Part One: NURC Blog for Sunday 26th April 2020

What follows are elements from the Sermon I would have given on the above date, including Communion, as I revisited this sermon which was to be the last of a trio on the basis of “Words” it struck me how relevant it was to the current situation. - Keith Finch, Nelmes URC

Let us pray
Come, walk with him.
Come, talk with him.
Come, feast with him.
Come, Worship Jesus our risen Lord.
 
Our Gospel Reading is: Luke 24: 13-35
 
If we had gathered in Church on the 26th most will have taken communion both young and not so young, we all know what the bread represents? (The Body of Christ) when you are handed the bread what do you think and feel is it just a routine or does it have a deeper meaning.  We all think we know one another but do we really, I was going to try something different I would have selected six people to share some flat bread with those around them, before we ate the bread I would have asked  those waiting to eat the flat bread to ask questions of the person offering the flat bread, how much can we find out about the person in two minutes, we would then have asked somebody from each group to disclose their finding ( pen & papers would have been available) I am always amazed at how much we can found out about a person by talking to them, I wonder if we had those conversations how  people come to Christian Faith were they brought up in faith or did they reach it later in life, on the road Jesus was not recognized by his disciples, but how many Christians do we walk past every day, a lot more than you may think.

How do we know about Jesus? Do we look at him, trying to deduce something about him, or do we engage with him, as we did with the virtual sharing of the flatbreads? We see this difference in today’s Gospel story too. As in that story, Jesus doesn’t ask us to guess things about him; he takes time to walk with us, and he invites us to ask questions and to explore Scripture together to find answers.
​
The bullet point for today’s talk is” Moments of Revelation” a sub heading could be “Let’s Talk to one another” I think we all see this day to day on the media & the news & in our personal lives during the current crisis
 
As a person who has spent many years researching family history, and now teaching the process at my local Library I am well aware of the “Light Bulb Moment” in the monthly magazine Who do you think you are” they show stories of researchers Light Bulb moments, I have had many over the years too many to go into at this time. I hope you will see as this talk carries on that at least two people had a light bulb moment!