A Second Touch

Good morning, everyone.

A very happy new year to all of you.

I think you can still say that, can't you?

I was saying to somebody in the congregation,

I generally say it through till about the middle of April.

I'm just kidding.

It's wonderful to see you all, and thank you for coming along.

Before I start to try and teach you,

maybe we could have a word of prayer together as we sit.

Why don't we bow our heads?

Gracious Father, at the beginning of this new year,

we want to pray that this coming year,

we might seek you earnestly.

Your word assures us, Father,

that if we come close to you,

you will come close to us.

And Father, may that be our prayer for this new year.

That, Lord, we might seek in new ways to come closer to you,

that you might come closer to us.

And we might know what it is to live in the light of the fullness of life

that Jesus told us was the birthright, almost, of his disciples.

So I pray now, in this time together,

in this house of God,

that we may come to your word with expectant hearts.

And Father, you would speak to us.

And Father, we might hear you and respond.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

So, Ephesians chapter 19 and verse 2,

Paul asked the elders of the church in Ephesus,

I mean, this is not just your kind of run-of-the-mill people

who show up, you know, now and then to church.

These are the people who were there week by week

and led the church.

And Paul says to them,

kind of impudent in a way, I guess,

did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

I don't know if there was anything visibly lacking about these men,

but Paul asked them the question,

and they honestly answered.

He said, no, we never heard of the Holy Spirit.

So, there's a wonderful story,

which I think is worth retelling,

about a pastor in the Midwest of America

who was greatly beloved by his congregations.

He visited the sick and kept his sermons brief.

People loved him for that.

Just saying.

But he had one habit

that his elders were very concerned about.

And it was this,

that at the same time every day,

five o'clock,

he would walk down from the church office

down to the crossing on the railway

that went through their town,

and he'd simply stand there

and watch the train go through.

And, you know, at first they thought,

is this train spotting?

And then they realized,

it's the same train every day,

so it's the same number every day.

So it wasn't much fun train spotting down there.

So they put their heads together.

And they decided to ask him

what was going on.

They were slightly frightened

that there may be some sinister reason

for him doing this.

So they called him in,

and they said to him,

Pastor,

why is it

that you go down to the train track

at the same time every day

and watch the train go through?

Pastor said,

oh, that's simple.

He said,

it's the only thing in this town that moves

that I don't have to push.

Having spent the greater part of my ministry

ministering to clergy,

I am sad to say

that there are some clergy

who end up slightly like that.

A little cynical,

occasionally a little bitter,

that whatever they expected of their ministry,

it's never, ever quite delivered.

I remember once giving a lift to a curate,

and he got in my car,

and he was going on a two-week holiday,

and I said to him,

you're looking forward to your holidays.

He said,

I'm glad to be rid of that lot for a fortnight.

I said,

what do you mean?

He said,

this would be a great job

if it wasn't for the congregation.

I said to him,

it would be no job

if there was no congregation.

You know,

calm down.

But what about the rest of us?

Isn't it true that many of us

occasionally

feel that

our Christian walk

feels more push

than being pulled along

by the power of God

in his Holy Spirit?

Are there not days,

friends,

where God seems

very distanced from us,

and sometimes days

can become weeks,

and weeks

can become months,

and months

can even become years?

I want to try

and address that today

with you.

At the beginning of the new year,

I'm not making any assumptions

about you.

I'm not assuming

that everybody

in the house this morning

knows God

through Jesus Christ

in the power of the Spirit.

I'm not assuming

that you're all depressed

and worried beyond,

I'm not making any assumptions,

other than the fact

that you're here,

and as far as I can see,

you're still breathing.

And neither is it my intention

to depress you

by cataloging

all the reasons

why we might face

this new year

with a sense of anxiety.

This new year

is upon us,

and I think what I can say

with some confidence

is that almost everywhere

you look at the beginning

of this new year,

there will be good reasons

for feeling

on the anxious side.

And no amount of food,

no amount of alcohol,

no amount of holidays,

no amount of spending,

no amount of,

no escapism of any kind

will help you

get rid of that anxiety.

I told you this before,

you know,

but there is economic anxiety

at the moment.

some of you

will be financially stressed,

and you will feel

that you have to keep quiet

about that.

There is environmental

challenges,

it's not for me to tell you

what you must think

of these things.

But clearly,

even in this last week,

we have had rainfall

like we've never had before,

and as we sit here

in the dry today,

river levels are still rising

a little further up

the River Severn

and places will be flooded.

There are eschatological concerns,

let me put that in English

for you.

Many, many writers

at this point in time

are asking themselves

this question

and by implication

asking us,

where will it all end?

