Sermons
for Holy Week and Easter 2002
This sequence of
sermons contains the text of the addresses given at St Faith's at the
services
held, in 2002 as in every year, to mark the central week of the
Christian year.
PALM
SUNDAY
‘GIVE
THIS WEEK TO GOD’ — Fr. Neil Kelley
When fishes flew and
forests walked,
and figs grew upon
thorn,
Some moment when the
moon was blood
then surely I was
born;
With monstrous head
and sickening cry
and ears like errant
wings,
The devil‘s walking
parody
on all four-footed
things.
The tattered outlaw
of the earth,
of ancient crooked
will;
Starve, scourge,
deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret
still.
Fools! For I also had
my hour;
one far fierce hour
and sweet:
There was a shout
about my ears,
and palms before my
feet.
(G.K.Chesterton:
‘The Donkey’
Yes - today is the donkey‘s
opportunity for
fame! We begin the most solemn and spectacular week in the Church’s
year. A
week which is portrayed in music, symbol and sign. A week which
involves us and
challenges us, a week in which we try to comprehend just how much God
loves us.
And
yet, no sooner have we walked in triumphant
celebration with palms, donkey and bagpipes: one moment
expressing our love for Christ in that way:
the next we are shouting for him to be crucified. I’m assuming you want
him
crucified? I heard the shouting. ‘Crucify, crucify.’ We all shouted it
- we all
did it. We all do it!
So perhaps we need
to say
sorry. That’s why the sacrament of reconciliation is available as God’s
free
gift to the church. People who come to confession aren’t any better
than those
who don’t; in fact we’re quite aware of how much we fail in our lives
and
that’s why we go. We need God‘s love.
And God’s love
invites us,
unless we have something more important in our diaries, to share
special meals
around the altar. He wants us to be there. And during the Eucharist at
We try to be humble, but being
important is so
much more rewarding. Humility is a great thing. Yet the moment we think
we‘ve
earned 10 out of 10 on the humility-score we have lost it. That
wretched sin of
pride!
Well, come on Friday; say sorry,
say that you
didn’t really mean ‘crucify’. Don’t tell
me you shouted CRUCIFY just because the Vicar printed it on the service
sheet! People at S. Faith’s aren’t like
that: we only say what we mean! Come! come to the foot of the cross if
you can
bear it. When Jesus carried his cross along the Via Dolorosa 2000 years
ago,
many people just got on with normal life. They weren’t bothered. Quite
frankly,
they didn’t give a damn! Can you be bothered to be here on Good Friday
at
On Saturday at
Yes,
it might feel like you need to bring a
sleeping bag today because there is so much going on it’s hardly worth
going
home. We need to be involved in all of it. If your next
appearance in
church is next Sunday then you will miss out - a bit like reading page
one of a
book and skipping to the last page: you miss out what actually happens:
the
penitence, the prayer, the party: it‘s all bound up together and it’s
what
binds us together. So: give this week to God, and, I promise you, you
will be
amazed at what he gives you back in return.
HOLY
WEDNESDAY
SERVICE
OF PENITENCE AND
RECONCILIATION:
Denise MacDougall
(Ordinand
from S. Faith’s then in her second year of training for the ordained
ministry)
This is a very
special and
emotional occasion for me as I stand here to preach my first sermon at
St.
Faith’s. It is a very long time ago that
my parents and Godparents made promises on my behalf at the font at the
back of
church and I have to thank them for the firm foundations they must have
given
to me as I began my spiritual pilgrimage.
It is good to be here with you on
Holy Wednesday
as we all take another small step on our individual journeys, each
journey very
different but at the same time united by God’s everlasting love and
forgiveness.
I
don’t believe that there has ever been a time
in history when there has been a need for greater awareness for
reconciliation
in the world. We only have to think of
the atrocities of September 11th , the fighting between Palestine and
Israel,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ireland, not so long ago riots even closer to
home in
Oldham, Burnley and Bradford. The list
goes on and on. And as well as these conflicts what could be worse than
murderers who turn their crimes into a martyr‘s drama?
Every
form of prejudice nurtures the seeds of
violence as they grow into the roots of
destruction. Just a couple of weeks ago
we heard the Israeli prime minister declare that he would match ‘strike
with
strike’: surely this can only go on to match grief with grief, followed
by
despair with despair.
Jesus’
teaching was radical on forgiveness and
reconciliation, yet many of us, if we are honest will have questioned
our own
ability to reconcile ourselves to the horrific acts that we hear and
read about
daily.
