Family Communion for the Fifth Sunday of Easter: celebrant the Revd Tola Badejo

First reading: Acts 8. 26 – 40
Gospel: John 15. 1 - 8

The readings today continue the theme of 'great images', through which Jesus helped his followers to understand who he was and how they should think of him. In Acts 8, Philip meets an Ethiopian Jew returning to his own country; though marked out for servanthood from his infancy, this man now holds high office and must be intelligent and highly educated. When he says he does not understand the passage from Isaiah that he is reading, he means that he is seeking a better explanation of prophecy than he has so far encountered.

Isaiah uses imagery related to sheep in two ways. First, he represents humanity as a scattered flock in need of redemption: 'All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all'. Then he likens the Messiah to a lamb or sheep in the normal processes of farming: 'He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth'. This image of Christ as sacrificial lamb is so universally powerful that Zurburan's 'Agnus Dei' painting contains only the vaguest hint - a halo lightly brushed in above the lamb's head - that it is a religious painting at all.

In the Gospel, Jesus uses yet another metaphor that would have related to the everyday lives of his people; he compares himself to a vine stem, of which we are the branches. This image might convey even more meaning than appears at first sight: certainly the branches cannot survive without the stem, but it is the branches that bear fruit and bring good things to the world around them.

Craft stalls, gifts, food and drink and much more - this annual event is an important fundraiser for the church, so please come along!

If you can help with setting up from 10.00 am and/or running a stall, please let Linda Peppiatt know (07905 609944). Please bring donations of books, toys and games, bric-a-brac, tombola prizes, raffle prizes, small items for the 50p tombola etc. to church. We will provide boxes for donations at the back of the church.