Author: dougheming

Last week, when celebrating the Ascension of Jesus, we talked about the fact that Jesus is not everywhere. That Jesus the man who walked in Nazareth is now very much somewhere .. and that this somewhere is at the Father’s right hand in heaven interceding for us and our world.

This morning we celebrate the events of Pentecost .. as well as of our Queen’s Jubilee. So I have done my very best to pull these two themes together.

Today we celebrate the ‘disappearance of Jesus’. Which is a strange thing to celebrate in a way isn’t it. Remembering and celebrating as part of our faith the departure of Jesus from our world. His leaving us! But we should begin our reflecion remembering God’s kingdom is an upside down kingdom in relation to this world .. so today we recall His absence but that also reminds us of His presence in a strange way. That is true of everyone who we have lost .. their absence somehow reminds us of their presence! So we must allow our minds and hearts to be turned upside down this morning.,

Easter Sunday 2022: The Strips of Linen

Today we are celebrating the wonderful freedom and abandonment of the Easter message. He is Risen. And in this we find hope .. for He is the forerunner .. the prototype the first fruits of a resurrection every human shall share in. There is such immense freedom in the message of liberation .. even death itself cannot contain the human spirit and the human experience. This truth should give us freedom and liberty to live life in the face of. All will be well .. He is Risen.

Psalm 118:19-29 and Luke 19:28-40

This morning on Palm Sunday we are reminded of the pre-emptive celebration of the people of Jerusalem as they venerated Jesus as King. They came out in great crowds and waived nationalist symbols and rejoiced at the miracles and healing that had been reported throughout Israel. A joyous welcome to a long awaited liberator of God’s people.

It was pre-emptive and indeed misplaced to be welcoming Jesus as victor at this moment. And today is above all a reminder that our intentions and reasons for following and worshipping Christ are important. Today we are reminded that even those who profess a faith in Jesus can get things wrong. That our reasons for worshipping will always be exposed when faced with the suffering of Jesus and the earliest disciples. Worship must be based on more than human expectation of what God might do for us .. or even what God has done for us! In the Psalms today we read a song of great joy and gratitude for what God had done for Israel. But we know there are plenty of Psalms which are sung to the opposite tune .. songs of despair and weeping for the absence of God.