Explore and respond

Ideas for a sermon or interactive talk

See also ‘Thought for the week’ to read out in place of a sermon; and 'The week in focus', linking the readings to the news. 

Since the Covid pandemic, gardens – even the tiniest of them – have become more important to many people. Whenever I set foot in mine, it feels like a gift. It’s full of life. The wind blows the bushes and flowers. Birds come to eat and bathe. When I fill the bird feeder, it’s as if the birds are asking me to. When I check the courgettes, it’s as if they’re telling me that they’re surviving the slugs. My garden doesn’t want me to watch from a distance. It invites me in, to relate and connect. I think my garden communicates something of God to me. God who gives, animates and connects in the most earthy ways. The one God, the three-in-one God. God the Holy Trinity.

Seamus Heaney’s poem Postscript describes a drive out to the coast in County Clare, where wind, light, water and swans combine to create a captivating scene. But this is not something that can be fully appreciated simply by looking and listening. Just as the coastal breezes buffet the car and threaten to burst open its doors, so the heart must be willing to be surprised by its experiences, ever open to receive and learn from them. Likewise, the hearts of Jesus’ disciples, entranced by his example and teaching, must be open to the Spirit of truth, willing to be surprised, comforted and challenged by what they receive in each new moment from their living Lord.

During the various lockdowns and ‘levels’ during the pandemic, changes to the rules often took people by surprise. Many people had to make changes to their plans, often at the last minute. Performances were postponed and rearranged. Weddings ended up completely changed – on different dates, at different venues, with different guest lists. We are used to making plans and looking forward to future events, but we learnt how fragile those plans can be. And perhaps it caused us to ponder what is truly important. Is it the past that has happened? Is it the future that might be? Or is the most important thing the now?

What do you look for in a good book? Some people look for a good story. As the story develops they become more and more absorbed in it. Others seek for interesting characters, perhaps people they can relate to but especially characters they want to learn more about. However, there always comes a moment when the desire for more has to stop and the reader has to be satisfied with what they have. That may be temporary, because they have to put the book down to do something else, or permanent because they have completed the book. I wonder what Jesus meant when he told his disciples there was more – but not right now.

Thought for the week

Read out in place of a sermon if you wish

What is your Christian story? Some people were brought to church from a very young age and have never been away. Their experience of God is a relationship that has built up gradually. For others there was a sudden moment when, faced by God revealed in Jesus Christ, they say ‘Yes’.

Nicky Cruz was a Mau Mau gang leader in New York city when he first encountered the evangelist David Wilkerson, who told him that ‘Jesus loved him and would never stop loving him.’ Cruz hit Wilkerson and even threatened to kill him. Some time later, Cruz heard about at an evangelistic meeting organised by Wilkerson in the local area. He went, together with a few of his gang members, to the place the meeting was being held. According to Cruz’s own account, when he arrived there, he ‘felt guilty about the things that he had done’ and began to pray. After he had preached, Wilkerson asked the Mau Maus to take the collection. Cruz led the gang through the crowd, insisting on people giving money – can you imagine? Going backstage, he was tempted to run off with the money, but convinced the gang to go on stage and give the money to Wilkerson. A short time later, after an ‘altar call’, Cruz gave his life to Christ.

That must have been an incredible moment. Of course, not all moments are like that. But every moment is an opportunity to do something. God is with us now. The past we cannot change. The future is yet to be revealed. But we can respond to God in the now. It is up to us to make something of it.

The imagery of ‘walking with God’ is often used to describe a relationship with God, and how it can grow and develop. The poet William Cowper suffered the most terrible depressions, but managed to cling to a faith. He wrote the well-known hymn that begins in this way:

Oh! for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame;
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!

He goes on to reminisce fondly of a closer relationship, and to long for it again now:

Return, O holy Dove, return!
Sweet the messenger of rest!
I hate the sins that made thee mourn
And drove thee from my breast.

Then there appears to be a gradual realisation that the wonderful relationship with God is still (and always) possible now, as the hymn concludes:

So shall my walk be close with God,
Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
That leads me to the Lamb.

Perhaps Cowper’s imagery can help us to understand and receive Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel reading we have heard today (John 16.12-15). It is as if, in that pleasant stroll, the Spirit of truth gradually unfolds the truth, but we are to hold to what we have and celebrate the now of that moment. For God is with us.

 Dramas should be linked to here