Preacher: Canon Graham
Date: 31/10/2021
All Saints’ Sunday
PCH Cirencester.
Big change starts small! One of the strap lines coming out of the COP 26… Conference of the Parties. Big change starts small!
The eyes of the world are on the summit currently taking place in Rome, in some ways a precursor to the main conference that takes place this coming week in Glasgow, where members of COP 26 will gather.
“These talks will shape the world’s response to what is still our biggest challenge and provide a negotiating space shared by the smallest, the least developed with countries like the United States, Russia and China.”
Big issues that arise around the headings of
More Mitigation;
Better adaptation;
Nature based solutions;
Climate finance in line with the scale of need;
Loss and damage…
these are indeed serious times with serious consequences of outcomes that need to be addressed, now!
Preparing this address for this morning in the back of my mind was the old WW1 song… Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing… where have all the flowers gone, long time ago… you will I am sure recall the rest of the lyrics which end with the phrase When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?
Set all of this against the backdrop of today’s phenomenal readings… paraphrased by me…
Isaiah 25. The chance for a new beginning.
Revelation 21 Hope and reassurance and then
John 11… If only!
None of this is new, it would be foolish to pretend otherwise, and yet same old keeps coming round and we do little if anything to change our ways. If you only ever do what you have always done, then you will only ever get what you have already got!
So who is to blame!
It’s just too easy to blame the politicians, if not the politicians it often becomes those involved in education, and when all else fails blame the church leaders, just as the Times did this last week.
If only it was a simple as this!
We all too often fail to see the role that we ourselves play… or perhaps better stated, fail to play.
We live in times where the slippery culture of shifting responsibility lies at the heart of the problem. Change starts with us, and if we are to be serious about this, then undoubtedly big change starts small, and starts with us.
In Isaiah 25 we are reminded God weakens the strong who are proud and secure, so he strengthens the weak that are humble, and stay themselves upon him. God protects his people in all weathers. The Lord shelters those who trust in him from the insolence of oppressors. Their insolence is but the noise of strangers; it is like the heat of the sun scorching in the middle of the day; but where is it when the sun is set?
The Lord ever was, and ever will be, the Refuge of distressed believers.
Let us patiently face up to what we have done, and in so doing bear the sorrow and the shame.
That in itself brings about change, most notably that of attitude and aptitude towards improving things going forward. Change starts small.
This is the prophet’s reminder that with God we have the opportunity for a new beginning, God’s overwhelming generosity and abundance of love is breath-taking, however it starts with us committing and buying into that change of making ourselves utterly dependent upon Gods ways, and not man’s ways.
Big Change starts small.
In Revelation we are reminded of the new hope, the passing away of the old ways and the beginning of something new. The New Jerusalem coming as a bride adorned. Further images of the ‘plumb bob’ being set as the measuring stick. How far wide of the mark do we find ourselves as we prepare for this new beginning?
Indeed, have we got the stamina to negotiate and adjust and amend our ways? Death will be no more… mourning and crying and pain will be no more. For the first things have passed away… try telling that to the people of Afghanistan, or sub Saharan Africa of try telling that to the thousands of refugees fleeing because of the issues of the political divide. With the exception of three, 28 of the poorest countries in the world are in Africa. Is this the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end? What hope is there for them? That is unless it is realised in you and me. Big change starts small.
And then the If Only question arises!
If Only If Only. Mary’s response to Jesus… ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!
Jesus wept… his love of his friend became an outward show to those gathered about him. Martha ever the practical one, stated the obvious, he has been dead for days… speaking of Lazarus entombed. Jesus reminded her and them as indeed he reminds us… “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the Glory of God.
The raising of Lazarus demonstrates such hope and belief. But it starts with us that is, you and me, Big change starts small.
All of this biblical stuff yes relates to a time gone by and of course the real challenge for us is how to relate this now in terms of our own life experience and expectation of what we can achieve together, with God’s blessing.
All Saints’ celebrates the age of those who have gone before but who in their life time have made a massive difference to the lives of those around them they leave behind, we celebrate their achievement. This mighty cloud of witnesses continually feed encouragement to us the living when we lose our way.
As I reflect on these three readings today I am reminded that if I am to make a difference, then I have to make some changes, and not simply be satisfied with doing them for myself. This change has to start with me.
As we pray for those delegates attending the Cop 26 conference let us keep the words of Isaiah, John the Divine and John the evangelist close to our heart…
The chance for a new beginning. Which is undergirded with hope and reassurance. Then the question of If only falls into insignificance because we recognise Big change starts small, and it starts with me.
This for me is Faith into action, this is where it becomes relevant in the here and now today as John indeed reminds us in 10.10… I have come that you may have life and have it in all of its fullness. Are you ready for change?