The Lord is Risen! Alleluia!Today people all over our country are celebrating Mother's Day: remembering and honouring the mothers who have loved, cared for, guided, and raised them up. For many of us, this is a day of thankfulness and joy, and we do well to give thanks along with them for those who truly embodied the gift of motherhood. For some of us today is much more complicated, and indeed painful... perhaps due to difficulties or losses in our parental relationships, especially these past few years, as many families have been separated due to the pandemic. We remember too, and grieve with those who's experience of the pursuit of motherhood has been one of sorrow and disappointment. Along with them, we do well to acknowledge that family life is often a challenging road, as well as to listen to and honour their sufferings, which are also known and shared by our loving God, as well as many others. Whether today is a day of joy for you, or a day of pain, or some mixture of both: may you receive God's blessing today exactly as it is needed. May God surround you and those you love, as well as all those who have loved and nurtured you, with peace, hope, fellowship, kindness, and understanding. Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here:
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Scripture Readings: Acts 9:1–20 | Psalm 30 | Revelation 5:11–14 | John 21:1–19
“After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’” (John 21:19). Last week we spent some time reflecting on the New Creation reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and God’s gift of forgiveness of sins through His blood. This forgiveness has been at the core of the Christian message from the very start… flowing from everything that Christ has done, especially the cross. It is a central tenet in the great Creed’s of the worldwide Church, the foundation of everything the Christian faith proclaims. As the theologian Ben Myers unpacks in his book on the Apostle’s Creed, we Christians believe “that we stand not by our own achievements but by the achievement of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We believe that the spiritually strong and the spiritually weak are both sustained by the same forgiving grace. We believe that we rely solely on grace, not only in our worst failures but also in our best successes. We believe that if ever we should turn away from grace, if ever our hearts grow cold and we forget our Lord and become unfaithful to his way, he will not forget us. His faithfulness is deeper than our faithlessness. His yes is stronger than our no.”[1] In short, there simply is no Christian faith without forgiveness. But how often do we stop to ask what we’re forgiven for? That is, to what end? What purpose and what plan does this forgiveness point us to? Our Scripture readings this morning offer us two stories where people who come face to face with the Risen Lord, and find forgiveness are drawn into a whole new life, beyond anything they would have imagined. Turning to the Gospel of John, we hear the story of St. Peter, who had been a disciple of Jesus from the very start. Peter stands out in all of the Gospels for his eagerness to be the first… to push ahead, to speak up, and to jump in with both feet… a tendency which more often than not got him into trouble. But think of some of the amazing moments Peter had experienced by following Jesus: stepping out of the boat and walking on water… even if his fears and doubts got him wet in the end; getting the chance to see the Lord revealed in glory on the mountain top, with Moses and Elijah… even though he put his foot in his mouth by blurting out silly suggestions; Peter even has the honour of being the first follower of Jesus who publicly called Him the Christ… even if he had the wrong idea of what the Christ had come here to do. But for our Gospel reading today to truly hit home, we do well to remember one other moment from Peter’s story on the night of Jesus’ betrayal. At the last supper, Jesus was trying to prepare His followers for what was to come: “Little children,” Jesus said, “I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward.’ Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.” (John 13:33-38). And that’s just what happened. At the crucial moment, when the chance to lay down his life for his Lord finally came, Peter’s resolve crumbled. He denied that he even knew Jesus three times, and abandoned his Lord to die. But three days later, Peter was racing to the empty tomb, and was part of the surprising Easter party when the Risen Lord popped in on His frightened disciples… granting them peace, and giving them His Holy Spirit. Peter was part of those days of excitement, wonderment, and joy as the new reality of the resurrection of Jesus, and all that went with it, started to sink in. And yet… today’s Gospel reading finds Peter following a different path. Sometime after all the events of Easter, we’re told Peter returns to his roots: “I am going fishing.” He says to six other disciples who were with him, and together they “went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.” (John 21:3) Peter had led his fellow disciples back to their old familiar lives… their old work… their old world, as if nothing had really changed. But this is exactly where the Risen Lord shows up in Peter’s life to renew both His gift of forgiveness, and His call to follow. Just as Peter had once denied that he was with Jesus three times, Christ now asks Peter three times the question: “Do you love me?” Each time, instead of his typical boldness, Peter timidly answers “yes”… and each time he does the Risen Lord affirms Peter’s new mission: “Feed my lambs… tend my sheep… feed my sheep.” There is too much going on in this exchange to touch on right now, but the overall picture John is painting for us is one of restoration and commission. Of Peter being invited into a renewed relationship with his beloved Rabbi, whom he had denied, but who had still forgiven him… and not only that, who had entrusted him with work to do: to care for Christ’s ‘flock’, that is, the Church… the new community of believers, who would need someone to love and guide them in the days to come. This mission would not be easy. In fact, it would eventually call Peter to lay down his life… dying for the sake of his Lord as he once claimed he was willing to do. But now Jesus says to him, “Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 21:18-19). From that day on, Peter the fisherman became Peter the shepherd… the pastor of the newborn Church, sent to help them faithfully follow their Lord. I think it’s time to turn now to another story of someone who finds forgiveness and a whole new future in the face of the Risen Christ. Acts Chapter 9 tells the story of the transformation of Saul, better known by his Greek name Paul, which he will adopt much further down the road. We are introduced to Saul as a persecutor of the disciples of Jesus from the very start… standing by and watching with approval as Stephen, the first Christian martyr is stoned to death at the hand of his fellow Jews. We quickly learn that Saul is a Pharisee, a zealous member of this religious movement committed to keeping the laws of the Covenant, and to keeping God’s people on the right track. As we know, the Pharisees were often seen as the moral police of their day, pressuring their fellow Jews to follow their vision of what it means to be holy in the eyes of the Living God… a vision, we also know, that often conflicted with what Jesus our Lord was up to. Now, long after Easter and Pentecost, as the Christian community, empowered by the Holy Spirit, was spreading like fire in Jerusalem, Saul took it upon himself to try and silence their message about the Risen Lord forever. Saul stands out in the story as a driven enemy of the Church, eager to put an end to any who spread the word about Jesus. Acts 8:3 says “Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.” His actions help to scatter the Christians from Jerusalem into the surrounding region, but this is not enough for Saul. Next, he seeks out authority from the chief priests to hunt down Christians in other cities too, starting in Damascus. But while he was on the way, Saul has his very own encounter with the Risen Lord, and ends up blinded, bewildered, and suddenly unsure of what to do. Led by hand to Damascus, Saul has to wait there, unable to see, fasting for three whole days… until the Risen Jesus comes to him again. Or rather, until the Risen Jesus meets Saul through one of His followers, a man named Ananias. But before this fateful meeting takes place, Ananias has his own life changing meeting with his Master. In a vision, the Lord tells Ananias to go find Saul and lay “hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” (Acts 9:12). Now Ananias knew all about Saul of Tarsus, and how dangerous he was… how much evil he had done, and how much more he still could do. But the Risen Lord knew all this too, and He still had chosen to forgive… and to draw Saul into God’s plan to bring His forgiveness to the world. So, when Ananias tried to resist Christ’s mission of mercy for him to deliver, the Lord replied “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel” (Acts 9:15). And that’s just what happened. Ananias goes to Saul, embodying the forgiveness of His Lord, and God’s grace starts to pour into Saul’s life… transforming him from an enemy of Christ and the message of the cross, into one of our Lord’s most dedicated messengers of the Good News, sharing the Gospel of Jesus, the Risen Lord, to the nations. Of course, this mission would not be easy either. Jesus Himself says that Saul “must suffer for the sake of my name.” (Acts 9:16), but as Saul would later come to understand, his own sufferings were simply a part of sharing the Living God’s self-giving love with the world… a sharing in the sufferings of Christ, who calls us all to pick up our own crosses and follow Him… and find true life. Both Peter and Saul have dramatic stories of finding forgiveness in the face of the Risen Lord, who then called them both to follow Him and share in God’s work in the world. They both had been forgiven, but not just for themselves, they were forgiven in order to share this New Life they had received with others. Peter’s forgiveness turned him into the shepherd of God’s family… called to care for, guide, and lay