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Sentence

The words you have spoken are spirit and life, O Lord; you have the words of eternal life. John 6:63, 68

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

Bountiful God, we thank you for planting in us the seed of your word: by your Holy Spirit, help us to receive it with joy, and to live according to it, that we grow in faith and hope and love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Genesis 25:19-34
• Psalm 119: 105-112
• Romans 8:1-11
• Matthew 13:1-23

• Next Week:

• Genesis 28:10-19a
• Psalm 139:1-11, 23-24
• Romans 8:12-25
• Matthew 13:24-43

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A Thought to Ponder

Pentecost 7– Matthew 13:1-23

The parable of the sower: “Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear . . .“The seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
Chapter 13 of Matthew’s Gospel is the evangelist’s collection of Jesus’ parables. The word “parable” comes from the Greek word parabole, which means putting two things side by side in order to confront or compare them. And that is exactly how Jesus uses parables: He places a simile from life or nature against the abstract idea of the reign of God. The comparison challenges the hearer to consider ideas and possibilities greater and larger than those to which they might be accustomed.
Jesus’ hearers expected God’s kingdom to be the restoration of Israel to great political and economic power; the Messiah would be a great warrior-king who would lead Israel to this triumph. Jesus’ parables subtly and delicately led people, without crushing or disillusioning them, to rethink their concept of God’s kingdom.
In Palestine, sowing was done before the ploughing. Seed was not carefully or precisely placed in the ground. The farmer scattered the seed in all directions, knowing that, even though much will be wasted, enough will be sown in good earth to ensure a harvest nonetheless. The parable of the sower (which appears in all three synoptic gospels) teaches that the seed’s fruitfulness (God’s word) depends on the soil’s openness (the willingness of the human heart to embrace it).
The parable of the sower challenges us to see how deeply the word of God has taken root in our lives, how central God is to the very fabric of our day-to-day existence.
Christ invites his followers to embrace the faith of the sower: to trust and believe that our simplest acts of kindness and forgiveness, our humblest offer of help to anyone in need, our giving of only a few minutes to listen to the plight of another soul may be the seeds that fall “on good soil” and yields an abundant harvest.
Jesus challenges us in the parable of the sower to be both sower and seed: to sow seeds of encouragement, joy and reconciliation regardless of the “ground” on which it is scattered, and to imitate the seed’s total giving of self that becomes the harvest of Gospel justice and mercy.

© Connections/MediaWorks

Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest,” says the Lord. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart.” Matthew 11:28-29

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

Almighty God, your Son Jesus Christ has taught us that what we do for the least of his brothers and sisters we do also for him:
give us the will to serve others as he was the servant of all, who gave up his life and died for us; yet lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, now and forever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
• Psalm 45:10-17
• Romans 7:14-25
• Matthew 11:15-19, 25-30

• Next Week:

• Genesis 25:19-34
• Psalm 119: 105-112
• Romans 8:1-11
• Matthew 13:1-23

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A Thought to Ponder

Pentecost 6– Matthew 11:25-30

“Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart …”
Rarely outside of John’s Gospel is Jesus’ intimacy with the Father so clearly portrayed as in today’s Gospel from Matthew. Jesus offers a hymn of praise to his Father, the holy Creator of all who deeply loves his creation as a Father loves his children. The great love of God for all of humanity is revealed in the love of his Son, the Messiah.

Religion as a “yoke” was exactly how Jesus’s Jewish listeners saw the Law. They saw their faith as a burden, a submission to a set of endless rules and regulations dictating every dimension of their lives. But Jesus describes his “yoke” as “easy”. The Greek word used here that we translate as “easy” more accurately means “fitting well”. In Palestine, ox yokes were custom-made of wood, cut and measured to fit a particular animal. Jesus is proposing here a radical change in attitude regarding faith: Our relationship with God is not based on how meticulously we keep a certain set of rules and regulations (a direct challenge to the long-held view of the scribes and Pharisees) but in the depth of our love of God, reflected in our love of others. Our relationship with God is not based on subjugation and weariness but on hope and joy.