How do we forgive our enemies? Can we
forgive our enemies?
I believe the answer has to be yes,
the
Christian life is born in forgiveness and it must characterize us all
the way
through our relationships.
However,
even being aware of this, forgiving
does not always come easily; Peter
wanted to know how many times he had to forgive his brother Andrew. The rabbis suggested three times but Jesus
said more likely seventy times seven, suggesting constant forgiving. It is not always possible to be one with God
until we are ready to be at one with those who have offended us.
While
the words of Jesus are very definite we
must always be aware of another aspect of faith and that is that God
does not
ask the impossible. Sometimes we are so
full of hurt that we cannot forgive immediately and forgiveness does
often take
time. We must learn to be determined not
to hold grievances, then gradually and only gradually the heart catches
up with
the head and forgiveness becomes a part of us and enters deep into the
wounded
feelings. If we begin to clear our hearts and minds of the desire for
vengeance
and we begin to pray for the perpetrators then the healing process has
begun.
However,
as well as forgiving we must recognize
that we too have our own shortcomings and they may be the cause of
someone
else’s hurt or grief. Didn‘t we hear earlier that if we say we have no
sin, we
deceive ourselves?
Seraphim
of Sarov, a nineteenth century Russian
mystic, once wrote:
‘All condemnation is of the devil. Never
condemn each other. Not even those who
whom you catch at the evil
deed. We condemn others only because we
shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at
our own failings, we see such a morass of filth that nothing in another
can
equal it. That is why we turn away and
make faults of others.’
Sin as a religious
word means
offending the living God, God who is with us constantly, God who is
love and
God who is present in all people and all things. Our
sin will not allow God to be the God of
love, tenderness and compassion.
Reconciling human kind to God was the primary work of Jesus and
an
essential part of the Gospels. In
Matthew’s Gospel we hear that ‘When you are offering your gift at the
altar; if
you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,
leave your
gift there before the altar and go: first be reconciled to your brother
and
sister and then come and offer your gift’.
Whatever we do to one another we are also doing to Jesus and
reconciliation with God is expressed in reconciliation with each other.
If we take the
parable of the
Prodigal Son we have a clear example of Jesus‘ teaching about
reconciliation. The story is being told
to the Scribes and Pharisees who complained that Jesus kept company
with
sinners, he even had meals with them! In
the first part of the parable Jesus deals with the sinners by
identifying them
with the young son. He had spent all his
money recklessly, he became extremely miserable and very hungry. He eventually came to his senses and was
contrite and realized the error of his ways.
He was sorry for his sins: the first important stage in the rite
of
penance.
Jesus continues
the parable by
telling his listeners what the young man planned to say to his father
when he
returned... ‘Father I have sinned against God and you.
I am no longer fit to be called your son.’ He
admits personal responsibility for having offended another person; he
has
therefore also offended against God.
The father’s
response is one of
immediate forgiveness. He ran to meet
his son and called his servants to provide fresh clothes and prepare
for a
feast. The son was restored to his rightful place within the family
showing
that his sins had been absolved. This familiar parable illustrates
quite
clearly the four main stages in the act of repentance and
reconciliation-
Contrition - the
acknowledgement of our
sins,
Confession - we repent of
our sins and
turn to God,
Absolution - we are assured
of God‘s
forgiveness and
Penance - acts to declare
our
intention to lead a new and better life.
We hear in the
Gospel that the
young man was prepared to work as a hired servant in order to make up
in some
way for his wrong doings - an act of penance.
Let us also focus
for a minute
on the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal so. This story is
really
about two lost sons not one. This part of the story is aimed directly
at the
Pharisees who were accusing Jesus in just the same way as the elder
brother was
accusing his father. He did everything
right, obeyed all the rules, and really believed that he had earned and
deserved his father‘s love. Yet this son
was suffering from the deadliest sin of all, pride, which manifests
itself in
anger, resentment, stubbornness and self-righteousness.
Such characteristics close the door on love
and peace. Similarly, didn’t the Pharisees who obeyed the law to the
letter
find the challenges of Jesus too much for them and they had to go on to
put
Jesus to death.
There are lessons
to be learnt
from both the brothers in the parable: think about which one you would
identify
yourself with?
Do we ever act as
Pharisees and
relish moral superiority? Are we guilty of turning away from those who
do not
reach our own standards of respectability and correctness? This is the
attitude
that turns so many people away from the church today, the vulnerable
such as
unmarried single parents, gay couples, alcoholics, AIDS sufferers, the
lonely,
the poor and again the list goes on. Aren’t they the very people whom
God, the
shepherd, pursues and then rejoices when they are found?