And then there are

emotional challenges.

I read some academic

psychology papers

on the impact of COVID

upon the nation's

mental health.

Again, I don't want

to catalogue that with you,

but I didn't find one writer

who thought that

the long-term impact

of COVID-19

on our mental health

would be a positive thing.

And I think we're seeing

that now reflected

in the statistics

of people who are off work

with mental illness,

people who are waiting

for an appointment

on the national health

to have their mental illness

treated, etc., etc.

But then more personally,

the emotional challenges

are around broken relationships,

whether caused by

irrevocable breakdown,

by loss,

by loneliness,

whatever.

or again,

being ill at this time.

As we speak,

the junior doctors

are on strike.

The threat of illness

in myself

or in someone I love

seems a little more forceful

in these days.

We live in anxious times,

wars, famines.

Last weekend,

in the Times

colour supplement,

and also

in a number of blogs,

there appeared stories

of reconciliation.

Stories whose intention

is to lift our spirits

at the beginning

of a new year

with whatever

that new year

holds for us.

Take, for instance,

the story of Carl Benson

and John Pritchard.

Through no fault of his own

other than

his morality,

a woman he made pregnant

who left him

long before she had the baby

had a son

who became known

as John Pritchard.

He was put up for adoption

by the mother.

And for 50 years,

he lived happily

in the home,

believing that his father

was his father.

Turns out,

and he only discovered this

when his mother,

mistakenly thought

she was on her deathbed,

told him

that the man he treated

as his father

for 50 years

was actually not his father.

All she did was

she gave him a name

and she gave him a place.

She gave him the name

and the place was Brighton.

He started to do some research

and discovered

where his father lived.

They met together.

And there was a great reconciliation.

I can see why stories like that

might lift our spirits.

It certainly lifted mine

to read about them.

I was moved

as I

heard them quoted

speaking about

the lost years.

50 of them.

50 lost years.

Eventually,

eventually,

after 50 years

of not knowing his father,

he met his father.

And they speak

about lost time.

I've noticed this,

and some of you

will have noticed it too,

that the older we get,

the idea of time

seems to change within us.

On the one hand,

does it seem

that the passage of time

seems to accelerate to you?

The older I get,

the quicker it goes.

I can't believe

it's been Christmas

and New Year again.

The second thing is,

and I think this is a wise thing,

we become aware

that whatever time

we have left,

we should,

to use a Bible phrase,

use that time

aright.

psalm 90,

the psalmist writes this,

teach us to number

our days aright,

so that we may gain

a heart

of wisdom.

I don't want to offend you

in any way,

but just getting older

on its own

doesn't make you wiser.

Some of the most childish

people I know

are old.

But what about

those lost years?

What about

the lost years

of your walk

with God

as revealed to us

in Jesus?

I call this talk

a second touch.

Could have called it

a first touch

as far as

some of you are concerned.

For some of you

do not even know

what it is

to be touched by God,

not even for the first time.

Some of you

have been touched

by God,

but your experience

has faded.

In the book of Isaiah

Isaiah 64 · chapter mention

chapter 64

and verse 6,

the prophet writes this,

all of us

have become like one

who is unclean

and all our righteous acts

are like filthy rags.

We all shrivel up

like a leaf.

Is this a day?

When you might be honest

before God

and speak the truth

to Him

that your faith

has become

a little shriveled.

And what you would

long for

is another touch

from God

that would re-energize

your faith batteries,

which would give you

incentive

and power

to come close

to God

that He might

come close

to you.

I want

briefly

to give you

two examples

from Scripture

of what I'm

talking about

and then

one example

from church history.

Spoiler alert,

you Methodists

are going to love it.

the first one

is in Mark

Mark 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8

and verse 22.

This is a story

of a healing

of a blind man

at Bethsaida.

Jesus and His disciples

came there

and a blind man

begged Jesus

to touch him.

He took the blind man

by the hand

and led him

outside the village

and when he spat

on the man's eyes,

sorry,

that's not disgusting.

What they thought

in ancient times

was that saliva

was healing.

Reminds me

that my granny,

I used to cut my knees

every day

playing football

in the church,

sorry,

in the school playground.

My granny

always used to get

the dog to lick me.

Never did me any harm

and it did make

my legs heal

and it made the dog

a kind of voracious killer

but

so he touches him

and

Jesus says to him,

do you see anything?

He said,

I see people,

they look like trees

walking around.

Once more,

once more,

Jesus put his hands

on the man's eyes

and then his eyes

were opened.

His sight

was restored.

