Sunday 27 April 2008. The Six weeks of Easter: Trusting that He will reveal himself to us. Acts 17:22-31, John 14:15-21 Bruce

On Thursday we celebrate forty days after the resurrection of Jesus, and the event called the Ascension. For those first forty days, Jesus spent time with his disciples teaching them; almost certainly he went over lessons he had taught them before, but which they had not been in a position to understand until they experienced the wonder, the miracle of his resurrection from the dead. It was a process that would continue to the present day, as each generation has sought to come to terms with the reality of Christ’s presence with us.

Jesus said that we would not be alone in this endeavour. After he had returned to the Father, God would send to us another just like him, but with one important difference – he would not be limited by having a body. He would send the Holy Spirit who would reveal to each of us, from the inside, the reality and the love of God, to all who would accept him.

In the past weeks we have looked at the difference that Jesus, risen from the dead, can and should make in our lives. Two weeks ago we looked at the life of the church, last week we looked at how we need never fear death again, because Jesus is risen. And today I want to look at a subject that many find troubling. How can we know God? What certainty is there?

Allied to that is another question. I have a friend who is a vicar who is deeply troubled about baptising infants. So often parents appear who ask for their child to be ‘done’, who are happy to go through the outer forms of religion, and yet do not seem to connect with the inner reality of the words they have said. Would it not be better to only baptise those who are old enough to fully comprehend what they are saying and doing in being baptised?

It is undeniable that baptising children, christening them, has been part of our culture for generations. If every family who had a child baptised here kept coming regularly to share in our worship and communal life, we would have space problems (but I would not be troubled by that!). We pray for each family we baptise, and invite them back, but it does seem that their understanding of what we are about is different from ours.

But that is a potential situation that we face with every person who walks through the door. Each of us here is on a pilgrimage through life, exploring what we believe. As you sit there, you may have very different views about who God is, how we should respond to him, how to make sense of the events that have taken place in our lives already.

The good news is that it is not my job to control what you think or believe. Which is good news for me, because I do not have that power, and good news for you as you try to make sense of it all.

What we can all do together is accompany each other on the journey and seek to make connections and share any insights we have picked up on the way.

We see some of this in the way that the apostle Paul got on in Athens. After being persecuted and threatened in other parts of Greece, he has been sent to the capital and told to lie low. He has wandered around looking at the statues and idols, and realised that here is a culture that has a lot of religion, but they do not know God. He goes to their equivalent of Hyde Park Corner and is invited to speak to them about what he believes.

He picks up on the variety of different worships going on – the Athenians would like to know God, but do not know how. Having erected altars to all the obvious gods, they also have one TO AN UNKNOWN GOD, just in case they have missed one out.

Well, Paul says, this is the god I have come to tell you about. He is the one who created the whole world, and each and every one of us. This is the God of all peoples, the God not distant from any of us, the divine being present to all. He then quotes Aratus, a pagan poet, from his poem Phaenomena, written about 270 BC in Athens. “In, or perhaps through, whom we live and move and have our being: for we are his family.” It’s as if I started to quote Leonard Cohen to talk about God. The point Paul is making is that God reaches out to every one of us, and that all human experience, all culture can be a doorway to know God.

But, and it is a big but, we are not given freedom to imagine God just as we would like him to be. We cannot just choose the God we want. Some might like him as a metal statue safely locked away in a temple, but he is greater than that. The challenge is rather for us to be as he would like us to be. God reaches out in love to every person, but this not mean that religion is reduced to the lowest common denominator of what we can all agree on. One day we will each be called to give an account of ourselves, to be judged according to the standard set by the one whom God has raised from the dead, Jesus.

The question is therefore not “Will God reveal himself to us?”, but rather, how will we respond to the fact that he is already doing so? For some, the wonders of creation give an inkling of the divine. For others, it is art. For others, it is the message preached about Jesus. But in every case, it is the Spirit of God working within us unseen, and we can choose to cooperate with him, or not.

It is that cooperation with God, which leads us to make sense of him and his message of love and reconciliation. Jesus says that if we love him, return his love, and keep his commandments, which are chiefly to love, then our Father God will give us another Counsellor or Comforter, the Holy Spirit of truth. In John chapter one, we are told that some would not receive Jesus, but to all who do receive him, he gives the power to become children of God. Here Jesus tells us that there are some who choose to inhabit a rival authority structure, the world, because they are not “tuned in” to the Spirit.

How can we respond in a positive manner to God’s invitation to know him and love him?

First, you have to want to. God would never force himself upon us. In principle, each of us needs to be open to at least consider the possibility that God loves us, and wants the best for us. We can explore, learn, debate, doubt, but above all risk getting to know God.

Second, you do not have to do this alone. A bit like singing in church, it is actually easier if we do it in a group with others. They may seem more familiar with the tune than we are, or at least more confident in their mistakes, but we can let ourselves go if the people around us are joining in. So, for you to seek after God on your own in private is absolutely your privilege. But you may very well find that you make more progress if you share the process with others. You may also find that you are a blessing and a help to someone alongside you.

