Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Confession:
Holy, holy, holy. When our eyes have seen the Lord of hosts, we echo the words of Isaiah, “Woe is me! I am doomed.” We long for the fire of God’s cleansing to touch our unclean lips for our iniquity to be removed and our sins wiped out. So we meet Father, Son and Holy Spirit with confession on our lips.
Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.
Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy upon you, +pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
.
Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us; you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer.
For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Let us pray
Holy God, faithful and unchanging: enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth, and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love, that we may truly worship you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Isaiah 40: 12-17, 27-end
Isaiah reading
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
2 Corinthians 13: 11-end
Corinthians reading
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All God’s people here send their greetings. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John
Glory to you, O Lord.
Matthew 28: 16-20
Matthew reading
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Sermon – Revd Canon Nicholas Darby– Revd Canon Nicholas Darby
Sermon audio
Thank you for inviting me to contribute to your worship this morning, Trinity Sunday.
Trinity Sunday is the only Sunday in the year which focuses on a doctrine rather than an event, when we’re encouraged to think a bit about the Christian understanding of God.
You might think that holding to a view of God as Trinity as complicating things unnecessarily or posing the main obstacle to shared understanding with Muslims and Jews. We may have some sympathy with the lady in Stevie Smith’s poem who dismissed God-talk as idle speculation. ‘ Mrs Simpkins, having nothing else to do, Decided that the Trinity wasn’t true, Or at least but a garbled version of the truth And that things had moved on since the days of her youth’.
Well, it is important, and today, Trinity Sunday, we try to summarise what we can say about God, the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It’s an impossible yet necessary task. It is necessary for at least 3 reasons. First, our belief about God is not simply a matter of opinion, it is about truth. It seems to me that the best and ultimately the only reason for being a Christian is because we believe it to be true. Our faith may make us better people;it may bring comfort, it may be enjoyable, but the only satisfying reason is because it is true. Otherwise religion becomes privatised, as we say today, no more than of personal opinion – I can follow my God, while you follow yours – and we know what disasters, distortions and terrors that can lead to. The Christian faith has a particular understanding of God – Trintarian which distinguishes us from the other great Abrahamic faiths -0 Judaism and Islam. We do people of other faiths a disservice- and indeed ourselves if we say that all religions are the same, and ignore our differences.
Second, our understanding of God must have some continuity with the God of the Bible and the first Christians- their God and our God is essentially the same ( which is why the say the creed week by week. ‘ We believe in one God’ ‘ We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ’. ‘We believe in the Holy Spirit’.Together as part of the church, we embrace for ourselves a list of beliefs that point to truths which no words may encompass. We read the signposts pointing us in the right direction towards God, and away from concepts that might lead us astray or leave us with a distorted idea of who he is.
Belief about the Trinity didn’t fall as some fully formed philosophical concept from the deliberations of a working party of theologians. It came out of the prayers and reflections of a community of faith over several centuries – ordinary people who encountered God in their lives – an experience which at times was deeply held and sometimes fiercely defended.
The early Christians came to understand that with Jesus- and his risen life, that had experienced a little of the Kingdom of God. Jesus showed the human face of God himself, But it didn’t stop there. The New Testamentparticularly the Acts of the Apostles tell us that even after Jesus’ acension they still knew the presence of God with them, guiding their life and work together, enabling, empowering and enlivening them – as the spirit of God in their midst. Their God is our God!
Today’s scripture readings hint at how the idea of the Trinity is beginning to emerge – it’s there implicitly in both the epistle and the gospel. ‘ Jesus takes his leave of the disciples at the Ascension with these words;” Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the holy Spirit’. And in the epistle, P:all signs of his letter to the Corinthians with that formula which the church has used ever since.: “ the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you’.
And thirdly, the Trinity is important because it gives us a precious insight into God’ nature. God is love and so at the heart of God himself is relationship – mutuality, community, a giving and receiving . Unity, yes, but not static, its dynamic – the Father ( giving love), Jesus ( receiving love ) and the spirit communicating love. Thinking of God in this way enriches our understanding of his nature. God isn’t an object – he is love, which implies movement, community, relationship.
But all this remains rather abstract unless it connects with us. And the connection is this – Jesus relationship with God is opened up to us too.We are invited to join in the relationship of love that flows within the life of god himself. These things are more effectively conveyed by metaphor, analogy, or visually rather than words alone., and here is one well-known exampleRublev’s icon of the Trinity. ( clear relationship between the three persons, open at the front drawing the viewer, you and me to participate in the life of the Trinity)
I have suggested why the idea of the Trinity is important for us. I haven’t explained the Trinity – but I don’t think it isn’t a matter for explaining. It is a mystery – a truth which in the end we can only contemplate and worship.
Prayers – with thanks to Michael Tonkin
Prayers audio
The mystery of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, is beyond our human understanding, yet closer to us than breathing.
Let us pray for the Church throughout the world, for those of other faiths and beliefs. May the power of the Holy Spirit help to break down barriers between different peoples allowing the love of God to bring us all closer together in understanding and fellowship.
Lord in your mercy…. hear our prayer.
