Jesus.....the rule breaker!

Luke 13:10-17

+ In the name of God…..Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

I’m old enough (just about), to remember when Sunday was still a day which felt very different from the rest of the week. As a child and young person my Sunday consisted of going to Sunday school at my local Methodist Church in the morning. The afternoon would be spent perhaps riding my bike around the streets of Redcar. There wasn’t much else to do! The only shops which were open were small corner shops or newsagents, and pubs were limited to opening within very specific hours, much to the annoyance of my step-father! You would wake up in the morning and it “felt” like it was Sunday!

Fast forward 25 or 30 years to today and things are very different from how they used to be! Most shops are open now on Sundays and pub licensing hours have certainly eased a lot as well. We live in time when (whether we like it or not) goods and services are available around the clock……24/7! Switch on the TV to see rolling news whenever we like…….no more waiting for Closedown somewhere around midnight with the National Anthem…….anyone else remember that? Head out to the shops whenever you want. Feel like a trip to the cinema or the theatre? How about whiling away this Sunday afternoon enjoying lunch and sipping Pimms in a sun-soaked beer garden somewhere (after coming here to church first of course)? Maybe your ideal Sunday afternoon is to just sit in front of the TV watching old musicals…….I’ve been known to do that!

Just don’t tell the Pharisees! They wouldn’t like it……..really they wouldn’t! The world the Pharisees thought they lived in was a nicely ordered one. A world where people knew the rules and kept to them. And if you did happen to break those rules then you would soon know about it, and probably so would everyone else!

 

So, here we see Jesus in our gospel reading teaching within the synagogue on the Sabbath. When approached by a woman who had been crippled for much of her life his instant response is to lay hands on her and heal her…….would we really have expected anything else? Well it seems that the leader of the synagogue did expect something else! He expected Jesus to obey the rules, in particular the one that prohibits working on the Sabbath!

I have the image in my mind of this indignant leader as a kind of Blakey from the seventies sitcom On the Buses. A man who lived by the rules and for the rules! I suppose he is something of a “jobsworth”! Those of you who remember On the Buses will know Blakey as the inspector who was so obsessed with keeping order in the bus depot and making sure the rules were kept that he missed out on much of the camaraderie and sense of belonging that his workmates so obviously enjoyed!

And so this leader goes straight over to where Jesus was and just starts to lecture the crowd that was gathered there. “You have six days of the week to come and be healed, come then and not on the Sabbath!” The rules that he lived his own life by and that he expected others to also keep were being so openly disregarded. It’s interesting that he doesn’t directly challenge Jesus himself, but rather he goes for the vulnerable who have come to Jesus in need of healing!

And Jesus’s response? As he does so many times in the gospels he turns the tables around and faces the man with his own hypocrisy. “Don’t you untie your donkey and lead it to drink on the Sabbath? And yet you have the nerve to complain about someone being healed?” He might as well have just said to the man, “Get your priorities right”!

The Sabbath had been given by God to the Jews as a day of rest…..of re-creation, a day free from the cares of the rest of the week. It was a day full of spiritual meaning, a day when the community could gather together in prayer and worship. And yet in many ways it had become fossilised within its own tradition and rules. A day that was supposed to bring freedom instead brought with it a sense of having to obey the rules. What the Sabbath as never meant to be was a day when people became so pre-occupied with not putting a foot wrong!

 I remember reading a few years ago of the very conservative Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland which opposed local council amenities such as swimming pools and leisure centres being open on a Sunday, and in some cases even tied up the swings in children’s playgrounds to make sure the Sabbath was properly observed. I’m sure it was done with good intentions, but their imposition of the rules on their community deprived the community of the choice to decide for themselves how best to spend the Sabbath and sucked much of the simple joy of life out of it!

I should imagine people sitting here today will have a number of different attitudes towards Sunday. You may be a traditionalist who longs for the good old days of when the shops were closed and the most you could do after church was a stroll along the sea-front. On the other hand, there will be those sitting here who (perhaps on a sunnier day than today) are quite happy to drive somewhere for the day, potter around the shops or go to the cinema. All strictly forbidden if we are to keep to the absolute letter of the law! And if we stop to think about it most of us in someway will probably do something today that according to the synagogue leader in our reading would count as “work”.

