We begin today the sixth week of Easter. 35 days of Easter have gone and 15 remain. But, of course, what Easter is about, the resurrection of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit does not stop in 15 days time. The resurrection of Jesus to eternal life and his heavenly throne, and the sending of the Holy Spirit are permanent realities. The fact that Sunday is the Christian day par excellence witnesses to that. Sunday is the Lord’s day, the day that reminds us of the first Easter Day and Sunday worship embeds us regularly in the saving reality of Jesus.
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the story of the early Church, tells of the coming of the Spirit on a group of Christian converts. While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. This manifested itself by ‘speaking in tongues and extolling God’. Clearly it was an intense and life changing experience. The Church is a society infused with the Holy Spirit. In the words of the Grace, we are the ‘fellowship of the Holy Spirit’. The Holy Spirit is given to each individual irrevocably at baptism and confirmation and is a present reality in our lives as Christians. The Holy Spirit gives manifold gifts to each and all. The primary gift is love.
This all raises a big question. If Jesus is raised from the dead and the Holy Spirit has been poured out why is the world in such a mess? Gaza, Ukraine, global warming, knife crime, etc etc. Do we shut our eyes to all this, pretend it isn’t happening, or face it and engage with it. What do we do? How can we live both as a people of Easter faith, and in the world as it is with all its challenges?
So how do we do it? The Church of England provides an excellent summary of the how the Christian life is to be lived now. It can be used at baptisms, the renewal of baptism vows and at confirmations.
The minister asks five questions and the response is given each time, ‘With the help of God, I will.’
First, ‘Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers’. If we are going to keep our faith and hope alive we need the support and fellowship and teaching of the Church. There’s an old saying. ‘Seven days without prayer makes one weak’. Taking our proper part in the people of God is essential, not optional.
Question two, ‘Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?’ It’s tempting to look out on the troubles of the world and be blind to the wrong doing, wrong thinking and wrong attitudes that infect our own souls. It’s the royal route to judgmentalism. Church is a place where we can face up to our own failures and share in evil and receive the forgiveness and restoration that is promised in the Gospel. I know of no other place where this can happen.
Next question: ‘Will you proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ?’ We are not to run away from the world. We are to live in it in a new way, the way of Jesus Christ. By the help of God, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we can live in it in a Christlike way. It’s a very different way to the world. Compassion, mercy, forgiveness and kindness are its marks. It’s making Christ known.
‘Will you seek and serve Christ in all people, loving your neighbour as yourself?’ In the life of the resurrection all people are drawn in without distinction. As Jesus teaches in St John’s Gospel, when I am lifted up I shall draw all people to myself. Every one is our neighbour. And as is expressed in the last book of the Bible, The Revelation to John,
saints from every tribe and language and people and nation;
you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God,
and they will reign on earth.’
Nothing could be more different from the terrible divisions that afflict our world. But this is the way we are called to live, the way of loving the next person, the neighbour.
And finally. ‘Will you acknowledge Christ’s authority over human society, by prayer for the world and its leaders, by defending the weak, and by seeking peace and justice?’ The Christian way involves not just an individual calling. It has a societal, political dimension. As this question makes clear, there is only one true and final authority in society and that is the risen Jesus. Our hymns and prayers are full of it: Christ is the King! Is one of our hymns; ‘Your kingdom come’ in the Lord’s Prayer.
The question lays out the three great political principles of God’s kingdom: defence of the weak. peace and justice. Peace and justice are a constant theme in the Old Testament: Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you, says Deuteronomy. And who does Jesus reach out to? The weak and helpless.
These five questions give us the shape of living as an Easter people, as the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in the world as it is. It is full of faith, hope and supremely love. ‘We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.’
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Service: Canon Bill Croft. 5th May 2024. (St John The Baptist Church Peterborough UK)
Readings: Acts 10.44 – end; John 15.9-17