Acts 16.9-15; John 5.1-9
Two days ago, I got back from a follow up to a bereavement retreat I attended last year. It was conducted by a person called “Abi” who has, in the past, lost a daughter and a husband and her present husband has cancer. She was absolutely brilliant but among the sessions was one, the theme of which I thought might interest you. The course included a time for crafts or artwork so I thought I would try to illustrate my sermon - as you can see, I am not very good at this. In addition to the main message, I have added my own embellishments.
(Colin shows the first illustration - a collage entitled “Life is a beautiful Collage” and ending with “Where now?")
This quotation comes from an American writer “Melanie Koulouris. “Life is a beautiful collage” and she goes on to say, “a collage of priceless moments and memories, which, when pieced all together create a unique and treasured masterpiece.”
(Second illustration - picture of his house in Sabah)
Our lives are not paintings depicting a singular scene or telling a single story - this is a picture of my house in Sabah painted by a former student but, although I love it, it does not tell of the huge number of events, contacts, achievements and mistakes that happened while I lived there. And when you think about it, our lives are made up of a huge number of pieces, some joyful, some adventurous - for example getting married is always an adventure - some sad events, even tragic, and some dark as we fail to live up to the standard of love or make terrible decisions. Our lives are great, grand collages - pastiches of many places, thousands of memories, millions of moments. When we are down, our lives can feel messy and pointless - but if we could step back and see ourselves as Jesus sees us, they are masterpieces. Each of us is a unique and treasured masterpiece - that’s how Jesus thinks of you.
The life of Jesus himself was a kaleidoscope of perfect events . It included growing up, being a school boy, learning much of the Old Testament, taught a trade by his father and working as a carpenter. This must have included dealing with all manner of people, budgeting, making a profit and so on. And then , his ministry - healing hundreds if not thousands of people, arguing with Pharisees, dying a black and painful death carrying the weight of the world’s sins and then rising to new life. A wonderful and unique collage - but not, of course in the same way, are our lives.
And then, the first lesson gives a glimpse into St. Paul’s life - dedicated to serving God but with the great black time of persecuting Christians. It included times of sin as he himself says, “the good I want to do, I fail to do ..” But very much - after his conversion when he was baptised and was filled with the Holy Spirit - following the promptings of the Spirit, to found many churches including one at Philippi in Macedonia, perhaps his favourite. Facing many dangers, being imprisoned and finally dying a martyr. A brilliant collage - a mixture of wonders, of good times and of painful and bad events.
But now I want you to think of our church - and by church I do not mean the building although the life of this building must be a fascinating collage of many, many events both good and bad. When it was the third portion of Pontesbury, there were many dark things happening as the Rectors quarrelled.
I want you to see the life of the people of this church over the centuries as a collage of many events and pieces and we are part of that collage. As many of you know, we recently had a Saturday morning where we considered the future of the church and so I have put at the bottom of the collage “Where next”. I use the word “where” because we are on a journey. At the meeting, we considered the church of the Acts of the Apostles “They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship., to the breaking of bread and to prayer” and were urged by Kevin, the leader to work out a five year plan. But I believe we missed out a very important point and that is the guidance of the Holy Spirit. True, the Holy Spirit was mentioned in that those first Christians were able to do this because they were filled with the Holy Spirit, but I felt the Holy Spirit was only mentioned in passing, so to speak.
When you look at the lives of Jesus and those first Christians, they did not start their ministry until the Holy Spirit had come upon them. Jesus Himself waited until the Holy Spirit had descended on him in the form of a dove before he began to teach and heal. The first Apostles were told to wait in Jerusalem until they had received the power from on high. The first Christians were baptised and, as Peter told them, were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. And Paul after his conversion was baptised and received the Holy Spirit. In our reading, the Holy Spirit clearly directed him not to go into certain parts but follow the guidance of the Angel and go to Macedonia. So, whether we like it or not the Church will not go forward with any strength unless we go forward in the power of the Holy Spirit.
(Third illustration - a simple illustration of the Holy Spirit as a Dove and as Tongues of Fire)
It’s time I stopped, so to go back to my original point - our lives are great and grand collages and this I believe whether we are Christian or not. But how much more wonderful if we can bring the power of God into our lives and the life of the church to become a grand kaleidoscope of lives dedicated to our Lord Jesus Christ, guided by the power of our Lord, the Holy Spirit.
Revd Colin Hurford
Graham's post script- in our vision seeking, we are very much seeking God's will for us, His vision for us in this place at this time and that will only come through the Holy Spirit.