Sunday Talk

A talk I'm giving this morning . . .

Since I ceased being a minister, I’ve still needed to earn a bob or two, and I’ve tried my hand at a number of things, some of which have involved fairly hard physical work. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Long ago, having just graduated but not having found a graduate job, I spent a few months working a sand-blasting machine in the production department of a factory making heavy electrical equipment.  It was heavy, tiring and - to be honest - rather boring work, after all, there isn’t much you can do to add interest to a job that involves blasting clean a succession of identical electric components. But, once I’d got to grips with the work, I quite enjoyed my time there, one of the few times in my life when I actually helped make something. As part of a production line I had to keep pace with the speed of the line. To begin with, at least, that was just a bit faster than the speed I could easily manage, but I got better and faster as time went on.

I couldn’t talk much to my workmates except at break times, it was far too noisy, but they weren’t a bad bunch of lads, and though we moaned about the job I think we were secretly quite proud that we could hold our own, keeping pace with the production line and playing our full part in the process.  Everyone seemed determined to do that job well, and not let the side down.  It was a hard working and loyal team, that disproved some of the negative things people sometimes say about the British worker.

I was glad of that loyalty, since I wasn’t much good at the job when I first started.  My first attempts mostly got sent back, with dire warnings about holding up the line.  Some of the others covered for me, and one guy very patiently worked alongside me till I’d properly got the hang of things. Theory and book learning can only get you so far; to really be able to do the job - whatever that job might be - you probably need someone to show you, and to work  alongside you while you learn by just having a go and trying to do it.  I was very glad that our section included some good natural teachers.
I remember from my schooldays that some teachers were miles better than others, even though presumably all my teachers had the appropriate qualifications. To be a good teacher, you need more than just the right certificates.

The recommended Gospel reading for today tells the story of Jesus and Nathaniel. Nathaniel was brought to Jesus by Philip, and he eventually became one of the Twelve; probably he was the same person as Bartholomew who gets a mention in the other Gospels. Nathaniel was looking for a teacher, a good teacher; he had questions he needed answers for; in other words, he was keen to be a disciple; a disciple is simply someone who listens and learns, who sits at the teacher’s feet and follows him along the way. Jesus had called Philip to be a disciple, and Philip was so excited he went straight away to find Nathaniel and tell him all about this great new teacher. Nathaniel, however, was not convinced.

Nathaniel knew that no good teacher would come from somewhere like Nazareth. Nazareth wasn’t a very pure place; it was in the north, in Galilee; here Jews lived alongside many non-Jews, and spoke more Greek than they did Aramaic or Hebrew. Galilee was a long way from the centre, a long hike from the Temple in Jerusalem. A teacher from Galilee couldn’t possibly have the right qualifications. How, despite himself, Nathaniel became convinced, we've heard in that reading from the end of chapter one in St John’s Gospel.

Jesus describes himself to Nathaniel as the ladder connecting earth and heaven, the one who will re-connect man and God. What makes him not just a good teacher but a great teacher, the best, is this: he sees deeply into the heart of us, he knows better than we do ourselves what makes us tick. And so he meets us where we are. We see this again and again in the stories of his encounters with people in the Gospels. We see it also in the experiences and the life stories of men and women who’ve offered themselves to follow him through the centuries.

This isn’t a man who stands high above us and lectures us; Jesus gets alongside us, and he is himself the message he gives us, he is himself our example to follow. And he calls people, all kinds of people. Look at those first twelve, and you might well ask - whay them? Why Nathaniel, or Philip? Why Peter and Andrew and James and John, or any of the others Jesus called?  For the most part these guys weren’t exactly high-fliers.  None of them was already a priest or preacher.  So why them, and why any of us, come to that?  I think another mark of the truly great teacher is that he will see things in us, possibilities and abilities, that we ourselves aren’t aware of. So what does Jesus look for in us, when he calls out and chooses disciples?  What is he looking for and expecting, from his Church?