We pray for the Power of the Holy Spirit to allow us to see the world and its needs and problems through the eyes of love, hope, justice and mercy; for the grace to abandon prejudice and build bridges of reconciliation. We remember those Christians being persecuted and driven from their homes in so many parts of our world, because of their beliefs. We pray for the power of The Holy Spirit to bring peace and understanding in the Middle East, in Sudan, Libya, Yemen and between all warring factions.
Lord in your mercy…. hear our prayer.
We pray for our country, may all people of whatever creed or colour enjoy the same freedom and respect, with justice being upheld for all. May our Politians also look beyond their own party political wellbeing to the good of the whole country and those they are meant to represent. As we hopefully move slowly out of the grip of the coronavirus may our prayers be directed to those parts of the world where this Pandemic is still at it’s worst and many third world countries struggle to contain it.
Lord in your mercy…hear our prayer.
We ask for a spirit of loving-kindness to fill our homes. May those children now allowed back to nurseries and schools do so in a spirit of excitement and enjoyment in a safe environment. We also pray for those children still left at home where learning opportunities are not always easy. Encourage us all in an outgoing spirit of love, and let us all be aware of the lonely, the neglected and the unloved, especially those in these times who find themselves isolated at home without family or friends at hand.
Lord in your mercy…. hear our prayer.
We pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to restore those who are sick to wholeness and wellbeing. For courage and patience in all who are suffering, and understanding and kindness for all who are called to care and look after those in need. For all our Nurses and Doctors in the NHS and all those carers in many different environments.
We pray especially today for Alan Hay, Julia Holboro, Annie Kunz, Luci Mitchell-Fry, Joan Pritchard, Johanna Procter, Kevin Willoughby and Max Weston.
Lord in your mercy…..hear our prayer
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We pray for those who walk the dark journey of death and all who mourn and are distressed or angry with God for their loss. May those who mourn be comforted with our Lord’s promise that all those who ‘die in Christ’ are now at rest in the peace and joy of heaven. We remember today Mary Smith, John Axell, Joy Dyer, Pattie Johnson, Norma Williams and Rex Thorne.
Lord in your mercy…. hear our prayer.
We ask for a deeper knowledge and love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the One God, who knows and loves us completely.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son Our Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.
And now we give you thanks, most gracious God, holy and undivided Trinity:
because your have given us the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
that we may grow into your likeness and be changed from glory to glory. Therefore with angels
and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we sing for ever of your glory.
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. +Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
As our Saviour taught us, so we pray
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Blessing
May the Spirit, who hovered over the waters when the world was created, breathe into you the life he gives. Amen.
May the Spirit, who overshadowed Mary when the eternal Son came among us, make you joyful in the service of the Lord. Amen.
May the Spirit, who set the Church on fire upon the day of Pentecost, bring the world alive with the love of the risen Christ. Amen.
And the blessing of God almight, the +Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be with you and those you love, today and always. Amen.
Filled with the Spirit’s power, go in the light and peace of Christ. Alleluia!
Parishes of St Philips and All Saints Kew with St Luke’s Kew
Where all God’s Children are Welcome
Section 1: Isaiah 40: 12-17, 27-end
Prayer: God of love, you speak to us in so many different ways. Open our hearts to the wisdom of your word, that we may understand your truths, and walk in your paths. Amen.
Read the passage through twice:
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor? 14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?
15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. 16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. 17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
27Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Background
This magnificent passage comes at what most commentators believe to be the opening section of a new writer. There are at least 4 potential authors of the book we now call “Isaiah”, and its composition probably spanned over a century of experience. Chapters 40-55 are generally agreed to have been written during the exile in Babylon, and are an encouragement to the Jewish people to broaden their understanding of their God. During the late 7th century BC when this was probably written, most tribal gods were believed to operate only on behalf of their people and within their own borders. In exile, this belief has to be challenged, or the only hope for the people of Israel is to return to their own land – a decision over which they have no control, as they are slaves of the Babylonian Empire. The writer of these chapters sets out a vision of the God of Israel as the only God, the God of the universe, who is universally present with his people and with every people across the whole world. He achieves this task in some of the finest poetry ever to be produced in the Hebrew language.
Some questions
Who is being addressed in this first verse?
What answer is expected to these five questions?
Jewish poetry works in balanced phrases, with the emphasis coming on the second half of the verse eg. v13 “Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord // or instruct the Lord as his counselor?” – ie. it is one thing to work out God’s ways, but quite another to give him any advice. However, the first line of our passage has three lines balancing two in the opening half. Why? What is achieved by this?
This opening verse lays out the foundation of the argument that is to come in the remaining verses – God is beyond us, but he cares for us. Is the writer simply appealing to his readers’ emotions, or is he trying to convey something greater than that? If so, what?
The next few verses pile up impossible images of the created order influencing God. This both distances the reader from God, yet at the same time it is intended to build up the reader’s awareness of the greatness of their God. Does it work?
Lebanon was renowned for its forests at this time, and for the abundant herds of cattle and sheep that could be raised there, yet they would not provide sufficient offerings to appease this mighty God. This is daunting enough, but it is taken even further in the next verse: “Before him all the nations are as nothing // they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.” Is this becoming a little scary? Or off-putting? Do we want our God to think in this way? Is it even true?
