Emmaus Road

Luke 24: 13-35 is the Gospel Reading for today. 

Its the Emmaus Walk.

Last night as we took our evening stroll we became conscious of someone getting closer and closer behind us.

I kept looking behind to make the point keep back.

But they didn’t take the hint.

They were practically touching us as we turned up our pathway.

How inconsiderate.

Well can you imagine today two friends from the same household!! Going for a walk . 

Then along comes a stranger who draws alongside them.

“Do you mind, Please keep the two metre rule”

Instead they ask why are you so down?

Haven't you heard theres a pandemic and we all need to keep our social distance.

Then they go onto to explain about it all.

What it means for everyone

Those on their own,

Those worrying about jobs,

Those worrying about their own safety.

Those having to go to Food banks.

And as the stranger talks its as if they can read the two friends minds.

Their fears which sometimes are overwhelming.

Fear of living.

Fear of dying.

And though they know they can’t

they would really like to invite the person into their home.

And as they are torn over this 

suddenly the stranger 

is no longer there.

Looking at each other 

they wonder who they really have been walking with.

Well the road to Emmaus 

does end 

with the invitation to the stranger

 to stop, stay and eat.

And as the stranger

breaks the bread

their eyes are open

Its Jesus!!

Then he’s gone.

And with his going

so are all their fears.

The sense of its all been for nothing gone.

and they rush back

to share the news

Jesus is risen.

I pray that we might all have a sense of the presence of God in Christ in our lives through this crisis.

Perhaps tomorrow if you are able to go for a walk, maybe with someone from your household, or on your own.

Let a sense of Jesus being with you as you walk become real.

Tell him how you really are feeling don't hold back.

And when ever you eat

Just remember as you break bread

Jesus is your host

and we put our trust in him.

Saturday thought for Low Sunday

Blue Bells at Damflask Reservoir

Well tomorrow is traditionally known as Low Sunday which contrasts with the normal highlight of Easter Day. Ministers often take this Sunday off to recover from the busyness of Holy Week and sometimes so do the congregations!!!  

Well its not an issue this year as we all have to defer from going to our buildings to worship. 

Of course there are lots of services on TV , radio or on line. My congregations will have noted I have not sought to create a Zoom service, not really my thing. I was amused the other day to read a parent had discovered their child playing with the dog instead of being on line in a Zoom school lesson with other classmates. Don’t worry she reassured her mum. I’ve taken a video of myself and its playing so the teacher thinks I’m still there. She was aged 10. I must say it did make me feel like ‘now that’s what I ought to do when people want me to do Zoom meetings’.

I think its really important that we look after ourselves and do not place too many expectations on what we should or should not be doing. Staying safe and keeping sane are critical. We are going to need our energy and time for one another when lockdown is lifted.

This Sunday’s Gospel reading is John 20:19-31. The disciples are to be found gathered in a room, though Thomas is not there. Jesus appears. When the others tell Thomas what happened he won’t believe them unless he sees for himself. Well who can blame him? What's so wrong about the odd doubt here and there? In fact its quite healthy. So take care of yourselves and don’t be afraid to throw up the odd doubt as well. A long time ago I wrote a piece based on Thomas here it is for reflection.

Thomas

And if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it.

I saw him touch a blind man and then the man could see.

I saw him offer a hand to lift a paralysed man from his mat and he walked.

And if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it.

I saw him reach out and touch the awful skin of a Leper and the skin became like new, it was smooth and supple.

I saw him talk to a woman by a well, not one of us, yet she was changed.

And if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it.

I saw him love an adulteress as he stopped the stones and set her on a new path to tread.

I saw the men; the hypocrites turn away, had they used her?

I saw him enable a small in stature cheat give all his stolen wealth away.

And if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it.

I saw meals with outcasts

I saw storms at sea stilled

I saw hungry thousands fed.

And if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it.

I saw a friend dead yet walk from his tomb.

I saw tables overturned in the temple. 

And if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it.

I saw, I saw so much and I knew he was to die and I said lets also go that we might die with him.

I loved this man yes even willing to die with him

And I saw this man who had done so much, so much that

And if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it.

I saw this man die.

He died a terrible death.

And I who had seen so much,

Believed so much

So willing to die as well.

I had to be alone.

And so I did not see

I did not see when he came into my friends midst

I did not see that he had conquered death

I did not see that he was alive for ever

Damflask Reservoir

I did not see for myself and so I did not believe.

Call me a pessimist.

