Romans 3: 19-24

It is Easter Day, the day when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ, and the promise of eternal life that brings for his followers.

The passage I have chosen for us to read, though, is not about Easter Day - if it relates at all to this time of year, then perhaps it speaks to us of the promise of the cross.

Imagine, if you will, being hooked up to a lie detector, and asked if you had kept every detail of every law.

I wonder how many of us could say ‘yes’?

Even, I, for instance, may have inadvertently allowed my car to stray slightly above the speed limit on a couple of occasions.

The thought that God knows all about our failures terrifies some people. If I were to die now, they think, and had to answer for how I have lived, I would be found guilty on so many counts. How could I hope to be acquitted by God?

Religion seems to say we must keep God’s law in order to stay on the right side of him, but we are constantly breaking the law, so we have no chance of being at peace with him, or being acceptable to him.

But that’s not what Christianity says. The good news of Easter is that God isn’t like that at all. He is not the God of law, but the God of grace.

His way is not about what we do, but about what we believe. God is not waiting to trip us and judge us, but to forgive us and accept us. And, as Paul explains, it took Jesus to make this clear.

So we can start this Easter Day, as we can start every day, with a clean sheet when we turn to the God who waits to forgive and accept us.

John 13: 3-11

It's Maundy Thursday today, which is when that passage from John's Gospel is set.

I used to play cricket. The scene in our changing rooms after a cricket match wasn’t something for delicate eyes. Eleven sweaty blokes aren’t exactly a fragrant sight. But I expect this is the sort of thing that God sees regularly. He must look on humanity sometimes and wonder what on earth his children are like.

Judas was included in the foot washing, and Jesus made reference to him, because he already knew it was this particular man who would betray him. He explained to the disciples that even if they'd had a bath and were clean from head to toe, what he was really concerned about was inner holiness.

Someone once said that receiving blessings and love from on high, is like being in a shower and being completely saturated by the Holy Spirit of God; turning your face towards heaven and soaking up the living waters; being drenched in love and forgiveness; being inundated with thoughts of praise and worship.

But for many people this never happens, because they get into the shower with an umbrella which they firmly put up! All the out-pouring, overflowing love of God bounces off the umbrella and washes away down the drain. What a waste!

God doesn’t just call us to get our feet wet. He wants us to let down our barriers and receive all his blessings.

Matthew 5: 38 - 48

I went to school during the days when children learned grammar ­– things like the declensions of nouns and the conjugation of verbs. So the word ‘perfect’ reminds me that there is a difference between the ‘perfect tense’, and the ‘imperfect tense’ – but I must admit, I can’t remember what the difference is!

However I've looked it up: the perfect tense means that something has been completed, and the imperfect tense indicates a continuing action.

I also understand that one layer of the meaning of ‘sin’ in Jesus’ native Aramaic is the sense of ‘unripeness’.

This passage from Matthew reminds us that what Jesus expects his people to be like seems utterly unreasonable to common sense: ‘there must be no limit to your goodness, as your heavenly father’s goodness knows no bounds.’

We are all called into a fullness and completeness, but we are still a long way off – but by God’s grace, and through the actions of his Holy Spirit, we can grow to be more like him.

I’ve got a t-shirt which says on the front, in big letters: ‘Perfect Man’. Underneath, in small letters, it says ‘under construction’.

God hasn’t finished with any of us yet. We are still far from perfect. But we can respond to the call to completeness by asking for the grace to grow. Perhaps that is something we might like to meditate on, this Lent.

1 Corinthians 11: 23-25

I visited The Sacred Made Real exhibition at the National Gallery last week.

In 17th-century Spain, a new kind of realism in art emerged. In order to revitalise the Catholic Church, painters and sculptors worked together in an attempt to make the sacred as realistic and accessible as possible.

Venerating/praying to painted statues is not really my religious cup of tea, but I could see something of the potential power of them. After all, is one not, in a communion service, attempting also to make the sacred real and accessible?

I don't mean in the sense of transubstantiation (for that's not my cup of tea - or bread and wine - either), or even in the attempting to remind folk of the actions of Christ in lifting a chalice, or breaking bread - although that is partly what I have in mind.

I'm not making myself clear, even to myself. A sacred mystery here which I'm only clouding. And that's not what I want to do, for Christ is present, in and through and with his people, perhaps especially real and remembered when we share together in bread and wine.

Jeremiah 31: 31-34

I took a Covenant Service yesterday (the first I've led since retiring early due to ill-health, as they are normally taken by the minister of the church). Methodists traditionally have an annual Covenant Service at the start of the year, to renew their commitment to God and his people.

Although I hope that by this time next year I may be well enough to at least be working part-time in a church, nevertheless the words Your will, not mine, be done in all things, wherever you may place me, in all that I do and in all that I may endure; when there is work for me and when there is none; had particular resonance for me.

The entire covenant promise:

I am no longer my own but yours.
Your will, not mine, be done in all things,
wherever you may place me,
in all that I do and in all that I may endure;
when there is work for me and when there is none;
when I am troubled and when I am at peace.
Your will be done
when I am valued and when I am disregarded;
when I find fulfilment and when it is lacking;
when I have all things, and when I have nothing.
I willingly offer all I have and am
to serve you, as and where you choose.

Hebrews 1: 1-4

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews, writing to Jewish Christians who were facing tough times, reminds them at the start that God has spoken to his people in various ways and at various times.

God spoke through his prophets, through angels, through circumstances and through miraculous events.

But now, with the birth of Jesus Christ, God has spoken to us through His Son.

That first Christmas God spoke to various people - an expectant Mum, an anxious father, lowly shepherds and learned magi.

Christmas is a time when we may hear from people we’ve forgotten about. Their Christmas card, or the annual letter, will bring us up to date with their news, but sometimes the busyness of preparing for Christmas means that we haven't properly read them.

We haven't taken in what someone else was saying to us.

Christmas is a time of knowing that God has spoken. We have the heart of His message in His Son Jesus Christ. But have we taken the time to hear all that God has to say to us?

God has spoken. We need to listen.

Luke 1: 51-53

And so we celebrate Christmas.

We give each other presents, decorate our houses and Christmas trees, go to parties and sing carols.

For many, it’s the only day in the year when they go to church.

If you put Christmas in the perspective of what Jesus taught, such celebration falls far short of what he expects.

Christmas is about everything.

It’s about the realisation of God's reign in this world.

Christmas is a step on the way to the new world, where we will all be together, in God's and each other's company.

Christmas is about justice and peace and a new world order, human rights and real equality of opportunity for all; it’s about the eradication of hunger, thirst, discrimination and violence, and renewed respect for our human environment.

To many it might seem odd to raise these issues during a Christmas celebration.

And yet, they are the very issues that prompted Mary to agree to begin the first ever Christmas preparations.

Luke tells us she said: ‘He has shown the might of his arm, he has routed the proud and all their schemes; he has brought down monarchs from their thrones, and raised on high the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.’