A sermon from Sunday

Fifth Sunday before Lent.
St Magnus 2011.
Shout out, do not hold back!
God speaks to Isaiah.
It all sounds fairly confident yet I wonder if God was to speak to me such confident words, would I sit up and listen? Surely there would be lots of reasons why I might not?
This portion of Isaiah comes from the time after the exile, the time after those who had been exiled by the Babylonians and taken away from their homes and lands, had been allowed to return by the Persians.
Rather than being a time of simple hope it was actually wracked with difficulties and tensions. Those returning home after years of exile were met with very suspicious neighbours who had not been exiled. Community tension was high. The exiles were not welcomed with open arms, and the exiles in turn faced more than just rebuilding walls and temple.
A time of disillusion kicked in, as the social realities took a firm grip on the people.
To the prophet God speaks… “Shout out…..”
It is all very well preaching on a Sunday to a group of people who sit quietly in the pews, sometimes nodding in agreement, and sometimes nodding off maybe as the words go on and on…. But to speak out when the hearers are not listening or even when they are antagonistic must be an awful thing to have to do.
We have seen some violent protests recently in Tunisia, Algeria, and now Egypt. People are shouting out, they have had enough of suspicion and corruption, they want to be heard (and supported?) Maybe I am feeling cynical, but Tunisia and Algeria were reported and passed over, but Egypt, because it matters more to us, is being watched more closely.
It is hard to put yourselves in the place of those rioters in Egypt, or anywhere else for that matter, and yet they contain a cross section of the people from young to old.
Isaiah was faced with the cross section of the people and a lone voice against a crowd is a sorry sound.
And yet it is also from this section of Isaiah that we hear many of the familiar readings around Christmas. The light shining in the darkness, the voice in the wilderness, and the need for real sacrifice not ritual sacrifice. (social awareness)
The Jewish nation survived this period of disillusion, because the lone voices were heard, and other people arose to rebuild not just the temple but the sense of social justice so necessary to any community.
Jesus tells us in the gospel today that we are salt and light.
As I look at you all today I can see the light and salt that you are in this community. I know some of the things people are involved in, much I do not know, neither do I need to know.
When the people coming back from exile did eventually began to rebuild the temple they did so with a clear focus on both God in their midst and the need for social reconstruction.
A temple built just as a religious sanctuary, a place for ritual sacrifice alone, a place where they could just take their hollow fasts and wonder why nothing was coming of them, was not worth the effort, and I suspect the people who had not been exiled certainly felt this.
But a Temple that could stand as an ensign of Gods love and justice in society, was worth building, and it was worth worshiping in too.
Fasts were heard, offerings received, and everyone knew that it was really worth it.
St Magnus has been restored, a period of exile maybe has been endured…..
God promises to water his Garden but we are the gardeners. Without our deliberate effort, nothing will have been gained except a restored building.
We are the salt and light.