Vigeon Post

"When I am weak then am I strong"

As the thunder thundered and the lightning flashed and the rains poured down 

this week, I suddenly heard my mother's voice from over seventy  years back 

saying to me "God is moving the furniture".  Even as a very young child 

I knew it was a sort of joke - but somehow it helped to get things

in proportion.
The thunderstorm was often regarded in days gone by as God giving a 

free demo of his enormous power.
The voice of the Lord divides the lightning flash; 

the voice of the Lord whirls the sands  of the desert. 

The voice of the lord breaks the cedar trees and strips bare the forests. 

So says Psalm 29.
From one point of view it all sounds  quite reasonable. God if He is 

to be any kind of God must surely be powerful, strong, able to cope 

with anything that is thrown against him. So we tie ourselves in 

knots by wondering why the God of power and might does nothing in 

the face of disaster ; be it global,natural or personal. As the

 logical minds of unbelievers say; either God is almighty but

 not good or he is good but not almighty. He can't be both.
If you listened to some of this morning's scriptures you may have 

picked up another way of looking at things.. Someone has called it 

the 'gift of weakness'.
We can begin with the strange picture that Marks Gospel gives us 

of the return of golden boy Jesus to his home parish. He could do

 nothing there because of their unbelief. Surrounded by folk he 

had grown up amongst, the lads he had gone to school with - all

 they can see is the local bloke they know only too well. In the 

days when men had man servants it would be said "No man is a hero 

to his valet".  Jesus who we think of as an inspirational and 

powerful figure is reduced to an apparently incompetent weakness.
Yet in the second half of the reading we see Jesus sending his 

disciples out two by two in a most vulnerable way. This mission 

does not need any of the normal investments; no money, no spare

 kit, no Diocesan office; no nothing apart from a willingness to 

share Gods gifts of healing body and soul.
The ordinary man or woman in the street may not be scriptural 

experts; but they typically have a true glimpse of the differences 

between what looks like a wealthy church and a simple under resourced 

Jesus of Nazareth. Gods cause does not need worldly strength and power.

Turn then to the rather strange reading from St Paul. We have to understand 

that Paul had founded and pioneered the infant church in the city of Corinth. 

 After he left, some time later, we are given to understand, a rival gang 

of Christian leaders calling themselves Apostles muscled in on the act. 

They were proud of their charismatic gifts; proud of their commission; 

and in the process disparaged Paul their church's founder.
"Paul ? decent enough chap I suppose - all right in his way but not

 very impressive really is he. If the church wants to grow and become 

something of real influence in the city you need leaders who are much 

more spiritually gifted."
What we heard this morning is part of Paul's response to this development

 He regards any kind of showing off of spiritual gifts as a foolish nonsense. 

If any one wants to boast of their experiences he reckoned he could 

trump it. He tells of how on one occasion he was caught up mystically 

into the presence of God and heard and saw things that can never be 

repeated. Some think he is referring to that overwhelming experience 

he had when he was converted to Christ on the road to Damascus.
But he does not want himself to be valued by the stories he might 

tell of wonderful experiences; but only by what people can see and 

hear in the flesh.
Then he comes to the really interesting bit. He says that to stop 

him boasting about his spiritual experiences, God allowed Satan to 

inflict on him a thorn in his flesh. Nobody knows exactly what he 

means. He is obviously referring to some kind of chronic illness 

or disability. Some have suggested he was an epileptic; or that 

he suffered from chronic malaria; or that he had an eye complaint. 

We shall never know - it could be almost anything - whatever it 

was it was sufficient to make Paul in person something less 

than a commanding or inspiring figure.How he must have yearned 

to be free of this handicap so that he might cut a better figure 

and do better work for Christ.
Three times, he says, three times I asked God for me to be cured 

of this thorn in the flesh; and three times God said no. As if God 

is saying 'in this particular case I am not going to do anything 

about it because it is better for things to be as they are. As the

 children's poem on God answering prayers says "Isn't No an answer ?". 
And God says to Paul; my grace is sufficient for you - I am giving you 

all you need to carry out the work I have planned for you. For my power

 is made perfect in weakness.
In sharing this with us, Paul is letting us into one of the great 

though often unsung secrets of the Christian faith.
God's strength is not expressed in obvious worldly ways. A moments 

reflection will remind us that the cross we place in honour on our 

altar is a sign of the greatest weakness imaginable. Nobody is weaker 

than a man who has been nailed on a piece of wood like a butterfly

 on a pin and left to die.
This is something which each and every Christian soul has to come 

to terms with. Our following of Christ begins as we do business 

with the man on the cross. As we kneel before the altar for Holy 

Communion it is Christ crucified as well as Christ risen whom we meet. 

