Easter 6 

Opening Verse of Scripture Psalm 66:1

Shout to God with joy, everyone on earth! Sing about the glory of his name! Give him glorious praise!

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray

God our redeemer, you have delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your Son: grant, that as by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Risen Christ, by the lakeside you renewed your call to your disciples: help your Church to obey your command and draw the nations to the fire of your love, to the glory of God the Father.

First Bible Reading Acts 17.22–31

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said,
“For we too are his offspring.” Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’

Second Reading 1 Peter 3.13–22

Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Gospel Reading   John 14.15–21

'If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. ‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’

Post Communion Prayer

God our Father, whose Son Jesus Christ gives the water of eternal life: may we thirst for you, the spring of life and source of goodness, through him who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Commentary    The Holy Spirit who is with us

The Gospel passage in today’s reading is framed by human anxiety about the absence of Jesus and ultimately about the absence of God. The Chapter opens with the words, ‘Do not let your heats be troubled…’, Jn 14 v 1; and closes with the passage, ‘Peace I leave with you… …do not be afraid’, Jn 14 v 27). John does not seem to try to deny anxiety or distress, but in the centre of the passage, our reading today, he records a promise confirming that the presence of God will be with us for ever whatever our circumstances. A presence of God which offers us love, comfort, peace and support and which are inextricably intertwined with an obedience to the divine nature and will of God. A command to love, coupled with the requirement for obedience and the promise of the Spirit. The Spirit who assists all believers from the moment of their first encounter with God through on into everlasting life. The Spirit who helps believers to put their faith into action, to love others, to be obedient to God and to have real peace. The Spirit who’s presence is both continuous (right now) and eternal (forever).

As He speaks in this passage Jesus is preparing His disciples for the day when He will no longer be with them as a physical presence, an event we remember on Ascension Day this coming Thursday. On Ascension Day we recall the moment when Jesus seemed to part from His disciples - and from the world. One of the hardest things to do is to part from those we love and it must be even harder when we have to part form someone on whom we have relied. The disciples had come to rely on Jesus. They had shared a common life with Him for three years, they had seen the great things He had done - and found that they shared some of His gift for healing and proclaiming the Kingdom. Jesus had conquered death and many of the disciples probably assumed He would therefore be with them forever. 

That was not to be the case, Jesus was going to leave them in bodily form, but He was not going to leave them as orphans with no-one to protect them. He would still be with them, but not in a way that they expected or understood. He was to be with them in His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of love and truth which comes from the Father and the Son, the third Person of the divine Trinity. The Spirit through which He is with us. The Spirit through which we are able to enter into eternal life. There are various translations for the word Holy Spirit (Paracletos) which are used in the original Greek version of the passage for the Holy Spirit. Comforter, advocate and “someone who walks with you to give comfort, counsel, or strength in time of need” are all used. The Holy Spirit was to comfort the disciples in their time of sorrow, loss and fear. He would be their advocate as they sought justice for the alienated and mercy from God. He would walk with them at all times, leading, guiding and supporting them on our journey through into eternity. 

In Bette Midler’s song, ‘From a distance’, the lyrics speak of a God who is watching us from a distance. This may be true and God may indeed be watching us from a distance. But He is not a distant God. He is here with is now through His Holy Spirit in a relationship which is close, intimate and real. As we experience that relationship, the same relationship as the disciples experienced, we begin to catch a glimpse of what it means when Jesus says, "On that day, you will understand that I am in My Father - and you in Me and I in you”. Understand that those who love God and follows Jesus' commands will know and be loved by God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Understand that they will be in God, and God will be in them. Understand that through the Holy Spirit we become no less than part of the mortal and divine nature of God Himself. Sam Cappleman

Meditation

We share many human traits with the ancient Athenians that Paul encounters. We, as they, can prefer our divinity safely packaged -- appropriately in gold, silver or stone -- and in containers of our own construction. We, as they, can prefer our humanity safely packaged too, in prejudices and systems of our own construction, constructions we even sometimes attribute to God. Paul will have none of it. He introduces the Athenians to a God of the unknown, one that cannot be constrained in any construct of human making, whether shrine or prejudice. Paul doesn’t just exhort the Athenians to trade the gods they know for the God he knows, He asks them to trade the gods they safely know for the God who by nature cannot be known at all. To offer their humanity to His divinity, to step out in faith from the known to the unknown with ‘the God who made the world and everything in it’. 

