This week, we’ve all been reminded, through the media, that it’s now 3 years since the terrorist atrocity at the Manchester Arena which cost the lives of 22 people and injured hundreds more. Those whose loved-ones were killed or injured, or who were themselves injured or caught up in some way in this evil act, would need no reminding of it of course, and perhaps even for us, it’s something that never goes too far from our minds because it happened just a few miles away from our homes, in a city I’m sure we all know so well. Perhaps what’s not so well remembered in this country, however, is that just a few days after the Manchester Arena atrocity, over 50 Coptic Christians, including some pre-school aged children, were gunned down, 28 of them fatally, in an attack by terrorist gunmen on a Church outing in Egypt.
Happening when they did, in late May 2017, these two terrorist mass-murders took place shortly after my induction as vicar of St Mark’s and St Gabriel’s and so, for me, these events invariably come to mind whenever I’m asked or think about how long I’ve been here as vicar. Indeed, I spoke about them in my sermon on my second Sunday as vicar of the benefice. At that time, I remember that a number of people commented that it can’t have been easy to have such a terrible, local event as the Manchester Arena bombing happen so soon after my induction and, of course, it wasn’t. But it’s not easy whenever things like this, or tragedies of any kind happen. And, unfortunately, tragedies and life-changing events do happen, and they happen perhaps more regularly than we often realise.
When I was inducted at St Mark’s on 18th May 2017, who could have suspected that, within a week, a terrorist atrocity would have occurred so close to home, in Manchester, closely followed by another, perpetrated against fellow Christians in Egypt? And if these events were unexpected tragedies to us, how much more unexpected, tragic, and life-changing were they for those innocent people caught-up in them?
On a more personal note, in October 2018, my late wife, Diane, and I were busy planning a second honeymoon in Cyprus to coincide with our wedding anniversary in May 2019, little realising that, just over a week later, she would die from an illness completely unrelated to the cancer we knew she had.
And on Ash Wednesday this year, as we began the season of Lent, planning for Holy Week and looking forward to Easter, who of us could have suspected that, within a few weeks, our churches would have been shut down and we would have to keep Holy Week and celebrate Easter, without being able to come together in church for worship because of a global pandemic? And, whilst we all hope and pray that our churches will be open again soon, at this time, we simply don’t know when that will happen.
These are three events that have happened during my three years as vicar of the benefice. And if we think about these things, and others that may have happened in the world and in our own lives during that time, we soon realise that we can all be very easily and unexpectedly caught up in tragic and life-changing situations. These situations may affect some people, in certain places, they may just affect us, personally, or they may affect all people, everywhere. And if we think about these things, it teaches us that nothing in life is certain; we don’t know what will happen tomorrow, or even later today.
But, even if we can’t ever be sure of what’s going to happen in the world or in our lives, one thing we, as Christians, are sure of, is that we’re called to remain faithful to Christ, whatever happens in the world or in our lives.
That can be a very difficult thing for us to do when we see the evil in the world, and when we’re going through particularly tough or tragic times ourselves, but we can take heart form the fact that we’re not going through things that Jesus hasn’t already gone through too. We can take heart from the fact that Jesus completely understands the evil in the world and the tragedy that human life can bring, because he experienced those things for himself. And we can take heart from the fact that, having experienced the evil in the world and the tragedy of human life, and understanding those things so well himself, he prays for us to the Father, so that we might be strengthened to remain faithful when we see and experience evil ourselves and when difficult times come and tragedy strikes.
Last Thursday was Ascension Day, the day when we celebrate Jesus’ return to the Father to begin his reign as our heavenly Lord and King, and the start of his role as our heavenly intercessor, the one who prays, constantly, on our behalf to the Father. But notwithstanding that it took place before Jesus’ Ascension, we can see something of Jesus in his role as our heavenly intercessor in this morning’s Gospel.
Although, at this time, Jesus was still with his disciples on earth, he prays to the Father as though he were in heaven, and he prays for his disciples who are in the world.
“I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.”
And if we read on, we find that what Jesus is praying to the Father for specifically, is that his disciples in the world may be true to the Father and saved from the evil one. In other words, that his disciples may be faithful and not led astray and into evil by the world in which they, and we, must live.
And it’s by remaining faithful, whatever happens in the world or in our lives, that we glorify Jesus. In remaining faithful to Jesus, we remain faithful to the Father, just as Jesus remained faithful to the Father, regardless of what happened to him, during his earthly life. And so, by remaining faithful, we show to the world what Jesus showed to the world during his earthly life and ministry. And we don’t do this for our own glory because we don’t do it in our own name: we do it in Jesus’ name, because we are Christians and we are his disciples. And so, we give him the glory.
As we recall the tragic and life-changing events that have happened in the world and in our lives, it’s right that we should remember and pray for the victims of these events. But we should also remember to pray for ourselves too. We should remember to pray for the strength to remain faithful to the Gospel in the face of such things and of the evil that may have caused them. And we should never forget that we don’t pray for this alone. Our prayers are joined to those of Jesus, our heavenly intercessor. His own words recorded in the Gospels tell us that the Father always hears him when he prays, and we know he prays to the Father that we might remain faithful in the world.
Amen.
You will find the Propers for the Seventh Sunday of Easter here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 