Sermon 27th April 2014

Today, our Honorary Assistant Minister, Ben Hughes, preaches.  

The reading is from John 20: 19-31.  Doubting Thomas. 

Here we are at the end of Easter, back to work, back to school and back to normal life

And amongst all the exciting things that have happened over our Lent period and our Palm Sunday and Easter weekend, such as the opening of the new St Paul’s - we have been using art to help us meditate and pray over the season of Easter and so  I would like to indulge us once more if I may and use Art as a way to introduce the theme of doubting Thomas to help us conclude our Easter worship and to take us to the next stage God has prepared for us!

When I was a young man, I fortunate enough to be able to take one year studying fine art and figure drawing in the Chelsea Institute.

One of the key aspects to art learning was that of using contrast.

That is, understanding how an artist manipulates contrast to create artwork.

So if I say circle you say…

And if I say rough you say…

And if I say black you say…

And finally if I say dark you say…

(be prepared for abstract answers here)!

So we have the basic contrasts of tone, colour, shape and texture…

And now to apply them …if you are painting a landscape then your foreground images should be rich in texture, colour and tone - then tone, colour and texture fade gradually to become sharp dark silhouettes in the background. This simple technique should give the landscape distance and depth.

Then using Contrasting shapes such as angles and curves will   help you form interest and a balanced composition and so on.

So the art masters deftly manage contrasts of tone, colour, shape and texture in a creative way to make their wonderful images. That is the end of my lesson today!

(And if you happen to be studying art at GCSE or A level - then it is your understanding of these techniques that your examiner is looking for in your work and commentaries) Helpful hints are us!

And today’s passage is similarly about contrasts!

How is it that you might ask?

Well I believe that there are three contrasts all centered around the cross!

The first contrast is before the crucifixion and resurrection the world was under the yoke of law and the power of the priests – now post Easter

…we are all under grace and love and we now have but one great High priest Jesus Christ who by giving up his body on the cross rent the temple curtain from top to bottom meaning all can now enter into God’s love through Jesus Christ…which gives powerful meaning to his words I am the way the truth and the light!

The second contrast is the change in the disciples from being scared to being brave. In our story you have the disciples hiding behind locked doors -Then by the power of the Holy Spirit - breathed upon them by Jesus – they are transformed and become courageous - the founding fathers of the world wide church

And the third and last contrast is the one that is within us…the difference and change that Christ performs in our lives…the forgiveness of our sins and the transformation by the Holy Spirit

So in this sermon I want to go through these three contrast as a way of helping us better understand our faith and to help us in our doubts

So the first contrast

So before the crucifixion and resurrection people were under law….and now post resurrection we are now under grace!

Where our Good Friday situation is hopeless…our post resurrection is hopeful!

And what wonderful news is that…give me grace rather than law anyday…grace is free , its positive it forgives and it build up…and it means that you do not need priests or Pharisees…teachers and ministers yes but not priests! Their role is redundant under Grace. That is what the Caiaphas and the Pharisees were so desperately clinging to…the end of their world because they knew who Jesus really was and did so from the time that Jesus raised Lazarus, but decided to kill him rather than give up their power!

So this first contrast is very big news for the world and for us. Law verses love. Law verses grace! I know what I prefer and it is that grace that proceeds from the love of the Father that gave his only son to die on the cross is what we have signed up for in to by deciding to be a Christian. And it is Grace and love and the fruits of that grace and love that we need to share with the world. Law is for the lawless, grace is for the loving.

And now the second contrast

The disciples in this locked upper room you see  - this not only contrasts with the Maundy Thursday last supper (it might have been the same room) but it is the contrast of a group   of men who are helpless and scared and then becoming confident and courageous. Here they are in our story, afraid of those in power, scared of the law makers the Pharisees in the temple-  everything that had occurred when Jesus was alive on earth is gone…all the miracles, the amazing teaching,  and the absolute joy off being around Jesus hour by hour  – had ended. And tragically and violently ended! There are scared that the same will happen to them. That they will be crucified! And they are also confused as well! Because most confusingly Jesus’ tomb was empty! And normal people do not resurrect!

So confused and scared - they are also probably deeply ashamed. Why?

For Peter it must have been especially bad as he had denounced Jesus in the hour of trial….The other disciples either ran or slunk away when Jesus was arrested. And those recent memories of shame would have been in their heads and hearts –so afraid and uncertain of their futures and desperately mourning the loss of their God and King. Feeling rubbish about themselves.

