World-conquering faith

Sermon preached at St Paul's Church, Oadby
Sunday 7 May 2006
Simon Harvey



There is no audio recording of this sermon, but the text is shown below.

We speak all the time of what we choose to do, how we’ve chosen to live, which ways of believing and belonging we’ve decided on, as if living the Christian life is always something done on our terms. But the gospel is not about our deciding – it’s all about what God is doing in Jesus Christ. The gospel is that not that we love God, but that he first loved us. The gospel is not that you have found a friend in Jesus, but that Jesus has made a friend in you.

The bible readings used in this sermon are 1 John 5.1-6 and John 15.9-17
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Have you ever known someone who fell in with the wrong crowd? Someone who was basically alright, but one day found themselves with a new circle of friends, who led them astray? Perhaps you can think of someone you went to school with. Perhaps that’s even your story. Sometimes it’s called ‘peer-pressure’. When a basically decent person comes under the influence of a strong personality, they can soon find themselves doing things they wouldn’t have thought about before. And those of us who are parents, or grand-parents can become anxious about the influence our children are under at school or university or around the streets of Oadby.
But the same kind of influence can also happen for good. Let me tell you a story with a great ending.
Jackie was in a whole load of trouble. She’d made some mistakes in her life, found herself in a mess. She was pretty and always had a lot of attention from the boys. But she also got attention from her father, who abused her and took away her innocence. It got so bad she had to leave home. She stayed with mates for a while, but there were always so many arguments, she ended up moving on from place to place. Some friends ended up in trouble with the law, some just lived for drink, drugs and having a laugh. Jackie knew that things were always going to be hard for her so she was going to have to be hard with other people. It seemed that everyone she met wanted something from her but even so, she never gave up hope that one day life could be better.
Then one day Jackie met Helen at a church project. Helen was a good fifteen years older than Jackie but somehow, they found it easy to talk and get on. Jackie found it hard to understand why someone like Helen wanted to get involved with her and her problems. Helen had a home and a husband and ‘a life’, yet she really cared. She was genuine. And it was clear who was making the running and taking the initiative – Helen was choosing to be friends with Jackie, even though Jackie couldn’t understand why.
As they spent more time together, Jackie realised that Helen’s friendship was real, with no strings attached. Here was someone who didn’t want to exploit her. She became more relaxed, allowed Helen to know more about her and her past. And Jackie changed. With Helen’s encouragement and unconditional acceptance, you can imagine what happened. Jackie grew happier, healthier and more confident than she had been since she was a small child. Just knowing that someone care about her, valued her, and loved her gave her the chance to live a better life. She grew.
When Jackie thought about it, the more time she spent with Helen and her husband, the more she noticed that she was seeing life the way that Helen did. Just hanging round her made her feel good about herself and good about other people. Jackie wasn’t the tough, hard, person who feared allowing other people to get close anymore. She was becoming more like her friend. And she noticed how people around her responded to that.
When Jackie’s brother told her he was leaving his partner, Jackie knew that his little boy would need help. Without stopping to think about it for long, Jackie took the boy in and they got a council flat together. She found herself being there for the boy, just like Helen had been there for her.
Today, Jackie’s doing really well. I saw her a few months ago, and life’s really good. Though you’ll understand I changed her name and some details of her story.

Has someone chosen you? Has someone come close to you and offered their friendship to you, accepting you just as you are? Have you ever been befriended and loved by someone so good and found that in the friendship you’ve shared, you’ve gradually become more and more like them?
Who is the good friend, who’s chosen to befriend you?
[…]


Jesus said, “You did not choose me but I chose you.”
“You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer… but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.”
Let’s be clear: You did not choose to be Jesus’ friend. He chose to be yours. There’s a world of difference. We speak all the time of what we choose to do, how we’ve chosen to live, which ways of believing and belonging we’ve decided on, as if living the Christian life is always something done on our terms. But the gospel is not about our deciding – it’s all about what God is doing in Jesus Christ. The gospel is that not that we love God, but that he first loved us. The gospel is not that you have found a friend in Jesus, but that Jesus has made a friend in you.

