A dog, a pub, sheep and a good shepherd.

 A man was once in a pub when he saw a dog walk in. He noticed the dog go to the bar and order a pint. He watched as the dog reached behind his collar to get money and to pay for his pint, then he watched the dog drink the pint and walk out. The man was fascinated and followed the dog, who got on a bus, and he followed the dog as the dog got off the bus and walked to a house. He then saw the dog knock the door, and the owner came out. The man decided that he should tell the owner how amazing his dog was. The owner disagreed, the man was shocked, but then the owner said, 'The dog is not great; he has forgotten his keys again.' 

Our gospel reading (John 10:1-10) this morning is all about a gate, a doorway. A way into something in which we are protected. In that reading we heard of a bad shepherd, of thieves and robbers who wanted to steal the sheep to make life hard for them, maybe even kill them. But Jesus pointed out that He was the doorway and so a good shepherd. When a shepherd was leading his flock out, if they were away from home, the shepherd would find an enclosure in a field and would lay across any gap so that the sheep couldn't get out and no one else could get in. 

When Jesus spoke about the good shepherd, He was encouraging His listeners to make the connection that He was a good shepherd. Jesus as the good shepherd was showing that He protected His sheep, making sure that nothing could attack them. Jesus knew that sheep would follow a good shepherd; they would trust the shepherd and would be led to a good and safe place. 

This is amazing; we are the sheep and Jesus is our shepherd. He is good; He wants to give us life, not rob us of anything. He wants us to have life in its fullest. When Pepsi Max first came out, the slogan was, 'Live life to the max.' It was accompanied by shots of people doing really mad things like bungee jumping.  I was never tempted to do anything like that, but the slogan always makes me think of the promise of Jesus that He wants His sheep, us, to live life to its fullest. Jesus wants us to know the best way, and that way is with Him. Once the sheep had found the good shepherd, they wouldn't want to move away, after all sheep naturally want to be safe and have good food. With Jesus it is the same for us; we are sheep who are safe, who are receiving good food. 

But, as with anything, there is a problem. That problem is that sometimes we want to go our own way, we leave Jesus, not consciously perhaps, but we move away from Him as other things get in the way. The other things can be good things; they may be family, doing things for the Church, helping other people, all important things, but sometimes those things can take over so much that we forget about God. Just like the sheep in good pasture, we have immediate access to the best food. That food is prayer, reading the Bible, spending time with other believers. Jesus gives us this immediate food; it is the food of knowing Him and spending time with Him.

Jesus our Lord is our shepherd, and we can turn to Him knowing that He will never let us down, knowing that even when things make life hard for us the good shepherd is still there. The Lord is our shepherd, and He is good. He wants to bring us the best; He wants us to know Him. Now, this doesn't mean that life will always be perfect, it won't, it doesn't mean that we will always be able to make sense of everything, but it does mean that Jesus is always with us. Always protecting, always loving. 

In the reading from Acts (2:42-47) we heard of the early Church meeting together and sharing. Of them helping each other, being together and praising God together. It is a perfect picture of how life should and could be. At the moment election leaflets are coming through the door. I am not going to be party political, but I will say that as believers we have a responsibility to vote. That responsibility is one where we pray for those who win. One where, as we vote, we think of the actions that we believe will be most helpful for a peaceful country, and a country ruled with fairness and equality, just as we heard about in the reading from Acts.

In our Psalm (23) we heard the beautiful words of David as he watched his sheep. I like picturing him watching the sheep and reflecting on the fact that God was his shepherd, and He was a really good one who would make sure that the pastures you had were always perfect and lush green. The best. David showed in these words of praise that God would give the best, protecting him. Making sure that he had all that he needed. It is a beautiful Psalm, and the words in it are a great reminder of what we can expect as followers of God. Notice at the end of the Psalm David talks of being in God’s house forever. This is a promise for us as well.

Two beautiful pictures that go along with Jesus as the good shepherd. In the reading from 1 Peter (2:19-25) we were reminded that Jesus died for His sheep. We were also warned that in the same way as sheep we can go astray, but we need to make sure that we always return to the shepherd and guardian of our souls.

