4th Sunday of Easter

St Barnabas Anglican Church, Warrington

..they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts.

3 May 2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Grace and peace to you from God.

Today is the 4th Sunday of Easter.

We are at Pandemic Level 3.

Readings:

Acts 2: 42-47

1 Peter 2:19-25

The Gospel lesson is John 10:1-10.

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³ Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All who believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵ they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

1 Peter 2:19-25

¹⁹ For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. ²⁰ If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. ²¹ For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. ²² “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” ²³ When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. ²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵ For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

John 10:1-10 10

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. ² The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶ Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. ⁷ So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

During this period from Easter to Pentecost we walk together with the risen Christ.

Except together sounds strange when we are isolating from each other.

The world has changed beyond our expectations.

Beyond any New Year resolutions; beyond any promises of reform we made when we entered Lent.

Level 4 isolation came suddenly and we adapted quickly. A sudden shift of outlook. Not a painless one. We suffer the pain of an empty church, of missing our Easter services. For many the earthly loss is severe. I for one am grateful that our government chose a course that put human lives before economics. In a world torn apart economic damage was coming, and I expect it will get worse before it gets better. So many people have told us the economic policy for unending growth was an illusion but is seemed easier to keep going along that way and hope the environment would somehow catch up. Now it’s just stopped. I’m frustrated about staff hanging round the hospital when there is work to be done, and I’m sure they are more frustrated than I, but my heart bleeds for my friends and colleagues in the UK where work is an exhausting nightmare.

We went into lock down so quickly we didn’t have time to think, but coming out we have time to fret about the unknowns. We’ve seen the outside world as a place of danger and now we must go there again.

Will we ever be able to mix again as before? To an extent it’s how we view things. We know that tens of thousands get carried away by the flu every winter, but there’s nothing we can do about that? Right? Now our hygiene is of a standard that would impress even the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. Some of it may even be worthwhile.

I ‘join’ Bishop Steve’s morning payers most days. It’s a good way to start the day. But a zoom meeting is not the same as being there. Will we ever all be together again at St Barnabas?

The Church must surely be the one institution which cannot know despair.

In the Christian faith there is hope for the world.

It is possible to look at the world and to feel that humans are possessed by a kind of suicidal insanity which cannot end in anything other than a disintegrated chaos.

Christ has the remedy for the human situation. The application of that remedy is the business of the Church; it’s our business.

In the Christian faith there is hope for all.

There was a popular sermon title that was much used by evangelists in times gone by:

“No man need stay the way he is.”

Often a person will defend himself or herself by saying: "I can't help it. I'm made that way. That's my nature. I can't change myself."

That is the final heresy.

True, we cannot change ourselves. But if Christ cannot change us, then the whole claim of Christianity is a lie.

But if the Church is to change the world and to change men and women, we must be changed. We are tired, the world is demanding and we’ve been doing the same things for ages. There are so many people in the wider Church who have simply accepted the situation.

I was reading one of William Barclays books of daily prayer, written 50 years ago, and came across this for my birthday: “Diminishing and ageing congregations, an increasing irrelevance in the eyes of the common man-there are many who are well aware of these things, but they have simply accepted them as things about which there is nothing to be done.

Of course, the situation will not change without blood and sweat and tears on our part. But a Church which has accepted the situation is a Church which is on the way to death.

God give us, not the defeatism which accepts things as they are, but the divine discontent which in the life and the strength of Jesus Christ will battle to change them.”

Well, the ageing people Barclay wrote about will all be dead now, so it’s our problem.

Amen. So be it.

Bishop Steve shared this poem written by the Diocesan accountant. Those who have heard Ginny speak at Synod will have noticed she’s unusual for an accountant. Her minister (she’s a Presbyterian) set the congregation the task of writing some lock down poetry. Most of us will just be grateful we are Anglican. But if you are a closet poet, please share.

Blessings

Jeremy

Rev Dr JJ Nicoll, 0274 361 481

Priest-in-Charge, St Barnabas, Warrington, NZ

Collect 4th Sunday of Easter.

God of our futures;

you go ahead of us to prepare a place for us.

Help us put our trust in you;

in this life, may we be freed from our fears;

and, in the life to come,

know you face to face

Through Jesus Christ our Liberator,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen

Intercessions

In joy and hope let us pray to the Father.

That our risen Saviour may fill us with the joy of his glorious and life-giving resurrection … we pray to the Father.

Hear our prayer.

That isolated and persecuted churches may find fresh strength in the good news of Easter … we pray to the Father.

Hear our prayer.

That God may grant us humility to be subject to one another in Christian love … we pray to the Father.

Hear our prayer.

That he may provide for those who lack food, work or shelter … we pray to the Father.

Hear our prayer.

That by his power war and famine may cease through all the world … we pray to the Father.

Hear our prayer.

That he may reveal the light of his presence to the sick,

the weak and the dying,

to comfort and strengthen them …

we pray to the Father.

Hear our prayer.

That, according to his promises, all who have died in the faith of the resurrection may be raised on the last day …

we pray to the Father.

Hear our prayer.

That he may send the fire of the Holy Spirit upon his people, so that we may bear faithful witness to his resurrection,

we pray to the Father.

Hear our prayer.

Heavenly Father,

you have delivered us from the power of darkness

and brought us into the kingdom of your Son:

grant that, as his death has recalled us to life,

so his continual presence in us may raise us to eternal joy;

through Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Poem by Ginny Kitchingman our Diocesan Accountant 

 

And are we learning anything?

That something so tiny

can be so powerful.

But didn’t we already know that?

Didn’t Jesus say something about

a mustard seed?

…though it is smaller than all the seeds

yet when it is sown,

grows up larger than all the garden plants.

And are we learning anything?

That you can’t find yeast

in the supermarket.

Suddenly everyone wants

a raising agent.

Feels the need to be

lifted up.

But didn’t Jesus say something about yeast?

…even though she put only a little yeast

in three measures of flour,

it permeated every part of the dough.

And are we learning anything?

That sometimes the best thing

is to stay home.

Just stay.

Don’t go rushing around

being busy busy busy.

Just stay.

And think about what is the most

important.

And isn’t that what Jesus said

to Martha?

…Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled

about many things

but only one thing is necessary.