Acts 2:41-47; I Peter 2:19-25 and John 10:1-10

Bless thou, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, oh our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen Today I want to talk to you about devotion - devotion to the teachings of the apostles, to the fellowship of the church, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. The first thing I want to tell you is this - that without devotion to these things our life as individuals - and our life as a church - cannot succeed. It can't succeed because without devotion to those things God has given us, we end up adrift - we end up separated from our Lord - the shepherd of our souls, and swept away by the false teachings of our world. We loose the strength and the hope that we are supposed to have, and our joy, our health, and our strength, quickly dissipates. We become a people who are lifeless and unattractive and, unless we change our ways, unless, by the grace of God, we are once again found - we stumble and fall.. The father of all lies tries to tell us - that devotion - that the dedication of ones time and energy to the teachings of the apostles - and to the fellowship of the church - and to the breaking of bread and to prayer, is not really all that important. He tries to tell us that we can get by with an occasional prayer, and that it will not hurt all that much if we don't read and learn about the Bible, and that a person doesn't really have to attend church or get involved in Christian groups to be a follower of Christ. This is a lie - and anyone who tells you otherwise is speaking to you with the voice of Satan. The secret of every growing church, and the basis of every healthy spiritual life, is an overriding commitment to hearing the word of God and applying it to one's life. It is a dedication to the health and prosperity - both spiritual and physical, of one's fellow believers, and the desire to invoke the presence of God within that community, and within one's own private prayer life. I am sure many of you have seen the bumper sticker that says - the family that prays together, stays together - We are the family of God - and unless we pray - together - unless we study and seek the will of God in the word of God together - and unless we share good times and bad times together, we will suffer the fate that comes upon those who stay apart, we will be alone; and ultimately we will loose our sense of direction; our sense of purpose; our faith. And that is happening and has happened in churches throughout North America and Europe. It is happening in those places where individual happiness is prized more than righteousness; where pursuing material success is held to be more important than spending time in community, where golf on Sunday or watching Football or taking the children to a ball game is deemed more important than building one's relationship with God, where watching TV or going shopping for the weekend is deemed more important than sharing with one's brothers and sisters the joys and the concerns that we have and praying together and sharing together those things which have helped us in God's word. I assume, that despite our parent's advice, that all of us have played with fire. We have sat before a fire place or a camp fire, and watched the coals glowing red and hot. And all of us know - that if we take a single coal out of the centre of the fire and place it to one side - it soon turns dull grey, its bright heat becomes first lukewarm and then cold - while the rest of the fire continues to burn. So it is with us. Separate a person from the Christian community, take them away from the place in which the word is proclaimed, bread is broken, and prayers uttered, and soon the light of their faith grows dull, and the warmth within their souls begins to diminish. Let no one lie to you! You can't be a Christian, at least you can't be an effective Christian, a fully alive Christian, one who, as Jesus says in today's reading - has life and that abundantly, if you do not listen to the voice of the shepherd who calls you by name, or if you flee from the sheepfold that he would lead you to for your own safety. How can you expect to do what is right? How can you expect to experience the blessings of God? How can you hope to minister to one another the love of Christ and feel that love return to you 30, or 60 or 100 fold, if you do not turn to Christ and listen to his voice? If you do not enter the sheepfold with your brothers and sisters? If you do not pray together and work together and love each other with the love of Christ? You can't! And the evidence of that is all around us. It is in the people we meet day by day who claim to believe in and love God - and yet have none of the signs of the abundant life that Christ promises to all who hear his voice and enter his sheepfold. Devotion, Dedication, Commitment - this is the secret of success in all endeavours, and in all endeavours that devotion, that dedication, that commitment is focussed on specific things. To experience life - and that abundantly - as Christ says we can, our focus must be on the teachings of the apostles, which are the teachings of our Lord, on the fellowship of the believers, on the breaking of bread - the invoking of Christ's presence in community, and on prayer. The early church had this focus - and the results were tremendous. As Luke tells us in today's reading - "all who believed were together and had all things in common, they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread from house to house, and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God, and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day God added to their number those who were being saved." Day by day, God added to their number. From that first community - came the entire church - a church that survived the stoning of Stephen, the persecution of Paul, and the destruction of Jerusalem itself. The early church survived and prospered, because the people within it committed themselves to one another and to the Lord who brought them together, The early church grew and spread like a fire in dry grass because those who believed sought God' presence, and prayed for his will to be done in their midst, not just one day a week, but each and every day. I wonder how many of us even pray each and every day? Let alone seek out the fellowship of fellow believers and pray with them and eat with them on a regular and consistent basis? I wonder how many of us read the scriptures each day? Or even think about what it is God has said in the past to us? Let alone seek to hear what it is he may be trying to say to us now - in the midst of our busy routines? I am sure everyone here is familiar with the expression - "cool as a cucumber". The expression "cool as a cucumber: refers to someone who is able to remain calm and collected in the heat of life's battles. The expression actually has its basis in scientific fact. A cucumber lying in the sun on a hot day is cooler on the inside than the outside. In fact the centre can be as much as ten degrees cooler that the outside. Even without a thermometer, the temperature can be easily detected by the touch. But the difference in temperature between the inside and the outside can only exist as long as the cucumber is attached to the vine. Once the cucumber is severed, it loses its ability to "keep its cool." Like the cucumber, we can only keep our cool in the midst of difficult circumstances, we can only thrive in the midst of an insane world, as long as we remain attached to the vine. Our vine is the fellowship of fellow believers and its head - Jesus Christ. The sap which runs through it is the word of God and the power unleashed in listening to it and in breaking bread together and in praying together. In the vine we have life. Jesus said: "I am the vine, you are the branches. They who abide in me and I in them, bear much fruit, but apart from me you can do nothing." Jesus also said - I am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. God has prepared a fold for us, He has made ready a safe haven for us, and appointed a faithful shepherd over us. To enjoy that haven, we need to listen to voice of our shepherd, and together, in the company of our fellow believers, follow him. When we follow him - he will lead us by the still waters, and to the green pastures, and he will keep us safe as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, his rod and his staff will comfort us. And the opposite is also true. When we fail to follow him, when we fail to listen to his voice and join ourselves with the rest of the flock, the waters will not be stilled, we will experience terror in the valley of the shadow of death, and our cups will not overflow in the presence of our enemies. We need, and all those who claim to believe in God need, to truly commit ourselves to our Lord and his teachings, and to one another as brothers and sisters in him if we are to be as alive as was the church in Jerusalem after the day of Pentecost. As we do this, as we pray and break bread together Christ our Lord will do the rest. He will make sure our souls are restored, he will set a table before us in the presence of our enemies and ensure that we dwell in the house of God forever, He will do this, for he is the bread of life; and the good shepherd; the way and the door; the resurrection and the life, the one in whom God was pleased to fully dwell within, the one in whom God is even now fully revealed for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. Praise be unto our God, and to our Lord Jesus Christ - now and forevermore AMEN

