Ordo for the Sixth Sunday of Easter (RCL Easter 6B, 6 May 2018)

The Sixth Sunday of Easter

6 May 2018

The Gathering of the Community

Gathering Music

Announcements

Opening Hymn

‘Alleluia!  Give Glory to God’  Common Praise#457 vv. 1, 4, 5, 6

Greeting

Alleluia!  Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

May his grace and peace be with you.

May he fill our hearts with joy.

Hymn of Praise

‘Glory, in the Highest Glory’ Common Praise#366

Collect of the Day

Let us pray.

God of abiding love,

you dare to call us friends.

Take our fragmented hearts,

command them to love,

and make whole our joy,

which is our life, reborn in Jesus Christ,

who laid down his life for us.  Amen.[1]

The Proclamation of the Word

The First Reading: Acts 10.44-48

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

            ^10.44While 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.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

Thanks be to God.

The Psalm:  Psalm 98 (sung to Common Praise #60)

Sing to the Lord new songs, proclaim

the marvels God has done

with a strong hand and holy arm,

the triumph God has won.

You have made known your righteousness

for all the world to see;

Israel has known your faithfulness,

the earth your victory.

All nations, shout with joy to God,

lift up your voice and sing;

Sing to the Lord now with the harp,

let harp and voices ring.

With trumpets and the sound of horns

rejoice before the Lord;

from all who dwell on land and sea

let praises be outpoured.

Let hills ring out with joy to God,

let rivers clap their hands;

in righteousness shall all be judged,

in equity all lands. [2]

The Second Reading: 1 John 5.1-6

A reading from the First Letter of John.

            ^5.1Everyone 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.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

Thanks be to God.

Hymn before the Gospel

‘Jesus Is Risen from the Grave’ Common Praise#232 v. 1

The Gospel:  John 15.9-17

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

^15.9[Jesus said to his disciples,] “As 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.”

The Gospel of Christ.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Hymn after the Gospel

‘Jesus Is Risen from the Grave’ Common Praise#232 v. 7

The Sermon

The Apostles’ Creed

Let us confess the faith of our baptism.

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again;

he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.  Amen.[3]

The Prayers of the Community

Intercessions, Petitions and Thanksgivings

The Exchange of the Peace

The peace of the risen Christ be with you all.

And also with you.

The Holy Communion

The Offertory Hymn

‘Draw the Circle Wide’  Common Praise#418

The Prayer over the Gifts

Let us pray.

Blessed are you, O God, ruler of heaven and earth.

Day by day you shower us with blessings.

As you have raised us to new life in Christ,

give us glad and generous hearts,

ready to praise you and to respond to those in need,

through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.[4]

The Great Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

All thanks and praise are yours 

at all times and in all places, our true and loving God; 

through Jesus Christ, your eternal Word, 

the Wisdom from on high by whom you created all things.  

You laid the foundations of the world 

and enclosed the sea when it burst out from the womb.  

You brought forth all creatures of the earth 

and gave breath to humankind.

Wondrous are you, Holy One of Blessing, 

all you create is a sign of hope for our journey.  

And so as the morning stars sing your praises 

we join the heavenly beings and all creation as we shout with joy:

You are holy, you are whole. 

You are always ever more than we ever understand.  

Blessed are you coming here to your church in wine and bread, 

raised from soil, raised from dead.

You are holy, you are wholeness,

you are present.  Let the cosmos praise you, Lord!

Sing hosanna in the highest! Sing hosanna!

Sing hosanna to our God! [5]

Glory and honour are yours, Creator of all, 

your Word has never been silent; 

you called a people to yourself, as a light to the nations, 

you delivered them from bondage 

and led them to a land of promise. 

Of your grace, you gave Jesus to be human, 

to share our life, to proclaim the coming of your holy reign 

and give himself for us, a fragrant offering.

Through Jesus Christ our Redeemer, 

you have freed us from sin, 

brought us into your life, 

reconciled us to you, 

and restored us to the glory you intend for us.

We thank you that on the night before he died for us 

Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks to you, 

he broke it, gave it to his friends and said:  

‘Take, eat, this is my body, broken for you.  

Do this for the remembrance of me.’

