Seventh Sunday of EasterActs 16: 16-34 John 17: 20-endMany of us would recognise a pyramid. Also, many of us will have come across the concept of pyramid selling. The process starts with just one individual who encourages ten others to join in a selling method which relies on each of them recruiting ten others. At each level a modest amount of money is handed over with the promise of ever-increasing riches as more and more people are recruited. This was very popular during my school days as student after student would try to get on the ‘band wagon’.I like maths, and I like playing with numbers. There is an inherent problem with pyramid selling as I have described. In just ten levels more than the entire population of the world will have been recruited, the figure being 8.2 billion people.I doubt if Jesus had such sums going through his mind as he prayed to his Father. Jesus was in contact with his Father, possibly almost constantly. It is only natural that he should pray whilst he faced the prospect of the Cross, that terrible ordeal that was awaiting him as he entered Jerusalem.Then we learn of how he prayed for his disciples. They had been with him during his ministry as he travelled from town and village teaching of God’s love, healing the sick, bringing more and more people to know God. He prayed that God would look over them and be with them in their ministry. He had confidence in his disciples and commended them to God and his love.Now we see how the numbers begin to mount. Jesus also prays for people in distant lands, places far away. More so he includes those who are in far off ages, way into the future, as they hear of the Christian message and turn to God, who accept him into their lives. It is a great comfort to know that Jesus actually prayed for you and for me. This is a passage that is very dear to us.Jesus prayed that we might be as one. This is a prayer for the Church as it begins to grow. The Church is now world-wide. It has many hats, many forms of worship, many rules, etc. Yet Jesus prayed that we might be one. It was for a unity of relationships. Administration, and all other things which we put in the way of a complete unity of Church was not the plan. Jesus was praying for a unity of heart, a unity of personal relationships.If we love God with our whole heart and allow him into our life, we are sharing that same degree of love with the person sat by us in Church. They too, in their turn, are also sharing the similar love with the person just away from them. It is a truth that the love is shared with the person in a neighbouring village or town. Going back to my pyramid example the Christian love is spread far and wide and all based on a love of God. It is this love that was the basis of the prayer of Jesus.Jesus had a relationship with God which was based on love and obedience. It is that relationship that Jesus prayed that we all should have, a unity in which we all love each other regardless of race or class. We all have a love based on God because we love him. It is a love which is based on a relationship between one heart with another heart. This is the base of the prayer which Jesus prayed, a prayer which includes us, you and me.Collect for the Seventh Sunday of EasterO God the King of glory,you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christwith great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:we beseech you, leave us not comfortless,but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen usand exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
2nd Sunday of EasterActs 5.27-32 John 20.19-endWhen something unexpected happens, you can be caught wrong footed. It is like when meeting someone you have not met for quite a long while and you suddenly see them. Does your mind go to a momentary stop while you search to recall the person’s name. All the points that you use to locate them have gone. It is as if they are floating in air and there's nothing to lock them into any particular location or set of circumstances.In the gospel reading the disciples are gathered together. The news of Jesus being seen after his death was hot on the agenda. One can imagine how they must have felt when Jesus suddenly appeared amongst them. The reading tells us that they were startled and terrified. I would've thought frightened out of their wits was a good description.Jesus tries to settle them, calm them down. He shows the disciples the marks of his crucifixion on his hands and his feet. In addition he ate some food in their presence to show that he was not a ghost. Once they were in a more receptive condition he explained to them the situation as it was and the role that they would play.Here is where people of all ages can derive great comfort from what Jesus says. Initially Jesus sets the position that the words of scripture have been fulfilled, the Messiah would suffer and rise on the third day. The Good News continues as Jesus proclaims that the repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations. This means that it applies to anyone everywhere. The disciples were witnesses of this by their very presence.Ever since, this important piece of news has been proclaimed. All through the infant Church right up to the present day. Service by service people are offered the opportunity to confess their sins. In the majority of cases it is through the use of a general confession. But occasionally this may not be felt that it is sufficient. That a greater unfolding of the troubled soul is required.Many people think that the confessional approach as used by the Roman Church is special to them. However, the same approach of making a particular confession can be used in the Church of England. Confession of particular sins can be made on a one-to-one basis. After suitable words of advice an absolution is given by a priest and the slate wiped clean. The sins have been forgiven.To wonder through life with our soul burdened down by the sins from the past is a heavy burden to bear. But it need not be so. From the very words that our Saviour himself said if there is true repentance, real desire not to repeat them, our sins committed in the past will be forgiven us. The burden that we have been carrying around for so long can be removed. It has been likened to having a yoke around the neck, like a beast working in the fields. It's removal gives us a lightness of foot, a weight removed from the shoulders.Collect for the Second Sunday of Easter.Almighty Father,you have given your only Son to die for our sinsand to rise again for our justification:grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickednessthat we may always serve youin pureness of living and truth;through the merits of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