Jesus, as I’ve said before was never one for sticking to the rules or conventions. He probably wouldn’t have made a very good Anglican, with our PCC’s, Synod’s and committees! The one thing for Jesus which came far above and beyond all these rules and customs was the simple love and grace of God for all who came to him. Following Jesus isn’t about conforming to a set of rules laid down in the Bible, it’s not about becoming so bogged down by a long list of do’s and don’ts that we lose sight of the freedom that Christ offers us. And it’s certainly not about beating ourselves up when we don’t always manage to live by those rules.

 Following Jesus is about relationship! Relationship with a God, who through Jesus is able to break through the walls and offer us love beyond anything else we can ever imagine. A God who shows us new ways of relating to one another. A God whose priority is the restoration of all creation to himself. As Jesus reached out to the woman on that Sabbath morning and healed her the crowd rejoiced! Let us rejoice too for the one who in his love is able to go beyond the rule-book and into the very hearts of all who come to him.

AMEN

Pride, and the God of Diversity

Yesterday I had the enormous fun and privilege of taking part in the Brighton Pride Parade. This annual event attracts thousands of people to the city to celebrate our hugely diverse community and to stand in solidarity with those who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender, and I am part of that community myself.

Yesterday for the first time I walked in the Parade in Brighton (having walked in the London one on a number of occasions previously) carrying one end of a banner identifying our group as Lesbian & Gay Christians. It was a fantastic and wonderfully affirming experience. For too long there has been mutual suspicion and distrust between the church and the LGBT community for many reasons. Walking past over 170,000 people yesterday as openly Christian AND gay the response was entirely positive. People were pleased to see the church there walking alongside and within the community rather than just being on the sidelines.  With my free hand, people were giving me high fives as I walked past, no matter that ordinarily they might not consider even going through the doors of a church.

We were not there to preach, evangelise or brainwash. We were there simply to walk alongside those who in the past the church has sometimes ignored, marginalised and in some cases badly hurt. Those of us who are both gay and Christian are in very real sense ambassadors for our God, who created all of us in our fabulous diversity, and yesterday I for one was proud to walk the streets of Brighton as an openly gay Christian. A wonderful day of celebration and affirmation of human diversity for people of all faiths and none. Long may it continue.

 

Mary, Martha.......and the Perfect Dinner Party!

Luke 10:38-42

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

I wonder which of the two in our gospel reading you relate to most (and this applies to the fellas as well)! Do you see yourself as a “Mary”, sitting there quietly listening at the feet of Jesus? Or are you more of a “Martha”, never having time to sit down, always rushing about, doing three or four things at once? I have a sneaking suspicion that most of us, if we are honest would probably see ourselves more as Martha’s……always busy, worrying that things are maybe not quite right and doing our best to make sure that things go to plan. I’m sure that many of us have had friends round for dinner, and spent hours working out the perfect menu, selecting the right wine (to be served at the right temperature), making sure the seating plan is in order, and oh so carefully choosing the right kind of background music to create the perfect atmosphere for a dinner party to remember!

I’m sure that thoughts similar to these would have been running through Martha’s mind as she prepared for and received their honoured guest. She was in fact fulfilling the expected role of a woman at that time, certainly no time to sit down for five minutes at the feet of Jesus like her sister Mary!

Mary, on the other hand seems to have no problem with behaving in quite a different, and even radical way with Jesus. She sits at the feet of Jesus as though she is a disciple! This is almost unheard of!  It is simply not a woman’s place to take upon herself what was very much the male role of student, learning from the Teacher. In that simple act, by doing something that seems so very ordinary to us today, she completely turns upside down the expectations of society as to the correct way in which women should behave.

 

Sometimes we forget perhaps just how radical parts of the Bible actually are. We become so used to always having it there in the background that we can sometimes miss those times when the status quo is changed, particularly in such a quiet way. This is one of those times!

We read in other sections of the gospels of a similar scenario, such as when Jesus visited the home of Lazarus (who he had raised from the dead, and who also happened to be the brother of Mary and Martha). We again see Martha rushing about making sure everything is perfect and Mary sat at the feet of Jesus anointing him with perfume!

At the beginning of my Reader training we were asked to complete one of those personality style tests that are meant to pinpoint what style of personality you have. Some of you might be familiar with the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator……..this was a very much simplified version of that and certainly wasn’t an exact science! It basically slotted us into a number of categories according to whether we were an activist/doing kind of person or more of a contemplative/thinking one. For what it’s worth I came out as being at the more contemplative end of the scale, though in reality I reckon, like many I am a mix of both, but apparently it’s the contemplation that dominates!