Acts 3:12-19 Psalm 4 (UMH 741) 1 John 3:1-7 Luke 24:36b-48

Bless thou O Lord, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen The tradition to which we belong, the Protestant tradition begun by Martin Luther believes most strongly that we meet God - that we meet Christ - in the word of scripture - in study - and in prayer. The scripture reading that I read today speaks about these things. It is the story of how two men, on Easter Sunday, set out on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus - a distance of about seven miles - were met by a stranger going along the same road - and began to speak to him about all that had occurred in the Holy City during the previous week. This man - this stranger - responded to their grief, their dejection - their shock and horror - regarding what had happened - how Jesus, a good man, a prophet, a man powerful before God and all the people - had been crucified and buried - and how his body had disappeared from the tomb - by taking them on a journey through the law and the prophets. In that journey he showed them how the scriptures foretold all that Jesus did, and all that he suffered, even how he would die - and what purpose it served. The scriptures are an amazing thing - Moses and David, Isaiah and Malachi, Jeremiah and Ruth, all speak of God's anointed one - of God's suffering servant - they speak too of God's purpose and plan for the world, how the world began - and how it will end. The scriptures are a way to come to know God, to come to know Christ, and it was through them, one night many years ago now - as I was reading the gospel of Luke that I first invited him to be my Lord and my Saviour. I met Christ through the scriptures. I came to know him by what they said about him, and wanted for myself the forgiveness and the joy of which he spoke, the strength and the hope which he offered, the wholeness and the salvation for which he came - and for which he died and rose again. The stranger who walked with the two men on the road to Emmaus spoke of these things. He taught them about the mind of God, and the purpose of God, and how Jesus fit in with it all. In the record of that encounter we are told that their hearts burned within them as this stranger talked to them about these things, as he "opened the Scriptures to them" Our tradition teaches us that the reading of scripture, and the study of scripture, and the proclamation of the message of the scriptures is the primary way in which we meet God, the primary way in which we meet Christ. Prayer is equally important however. While we get to know Christ, while we meet him, through the Word of God, we commune with him, we conduct our relationship with him through prayer. I can't number the times that prayer to the God who I have met through the scriptures has warmed my heart, calmed my fears, and given me a basic assurance about the future. In prayer I felt God's Spirit touch me - in prayer I have heard him tell me what I should do - and what I should not do - in prayer I felt his forgiveness and experienced a joy that words cannot express. There are hundreds of prayers in the Bible. For every mood, for every need, for every feeling that we experience we can find a matching mood, a matching need, a matching feeling described in the Holy Book. In the Psalms - and in the prophet Isaiah, and in many other places I have found my prayers to God echoed by those who have gone before me - indeed often I have found the words that I want to pray there... Lord - you are my rock and my refuge, be swift to help me. You have assigned me my portion and my cup, you have made my lot secure and so I praise you. Because you are at might and I will not be shaken, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.. Lord, lead me not into temptation but deliver me from the time evil. Forgive me - have mercy upon me - for I have done what is wrong in your sight, my sin is ever before - have compassion according to the abundance of your steadfast love. Father, I will praise you in the morning and in the watches of the night I will exalt you, my God and my King, You are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and rich in love. I thank you. Prayer is so precious - in it - the God we meet, the Christ we meet - becomes ever more real to us, his presence ever more immediate. Scripture, study, and prayer are ways in which we meet God and get to know him better, ways in which we meet Christ and come ever closer to him. Without them we have very little. Without them we cannot expect to know God, to encounter God, to commune with God. But the story of the two disciples who walked on the road to Emmaus on that first Easter Day tells us something more about how to get to know Christ - something more about how we might recognize him - how we might encounter him. It speaks to us of how Christ walks with us on our journey - and how, in the breaking of bread he comes to be known to us. In the Middle East at the time of Jesus, and even to this day, to eat a meal with someone - to have a person into your house and to sit at table with them, is the greatest compliment - the greatest kindness that one can show. It is an act of profound intimacy - an act of trust - of honour - of friendship. It was in that act - and specifically in the breaking of bread and in the prayer of thanks given over that bread that the two men - whose minds were clouded by anxiety and grief as they walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus had their eyes opened, that they recognized that the stranger who was with them - the stranger who they had invited into their home was the risen Christ, and having recognized Christ, they are filled with joy and excitement and return to Jerusalem to give witness to the disciples and to bring them the assurance that they needed. The Church has long taught us that we come to know God, that we come to recognize God in the literal act of breaking bread and giving thanks. That we recognize God, and that we commune with God, that we fellowship with God, in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. I believe that is true - but I also believe that more is meant here in the story of the Road to Emmaus I believe that this story is telling us that we too come to recognize Christ that we commune with Christ whenever we gather together, whenever we meet with and share with another person our joy and our grief and offer prayer over the bread we break together or the cup that we lift up and share with each other Jesus said - that where two or three gather in his name there he would be. When we gather in moments of intimacy. When we share the greatest gifts that we can share with one another: our homes - our tables - our bread and wine - our inner sanctums - Christ comes among us. I have had great moments in reading scripture. I have had great moments in prayer, moments in which I have been very much aware of the presence of God, very much aware of his plan and his purpose for me, very much aware of the closeness that he has to me - the love he has for me. But I have had some of my most profound moments of contact, most profound moments of recognition in the breaking of bread with strangers and with brothers and sisters in the faith; in sharing my innermost hopes and fears, my griefs and my joys with men and women who were willing to walk with me for a time and talk with me for a time and to share with me the few things that I could offer them. The Bible - and the church - calls this meeting - this sharing - this hospitality - this trust which we extend to friends and to strangers alike - communion. If you would meet God - if you would encounter Christ and recognize him in that encounter, read the scriptures and study them, listen to them being proclaimed where the saints gather - at Church and in Bible classes and pray over them with others - and at home alone by your bedside And reach out to others. Open your homes and your hearts to others as did the men who travelled the road to Emmaus. By doing so you may well be entertaining angels unaware. By doing so you may well encounter the Risen Christ, Where two or three are gathered in his name -- he is there. Amen!

Acts 2:14a,22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

Bless thou O Lord, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, oh our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen

For a moment imagine a scene of peace.- close your eyes and imagine it - describe it to yourself as fully as you can - enter into it deeply enough to feel its glow.

Some of you may have pictured yourself dozing in the bottom of a row boat on a calm and tranquil lake. Others may have seen yourselves looking at a little baby sleeping in her crib, or a cat napping on a sun soaked window ledge. Still others may have seen themselves in a landscape empty of people - but full of grain gently waving in a breeze or beside a stream in the woods with the water making music as it runs over and around stones lying in its course.

Whatever the picture you painted and entered into - chances are it was not like the kind of scene drawn by today's gospel text.

That text speaks of locked doors , of secret meetings by night - and of fear. None of these things makes a person normally think about peace - nor does the presence of one whose body is marked by the signs of torture and death.

It seems clear however that the evangelist wants us to see the two visits of Jesus to his disciples in the upper room as occasions of peace.

And perhaps they can speak to us about some dimensions of peace that we do normally think of - perhaps they can speak to us of peace in the midst of turmoil - of peace in the midst of fear - of peace in the midst of doubt.

False ideas about peace and joy abound in our society. These false ideas can distort our entire picture of what life is supposed to be about, and of who Christ is and of who we are.

A woman once related the story of how she once went to a worship service where the entire congregation was told

"If you don't have a smile on your face, you've got the wrong religion and should not be here. Christianity is a religion of joy."

She fled that service in tears - because she did not feel at that time like she could smile - she was having difficulties and was looking for comfort. Instead she was told that she was not good enough for God because she was not smiling.

God never asks us to falsify our experience. - our risen Lord never waits until we are already happy in order to come to us - and he never wears a pasted on smile.

Think of this for a moment - Christ could have miraculously obliterated his wounds after he was raised from the tomb, but chose not to. He bore the marks of his wounds into the presence of his disciples. In the same way Christ does not ask us to banish our wounds when we come into his presence - not even at Easter when we are supposed to be full of joy.

The risen Christ came to his disciples in the midst of their turmoil and fear. He came in the midst of their doubt and their sense of having failed both him and their own selves and said to them: "Peace be with you."

And when he said this he showed them his wounds - the holes in his hands and in his side - as if to say:

See these wounds - feel them and know that it is all right to hurt. Pain comes to us all - I was hurt as all people are hurt - but that pain and that hurt no longer has dominion over me - I live - as I said I would. I told you that I would suffer - and that you, if you followed me, would also suffer - but I told you too that after passing through various trials and tests -that pain and even death itself would lose its power - its power over me and its power over those who believe in me.

The three times that Jesus offers his peace to his disciples in today's reading - it is done in close connection with the wounds of crucifixion. The enemies of peace had already done their worst to him. They had made cowards and liars of his followers and had mocked his own words and actions. They had humiliated him in the city streets. The had violated his flesh and robbed him of his life. But their war against him failed. On the evening of the first day of the week he came to his disciples and showed them that he lived despite the worst that could happen.

The peace that Jesus offers can be described as the confidence his followers are able to take from his resurrected appearance. His return on that first day of the week signalled the fact that his life and promises will endure. His "peace be with you" was more than a greeting to be followed by another good-bye. It was the declaration of a persistent fact. Because Jesus lives nothing can separate his followers from him and from life in him.

The disciples realized this fact and in realizing it received the peace that Jesus offered - the peace that only Jesus could offer - for without him they would have been left to continue alone in the darkness and fear of their locked room.

The confidence that the disciples received when Jesus came and said to them "peace be with you" is demonstrated in the response of the disciples to his appearance. Peace showed itself in their rejoicing - and in Thomas' confession of faith - "My Lord, and my God."

And peace showed itself - confidence showed itself - inner security showed itself - later when the disciples left that room and went into the world to proclaim the love and forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ - the risen Lord.

But my friends - notice that none of the external circumstances of the disciples changed when they received and accepted the peace that Christ offered them.

They believed in him - they had confidence in him - they knew that nothing could separate them from God's love after he appeared to them - but they still had to face the same situation they faced before he broke into the room they had locked because of their fear. They still had to face authorities. They still had to risk going out on the streets, they still had deal with the crowds who had mocked and crucified Jesus. They still had to face trials and tribulations - as do we.

Peace be with you - is the word of Jesus to us. Peace be with you and blessed are you when you have not seen, as the disciples saw, and yet have come to believe.

