Matthew 16:24-26 

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

Reflection

It was in the summer of 1980 at sixteen years of age that I found myself sitting in a big top tent on a playing field in Bournemouth listening to a band and a preacher. I went on my own having read a publicity leaflet (no internet then of course), feeling strangely drawn is the only way I can describe it over forty years later.

I listened intently to the words of their song “when you come to the place of absolute surrender….” and I was in that place at that moment when the preacher issued a simple invitation to follow Jesus. And so, as I took that step of faith, I was powerfully conscious of the love and grace of God, present and active and the journey of discipleship for me began. For me this encounter with the living God was also accompanied by healing of a significant medical condition that I had been suffering from.

I am so very thankful for God’s mercy, acceptance and new life that has been at work in my life ever since even when I mess up, go off course, doubt, and fear. I am also so thankful that there were some people willing and able to share the good news of Jesus Christ with me.

At the beginning of this two-week Daily Devotions series, we begin with my very brief testimony because I feel that it is a reminder that we are not thinking about making a lifestyle choice to belong to some kind of religious club or philosophy. God who is made known perfectly in Jesus Christ is a God who calls and goes on calling people and this is of utmost importance.

Perhaps today we might be encouraged to call to mind God’s call upon our lives and the way God has encountered us and drawn us into being Christ-followers, whether that be over time or, like me, suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly.
 
Prayer

Living and Loving God,
I praise you today for You have the words of eternal life. 
Help me to ponder ever more regularly and deeply 
your love and grace in Jesus Christ 
that has changed the world and encountered me.
I want to call these things to mind today 
and find the words to describe and declare them. 
When memories fade and passion cools 
please do a new thing, I pray.
Amen    

 

Evangelism

Dear Friends,

I know from my email inbox that many of you have been profoundly moved by the reflections on artists’ depictions of Jesus over the last 10 days or so.  I’m grateful to the writers, the artists who let us use their material and the licensing agency who charged a small fee to show some of the others.  I hope that we can come back to art again in the Devotions next year.

For the next two weeks we are going to be looking at evangelism in our daily readings and reflections.  As a denomination we can get passionate about social justice, international development,  and speaking out to those in power but rather terrified when it comes to sharing our faith.  Our reticence is partly because we’re unsure of what to say without being offensive, partly because our culture relegates faith to the private sphere – even as matters of faith become big talking points in society – and partly because we’re not really sure what to say.  Over the next two weeks Eddie Boon, a URC minister serving as the Discipleship Enabler in Thames North Synod, will help us explore how we might make more sense of evangelism in our own lives. 

With every good wish

Andy

The Rev’d Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship
 

Information

Father John B. Giuliani was born Greenwich, Connecticut in 1932, to Italian immigrants to America.  After studying art for three years he studied for the Catholic priesthood and was ordained in 1960.  After some years teaching Fr Giuliani was given permission to establish a small monastic community of brothers who lived and worshipped together and ministered to a growing number of lay people who were attracted to a more contemplative style of worship and the call to missionary works of social justice.  Returning to the gift of his youth, in 1990 Fr Giuliani began painting icons of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the saints in a new and innovative way. The starting point was no longer across the ocean in Europe, but in the Americas. His icons are contextualized in the rich and varied cultural traditions of Native Americans throughout North, Central and South America.   As the USA prepared to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus stories of the violence and oppression suffered by the indigenous peoples of the Americas at the hands of the colonialists deeply affected Giuliani and profoundly changed his work. As an artist, priest, and person of Italian descent, he wanted to make his own personal reparation for the atrocities of the past. He began creating paintings of religious themes celebrating the lives and cultures of the indigenous peoples around him, resulting in a startling series of images.  In today’s painting know Christ by his halo and by the marks in his hands. But he is not dressed nor does he look as we expect.   https://jbgicon.com/

Reflection

Gazing on this portrait, both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, makes me ponder on God’s wonderful gift to us of creativity.

I have been struck, when I preach, that people are happy when they can say, “I see why that reading or this discussion is relevant to my life”. This icon offers a way of doing that too. Clearly the man pictured exudes compassion, his hands outstretched towards us, even if he doesn’t look as we expect. Of course, we don’t really know what Jesus looked like – but we do know he is interested in us, whoever and wherever we are.