If such tests were around in their time I reckon most of us would be able to guess what personality types Mary and Martha would fall into! Mary, the one who takes time to sit and learn, perhaps a bit more studious! Martha the practical one, eager to get things done, distracted, we are told by “many tasks”. We see similar personalities in the male disciples as well; it’s not simply a gender thing!

In a situation that those of you who are parents will probably sympathise with Martha complains to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do the work all by myself? Tell her then to help me!” (Lk 10:40) “I’m doing it all and she just sits there”! It does seem pretty unfair! And the response of Jesus? Don’t allow yourself to be so distracted by external things all the time. Slow down and focus on that which is really important!

 

It’s easy to get so distracted by things that are going on around us that sometimes we lose focus on what is really important. Even here in church, we can get so caught up sometimes in PCC meetings, rotas for the coffee, getting people to help out at the jumble sale, even who is presiding or preaching from one week to the next, that we can forget to take out time to be still like Mary.

All of those things, like Martha’s own preparations are important, but we need the times of simply sitting at the feet of Jesus to recharge and refresh us. We need to find time in our often distracted day when we can just be still and know that He is God and receive His love! Hospitality and generosity to others are absolutely essential to the gospel message, how we treat others is a key part of Jesus’s teaching, as we saw in last week’s recollection of the Good Samaritan. Yet, at the same time our actions need to be supported by our being fed by the one who brings us fullness of life.

Today we give thanks for the service that St John’s College has given not only this church, but also the local community. Like Martha they have been beavering away over the years providing us not only with our parish lunches, but also many who come to the community centre for a bite to eat and a friendly face at the same time as providing work experience for their students. The church would miss its Martha’s, and we will miss St John’s, but we wish them well and assure them of our prayers as they themselves move into a new phase.

So, I come back to the question I asked at the beginning! Are you a Martha or a Mary? And truth be told, each of us will have a mixture of the characteristics of each with us. We need both Martha and Mary. We need to be people who are prepared to go out and get our hands dirty and also take time to sit at the feet of Our Lord and be refreshed.

AMEN

Discipleship isn't meant to be cosy!

Mark 6:7-29

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our reading this evening from Mark’s gospel recounts one of the more gruesome stories to be found in the New Testament, that of the beheading of John the Baptist. There really is no way to sanitise or dress this event up to make it seem somehow better than it was. During his birthday celebrations, at the request of his niece, Herod orders the brutal execution of the one who had prepared the way for Jesus. It is almost beyond comprehension to even consider that such an act could happen seemingly on a whim!

It is almost too easy at times to become acclimatised to incredibly brutal and often graphic violence as we switch on the TV news and hear of the latest act of mindless violence, sometimes very close to home. I come from the generation that first experimented with video games, and back then it was all about PacMan or trying to stop aliens from invading the earth. Contemporary video games with increasingly realistic graphics are thought by many to possibly blur between what is real and what is not! It is understandable perhaps, in that context that some people can seemingly become so immune to increasingly high levels of cruelty and violence.

We are more used perhaps of thinking about John the Baptist during Advent as we consider his role as the forerunner of Jesus…….the one who prepared the way. There the story is of one who is “crying out in the wilderness…..proclaiming a baptism of repentence for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk 1:3-4). Here now, we see this great figure at the end of his life, still in a sense preparing the way ahead for Jesus, even as he himself faces death. In his own death he mirrors something of what lies ahead for Jesus. Herod, like Pilate with Jesus, seems to want to protect John, but ends up allowing him to be killed instead. The ones responsible for the death, in John’s case……Herodias, and in Jesus’s case, the Jewish religious leaders have no real authority of their own. Rather they exert pressure on the one who ultimately makes the decision. With John, what makes the whole episode even more chilling is the apparently casual manner with which he is dispatched……then his head paraded on a platter like some kind of trophy.

The church often speaks about Stephen being the first Christian martyr, as recorded in Acts. In a very real sense though it is actually John the Baptist who is the first to die for Christ.

Looking back to the beginning of our gospel reading we hear of Jesus sending out the disciples in pairs. They are told not to bother with material possessions, only take what is absolutely necessary and to go out healing the sick, casting out demons and accepting whatever hospitality they may find. And they are told, if anyone isn’t interested in their message, to brush themselves down and move on.