Blessed are you - not because life will be plain sailing for you. Blessed are you - not because you will always want to smile and will never have to suffer.

But blessed are you because you have linked yourself to a power greater than yours; to a power that wants to sustain you and will sustain you, to the power that raised Jesus from the dead, to the power that will bring you to the inheritance that Jesus has won for us, that inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith.

Finally - I leave you with these words of Jesus. They are the words Jesus spoke to his disciples just before he went out to the Garden of Gethesame and onward from there to his cross and his death.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Believe in God, believe also in me. Amen.

I Corinthians 15:1-11 and Mark 16:1-8

Let us Pray - Creator and maker of us all - bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts - grow thou in us and show us your ways and inspire us to live by your truth. Amen

We celebrate today the resurrection of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Think of it - what a day this day is!

Jesus - whom his friends, his family, and indeed all of Jerusalem, thought dead, was raised to life on this day some two thousand years ago.

Not only was he raised to life - but he appeared to people.

He presented himself to Peter who denied him; to Thomas who doubted him; to Mary who wept for him; He visited with his friends, He supped with his disciples, He talked with his followers.

The first Easter was an incredible day, one that started with disbelief, with fear and trembling and bewilderment beside the empty tomb, and ended with astonishment, excitement and thanksgiving.

You know what strikes me about the resurrection day?

It is that despite all the disciples had seen Jesus do, from healing the sick to calming the storms, and despite all the disciples had heard Jesus say about how he would be killed and on the third day be raised, not one of them expected - after the cross was raised, not one of them hoped - after he was laid in the grave, to ever see Jesus again.

No one stood watch near the tomb. No one waited to see if he would rise.

When Jesus died their hopes died, their convictions died, indeed their faith died and they huddled in the upper room where they had celebrated the Passover hiding there in fear that the authorities would treat them just as they had treated Jesus.

What is striking about the first Easter day is that the resurrection is first discovered - not by Peter or any of the other males disciples, but by two women - and that these women do not go the tomb to see if their Lord is risen, but rather they go to finish the job of burying him.

No one expected the resurrection. Despite what they had seen. Despite what they had heard. Despite what they had experienced.

But, Praise God - it did happen! It happened because God made it happen.

And, praise God too, because not only did God make it happen, God went on and raised the faith of the disciples, He brought to life again their dead convictions and restored the hopes that they had lost.

It is because of the resurrection that we are here today.

If it had not happened the disciples would never have gone on, they would never have had the courage, the audacity, the nerve, or the temerity to say another word about Jesus in public, let alone to claim that He rose and is Lord of the living and the dead.

Hear again this morning the words of Paul - the words of one who experienced the presence of the risen Christ even as he travelled to Damascus to persecute and kill his followers.

What I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day - also according to the Scriptures.

This is what we preach and this is what you believed!

Brother and Sisters in faith - The resurrection is the most important thing that we believe in as Christians.

The resurrection is the centre of our faith, it is the foundation of our Christian experience, and it is the goal towards which our lives move.

The resurrection is of first importance to us, not because it is a nice ending to the story of Jesus, but because it is the beginning of our story, a story in which our faith can triumph over death just as did the faith of Jesus.

As Christians we are urged over and over again to trust in and accept the reality of the resurrection and to make it a part of our lives through faith in the one who rose from the dead.

We are a people who are called to believe in the power and the love that it shows - to believe in the power and love of God to bring goodness out of evil; life out of death; and hope out of despair.

And as Christians we are promised that when we trust and believe in this way, that when we believe in the power and the love of God, a power and love that can raise the dead to life, that our lives will be blest, and that we will be a blessing to others.

We are promised that what we believe will make a difference to us - and indeed it does....

Let me tell you a true story:

In Russia some years ago a railway worker accidentally locked himself in a refrigerator car. Unable to escape or to attract attention, he resigned himself to his fate. As he felt his body becoming numb he took a pencil out of his pocket and recorded the story of his approaching death. He scribbled on the walls of the car:

"I am becoming colder... still colder... I am slowly freezing... half asleep - these may be my last words.

When the car was opened the man was found dead, but the temperature of the car was only about 56 degrees. Officials found that the freezing mechanism was out of order and that there was plenty of fresh air available. Although there was no physical reason that they could find for the man to have died. It was concluded that he had died because he had believed that he would die.

My friends, what you believe to be true affects you to the core of your being, it shapes you and makes you what you are, it either blesses you because it opens you up to the power of God, or it afflicts you because it blinds you to what you could be and what God is trying to do for you.

Another story, this time a fable, that goes like this:

Once upon a time a man found the egg of an eagle. It had been abandoned for some reason by its mother, but as it was still warm the man took it and put it in the nest of one of his backyard chickens along with the other eggs that were there being brooded upon.

After a period of time the eaglet was hatched, and along with the other chicks from his nest began to go about the backyard doing what the other chicks did. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He looked for the corn that the man would throw into the yard. He clucked and cackled as best as he could, and as he grew, he would, like the other chickens, thrash his wings and fly a few feet in the air.

Years passed in this way and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. It glided majestically among the powerful wind currents, soaring and swooping, scarcely beating its long golden wings.

The old eagle looked at it in awe and asked "what is that"

"That is the eagle, the king of the birds", said one of his neighbours. "He belongs to the sky and to the high places. We belong to the earth, we are chickens."

The old eagle knew this was true, and so it was he lived and died as a chicken, for that is what he believed he was.

Think my friends of what happened to the disciples after the first Easter morning, after they finally accepted and believed in the resurrection that Christ had told them about.

They came out of the upper room where they had huddled in fear, and they went to the ends of the earth, and they created a mighty church despite the efforts of Emperors and Princes to stamp it and them out of existence.

They went from being people afraid of dying, to being people who offered their very lives to help others come to the faith, and hope, and joy that they had.

Like Paul - and others who have since believed - they were transformed and changed because of the resurrection and their conviction that it was for them that it occurred.

The disciples were changed by their faith in the resurrection and in the God who brought it about: they were given power to heal and to help others. Power to conquer their own fear and despair and power to defeat the fear and despair that afflicts others.

This is what the resurrection is about, what our faith is about.

God can bring back to life that which has died, God can bring good out of evil, love out of hate, and hope out of despair.

This is what we believe; and what we believe makes a difference.

Praise be to God our Father who raises the dead to life, Praise be to Jesus the Son who shares his life with the faithful, and Praise be to the Spirit who makes one with him. Amen

Matthew 21:1-11; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Matthew 27:1-2,11-50

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

Crowds. They are sometimes scary. Sometimes supportive. There are cheering crowds. There are jeering crowds, and there is a "crowd mentality".

You've heard of "mob rule". That's the mentality of a crowd. There is no space for individual thoughtfulness. No time for reflection. Just immediate and mass response.

One thing that's been true, from the very moment the first crowd gathered, and that is this: There are usually two sides in a crowd. Whether its a packed stadium for a soccer game, or a political rally, there are those for, and those against. There are the cheerers and the jeerers.

And sometimes one side or the other takes over. Sometimes, you get a crowd that becomes either supportive, or hostile. Often - the balance is delicate and fragile. A crowd can turn on you.

The crowd that Jesus faced in these days at Jerusalem was both.

It started off as a cheering and supportive crowd, and that is the crowd we met today on Palm Sunday.

But - watch out Jesus! Because - in a very few days - these same people are going to be a very different sort of a crowd for you! And God help you, my Saviour Jesus. These cheering ones - are going to turn into jeering ones.

Jesus attracted crowds.

He was a most charismatic person, this One who called himself the "Son of Man". People came from far and away to hear him. To see him. To witness to the amazing things he was doing. The great and inclusive and loving addresses he gave. The miracles he was known to perform.

But in any crowd - then and now - you get two kinds of people - the believers, and the doubters. And we see this quite often in the Bible - when we are told of the reaction of the crowds, the behaviour of the onlookers.

For example: When Jesus healed the man born blind by making mud with dirt and spit and anointing his eyes with it some of the Pharisees believed it to be a great miracle. Some believed that indeed Jesus was the Messiah.

But many more did not believe. As we heard two weeks ago, they expected kept questioning the healed man. And his parents. And his neighbours. And then they accused both him and Jesus of being an agent of the Devil.

Some for, some against. The cheerers - and the jeerers.

And later - when we look past Good Friday, past Easter, to the events of Pentecost - to the time when the Spirit descended on the disciples like tongues of flame and they began to praise God and speak in other languages, we discover that some of the onlookers saw it miraculous event. To others it was just a big drinking party! "They are filled with new wine" they said.

But - you know - as a crowd takes shape, as "mob rule" comes into effect the sentiment of the crowd solidifies. The mind of the crowd moves to one side - or the other - of an issue. It can be very frightening. And if you are in such a crowd - there's only a couple of "safe" ways to behave. Either go along with the crowd, or keep quiet.