I was interested to read that in Fr Giuliani’s case, this creativity sprang from a contemplative style of worship as this is a way I express my own faith. At a recent retreat I was involved in, we spoke with a nun who is also an icon painter. One of her icons depicted the disciples after the crucifixion in an upper room with Mary at the head of the table. According to the laws of iconography this space is traditionally left empty or occupied by Christ’s mother. This sister had chosen to put her there, imagining her as the mother figure galvanising the downcast disciples into action and urging them to take on the Commission that Jesus had left them. It seemed to me a female artist had restored the female voice in the story of God’s people. In the icon, we are praying with today, Fr. Giuliani depicts Jesus amidst those who suffered oppression, also making this beautiful icon an act of reparation and restoration of a people’s story.
 
Perhaps that is the reason for our creativity, to take what we know and add our own piece of the story. Perhaps then our creative witness will show why scripture is both ancient wisdom and living word because it helps to answer the question,  why is this relevant to me, where am I in this story?
 
Prayer

God of all Creation, you saw what you made and saw it was very good
We thank you that you created us in your image
And that you imbued us with the gift of creativity
Help us to use it to praise you
And to act in witness to you
That all may know your wonder and your love for them
We ask this in Jesus name
Amen

Information

This is the work of Filipino artist Emmanuel Garibay, an artist who has received wide recognition in his native country for his challenging and moving realist images of Filipino society. He is a person of great warmth with a steely eye for injustice and pompous self righteousness. In a country that is mainly Christian, he scrutinises the conventions and comfortable icons of his culture to shake out the new possibilities of hope and renewal.  This is an image of a Jesus who overturns tables, challenges power and disrupts.
https://artandtheology.net/2018/12/20/finding-christ-in-asia-the-great-disrupter/

Reading  St John 2: 13 – 24

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables.  Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.  He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’  His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’  The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’  Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’  The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’  But he was speaking of the temple of his body.  After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing.  But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people  and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.

Reflection

Bathala is the ancient Tagalog name for God, creator of the world, ruler of the universe. His old, leathered head with heavy lidded eyes bends over his son whom he encircles protectively with his arms, drawing him upwards.  As he does, the strong, sinewy arms morph into those of Christ whose hands are gashed and torn by the holes of nails. The Son of God stares ahead, unblinkingly. This is no ordinary human vision, but the stare of a seer, a prophet, endowed with supernatural insight.
 
It is a moment of new creation.  He is raised from the earth, whose guardian spirit, veiled in her beauty, considers us serenely.  Mariang, they call her locally, the mountain goddess, but the 16th century Jesuit missionaries from Spain conflated her with Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Crowned by her mountain mist, the rising Christ is radiant in white clothing. The tears and gashes in the cloth suggest the tearing of his garments on Golgotha, and there are hints too, as he is vested dynamically by the wind, of the torn veil of the temple.  Our eyes are drawn to the buildings in the top background, temple-like, church-like, civic-like, collapsing as if in an earthquake.
 
The instruments of the Passion are set aside.  His left hand discards conventional symbols of ecclesiastical authority, an icon of the crucifixion, a bursa with its static image of the Holy Spirit and perhaps a crosier.   Our eyes are drawn instead to the hammer, red and vivid, In its claw, a nail from the cross.  A builder’s tool. In this moment of resurrection, Christ signals God’s intention through him, to rebuild the world.
 
As it draws upon Filipino culture to bolster our understanding of the resurrection, this striking painting brings to life the central truths of John’s gospel. Jesus is the place where God and humanity are joined in one. In him, the creative purposes of God for the world find fulfilment.
 
 Prayer
 
Ever living and ever-loving God,
whose miracles of creation,
are revealed in Jesus,
we thank you for the work of artists in different cultures,
whose gifts of imagination enrich our understanding
of you and of your purposes.
Through him we pray.  Amen

 

image used with the artist’s kind permission

Information

Alma Lee lives in rural Wisconsin and notes that she  sits down to work and never knows what is going to come out.  She des not usually do preliminary drawings or plan or pray, but merely open herself to the flow of Christ and sees what happens.  Christ and the Thief is a Cubist view of salvation.  In Cubist works of art, the subjects are analysed, broken up, and reassembled in an abstract form—instead of depicting objects from a single perspective, the artist depicts the subject from multiple perspectives to represent the subject in a greater context.

Reading: St Luke 23: 32 – 42

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.  Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they cast lots to divide his clothing.  And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’  The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’  There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’  One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’  But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’  Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’  He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

Reflection

Prayer

Jesus, do you know me?
Will you remember me, from your kingdom?
Grant that the strategies I adopt in this life
emerge from love and forgiveness
that I may dare to look you in the eye.
Amen

 

Information

Sliman Mansour is an artist in Palestine. His style, which has come to symbolise Palestinian national identity, has inspired generations of Palestinian and international artists. Using symbols derived from Palestinian life, culture, history, and tradition, Mansour illustrates Palestinians’ resolve and connection with their land. With women wearing traditional embroidered dresses, he represents Palestinian land and protest. With images of Jerusalem and the glistening Dome of the Rock, he represents the Palestinian homeland and the dream of return. Mansour’s art deftly reflects the hopes and realities of a people living under occupation for the better part of a century.