The verses that are left out drum home this message – God is greater and stronger and more powerful than anything else on earth – humanity is compared to grasshoppers in God’s sight.
The writer then turns to the complaints of Israel – complaints of a captive people, who believe that their God has abandoned them and cannot be found, as they are outside their own territory, and their temple in Jerusalem has been utterly destroyed. Are those complaints justified? Is it reasonable for such sentiments to be expressed by an exiled and enslaved people?
The answer that God gives (for that is what the prophet wants us to believe – he is writing down the very word of God) is magnificent. It is quoted in the film Chariots of Fire, when the athlete who refuses to race on a Sunday reads this passage in church, which lends it a special resonance. God never tires, God never sleeps, God is on the side of the weary and the powerless. God will renew all things and all people. These lines are intended to be uplifting – do you find them so?
In Babylon, the people of Israel had to find a new way of worshipping their God. They were not allowed to build a temple of their own, and they wouldn’t have wanted to anyway, as the only place for a temple was in Jerusalem. The writings of Isaiah are part of the movement that inspired two incredibly important movements: synagogue worship, and the formalisation of the Old Testament texts. The impact of those movements is still with us today.
We are not able to worship as we would want to at the moment. This is not because we have been conquered, but is part of a world-wide attempt to limit the impact of Covid 19, and churches must play their part in this effort to preserve life and to celebrate mutual care. This passage from Isaiah could play an important part in our current efforts to worship in new ways, and to be encouraged amidst the restrictions of lockdown. This text calls us to re-examine our understanding of God and to increase the limits of his goodness. It also calls us to hold on to the fact that God will always watch over us and support us in our daily lives and struggles. This text also rallies us when we cannot meet together in a sacred space by making all space sacred, even the virtual space of the internet.
List the encouragements to faith and perseverance that are contained in these verses.
How have these verses expanded your understanding of the God of the universe?
Is it still possible for this great God of the universe to be interested in and care for me?
How does this text relate to Trinity Sunday?
Read the passage through again, out loud if possible
Review
What has this passage taught you about
God?
Jesus Christ?
The Church?
Our current situation?
Prayer: Loving God, creator of all and lover of each individual. Fill our hearts with the knowledge of your love, and keep us ever filled with the hope that you alone can give. Amen.
Section 2: 2 Corinthians 13: 11-end
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All God’s people here send their greetings. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Prayer. God of all grace and mercy, open our hearts as we read your word. Help us by your Holy Spirit to see you as you are, and to welcome you into our lives. Amen.
Read the passage through twice:
Background
This short passage is incredibly important for today’s subject: Trinity Sunday. It is only the second time in all the New Testament that the Trinity is so clearly evoked, and historically it was written before Matthew 28. It is also the summation of arguments and counter-arguments about all that was wrong in the church at Corinth that Paul had addressed in his first letter – marriage problems, squabbles over the gifts of the Holy Spirit, bad practice at the Sunday night eucharists, misunderstandings about life after death – the list is endless. Frequently at the end of his letters, Paul grabs the pen from his amenuensis and scribbles the farewell section – this is probably the case here. It is therefore a highly personal and heart-felt piece of writing and deserves careful scrutiny.
Some questions
Paul is incredibly upbeat. How does he manage it? What inspires his instruction to rejoice?
What on earth does “Strive for full restoration” mean? What or who needs restoring? This is addressed to a congregation which is meeting in someone’s house, so it has nothing to do with buildings.
Restoring from what? Restoring to what?
Paul obviously believes that this can happen, but there is urgency in his words. Why?
Is it possible, within a church congregation, to agree with one another? Or does “be of one mind” actually mean something a bit more nuanced?
Are we “of one mind”? If not, why not, and should we be? What might we disagree on?
If this congregation is instructed to “live in peace”, what does that suggest about the current state of affairs? How can Paul’s instructions be enacted, if there is discord and disagreement?
Is the God of love and peace not always with us? It could appear contingent on restoration, unity and “living in peace”
Why the encouragement to greet each other with not just any old kiss but with a holy kiss? What is the difference? (nb. In Graeco-Roman culture at the time, only immediate family members kissed each other in public.) If this Christian greeting is holy, what does it say about the Christian family?
How radical is this teaching?
Should we follow Paul’s exhortation today? We have replaced it with the Peace in our liturgy – is that enough? Does it make the same statement as Paul’s idea of the “holy kiss”? If not, how could it? If that cannot be replicated today, how can we make as strong a statement as Paul wishes?
“All the saints greet you” – Paul speaks on behalf of many – is he justified?
Do we ever send greetings to other groups of Christians? Should we? If so, how? And to what purpose?
The last sentence has passed into liturgical usage, and is commonly known simply as “The Grace”. It has a beautiful simplicity about it while being incredibly complex.
Why are these three attributes applied to the three different members of the Trinity? Why “grace” to Jesus, “love” to God and “fellowship” to the Holy Spirit? Could these be used interchangeably? If not, what does that say about trinity? If they can, what does that say about trinity?