his life down for their sake. Saul’s forgiveness turned him from a fearful enemy into a faithful messenger, sent out into the world to bring the Good News of the Risen Lord beyond the borders of Israel, and draw all people to Christ. And even Ananias had his life turned upside down by God’s forgiveness… called to embody God’s love, even for His enemies, and taking the risk to invite them to find reconciliation and New Life in the Risen Jesus. So, our question today is: what have you and I been forgiven for? What does the love of the Risen Lord have in store for us and for our Parish? Whatever it is, it probably won’t be easy. Changing the world for good never is. There will be times when we will be tempted to stick to what’s familiar, like Peter was. Or to get caught up in our own agendas, like Saul was at the start. Or to resist the risks of putting this Good News into practice, like Ananias. Or any number of unknown challenges, that may come our way. Yet even so, the Risen Christ has called all of us, Peter, Saul, Ananias, you, and I to follow Him. And as we do so, we can trust that in His time, He will show us what we have been forgiven for, and He will empower us to accomplish it through His Holy Spirit. We all have our own stories, our own ways that God has been at work in our lives, bringing His mercy, and grace, and forgiveness to life in and through us. But as different as our stories may be, one thing is for certain: we have not been forgiven for nothing. Amen. [1] Ben Myers, The Apostles’ Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism, ed. Todd Hains, Jeff Reimer, and Sarah Awa, Christian Essentials (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018), 116. The Lord is Risen! Alleluia!Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Acts 5:27–32 | Psalm 118:14–29 | Revelation 1:4–8 | John 20:19–31
“The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” (Acts 5:30-31) Happy second Sunday of Eastertide everyone. Last week we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord, and today we’ll take some time to reflect on this world-changing reality. I’m not just talking about changing our subjective worlds… how we might see and understand things personally… but objectively… how the reality of Christ’s resurrection has been re-shaping world history… impacting how the human story has played out. The resurrection of Jesus Christ truly has changed the world for good… not the least through one of its most precious gifts: that is, forgiveness. Our current culture has developed a deep concern for justice: for uncovering truth, exposing evil, and seeking to set things right. This concern has been aimed towards individuals: calling out hypocrisy, and the hidden sins of celebrities, authorities, and those with influence and power. This uncovering of hidden sins can be seen within Christian circles as well as in the wider world. In recent years, many well-known and respected Christian leaders have been called out and have faced consequences for their misconduct or abuses. In addition to addressing individuals, this thirst for justice has also been channeled to combat corrupt systems too: to challenge and seek to undo things like systemic racism, and sexism, and all sorts of ways that our societies have been structured to benefit one group, and to oppress others. As those who are called to love God and to love all of our neighbours in all that we do, we Christians are on the hook for this as well. We too need to be asking ‘How have we been a part of these problems? And how can we take real steps to help start making things right’? And then there’s the evil at work that’s even bigger than individuals, or systems: the hell of war, where peoples and nations tear each other, and themselves apart. Of course, today we think of the horrors of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and the hundreds or thousands of Ukrainian men, women, and children being brutally slain. In the wake of this truly unjust conflict, international war crimes investigations are now under way, seeking to make known the full truth of these atrocities… in the hopes of one day holding those responsible to account. In these and so many ways, we’re rightly sick of evil having its way in our world. And personally, I think it’s encouraging that there are so many earnestly seeking justice and truth, especially among the younger generations… eager to drive out evil in all of its forms. And yet, I’m also reminded of a sobering quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize winning Russian author, who shared with the world the horrors that he and millions of others faced under Communist rule in the Siberian slave-labour camps. In speaking of the impulse to wipe out those who do evil once and for all, he writes: “If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”[1] His words echo those of St. Paul in his letter to the Christians in Rome: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Romans 3:23). Aleksandr and St. Paul remind us that Good vs. Evil is not a battle of Us vs. Them. It’s a battle that rages inside of everyone. Though this confession may seem like defeat, it’s in this light that the Gospel, the Good News makes it’s hopeful message known: for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s overwhelming victory… but not in the way we often envision bringing evil to an end. After all, Jesus wasn’t raised to wreak revenge on those who had murdered Him… to crush those who had perverted justice, and brutally destroyed His beautiful life. The victory of Easter is not that God has come in righteous power to slay His sinful enemies in return for all they had done. Instead, the radical claim of the Gospel is that God’s righteous, resurrecting power is aimed precisely at His enemies… at sinners… in order to save them. The world-changing conviction of the Church is that the Risen Jesus brings forgiveness of sins through the precious offering of His own blood. To see this claim in action, let’s turn to our reading today from the book of Acts: Our reading jumps right into the action, with the Apostles of Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit of God, facing off against the Jewish High Priest, Caiaphas, and the other religious leaders of Jerusalem. Actually, this wasn’t the first time this had happened. Back in Acts Chapter 4, Peter and John had been arrested “because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead.” (Acts 4:2). But despite their threats and warnings, Peter and John would not stop speaking about the Good News of Christ’s resurrection, and were eventually released. After this, the Christian community kept growing, and many were being healed by the Apostles and the work of God’s Holy Spirit through their faithful witness. And then, in Acts Chapter 5, the High Priest and those with him had all the Apostles arrested, but in the night, an angel opened the prison doors and set them free, telling them to go to the Temple and keep teaching others about Jesus. Finally, they have the Apostles arrested a third time, which is where our reading today picks up the story… with the High Priest trying in vain to stop the Apostle’s mission. “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” Caiaphas cries out, “yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” (Acts 5:28). You are determined to bring this man’s blood on us. Maybe we can hear echoes from the first pages of the Bible, and the story of Cain and Abel, and the first shedding of innocent blood, and Cain’s attempt to avoid responsibility for his sin. These echoes resound through all of human history, as we have, time and again, turned on one another… and all innocent blood calls out for justice, and for God to respond. And here in Acts, God does respond through the Apostles empowered by God’s Holy Spirit. But rather than calling for blood in return, for revenge, they boldly share the Good News they had been entrusted with: that Jesus Christ, was raised to life by God… to bring repentance to Israel… including those who had Him murdered, to turn them back to God, and to bring them forgiveness of sins! Acts 5:29-32, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” The High Priest didn’t want Jesus’ blood on him. But Jesus’ blood was actually how God intended to rescue them. Blood has long held a deep significance for Israel. It represented life, and in their atoning sacrifices, those meant to deal with the sins of God’s people and renew their closeness with God, blood of the sacrificial animal was shed and offered up on behalf of another. These sacred sacrifices, performed by their High Priests, involved the confession of Israel’s individual and communal sins… of humbly refusing to try to justify or hide their evil from the eyes of the Living God, and instead own up to their failures. In this light, blood then became not only a reminder of the guilt of the people, but also a sign of their pardon and restoration by the mercy of God. Back in Acts, the High Priest and religious leadership were resisting their opportunity to own up to their responsibility for Christ’s murder. They were not willing to acknowledge their share of the blame, or to change the course they had set in rejecting the now risen Lord. In their own words, they didn’t want Christ’s blood to be on them. But the Apostles had come to understand that it is precisely by the blood of Jesus that God is calling all people, including Israel, to a new beginning: that Christ’s blood alone brings true pardon and peace with God… the seeds of new life for all who will receive it… for Jews and Gentiles alike. As the full quote from St. Paul reminds us: “For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith” (Romans 3:23-25). The Apostles themselves had encountered this forgiveness from the Risen Lord, who despite their desertion, denials, and doubts, offered them His peace and pardon. And so the Apostles, and with them the whole Christian Church, throughout the ages and around the world, refuse to keep silent about this Good News: Christ’s blood does not bring condemnation, it brings redemption! Believe it! And this is to be our response. To believe this world-changing message… not only for ourselves, as we live lives of repentance, turning to God our Heavenly Father, and in Christ finding freedom from our sins and failures… but also to believe that this is the means by which God longs