The readings for this Sunday are those of the Sixth Sunday of Easter:

• Acts 10. 44-48
• Psalm 98
• 1 John 5. 1-6
• John 15.1-17

You might like to use the link below to find the above readings, and click on any of the reading above that you wish to use: http://www.katapi.org.uk/CommonWorship/CWLectionarySelV.php

Collect of the day

Let us first spend a few moments in silence to centre ourselves,
to gather ourselves in our souls,
to come before the Lord just as we are with our joys and sorrows,
our hopes and our fears, our loves and our pains.
Let us just focus our minds and hearts on Jesus who is the answer for every problem.
Let us pray that the Spirit will work through our lives
to bring Christ to the world.

Silence is kept

Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death
to make all things new in him:
grant that we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honour, glory and might,
now and in all eternity.

Amen.

God of glory,
by the raising of your Son
you have broken the chains of death and hell:
fill your Church with faith and hope;
for a new day has dawned
and the way to life stands open
in our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Prayer before the Sermon

Loving Heavenly Father,
we thank you for the words you have given us today.
We know they are words of life and salvation.
Open our hearts O Father,
touch our souls,
help us to respond to your word
and know that you are indeed our Lord and Saviour.
May we experience in our hearts
your love and your presence always.

Amen.

A homily based on the readings of today is given below:

Jesus says: “Abide in me and you will bear much fruit…” (cf. John 15. 1-17

The other day I was talking with a friend. I asked him: ‘How are you? How are things working out for you? How is your family, work?’ He told me that things are not that good, he was not that well and also a couple of family members had health issues.  But he said, “I have had 74 lovely years of life. I can’t complain. Now, it doesn’t matter what happens, I’m ready for all.” I thought, ‘gosh, that was a lovely attitude indeed!’ It was like, my friend had discovered the meaning of life, a revelation, a ‘Damascus’ moment, a flash of light. He was happy and seemed contented with life, ready for anything!

Such moments of revelation and meaning could be called ‘kairos’ moments. Kairos is an ancient Greek word meaning a propitious moment for decision or action. For each of us, as we grow and develop, there are critical Kairos moments when we stand on the edge of new possibilities. We need to recognise these occasions when they come, bring them to God and respond courageously. That is not easy, for these moments contain within themselves death and resurrection, brokenness and break-out.” [1]

Saint Augustine had a similar “Kairos” moment in his life when he recognised the meaning of life and his Christian faith. He declared in his autobiography, “Confessions”: “Late have I loved thee, thou art Beauty itself, ancient of days yet ever new. Too late have I loved thee! … Thou wert with me but I was not with Thee …”[2]

We often come to a point in our lives when we are challenged to make a life decision that can affect the rest of our lives. In the poem ‘The road less travelled by’ Robert Frost writes:

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost – 1874-1963

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both …

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.[3]

Often in our lives, we too are challenged to take ‘the road less travelled’, but the right road for us.

In the gospel Jesus using the metaphor of the vine and the branches tells us: “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.” (5)

I think these words of Jesus is a ‘Kairos’ moment for us today. A moment of decision. It is a challenge to take the road less travelled by that will make all the difference in our christian lives. Allow me, therefore,  to focus only on these words of Jesus: “Abide in me as I abide in  you and you will bear much fruit.”

In the words of the great missionary to China James Hudson Taylor (21 May 1832 – 3 June 1905), the Christian life is a life of abiding in Christ. “How does the branch bear fruit? Not by incessant effort for sunshine and air; not by vain struggles for those vivifying influences which give beauty to the blossom, and verdure to the leaf: it simply abides in the vine, in silent and undisturbed union, and blossoms and fruit appear as of spontaneous growth.

“How, then, shall a Christian bear fruit? By efforts and struggles to obtain that which is freely given; by meditations on watchfulness, on prayer, on action, on temptation, and on dangers? No: there must be a full concentration of the thoughts and affections on Christ; a complete surrender of the whole being to Him; a constant looking to Him for grace. Christians in whom these dispositions are once firmly fixed go on calmly as the infant borne in the arms of its mother.”[4]

In other words, the vine and the branches is an analogy that helps us to understand our relationship to Christ. We are to have a constant and permanent relationship of communion and interaction with Jesus. A relationship with Jesus in our thoughts, our desires, our decisions, our actions! In other words to have a relationship of spiritual intimacy with him all the time, everywhere, and nourished by quality time with God in quiet prayer! it is in this is the context in which Jesus promises us that we will receive whatever we ask of God.

Mother Teresa’s[5] sisters devote their lives to seeking out and caring for the poorest of the poor, the sick and the homeless. Each day, before they go out into the streets of Calcutta to minister to the sick and the dying and the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa’s sisters spend two to three hours in prayer, assisting at Mass, and in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Once someone asked Mother Teresa how she could justify her sisters’ spending so much time in private prayer instead of using that time to serve the sick and the poor. Mother Teresa replied, “If my sisters did not spend so much time in prayer, they could not serve the sick and the poor at all”. Their prayer before the Holy Eucharist is the source of the strength that enabled them to carry out their extremely difficult apostolate.

If you think your Christian life makes no sense and it doesn’t affect your daily life, then there is a problem, a real problem. But Jesus gives us the antidote, the answer to any emptiness, meaninglessness or aimlessness in our lives. He is very clear as to what we are expected to do to change the equation. His words are challenging and requires our response, a decision.

“Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.” When there is such an abiding union with Jesus, we can confidently ask Jesus for blessings which he will honour.

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

To conclude, the Word of God today presents to us a general characterisation of the Christian life. It teaches us about the necessity of abiding (remaining) or indwelling with Jesus. That is the only way a Christian will bear fruit in life. Abiding in Jesus Christ!

Please spend some time in silence, responding to what you have heard today and listening to what God might be saying to you in your heart ….

Pause to pray …

A further Prayer you can say now:

Lord Jesus,
I believe you are the Son of God.
Thank you for becoming one of us.
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.
Thank you for rising from the dead
to give me hope and the gift of eternal life.

I repent of my sins
and invite you into heart and life
as my Lord and Saviour.
Please grant me your Holy Spirit
so that I may know you, love you
and follow you every day of my life.

Amen.

[Revd Dr ST Mattapally, Rector, Springline Parish, Diocese of Lincoln]

[1] Stuckey, Tom, “On the Edge of Pentecost” (Inspire 2007), p 149

[2] Ibid p., 152 (quoting St Augustine)

[3] From The Poetry of Robert Frost by Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright 1916, 1923, 1928, 1930, 1934, 1939, 1947, 1949, © 1969 by Holt Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Copyright 1936, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1953, 1954, © 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962 by Robert Frost. Copyright © 1962, 1967, 1970 by Leslie Frost Ballantine.

[4] Stanley, Charles, “The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life” (Word Publishing UK Milton Keynes, 1993), pp 58-59

[5] Mother Teresa is now declared as a ‘saint’ in the RC Church.