Reading  St Mathew 2: 13 – 23

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.  Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
    wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
    she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee.  There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’

Reflection

The Holy Family, facing danger and death, found sanctuary in Egypt.  Today Palestinians wait to see if the Israeli Defence Forces will continue relentless military action and move them from Rafah – where they were sent for safety.  The border is sealed but there is speculation the Egyptians are building a pen in the desert to “house” displaced Palestinians.   

Safety is tantalisingly close yet impossible to reach.  The  Palestinian mother and child try, in vain, to get to Egypt; in this picture we also see the plight of displaced, bombed, and starved Palestinians.  The woman and child are fed by the UN – now condemned and hampered in its mission by Israel which maintains it has been used by Hamas.  

Around the world ordinary people react with horror to the treatment of the Palestinians; anger, rage and grief at Hamas’ atrocities are now held alongside desperate emotions at the plight of the Palestinians – bombed, starved, displaced and condemned by a superior force, possibly eager for more of land while many of the world’s great powers watch.  Dissent is demonised as anti-Semitic. Games are played in Parliament to spare the blushes of politicians who should know better.  Vetoes are wielded in the UN to stop even the mildest criticism.  A weak archbishop won’t meet a Palestinian pastor due to the company the pastor keeps.  Meanwhile mothers and their children are left to their plight.  

Palestinians who depict Jesus as Palestinian have been sharply criticised yet art, like theology, pushes boundaries offering new understanding.  Jesus can be authentically depicted in many ways; he identifies with Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free, Israeli, and Palestinian.  Yet depiction is not enough; art, like theology, must lead to action.  Jesus, told us, after all, to recognise him in the least.  In today’s world Jesus is to be found in many places but not least with the millions of Palestinian refugees seeking to find shelter and safety – as once his parents found refuge in Egypt.  

Prayer

O God, help and protect the people of Palestine. 
O God, ease their pain and suffering. 
O God, bestower of Mercy, bestow your mercy on them. 
O God, open people’s hearts to give in this time of crisis.
O God, help those who are in need, wherever they may be.
Amen

from Islamic relief

 

Information

Reading John 17:1-5

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you,  since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.  And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do.  So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

Reflection

Simply gaze in wonder and marvel through this painting. Here the resplendent glory of God’s presence comes to us through the birth of baby Jesus, with his family around him and visitors gazing on. Here is God’s presence most glorious through Jesus’ death on the cross.  Yet there is so much more, with the image of Almighty God’s loving arms coming from heaven to embrace the dying son. It is shocking, unbelievable, beyond our understanding – that God’s presence, Loveful   (I am beyond worrying about making words up), for as the hymn writer says, “I scarce can take it in,” that all the Love that is God in heaven, is now with us all the time in our lives.

That glimpse of Almighty God embracing Jesus is called Mercy Seat for a reason – for that is the name given to the cover over the Ark of the Covenant, which held the tablets of God’s Word. The people saw this as the holy of holies, earthly home of Almighty God. It was covered with shining gold. Only few of the few could enter the holy place of God’s presence. Yet now we have Jesus, from heaven he came – with that same amazing glorious love of God but now offered to all and always. Jesus loves you so much, accepting you completely, forgiving you completely, and giving himself completely that you may live in the glory of God’s love forever.

And of that mercy seat, the writer of Hebrews wrote “Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now”.Hebrews 9:5. I love that he runs out of words, or it is too urgent to discuss. Simply now is the time to gaze on Jesus, and see the glory of God’s love for you and believe.

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:14)

Prayer

Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heav’n to earth come down,
fix in us Thy humble dwelling; all Thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love Thou art;
visit us with Thy salvation; enter every trembling heart.

Come, Almighty to deliver; let us all Thy life receive;
suddenly return and never, nevermore Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing, serve Thee as Thy hosts above;
pray, and praise Thee without ceasing, glory in Thy perfect love.
 

