Wear your poppy with pride

Today is 'All Souls Day', the day we remember and give thanks for the lives of all who have 'gone before' and as we do we commend them to God (may they rest in peace) and look towards the return of Jesus, the Christ - reaffirming our hope in the resurrection.

As you think of those whom you know, or know of perhaps if they left this life some time ago, can I encourage you to think ahead for just a moment to Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday (the 11th and 13th of November in preparation of those two days add a poppy avatar to your social media presence?

There are a number on the Vic the Vicar blog - all you need do is go to a search engine and search for:

Vic the Vicar poppy avatar + the name of the cap badge, branch or organisation

(REME, Signals, Int' Corps, RAF, etc.)

If you, or a loved one, served in a branch of the forces or have an affiliation with the cadet organisations and the like - take a look you'll find a poppy there - there's even one for RTTW.

And if you don't find the poppy you need - add a comment and it will be there ASAP.

Let us remember those we love before God and comment them to His sure keeping trusting in the resurrection and the unending love of God.

As requested - one fire chaplain poppy - one Catering Corps - two ATC poppies


(other requests most welcome):

What is being 'Christian' all about?

"Now that's a very good question," I thought to myself as I struggled to find a reasonable answer and, reasonable or not, I gave one anyway - and this is how it goes:

"In my book Christians are people who, recognising the distance between them and God, are rather grateful that Jesus popped in and did the 'cross thing' because that (the 'cross thing') plays an important part in removing the distance and reconciling us to God.

Not only that but Jesus (whose job title in this role is 'The Christ*') having died pops over to hell (which because we use the term 'descends' must, I guess, be located in a downwards direction) and kindly points out to the bloke what runs the place (hereinafter refereed to satan (not Stan as my spellchecker sometimes suggests) that the only real power he has is death because this is the penalty for his (satan's) only product 'sin' and, having died and come back as alive, means that He (Jesus) has broken the only power he (satan) had.

Then, having come back from the dead he (Jesus) points out that when he broke death He did it for everyone - not en masse but in a one-for-one, real-time, act - so all you need to do is recognise who He is and What He did and (thanking Him) take a 'get out of sin free' card from Him (Jesus) and satan is stymied."

In a shorter form it goes like this:

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

John 3.16

So it's all very simple:

God and us were meant mates but became separated from each other because of sin

Jesus death on the cross breaks the power of sin (death) and restores the relationship between us and God

Accepting that Jesus, the Christ, has done all this and deciding to take the ticket from Him and live in the reality of forgiveness, eternal life and . . .

. . . Relationship with God through, for and with Him (Jesus)

That's what it's all about.

Can it get any simpler?

* Christ not being Jesus' name but a description of the role He occupies in that He, as the Son, comes to this world of ours as a man (that's a reference to His sex and to the fact that He is also human) as the 'anointed one of God' - He is God's solution to all the ills of the world basically.

Pentecost: Waiting for God

Not the sitting it out waiting to die variety as portrayed in the television series of the same name but the expectant, ‘what’s God going to do now?’ waiting.

Looking at the time from Holy Week through to Pentecost we have been challenged, excited and now . . .?

If we were to live our Christian lives as if everything from Good Friday to Pentecost were a total surprise (and for some, it is) then where would we be now, what would we have felt and be feeling?

The despair and desolation as we follow Christ from the garden to the Temple and from there to Pilate, Herod, Pilate and Golgotha.

The confusion as we see Jesus, the Christ, hung upon a cross and later, in His tomb, sealed behind a stone.

The disbelief which slowly turns to joy as we hear the words, ‘He is Risen!’ from the lips of Mary and others.

The encounter in the upper room when Jesus is suddenly with them; the risen Lord bringing peace and hope to a frightened and troubled people

The many appearances of Jesus to His followers and the final encounter (Lk 24) where He appears and after sharing God’s peace with them proves he had risen and was flesh and blood (a piece of broiled fish sealing the act) and opens to them the Scriptures (the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms). Having done so, He says these words (46-49):

‘This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 
You are witnesses of these things.
I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’

Having said these words, Jesus takes them out into the vicinity of Bethany and He blesses them.

 ‘While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.’

This is, of course, an account of what we call Ascension Day. Jesus has physically left the earth (which is why some churches extinguish the Paschal candle, which represents Christ, immediately after the Gospel is read on Ascension Day).

Again Jesus is gone and His followers are left ‘waiting for God’.

Not for them the snatching away by death of a teacher, the taking down of a corpse from a cross and with that death, the death of hope, but for them, and us, an expectation that God is going to do something amazing (as if bringing someone back from the dead was amazing enough).

We, like the early followers look to God and wait expectantly for something to happen.

