Sermon for 2003 June 1, "Invitation Evensong", St Mary Magdalen, Sheet

Bible readings: Isaiah 61, Luke 4:16-30

There’s no doubt what the big story in Sheet has been this last couple of weeks. So big that the story has been on BBC South Today and in the national press. The last time Sheet was put on the map in such a big way was over a year ago when the choir had a special programme on Radio 4 and a lovely picture of the church and Sheet Green appeared in the Radio Times. And this latest news also concerns the green, in particular the swing that has been hung from the chestnut tree for the children to play on. The council have decided that this swing has got to come down because they fear that if a child has an accident they will be held responsible, they will be sued and we poor old council tax payers will have to pick up the bill. Well, I nearly didn’t talk about this because I have very strong feelings on the subject, but in the interests of fairness I’m not going to tell you which way I stand, you’ll just have to guess that.

But what is at the heart of the swing saga is the subject I really want to talk about, and that is risk. In the debate about the swing there is a lot of talk about children’s need to take risks in order to learn how the world works. And on the council side it’s also a matter of taking risks. By leaving the swing up there they would put themselves at risk of a lawsuit, by taking it down they risk unpopularity, and they have had to weigh up and assess those risks. Risk is always a big part of our lives as human beings.

Now think about our second lesson this evening. What on earth has that got to do with risk? Luke tells us that Jesus went to the synagogue in the place where he was brought up, as he did every Saturday. Just as someone who was brought up here might come to this church every Sunday. He stood up to read, he was on the readers’ rota, just as many members of our congregation might do. He could very easily have just given his reading and possibly said a few nice words about it, as perhaps he had done before. But this time after reading from the prophet Isaiah, much as we heard it in our first lesson:...

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord

...Jesus took a huge risk. He dared to say to them that "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing". He could have said almost anything else and it wouldn’t have had such an electrifying effect on his audience. Somehow, once he had said something so radical and made his audience gasp in wonder, he had to go through with it. He had to get them to face up to the fact that they couldn’t really cope with what he was saying, because he was just a local lad, Joseph’s son. He had to tell them that no prophet was accepted in his own country. He had to give them an explanation, going back to the stories of Elijah and Elisha. And it was as if his own prophecy came true, his people did reject him, they tried to drum him out of town, they wanted to throw him off a cliff, but he just passed though the midst of them and "went on his way". Now when we read that he went on his way we might think that it just means "he went off home", but when Luke uses these words it means a lot more, because his whole Gospel is about Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, to suffering and death. This is the beginning of his journey.

Jesus took this great risk to say something because what he said was true and because to say it was an act of great love. And because he took the risk and survived, and thrived in his ministry and was able to take that path to the cross, we are Christians today. And that means that in our turn we are invited to take the same kind of risks as he took. Surely not? Jesus, yes, of course he had to take risks. Evangelists in countries where Christianity is persecuted, yes, they have to take risks. Church workers in difficult, violent inner-city estates, yes, of course they have to take risks. But you, in Downs House, Bulmer House, Ramscote [local old peoples' homes, from where most of today's congregation have come], where you live? And me, where I live? Where does risk-taking for Jesus’ sake come into our lives? If we thought about it for a while I think we could find many ways in which we could take risks and should take risks for Jesus. If we are greeted by someone we despise, we can give a gruff response or we can take that risk, return the greeting graciously. If we give someone something when we know they won’t be grateful or won’t appreciate our hard work, we take a risk. In any argument or discussion we can doggedly hold on or we can take a risk. Every time we take a risk like that we are doing something just as special as Jesus did in the synagogue, and just as important on our journey as it was to Jesus.

Taking risks like that isn’t easy but there’s something very important to remember and which makes all the difference. And that is what Jesus did. He took the ultimate risk. Actually it was worse, he took a risk where he knew he was going to lose. He went to the Cross. He knew he would lose the goodwill of the crowd once again, but much worse, he lost the link to God his Father, he allowed himself to be abandoned by God, and he did that out of love for you and for me. And that means that every one of those risks we take, no matter how much the odds might be stacked against us, will be honoured by God. I feel sorry for councils who don’t know what to do about a children’s swing, and for children as they play and make mistakes, and for all of us who don’t know how to weigh up the consequences of our actions because of all the risks and uncertainties. But when we take any kind of risk out of love, with our friends and our families and those we live alongside, we are doing something that is absolutely certain to please God, and in every generation we help to bring true that promise of Jesus in the synagogue, of good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, liberty for the oppressed, and the year of the Lord’s favour. Worth taking the odd risk for!

© Mike Knee, 2003