Podcast Summaries

May I speak in the name of God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Please be seated. When I used to work in the prison service, I came across a man called Michael, and Michael was doing 15 years for a crime he said he did not commit. Now, one thing you learn about when you work in a prison is they're all innocent. They all say they didn't do it. But prison is a place of despair, where there doesn't seem to be any hope and great fear. And Michael was very fearful in prison, and he was 6'4". And I'm talking width, not height. But he was terrified to be out of his cell, especially in association time, which is when we used to have prisoners mixing with each other. And one of my jobs that I did when I was working in prison security is I had to do what was called a cell spin. In other words, I had to go in and we had to go and check cells for things like contraband, drugs, and weapons. And on this particular day, I had to do a cell spin on Michael's cell. And I went in there and I found that he had loads and loads of these. This is what's called a rosary bead hanging up on his cell window. And I said to Michael, I said, why have you got so many? How many of these have you got anyway? He said, I've got 33. I said, Michael, why have you got 33 rosary beads? Most Christians only need one. Why have you got 33? He said, I've got one for every year that Jesus was here on earth. And I'm beginning to understand that I need to look to the cross for hope. That I need to face my fears, but only by the help of Jesus Christ. See, the cross can mean many things to many people. And if we were back here in the time of Jesus, the idea of Holy Cross Day, which is what we are celebrating today, makes absolutely no sense. The cross was a sign of unspeakable pain and anguish. It was reserved for the worst criminals. No Roman citizen was allowed to be crucified. It was considered that barbaric. In most cases, it would take many hours for someone to die. It was public. It was horrendous. It was excruciating. But we fast forward now to 2025. What does the cross mean to us in our society? Well, it's also become like a fashion symbol. You'll find in the news that people are degrading the cross by not giving it its proper respect and reverence. In some parts of the world, it's illegal to show the cross, like in some Arabic countries. But in order to understand the cross, we have to unlock the Old Testament. And Jesus helps us to do this by referring to the story of Moses, which was in our Gospel reading. See, the Bible is full of links with Jesus, and this story of Moses is one of them. Moses had been leading the Israelites out of Egypt. They were in the desert. It seemed like it was a complete lost cause. And they started to complain to God. They wanted almost the good old days of slavery. Why can't we go back to Egypt? It was way better then. They thought they could be in a better situation than the one that they were in at the moment. How many of that is true for us at this time? So God sent poisonous snakes to bite them. And Moses asked God, he says, God, what do I do? I'm in this really difficult problem. I can't solve this. And God says, make yourself a bronze snake. Fix it onto a pole. And then when people are bitten by the snake, they need to look at it, and then they were cured. Now this might sound really strange. But what we have to understand is the symbolic nature of this story. Firstly, bronze was a material referencing judgment. It was God's righteous judgment on his people who were going away from him. And the snake was a symbol of evil and rebellion against God. You can read that in Genesis. But this is the direct link with Jesus on the cross. But Jesus was taking all the rebellion of our sin on himself in place of the snake on the pole. So we have the cross instead of that. And we need to look to the cross to be saved and have eternal life. And you notice when you come to this church, we've got two depictions of the cross. We've got the cross right above my head with Jesus who is crucified. But also, you'll notice we've got this cross over here behind me where Jesus is not on it. And this is showing that Jesus is alive. The cross was not the end. You might notice sometimes during church that I have to set the chalice up in a certain way. And one of the chalices you'll notice has got a crucifix at the bottom. And that's always meant to face the priest, the person who's presiding. And that's a reminder to people like myself and other people in this church that Jesus died for the clergy as well as everyone else. It's so important to remember. But the cross has always got to be in the center of our church because without the cross there is no hope. And a bit like Michael, we have lots of fears and worries in our life. And some of them are very small and some of them feel absolutely enormous. Now one of the things you've got to realize when you're going through vicar training is it's really, really hard. It's like The Apprentice 2.0. There is so much that's coming at you in terms of essays and the amount of work you have to do. And I remember a couple of years ago I had a really tough placement and I thought there's just no way I can carry on with this, God. This is far too difficult. Send someone else. And I remember sitting outside before I was about to go into a meeting with my supervisors about my progress and I was so worried about this placement report. And I sat on a bench and I cried. And I prayed, God, give me a sign that you can solve this. And when I lifted up my eyes, I honestly saw the biggest cross you have ever seen attached to the building. It definitely wasn't there when I got there, but it was there for me. And I began to realize that I need to focus my life on the cross and think about what Jesus wants for me. Now consequently, the replacement report did not carry as much weight as I thought. And I was allowed to continue my training, hence why I'm wearing a dog collar today. And some of us have got so much fear about telling people about Jesus. But maybe you've got a fear about the future. You don't know what to do next. You have a worry or concern in your life that just seems so big. You're like the people round by Moses. This is just impossible. I can't defeat all the snakes. It's just not doable. But God wants to help you in your fears and concerns today. And God wants to enter the messiness of our lives to help us in our situations. Do you know the phrase that turns up more times in the Bible than any other? It's fear not. I love that. I love that. That God says, don't worry. I can help you, but only if you let me. See, the Bible is absolutely full of people who were terrified and worried and didn't know what to do. You can read about people like Jonah. You can read about Gideon. You can read about Peter, who denied knowing Jesus. But in our gospel reading, Jesus is saying that I have come into the world to save it, not to condemn it. Now we can try every other type of self-help guide out there, but following God is the right way. The thing is, it's a conscious decision every day to want to follow Jesus. It's like going to the gym. It's a choice. It can be hard. It can be really difficult. I think praying can be one of the hardest things, even for someone like myself. So I have here, I have a small little holding cross, as you see here. And I find this is so helpful to hold on to when I'm doing my prayers. Perhaps you should go and get one. You can buy one of these online. They're quite cheap. They're not expensive.

But it reminds me that this is what my faith is all about. It's all about the cross. It's incredible to think that this instrument of torture is actually a symbol of being able to put all my fears and all my worries to Jesus. And this is why Jesus, I believe, mentioned about Moses. Because he was telling people that no matter how difficult your situation might be, God can be involved with it. Now I believe that there is a spiritual realm as well as a physical one. There is a battle of good versus evil. Hence I always try to look to the cross. Because what I know about Jesus is that his character never changes. But he is alive and he can help you. That is, if you want him to. Amen.