Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 7.55-60; 1 Peter 2.2-10; John 14.1-14

During the Easter season we've been reading about the various resurrection appearances of Jesus to his disciples and also from the Acts of the Apostles what that meant for individuals and the Church. We continue in that vein today and as we do so we are left with these extraordinary words of Jesus from St. John's gospel, 'Very truly, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and in fact, will do greater works thatn these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever yo ask in my name. so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.'

Those are astonishing words which ought to make us sit up and do some really hard thinking and ask some really searching questions; not least whether or not we do feel we get our prayers answered and whether or not we see the things that Jesus did, happening around us now. They are challenging words. But I think they are also meant to lead us much further than simply to answer questions at such an immediate and personal level. They are words which, put together with the other readings this morning highlight what the Church is all about and why we are part of it.

I wonder if you ask yourself the questions, why you are here this morning and why you are a member of the Church? Each of us will have our own personal answer to those questions. But as you look around at the world in which we live, you've got to admit that on the face of it they are pretty odd things to be and to be doing. Compared to everything else we do in life, again from a purely superficial and comparative point of view this being a member of the Church and coming to church are very different indeed. And that in itself should give us cause to ask why we do it; once of course we get beyond the answer that it gives your child a better chance at getting into a Church school.

Well to start at the end with the answer which I'll try to explain a bit more fully as I go on. I like what the theologian Fr. Alexander Schmemann said about the Church - 'the Church is the presence in the world of a saved world.' That sums it up very nicely. The Church is here for the sake of the world. The Church is the place where we become all that God intends us to be; and that is completely reconciled to Him and as such, reconciled to one another; to have the relationship we had with Him before the Fall. It's a place where all that we are in the world and all that we bring with us actually makes sense and has meaning. The Church is where we learn to be the people God wants us to be and that is 'in Christ' as St. Paul put it. And as such we become the Body of Christ in the world now. The Church is the very real presence of Christ in the world now. And all this, as Jesus says 'that the Father may be glorified'.

We are able to be and do this because we are given the Holy Spirit in baptism. And it's in our baptism that we are resurrected to a new life, through the Holy Spirit. It's in our baptism that we are 'born again' as Jesus said. We are born again 'of water and the Spirit' Jesus says in St. John's gospel. But having been born again we have to grow. And we do this as we co-operate with the Holy Spirit in our ongoing life if, that is, we 'crave for the spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good' as St. Peter says. St. Peter exhorts us to come to Christ who he calls that 'living stone' upon which the Church is built. And just as Jesus Christ is the stone which is our foundation as members of the Church, He's also a stumbling block to those who don't or won't believe.

And don't we see this in the death of St. Stephen. We see how when Stephen glorifies God in Christ, people put their hands over their ears and grind their teeth in anger. They can't stand even to hear the name of Jesus. Isn't it like that these days with so many people. How angry and abusive people get these days as they did in those early years of the Church, when Jesus is mentioned. He is their stumbling block.

So we both proclaim Christ and do His works as well, and greater works than Him, He says.But look at the promise held out for us who live this Christian life by the grace of God in the Holy Spirit through faith. St. Peter says, 'you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.' And all of this that more people will be drawn into this holy nation and glorify God. So the Church is the presence in the world of a saved world, and for the sake of the world too.

The Church is different - 'a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation'. That's why so many have difficulty understanding and becoming part of it. Simply because it is so different to the world. But the thing is that the world is meant to be how the Church is. St. Paul says 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself'. The world isn't meant to stand for ever outside the Church, which is the Body of Christ. It's meant to become the Body of Christ. And that's why the Church has got to remain as it always was and always will be. The Church isn't an organisation of human beings, it's a divine human organism. It's a living thing. It's the Body of Christ. It can't and mustn't be compromised in the so many ways it seems to be these days by taking into it the values of the world around it. It mustn't be 'watered down' and become so dilute that there's no real difference between it and what you find in the world. The reason that people aren't coming any more, the main reason I believe is just that, that people often experience so little difference between what they experience in the Church to what they experience outside it. And the other reason of course is that when people do hear the gospel it's too big a challenge for them, far greater than anything that they experience outside in their world, which compared with the Church is quite cosy and comfortable and manageable. But that's another story.

What we realise from the readings today is that the resurrected Christ is present to the world as the Church, the Body of Christ which is us, you and I. And this Church, this Body is here for the world itself, whether it knows it, understands it or wants it. But it's here out of love for the world, for that's why Christ was born, lived, died and was raised. Because God loved the world so much.......