Being one

I will not be preaching this Sunday, which is the Sunday after the Ascension as we will be having a speaker, Royce Thompson from Bush Church Aid (here) This is a reflection from the last cycle of year CJohn 17:20-26

17:20 "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,

17:21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one,

17:23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

17:24 Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

17:25 "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me.

17:26 I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." I sometimes think John 17 goes round and round in circles and states, restates and then does it again the simple idea.

May my disciples be one with me, as I am one with you, that they too may be one with you.

We have equivalent phrases in modern parlance we talk about being 'together' or 'being made whole' or about 'holistic healing', 'self realisation', or in more recent times 'finding your voice' This important chapter speaks thus of the high destiny that each human being has. It is to find that we are indeed created in the image of God and that that image is deep within each one of us. It is not that we are God. It is rather that we are like God and that our Godliness will shine through if we let it. Jesus is ever praying for us that we may be open to this. The Holy Spirit is ever working so that our Godliness will be realised. We sell ourselves short if we understand anything less than God understands as being our destiny and self relisation. But what does it mean? This Easter season shows us that this 'togetherness', this 'unity' this 'ultimate destiny' is realised only in so far as we live our lives as Christ lives. The key is that we LIVE not that we are given a perfect box which we open and reveal it. As we look to Jesus we understand that he is not principally a doctrinal revelation That is he is not a text book. He is a life lived. The invitation is not to understand the text so that when we are examined on it we can get 100% The invitation is to put into practice in our own lives what we see being enfleshed in the life of Christ. It will be lived at the service of others a life of love and forgiveness of openness to suffering and not avoiding the darkness which is death. An invitation Where is Christ drawing me to be more like him? Where do I experience "togetherness" in my life, in the world? What might God be seeking me to be and do in order to consolidate that?

Life in the Spirit

Readings can include Acts 2:1-21; Ezekiel 37:1-14;Psalm 104:24-34, 35b;Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Although it is difficult to pick any of the events of the Easter mystery as the pinnacle or climax
in a real sense Pentecost is of great significance because it prepares us for our life as Christians
the gift of the Holy Spirit to the faithful and expectant disciples
is the gift of the Father to live the life that Jesus, the Word of God calls us to live.

The readings talk of many things:

    Renewal

    life being breathed into what looks as though it is dead

    Truth

    Peace 

    Joy 

And each of these deserves its own individual treatment.

Indeed this demonstrates to us that the Holy Spirit is not a quick fix...but is about God dealing with us comprehensively and completely.

Why would we expect anything else?

This is about the whole of our life and the whole of the world.

Indeed a prayer we often pray is 

Come Holy Sprit and renew your whole creation

So often we seem to think that God is just dealing with my little patch

It is about "the whole creation"

It is also about God dealing with us deeply

and not just tinkering in a titillating or superficial way.

This JOY that the Spirit brings is not merely an amusement or an entertainment it is about the absolute delight and sense of privilege that we know in being caught up iun the mystery of what God has been doing since before the foundation of the world.

It is perhaps the surest sign of the Spirit’s activity in our lives.

Where do you experience the deepest joy in your life?

It is a challenging question.

So often we mistake amusement for joy

yet often joy is about difficult stuff

about working through the challenging issues of life

and realising that although we are often confronted with danger, struggle, weakness

that the Joy that the Spirit brings transforms our life

This week

●Where has God given you the greatest JOY

●How can I nurture this

●What is God inviting me to be, know and do, by this active power and presence of the Spirit?