WEBVTT 00:00:05.940 --> 00:00:09.060 Kia ora and welcome to the St. Francis Church 00:00:09.060 --> 00:00:11.580 sermon podcast. We're so glad that you've joined 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:15.000 us. Our prayer is that as you listen, you would 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:17.920 encounter God's presence, be refreshed in your 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:20.800 faith and equipped for everyday life with Jesus. 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:24.280 As a church, we are learning to faithfully follow 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:27.920 Jesus by practicing His way at His pace. For 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:30.899 more info about who we are and what God is doing 00:00:30.899 --> 00:00:36.840 among us, head to stfrancis .co .nz. Grace and 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:45.159 peace. Welcome again, family. It's great to have 00:00:45.159 --> 00:00:49.200 you here on this Sunday, St. Francis feast day. 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:52.799 A year already since the last one that has certainly 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:57.189 flown by. Well, today we celebrate St. Francis 00:00:57.189 --> 00:01:00.509 and his life following Jesus. And you've probably 00:01:00.509 --> 00:01:03.210 seen him without knowing it, that small statue 00:01:03.210 --> 00:01:06.329 which is tucked among the flowers in somebody's 00:01:06.329 --> 00:01:10.329 garden. And that's St. Francis. Nihai concrete, 00:01:10.469 --> 00:01:13.150 a little bird on his shoulder. maybe a rabbit 00:01:13.150 --> 00:01:18.150 at his feet. He's lovely. He sits quietly among 00:01:18.150 --> 00:01:22.099 the lavender, never bothers anybody. And that's 00:01:22.099 --> 00:01:26.060 exactly the problem. Because the real Francis 00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:29.459 bothered everybody. He bothered his daddy, bothered 00:01:29.459 --> 00:01:33.099 the bishop. He kissed people everyone else crossed 00:01:33.099 --> 00:01:37.180 the road to avoid. And in the middle of the crusades 00:01:37.180 --> 00:01:39.859 he walked across the battle lines to the Muslim 00:01:39.859 --> 00:01:43.420 Sultan of Egypt. And people honestly weren't 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:47.670 sure whether he was a saint. or a madman. Francis, 00:01:48.549 --> 00:01:51.030 well, he wasn't remarkable because he liked birds. 00:01:51.810 --> 00:01:55.469 He was remarkable because he took Jesus at his 00:01:55.469 --> 00:01:59.560 word. And we carry his name. It's on our sign, 00:02:00.019 --> 00:02:03.799 which is either a nice heritage for us or a challenge 00:02:03.799 --> 00:02:07.969 staring back at us every Sunday. And here's the 00:02:07.969 --> 00:02:11.639 thing about garden statues. We admire them. We 00:02:11.639 --> 00:02:14.740 don't follow them. And it's possible to do exactly 00:02:14.740 --> 00:02:19.969 the same thing with Jesus. Francis' whole life 00:02:19.969 --> 00:02:23.210 kept pointing back to these words of Matthew 00:02:23.210 --> 00:02:45.400 chapter 11. Notice that Jesus doesn't say Come 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:50.159 and admire me. He says three things come take 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:54.300 and learn That's not a spectator sport. That's 00:02:54.300 --> 00:02:58.039 an apprenticeship with him So here's the question 00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:00.680 that I want us this morning each one of us here 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:06.620 to carry this morning what would it look like 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:09.879 for us here in Hillcrest to stop admiring Jesus 00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:14.550 from a distance and actually following him and 00:03:14.550 --> 00:03:17.740 when I say from a distance that means if You're 00:03:17.740 --> 00:03:20.139 watching someone doing something in Christ's 00:03:20.139 --> 00:03:23.979 name in the community and you just stand back. 00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:27.979 You are admiring Jesus working at a distance. 00:03:30.110 --> 00:03:33.530 Admiring is easy. Admiring actually costs each 00:03:33.530 --> 00:03:36.960 of us nothing. You can admire from the couch 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:40.939 or from the church seat. Following means you 00:03:40.939 --> 00:03:45.250 actually have to move. And three things from 00:03:45.250 --> 00:03:48.090 Francis's life and from Jesus's words this morning. 