Sunday's coming!

  With thanks to Susan Durber for the "church meeting minutes from the early church" in this sermon!            When I was growing up in Merthyr we had lovely next door neighbours: Ed & Elma Evans. They made us very welcome when we moved in, had children about the same ages as us lot, and the 2 grandads used to enjoy talking over the wall. So I was baffled to find so many references in the New testament to what a bad person the gentle dad next door, Ed, was – because he worked in the tax office – he was a tax-collector.   There it is in our gospel reading today – the Pharisees ask Jesus’ disciples “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”.   As I grew up, I realised that the tax-collectors of the time of Jesus and the tax-collectors of today are very different. Tax, in Jesus time, was not the money everyone paid to help society run better – it was a charge laid by the Roman authorities on the people of the lan...

Acts 2: 1-18 I wonder whether anybody got up today thinking “hooray! It’s Pentecost today – I can’t wait!”. Or maybe – especially for those who might be asked to read in church - there were thoughts of “oh no, it’s Pentecost, with all those funny place-names”. Dare I say it, for some of us while we stand a chance of remembering it’s Sunday, and we know we’ve been talking about the stories of Jesus’ resurrection for quite some time since Easter, we might not have arrived here this morning expecting anything in particular. Whatever mood we’ve arrived in here today, we’ll find someone we can relate to in the story of Pentecost. The followers of Jesus are gathered together in Jerusalem. They are there because about 10 days before they had seen the risen, resurrected Jesus on a mountaintop near Jerusalem. He had told them “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be ba...

Acts 1: 6-14      John 17: 1-11     This has been one of those difficult weeks in the life of the pastorate, with the death of one of our Elders.   Three weeks ago she was told that the hospital was going to stop treating her cancer with chemotherapy. She was devastated to be told she would have months, rather than years, to live – in fact it was not even one month.  What do we do in shocking times like this? Where is God when we feel so bereft? Can reading our Bible really help us to face the reality of death? I’m going to begin this sermon with a story you might already know- the story behind the writing of the hymn “it is well with my soul”, by Horatio Gates Spafford . Spafford was born in New York, on 20th October 1828, but he, and his wife Anna lived in Chicago. They were active in their church, and their home was always open to visitors. They counted the world-famous evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, among their fr...

   1 Peter 3: 13- 17   You might think that it is hard to find hope these days. I won’t list all the terrible stories in the media or in our own lives… but some days it just feels like there is nothing but bad news.   So I was heartened to read that   Mahatma Gandhi is quoted as saying: “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it—always.”   And we have heard just now that Peter, in his letter, hits the nail on the head when he says “Do not fear and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord and always be ready …to give an account for the hope that is in you”. Our faith in Jesus Christ gives us hope – even when the world and our lives seem to be in a complete mess.   Because Jesus rose from death; he was brought back...

   1 Peter 2:2-10,  John 14:1-14   “Come to him, a living stone,, and like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.”.   I’ve spent quite a lot of this week wondering about what a   ‘living stone’ really is.   What it is not You might have come across a house plant called ‘living stone’ or lithops: it looks like a couple of smooth, greenish pebbles nestled together and just sits there for the most part, but if you’re lucky it will suddenly produce a flower, like a yellow or white daisy, from between the stone-like plant parts. Is that what the writer of the letter is imagining? If we are living stones,   are we meant to be people of long periods of inactivity followed by a short burst of life? I don’t think so. I think Peter’s letter is written to help us to think about a life of faith, a life of following Jesus, that is both sure and firm but also involving growth and change.   Letter to...