Grace is best defined by the following acrostic
God’s
Riches
At
Christ’s
Expense
Grace in the Christian context is about undeserved favour. We are not worthy of God and of his love. God did not have to do anything about our sinfulness and unfaithfulness to his laws. But God did deal with our sin, God did reveal himself in the person of Jesus Christ – we are the recipients of grace, chiefly through the person of Christ.
Divine love is creative, powerful, biased to the poor – do we believe that? Do we think of those three things when we read these words? Just how big is your concept of God’s love? Can it get any bigger? Should it?
What does “fellowship” really mean? We use it in many ways – academically it can define a particular sort of university teaching role, BAFTA always hands out a “fellowship” at its annual awards ceremony. Christians use it about coffee after church or as part of the value of shared social events. It is so much more than all of those.
The Holy Spirit dwells within us through our baptism, through the indwelling love of God, through communion and through reading God’s word – to name just a few. Are we conscious of that fellowship with us, at all times? If not, why not? If you are aware of that fellowship, what does it feel like?
How easy would it be to share these ideas with others? Do we have an essentially personal response to God? Yet the whole thrust of this farewell is that everything of God should be experienced collectively.
What does this text teach us about the Trinity? Anything at all? Is it helpful in our understanding of God?
We live in altered times. We cannot greet each other with a holy kiss, and probably won’t be allowed to for some time to come. How can we share the peace of the Holy Trinity in these days of lockdown?
Read the passage through again, out loud if possible
Review
What has this passage taught you about
God?
Jesus Christ?
The Church?
Our current situation?
Prayer: Blessed trinity of love, fill our hearts and minds with the knowledge of your continued presence with us and in us, that we may live peace-filled lives and see you in everyone we encounter. Amen
Section 3: Matthew 28: 16-20
Prayer: Loving God, open our hearts to your word. Help us to read, to question and to understand all that you are saying to us. Amen.
Read the passage through twice:
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Background
Matthew’s account of the resurrection is very brief, just 20 verses. It opens with the women going to the tomb, only to find it open, and an angel telling them that Jesus has risen. They are to go and tell the disciples, and on the way they meet the risen Jesus. While they cling on to him, he asks them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee, where they will meet him.
Some questions
There are many mountains in Matthew’s Gospel – the Sermon on the Mount, the Transfiguration, the Mount of Olives and now this one. Why?
This is a very different story from the version in Mark, Luke and John. Why? Is it possible to reconcile the differences? Is it necessary to reconcile those differences?
“When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” The word translated “doubted” here can be rendered as “hesitated” – does that work better?
How might the disciples be feeling at this moment?
Jesus’s words are not what you would expect in this context. There is no explanation of resurrection, no preamble about building the Church, just a statement about Jesus’s new authority and a command to make disciples of all nations. Why?
Who has given Christ “all authority”? and why? What is he going to do with it?
If Christ has been given “all authority”, why does he then give the disciples this task? The one does not necessarily follow from the other, it is not a natural flow. The “therefore” seems a little obscure. What is really going on here?
The disciples had already been out preaching the Kingdom of God during the time that Jesus was with them. What is different about this commission?
The formula “baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” would appear to be a well known one. What does this mean for our understanding of this passage?
We use this formula at baptism today, with the tri-fold application of water. Does this make the person being baptised a disciple?
The 11 are instructed to make disciples, not Christians. What is the difference?
Do you feel that you are a disciple?
What had Jesus commanded his disciples in Matthew’s Gospel? Is it every parable? The entirety of the Sermon on the Mount? All the instructions at the Last Supper? Is there more? Is it sufficient for a disciple’s life?
Jesus promises to be with his disciples always – how important a promise is this? Do we fully believe it?
How is Jesus always with us?
Last week we read about the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in Acts, and Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit on his disciples on that first Easter evening. Is this Matthew’s version of the gift of the Holy Spirit? If so, how does it work?
What happens next?
Read the passage through again, out loud if possible
Review
What has this passage taught you about
God?
Jesus Christ?
The Church?
Our current situation?
Prayer: Loving God, you give us tasks in your kingdom, and fill us with your Holy Spirit to enable us to carry them through. Give us such grace that we may persevere in your work, and rejoice always in the comfort of your Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our worship together is in the name of the + Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you:
and also with you.
Jesus Christ, whom we worship, is our crucified, risen and ascended Lord and we have walked with him through his journey of love. We have faced the agony of his suffering and death on the cross. We have rejoiced at his bursting free from the bonds of death. We have enjoyed his risen presence with us and his revelation of himself through the breaking of bread. We have seen his return to the throne before which every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that this Jesus is Lord. And now, with the followers of his own time, we await the coming of the promised Holy Spirit, his gift to his people, through whom we make Christ known to the world.
Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Confession:
The Spirit of Truth will convict the world of guilt about sin, righteousness and judgement. We have grieved the Holy Spirit, so we confess our sins in penitence and faith.
Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.
Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy upon you, +pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
.
Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us; you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer.
For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Let us pray that the Spirit will work through our lives to bring Christ to the world.