And just like a good friendship – like the friendship that Jackie had with Helen – it involves commitment. If we stay close with him we find ourselves becoming more and more like our friend Jesus. This is what the gospel and letters of John are saying to us. They’re encouraging us to know that when you ‘abide’ with Jesus (‘hang around with Jesus’), spend time getting to know him and his character and seeing life as he sees it, noticing who matters to him, when you trust yourself to him, something will rub off on you – you’ll become more like him. And to make it clear, our friend Jesus spells out his command, “love one another, as I have loved you” – “be like me in your loving and living.”


Two weeks ago, Hugh preached on the passage in the first letter of John in which the church is reminded that Jesus asks his disciples to love one another. Last week, we looked at the message that ‘perfect love drives out all fear’. Today, we hear that as we do what Jesus asks, as we love one another, we fulfill his commands and conquer the world with love. John’s gospel tells us in doing this, as we love as he loves, our joy may be complete, our hearts and lives will be filled with peace and joy.
I believe that at the moment God is saying something to us as a church. I believe that we are being encouraged to pay more attention to the way in which we are making progress in being more like our friend Jesus. How much have we become more like Jesus this year? How much more like Jesus are you, than you were?
Because believing in God isn’t enough. Because having faith in Jesus Christ leaves something more to be done. In Jesus, God loves us as we are… but he loves us so much he doesn’t want to leave us as we are. If we accept the friendship of Jesus, then we have to stay with him, ‘abide’ with him, and let his character rub off on ours.
When I think about my life, I want to be more than I am now. I realise that the purpose in my life is not to be found in being more busy, or more wealthy, or more successful. I want to be more like Jesus, because that’s a life worth living.
And I believe that as a church together, we might be more than we are now in all sorts of ways, but that unless we are becoming more like Jesus, day by day and month by month, the whole enterprise of our church is pretty pointless. Becoming more like Jesus, corporately and personally, isn’t an easy path. It will take us into places where we feel vulnerable, serving people around us with the compassion of Jesus, proclaiming the truth of the gospel with the conviction of Jesus, living as God calls with the wholeheartedness of Jesus. But we didn’t choose this path, he chose us and chose us for lives that would bear fruit.
In the summer months, we’re going to be looking at gospel readings which reveal the character of Jesus, and I hope that we will consciously examine ourselves, to identify where we need to make more progress in being Christ-like. We’re soon going to be celebrating Pentecost, and thinking about the work of God’s Holy Spirit among his people. Paul explained what kind of fruit should grow in a Spirit-filled church – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
These are the fruit of faith which conquers the world. Let’s experience more and more of them in and through the things we do – in our gathering here in worship, in our deepening friendships with one another, in our reaching out to other people. All because we are growing more like the friend who chose us – the friend we have in Jesus. Amen.

How to love beyond words

Sermon preached at St Paul's Church, Oadby
Sunday 7 May 2006
Hugh James



There is no audio recording of this sermon, but the text is shown below.

Sam Sindamuka worked as a part-time Curate while continuing his job in Bujumbura. Sam didn't just say: "I love you." in the name of Christ. He showed his love in action. That was costly love. Sam was being obedient to that new commandment that Jesus gave us, recorded in John 13:34 - Jesus said: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."

The bible readings used in this sermon are 1 John 3.16-end & John 10.11-18.

Let us pray:
heavenly Father,
take my words and speak through them,
take all our thoughts and turn them to yourself.
In Jesus name, Amen.

"I love you.'' - such common words - but what do they mean -- to us -- to other people? There's a strong tradition that, as an old man in the church in Ephesus, St John used to keep repeating, to those around: "Little children, love one another.'' So it’s not surprising that Love is one of the major themes of this epistle

“I Love you.” It's a phrase that can be very trite. -- How often do we hear that a film star has "fallen in love" with another film star - and then, only months later, -- they've broken up. It's not hard to say: "I love you.'' It's not hard to say: "I love you" to a human. And it’s not hard to say: ''I love you'' to God either.

If you've heard the story, that I'm about to tell you, before, I apologise. It's one that affected me deeply, and I’d like to share it with you. Towards the end of last year Samuel Sindamuka died. Sam Sindamuka was a Murundi, an inhabitant of Burundi. Burundi is a tiny African country, the size of Wales, just south of Rwanda. And, like Rwanda, it suffers from extreme racial violence.