We are sheep, of a good shepherd. Who brings life, not destroys it, who supports us all the way through all that happens in life even when it makes no sense at all. 

Jesus is the gate; He is the doorway for us all. We enter through Him into a better life. This is a life that means we can be contented in knowing that we are loved and are being led to life in its fullest, life with our creator. May we all seek to stay true to the good shepherd who will never leave us. AMEN

When excitement meets peace.

 I am a person who loves words. I tend to talk a lot, so I do have a lot of experience of words! This morning I have picked out four words that I think sum up the readings we have heard. They are anticipation, excitement, peace and promise. I will explain, but please know that I will not be testing you on the words later.

I will start with anticipation. In the gospel reading (John 20:19-31) we heard of the disciples waiting for Jesus to appear. They had heard that He was alive. They may have been anticipating His arrival, but they may have also been anticipating what He would say to them and what He might ask them to do next. There must have been excitement as well. Waiting to see Jesus again must have been exciting as well.

Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to his disciples. Imagine their excitement and anticipation. How would you have felt on seeing Jesus? Maybe you would have thought immediately of questions such as, ‘What is going to happen next? Is there going to be a new start for Jesus’ ministry? Are we going to go to the Temple and overthrow the people who killed Jesus? Maybe we are going to watch Jesus take over the political power in the world and rule himself?’

Jesus, who had been through so much with and for the very friends that he was speaking to - Jesus, who had confounded their expectations by rising up from the grave - Jesus, who was now standing amongst them, confounded them again by offering the simple words… ‘peace be with you’.

Incredible. No immediate ideas for the future, no action plans to discuss! Amidst all the excitement and anticipation, the wonder of what might happen next, Jesus stood and said, ‘peace be with you’, and the disciples could have been forgiven for thinking, ‘what else do you want to say to us?’ Peace is a word that we associate with Jesus. To be honest, when I look at the world around us, I cannot help but pray for God to bring peace. It is much too big a problem for us to deal with. We can only pray for peace and ask God to help both the people suffering from war, and the leaders of nations that may seek to put care and peace first.

Back to the gospel reading. After saying, ‘Peace be with you’, Jesus unveiled an action plan for the disciples by saying, ‘As the Father has sent me, so I send you’.

Jesus, through his victory over death, and the gift of the Holy Spirit that would come to all his followers at Pentecost, was handing over the earthly ministry to those followers – as they received the peace of Christ, so they were to share it with others.

In the gospel reading we also heard of Thomas. I often feel sorry for Thomas, who will forever be known as doubting Thomas. But put yourself in his shoes. Maybe you wouldn’t have been swept away with all the excitement and anticipation; maybe you would have wanted to step back for a moment and be sure. Maybe that would seem to be the most natural thing to do.

For Thomas it was perhaps the reaction that he had from Jesus that helped him. This is because the reaction of Jesus to Thomas and his doubts reminds us that in times of doubt, times of questioning, times when things don’t seem to make perfect sense, Jesus is there waiting for us to approach him, and we can know from Thomas and Jesus that whatever we may have done to Jesus, or not done to him or for him, he waits with open arms to welcome us back.

Thomas is the inspiration that reminds us that the peace of Christ is a peace that passes all understanding, and a peace that is always available to us. It is the type of peace which means that everything will be ok in the end, and it is also the peace which enables us to pray for peace in the world and in the lives of others.

Just as those early disciples must have stood before the risen Jesus and wondered what comes next, so we can stand, firm in our faith, wondering what comes next, but knowing that God is with us, and assuring us of his peace.

In the reading we heard from the first letter of Peter, we heard about the wonderful news that because of the resurrection we have a new hope. This hope is living, it is real. It has the best inheritance ever. This inheritance is one that can never fade, can never perish, or be damaged. It is perfect.

It is the promise of life everlasting with God. This is a beautiful promise. It can never be broken. It is the promise of God for us that He loves us and will never leave us.

It is good to know that after anticipating something, being excited and knowing the peace of God, His promise never ends.