Holy Spirit, sent by the Father, ignite in us your holy fire: strengthen your children with the gift of faith, revive your Church with the breath of love, and renew the face of the earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Acts 2: 1-21
When the day of Pentecost came, the disciples were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
1 Corinthians 12: 3-13
Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John
Glory to you, O Lord.
John 20: 19-23
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Sermon
We have waited a long time for this day. We started back in December, on Advent Sunday, when the great season of waiting begins with a church empty of decoration and a stripped-back liturgy. The promise of God to humanity then grows as the seasons roll from one to the other: first a son is born, then he is baptised and presented to the world as Messiah, only for him to take us into the wilderness for 40 days of self-denial and self-examination. Then come suffering, betrayal, rejection and death on a cross, and burial in a stranger’s tomb. We have celebrated his resurrection, we have wondered at his Ascension and now we come to the fulfilment of yet another promise – the gift of the Holy Spirit. However, just like all the other fulfilments, this one is more than a little strange.
At the top of your liturgy today is a modern Russian icon for Pentecost. It shows in stylized form 10 of the disciples, heads surrounded with haloes, each one holding a flame within it. Four of these saints are holding books – who might they be? One is holding a scroll – who is he? They look this way and that, amazed at what they are experiencing and seeing on each other. Is this how you envisaged the event, as it was read to us this morning? The “violent wind” is a little difficult to portray in such a static representation, maybe, and the interior of the room is very Russian Orthodox in character, but the purpose of an icon is not for us to look at its surface but to pass through the depiction of saints receiving the Holy Spirit to the very presence of God himself. It is like George Herbert’s idea of glass – we can simply look at the piece of glass in the window frame, or look through it “and then the heav’n espy.” Look again at the icon. It is full of human emotion, despite the very still faces and vague gestures, but the radiating lines on the floor and the walls of the room lead us upwards, between the gathered saints, to God. Our eyes are carried up and through the drapery beyond the stage to the reality of the divine.
Pentecost not only leads us upwards to God, though: it is designed to lead us outwards, to the rest of the world. Chris Lynch did a magnificent job with reading all the places from which the crowd in Jerusalem had gathered, so I thought it would be a good idea to find out where they are. I don’t know if you like early evening game shows on TV, but Richard Osman’s House of Games on BBC2 has a round called, “Where’s Kazakhstan?”, during which contestants have to identify towns or venues on a blank map. So here is a map of the Mediterranean world at the time of Pentecost. I have therefore renamed this, “Where’s Cappadocia?”. The green sections at the top represent the barbarian hordes. The red sections are the Roman Empire, the pink are client kingdoms of Rome, and the yellow area is the Parthian Empire, but important, because the Jewish Diaspora, which is fully represented in Luke’s account of Pentecost, goes as far as ancient Babylon – many families stayed there, and are still there, after the Babylonian Exile in the 7th Century BC.
Where did all these people come from? Answer, just about every corner of the Roman world. You can see that from Rome in the west to the land of Elam in the east, from Pontus by the Black Sea to Libya and Egypt in the south, faithful Jews had travelled to fill the Temple on this particular festival – fifty days after Passover, and the first of the barley harvest celebrations. Remember, these are Jews who live outside Israel, in Jerusalem for worship. The disciples making a cacophanous racket, first thing in the morning, would have drawn the crowd, and Peter’s words to them about the Messiah and the gift of the Holy Spirit would have struck a chord with all those who longed for the Messiah’s coming.
I want us now to look at a different sort of picture: Babel, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The half-finished skyscraper as imagined by Bruegel comes from the story in Genesis 11, when the people on earth rebelled against God and built a tower to reach up to heaven to take God down and replace him with themselves. God confounds their plans, and scatters them across the globe, confusing their languages, so that they could no long understand each other when they meet. A fine mythological account of diversity of speech, you would rightly say, but why bring it up here?
Because Luke wants us to make that connection. Here in Jerusalem are people from all round the world, who all speak different languages, suddenly able to understand one person who is speaking to them, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost has started the process of healing Babel. Our scattered peoples are being brought back together into one people, the people of God, by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Just as Christ’s 12 apostles will rebuild the Israel of God as a people who do not need a temple in Jerusalem but can worship him anywhere, so the Holy Spirit will use those 12 apostles to re-unite in one voice the peoples of the world in the worship of God and the service of others. For Luke, the Church is the new creation, the redemption of Adam, the recreation of the Garden of Eden. And just as the Spirit was present at the creation of the world (Genesis 1:1), so the Holy Spirit is present as that process of re-unification gets under way on the day of Pentecost.
We are scattered through Kew and elsewhere because of a deadly virus, shut up in our homes, locked out of our churches. Yet we are brought together as we worship, our language is united as the Spirit pours through us, our prayers are united as we share our common desires and concerns for those we love and for all God’s world.
