A sermon given at Christ Church Downend, http://christchurchdownend.com/ More sermons available at http://www.social-statistics.org/?cat=22

1. Good
News?
Or
a
great
challenge?
(Sermon
given
at
the
9.15am
service,
Christ
Church
Downend,
Sunday
January
20th,
2013.
The
Bible
reading
is
Luke
4:
14-­‐21).
I
wonder
if
you
have
been
in
a
situation
where
the
mood
turned
ugly?
When
emotions
turn
from
euphoria
to
anger
and
do
so
at
rapid
speed.
It’s
not
a
nice
situation
to
be
in,
is
it?
It
is
scary
and
unsettling
to
be
in
the
midst
of
a
pack
mentality.
So
imagine
the
scene.
You
are
tourist,
visiting
Bristol
cathedral.
As
you
stand
there,
admiring
the
architecture
and
feeling
mildly
guilty
that
you
have
not
contributed
the
suggested
donation,
a
man
steps
up
to
read.
He
is
handed
a
Bible,
open
at
the
book
of
Isaiah.
Flicking
through
it
the
man
settles
on
Chapter
61
–
a
passage
that
talks
to
Israel
about
the
coming
Messiah.
Imagine
the
man
has
an
audience.
And
he
has
their
attention.
Slowly
at
first
but
with
confidence
and
gravitas,
he
reads:
The
Spirit
of
the
Lord
God
is
upon
me,
because
the
LORD
has
appointed
me;
he
has
sent
me
to
bring
good
news
to
the
oppressed,
to
bind
up
the
broken-­‐hearted,
to
proclaim
liberty
to
the
captives,
and
release
to
the
prisoners;
to
proclaim
the
year
of
the
LORD’s
favour.
There
is
silence.
You
could
hear
a
pin
drop.
The
power
of
the
words
is
left
reverberating
around
this
magnificent
old
building,
bouncing
off
the
walls
into
the
hearts
and
minds
of
those
who
hear
them.

2. Quietly
the
man
returns
to
his
seat
and
then,
with
perfect
timing,
breaks
the
silence
by
adding,
“Today,
this
scripture
as
been
fulfilled
in
your
hearing.”
The
crowd
is
delighted.
They
go
wild.
“Yes,
God
is
good!”
“God
is
great!”
“He
is
here!”
“He
is
with
us!”
All
eyes
are
upon
the
man
now.
What
will
he
say
next?
This
man
has
the
audience
eating
of
his
hand
and
they
are
hungry
for
more.
But
does
he
feed
them?
No,
he
snatches
it
away.
A
few
more
words,
not
well
received.
And
soon
their
meaning
begins
to
sink
in.
“Hang-­‐on,
what
did
he
say?”
“Did
he
just
insult
us?”
“He
did,
didn’t
he?”
“That
ain’t
on,
I
am
not
standing
for
that.”
“I
didn’t
come
here
to
be
insulted,
and
certainly
not
by
him.”
“He
needs
sorting
out
he
does.”
“Needs
to
learn
his
place.”
“Grab
him!”
They
hatch
a
plan.
Simple
but
effective.
They
will
throw
him
in
the
harbour.
Of
course,
he’ll
drown
but
they
don’t
care.
A
mob
mentality
has
taken
over.
A
primeval
urge
to
kill.
It’s
not
looking
good
for
the
man.
Yet,
miraculously,
under
high-­‐arches
ceilings
of
chaos
and
confusion,
the
man
safely
passes
through
rivers
of
seething
rage
and
emerges
unscathed
onto
Cathedral
Green.
And
from
there
he
crosses
Broadmead
making
his
journey
ever
onwards
towards
the
wilder,
untamed
lands
of
South
Gloucestershire.
You
stop
and
ponder.
What
had
the
man
done
to
gain
the
wrath
of
the
crowd?
What
did
he
say
that
could
turn
their
emotions
so
quickly?

