Sermon for Easter 2, Sunday 12th April 2026, by The Revd Graham Phillips Acts 2.14a, 22-32John 30.19-30Imagine the sceneThe disciples have been with Jesus 24/7 for 3 years. Their lives have been turned around and they have witnessed amazing things - Jesus walking on water, feeding 5000 people from 2 loaves and 5 fishes and Jesus bringing dead people back to life and healing anyone who came to him, whatever their illness or disease. They have also seen Jesus command evil spirits to come out of people and they themselves have healed others in the name of Jesus. They have experienced first hand the charisma of Jesus, his love for all, especially the downtrodden, and have been taught about the presence of almighty God among them and with them, and have learnt that God is a loving Father who wants a relationship with every human being. Such transformative, such life changing experiences, filling them with wonder and hope, laying before them a future of ushering in the holiness of God, the presence of God for the rest of their lives. One can imagine what hopes, and dreams they had of taking these things into the wider world. Then in the space of 48 hours, everything had changed and their world had collapsed. Jesus Christ, the one who they believed to be the promised Messiah, God’s saviour and redeemer, God’s Son, had been arrested, put on trial and condemned to death on a cross. A death set aside for criminals. The one who had brought others back from the dead was now dead and his cold body lay in a stone tomb. Yet on the third day, the day that our reading refers to, extraordinary news began to filter through. Two women who had gone to the tomb to finish preparing Jesus’ body for burial declared that the tomb was empty, that an Angel had rolled the stone away and told them that Jesus was alive. That they themselves then saw the risen Jesus, had spoken with him, that it was undeniably him, alive again. We can imagine that this news was like a glimmer of light breaking into the fractured, broken emotions, of the disciples, a shaft of warm hope into their confused numb minds. Maybe ..possibly ..what he had told them was true, that he would rise again after three days. Such news is just too good to be true, so unfathomable.So it is no wonder that Thomas needed to see him alive for himself. And I love his response, “My Lord and my God.” What a whole hearted, whole body response. He fully recognises Jesus is God himself, and he worships him and declares him his Lord, the one he will follow and obey all the days of his life. And tradition states that Thomas went to south India and formed a church there which is still thriving today. So what about us?Do any of you live with uncertainty, fear? Do you worry about global issues like climate change, the wars in Iran and Ukraine, the threats from Russia? Do you have personal worries about family members or practical things like will I have I enough food in the house for this week? Can I afford to heat my home, run my car? Do you worry about our church community here? What will happen when Emma and I retire in three months time, how will we manage?So many things we can worry about. It is easy to lock ourselves into our own emotions and shut the world out and keep God at bay. Yet God wishes to come into our secret places, and no locked door can keep him out, whatever your situation he can come in. So I invite you for a moment - if there are things you are worrying about, just hold them in your mind for a moment, name them one by one…. (pause) ..Now imagine the risen Lord Jesus standing before you and hear the same words he spoke to his disciples - “Peace be with you….Peace be with you.” Peace like an ever rolling stream. Peace that surpassed all understanding. Peace that only God can give….The word carries the sense of the Hebrew greeting “shalom,” a blessing that connotes more than tranquility a deep and holistic sense of well-being — the kind of peace the world cannot give. We yearn inwardly for this peace, the reassurance that God is with us whatever the situation and the risen Lord Jesus, gives us that affirmation. And he does more than that, for the next words he spoke to his disciples apply to us today. Firstly he sends us, sends us as his disciples to reveal his love for us, and he empowers us to do this by breathing his Holy Spirit upon us. That same Holy Spirit that he breathed on those first disciples, that same third person of the Trinity who descended upon Jesus at his baptism, and upon the disciples at Pentecost, that empowered Jesus for his three years of ministry and similarly empowers and guides us now. The spirit of truth, the counsellor and helper who Jesus promised is available for us today, and he helps us to take up Jesus’ command to take the good news of Jesus’s