To mark that unity, and that challenge to take that unity of love and care out from ourselves and into the world to heal it and recreate it, we will finish with a mass candle lighting session. I hope you have candles and matches, as we will shine out with the light of Christ, and dare to take it out into a frightening and as yet unknown world. We, God’s united people, will have to help rebuild it after lockdown. We, God’s united people, will be those who will call for the grace, mercy and generosity that have been demonstrated at local level so powerfully through this lockdown, to be made permanent in government social policy, health policy, housing policy, transport policy, employment policy, tax policy – you name it, what we have engineered and prayed for through this time of lockdown has to be made a permanent feature of our reconstructed society, and the Holy Spirit will lead us in that effort. We are not alone, we are united in God, through the Holy Spirit who binds us to him for ever. Alleluia!
Prayers – with thanks to Harriet Grace
On this Sunday of Pentecost when the disciples were filled with the holy spirit and spoke in tongues, and the crowds outside heard them speaking in their own languages, let us dwell on what this means: the idea that through the disciples, God was reaching out to each one of us, and that we were special enough to be spoken to in a language we would understand. Lord in your mercy hear our prayer…
In this pandemic time of uncertainty about the future we pray for strength to live with not knowing. There are so many things we cannot know. We are being tested in a way we may not have imagined possible. We may find it hard to cope; it may feel unbearable. We pray that your spirit is within us and we can believe you are there; and never feel cut off from your loving presence. Lord in your mercy hear our prayer…
As we come to the end of week ten and lockdown starts easing, we pray for all those who are ill with the Coronavirus at home or in hospital and ask for their quick and full recovery. We pray for their loved ones who may be isolated from them and are living in anguish. Help us to stay with what is happening now and offer our support where we can. We pray that we remember those with underlying conditions or with disabilities who may die when they did not need to; for those who have been self-isolating and have not seen another person for weeks and are now fearful of doing so; for the woman I saw on Thursday who stood at a social distance and told me she was homeless and asked for money. I had none and felt helpless, suspicious and fearful. Grant us your healing love. Lord in your mercy hear our prayer…
We pray for the schools and nurseries who this week will open their doors to some of their pupils and infants. We pray in particular for Queen’s School and for the Barn Nursery and all the teachers and staff who with courage, planning, and foresight are making this possible. We pray that this will safely enhance the lives of all involved and will be a stepping stone to a world where children and students can learn and grow together again. We pray for all those worried about their jobs and their financial future and ask that they are not forgotten; and that our attempt to get back to a new normal will continue successfully.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer…
We thank you for all the good things during this time, that can feel like miracles: the key workers in hospitals – the doctors, the nurses, the cleaners who go in at dawn every day to make hospitals safe, the cleaner at the Royal London Hospital who spoke to Clive Myrie on BBC news and who radiated a spirit of giving. We pray for care workers and thank them for their loving attention, including my granddaughter, who has had mental health issues and who has been working successfully in homes looking after the elderly and has found healing. We thank you for all that we may have learned at this time right down to the Zoom technology and the App required to record these prayers. We thank you for the blessing of sunshine, flickering shadows and light pouring on to us day after day. Lord in your mercy hear our prayer…
We pray for all those who are sick in mind, body or spirit and all those caring for them. In particular: Alan Hay, Julia Holboro, Annie Kunz, Luci Mitchell-Fry, Joan Pritchard, Johanna Procter, Kevin Willoughby, Max Weston
We pray for those who have died and for all those left behind mourning their loss. In particular: John Axell, Joy Dyer, Pattie Johnson, Norma Williams, Rex Thorne, and for those known to us who have died recently and not so recently. Lord in your mercy hear our prayer…
We thank Peter and all at The Barn and St Luke’s who work hard to bring the church to the congregation in their homes, and pray for us all.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son Our Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.
God has made us one in Christ. He has set his seal upon us and, as a pledge of what is to come, has given us the Spirit to dwell in our hearts. Alleluia.
The peace of the Lord be always with you: and also with you.
Be present, be present, Lord Jesus Christ, Our risen high priest;
It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, always and everywhere to give you thanks, almighty and eternal Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord. We give you thanks that, after he had ascended far above all heavens and was seated at the right hand of your majesty, he sent forth upon the universal Church your holy and life-giving Spirit: that through his glorious power the joy of the everlasting gospel might go forth into all the world. Therefore we join with angels and archangels and with all those in whom the Spirit dwells, to proclaim the glory of your name, for ever praising you and saying:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. +Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
As our Saviour taught us, so we pray
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Blessing of Light – please light your candle at this moment
Blessed are you, sovereign God, overflowing in love. With Pentecost dawns the age of the Spirit. Now the flame of heaven rests on every believer. Strong and weak, women and men tell out your word: the young receive visions, the old receive dreams. With the new wine of the Spirit they proclaim your reign of love. Amid the birth pangs of the new creation the way of light is made known. Source of freedom, giver of life, Blessed are you, +Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Blessed be God for ever.
Commission
For fifty days we have celebrated the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ over the power of sin and death. We have proclaimed God’s might acts and we have prayed that the power that was at work when God raised Jesus from the dead might be at work in us. As part of God’s Church here in Kew, I call upon you to live out what you proclaim.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, will you dare to walk into God’s future, trusting him to be your guide?
By the Spirit’s power, we will
Will you dare to embrace each other and grow together in love?
By the Spirit’s power, we will
Will you dare to share your riches in common and minister to each other in need?
