Sermon
delivered at St. Mary's and Holy Trinity Church, West Dean and All Saints Church, Farley,
Wiltshire– Sunday 12th April 2015
Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21;
Acts 4:32-35; John 20:19-31.
May
I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and may these words be a
blessing to all who hear them. Amen
It was towards the beginning of
this morning’s service, before the liturgy of the Word, and not towards the
end, that I introduced the Peace – that moment when we acknowledge each other’s
presence here in church and in the presence of God. In the reading from John’s Gospel today, we
read the narrative of Jesus’s post-resurrection appearance before the disciples
in a locked room, first without Thomas and then with him. Jesus says “Peace be
with you” on no less than three occasions in that passage. But the peace which
Jesus is offering is not just that feeling of inner peacefulness which descends
upon a believer who hears the word and believes; neither does it speak of an
agenda for peace in a warring world. It
goes right to the heart of the Jewish hopeful way of life – the word Shalom which speaks of a quality of life
which includes but transcends both; rich and fruitful human living – God’s new
creation springing into a many coloured flower as Tom Wright so eloquently puts
it[1].
In recent days we have become
aware more and more of that new creation – that new beginning. Buds are appearing on the trees, some shrubs
like magnolia, forsythia and gorse are in flower, daffodils, tulips and many
more meadow flowers springing into life from the seemingly dead bulbs which
have lain dormant in the ground. This is
such a lovely time of the year when we see life in all its glory and coming
after such a dismal cold dark period.
It’s just like the resurrection after the crucifixion. For us Christians we believe that the bill has
now been paid, Christ’s death and resurrection has brought about that peace
which is such a costly item but which has been purchased on the Cross.
For the disciples this must
have been a wondrous and bewildering time.
Following the Crucifixion they all ran away and hid and it is clear that
they are still in hiding – locked up in a safe house they had sought as shelter
from possible persecution and worse.
They would, no doubt, have seen how the crowd had rallied for Barabbas’s
release and had sought Jesus’s blood; Peter would no doubt have told them how
he was nearly discovered as one of Jesus’s followers and forced to deny Jesus’s
existence three times. For them all
seemed to be lost. They had followed
this extraordinary rabbi, but now he had been executed by a foreign occupying
power in a most horrible way at the bidding of their own people – the
Jews. Their own fate could follow this
exact road. Now suddenly, here is Jesus
back with them – but in a new guise – breathing on them the Holy Spirit, giving
them the power to forgive – that gift as explained by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
as a gift to themselves as much as to the person they are forgiving and in a
society where the atonement for sins could only be given by the High Priest
during the Festival of Yom Kippur – The Day of Atonement. Now all that had changed.
But one member of the group of
11 is missing – “Thomas the Doubter” who will not believe their story unless he
sees Jesus with his own eyes and puts his hands into the nail wounds and
pierced side. Jesus obliges one week
letter when a similar occurrence happens-
but with Thomas present who then believes by exclaiming “My Lord and My God” – acknowledging
that Jesus is God.
Jesus’s response gives me, and
I think all Christians, great encouragement in times of doubt when he says:
“Have you believed [just] because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet
have come to believe”.
This is where our Faith is so
important. Scientists need to prove the
existence of everything. We have heard
only this week how the giant Hadron Collider has been brought back into action
setting two particles at nearly the speed of light into collision with each
other in order to try and isolate the “God Particle” – that piece of matter
which brought the universe into existence.
I am sure that my explanation is far too simple in describing the
research and academic physics which have been brought into play in undertaking
these experiments – my involvement in science ended with my involuntary and
accidental euthanasia of the school’s gerbils many years ago – but that is another
story.
However I do believe in Jesus
Christ Our Saviour, not just by being told this or reading it in the bible but
by the wonderful feeling one has when we accept Him – that feeling of the Holy
Spirit entering us and being with us – God the Father, God the Son and God the
Holy Spirit in us, around us, alongside us, ahead of us and behind us – just in
the same way we read in our First Reading of the pillar of smoke – the cloud
-surrounding the fleeing Hebrews and protecting them from the following Egyptians
during the Exodus.
