During the ecumenical pilgrimage to Jamaica earlier this month, the Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson was invited to deliver a sermon. The following is a transcript of that sermon.
Greetings to you all here at Hope United Church and happy 64th anniversary; it is good to be here with you on this 4th Sunday in Easter – Earth Day Sunday – as you celebrate this important milestone.
Minister Rev Samuels, and members of the ministry team, I greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You have extended this invitation to me to preach here this morning, and it was with great pleasure that I accepted your gracious invitation.
I thank you all for having me on this day of celebration.
I am Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson – the present Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church or the URC as we are commonly called. We are a denomination that operates in 13 Synods across England, Scotland and Wales, through approximately 1,284 congregations.
As my colleague said moments ago, we are here in Jamaica with URC colleagues who are visiting as part of a group of churches from the UK context hosted by the Churches Reparation Action Forum – CRAF.
The visiting group, which consists of three church denominations, as well as Christian Aid and World Council of Churches, came to discuss reparations.
The difference is that my United Reformed Church (URC) colleagues and I, are also here to offer an apology on behalf of the whole URC, for the role of its antecedents in the TransAtlantic trafficking, enslavement and brutality meted out to Africans…
And we had the distinct honour and privilege, recognising the urgency of so doing, to deliver this apology last Sunday at Webster United Church, where a good cross-section of local churches and institutions — as well as the Honourable Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport – were present.
Again – thank you for inviting us to worship with you today.
Sermon: Reignited with Boldness to Share the Good
(based on John 10:11-18 and Psalm 23).
Let us pray…
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you – O Lord – our Rock and our Redeemer ~ Amen.
And so, on this 4th Sunday in Easter we gather in the presence of our Triune God – Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Friends, I was invited to focus my thinking on two passages – John 10:11-18 and Psalm 23.
I am always struck by what happens when we return to look again with intentionality at something we have become familiar with.
The importance of re-reading is real, and coming to scripture passages again — anew and afresh — is always a joy for me.
These two passages are very well used and so are quite familiar to church goers, not just here in this worshipping space, but around the world.
They tend to be used to comfort and guide, and they are much more than that. I receive them as a radical call to us readers, researchers, listeners, and hearers alike. By this I mean, for me, the passages invite and empower us to face our history, regardless of what side of history we stand on.
And we are urged, in my interpretation of what I have read, to journey through life with courage and hope.
Today, with our theme, “Reignited with boldness to share the Good News,” we hear a call, echoing out of these readings to us, to be messengers of healing and reconciliation in a world still scarred by the historic injustices of trafficking, enslavement, and colonisation.
Those legacies live on, on so many levels, social, psychological, physiological, structural, educational, and I can go on. So, this is committed work.
And the good shepherd calls us out, even as he calls out to us; and I could almost hear Jesus saying:- now hear this! Come closer and listen carefully to what I am saying: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
Friends, this is not a cute, cuddly story. We get the sense, in this passage, of the serious committed-ness of the work of the shepherd.
A good shepherd is not only a caretaker, but a bold leader who faces danger head-on for the sake of their flock. This type of commitment transcends mere duty; it is a profound expression of love and sacrifice.
What do love and sacrifice look like?
Love and sacrifice joined up – is a powerful image of the Good Shepherd – certainly not a passive and static one. It is active … it challenges us, and invites us to reflect on how we, as followers of Christ, might lay down our lives for those who are tremendously underserved today.
This ignited a spark that inspired me to ask – how can I stand boldly in the face of past and present injustices that continue to breach the dignity of our brothers and sisters? Friends, how can we not?
I wonder could we ever justify just saying I forgive you? Or, do we answer God’s call to be on a journey of seeking justice, knowing that God is with us:
– even when the journey is rough.
– even when the valleys are full of shadowy figures and death dealing activities.
Psalm 23 offers a vivid journey from tranquil pastures to dim and dangerous valleys, reminding us that God’s presence and provision are constants, even in the most challenging times, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
This Psalmist does not shy away from the valley, neither should we shy away from the reality of the valley. We are urged to confront and walk through it, and are invited, and called out to be mindful of Jesus’ promise that we are never alone, even in our bleakest moments.
This promise fuels our boldness, not to forget the valleys of our history—the deep scars of enslavement and oppression—but to walk through them with faith, guided by God’s loving hand, towards thinking proactively about what it would look like for that breach to be repaired. Daring to think, in the most audacious way, about what we, as a people, collectively, would look like when our scars are healed.
The breach caused by centuries of injustice is devastating and destructive; it is multi-layered and very wide. But our call as followers of Christ, is to bridge this gap with the love and truth of the Gospel.
As we strive to confront these harsh realities, we need not despair, for we are called to embody the boldness that comes from knowing that we are empowered people – empowered and named into being agents – even though we are people who have been branded, strapped, restrained, constrained, some chained and stripped of their/our names by a succession of brutal land grabbers, intent on benefitting by utilising and depleting the intellect, bodies, minds, creativity, talents, strengths and weaknesses of those gone before us.
But in reality, O Creator, do they know what they have done?
We, God’s people, are an identified people – named as agents of change by the Holy Spirit. The Good Shepherd knows each sheep by name. And on our journey toward justice and reconciliation, we are empowered to strive to see the individual stories, pains, and hopes of those affected by history’s shadows.
What stories did your ancestors tell? And what about those ancestors who survived the harshest so their descendants could live; those who were face-to-face with a horrible reality of daily torment – physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual. What stories did they tell? And what does this history still tell us today?
By acknowledging these stories and recognising the present impact, we are able to genuinely become reignited with a bold understanding of what is needed to pave the way for genuine healing, and reconciled relationships, so that we might begin to know what it means to live the Good News.
Because being reignited with boldness means more than speaking the Good News; it means living it. It means building communities where the broken are restored, where the lost are found, and all are valued. It means preaching a Gospel that not only saves souls but also heals wounds.
And so, we are called to be like the Shepherd who anoints with oil, while preparing a table before those who, for many years, have disrupted the fullness of life in harmful ways, and those working toward making goodness and mercy follow for days, weeks, and years to come.
This is not in any way a passive journey—it is an active, intentional, courageous, and even dangerous one.
It is a testimony to the world that our faith has the power to transform lives and societies.
And so, we are urged to remember our ancestors, ignited with a spirit of boldness to share and live the news that is rooted in the grace and loving kindness of our God.
For it is our Creator’s strength that sustains us, Christ’s wisdom that guides us, and the Comforter-Sustainer’s love that motivates us.
Friends, this is not just a moment for reflection. This is a starting point for bold action which involves actively allowing the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts, and the Word of Christ to live within us richly as we teach, advise, and urge one another with all the wisdom we could muster.
And now, in the boldness of God’s Spirit, may we be reignited to share the Good News, to heal the wounds of the past, and to build a future reflective of God’s house, where there is room for all, where relationships flourish, where every tear is wiped away, and every heart is renewed.
And as I close – I say – may the love of our liberating, Living Creator, the grace of the Resurrected Redeemer, and the community of the Sustaining Spirit of the Triune God, be with us all ~
Amen.