Greetings on the sixth Sunday of Easter, the Sunday before the Feast of the Ascension.
Our invitation to worship is the reminder that God creates us to love and be in relationship with God and creation and through our love having everything we truly desire. Our first lesson from the Acts of the Apostles was Paul meeting Lydia of Thyatira and him including the in the family of God in baptism. The Psalmist’s refrain reminds us that God is merciful and blesses us, to make God’s presence known upon the earth. The New Testament reading from the Revelation to John tells us that heaven will be light and filled with hope which comes from God. Our Gospel from John is Jesus’ healing of the man at Beth-zatha who had been invalid for 38 years, even though he couldn’t tell Jesus he wanted to be healed.
As we consider the mission we have and the model provided by Jesus we find some odd things: Jesus heals because that is what Jesus does. His ministry is to bring health and wholeness to all, even when they are unable to ask for wholeness. Even when we are presented with simple questions, we might, like the man who was healed, make up an excuse for why we can’t be healed. Jesus, as our model, tells us that we need to do what we are equipped by God to do. Like Jesus healing the man because it is his mission, our mission is to follow Jesus’ lead. Our job is to offer what we have been given and empowered by the Holy Spirit, even when we’re not sure the other will accept or appreciate the gift. Our reminder is the act of sharing changes us, and that is the important part of ministry – to be changed into what God calls us to be.
Who needs what God has given us to share without condition? I invite your comments,
Les+
Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5; John 5:1-9.
Sermon link: https://audiomack.com/fatherles-2/song/easter-6-sermon-1