to bring freedom to all. Not by covering up sins, or by dismissing their destructive force… but by helping us all come clean… to turn from our old ways and pursue justice and truth… and to discover God’s resurrection power, mercy, and love… to see Christ risen from the dead in order to fix our world’s fractured foundation. To overcome our evil, and offer us new life. The Living God raised Jesus Christ from the dead to bring us repentance, and forgiveness of sins. How might this kind of forgiveness take shape in our world today? Here’s one deeply Christian response: Desmond Tutu, who died this past December, was an African Archbishop in Cape Town, South Africa, and an outspoken activist and opponent of the racially oppressive Apartheid government in South Africa. After its fall, Desmond Tutu was charged to head up their Truth & Reconciliation Commission, which sought to find a path forward for their very divided nation apart from revenge, violence and bloodshed. The following words are his, excerpts from an essay written in 2004: “Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the pain, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking, but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing… We have had a jurisprudence, a penology in Africa that was not retributive but restorative. Traditionally, when people quarreled, the main intention was not to punish the miscreant but to restore good relations. This was the animating principle of our Truth and Reconciliation Commission. For Africa is concerned, or has traditionally been concerned, about the wholeness of relationships. That is something we need in this world —a world that is polarized, a world that is fragmented, a world that destroys people. It is also something we need in our families and friendships. For retribution wounds and divides us from one another. Only restoration can heal us and make us whole. And only forgiveness enables us to restore trust and compassion to our relationships. If peace is our goal, there can be no future without forgiveness.”[2] Today is Easter Sunday for all our Orthodox sisters and brothers… which includes the vast majority of Christians in both Russia and Ukraine. What might it look like for God’s gift of repentance and forgiveness to be at work in Ukraine in the days to come? Or in the many countries where violence continues to rage? We don’t yet know. But let us pray that God’s resurrection power, His mercy, love, and forgiveness may be at work turning darkness into light, and bringing new life to all. I’ll end now with these words from the book of Revelation from this morning’s reading. Though spoken long ago, they echo through the ages to us today: “Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:4-6) [1] Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, Abridged (Toronto, ON: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2007), 75. [2]Desmond Tutu, Forgiveness (Online Article found here: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/truth_and_reconciliation). The Lord is Risen! Alleluia!Today our brothers and sisters in the Orthodox tradition, including the majority of Christians in Ukraine and Russia, are celebrating Easter and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We continue to lift up the people of Ukraine, and to pray for God's peace to reign. Here are some prayers that have been prepared to bring these concerns to our Heavenly Father. Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here: The Lord is Risen! Alleluia!Today we celebrate the Good News of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and God's gift of New Creation found in Him. Because Christ lives, we can face even the darkest days trusting that God's saving love has conquered death, shattered the powers of sin, and set us free to share His life for all eternity. The cross, in all it's cruelty, could not bring an end to God's Messiah, who bore its shame and terror for us, and transformed it into a sign of the unstoppable love of the Living God. Alleluia! Jesus Christ our Saviour lives! Let us draw near to our Lord in worship, prayer, and praise. Lord of life and power, through the mighty resurrection of your Son, you have overcome the old order of sin and death and have made all things new in him. May we, being dead to sin and alive to you in Jesus Christ, reign with him in glory, who with you and the Holy Spirit is alive, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Happy Easter everyone. Alleluia! Rob+ This Sunday our In-Person service at St. Luke's GP will be one of Lessons & Hymns, followed by Holy Communion, but with no Sermon. In it's place, for our At-Home service you are invited to take a few moments after the Gospel to reflect on the readings, and specifically on the hope of the resurrection for yourself, our communities, and our wider world. Our service of Morning Prayer and Bulletin this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Acts 1:1–11 | Psalm 47 | Ephesians 1:15–23 | Luke 24:44–53
“God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.” Ephesians 1:20-21. Who’s really in charge? Just over four months ago, nations around the world were in shock: violent protesters had stormed the US Capitol Building in Washington, in order to disrupt their country’s transition of power. Egged on by then President Trump, who claimed that the election was stolen from him (a claim he maintains to this day despite the persistent lack of proof) … chanting his name, this massive gathering tried to seize control of their nation’s future… to force their political will to be done. As shocking as this event was, it’s shockwaves are still ongoing, with many still choosing to perpetuate what is being called “the Big Lie”, the claim that Trump actually won their election, and that he’s the one that truly deserves their ultimate loyalty. Clinging to his claims of power, and desperate to avoid what he sees as the humiliation of defeat, Trump keeps grasping after the influence and attention that he craves… and all kinds of people are eagerly following his destructive lead. Sadly, we know this kind of behaviour, though shocking, is not unique. History has many stories to share of ruler’s desperately clinging to power, and perpetuating all sorts of lies and atrocities to do so. Again and again, people have sacrificed their integrity, the common good, and the lives of others in order to be in charge: to be the ones who get to say “my will be done on earth.” But this week, Christians around the world tell a very different story, we offer a different account of who’s truly in charge. This week we mark the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus, and celebrate the ‘Big Truth’ that Jesus is Lord of all. That he has been lifted up above all earthly authority, and reigns over heaven and earth, at the right hand of God the Father. Of course, from the very beginning, this message has been a contested claim. There are many who argue that our devotion and loyalty should lie elsewhere, and even those of us who claim to believe in the truth of the Christian faith might still find ourselves serving other so-called ‘lords’ in our daily lives. How much are our actions and choices driven solely by things like power, or pleasure, or money, or security, or personal freedom, or family? All things created to be good, and to be received with gratitude, but that can also be turned into idols… into objects of worship, commitments that can end up consuming our lives instead of building them up. Truth be told, if we are to step back and look at a lot of our own motivations, we might be more than a little shocked to see how little God’s kingdom factors in. We might see within our own hearts that craving to be the one in charge… to get to say, at some level, “my will be done on earth.” But the Good News we Christians celebrate today calls us away from that impulse… from the seduction of the self-centredness we see at work in the world. This Good News speaks of a Saviour who has come to lead us another way… to rescue us, and reign forever as our Risen King of Kings. The central claim of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, is that the One who gave His life on the cross to save the world has been raised from the dead, and now been given all authority on heaven and earth. That His kingdom has begun, even if our world refuses to recognize it. And that His kingdom is at work even now in the lives of His people, empowering us to live God’s way… and enjoy the blessings of His reign. In a very real sense, the Ascension is the completion of the triumph of Easter; the overcoming of death, with humanity now sharing in the life of God… united together once and for all in the risen body of Christ. It is the final step of Jesus in His journey of redemption: The One who came down from heaven, who humbled himself and took on our human existence, who willingly gave Himself to suffer and die for us all… was raised from the dead as the firstborn of God’s brand new re-creation, never to die again, and bringing up His resurrected body to the right hand of God… ruling as the Son of God, and the Son of Man. Without His ascension, His resurrection would not have fulfilled it’s full purpose, not simply to undo the cross, but to fully overcome death itself, and reconcile us to the Living God. The theologian (and one of my old professors) Tim Perry puts it this way in his book He Ascended Into Heaven: “The Ascension is the sign of Jesus’ victory - his exaltation… Luke wants to leave his readers in no doubt about one simple fact: Jesus left his disciples not through death on the cross, but through conquering death on the cross. The proof of his victory was not only his Resurrection but also his Ascension. It’s not that the Resurrection is less important than the Ascension. It is that, in some way, they are one continuous divine act. Resurrection is the beginning of ascension; ascension is resurrection completed.”