The ministry of
reconciliation
is one of God‘s gifts to the Church. It is an important step towards
spiritual
growth and wholeness and helps to develop immense inner freedom. There
will be
the opportunity for those who wish to make individual confession and
receive
the Sacrament of Reconciliation after this evening‘s Eucharist.
God does not hold
our wrongs
against us but provides the opportunity for us to turn things around
and
receive His blessings. With a change of heart God meets us where we are
and
welcomes us openly and lovingly, irrespective of our wrong doings. Jesus tells us that he did not come to call
the virtuous but the sinners to repentance. In a way the sin can almost
seem
irrelevant but it is the attitude of the sinner that is all-important.
Despite this,
reconciliation is
one of the most difficult of Jesus‘ commands and invitations and in his
mind it
is more important than sacrifice and prayer. What we need to remember
is that
reconciliation is not only the act of re-establishing damaged or broken
relationships between two parties but it is our way to God.
Reconciliation
means starting
afresh and believing in the possibility of change, new beginnings and
conversion for individuals, groups of people or whole nations. It means
that as
wounded we can in fact live and work together again, putting the
differences of
opinion and past hurts behind us. As we move towards Easter and the
promise of
new life let us do so with renewed commitment and prayer.
Enlighten our
minds and hearts,
Lord, so that recognizing you in our own lives and in the life of the
world, we
may detect, abhor and oppose all attitudes and actions, which are
destructive
of your love within us and around us.
May we pray with
open hearts
for the ability and the capacity to forgive in the name of Jesus who
forgave
others from the cross?
MAUNDY
THURSDAY
‘OneDOWNmanship’
A friend was recently promoted to a
more senior
job. His wife said ‘At last he’s been given the status he deserves.’ It
put me
in mind of an elderly priest-friend of mine about whom it was said:
‘He’ll
definitely make a bishop.’ I said, ‘Is
that what he wants?’ The reply was: ‘No - but it’s what his wife wants!’
It’s amazing to think how much time
and effort
we put into ‘getting to the top’ when in
fact what we are doing is the complete opposite to what the message of
the
Gospel is. We have a fascination - an obsession - with power, status,
wealth.
What do you want to be when you grow up? we ask children - as
if just
being a human being is unimportant. What did your father do? Which
school or
university did you go to? It makes a difference - so we-re led to
believe.
Its always amazing to see how many church
socials have to have a top table! Somewhere where the real worthies can
sit.
Forget the fact that we‘ve made some pretence at being equal around the
Lord-s
table. Harvest lunch isn-t Harvest lunch without a proper top table. If
you
have a top-table, then you have a less-than-top table. There’s only one
table:
God’s. Thank God that such things don’t exist at S. Faith’s! Because the moment you say that one person
should be
up-graded you are by default degrading everyone else. Why shouldn’t the
people
who have polished the church faithfully for 40 years sit on the top
table? Half
the time they are overlooked - we don‘t even know their name.
‘The rich man in his castle, the
poor man at his
gate, God made them high or lowly, and order’d their estate.’ So goes
the hymn
‘All things bright and beautiful’ How many thousands of children were
taught
that, and grew up with that? No wonder the world is - quite literally -
in a
bloody mess. We fight and compete all the time for ‘oneUPmanship.’.
Jesus was the great pioneer of the little-known phenomenon ‘oneDOWNmanship’.
Can
anything good, come from
Yes,
something good came from
Saint
Paul writes ‘Let the same mind be
in you that was in Christ Jesus, who,
though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as
something
to be exploited but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.’ Not
the sort
of position that we naturally incline towards: yet the very position
that God
wants us to adopt. Because it’s the only way of truly loving the world.
‘When
the mass is over, the service begin.’ If
we want to encounter the living Christ then we need to embrace the
poor, the
vulnerable, the weak, the dispossessed, the alien and the outcast. Or
we stick
to our own more comfortable view of Christ. We make God in our image
rather
than accepting that he has made US in HIS.
We
must pray for healing tonight as we
participate in the washing of the feet. Healing for our minds - our
outlook -
our attitude. Yes, we might be able to ‘talk the talk’ but are our
hearts and
minds truly geared for service? I suspect that we want it to be, which
is why
we are here tonight. We have failed in many ways - I know I have even
if you
haven’t. I am not worthy, you are not worthy, we are not worthy. We are
not
here because of some jumped-up notion of self-worth but because the
best God
can give the world is a fragile human being. It takes one to know one.