There are similarities here with the ministry of John the Baptist. He spent many long years in the wilderness, as an itinerant preacher proclaiming a message that wasn’t always popular or well received. Yet he did so because of the call of God upon his life, a call which itself is recounted at the beginning of Luke’s gospel. His life (and that that of the disciples) wasn’t about looking for the easiest or most convenient way to get by, but rather about obeying the call of God wherever it may lead and whatever the consequences.

I’m reminded of some of our more contemporary martyrs who like John the Baptist devoted their entire lives to proclaiming the Kingdom of God in both word and deed. Saint Maximillian Kolbe was one of them, having been imprisoned in Auschwitz for protecting Jews from Nazi persecution. As a catholic priest, who had dedicated himself to living out the gospel, he offered his own life in the place of another who had been selected to die.

It is unlikely that any of us here will ever be called upon to make that kind of sacrifice, though there are still those around the world who do just that. What each of us is called to do however, as disciples of Christ, is to go out and proclaim the Kingdom of God in both word and deed to all we meet. Some may be receptive, others less so, but we are called to do it in humility and obedience to Our Lord.

Both Maximillian Kolbe and John the Baptist heard and obeyed the call of God upon their lives, even to the very end. May we not allow ourselves to become so used to our comfortable and sometimes quite cosy Christian lives that we forget how radical and often dangerous it can be to be a follower of Christ.

AMEN

 

The Faith of a Centurion...........

 

Sermon 2^nd June 2013 (Royal Engineers Sunday)

1 Kings 8:22-23; 41-43

Galatians 1:1-12

Luke 7:1b-10

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

I think it’s safe to assume that most of us here, maybe even all of us, are rather familiar with the film, The Wizard of Oz.  It’s the classic story of Dorothy, a young girl from Kansas who finds herself transported to the land of Oz, a vibrant colourful and magical land filled with all sorts of amazing characters.

 As she travels along the Yellow Brick Road to meet the wizard, she meets some very unusual friends, has a number of increasingly surreal adventures, and learns a great deal about friendship, courage, wisdom, caring, and trust. Yet, even as she learns these lessons, at the end of the film she learns that she already had everything that she needed stored up inside of her. This, in fact, is the very lesson that the film, The Wizard of Oz seeks to teach.

 Although it is nice to have powerful friends like the wizard, at the end of the day, Dorothy already had everything she needed to get home. She simply had to look to herself, have faith in herself, and find what she needed somewhere inside herself. Interestingly enough, this is the very lesson that the world is constantly teaching us. As humans, we are constantly told that we can do anything we want. We have the power to affect our lives, all we have to do is look deep enough inside ourselves and we will find everything we will ever need. All we have to do is trust ourselves. But even though this is the lesson that the world is constantly seeking to teach us, Our Lord teaches us a different lesson about faith in our gospel reading this morning.

Our reading from Luke’s gospel speaks to us of the centurion and his servant, and of a bond between them that seems to go beyond that of a master/servant or employer/employee relationship. The centurion would have been a man of influence and some power within the Roman Army. He was a leader and would have been respected by many for his courage. Surely if anyone could find all the resources that were needed deep within themselves it was he!

 Yet here he is, deeply concerned about his gravely ill servant, who is close to death, understanding that even he does not have all the resources within himself to be able to turn the situation around. Some friends alert Jesus to what is happening and he heads to the centurion’s house where the servant lays on his death bed. The centurion being a man used to serving under authority, as well as being a man of authority responds to Jesus’ arrival with both humility and faith, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I do not presume to come to you. But only speak the word and let my servant be healed”.  His concern for the one who was in his care was obvious to all, including Jesus.

As I have already mentioned, we are very often taught and conditioned, by our upbringing or by society to somehow find the answers to our needs within ourselves. The shelves of most bookshops will have large sections devoted to self-help books that will give out that very message. Yet, it is outside of himself and his servant that this man of great influence reaches. He sees no shame…….no weakness in acknowledging his own limits and asking Jesus to heal his servant, his friend!

 We remember today those who have, like the centurion, dedicated themselves to serving others in a way that demands looking beyond themselves. Those members of the Royal Engineer Regiment which is part of our church community here at St George’s, both past and present, will be familiar with the need to put their own desires and ego’s to one side and serve selflessly alongside friends and comrades for a greater good.