(by Charles Wesley)

Information

White Crucifixion is the first in Marc Chagall’s series of compositions that feature Jesus as a Jewish martyr and dramatically call attention to the persecution and suffering of Jews in 1930s Germany at the hands of the Nazis.  The work is startling as the crucifixion, often seen by the Jewish people as a symbol of oppression, is instead being used to represent their suffering.  Chagall stressed Jesus’ religious identity by depicting him and the biblical figures above him in traditional Jewish garments. The surrounding images show the devastation of pogroms, violent attacks against Jewish communities often organised or sanctioned by local governments. Combining the Crucifixion with contemporary events, Chagall’s painting links the martyred Jesus with the Jewish people being persecuted across Europe and implicitly compares the Nazis with Jesus’s tormentors.

Reading  Isaiah 52: 13 – 15

See, my servant shall prosper;
    he shall be exalted and lifted up,
    and shall be very high.
Just as there were many who were astonished at him
    —so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
    and his form beyond that of mortals—
so he shall startle many nations;
    kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
    and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

Reflection

Christians are surprised when they realise Jewish people don’t read Jesus into Isaiah’s Suffering Servant poems.  Jewish commentators have seen the Suffering Servant as Isaiah himself, Jeremiah, the Messiah who is yet to come, or as a representation of the Jewish people.  

We are similarly surprised when we look at Marc Chagall’s White Crucifixion.  Chagall was raised as an Orthodox Jew, knew his Bible, and chose to portray Jesus as one persecuted Jew amongst many.  Jesus’ modesty is preserved with a tallilth – a Jewish prayer shawl;  a menorah is placed at his feet, a head cloth, not a crown of thorns, on his head. Biblical figures weep instead of angels and, instead of disciples watching on helplessly,  Chagall surrounds the Cross with images of pogrom and persecution.  Painting this in the aftermath of the German State’s wrecking of Jewish businesses in 1938, Chagall was all too well aware of the power of hatred – the hatred that sent Jesus to the Cross and millions of Jews to the gas chambers.  

Here the Cross is seen as what it was – an instrument of torture and oppression designed to instil fear and compliance into subjugated people.  A punishment too cruel and agonising to use on Roman citizens, a method designed to prolong the agony of death, and to ensure the conquered didn’t rise up.  What we are accustomed to see as a symbol of victory (or to ignore in favour of an empty Cross) is, in fact, a symbol of imperial violence.  

I was once asked what is beautiful about the Cross and struggled to answer seeing it only as a symbol of hatred, degradation, torture, and oppression.  Yet I’m drawn to crucifixes and images of crucifixion as they remind me of what the powers that seek to rule this world will do to those who oppose them.  Beauty and victory are found in the empty tomb; the Cross reminds us of battles still to be won even if the final victory is assured.

Prayer

Lord by your Cross
and Resurrection 
You have set us free.
Help us to free others.
Amen.

 
Today’s service is led by the Revd Andy Braunston

 
 Welcome

Hello and welcome to worship.  In these joyful days of Eastertide we think of those early stories of disciples learning to form new communities; a scared community transformed by Jesus’ presence, a united community learning to share what they had to make a difference, a new community embodying ancient poetry about the fragrance of harmony.  We gather today, in churches and around screens as a dispersed but loving community.  United in our love of the Risen Lord and our desire to serve him all our days long.  My name is Andy Braunston and I’m delighted to lead worship for you today.  I am the United Reformed Church’s Minister for Digital Worship and I live up in Orkney, a close knit community of people with a wide range of jobs, backgrounds and attitudes.  As God’s people, united around the Empty Tomb let’s worship together:

Call To Worship

Christ is risen, alleluia!  Christ is risen indeed, alleluia!

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour!
Christ has conquered! Jesus Christ our King is risen!
Glory fills you! Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!

Rejoice, O Mother Church!
The risen Saviour shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!

Hymn     Now the Green Blade Riseth
John Macleod Campbell 1872 – 1958  © Oxford University Press  Sung by the Beyond the Walls Choir.  OneLicence

Now the green blade rises, from the buried grain,
wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again like wheat arising green.

In the grave they laid Him, Love by hatred slain,
thinking that He never would awake again,
laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again like wheat arising green.
 
Forth He came at Easter, like the risen grain,
He who for three days in the grave had lain;
Raised from the dead my living Lord is seen:
Love is come again like wheat that arising green.

When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
Your touch can call us back to life again,
fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again like wheat arising green.

Prayers of Approach, Confession, and Forgiveness

We bring you our prayers and praises, 
O Most High, in these days of joy;
nature springs to life, plants start to flower,
animals enjoy warmer and longer days,
and we remember your saving actions,
bringing life from death, light from gloom.

We praise you, Risen Lord Jesus,
for your love which overcame death,
for your life which shows us how to live,
for your touch which calls us back to life
when all seems wintry, desolate, and painful.

