God is Love

God is Love, let heaven adore him;
God is Love, let earth rejoice;
Let creation sing before him
And exalt him with one voice [.]
God is Love, eternal Love.

God is Love; and love enfolds us,
All the world in one embrace:
With unfailing grasp God hold us,
Every child of every race [.]

God is Love; and though with blindness
Sin afflicts all human life,
God’s eternal loving kindness
Guides us through our earthly strife.
Sin and death and hell shall never
Over us final triumph gain;
God is Love, so Love for ever
Over the universe must reign.
Taken from God is Love by Timothy Rees

Today is, nowadays, known as Christ the King Sunday. If we looked at Christianity on a timeline, it is a fairly recent feast day. It was introduced by the Pope around 1925 due to the aftermath of the First World War to remind people of their allegiance to God.

So, why did I start by quoting parts of a hymn called “God is Love”?

The other week I was part of an interfaith panel answering questions about faith. One of the questions was about whether we can love certain groups of people and my answer – which is one I firmly believe and say a lot is, “God is Love and we should love others as God does”.

Let us recollect for a moment the events of Jesus’s lifetime and His teachings. He did not come to be served but to serve. He did not come to overthrow the Roman Government or depose Caesar. He became human, to find out what it was like to be human, to experience every range of humanity, to show us the way, the truth and the life and ultimately to sacrifice himself for the sins of all so that we might be forgiven and reconciled with God.

Where in all that does Jesus call Himself a king? Even when He is questioned at His trials before His crucifixion Jesus does not actually call Himself a king – instead His reply when asked if He is King of the Jews was “You say I am”.

Jesus was fully human as well as being fully divine. But we tend to give human imperialistic titles to Jesus’s divinity. Sometimes we forget that He was also a great human.

Remembering that Jesus was also a human does not diminish his power or significance.

Sometimes, however, we fall into the trap of thinking of Jesus as being up there and us as being down here. By doing this we separate us and Jesus; we separate us from God.

Jesus is with us, He walks with us, He carries us – think of those footsteps in the sand. He has not and does not abandon us.

God made us in His own image. That does not mean that we all look the same visually – like a colony of clones in a sci-fi drama. It means that humans are in the image of God in their spiritual nature. We are God’s masterpieces and have the potential to become that again.

We are not worthless! We are loved by God!

God is love and compassion and Jesus showed us this when He came to earth. He showed us our capacities: for God, for compassion, for empathy, for courage, for seeing possibilities even when there seem to be none, for resilience, for imagination, for heroism, tenderness, healing and transformation. He showed us that we do have the capacity to change the world.

Jesus is real – there is historical evidence of His existence. He was and is one of us. He is our hope and hope is that God is with us.

In God’s eyes we are all of equal value and we all matter. To go back to the Gospel, the lesson is simply that God will judge us on our reaction to human need; on the help that we have given. It also teaches us about the type of help we must give.

The type of help we must give is not complicated. It is simply doing what we can for those in need without having to think about it first, without calculating what is in it for us if we help, without helping for recognition or glory.

It is simply giving someone who is hungry something to eat, welcoming a stranger, giving comfort to someone in distress, visiting the sick, visiting prisoners, giving a smile or a wave or a hello or asking how someone is.

It is pure and simple. It is giving simple help to those we meet, pass, see everyday. But it is to give that help without any thought of self. It is to be the natural, instinctive reaction of a loving heart. The help that is given freely for the sake of helping, out of love, with no expectation of reward.

Francis of Assisi found blessings in this parable. He was high-born, high-spirited and wealthy but he was very unhappy. One day he was out riding and saw a very disfigured leper. Something made Francis stop and jump off his horse. He went over to the leper and hugged him. Whilst in his arms, Francis saw the face of the leper change to the face of Christ.

Martin of Tours was a Roman soldier and Christian. One cold day as he was entering a city a beggar asked him for alms. Martin of Tours had no money but the beggar was freezing and shivering. He took off his soldier’s cloak, cut it in two and gave half to the beggar man. That night he had a dream where he saw Jesus surrounded by angels wearing half a Roman soldier’s cloak. One of the angels asked Jesus “Master why are you wearing that old cloak? Who gave it to you?” Jesus answered, “My servant Martin gave it to me”.

