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28th April 2013 - Morning - Revd. Preb Maureen Hobbs

Sermon for Easter 5 - Sunday 28th April 2013 Acts 11. 1-18 John 13. 31-35 Just occasionally I think that those who compile our lectionary week by week made a bad decision. And this is just one such week. Our gospel reading - it seems to me - were as though we arrive late at the theatre. We slip into our seats at the play's most dramatic moment, but the drama is lost on us, because we've missed what has just happened. You might say, we have lost the plot! We need to know that we are at the Last Supper, and that Judas Iscariot - one of Jesus' closest friends, has just left the room to betray him. What made Judas take this decision has been and will I am sure continue to be a matter for intense speculation. Was he a 'bad-un' through and through? Or was he misguided - perhaps thinking he would force Jesus to show his hand as the Messiah? Was he even - as some have suggested - trying to make Jesus was safely out of the way and would not be implicated in the violent uprising that he thought was about to break out? We shall never know but what does matter is John's comment on his leaving and which we miss in the excerpt we have for today... "and it was night". This is so much more than a mere comment about the time of day.... It is the darkness that has fallen which is significant and which shrouds Judas' actions in secrecy and betrayal. It is the darkness which - according to the other Gospel accounts, wraps itself around Jerusalem when Jesus is crucified. It is the darkness we have loved rather than the light - all of us, not just Judas - the darkness we preferred. In a few moments we will have the great delight of sharing in the Baptism of three of our number. On this occasion - Isobel, Marcus and Amelia are not new members of our church family, for we have known them and worshipped beside them for several years already. Last year their Mum, Barbara was one of those who were confirmed and now the three of them are ready to step forward into the light themselves. Jesus gives them and us a new commandment. "Love as I have loved." Well maybe that is an impossible ask. To love as completely as Jesus did may be beyond us all - and not just because we are not nice people! For to love as he loved, would be to do as he did. And yet he also tells us that we 'cannot go where he is going' for he is going through the depths of death and suffering on our behalf. The most alarming thing that Jesus says about his new commandment is his assertion that you can tell whether people are his disciples by whether or not they obey it in their relationships with each other. I know that there are many occasions when I fail to treat others as well as I would want God to treat me. But I also know that - because of my baptism - I can pick myself up each time I fail and try again, knowing that God sees into my and our heart and knows how much I want to do the right thing. And that is something that I hope Isobel and Marcus and Millie will grow up knowing too. That they are loved by God - that they are forgiven people - and that because of that, they will strive always to live up to the model and example that Jesus gives us. There is a lovely Taize chant that is often sung on Maundy Thursday at the commemoration of the Last Supper. Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Which means something like - "Where love and charity are, God is there." Peter in our first reading had to learn that lesson - Where God is, there must be love, and charity and forgiveness. So the things that Peter had been taught all his life were bad and unclean, could be made clean, could be redeemed by God .... and we human beings have no right to try and say otherwise. Cornelius the gentile was as worthy of baptism as any other follower of Jesus Isobel and Marcus and Millie are as worthy of baptism as any other follower of Jesus; they are to be washed clean this morning. They are to be accepted into the Family of God's church - and we rejoice with them. And no human being can ever tell them that they are not worthy of God's love. Love that is freely given - poured out with the water of baptism - shared as we come to take bread and wine at God's table - exchanged as we greet each other at the Peace in Christ's name. And supremely present wherever the Holy Spirit rests on and with us. Where love and charity are, God is there. Amen.

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28th April 2013 - Evening - Revd. Preb Maureen Hobbs

Sermon for Easter 5 evening - Sunday 28th April, 2013 Daniel 6. 6-23 Mark 15. 46- 16. 8 Interesting and powerful images set before us this evening ... Things set in stone and sealed tight. Laws that cannot be broken or countermanded - even by the sovereign who decreed them in the first place. Stone tombs that are then broken open to reveal miraculous life through which we see God's power demonstrated. And over it all a psalm that tells how God has revealed his salvation, calling forth praise and thanksgiving. Only that wasn't the reaction of those first frightened witnesses in the Garden, nearly 2000 years ago... their reaction was one of terror and amazement. They were not moved to praise God with the lyre and with melody. They kept silent, for fear and lack of comprehension of what seemed to be happening. Where they came expecting death and decay, they found instead the possibility of new life. It is interesting to reflect that Daniel is an effective and valued administrator. Someone - a bureaucrat - in whom the King has utmost confidence; who has proved himself trustworthy and efficient. Oh that our current crop of Civil Servants, administrators and politicians - of whatever persuasion - could inspire in us such confidence and trust! Daniel maintains his integrity, by keeping to his own religious practices. He keeps faith with his God. He doesn't try to impose his views on anyone else - he isn't seeking new converts for Yahweh. He is not going to be dissuaded from following his convictions, even for a limited period. He is not swayed by comments on Twitter or FaceBook. He refuses to worship the human king, because he has intimate knowledge of a divine power that authenticates all earthly, temporal authority. Interesting to note too, that the king does not seem annoyed by his actions - in fact he seems sympathetic, even though, technically, Daniel has broken the royal law. And the king is delighted when God proves more powerful than the laws of nature, and Daniel is saved from the savage beasts with whom he has been imprisoned. Tonight we have to consider the similarities and differences between two people, Daniel and Jesus, sealed into stone tombs; sealed by heavy stone doors, and yet which through the power and protection of a loving God, are granted life beyond normal expectations. Maybe we too are being asked what the similarities are for our lives too? What is the nature of the 'stone' that seals us into whatever predicament we find ourselves? Do we consider that it is sealed for ever? That there is no possibility of escape or of alternative outcome for us. And yet can we too find that, with God's help and protection and power, if we place our trust in him; if we pray consistently and faithfully - whatever the apparent cost, then God will reveal our salvation too? And is our faith strong enough to move whatever 'stone door' we feel seals us into our fate, so that God's saving power can be revealed to others? For this act of salvation was not just for the sake of Daniel or of Jesus - however precious they may have been to God. This act of salvation - just like the calling forth of Lazarus from the tomb, was there to demonstrate to others - whether to the King and other officials in Daniel's case, or to the mystified disciples in Jesus', that God's power extends over death as over life. Nothing is so certain or so guaranteed, that God cannot influence it to create the possibility of new life, new creation. Nothing can separate us from his Love. Have you ever felt that you are about to step into the Lions' Den? I know I have. That there is no way out and your fate is sealed? And I wonder if you have found - as I have - that it is in the moment when you surrender yourself and your will to God; when you say 'che sera, sera' to quote the old song; when all you can do is pray. It is in that moment that suddenly a resolution appears to your predicament; that suddenly things don't seem so bad? Well I pray for each of us, that we will have faith and trust and integrity to keep the faith - whether in public or in private - so that God may be able to bring us safely through whatever trials lie in store, whatever metaphorical 'wild beasts' are poised to attack us. That he will overturn and sweep away the sealed stones that imprison us to reveal whatever astonishing new future lies before us. There is a blank at the end of the story, and we are invited to fill it ourselves. Do we take Easter for granted, or have we found ourselves awestruck at the strange new work of God? What do we know of the risen Lord? Do we say that we know him, or merely know about him (there is a world of difference) Where is he now going ahead of us? What tasks has he for us to undertake today, to take the gospel of the kingdom to the ends of the earth? (Which in our case might be Telford, or Wolverhampton, or Bridgnorth .... or even into our own homes). Amen.