Conversation

  "Are you there?"
"Yes!"
  "Why aren't you blogging then?"
"Dunno."
  "We'd like to know about the CIH's sermon last week".
"Sorry."
  "Is 'sorry' all that you can manage?"
"Sorry."
  "Can you just get on and tell us about his sermon please?"
"Oh, all right then..."

...as you know, this was the CIH's second preach since his ordination in July (just what has he been up to?) and it seems to have gone down very well with people. The passage was Mark 9:30-37. He preached this sermon three times on the Sunday in three different churches. The first time was in Billingsley Church where he gave a short (5-7 miutes) talk highlighting the main points of his talk. Secondly, he preached at Chelmarsh where the talk was nearer to 10 minutes and finally he preached in Highley at the evening service where they got the full 20 minutes of the sermon. I'll give you the major points from his evening talk as this will give you a greater idea of what he had prepared.

The CIH began by outlining the context of the passage. He gave a quick outline of Mark's gospel and set the current passage into its correct place shortly after the turning point of the gospel where Peter had declared Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God. He referred to the fact that from then on, Jesus was looking towards Jerusalem and his death and resurrection.

Point One. The disciples did not understand.
It is quite obvious, from Peter's reaction in 8:32 and from the disciples collective reaction in 9:32, that they had misunderstood his teaching. The CIH pointed out how easily we misunderstand instructions and teaching given to us. He used the example of an instruction book for a new electronic appliance or the instructions for a piece of flat-pack furniture.

Point Two. More Teaching
The answer to the misunderstanding, both ours and the disciples, is often more teaching and that is what Jesus proceeds to give them.
Jesus teaches the disciples about his type of leadership. The sort that will, for him, ultimately result in being betrayed, crucified and then, three days later, raised from the dead. You see they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. So Jesus said to them, 'if any of you wants to be the greatest, he should become the least of all and the servant of all.' and then calling a little child into the middle of their group he added, 'whoever welcomes one such as this child welcomes me, but more than that, welcomes the one who sent me'.

Points to Reflect Upon
What does it mean for us as individuals to be the least of all and the servant of all? Who are the little children in our lives that we need to welcome in Jesus' name? Who are we called to serve?

What does it mean for the Church to be the least of all and the servant of all? Could it mean not bragging about how successful we are? Or not boasting about how we are growing when other churches around us are not?

Final Point
The CIH concluded with these words, "You see, the servant doesn't bragg or boast about the duties he or she has to perform. The servant just gets on and copletes the task and then comes to the master and asks 'What next?"'.

Hope that helps. He's preached again since then, I'll try to update you soon.

"How did I do?"
  "Alright I s'pose."
"I think I did better than alright, didn't I?"
  "No. I think 'alright' just about sums it up."
"Oh, alright then. I'll have to settle for 'alright', won't I?"
  "Yep!"
"OK. Bye for now."