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Listening to your Mum

03/04/2011 By

Bible reading: Luke 1:46-55

46And Mary said,

I’m bursting with God-news;

47I’m dancing the song of my Saviour God.

48God took one good look at me, and look what happened — I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!

What God has done for me will never be forgotten,

49the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.

50His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him.

51He bared his arm and showed his strength,

scattered the bluffing braggarts.

52He knocked tyrants off their high horses,

pulled victims out of the mud.

53The starving poor sat down to a banquet;

the callous rich were left out in the cold.

54He embraced his chosen child, Israel;

he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.

55It’s exactly what he promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now.

The theme for our lent series is pod-destrian.  Based on those people who are so engrossed in listening to their ipods or mobile phones that they can walk into things or into the path of oncoming traffic.  For the 6 weeks in the Christian calendar known as Lent we’ll be asking the question who or what are you listening to?
Tonight we explore – Listening to you mum
  • Who listens to their mum?
  • Who does not listen to their mum?
  • What phrase do you remember that you mum says or said most often?
  • Can you still hear it?

Windows and mirrors

Around the hall are a number of mirrors and windows with some paper next to them.  All you need to do is follow the simple instructions.

Throwing stones

Everyone needs to pick up a stone.

Now things that don’t tend to mix are windows and stones.

Mirrors and stones don’t tend to mix either.

Things, well, things just seem to get broken very easily.

It is true that the people we grow up with have a profound influence on us.  Some of us even get stuck with looking like our parents for the whole of our life.

I wonder if Jesus looked like his Mum.  I wonder Jesus could still hear the words of his mum when he was 30 years old?  “Jesus put that down”, “Jesus will you listen to me?” “Jesus will you please tidy your room”, “Jesus I love you”, “Jesus how did you do that?”

The reading we had at the start of our presentation tonight is from Jesus’ mum, It was Mary at the start of Luke’s gospel.  We only get a glimpse of what she was like, she drifts in and out of the Gospel story.

But look at what she says in this song;

46And Mary said,

I’m bursting with God-news;

47I’m dancing the song of my Saviour God.

God did something in her life that caused her to be bursting with God-news. She was so excited she was dancing.

It is very easy to throw stones.

It is very easy to throw stones, they can break windows and mirrors.

Stones can disfigure, they could mar the looks we have, the looks we might have inherited from our mum,

They can break the pictures we have

Don’t throw stones.

Give flowers.

Come and put your stones down and pick up a bunch of flowers.

Go and give them to someone today.

Say thank you, forgive someone, tell someone you love them.

Say it with flowers.

Flowers look great in a window.

Flowers look far better reflected in a whole mirror than a broken one.

Mary responded to the God’s voice and what he was doing in her life.  It became a beautiful thing.

God is calling you, how will you respond?

Will you throw stones or give flowers?

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Are you listening to the past?

20/03/2011 By

As I thought about listening to the past it occurred to me that we have two options; we can listen to our previous experiences and act now in what they tell us or we can look for new ways of understanding life and explore what that might bring about.

  • Are you a “last time we did this it didn’t work so it won’t work this time” kind of person?
  • Are you a “it eventually works out OK so I’ll carry on anyway” kind of person?
  • Could you be a “I don’t know how this will work out but I’m willing to give it a try” kind of person?

How much does the past dictate to you what you believe and understand about the future?  I don’t just mean hanging on to bad things from the past, e.g. I’ve been hurt or let down, so it will happen again.  I also mean the good things, e.g. my brother always goes the extra mile, he won’t mind me asking.

What about your walk with God?  Whether you’re just starting out asking questions, or been travelling this road for a long time.  Do you expect kindness and good things because that’s been your experience of God?  Or is it the opposite and God never turns up and just like other experiences of life you have, walking with God has been a bit of disappointment – why should it change?

The past can either be a chain around our ankles, slowing us down or a firm positive foundation on which we rely.  For most of us it’s probably both.  Although at any one given time its probably more one than the other.  Is your past helping or hindering?  And how does it influence your relationship with God?

As we go through this evening you may find yourself thinking about events from the past, positive or negative.  As you do would you write on the paper chains on your chairs a word or two that describes that event.  If you don’t want to actually write it down then please just write your name on the chain.  If you end up with lots with your name, don’t worry!