At that meeting all our personal qualities, talents, gifts,  

become as nothing; and it is at that point of nothingness that 

God is able to exercise his strength.
Anyone who has engaged in Christian ministry knows this. In Paul's 

paradoxical secret there is great truth. God is at work when you 

often do not expect it. If you are full of yourself, if you think 

you are Gods special gift to his church you will get in God's way.
I learned this for myself in my earlier years of ministry. I ran 

into Janet many years after conducting her husband's funeral. 

She came up to me at some gathering or other and said "Oh Mr Vigeon 

I'll never forget what you said when you visited me when my Jim died.".

 I remembered her then. I remembered the visit. It had been a particularly 

tragic death of a comparatively young man; and I had been lost for words. 

I was quite at sea and hardly able to put two sensible words together. 

In fact as I remember it I said practically nothing. But in my weakness, 

because of my weakness God was able to step in and speak to Janet. 

  Talking to colleagues over a number of years I have found they

 have shared the same kind of experience.
I should point out that the contrary is true ; if I for some reason 

think I have preached a super sermon or coped magnificently with 

some challenge  [which is not often] then it is usually turns 

out to be a nothing event.
Paul had a hard life in the service of Christ. When I see adverts 

for Vicars in the church press which are extolling the advantages 

of being near to the Lake District, or Bournemouth or Devonshire 

I wonder what place that should have in attracting a priest to a 

new parish. Paul knew imprisonment and corporal punishment; he was 

nearly lynched by a mob at least twice; he was shipwrecked - you name,

 it he knew it. Yet he can reply to those who accuse him of being 

second rate in these words
I am content with weakness, insults, hardships for the sake of Christ; 

for whenever I am weak then I am strong.
God does not move the furniture about. He doesn't sent tsunamis or 

earthquakes; he certainly does not tempt unhappy lads to try to blow 

up London.
God needs souls who know that are nothing in order that he can bring 

healing and life to our power crazy world.


THE ONE CORINTHIANS CAROL

Let's sing a carol of power in weakness
Let's sing a carol of foolishness wise ;
Let's sing a song of compassion and meekness
Sparked by our joy in the Christ baby's cries.
 2.
Sing of the goodness that overcomes evil ,
Sing of a love that overcomes hate ,
Sing of a God who doesn't have favourites ,
Sing of a Kingdom with no nation state.
3.
Sing of our High Priest betrayed by religion,
Sing of our Prophet whose message is scorned,
Sing of our King without worldly authority
Hung on a cross with a crown that is thorned.
4.
Weep for  morality fuelled by terror,
Weep for the souls who know they are right,
Weep for the minds who are sure what God's thinking,
Weep for confusion of darkness with light.




5.
Weep for those weapons of  true mass destruction -
Greed that distorts our humanity's  core ;
Sceptics who mock at our inner convictions,
Lies that spread envy, distrust and make war.

6.
These are the songs of the Lord of our Christmas,
This is the carol that angels would sing;,
These are the songs which men dub as irrelevant,
These are the songs of our newly born King.
7.
These are the songs which we hardly dare utter,
Fearing our words may betray our dear Lord;
Either by holding too fast to tradition,
Or by  discounting the strength of His Word.
8.
And so we forget that God works in Samaritans,
We search for the speck in our good neighbour's eyes;
And pray to  the "god" we have made in our likeness -
Only too keen to cut Love down to size.
9.
So as you come to the stable at Christmas
Holding out hands for the Christ Baby's food,
Wonder afresh at a vulnerable Saviour
Kneel and adore Him, and drink yourself  good.
10.
And sing then a carol of power in weakness,
Sing then a carol of foolishness wise,
Sing out a song of compassion and meekness
	Sparked by our joy in the Christ baby's cries