Fleet Parish Blog

Jesus Died!

You may think that an odd statement for me to make on Easter Day, when we are here to celebrate The Resurrection!  But, actually it is important, because Jesus’ death is the starting point - the ‘launch-pad’ - from which Resurrection comes!  It’s important, too, because what I want to say this morning is very straightforward, but only if you remember the sequence of events. First death, then resurrection.  Or to put it another way: ‘no death, no resurrection’!  The ‘new life’ which Jesus was given by God, could not have happened if he had not first surrendered himself to Death.

 And I’m not so sure that we 21^st Century Christians are very good at taking that on  board - if we were, there would be the same number of people in our Churches on Good Friday as there are on Easter Day, but that is not the case - it has not been the case in any Parish where I have ever worked, and this Good Friday was no exception.  But surely, we can’t demand Resurrection, unless we have been first to the other bit, which is why, our starting point today must be the acceptance that Jesus died!

For God is not a God of death - he is a God of Resurrection!  That is the truth which we celebrate today.  So what is this ‘Resurrection?  Or more to the point, what is it to us, all these years after Jesus?

What is the evidence that Christ is Risen today, in Fleet?   Well, the answer can be found all around us, in the signs of new birth that are in our church: 

• In the 20 young people who were confirmed here last year.

• In the Mums and Toddlers who come to our Praise and Play Service on a Tuesday afternoon, wanting to know more about the faith, and wanting their children to grow up knowing God.

• In our Prayer diaries where we read thanksgivings for those who we have prayed for and are now recovering from debilitating and life-threatening illnesses.

• In all the things that we are doing in our Churches to make them welcoming and inclusive - yes, even in the fact that our main service will be moving to 10 o’clock in two weeks time!

• And in all the other good things that I will be telling you about when you come to our Annual Parish Church  meeting on Thursday Evening. (please!)These are all Easter moments, times of miracles, when we are seeing things which we thought could never happen.  And surely God is behind this, because God is behind all movements for resurrection!

And yet, in so much of this, for resurrection to come, as our church moves through change and re-birth, some aspects of the church may have to die.  There is a great struggle going on in our church (and I mean worldwide and nationally, as well as locally) between those who see God in the traditions of the past, and those who see God in the new wind of the Spirit challenging our old assumptions.  It is the same struggle which Jesus faced when he chose the way of compassion over the way of conformity.  And it leads to a kind of death for those of us who have cherished and loved the old church we know and which we have served most of our lives.  But something wonderful is coming out of this turmoil.  And all of that is because Jesus died - because Jesus died for you and for me!

So, back to my starting point - Jesus died!  But, because he died, he is now alive, and in this post-Easter age - an age in which we are now living - God is on the loose! 

So those of us who think that we have God tied down, right where we want him, need to tremble in fear! Because, if God is on the loose - if Christ is Risen - then there can be no forcing of God into any of the things that we want him to be! And so, in this Easter Festival, to truly celebrate resurrection, to truly welcome God on the loose, we need to be constantly willing to hand over control to him!  And we must allow God to be God: crucified and risen and on the loose in our world.   And when we do that, just think of the thrill of imagining the unimaginable: 

A Statement in support of our Archbishop, Dr Rowan Williams
(Read out in All Saints Church, by The Vicar, Revd Roy Woodhams, on Sunday 10th February):

I believe that our Archbishop has been the subject very unfair criticism this week, and there are three things that I would like to point out to you:

1. He has been maliciously misquoted by the press reports of what he actually said this week. If you look at the full text of his lecture which (which can opened with the following link: http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/1581 ) you will understand this.

2. Religious extremism is borne out of marginalisation! A bee will only sting when it feels that its life is under threat. Most wild animals will only attack when they have been cornered. And so it is with religious extremism - throughout history, we have seen examples of religious groups who have been cornered into impossible situations, and so have turned to violence as a last resort!