I’ve asked Philippa to come and share something of her journey.

Testimony – Philippa

Time to listen to what question I needed to ask him and to hear his answer

Bible Reading – Psalm 77

I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might, I yell at the top of my lungs. He listens. I found myself in trouble and went looking for my Lord; my life was an open wound that wouldn’t heal.

When friends said, “Everything will turn out all right,” I didn’t believe a word they said.

I remember God—and shake my head.  I bow my head—then wring my hands.  I’m awake all night—not a wink of sleep; I can’t even say what’s bothering me.  I go over the days one by one, I ponder the years gone by.  I strum my lute all through the night, wondering how to get my life together

Will the Lord walk off and leave us for good? Will he never smile again? Is his love worn threadbare?

Has his salvation promise burned out? Has God forgotten his manners? Has he angrily stalked off and left us?  “Just my luck,” I said. “The High God goes out of business just the moment I need him.”

Once again I’ll go over what God has done, lay out on the table the ancient wonders; I’ll ponder all the things you’ve accomplished, and give a long, loving look at your acts.

O God! Your way is holy! No god is Great like God!

You’re the God who makes things happen; you showed everyone what you can do — You pulled your people out of the worst kind of trouble, rescued the children of Jacob and Joseph.

Psalm 77 was written out of the exiles being in need of God to lead them back to the promised land.  God’s people had followed Moses and finally had arrived at what they had called the promised land.  Its known to us as Jerusalem.  The Hebrew people had settled and made Jerusalem their home and then it had been destroyed by the surrounding super powers at that time.  All that remained was a city in ruins and people deported to many places.  God’s people are now in a place of exile, of displacement and dispersement.  Psalm 77 speaks of a blunt honesty that the worshippers have failed to reach God in prayer and that their attempts to find comfort in the past have failed.

As the verses progress we journey from preoccupation with ourselves to a submission to and reliance on God.  The first verses are “I” based, the second part is “you” based.  The psalm looks at “our past” and moves from a reliance on the past into an understanding that God is free to change, to come and go.  He is not predictable but there is a promise that where he leads he will provide.

This new reliance on a changing and dynamic God relies on the people of God moving away from an “I” based faith of obedience to earn God’s favour to a “you” based faith of where “I” is given up.  Our expectations of God, our limitations of him, our desires for him to act the way we want him to – all of this has to be relinquished.

We can keep circling back held in by our past experiences and our preoccupation with self or we can take the brave step of moving forward with God.

The world we live in encourages us to concentrate on not giving away our “self” or preserving it and feeding it and yet this psalm challenges us to relinquish self; to understand that we live by gift and not by grasp.

Just like Jesus words in Mark 8 35.

For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it

Even when we look back on our past experiences of God this can sometimes limit us to what we expect God to do in the future.  Will we live with the dynamic and ever-changing God who can do all things and make all things new?

In our relationships we begin to feel comfortable and relaxed as we get to know people.  We open up more, we share more personal conversations and stories from our past.  We let them see the less “nice” side of us.  And there is a sense in which in our walk with God that this is also true.  But don’t let’s get carried away.  God is not there to be controlled by us, by our needs, by our plans for the future, for how we think things should work out.  Even when we think we are motivated by all the right reasons. God’s way is wholly other, not to be reduced to my needs or my expectations.  He is unpredictable and incomparable.

The challenge is to move from a religion based on obedience and earning God’s love to a fully liberated imaginative religion of awe and amazement and trembling before the Holy One.

Everything is up for grabs in verse 10.

O God! Your way is holy!

No god is great like God!

This is the moment that can go either way, a moment of deciding, to live in the world where God, the Most High can change, free to act; or to retreat back to a safer world where we are at the centre of things and can stay in control.

Response – paper chains and fire

You may  have already written on some paper chains but I’d like to give you the chance to do more if you wish.  Write on them some of the situations or memories of the past that are controlling how you view yourself, others and /or God.  If you prefer, then again just write your name on the chain instead.

Then join them together with anyone else nearby who written on a chain.

We have a decision to make now.  Do you want move forward, to live in the world where God, the Most High can change, be free to act; or are you not ready yet and would prefer to retreat back to a safer world where we are at the centre of things and can stay in control.

