Poem for Easter

A bunny, a chick and egg opened wide

Children excited at chocolate inside

Families gathered – together – apart

Love draws us in, connects up our hearts



A man on a cross, a tomb opened wide

Fear and excitement, there’s no-one inside

Friends huddle together, distress off the chart

But love draws them in, connects up their hearts



A stranger, a road, bread broken wide

A room that is locked, but still He’s inside

New family created, new life at its start

Love draws us in, connects up our hearts.

Let love draw you in and connect up your heart

Can I tell you something?  Well, there was this man Jesus from Nazareth, a prophet, he taught with powerful words that cut to the heart, and did amazing things, healing people, raising them from the dead, feeding thousands of people with a boy’s packed lunch, loving the unlovable, opening our eyes to see what God’s word really means… we hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel – no-one else like him has ever come before.  But on Thursday, he was arrested by the chief priests and handed over to Pontius Pilate, he was beaten and mocked and sent to be crucified on Friday morning.  We saw him through the crowds, falling over again and again under the weight of the cross, and heard the hammer on the nails, watched as the cross dropped into the ground.  The sign above him said ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’ – did Pilate believe it was true?  We didn’t know what to believe, and then the sky grew dark, I felt a strange kind of fear grip me, the hours passed, I felt rooted to the ground. And then Jesus cried out, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ and the tears fell down my face, how could this be happening.  Then Jesus cried out again, I couldn’t hear what he said but it was like all sound and all reality was just sucked away, I couldn’t breathe, and time stopped…


Then like an exhale, the earth beneath me began to shake, I fell to the ground, and heard the soldiers shout out, ‘Surely he was the Son of God’.  And then I ran and ran, the ground shaking beneath me…


Later I heard that in the temple the curtain had torn in two, and Joseph, you know – the one from Arimathea, the rich one on the Jewish Council – he went straight to Pilate told him Jesus was dead and asked to take his body to be buried.  They moved quickly because sabbath was coming and were able to wrap his body in grave cloths, and seal the tomb with a rock.  All day yesterday we didn’t know what to do between the tears and the questions, should we stay here in the city, or is it all over, should we go home, what should we do?!!


Then this morning the two Marys went to the tomb and as they watched an angel appeared and rolled away the stone.  They said: ‘Do not be afraid, I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here, he is risen, just as he said.’ 


Can you imagine yourself there?  Listening to an eyewitness account, what would you make of what you had just heard, let’s press pause and take a poll… If you were in Jerusalem and you had just heard that story what would your response be to Jesus disappearing from the tomb?  Is it: whateva! – I don’t care, they must be high, someone stole his body, he wasn’t really dead, I don’t know but it’s scary, I want to find out more, Jesus is alive


All of these responses would have happened.  For many years, I had the first response – whateva! I don’t really care.  But I remember so vividly that first Easter in April 2000, a few weeks after I became a Christian, and we were in church and singing a song with the chorus ‘Jesus is alive’, and suddenly I felt a rush of fear and excitement, and a flood of realisation that what I was singing was true.  Jesus is alive!


Today, for the first time since St Catharine’s church building was finished in 1915, we are not gathered in the building to sing and to celebrate that truth.  It feels painful not to be together.  I was so looking forward to my first Easter with you.  And yet, I think we learn something at a deeper level today than we could normally.  As the women come to the tomb, they hear the angel say ‘He is not here’, ‘Jesus is not here’.  And we can imagine perhaps approaching our church building, and in the quiet, hearing that same voice saying: ‘He is not here’. 



The women hurry away from the tomb, and suddenly there is Jesus, he greets them and they fall at his feet and worship. 


They like us begin to realise that Jesus is with us in a whole new way.  Our buildings are important because they provide a place to gather together, but our church is not our building.  Our church is us, each person, each household, touched by the love of God, by the truth that Jesus is alive.  It is that love that draws us together and connects up our hearts.


