{"id":3443,"date":"2019-11-04T10:48:56","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T10:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=3443"},"modified":"2019-11-17T20:58:52","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T20:58:52","slug":"sermon-3rd-november-2019","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-3rd-november-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 3rd November 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Commemoration of All Souls \u2013 evening<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Sunday 3rd November 2019 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Commemoration of All Souls \u2013 evening
\nLamentations 3. 17-26, 31-33
\nRomans 5.5-11<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

Who do you think you are?<\/strong>\n \u2013 A very popular TV\nprogramme, where celebrities are led through a trawl of their own\nfamily history to discover hidden facts, hidden personalities, among\ntheir ancestors. As modern life encourages us to live at a faster and\nfaster pace, it seems we have become more and more fascinated with\nour own \u2018backstory\u2019. Lots of us do our own research now into\nfamily trees and with the computerisation of many historic registers\nand census documents it has all become more possible to delve into\nour family histories and discover the secrets of past generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nFrequently of course, we also\nuncover past scandals or tragedies… occasionally more pleasant\nsurprises \u2013 I remember for example when the Actor, Barbara Windsor\ndiscovered she was related to the Artist John Constable; or when Mary\nBerry discovered that she had a noted Baker in her family tree!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u2018Who we are\u2019 is of course\ndetermined by who our genetic parents were \u2013 and who nurtured and\ncared for us as we were growing up, which as we know, is not always\nthe same thing. And when we lose a loved one (which I am sure\neveryone here tonight shares in understanding) it can often feel as\nthough part of ourselves has died with them. The experience of\nbereavement touches every single one of us. We know in our heads that\ndeath is an inevitable part of the human condition, but nothing can\nprepare us for the depth of our pain and loss felt in the heart.\nEvery loss brings it own unique kind of grieving: whether it is for\nsomeone young or old; someone in the prime of life, or someone who\nhas suffered a long and difficult decline. We may be grieving a\nchild, a life partner; someone on the threshold of life with\nunrealised potential; someone at the end of a long and fulfilled life\nand career, even the loss of a much loved pet; but whatever our own\nparticular story, it is significant to us. When we have invested so\nmuch of ourselves, our love, our hopes, our dreams, in a\nrelationship, then the shattering of that relationship removes the\nvery foundations of our world. And in calling death the enemy, the\nBible gives us permission to acknowledge how deeply we have been\nhurt, and how much we have lost \u2013 and to project our rage and anger\nand lament at God that such a devastation should be visited upon us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd if we are ever to move on,\nto rebuild our lives \u2013 even though that itself may seem unwelcome\nfor some, we have finally to let go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd after a time, we begin to\nfind healing. That may be hard for those of you who are in the early\nweeks and months of loss, ever to believe that you will find healing\nand happiness. Others may feel, yes, I have begun to rebuild my life\n\u2013 but then discover even after months or years, the sense of loss\nwill suddenly steal up upon you like a great ocean wave, and\noverwhelm you. An anniversary, some news we long to share, a piece of\nmusic or a song, the striking of Big Ben at New Year \u2013 can suddenly\nreveal the rawness of a wound we had thought was beginning to be\nhealed. But we do have to let them go \u2013 for only in this way can\nlove truly endure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThis time of year is also the\ntime when the Church celebrates the communion of Saints, known and\nunknown, ordinary and extraordinary \u2013 men, women and children and\nyoung people who experience God\u2019s cherishing and live in the light\nof his presence. It declares to us that nothing is truly lost. Our\nloved ones live on in our hearts, and we give thanks to God for every\nremembrance of them. It is a curious thought that just as we were\nonce held in love by our parents before our birth, so we in turn hold\nthem in love once they pass beyond this earthly world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nJust as we carry the genetic\ninformation that gives us a family resemblance; so too we carry with\nus a trace of that self-giving love and compassion and mutual\ninterdependence that Christians believe characterises the\nrelationship between God and Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd if there is any reason to\nembrace the future with hope, it can only be because of what happened\none Friday afternoon, when the sky turned black, and Jesus gave\nhimself over to his Father and God met him on the other side of death\nand raised him to new life. And so the heart of darkness, of loss and\nbereavement, has become for us too, as for Jesus, the very place\nwhere life and hope are born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThis is the ground of hope \u2013\nthat nothing can separate us from God\u2019s love, and that loss is only\nthe prelude to gain and life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd that can give us the\ncourage to hand over not only our loved ones but to begin to let go\nof our own selves too. For those who have learnt best how to die are\nthose who have learnt to let go, in the course of their life, of a\nthousand small attachments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWho do you think you are?<\/strong>\nKnow that you are beloved of God, and nothing can separate you from\nthat love, neither death, nor life…. nor anything else in all\ncreation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThanks be to God. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Commemoration of All Souls \u2013 evening Sunday 3rd November 2019 Commemoration of All Souls \u2013 evening Lamentations 3. 17-26, 31-33 Romans 5.5-11 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs Who do you think you are? \u2013 A very popular TV programme, where celebrities are led through a trawl of their own family history to discover hidden facts, hidden … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Sermon – 3rd November 2019”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":270,"menu_order":131,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3443","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3443"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3473,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3443\/revisions\/3473"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}