Sunday am worship - 'A letter to my friends'

Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be hearing what the Spirit says to the churches, in the Book of Revelation...

READINGS: 1 John 4:1-6 and Rev. 2:1-29

SERMON 
Let’s pray:
May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer, Amen.

Some of you may be familiar with an old song from 1963 which takes the form of a letter
written by a son away at summer camp to his long-suffering parents.
It goes a little like this – and put your hand up if you’ve heard it before...
Hello Muddah, hello Faddah
Here I am at Camp Grenada
Camp is very entertaining
And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining.

The letter goes along, reeling off a string of incidents and difficulties ranging from
a hiking trip where a friend gets into a fankle with some poison ivy,
through to another boy who ends up with food poisoning.
The lake – allegedly – has alligators,
a cabin mate has malaria,
another lad has gone missing and a search party has been sent off.
Disaster after disaster unfolds in the letter.
Having written a great litany of woe, the young letter writer pleads in another verse:
Take me home, oh Muddah, Faddah
Take me home, I hate Grenada
Don't leave me out in the forest where
I might get eaten by a bear.

All of these events, we discover, have happened over the course of ...
one whole day:
the overall message of the letter is one of misery and woe, discouragement and despair –
the boy... just really, really, really wants to come home.

But suddenly, in the very last verse, there’s a complete change around:
Wait a minute, it's stopped hailing
Guys are swimming, guys are sailing
Playing baseball, gee that's bettah
Muddah, Faddah kindly disregard this letter.
By the end of the letter, all is well and one can only hope the parents
are breathing a sigh of relief and feeling encouraged that the laddie
will probably manage the whole week away after all.

Letters come in many forms, and are written for a variety of reasons:
from ancient Babylonian shopping lists in cunieform on clay tablets –
‘please tell Akkad to send me a bottle of his fine, red wine, and a jar of his fattest olives’,
to messages of congratulations, or sympathy, letters written while on holidays –
hopefully happier than those taken at Camp Granada –
or letters applying for a job, or school...
Formal letters, letters to family and friends.
Of letters to family, my dad showed me a letter I’d written to him when I was 9
about to turn 10, that he’d kept. A birthday was on its way,
and the letter’s purpose was very clear –
alongside lots of pretty doodles of someone playing tennis,
presumably me, were the words:
‘I’d really, really like a tennis racquet’ 
the letter ended in many x’s for kisses and a few o’s for hugs, thrown in for good measure.
I hope I’m a little less mercenary these days.

In the New Testament, alongside the four Gospels, we’ve many letters:
a lot written by the Apostle Paul, some by Peter, some by John,
and, in the very last book of the Bible, near to the beginning of John’s vision in Revelation,
there are seven letters written to seven churches...
as opposed to seven brides for seven brothers -
that’s a whole different thing entirely.
This morning and next Sunday, we’re going to have a quick look at these letters.
Today, we heard the letters written to the first four of the churches:
the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira.
if you were to try and find them on a map, they’d be located in what’s now modern Turkey.

John, the writer of these letters, might possibly be the Apostle John.
What we know is that this John lives in exile on the Isle of Patmos,
that he’s a prophet,
that he’s got a good working knowledge of the wider church scene,
that he’s an important enough person to have had his words preserved
and placed within the canon of scripture.
He writes this in the latter part of the 1st Century,
and while the Book of Revelation can come across as quite strange in the language it uses,
the primary purpose of the Book, and each of these seven letters,
is to act as an encouragement to these new, fledgling churches,
living in a time of change,
living in challenging times.
Right at the beginning of Revelation, John writes:
‘Blessed is the one who reads aloud 
the words of this prophecy, 
and blessed are those who hear it 
and take to heart what is written in it, 
because the time is near.’
The Book, and these letters, are meant to serve as a blessing.

As is the case with most letters there’s a structure.
Each letter is addressed to the ‘angel’ of that particular church,
and then each has a brief note of who is writing:
Jesus, variously described as -
‘the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand’;
‘the First and the Last’;
‘the one who ‘has the sharp, double-edged sword’;
and ‘the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire...’
Each moves on to demonstrate that God has been with them,
has been watching over them – for each letter says
‘I know...’
followed by a comment on the different things that each of the churches
has done, or has been facing.
In Ephesus,
God offers encouragement by assuring them that
He knows their deeds, and their hard work.
In Smyrna,
God offers encouragement by assuring them that
He knows of their poverty and their afflictions – yet even so, they are rich:
a reference to the strength of their faith.
To those in Pergamum,
God reassures them, by acknowledging that
where they live is a place that is particularly challenging,
and that he is impressed that despite the difficulties, they remain true.
And, in Thyatira,
God encourages them by assuring them that
He knows of their deeds, of their love and faith, and of their service –
and that since the beginning of their faith journey, this has been increasing:
they haven’t stood still.

