Why do you believe what you do?
Is it because you
have been told that it's true,
or have you seen that it's true?
The heart of our faith
is the Resurrection of
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
If that didn't happen,
then there is no point
in being Christian.
But how do we know it happened?
[PAUSE]
If we want to know
what happened last week,
we look at the news,
read newspapers
or look at the internet.
If we want to know
what happened a long time ago,
then we read history books
or we learn to read the original sources.
Which is more reliable though?
The News or the History Book?
Many will say the news
is more reliable
because people have
direct experience
of what is currently happening.
But we can't experience
the past,
can we?
[PAUSE]
Did the First World War happen?
We can be confident that it did,
because we are still affected by it.
We have families that
are shaped
when a great-grandfather
comes back from the trenches
with only one eye and one arm
or a village
loses all its young men
and village businesses
change hands
or disappear.
We don't need to smell the smoke
or hear the gunfire
or see the dying
to know that it happened
and was dreadful.
We don't need signs and wonders.
[PAUSE]
Did the Reformation happen?
We can be confident that it did
because we are still affected by it.
There is a reason why
there are different groups of Christians
who don't see eye-to-eye.
We don't need
to sit next to Pope Leo X
or Martin Luther
and watch them write
and condemn each other.
We don't need to be present
in the battles
and arguments
and murders
to know that the Reformation is real.
We don't need signs and wonders
to know that it happened.
[PAUSE]
What about the Resurrection?
We Christians can be confident
that it did happen
because we are still affected by it.
The Church exists
because something happened,
and the evidence is found
in the Bible.
Indeed that's why the Bible exists
because the Church
gathered the testament
to the truth.
But it isn't just history.
It's more than that.
Look around you.
Look at the church
the people sitting by you
all seeking and finding
the risen Christ.
They are here because
something happened
and still happens.
We don't believe because
we have seen signs and wonders,
but because we can see
in the faces of Christians around
we can hear in the words of the Bible
we can smell in the incense
we can taste and touch the sacraments.
The Resurrection
is an extraordinary event
but it doesn't require
extraordinary evidence,
just the evidence
of faithful eye-witnesses
who have no reason
to lie.
Einstein is wrong sometimes!
We don't need signs and wonders.
We need to trust those around us.
[PAUSE]
There is something extraordinary
about the evidence, though.
The people who bear witness
are still with us.
Christ is the Resurrection
and the Life.
If we come to Him
even if we die
we shall live forever.
The saints come to Jesus
and, though they die,
they live forever.
Indeed, they see Christ
so they are like Him
because they see him
as He really is.
If Christ is still with us,
if Christ still hears us,
if Christ still responds to us
then so do the saints
and so they still bear witness to Christ
for us.
They still interact with us
we have Communion with them.
They still hear us ask for their prayers;
they still bless us
and pass on God's grace
through the good deeds
that they have done
and still do.
[PAUSE]
There are those
who deny that this is possible.
They demand Bible verses
to support this
but they fail to see that
Holy Scripture
is a testament by the Church
for the Church
and is filled with the presence
of the saints who write
the words of God to us.
The words of the saints live
because they share the Living Word,
and, sharing the Living Word,
the saints themselves still live.
The lives of the saints
their commitment,
their striving,
their pain, sorrow, agony and dying
make the words on the pages of the Bible
live in their lives
with the life of Christ.
[PAUSE]
There are times
when we can be very sceptical
about our faith
especially when things seem heavy.
But we need to trust God
and those whom He sends to us
to tell us the truth.
The saints are there
to do just that for us.
They are the cloud
of witnesses
who tell the stories
that join us to what happened
and keep it alive in us
so that we, too, can live out
the true story
in our lives
and become the saints
we are meant to be
in Christ Himself.
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