2015: Guilsborough Evensong 16[th] Trinity

" I will give thanks to thee O Lord with my whole heart: I will speak of all thy marvellous works.  So may the words of my mouth  and the thoughts in all our hearts be acceptable in your sight O lord our strength and our redeemer. " 
When I do a bit of Bible reading on my own, I turn to Psalms from time to time, both for their literary as well as spiritual content.  Yesterday I looked at Psalm 90 :   "  The years of our life are three score and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore, yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone and we fly away..." 
 I am heartened to note, being no longer a spring chicken , that that somewhat downbeat message needs correction in these modern times.  Thanks to the marvels of medicine, longevity is expanding all the time.  In 1963 the Government of Japan announced that it would give a silver sake cup to each centenarian alive at the time and anyone notching up 100 years thereafter.   In that first year 153 were given out along with a congratulatory certificate from the Prime Minister.  Last year the number of new Japanese centenarians was, almost unbelievably, 19,000 and the overall total alive today is claimed to be some 56,000.  
So much for three score years and ten or even four score.  I know  doomsayers claim  the NHS won't be able to cope.   But the good news is we have more time than ever now to lead a Christian life and prepare for the Kingdom of Heaven !   But in the grand scheme of world history it is still important to , as the Psalmist puts it, " number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom".  In our Gospel reading this evening Jesus shows us just how to do that. 
You may remember those large billboards that used to be outside churches in our towns and cities, and for all I know they may still be there.  In my case they were in post war, bomb damaged,  drab,  Liverpool, arresting the eye with a biblical quote on  the coming Sunday's sermon.   Some were admonishments:  " Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand"  being a favourite;  others proclaimed a more heartening messages :  " For God so loved the world...." 
We in the Uplands Benefice are less flamboyant having only have a pew sheet and lectionary. This Sunday for evensong, rather mysteriously, it offers two readings both from St. Matthew's Gospel.  I chose the one from Chapter 6 which is , it seems to me,  one of the most important and memorable chapters in the New Testament devoted to the teaching of Jesus: the nub of His teachings.   " When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your alms may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you.  
 " Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth were moth and rust doth corrupt. "  
" No one can serve two masters"    and then Jesus mentions  the lilies of the field  
 " Solomon is all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."  
" You cannot serve God and Mammon." 
This 6th chapter in Matthew comes immediately after the Sermon on the Mount ( Chapter5)  where Jesus describes those characteristics that make up the men and women blessed by their godliness: the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers etc.   And he tells his disciples that they are light of the world, the salt of the earth and enjoins them to  let their light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father that is in heaven. " 
So in Chapter 6, tonight's reading,  he builds on that by telling us, in effect, that we are to aim to fulfil the characteristics listed in the Sermon on the Mount,  by practising modesty in our charitable behaviour and at the same time to avoid excessive regard for materialism.  
The Pharisees the Bible tells us believed that material prosperity for them was an indication of God's favour.  Conversely, the Pharisees regarded those who did not have material wealth were out of favour.  Remember the England football manager who believed that those who were disabled had sinned in a previous life and were being punished.  He had to go quite rightly. 
One can argue that no previous age has been more materialistic than the one in which we now live. Previous generation  -  Jeremiah, John the Baptist etc. -  thought the same  but none has been able to practise materialism to the same extent. The simple reason is that we are richer.    To inveigh against it is to score an open goal from any public platform.  It's almost too easy.  And actually there is not much point in railing against it. The clock will not go back for habits change as a result. 
We are not going to turn the clock back to some golden age of anonymous altruism and simple living.  But each one of us can decide on the basis of Christ's teaching,  how we are going conduct our lives with the age of mobile phones, Twitter etc in which we live. There is not much point in sticking to a black and white television or not upgrading one's mobile phone, or not hoping to win the lottery. We can still have plenty of scope, in my view, to lay up treasures in heaven by using our time for the benefit of others, developing our talents, sticking to principles. 
And people are ready to be inspired by that.  Stephen Sutton, that young man with a bucket list, dying of cancer two years ago, raised millions for good causes via the internet.  Eleven thousand people, it was estimated, turned out for his funeral at Litchfield Cathedral.  Talk about using your talents and your body for the benefit of others ! 
To help me with that I have found a new, albeit unattainable, role model. He is Father Salvatore, Roman Catholic priest and hero of Nicholas Montserrat's novel " The Kappillan of Malta", a book that I came across only recently after being inspired to read it by an article in a magazine.   Salvatore is a Maltese priest during the bloody siege of Malta in the Second World War.   He is privileged. He understands that private wealth can be a source of good. It can build churches and buy a barrel of wine for the wedding of an impoverished couple. Salvatore has the social confidence to walk with princes and peasants and treat the two alike. He is constant, unimpressed by fashion, humorous, pugnacious, patriotic, unambitious.  He walks everywhere in a pair of workmen's boots. He loses his temper. He is prey to human longings. But he has his Bible ; he has his common sense ; he has a cause to fight for at a terrible time for his homeland  and he is going to fight for it using the talents that he has.  
It's fiction, but fiction with a strong moral tone to it. I couldn't put it down.  
For me, as I hope for you, the sixth chapter of St. Matthew ought to be our template for fulfilling ourselves in this turbulent world. There is a lot of food for thought in it and a guide to how we need to run our lives.  We need, I feel, to be a bit like Father Salvatore to make the best use of it.
I read recently about a woman to went to see a priest and poured out her woes imagining that he would be sympathetic and impressed by her torment.  He listened quietly and then said :   " The point of being a Christian is not to feel better, it is so God can use you to serve others. "  