In these days of joy, Most Holy Spirit,
remind us always to turn around 
and follow where you call;
may your love remind us to build up and not tear down community,
to strengthen not weaken discipleship,
to serve and not to seek to be served.

For the times, O God, when we’ve turned away from you,
we repent, and ask for time to change;
for the times, O God, when we’ve denied the power of your love,
we repent and ask for time to change;
for the times, O God, when we’ve despaired,
we repent and ask for time to change.

pause

God, the Source of all mercy 
and has reconciled the world to Himself,
through the life, love, death, and new life of Jesus Christ.
God, the Holy Spirit has come amongst us for the forgiveness of sins.  
Through the ministry of the community of the Church,
we receive pardon and peace,
and become a place where forgiveness is key to our life together.
Accept, then the forgiveness you are offered, forgive others,
and find the courage to forgive yourself.  Amen.

Introduction

We think today about the different communities that are described in our readings: the exciting, unified and energetic early Church and the traumatised disciples who lock themselves away for fear of the authorities.  We think too of the short Psalm 133 which extols unity as a sign of God’s blessing.  Let’s pray as we listen for God’s word.  

Prayer for Illumination

Let us be, O Spirit, of one heart and mind,
that as we hear the Word read and proclaimed,
we may be words which tell of the Word,
Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.  Amen.

Reading     Acts 4:32-35

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.  With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Hymn     Behold How Pleasant/ Miren qué buen (Psalm 133) 
Pablo Sosa ©1972  Sung by Christina Cichos, Bryn Nixon, instrumentation, Pacific Spirit United Church, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Behold how pleasant, how good it is!
Behold how pleasant, how good it is!

How pleasant and harmonious 
when God’s people are together:
fragrant as precious oil
when running fresh on Aaron’s beard

Behold how pleasant, how good it is!
Behold how pleasant, how good it is!

How pleasant and harmonious
when God’s people are together:
fresh like the morning dew
that falls on Zion’s holy hill.

Behold how pleasant, how good it is!
Behold how pleasant, how good it is!

How pleasant and harmonious 
when God’s people are together:
there is where God bestows 
the blessing, life forevermore.

Behold how pleasant, how good it is!
Behold how pleasant, how good it is!
(repeat) 

Reading     St John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Sermon

Our readings this week address trauma and joy; unity and giving, grace and mystery – and that odd Psalm about Aaron’s beard!  All our readings are about community and have much they can offer us.

Our Gospel reading has the disciples gathered in fear and despondency.  They’d lost their Lord to political manoeuvres, an unjust hurried trial, dreadful torture, and an excruciating death.  The men had all run off but now, together they were locked in together for fear of the authorities.  I wonder if they felt guilt for not standing up for Jesus.  I wonder if they felt despair not knowing what was to happen next.  I wonder how they felt about Judas, once at the centre of their community as treasurer, no longer with them after his own despair led to suicide.  I wonder how they felt about Peter denying even knowing Jesus – I wonder how Peter felt.  Did they bicker?  Did they stick together as there was nowhere else to go?  The Gospel writer lets us wonder about the state they were in but without much ado Jesus appears, standing among them, bidding them peace.  I expect peace was the last reaction that was had as they realised who was with them.  Excitement, joy, denial, tears, confession maybe but probably not peace!  In fact, Jesus has to tell them “peace” twice and has to show them his hands and his side – I think they probably didn’t believe it was him.  After a bit of peace descending Jesus commissioned then to forgive by breathing the Holy Spirit upon them.  Then we’re taken to poor Thomas who hadn’t been present for this peaceful commissioning.  A bit more trauma for Thomas feeling excluded and so another appearance is given.  

We can relate to this shattered community.  We know what trauma is; we know what fear is.  Over Covid so much was lost in our society and in our churches; the tender bonds that hold us were strained with not being able to meet; those who managed to provide worship by Zoom, recordings, phone messages and printed orders did so much to help a community navigate national traumas – the anger felt at parties in Downing Street is a sign of the depth of the trauma we experienced.  We remember funerals being pared down to the minimum, missed hospital check-ups leading to problems later, infections out of control in nursing homes. It’s a trauma that’s still fresh in our minds and our experience.  We have, however, other traumas too.  In our lifetimes we’ve seen the decline of the Church from being a significant institution in our society to something marginal and ignored.  We realise that social trends have engulfed us, and whilst society wonders about spirituality we’ve squandered a lot of our time debating things that society has already made its mind up about.  Many congregations struggle to keep their numbers stable (a form of church growth) in the face of decline and death.  There’s a trauma here in seeing a church we love decline and a puzzle at why people are less interested in religion than they used to be.  We need Jesus giving us peace just as those first disciples did.

