I will give you what you need to bear fruit and you can avoid God’s anger of being finished off. Delight in the word of Jesus and take them to heart, maybe another parable to put here is one you don’t hear much but I always remember it as we sang a song about it at primary school, it’s the one that comes right at the end of the sermon on the mount in Matthew, that huge block of Jesus teachings, Jesus give those listening a choice of hearing his word and making it the foundation of your life or not doing,  this is Matthew 7:24 – 27 ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!’

So can we do better than our ancestors in the faith and avoid God’s anger, although the though of God seething and giving us the silent treatment still makes me smile. Yes we can we do that through the chance we are given by Jesus, follow him and listen to his words and make sure they become the foundation of your life. if you do you will flourish and bear fruit and be his disciple for future generations to help them to bear fruit too. Amen