Alleluia! Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Theme Prayer
Risen, ascended Lord, as we rejoice at your triumph, fill your Church on earth with power and compassion, that all who are estranged by sin may find forgiveness and know your peace, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Confession
Through Jesus our risen and ascended High Priest, we can approach the throne of grace with confidence, ready to confess our sins. Let us keep a moment of silence, and ask God to hear us and heal us.
Father, creator, you welcome your people into eternal glory. Lord, have mercy:
Lord,
have mercy.
Jesus our Saviour, you plead for us at the Father’s side. Christ, have mercy:
Christ, have mercy.
Holy Spirit, you are promised to us, to fill us with love and to open the eyes of faith. Lord, have mercy:
Lord, have mercy.
May almighty God cleanse us from all our sin, and make us ready to receive his Spirit and to take his message of love into all the world. Amen.
God’s Word - Acts, chapter 1, verses 15 to 17 and 21 to the end :-
Peter stood up before the assembled brotherhood, about one hundred and twenty in all, and said: ‘My friends, the prophecy in scripture, which the Holy Spirit uttered concerning Judas through the mouth of David, was bound to come true; Judas acted as guide to those who arrested Jesus; he was one of our number and had his place in this ministry.
'Therefore one of those who bore us company all the while the Lord Jesus was going about among us, from his baptism by John until the day when he was taken up from us, one of those must now join us as a witness to his resurrection.’
Two names were put forward: Joseph, who was known as Barsabbas and bore the added name of Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, ‘You know the hearts of everyone, Lord; declare which of these two you have chosen to receive this office of ministry and apostleship which Judas abandoned to go where he belonged.’ They drew lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was elected to be an apostle with the other eleven.
John, chapter 17, verses 6 to 19 :-
Jesus prayed, saying, ‘I have made your name known to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your command. Now they know that all you gave me has come from you; for I have taught them what I learned from you, and they have received it: they know with certainty that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.
‘I pray for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, because they belong to you. All that is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine; and through them is my glory revealed.
‘I am no longer in the world; they are still in the world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you have given me, that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them by the power of your name which you gave me, and kept them safe. Not one of them is lost except the man doomed to be lost, for scripture has to be fulfilled.
‘Now I am coming to you; but while I am still in the world I speak these words, so that they may have my joy within them in full measure. I have delivered your word to them, and the world hates them because they are strangers in the world, as I am. I do not pray you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are strangers in the world, as I am. Consecrate them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself, that they too may be consecrated by the truth.’
Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.
Reflection
Our Gospel today is not a particularly easy one to understand, I think. What, for example, is meant by the closing sentence - “For their sake I consecrate myself, that they too may be consecrated by the truth”? And why is Jesus not praying for the world, but only for his disciples - disciples whom the world hates, because, like Jesus himself, they are strangers in the world? Particularly since he is also explicitly sending them into the world.
The word “consecrate” means “set apart as holy” - and here, in particular, it means set apart for a special task, by being dedicated to God. When Jesus says “I consecrate myself” - in this prayer in the garden on the night before Good Friday - he is affirming that he will not walk away from the task laid upon him. John expresses things a little differently from the other Gospel writers, with their image of Jesus praying in the garden, “Let this cup pass from me - nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done.” But it’s the same prayer, and the same offering of self.
And Jesus also prays for the unity and joy of his disciples, whom he will send into a world that will maybe jeer at them, and maybe reject their message, and maybe worse than that. Here’s what the preacher and commentator William Barclay has to say about this passage: “Jesus told his friends that they were different from the world, and that they could not expect anything else than hatred from it. Their values and standards were different from the world’s. But there is a joy in battling against the storm and struggling against the tide; it is by facing the hostility of the world that we enter into the Christian joy.”
I think maybe the most difficult thing about these words is that phrase “the world”. There may indeed be times in life when we feel the whole world is against us. Is that what it’s always going to be like for disciples? If I’m enjoying life and things are going well, should I feel guilty because I’m not being hated enough, and therefore must be doing something wrong? And is the world always just evil, because it doesn’t always feel like that to me? And anyway, isn’t it in fact God’s world, and therefore good?
So we have to understand what John means when he talks about “the world” - or what Jesus means as John tells his story. The disciples are being sent into the world. They’re not to be completely detached from the world, they have work to do there and a message to deliver. And that message won’t be rejected by everybody. “The World” isn’t everybody, what it is, is those who reject the spirit, and don’t raise their eyes or their minds to heaven. Those who reject God’s way of love, because it doesn’t suit their purposes. Those - I suppose - who are more interested in taking than giving, in using than building and growing.
Everyone has something of the world in them; everyone also has a spark of heaven about them. The job of the disciples (and us) is to stir that spark into a flame. To quote from another commentary on this passage: “The Church must be involved in its surroundings but different, distinctively committed to God and to godly living.” Consecrated, in other words. And in John’s Gospel, by the time Jesus makes this prayer, he has already promised his disciples that as they do this, he will be with them, and his Spirit will be their guide and strength - and ours.
Statement of faith
Let us proclaim the mystery of our faith: We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, who was revealed in the flesh, attested by the Spirit, seen by the apostles, proclaimed to the nations, believed in throughout the world, and taken up to glory. Amen.
Prayer Pray that the Church everywhere will be constant in prayer and ready to do God’s will and share his love, as we, like the first disciples, spend time in prayer between Ascension and Pentecost. Within the world Church pray for the churches of Korea, and for the Anglican Church in that land. And within our diocese, pray for our own deanery of Pontesbury.
Continue to pray for those most at risk in our world - from Covid, from the violence and cruelty of others, from natural disaster and disease: those who are poor, oppressed minorities, homeless people, and refugees. On Children’s Day, pray for all that protects the rights and freedoms of the young, and ensures their protection and safety. Give thanks for the diversity of human culture, and pray it may not be a cause of mistrust or division.
Pray for all who are ill, and for their care, treatment and recovery. Pray for the safety of all health workers, and care workers. Pray for those still unable to visit sick relatives and friends in hospital or care homes. Pray for all who live with dementia, and for all who offer care and support.
Pray for families and friends, and for the life of our communities. Pray for our schools. for community organizations, and for those planning social events and activities. May we continue to act with care, looking out for one another and keeping safe ourselves.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
May the light of Christ, rising in glory, banish all darkness from our hearts and minds. Amen.
May Christ our King pour upon us his gifts, and bring us to reign with him in glory. And may almighty God bless us, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
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