Practical Christianity

Sunday 23rd November 2008 is the final Sunday in the Lectionary and the final Bible passage is about the parable of "the Sheep and the Goats". In 1991 we celebrated our Silver Wedding anniversary with a holiday on a Greek island we had always wanted to visit. We spent two weeks in Crete at the north western end of the island near the former capital, Xania. This, we found, was a very different Greek island from those we had visited before. For one thing it was so big it seemed like an independent state!

We decided to hire a car for three days and on the first day we drove into the mountains. The upward journey was fascinating as we turned tight bends and looked down on villages so far below us. One of the features of this journey was the occasional plateau we encountered as we drove slowly to the heights. It was on the final plateau that I suddenly saw, for the first time, a shepherd leading his sheep in the biblical style. Not only that but there were two separate groups of animals. There was a flock of sheep mixed in with a herd of goats. My immediate thought was "Matthew Chapter 25!" Now I appreciated that there were times when sheep were separated from goats because here was proof that they lived together.

Later during our holiday we were returning to our apartment when I noticed that a friend of George (owner of our apartments) and he were deep in conversation whilst his friend kept watch over a flock of sheep. They talked on an occasionally the shepherd whistled at his sheep to keep them from wandering into the stream that flowed close by. If they still got too close for safety he would accurately hurl a stone in their direction. The reaction was that the sheep moved away from danger. Now I had witnessed sufficient to understand the life of the biblical shepherd who tended his sheep without the aid of a trained dog.

Whenever I read the lectionary passage I think of the day when I saw for myself the life of the shepherd described in the Gospel. I think too of another passage, this time from John's Gospel, Chapter 21. It is the story of Jesus showing the unsuccessful fishermen where the fish they seek are to be found and then offering them a meal of fish cooked on the beach. Sitting there by the fire, he asks Peter three times, "Do you love me?" The answer is "Yes" three times. The response from Jesus is this, "Feed my sheep."

It is this concluding response from Jesus that links back to the passage in Matthew's Gospel. It underscores the Christian's duty which is to act and not just think. If all we do is talk and think but never actually go out and do something for others we are ineffective. Jesus did not die on the Cross so that we could feel good about ourselves and simply watch others in need without action to help them. Look at it this way - Jesus accepted death on the Cross as an action to save us. It is obvious that this activity is a challenge to us to go and do something ourselves. We are his hands and his feet and without us his salvation task is all the harder. I decided at an early point during my preaching years that Christianity is a practical, way of life.

The futility of the non active Christian is pointed out very graphically in the film, "Life of Brian" when Brian is nailed to the Cross and help comes in the form of a suicide squad. The local activists who saw potential in Brian did nothing but hold committee meetings. I hope that we are not like them and "all talk." We are challenged to take physical steps in order to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. This should be seen as going out into the world and not placing welcome signs on our church buildings. We have not been called to be theatre managers, getting backsides on seats, but as helping hands in a world of hardship and fear for most of its population.

In my formative years I remember a culture of listing the things that a Christian did not do. He/she did not drink, swear, smoke, go to the cinema on a Sunday, buy sweets on a Sunday etc, etc, etc. I heard very little that concerned what a Christian actually did. I think he/she simply went to church on Sundays and read the Bible during the week!

Not long ago I heard an excellent sermon illustration that highlights on of today's Christian attitudes. A Welshman found himself marooned on a desert island with years passing with no ship in sight that he might contact. Finding himself alone on the island he made good use of the local resources and constructed a very comfortable house to live in as well as other useful buildings. One day a ship hove into sight and he waved for help. He was spotted and taken off immediately. The ship's captain congratulated him on the way he had provided for himself so ably. "That's very handsome building at the west end of the beach. What is it?" "That," the man replied, "is the chapel that I go to." "And what is the building at the east end of the beach?" asked the captain. "That is the chapel that I don't go to." replied the man.

Perhaps we feel we have to ensure that there are things we do not do and places we do not frequent if we are to be called Christians. Yet, the clear call of Jesus is to serve him by serving his people.

Speaking personally, I do not wish to stand at the end of my earthly life and discover I have not fed the hungry, not brought drink to the thirsty, not taken in the stranger, not clothed the naked, not visited the sick or the prisoner. For me that would be an indictment I could not bear. Yet, on many an occasion I have felt like a bystander instead of an involved Christian.

At this time last year the members of my local Methodist Circuit Meeting heard of the plight of a Welsh sheep farmer who was staring bankruptcy in the face. He had never fully recovered from the effects of the major outbreak of foot and mouth disease some years ago. In June of 2007 he had been present when his father had a heart attack and died. Although he tried to help him his father died. Very soon afterwards came a minor outbreak of foot and mouth in southern England which caused a halt to the movement of all livestock. He was just about to export his lambs to the continent. What a blow it was! His creditors were demanding payment of the bills that had mounted up and he had no means of payment.

Rescue came when the Agricultural Chaplain suggested he organised a direct selling campaign. Arrangements were made to advertise lamb among churches and WIs at a low price. The orders came in thick and fast. Lambs were slaughtered and butchered at the abattoir and then brought back to the farm for packing. Then the cars began arriving to transport the meat back to the churches and WIs. Eventually all the available lamb was sold and the bills were covered. A follow up plan to sell pork through the same outlets was not needed and he was home and dry.

I personally made three journeys to the farm to collect lamb for which I had got orders. Above is the beautiful mountainous countryside where those lambs grazed. Finding Welsh addresses in the dark is quite difficult, I can assure you. But the task was finished and for the first time in my life I felt I had done something really worthwhile. It was a task that linked directly to Matthew Chapter 25.

An ineffectual church is something we can do without. We have to be there in the middle of life as Jesus was. Remember this poem:

"Some want to live with in the sound of church or chapel bell.

I want to run a rescue shop, within a yard of hell."

Reading Matthew's gospel we can see how we are called to practical service. Our lives will be seen in terms of how much practicality there is and not the quantity of profound thought. We have to avoid the endless committee meetings and simply get on with an urgent task. This the message we have to preach next Sunday.