Alleluia!
Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
This
time last week, the Cathedral was wonderfully full as we came
together to share Easter joy …It
was all so obvious...as bright as a candle lit from the Easter fire,
clear as a trumpet fanfare echoing round the Cathedral....An
empty tomb...a familiar voice calling by name...surely everything is
going to be alright now....fear and gloom banished for all time.
As
we sang our final hymn Thine be the glory I was pretty sure that I
could actually hear angels ,archangels and all the company of heaven
lending their voices.
No
more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of Life
For
a little while that sure and certain hope of Resurrection took hold
of us, heart, mind and spirit, and there was no doubt left...or,
let's be honest, maybe a smidgeon somewhere... But not enough to
spoil things.
But
it's a week on now,...a day that used to be known as Low Sunday...a
day of returning to earth from the heights of heavenly praise. Even
though the Common Worship calendar tries to steer us in another
direction, firmly labelling this the second Sunday of Easter, there's
still a lingering memory of LOW Sunday...a day when we come down to
earth and try to make sense of the reality of a world that is somehow
not really different ENOUGH
You
see, if we're honest things
don't actually seem to be much better. The broken church has
obstinately refused to be healed...those beloved people who are
hurting continue to hurt...war, hunger, fear have not yet departed
from the face of the earth..and me? Well, I have to confess that I'm
the same frustrating mix of selfishness and occasional kindness,
shining confidence and unspoken anxiety that I was before Easter.
And
that's a little puzzling.
If
the resurrection truly changed the world for ever, then surely things
ought to look rather better by now. Shouldn't they?
What's
going on....I just don't get it.
I
feel as if I've somehow got stuck with the disciples in S Mark's
account of the first Easter. The one where there is no tidy
conclusion...no tying up of loose ends..,the women find the empty
tomb and say nothing. Because they are terrified.
That's
not quite where I am this morning. I did think about it for a moment,
but no. I'm not in that place where nothing makes sense but I darent
admit it.
Not
scared to question, in case everything unravels before my eyes and I
find myself confronting nothing BUT an empty tomb.
In
fact, I think questioning is going to be the order of the day...
After
all, there's a bit of a precedent...set by our good friend Thomas.
Doubting
Thomas!
Such
a familiar nickname but is it really fair?
Across
2000 years Thomas is remembered not for his obedience in following
Jesus
Not
for his later courage in taking the gospel to India
but
for his doubts.
Imagine if you were to be remembered forever for the thing of which you are least proud...
It's sobering, isn't it!
But in truth, he was no worse than the other disciples
Despite
his denial of Jesus, we don't refer to “Peter the Turncoat”
Despite
their anxiety to claim the best seats in the kingdom, we don't talk
of James and John as the Wannabe Twins
But
Thomas...he's stuck with that nickname, come what may.
And
honestly, it's not surprising he doubted.
Imagine
that you are with the twelve in that upper room in Jerusalem in the
days after the crucifixion
None
of you will be feeling very confident – in anything.
Each
of you has let down your dearest friend at the moment of his greatest
need.
Each
of you has put personal safety before the claims of God's kingdom.
Each
of you has cherished dreams that now seem to have withered before
your eyes.
Each
of you is, frankly, scared stiff, disorientated, lost...and the wild
talk of those women who went to the tomb is certainly not helping.
Empty tombs and rumours of angels don't make ANYTHING better.
But
into that place of anxiety, fear and confusion comes Jesus – as he
always does, into our places of anxiety, fear and confusion (even if
we try to shut the doors against him)
Jesus
with his message of peace – the forgiveness that each person in
that battered and beaten group most needs to receive.
Peace
– says Jesus...
It's
OK. I understand what you did, and why you did it.
I
still love you. Exactly as you are.
You
are forgiven.
PEACE
BE WITH YOU
Peace
to make good your failures
Peace
to calm your fears
Peace
to restore your broken dreams
The
Peace of Christ – given to be shared with others
“‘Peace
be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’
If
you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain
the sins of any, they are retained.’
Peace
that transforms them all.
This
is the stuff of resurrection right enough
But
not for Thomas
Poor
Thomas is somewhere else that day, so he misses out not only on
seeing Jesus but on receiving that blessed assurance that all is now
well.
He
listens to his friends, with all their new-found certainty – but
while they seem to be seeing the world by the new light of Easter
hope, he remains stuck in the darkness of Good Friday.
No
Peace for him – indeed, their very confidence increases his
isolation.
He
must have been tempted to pretend that he too was now secure in his
faith once again, or at least to keep out of their way, in an attempt
to gloss over his uncertainty. It's so much easier to go with the
crowd, isn't it...