It takes
one to love one. Perfect people don’t understand!
‘Ring
the bells that still can ring, forget your
perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light
gets
in!’ (Leonard Cohen)
Come to the Cross
tomorrow.
Give God the cracks in your life, and maybe on Holy Saturday, the Light
of
Christ will be able to break through.
GOOD FRIDAY
A MEDITATION FOR GOOD FRIDAY
Fred
Nye (Reader)
It’s too late now. I expect
you’re sorry
you ever came here for the Festival. Me - I wish I’d never ventured out
this
morning, that I’d stayed at home and minded my own business. But like
the rest
of you I followed the crowd, drawn by the horrible fascination of a
public
execution. And so here we are on the hill of Calvary, caught up in the
death of
this young prophet who has been our leader these several years now. But
not
just as spectators. By what we have said or not said this day, by what
we have
done or not done, we are all for better or worse involved in this
drama,
playing a part in what is going on.
And it’s hard to understand
what is
happening. There is so much hurt here. To witness the agonising death
of
Jesus-bar-Joseph, the carpenter’s son, is more than we can bear. And
yet there
is more. He fainted after the nails were driven home, but when he came
to he
breathed a prayer of forgiveness for his tormentors. How typical of the
man,
how true to what his heavenly Father taught him! There is so much pain
here, so
much love forgiveness and acceptance here, that I just want to escape.
And yet
something stops me, something holds me...
They say that as you die the
whole of your
life passes in front of you. I wonder what Jesus can see now. Does he
perhaps
remember his many journeys, remember his days as a travelling healer?
And what
a healer! It wasn’t just that he was good at it; it was the sort of
people he
cured. He seemed to go out of his way to reach the untouchables, the
sort of
people no ordinary healer would go near. I mean who wants to bother
with mad
people, and the possessed, and people with leprosy and all sorts of
other dirty
illnesses? But Jesus did. He said it was what his Father wanted. He
wanted
everyone to be set free, whoever they were and whatever they were. But
people
said that his patients didn’t deserve what he did for them. Small
thanks he got
for it.
Or perhaps he remembers his
time as a
teacher. And what he said wasn’t popular either. He told us that it was
the
humble and meek, ordinary folk, who were the heirs of God’s creation.
He told
us that God had come to save the vulnerable and the neglected; that the
lost
sheep was worth more than the rest of the flock put together. Well that
went
down like a lead balloon. And he kept on insisting that his Father’s
reign of
peace and justice had begun already, that life wasn’t a rehearsal.
Worse still,
he claimed that he had the authority to proclaim this Kingdom, never
mind Moses
and the prophets. Well you can imagine what the rabbis thought of that.
Or maybe he’s thinking about
what might
have been. After all, he could certainly pull the crowds: remember the
excitement when he arrived in
Perhaps he had some regrets,
but I doubt
it. He must have felt rejected though, especially by the Jews. He just
had no
time at all for prejudice, especially religious prejudice. He told us a
story
once, about the importance of being caring and compassionate. But he
chose a
Samaritan, a heretic Samaritan - I ask you, as an example of how we
should
behave. He always seemed to see the best and find the best in people:
heretics,
pagans, sinners, adulterers, all sorts of riff-raff religious people
didn’t
want to know. He saw religion as so often dividing people, not uniting
them. He
always put people first; before religion or race or respectability.
Said that
the Sabbath was made for us and not the other way round. That’s how he
put it.
He put people first, he put us
first. And
yet, when you think about it, we all tried to stop him. We tried to
stop him
being the Christ, tried to stop God from being God.
Take Simon Peter for instance,
an admirer
of Jesus if ever there was one. But Peter was too proud to cope with
his
acceptance, his forgiveness, especially when Jesus tried to wash his
feet at
the supper table. Peter didn‘t like the risks Jesus took: even tried to
stop
him going up to
Then of course there was Judas
Iscariot,
the revolutionary. A good man in many ways; he certainly wanted the
meek to
inherit the earth. But he was so angry, so impatient, so full of
revenge. And
so he tried to provoke his master into taking the initiative by force.
Judas
wanted to hurt his enemies, to hurl everything he had got at them, and
then
some more. But that wasn’t Jesus’ way; that wasn’t God’s way. And so
Judas
tried to turn God into something or someone else.
