The Sixth Sunday of Easter
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Today is the sixth Sunday of Easter, Thursday will be Ascension Day. Our isolation from church made me think of a story. A young man went to consult a wise monk. The young man had a busy work and social life, and was finding it difficult to find time to attend church. “You don’t need to go to church to be a Christian, do you?” he said. The wise man said nothing for a while, and they both stared into the fire in the grate. Then he leant forward, picked up the tongs, and lifted a burning coal out of the fire and placed it on the hearth. For a while it glowed, but slowly the light dimmed and the piece of coal cooled. Nothing needed to be said – the question had been answered. He reached forward and replaced the coal in the fire where it glowed again. We are physically separated from our fellow Christians right now, and it is important we keep in touch in whatever ways we can. So please do use whatever is available to you, whether that is the material we are circulating via post, email and facebook, or on TV and radio, or anything else. Do let me know if there is anything else you need. Above all let’s continue to remember each other and our parish in our prayers.
Edith
Our first hymn today -
Today's Bible Reading -
That word commandment is rather a strong word, and seems rather old fashioned too. It takes us back to the 10 commandments I guess. Those rules given to Moses by God, rules to regulate the conduct of what may have been a rather unruly bunch! Rules which make life easy I guess – no need for agonising over the right way, no taking circumstances into account, no deliberation needed. Instead, a clear thou shalt (or thou shalt not). I have been thinking a lot about rules recently- not surprising as, over the last 2 months or so we have had to come to terms with some rather difficult changes to our way of life because of rules brought in to try and reduce the spread of the virus. I think some of the difficulty has come about because although the rules have seemed fairly clear they have been interpreted in different ways, and I certainly have personal experience of people in authority choosing which of the rules they will obey. The commandment that Jesus reiterates over and over again in this section of John’s Gospel is the commandment to love one another. This is not a simple commandment, it isn’t black and white, it requires real thought and understanding. It really isn’t always easy to know which course of action really demonstrates love. We are required to use our knowledge, experience and understanding to determine how we should act, not just follow blindly some simple rules. We are required to enter more fully into the matter, and to take responsibility too for our actions. This feels much more grown up!
The linking of love with commandment makes it clear that this love is not some sentimental feeling (which we cannot make happen) but an act of will, a determination to love others. That is a demand made of all who would call themselves followers of Christ – and not one that is always easy to fulfil– but one we are to do our best with. Today’s gospel passage records events at the Last Supper – which seems a little odd today, the sixth Sunday after Easter. But here, in today’s Gospel reading, is what I believe to be the essence of the Easter message. At this point in the great fifty days we can look back at the events of Holy Week and Easter, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. We look this week towards the Ascension, and some days later, to Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit. In a normal year we get caught up in the ceremonies and the commemoration of these great events. I’m a great believer in the ceremonies, I think the drama as we act out some of the elements of our faith – such as the waving of palms on Palm Sunday, the Maundy Thursday commemoration of the Last Supper, the elements of the Paschal Vigil and so on – help reinforce or make clear what it is all about. It’s been different this year, perhaps in these different times, with less ‘clutter’ around it is easier to hold on to the underlying truths. All this is about love. In love, Jesus laid down His life for us, in love he made provision for those disciples then and for us now, and our response must be love. We must love God and we must love our fellow human beings. Working out how we show that love may not be easy, perhaps especially with current restrictions, but the closer we can come to Jesus the clearer our path will be.
Edith
And a final hymn -