The generosity of helping in the simplest of things from the heart without calculated thinking gives us the joy of helping Jesus. It helps us make a difference and it changes the world.

God is love. He loves us. And just as He loves us let us go out into the world loving Him and our fellow humans.

All Saints*

Wednesday was All Saints Day and so we are celebrating all saints today. Hence, we have the reading from John’s Revelation describing the multitude of saints in Heaven and The Beatitudes from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount.

When reading, some of you may remember seeing a child learning to read and recognise this, sometimes there is a word which is slightly more unusual and which the reader may not have heard pronounced. In this circumstance, the knowledge the reader has accrued from what they do know about letter sounds and similar words to work out a way of pronouncing it. Sometimes the result is correct and sometimes it varies to how others may pronounce the word.

Some of you may have guessed where this is going.

When I was little I pronounced beatitude as “beautytude”. Now the thing is that whilst my church read the Old Testament, the Epistle and the Gospel at all services, the reading would be announced and then read without the title headings that some passages have. So it was a long time before I actually heard anyone else pronounce “beautytude” as “be attitude”.

Beatitude comes from the Latin word for blessedness and The Beatitudes have been interpreted many times by many different scholars. The highlight the human state and God’s righteousness. They depict the ideal heart condition for a disciple of Christ, a member of God’s kingdom.

But they are also much more than that. Remember what I used to call them – “beautytudes”. There is a further reason to that and it is simply that the beatitudes are beautiful. The are beautiful, uplifting, words of encouragement. They show us the truth of God’s kingdom. They help uphold us when times are hard.

Feeling lost? You are blessed – God will show you the way. Carrying sadness, grief, loss, pain? Joy will come. Feeling unheard and not valued? God hears you. You are precious to Him. Hungry? Homeless? In need of respite? God the Comforter is with you. Desperate for peace and righteousness? Trodden down by war and persecutors? God is by your side sharing your pain.

The saints are not those who have it all figured out. They are not perfect, they are not irreproachable, they have not set unattainable examples.

They are sinners! They suffered! They know grief and pain! They love God and their neighbour. They find ways to seek and serve Christ and praise Him!

Charles Wesley, who incidentally loved All Saints Day, wrote many hymns, including O For a Thousand Tongues to sing. The conclusion to which is:

“To God all glory, praise, and love
be now and ever given
by saints below and saints above,
the Church in earth and heaven. ”

Here on earth we are too fond of canonizing to officially grant the title of saint. There are even five stages that have to be followed to enable this to happen and generally this process can’t even start until 5 years after their death.

At the risk of being struck down, I don’t think it is our right to decide who is a saint. In my opinion, that right is God’s. Only God knows what is truly in our hearts. I also think that there is a huge flaw with canonizing. This is that I don’t think someone has to be dead to be a saint. I’m not saying that those who have already passed into light perpetual are not saints – just that there are also some still breathing.

How many times do we say to someone “you’re a saint” when they help us in a time of need?

Look around.

Saints are sinners! Saints love God and their neighbour. They have chequered pasts but have repented, serve Christ and strive to walk in His footsteps. They are filled with the Holy Spirit, and no matter what the circumstances are still able to lift their hearts in prayer and praise to God.

Saints are found in the most unlikely of places, in the street, in the supermarket, everywhere. And today we celebrate them all.

There is an old hymn that used to be sung a lot but which I haven’t heard sung for many years by Lesbia Scott which I feel is very poignant today and so I’m going to finish by reading it to you:

I sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
and one was a shepherdess on the green:
they were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.

They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
and God’s love made them strong;
and they followed the right, for Jesus’ sake,
the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast:
and there’s not any reason, no, not the least,
why I shouldn’t be one too.

They lived not only in ages past;
there are hundreds of thousands still;
the world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus’ will.
You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,
in church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea;
for the saints of God are just folk like me,
and I mean to be one too.
Source: Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #730

*Talk from Holy Trinity Sheerness 5th November 2023

To Pay Or Not To Pay

There is an old, well known saying about not discussing money, religion and politics. Yet, in this passage, we have all three!

