Tag Archives: doubt

Breathe Out… Breathe In

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Sermon preached for Easter 2 on Sunday 11th April 2021 based on readings Acts 4:32-35 and John 20:19-end

May I speak and may you hear through the Grace of our Lord; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

Are you sitting comfortably…

Breathe in…breathe out…breathe in…breathe out.

I’ve recently started using an app on my phone which teaches basic meditation as a way of slowing down a little and making space for quietness from time to time.

Breathe in…breathe out…breathe in…breathe out.

The first thing it makes you do, apart from sitting comfortably is to focus on your breathing and suddenly you realise that you’re consciously thinking about something that you subconsciously have done all your life.

Breathe in…breathe out…breathe in…breathe out.

You find yourself with your hand on your diaphragm, trying to make sure that your stomach and abdominal muscles are fully engaged to make your lungs work more efficiently – and it’s then you begin to think that you’ve actually forgotten how to breathe…

Yet breathing is the thing that keeps us alive: it’s the reaction to the proverbial slap on the bottom by the midwife when we are born; it’s the air passing through our larynx to give us speech and laughter. It’s also the last thing we will do when we face the end of our mortal life. Breathing is a natural and necessary part of creation, but it is also a means by which God imparts his Spirit.

Throughout the bible we hear how the breath of God enlivens and invigorates. From the second account of creation in Genesis,

‘Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being’
Genesis 2:7

to the quickening of the dry bones and Ezekiel’s prophetic command to the four winds,

‘So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies.
They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army’
Ezekiel 37:10

However, in our gospel reading this morning we hear that the risen Christ comes and stands among his amazed and probably terrified disciples and breathes on them both as a soothing and galvanising action, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’.

He then says something that seems a little disjointed in verse 23, ‘If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ However, there is a connection.

In Greek there are many different words for breathe, but two of them appear just four times in the gospels and all of them are an action of Jesus and all of them are connected to the Holy Spirit.

At the crucifixion scene, Mark tells us that Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last, and that the Centurion witnessed that in this way he breathed his last; whilst Luke tells us that it was after committing himself into this Father’s hands, that Jesus breathed his last. In all of these verses the Greek work for breathed is ekpnéo meaning to expire, to breathe out, to exhale.

However, Matthew’s account doesn’t mention breathing, he has Jesus crying out with a loud voice before yielding up his spirit, using the Greek word aphiēmi, for yield, which has a number of meanings but most commonly means to forgive. Luke also uses this word just before Jesus’ last breath when he tells us that Jesus says,

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Luke 23:34

We could reasonably surmise that Luke and Matthew are connecting the breathing out of the Spirit with the forgiveness that Jesus gave. So, Jesus forgave us and breathed out the Holy Spirit on the cross.

But let’s go back to that locked room and the next time that breathed is mentioned in the gospels. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ However, breathed here is a different Greek word emphysáō , which means to breathe into, breathe on, or blow in and echoes the action of God in the story of creation. Jesus breathed out his Spirit on the cross. But here he is breathing out his Spirit onto the disciples, because he is sending them as the Father sent him, to bring life and peace to everyone by forgiveness of their sins.

This then is the purpose of the Holy Spirit, to provide life, to energise and to activate. Just like those disciples gathered together, they had now received the Spirit and were being transformed into a people who sought to live and work for the common good, who valued forgiveness as an essential grace and who through the Spirit gave their testimony with great power, no longer afraid and no longer doubting.

What then of Thomas? The absentee disciple, whose doubt would not be satisfied unless he had physical proof and who did not at this time receive the breath of the Spirit. For him the sense of touch activated his belief, but he too would go on to receive the Spirit at Pentecost.

What then do we need to believe? There’s a wonderful verse in the Book of Job,

But there is a spirit within people,
the breath of the Almighty within them,
that makes them intelligent
Job 32:8

This does not necessarily mean academic or clever, but more intuitive. Life is breathed into us at the moment of conception but there is an unconscious desire to understand what it means to be fully human.

When we encounter Jesus, whether through our baptism, a gradual awareness or a seismic moment of conversion it is then that the Spirit within us is activated and becomes a living breathing force that blesses us and sends us out to bless and bring life, peace and forgiveness to others.

Jesus breathed out his Spirit on the cross. But, after the resurrection, Jesus breathes his Spirit into us. So, it’s worth getting that breathing correct

Breathe in…breathe out…breathe in…breathe out           

Amen

Faith – By Sight? By Touch?

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The Eagle Lectern at St James’ Church, West End

A recording made of an informal talk for a Service of the Word for St James’ Church, West End during the present Coronavirus Pandemic whilst our church door are locked. A transcript of the talk is printed below as well.

based on the following readings:

Psalm 16 – The Golden Secret, A precious song engraved in gold by King David
from The Psalms – Poetry on Fire (Passion Translation) © tPt

1 Keep me safe, O mighty God
I run for dear life to you, my Safe Place.

2 So I said to the Lord God,
‘You are my Maker, my Mediator, and my Master.
Any good thing you find in me has come from you’

3 And he said to me, ‘My holy ones are wonderful,
my majestic ones, my glorious ones,
fulfilling all my desires’

4 Yet, there are those who yield to their weakness,
and they will have troubles and sorrows unending.
I never gather with such ones,
nor give them honour in any way.

