Dorcas, good shepherds and clothes washed in blood .........

The Church of the Holy Ghost, the Chiesa Anglicana, Genoa gathers a congregation, many of whom are from North Africa seeking refuge in Italy. 

Christian men and women gathered to Celebrate their faith despite the hardness and risks of their lives!

This Sunday we read about the raising of Dorcas from the dead. Dorcas would be a very welcome member of the craft group that meets in Snods Edge every Wednesday.

When her friends gather round to mourn her death they are wearing the clothes she has woven for them.

Parables are sign posts and the miracle of Dorcas' being raised from the dead by Peter points us toward the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles.

A Gospel that was gossipped along the trade routes from the Mediterranean to Europe.

The 23rd Psalm which we read this week reminds us of the good shepherd, Jesus, who is also the lamb.

This week I was  was asked by a son who had just lost his father how I have kept my faith despite the losses I have experienced.

But even though the 23rd Psalm is often read or sung at Funerals the words reminds us that the faith we hold is more than comfort and consolation.

We may look eagerly to experience resurrection life beyond the grave. 

But let us not overlook the resurrection life -- the very refreshing of our souls -- that the risen Christ offers daily to those who follow him.

The Revelation passage set for the Fourth Sunday in Lent is also often read at Funerals.

But it is not pie in the sky when you die. that it offers.

It is justice for the living that it demands.

Whether it is immigrants in Genoa or the poor and hungry and homeless in the Newcastle, as so powerfully shown in the Ken Loach film I, Daniel Blake, the passage from Revelation challenges us to see that they have had their robes washed in the blood of the Lamb who is also the shepherd of their souls and who constantly challenges us with his call for Justice.

Sunday's Gospel reinforces this call:

Jesus is in the temple it is Hannuka, the feast of lights, C’mon they ask are you the Messiah?

As ever Jesus points to the works. 'It is the works I do that bear witness'.

The lame walk, the sick are healed. The blind receive sight. The prisoners are freed.

Jesus enacts the justice of God because he and the father are one.

The lesson is simple and straightforward we must always  avoid over spiritualising the Gospel message. We must never, as the message has it be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly use.

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