Sermon 13th May - by Eleanor Hood
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5, John 14:23-29
Anyone who has ever spent time with young children knows that they are full of questions especially when they participate in a new experience.
There was once a little boy who was taken to church for the first time by his father. He was excited by this and wanted to know what everything meant. His dad explained what the hymnbooks and bibles were for, what the choir did, pointed out the font where babies were baptised and the pulpit where the minister would preach his sermon. The service was underway and the little boy watched as the minister climbed the stairs to the pulpit, placed his notes on the lectern and then took off his wrist watch, looked at it and put it to one side. The little boy could not contain himself and said to his Dad – what does that mean?
Only for his Dad to reply in a weary voice
That son – means nothing at all.
Our reading this morning from John’s gospel is about answers – Answers to questions the disciples had raised and also answers to unspoken questions which Jesus knew were in their hearts. Jesus knew he was going to die a cruel and painful death and yet after that death he would rise again. We know the outcome of the story as well but the disciples were unsure, it was difficult for them to imagine life without Jesus – they must have been afraid but Jesus provides them with reassurance, hope and promise. And these answers can help us today in our journey as Christians.
Jesus words are so clear and to the point. He does not say “Obey my teaching “or even “If you love me, obey my teaching”. No he says , “Whoever loves me will obey my teaching”.
This is not a statement about obedience – it is a statement about love and how deep does our love for God go.
And note the word whoever – there’s no qualification – it’s anyone, you me, the person who society rejects as of no account – the only requirement is love for Jesus
It is easy to say we love Jesus but actions speak louder than words. Just this week I came across a quotation that made me think. It was from the one time President of the United States Jimmy Carter and his words were:
“If you were put on trial for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you?“.
If we truly, deeply, honestly love God in response to his saving love for us then
We serve one another, we are compassionate, we live in communion with one another, we neither judge or condemn but learn to forgive, we love our enemies.
We don’t have to look into some religious rulebook to decide what to do. No one has to look over our shoulders and make sure we do the right thing. We do it for one reason alone. We do it because we love Jesus and we want to please him in anyway we can.
After the Second World War some German students volunteered to come to this country to help rebuild some of the churches which had been damaged in Nazi bombings. In one cathedral they were given the task of restoring a statue of Christ. Piece by piece they were able to rebuild the head and body of Christ but the delicate hands were shattered beyond repair – they would have to be sculpted afresh. After some consultation they decided however that the statue would remain incomplete without the hands as a reminder that is us that are Christ’s hands in this world.
And if we love God there is the most marvellous reward – he comes and lives with us through his spirit. – he takes away the loneliness. Nicky Gumbel once described human beings as having an emptiness inside which only God can fill.
A. J. Gordon was a Baptist minister and he tells of his ministry in the book “ When Christ came to Church”. In one of the opening chapters Gordon describes a dream in which he was leading worship. As he began the service, the door opened at the back and the usher admitted a very fine looking gentleman, brought him down the aisle and showed him into a seat. The man had a very refined face and there was something very elegant about it. Through the whole service Gordon couuldn’t help noticing him and wondering who he was.
After the service when all the people had gone home Gordon asked the usher who the gentleman was only to be taken aback by the reply – didn’t you know that was Jesus Christ whi had come into the service and asked if he might sit there.
Gordon suddenly awoke from his dream, but his ministry was transformed, refreshed and renewed. He was aware of Jesus presence in the pew, in the pulpit, in that place.
God dwells in us through his Holy Spirit. And it is the power of the Holy Spirit that helps us when we stumble ,at times when we lose heart, at times when we doubt. Although many of us find evidence for God’s existence in the wonder of creation and there is strong historical proof for the life and death of Jesus some of us may struggle with the the concept of the Holy Spirit.
Someone once said there were two kinds of people in the world. When trees are waving wildly in the wind, one group of people thinks that it is the wind that moves the trees while the other group thinks that it is the movement of the trees that creates the wind. If you belong to the group that thinks it is the trees that create the wind then you may find it difficult to believe in the Holy Spirit whose existence can not be verified by our senses.
Yet look at the first chapter of the Genesis when the Holy Spirit was present and then in the Book of Acts where at Pentecost 3000 people became Christians. And if we argue that was then and it’s different now there are many stories today of the Holy Spirit changing people’s lives.