But I did not see!

I saw my Lord and My God

I needed my eyes to see and believe

Thank God for sight that comes with the eye of faith

That people too can believe.

But don‘t be too hard on me will you,

I who had seen so much,                                                    

I withdrew from the fellowship.

You can miss so much

When you withdraw from the fellowship.

But don’t be too hard on me,

Have there not been times

When you don’t believe something 

because you haven’t seen it.

Don’t claim to understand what you don’t 

Or that you believe what you don’t believe.

Be honest and deepen your faith

With the struggle of honest doubt.

I saw the risen Christ.

And if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes

I would never have believed it.

But when you are sure

Go the whole way

With me you can say

My Lord and My God.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name

In readiness for easter Morning

In readiness for Easter Morning

I’m not good at doing the whole thought for the day, though I have done some radio work in the past. 

Finding that balance of being honest and yet giving a word of hope is not easy. 

On my desk for all the years I have lived here in Sheffield is a pottery tile given to me when I left Wolstanton. 

The Lord will be with you wherever you go Joshua 1:9 

Mind you I prefer the cup by one of the youngsters when I left which reads 

Dear God please look after Mark as he makes his Journey to a new life!

Well I’m learning afresh to know what it means for God to be with me / us in this crisis and yes please look after me and all those I know.

When I lived in Staffordshire (the potteries) one of our churches had its own graveyard. My colleague invited her congregation to meet her there early on Easter Day. When they gathered she was nowhere to be seen. Then she suddenly appeared from behind a gravestone with the question ‘What are you doing looking for the living among the dead?’ ‘He is not here He has risen’. Well I can't be meeting anyone tomorrow morning but do send me your photos of the sunrise if you are up at that time.

Well yes its been one of the strangest Holy Week’s I have ever experienced. Normally the week in the past has been filled with busyness of extra services, making extra effort to make them as meaningful as possible. Not this time. 

I recall all those ‘Processions of witness’ over the years. Following the cross in St Ives Cambridgeshire where each church joined in as we made our way from church to church before finally entering the market place. Pushing Anna as a young child in her buggy we would make our way and folks would stop and stare in those days. As the years have gone by it seems harder to get such events organised and people to participate. Shops remain open, people go to work and you are lucky to get a glance as you walk in silence behind the cross. Perhaps next year the freedom and chance to walk together will be grasped by more people. We trust the 2 metre rule will be gone or boy will it be a long procession!

Then there have been the numerous Maundy Thursday meals. Sometimes they were shared with other churches, sometimes not. Yet always the moment when the silence fills the space and people drift away back to their homes in the dark. There is always something very profound as a minister to wait on others. To clear up everything when people have gone, and how difficult it is for some people to allow you to do that for them.  Perhaps next year more people will come to eat, drink and talk together than ever before. Grasping that freedom to be in each others company, and maybe the soup will run out !

Then of course there have been the various wooden crosses on Easter Day transformed with colour as we celebrate the good news that Christ is Risen - He is Risen indeed. Whether it was St Ives Cambridgeshire, Highlands in Leigh on Sea, Essex, Wolstanton in Staffordshire or Sheffield. The ritual of transformation has stayed the course of time. That is  of course the beauty and wonder of rituals. Their ability to give us the tools to express our faith often when words cannot be found. 

In these strange times I’d be lying to say I’m not fearful. To leave the house and get the shopping or check the church buildings or take daily exercise or whatever. It can feel like you are taking a calculated risk. Hoping not to come into contact with the virus. Yet you have to try and find a way to live in the face of that fear. So no need to be in denial. You can fear and still live life. I think Jesus knew fear but he embraced it as he went to the cross. 

So as I sit writing on this Holy Saturday to send later tonight I also recall the Easter Vigils, often staying up all night with youth groups. Then delivering worship the next day just slightly dazed from utter tiredness. Now I regret none of them.

However I am struck by a  couple of things.

Firstly the capacity of the Christian church to embrace the power of the web, be it facebook, YouTube, Zoom, Whats app etc to seek to give a sense of being Christ's community. That we might still be able to worship , to pray to Hope, to be Church. This is all good and it will continue for sometime to come.