But then as we heard, Jesus appears to and breathes the Holy Spirit on them. Like he does with us, Jesus also seems to concentrate on their good behavior and ignores the bad once we have been forgiven!  He doesn’t begin the passage with a counseling session, or some kind of remark about them running away! Instead he says peace be you! And so these broken disciples when breathed on by the breath of God , become are transformed and the Christian church begins and grows and spreads to where we are  today!

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

And do you notice what happens here? The authority to forgive sins is removed from the old law of sacrifice, priest and temple and is given by Christ as a new order to the common people – the disciples.

But then poor old Thomas is not there. He misses the event and must have been so desperately disappointed when the others tell him about meeting Jesus again…and so he says ‘unless I put my fingers in Jesus’ scars and side I cannot believe you’!

And faithful as Jesus is…he comes back a second time, in some ways especially for Thomas (be careful what you say when the Lord’s around)!! And he allows Thomas to fulfill his wish.

And  role of Thomas in all this?

Well in many ways the disciples mirror who we are. They are human and like us they have doubts and are afraid, they are inconsistent and unsure. They wobble and they get the wrong end of the stick! Take any point in any gospel  and we can say we are either one in  part or all of the characters that we meet!

Peter the enthusiast, John the reflector, Andrew the diligent and doubting Thomas!

So doubting Thomas - as the apostle has become known - He is no different to the others, flawed and human. Put your hand up if you have never doubted your faith? I have, and still have many doubts and will certainly have more to come as life tests and trials unfold! Doubt is a reality of Christian faith and nothing to be ashamed of. Doubt is only dangerous if we forget to lay our doubts at the foot of the cross. And we always need to remember that even when we doubt God – God  never doubts us!

Thomas as are the other disciples are human and that reassures me!

And Jesus also uses this story of Thomas and his doubt to prove some important facts about his resurrection.

What Thomas unwittingly proves in asking to place his fingers in the actual scars on Christ body shows that Jesus was not a Ghost or apparition? Jesus allows Thomas to perform this important proof to show us that Jesus’s body was the same that was hung upon the cross and it is the same   body that was bruised and scarred by the violence of crucifixion. And it must have been a very significant wound for Thomas to be able to place his whole hand into the body of Christ!

Jesus is not a ghost or a projected image but a real same body who later ate food and walked and talked with the disciples by the Sea of Galilee.

Also this action of Thomas fulfills the prophesy in Isaiah  - that by his stripes and scars we are healed. If Jesus had been reshelled or re skinned like a stolen car, then he could not of died for our own sufferings and scars. That is the point…when we call upon Christ in our own sufferings it is by his suffering evident in the scars in his hands, upon his feet and in his side that gives him the authority to represent us in our own afflictions. That is what sacrifices means. Or to put it another way….soldiers only follows their leaders into battle! You only learn from someone who is prepared to do what they are asking of you. By wearing the scars of his sacrifice Jesus is able to carry ours!

So Thomas - yes he is doubting but it is a really important role that he plays in the story of Easter and the beginnings of the Church.

And now I want to look at the third contrast…and the third contrast is to think about our own conversions.

In many ways despite all the time that the disciples have had in Jesus’ company you could say that up until this point they never quite got it!  When Jesus breathes on them in this room a t that point their full and useful conversion takes place and comes of age.

And Jesus says towards the end of the passage:

“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

And we are that blessed aren’t we,  because we believe but haven’t seen! That is very reassuring too? I feel blessed by that!

Some of you it may have been a sudden Damascus road type of conversion ‘wham bam type of thing’, for others it may have been like’ faith osmosis’ where your faith grows steadily over the years and then one day you say to yourself in the mirror…you know what, I actually believe…all very English and Church of England! Either was in my view they both count!

But however you think about your own conversion do ask yourself the question from time to time: Before I knew Jesus as my Lord and Saviour - what was my life like ! Empty and pointless perhaps? Look closely at the contrast between your old life and new  and I bet you will see changes

And if you have doubts and you get angry with God don’t worry these are the growing pains of faith and usually the times when God is holding onto you. And as a Christian the hardships and trials do remain …and we are not usually preserved from those as many of you know and live now.  But would you live any differently? I couldn’t! I could not go back to the past. The contrast is immense, the changes permanent! And as time rolls by …I look at my old self then as a different person now. A person that I once knew who was not so nice and mercifully is now gradually fading from the photographs of the memory. The contrast is all Jesus and his gentle transforming breath on my life. Perhaps you feel that breath on you too? If so, let the wind blow- it is something that I recommend!