On the surface, this passage gives the appearance of being relatively simple to understand, and consequently we can be tempted to fall into the trap of simplifying it.

Do we think we are being kind when we sugar coat things or is it that we are scared of giving hard answers?

It is easy to make the mistake of telling people what we think they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. It is easy to make the mistake of overly simplifying.

Jesus does not sugar coat the truth.

The Pharisees do not like this. The Herodians do not like this.

Two opposing factions, whose only common ground is their dislike of Jesus, joining forces to try and catch Jesus out. They send their disciples to Jesus – after all this way if their plot fails the leaders won’t look as silly.

Hoping to distract Jesus and lower His guard, they start with flattery before asking their question: “is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor?” Not is it right but is it lawful!

They were trying to manipulate Jesus. They were expecting the answer to be either yes or no.

The coins the taxes were paid with had the Emperor’s image engraved on them. This was an issue for the Jews who were not allowed graven images.

So, if Jesus answers yes then He offends the Jews and the Pharisees can charge Him with breaching and promoting breaching the commandment regarding graven images.

On the other hand, if Jesus answers no He can be arrested for insurrection and treason.

Ultimately, the question was not really about a concern regarding paying taxes, it’s an agenda. The Pharisees and Herodians are not bothered whether Jesus says yes or no because both these answers will give them what they want.

Despite the teaching as this passage from Matthew plays out, this scenario of trying to manipulate Jesus continues to happen today when we over simplify complex issues, label and categorise people and groups.

Jesus does not allow Himself to be manipulated. Instead of the yes or no answer the question calls for He asks for His questioners to bring Him one of the coins used to pay the taxes with. Once this has been provided to Him, Jesus asks whose image and name are on the coin. This time they cannot get away with their “I don’t know” answers and reply “Caesar’s”.

In the beginning God made us in His own image. He patented us if you like – we are stamped with His mark.

And so, Jesus again transforms the question into one of faith. He answers the question but not how they expected.

Jesus answers that the coin has the mark of Caesar and we have the mark of God. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s”.

Faithfulness is the work of a lifetime with us continually learning to give ourselves to God and one another.

Love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and our neighbours as ourselves. Trust God with our whole lives. Walk in the footsteps and image of Jesus.

There will always be issues to deal with but, instead of forgetting whose image is marked upon us we can put these issues into God’s hands.

Jesus is inviting us to be the currency of God’s life in the world.

Talk from Holy Trinity Sheerness 22nd October 2023 (Matthew 22:15-22)

Denarius Roman Coin

Rules for Life

“Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of Him upon you so that you do not sin.”

God wanted to help His people – not destroy them. But when they heard the thunder and the trumpet, when they saw the flashing and the smoke on the mountain, they were afraid.

Because of their fear, the people wanted a mediator; yet God had already granted them one in the form of Moses.

We, also, already have a mediator – Jesus.

The word fear has more than one meaning. There is the type of fear the Israelites had – that of being scared, afraid, terrified – but that is the wrong type of fear to have of God.

Then there is the right kind of fear to have of God, and that is one of awe, respect and reverence. It is through this that we are granted the boldness to approach God through Jesus Christ.

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. The purpose of these is how to have healthy relationships with God and each other.

God invites us to have a personal relationship with Him.

The deep significance of the gift of the Ten Commandments has been obscured by society. As a result we lose the religious awe found in this passage of Exodus and lessen our understanding.

They are not “maxims for a good life”. They ARE the living words of the living God. The God who has redeemed us. It is not the Ten Commandments which save us. Salvation is a gift of God – which He gives us freely through His grace.

There are some who try to use the Ten Commandments to conclude that we have to somehow earn God’s love and care. But actually it is the opposite. They demonstrate God’s continued love and care – giving us the law in the first place proves God’s love for us.

Our obedience is a loving, grateful response to all that God has done and continues to do.

So what is the essence of The Ten Commandments?

Jesus already gave us the answer to this when He told us that the greatest commandment is this, “To love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love everyone else as we love ourselves”.