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:53.900 I want to share a bit about Saint Francis' life. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:58.159 He was born around 1181 in Assisi in central 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:01.580 Italy, the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. Now, 00:04:01.580 --> 00:04:05.580 he had money. He had charm. He had great clothes. 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:09.159 And he had one big dream. He wanted to be a knight 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:13.199 for the glory, the honor, and the name people 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:17.139 would remember. Bit like an influencer today. 00:04:18.379 --> 00:04:21.100 But so he went off to war, Assisi against the 00:04:21.100 --> 00:04:24.000 next town over. And today that would be a bit 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:27.980 like us going over to Frankton to war with them, 00:04:29.660 --> 00:04:32.889 or Claude Lins or somewhere. So he went off to 00:04:32.889 --> 00:04:37.069 war, and it went badly. He was captured, and 00:04:37.069 --> 00:04:42.029 he spent about a year in a prison cell. When 00:04:42.029 --> 00:04:44.930 he came home he was sick, and something inside 00:04:44.930 --> 00:04:48.230 him had started to come loose, and it was slow. 00:04:48.910 --> 00:04:53.259 He prayed and he wandered. And one day he found 00:04:53.259 --> 00:04:55.839 himself in a half -ruined little chapel outside 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:59.180 town called San Damiano, kneeling in front of 00:04:59.180 --> 00:05:02.500 a painted crucifix. And he sensed Christ saying 00:05:02.500 --> 00:05:07.980 to him, Francis, go and repair my house, which 00:05:07.980 --> 00:05:14.790 as you can see is falling into ruin. Now here's 00:05:14.949 --> 00:05:19.680 where it gets awkward. Francis took that literally. 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:23.839 He sold a load of his father's cloth and the 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:26.120 horse, a stallion that he had been given, and 00:05:26.120 --> 00:05:28.939 he tried to hand the money to the priest. And 00:05:28.939 --> 00:05:32.480 his dad was furious. It ended up in front of 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:34.800 the bishop in the public square with half of 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:39.589 Assisi gathering to watch. And his father demanded 00:05:39.589 --> 00:05:43.759 his money back, and Francis gave it back. Then 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:46.100 he took off his clothes, every piece of clothing, 00:05:46.970 --> 00:05:50.250 and he laid them at his father's feet. And he 00:05:50.250 --> 00:05:53.509 said something like this. Up till now I've called 00:05:53.509 --> 00:05:57.060 you my father. From now on I'll say our father 00:05:57.060 --> 00:06:01.339 who art in heaven. And then the bishop stepped 00:06:01.339 --> 00:06:04.720 forward and wrapped his own cloak around him. 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:09.379 Now you don't need to accept every detail of 00:06:09.379 --> 00:06:13.949 a medieval story to feel its weight. This is 00:06:13.949 --> 00:06:17.949 a young man deciding what and who his whole life 00:06:17.949 --> 00:06:21.329 will be built around. Everyone in the room faces 00:06:21.329 --> 00:06:26.699 that question whatever they believe. Now, I'm 00:06:26.699 --> 00:06:30.180 not asking anyone to do what St Francis did in 00:06:30.180 --> 00:06:36.199 that square, but hear what's going on. Francis 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:40.160 stopped trying to become someone important and 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:44.920 started simply following someone. And Jesus says 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:48.959 it just before our passage this morning from 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:52.720 Matthew 11, again, that I praise you, Father, 00:06:52.839 --> 00:06:56.699 Lord of heaven and earth, because you have made 00:06:56.699 --> 00:06:59.649 these things from the wise and the learned. and 00:06:59.649 --> 00:07:04.660 revealed them to little children. Francis called 00:07:04.660 --> 00:07:08.699 his brothers the friars minor, meaning the lesser 00:07:08.699 --> 00:07:12.269 brothers, the little ones. For the kingdom isn't 00:07:12.269 --> 00:07:15.829 grabbed by the impressive, it's received by people 00:07:15.829 --> 00:07:19.970 who know they need it. Paul says the same thing 00:07:19.970 --> 00:07:23.860 in the Sunday's reading from Philippians, that 00:07:23.860 --> 00:07:26.139 everything that he had once counted as gain, 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:29.790 he now counts as loss. He says this, because 00:07:29.790 --> 00:07:32.449 of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus 00:07:32.449 --> 00:07:37.399 my Lord. That's Francis in the square on that 00:07:37.399 --> 00:07:41.449 day. And here's where it lands for us today. 