{"id":3038,"date":"2019-05-06T10:28:52","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T10:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=3038"},"modified":"2019-05-06T10:28:52","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T10:28:52","slug":"sermon-5th-may-2019-evening","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-5th-may-2019-evening\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 5th May 2019 – evening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Third Sunday of Easter \u2013 evening<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Sunday 5th May 2019 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Easter 3 – evening
\nIsa. 38. 9-20
\nJohn 11. 27-44<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

If\nthese walls could only speak! \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\noften have you heard that said? What, I wonder would the walls of\nthis church have to say to us as we sit here in our post-Easter\ncomfort?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any\nideas? What phrases do you think have been indelibly recorded into\nthese stones?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well,\none suggestion I have read about is the phrase uttered by our Lord \u2013\n\u201cI am the resurrection and the life.\u201d For not only has every\nVicar and Priest in Charge spoken it when reading this passage from\nJohn 11. But almost every time we have a funeral it is this phrase\nthat begins the whole ceremony as the coffin of the deceased arrives\nin church. Words chosen precisely because they feature in this\naccount of the raising of Lazarus. Words of comfort that reassure us\nthat Jesus has gone the way of death ahead of us and has defeated\ndeath for ever, so that we have far less to fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nthe opening words \u2013 \u201cI am\u201d are the same words that God uses \nduring his meeting with Moses in the burning bush. When Moses dared\nto ask God what his name was, God replies by saying \u201cI am who I\nam\u201d. (I will be who I will be) It is one of the greatest moments in\nthe OT, for that name, \u201cI am\u201d implies the constant and continuous\npresence of God with us \u2013 always, everywhere; the name implies that\nGod creates, sustains, enfolds and challenges all that is; and it\nimplies too that our sense of identity \u2013 our I am-ness if you like,\nderives from that of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nin John\u2019s story of the raising of Lazarus, there is even more. You\nremember when Martha appears to chide Jesus for getting there too\nlate … \u201cLord, if you had been here, my brother would not have\ndied….. Jesus said to her, \u201cYour brother will rise again.\u201d\nMartha said to him, \u201cI know that he will rise again in the\nresurrection on the last day\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\ndialogue centres on the traditional teaching of Judaism about the\nresurrection of the dead on the last day. It was an all or nothing\nsort of thing \u2013 which is why they find it hard to accept that God\nwould begin by resurrecting just one man \u2013 Jesus. But when Jesus\ngoes on to say \u201cI am the resurrection and the life,\u201d he was\nclaiming that the traditional teaching of Judaism was now to be found\nin himself. Which also implied that the last days were upon them \u2013\nand maybe they are upon us too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis as though all time and all the great spread of eternity has been\ncompressed into this one individual, standing before this grieving\nwoman. His being and the Being of God are now one and the same. You\ncan understand why people got so upset when they heard him say things\nlike this! But as Easter people, we know that his claim was quite\njustified. The Kingdom of God may not have come completely, but it\nhas certainly drawn near!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\nit is no wonder that the profound beauty of these words \u201cI am the\nresurrection and the life\u201d \u2013 have been chosen and used as the\nverbal introduction to the funeral service \u2013 and so would have\nembedded themselves in the very fabric of our church buildings. After\nall, if Christ is \u201cI am\u201d and God is \u201cI am\u201d, then through the\nvery fact of our existence, our own, \u201cI am\u201d, we too are embedded\nin the very life of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where\ndo you look for evidence of the risen Christ, of the existence of God\nI wonder? Many will speak of God \u2013 out there somewhere. A force of\nnature or a spirit of goodness and truth. But increasingly I am drawn\nto the notion of God who is \u2018in here\u2019, deep within the hearts of\nall men and women. Integrated into our very being and too close to\nseparate. Oh, if these walls could only speak!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generous God
You fill creation with your presence,
Giving yourself completely in love.
Open our hearts and minds in gratitude,
Turn our paths from anxious worrying,
Bless us now with the gift of thanksgiving.
In Jesus\u2019 name we pray.
Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Third Sunday of Easter \u2013 evening Sunday 5th May 2019 Easter 3 – evening Isa. 38. 9-20 John 11. 27-44 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs If these walls could only speak! How often have you heard that said? What, I wonder would the walls of this church have to say to us as we sit here … <\/p>\n

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