If you’d like to move forward, one small step, then I’d like you to join your paper chain up to make a link.  Make a chain if you have more than one.  During the next few slides I would then encourage you to bring your chains out to the front.

Indescribable – Chris Tomlin

Burn the paper chains

We leave the past behind, the good and the bad and wait on you God the indescribable, uncontainable, all powerful, untameable, incomparable, unchangeable, amazing God who sees the depths of my heart and loves me the same.

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Who are you listening to?

13/03/2011 By

The theme for our lent series is pod-destrian.  Based on those people who are so engrossed in listening to their ipods or moibile phones that they can walk into things or into the path of oncoming traffic.  For the next 6 weeks which in the Christian calendar is known as Lent we’ll be asking the question who or what are you listening to ?

Lent is the period of six weeks 40 days (not including Sundays) leading up to Easter, which is  the most important festival in the Christian calendar.  During the 40 days of Lent, Christians remember the time when Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray before beginning his work for God. During this time Jesus was tempted several times by Satan, but was able to resist.  Lent is a time of giving things up. For Christians, it is one way of remembering the time Jesus’ fasted in the desert and is a test of self-discipline.

There are many foods that some Christians do not eat in Lent, such as meat and fish, fats, eggs, and milky foods. Some Christians just give up something they really enjoy such as cakes or chocolate.

Lent starts after Pancake Day which traditionally people have used as the last chance to use up the foods that they would not be eating during Lent. Today people often give up chocolate or alcohol.

So this is a time when you might hear people talking about they might give up for Lent.  The idea being that this is a time when some self-discipline and self-control is exercised.  If you like it’s the Christian New Year, its when they make resolutions to be focussed on their journey with God.  People give up chocolate or crisps, watching TV or playing computer games.  The idea is that it’s supposed to be a challenge,  that you would need to be rely on God in order to be able to resist the temptation to give in.

This evening we have heard Joy and Paul share how Keziah’s arrival has been a key part of their journey and the peaks and troughs of that.  The fear and despair as well as the delight and happiness.

In line with our theme for Lent I’d like to ask you – who or what were you listening to as they shared their story?  Were you listening to people who because you know them, you were willing to believe their story, it stirred your emotions, left you thinking how would I have reacted in those circumstances?  Or was it too farfetched and whilst you know Joy and Paul well, its too big a jump for you, so you stopped listening or listened instead to a voice that explained away all that they said?  Either of those or anything in between is perfectly normal.

My challenge to you this Lent is to give up your scepticism or cynicism.  To resist the temptation to explain away all that happened to Joy and Paul as coincidence or fate.  You can go back to that way of thinking as soon as the six weeks of Lent are over.  I’m not asking you to give rational thought or switch your brain off.

I’m just suggesting that for a few weeks you might entertain the idea that God has been at work, that God may have something to say to you too, that God is big enough to handle all of the questions and doubts that you might have.  He’s big enough to handle your indifference too.  Joy and Paul are not alone in the Bridge community.  There are many others here too with stories to tell that seem to suggest that God is at work.  We don’t have all of the answers and it doesn’t always make sense but we are a group of people who in varying degrees have decided to suspend our cynicism, to be willing to explore what seems impossible, to be open to new possibilities.

Joy and Paul’s story tonight is that God has walked with them through a very difficult time, that there have been times when they have had very real doubts and times when they have known for certain that God has been with them.  It has also been a very real and at times hugely difficult time for those of who love and care for them.  What to say?  What to do?  At times we have felt so useless and incapable of finding the right words.  And yet many of us have known God carrying us and walking with us through it.

Joy and Paul were at one time given a very special picture of a pair of hands holding their unborn baby, protecting her from a too early arrival.  This picture has brought great comfort in times of great despair.  And yet here we are today, celebrating Keziah’s arrival.  She has already brought great change to the lives of the Hatfield family and will no doubt continue to do so.

