Trinity 14. The Secret of Life
Preached at St Thomas, Pendleton
Matt 16.21-28

‘Those who want to save their life will lose it…
Take up your cross and follow me – it’s the only way….’

Some of humanity’s great steps forward,
some of our greatest discoveries, ideas and insights
have come in the strangest of places and at the strangest of times:

Archimedes was having a bath when he discovered the Principle of water displacement
Thomas Crapper was relieving himself when he conceived of the modern flush toilet
Albert Einstein was having a train ride when he realised the principle of relativity
I was having a coffee when I wrote this sermon
Great discoveries and realisations made in the strangest times and places…..

What about you?
Have you discovered anything lately?
Have you conceived anything wonderful recently? (We won’t ask Jack’s parents where he was conceived…)

Have you realised anything important?
Perhaps something about your life…….?
Have you ever thought about your own life and wondered where it’s going?
Have you ever asked yourself ‘is this as good as it gets?’
Do you wake up each morning with anticipation and excitement about what lies ahead?
And go to bed each night with words of thanks in your heart for what the day has held?

Are you enjoying your life?
Can you say:
for all that has been ‘thanks’; and for all that’s still to come ‘yes’…..?
Do you think, if you ever get to those pearly gates, you’ll be able to seek out God and say:
‘thanks; I’ve had a really good time….’ ?
Are you enjoying your life?
Of course, by ‘enjoying your life’ I don’t mean
are you partying all the time,
or is your life simply one big round of endless pleasure
or is it absolute bliss morning, noon and night……

Enjoying life is about accepting that
It’s not always easy, but it is worth being here, and saying YES to it all.

Enjoying life is about accepting there will be difficult times
that not everything goes our own way
that life isn’t always fair
that suffering – great and small – is part of the fabric of life.

The snatch of conversation we heard this morning between Jesus and Peter is an interesting one.
Peter reckons that if Jesus is who he says he is then, wow, presumably he could do anything!
So when Jesus talks about pain and suffering
Peter suggests Jesus does something about it.

You of all people, he says, don’t need to have pain and suffering in your life.
Snap your fingers and make with the good times.
Live out your life doing good
travelling from place to place healing people
and live till a ripe old age – and die peacefully in the sun with a glass of wine in your hand.

Tempting, isn’t it.
I once did a funeral for an old lady of 80 who went on holiday to Spain with her son & daughter, had a meal, sat down on the balcony with a brandy to watch the sunset… and dropped dead. What a way to go! Anyone here for some of that?
But life isn’t like that for most of us, is it?

Life certainly wasn’t like that for Jesus;
For, at some point in his life, he’d had a hunch
and the hunch had become an idea an inspiration
and he had the courage to stake his life on this hunch turned inspiration.
Do you know what the hunch was?
[ I wonder where he had the inspiration: in the bath? Sitting under a shady tree with a glass of wine? Relieving himself? ]
Do you know what his great theory was?

He reckoned that death wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be.
He reckoned that you could call its bluff.
He reckoned that you could take it on – and beat it.
And he reckoned that if you did that – why, it would change everything.
It would change the way we look at life.

So that’s what he did.
‘Those who want to save their life, will lose it’, he said to anyone who’d listen.
Not that many did.
And, not knowing whether his hunch would work, or whether it was a totally mad scheme, he didn’t flinch when, one day, soldiers came and arrested him for spreading this mad idea about.

He was arrested, had a mock trial and was nailed to a wooden cross.
[ A popular and very effective form of execution, much liked by the occupying forces ].
He died…….. and then he….
Well you know. You know the rest of his story; or history (as we call it).

And that’s why today, at Jack’s baptism, we will draw with holy oil, a cross on his forehead.
A cross to show that he belongs to this crackpot community of people who work very hard at enjoying life
partying as often as we can, of course, – and that’s why Jack will receive a candle: to help him celebrate life.
but who realise that enjoying life is about something more.

Enjoying life is about accepting that it’s not always easy, but it is worth being here, and saying YES to it all.
Enjoying life is about accepting there will be difficult times
that we will need to say sorry and start again and wash the slate clean: that’s why Jack will have water put on his head
that not everything goes our own way
that life isn’t always fair
that suffering – great and small – is part of the fabric of life…..
But that death is not what it seems.

And that’s a message we can all take a way from here today.
Some people seem to spend all of their lives screwing themselves up about death,
and to help take their minds off their mortality they fill their lives with possessions and insurance policies and endless noise and activity and vast quantities of mind-numbing alcohol and drugs…..

Whereas others realise that the secret of life
is to live it one day at a time
enjoying the small things as much as the big things
enjoying the simple things as much as extravagance
enjoying the warmth and intimacy of friendship and love
relishing the joy to be found in having new life in your midst
and making fresh discoveries each day
– if you care to look for them –
of beauty, gentleness, kindness, trust, respect and caring for others…
And so come to the great discovery that these things are what God is.

I just wonder where you’ll be
and what you’ll be doing
when you make this discovery for yourselves……..

Enjoy!

Terry Biddington

 

St Peter's Chaplaincy is a resource for exploring the life of faith. It seeks to be inclusive, open and welcoming, offering companionship on the Journey
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