Easter 3 April 26th

Lectionary readings are:
1 John 3: 1-7
Luke 24: 36b - 48

I have a baptism so don't really want 3 readings (so many words in the service already!).

I'm struck by a piece of broiled fish (thankfully, not literally). Not very glamorous, is it? Not very exciting or ..well 'Bible-y' really.

Bread, wine - we're used to them as symbols rich with meaning and significance - but fish is just a bit of supper left over on someone's plate. But perhaps that's the point - Jesus is real: not a ghost, not an nice idea, real life, down-to-earth - back from the dead, but back - really!

I want to link this to the baptism - God in the ordinary, but also utterly extraordinary - in water, in this new life, in a loving family.

I also want to challenge everyone who's there - Jesus wants his followers to know he is alive and with them and that his love is greater than death, not so they go 'oh fish, right' but so they go 'wow Jesus wonderful'.
How do we recognise God in ordinary - the amazing depth and power of God's love in our lives...?

This needs work but I feel like I'm getting somewhere...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spring IS coming!

I love to dip into Revgalblogpals, and though I don't usually 'play' at the Friday five questions, I thought that with no sermon to do I would, for a change: Sally writes: Candlemass is past, and Christmas is well and truly over, here in the UK February looks set to be its usual grey and cold self. Signs of spring are yet to emerge; if like me you long for them perhaps you need ways to get through these long dark days. So lets share a few tips for a cold and rainy/ snowy day.... 1. Exercise, what do you do if you can't face getting out into the cold and damp? I do find it therapeutic to clean the house vigourously - but if you could see the dust you'd know I don't often get round to it! I also make a point of always running, rather than walking, upstairs - something my mum always did until her stroke. 2. Food; time to comfort eat, or time to prepare your body for the coming spring/summer? I try to eat healthily, but my body craves carbohydrate. 3. Brainpower; do...
Read more

Epiphany 2: Nathanael... & Jacob

Genesis 28: 10-22 (not the lectionary reading!); John 1: 43-51 I love the Sundays of Epiphany – starting with the visit of the Magi (which we celebrated last week) and then moving on to other stories of God’s presence on earth being revealed to people. I think what I most love is the idea that we don’t just pack away the Christmas decorations and forget about God’s love being incarnate in Jesus, but we allow the story of Jesus’ coming to earth to open our eyes to other ways in which God’s love is present to us.   What can be better to start the new year than a series of reminders that God is with us and that we can expect to meet with God in 2024.   Today we heard two very related Biblical stories of God’s presence.   The first is the vision given to Jacob, when he saw angels going up and down a ladder between earth and heaven.    You might think that Jacob is a specially holy person to be given this vision: nothing could be further from the truth. Jacob is the ...
Read more

Judging.

Amos 7: 7-15;   Mark 6: 14-29 To be honest, I’ve had a bit of a hectic week since returning from URC General Assembly late on Monday night; involving a church path, a funeral, 2 more funerals to organize, and many more things you don’t need to know about. What I really needed was a break after Assembly – which was hard work and faced the URC with some tough choices about budget cuts and how to find God’s way forward. Of course the general Synod of the Church of England was no picnic, either – and I know Methodist Conference had a hairy time, too. I’m left feeling that Church politics is bad for your health. And anyway, the Gospel reading seems a bit gory and unnecessary and I’m tired and ready for a holiday. So I was all ready to preach about Amos and plumblines & how God helps us to sort our lives out by showing us what is good and true and straight. In any case I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels uncomfortable with the idea of a God who judges you – or will ...
Read more