Secondly I want to say however its just not the same. Being community means seeing people. Being with people. Face to face. When Jesus called people into discipleship he called them into a community. You didn’t get to chose who you would be alongside. They become your brothers and sisters by the fact Jesus called them into the community. They are the adopted sons and daughters of God. So when we begin to resume our life together physically, and we will, you might rightly be cautious. Worried  about shaking hands or getting too close. I guess to start with we must take that as the norm. But oh what a smile you can give to your brother and sister to show your delight at their presence. Perhaps this time of isolation will enable us to never forget at different stages of our life people can no longer come along to worship in a building. They can so easily become isolated and forgotten. Lets make a renewed effort to visit them, to take communion to them, to talk and listen with them, to be in communion with them.

so my own Easter blessing

Creator God

you love your creation.

With you

help us

to love it back to health.

Jesus Christ 

in whose footsteps we follow

to the cross and beyond.

Help us to face our fears

and gift us your peace

that we might live in peace.

Holy Spirit

whose power to comfort

is beyond all words,

move across the chaos of our world

and bring renewed Life.

God, 

Creator, Son and Spirit

Bless 

our world and our lives

with your healing

your wholeness 

this Easter.

Amen

© Mark Goodhand Easter 2020

Many are the Faces Part 2 - God as Redeemer

Many are the faces Part 2

Having touched on suffering Josh and Mo begin a conversation about God who is sometimes seen as Redeemer or Liberator. It then leads into the familiar Hymn Guide me O my Great Redeemer

So we pick up the musical  as the song 'How long O Lord' fades out and the dialogue resumes.

Josh: That’s not fair they don’t understand God.

Mo: Why should they if he never listens. Perhaps he just doesn’t exist!

Josh: Oh no Mo you’ve got it wrong. God’s the person to have a one to one with.

Mo: Next thing you’ll be telling me is to have him on my whats app list.

Josh: Always good to be in touch.

Mo: Yes but does he get anything done?

Josh: Like what for example?

Mo: Like feed the hungry of the world, stop the fighting in Syria, stop diseases,  get rid of 

        homelessness….

Josh: I said one example. What do you want everything taken care of?

Mo: Well it’s no good saying God loves you, cares about you. People want the proof of it.  

        Otherwise you don’t get elected. Look at Labour!

Josh: God’s not a politician. Anyway he’s got a great track record. Now the bible. The bible is full 

          of what he’s done calling people to lead good clean moral lives. Fantastic leader. When 

          God’s on your side opposition better watch out.  

Mo:  Bit of a fighter then eh?

Josh: Well he has been known to get involved in a scrap or two.

Mo: Oh a Leeds United fan?

Josh: Not a hooligan

Mo: What then?

Josh: God gets on the side of the underdog. More like a Liberator always freeing people

Mo: Like when ?

Josh: Like when…um…. Like when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. History is but 

         the the story of God’s involvement in human development. One of the most important 

         moments in history, not just for the Jews, but for all people was the Exodus . This was when 

         God lead the people out of tyranny to a new life. This is key to understanding God as   

         Redeemer because he’s always doing that. Setting people free.

Mo: Redeemer! What do you mean?

Josh: Well put simply for I realise you are a theological illiterate. It means God gets involved in a 

          situation and is creative with it. Making something new and better out of what there is.

Mo: What like Brexit ?

Josh: Be serious. God gets things done. Thats why people put their trust in God to lead them 

        through their difficulties .

Guide me O my Great Redeemer 

Pilgrim through this barren land.

I am weak but you are mighty 

Hold me with your powerful hand.

Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven

 Feed me now and ever more.

Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven 

Feed me now and ever more.

Open now the crystal fountain

where the healing waters flow.

Let the fire and cloudy pillar

lead me all my journey through.

Strong deliverer, strong deliverer

ever be my strength and shield.

Strong deliverer, strong deliverer

ever be my strength and shield.

When I tried the verge of Jordan

bid my anxious fears subside.

Death of death and hell’s destruction

Land me safe on Canan’s side.

Songs and praises, Songs and praises

I will ever sing to you.

Songs and praises , Songs and praises

I will ever sing to you.

How Long O Lord ?

My first appointment as a Methodist Minister saw me based in St Ives Cambridgeshire where I had pastoral charge of five churches. The Ecumenical scene was good particularly between ourselves the Roman Catholic Church and the United Reformed Church. So it meant through conversations, a group of Christians from the various churches came together to put on Christian musicals at the Methodist Church over a couple of years. "'The Witness "and "Pharaoh to Freedom "saw a packed church enjoy the Christian story. With a wonderful choir, actors, lighting, and in those days 'special effects', the church was transformed for the performances. As enjoyable as these events were, I recall that even then I had a nagging uncomfortable thought; Its easy to tell the Christian story to Christians, but how do you share with non Christians? Plus how do share the very real doubts and questions we all have about God and life? So a small group of us produced our own musical using songs from the Iona Community. Entitled 'Many are the faces' it was an attempt to express the reality that we know so little about God. I think we did this because at times it may appear the church claims to have it all wrapped up. So we played with images and names for God. These images and names expressed the glimpses we have received and yet we have so much more to discover. The last verse of the key song sums it up.