And what about Caiaphas the
high priest? He
couldn’t bear to be wrong could he? His religion, his belief, was more
important to him than mercy, or pity, or hope or justice. His form of
fundamentalism could find no place for Jesus in the scheme of things.
And so he
couldn‘t tolerate Jesus being Jesus, he couldn‘t stand God being God.
And finally came Pilate, Pilate
the
politician, Pilate the wheeler-dealer. All that mattered to him was to
stay in
power and to avoid trouble. Pilate didn’t believe in anything, except
himself
and his need to feel important and secure. He couldn’t allow Jesus,
whoever he
was and however true his claims, to threaten the status quo. He
couldn’t allow
Jesus to be Jesus, he couldn’t allow God to be God.
And so Peter and Judas,
Caiaphas and
Pilate, and you and I; we have all played our part in bringing
Jesus-bar-Joseph, the carpenter’s son, to this dreadful place, the
place of the
skull. And he can’t have very long now. The shadows are beginning to
lengthen.
A few minutes ago he gave a sudden cry, frighteningly powerful from
someone so
close to death: ‘It is completed!’ And I began to wonder who had won.
No
denial, no rejection, no cruelty could turn him away from the path of
his
Father’s love and his Father’s will. Not once in his past life, not
once during
this terrible death, has he betrayed his heavenly Father. In Jesus we
have seen
the face of God himself. In this death, in this victory, none of us
could stop
Jesus from being Jesus; none of us could stop God from being God. He’s
won. He’s
won.
I think he’s gone now. What a
look of his
dear mother he had about him. Yes, he was one of us, one of the human
family; a
child of earth and a child of heaven. He came to put humanity first and
to put
God first, and to teach us that the two things were the same. He told
us that
we were his sisters and brothers, flesh of his flesh, bone of his
bones,
grafted on to the same vine. We have been fed by the same bread, warmed
by the
same wine.
As the world turns towards the
night and to
what lies beyond, the hill of Calvary and its precious burden turns
with it. In
our humanity we are drawn to him and with him, and in the calm and the
stillness there is an invitation to share his victory. As his sisters
and
brothers, unwittingly and unwillingly, we can dare to whisper a faint
echo of
his last words. For us too, it is completed.
HOLY SATURDAY
‘GOD
PUTS THE BUBBLES IN OUR
LIFE!’
Fr. Neil
Is it all worth
it? So much to
do! Donkeys to be transported. Flowers to be arranged. Cleaning,
cleaning the
brasses, champagne, Easter eggs and fireworks to be bought. The hall to
be
decorated, food to be prepared for an Easter Party, anthems and songs
to be
learned, and so it goes on...
Stop and give yourself time to take
in what the
liturgy has tried to express this week and the answer can only be most
certainly, it is worth it. Everything we do in the liturgy of this week
is to
help us to try and take it in and live it in our lives.
Mervyn Stockwood (one time Bishop
of Southwark)
said once (so the story goes), ‘I love High church. I can appreciate
Low
church. What I can’t stand is dull church!’ That certainly can’t be
said of S.
Faith’s!
‘nd when I think that God, his Son
not sparing,
sent him to die: I scarce can take it in, That on the cross, my burden
gladly
bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin.’ We can so easily take
for
granted the great gift we celebrate. In a way, yes, it is too much to
take in.
God’s love for us can be so powerful and overwhelming that running away
from it
is a much safer option.
But we come tonight to the source
of light and
all life. And tonight’s celebration is all the more special for having
two
baptisms. Shortly will be welcoming Elaine Jones and Georgina Haywood
into the
fellowship of the Church in the Sacrament of Baptism. We are reminded
that
water gives life, refreshes, cleanses, heals and renews. We were born
from a
bag of water. Baptism is a sign of God’s love and care for us.
Water was used as
Christ’s
mission statement: he turned water into something special - into wine.
From the
ordinary to the special. When we are baptised God puts the bubbles in
our life.
And tonight we are drawn closer into the mystery of the Risen Christ;
Risen here
and now. Not just 2000 + years ago. Here. Now. Here. In water - in wine
- in
bread - in each other. Food and energy for life. The now is important.
We spend
so much time being weighed down with guilt - and I’m not saying we
shouldn‘t be
sorry for our sins: but it is the past. We spend so much time worrying
about
the future; often for very good reasons. But it is to some degree
unknown. The
Quakers, who are not known for too many words, have a saying: The
past is
history, the future, mystery; what lies between is God;s gift to us,
which is
why it's called the Present.‘ We
encounter Christ NOW. He is here. He is real and he loves us.