Third, trust Jesus to help you by his Spirit. He is the one who will give understanding, and insight. He will help you forgive yourself when you get it wrong, as you inevitably will. He will give you confidence to share God’s love with those around you. When parents and Godparents make promises on behalf of a child, or when any of us commit ourselves to be disciples and servants of God, we can only do so by trusting in the mercy and power of God to help us and make it possible.

Questions for Discussion

1. 
   The wonders of creation. The good news about Jesus in the bible. Experiences of worship. What have been the doorways for you encounter God?
2. 
   St Michael’s has a Purpose Statement: To Encounter God and Grow in Him. What examples can you give of things that have helped you to encounter God?
3. 
   Do you prefer to explore these things alone or with others?
4. 
   What are your hopes and fears about the journey?

Sunday 20 April 2008 Forty Days of Easter - Trusting in Death Acts 7:55-60 John 14:1-6 Bruce

Jesus spent forty days after his resurrection talking to his disciples about the Kingdom of God. And so in these six weeks of Easter, the forty days leading up to the Ascension, we spend time revelling in the resurrection of Jesus, and asking “What difference does it make?”.

We remember this when we read the Acts of the Apostles, and the speeches in John’s Gospels where Jesus teaches about our day to day relationship with God. Last week Robert spoke about the blueprint for church life: Fellowship, Teaching, Prayer, Worship and Growth. This week I have chosen the title “Trusting in Death”.

There are said to be only two certainties: death and taxes. A few people seem to be very effective at reducing or avoiding paying tax, but none of us will escape the death of our present, mortal bodies.

The big claim that Christians make is that Jesus has conquered death. We see this in the words of Jesus, that he has gone to prepare a place for each of us, and also in the example of the first martyr, Stephen. Recalling the example of his master Jesus, Stephen has been arrested on a trumped up charge, subjected to a show trial with false evidence, condemned to public execution, prays for his killers, and entrusts his spirit into the care of God.

We see again the mystery of God’s purposes. Stephen has emerged as one of the first deacons, full of God’s grace and power, well known for doing great wonders and miraculous signs. It is this man, for whom we can see such promise and who is such an essential part of the growing church, who suffers this violent, premature death. How can we explain this?

Every one of us must confront the issue of death. We lose the ones we love. We know that we will die one day. How can we cope with this?

The root question behind this is whether God is real. We wonder whether we can trust him or if he is real at all.

Many of us struggle with a sense of unease, a disappointment with life, a sense that there should be more to life than this.

One response to this might be a world weary cynicism: “always look on the bright side of life”, “leave ‘em laughing”, “ultimately there is no point or meaning to anything”.

What does our resurrection faith say to this?

Jesus confronts two problems when he is speaking to his disciples. How do we handle it when we seem to have made a muck of our lives, and does God answer prayer?

Peter has just learned that at the climax of Jesus’ life and ministry, when Jesus will need his disciples more than at any other time, Peter will disown him. Into that stunned, crushed silence, Jesus speaks the life giving words: “Do not let your hearts be troubled, trust in me … I go to prepare a place for you.” You might be the greatest failure there has ever been. You might be the best, the greatest at your chosen job or profession, or in your family or relationships. The truth is – in the eternal scheme of things – it does not matter. It will not affect what happens to you when you die. What matters, all that matters, is that you trust, rely on and place all your hope in Jesus. He loves you, he wants you to experience his love, and he promises that whatever happens to you, and whenever it happens, he will care for you.

When we face the big difficulties and we desperately need God to intervene, we fall back on Jesus’ invitation to trust him, and through him the Father. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and we look to experience his love in every day life. A bit like those who run the marathon, we start with small walks and runs. We look for Jesus every day in the small things. Stephen was a man who trusted God in what might seem relatively small things, like the distribution of food to the widows. When the crisis of martyrdom reared up, though, he was in training and equipped, ready. When I spend time with someone who is dying, it is an encouragement to me when I quote “Do not let your hearts be troubled”, and they join in the rest of the quotation by heart. Time spent reading scripture and in prayer is never wasted.

In these forty days of Easter, let us resolve to learn a trust in Jesus and his word, to live a trust in Jesus and his word, which will sustain us every day in this life, and carry us together into the next, where he has prepared a place for each of us.

Discussion Starters
What do you make of the quip that Christian faith is “Pie in the sky when you die”?
What parts of the worship or life of the church give us most comfort when we think about Christian attitudes to death.
An important part of the role of a Soul Friend (Anamchara, Spiritual Director) is to discuss eternal matters, and to accompany us at the time of death. When did you last talk with someone about the death of someone close to you, or your own death?

ST MICHAEL’S 13th APRIL 2008 EASTER 4 BLUEPRINT FOR A CHURCH Acts 2 : 42 – 27 John 10 : 1 – 10 Robert

The key passage from Acts chapter 2 which we read as our Epistle, is Luke’s description of the Christian Church as it was in the period immediately following the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is set out for us as a blueprint, or proto-type, for any local Church as it should be. The standard against which every Church should be measuring itself.

