From pancakes to a shabbat that never ends .......
Todays Bible readings takes us on a journey from a room with locked doors where Jesus turns up to witness to Thomas, his wounded hands, his wounded feet and the wound in his side, to Peter exposed and vulnerable preaching to a hostile crowd.
Thomas of course, despite being known as a doubter, is full of faith which he expresses forcefully.
The disciples are hiding for fear of the Jews. Hiding because their own lives are at risk.
Here they are weak, afraid and uncertain.
But before long Peter is preaching confidently in Acts to people from Judea and Jerusalem, preaching even though through his words he is putting his life at risk.
It seems, as someone posted on social media, that we have experienced the Lentiest lent we have ever lented!
Almost from the Pancake Party on Shrove Tuesday we have been buttoned down, battened down and left isolated unable to break bread or spill wine, celebrating Easter in isolation connected by social media, virtually by zoom or by some other form of social media, my chosen method of connecting has been Whypay.net because it is free, an 03 Number, low tech, a telephone, and because it is sound only, the pictures are better.
And the virus gets closer, like some dangerous threatening amoeba in the movies, at first you hear about infection on the news, and then you hear from a friend about their infection, then you hear that a member of your family is affected and then the PM is in hospital in Intensive Care, it is circling, it is scary and it is fatal and it is no respecter of people or privilege or position.
So, from long before Good Friday and, it seems, long after Easter Sunday the pandemic captures us in an unending Shabbat. Even the newspapers tell us of recipes for unleavened bread that can be made without an oven.
In this world turned upside down it seems that Hedge Fund Managers have significantly less to contribute to the common good than lorry drivers, shop workers, delivery drivers, care workers, less certainly than the heroes of the hour, nurses, doctors and consultants. Maybe society will at some point in the future review the reimbursements and ask the billionaires to help more with or without footballers!
And there is irony.
The nurses who sat with the PM as he fought the virus, under the new migration rules, might not be allowed into the country offering another pause for rethinking what kind of country we wish to be.
Yet in the midst of all this we continue to ask when is God going to show up?
It seems that despite breaking this word by means of a blog and as an attachment to our weekly emailed news sheet, I can still declare with confidence that Christ is Risen.
Thanks be to God.
Despite the spread of this pandemic, despite the struggle to maintain life, despite our experiencing Groundhog Days, last Sunday, as we were reminded in our Easter Quiz thanks to John and Gordon, the date of easter , as computed by the Venerable Bede, was a clear and positive statement that Easter happens.
Life continues to flourish in the face of pandemic, illness and death.
We are offered resurrection hope.
Like the women, like Mary we can believe what we are shown and invited to believe and we can witness to others.
Like the Disciples we can rejoice in the knowledge of resurrection or like Thomas we can offer praise.
But we can also offer witness to our pandemic weary world. Surrounded as we are by sickness, deprivation, fear and death we could simply throw our hands up in despair and stay silent.
But were we to stay silent surely the very stones would cry out that the very same God who divided the waters so God's people could escape slavery in Egypt and pilgrimage to the land of promise, to which he had called them, is the same God who raised Jesus from the dead.
We may be caught deep in the sadness of this extended Shabbat but we must proclaim the Shalom that God offers to His hurting, feverish, grieving, lonely world and declare that Christ's resurrection hope washes over us all, believer and unbeliever alike.
Thomas of course, despite being known as a doubter, is full of faith which he expresses forcefully.
The disciples are hiding for fear of the Jews. Hiding because their own lives are at risk.
Here they are weak, afraid and uncertain.
But before long Peter is preaching confidently in Acts to people from Judea and Jerusalem, preaching even though through his words he is putting his life at risk.
It seems, as someone posted on social media, that we have experienced the Lentiest lent we have ever lented!
Almost from the Pancake Party on Shrove Tuesday we have been buttoned down, battened down and left isolated unable to break bread or spill wine, celebrating Easter in isolation connected by social media, virtually by zoom or by some other form of social media, my chosen method of connecting has been Whypay.net because it is free, an 03 Number, low tech, a telephone, and because it is sound only, the pictures are better.
And the virus gets closer, like some dangerous threatening amoeba in the movies, at first you hear about infection on the news, and then you hear from a friend about their infection, then you hear that a member of your family is affected and then the PM is in hospital in Intensive Care, it is circling, it is scary and it is fatal and it is no respecter of people or privilege or position.
So, from long before Good Friday and, it seems, long after Easter Sunday the pandemic captures us in an unending Shabbat. Even the newspapers tell us of recipes for unleavened bread that can be made without an oven.
In this world turned upside down it seems that Hedge Fund Managers have significantly less to contribute to the common good than lorry drivers, shop workers, delivery drivers, care workers, less certainly than the heroes of the hour, nurses, doctors and consultants. Maybe society will at some point in the future review the reimbursements and ask the billionaires to help more with or without footballers!
And there is irony.
The nurses who sat with the PM as he fought the virus, under the new migration rules, might not be allowed into the country offering another pause for rethinking what kind of country we wish to be.
Yet in the midst of all this we continue to ask when is God going to show up?
It seems that despite breaking this word by means of a blog and as an attachment to our weekly emailed news sheet, I can still declare with confidence that Christ is Risen.
Thanks be to God.
Despite the spread of this pandemic, despite the struggle to maintain life, despite our experiencing Groundhog Days, last Sunday, as we were reminded in our Easter Quiz thanks to John and Gordon, the date of easter , as computed by the Venerable Bede, was a clear and positive statement that Easter happens.
Life continues to flourish in the face of pandemic, illness and death.
We are offered resurrection hope.
Like the women, like Mary we can believe what we are shown and invited to believe and we can witness to others.
Like the Disciples we can rejoice in the knowledge of resurrection or like Thomas we can offer praise.
But we can also offer witness to our pandemic weary world. Surrounded as we are by sickness, deprivation, fear and death we could simply throw our hands up in despair and stay silent.
But were we to stay silent surely the very stones would cry out that the very same God who divided the waters so God's people could escape slavery in Egypt and pilgrimage to the land of promise, to which he had called them, is the same God who raised Jesus from the dead.
We may be caught deep in the sadness of this extended Shabbat but we must proclaim the Shalom that God offers to His hurting, feverish, grieving, lonely world and declare that Christ's resurrection hope washes over us all, believer and unbeliever alike.
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