And that friends and fellow Christians – by your conversion to Christ, you become the people making the difference to our world. Your conversion and the conversions of the many who make up The church is and will remain a very powerful force in history and in my view – the only  hope for  the nations.

And like these  stuttering and fearful Galilean disciples, locked in their room  - through the breath of Christ on their lives they become the beginnings of the new world order that has grown and spread from that small locked room down through the ages to  the here and now today at this very point in time now. Our service today in this church building being directly linked to that small locked room back then is an amazing thing to think about.  And despite the atheists and media criticism and any worse persecution you might endure, Christianity will continue to grow until the world and Universe is completely redeemed through Christ. We do have a job to do!

And that is the real power of church ….a group of desperate, seemingly incompetent individuals that Jesus called to be his followers…Peter, Andrew, Simon, Mary, John, Thomas, Nicodemas and then later Stephen, Paul and Silas, Lydia etc and all those people in your own lives that have gone before you that you can name and thank and bless God for in helping you in your journey of faith. Thousands of faithful people have all contributed in their small way to the ongoing transformation of the world. Your conversion, your prayers, your faith your belief make up the tiny stitches that robe the bride of Christ! Your smallest acts in Christ are vitally important to the redemption of this world so never give up or lose heart doing them!

So to end our Eastertide …before all was lost…now - all is gained and it does not end there. Because Jesus promises the coming of the Holy Spirit for everyone - which we will celebrate soon at Whitsun. This advocate, the glorious word, the Holy Ghost, Spirit of Truth and Logos the true lover, the wind, the breath and real mother - whatever name that History has given to God’s spirit -  and the third part of the Holy Trinity…The Holy Spirit is promised to all believers to empower the Church and do God’s bidding. And that is the force that has been unleashed by Christ’s death and resurrection on the cross and it is why the universe and time pivot on Calvary.

CS Lewis says ‘The cat is out of the bag because neither death nor the grave could hold him”

So Easter has ended- Whitsun and Trinity will begin soon.

I am going to end this sermon with a practical illustration and one which I think appropriate for our parish cyclists!

 I usually use a wheel to illustrate the Holy Trinity but today I plan to give our whoosh cyclists something to ponder as they travel up and down dale next weekend

So here goes

The axles is the cross of Christ….which the world and universe rotate around

The spokes are all the different churches…independent but interdependent!

And they as you know are attached to the hub…if one breaks the others weaken and go out of true

The rim is the Bible and prayer and the tyre is us

As the tyre we are in contact with the world taking the hard knocks as we travel along the road of life

The centrifugal force working throughout the wheel is the Holy Spirit which by its constant moving helps us keep our balance!

There you go not perfect but not bad!

Now we can pray for the cyclists!

Sermon 6th April 2014

Today, one of our Lay Readers, Simon Brindley, preaches.  

The reading is from John 11 verses 17-44

The Raising of Lazarus 

When Jesus was alive, he had lots of friends, people he seemed to get on really well with and who liked what he said and wanted to support him and follow him. And we know the names - and something about - just some of them.

One group of his closest friends and followers we call the 12 apostles and we know their names, people like Simon Peter and John and James and Judas.

And another group of his friends that we actually hear quite a lot about in the gospels -  the gospels are the stories about Jesus’ life - are two sisters called Martha and Mary and their brother, a man called Lazarus.

Now, do we have two sisters and a brother here today, from the same family?

[If Firmans at St Saviour’s then Jemima, Rebecca and Ben? If not, then two girls and a boy?]

[St Paul’s?]

Please could you come to the front, just for a few moments?

And I need three more volunteers please to stand at the side and hold up these signs…Every time you hear me say “first” you hold that up, if I say “second” you hold that up and “third” you hold that up. And when it is your turn to hold your paper up I’d like a big, big smile please! Is that OK?

So if I say “first”….

And if I say “third”…

And so on…

Obviously we need to pretend a bit but let’s pretend, just for a while, that [Jemima] is Martha, [Rebecca] is Mary and [Ben] is Lazarus.

And here are just a few of the things we know about these two sisters and their brother.

