St Margaret's Church Prestwich

Here is Rev Helen’s sermon from Wednesday 10 April for you to read again:

When I was younger I was always told to look to others for examples of how to behave. Now we all have different role models and I’m sure you will be able to think of yours now. I must admit mine have been hit or miss when my mum has found about them. When you’re asked who you admire and aspire to be like and I said Elizabeth I and David Bowie, there are always a few raised eyebrows.

However we also have our ancestors in the faith who have done some amazing things, their stories and their testimony are so inspiring and we have heard of one prison escape in todays reading from Acts when a group of apostles are able to escape from prison and are found in the temple preaching about Jesus. They got through several locked doors and I bet there were a lot of read faces in the prison after that! There are other stories like this in Acts of the Apostles, in ch 9 Saul (before he’d even changed his name) is being lowered in a basket out of a town to avoid those who are plotting to kill him for his sudden conversion to Christianity, that must have taken some bravery and nerve. He was also imprisoned many times in his ministry, there is another story in Acts 16 when Paul is in prison with Silas and they were singing hymns. The other prisoners heard this, then there was an earthquake which broke open the doors of the prison and everyone was freed. Paul and Silas go back to preaching and proclaiming the gospel, they did just scurry off and hide they preached it. No one said being a disciple of Jesus would be easy, Jesus himself told of the reality of what it would mean to be one of his followers many times, this was something Paul would have been aware of as when Ananias was sent by Jesus to restore his sight Jesus told Ananias ‘I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name’. It doesn’t seem to give the best outlook for Paul as he went into ministry but he did it, he never questioned his Christianity or what he was being demanded of him he continued to proclaim Jesus name even though it was a risk and he was martyred along with many other early Christians.

Now the Christian Church has been through schisms, reformations, counter reformations, liberation and there have been so many examples of Christians who have followed the word of Jesus and testifying to him, even to this day despite the cost. Let us not forget that there are still places in the world where being a Christian is either very difficult or illegal. I’ve got a couple of testimonies from Open Door’s International to share with you. This is the story of Simin (her name has been changed), she is a young woman from Iran who converted to Christianity after reading the bible, she was rejected and mocked by much of her family and eventually her work colleagues suspected that something had changed when she stopped fasting for Ramadan and attending their prayer time. Simin was eventually arrested and interrogated for days, she was told that if she didn’t convert back to Islam she would most likely go to prison and would never see her daughter again, Simin refused and continued to testify to Jesus as Messiah. Simin was eventually fined but knew her life was in danger and she would have to escape. She took her daughter and they left in the back of a truck (spending 18 hours trying to cross the boarder). Simin is now safe and although she can’t return to Iran she has and leads online meetings to help and support other Christians there facing persecution, especially women.

Another story is that of Hea Woo who is from North Korea but she managed to escape to China where she converted to Christianity, learning the bible, hymns and psalms off by heart. She was discovered and returned to North Korea and sent to prison for ‘re education’, she said the prison smelt of pain, death and suffering and there was an ominous sign above the door saying ‘Do not try and escape’. While she was in prison she found a small group of Christians who met in the toilet for a few minutes at a time to whisper worship and prayer together. Hea Woo would say Psalm 23 as she felt it helped her during this time and sang amazing grace, she said ‘In prison I saw the worst of humanity but the best of Jesus’, Jesus is so there in the world with those who really need him.

It must at times seem hopeless when you see all of this going on, you hear the stories of persecution in history not just non Christians persecuting Christians (who give as good as they get, let’s be fair in that) but even Christian denominations not particularly getting on with each other. What do you do with all of this? Well in the gospel today Jesus states that he came to the world to save it and not to condemn it and this is the message that is given by Christians that we must still give and preach Jesus message to testify, testify testify despite the opposition, the risk or the threat. Many others do, and the consequences for them is much worse that it would be for us, sure you might get a bit of abuse or a few funny looks but it doesn’t mean execution does it. Jesus will protect us and through his resurrection he gave the strength and courage to do this and we learn this not just by telling of him and the stories of others who are inspired by him. We follow Jesus example, he gave his testimony tell of his death and hi resurrection and how through his resurrection he brings hope for the future and hope for a better world to come.