[1] The purpose of Easter morning was for God’s new creation to begin in the body of Jesus, and from there to spread out into all of creation. He was not raised just to bring a godly man back to earthly life, or so He could one day escape this broken world, and leave His body behind… He was raised so that heaven and earth might be united forever, first of all in the flesh of the Risen Lord Himself. This longish quote from NT Wright might help to shed some light on the significance of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus: “People often think that ‘resurrection’ simply means ‘life after death’ or ‘going to heaven’, but in the Jewish world of the first century it meant a new embodied life in God’s new world; a life after ‘life after death’, if you like. But the new body which will be given at the end is not identical to the previous one. In an act of new creation parallel only to the original creation itself, God will make a new type of material, no longer subject to death, out of the old one. In Jesus’ case, of course, this happened right away, without his original body decaying, so that the new body was actually the transformation of the old one. For the rest of us, whose bodies will decay, and whose bones may well be burnt, it will take a complete act of new creation. The new body—and this is the point—will belong in both the dimensions of God’s world, in both heaven and earth. (At the end of the book of Revelation, heaven and earth will finally be joined together into one, so there won’t be any shuttling to and fro; the two dimensions will be fused together at last.) At the moment our bodies are earthly only; Jesus’ new body is at home in both earth and heaven.”[2] I know that’s a lot to take in, especially if we’re not used to thinking about these kinds of things, but this claim is the heart of the Good News of Jesus that the Christian Church has proclaimed from the beginning: in Jesus, the Risen Lord, God’s new creation has begun, reuniting heaven and earth once and for all. In his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension Jesus Christ has won the ultimate victory: He has conquered death, the powers of sin, and the forces of spiritual darkness, overcoming the divide between the Living God and His creation… reconciling all things together in Himself… who was raised to begin His reign as the King of Kings. For that is the other side of the message of the ascension: the One who was raised has been given all authority in heaven and earth… who did not cling to power, or flee from humiliation, suffering, or even death, but faithfully said to His Father in Heaven “not my will, but yours be done”. The One that Christians claim is truly in charge, who deserves all our love and loyalty, is our Risen Redeemer. The One who came not to be served, but to serve, and to save. How do we begin to talk about and respond to His reign? What are some ways we can take part in Christ’s Kingdom here and now? Our Scripture readings today, in speaking of His ascension, can help us start to wrap our heads around this wonderful truth. The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts are meant to go together: they’re two parts of one narrative, written by the same author, and the story of Jesus begun in Luke finds it’s fulfillment in Acts, with the ascension standing as the bridge between the two halves. In Luke, Jesus fulfills His earthly ministry and mission, and ascends to heaven not in order to rest, but to rule… to continue the work of God’s Kingdom through His faithful witnesses, believers empowered by the Holy Spirit to share His Kingdom with the world… the story which unfolds all throughout the Book of Acts. But the ending of Luke’s Gospel, and the beginning of Acts, would have us remember that this is all a part of God’s Great Rescue Mission at work all throughout the Scriptures, and from the very beginning. That the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promises to people like Abraham, Moses, David, and that we cannot cut off the story of Israel from the life of the Church. Living in God’s Kingdom calls us to step into the story of Scripture… to seek to understand what God has been doing all along, and opening our hearts to listen to His Holy Word, as His Kingdom spreads from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. These same Scriptures, both old and new, will also remind us that the claims of God’s kingdom remain contested claims. Both Israel, and the New Testament Church faced all sorts of temptations to follow after other forces claiming their allegiance, and so we too will have our own temptations in our turn. The Scriptures remind us as well, that if we stand firm in our faith, we’re likely to face not just temptation, but opposition. As Jesus Himself was rejected, persecuted, and put to death, those faithful saints in Israel and in the New Testament all had their share of sufferings too. We also can expect times of conflict and trouble will arise if we push back against the ‘so-called lords’ fighting for our loyalty… if we choose to be true to our Risen King, and don’t go along with the crowds. We’re also reminded that we are not left to stand for God’s kingdom on our own strength: in Christ, God’s Holy Spirit has come to protect and empower us… enabling us to endure even the darkest times we may face, guiding us when we can’t seem to see our own way forward, and filling us with the abundant blessed life of God: the power of His holy love; the joys that outlast our sorrow; the riches of God’s mercy and grace, the comfort and peace of His presence; the freedom from the fear of death, and from the grip of sin; the knowledge that we belong forever in the family of God. Next Sunday’s the Feast of Pentecost, when we commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit, to unite us to Jesus, our Saviour King, and empower us to share in the life of His gracious Kingdom. But even today, may God’s Holy Spirit fill us with the hope that builds up our faith. May we take up our part in the story of His Kingdom, revealed in the Scriptures and at work even now. May we serve as faithful witnesses to all that He has done to bring God’s mercy, forgiveness, and new life to the world. And may the way we live each day point to the One who’s truly in charge: to Jesus Christ the Risen and Ascended Lord of all. Amen. [1] Tim Perry, He Ascended Into Heaven: Learn to Live An Ascension-Shaped Life (Paraclete Press: Brewster, MA, 2010), 7. [2] Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 300. Alleluia! The Lord is risen indeed: O come, let us worship! Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, when the Risen Jesus returned to the right hand of the Father in order to reign as Lord of heaven and earth even now. There is so much about the story of Christ's Ascension that can seem strange to us, but it is a vital part of His mission to rescue our broken world. Here is a short video from the Bible Project that can help shed a bit of light on what the authors of the Bible had in mind when they spoke of the Risen Jesus being taken up in a cloud to sit at the right hand of God the Father. Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Acts 10:44–48 | Psalm 98 | 1 John 5:1–6 | John 15:9–17
We have some exciting days ahead of us here at St. Luke’s, Gondola Point. The pieces are now in motion for our Building Restoration Project to begin the needed repair work on the exterior of St. Luke’s Church. Of course, plenty of work has already been going on for years now: our Parish family has long been consulting, planning, and fundraising in order to preserve our beloved building, hopefully for years to come… not only for ourselves, but for future generations. Admittedly, it hasn’t gone quite the way we had expected. When this Project began, no one had imagined it would be unfolding during a global pandemic. But as odd as it seems, the time is now: the work is much needed, and we won’t delay. And thankfully, we don’t have to shoulder all of the financial burden ourselves. With the help of some grants from Parks Canada, due to our building’s National Historic Site status, we’ll have some significant assistance in raising the necessary funds. I think we can all be grateful that we’re not the only ones invested in the future of St. Luke’s Church by helping to restore it to it’s true essence and shape. Our Scripture readings today might also invite us to think about Church restoration… that is, not restoring a building, but rather the Christian community. Of coming to recognize what lies at the heart of our life together as God’s children… highlighting the essence, the core of what the Church is, what it is meant to become, and drawing our attention to the necessary work that lies before us. It should come as little surprise that in thinking about what lies at the heart of the Christian Church, we simply have to begin with faith in Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord. He is Himself the foundation for absolutely everything else. He is the cornerstone of the Church. Without Jesus, and what He’s done, there’d simply be no Church, and from first to last faith in Him is what makes us what we are. The author of 1 John grounds our ongoing connection to the Living God, and our hope for the future in our faith, our trust placed in Jesus. 1 John 5:1 says, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God”, and in verses 4 & 5 it says that “this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” For the author of 1 John, our faith in Christ is top priority. And in the book of Acts we see the fruit of faith in Jesus… what happens when we hear and believe the Good News of the Son of God. Our reading today from Acts takes place right after St. Peter speaks to his host Cornelius, a Roman army officer, sharing with him and his family this message of hope. Acts 10:34-43, “Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’” St. Peter sums up the story of Christ with an invitation to faith. We’ll come back to what happens next in just a few moments. For now, it’s enough to say that from it’s very earliest days, the Christian Church has been built on belief in Jesus Christ: who He is, and what He came to do. But just like a building needs more than a foundation, faith in Jesus is not meant to stand all alone. It’s meant to enable, to give rise to a particular way of life. Faith in Jesus, trust in Him is meant to take the form of faithful love. Directed both to God, and to one another too. “As the Father has loved me,” Jesus said, “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” (John 15:9-12). Far from the self-centred, so-called love all too common in our world, God’s love calls us to set aside our own agendas and care for each other, even if it means making pretty big changes to do so. As one ancient writer puts it: “If we love God, then we must also love those whom God has brought to birth and who have become our brothers and sisters. Loving one another is a sign of how much we love God.”