3. As Christians living in Britain, we have to accept that we are no longer necessarily the majority religion or culture. But it is our responsibility, as Christians living in a multicultural society, to make this country a place where all are valued, welcomed and supported in whatever beliefs they have. And if that means working towards incorporating the laws of other faiths and cultures into British Law, then so be it.

Within all of that, I would like it to be known that Dr Rowan Williams has my full support and backing as he seeks to lead our Church through difficult times!

 SERMON AT ALL SAINTS ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 27TH BY STEPHEN THORNTON, MINISTER OF THE  UNITED REFORMED CHURCH, FLEET

Text : From the Gospel reading, Matthew 4.12-23, v.17. ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 

We must first work our what Jesus meant by ‘kingdom of heaven.’ There are various misconceptions, such as ‘we are building it,’ or, ’its where you go when you die.‘ Jesus declared that he has brought it; all we have to do is enter it, by being his friends - enter it and enjoy it. 

To enter it, we have to repent, which means turn round; change direction - a complete transformation. 

First in us as individuals. Some feel that being Christian is just being nice to one another. Jesus did not get crucified for telling us to be nice. He came and reversed the world’s values, with a mission to turn the world upside down. One summary of his teaching is the beatitudes, which tells us to put God first in our lives; to have a heart bleeding for the state of the world, and a commitment to raise heaven and earth until the world is changed. That’s the turn round called for in us each one - a new direction. If we were arrested for being Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict us? When were we persecuted for our faith and witness, for true followers will certainly meet stiff opposition. So, each one, repent, turn round and help turn the world upside down. 

Then the Church also needs to repent, turn round. The reading from the epistle, challenged the Corinthian church about its divisions. So we need to heal ours. In 1964, the Church of England, the Methodist Church, and the Churches which now make up the United Reformed Church, promised ourselves one, united church in England by Easter Day, 1980. I don’t think we are going to make it. Yet we desperately need each other. We all have the same issues - lack of resources, money, ministers - and we all have great gifts to share with each other. The United Reformed Church has much to share with you, and I know that you have much to share with us. So, repent, all of us; turn round; change direction and begin to be seen to be one. 

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, when we remember the horrors of the last world war. These horrors continue, in Kenya, Zimbabwe, the Middle East, and even in our own country, with barriers between people of different races, faiths and cultures. The world needs to turn round, and the church is called to help it. But the world looks on, and says, ‘physician, heal yourself - you can’t get on with each other, so how can you help us?’ We have a major task to build bridges between people’s here and everywhere, that the world will find its healing. So, the world needs to repent - turn round - and find a new and different future. 

The Kingdom is here, and we are called to enter it, now. So, we need, each one, to repent; our churches need to repent, and the world needs to change direction - we must not let God down.

Luke 15: 11-32

Preacher: Rev. Roy Woodhams

Rebellious American Rock Star Alice Cooper, was once asked how his ‘way out’ image fitted in with his also being a Christian?  He replied, ‘It may sound ironic, but it’s the most rebellious thing I’ve ever done! Drinking beer is easy!  Taking drugs is easy!  Trashing your hotel room is easy!  But being a Christian - that’s a tough call - that’s real rebellion!’

 Today is ‘Back to Church Sunday’, when we are delighted to welcome some of you as our visitors.  I sincerely hope you have all felt welcomed - if you haven’t, please tell me about it over lunch!

 I’m sure that we are all familiar with today’s scripture reading - the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  I chose it because Jesus is such a brilliant story teller, and also because it’s, in itself, a story about be welcomed back.  It’s about the only time many of us even use the word “prodigal” and I wonder if we actually know what it means?  For the record it means, “recklessly extravagant.” 

 So, in this parable of the Recklessly Extravagant Son, Jesus tells the story of a younger son, who has grown up in the lap of luxury.  I suppose he’s a bit of a ‘spoiled rich kid’.  And this kid, rather audaciously asks for his inheritance early, and is given it!  