All the words I have used have been positive. Sometimes life is far from positive. We may find it hard to be positive at time. In our faith we may have moments of doubt, times of questioning, times when things don’t seem to make sense. Just like it was for Thomas, so it is for us. Jesus is there waiting for us to approach him, and we can know that whatever we may have done to Jesus, or not done to Him or for Him, He waits with open arms to welcome us back.

We can always know His peace. We have a promise of something even better than we could imagine. After all, we have promise of being with God for ever. Being in a relationship with God is the best that we could have.

I am very happy to anticipate, to be excited by and to know that peace. To know the promise that God gives us. As the last verse of our Psalm (16:11) this morning put it,

‘You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.’

May we know the fullness of joy in God’s presence every day. May we always remember that His peace, and His promise, are never ending. AMEN

A decisive moment

 I want to begin by saying happy Easter. Today is the day when we can celebrate that because of Jesus‘s resurrection death has been conquered. It is the day when we remember the moment when God showed us that He has the ultimate victory.

Today is also a day when we are challenged to think about our own faith. If someone asked you what does Easter mean to you, what might you say? I remember a little girl who told me that she loved Easter and she loved chocolate. She told me that at Easter you went to church first and then when you got home, you could eat chocolate. Now I’m not going to embarrass any of you but it would be interesting to know how many people have already eaten some Easter egg today.

I love chocolate, so today has extra special luxuries ahead. Although, if I was asked what does Easter mean to me? I would say the most indescribable joy ever. Jesus by rising from the dead showed that what he had said about himself was true. After all, there was no way that Jesus was not God when He was able to rise from the dead. It made it so obvious who He was, what He had done and what He could do.

My family has a lot of people who support sports in it. This means that I have a very strange knowledge of football which I’ve picked up. One piece of knowledge is from an old Facebook post. In this post someone had pointed out that the then manager of Arsenal football club Arsene Wenger had said that Christmas is important but Easter is decisive. Of course he was talking about the difference that certain times of year make within the football season. Actually, I think that the reason this Facebook post has stuck so much in my memory, is hearing those words. Christmas is important but Easter is decisive.

In our reading this morning from the book of Acts (10:34-43) we heard the disciple Peter explaining both how God sees people and how He loves them. I think it’s rather poignant that Peter is remembered today. After all, when Jesus was arrested, Peter denied knowing Him three times. Just as Jesus had told Peter that he would. He must have been sad when he realised that he had done this.

After the resurrection Peter met Jesus and Jesus forgave him. Later on Peter experienced the Holy Spirit at the Jewish festival of Pentecost. Peter had followed certain laws about who he could and could not eat with, as well as the food that he could eat. Later on Peter changed as he saw in a vision that the food he ate and where he ate was not important. It had been a big part of Peter’s faith, but God showed Him that the most important thing was knowing Him and telling others about Him.

In the reading today we heard Peter saying that God has no partiality. Everyone matters. We heard of Peter explaining the message of Jesus, then the crucifixion and then the resurrection.

Happy Peter, and well done Peter. He had been changed, changed by the love of God for him, and changed by the resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus had not risen He would have been just another person who people had hoped in but had been proven wrong. Jesus rising from the dead proved that He was and is God. God is with us always, and He is alive. God is not dead – God is alive and alleluia, our lives are changed by the joy of knowing that even when times are tough God is with us, and He will never leave us.

Peter was convinced, and this conviction made him want to tell everyone about Jesus. He had experienced a decisive moment. Have we understood what today means for us ? You may believe but have you made the decision to take Jesus seriously ? To be convinced of who He is and how Jesus changes us, to such an extent that we are happy to tell others about Him and the change He has made in our lives.

Easter means that we have the best news ever to proclaim. I am not saying that we need to preach to lots of people, or that we need to go off and preach about Jesus on the TV. Although, you never know what situations God may call you to. There is one thing that we can be sure we are called to do and this is to be more like Jesus. By doing this, then by our lives we can show in the way we live that Jesus is Lord. He is alive and He loves us.

Jesus is alive and we have the best news ever. Today is an important day, it is a day to celebrate yes, but it is also a day when we can change.