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:46.120 We can admire his simplicity and still organise 00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:49.220 our lives around getting more. We can admire 00:07:49.220 --> 00:07:52.379 his compassion and still keep a safe distance 00:07:52.379 --> 00:07:56.019 from anyone who's struggling. We can admire his 00:07:56.019 --> 00:07:59.060 peacemaking and still hang on to the grudge. 00:08:00.610 --> 00:08:03.949 even be flat out doing church things and not 00:08:03.949 --> 00:08:10.980 be close enough to Jesus to hear his voice. Jesus 00:08:10.980 --> 00:08:15.240 never said to us, come and admire me. He said, 00:08:15.300 --> 00:08:21.560 come to me. Admirers, well, they keep everything 00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:27.279 and they add Jesus. Followers, they let go to 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:32.759 hold on to him. Take my yoke upon you and learn 00:08:32.759 --> 00:08:36.809 from me. Now, remember those words and the images 00:08:36.809 --> 00:08:39.830 from back in August in the Slow Apprenticeship 00:08:39.830 --> 00:08:44.279 series that we did? Most of us have only seen 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:48.639 a yoke in a museum, a heavy wooden beam across 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:51.700 the necks of two oxen, so they can pull together. 00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:54.940 And once you yoke, you don't choose your own 00:08:54.940 --> 00:08:58.330 direction. You don't set your own pace. You move 00:08:58.330 --> 00:09:02.519 together, or you don't move at all. And notice 00:09:02.519 --> 00:09:05.639 that's also what teams do. You move together, 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:08.440 or you don't move at all. And you find that in 00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:11.179 church teams, you find that in sports teams, 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:13.580 that when you're not moving, you don't move at 00:09:13.580 --> 00:09:17.960 all. Chaos begins to ensue. But here's a detail 00:09:17.960 --> 00:09:21.379 that I love. An early Christian writer, Justin 00:09:21.379 --> 00:09:25.940 Marta, about 100 years after Jesus, says that 00:09:25.940 --> 00:09:28.919 when Jesus worked as a carpenter in Nazareth, 00:09:29.159 --> 00:09:33.210 he made plows and yokes. So when Jesus says, 00:09:33.590 --> 00:09:37.539 my yoke is easy, He's talking like a craftsman. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:41.059 And the word easy means something that is well 00:09:41.059 --> 00:09:45.659 -fitting. A good yoke was shaped to the animal 00:09:45.659 --> 00:09:49.539 so it didn't rub it raw. And then he tells us 00:09:49.539 --> 00:09:53.889 exactly what his pace is like. I am gentle and 00:09:53.889 --> 00:10:03.009 humble in heart. Most of us, I say all of us, 00:10:03.169 --> 00:10:07.620 are already wearing a yoke. Just not the yoke 00:10:07.620 --> 00:10:13.379 of Jesus. We wear Maybe the yoke of hurry. The 00:10:13.379 --> 00:10:16.019 yoke of proving ourselves. The yoke of keeping 00:10:16.019 --> 00:10:19.820 everyone happy. Or the yoke that whispers, it 00:10:19.820 --> 00:10:25.500 all depends on you. The yoke of fear. That whispers 00:10:25.500 --> 00:10:28.159 of shame that tell us that we are not enough. 00:10:29.990 --> 00:10:33.980 Those jokes promise that will matter. What they 00:10:33.980 --> 00:10:41.879 actually do is wear our souls thin. Pastor John 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:46.559 Ortberg tells of ringing his mentor, Dallas Willard. 00:10:46.870 --> 00:10:49.110 To ask what he needed to do to be spiritually 00:10:49.110 --> 00:10:53.399 healthy, there was a long pause. Then Willard 00:10:53.399 --> 00:10:57.669 said, you must ruthlessly eliminate Hari from 00:10:57.669 --> 00:11:02.139 your life. Ortberg wrote it down and asked, what 00:11:02.139 --> 00:11:06.879 else? And Willard said, there is nothing else. 00:11:09.340 --> 00:11:12.740 Every week on our newsletter carries this line, 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:16.600 practicing the way of Jesus at the pace of Jesus. 