After supper Jesus took the cup of wine, 

said the blessing, gave it to his friends and said:  

‘Drink this, all of you: 

this cup is the new covenant in my blood, 

poured out for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.  

Do this for the remembrance of me.’

Therefore let us proclaim our hope:

Dying, you destroyed our death.  

Rising, you restored our life.  

Christ Jesus, come in glory!

Send your Holy Spirit upon us 

and upon these gifts of bread and wine 

so that they may be to us the body and blood of your Christ.  

Grant that we, burning with your Spirit’s power, 

may be a people of hope, justice and love.

Giver of life, draw us together in the body of Christ, 

and in the fullness of time gather us with all your people 

into the joy of our true eternal home.

Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ, 

by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, 

we worship you our God and Creator in voices of unending praise.

Blessed are you now and for ever.  Amen. [6]

The Lord’s Prayer

As our Saviour taught us, let us pray:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial,

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

and the glory are yours,

now and for ever.  Amen.[7]

The Breaking of the Bread

Lord, we died with you on the cross.

Now we re raised to new life.

We were buried in your tomb.

Now we share in your resurrection.

Live in us, so that we may live in you.[8]

These are the gifts of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

The Communion of the Community

The Hymn after Communion

‘Like the Murmur of the Dove’s Song’ Common Praise#635

The Sending Forth of the Community

The Prayer after Communion

Let us pray.

Life-giving God,

in the mystery of Christ’s resurrection

you send light to conquer darkness,

water to give new life

and the bread of heaven to nourish your people.

Send us forth as witnesses to your Son’s resurrection,

so that we may show your glory to all the world,

through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord.  Amen.[9]

Glory to God,

whose power, working in us,

can do infinitely more

than we can ask or imagine.

Glory to God from generation to generation,

in the Church and in Christ Jesus,

for ever and ever.  Amen.

Closing Hymn

‘The Kingdom of God Is Justice and Joy’  Common Praise#631

The Dismissal

Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Go forth to love one another as Christ loved us.

Thanks be to God.  Alleluia! Alleluia! 

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[1]Liturgy Task Force(2016), 73.

[2]Psalm 98 in A New Metrical Psalter (1986) alt.

[3]Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 105.

[4]Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 64 alt.

[5]Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006) #525.

[6]Enriching Our Worship (1998), 62-65 alt.

[7]Songs for a Gospel People (1987) #12.

[8]The Book of Alternative Services (1985), 213 alt.

[9]Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 65 alt.

What Kind of Love Is This

What Kind of Love Is This?

Reflections on 1 John 4.7-21

 

RCL Easter 5B

29 April 2018

 

Saint Faith’s Anglican Church

Vancouver BC

Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on the 29th.

1 John 4.7-21[1]

            ^4.7Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.  ⁹God’s love was revealed among us in this way:  God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.  ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  ¹¹Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.  ¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

            ¹³By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.  ¹⁴And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world.  ¹⁵God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.  ¹⁶So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

            God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.  ¹⁷Love has been perfected among us in this:  that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world.  ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.  ¹⁹We love because he first loved us.  ²⁰Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.  ²¹The commandment we have from him is this:  those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

What Kind of Love Is This?

         One of the challenges that any teacher of ancient and modern languages faces is that of nuance.  For example, let’s take the situation of someone reporting that they are ill.  In English I can state that fact that Jack is ill if I have seen him or talked to him or received a note from a physician.  But what if I haven’t seen Jack or talked to him or received a note from a physician?  Well, if I’m told that Jack is sick by someone reliable, I might say that Jack is apparently ill or that I’ve been told that he’s ill.  But if I really doubt that Jack is ill because I think he’s taking time away to watch the hockey play-offs, I might roll my eyes, lift my eyebrows and say, ‘Well, Jack’s sick(wink, wink, nudge, nudge).’

         The German language is a bit more precise and actually changes the verb:  Jack ist krank(fact).  Jack sei krank (probability).  Jack wäre krank(doubt).

         We run into this challenge whenever we read or hear the New Testament in English translation.  What contemporary North American English tends to express through gesture and inflection, New Testament Greek expresses through precise words in a variety of forms.  Perhaps there is no more challenging concept to translate from New Testament Greek into contemporary English than ‘love’.  Whenever I hear someone use the word ‘love’, I am often tempted to probe what they actually mean.  What kind of love are they talking about?