Today is about new beginnings. It isn’t a day to look back at things that we may have done wrong, it isn’t a day to feel guilty. It is a day to give thanks that God is not dead. He is with us, God loves us and we know that He offers us all new life and new hope.

The best bit of all is that we are forgiven and we can truly know that like Peter, even when we have messed up God still has a job for us to do. It is a really great job, it is about telling people all about God and His love.

It is about us being more like Him, it is about us living everyday knowing that we can rely on God for strength. For strength to follow Him, to be more like Him, and to face difficult times.

Peter changed because of the new life that Jesus brings. By Jesus’ death and resurrection we know that we can be changed. Every day, as many times as we want we can turn to God knowing that He loves us.

Easter is decisive, we have to decide to follow Jesus, or to keep following Him. We are also to decide if we want the joy of Easter to be with us always, and if we will share that joy with others.

So, on this Easter Day, this decisive day, I want to say, ‘The Lord is risen, He is risen indeed, Alleluia. AMEN

From one pace to the next

 As Lent began this year I remember saying that we were taking things slowly. There were ideas of books that you could read over the period. This week, as we enter Holy Week, we are preparing for things to speed up again. As we enter into Holy Week we do so knowing that we are walking with Jesus the last week of His time on earth. This week is a challenge, it is full of emotion, for me a number of years ago it was a time when I injured myself. One Holy Week I helped strip the altar on Maundy Thursday, I propelled backwards and was caught by the Verger. I was told to sit and be quiet in the vestry. Earlier in that week I had put a ring on my finger and it had got stuck. My finger had started to turn blue and the quickest help for me to have the ring removed was a fire engine. I didn’t expect a full fire engine to pull up at the Vicarage with flashing lights and sirens. The next year I fell over walking to a school. I was rushed into the school office and my wounds were tended to. The head teacher thought I had been attacked and was going to phone the police. I explained that I had simply fallen over. The year after that - Holy Week happened without me injuring myself or anyone else.

I told some people and it was felt that I was entering into Holy Week in much too graphic a way. I agreed.

Holy Week the first time was certainly dramatic, it was certainly confusing, it was certainly sad. From the excitement of entering Jerusalem with Jesus being hailed as King and being greeted with palm branches to the Friday with some of the same people calling for Jesus to be crucified, we go through a series of emotions.

As we enter into Holy Week we are encouraged to praise God, we are encouraged by Maundy Thursday to remember Jesus’ last meal with the disciples, a meal at which He gave us a way to remember Him as we share in the Eucharist together. Then, of course, on Good Friday there is the pain of remembering Jesus on the Cross and the fact that this was all done for us. Jesus died so that we might live forever and know Him, so we could have a relationship with Him.

It is fast paced, and I wonder how easy it is to move from one pace to another so quickly. Maybe it is all ok really. We are looking with the knowledge that everything is going to be fine. Love has won. God has won, and as we remember we do so knowing that the love of God is with us always.

Maybe this means that we can approach this week expecting to be transformed. We don’t have to rush but we can be quiet and slow paced if we want, all we need to do is to take time and think. To think about the love of God. To take time to pray that we will be more like God every day.

I would like to finish with a prayer from my choice of Lenten book this year.

Let us pray

Holy God, help me to walk the way of the cross of Jesus. As I let go of my way, may I find the path to life in your holy Way. Amen.

Courage to love

 There were once two little boys who decided to buy their mother some flowers. So they went out to look for a nice bouquet, however the only one that they really liked was too expensive, so they thought that they would buy her a nice house plant instead. They did this and presented it to their Mum who was really pleased. Then the younger of the two boys explained, “Well, Mum we saw a lovely bouquet, it was really pretty and you would have loved it, it had a huge ribbon across the top of it on which were the words, ‘rest in peace’, we know that you always ask us to give you a chance to rest in peace so we would have bought it for you but we didn’t have enough money.” The Mum reassured her sons that a house plant was a much better idea!

Today is, of course, Mothering Sunday, a day when we give thanks for Mums, and all those who have loved us and cared for us as Mothers. We think also of our own role in loving and caring for others, and we are reminded of the greatest love of all. The love of God for us, His children.