By the Spirit’s power, we will
Will you dare to pray for each other until your hearts beat with the longings of God?
By the Spirit’s power, we will
Will you dare to carry the light of Christ into the world’s dark places?
By the Spirit’s power, we will
Blessing
May the Spirit, who hovered over the waters when the world was created, breathe into you the life he gives. Amen.
May the Spirit, who overshadowed Mary when the eternal Son came among us, make you joyful in the service of the Lord. Amen.
May the Spirit, who set the Church on fire upon the day of Pentecost, bring the world alive with the love of the risen Christ. Amen.
And the blessing of God almight, the +Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be with you and those you love, today and always. Amen.
Filled with the Spirit’s power, go in the light and peace of Christ. Alleluia!
Parishes of St Philips and All Saints Kew with St Luke’s Kew
Where all God’s Children are Welcome
Section 1: Acts 2: 1-21
Prayer: Open our hearts, Loving God, to the wonders of your word. May we embrace its teachings and rejoice in all its richness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Read the passage through twice:
When the day of Pentecost came, the disciples were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Background
Luke paints a dynamic picture of the gift of the Holy Spirit to the disciples, but it is couched in very impressionistic language. What actually happened that morning in Jerusalem remains enigmatic, but its effect is still being felt to this day.
Some questions
The scene is set – a room, with all the disciples together. Of which other events does this remind you?
Note how Luke prefaces the sound of the wind – “like a …” and then the tongues of fire – “what seemed to be” – why is Luke so vague?
Why did they start to speak in different languages?
Is this a one-off event, or does it reverse an event in the Old Testament? How might Luke be driving this story? Where is he heading with his depiction of the work of the Holy Spirit (Think Babel).
How would you react if you were in a room where this happened? What would you feel? How positive an experience would this be, or would it be frightening?
They were obviously making a lot of noise – houses in Jerusalem did not have windows as such, but large flaps that swung up and out to provide light and air to the room. Anyone in the street below would have heard everything that was going on in the room. What sort of impression did people outside the house get?
This map provides all the locations from which the different people in the crowd originated from. It is just about everywhere in the Roman Empire at the time, apart from Gaul & Hispania, but that is probably because the Jewish Diaspora took a certain amount of time to reach the newer areas that had been conquered.
All these people had one common language, if not two (Hebrew and Greek), but the Holy Spirit speaks to them in their “own” language – the language in which they are the most comfortable. Why?
Why accuse the disciples of drunkenness?
“What does this mean” the crowd may well ask – so what does it mean?
Peter gets up to speak. Why him?
This is not the whole sermon – it continues for a further 15 verses. Peter goes on to talk about Jesus in terms of Old Testament prophecy, just as he places the action of the Holy Spirit in him and the other disciples in that context. How helpful are his words?
Why choose this passage from Joel – a particularly apocalyptic text?
The release of the Holy Spirit into the world was an expected part of the advent of the Messiah. Up until this point, it was believed that the Holy Spirit came and went from an individual, according to the needs of the moment. Some gained special strenght, others specific words to deliver, but like Amos the shepherd-prophet, each would then return to their day job. This is different – the Holy Spirit will now stay with the disciples and all believers for the whole of their lives. What has brought about this change?
Peter was addressing a Jewish audience, made up of religious people who had travelled long distances to worship God in Jerusalem. In that sense, it was a captive, expectant audience. He therefore tailors his message to his hearers. Is his sermon effective for us today?
Read the passage through again, out loud if possible
Review
What has this passage taught you about
God?
Jesus Christ?
The Church?
Our current situation?
Prayer: Loving God, you live in us day by day through your Holy Spirit. Open our hearts to the power of your love, to the effectiveness of your grace and to the boundless energy that your Spirit alone can bring. Amen.
Section 2: 1 Corinthians 12: 3-13
Prayer: Lead us, Good Lord, as we read your word. May it be fully open to our understanding, and may we be fully open to its teaching. Amen.
Read the passage through twice:
Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Background
. There were many problems in the church in Corinth, but they had particularly serious issues with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We can infer from Paul’s letter that some considered themselves superior to others because of the Spirit’s gifts, while others felt excluded. Paul in this passage lays down some basics about the work of the Holy Spirit, which hold true to this day.
Some questions
Does the opening sentence seriously imply that the Holy Spirit actually controls our speech? Or is it something else, more implicit?
Difference in unity – that is Paul’s theme: “gifts, working, service” – all different, Paul says, but all equal and all for the common good. We need to break them down into understandable categories
Go through the list of effects of the Holy Spirit and separate out “gifts” from “service” and from “working”
Does that begin to make sense?
Each type of manifestation of the work of the Spirit is from God, Paul insists, hence the equality of each. What is the purpose of those different works of the Spirit?
Why spread them out so thinly? Why not give them all to all of us?
There are other lists of what the Spirit does: the rest of this chapter, and Chapter 14, contain an exhaustive account of how the Spirit works in the Church. Which gifts (note: gifts plural) of the Spirit do you think you have?
Can our God-given spiritual gifts change as we develop and grow older?
Are there gifts which you think you may not be using to the full? If so, how can that energy of the Spirit be released here?