As in every passage in the Bible which we make relevant to our situation today, the process we need to apply is to ask two questions: ‘What did it mean in its original context?’ and ‘How can we carry the vital principles across to the 21st century in such a way as to make them valid and practical today?’

But before we apply this process to the this important passage from Acts 2, let’s just put it into context and bring it to life, by reminding ourselves of how those disciples got there.

In today’s Gospel from John 10, we come to understand that the Risen Christ is alive and can be available today to anyone who believes in him. As Kim explained so vividly last Sunday, we can experience him as those two disciples did on the Emmaus Road. He comes alongside us in any situation in which we find ourselves – in their case, in times of bewilderment, despair, anxiety, depression, loss and grief.

And we recognise him in many ways. In the breaking of bread, as in Holy Communion. Like Elijah in the still small voice – rather than in great miraculous signs and wonders. Through the testimony of another person, as they tell us about their experiences, and we feel our hearts burn within us. Through private or public prayer, when suddenly we know that Christ is speaking not just in general terms, but to me directly and personally. As we read the Bible, or hear it read, the Risen Christ can (so to speak) walk off the page and appear to us even as we read or listen. I am sure there are those among us today who could get up, if I asked, and tell us about such experiences. Kim shared with us last Sunday just such a very personal experience.

The Risen Christ can come to us personally, and we can recognise him or hear his voice, personally and unmistakeably at any hour of the day or night. But in Matthew 18:20, Jesus does make a specific promise. He says that ‘where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.’

This was the situation described in Acts 2 as we have just heard, and this is the situation now here in Church, as we are gathered together in the name of Jesus to worship, to pray, and to listen carefully to what He is saying to us.

From the blueprint described in Acts 2, we can derive specific guidance as to how this wonderful miracle happens.

There are five elements I want to draw your attention to – and it will help if you have the Epistle open in front of you.

1.FELLOWSHIP. These Christians met together, we read, every day. This may not be possible for us, but it should mean more than an hour or so in Church on a Sunday, with little or no real fellowship or personal meeting as we sit in our rows. But we have many other doors open to us for this vital New Testament fellowship - Encounter Groups, Thursday lunch and prayers, and many other groups within St Michael’s which allow us share fellowship and which many of us find so valuable. Look for ways in which we may come together in twos and threes and sevens and tens, so that Christ may be with us in the midst.

An important aspect of fellowship is coming to agreement in all our affairs, and – wherever we see there is a need – being willing to give time and energy and resources to share, so that the fellowship is real. It seems that those first disciples pooled all their worldly goods, and that is probably unrealistic today, but we can go a great deal further than the average Sunday worshipper. Indeed if we are to fulfil our vision for this Church, we shall have to go much, much further in sharing our money, our time and our energy. It cost those first Christians a great deal, but look at the wonderful ways they were blessed and the vision they achieved. We read that they ‘devoted’ themselves to fellowship. We need to do the same.

2.LEARNING. We read that they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. For us that means devoting ourselves to the study of the Bible, with a view both to understanding it and putting its principles into practice, and also meeting with the Lord through that disciplined study – ideally on a daily basis, but at the very least on a thoroughly regular basis.

There is an Alpha Course due to begin fairly soon – an ideal way to start for the relative beginner, and indeed as an excellent refresher for us all. There are Bible Reading notes to help us, along with modern translations, and a vast store of other resources to help us in the modern world.

We can learn on our own and that’s necessary, but often we learn better in groups, whether just two or three, or a larger group. Learning and Fellowship go together very well.

3.PRAYER. Those first Christians devoted themselves to prayer. Prayer can take many forms, although they are essentially all about cultivating a personal relationship with our Lord. There is private, personal prayer, which should be a regular discipline, going alongside our Bible study. There is Group Prayer, which goes alongside Fellowship, and is a hugely rewarding experience, and often a time when – as a fellowship – we discern the Lord’s presence, and the Lord’s will for our lives, most clearly.

And there is Church prayer. When a group grows into a congregation, a different style of prayer becomes necessary, but it is no less valid and real. It is bound to be more structured, more formal, but can be enormously helpful and real, if done well. We, like those first disciples, must devote ourselves to prayer if we are to achieve personal growth and our vision for this Church.

4.WORSHIP. We read that they devoted themselves to the breaking of bread, both in their homes and more formally as they met together on Sundays, the first day of the week, as they celebrated the resurrection. And as they did so, we read that they praised God, and were filled with awe, and saw many wonders and signs. Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel (John 10:10) that He came ‘that we might have life, and have it to the full.’ When we meet together, we should be full both of joy and life, and also of awe and wonder. And as we praise God together, we too will see wonderful things happen in our own lives and in the lives of others. They may or may not be the sort of miracles that come to mind when we use that word – instant healing for example. But they will certainly be miracles in the equally valid sense that we will see our lives changed, and the lives of those around us changed. We will see wholeness, and love, and grace, and healing, and forgiveness, and all the characteristics of that fullness of life that Jesus promised to all who believe in him.

