This Day Of Small Things

Zechariah 4:1-10  Rev21:1-14

Once upon a time I was a Curate and one evening I made a baptism preparation visit.

Although I was warmly welcomed by the family, I really didn’t think we got anywhere.

The children were demanding bedtime stories and the television remained on.

As I tried to explain the meaning of Baptism, it felt as if I was talking to myself.

Details of Sunday School and the Toddler group were folded up and put under the Argos Catalogue.

I even forgot to bring the application form so had to write all the details down on the back of an envelope.

Nobody had any questions to ask and I was back outside on the pavement within twenty minutes.

I don’t remember anything about the Baptism itself. It was a long time ago.

I just remember feeling how hopeless we were that evening, Priest and people together.

Making a hash of it.

I was walking along a London street with a former parishioner of mine.

We were doing a sponsored walk to raise money for inner city churches.

“Is this how you thought it would turn out?” she asked me out of blue.

“What do you mean” I said

“Well, when you became a Vicar, did you think this is how it was going to be”

I thought for a moment.

“No, it’s not” I said “I really believed I was going to change the world”

By and large we live in days of small things.

Days when we really can’t point to anything we’ve said or done that makes a positive difference. Days of “more of the same” and “back in the old routine”

What an opportunity this morning for example with fifty extra people here for Michael’s Baptism and me talking about stepping stones across a river and Jesus being the Way, the Truth and the Life. In spite of doing my best, I’m not sure that it will have been enough to bring any of them back next week.

Because these are just days of small things.

Now drawing to a close with us huddled in this little corner of Redhill for beautiful Evensong.

I wonder if that’s how today feels for you, or indeed how life feels for you, most of the time. Or maybe it’s been momentous!

That was a puzzling old reading from the storage basement of the Old Testament.

The prophet Zechariah plucked out off a dusty shelf for our edification.

The essence of it is that the people did not believe they were living in days of small things.

They firmly believed that in taking part in the restoration of Jerusalem they were doing something important. That when the project was completed, the restoration of their relationship with God would be accomplished too.

They were convinced that by the sweat of their brow and through their honest endeavour, they would make a difference.

Yet, the word of the Lord to them challenged this “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord”

As if to say, you can only edge forward towards my kingdom by what you can do,but what about if you were still enough, or expectant enough to let be my Spirit  scope you up and take you there.

That sounds an unlikely promise for those of us whose days are filled with small things.

Our reading from Revelation is a bit similar to that of Zechariah, but the difference is that God at last gets the space in which to do his work, and its not just a new city that gets built but a brand new heaven and earth.

God makes this possible by seizing the initiative.

By bending down low to wipe the tears from our eyes.

By easing pain and giving comfort in mourning. By making his home with us.

By quenching  the thirst we’ve worked up through the years of trying to do it all ourselves.

No more inching forward, now, pressed down, poured over and running into our laps, is the kingdom of which he’s been speaking

Last summer I went back to the scene of that useless baptism visit.

Well, to the church. To support an Ordinand I knew who was being made a Priest.

There was a woman there who looked vaguely familiar.

She stood with a chalice in her hand and was giving the blood of Christ to me.

I sought her out after the service to see if I could work out where we’d met.

She greeted me like and old friend.

“You came to our house, remember, and did the baptism preparation for our new baby. My husband and I always said, that visit of yours was what set us on our way back towards God, I’ve been a lay minister of Communion for eight years now”

Who knows what can happen to days of little things when we move away from them.

When seeds are sown and we walk away and let God work.

“Not by my might or by my power, but by His Spirit” – says the Lord.

RH  20.4.08