SIXTH EASTER (B)

Sunday 6 May 2018

The Examen How have I lived out last week’s Gospel message? … What was tough? … What was rewarding? The Introduction Notice that some form of command appears five times and the word love nine times. Rules feel restrictive. But have you ever thought about rules as guard rails that help you to grow? A gardener uses stakes to protect and support plants in their earliest stages of development. Jesus’ commands won’t inhibit you. Following them might seem to be a challenge, but when we live by those commands, we actually grow in love, holiness, and freedom. How well do you follow Jesus’ commandment to love? The Call to Prayer Leader:

Friends of God, you are called to praise and prayer.

All:

It is our joyful and thankful response to God’s goodness.

Leader:

Friends of God, you are called to hear the Word:

All:

the Word that instructs, the Word that challenges, the Word that reveals the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Leader:

Friends of God, you are called into faith community:

All:

a community that encourages, a community that brings out talent, a community that works in harmony.

Leader:

Friends of God, you are called to far reaching vision:

All:

a vision beyond the local church, even beyond the boundaries of the nation. Our giving and our service will honour the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Scripture

(John 15: 9 – 17)

Narrator: After his last supper with his disciples Jesus talked with them. Jesus 1:

As God has loved me, so have I loved you. Live in my love. If you keep my commandments even as I have kept God’s commandments and live in God’s love.

Jesus 2:

All this I tell you that my joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Jesus 3:

You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer speak of you as slaves, for a slave does not know what the master is about. Instead, I call you friends since I have made known to

you all that I have heard from God who sent me. Jesus 4:

It was not you who chose me; it was I who chose you to go forth and bear fruit. Your fruit must endure so that all you ask God in my name, God will give you.

All:

The command I give you is this: that you love one another.

The Focus

Don’t Like ‘Em, Love ‘Em

It was a long time before I realised that you don’t have to like every Christian. I’ve met a lot of Christians with whom I never want to be friends. Our personalities clash. And I’m sure I’ve driven some of them crazy. But eventually I realised that ‘liking’ and ‘loving’ are totally different. We like our friends. We like people with personalities that mesh with ours. Liking is easy. It kind of comes naturally. But Jesus, in this week’s Gospel, pleads with his disciples to love one another as he loves them. Jesus wants members of his community to sacrifice for each other and the world – even if they aren’t friends and have trouble getting along. That means listening to others’ opinions, putting their needs ahead of yours, putting disagreements or personality clashes aside, and focusing on your common tie – the Christian mission to make the world a better place, especially for poor people. That can be tough. You might have to lead a retreat with someone with whom you’ve had several conflicts. You might have to do community service with people who share none of your other interests. That’s why Jesus tells us to ask God for whatever we need. God’s power can help us love Christians that we have trouble liking or with whom we have conflicts. The Holy Spirit can show us where we are connected, despite our differences, and how we can work together for God’s Kingdom. Remember, we are Jesus’ friends when we follow his commandments, not our own likes and dislikes. And this fractured world desperately needs to see Christians sacrifice for one another – regardless of their differences or conflicts – in a common mission to change the world. The Music Connection (Sunday’s Song) ‘I WILL WAIT’

Mumford and Sons

Babel

(Island Records)

Following the rules means waiting for rewards that may never come in this life. The reward for following the rules is avoiding punishment in many cases, which isn’t a very exciting incentive. However, there is a great reward for following the Commandments, and Heaven comes in addition to others in this life. Jesus did not think up random things for people to do to prove themselves Christians – following the Commandments benefits us in this life as well as in the eyes of God. This song is about waiting for rewards to come, but also knowing that things are improving in the mean time. Key lines:

Now I’ll be bold / As well as strong / And use my head alongside my heart / So tame my flesh / And fix my eyes / A tethered mind freed from the lies / And I’ll kneel down / Wait for now / I’ll kneel down / Know my ground / ‘Cause I will wait, I will wait for you

What rules do you have trouble taking seriously? Why do you think they exist? Do you think the reasons are good, or should the rules be changed? What do you think is a good reason for breaking a rule? Do you think there is ever a good reason for breaking a Commandment? Have you ever had to wait a long time to be acknowledged or rewarded for something you did? Have you ever gone completely without acknowledgment for something you did? How did this make you feel? Do you ever feel unappreciated? How do you deal with these feelings? The Reflection

Miracle on the River Kwai

The soldier began screaming and waving his arms at the grimy group of prisoners. A group of POWs were working on the infamous Burma Railway during World War II when one of the Japanese guards shouted that one of the shovels was missing. The soldier demanded to know which prisoner had stolen the shovel. Ernest Gordon, author of Miracle on the River Kwai, tells the true story:

He began to rant and rave, working himself up into a paranoid fury and ordered whoever was guilty to step forward. No one moved. ‘All die! All die! All die!’ he shrieked, cocking and aiming his rifle at the prisoners. At that moment one man stepped forward, and the guard clubbed him to death with his rifle while he stood silently to attention. When they returned to camp, the tools were counted again, and no shovel was missing. That anonymous soldier sacrificed his life so that his companions could live. Many soldiers – and others – have done the same, of course. It’s often called ‘the supreme sacrifice’. Just about anyone can recognise that such an act is noble and good. Why? Because there is nothing more precious to give away than one’s life. ‘Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down their life for a friend’. (John 15: 13) In the week ahead, be both a giver and seeker of advice. Find a younger person you can offer some wisdom to and find an older-than-you person who can give you some advice. The Connection Jesus calls us friends because he was the Word of God made flesh that lived among us, and he has shared with us everything he heard from the One who sent him. To be a friend of Jesus means to keep his greatest commandment. In verse 12, Jesus gives us his greatest commandment: to love one another. This love originates with God; as God loved the Son, the Son loved his disciples, whom he has commanded to love one another. When love is shared, the joy that Jesus came to share with us will be experienced, and it will be complete. The Action ‘Love one another’. Imagine all the different kinds of love in your life – parents, siblings, friends, boyfriends or girlfriends, grandparents, cousins, mentors, teachers – and assign each kind of love a color in a box of crayons. When you think about all the people you’ve cared about and who have cared about you, you’d probably have a nice array of colors. Love is how we know God (1 John 3:23). When you think about the peak moments of your life so far, and imagine those in the future, most likely, love is a crucial element. Back to your box of crayons. You probably have or will have lots of different colors but even if you only had one it would be enough. To love is to know God. Or as Victor Hugo wrote in Les Miserable, ‘To love another person is to see the face of God’. Read Acts 10: 25 – 26, 34 – 35, 44 – 48. Here is one more example of God reaching beyond the boundaries that human beings have established and showing that his love and mercy are for everyone. Find someone this week who is beyond the boundaries and do something loving for them. It doesn’t have to be candy or flowers, a smile and a hello is a good start. The Commissioning Leader: Love is all you need! All:

The love of a potter for her craft, the love of a sailor for the open water, the love of a mother for her child, the love of a child for a puppy, the love of a teacher for his class, the love of a nurse for her patients, the love of a grandpa for his grandchildren, the love of Christ for his disciples, the love of God for us, God’s children.

Leader: Love is all you need! All:

Amen.

The Song Suggestions

(Song suggestions taken from ‘Spirit & Song’ Spirit & Song/OCP Publications)

I COULD SING OF YOUR LOVE FOREVER Martin Smith

LOVE HAS COME Matt Maher

The Question of the Week If a word or phrase from the Gospel grabs your heart: sit quietly for a few moments, repeating it to yourself and asking God to show you how it applies to your life. Perhaps even journal on the following question: • Whom am I being called to love, even though I don’t yet like the person?