Our story is that God is not distant, that he is interested in each and every one of us.  As Easter approaches it’s a good time to think again about what God achieved.  There’s nothing he wouldn’t do to reach out to us.  At Easter we remember that God actually came to earth as a human being.  He lived among us and knows exactly what its like to be us.  The whole idea of Jesus doing that was so that he can be a role model for what it means to be a human being living in relationship with God.  Joy and Paul’s story this evening demonstrates the power of the Holy spirit at work in ordinary human beings.  This is the same spirit that was at work in the life of Jesus.  We can keep trying to be better people, to be kind and caring and generous or brave and yet if we attempt this purely under our own will power we will always fall short, we will always run out.  God doesn’t want us to have to do all of this on own.  He wants to empower and transform our lives.  When Jesus died on the cross he clearly demonstrated that a human being who has lived their life in partnership with God, who has allowed God’s spirit to be at work in their life, will overcome.  We don’t need to live lives that have no purpose, we don’t have to live lives that trapped by the circumstances we have encountered, we don’t have to live lives that are valued by what we own or what we wear, we don’t have to live lives that are trapped by our past.  God would love for you to feel his love.  Will you give him a chance?

So who are you listening to?  Will you listen to Joy and Paul’s story and think it’s worth considering?  For the next six weeks you could participate in Lent by giving up something.  Will you give up your indifference, your scepticism, your fear, your pride?

When the rain is blowing in your face,
And the whole world is on your case,
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love.

When the evening shadows and the stars appear,
And there is no one there to dry your tears,
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love.

I know you haven’t made your mind up yet,
But I would never do you wrong.
I’ve known it from the moment that we met,
No doubt in my mind where you belong.

I’d go hungry; I’d go black and blue,
I’d go crawling down the avenue.
No, there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do
To make you feel my love.

The storms are raging on the rolling sea
And on the highway of regret.
Though winds of change are throwing wild and free,
You ain’t seen nothing like me yet.

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true.
Nothing that I wouldn’t do.
Go to the ends of the Earth for you,
To make you feel my love

Bible reading: John 3: 16

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son.  And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.  God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was.  He came to help, to put the world right again.

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Pastoral Listening Skills Course 2011

18/11/2010 By

Pastoral Listening Skills Course at St.John’s Church, 351 Coventry Road, Hinckley LE10 0NF

Spring Term 2011 from January 18th to April 12th (No session on Feb. 22nd for half-term)

Tuesday evenings 7.30pm-10pm

and one Saturday – March 26th 9.30am-4pm

The Course is for anyone who listens as part of their employment, voluntary work, church life, or with family & friends. The course includes teaching and role-play. Participants are encouraged to keep a journal of their learning experiences and a certificate is awarded to those successfully completing the course.

The Listening Skills Course consists of 12 weekly sessions on Tuesday evenings plus one full day on a Saturday. The total teaching hours is 30 hours. The price for the course is £60 per person.

For further information please contact:

Pathways Counselling Service, c/o St. John’s Church, 351 Coventry Road, Hinckley LE10 ONF

or contact Heather Vernon via phone on 07960 -879406

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The Best 60 Minutes Ever – (2) Time to Catch Up

12/09/2010 By

THE ROAD TO EMMAUS

 

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

 

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

 

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that happened there in these days?”

 

“What things?” he asked.

 

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.

“He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

 

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

 

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly,

“Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.”

So he went to stay with them.

 

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other,

 

“Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

 

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying

“It is true! The Lord has risen and appeared to Simon.”

Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

 

Luke 24:13-35 (NIV)

 

SOMETIMES THE PRESSURE GETS TOO MUCH + WE HAVE TO GET AWAY FROM THE CENTRE OF THINGS TO GET SOME TIME TO THINK

 

I don’t know about you, but I know there have been times in my life when I just wanted to get out of the stress and pressure of circumstances as quickly as possible and get some fresh air; to go somewhere quiet and give me a bit of time and space to think.

 

As we listen to this story we hear about two disciples trying to get out of Jerusalem quickly. They turn their backs on the community of disciples they had spent the last few years of their lives with and head out for the countryside. We get the sense that they too needed time to reflect on what had happened in the previous few days. Or maybe they were just scared, frightened of what the Pharisees might do to the disciples of the charismatic figure they had just murdered. Whatever their reasons they had decided to move away from the hotspot of pressure and give their selves some time to think.

 

JESUS’ DISCIPLES DIDN’T TRAVEL ALONE

 

It’s interesting because they didn’t travel alone. Jesus earlier in his ministry had sent the disciples out in twos and maybe these two had become friends during their preaching missions in Judea. But the significance is they weren’t on their own they went together with their spiritual friend. God didn’t intend for us to be alone, especially in times of crisis and trouble. We need our spiritual friends.

