Dave's Good Friday Sermon

Introduction

Today is a day set aside for reflection. The whole of our liturgy is solemn. The altar is bare. There are no flowers. We are quiet. Today we are invited to enter into the tomb and stay there. It is not a nice place to be. Because we know that Christ rose from the dead, we are looking forward to Sunday, for Easter. - However, to reach Sunday we need to also experience Good Friday. And what we do here today is, in many ways, reflected in our own lives.

What does it mean to enter into the tomb?

Suffering in all its forms is part and parcel of our existence. Many of us are still grieving at the death of friends, relatives and members of our congregation. We have only to turn on our television to hear the cries and the anguish of parents as the children they love turn to drugs and violence. Some of us will have walked with others as they experienced breakdowns in their marriage relationships or as they have faced serious sickness. We have witnessed the cruel effects of war and the disquiet that uncertainty brings on all of us, particularly with the possibility of terrorist acts. Over the above all this is the fear of our own death. This is all part of entering into the tomb. No wonder we do not want to even think about such issues. It is not pleasant. We would rather bury them away in the background . The very thought of them can make us fearful and afraid. The famous Russian writer Solzhenitsyn often repeated these words. "The man who has no fear is no hero. The person who faces and overcomes fear is the hero." In Christ we are able to overcome those fears.

The great news is that Good Friday affirms that we are not alone in the tomb. Jesus is there. In the Letter to the Hebrews, the author says, "We have not a God that is incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us, but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are." (Heb 4:14-16) For us who believe, the Crucified Christ is not a sign of shame, of defeat, or hopelessness, but "is the wisdom and the power of God" (1Cor 2:24).

The Apostle Paul understood this quite well. One of his famous phases is "when I am weak, then I am strong". This is one of the great paradoxes of Christianity. It seems to me that there is a bit of a contradiction here. You cannot be weak and strong at the same time. You can either be weak or strong. Paul would reply, that during his times of anxiety and fear, he would feel weak and he would have been ready to give up. However, he always remembered that in the midst of his difficulties, Jesus is always present. Relying on Him rather than on what was going within him or around him, Paul would rally forward with renewed strength and commitment.

God has no favourites and the same thing happens to us. When we face and walk in the midst of our difficulties with Jesus Christ on our side, then we also become strong. Suffering enables us to become more discerning and we tend to seek values that are life-giving rather than follow the most recent opinion polls. Suffering can make us more sensitive and open to other people's hurts and needs. We tend to become more appreciative of what we have and who we are. We become more appreciative of our life. We take less for granted those who are dear to us. In short we take stock of who we are and move on with greater wisdom, maturity, understanding and openness.

Moreover, we become strong because we come to an understanding that ultimately we depend totally on God. As humans, we are limited. We are not perfect. We do not know everything. We do not have the answer for every question. Certainly confronted with suffering we understand how poor in spirit we really are. This is the time when we throw ourselves in the arms of this God who is there with us in the tomb.

Good Friday is the day when Jesus is reminding us that he is constantly putting his arms around us when we are physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually in pain, and saying, "I know you are hurting, I know you are puzzled. I know that you feel like panicking. Courage, you are not alone. Do not give up. You will grow through this. Come on let us keep going. I am with you and I will not leave you".

Conclusion

So, on this Good Friday we are reminded of the tomb. We are reminded of the suffering of our Saviour. We think too of our own suffering and the suffering of the world.

But on this Good Friday we know that there will be an Easter Sunday, that the suffering of the tomb will turn to resurrection and triumph. We are partakers of the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead that Easter Morn.

Read Romans 8:11-17

Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution

Recently we had a short break in Shropshire. We had been promising ourselves for some time that we would visit Ironbride where, it is claimed, the Industrial Revolution Began. Perhaps thinking of the Industrial Revolution is not politically correct, what with all the issues surounding global warming, and it is true to say that people were exploited, but it has determined how we live today. For that reason alone it is worthwhile examining our roots.

The following are some of the notes I made at the time, to which I have added a few comments.

10/04/06

Away on the first day of a short break to Telford, Shropshire.

