Christ Church Selly Park

Restoring work

Susan Haynes | John 21:1-14 | Isaiah 65:17-25 

Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ‘I'm going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We'll go with you.’ So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing... [Jesus] said, ‘Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.’ When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
    or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
    so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.
They will not labour in vain,
    nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
    they and their descendants with them.

Once again Jesus appears to his disciples after the Resurrection, and this time he turns up at their workplace. Does "secular" work - or related activity such as studying or volunteering - have any value in God's kingdom? Susan Haynes explains what we can learn from this encounter and how work fits in with God's purposes.

The recording begins with the readings from Kate Routley.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube. The song Susan refers to at the end of her talk is also available to hear online.

Raising doubts

Ben Green | John 20:19-31 

Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’

Thomas was hurting. He had missed out on the experience, shared by the other disciples, of having met the risen Jesus, and he remained trapped in the grief of the crucifixion. How can we avoid being trapped by our doubts? A few days later Jesus freed Thomas from his pain, and as Ben says in his talk, he can do the same for us.

The recording begins with Bobbie reading some Bible verses where people asked questions of God. The Bible reading isn't included in the recording due to a technical problem which affected the sound quality.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Resurrection bodies

Graham Romp | Luke 24:36-49 | 1 Corinthians 15:12-23 

Jesus himself stood among [the disciples] and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised... And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost... But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

At the first Easter, Jesus showed himself not as a disembodied spirit but in bodily form - a true resurrection. Graham Romp explains why this matters and what it means for us as we live our lives today. Jesus is risen, and we share in the promise of eternal life with him.

The recording begins with the readings from Susan Mole.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Restructuring imagination

Ben Green | Luke 24:13-35 

‘Jesus of Nazareth... was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body.’

It's natural, if difficult, to refer to someone who has just died in the past tense. For these two disciples, walking to Emmaus, hope had died too. The stranger who walked with them transformed their way of thinking and opened their eyes to see what was really true: that Jesus, and hope, were alive forever.

Ben was speaking in a short service on the morning of the Birmingham Half-Marathon which we then went out in the street to support. The recording begins with the reading from Bobbie Frere.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Renewing joy

Susan Haynes | John 20:1-18 

Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don't know where they have put him.’ At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus.

We can only imagine the range of extreme emotions Mary went through in those few minutes, but we know where it ended up: joy. It took longer for some, but all the disciples were transformed by the knowledge that Jesus was with them forever. Susan points the way for us to experience a joy that changes us from deep within.

The recording begins with the reading from Matt Fox. Susan's talk is followed by a short meditation from Janet Chalmers.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Easter Celebration

Bishop David Urquhart | John 7.37-39 

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

We welcome Bishop David to lead our Easter celebration which also included baptism and confirmation. The Resurrection is central to the Christian story, but it also completely disrupted the expectations of those who were around at the time - and it still has the power to transform our lives today.

The recording begins with the reading from Sarah Crooks.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Palm Sunday: A donkey’s diary

Susan Haynes | Matthew 21:1-17 | Matthew 26:36-45 

The disciples... brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘“My house will be called a house of prayer,” but you are making it “a den of robbers.”’

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled... He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’

Susan tells the story of Palm Sunday and some of the events that followed from a rather unusual source. The content is based on "An Easter Donkey's Diary" written by Tony Bower of York Schools and Youth Trust.

The readings are given by Alison Cooper, John Lanchbury and Michael Dewsbury.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

A dependent life

Peter Frere | Mark 10:13-16 | 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 

Jesus... said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’

The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ ... But God has put the body together, giving greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.

Peter ends our series "Rooted disciples" by discussing how we can put the teaching of Jesus and Paul into practice. What does it mean to be dependent, on God and on each other, in a culture which values strength and independence?

The recording begins with the readings from Trevor Whitehouse.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

A balanced life

Allan Bartlam | 1 Peter 2.1-5 | 1 Peter 2.9-17 

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

In a few sentences Peter stresses our need to grow in our personal faith, but also to play a full part in the shared life and status of God's people. Allan explores some areas in which we have to maintain a balance between what might seem to be conflicting priorities. The recording begins with the readings from Bobbie Frere.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

A simple life

Bobbie Frere | Acts 4.32-37 | Matthew 19.23-26 

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there was no needy person among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’

In those very early days of the church, the power to preach the gospel and work miracles went hand in hand with generosity. Today, we tend to cling on to our possessions and our time. Bobbie challenges us to live out community values and to work out a genuine response to world poverty. She reminds us that these are difficult questions with no ready-made answers.

The document "An evangelical commitment to simple lifestyle" that Bobbie refers to can be downloaded from http://www.internationalbulletin.org/issues/1980-04/1980-04-177-lifestyle.pdf.

The recording begins with the readings from Rachel Fasham and ends with a short prayer from service leader Martin Garrod.

An edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.