Baptism is the act of making a God choice. The making of the promises is choosing faith in God above any other life. Living our baptism means living by a single loyalty to God.

Remembering our baptism, who we are and who God is, in the inner recesses of our hearts and in the life we share together makes us grateful that God has given us these commandments, that we might find strength and shelter in our darkest times – helping us to remember that even in our darkest times we are not alone.

Talk from Holy Trinity Sheerness 8th October 2023 (Exodus 20)

Testing

This morning’s Gospel is just like my children…

… they ask testing questions and … yep – when they are asked to do something they either don’t do it or … if it’s the youngest anyway … they say “No!”; then they go away and think about it and then get on with it.

The chief priests tried to trick Jesus, testing Him, by asking where His authority came from.

Jesus, of course, did not fall into their trap. Instead, He turned it around by asking whether John’s baptism came from heaven or from human origin. They refused to answer Him, out of fear of recrimination from the crowd and damage to their reputation.

So Jesus tells this parable of the first son who refused to do what his father asked but then changed his mind; and of the second son who agreed but then did nothing.

A lesson about obedience and disobedience. The chief priests claimed to accept God’s message and would put on a show for the people – but that’s all it was – just a show. Jesus is saying they are like the second son who said “yes” but then did not obey.

The point is that those who refuse God but who later repent and follow Him, obey Him, can enter the Kingdom of God. Those who say “yes” but do not repent (which includes following through with their actions) can’t.

If the chief priests are the second son, who are the first?

Jesus answered that for us too – He points out to the chief priests that the tax collectors and prostitutes (those who were considered at the time to be the biggest sinners) were the first son and would enter the Kingdom of God first because they believed, repented and returned to God. The chief priests, who only claimed to follow God with their words but not with their hearts or actions, would not get to enter God’s Kingdom unless they truly repented.

Turning to God with repentance is the key to our salvation, no matter what our past sins might be or how many times we’ve disappointed God. He can see what is in our hearts and forgives us when we are truly sorry.

It’s what we do, not just what we say, that counts.

Let’s renew our own commitments to be faithful followers of Jesus.

Let us thank God for sending His Son who truly is who He says He is.

Let us be genuine in our actions and live in love serving others.

Talk from Holy Trinity Sheerness (Matthew 21:23-32)

Knock Knock…

… Who’s there? Jesus. Jesus who?

…

Jesus who? This is what Jesus asks His disciples. He starts with an icebreaker – who do the people say I am?

I suspect that, like many of us would do when we are asked a searching question, the disciples may have been analysing the question to try and work out what answer Jesus was looking for.

The Bible references many identities that the people had allocated to Jesus. The disciples had lots to choose from to answer Jesus’s question.

But then Jesus asks the key question (no pun intended).

He says: “But you, who do you say I am?”

And Peter does not disappoint. Peter answers from his heart, sharing the knowledge given to him by God.

“You are the Christ”, Peter says, “the Son of the Living God”.

This is Peter confessing his faith and it is so important that it is on this faith, this statement by Peter that Jesus is the Christ, our Saviour from sin, that Jesus builds the foundation of His church – a church tasked with the mission of sharing the good news that Jesus Christ is our Saviour.

C.S. Lewis wrote:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
Mere Christianity by C.S.Lewis

Jesus is Lord! He is the Son of God!

… So, who is Jesus to you? Don’t answer with your head. The answer is written in your heart.

Who is Jesus to you?

And now, let’s turn that around: Who does Jesus say you are?

When you leave this world, how do you want to be remembered? Will your obituary/eulogy be just a boring list of facts – born on – worked at – died on? Or will it be full of memories from people whose lives you have touched with kindness – whether you remember it or not?

Alfred Nobel was reading the morning paper in 1888. The day before, his brother, Ludvig had died. But the newspaper accidently wrote the obituary about Alfred. He was dismayed that they had called him “the merchant of death” and that it read “Dr Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.”

Nobel was appalled and this inspired him to create the Nobel Peace Prize and to donate his entire fortune to causes of peace.

Who does Jesus say you are?

Will Jesus see us as being faithful to Him? Micah 6:8 says: “This is what the Lord requires of you. Be fair to other people. Love kindness and loyalty, and humbly obey your God.”

