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Meditation
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 12th August 2007
Revd. Matthew Vernon
A different style of sermon this week – a meditation.
For this sit in a comfortable position with both feet on the floor and your hands in your lap.
Be aware of your breathing.
I'll read these words slowly and I invite you to make them your own in your imagination.
I am in a quiet, peaceful place.
Jesus is walking towards me and I prepare to have a conversation with him.
Jesus asks me about the things I value.
He is not accusing me of anything.
Just interested to know more about me and my life.
Jesus repeats words from today's Gospel reading.
"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also".
I think about the things I treasure – where my heart is – and I tell Jesus about them.
I think of the people I treasure.
I recall the places I treasure and why they are important to me.
I tell Jesus about my faith and what I treasure about that.
Jesus asks me about my possessions.
We talk about his words "sell your possessions and give to charity.'
Jesus asks me about times when I am generous.
What does that feel like?
Why does he encourage me to be generous?
He asks me about people who have been generous to me in my life.
I tell him of my deep gratitude for them.
Now I think about what stops me being generous; what prevents me being more generous.
Jesus encourages me to reflect further.
He asks me about the values of society.
He asks if these values put me under pressure.
I consider how these differ to the values Jesus' teaches.
Now I ask Jesus about what he treasures, about where his heart is.
He speaks to me about that.
He tells me that I am a treasure to him.
I notice how that makes me feel:
whether surprise or gratitude or scepticism or love.
Jesus tells me that I am a multifaceted treasure.
There are many things in me of great value and beauty.
I think what these things might be.
Finally, Jesus looks at me
and I see reflected in his eyes the many treasures within me that only he can see.
Jesus is looking at me with deep love
and I rest in the love of God.
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