We come at last to our last sermon on the Nicene Creed. Please if you have not got a Nicene Creed book mark then please do take one. So We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. Amen indeed.
The Resurrection of the Dead is a big deal in Christian thought and theology. It is a key part of our hope that there is more to life than … life.
Jesus said ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ – this is bigger than simply Jesus saying – ‘I do resurrection’ or ‘I myself will be resurrected’.
We see Jesus bringing back to life Lazarus and the Widow’s son in the village of Nain. That seems quite straightforward for Him, but in Jesus’ own death and resurrection we see Jesus breaking death. Death doesn’t work the way it used to. It has been broken. Death has lost its sting, the grave has lost its victory.
There’s a moment where Jesus and Peter, James and John go up a mountain and there Jesus is transfigured, gleaming in glory and brightness, and there we see Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. Remember that Moses died perhaps 1300bc and Elijah was carried up into a chariot perhaps 850bc. So Moses never met Elijah on this earth, in their lifetimes, but now here’s Jesus having this chat.
For a moment remember from our Gospel reading Jesus reminding people that God is the God of the living not the dead, God is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. So we see that Moses, Elijah, are as alive to Jesus as Peter James and John are. And still today, they are as alive to Jesus as you and I are right now.
This ought to hurt your head a little.
It also ought to leave you lost in wonder love and praise. A little overawed.
We believe in the Resurrection of the Dead.
Mary and Martha said that to Jesus after the death of their brother Lazarus and Jesus said Well yes but I am the resurrection. And now we see Jesus transfigured and understand how the dead in Christ are as alive to Christ as you or I are, and then we see Jesus suffer His death, and rise again.
So What will it all be like? St Paul gives us an image of plants so that right now we are mere seeds compared to the plants that we will be. I find that a helpful way of saying – I don’t know! It will be a fabulous mystery yet to be revealed!
Jesus uses Wedding imagery in a number of his parables of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. And the Gospel reading calls us to read and re-read our bibles – be careful because we’re learning that there’s so much more to learn.
And just to keep you on your toes remember how Jesus talked about our Eternal Life starts now. This is what it means to be Born Again, to be born from above, born of Water and the Spirit. So if you have not put your faith in Jesus then may be today is a good day to do that.
We believe in the Resurrection of the Dead.
Oh yes we do. And that means we see people’s lives transformed. As St Paul put it ‘We were dead in our sins but God made us alive in Christ’.
There! That is the Resurrection of the Dead happening right in front of you.
We believe in the Resurrection of the Dead.
And it has immediate relevance today – it means that we have a high doctrine and regard for the body. So that means we see our bodies as something to take care of – Do your exercises, eat healthily and all that. Your bodies matter.
And it means we’re not keen on Euthanasia or Assisted Dying – because in our doctrine of the resurrection of the dead we do not take lightly the life that we have now. I would prefer it if the Government had that sort of money that it would re-direct it into our Hospices and Macmillan Nurses.
We believe in the Resurrection of the Dead.
It gives us hope that beyond life there is more. It gives us hope that this life is worth valuing and caring for.
The Nicene Creed says We look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to come.
So we believe in the life of the world to come.
You might have expected the Creed to say something simple like We believe in Heaven. But this is a more complicated idea – I don’t mind the talk that says ‘When you die you go to heaven’. Other options are available.
But the book of Revelation is more complicated in seeking a massive recycling of all that can be recycled, a new heaven and a new earth.
Yes we will be like Angels – as Jesus said. Note that we will not be angels, only like angels. But that’s not saying that we will be just forms of ghost or spirit or something rather I think that there will be some sort of physicality in the life to come –
We pray daily Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. And this is the prayer that we will finally see answered because we believe in the Life of the World to come.
So all those Parables about the Kingdom of God – all of those should now have a fresh relevance. Jesus was teaching us about what to look out for.
You see our Creed does not say We believe in the Resurrection of the Dead, We believe in the life of the world to come. But it is a call to Look for.
We Look for the Resurrection of the Dead and
We look for the life of the world to come.
It’s not enough merely to believe, here we apply that by looking for.
This new kingdom of God – it will be a place of righteousness and justice – a place where people are treated right, this earth is treated right.
And so in our looking we look both for glimpses of where this is good and also for where this is not good.
Use the glimpses of Good to encourage you, to give you hope. Where you see Blessings, then give thanks to God for them and pray for more, and look for more.
We see them on a daily basis when you see people being kind, doing the right thing, in living peaceably with people. So, Give thanks to God. Pray for more of God’s healing to come upon the earth.
Meanwhile, you will also see where this is not good. The News today will be bad enough. Places where the earth is flooding, burning, and in our hopelessness we pray and we work to do our bit.
Last year we got our Bronze award from Arocha, here’s hoping we can push that a little further over this next year towards the Silver award. Keep at it.
There will be other things that will make you sad and angry and chip at your faith. To which the answer is Get angry at God in prayer and say ‘Come on God this isn’t good enough, Do something’, lead me to do something.
And so in the fight against Trafficking the Clewer initiative set up ways of enabling little parish churches to do their bit in detecting modern slavery and helping to provide support and care.
There are so many of these little things going on that seek together to make a big difference. And its all there in our prayer, in our creed, for We look for the Life of the World to come.
And if we are looking then we will see good things, and we may also see bad things – so take those bad things and feed them back to God in prayer and see where it might lead us as a Church.
And with the good things, count them as blessings and give thanks to God – for you have again seen another glimpse of the Kingdom of God at work in our lives.
It is not easy. We live in the Now and the Not yet. We live aware of the Resurection of Jesus, of His breaking Death’s victory and sting,
and yet we live in a world that is still full of grief and sorrow.
But remember – We live in a world where everyday is Pentecost, every day somewhere in God’s world the Church is growing, and someone is getting baptised, someone is being healed by God’s Holy Spirit, every day is Pentecost.
And yet we live in a world that lack’s God’s peace and so we give in time and money to foodbanks and homeless shelters and hospices.
We close our Nicene Creed in a busy way.
Take hope from these lines but understand that they are a call for us to leave this earth better than we found it, more reconciled to God,
and for that challenge we will need God’s Holy Spirit help, and a firm belief as We look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to Come. Amen.
(preached by Lucy in st Lens, me in st Lukes 17 Aug 2025)