William Temple, great British Bible scholar of the last century, explains this principle this way: “It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear and telling me to write a play like that. Shakespeare could do it; I can’t. And it no good showing me a life like that of Jesus and telling me to live a life like that. Jesus could do it; I can’t. But if the genius of Shakespeare could come and live in me, then I could write plays like that. And if the Spirit of Jesus could come and live in me, then I could live a life like that.”
So we may be changed through our love of Jesus and through our openness to the Holy Spirit, but there is something else that Jesus left with his disciples and offers to us – it is the gift of peace.
To the world –peace is freedom from war, freedom from anxiety, a place of calm , a time of quietness.
In the 1980’s there was a husband and wife who were so concerned about world peace and the threat of nuclear war that they searched the planet for the most peaceful place where there was unlikely to be any conflict and they would be safe. They eventually found the perfect country and moved to the Falkland Islands – and we all know what happened there.
But for the Christian peace is so much more. It is the selfless, self-giving, self-losing, self sacrificing love of God in repose despite all the adverse reverses of life. It is love standing serene, strong and stable in spite of every insult, every antagonism, every hate.
Christ’s peace is available for us all . Yet in a world which is far from peaceful we often struggle to find it and to hold on to it.
Long ago a man sought the perfect picture of peace. Not finding one that satisfied, he announced a contest to produce this masterpiece. The challenge stirred the imagination of artists everywhere, and paintings arrived from far and wide. Finally the great day of revelation arrived. The judges uncovered one peaceful scene after another, while the viewers clapped and cheered.
The tensions grew. Only two pictures remained veiled.
As a judge pulled the cover from one, a hush fell over the crowd.
A mirror-smooth lake reflected lacy, green birches under the soft blush of the evening sky. Along the grassy shore, a flock of sheep grazed undisturbed. Surely this was the winner.
The man who had sought the perfect picture of peace uncovered the second painting himself, and the crowd gasped in surprise. Could this be peace?
A tumultuous waterfall cascaded down a rocky precipice; the crowd could almost feel its cold, penetrating spray. Stormy-gray clouds threatened to explode with lightning, wind and rain. In the midst of the thundering noises and bitter chill, a spindly tree clung to the rocks at the edge of the falls. One of its branches reached out in front of the torrential waters as if foolishly seeking to experience its full power.
A little bird had built a nest in the elbow of that branch. Content and undisturbed in her stormy surroundings, she rested on her eggs. With her eyes closed and her wings ready to cover her little ones, she manifested peace that transcends all earthly turmoil
Surely is that not the peace we yearn for – a peace that overcomes.
Some of us find great peace in just coming to this place and time of worship. Here we can sit quietly – here we can find rest and renewal – here we can share friendship and fellowship. Here we are accepted for who we are – we don’t need to pretend . Jesus says to us “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest”
In that upper room all these years ago, Jesus answers about love, the Holy Spirit and peace was all for one purpose to give his disciples courage, to equip them for live in his service.
Last weekend I attended a Readership in Service weekend at Carberry Towers. It was a time of fellowship, worship and teaching. And yes we had lots of questions to put to the speakers. There answers were encouraging and uplifting. There is so much happening in our church and in spite of many perceptions most of it is good. The number of candidates coming forward for the ministry has doubled. Many congregations and ministers have taken “ Church without Walls” to their hearts and fresh expressions of doing church are springing up all over the place. I heard about church services taking place in council offices, in health clubs and when a Sunday School was decimated because all the boys played junior rugby on a Sunday morning – Sunday school was held at the Rugby Club before the games started.
All exciting stuff – however for me one of the most memorable parts of the weekend were our worship services. I don’t know if any of you have been fortunate enough to attend Carberry but if you have you will know that one wall of the chapel is made of glass. From where I was seated I could look out on to an avenue of trees, on the ground squirrels and rabbits hopped about. In the middle of the avenue of trees there is a large wooden cross – in the evening it is floodlit.
I received a lot of answers that weekend, but when I looked at the cross I was reminded that there was only one answer. Jesus not only gives us answers in his teaching. By his sacrificial death on the cross – he is the answer – the only answer we will ever need.