 

GOD CAME UP TO THEM WHEN THEY WERE MOST DISHEARTENED

 

 

‘Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognising him.’

 

How often in our bleak times, does Jesus walk beside us and yet we are kept from recognising him?

 In times of confusion God can seem very far away and yet perhaps that is the time when he is right beside us, but we can’t see him. I think this is a wonderful passage because it shows us that God is besides us when we are most downcast, when the situation seems impossible to overcome, then as we travel to escape the pressure Jesus comes and looks for us. Suddenly, we are not alone there is one more travelling with us.

 

LISTENING TO OTHER PEOPLE FIRST

 

What I love about this passage is that Jesus let’s the disciples tell their own story.

 

‘He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

 

Does a man who is raised from the dead need to be told what his own disciples are talking about?

 Does a supernatural human who can disguise his appearance from his friends need to be filled in on the story? No, but Jesus asks the disciples to TELL…

 …their story,

…their worries,

…their confusion

 …and in doing so he brings out their mixture of faith and disappointment.

 He allows them to articulate their own pain.

 

So, often when we are in pain we need someone who will listen to our side of the story. We need someone who will listen TO US?! And that’s what Jesus does, he begins the healing process of storytelling by asking them to pour out their pain and that’s what they do. One of them says:

 

“He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”

 

‘…but we had hoped…’

 

Those words echo so much pain and disappointment.

 They had hoped,

They had given their hearts and their souls to a man who they thought was destined to overturn the tables of injustice in the world and save God’s people Israel,

 …but how harshly they had been disappointed

 …and yet they were sure they hadn’t been deceived.

 

In our lives too WE can become tainted by disappointment and failure. The circumstances of life can press in on our precious faith and security until it breaks. Suddenly, what he had hoped for appears a cynical illusion and our hearts at one time filled with hope become clouded with pain and loss.

 

 

NEW STORIES OF HOPE

 And yet their shattering of dreams at the crucifixion was not all.

 There were also these new stories abounding…

…that the tomb was empty…

 

…sightings of angels…

 

…and claims that Jesus was alive.

 

 

How could this be true after all that had happened?

Were they now being asked to hope again? Hope against hope.

 

 

JESUS’ RESPONSE – SUFFERING WAS ALWAYS PART OF THE PLAN

 

Jesus’ response to the disciples seems a little harsh…but perhaps from his perspective he was just bursting at the seems to open their eyes to the good news of what had happened. I think Jesus was just longing to cry out: “Don’t you realise this is everything that was meant to happen?! The Messiah was meant to suffer before he would enter into glory!”

 

The disciples don’t understand – the circumstances of the world, the facts of what they saw have clouded their vision and the far off dreams of a place of future glory have perished in the storm. They don’t understand the story, so Jesus tells them the story again, this time taking it from the beginning.

 

‘And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.’

 

 

I don’t know about you, but that’s one story-time I would have loved to have listened in to. That’s one walk I would love to have been a part of. Perhaps when we get to heaven we’ll be able to hear that story again and find out just what the scriptures were saying about the Messiah from Jesus’ mouth, but for the moment we can only make an educated guess.

 

JESUS RE-TELLS THE JEWISH STORY OF IDENTITY

But what Jesus does is a skilful re-telling of the disciples’ basic story. They had the same Scriptures as Jesus, 

…they were Jews,

 …but they hadn’t grasped the meaning of what was going on.

 

DISCIPLES HAD A DIFFERENT STORY OF TRIUMPH WITHOUT SUFFERING

They had a different story – of triumph for Jesus and defeat for Israel’s enemies – a story that had disintegrated under the pressures of reality. They had the same scriptures, but a different story…

 

 JESUS’ STORY HEALS

BUT Jesus speaks his healing words again softening their hearts, touching their souls and renewing their hope. In the light of Jesus’ story suddenly the facts began to make sense, gradually their vision began to return, reframed and re-orientated and the hope of their hearts was rekindled.

 

WE TOO CAN HAVE THE WRONG STORY

 So often, our stories also collapse. 

 Under the weight of demands and pressures from the world around us, from work, from family and church and sometimes from our own internal pressures to try and secure ourselves a happy future our understanding of the world around us begins to crack.

