"Returning from the tomb they told all this to the 12 and the rest".
The Easter story begins with people talking:
"You’ve got to hear this"
"You’ll never believe it"
"Listen up"
"It’s just incredible- I’ve got to tell you about it"
The Easter story begins with people talking. Mary Magdalene, Jane, Mary mother of James,
who have seen something they can’t stop talking about.
Within a few days, that message had spread to Spain and India. This is without
telephones, email, faxes or postal service. It’s just done by people talking.
"You’ve got to hear this"
"You’ll never believe it"
"Listen up"
"It’s just incredible- I’ve got to tell you about it".
This message we share that Jesus has risen from the dead- that death itself has been
defeated is available to all who will accept it. This message they have to share IS
incredible .
Either it’s not true- in which case what on earth am i doing up at this time in the morning? [move as if to walk out the building]
Or else it is true. In which case it is worth sharing. It is so important it is worth talking
about, especially to our friends who don’t come to Church.
In 2001 several years before I got here- the P.C.C. [church trustees] adopted a mission statement:
To seek God’s will through prayer in order:
to bring people to Jesus and membership
in his family,
develop them into Christlike maturity,
and equip them for their ministry
in the church and life mission in the world,
in order to magnify God’s name
Now I’ve just seen some new figures last week that show that between 2001 and 2008 Holy Trinity
was the fastest growing Church in this borough.
There are two main reasons why as a church we have been the fastest growing church.
Firstly as a church, the majority of us experienced an encounter with the risen Jesus.
We have personal experiences of Jesus in our lives. You can’t share what you don’t have.
Secondly as individuals we have gone out and shared that message. Like Mary Magdalene,
Jane, Mary mother of James, we have gone out and told people. So many of you have invited
people to different events, taught them about our faith. Most of us have gone out and
shared this message with neighbours and friends. If something is worth signing up
to -it is worth sharing.
Did you know that with a film, when it is released, very little of its commercial success
depends on how much is spent on advertising. Very little depends on the reviews that appear
in the paper. The thing that has been shown to decide whether a film flourishes or flops is
the people who turn up in the first weekend. If enough of them tell thier friends to go see it
more poepl will go and see it and they’ll tell their friends and so the film will flourish.
But if the first people to see it dont bother to mention it to their friends or say
" actually it wasn’t that great" then in a few weeks they will have moved on to the next film
and the film will have flopped. Word of mouth makes all the difference.
Similarly in the next few weeks, we’re going to have politicians at the door begging
us to vote for them. Now it can be annoying when they ring on your bell as you are cooking dinner. But would you want to vote for a party
if none of the members can be bothered to ask for your vote. The reason they’ll be canvassing you
is because they know word of mouth makes a difference.
If word of mouth makes such a difference to something unimportant like a film’s success , if it makes such a difference to something of medium importance
like an election- Then it makes just as much difference to something truly important- the Easter Message of the ressurection
of Jesus. He is alive.He has defeated death. And through him we can have new life. Word of mouth makes a difference.
That is why have grown - because you shared the message
You might be tempted to suggest that this growth of Holy Trinity is down to me, the vicar. Now, I’m someone who like getting all the credit (especially for things I haven’t done).
When during the notices Maxine (the Church warden) thanked "Fr Edmund and his team" I liked that.
Of course he only reason why she didn’t mention anyone else by name is because there were to many people to thank.
but I still liked it when she said "Fr Edmund and his team".
And in the same way, I’d LIKE to take the credit for us being the fasted growing church between 2001 and 2008.
But it would not be true
For the first part of that period I was not vicar here. For 6 months we didnt even have a vicar at all. It isn’t
down to the the vicar it is down to you, the people of the church. Down to ordinary
members of the church telling thier friends:
"You’ve got to hear this"
"You’ll never believe it"
"Listen up"
"It’s just incredible- I’ve got to tell you about it".
Ordinary people talking. And that’s how it should be. Look at our reading.
Jesus invested a lot of time in his 12 disciples. He invested even more in the four key
disciples; Peter, Andrew,James and John.
Yet it wasn’t the four who first asked to tell the people the good news of the resurection
It wasnt even any of the 12 who told the news.
It was Mary Magdalene, Jane, Mary mother of James.
Ordinary women who spent most of their time cooking for the diciples, cleaning and mending their socks.
Not the the highly theologically trained 12. No - it was a bunch of very ordinary women who first told the Easter message.
It is the same today. Ordinary people talking to thier friends is far more effective
Why should your friend trust me- Im paid to say this stuff. But when you say it, they’ll listen
when you talk about it.
I would like you to think of somebody you have talked to this week, somebody who is not a church goer.
Now you’ve got that person in your mind. I dont know them. Ive probably never met them and
I certainly don’t know them as well as you do. So is it going to be me who is going to tell them
about the faith that is so important to your life? (Shakes head)
Now look around you at the people sitting in these pews. Does anyone else know your friend?
If they do that is great. But probably its just you. So is it going to be these people
who are goind to tell your friend about the faith that is important to you?
(Shakes head).
There is only one person who can tell your friend- and that is you.
"Returning from the tomb they told all this to the 12 and the rest".
AMEN.
