Ealing, St Andrews, 1st Sunday after Trinity, 7th June 2026 Sermon given by Revd Dr Elizabeth Welch

READINGS

Hosea 5:15-6.6

Psalm 50: 7-15

Romans 4: 13 –25

Matthew 9: 9-13 & 18 –26

Introduction

Last Sunday was Trinity Sunday, when we remembered again the nature of God – Father and Creator, Son and Redeemer, Holy Spirit and Empowerer. We’re now in the season of Trinity, which stretches ahead of us over the summer.

Our readings today, offer us a renewed focus on the nature and significance of our faith  in God, alongside some of the challenges that faith brings, and a reminder not to put too simple a view on the nature of faith.

Faith can be seen as a rather out of date concept as we move through this present century in this country.  There are those who would say that we live in more enlightened times. Haven’t we travelled beyond such a concept as faith, and the way in which it might still be seen as significant?

Our readings today offer us a reminder of both the challenges of faith, and the meaning of faith, with its connectedness with all of life and the whole of creation.

Sermon

It can feel like the concept of ‘faith’ is one that has gradually been moved away from in public life, in recent years. 

We know that the church is facing considerable challenges in many parts of the world. In this country, there’s the ongoing issue of decline and the question of where we’re going next in terms of the nature of Christianity and what it actually means in today’s world.

But moving away from faith doesn’t give us much leeway in trying to make sense of events such as those that are happening in our world today, and to look at how we need to interpret and address these issues, and come up with more positive and hope-filled solutions than often seem to be the case.

I find it interesting to look at the political issues in our country and the ongoing arguments. I often find myself wondering about where we have a sense of the need for universal values, which hold all people together?

I’ve been really struck by the ongoing reporting of the death of the young lad in Southampton – Henry Nowak. It felt like such a horrible thing to happen. And I am aware that we need to look more deeply into, and understand and interpret, all that went on. Part of the discussion is about how far this was a one off event, and how far it reflects the outcome of wider views that are held today in our society.

What I’ve been most touched by is Henry Nowak’s father’s response. I can understand that the father would be so saddened and going through so much grieving. And yet his father has taken such a much more positive view. He’s been quoted as saying ‘we do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We want his story to help make our streets safer for everyone.’ I could quite understand this sad father, mourning the loss of his son, taking a much more militant and negative approach, rather than looking for better ways forward.

The challenge of today’s world is that we become more judgemental and critical, writing people off and putting people down.

The challenge of faith is that we become more loving and caring.

This is not to say that we don’t face hard and difficult times, where we find ourselves wrestling with what faith is about, and asking ourselves ‘where is God in all this?’

Our readings today point to different and significant aspects about faith.

In Romans we see the example of Abraham being given. Here was a man from the history of the Jewish life, who played a significant role for the Israel people, hundreds of years before Jesus was born.

We hear about the contrast between law and faith – and how dependence on law alone diminishes the meaning of faith, and all that faith opens up. Abraham is quoted as being 100 years old, and yet still dependent on his faith. 

It’s a challenge to us as we get older, as to whether our faith decreases or increases!

For Abraham, faith is held together with the grace of God – not the judgement of God. Abraham’s faith is quoted as an example of what God makes possible for us today. He has put his trust in God, and received the promise of the life that God offers, a promise which continues over the centuries.

Romans is written for Jesus’ followers, and still speaks to us today. The words point to the issue of wrestling with faith, but trusting in God who is ever present with us.

The reading from the prophet Hosea also comes from the history of the Jewish faith, and presents some of the issues with which people were wrestling.

The last verse of chapter five and the beginning verses of chapter six are a call to the people to acknowledge their guilt and return to God. And yet Hosea argues that God also has a role to play in bringing people to acknowledge their guilt.  

Hosea writes ‘it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down and he will bind us up’.  In some ways this verse seems like a mystery. Why should God strike down his people and then build them up? 

Rather than being explanatory, this verse is descriptive of the way in which we can feel when we’re in God’s hands. There are times when things go wrong and we wonder why. We can suffer and feel torn and agonise as to where God is in our time of darkness.  Yet what the prophet is pointing to, is that God is still there, even in the heart of darkness. And God will revive us.

Hosea calls people to know God, the God who comes like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.  

I’m struck, at the beginning of this Green Week, by the reference to the spring rains and the way in which God comes like these. It can feel at times when the rain comes, as it has been doing after the heatwave a week or so ago, that rain is too much. I look out and find myself thinking ‘where’s the sun?’. And yet, the rain gives new life, and I’ve been grateful for seeing my plants come back to life, after thinking that they would die off in the heatwave.

The God about whom Hosea writes is full of love for his people. He comes like the gentle rain to revive and renew his people. Faith is about trusting in this God who keeps on coming to us, in a whole range of different ways.

It is this love and this renewal that Jesus came to offer. And he came to offer it to those who knew their need. Those who didn’t know their need couldn’t see what it was that he had come to offer. Instead they were affronted by the actions that he took. In Matthew’s Gospel today, Jesus was criticised for eating with tax collectors and sinners.  

Jesus came with a clear witness that God is here for everyone, and that God is here to lead us into a new way of life and faith, that loves and cares for all people equally.

Faith and trust in God also brought healing as we saw in the gospel with the woman with a hemorrhage and Jairus’ daughter.

Faith is about connectedness – the connectedness with the fullness of God that brings us each new life, and that leads us into sharing the significance of this connectedness with God with all people.

I want finish by touching on three aspects of this connectedness this morning:

• Our connection with God’s love received and God’s love given
• The connectedness with worship and moral living
• The connectedness between church, the world around us, and all the issues that are being seen

Firstly, our connection with God’s love received and God’s love given

Our starting point is in knowing the love that God has for us, as shown most clearly in Jesus Christ. This is the love that speaks to us, however difficult our times are, and even when we go astray. It is when we are touched by that love, that we are able to live in love ourselves. 

There can times when it seems easier to be critical than to be loving, not only for the Pharisees, but also for us today. 

We can at times feel critical of each other within the church or critical of those outside the church for not coming or even critical of people of other faiths for being people of other faiths. 

All these are ways of limiting God’s love – and show that we have yet fully to receive God’s love. Faith connects us with God and helps us to live out God’s love.

Secondly, living the Gospel way means making the connection with worship and of moral living

In Hosea, the prophet challenged the people because they tried to separate out their worship and their moral living. They thought that it was enough to offer sacrifices rather than living in the fullness of God’s love

The Pharisees were still suffering from this same disconnection. They thought that what was important was the ritual obedience to the law rather than a loving heart. And so they couldn’t understand why Jesus was going outside the demands of the law.

Jesus points them back to Hosea in order to teach them about true worship – worship that is connected with a loving lifestyle.

Our faith in God and our knowledge of God’s love is rooted in worship. Our worship is a rhythm of giving and receiving. God gives his love and we receive. As we receive, so that love flows out from us into the world.  Out of our knowledge of God, our lifestyles are shaped.

Thirdly,  faith is about the connectedness between the church and the world around us, and all the issues that are being seen.

In Hosea’s day, it wasn’t just the individual, but the nation which had tried to separate out its ritual obedience in the system of sacrifice from its call to live a life that was moral and just. Hosea calls both the nation and the individual back to God’s way.

Are we to live as separated people, making a sharp distinction between the inner life of the church and the outer life of the nation, and then say that our primary interest is with the life of the church rather than that of the nation?

No, we’re here to speak out about God’s way of love, and the way in which this needs to be seen in our public life – for refugees and immigrants, for young people who are mentally disturbed, for the NHS struggling to provide enough care, and for peace across the world.