{"id":2990,"date":"2019-04-28T09:29:04","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T09:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=2990"},"modified":"2019-04-28T09:29:04","modified_gmt":"2019-04-28T09:29:04","slug":"sermon-28th-april-2019","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-28th-april-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 28th April 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Sunday of Easter – morning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Sunday 28th April 2019 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Easter 2 – morning
\nActs 5. 27-32
\nJohn 20. 19 \u2013 end<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"Maureen<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Overcoming Fear and Doubt<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t belieeeeve it!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That phrase on its own is\nenough I suspect for many of you to immediately conjure up in your minds the\nwonderful actor Richard Wilson, in his TV persona of Victor Meldrew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course it is quite a few\nyears now since we saw Victor on our screens, but it is probably not that long\nsince you yourself uttered or heard someone else say something remarkably\nsimilar?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Victor it was usually in\nthe face of some frustration of modern life that he uttered those words \u2013 the\nsame words, give or take, that poor old St Thomas uses in our Gospel this\nmorning. Words that have caused him to be dubbed for ever \u201cDoubting Thomas\u201d \u2013\nalthough that really is not fair. This was the same Thomas who just a short\ntime before the events of Holy Week was urging on his fellow disciples to go\nwith Jesus, even if it meant facing great danger and even death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Jesus does not give up on\nThomas \u2013 any more than he does on any of us when we experience difficulty in\nbelieving in his divinity. When people challenge me \u2013 which they do occasionally,\nby proclaiming \u201cWell, I can\u2019t believe in all that religious nonsense!\u201d, I\nsometimes answer them by saying, \u201cThat\u2019s quite alright (which usually flummoxes\nthem a bit!) God believes in you! That is all you need to concern yourself\nwith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus makes what appears to\nbe a special return visit to the upper room, just for Thomas\u2019 benefit. Although\nthere is a gentle reproof, when Jesus says, \u201cHave\nyou believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and\nyet have come to believe.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And those famous words are\nnot only aimed at St Thomas. They were aimed at all those Christians for whom\nJohn was writing his Gospel, all those who never saw Jesus in the way the first\napostles did, and had to rely on faith instead. And that applies to all of us too\nof course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a week ago we were\nbecoming aware of the terrible attacks on Christians at prayer in Sri Lanka on\nEaster Day. And I am sure there are now Christians there and in other parts of\nthe world who are fearful of attending public worship as a result. And who\ncould blame them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The earliest Christians too\nwere beset by fears. Their beloved Master had recently be arrested, tried and\nexecuted by the State. They no doubt felt that the same fate awaited them \u2013 and\nindeed many of them were to die a martyr\u2019s death. Fear turns people in on\nthemselves. There are churches where the doors are locked once the congregation\nare assembled for fear of possible consequences if they are discovered.\nThankfully that is not the position we find ourselves in \u2013 our church doors\nwill always be open for all-comers, but we may be battling fear of a different\nsort which can be just as debilitating. Perhaps we operate behind closed doors\nwhen it comes to expressing our faith \u2013 not in a belligerent, but just in a\nnatural way, when in conversation with friends and colleagues, or even family,\nin our daily lives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a personal level, fear of\nridicule or failure, or just change (!), can mean that we never dare to develop\nour gifts or explore a new possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But locked doors are no\nobstacle to Jesus. As he came and stood among his first disciples, and made\nthem glad to see him, so too he can come to open the doors of hope in us  ! You might like to think of any locked doors\nin your own mind or life and spend a few minutes praying that God will come and\nhelp you to unlock them \u2013 to realise your full potential, not just as a\ndisciple of Jesus, but as a human being!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I have been short-sighted\nfor most of my life and I am so used to wearing spectacles and at one time,\ncontact lenses, that I no longer really think about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I know that there are\nsome among us who find it increasingly difficult to see details \u2013 even to\nrecognise faces. My own Mother suffered with macular degeneration for several\nyears before she died, and I know how difficult she found it to have her world\nshrink around her as she no longer had the confidence to stride out as she once\nwould have done, without a moment\u2019s hesitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former professor of\ntheology who went completely blind as a young man, wrote much about the Bible\nand faith from the perspective of those whose sight is limited. Much of the\ntalk about a struggle between light and darkness is difficult for such people \u2013\nespecially when goodness is equated with light, and sin with darkness. But John\nHull pointed out one of the great weaknesses of the sighted world. We rely only\non appearances, only on what we can see for ourselves, and as a result, we lose\nsomething of the capacity to trust. Being blind, by contrast, requires an\nability to take a very great deal on trust. And in that context, Jesus\u2019 reproof\nto Thomas, \u201cHave you believed because you\nhave seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to\nbelieve.\u201d \u2013<\/em> these words can be a special blessing to those who are visually\nimpaired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So again the challenge to us\n\u2013 along with those locked doors that may need to be flung wide, \u2013 is to think\nabout those times when we have been blind to things that need to be questioned\nand discussed. Those parts of our faith that may feel too fragile to disturb.\nWhat would help us to explore those questions? What would help us<\/strong> to respond, \u201cLord, I do believe,\nhelp thou my unbelief!\u201d. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Second Sunday of Easter – morning Sunday 28th April 2019 Easter 2 – morning Acts 5. 27-32 John 20. 19 \u2013 end Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs Overcoming Fear and Doubt \u201cI don\u2019t belieeeeve it!\u201d That phrase on its own is enough I suspect for many of you to immediately conjure up in your minds the … <\/p>\n

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