They all lived in a house, in a village called Bethany. All we really need to know about Bethany is that the village was not far from the capital city Jerusalem, about two miles away. And Jerusalem was where Jesus’ enemies lived, the ones who were trying to get rid of him because they felt threatened by what he had to say and what they saw him doing.

So, first, Martha

Martha loved to be busy and doing things all the time. So the first time Jesus came to their house, she rushed around getting the food ready and making sure everyone was OK and she even asked Jesus to tell her sister off for just sitting and listening instead of helping!

And the third time Jesus came to their house, again it was Martha who was doing all the work, serving the food.

Martha was what you might call a real Do-er, always busy, busy! You need people like that.

Next, Mary

Mary was a different sort of person. The first time Jesus came to their house, she just sat, quietly, at Jesus’ feet and listened really carefully to everything Jesus was saying.

And the third time Jesus came to their house is a very famous story because Mary had bought a large jar of incredibly expensive perfume – it cost about a year’s wages for a working man - and Mary poured it all over Jesus’ feet and she wiped his feet with her long hair. The whole house was full with the beautiful smell.

It does not really do her justice but perhaps Mary was more of a thinker than a do-er….you need people like that as well.

And Third, Lazarus

Now Lazarus doesn’t actually get a mention the first time Jesus came to their house. Perhaps he was working in the fields. But the third time Jesus came, the gospels say that Lazarus sat at the table and ate the food, while Martha served the food and Mary poured the perfume.

What does seem really clear is that these three and Jesus were really good friends. They were very close. They loved and trusted each other, as good friends do.

Pause…did anyone notice something missing from what we were just saying about Jesus’ visits to their home? [ah yes…the second visit….]

Today’s story is about the second time Jesus came to the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus and this time it is Lazarus who is at the heart of it…..

Thanks, now you three can go and sit down again…

In a few minutes I am going to ask all the adults here, aged 18 and over, to say something in a very loud voice. And I am going to ask all the children and young people here, and that means everyone aged 17 and under, to listen.

But before we get there, “first” and “third” can go and sit down again but “second” now this is your big moment, because I want you please to stand on this chair so we will all never forget that the story this morning happened the second time Jesus visited the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus.

So, just listen quietly again for a few moments to what happened when Jesus visited the place where Martha, Mary and Lazarus lived, for the second time:

Jesus had been in the city, Jerusalem, but he had left, as the leaders there were really getting angry with him and already some wanted to kill him. And he had gone away beyond the village of Bethany, which was just two miles outside of Jerusalem…

_

And one day Jesus got a message where he was, from Martha and Mary, to say that Lazarus was ill. But he did not go to see him straightaway. Instead Jesus just, waited for two whole days.

And the reason Jesus gave for waiting was this. He told the people with him that Lazarus’ illness was not going to lead to death. Rather, he said, all this was happening for a purpose and that was to bring glory to God and to bring glory to Jesus himself, as the Son of God.

Watch and see what is going to happen now he was saying to the people. You will see who I really am.

I think this was Jesus speaking with the Voice of Authority. A person speaks with authority when they both have a position of power and they speak in a way that you really feel is truly genuine and that you can believe. You just know for sure that they can be trusted……

_

After they waited those two days, Jesus said to his disciples that they needed to go back to the area of Bethany and Jerusalem but even though they knew Lazarus was seriously ill, the disciples were afraid and did not want to return because they knew that in Jerusalem were people who wanted to kill Jesus and who might want to kill them too.

But Jesus says that they must go, to help Lazarus and to do what is right.

I think this was Jesus speaking with the Voice of Courage. A person speaks with courage when they do and say the right thing even when they know they might get hurt. And here, in this case, Jesus actually knew that in going back towards Jerusalem he would in fact be killed. And I am sure he knew that if he helped Lazarus, again there would be those who would not like it but would use it against him, maybe even as an excuse to kill him……

_

Before they arrived in Bethany Jesus made it clear to the disciples who were with him that Lazarus had in fact already died.  And when they get near Bethany, they find out that Lazarus has already been buried in a tomb, it’s a cave with a stone placed in front of it. And he has already been dead for 4 days..

And as they get closer Martha goes out to meet Jesus before he gets to Bethany and she tells him that if he had been there he could have healed Lazarus and prevented him from dying. Jesus tells Martha that Lazarus will rise again and Martha says she believes, yes, Lazarus will eventually rise again at the end of this world.

But then Jesus says this. He says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life and whoever believes in me, even though he dies, he will rise again. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die”.