Faith means walking with Jesus by treating others right, showing kindness and lifting up those who weary from the journey.

Jesus told us to be ready because He will come again at an hour when we do not expect Him.

Are we ready?

Who does Jesus say we are?

Talk given at Minster Abbey 27th August 2023

Minster Abbey Talk on John 17:1-11

“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “to talk of many things:…”
Lewis Carroll

And if we were having a conversation over some coffee and cake (hint hint) that is precisely what would happen. We would have a conversation; maybe about the weather, the coronation, a television drama, … all sorts.

Some of us find it easy to converse, some of us find it more difficult and communicate in other ways. Some of us are good at listening and for some of us it “goes in one ear and out the other”.

But, how do we pray?

There are many different ways we can pray, but ultimately, if we think about it, prayer is just the same as that conversation over coffee … isn’t it?

If not why not?

We have the opportunity to talk to God about anything and everything; and not just when we’re worried or in need or when things aren’t going as we’d like but also when we’re thankful, joyful and when things are going well.

We can do a lot of talking to God but we need to remember to listen as well. If we are honest none of us listen as much as we should.

Prayer is vitally important in our lives. An oft repeated quote “seven days without prayer makes one week (weak!)”.

Today’s Gospel reading is part of one of Jesus’s longest prayers.

In short it summarises Jesus’s relationship with the Father and the relationship He wanted His disciples to have with Himself and the Father.

Like the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) this prayer is in three sections.

Jesus prays for Himself
Jesus prays for His disciples
Jesus prays for all believers past, present and future

Despite us having celebrated Jesus’s Ascension on Thursday, this prayer passage takes place before His arrest. But it is significant because it becomes Jesus’s evaluation of the purpose of His life, death, resurrection and ascension.

God’s glory and Jesus’s glory are one and the same. Through the death of Jesus God is glorified and all believers receive eternal life.

Eternal life is knowing the one true God; being in a living fellowship with God. And this life we receive when we accept Jesus into our hearts and lives. Jesus’s purpose, His mission, is salvation.

Jesus prays with great concern for His disciples. He was not concerned about Himself – He knew God’s plan, He knew He had to suffer and die to be victorious. Jesus’s victory was unquestionable. The disciples were just like us. They were not infallible. Jesus had predicted the disciples would desert Him. And so He prayed for them, that they would be kept safe and protected by the Father’s power and that they would fulfil their future ministry. The disciples were about to be tested and Jesus prayed that this would not separate them from Himself or from each other.

Again, like the Three-in-one, Jesus mentions three things about His disciples:

They had accepted His teaching
They had accepted the knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God
They believed

Jesus prayed that the world would stop being opposed to God.

“All I have is Yours and all You have is Mine.” Jesus has equality with the Father.

He prays that, as He and God are one, the disciples and believers will remain as one.

In unity.

Not divided.

Division is the result of the failures of Christians.

God is awe-inspiring and loving. Jesus’s prayer is an outpouring of love and concern.

Jesus was shortly returning to the Father and to the glory He has before the world began. He had completed His mission. The Holy Spirit had been promised. With the help of the Holy Spirit it is now our turn.

Our mission, if we choose to accept it, is to bring glory to God through all we do in His name.

Are we ready?

Do we accept this mission?

A Journey of Truth and Faith

(Talk on Luke 24:13-35 23rd April 2023)

This passage from Luke teaches us a lot about truth and faith. It is, in both a literal and a spiritual sense, about journeys. Literally, it is about two disciples (followers of Jesus) walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Spiritually, it is about their and our journey from not knowing Jesus to truly knowing Jesus and sharing our experiences of Jesus. It is about rediscovering Christ’s presence in our lives, gaining a fresher understanding of God’s transforming grace, allowing our hearts to be ignited with the Holy Spirit as we too walk with Christ.

The Bible makes very clear and specific statements about Jesus. As the disciples walked along they were discussing the scriptures and the recent events that had happened. When Jesus appeared to them they were walking the wrong way – away from Jerusalem. They were preoccupied with their own difficulties, overwhelmed with sadness, grief and hopelessness. They were unable to identify God’s purpose in what had happened.