Does talk of these gifts make you feel comfortable and encouraged or uncomfortable and suspicious? Why?
Are we a truly Spirit-filled church?
Read the passage through again, out loud if possible
Review
What has this passage taught you about
God?
Jesus Christ?
The Church?
Our current situation?
Prayer: Fill us with your Holy Spirit, loving God, that we may serve you with loving hearts and open minds, in the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.
Section 3: John 20: 19-23
Prayer:
Read the passage through twice:
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Background
We last read this passage on Easter Sunday. This takes place on the evening of that first Easter Day, after Peter and John had seen the empty tomb with Mary Magdalene, and after she had been the first person to meet the risen Jesus in the garden. The disciples have crept out of their hiding places and gathered together in one large room. They had locked the doors, just in case anyone was trying to find them, when the risen Jesus appears in their midst. Remember, this text was probably written for a majority Gentile readership, who would not be familiar with any of the Jewish writings.
Some questions
What state of mind might the disciples be in, given the events of the morning?
Are they expecting Jesus?
How did Jesus get into the room?
“Peace be with you” is a standard Jewish greeting, but is there more than that in Jesus’s words?
Why did he show them his hands and his side? Why is that detail necessary for the narrative?
“The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord” must be one of the great understatements of the New Testament. What other emotions may have been coursing through them at this time?
There is no explanation of resurrection, simply a series of consequences of it for the disciples. Why?
“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” – is this the sort of thing that the disciples were expecting from the risen Jesus? Had they had any prior warning in John’s Gospel of their mission or was this news to them?
John’s account of the gift of the Holy Spirit is completely different from Luke’s – why?
Why does Jesus breath on the disciples?
The opening 14 verses of John’s Gospel are a prelude to the content of the entire book. How do these verses fit with that passage?
There is a strong play between breath and wind both in Greek and in Hebrew. Is this therefore John’s Pentecost, happening at the same time as resurrection?
Is there any conflict between these two accounts of the gift of the Spirit? If yes, does it matter and what does it teach us? If no, why do they differ so greatly?
Why all the talk of forgiving people’s sins? What is John really talking about here? What is the correlation between the disciples and the Church?
We read from John 17 last week, Jesus’s priestly prayer. Is there any continuity between that prayer and these words and actions? If so, was it just for the disciples, or does it cascade down to us, as we believe the Pentecost events Luke describes apply to us?
The Church has coralled the authority to forgive sins to its ordained clergy. Is that in the spirit of John?
Does this version of the gift of the Spirit encourage you and give you energy? If not, why not, and if it does, how?
Read the passage through again, out loud if possible
Review
What has this passage taught you about
God?
Jesus Christ?
The Church?
Our current situation?
Prayer: God of power and love, the risen Christ breathed your Holy Spirit on his grieving disciples on that first day of resurrection. Fill us with that same Spirit, that we may be lifted from our isolation and fear, into the glorious freedom of your family. Amen.
It has been an interesting experience to write a reflection every week for this twice a week series of reflections between Easter and Pentecost or Whitsun as we used to call it. I have sought to bring some words of hope and comfort at a time when the whole World has been suffering from the terrible COVID 19 crisis. Hopefully achieving what Paul urged us to do in 1 Thessalonians – to “Encourage one another and build one another up!” And I tried to bring out the need for Christians to be prepared to suffer in my sermon last Sunday. I have also attempted to compliment Michael’s excellent reflections on Tuesdays.
Although, thankfully, there now seem to be fewer deaths each day as a result of the pandemic and the restrictions on us all are beginning to be eased ever so slightly, it does seem that the crisis is going to still be with us for a while – and the memory of it for a lot longer. We need to go on trusting in the Lord.
The Bible Society recently sent me a little booklet entitled “Words of hope when times are tough”. Several of the quotations in it are from the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah, who also had the nickname of the “Weeping Prophet”, frequently foretold gloom and doom. To be a Jeremiah was to be one who was pessimistic about the present and gloomy about the future. There are plenty of pessimists about at present. But among the quotations that this little booklet from the Bible Society gives are two from Jeremiah that are positive and demonstrate God’s love and concern for his people:
“I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness in exchange for sorrow” (Jeremiah 31 v 13)
“I alone know my purpose for you, says the Lord: prosperity and not misfortune. ….. If you pray to me, I will listen to you: when you seek me, you shall find me.” Jeremiah 29 v 11/12
These are wonderful words of comfort for us all. God has been with us through the difficult times so far and he will continue to be with us in the future. The church buildings may still be closed, but the worship continues. The Zoom services on Sundays have been attracting a good number of people, including people who might not normally be able to join us – our late friend Nigel’s brother joined us from Missouri on Sunday for example.
We have a wonderful faith that supports and sustains us. What more could we want than a God that loves us and cares about us? He is always with us as promised in the words of Jesus in the last verse of St Matthew’s Gospel – “I am with you always, until the end of time”. And that makes everything worthwhile!
To finish with – the first verse of one of my Grandmother’s favourite hymns:
Be thou my Guardian and my Guide, And hear me when I call: Let not my slippery footsteps slide, And hold me lest I fall.
