How Can We Face The Future When All Seems Lost?

This sermon was delivered Gordon McCulloch to the congregation at Holy Trinity in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 28th April 2019; Holy Trinity is a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.

Acts 5:27-32 Revelation 1:4-8 John 20:19-31 Psalm 118:14-29

“Please join me in a short prayer.” Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen. (Ps. 19:14)

Introduction

For most teachers in school today, they are now entering the final the term, the spring term … in what many see as the wind down before the summer holidays. … I can assure you, it is not a wind down, I dislike this term with a passion as there is so much to be done, and the catching up on the things that should have been done. … You see, we have just completed the busy school year for our certification classes; we have just prepared them for their final exams, exams that will play a major part in their future … and as you can imagine, it’s a task that is made difficult by the increasing red tape, (the paper work) … and the appalling attitude of our kids today, as they just seem so ungrateful.

Today is known as low Sunday, it’s the week after Easter, and for me, the start of this dreadful term, and it really gets to me … and it is made worse by many of my friends who are retired, and who have been cooped up all winter, all excited about spring time … whereas I feel like I have just done a long nightshift, and I just want to go to my bed.

Now many of you will be all excited by this spring season, which is good, but what I am trying to explain is the feeling we all get when we are just so drained of energy, and still have a busy time ahead of us. … I know that I am not the only one moaning these days, ask anyone who is working, because they will all tell you that they are struggling too … more now than ever, in fact most people working today will tell you, that they have never worked so hard, for so little, and be so unappreciated at the same time. … That is the truth of our modern society, with all our modern technology, with all our labour saving devices.

And if you are not working, you must be feeling the effects on you, of those around you who are working. They just never seem to have that time for anything anymore, and it may come across as selfishness, whereas it is really, over-work and stress. … I have never seen anything like it, and to what end.

And it’s a horrible feeling when we are forced to say, or hear someone saying “I just don’t know how I can get through another week, or another day, or another … whatever”.

How were the disciples feeling?

That then takes into today’s Gospel story … and we wonder, what were the disciples like after Jesus was crucified, I mean they must have been feeling far worse … how were they going to get through the next few days, let alone months or even years … because they had completely given up, and lost everything by following Jesus, the new messiah.

I mean , their world as they knew it, was being radically changed by Jesus … their belief system was completely turned upside down, being in direct opposition to their Jewish roots, and whose leaders were now out to destroy them. … They also led a life of not knowing what to expect next … they also had to deal and support Jesus with the difficult crowds who were also being introduced to this new Christian religion …. and their many questions that must have been asked … and then, to top it all … their master, Jesus, is suddenly and shamefully crucified on a cross for a crime that he did not commit. … That is worse than anything we are going through … those disciples were devastated … they were scared out their wits, and that is why we find them in that locked room, not knowing what to do next.

When Jesus was crucified, everything fell apart, and to the disciples, it wasn’t supposed to be that way, because they had given up everything to follow him, follow him to the new Promised Land … not to watch him being crucified for something that he did not do. … They were drained to say the least, they were gutted, and now they were lost.

And it was just when it felt like that it could not get any worse, that Jesus miraculously appeared to them in that room, and forever changed their lives … all hope had been restored, because Jesus had conquered death. … Can you imagine the joy they must have felt? … They were suddenly empowered, all hope had been restored and more, and the future became so appealing … there were now ready to take on the might of the Jewish leaders, the Roman Empire and even entire world, and … they just could not wait to get started.