00:11:18.179 --> 00:11:21.100 And Francis shows us. what that pace looks like 00:11:21.100 --> 00:11:26.850 in his life. From the time he was young, Francis 00:11:26.850 --> 00:11:29.490 couldn't stand the sight of people with leprosy. 00:11:30.490 --> 00:11:33.009 They lived outside town, you could smell the 00:11:33.009 --> 00:11:36.690 sickness, he'd hold his nose and he'd ride past. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:41.389 Then one day, when he was riding near Assisi, 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:45.429 there's a man with leprosy on the road, and everything 00:11:45.429 --> 00:11:50.919 in Francis wants to kick the horse on. Instead, 00:11:52.740 --> 00:11:57.120 he gets off the horse. He walks over, he puts 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:02.230 a coin in the man's hand and he kisses it. Near 00:12:02.230 --> 00:12:05.230 the end of his life, Francis looked back on that 00:12:05.230 --> 00:12:28.000 moment and he wrote this, That's what Jesus' 00:12:28.259 --> 00:12:32.379 pace does. to someone's life. Harry would have 00:12:32.379 --> 00:12:35.919 kept Francis in the saddle. Harry protects us 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:40.669 from the encounter. It lets us pass suffering 00:12:40.669 --> 00:12:45.490 without ever really seeing it. And Francis was 00:12:45.490 --> 00:12:50.139 only doing what Jesus had done first. When a 00:12:50.139 --> 00:12:53.100 man with leprosy came to Jesus, Mark says that 00:12:53.100 --> 00:13:00.370 Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. He 00:13:00.370 --> 00:13:04.149 could have healed him with a word. But he chose 00:13:04.149 --> 00:13:10.220 to touch, to show those around him watching, 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:16.639 that these were people too. Walking at Jesus' 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:21.139 pace also doesn't mean going slowly. Sometimes 00:13:21.139 --> 00:13:25.860 love runs. It means we're no longer driven by 00:13:25.860 --> 00:13:30.730 anxiety or ego, slow enough to notice a person 00:13:30.730 --> 00:13:38.639 beside the road. So for you here today and anyone 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:42.210 that could be listening, watch your horse you're 00:13:42.210 --> 00:13:46.899 on. What keeps you moving just fast enough to 00:13:46.899 --> 00:13:52.789 ride past people? Now for some of us, it's a 00:13:52.789 --> 00:13:55.330 diary with no gaps in it at all, going from one 00:13:55.330 --> 00:13:57.950 appointment to another, filling it up with something 00:13:57.950 --> 00:14:04.480 else to do. Admirers watch Jesus from the saddle. 00:14:06.820 --> 00:14:12.570 Followers get down. Let's go back to San Damiano. 00:14:13.269 --> 00:14:17.090 After the square, Francis went around Assisi 00:14:17.090 --> 00:14:19.610 begging for stones. He carried them on his back 00:14:19.610 --> 00:14:23.309 and rebuilt. that little chapel with his hands. 00:14:24.149 --> 00:14:28.070 Only later did he realize Jesus was rebuilding 00:14:28.070 --> 00:14:34.940 something far bigger, not buildings, people, 00:14:36.470 --> 00:14:40.440 because others started to join him. First one 00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:43.200 or two, then a dozen, then more. They prayed 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:45.159 together. They worked with their hands. They 00:14:45.159 --> 00:14:48.460 shared everything. They cared for people with 00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:51.299 leprosy. And they greeted everyone. They met 00:14:51.299 --> 00:14:55.350 with the same words. May the Lord give you peace. 00:14:58.990 --> 00:15:02.490 A young woman named Claire, well she left her 00:15:02.490 --> 00:15:07.200 wealthy family to follow in the same way. Within 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:10.559 Francis's lifetime there were thousands of people 00:15:11.330 --> 00:15:13.970 that were following. The Gospel didn't just make 00:15:13.970 --> 00:15:18.509 Francis as nice an individual, it did this. It 00:15:18.509 --> 00:15:25.129 made a different kind of community. Indeed, Dirk 00:15:25.129 --> 00:15:27.830 Bonhoeffer in the book Life Together said it 00:15:27.830 --> 00:15:32.019 this way. that Christianity means community through 00:15:32.019 --> 00:15:38.809 Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. Look again 00:15:38.809 --> 00:15:43.570 at who Jesus invites. Come to me all you who 00:15:43.570 --> 00:15:48.659 are weary. All. So what might that look like 00:15:48.659 --> 00:15:53.139 here amongst us? Amongst Hillcresters, students 00:15:53.139 --> 00:15:56.659 and retirees, young families and people new to 00:15:56.659 --> 00:16:00.090 Aotearoa, neighbours who lived side by side for 00:16:00.090 --> 00:16:06.080 years and never really talked. God was speaking 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:09.500 to his people who were in exile, and he gave 00:16:09.500 --> 00:16:14.350 these words to Jeremiah in chapter 29. Seek the 00:16:14.350 --> 00:16:19.740 peace and prosperity of the city. So when the 00:16:19.740 --> 00:16:23.590 city is well and prosperous, everyone benefits. 