There is also an important political dimension to these verses. Matthew’s Gospel was written a short time after the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D by the soldier-emperor Vespasian. For both the Jewish and the new Christian communities, it was a time of painful introspection: Would Israel’s hope for the political restoration of the Jewish state ever be realised? While orthodox Jews maintained unwavering fidelity to their people, language and sense of nationalism, the Christian “cult” saw their ultimate destiny not in the political restoration of Israel but in the coming of the reign of God – a reign that embraces not just Jews but all men and women, even Israel’s most despised enemies. Jewish suspicion of the Christian community was growing as the new group became more and more disaffected by the Jewish political agenda. Jesus’ words on gentleness and humility set off sparks between loyal Jews and Christians who were abandoning the cause.

When Christ calls his disciples to embrace the simple faith of “little ones,” he is not saying that our approach to faith should be “dumbed down” to the level of children. Christ is calling us, instead, to embrace a faith that is centred in the “simple” but profound love, compassion and hope of God: love that is not compromised by self-interest and rationalisation; compassion that is not measured but offered totally and unreservedly, completely and without limit or condition; hope that is centred in gratitude for the many ways God’s presence is revealed in our midst. It is an approach to faith that is not compromised by “adult” complexities and complications but embraced with “child-like” directness and optimism.
To love one another as God has loved us, to serve one another as Christ the Saviour serves God’s people, is a “yoke” that is “easy” (“fitting well”) in calling us to love as we are, using whatever gifts God has given us to give voice to our faith; a yoke that is “light” in its sense of joy and the fulfillment and meaning it gives our lives.
Today’s Gospel calls us to embrace Jesus’ spirit of humility: recognising that before God we are all debtors, we have done nothing to deserve the life we have been given, we are owed nothing from God or life. Humility is to realise how blessed we have been by God through no merit of our own, and to respond to such goodness with a constant sense of gratefulness, realising that every breath we take is a gift from a Creator whose love knows neither limit nor condition.

© Connections/MediaWorks

Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to suffer death upon a cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of the enemy:
grant us so to die daily to sin that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Genesis 22:1-14
• Psalm 13
• Romans 6:12-23
• Matthew 10:40-42

• Next Week:

• Genesis 24:34-38,
• 42-49, 58-67
• Psalm 45:10-17
• Romans 7:14-25
• Matthew 11:15-19, 25-30

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A Thought to Ponder

Pentecost 5– Matthew 10:40-42

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me . . . and whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me . . . “And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple – amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”
Today’s Gospel is the conclusion of Matthew’s collection of Jesus’ wisdom sayings to those who will go forth on mission to proclaim his Gospel – Jesus speaks of the sacrifice demanded of his disciples and the suffering they will endure for their prophetic proclamation of the Kingdom of God. In today’s pericope, Jesus clearly is not attacking family life; he is warning his disciples of the conflict and misunderstanding they will experience for their proclaiming the word. To be an authentic disciple of Jesus means embracing the suffering, humility, pain and selflessness of the cross; to be an authentic disciple of Jesus means taking on the often unpopular role of prophet for the sake of the kingdom; to be an authentic disciple of Jesus means welcoming and supporting other disciples who do the work of the Gospel.
God calls every one of us to the work of the prophet: to proclaim his presence among his people. Some are called to be witnesses of God’s justice in the midst of profound evil and hatred; others are called to be witnesses of his hope and grace to those in pain and anguish; and many share in the work of the prophet/witness by enabling others to be effective witnesses and ministers of God’s love. The gift of faith opens our spirits to realise and accept our call to be witnesses of God’s love borne on the cross and prophets of the hope of his Son’s resurrection.
The most difficult part of imitating Jesus is the cross and what it stands for: unconditional forgiveness, the total emptying of ourselves of our wants and needs for the sake of another, the spurning of safety and popular convention to do what is right and just.
To “receive the prophet’s reward” is to seek out every opportunity, to use every talent with which we have been blessed, to devote every resource at our disposal to make the love of God a living reality in every life we touch.
Authentically committed disciples of Jesus possess the vision of faith and determination of hope to use anything — from a cup of cold water to a sign to protect the most helpless of creatures — to make God’s reign of compassion and peace a reality in our time and place.
© Connections/MediaWorks

