Refreshing lives, transforming faith, at the heart of the community Haere Mai, Piki Mai
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A Sermon by The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
Nelson Cathedral
Sunday, 8 June 2008
Readings for Mission Sunday:
OT Lesson: Genesis 12: 1-9
Epistle: Romans 4: 13-25
Holy Gospel: St. Matthew 9: 9-13, 18-26
Father may my words be true to your word and our hearts open to hear you.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen
This morning you were all expecting to hear from Canon Robert Kereopa,
Executive Officer of the Anglican Missions Board.
Robert phoned me yesterday to say he had managed to get an earlier flight,
but by the time he was due to board the aircraft, the airport in
Christchurch was closed due to snow. He then hired a car and set out to
drive to Nelson so that he could be here with us. Three hours later he
phoned to say that he had spent the last hour and three quarters in a
traffic jam just outside Cheviot. The road over the Hundalees had just been
closed and he was about to turn the car around and head back to
Christchurch.
Robert made every effort to be with us.
At 8:00 last night I sat down to write this message to you, and could not
help but think of the parallels between Robert′s endeavours to be here
and that of our Mission Partners. They too set out to bring God′s word
to places not only beyond their own towns but also beyond their own
countries.
Their road is not always easy.
Sometimes, as with Robert, it′s the weather conditions that block
their journey.
Sometimes it′s the bureaucratic climate in the countries they are
trying to reach.
Visas cannot be secured.
Aid shipments are blocked.
It was only last night on the news I saw Mission Without Boarders being
refused entry with the essential food supplies much needed in Zimbabwe.
In Genesis we read:
"Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your
father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a
great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you
will be a blessing."
God called Abraham to leave his homeland, family and friends and asked him
to choose a new life serving God in foreign countries.You could say that
Abraham was God′s first missionary!
We all know that from Abraham a great nation was born, and that God kept his
promise – our passage for Romans reinforces this, but the road was
never easy.
There were famines, wars, enmity between brothers. Eventually the Hebrews
spent 40 years in the wilderness going round in circles.
Would they ever reach their destination?
Yet they did get to the Promised Land.And from the tribe of Judah, from the
line of David came the offspring that was both human and divine.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
When Jesus began his ministry he stood in the temple and read from Isaiah 61:1
"The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed 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."
Jesus was sent to reach out to all people.
He is the reason we continue to reach out to others as missionaries.
To reach out with the good news of God′s love and forgiveness.
For the oppressed
For the broken hearted
For those in literal, physical and emotional prisons
It is the good news of freedom,
freedom that can only come through belief in God.
Our gospel reading is also about being called.
Jesus was calling together the 12 who would become his Disciples.They
weren′t the brightest and the best.
They were the ordinary and even the despised – a tax collector no less
– a traitor working for the enemy!
Yet Jesus calls all to hear his message of salvation. The limits are only
within us, our response.
The good news is available to all.
Today missionaries go to every corner of this world and offer this very same
message of faith to all who would listen. The message is constant,
but in many ways Missionary service has changed much over the last
century.The colonial missionaries brought many other changes along with the
gospel message.
Today′s missionaries preach God′s word but often only after
offering the practical necessities of life, they work with in the culture of
land, making great efforts not to disrupt but to build from where people
are. They begin by meeting humanitarian needs. Much as we saw Jesus doing.
One moment Jesus was calling Matthew to follow him the next he was listening
to a grieving father, Jairus.
Before he could answer one need we see him responding to a woman who has
suffered with 12 years of bleeding and as a result exclusion from society.
Missionaries today also serve as doctors, nurses and counselors. Practical
skills supplemented by fervent prayer for those in need.
They also work as teachers, engineers, pilots and builders. They serve in
ghettos, rubbish dumps and war zones.
In the name of Christ, relief workers offer the basic necessities of life,
they are then often followed by long term support teams.
We only have to look at our Partners in Missions Prayer needs to see the
wide range of activities carried out by today′s missionaries.
Just look at our own mission project in Papua New Guinea supporting the work
of the National Coordinator of the Village Health Volunteers
This is an integral part of the Anglican Health Service taking health care
services to where people live.
The funds we will raise today through our mission envelopes and the
donations for soup and rolls after the 10:00 service
will enable the National Coordinator to visit the many village volunteers
and in doing so encourage, support and equip them.
Our target for the year is $3,500.It is now June and we have raised less
than one thousand dollars.We cannot all donate large sums of money for
missions,
but every dollar helps.
We are not all called to leave our hometowns, as Abraham, Paul and Matthew
did, but we can offer our financial support,
and we can use the
Partners in Prayer
resources to under-gird all they do
with God′s strengthening and empowering.
Something needed by everyone who steps out for God.
As Canon Robert Kereopa says in his Welcome to Partners in Prayer:
"Each day our Church is called to pray for the Global Mission of our
Church. Prayer is arguably the most important activity of the Church, as we
join together to pray for God’s Church and for God’s work in the
world.
Prayer is the key to discern, plan for, organise for, launch and sustain our
Mission.
Each day is dedicated to one of our Church’s Mission Partnerships with
fellow Churches; Mission people serving overseas; or specific Mission
projects supported by AMB on behalf of the Church. As you pray through this
prayer cycle day by day and month by month, you will gain a better
understanding of the Global Mission work coordinated by AMB on behalf of the
Church."
Partners in Prayer is used for our weekly Bulletin prayers and daily in the
Chapel services. It is available from the
Anglican Missions Board website.
Of course overseas projects are not the only way God calls us to work for
missions.
We each are asked to give an account of the reason for our faith in our own
immediate environment.
And there are practical ways we can help too. We have our weekly donations
for the food bank.
Have you noticed the blue plastic container on the trolley as you enter?
This food is used to help people in need here in Nelson.
There are also meals needed for the Parish nursing team to take to those who
are housebound.
Taking time to visit neighbours and fellow parishioners is important too and
letting the staff know if someone is in need.
These are all part of being missionaries for God.
Prayer, giving, loving care and support.
Reaching out to the world here in Nelson, in Papua New Guinea and to the
ends of the earth.
Let us all take time this Mission Sunday to ask God what he is calling us to
do and then to respond wholeheartedly.
To hear God′s call and to respond.
Just like Abraham, like Matthew, and like the National Coordinator in Papua
New Guinea.
May we all serve as missionaries for God. This I pray in Jesus′ name.
Amen.
The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf
This sermon was written and delivered by The Reverend Yvonne McLean tssf at Nelson Cathedral, 8 June 2008 at 8:00 and 10:00
Footnote
Partners in Prayer
An annual publication to encourage prayer for
mission partners and projects.
Partners in Prayer contains
intercessions for the church workers overseas, mission partners and overseas
partner churches, together with information about missions projects and
programmes supported by and involving workers from and for the Anglican
Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The material is presented in
diary form for the use through the month, each day focusing on an
initiative, a partner church or an activity in which workers from our Church
are engaged.
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