Jesus commanded his disciples to go
out and to
baptise. Tonight he commands us, his disciples, to do the same to go
out and spread
the Good News. Baptism is our commission for ministry. Go out and make
disciples of all nations... and know that I am with you always, even to
the end
of time.
Let us be sent out tonight to
gossip: not in a
harmful or scandalous way, but gossip to others about the Gospel of the
Risen
Christ. That’ an order from God.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
Easter
Day
‘NOT BAD NEWS
BUT GOOD NEWS’
Fr.
Neil
S.
John’s Gospel Chapter 20: Jesus said to
Mary, ‘Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.’ This
is an Important and significant text for us to take to heart
today which
we would have heard had the Gospel continued further into the 20thh
Chapter of S. John. Jesus said to Mary ‘ Do not hold on to me’ or: DO
NOT
CLING!
Jesus
really is an awkward so-and-so. It’s
almost as if he doesn’t understand human nature. We may feel it
slightly odd
that the Risen Christ tells us not to do the thing that comes most
naturally to
us: we need security, we need to feel safe, there are things, events
and people
we treasure from our past, the future is always uncertain…DO NOT
CLING... that’s
difficult!
I
don’t believe that for one moment Christ is
telling us to forget anything that has happened up to the present
moment: that
would of course be impossible. But the message is challenging: our past
experiences, our faults and failings, the joys and sorrows, the hurt
and the
pain our successes and otherwise, all these life experiences go to make
us into
the person who can look to the future with confidence. DO NOT CLING
does
not mean abandon the past but it does mean do not be afraid to look
forward.
Let the past be transformed into a glorious future: for that surely is
the
message of the Risen Christ who triumphed over death, abandoned the
tomb and
appeared in his risen body to the disciples. The Centurion at the
Crucifixion
said after his death; Surely this man was the Son of God. Today we can
say with
complete trust and Confidence: This man IS the Son of God.
DO NOT CLING … have confidence to embrace the possibilities of the
future. The Church that we are proud to be part of today only came into
being
because those first disciples, despite the uncertainties of the future,
had a
faith which enabled them to move forward with the power of the Spirit.
They
risked persecution, they stood firm, and their openness to God‘s will
helped to
build the church which we are part of today. But they too had
squabbles! Read
the Acts of the Apostles‘ debates over who was most important, and what
they
were about; who was going to sit where; despite those human failings
which have
been present in every Christian Community for 2000 years and will be
till the
end of time; God‘s will and his work have triumphed.
I remember a man
called Idris,
who came to church when I was a curate in
Last
week a friend of mine was standing at the
cross-roads by Threshers. The green man seemed to be taking his time
appearing
and she overheard a conversation; as the conversation went along she
realised
she was listening to someone who used to come to S. Faith’s and someone
who
still does. ‘Neither of them had anything positive to say,’ she said.
‘I’m glad
I don‘t come.’ Well, we are only human - we are no better than the
people who
don‘t come to church… so these things will happen. Yet it’s awful to
think that
someone can be put off the Christian Faith by the petty squabbling, the
people
who do nothing but sit and moan during the Sunday Service. It’s not
good enough
just to say, ‘we’re only human’. It might explain our actions, but it
doesn’t excuse
them. What will you say, in any
conversation you might have this week, that will make people want to
come to
church? The growth of the church is just as much in your hands as it is
in
mine. When did someone last come to church as a result of your
enthusiasm
for the Gospel?
If
our Easter Celebration means anything to us,
then we will leave this building today wanting to make a determined
effort for
our church to grow. We will want to see new people not as a threat to
our power
and status, but as a refreshing addition to the family. True growth
will be the
sign of a living Church - clinging on to the old ways, the same people,
doing
the same jobs: time is running out for that church - wherever it is in
the
world. Mature, spiritual growth comes at a cost. The joy which we
celebrate
today came at a cost. There is no true growth without real pain: which
is why
being a growing church is difficult.
BUT. We need to build
for the future, to
encourage others in the faith, to seek new ways and possibilities of
service.
Today the Risen Christ reminds us of the power of God’s love, the
triumph of
Good over evil, the endless possibilities and opportunities. Do not
cling ..
there’s new stuff to do. Throw the old agendas away: those meetings
have
finished. The minutes say so. Some of us will prefer to cling; more of
us, I
hope, will want to grow: Let us rejoice today that we are an Easter
people:
sent out as Mary Magdalene was to proclaim not Bad News, but the Good News.
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