Hi everyone, I wanted to share some sermons I heard on Mothers day in the UK which was the 15th March on caring for others. This message is for all of us irrespective of gender..
This sermon is based on-(Exodus 2:1-10) and (John 19: 25-27)
So, I thought today that I would preach about baskets because we've got this lovely basket here that we've had as part of our story floating along in the river. And it's a basket that was carrying something very precious. I'm going to sit him up so he's peering over the edge for you. It was carrying something really precious. We've got baby Moses here who was placed in the basket lovingly by his mum because his mum was wanting to keep him safe. Baby Moses who was rescued lovingly from the basket by the princess who found him.
And even though it was none of her business, she decided to do the kind thing, the loving thing, and to keep him safe. Over in on that table over there, there are some baskets and instructions for making them. So, if at any point in the service, anybody, you don't have to be little, if you'd like to go and try making a basket, I've got some baskets over there that you don't even need glue for. You just fold them in and out of each other. The instructions are there and you can have a basket and think what you might put inside it. I'm going to restock my basket.
Hopefully I can restock it in a way where you can't see my things when I first put them in. There we are. I've got a basket full of all manner of things here because I was thinking baskets don't only carry baby Moses. They don't only carry baby Moses to safety, but baskets carry all kinds of things. In our gospel reading, we heard Jesus on the cross telling his disciple whom he loved to carry his mother in a way to carry him as his mother, didn't he? He said, "Man, here's your mother." And he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son."
Jesus reinterprets our relationships and gives us each other to carry. He doesn't give us a basket for me to put you in and lug you around. Thank goodness because I think that might not be very good for my back. But he does give us each other and tell us to carry each other. That's how the church works, isn't it? We carry each other and look after each other. And I've got some things in here that I will take out to show. I wonder if I can balance it. I think we're okay. Right. So, what kinds of things is it that God tells us to carry for each other? Right. I've got a tin of tea bags here.
I've got tea bags in here because that's a very British thing, isn't it? If there's a problem, if someone has a trouble, if they need to speak with you, often we'll invite people and we will say, "Come and have a cuppper. We'll put on the kettle. We'll make a cup of tea. We'll give each other time to talk through our problems to unbburden ourselves on one another."
We carry for each other. We carry each other's time. We give each other time. We listen to each other and hear each other's worries. What else have I got? We don't carry each other's baby Moses. He's just there for the fun of it today in the basket here with us. Right. We carry the things that are heavy for each other. I've got this stone here if you want to have a look later. It's my special stone. Can you see? It's got a cross on it. It's rather lovely. I found this on the beach when my daughter was abroad and I brought it back in my luggage. We carry what's heavy for each other. Sometimes things are too heavy to carry when we're alone.
But when we are pulled together in that family of the church, as Jesus says in that gospel, woman, here's your mother and man here. Yes. Woman, woman, here's your son. And son, here's your mother. He puts us in that relationship of care for each other to carry the things that are too difficult for us to do alone.
But within this family, this family of the Church of England, this family of the worldwide church, we can carry these things together. What else have I got in my basket here? I've got a book of stories. We carry each other's stories, don't we? By listening to each other, by knowing each other's lives, by knowing the stories that each other carries, that each other holds. The things in our lives which have given us joy, the things in our lives which are difficult.
We know each other. And that knowing is how we carry each other. The things that have happened to us in the past, the things that we carry with us, the things that shape us into who we are, the things that sometimes we drag along beside behind us. We carry those for each other. We carry each other's hurts and pains.. Not just each other's hurts and pains within this church here, but when we pray later in our intercessions, we'll be thinking about people from all around the world, the different hurts and pains they carry. And we step into that to help to carry those pains with them.
Got some honey. We carry each other's joys and sweetness in life as well, don't we? When part of the body of Christ suffers, we all suffer. But when part of the body of Christ rejoices, we all rejoice, right? We carry the light for each other. When one of us is finding life dark and difficult, the body of Christ is able to carry that light of Christ even when we're not able to hold it ourselves to share that light and joy of Christ with each other.
We carry each other's prayers. We pray for each other. We pray for each other here. But there's also prayers written on the pew sheet. So you can take them home and pray for each other. Remembering those who've particularly asked for our prayers at this time. Remembering those and their families, our loved ones who have died.