If you don't agree, better stay silent, or leave - inconspicuously.

Some interesting experiments have been conducted by psychologists to understand crowds. And these experiments show how readily people will change their opinion to match the crowd. And I don't mean pretend to change their opinion, to fake it. I mean - really change their mind.

The experiment was simple. A bunch of people were seated in a dimly lit room. Onto a screen at the front of the room two straight lines were projected. One was obviously longer than the other.

The task was simple. State which line was longer. However unknown to the one subject of this experiment (let us say unknown to you) all of the other people in the room were involved in trickery. They had been told to lie. So - you had twenty or so other people around you saying that line A was the longer one. Everybody else in agreement. And you can see clearly that line B is longer.

What happens? Well, the experiment showed that you change your opinion, that's what. Pure and simple. And - even after the experiment is finished, and you are told what was going on you still hold to your changed opinion. That line "B" was longer. That is how persuasive the effect of a crowd is. It will even sway you to an obviously wrong opinion - and keep you there.

There was a big crowd in Jerusalem that day. Lots of people who did not even know who Jesus was - even though he'd been the talk of the city in recent weeks. It was at Passover time, when many Jews from the countryside would be there - celebrating this special feast.

There would be Jews from far away places too. Honouring their religious beliefs by travelling the great distances to Jerusalem, perhaps only once in their lifetime. Going to the Holy City for the most Holy of Feasts - the Passover. And this crowd - this day - was in a happy mood. They're ready for a parade! They are ready to celebrate.

And Jesus - knowing the mood of the city just before Passover - knowing the prophecies concerning how the Messiah would enter Jerusalem - and knowing what would come later - rides into the city on a donkey - his disciples beside him.

For those who have eyes to see - it is significant this choice of animals. Conquering heroes - generals and kings ride into town on horses - on stallions. The Messiah comes in a more humble fashion - on a donkey. Just as predicted by the prophets.

And on this day - and on this crowd - the Spirit of God had descended. "Hosanna" they shouted "Hosanna in the highest Heaven". "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord".

The disciples must have thought they had it made. Success - at last! Where are those arrogant Pharisees now? We have got it made - with Jesus! The people are all for him. They recognize that he is the promised one - the Son of David - it won't be long now - everything is going to go our way.

But Jesus knew what was to come.

He know even as the people shouted on Sunday Hosanna in the highest - hosanna to the Son of David - Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. What was to come on Friday.

He knew what the same crowd would shout out when Pilate asked them "What should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?"

He knew that they shout out "Let him be crucified!" And that when Pilate asked, "Why, what evil has he done?" they would shout all the more, "Let him be crucified!"

And so Pilate released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

How quickly things can change. One week a hero, the next just another victim, a person, an object, to be spat upon and scorned - to be beaten and killed.

And yet here we are today - the Sunday before the Friday. With our palm leaves and branches - singing praises to Jesus with our children.

We have cheered with the crowd that cheered for Jesus - and rightly so - for Jesus deserves all our cheers.

But we have also -if we have understood aright, cheered with a heart heavy with the knowledge of what is to come.

In that we are closer to Christ and his knowledge of the real situation than the disciples were.

Jesus knew who he was dying for - he knew that Judas would betray him, that Peter would deny him, that the disciples would abandon him, and that crowd would call for his death.

He knew what was to come - and yet he ate and drank with Judas.
He knew and yet he prayed with Peter.
He knew and yet he called all the disciples his friends.
He knew and yet he taught in the marketplace and healed those who came to him.

Jesus knew - and we know.

We know his part - and we know our part - and knowing - we have celebrated and I say to you we must celebrate.

We must cheer for life, knowing that death follows. We must praise Jesus and call him Lord even knowing that we - like all the others have failed him, and may yet fail him.

We must cheer, and we must remember. We must remember that Jesus knows who we were - and who we are, and what we have done and will yet do and he still lay down his life for us.

Today we handed out palm leaves so that we might celebrate a token memory of the cheering crowd on Palm Sunday when they lovingly spread palms and cloaks and branches into the roadway ahead of our Saviour. And we have handed out palm leaves shaped into crosses.

Look at what you hold - perhaps you have placed it on a seat beside you...

The palms of "hosanna"!
The palms of this "day of acceptance" of our Lord, are woven into the cross of rejection.

And yet, it is an empty cross - this cross you hold - a cross which bespeaks resurrection - cross which bespeaks forgiveness.

It is a very holy mystery - this cross that you hold - this cross upon which Jesus died.

It is a mystery which the crowd can never quite accept. A mystery which you and I cannot truly understand - but which, when we accept it in faith - in our heart of hearts turns earthly despair into heavenly triumph.

Hosanna - Jesus! Hosanna - in the brief moment of earthly acclaim.
Hosanna, and may God your Father give you strength for what is to come.
Hosanna, blessed are you who have come in the name of the Lord to save and
deliver your people.
Blessed be your name - now and forevermore.
Hosanna in the highest heaven. Amen

Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

It would be interesting to poll this congregation and ask - what do you think is the hardest problem to handle in the Christian life???

Your answer might be different than mine.

For me, the hardest problem I have to handle as a Christian is what to do when God does not do what I have been taught to expect him to do; when God gets out of line and does not act the way I think he ought.

We have an occasion like that in the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

John introduces this last of the great miracles of Jesus in chapter 11 in these words:

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying "Lord, he whom you love is ill."

When the message reached Jesus, this was his remarkable response:

"This illness is not unto death, but it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it."

The remarkable thing about that is, if you carefully check out the schedule of timing of this event, Lazarus was already dead when the message reached Jesus. It took two days for the messenger to get to the Jordan, so when Jesus returned to Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four days.

It is difficult for us to believe that Jesus did not know that because of the insight that the Spirit of God had given him on numerous occasions. But he sees this as a signal from the Father that something tremendous is going to happen in connection with it, thus he sent back this remarkable word: "This illness is not unto death."

In verses 5 and 6 we get the real shocker here, however when we read:

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill... he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

That is incredible to us. That is the part of the story which is hard to handle.

Martha loved Jesus; Mary loved Jesus; Lazarus loved Jesus; and Jesus loved them. From the record of scripture we know that their home was filled with love and that it was one of the most welcome havens for our Lord during his three years of ministry.

But when Jesus hears that Lazarus is sick - what does he do?? He waits.

It is a tough thing to believe that Jesus deliberately waited. We are so used to critical illness being a signal for immediate action - wailing sirens, flashing red lights, frantic phone calls - get right down to the hospital, that it seems incredible that Jesus, knowing that his friend was ill, or in this case dead, he nevertheless stayed right where he was for two more days.

Somebody may well say,

"If he knew Lazarus was dead why would he hurry? There was nothing he could do."

But remember Mary and Martha's hearts were breaking. This was a dearly loved brother, and his death would be a grievous loss to them. Jesus' presence with them would have been a tremendous comfort even though he never did a thing about raising Lazarus from the dead.

Yet, knowing that they needed him there to comfort them, knowing that they longed to have him there to the point that they sent a messenger to let him know the situation, he deliberately remained two days longer at the place where he was.

Why?
That is the question we all ask.
Why?

When you have gone to God for help which you feel you desperately need and nothing happens, when your heart is breaking over something and you need God to intervene, but the heavens are silent, it is tough to understand, tough to accept, tough to get any kind of grip on.

But what this passage is telling us is that a delay in answer like that is not a sign of God's indifference or his failure to hear. It is a sign of his love. The delay will help us. It is for our sake. And it is so that Christ may be glorified through it.

Jesus deliberately delayed going to Mary and Martha because he loved them and knew this would strengthen their faith as they learned the ultimate outcome which God would work through Him.

That is a hard lesson to accept. I have struggled over this many times myself. But it works - something we expect and long for does not occur and then - bingo - sometime after we think that everything is lost and that there is no hope, God does something remarkable that totally reverses our view.

Think of the reaction in Bethany as the messenger returned with the news that when he told Jesus that Lazarus was ill, Jesus had said, "This illness is not unto death." Yet when the messenger got back with that message Lazarus had already been dead for two days.

What do you think the reaction of his sisters was? How do you think they felt?

According to the account, two days later Jesus acts. He says to his disciples

"Let us go back Judea... Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up."

The disciples, who had every reason to believe that if they returned to Judea that Jesus would be stoned to death, protest, saying:

"Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."

To which Jesus replies

"Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe"

Notice that Jesus says he was glad he was not there when Lazarus died, "for the sake of the disciples."

Just as Jesus delayed his going for Mary and Martha's sake in order that their faith might be strengthened by that delay, so that they might see His glory in it what will happen because of it. So he delayed as well for the sake of his disciples that they might believe.

