A diamond in an Envelope!
2 Corinthians 4: 1 – 12; (Ps 139: 1 – 6, 17 – xx) Mark 2: 23 – 3:6
26th January 1905 the largest diamond in the world was found in South Africa. It was named the Cullinan Diamond. It weighed 3106.75 carats or 621.35 grams. That’s big. The diamond was cut into 9 major stones. Cullinan 1 and 2 were placed in the English Sovereign’s Sceptre and Crown respectively. How would you transport such a valuable gemstone? Surely we would send it under armed guard? Well, it was, kind of! The diamond was supposedly boxed and sent accompanied by armed detectives from South Africa to King Edward VII in London. Then the real Cullinan Diamond was wrapped and sent by ordinary registered mail to London. The King chose an Amsterdam diamond-cutting firm to cleave and polish the stone. Again an armed guard on a Royal Naval ship took an empty box across the North Sea. The ship’s captain didn’t know that. Meanwhile the principal diamond cutter of the company got on a train and then a ferry with the diamond in his coat pocket.
In each instance this valuable treasure was conveyed by what we might call a more vulnerable means to its destination. In each case humans were entrusted with the task. When Paul talks about the treasure of the Gospel being in clay jars he is saying something similar. God has entrusted the message of the Gospel to humans – fragile and sometimes unreliable people. What is the message in this reference to the Gospel – a great treasure – being placed in clay jars? Paul wants to distinguish between the great value of the message compared to the carrier. This is an important distinction to make. I have sometimes been bemused by very nice gifts packaged in lavish containers. The extravagance of the packaging can detract from the gift. I have received gifts where, don’t tell anyone, I have valued the packaging as much as the gift! When we convey the Gospel to people it is the importance of the Gospel that matters not us. Sometimes our skills, competencies and intelligence can get in the way of Gospel. Vice versa: our inadequacies can help show the Gospel.
There is another important point about the image of the clay jar containing the treasure of the Gospel. The wonderful truth of the Gospel needs to be carried to fragile people by fragile people. People transformed by God’s love in Christ best convey the love of the Gospel.
It is so wonderful to read this passage from 2nd Corinthians. “For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.” [2 Cor 4: 5-7] God has shone the light of love and truth in our hearts so we can be transformed by that love and share it with others. Being clay jars or just an envelope reminds us and others that it is the gift that matters. I find it so wonderful to think that God does not need me to be perfect to witness to the Gospel. I find it such a privilege that I can be used for the well-being of others and their relationship with God. D T Niles put it so well. ‘Christian witness is one beggar telling another beggar where s/he found bread’. We are beggars telling other beggars where they found the bread of life.
I now want to shift our focus a little. I want to talk about our worship service as our witness. A few Sundays ago I spoke about the worship service being the first act of witnessing to the Gospel of Christ Jesus. And our worship is like a clay jar. It too is fragile: easily broken and readily replaceable. Think about that. We should not make our worship an end in itself.
Let’s be clear our worship is often not what it should be. As Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” [Jn 4: 23,24] Jesus was also pointing out to the woman that the right place is not the issue – whether it is Jerusalem or Samaria – it is the nature and character of our worship that matters. I want to illustrate how and why worship is an act of mission by using the Methodist hymn writer, Fred Pratt Green’s, 1972 composition set to the old tune, ‘When in our music’. [Lambeth Praise 91]
When, in our music, God is glorified,
And adoration leaves no room for pride,
It is as though the whole creation cried: Alleluia!
The opening words tell us that we are glorifying God and this leaves us no room for pride. God is our focus, the Creator and Redeemer of this world. All of creation sings alleluia – God be praised, God we thank and God we worship. That’s the meaning of alleluia. That is the sole purpose of worship – to acknowledge God and proclaim the wonders of God’s work.
The second verse follows:
How often, making music, we have found
A new dimension in the world of sound,
As worship moved us to a more profound: Alleluia!
It has been said that music is God’s second language that speaks to our hearts and spirits bringing harmony and peace to our lives. Christ Jesus is God’s first word spoken to us in human form, and music follows to lift us up to worship and experience God. Music is God’s second gift to us. Music helps transport us to God’s throne. It is when we are before the throne of God in all our simple clay-ness that we can be lost in wonder, love and praise.
The third verse reminds us that the worship of Church declares God to the world, because our worship is conducted not in a private space but a public space. Our worship centres are placed conspicuously and invitingly to the world. Worship is a witness to God, because of its praise, joy and love. Our worship centres have also been places of prophetic witness to the ills of this world. Our praise is our no to evil and death, and so we sing:
So has the Church, in liturgy and song,
in faith and love, through centuries of wrong,
borne witness to the truth in every tongue: Alleluia!
The fourth verse reminds us what Jesus has done for us.
And did not Jesus sing a Psalm that night
when utmost evil strove against the Light?
then let us sing, for whom he won the fight: Alleluia!
Worship is a witness to what God has done for us. Holy Communion declares what Christ Jesus has done – dying on the Cross, rising from the dead, Jesus overpowered the evil through obedience to truth and love. It is through truth and love – which is the very essence of God who is love and truth – that evil alone can be conquered. That is what Jesus did for us. That is what Holy Communion witnesses to. And in the act of worship we come, all are invited, to the table of the Lord and we bow our heads and cup our hands as beggars and receive the signs of the blood and body of Christ upon whom our whole existence depends. We don’t thank the liturgists and presider because they have first received and are merely servants of the host – the Triune God.
The fifth verse brings us to that moment in worship where we respond. Like Isaiah who encounters God in a vision and responds to the call of God by saying, ‘here am I, send me’, we come and raise our voices in song to take the song into world. Our witness is a joyful word and deed said and done in the presence of others.
Let every instrument be tuned for praise!
let all rejoice who have a voice to raise!
and may God give us faith to sing always: Alleluia.
I want to ask you to reflect on our worship. I would like our liturgists – worship leaders – musicians door stewards and all who come to worship God to reflect on to what degree our worship is focused on God. I sometimes am troubled by our joys and concerns that seem so much ‘our’ joys and concerns. Not that that is wrong, it is rather the absence of acknowledging God as the source of our birthdays, children and wellness. We speak of these important events in our lives as if they are just natural to us, rather than God’s intention for us. At times our concerns seem to fall short of acknowledging God’s deep compassion for the poor, the homeless, the refugee and the horrible injustices in our world.
I invited you to sing to God, ‘When in our music God is glorified’, and remember that you are envelopes that contain a valuable diamond.
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Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC: 03/06/2018
/ Www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org
