Still the voices that laugh at our faith
And stay the hands that would hinder us
Grant us integrity and wisdom, compassion and love
That in all things we should live the life Christ has offered us
Impossible though it may seem
Forsaking the promises of the world
For the eternal gifts of the kingdom
In the name of Jesus, Teacher, prophet and saviour
Amen.

Our Gospel reading today is not so much about being rich or poor as it is about integrity and honesty.

Integrity is a word that is well-used but I wonder how many of us really achieve it in our lives? What does it really mean to have integrity as a Christian? Well I suppose it means that we are what we appear to be; that if we say we are (or believe) something, then that thing can be seen in our lives; that we’re not hypocrites, that we are whole people. Wholeness is a common word in health terms nowadays. Holistic treatment is treatment that looks at every aspect of a person, not just the part that is ailing. It looks at spiritual and emotional health and also the social circumstances surrounding someone. Have they any worries or fears? Who cares for them at home? What are their beliefs? For we all have beliefs of some sort. A person who acts with integrity is a whole person, someone whose life reflects their own values. That should be a very peaceful way to be, don’t you think? A person who is at peace with themselves.

For Christians integrity means that we say we are followers of Jesus and so we try to do his will, to mirror his life and example in the way we live our lives. It means we are committed to loving in a sacrificial way, not just those we know and care for, but the whole world, and not just the people of the whole world, but all of creation. That’s quite a tall order; it’s not always easy or comfortable but we should feel that we are at peace within the struggle. God’s peace is offered to us to help us with the discomfort of trying to live our lives as Christians with integrity, trying to follow the sometimes seemingly impossible demands of Jesus Christ.

The encounter in Mark’s Gospel that we heard read is one that makes many of us feel uncomfortable. Jesus said a lot of uncomfortable things and we are very good at avoiding these. Often we would rather not tackle these subjects at all. We have a look at the text and think, ‘Oh well, I might leave that for another day and look at something that fits better with things as they are at this time. ‘
We can’t really do that; we can’t pick and choose. We need to engage in some way with it all and somehow we need to engage with those things that he didn’t give direction for. We need to try to extrapolate from what we do have, what it is that God wants us to do when there isn’t any specific direction in our Bibles. Some of the things that Jesus says or did seem to contradict other things and there are a heap of things that he didn’t say anything about at all. So how do we deal with it?

Many people have simply given up! When the going gets tough, the tough get going? For Christians, when the going gets tough, our faith points us to Jesus and says ‘follow him’, he didn’t give up.

The story of the rich young man seems uncomfortably clear but of course what does it mean to be rich? How well off do you have to be to be rich? In some parts of our world to own a goat makes you rich! In some parts of our modern cities, the posh streets of Edinburgh or Glasgow or London or New York you’re not rich until you have accumulated an obscene amount of money it seems, but of course it is all relative. There will always be someone much better off than you are. Was it that the young man’s riches were so important to him that put him at fault? He just couldn’t let go of them for anyone or anything, not even Jesus. No wonder he was sad. The things he had owned him instead of the other way around.

There are at present and always will be arguments and discussions in our Churches around points of doctrine on a number of issues, gambling, sexuality, euthanasia, abortion, in vitro fertilisation. At present it’s gay marriage and soon it will be something else. These discussion are perennial because we cannot find within the pages of our Bibles, chapter and verse for every possible situation in our world. God has invited us to engage our intellects and our spiritual resources to try to work out these things for ourselves and there will always be a tension about that. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews recognised that.

“Indeed the word of the Lord is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow, it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

The word of the Lord is more than just a few words scarring a page. Jesus’s life story is not just a text. It is much more than that.

To say that something is living is to admit that it changes and has the power to change. As we grow we all change. We are essentially the same person all of our lives but we change in appearance and in the way we think and act because we react to the world around us. There are very few things about our lives that are completely fixed and unchangeable. Only two things in fact! We are all born and we will all die. We have come from somewhere that we have no memory of and we will go somewhere that we have no knowledge of and the time in between is very short. In the time in between the two we have a lot to do in terms of faith!

The Word of God is not just this book; it is so much more. The Word was the creating force that brought us into being and so the Word can be seen in the pages of the book, in the people around us and in the whole of created order.

The story of the rich young man is different for each generation and will cause heartache and disagreement for many many people like many of Jesus’s encounters is has the power to mean something different to each person who reads it.

What I struggle to gain control of in my life is not the same as your struggle. The things in your life that try to shove Jesus out of your life are not the same as the things that try to push Jesus out of my life or anyone else’s. Trying to maintain our Christian integrity is a constant battle which has the potential to divide soul from spirit and joints from marrow.

Other stories such as Jesus’s acts of healing were much more than they seemed too. They often related to wholeness.

‘Your sins are forgiven, take up your bed and walk. “Go and sin no more.”‘

It wasn’t just the presenting illness that Jesus healed but the whole person. He helped them to regain their integrity as a human being made in God’s image. He offered them peace, the peace that passes all understanding.

I often think of that great (and VERY long book) War and Peace when I think of the Christian life. We are at once at war and at peace. Nothing is comfortable and settled and yet in the darkest and most difficult of times we often feel a certain peace that can only come from beyond ourselves.

In the struggle between God and the Devil
Between sin and virtue
Between dark and light
Between night and day
Between self and the other
Between love and hate
Between right and wrong
Send your peace into the grey places
That our struggles to understand today should become
Rainbows of bright hope to carry us into tomorrow
 

Prayer of Confession

Forgive us our lack of faith
In your mercy
Forgive us Lord Jesus
Forgive us our selfish need to hold on to all that we have
In your mercy
Forgive us Lord Jesus
Forgive us our fear of failure and our conceit and pride
In your mercy
Forgive us Lord Jesus
Forgive us when we are concerned by the ridicule of others
In your mercy
Forgive us Lord Jesus

A blessing from the Corrymeela community, a group of people who know much about the struggle that life and faith can be.

Deep peace of the running wave to you deep peace of he flowing air to you deep peace of the quiet earth to you deep peace of the shining stars to you deep peace of the son of peace to you