I’m sure that each will recognise that no matter how deep within themselves they may search, on their own there is only a very limited amount which can be achieved. On his own the centurion could have possibly eased his servant’s pain or made him a little bit more comfortable, but no more than that. For something, or someone who could really make a difference to the situation he had to look outside of himself and place his faith in Jesus.

And faith isn’t just some abstract idea confined to the four walls of a church, or something best left to the devoutly religious. Faith is something that lies deep within our very selves, which is there to draw upon and strengthen us. Within the highly disciplined environment of a regiment or platoon there is no doubt a great sense of interdependence, trust and yes……faith in one another to work together and protect one another in order to reach a greater goal.

 We place our faith daily in the hands of those who serve us. Here in Kemptown we are very aware of the dedication of the medical staff up the road at the Royal Sussex Hospital. We place our faith in the hands of the police and other emergency services who seek to protect us and keep us safe.

And it is only right for us to acknowledge today that we also place our faith in those who often put themselves in harm’s way in order that we live the lives that we do. Unlike Dorothy back in Kansas, no matter how deep within ourselves we may reach, we can never fully come up with the resources we need to fully attain our goal. We need to look beyond ourselves to those who serve and protect, and ultimately as the centurion did, to Our Lord Jesus.

May we stand alongside the centurion and his servant in acknowledging our own limits, and place our faith in the one who is bound by no limits.

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

AMEN

The Perfect Relationship............

Trinity Sunday 26^th May 2013

Proverbs 8:1-4; 22-31

Romans 5:1-5

John 16:12-15

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Trinity Sunday is one of those Sundays during the year that preachers sometimes dread. How to put into words something that is never explicitly mentioned in the Bible, yet is at the very core of our faith and identity. I’m sure also that many people in churches today will be glazing over slightly at the prospect of listening to a sermon trying to explain the seemingly unexplainable……God the 1 in 3 and 3 in 1! It almost sounds like the tagline from a cheesy television advert!

If you are one of those tempted to drift off for the next few minutes then just remember and hold on to this one thought. Simple enough and one that I’m sure we all know at least on a superficial level.

GOD

IS

LOVE

In those three small words we see something of the essence of what the Trinity is!

At the heart of our Christian faith is the affirmation that in Christ we have come to know the triune God. Not “know about” in some kind of distant or abstract way, but actually know! There is one God, and this God is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The mechanics of how this one God can at the same time be three very distinct persons remains as much a mystery to us as how Christ can be fully present in the bread and wine whenever we take the Eucharist. Yet it is a mystery to which we give our assent each and every time we say the creed.

What really strikes me whenever I think about the Trinity is not whether I understand it or not, because I suspect that I understand it no more than most other people sitting in church today. What sticks out for me is the theme of relationship! In many religions God is characterised as a distant, impersonal figure who seems to do little more than set the world in motion, throw in the odd disaster now and again while at the same time demanding a slavish, unquestioning obedience!

The God who is revealed to us within the Trinity is completely the opposite from that unreachable figure. The God we come to worship today is a God who relates to creation itself, and in particular to humanity as we see in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Relationships are at the heart of our human experience. Whatever shape or form they may come in we all have experience of some kind of relationship in our lives. That of a parent and child or the relationship between husband and wife or life partners. The relationship of shared interest and mutual friendship with those with whom we have something in common. Humanity was created to live and thrive within relationship right from the outset. Simply being with, sharing with and supporting and encouraging one another as we journey through life together.

 Most of us operate best within some form of community or another. The old adage of “No man is an island” is not simply a catchy little saying that most of us have heard over the years. It has a certain truth to it! Few of us are called to the solitary life of a medieval style hermit, and even for those who either through choice or circumstance are often alone there is usually some form of contact with others, hopefully (though sadly not always, of a supportive and encouraging nature).

Our gospel reading today gives us an insight into the relationship within the Trinity. Jesus has just been speaking to the disciples about what will happen once he is no longer physically with them. He speaks of the “Spirit of Truth” (v13), which earlier he had described to them as the “Advocate” (v7) coming to guide them into all truth and pointing the way to him. Going on to say that “All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (v15).