These are astonishing words and I think they are Jesus speaking with the Voice of the Creator, the one who made all of life and with the Voice of the Saviour, the one who will conquer death…..

_

So Jesus in a few short days has spoken with the Voice of Authority, as the Son of God, with the Voice of Courage, knowing what must be done even if it means people will hate him and kill him, with the Voice of the Creator, the source of all life and with the Voice of the Saviour, the conqueror of death.

_

And at this point Martha rushes back to Bethany and tells Mary that Jesus wants to see her too. So Mary too goes to find him and she is deeply hurt and is crying because her brother is dead and she too tells Jesus that if he had only been there Lazarus would not have died. And everyone around is crying because the brother and friend they loved has died.

And now Jesus shows us something more of what God is really like…..because he too starts to cry because his friend has died. “Jesus wept” it says in this gospel of John. 

Here I think we hear from Jesus the Voice of Compassion. Compassion means you do not leave someone to suffer on their own but you stand with them and suffer with them.

And Jesus asks them where Lazarus is, and they take him to the cave in Bethany…….and he tells the people to take the stone away.

You really can imagine what the people must have been thinking as Jesus told them to take away the stone. What does he think he is doing?? So they tell him that there will already be a bad smell because Lazarus has been dead for 4 days but Jesus insists that they take the stone away.

And Jesus stands in front of that cave and he calls out, in a loud voice:

“Lazarus, come out!”  are the words he uses.

But what I wonder is what those words sounded like? What do you think? Did Jesus speak loudly but calmly, with the Voice of Authority? Did he speak loudly and boldly, with the Voice of Courage, aware that there might be those in the crowd who would report back to his enemies? Did Jesus speak with the voice of the one who was there at the beginning of all things, the maker of all of life and all there will be, with the Voice of the Creator? Or did he speak with the voice of the one who knew that death could and would be conquered, the Voice of the Saviour? Or did Jesus speak from his heart, the heart of love for his dead friend, did he cry out through his tears, with the Voice of Compassion?

Or do you think if you had been there you would have heard something of all of those things as Jesus called out in a loud voice?

We are just going to try something now. It’s quite a serious moment…

When Jesus cried out, in a loud voice,

“Lazarus, come out!”

Lazarus was in the tomb, but he was bound up with cloth including cloth round his head. So it would have been difficult for him to hear. So in a moment, I am going to ask all the children and young people, aged 17 and under, to close their eyes and cover their ears tightly with their hands as if they were Lazarus with a cloth wound tightly round his head.

Then I want the adults on the count of 3 to call out in a loud voice,

Lazarus, come out!

I am only going to give you one chance at this so I want the adults to put into that voice what you think you might have heard in Jesus’ voice had you been there that day in Bethany, whether it would have been calm Authority, or bold Courage, or the life giving force of the Creator or the redeeming love of the Saviour or the Voice of Compassion through Jesus’ tears.

And if we really do this well we might even be heard down the street or at the top of the park. We will certainly be heard in the crèche!

“Second” you can be an adult for today as you are standing on that chair!

So first all children and young people, just try to imagine you are Lazarus in that cave with his head bound up in cloth and soon you may just hear something of what he heard that day……eyes closed please and hands tightly over your ears…and wait until you hear the adults’ voices…

And adults, on the count of three, with whatever you think might have been heard in Jesus’ voice that day and….really….I mean really….with the loudest voice you can manage, from deep inside, on the count of three cry

“Lazarus, come out!”

Now, are you really ready to give this whatever you have got this morning??

One…deep breath in….two…three

“Lazarus come out!”

And Lazarus came out of the cave, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth and Jesus told the people to unbind him from the cloths and let him go.

And whatever they had heard in his voice, the people now saw in Jesus’ actions that he was who he said he was, God’s Son, doing what had to be done whatever the consequences, the giver of life and the conqueror of death. And they saw how much Jesus felt for his friend.

There is only one more thing to say from this story this morning and that I think is this. Wherever we might find ourselves, in whatever darkness now or in the future, in whatever dark place like the cave where Lazarus was, Jesus still speaks to us in those same voices, telling us, ……Come out! You might just like to think during the rest of this service if Jesus is speaking to you with one of those Voices, this morning.

And Thankyou, for helping to recreate on 6^th April 2014 just something of what might have been had we been there to see Jesus’ friend Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, brought back to life four days after he had died.

Amen