Humans like to know reasons for…well everything. We ask (both aloud and to ourselves) why? We analyse, we interpret, we assume, we conclude. And we use the answers as a Sat Nav! What we decide the answers are determine/direct what and where we do/go next.

The disciples did not fully understand the Scriptures or the meaning of what had happened to Jesus. They had knowledge but it was incomplete and not understood. It was not true knowledge of the right information.

Jesus appeared and started to walk with them. They did not see Jesus. They were kept from recognising him. The Risen Christ walking with them on their journey, but unrecognised, igniting the fire of God’s love in their hearts. Like the Footsteps poem when there is only one set of footprints (because Jesus is carrying us).

But, this enabled Jesus to impart true knowledge. He explains and interprets for them. This teaches us that the key to interpreting the Old Testament is Jesus.

Jesus explained everything from Moses to the prophets, how the Messiah would save God’s people through His death and resurrection, rescuing a sinful, unholy people by reconciling them with The Holy God.

Jesus is the Messiah whose life, death and resurrection grants us salvation. Jesus Himself told us “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me”.

God cannot be near sin. The only way for us sinners to be reconciled to Him was for Jesus to become sin, be punished for our sin, to die and defeat death; so that through His resurrection we could, with faith and repentance, be forgiven and have a relationship with God.

But it is not sufficient to just know the facts. We must also believe in that knowledge, we must truly believe in Jesus and in what He taught. Like the disciples recognising Jesus (when He broke the bread) and rushing back to tell the others, we have to open our eyes in faith. If we believe in Him then we strive to be in His image and this is shown in how we live. We need to believe in God’s word and be motivated by faith. We know God fulfils His promises but we also need to believe this. We know He is always with us, all the time, especially those times when we only see one set of footprints. But, we also need to believe this.

There is a story that gets quoted a lot so apologies if you, like me, have heard it used before:

There was a young boy caught in a house fire and forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, “Jump! I’ll catch you”. He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see was flame, smoke and darkness. The boy was too afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling “Jump! I WILL catch you”. The boy protested “Daddy, I can’t see you” The father replied, “But I CAN see you and that’s all that matters”.
Reece Sherman’s Faith Lessons

Do we understand truly? Or do we rely on our assumptions? Do we truly believe and trust in God? I pray that we do.

God is always there for us and will catch us. He can see us even if we cannot see Him. Do we have enough faith to jump into those life saving arms? I pray that we do.

Thank you.

Poppet on a journey, running through grass

Witnessing and Doubting

(Talk given at Minster Abbey 16th April 2023)

So…witnessing and Doubting Thomas!

The other day I read that the public (according to the newspapers) claim the church do not promote Easter as much as Christmas. Easter and Christmas… two very important events for us – Christmas the celebration of the birth of Christ, the incarnation, God becoming man to save us…and Easter where Jesus is sacrificed in our place to defeat death, rise again, and enable us to be forgiven for our sins and reconciled with God.

So I thought about this and here’s a couple of comparisons:

The Church

At Christmas:

Advent – 4 Sundays
- Hope, Prophecy, Patriarchs
- Peace, Bethlehem, Prophets
- Joy, Shepherds, John the Baptist
- Love, Angels, Mary
Carol Service
Christingle Service
Crib Service
Midnight Mass
Christmas Morning Service
Candlemass

At Easter:

Ash Wednesday Ashing Service
Lent – 6 Sundays
- Invocabit
- Reminiscere
- Oculi
- Laetare
- Judica
- Palm Sunday
Maundy Thursday Service
Good Friday Pilgrimage and Gathering at the Cross
Stations of the Cross
Holy Saturday Vigil/Service of Light
Easter Sunday Service
Ascension
Pentecost
Corpus Christi

Versus

What I think is most appropriate to call commercialisation:

Where Christmas is promoted with:

Father Christmas
School Nativity Plays
Carols
Christmas number ones/Christmas songs
Grottos
TV Ads
Work Dos/Christmas parties
Decorations
Cards
Presents
Trees
High Street decorations and lights
Shop displays and more decorations
Christmas dinner menu options at pubs and restaurants for approx. 2 months
Pantomimes
Etc

And where Easter is promoted with:

Chocolate and chocolate eggs
The Easter Bunny
TV Ads but on a smaller scale
Small shop displays normally in seasonal aisles
Small amount of Easter decorations
Small amount of Easter cards
Easter dinner menu options for 1 day

In my opinion, having compared the aforementioned; the media, yet again, is showing a biased and incomplete picture. The evidence suggests that on the contrary the church does more at Easter but the sway of commercialisation makes the commercial version of Christmas more widely known.