Then there’s the reading from Acts; oddly being read first in the Lectionary order in place of the usual Old Testament text.  It relays what’s happened to the community of the Church after Pentecost.  We don’t know how much time has passed since the events in John’s Gospel but here is a community which is no longer afraid.  Here is a community that knows what it’s about.  Here is a community of “one heart and soul” where goods and lives were shared. Here is a community where people could testify to the power of Jesus’ resurrection.  Here is a community where the weaker members in need were helped.  Here is a community where the peace of Christ has both taken root and energised them in unity, proclamation, and compassion.  Here is a community which is growing.  Here is a community which lives out the words of the short Psalm 133 which sees how good and pleasant it is for kindred to live together in unity.  

Can we relate to this vision of community?  Can we see the joy that comes from unity?  Of course, unity is part of our DNA in the URC with differing traditions coming together and with our commitment now to ecumenical relationships.  We know how good it feels when a congregation agree on and deliver a project – helping at the foodbank, providing an after-school club, welcoming asylum seekers (and getting castigated in the press for it!)  When projects work well they can unleash energy and even draw people into the life of the Church.  We may not have images of oil on beards as a sign of joy, but we can certainly appreciate the gift of unity – especially after a period of discord.   

I wonder if our local congregations tend more to the first community we thought about – the fearful traumatised disciples or the second, the mission centred confident early Church.  Of course, these were not essentially different communities; the first leads to the second.  That mysterious encounter with the Risen Lord led the traumatised, bickering, guilt ridden disciples into the unified, confident, community of proclamation that changed the world.

In our congregations we have choices arising from our mysterious encounters with the Risen Jesus.

• We can choose to be dominated by the traumas of our age or choose to proclaim the new life in Christ that brings peace.
• We can choose to bicker, give into guilt and recrimination when things go wrong, or to be united in our purpose.
• We can hoard what we have for the rainy day that never comes or share with those in need.
• We can tear down our communities with arguments about inconsequential stuff or build them up with a focus on the needs around us.
• We can stay fearful in the face of decline, or become confident in our unity and our belief that God hasn’t finished with us yet.
• We can have a false unity where we’re only focused on the needs of our members, or use that God-give unity to serve those outside of the Church.

As we meet the Lord in the proclaimed word, the quiet places, the hymns and songs we sing, in each other and in the bread and wine where we’re fed by His own had, let’s not only breath in His peace but share it.  

This Eastertide let’s decide to change; to turn away from the understandable fears and traumas that beset our congregations, and our common life together in society, and, instead, choose to serve.

This Eastertide let’s welcome the peace that Jesus brings to us in our fears and insecurities and reach out to heal the wounded.

This Eastertide let’s set aside our petty divisions and unite in a common purpose to proclaim the good news of the Risen Jesus who heals, brings peace, and reminds us that we are blessed to be a blessing to others.

Let’s pray

Risen Lord Jesus,
bring us your peace as we touch you in this place;
open our eyes to see you in each other,
our ears to hear you in the proclaimed Word,
our hearts as we taste you in bread and wine,
and fill our senses as we smell you in the poor and forsaken,
that your peace will both unite and disturb us,
that like the disciples of old 
we might proclaim and embody your saving love.  Amen.

Hymn     Christ Has Risen While Earth Slumbers  
John L Bell and Graham Maule © 1988, WGRG c/o Iona Community, GIA Publication Sung by the Grosse Pointe Memorial Church (Michigan) Virtual Choir and used with their kind permission.  OneLicence

Christ has risen while earth slumbers, 
Christ has risen where hope died,
as he said and as he promised, 
as we doubted and denied.
Let the Moon embrace the blessing; 
let the Sun sustain the cheer;
let the world confirm the rumour: 
Christ is risen, God is here!

Christ has risen for the people 
whom he died to love and save;
Christ has risen for the women 
bringing flowers to grace his grave.
Christ has risen for disciples 
huddled in an upstairs room.
He whose word inspired creation 
can’t be silenced by the tomb.

Christ has risen and forever 
lives to challenge and to change  
all whose lives are messed or mangled, 
all who find religion strange.  
Christ is risen, Christ is present 
making us what he has been  – 
evidence of transformation 
in which God is known and seen. 

Affirmation of Faith     (based on 1 John 1: 1-2:2)

We declare what was known from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our own hearts: Jesus is risen!