5 Lord, I have chosen you alone as my inheritance,
You are my prize, my pleasure, and my portion.
I leave my destiny and its timing in your hands’

6 Your pleasant path leads me to pleasant places,
I’m overwhelmed by the privileges
that come with following you,
for you have given me the best!

7 The way you counsel and correct me makes me praise you more,
for your whispers in the night give me wisdom,
showing me what to do next.

8 Because you are close to me and always available,
my confidence will never be shaken,
for I experience your wrap around presence every moment.

9 My heart and soul explode with joy – full of glory!
Even my body will rest confident and secure.

10 For you will not abandon me to the realm of death
nor will you allow your Holy One to experience corruption.

11 For you bring me a continual revelation of resurrection life,
the path to the bliss that bring me face-to-face with you.

and Acts 2:14a, 22-32 and John 20:19-31  

May I speak and may you hear through the Grace of our Lord; Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Can we simply believe what we see? I would say yes, most of the time. Even so, sight can deceive the brain because after all isn’t that what we call magic? We only have to think of magicians who have claimed to have made whole buildings disappear, such as David Copperfield and the Statue of Liberty, and the people there as witnesses at the time would have sworn on their lives that it really did happen – they saw it with their own eyes.

No don’t get me wrong, there is no suggestion of magic taking place in any part of our gospel this morning, or indeed in any part of the Easter story, but sight and witnessing are at the heart of it – except there was one who despite all of this wasn’t convinced – he doubted.

A few weeks ago, I spoke about worrying and how it wasn’t helpful, in that it can produce fear; may be a bit like the fear some of us might be feeling at the moment because of the necessary self-isolation and social distancing; and what fear does to your mind is that it leaves you doubting, it paralyses your thoughts. This sort of doubt is definitely not helpful. It’s the thing that stops us from doing the things that God is calling us to do. As the psalmist said, ‘You are my Maker, my Mediator, and my Master. Any good thing you find in me has come from you’

‘You are my Maker, my Mediator, and my Master.
Any good thing you find in me has come from you’
Psalm 16:2

Doubt, therefore, can stop us realising our true potential when we think, ‘I doubt God would want to know someone like me’ – yet we forget that we are exactly as God created us to be in all our diverse and different personalities, blessed with a variety of gifts and talents

On the other hand, doubt can be a useful, self-check tools – giving us a moment to pause and to consider. Perhaps Thomas was right to say, ‘hold on a minute, I not only need to see this for myself, but I need to have physical evidence as well’, because surely the physical always trumps the visual? So, when Jesus appears a second time he offers this opportunity for Thomas to confirm his physical presence – that he was not just some holographic projection. Yet in both of his appearances it doesn’t record that any of them reached out and actually touched Jesus. On the contrary, Thomas immediately answered Jesus’ offer with a firm declaration, ‘My Lord and my God’.

This was pure faith, the same faith that enabled Peter to later step forward and point out to the crowd that King David was undoubtedly dead and it was his faith that led him to boldly and unflinchingly declare ‘we all are witnesses that Jesus rose from the dead’.

We all are witnesses that Jesus rose from the dead
Acts 2:32

Oh, that we would be so bold, the ones that have not seen and yet have come to believe. How though are we to convince people about the truth of the resurrection? If we go back to that first encounter that the disciples had with Jesus, we can actually see that his main concern is not to provide proof of this. The first thing he offers is reassurance that its really him and the disciples rejoice – but Jesus moves swiftly on – his purpose isn’t to linger on the miraculous fact that he’s risen from the dead, but rather to enable the disciples and us, through the power of the Holy Spirit to forgive and to be able to discern when it is called for. He is inviting them and us to extend the same Peace he spoke to them in that locked room, to begin to share that in faith with others, to start others on that journey of discovering the truth for themselves.

Yet how can we do this when our own faith journeys can often be full of ups and downs. There are times when our faith runs deep and there are times when doubt threatens to take over. The fact remains that we simply cannot force anyone else to believe – indeed we can not even force ourselves to believe. Faith comes only and always as a precious gift – but it is helped by being surrounded with others who carry and hold that gift of faith as lovingly as we do.

Whether our faith runs deep or shallow we can still live as one who believes, bearing witness in our words and actions to the truth that Jesus lives because God brings us ‘a continual revelation of resurrection life’. Sight may be fallible, the physical may be convincing, but as John declares in his purpose for writing these things down, it is the written word that is something tangible, to provoke thought and reflection, to come back to time and again, to give us better understanding through our experiences to show something in a new light.