A friend of mine is about to take up a new and fairly senior job in the Church. Knowing him, he’ll be asking some pretty serious questions of himself, as he prepares for his move.  And I know how eager he is for the prayers of others he prepares for the new ministry to which I'm sure Christ is calling him.  It's not a ministry he’s sought, in fact I think he’s spent most of his ministry doing his best to avoid any sort of promotion.  But I feel sure it’s a ministry he’s right for, and others have prayerfully seen that in him. Reflecting on that, I’m reminded that those first disciples of Jesus were called despite themselves;  and yet at the same time they were called because of themselves.

They weren't themselves the finished article, and if that’s what Jesus wanted he'd have been best looking elsewhere.  When we read the Gospels they don’t come across as the obvious best men for the job.  To be honest, there are times when they come across as a bit of a rabble, prone to arguing among themselves, and not always very bright at grasping what Jesus is really saying to them.

But they were enthusiastic and loyal; they were there when Jesus called, and they had the guts to say yes to him - and that's all Jesus needed of them.  Everything else could follow, so long as the starting point was right;  what Jesus wanted from those first disciples, and what Jesus wants from his Church today, are loyalty, enthusiasm and commitment - qualities he can build with.  Loyalty: loyalty to Jesus and to the message and mission with which he entrusts us;  and loyalty to one another in the work of mission we share. On the first day of this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it’s good to remind ourselves that we need to be together, we need to be praying for one another, we need to work to help each other, to support one another, to teach one another, in Jesus’ name. We need to be, not this or that particular sort of Christian, but simply this: disciples, fully focused on our teacher and saviour Jesus, the ladder between earth and heaven, the one who reconnects us to the Father’s love.

Back to sandblasting. I wasn't a natural sandblaster, to be honest I probably wouldn't have got the job without my Dad pulling a string or two.  I think that over the time I was there I actually got quite good at it, but the only reason I got good was that I was part of a good team. Being a Christian disciple is much the same - it’s about being part of a good team, and it’s about helping to make that team work. I've always thought of Jesus as calling us to be both cared-for and carers, learners and instructors, sheep and shepherds.  Like the first disciples Jesus called we’re not the finished article, there’s always new stuff to learn. So we need to be humble and honest, and ready to receive the things we need if we’re to grow and learn and improve;  we need also to be caring and clear sighted, so we can see where other people need our support, help, teaching, guidance, correction.  Disciples belong to Jesus, but they also belong to one another.

One of the wisest things said to me about Church was said not by a teacher or a church leader, but by a young person in one of my confirmation classes:  she wrote, "Church is what happens when people say 'yes' to God."  All the other stuff is incidental, however much we may like it or be moved by it - the buildings, the traditions, the liturgies, the familiar prayers we say and the favourite hymns we sing, robes and pews and stained glass windows:  that's not why we're here.  God says yes to us by sending Jesus as his Messiah:  Church is people saying 'yes' back and following Jesus when he asks us to.  But we can only say 'yes' to Jesus when we’re also saying 'yes' to one another. And disciples who come to learn from Jesus learn how to be teachers themselves, or apostles, the word we use . . . people with things to say, with a message to take out to the world, with love to share and to put into action.

The more we do that, and the better we do that, seeking his help to do that, then the more the Church will grow to be what our Lord calls it and wants it to be - a community committed to mission, and looking for growth.  Of course, knowing what needs doing isn’t the same as knowing how to do it. I was quite clear right from the start about what was needed from me as a sandblaster, but I wasn’t quite so sure about how to do it, until I got some help and teaching. So how shall we do discipleship? Our starting point is being there for each other, and wanting to grow (though for the stick-in-the-muds among us that may carry a bit of a health warning, because things that grow are bound to change when they do so); and prayer has to be our first commitment before we rush into anything else.

I don’t know about you, but my first prayer as a disciple is much the same as maybe those first disciples like Philip and Nathaniel. Why me?  What use can I be?  Those are questions that seem to always recur in my experience:  but whenever I ask them I seem to hear Jesus saying to me: Why not?  Just say yes, and come.