 In this moment,

 …being a good person doesn’t equal having a happy life.

 In these situations

 …attending church faithfully doesn’t equal spiritual satisfaction.

 Reading the Bible doesn’t seem to help against the pressures we face at work or with study.

 

The old stories no longer work and we can’t find the answer on our own.

 

 WE NEED GOD’S SPIRIT

 It is at these times that we need God’s spirit,

 …Jesus’ voice…

…or perhaps just the voice of an unknown stranger or friend to retell the stories we believe in.

 To take us back to the beginning,

…to reassess the facts

…and to tell the story once again with a different meaning,

 …without the simplistic equations and by doing so give us hope to live again.

 

Sam’s Speech – The Great Stories

 In the film production of The Lord of the Rings there is a touching scene where the hero Frodo Baggins is just about to give up. All around him is bloodshed and war and the powers of evil appear to be overwhelming. Still a long way from the end of their mission and in the heat of the battle, Frodo is overwhelmed by the enormity of the task that lies before him. Losing sight of his own hope and innocence he begins to despair. Having lost hope the powerful attraction of the ring tempts Frodo to abuse its powers and there by give in to the powers of evil. However, Frodo has not travelled alone.

 

 Frodo has a travelling companion and even though evil is all around, his friend is right beside him.

 In a daring leap of courage and bravery Samwise Baggins wrestles Frodo out of the path of danger, risking his own life in doing so. At the last moment Frodo wakes from his stupor and cries out:

 

 Frodo: “I can’t do this, Sam”

 

And Sam, like Jesus, begins to retell Frodo the story. He uses his words to restore hope.

 

Sam: “I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here, but we are.

It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really  mattered – full of darkness and danger they were and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to how it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come and when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.  But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now.

Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t they kept going because they were holding on to something.”

 

Frodo: “What are holding onto Sam?”

 

Sam: “That there’s something good in this world Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.”                                                       

 

SAM, LIKE JESUS, TELLS THE BIGGER STORY

 Like, Jesus and the despairing disciples, Sam tells Frodo that they are part of a story that is much bigger than the small stories of peace and safety without risk they had believed in before they started their journey of discovery. There is RISK and PAIN in this bigger epic, but there is also hope – hope of a world worth fighting for. There is faith that there is still something good in this world.

 

 

THE JOURNEY, THE COMPANY + THE STORIES LED TO RENEWED SENSITIVITY + HOPE

 

On the road to Emmaus, the disciples had begun to reawaken to the hope that the crucifixion was not the end of the Messiah. Evening was approaching and they wanted their new found travelling companion to stay with them. Perhaps, they were concerned for his safety. Perhaps, they just longed to spend some more time with this mysterious stranger who had given new hope to their lives on just a few miles walk. Whatever the reason, they asked him to stay with him. The feelings of affection for this man were already kindled……even, if his appearance was, as yet, hidden from them.

 

The rest of the story, we know.     

 

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

 

In an instant, over a rustic meal the disciples’ eyes were opened and the man they had travelled with they suddenly recognized and he disappears.

 

We can only imagine what feelings they had at that time, but I find their response illuminating.

 

‘“Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”’ 

 

The one thing that validated their visionary revelation was the ‘burning of their hearts as he talked’.

 2000 years later,  

…in a different society,

 …in a very different world,

 …visions of Jesus are pretty rare to come by – not impossible, but rare.

 But I love the fact that the disciples could recognise Jesus not just by his face, but by his words. ‘Were not our hearts burning within us…?’ The power of God’s love for us today is often carried to us in words, in stories, words that set our hearts on fire. We are a long way away from the times of Jesus’ life on earth, but the stories of his life still have the power to deeply affect us. These are the stories that we the church tell to encourage each other on the journey. As travellers on a long and sometimes demanding and difficult journey – may we make the time to listen to the stories of old.

May we travel together as companions who need each other

 

…may we have time to listen to each other as friends because every one has a story to tell

 …and may we encourage one another so the burning words of God’s story stir our hearts to hope and love again. So, that when we are ready to get out, to give up…

  …we become transformed to turn around and set off, back to our community and tell them the good news that we have experienced;

 …that Jesus is not dead, but alive…

 

because we met him travelling on the road.

 

 

 

 

by David L Fletcher

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