5.GROWTH. We read that the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. They didn’t have to go door knocking because when there is life-filled local community which truly exhibits all these attributes of fellowship, sharing, prayer, worship and all that I have been describing, we shall have people queuing at the doors. This is what we all want at heart. This is what people seek now just as much as they did then. And we shall not have to argue or struggle to persuade, because when they see God at work in us and in our Church, the Lord Himself will touch their hearts.

We are following a short series in these weeks of Easter and in the notes for today, we read: “The first Christian community takes steps to live out a seven-days-a week-faith. What are the implications for each of us and the church family that God has placed us in?”

It is those implications which I have been describing. If we put them into practice, our own lives and the life of the Church, and the life of our whole community, will be wonderfully transformed. I am tremendously encouraged to see many of the signs of the church described in Acts 2 already living and breathing in St Michael’s. We are not starting from scratch like some churches. Indeed we have come a long way. But to fulfil our potential under God, we need to find the Risen Christ alive and in our midst in ever more wonderful and dynamic ways. He is risen, He is here, He is willing to continue our transformation and bring it to completion. We need to play our part. The word that keeps leaping out of the text of Acts 2 for me is the word ‘Devotion’. They ‘devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’ We must devote ourselves too.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

Share personal experiences of the Risen Christ and the context in which they happened
How can we make better use of the resources we have in order to become more like the church in Acts 2?
What should be our priorities, and how can we implement them?

Sunday 6th April 10.30am Luke 24: 13-35- The Road to Emmaus and Back Kim

Sometimes it seems that, because Jesus had told the disciples about being raised on the third day, they therefore knew what would happen. But on that first Easter morning the fact that the women reported that the body had gone did not lead the two on the road to Emmaus to conclude that ‘Christ is risen’. Indeed it made matters worse, compounding their anguish about all that has happened to Jesus in the previous few days. It just did not occur to them that Jesus had been raised; in fact they were more worried about being arrested as his followers. As the two disciples on the road to Emmaus were approached by this stranger they might have wondered if he was a spy, but one of them was beyond caring and he began to tell of all the recent events in Jerusalem. And it became clear that their disappointment is because, like many of the Jews they thought that he would be the one person to redeem Israel. Israel was still under Roman oppression and the expectation was that in this Passover week God would intervene again and Jesus would establish God’s Kingdom. After all Jesus had been a great prophet, powerful in word and miraculous deeds.
But now they were walking away from Jerusalem, because Jesus had died at the hands of the oppressors and there wasn’t even a body to show for it! As Frederick Buechner says in his book The Magnificent Defeat; “Emmaus is whatever we do or wherever we go to make ourselves forget that the world holds nothing sacred: that even the wisest and bravest and loveliest decay and die; that even the noblest ideas that men have had – ideas about love and freedom and justice – have always in time been twisted out of shape by selfish men for selfish ends.” I find this statement extremely sad and very true!
The resurrection made the difference! They, like everyone else, had been looking at the Bible story through the wrong set of lenses, seeing it as God’s story not of how he had set them free FROM suffering, but free THROUGH suffering. Jesus uniquely bore upon himself this suffering as Israel’s representative. The whole story from Genesis to Chronicles points towards this, and the execution of Jesus was not disproof, but proof, vindication, that he was God’s Messiah. God undoes the evil; in weakness and suffering he releases the world and brings it to freedom. The two disciples on their way to Emmaus did not recognise the story. We will only get it and have our hearts opened when we hear the right rendering of the way the world is. It is our story too in that we share in His sufferings and then enter glory. We will recognise Jesus also when we stay faithful to the way the story is communicated to the church.
On arriving in Emmaus they invited Jesus to stay whereupon he assumed the role of host. In contrast to Genesis 3 where eating the fruit opened the eyes of Adam and Eve and brought to the shame, death, decay and futility, here we have another meal where a couple, on eating with Jesus, discover that the curse has been broken, death has been defeated and the God’s new world has broken in. It is the Great Reversal, not shame but dignity, because we are loved by the living God.
Through the Word and the Sacrament Jesus is risen in His Church – that’s why Sundays are so important. Here we catch a glimpse of the world to come, our hearts are warmed, we are clean again and we can hope again. This is the Risen Jesus Christ and we can take this resurrection power to a dying world. Jesus has led God’s people out of slavery, and now invites them to accompany him on the new journey to the Promised Land.
You see these two men did not know when they left Jerusalem that they were to return and in a sense these two journeys were the only things they had control over. They could not control the meeting with Jesus on the way to Emmaus, they could not control the fact they did not recognise Him, they could not control that they DID recognise Him and they could not control Jesus’ disappearance after the meal. They could control their going back to Jerusalem and what a contrast in those two trips. A slow, sad, hopeless trip from Jerusalem to Emmaus. A quick, joyful, hopeful trip from Emmaus to Jerusalem. They came back with their ‘happy feet’.
All of us will experience our own ‘road to Emmaus’. There will come a time in our life when we will have a personal encounter with our Saviour. Right now we might still be too preoccupied with making our first million, raising a family, looking for a job, Caring for someone, or struggling up the corporate ladder, but sooner or later, we will eventually meet up with our Lord, like Cleopas and the other disciple, or more dramatically, like St. Paul’s encounter with Jesus on his way to Damascus. Jesus just bides His time, but He knows that somewhere along the way in our journey through this earthly existence, we will discover our true destination, and He will be there to offer His assistance. After all, He is the Way, all His promises are true, and in the Holy Communion, which we will all partake in, in a little while, He is the Source of eternal life.