2nd Sunday of EasterActs 5.27-32 John 20.19-endWhen something unexpected happens, you can be caught wrong footed. It is like when meeting someone you have not met for quite a long while and you suddenly see them. Does your mind go to a momentary stop while you search to recall the person’s name. All the points that you use to locate them have gone. It is as if they are floating in air and there's nothing to lock them into any particular location or set of circumstances.In the gospel reading the disciples are gathered together. The news of Jesus being seen after his death was hot on the agenda. One can imagine how they must have felt when Jesus suddenly appeared amongst them. The reading tells us that they were startled and terrified. I would've thought frightened out of their wits was a good description.Jesus tries to settle them, calm them down. He shows the disciples the marks of his crucifixion on his hands and his feet. In addition he ate some food in their presence to show that he was not a ghost. Once they were in a more receptive condition he explained to them the situation as it was and the role that they would play.Here is where people of all ages can derive great comfort from what Jesus says. Initially Jesus sets the position that the words of scripture have been fulfilled, the Messiah would suffer and rise on the third day. The Good News continues as Jesus proclaims that the repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations. This means that it applies to anyone everywhere. The disciples were witnesses of this by their very presence.Ever since, this important piece of news has been proclaimed. All through the infant Church right up to the present day. Service by service people are offered the opportunity to confess their sins. In the majority of cases it is through the use of a general confession. But occasionally this may not be felt that it is sufficient. That a greater unfolding of the troubled soul is required.Many people think that the confessional approach as used by the Roman Church is special to them. However, the same approach of making a particular confession can be used in the Church of England. Confession of particular sins can be made on a one-to-one basis. After suitable words of advice an absolution is given by a priest and the slate wiped clean. The sins have been forgiven.To wonder through life with our soul burdened down by the sins from the past is a heavy burden to bear. But it need not be so. From the very words that our Saviour himself said if there is true repentance, real desire not to repeat them, our sins committed in the past will be forgiven us. The burden that we have been carrying around for so long can be removed. It has been likened to having a yoke around the neck, like a beast working in the fields. It's removal gives us a lightness of foot, a weight removed from the shoulders.Collect for the Second Sunday of Easter.Almighty Father,you have given your only Son to die for our sinsand to rise again for our justification:grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickednessthat we may always serve youin pureness of living and truth;through the merits of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
Mothering SundayExodus 2.1–10 Luke 2.33–35Today, Mothering Sunday, we given thanks for the roles that mothers play. Not only do they nurture us as we grow but they provide for us, teach us, feed us and care for us in so many ways. Quite often the Church is referred to as the Mother Church. As with our natural mother the Church also nurtures us and teaches us as we grow. The Church also feeds us, not only with the Body and Blood of Jesus but with teaching through the reading of Scripture and through the preaching of sermons. When we examine the role, the part, that mothers play in our lives, it is good to look at the recipient of that care. Quite naturally when we think mothers we think of children. Being a mother carries with it responsibility especially towards any children that may be a part of the family unit as the child will learn from its mother. Those lessons will be stored and called upon in a future relationship when that child has grown up and become a mother in their own right.Those lessons learnt and stored away become a part of the mother. They are the inner thoughts sealed away yet which may be recalled when needed, maybe even when challenged. In the gospel reading Simeon was addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus, especially when he told her that the child, Jesus, would grow to be the one to challenge many in Israel. Jesus would be a sign that would be opposed, people would look at him and reject him.Why? Jesus, the Son of God, can look into our very heart. Not just a quick skim over its surface, but into the very depths of our being. What he finds there is our true self, hidden away below any surface dressing that we might wish to try to cloak it with.The inner thoughts of many will be revealed. In those hidden depths much of that which lay hidden will be brought to light. Jesus will examine our souls. He will see what we are really like. This ability to see within us is what can give rise to ill feeling among some, especially any who have not accepted Jesus into their lives.I used to tell couples who were preparing to get married that it is no use, no good what-so-ever, standing before me in the ceremony, taking your vows to one another, with your fingers crossed behind your backs. God, the Father, is all knowing. Actually crossing your fingers, or just mentally imagining that you have done so, is no protection. The crossed fingers may be a physical manifestation of what you feel in your heart. Uncertainty, unsureness, are you doing the right thing, this is for life? Questions possibly racing through your mind. But, now you’ve done it. Vows said, rings exchanged. Fingers crossed or uncrossed, it is too late now.The couple now start a new life together. The bride may well become a mother. She will pass on what she learnt from her own mother. Motherhood, passed on from person to person, bringing one bringing up a new generation, teaching, nurturing, etc. Motherhood is a base for life. The Church too is also such a base. As we listen to what our mothers teach us we also use today to give thanks to God for our mothers, for all that they do for us.Collect for Mothering SundayGod of compassion,whose Son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary,shared the life of a home in Nazareth,and on the cross drew the whole human family to himself:strengthen us in our daily livingthat in joy and in sorrowwe may know the power of your presence to bind together and to heal;through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