In that same passage we read of
more “Doubting Thomas’s” – how the Hebrew slaves whinged when they said to
Moses :
“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us out
into the desert to die? What have you done by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t
we say to you in Egypt ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the
Egyptians than to die [out here] in the desert”.
Throughout the bible it is fair
to say that there are many doubters along the way – Gideon needed clear proof
of his call, Samuel does not believe God is speaking to him at first (it taking
three attempts for God to get through to him), Judas Iscariot doubted Jesus was
the Messiah – so it is hardly surprising that there are so many doubters
today. We live in an enlightened and
inquiring world – one with enormous communications resources. It can be even more difficult not to doubt as
the scientists evolve more and more ways of seeking to find the meaning of
life.
But we Christians have found
this already – by the power of the Holy Spirit within each of us. On Wednesday night I attended a house group
within the Team where we discussed this within the context of the Lord’s Prayer.
We talked of an innate spirituality within every human being – a desire to
connect with our Creator and to talk to him.
For those in the world who are religious this means prayer – not just
words of supplication but also of thanksgiving and a need to listen to His
still calm voice. Those who worshiped
the Pagan gods also had a deep sense of spirituality and an innermost desire to
worship as can be seen by some of the great monuments they left behind –
especially in Egypt and close by at Stonehenge.
Ask somebody what it feels like
to fall in love? Scientists have
attempted to show that certain chemicals and hormones are responsible but the
feeling rises up above all that and is another form of spirituality. Listening
to a wonderful piece of music, watching a sunset or sunrise, just looking at
all those spring flowers can connect us spiritually with God.
In Acts we read of how this
incredible sense of well-being and belief by the early Christians led them to
act as one heart and soul and share their possessions. They, in other words,
pooled their resources to affirm their faith in Jesus and to help each other
achieve what they had been commanded to do by Jesus himself in Matthew 28 – the
Great Commission – go out and make disciples of all nations. And in so doing
they once again entered into that peace, that shalom, we talked about earlier.
I am a firm believer that we as
Christians have a duty to spread this “Shalom” into the wider unbelieving
Society. Recently there was a television
programme filmed in my home town of Grimsby showing the plight of the less
well-off people on benefits – “Skint” I think it was called. It honed in on the lives of people with drug
and alcohol addictions, criminals, those with relationship problems and
generally those on some form of benefit or other. Yet there in the midst of all that distress
there shined a beacon of hope to the community around and in particular the
youngsters. It was a Youth/Community
Centre set up right in the middle of the East Marsh of Grimsby. It is run by a Church of England canon and
his assistant, somebody who was themselves a user of the Centre in her earlier
days. There is a genuine feeling of love
and well-being at that Centre. It is a place where the youngsters can feel safe
off the streets - and literally hundreds and hundreds have passed through its
doors. Those working there talk of a sense of peace and tranquillity – of
re-birth and fulfilment. Quite a number have felt a strong call to continue to
work and help the Centre. Its name – “The
Shalom Centre”. What a great name and
how well that encapsulates the true meaning of the “Shalomic” peace.
We as members of this church
can ourselves show this “shalom” in the way we act and the way we speak to
people in our everyday life. Jesus did
not restrict his teaching to the synagogues and Temple but went out amongst the
people – right in their midst just like the Shalom Centre in Grimsby. During the recent House Group I spoke of
earlier we spoke about that line in the Lord’s Prayer which reads “Thy kingdom
come on Earth as it is in Heaven”.
Christian life is not simply about gaining favours to find our place in
Heaven – it’s also about bringing a bit of Heaven down to Earth now – not in
future when Christ returns.
That is why we have been left
the Holy Spirit with its gifts and fruits.
Let’s use them to his praise and glory in the true belief that Jesus
Christ is our Lord and Saviour. To you
all I say the Jewish greeting – “Shalom”.
Amen
MFB/56