My journey to ‘Emmaus’ ended on the evening of Easter Sunday in 1983 at St. Mary’s Church, when the guest speaker invited the congregation there to rededicate themselves or make a commitment to Jesus. He talked about God love for everyone and in the quietness of the silence I heard the words as if someone was sitting next to me, but nobody was, ‘that means you too Kim’.
And why did Jesus appear to the two men on the road? Because he knew they needed to hear what we all need to hear when we feel crushed by disappointment. We need to hear that God is in control. We need to be reminded that it is not all over until he says it is. We need to believe that life’s tragedies and disappointments are not sufficient reasons to bail out but to sit tight. It was Corrie ten Boom who as a Christian spent much of her youth in Ravensbruk concentration camp who said, ‘When the train goes through a tunnel and the world gets dark, do you jump out? Of course not. You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through.’
And perhaps, like these two loving disciples of Jesus that is where you find yourself at the moment, in the middle of a dark tunnel. If so then remember that Jesus tells the story of God’s plan to let his followers know that the engineer still controls the train. This story is God’s story and our story. It is a story of divine love, searching for and seeking out the lost. It is the story of sheep wandering and the shepherd gathering. It is the story of betrayal and rebellion and God’s faithfulness and offer of amnesty. It is the story of death and the gift of life. Our own mini resurrections. Read the story and you will discover that you are not the first person to weep and will not be the first person to be helped.
Do you feel lonely and abandoned? Then read of Ruth and God’s provision.
Do you feel frightened? Then read of Daniel and his deliverance.
Do you feel betrayed? Then read of Joseph and his offer of forgiveness.
These were ordinary people like you and me, caught up in the great story of God’s salvation.
And when you realise that, the most natural thing you want to do is to tell others about it too, which is exactly what happens-v 33 to 35, ‘They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread.’
Who are you going to tell?
Questions
1. Suppose you had been in the room to hear the first news of Jesus ‘resurrection’. Would you have believed it? What makes you believe it now?
2. The disciples didn’t recognise Jesus walking with them. Who or what kept them from recognising Jesus? And what stops us from seeing Jesus in the difficult situations we find ourselves in?
3. We believe that the Messiah, Jesus, which the ancient prophets spoke of, has already come; how then do you explain the present state of the world?

ST MICHAEL’S 30 MARCH 2008 SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER THE RESURRECTION Robert Crossley

1 Peter 1: 3 – 9 John 20: 19 – 31

Driving back from Bristol on Easter Monday afternoon we were listening on Radio 4 to the programme “Beyond Belief” where the participants were discussing the resurrection of Jesus.

The main discussion was between two Christian academics (speaking from rather different perspectives) and a Jewish academic. This part of the programme was reasonable, interesting and well done. But in the middle the presenter interspersed an interview with the former Anglican Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway. Richard Holloway presented as his own belief such an entirely subjective, psychological, and pathetically feeble view of the resurrection that I had to take care not to drive straight off the M4. As I couldn’t take my reaction out on the car, I decided to relieve my frustration by preaching to you about it this morning!

This former prominent figure in the Anglican Church described his belief as follows (and I have listened to the broadcast again since to check).

Jesus died on the cross and was buried in the tomb, and that was that. Jesus did not experience a resurrection in any objective sense. But it gradually dawned on the disciples that, just because the messenger was dead, it didn’t mean that his message was either dead or invalid. And so – out of an initial despair and disillusionment – they began to see that, out of the ashes of apparent defeat, there could be hope, new beginnings, seeds of change which are capable of producing far-reaching results. The resurrection enables a psychologically positive attitude which is capable of bringing victory out of apparent defeat.

As an example, he quoted Rosa Parks, the black American lady who (in sheer weariness) in December 1955, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, and from that tiny beginning sprang the civil rights movement in the United States.

Now I don’t quarrel with the idea that from very small actions, motivated by a psychological attitude which simply rebels against the norm, and refuses to lie down, can spring great good out of all proportion to its origins. One could think of many examples – although I fear that the reverse can also be true. Out of one evil idea, psychologically motivated, an enormous monster can come into being. Think of Hitler.