I want to tell you there have been times when I have cried out to God for help and said, "Things are so bad it can't get any worse. Lord, do something. Help us." But no answer came. That is hard. It is hard to believe. It is hard to wait.

But I am gradually learning that this is never the end of the story, gradually learning what God said so clearly through the prophet Isaiah, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways."

That is what is so difficult. God is sovereign. God is not a mortal that he should act like we act. There are dimensions of the problems which he sees that we do not remotely imagine. There are possibilities and opportunities in every situation that we cannot conceive of.

So we must wait and quietly trust, knowing that he is working out something.

"Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe"

As we go in the story, as Jesus arrives at the outskirts of Bethany - we see that Martha greets Jesus with a phrase that must have been frequently on all of their lips when Lazarus was sick.

How many times must they have said, "Oh, if Jesus were only here." They had said it so many times that it comes automatically to Martha's lips when she meets him: "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died."

I do not believe this is a word of reproach.

Martha is not saying, "Lord, why didn't you come sooner? We sent for you. If you had responded we wouldn't be in this pickle." It is clear from the account, that she realizes that the message did not reach him until Lazarus was dead. Martha's word rather is one of regret: "Lord, I wish you could have been here, because if you had, my brother would not have died."

Then she goes on to say, "But even now, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will give it to you."

Many ask at this point, "What does she expect? What is it that she wants from him?" Some commentators say that she really did expect Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead, pointing to her words, "Even now."

These commentators miss the point because, of course, the very next word of Jesus is, "Your brother will rise again."

If Martha had any idea that would happen then, she would have said, "How wonderful, Lord! That is exactly what I expected you to do now that you have come."

But she does not say that. What she says is, "Yes, I know. He will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

Clearly Martha is not looking for the immediate resurrection of her brother. What, then, is she looking for from Jesus? What does she mean by the words, "Even now, whatever you ask of God, God will give it to you?"

We have to conclude that she is looking for his comfort, for the release that God can give to a heart that is burdened and saddened, torn with grief, anticipating the loneliness and emptiness of the days ahead. God can give marvellous inward peace. Many have testified to that. This is what Martha is asking for, "Even now, Lord, even though he is gone..."

There is so much God can give us at a time like this. As we listen to the story we can see that Martha's faith is like the faith we so often have. She believes in what she thinks will happen now and then later, rather than in what God might make happen whenever God decides to make it happen.

How many times have you said to yourself, "I know God has worked in the past, and I know that he will work again in the future, but today, well, this is not the day of miracles..."

This is Martha's faith: in the future, at the resurrection of the last day, yes, the program of God is certain. But for today - well - that is a different matter.

The same thing can be said of Mary - who greets Jesus with the same words that Martha used: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.".

Neither Martha, nor Mary, nor any of those who accompany her to the grave side - nor the disciples expect what happens next. They do not even hope for it.

How often are we in the same position with regard to the Lord's work in our lives?

In our brokenness - in our experience of grief - in our despair- we weep, as Mary wept - we weep and we expect nothing - nothing but heartache for today and for as long as we live and breath..

Jesus wept too - It says that Jesus asked where they had laid Lazarus, and as he started out to the tomb, that "he wept".

He weeps not because he loves Lazarus - not because Lazarus has died - for he knows what he is about to do - he weeps because Mary weeps. He weeps because he is sharing the heartache of the sisters - because he sympathizes with them in their pain..

I read once of a little girl who hurt her finger, and she ran to her daddy, who was busy studying for an exam in his den. She showed him her finger, but he was so caught up in what he was doing he just looked at it and said, "Oh, that will be all right," and sent her on out. She ran to her mother, weeping and crying, and her mother said, "Oh, dear, does it hurt so much?" The little girl said, "No, mummy, it's just that daddy didn't even say, 'Oh.'" That is what she wanted, somebody to say "Oh" with her.

In Romans 12, Paul tells us to "weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice." Here our Lord himself sets the example of this. Knowing that he is going to turn it all around, he yet feels the sorrow of their hearts and weeps.

Now we come to the actual miracle.

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odour, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone."

Notice how he answers. He does not rebuke her, he encourages her in the words, "Remember what I said." "Did I not say to you that 'if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"

Then Jesus turns to do the great deed. He begins with a simple prayer.

And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."

Notice the many times in this account that what Jesus did he did for the sake of the ones involved.

Earlier he said to the disciples, "I am glad I was not there for your sake. He stayed two days where he was when the message reached him "because he loved Mary and Martha." Now he prays out loud for the sake of the people there.

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

What does this miracle say to us this morning?

One answer to that is given by the apostle Paul in his Second Letter to Timothy. Timothy was a young man who was left in the pagan city of Ephesus. He had to struggle to live as a Christian in that polluted, pagan environment, just as we have to today in our society here in Hong Kong,where Christians are a minority. He was sometimes discouraged, sometimes defeated, facing many problems. He was a little afraid. He was frail of health.

What were Paul's words to him?

"Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead. Remember Jesus right where you are. Remember he is with you."

This is his word. He is with you. He knows how to handle the situation you are in. He knows how to lead you through it, he can - and in fact will even raise the dead. He can do anything.

Focus your faith on him, not on the solution to the problem or the eventual working out of it.

Trust in him, despite the delays - turn to him, knowing that he is able - and knowing that whatever illness may strike, with him it is never an illness unto death - rather it may well be the pathway to new life.

Blessed be God, day by day. Amen.

Ephesians 5:8-14; Psalm 23; John 9:1-41

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

Thus began this morning's Gospel Reading.

The entire passage that Ricky read today deals with blindness - but strangely enough it is not the blindness of the man who was born blind that is central to the passage - despite how this man is mentioned throughout it, rather it is the blindness of those around him and most especially the blindness of the religious teachers and authorities that is central to the passage - their blindness and their sin.

And this is so much so that the closing words of the story about the Man Born Blind - which come after the man born blind has been questioned, his parents questioned, and he has been questioned again and then thrown out of the synagogue by the priests and teachers of the law and has then been found by Jesus and has professed his faith in him and worshipped him are these:

"For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

And then we hear that some Pharisees who were with Jesus heard him say this and asked,

"What? Are we blind too?"

And Jesus replies

"If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

What are we to make of the story of the man born blind? Well, it is a very rich passage - and today I have time only to touch on a couple of things.

The first thing I would like you to grasp is this - while all people sin and fall short of the glory of God, not all afflictions, perhaps not even most afflictions, can be blamed on the sin of the person who must bear that affliction, or - as in the case of a genetic defect or a birth accident like that the man born blind must have had - upon the sin of the parents.

God doesn't work that way.

While some afflictions obviously are the result of one kind of sin or another - for example someone driving drunk may have an accident in which they are crippled for life or in which they cripple someone else for life - for the most part many other afflictions can't be blamed on someone, nor should we try to blame them on someone.

Rather we should try to bring healing to those who are afflicted

Which is the second point I want to make.

Jesus answers the question about who sinned that the man was born blind by saying:

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. "

And he healed him with mud and spit and the touch of his own precious hand.

This is how God operates. This is what Jesus is about. He has come to give us relief from those things which afflict us - to give sight to the blind and to heal the lame - and to set free those who are oppressed and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord to those who are poor.

Indeed - even if - and this is a big if - even if the particular affliction or tribulation that rests upon a person is the result of a direct sin for example that drunken driver who has wounded himself or some one else - even if this is the case - Jesus still wants them to be whole. He still wants to make the work of God manifest in their lives.

That is what the cross is ultimately all about - bringing forgiveness and salvation to sinners, and showing the love of God to those who, by any other standard, are unlovable.

But some will not accept this. They didn't in the past. And they don't now.

As with some of the Pharisees and Scribes of old, they will persist in denying that there is anything good that could come out of Nazareth. They will deny the good that they see done around them is being done by a servant of God. And they, despite their love for God, will attempt to stop the one doing good from doing good.

There are many modern day self-righteous ones, both in the church and outside of it. They don't want the boat to be rocked - they don't want to have to change their comfortable accommodation with the status quo, they don't want to change the way they see the world.

And like some of the Pharisees and Scribes of old they will continue to seek to blame the condition of the poor upon the poor; and of the sick upon the sick; and the oppression of the oppressed upon the oppressed.

It is safer that way isn't it?

It means that they - or is it we - don't have to do anything - we don't have to change.

We can give tax breaks to the rich while we close down hospital wards by not giving enough budget to medical care, can you believe that in a rich place like Hong Kong, our Financial Secretary only increase the medical budget by 8%! We can ignore the hunger in the third world while spend massive amounts on ski trips and vacations. Or we can call those who seek to help the street people and defend the abused women in our society unrealistic idealists who don't fully understand that those people are responsible for their own condition - and cheer as the welfare rolls are reduced and funding for shelters and for counselling programs cut.