That relationship we see there is not one of competition or superiority. Rather it is a relationship that is grounded in love, for GOD IS LOVE. To know something of the Trinity is to know something of the nature of God, which is pure undiluted love. I suspect if we were to ask the question “what is love?” in this room now we would end up with almost as many definitions as there are people sitting here. It’s tricky to pin down, but I suspect also that most of us would recognise it somehow.

 

The Trinity is God in perfect relationship! We don’t fully understand it and we can’t fully explain it! Yet each time we come to the altar and eat the body and blood of Christ we too are invited to be participants in that relationship.

The nature of the Trinity is just as impossible for us to fully understand, yet through it we somehow get a glimpse into the fullness of what it means to love and be loved. May each of us come to experience that love for ourselves and allow ourselves to be used as vessels by which others may also receive that same love.

+ In the name of our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

AMEN

 

 

No More On The Outside........

No More On The Outside……..

Zephaniah 3:14-end

Matthew 28:1-10 & 16-end

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our reading from Matthew’s gospel ends with perhaps one of the most well-known of Jesus’s commands to his disciples. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:19-20)

It comes at the end of a narrative which sees both of the Mary’s, Magdalene and the mother of Jesus visit the tomb of the one who only a couple of days earlier they had seen endure a horrendous and tortuous death by crucifixion. They would have gone to the tomb to weep and mourn for Jesus, grief-stricken and probably at a complete loss as to what to do now!

These feelings of utter despair are suddenly all turned completely upside down at the appearance of an angel who informs them that in fact the Jesus they sought, who had indeed been crucified was now raised to new life. It’s easy to picture them, standing there, mouths wide-open in astonishment at all that is happening to them…….both the angel and the message. Could this be their grief playing tricks on them in their state of mind? Nevertheless they go, quickly, at the angels behest, with a mixture probably of pure terror and high excitement to pass on the angels message to the other disciples.

 And I say “other” disciples deliberately. We are so used to thinking of the disciples as the group of twelve (now eleven) men who figure so prominently in the gospels that the role of others, often women, can be easily overlooked or relegated to a mere footnote in the story. Yet these two women were no less disciples than the men, and it is significant that it was to the women the angel spoke and Jesus made his first post-resurrection appearance.

And it is significant because just as in his earthly life and ministry as Jesus embraced and welcomed those who were often at the edge of society (and in his day that was very much the place of women), so also in his death and resurrection he chooses to appear first to those who perhaps the chattering classes of the day would somehow look down upon. It almost echoes what he says earlier in Matthew’s gospel in a different context in the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard “So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (Matt 20:16). These two women, undoubtedly used to being pushed to one side, ignored or looked down upon were now privileged to be the very first to witness the risen Jesus. And it is they who are given the task of breaking this joyous news to the rest of the disciples. It is ironic perhaps that given the honoured place Jesus gives to his women disciples alongside his male disciples that the church which bears his name has for so long struggled to reflect his full welcome and inclusion for all.

Our first reading, from Zephaniah is a song of joy! A song that speaks of bringing the outcast, the lame, the downtrodden……..the excluded, into the Kingdom of God. It speaks of a God who rejoices over such people with gladness. It’s not of course that he doesn’t also rejoice over those over those whose lives are full of good fortune, but his rejoicing and love are wide and great enough to embrace all who will receive. But there seems to be a particular emphasis in him reaching out to the previously unreachable.

For generations the Jewish people had regarded themselves as the chosen people of God, the elect, who were set apart from others (Gentiles). This “Great Commission” at the end of Matthew’s gospel widens God’s favour to all, not just the select few. Those who had maybe previously thought of themselves as belonging to a select band of specially chosen handpicked elite are told to go and share what they know, bring others into the fold. Include those who had been previously excluded!

Just as he first encountered the women at the tomb and turned their tears into joy and amazement, so we are invited to encounter him also. Just as they ran to share their news of the risen Lord with the other disciples, so we too are invited to join them and share that same news. Whether we share that news literally with the nations, or perhaps with our friends and families or our neighbourhood, we too have a role to play in bringing in those who may somehow not feel as though they belong.

 And perhaps we feel sometimes that is where we are ourselves, sitting or standing on the outside, sometimes ignored…..often overlooked. Yet, it is to you that I would say look at the two women at the tomb who would have felt very much the same and see the difference that their contribution made to the beginning of what would eventually become the church. No more on the outside looking in, but very much on the inside looking out and indeed playing a full role in taking the good news of the Gospel to others.

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.