Growing in Christ

The Sixth Sunday of Easter, 9th May 2010

John 14:23-29

14:23 Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

14:24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

14:25 "I have said these things to you while I am still with you.

14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

14:28 You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.

14:29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

Life is full of arriving and departing
But it is more than just getting on and off trains and planes
Every day we come and we go,
and others do the same in our lives.
Some of these are bigger experiences than others
I was saying to my sister only recently
how I had been feeling the death of our mother
(over eight years ago....how can it be?)
These departures are so significant
and laden with the opportunity
to understand more about life and love.

Equally well, babies are born,
new relationships are formed
and so the coming and going fills our life

So it was for the disciples of Jesus.
He went from them.
And like our lives we realise that as sad as it is
when someone goes, or circumstances change
there is also a necessity about it.
It causes us to grow and mature.

What might Jesus have been drawing out of his disciples
that required him to go away?

There are a number of things:

• We only realise when we are independent what we can do of our own accord
• The disciples (us) were pretty pathetic when it came to over-relying on Jesus
• This has a tendency to make us inactive and lazy

In a way, this analysis is too simplistic, because Jesus also points us to a "life in the Spirit"which is more than just object lessons on how to be independent.
This is an important dimension of the promise of life in Christ
which is not realised simply by overcoming our natural indolence.


For thought and prayer this week

How is God calling me to be open to the Holy Spirit?
Spend some time praying for the increase in God's Spirit in my life

Moving on in faith

Readings for the Sunday after the Ascension (Seventh Sunday of Easter) May 24, 20098 Acts 1:15-26 Psalm 1,  I John 5:9-13 John 17:6-19

Now this can either be hard or easy!
Because, either the point of the physical removal of Jesus
that we call The Ascension
is an insurmountable obstacle to 21st century rational-scientific minds
or it is as easy as recognising
that in order to mature
we cannot go on having others
doing for us what we need to do for ourselves!
I opt to think, today, about the Ascension
in this latter way!

In the most obvious sense
God wants mature men and women.
People who will have depth and understanding
that is not achieved
by always stepping in making up for our inadequacies.
Any parent knows the truth of this.
Indeed anyone in any relationship whatsoever
needs to understand this,
we are not called to step in and make up
for the inadequacies, mistakes and failures
of others.
However well-intentioned,
this breeds immaturity and over-dependence,
rather than freedom, initiative
and sophisticated maturity.

There is a difference between supporting people in difficulty
and in not allowing people the opportunity to make their own mistakes!

The withdrawal of the physical presence of Jesus
rather than being an expression
of God's disappointment and heartbreak with the world
can and should actually be seen
as a statement of faith by God in you and me.
God believes that we have within us
the means to be effective people
God believes that we have within us
the means to be effective church
God believes that we have within us
the capacity to fail and to know that failure is not the end

This is what is going on

Two encouragements
This is something about the very nature of what relationship
with God is all about
We are not passive observers
of a world in which God is active
but we are ministers of God's presence to the world.

Now what does a minister do?
A minister acts on behalf of someone
So, a Minister of the Crown exercises authority of behalf of the Queen and the Government.
A minister of the Church
acts on behalf of God.
And we understand that Baptism
confers upon you and me
the responsibility
to be Minister of Jesus
We will say We are the Body of Christ
So Jesus can say to the Father...

I am no longer in the world but they are in the world.

Now this 'they' who he is talking about is you and me


We may feel as though this is too hard sometimes
Jesus prays for our protection
he prays that we may be united to each other
and that we may be filled with joy

He does not pray
that we should be relieved of responsibility
or taken out of the world.
But rather that we should exercise this responsibility

It is a great statement of the trust that God put in you and me
as ministers
to act with confidence in the name of the God who equips us for ministry.

May this be ours too

This week

• Can we look for opportunity to a faithful minister and commit ourself deliberately to God's care and protection as you seek to be more faithful
• Look at the circumstances in which we live and see where God is calling us to serve others.
  Pray deliberately for joy where ever we find ourselves to be

..