There is none so blind as those who will not see.

There is none so blind as those who will not accept the call of our Lord: the call to allow the work of God to be displayed in their lives - the call of God to bring healing and salvation to those around us who really need it - regardless of what sin those who need healing may have or may not have committed.

I don't know if you noticed, but all the hymns this morning except "Give To Us Laughter" and the "23rd Psalm were written by the same person.

"All the Way My Saviour Leads Me", "Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross", "Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine" and "Pass Me Not Gentle Saviour" were written by a lady by the name of Fanny Crosby.

I chose hymns by her today because Fanny Crosby could not see.

When Fanny was six weeks old, she had an eye infection. Her regular doctor was out of town, and a man posing as a doctor gave her the wrong treatment. Within a few days, she was totally blind.

If that happened to some people, I am afraid they would be very bitter and would probably spend a lifetime feeling sorry for themselves. Fanny was never bitter and she never felt sorry for herself. When she was only eight years old, she wrote this poem:

Oh, what a happy child I am,
Although I can not see.
I am resolved that in this world,
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't.
To weep and sigh
Because I'm blind,
I cannot and I won't!

Instead of being bitter and feeling sorry for herself, instead of blaming the doctor for his "sin" against her and dwelling in darkness all her days, Fanny used the gifts that God had given her to write over 8,000 hymns and poems to praise and glorify God.

We might know who caused her blindness - but to Fanny knowing who caused her blindness didn't matter. Nor did it matter to her that she was blind - because in her mind - and in mine - she could see.

As a Australian preacher by the name of Bruce Prewer put it this way in a discussion of the story of the Man Born Blind some years ago:

"Some people have excellent eyesight but do not see further than their noses. Some have good vision yet choose to see only a little of the way, the truth and the life. And some have no physical sight yet who see brilliantly along the path of Christ"

Christ didn't heal the physical blindness of Fanny Crosby as he healed the sight of the man born blind, but like that man at the end of today's Gospel reading - when he knelt at Jesus' feet and worshipped him, she saw more than we can imagine - she saw more - and felt more blessed - than millions about her with eyes to see, but no will to look past themselves and their own vision of what is and what should be..

The next time we you someone who is afflicted - in body, mind, or spirit - remember what Jesus said about the man born blind - remember how Jesus said that his affliction happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life and then healed him .

And the next time you see someone else engaged in disputes about who is doing the right thing and who is doing what is wrong - quietly remember what Jesus said to those who were confident of their rightness and all to ready to judge him and most others as less worthy of God's love than themselves.

Remember how Jesus said "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." And remember too how he added when they asked him if they were blind too, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."

Remember too - all of you are blessed - you are blessed to be a blessing.

Amen.

Exodus 17:1-7 and John 4:5-42

"Gracious God - bless now the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your Spirit into us and grant that we may hear and in hearing be led in the way you want us to go. Amen.

I once read an article that I would like to share with you. It was titled: "In Times of Stress, Just Call on Fred". It goes like this:

When it comes to times of stress, the most reassuring companion is not your sweetheart - it's your schnauzer.

A study has found that people who were under stress showed the least amount of tension when accompanied by their dog. The stress levels were highest when the people were with their husbands or wives.

"I think that dogs are non-evaluative, and they love us", said Karen Allen, a research scientist.

This item caught my attention, not because of what it says about stress and our spouses - I don't happen to find its assertion in this regard to be true in my experience the years in which I have been married to Carmel. NO, it caught my attention because of what asserts about how dogs love us - and of the benefits that kind of love has.

There is something very biblical in the assertion made by Ms. Allen that non-evaluative love, non-judgmental love, reduces tension.

In fact the scriptures testify that this kind of love does far more than reduce tension - it in fact gives life - it gives hope - it gives assurance - to all who receive it.

Non-judgmental - accepting - all embracing love is the essence of the gospel message: it lies behind such statements as: "Do not judge others lest you be judged - for the judgement you give will be the judgement you receive" and it is at the root of what has happened whenever we find Jesus being criticized by the scribes and pharisees for the company that he keeps.

Jesus accepts and embraces those whom others find wanting. He loves those who seem unlovable - to others - and to themselves.

I'm not much of gardener (if you look at the plants I kept you will be in total agreement that I am not much of a gardener, but one thing I do know is that every plant needs water to grow.

And I know this as well - the plants that are in the driest soil: - the ones that are struggling the hardest and beginning to wither - the ones whose leaves are beginning to curl and which look worse than the rest need more water than those who are in damp ground and whose leaves are rich and full of moisture.

And I know too that dry plants respond better to water than they do to added heat - that they thrust down their roots to where they can find it or turn their leaves over so that they better receive it - and receiving it - they change - they begin to look better - they begin to grow - and at length - they produce the fruit that they have been designed to produce.

We are the plants in God's garden - placed here for a reason and a purpose - and some of us are awfully dry - and some of us aren't.

But each one of us, whether we be dry or moist at this very moment, needs the living water that Jesus says he has come to give: - that water which wells up to eternal life, - that water which overflows and brings life to other plants near to it.

I give thanks to God today for his love - for that love shown by Christ - that love which was poured out me when I was withering and perishing as a young man - alone in a large city and which even now is poured out upon me -even though I am far from perfect.

I give thanks for his love which has given me hope that I never had, a peace that at one time I could only long for, and an assurance that I thought I would never see at work in my life.

In giving thanks before you today I do what thousands, indeed millions of people have done before me, I do what the woman at the well did after first encountering Jesus: I point to the one who is the Saviour promised from long ago, I point to the one who has accepted me - the one who calls me brother and does not hold my human failings against me - the one who encourages me and challenges me and never - even when I argue with him - rejects or condemns me.

That is what Jesus did with the woman at the well. He accepted her.

He accepted her though she was a Samaritan and an enemy to his people.

He spoke to her of God though she was a woman and not thought worthy of such conversation.

He offered her his blessing - even though she debated with him and questioned his statements.

He regards her as a dear sister - and gives her the same title of endearment he gave Mary when he calls her woman in verse 21 and asks her to believe his words concerning how the time is coming when true worshippers will worship Father in Spirit and in Truth.

And that is why she sang his praises in her village. Because of his acceptance - because of his love.

It was not just because he knew her past. It was not just because he could tell her things that no stranger should know that she spoke of him to her friends and neighbours.

It was because in knowing her - in knowing her nationality, her gender, her religious attitudes, and the mixed history of her marriages he none-the-less treats her as if she was an equal, as if she was a person worthy of respect, worthy of affection - worthy of love.

And that is where it is at.

When we treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated - when we can talk to kings and to beggars and not show any preferences to the one and not the other, when we can debate with sinners and with saints - and have both feel that you respect them - when we can open our homes to both friends and strangers - and have both feel welcomed - when we can encounter people and not judge them - not put them down - not patronize them - then we know something of God's love, then we show something of God's love.

Blessed be God, day by day. Amen.

Genesis 17:1-7,15-16; Psalm 22:23-31; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38

Let us Pray - Lord God, Creator and Maker of us all, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.... (And) -- He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

A Pastor wrote to an on-line study group with this message:

"I'm having difficulty with the Gospel this week; what is this cross that I am to take up, and what am I to deny in following Jesus?"

A seminary student once wrote:

"I find this a hard gospel text because it talks about suffering rather than joy"

The cross has always caused problems to people. Brutal and barbaric - the cross was a tool of political power for the Romans. They maintained their power because of the fear of death on the cross.

When one was condemned by the state, the condemned literally had to "take up his cross" and carry it to the public place where he was to be crucified. It was part of the humiliation process, the mechanism of social control for which crucifixion was invented.

The cross was an instrument of suffering and shame - and no more so than among the Children of Israel - where the scriptures themselves declare: "cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree".

To die on a cross was a sign that one died cut off from God, and cut off from the people of God - a sign that the person was rejected. And of course in the case of Jesus this was very true.

Jesus went to cross as one who was rejected and abandoned. Rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and abandoned almost completely by his disciples too. Jesus didn't die as a hero or a martyr. He died as a blasphemer.

The cross was the worst form of execution - for the people of Israel and for the Roman Empire as a whole. Indeed it was a social faux pax to mention crosses or crucifixion in the presence of women and children of high social standing.

Yet Christianity in contrast to many of the other religions of the day, which celebrated the search for beauty, truth, and the good, had, and still has, at its centre this most awful symbol of death and disgrace.

This must be dealt with - and understood correctly.