00:16:26.090 --> 00:16:29.919 Now Hillcrest, where we are planted, doesn't 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:33.080 need another event from us to put on. It needs 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:36.000 a community where the way of Jesus can be seen. 00:16:37.309 --> 00:16:40.500 In an anxious neighborhood, We are a people of 00:16:40.500 --> 00:16:43.419 peace. In a lonely neighborhood, we are a people 00:16:43.419 --> 00:16:46.429 of belonging. And in a hurried neighborhood, 00:16:47.029 --> 00:16:50.049 we are a people who are present to the moment. 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:55.269 In a divided neighborhood, we have a table where 00:16:55.269 --> 00:16:58.350 people who normally sit together call each other 00:16:58.350 --> 00:17:04.150 family. And it starts smaller than you and I 00:17:04.150 --> 00:17:07.849 would think. It starts with Francis like gathering 00:17:07.849 --> 00:17:12.839 stones, learning the names on your street. Opening 00:17:12.839 --> 00:17:15.599 your table to someone on their own. Making room 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:19.710 for children, for older people, for people who 00:17:19.710 --> 00:17:23.990 don't know when to stand and when to sit. And 00:17:23.990 --> 00:17:27.170 we don't go out there as heroes to rescue everybody. 00:17:28.809 --> 00:17:32.930 We go as neighbours. Expecting to meet Jesus 00:17:32.930 --> 00:17:36.390 there as we take Jesus with us, He is there also. 00:17:37.509 --> 00:17:39.890 Whatever we do for the least of these, He said, 00:17:40.430 --> 00:17:45.910 we do for Him. And another thing about admirers. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:51.750 admirers form an audience. Now followers become 00:17:51.750 --> 00:17:59.930 a family and God calls us his family. So back 00:17:59.930 --> 00:18:04.799 to our question, what would it look like for 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:08.339 us here in Hillcrest to stop admiring Jesus from 00:18:08.339 --> 00:18:15.109 a distance and actually follow him? Jesus has 00:18:15.109 --> 00:18:20.369 already told us, come to me. Before there's a 00:18:20.369 --> 00:18:22.789 program or a plan or anything, there's a person, 00:18:22.930 --> 00:18:26.819 come close to him. And then he says, take my 00:18:26.819 --> 00:18:31.829 yoke. Let him set the direction. Let him set 00:18:31.829 --> 00:18:35.480 the pace where to go. And he also says, learn 00:18:35.480 --> 00:18:40.039 from me. Learn his gentleness, his eye for the 00:18:40.039 --> 00:18:43.140 overlooked people, his courage to cross the road 00:18:43.140 --> 00:18:47.319 towards suffering or loneliness. And he also 00:18:47.319 --> 00:18:49.839 said, and you will find rest for your souls. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:54.619 And that is not the rest of avoiding the world, 00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:57.359 the rest of no longer having to carry it all 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:03.079 by yourself. Because we are yoked to Him. It's 00:19:03.079 --> 00:19:08.420 possible to do to Jesus what we've done to Francis. 00:19:09.779 --> 00:19:12.960 To keep Him in the garden. Lovely and quiet. 00:19:13.769 --> 00:19:21.930 Never bothering anybody. Don't admire Him. Follow 00:19:21.930 --> 00:19:28.000 Him. And this week, just one step from admirer 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:33.660 to a follower. Ask yourself this. Where do I 00:19:33.660 --> 00:19:37.400 need to get off the horse like Francis? Who's 00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:40.789 the one person I've been moving too fast to notice. 00:19:44.289 --> 00:19:49.150 Stop and get down from the saddle and walk over. 00:19:50.569 --> 00:19:54.000 And you might find, like Francis did, that what 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:58.789 seemed bitter turns into something sweet and 00:19:58.789 --> 00:20:04.509 that Jesus was already there waiting for you 00:20:04.509 --> 00:20:11.910 to arrive. Francis said the Lord gave him a greeting 00:20:12.359 --> 00:20:16.359 to share with everyone that he met. So I speak 00:20:16.359 --> 00:20:20.890 this over you today. The Lord give you peace. 00:20:21.269 --> 00:20:21.369 Amen.