[1] Again, we can see this love at work in our reading from Acts chapter 10. In verse 48, St. Peter does something truly ground-breaking among God’s people: he embodies God’s love simply by “staying with” these new Gentile believers. Being a faithful Jew, St. Peter was never supposed to even enter the house of a non-Jew, that is until the Holy Spirit led him to do exactly that. And now, after Cornelius and his family all believe, St. Peter breaks down all the barriers between Jews and non-Jews. He accepts their hospitality, shares their home, their meals, their lives. No longer as strangers, but as brothers and sisters in Christ. Just like Jesus embodied God’s love by eating and spending time with Israel’s outcasts, now St. Peter embodies God’s love by entering into the life of Cornelius. In this simple act we can see the Living God at work, forming out of two hostile worlds one new family, united by faith in Jesus Christ, to love God and each other. Love is the structure, the essential shape of the Church community; itself resting secure on the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ. Faith and love. To indispensable elements of the Church. The heart of our life together as the family of God. So easy to talk about, so much harder to put into practice. Thank heavens we don’t have to try to be the Church all on our own: this community, this way of life is God’s gift to us in Jesus. It’s the presence and power of the Holy Spirit that makes it possible for us to truly trust in God and share in His love. The Living God Himself has been building and re-building His Church, doing things with us that we would never have imagined. We can see the Spirit of God at work doing this all through the book of Acts, as the Church community keeps on growing in surprising ways. Today we heard, in Acts chapter 10:44-48, through St. Peter’s message the Holy Spirit of God strikes again. “While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all 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.” Long before St. Peter stepped into the house of Cornelius, the Living God was preparing to share His Good News with all peoples. Though St. Peter and those with him could not have imagined where the Holy Spirit was leading them, and the world-changing story they would take part in, God was at work through them building His Church big enough for the world. The Spirit drew these strangers together, the Spirit helped St. Peter find the words about Jesus, the Spirit helped Cornelius hear and believe, and this same Spirit came to dwell in them all, uniting them in God’s great love. If faith is the foundation of the Church, and love is what’s built up on top of it, the Living God is the architect, the builder, and what holds it all together. It can be tempting at times to get discouraged when thinking about the Church… about how far God’s family seems to have strayed from our true essence… from the faith and selfless love that’s supposed to shape all that we do. Just as our Church building here in Gondola Point stands in need of some restoration, so does the Church community all over the world today. But instead of pointing our fingers at our brothers and sisters in Christ that we suspect are messing things up, let’s humble start with ourselves. Is our life together as Christians firmly rooted in our faith in Jesus Christ? Are we seeking to trust Him in all areas of our lives? Not only our eternity, but our every day? Does our faith give rise to active love? To caring for one another? Are we embodying the way of Jesus in how we treat those in our lives? Our families? Our friends? Co-workers? Neighbours? Strangers? Enemies? I suspect both as individuals, and as a Parish family, there’s likely a fair amount of restoration work ahead of us, work which we dare not delay. But the Good News is we’re not bearing the burden of this work alone! The Living God is deeply invested in the life of the Church, found both here at St. Luke’s, and all throughout the world. God is at work restoring and extending it far beyond anything that we have yet achieved, or imagined. Not simply returning to the past, but making all things new. Not crafting our community into what we might want it to be, but letting it be re-created in line with the LORD’s designs. Of course, we don’t have to be open to this restoration work. We can resist the Spirit of God, and try to go our own way. But the Gospel hope… for St. Luke’s, for the wider Church, and for the world… lies in humbly saying ‘yes’ to the work of the Living God. Echoing the words of our Saviour: “not my will, but yours be done.” In two weeks time, at Pentecost, I hope to start something new here in our Parish: a Mission Visioning group for our St. Luke’s community. It won’t be a formal committee, but simply a group of us here at St. Luke’s who want to commit to praying together, listening together, and trying to discern God’s will both for our Parish life, and for our role in His mission outside of our walls. If you feel draw to take part in this Visioning group, or simply have questions about it, please come and talk to me. But whether or not we’re a part of a group like this, or a more formal leadership role, all of us as brothers and sisters in the family of God have a part to play in God’s ongoing Church Restoration Project. We’re all called to be open to the Holy Spirit’s voice: His assessment of our current situation, and future direction. We’re all responsible for nurturing a living faith in Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, and building our lives on the Gospel. We’re all to take up the call to embody the self-giving love of God, so that He might move through us and draw all people into His family. We have some exciting days ahead of us here at St. Luke’s. The Living God’s at work in us to build up His Church. Let’s not delay, and invite Him to start His restoration in us… not only for our own good, but for all who follow after. Amen. [1] Theophylact, Commentary on 1 John, in Thomas C. Oden and Cindy Crosby, eds., Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings: Lectionary Cycle B (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2011), 127. Alleluia! The Lord is risen indeed: O come, let us worship!
Our service of Morning Prayer and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Acts 8:26–40 | Psalm 22:25–31 | 1 John 4:7–21 | John 15:1–8
Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5) This past year, for better or worse, we’ve had to get used to “staying put”. To staying at home most of the time, for our own sake, and for our neighbours too. For some of us, this has been a blessing: a chance to re-connect with those closest to us… a chance to rebuild our home-lives and hopefully make them stronger. For others, this year has been a whole lot more difficult… even heartbreaking. For starters, there are those of us forced to “stay put” all alone… who are facing much more isolation these days, and are understandably feeling cut off from their loved ones and their community. But there are also those who are finding themselves trapped in tense, broken, and unsafe situations, forced by the pandemic to ‘stay put’ in painful and destructive environments. Especially for those most vulnerable… children, women, and our elders… the dangers of facing domestic abuse during the pandemic has been rising. If you find yourself in need of help, please find the courage to let someone know. If you know of someone who might need help, please find the courage to reach out. But even without getting to the point of outright abuse, many are finding it very hard these days, for all sorts of reasons, to keep on ‘staying put’ together with those around them, and even quite solid relationships are under a great deal of strain. And yet, in this very moment, when what we might dream of most is to run away… to escape the confines of ‘staying put’… we are being offered a hope that is firmly rooted in one place… or rather, in one Person. Someone who is calling each of us to abide in Him. In our Gospel reading this morning, these are the words that Jesus Christ our Lord spoke to His disciples just before He would be betrayed by one of them, abandoned by all of them, and crucified for us all, bringing God’s great rescue mission to it’s ultimate focal point at the cross. “Abide in me”… remain in me, stay firmly rooted in me, Christ said as He prepared to give up His life to save our estranged world, as He gave Himself to be broken and offered up as a gift of love to reconcile us to God once and for all. As the author of 1 John puts it, this is where God’s love is most clearly shown: “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10). This is the heart of the Good News: that in Jesus, God has embraced us. That He has dealt with all our sins, and now draws us into His own blessed life. And so, in response to all Christ has done, He invites us to do something that He sees as absolutely vital: He calls us to abide in Him. To ‘stay put’ in Him. What exactly does this look like? How do we actually abide in Christ? As important as this question is, at this point I think it’s wise for us to resist the urge to oversimplify. To try to reduce a unique relationship to a few spiritual practices or formulas. That would be like asking “how do you raise a child?”, or “how do you build a friendship?”, and expecting a simple straightforward checklist to follow. Abiding in Jesus, sharing in the life of the Son of God, is not a method that we can figure out ahead of time, and then apply. It’s a connection, a communion that we are invited into. That said, our second reading today, from the letter of 1 John, gives us some essential elements of what this connection looks like. According to 1 John chapter 4, there are three things about abiding in God that are all bound together: First off, abiding in God involves receiving God’s own Holy Spirit: “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13). Sharing in the life of the Living God is not something that we can make happen all on our own. It’s the result of God graciously giving Himself to us, and dwelling in us. A gift we receive through placing our faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Which is the second facet of abiding in God: “And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God” (1 John 4:14-15). Sharing in the life of the Living God means placing our faith in God’s Son, trusting that in Jesus we are truly in touch with God’s own saving presence and power. That through the Son, the Father is drawing us into His divine family. And finally, abiding in God takes on the shape of His self-giving love: “So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (1 John 4:16). This love is not simply some kind of spiritual experience or ideal, but a way of living that flows from God that’s meant to shape all our human relationships too. 1 John 4:19-21: “We love because he first loved us. Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” The self-giving love of God embodied by Jesus Christ on the cross is meant to take tangible form in the lives of His disciples… in how we live each day, and how we relate to those around us, especially, how we relate to our brother and sisters, in God’s family. These three elements, receiving God’s Spirit, believing in Jesus, God’s Son, and enacting God’s love, are all essential parts of abiding in God. Of answering the invitation to share in the life of His kingdom, even now, in our everyday world. A world that often does not understand it. A world where many may well reject it, but where many more are longing for it, thirsting for it. Our world, where the Living God is still actively at work reaching out, drawing in, abiding with… and sending. Sending who? Sending us. Sending those who abide in Him to share the life He gives us with the wider world. Far from an excuse to hide ourselves away from the messiness of life, ‘staying put’ in Jesus, abiding in Him, means taking part in His worldwide rescue mission. It means being led by His Spirit to do whatever God would have us do, even if it takes us in some surprising directions. It means growing deeper in our faith, and understanding of the Good News of Jesus Christ, so that we can help others understand it as well. And it means letting our lives be shaped by God’s self-giving love, reaching out to those who are cut off, hurting, estranged, confused, and alone, and caring for them in ways that bring God’s good kingdom to light. In our reading today from the book of Acts we can see this kind of abiding in action in the story of St. Philip, known as the Evangelist. There was another St. Philip among the earliest Christians: St. Philip the Apostle, one of the Twelve chosen by Christ in the Gospels. He has his own unique story, but the St. Philip we hear of today was actually one of the first deacons: Christians set apart to serve the tangible needs of the poor in the early Church, like making sure food was being shared equally among widows from different backgrounds, so that the Apostles could focus on proclaiming the Good News of Jesus. Along with others like St. Stephen, St. Philip was called to active service… caring for the basic needs of the growing family of God. And yet, as the book of Acts plays out in Chapters 6-8, the lines start to get blurry, and deacons like St. Philip and St. Steven take on significant roles in telling others about Jesus and what He has done. They too become witnesses, heralds of God’s good kingdom. Soon St. Stephen becomes an outspoken evangelist, which leads to him following Jesus faithfully to death, becoming the first person executed for sharing the Good News of Christ. This leads to the early Church being persecuted in Jerusalem, and so they begin to scatter, which takes St. Philip to Samaria, to a community of distant relatives of the Jews, descended from the Northern tribes of Israel, but who had been estranged for centuries from their Jewish cousins for a whole host of reasons. For an idea of how divided the Jewish and Samaritan communities were, think of the tensions at work between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, around the time of the ‘Troubles’: with religion, race, and politics all wrapped up into one conflict, and boiling over at times into violence and bloodshed. They had a lot in common, and were close neighbours, but they were cut off from one another. Estranged, that is until St. Philip ends up on the scene, and begins to share the message of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah raised from the dead… and many Samaritans, begin to believe. They too were being drawn into this new community that was coming to life because of God’s kingdom at work. They too received the Holy Spirit, and were baptized into God’s family. United by their faith in Jesus, despite their long history of hatred and division, now Jewish and Samaritan believers were beginning to learn to love each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. God’s reconciling love was taking shape, and changing their world. Remember, none of this was part of St. Philip’s official ministry, but it came about because of his deep connection with the Living God. It was not his ‘job’ to spread the word of the Gospel, but still God’s Spirit drew him beyond his obligations to take part in sharing the Good News with those who needed it. He was actively abiding in God; open to the Spirit’s leading, driven by his faith in Christ, and eager to share God’s reconciling love with everyone. Which leads us at last to today’s text: where St. Philip is sent by the Spirit, to travel down an empty road, where he meets an Ethiopian Eunuch. Twice we are told that the Holy Spirit prompts St. Philip to action, which leads to a conversation that seems like it was meant to be. St. Philip does not approach them with a pre-rehearsed evangelistic formula, or set of arguments, but with a genuine openness to the person God had led him to; coming alongside them and listening to them, then helping them understand the message of hope they were searching for, and were on the verge of finding. We’re told the eunuch believes St. Philip, and like the Samaritans before him, they’re also eager to be baptized, and brought into the family of God… receiving the Holy Spirit, and embraced in God’s love, which they then brought back to their own community, to share with others. St. Philip’s story shows us that abiding in Jesus is not about sitting idle, or serving only our own interests… it’s about becoming saturated with the life of the Living God: firmly rooted by faith in Christ, the Risen Son of God; responsive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance in our daily lives; and empowered to put into action the reconciling, self-giving love of God, offered to us at the cross, and intended to be shared with all. So may we all actively abide in Jesus, more and more each day. May we be led by His Spirit to take part in His kingdom at work. May we grow deeper in our faith, and confidence in our Risen Saviour. And may His love take root in us, transforming all that we do, so that the fruit of His reconciliation, healing, and hope can flow through us and out into our homes, our neighbourhoods, and our world. Amen. Alleluia! The Lord is risen indeed: O come, let us worship! Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here:
Scripture Readings: Acts 4:5–12 | Psalm 23 | 1 John 3:16–24 | John 10:11–18
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11) Today the Scripture readings offer this comforting image to contemplate: that Jesus Christ the Son of God is truly our Good Shepherd. That in the Risen Lord, the Living God continues to guide and guard His people, drawing them into His own abundant life. It is an image of God found all throughout the Old Testament, perhaps most commonly known in Psalm 23, which we recited together this morning. In many ways, this image reflects a common experience of God’s people… those moments when we recognize the LORD’s mercy and power at work: providing exactly what we need, protecting us from harm, and making His presence known in ways that fill us with peace. In these times, along with the Psalmist, it’s good for us to give thanks and rejoice… to take joy in our Good Shepherd, who leads us into life. But there are also times in the lives of everyone, even God’s people, where instead of feeling secure, we feel lost and vulnerable… unsure of what to do, or how we will ever be able to carry on. And so there is this tension at work all through our lives: there are times we feel well tended to, and times we feel we’re walking in the valley of death’s shadow. But in the midst of this tension, we also find an invitation… a way being opened for us to receive far more than we might expect. Our Scripture readings this morning offer us two parallel stories which help to bring this invitation to light for us today. One story is a moment from the life of Jesus our Lord, revealing His merciful purpose and mission to seek and save the lost, and the second is from the life of two of Christ’s earliest followers, who were led by the Holy Spirit to share in the work of their Good Shepherd. In the Gospel of John we heard Jesus describing Himself with this image, painting a vivid portrait of what He had come to do… knowing His own ‘sheep’ intimately, binding them together in one united flock, and loving them to the point of laying His own life down for them. It is a powerful, and beautiful picture of holy love in action, drawing on all sorts of biblical ways of speaking of God’s care for His people. But Jesus is doing more here than simply offering a poetic picture of His ministry… He’s driving home the difference between what He was doing… bringing the blessed kingdom of God into this broken world… and what the other leaders and guides of God’s people were really up to. In short, He’s not just calling Himself the Good Shepherd … He’s also calling out all the “Bad Shepherds” as well. Our reading today from John’s Gospel, comes from Chapter 10. But the reason Jesus says what He says here starts back in Chapter 9. John Chapter 9 is a powerful story of a life completely transformed… full of both surprising joy, as well as painful rejection. The story begins when Jesus and His disciples meet a man one day who we could call one of the lost “sheep” of Israel: he was a Jewish man, who had been born completely blind. By birth he was part of the chosen covenant people of Israel, yet because of his blindness he was cut off from the life of his community. We don’t have time today to look at this part of Christ’s story in detail, but I just want to highlight a few of