Vivien and I were out there in 1972, serving as missionaries. There was an attempted rebellion - which the Army overcame in about three weeks. But the Tutsi government got very frightened. They were afraid that the Hutus, the 85 per cent majority, might seize power.

It's response was to purge the army – they executed the 50 per cent who were Hutu -- and then they sent the army to every corner of the country - to round-up every Hutu with secondary education - anyone with the potential to be a future opposition leader. They even came to our local secondary school and took away all the Hutu boys over 12 years old.

Once they had been rounded up in the trucks, people were taken off to the local prison – they were never seen again - though bodies were seen floating in many rivers.

It was not a good time to oppose the Government - which tried to blame outside powers for its problems. And the government considered the widows, of those who have been killed, just as it had considered their husbands -- as its enemies. Anyone who helped the widows and children was at risk themselves. Instead, many people showed their loyalty to the government by making the widows’ lives worse – and benefiting themselves – by stealing the widows’ hoes and personal possessions. Fear was everywhere.

Now, Sam Sindamuka was a very able person. When there had been a parliament, he had been a member. He had been a school teacher and a schools inspector. In 1972 he was working as the official representative of the Anglican Church in the capital city, Bujumbura.

He himself was actually Tutsi. But as the plight of the Hutu widows increased, he went into the shanty towns distributing help – food and money.

Inevitably, it was noticed. One in every 10 people was a government informer. In the end, he was summoned to the offices of the Sureté - the Homeland Security. A place people feared. The official there, another Tutsi, asked him why he was helping the widows. "As a Christian, I believe that I must.''

The official said: "I lost eight members of my family at Nyanza Lac - in the attempted rebellion - How many did you loose?'' Sam replied: "35." (Africans do have very large extended families).

"You're mad.'' said the official ''get out of my office.'' So Sam went back to his office - and continued his work of love.

That story had a happy ending. It might not have done. Sam’s love was Christian love.

A few months after that - after the troubles had ceased – Sam Sindamuka was ordained and worked as a part-time Curate while continuing his job in Bujumbura. Whilst still a curate, Sam was elected Bishop - and a few years later, consecrated Archbishop of the Anglican Church.

It was a privilege to have known him.

Sam didn't just say: "I love you." in the name of Christ. He showed his love in action. That was costly love. Sam was being obedient to that new commandment that Jesus gave us, recorded in John 13:34 - Jesus said: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."

It’s the commandment of which John speaks in verse 23 of our reading: “And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” Once again, note that link between the epistle and the Gospel of John.

Our second lesson, from John 10, spoke about Jesus being the Good Shepherd - and laying down his life for his sheep - for the Jews of his day and now for you and me. Again, that's love, costly love.

We sing that children's song: " Jesus' love is very wonderful - so high you can't get over it - so low you can't get under it - so wide you can't get around it - oh wonderful love!

Recently, I read an article by someone discussing what, in the Passion narrative, Jesus found hardest. Was it the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood, praying to be released from the task ahead? Was it the arrest and being abandoned by all his friends? Was it the torture associated with the trial process - that we saw portrayed so graphically in "The passion of the Christ"? Or was it the agony of the cross - or being abandoned by his father?

The author plumped for the garden of Gethsemane -- and being able to pray: "not my will but yours be done." But I'm not sure you can choose. They were all indescribably costly. You may have seen the Christian devotional poster: On it the author records: ‘I asked Jesus "How much do you love me?" and Jesus said, "This much..." Then he stretched out his arms and died.’

Jesus love for us wasn't just words. It was practical -- and very, very costly. It was our Salvation. So John insists that our faith, too, should be very, very practical. Verse 11 asks: “How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?”

That’s a good question. But there are problems. We live in a global village. We see the plight of people suffering from violence in Iraq - or Darfur - or from the after-effects of the earthquake in Pakistan - or the famine in East Africa. The list is endless. What can we do? The danger is that we consider the task impossible - so we do nothing.

