Today, as you may already have gathered, is Back to Church Sunday. Since it first began five years ago in the Diocese of Manchester, the Back to Church Sunday initiative has really 'taken off'. Last year was the first time the Priory took part, and this year all parishes in the Worcester Diocese (as well as other Christian denominations) are being encouraged to do so.
At the heart of Back to Church Sunday is the encouragement to extend an invitation to others to join us back at church. Why? Because a personal invitation is the very best way to encourage those who have lost - or never had - the habit of churchgoing. And it is clear, from the experience of many people over the past five years, that a personal invitation back to church can mark the beginning of a life-changing journey with Jesus, in the company of His pilgrim people.
Perhaps it's easy to forget just how big a step it is for many people to come through the doors of a church. In doing so, they are entering an unfamiliar world, meeting an unfamiliar group of people, and sharing in what is an unfamiliar event. They have to connect with what is essentially to them an alien culture. And that's a brave thing to do.
So what, then, will a Back to Church Sunday visitor find, if they've come here on this Back to Church Sunday evening? Well, they'll find a group of people meeting together in a very ancient and beautiful building, and joining together in an ancient and beautiful liturgy. But beyond any initial impressions of the Priory as the people and the place, what are they experiencing in this hour shared with us? Yes, they'll hear the choir sing and the Bible being read, and are welcome to join in the hymns and the prayers. And, yes, there's also this sermon! But, what is at the heart of it all, what's the point of it?
The two Bible readings we heard earlier help us to address this question. They suggest that we gather here to seek an encounter with the Living Lord - a holy encounter, and a healing encounter.
The first reading, from the Book of Exodus, invites us to reflect on what it is to share in a holy encounter with the Lord.
Following their liberation from slavery in the land of Egypt, and their wanderings in the wilderness, the people of Israel had now reached Mount Sinai, and camped at the foot of the mountain. There Moses went up the mountain to meet with God, and he was told to convey this message to the people: "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation" (Exodus 19: 4-6). The Lord who journeyed with His people was the One who now gave them His Laws, and called them into a holy covenant relationship with Himself. From now on, they were to be God's "priestly kingdom and .. holy nation." This covenant was then sealed by the blood of sacrifice, dashed against the altar, and on the people.
We're then told how "Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel" (Exodus 24: 9,10). On Mount Sinai, God's glory was revealed. Moses and the leaders of Israel saw this on the mountain, as they ate and drank in God's awesome presence. At the foot of the mountain, the people saw a cloud covering the mountain and "the appearance of the glory of the Lord … like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain" (Ex 24: 17).
The Lord who Moses and the people of Israel came to encounter was an awesome and holy God. God Almighty, not God All-matey. Yet the Lord called His people into an intimate loving covenant relationship with Him. This would be a holy encounter, marked by the presence of a sacred space. Whether it took the form of a mountain, like Mount Sinai, or a temple, like the one established at Jerusalem, such set apart space was to be the focus for a set apart people. And this sacred space was to be a visual reminder of the holy nature of the encounter between God and His people.
In the light - and through the lifeblood - of Jesus Christ, Christians believe that God has established a new covenant relationship with Himself. As the prophet Jeremiah foresaw, this new covenant would transform and fulfil the old: "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people .. they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31: 33,34).
Yet there would still be the need for sacred space - set apart space for a set apart people to share in a holy encounter with the Lord. Such space would no longer be limited to a particular mountain or temple, for God could be encountered anywhere. So why, then, back to church? If God can be encountered anywhere, why do we need to gather in an ancient building like this? Because it was built to offer shared sacred space for that holy encounter. And the Priory has been hallowed - made holy - by the reading of God's holy Word, the celebrating of God's holy Sacraments, and by the prayers offered by God's holy people here down the ages. So this place stands as a visual reminder of, and witness to, the holy nature of the encounter between the Lord and His people. That's why we gather here. To seek that holy encounter with the Lord together, in a place set apart to encourage us to do so.
We come to share in a holy encounter with the Lord. And this holy encounter will change us. For the One who calls us into a covenant relationship with Himself through Jesus Christ does so in order that we - and this beautiful but broken world - might be transformed and renewed. That is why a holy encounter with the Lord is also a healing encounter with the Lord.
In the second reading we heard from Matthew's Gospel, we were reminded of how one helpless and hopeless person had a healing encounter with the Lord. Matthew tells us that "some people were carrying a paralysed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven" (Matthew 9: 2). Jesus addressed the root of the problem. In this man's case, physical paralysis was the symptom, not the cause of his suffering. It was the outward sign of an inner paralysis caused by feelings of guilt at what he'd done. That was the real issue, the sin that needed dealing with. And so Jesus met the paralytic at his real point of need, and spoke words of healing. With God-given authority, Jesus put away the man's sin, before freeing him from his physical paralysis. "Stand up, take your bed and go to your home" (Matthew 9: 6).
Time and again the Gospels tell us how Jesus transformed lives, set them free from what oppressed them - whether it was the effect of sin, suffering, or Satan. Jesus healed the sick, He made a wonderful difference to those who sought His help.
An encounter with Jesus was a healing encounter with God, one that would be life-changing.
And that is still the case. The Living Lord, who is the Wounded Healer, seeks to meet us at our point of deepest need, and to speak His word of healing to us. And He also calls us - like His first followers - to be channels of His healing, in His Name and with His authority. Next month, we'll be starting to explore this healing encounter further, using the highly commended In His Name course. Some of you may already have seen Kevan and Cynthia Tailby's article in this month's Priory Magazine, which gives further details, and the course is open to all.
On this Back to Church Sunday, we are invited to come to meet with the Lord. And we are assured that He also comes to meet us in Jesus Christ, and to dwell within us by His Spirit. This is indeed a holy encounter, between the Living Lord and His people. And it is a healing encounter, because in Jesus God comes to forgive us, and frees us to live in the light of His love.
John Barr
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