3. Puzzled,
you
walk
slowly
up
the
aisle
of
the
now
empty
building,
the
sounds
of
your
shoes
echoing
as
you
walk.
You
get
to
the
front,
turn
and
look
down.
There
in
front
of
you
is
the
Bible
he
had
read
from
still
open
at
the
book
of
Isaiah.
Curious
you
begin
to
read
through
it.
What
you
find
is
that
Isaiah,
like
other
Prophetic
books
in
the
Bible,
is
a
mixture
of
lament,
national
self-­‐reflection,
a
cry
of
despair
yet
also
a
hope
for
the
future.
It
is
written
after
the
siege
and
fall
of
Jerusalem,
with
the
Jewish
people
living
in
exile
in
Babylon.
The
author
of
Isaiah
cannot
escape
this
reality
so
he
faces
some
tough
questions.
Why
has
it
happened?
Why
has
Israel
been
brought
so
low?
What
of
God’s
covenant
to
his
chosen
people?
And
so,
as
you
stand
reading
this
ancient
old
text,
you
find
it
unsettling.
(Isaiah
9)
The
people
have
not
returned
to
him
who
struck
them,
nor
have
they
sought
the
Lord
Almighty.
So
the
Lord
will
cut
off
from
Israel
both
head
and
tail,
both
palm
branch
and
reed
in
a
single
day.
(Isaiah
10)
Woe
to
those
who
make
unjust
laws,
to
those
who
issue
oppressive
decrees
to
deprive
the
poor
of
their
rights
and
withhold
justice
from
the
oppressed
of
my
people,
making
widows
their
prey
and
robbing
the
fatherless.
What
will
you
do
on
the
day
of
reckoning,
when
disaster
comes
from
afar?
To
whom
will
you
run
for
help?
Where
will
you
leave
your
riches?
Nothing
will
remain
but
to
cringe
among
the
captives
or
fall
among
the
slain.

4. The
text
is
hard-­‐hitting
and
austere.
But
here
is
a
curiosity!
Interweaved
in
the
text
there
is
hope,
a
promise
of
a
better
future:
(Isaiah
60)
Arise,
shine,
for
your
light
has
come,
and
the
glory
of
the
Lord
rises
upon
you.
See,
darkness
covers
the
earth
and
thick
darkness
is
over
the
peoples,
but
the
Lord
rises
upon
you
and
his
glory
appears
over
you.
Nations
will
come
to
your
light,
and
kings
to
the
brightness
of
your
dawn.
Yet
with
that
hope
comes
responsibility:
(Isaiah
58)
Is
not
this
the
kind
of
fasting
I
have
chosen:
to
loose
the
chains
of
injustice
and
untie
the
cords
of
the
yoke,
to
set
the
oppressed
free
and
break
every
yoke?
Is
it
not
to
share
your
food
with
the
hungry
and
to
provide
the
poor
wanderer
with
shelter
-­‐
when
you
see
the
naked,
to
clothe
them,
and
not
to
turn
away
from
your
own
flesh
and
blood?
Then
your
light
will
break
forth
like
the
dawn,
and
your
healing
will
quickly
appear;
then
your
righteousness
will
go
before
you,
and
the
glory
of
the
Lord
will
be
your
rear
guard.
Then
you
will
call,
and
the
Lord
will
answer;
you
will
cry
for
help,
and
he
will
say:
here
am
I.
Now
you
get
it.
The
reason
the
man
–
shall
we
him
Jesus…?
The
reason
Jesus
got
into
so
much
trouble
is
that
he
insinuated
that
his
audience
were
rebellious
to
God.
Hypocrites,
perhaps.
Listening
but
never
really
hearing.
The
good
news
they
thought
they
were
receiving
became
something
of
a
charge
sheet
against
them.