John's letter was written to Christians. So it's the needs of other Christians that is uppermost in his mind. I'm sure that that's not to say that we can neglect the rest of mankind. But I think that we do have a priority towards Christians.

In many Muslim lands, for years, Christians have been just about tolerated. To be honest, the treatment that they have received has often been better than the treatment of Muslims by Christians - as for instance in Spain under the Inquisition. Nevertheless, the Christians have been second-class citizens, highly taxed and excluded from many jobs.

So, in situations of natural disaster, Christians are often the last to receive aid. So I believe that we have a priority to help them – our brothers and sisters in Christ.

My wife had a colleague - who didn't claim to be a Christian - who refused to contribute to any charity working abroad, with the statement that: "charity begins at home." I would suggest that even if we find it difficult to sort out our priorities, that that is not a position that any Christian can hold.

I don't suppose that I been very controversial in saying that we should love others -- showing them a little of the love that God has shown us. But how can we show it?

We need to be aware of those around us with needs. Our society can be very insular. I remember the time that a Christian doctor committed suicide. Everyone -- including me -- said: "If only I'd realised, I'd have helped." Some people are more discerning than others. We need to pray for that sensitivity.

But I believe that there are other times when we are aware of something that we might do to help someone. But any action gets squeezed out by time. Despite all our labour saving gadgets, we seem to have less time than ever. Time can be costly.

But John goes further than just stressing the importance of showing our love in practical ways. He says it will help us. Verse 19 reads: “And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him.”

Doubt is a very real fact of life for many Christians. Does God love me? Has he accepted me? Am I different? Somehow, these verses suggest, that as we find ourselves obeying the new commandment, we realise that the Spirit of God really is with us.

The emphasis of this passage is on the importance of Christian acts of love. But there are some who go beyond that - and say: "to be loving, is to be a Christian.'' You sometimes even hear people say: "He was a lovely Christian" of a person who never professed any faith.

John will have none of that. In verse 23 he says: "and this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ.'' it is that belief in Christ that makes us Christians. But if we are Christians, we will not stop there. As John says in verse 18: "Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action."

Even with this sermon series, we don't cover the whole of this short letter. And in 1 John chapter 2 -- which we haven’t covered -- John says this -- and it reinforces our current passage --:
“Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. 4 Whoever says, 'I have come to know him', but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist;
5 but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6 whoever says, 'I abide in him', ought to walk just as he walked.”

The words - the belief - the faith - are vitally important. But if the profession is genuine, it won't stop there. Our love will be seen in truth and action.

I started with the story of Sam Sindamuka's love in action. Loving actions that he couldn't avoid as a Christian. Love that was costly, but love that brought honour to his Lord.

May our lives show that same love.

Let us pray:

Compassionate Lord,
as I go about my everyday life in this town,
May I be an instrument of your love,
and bring glory to your name,

Walking in the light

Sermon preached at St Paul's Church, Oadby
Sunday 30 April 2006
Hugh James



There is no audio recording of this sermon, but the text is shown below.

...there are two aspects -- one is walking with God -- the other is walking with our fellow Christians. Are we walking with God in a way that allows his light to shine into our lives and reveal what's really going on?

The bible readings used in this sermon are 1 John 3.1-7 & Luke 24.36b-48.

Walking in the light

Let us pray:
Lord of Light,
Take our minds,
Blot out the distractions of the world around
And turn them to yourself.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen

Today, we're starting a six-week series -- looking at the first epistle of John. And I'm looking forward to it -- and I hope that I can be helpful in sharing some of its great truths with you.

But I have to confess, to being slightly disappointed - disappointed at not being able to preach from the gospel reading. That story of Thomas -- I identify so much with him. I was actually born on the 21st of December, -- which was his Saints Day -- though it can now be celebrated on 3rd July.

When I was born, the principal of my father's theological College wrote to my father, -- congratulated him on my birth -- and then added: "of course, as a good churchman, you should have called him Thomas. But then," he added, "I didn't call my son Simon and Jude." (That’s the 28th October).

But even if I'm not named after Thomas, I find myself identifying with him. Like him, I'm horribly rationalist -- dead men don't rise. Like him, I want proof -- "I need to touch him." Like him, I'm slow to get enthused -- I need to be persuaded that something’s right.