See,

I think

that's why we need

a second touch

at the beginning

of this year.

We need our vision

restored.

We need our walk

with God

strengthened.

We need our hope

rekindled.

The second example

from Scripture

is the reading

that we had

from Acts chapter 19,

Acts 19 · chapter mention

this curious story

of the Ephesian elders.

did you receive

the Holy Spirit

when you were baptized?

They're like,

what?

We've never even

heard of the Holy Spirit.

And then this

remarkable thing

happens

and I think

some churches

make more of this

than actually

we should.

But what happens

is,

they say we've been

baptized,

they were baptized

with John's baptism.

That doesn't mean

that John himself

baptized them.

John,

as far as we know,

was part of a

quasi-monastic group

called the Essenes.

Those of you

who've been

to the Holy Land

will know

that if you

head out of Jerusalem

on the road

to Jericho

and turn a right

where you would

turn left

to go to Jericho,

you come to the

caves of Qumran.

Very significant caves

in that they found

in them

Bible manuscripts

on parchment.

that rather

reinforced the

translations

of the Bible

that we have

today.

A very famous

part of John's

Gospel

called P46

was found

there in those

caves.

But John

would send

his disciples

out and his

disciples would

baptize.

So they knew

the baptism

of John.

Paul said

John's baptism

was a

baptism of

repentance.

He told the

people to believe

in the one

coming after

him,

that is in

Jesus.

On hearing

this,

they were

baptized into

the name

of the Lord

Jesus.

When Paul

placed his

hands on

them,

the Holy

Spirit came

on them

and they

spoke in

tongues

and prophesied.

There were

about twelve

men in

all.

Look,

some churches

have built

something onto

these verses

which I

think isn't

right.

And that

is,

you do

not have

to speak

in tongues

and prophesy

to know

that you've

been filled

with the

Holy Spirit.

Not going

to harm

if you do

speak in

tongues

and prophesy,

but they're

gifts.

They're not

meant for

all believers.

God gives

his gifts

as he

wills.

Whatever

the outward

signs of

being filled

with the

Holy Spirit,

and I

think they

should be

manifest in

some way,

doesn't have

to be prophecy

and speaking

in tongues.

And I

know there

are people

in this

church who

are very

hung up

because they

think unless

they speak

in tongues,

they're somehow

second class.

I don't

think you

can justify

that.

From Scripture.

This happened

in this case

at that time.

It's not me

saying I don't

believe in the

gift of tongues

today or the

gift of prophecy

today.

I'm really not

saying that.

What I am

saying is it's

a gift of the

Spirit.

Not all the

gifts, not all

God's people

have all the

gifts.

And if you

think you do,

pray for

humility.

So,

these elders,

let me remind

you, these

are elders.

This reminds

us that you

cannot borrow

strength from

status in

church.

I, some

of you know

that before I

retired I was

a bishop.

And I can

tell you there

is an awful

tendency to

borrow strength

from your

status as a

bishop.

But I can

tell you this,

your spiritual

leadership is

always undermined

when you borrow

strength from

status.

I had a

colleague once

and preaching,

he would say

time and time

again during the

sermon, as a

bishop, as a

bishop, as a

bishop.

I said, you

don't need to

tell people you're

a bishop.

They can tell

because of the

clothes you

wear.

They've worked

it out.

No, borrowing

strength from

status is a

really difficult

thing.

And if you

talk to people

who've held

high rank in

the army or

the navy or

the army, they

will tell you

that though they

can pull rank

any time they

like to, the

ones that are

honest and are

humble say they

don't like to

do that.

Friend, if you

are placing

some security

in your status

here on earth,

I can promise

you this, it

will count for

nothing in

heaven.

The last

example I

want to give

you, this is

where the

Methodists get

aroused, is

John Wesley.

John Wesley

had been

ordained in

the Church

of England

for 12

years, before

he was, in

his words,

converted.

In a small

meeting in

Aldersgate,

London,

Wesley records,

one was

reading the

preface to

Luther's

commentary on

the book of

Romans.

insomnia.

I mean, I

can't just say

about that

preface.

If any of you

have problems

with insomnia,

I would suggest

you get that

book and read

the preface.

I guarantee you

will be

unconscious within

minutes.

Wesley's reading

this, and then he

says this,

I felt my

heart strangely

warmed.

I felt I

did trust in

Christ, Christ

alone for

salvation, and

an assurance

was given me

that he had

taken away my

sins, even

mine, and

saved me from

the law of

sin and

death.

You know, the

Bible says that

when a sinner

repents, there's

joy in heaven.

