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SPA Commissioning Service 2004
Preacher: Claire Peppiatt

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, be now, and always, acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Strength, and our Redeemer. Amen.

Before I turn to the words of this very challenging passage we have just heard, I would like to thank the SPA Council for the honour and privilege of being invited to speak here this evening. It is particularly moving for me to be here because I was myself commissioned as a SPA almost exactly 20 years ago today, here in Southwark Cathedral.

I would also like to congratulate the SPAs who are about to be commissioned. I know something about the training which they have all just been through. It is rigorous, it is challenging, and it is demanding. I think that most, if not all of them, will agree with me, when I say that on more than one occasion, in order to do what was required of them, they had to move well outside their comfort zone.

It is a tribute, both to them, and to the vision, leadership, encouragement and support of Chris Chapman and the training team, that they are here this evening. I think that they all deserve our very warmest congratulations.

SPAs are ordinary Christians who have been trained and authorized by the Diocese to undertake a particular ministry.

And all of us here who are Christians are called by God to exercise our own particular ministry wherever God has placed us; and the Gospel we have just heard is, of course, addressed to us all.

"Abide in me as I abide in you."

"Without me, you can do nothing" and then:
"This is my commandment, that you love one another"

"I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another"

Do we dare to take Jesus' words seriously?

Because He makes some fairly impossible demands of His followers.

He asks us not only to love one another, but to love our enemies as well!

Well, let us forget about our enemies for now, and be honest about how difficult it often is to love one another, in our own families, in our own churches, within the Christian community.

It is not easy, and it never has been easy. The quarrels go back to the apostles arguing with one another as to who was the greatest, and the leaders of the early Church fighting with each other about how the church was to be run.

But this difficulty in loving one another can rather get in the way of a fruitful and effective ministry.

How do we proclaim the message of God’s love when we are seething with rage over the stupidity of our fellow Christians, who just do not see the point, or who we feel have badly let us down How do we love one another, as we have been commanded to do?

We don't have to like each other particularly. We don't have to agree with one another. But we do have to treat one another with courtesy, and with respect and with kindness. St. Paul says it all in 1 Corinthians 13.

But it must be said that even he did not always find it easy. In fact, I think his temperament was such that He found it very difficult, and he was constantly needing to call upon God's help!

Some years ago I was talking to a friend who had previously been involved with a Christian institution within which there were now some very un-Christian and unloving goings on. I asked her why she thought this was happening?

"You know", she said, "I think these things happen because people forget to say their prayers"

If we forget to say our prayers, if we forget to abide in Jesus Christ.

We cannot love in the way in which Jesus commands us to.

Unless we put Jesus Christ at the very heart of our lives and of our ministry, unless we take Him seriously, we can do nothing.

Where do we begin?

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love"

That is where we begin. We begin with God's love for us.

We abide in Him when we begin to trust that love, however tentatively – when we take the risk of taking Him seriously, of really listening, with open minds and open hearts, to what He is saying to us; of grappling with the Scriptures, and the problems of human nature, without first editing out whatever does not happen to suit us.

We abide in Him when we ask for his help in sorting out our problems. I hear people say that we shouldn't come to God with a "shopping list" of all our needs. Why ever not? If we really do abide in Him, is there anything we cannot talk to Him about?

And we abide in Him when we ask for His help for other people.

Or when we vent our anger on Him because it seems that He has let us down – when in fact we feel convinced that He has let us down!

Or when we thank Him, and praise Him for His wonderful gifts.

Or when we allow ourselves just to enjoy being in His Presence.

And we are of course always in God's Presence, and His Presence is always with us. It is just that so often we fail to recognize this, to believe it, to act upon it. Let us pray for eyes to see Him, ears to hear Him, and hearts to receive Him.

Jesus does not promise us an easy life in His Presence. He does not promise us freedom from cancer, or from sudden death, or grief, or loss - or even from those things which irritate or annoy us.

He promises that when we abide in Him, we will bear fruit – fruit that will last. And that often means taking risks, facing challenges, being prepared sometimes to be highly uncomfortable. And in some situations, of course, it means being hated because we are His followers. (That is one of the passages I myself would prefer to edit out).

Jesus also promises us JOY!

"I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete".

Joy – the hallmark of all who abide in Him.

Moreover, He says,

"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."

And just in case we don't get it the first time round, He repeats it,

"I appointed you to bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name."

What astonishing words! What an astonishing promise!

Are we prepared to take it seriously? Are we prepared to test whether it is true that when we abide in Him, His Holy Spirit will teach us how to pray, and what to ask for, and that He will indeed give us whatever we ask in His Name?

We know that the Christian journey is an ongoing journey. We are always travelling, and only God knows when we will arrive. We will stumble and fall, and we will make mistakes; and with God's continuing help we will pick ourselves up and we will travel on.

And as we travel in one another's company, let us always abide in Him:

In the Risen, Living Lord.

Not just someone we read about,

But the One who has promised that He will be with us always, and that nothing can ever separate us from His love.

Who is present with us now, in His power, and His glory, and His love for us,

Here, now, in this Cathedral, as we wait upon Him, and worship Him, and ask for His blessing upon our various ministries.

With us as we go from here, with us in our work and in our families and in our friendships.

With us when we struggle, when we weep, when we rail against Him, when we are tempted to despair. With us in all our weakness.

And with us too when we rejoice, and give thanks, and stand before Him in awe and wonder. With us in our strength.

"As my Father has loved me, so I have loved you.
Abide in my love"

So, sisters and brothers, let us abide in Him, and He in us. And then:

We will bear fruit – Fruit that will last.

We will be filled with God's Holy Spirit, and we will do God’s work.

We will be truly joyful.

And - we may even go some way towards loving one another.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

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