Sharing some thoughts

Part of our gospel reading this evening (Mark 15:46-16:8) has the account of the two Mary’s and Salome bringing oils to anoint the body of Jesus. As they approach the practicalities of the situation set in, as they ask ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb ?’ It’s a natural enough question as 3 women approach without a hope of moving away this huge stone that would cover the entrance to the tomb. But of course we know what happens next – the stone has already gone, as has the risen Jesus. And as I was reading through this passage it struck me that actually we, like those women, are often guilty of wondering how we can do things ourselves rather than seeking the help of God, and like those women, we too will inevitably realise the impossibility of some of our tasks if we take that approach. There’s a story about a sign seen in a textile mill which read, "When your thread becomes tangled, call the foreman." A young woman was new on the job. Her threa

Our gospel reading this morning (John 20:19-31) begins on the first evening of Easter. The disciples were gathered together in the upper room, hiding and scared. The doors were chained and bolted, for fear that what had happened to Jesus might also happen to them. There was a huge amount of confusion – the 2 Marys and Salome had earlier gone to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty. Simon Peter and John also heard the story and ran to the tomb, witnessing the same thing as the women. Then Mary came back, and said that she had seen Jesus alive. And, later on that same day, two disciples travelling on the road towards Emmaus also saw him. Yet, as the disciples gathered in the room that Easter evening, discussing the events of that day, the main emotion they experienced was fear. The door remained bolted. They had not yet experienced the power of Easter. They had not yet met their risen Lord. And so they remained powerless, and full of fear. So, that evening, they were gathered, fearfu

There’s a definition of a pessimist which says, ‘A pessimist is someone who can hardly wait for the future just so he can look back with regret.’ On the other hand there was a schoolboy who took a very optimistic view of life when he brought home his school report one day; It was an awful report, filled with poor grades. "What have you to say about this?" asked his father. "One thing for sure," the boy replied, "Dad, you can be proud of me. You know I haven't been cheating!" In every area of life it seems there are pessimists and optimists, and the Church is obviously no different, but today offers us a very stark and powerful reminder that there is no place for pessimism as we follow Christ. On Good Friday most of the disciples had left Jesus, they had run fearful for their own lives, disillusioned with the seeming collapse of their organisation – there would have been few who had any hint of optimism amongst the followers of Jesus… And who can re

Today I want to think about some of the characters involved around the cross. Some played important and good roles, others were those who turned on Jesus, and sought to hurt him. I want to begin with a short reflection about Jesus written by Gregory of Nazianzus, A.D. 381 “Who was Jesus? He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life. Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water. Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest. Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King. Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons. Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears. Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world. Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd. Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.” The Power of Numbers...The Crowd Mark 11:1-10 : When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent tw

On the road to Jerusalem everything is uncertain. Certainly this was the case for Jesus, as he rode on a donkey’s back down a steep slope, across the Kedron Valley and up into what, for him was to be a hostile city, a city where shouts of ‘Hosanna’ would so soon turn to ‘Crucify’ . As Jesus’ journey into Jerusalem was uncertain so it is for pilgrims today. Those who travel to Jerusalem hope for a faith-renewing experience, but fearful that their visit there will be interrupted by bombs and gunfire. It is uncertain for those who live in the surrounding land and who travel daily through the roadblocks and barricades with one eye on the wrangling of their political leaders, longing for them to shift, settle, build peace. And for Jesus and his followers on the road to Jerusalem everything was uncertain too. They knew they were walking into conflict. Like migrants approaching a checkpoint knowing their papers are invalid, these travellers could see big trouble ahead. Did it help that Je

I always think Palm Sunday is quite a strange day – it’s a day that when I was a child I really enjoyed in Church – we got to be a little bit wild with the opportunity to wave around our Palm crosses, or perhaps even hit people with them. It was a day of great celebration. And of course in many ways the event we are commemorating was also a day of celebration with Jesus triumphantly riding into Jerusalem, but there we have a contrast to the joy and the celebration– Jesus was of course riding in to die. Royalty was entering Jerusalem that day, but it wasn’t the kind of royalty that people had ever seen before. Two thousand years after Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, another visitor came to the city, Germany's last kaiser, Wilhelm II. His entourage was so grand that he had to have the Jaffe Gate in the old city widened so that his carriage could pass through. After the parade had ended, someone climbed up and attached a large sign to the gate. The sign read, "A better man tha

I’ve never met anyone who wants to suffer ! It’s not a natural desire ! I’ve also never been someone who suggests that suffering is good for us – the hurt, the pain and the misery are surely not worth it. There are preachers and there are people who suggest that suffering is somehow good because Jesus did it. I think the people who talk like that are people who have never really known suffering. However there is no doubt that suffering can sometimes strengthen us for the future, and I think this is the spirit in which tonight’s psalm (130) was written… We can sense the depression in that very first line, ‘Out of the depths have I called to you O Lord, Lord hear my voice’. These are words written in desperation. They are written by a person enduring suffering, and the writer is crying out to God. We don’t know if God is a last desperate turning point or whether the person writes from a position of faith to start with, but the person understands and trusts God. ‘There is forgivenes

As Vice President at the time, George Bush Senior represented the U.S. at the funeral of the former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, and he writes of being deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest. There in the centre of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband. This incredible gesture speaks of the hope which we as Christians profess but it is a hope not built on the future but o

Yesterday of course was St David’s Day, but a lesser known Saint is another whose Feast Day is celebrated this week, and as it’s Mothering Sunday today it seemed particularly appropriate to think about this Saint – Saint Non, the mother of St David. Of course when I had the idea to preach about Non tonight, I thought there’d be loads of information about her. Sadly I was mistaken ! It seems that very little is known about Non at all, and much of what is known is only legend. Bits that are known about her come from Rhygyfarch’s ‘Life of David’, written in the 11 th century. According to him she was a nun who was seduced by a Prince called Sant, and David was their son. Others reject this story though in favour of Non being the daughter of a Pembrokeshire Chieftain who was married to Sant. Whatever the truth it seems Non settled in Cornwall and was eventually buried in Brittany. Legend also has it that Non gave birth to David on a cliff top in the middle of a violent storm. The pain

‘I want to begin on this Mothering Sunday rather cheerfully by reading a passage called "The Meanest Mother in the World"! It was written by a young mother back in 1967. It goes like this: I had the meanest mother in the whole world. While other children ate sweets for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast. When others had coke and sweets for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supper was different than the others also. But at least, I wasn't alone in my sufferings. My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did. We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath. The other children always wore their clothes for days. We reached the height of insults because she made our clothes herself, just to save money. Why, oh why, did we have to have a mother who made us feel different from our friends? The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine each night and up at eight the next morning. We couldn't sleep till noon lik