Can we be certain of how the Lord looks,
Deep though our faith and conviction,
When in the face of the Saviour we see
The smile of divine contradiction?

I had great fun in writing sketches which explored a full range of questions we might as people of faith want to raise but very often do not articulate.

One song that we used in the musical springs to mind in the light of our current crisis. It asks the age old question in the face of any kind of suffering - How Long O Lord?
It is based on a Psalm 13. Sometimes we have to call on God's care, because we have been made redundant, victimised, lost out in love or been hurt by people close to us. At such times the words of Psalm 13 can be very helpful.

1.  How Long, O Lord,                                                 2. How long, O Lord,
    Will you quite forget me?                                             Must this grief possess my heart?
    How long, O Lord,                                                        How long, O Lord,
    Will you turn your face from me?                                 Must I languish night and day?
    How long, O Lord,                                                        How long, O Lord,
    Must I suffer in my soul?                                              Shall my enemy oppress?
    How long, how long,                                                     How long, how long,
    O Lord?                                                                         O Lord?


                                            3. Look now, look now
                                                And answer me, my God;
                                                Give light, give light,
                                                Lest I sleep the sleep of death,
                                                Lest my enemies
                                                Rejoice at my downfall;
                                                Look now, look now,
                                                O Lord.                       
                                                                                           Tune new Thirteenth
                                                                            Words and Music (c) 1987 The Iona Community

As a Christian minister you would always hope that you could offer the right word that would bring hope. However I've never been good at platitudes. What I share is what I learnt in the early weeks of  ministry. Elizabeth a church steward was in hospital dying of cancer. I went to visit, a little in trepidation. What I found was that she taught me to sit quietly with her with barely a word being said. Yet in that space and time spent together God was very real. That was enough. No miracle. Elizabeth died. Somewhere in my belongings I still have her Methodist class ticket that she had kept from years before I ever met her. We may want to talk about how we are feeling, others may not. Allowing people to respond in the way to the crisis that works for them is right. In the doubting, in the fear, in the silence you may discover a glimpse of God, and for the moment that is enough, and yes throw up the cry 'How long, O Lord?'

The musical was linked with conversations by two characters dressed in white shirts and black trousers. Josh and Mo, ( a nod in those days to Mel and Griff),just musing. The musical starts in darkness and slowly the choir builds the volume 'Kindle a flame to lighten the dark and take all fear away.'
Then the darkness is transformed as the stage becomes full of light and colour as the creation story unfolds in song, scenery and with actors. And so God as Creator and the question of suffering begins.

Josh:  Not bad eh?

Mo :   Not bad at all!

Josh:   Pretty impressive?

Mo: Amazing

Jo: Well that's God for you

Mo:  What's God for you?

Jo:  You know

Mo:  Know what?

Josh:  Creation

Mo:  Oh Creation.  What Creation?

Josh:  God's creation. The universe, birds and the bees. He made them all.

Mo:  Out of what?

Josh:  What do you mean out of what?

Mo:  Well you have to make things out of something.

Josh:  Now look Mo. We are talking Creator. The ground of all being.We are talking about the one                 who is Transcendent, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, ommm...

Mo:  Ommmi what?

Josh: Where have you been all your life Mo down the steel works!
          Didn't they teach you anything in Sunday School?

Mo: Couldn't do with Sunday school

Josh: Look Mo, God is the one who just has to think and it happens.
         He can think Icebergs and they appear

Mo: That would explain Titanic !

Josh: No No, look God, he's all powerful, all knowing, all loving ever present, everywhere.

Mo: Is he a nice bloke then?

Josh: Yeah of course he is

Mo: Then how come If He's all powerful

Josh: All Powerful

Mo:  He's everywhere

Josh:  Everywhere

Mo:  He can do anything

Josh: Anything?

Mo: How come the world's such a lousy mess if he's so caring.How come people are starving, and theres sickness and homelessness. Why doesn't he do something about It

How Long, O Lord?