Tag: ministry

12th May 2024

Reflection with readings below

At this stage of the Easter season it can feel as if some of the steam has gone from the lectionary. The readings lack exhilaration! The drama of the resurrection stories seems to have drifted into the past. Can we yet capture the frizzon of Easter – the surprise and amazement and energy? Or is this a Sunday to pause between the mystery and joy of Easter and the power and energy of Pentecost? 

In the episode from Acts, Matthias is chosen to be the named twelfth apostle to take on the ministry of the era of the resurrection. Last week I suggested we might see this ministry as being achieving victory over ‘worldliness’, the bringing in of the kingdom of God on earth. So whilst Matthias was a named apostle tasked with this mission, I think we are all chosen and tasked with this ministry. The writer of the letter of John tells that we have the testimony of God in our hearts. And the writer of John’s gospel tells us that we have been sanctified by God to act according to the truth of God as revealed to us by Jesus.

How does this help us respond to the world? To the war and violence, the prejudice and persecution, sickness and the underfunded health system, poverty and the unequal distribution of resources, greed and apathy and the destruction of the natural environment, short-termism and the failure of leadership? AND to the beauty of creation, of acts of kindness and generosity, of miracles of healing, of moments of joy and humour, and the love shown to us by people and creatures alike?

Firstly we know that the things of harmfulness are not in accordance with God’s kingdom, God’s law or rule. The Magnificat; the manifesto given by Jesus, using the words of Isaiah, in the synagogue; Jesus’s declaration of the two most important commandments – to love God wholeheartedly and to love our neighbour as ourself: all these tell us this. AND we know that the things of joy are witnesses to the presence of God’s kingdom. Many of the psalms give us words that magnify this joy.

Second we have been told by Jesus to take our concerns to God in prayer. Such prayer helps us express and understand, or at least cope with, our own feelings. And I believe it does release a power that can effect change. Prayer can also witness to others the concerns we feel and so increase the capacity for change. I also believe that sharing with God the things that make us joyful, strengthens our faith and the scope of others to see the presence of God’s kingdom on earth.

Third, we have been told by Jesus that words are not enough but must be followed through by actions – remember the parable of the two sons, the parable of the sheep and goats, etc – and by his own examples, Jesus has shown us that we should do all we can to right wrongs, to bring healing to situations, and to respond to people in need with compassion and empathy. And we should do all we can to cherish the beauty of the world, and things of joy. Jesus repeatedly used the natural,world to teach his followers, turned brief encounters into lasting friendships, and made meals into parties.

Fourth, we have the examples of Peter and Paul in the Book of Acts, of John the Baptist, and of Jesus himself, of speaking truth to power – whether that is to religious leaders or business leaders or to financiers or to those in government. 

Thinking practically, two examples: first, the fighting and the suffering in Gaza. We can pray. We can include Gaza in our church intercessions. We can join groups/ services that have a part focus on Gaza – and we may find that through these we gain in understanding of the issues. Keeping abreast of the news will also help us make our prayers more meaningful. We can make sure we are aware of all the different issues involved, the different people on all sides, and how they are being affected.

We can give practical support – at this distance through donations to charities operating in the area. 

We can boycott businesses that are supporting the apartheid regime in Israel and follow that up with letters to the companies. 

We can sign petitions calling for justice.

We can write to our MPs, and the Secretary of State for foreign policy, asking for a cease fire, asking for increased humanitarian aid, asking for an end of arms sales to the region. We can ask for matters to be referred to the International Court of Human Rights.

Second, No Mow May. It may seem like a small thing but this annual invitation to let our lawns grow unrestrained gives us the chance to see and rejoice in flowers and seed heads, insects and birds, that we would otherwise miss – and thus the incentive to pray. It encourages to see understand better the interconnectedness of God’s world and our part in it – and thus to be more caring, to be more concerned to live in harmony with the ways of God’s kingdom. And it gives us the opportunity to talk with others about such things, to share the joys and the opportunities of God’s kingdom. I am already surprised by how many people I have overheard talking about No Mow May this year!

If we can do these things in response to both the grief and the joy we see in the world, then we can make a difference, we can carry out that ministry that is bringing in the kingdom of God. And maybe we will be able to find moments when we feel the frisson on the risen Jesus or the overwhelming power of the Holy Spirit or the deep calm of God?

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, “Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus– for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us– one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Psalm 1

1 Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, *
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

2 Their delight is in the law of the Lord, *
and they meditate on his law day and night.

3 They are like trees planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; *
everything they do shall prosper.

4 It is not so with the wicked; *
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, *
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, *
but the way of the wicked is doomed.

1 John 5:9-13

If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

John 17:6-19

Jesus prayed for his disciples, “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.”