resurrection to others, to proclaim it to all we meet, to live it out so that others will know. It is not a secret to be hushed up, whispered furtively but a declaration to be made to the whole world. Christ is risen, He is risen indeed, Alleluia.The final words that Jesus spoke to his disciples are to forgive each other and pass on that forgiveness to others, letting it be a beautiful fragrance that lifts people out of the poverty of unforgiveness into the richness of life that God desires and promises for us. (So all this points to why we are baptising Reggie today.)The death and resurrection of Jesus is the greatest news we can ever talk about. Through the death and resurrection of God’s beloved Son, we are set free from the wrongs we commit and think, are given access to the Holy Spirit and the opportunity to trust Jesus and follow him. (This is the hope we have for Reggie today. This is what we are asking God to do in this service today. To adopt him into his familySo with this in mind, I encourage you, today and every day, to say the words that Thomas said, and to say them with meaning: My Lord and my God.Amen
Parochial chapel, now parish church. Partly medieval or C16 fabric, rebuilt in C17 and C18 and drastically restored in 1877. Mainly uncoursed yellow and red sandstone rubble to nave north and south walls with chamfered plinth, stepped at east end; west wall in late C18 reddish-brown brick and red brick chancel with stone dressings; machine tile roofs. Nave and polygonal chancel; west porch and vestry and lean-to brick shed on north side. Nave in 3 bays; windows all late C19 paired lancets with circular openings above, except the west window (also c.1877) which has 2 cusped square-headed lights; blocked south door with massive 4-centred arch probably late C16; C20 wooden bell-turret at west end above late C19 red brick gabled porch and vestry with a blocked door formerly leading to now dismantled organ gallery to right; contemporary lean-to on north. Late C19 polygonal chancel on site of a C18 chancel with flat-headed windows (c.1938) on north and south and east window in Decorated style with 3 cusped lights. Interior: good C17 roof in 4 bays with double-purlins and cambered tie beams and collars, although only the central truss is unaltered; lateC17 panelled pulpit and early C19 font with marble bowl and baluster-shaped shaft, originally in the Church of St George, Pontesbury (q.v.), but transferred to Longden in 1864. The chapel was probably originally founded as the private chapel of the barons of Longden. B.o.E., p.172; V.C.H. VIII (1968), Pp.290-91; D.H.S. Cranage, The Churches of Shropshire, Part 6 (1903), p.530.This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.Source: English Heritagehttp://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-259504-church-of-st-ruthen-longden-#.V-txWpB4WrU
SafeguardingIf you are concerned that someone you know is at risk of, or is being abused, or presents a risk to others, please seek advice from the Parish Safeguarding Officer or Hereford Diocese Safeguarding Officer, or if necessary, report the matter to your Local Authority Social Care Services or the Police.Rector: Revd Graham Phillips, 01743 861003, revgrahamphillips@gmail.com.The Diocese of Hereford Safeguarding Officer is Carl Steventon and he can be contacted on 07593817717, carl.steventon@hereford.anglican.org.See https://www.hereford.anglican.org/safeguardinghttps://www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding/safer-church-reporting-supportPlease see below for useful contact numbers:Shropshire County CouncilChild or Adult Concern – 0345 678 9021 (week day office hours)Emergency Duty Team – 0345 678 9040 (after 5 pm, weekends and Public Holiday)Telford and Wrekin County Council – Family ConnectChild or Adult Concern – 01952 385385 (week day office hours)Emergency Duty Team – 01952 676500 (after 5pm, weekends and Public Holidays)Herefordshire Council Multi Agency Safeguarding HubChildren – 01432 260800 Adult – 01432 260715 (week day office hours)Emergency Duty Team – 0330 123 9309 (after 5 pm, weekends and Public Holiday)Powys County CouncilChild or Adult Concern – 01597 827666 (day time)Emergency Duty Team – 0845 054 4847 (after 5 pm, weekends and Public Holiday)Worcestershire County CouncilChildren – 01905 822666 Adult – 1905 768053 (weekday office hours)Emergency Duty Team – 01905 768020 (after 5 pm, weekends and Public Holiday)NSPCC: 0808 800 5000Child line (help line for children): 0800 11 11National Domestic ViolenceHelpline: 0808 2000 247Action on Elder Abuse: 0808 808 8141A copy of the Parish Safeguarding Handbook can be seen at https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/ParishSafeGuardingHandBookAugust2019Web.pdf
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