The Sixth Sunday of Easter
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Prelude, Welcome, and Information Hymn #389 Christ Is Alive! Let Christians Sing |
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The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you
all. And also with
you. Christ is risen! He
is risen indeed! Psalm 98 1O sing to the Lord a
new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have
gotten him victory. 2The Lord has made
known his victory; he has revealed his vindication in the
sight of the nations. 3He has remembered his steadfast
love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the
victory of our God. 4Make a joyful noise to
the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing
praises. 5Sing praises to
the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody. 6With trumpets and the sound of
the horn make a joyful noise before the King,
the Lord. 7Let the sea roar, and all that
fills it; the world and those who live in it. 8Let the floods clap their hands;
let the hills sing together for joy 9at the presence of
the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will
judge the world with righteousness, and the
peoples with equity. This is
the feast of victory for our God.
Alleluia. Power, riches, wisdom and strength, Sing with all the
people of God For the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign. Alleluia. This is the feast of victory for our God, |
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The Lord be with you. And
also with you. Let us pray together. O God, you have prepared for those
who love you joys beyond understanding. Pour into our hearts such love for
you that, loving you above all things, we may obtain your promises, which
exceed all we can desire; through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. |
Reading:
Acts 10:44-48
A reading from the book of the Act of the Apostles
44While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard
the word. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter
were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the
Gentiles, 46for they heard them speaking in tongues and
extolling God. Then Peter said, 47“Can anyone withhold the
water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we
have?” 48So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.
The Word of the Lord
Reading:
1 John 5:1-6
A reading from the first letter of John
5Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and
everyone who loves the parent loves the child. 2By this we know
that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his
commandments. 3For the love of God is this, that we obey his
commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, 4for
whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that
conquers the world, our faith. 5Who is it that conquers the
world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
6This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the
water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that
testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel
Verse:
Alleluia! 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. Alleluia! (John 14:23)
Gospel Reading: John 15:9-17
A reading from the Gospel of John
9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If
you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my
Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said
these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be
complete. 12“This is my commandment, that you love one another
as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to
lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if
you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any
longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have
called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have
heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you.
And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the
Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am
giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Sermon
(added at the end of the document)
Hymn #836 Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
Thanks and Offertory
Prayers
of the Church:
Trusting that new life is ours today through the
risen Jesus, we offer our prayers to God.
[Short
pause]
n Gracious
God of resurrection, the new life you give surrounds us with new
opportunities. Free us to take the risk
of loving as you love us. God of new
life,
Hear
our prayer.
n Gracious
God of resurrection, the new life you give calls us beyond what we have
known. Open us to the possibilities
which your presence offers, and give us the faith to respond. God of new life,
Hear
our prayer.
n Gracious
God of resurrection, the new life you give belongs to our neighbour. Increase our desire to break down the
boundaries we have created between people that your love may shine in this
world. God of new life,
Hear
our prayer.
n Gracious
God of resurrection, you call your church to be a community of love, not only
for each other, but for all of your creation.
Fire us with your Spirit, that we may treat the entire world as
beloved. God of new life,
Hear
our prayer.
n Gracious
God of resurrection, the new life you give brings the hope of healing. Walk with all those who are ill, and with all
those who offer your care. May we all be
agents of your restoring love. God of
new life,
Hear
our prayer.
n Gracious
God of resurrection, the new life you give belongs to the people and world
around us. Inspire us to share all the
gifts you give, that all creation may shine with Easter light. God of new life,
Hear
our prayer.
n Gracious God of resurrection, bless our neighbors in
the Anglican Church of Canada, Trinity Church and their pastor, Archdeacon
Janet Griffith Clarke and Bishop Todd Townsend, bishop of Huron Diocese. God of
new life, Hear our prayer.
Hear
us, gracious and loving God, for the sake of our gracious and living Saviour,
Jesus the Christ.
Amen.
Hymn #880 O God
Beyond All Praising
The
Lord’s Prayer
Finally let us pray for all things as
our Lord would have us ask:
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, and the power,
and the
glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;
your
word has been fulfilled.
My own eyes have seen the salvation
which
you have prepared
in
the sight of every people:
A light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.
Hymn #595 Jesus
Loves Me
Benediction and Sending
The God of hope, who brought again from the dead
that great shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ,
fill us with all joy and peace in believing!
Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Go in peace. Serve the Lord. Thanks
be to God!
§ Jesus goes on to say You are my friends if you do what I command you. It
sounds almost conditional, like an “If… then” statement. What if the friends
don’t do what is commanded? Are they no longer friends of Jesus? That’s a
question that might be looked at later.
§ Right now, we might see that when Jesus talks about
laying down his life for his friends, is he talking about his disciples? Well,
yes, he is. The question then becomes “who are his disciples?”
§ Is it the Twelve who sat with him at the last
supper? Those were the core of his followers and his closest disciples as far
as we know. I think we should include the women that followed him in his
travels in this group. None of the Gospels tell of their presence at this meal
we call the Last Supper. That might have been a cultural thing; to be honest, I
just don’t know if women would be included in a devotional or religious meal
that was not focused on a family group.
§ The group that Jesus was to lay down his life for
includes Judas by the way. Jesus laid down his life for him as well. We don’t
think of that; I know I hadn’t before this sermon’s preparation. All those
around him were included and Judas was there. I don’t like the idea of any one
not being included in the mercy of God.
§ To take the idea of those included a bit further… by
chance, is it us? Are we included?
§ John’s Last Supper discourse is rather long, being a
few chapters of his Gospel. We need to remember why the Gospels were written –
first of all to provide a basis for the belief of the succeeding generations of
Christians, those who would not have the direct experience of Jesus that the
first disciples did. John himself writes Now
Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book. But these are written so that you may
come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that
through believing you may have life in his name. (John 20: 30-31)
§ The meaning of this is the keeping of the
commandments of Jesus is the proof of friendship and discipleship. And what did
Jesus command? This my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you. And he loved those
disciples to the point of his death.
§ This holds for us as well; he loves us, his
present-day disciples to the point of his death. All the writings of the early
Church – the Gospels, the letters of Paul, James, and John, and even the weird
and strange Book of Revelation – are there to show the love of Jesus for his
disciples through all time to those disciples through all time.
There is no need to say “If only I’d been there!” You are here now and so is
the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the love of God and the power of
God. That’s what this means to us now.
§ Let’s go another step. If we are included, what
about everyone else in the world, whether or not they are declared to be
disciples of Jesus? The love of God is present for them as is the laying down
of Jesus’ life. No one is excluded for if anyone is excluded by God, any one
might be excluded! John’s Gospel also tells us For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish
but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into
the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved
through him.
§ [Those who might reject that Good News even though
Jesus laid down his life for them may have a different story, one we won’t go
into now.]
§ Inclusion in the love of God also means forgiveness
for failures, lapses, and infidelities against that love. God forgives us in
the cross of Christ. Jesus forgives his friends; we see it all through the end
of John’s Gospel. We can learn to accept that forgiveness and even forgive
ourselves in time.
§ So finally we might say “What about Judas?” I can’t
say with any certainty, except to certainly say that no one is excluded from
the love of God and justification in Christ.
§ Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! And he is risen
with forgiveness and healing for us all.
This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one
has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
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