But the Lord understood Thomas -- and he understands me. He went out of his way to show himself to Thomas. There's no disgrace in questioning -- though when God's produced the evidence, he expects us to act on it.

But that’s not our sermon. So let's go back to John's first epistle. This is the start of a six-week series. So before we look at the truths in today's reading, we need to take a brief look at the epistle in general. First - who wrote it?

There are five books in the Bible associated with John. The gospel that bears his name, three epistles and the book of Revelation. And Revelation -- the only one without John in the main title -- is the only one that actually says that it was written by John -- and then we're not sure which John. Like today, John was not the rarest of names.

The gospel has no introduction to say who wrote it -- or who it was written for. It just goes straight into those famous words: "in the beginning." Later on, it avoids mentioning one of the disciples by name, and just calls him: "the disciple whom Jesus loved." So, was the author using the phrase when he was speaking of himself? If so, that author may have been John the apostle.

In the second and third epistles, the writer calls himself "the elder." -- not that that helps us much. But in the first letter, we don't even get that. I hope that you've got a Bible in front of you. And if you have, you'll see that the opening verses appear to be that of an eyewitness: "We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life."

It doesn't prove anything, but it sounds like a close companion of Christ - and would certainly be compatible with the writer being the apostle John. As we study the epistle, you'll probably notice many similarities with John's gospel -- making it likely that both were penned by the same person.

Not everyone agrees with even that, though, as there are a number of words which are found in the gospel, and not the epistle, and vice versa. But if you looked in my writings from a few years back, you wouldn't find me using words like "meta-analysis," "paradigm," or "pro-active" let alone "gob-smacked!" but I fear that you might find them now!

So, overall, I would suggest that the writer of 1 John is the same as the writer of John's gospel -- and both may well be John the apostle.

So when were they written? Even if they were written by John the apostle, if he is the same John as the church leader in Ephesus, he lived to a very great age -- so they could well have been written late in the first century. There are suggestions in the epistle that it was opposing the Gnostic heresy -- a heresy which arose after the initial expansion of the church -- so suggesting that the epistle was written quite late in the first, or in the early second century.

After discussing who wrote a book -- and when -- it is customary to consider the principle message that the book sets forth. But that's what we will be talking about over the next six weeks. So I won't consider it now.

Let's turn to one John chapter 1. The first four verses introduce themes that we know well from the gospel of John. -- the word of life (in verse 1) -- Eternal Life (in verse 2) -- Christian Fellowship (in verse 3) -- both between believers and between believers and God the Father and Jesus his Son.

John has seen these things work out as he and the other disciples lived with Christ. And now that fellowship continues within the Church. Despite all the persecution that came to the early Church, that Fellowship with God the Father and God the Son brings Joy, not sadness. And he wants to share that joy with his readers.

Is JOY what marks us out as Christians -- as Easter people? Sadly, the Christian portrayed in the media is usually just the opposite -- as miserable as sin. I hope that’s not us.

The word of life (in verse 1) -- echoes the phrase from the gospel: "in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the Word was God."

Just now, I mentioned the Gnostic heresy. It took several forms, but it commonly included the belief that it was possible to have special knowledge -- Gnosis means knowledge. And this knowledge wasn't available to everyone -- only to a special clique. The Gnostics also had difficulty with the doctrine of the incarnation – the belief that Christ was truly human and truly God.

But here we have the writer pointing to the word of life. Words are what convey knowledge -- but this word was Jesus. To know Him is true knowledge.

I think there are times when it’s a temptation for us too to look for something special -- a new spirituality -- a new experience. Sometimes the simple beliefs of our faith seem rather old -- rather unexciting -- rather boring. I'm sure that that wanting something new and different was what had led to many becoming Gnostics.

But John is witnessing to Jesus – the true – and only - word of life

And so we move to the second section -- verses 5 to 9 -- and in verse 5 we read: “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.” We celebrate Christmas in December. There’s no evidence that Christ came to earth in December -- he almost certainly didn't -- and Christianity has rather taken over the pre-Christian midwinter festival. But there's something highly significant about celebrating the coming of the light of the world at the darkest time of the year -- unless of course you're celebrating in Australia!