Our first reading came from Acts 10.34-43 – this book which is like part 2 of Luke’s gospel – tells us about the events that followed Easter Sunday.  It mainly follows those who believed that Jesus had died and been raised again, and the whole book tells how those followers travelled about with this news, facing incredible hardship and persecution because they believed the good news they were carrying was world changing.  No other event in the history of the world has rung true with people in every generation, culture, nation and language.  No other event in the history of the world has changed the lives of the people who choose to believe, and to act like it is true.  God will never compel us to believe, that is not what love does. Love draws us in, it connects up our hearts.  


In our church services we often say the Creed together, it is a summary of our Christian faith that has been repeated by believers for hundreds of years.  Here in the reading from Acts we see a very early summary of Christian belief.  And it is extraordinary because the words are spoken by Peter, a Jew, to Cornelius and his household, Gentiles.  Peter is having a conversion, realising that the good news about Jesus is for all people, not just the Jews.  Jesus is Lord of all.  And we see how God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are together at work making this offer – the opportunity to respond to God’s love made known in Jesus Christ – God makes this offer to all.  We are not created to be alone, we are created to be with God.  At the moment you may be feeling alone, and isolated, I think we are realising perhaps as never before how we are made to be in relationship, with each other, the world and with God.  Our promise from God is that through Jesus all these relationships that have been fractured can be healed and restored.  God’s love draws us in, and connects up our hearts.

So what are we to do, on this day of all days, the high point of the Christian year, a day when we desperately want to be together to celebrate a love that overcomes even death.  We want to be with those we love, our family (both church and birth) and our friends.  And the loss of that perhaps feels more painful today.  I wonder if we don’t run from the pain of that sense of separation, but sit with it, I wonder if we will feel something of what God feels towards us.  God offers us unconditional love, there is nothing you or I can do to earn it, and when we turn our back on it, I think God feels the pain of that separation.  So would you let yourself today, wherever you are, would you let yourself be loved by God?  To say sorry for all the times you have turned away, and to turn back, God’s arms are always open, God’s forgiveness is always there.  Let love draw you in and connect up your heart. 

Christmas Eve - Earthrise

Photo credit: Apollo 8 astronauts with NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter data

Fifty years ago tonight, Christmas Eve 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 did what no human beings had done before, in their tiny space craft they orbited the moon, seeing the far side of the moon for the first time, and then they saw the earth rise over the horizon. This is the photo they took. Thanks to space exploration we have become used to seeing the earth from space, but just 50 years ago this sight of the fragile earth rising made people catch their breath and wonder at creation.

In the last of their 10 orbits of the moon the crew of Apollo 8 did a live television broadcast to earth watched by over 1 billion people. I find it extraordinary and moving to watch this (link below) and hear the astronauts ask for God’s blessing on all on earth. There is particular power in these words being spoken on Christmas Eve as we remember that God’s way of blessing the earth was to be born a baby in Bethlehem. In chapter 3 of John’s Gospel we learn that it was because of God’s great love for us that Jesus came to live amongst us, to die for us and to show, by rising from the dead, that even death cannot separate us from the love of God. Borman, Lovell and Anders (the three crew of Apollo 8) speaking much later about the mission spoke about how they had tried to work out what to say on their TV broadcast with little success when one of their friends wives suggested starting at the beginning. And so they read out the first 10 verses of Genesis 1 - the first 10 verses of the Bible - a reading that became part of space history. 

The Bible starts with these words: in the beginning - God. In the beginning - God. Before anything was made that has been made, Christians believe that God was. In fact the very name of God - Yahweh - is I am who I am, the one who is without beginning and end. But God doesn't just be, God speaks and acts. And tonight's readings from Hebrews (1.1-4) and Johns Gospel (1.1-14) tell us more about God's speaking and actions. In the beginning - was the Word. John as he writes is taking us back to before the creation, back to what is recorded in Genesis 1.  To understand where we've come from we go back to the beginning.  In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made and without him nothing was made. And the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us - literally pitched his tent.  

This is an extraordinary claim, that God who spoke that blue Jewel we call earth, that we call home, into existence would give all that up to be born a fragile baby on a fragile planet. Why should we believe something so incredible?