But as an explanation of the power of the resurrection, I find this explanation feeble to the point of embarrassment. Something momentous happened on the third day after the crucifixion – the first day of the week - that changed the world then and for ever.

I would like to slip in a book recommendation at this point. My own belief about what happened on that day was formed (and remains) from reading a book which was written many, many years ago, but which (I am delighted to discover from a



quick look at the Amazon website) is still in print and easily obtainable. It is called “Who Moved The Stone?” by Frank Morison.

To understand what happened on that momentous Easter Day, we have to consider briefly four ingredients. The empty tomb. The Nature of the Resurrection. The change in the disciples. The fact of the Christian Church..

1. The Empty Tomb. I believe it is irrefutable that the tomb in which Jesus was buried on Good Friday was discovered to be empty by dawn on Sunday. The empty tomb is a crucial witness that stands at the very heart of all four Gospels. It is simply impossible to believe that the disciples could have been so clearly convinced, or that the resurrection could have been publicly preached in Jerusalem, if anyone (by taking quite a short walk) could have pointed to a decomposing body. Christianity would have been stifled at birth if Caiaphas and his band could have produced the body even as Peter preached. If you watched “The Passion” on TV, imagine the triumphant look on Caiaphas’ face as the body was carried into Jerusalem even as Peter was preaching (as in Acts 2) that “God raised Jesus from the dead...because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him”. Moreover we are simply not entitled to ignore or dismiss the crucial eye-witness accounts of Easter Day on any grounds – certainly not just because the Gospels were written some years later, or that (as in all eye-witness accounts) they are not all the same. The tomb was empty; something unprecedented had happened; those who were eye-witnesses that day and in the days that followed, tell us that what they saw convinced them beyond doubt that Jesus had conquered death and was actually more ‘alive’ in every sense that matters, than He had been before Good Friday.

2. The Nature of the resurrection. Some of the Radio discussion turned on the question of Jesus coming back to life in a resuscitated form (as in the raising of Lazarus). But this would not have been sufficient to give birth to the Christian faith. Death would not have been defeated, merely postponed. Something happened in the tomb which transformed his physical body into a spiritual body suitable for life in the heavenly, spiritual realm. It was this transformation which the Jews believed would occur at the Last Day of Judgement, which is why (a few weeks ago) I referred to the future invading the present on the day of resurrection. The resurrection body of Jesus is the proto-type (so to speak) of ours. Manifestly the same person, recognisable, but no longer limited by the constraints of age, mortality, time and space. In 1 Corinthians 15: 35 – 44 Paul writes about the difference between the physical, mortal body and the spiritual body into which it will be transformed for the life to come.

He uses, for example, the transformation from a seed into a fully blossoming flower or fruit. What you plant in the ground is a seed that usually looks pretty dead and shrivelled. But from that seed there comes the most beautiful flower or mature fruit. There is both similarity and difference between seed and fruit. There is vital continuity. They are, in essence, one and the same. So it will be with our essential selves and personality. But there is also vast difference.


The tiny shrivelled seed has been transformed into something glorious. Paul writes: “So it is with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”

At some moment on that first Easter Day, that transformation happened to Jesus. He was without doubt the same Jesus. But his mortal, physical body was transformed into a new spiritual body which is immortal and independent of the constraints of the physical world. And if this is true for Jesus, it has huge implications for those who believe in him. We read in Hebrews 12 that He is the “Pioneer” – the one who has gone through death before us, opened up the way and made it safe, and now offers to lead us personally through to that same glorious spiritual realm. Where He has gone, we can safely follow.

With this in mind, all the resurrection appearances fall into place. Jesus is recognisable – manifestly the same person – but no longer constrained by any of the limitations of a mortal body in a space/time existence. And he appears holding out the most wonderful and astonishing promise for every one who believes in him.

3. The Change in the Disciples. I find Richard Holloway’s idea of a “dawning realisation on the part of the disciples that the message remained valid” feeble in the extreme. It was not a dawning realisation of a psychological truth, it was an explosion of joy at the appearance of the risen Jesus and their understanding that the same Jesus they had known and followed, had indeed conquered death and was triumphant over all the powers of sin and evil.

Try to imagine being one of the disciples in the upper room when Jesus walked in and said: “Peace be with you” as we read in today’s Gospel. Can you begin to feel the mixture of sheer amazement, bewilderment, followed by a flood of joy and overwhelming knowledge that Jesus was, indeed, everything he had promised – everything for which they had hoped? Despair and hopelessness became, over a period of time, culminating in the coming of the Holy Spirit, the powerful, deep-rooted conviction shown in Peter’s speech in Acts 2 (our Epistle) which was the foundation stone of the Christian Church.

Of course we don’t pass from the initial amazement at witnessing an event which had never happened before in the entire history of the world, to the settled conviction of Peter’s speech in a matter of minutes or days. Of course it took time for them to digest and understand the implications of what had happened. It was a continuously dawning realization of the meaning of the resurrection. But that process could never had reached the conclusion which is the Christian faith without the solid, objective foundation stone of the actual resurrection of Jesus from the dead.