But, give or take the odd week, caused by different people's calendars, we've just celebrated Easter at the exact time of the year when Jesus died and rose -- the Passover. And that's a time when light is important too. It's a time when the light is growing -- when we're looking forward to long summer evenings.

But the picture here is rather different from the comfortable warm spring sunlight. “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all” By comparison to spring sunlight, it's a blinding glare.

We were in France when there was a solar eclipse a few summers ago. To prevent eye damage, the French government had ensured that every citizen had a pair of goggles -- dark glasses able to withstand the sun's light. So when the moment came, all the Frenchman looked at the sun. But we Brits, tried to look at the shadow on the ground, as our namby-pamby government was afraid we wouldn't use the glasses properly -- so gave us none at all.

But light is powerful. It's highly dangerous to look at the sun. So what do we understand by the phrase: "walking in the light."

I think there are two aspects -- one is walking with God -- the other is walking with our fellow Christians. Are we walking with God in a way that allows his light to shine into our lives and reveal what's really going on? We all know how visible the cobwebs appear when the sunshine streams into a room. If God’s spotlight was turned on your life – or mine -- are there aspects of them of which we’d be ashamed?

But are we actually hiding some of our sins from ourselves? Jesus talked much of the sins of the heart -- of things like hatred -- of impurity. Do we admit them to God? Do we even admit them to ourselves?

And what about walking in the light with others? I'm not suggesting that we should reveal all our sins to others – though James tells us that there is a place for confession to others. But do we paint ourselves as above reproach -- even when we know that we are not? Or do we share that we too are in need of God's forgiveness. It's very easy to put oneself on a pedestal -- but it's a very lonely place to be.

But what do we do when the Light reveals our failings? John tells us that in verses 7 – 9.

I was brought up on the Book of Common Prayer – the old Prayer Book -- and after years of not using it I now often find myself using it as I lead the 6:30 p.m. Prayer Book service at St Peter’s. And at the beginning of the service, I find myself using these same verses: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

There are two parts to the first line: firstly, denying that we have sin. If we say that, we're just wrong – we’re deceiving ourselves. But secondly, far more serious, is that we're separating ourselves from the God of truth -- the truth is not in us.

In fact this idea is repeated twice -- and second time round, the wording is even stronger: "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him (God) a liar, and his word is not in us."

But the alternative is to accept our sinfulness and confess it. And then we're promised both forgiveness and cleansing. It’s important that we let God’s light shine into our lives regularly -- daily -- and seek his forgiveness for the dust -- the sin -- that the light of God shows up. Someone once said: “Keep short accounts with God.” It’s good advice. That’s much better than an annual spring clean.

But as we benefit from forgiveness, St. John goes to great pains to remind us of the cost of our forgiveness: “and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

John is very keen that the readers of his letter should not sin. One of the branches of Gnosticism held the body in very low esteem -- what mattered was the mind. So it didn't matter what you did with the body – just enjoy it. Perhaps that isn't exactly where we're at. But we live in a society where the attitude is very much: "Do what you like if it feels good to you." And that can have the same effect. And then it's very easy for the world's values to creep into the church.

And John goes on to acknowledge that sin happens – and sadly, this side of heaven, it always will -- but the way is available for forgiveness. Jesus is like that lamb that was sacrificed in the Old Testament. The people's sins were laid on the lamb -- and then the lamb was killed. The people could be at one with God -- the lamb atoned for their sins. But now it's Christ who is the atoning sacrifice. His blood, shed on the cross, covered your sins and mine.

Some people find the idea of sacrifice, of the cross, of blood, distasteful. It is, it’s outrageous. Our forgiveness was not bought cheaply.

So, as we enjoy the spring sunshine -- or hope to -- is the light of God shining into our lives? Revealing the dusty corners that need forgiveness? And are we open in admitting that we are nothing special - just sinners -- saved by God's grace?

As St Paul wrote in Ephesians 5: “For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light.”

Let us pray:
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the light.
May we walk as children of light all our days,
Amen