This needs to be combated, but how? Simply, we need to follow the instruction and example of Peter in Acts and go out and witness, spreading the good news of the true meaning of both Christmas and Easter, sharing what, through love, Christ did for us and the joy of His resurrection with all it’s connotations of redemption.

Meanwhile, where does Thomas fit into all this?

Personally, I feel sorry for Thomas. I think he got a bit of a rough deal. Thomas the Doubter…in actuality he was a fervent believer yet what do we remember him for – doubting – the one who wouldn’t believe without seeing for himself and touching his beloved Master’s wounds.

Maybe, despite it being unfair, one of the reasons we remember Thomas specifically for this event is because it shows us that doubt is okay!

Doubt is something we all experience at some point and in reality, faith and doubt can and do co-exist side by side.

Thomas was not evicted from the group of disciples for his doubt. He was not condemned by Jesus for his doubt. He continued to be a valued part of the disciples as they stayed together, discussing all that had happened, sharing meals, continuing to accept each other.

Thomas had not been there when Jesus had appeared to the group of disciples initially. What was he doing? Where and why wasn’t he there are interesting questions.

BUT, it occurs to me that maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t there so that God could use him for the benefit of those too scared to admit their doubt both then and now.

Thomas only doubted for one week! He then met the risen Jesus and believed. In fact, he believed so fervently for the rest of his life that he was killed (or martyred) for his belief. Yet, still, he is referred to as “Doubting Thomas”.

One small brief moment of doubt, one incident, one mistake, one failing – and a label is applied – something that is still very much done today. And, whilst that person learns, believes, repents, changes, moves on, that label sticks.

Instead of calling Thomas “Believing Thomas” – a far more accurate name/label; because of that one brief moment of doubt he is known as “The Doubter”.

Through this and through Thomas, maybe God is teaching and reminding us that we should not label people. That we should allow people to change and accept that people do change. That we all make mistakes but when we repent God forgives us; likewise when others make mistakes we should allow them to repent and forgive them.

One more thing: asking questions.

There is a common phrase heard in classrooms and training rooms throughout the land:

“There are no stupid questions” and “if you ask a question most of the people in the room are probably thinking it and are just too scared to ask”.

Children in particular ask a lot of questions and, whilst these are often ‘when or what is for dinner?’, they often ask the really big questions:

What is God’s name?
What does God look like?
What does it mean to be reborn?
How is Jesus alive?

The questions children, and indeed some adults, ask are, in their own way, blessings. They make us think and help us gain deeper understanding and insight together.

The person that both expressed the doubts of everyone and asked the question everyone else was thinking was Thomas. For this we owe him a great deal for if the question had not been asked the answer would not have been given. Thomas the Brave who said to Jesus “Lord we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” To whom we owe thanks for Jesus’s answer “I am the [only] way [to God], the [real] truth and the [real] life, no one comes to the Father but through me”.

Thanks to Thomas we know it is okay to be honest about our doubts as well as our faith, we know that labels do not reflect who people truly are and we can realise how questions can lead us to deeper knowledge and growth. Thanks to Thomas, who believed because he had seen, we can see because we believe.

Easter Spoilers

Talk from 26th March (John 11:1-45)

Who likes reading spoiler alerts to find out what will happen ahead of the next episode?

Who avoids them like the proverbial plague? Ah okay, you might want to put your hands over your ears then because in some ways this passage from John is a little bit like a trailer or spoiler for two weeks time!