Possession as Love

         Sometimes people say that they ‘love’ something when what they really mean is that they enjoy possessing what they are speaking about. They may ‘love’ their car or ‘love’ their house or even ‘love’ their personal appearance.  It’s love as a one-way street:  my car doesn’t love me nor my house nor my appearance.  It is the pleasure of possession that has captured me.

         But love as the pleasure of possessing something is not the love the writer of 1 John is describing.  What we possess, we can lose.  The fear of losing our possessions can lead us into a defensive shell; we can become ‘hoarders’ who have no idea what we own and only take pleasure in possessing. It is not a step on the way towards the love the writer of 1 John encourages us to express.

Obligation as Love

         Sometimes people say that they ‘love’ something or someone because they have an obligation to that object or person.  I remember when Owen was quite young. There was a children’s television programme that was something like the Flintstones only with dinosaurs.  The youngest in the family, an annoying, self-centred and more than mischievous  creature, was regularly heard to say, ‘I’m the baby; you gotta love me!’  Every once and a while Owen would smile at his parents and older siblings and then chime, ‘I’m the baby; you gotta love me!’

         The decision to have children brings the obligation to care for them, to nurture them, to do all that is possible to ensure their future.  It’s not always fun and the frustrations are many.  But our love for our children or our nieces and nephews or our grandchildren or children for whom we have some responsibility is coloured partly by our obligation, our duty of care.

         But love as obligation is not the kind of love the writer of 1 John is describing.  Love as obligation can lead to anger, to the feeling of being trapped, to the fear of being irresponsible.  I have known parents who cannot accept that their adult children are responsible for their own choices, as painful as such acceptance is.  Somewhere deep inside the parent hears the voice, ‘I’m the baby; you gotta love me!’ and guilt plants its roots firmly in the soul.  

         Obligation can be a step on the path towards the kind of love the writer of 1 John wants us to experience.  Because God loves us, perhaps we have some obligation in return. But God desires more.

Affection as Love

         Sometimes when we say that we ‘love’ someone, we are describing affection, the sense of having an affinity for another person. Friendship, a vital part of healthy life, is a relationship based upon such affinity.  For often mysterious reasons we are attracted to other people, even when their tastes are different from our own, even when their style of life differs considerably from our own.  We share confidences in the expectation that our friends will honour our trust.  We open windows into our inner selves in the expectation that only warmth and sunshine will enter.

         But our affections are sometimes betrayed.  Our confidences become ‘tweets’ and our inner selves are blasted by cold winds that usher in shadows.  Friendship, as important a form of love as it is, is not the kind of love the writer of 1 John is describing.  It is a step on the journey towards such a love; after all, in the Gospel according to John, Jesus calls his disciples ‘friends’.  But it is not yet our destination.

Devotion as Love

         Sometimes obligation and affection turn our love into something deeper, something more enduring, something that fear cannot undermine. It is this deeper, more enduring and more fear-resistant expression of love that the writer of 1 John urges his fellow believers, both those to whom he wrote so long ago and to us who hear these words unleashed upon us in our time and in our place.  This love is the love we call devotion.

         Devotion is love that commits itself to a particular way of being and that holds nothing back from the object of its devotion. Devotion, unlike possession, is a two-way street; we offer, we receive many times over from the object of our devotion.  For Christians the object of our devotion is the God made known to us in the life, death and resurrection of Christ:  “God’s love was revealed among us in this way:  God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” [2]

         We can love God and others because we feel obliged; we can love God and others because we feel affection.  But we only touch the love for God and for others we were created to know when we devote ourselves, our souls and bodies, our minds and strength to love as God has loved us.

         What I as your priest say to you today is nothing new; we have all heard it time and time again in the words of the Scriptures, in the prayers we offer and in the words we speak to God and to one another. But in times such as ours, when some people fear that the demise of Christian communities such as ours is just over the horizon, in such times we are beckoned to renew our devotion, the self-giving love that knows that it is the giving of ourselves to God and to others that we receive life in all its fullness.

         What kind of love is this?  The only love we truly need, the only love we truly seek, the only love worthy of the God in whom we believe.

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[1]1 John 4.7-21 (New Revised Standard Version).

[2]1 John 4.9-12 (New Revised Standard Version).