The conundrum that unless He goes `He (Jesus) cannot be with us is about to be solved for God is going to send to them the same Holy Spirit that is God and raised Jesus from the dead and is, dot-for-dot, exactly the same as Jesus (for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one).

No longer will His followers have to be concerned about Jesus being with them working miracles and opening the Scriptures and experiencing the kingdom of God being with them – for on the day of Pentecost Jesus is, in the person of the Holy Spirit within us, opening the Scriptures and enlightening us; healing the sick and proclaiming the fact that where we are so too is God and the Kingdom of God is proclaimed by our very presence.

I pray that each of us will be daily refreshed by His holy and life-giving Spirit as we live in the reality that the wait is over!

Sunday Worship - Christmas 1

Here we are on the sixth day of Christmas and we are not only celebrating Christ's birth in Bethlehem (and His resurrection some thirty odd years later) but looking towards His second coming and best of all, singing carols!

Here is one of my favourites (yes, we are singing it today):

Made known in the breaking of the bread

The long journey home.
Not the distance, just seven miles,
But in time, an eternity, which was what we thought we had with Him.

Two of us, trying to understand,
Talking about the things He'd said and where it had all gone wrong.
It couldn't have gone any more wrong, could it?

Then suddenly this bloke walking with us.
"What you talking about?" He asks.
Where’s He been? Hasn’t He heard? So we tell Him.

About a man who was more than just a man,
Teacher, healer, sage, prophet, God made man, the Messiah,
Or so we thought.

But then there was the garden,
The Sanhedrin, the trial, Pilate, Herod, Pilate,
The mocking, the beating, the procession to Golgotha. His death.

And this morning, we were starting to come to terms with it.
The women come back, screaming and shouting, saying He's not dead,
He's risen and the tomb is empty. And it was and we don’t understand!

Then the bloke says to us, "You Thickos, you just don't get it, do you?"
And you know what, we didn't!
So He tells us - Moses, Abraham, the Prophets and jesus - it all made sense,

How could we have missed it?
How could He have known it?
So we've arrived home and it all adds up.

And He's set to carry on, but we persuade Him to come in.
And as the meal is on the table, He takes the bread and he breaks it,
Giving thanks.

And in the breaking of the bread, in the hearing of the living word,
We recognised Him and He was gone!
And so to were we, back the short distance to Jerusalem!

Baruch ata adonai elohenu melech ha olam, shehecheyanu, v'kiyimanu, v'higiyanu laz'man hazeh.
Blessed are You Adonai our God, Ruler of the Universe who has given us life, sustained us, and allowed us to reach this day.

He is Risen - Back in the Upper Room

It's a week since Jesus rose,
A whole week and they haven't stopped talking about it!
"You should have been there Tom," they say,
"Should have seen the marks, it was really Him!"

They're excited, relieved but not convinced.
The door's still locked and they're all still hiding!
If He'd really come back, if He'd really been there,
They'd have been out there shouting about it.
Well, I would have, wouldn't you?

And then, I look up, and like a surprise birthday party,
There He is, standing before me.
No door opened, no sound of feet,
He's just there.

"Shalom, "He says, "My peace is with you."
And you know what? It was!
"Touch me, put your fingers in the holes and see for yourself Tom,
Give up the doubting and believe."

How could I not believe?
He was there and so were the marks,
Before my very eyes, large as life and living!
I fall on my face and proclaim Him,
Lord and God, MY Lord and God.

Then He laughs that laugh and tells me,
"So Tom, seeing is believing, eh?
Blessed are those who don't see this and yet still believe."

And they are (He's never wrong)!

Loving as Christ loves us

After the Good Friday witness I met people who spoke of a man, mentally ill, needing to be 'managed' or acted against 'properly' or as one put it, "Just locked up!" Another has spoken of acting 'decisively', but what do these words mean?

As they uttered those words I had the feeling that a man, somewhere in time was holding a scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and reading thus:

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives,

And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

To proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God;

To comfort all who mourn; giving them beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

The oil of gladness instead of mourning,

The garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

The planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified."

If we cannot stand with those who know the Lord and have broken minds;

If we cannot stand with those who know the Lord and have broken lives;

If we cannot weep with those who weep, grieve with those who grieve, love those who are unloveable and yet know the Lord, what hope is there for the lost?

What hope is there for the Church?

Who can be saved?

What reason is there for His rising up today?

Pax

He is Risen!

Another day begins with the sound of women's voices.
Shouting, screaming, laughing . . . I'm not sure.

Rubbing eyes, stretching limbs, struggling out,
I see them, arms waving, tears flowing, voices raising.

Then the others start to run.
Not away, but too . . .

I start to run after them. Why? What for?
I don't know,

Then catching up with one of them, they (between gasps) tell me . . .
He Has Risen!

Just as He said!