FIRE & ASHES

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON FEBRUARY 15^th, 2009

Psalm 42:1 "Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks: so longeth my soul after thee, O God."

Today we are launching a parish appeal for those affected by the bushfires in Australia. The areas affected are near where I used to live before I came to All Saints'.   It is the worst disaster of its kind in Australia's history, and as you would imagine, there has been a generous response. In fact on Friday night, a week after the national appeal was launched, it was announced that they had raised $100 million.

People have responded in wonderful ways in local communities in raising money and helping. One of the different ways was last Friday night - a special football match held by the Australian Football League. It raised $1.5 billion from the gate-takings - only Australians would think of that of course J

One of the most bizarre responses came from a fundamentalist Pentecostal pastor, who said that the bushfires were God's punishment on Australia for disobeying God's law. Occasionally we hear this in America, and it usually sends a chill up our spines. This man is a convert from the Muslim religion, and it seems that he has not left Muslim ideas behind.  

If devastating fires are a result of anything apart from carelessness, surely it is because of Global Warning and our lack of care for the planet.   In fact as we look at the world today we see so many natural things happening that seem to be caused by our lack of care for the planet - perhaps that's something we should be remorseful about and repentant of?

On the other hand it could be nature's way of pruning and rejuvenating. Bushfires in Australia and wildfires in California are nothing new - they have been happening since forests first sprouted at the beginning of creation. They are a normal part of nature looking after itself.  

In the Bible fire is the symbol of God's renewal as much as water, and we find that in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In fact the feast of Pentecost comes readily mind when fire was a symbol of the renewal of the Holy Spirit.  

Of course that is not to ignore the tragedy of the loss of human life and property, and the suffering endured by many people. I am sure that verse 3 of Psalm 42 comes to mind for a lot of people: "My tears have been my meat day and night: while they daily say unto me, where is now thy God?"

This raises the very difficult question - why do bad things happen to good people?  Why do the innocent suffer; children, ordinary people? I was reminded of this during the week by a letter I received from a family I have known since 1980. Their son was in my youth group and I became very friendly with them. They have been regular Christmas card senders ever since. This year the Christmas letter was late, and it contained rather sad news.   The mother and father, who had been so kind to me, had both been stricken with sickness, their son, who was in his 40's, died of a heart complaint, having suffered with depression, and their granddaughter has been in hospital for six months recovering from a motorcar accident which was not her fault.   Such tragedy begs the question: why do such things happen to ordinary people, who are in Church Sunday by Sunday?

All of us know similar stories we could relate to. Indeed many of us at All Saints' have been praying a long time for Delaney and her family, and filled with sadness at the terrible things happening to that young girl, that she does not deserve.

And this question of innocent suffering is brought into sharp relief by today's Gospel and the Old Testament reading.   Leprosy was, and still is, an awful disease. People were not only disfigured, they were ostracized - cast out of the city and made to live separated from their family, their community, and their Church.   It was the ultimate in rejection and alienation.

As is so often the case, when we think of lepers we imagine men in rags ringing a bell shouting out unclean as they came near.   The story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5 shows that leprosy affected ordinary people - even important people such as he was.   It reminds us that lepers were once people just like us.   When we see a street person we forget that. We only see the outside circumstances - we forget that they were people just like us. Sometimes it is not their fault that life has dealt them a hard deal.

So when Jesus heals the leper it's highly significant - it's not just another healing.   Firstly, it points to his embrace of the whole world, his heart does not exclude anyone - he comes to heal everyone.   Secondly, the leprosy symbolizes sin.   This is a logical follow-on to last week's Gospel, when Jesus cast out demons. On that occasion he commanded them not to say who he was.   I pointed out that is they were to declare him as the Son of God that would give a false impression of what his mission was, and who Jesus is.

Similarly, today Jesus "Sternly charged him.....to say nothing to anyone".   Of course the leper told everyone - and wouldn't you! Nevertheless, because leprosy symbolizes sin, the healing of the leper is an image of the real healing that Jesus came to bring.  

I do not know a satisfactory answer to the problem of innocent suffering - in fact I wonder how people's faith can cope when it is so surely tested.

But I do know this - that Jesus suffered and died on the Cross for us. The innocent for the guilty, as Saint Paul says.   Sometimes there is a danger that we may forget that fact in favour of his resurrection or his wonderful birth.

It seems highly providential then that in ten days we begin Lent.   Lent is a season when we focus on the suffering and death of Jesus.   We do this not to be morbid, for it climaxes with Easter and the resurrection.   We do it because we know that the Cross is the heart of the Gospel, and through it we are saved and made free.

In a sense we are all that leper, for we all need saving from sin.   So the season of Lent is offered to us. And it is offered as a season of renewal.   Just as the bushfires usher in a renewal of the earth, so Lent ushers in renewal of our spiritual lives.

Look at the three ancient customs of Lent: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving.   All through the Old Testament whenever things went off the rails for God's people, or they rejected their covenant with him, the prophets invoked these three spiritual traditions.

I can understand the Pentecostal pastor saying that God is punishing the sins of society - but when you consider it, the answer to a society which has gone off the rails is not to say: "God is punishing us" - but "come back to the Lord with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving".

Neither is it coincidental that Lent begins with ashes.   As the ashes are placed on our foreheads - is it not our own personal wildfire which destroys the past?   And in destroying the past it calls us to renewal, to step forward in faith, and to start again.

Lent is a journey - a pilgrimage from dust and ashes to the fire and water of the Easter Vigil.   It begins with the call of repentance and concludes with the Easter fire and the Light of Christ.

As if to emphasise this - in today's Epistle Saint Paul likens the Christian life to the Olympic Games, which the people of Corinth were so familiar with. Perhaps they were happening when Saint Paul wrote this letter?   Using images of training, running, boxing, and the wreath the winners receive, he tells us that this is the pattern for Christian living.

That is exactly what Lent is for: spiritual exercises, exertion, and discipline.   Mostly when it comes to sport we are spectators. But when it comes to Lent we are participants and competitors - we don't just cheer from the sidelines!!

And if there is one phrase to shout out in this competition it is Psalm 42:1: "Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks: so longeth my soul after thee, O God!"