This morning I took the Eucharist at HM Prison Canterbury at 0900 hrs.,
using the new Church of England Common Worship Book, 2000. We started by
singing the song "Father, I place into your hands the things I cannot do",
accompanied by me on the electronic organ. The Epistle was Colossians 3:1-11,
and the Gospel Mark 12:13-21 (the parable of the rich fool). An inmate read
the Epistle, and I read the Gospel and preached from it (see below). Another
inmate assisted me with the chalice, and we ended with the song "Lord, the
light of your love is shining". They listened very well to the sermon, which
was more of a talk than a sermon. Here are my notes:
Mark 12:13-21
1. Beware of Covetousness 13-15
Where there's a Will, there's Relatives! Nobody wants to share their
inheritance unless they are forced to. Rabbis used to arbitrate in disputes
such as this. Although Jesus was given the courtesy title of Rabbi, he was not
in fact a registered ordained Rabbi, and could not make legal pronouncements.
And he would not, even if he could. Jesus came to be our Saviour, not our
Judge. He will be coming again as Judge; but for now he is our Saviour. We
won't be condemned if we have enlisted Jesus as our Advocate; his is the
perfect plea. "Father, I died for my client". We need to be concerned now
with laying up treasure in heaven, not treasure on earth, where moth and rust
corrupt, and thieves break through and steal (Matthew 6:19-21). We've all
found moth holes in our best set of threads. We've all found rust holes in our
expensive set of wheels. We've all lost something valuable to thieves.
2. Beware of Riches 16-19
The man in Jesus' parable is a good man, a good farmer, a good citizen. His
hard honest work earned him a fortune. But he had a bad case of
Perpendicularitis: he suffered from the vertical pronoun "I" (read vv 17-19).
He was only interested in increasing his bank balance and his stocks and
shares portfolio. Here's a little rhyme I came across:
I had a little party, this afternoon at three.
It was very small, three guests in all:
Just I, Myself, and Me.
Myself ate all the sandwiches
While I drank up the tea.
It was also I who ate the pie
And passed the cake to Me.
He thought he had it made; he was going to enjoy early retirement and be happy
ever after. I hope you've made provision for your retirement; I wish you a
long happy and active retirement. But have you made provision for your
Hereafter? Do you really want to "live happily ever after"?
3. Beware of Folly 20-21
God calls this man a fool, because he was busy preparing for life when he
should have been preparing for death. All his goods passed to his eldest son,
who refused to share them with his brother, who now asks Jesus to intervene.
Be wise. Be rich towards God. Ask Jesus to cleanse you from your debts of sin
by his blood shed on Calvary. Put on the new life in Christ. Be filled with
the Spirit. Tell others about Jesus. Give your money to good and godly causes,
and you will have treasure in heaven. And eternal life to enjoy it all.
___________________________________________________________________________
In Christ,
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