5.
I
wonder
if
I
take
God
too
much
for
granted.
I
wonder
if
sometimes
–
no,
often
–
I
cheapen
his
love
and
grace.
I
don’t
believe
he
loves
me
any
the
less
for
it
but
I
wonder
if
I
end
up
loving
him
less?
I
wonder
if
I
deny
myself
the
opportunity
to
experience
the
fullness
of
a
life
anointed
by
God.
I
wonder
if
I
sell
both
Him
and
myself
short.
Writing
in
the
Diocesan
Newsletter,
Bishop
Mike
reflects
on
a
book
called
Holiness
by
JC
Ryle.
I
would
like
to
read
to
you
what
he
says.
He
writes,
Ryle
says
that
the
faith
that
justifies
us
is
not
the
same
as
the
faith
that
sanctifies
us.
That
it
to
say,
the
faith
by
which
we
accept
Christ
and
his
salvation
is
not
the
same
faith
by
which
our
lives
should
be
directed.
His
[Ryle’s]
point
is
this:
the
faith
that
makes
us
Christians
requires
no
effort
on
our
part,
other
than
to
accept
Christ
and
what
his
life,
death,
resurrection
and
ascension
have
achieved
for
us.
Salvation
is
not
on
the
basis
of
what
we
have
done,
but
on
the
basis
of
what
God
in
Christ
has
done
for
us.
The
faith
that
makes
us
more
like
Christ,
on
the
other
hand,
requires
effort.
That’s
why
spiritual
disciplines
are
so
important.
Prayer
and
fasting,
generosity
and
worship,
solitude
and
periodic
abstinence
will
help
you
become
more
like
Jesus,
but
they
will
require
effort.
Faith
crucially
involves
living
as
though
we
believe
that
life
with
God
is
eminently
more
fulfilling
and
hopeful
than
life
without
God.
[…]
We
need
to
put
ourselves
in
a
position
whereby
we
have
to
trust
God.
Sometimes
life
puts
us
in
those
situations
–
when
we
are
ill
or
bereaved
or
in
a
breaking
relationship
or
unemployed.
That’s

6. why
it
is
that
some
people
(not
all)
make
huge
strides
in
their
relationship
with
God
in
seasons
of
adversity.
What
being
in
a
position
of
trusting
God
might
look
like
in
your
life
is
going
to
be
different
for
everyone.
It
may
be
to
do
with
honest
relationships,
sacrificial
generosity
of
your
time,
energy
or
finances,
speaking
about
God
and
what
you
believe.
[Nevertheless,]
If
we
can
lift
the
‘faith
threshold’
in
our
lives,
churches
and
diocese
I
truly
believe
that
we
will
together
grow
in
every
sense
of
the
word.”
Let’s
turn
our
attention
back
to
Jesus
and
to
his
words
from
Isaiah.
The
Spirit
of
the
Lord
God
is
upon
me,
because
the
LORD
has
appointed
me;
he
has
sent
me
to
bring
good
news
to
the
oppressed,
to
bind
up
the
broken-­‐hearted,
to
proclaim
liberty
to
the
captives,
and
release
to
the
prisoners;
to
proclaim
the
year
of
the
LORD’s
favour.
You
know,
these
words
are
some
of
my
favourite
in
the
Bible.
They
say
immediately
what
God,
what
Jesus,
is
about.
He
turns
the
ways
of
the
world
upside
down.
He
embraces
those
that
society
marginalises.
He
reaches
out
to
those
who
are
left
uncared
for.
He
is
a
God
of
justice
and
of
love.
I
still
love
the
words
but
I
am
beginning
to
think
that
I
am
reading
them
with
too
much
of
a
cosy
sentimentality
that
stupefies
their
intended
impact.
They
encourage
me
because
they
tell
me
what
God
is
about.
But
do
I
let
them
challenge

7. me,
because
they
also
say
what
God
wants
me
–
us
–
to
be
about
also?
Am
I
really
willing
to
make
Jesus’
mission
statement
my
own?
Imagine,
again,
you
are
in
the
temple.
Jesus
stands.
He
reads.
Then
he
challenges.
Do
you
respond
with
anger?
Or
with
humility?
Do
you
bray
for
blood
or
fall
at
his
feet
and
worship?
Will
you
turn
away
or
will
you
arise
and
shine,
for
your
light
has
come,
and
the
glory
of
the
Lord
rises
upon
you?
Jesus
stands
before
us.
The
Spirit
of
the
Lord
God
is
upon
Him.
The
decision
we
need
to
make
is
whether
to
reject,
resist
or
follow.
Amen.