Fear can be overcome; doubt can be set aside, and faith and belief are the keys to life in all its fullness through the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen

 

 

Changing Doubts Into Hope

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Baptism with water and the Holy Spirit

Baptised with water and the Holy Spirit

It’s not often that you start a talk in church with a piece of music. However last Sunday, the second of Easter (yes we are still celebrating Easter long after the chocolate eggs have been eaten and the hot-cross buns finally toasted) I decided to see if the congregation were up for a bit of ‘Name that Tune’ The piece in question was the theme tune from Star Wars, Episode 4, ‘A New Hope’

We were celebrating a Eucharist, made all the more special because it was to include a baptism. Our readings included the story of Thomas meeting the resurrected Jesus and it was, looking to the future we are being offered, that we hopefully were to discover that morning

First though I want to ask you a question… Is it just me?? Or do we all have moments of doubts? Doubts about whether we are capable of doing something – if we have the ability or the strength? Doubts about whether we can trust others to carry out the things they have promised to do. Doubts about what the right thing to do is? Doubts about what our purpose in life is? Doubts about where God is in our lives? Is it just me??

Everyone doubted that Noah could build an ark – and yet he went on to achieve this incredible feat of engineering; Sarah doubted that she would ever have children and even laughed in God’s face and yet she went on to be the co-founder of a great nation Moses doubted that he had the articulate skills to face up to Pharaoh, yet with the help of his brother Aaron he went on to bring the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Elijah doubted that God was with him when he fled in fear for his life to Mount Horeb and yet it was there that he encountered him in that ‘still, small, voice’ guiding him as to what to do; Peter doubted when he walked on the water and yet there he was at Pentecost speaking out boldly and clearly, and of course the eponymous Thomas

So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ John 20:25

So it certainly seems that God has no problem with us having doubts from time to time, after all we’re only human and we’re very often not in a position to see the bigger picture or what the future holds for each of us. What is it that we need to turn those doubts into belief I wonder? What proof will be good enough? For Thomas it was physical proof that the man he had been following and believed in had truly risen from the dead and was very much alive and standing in front of him. Maybe the only proof we’ll accept is when something we’ve doubted would happen has actually happened then we’ll believe it, or maybe if something didn’t happen when we feared it might. Good concrete evidence is often what we seek to allay our doubts and fears

Doubt often comes about because of a fear of failure; fear that we will let people down; fear that what we desire won’t come about. And maybe it won’t – not in the way we think or hope it will… and that I think is the key. The need to change our outlook from negative to positive, changing our doubts into hopes, putting our faith in God not in ourselves. All the while we hold on to our doubts then we are stopping ourselves from believing that things are possible.

Psalm 16 is sometimes translated with the subtitle ‘the hope of the faithful, a prayer of trust and security in God’ and it’s a beautiful lament from David which contains the following lines,

‘I praise you, Lord, for being my guide. Even in the darkest night, your teachings fill my mind. I will always look to you, as you stand beside me and protect me from fear. With all my heart, I will celebrate, and I can safely rest. I am your chosen one. You won’t leave me in the grave or let my body decay. You have shown me the path to life, and you make me glad by being near to me.’

Appropriate words as we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, but also appropriate for our own lives, as Peter in his first letter tells us, ‘By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead’ – a living, breathing hope that has been placed in all of us.

Font blog

The waters of baptism in the font at St John the Evangelist, Hedge End

And this morning we witnessed that hope being placed into a young child, Noah; whose baptism symbolised a new birth, not of water but of the Spirit. A hope that will be new and vibrant, a hope that will be reflected in the love and example that he receives from his parents, grandparents and godparents; a hope that Noah will need to have reaffirmed from time to time not only by his family, but by the whole family of Christ.

Because it’s all our responsibility to look to the hope that has already been placed in our own lives and to remain steadfast in trusting that God knows what he’s doing and all will be well.

Regrettably, as we’ve already seen, there may still be creeping moments of doubt. Again as Peter puts it, ‘even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials.’ And let’s be honest, all of us have and may be having to face various trials, some more than others, some harder to bear than others. Maybe our faith has been tested to the limits, but, if through it all, we don’t lose hope and believe that we will be given the strength to endure it, then just like metal that when it is tempered by fire is made stronger, so our faith will emerge with genuine hope for whatever the future may bring; and just like Thomas we will be able to declare, ‘My Lord and my King’

Jesus tells his disciples, standing there right next to him, that they are blessed because they have seen for themselves with their own eyes and have no reason to doubt only to believe. How foolish we must seem to others to believe in something we’ve never seen, yet we have all come to or are coming to faith in so many different ways. What is it that convinces us that we should believe? Is it a personal encounter with Jesus; is it the love shown to us by those around us; is it an example of a friend, or was it that we just couldn’t believe that our lives are nothing more that this brief span of time. Whatever it was that started you on your journey of faith, be hopeful and hold on to it and remember how blessed you are.

The promises we make to the newly baptised, to support them in prayer, example and teaching we should also make to each other. We should push all of our doubts to one side as we are welcomed into the fellowship of faith and remember instead the one hope to which we are all called

Let’s celebrate that hope, and as always, may Christ’s peace rest in you…Amen

Expect the unexpected in our font!

Always expect the unexpected in our font!