Today I had the opportunity to preach at my church. Here is the sermon I gave.

The two texts were Jeremiah 35 and 1 Corinthians 15: 1-8.

There was a craftsman who was getting old, his eyes and hands noticeably deteriorating, and clearly recognized that he only had a few years of plying his beloved trade left. He’d bought a sturdy foot-pedal and hand-crank powered machine that was now over a century old. It had served him well over the years and was still in perfectly good condition, and he wanted to hand it on to his daughter, but she wasn’t interested. This made him sad, that the art he had dedicated his life to was dying out in the modern world. He decided to offer the machine up for sale on an online bazaar at a reasonably low cost, thinking that perhaps someone who used to work in the industry would want to pick it up again as a hobby and delay the disappearance of his craft by a few years. A few days later, he is contacted by an interested party and they arrange to meet.

A middle-aged man and his twenty-year-old son arrive and carry the heavy machine to their car in two parts. Out of politeness, the artisan asks which of them will be using the machine, and to his surprise, it is the twenty-year-old son that is the enthusiast, and sees the machine as the ideal stepping stone as he builds his own artisanal business. With joy in his eyes, the old master explains the capabilities and foibles of the machine, tricks and tips for looking after it and getting the most out of it, where to get materials and spare parts, finding that the young man is already familiar with and excited by a lot of what he has to say, and has already built up an impressive portfolio of work that he’s done by hand. His beloved art will continue and thrive, and the classical machine still has a long and fruitful life ahead of it.

This isn’t just a story, it happened two weeks ago. I was the middle-aged man, my second son the young man, and it was a beautiful thing to witness.

As time goes by, many things can be forgotten and lost to history, such as highly specialised knowledge or skillsets, eyewitness accounts of events, fragile works of art, complex cultural rituals, ways of life, or loving communities.

These two passages are about people actively preserving traditions down through the generations, the first reports on the Recabites faithfully maintaining their family tradition of practising abstinence and self-denial without a fixed roof over their heads, to build up self-control and reliance on God rather than trusting in wealth or seeking short-term thrills or relief from their troubles, staying true and faithful in lesser things as an example to the rest of Israel who had abandoned a much more important authority than their ancestor on much more important matters than what to drink or where to live.

The second passage is also about actively preserving a tradition, but something far more important. This time it is not about maintaining a traditional lifestyle, but about ensuring that a key piece of knowledge is not forgotten, key pieces of evidence of the most significant event in human history, a list of eyewitnesses to the resurrection.

Scholars date 1 Corinthians to have been written at around 54 to 55 AD, only twenty to twenty-five years after the crucifixion, and Paul introduces it as passing on what he had recieved, the formula for presenting an established liturgical tradition, so it has to originate very soon after the events themselves, at most only a few years, most likely practically immediately afterwards, almost certainly from the Jerusalem church. This is something we can rely on, thanks to the efforts of many people to preserve this knowledge down through the generations and ages. Can you imagine the excitement, the joy in their eyes as they passed down this life-changing knowledge to the ones they cared about, to anyone that would listen? We are part of that long chain, sharing that revolutionary life-changing truth and adding our own experiences.

Just because something is written down doesn’t mean it will be remembered, we need to bring that knowledge to life by actively sharing it, demonstrating it, living it. Of course God is able to save people without us, but He loves to involve us in his work, and it is so good for us and so exciting to be part of His Great Commission.

It’s easy to think that because we have so many written records that are easily accessible online, knowledge is not being lost, but unfortunately that’s not true. Not only because far from everything that has ever been known was actually recorded, far from everything that has ever been written is actually available online, but also because not all knowledge is book knowledge, not all knowledge is a matter of information. Some knowledge and skills are never shared, and dies with the individual or group that discovered or developed it. Some skills are lost to time because there has been a lack of interest in preserving them, perhaps they are seen as outdated and irrelevant. What knowledge, what skills are still around in small measures but are in danger of being forgotten?

The ability to slow down and be patient; with everything so fast nowadays, instant answers and reports available 24/7, the prestige of being first to share new information ad developments, there is strong pressure to react immediately to initial reports instead of taking the time to see the issue from multiple angles, absorb more information that is less sensational and evaluate things with a cooler head, to take the time to make a careful choice instead of giving in to the ‘urgent need to Do Something!’.

The ability to truly stop and listen with a desire to understand rather than catch someone out, to simply be there for someone and be a blessing to them without having anything to prove, to discuss a difficult topic with someone with the goal of finding the truth together instead of proving yourself right. In the middle ages, it was standard practise that to earn the right to criticise a person’s position, you had to describe it to them to their satisfaction. Can you imagine that today? Today it’s fashionable to just present a grotesque or ludicrous caricature of someone’s position and castigate them for it.

There’s also a growing trend of intellectual laziness, encouraged by the ever more sensationalist media, to look for the gotcha moment that proves what the other side has been trying to hide all this time, that they are truly evil or stupid and we can safely condemn and ignore everything they have to say.

It’s a principle that Lenin advocated for that has slowly infected almost all public discourse: “The central question of politics is who whom” i.e. Anything done by our side to theirs is courageous justice, anything done by their side to ours is a despicable evil.

Why has this been so successful? Because it’s easy. You can look like a hero without doing anything brave. You can look like you’re fighting evil without ever taking any real risks. You never have to acknowledge your own faults or guilt. This is based on the horrific premise that mutually beneficial relationships don’t exist, all are nothing but relentless pitiless struggles for power, that love is just manipulation, self-sacrifice is foolishness and forgiveness stupid.

This idea of course didn’t originate with Lenin, or even Marx, of course. The Apostle Paul noted something similar in his letter to the Galatians (5:19-23):

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

I’d much rather be guided by a quote from a more enlightened Russian writer, Alexander Solzhenitzin:

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained”

The fight against evil begins inside each one of us, and cannot be won without His sacrifice, His life flowing through us. Nobody is a lost cause, for as long as they are alive. Our God has redeemed the worst of us. Let’s continue that joyful tradition of gently witnessing to them, being there for them, demonstrating and offering that beautiful new life.

Let’s take a step back from the rush to react, the rush to condemn, to offer a quick fix. Take the time to truly listen, truly be vulnerable, truly love like Christ.

Who knows, you might be part of the even more joyful tradition of witnessing an old love for God restored, or a new relationship with God begin.

In the hands of a master, even an old forgotten machine can create wonderful new works of art.