the points that stand out for us this morning: First off, as I have already said, the man had been blind from birth. He had never known a time when the world was not in darkness. The disciples saw this man and took note of his suffering, and in line with the assumptions of many (in their day, and our own) thought that the man’s misfortune was the result of someone’s sin… they thought that someone either the man himself, or his parents, must have done something horrible to deserve a life without sight. But Jesus doesn’t assign blame to anyone for the man’s suffering… instead He points to what God His heavenly Father had sent Him to do: In John Chapter 9:3-5 it says, “Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Then Jesus spat in the dirt, made some mud, put it on the man’s eyes, and told him to go and wash them. And when he had done what Jesus said, the man received his sight. Surely this was God’s kingdom breaking out into the world… offering life and light to one who had never known them before. Yet as John Chapter 9 plays out, we find that not everyone sees it this way: the Pharisees, a devout and influential group within the wider Jewish community, who saw it as their calling to pursue the purity of God’s people, began to interrogate the man about what had happened to him… looking for ways to discredit Jesus, whom they saw as a false shepherd… someone who was leading God’s people away from faithfulness to the LORD and His holy commandments. I’ll leave it to you to read the rest of John chapter 9 this week, but ultimately, the healed man, under a lot of pressure, refuses to turn his back on the one who had restored him. As a result, he is rejected by these powerful Pharisees, gets kicked out of their synagogue, and so is cut off again from his neighbours. He had received his sight, but in the end we find him, once again, alone in the darkness. But that is where we’re told, the Good Shepherd finds this lost sheep, rejected by all around him, but precious in God’s sight. Jesus hears all that had happened, and then He searches for that man, finds him, and invites the man… to trust Him. Christ seeks him out, and draws him into a community of faith… into a new life brought about by the mercy and power of God. The Pharisees, who had assumed for themselves the role of guiding God’s people… of tending His flock, proved that they didn’t actually care about the man, or about God’s kingdom at work in their midst, but only about themselves. About preserving their own influence, positions, and power. They refused to believe the miracle, to place their trust in Jesus… who then responds by saying these words to them, and to all: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away— and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:11-15) Faced with what just happened to their fellow Jew who had received his sight, Christ calls out the Pharisees, and all those who were claiming to care for God’s children, but who were really only taking care of themselves. But unlike the hirelings who left the sheep to fend for themselves, Jesus is the Good Shepherd we can truly depend upon. He’s is not interested in using us, but in rescuing us… loving us to the point of laying down His life on the cross… and rising again to share with us His own abundant life. In the centuries since these stories took place, there have been plenty of examples of people claiming to care for God’s people, but who were only acting like hirelings… or worse, Bad Shepherds… that is, caring mostly about their own position and power. Today some easy targets come quickly to mind: like those who preach the so-called Prosperity Gospel… the dangerous lie that following Jesus means we should always be happy and healthy… especially if we give our money to fund their private ministries. Perhaps we can also call to mind some Christian leaders, from every corner, who seem far more caught up with preserving their own influence and rules, than they are in building up the lives of their sisters and brothers in the Lord. As easy, and tempting, as it is to point out the failures of others, in all honesty, this passage rings loudly in my own ears. As your pastor, your shepherd, caring for you in service to our Lord, Christ’s words here remind me of the high calling it is to tend to God’s children, and they also remind me of the many ways that I have fallen short… when I’ve acted more like a hireling, looking out for my own interests, instead of practicing the self-giving love of our Good Shepherd. Especially this year, when so many are feeling lost, afraid, vulnerable, and scattered, there are many ways I have missed the mark among our St. Luke’s family. But setting aside for the moment at least, my role as your priest and pastor, this is the calling of all who would follow Jesus Christ: the call to care for one another in our common life… to take our part in Christ’s ongoing mission of mercy and love. As the author of 1 John puts it: “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us— and we ought to lay down our lives for one another… Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” (1 John 3:16,18). A Christians, we can all reflect on how we’re to live out this self-giving love, and what might need to change in us if this love is to carry us forward. But the Good News for us today is not about how good we are… you and I have not been left alone, either to fix ourselves up, or to wallow in regret… the Good News is our Good Shepherd’s here. Jesus, our Risen Saviour is here. In all the moments we find ourselves in darkness, He is here. In all of our times of tragedy, Jesus is here. In all of the pits we’ve dug for ourselves, Jesus is here. The Good Shepherd has come for us, has laid down His life for us, not to heap on shame, or reject us, but to draw us all into His flock. To gather us all together into God’s family, the Church, where we can all grow together in the ways of His holy love. Where we can all find forgiveness, lasting hope, and God’s new life, even when we find ourselves in the valley of death’s shadow… and where we are empowered to share in Christ’s own mission of mercy. The invitation we’re given today, in the midst of life’s joys and sorrows, asks us to keep on placing our trust in Jesus, our Good Shepherd. To believe that he is with us even when we feel cut off and alone… that he will never abandon us, but will bring us safely home. Which leads us at last to our second story, from Acts Chapter 4, where two of Christ’s Apostle’s St. Peter & St. John give us a powerful picture of what it means to trust in our Good Shepherd. Last week we heard how Peter & John had performed a miracle in Jesus’s name: healing a fellow Israelite who was unable to walk from birth… echoing loudly the act of mercy they had seen Jesus perform with the man born blind, which we have just discussed… an act revealing Christ’s love, and God’s good kingdom breaking in. But now, instead of the healed man being hauled before the ‘Bad Shepherds’, this time it’s the disciples who are being confronted and questioned… not by the Pharisees this time, but by the High Priestly family, including those who had led the way for Jesus Himself to be crucified. These were the people who were the official “shepherds” of Israel at the time… and again, they show their true colours by how they respond to this wonderful sign. They sense a threat to their own positions and influence, and they panic. They threaten St. Peter & St. John, and pressure them to stop teaching and speaking in Jesus’ name. But St. Peter speaks out and refuses to back down, reminding them that the one they rejected and crucified, God raised from the dead, and that “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). St. Peter trusted that Jesus the Risen Lord would not abandon him, even as he faced the possibility of his own suffering and death. And as the story goes on, because of this miracle and the Apostle’s faithful witness, another 5,000 people placed their trust in Jesus as well, and joined the growing flock of the newborn Christian Church. We know of course, that the story of these Apostles goes on from here, and that they would face many times of suffering, persecution, and even death because of their commitment to sharing the Good News of Jesus, the Risen Lord. But through it all, their Good Shepherd remained with them always, and through their witness and work people from nations all over the earth have been drawn into the one flock of Christ, including you and I. Along with them, we are invited to trust in this Good Shepherd: when we sense His abundant life bursting in like the men who were born blind and unable to walk, yet who were made suddenly whole… or when we are under pressure, like the man in John Chapter 9, or St. Peter and St. John… or when we feel overwhelmed by the tragedies of life, or by our own failures. Through it all, Jesus Christ, God’s Good Shepherd who loved us and laid down His life for us, remains with us, and we can trust Him to lead us into God’s own life forever. So today, may we take comfort in His constant mercy and care. May we be empowered by His Spirit of love to look after one another, and to stay true to Him, when we too are under pressure. And may we follow Him and share in His mission to seek and save the lost, that all the world might become one flock, under Christ, the one true Good Shepherd. Amen. Alleluia! The Lord is risen indeed: O come, let us worship! Today (Easter IV) is sometimes called Good Shepherd Sunday (inspired by the content of our Scripture readings for the day), reminding us that the Risen Lord still lovingly leads and cares for His people, having laid down His life for us all, in order to draw us together into the one flock of our Heavenly Father. Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here: And our Songs for this week can be found here: Scripture Readings: Acts 3:12–19 | Psalm 4 | 1 John 3:1–7 | Luke 24:36b–48