We declare that abundant life is revealed, and we have seen it, experienced it, and lived it for: Jesus is risen!

We declare that we have fellowship with God, the Source of all life, the risen Lord, and the Holy Spirit who calls us to unity for: Jesus is risen!

We declare that in this fellowship with God there is no obscurity, and we are called to live in the light for: Jesus is risen!

We declare that, when we wander back into the gloom, the One who loved, lived and died for us and for the world, forgives and calls us home for: Jesus is risen!  
Amen!

Intercessions

O Holy Trinity,  the dance of Your love 
gives a pattern for our lives and communities.
In the love that flows within You and out to all creation,
we find our dignity, explore our unity, and proclaim abundant life.
Listen to us now as we bring our prayers for our world to You.

We pray for communities devastated by war, division, and conflict,
where bombs are heard more than laughter,
where evil preys on women and children,
where men find hope in hatred,
and where blood, not oil, flows from beards.

pause

We pray for communities living with trauma,
where the pandemic still bites,
where religious and ethnic diversity is used as a weapon,
where fear divides and conquers,
where poverty kills and where lies attack truth.

pause

We pray for peace, the peace that the Risen Lord brings,
the peace which disturbs as much as it comforts,
the peace which makes us look out from our own pain,
to the mission fields before us.

pause

In the silence of our hearts we bring to You, O Trinity of love, 
those we love and worry about and who are in any kind of need…

longer pause

We join our prayers together, O God, as we pray as Jesus taught saying

Our Father…

Offertory

Many things are needed to build communities and to allow them to flourish – open hearts, time, love, forbearance, honesty, and an attitude of generous giving.  We give of our time, talents, and treasure to build communities and, sometimes, we must give without counting the cost. The charities and causes we wish to support suffer from the cost of living crisis as do our congregations.  Jesus’ peace allows us to relax and not worry but doesn’t absolve us of the need to give.  So now, in this service we give thanks for all that is given to build up our churches.  

Eternal God,
before the ages You yearned with love
and brought creation into being.
You gave of Yourself,
eventually giving Yourself to die for us.
You give us Your peace
a disturbing peace which drives us to mission.
Bless now these gifts, 
small tokens of our gratitude,
that all we give will build your Realm. Amen. 

Hymn     Eat This Bread and Never Hunger  
Daniel Charles Damon © 1993 Hope Publishing Company performed by the Chancel Choir of Trinity United Church, Kitchener, Ontario Canada and used with their kind permission.  OneLicence

Eat this bread and never hunger,
drink this cup and never thirst;
Christ invites us to the table 
where the last become the first.

Asking for a cup of water, 
Jesus touched forbidden ground;
and the woman, with a question, 
told the world what she had found.

Walking down a desert highway, 
Jesus healed a man born blind;
soon the man became a witness 
to the truth we seek and find.

Weeping for his friend at graveside,
Jesus felt the pain of death;
yet he knew God’s power to waken: 
living water, living breath.
 
Holy Communion

God is here!            God’s Spirit is with us!
Lift up your hearts   we lift them up to God!
Let us give God our thanks and praise!    
It is our duty and our joy to worship God!

Living God, out of chaos and darkness
your creative word called light into being and life in all its fulness.
Though in the garden we chose to disobey you
and death entered our world
you are the bringer of life from the places of death.
You saved Noah and his family from the Flood
and passed over the children of Israel
when death struck the firstborn of Egypt.
You led your people out from slavery in Egypt and exile in Babylon.
You saved Jonah from the belly of the whale 
and Daniel from the lions’ den.
By your power Sarah and Hannah brought forth sons
and Ruth the stranger became the mother of kings.

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour!
Christ has conquered! Jesus Christ our King is risen!
Glory fills you! Darkness vanishes for ever!
Rejoice, O Mother Church!
The risen Saviour shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!

Therefore, with all your people in heaven and on earth
we sing the triumphant hymn of your glory:

Sanctus
From the St Anne Mass by James MacMillan
Sung by Moira Docherty of Queen’s Cross Church, Aberdeen.

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory. 
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 
Hosanna in the highest.

Born on a dark night,  during his life on earth
the light of your Son’s presence brought hope to the lost
and healing to the sick.
He preached good news to the poor and ate with sinners.
For this he was pursued to the death.
For this, the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed
took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said:

‘This is my body which is broken for you.
Do this is remembrance of me.’

In the same way he took the cup also after supper, saying:
‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,
you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.’

