Welcome

Last Sunday we rejoiced at the resurrection, the disciples, however, didn’t. A week later our gospel, John 20:19-31, finds them hiding away in a locked room afraid of what the future holds for them. Thomas often gets a bad press for doubting but the other disciples are not doing much better: Jesus has already come to them offering peace, sending them out as the Father sent him but a week later, when Jesus returns, they still haven’t moved. Perhaps Thomas did not believe them the first time because despite encountering the risen Lord, they hadn’t changed. However, the fact that they doubt, that they fail to act, is what makes them perfect for the job; because the job is forgiveness, and who better to know the joy of forgiveness, the significance of a new beginning, than someone who has been in need of forgiveness not just once but again and again. By the time we come to the story in Acts 5:27-32, the disciples have changed, they have started to live as if new life were truly possible.

Christ is always returning to us, continually offering us the gift of the spirit, repeatedly inviting us to begin again. The fact that we are failures makes us perfect for the job too. Knowing how rubbish we are at being Christian, at doing God’s will, puts us in the perfect position to forgive the faults and failings of others and invite them to begin again alongside us.

If you attend the Church regularly, you might like to be on our electoral roll.

The Electoral Roll is a list of the members of the Church. If you are on the Electoral Roll, you can vote at the annual parochial church meeting (APCM).

Holy Spirit Clapham uses ChurchSuite. ChurchSuite is designed specifically for churches with the potential to draw us closer as a community and make us more effective than ever in our mission work together.