Today we also give thanks for our mother Church, which is Newport Cathedral, and of course Mary, the mother of Jesus. I like to think of the Church that I grew up in as well, this Church nurtured me and helped me grow in my faith.

Our readings this morning have reminded us not just of mothers but also of our call to love and get alongside those in need.

In the Old Testament reading (Ex.2:1-10.) we heard of a mother protecting her child. She knew that if the Pharaoh of Egypt at the time had known that she had a son he would have killed him. This was because Pharaoh felt threatened by the people he had as slaves. These people were Hebrews and Pharaoh was worried that if they grew in number they would turn on him and enslave him instead.

The mother of the baby had kept him hidden, but she knew she couldn’t do this forever. She placed him in a basket and his sister took him to the Nile. It is the type of story which would have you hanging on for more if you didn’t already know what happened.

Pharaoh’s daughter found the baby, and then ended up asking for his own mother to look after him in the Pharaoh’s palace. It really is an amazing account. The man who would have killed the baby boy ended up with the boy being brought up in his palace by his own birth mother. Incredible!

Moses, the little boy, was protected and looked after. He then grew up and was used by God as someone who would help to set the Hebrew people free from slavery.

When you hear this you can never believe that God wasn’t looking after His children, the Hebrews. In the same way that Mothers look after their children despite all setbacks God does the same for us.

In the reading from the gospel according to Luke (2:33-36) we heard of a mother being warned of awful things to come. Mary was warned that she would be hurt. This happened when Jesus was a Baby. He had been taken to the Temple and a man named Simeon had realised that in Jesus was the salvation that they were waiting for. Not just this, but after this moment of excitement he then told Mary and Joseph that their son was going to suffer.

I came across a little poem the other day, which talked of some of the Mums in the Bible and it said,

Had I been Joseph's mother

I'd have prayed

protection from his brothers

"God, keep him safe.

He is so young,

so different from

the others."

Mercifully,

she never knew

there would be slavery

and prison, too.

Had I been Moses' mother

I'd have wept to keep my little son:

praying she might forget

the babe drawn from the water

of the Nile.

Had I not kept

him for her

nursing him the while,

was he not mine?

--and she

but Pharaoh's daughter?

Had I been Mary,

Oh, had I been she,

I would have cried

as never mother cried,

"Anything, O God,

Anything...

--but

crucified."

In the reading that we heard from the 2nd letter to the Corinthians (1:3-7) we heard the word console. I have often thought of that word as quite a weak word, almost, ‘ah never mind, you’ll be ok’, but it is actually so much more than this. It expects more than a pat on the back, to truly console someone is to get alongside them, to be there for them, it is about showing true love and care. It can be easy to think that we are saying and doing the right thing for someone in need, but it is about more than this, it is about getting alongside a person. It is about going the extra mile. It is about giving things up for others.

It’s a little like the bravery of two women, the unconditional love of God and the knowledge that today as we give thanks for the example of love so we are to love in the ways that we have been loved. In the case of God’s love for us, this is unconditionally. As we give thanks today, may we also ask God to help us to love as He loves.

I am proud to be a member of the Mothers Union. This is a Christian organisation that is dedicated to ending poverty, violence and social injustice in the UK and around the world. For 150 years the Mothers Union has worked to help children, families, parents, all those in need by offering support and guidance. It was begun by a Mother who wanted to support other mothers, from different backgrounds in bringing up their children. Her name was Mary Sumner and she wrote a prayer which I would like to finish with. This prayer reminds us of our call to love, and support others.

Let us pray:-

All this day, O Lord,

let me touch as many lives as possible for thee;

and every life I touch, do thou by thy spirit quicken,

whether through the word I speak,

the prayer I breathe,

or the life I live.

Amen.

Overflowing Joy !

 I am the youngest child in my family. This means that growing up I had a brother and sister to advise me. It turns out that not everything they told me was true. Anyway, I remember a place in Chard where we used to stay. It was a house in which there were toys including toy boats. I was very little and my brother showed me that if you put enough water in the sink you could sail one of these boats. I liked the idea and later on decided to have a go myself. Then we all went out for the day. When we got back there was water everywhere. I had turned the tap on to play, but I hadn’t turned the tap off. 