 At first, he lives the high life, probably going to parties with all the right people, eating the best food, and drinking the best wine.   But then a famine occurs, and when it does, he also happens to have run out of money.  In his desperation, he finds a job feeding pigs - dirty, smelly work.

 And being Jewish, it’s an even worse shame because pigs were regarded as unclean, and good Jews were not even supposed to be around pigs, let alone feeding and cleaning up after them.  Not only does he work with unclean animals, he is so hungry he’s even envious of the food the pigs are eating.  What a contrast with his previous playboy lifestyle!

 But then the young man comes to his senses.   He is his father’s son.   Even his father’s hired hands, the lowest rung of the ladder in the whole household, have more than enough to eat.   He has to swallow his pride and admit his wrongdoing, but he hopes the love of a father for his son will be enough.  

 He goes and says, “Dad, I’ve sinned against God and you!”  And to show his true change of heart, he is even willing to become a hired hand in his father’s household.  But his father won’t hear of it and instead calls for a celebration.  His son is back who was lost but is now been found.  

 The father would be justified in treating his son as a hired hand, but that father, not out of anything the son has done, but only out of his love welcomes the son back home.

 But there’s still some unpleasantness, because the older brother, the good guy in the story, is mad.   He doesn’t understand how he’s done everything right his whole life and yet “when has he ever had a party?”   The older son has done all the right actions, but has the wrong spirit.  He doesn’t understand the repentance of his brother or his father’s love.  This son would have preferred his brother to have stayed lost and dead, while the father rightly understands that he must rejoice, in spite of the past, because his younger son has new life, he has been found.

 Now, there are two challenges galore here for all of us, but I’m just going to home in on two particular ones:

• The first challenge is an immediate one, and we need to sort it right away, and
• the second is long-term, which may well take us a lifetime to live out!

The immediate challenge is this: to work out which of the two Sons most represent us, and where we sit in relation to the Father, who is our God? 

 Now don’t get me wrong here, for there is no distinction here between our ‘back to Church’ guests and those of us who sit here week by week, because I know as well as anybody, that some of you who aren’t regular worshippers with us, may well be sitting much closer in God’s favour, than even the Vicar!

 So, are we like the Son who has gone off with the family fortune and had a good time before running into trouble?  Or are we the one full of righteous indignation, who has done all the right things, but lacks the grace to be forgiving?

 And then there is the long-term challenge, which is not so simple, because it involves using what we have just found out, as a foundation on which to live the rest of our lives?

 And the challenge is this - if we think of our lives as a journey, do we want to travel the rest of our journey hand in hand with the one who created us, redeemed us, and longs for us to walk the road with him, or do we want to say that we have no need of God, that he is irrelevant to our lives, and we are far too busy to choose that other path?

 During the week I was talking to my friend Chris Bird, the minister of Fleet Baptist Church, and he has just returned to work after a three month sabbatical, part of which was spent in the Southern Sudan.

 Chris told me about some truly amazing and life-changing experiences, which I hope to invite him to come and share with our congregation sometime soon, but one thing which I would like to share with you this morning, is something which he told me which is, I think, very relevant to what we are thinking about today. 

 A local Sudanese Christian said to Chris, that he thought it was much more difficult to be a Christian in the developed world, because our modern lifestyles are such, that it is so easy for us to live our daily lives without needing God.  But in the

 I wonder if you’ve heard the story of old Gladys who attended church one Sunday and the sermon just seemed to go on and on and some of the ageing congregation fell asleep.  Afterwards, she went up to one particularly sleepy looking old chap, and trying to be polite said, ‘Hello, I’m Gladys Dunn’. To which the gentleman replied, ‘And so am I!’

Well, I’m not ‘Gladys’, but you’ll be relieved to hear that I am ‘Done’, and I want to end by saying ‘thank you’ to those of you who have come as our guests today, and ‘thank you’ to those members of our congregation who have invited and welcomed you!  And above all, I want to say ‘thank you’ to God, who is the Father who welcomes us back with open arms, each and every time we ‘mess up’!