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.” 1 John 3:1 The children of God. This image sounds so lovely; but what does it actually mean? Or rather, how do the Holy Scriptures want us to understand it? There is a general way we could speak of being God’s children, as a way of affirming the connection all of creation shares with its Creator. In this sense, we’re all God’s children. We all owe our existence to God’s creative initiative, and so in a way we all can feel a sense of belonging to God, and together. In a general sense, this way of talking of being God’s children isn’t wrong… but it’s also not what the author of 1 John is talking about. For the author of 1 John, being called a child of God is not at all an abstract idea about the nature of all humanity… but rather, it describes a unique relationship with the Living God, in which our connection to Him has been reconciled… reunited… re-created. In other words, we are dealing here with another facet of the New Reality brought about through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God. In our Scriptures readings today, we are again invited to trust that in Christ’s death and resurrection the Living God, Father, Spirit, and Son, is at work re-creating His family… through the gift of forgiveness. The idea of being God’s children goes way back to the early days of Israel, when the LORD set out to rescue them from oppression in Egypt. Though the LORD had bound Himself to the family of Abraham centuries before, it’s not until God commissions Moses that they’re spoken of as God’s offspring: In Exodus 4:21-22, God sends the reluctant Moses to speak on His behalf and demand that Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, let Israel go. While to Pharaoh they were merely slaves, his own property, the Living God saw things very differently: “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son.” This one group of oppressed slaves was being claimed by the LORD of all the earth. Regardless of how the world saw them, God saw them as His children. After their rescue from Egypt, the relationship between God and His covenant people grew even deeper, as God began to make known what being in God’s family looks like. In the context of the Laws that set out how Israel was to live, the book of Leviticus sums up the underlying purpose of their whole way of life: “For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt, to be your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:45. See also Leviticus 19:2, 20:7, and 20:26). They were to be shaped by God’s own life, His character, goodness, and holy love, which was to transform their own private lives, and how they treated each other. As a parent adopts a child, and brings them up to share in their way of life, the LORD had rescued Israel to share His holy life with them… so they could grow to be like Him. The book of Deuteronomy sheds even more light on the subject, making clear the connection between being God’s children and ongoing faithfulness. In Deuteronomy chapter 7 we hear these words addressed to Israel: “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession. It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you—for you were the fewest of all peoples. It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and who repays in their own person those who reject him. He does not delay but repays in their own person those who reject him. Therefore, observe diligently the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that I am commanding you today. (Deuteronomy 7:6-11). And again in chapter 14: “You are children of the LORD your God… you are a people holy to the LORD your God; it is you the LORD has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 14:1-2). Though all humanity, and creation ultimately belong to Him, there was something special about the LORD’s connection to this one family. The Living God had rescued Israel, and had adopted them to be His chosen children, and called them to share His life… to become like Him here on earth, shaped by His own holy love, and to be faithful to their Heavenly Father, who had always been faithful to them. As the author of 1 John would state many centuries later, the lives of God’s children were to be marked by His righteousness, completely incompatible with wickedness or sin. Yet the story of Israel, found throughout the Holy Scriptures, right from the start, serves as a sober reminder of how quickly God’s children can turn away; rejecting the One who had come to save them, and share His blessed life with them. This sad storyline leads us all the way to our reading today from the book of Acts, to St. Peter’s words addressed to his fellow Israelites standing just outside God’s Temple. The first few chapters of Acts recount how after Easter, the Risen Lord had ascended to the right hand of the Father, in Heaven, and had sent the Holy Spirit of God to indwell, empower, and unite all those who placed their faith in Him, at the feast of Pentecost. This led, as we heard last week, to all the first Christians actually living out the ancient calling to be God’s family: sharing their lives, their resources, and caring for one another in holy love… day by day, drawing others into this new way of life. One day, St. Peter and St. John were heading to the Temple to worship God, when they came across a man who had been unable to walk ever since he was born. Here they saw someone from their own people, their own family, cut off from the place of deep connection with God and their Jewish neighbours: that is, the Temple. Due to his disability, the man was unable to enter into the Temple, and instead of sharing in the family blessings of God’s people, he had to resort to begging from his neighbours every day. But if we read Acts chapter 3 we’re told that St. Peter and St. John did something that many of us today have a real hard time with when we come across one of our neighbours who is struggling and in need: “Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’” (Acts 3:4). They refused to look away from his painful situation, and instead, they made an effort to make a connection with him. In short, they treated him like a brother, instead of as a stranger. But then we’re told they did something even more astounding: “Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms...” (Acts 3:6-10). Just as Jesus Himself had done so many times before, now the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit were bringing God’s re-Creation to light… restoring broken bodies, raising up those who were suffering, offering the gift of new life all in Jesus’ name. They were sharing in Christ’s own mission to rescue God’s shattered world… bearing witness to all that Christ has done to bring God’s reconciliation to His unfaithful children, and to all the earth… by giving us forgiveness. That day, St. Peter and St. John were living out the New Reality of the Resurrection, which we heard from Jesus Himself in our Gospel reading this morning. Luke 24:44-48, “Then [Jesus] said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you— that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” All throughout the story of Israel, God was always at work preparing a way for the ultimate, worldwide rescue mission: that for the sake of all nations, Israel’s Messiah would suffer and die, and then be raised again… kickstarting God’s re-Creation… and then “repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem” and from there to the ends of the earth. As witnesses of these things, St. Peter and St. John encountered that man, and invited him to share in God’s New Creation in Jesus’ name, which leads us to the rest of Acts chapter 3 which we heard today… Where these two Apostles point beyond themselves to the power of Israel’s God at work… whom Israel had rejected by crucifying His Son. Acts 3:13-16, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.” The miracle of this man having his body completely restored becomes a sign for the full restoration that Israel needed as well. They too were cut off from full fellowship with their faithful God by the same sin and unfaithfulness that had led them to reject Jesus... God’s ‘servant’… or as this word in Greek is also translated God’s “child”. The righteous One who had completely shared in the life and holy love of the LORD, was rejected and crucified by the ones He came to save. By those who were called to be the children of God. It’s in this moment when the Good News of the Risen Lord breaks through. This moment, when the people’s sin and betrayal is being laid bare, that the Apostles share with them that all has not been lost. That despite their unfaithfulness, God’s goal from the very beginning was to rescue His wayward children, to restore their broken relationship, to fill them with His Holy Spirit, and share His holy love, so that, being forgiven, all the families of the earth might be reconciled to the LORD as well… that all of humanity might be called the children of God, through Christ. Through the forgiveness made possible for all in His precious blood, and in sharing the New Life of His resurrection. St. Peter goes on in verse 17: “And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:17-22). Repent… turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out… as we await Christ’s return to bring universal restoration. Friends, the hope for Israel, for humanity as a whole… for you and I to truly be God’s children has come to us once and for all in Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord: the One at work re-Creating and reconciling us to the Living God… forgiving us, and shaping us with His holy love into the renewed family of God we were always intended to be. St. Peter himself was a living example of God’s re-Creating forgiveness at work: he had denied Jesus three times, but the Risen Lord had embraced him. We all have our own experiences of failure, and hopefully, of forgiveness too… of having relationships break down, and sometimes having them be remade. Our world today is in desperate need of this kind of re-Creation… of finding a way forward, away from all our brokenness. The Good News is, in Christ, the Living God has opened up this path for us: the path of forgiveness, and New Life. In Christ we find, that despite all of our failures and unfaithfulness, God longs to draw all of us into His restored family. In Christ not only Israel, but all of humanity are being invited to share in God’s own life of holy love. So may we share in His mission: making God’s forgiveness and New Life known in the name of Jesus, that through our witness, others might come to be called children of God. Amen. |
Rev. RObRev. Rob serves as the Priest-in-Charge at St. Luke's Gondola Point, and as the School Chaplain at Rothesay Netherwood School Archives
March 2024
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