© Connections/MediaWorks

Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for Jesus’ sake will find it. Matthew 10:39

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

Gracious God, we who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death:
we pray that, as you raised him from death, so by the power of the Holy Spirit we may live the new life to your glory, knowing ourselves to be dead in sin but alive for you in Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Genesis 21:8-21
• Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
• Romans 6:1-11
• Matthew 10:24-39

• Next Week:

• Genesis 22:1-14
• Psalm 13
• Romans 6:12-23
• Matthew 10:40-42

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A Thought to Ponder

Pentecost 4– Matthew 10:26-33
“Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.”
In Matthew’s missionary discourse, Jesus instils in his disciples of the need for courage and discernment in their preaching of the Gospel. The disciple who faithfully proclaims his Gospel can expect to be denounced, ridiculed and abused; but Jesus assures his followers that they have nothing to fear from those who would deprive “the body of life,” for their perseverant and faithful witness to the Gospel will be exalted in the reign of God.
In the Gospels, Christ reveals a God who loves us and cares for us and every “strand” of creation. Sometimes we are called to be the vehicles of God’s love for those desperate to realize that presence in their lives; sometimes we are the recipients of such blessings of forgiveness and compassion. The providence of God who has “counted . . . all the hairs of your head” manifests itself in the love of family, the comfort of friends, the support of church and community.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us beyond our fears and insecurities; he invites us to embrace a spirit of joy and possibility beyond our comfort zone. Three times in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples not to be afraid, that we have nothing to fear before God who has proven his love and acceptance of us unreservedly. Christ calls us in to embrace a vision of hope that is the opposite of fear — hope that matches our uncertainty of the unknown with the certainty of the love of God; hope that can only be found and embraced once we reach beyond our own fears to confront the fears and heal the hurts of others; hope that the Good Fridays of our lives will be transformed into Easter completeness.
We “disown” Jesus, not only by what we do, but by what we fail to do. We “deny” Jesus by our silence in the face of injustice, our protecting our own interests at the expense of the common good, our failure to respond to Christ calling us in the cries of the poor, the abused, the desperate and the lost.
© Connections/MediaWorks

Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; ask therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Matthew 9:37-38

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

All-powerful God, in Jesus Christ you turned death into life, and defeat into victory:
increase our faith and trust in him, that we may triumph over evil, in the strength of the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Genesis 18:1-15
• Psalm 116:1-2, 11-18
• Romans 5:1-11
• Matthew 9:35-10:8

• Next Week:

• Genesis 21:8-21
• Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
• Romans 6:1-11
• Matthew 10:24-39

