St Martin's & St Paul's
Parish Canterbury
St Martin's & St Paul's
Parish Canterbury
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We are now drawing near to the end of the season of Easter, the Sundays taking us from Easter to the Ascension, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the establishment of our Trinitarian faith on Trinity Sunday.
The first lesson from the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 10, anticipates Pentecost. In St John's Gospel, Chapter 3, Jesus had told Nicodemus that the Spirit of God would go where it chose: " it is like the wind…you do not know where it comes from nor where it is going". The Apostles discovered the truth of this when Peter found that some Gentiles led by the Roman Cornelius had received the Holy Spirit of God even before they had been baptized. This experience also points to one of the tensions that has existed in the Church since its beginning - the tension between the authority of Church Order and the moving of the Holy Spirit. Peter recognised the activity of the Spirit but he also recognised to draw the life of that particular community into the fellowship of the Church through the ministry of Baptism.
The Gospel reading today (John Chapter 15) shows Jesus with his disciples shortly before his suffering and death. He commands them to love one another. It is a simple but significant request, and it continues to challenge a Church in which there is disunity and disaffection. He also tells his disciples that they did not choose him: he chose them. If we believe that the dynamic of the life of faith is all down to us then we will be struggling and competing; if we remember that we belong to a body of people chosen by God for his work then we may be more inclined to simply share the wonder of that privilege, and listen to one another.
It would be wonderful to spend the rest of the year enjoying Easter and the resurrection of Christ but we have to move on, to be empowered by his Spirit to be his body in the world and to continue his work in our time.
Amen
.