Welcome to our Worship on the sixth Sunday of Easter. Our Parish Eucharist is at 10 am at St Thomas' Church, and Revd John Faraday will be preaching and presiding. If you can't be with us in person, you'll find everything you need to worship from home here on this page.
Our first hymn this morning is "New Every Morning is the Love"
Reading 1. Acts 10:44-end.
While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those Gentiles who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.
Reading 2. John 15:9-17.
Jesus said: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”
Reflection
For this reflection I have chosen two of today’s readings rather than concentrate on one. The second was an earlier time before the crucifixion of Jesus. He was preparing the disciples for their future after He had returned to His heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit had been given. The second was about an important point in the growth of the early Church as they were putting that teaching into practice.
I love football. I love fish and chips. I love my wife. I love God. I love the Church. I love people. I love my family.
In each of these sentences the word ‘love’ means something different, so what did Jesus mean when he talked about ‘love’ in the reading from John’s Gospel? The language used was New-Testament Greek, and it had several words for love. John’s Gospel used the Greek word pronounced ‘Agapay’, which was hardly used except by Christians for Christian love, so it’s meaning must be very special.
When we look at the way Jesus used the word we can see why that word was used, and when we look at the work of Jesus and the work of His Church we can begin to see why. The whole life of Jesus was showing this love for His Father and for the world, and it was showing the world a new kind of love altogether!
When you see my list of ‘loves’ (football, fish and chips etc.) you can see that I gain tremendously from each of these loves. That is largely why I love the people and things I mentioned. There is a selfish side to even the best worldly love story!
The love of Jesus, however, adds an extra dimension! He died for the love of those who did not love Him! He loves all who want to follow Him, and there is no limit to that love. He loves those who choose not to follow Him and He proved that love by dying for us and opening the gate of Heaven for us. The sinless one died for sinners.
That should make every Christian have a tremendous warm glow when we see how God loved us and how Jesus demonstrated that love. However, there is a challenge for us. Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” But a little bit later He said, “Love one another as I have loved you… You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Do we reflect that amazing love of Christ?
So how should we reflect that love? We can see it happening in the reading we had first. This was an event that happened a while after Jesus had spoken to the disciples and Peter was leading the Church.
The Jewish people distrusted non-Jewish people. Initially all the Christians were Jews but some Samaritans had been accepted into the Church. (The Samaritans were a branch of the Jewish race who had compromised the faith in earlier times.) Jewish Christians were reluctant to accept Samaritans but when Peter was preaching to Gentiles they would have been insulted even more. Then something wonderful happened! We read, ‘The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God.’
For Peter and the other Christians something very radical was happening. People who they would never had dreamed of becoming Christians had done just that! God’s Agapay-type love had made all the difference! It is because of that change in the Church that we are able to be Christians today, otherwise the Church would have remained exclusively Jewish.
When we are tempted to look down on people for any reason we should think about these readings. Our divisions may be based on race, class, manners, achievements or many other reasons. Sometimes it is not easy to accept particular people, but we must still persevere and try to treat people in the way that Jesus would. This is a very difficult thing to do, but we need to realise that we need God’s Holy Spirit to make us into truly loving people. Normal human love can go part of the way but Agapay-love, inspired by the Holy Spirit makes it possible. It is love for the unlovable, just like God’s amazing love for us.
The Collect Prayer
God our redeemer,
You have delivered us from the power of darkness
& brought us into the Kingdom of Your Son:
Grant, that as by His death He has recalled us to life,
so by His continual presence in us
He may raise us to eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ You Son our Lord,
who is alive & reigns with You,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Our final hymn today is "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling"