I would imagine

when God heard

John Wesley's

words there, an

Anglican clergyman,

I think the

champagne corks

would have been

popping, don't

you?

I think they

would have been

great delight

that somebody who

could have drawn

strength from

status, who

could have been

far too proud to

kind of believe

that simple

gospel stuff,

was profoundly

changed by it.

Changed for the

rest of his life

here on earth.

And as a

result, God

blessed the

church across

the world with

the Methodist

church.

What an

amazing story

that is.

Somebody once

wrote, there is

no bigger tragedy

than the tragedy

of the unopened

gift.

gift.

I wonder, I

wonder at the

beginning of this

new year, if

there are not

gifts that God

has for you that

as yet remain

unopened.

Come on

people.

Be honest

enough to

admit that you

need in some

cases a first

touch and in

some cases a

second touch.

Today is the

day, well

yesterday actually

was the

epiphany, but

today is the

day the church

celebrates the

epiphany, the

revelation of

God to the

Gentiles, which

speaks to most

of us.

Epiphany speaks

to us of the

need for fresh

revelation.

At the beginning

of a new year

which creaks with

the noise of

uncertainty and

turbulence.

Let me ask you

a question.

Is this your

moment?

Do you have

any expectation

that right now

God wants to

speak right into

your heart?

That you may

seek forgiveness

maybe for a

habit that you

would like to

break, maybe an

addictive habit.

maybe you're in

a relationship

where there are

patterns of

behaviour that

are just repeated

and destructive

and you know

you need a new

start and

forgiveness.

Is it your

moment to seek

a revelation of

God?

To seek renewal

in your Christian

life?

To discover a new

confidence in God?

A new freedom in

God?

And maybe as

important as

any of these

a new hope

in God.

Don't let your

life drift by

wanting your

real life with

God to begin

at some stage

in the future.

That question

that we asked

at the beginning,

Russ asked at

the beginning,

what do I want

God to do in

my life in the

next 12 months?

It doesn't

matter if your

answer was a

bit hazy.

Let me try and

focus it a bit

more.

What do I want

God to help me

to do in this

next year?

What do I want

God to help me

to stop doing

in this next

year?

Do I want

hope or am I

happy just to be

a kind of

religious

wishful

thinker?

Or would I

really like the

hope that only a

relationship with

God can give

me?

And do I need

the help of

God's Holy

Spirit just to

help me to

cope?

I might like to

think just for a

moment about

those questions

and come to

your own

conclusion.

I can't make

any of you do

anything.

Do I need

a second touch?

What a great

question to

start the

new year with.

I can only

pray that you

will answer

that question

honestly.

So I want to

end by asking

you to stand

please.

And what I'd

like you to do

is just to take

two or three

very deep

breaths.

and I'd like you

to focus

your minds

on the God

in heaven who

looks down on

you,

us,

both,

and wants

to know

which of you

are serious

in this,

the beginning of

this new year

in wanting

to grow

closer to

God.

I'm going to

end with a

prayer that

was written

by a guy

called Greg

Lavoie and

it speaks to

the lost

years of

our relationship

with God,

those of us

who've experienced

such things.

It goes like

this,

to sinful

patterns of

behaviour

that never

got confronted

and changed,

abilities and

gifts that

never get

cultivated and

deployed,

until weeks

become months

and months

turn into

years,

and one day

you're looking

back on a

life of deep,

intimate,

gut-wrenchingly

honest conversations

you never had,

great,

bold prayers

you never

prayed,

exhilarating

risks you

never took,

sacrificial

gifts you

never offered,

lives you

never touched,

and you're

sitting in a

recliner with

a shriveled

soul and

forgotten dreams

and you

realise there

was a world

of desperate

need and a

great God

calling you

to be part

of something

bigger than

yourself.

You see the

person you

could have

become but

did not.

you never

followed your

calling,

you never

got out of

the boat.

Father God,

I want to

pray for

people in

church now.

Lord,

then if any

of those

descriptions

fit them,

Lord,

help them to

know now

that the only

prescription to

those descriptions

is you and

your Holy

Spirit and

your ability

to work in

us and

through us.

And Lord,

that grace is

unconditional.

All we have

to do is to

say, yes,

touch me,

Lord,

that I may

see clearly,

that my vision

may be restored,

and this

year will be

a significant

year for me

in my walk

with you.

And a

significant year

for this

church as

it seeks to

grow into

the likeness

of Christ.

So we

stand,

Father,

in silence

now and

pray,

come,

Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.

So, Lord,

we pray,

we believe,

help our

unbelief.

And the

people who

agreed say

together in a

loud voice,

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.