Today we hear about and celebrate the resurrection of Lazarus. In two weeks we hear about and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

There are lots of parallels in this story pointing towards what was going to happen. John even mentions at the beginning of this passage an event (Mary anointing Jesus’s feet) which does not occur until after the resurrection of Lazarus.

Jesus was very clear right from the beginning that EVERYTHING He does is for the glory of God. His wisdom and knowledge far exceeds ours.

It was still difficult for Martha and Mary that Jesus did not immediately drop everything and come to them upon hearing that Lazarus was severely ill.

Today’s society tend to want everything immediately. Patience and waiting are hard. Whilst I know that waiting times for ambulances are much longer than ideal at the moment; how many of us have to wait over two days before one leaves to attend to us?

But Jesus knew what He was doing and so He waited. Once the time was right He told the disciples He was going back to Judea. The religious leaders there already wanted Jesus dead and this worried His disciples. Ironically, it is Thomas (later to be known as the doubter) who persuaded the disciples to accompany Jesus even if it meant death.

Jesus is the Light of the World. As He says, if we walk during the day (in the light) we will not stumble because we see (have) the light of the world (Jesus).

Those who walk at night stumble because the Light (Jesus) is not in them.

By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days.

Decomposing!

Stinky!

Yuk!

Martha (the sister who in another passage we are told did all the chores whilst Mary sat listening to Jesus) heard Jesus was on His way and came to meet Him.

Martha says “Lord, if you had been here…” Martha knows and believes that Jesus has the power to heal. Is she declaring her faith? Or is she displaying anger that Jesus was not there in time to stop Lazarus dying? Jesus tests her and she proclaims her faith and her belief.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life and He was about to prove it whilst showing, again, through this miracle that Jesus is the Giver of Life and the Saviour. He was also showing His followers a preview of how He would be defeating death.

It is important that we understand the relevance of Lazarus having been in the tomb for four days. Jesus had raised people to life before after all, so we need to know what makes the resurrection of Lazarus so different.

Well, previously when Jesus had raised people from the dead the timescale between their death and resurrection was a great deal shorter.

Jesus needed this miracle to be determinate.

To help us understand let me explain that at that time people believed that a person’s spirit left their body on the third day after their death. On the fourth day there is no doubt. The person is really dead. Not sleeping. Dead Dead!

This was important as it meant there could be no dispute over the fact that Lazarus was actually dead before Jesus resurrected him.

Martha went to Mary and told her “The Teacher is here”. Jesus is the Ultimate Teacher. Mary went to Jesus and used the same words as her sister, “Lord, if you had been here …” Mary and the Jews with her wept. Jesus wept. But, Jesus was not mourning Lazarus. Jesus knew all along that He would be raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus wept for those who did not understand. He wept for those who had lost hope. He wept at the sight of the very suffering He came to save us from. Through Jesus believers are to grieve with hope.

Jesus went to the tomb, He called for the stone to be moved away. The stench of death was all around. Jesus prayed. He did everything with prayer. He knows God always hears Him and thanks God for this. But He also needed the crowd to see that God had sent Him and that He was acting with God’s authority.

Jesus called out in a loud voice “Lazarus, come out!” Jesus has compassion for each one of us and calls us by name.

Lazarus came out still bound in the burial cloths BUT no longer a rotting corpse. Instead he was fully and completely healed. Jesus told the crowd to unbind Lazarus and they helped free him.

Lazarus, a new creation, freed from the tomb and welcomed back to life.

Jesus died to defeat sin and death, the Ultimate Sacrifice and our Saviour is raised from the grave so we can be forgiven and reconciled with God.

Not only that but Jesus came to have a relationship with EVERYONE, not just the Jews.

So how does that affect us. Basically, we cannot experience the resurrection unless we experience death. By this I mean that we cannot accept new life in Christ, if we do not allow our old, sinful lives to die.

We need to let go of whatever is holding us back, whatever is stopping us from being a new creation in Christ.

Let us hear Jesus calling us by name, let us say goodbye to what is holding us back, let us leave the tomb and walk in the light of Jesus.

And more than that, as we are told in Romans; by believing and having faith in Jesus, what He has done, is doing and will do, we are able to take part in bringing glory to God in all we do.

Let us give Him the glory, great things He hath done.