So, each of the churches are shown that God knows
their individual circumstances and challenges,
that God is pleased with their efforts –
that God commends them for what they’ve been doing...
letters of encouragement, as I said.
As each letter moves on, there’s a pause to take stock on where they might improve.
And then, the letters end with encouragement once more:
they are known by God,
they are loved by God,
that God stands with them in the struggle,
and that, in the end, with God on their side they will overcome the difficulties and challenges.
Overall, then, the format in brief is a little like this:
Dear church –
it’s me, Jesus,
I know you’re amazing:
you’ve been doing some great things
and I’m so proud of you.
I did notice one thing and it would be great 
if you worked on that a little more...
however, we’re in this together,
so hang in there with me,
and you’ll get through to the end,
I believe in you and know you can do it.
Lots of love...

I wonder...
if on any given Sunday that we were gathered here, what might happen
if a letter suddenly materialised through the rafters –
a lost letter from John, writing the message that Jesus has for us, his church at Upper Clyde?
Like the four churches that we’ve had the quickest of looks at,
we have our particular circumstances and our particular challenges.
Like the four churches – like any church, anywhere,
we have a strong hunch about what we don’t have, and what we can’t do...
our failings, if you like.
It’s often too easy to concentrate on those, right?
But think again of how the letters to the churches in Revelation are structured:
there’s balance, and an aim to encourage.
Jesus, through the quill in John’s hand, says to his churches:
‘I know who you are,
I know what you have,
I know what you can do.’
Each letter is aimed to build up the church.
So I wonder about Upper Clyde, about this particular community of faith...
might a letter to us sound a little like this:
[open envelope, read from letter enclosed]
Dear Upper Clyde,
these are the words of the Good Shepherd, who tends you and cares for you;
I know you could use a little encouragement.
I know your deeds, your faith, your quiet acts of kindness, your sense of community spirit
and how you try to look out for each other, and your neighbours
despite being so scattered over such a large area.
In the face of challenges, 
such as the drift away from the faith
and the building feeling a little emptier than it used to years ago,
nevertheless, you pitch in as you can, together,
feeding the hungry, fundraising for charity,
having celebrations and socials,
popping in on those who are ill and who are isolated.
Although you may not realise it, you are living out the message of the Gospel.
There is the matter of trying to look for different ways 
to touch the hearts of all within your wider community –
it’s good to respect tradition and remember what’s gone before,
but don’t be afraid to try and embrace the new 
and look to the present and the future – they can be good as well.
I know that change can be hard, but I also know that you have already weathered many changes
and that you are more resilient than you think you are.
I also know that sometimes you focus too much on what you lack 
but you are richer than you think.
While times might feel challenging I know you can rise to the challenge:
I know you can do this, so, don’t lose heart,
keep listening out for me, and keep going –
you may surprise yourselves at just what you can do, and of all that you do have.
Remember, you’re not alone,
I’m with you, your Shepherd, leading you to new pastures
where there will be refreshing streams for your souls.
Sent with love...

And what of our own, individual lives of faith?
I wonder if each one of us received a wee note – what might it have to say to us?
What words of encouragement might there be for each one of us?
How might Jesus be encouraging you?
What are those gifts, skills, things about you that Jesus thinks are good –
because there will be something:
we each of us have something for each of us is the product of a creative, imaginative God.
Imagine, over this week - this is your homework -
a letter in which Jesus is saying encouraging things about you:
what are they?
Name them.
It’s easier naming the not so good things about ourselves –
we can spend a lot of time doing that, so, in the interests of balance, don’t do that this week!
Instead, think about what Jesus, the Shepherd of your soul,
think about you – all the positive things.

There’s much in our letters to the churches in the Book of Revelation –
and at the end, each one closes with a positive affirmation:
you can overcome the challenges –
and, as in the words from our other reading this morning, in 1 John 4: 4 we overcome because
‘the One who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world.’
Beloved of God, how then do we live our lives?
Like the words of the hymn say:
Look forward in faith, 
God gives us life each day. 
Go onward with Christ, 
His Spirit guides our way. 
Now God lets us live 
Within the sphere of grace. 
Trust ever in him, 
He rules o’er earth and space.
Amen.

[we then sang 'Look forward in faith']