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Lent Addiction 2005
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 19th March 2005
Revd. Matthew Vernon
A married couple was returning from the funeral of Uncle George.
Uncle George had lived with them for twenty years.
He had been such an effort to look after that he nearly ruined their marriage.
Driving along, the husband said,
• "Darling, I have to tell you.
• "If it hadn't been for my love for you, I would not have been able to put up with your Uncle George for a single day!"
"My Uncle George?" the wife cried.
• "I thought he was your Uncle George!"
Our lives are based on many assumptions.
Lent is about reality.
The Oscars are still taxing my mind.
How did Brokeback Moutain not win?!
The Oscars may seem an odd place to begin when thinking about reality,
• Hollywood being famous for fantasy.
But this year, we've had a glut of realistic films:
• Crash;
• Good night and good luck;
• Munich;
• Capote;
• and of course, Brokeback Mountain.
I can only speak of the films I've seen but:
Munich is about the reality of Israeli/Palestinian conflict and terrorism.
Capote is about the reality of murder and the death penalty.
Brokeback Mountain is about the reality of human relationships,
• as well as the reality of prejudice surrounding homosexual love.
Films reveal our love of escapism.
Our need to escape reality.
If we're honest we wrap ourselves in many layers of assumptions and fantasy.
Fantasy about who we are.
Fantasy about our own importance.
Fantasy about being self-sufficient;
• being "god" in our lives.
We might go to the cinema for escapism,
• we might go to books;
• we might got to Art Festival events.
Ironically, good cinema, good books, good art bring us face to face with reality.
The film Munich has that affect.
It left me very disturbed.
Disturbed by what people do to each other.
Disturbed that most of the time I block that out of my thoughts.
Blocking out is o.k.
• perhaps necessary a lot of the time.
But Lent is a time to face reality.
That's why we give things up for Lent.
What are you addicted to?
Addicted may sound strong.
But have you tried no coffee for a few days?
Or no alcohol?
Or no TV?
Or what ever prop you use to get through the day.
How about no Blackberry?
Or no work?
Thinking about coffee,
• someone has said they find it difficult to believe in God until they've had a cup of coffee in the morning.
I know how they feel.
But in fact that's not quite the right way round, is it?
We love coffee grounds.
But God is the ground of our being.
And TV.
Reality TV is nothing of the sought.
• People in unreal situations doing unreal things.
It's a con.
Yet it is amazingly popular:
• from Survivor to Big Brother.
Sold to us on the basis that their lives are more interesting than our own.
Our lives though are packed with wonder and joy,
• with interesting and miraculous things.
People; places; creation;
• technology; charity; faith.
It's just that we've been trained by society to want certain things.
It's easy to look to material things for our identity, for our sense of worth.
Whether that's the kind of car we drive or the coffee shop we prefer.
In Lent, we give these things up to remind ourselves that our identity comes from God.
Notice that this is about life.
It's not about feeling sorrow for ourselves
• or piety for the sake of it
• or holy navel gazing.
Our identity in God is life-giving, real and liberating.
God longs for us to be free of our addictions;
• to know the joy of reality;
• of a simpler life.
Free of our dependency on anything that denies the image of God within us.
Some people give something up for Lent and then give what they would have spent to charity.
We're trying that on Monday mornings.
The 7.15am Service on Monday morning at the Cathedral is followed by breakfast.
You are most welcome.
Usually we go to Starbucks - the priest's preference!
During Lent we're having breakfast in the Harold Smyth Room - a simpler breakfast.
But so far a more pleasant experience!
We're planning to give the money we would have spent at Starbucks to charity.
The total will be alarming!
The charity saves us from piety for own sake;
• asceticism for the sake of our individual souls.
Charity also reminds us of God's priorities.
In Lent we remember Jesus' suffering.
We prepare for the climax of Good Friday.
Divine ways not human ways.
In his suffering, Jesus stands along side those who suffer;
• those who are persecuted;
• those who are rejected by the world.
We are called to stand with those children of God too.
Which brings us to another addiction.
• being addicted to our lifestyle and our wealth.
Some of us are very wealthy –
• I include myself in that group.
All of us are relatively wealthy compared with so many of God's children around the world.
We know that,
• yet we find it so hard to do anything about it.
We might be generous in Stewardship and charitable giving.
We might be generous with our time and effort.
But deep down we know that we could do more.
Radical people like Mahatma Ghandi or Mother Theresa show us what that might be.
Ghandi who said "be the change you want to see in the world."
One of the assumptions that wealthy people find it difficult to escape is the idea that charity is a one-way gift.
• That we are privileged and generous givers who can help the "poor" of the world.
In fact, the children of God who are poor are much better placed to see accurately our wealthy addictions.
And there is much wisdom we desperately need to receive from them.
• from those who are rich in natural generosity,
• exuberance, lust for life,
• sense of community and family.
I'll end with a story which I've told before.
Its about assumptions.
Three wise men set out on a journey.
Thought they were wise, they were humble enough to hope that travel might broaden their minds.
As they entered a nearby country they saw a skyscraper in the distance.
What could this enormous object be?
The obvious thing to do was to go up and find out.
But that might be dangerous.
What if it exploded?
The wise men put together various theories about what this tall object might be.
Theories based on past experiences and wisdom.
Finally, in their wisdom, they decided it must have been placed their by giants.
So they concluded it was safer to return to their own country.
Which they did, having added to their wealth of experience.
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