I thought of that because we have come across overflowing and everlasting water in our readings today.

In the reading from Exodus (17:1-7) we heard of the people complaining as they travelled with Moses to the land that they had been promised. They were thirsty, so perhaps this seems fair enough.

After hearing this, Moses appealed to God, who used him to perform a miracle. By using a staff he was able to strike a stone and water came out. The place was named Massah and Meribah because the people had argued and questioned if God was with them.

In the Psalm (95) we heard of another theme in the readings this morning which is rejoicing because of all the good things God has done. I rather like the salutary warning that remembered Massah and Meribah. It is almost a warning to behave better, keep rejoicing because otherwise you will be known as arguing and complaining.

Keeping this idea of rejoicing in the letter to the Romans (5:1-11) we were reminded of the fact that because of what Jesus has done for us we can boast in His goodness. It is wonderful, my favourite verse is in this passage, “God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

It’s amazing and worth rejoicing in the fact that before God even knew if we would accept Him, He died for us. 

So far, there is a feeling of joy and hope in the readings. Hope in terms of a warning not to argue as bad things can happen. Joy that God helped the people and gave them another chance, joy in celebrating all that God has done and then as if that wasn’t enough we have the joy and reassurance that Jesus died for us. 

The gospel reading (John 4:5-42) reminds us that God loves us and wants to bring us all new life. I always picture the woman at the well running around afterwards and telling everyone about her encounter with someone who told her everything she ever knew about herself.  She wondered if He was the Messiah, the One promised by God who would help them.  After all, Jesus told her that she would gain new life and could receive more than water from the well, she could have everlasting life. 

We are offered this as well. God provides new life, and He promises that this life is everlasting. 

This is another need for us to rejoice, because just as Jesus did for the woman so He does for us. Jesus brings life, and everlasting water to us and all those for whom we pray.

In the reading from the gospel of John we did not hear just about a woman at the well but a non Jewish woman. Jesus a Jewish man speaking to a non Jewish woman would have been  scandalous.

Jesus was never bound by tradition, and he was never prepared to accept that people couldn’t reconcile their differences with God and with other people. He showed that God’s transforming love, grace and mercy are available to all. 

A while ago my husband and I went to Rome. We went to the Trevi fountain on Valentine’s Day. Our female friends were cross with their husbands that they hadn’t thought of something so romantic. The husbands breathed sighs of relief when they discovered that we were really going to watch the rugby !! 

Anyway in Rome there are many famous fountains at which people have their photos taken, and throw their coins in as they make a wish, but something that is not so well known is that these fountains also all have perfectly clean drinking water, and that’s what they were originally designed for. Water was a scarce commodity at one time in the city, and clean water was almost impossible to get, and so the authorities built the fountains. 

And in many places fountains or wells became the centre of a community, and even today this is still the case in some of the poorest parts of the world. People come to get their water, they share the local news and gossip, they chat to people about friends and family, they even discuss the local politics and so on.

The wells were a hugely important place where people found not just physical water, but met with people with whom they could discuss spiritual or physical needs or problems, as well as just those little bits of news which helped to keep communities going. 

They were a place of living water, and yet Jesus was saying that he was offering something even better ! And that is still what he is offering us today. He is calling us to look at ourselves, and to spend some time reflecting on who we are and what we are really called to do.  

Jesus saw potential in this woman, and he sees potential in every one of us. 

Jesus gives us that living water… An unnamed woman who was not a Jew, in spite of her hesitation and misgivings, she was drawn to the well to encounter Jesus, who gave her that drink of living water. So we also are drawn to encounter Jesus, that we too might drink of living water and never thirst again. We are called to rejoice, not to complain. God showed His love for the people on their journey by miraculously giving them water, they rejoiced, He died for us and He is always there to give us the living water. The water that is the best ever. 

I think that perhaps rather than thinking of water overflowing, we should be full of overflowing joy. Amen.