4. The Fact of the Christian Church. A dawning realisation that, from small, critical beginnings, great victories can be achieved against the odds, could never have been enough to kick-start the Christian Church. Such a message and example have been taught and put into practice by innumerable prophets and teachers down the ages. It is very far from unique. It needed something far, far greater in every sense to kick-start a religion which turned the world upside down within an amazingly short period of time, and which has had such an enormous influence in shaping the world for 2000 years, and is as powerful today as the day it began. It needed an event in history which effectively changed the world for ever. And that event was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

So what does the resurrection mean for you and me today? Try once more to exercise your imagination. The risen Jesus promised to be with all who trust in him, and in the midst of those who gather for worship. The reality is that He walks into the midst of us now, as we gather for worship, and holds out his hand to everyone of us. Do we trust him enough to put out our own hand and grasp his by faith? Do we join with Thomas in saying now: “My lord and my God”?

If we do, it will change our lives even as it changed the lives of those first disciples with whom we are inseparately linked. We, too, will feel the breath of Jesus, and receive the Spirit. We, too, will know the love and power that changes our lives for ever. We, too, will go out in the power of the Spirit, to live and work to his glory. And the resurrection of Jesus will be as real and powerful in our lives as it was at that first Easter.

“These things are written” says John “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that – by believing – you may have life in his name.” For those who trust personally in the risen Lord we experience the life Christ promised – real life – today and for eternity.


Discussion Starters:

1 Corinthians 15:17 - 19 . Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” Do you agree?

2. What does the resurrection of Jesus from the dead mean in your life?

Sunday 16 March 2008 PALM SUNDAY Philippians 2:5-11 Bruce

We are each on a journey, from the cradle to the grave, and beyond. Some started this journey a long time ago, and are, perhaps, nearer the end than others. This morning, we in this place find our paths connected and intertwined. And we are invited to connect with another Journey.

We have followed Jesus since the Christmas story told us of the beginning of his journey. Today, we remember when his journey brought him to Jerusalem (Matthew 21). To the casual observer, all is going very well as Jesus receives a hero’s welcome. But we have been paying attention, and we have observed that Jesus has persisted in giving warnings that he will be betrayed, tortured and killed, but that he will rise again on the third day (Matthew 20:17 ff.). During Holy Week we will follow Jesus, meeting him for his Last Supper on Thursday, marvelling at his sacrifice for us on Friday, waiting through cruel silence of Saturday, before rejoicing with abandon on Easter Sunday.

Paul gives his commentary in his letter to the Christians living in the Roman province of Philippi. He says we need to have the same attitude that Jesus had. It appears that the journey that Jesus undertook was even longer and greater than we had imagined. From before time began, and from the splendour of the heavenly presence, Jesus had the nature, the morphe, the very essence of Godhead; in his human life he adopted the nature, the morphe, the very essence of servanthood; the paradox is that to be God is to embrace humility and not grasp for position and worship. He is due it, he is worthy of it, but he does not need it.

The journey continues. He is found in the passing appearance or likeness of humankind; he is obedient in the way that Adam and Eve should have been, the way that we should be, but never are. He travels further into obedience, which leads to death, even the most shameful, degrading death that the people of that age could imagine – a slave’s death, a rebel’s death – on a cross.

I wonder if there was a shocked pause when the Philippian Christians first heard that read out. Where had this journey taken our Lord to?

But there is also the beginning of a wave of optimism, hope and rejoicing as we think about the consequence of Jesus’ love, obedience and humility. The journey continues, but now on an upward curve. Therefore – in direct consequence of the path that Jesus has walked so far – God has highly exalted him. His name is high above every other name. Every knee shall bow, whether of those visible on earth, or those invisible in the unseen but so real heavenlies.

And what will we all confess? That he is Jesus – the one who will save us from our sins. That he is Christos – the Messiah, the deliverer promised through the long ages and now arrived to bring salvation to the whole world. That he is kyrios, the LORD, the name used to refer to YHWH God when translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. Jesus never fought for the status of God, but he is to be recognised every where and every when as one with his Father God.

And as we enter Holy Week, we are called to have the same attitude as Jesus, in our journey here on earth. We are to be humble, obedient, working to build community and allowing God to work through us. We may find ourselves going down into the depths, for all sorts of reasons to do with health, relationships, employment or anything else; but we are confident that we will be lifted up, perhaps in this world, but certainly in the next. We have many opportunities in the services this week to link with others and draw closer to God.

We are each on a journey, from the cradle to the grave, and beyond. Some started this journey a long time ago, and are, perhaps, nearer the end than others. This morning, we in this place find our paths connected and intertwined. And we are invited to connect with another Journey.



QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

God is so great that he is revealed to us in many ways. Which do we find more helpful: Christ revealed as the humble servant, or Christ exalted in glory? Why might that be?
How do we react to the story of the cross? With shame, revulsion, thankfulness, perhaps a mixture of these or other emotions?
How helpful do we find the circle of the church’s year? In what ways, if any, does this come into contact with the journey that we are individually taking?
What are the lessons that the St Michael’s church community, and each of us individually, can learn and put into practice as we follow Jesus on his journey to the cross and beyond?

Sunday 9 March 2008: Lent 5 Passion Sunday, Romans 8:6-11, John 11:1-45 Bruce

Jesus prayed, and lived, Our Father …, and he demonstrated a life of total reliance on his heavenly Father. During the past three weeks we have been examining different passages from the scriptures that relate to the themes of Faith, Hope and Love, and these come together in our readings today. The story of Lazarus is long, but gives John the opportunity to enthral us with characters and ideas that combine richly.

The first thing to note is that is John concerned to reveal God’s glory: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, full of grace and truth.” How do we do this? “… to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” At the end of his Gospel, John records that “these (things) are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

When the terrible news reaches Jesus that Lazarus is sick, and it appears that Jesus knows that the sickness will result in death, he is glad that his disciples are not there to witness it, because of the negative impact it will have on their faith. How does faith grow? By observing God at work in the world, and becoming accustomed to the fact that we can rely on our Father God to help us. The implication is that even if Jesus had travelled earlier and got there in time, he and his disciples would have been subjected to the faith sapping ordeal of seeing Lazarus die.

How are we meant to comprehend this?

We are faced with the paradox of a God who is all powerful, and yet allows bad things to happen. What are we to make of it?

First, there is a powerful, almost inescapable urge to trust. Thomas (the doubting one?) announces that if Jesus is going into danger and probable death in Judea, they must go too, and die with him if necessary. Martha does not rant and rave at Jesus; she expresses a calm, dignified, disappointed certainty that Jesus could have averted her brother’s death, if he had been there. Jesus speaks those eternal words that have been read at countless funerals: “I am the resurrection and the life …”, and Martha believes him. Strictly speaking, she is expressing her hope that Lazarus would be resurrected one day. She is also affirming her faith that Jesus is the one, present with her, who will bring that future hope to pass.

I am frequently humbled by the persistent, humble faith of people who face great tragedies and hardships. Some folk find the most trivial things distract them from following after a life of discipleship, while others struggle though great life events to be closer to God. C.S. Lewis wrote “reflect for five minutes on the fact that all the great religions were first preached, and long practised, in a world without chloroform.”

Second, there is love. The bedrock of our faith is the conviction that God, as he is revealed to us in Jesus, is love, through and through. We see this demonstrated in the way that Jesus shares in the grief of Mary and the others at the grave. He was “deeply moved” – literally he groaned within himself. Was this not a bit extreme, given that he apparently expected a happy ending? The shortest verse in the bible, “Jesus wept”, is not about a dignified tear rolling down the cheek, but about an outburst of sobbing. Jesus appears to have been touched to the very core.

And earlier, it is noted for us clearly that Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters, and yet he delayed coming to them. The biggest challenge to our faith can be to believe that God is all loving, all knowing, all powerful, and yet allows us to go through terrible times. Our only consolation is that Jesus does not sail through them unaffected, and uncaring. The evidence is that when it is necessary for us to suffer, God in some mysterious way is suffering too. Jesus taught us to pray that we might not come to the time of trial, because he knew from bitter experience what that would mean. When we remember Gethsemane and Calvary in the coming weeks, we will seek to follow him; the truth is that in every experience he walks with us.

It actually appears that Lazarus must be allowed to die, and we are called to accept that God’s purposes are good in the midst of every human longing to see this averted. As we trust in God, we see his glory expressed in our lives, sometimes in healing and resurrection, and sometimes in hidden ways that only he knows.

What is going on here? Lazarus comes forth, and it is a triumph. In the next chapter we see him hosting a feast for Jesus, at which his sister Mary washes Jesus’ feet with her hair and scandalises Judas. So great is the fame of Lazarus, that the temple authorities are alarmed and start to plot his death alongside that of Jesus.

How does faith grow? By observing God at work in the world, and becoming accustomed to the fact that we can rely on our Father God to help us. Even when, especially when, we go through times of hardship and trial, we sink our roots deeper into him. Even if we call for him, and he apparently delays coming, yet we know he loves us and wants and will do the best for us.

We are given no hint about Lazarus’ final end, but imagine he led a normal life and died in the normal way. A major point of telling the story is that it is one of seven great signs of the glory of Jesus that are recounted in the Gospel. It gives a foretaste of the grand climax to come, which we will celebrate on Easter Day and for the six weeks after. I wonder if there was a different quality to the way that Lazarus lived? As Paul writes in our reading from Romans, a work of the Holy Spirit is to build the conviction within us that we will each be resurrected one day, because Jesus himself already has been, and therefore we live better lives now. Lazarus still had a finite time of earth, but perhaps greater faith in the Jesus who said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”