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A Thought to Ponder

Pentecost 3 – Matthew 9:35 – 10:8
Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “… As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
Today’s Gospel serves as a narrative transition from Matthew’s recounting of Jesus’ miracles and works of wonder (chapters 8 and 9) to Jesus’ missionary discourse (chapters 10 and 11).
The missionary dimension of discipleship is centred in two images: the “sheep without a shepherd” and harvest in need of labourers. Having established his identity as God’s Christ in his work as a healer, Jesus now commissions the Twelve and his Church to heal hearts and souls in a ministry of reconciliation:
“cure the sick” – bring back to God those who are alienated, those who are lost, those who are weak (the Greek word used in the text of today’s Gospel asthenes means “weak”);
“raise the dead” – lift up those hopelessly and helplessly dead because of sin, who are blind and deaf to the grace of God, who are entombed by poverty, racism and violence;
“cleanse lepers” – bring back the sons and daughters of God who are rejected or estranged from the human family;
“drive out demons” – liberate those enslaved by sin and evil.
Jesus’ compassion for the “shepherd-less” calls us to bring to the lost, forgotten and marginalised (those Pope Francis calls those on the “periphery”). Today’s Gospel reaffirms our responsibility as disciples of Jesus to welcome rather than condemn, to lift up rather than judge, to seek reconciliation with those from whom we are estranged or separated for whatever reason.
Every one of us, in our struggle to make sense out of life, seeks absolutes by which to guide our decisions, formulae to determine what is fair and good, yardsticks to judge success and failure. Masters and gurus, saviours and deliverers, parties and movements of every stripe preach to their followers how to secure fortunes but not how to live, how to feel better but not how to cure what afflicts, how to conquer one’s enemies but not how to live lives of justice and peace. Christ the “shepherd” walks with us on our life’s journey through hurt and change and maturity and wholeness to the dwelling place of God.
The defining mark of discipleship is the willingness and commitment to bring healing to the broken, comfort to the afflicted, hope to the despairing. In his first “organisational meeting” of the Twelve, Jesus commissions them to take on the work of healing, restoring, reconciling. As God humbled himself to become one of us and be part of our lives, we are called to the same humility in order to bring the compassion and forgiveness of God to the poor, the needy, the helplessly and hopelessly “dead,” the alienated, the rejected and the abused.

© Connections/MediaWorks

Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners. Matthew 9:12-13

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

O God, you have assured the human family of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Saviour:
deliver us from the death of sin and raise us to new life in him, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Genesis 12:1-9
• Psalm 33:1-12
• Romans 4:13-25
• Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

• Next Week:

• Genesis 18:1-15
• Psalm 116:1-2, 11-18
• Romans 5:1-11
• Matthew 9:35-10:8

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A Thought to Ponder

Pentecost 2 – Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
The second Sunday after Pentecost brings us into the heart of Jesus’s ministry, where we encounter two key themes: the calling of the unlikely, and the power of healing. These passages—Matthew 9:9–13 and 9:18–26—show us a Christ who moves toward those in need, who upends social expectations, and who embodies mercy in ways that challenge religious structures. The stories of Matthew’s call and Jesus’s healing acts emphasise restorative mercy. This mercy is not simply words, not just words of forgiveness or absolution, but tangible acts of restoration that show what the kingdom of God ought to be like.
The call of Matthew (9:9) is striking for several reasons. First, tax collectors were viewed as traitors within Jewish society. Working for Rome, they were associated with economic oppression, often collecting excessive taxes to benefit the empire and themselves. Matthew’s presence at a tax booth signifies his active role in this system—yet Jesus sees him, calls him, and invites him into his circle. The response is immediate: Matthew leaves everything and follows.
The next scene (9:10–13) reveals the radical nature of Jesus’s mission. While sharing a meal with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus is questioned by the Pharisees, who ask why he associates with such people. His response reveals a relational ethos: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” This statement is a direct challenge to the religious order. The Pharisees emphasise purity and sacrifice, but Jesus reorients the discussion toward mercy, toward healing, and toward relationship.
The second part of this reading (9:18–26) brings us into two intertwined healing stories—a synagogue leader’s daughter and a woman suffering from chronic bleeding. These two individuals stand at opposite ends of the social spectrum: The synagogue leader is prominent, while the woman is unnamed and ostracised. The synagogue leader is confident enough in himself to walk directly up to Jesus, while the woman lives in a state of shame and desires to move unnoticed. For both people, Jesus responds with equal compassion.
The woman’s faith is remarkable. She believes that simply touching Jesus’s cloak will heal her. Jesus, like a traditional healer, perceives the woman’s act of faith and affirms her: “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” This is not just a physical restoration—it is a social and spiritual reintegration. She is no longer unclean, no longer cut off from her community. Her restoration stretches beyond the physical ailment. Her healing is holistic. Jesus is good medicine, for body and soul. And his healing brings communal restoration, as she no longer needs to hide herself and walk unnoticed.