I say this because with our gold and silver crosses adorning our altars, and worn as jewellery around our necks, and with so much wrong-headed preaching on cross-bearing, preaching which reduces bearing the cross to little more than performing acts of kindness toward other people, or putting up with difficult situations we risk transforming our faith into just another religion - a religion that celebrates many good things - but which avoids the difficult truths about life and about faithfulness to God.

Jesus is clear. To be his disciples, to enter the Kingdom of God, we must deny our selves and pick up our crosses - and follow him.

So what is the cross we are called to bear?

FIRST, what the cross is not.

The seminary student I quoted at the beginning of the sermon, as part of his work towards his degree meets with a study group that looks at the gospel passage for the coming Sunday. After telling them that he found today's gospel reading a hard passage because it talks about suffering rather than joy, the group discussed the passage.

He reported that for the next 90 minutes he listened to the most amazing series of stories of survival. The members of the group talked about the death of a husband, the death of an infant son, the near-death of a teen-aged child, divorce, chemotherapy, bankruptcy - and how they look back now and know they weren't alone - that in all these events God went with them - supporting them - wiping the tears from their eyes - and bringing new hope and new life out of tragedy. Praise God for that!

He ended his report by saying that the members of the study group thought they were talking about picking up their crosses and that he was very much inspired by their talk.

But my friends - while I praise God for the testimony of the members of his study group about how God went with them in their suffering and affliction - they were not necessarily talking about either the cross of Jesus or the cross that he calls us to bear.

I say that because most people make a fundamental mistake when talking about the crosses they bear. They confused the suffering that is inflicted upon them by the world - a suffering that comes without their choice or decision - with that which comes because we have chosen to be faithful.

Think about it for a moment. Think about the cross of Christ. Think about how he could have avoided it, how he could have called legions of angels to his rescue, how he could have turned away from the confrontation in Jerusalem and ministered quietly in Galilee.

A cross is something we pick up because we desire to follow Jesus. It is not something falls upon us because we are made of mortal flesh and live in a decaying world, though how we react to those things may, in fact, turn them from an affliction that we bear to a cross we bear.

I think of the aging husband or wife who faithfully tends for and cares for their spouse even when that spouse can no longer recognize them or communicate with them. They have made a decision to be faithful - and the burden they bear is indeed a cross and simply an affliction.

SECOND - the cross we are called to bear is not exactly the same as Christ's cross. Our crosses are our own - they are shaped specially for us by our own life issues and by the call of God upon our lives.

There is a true story in a wonderful book called "A Cloud of Witnesses", by Douglas Weaver. He writes:

There were 40 soldiers of the Twelfth Legion of Rome's imperial army who were Christians. Their captain announced one day that Emperor Licinius had issued an edit requiring all soldiers to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods.

The forty soldiers replied, "You can have our armour and even our bodies, but the allegiance of our heart belongs to Jesus Christ."

It was mid-winter, AD 320. The captain had the men march out to a frozen lake. Their clothes were stripped off of their backs, and they were told either to renounce Christ or to die. Baths of hot water waited on shore as a temptation to deny their faith.

Throughout the night, the men huddled together and sang, "forty martyrs for Christ, forty martyrs for Christ..." One by one, the soldiers fell in death.

Finally, only one soldier was left. His courage failed; he stumbled to shore, renouncing his faith in Christ. But the officer of the guard who had been watching the drama had secretly come to believe in Christ. When he saw the fortieth soldier come to the shore, the officer walked out onto the frozen lake, disrobed, and confessed his faith. As dawn broke the next morning, there were forty bodies on the ice.

As commentary, the book goes on to quote Tertullian, the great North African defender of the faith: "We multiply whenever we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is seed.

Many people assume that the cross we are called to carry is like this - like Christ's - that it is a literal willingness to die for the sake of the gospel.

Naturally, they can't relate to that very well, because these days, in the Western World at least, we are not placed in such situations - where our physical death can result from witnessing to Christ.

But there is more than one kind of death, more than one kind of martyrdom, more than one kind of witness. And that brings me to say what the Cross IS for us - and how it is like Christ's.

Our Cross is like Christ's in the sense that it involves offering ourselves to God and our neighbours in complete and total love and obedience to God, no matter where that love and obedience may take us.

It may involve us in less than physically dying for Christ (depending on what part of the world you live in), but it will involve us in far more than simply performing acts of kindness toward other people, or putting up with difficult situations.

Our cross will involve us in the denial of self so that we may live to God, much as the faithful husband or wife in dealing with the sick partner deny their own needs, their own pleasures, and live for their mate.

Our motives for doing things will not be - how will this help me - but instead how will it serve Christ? How will it serve God?

I am struck by verse 35 in today's gospel reading. Those words that say:

"Those who save their life will lose it, those who lose their life for Christ's sake, and for the sake of good news, will save it."

Too many Christian folk are concerned about whether or not they are saved. They worry about whether or not they am going to heaven.

If that is our focus then Jesus is very clear that we have missed the boat. Our attempts to save our own lives won't do it.

If however I lose my life, that is, if I give it away to others in service to Christ and Christ's good news, then and only then have will I save it.

Giving my life is my only hope. Giving my life away in service to God - for God's sake - for the sake of Christ - is where it is at. Loving others with the love of God is where it is at. Otherwise all we are doing is trying to work our way into heaven.

There's a message here for the church.

Focus on the health of the church, or the denomination it belongs to, spend your energy on the latest church growth gimmick, look for money to simply keep the doors open and we will die.

But if the church gives its life away, if it focuses on the mission that God calls it to, if it seeks to obey and serve God, if it spends itself on proclaiming the good news and invites others to support its vital work of life saving it will, inadvertently as it were, saves its own life.

I would like to conclude this sermon by saying three things about what "denying oneself" means. There is much more than what I will hold up for you, but there is not much more in the way of time this morning.

First, denying oneself means refusing to judge others or oneself, but rather leaving all judgement in the hands of God.

One of the things we struggle with most often is our sense of our own worthlessness; it is so easy for us to listen to the condemning voices in my head telling me that I am a failure, a fraud.

Jesus invites us to deny our own evaluation of ourselves (and others), to give up making judgements about ourselves and to accept the grace, the special relationship we have with God through Christ at face value, to accept God's evaluation of us.

That is denial indeed. No more can I say, "He's such a nice fellow!" or "She's horrible!", but rather I must say, "this person is a child of God, one for whom Christ has given his life". And what I say about others, I must also say about myself. God finds me worthwhile. I am acceptable - and God will help me to grow in his grace as I yield more and more to his will for me.

This sort of denial would eliminate the boundaries we erect around the gospel - around God. There would be no more insiders and no more outsiders. All of us are out (there is none righteous, no not one) and all of us are in - since Jesus has taken away the sins of the whole world...

Would that ever make for a different Church, and a different world, if I and the people ever came to believe it!

Second - denial of self means the refusal to feel ashamed about the gospel.

Shame or embarrassment is a self centred feeling. Every time we hesitate to share the faith because we will be thought foolish or a religious fanatic - we are thinking more about ourselves than about the good of others...

Jesus is clear - if we are ashamed of him he will be ashamed of us.

Part of our denial of self is to put off feelings we may have about speaking about our faith and to share the good news we believe in with others even when we think that maybe they will not appreciate it.

This doesn't mean that we must go about knocking on doors and making a nuisance of ourselves - but does mean that we must be a little less afraid to rock the boat - to be a little less afraid of standing out in the crowd, a little less afraid of "being different"

If we truly believe that God alone makes the difference to human life and that faith in Christ sets one free, then how can we not share that?

Again - it is not about us and what we do or don't do; it is about God and what God can do and will do - if we let him, if we get ourselves out of the way.

And third, self denial means be willing to take risks, to let go of the familiar things, the familiar thoughts and to let God lead us - much as he led Abram and Sari into a new land, a land they did not know, and there gave them new names and a new life.

Christ calls us beyond our known borders. He says, "join me, follow me"

Christ is always well beyond us in vision, but he also beside us to help us walk with him into the new land, the promised land.

Like Abraham and Sarah, and indeed like the people of Israel in the wilderness, we are not worry about how we eat, what we will wear, or where we will lay down our heads - but to trust that if God is calling us - then God will make the way ready for us....

Most of us spend our lives working for tomorrow - for our children's education - for our future when the children leave home - for retirement - even for our pre-arranged funerals - and so we miss the riches of today, we miss discovering what it is that God is doing amongst us.

"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

Yes - it is difficult stuff, this stuff about the cross, this stuff about denying ourselves - but it is made easier by the fact that when we begin to do so some marvellous things being happen - we begin to see with the eyes of God and we begin to experience a portion of what God has promised that we will experience when we live by faith, an experience that not only includes the cross, but the resurrection.

