Is there anything that you would never do ? I am not adventurous so I would never go anywhere without a plan of what I was going to do and certainly without any idea of how I would complete it. I won’t carry on thinking too much of what I would never do, we don’t have enough time !! However, I remember in 1993 that there was a big question over a song by the pop star Meatloaf. The song said, ‘I will do anything for love, but I won’t do that.’ There were so many possibilities. Was it, I wouldn’t kill someone else ? Was it I wouldn’t move to another country ? Or, and most importantly, I wouldn’t give up my last rolo.
Love can make us all do strange things and happy things. Sometimes, things that don’t make sense and I was reading last week that the last thing Jesus did before He died on the cross was the same thing that He did when He rose again. It was that Jesus offered forgiveness. To the people who had crucified Him, or supported His crucifixion He prayed for forgiveness. He told the thief on the cross that he was forgiven. When He rose again, He forgave Peter for denying Him at His arrest and made him head of His Church.
Love can make us do all sorts of things. In our gospel reading this morning (John 14:23-29) we heard of Jesus talking to the disciples. I always find these conversations both comforting and challenging. They always make me ask questions either about my trust in God or my love for Him.
In the reading Jesus was preparing the disciples for what would happen after His arrest, crucifixion, resurrection and ultimately His ascension. These words were given on the same night as the Last Supper. Jesus showed His love as He both prepared the disciples for what was going to happen and gave them the promise that they would never be alone.
This happened as He told them about the Holy Spirit. Jesus was offering the disciples peace and the promise of the Holy Spirit who would always be with them. They were offered a constant companion and comforter. This is a wonderful example of love. Jesus in His love for the disciples both offered and gave them peace. This was peace in knowing that He would always be with them.
So far, so good. Jesus died for the disciples and He died for us. Here comes the challenge. In the reading Jesus told the disciples off very gently. He explained that if they really loved Him, they would be pleased that He was going back to His Father. This would mean that He had completed this part of His mission.
Of course, the biggest difficulty for the disciples would have been that they were human, just like we are. This would mean that they needed the extra assurance of an advocate to come. Jesus also left them His peace. I am not sure how this must have felt, but the love they had for Jesus made them want to tell others about Him.
The comfort is clear for us as well. We are not alone. God gives us strength to follow Him. We are also to love God so much that we can’t help but want to tell others about Him and to share His love with them.
This is much less comforting. I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that. How about if we all asked ourselves if we would do anything for God, but we wouldn’t do that.
In the reading from the book of Acts (16:9-15) we heard of the first believers showing their love for God in exactly this way. They stepped out from all they knew to share the good news with others. An angel appeared to Paul in a dream sending him to somewhere completely different to what he knew.
Through Paul going to Macedonia and other places on the way he was thrust into a different culture, a different language, different ways of believing. He went, and all he knew was that he was going to spread the good news of Jesus and as he did this he would have the power of the Holy Spirit with him.
Lydia, whom he met in Philippi, and her household were baptised. It wasn’t through the words of Paul though. It says in the reading that God opened Lydia’s heart to hear the words of Paul. She listened eagerly. This is both comforting and challenging as well. God prepared the way for Paul to speak and He will do the same for us. The challenge is that we need to listen to God calling us to talk to others. We can ask God to show us when there are opportunities to tell people not only why we worship Him, but also to tell people about the fact that God’s love is so great that He is always with us.
As we pray for opportunities it is also important that we pray for our community and all who do not know God, for all who are struggling.
Today is Rogation Sunday when we are called to pray for our community. We ask for God’s blessing on all the people in the community, and all those who work here. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week are also rogation days when we keep praying for the community, and for agriculture in particular. I am going to suggest that we use the Psalm we had this morning (67) as our prayer for the week as we pray for our community. It is known as a harvest Psalm.
Then starting on Thursday we are following Thy Kingdom Come which lasts until Pentecost. This is kept as days of prayer for five people we would like to come to know Jesus. We have books to accompany these prayers, with a Bible reading and reflection. Please take one home and use it in the time between Ascension Day and Pentecost. We will be asking you to invite the people for whom you have been praying to a special service on 29th June where there will be a real feeling of celebration. It will be a great service and one that it is important that you attend if you can. There will be no other services in the Ministry Area that morning.
There’s a lot that we can be doing to think about, to be thankful for, and to share God’s love.
Back to Meatloaf and his words, ‘I will do anything for love, but I won’t do that’. We will never know what he wouldn’t do, but how much will we do for God and His love. AMEN
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