We traveled down this morning, stopping at Stafford Services for coffee before taking the A Roads into Telford and the Iron bridge Gorge.

Our first stop was the Gorge Museum, where we purchased a years pass to all the museums for 14. We toured the museum which gave us a brief history of the area, and then walked alongside the Severn to the Iron bridge itself. A marvel of its day, it was the first structural use of cast iron.

After a sandwich, which we eat overlooking the bridge, we made our was to the open air Victorian Town. A bit like Beamish, it tries to portray life and work in 1900. It was quite good, if not 100% accurate. However, there were many interesting things to see and do. Children would enjoy changing their modern coins for Victorian pennies, half-pennies and farthings to spend in the shops, which are obviously quite different from the ones they know today.

At closing time we made our way to the hotel in Telford and, after booking in, had our meal in the adjoining pub.

11/04/06

The second day of our short break. We were not promised good weather but in the end things were not too bad. There was light rain in the morning but it cleared up after lunch and the afternoon was very pleasant.

We spent most of the day visiting more of museums on the pass we had bought. First, was the Museum of Iron, were we saw more of the history and plenty of exhibits showing the range of items produced over the years. Obviously, I was interested in the items to do with early steam engines, but many of the items made for the Great Exhibition were also fascinating.

Next we visited the "hands on" museum called Enginuity. The focus here was on children with lots of interactive displays. It's the sort of place our grandson Callum would like. However, I think it would be a good idea to get there early as it seems to be very popular.

On the same sight one can find the protected remains of Abraham Darby's blast furnace where the iron for the bridge was first cast into ingots. The importance of this sight is immense, here was the real beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the start of the modern world. Whatever people may think about this change ( and it had many bad points, including bringing about global warming ) Despite that, I could not help feeling a just a little emotional - the furnace stands a ruin, as does Britain's industrial past and the way of life it represented.

Moving on from the furnace we took a short walk up the hill to visit the two houses built by the Darby family. Although grand for their time, they were modest compared with the later houses of the mill owners. Whether this was due to the Darbys being Quakers is hard to say.

Next stop on our tour saw us at a different site looking at a different industry - tile making. The Jackfield Tile Museum has a fabulous collection of decorative tile spanning the centuries. I must admit there were some I would have liked at home. All the tiles we saw would have put the kind bought from places like B&Q to shame. One time there were tiles everywhere, shops, offices, factories, railway stations etc. Yet another thing that has gone, perhaps for good.

The last visit of the day was to the National Trust property at Benthall Hall, a 16th century house. We were particularly pleased that the sun was shining, which made walking in the Hall gardens a pleasant end to the day. We had been out for seven hours and it was tine to return to our hotel in Telford for a short rest before our evening meal.

12/04/06

The last day of our short break, and we decided that we would fans off with the museums we had not yet visited, before returning via Bridgenorth and the Severn Valley Railway.

Our first stop was the Tar Tunnel. This was a tunnel that was dug into the hillside to carry a canal. However, during the construction streams of bitumen were found and, being profitable, the tunnel was never finished for its original purpose. At its height over 1000 gallons of bitumen per week was extracted. The bitumen still seeps out of the walls. There was no way one could ever get Gill in such at tunnel, so I went down on my own whilst she sat and read in the car. I found it quite fascinating as I had never seen a natural pool of tar in my life.

Our last visit in the gorge was to the Coalport Museum. Here, over the centuries, exquisite pottery was made. Most of it is now quite collectible and very valuable. The collection in the museum must be worth millions of pounds. Like all the museums, there are things for the children which are both entertaining and educational. I'm sure Callum would like it down here, as there is so much for him to see and do.

As mentioned earlier, we made our way home via the Severn Valley Railway. We had lunch there and watched one of the trains depart, before heading home via Shrewsbury. The only incident on the way back was a hold-up getting onto the Runcorn Bridge because of an overturned lorry.

What I would like to do now is spent some quiet time reflecting on what I have seen and learned, as I feel that hidden in all the history is a message for today. Whether that is the attitude of the Quaker families like the Darbys, or something else, time will tell.