Let us proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

We praise you that the darkness could not hold him
for he was raised at dawn to bring new life to the world.
By his power sin is purged,
innocence restored to the fallen, joy to the mourners;
hatred is vanquished, tyranny laid low;
harmony reigns, heaven and earth are united
and humanity is reconciled with God.

The Morning Star has risen, never again to set.
His light is become our light; his Spirit is ours;
may our lives shine with the radiance of his glory
and this bread and wine lead us to the feasting of the Kingdom,
where we shall be raised up to see him face to face,
in the glory of the blessed Trinity, through all ages. Amen.

Music for Communion     Holy Gifts for Holy People  
Stephen Dean © 1994 OCP Publications OneLicence.

Post Communion Prayer

God of all hope,
We bless and thank You for nourishing us with Christ, the bread of life.
Help us to live free from all desires 
for anything else that promises to satisfy.
Strengthen us now to offer this bread to all who hunger.
Through Jesus Christ, the Living Bread, we pray, Amen.

Hymn     The Day of Resurrection
St. John of Damascus (675-754)  Translator: J. M. Neale Public Domain.  Sung by The Cathedral Choir, Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, Samuel Kuffuor-Afriyie, organ
 
The day of resurrection! Earth, tell it out abroad;
the Passover of gladness, the Passover of God.
From death to life eternal, from earth unto the sky,
our Christ hath brought us over, with hymns of victory.

Our hearts be pure from evil, that we may see aright
the Lord in rays eternal of resurrection light;
and listening to his accents, may hear, so calm and plain,
his own “All hail!” and, hearing, may raise the victor strain.

Now let the heavens be joyful! Let earth the song begin!
The round world keep high triumph, and all that is therein!
Let all things seen and unseen their notes in gladness blend,
for Christ the Lord is risen, our joy that hath no end.

Blessing

May the One who calls us to unity,
the One who brings us disturbing peace,
the One who drives us serve
enable you to build community, heal wounds, 
and show love in action,
and the blessing of Almighty God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
be with you, and all whom you love
now and always, Amen.
 

Information

Dali  was inspired to paint The Ascension of Christ by a “cosmic dream’ that he had in 1950, some eight years before the painting was completed.  The vivid colours of his dream led to the painting of the nucleus of an atom as both the background to the painting and as a symbol of Christ’s spirit.  Jesus’ feet point towards us drawing our eyes up to the centre of the atom – which looks rather like a sunflower.  Jesus’ face isn’t visible  – often the case in Dali’s paintings of him.  A figure above Christ has a face wet with tears.  The triangle formed by Christ’s feet and outstretched arms is reminiscent of his more famous depiction of Christ of St John of the Cross based on sketches by the Spanish mystic. 

Reading Colossians 3: 1-3

You have come out of the grave with Jesus, so make sure you enjoy his new life. You can share his special relationship with God. Don’t get bogged down in trivial matters. Since your experience of death and rebirth, your life is one with the ongoing life of God. When the curtain goes back to reveal the reality behind everything, Jesus will be seen as the key to life, and you’ll be there, in his company.

Reflection

Growing up in Glasgow, when visiting the Kelvingrove Art Galleries I was always fascinated by the Dali painting Christ of St John of the Cross. In those days, it was hung so that it could be glimpsed at a distance along the long vista of the upstairs balcony, drawing the eyes and feet towards it. Nowadays, one of the first things I see at home each day is the print hanging on my bedroom wall.

The contrast between that picture and this Ascension, which was painted some seven years later, is striking. The crucifixion floats against a dark, empty background above a serene landscape. The ascension seems to show Christ floating backwards into the glowing sunburst of an atom surrounded by what seem to be burning clouds. Christ’s crucified body is knotted in agony. His ascended body is smooth and unmarked, although his claw-like hands echo those nailed to the cross. His unseen eyes look up to the dove of the Spirit and the tears running down his wife’s face.

Both paintings were done in the era when memory of the destruction wrought by nuclear weapons was raw. Dali was deeply affected by these events and expressed the fear he felt about the explosions in his art.1) The moral dilemmas of those times have been depicted in the recent film Oppenheimer (Universal Pictures).

As I contemplate the two images side by side on the screen and read the words of Paul in Colossians, I see a depiction of the non-trivial journey from the grave to rebirth, with rebirth not yet complete. The hands of Christ reach out to grasp us into his company but indicate his exasperation that we have not yet been able to live in peace with one another as long as the threat of nuclear annihilation remains present.

Prayer

Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth;
lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust;
lead me from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe.
Peace, peace, peace.

1)     https://www.salvador-dali.org/media/upload/pdf/salvador-dali-and-science_1409308040.pdf