It is good and right as Jesus-followers to look to Jesus as our example and seek to emulate his life. We certainly need to embrace compassion as a relational ethic. But I want to also suggest that we need to use our sanctified imaginations to see ourselves within the other characters in these stories. After all, life is not easy. We continue to need the healing work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, in both body and soul.
And for those of us who live in North America, we must reckon with the fact that we may be the tax collectors of our society, profiting off current and past injustices, and globally speaking, we occupy the richest sectors of society. Do we recognise how much we ourselves are in need of mercy and the healing touch of Jesus? And are we ready to respond to his call?
Or perhaps today you feel like that dead girl. Life has been sucked out of you, or perhaps you feel you are spiritually dead, in a dark night of the soul. As hard as it may be, can you trust that others are seeking Jesus on your behalf, and that Jesus has the power to revive?
© Working Preacher

© Connections/MediaWorks. All rights reserved

Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

Proclaim the Name: ’The Lord, the Lord, a God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.’ Exodus 34:6

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, for you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Exodus 34:1-8
• Song of the Three
• 2 Cor 13:11-13
• Matthew 28:16-20

• Next Week:

• Genesis 18:1-15
• Psalm 116:1-2, 11-18
• Romans 5:1-11
• Matthew 9:35-10:8

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A Thought to Ponder

Trinity Sunday – Matthew 28:16-20
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son . . . for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-18
As Ordinary Time resumes, two “solemnities of the Lord” are celebrated on the next two Sundays. Today’s celebration of the Trinity originated in France in the eighth century and was adopted by the universal Church in 1334. The solemnity focuses on the essence of our faith: the revelation of God as Creator, God’s re-creation of humankind in Jesus the Redeemer, the fullness of the love of God poured out on us in the Sustainer Spirit.

Today’s periscope omits the context of this Gospel. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, comes under the cover of darkness to meet the remarkable rabbi he has heard so much about. In their exchange (today’s Gospel), Jesus speaks of the need to be reborn “from above” and of the great love of God who gives the world his own Son, not to condemn humankind but to save it.
Today we celebrate the essence of our faith manifested in our lives: the loving providence of the Creator who continually invites us back to him; the selfless servanthood of the Redeemer who “emptied” himself to become like us in order that we might become like him; the joyful love of the Spirit that is the unique unity of the Father and Son.
As revealed to us by Jesus, our God is a God not of endings but beginnings; a God who does not demand the payment of debts but who constantly offers unconditional and unlimited chances to begin again; a God who does not take satisfaction in our failures but rejoices in lifting us up from our brokenness, despair and estrangement from him and from one another.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus challenges Nicodemus to move beyond old, incomplete and “childlike” images of God in order to grow toward a more complete, “adult” faith that recognises the God who works and moves from his Spirit of unfathomable love; the God who constantly takes the initiative to be reconciled with us, despite our failings; the God who is not removed from his creation but constantly present in every act of love and compassion and forgiveness.
© Connections/MediaWorks. All rights reserved

Sermon

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Sentence

‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me,’ says the Lord;’ and let the one who believes in me drink. For out of your heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ John 7:38

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

Almighty God, at the feast of Pentecost you sent your Holy Spirit to the disciples, filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel: empower us with that same Spirit to witness to your redeeming love and draw all people to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Acts 2:1-21
• Psalm 104:26-36
• 1 Cor 12:1-13
• John 20:19-23

• Next Week:

