Dear All
I hope you are well.
We had a lovely service this morning. Laura excelled herself by reading and singing!
Here is the link to the service.
https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FpVuekZoOV7M&data=04%7C01%7C%7Cfc0ea210c1304f52641508d8fcff26d1%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637537520080853282%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=mihIVsDIZg7z2ddjh3u0It%2FYFSw%2Fkaw1%2BT8CcgreFZU%3D&reserved=0
2nd Sunday of Easter 2021 St Andrew’s Milngavie
Acts 4:32-35
1 John 1:1-2:2
John 20 19-31
I felt deeply moved when I heard of the death of HRH prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh as we were settling to an early lunch on Saturday. Not just for the duke, himself. He was clearly a sick man of a great age who in all reality was ready to go. One could reasonably say his death was a release, a blessing. A man of deep faith he died in the knowledge of the resurrection and in the love of our Lord. My immediate thoughts were for the Queen. For the great loss she will feel.
Over seven decades of companionship, support, love and commitment. It was an extraordinary partnership for an extraordinary task. “My strength and my stay” she describes him.
But I also felt, perhaps selfishly, another sense of sadness and loss. Throughout my lifetime much has changed, in almost all aspects. But the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have always been a constant, leading and inspiring the nation both in times of crisis and in the minutia. It seems in a sense the end of an era.
As we emerge from the pandemic it does seem that much has changed.
Not just in how we live our lives but in ourselves too: politically; emotionally and perhaps spiritually there are perceived changes in how we look at ourselves and life in general. Confidence in the future which is never certain at the best of times is even more shaky as scientists model our future in a language of third waves and mutant variants.
In the church we are in the season of Easter. The season of celebration, renewed hope and new beginnings. Our gospel stories all tell of the resurrection appearance of Jesus, scenes that bring joy, calm and wonder to his confused and distressed and traumatised apostles. This morning Jesus appears to them in the upper room where they are hiding for fear of the authorities.
“Peace be with you” he says to them, those first apostles who were consumed with fear and uncertainty.
And it wasn’t just the apostles who were scared. The High Priest and the Sadducees were also afraid of what will happen to them. After the crucifixion, the disciples too had been afraid – they were afraid of what their opponents might do to them and now they were afraid that there might be some truth in the story that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead. If Jesus were to come and find them, what would he have to say about the way in which they had deserted him at the end? They are all afraid.
When Peter denied Jesus three times – he was certainly very afraid.
And so, they gathered in fear and confusion behind closed doors. It was only when Jesus greeted them and showed them his wounds did they really rejoice and begin to understand.
Christ’s first words to them were “Peace be with you.”
We can only imagine the effect those four words must have had. The fear, doubt, uncertainty and the emotion of the last few days all coming to a head and then calmly put at ease by the transforming wonder of these words. But what did he really mean by peace?
And how can Christ bring that same sense of peace to us today? A world and its people which so desperately needs that healing balm of peace.
Perhaps we need to look to the lives and ministries of those first early Christians who we hear about in our readings today.
In the acts of the apostles, we are told how they proclaimed the Good News to all, and everyone was encouraged to rejoice in this and to be generous to one another, reflecting God’s generosity to us.
“With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.” Acts 4:32-35
Whatever our circumstances true peace only comes to us when we are comfortable in our souls. To reach this state we need to receive forgiveness of our sins which comes to us from our Lord, and we need to have hope for the future which Jesus brings to us through the resurrection.
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:1-2
This Easter may we remind ourselves, through all the changing scenes of life, of those healing and loving words which Christ said initially to those frightened and bewildered apostles but now speak to us.
“Peace be unto you…. receive the Holy Spirit” John 20:19