Pentecost XVI 2005 Christ Church Morningside         “where two or three                                                               are gathered together …”   “…where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am with them.”  Matthew 18:20 It’s being called the ‘American Tsunami’ – the death and devastation that has been wreaked on the American gulf coast by hurricane Katrina.  I don’t think any of us have been left unmoved by the scenes that we have witnessed from all across the seaboard of Louisiana , Mississippi and Alabama .  The fact that the City of New Orleans is almost totally underwater, and that parts of it may have to be abandoned altogether, is almost beyond belief!  It is literally almost too much to even imagine! And in the same week we saw the heart-rending images of the stampede in central Baghdad that left over 1000 pilgrims dead – and all because of the rumour, the rumour, of a terrorist attack! And then the anniversary of the school hostage-siege in the Russian city of Belsan .  The seige in which hundreds of school children and teachers were killed when Chechen gunmen (and women) fought it out inside the school with Russian security forces a year ago last week. What can one say…?  Not very much, not very much at all. We live in a broken, breaking and anguished world. Jesus said, “…where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am with them.”  These words drop down on us here, in this place this morning.  These words drop down all across this city and country, all across the churches, people gathered in the Name of Jesus – because we are all reading the same gospel today.  They drop down - parachute almost - like a kindly note, written in some distant country, written and dropped onto beleaguered resistance fighters in enemy held territory… Jesus said, “…where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am with them.”  Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?  It sounds wonderful, comforting and yet… and yet are these words anymore than simply a kindly note saying; ‘hang in there as best you can,’ ‘don’t give up hope,’ ‘keep a stiff upper lip’? Words are cheap.  Words are easy.  What now? If you have your bibles open to today’s reading, then I would suggest that you turn the page.  And over the page you will read some more words, some more words of Jesus: “We are going up to Jerusalem [he said], and the Son of Man is to be betrayed… they will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified.  And on the third day he will be raised again!”  Matthew 20:18 &19 It seems that more was dropped in than just a note.  More was delivered, it appears, than simply a kindly word.  This tells us that the leader had come in person!  The leader had come in person. The leader had come not only to share our human lot, with all it’s joys and sufferings; the leader had come not only to give us moral courage, to tell us to keep going, not loose hope (to hold our hands); the leader had come in person to win the fight, to set us free, to bring us the good news that victory had been won. Jesus said, “…where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am with them.”  Again it all sounds good, but what does this mean in our current context? ·        God is with us, yes ·        God is helping us/working with us, yes ·        But it also speaks of how important it is for us to gather, to gather, to be together, in the name of Jesus – the golf course or a walk in a wood, however lovely, won’t be enough ·        It speaks of the power and value of ‘church’ - people meeting, praying, worship and working together – that we need ritual (hence our baptism this morning), we need corporate prayer, we need sacraments… I have an old Book of Common Prayer from the American Episcopal Church dating from 1868.  In it there is a section called “Prayer to be used in Families.”  It’s a form of morning and evening prayers that can be used at home.  What I like most about this little section of the Prayer Book are the instructions given at the beginning of the prayers: “The Master or Mistress having called together as many of the Family as can conveniently be presents, let one of them, or any other whom they shall think proper, say as follows, all kneeling.” Yes, it’s important to gather ‘at church’.  But how about outside the church building?  Our ‘gathering in Jesus’ Name need not be confined to these ecclesiastical walls… Jesus said, “…where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am with them.”  And He is.  He is with us: ·        Through the words of the Bible ·        Through the Sacrament of Holy Communion ·        Through the Sacrament of Baptism ·    He is with us - In our prayers ·        In our hearts ·        In the faces of the people around us ·        In the very stones of this church building ·        He is with us - In the coffee and biscuits many of us will share after our worship ·        In the sights and sounds and smells of nature are we travel home this morning ·        In our homes, in our loved ones and neighbours, in our work, in all that we are and do and experience He is with us, as He promised, where two or three are gathered together in my name…” and that makes all of the difference in the world.  Thank God He is!  Amen                            Simon Justice                                                                       4th September 2005 Home