• Exodus 34:1-8
• Song of the Three
• 2 Cor 13:11-13
• Matthew 28:16-20

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A Thought to Ponder

Day of Pentecost – John 20:19-23
Jesus breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit . . .”
Pentecost was the Jewish festival of the harvest (also called the Feast of Weeks), celebrated 50 days after Passover, when the first fruits of the corn harvest were offered to the Lord. A feast of pilgrimage (hence the presence in Jerusalem of so many “devout Jews of every nation”), Pentecost also commemorated Moses’ receiving the Law on Mount Sinai. For the new Israel, Pentecost becomes the celebration of the Spirit of God’s compassion, peace and forgiveness – the Spirit that transcends the Law and becomes the point of departure for the young Church’s universal mission (the planting of a new harvest?).
In his Acts of the Apostles (Reading 1), Luke invokes the First Testament images of wind and fire in his account of the new Church’s Pentecost: God frequently revealed his presence in fire (the pillar of fire in the Sinai) and in wind (the wind that sweeps over the earth to make the waters of the Great Flood subside). The Hebrew word for spirit, ruah, and the Greek word pneuma also refer to the movement of air, not only as wind, but also of life-giving breath (as in God’s creation of man in Genesis 2 and the revivification of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37). Through his life-giving “breath,” the Lord begins the era of the new Israel on Pentecost.
Today’s Gospel of the first appearance of the Risen Jesus before his ten disciples (remember Thomas is not present) on Easter night is John’s version of the Pentecost event. In “breathing” the Holy Spirit upon them, Jesus imitates God’s act of creation in Genesis. Just as Adam’s life came from God, so the disciples’ new life of the Spirit comes from Jesus. In the Resurrection, the Spirit replaces their sense of self-centred fear and confusion with the “peace” of understanding, enthusiasm and joy and shatters all barriers among them to make of them a community of hope and forgiveness. By Christ’s sending them forth, the disciples become apostles – “those sent.”
The feast of Pentecost celebrates the unseen, immeasurable presence of God in our lives and in our Church – the ruah that animates us to do the work of the Gospel of the Risen One, the ruah that makes God’s will our will, the ruah of God living in us and transforming us so that we might bring his life and love to our broken world. God “breathes” his Spirit into our souls that we may live in his life and love; God ignites the “fire” of his Spirit within our hearts and minds that we may seek God in all things in order to realize the coming of his reign.
Today we celebrate the gift of God’s Spirit: the Spirit that enables us to love as selflessly and as totally as God loved us enough to become one of us, to die for us and to rise for us; the Spirit that takes us beyond empty legalisms and static measurements of “mine” and “yours” to create a community of compassion, reconciliation and justice centred in “us”; the Spirit that enables us to re-create our world in the peace and mercy of God.
In Jesus’ “breathing” upon them the new life of the Spirit, the community of the Resurrection – the Church – takes flight. That same Spirit continues to “blow” through today’s Church to give life and direction to our mission and
ministry to preach the Gospel to every nation, to proclaim the forgiveness and reconciliation in God’s name, to baptize all humanity into the life of Jesus’ Resurrection.
The Spirit of God enables the Eleven – and us – to do things they could not do their own: to understand the “truth” of God’s great love for his people that is embodied in the Risen Christ, and then to boldly proclaim the Gospel of Christ. The Spirit empowers us with the grace to do the difficult work of Gospel justice, forgiveness and compassion.
The miracle of Pentecost (Acts 2) is the Spirit’s overcoming the barriers of language and perception to open not only the minds of the Apostles’ hearers but their hearts as well to understanding and embracing the Word of God.

© Connections/MediaWorks. All rights reserved

Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

‘Those who love me will keep my word.’ Jesus promises, ‘and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.’ John 14:23

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

O God, you have prepared for those who love you joys beyond our understanding:
pour into our hearts such love for you, that, loving you above all else, we may obtain your promises that exceed all we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Acts 17:22-31
• Psalm 66:7-19
• 1 Peter 3:8-22
• John 14:15-21

• Next Week:

• Acts 1:6-14
• Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
• 1 Peter 5
• John 17:1-11

