Getting up early in the morning to go for a run is never easy. I have learnt that over the years. But at least twice a week I do it. Before the birds begin to sing and the sun to rise over the hills, I find myself slipping out from between the sheets, sleepily sliding into my running clothes, and stepping out into the unknown to pound the darkened streets.

I do it to keep fit. I do it so as not to let down the friend I run with. And I do it because I know, in spite of my reservations as my eyes struggle to open, that once out on the road the crisp cold air awakens something deep inside and I experience the joy of being alive.

You may have felt something similar yourselves. It may not have been at the crack of dawn, nor happened with your sneakers on, but you may have experienced a moment or moments when you have stepped outside the comfortable and realized afresh that the radiance of God’s presence and beauty cannot be vanquished by the darkness.

I suggest this is a theme which runs through the scriptures. We see it in today’s psalm. ‘It is good to give thanks to the Lord… to tell of your love in the morning’, the psalmist declares. And we see it in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. He speaks of the Christ-event inaugurating a new creation. ‘When anyone is united to Christ, there is a new world’.

The trouble is this message is often lost amidst the mire of today’s news.

One of the things my running partner and I do when we run is to talk. Between our grunts and groans we talk about all manner of things. We talk about the weather. We talk about work. We talk about our families. And we talk about the issues making the headlines. The other day it was the Richard Worth saga and, while not condoning his actions, our conversation turned to our dismay at what we focus on as a nation.

You would hope there would be more important items to feature on our front pages. Surely, with so much else happening in our world, swine flu being declared a pandemic, the global economy continuing to falter and the ecological crisis turning our way of life upside down, the last thing we need is to read paper selling stories of little worth.

I want to hear good news. I want to hear stories of people making a difference in our world. I want to read about those who inspire others to get out of bed in the morning and to do something that really matters with their lives. I want to talk about hope.

And the good news is such stories of hope do exist; they just need to be shared.

For example:

I read an inspiring story the other day. It appeared in a booklet called Just Gardening, produced by the Social Justice Commission of our church. It told of a group of friends in Dunedin who had set up a project called the Garden Development Project. Supported by the local Anglican Church, they build vegetable gardens for families struggling with their food budget. On one occasion they went to a house and the male member of the family showed no interest in what was being done, but by lunchtime he was cooking sizzlers for them all. His partner, when quizzed later by friends, said ‘They talked about hope’.

And I have a friend, a woman about my age; she and her husband had a desire to do what they could to bring some hope to the poorest of Africa. Last year she organised an event called Eat So They Can, a series of dinner parties aimed at putting the fun back in fundraising and they collected over $80,000 for children’s projects they support.

These are the stories we need to share. They are stories of real worth. They are stories of hope. They are stories which inspire and challenge us to do something ourselves. And they remind us that even the little we do can make a big difference to those around us.

What are your stories of hope? What does your life, our life, communicate to others?

One of the shortest parables told in the gospels is found in the passage I read earlier. Jesus is teaching by the lakeside, a great crowd has gathered, and he is speaking to them in parables, simple stories drawn from real life that seek to convey a deeper meaning. ‘How shall we picture the kingdom of God?’ he says. Earlier in Mark’s gospel Jesus tells the people that the kingdom of God has arrived, and he demonstrates this by casting out demons and healing the sick, and he commissions the twelve to share in this work.

Now he compares the kingdom to a mustard seed. It is the smallest of all seeds, he says, but it grows into the largest of all shrubs, and gives shelter to the birds in its branches.

It is a wonderful picture for us to consider. Comparable examples abound around us. And although we may prefer to speak of partnering God in the work of a new creation, rather than of kingdoms and satanic forces, the principle remains the same. We are a people of hope who believe that in Jesus something new has begun. So we must not be distracted by those whose focus is on that which saps life, or be discouraged when our work appears to bear little fruit. We must never cease to live the hope we proclaim.

Jesus’ life is a parable of hope; it is a gift of love and a message of peace for all.

Let me finish with a story I have told before, but is worth telling again!

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed  a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.  The surf is up and the tide is going out.  If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf.  Then, smiling at the man, he said… “I made a difference for that one.”

So may we wake up each day knowing we are part of a new creation; may we see in others and in the world around us the presence of God in our midst; and may we step outside of the comfortable to give voice to the story Jesus came to share.

‘The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the Good News.’ Mark 1.15

Amen.

A sermon preached in St Alban’s Anglican Church of Eastbourne by The Ven. Damon Plimmer on 14 June 2009.

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