I know that believing this is part of my job as a vicar (!) but the longer I have thought about this story the more convinced I am that this is the only story that makes sense of the world we see around us.

There are only two options about our existence. Everything came about by chance or everything was created by a higher power. Now of course everything is possible, but for me the probability of chance producing our beautiful planet with the right conditions for life seem so small to be unrealistic. Even if I accepted that it is possible for the ecosystem to bring forth the plants, animals and intelligent humans, I would have to believe in the survival of the fittest, and if I believe that then it is a mystery why we would ever be kind, or would choose to love and to set ourselves aside for the sake of others.  Because when we do that, it's not survival of the fittest, it is letting someone else take advantage of you. But the world I see in all its brokenness is a world where people are good and kind, where each of us long to be loved and accepted. Where we believe in right and wrong. And these are not pointless, they are the things that give our lives meaning. 

And that is partly why I believe a higher power created everything, and I have come to believe that higher power is God the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that tonight we remember the extraordinary moment in the history of our planet when God was born as a baby, in a stable in an insignificant town in an oppressed nation. 

When I saw the readings for tonight I smiled because at the very moment we remember that Jesus arrived in the blood and mess of human birth in the dirt of a dark stable, we have these astonishing readings from John and the author of Hebrews as they try to do what no human words can do – try to paint a picture of what it means that this same baby is God.

The Hebrews passage where we have four verses is actually one sentence in Greek. Like the author doesn’t want to pause with the excitement of who Jesus is!  The author tells us that God has spoken throughout history in the words of the prophets, but now in Jesus we hear God direct because when we see Jesus we see God.  Jesus radiates God’s own glory, is the exact imprint of God’s nature, and he upholds the universe by the words He speaks.  When we see the earth rise above the surface of the moon, that is the work of Jesus Christ, and when we remember that there are 7 billion of us living on that tiny blue planet, all equally loved by God, it is mind blowing.

And yet, here we are at a stable in Bethlehem remembering that this is the promise God has made – to be God with us.  With us in our weakness, vulnerabilities, in the mess of life and death.  When we see earth as those astronauts did we realise how fragile we are in comparison to God, and how easy it would be for God to crush us or control us.  But the story of Christmas reveals who God really is, God’s offer of love comes in a way that forces no-one to believe and offers everyone the chance to turn away.  The reading from John’s gospel says although the world was made through him, the world did not, does not, know him. 

So this is the story of Christmas, it's a love story. God loves you and created you with purpose. God offers all who believe the opportunity to become children of God. This is an unconditional love that says: I love you, will you love me?

I hope your answer today will be yes.  

If you want to listen to the Apollo 8 Christmas Eve broadcast of the Genesis 1 reading here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vvNxhlP1jA

How do you sum up a life?

Yesterday my Grandma would have been 98.  But she died before she got there, and today we held her funeral.  As I was driving home the day after she died, my mind full of rich and abiding memories of someone I dearly loved and who dearly loved me, I kept thinking 'How do you sum up a life?'. And so I wrote a poem, and that is my tribute to her today.  Love you Grandma.

How do you sum up a life?

When the end was close, and words became noise

It was in the look of love

Resting with my face a breath from yours

Hands held tight

Eyes locked tighter still in a soul’s embrace

As I stroked your hair, I thought of your mother

Ninety-seven - nearly ninety-eight - years ago

Stroking the head of her precious first born

No words then to be spoken

Just a look of love to be shared.

How do you sum up a life?

You bookend it with looks of love.

How do you sum up a life?

You weave it through with a golden thread

Of love and care and kindness

And so many people

Those nursed, those gathered up and taken in, those family, those friends,

              those whose presence reappeared in a glance at that ornament or that cup

Things were precious because of the people that shared them.

How do you sum up a life?

With the humble exceeding of expectations 

     "Girls don't need an education to be a maid"

     But in service you grew character 

     With war came opportunity 

     With marriage came partnership

And you rose with dignity, amazed that you could eat from a table with white cloth and flowers,

      that you could travel the world

And so, so proud of your son, your granddaughters, your great-grandchildren,

      forgetting that you were the one that created us...