Remembering in our prayers all those from around the world who need our prayers, carrying those for them. All right, I've got a magnifying glass here. We carry each other's need for being held to account when we look clearly at each other as the body of Christ. It's also our job to call up the things that are not right. If we can see things being done in the church, that's wrong. If we can see people behaving badly, that's also how we carry each other. Not by turning a blind eye, but by shining a light on the wrong places and helping people to do things better.
I've got my little bird here as well. We carry each other's hope. I brought this because there's that poem, isn't it? Hope is the thing with feathers. And I thought, what can I bring that's got feathers? So, here we are. Here's our hope. We carry each other's hope. We hope for each other. We hope for a better world. We hope for the kingdom to come. We carry each other's hope in our hearts.
So, we need to remember to be like baskets for each other. We need to have the courage to give each other those most precious things of ours. Like Moses' mum placed that precious baby of hers in the basket knowing that somehow he would be cared for. This basket is a little bit like what we are called to be as the church to look after each other, to care for each other. We put into the basket all those things that are precious to us and that we know that as a church we will all carry it and care for each other together.
This sermon is based on (John 9).
I visit my housebound and sick at least once a week, sometimes more often, but at least once a week. And one of the persons that I visit lives in a care home. When I went to visit her this week, the supervisor asked me if I would visit another lady who is not necessarily on my list.
She said, "The lady you visit, I won't tell you her name, talks about you so much to this lady that she said, "The next time he visits, could he ask for me to come and see her?" I was very happy to do that. So, she took me to the lady's room, knocked on the door, announced that we were there, and we went in, and she introduced me, and then she left. I realised straight away the lady was blind.
But she had heard about me from her resident neighbour and obviously I don't know why she would do that and said nice things about me and said when he comes I'd love for him to come and see you. So here I was. The lady had the most beautiful spirit that you could ever see. And even though she's physically blind and not able to see as many of us can, her sight is such that you see the light of Christ in her.
The gospel today tells us the story of the man who was born blind. And you can imagine how difficult that would have been for him to be outside of the community. As we heard the discourse between the Pharisees and scribes and himself, they're challenging him to ask,
"How is it that you who are born in sin as a result of that you are born blind can now see and tell us that you were healed by this man?" His life would have been very difficult. It would not have been the same as the rest of the community. He would have wanted to be like everybody else. So he comes to Jesus because he knows that in Jesus he will be healed. We're told in the gospel today that Jesus took clay mud, put saliva on it, and touched his eyes and told him to go and wash in the river Silomme and he was healed. God took clay and breathed the life into it and created Adam. And here we see the story that Jesus is the new Adam who has come to save the world.
His life, his teaching, the acts of his life show us very clearly that he is the son of man. He is the son of God. Show me, the man said, that I may believe. We have been invited through baptism to follow the Lord, to be a member of the family of God. And last week I told you that last week's reading cantered on water. This week's reading centers on light, two of the symbols of baptism.
Light. Jesus, the light of the world, who pierces through the darkness of sin to bring light to us, you and I, so that we may be light to the world. Can you imagine what this man would have gone through living in darkness all of his life to meet Jesus, to have his eyes touched, to have his life changed?
There's a very beautiful hymn that goes, "Open my eyes, Lord, I want to see Jesus." And this man had his eyes opened. And he was able to see Jesus. He was able to go out and tell others what he had experienced. This lovely lady I met looked very much like my grandmother. She said she listens to her music. She doesn't always have someone to talk to. And very often in our lives, we go about doing our own business. And there's so many people who just want to see Jesus.
When you and I visit you, they see Jesus. When you and I speak to them, they hear Jesus. When you and I touch lives, they're touched by the lives of Jesus because we are called to be disciples, followers of the Lord So my brothers and sisters, as we continue our journey in Lent, let us ask the Lord to continue to open our eyes so that in all things we may see Jesus. To continue to touch our hearts so that in all things we may love Jesus. to continue to touch our hands and our feet that we may journey in faith to see Jesus and to accept he is our Lord, our Saviour and our Messiah. And he tells us where I am, I want you to be there, too.
We support each other. We pray for each other. We journey together. And may the light of Christ received in baptism. May the light of Christ received through the power of Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit burn in our hearts that we may bring light not darkness, love not hatred, joy not sorrow, hope not despair into our world.
Because at the moment we seem to be in a world of darkness. All we hear about is war and rumours of war. What we don't hear about are the men and women who continue to dedicate their lives to bringing Jesus into our world. You and I. And that is our challenge. And we should not hide our light under a bushel but allow it to shine so that the world may see. And maybe one day we too will be able to say, "Open my eyes, Lord. I want to see Jesus."