....but
somehow Thomas has the courage and the honesty to stick to his guns,
– and to name his doubts
‘Unless
I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the
mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’
Thank
God for Thomas.
We
need him – just as we continue to need those who, in any group, ask
the questions we are afraid to voice ourselves...
We
need him because he shows us that it is absolutely OK to have doubts,
OK
to
ask questions – and that God honours those questions....
When
Jesus returns to the group the following week there is no lecture on
the essentials of faith, no reproach for Thomas's uncertainty.
Instead
he is invited to come close to Jesus (what could be better) and to
touch with his own hands Christ's body in all its resurrection life.
It's
hard to imagine a more wonderful confirmation that questioning is
welcome, that we are to come to Christ as we are, - not resting on
the faith of others but discovering it for ourselves as the
complicated individuals that we are....complicated individuals with
our own unique relationship with God in Christ.
Faith
is PERSONAL
Not
something you can receive off the peg from another person
Your
faith is shaped by your life experiences, by the people you
encounter, the books that you read
It's
rather like a jigsaw puzzle. As you go through life, you slowly
assembly the puzzle, until perhaps you get a lovely picture, with no
gaps.
At
that point, life intervenes, and doubt takes the puzzle and throws it
up in the air, so that you have to start reassembling the pieces once
again.
Every
time that happens, the puzzle comes out with a slightly different
picture...YOUR picture, created through your own encounters with God
and his people.
Jonathan
Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi, writes
"To
be without questions is not a sign of faith, but of lack of depth."
And he encourages people not only to ask questions about the meaning
of the faith, but to question God. We ask questions, says Sacks, "not
because we doubt, but because we believe."
So
– that's my invitation to you today as well
ASK
questions.
Nothing
is off limits
Ask
your clergy, - we would really love that.
Ask
one another.
Join
a group, read a book, - ask God, who gave us minds as well as hearts
and souls...
And
if you feel that there's still not enough evidence – then look
around you.
Yes,
the world – and the Church – is still wounded....as wounded as
the risen Christ...whose hands and side Thomas touched that day.
You
see, the resurrection is much MUCH more than painting over the griefs
and failures of the past...It does not obliterate them but transforms
them – and we are invited to take that process of transformation
forward, starting today.
Whether
you are feeling confident or uncertain, excited or despondent, here
and now WE are the best evidence for the Resurrection that Coventry
Cathedral can muster...– the best case that can be presented to
those who come with questions and uncertainties, feeling that an
empty tomb is not enough on which to build a life.
Writing in the Guardian, Giles Fraser sums it
up nicely
“ The
resurrection is more an identity than an argument. That’s why we
turn it into participatory theatre, with incense and candles. It is
who we are – our word for how we go on in the face of overwhelming
odds. It’s the Christian term for defiance.
In Newington, we
have no money, a heating system that doesn’t work, a church hall
that was recently burned out by bored teenagers and, most challenging
of all, a community that is not really a community, but often a place
people simply pass through. Even the old flats of the notorious
Heygate estate have
now been demolished and their long-term residents pushed further out
of town to make way for the younger and the wealthier. Change and
decay in all around I see. All this sounds pretty miserable. But the
resurrection is the name we give to the multiple ways we push back
against the darkness.For too long, our little garden of remembrance
has been a place thick with the deathly thorns of heroin needles and
the excrement of rough-sleepers. But now all that’s been cleared
away by a few determined parish gardeners and a little strip of
cared-for land has emerged, resplendent with daffodils
An
identity...The resurrection shown to the world in the life of the
Church.
People
who have had an encounter with Jesus and set out to make a difference
for his sake.
People
like you. And me.
People
who help at the Night Shelter, visit the housebound, volunteer for
Work Clubs and toddler groups, go the extra mile, welcome strangers
as they would welcome Christ...People who carry his life and his hope
within them, so that they seek daily to serve the world for the sake
of His Kingdom...
THE
CHURCH.
Earlier
this year I wrote in Cathedral Matters that I wanted an Easter Garden
here to provide evidence for our visitors that this was Easter...the
great 50 days of rejoicing...and I'm delighted that the garden is
here for all to see. But for evidence in the face of doubt, I'd
rather look somewhere else entirely....at each one of us...If you
like, we need to BE the garden...showing new life and beauty in every
aspect of our being, pushing back the darkness for all we're worth
No
more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of life...because we are working
beside you to show that love wins and that Jesus is loose in the
world, turning things upside down and making everything new.
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