How do you sum up a life?

With times of loss

Different futures snatched away

Yet somewhere deep drawing from a well of courage

To reorient life again and again.

How do you sum up a life?

With simple joy and contentment

The smell of a rose, a handkerchief, a cream cake, a 'special' breakfast

Pleasure in the stories of those you love

Feeding those you love on plates that were never quite big enough

The sunshine on trees, the children playing, the little treats

A swing round the dance floor, secret delight in the words that weren't quite right

"Shall we play a VD now....?"

How do you sum up a life?

"A special lady" seems not enough

So I'll leave you with that look of love.

 

  

Mothers

Since it's Mother's Day, I have, unsurprisingly, been thinking about Mothers! In particular thinking about how fortunate I have been to have such a great Mum and Grandmas and women who have been like mothers to me at important times in my life. This photo is of my Mum. A few years ago I had to write a couple of paragraphs on people who had influenced me as a leader, and my Mum was top of the list. I'm not sure whether she sees it in herself, but her perseverance against the odds, her care for others, her ability to draw people together and work to make the world a better place, her sense of fun and creative mind, her heart to explore and see the possibilities rather than problems, and many other things have had an enormous influence on me. Her mum, my Grandma, seemed a woman ahead of her time to me, she seemed so confident and adventurous, and inspired me to push myself. My Dad's mum, who I wrote about a few weeks ago, has taught me what it means to love and to serve others without seeking reward, and to both dream dreams for the future and be content with the present. And of course the greatest gift has been knowing that I have been loved unconditionally by them all, even if it has not always been articulated like that.

In Kathy, Sue, Nikki, Louise, Pat, Sue, Pat and Vicky I have also had great mentors, givers of wise counsel, who have encouraged me to grow into the woman I am now, who have given me a hug when I have needed it, and a kick when I have needed that too.  In different ways at different times they have been a great gift to me. And have helped me know that although I won't be a biological mother, that I can be like a mother to others at times, it is a real privilege when I get to do that. And of course I love being a godmother too :-)

So today, thank you Mum and all those other 'Mums' I've had. I miss those who are no longer here, but rejoice in all that I have been given through them all, and hope that in some small way I can be as good a 'mother' to others as they have been to me.

Grandma

I'm spending a few days with my Grandma at the moment, at the grand age of 95 she seems to have grasped the concept of 'selfie' rather well! It's lovely spending time together and enjoying each others company. When I talk to her about her life, it is always staggering to think about the changes that she has seen over her lifetime. Born in 1920, with very fixed expectations of what life would be like, things got turned upside-down with WWII and the extraordinary technical developments since then. I wonder whether another generation will ever see as much change as hers has?


She is very proud of me, and I of her. All the opportunities I have had to be well educated, independent as a single woman, to have a career and to travel were just not available to her. Leaving school at 14 with an education suited to domestic service and housekeeping, nevertheless she has worked extremely hard, loved and cared for so many, and continues to have a most wonderful contentment even in the midst of living with a body that will no longer do what her mind wants it to. She has adapted to all sorts of changes, and has a remarkable memory for the details of life. She is truly an inspirational woman and I feel very fortunate to have got to know her and spend so much time with her as an adult. Love you Grandma!

Love

Well...surely you have to write about love on Valentine's Day?! 

This morning in church I did a little sketch about love, sitting sadly in my chair because I hadn't got a Valentine's card which surely meant no-one loved me. The kids gathered round, eager to put their hands up and tell me all the other ways I could know I was loved. It was quite sweet :-) 

Popping into Tesco's on the way home there was a brisk parade of flower buying and in the car park a fair amount of last minute card writing happening! It got me thinking that it is rather a long time since I wrote or received a Valentines card, so much so that it's kind of gone off my radar as something people do, and maybe that's not a good thing. There are quite a few people in my life that I love and I'm not always that good at telling them so, perhaps it's time to get better at it!

Love, as the kids reminded me, is a lot about the things we do for each other, but it is good to put words to our deeds too.