Praise be to Christ - the Lord of the living and the dead. And praise be to God the Father - who raised him up from the grave. Amen.

Genesis 9:8-17; I Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15

Bless, O Lord, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to you, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen

A old children's story goes like this: One child asks another:

Would you forget me in an hour? No.
Would you forget me in a day? No.
Would you forget me in a month? No.
Knock knock. Who's there?
I thought you said you wouldn't forget me.

Today we heard the story of the covenant God made with Noah. It is a covenant where God promises that He will never forget us, nor any of the creatures that he made.

It is a covenant that promises that God will never again destroy the earth because of the sinfulness of man, and as a sign of this covenant - this promise - God creates the rainbow so that whenever it raining God and all of us here who see it will remember that promise.

The beautiful thing about this covenant, this agreement that God made is that is has no conditions upon it.

It is a covenant without any "if" clauses, csuch as "if you love me" or "if you obey me" or "if you worship me" or if you brush your teeth or help old ladies across the street - then I will be good to you!

No - the covenant God made Noah is an unconditional covenant. It is a covenant of love wherein God promises to remember us even if we forget him.

That is what God's love is like. He remembers us even when we forget him.

No matter what we have done - when we stand at the door and knock, God won't ask "who's there" he will instead open the door and welcome us in.

God can be grieved by us. We can make God sad and we can make God angry, but God swore to Noah that he would never be so angry that he would destroy the people and the world that he made.

Despite our sinfulness, despite all that we do to hurt each other and to hurt ourselves, God has promised not to abandon us, to not to forget us and seek our destruction, but rather to remember us and his love for us.

Indeed - God does remember us - and God seeks us out. He calls us to love him as he loves us.

No matter what we have done, God calls to us like a parent calls to his child, God calls us to turn around and try once more to be the person that we were born to be, and God reaches out his hand and tries to deliver us from the judgements that we set ourselves up for with our foolishness and our pride.

God wants to help us, not destroy us.

This is the meaning of the covenant sealed with a rainbow, and this is the meaning of all God's covenants with us.

Abraham was chosen by God to raise up a great nation, so that the world would be blessed by a Holy People. David's children were chosen by God to be Kings over Israel, so that one day the world might be saved by a Messiah. And Jeremiah was chosen to announce a new covenant, where God would place the Law in each person's heart and where each person might personally come to know God and his salvation.

That last covenant, the once announcement by Jeremiah, has been fulfilled, and each of us here is now privileged, if we so choose, to be a part of that covenant, a covenant that is signed by the cross of Jesus and sealed by our baptism into his death and resurrection.

God remembered the promise he made to Noah, and even though we have provoked God in a manner worse even than that of the people who lived before the flood, God has kept his promise.

God sent his Son instead of a flood to deal with our sin, and he died for our sin - the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God and to allow us to live well both now and forever.

Through Jesus - God remembers us. In fact through Jesus, God stands at our door and knocks, and he tells us

"Here I am. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

What then shall we say to this love of God, what shall we say about the signs of his love? The cross and the rainbow? The Bread and the Wine? What shall we about his knocking at our door what shall we say about his invitation to come and dine?

God wants us to say "Yes" to his love; He wants us to see the signs and wonders He has left for us; He wants us to open the door to our lives and let Him come in and do his work

- a work in which he makes us more and more like his son Jesus,
- a work in which he makes us holy, and saves us from our own sin, our own foolishness.

Recall today, as we begin Lent, my friends, the story of Jesus, and how after he was baptized he spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted, and how, he then went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God saying:

"The Kingdom of God is near, repent and believe in the good news."

God wants us to try our best to be like Jesus, He wants us to believe in His love, He wants us to know that He is near to us and ready to help us, He wants us to turn to Him in faith, and strive to lead a new life with Christ.

The word of the gospel, the good news, is that God forgives us our sin, that he remembers his love for us, and extends his saving hand towards us.

God's love for us is a marvel and a grace. But, as we begin Lent, let us remember that our forgiveness comes at a cost, that a price is paid for our sin, a price in pain and suffering, and that, as long as we yield to sin, as long as we yield to temptation, not only do we hurt ourselves and others - we hurt God.

What we can do as people who have heard Christ and accepted his invitation to believe in Him, in the saving love of God the Father, is to repent of our sinful ways and to struggle as best as we can - as did Jesus in the wilderness - to live a sin free life.

If the truth be told I think that everyone here has not struggled quite hard enough with sin, that we have sometimes given in too easily to temptation, especially in the simple things - the things like the temptation to gossip, or the desire to get just a little bit of revenge, or the desire to kid ourselves about our lifestyle and tell ourselves that it is really OK.

There is a story told about a man called Sam.

Sam wasn't make much headway with his diet. He was one of those folks who could resist everything but temptation. One day he came into the office with a whole box of freshly baked Danish.

When his friends questioned him about his diet he explained that really wouldn't have gotten the Danish if it hadn't been for God.

"What do you mean"? one of his friends asked.

"Well", he said, "as I was about to pass the bakery I prayed that if it were God's will for me to have these Danish today I would be able to find a parking place in front of the building. Sure enough I found a space right in front on the eighth time around the block"

Most of us have a tougher time with temptation than we like to think.

We try to tell ourselves that the things that we do, the little things that hurt others or ourselves, aren't really all that important or all that harmful, or that someone else is really to blame for them.

When we get angry, or feel terribly anxious or upset, and then yell at our husbands or our wives, or rebuke our children and slight our friends, we often tell ourselves that it is because of something that they did - that it is justified by the circumstances.

We do not like to think that maybe, just maybe, even when we have been provoked, that while our reaction is justifiable, maybe our behaviour is not.

We forget the lesson of the rainbow and of the cross, the lesson that tells us that even though we anger God, even though we do things that God cannot approve of, God still loves us, and while He calls us to live a better life, He does not push us away, He does not reject us, He does not condemn us.

It is a good thing I think, to cultivate the sense that we do not resist sin enough. I believe that this kind of humility, this kind of realism about ourselves, can only be pleasing to God.

Acknowledging our weakness in the face of temptation gives us a foundation upon which we can build a new life, for it is only as when we recognize our need, that we can be open enough to have our needs met.

Our sins arise primarily because we do not readily recognize the need we have to struggle with ourselves.

Most of the things we do that are harmful do not come out of some great issue which we must decide about, rather they arise out of the habits we have, habits that are comfortable and whose correction requires some effort.

A lot of what we do is like what we do with our old sweaters.

Old sweaters, even though they may be natty, even though they may be losing their shape and have the odd tear or run, are very comfortable, and we often wear them, even though there is new one is in our cupboard.

We say bad things about some people because it makes us feel good, because it makes us feel just a bit better than they are, and because it is easier to say what we say than to look for the good that may be in the person, and because it is easier to condemn them than to forgive.

We throw junk out our car window and add to the pollution of our world because it is easier to do so than to have to pack around garbage bags.

We use more of the world's resources than we have to because recycling requires just a bit more effort than we like to make.

We give into temptation, we hang onto our sinful ways, because no matter what we might say, we are comfortable with them.

The good news that Jesus announced is that God does not forget us, that His kingdom is at hand and we can enter if we desire to do so.

God loves us, God forgives us, and God calls us to his side and offers to us a new beginning in Jesus, a new life in Christ.

God calls us to be like Jesus, to struggle with temptation, and to hold firmly onto His word, this so that we might experience the blessings of a good life, and so that our world will not suffer so much needless pain and suffering.

This Lent I call you to examine your life, to look at all that you do, how you treat your family, and how you act at work or at school and ask yourself if you are taking the easy way, or if there is something you can do to be a more loving and caring person.

I call you to examine how you live. Do you do your best to be aware of the environment? Do you really struggle with what you use and what you waste?

And I call you to examine how you treat yourself. Do anger and fear constantly sweep over you? Does your daily walk take you constantly to extremes? Do you love yourself as well as God loves you?

God, my friends, has something better in mind for us all than that which we now do and experience.

God created this world to be good, and he placed us in a magnificent garden and gave us company and asked us to take care of that garden and each other.

God made us to keep company with Him, and despite all that we do to reject Him, and all that we do to harm each other and ourselves,

God reaches out to us and calls to us to come to his side and to love and enjoy the world that he has made.

No matter what we have done - when we stand at the door and knock, God won't ask "who's there" he will instead open the door and welcome us in.

Trust God to help you struggle with temptation and with yourself, and ask God for His continual forgiveness and eternal blessings to be upon you and the world that His son Jesus Christ died for.

The promises that God have made, the promises we see in signs like the rainbow and the cross, are forever; they have not been and will not be broken.

Accept those promises for yourself. Struggle with sin, and thank God for all his mercies. Amen