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A Thought to Ponder

Easter 6 – John 14:15-21
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you will know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.”
In legal terminology, an advocate defends the accused on trial. For the writer of the Fourth Gospel, Christ is the first “Advocate,” who comes to liberate humanity from the slavery of sin. The second “Advocate,” promised by Jesus in today’s Gospel, is the Spirit of truth, the Church’s living, creative memory in which the mystery of God’s love, revealed by and in Christ, lives for all time.
The Spirit of truth, “whom the world cannot accept,” illuminates our vision and opens our hearts to discern the will and wisdom of God. The Spirit/Paraclete “advocates” for what is good, what is right and what is just, despite our scepticism, rejection and blindness to the things of God.
The Risen Christ challenges us, in the gift of the “Spirit of truth,” not to approach truth in terms of profit, power, comfort or convention, but to embrace the truth of God’s justice and compassion present in our world. Throughout his Gospel, the writer of John’s Gospel never allows love, as taught by Jesus, to remain at the level of sentiment or emotion. Its expression is always highly moral and is revealed in obedience to the will of the Father. To love as Jesus loved – in total and selfless obedience, without conditions and without expectation of that love ever being returned – is the difficult love that Jesus expects of those who claim to be his disciples.
The Spirit of truth is the creative, living memory of the Church. Through that “living memory,” the Church enters into the mystery of Christ himself. Jesus, the wise Rabbi, the compassionate Healer, the Friend of rich and poor and saint and sinner, the obedient and humble Servant of God, is a living presence among us to give us hope, strength and light as we struggle to balance and direct our lives until he calls us to the new life of his Resurrection.

© Connections/MediaWorks. All rights reserved

Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life,’ says the Lord. ‘No one comes to the Father except through me.’ John 14:6

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

Everliving God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
give us grace to love one another, to follow in the way of his commandments, and to share his risen life; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Acts 7:55-60
• Psalm 31:1-5, 17-18
• 1 Peter 2:11-25
• John 14:1-14

• Next Week:

• Acts 17:22-31
• Psalm 66:7-19
• 1 Peter 3:8-22
• John 14:15-21

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A Thought to Ponder

Easter 5 – John 14:1-14
“Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater than these, because I am going to the Father.”
Today’s Gospel takes place at the Last Supper. John’s account of that night is the longest in the Gospels – five chapters in length (but with no account of the institution of the Eucharist). The evangelist uses a literary device common in Scripture: A leader (Moses, Joshua, David, Tobit) gathers his own (family, friends, disciples) to announce his imminent departure, offer advice and insight into the future and give final instructions.
At the time of the writing the Fourth Gospel, Christians are being harassed by both the Jews and the Romans. Proclaiming the Crucified Jesus as the Messiah is blasphemy to Judaism, while accusing the Romans of “judicial murder” in the death of Jesus threatens the new faith’s chances of survival as a “lawful religion” tolerated by their Roman occupiers.
The dominant themes here are consolation and encouragement: Be faithful, remember and live what I have taught you, for better days are ahead for you. Christ – the Way to God, the Truth of God and Life incarnate of God – will return for the faithful “who do the works that I do.”
The Jesus of the Gospel does not only show us the way – his life of humble and generous servanthood is the way; he not just philosophises about a concept of truth – he is the perfect revelation of the truth about a God of enduring and unlimited love for his people; he is not just a preacher of futuristic promises – he has been raised up by God to a state of existence in God to which he invites all of us. In embracing the Spirit of his Gospel and living the hope of his Word, we encounter, in Christ, God himself.
Regardless of the career path we choose – doctor, labourer, bank teller, teacher, parent or priest – if we truly consider ourselves disciples of the Risen Jesus, we are called “to do the work I do.” In our homes, workplaces, city halls and playgrounds, we are called to bring the miracle of Easter life: the reconciliation, justice and peace of the Risen One in whom God has revealed himself to all of humanity.
Seldom do we think of death as a return home, but today’s Gospel image of the “house with many dwelling places” helps us to realise we were created for a life beyond this one – we were created by God for life in and with him.
As Christians, we live in the eternal hope of one day living in God’s dwelling place – but that “place” of hope and compassion and peace exists here and now in the places we create where the poor and sick are cared for, the fallen are lifted up, and lost and rejected are sought after and brought home.

© Connections/MediaWorks. All rights reserved

Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here