Sermons

Third Sunday of Easter

Sunday 22 April 2007 at 8am

Lesley Ashton
Readings: Acts 9. 1-20; John 21.1-19

'It is amazing how different 'beautiful' can be.'

The words of my friend as we travelled over from Weardale into Teesdale in the early morning sun last week. Probably not a grammatically correct statement but one made from the heart and I knew what she meant.

The readings this morning cause me to make a similar statement.
It is amazing how many different ways God calls people to serve him.

No set pattern, no neat prescription. The ways God calls us to get to know him and to serve Him are probably remarkable as much for their difference as well as for their similarities.

Peter called first by Jesus to follow him, left his fishing boat and got to know Christ by being with him, listening to him and observing how he treated those around him. He asked lots of questions, got some short answers at times. He promised to follow him faithfully but when fear overtook him he denied his master 3 times. But Peter was also the disciple who so much wanted to see his master that he hung on to the possibility that there was some truth in the women's nonsense and went to see for himself that the tomb was empty. He was the disciple that jumped out of the boat and into the water when he saw Christ on the seashore. A man of extremes, not always reliable but someone whose heart at the core was Christ centred. What a relief for so many of us that Christ asked him to take care of his sheep, for it enables us to have hope that we, weak as we are, often asking questions and not always as faithful as we might be, may also have a part to play in the bringing in of God's kingdom.

Then we have the story of Saul, converted not through a growing relationship but by an encounter. He was a different sort of man, someone who knew what he believed and was willing to persecute those who followed Christ, threatening them with murder. No wonder God had to intervene in his life in a spectacular way, blinded by a great light and left stumbling in darkness, being led by the men he was travelling with into Damascus. This man chosen by God to make known the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles and to the people of Israel. We know from his letters how important he knew his mission to be and how much he wanted those he had visited to continue to grow into the full stature of Christ. Saul may not have been our first choice for a missionary but God knew what Saul could become through his grace and intervention.

And then there was Ananias, a believer from Damascus. The Lord appeared to him in a vision and gave him an awesome task, to go to Saul and to lay hands upon him so that he might have his sight restored. Ananias quite understandably hesitates and tells God his version of events and oh how often do we feel inclined to tell God how it really is.! But he doesn't make these an excuse to disobey God, he hears again God's request and is obedient, trusting God even though he was going to meet the man who had sought to persecute him and the people in Jerusalem.

Saul, Peter and Ananias, different people in different circumstances but each called in some way to make known God's will and God's message.

We have here three very different individuals but within the difference there is also similarities.

We have become rather used to a Western perspective that focuses on the individual and each of us of course makes our own journey with God, but we should all do this from within a community of God's people.

Ananias was part of the community of believers in Jerusalem, Peter was one of the community of Christ's disciples, Saul is taken into the community that he has persecuted to receive his healing, his baptism and his mission. God calls us from within our Christian community and it is part of that community's responsibility and role to discern and affirm the calling that God gives to each one of us. It may not be to roles of leadership like Peter or Saul, it may be to a small acts of obedience like Ananias, but each of us has the potential to be the lynchpin for another's coming to faith or calling. The important thing is that we keep faith with our God, open to hearing what it is he may want us to do or to say, even if like Ananias it is against our sense of well being or comfort.

We are called not only to know and be in fellowship with God through Christ but also to serve Him. Ours is no self satisfying faith but one that calls us like Peter, Saul and Ananias to service, service towards each other and to those who still wait to hear the good news of God's kingdom, shown to us in Christ.

May we always be alert to God's call however it comes, knowing that he yearns for his creation to be restored to himself and that we are part of the process of his kingdom coming on earth.

And may the 'different' things we do for God be beautiful in his sight.

Amen

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