Hymns

• Now is Christ risen from the dead (Tune Lasst uns erfreuen)
• At your feet we fall, mighty risen Lord
• The head that once was crowned with thorns (Tune St Magnus)
• Christ is made the sure foundation
• Hail, thou once despised Jesus (Tune Austria)
• Christ is alive! Let Christians sing. (Tune Truro)
• Longing for light, we wait in darkness
• Come down, O Love divine (Tune Down Ampney) 
• As we live and have our being (Tune Sussex)
• Love divine, all loves excelling (Tune Blaenwern) 
• Jesus is King
• Majesty
• This Joyful Eastertide
• All shall be well (Tune: Song 46)
• The Spirit lives to set us free 
• Lord of creation
• A new commandment 
• Come an praise the Lord our King 
• Your mercy flows 
• May the mind of Christ my Saviour
• O thou who camest from above 
• Be bold, be strong
• Teach me, my God and King
• Take my life and let it be
• O Jesus I have promised

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

lory to you, O Champion of all Loves, who for our sake endured the cross, encountered the enemy and tasted death. Glory be to you, O King of all Kings, who for our salvation wrestled with principalities and powers, subdued the forces of hell and won the greatest of all victories. To you be all praise, all glory and all love; now and for ever. Amen. Thomas Ken, 1637-1711 

Lord Jesus we praise you that you promise to be with us to comfort us and to strengthen us in your service. Now we pray that your Holy Spirit would so direct and govern our lives that we might at all time show forth our love for you in acts of obedience and faithfulness. Amen. 

Eternal God, give us insight to discern your will for us, to give up what harms us, and to seek the perfection we are promised in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

God of power, may the boldness of your Spirit transform us, may the gentleness of your Spirit lead us, and may the gifts of your Holy Spirit equip us to serve and worship you, now and always. Amen

Govern all by your wisdom, O Lord, so that my soul may always be serving you as you will, and not as I may choose. Do not punish me, I beg you, by granting what I wish or ask if it offends your love which should always live in me. Let me die to myself, so that I may serve you; let me live for you, who in yourself are the true life. Amen St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582).

Christ give you the grace to grow in holiness, to deny yourselves, take up your cross, and follow Him; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen

God of mercy, as we rejoice in the resurrection of your Son, the Bread of Life, feed us with your plenty and increase in us compassion for the hungry; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

God of mercy, as we rejoice ion the resurrection of your Son, the Bread of Life, feed us with your plenty and increase in us compassion for the hungry;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Additional Material

Commentary Commentary: I will not leave you desolate (John 14:15-21) 

This passage takes place at the Last Supper and represents Jesus' attempt to prepare the disciples for what is coming. He introduces two great ideas. First, 'If you love, me, you will keep my commandments....' Second, 'I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.... I will not leave you orphaned" (vv. 16, 18). 1. It is tempting for all of us to talk about God's love without mentioning our duty to obey. We think of God's love as unconditional, but of course love produces obedience, so the passage begins and ends by tying love to obedience. 

Our obedience is a sign of our love, faithfulness to Jesus' words is a defining mark of true discipleship (8:31; 37, 51; 12:47-48). The love that Jesus commands is not sentimental feeling, which cannot be commanded, but loving action, which can be. The commandment to love is an open-ended one, in contrast to most Torah laws, which are very specific. It is easy to judge whether one has been faithful to a particular Torah law, but how can one claim to have fulfilled the demands of love? 

The commandments of Jesus are not simply moral precepts; they involve a whole way of life in loving union with him. 2. The Father "will give you another Advocate (parakletos)" (v. 16). This is the Spirit that descended on Jesus at his baptism (1:32), although the word there is pneuma and the word here is parakletos. This is the first time that Jesus promises the Spirit to the disciples. Parakletos is used only five times in the NT, four times in this Gospel to refer to the Spirit (14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7) and once in 1 John 2:1 to refer to Jesus. Parakletos can mean a lawyer who pleads your case or a witness who testifies in your behalf. It can refer to a person who gives comfort, counsel, or strength in time of need. The literal meaning is "someone called in; but it is the reason why the person is called in which gives the word its distinctive associations.... Always a parakletos is someone called in to help when the person who calls him in is in trouble or distress or doubt or bewilderment. Parakletos has been translated Advocate, Counselor, Comforter, and Intercessor, but each of those expresses only one facet of parakletos. The original readers of this Gospel would have heard the full richness of its various meanings. Some Bibles use the word Paraclete, which is not an English word but a transliteration of the Greek word. The problem with that approach is that most people don't know what a Paraclete is! 

Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as "another parakletos," the implication being that Jesus is also a parakletos. Even though the Spirit-parakletos is coming, Jesus continues to be our parakletos. "But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1). Here the ascended Lord is viewed as a Paraclete in the court of heaven, pleading the cause of his own; the Holy Spirit is then understood as the Paraclete from heaven, supporting and representing the disciples in the face of a hostile world.