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In touch

Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

Peace will triumph over war

"Peace be with you." John 20:19,26

 

Context

The first words of the risen Christ to the disciples in the upper room are, on Easter Day and today, a week later, ‘Peace be with you’ (John 20:19,26).

 

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

Peace will triumph over war; light over darkness; life over death.

We see, in the present conflict in the Holy Land, that war has not brought a solution. It had started with the Nakba in 1948. And the present conflict, with hostages held for months, 30,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, hospitals destroyed and aid workers bombed is never going to be a solution to the situation. Similarly it may have to be admitted that war between Iran and Israel, or between Russian and Ukraine is not an answer to anything. If these conflicts continue they will simply get worse on and for all sides.

Increasingly, many in the UK feel that Brexit was a mistake. The victory at the end of WWII was achieved in building peace after the conflict, and building peace today requires the same commitment as in the first post-war years. In Northern Ireland, Brexit has endangered the situation won by the Good Friday agreement and endangered peace.

Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles reveals the extent of the peace and mutual trust between the believers, which had removed all rivalry from them. They shared everything to the extent that ‘there was not a needy person among them’ (Acts 4:34). Surely this should be the goal of good government: caring for the homeless, the sick, the vulnerable. As The Guardian reports, government promises have not been fulfilled.

 

Questions for discussion

• How important is Jesus’ greeting, ‘Peace be with you’? What does it mean for you?
• Can we live as the believers in Acts 4 ‘so that there was not a needy person among them’?
• How can we help to bring this about?

Tom Ambrose is a retired priest in the Parish of the Ascension, Cambridge. 

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

This week’s news tells of the record numbers of migrants who have crossed the English Channel over the Easter weekend.

Migration can be presented as a problem to be solved. When combined with a cost-of-living crisis this can lead us to question whether we have the resources to be able to offer a home here. Fear that there might not be enough resources to go round can get in the way of our generosity.

Discuss with the group what other fears might limit their generosity.

• What practical things can we do when we want to be generous, but fear gets in the way?
• What does living as a generous community look like in the face of migration?

Try this activity with your group:

• Using a jug, fill two glasses with a drink the group enjoy, one to halfway, the other full. Put them on a tray.
• Make sure you have enough of the drink for the whole group but keep this hidden and say the quantity is limited to the amount in the jug. Ask which glass they would choose.
• Explain the glasses are a metaphor for life, if they choose the full one there is no space left for anything else. You can demonstrate this by dropping something into the full glass making it overflow.
• Giving everyone a drink, discuss together how we might trust God to fill our glasses.

Although migration is an important topic for young people to think about in terms of being a generous community, it can also be sensitive. If you feel it is inappropriate for your group, use a different illustration e.g. fear of being bullied, physical safety.

Victoria Etherington is children’s, youth and family’s ministry leader for the Yorkshire North and East Methodist District.

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