St Peter's  9:30am   March 7, 2004 -2nd Sunday of Lent

Fr Basil Jones

We may be a bit thin on the ground this morning (although not in heaven or in the choir)   because some 30 of our fellow worshippers are on a pilgrimage to Walsingham.  We celebrate the Holy Mysteries with them in mind as I am sure they are holding us in their prayers.

Some years ago I was on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and although I personally did not find the sites that related to our Lord's life particularly moving, I was almost overwhelmed by the atmosphere of Jerusalem. Peace in Jerusalem, peace in the world. 

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,  you who kill the prophets and stem those sent to you, how often longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you were not willing.

The Jews expected prophets to arise in a variety of garbs recalling the people back to the worship of the one true God, and because there had been a gap of some 400 years, they look to John the Baptist and then to Jesus as a prophet.  He proved to be more than a prophet carrying the seeds of sacrifice in his own body.

Jerusalem too proved to be more than a seat of prophecy, rather the centre of a sacrifice that was to leave its mark on the world down to our present age.

The passion story is timeless - I may or may not see the latest film offering, but there is  no doubt that the story itself has an incredible appeal.  We may well ask why.  I do not think that it has to do with our latent masochism but rather a link with the outwardly destructive nature of our own personality.  To quote St Paul: That which I would not , that I do.  It is not what I observe in others, it is what I know in myself

Lent is a particular time for soul searching.  Last week Fr Mark emphasised the virtue of private confession.  Not for many perhaps but it may assist some of us to face up to the potential destructiveness which is in our nature.

You may find all of this rather hard to accept if you have a comfortable life in a comfortable town., but our children's and grandchildren's fascination with modern history - Dunkirk and all that - should make us stop and think how can we prepare beforehand for such  moments of catastrophe as Hitler and Nazi Germany for example.

To quote someone involved in the Hitler assassination plot "With such a record behind us in our century, we must know now that the Church must be a place where the voices of anger or fear can be heard and not mocked, and where we have the freedom to go beyond the surface of things and face the changes in our 'reasonable' society whose reasonableness has no root in anything beyond itself, no atonement except by chance in the word of God"

So then we have to ask ourselves whether our prayers are sufficiently an exposing of ourselves to God in silence and expectation, bringing to Him of ourselves in all expectation, and shrinking our potential destructiveness.

Are we prepared beforehand for times of violent trial?  At this time in Lent we do not need to anticipate Easter.  We know that it is timeless too, and all around us if we would but look but for a moment we can dwell for a space for ourselves.

The words of our Lord "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem" apply to us individually, but we must not be disheartened. As is so often the case, St Paul in his letter to the Philippians, whilst not fluctuating from the hard words of Jesus, tells us of His promise to those who stand firm. St Paul reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Saviour from there - the Lord  Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies, so that they will be taken like His glorious body.

With this in mind we too can embrace His promise.